Archive for the 'Poker' Category
Perhaps in an effort to drum up more support and interest in his bill that will legalize online casinos and online poker, Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) visited the Tonight Show with Jay Leno Thursday to talk gambling.
The bill, HR 2267, called the Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection and Enforcement Act, is currently still working its way through committees before it gets to the house floor. The bill is intended to overturn the statutes of the UIGEA, or the Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act, which became effective June 1.
Frank told Leno that the government – even in these lean times – is missing the financial boat by making illegal all online gaming and online poker playing. The government and U.S. citizens would benefit greatly from online gaming taxation, Frank said.
Frank said he’s also concerned in general with the government dictating what people can do in the privacy of their own homes.
“We now make it illegal for adults to gamble on the internet,” Frank said. “If you have some guy who wants to play poker on the internet, we say it’s illegal … We could make billions of dollars a year by making it legal and taxing it.”
Not every poker player feels comfortable getting himself into the World Poker Tour or the World Series of Poker. For those players who feel more like amateurs, there is a new tournament that might fill the bill.
The World Poker Tour Amateur Poker League recently partnered with the Tropicana Las Vegas to hold the inaugural World Poker Tour Amateur Championship from April 20 to April 23, 2011. The tournament will offer more than $160,000 in cash and prizes.
The Tropicana Casino, which is currently undergoing a $165-million transformation, and the Amateur Poker League are poised to create a partnership that both companies hope will benefit poker players. The tournament will offer play to players who have qualified from a variety of leagues and venues from around the world, similar to the World Poker Tour and the World Series of Poker. This tournament, however, will be specifically for the amateur player.
The president of the Tropicana is excited about the new partnership.
“It’s an exceptional combination of best-in-class brands and Tropicana is honored to be considered home to the thousands of WPTAPL members,” said Tom McCartney, president and COO of Tropicana Las Vegas in a press release.
For more information about the amateur championship, visit www.wptapl.com.
One of the largest casinos in California is coming under fire from some of its most ardent players – those who play poker.
The Commerce Casino in Southern California has registered its opposition to a federal bill that would legalize internet poker. A poker lobbying group has rallied its troops to protest this opposition.
More than 120 poker players have signed the letter, which registers disappointment with Commerce Casino’s opposition to HR 2267, a bill that’s currently winding its way through congress. The bill would legalize USA online poker by allowing the government to issue licenses to gaming companies and tax the profits.
It’s believed that officials with Commerce Casino oppose the bill because the casino would rather see a California bill pass that would legalize online gaming in the state. The Poker Players Alliance is backing the letter of protest against the Commerce Casino and it says that a California law would only allow California residents to play on the California gaming websites. The federal bill could theoretically be more profitable to gaming companies.
John Pappas, the executive director of the PPA, said that most poker players are mad about the casino’s official opposition to the bill and urged all poker players nationwide to register their dissent with the casino.
Pappas said the PPA might urge a boycott of the casino if it doesn’t change its official stance.
Poker players in France aren’t taking new laws there sitting down. Ok, they are sitting down, but they aren’t being quiet about it.
Recent changes to poker laws in France have added additional fees for the poker proprietors, and those companies are passing the fees along to the players, leaving many angry and frustrated because the fees, they say, cut well into their profits.
The French government is collecting a 2 percent tax on all tournaments, re-buys, and cash games. The taxing will be across the board, even on hands that fold. The poker companies say they can’t absorb this cost themselves, so are passing the fees along to the players as an extra rake.
Players at PokerStars and other sites are in protest mode. Many players argue that having to pay the extra 2 percent rake puts poker playing as a luxury rather than a fun, harmless hobby. They say that the extra rake might mean that the number of hands available will drop by as much as 25 percent.
So, in a kind of tea party fashion, French players are sitting out games while still occupying seats. These modified “sit ins” are orchestrated when players log into their accounts and occupy seats. They don’t buy in, however, instead choosing to sit out hands. The hope is that the French government (along with the poker sites that can lobby the government) will see the problem and lift the rake, or at least decrease it.
True to its promise, the 2010 World Series of Poker has turned into a surprising event where the favored players are out of contention and surprising players remain.
Phil Ivey, who attracted a crowd when he first arrived at the tournament, found himself out of contention over the weekend. The player who is seen as a huge celebrity in poker circles found himself out of the tournament within one hour of the second day of play.
Other surprises include the ouster of Doyle Brunson, who received an ovation from the crowd as he left the Amazon room at the Rio Casino in Las Vegas. Other notable surprise exits include Chris Ferguson, Andy Bloch, J.C. Tran, Freddy Deeb, Cyndy Violette, Joe Cada, and Alexander Kravchenko.
Poker legend Johnny Chan is still alive.
While some of the celebrities from the non-poker world did well on days one and two, many of them have been eliminated from play. Still in the hunt, however, is actor Gabe Kaplan, known best for his role as the teacher in the sitcom “Welcome Back, Kotter”. He holds the distinction of being the celebrity from the non-poker world who has placed highest at any WSOP. He came in 13th at the 1991 WSOP.
Actor Hank Azaria was also still doing well by Wednesday in the 2010 WSOP Main Event. He was ranked at the middle of the pack.
It’s rush week at Full Tilt Poker one of the best online poker sites. No, you don’t have to do anything crazy to get into the fraternity; this rush week is all about Full Tilt’s famous Rush Poker, and it’s a week full of chances to make it big.
Rush Poker is a different concept offered by Full Tilt (www.fulltiltpoker.com). When players are playing Rush Poker, they can move quickly from hand to hand, never having to wait until others at a table have finished playing a hand. Once you’ve played your hand, you are immediately and virtually moved to a new table, where a new hand is just being dealt. Rush Poker gives players a chance to play more hands faster.
This week, you earn points for every hand you play, whether you play in ring games or tournaments. Earn enough points and you could earn a $250 cash bonus. Aside from that motivator, all players who end up at the Rush Poker tournament final table will be entered into a $50,000 freeroll.
There are different award levels offered each day during Rush week, and if you reach your daily points goal each day, you qualify for a bonus.
To play, either log into your Full Tilt Poker player account or sign up for a new one. Click on your “promotions” link and then access the Rush Poker lobby. For more information, visit Full Tilt Poker’s Rush Poker rush week rules page at http://www.fulltiltpoker.com/rush-week/rules.
If your thoughts about casinos naturally run to the smoky and stinky kind, a new partnership might change that perception. The Vapor Corp., an electronic cigarette company, recently announced sponsorship of several poker players.
Capitalizing on the current popularity of the World Series of Poker, Vapor announced the sponsorship of six players, a sponsorship that will result in each player wearing Vapor’s Fifty-One or Krave logos when competing.
“This is Vapor Corp.’s first foray into sponsorships,” said Kevin Frija, the company’s president and CEO. Frija said one of the company founders was a WSOP bracelet holder, who became aware of electronic cigarettes at a poker tournament.
“We have come full circle and believe that our products are a natural fit for poker players and casinos everywhere,” Frija said.
The poker players who will soon sport Vapor logos include Michael Mizrachi, Robert Mizrachi, David Rheem, Isaac Galazan, Paul Wolfe and Noah Boeken.
The fact that the sponsorship deal was announced right before the WSOP’s Main Event began is not lost on the company. In celebration of the tournament and the new partnership with poker players, the company is offering a special deal to the first 100,000 customers who sign up. This is definitely showing how popular poker is outside of the usual Las Vegas casinos and online poker sites where most pros have sponsorship deals with.
The current World Series of Poker Main Event is officially the second largest in history. After players finishing registering Thursday, the total player count stood at 7,319 for a total prize pool of more than $68 million.
The biggest WSOP Main Event was in 2006, when 8,773 players entered play and the prize pool was $82 million. That year, Jamie Gold won the big title and a $12 million payday.
This year, 747 players can win cash prizes. The player who comes in 747th will take home just over $19,000 while the big winner will take home a cash prize of nearly $9 million.
Some players who aren’t known to the poker world are excited to find themselves playing alongside both poker and entertainment royalty. Some have found themselves seated at tables with poker greats like Phil Ivey and Doyle Brunson. Joe Hachem, Andy Block, Vanessa Rousso, Phil Hellmuth, Phil Gordon, Barry Greenstein and many others are also playing in this year’s Main Event.
Some celebrities who have surprised and delighted poker players with their presence include Jason Alexander, Emmitt Smith, Hank Azaria and Shannon Elizabeth. Alexander charmed players at his table with his easy banter and silly jokes. He also called for a massage just 10 minutes into his table play.
Play in the Main Event will continue until mid-July when the final table will be determined.
PokerStars announced two new Team PokerStars pro members. One is a likely candidate and the other a surprise.
David Williams is a seasoned and relatively well known poker player who’s known mostly for his No Limit Hold’em performances. His live tournament winnings are nearly $8 million. He took second at the 2004 World Series of Poker Main Event and took nearly $3.5 million home. He recently won the World Poker Tour championship and a cash prize of $1.5 million.
Though Williams has huge live tournament winnings, he’s no stranger to online play. He won a World Championship of Online Poker title in 2009 for a cash prize of $107,000.
A less likely appointment to Team Poker Stars is Vanessa Selbst, a student at Yale Law School. Selbst graduated from Yale with a degree in political science and says she’s been a lifelong fan of all kinds of games, from which her love of poker grew. Though she’s been playing for just a few short years, she has $1.6 million in live tournament winnings.
Selbst has made a showing at a WSOP final table (in 2006) and has one WSOP bracelet to her credit. This spring, she took the top spot at the PokerStars North American Poker Tour stop at the Mohegan Sun. Her cash winnings in that event were $750,000 and she was officially on the poker radar.
Both players are often found playing at PokerStars.com and play under the names “dwilliams” and “V.Selbst” respectively.
All eyes are officially on the World Series of Poker, if they weren’t already. The main event began Monday and promises to bring an interesting finish to a WSOP that has already been surprising.
During day one play, former bracelet winners fell, and a number of celebrity players stayed in the game. 2003’s main event champion Chris Moneymaker ended the day with 100,000 chips, while notable favorite Greg Raymer was booted after just one round of play.
The celebrities didn’t fare as well as the pro poker players. Long time poker fan of Ray Romano did well until the evening, but after the dinner break found himself out of the game. Actor David Alan Grier made it through day one, but with only 6,000 chips. NBA player Shawn Marion, of the Dallas Mavericks, nearly made it through day one play but was booted at the end of the night.
The main event is the culmination of several weeks of poker play at the Rio Casino in Las Vegas. It is slated to end July 17. The event just prior to the Main Event was the Ante Up for Africa celebrity tournament, held over the weekend. Professional poker player Phil Gordon, who plays for Team Full Tilt Poker, took first in that charity tournament. Actress Shannon Elizabeth came in a close second.
