Texas Hold 'Em is a fine game, but more and more the folks at ESPN are starting to showcase different kinds of games, and it's making the mass population realize there is more to poker than just Hold 'em.

About time.

My particular favorite to watch (over and over again, thanks to the network's ad nauseum airing of the thing) is the H.O.R.S.E. tournament, which was a $50,000 buy-in that rotated through each of five poker games. You have to be good at each game to do well.

The H is, of course, for Hold 'Em. Everyone is familiar with that game. I bet that most of you in your home games play Hold 'Em: two cards down, five community cards face up and the best five-card hand wins.

The O is for Omaha. This game is similar to Hold 'Em save for the number of cards you get to start things off. Players are each dealt four down cards, instead of two. There are again five community cards turned over, but the catch is, you can only use two of the cards in your hand to make the best five-card hand.

The R is for Razz, a variation on Seven-Card Stud. In Razz, though, your best hand is the lowest hand. The best hand in Razz, for example, is A-2-3-4-5. Flushes and straights have no standing. A players starts with two down cards and one face-up, like in 7-card stud. There is betting after each subsequent face-up card is turned, and finally, after the final down card.

The S stands for a more traditional take on Seven-Card Stud. The rules are the same as above, but you are looking for the highest hand in the more traditional sense. An aces-full-of-twos full house, for example, would win over a A-2-3-4-5 straight.

The E is a bit more contrived, standing for Seven-Card Stud, eight or better. This means it's a high-low game, and a chance to have a split pot. The person with the best high hand wins, and if there is a low hand possible, with the highest card in that hand eight or lower, the low hand will split the pot with the high hand. This is the most demanding of the games, and requires the most concentration.

So if you're looking to spice up your home game a bit, try any or all of these games in rotation.

Variety is, after all, the spice of life.

One-Eyed Jack is the Sun Journal's resident poker junkie. If you have burning questions for him, e-mail him at pokerjunkie@sunjournal.com. This column is for entertainment purposes only. It is not to be relied on for advice on how to win at poker, nor as a recommendation that the reader should gamble.

Source: Sunjournal.com

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A pretty popular message board topic is to speculate as to the net worth of the most famous poker players in the world, both online and "live."

While it can be fun to try and guess as to what each player is worth, there are several key details that most people overlook.

First off, some people will look at a player's total tournament cashes and automatically assume that someone is a multi-millionaire just because they have $3 million dollars in lifetime cashes.

Though they may very well be millionaires, oftentimes they are not. First off, staking is much more prevalent than you think in live tournament poker. At any major tournament, you can have as many as 50% of the "name pros" being staked for the tournament. So right off the bat you need to question how much of their $3 million in total cashes they actually got to keep. I mean, you probably didn't know that Annette "Annette_15" Obrestad was staked by the Bax/Sheets empire for the WSOPE Main event, and had to fork over 50% of her winnings. As I said, staking is everywhere in live tournament poker.

After that, you have Uncle Sam, who is going to take his cut. Also, if the player travels around playing live tournaments, this will take a serious dent out of their bankroll. They will have to fork over money for tournament buy-ins, hotels and airline tickets. It's not much of a stretch to think that someone with $3 million in cashes could have nothing left after staking, expenses and taxes.

Also, debt is everywhere in poker. It seems like everyone owes money or is owed money. There are players out there that are technically worth millions and millions of dollars, but are owed millions of dollars by other poker players. Money that they may or may not get back.

Also, many well-known poker players are gamblers in the truest sense of the word. Many millions of dollars are won and lost on the golf courses of Las Vegas, and many millions are lost playing craps, roulette and other table games in Vegas. Some players will win millions of dollars in tournaments and then dump this money off at the high limit table games in Vegas.

Also, just because you see a poker player playing with a $500k stack in front of them on High Stakes Poker, doesn't necessarily mean that they are worth tens of millions of dollars. They are either playing way of their bankroll, or they are being staked or at least partially staked to sit at the table. Some of the players at the tables on High Stakes Poker are certainly worth tens of millions of dollars, but some aren't worth nearly as much as you would think.

The last consideration to take into account when trying to figure out the net worth of well-known players is their outside business interests. Some of the most well-known poker players are also extremely savvy businessmen. Phil Hellmuth, love him or hate him, has to have a very large net worth due to his business interests. Players like Eli Elezra and Sammy Farha are wealthy outside of poker due to their numerous business interests.

Players such as Phil Ivey, Chris Ferguson and Howard Lederer are worth millions of dollars on paper due to their equity stakes in Full Tilt Poker. Full Tilt Poker has to be worth at least a couple billion dollars, and these players (and others) all have substantial equity stakes in the company.

Many players also have a respectable poker bankroll that is dwarfed by the value of their real estate holdings.

In the end, there are many, many factors that would determine the net worth of a player. I suspect that many players have either a much smaller or much larger net worth than most people would think.

Source: Poker-king.com

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Randers Talks About Short-Stack Play, Folding Kings Preflop, and How Eric 'Sheets' Haber Helped Him Grow
Randy 'Randers' HaddoxRandy “Randers” Haddox went from teaching eighth-graders pre-algebra calculations and commanding junior-high football players on football fields to calculating pot odds and commanding piles of chips on the digital felts of online poker tables.

The job-change, which he made in the summer of 2006, let Haddox remain in Houston, Texas, where he’s lived his entire life — save for a stint at North Texas University, just north of Dallas — but his income changed substantially. The 28-year-old budding poker pro has earned $265,000 in Online Player of the Year-qualified finishes in 2007 alone, far more than a conventional teaching job could earn him. Nevertheless, he says that he hasn’t “really had a huge breakthrough score to justify doing it for a living … or for the living that I want, you know? But I’m still doing it. That’s what I do; I play tournaments online.”

Haddox has taken down three completely different OPOY tournaments this year: a $100 rebuy tournament on PokerStars (Oct. 28, $41,000), a Nightly Hundred Grand tournament on PokerStars (July 5, $28,000), and a $1K Monday tournament on Full Tilt (Jan. 29, $45,000). The differences in these tournaments — things like the buy-in, size of field, quality of players, blinds structure, and so on — illuminate just how versatile of a player Haddox is. You can throw him into pretty much any tournament and he has a better-than-average chance of taking it down. He has also proven his mettle in the brick-and-mortar world; he recently made the final table of a preliminary event in the 2007 World Poker Finals at Foxwoods, in Connecticut. He earned $38,000 for fifth place.

Card Player recently got on the phone with Haddox to talk about how he got his start, his advice on short-stack play, and whether he’s ever folded kings preflop:

Shawn Patrick Green: How did you get started playing poker? Was it the Chris Moneymaker Effect or did you start playing with friends?

Randy “Randers” Haddox: I think you can pretty much directly attribute it to the whole Moneymaker thing. It was just the competition and everything about it [that got me into poker], and obviously the dollar signs are an draw for everybody. And I’ve always loved game theory and competition, so it seemed like a natural progression for me.

SPG: What stakes did you start at? And did you play live, online, or with friends?

RH: I played pretty much strictly online. There was this site called Bugsy’s Club, and I started playing $10 MTTs [multitable tournaments] there. I would just get killed [laughing] by the players in these small buy-in events. I would just get killed and killed and killed until I made a breakthrough score.

You could do phone deposits on PartyPoker, so I would deposit $109 at a time every Sunday for one tournament a week [laughing], just for the late Sunday $109 buy-in tournament that paid like $9K for first. I took third in it one time for like $4,000 or $5,000, and I was like, “Whoa!” I thought that was the greatest and coolest thing ever. And then I took two grand of it and put it in Stars, and I lost $1,000 immediately playing in $20 and $50 tournaments and a Sunday event. So, I just took a step back and said, “OK, what am I going to do?” And I started playing $1-$2 no-limit and I built it up to like $4,000, and then I won a 180-man tournament — they had just started them, I guess, about two years ago. So, I won two of those, and then I played some $3-$6 [limit hold’em] and built my bankroll up to like 10 grand. And then I won a PCA [PokerStars Caribbean Adventure] seat, which I chopped and got like $8,000 more. I went and played in the Sunday Million the next week on my own for the first time, without winning a satellite in, and I won 86 grand. And I just started going from there.

SPG: What do you consider an all-in-or-fold-preflop-sized stack, and how do you play it?

RH: Well, one thing about MTTs is that I don’t think there’s one correct way to play. If you’re talking about three-betting, everyone knows that 15 to 25 BBs [big blinds] is somewhere where you’re getting it in. You’re not going to make a three-bet and fold. At 15 to 25, I’m three-betting all in, or open-shoving, I guess, in late position. But there’s no one correct way to play; it depends upon who’s in the blinds and whose calling-ranges are huge. I mean, you can shove anything from 15 down to just six or seven.

SPG: Say you have 10 big blinds; are you ever making a raise that’s not all in?

RH: I have before, but I just don’t know how I could justify it. I don’t know how I could justify raise-folding with less than 10 big blinds. I’ve got to pretty much make it clear that I’m going broke. I don’t think that I’ve ever encountered a situation wherein I’ve limp-folded or raise-folded with 10 big blinds.

SPG: Well, I wasn’t assuming that you would necessarily fold, I was asking if there was any situation wherein you would raise without going all in with just 10 big blinds, fully intending to call all in, if necessary.

RH: I did that deep in the [PokerStars] Sunday Second Chance, and I got some really weird shoves. I got a shove from this guy named C.K. I did a little min-raise with eight BBs or nine BBs; I had A-Q. I wanted a little bit of action, but he just shoved 7-6 on me for his whole stack. That makes you take a step back and wonder, “Maybe I should be doing this more often.”

But in the higher buy-in tournaments, I just go ahead and get it in. I don’t think your strategy can be compromised if you’re making that play with that stack in the higher buy-in tournaments. I just don’t see you making a standard raise; maybe there’s an argument for it, but I just don’t have it in my game, I guess. There are opportunities that I don’t know about until they pop up; it just depends on what’s going on at the table.

SPG: Is there any upside to playing with a short-stack?

RH: If you’re not good at it, then you’re not going to be good at tournaments. I guess the upside of it is that you’re going to get called light. There are people in tournaments that are not familiar with your shoving ranges, and they aren’t familiar with their own calling ranges, so you can be shoving a very tight range and they just see you as shoving wide. They haven’t made the adjustment, yet, and I think there are a lot of people that haven’t made the adjustment for calling. Being good is knowing your ranges and knowing the ranges of the other people calling. It’s a skill that winning MTT players have and they keep getting better at — I mean, you have to.

SPG: It seems like poker pros always tout the virtues of being more aggressive and pushing people around when you have a big stack. The trouble is, they often leave it at that and don’t really get into just how much more aggressive is appropriate without going overboard and endangering everything that you’ve won. What’s your take on big-stack play?

RH: [Laughs] I … I suck at it. I had a huge stack in the $5K event at Foxwoods. I had a final-six stack with 60 people left, going to dinner. I had this monster stack going to dinner and then, “Weeeeee … ” Within a half hour, I was down to 90,000. I was just splashing in pots with 10 high or making reraises with A-Q and committing myself to pushes. There are some bad things that I do, but I do like to stay aggressive — you have to. You’ve got to accumulate every chip in the tournament.

But you have to maintain, as well, and that’s one of the things I’ve really worked on. Last year, I was just a maniac, and I tried to get every chip at every opportunity. You can’t really just run over a high buy-in field. A high buy-in field is going have players that are going to temper you down if you don’t want to slow down.

SPG: In my interview with Jimmy “gobboboy” Fricke last week, he mentioned some discussions online about whether you could, or should, ever fold aces preflop. Can you think of any situation in which it might make sense?

RH: There’s the standard [David] Sklansky satellite situation that would justify it, a situation in which you’re pretty much guaranteed a seat, wherein you can fold to a seat and there’s no reason to call off all of your chips. I don’t even fold it in that situation, though. But in normal play, I don’t think folding aces preflop is even a discussion. I don’t think rational people talk about that.

SPG: What would it take to make you fold pocket kings preflop?

RH: Whew … well, I guess playing about 200 BBs deep, really deep in a big tournament and the only player who has me covered I know has to have aces. And I say that, but we were 10-handed in New Orleans this year at a $2K final table. I was second in chips with 200,000 and the other guy had 210,000, and nobody else had more than 60,000. I had raised in the first six hands of day 2, which is the final table day. In the seventh hand, I get kings, and I raise from under the gun. And, of course, the guy with 210K makes it 20 times my raise; he puts in 120,000 in chips and is left with 90,000 behind. And I’m like, “There is no way he makes that play with aces.” But he pretty much told me, he said, “Everybody in the room knows what I’ve got.” I just looked at him, and I thought about how many times I’d raised, and I just said, “Screw it. I’ve got kings, and I’m not folding.” I’m not a big folder preflop, I guess. It takes a lot for me to lay it down.

SPG: So, what’d he have?

RH: He had aces [laughs]. So I went home and cried in my pillow like an idiot. I raise to 6,000 and then stack of for 200,000.

SPG: Have you ever folded kings preflop, then?

RH: I did. This summer at the [World Series of Poker] main event I folded them to gbmantis, Nick Niergarth. We had just swapped 2 percent and the main event was just starting. He raises from under the gun — we’re both playing with 20K stacks — he makes it 325, and I make it 975 with kings from the small blind. I probably should keep the pot small out of position, but it’s gbmantis, and his range is so wide that I can probably get him to flat-call light and then fold the flop. He makes it 3,800, and he’s looking at me sternly, and I was just like, “Wow, I don’t want to stack off in the third hand of the main event for 20K.” I thought about it for like three minutes and then decided that I didn’t want to flat-call and then fold all flops, here, except for king-high flops. So, I mucked, and he showed me two queens and said, “Are those good?” And I was just like, “Oh, my God.” So, I’m not going to fold kings preflop again, but I think that was the only time I’ve ever folded them preflop.

SPG: What kinds of situations give you the most trouble?

RH: Underestimating opponents. They have hands, you know? I like to keep the pressure on, and sometimes I overestimate how much they’re playing back at me. That’s one of the things that I’ve really tuned down a lot, because people are just playing their hands. They don’t care if you’re overaggressive, they’re aggressive, too. But sometimes they have a hand, and you just have to back off.

SPG: To what do you attribute your success in online poker?

RH: Being lucky at tournaments [laughing]. Being extremely lucky in some of the largest-field events there are. That pretty much can sum it up.

SPG: [Laughs] You don’t think you have any specific aspects that a poker player should have that are working particularly well for you?

RH: Yeah, I think you interviewed Scott “SCTrojans” Freeman, and the thing that he said about when you get deep in a tournament and your equity gets higher, that’s when my focus turns way up. And that’s something that I have to adjust, because I need to be doing that for the whole tournament.

I think focus and not being afraid to go broke in a tournament are my good qualifies. I really don’t mind putting all of my chips in just to make a move or to let you know that I don’t mind going broke. I think being super-aggressive and not minding going broke are two things that I have.

SPG: Well, you mentioned the comment that Scott Freeman made. I actually thought that was kind of interesting, at the time, because it struck me that maybe that is a good way to play because you don’t wear yourself out by over-thinking things or thinking too much and going brain-dead by the time it matters. Do you actually think that that may be the case, that that is the best way to play — not focusing until your equity is higher?

RH: It just might be something that your brain does, subconsciously. It’s a muscle, and it has memory, and your brain does the same thing over and over again. So, I’m sure that when the situation arises, that’s what your brain turns to doing. It’s probably what it’s doing the whole time.

SPG: What do you still have to learn?

RH: [Laughs] Well, basically, I’m learning every day. There’s nothing that I know for certain in this game. People are getting better every day, so if you don’t, you’re going to fall to the wayside. But one of the big, big things that has changed in my game is my 10 to 15 BB short-stack play that sheets [Eric Haber] has really helped me a lot with. I didn’t really have that last year, and that’s increased my equity a lot in tournaments.

SPG: How did sheets help you with that?

RH: I was just going to his site and talking with him about some hands. My range was way too wide before, and I would pretty much give up on tournaments if I had 10 to 15 BBs. I’d say, “Pfft, here they are,” and jam it up in there. He really slowed me down on doing stuff like that.

SPG: Well, say you have A-9 suited, are you a lot more likely to fold that kind of hand preflop when short-stacked, then? Is that what you’re saying?

RH: Yeah, depending on where I’m at on the table, what my stack size is, who’s behind me, and what tournament it is. Before, if I was under the gun and I had 15 to 18 BBs, I would just be like, “Whoa, here you go,” with hands like K-Q, Q-J, sixes, fives, and things that wouldn’t even make sense. I wouldn’t just open, I’d open-jam, and that’s totally $20 freezeout/$3 rebuy donkey stuff that I’ve gotten out of my game.

SPG: What tournament do you look forward to the most every week and why?

RH: I used to mile the Sunday Million; I used to do well in that. I like the $200 buy-in Omaha eight-or-better tournament on Sundays, it’s pretty fun. I’ve only played in it a couple of times, but it’s pretty fun at the end of a Sunday to play a game that you know nothing about [laughing] and to deliver bad beats and have people berate you.

SPG: Thanks a lot for doing this interview with us, Randy.

Source: Cardplayer.com

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It's taken awhile but Ladbrokes has finally brought online poker into the three-dimensional world.

The feature, which has Ladbrokes previewed a couple months ago, launched earlier this week and players can now take a seat at a 3D table.

Ladbrokes is the first poker site to offer a 3D virtual reality poker experience and every game they offer can be presented in 3D if the costumer wishes.

"This is a major step in the convergence of video gaming technology and online gaming and we're pleased to be the first leading poker site to go virtual," commented Ladbrokes MD of eGaming John O'Reilly in a press release.

All Ladbrokes customers will now have the option of creating a 3D avatar with physical characteristics chosen by the player. The avatars will display the same human-like movements that have previously been seen in state of the art video games. It's up to the player if they want the avatar to resemble themselves.

Players can tweak their eye color, skin tone, hair color, facial features and more. There will also be a randomize feature which will create an avatar for the player. If you're feeling particularly brave there is also a "freak" feature which creates the weirdest, wackiest characters.

Players can also have their avatar perform fake tells such as scratching their head or punching the air. There are even chip tricks that can be done.

There is also be a robust single-player experience that can be played off-line. It will include a tutorial for new No-Limit Hold'em players that covers items like starting hands, bluffing, odds and table position.

Despite all the new features the best one is probably the most simple. Being able to play in a true 3D environment will bring players one step closer to the casino experience.

One thing is certain, online poker just got a lot more interesting to look at.

Source: Pokerlistings.com

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NORWICH - A gambler from New York with a history of cheating was arrested at the Mohegan Sun Casino Thursday after investigators discovered he had been marking cards during a poker game, state police said.

Sholem J. Weisner, 26, of Brooklyn, was found with about $55,000 in his hotel room at the casino Thursday.

He is being charged with cheating, first-degree larceny and criminal trespass. He is out on $5,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in Superior Court in Norwich on Dec. 6.

State police say Weisner had been marking certain cards while playing Texas Hold-em to determine their location.

Weisner had been thrown out of the casino in September 2006 for cheating, but was using a friend's Players Club card and social security card on Thursday to avoid being identified, state police said.

Source: Courant.com

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"There are 28 million self-identified poker players who want to play and bet online. They are adults who as American citizens have a right to play poker, a game of skill, in the privacy of their own homes on their own computers. There is a limit to how much government can interfere with our fellow citizens' rights to participate in a recreational activity of their choice."

So testified Rep. Shelly Berkley, D-Nev., at a House Judiciary Committee hearing looking into online gambling law enforcement on Thursday. As congressional hearings go, this one gets a five-star rating from How the World Works. There were professional poker players referencing John Locke and John Stuart Mill, Tennessee legislators getting medieval on the Family Research Council, and a discussion of the odds against James Bond drawing an inside flush in "Casino Royale." All this against a backdrop featuring a mighty clash between states' rights and international treaty obligations.

The context is complicated. In October 2006, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist successfully slipped the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act into a port security bill. The UIGEA, summarizes Wikipedia, prohibits "the transfer of funds from a financial institution to an Internet gambling site, with the notable exceptions of fantasy sports, online lotteries, and horse/harness racing."

Not only did the passage of this act annoy millions of American online poker players and play havoc with the revenue of Internet gaming companies, but according to multiple rulings by the World Trade Organization, ongoing efforts by U.S. authorities to criminally prosecute individuals connected with offshore, or "remote," Internet gambling directly contravenes U.S. commitments under international law.

The question at hand for the Democratically controlled Congress is whether to roll back the ban on Internet gambling, further strengthen it, carve out some exceptions to it, or just study the matter further. Rep. Berkley testified in favor of funding a study to find out just how detrimental to society Internet gambling really is. Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Fla., who sits on the House Judiciary Committee, has proposed a bill that would allow so-called games of skill, including poker, backgammon and mah-jongg, to be exempt from the ban.

For Annie Duke, a successful female poker player, mother of four, Columbia grad, and ardent defender of the right to play online poker, the issue was a clear case of government infringement of civil liberties. Duke believes that Congress "strayed significantly" from the founding principles of the U.S., as articulated by James Madison and Thomas Jefferson in the tradition of Locke and Mill, when it passed the UIGEA. She boldly suggested that Ronald "I believe in a government that protects us from each other. I don't believe in a government that protects us from ourselves" Reagan would have disapproved.

Duke even managed to tie in the subprime mortgage scandal, which How the World Works found especially titillating:

The issue for me is that people make bad decisions all the time that create bankruptcy and problems in their family. For example, accepting a sub-prime zero percent down mortgage has created a lot of bankruptcies recently. Online shopping or shopping in real life has created a lot of bankruptcies. If we choose to ban every activity that creates financial hardship in a family, we are going to be banning basically every activity. If we choose to ban anything that hurts a family, we are going to be banning McDonald's, for example, because many fathers die prematurely from eating fatty foods and leave their children with no means to support themselves, and you know, a lot of ruining of lives occur because people are eating too many McDonald's' hamburgers. I would hope that we aren't going to ban that either.

Her counterparts, who included Tom McClusky, the vice president of governmental affairs for the Family Research Council, the arch-conservative advocacy organization founded by Christian crusader James Dobson, split their time between defining the issue as one either of morality or states' rights, or both. Rep. Robert W. Goodlatte, R-Va., testified that the "negative consequences" of online gambling "can be more detrimental to the families and communities of addictive gamblers than if a bricks-and-mortar casino was built right next door or in your community." It is "the crack cocaine of the Internet," said McClusky, a menace to children and a playground for organized crime. From this stance, the U.S. is not thumbing its nose at international law when it refuses to accept the decision of the WTO, but is instead taking a principled stand on an issue of fundamental morality.

But Joseph Weiler, a law professor at New York University, observed that the WTO judges, in theory, accepted the principle that a country could reject its WTO obligations on the basis of morality. But by carving out exceptions to the ban on illegal online gambling in the United States -- most notably horse racing -- the U.S. undermined its own position. And the consequences, Weiler said, could be dangerous. If the U.S., the prime motivating force in originally setting up the WTO, and a country not at all afraid to pursue judgments against other nations when it feels they are not living up to their treaty obligations, takes its ball and goes home, what's going to happen if China, or Brazil, or India, follow suit?. As committee chair John Conyers, D-Mich., noted near the conclusion of the hearing, the flouting of international law on the topic of Internet gambling comes in the context of a world environment in which a growing number of critics believe "our government has been in reckless disregard of many of our treaties, conventions, protocols, ranging from anti-nuclear to environmental to torture."

Every participant in this hearing was well armed and articulate. Panel members and committee members jousted directly with each other on issues of law and morality. But the unquestionable highlight, for How the World Works, came when freshman congressman Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., engaged the Family Research Council's McClusky on just where the line should be drawn. If one of the reasons to support a ban on Internet gambling was the technical impossibility of preventing children from participating, then why allow online access to lotteries, or to horse-race betting?

Better yet, why allow horse racing at all?

COHEN: Do you think that horse racing and dog racing and lotteries should be legal in the United States?

MCCLUSKY: Are you asking me?

COHEN: Yes, you personally.

MCCLUSKY: The Family Research Council does believe that such things should be illegal.

COHEN: So it is really not the Internet you are against. It is gambling in general. Is that right?

MCCLUSKY: Yes, that would be true, or at least unrestricted gambling such as we have with the Internet or other.

COHEN: But the lottery is restricted. You can't play if you are a child. Same thing with horse racing. But you are against that, are you not?

MCCLUSKY: Yes.

COHEN: So restricted or unrestricted, you are against it?

MCCLUSKY: Yes.

COHEN: Is there any fun that you are for?

McClusky subsequently tried to defuse the question by joking that he was in favor of the hearing itself, and that seemed like "fun," but the damage was done. For years, groups like the Family Research Council have been setting the agenda in Washington. But on Thursday a congressman in the majority party mocked their anti-fun agenda. Steve Cohen, he's our man.

Source: Salon.com

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LAS VEGAS

Casino giant Harrah's Entertainment Inc.'s chief executive said Wednesday he's looking at taking the World Series of Poker brand into the realm of Internet poker in the U.K. and continental Europe.

Gary Loveman made the comment at the Global Gaming Expo, the largest trade show of the year for the North American casino industry.

Banks and payment processors are prohibited from handling cash transactions from U.S.-based players to and from online poker sites under legislation President Bush signed into law last year. But Internet gambling businesses are treated differently around the world.

"If you take a look at the legal landscape in continental Europe and the United Kingdom, there are countries where it's demonstrably legal and there's absolutely no encumbrance," Loveman said. "Those are areas that are very attractive to us."

Tournament spokesman Gary Thompson said Harrah's is studying the market and legal conditions before deciding whether to continue. It would not enter the online poker market "where there are any gray areas," he said.

Harrah's bought the rights to the World Series of Poker in 2004, and it is the game's pinnacle event of the year. But attendance this year was hurt because many online poker sites didn't give out prize packages to U.S. residents awarding them seats in the main event that cost $10,000 each.

Source: Businessweek.com

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If there was ever any doubt that High Stakes Poker means just that, a recent episode of the GSN poker TV show put former World Series of Poker champ Jamie Gold in a hand with Patrik Antonius with some $700,000 on the line. Gold, who wound up with a set of Kings, was all in to Antonius, who had caught an ace high straight. As it was a cash game the players "ran it three times", meaning they played with three river cards, each for a third of the pot. Gold got lucky twice, hitting full houses, and won 2/3 of the pot.

Source: Launchpoker.com

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NEW YORK — GigaMedia Ltd., a Taiwanese online gaming company, said Wednesday its third-quarter profit climbed 49 percent, driven by growth in its core poker software and Asian online game businesses.

Net income increased to $9.7 million, or 16 cents per share, compared with $6.5 million, or 11 cents per share, in the prior-year period. Excluding a stock-based compensation charge, earnings grew to $10.2 million, or 17 cents per share, from $6.6 million, or 11 cents per share.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial expected a profit of 15 cents per share.

Operating revenue soared 76 percent to $43 million from $24.4 million on continued growth in its European poker software business and contributions from its Asian online games business.

The company said it expects its gaming software business to continue to perform well in the fourth quarter on increased tournament and marketing activities and a seasonal rise in online gaming, partially offset by increased competition. It also anticipates revenue growth in its Asian online games business due to new games set to be released and marketing investments in the third quarter.

A continued decline in broadband ISP revenue is expected for the fourth quarter. GigaMedia said it may sell the unit and is in talks with some buyers.

Shares of GigaMedia dropped $1.45, or 6.7 percent, to $19.65 in morning trading.

Source: The Associated Press

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LAS VEGAS, NV--(Marketwire - November 13, 2007) - The World Poker Store Inc. (PINKSHEETS: WPKS), a Nevada corporation with corporate offices in St. Paul, MN, continues its expansion of The Bar Poker League and its brick and mortar retail offering. Just in time for the holidays, The World Poker Store Washington LLC., a subsidiary of the parent company WPKS, opens its doors to another 6,000 Square ft. of premium poker products. The newest WPS retail outlet is located at The Commons at Federal Way, a popular upscale mall serving the greater Seattle and Tacoma area. The World Poker Store Washington joins the Minnesota retail stores as a unique brick and mortar retail outlet entirely devoted to poker, offering everything from Texas Hold 'em tables, Casino Quality Chips, DVDs, Books, Apparel, poker paraphernalia and Tour Pro Collectibles. "The World Poker Store and its affiliates around the world welcome the addition of the Washington market to our ever growing poker family. We look forward to our pre-holiday grand opening and promoting poker through the store and The Bar Poker League in the great Northwest," said Chuck Chastain, CEO of the World Poker Store Inc.

Following the opening at The Commons, The World Poker Store will introduce The Bar Poker League and its interactive website to the Washington market with live Texas Hold 'em tournaments hosted at bars and restaurants throughout the Seattle and Tacoma area. The store will promote the league throughout the holidays and build a member base ready for league play as it launches in January of 2008. Both the retail store and the league will benefit from the support, efforts and experience of the World Poker Store Washington Management team Paul Krenik Sr., Paul Krenik Jr., Erica Rudy and 2006 Minnesota Bar Poker League State Champion Jamin Neppl.

With offices in St. Paul, MN, Fort Myers, FL, Amsterdam, NL, Shenzhen, China and now Federal Way, WA, The World Poker Store Inc. continues to bring Free Texas Hold 'em, retail poker sales and World Class entertainment to the world. WPS hosts a worldwide poker community on its website www.theworldpokerstore.com and continues to add new player members while offering retail poker items for purchase online as well. Currently running hundreds of tournaments per week, WPS offers a live, face to face, poker tournament experience without the risk of gambling and boasts the support of its advisory board of world class poker players Marcel Luske, Phil Hellmuth, Johnny Chan, Patrik Antonius, Hoyt Corkins and Liz Lieu with the focus of bringing the thrill of Texas Hold 'em and the Las Vegas experience to the world.

This press release contains information that constitutes forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Any such forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from any future results described within the forward-looking statements. The forward-looking information provided herein represents the Company's estimates as of the date of the press release, and subsequent events and developments may cause the Company's estimates to change. The Company specifically disclaims any obligation to update the forward-looking information in the future. Therefore, this forward-looking information should not be relied upon as representing the Company's estimates of its future financial performance as of any date subsequent to the date of this press release.

Source: Marketwire.com

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The lucrative world of online poker has been put on notice as researchers edge closer to developing software that can outplay even the most skilful humans.

The research poses a significant threat to the multi-billion dollar online poker industry and players, who down the track risk being fleeced by legions of robot-aided scammers.

Computer programs can already beat most humans at checkers, backgammon, scrabble, bridge and connect four. A decade ago, an IBM super computer famously beat the former World Chess Champion, Garry Kasparov, in a six-game duel.

But the huge amount of money changing hands in online poker games - $US60 billion in 2005, according to some estimates - gives hackers a particular incentive to cheat the system.

In an opinion column for The New York Times, Ian Ayres, an economist and lawyer at Yale, said that, in the very near future, "online poker may become a suckers' game that humans won't have a chance to win".

In July this year, two of the world's best poker players only narrowly beat a computer program at Texas Hold 'Em during the first Man-Machine Poker Championship in Vancouver, Canada.

The program, Polaris, was developed over 16 years by the computer poker research group at the University of Alberta. It incorporates a number of fixed strategies but can also adapt based on moves and mistakes made by the opponent.

"We won, not by a significant amount, and the bots are closing in," one of the world champion players, Phil Laak, told The Guardian after the match.

Other poker-playing computer bots, such as Bluffbot and WinHoldem, can already be downloaded from the internet but their accuracy and effectiveness when put up against the world's best players has been questioned.

Professor Jonathan Schaeffer, who co-founded the Alberta university's poker research group, said the team was already working on programs that could take on multiple players in both limit and no-limit games.

His group had already "solved" checkers earlier this year, developing a computer program that knew the best move to make in any possible position.

"All games lead to a draw, unless one side makes a mistake," Dr Schaeffer said.

Polaris is today only strong at two-player Texas Hold 'Em games that have a limit on the amount players can bet.

"Building a program that plays on par with the top human players in this domain is something that will happen fairly soon, perhaps even next year," he said.

Source: Smh.com.au

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Gobboboy Talks About His Money Troubles After His Big Score and His Strategies for Becoming a Winning Player
Jimmy 'gobboboy' FrickeJimmy “gobboboy” Fricke (pronounced like “Mickey”) came raging onto the poker public’s radar less than one year ago. It was hard for people not to notice when this young, baby-faced, non-threatening kid wound up heads-up with Gus Hansen — one of poker’s “bad boys” who has a truly intimidating presence — in a match worth millions.

Fricke eventually lost that match, but he collected his $800,000 consolation prize and undeniably cemented his visage in the minds of poker enthusiasts. Just before his runner-up finish at the Aussie Millions versus Hansen, Fricke had finished deep in the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA), taking 22nd place for $28,000. Then, in August, he took down a no-limit hold’em bounty event at the Fifth-Annual Empire State Championship. Other than that, however, the year has been pretty quiet for Fricke. He’s earned $65,000 in Online Player of the Year-qualified finishes, but has failed to break into the top-three spots of any of those tournaments.

Fricke, however, is continuously learning, and he isn’t even close to stepping away from the felts. The 20-year-old Illinois native and self-proclaimed geek (and proud of it, thank you very much) had been playing poker for more than a year before his huge score, and he plans to continue playing for the foreseeable future. Card Player recently snagged him for an interview, just two months before the next Aussie Millions. Fricke talked to us about his life before poker and how he got started in poker. He also proved himself to be a font of wisdom beyond his years regarding advice for up-and-coming players and poker strategy, in general.

Shawn Patrick Green: First off, can you tell people a bit about yourself, for those who may not know you?

Jimmy “gobboboy” Fricke: I started playing poker my senior year of high school, in 2005. I started playing limit, but quickly found my way into tournaments and slowly built up my bankroll from small rebuys. I was posting on poker forums constantly and getting better and better, and then I started playing in live tournaments and I had a breakout run at the PCA and then the Aussie Millions.

SPG: What did you do before poker?

JF: I graduated high school and then I went to college for about a semester. I failed every single one of my classes because I was just staying in my dorm room playing poker, instead. I didn’t drop out because I wanted to play poker, I dropped out because 1) it would have been a waste to stay there, anyway, because I was doing so poorly, and 2) I just hated college. I didn’t enjoy it; I didn’t even want to go in the first place. I just wanted to find something that I wanted to do, and poker turned out to be what I fell into.

I went to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champagne. I switched out of my major the first week that I was there. I was originally there for math and computer science but then switched into the general curriculum when I realized that I hated computer science.

SPG: What did you do in high school, then? What were your hobbies?

JF: I was into a lot of the nerdy stuff. I played card games like Magic: The Gathering. I was the typical nerd/geek, whatever. I did a little bit of writing for the school paper. I did a lot of acting in the earlier years, but in the last few years I was into stuff like the Scholastic Bowl, which is a lot like Quiz Bowl, wherein you answer questions in a competition. I was also on the math team.

Honestly, I just hung out with my math and physics teacher, because he did all of the really nerdy stuff. I’m still pretty good friends with him. He actually predicted that I would be a millionaire before I turned 21 and that I would drop out of college.

SPG: The Aussie Millions is coming up again in about two months. Are you looking forward to playing in that event, again?

JF: Yeah, definitely. And I’m not just playing the main event this time; I’m playing in all of the tournaments. Last year, I went to the PCA and the Aussie Millions, so I didn’t have time to play in the preliminaries, but this year I’m going for the whole thing. I’m bringing a lot of friends with me, and they all want to play because I told them how soft the tournament is. They’re coming for the preliminaries and all of that, and it will be a real blast, especially since I know some people this time around. People recognizing you is kind of cool, I guess.

SPG: What friends are coming with you? Anyone we’d know?

JF: Yeah, definitely. Thayer Rasmussen [THAY3R] is coming. My friend Matt LaGarde [mlagoo] is coming — he won the Sunday Million in June. Randall [Flowers] is coming, RandALLin online. JCarver [Jason Somerville] is coming, Pechorin is coming. Pechorin is really good, but he’s on a hell of a downswing right now. But you haven’t seen my name up there lately, either, because I’m on a hell of a downswing, too. But whatever, it happens.

SPG: You’re a young guy, and, frankly, you don’t look all too intimidating. Do the live-tournament players give you much respect?

JF: I don’t think so. I’m sure some of them do, and the ones who I want to get respect from I’m sure do, because they tend to “get” poker. A lot of people whom I’ve said stuff about in the past just don’t seem to get poker.

But not a whole lot of people in poker get a whole lot of respect. You have to be a really big name for that to occur. A lot of the best players in the world — who I would consider the best players in the world — aren’t getting a whole lot of respect right now. And I know that for a fact because I’ve actually talked to other live players and seen how they react to them. Especially the online players; we don’t get very much respect at all. I think of the best online players right now, a lot of them are known, but some of them aren’t. But, honestly, when it comes to online poker, it’s all about results, because there are just so many players who are playing. If you don’t have a ridiculous stream of results … if you don’t get noticed, like really noticed, then it’s going to be hard to get your name out there. And, honestly, I think every online player wants to go on those huge rushes. They want to be there for the money, but they also want to get their names out there.

SPG: Also, considering that you’re so young, what are your long-term plans, and how is poker involved in them?

JF: I think poker is my long-term plan, at this point. I’m not really interested in doing a whole lot else, right now. I think poker’s great; it helps me stay social, it’s a way of getting money, it’s a way of having fun — it’s basically everything I want right now. I’m pretty laid back; when I’m not playing poker, I’m really not doing anything useful, whatsoever. When I’m playing poker I can do a lot of things. It helps me travel and it helps me get out there a little bit more. Before I found poker, I wasn’t doing a whole lot. But, I mean, that’s kind of true of everyone in high school.

Honestly, I can’t see myself doing anything else for a while. Especially since I dropped out of school. Just because of the way that I am, though, I think that I could go back and do whatever I wanted to do. But for the time being, I really don’t mind doing nothing else.

SPG: Well, that’s actually saying a lot considering that you just told me that you’re in a terrible downswing. If you can say that, even in the middle of a huge downswing, you must deal with downswings well.

JF: Well, since Australia, I’ve been on a pretty terrible run, and I don’t mind saying that. I’ve won a Turning Stone tournament and I’ve had some deep runs online, but nothing like first place. and, unfortunately, the money, especially online, is very top-heavy. But finishes like fifth are still going to help, for sure, especially in something like the WCOOP [PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker], wherein the first-place money is life-changing.

If you talk to me after I bust out of a tournament, I’m going to be pretty upset. And yeah, I’ve gone on some rants, sometimes, with my friends. But poker is very, very swingy, and you just have to handle it. You just have to make it not affect your game, that’s the most important thing. If I’m still in tournaments, I’m focused, even if I bust out of another tournament on a huge bad beat, which happened recently. It just sucks, and you have to deal with it. But then, once you’re out of the tournaments, whatever — go nuts. I know that a lot of people like to go out and drink when they’re really pissed off. I don’t drink, but when I get really pissed of, I tend to bitch about it a little bit, but in a hour or two I’m fine. You just come back the next day and you play again.

The real problem comes when you compound your downswings by playing games that are over your head, and I used to do that. I used to play pot-limit Omaha a lot, and I would lose money at the highest limits. That happened over the summer. You just have to protect yourself against that sort of thing. You have to play what you’re good at. I’ve since stopped myself from playing those high-limit cash games and punting a lot of money at it. I’ll just play tournaments, now, and eventually I’ll come out of my downswing. Throughout the entire thing, I’m obviously getting better and better. And eventually I’ll be able to be profitable in situations in which I wouldn’t normally be profitable, because I’ve been getting better and talking to people. I haven’t stopped learning [since the Aussie Millions], even though I haven’t been making money in the meantime.

SPG: You said that you had to learn the hard way to not play over your head, People can say that as advice as many times as they want, but do you think someone can really get that through their head unless they’ve actually experienced it?

JF: Well, here’s an interesting thing. Right after the Aussie Millions, I received a message from someone well known on the forums, and he was telling me that you have to be careful about your money; people are going to be asking you for money and they want to be staked, and so on. And you have to make yourself not do it. And I told myself, “Of course I’m not going to do that. I’m not stupid with money.” And, of course, for the next few months I slowly spewed off money doing stupid things.

I was just talking to a friend of mine last night about this. The first big tournament score you get, you’re going to spew off a lot of money on things that you don’t expect to do. Everyone has a leak, and for me, that was high-limit cash games. And it’s really hard to understand what goes through your mind and how to stop those things from happening every time you take a bad beat or just because you have the money and you feel like you can blow it at the time.

I think that once I get a second really big score, I’ll have enough experience in the field not to do that. Obviously there are some people in the poker world that we know of that do this constantly; every time they have a big score, they do something. But I think it would be a great disservice to myself to keep doing that and to be so self-destructive, because I do think that I’m smart enough not to do it, and that would definitely affect my life in a lot of ways that I wouldn’t want it to.

SPG: What’s your take on the ratio between luck and skill in poker? Are people giving too much credit to the skill component or are people using the “luck outweighs skill” argument as an excuse?

JF: Everyone wants to know what the percentage of luck versus skill is in poker, but what would it do if I said that luck is 60 percent of the game? What difference is that in your head compared to 55 percent? Or 50 percent? Or 2 percent? Or 90 percent? It doesn’t matter. We just know that there’s some luck and some skill. Over the long-term, yes, it’s going to be more skill-based, and over the short-term it’s going to be more luck. If I play one hand, it’s going to come down to mostly luck to determine who wins the hand. But it also depends upon what type of hands we’re talking about. If we’re talking about hands wherein I fold preflop almost every time — unless I’m playing against someone who’s playing every single pot, then obviously it comes down to skill there — it’s mostly luck and what cards you get.

People just want to get definitive facts to tell everyone, but it really just comes down to how it affects your play, and it’s very subjective. I don’t think that people are thinking about it the right way.

SPG: How do you handle the extraordinary draw outs in big events? Things like set versus set situations or top two pair succumbing to a runner-runner straight?

JF: It just sucks. But that’s the thing about the long-term in tournament poker. I’ve played probably five or maybe six $10,000 buy-in events over the past year, and there were two of them wherein I basically had nothing going and I bled chips until I got it in in a good spot and just didn’t win (although I had the worst of it, anyway). Recently, in Niagara, I got flush over flushed where we both were playing two-card flushes. I played it for max value and he just so happened to have the second nuts when I had the third nuts. In situations like that, you just have to consider whether you played the hand correctly. If anyone thinks that you can magically avoid a bad beat just because you’re a good player or whatever, or because in the past you’ve been running hot, that’s absurd. You just have to consider whether or not you played the hand correctly.

And there are a lot of people in poker who want to avoid these big all ins so that they can avoid these big suckouts, and that’s just absurd. You can avoid taking really, really small edges if you think that you’re a good enough player to find some better edges. There was actually a thread on a forum recently about someone folding aces preflop when there were three or four all ins to him because he wanted to avoid a suckout. I’m like, “Are you serious? Why are you even posting this? This makes no sense.” And there were actually a bunch of people agreeing with him, saying “you can find a better spot for things like this.” Are you joking?

It all comes down to math, and so many people think they’re better than the math at poker. There are a few people who can pass up 5 percent edges. There’s less than 1 percent of 1 percent of players who are good enough to pass up 5 percent edges in poker. And there are so many players out there who would be wise to take a 5 percent disadvantage simply because they’re often putting in their money at much worse disadvantages than that.

It’s funny to me when people think that they’re so much better than the math at the game. Especially in short-stacked tournament situations, and that’s something that all online players are used to dealing with, at least all of the good ones. And all of the good online players will basically be playing almost perfectly at the end of a tournament, and it’s just unknown by the public, because they don’t want to care about it, because [they think] it’s not playing poker or something like that. Deep in tournaments, you’re going to have to be getting your money in preflop a lot. And things are going to happen, but whether or not you win is based on the percentages, and it doesn’t matter what way you win.

Actually, it’s interesting. I don’t mean to ramble, but when someone says, “Oh, man, I ran aces into kings and then he hit a king on me. It’s so unlucky.” But then I always think, “Well, if he had kings, was he really getting away from it?” What if our hero had kings and he hit a king on the other guy? Or what if the other guy had kings and he didn’t hit something?

In that situation, when you have aces versus kings, the money is going in, regardless, preflop. There’s no way that someone’s going to get away from that in a short-stacked situation; no one in that situation is going to be folding. They’re playing it for max value, and that’s what you should be doing. If you have a strong hand and you believe that it’s best, most of the time you should be playing it for max value. Playing live can influence things somewhat, because there are tells and things, but people take those out of proportion. They should really just be playing it for max value, and I think that the online players are good at that, but some of them still have to learn it, myself included.

SPG: Let’s say you’re in the very first hand of a tournament and you’ve never played with any of these players before. You have $1,500 in chips with blinds at $10-$20. You’re in the big blind and are dealt pocket kings. The under-the-gun player opens for $100 and a mid-position player reraises to $500. It folds to you. What do you do, here?

JF: I definitely go all in. The biggest tell that people don’t care about is bet sizes. It’s the biggest tell that someone could possibly have in his game, and most inexperienced players are even worse at this. People who don’t play a whole lot will just subconsciously include the strength of their hand in their bet sizes. If someone makes a raise between two and three times someone else’s bet — like say [the reraiser in the initial situation] had made it $240 — that is a much, much stronger raise than a raise to $500. And there are obviously exceptions; some people out there over-raise their aces because they don’t want other people to just call. But, especially deep in a tournament, when effective stacks are like 10 or 20 big blinds, if someone opens for three big blinds and another person makes it seven big blinds, do you really think they could have a weak hand, there? Unless they’re trying to make it look like they have a weak hand. Nobody raises for that little and then decides to fold anymore, unless they’re absolutely at the bottom of the gene pool.

I think [bet sizes] are just a huge thing that so few people take advantage of — and it’s free information. Other people do things for information like, and this is another discussion that we had recently online, betting for information. It’s such a sham, because you can figure out [in other ways] everything that you want to figure out by betting or raising for information. Instead of using those precious chips that you have deep in a tournament, you can just look at what other people are doing and use their betting lines and their betting patterns and the size of their bets and everything to figure out the information that you want to get, instead of putting in all of these chips and making a pot huge with a marginal hand, and then folding anyway. That’s what most people do.

So, in this situation: 1) you have kings, and 2) it’s a sit-and-go, so you go all in. If this guy has queens, do you really think he’s folding them? People don’t do this. You just have to think about what his range is. Let’s say the guy’s range is queens, kings, aces, and A-K suited. If you know that, even though you’re only really ahead of one hand, you go all in, because you’re still a huge favorite against his range. Just think about his range, mathematically, and go all in, because he’s never folding. He has a third of his stack in the pot, and even if he is folding, it’s probably incorrect to.

SPG: Is it any different with pocket queens?

JF: Probably not, just because of his bet size. This is another thing that online players probably have over live players, a bit, is that in situations where we think there’s an edge in what we’re doing, we can just put in the money. People always say that I’m fearless at the table. Well, I’m fearless because I know that if I’m wrong and I stick my money in, or if I’m right and I get sucked out on, I can just open up another table. And if this is a low buy-in tournament, people are going to be doing a lot of stupid stuff. Obviously, everyone here is putting their money in with aces, preflop; they’ll do that at any level. But here, at this tournament, there are probably a lot of people that are going to be putting it in preflop with something bad. If someone has A-K or jacks in this spot, they’re probably doing the same thing; they’re probably raising to $500. And if they’re not, then there’s the offside-chance that someone with A-K will say, “OK, well, I reraised and someone reraised me, so I have to fold.”

And with queens, you’re basically representing what you have, in this situation. So, if anyone knows what you have and still folds incorrectly, that’s huge for you. David Sklansky calls it the “Fundamental Theorem of Poker,” which is that every time your opponent makes a move as if he could see your cards, he gains, and every time he makes a move that he wouldn’t make if he could see your cards, you gain. So, if you’re representing exactly what you have, and your opponent can basically say, “Well, he’s got queens,” and he still doesn’t act correctly upon that, then you just gained a whole lot in that situation.

SPG: Is A-K weak enough to fold from the big blind in that situation, then?

JF: I probably would be folding with A-K, but it really depends on the buy-in or if they’re all complete unknown players, which I’m assuming they are. If it was like a $5 sit-and-go, then yeah, I’d probably stick it in. There are many times that I’ve joined a $5 sit-and-go to just tilt off. I just go all in every hand. So, it’s possible that some idiot is doing that with A-5 because they just don’t care. It also matters whether it’s a Saturday night on St. Patrick’s Day, or whatever. [Laughs] It really depends. There are just so many people, especially online, who do random things. It’s probably not wise to fold queens or better or A-K, and, honestly, in a low buy-in sit-and-go, I probably wouldn’t be folding jacks.

SPG: What’s the most important thing that you’ve learned in poker?

JF: There have been a few times in my poker career that I’ve said, “Oh, I have an epiphany,” and I’ve only been playing for like two-and-a-half years. There have been a few times when I’ve said, “Wow, this is really going to change my game.” And I did it, and it did affect my game. Like when I first started playing really, really loose-aggressive and people would just keep folding to me. That was really just a huge epiphany, because it doesn’t matter what I actually have, it matters whether or not they’re going to call me. That’s learning how to be really, really aggressive. Learning how to fold in a big hand in a big spot because you think your edge is small, or you have instincts that tell you you’re beat. That’s another big one, you have to trust your instincts as a poker player. I think my instincts are really well-honed, but I still need to trust them more. Recently, when I discovered that bet size [tells] were so huge and so underused. I started trusting those, and that’s part of my instincts thing. I think that bet-sizing is a huge thing and that no one is taking advantage of it, and that was another huge epiphany.

But there is just so much to learn in poker that there is probably no one thing that is overwhelming, that will make you a huge player, because otherwise everyone would just know that one thing and they would be great poker players. I guess the biggest epiphany that you could ever have is that, “Wow, looking over the past two years, I’ve gotten so much better. And you know why? Because I worked at it really, really hard. And over those two years that I’ve gotten so much better, I have no one to thank more than myself. It’s because of myself that I’ve gotten this much better.” You have to tell yourself, “If I work at it, and I really try, I’m going to get better at this game.” And, at this point, I can’t see myself doing anything else than just getting better and better, and hopefully being one of the best, one day.

Source: Cardplayer.com

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This season of the hit CBS reality TV show Survivor featured a gravedigger, a flight attendant, and a pro poker player by the name of Jean-Robert Bellande. JR, as he was sometimes referred to on the show, couldn’t hang on and got voted out in Thursday night’s episode. JR was a player in the WPT Bad Boys of Poker II Invitational and seemed to take that to heart, at times referring to himself as a "bad boy" on the show, a habit which did not endear him to his fellow castaways. JR is the second member of the show’s jury, so viewers will see him off and on for the rest of the season.

Label: Launchpoker.com

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Bodog Poker is on target to deal its one-billionth hand by the end of November, and to celebrate this huge milestone, the online poker powerhouse is giving away loads of cash and tournament credits to its players all month long.

"We owe it all to our players for helping us reach our one-billionth hand, and we're saying thanks this November by giving away cash daily as well as tournament credits that players can parlay into a chance at winning thousands, even millions," said Calvin Ayre, Bodog's founder.

"While this is an opportunity to look back at how far we've come since we launched our poker room in 2004, we're already looking forward to dealing our next billion hands. We will continue to provide players with the best online poker experience available as well as Bodog's world-class customer service."

On the way to the landmark hand, online players at Bodog will win money through daily random draws and participation in milestone hands leading up to and including the billionth hand.

Starting with hand 980,000,000, Bodog will award increasing money prizes for every five millionth hand dealt, all the way up to the history-making one-billionth hand. Players involved in these set milestone hands will each receive $109 in tournament credits for use towards any Bodog tournament, including the weekly $100,000 Guaranteed and Player's Choice qualifiers, from which players can go on to compete for millions in a WPT or EPT event of their choice.

In addition to receiving tournament credits, all landmark hand participants will also split cash prizes when a milestone hand is dealt, with the amount increasing as the billionth hand approaches. When the one-billionth hand does hit, the players at the table will all split $10,000.

In addition to prizes for milestone hands, Bodog will also hold a daily drawing from November 5 to November 26 with 10 players each day winning $50 each. To qualify for the drawing, players have to earn 100 Bodog poker points. Starting on November 5, once a player earns 100 poker points he or she will earn one entry into every day's drawing for the entire duration of the promotion. The more times the player meets the 100-point threshold, the more entries they receive for every draw.

Finally, once the one-billionth hand is dealt, Bodog will hold a final grand prize drawing with the lucky winner receiving $12,000 paid out in the form of a $1,000 monthly bankroll for one full year.

For more on Bodog's One-Billionth Hand celebration, visit: www.bodoglife.com/promotions/poker/billionth-hand/.

About Morris Mohawk Gaming Group

Morris Mohawk Gaming Group is located on the Kahnawake Reserve outside of Montreal, Canada and is licensed there to offer gaming services from Kahnawake to users worldwide. Morris Mohawk Gaming Group is led by noted Canadian sportsman and first nations' leader Alwyn Morris. The Bodog brand is operated for gaming in North America by Morris Mohawk Gaming Group under License. For more information please see www.MorrisMohawk.ca.

About Bodog

Bodog, with its head office located in Antigua, is licensed in the United Kingdom, Antigua. Bodog Entertainment Founder Calvin Ayre, recognized as a world authority on branding in digital entertainment, was featured on the cover of Forbes magazine's best-selling 2006 "Billionaires" issue. Bodog offers a host of entertainment services, comprising: online gaming which includes Poker, Casino and a host of other gaming products; an international record label, Bodog Music; a million-dollar band search competition and accompanying TV series, Bodog Battle; a publishing division (with an online magazine, Bodog Nation, and blog, Bodog Beat; and an international television division, Bodog TV which produces reality series, such as Bodog Fight and Calvin Ayre Wild Card Poker.

Label: PR USA

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A late-night raid led to the arrest of 61 people at the Thornhill Social Club in Toronto, Canada on Thursday.

Law enforcement officials had been alerted to the existence of poker games at the club after an armed robbery there last November, and months of investigation led to the execution of a search warrant. Gambling tables, decks of cards, poker chips and cash were confiscated in the raid.

The 61 accused were arrested, issued with promises to appear in court on December 20, and released. Eight were charged with running a common gambling house while the remainder were charged with being in same. One person was also charged with possession of cocaine.

Texas Hold’em is “an epidemic,” said Detective Emilio DiPoce, who blamed televised poker for the increase in the game’s popularity and rise in illegal playing.

Label: Partimepoker.com

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Young Meets Old in a Battle Foxwoods
It was a classic case of young meets old at the close of Day 2 at the World Poker Tour World Poker Finals at Foxwoods as poker’s youngest stars battled some of the game’s seasoned pros at the top the leader board. Online phenom Matt “mattg1983” Graham was the chip leader at the end of the day with 587,300 but Freddy Deeb was close behind with 451,900. These two were followed closely by some other notable players such as Tom “durrrr“ Dwan (387,800), Victor Ramdin (316,000), and Nick Schulman (307,900).

With 575 total entrants spread out over the two first days, the fields combined on Day 2 with 366 players. Graham managed to jump out in front with an early lead by hitting the 450,000 mark before anyone else had even broken 225,000.
With so many players sprinting out of the gate early on, it was the Day 1 chip leader, Teddy Adalis that would be the first to break stride after forfeiting his once commanding chip lead of over 200,000, only to make an early exit after a series of tough boards and missed opportunities. As young guns Graham, Dwan, and Season IV WPT World Poker Finals Champion Schulman climbed their way up the leader board, poker veterans, Deeb, “Miami” John Cernuto, and T.J. Cloutier proved to the world that experience is still king.

Matt Graham on Day 2Tactfully quiet and often unnoticed in a room full of big personalities and loud-mouthed characters, Graham found his groove early. The tournament director yelled, “Shuffle up and deal,” and Graham began hacking away at his opponents’ stacks until his side of the table was so heavy that it almost tipped over by the end of the seventh level. Graham took a massive chip lead very quickly (doubling that of the next closest player) and if one were to blink they might have missed him put all of that distance between himself and the field.

No stranger to the game of no-limit hold’em and the World Poker Tour, three-time WPT final tablist, and Season IV Aruba champion Freddy Deeb, spent the day putting the squeeze on his opponents. In his usual fashion, “Fast” Freddy spent the afternoon schooling the youngsters on how to knock out opponents at an alarming rate and spent the night pulling their chips to his side of the table. Starting the day with just over 100,000, Deeb ended the night with 451,900, after taking a sizeable pot off of internet guru Kyle “kwob20” Bowker. Deeb forced Bowker to fold to a 60,000 continuation bet after firing out on a three-club flop. Deeb has his eye on yet another final table, where he would love a rematch with Schulman, who he finished runner-up to in Season V’s Battle of Champions. Deeb might get that chance here, seeing as Schulman currently sits in Day 2’s top ten.

Nick Schulman on Day 2 Barely old enough to play land-based poker in the U.S., Schulman came on the scene in 2005 as the youngest player to ever grab a WPT title, earning one of the largest cash prizes to date ($2.14 million). Claiming victory in this very same tournament just two years ago, Schulman has certainly gained respect on the tour. Schulman made a slow creep to the top ten today, methodically chipping away at his opponents’ stacks and ending the night with 307,900.

With so many players traveling from all corners of the globe to capture a WPT title, it was hometown hero Frankie Flowers that managed to put himself into contention. This Foxwoods regular ended an impressive day by finishing in the top five with 393,000.

Online aficionado, Tom “durrr” Dwan ended Day 1b third in chips with 134,500, and five levels later he would remain on the Day 2 leader board with 387,700. After severely punishing his opponents in yesterday’s match up, the onslaught continued as Dwan dominated his table yet again. Although he got off to a rather slow start today, he finished the night strong with a last minute push that propelled him to 387,800 heading into Day 3.

One hundred and thirty players remain at the close of Day 2, with an average chip stack of 132,692. Many notable players young and old are still fighting and Day 3 promises even more exciting action. Play resumes sharply at Noon EST tomorrow, so be sure to check back with CardPlayer.com for all of the live updates, chip counts, photos, and videos.

Label: Cardplayer.com

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Jennifer “The Unabombshell” Tilly was born Jennifer Chan, third of four children to a used car salesman and a school teacher. Her parents divorced when she was three, and she lived with her mother and stepfather. Tilly began acting in her teenage years through a theatre program at Stephans College in Missouri.

Jennifer Tilly became a famous actress for parts in movies such as The Fabulous Baker Boys, Let it Ride, and Bullets Over Broadway. She plays the voice of the killer doll Tiffany in the Child’s Play series, and is the voice of Bonnie in the hit series Family Guy. Jennifer has been in over 100 films.

Tilly has long had interest in poker, and has two first place finishes in two major poker tournaments. In 2005, she won a World Series of Poker Gold Bracelet in the Ladies’ No Limit Texas Hold’em event, and won the season three World Poker Tour Ladies Invitational Tournament in Los Angleles. Tilly placed third on Celebrity Poker Showdown, losing to the first non-celebrity to appear on the show, Ida Siconolfi, and she appears as a celebrity in ESPN’s Pro-Am Poker Equalizer. Tilly appeared on the GSN Poker Royale series, as well as the third season of Poker Superstars, but was eliminated in the preliminary round.

Tilly, who was ranked 23rd sexiest woman by Celebrity Sleuth in 1995, earned her nickname by a combination of her good looks, and the fact that she is dating professional poker sensation Phil “Unabomber” Laak. Tilly continues to make appearances at professional poker tournaments, and says that at this point in her career; she is more interested in pursuing poker than acting.

Source: Point-Spreads.com

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Musharraf and Bhutto control the destiny of their troubled country

President Musharraf's announcement that he would, after all, schedule elections in Pakistan by mid-February, a month after they were due, looked like the first step in a careful retreat from emergency rule. His supporters would claim that the general's intention was never to damage democracy, but only to safeguard its workings by clamping down on extremists. More neutral observers, however, believe that he has been forced into this concession by growing pressure in Washington, especially President Bush's frank telephone call, and the streak of pragmatism that usually succeeds the bluff general's initial hasty and histrionic announcements.

His preoccupation has been how to overcome the hostility of the judiciary to his determination to keep his uniform, while returning the country to a semblance of civilian rule. This is what lies behind his dismissal of the Chief Justice and other judges, as well as the brief house arrest order imposed on Benazir Bhutto, the leader of the opposition Pakistan People's Party. Both were intended to deal with immediate challenges, and General Musharraf has been frank in admitting the link. He said that he would be willing to resign as head of the army when the Supreme Court validated his election as President for another term. And his spokesmen yesterday insisted that Ms Bhutto was detained to prevent her attending a planned rally in Rawalpindi by her supporters, where, they said, suicide bombers might attempt similar attacks to the attacks that killed 140 people on her arrival in Pakistan.

Ms Bhutto was released within hours, but not before making a symbolic attempt to breach the police cordon, accusing the President of paralysing the Government and challenging him to restore the Constitution. In truth, however, her detention suited her political plans as well as those of General Musharraf. She has been careful not to call out her supporters on to the streets. If she had attended the Rawalpindi rally she might have felt under unwelcome pressure to ratchet up her rhetoric, and to call on her supporters to defy the emergency. President Musharraf, for his part, needs to show his supporters that he is still very much in charge and is not allowing Ms Bhutto to dictate political developments.

In their wary circling of each other's positions, both are conscious of the need to respond to internal tensions and external pressure. The danger is that their supporters are far less ready to avoid confrontation. If Ms Bhutto plays the martyr too effectively, her party will feel emboldened to mount a campaign of civil disobedience and join forces with those embittered lawyers who have already turned their backs on compromise. For his part, General Musharraf clearly feels the need to reassure the army, the basis of his power, and has taken some steps that are disquieting. The release of some Islamist militants is probably intended to reduce the opposition in the tribal areas, where pro-Taleban groups have inflicted heavy casualties on the army. But it sends a wrong signal to middle-class opponents of the emergency, who are still being rounded up, and to Washington, whose support for the President is largely determined by his value as an ally in fighting extremism. Both politicians need to work harder to pull Pakistan back from the brink. If not, emergency rule could quickly lead to a real emergency.

Source: Times Online

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A film about the life of gambling legend "Amarillo Slim" is in development and some of it will be shot in Texas, the project's producer said.

"Slim has led a picaresque life and is a true American original, and the breadth of his experiences requires a fair amount of research," Braxton Pope said of the life of Thomas Preston Jr., also known as Amarillo Slim. "Slim will have a lot of input but he also understands that filmmakers are in the business of crafting stories and that this isn't a documentary."

No start date for the filming of "Amarillo Slim" the movie has been set.

Nicolas Cage was expected to play the legendary gambler, Pope said. Cage's company, Saturn Films, and Pope will produce the movie, he said.

After meeting with Cage at the actor's home in Los Angeles, Preston, 78, was convinced he was a good fit.

"We hit it off good. ... We've become buddies," Preston said.

A strike by the Writers Guild of American will delay the project's writing some but research can continue, Pope said.

Preston, who won the World Series of Poker in 1972, has a home in Amarillo. He hosts poker tournaments in Australia and South Africa every year and is invited to play in numerous events worldwide.

Source: Associated Press

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Two Rooms Known for Cash Games Introduce Daily Tournaments

In this "Strip Poker" series, Card Player covers the Las Vegas poker scene — on The Strip and around the city.

Red RockGreen Valley Ranch and Red Rock have had great success hosting cash games, and have recently added tournaments.

At Red Rock, there is a daily tournament at 10 a.m. The buy-in is $100, which gets players $5,000 in chips. Green Valley Ranch offers a little more variety in tournaments. On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday there is a $60 buy-in tournament, and on Tuesday and Thursday, there is a $40 buy-in. These tournaments are all no-limit hold’em and begin at 10 a.m. Players receive $1,500 in chips for their initial buy-in but can get $500 in extra chips for $5. On Saturday at 10 a.m. at Green Valley Ranch, a $100 buy-in no-limit tournament takes place. Players receive $2,000 in starting chips. The Sunday tournament is all for the ladies. A womens-only tournament starts at 11 a.m. It is a $50 buy-in, and like the Monday through Friday tournaments, players get $1,500 starting chips plus $500 more for $5.

The two rooms are also running a $180,000 Poker Giveaway.

Source: Cardplayer.com

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Chris Vaughn is one of the faces behind Bluff Magazine, having worked there since August 2006. Since that time, he's worked his way up from an internship to managing editor of the magazine. One of Vaughn's job perks is talking to the best poker players in the world on a regular basis, though nothing could have prepared him for his recent amazing run in tournament poker. On October 21, he won the Full Tilt $1 Million Guaranteed, and then he won the Poker Stars Sunday Million one week later, on October 28. Half a million in winnings, just like that.

Here's how Vaughn feels about his back-to-back wins, how his life has changed, and where he
Pokerstars
goes from here.

PokerNews: So, back to back million guaranteed wins. How does it feel with a couple weeks of space? Has it sunk in yet?

Chris Vaughn: It definitely sunk in when I went on a shopping spree the following week. It was still mostly weird and unbelievable the night I won on Stars, and I guess it just took the money hitting my bank account for me to realize that it was going to be life-changing.

PN: In the second event, you made a comment to the effect of "Oh, that's how - I get my money in bad," after coming from behind to win a pot. What is this referring to? Did you get bad beat upon prior to this?

CV: It was just a small jab at blanconegro. He had won a monster pot versus me when he four-bet A-J and I called with K-K and then an ace flopped. Had I won that hand, I would have had about 90% of the chips on the table with three players left or something. I guess at the time, I just didn't like the comment he made about me running so hot or something, so I made a little jab. It was really just a joke with no hard feelings behind it. I realize how lucky I was in the tournament.

PN: Had you entered a lot of online guaranteed tournaments before the Full Tilt event? How did you do prior to this?

CV: I've always played sporadically, but not too much. I have a full-time job with Bluff which limits my time to play tournaments. I did OK, I guess. I've always been a winner in poker, but nowhere near this sort of success. I have mostly just played sit-and-gos and smaller cash games over the years.

PN: Tell us about working at Bluff. What do you do there? Do you ever travel anywhere or do you stay in the office?

CV: I am the managing editor with the magazine, which means I spend a good bit of time in the office working on preparing each issue for release. However, I spent the summer in Vegas for the entire WSOP, and usually travel at least every other month for various poker tournaments or stories.

PN: How has your position at Bluff helped you as a poker player, if at all?

CV: It's easily the most important factor. Having a contact list full of the top poker players in the world gives me a great chance to talk about my game. I've also watched so much online poker, I feel that I understand situations just from having watched them. Especially late in the tournaments, where I think all the time I have spent watching great players tear up the bubble and make moves, really affected how I played in those spots.

PN: Around $500,000 in winnings - you're still staying on at Bluff?

CV: Absolutely. I love my job. I wouldn't quit it for most anything. Also, I was staked in both tournaments, so I didn't bring home the full $500,000, but a very nice chunk of it.

PN: How did you get into the poker industry originally?

CV: I actually was just a player. I had graduated from Oglethorpe University in Atlanta and was kind of grinding rent payments and doing various odd jobs. I met two guys, Matt and Darren (who both still work at Bluff Media) at a bar in Atlanta, and I bugged them to help me get an internship. It worked out to where I am now. That was in August of last year.

PN: Should we expect to see you in more big online events and perhaps some brick-and-mortar events, work permitting? Any specific plans?

CV: I'll play all the Sunday tournaments and maybe a couple of live $10,000s each year. I remain realistic that I am probably still way behind a lot of the Internet and live pros who devote their life to playing. I feel I would be a long-term winner in almost any tournament I play, but I don't ever expect to be in the top 5% or so of players.

PN: Is this life-changing money? Any plans right away for some of it, other than poker?

CV: Definitely life-changing. I plan to invest most of it, but I did buy a new TV among some other toys. Maybe a new car in the near future too, but for now, I just plan on investing my money and letting it grow in a bank until I decide to make any decisions with it.

PN: Any plans to play cash games anywhere with some of the money? What sites and stakes are we likely to see you at?

CV: Like I said, I don't have a ton of time to play. When I do play, I will be playing $2-4 no-limit and up, but not much higher. I imagine I will play $100 sit-and-gos and higher when the games are running and look profitable, and I have the time to do so.

PN: What are your plans for the World Series in '08?

CV: I have no idea; that's a long way away. Bluff is very involved with the WSOP as the official media sponsor, and I imagine most of my time will be spent doing everything I can for Bluff during that time span. Hopefully there will be some time to play a few events, and I definitely will play the Main Event.

Source: Pokernews.com

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A popular online poker room is offering seats to the SuperBowl, the end of the season game that the National Football League in America holds representing the best of the best. NFL fans have a chance to win a seat to Super Bowl XLII. Players choose their team and register with the poker room, and then get to play in a tournament. The top sixteen teams make the playoffs, just like in the NFL, and try to accumulate points. The two teams with the most points will play in the last event, with first place getting tickets to Super Bowl XLII in Arizona on February 3rd.

Source: Launchpoker.com

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When Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick proposed a bill to allow resort-style casinos into the state, some opposition was expected. But the initiative is now under heavy attack from an unlikely source: gamblers. The critical issue for many who would have otherwise welcomed the "Act Establishing and Regulating Resort Casinos in the Commonwealth" is a clause buried deep within the bill that would make online gambling illegal.

If readers navigate their way to page 28 of the governor's proposed legislation, they will find the following paragraph:

"Any person who knowingly transmits or receives a wager of any type by any telecommunication device, including telephone, cellular
Mansion
phone, Internet, local area network, including wireless local networks, or any other similar device or equipment or other medium of communication, or knowingly installs or maintains said device or equipment for the transmission or receipt of wagering information shall be punished by imprisonment in a house of correction for not more than 2 years, or a fine of not more than $25,000, or both."

Luckily for online poker players, the stealth-like inclusion of anti-online gaming legislation did not escape the Poker Players Alliance's notice. The PPA immediately issued an action alert to all its Massachusetts members stating, "The Poker Players Alliance is committed to assisting Massachusetts poker players by bringing attention to this attack on our rights; however, we cannot do this alone. We need your help and are asking that you send letters to Governor Deval Patrick, your local State Representative and your State Senator." The PPA also includes linkage at its site (at www.pokerplayersalliance.org) for contacting these elected officials.

The PPA pointed out the irony of including anti-online gambling legislation in a pro-casino gambling bill. Perhaps it is no more ironic than the Massachusetts governor proposing anti-online gambling state legislation at the same time that Massachusetts US Congressman Barney Frank has a bill pending in Congress that would license and regulate online gambling at the national level.

The good news for poker players is that they are not alone in their opposition to the bill. The proposal is receiving criticism on a number of fronts and has yet to gain meaningful endorsement from Massachusetts legislators. One of the biggest obstacles Governor Patrick will confront relates to the validity of the plan's financial assumptions. Patrick has estimated that the three proposed resort casinos would generate 20,000 jobs and $2 billion in economic activity for the Bay State, but he seems to be alone in his assessment. The Massachusetts Taxpayers Association has come forward to say that the proposal's financial assumptions are not credible; revenues are overstated and proceeds are overcommitted and will never be realized.

Massachusetts Representative Dan Bosely, Chair of the Joint Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technologies, agreed, saying, "They're short in all of the accounts. There is not anywhere near enough [accounted for lost revenues] for the lottery. There isn't enough for public infrastructure, mitigation, or all sorts of social ills. The only thing they don't require in this bill is for the casinos to give away a puppy when people leave. It's pie in the sky, and they're not going to do this."

Currently eleven states have enacted some form of anti-online gambling legislation; Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, South Dakota, Washington, and Wisconsin. Poker players are rallying to prevent Massachusetts from becoming the twelfth.

Source: Pokernews.com

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A skilled poker player knows how to read his opponent and when to fold to cut his losses. So when scores of poker players ascended on Washington last month to push for legalizing online gambling, their opponents took notice.

The Pokers Players Alliance is pushing a bill sponsored by Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) that would legalize and regulate Internet gambling, overturning a ban that became law after former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) inserted it into port security legislation late last year.

For poker players, whose association membership exceeds 800,000, time is at a premium. They want lawmakers to reverse the ban before some of the Frist regulations go into effect next year.

They recruited former Sen. Alfonse D’Amato (R-N.Y.) to lead PPA, and they brought in professional players to make their case to members last week, including World Poker Series players Chris Moneymaker, Howard Lederer and Annie Duke. D’Amato’s message to his former colleagues is clear — online gambling could generate $3 billion in taxes a year if the federal government regulated the industry.

That could present a tempting new revenue source for cash-starved Democrats anxious to implement new programs. But the odds are still not in PPA’s favor.

It’s facing a predictable head-to-head fight with family and evangelical organizations that say gambling leads to tragic addiction and compromises the moral fabric of the family.

A more muscular counter, however, could come from a coalition of professional sports leagues — from basketball to football — that also oppose the bill.

The proposal’s tainted past could also hinder its passage. In 2000, Jack Abramoff was instrumental in helping defeat an Internet gambling ban on the House floor.

He threatened to attack Republican incumbents who supported the ban, and it was alleged he funneled money to key lawmakers to block the Internet gambling bill.

The Frist measure sailed through in part because of a legislative backlash against anything associated with Abramoff, who pleaded guilty to bribery-related charges and is now in prison.

“We realize right now that the bill does not have much of a chance in this Congress, but we don’t want people to think that it has a chance,” said Tom McClasky, a Focus on the Family spokesman. And the group is not taking any chances.

McClasky called the Frank bill “somewhat ridiculous” and raised concerns about the logistics of online gambling. “There is the anonymity angle. You just do not know where the money is going.” McClasky also questions where PPA obtains its funding, suggesting it could be obtained through impure practices.

The Interactive Gaming Council — a not-for-profit organization based in Canada working to establish fair trade guidelines for interactive, online gaming — is a major financial backer of the alliance, said John Pappas, PPA’s executive director.

The council’s membership includes a variety of online gambling sites and foreign interests, including Curacao Internet Gaming Association. Greenberg Traurig, Abramoff’s former lobbying firm, is also a council member.

But Pappas said the majority of the PPA’s funding comes from the individual members. Membership costs $35, and many members contribute beyond their dues. Free memberships also are available.

Family groups are not PPA’s only opponents, and they are certainly not the richest. Sports leagues are also opposed to making online gambling legal, in part because of the possibility of scandals and corruption within the leagues.

That anxiety was refreshed recently over the NBA scandal involving a referee who pleaded guilty to two federal conspiracy charges for betting on games he officiated.

All of the major sports leagues — the National Football League, Major League Baseball, the National Hockey League and the National Collegiate Athletic Association — sent a letter to the House Financial Services Committee earlier this year requesting “continued support in protecting American athletics from the corrupting influence of sports gambling.”

They reiterated this stance with another joint release last month.

“To maintain the integrity of our sports, we strongly back those who are enforcing the law against sports gambling. As the regulations are finalized, we will join others and work to ensure that foreign gambling operations cannot use the Internet to violate American gambling laws.”

The sports leagues are working with family groups and have signed onto letters with those organizations.

Other opponents have also testified against the measure, sometimes in very personal ways.

The Rev. Gregory Hogan told the House Financial Services Committee about his son, Gregory Hogan Jr., a class president and musical prodigy turned criminal. The younger Hogan robbed a bank to finance an online gambling addiction. He made no attempt to conceal his identity and made off with $2,871.

He was a sophomore at Leigh University when he was arrested and is now 21. He is serving 22 months to 10 years.

Frank’s bill would allow U.S. companies to accept bets and wagers online from reputable agencies. In response to concerns about underage players and gambling addiction, betting sites would have to use advanced technology capable of age verification, geolocation and software that could identify the patterns and habits of problem gamblers.

When Hogan’s father placed anti-gambling software blocks on his computer, his son played Texas hold ’em for hours at a time in the school library.

Kelly Nix, a poker player, mother of two and PPA’s Georgia representative, explains that the software now has capabilities to identify people with gambling addictions. “It triggers an inquiry so somebody contacts you to look into it,” she said.

Family groups are appealing to members across the country to urge local lawmakers to defeat the measure, which is still in committee. PPA is employing the same tactic.

Don Signore is a poker player in Chicago. When his free poker game was shut down last month, he got involved with PPA. He flew to Washington on his own dime to meet with members, including Rep. Melissa L. Bean (D-Ill.), Rep. Daniel Lipinski (D-Ill.) and the staff of Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), all of whom he said were “very supportive.”

Nix said this is just the beginning of PPA’s grass-roots efforts.

Another proposal from Rep. Robert Wexler (D-Fla.) would allow Internet poker bets by grouping poker with other skill games, such as backgammon and chess. The American Gaming Association, the lobbying arm of casinos, has taken no position on the proposals.

One factor that could upend the legislation is a trade dispute with Antigua over online gambling that could end up leaving the United States on the hook for billions of dollars.

The World Trade Organization recently ruled that the U.S. violated its international treaty commitments by going after offshore online gambling outfits without cracking down on American operators offering remote betting on horse and dog racing. The Frist ban included an exemption for horse and dog racing.

Focus on the Family Action’s Chad Hills believes family groups will prevail in this fight. But Pappas argues that the only way families can truly be protected against unregulated gambling is to regulate it. “We are losing the ability to protect our own consumers who are playing on those sites,” said Pappas.

Source: Politico.com

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Skilled Poker Player Geir-Yngve Andersen finished in the money at two land-based poker tournaments and then won cash at a Titan Poker online poker tournament.

(PRWE November 8, 2007 -- Geir-Yngve Andersen, a skilled online poker player from Titan Poker, the largest poker room on the iPoker Network, finished in the money at two World Poker Showdown tournaments in Costa Rica last week before returning home to win cash at an online poker tournament staged by Titan Poker.

Andersen, a 36-year-old poker player from Norway, made the Main Event Final Table of the World Poker Showdown (WPS) Costa Rica and finished in 8th place, winning $6,630. He qualified for the WPS Costa Rica tournament by winning a Super Satellite held at Titan Poker. The $8,000 Prize Package awarded to him by the popular online poker room included air fare and hotel accommodation for two at Jaco Beach in Costa Rica, where the WPS poker tournament was staged.

Earlier in the week, Andersen finished in first place and won $3,410 in the $300 + $40 No Limit Hold'em Event on Day 3 of World Poker Showdown Costa Rica.

This was Andersen's first time in Costa Rica and he was blown away by his experience there. Apart from playing poker, Andersen had time to relax and travel around the country. "I want to move there," he said jokingly, summing up his experience. Andersen was also very satisfied with the way the tournament was conducted. "People were very friendly and the tournament organizers did a tremendous job," he said.

Shortly after Andersen's return to his home in Norway, he won $5,625 in Titan Poker's $250,000 Guaranteed Prize Tournament. His next challenge will be qualifying for the World Poker Showdown Bahamas "Deep Stack" Poker Open, taking place at the stunning Cable Beach Resort in January 2008. Titan Poker is holding a series of qualifier Super Satellites for this event, awarding winners with a $7,000 all-expenses paid trip to the Bahamas tournament. The next two Super Satellites will be held on November 18th and December 9th.

Titan Poker regularly awards its players with seats at the world's most well-known poker tournaments. Titan Poker players have played at the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas, international tournaments of the World Poker Tour, and at various European Poker Tour events.

Titan Poker recently sent a delegation of thirteen players to participate in the poker action at the Australia Open / Poker News Cup in Melbourne, Australia. In December, Titan Poker will be staging the European Championship of Online Poker 2007, which is set to be this year's biggest online poker event with more than $2,500,000 in Guaranteed Prizes.

About Titan Poker
Titan Poker is the leading online poker room in Europe and part of the iPoker Network. Titan Poker's software was developed by Playtech, a public company and leading gaming software developer. Titan Poker guarantees more than $8,000,000 in monthly prizes and awards winning players with entries to the major poker tournaments worldwide. Titan Poker features special jackpot sit 'n' go tournaments with progressive prizes and jackpots as high as $100,000. For more information about Titan Poker please visit the Titan Poker website.

Source: Prweb.com

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Absolute Poker Celebrates Thanksgiving with Free Turkey Bowl Tournament

The popular online poker site celebrates Thanksgiving by launching the Absolute Turkey Bowl, for all Texas Hold'em fans.

Miami, FL (PRWE November 8, 2007 -- Absolute Poker is giving online poker players something extra to be thankful for. The popular online poker site is celebrating the American Thanksgiving this month by giving away $5,000 cash in the first annual Absolute Poker Turkey Bowl.

"This is one Thanksgiving feast that will leave everyone at the table feeling satisfied," stated David Clainer, senior vice president for Absolute Poker.

This is one Thanksgiving feast that will leave everyone at the table feeling satisfied
Texas Hold'em fans can claim their seat in the free online poker tournament by playing in at least 3,000 raked hands between November 1st and 27th. Qualifying poker players will receive an exclusive invitation by email notifying them of their eligibility.

The first 2,000 poker players to register for the Absolute Poker Turkey Bowl will secure their spot in the December 1st Texas Hold'em event.

The online poker tournament features a $5,000 prize pool. Full details on the Absolute Poker Turkey Bowl are available at Absolute Poker.

About Absolute Poker
Team Absolute is dedicated to providing players from around the world with an online poker game experience that is second to none. Players worldwide can access Absolute Poker online 24 hours a day, 7 days a week from any PC or Mac and experience the best multi-player game online poker has to offer. Absolute Poker is committed to remaining the most trusted and best online poker experience, created by poker players for poker players. Get started with Absolute Poker.

Source: Prweb.com

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Poker Source Online, a leading online poker community, is now fully translated for German speakers worldwide to access free gifts, promotions, freerolls and poker resources in their own language.

San Jose, Costa Rica (PRWE November 8, 2007 -- Leading online poker community Poker Source Online is now fully available in German, as part of their strategy to expand into the growing European markets where poker is becoming increasingly popular. German speakers will now be able to access all of PSO's features in their own language.

Sean Jones, Head of Communications at PSO, is excited about this new development. "Poker is becoming global," he said. "We want to acknowledge and welcome all poker players around the world, including 130 million German speakers." Jones expects this move will attract many new customers to what is already a very busy online community: "PSO has grown non-stop since its creation in 2004 - as we speak we have over 137,000 members, and new ones keep joining the ranks every day. The reason for our popularity is that we constantly strive to offer something new to our members, which is why we decided to open up PSO to other languages."

PSO has grown non-stop since its creation in 2004 - as we speak we have over 137,000 members, and new ones keep joining the ranks every day. The reason for our popularity is that we constantly strive to offer something new to our members, which is why we decided to open up PSO to other languages.
PSO's free poker gifts are still their strongest selling point, and according to their website they have shipped over $5,500,000 in free gifts since 2004. Besides giving out gifts to their members for playing online poker, PSO also organizes exclusive monthly freerolls and poker leagues and negotiates special rakeback deals with the major poker sites.

For German poker players who need more information before deciding which poker room to join or which poker book to buy, PSO offers a thorough Resource Center in their language, with expert reviews of poker sites, books, software and DVDs as well as biographies of top players and poker strategy articles. The PSO news page is updated daily with the latest industry news and gossip, and the PSO forum is a lively meeting place for poker-related discussions - all in German.

To find out more about PSO's offers and features in German, visit Poker Source Online in German.

Poker Source Online is one of the most popular poker communities on the net, offering free gifts, money and freerolls to members since 2004. We are proud to offer 24/7 online support. PSO is available in English, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Swedish and Russian.

Source: Emediawire.com

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Here's the hand you've been dealt.

You are the Bolivian department of Chuquisaca, the home of Sucre, the judicial capital of the country and also one of its least developed regions. You bear the grudge of a historical wrong – the loss of the full capital to La Paz – committed before your great-grandparents were born. Suddenly, you find yourself for the first time with some serious political leverage on your hands. You are the host of a Constituent Assembly to re-write the nation's Constitution. You make a move.

You try to plant before the Assembly a proposal to move the nation's capital back to Sucre from La Paz. You aren’t taken very seriously. Basically, you are blown off. You can’t even get the issue put to a vote before the full Assembly. So you play the same card that the President and his allies once played so often when their demands were ignored – disruption. You physically harass the delegates, block building entrances, and generally make it impossible for the Assembly to meet. And so it doesn’t meet. It is dead in its tracks for two months.

The government is desperate to get the Assembly process on track and because of that it's ready to deal. You have leveraged 'capatalia' into a real issue and into real negotiating power. From the perspective of political poker, you've played things shrewdly. The government offers up construction of a new regional airport and a new highway. It pledges to move significant government functions to Sucre, including the national election authorities and even some sessions of Congress. If your goal was to boost public investment in the region and obtain a more visible presence in the nation's politics, it is a solid win.

The First Rule of Poker

But there is a rule in poker, one that I explained once upon a time to my tearful daughter when teaching her the game. It isn't actually your money until you take it and walk away. The danger in poker is that players with good hands convince themselves that they have great hands. Then they end up having losing hands. [Note: Being the good father that I am, I let my daughter win back all of my pocket change.]

Some realisms:

Upstate New York is not going to be handed back over to the Iroquois.

The Spanish are not going to refill Potosi with silver.

Paraguay is not going to hand back El Chaco.

Bolivia is not going to declare war on Chile and recover the sea.

The capital of Bolivia is not going to be moved to Sucre.

Injustices one and all, but the more that time that passes after the injustice is done, the more subtle the reparations that are possible. No person, or region, in any country, is terribly game to give up a major chunk of its economy freely to another. This is especially true when the sacrifice is aimed at making amends for a wrong that no one still alive actually committed.

What does that mean for Chuquisaca now? Well the Constituent Assembly is sitting in Sucre waiting to reconvene, but those leading the "return the capital" rebellion seem pretty intent on not letting it. Some of them apparently still suffer the illusion that a ticked off population five times its size in La Paz and El Also is going to wave a cheerful goodbye to being the national capital. One wonders whether these leaders also put their wobbly adult teeth under their pillows at night waiting for Ratoncito Pérez (the Latin American equivalent of the tooth fairy).

There are splits over the matter in Sucre, just as a poker player wrestles with choices over how to play her hand. Some of those pushing to take the deal on the table and let the Assembly get back to work are backers of the government, but others not. Some may just be realists. In any event, MAS seems about ready to call the bluff and move the Assembly to friendlier MAS territory in Oruro, a city which does not have its sights on the capital, but which does produce the best Carnival in the nation.

If the Assembly leaves that will leave Sucre free to fill its streets in protest, but with no leverage left to wrestle even the promise of a few street pavings. This is bad poker.

If a tree falls in the forest and there is no one there to hear it…

If Sucre fills its streets in protests demanding the capital be moved and the Assembly has gone elsewhere…

Bolivian Chess

All of which leads us to the real question: If demanding the move of the capital is being pushed far beyond the point of a winning hand for Sucre, why is that hand being played? It is hard to believe that the intelligent people of Chuquisaca are that blinded. The answer lies not in poker, but in chess.

Since it lost so lopsidedly in elections for delegates to the Assembly 16 months ago, the political opposition here – most specifically PODEMOS and leaders in Santa Cruz – has made a strategic choice to block the Assembly's progress rather than shape its product. That is understandable. From the perspective of the opposition there is nothing that the Assembly could possibly produce that it would prefer to the status quo. The exception to that might be greater regional autonomy, but the MAS majority isn't going to cede to the regions control over either land reform or gas, the opposition's lead desires.

Simple chess: If you can't checkmate your opponent then just make damn sure your opponent can't checkmate you – stalemate. At this point stalemate is the best move the opposition has got and after the 2/3 vote issue ran its course and the Assembly began working again, blowing up the Assembly with the 'capatalia' issue was an ingenious play toward stalemate.

Here is the formula. First make every move that you can to block the Assembly from functioning, then declare that the Assembly is dysfunctional. Not bad.

You can tell in the newly hot rhetoric coming from MAS leadership that they are getting tired of the game and are pondering a new move themselves. Vice President Linera, always the cool rhetoric member of the President/Vice President team, declared this week that the Asamblea had been kidnapped by "racist and fascist" Sucre leaders.

Watch for MAS' 'Plan B', and it won't be just moving the Assembly to Oruro. Don't be surprised if, whether it is by an act of Congress or by Presidential decree, the MAS version of a new constitution is placed on the ballot where it can be made the national 'magna carta' by a simple majority vote. And MAS may be able to win such a majority at the ballot box. The opposition will cry bloody murder amidst chants, fair ones, that a new constitution should seek to represent something closer to a national consensus.

But seeking a national consensus is a very different strategy than blocking the majority at every turn. If the Assembly fails Bolivia is headed for a political showdown. It might be in the streets or it might be at the ballot box, but either way, the nation would be a lot better off if its leaders played less poker and less chess, and more statesmanship on all sides.

Source: The Democracy Center

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Pacific Poker have dramatically enhanced their poker software this week. We brought you news earlier this week that they will soon be making use of the Blue Square sports book to enhance player experience and now their poker operation has had a major face lift.

The most noticeable difference is the new look of the site. The lobby is slicker and interactive, allowing you to personalise your navigation options. On the felt, you now have personalized 3D avatars to choose your image at the table (The usual stuff – cowboy, man in suit, Phil Ivey lookalike).

Multi-tabling is now very much an option with much more scope to play several tables at once. Tournaments
Poker Heaven
with rebuys and add-ons are now also a new feature. And for the sickos out there is now the option to play casino games or backgammon between hands.

Keeping up with the way the industry is heading, more language options are now available and players speaking Dutch and Portuguese are now supported.

888.com's Marketing Director, Matt Robinson, said "We always strive to better 888.com and Pacific Poker for the benefit of our players, who are our most valuable asset," said Robinson. "This mean having more games, better software, great graphics and in as many languages we can to make the 888 experience available to players from all over the world."

Source: Pokernews.com

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NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- A $25,000 reward is being offered to anyone willing to help police find a suspect accused of shooting a Port Orange man at a poker game.

Police said David Michael Turner, 62, was killed Oct. 15 when two men burst into a New Smyrna Beach modular home and shot him during a home invasion/robbery.

While investigators have released few details of the crime, Turner's family members hope the anonymous donation will produce information that will help them answer several questions.

"We need to find out who did it and why," said Jim Turner, the slain man's 58-year-old brother. "Not only for closure, but also so this does not happen to someone else."

The two robbers, both wearing masks and armed with a firearm, entered the home of James "Bopper" Marathas, 503 Mill Run Drive, at about 9:20 p.m. They demanded money from the 12 occupants there for a poker game, shooting Turner in the process, police said. He died at the scene.

Investigators have not said how much money was taken in the robbery.

One shooter is described as a man 6-feet-2 to 6-feet-5 inches tall and weighing 250 pounds. His partner is 5-feet-8 to 5-feet-10 inches tall at 260 pounds.

Turner said his brother's death hit the entire family hard, but not being able to comprehend why it happened is just as trying.

"If he died in a car accident, you could understand it more," he said. "But this makes no sense."

New Smyrna Beach police believe the reward may spark someone to come forward. "This is an active investigation and we are currently following leads," Cmdr. Wade Kirby said. "We hope this generates additional information."

Turner expressed similar anticipation. "Someone out there knows the whole story," he said. "We just want the truth."

Turner said his brother was a poker player from a young age. "He enjoyed it the same as a bowler enjoys bowling," he said. Turner said income from card games helped put his brother through law school.

Anyone who might be able to assist in the investigation is asked to contact New Smyrna Beach Police Detective Nicki Diffin at 386-424-2248 or Crime Stoppers of Northeast Florida at 888-227-TIPS. If their information, which can be given anonymously, leads to an indictment in the case, then they may be eligible to receive the $25,000.

Source: Journalonline.com

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