Poker Guru Blog

Full Tilt Poker was entirely shut down on June 29th, when the AGCC (Alderney Gambling Control Commission) suspended its operating license. Players had to find a new place to play, this is shown by the latest traffic reports: PartyPoker's traffic increased by 35%, Cake Poker's by 40%.

Such changes in the traffic leaderboard have only happened when the UIGEA (Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act) was introduced in 2006. According to the latest report published by PokerScout.com, since June 29th, many drastic and notable changes went through. Full Tilt Poker's biggest competitor, PokerStars registered +3,382 players, which is a 17% traffic boost. But nearly all other rooms and networks profited from the Full Tilt's downfall. PartyPoker, now the second biggest poker site after the PokerStars boasts +1,246 new players, constituting a 35% growth in just two weeks.

The unluckiest man at this year's WSOP, the 11-time bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth almost overslept his second day at the Main Event. He didn't realize that he was scheduled to play for the day. However, a friend is always on guard.

Phil Hellmuth arrived at the 2011 WSOP Main Event in a quite subdued manner. Over the years he made a fool of himself with his rather funny and unpleasant entrances. He walked into the Rio Casino as a cage fighter, Caesar himself, a racecar driver and so on. This time around he dressed as an ESPN reporter, holding a microphone and did a live broadcast as he approached the poker rooms. This is of course a much more subtle way to enter a casino, I, however, feel it a bit unnecessary.

Darrell Roberts won a nice pot under quite funny circumstances at the World Series of Poker Main Event. Roberts sat down at his table after returning from the bathroom

What he did not notice, however, was that his table (table 308) had actually been moved to the ESPN main stage section during Roberts' break. So, after returning, Darrell started playing at seat 4, table 303, which at the moment incidentally had an empty seat just where Roberts had sat earlier with about the same amount of chips as well. It is no wonder that he immediately leapt into action and won a pot. And this was the moment when the real occupant of the seat appeared, and raged about someone playing with his stack. 

Despite the early predictions, this year's World Series of Poker turned out to be the largest in history. The 42nd annual WSOP, with a record-breaking 75,672 entries and 58 events created the largest prize pool in the history of the Series: $191,999,010. 6865 players registered for the Main Event, which is currently underway.  According to WSOP.com's official press release, this year's World Series of Poker broke many records, and is the "largest in history". The 75,672 entries generated a whopping $191,999,010. This is 3,7% more than last year's 72,966 and $187,109,850 (2,6%).

Many predicted after the Black Friday, attendance of the WSOP will see a serious drop. This, however did not happen, many records were broken. Ty Stewart, World Series of Poker Executive Director was rather happy about this:

"This summer underscores the appeal of the game and the power of this event. We're so thankful for all those who came from around the world to demonstrate that poker continues to grow. All across the board at the 2011 WSOP, from our signature gold bracelet events to cash games to satellites and daily tournaments, records were made to be broken."

This is the third time Harrah’s Entertainment picks inductees for the annual Poker Hall of Fame based on an open nomination process.

Harrah’s Entertainment is expecting votes between 5th July and 14th August on nominees from whom the inductees of the 2011 Hall of Fame will be picked. In addition to naming the player you would like to see among the best of the best, you need to provide a short explanation about why you think that particular person is suitable for the title.

The dust doesn't seem to settle around Full Tilt Poker these days; today's breaking news is that the company has been bought by European investors. As a consequence, Phil Ivey dropped the lawsuit against Full Tilt. As Rakerace.com reported yesterday, the situation at Full Tilt Poker is rather hopeless; the room cannot operate without a license, and even though they are negotiating with AGCC (Alderney Gaming Control Commission) and KWG (Kahnawake Gaming Commission) about their license, the players are highly upset and disappointed.

The situation changed however, according to an article in the Los Angeles Times, Full Tilt Poker has been bought by European investors, who are willing to pay the nearly $150 million debt towards U.S. players, which Full Tilt was unable to pay to this day, which, in the end caused their license to be suspended by the AGCC.

In a press release, PokerStars ensured their players that they are completely unaffected by the recent developments concerning Full Tilt Poker's operating licence. PokerStars claims all their player's money is "completely safe". In a press release, AGCC (Alderney Gambling Control Commission) suspended the operating license of Full Tilt Poker with immediate effect yesterday. From then on, the Full Tilt Poker servers have been down, and the website says the reason of the downtime is "System Update".

This has caused major upheaval outcry in the poker community, as Full Tilt Poker haven't yet officially commented on the issue. The future of the poker room and the player's funds is unsure, players are highly discomfortable and upset about this.

PokerStars players have also grown suspicious following the statement, but as always, PokerStars was rather quick to comment on the issue. They issued a press release, in which they assured their players that their balances are safe, and their operating license is valid, which was confirmed by the Isle of Man Gaming Commission yesterday. The commission stated that the PokerStars' worldwide licensing is "intact" and its operations are in "full compliance" with all of its requirements.

Alderney, part of the Channel Islands is the jurisdiction of Full Tilt Poker. Following the Black Friday, officials of the AGCC wished not to comment on the future of the operating licences of Channel Islands-based gambling site Full Tilt Poker, however, it seemed they can continue conducting business as usual.

In the previous hours, however, the Alderney Gambling Control Commission released a press release, in which they suspend the operating license of Full Tilt Poker with immediate effect:

"Alderney Gambling Control Commission (AGCC) has today issued Hearing Notices under Regulation 46 of its Regulations to Vantage Ltd, Oxalic Ltd, Filco Ltd and Orinic Ltd, collectively trading as FULL TILT POKER.

The decision to suspend these licenses follows a special investigation prompted by the indictments unsealed by US Attorney General’s Office in the Southern District of New York on 15th April 2011, during which grounds were found to indicate that these licensees and their business associates were operating contrary to Alderney legislation. The nature of the findings necessitated the taking of immediate action in the public interest."

Fulltiltpoker.com is currently unavailable, ongoing games seem to have stopped, servers are down. No official comment has been made by Full Tilt Poker so far, who say that the downtime is a result of "scheduled maintenance".

The guys at QuadJacks, lead by Marco Valerio now set off to start a new web series, whose pilot you can watch right here, right now. I thought I would share this with you, because I found it extremely funny. It is about might have happened at Full Tilt Poker after the Black Friday. The animation is not something to concentrate on; this is not about that. The story is good, and the jokes are spot on. Enjoy!

In their June issue, WPT Magazine has released a list of the women whom they think are the top 20 hottest in the poker world. The winner is Tatjana Pasalic, followed by Melanie Iglesias and Joanna Krupa. The poker community feels the list is incomplete, and sometimes unfair.

The June issue is now available worldwide, and features the hottest girls in poker (according to WTP Magazine), Tatjana Pasalic on its cover. The magazine decided the list of the 20 hottest poker girls of all time without consulting their readers, which is highly criticized by the online poker community, as they feel the list to be unfair, leaving out notable female poker celebrities like Amanda Leatherman (host of the popular PokerStars The Big Game) or Shana Hiatt (former WPT presenter, poker player) just to mention a few names. The list, however, includes 52-year-old Jennifer Tilly, The Victory Poker Girls, and Joanna Krupa. 

You find the list with pictures below:

Tobey Maguire was sued by hedge fund manager Bradley Ruderman for playing in an illegal poker game. Ruderman wants his $311,200 back, which he lost to Maguire. Ruderman plans to tie other celebrities to his complaint.

Bradley Ruderman is currently in a federal prison serving his 10-year sentence for operating a ponzi scheme (an illegal investment fraud). Apparently, he lost nearly $25 million of his investors' money, who are now trying to regain some of it.  Through the Trustee of his company, Ruderman Capital Partners (which is currently bankrupt) Ruderman filed a complaint against Tobey Maguire to return his $311,200, which he won in illegal game, to pay some of his investors back. Since the arranger of such home games, Molly Bloom Inc, is not a licensed poker provider in California, the games were illegal, therefore the winnings are illegal as well.

Viktor Blom has won a clear victory over Rui Cao in last Sunday’s SuperStar Showdown session, taking his opponent’s entire challenge bankroll of $150,000 in 2,257 hands.

Viktor 'Isildur1' Blom

After a long break, the PokerStars SuperStar Showdown continued on 19th June, the promotion in which the challengers of Viktor ’Isildur1’ Blom can play 2,500 hands with the PokerStars Pro on four tables. Blom’s latest opponent was Chinese born French player Rui ’PepperoniF’ Cao, one of this year’s most successful PLO players with a profit of $1,395,471 at PokerStars and $359,380 at Full Tilt Poker.

PokerStars has introduced the Saturday Line-Up, a new set of tournaments kicking off on 25th June. The Line-Up includes seven new, weekly events that range from $2.22 to $55 in buy-ins. All tourneys have at least $20,000 guaranteed prize pools.

PokerStars launches the Saturday Line-Up on 25th June: a new set of seven weekly contests. The one with the smallest buy-in is the Saturday Splash, a $2.22 re-buy tournament with a $50,000 guaranteed prize pool; also for those with a modest bankroll is the Saturday Micro, a $30,000 guaranteed freezout with a $3.30 buy-in. The Saturday Omaha ($30,000 guaranteed) is the most expensive of all; it costs $55 to enter.

As the two players agreed in January, Brandon Adams and Patrik Antonius indeed played their prop bet tennis match in Las Vegas. Brandon Adams didn't have a chance of winning, Antonius defeated him 6-0, 6-1. The two poker pros faced each other not at the poker tables as they usually do, but on the tennis court at the International Tennis Center in Las Vegas, as they agreed this January. If Adams won, he would make $295,000, but if Antonius managed to beat him, he would only win $30,000.

Even though Brandon Adams is a decent tennis player, he was no match for Antonius, who worked as a tennis coach for years, and played tennis professionally. He was a great talent and a very promising player, right until he injured his back, and had to stop professional sports. He didn't forget too much though, he defeated Adams easily to 6-0, 6-1.

Adams wasn't too satisfied with his performance, he tweeted after the match:

"I should have played more high pressure matches. Match play for money is like a different game; I'm not used to playing when juiced up"

Tom 'durrrr' Dwan was there to see his fellow players' match, plus he tried the game himself against Adams. I would advise him to stick to poker though, he's much better at that.

The newest poker documentary I already informed you about, "BOOM: The Incredible True Story of Online Poker" created by Jay Rosenkrantz and Taylor Caby is growing even bigger. Now they released the first trailer, which looks rather promising. It is coming out in 2012.

The documentary set out "to use key events to chronicle the evolution of online poker and examine its impact on the lives of a handful of online poker players from around the world." Rosenkrant says they are intending to explore "the nuances of the subculture, from 2p2 to poker training sites, along with the psychological implications of the online poker lifestyle and the themes that have made poker so popular throughout time," as Rosenkrantz wrote in his blog on October 18, 2010. However, many things changed since then. April 15, known as the Black Friday changed the face of online poker forever. The producers had to change their plans and incorporate the recent events into the documentary as well.