Poker rooms archive

A PokerStars exec said the online poker site is highly credible and anticipates entering the U.S. market in a state-by-state or federal format in the future.

Eric Hollreiser, Head of Corporate Communications for the industry’s top online poker site, told Yogonet-com that PokerStars does "fully expect to participate in a future regulated US market." He further added that the agreement that allowed PokerStars to acquire the assets of Full Tilt Poker via negotiations with the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) admitted no wrongdoing and that both online sites will submit applications to offer Internet poker services in the U.S. when regulations are in place.

There has been some question as to how PokerStars’ application will be viewed by gaming officials in whatever framework legality may eventually take shape. PokerStars did flout the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) of 2006 and continue to accept U.S. players despite the law that made it illegal for banks and financial institutions to knowingly allow players to deposit funds at offshore online poker rooms. PokerStars’ decision to provide online poker services in the U.S. post-UIGEA is a major reason why the site is now the leader in the industry at monolithic proportions, dwarfing player traffic at other sites and networks by a huge margin.

Read More: PokerStars Honcho Boasts Of Site's Integrity

That may sound complicated, but it really isn't. On a very basic level, winning poker starts with the selection of which starting hands to play. If you enter the pot with the best hand more often than your opponents do, you will win more times than your opponents.

[url=nodepositpokerking-com/]poker no deposit[/url]

Celeb Poker is one of two former iPoker skins which have announced that they are merging with Titan Poker ahead of the division of the iPoker Network.

The first two casualties on the iPoker Network split due on September 1st became common knowledge yesterday as it was announced that both Celeb Poker and Dracula Poker were merging their player databases with Titan Poker. Titan Poker, who are already guaranteed their “A-list” status due to their volume of player traffic, will now become one of the biggest skins on the iPoker Network along with William Hill Poker and Paddy Power Poker.

Celeb Poker, who promised players that "Fame and Fortune Awaits", never really made an impression in the online poker market after joining the iPoker Network in 2009 despite a higher-than average level of promotions and customer service. Formed back in 2003, Celeb Poker was aimed at the American market and, while still on the Boss Network, welcome celebrities such as Young Gun star Lou Diamond Phillips to its tables.

Sadly when Boss Media withdrew from the US poker market following UIGEA (October 2006), the flow of traffic on the site dwindled to a trickle and – with the tough new measures introduced by the iPoker Network to ring-fence the sites producing the best liquidity – the team behind Celeb Poker realised that any high net worth players they had remaining would leave the site and go play on another iPoker skin.



Read More: Celebs Become Titans on New iPoker Network

PokerStars, the world’s largest online poker room, is gearing up to re-enter the US online poker market as soon as state or federal poker laws become more favorable. Interacting with Yogonet-com, Eric Hollreiser, head (corporate communications) for PokerStars, said that PokerStars intends to be part of the US poker market as soon as the industry is regulated at the state or federal level.

Further stating that neither Full Tilt Poker nor PokerStars admitted to any wrongdoing when the settlement deal was being finalized, he said that both PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker will apply for licenses to operate online poker services in the US as soon as the industry is regulated at the federal or state level.

Poker market analysts, however, are wondering how PokerStars’s applications will be accepted by US regulatory bodies as it cannot be denied that the online poker company violated the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) 2006 and continued to offer real money poker services to US players. The company very well knew that the UIGEA made it illegal for US banks and financial institutions to process poker-related funds knowingly. In fact, PokerStars grew to become the world’s largest online poker company simply because it stayed back in the USA even after the government passed the UIGEA into law.

Read More: PokerStars Ready to Re-enter US Online Poker Market

Titan Poker, a prominent European online poker room, which recently absorbed two smaller poker skins, has gotten bigger than ever and has obtained a place in the top tier group of iPoker Network. Recently, iPoker Network announced that it will divide its skins into two categories—iPoker1 category for skins with large player pools and iPoker2 for skins with smaller player pools. A number of smaller skins on the iPoker Network decided to merge with the bigger skins to avoid being placed in the iPoker2 category.

iPoker Network has over 40 skins, the biggest of which are William Hill Poker, Titan Poker, Paddy Power Poker, and Betfred Poker. According to a recently issued press release, “iPoker has decided to extend the network policy to include specific quality standards that would regulate the interaction between the various card rooms. Failing to meet any of these standards will cause a separation of the card room from the network main liquidity pool.”

The network will take into consideration criteria such as size of the active player pool and number of new players registering per month before placing its skins into the above-mentioned groups. Titan Poker is already large enough to fit into the iPoker1 category. Besides, the online poker room recently absorbed Celeb Poker and Dracula Poker, two of the smaller skins in the iPoker Network.

Read More: Titan Poker Gets a Larger Player Pool

Carbon Poker, an online poker room on the Merge Gaming Network, has announced the end of its Bad Beat Jackpot. In other words, the current Bad Beat Jackpot at Carbon Poker is the last one, and after it has been won, Carbon Poker or any other online poker room on the Merge Gaming Network, for that matter, will not have a Bad Beat Jackpot. A representative for Carbon Poker says that this move is to make sure of a healthy “poker room ecology.” According to a statement on the Carbon Poker website, “Effective Immediately: This promotion is ending, the next time the Jackpot goes off. All of the tables will shut down automatically within a few minutes for the Jackpot being awarded. We will manually reimburse any BBJ rake paid between the time that the jackpot goes off and when the tables can be shutdown.”

Read More: Carbon Poker to Cancel Bad Beat Jackpot

Party Poker has got a guaranteed $1 million up for grabs in their incredible Autumn Million tournament, this exclusive tournament is being held until November 4, 2012 with qualifiers starting for as little as $1.

Win a share of $1 million on 4th November

Play Party Poker’s big-money promotion and you could turn a tiny seed into a massive crop of cash. There’s a guaranteed $1 million, ripe for the picking in our incredible Autumn Million tournament.

and if you still want more, then check out what’s cooking over at Tony G’s House!

Over $200,000 in prizes – start your raid with just one PartyPoint

Starts: 00:00 ET, 3rd September, 2012
Ends: 23:59 ET, 7th October, 2012

Hot on the heels of the news that Dracula Poker was being sucked up by Titan Poker Celebpoker has announced it is in an unfit state to continue ahead of the upcoming iPoker network split.

Once upon a time the online poker room’s marketing angle saw it partner with top Hollywood stars like Lou Diamond Phillips but now it is throwing in the towel and migrating its players to Titan.

In an email to affiliates Celebpoker said, “As you may have heard, the iPoker Network is splitting its player pool starting September 1st. In order to ensure that your player activity will not be negatively affected by this change, we have decided to merge with Titan Poker, the largest poker room on the network.

“All CelebPoker players will automatically be migrated to Titan Poker, where they will enjoy the best offers, software, support, promotions and poker experience possible.

“We thank you for the great 3 years.”

Celebpoker moved to iPoker in 2009 from the Boss network. It had not utilised celebrites as a marketing tool for a number of years.

The company did not respond to a request for a comment.



Titan Poker Takes Over Celebpoker - European Poker News

Hey guys,
Just a quick question, yesterday I won a free roll game for a seat at the Autumn Millions Ireland event. I can't seem to find any information about the final event. Does Party Poker send me a reminder e-mail when the event is going to take place?
Thanks,
Dave.

To help stop you forgetting to take your seat in tournaments you've registered for, we've added an Outlook-style calendar to the 'My tournaments' section. This will allow you to set reminder alerts when you register: these can be set to either pop up when you're logged in to our software or be sent to your email address.

Learn about the tournament calendar at PartyPoker-com

Just last week, Bwin.Party Digital Entertainment PLC, a top online betting firm, reported that they have seen a significant decline in their poker revenues for the first half of the year. Bwin.Party’s main poker option is Party Poker and the online poker site has been struggling for the past year. The group will now be making changes in the New Year to try and see a big turnaround.

PokerScout-com has reported that Party Poker has seen a drop of forty three percent in their real money cash game traffic according to the figures from the same time last year. Despite the drop in numbers, both Jim Ryan and Norbert Teufelberger, Co-CEOs of Bwin.Party, have stated that they are determined to make sure the online poker room becomes the favorite all over the world once again.

Both Ryan and Teufelberger released a statement on the subject which read: “Poker is a key area of focus and we are determined to return it to growth through execution of a detailed plan that includes pooling our poker liquidity as well as repositioning our flagship Party Poker brand. We expect both initiatives to have a positive impact on our performance, along with our recently launched Fast Forward Poker product.”

Bwin.Party is planning on relaunching their online poker room option next year with a new software product. The company released a press release on how they are going to make changes, which read: “Having just relaunched Party Poker in 2009, we have been working on the next generation version that will be rolled out during the first quarter of 2013. Comprising many new features and a new look and feel, our objective is to once again make Party Poker the world’s favorite poker room and return poker to growth.”



Party Poker Transforming To Bring In More Player Traffic

In its 2012 first half financial results, bwin.party, the parent company of the popular online poker rooms bwin and PartyPoker, dropped a bombshell about brand new software coming soon: "Having integrated our poker liquidity, we will then be in a position to launch an all-new version of our world-famous PartyPoker product. Having last re-launched PartyPoker in 2009, we have been working on the next generation version that will be rolled out during the first quarter of 2013. Comprising many new features and a new look and feel, our objective is to once again make PartyPoker the world's favorite poker room and return poker to growth."

Specific details about what the software would include were not given. Whatever it ultimately entails, new software will undoubtedly be a welcome addition to PartyPoker for many of the room's players. The site just rolled out FastForward tables, which are similar to Zoom Poker on PokerStars and Rush Poker on the old Full Tilt. Players can fast-fold their way out of a hand and then be taken to a new table with a new set of opponents and play in a brand new hand.

All No Limit Hold'em cash tables on PartyPoker are available in FastForward formats, including heads-up games. You can play up to four FastForward tables at the same time; these can be in the same pool or across several pools. PartyPoker's current software also features auto buy-in capabilities, filters, keyboard shortcuts, a bet slider, a hand history replayer, table stacking, and synchronized breaks.

PartyPoker recently removed its high-stakes tables above $5/$10. According to the same financial release, the change was made in order to "reduce the ability for net depositing… as well as improve the liquidity at lower stake levels."

bwin.Party plans to integrate its bwin and PartyPoker player pools on the dot-com and dot-fr platforms later this year. The integration has been in the works for some time now and PartyPoker officials explained, "Whilst we expect an initial level of player loss on migration, we still expect to see a meaningful uplift in player liquidity and are focused on ensuring that we maximize the network effect from an increased numbers of players in each pool."


PartyPoker and bwin players in Italy will be pooled together early in 2013. bwin.Party is devoting half of its resources toward making the merger an overwhelming success.

Adhering to the mobile crowd is also top-of-mind for PartyPoker. Mobile gaming revenues are up over 100% for the European company. According to PartyPoker officials, the poker room will soon receive a brand new mobile version, which will be welcome news for those playing on their iPads and iPhones: "Having launched a new mobile browser for sports betting ahead of Euro 2012, we are now working on delivering live video streaming through the mobile channel. Also on our product roadmap for the rest of this year are new mobile versions of our PartyPoker and PartyCasino products."

According to PokerScout, PartyPoker is the third largest network worldwide and comes in at a seven-day running average of 2,550 real money ring game players. Its traffic is about 10% less than the iPoker Network and includes sites like WPT Poker and Empire Poker. PartyPoker has a 24-hour peak of well over 5,000 cash game players.

PartyPoker is Mac-friendly and offers a 100% deposit bonus up to $500 for new players along with $30,000 in guaranteed freerolls for new depositors and extra soft cash games and tournaments. Sign up for PartyPoker today.


PartyPoker Rolling Out New Software in Q1 2013

The U.S. Attorneys' office has expanded the list of charges against two of the now-disgraced Full Tilt Poker's board members.

Howard Lederer and Raymond Bitar are facing additional charges based on the movement of funds from Full Tilt's accounts and Lederer's designated business accounts into Lederer's personal accounts. The charges are being brought up based on a wide interpretation of the Travel Act of 1961.

The Travel Act was originally passed to make illegal any sort of interstate travel or use of an interstate facility in aid of an unlawful business enterprise or for racketeering. In this situation, it is being used regarding the distribution of profits from Full Tilt Poker's activities into Bitar's and Lederer's accounts - proceeds that were discovered to actually be player deposits required for operating the site.

The Travel Act prohibits distribution of the proceeds of unlawful activity, as well as any act to “promote, manage, establish, carry on or facilitate” any aspect of the unlawful activity.

The revised complaint states the following about where the allegedly laundered funds were directed:


Read More: Full Tilt lawsuit expanded against Lederer, Bitar - National Gambling | Examiner-com

The 2012 World Championship of Online Poker on PokerStars came to a close Monday when Russian low-stakes grinder “Maratik” topped the 1,825-player field in the $5,200 no-limit hold’em main event to secure the title and the $1,000,907 first-place prize.

While that in itself is impressive enough, what is truly remarkable is that he earned entry into the massive event using only PokerStars’ frequent player points.


Read More: ‘Marateik’ Wins $1 Million In WCOOP Main Event After Freerolling In

Online player Maratik made headlines recently when he won the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker Main Event last week. The player from Russia, Marat Sharafutdinov, was able to turn 40 Frequent Player Points into over $1 million which is one of the greatest poker stories in recent years. Little was known about the poker player until recently when he sat down with PokerStars to discuss the game.

Sharafutdinov was able to outlast the field of 1,825 players to win the WCOOP Main Event which had a buy-in of $5,200. The player was able to outlast many top players in the competition, which was new for the player who usually hits the microstakes tables. PokerStars Blog posted an interview with the player and he commented on FPP play by stating:

“I noticed that with enough luck you can qualify for just a small amount of FPPs so I began to play them often. It was the same way I won a couple of seats in the $215 Sunday Million and in one of the nightly $150 tourneys.”

Many would think that Sharafutdinov would be intimidated by the top poker pros in the competition but he stayed his ground and played several big pots. The player spoke about one key hand which was near the money bubble by stating: “There was a hand where I had queens and the big blind three-bet me and then bet all three streets. It was not far from the money and I understood that it was a regular who was trying to push out a micro-limits player. He thought I would be afraid of elimination, but I called without much doubt. He had bluffed and after that sat out for some time.”

Marat continued his game play and was able to reach the final table. By this time, the player was ready to open up his game and he stated that he started using his rock image to start opening up with bluffs. The story of the poker player is a great one and it gives many players hope that they too can accomplish great things by playing online poker. Players can read the full interview at the PokerStars Blog

A month before its re-launch, Full Tilt Poker has announced that Gus Hansen has been chosen as the first ambassador for the beleaguered online poker room. More “international pros” will be brought on board, but it is Hansen who will be the face of Full Tilt Poker.

This will be Gus Hansen’s second tour of duty with Full Tilt. While the poker room had scads of “red pros” and “Friends of Full Tilt,” Hansen was a member of the exclusive “Team Full Tilt.” Howard Lederer, Phil Ivey, Chris Ferguson, Phil Gordon, and Andy Bloch were amongst the first investors in the company and, consequently, were the original members of Team Full Tilt. John Juanda, Erik Seidel, Clonie Gowen, Eric Lindgren, Jennifer Harman, and Mike Matusow hopped on board in the very early days of the poker site and they, along with the first group, became known as the Full Tilt Pros for the first couple years of the site’s existence, appearing in commercials, promotional materials, and on Full Tilt-sponsored television shows. When online poker players saw their faces, they thought Full Tilt Poker.

Hansen was added to the team in July 2006, his signing announced in a special public event at the Rio during the World Series of Poker. He was the first pro added to Team Full Tilt since that core group. Allen Cunningham followed shortly thereafter, joining up in October of that year. Patrik Antonius became a team member two years later in June 2008 and Tom “durrrr” Dwan was added in November 2009.

Gus Hansen was one of the most railed players on the site, as he threw thousands of dollars around every night in the nosebleed stakes games on Full Tilt. For many, the games between him, Ivey, Dwan, David Benyamine, Antonius, and others became nightly entertainment.

“The Great Dane” is a cash game fiend, but he has also had a lot of success in live tournaments, having won over $11 million in his career. He leapt onto the live tournament scene a decade ago, winning the 2002 World Poker Tour (WPT) Five Diamond World Poker Classic and then, less than a year later, he won the 2003 WPT L.A. Poker Classic. Both paid over half a million dollars. The following year, he took down the WPT PokerStars-com Caribbean Adventure, a win worth just under half a million bucks. In between, he finished 3rd at the WPT Bellagio Five-Diamond World Poker Classic. He has three other top ten finishes on the World Poker Tour, including a runner-up at the 2008 WPT World Championship.

Hansen also has one World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet, earned in the 2010 WSOP Europe £10,000 No Limit Hold’em High Roller Heads-Up event and won the Aussie Millions Main Event back in 2007.

Read More: Full Tilt Poker Names Gus Hansen Site Ambassador

Rick Dacey, staff writer for PokerStars Blog, has published a blog post on PokerStars latest promotion involving Rafa Nadal, the Team PokerStars SportStar. The online poker room has launched an opportunity for poker fans to play against the world’s best tennis player, who had recently gotten into a promotional deal with PokerStars. Poker players who want to play heads-up against Nadal now have the opportunity to qualify for the same and win a fabulous vacation package to Majorca.

PokerStars will hold satellite qualifiers till Oct 21, catering to the needs of players with different levels of skill and different bankroll sizes. Interested players can choose from a wide range of freerolls and low buy-in satellites, the winners of which will take part in the Rafa Dream Day Final Tournament. Although only one player can win a vacation package to Majorca, where he/she can play poker with Rafa Nadal, the runner-up and all the players who finish from the second to the thirty-first place will get a baseball cap bearing the great man’s signature.


Read More: Play Poker with Rafa Nadal through PokerStars

FTOPS XXI will be hosted on the new Full Tilt Poker web site from December 2nd – 16th according to Full Tilt Poker´s Poker Room Manager – Shyam Markus.

With just 28 days to go until the re-launch of Full Tilt Poker, the news has been released that the popular FTOPS poker tournament series will be one of the early attractions to greet players returning to the site on November 6th. Writing on the popular 2+2 forum, Shyam Markus was answering a series of questions; one of which was "When is the next FTOPS?" Shyam´s answer was "December 2nd – 16th (Really!)".

The Full Tilt Online Poker Series was a quarterly tournament series that ran up until the FTP shutdown in June 2011 and, prior to Black Friday, had a $640.00 + $40.00 Main Event which offered more than $1 million to the winner.

Although FTOPS XX was a more subdued affair after the closure of Full Tilt Poker in the States, the winner – Brazilian Ariel “ArielBahia” Celestino (who also won a SCOOP this year) – still picked up almost $350,000 after a four-way deal at the final table.

No further details were revealed about the new tournament series but, in the past, the FTOPS consisted of up to 45 major tournaments which could be bought into directly or qualified for in a variety of satellites – similar to the WCOOP or SCOOP on PokerStars.


Read More: Full Tilt Online Poker Series to Return in December

FullTiltPoker-com set to re-open November 6

The Rational Group today announced that the Isle of Man Gambling Supervision Commission has granted a licence that will allow Full Tilt Poker to provide online poker services from the Isle of Man. In August of this year, Rational Group, which also operates PokerStars, the world's largest online poker site, acquired the assets of Full Tilt Poker. PokerStars has operated under an Isle of Man licence since 2005.

Rational Group will re-launch FullTiltPoker-com on November 6 and has committed to reimburse $184 million to former Full Tilt Poker players who lost their funds when the previous owners ceased operating the site in June 2011. The re-launch has been eagerly awaited by many former customers who enjoyed playing on a site known for its innovative software, game design and appeal to many of the best-known poker players in the world.

Full Tilt Poker was granted the Isle of Man licence following thorough scrutiny of the proposed operations by the Gambling Supervision Commission (GSC). In addition to ensuring the operation would be able to meet and comply with the Isle of Man's rigorous standards, the GSC was particularly interested in reviewing the senior management structure that will oversee the operations.

Steve Brennan, Chief Executive Officer of the Isle of Man Gambling Supervision Commission, said Full Tilt Poker's application was assessed and approved on its own merits, but added that the regulator's positive experience with PokerStars management team and the company's track record of compliance added strength to the licence application.

"The Gambling Supervision Commission is confident that Full Tilt Poker will safeguard the interests of its players and adhere to the strict policies and procedures governing Isle of Man licensed gaming companies," Brennan said. "Full Tilt Poker's application was strengthened by the fact that their new owners and management team are known to us and have an impeccable record of compliance with the Isle of Man's regulatory requirements."

Rational Group General Counsel Paul Telford underscored the Isle of Man's industry leading regulations when explaining why the Rational Group had moved the operations from Alderney to the Isle of Man. "In our view the Isle of Man's e-gaming regulations set the gold standard for the online gaming industry. Their attitude toward ensuring operators provide a service that is safe, fair and socially responsible is second to none. In particular, the Isle of Man leads the way in ensuring player funds are protected under mandatory trust arrangements that are built into their regulations."


world-einnews-com/pr_news/118204316/full-tilt-poker-granted-online-gaming-license-from-isle-of-man-gambling-supervision-commission

The world’s top online poker site is expanding its reach to the realm of live poker, agreeing to a deal with UK’s Hippodrome Casino to open a poker room.

The Hippodrome, UK’s largest casino located in the West End of London, re-opened as a casino just three months ago following an extensive £40 million refurbishing project. The current poker room, which some posters on public online poker forums have complained is too small, will now undergo its own upgrade and refurbishing and will carry the PokerStars brand.

The grand opening is expected for early 2013 and PokerStars will be hosting a variety of tournaments and special events in its new live poker room. The room’s events will be promoted at the online poker site, a leader in the industry by a huge margin.

"The Hippodrome has dramatically raised the quality bar for the UK casino industry," Guy Templer, PokerStars’ Group Strategy Director told pokerfuse. "So together we will give poker players the same great poker experience, live 24/7 in the heart of London that they get from PokerStars online. We are looking forward to unveiling some great new live events for the UK poker market in 2013."

The Hippodrome has also teamed up with the Microgaming Network in a deal that calls for Microgaming to provide software for online games run inside the casino. Its a triumverate agreement that will find Microgaming running online casino games and PokerStars operating online poker under the brand of Hippodrome.


Read More: PokerStars Opening Live Poker Room In UK