• Home
• Poker Reviews
• Poker Bonus
• Poker Strategy
• Poker Rules
• Poker Players
• Mac Poker

• Poker Freerolls
• Poker News

Subscribe

First Intrastate Online Poker License Granted in Nevada

The first real money intrastate online poker license in Nevada has been granted to South Point Poker, LLC, owned and operated by Michael Gaughan. This is the first license of this type in the US.

South Point Poker COO Lawrence Vaughan says, “We are pretty excited to enter the online gaming world. This is an incredible step forward. It’s going to redefine gaming and what the state can do.”

And while there will be undoubtedly more license like these to follow, what makes this first one different is that South Point Poker won’t be using a third party to supply software, as it has its own proprietary platform and has received licensure from Nevada as a gambling service provider as well as an interactive gaming manufacturer.

Vaughan says, “We built this home-grown in Nevada from scratch, to the regulations,” which makes it much more well-received by critics.

South Point hopes to launch sometime in the fall, ideally in October of this year. It will be interesting to see if online poker pros who have relocated out of the country in order to make a living playing real money online poker will return to the states and set up shop in Nevada.

A play money version of South Point Poker has been up and operating for a few months now, but according to Vaughn, the software used for real money will in fact be different.

South Point will require 30 employers to run the new online poker website, update software, and ensure that no one under 21 gets on the site, as is a big requirement under Nevada regulations.

“We have to make sure you are who you say you are,” comments Vaughn. “We’ll know if the person playing is the person who is supposed to be playing.”

Everest Poker to Join iPoker Network

It is rumored that Everest Poker will be moving over to the iPoker Network in order to increase online player traffic. Over the past couple months, the brand has had a significant decrease in activity and is hoping that a network switch will increase their numbers. While Evererst Poker does rand third in the French online poker market, before iPoker, it is a risk they will be taking to lose their third place ranking.

Because traffic is decreasing at Everest Poker, they are losing revenue and even sponsorships, so while this is a big step, it’s a strategy to save the site. Internationally, Everest Poker has lost nearly 40% of cash game traffic in only the past six months, according to Poker Scout reports. Whether or not the merger will affect the French market is unknown at this point.

On the new network, Everest Poker players will have access to more gaming options such as Speed Poker, iPoker’s version of the original Rush Poker at Full Tilt, a fast fold variation of online poker.

While there has not been an official announcement from iPoker Network headquarters or Everest Poker, but close sources stated the merger is impending and more information should be released very soon.

October Nine: Michael Esposito

At only 44 years of age, Michael Esposito is the second oldest player in the 2012 WSOP October Nine. Hailing from Seaford, New York, Esposito is an amateur poker player, only playing poker as a hobby a few times per year. By day he is a commodity broker in NYC who may have been quite the legendary player had he chosen a different career path. He’s actually played in the WSOP before and cashed in 2006 when he was knocked out in 540^th place earning him more than $22K in cash, so while he may be an amateur, his opponents should still take heed because he seems to have a little bit of that thing we like to call “luck,” as well.

Esposito is also a triathlete, is single, and has two children, a 21-year-old son and a 13-year-old daughter. He’s the typical American bachelor, who is now living the dream and come October 29^th will be seated in Seat #9 with 16,260,000 chips—the sixth largest stack at the table. His typical day starts at 4:50 a.m. when he runs or rides his bike. After a 10-hour work day, he comes home to swim, except on Wednesdays when he has dinner with his daughter. He also rides up to 60 miles on his bike every Saturday, but he hasn’t always been so disciplined. In his early 30s, Esposito says he was a smoker and 223 pounds. He felt like he was 55. Now at 43, he feels like he’s 25.

And while he admits that he’s more interested in winning the $8.5 million than the bracelet or all the hype that comes with it, he’s a down to earth guy who says, “I have a pretty content, happy life. I don’t need cars, I have a nice house, I have a nice quiet life. I like my life.”

When asked what his objective was for coming to the WSOP, he said, “My expectations were really the final table. That was the only reason I came. I came in with a mindset just to go. I played in it a few years past where I tried to win it early on. This year I kind of went in with a different philosophy that I would just go day to day and play day to day. Now I’ve got a shot.”

Apparently his philosophy worked, but is he good enough to beat the young guns and the lifelong pros he’s up against?

October Nine: Steven Gee

The oldest player of the WSOP Main Event October Nine, 57-year-old Steven Gee resides in Sacramento, California but was born in China. He won his first WSOP bracelet in 2010 and has more than $1.2 million in live tourney winnings. He sits fifth in chips at the final table with 16.8 million.

His 2010 bracelet came when he defeated more than 3,000 other players in a $1K NLH event and won more than $470K. He also has three additional WSOP cashes under his belt. He and Greg Merson are the only two players in the October Nine who have previous WSOP bracelets wins.

Gee started playing poker in his early 20s in California casinos where he played draw lowball. In the late 70s Gee went pro, but later he drifted away and took a job in software development as a project manager. Throughout the years, he just couldn’t shake his desire to go back to poker, and in 2007 he got back into cash games at the Bellagio, and the rest is history.

“At that time,” he says of his early days in poker, “I was the only young guy at the table. Poker was not popular back in those days like it is today.” Now, at the final table of the 2012 WSOP Main Event, he’s the only player in his 50s. In fact, five of the October Nine are 27 or younger, while two are in their early 30s and Michael Esposito is in his early 40s, so needless to say, this is a very young October Nine. We will find out if age equals experience when final play of the 2012 WSOP Main Event resumes on October 29th at the Rio All-Suites in Las Vegas, Nevada.

PokerStars Road to 100 Billion: 85 Billionth Hand

The 85 billionth hand will soon be dealt at PokerStars online poker site, proving that the Internet poker phenomenon was hardly phased by Black Friday and the US DOJ. And to celebrate this amazing event, PokerStars will be paying out $1 million to cash players participating in online poker at PokerStars.

The 85 billionth hand is predicted to fall sometime in the next couple weeks at a PS cash table. The winner of the 85 billionth hand is guaranteed $10K. Other milestone hands between 84.7 billion and 85 billion will also be celebrated.

PokerStars celebrated its 80 billionth hand earlier this summer, and it’s only taken a few months for another five billion hands to fall. A Spanish player won more than $22K back in May when he won the 80 billionth hand, and his fellow opponents at the table also got $10K for just being dealt into the hand, and it wasn’t a high-stakes cash game either. It could literally happen anywhere at any time on the site.

This promotion is part of the Road to 100 Billion, as PokerStars celebrates every five billion hands dealt on the site. At the current rate, the 100 billionth hand is expected to fall sometime next year.

Full Tilt Payments: One Step Closer

For those looking for employment, the Department of Justice has an interesting job listing posted on their website. They are looking for a third party Claims Administrator to assist with repayments to former Full Tilt players.

According to the DOJH, there are roughly 1.3 million possible US players who were wronged by Full Tilt after Black Friday when the former online poker site was unable to refund player accounts following Black Friday. These potential victims held account balances totaling almost $160 million. Now that PokerStars has made a first installment payment to the DOJ of $225 million, the money is now available to repay the former Full Tilt players. Once it’s all said and done, PokerStars will have paid $547 million to the US government.

According to Full Tilt attorney Jeff Irah, who helped advance the deal between PokerStars and the DOJ, says that the Claims Administrator will work to help these payments get back into the hands of former Full Tilt players. Interested firms need submit applications by the month’s end to be considered; however, any applicants must disclose any associations they’ve had with online poker site or gambling institution in the past, so as to no “be viewed as affecting independence.”

The DOJ expressed that the firm to be hired will work with authorities to “design and execute a process to solicit, receive and evaluate claims, and to process payments, for losses incurred by U.S. victims that are attributable to the fraud alleged in the [Full Tilt Poker complaint]. In so doing the Claims Administrator will obtain and evaluate information, such as financial transaction records, from claimants, and analyze information contained in user account records provided in database and other format by Full Tilt Poker.”

The Ray Bitar Saga Part 2

Former Full Tilt CEO Ray Bitar, who is out on bail after being arrested early last month released a statement today declaring that he had officially signed the necessary papers needed to finish the deal between Full Tilt Poker and the US government.

According to Bitar’s statement, assets of the company will be transferred over to PokerStars and employees of Full Tilt will now be employees of PokerStars. Furthermore, he stated, “I believe that this deal will result in Full Tilt’s customers being repaid. I am extremely pleased and excited by this prospect.”

Bitar continued, “I am extremely pleased and excited by this prospect. For the past 15 months, I have worked hard on possible solutions to get players repaid. It has been a very long road, with lots of bumps along the way, but I am glad we have gotten to the end. I only wish that we could have resolved the situation much sooner.”

Perhaps he is genuinely sorry it took so long, and whether or not he has been in hiding so that he can continue to work on things is questionable, but giving himself up just after the deal was finalized does give merit to his statement.

Former Full Tilt executive Nelson Burtnick, who is also accused of drawing salaries even though player funds were not secured are still at large. Burtnick is still at large, though six of the 11 original indicted individuals have been pleaded guilty, and a $3 billion civil forfeiture case has been secured against online poker sites.

Bitar closed his statement with the following:

Today’s settlement also ends the US Government’s legal case against the Full Tilt companies. I am glad that this chapter has closed. I would like to thank the company’s many dedicated employees who helped achieve this result. It has been a pleasure working at Full Tilt and I am grateful for the many friendships and memories that I made there. I wish everyone in the Full Tilt family success in their future endeavors.

I also extend my best wishes to PokerStars. This is a very creative deal and it should benefit everyone: the players, Full Tilt and PokerStars alike.

All of this is kind of sad, but inevitable. Bitar started Full Tilt Poker back when he was working as a day trader at an LA prop shop. He and pro poker players Chris Ferguson and Howard Lederer built the company from scratch. It would ultimately become the second largest online poker site in the world. But playing games with the feds to stay off their radar eventually caught up with them. And it just didn’t help that they couldn’t pay players when the walls came down. Thus, Full Tilt’s tragic flaw was that they did not separate player funds from operating costs.

Hopefully Bitar is right and this new agreement will satisfy all parties, but unfortunately, he is still facing up to 145 years in prison and must face his sentence now after remaining in hiding for the previous 15 months.

The Ray Bitar Saga Part 1

Sixteen months ago, the US federal government shut down the biggest online poker sites serving US players on what is now known as Black Friday. If you don’t know about this, you’ve either been hiding under a rock or haven’t been born yet. Fast forward 16 months after the US poker industry has gone through a series of dramatic events, but has for the most part survived due mostly to the fact that people all over the world love online poker and aren’t going to let it go without a fight.

So early last month, former Full Tilt CEO Ray Bitar, who was indicted on Black Friday along with 10 other online poker big wigs, finally turned himself in after remaining in hiding in Ireland since April of last year. He was promptly arrested in early July upon his arrival at JFK International Airport. He then pleaded not guilty to the charges set forth against him by the feds for money laundering, illegal online gambling operations, etc. He’s out on bail now, but faces up to 145 years in jail if convicted.

Bitar stated, “I returned voluntarily to the US from Full Tilt’s headquarters in Ireland to face the charges against me. I know that a lot of people are very angry at me. I understand why. Full Tilt should never have gotten into a position where it could not repay player funds. For the last 15 months, I have worked hard on possible solutions to get the players repaid. Returning today is part of that process. I believe we are near the end of a very long road, and I will continue to do whatever is required to get the players repaid, and I hope that it will happen soon.”

Why it took him so long is questionable, but so much has happened, including Full Tilt being deemed a Ponzi Scheme, the failure of buyout of Full Tilt by French firm Groupe Bernard Tapie, and the ongoing dilemma regarding nonpayment of player funds, not to mention the site being shut down and virtually non-existent. Meanwhile, Full Tilt still owes players around the world roughly $350 million.

Prosecutors claimed that Bitar knew that Full Tilt was dependent on continual deposits by players to keep up with the backlog of player withdrawals, all the while continuing to draw a salary for himself. And this is why Full Tilt was labeled a Ponzi Scheme.

August 2012 PartyPoker Bonus Code

Poker Bonus

If you are looking for a massive online poker bonus, look no further than PartyPoker.com. For new players, PartyPoker is offering a new player bonus worth up to $/£/€500. All you have to do is create a player account using PartyPoker Bonus Code 500PS and make your first real money deposit. Once you’ve claimed your bonus, you’ll need to play poker in order to clear your bonus to your account. This bonus clears automatically as you rack up enough PartyPoints. If you are depositing in USD, you’ll need to earn six times your bonus in points to clear your bonus in full. For Euros, you’ll need eight times the bonus, and for Sterling, nine times.

You will automatically earn PartyPoints as you play real money cash games and buy into tournaments. For every $1 you pay into rake, you’ll earn two PartyPoints, and for every $1 you pay in tourney fees, you’ll earn two points, so you can see that these points can rack up pretty quickly, thus clearing your bonus fast. You’ll have 60 days to clear the full bonus. Your bonus will be deposited into your player account in 10 increments.

Freerolls

There are more than $100K in freerolls each month and the first one you should register for is the New Player $1,500 Freeroll. There’s a chance for everyone to freeroll at PartyPoker.

Summer Superstars

Through August 19th, participate in the Summer Superstars promotion at PartyPoker. To play like a star, just rack up points for your chance at a share of $5K or a World Poker Tour package. The first step is the Summer Superstar Bronze $1K Freeroll and it only requires that you collect one point to qualify. Collect just 10 points and you will qualify for the Silver $1,500 Freeroll. And finally, collect 25 points and qualify for the Gold $2,500 Freeroll. When you finish in the money in any of these freerolls, you’ll earn your prize plus a special point boost, so you’ll move up on of the three Summer Superstars Leaderboards. The higher up the leaderboards you climb, the better your chance to score cash or exclusive WPT prizes, packages, and buy-ins. Stay in the action now through August 19th!

Poker Refugees in Costa Rica

The story of former pro surfer Kristin Wilson, who is originally from Florida but now resides in Costa Rica, has been circulating around the online poker community lately. This entrepreneur has created a somewhat ingenious business that assists poker pros with relocating to Costa Rica, a place where they can play online poker legally and continue making a living post-Black Friday. Wilson’s relocation service, which is located in San Jose, the capital of Costa Rica, is called Poker Refugees, and thus the poker players that use her service are also referred to as poker refugees, and there’s about 150 US poker players who now reside in Costa Rica for the sole reason of playing online poker.

Other industries that are illegal in the US are also deemed acceptable in Costa Rica, for instance, stem-cell treatments. Therefore, the small Central American nation has become a key destination for medical tourism. Costa Rica has found a niche as a country that can when the US says cannot.

Most of the poker refugees are in their 20s, so relocating isn’t too much of a hindrance, though many admit that they are unhappy about being forced to leave their homes in order to make a living in the industry they have chosen. Some who have children have even left their families behind and liken their lives to that of a corporate executive who has to travel for business, home on the weekends and holidays. Some on the other hand enjoy the oceanfront office with a beautiful view of the Pacific.

Wilson’s relocation service ensures that the players who relocate to Costa Rica have accommodations to ensure they don’t fall privy to the somewhat less-developed Costa Rica with a backup generator in case the power goes out and a back up Internet in case one loses connection. She says, “These guys play anywhere from four to 24 games at one time,” so if they lose signal or power, they could lose thousands of dollars very quickly.

Hopefully with all the advancements that are being made within the US on both intrastate and even federal levels, these poker refugees will be able to move home or stay in Costa Rica by choice, not as their only option to make a living playing online poker.

« Previous Page — Next Page »

Best Poker Bonus at 888 Poker 100% up to $600/£400/€400 sign up bonus plus £5/$8/€6 FREE to new players(No USA Players) .

Copyright © 2009 Online Poker News | Partners | Sitemap