|
|
Posts Tagged ‘Poker Players’
Wednesday, November 23rd, 2011
There is more updated news on the Full Tilt Poker front as the US Department of Justice (DOJ) has agreed to a deal that would see Groupe Bernard Tapie purchase the assets of the floundering online poker room: IF the current ownership agrees to forfeit those assets to the DOJ according to an article that appeared on money.cnn.com this past Friday.
The deal would call for the DOJ to make restitution to US players that have been unable to withdraw some $150 million from the site since Black Friday, while Groupe Bernard Tapie would take on the responsibility of repaying players from the rest of the world. However, it was implied by Full Tilt Poker attorney Jeff Ifrah that a 100% payment is not guaranteed, and that players would have to fill out a request to the DOJ.
If payments on account balances are not 100% guaranteed, it’s quite unlikely that the DOJ would honor Full Tilt Poker Points accumulated by players, some having amassed tens of thousands of dollars worth of these now potentially worthless points.
Groupe Bernard Tapie would shell out $80 million for the assets, which when combined with the up to $250 million owed by Full Tilt poker to players from the rest of the world makes this a huge amount of capitol to sink into the poker room.
By agreeing to forfeit their assets, Full Tilt Poker will have the civil complaints dropped against the site itself (although charges would still remain against key individuals specifically named by the DOJ).
Tags: Account Balances, Assets, Bernard Tapie, Black Friday, Civil Complaints, Cnn, Department Of Justice, Doj, Full Tilt Poker, Gbt, Money, online poker, Poker Players, Poker Room, Rest Of The World, Restitution, Tens Of Thousands, Thousands Of Dollars, Us Department Of Justice
Posted in Online Poker, Poker Industry News | No Comments »
Tuesday, November 15th, 2011
When a huge swath of your potential customer base is cut-off –as is the case for virtually all online poker enterprises and ancillary companies that have sprung-up around the online poker rooms– businesses will either have to adapt to the changing climate or slowly wither on the vine. For the online poker training site FloatTheTurn.com the answer seems to be, adapt and survive.
FloatTheTurn is an online poker training site specializing in Multi-Table Tournaments, founded by two-time WPT Champion Jonathan Little. In the new poker climate, with a smaller player base to find customers in, the choice presented to Little seemed to be to either jack-up the price of your product, or to appeal to more players by lowering the cost. Little has decided that dropping the price was the right way to go, and he not only dropped the price, he absolutely shredded it!
What would normally cost players $14.95/month + a one-time sign-up fee of $99.95 is now only $8/month with the sign-up fee waved!
In a press release Little explained his reasoning for slashing the price to FloatTheTurn.com in the following way: “When I heard that Netflix lost 800,000 subscribers after raising their prices, I knew I had to do the opposite… And if this new lower price helps me get 800,000 new subscribers, I wouldn’t complain,”
Little went on to explain, “It’s no secret that the poker industry has been struggling lately. With the exception of the World Series of Poker, participation in large buy-in tournaments has been dropping steadily in recent years. When I won the Foxwoods WPT event in 2008, there were 412 entrants. In 2011, there were only 189 entrants. Something has to be done to encourage more people to play or we’ll just end up with a handful of pros playing each other for insignificant prize pools. I’m hoping this new lower price will appeal to a much larger group of aspiring poker players and help them develop the skills and confidence they need to compete in today’s game.”
You can visit www.FloatTheTurn.com for more information
Tags: Champion, Changing Climate, Confidence, Customer Base, Handful, Jonathan, Netflix, Online Poker Rooms, Participation, Poker Players, Pools, Press Release, Series Of Poker, Slashes, Subscribers, Swath, Time Sign, Vine, World Series, World Series Of Poker
Posted in Poker Industry News | No Comments »
Friday, October 14th, 2011
Current and former Doyles Room poker players found a very intriguing E-Mail in their inboxes on Tuesday night. The E-Mail was sent to inform players that Doyles Room would be undergoing a software upgrade early Wednesday morning, and when the site comes back online at 7AM it will no longer be Doyles Room, but will be Americas CardRoom!!!
Apparently Americas CardRoom has purchased Doyles Room, and all of its assets, and will be rebranding the site as Americas CardRoom. The site will remain on the Yatahay Network, utilize the same software (with a different look), and players will retain all of their bonuses, promotions, and affiliate deals according to the E-Mail.
Here is a look at the pertinent parts of the E-Mail received by Doyles Room customers:
Something exciting is happening at DoylesRoom, and as a result, our software will require a scheduled downtime from 3:00am ET until 7:00am ET tomorrow Wednesday October 11th. When we’re back online, you’ll notice a transformation that’s going to change the poker landscape for the better.
DoylesRoom is becoming Americas CardRoom and the future is going to be amazing. Americas CardRoom and DoylesRoom are proud to announce the acquisition of DoylesRoom along with the rights to the player and affiliate database, the DoylesRoom software, staff, and player liability. But first, let’s talk about what won’t change:
- October’s Big Promos—everything remains intact
- Great Software—it’s exactly the same as before, except for some new colors and a brand new logo
- Your Login Credentials—sign in to the new software just as you would to DoylesRoom
- Your Account Assets—Information like hand histories, player notes, FPPs, bonuses, and more will remain intact
- Your Account Balance—it will remain 100% intact
- The Dedicated Staff—all the day-to-day people behind the scenes will remain on board
What’s New
- A $65,000 Points Race—that’s up from this month’s $50k
- A New Online Poker Super Series—it’s called ACROSS and it’s going to be unlike anything you’ve experienced before. End of November.
- An innovative loyalty program—coming very soon our VIP program that will crush any program in the industry
Tags: Account Assets, Account Balance, Affiliate Database, Affiliate Deals, Americas Cardroom, Brand New Logo, Downtime, Doyles Room Poker, Doylesroom, E Mail, Great Software, Histories, Login Credentials, Mail Room, New Software, Poker Players, Promos, Software Staff, Tuesday Night, Wednesday Morning
Posted in Online Poker, Poker Industry News | No Comments »
Thursday, September 29th, 2011
As the saga that began on Black Friday (nearly 6-months ago) continues to unfold for Full Tilt poker the news simply gets worse and worse for both Full Tilt poker and the thousands of online poker players who have some $390 million frozen in their Full Tilt poker accounts.
On Thursday morning the Aldernay Gambling Control Commission (AGCC) decided to fully revoke the operating license of Full Tilt Poker, after releasing its findings from the hearing that took place about a week ago in London.
In the initial press release and subsequent detailed findings, the poker world became aware of a number of things. First and foremost, Full Tilt poker representatives refused to take part in the hearing when their request for a further adjournment was denied –Full Tilt was then represented by AGCC officials in the hearing, who presented the site’s side of the case.
Additionally, it seems Full Tilt Poker was required to segregate player funds, as the AGCC listed the following regulation as one of the many Full Tilt poker was in violation of: “The Company will ensure that, at all times, there are sufficient funds in this account to cover all balances held by the company on behalf of its customers. The Company confirms that this account is not used as a security for any other operational liability”.
Another interesting revelation was that Full Tilt poker was fudging the financial statements it was sending to the AGCC by including funds that had been seized by the US government, as well as the shortfall caused by accepting eCheck deposits from US players when they had no means of processing the transaction –this “credit” to players accounts was also something the site was prohibited from doing under their licensing agreement.
You can read the entire press release here, and the complete list of charges here
Tags: Adjournment, Agcc, Black Friday, Breaking News, Complete List, Entire Press, Financial Statements, Full Tilt Poker, Gambling Control, Initial Press, Licensing Agreement, online poker, Poker Players, Poker World, Press Release, Revelation, Saga, Shortfall, Thursday Morning, Us Government
Posted in Online Poker, Poker Industry News | No Comments »
Tuesday, August 23rd, 2011
The news regarding Full Tilt poker in recent weeks has occasionally been met with quiet optimism –as news of Full Tilt paying their £250k licensing fee to the AGCC and subsequent rumors of a possible sale circulated around the London Stock Exchange last week– but for the most part it has still been doom and gloom for the poker community.
As news of the troubled online poker site’s decision to lay-off their entire US workforce, followed by a second Class Action Lawsuit –this time filed by Canadian poker players—and the most recent news that Chief Marketing Officer Lothar Rentschler has resigned from the company according to QuadJacks.com, and later confirmed by PokerNews.com.
Here is a look at the E-Mail that was sent to several sources in the poker industry by Rentschler:
“This was, after almost 3 years with the company, not an easy step… It was 3 years with many challenges and also many successes… However, given the current circumstances, I do believe it is a long overdue step towards the right direction.”
“I do apologize for the inconvenience the current circumstances at PKL have caused for you personally as well as for your respective companies. Our hands in Marketing were bound and at the end even every communication was stopped. Again, I can only apologize for this situation. The future will hopefully see a better, well organized structure and a return to business as usual. To see the brand FTP going down that way, hurts a lot.”
As QuadJacks points out, not much was known about Rentschler’s role within Full Tilt Poker.
Tags: 3 Years, Agcc, Canadian Poker, Chief Marketing Officer, Class Action Lawsuit, Doom And Gloom, E Mail, Full Tilt Poker, Inconvenience, Licensing Fee, London Stock Exchange, Marketing Operator, online poker, Optimism, Overdue Step, Pkl, Poker Players, Recent News, Rentschler, Right Direction
Posted in Online Poker, Poker Industry News | No Comments »
Monday, August 15th, 2011
After a few days of silence the poker world finally got what they have been waiting for, as both Daniel “jungleman12” Cates and Haseeb “DogisHead” Qureshi talked to BLUFF Magazine, explaining their roles and knowledge of Jose “Girah” Macedo, who was recently caught scamming other high-stakes poker players.
The first interview to hit the Internet was with Daniel “jungleman12” Cates’. While the Cates interview failed to reveal any pertinent information, and was –as the 2+2 poker forum noted—a bit of a softball interview, Cates did reveal that he was aware of Qureshi playing on Girah’s Lock Poker account during the Bluff Pro Challenge; an admission that became far more relevant after the Qureshi interview was posted a few hours later.
Qureshi’s interview was the real eye-opener, as the high-stakes online pro admitted to chip-dumping to Girah, which allowed the young phenom to secure the BLUFF Pro Challenge title –which was later stripped when the site discovered Haseeb Qureshi had also played on the account during the challenge.
While Qureshi didn’t admit too much else, his interview was almost instantaneously picked apart by 2+2 forum members, and many inconsistencies were discovered. As with his previous answers in the thread on 2+2, Qureshi only revealed as much information as was asked, once again answering important questions on a “need to know” basis.
You can read both interviews on BLUFF Magazine:
Daniel Cates interview
Haseeb Qureshi interview
Tags: Admission, Bluff Magazine, Days Of Silence, Eye Opener, Few Days, Forum Members, Haseeb, High Stakes Poker, Inconsistencies, Knowledge, Macedo, Need To Know Basis, Phenom, Playing Poker, Poker Forum, Poker Players, Poker World, Pro Challenge, Qureshi, Softball
Posted in Poker News | No Comments »
Friday, August 5th, 2011
The new online poker advocacy group, Fair Play USA, received its first official endorsement by an active member of Congress on Monday when New York Representative Michael Grimm (R-NY) issued a statement endorsing the group’s efforts to legalize, and more importantly, regulate the online poker industry.
“I applaud the efforts of FairPlayUSA for launching its coalition to combat illegal gambling. As a former FBI agent, I fully support the efforts to create a strong regulatory framework for legal online poker and to crack down on illegal sites, many of whom have ties to organized crime. With many adult online poker players in my District of Staten Island and Brooklyn, I support their right to continue playing; however, I agree that it must be in a law-abiding forum that provides protections for America’s consumers and children. Together we must fight for the return of quality, good paying jobs to the United States and a strong regulatory framework for legal online poker will contribute to that goal.
“I am confident FairPlayUSA will be successful by aligning with former Governor and Secretary of Homeland Security, Tom Ridge, to help expand the coalition’s membership and that their efforts will compliment my legislative goal of regulating online poker.”
Grimm represents the 13th District of New York in the US House of Representatives, and was ushered into office during the 2010 mid-term elections. The former Marine and FBI special agent was backed by the Tea Party movement, but since attaining office has been willing to buck the movement on several occasions.
Grimm is the latest Republican to become vocally active in the fight to legalize online poker –John Campbell (R-CA) and Joe Barton (R-TX) being the others—a movement which has been gaining a lot of traction among fiscally conservative Republicans.
For more information on FairPlayUSA you can go to their website at www.FairPlayUSA.org
Tags: Advocacy Group, Conservative Republicans, Fbi Agent, Fbi Special Agent, Former Marine, Good Paying Jobs, Illegal Gambling, Illegal Sites, Joe Barton, John Campbell, Legislative Goal, Member Of Congress, Michael Grimm, online poker, Poker Players, Representative Michael, Secretary Of Homeland Security, Th District, Us House Of Representatives, York Representative
Posted in Online Poker, Poker Industry News | No Comments »
Tuesday, August 2nd, 2011
After three weeks of ranking the Top 300 poker players in the world we’ve seen the top spot change hands from Jason Mercier to Bertrand “ElkY” Grosspellier, and the Frenchman who won his first WSOP bracelet in 2011 and became the fourth person in poker history to complete Poker’s Triple Crown has maintained the #1 ranking in the most recent GPI.
Players on the move this week included a number of players who made deep runs in the 2011 WSOP Main Event including David “Doc” Sands who cracked the Top 25; UK Poker pro JP Kelly who landed in the 29th spot; and 2010 November Niner Joseph Cheong who broke into the Top 100.
Here is a look at the top 25 on the Global Poker Index as we head into August:
- Bertrand Grospellier — 2450.09
- Jason Mercier — 2434.30
- Erik Seidel — 2415.23
- Eugene Katchalov — 2248.83
- Samuel Stein — 2168.85
- Fabrice Soulier — 2133.87
- Sorel Mizzi — 2118.97
- Thomas Marchese — 2035.66
- David “Bakes” Baker — 2027.32
- John Juanda — 2013.63
- Vanessa Selbst — 2011.05
- Daniel Negreanu — 2005.60
- David Peters — 1987.80
- Matt Marafioti — 1982.80
- Juha Helppi — 1899.11
- Vivek Rajkumar — 1884.54
- Mclean Karr — 1874.39
- Shannon Shorr — 1866.08
- Shawn Buchanan — 1797.98
- Allen Bari — 1796.62
- Scott Seiver — 1794.78
- Mike Binger — 1790.74
- Tobias Reinkemeier — 1782.23
- David Benyamine — 1780.89
- David Sands — 1772.52
To view the complete list of the Top 300 poker players on the GPI you can go to the www.GlobalPokerIndex.com website
Tags: Bakes, Bertrand Grospellier, Change Hands, Daniel Negreanu, David Benyamine, David Sands, Erik Seidel, Fabrice Soulier, Helppi, John Juanda, Jp Kelly, Karr, Marchese, Mike Binger, Mizzi, Niner, Poker Players, Rajkumar, Shannon Shorr, Vanessa Selbst
Posted in Poker News | No Comments »
Thursday, July 28th, 2011
On the bright side, yesterday’s decision by the Aldernay Gambling Control Commission to adjourn the hearing regarding Full Tilt Poker’s gaming license likely means there is a serious investor looking to purchase a portion, or all of, the Full Tilt Poker company and its assets. The bad news is that once again it’s the players who are left out in the cold, and unlikely to see any of their funds returned before a sale is finalized, if at all.
The entire meeting –slated as a public hearing—was held behind closed doors after Full Tilt Poker attorney Martin Heslop requesting a motion to speak in private about a motion to adjourn the hearing! The mood of the assembled crowd was summed up best by poker player Harry Demetriou who yelled out, “What about the interests of the players? Why you are protecting this corrupt company?” when the AGCC panel announced the meeting would take place in private.
When the sides returned later in the day it was announced that the hearing would be adjourned until September 15th, 2011 –at the latest.
However, before the meeting went behind closed doors, we did discover that the AGCC suspended Full Tilt Poker’s license in part because they had failed to pay a £250,000 licensing fee, and not simply because of the site’s failure to repay US players after Black Friday.
It would seem that we are once again pinning our hopes on an anonymous group of investors to bail the struggling poker site out, but many poker players are wondering if time has already run out?
Tags: Agcc, Anonymous Group, Assets, Bad News, Black Friday, Closed Doors, Corrupt Company, Crowd, Failure, Full Tilt Poker, Gambling Control, Gaming License, Harry Demetriou, Investor, Investors, Licensing Fee, Poker Player, Poker Players, Public Hearing, Suspended License
Posted in Poker Industry News | No Comments »
Wednesday, July 6th, 2011
As the 2011 World Series of Poker winds down, poker enthusiasts looking for a fix can soon turn to ESPN as the station will begin airing its 2011 WSOP coverage on July 26.
As has been the case over the past few years the ESPN WSOP schedule is dominated by Main Event coverage with a full 25 episodes dedicated to the Main Event while preliminary tournaments receive a mere 6 hours of coverage.
Here is a look at the complete TV schedule for the WSOP on ESPN:
PRELIMINARY TOURNAMNET COVERAGE
• July 26: WSOP Grudge Match Chan vs. Hellmuth vs. Chan / Seidel vs. Chan, 8:00 PM
• July 26: WSOP Grudge Match Moneymaker vs. Farha, 9:00 PM
• August 2: $25,000 Heads-Up No Limit Holdem, 8:00 PM
• August 2: $25,000 Heads-Up No Limit Holdem, 9:00 PM
• August 9: $50,000 Poker Players Championship, 8:00 PM
• August 9: $50,000 Poker Players Championship Final, 9:00 PM
MAIN EVENT COVERAGE
• August 16: Main Event, 8:00 PM
• August 16: Main Event, 9:00 PM
• August 23: Main Event, 8:00 PM
• August 23: Main Event, 9:00 PM
• August 30: Main Event, 8:00 PM
• August 30: Main Event, 9:00 PM
• September 6: Main Event, 8:00 PM
• September 6: Main Event, 9:00 PM
• September 13: Main Event, 8:00 PM
• September 13: Main Event, 9:00 PM
• September 20: Main Event, 8:00 PM
• September 20: Main Event, 9:00 PM
• September 27: Main Event, 8:00 PM
• September 27: Main Event, 9:00 PM
• October 4: Main Event, 9:00 PM
• October 4: Main Event, 10:00 PM
• October 11: Main Event, 9:00 PM
• October 11: Main Event, 10:00 PM
• October 18: Main Event, 9:00 PM
• October 18: Main Event, 10:00 PM
• October 25: Main Event, 9:00 PM
• October 25: Main Event, 10:00 PM
• November 1: Main Event 9:00 PM
• November 1: Main Event, 10:00 PM
• November 8: Main Event Final Table, 9-11:00 PM
Tags: Enthusiasts, Espn, Farha, Grudge Match, Hellmuth, Main Event 10, Main Event 9, Moneymaker, November 1, October 11, Players Championship, Poker Players, Seidel, September 13, Series Of Poker, Tv Schedule, World Series, World Series Of Poker, Wsop Schedule
Posted in Poker News | No Comments »
|
|
