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There wasn’t much to write about in last week’s Online Railbird Report as the high-stakes action on both Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars had slowed to a crawl. That wasn’t the case this week, though. Now that the Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS) XXII was in the books, the big-name pros returned to nosebleeds.

After losing $661,949 and finishing as last week’s biggest loser, Blom stormed back this week and finished as the biggest winner with $691,889 in profit. Blom was down over a million at one point, but thanks to an incredible heater on Wednesday night when he took an astounding $1,703,125 from Ben “Bttech86” Tollerene in just six hours, he was able to vault to the top of the leader board. We describe that match in more details below, but needless to say, Tollerene finished as the week’s biggest loser with $1,161,659 in losses.

Although Blom, who got his profit in 8,674 hands over 81 sessions, dominated the headlines, there were still plenty of other big winners this week including Patrik “FinddaGrind” Antonius (+$514,476 in 22 sessions/1,522 hands), Kyle “KPR16” Ray (+$342,961 in 26 sessions/3,046 hands) and “Follow The Hawk” (+$303,967 in 13 sessions/1,507 hands).

On the flip side, Gus Hansen (-$985,889 in 57 sessions/6,325 hands), “samrostan” (-$383,046 in 15 sessions/1,949 hands), “kagome kagome” (-$171,269 in 11 sessions/943 hands) and Sebastien “Seb86” Sabic (-$103,066 in 15 sessions/1,533 hands) all found their names in the loser column alongside Tollerene.

Wild Sunday Action on Full Tilt Poker

There was plenty of action to be had on Full Tilt Poker on Sunday as some of online poker’s biggest names came out to play. Kyle “KPR16” Ray kicked off things off in a big way by winning $350,000 playing fixed-limit Omaha Hi-Lo in the early morning hours, and he ended up adding another $100,600 to that by day’s end. All told, Ray banked $450,600 and finished as the day’s biggest winner.

The day’s biggest loser? That would be FTP Professional Gus Hansen, who lost a total of $716,000 playing FLO8 and 2-7 triple draw. Speaking of the latter game, “Follow The Hawk” cleaned up at the 2-7 triple draw games to the tune of $282,600, but it was only good for fourth on the leaderboard as both Ben “Bttech86” Tollerene and Alexander “PostFlopAction” Kostritsyn won $353,300 and $331,900, respectively.

Kostritsyn got most of his money from Hansen in the FLO8 and 2-7 triple draw came, while Tollerene’s came from Viktor “Isildur1” Blom, who dropped $448,000 in the match. Tollerene and Blom played a two-and-a-half hour match at the $500/$1,000 CAP pot-limit Omaha tables and accounted for nearly 120 maxed-out pots of $80,000.


Read more: The Online Railbird Report: Blom Wins $1.7 Million from Tollerene in Just Six Hours | PokerNews

Telltale offers a chance for avid poker fans to sit and play with a host of fictional much-loved characters in its Poker Night 2, a gaming extravaganza that will follow in the footsteps of its prequel, Poker Night at the Inventory. Players will have the chance to try their luck against Claptrap, a robot with definite personality from Borderlands 2, the saw-hugging Ash Williams from Army of Darkness, blond giant Brock Samson, bodyguard from Venture Brothers, and the always dapper “freelance police” dog Sam from the Sam and Max comics.

According to Telltale, “Poker Night 2 will offer the chance to win Bounty Unlocks rewards for use within other games when special goals are achieved.

With cunning and skill, players will unlock prizes, including exclusive skins and heads for use within Borderlands 2 and character accessories for Team Fortress 2.”

Poker Night 2’s dealer will be no other than Portal’s GLaDOS so murderous camera glances should be a sure thing. Poker Night 2 will be out towards the end of April and will be available on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Steam on PC and Mac.


Telltale

As many states begin to create legislation for online poker options, a few states are still behind the curve. Kansas is one state that has been working AWAY from online poker instead of towards it. A bill that would ban all forms of online gambling was sent to the state senate late last week. Fortunately, that’s about as far as it will go for the time being.

The bill did not get past the state senate after a vote of 24 to 15. House Bill 2055 was created and introduced in the state to modify the current statutes of gambling in the state as well as ban any form of online wagering. The bill was created to allow for more casinos to be placed in the southeast region of the state. This option would make it easier for new casinos to be built in the area.

If House Bill 2055 had passed, several things would have changed. A state casino management contract would move from $225 million to $50 million and the state lottery would not be allowed to place electronic gaming style machines in state racetracks until the summer of 2032, which is decades away.

Online gambling would also have been greatly affected. The bill would have placed online gambling as a Class B misdemeanor and the punishment for this charge would have been a $1,000 fine as well as much as six months in jail. However, if the bill had passed, it was not opting out of federal options, so the state would still have the ability to offer online gambling in the future.

Since the bill did not pass the state senate, it is a small victory for poker players. It will be interesting to see if similar legislation pops up in the area or if the opposite type of legislation is created to try and bring this option to the state.


Kansas Online Poker Ban Dies in Senate

The World Series of Poker is looking for Nevadans age 21 and over to help test its forthcoming real-money online poker product. It’s not a job posting, though.

It doesn’t look like you will be compensated for helping the multi-billion dollar company bring its product to the market. “By joining the WSOP-com beta program, you will be among the first players to experience the WSOP-com online poker platform,” the announcement boasted.

The WSOP, owned by Caesars Entertainment Corp., is widely regarded as the richest and most prestigious poker tournament series in the world. It originated in Las Vegas at Binion’s Horseshoe, but now is a global brand under the thumb of a huge corporation, drawing players from all over the globe and hosting bracelet events on multiple continents.

Caesars owns many properties in Nevada, and has stakes in plenty of others across the U.S.

Caesars Interactive Entertainment (a subsidiary of the casino giant) received a public OK to run online gambling from Nevada gaming officials in late 2012. Since Caesars didn’t have the technology to run online poker on its own, it forged an alliance with 888 Holdings, an online poker site that currently operates overseas. Think, WSOP is the skin, while 888 does the back-end stuff such as making sure the games are fair.

The WSOP didn’t disclose when it would have its real-money games available statewide, but said that the product is “coming soon.” The summer WSOP starts in late May.



The WSOP Wants You To Test Its Online Poker Software

Good news!!

A gambling expansion bill is back, but it now includes a provision that would allow PokerStars, once accused by federal prosecutors of money laundering and fraud, to compete for an online gaming license in Illinois.

In the first draft of Senate Bill 1739, introduced by state Sen. Terry Link, D-Waukegan, PokerStars and sister company Full Tilt Poker would have been barred from obtaining an Internet gambling license in the state because they had "accepted wagers" in violation of U.S. law.

But on March 7, Link amended the bill to say companies had to be "convicted of accepting" wagers in order to be disqualified. PokerStars settled those charges in 2012 for $731 million.

"We admitted to no wrongdoing," said Eric Hollreiser, a spokesman for PokerStars and Full Tilt, based on the Isle of Man, between Ireland and Scotland. "And in the process of that, we were given the assets of our biggest competitor, Full Tilt Poker, by the Department of Justice. And the settlement states that nothing in the agreement should prevent us from applying for licenses in the U.S."

In Illinois, PokerStars hired lobbyist John Kelly Jr., president and owner of All-Circo Inc., to advance its position. According to state records, Kelly is registered as lobbying for "Rational Services LTD," a subsidiary of PokerStars' parent company, The Rational Group. Kelly declined to comment.

According to PokerScout-com, Americans gambled $16 billion in 2010 through Internet poker sites, all based outside the U.S.

But on April 15, 2011, a day the industry calls Black Friday, the FBI shut down PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker, alleging they violated fraud and money-laundering laws. (As I reported in October, the companies were accused of violating the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006, which basically forbade financial institutions from processing payments for online wagers.)

As part of the settlement, according to The New York Times, PokerStars agreed to forfeit $541 million and acquire Full Tilt, based in Dublin. Also, PokerStars agreed to make $184 million available to foreign players who didn't get their money back from Full Tilt.

Since then, cash-starved states have been weighing and, in rare cases, approving Internet wagering; Nevada and Delaware being two of them. Waukegan-based slot machine maker WMS Industries operates an online casino in the U.K. and has received a license in Nevada. And billionaire Chicago real estate and casino investor Neil Bluhm is building an online gaming operation called Rush Street Gaming.

Tom Swoik, executive director of the Illinois Casino Gaming Association, said he normally wouldn't have a problem with Link's change because he's confident the Illinois Gaming Board would never let PokerStars operate in the state based on its history.

"The problem is that under the bill online gambling isn't regulated by the Gaming Board, it's regulated by the lottery," Swoik said.

UI Labs incorporates

UI Labs, the University of Illinois-affiliated technology center, has incorporated as a nonprofit and named its first board members.

They are former Northwestern University President Henry Bienen; Lawrence Schook, U. of I.'s vice president for research; and Warren Holtsberg, managing principal of private-equity firm MVC Capital and the former head of Motorola Ventures.

"Our first job is to find and recruit the rest of the board," Holtsberg said. "The next step is to hire a CEO."

Bienen said that other universities, not only U. of I., will be involved.

"The name (UI Labs) is really a place holder right now," Holtsberg said. "We wanted to get incorporated. Now the heavy lifting begins."


Gambling bill would allow PokerStars, Full Tilt to apply for an online gaming license - chicagotribune-com

As Nevada’s new real-money online poker inches closer to becoming live, World Series of Poker officials have extended a public invitation to players to help test the new WSOP-com poker site.

A new signup page invites Nevada players age 21 and over to register for the beta-test stage of the WSOP’s poker site, which will likely involve play-money action to verify the site’s software is operating correctly.

“By joining the WSOP-com beta program,” the field test page states, “you will be among the first players to experience the WSOP-com online poker platform.”

The new site will operate as a skin maintained by WSOP and Caesars Interactive Entertainment, running a software platform designed by 888 Holdings PLC.

The two extended their overseas licensing agreements into a US based deal in 2012 that included both entities seeking approval from Nevada online poker regulators.

Both partners have already been granted licenses—Caesars late last year and
888 just last month—but the Nevada Gaming Commission must also approve the software in a live-testing phase before full real-money action begins, necessitating the need for players.

A rollout date for real-money action on the WSOP-com site has yet to be announced. WSOP-com poker is expected to be among the first handful of sites to go live in Nevada, joining South Point Poker and Fertitta Interactive’s UFC-connected Ultimate Poker, among others.


WSOP-com Looks for Nevada Beta Testers | Pokerfuse Online Poker News

FLORIDA INTERNET CAFE CRACKDOWN PROMPTS LEGISLATION BANNING ELECTRONIC GAMING DEVICES

A $300 million scandal involving the arrest of 57 individuals and the resignation of Florida’s attorney general has prompted the introduction of a new bill which includes a sweeping ban on all electronic devices that can be used for gaming purposes. Florida’s new HB 155 measure swept through the state’s House on a 108-7 vote, following the disclosure that of $300 million netted by supposed charitable organization Allied Veterans of the World, which operates dozens of the video game-style slots parlors throughout the state, only $6 million went to the intended charities. The resulting move to ban such “internet cafes” includes language so broad it endangers almost all forms of electronic gaming, from arcade devices to the internet, regardless of whether skill or luck is involved.

888 HOLDINGS, TREASURE ISLAND

RECEIVE FINAL NEVADA APPROVAL

As expected, Nevada online poker applicants, 888 US Limited (affiliated with 888 Holdings PLC) and Treasure Island LLC, have received final approval from the Nevada Gaming Commission to provide services to Nevada players when the state’s first sites go live later this year. Earlier in March, the two firms passed suitability hearings and received preliminary approval, with 888 announcing that Treasure Island would be one of the debut sites on 888’s new All-American Poker Network.

WASHINGTON STATE ONLINE POKER PLAYERS FILE PETITIONS, PLAN SIGNATURE DRIVE

Twin petitions seeking to overturn the State of Washington’s 2006 law making the playing of online poker a felony and declare the activity specifically legal have been approved by state officials. The initiatives, numbered I-582 and I-583, were drafted by a group of WA players led by Seattle’s Curtis Woodard, and outspoken poker supporter. The group seeks roughly 300,000 signatures in a yearlong, state-wide drive, hoping to place the initiative on the November, 2014 general election ballot.

IVEY DIVORCE PETITION DENIED

A petition filed by Phil Ivey’s former wife, Luciaetta Ivey, to have the presiding judge from their 2009 divorce proceedings removed has been denied by the Nevada Supreme Court. Judge Bill Gonzalez was later discovered to have received sizable campaign contributions from Phil Ivey, Ivey’s lawyer, David Chesnoff, and several others peripherally connected to the case, accounting for 14$ of the total contributions received by Gonzales, according to a Las Vegas Review-Joumal report. Luciaetta previously sued Ivey, Chesnoff, and attorney John Spilotro in connection with the divorce proceedings, following the reduction of her monthly stipend from $180,000 to $0 after Full Tilt’s 2011 collapse.

ILLINOIS GAMBLING EXPANSION UNLIKELY TO INCLUDE ONLINE POKER

Prospects for online poker being included in an omnibus gambling and casino expansion bill currently under debate in Illinois received a setback after Illinois governor Pat Quinn declared online poker “too new” in an interview on National Public Radio. Quinn has largely been an opponent of gambling expansion in previous IL legislative sessions, a topic which has crowded other budget matter out of the legislative process. The state’s pro-gambling supporters seek a downtown Chicago casino, among other proposed locations.

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This week has been a good one for iPoker which is set to regain its spot in second place behind PokerStars. Full Tilt’s decline has continued and bwin.party has been unable to improve its player volumes despite the launch of ZyngaPlusPoker as a PartyGaming skin.

The Cyprus bailout debacle has seen prices of Bitcoins soar and then collapse, bringing broader awareness of the online currency to the mainstream media. One reason perhaps why Bitcoin-only site SealsWithClubs has tripled its cash game volumes this year and is this week’s biggest gainer.
The Battle for Second Place

PokerScout’s latest seven day average figures place iPoker, PartyPoker and Full Tilt all within a whisker of each other with iPoker at 3,100 players and the others around 3,000. However, these figures are a long way from telling the full story.

Changing the measure to a 30 day moving average and looking at the data over a three month period shows the clear trends for the competing sites. Full Tilt has not managed to establish a plateau, PartyPoker has flattened out after a decline and iPoker has made steady upwards progress. Recent additions to the iPoker network are paying dividends and have helped parent company Playtech turn around what was its least profitable gaming segment. The trend strongly suggests that this latest switch in the running order looks set to continue and that iPoker’s lead will increase.
The ZyngaPlusPoker Effect

After talking about the real money gaming opportunity for over two years, Zynga finally got off the bench and launched ZyngaPlusPoker as a PartyGaming skin restricted to UK customers. Zynga’s share price spiked 15%, which is a lot more upward movement than PartyGaming’s traffic numbers which continued their steady slide.

A close up view shows that ZyngaPlusPoker’s launch has made no noticeable difference to Party’s numbers. The P on the line marks our announcement of the launch of ZyngaPlusPoker. It is still early to make an assessment, but many investors in bwin.party and perhaps the senior management may have been expecting something more dramatic than a continued slide. After all, when Full Tilt relaunched, global poker traffic increased by 10%. Since the launch bwin.party’s share price has gone in the same direction as their traffic numbers—down 7%.
The SealsWithClubs Comeback

The weeks biggest gainer has been SealsWithClubs, up over 10%. Players returning after the site went down late last month for two days following a Denial of Service (DDoS) attack that forced its servers offline. That DDoS caused the downturn visible on the SealsWithClubs traffic graph, but traffic has returned to the trend that has seen a tripling in cash game volume this year.

The increasing popularity of Bitcoin have not hurt their numbers, but as a US facing site, the prospect of State regulated online poker returning to the US may affect their ability to keep this growth trend moving in the right direction.



Zynga Offers Party No Protection From Surging iPoker | Pokerfuse Online Poker News

Yesterday in Melbourne, Australia, Phil Ivey won his 9th WSOP bracelet after topping an 81 player field at the WSOP APAC $2,200 Mixed Event to claim the rather meager $51,840 first place prize. Following the 37 year old poker legends historic victory, players and poker pros alike have been posting their reactions to the news. Here are a selection of some of these comments, starting with the man himself, Phil Ivey:

Phil Ivey

“I definitely wanted to win this event, especially when I got deep and realized I had a chance, because my last five final tables were very tough. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve started to think about my place in poker history and where I’m going to stand, so it is important to me to win these bracelets. I’m trying to catch Phil [Hellmuth]. It’s tough; he keeps winning them, but I’m looking forward to the summer.”

Daniel Negreanu

“Congrats to Phil Ivey on his 9th bracelet. He is simply the best poker player in the world and has been for a long time. Bravo.”

Phil Hellmuth

“Congrats to @philivey for winning WSOP Bracelet #9 & to @RealKidPoker for making another WSOP Final Table! Now to Main Event at #WSOPAPAC”

Eugene Katchalov

“Congrats to Phil Ivey in his 9th bracelet!! Makes it look so easy too #BeastMode”

Also, here’s some more tweets from the pros at IveyPoker-com:

Cole South

“What a sick run all of the @iveypoker #teamivey pros have been on! Capped off with bracelet #9 by the GOAT himself @philivey last night.”

Greg Merson

“Ship it to the goat Mr. Phil Ivey”

John Eames

“Just watched the boss @philivey win his 9th bracelet. Didn’t know he could play all the games”

Mike Leah

“Was pretty damn cool getting to do commentary as @philivey won bracelet #9 @WSOP @iveypoker #legend #teamIvey”

Finally, here’s some comments from poker fans posting on cardplayer-com:

Curtis3

“I think it is absurd that this counts as a bracelet event, 81 players? More and more the whole concept of the gold bracelet is being watered down to something meaningless. This one is an utter joke, IMO”

JZNYC714

“Before 1999 There were never more than 400 players. Moneymaker’s year, 2003, there were 829 in the Main Event, by far the highest ever at that point. IMHO fields of thousands make the bracelet less meaningful, not more. Jamie Gold won the biggest Main Event ever. Jerry Yang won the very next year. With due respect to these Champs they’re not even playing the same game Phil Ivey plays.”




Reactions To Phil Ivey's 9th WSOP Bracelet

The Chicago Tribune reported Friday that a gambling expansion bill in Illinois may allow PokerStars, which was formerly accused of money laundering and fraud by federal prosecutors, to pursue an online gaming license in Illinois.

In the first draft of Senate Bill 1739, introduced by state Sen. Terry Link, D-Waukegan, PokerStars and sister company Full Tilt Poker would have been barred from obtaining an Internet gambling license in the state because they had “accepted wagers” in violation of U.S. law.

Last month, however, the bill was amended to read that companies had to be “convicted of accepting” wagers for a disqualification to be handed down.

According to the report, PokerStars settled these charges last year for $731 million.

“We admitted to no wrongdoing,” said Eric Hollreiser, a spokesman for PokerStars and Full Tilt. “And in the process of that, we were given the assets of our biggest competitor, Full Tilt Poker, by the Department of Justice. And the settlement states that nothing in the agreement should prevent us from applying for licenses in the U.S.”

Naturally, obtaining a license could mean significant revenue opportunities for the poker behemoth. PokerScout.com reports that Americans spent $16 billion in 2010 on Internet-based poker sites outside the U.S.

This Monday, when many Americans are lamenting the return of another Tax Day, members of the poker community will be decrying April 15 for another reason. Two years ago, on a day that has come to be known as Black Friday, the federal government unsealed an indictment against online poker's three biggest companies, effectively terminating the industry in the United States.

The effects of that shutdown are still being felt in poker rooms across South Florida. Where many players once honed their skills in the online world before graduating to casinos, poker rooms today see fewer new players pulling up a seat at their tables, professional players such as Tony Dunst say.

"I'd say it has almost ruined the game here in the United States," said Dunst, a poker pro and analyst on World Poker Tour telecasts.

Dunst and others argue that the fall of online poker led to a decline in interest in the game overall. With companies such as Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars no longer able to do business in the United States, poker magazines and poker series on ESPN and other television networks saw a significant drop in advertising revenue. Some shows, such as NBC's "Poker After Dark" and GSN's "High Stakes Poker," were canceled.

Interest in poker among the general population has fallen almost as steeply. With fewer new players entering the mix, many tournaments have been forced to drop their entry fees. The World Poker Tour's main event, which began Thursday at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, now costs $5,000 to enter, down from $10,000. "Personally, my interest in poker has vastly decreased," Dunst said. "As an online player, you don't like spending your life in a casino."

Poker enjoyed a cultural boom in 2003, when Chris Moneymaker earned a seat in the World Series of Poker via a $39 online tournament and went on to win $2.5 million. Even then, online poker in the United States always operated under a gray legal cloud. Until April 15, 2011, even its devotees weren't sure if playing poker online was lawful or unlawful.

Today, some states are considering legalizing online poker. Earlier this year, New Jersey became the first state to approve it. But unless the states create reciprocal-use agreements, Dunst said, there won't be enough players for online play to be profitable.

"The issue is, will enough states create enough pacts with each other to have liquidity?" he said. "If not, then their individual greed will prevent any real or sustainable online poker from developing."

Attempts at federal legalization have stalled.

In order to continue playing poker online legally, some professional players based in South Florida are leaving the country for months at a time. Darryl Fish, of Fort Lauderdale, has traveled as far away as Thailand to play online poker.

Meanwhile, card-room revenues at horse tracks, dog tracks and jai-alai frontons in Florida have remained steady. Players who occasionally show up to bet no more than $100 aren't about fly to Asia in order to up their game.

Following Black Friday, some card rooms may have seen an increase in attendance, said Scott Poole, the card-room manager at Gulfstream Park Racing and Casino. On the other hand, he said, the Internet is no longer creating new poker players.

"So it's kind of a wash," he said.

Donna Marks, who managed the Seminole Classic Casino poker room from 1993 to 2006, doesn't think the lack of online poker is such a bad thing.

"I don't think so at all," said Marks, of Sunny Isle Beach. "It got rid of a lot of kids who all wanted to be on TV, smart-aleck kids ruining the game. I used to love poker until it got on TV and showed everything everybody was doing. Then, everyone got too smart. Everybody and their uncle played too aggressively. "I'd rather sit with a bunch of old-timers, anyway."



Big players find less interest with online poker dead - South Florida Sun-Sentinel-com

Simon Hemsworth Signs With PKRInnovative poker room PKR-com has just announced that the latest addition to its team of pros is the UK cash game specialist, Simon Hemsworth.

The 29 year old has been playing poker for more than 10 years, and has since gained a reputation on PKR for being a fierce online competitor. Known online as Rhymenoceros, Hemsworth can regularly be seen playing at the highest cash game stakes, although 6-max $5/$10 No Limit Hold’em would seem to be his current game of choice.

As the latest member of Team PKR Pro, Simon Hemsworth will now be expected to play in various live tournaments representing the site. However, Hemsworth’s record shows he has earned just $23,791 from live tournaments since 2010, a situation he hopes soon to correct. As the London-based pro explains:

“As a Team Pro I want to help represent a brand I have had great affection for over the last few years. I have played almost exclusively on PKR for a long time now and made some great friends here. One of my main aims while working with PKR is to improve my live tournament record, so let’s hope for deep runs in the near future.”

News of Simon Hemsworth signing with the online poker room was announced at PKR Live 2013, which was hosted at London’s Aspers Stratford Casino. Hemsworth now joins a a talented team of professionals which includes the likes of EPT champion Vladimir Geshkenbein, WSOP Europe bracelet winner Scott Shelley, cash game specialist Sofia Lovgren and Marc Barille.

Commenting on their latest recruit to Team PKR, Head of PR at PKR, Dan Grant, said: “Simon has been one of the brightest online stars at PKR over the last few years and we know he has what it takes to make his mark in the live arena. More importantly, he’s a fantastic bloke with a great work ethic, and a great example to others who want to achieve success in poker.”


Simon Hemsworth Signs With PKR

A security company based in Malta has revealed recently there may be issues with online poker software exposing players to possible cyber attacks. A review of poker applications shows that many suffer security flaws says Luigi Auriemma and Donato Ferrante of ReVuln. The vulnerability research focused on software downloaded by players in order to play the game. The researchers said, “A vulnerability in one software can affect multiple skins and millions of players,”

Downloaded software improves the customer experience and can give the player data in real time that can enhance the gaming experience. Auriemma and Ferrante continued to explain, “From an external attacker’s point of view, client software is interesting to analyze because it is the only part of the infrastructure which is fully available to an attacker,” The researchers did say that gaming software usually requires a username and password to access an account, although some companies have stepped up security by moving to a double factor authentication. PokerStars for example does use RSA tokens and a PIN to increase security for the players. It appears it is the updates that presents the biggest threat to poker player’s security where the updates are delivered without using Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption or digital signatures. The security professionals said that even if an update is signed, it was still possible in some cases to take over the control of the player’s computer. Software for online poker developed by Malta based firm B3W Group discovered that updates were delivered over an insecure HTTP connection and were missing digital signatures and verification codes.

Poker software supplied by Microgaming could be vulnerable to a buffer overflow attack the security experts stated. Playtech they concluded does verify the digital signatures for dynamic link libraries and executable files, but all of the other files it installs can be modified, which could allow cyber attacks by unscrupulous persons who want to do harm.



Online Poker Software Vulnerability Revealed

The fall of certain payment processors during the last few years has some who were caught in the Department of Justice dragnet that captured those involved in facilitating online gambling payments after 2006 wondering what were the lawyers thinking. Chad Elie a businessman from Las Vegas pleaded guilty to bank fraud and is currently serving his sentence in prison. The felon is now suing his lawyer for misleading him about the legalities of processing online poker payments. The lawyer in question Jeff Ifra was at the time was taking huge commissions for his advice to Elie.

The law suit claims that Ifrah was paid $4 million, including $1 million in commission payments. Elie claims, Ifrah was receiving $100,000 per month from the firm 21 Debit as a commission. The commission was paid to Ifrah for securing deals with various banks that agreed to process online poker payments. “Ifrah hid critical documentation,” the lawsuit states that Ifrah gave Elie “wrong advice regarding poker processing so that he could make a windfall from Elie, Full Tilt Poker and Pokerstars.”

The complaint filed in Nevada state court, says that Ifrah made a deal to provided testimony and information against Elie and others in order to avoid being indicted. Elie claims that Ifrah failed to disclose to government lawyers that he was receiving commission payments. Elie was one of 11 individuals who were indicted in April 2011 after the Department of Justice shut down Full Tilt, PokerStars and others PokerStars has picked up the residue from the Black Friday indictments but Full Tilt players in the States have yet to see the return of their funds. In 2010, Ifrah received a memorandum from the law firm Akin Gump that detailed discussions between the firm’s lawyers and government lawyers in Manhattan that “confirmed to Akin Gump and Ifrah that third party poker processing was illegal,” the law suit says. Elie claims that Ifrah kept this information to himself.



Online Poker Lawyer Allegedly Hid Information from Client

Sitting in his bedroom, Nathan Singer says he makes upwards of 10,000 decisions a day.

The vast majority are automatic, with almost no conscious thought whatsoever. But they can result in thousands of dollars in profit or loss each week for the Californian, who makes his living playing online poker in Panama.

He and four roommates in the mountain town of Boquete, near the Costa Rican border, are among hundreds of professional poker players who moved abroad after the U.S. effectively banned online gambling in 2011.

On what is known within the industry as “Black Friday,” federal prosecutors shut down the country’s three largest online poker websites, a move many believe was spurred by pressure from the U.S. casino industry.

Unwilling to give up an income that can reach tens of thousands of dollars a month, many professional players left the country, with tropical climes such as Mexico, Costa Rica and Thailand becoming popular destinations to start afresh.

Singer, who started playing poker 10 years ago, chose Panama for its fast internet speed, beautiful coastline and ease of travel to and from the U.S.

Playing up to 16 tables at a time, up to nine hours a day, he makes around $70,000 a year — enough to afford a very comfortable lifestyle in this Central American nation.

But it is mentally “draining,” says Singer. “After playing a long day, you can get what’s called ‘decision fatigue’ — you just can’t face making any more choices,” he says. “Long term, poker has rewired my brain to constantly want more information.”

Singer is the most profitable player in a house that collectively makes around $25,000 to $35,000 a month — success he attributes to “high emotional intelligence.”

“I can tell how other players are feeling and what they are likely to do, even online,” he says. “I’m also able to stay calm and look at things very rationally, which is hugely important in poker, where results are not dependent on process — you can often do the right thing and lose, or the wrong thing and win.”

Singer’s roommates include an ex-British Air Force engineer, a failed dot com entrepreneur and a 26-year-old sports enthusiast who's never had another fulltime job. While individual backgrounds vary, the vast majority of professional players are young men who have never made money any other way, says Singer, “so poker is their world.”

They tend to stick together, typically failing to assimilate with local culture and adopting a “spring break” attitude.

“Learning a new language and making foreign friends takes time, and poker players tend to see time not spent playing as money lost,” Singer says. “It is also a very solitary profession, which lends itself to social awkwardness.”

Many players hope to one day be able to return home, but legislative efforts to regulate online poker have so far languished in the U.S. Congress. The lobby is now shifting its focus to individual state laws, with Nevada, Delaware and New Jersey already legalizing interstate or intrastate play.

It is a strange life, admits Singer, but one that allows freedom to choose your own hours and make a lot of money without leaving the house.

“I’m aware it’s a fundamentally predatory profession,” he says. “So I try to make sure that in my personal life I am generous and a positive factor in the lives of those around me.”


Online poker players gambling on a life abroad | Toronto Star

It wasn't so long ago that the American internet poker community was a thriving, vibrant scene where brilliant young college kids could win millions from their dorm rooms. But two years ago today, the US Justice Department raided the three most popular poker sites — PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, and Absolute Poker — and summarily shut them down, seizing about 76 bank accounts in 14 countries and five domain names. "It happened, it happened fast and it completely annihilated what was a flourishing industry in the United States," poker agent Brian Balsbaugh told CNBC at the time.

After the raid, the booming online poker scene ground to a halt. Most players either gave up or started playing in live games; a few took on extreme commutes so they could gamble in a country where online poker was still legal. (Poker Refugees is a service that has helped 230 internet poker players expatriate to six safe havens including Costa Rica and Malta.) Some players still have not been fully reimbursed for the money that was in their accounts on the day they tried to log in and saw a notice from the Federal Bureau of Investigation instead of their favorite poker site.

The legal status of internet poker is murky. Some believe it is now legal due to a Justice Department opinion in December 2011 that appeared to remove obstacles to certain types of internet gambling. That interpretation has yet to be tested in court. For now, the default assumption is that internet poker is illegal under US federal laws. I. Nelson Rose, a professor and lawyer in California who writes about internet gambling, believes online poker is actually not technically illegal.

However, the push for the legalization of online gambling has recently accelerated. Online poker has been legalized at the state level in Nevada, Delaware, and New Jersey. There are proposals to legalize internet poker in Massachusetts, New York, and Pennsylvania, with California gearing up to introduce a bill soon. Texas Congressman Joe Barton has declared his intention to push for federal legislation this year.

"April 15, 2011 was truly a dark day for Internet poker that reverberated throughout the entire poker world," John Pappas, director of the Poker Players Alliance, said in a statement. "But, over the succeeding two years, the poker community has been taking back what was snatched away... To use a poker phrase, there is a full house of activity on the legislative front."

There's also been some movement on other fronts. PokerStars has put a toe back in American waters by negotiating to buy an Atlantic City casino. Nevada has started granting licenses to online poker sites. And of course, you can play online poker with Bitcoin.

A few new poker sites have even gotten some traction with US players who are willing to risk attracting the attention of the government again, so it is still possible to find poker games online. However, there are hardly ever more than 2,000 players online at a time, which makes it harder to find enough open games to play for an extended period of time. By comparison, PokerStars, which is still operating outside the US, has more than 110,000 players online concurrently.

Poker forums and news sites are treating today as a day of remembrance and reflection. However, some say poker players themselves are part of the problem. Poker is an individual game, not a team sport, and the PPA has had some trouble recruiting players to help lobby for the cause. The PPA was formed in 2006, after the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act made it easier for the government to pursue what it considered to be illegal poker sites. That should have been the first sign that trouble was coming.


Still, most online poker players didn't care about the new law, as long as they could play and get their money out. It wasn't until Black Friday that the majority started paying attention. But even now, many former internet poker players The Verge spoke to are complacent. Once they got their money refunded, they stopped paying attention to the legislative fight, even though many would still like to play if they could.

However, most internet poker players believe the game will make a comeback. Poker needs to be legalized for three reasons, Pappas told The Verge in an interview in September. The first is that it's already happening, but without licensing and regulation. The second is that it's a potential revenue generator for the government. And the third is that it just strikes most people as common sense. "Why shouldn't an adult spend their evening playing a five dollar sit-and-go on an internet poker site with their own money, in their own home, on their own computer?" he said. "It just doesn't seem like a logical prohibition."


Online poker industry still reeling two years after federal 'Black Friday' crackdown | The Verge

Illinois State Senator Terry Link has amended a proposed gambling bill to allow companies which have been charged with violating gambling laws to apply for licenses. The first draft of the bill would have prevent PokerStars and its sister company Full Tilt Poker from applying for an internet gambling license in the state as the companies had previously “accepted wagers” from US based players. However, the new bill has been modified as states that companies must be “convicted of accepting” wagers in order to be qualified.

In 2012 PokerStars settled the charges against it for $731 million. The company spokesman, Eric Hollreiser, said “we admitted to no wrongdoing and in the process of that, we were given, the assets of our biggest competitor, Full Tilt Poker, by the Department of Justice.

And the settlement states that nothing in the agreement should prevent us from applying for licenses in the U.S.”

PokerStars had hired lobbyist John Jelly Jr, president and owner of All-Circo Inc to further its position in Illinois. State records show that Kelly is registered as lobbying for Rational Services LTD, a subsidiary of PokerStars’ parent company, The Rational Group. So far there has been no comment from Kelly.


Proposed Gambling Bill to Allow PokerStars License in Illinois - Online Casino Archives

A Swedish online gaming software developer has acquired the bankrupt ZEN Entertainment, a Las Vegas-based free-play subscription poker provider.

The deal with NYX Gaming Group, Ltd. had been in the works since January, when ZEN filed for Chapter 11, in an attempt to find a solution for its creditors.

ZEN, which partnered with online presences such as Cardplayer Poker, South Point Poker, UFC and Jamie Gold’s FreeGoldPoker, borrowed upwards of $16m over three years, but never turned a profit.

The network was purported to be the largest business-to-business provider of free-play social media poker, with $100k in monthly cash prizes, framed as “sweepstakes“ tournaments in order to pass muster under US law.

That free play model was supposed to open the door to real money games, but with the failure last year to pass federal legislation for regulated online poker, so went ZEN Entertainment.


Read More: ZEN Entertainment Acquired by Swedish Gaming Group | Pokerfuse Online Poker News