Online poker news
In an attempt to take advantage of the three-day PokerStars boycott by high stakes players (and others who join in solidarity), 888poker is implementing some temporary initiatives to make the games more attractive. In a post on Two Plus Two this morning, 888’s official representative laid out the three changes: a) two new daily tournaments,… Read more »
It’s not quite over yet, but we’re close. Another round of payments was made to former Full Tilt Poker customers in the United States last week, more than four and a half years after player funds were frozen – some thought long forgotten – on poker’s Black Friday. This was a somewhat small block of… Read more »
A virtual picket line is forming tonight as customers of PokerStars, primarily high stakes, high volume players, are set to go on strike tonight at midnight. The players are protesting the site’s announced changes to the VIP program that are to be put into place on January 1st, 2016. The initial charge was led by… Read more »
In October, I said about PokerStars’ Anniversary Spin & Go promotion, “So yeah, you’re not going to win the million dollars, or anything in the upper prize tiers, for that matter, but it’s there and you will likely get annoyed when somebody else wins it.” Are you annoyed yet? In the span of about a… Read more »
A British teenager received a minimal punishment for bringing down an online gambling site, though he was also given a stern tongue-lashing from the judge. In early 2014, Max Whitehouse, then 17-years old, initiated a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack against a European online gambling site. The Nottingham teen created problems for the UK-facing… Read more »
Last week, PokerStars launched its holiday promotion, the Christmas Festival. Not to be outdone, PokerStars’ little brother, Full Tilt Poker, has launched its own set of promos today, collectively dubbed the “Million Dollar Breakaway.” Millionaries Club Lounge The Millionaires Club Lounge promotion is an achievement-based raffle. As usual, for some reason Full Tilt requires everyone… Read more »
It may be inconceivable to think this, but online poker only began roughly 17 years ago. That first site, Planet Poker, would eventually bring about Paradise Poker and then the “power quartet” that made up the game in the mid-2000s – PartyPoker, PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and UltimateBet. Their collapse in 2011 as a result… Read more »
The Microgaming Poker Network (MPN) has made a concerted effort to try to make its tables friendly for casual players this year. The latest move: an experiment in which players will be required to buy-in for the exact same amount at certain cash game tables. In a recent blog post, Microgaming’s Head of Poker Alex… Read more »
We all know the joke about “Christmas creep” by now: retailers erect their Christmas displays and start their holiday sales earlier and earlier every year. Well, it looks like PokerStars is experiencing some Christmas creep this year, as well, as it has launched its Christmas Festival already, a good two weeks before Thanksgiving (or should… Read more »
Full Tilt Poker has brought back its popular Gold Rush promotion, the third time it has run it in the past year. It is a fairly simple promo, rewarding players for playing at Rush Poker tables with a chance to win prizes such as cash, Full Tilt Points, and tournament entries. Starting today and going… Read more »
In an ongoing effort to make its site more attractive to casual players, PokerStars announced Sunday a “comprehensive plan to enhance the PokerStars playing experience,” highlighted by a complete overhaul of its loyalty program. In a post on the PokerStars corporate blog (and, in turn, a page detailing the VIP changes), the company explained that… Read more »
Here in the United States, we are well aware that poker isn’t the “hot thing” that it was a decade ago. The aftereffects of “Black Friday” – now going on five years ago – has put a pretty serious dent in the popularity of the game. But what about on a worldwide level? Is poker… Read more »
Lottery Sit & Go tournaments are standard fare at online poker rooms now, but it is strange to realize that they have only been around a short time. PokerStars only introduced its version of the Lottery Sit & Go, the Spin & Go, in September of last year. And now, to celebrate the Spin &… Read more »
The Million Dollar Sunday tournaments on the Winning Poker Network (WPN) have never managed to reach that million dollar guarantee, which why they will no longer be Million Dollar Sundays. While there has been no official announcement on its website, WPN has decided to chop the million dollar guarantee in half to $500,000. At the… Read more »
Points for creativity go to Full Tilt Poker. In an effort to expand its player base, Full Tilt is attempting to get its play-money game client, FullTilt.net, listed on the Steam entertainment platform. The poker software is currently in the voting process on Steam Greenlight. Steam is a software distribution platform developed by the Valve… Read more »
PokerStars has yet another poker tournament series starting today. It’s not a gigantic one like the recently-ended 2015 World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP), but it certainly looks like fun. During Knockout Week, PokerStars is hosting 35 tournaments, all Knockout, Super Knockout, and Progressive Super Knockout varieties. The tournaments start Monday and run through Sunday,… Read more »
The New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE) released an 89-page report detailing its investigation of Amaya Gaming’s acquisition of PokerStars and Full Tilt and the possibility of issuing the company a Transactional Waiver Order – essentially a probationary license – to offer online gaming in New Jersey. As we know, the Order was granted,… Read more »
The prize pool may not have been anything unusual, but the size of the field of PokerStars’ inaugural Common Cents tournament series certainly was. On Monday, PokerStars broke its own record for the largest online poker tournament of all-time by attracting 253,698 players to the micro-roller tournament series’ kickoff event. PokerStars didn’t get over a… Read more »
The recovery process from the freezing of Full Tilt Poker player funds nearly four and a half years ago continues. Though millions of dollars have been paid out to former U.S. customers of Full Tilt, there are still millions left to go. You thought it was all over, didn’t you? On Friday, the Poker Players… Read more »
We have seen a trend lately of online poker rooms trying to make themselves more recreational-player friendly, not by necessarily weeding out skilled pros (though this is often what happens), but by attempting to protect weaker or simply newer players from those who want to prey on them by means other than simply playing good… Read more »
In a move that could have a seismic effect on how online players take on the game, PokerStars announced earlier this week new changes to their policies on third party software usage. The new changes are in effect now and, if fully pushed by PokerStars officials, will effect players who have come to depend on… Read more »
After nearly two years of waiting, PokerStars has finally been given the green light from the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE) to begin operating in the Garden State. The DGE approved Amaya Gaming’s application, meaning both PokerStars and Full Tilt can now get back into the United States online poker market for the… Read more »
Real money online casino PalaCasino.com released its mobile app last week, allowing customers in New Jersey to gamble online without being tethered to a computer. Available for both Android and Apple, the app allows players to do essentially everything they can from the desktop software. The PalaCasino app offers access to nearly 30 casino games,… Read more »
Another million dollar guaranteed tournament, another Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack on the Winning Poker Network (WPN). On Sunday, September 13th, the network held the first of five fall Million Dollar Sunday tournaments, which guaranteed a million dollar prize pool and at least $200,000 to the winner. But, as has happened when WPN has… Read more »
Players on the Merge Gaming Network lost even more of the little hope they had of seeing their deposited funds late last week when they were told that Skrill is no longer a viable withdrawal method. Though Merge charged players a 5 percent fee on Skrill withdrawals, the e-wallet was seen as a reliable and… Read more »
