US action against online poker an assault on internet freedom

June 6, 2011

The actions of US enforcement agencies in shutting down the US operations of three foreign-based online poker websites “has made a mockery of America’s stated commitment to Internet freedom,” opines the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), an organisation dedicated to “free markets and limited government.” On April 15, the DOJ seized the domain names of three […]

Players flock to $1k WSOP event

June 5, 2011

Industry observers have been waiting for the first of the low ($1000) buy-in events at this year’s World Series of Poker in the hope that it might give an insight into how the blitz on internet poker in the US has impacted this prestigious event. On Saturday the first of the low budget competitions, event […]

Brilliant Brit wins WSOP NLHE Heads Up event

June 4, 2011

The 22-year-old Brit online and live tournament player Jake Cody proved yet again that he is a formidable opponent when he took down the World Series of Poker $25 000 buy-in Heads Up NLHE Championship event, besting a some 128 top players culminating in runner up Yevgeniy Timoshenko. The young Brit’s latest victory, which gave […]

New PPA player relations chief

June 3, 2011

Most observers of the online poker scene will be familiar with the name Rich Muny, an energetic advocate for legalised internet poker in the United States who has done much to spread the good word on the industry as one of the state directors of the Poker Players Alliance. This week PPA executive director John […]

Online poker market declines 18 percent over past year

June 3, 2011

The independent online poker monitoring site Pokerscout had depressing news this week, reporting that the total worldwide online poker market has declined by 18 percent over the past year, and has been shaken by the events of Black Friday and Blue Monday. The monitoring site gives a few examples of the impact of this reduction […]

Power Poker nixes new US players

June 3, 2011

The latest online poker operator to bar new US player signups is Power Poker, a Malta-licensed and EU-based operation on the Cake network which was founded in 2009. This week the site displayed a notice advising: “Due to recent movements by the U.S. government concerning online poker, PowerPoker is no longer accepting new U.S. players. […]

Pokerstars ups the ante again

June 3, 2011

Pokerstars again appears to be attacking the non-US online poker markets aggressively with doubled up prize pools on two of its Sunday flagship competitions. The $215 buy-in Sunday Million tournament this weekend features a guaranteed prize pool of one million dollars, and the $215 buy-in Sunday Warm-Up event now sports a $500,000 guarantee. ?The first […]

Plenty of action at the WSOP

June 3, 2011

The World Series of Poker continued to provide plenty of action on the second day of its commencement in Las Vegas, with the Casino Employees event reaching a final table but not finishing as scheduled. Officials declared the event, at ten levels, should spill over into the following day with four players still in contention […]

WSOP launches a serious buy-in poker event

June 3, 2011

The World Series of Poker has announced plans to stage a card tournament next year at an unprecedented buy-in of $1 million. WSOP officials said Thursday that the event would have a no-limit Texas Hold ?em format and would be branded The Big One for One Drop, a reference to the Series’s charity initiative with […]

Online poker network to bar new US players

June 3, 2011

The US-facing Merge Poker Network, which has so far continued to accept US action despite the depredations of US enforcement authorities, has reportedly halted new US player signups with effect from today (June 3). Although no official confirmation has been released by the company, the ban on new signups is widely known and follows a […]