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Archive for June, 2011
Wednesday, June 29th, 2011
In a very troubling development, the Aldernay Gambling Control Commission suspended Full Tilt Poker’s license early Wednesday morning. Soon after the AGCC issued their first statement the poker tables at Full Tilt went dark, and anyone visiting the site is now greeted with a “Down for Maintenance” message.
You can read the AGCC statements here:
Original statement
Detailed follow-up statement
Full Tilt’s troubles began shortly after Black Friday where unlike their counterpart PokerStars they were unable to make immediate payments to their US players who could no longer participate in the online poker games offered at the site.
Later it was revealed that Full Tilt has been having numerous internal issues and has been skirting the line between what is ethical and what is not. Some of the goings on included comingling of player funds with operational funds, and processing eChecks without a viable payment processor –the site then attempted to collect these funds from players months after the fact.
On May 31, Full Tilt Poker’s Phil Ivey, rumored to have been one of the original founders of the site, and possibly owning a large percentage, went public, lambasting Full Tilt Poker on his Facebook page. The following day he filed a $150 million lawsuit against his former employer for breach of contract and besmirching his name.
This latest development is by far the most troubling, and now European, Australian, South American, and Asian players may just be in the same boat as US players, who have an estimated $100 million locked up on the site.
Tags: 100 Million, Agcc, Asian Players, Black Friday, Breach Of Contract, Comingling, Counterpart, echecks, Founders, Full Tilt Poker, Gambling Control, Gambling Poker, Immediate Payments, Maintenance Message, Online Games, Online Poker Games, Operational Funds, Payment Processor, Poker Tables, Wednesday Morning
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Wednesday, June 29th, 2011
With the world Series of Poker switching to the BLUFF Magazine formula for its Player of the Year award the competition is a lot closer than in years past where a mere two or three players would be in contention for the award. This time around, even after 40 tournaments in the books the top of the leader-board is extremely tight, and there are upwards of 50 players still within striking distance of the leader.
The new POY formula uses a baseline very similar to the old WSOP formula, but has the added wrinkle of two multipliers: One for the field size, and one for the amount of the buy-in. Another change in the formula has to do with the Main Event, which is no longer treated like any other bracelet tournament. Although the Main Event doesn’t offer multipliers like the preliminary events, it starts out by awarding 5-times the number of points as preliminary tournaments.
The final piece of the new formula is the inclusion of the WSOP Europe tournaments into the POY award. So now we will see the POY race carry over all the way to the WSOP Europe, and possibly to the Final Table of the Main Event in November.
Here is a look at the current POY leader-board courtesy of www.wsop.com:
1. Phil Hellmuth — 420.75 points
2. Samuel Stein — 402.63 points
3. Mikhail Lakhitov — 401.80 points
4. Mitch Schock — 364.81 points
5. John Juanda — 336.00 points
6. Amir Lehavot — 330.75 points
7. Sean Getzwiller — 325.00 points
8. Jason Mercier — 323.45 points
9. Mark Schmid — 317.75 points
10. Steve Landfish — 317.70 points
Tags: Amir, Baseline, Bluff Magazine, Books, Contention, Current, Europe, Inclusion, John Juanda, Leader Board, Main Event, Mercier, Mitch Schock, Multipliers, Phil Hellmuth, Series Of Poker, Striking Distance, World Series, World Series Of Poker, WSOP
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Wednesday, June 15th, 2011
On June 15th the Pinnacle Poker Room will close its doors permanently as the site was told by the Entraction Poker Network that the current Pinnacle license – Pinnacle Poker is currently licensed by Curacao– is not up to snuff with current European Union Gaming regulation.
The news was released in a statement on the Pinnacle Poker website:
“The Entraction Poker Network has advised us that due to recent updates to EU gaming regulation, our current Curacao license is no longer accepted within their network. The steps required to remain within the Entraction Network will necessitate a significant commitment for Pinnacle Poker. Given that our current focus is on developing our leading Sportsbook and Casino products, we have decided not to pursue the necessary changes.”
A Pinnacle representative went on to layout the timetable for the removal of the site from the Entraction Poker Network, stating that players will no longer be able to deposit into their Pinnacle Poker funds after June 9th, and the client will be permanently shut-down on June 15th.
Players were advised to move their poker funds into their sportsbook accounts by June 15th. The following disclaimer was also included in the official statement: “Please be aware that Pinnacle Sports Poker will not be responsible for any tournament fees incurred, or potential winnings of poker hands currently in-play at the time that we are removed from the Entraction Network.”
Tags: Casino Products, Current, Doors, European Union, Gaming Regulation, Pinnacle Sports, Poker Hands, Poker Network, Poker Room, Recent Updates, Sportsbook, Timetable
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Wednesday, June 15th, 2011
After his three bracelet performance in the 2009 World Series of Poker –winning a bracelet in three different Stud disciplines: Seven-Card-Stud, Seven-Card-Stud hi/lo, and Razz—it seemed almost a foregone conclusion that Jeffrey Lisandro would land a sponsorship deal at a major online poker room… which somehow never came to fruition.
Two years later Lisandro has finally landed that sponsorship deal, but it’s not with Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars –who have their own issues after Black Friday—instead Lisandro landed at Matchbook.com as a Worldwide Ambassador for the gaming giant.
The announcement was made in a press release issued on June 13: “Matchbook.com and Check Raise Management are delighted to announce the signing of poker pro Jeffrey Lisandro; the all time Italian number one and five time World Series of Poker bracelet winner.”
Lisandro talked about the signing in the official press release, saying, “I’m truly delighted to be part of Matchbook, I’m looking forward to representing the brand on my travels around the world. My first competitive stop as an Ambassador is the World Series Of Poker where I’ll be announcing a whole range of exclusive poker markets at Matchbook.com. I am hungry for more bracelets, I plan to play as much as possible and if the cards fall my way I am confident I can add more titles at WSOP 2011″.
Matchbook.com came under new ownership in 2011, and after leaving the US market in February has been thriving in Europe. While the new ownership group remains a mystery, several sources have pointed to a collection of big name European Poker players having purchased the site.
Tags: Ambassador, Black Friday, Card Stud, Disciplines, Foregone Conclusion, Fruition, Full Tilt Poker, Gaming Giant, Jeffrey Lisandro, online poker, Ownership Group, Poker Players, Poker Pro, Poker Room, Press Release, Sponsorship Deal, Time World, World Series, World Series Of Poker, WSOP
Posted in Online Poker, Poker News | No Comments »
Wednesday, June 15th, 2011
In Event #2, the $25k Heads-Up Championship, it was Jake Cody who broke through with his first WSOP bracelet and when added to his EPT Deauville and WPT London Championships made him the third Triple Crown winner in poker history –joining Gavin Griffin and Roland de Wolfe as the only players to win a WSOP bracelet, an EPT Main Event, and a WPT Main Event tournament.
On Tuesday that group grew yet again as former EPT PCA Champion and WPT Festa al Lago Champion Bertrand “ElkY” Grosspellier won his first WSOP bracelet in the $10k Seven Card Stud Championship, joining the very exclusive group of Triple Crown winners.
Cody was the youngest and also accomplished the feat with the shortest period of time between wins, but ElkY’s Triple Crown came with its own significance as all three of his wins came in tournaments with buy-ins of at least $10,000.
Making the accomplishment all the more impressive was the fact that ElKY claims to have never played Stud Poker prior to his win in the WSOP $10k Stud Championship! After the win ElkY told the reporters on hand, “As my friend pushed me to play he said I had a really good memory for the cards so I can analyze the cards and the combination… I think I caught up quickly and all the poker games are all similar. It’s about reading your opponents and adapting to the situation.”
Tags: Accomplishment, Bertrand, Card Stud, Deauville, EPT, Festa Al Lago, Griffin, Heads Up Championship, Ins, Main Event, Opponents, Period Of Time, Poker Games, Roland, Stud Poker, Triple Crown Winner, Triple Crown Winners, World Series, World Series Of Poker, WPT
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Wednesday, June 15th, 2011
When Jake Cody took home the bracelet in Event #2, the $25k Heads-Up Championship, it looked as though it was going to be another year of big-time poker pros dominating at the WSOP, and for the first five events everything was going to plan with Eugene Katchalov and Allen Bari picking up bracelets as well. However, from Event #6 through Event #14 it was a litany of unknown players winning WSOP bracelets.
Since then it’s back to pro after pro taking home the titles at the WSOP, with recent winners including Brian Rast, John Juanda, Jason Somerville, and Bertrand “ElkY” Grosspellier winning four of the last six bracelets.
This past weekend Rast won his first bracelet in the $1,500 Pot Limit Holdem event, while Juanda bested Phil Hellmuth for his fifth bracelet in the $10k No Limit 2-7 Lowball Championship.
Yesterday it was ElkY and Somerville both bringing home their first bracelets: ElkY won the $10k Seven-Card-Stud Championship, while Somerville captured the title in the $1k No Limit Holdem Event.
With Jeff Sarwer, David “Doc” Sands, and Emil “Whitelime” Patel amongst the final nine players in the $1,500 PLO tournament; John Racener, John Juanda, Max Pescatori, Marco Traniello, Eric Buchman, and Shawn Buchanan all alive with 25 players remaining in the $2,500 8-Game Mix; and a ton of big names like Erik Seidel, Justin Bonomo, Tom Marchese, JP Kelly, and Toby Lewis in the final 40 of the $5k Shootout, it looks as if the trend may continue.
Tags: Bringing Home, Card Stud, Elky, Eric Buchman, Erik Seidel, Heads Up Championship, Jeff Sarwer, John Juanda, John Racener, Jp Kelly, Justin Bonomo, Marchese, Marco Traniello, Max Pescatori, Phil Hellmuth, Poker Pros, Pot Limit, Recent Winners, Toby Lewis, WSOP
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Tuesday, June 14th, 2011
It’s not as if the women of poker haven’t had their chances at the 2011 WSOP, with their tally now at three final tables and two 2nd place finishes, but the streak has now reached 179 open-tournaments without a bracelet for the ladies. It’s almost hard to imagine that the same field of women who have been winning their fair share of major poker tournaments around the globe could have such a pronounced bad run at the World Series of Poker since 2008.
Earlier in the 2011 WSOP it was Maria Ho who finished in 2nd place behind Allen Bari in the $5k No Limit Holdem tournament –although it should be pointed out that Ho was at a severe chip disadvantage when heads-up play began—and yesterday it was Kim Nguyen, who would finish in 2nd place to Darren Woods after taking a slight chip-lead –around a 3-to-2 advantage– into their heads-up duel in the $2,500 6-Max Limit Holdem tournament.
So the number now stands at 179 straight WSOP tournaments since Vanessa Selbst won a bracelet in the 2008, $1,500 PLO tournament at the World Series of Poker, and as we start to near the halfway point of the 2011 WSOP, the possibility of another year without a WSOP win for the ladies starts to look more and more like a reality. The talent is definitely there, but the variance seems to be killing them.
Tags: Bari, Bridesmaids, Fair Share, Globe, Halfway Point, Kim Nguyen, Max Limit, Plo, Poker Tournaments, Series Of Poker, Tally, Vanessa Selbst, Variance, Women Of Poker, World Series, World Series Of Poker, WSOP
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Tuesday, June 14th, 2011
On the heels of Black Friday, followed by the subsequent US player withdrawal issues, and then most recently the whole Phil Ivey debacle, Full Tilt Poker learned of even more bad news on Monday, this time in a case considered closed. According to the Las Vegas Sun, the 9th District Court of Appeals in Las Vegas, Nevada ruled that “U.S. District Judge Robert Clive Jones of Las Vegas erred by dismissing Cycalona Gowen’s breach of contract claim against Tiltware, a California company that provides software to players’ website Full Tilt Poker.”
The original ruling was dismissed without prejudice, which allowed Gowen to continue pursue legal action in the case should new evidence come to light. Gowen originally brought the suit against her former employer –singling out Howard Lederer in the process– after her contract was terminated, claiming that the she had a verbal agreement for a 1% ownership stake in the company.
For Full Tilt Poker, this marks the first time in the company’s history that a legal ruling has gone against them, and likely is somehow related to Black Friday which saw the other person named by Gowen in her original lawsuit, Ray Bitar, indicted along with 10 other people involved in the online poker industry.
Since her lawsuit’s dismissal, Gowen has been MIA in the poker world and according to rumors has simply become jilted with poker –understandably– and has since moved back
Tags: 9th District Court Of Appeals, Appeals Court, Black Friday, Breach Of Contract, California Company, Contract Claim, Debacle, District Court Of Appeals, District Judge, Full Tilt Poker, Howard Lederer, Judge Robert, New Evidence, online poker, Ownership Stake, Phil Ivey, Poker World, Robert Clive Jones, Vegas Sun, Verbal Agreement
Posted in Online Poker, Poker Industry News | No Comments »
Monday, June 13th, 2011
Late last week PokerStars announced the schedule for the upcoming season of the European Poker Tour on their official website. Well, the first half of the schedule anyway, as a total of seven tournaments were listed with venues and dates.
The stops announced come with little surprise as all of the seven tournament series announced have been part of the EPT prior to Season 8, including the EPT London, EPT Barcelona, and EPT San Remo.
Once again on the schedule is the only stop on the European Poker Tour outside of Europe, the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure that takes place every January in the Bahamas, and has been included as part of the PT tour since its inception.
Here is a look at the first seven stops for Season 8 of the PokerStars EPT:
• August 2 – 7, 2011: EPT Tallinn (Estonia) — €4,000 + €250 Main Event
• August 27 – September 1, 2011: EPT Barcelona (Spain) — €5,000 + €300 Main Event
• September 30 – Oct. 5, 2011: EPT London (England) — £5,000 + £250 Main Event
• October 21 – 27, 2011: EPT San Remo (Italy) — €4,600 + €300 Main Event
• December 5 – 10, 2011: EPT Prague (Czech Republic) — €5,000 + €300 Main Event
• January 5 – 14, 2012: 2012 PCA (Bahamas) — $10,000 + $300 Main Event
• January 31 – February 6, 2012: EPT Deauville (France) – €5,000 + €300 Main Event
Tags: Bahamas, Barcelona Spain, Caribbean Adventure, Deauville France, EPT, France 5, Inception, London England, Main Event, Oct 5, Pca, poker, PokerStars, Prague Czech Republic, Pt Tour, San Remo Italy, Season 8, Surprise, Tour Europe
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Monday, June 13th, 2011
The 10 level Rule (usually referred to as the Hard-Stop Rule) was put in place to stop tournaments at the World Series of Poker from running into the early hours of the morning –basically causing long days for not only players but tournament staff as well—has turned into this year’s “why did the WSOP think this was a good idea” moment.
Players have been highly critical of the rule, and the WSOP tournament officials’ strict adherence to it, despite protests from entire tables. One such instance was in the $5k NLHE tournament where the players wanted to stop the tournament when the final table was reached, but officials made them play on and then stopped the tournament at four-handed play.
As Allen Bari –who went on to win the $5k tournament– told PokerNews.com:
“I think it’s stupid. Momentum is huge in tournaments and if you take a day off to go to sleep it completely changes the momentum. Then everyone has time to adjust to what’s been going on and they even have time to talk to someone, whereas you would only have 15-20 minutes to talk on break. We should’ve just stopped at nine. It should be based upon what point of the tournament you’re at. We were playing for a million dollars; it was 2:30 a.m. We had to stop. The night before they were all folding to me, the next day they were all jamming on me. It could’ve cost me money — luckily it didn’t.”
While many understand the reasoning for the hard-stop rule there should be an overriding factor(s) such as the final table being reached, since theoretically it doesn’t change anything logistically if the tournament is stopped with 9 players or 4 players remaining. The Hard-Stop Rule should only come into effect when the final table has not been reached –such as when there 11 players remaining.
Tags: Bari, Logistically, Million Dollars, Momentum, Money, Protests, Running, Series Of Poker, Sleep, Strict Adherence, Tournament Officials, Tournament Staff, World Series, World Series Of Poker, WSOP
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