Tag: poker

Poker Stars Launches New Brasil Poker Tour

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Poker Stars is renowned for its live poker tours visiting exotic locales across the globe to stir up some high-stakes poker tournament action. The recent addition to the barrage of PokerStars sponsored live poker tours takes players down to South America – Brazil, specificially. It’s called the Brasil Poker Tour and it currently features three stops, all taking place in Brazil.

The inaugural Brazilian poker tour event takes place in less than a month in Sao Paulo. BPT Sao Paul runs July 21 – 25, 2011 and features a buy-in of approximately $1,400 US (or R $2,000 + $300).

The second event of the new Brasil Poker Tour is BPT Florianopolis, taking place October 6 – 10, 2011 for the same buy-in as the BPT Sao Paulo main event.

The third event on the BPT Brasil schedule is the season one grand finale. The location, dates and buy-ins have yet to be announced.

The Brasil Poker Tour will not compete directly with the Latin American Poker Tour (LAPT), also a PokerStars enterprise. In much the same way that the relatively new Eureka Poker Tour is not a competitor to the European Poker Tour (EPT), but an offshoot of it, the BPT is an offshoot of the LAPT.

As is typical with PokerStars live poker tours, players can qualify for Brasil Poker Tour through satellite qualifier tournaments at the Poker Stars site. Prize packages include the main event buy-in, accommodations and some travel and expense funds. Even players in the United States can try to qualify for the Brasil Poker Tour at PokerStars.net, the free, play money sister site to PokerStars.com, which will be holding freeroll tournaments into the series’ events.

Report: Full Tilt Poker Sold

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The LA Times is reporting that European investors are poised to buy a majority stake in Pocket Kings, the parent company of Full Tilt Poker.  So far this is the only report on the matter, but the Times got this quote from Phil Ivey’s lawyer, David Chesnoff  “Mr. Ivey intends to dismiss his lawsuit as he believes Full Tilt is taking steps to see that the players are paid.”   No statements directly from Full Tilt Poker were obtained but the report says “Attorneys close to Full Tilt said that the deal reached Thursday was part of broader negotiations to clear up its legal problems with Alderney and U.S. prosecutors.”

This should be tentative good news for US players with money on Full Tilt Poker.  Any attempt to resurrect the brand should probably include paying players their outstanding balances.  The report does not name the investors in any detail, and does not go as far as to say that US players are guaranteed to be paid.

It seems a bit odd that the LA Times broke this story.  Usually news like this comes from more poker-centric sources.   The story does have a couple inaccuracies.  It states that three sites were “shut down” by the US government.  PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, and Absolute Bet. In one paragraph of the story they correctly mention that those “three” sites still operate outside the US and then in the next paragraph they call them “shut down”.

I am sure more information should become available soon.  Check Holdem Poker Chat for up to the date information

888 Poker Mixes in Casino Games With $1,000 Free Casino Mix-Up

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For those who like casino games almost as much as they like poker, 888 Poker presents the $1,000 Free Casino Mix-Up.

The 888Poker $1,000 Free Casino Mix-Up starts every Thursday. To qualify, players need only play one casino game of their choice at 888 Casino on any given Thursday between midnight and the minute before midnight. That qualifies you to play in the following Saturday’s $1,000 Free Casino Mix-Up tournament on 888 Poker. It starts at 17:00 GMT and can be found using the Restricted button under the Tournaments tab.

All eligible players – meaning those who play any online casino game at 888Casino on a Thursday – will be notified of their eligibility for the tournament that Friday. At 17:00 GMT on that Friday, registration will open for the following day’s freeroll tournament. The player pool is capped at 3,000 and it’s first come first served for registration.

You can practice for the $1,000 Free Casino Mix-Up at 888 Poker’s Double or Nothing Sit & Go tables. Tables of 8 or 10 players compete until only half the player pool remains, at which point each player remaining gets the buy-in of one of the people who busted out, in essence doubling their money. It’s a low-risk, high-reward way to prepare for your participation in the $1,000 freeroll. Buy-ins start as low as $2.50 + $0.35.

Or whet your chops for an upcoming $1,000 Free Casino Mix-Up by playing in a Private Tournament that you set up with other players you feel comfortable (perhaps confident, even) playing against, at stakes that match your bankroll and risk tolerance.

Cake Poker Qualifying Players for WPT Paris

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Cake Poker is now qualifying players for the World Poker Tour event coming up in Paris this September. Qualifiers for the WPT Grand Prix de Paris start on the 4th of July and go through August 28, 2011. On two of the dates in that period – July 31 and August 28, Cake Poker will give away at least one prize package valued at $12,500 into the WPT Paris main event.

These WPT Paris $12,500 Final satellites have a direct buy-in of $268 and will give out one prize package for every $268 in the pot. Each prize package includes the €7,500 seat in the WPT Grand Prix de Paris main event along with some expense money to spend as you like.

Instead of paying the $268 direct buy-in into the Final, you could win your seat there through a WPT Paris Semi-Final costing only $30 to buy-in. These take place thrice daily and award one final seat for every $268 in the pot. Alternatively, you can win your seat in the Semi-Final through a WPT Paris Satellite, costing only $5.50 to buy-in. These take place six times daily and give out one Semi-Final seat for every $30 in the pot.

Or you can win your seat in the Satellite through a WPT Paris Super Satellite costing only $1 to enter. These take place every four hours and give out one Satellite seat for every $5.50 in the pot. Lastly, you can win your seat in the Super Satellite through a WPT Paris Super Super Satellite costing only $0.20 to enter. These take place every two hours and give away one Super Satellite seat for every $1 in the pot.

US Online Gambling Laws Show Progress

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We are all familiar with the real estate saying “Location, Location, Location” with legislation the saying is “Timing, Timing, Timing”. Will this be the right timing for the legalization, licensing, taxing, and regulation for online gaming? We can all hope so.

It seems each week we hear of more politicians willing to put their vote behind bill HR 1174. To date it has 28 co-sponsors with representatives from both major political parties. We could see more bills attached to HR 1174: Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection, and Enforcement Act such as HR 2230 which specifically addresses the taxation of the gaming industry and has three sponsors. Future attachments could outline legalizing, licensing, and regulation. Republican Joe Barton of Texas is preparing a bill that would establish a new federal regulatory agency to oversee the websites. HR 2366: To establish a program for State licensing of Internet poker, and for other purposes. This bill has eleven cosponsors. But this bill would only apply to online poker. Our government officials seem to be motivated at this time with stimulating the U.S. economy and a H2 Gambling Capital study showed that online gaming could bring billions of tax dollars in the first five years and add 25,000 much needed jobs to the U.S. market.

California, Florida, New Jersey, District of Columbia, Pennsylvania, and Iowa are all looking at how to make online gaming profitable for their depleted state coffers. Allowing their residents to gamble through state lottery web sites or allowing residents to gamble online through tribal casinos, are only two ideas that are in discussion. A bill already signed by Nevada’s governor directs the Nevada Gaming Commission to prepare regulations and grant licenses to casinos so they can be ready when the federal government approves online gaming. Many states are anticipating that the federal government will pass legislation that legalizes and regulates online gaming and each state wants to ensure they will get their taxes from their residents.

We hope to see momentum pick up as more elected officials see that their constituents do indeed want to have the choice to gamble in their own homes. One way to get momentum started is by contacting your elected officials and to let them know where you stand on these pieces of legislation. You can call their office, send them an email or meet with them face to face. If you are a member of Poker Players Alliance they will usually contact you via email when important policies are being brought up.

The U.S. gaming community is in need of good news and though legalizing and regulating online gambling may take some time, what we are seeing now is a move in the right direction. We will continue to monitor news from all fronts and report the facts as we get them.

New Online Poker Bill Introduced to House

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There’s a new online poker bill going before the house, thanks to Republican U.S. Representative Joe Barton, who introduced it on Friday last, June 24, 2011, with the support of four of his Republican colleagues and six of his Democratic ones.

The bill would allow for the licensing, taxation and regulation of Internet poker, with licensure regulated by the U.S. Department of Commerce. The bill stipulated that certain concerns would have to be addressed should it become law, including how to prevent minors for playing at online poker sites and how to deal with gambling addiction. The bill also forbids the use of credit cards to fund online poker accounts, although an otherwise would-be supporter of such a bill, the Safe and Secure Internet Gambling Initiative, came out against it for this very reason, asserting that such restrictions were to stringent and had no place in such legislation.

The Poker Players Alliance, headed up by former Senator Alfonse D’Amato and the biggest poker lobbying organization in the country, is all in favor of the proposed legislation.

The name of Barton’s bill, or H.R. 2366, is the Internet Gambling Prohibition, Poker Consumer Protection, and Strengthening UIGEA Act of 2011. Among its co-sponsors is Barton’s fellow-Texan and a candidate for the Republican nomination for President of the United States, Ron Paul. Also on board, unsurprisingly, is Democratic Representative from Massachusetts, Barney Frank, who previous introduced two other bills before Congress to legalize online gambling, both of which went nowhere.

Legalized online poker in the U.S. took a big blow backward on April 15, 2011 when the U.S. Department of Justice raided several online poker operations for doing business in the United States, including three of the largest poker sites: Full Tilt Poker, Poker Stars and Absolute Poker.

Poker Stars The Big Game Returns Tonight

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Tonight, June 27th, 2011, the second season begins of Poker Stars The Big Game, a chance for 5 poker bigwigs and 1 poker unknown to face-off in high-stakes cash game action.

The 5 bigwigs starting of season 2 of The Big Game are David “Viffer” Peat, Tony G. (of Team Party Poker) Scott Seiver and Team PokerStars’ own Daniel Negreanu. Former NBA men’s basketball superstar Bobby Sura will also be at the table, which boasts a $100,000 buy-in. As will be Gonzales Cannon, the aptly-named first Loose Cannon of season 2, whose entry comes courtesy of Poker Stars.

The Loose Cannon of the week in The Big Game is a player who wins that spot via qualifier tournaments on the PokerStars site. The Loose Cannon is allowed to keep any amounts they win above $100,000 (the cost of their buy-in) at the end of the week. The lineup of pros and Loose Cannons alike changes each week. Upcoming stars to look for in future weeks of The Big Game, which airs now until August 5, include Phil Hellmuth, Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, Barry Greenstein Phil Laak, Jennifer Tilly, Vanessa Selbst and reigning World Series of Poker champion Jonathan Duhamel. Among the non-poker pro players appearing in future weeks of The Big Game Season 2 are Guy Laliberte, creator of Cirque du Soleil, and Nick Cassavetes, famous film director.

All episodes of The Big Game air on pokerstars.tv at noon on weekdays. Extra footage will also be available online, including detailed player statistics, unseen hands, and moments that couldn’t be shown on regular Internet television.

More First Time Winners at the 2011 WSOP

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WSOPWhile a lot of the attention has been on the bigger names in the 2011 World Series of Poker, such as Phil Hellmuth and John Juanda, there have been some very impressive first time winners of gold bracelets as well.  With the first 12 events being taken down by players who had never won a bracelet before; while Juanda was taking down the $10,000 2-7 No-Limit Draw Lowball Championship, a flurry of first time winners showed up once again.

It started with Event #13 a $1,500 No Limit Hold’em Shootout, as Andrew Badecker won his first gold bracelet.  This tournament format is set up so that the winner of each table moves on to the next round, and play another table until there is one winner.  1,440 players started, and every player who made day 2 was in the money.  The final table featured four bracelet winners in Erik Cajelais, Dan Kelly, David Pham, and Vitaly Lunkin, but it was Badecker who outlasted and outplayed all of them to take down the gold bracelet and $369,371.

Event #14 was just another new bracelet winner in Tyler Bonkowski who took down the $3,000 Limit Hold’em event.  The final table featured two fairly big names in Jeff Shulman and Shawn Keller.  Bonkowski started heads up play with a chip lead, but hit a bad stretch and fell to a 2,750,000 to 250,000 chip lead.  But Bonkowski battled back in what was one of the most impressive comebacks in World Series of Poker history, giving him the gold bracelet and $220,817.

Then came the Event #15 winner, a $1,500 Pot-Limit Hold’em event, which was taken down by  first time winner Brian Rast.  Rast actually admitted that he almost didn’t play in this event, but that Antonio Esfandiari offered to stake him in the event, with a portion of the winnings going to Esfandiari.  It played out to be a good move for both Rast and Esfandiari.  Rast won his first ever World Series of Poker gold bracelet, and $227,232 and Esfandiari won a portion of that for staking Brian Rast.

Since Juanda’s win was in Event #16, this made an incredible run of 15 straight first time bracelet winners, before a player who already owned a gold bracelet took one down.  This should leave the remainder of the events, as well as the big Main Event, anyones game.

Poker Stars Local Promotions, Leagues and Events

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PoekrstarsNo matter where you live in the world (as long as it’s not the United States) Poker Stars is likely to have a special promotion, league or tournament event just for you and your fellow countrymen (and countrywomen). To give you an idea, take a look at this sampling of current offerings.

The Causeway Freerolls promotion is open solely to players in Singapore and Malaysia. It’s made up tournaments that are free to enter but boast a $1,000 prize pool at each.

Or how about the Central & Eastern Europe Tournament Leader Board (or TLB for short)? Obviously open solely to players in Eastern and Central Europe this promotion examines your tournament performance on the site for an entire month to place you on a leaderboard where the top winners at the end of the month win special cash and prize awards.

There seems to be a Poker Stars league for nearly every region on the planet as well, with the Norwegian Poker League, Finnish Poker League and Australia and New Zealand Poker League currently running, each sending players to some their regions biggest live events.

Players in Canada can participate in a special Main Event Passport promotion just for Canadian players, offering winners their choice of seats in some of the world’s biggest live events.

There’s the Aftonbladet Sommar series for Swedish players who want to take their shot at seats in Estrellas Poker Tour events. And there’s Druskininkai for Lithiuanian players only, who will be playing for twice the prizes, as all players who win seats in the Druskininkai live event will also play there for a EPT prize package.

Poker Stars and Full Tilt Poker Update Player Software

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In the midst of all the political hullabaloo happening at Full Tilt Poker and Poker Stars, both sites are still doing all they can to continue improving the player experience at their tables, as evidenced by the recent release of new player software for both sites.

Full Tilt Poker has added a color-coding feature that allows you to tag different players with any of 15 different color codes for conveniently recalling at a glance each player’s playing style and personal weaknesses or tells.

There are a whole bunch of new poker variants in the FullTilt repertoire with this new update as well, including Cap variants of 7-Game through 10-Game mixed game tables. There are also Pot Limit tables available on 2-7 Triple Draw, with antes. And there’s now mixed limit versions of all HA games.

Both Full Tilt Poker and Poker Stars have introduced new automatically table closing features; at FullTilt it’s on sit and go tables and at PokerStars it’s at cash game tables after your next big blind passes.

Other additions to the player experience over at Poker Stars include a completely redesigned sit and go lobby including new Hyper-Turbo Cash Sit & Go tables. It’s now easier at Poker Stars to change your table layouts on the fly. And for easier reference while in the throes of a game, especially helpful when multi-tabling, Poker Stars now posts the name of the tournament and blind info in the title bar.

Poker Stars has also introduced a feature that allows you to subversively type in the chat or take down player notes without “stealing notice”.