Online poker news

High Stakes Poker ace's will generous to his employees
02/04/2012 - Alan Meltzer, the music mogul and nosebleed poker player who regularly appeared on the High Stakes Poker show with some of the top professionals in the game until his sudden death in October last year, left $1 million to his chauffeur and $500,000 to a doorman in his will, it emerged this week - some 15 percent of his estate after taxes.

Singing Star getting into online poker
02/04/2012 - The UK mainstream media is currently reporting criticism of singing star Robbie Williams' decision to enter the world of online poker, quoting an 'outraged' Liberal Democrat politician.

Brazil recognises poker as a sport
02/04/2012 - In an announcement this week the International Federation of Poker revealed that the Brazilian Sports Ministry has officially acknowledged poker as a sport.

MGM and Boyd Gaming the latest to seek Nevada poker licenses
02/04/2012 - Two major American land gambling groups that recently signed an online poker partnership deal with Bwin.party digital entertainment, a major European internet gambling group, have become the latest to apply to the Nevada Gaming Control Board for an intrastate internet poker licence, according to a report in the respected publication Card Player.

White label internet poker working for B3W
02/03/2012 - Online poker software developer B3W's venture into the white label poker market with an all-inclusive product has paid dividends, according to the company, which this week reported that in six months four fully integrated poker rooms had been signed up for its Poker Pack Network.

US Gaming survey indicated strong support for online poker
02/03/2012 - A survey commissioned by the lobby group the Poker Players Alliance (PPA) and conducted by US Gaming Survey over three weeks in December 2011 has delivered a positive response to the regulation of online poker in the country.

Poker pros could owe FTP as much as $20 million
02/03/2012 - Significant sums of money - between $10 and $20 million - are allegedly owed to embattled Full Tilt Poker by poker professionals like Phil Ivey, Mike Matusow, David Benyamine, Erick Lindgren and others according to a lawyer involved in the acquisition of FTP by the French company Groupe Bernard Tapie.

Fertitta applies for Nevada online poker licence
02/03/2012 - Fertitta Interactive, a subsidiary of a US land gambling company that owns the Station casinos, has again indicated an interest in the online poker business by applying for a Nevada online poker licence.

Top pro?s Pokerstars account hacked
02/02/2012 - Poker pros familiar with colleague Daniel Negreanu's playing style were possibly mystified this week when it appeared to change, denting the famous poker celebrity's Pokerstars account by a claimed $100,000 across the $100/$200 NL nosebleed tables.

Wrong interpretation of tweet on WSOP Final Table
02/02/2012 - InfoPowa was one of many online gambling media channels that yesterday misinterpreted a teaser tweet on the format of this year's World Series of Poker final table; a lesson in how a marketing teaser can lead to confusion.

More Pokerstars peace talks
01/31/2012 - Following the successful comprise reached earlier this month between PokerStars and French negotiators on changes to rake calculations and VIP rewards, industry observers report similar on further week-long negotiations between the online poker giant and representatives from a wider player interest group nominated by the twoplustwo poker forum community.

Two million plus prize for Ivey in Aussie Millions $250k challenge
01/29/2012 - Phil Ivey had a good run in the Aussie Millions $250K Super High Roller Challenge, beating Patrik Antonius heads-up to take home a $2 130 000 million paycheck this weekend.

Zoom Poker in development
01/29/2012 - Online poker giant PokerStars has confirmed that it has a "Rush Poker"-like product due for a beta test launch in the near future.

Speidel takes Aussie Millions Main Event
01/29/2012 - Defending 2011 main event title holder Oliver Speidel (26) has taken down the 2012 Aussie Millions Main Event pocketing the biggest cash of his career A$ 1 600 000 in his second consecutive main event win.

Eastgate WSOP bracelet buyer revealed
01/25/2012 - Readers will recall when young Danish poker pro Peter Eastgate put his 2008 WSOP Main Event winners bracelet up for sale on eBay at the end of 2010 causing a bit of a stir in the poker world.

Rush on poker network rebranding
01/24/2012 - There seems to have been a rush on online poker network's rebranding and renaming in the past few weeks.

iPoker network software update
01/23/2012 - Playtech is rolling out a software update on its iPoker Network that will provide its operators with updated design and functionality along with other new features.

MPN deal with Initial Rewards
01/20/2012 - The Microgaming Poker Network (MPN) has entered into an agreement in principle with iGaming loyalty product firm Initial Rewards.

Sky Poker Channel to relaunch next month
01/19/2012 - Sky Poker TV Channel has overhauled its programming and brought in new poker professionals to analyse play in a re-vamp of the channel due for relaunch in February 2012.

US States could combine to build internet poker pools
01/18/2012 - State Senator Jeff Danielson, who chairs the Senate State Government Committee in Iowa, had some interesting thoughts on inter-state collaboration in legalised online poker when he was interviewed by the local Des Moines Register newspaper this week.

Pokerstars execs ready for another round of talks with poker players
01/18/2012 - Following the negotiation of a compromise with French players last week (see previous InfoPowa reports), the management at Pokerstars' Isle of Man headquarters is preparing to receive another player delegation, this time with wider interests and elected by members of the popular poker information site and forum twoplustwo.

Online gambling payment processor pleads guilty
01/18/2012 - Ira Rubin, who was accused of helping process payments for online gambling businesses indicted on Black Friday, pleaded guilty to conspiracy in a Manhattan federal court Tuesday, reports the Bloomberg news service.

Microgaming names chief of new poker network management board
01/18/2012 - The recently formed Microgaming Poker Network Management Board (see previous InfoPowa reports) has announced the appointment of a chairman to head the collective of operators and Microgaming representatives that shape the development roadmap and operational rules of the network.

New action against Ultimatebet by poker players
01/18/2012 - Courthouse News reports that eight US, Canadian and Peru poker players have filed a federal RICO complaint flowing from the UltimateBet.com hole card scandal (see previous InfoPowa reports), citing the online poker site and ten 'John Does' and claiming that some $20 million was stolen from players, with prejudice to themselves of $2 million.

Olympic athlete makes money on online poker
01/17/2012 - Jamie Kenber, a 25-year-old member of Britain's Olympic fencing team, has revealed that he's as sharp at the felt as he is in the arena, and supplements his income by coaching math and taking part in Internet poker cash games.

Aussie charity poker tournament another success
01/17/2012 - The annual Joe Hachem and Shane Warne Charity Poker Tournament has been raising funds for the Shane Warne Foundation charity for the past five years, with the 2011 event that concluded this week another success.

Pokerstars chief departs
01/17/2012 - The professionals networking site LinkedIn had industry observers scratching their heads Monday over the profile of Gabi Campos, the erstwhile head of 888 Holdings' Dragonfish who in October 2010 became chief executive at Pokerstars. The current version of the profile shows no involvement with Pokerstars, declaring Campos as md of Dragonfish.

Absolute Poker co-founder pleads guilty
01/17/2012 - Black Friday threw up another guilty plea Monday when Absolute Poker co-founder Brent Buckley (31) pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges, admitting that he knew he was breaking the law when he arranged for U.S. banks to process internet gambling financial transactions.

Merge?s Million Dollar Bad Beat Jackpot Hit
01/16/2012 - Online poker fans have been watching the Merge Poker Network Bad Beat Jackpot climbing steadily towards the million dollar mark, and it was finally won Monday, a great start to the lucky players' week.

Betfair augments Poker Cubed brand
01/13/2012 - UK online gambling group Betfair has launched three new community dice games under its Poker Cubed brand. In the new games players face each other across the virtual felt of an online gaming table, using a familiar poker-style betting format in which the cards are replaced by dice.

Epic Poker League widens European TV coverage
01/13/2012 - Amid rumours that it is about to be acquired by the Pinnacle group (see previous InfoPowa report), the Epic Poker League has nevertheless forged ahead with an agreement that will see it achieve more than 70 hours of tournament broadcast coverage on The Poker Channel throughout Europe, which broadcasts to over 30 million cable and satellite TV homes and online to a global audience.

Epic Poker League up for sale?
01/12/2012 - Several usually reliable poker information sites started carrying an interesting story on the recently formed Epic Poker League Wednesday, claiming that the professional poker body is taking some financial strain and is in acquisition talks with Pinnacle Enterainment.

Name change for Yatahay Poker Network
01/12/2012 - The Costa Rica-based Yatahay Poker Network has announced that effective January 12, 2012, it has been renamed The Winning Poker Network.

Another step forward in Nevada as testing agency regs are drafted
01/11/2012 - In another step forward in the legalisation of online poker in Nevada, the state's gaming control board has announced that work has started on drafting supplementary regulations and requirements for the accreditation of private testing agencies.

French players in poker revolution
01/11/2012 - The players vs. operator dispute at Pokerstars.fr appears to have worsened, with reports indicating that many big-action players are withholding their business from Pokerstars in a boycott that is allegedly having a significant impact on the site.

Major gains in online poker traffic
01/11/2012 - Independent online poker site monitor Pokerscout's latest weekly numbers show that the industry benefitted from an unexpected 9.8 percent boost to traffic last week as a new year started, with the top ten sites mostly showing positive swings.

Nanonoko sets new online poker world record
01/10/2012 - Internet poker player Randy "nanonoko" Lew is respected as one of the fastest online poker players around, and on Sunday he proved it in a dedicated event at the Pokerstars Caribbean Adventure by setting a new world record for most hands played with an overall profit in an 8 hour timeframe.

Brit player takes inaugural WPT Ireland trophy
01/09/2012 - The UK-based poker pro David Shallow (29) celebrated on Sunday after besting a field of 338 that included an impressive number of top international players to take down the inaugural World Poker Tour Ireland main event in Dublin, and claim the $289,031 main prize and a $25,000 seat at the WPT World Championships.

Is iPoker Network changing its rake formula?
01/08/2012 - Following the row at Pokerstars over proposed changes to rake calculation, it is perhaps understandable that online poker network operators prefer to play their cards close to their chests on this sensitive issue, but this week strong rumours surfaced that the iPoker Network is to change to a 'weighted contribution' formula in March this year.

California governor pessimistic on revenues from online poker
01/08/2012 - California Governor Jerry Brown played down the likely contribution of legalised online poker tax revenues to the state's depleted coffers this week, saying that such revenues might assist, but that they could not solve the state's $9 billion budget deficit problem.