Online poker news

Poker rake site launched by Playsafe
11/26/2008 - Ecom Enterprise, a wholly owned subsidiary of Norwegian listed online gambling group Playsafe AS has launched a new online poker site, PayNoRake.com, which it claims rewards loyal customers.

Cool gear from the Poker Brat
11/26/2008 - It's been over a year since high profile poker pro Phil (Poker Brat) Hellmuth launched his poker apparel company, capitalising on his nickname and branded Poker Brat Clothing Co. This week the company announced a new line of designs available to poker fans at Poker Brat.com.

Online poker expose to be screened this weekend
11/26/2008 - Four months of collaborative journalistic investigation by the Washington Post and CBS television's famed "60 Minutes" television producers culminate this weekend in the much anticipated screening of an expose on the multi-million dollar online poker cheating scandals at UltimateBet and Absolute Poker.

Cereus launches
11/26/2008 - Cereus Poker Network, owned by Tokwiro Enterprises and comprised of players from that Kahnawake company's two online poker rooms Absolute Poker and UltimateBet, has launched. And judging by initial attendance when InfoPowa checked the venue out - some 17 500 players around 1pm Eastern Standard Time - interest levels are high.

Negreanu takes BC Poker Champs
11/25/2008 - Canadian born but Vegas resident poker pro Daniel Negreanu has won the BC Poker Championships, taking home a useful first prize of $371 910 from the event, held at the River Rock Casino in Richmond, British Columbia.

Real money Italian poker for L&G
11/25/2008 - The UK-listed online and land gambling group Leisure and Gaming plc, which has extensive Italian betting interests through its Betshop subsidiary, has launched real money online poker.

Cereus launching on the card this week
11/25/2008 - The super online poker network Cereus, owned by Tokwiro Enterprises and formed by merging the player bases of UltimateBet and Absolute Poker is to launch this week.

Texas poker law reintroduced
11/24/2008 - The Democratic Party Representative for Texas, Jose Menendez, has shrugged off the lapse of an earlier attempt to regulate poker in the committee stage of the Texas House (see previous InfoPowa reports) and has instead re-launched an amended bill HB222 that seeks to expand poker's availability in the state.

Mansion launches German language website
11/23/2008 - The Mansion Poker.com website says 'Wilkommen' to German speakers this week with the launch of de.mansionpoker.com, a new German language version of their operational online poker site that has been specially designed for the important and fast growing German market.

WPT Traktor Poker screened
11/22/2008 - Just 16 months after the Beijing-based arm of WPT Enterprises was created, WPT China National Traktor Poker Tour has hit the Asian television airwaves, becoming the first government sanctioned nationally-televised poker competition in China.

World Poker Association in trouble
11/22/2008 - Professional poker player Jesse Jones, who in 2005 put at risk $100 000 of his own money to found the World Poker Association to represent tournament players, has appealed for help in keeping the body going.

Back to France
11/22/2008 - Good news for poker tournament fans is that Poker Stars.com will be putting France back on to its European Poker Tour programme after an hiatus of two years due to a now changing but originally unfriendly French legislative environment.

Big day for Barbosa
11/21/2008 - It took four gruelling days of poker action to get there, but Joao Barbosa (26) of Portugal this week claimed the title and the Euro 367 141 ($457 489) main prize at the PokerStars.com EPT Polish Open in Warsaw.

Devilfish Gaming acquires Hungarian poker room
11/19/2008 - Devilfish Gaming plc, the UK based online poker company started by poker ace Dave Ulliott, has announced the acquisition of the player base of Hungarian-based Paramin Poker.com, a company on the Entraction online poker network.

Poker flattens Party´s Q3
11/19/2008 - Declining online poker revenues have moderated growing casino, bingo and sportsbetting results at Internet gambling group Party Gaming plc, producing an overall flat third quarter, the company reported this week. The poor performance on the poker front included a 12 percent decline in player sign ups during the quarter as revenues slumped to $65 million.

Peak group moves poker interests to Playtech
11/19/2008 - Industry observers are speculating on this week's decision by the Peak Entertainment group in Malta to move its online poker action over to Playtech's iPoker network. The change will involve Sun Poker and the poker activities of the long-established CS Casino and Omni Casino, and is scheduled to take place next (December) month.

Online poker company opens Madrid base
11/18/2008 - The Swedish and Malta-based online poker provider and network Entraction has opened an office in Madrid, Spain to better meet the strong demand from Southern Europe. The firm anticipates that the gaming market will show an annual growth of more than 17 percent in Spain and France and 21 percent in Italy through to 2012.

College basketball player cleared
11/18/2008 - The storm in a teacup created when the Florida and national US media discovered that University of Florida college basketball player Nick Calathes owed $600 to an online poker website has apparently passed, with officials confirming that the young sophomore point guard for the Gators did not break any National Collegiate Athletic Association rules.

Calling the young guns
11/18/2008 - It's often said that the pace and complexity of online poker and its multi-tabling opportunities make it a young man's game, and the young guns have certainly been winning an impressive number of big-money tournaments recently. Targeting this demographic, LifeofSports this week launched its North America Online College Poker Championship in partnership with the growing Cake Poker Network.

Free poker competition
11/18/2008 - Europeans are being offered an opportunity to try poker in one of the largest free poker competitions in the region in the latest promo from Everest Poker.com. The website is arranging 27 events across the continent, and dozens more online during the Everest Poker European Cup (EPEC), designed to attract more Europeans to the online game.

FTOPS 10 ends on a high note
11/18/2008 - The Full Tilt online poker website celebrated the end of another successful series this week with the completion of edition 10 of the Full Tilt Online Poker Series. With two big-money events, it was a fitting climax to a tournament that saw plenty of action from skilled online poker players around the world.

Swedish online poker player wins tax case
11/18/2008 - A Swedish online poker player has been at least partially successful in fighting off the local taxman to keep winnings achieved at an online gambling website operating from the Isle of Man, although he is required to pay tax on winnings in Monaco.

Female poker ace litigates against Full Tilt
11/16/2008 - U.S. poker ace Cycalona "Clonie" Gowen and the major online poker website that she has long promoted, Full Tilt Poker are set to bump heads in court soon after Gowen was told that her services were no longer required, and that her image would be removed from company promotional material.

WSOP TV decision boosts ratings
11/15/2008 - Officials at Harrah's and television network ESPN will feel vindicated in their decision to postpone the World Series of Poker final table in order to increase television interest. This week ESPN released its screening ratings for the two hour telecast of the final table played last Tuesday.

What´s up at T.6 Poker?
11/15/2008 - Internet poker players and marketing affiliates alike were left in the dark this week when T.6 Poker.com suddenly went offline, leaving a cryptic notice that it would be back with new software soon.

Putting winnings to good use
11/14/2008 - Ladbrokes Poker internet player James Sudworth aka James666 is putting to good use the GBP 25 000 he won in the recently completed LEOCOP series of poker competitions, where he finished top of the leader board. The 22-year-old from Kent, who has won over GBP 200 000 playing online poker and could win up to GBP 1 Million in the gambling firm's Poker Million series in December, is using some of his wealth to put his mother through a speech therapy course at a local university.

Starting over
11/14/2008 - In an interesting interview with the poker information publication CardPlayer.com this week, the executive director of the Poker Players Alliance, John Pappas explained the way forward for pending Internet gambling legislation not passed in the current session of the US Congress.

Frankly perfect win at FTOPS 10
11/14/2008 - The latest Full Tilt Online Poker Series continued to produce plenty of action this week, with a well-named player nicknamed "Frankly Perfect" delivering a polished performance to take down Event 16, the $200+$22 NLHE 6-max with rebuys.

Sharkscope ban reconsidered
11/13/2008 - Barely a week after announcing a ban on players using the poker information database SharkScope (see previous InfoPowa reports) the management at PokerStars appears to have reconsidered its decision following appeals by its players.

Not a CBC interview
11/13/2008 - Tokwiro Enterprises, the owner of controversial online poker sites Absolute Poker.com and UltimateBet.com, launched an innovative corporate communications exercise this week in the form of five inserts posted on the video-sharing website YouTube by one "KafkaCR." The inserts consist of interviews with ex-Parlay Entertainment manager and now Tokwiro COO Paul Leggett, covering commercial operations and the cheating scandals that have been so damaging to the two poker sites.

PPA urges a last ditch appeal
11/13/2008 - The Poker Players Alliance has reacted to the news that Treasury officials have rammed home the controversial UIGEA regulations, with chairman Alphonse D'Amato advising its members:

Million dollar payday for Little
11/13/2008 - Jonathan "FieryJustice" Little lived up to his Internet handle this week by winning the World Poker Tour Foxwoods World Poker Final in one of the longest heads-up contests on record. For Little it was worth the stress and stamina, with a winner's prize of $1 120 310 and his second WPT title in the bag. The victory brings his live tournament earnings to over $2.8 million.

Britannia rules in Partypoker Nations Cup
11/12/2008 - PartyPoker.com has declared Great Britain the winner in its 2008 Poker Nations Cup. Team Great Britain, captained by Roland de Wolfe and comprising Neil Channing, Surinder Sunar, Joe Beevers, Ian Frazer and PartyPoker.com VIP online qualifier Charlie Durbin overcame Team Ireland in the heads-up to take the GBP 100 000 main prize money and the title.

Cryptologic and Boss Media to partner up
11/12/2008 - The Dublin-based online poker software and network provider Cryptologic has announced that it has entered into a strategic Internet poker agreement with Swedish online poker provider Boss Media AB, and will merge its major poker licensees with Boss Media's International Poker Network (IPN) within the first quarter 2009.

PPA urges members to contact federal reserve
11/11/2008 - The Poker Players Alliance is mobilising resistance to the attempt by the outgoing Bush administration in the United States to rush through controversial regulations supporting the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (see previous InfoPowa report) The poker advocacy group is urging all members to call the U.S. Federal Reserve and object to the over-hasty process currently being adopted before the Obama administration and the Democrats have taken power.

Eastgate becomes youngest WSOP champ yet
11/11/2008 - The 22-year-old Danish player Peter Eastgate has survived a field of thousands, a competitive final table and a tough heads up with the formidable Russian player Ivan Demidov to emerge as the winner of the 2008 World Series of Poker Main Event.

PKR+Asianlogic = Asian marketing
11/11/2008 - The UK-based 3D online poker site PKR.com has exclusively engaged Tom Hall's AsianLogic Limited online and land gambling service company to market it in the Asian sector. Under the terms of the agreement, AsianLogic will be responsible for developing PKR.com's customer base in the region.

WSOP Heads Up two decided
11/10/2008 - When we left the WSOP final table story earlier today (November 10) Scott Montgomery had been eliminated at hand 133 in fifth place and Ivan Demidov and Peter Eastgate were significantly ahead of Dennis Phillips and Ylon Schwartz in chip counts, with the Russian in the lead by a good $14 million.

Vegas glitz as WSOP Final starts
11/10/2008 - Since mid-July, when the final nine players in the World Series of Poker Main Event was decided, poker fans have been waiting to see the resumption of action after a 117 day hiatus at the behest of television executives. On a grey and rainy Sunday morning this weekend their patience was rewarded as the November Nine and a full-house of railbirds and media reporters gathered at the Rio in Las Vegas.

No poker on this week´s 60 Minutes 9
11/08/2008 - The sources which confidently asserted that the UltimateBet and Absolute Poker cheating scandals expose would be on the November 9 edition of the television program '60 Minutes' apparently got it wrong. The program schedule released Friday shows that the much anticipated expose is not being screened this week. And there is no indication as to when it might be.