Online poker news

Youtube contest for top player video
01/16/2008 - Marketers are coming up with increasingly innovative moves to attract players, often using the latest Internet trends as vehicles. This week Players Only.com launched an initiative on free video sharing site YouTube.com which will award $10 000 to the player who comes up with the best online gambling video.

Famous Aussie cricketer switches to professional poker
01/16/2008 - With a distinguished, if occasionally controversial, professional cricketing career with world beaters Australia behind him, fast bowler Shane Warne has embarked on a new job as a professional poker player, signing with online gambling group 888.com this week.

$2 Million poker tournament planned by VC Poker
01/16/2008 - VC Poker is the latest online poker website to join the million dollar plus club of operators offering big money, guaranteed prize-pool tournaments. The company has announced its new initiative, which features a $2 million guaranteed prize-pool scheduled for launch on March 2.

Poker: Aussie millions main event starts
01/15/2008 - After ten preceding competitions over the past week, each with an abundance of action and big money (Howard Lederer walked away with a $1.25 million winner's prize in event 9) the Main Event at the 2008 Aussie Millions commenced with the traditional "shuffle up and deal call" on Monday.

Is your online poker predictable?
01/15/2008 - Stereotyping by national characteristics is a risky and largely unscientific technique to size up an online poker opponent, but Everest poker had some fun with it over the weekend anyway, announcing that after extensive observations of its online poker room tournaments, promotions and live events, it has discovered that a player's nationality can have a 'profound' affect on their style of play.

San Jose home poker game busted
01/15/2008 - The weekend saw another dramatic police raid on American citizens, this time in San Jose where Patricia McCoy and Cuthberto Cardenas were arrested and subsequently released on bail on accusations of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and fraudulently obtaining money under false pretenses.

Major win at Aussie Millions Poker
01/14/2008 - The 2008 Aussie Millions continues to produce exciting poker and big prizes at the Crown Casino in Melbourne, Australia, this week producing the second highest ever winner's prize. The star-studded turnout and major money has heightened anticipation that this year's Main Event will be one to remember.

PKR online poker hits the bigtime
01/13/2008 - 2008 is off to a running start for online poker website PKR.com, which has achieved the significant 10 000 simultaneous players level after only 18 months of operations. The 10 000 user barrier was breached on the evening of Sunday January 6 according to independent statistics.

Absolute online poker accepts KGC findings
01/13/2008 - Absolute Poker was perhaps predictably in full damage control mode in responding over the weekend to the Kahnawake Gaming Commission findings on its cheating scandal (see previous InfoPowa reports) In a statement released to carefully selected media, the troubled site acknowledged "...the completeness and accuracy of the KGC conclusions."

Betfair ups the poker ante
01/13/2008 - The pots are getting bigger at Betfair Poker. The site has added a new $100 000 guaranteed Sunday night tournament that will boost the monthly guarantees up to $4 million.

Online poker scandal finalised?
01/13/2008 - With little fanfare, and buried three clicks deep on an uncopyable .pdf file, the Kahnawake Gaming Commission announced its findings on the Absolute Poker cheating scandal on January 11, effectively bringing to a close one of the worst cheating incidents yet in Internet poker

Great week for Saage
01/11/2008 - Online poker player 'Saage' from Finland has had a happy start to the New Year, and is over $225 000 richer following significant consecutive day wins in tournament play at Mansion Poker.com.

Party on in online poker promo
01/11/2008 - PartyPoker marketers have launched another innovative promotion linked to the forthcoming big event in US sport - the Superbowl.

WPT expands poker opportunities for women
01/10/2008 -
World Poker Tour (WPT) has expanded its female-focused tour offering with the launch of an official WPT ladies league and No Limit Texas Hold 'Em tournament circuit, branded WPT Ladies (WPTL). The move is spurred by a dramatic rise in women players signing up for tournament poker events, a company spokesman said.

Neighbourhood Victory
01/09/2008 - A 28 year old Irishman studying for his doctorate in biochemistry didn't have far to travel to compete for the Party Poker Irish Poker Championship in Galway this week - he lives in Claregalway only 10 miles from the venue.

$600 000 online poker cash game at Betfair
01/09/2008 - Recent software improvements to the online poker site Betfair Poker appear to have struck a chord with high-stakes regulars who have been risking hundreds of thousands daily at the tables.

Internet poker prompts electronic tables
01/06/2008 - The advent of fast-action Internet poker is one of the factors that has spurred the development of automated poker tables for operators with a broader spectrum of modern players in their sights.

Pokerstars continues to break records
01/05/2008 - The world's largest online poker website, Poker Stars.com continues to stun and amaze with a series of record breaking statistics that underline just how successful this operation has become, especially since the exit from the US market of competitors like Party Poker and Pacific Poker.

A million dollar year for poker
01/05/2008 - Even a cursory study of tournament news as 2008 kicks off illustrates that the game of poker continues to thrive both on and offline.

Sisters are kicking up their heels
01/04/2008 - In a concept developed last year, high-energy promoter Lauren Failla introduced a new dimension in women's live poker branded The High Heels Poker Tour. The tour is supported by a website at High Heels Poker Tour.com and features a club where a $30 annual fee secures membership and delivers information on upcoming events, hotel discounts, giveaways, eligibility for free seat drawings, specials, and perks, such as private receptions and hospitality rooms.

Nuts Poker League now online
01/03/2008 - A deal negotiated late last year for Inside Gaming to launch and manage an online gambling site for the Nuts Poker League (see previous InfoPowa report) has seen the advent of the League website on the Playtech platform and iPoker Network.

Debate rages around new online poker site
01/03/2008 - The 31 year old Danish entrepreneur behind recently launched online poker site T6 Poker.com, Torben Hübertz, is making waves in the industry with his multi-level marketing approach to promotional funding, questions regarding past enterprises and a software switch barely a month after launching in Beta on December 2.

2+2 podcast starts
01/03/2008 - Mason Malmuth's respected online poker message board 2+2 started the new year with a new product, launching the first instalment in a new weekly 2+2 PokerCast series.

Trillion Poker League launched
01/03/2008 - Recently arrived Boss Media-powered online poker site Pokertrillion.com has lived up to its promise to provide a Euro 75 000 league with the announcement this week that its exclusive 'Trillion Poker League' commenced on Tuesday 1st January 2008.

$6.5 mill paid to bad beat online poker players
01/03/2008 - According to a statement released by online poker venue Absolute Poker, a total of 39 bad beat jackpots have been hit since the introduction of the firm's bad beat system in June 2007, paying out $6.58 million to bad beat players.

Terminal action for online poker software
01/02/2008 - The online poker software developed by the Backgammonmasters' gambling website will soon find far wider application following a deal to use the product on betting terminals in a diversity of land locations.

Harrah´s ownership change will not impact WSOP
12/31/2007 - The imminent $17.5 billion sale of Vegas gambling group Harrah's Entertainment to Texas Pacific Group Capital and Apollo Management, L.P.will not result in any significant changes to the World Series of Poker hosted annually by the group in Las Vegas, a director of the company has confirmed.

JJProdigy excluded from major land poker tourney
12/31/2007 - In a sequel to last week's public message board apology by teenaged online poker whizz-kid Josh Field (better known online as 'JJ Prodigy') Poker Stars management has excluded the just 18 year old from its upcoming Poker Stars EPT Carribean Adventure, and by implication other such events.

Online poker record for Poker Stars
12/31/2007 - There's a new world record for numbers of online poker players on-site simultaneously this week, as Poker Stars.com reports 20 386 pokerheads playing at once on the popular site. Available records at the reliable Poker Scout site suggest that this is the first time that over 20 000 real money ring game players have been in action at the same time.

Underage online poker cheat apologises
12/28/2007 - The cynical are opining that it's an attempt to avoid embarrassing personal confrontations at live tournaments in the future, but others are more charitable and prefer to give Internet poker ace 'JJProdigy' the benefit of the doubt in a public apology for cheating the player has made.

Pham is 2007 Poker Player of the Year
12/27/2007 - Poker pro David "The Dragon" Pham is the 2007 Player of the Year, overtaking all opposition by taking down Event 8 of the Five Diamond World Poker Classic this month at the Bellagio in Las Vegas for $279 000.

WPT Brunson Classics peaks
12/25/2007 - Widely regarded as one of the planet's most prestigious and high-value poker tournaments, the $15 400 buy-in World Poker Tour Doyle Brunson Classic, concluded last week at the Bellagio in Las Vegas, with New York poker ace Eugene Katchalov beating a field of 664 players to clinch a first prize paycheck of over $2.48 million from a prize-pool that totalled $9.6 million.

AP investigation completed
12/24/2007 - The Kahnawake Gaming Commission has issued a brief update, advising that Gaming Associates has completed its investigation and has submitted a report on the Absolute Poker scandal that rocked the online poker world in September. The Commission, which licenses Absolute, is now reviewing the report and "....expects to make a decision in this matter within the next two weeks."

Action Poker Network welcomes Gear Poker.com
12/22/2007 - Action Gaming Network welcomed new online poker room Gear Poker.com to its ranks on December 6.

Christmas gift for poker fans
12/22/2007 - Pokerheads with a Christmas wish list may want to consider a new video coaching product featuring greats like Doyle Brunson and Mike Caro. The two experts have teamed up with iAmplifyVegas.com to provide information aimed at honing a player's skills, passing on decades of experience.

Drugging up to play?
12/22/2007 - The use of drugs by professional poker players, academics, classical musicians, corporate executives and students to clarify minds, improve concentration or control emotions was explored in an article in the Los Angeles Times this week.

Pokerstars New Zealand ad stirs controversy
12/20/2007 - A Pokerstars.net advert screened on New Zealand's TV3 television channel has sparked a row in the country, resulting in an investigation being launched by the Internal Affairs Department, reports the New Zealand Herald.

Sharing poker online
12/19/2007 - The massive popularity and success of "YouTube" shows that video sharing has become an important element in the Web 2.0 marketing concept of increased online community interactivity, and the publication Poker News.com has entered the field with its own poker video project.

Change of identity for 24hPoker
12/17/2007 - The shareholders of 24hPoker Holding AB have decided to change the name of the company to Entraction Holding AB. The name change is a consequence of the company's decision to separate the supplier organisation from the gaming site operation.

First timer wins Titan´s big tourney
12/17/2007 - Luke Cahill, who hails from Manchester, England, captured first place and a $220 000 prize last week at the European Championship of Online Poker's $1 000 000 GP Main Event (ECOOP) staged by Titan Poker on Playtech's iPoker Network.