Online poker news
Yesterday’s announcement of the settlement of the civil case between PokerStars and the United States Department of Justice brought about a wave of celebration that has probably never been seen in the poker community. With the deal, one of the darkest chapters in online poker history has been closed with, it has to be argued,… Read more »
Gaming industry news site eGaming Review (EGR) reported Monday that social gaming firm Zynga has “opened a tender for a real money poker platform” with several online gaming developers. Amongst the possible partners are Playtech and Microgaming. An “open tender” is a process in which qualified bidders compete for business via sealed bidding. Those bids… Read more »
Last week, PartyPoker surprised the online poker community by removing its highest stakes real money cash games. Gone are all No-Limit and Pot-Limit tables at stakes above $5/$10 and all Fixed-Limit tables above $30/$60. Some players received the following short message from PartyPoker via e-mail: We have removed some of our super high stake games,… Read more »
Brent Beckley, co-founder of Absolute Poker, was sentenced to 14 months in prison Monday. Beckley was one of 11 people named in the federal indictments unsealed on April 15, 2011, better known in the poker community as “Black Friday.” In December, Beckley pleaded guilty to Conspiracy to Commit Bank and Wire Fraud, one of nine… Read more »
According to an interview by eGaming Review with South Point Hotel, Casino, and Spa CEO Michael Gaughan, the first legal intrastate online poker room in Nevada could be up and running by this fall. Gaughan told EGR that it is essentially just a matter of getting the gaming license, that everything is on track for… Read more »
Now that the biggest live poker tournament series in the world is over (well, except for that small detail of the October Nine), it’s time to start getting geared up for the largest online poker tournament series in the world. PokerStars has released the schedule for the 2012 World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP), the… Read more »
A week after surrendering to U.S. law enforcement officials at John F. Kennedy International Airport, Full Tilt Poker CEO Ray Bitar has been released on bail. While he is far from “free,” Bitar may be able to sleep in his own bed in California as early as Wednesday. According to a report by Diamond Flush… Read more »
Black Friday killed many an online poker room, but on that day in April just over a year ago, the seed was planted for a new type of poker site. It took a long time, but that seed finally sprouted this month in the form of SkillBet.com. SkillBet touts itself as a pure skill game… Read more »
Ray Bitar, founder and CEO of Full Tilt Poker, surrendered to United States law enforcement officials Monday more than year after being charged with “bank fraud, money laundering, and illegal gambling offenses” in the infamous Black Friday indictments. Bitar was apprehended at John F. Kennedy International Airport and pleaded not guilty in a Manhattan federal… Read more »
On Monday, the Microgaming Poker Network announced that it has ended its contract with 5050Poker.com. Citing breach of contract by 5050Poker as the reason, Microgaming will no longer allow the site to be a member of its group of over 20 poker rooms. Microgaming’s problems with 5050Poker were made public on June 15th, when the… Read more »
Hollywood Poker, one of the long-time members of the Ongame Network, closed its doors and boarded up the windows Monday, surprising visitors to its site. The shutdown came without any warning whatsoever. Fortunately, Hollywood Poker customers will not be left in the lurch, as their accounts will be transferred to RedKings.com. The following message now… Read more »
Regulated online poker in Nevada is closer to becoming a reality. This past Thursday, the Nevada Gaming Commission granted licenses to two gaming companies to provide systems for online poker partners. The rival firms, Bally Technologies and International Game Technology (IGT), were both unanimously approved for online gaming licenses. They will not be the companies… Read more »
The Microgaming Poker Network announced Friday that it is preparing to implement a brand new system for calculating player rake. Dubbed “True Value,” the new method aims to more fairly allocate the rake from each player to their respective operator. In a press release, the Isle of Man based network described True Value as a… Read more »
Depending on your perspective, this first week of June is either a great week for online poker in Europe or an “oh great, more of this” week. This is the week that a number of poker rooms were granted the first operating licenses in Spain and several just went live on Tuesday. Those who take… Read more »
The Main Event of the PokerStars Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) wrapped up early this week and taking the title in the headlining “high” buy-in portion of the event was Nick “GripDsNutz” Grippo. A total of 517 players entered the $10,300 No-Limit Hold’em event, with 63 making the money. For his win, Grippo banked… Read more »
The Illinois State Senate President suggested to the state’s legislators Tuesday that it may be time to look at legalizing and regulating online poker in the Land of Lincoln. With no states having intrastate online poker up and running yet, Sen. John Cullerton (D) wants Illinois to jump at the opportunity to be the online… Read more »
PokerStars officially launched Zoom Poker Tuesday, making the popular game a formal offering for the world’s largest online poker room after two months in public beta testing mode. There was plenty of testing done during that period; more than 300 million Zoom Poker hands have been dealt since mid-March. Zoom Poker is PokerStars’ fast-paced ring… Read more »
Fresh off the excitement of Manchester City’s historic stoppage time comeback in its season finale to win the English Premier League, PartyPoker has launched the Championship Challenge. Running May 14th through June 30th, the Championship Challenge is a promotion that gives real money players the opportunity to win cash prizes and freeroll entries by earning… Read more »
The Belgian Gaming Commission is certainly taking its new online gambling laws seriously. This past week, the Commission placed more online poker sites on the country’s blacklist, making it a crime for the country’s citizens to play on those sites. Including in the new batch of blacklisted sites are such popular names as Betfair, William… Read more »
Online gaming company bwin.party is readying itself to enter the California online poker market should the game become legalized in the state. The operator of bwin.com and PartyPoker.com, bwin.party announced Tuesday that it has inked an agreement with the United Auburn Indian Community (UAIC) to provide online poker games to residents of California when and… Read more »
Titan Poker, one of the leading sites on the iPoker Network, has ended its relationship with its resident pros, star European players Sam Trickett and Marvin Rettenmaier. In a sign of the times, the departures were not announced via a press release or a news item on Titan’s site, but rather by the players themselves… Read more »
When it comes to online poker network reorganizations, things usually happen in one of three ways: one network buys another, a poker room leaves a network, or a poker room joins a network. On Monday, though, a significant move was made that did not fit any of these categories. Yes, Lock Poker announced that it… Read more »
Industry conditions be damned. A new U.S.-friendly online poker network, the Poker Pros Network, launched last week, hoping that its player-friendly atmosphere will attract casual and serious players alike. The Poker Pros Network, owned by Costa Rica-based CMK Interactive, is currently comprised of seven online poker rooms and is new enough that cash game tracking… Read more »
Online poker room Lock Poker has made a significant addition to its stable of young pros, adding Annette “Annette_15” Obrestad to the Lock Pro Elite team. Her signing comes just a week after she inked a deal with poker representation agency Poker Royalty, a move which now appears to have led to the Lock Poker… Read more »
In a whirlwind of rumors and unofficial confirmations, the poker community was sent into a frenzy Tuesday as word came out that it is not going to be Groupe Bernard Tapie (GBT) that will buy Full Tilt Poker, but rather Full Tilt’s rival, PokerStars. As part of the alleged $750 million deal, PokerStars will reportedly… Read more »
