Poker News

The i2Ninja malware allows hackers to collect information from our computer and e-mails and can serve as a kind of “PokerGrabber” on the devices of users playing in the major poker rooms.

The i2Ninja was created by Russian hackers and is a malware specifically targeting poker players and utilizing I2P. The I2P is a piece of free software, used for building anonymous or pseudonymous virtual private networks. The name refers to the original acronym of Invisible Internet Project. The VPN established by the I2P is a simple layer for the programs to use for anonymous communication in a shared dynamic network.

Niklas ‘ragen70’ Heinecker crushed the online high stakes cash game field in November. The German has an annual total profit of $5.6 million, while Gus Hansen continued to run poorly for a total of $8.5 million in losses this year.

The first weeks of November brought about the dominance of Niklas ‘ragen70’ Heinecker: the German amassed a whopping $1,358,115 in winnings in the period. He then moved on to harvest dollars at an even crazier speed for a total of $2,436,939 in 13,921 hands. Heinecker exclusively played draw games and scored the biggest by far in the past month.

Compared to games played in Bitcoins last year, today’s high stakes sessions almost seem micro. That is, if you consider the current exchange rate of the digital currency.

More and more poker rooms accept Bitcoin, the digital currency of ever growing popularity. For instance, iPoker network’s WinPoker integrated it into its deposit/withdrawal system, while it is the single accepted method of payment in other rooms, most notably at SealsWithClubs. Also, it turns out the highest stakes actions of 2012 did not occur at PokerStars, nor at then newly re-launched Full Tilt Poker but at the aforementioned room – as long as we take the current exchange rate of Bitcoins into consideration.

888.com has scooped in the title for Operator of the Year, 888Poker is Online Poker Room of the Year and 888Casino is Online Casino of the Year.

Respectable egaming medium EGR magazine has once again hosted the most renowned awards ceremony of the online gaming industry. The EGR Operator Awards has seen titles being awarded in several categories, the most important ones practically all going to 888.com. The company has scooped in the Operator of the Year, Online Poker Room of the Year as well as Online Casino of the Year titles.

The top register of the online MTT world list has undergone some intriguing changes recently, even though Chris ‘moorman1’ Moorman’s edge appears to slowly become irreducible.

With the latest update of the online multi-table tournament world list, it has become clear that Chris ‘moorman1’ Moorman is heading into the finish with a major lead; the British pro has 7,678 PLB points and has been constantly dominating the field for three weeks straight. In recent days, he has booked four-digit scores, including Full Tilt Poker’s Triceratops for $4,565. Just to put his run into context, he reached the $10 million mark in lifetime online MTT winnings in late September and has won over half a million dollars since.

Magnus Carlsen is the new world champion of chess. The 22 years old Norwegian celebrated his victory over Viswanathan Anand with a poker session lasting all night long.

Magnus Carlsen

Magnus Carlsen won the World Chess Championship finale in Chennai, India. While planned for 12 games, the Norwegian grand master dethroned Viswanathan Anand in the 10th game, achieving a draw with white for 6.5 points in total for a victory, two games before schedule. Carlsen is the 20th world champion of men’s chess.

Greek players are trying to trick the system by maneuvering with tournament entries in order not to exceed the daily tax free limit in profits. The technique used by the players earned the witty name Taxes Hold’em.

PokerStars (and Full Tilt Poker) have launched their legal online poker room in Greece last week. Players of the .gr site are able to play against the .com pool but have to pay their taxes after their profits on a daily basis. The Player Withholding Tax (PWT) means that winnings of €100 or less are tax free, profits between €100 and €500 are subject to a 15% tax and players pay 20% after winnings of over €500. Of course, the room still deducts rake and losses are apparently (although not confirmedly) not deducted from the amounts won; they are likely to simply fall into the €100 or less category.

Caesars Entertainment has announced that the WSOP Europe and WSOP APAC festivals will rotate on an annual basis, which means the World Series comes to Europe next time as late as 2015.

With several additional festivals next to the WSOP, EPT and WPT stops, this year’s poker schedule has grown overly crowded, at the peak of a tendency apparent in past years. Meanwhile, the number of participants has stagnated at best, more often than not falling under previous years’ numbers. As a result, WSOP has decided to change the schedule of its non-US festivals.

While Senator Raymond Lesniak claims that his proposed bill can make the US State of New Jersey a hub for international online gaming, the sharing of player pool is not possible with the international market and the draft is therefore too optimistic in its goals.

New Jersey Senator Raymond Lesniak announced last week that his bill, then to be filed to the state legislation, would enable New Jersey to accept players from outside the USA. The proposal would establish Restricted Foreign Internet Wagering category licenses that would be given to operators in the state, allowing them to accept players from any foreign country where the local legislation allows or does not forbid online play. However, as it turns out, this would not enable sharing the liquidity between international and New Jersey players.

The iPoker network has previously released highlights of the changes they have been planning to implement to favour recreational players. More details have now surfaced, including cuts in table offering and supported currencies.

Playtech has previously announced some changes in the iPoker network that would further enhance the game experience for recreational users, in most cases at the expense of higher stakes regulars. More details surfaced today, so let us take a look at the plans of the network. According to the official announcement, games in USD will be discontinued; highest stakes tables removed; and the range of table variants reduced.

Daniel Negreanu is currently number one on the GPI, CardPlayer as well as the Bluff live tournament leaderboard. His main rival in the race for the Player of the Year title is Philipp Gruissem.

This year’s schedule is starting to run out of major live tournament and, as a result, the picture is becoming clearer and clearer as to who will compete for the Player of the Year on the major leaderboards. Daniel Negreanu has been dominating the lists since mid-September, when he was already topping the CardPlayer and Bluff leaderboards and was runner-up at GPI, second only to Ole Schemion.

PokerStars has launched its legal client in Greece. Players of the .gr site play with the .com player pool but have to pay their taxes after their poker income on a daily basis.

PokerStars has officially announced the launch of the PokerStars.gr site, in accordance with the Greek online gambling regulations. Residents of the country are only accepted here and cannot access the .com client. Nevertheless, they play against the international pool, except they have to pay their taxes on a daily basis: the Player Withholding Tax (PWT).

With the €1,000,000 Guaranteed Concord Card Million event, the Vienna Poker Festival kicks off on 27 November 2013. The Vienna Deluxe Challenge starts on 6 December.

The Vienna Poker Festival is the best excuse you can get to visit the beautiful city of Vienna in the heart of Europe. The main event of the festival is the Concord Card Million III, kicking off on 27 November with a €500 + €50 buy-in and a whopping €1,000,000 prize pool. On 6 December, another highlight event launches: the €220 Vienna Deluxe Challenge with €75,000 in guaranteed prize money.

New Jersey Senator Raymond Lesniak is expected to file a bill to accept non-US players from across the borders of the State.

On Thursday in a press conference, New Jersey Senator Raymond Lesniak is expected by several leading news sources to announce a bill that would allow the state level regulated gambling market to accept customers from across the state borders. If the proposal passes, players from outside the US would be able to play in the New Jersey online rooms.

With a seventh title in this year alone, Chris ‘moorman1’ Moorman broke his own 2009 record of Triple Crowns won in a single year.

Online multi-table tournament world list leader Chris ‘moorman1’ Moorman booked the 19th Triple Crown in his career on 17 November. The British ace by far tops the list of the most frequent winners with his latest achievement, leading ahead of ‘Belabacsi’ and his 11 titles.

Moorman won the first of the three required victories on 11 November in the Bwin $10,000 GTD Speed event for $2,860. On 16 November, he took down the EuroPoker $93 NLHE tournament for $4,278 and, a day later, the Winamax HIGHROLLER for $18,353. Booking his seventh title this year, Moorman broke his own record, which he set up back in 2009.