Internet Poker 24/7
CAKE POKER LAUNCHES POKER PROS NETWORK
2011-02-22
Bouncing back from the loss of Doyle's Room?
The Cake Poker Network appears to have a strategy to counter the recent loss of Doyle's Room (see previous InfoPowa reports), launching the new Poker Pros Network this month through CDV Software Development, a company registered in Panama and operated from Costa Rica.
Poker Pros Network is being presented as a unique concept in online poker, offering players the opportunity to pit their skills against some 35 top players in private games and other poker related events around the clock.
The pro team has some impressive names such as Hall of Famers T.J.Cloutier, Barbara Enright and Marsha Waggoner; top tournament stars like Paul Darden, David Levi and Chris Reslock; noted authors and poker coaches like Vince Burgio and Chris "Fox" Wallace and online specialistslike Krazy Kanuck, Josh Brikis and Brandon Jarrett.
Just to get the ball rolling, Cake is offering first-time players on its network a deposit bonus of up to $500.00 in its Pro Bounty series.
ONLINE POKER - NEW INITIATIVE IN CALIFORNIA (Update)
2010-12-08
Democrat launches new attempt at legalisation
You have to say one thing for the Morongo tribal band in California - their determination to corner a chunk of the internet poker action in the sunshine state is pretty impressive.
This week the news surfaced that the tribe, which previously allied itself with California cardrooms in a similar quest, is involved in the latest attempt to legalise online poker in California, a legislative proposal launched Monday by Santa Ana Democrat Senator Louis Carrea.
The San Bernardino-based San Manuel Band - another tribal casino owner - is the third party in the drive.
The LA Times reports that Sen. Correa's proposed Senate Bill 40 may be an attempt to get an intra-state system in place before Senator Harry Reid's reportedly federal launch of similar legislation (see previous InfoPowa reports) gains traction.
SB40 makes provision for select tribes and others to run state-sanctioned Internet poker games, with a cut of the action going to state coffers, the newspaper reports.
"People play offshore now. All of that money goes offshore," Correa told the LA Times. "What we’re trying to do is take a whole exploding industry that is illegal (in California) and make it legal and tax it to fund state services."
Correa apparently acknowledges that other Californian tribes have concerns about the proposal, which critics say has the potential to let select tribes operate Internet poker websites that would take customers away from brick-and-mortar casinos.
There are also fears that Indian tribes that oppose online gambling for competitive reasons may resurrect their threats to withhold payments to the state from slot machines if Internet poker is allowed. This strategy was reportedly effective in helping to derail a similar measure introduced last legislative session by Sen. Roderick Wright (see previous InfoPowa reports.)
NEW TELEVISED POKER SERIES
2010-10-01
Eurosport to screen ‘The Cash Game Battle”
Televison production company Emblaze has announced that it has started production of a new televised poker series for the Eurosport channel titled ‘The Cash Game Battle.’
The series will be broadcast in Britain and France and is produced in association with Eurosport Poker which is currently hosting online qualifying events. Actual filming is scheduled to start in London on November 18th 2010.
The ‘Cash Game Battle’ will feature top English and French poker pros, including Liv Boeree and Neil Channing representing England. French pros will include Basile Yaische aka Basou, Marc Inizan aka Locsta and Ludovic Lacay aka Sir Cuts.
This will be the first event of its kind as internet qualifiers also compete in this France versus England themed event. Internet qualifiers will each be given Euro 5 000 to play with from which they will keep any profit made.
The TV series will screen from December 3rd 2010 with 7 episodes airing weekly both in the UK and in France. Qualifiers are currently running on www.eurosportbet.co.uk
James Hopkins, founder and managing director of Emblaze Productions, said “We are looking forward to producing this unique series alongside Eurosport and Eurosport Poker and launching what promises to be a thrilling new European Cash Game event.”
Mark Cooper, UK manager for Eurosport Poker, said “We are pleased to enter the TV poker arena with a unique cash game that will focus on the best players the UK has to offer against the French Pro’s. We are also pleased to announce that we will be offering two seats at the same table for internet qualifiers from the UK and France.”
AMERICANS WANT LEGALISED ONLINE POKER
2010-07-23
PPA chairman reminds US lawmakers that millions of players have made their wishes known.
Writing in an op-ed article in the Washington DC publication Politico this week, the chairman of the Poker Players Alliance, former Senator Alphonse D'Amato reminded US lawmakers that large numbers of American poker fans have repeatedly demanded that internet poker be legalised and regulated.
D'Amato points out that in addition to ongoing demands, there have been two highly publicised internet petitions in which players have made their views known.
Under the liberty and freedom section of the new GOP website America Speaking Out, more Americans voted to legalise Internet poker than weighed in on any other issue, D'Amato notes, adding that in an earlier initiative when then president-elect Barack Obama solicited ideas on his new website, www.change.gov, legalising Internet poker was one of the two top issues (see previous InfoPowa report).
"It would be easy to dismiss this as a coincidence or as a manufactured grass-roots campaign, but there is more to this story," D'Amato writes. "There are plenty of issues that face the American people and plenty of big trade groups to push those issues.
"But it takes real passion to get people to take valuable time out of their day to log on to these websites, give up a portion of their privacy and cast their vote for an issue. So it is extraordinary that making Internet poker legal consistently ranks as a top issue for the American people."
The former Senator goes on to comment that it is fashionable these days for politicians to ask for voters’ input about what they want from their government, but he asks: "When will it become fashionable for these politicians to actually listen to the voters?"
He describes the current position, where the government has tried to prohibit online poker by deputising U.S. banks to play the morality police [via the UIGEA] as "bizarre."
"Proponents of the law say that it helps deter kids from playing poker in their bedrooms. But there is little evidence to suggest that this law has deterred kids from playing poker," D'Amato opines. "In fact, playing Internet poker is still easy to do for just about everybody. Instead of playing in a more regulated industry, the law has created an environment where there is no federal oversight — because there are no U.S. companies to regulate.
"By refusing to regulate this industry, the federal government has also decided to refuse to tax it. That means that billions of dollars in potential tax revenue go uncollected. This is just about the only industry I know of that has basically begged to be taxed — only to be ignored by politicians who refuse to listen to the desires of the American people," he adds.
D'Amato describes the latest [HR2267] federal attempt to legalise online poker, describing the initiative in supportive terms.
"These are positive signs that somebody, somewhere, in Congress is starting to listen to the desires of the American people," he writes.
"The freedom to play poker is not one of the rights enumerated in the Bill of Rights. But when the Founding Fathers conceived of a new nation, they never dreamed that someday Congress would dream up a law to ban that particular freedom — especially when such a ban was so clearly against the wishes of the American people.
"What the Founders did envision was a government that would necessarily listen to the wishes and demands of those who sent them to Washington in the first place.
"The American people are saying loudly and clearly: 'Repeal this silly law.' The question today is: Are the politicians listening?"
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0710/40105.html
A MAMMOTH MILESTONE
2010-02-15
Pokerstars prepares to celebrate 40 billionth hand of online poker.
There was a time - and it wasn't that long ago - that the achievement of a billion hands of poker by an online gambling site was a cause for celebration and publicity; that pales these days as Pokerstars, the world's largest poker site, prepares for it's imminent 40 billionth hand to be dealt.
The big event is expected to occur sometime this (February) month and will be marked by a slew of cash giveaways and prizes that include a boost to create the biggest yet Sunday Million tourney...the guaranteed prizepool will be $4 million.
Players in action at the table when the record breaking 40 billionth hand occurs will receive generous cash prizes and the pot will be doubled by the poker company.
Coinciding with the big event for Pokerstars, the business magazine Forbes this week carried an interesting feature on the company. The piece records that Isai Scheinberg, a former programmer with IBM, started this industry giant by founding a small software company in Toronto titled PYR.
The company still operates, providing software for Pokerstars from the third floor of a small building "squeezed between a gas station and a Persian restaurant" in a Toronto suburb, and was the foundation for the giant enterprise which Scheinberg and his son Mark built and titled Pokerstars.
Now based and regulated on the Isle of Man, the enterprise holds records for greatest number of online gamblers in action on the site at one time (Guinness World Record verified at 149 196) and, according to the latest independent Pokerscout statistics, dominates the market with 32 600 cash game players on an average day - way ahead of nearest rival Full Tilt Poker.
An estimated two-and-a-half million of the legions of Pokersars members are believed to be resident in the United States, helping the company to generate annual revenues in excess of $1.4 billion and some $500 million in profits.
The article goes on to record the Scheinbergs' tough-minded decision to continue servicing US players when the UIGEA had caused most of its opposition to retreat from the market, incurring huge losses in the process. The feisty stand set the scene for Pokerstars to rapidly grow, overtaking previous industry leaders to their managements' chagrin even today.
H2 Gambling Capital research has established that the online poker market today is worth some $4.8 billion a year, Forbes reports, noting that the Scheinbergs have shrewdly built on their success in America by expanding globally.
The decision to tough out the American restrictions was more than an act of defiance, and was a carefully considered business move, the article points out. Pokerstars has taken legal opinion from several major US law firms who have opined that it is not violating US law despite claims by the US Justice Department citing the outdated and sports betting oriented Wire Act of 1961.
“PokerStars believes that the passage of UIGEA in 2006 did nothing to change the legality of real money online poker in the U.S.,” PokerStars told Forbes in a written statement. “It is PokerStars’ position that both the plain language and the legislative intent of the Wire Act strictly limit its application to sports wagering.”
The online poker company claims its top market position has largely been a result of its innovation. The company points to its early promotion of tournament poker online as opposed to cash games. “A community of players has evolved where people from around the world log on to enjoy the game and a sense of competition with friends,” PokerStars says in its statement. “PokerStars has united millions of people from hundreds of countries.”
Forbes reports that the company currently has 1 000 employees.
It has not always been plain sailing in the US for Pokerstars, however; in 2008 the U.S. Attorney in Manhattan froze some $34 million owed to poker players from companies that processed payments for poker games hosted by PokerStars and Full Tilt. Both companies refunded their customers, even though PokerStars says it was under no legal or contractual obligation to do so.
The Forbes article comes to the conclusion that whatever happens in the United States, Pokerstars is likely to continue to prosper. "Either way PokerStars dominance of this lucrative global business seems secure for now," it opines.
Read the full article here: http://www.forbes.com/2010/02/10/internet-gambling-pokerstars-business-beltway-pokerstars.html?partner=msn
PARTY POKER HITS ON A FAVE
2009-12-18
New $25/$50 PLO virtual tables proving a big hit with players
Party Poker spokesmen this week described the launch of new $25/$50 PLO tables on the website as a significant success...so much so that virtual queues have formed and the company is busy providing more tables.
“Demand meant we recently introduced a new $25/$50 Pot Limit Omaha table but since then we have had to open up more tables for high stakes action," the spokesmen revealed. "We used to have big limit games but this is the biggest game we have had at PartyPoker.com for a long time. The high stakes action has really picked up.”