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.
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.”
LIVE POKER TOUR FROM ONGAME
2010-06-17
Online poker giant collaborating with Betsafe, Betsson and RedKings
Bwin’s major online poker subsidiary Ongame Network has unveiled GSOP Live, a new live poker tour created in collaboration with network partners Betsafe, Betsson and RedKings.
GSOP Live 2010/2011 has been designed as a premium, four-stop tour across Europe, boasting accessible buy-ins, side events, first-class casino venues and a Grand Final seat via a live event leaderboard.
August 2010 sees the start of online finals across the Ongame Network, guaranteeing 50 prize packages to each event, and giving players the opportunity to win seats at the live tables.
The GSOP Live season 1 schedule is as follows:
• GSOP Live Riga, hosted by Betsafe, 5-9 October 2010 in Riga, Latvia
• GSOP Live Malta, hosted by Betsson, 24-28 November 2010 in St. Julian’s, Malta
• GSOP Live Budapest, hosted by RedKings, 3-6 February 2011 in Budapest, Hungary
• GSOP Live Grand Final, 13-16 April 2011 in Seville, Spain
The GSOP Live tour leverages Ongame Network’s most successful online tournament – the Grand Series of Poker – and the player recognition that Betsafe, Betsson and RedKings bring.
Each partner is an equal participant in the tour organisation, adding the player perspective combined with live event know-how to Ongame Network’s online tournament expertise.
“GSOP Live is different. It is a live tour open to everyone who loves the serious fun of competitive poker. It also showcases Ongame Network’s inclusive approach, as three partners have joined forces with us to launch this exciting network-wide product,” said Martin Lerby, Head of Ongame Network.
“Betsafe strives to give players a great playing experience and being part of a live poker tour that is so easily accessible to so many players is perfect for us,“ said Henrik Persson, CEO of Betsafe.
“Offering high-quality products is very important to Betsson and we are delighted to be one of the organising partners of the GSOP Live poker tour in co-operation with Ongame Network. Extending our poker to further offline events is ensuring we meet our players demand and keep our poker room competitive,” said Magnus Grinneback, Business Area Director of Betsson.
“GSOP Live gives RedKings significant exposure in an attractive mix of established and up-and-coming geographical markets, both at the online and live poker tables,” said Michael Golembo, CEO of RedKings.
Readers will find full information on the new offering at gsoplive.com.
BEIRUT PRO WINS POKER GRAND FINAL IN MONTE CARLO
2010-05-03
23-year-old takes home Euro 1.7 million after qualifying in a $22 online satellite
The 2010 Pokerstars European Poker Tour Grand Final is in the books after almost a week of tough action in Monte Carlo that featured major names in the game. The event attracted 848 entries, creating a Euros 8 480 000 prize pool in the tour's sixth season.
This year the respect and the massive Euro 1.7 million main prize went to Beirut pro Nicolas Chouity (23), who qualified through a $22 online satellite.
Chouity produced an impressive performance throughout, entering final table action with a massive chip lead of 6.61 million over his nearest rivals, Mesbah Guerfi and Andrew Chen, both on 3.67 million.
Other players who made the final table were Herve Costa (1.59 million); Roger Hairabedian (1.13 million); Aleh Plauski, (1.695 million); Dominykas Karmazinas (2.285 million); and Josef Klinger (1.17 million)
Chouity personally eliminated most of the opposition in maintaining his dominance of the game through to the heads up against Josef Klinger, where the young Lebanese player enjoyed a 4 to 1 chip lead which he quickly deployed to defeat his last opponent.
Klinger’s runner-up prize was a cool Euro 1 million, and third-placed Dominykas Karmazinas collected a check for Euro 700 000.
The excitement in Monte Carlo did not end with the Grand Final, as 113 top players - up from 78 at last year’s event - took their seats after ponying up Euros 25 000 apiece to compete in the EPT Grand Final High Roller event.
Among those competing as the action started was Daniel Negreanu, Gus Hansen, Tony G, Johannes Strassman, Lex Veldhuis, Barry Greenstein, Humberto Brenes, Dario Minieri, Sorel Mizzi, Jason Mercier and Vanessa Rousso, who won the event last year.
Rousso will not be repeating her triumph this year, having been eliminated on the first day.
Other Day 1 casualties included Erik Seidel, Carlos Mortensen, Barry Greenstein, Daniel Negreanu, Michael “Timex” McDonald and Boris Becker.
Only 41 players remained at the end of the day, led by Tobias Reinkemeier with 457 300 chips, ahead of nearest rival Luke Schwartz with 300 500 and Markus Golser in third position with a chip stack of 291 000.
In this event, only the last eight players cash, with prizes ranging from Euros 85 000 to the winner’s Euros 1 million. The top three places include a Euros 350 000 difference between third and second place prizes and a significant Euros 350 000 difference between second and first placings.
Day 2 saw twelve hours of play in which Yvegeny Timoshenko, Gus Hansen, William Thorson, last year’s Grand Final runner-up Matt Woodward and Alex Kravchenko heading for the exit.
When play ended, the final - and very international - table of eight had been decided. Lebanese player Dori Yacoub holds the chip lead on 1 199 000, facing US players Tom Marchese (909 000) and Allen Bari (835 000); Germany’s Tobias Reinkemeier still in with a chance on 826 000); Sorel Mizzi of Canada on 770 000; America’s Olivier Busquet (666 000); Paul Berende from the Netherlands on 327 000 and Austrian player Michael Friedrich on 112 000.
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