Tag: poker

PokerStars Cuts Back One More Pro

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PokerstarsPokerStars just hangs out in the poker news these days, and a few times now it has related to them cutting back on their Team PokerStars Pros.  They’ve come back into the news once again, and it’s for that same thing, but it’s one player who is very well known on the live poker tournament circuit.  John Duthie is well-known in the poker game all around the world actually, but especially in Europe, where he created the European Poker Tour (EPT).  In a week that features Stars in the news for their recent changes to their site, including a change to their VIP program that featured protests all over the site; this news just comes on the top, and leaves many players asking if Duthie’s leave from the site has to do with the recent changes.

What makes this story even more interesting, is that quite a few players went onto the popular poker forum Two Plus Two, and voiced their opinion that the separation between Duthie and PokerStars had something to do with the protest between the players and the site this past week.  Many players feel strongly about Duthie, and the fact that he has made poker huge in Europe because of his creation of the EPT.  These rumors that were floating around though were quickly put to rest by Duthie after they began though.  He went onto the forum and stated that the split between the two had nothing to do with the situation that was currently going on, and also that the protest had nothing to do with this either.  The split also totally up to Duthie apparently, who decided that he had no interest in renewing a contract with Stars for the upcoming year.

Duthie’s creation of the EPT was just the start for the big named player, as he also has a total of $2,774,963 in live tournament winnings, with 13 World Series of Poker cashes under his belt as well.  Duthie jumped onto the scene back in 2000 when he took down the Poker Million, and a pay day of over $1.4 million for his efforts.  You can bet that we’ll still be seeing him on the live poker tournament scene in the coming years as well.

America’s Cardroom January Promotional Reminder

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The January 2012 promotional calendar at America’s Cardroom includes a weekend of double guarantees, a special $75k guaranteed tournament and the continuation of holiday cheer started at the end of last year.

Double Guarantees Weekend takes place at America’s Cardroom between Thursday, January 5 and Sunday, January 8. During that four-day period, every single guaranteed tournament will have double its normal guaranteed prize pool.

Then, on January 29, America’s Cardroom will host a special $75,000 guaranteed tournament. The buy-in is $100+9, although the site will be hosting satellites throughout the month for as little as $2+0.20.

The calendar may have changed year’s but America’s Cardroom started one promotion back in December of 2011 that is still running strong in January of 2012. That’s its Secret Santa contest in which each player can win up to $15,000 personally. Simply accumulate as many FPPs (Frequent Player Points) as you can at America’s Cardroom over the month of January, 2012. Earn at least 2,500 FPPs and win a guaranteed cash prize. Prizes go up from there as you accumulate more FPPs and surpass more milestones.

At some intervals, like 3,000 FPPs, 20,000 FPPs, 60,000 FPPs, 175,000 FPPs and 750,000 FPPs, the site will award players special mystery surprises in the way of randomly assigned cash awards of up to $10,000 each. By the time a player reaches the final milestone of 2,200,000 FPPs and attains its $2,000 prize, he or she will have amassed some $15k in cash.

Players do not have to turn in their FPPs to receive their Secret Santa rewards. Instead, players get to keep all the FPPs they earn in January as well as receive the prizes associated with them in this promotion.

Intertops Poker Hosts Match & Win Jackpot Edition

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In January, Intertops Poker is running a Jackpot Edition of its regular Match & Win game promotion. What makes this Jackpot Edition so special is the addition of a jackpot awarded to players who receive an Ace as one of the January gold cards.

Only January 2012 gold cards are eligible for the Jackpot Edition of the Match & Win game. Fortunately, there are multiple aces of each suit in the January 2012 deck, so there is ample opportunity for players to win. What’s more, each player can win each prize on the Match & Win game board, including each jackpot prize, once over the course of the month. That means if a player manages to collect all four aces, he or she will get $12,250 in instant cash prizes.

The Ace of each suit has a different instant cash prize associated with it. Each Ace of Clubs awards $250, each Ace of Diamonds awards $500, each Ace of Hearts awards $1,500 and each Ace of Spades awards $10,000.

Players earn gold cards at Intertops Poker’s real money cash game tables; tournaments and sit and gos do not qualify for gold cards. Players can also purchase gold cards at The Exchange, although gold cards obtained this way cannot be used for any Match & Win game prize, Jackpot Edition or otherwise.

Besides the instant jackpot for aces, Intertops Poker will award a number of other prizes, including cash, over the course of the month of January 2012 through other prize-winning gold cards and gold card combinations appearing on the January 2012 Match & Win game board.

PCA Main Event and High Roller Event To Feature Live Webcast

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2012 Pokerstars Caribbean AdventureThe PokerStars Caribbean Adventure has quickly become one of the most interesting and exciting poker tournaments offered, and they’ve done a little something to make their events even better overall.  Fans of the game of poker will get a great opportunity to be able to follow the action throughout the tournaments this upcoming year, with a live stream that will give players the chance to see hole-cards as well.  The stream will be on a 40-minute delay that players can see on PokerStars.tv.

Players who tune in will not only get to see all of the action and get to see the hole cards on the delay, but they will get analysis and live broadcast from the likes of Joe Stapleton, James Hartigan, and a poker player who a few people may know the name of, Daniel Negreanu.  It will feature the final tables of two events with huge buy-ins, the $10,300 Main Event, and one of the largest buy-in tournaments on the planet in the $25,500 buy-in High Roller event.

The PCA Main Event draws in a huge number of players in especially the past two years.  The event has had over 1,500 players each year, and the first place prize for last years winner, Galen Hall, was over $2.3 million, which probably comes in second to about one other tournament series; the World Series of Poker.  For this coming year, there are actually a total of 800 players registered already, and there’s a chance that this could be one of the largest events in their history.

As far as the High Roller event goes, it has been around since back in 2009 and last season featured 151 players.  Last years winner was Will Molson who won over $1 million for beating out those 150 other players.  While this event is obviously a huge buy-in, PokerStars has actually decided to go even bigger in 2012.  They are introducing a $100k Super High Roller tournament, that already has a total of 20 players registered including names like Negreanu himself, Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, Brian Rast, Dan Shak, David Sands, Jason Mercier, Jonathan Duhamel, and many other big names as well.

Action for the PCA will kick off on January 5th and runs through January 14th.

Ben Lamb Takes Down Two POY Awards

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ben lambI don’t think there’s much of a doubt that most of the poker world feels that Ben Lamb was one of the best players in the world this past year.  Lamb was absolutely incredible at the 2011 World Series of Poker, and for his efforts across the board, he has taken down not one, but TWO player of the year awards.  What’s even more impressive about this though?  Try the fact that Lamb is now only the second player in history to win both the World Series of Poker Player of the Year Awards, AND the Card Player Magazine Player of the Year Award.  Lamb made poker look easy at the WSOP this year, and you can bet that this won’t be the last time that we hear his name come up in the talks for Player of the Year.

There were obviously quite a few things that make winning these awards so impressive, but part of it is the fact that Lamb’s efforts at the WSOP were definitely enough to win the WSOP POY Award, but the Card Player Magazine POY Award is based on many different events throughout the year.  Lamb’s cashes this past year came over a span of three weeks at the World Series, but they were so impressive that it locked him in for both awards.  The WSOP Award is over a span of the 55+ Events, which Lamb pulled in results that were almost numbing to read.

For starters, let’s look at his cashes in WSOP Events.  The first came on the 17th of June with a 2nd place, $259,918 payday in a $3k event.  After that he entered two $10k events in the Pot Limit Omaha Championship, and the No Limit Hold’em Six Handed tournament; he went on to win the PLO event to take home $814,436, and finished in 12th in the NLHE for $56,140.  After that came the month of July, in which Lamb pulled in a total of around $4.2 million in winnings, thanks to an 8th place finish in the $50k Players Championship, and his third place finish worth $4 million alone in the Main Event.

For those fans out there who are curious, the only other player to pull off this feat is the great Daniel Negreanu, and this was back in 2004.  Keep an eye out for Lamb in the coming years, as he’s definitely one of the best players in the game today.

Four People Arrested For Robbing Duhamel

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Last week there was an interesting story released about the home invasion and robbery of a winner of one of the largest online poker tournaments out there, the 2012 World Series of Poker Main Event.  The report said that two men rang the doorbell of Duhamel’s home in Montreal, Quebec at about 9:15am on the 21st, and the men forced their way into his house and beat the man.  They also stole his WSOP gold bracelet, an engraved rolex, and quite a bit of money.

Four people have been arrested for the incident now though for the crime.  It was three men and one woman who were involved, and the first arrest came on the 24th of December, which was a 20 year old woman that was charged with conspiracy.  After that two men, ages 22 and 26, were arrested for attacking Duhamel, and they were charged with breaking and entering, forcible confinement, assault, and possession of stolen goods.  The fourth and final arrest came on the 29th, and it was a 20 year old male.

The arraignment came on the 28th for three of the four suspects at the Longueuil Courthouse.  The Rolex that was stolen from Duhamel was recovered, but his World Series of Poker gold bracelet is still MIA, which has led to Duhamel offering a reward of $10,000 for any information about the thieves and the recovery of the items that were taken from him.

After the incident Duhamel dialed 911 and was taken directly to to the hospital.  After the incident occurred, he released a statement saying that he “spent the night at the hospital and was black and blue all over but had no broken bones, no blood clots, and nothing to worry about.”  He also went on to state that he was exhausted but happy to be alive.

It’s definitely good to see that the four people involved in this situation were arrested, and it helps raise the awareness of how careful poker players need to be in general, and that especially includes if they are able to take down big prizes like the $8.9 million grand prize that Duhamel took down at the World Series!

Three Men Who Robbed Poker Game Indicted

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poker robberyThere was an older report that came out about a poker game that was robbed in Ithaca, New York back on November 15th, and it seems that the three men who were involved with the robbery have finally been indicted for the incident.  The game was being played at the Hair Graphics East salon, in the East Hill Plaza in Ithaca, and it was said that the game typically drew in around 36 players on average.  The original report about the incident stated that it included a “$40 ante”, which most likely means that the buy-in for the game was $40.  The players were still playing after midnight on the 15th, but there were only about 12 still remaining in the game, and this is when everything went down.

Three men stormed through the back door of the salon, and came in with their faces covered by bandanas, and one player holding a handgun.  The men ordered everyone to get on the ground, and to hand over all money, their wallets, and cell phones.  Things didn’t exactly go to plan from that point on though, as one of the men held a gun to one of the players’ heads, and then player then went on to tell him to “shoot me, I’m not scared to die”.  This odd response apparently worked, as the men seemed a bit confused by what was going on, and one of the players then sprinted out of the back door yelling for police.

The three men then took off into a silver Nissan, but the players got the license number and called it into the police.  The men were caught about seven miles down the road, and were eventually arrested.

This is where the story concludes, as the three men were indicted this week for robbing the game.  The three men were Eric R. Cruz, Antonio C.J. Padin, and Robert J. Johnson Jr.  Cruz is 23 years old, Padin is 25 years old, and Johnson Jr. is 26 years old, and all three were indicted on charges of First Degree Robbery, Second Degree Robbery, Second Degree Burglary, and Fourth Degree Conspiracy.

The amount of time that these three men could serve in jail could range between 12 to 59 years, and the arraignments are set for January 6th of this coming year.

Poker Stars Kicks Off New Year With New Events: Live And Online

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Poker Stars is kicking off 2012 with the addition of several new events to its lineup, including three new stops on the European Poker Tour Season 8 schedule and a new online poker championship series, Turbo style.

Let’s start with the new live poker action sponsored by Poker Stars. Season 8 of the site’s European Poker Tour kicks off with the usual PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in early January. As Winter progresses, the EPT will head to Deauville, France and Copehagen, Denmark, always normal stops on the EPT schedule. But now is when things get new and interesting, as Poker Stars adds EPT stops in Madrid, Spain March 12-17; Campione in the Lugano-Como-Milan region of Italy March 26-31; and Berlin, Germany April 16-21, all of which will include a €5,000 + €300 main event.

As for new online excitement to start this year off right, just as players will be returning home from the PCA, they’ll be able to sit down at the TCOOP, or the Turbo Championship of Online Poker. Like the World Championship of Online Poker, WCOOP, and the Spring Championship of Online Poker, SCOOP, this is a multiday, multievent series. Specifically it’s a 50-event, 11-day turbo tournament extravaganza with events in all buy-in ranges, all poker types, all tournament types, all table structures and all betting structures. If there’s a way to play poker, there’s a turbo tournament for it in PokerStars’ new TCOOP, running January 19-29 with a $1.5 million guaranteed main event and a total $10 million guaranteed prize pool overall.

A Gift from the DoJ: Internet Lotteries (and Poker?) Are Legal

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The United States Department of Justice (“DoJ”) has given the online gaming community a big, big present, made public two days before Christmas.  President Barack Obama’s administration has just declared, perhaps unintentionally, that almost every form of intra-state Internet gambling is legal under federal law, and so may be games played interstate and even internationally.

Technically, the only question being decided was “Whether proposals by Illinois and New York to use the Internet and out-of-state transaction processors to sell lottery tickets to in-state adults violate the Wire Act.”  But the conclusion by the DoJ that the Wire Act’s “prohibitions relate solely to sport-related gambling activities in interstate and foreign commerce,” eliminates almost every federal anti-gambling law that could apply to gaming that is legal under state laws.

If the Wire Act is limited to bets on sports events and races, what other federal anti-gambling statutes are left?  There are prohibitions on interstate lotteries, but Powerball and the other multi-state lotteries show how easily these can be gotten around, even before Congress passed an express exemption for state lotteries.  And poker is not a lottery under federal law.

So, all that are left are the federal laws designed to go after organized crime.  These all require that there first be a violation of another law, like the Wire Act, the federal anti-lottery statutes, or a state anti-gambling law.  If a state has expressly legalized intra-state games like poker, as Nevada and the District of Columbia have done, there is simply no federal law that could apply.

If the bettors and operator are all in the same state, and the gambling does not involve a sports event or race, the Wire Act cannot be used against the operator, even if phone wires happen to cross into another state.  And if the state legislature has made the online game legal, it does not violate any other federal anti-gambling law.

I suppose it is possible that the DoJ could argue that poker is a “sporting event or contest.”  But the language of the Wire Act prohibits “information assisting in the placing of bets or wagers ON any sporting event or contest.”  If poker is a contest, it is one where players bet IN the contest, not on it.  Anyway, the DoJ held that the Wire Act was designed to go after bookies taking bets on horse races and football games, etc., not other forms of gambling.  And even the DoJ would not argue that a game like blackjack is a sporting event or contest.

In a footnote, the DoJ expressed no opinion about the provision in the Wire Act that allows prosecutors to shut down phone lines where true interstate or foreign gambling is taking place.  But, since the DoJ has now concluded that every other section of the Wire Act applies only to races and sports events, it would be truly bizarre to believe that Congress intended only this one section to apply to other forms of gambling.

This means there may be nothing preventing states from making compacts with other states, and even foreign nations, once they have legalized an online game, like poker.  If Nevada and the District of Columbia want to take Internet poker players from each other, what federal law would they be violating?  And, if they agreed that their residents could bet with licensed poker operators in, say, Antigua and England, while residents of those nations could bet with poker operators in Nevada and Washington, we know they would not be violating the Wire Act, or the anti-lottery laws, or any of the federal prohibitions which require that the gambling be illegal under a state’s laws.

The immediate beneficiaries will be the D.C. Lottery and Nevada-licensed private operators, since those jurisdictions are the furthest ahead.  The state lotteries in Illinois, New York and New Hampshire will also initiate or expand their online games.  After all, most of the provincial lotteries in Canada are already operating Internet poker.

I believe this will be a major incentive for the other states looking at legalizing intra-state poker and other games.  First will probably be Iowa.  The State Legislature mandated a report, which has already been submitted, concluding that intra-state poker can be operated safely and will raise money.  The Iowa Legislature meets for a short period at the beginning of the year, so it has to act quickly, or it will be passed by other states in 2012.

Those other states are California and New Jersey.  California is desperate for any source of revenue, and it has so much legal gambling that the only question is which operators are going to be the big winners.  The Democratic-controlled Legislature in New Jersey approved intra-state online gaming, but the bill was vetoed by Gov. Chris Christie (R.-NJ).  Christie understands his state need the money, so he will probably help put the issue on the ballot in November.  Last month, the voters of New Jersey approved sports betting.  There is no reason they would not also approve Internet casinos.  It will be interesting to see if the main author, state senator Ray Lesniak (D.-Union), will limit online patrons to New Jersey, as his original bill stated, or, if he will accept players from any other state and nation where Internet gambling is legal.

Once these jurisdictions open their online games, even if limited to players who are physically within the state, operators will push for compacts to allows interstate Internet poker among the legal states.  And other states, like Florida, will jump on the bandwagon.

What impact will all this have on proposed federal laws?  Proponents are trying to spin the DoJ opinion.  The Poker Players Alliance stated, “However, this ruling makes it even more important that Congress act now to clarify federal law, and to create a licensing and regulation regime for Internet poker, coupled with clear laws and strong enforcement against other forms of gambling deemed to be illegal.”  But the reality is that Congressional advocates, like Barney Frank (D.-Mass.) and Joe Barton (R.-Tx.), have had some of the wind knocked out of their sails.  Since states are now clearly free to legalize intra-state online poker, and perhaps even interstate, there is not as much reason to even bother with a federal law.  Only the major operators, like Caesars Entertainment, need a federal law, because they don’t want to be competing with politically connected local gaming companies for limited numbers of licenses in 50 states.

Opponents, like Jon Kyl (R.-AZ) and Frank Wolf (R.-VA), might get some leverage for their attempts to expand the Wire Act to cover all forms of gambling.  But, as I have pointed out (to the consternation of some who have donated money hoping for a federal Internet gambling law), Congress has passed literally no substantive laws since the Republicans took over the House of Representatives in January 2009.  There is as little chance of this Congress passing a new Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act as there is its passing a repeal of the UIGEA.

The interesting question is what the Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate, Harry Reid (D.-NV) and Kyl, the number two Republican in the Senate, will do.  They had sent a letter asking the DoJ for clarification of its position on Internet gambling.  They now have their answer, though it may not have been what they had wanted.

My bet is that they, and Congress, will continue to do nothing, while Internet gambling explodes across the nation, made legal under state laws.

Republished with permission © Copyright 2011, I. Nelson Rose, Prof. Rose is recognized as one of the world’s leading experts on gambling law, and is a consultant and expert witness for governments and industry.  His latest books, Internet Gaming Law (1st and 2nd editions), Blackjack and the Law and Gaming Law: Cases and Materials, are available through his website, www.GamblingAndTheLaw.com.

WSOP Main Event Winner Gets Robbed

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In some shocking news, a former World Series of Poker Main Event winner is in the middle of an alleged assault on Wednesday morning.  Jonathan Duhamel is one of the best up and coming young stars in the poker world, and is best known for winning the 2010 WSOP Main Event, and taking home the $8.9 million grand prize for it.  On top of the alleged assault, his home was also the target in a home invasion as well.  No one has made statements about it except for Duhamel’s agent, Phillipe Jette, who made a few remarks that help prove the truth in this story.

Jette said that Duhamel was injured during the incident, and made statements like that his “Christmas photos won’t be the prettiest”, and also that “getting out of bed will be particularly hard tomorrow”.

There hasn’t bee anyone specifically named  in this assault yet, but the story is that two men went to a house on Wednesday morning at 9:15am in Boucherville.  The two men then rang the door bell and this led to them assaulting the man who opened the door.  It was an armed assault, and no one has stated if there was anything taken from the house by the two men who were involved.

Duhamel has had quite a bit of success in the poker world, which obviously all starts with his $8.9 million payday.  After winning the Main Event, he went on to travel around the world and play in many different poker tournaments.  He won over $600k on his trip, and is also a part of Team PokerStars Pro roster as well.

You never want to hear a story about any type of assault, but this is not the first time that a poker player has been in the midst of a situation like this.  Doyle Brunson wrote about his run in with a home invasion and assault, and Greg Raymer was also once nearly robbed at the Bellagio as well.  Obviously before any final conclusions are made, we’ll have to see what exactly happened, but this is a story that is definitely worth keeping your eye on.