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The World Poker Tour (WPT) has announced the launch of a brand new, exclusive super high roller series: Alpha8. The international high stakes tournaments would be broadcast on the FOX Sports 1 channel, kicking off in March 2014.

A new, international, televised high stakes series has been introduced by WPT. The exclusive super high roller tournaments will feature buy-ins of at least $100,000 and events will take place at the most prestigious venues around the world. The structures are designed by WPT Executive Tour Director Matt Savage and the broadcast will be able to boast four hours of action from each stop with the most renowned players participating.

One of the most controversial announcements this week was the Global Poker Index acquiring legendary UK online poker database, The Hendon Mob. The site is undoubtedly a market leader in providing live tournament poker information, not to mention its role as the number one online poker community in the UK.

Earlier this week, the Global Poker Index (GPI) announced the acquisition of The Hendon Mob, Ltd. UK, the company behind the renowned live poker tournament database TheHendonMob.com. The site is also home to the largest online poker community of the United Kingdom. Providing essential and up-to-date information to poker news websites worldwide, the significance of the role The Hendon Mob plays in the industry is hard to overestimate.

In related news to last day’s report on Zynga withdrawing its plans to enter the regulated real money gaming market of the United States, the largest social media site takes steps in quite the opposite direction.

According to European news sources, social media site Facebook is to expand its real money gaming interests in the regulated markets of the continent, more specifically in Spain and Italy. With the experimental launch of the offering in the United Kingdom proving to be successful, the company is now apparently planning on entering the segregated markets with its own gambling operations.

Together with its second quarter revenue report, showing an ever shrinking income, Zynga has announced they would not seek opportunities in the to-be-regulated real money gambling market of the United States.

Zynga presented its financial report for the second quarter of 2013 on Thursday. While he company’s revenues keep shrinking in general, incomes from poker, the majority of which being generated by the Texas Hold’em play money social poker application, also show a relative drop, in comparison with other sources. The market for free to play gaming is tightening up, with competitors like PokerStars also appearing on Facebook.

Australian professional poker player Jackie Glazier was the last lady to be eliminated in the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event. She is now leaving Ivey Poker, while you can track her progress in the ME at ESPN from this week.

Jackie Glazier

Jackie Glazier from Wantirna, Australia is a poker professional and she also happened to be the last lady standing in the WSOP 2013 Main Event. She made it all the way through to the top 68 participants of Day 6 of the tournament, where she eventually got all-in against IPT San Remo champion and EPT 2012 Grand Final 4th finisher Sergio Castelluccio. Glazier held A Q but Castelluccio had T T and the board gave him a full house, nines over tens.

Even as a mass of poker players have agreed to avoid playing at the Venetian in Las Vegas between 22 and 26 July, the poker room of the renowned casino is almost full.

Sheldon Adelson

79 years old Las Vegas Sands Corporation CEO Sheldon Adelson had been quoted condemning online poker in an interview for the Forbes, considering it toxic to society and saying “The plague (that online gaming) could bring to our society is even more far-reaching. The possibility of underage children finding ways to place online wagers and the potential of people betting under the influence of drugs or being coerced are all scenarios that can happen. When gambling is available in every bedroom, every dorm room, and every office space, there will be no way to fully determine that each wager has been placed in a rational and consensual manner.”

‘Tight-Man1’ won $610,000 in a $400/$800 NLHE 6-max action in the weekend. The unknown player has $1.4 million in profits in July, which puts him slightly ahead of Isilfur1 on the monthly money list.

With the World Series of Poker coming to an end for the summer, players start to return to the online tables. Even as the high stakes field has seen great action during the WSOP, things are really speeding up in July. In the first week of the month, Viktor ‘Isildur1’ Blom dominated the game, winning over $2 million. He has been very active ever since but his results show the usual swings with his monthly total remaining around $1.4 million.

Viktor ‘Isildur1’ Blom is in a huge upswing again: in the first two weeks of July, he has won a total of $2 million at the online high stakes tables. His annual profit is now over $5 million.

Viktor 'Isildur1' Blom, Photo courtesy of Neil Stoddart

Last Thursday, Viktor ‘Isildur1’ Blom scooped in a total of $696,310 in winnings and he has been very active since: on Friday and Saturday, he came about breakeven but, on Sunday, he added another $525,291 to his bankroll. Playing at $250/$500 NLHE and $500/$1,000 CAP PLO tables, he took down the largest pot of the day as well.

United States Congressman Joe Barton is to file within weeks his own draft to regulate the US online poker market on a federal level.

Congressman Joe Barton

Republican Representative Peter King filed in his draft early June to regulate not only online poker, but the entire online gambling market of the United States of America on a federal level. His bill bears the title “Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection and Enforcement Act of 2013” and it aims at elevating the issue of online gambling to the federal level in its entirety, including issuing licences and enforcing gambling laws.

The final day of the WSOP Event #42 - $1,000 NLHE was held on 25 June. 11 players were still fighting for the bracelet. The chipleader was Rory 'Mafews' Mathews with 898,000. 2 players had to be eliminated for the 9-handed final table.

Dealing started on the 22nd blind level (2,000-8,000/16,000). The first to go came to be the Romanian player Dan Murariu, who was beaten with A-K against Ariel Celestino's pocket jacks. Not much later Dana Buck went bluff all-in with 9-6 after it was folded to him, the BB Daniel Neilson called with K-J but a nine fell on the dry board, Neilson was out.

In the most expensive poker tournament ever, the WSOP 2012 $1,000,000 Big One for One Drop, Sam Trickett scooped in $10,112,001 in prize money for his runner-up finish. A four-part documentary on his march to the gargantuan win is now out.

The most expensive tournament in the history of poker was held in 2012: part of the World Series of Poker schedule, the $1,000,000 Big One for One Drop had 48 entrants, who amassed a prize pool of $42,666,672. The $18,346,673 first prize was won by Antonio Esfandiari and the runner-up was Sam Trickett for $10,112,001.

On the occasion of the 100 billionth hand dealt, PokerStars organised a world record breaking tournament of 225,000 players. The $1 event took place on Sunday at 19:00 CET.

On 4 December, 2011, PokerStars held the largest poker tournament ever with 200,000 players to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the poker room. The breaking of that record was due last weekend to salute the 100 billionth hand dealt at the cash game tables. The Guinness World Record Attempt tournament had a $1 buy-in and it kicked off on 16 June at 19:00 CET.

Republican Representative Peter King has filed a draft to regulate not only online poker but online gaming in general on a federal level in the US.

Despite being regarded as one of the most promising proposals to legalise the game since the UIGEA of 2006, the bill to regulate the online poker market in the United States of America on a federal level, filed by Senators Harry Reid and Jon Kyl, failed permanently in December last year. Republican Representative Peter King has just filed a draft resembling the Reid-Kyl Bill but aiming to eliminate its flaws. For example, the King Bill includes the state lottery companies in the regulation process, in order to weaken the counter lobby supported by them, the National Governors Association, Native American as well as religious groups.

Follow the events of the PokerStars GuangDong Asia Millions HK$1,000,000+R High Roller tournament here, at PokerGuruBlog.com!

It is expected that the one of the biggest High Roller events of all time be held in Macau, running 5-7 June, 2013. The HK$1,000,000 (US$130,000) GuangDong Asia Millions offers two re-buy options, implying an enormous prize pool to be built.

The biggest names of poker, as well as the richest businessmen will be seated at the tables, including but not limited to Erik Seidel, Igor Kurganov, Tobias Reinkemeier, Bertrand ‘ElkY’ Grospellier and Niklas ‘ragen70’ Heinecker.

The PokerStars Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) has ended and a number of the biggest pros have again shown us that they more than live up to their reputation. Most notably, both Viktor ‘Isildur1’ Blom and Daniel ‘KidPoker’ Negreanu achieved something remarkable.

The high stakes main event (Event #43-H $10,300 NLHE) of the PS SCOOP 2013 was won by no other than online high stakes poker ace Viktor ‘Isildur1’ Blom. After taking down not one but two events in 2012, he scooped in his third title in an incredibly strong field.