Online poker news
PokerStars has announced that it will host the largest buy-in tournament in the history of online poker, smashing the previous record. The $51,000 buy-in event will be part of the 2015 World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) and will feature a guaranteed prize pool of $1 million. The tournament will take place at 12:30pm ET… Read more »
For the first time in three months, the internet poker industry experienced a rise in its cash game traffic. According to PokerScout.com’s Weekly Online Poker Traffic Update, online poker cash game liquidity was up one percent last week. While that does not sound like much (and it’s really not), it is mildly exciting because the… Read more »
When it was first created by Planet Poker in 1998, online poker was groundbreaking. Bringing the game from the casino and a live setting to the internet was a truly innovative achievement, allowing people who had never picked up a chip in a casino or home game the opportunity to go online and play the game… Read more »
In a shocker of a deal that was announced early on Friday morning, 888 Holdings emerged as the suitor for bwin.party. After hectic negotiations that seemingly involved every power player in the online gaming industry, 888 Holdings was able to put together a deal of £898.3 (roughly $1.4 billion U. S.) to overtake GVC Holdings… Read more »
The 2015 World Series of Poker may be over for all but nine players, but the WSOP is going to try to keep the momentum going by launching a new online poker series specifically designed for those whose bankrolls were way too small to even think about traveling to Las Vegas to compete in the… Read more »
According to SBC News, online gaming firm 888 Holdings plc may make one more run at bwin.party in an attempt to intercept it from the waiting arms of GVC Holdings and Amaya Gaming. Last week, bwin.party Digital Entertainment and GVC Holdings both publicly confirmed that the two are in talks and that GVC had made… Read more »
After being rumored for much of 2015, the position of bwin.party has finally come to light in the poker community. Earlier today it was announced that bwin.party Digital Entertainment and GVC Holdings would be entering discussions towards a final merger of the two companies. According to Gaming Intelligence, GVC Holdings has made an initial offer… Read more »
As residents of New Jersey were getting ready to celebrate Independence Day late last week, those who tried to partake in a little online gambling on Thursday afternoon were met with some unwanted resistance. According to NJ.com and later reported by numerous media outlets, four of New Jersey’s internet gaming sites were hit by a… Read more »
For people who operate online gambling sites, one of their worst nightmares is the thought of somebody being able to crack the site’s random number generator (RNG) and end up having knowledge of exactly what cards, spins, or dice are about to appear. It is bad enough if the hacker ends up cheating the house… Read more »
Swedish gaming firm Betsson AB announced Monday that it has acquired the Georgian gambling company Europe-Bet in a deal worth a minimum of $50 million. Europe-Bet is in an interesting spot in the gambling industry, as it helped draw attention to the Republic of Georgia, a nation that is not normally on the forefront of… Read more »
UK-based gaming giants Ladbrokes and Gala Coral Group are discussing a possible merger, according to a report on RacingPost.com. The combined company would become the largest in the UK’s gambling industry. Ladbrokes CEO Jim Mullen confirmed the talks with the Racing Post, saying: Since becoming CEO my focus has been on a more aggressive plan… Read more »
While the poker community would like to think differently, poker isn’t the linchpin of gaming anywhere in the world. For most land-based casinos, poker rooms are a drain on the bottom line while slots, other table games (blackjack, craps, etc.) and sports betting bring in the most revenues. This is also true for those operations… Read more »
Professional poker player Sam Trickett has left Everest Poker and is now a free agent on the poker sponsorship scene, according to a report from CalvinAyre.com. Trickett, 28, is the top all-time live tournament earner in the history of the UK. Trickett joined Everest Poker in March 2014, a surprise to many in the poker… Read more »
Internet poker cash game traffic monitoring site PokerScout.com released its Weekly Online Poker Traffic Update on Friday, reporting yet another down week for cash games. Last week was the ninth consecutive week that liquidity at the cash game tables across the internet dipped and unlike some of those weeks, when the decrease was just a… Read more »
During the course of the past month, discussion on internet poker forums of third-party software usage in online poker has been heating up. Always a subject of debate, the topic has found some extra steam recently primarily because of a controversial, yet quite secretive piece of software developed by a player named “skier_5.” As such,… Read more »
In a blog post yesterday on MPN.eu (Microgaming Poker Network), MPN’s Head of Poker Alex Scott reviewed some of the major initiatives, both online and live, that the network has taken, including the migration of Republic of Georgia-based Adjarabet to Microgaming using the Babelfish API. The highlight of the memo, though, was the last topic… Read more »
On Thursday, June 4th, 2015, New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE) Director David Rebuck issued a Director’s Advisory Bulletin to clarify the Division’s stance on online gambling affiliates who have marketed unlicensed gaming sites to New Jersey residents. Specifically, Rebuck discussed the possibility of future legal trouble or licensing problems for such affiliates. In… Read more »
In the world of business endorsements, there are wins and then there are WINS. Today’s news in the poker world qualifies for the later, ALL CAPS category. This morning, soccer megastar Cristiano Ronaldo announced via Twitter that he has joined Team PokerStars. PokerStars has confirmed the signing on its blog. Cristiano Ronaldo is considered by… Read more »
It was another down week for online poker cash games last week – the sixth straight – but it was oh, so close to a turnaround. With just a half percent drop in traffic, according to PokerScout.com, the industry nearly got a respite from its annual season slump. In its Weekly Online Poker Traffic Update,… Read more »
Famed nosebleed stakes player Viktor “Isildur1” Blom is not typically one to put himself in front of the camera. Fairly media shy, he tends to stick to the comfort of his computer, playing on the (somewhat) faceless virtual tables. But this Wednesday, May 27th, he will jump aboard the Twitch train, making his debut on… Read more »
This week marks the final full week in the life of WPTPoker.com, whose impending closure was announced last week. The World Poker Tour-branded site is one of seven member rooms on partypoker’s network. The death of WPTPoker marks what can only be described as a failed opportunity. It would almost seem a given that an… Read more »
In the “old days,” it wasn’t something you had to worry about. Poker, in a live setting, was usually about players getting a “read” on how their opposition is playing, adjusting their style of play to maximize their profits and “changing gears” at the right times between aggression and passivity. Some might even resort to… Read more »
The PokerStars Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) is seven days into its fortnight of tournaments and Jason Mercier has been the dominant force of the event so far. It isn’t just No Limit Texas Hold’em that Mercier has been showing his proclivities but a wide array of games. On back-to-back days last week, one… Read more »
In March, an odd bill was introduced into the Nevada State Assembly; it listed no sponsor, but was said to have been backed by the Las Vegas Sands Corporation and its CEO, Sheldon Adelson. AB 414 aimed to restrict any interstate online gaming compacts to only internet poker, keeping Nevada out of any partnerships that… Read more »
Now well into their second year of operation, the revenues for the online gaming industry in New Jersey are still presenting a mixed bag of results. In some areas, the industry seems to be performing strongly while in others the numbers just don’t seem to be coming to the game. April brought an increase in… Read more »
