Poker forum archive

yep,updated and was simple and painless.all funds etc there and all the same but the name. yeehaw


Thats great news.

And the Nr:1 Pokerstars 😉

(press release) Online poker network giant, iPoker has kicked off satellite qualifiers, through its partnering card rooms, that award seats at four online poker tournaments with a total prize pool of $1,000,000 guaranteed. The fourth tournament will freeze in the online stage and resume at a live event in Prague.

The iPoker Online Poker Series, or iPOPS, launches on November 28, 2011 with the first event - a $200,000 guaranteed tournament. Three more events will follow, culminating on December 4 with a $500,000 guaranteed freezout. The action will pause when only 27 players remain and the tournament will continue at a live event at the Ambassador Casino, Prague on December 10. The finalists will receive an all-inclusive travel package including five-star hotel accommodation and spending money.

This is the first event iPoker has ever hosted, through its partners, with an offline grand finale. Players can qualify for the four iPOPs main events at round-the-clock satellites for as little as 10c. Weekly mega satellites will award over 100 seats to Events #1 and #4.

On top of the online poker tournaments, the iPoker Network is also hosting Super Satellites, through its partners, three times a week that award winners travel packages to Prague. The winners will be able to participate in the iPOPS Live -- the main competition at the live event. The package includes the EUR770 buy-in to the main event, accommodation and spending money. Players can qualify for as little as 11c.

All of the iPOPs online events are available at iPoker's participating partner card rooms such as Titan Poker.

Smartphone technology, “oh where oh where is my favorite online slots game”? The masses are crying out loud and there is no denying before long, U.S. players your favorite online casino could be as close as the phone in your pocket.

Louis Castle, chief strategy officer for Shuffle Master Inc., a Las Vegas-based company, agrees and says, ”It’s definitely the next frontier for gaming!”

This month, the company will launch Shuffle Interactive, which will offer online versions of its games for phones, mobile devices and computers.

Their casino games will be modified visually to work on whatever device a player is using, says Castle, who helped developed computer games such as “Command and Conquer” and “Blade Runner” before joining Shuffle Master.

“We’re going to be working with other people’s sites as well, and ultimately applications for mobile and social networks,” he says.

Bally Technologies has also taken some of their most popular games from the casino floor and introduced them as “Play-For-Fun” on most smart phones (excluding Blackberry) and tablets such as iPad.

Bally’s claims, “millions of people use the mobile apps and mobile websites that we have created for dozens of casinos around the world, and tens of thousands more people download these apps each week.”

We here at CSR, recently wrote an article, Increase in Tablet and Smart-phone Sales, Boosts Mobile Gambling Boom, where research has pointed out that the massive increase in sales of these devices has started like a snowball rolling downhill, and it will affect the online gambling market to a huge degree.

According to the metrics provided by Nielsen, 44 per cent of mobile phone users in the US now own smartphones, with females leading the way with 51 per cent, and with a 62% increase of app usage among smartphone users.

Zynga is making millions if not billions of dollars offering games on Android and iPhone mobile devices, so it only makes sense that the U.S. has to see that the regulation and legalization of online gambling is going to be a good bet.

Recently, as reported, “Powerful and wealthy political forces are pushing Congress to repeal the 2006 Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act. They even hope to slip a repeal measure quietly into a bill as Congress rushes to pass legislation this month.”

In addition, a few cash-strapped states are moving toward legalizing this highly addictive type of gambling within their borders.

So we hope to hear you weigh in on this subject and express your concerns and opinions as to the “next frontier” in mobile gambling.

The World Poker Tour Venice has reached its final table in Italy with just six players remaining from 213 entrants.

Those vying for the top prize of $255,842 in this €3,300 buy in event at Casino Di Venezia are:

Seat 1: Edoardo Alescio – 1,714,000
Seat 2: Michele Caroli – 2,097,000
Seat 3: Andrea Dato – 461,000
Seat 4: Andrea Benelli – 1,143,000
Seat 5: Steve O’Dwyer – 501,000
Seat 6: Alex Dovzhenko – 480,000

1: $255,842
2: $125,740
3: $86,990
4: $56,822
5: $45,087
6: $35,585

Final table results and payouts will be available at CardPlayer.com on Monday.

Yesterday, it was announced that poker superstar Joe Hachem and PokerStars have decided not to renew his PokerStars Team Pro contract, which expired recently.

The Lebanese-Australian pro has been a true ambassador for PokerStars over the past few years and it would seem his parting was also amicable, too. As the 45 year-old father of four explains:

“It’s been a great run with PokerStars and I’m proud of my association with the people and the company. But it’s time for me to pursue other career opportunities and it will be fun to have some down time to spend with my family. I look forward to the future with much excitement and anticipation and will always have fond memories of my time at PokerStars.”

Joe Hachem won the WSOP Main Event in 2005 for $7.5 million and was signed by the online poker giant the same year. Hachem then followed his golden year with $2,644,958 in earnings for 2006, including a win at the WPT Five Diamonds Poker Classic for $2,207,575.

Since then, Joe Hachem has plotted a steady course and in 2007 won $255,271, in 2008 won $214,719, in 2009 won $111,600, in 2010 won $105,829, and so far in 2011 has earned $377,256. Joe Hachem now sits at number 9 on ‘Poker’s All Time Money List’ with $11,339,302 in live tournament winnings, with his nearest Aussie rival Antanas Guoga way back in 81st on $4,448,990.

Commenting on Hachem tenure as part of Team Australia, Head of Corporate Communications for PokerStars Eric Hollreiser said:

“Joe has been a terrific endorser for PokerStars over the years, and while we are sad to see him leave the Team we are looking forward to continuing to watch him play. We thank him for all he’s done for our brand and for poker and we wish him all the best at the poker table and in life.”

Some analysts are calling a contentious move to make poker rooms completely anonymous a plus in the right direction while others aren’t so happy with the clean slate approach.
Bodog recently released its recreational poker model by launching a new poker software. The new approach software removed all identifying data from their poker room creating a scenario where no player has unfair artificial advantage over another.

Jonas Ödman, Vice President of the Bodog Network , considers this latest move to be an “industry game changer”, as well as providing players with some of the best software in the business this very well may be the newest trend in the online poker industry.
Ödman explained “The only way to grow poker is to attract more recreational players and to give them a good player experience. That is what Bodog Recreation Poker Model is all about, and November’s software release was a big step in the right direction.”

As for the players polls conducted by the Calvin Ayre gang have suggested that it will be good thing for poker players to have poker rooms without identifying features. The poll results came up with 54% of the votes saying ‘yes while 45% did not think it was a good idea. Divided in almost equal camps, it’s obvious from the strong turnout to make their opinion known that this is an issue that will require more study and possibly more poker rooms attempting the same.
The move from the Bodog poker room is something that definitely sounds good from a concept standpoint .Bodog implemented new technology last September that would keep recreational poker players statistical information under wraps in an attempt to safeguard the recreational player from info mongers who seek to take advantage of the data collected. It is simply a more ethical way to present the game and for some players that means a lot.

The latest in the deal between Full Tilt Poker and Groupe Tapie is that the two have agreed to transfer assets, bringing the beleaguered online poker room one step closer to paying back the millions owed to its players.

Groupe Bernard Tapie, the French investment group, will acquire assets belonging to Full Tilt Poker from the US Department of Justice for $80 million. In return, the US authorities have agreed to dismiss the civil complaints “for forfeiture against the Full Tilt Poker companies”. It is important to stress that only the charges against the business as a whole will be dropped and that the charges against individuals such as Chris Ferguson, Ray Bitar and Howard Lederer remain in place and are not part of the deal.

The Department of Justice stands in the middle of this deal and will be the body to begin the reimbursement of Full Tilt Poker players once the transfer of assets actually takes place. Players will have to file their claims directly to the US authorities and request reimbursement of funds, and it is expected that the payout process will not be a simple or speedy matter. It is believed that players will need to provide evidence of the source of funds that they used to make deposits, as well as records of deposits and withdrawals at the site and, most importantly, prove compliance with federal income tax laws.

Recently it was reported that the deal was given the green light by a majority of Full Tilt Poker shareholders as well as the group’s owners.

A reputable poker software news site is reporting that a software company has allegedly been able to decipher the latest innovation by the online poker site Bodog – their “anonymous” table option – and is offering this information to the public.

Earlier this month, Bodog became the latest company to introduce these tables, which identify players only by individual numbers instead of a traceable name. The innovation has led to some criticism from players, especially those who use Heads-Up Displays, track their performance through programs like PokerTracker and who track their opponents as well. In the article written by David Huber on PokerSoftware.com, HH Smithy, a company that sells bulk hand histories to online players and attempts to determine what online poker sites learn about the players, reports that they have allegedly figured out how to break the “anonymous” nature of the tables.

In a post on the HH Smithy blog entitled “Security Through Obscurity,” the site contends that Bodog said that their version of the “anonymous” tables couldn’t be cracked. The organization took it as a challenge when a Bodog representative stated on TwoPlusTwo, “Bodog NEVER sends (player) information to the tables, there is NOTHING to intercept. That information stays on the server side for reporting and security.”

HH Smithy, who also allegedly was able to crack the PartyPoker version of an “anonymous” table system through allegedly using similar methods at Bodog, states that it took them less than three hours to hack their way through the data and make the “anonymous” players identifiable.

According to HH Smithy (and in layman’s terms), Bodog basically sends data through its system to the user’s computer, so that the systems will interact correctly (AKA, play poker). HH Smithy alleges that Bodog doesn’t encrypt this information at all and instead depends on the possibility that the user will not analyze this information in depth. If a user has some knowledge of computer coding, then the information that is transferred to the tables can be cracked.

The website reports that this is a common mistake by companies, even those with a tremendous amount of expertise in the field. The recent PlayStation Network hacking – where critical data regarding players’ personal information was hacked – is an example that HH Smithy compares the Bodog situation with.

For a website with a short history, HH Smithy has been able to attack many of the popular online poker sites in the industry. In addition to their alleged Bodog and PartyPoker “anonymous” table cracking, they have also claimed to point out security issues at the former site Full Tilt Poker, which allegedly picked up a user’s Windows Product Key. The product key is used to activate an owner’s version of Windows; if this is stolen and used by others, Microsoft can disable that (and your) usage of Windows remotely at the minimum, even though you haven’t done anything wrong.

TwoPlusTwo has been abuzz with the details of the HH Smithy announcement since December 5 – when the original HH Smithy blog piece was written – with many players concerned about the security issue. Several posters on the boards have put up a response template from Bodog that stated, “As per the anonymity of our Poker tables, for the vast majority of our players, they will not know who they are playing against as they can’t see a screen name or account number while at the tables; however, if someone wants to and has the technical skills to develop the software you saw on the forum they are able to…we are confident this will only be pursued in very isolated cases between now and a future upgrade which will prevent it from working.”

As of today, several players have reported that the “future upgrade” from Bodog that would correct this situation has yet to be created.

Michaël Gathy is the winner of the PokerStars Belgian Poker Series €1,500 + €200 buy-in Grand Final in Namur.

The Belgian topped a field of 538 including his final opponent Pascal Junkar on his way to collecting the €175,000 top prize.

Here are the results and payouts:

1. Michaël Gathy (Belgium) €175,000
2. Pascal Junkar (France) €105,000
3. Stéphane Buzzo (Belgium) €63,250
4. Ferdinando D’Alessio (Belgium) €46,502
5. Rolando Camardes (Italy) €35,500
6. Mohamed Elhamdi (Belgium) €27,500
7. Olivier Brismee (Belgium) €20,500
8. Carlo Vanseer (Belgium) €14,500
9. Diren Yildiz (Belgium) €10,300

The Grand Final ran from Dec. 10-18 in Namur.

The 2011 World Poker Tour Venice had its final table on Sunday and the final six players were vying for the title plus €175,000 in first-place prize money. Leading the way into the last day was Michele Caroli, but he wouldn't be the one walking away with the title. The man who claimed victory at the end of it all was Edoardo Alescio after he defeated Steve O'Dwyer heads-up.

Final Table Payouts
Place Player Prize
1 Edoardo Alescio €175,000*
2 Steve O'Dwyer €95,530
3 Michele Caroli €66,090
4 Andrea Dato €43,170
5 Andrea Benelli €34,254
6 Alexander Dovzhenko €27,035

On Monday, PokerStars announced the creation of a new tournament series that will have online grinders drooling all over their keyboards next month. The Turbo Championship of Online Poker (TCOOP) will kick off on Jan. 19 featuring 50 events with a variety of different games in a fast-paced turbo blind structure. The series will conclude on Sunday, Jan. 29, with a $700 buy-in Main Event followed by a $215 Hyper-Turbo "Wrap Party" event.

Buy-ins for the inaugural TCOOP range from $5 all the way to the $2,100 High Roller, which will also take place on Sunday, Jan. 29. Players can find at least four tournaments each day until the series' completion.

Here's a look at the full schedule of the Turbo Championship of Online Poker:

Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012
Event 1: $22 NL Hold'em [6-Max]
Event 2: $33 NL Omaha Hi/Lo
Event 3: $134 NL Hold'em [Knockout]
Event 4: $33 NL Hold'em

Friday, Jan. 20, 2012
Event 5: $22 PL Draw
Event 6: $55 NL Hold'em [6-Max, Shootout]
Event 7: $22 NL Hold'em [Rebuys]
Event 8: $55 NL Hold'em [Big Antes, 2x Chance]

Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012
Event 9: $55 PL Omaha [Knockout]
Event 10: $21 NL Hold'em [Rebuys, 3x-Turbo]
Event 11: $109 NL Hold'em [Heads-Up]
Event 12: $33 Triple Stud
Event 13: $33 TCOOP Special — Saturday Speedway

Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012
Event 14: $55 NL Omaha Hi/Lo [6-Max, 2R1A]
Event 15: $55 NL Hold'em [6-Max, Hyper-Turbo]
Event 16: $55 NL Hold'em [Knockout]
Event 17: $109 NL Hold'em [1R1A]
Event 18: $22 PL Omaha [6-Max, Rebuys, 2x Turbo]
Event 19: $215 TCOOP Special — Sunday Supersonic [Hyper-Turbo]

Monday, Jan. 23, 2012
Event 20: $55 PL Omaha [6-Max, 1R1A]
Event 21: $44 NL Hold'em [4-Max]
Event 22: $82 FL Omaha Hi/Lo
Event 23: $153 NL Hold'em [6-Max, Hyper-Turbo]

Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012
Event 24: $109 PL Omaha Hi/Lo [6-Max]
Event 25: $215 NL Hold'em
Event 26: $22 Stud
Event 27: $22 NL Hold'em [Rebuys, 2x-Turbo]

Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012
Event 28: $82 NL Hold'em [2x Chance]
Event 29: $109 NL Hold'em [Shootout]
Event 30: $11 PL Omaha [6-Max, Rebuys, 3x Turbo]
Event 31: $22 Stud Hi/Lo

Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012
Event 32: $33 NL Hold'em
Event 33: $55 NL Hold'em [Rebuys, 2x-Turbo]
Event 34: $22 Stud
Event 35: $215 NL Hold'em [2x Chance]

Friday, Jan. 27, 2012
Event 36: $82 NL Hold'em [6-Max]
Event 37: $55 PL Omaha [6-Max, 2R1A]
Event 38: $55 NL Hold'em [Ante Up!]
Event 39: $109 FL Hold'em [6-Max]

Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012
Event 40: $109 HORSE
Event 41: $109 PL Omaha [Heads-Up]
Event 42: $33 NL Hold'em [Rebuys, 2x Turbo]
Event 43: $109 NL Omaha Hi/Lo [6-Max, Hyper-Turbo]
Event 44: $33 TCOOP Special — Saturday Speedway

Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012
Event 45: $109 NL Hold'em
Event 46: $215 NL Hold'em
Event 47: $2,100 NL Hold'em [High Roller]
Event 48: $320 8-Game
Event 49: $700 NL Hold'em Main Event
Event 50: $215 TCOOP Wrap Party [Hyper-Turbo]

For full information, including a schedule of satellites to each event, visit the Turbo Championship of Online Poker web site. (Pokerstars

Sees 2011 clean EBIDTA beating market estimates

* Analysts forecast 2011 EBIDTA at $39.7 mln

* Sees 2012 results slightly ahead of current market view

Dec 19 (Reuters) - British online gaming company 888 Holdings Plc. said it expects core profit for 2011 to be significantly above market expectations, aided by strength in its casino and poker businesses.

Cash-strapped Britons are staying at home more, watching TV and gambling online, updates from consumer-facing companies showed, as fears grow that the UK will slip back into recession.

The company, which operates 888 casino, poker, sport and bingo brands, said on Monday it would invest in several newly-regulated markets across Europe.

"This significant strategic investment, along with the increases in gaming duty, will have an impact on the group's profit expectations. However, the board still expects results for the year ending Dec. 31 2012 to be slightly ahead of current market expectations," 888 said in a statement.

Several online gambling companies have been seeking to break national monopolies in a number of EU countries -- a lucrative market with revenues of 80 billion euros in 2010.

888 shares, which have fallen 36 percent so far this year, closed at 35 pence on Friday on the London Stock Exchange, valuing the company at about 125 million pounds.

The death of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il dominated the headlines on Monday. We hope you weren't among the many who thought it was actually rapper Lil' Kim who perished. In poker news, we learned that Phil Ivey's ex-wife collected millions of dollars in assets from the couple's 2009 divorce settlement, and former world champ Peter Eastgate is a sick, sick human. We'll cover those stories and more in this edition of the Nightly Turbo.

In Case You Missed It

The Epic Poker League crowned its third Main Event champion on Sunday. Find out which player emerged from the star-studded field in our final table recap.

Did you miss Sunday's coverage of the World Series of Poker Europe on ESPN 2? Check out our recap for the details.

How did Kevin "ImaLuckSac" MacPhee get his start in poker? Find out that and more in Part 1 of the latest Seat Open series.

One lucky player earned a seven-figure payday by winning PokerStars' 10th Anniversary Sunday Million. Find out who it was in our recap.

The 2011 World Poker Tour Venice Main Event came to a close on Sunday. Edoardo Alescio defeated Steve O'Dwyer for the title and more than €200,000.

How did the Sunday Majors play out on PokerStars? Who took home the biggest win? Find out in the Sunday Briefing.

A Purse Collection That Would Make Beth Shak Jealous

On Monday, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported some interesting details about Phil Ivey's ugly divorce case. The eight-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner filed a response to his wife's petition back in November in which she claimed there was judicial bias in their 2009 divorce settlement.

According to Phil Ivey's attorneys, Luciaetta Ivey received a purse collection worth over $1.2 million and jewelry valued at over $1 million, along with her car, her life insurance policy, a down payment for a new residence, and several other assets, as part of the couple's divorce settlement. Phil Ivey also accepted around $170,000 in credit card debt and over $15.1 million “in gambling and other debt,” according to Ivey's attorneys.

Ivey's response also refutes his ex-wife's claims that he ceased providing her with alimony agreed upon in the settlement. According to Ivey's attorneys, alimony for Luciaetta was taken from money Phil Ivey received from Tiltware, the parent company of Full Tilt Poker. However, if the payments from Tiltware to Ivey ended, Luciaetta's alimony would cease. Luciaetta Ivey alleged in her petition that her ex-husband ceased paying spousal support in April 2011, around the same time the Full Tilt Poker domain name was seized by the U.S. Department of Justice.

"Luciaetta ended up with no debt, with millions of dollars worth of property, and with specific unambiguous alimony provisions," Phil Ivey's attorneys said in the response.

More on the story can be found at PokerNews.com.

Peter Eastgate Has Ice Water in his Veins

What would you do for $6,000? What if you were already a millionaire?

We've learned in the past that many poker players are willing to put their health at risk to win a prop bet. The latest occurrence involves Peter Eastgate, a near-freezing body of water and a 2.6-mile run in his native Denmark.

Eastgate, who won the 2008 World Series of Poker Main Event for more than $9 million, was offered $6,000 by fellow poker pros Peter Jepsen and Kasper Cordes to jump into the Island Brigge harbor in Copenhagen, and then run 2.6 miles (in his wet clothes) to Cordes' home in Nørrebro. The bet took place over the weekend while several Danish pros were attending their annual Christmas party.

Eastgate ultimately won the bet, telling Pokernyhederne.com that the run took around 20 minutes. That's a pretty nice hourly rate. Probably not sustainable, though — unless you enjoy pneumonia.

You can find a video of the bet and a short write-up at Pokernyhederne.com.

Get Your All-In Button Ready!

On Monday, PokerStars announced creation of the Turbo Championship of Online Poker (TCOOP), which will feature 50 fast-paced events in a variety of games. The inaugural series will kick off on Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012, and will close on Sunday, Jan. 29, with a $2,100 High Roller and a $700 buy-in Main Event.

Players can participate in the inaugural TCOOP for a buy-in as little as $5, with at least four events running every day until the series' completion. Satellites are already running for every event in the PokerStars lobby.

You can find the full schedule of TCOOP events at PokerNews.com.

888 Finishes Strong in 2011

888 Holdings Plc announced Monday that it expects 2011 core profits to be significantly above market expectations, citing the recent growth of its poker business as the primary reason for the company's success.

As of Dec. 12, 888poker had shown a larger traffic increase (up 76 percent) over the previous year than any other poker site in the world, climbing all the way to No. 4 in PokerScout.com's Online Traffic Rankings. As a result of the massive growth in its poker and casino brands, 888 said on Monday it would begin investing in several newly regulated markets in Europe.

"This significant strategic investment, along with the increases in gaming duty, will have an impact on the group's profit expectations. However, the board still expects results for the year ending Dec. 31 2012, to be slightly ahead of current market expectations," 888 said in a statement.

Read more at Reuters.com.

Cameras Love Liv Boeree

Liv Boeree photo shoot. Need we say more? Check out a sneak peek of the stunning Team PokerStars Pro's photo shoot for the February issue of World Poker Tour magazine:

Details in the divorce settlement for between poker icon Phil Ivey and his ex-wife Luciaetta have come up as part of her petition for the Supreme Court to disqualify Clark County Family Court judge Bill Gonzalez from the case. Lucietta Ivey believes that her ex-husband and his attorney unfairly swayed Gonzalez with campaign contributions. The divorce was granted in December 2009, and the contributions were made in early 2010.

Ivey and his attorney's answer was fascinating and a testament just how much money he was making during their time together. In the settlement, Lucietta received a purse collection valued at over $1.2 million, over a million dollars worth of jewelry and $180,000 a month in alimony. "Luciaetta ended up with no debt, with millions of dollars worth of property, and with specific unambiguous alimony provisions," according to the answer.

Lucietta Ivey's original petition states "The public is entitled to know that impartiality is the rule for the judiciary. Further, Luciaetta is entitled to fairness and the appearance of fairness before this court and recusal is the only way that she can be sure to receive both."

While we don't want to pick sides on this one (and Ivey's contributions do seem a bit suspect, to say the least,) it seems that Phil was more than fair to his ex. In addition to the above listed concessions, he accepted more than $170,000 in credit card debt and over than $15.1 million "in gambling and other debt."

According to Luciaetta's petition, the campaign contributions by Phil Ivey and his lawyers occurred after an uncontested divorce decree was entered "but before the six-month mark after which Luciaetta could no longer bring a motion…to have the decree set aside based upon a mistake, newly discovered evidence or fraud."

When talking to the press last month about the petition, she said "A lot of times women don't really defend themselves. They just take what's given to them."

Bovada Poker Really Wants You to Celebrate the Holidays in Style

The holidays are upon us and that means that Bovada Poker is bringing you a sled full of presents over the next two weeks.

Let the countdown begin! Bovada’s Poker Holiday Countdown starts now!

Starting today and running through January 1st Bovada is offering up 53 chances to win your share of $100,000 for free along with terrific cash bonuses, and all you have to do is just play online poker like you normally would.

Bovada will be hosting freeroll tournaments every night from December 19th through December 23rd and again on December 26th through December 30th at 8:40PM EST. The twenty-five finishers in each of these ten tournaments get a ticket to that Sunday's $100,000 guaranteed poker tournament.

You can also earn bonus cash just by playing real money online poker at Bovada.

From December 19th through December 25th and December 26th through January 1st players that hit Bovada's point benchmarks get cold, hard cash deposited into their player account. Earn 50 points during a week? You'll get $15 cash. Earn 100 points within a week and you you'll get $30. Yes, it's that simple. Bovada will even email you on Wednesday and Saturday mornings with an update on your total.

To top it all off, Bovada's hosting a special draw. Every time you earn five poker points on December 24th and December 25th, you earn entry into a draw where the winner gets free entry to every $100,000 guaranteed poker tournament hosted by Bovada in 2012.

Want to know more? Get all the details on this festive online poker promotion when you visit Bovada's Poker Holiday Countdown page.

Every week, Bovada hosts thousands of poker tournaments, ranging from single table events to their massive $100,000 guaranteed tournaments. There's just no way we can cover all of them, but we want to make sure you keep up with who won the biggest of the big games so you know how hot the action is there.
So, who took the top spot in the $100,000 guaranteed online poker tournament held this past Sunday, December 18? Jason E took first place this week, earning $20,500. he were followed by Marnie K ($14,000) and Richard S , who rounded out the top trifecta while earning $10,200. Here are the rest of the final table results: John F ($7,800.00); John M ($5,300); Neil S ($4,100); Isidoro M ($3,100.00); Edward A ($2,000) and Dominic C ($1,400).
In addition to show-stopping Sunday events, Bovada hosts a series of regular big-money weekly tournaments for players, and here are the winners of last week's events!

December 12 • $10k Guaranteed Double-Stack: Andrew W ($2,940.37)
December 13 • $10k Guaranteed Double-Stack: Dane C ($2,885.30)
December 14 • $10k Guaranteed Double-Stack: Vance E ($3,000.00)
December 15 • $10k Guaranteed Double-Stack: Christopher B ($2,991.88)
December 16 • $10k Guaranteed Double-Stack: Anis S ($2,831.41)
December 17 • $10k Guaranteed Turbo Double-Stack: James F ($2,932.60)
December 18 • $15k Guaranteed Double-Stack: Joseph H/strong> ($3,588.00)
December 18 • $10k Guaranteed Double-Stack: Kevin R ($2,783.00)
December 18 • $10k Guaranteed Double-Stack: Shay P ($2,528.96)

Bovada's guaranteed tournaments mean that there's always a big cash pool and with more players getting in on the action every week, that means there's more to be won! Play poker online at Bovada and get your share!

Online gaming operator, 888.com, has issued a pre-close trading update stating that, “Further to the Q3 KPIs and Interim Management Statement announced on 1st November, trading remains very strong especially in casino and poker.”

The company went on to say it expected its earnings before interest, depreciation, tax and amortisation to be “significantly ahead of market expectations.”

Also that, “2012 is set to be a year of major opportunity for 888, with the opening of several newly-regulated markets across Europe. The Group intends to invest in these markets in order to establish and build market share. “

However after a conference call with the company analysts Daniel Stewart & Co. issued a hold recommendation on the stock with a target price of 36p (the price at the time of writing was 36p), saying, “The company guided FY12E EBITDA toward $45m, which implies profits are in decline.

“This is as a result of increased betting taxes in newly regulated markets such as Italy, Spain and Denmark combined with the need to invest in these newly regulated markets in the shape of increased marketing spend.”

Even though the federal government passed a bill effectively banning online poker in 2006, there was only a modicum of enforcement until earlier this year when, virtually without warning, the Justice Department shut down all of the major online poker sites.

Now that it looks like California may be poised to pass a law that would legalize online gambling in the state, a showdown with federal authorities hell bent on keeping online gambling illegal may be looming.

Starting at the beginning of next year's legislative session, it's highly likely that California legislators will introduce one or more bills legalizing various forms of online gambling in an effort to help generate the much needed tax revenue necessary to close the multi-billion dollar budget hole that's already caused the state to take extreme measures such as scheduling the closure of 70 state parks and dramatically spiking the cost of tuition at its public colleges and universities.

There are currently two different measures under consideration. The first is backed by a Southern California-based coalition of Native American tribes and card clubs called the California Online Poker Association that would solely legalize poker, while a second bill, sponsored by Democratic Los Angeles State Senator Rod Wright would also include other games in addition to poker.

The Department of Justice has remained officially silent on whether it would allow California to legalize online gambling, leaving many to wonder what would happen if one of the bills were to pass.

There's finally some closure in the case of the 2010 robbery of the EPT Berlin Main Event; the Berlin District Court found Ibrahim al Moussa guilty of being the mastermind behind the heist, which took place at the Grand Hyatt Hotel. They determined that he planned the attack itself and then served as the getaway driver after four men raided the event, escaping with €242,000 - a significant chunk of the entry fees and prize pool. With typical German precision, al Moussa was sentenced to six years and four months.
German police nabbed the six suspects shortly after the raid took place in March of last year. Four men who executed the attack were each given prison sentences of at least three and a half years. While one of the men, who was 21, received a three-year and nine-month sentence, the other two - 19 and 20 - were handed a sentence of three years and six months by a youth court.
With al Moussa's sentencing, the focus shifts to the final suspect, Mohammed Abou-Charka. The 32-year-old played in the poker tournament and purportedly fed information to his associates about when to begin the attack after scouting the location.
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