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Bill Rini on the PPA

Bill Rini, an recognized expert in the poker industry wrote a blog post yesterday about the shortcomings of the Poker Players Alliance. He criticizes the alliance for their way of argue for the legalization of online poker.

Bill Rini
Bill Rini

As Rini writes, even though that he was among the first people, who joined the PPA, soon after it was founded in 2005, he is quite unhappy with the fact that the alliance tries to convince politicians with the wrong arguments. As he puts it:

"The PPA continues to make the logical argument that poker is a game of skill, and therefore not gambling –more on par with Golf or Chess than Roulette or Keno—but we all know how well politicians do with logic.

Obviously any serious poker player will agree with the PPA’s chosen line, but the majority of US citizens are not poker players, and of the alleged 50 million US citizens that partake in the game the vast majority are far from serious players; which makes this argument fall on deaf ears.

First of all, there are the people that find poker morally wrong, and regardless of what you say or what evidence and mathematical computations they are presented with, they will never feel that a card game –where you can win or lose everything on the turn of a single card– is anything other than gambling.

Secondly, there are the people that comprehend the skill factor in poker, but since this only applies to the top 5-10% of players, the other 90-95% of poker players are considered gamblers! For these players, poker is no different than Roulette, Slots, or Blackjack, and depending on their disadvantage in the game they are probably right. If you don’t know the general concepts and theories of the game, or take the time to read books, study, and work on your poker game than you are in fact simply gambling when you play poker –I’ve played with many a person who would have held on to their money longer if they were at a Blackjack table or playing Caribbean Stud."

UB/AP Gets Rid of its Pro Team

As it was somewhat expected, as a next step in UB's downfall, the parent company of UB and Absolute Poker, has released a statement in which they announced that the entire roster of pros were let go by the company.

prahlad friedman
Prahlad "Firedman"


Blanca Gaming
issued the following statement about Team UB recently:

"This was a difficult task for Blanca’s management, and we are very disappointed that we have been compelled to sever ties with our sponsored pros. Over the years, the Company has been successful in gathering a group of young, extraordinarily talented and brand-appropriate poker professionals who have proudly sported its logos. We are truly saddened that circumstances have dictated this course of action, and we regret that we are no longer in a position to partner with our sponsored pros, or to provide them with a source of income for playing the game that they love. We appreciate their significant time and dedication shared with us, and we thank them for the loyalty and patience they have continued to show us even during the unsettling events of the past few weeks. We respect and admire them for their many accomplishments, both at the poker tables and away from them, and we will always be grateful for their valuable contributions to building the UB and Absolute Poker brands and to creating a rock-solid community at the pair of online poker rooms."

11 players are affected by this decision, namely Joe Sebok, Prahlad Friedman, Eric Baldwin, Maria Ho, Brandon Cantu, Tiffany Michelle, Scott Ian, "Hollywood" Dave Stann, Adam Levy, Bryan Devonshire and Trishelle Cannatella. They all can look for new jobs from now on.

Meet Tatjana Pasalic, Poker Pro!

She loves playing and popularizing poker, hosts a show, has her video blog, covers events and on the top of that all, she is incredibly hot: Tatjana Pasalic (27) has already had a fairy-tale career so far in the world of poker and she is not about to stop just now.

Tatjana Pasalic

UB and Absolute Poker Shareholders to Declare Bankruptcy

It seems like the 2 rooms of the Cereus Network, UB Poker and Absolute Poker have become the victims of Black Friday; the shareholders of the Cereus rooms have sent out an email to their shareholders that they will likely be filing for bankruptcy due to the Black Friday's events. The Norwegian Madeira Fjord (the company representing Cereus shareholders) has received an email from Absolute Poker's an UB.com's parent company, Blanca Gaming, in which they informed Madeira Fjord that they are currently unable to make any payments because of their debt obligations, and since they have no considerable income, this situation is bound to stay the same, therefore, they are to file bankruptcy. This will mean, in practice, that UB and Absolute Poker moves out of the online gambling market for good. Madeira Fjord filed the bankruptcy according to Mike Brunker, editor of MSNBC.

bankruptcy

Blanca Gaming hasn't replied to MSNBC's questions, therefore, it's not at all clear what will happen to the players deposits and funds with the rooms. If the Cereus Network handled their users' money as PokerStars, on dedicated and separate bank accounts the cashouts are not impossible. However, not many people believe it will happen. Players started to sell their stuck money for much less than it's value.

ESPN Offers Same-Day Coverage of WSOP 2011

ESPN is about to provide unprecedented coverage of this year's World Series of Poker; between July 14-19 they will air almost live (30 minutes delayed) coverage, with hole cards and commentary. The broadcast will feature 2 television tables, where the hole cards will be visible (hence the 30 minute delay). According to ESPN, coverage will shift between the tables every 30 minutes, but any "all-in and call" situations will be included.

ESPN

The WSOP Main Event will be aired by ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN3.com as well. This is the first time ever that ESPN will provide daily "delayed live" coverage of the main event.

The commentators will be Lon McEachern and David Tuchman, who will be accompanied by various poker pros, who will lend their experience to help viewers better understand the game.

The highly anticipated WSOP Heads-Up Rematches, will also be shown from June 2 with just a 5-minute delay, no hole cards shown. Furthermore, ESPN plans to cover the $25,000 Heads-Up No Limit Hold’em Championship starting on June 3, and the $50,000 Poker Players' Championship starting on July 6 as a warm-up to the Main Event.

EPT San Remo - Elder Leads, Lykov at Final Table

The final table of the 2011 EPT San Remo is set. Rupert Elder is the chipleader, Max Heinzelmann repeats his EPT Berlin final table appearance, but the biggest name at the table is definitely Max Lykov.

rupert elder
Rupert Elder

24 players battled each other on the 5th day of the EPT San Remo for the €5,300 Main Event Final Table. The chipleader was Nicolas Yunis, the American player was the only one to reach more than 2 million chips, he awaited the start with 2,281,000 chips. The 2 biggest remaining stars were Max Lykov (1,722,000) and Joe Cada (1,619,000).

Cada took the lead very soon, he eliminated Fabrizio Cataldi with pocket queens, who showed AQ on a neutral board. However, he soon dropped back, and on the 27th blind level (5000/30000/60000) he went preflop all-in with {#}K {#}9 against the runner-up finisher at EPT Berlin, Max Heinzelmann. Heinzelmann's pocket jacks defeated Cada's flush draw, who was eliminated in 13th place (€35,000).

ESPN Inside Deal on Black Friday

Yesterday’s edition of the ESPN Inside Deal programme devotes the majority of its airtime to the issue of Black Friday and its after effects.

ESPN Inside Deal

Besides discussing the questions what exactly led to this event and what charges the indicted companies face, Bernard Lee, Jon Anik and Andrew Feldman talk about the impact Black Friday has on the industry, affecting TV-shows, tours, online series and 8 to 10 millions of US players, including some who have lost their single source of income. In the second half of the discussion, poker pro Jason Senti joins in to share his thoughts on the matter.

PokerStars Begins Cashout for US Players

Yesterday at around 4 p.m. PokerStars sent out an email to its U.S. players in which the poker company explains that cash outs are now available. 11 days after Black Friday, PokerStars players can initiate the cashout of their entire bankrolls at the cashier. They were informed of this in the email below.


cashout

FTP & PokerStars Get Domains Back

ESPN's Twitter revealed that Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars made an agreement with the US Attorney's Office to "facilitate return of U.S. player funds."

espn poker

Andrew Feldman, ESPN's poker editor tweeted not an hour ago:

"FTP makes deal with US Attorney's office to regain fulltiltpoker.com. Agreement expressly allows for real money play outside the US...."

"FTP also states in the press release that it's an important first step towards US players getting $$ back, but still faces legal impediments"

"Pokerstars.com gets domain back as well per agreement."

The mentioned press release states what many U.S. players were hoping for: namely, that they will get their funds back from the poker companies:

"No individual player accounts were ever frozen or restrained, and each implicated poker company has at all times been free to
reimburse any player's deposited funds. In fact, this Office expects the companies to return the money that U.S. players entrusted to them, and we will work with the poker companies to facilitate the return of funds to players, as today’s agreements with PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker demonstrate."

Sarcastic Friday

Black Friday is all over, which already inspired some very good directors and video makers to reflect on the matter. MrSrslySirius, the autotune wizard, whose creations you could already see here, has again released a hilarious parody of a Miley Cyrus' hit song Party in the USA, based on current events.

 

BREAKING NEWS - FBI Seized Major Online Poker Sites in the US

The U.S. Department of Justice has seized the domain names of 4 major poker rooms, PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, UB.com and Absolute Poker. According to a statement from the Department of Justice, the founders of the sites are charged with “bank fraud, money laundering, and illegal gambling offenses." Earlier today, the websites of 4 major online poker providers, PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, UB.com and Absolute Poker have been seized by the FBI. Visiting any of the above sites from the United States will yield the warrant from the FBI, stating:

seizure
 

"This domain name has been seized by the FBI pursuant to an arrest warrant in rem obtained by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. Conducting, financing, managing, supervising, directing, or owning all or part of an illegal gambling business is a Federal crime."

The warrant also states that the defendants might face up to five years' imprisonment and a fine up to $250,000. According to the statement by the Department of Justice, the 11 defendants (including the founders of the three largest Internet poker companies doing business in the United States) are charged with bank fraud, money laundering, and illegal gambling offenses. If the defendants are found guilty in the 8th count crime, "Conspiracy to Commit Bank Fraud and Wire Fraud" they could face a maximum of 30 years in prison and a fine of $1 million. In addition, restraining orders were issued against more than 75 bank accounts utilized by the Poker Companies and their payment processors, and five Internet domain names used by the Poker Companies to host their illegal poker games were seized. - The statement says.

Jose Macedo Sponsored by Lock Poker

Jose Macedo, the "Portuguese Poker Prodigy", as many like to call him has drawn much attention to himself lately; so much that he already has a sponsor, he joined the pro team of Lock Poker.

Jose 'Girah' Macedo

The portuguese prodigy, Jose 'Girah' Macedo has been very popular with the poker community lately, as we already reported, his unbelievable dedication and concentration on the game got him from the micros to the high stakes in just 1,5 years. He is only 18 years old, but as it turned out recently, he has joined the Lock Pro ELITE team.

In the press release, Macedo said he wanted to be the best player ever, following his icon, Tom 'durrrr' Dwan:

"I am determined to be the best player in the world, so I wanted to make sure I partnered with the best poker brand. Lock’s focus on the player experience is unique and inspiring and something I truly wanted to associate myself with. I encourage anyone to come and challenge me on Lock, and look forward to the exciting times ahead."

Lex Veldhuis Fights Bertrand Grospellier in May

It seems that Lex 'RasZi' Veldhuis and Bertrand 'ElkY' Grospellier are doing a much better job at getting some attention than Andrew Robl. They plan to fight each other in a kickbox match right before the WSOP.

bertrand elky grospellier
Bertrand 'ElkY' Grospellier

It all began on Twitter. On April 7, Veldhuis wrote:

"I'm fighting (kickboxing) Elky in Las Vegas this summer. Last week of May right before WSOP probably. This all because of a sidebet!"

He seems really confident in himself, he soon added:

"About the Elky fight. I'm taking bets. I will write a more detailed blog about the bet."

Also, he changed his Twitter profile picture to a seemingly studio shot of him wearing MMA gloves and a Phil Laak hoodie. Very serious, indeed. ElkY didn't comment on the fight so far, and hasn't yet released a picture of himself in fighter gear.

Gus Hansen Lost Nearly $1 Million in April

Gus Hansen, the Danish Full Tilt Poker pro has been on a sensational heater this year, he started April's grind with $4 million profit, but now he seems to be losing, he already lost $1 million this month.

Gus Hansen
Gus Hansen

The Hansen fans again have something to worry about. The 'Great Dane' has been playing really well at the tables in the first months of 2009 and 2010, but soon he came to be one of the biggest losers. On March 1, 2009 he already turned a $2,334,788 profit, but he closed the year as the biggest fish of the year, with $5,575,624 lost. In 2010, he earned $2,028,229 until March 1, but he ended the year in a $1,601,767 minus. He was the fourth biggest loser that year (these numbers do not include the draw poker results, since HSDB didn't monitor those at that time).

He kicked off 2011 with his best online high stakes start ever, he was number one on the monthly high-stakes leaderboard in January and February, and second in March. He started April with $4,097,298 profit. The last 7 days, however, were not his best this year; he lost a total of $976,934, which makes him the biggest loser this month. His losses are mostly in PLO (-$690,414) but he took a hit in draw games as well (-$286,520).

WSOP Heads-Up Rematches Coming Up

Finally, WSOP came up with a great new idea for a TV show. Have you ever imagined what a WSOP Main Event Final Heads-Up rematch would look like? Sam Farha having a chance to get back at Moneymaker? Well now you can watch it.

wsop heads-up rematches

Harrah's revealed recently that they plan to recreate some of the most imporant and fierce heads-up battles in WSOP history at the World Series of Poker 2011. The event will take place on Thursday, June 2 at the Rio on the ESPN set in the Amazon Room.

3 Matchups are planned so far. In the first, Chris Moneymaker and Sammy Farha will recreate the 2003 WSOP Main Event final table in a "best out of three" format. In game one, they will have the exact same chip counts as in 2003, in the second, reversed, and in the third game, even stacks.

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