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Social gaming giant Zynga made a big purchase to improve its poker brand this week. The company behind popular Facebook apps like Farmville and Mafia Wars acquired the entire 16-member team behind Austin, Texas-based MarketZero, which operated the online poker tracking site PokerTableRatings. Among the major players moving over to Zynga include MarketZero founders Gustavo… Read more »
In an article published by Forbes on Tuesday, it was revealed that 2002 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event champ Robert Varkonyi has sued a hedge fund alleging fraud. He’s seeking to recoup his initial $1.4 million investment in a fund ultimately tied to a Ponzi scheme. According to Forbes, Varkonyi “filed the lawsuit… Read more »
This week, the real estate section of Yahoo featured an article from Curbed.com highlighting the unique penthouse of young poker star Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond. Located in New York City’s East Village, the main attraction of the residence is, get this, a slide. That’s right. Galfond has a slide in his house. And it’s no kiddie… Read more »
eCommerce and Online Gaming Regulation and Assurance (eCOGRA) announced on Monday that it has new ownership, as its management purchased the company. The management buyout initiative was led by Chief Executive Andrew Beveridge and was approved by the founding members of the non-profit organization. eCOGRA seeks to improve the security and integrity of online gaming… Read more »
In the latest issue of the New York Times Magazine, an article on the online poker world’s latest wunderkind, Dan “jungleman12” Cates, details his life story. The piece, written by Jay Caspian Kang for the magazine’s “Youth Issue,” follows Cates for nearly a week as he plays online poker. The article starts off by detailing… Read more »
If you’re a professional gambler, we have news that will get your blood pumping. According to a recent article in the Las Vegas Review-Journal and a leading poker tax authority, professional gamblers can now deduct business expenses, even in the event of an overall loss. Now, out of pocket expenses like driving to and from… Read more »
The only member of the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) November Nine not to sign any sponsorship deal, runner-up Darvin Moon, has recently inked an agreement to become the face of the Heartland Poker Tour (HPT). In an announcement by the HPT last week, Moon’s new deal names him as an ambassador for the… Read more »
If you’re a poker player in the United States, then you know that April 18th is Tax Day this year. With a little over one month to go, players have been scurrying around to collect profit and loss information from online poker sites and weed through their bank accounts searching for deposits and withdrawals. This… Read more »
The ongoing court battle between Deliverance Poker and two defendants – 2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event final tablist Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi and the parent company of Full Tilt Poker, Tiltware LLC – has heated up over the past two weeks, with a flurry of motions presented to the court. On March… Read more »
In figures reported on Thursday, Nevada casino gaming revenue, or “win,” was flat in January year-over-year according to the Nevada Gaming Control Board. Statewide, Nevada casinos raked in a total of $877.4 million two months ago, which represented a decrease of 0.67% over the same period one year prior. The good news is that, over… Read more »
In breaking news from Las Vegas, the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino, the home of the annual World Series of Poker (WSOP), was robbed at gunpoint for $35,000 early Thursday morning. According to 8 News Now Las Vegas, “Police say the suspect walked into the Rio and began taking chips off of a gaming table.… Read more »
Professional poker player and media personality Bernard Lee has teamed up with Cabot Cheese to create the Full House Charity Program, which will donate a minimum of $20,000 to children’s organizations around New England each year. “The Full House Charity Program was born out of a desire to combine my greatest loves — poker and… Read more »
Ten days ago, a lawsuit was filed in the Superior Court of the State of California numbered VC057998. The litigation pits poker players Eli Strickland and Edwin Pairavi against the Bicycle Casino in Los Angeles over what the Plaintiffs claim is a “classic bait and switch.” The suit surrounds a $200,000 guaranteed poker tournament held… Read more »
According to news reports, the alleged thief who knocked off the Bellagio in Las Vegas for $1.5 million was apprehended due to the help of the online poker community. Reports on several websites including Yahoo News and SportsInteraction.com detail the activities of the alleged “Bellagio Bandit.” Anthony Michael Carleo, who was arrested on Wednesday morning… Read more »
How do you celebrate a $2.3 million cash windfall? Buy an island? Burn a couch? Dance a jig? For 2011 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) Main Event winner Galen Hall, a party at a swank San Francisco hotel and a trip for 20 friends on a party bus were just what the doctor ordered, according to… Read more »
The man who walked away with $1.5 million after an armed robbery of the Bellagio in Las Vegas was arrested on Wednesday night in Sin City, according to the Las Vegas Review Journal. The mystery man is Anthony Michael Carleo, the 29 year old son of Las Vegas Municipal Court Judge George Assad. According to… Read more »
Dusty “Leatherass9” Schmidt is one of the real success stories of online poker. He’s the “Average Joe” who started playing micro-stakes games and eventually turned that into millions of dollars and a sponsorship deal with PokerStars. In his first book, “Treat Your Poker Like a Business,” Schmidt revealed some of the secrets to becoming an… Read more »
Yesterday, Bluff Magazine revealed the winners of its sixth annual Reader’s Choice Awards, a list that featured several repeat winners along with a bevy of new honorees. The nominees were announced in the first week of December and Bluff opened the voting to the poker community via the internet. The polls for the 14 categories… Read more »
The cast for the 22nd cycle of the hit CBS reality series “Survivor” was announced on Monday and, to the surprise of some, was void of poker players. A thread on TwoPlusTwo before the announcement claimed that a poker player could be part of the upcoming season’s installment, but the rumors turned out to be… Read more »
In one of the most intriguing business pairings in recent years, Robert Croak, the creator of Silly Bandz, a popular line of toy bracelets, will become the newest partner in DeepStacks Live. If you’re not familiar with Silly Bandz, Business Week called the product “the biggest success in modern day toy selling,” while during a… Read more »
We might all be putting our new 2011 calendars on the refrigerator, but let’s not put 2010 in our rearview mirror just yet. ESPN.com’s “The Nuts” poker player rankings for December 2010 were released on New Year’s Eve and showed that the more things change, the more they stay the same. Before we get to… Read more »
Titan Poker pro Sorel “Imper1um” Mizzi is the 2010 Bluff Magazine Player of the Year, officials announced on Friday. Mizzi entered the top spot in the Player of the Year rankings in March and never relinquished his lead. The 2010 CardPlayer Player of the Year, Tom Marchese, finished in second place in the Bluff standings.… Read more »
The thief who stole $1.5 million in casino chips from the Bellagio has been given a deadline to try to redeem the $25,000 denomination ones he took from a craps table on December 14th. MGM Resorts International, which owns the Bellagio, gave public notice that it will be discontinuing the large denomination chip and called… Read more »
Come the beginning of 2011, there will be another alternative for poker players beyond such offerings as the World Poker Tour (WPT) Boot Camp and the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Academy. Billing itself as a school for “serious” poker players, Pro Poker Seminars will be stepping into the training arena. Their first ever three-day… Read more »
Ever since the Florida legislature adjusted the state’s poker laws earlier this year, people have been flooding the Sunshine State like never before. The influx of action has left a leading magazine to pose the question, “Is Florida the Next Las Vegas?” A recent article in Time Magazine posed the question due to the increase… Read more »
