Online poker news

Is Pitbull Poker turning into a banner farm?
10/08/2009 - The Pitbull Poker debacle (see previous InfoPowa reports) took an interesting turn mid-week when players reported that the non-operational online poker website was sporting a formal announcement - something that has hitherto been lacking from alleged owner Kevin Baronowski and his partners.

At last - Dawn Challenge reaches the Halfway mark
10/08/2009 - Eight months after playing the first hand in the million dollar, 50 000 hand Dwan Challenge, first contestant Patrik Antonius and Tom Dwan hit the virtual tables again this week in a determined assault on the slow-moving competition.

Gustavson shows ho to turn $800 into $850000
10/08/2009 - 23-year-old Internet poker pro Aaron Gustavson from Las Vegas continued his successful online and live tourney run this year with a resounding win in the main event of the PokerStars European Poker Tour event in London this week.

Two new poker rooms for Microgaming Poker Network
10/07/2009 - The Isle of Man-based online gambling software and poker network provider Microgaming has signed up two new operators for its Microgaming Poker Network - Mansion88 and 5050Poker.

EPT London Main Event entries a record
10/07/2009 - The management at PokerStars will be delighted with the news this week that registrations for the online poker company's European Poker Tour main event in London have eclipsed those of the WSOPE in the same city last month.

Online gambling consultants launch new poker data product
10/06/2009 - After nearly a year of development the online gambling consultancy H2 Gambling Capital has released its Internet poker-tracking product to clients.

Eight is the name of the game
10/04/2009 - The popularity of the H.O.R.S.E multi-poker variant at major live tournaments illustrates well the demand for the more diverse and challenging concept of switching to other genres of the game during a competition, and online gambling sites have been quick to respond with their own versions, and some innovative alternatives to boot.

Hungary moves closer to regulation of poker
10/03/2009 - The respected Wall Street Journal reports that politicial and legislative moves are afoot in Hungary to legalise and tax online and land poker, with plans to initially raise some Euro 1 million in tax revenues from live poker alone.

FTOPS 14 schedule released
10/03/2009 - The next edition olf the popular Full Tilt Online Poker Series - number 14 in the series - will start on Wednesday, November 4th, offering over $16 million in guaranteed prize money across 25 events, the company announced this week. Six of the events carry a million dollar guaranteed prize pool.

Sad end for respected online poker information resource
10/03/2009 - The respected online poker information portal Poker Pages.com is to close at the end of this (October) month, according to a website advisory this week.

US poker expert wins EPT Hight Roller event
10/03/2009 - Matt Glantz from the United States, a regular big game player at the Bellagio and poker blogger, has emerged victorious from an original star-studded field of 75 players competing in the GBP20 000 buy-in High Roller event at the Pokerstars EPT London tournament.

Robot play alleged in Full Tilt litigation
10/02/2009 - The US entertainment publication TMZ.com reports that two Californian players, Lary Kennedy and Greg Omotoy, have launched litigation against the giant online poker website Full Tilt Poker.com and various top players alleged to be associated with the company.

Entraction severs Cardroom2 ties with Boss Media Poker Network
10/02/2009 - Solna, Sweden-based online poker network Entraction Holding AB announced its intention to sever ties between network site Cardroom2 and Boss Media's International Poker Network this week.

Sensational end to WSOPE Main Event
10/02/2009 - Barry Shulman, the owner of CardPlayer magazine and father of one of this year's World Series of Poker (Vegas) final tablers, is the new champion of the World Series of Poker Europe main event after defeating a star-studded final table and triumphing in a tough heads up against international ace Daniel Negreanu.

WPT snapped up by Party Gaming
10/02/2009 - The rumours flying around the online gambling industry recently that Party Gaming plc was about to make an offer for World Poker Tour Enterprises have been confirmed by a company announcement that a deal is in progress.

High roller final table set
10/02/2009 - The final table of eight players has been decided in the PokerStars European Poker Tour High-Roller Event, with French Canadian pro and WSOPE bracelet winner Erik Cajelais holding the chip lead having bagged 893 000 in chips overnight.

Stop-start Dwan challenge plays again
10/02/2009 - Tom Dwan's (dare we say it) intermittent and at times boring 50 000 hand, million dollar challenge against Patrik Antonius groaned briefly into life again this week, with the two slogging through another 400 hands, bringing the challenge to the 47 percent completion mark, according to independent stats site MarketPulse.

Martonas drops another $100k
10/02/2009 - For the third consecutive night the still unidentified online high stakes playing using the handle 'martonas' took a beating on the Full Tilt virtual tables, adding a relatively mild loss of $100 000 to two consecutive half-million-dollar debits earlier this week.

Pokerstars EPT HIgh Roller Event starts
10/01/2009 - At $20 000 to play, the PokerStars European Poker Tour High Roller event in the London Poker Festival is not for the faint-hearted, but that did not deter an entry field of 75 players that included some of the best players on the planet.

Pitbull Poker closed
10/01/2009 - Another controversial online poker scandal appears to be in the making at Pitbull Poker.com, albeit not on the same scale as the Absolute and Ultimatebet poker debacles that shook the industry in recent years.

Texas Dolly embarrassed by Hellmuth´s grand entrances
10/01/2009 - One of international poker's living legends, Doyle 'Texas Dolly' Brunson has spoken out about colleague Phil Hellmuth's penchant for grand entrances designed to garner maximum publicity at major tournaments like the World Series of Poker.

Martonas down another half million
10/01/2009 - Martonas the mystery man was back for more punishment on the Full Tilt high stakes cash game tables last night, and he or she found some of the Internet's best known nosebleed players present and only to willing to dish it out.

Final main event table set at WSOPE
10/01/2009 - Doyle 'Texas Dolly' Brunson has missed out on his eleventh WSOP bracelet in the 2009 World Series of Poker Europe, bundled out in seventeenth place after clashing with Daniel Negreanu and Brit player James Akenhead.

Zynga Poker packs ´em in
09/30/2009 - The Las Vegas land gambling venues deal approximately 11 million hands of poker a day; by comparison, the social networking games developer Zynga is currently dealing an average of 150 million hands of poker a day.

Mac-track your online poker
09/30/2009 - MacUpdate has announced the retail availability of Poker Copilot, touted as the only poker hand history analysis software for Mac OS X that supports both Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars, as well as cash games and tournaments.

High roller takes a hammering
09/30/2009 - The fortunes of mysterious high roller 'mantonas', who returned to the nosebleed tables at Full Tilt Poker this week after a two month absence and was up around $200 000, took a bad turn in recent clashes that have left the still unidentified online player down over half-a-million dollars.

WSOPE Main Event down to final 36 players
09/30/2009 - Railbird excitement is building at the Empire Casino in London's Leicester Square as the main event of the 2009 World Series of Poker Europe approaches final table stage, with 36 players competing for one of the nine seats.

Weak start for poker pros in "The Amazing Race"
09/29/2009 - We don'twant to spoil the fun for future viewers outside the USA of the exciting CBS television reality program 'The Amazing Race', so we'll forego the detail, but poker pros Maria Ho and Tiffany Michelle's performance on the recently screened first leg of the program was disappointing.

Pokerstars sets another new record
09/29/2009 - The world's biggest online poker site, PokerStars.com has done it again; with 307 016 players simultaneously playing on 42 814 virtual tables on September 6, the site set a new record, at the same time showcasing the continuing international popularity and demand for the online game.

Mystery Man´s return to high stakes tables
09/29/2009 - Back in August this year the big names in high risk/high value online cash games were flocking to the Full Tilt Poker nosebleed tables to get some of the action generated by a still unidentified Swedish high-roller using the handle 'martonas'.

Another 178 players in WSOPE Main Event
09/28/2009 - Day 1b registrations for the GBP 10 000 buy-in Main Event of the World Series of Poker Europe now playing at the Empire Casino in London reached 178 players, bringing total entries in the event to 334, many of them internationally known names in the game.

Hand histories on UltimateBet scandal to be released
09/27/2009 - Online poker giant Ultimatebet.com recently paid out some $22 million in compensation to players prejudiced by the shocking hole card cheating scandal at the site allegedly led by former WSOP champ Russ Hamilton

Roman games at WSOPE
09/27/2009 - Marching Romans in full armour, white horses drawing a gold chariot and Phil Hellmuth decked out as Julius Caesar, breastplate and all, had the crowds in London's Leicester Square gaping Saturday as Vegas razzmatazz invaded the immediate environs of the Empire Casino.

Great charity effort at WSOPE
09/26/2009 - Adding a unique interest to the World Series of Poker Europe in London this year was a successful attempt in aid of charity to set a new world record for continuous poker playing.

Ollie wins WPT Borgata Open
09/26/2009 - Big money attracts big players, and that was certainly in evidence at the World Poker Tour Borgata Open this week when 1 018 entrants signed up to compete for a main prize of $925 514.

IMG Sports renews WSOP marketing contract
09/26/2009 - IMG Sports & Entertainment and Harrah's Interactive Entertainment, Inc. have announced a four-year contract extension for global representation of the World Series of Poker property.

Finn defeats Lederer in London PLO event
09/26/2009 - Playing against a field of 154 that included some of the top players on the planet, Finn tournament and Internet high stakes cash game player Jani "kiiski" Vilmunen took down the third event in the World Series of Poker Europe championship currently running for its third year in London when he beat Howard Lederer in the heads up of the GBP 5 000 buy-in Pot Limit Omaha competition.

Mac friendly software for PKR
09/24/2009 - The UK-based 3D online poker site PKR.com took a competitive stride into the Apple-Mac user sector this week, announcing the release of a Mac compatible version of its popular software.

French Canadian wins WSOPE event
09/24/2009 - World Series of Poker and World Poker Tour veteran Eric Cajelais finally cracked a major title event this week at the World Series of Poker Europe when he won the $2 500 buy-in Pot-Limit Hold'em/Pot-Limit Omaha event, achieving his first WSOP bracelet and a main prize worth GBP104 677.

Another step forward for US poker
09/23/2009 - GameLogic Inc., the American company that introduced the PlayAway concept of online and land promotional gaming in the restrictive US gambling market, has launched a complementary product - Poker Play, a tournament-based poker system specifically developed for regulated U.S. casino and lottery operators.