Poker News

Have you ever wondered whether the so many existing 'poker pros' who work as full-time poker player have a real job or just listed as unemployed? Or are they really Poker Professionals legally? Well, I'm telling you, they were not. Not until now, to be precise.

This is how pro poker players usually look like

An individual not to be named wrote a very interesting post on the popular Two Plus Two Forums concerning the same thing. He wanted to start a vocational school in California for the profession 'Professional Poker Player' when he realized such a job did not exist. Of course he didn't surrender, contacted the government, exchanged a few emails, and now it's a legit, real profession in the US according to the Department of Labor. How? Read his story below.

Vienna is famous for its music, architecture, the atmosphere of the city and the beer of course. Chilipoker now wants poker to occupy just as an important role in the Austrian capital city's life, as they are hosting the next DeepStack Open, starting today.

Full Tilt Poker has signed Audley Harrison, 38 years old British heavyweight boxer and title contender, who has two ITM finishes at the WSOP, a second place in the Bellagio Cup and a third at the Venetian Deep Stack.

Audley Harrison

Wearing the FTP patches at poker events from now on, he also plans to wear the company’s colours when winning his first world title from David Haye in the WBA Heavyweight Championship fight in Manchester, England on 13rd November.

Ever wanted to play poker on the go? Have an Apple device but you can't be bothered to use a mobile internet stick and pop your MacBook out to play some poker? Well this might be your chance. Now SwitchPoker, a relatively unknown site offers real-money poker for Apple mobile devices such as the iPhone, iPod Touch and the iPad.

PokerStars is pretty active recently concerning the acquisition of new Pros, they have announced Maxim Lykov to be the next Team PokerStars Pro member last friday.

Max Lykov

The russian player, Max 'decay' Lykov studied engineering in Moscow. He started playing poker through his university years, from 2005. He deposited $40 two times, from what he made millions. Good stuff, don't you think? He started playing live poker since 2009, and became very successful in it, his total live poker winnings reach almost $1 million. His biggest win so far was the victory at the EPT Kijev Main Event, where he has won $468,504, a great addition to his bankroll.

Canadian WSOP champion and Full Tilt Red Pro Scott Montgomery got robbed yesterday in one of the restrooms of the Bellagio. He handed over $2,000.

Annette Obrestad and Scott Montgomery

Montgomery had some successful year in 2010 so far: he won his first WSOP championship ($1,000 NLHE) and in his private life he has recently started a relationship with Norwegian poker pro Annette Obrestad. On Sunday, 10th October, however, he had the most unpleasant experience of being robbed by a man armed with a knife. Montgomery tweeted the following on the encounter:

The eighth stop of the World Poker Tour Season 9 launches today, on 8th October, at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. Lasting until 20th October, it provides events with buy-ins ranging from $500 + $40 to $5000 + $180. Most are NLHE but some are either Omaha Eight or Better or PLO. The Main Event will be a $10,000 + $300 NLHE and it lasts from 15th to 20th October.

The Bellagio

The last WPT event, held at the Borgata, was won by Dwyte Pilgrim, beating a field of 1,042 players, a record in WPT history. In the showdown of the heads-up against Kia Mohajeri, Pilgrim flopped a King-high straight, making it easy for him to call Mohajeri’s all-in, who showed K 9 for two pairs.

What Festa AL Lago brings, remains to be seen. I believe that even half of the excitement of the Borgata Open would make this another exceptional tourney.

Check out the schedule of the WPT tournament here.

The 18th instalment of the Full Tilt Online Poker Series kicks off on Wednesday, 10th November at 21:00 ET. There are a total of 34 events during the tourney with a guaranteed prize pool of $19 million. Game types include Knockout, Shootout, Turbo and Super Turbo, as well as HORSE, 7 Card Stud, PLO, Limit and the all-important No-Limit Hold’em.

FTOPS XVIII also presents the Two-Day Event with a guaranteed $2 million up for grabs and the Main Event, the prize pool of which is at least $3 million. For those seeking fast-paced games, there are no less than 7 out of the 34 events that are Rush Tournaments. Seats for the tourney are available via ongoing satellites, including the Steps Tournaments.

Phil Hellmuth still haven't improved. Once the best poker player in the world is now only the 4th in the All Time Money List with $12,440,926. Winning 11 bracelets, no one can come close to his achievements, and of course he is a talented and witty player, however, he hasn't won a single tournament for more than 3 years now.

Phil Hellmuth weaving goodbye to his good years?

One of the most exotic live poker tournaments in a year is the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure. The event takes place every year in the luxurious Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas since 2005. It was first organized in 2004, when the tournament was held as an event of the WPT on a luxury cruise ship visiting Miami, Florida, Jamaica, Mexico and the Cayman Islands.

Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas

PokerStars have posted the schedule of next years PCA on their website, and also opened www.pokerstarscaribbeanadventure.com, the official website of the tournament. 2011's tournament will run from January 5th to 16th, featuring more than 50 tournaments including a $100,000 Super High Roller tournament, a $25,000 High Roller tournament, a $10,000 Turbo Six-Max contest, and the $10,300 Main Event.

10 men have pleaded guilty in a sports betting case in Montreal last Friday. They ran an illegal sports betting website with the support and active help of the Montreal mafia.

The 10 men face sentencing in January, because of illegal bookmaking that carries a maximum two-year prison term. An analysis of evidence gathered when the RCMP secretly copied accounting records kept by the bookmakers revealed that during one 17-month period, the operation made a $26-million profit from more than 800,000 wagers.

So, how did you like the EPT finals? If you missed out yesterday's live broadcast of the final table of the EPT London, here's the news: with surprise victory, the 23-year old Scottish player David Vamplew, beat the poker legend John Juanda in the 4 hour long heads-up scoring his first tournament victory and the Ł900,000 main prize as well.

David Vamplew with his trophy

Tom 'Durrrr' Dwan and Daniel 'jungleman12' Cates have continued their clash called the Durrrr Challenge 2, with quick little session. Durrrr only earned $1,429 by the end of the day, which is considered much more of a draw than a win for him.

"Just started vs jungle... Internet sucks and I don't have too much time tho" - Tom Dwan tweeted on Sunday.

PokerStars has recently been forced to ban residents of the State of Washington from its tables, due to a State Supreme Court decision. Meanwhile, Denmark is drafting a regulation that would allow foreign providers into the country.

The Washington Supreme Court has recently rejected the legal opinion upon which PokerStars had based its policy of providing real-money online poker for the residents of the state. This had been the approach that „the state could not constitutionally regulate Internet poker, or at least could not discriminate in favour of local cardrooms and against online sites.” After the decision of the Supreme Court, however, the company now excludes Washington residents from playing at their tables: “In light of this decision, following extensive consultation with our legal advisors, we believe that the right course of action is to now block real money play by Washington residents on the PokerStars.com site. This policy will remain in effect until the law changes or subsequent legal challenges succeed.”

The US government now proposes the recording of all international electronic money transfers, even below $10,000. Banks reporting such transactions on a weekly basis would render transfer of deposits and payouts between players and off-shore poker rooms impossible.

The main aim is basically aiding law enforcement: “By establishing a centralized database, this regulatory plan will greatly assist law enforcement in detecting and ferreting out transnational organized crime, multinational drug cartels, terrorist financing and international tax evasion,” Financial Crimes Enforcement Director James H. Freis Jr. says.