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PokerStars CEO Resigns

Come February 1^st, the CEO of PokerStars, Gabi Campos, will step down from his position, following John Duthie, European Poker Tour founder, who recently left the online poker site. Other recent departures from PokerStars include Team PokerStar Pros Joe Hachem and Greg Raymer.

Campos joined PokerStars in June of 2010 after leaving 888.

A short statement from Stars said, “Gabi Campos has decided to step down from his position as Chief Executive Officer, effective February 1, 2012, to pursue other opportunities.

“The company thanks Gabi for his hard work and commitment and wishes him the best in all his future endeavors. A search for Gabi’s replacement is underway.”

Players Speaking Out Against PokerStars Changes

Since PokerStars made the decision to edit its VIP program and rake structure, the online poker community has not been understanding. Poker players are now protesting the new adjustments in two ways. First of all, they are boycotting the online poker site and choosing not to log into their accounts; secondly, they are logging into active cash games and then not playing.

PokerStars traffic has also been low in comparison to other big online poker sites. For instance, while PokerStars has had a 5% increase in traffic over the past couple weeks, PartyPoker has had a 25% increase and iPoker a 12% rise in online poker traffic.

Other effects of the boycott can be seen in the PokerStars.fr traffic results. Whereas PokerStars was the top online poker site in France, and it saw a 10% rise in traffic, Winamax.fr is now getting more player traffic by French poker players. In addition, more than 100 high-stakes players, many of which were Supernova Elite players (the highest level of VIP), have organized a protest of PokerStars.fr via ClubPoker.net. This protest is based on the alterations of the VIP Player Points (VPP) system. The new terms reward players on a weighted contribution basis, where they receive rewards based on how much they contribute to rake. Before the changes, anyone dealt into the hand would receive equal parts rewards based on the size of the pot.

Tighter players, who don’t contribute as much to the pot as loose players, are now earning less rewards than players who contribute more money to the pot. Online poker analysts say that in the long run, this change will not be beneficial to PokerStars. Whether or not PokerStars will amend their decision to change things will be seen. After all, in any business model, if the customers (the players) aren’t happy, then the business will suffer.

AGCC Releases Statement Regarding Full Tilt Poker

The Alderney Gambling Control Commission (AGCC), former licenser of Full Tilt Poker, released a statement to former Full Tilt Poker players that they no longer provide a license for Full Tilt and furthermore has no authority to arbitrate or intermediate regarding Full Tilt players and issues they have with the online poker site. The statement also confirmed that all complaints will continued to be forwarded to the police and advises any players who are still owed money to also contact the police.

If they so believe that they have been the victim of a crime, the AGCC has advised these players to contact law enforcement officials to take further action.

While the statement from the AGCC did not mention anything regarding the buyout of Full Tilt Poker by French investment group Groupe Bernard Tapie, it is still believed that GBT will acquire the online poker brand and assets from the US Department of Justice in exchange for one $80 million payment. Upon transfer, the US DOJ will drop all charges and civil complaints against the Full Tilt name. It is still unknown whether or not players will ever be reimbursed for their confiscated accounts, though many are still hopeful that once the takeover is finalized, the new owners will make their best effort to pay back some or all that is owed to the disgruntled US players.

PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in Full Swing

The 2012 edition of the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, also known as the PCA, is underway and will run through January 14th at world-renowned Atlantis Resort & Casino located in the Bahamas on Paradise Island. The Main Event will be held January 7 through 13th. Millions of dollars will be won in what is the biggest live poker tourney outside the US.

Last year’s PCA Main Event winner, Galen Hall, won a $2.3 million cash payout, Eugene Katchalov won the $100K Super High Roller event with a $1.5 million payout, and the $25K High Roller event title went to William Molson, who won more than $1 million after coming in second in the same event for the two previous years. This year promises to be just as rich. Hall is currently in the lead once again in the Super High Roller event this year, at the time of this writing. Jonathan Duhamel sits with the second biggest chip lead and Negreanu in third, followed by Viktor Blom. Humberto Brenes is also still in the action. Play to resume tomorrow.

And in light of the successful live feed of the 2011 WSOP, the PCA will also be viewable via live feed on PokerStars.tv with a 40-minute delay, hole cards showing. Broadcasts will be available in English, German, Spanish, and Russian. Broadcasters will be Big Game host Joe Stapleton and James Hartigan. Team PokerStars Pro Daniel Negreanu will also be hosting if and when he’s eliminated.

Watch live PCA coverage here.

Ben Lamb Ranks First in Card Player’s POY

Ben Lamb, who came in third place in the Bluff Magazine Player of the Year Award, did a little better in the Card Player Magazine Player of the Year rankings—three places better-coming in first place. Lamb also won the 2011 World Series Poker Player of the Year award. Thanks to his superior run in the WSOP in which he landed his first bracelet and cashed an addition four times, not to forget his third place finish in the Main Event Championship.

Only one other player, Daniel Negreanu, has won both the WSOP POY award and the Card Player Magazine POY in the same year. Chris Moorman, from the UK, took the second place spot on Card Player’s POY list. Eugene Katchalov, who took first place in the Bluff Magazine Poker Player of the Year rankings, placed ninth in Card Player’s rankings. The reason for a variance in players across the various POY lists is the formulas used by each to determine points for tournaments won, final table finishes, and cashes. There are a couple main players though who managed to make both the Card Player list and the Bluff Magazine list.

Bluff Magazine POY Award Goes to Eugene Katchalov

The 2011 Bluff Magazine Player of the Year race was one of the closest races yet, but Team PokerStars Pro Eugene Katchalov was ultimately victorious over Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier by only 18 points.

Katchlov started out the year with a bang at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, taking the first place title from Daniel Negreanu in the $100K Super High Roller event and winning a $1.5 million purse and foreshadowing what would be a year of epic success for the almost 31-year-old native Ukrainian native raised in Brooklyn, New York.

Katchalov went on the win his first World Series of Poker bracelet at the 2011 WSOP, make the final table at another 2011 WSOP event, and final table the Epic Poker League Main Event. He also finished third in the European Poker Tour Barcelona Main Event, all the while blazing past $7 million in career tourney earnings, putting him at the 36^th spot for all-time money earner.

He finished out the year with 1,089 points on the Bluff Magazine Player of the Year standings. Grospellier took the number two spot with 1,071 points; Ben Lamb came in third with 988 points. Pius Heinz, 2011 WSOP Main Event Champion, came in 10^th place with 892 points for the year.

The first Bluff Magazine Player of the Year Award was given to Phil Ivey in 2005. Since then, the Bluff POY listing has become a prestigious and creditable catalogue of the year’s most successful poker tournament players. The 2010 award went to Sorel Mizzi.

DOJ’s Stance on the Wire Act is Merely an Administration’s Opinion

Is the recent news from the DOJ regarding the 1961 Wire Act and its application only to sportsbetting (not online poker) too good to be true? Some legal analysts say don’t count your chickens before they’ve hatched.

An online gaming expert and Las Vegas attorney with Lionel Sawyer & Collins, Greg Gemignani, says of the recent DOJ announcement, “This is just an opinion of the Department of Justice and only reflects what the Obama administration would bring charges on. Future departments of justice could interpret the Wire Act differently.”

The opinion of the DOJ can at any time be reversed and withdrawn. Courts can intervene, voiding the DOJ’s memorandum. If Congress passed the DOJ’s ruling into law, then the “opinion” would become permanent, but for now, it’s merely opinion.

An attorney who specializes in gambling laws with K&L Gates LLP in Pennsylvania, Linda Shorey, says, “An opinion of the Office of Legal Counsel can be withdrawn or changed, although it is not often done. Under the US Constitution, only the courts have the authority to determine whether the Wire Act applies to poker wagers. The Department of Justice memo is not binding on the courts.”

In the past, the Wire Act has been ruled in a New Orleans court of appeals that the Wire Act only applied to sportsbetting, but a federal judge in Utah did not share view and ruled opposite. Hopefully Congress will take some action now though to clear things up, though controversial matters such as online gambling are not well received this close to an election.

The executive director of the Poker Players Alliance (PPA), however, believes this is still positive ground for the cause. He says, “This ruling gives states the confidence to move forward with intrastate Internet poker.”

The PPA does however still support federal level legislation rather than intrastate laws.

Pappas adds, “Efforts at the Federal level are going to increase as well. There are a number of lawmakers that feel like it is time for Congress to step in.”

Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet Players May Get Some Money Back

When the Department of Justice shut down the four biggest online poker sites in the US online poker market on April 15^th of this year, millions of online poker players were locked out of their favorite sites, as well as screwed out of whatever funds they had in their player accounts.

Since April 15^th, known as the Black Friday of online poker, the DOJ has filed charges of money laundering, illegal online gambling, and fraud, and the cases are currently being tried. One major element of these cases is the frozen bank accounts that contain massive amounts of online poker funds that actually belong to individual US players. Since the freeze, players have been left to wonder if they will ever see their money again.

Online poker sites affected by Black Friday, Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet, now shut down to the public, may be trying to pay players back, according to confidential info found by PocketFives’ Adam Small. Apparently, the two sites are beginning proceedings to close down operations officially, which will begin to pay players back funds that have still been sitting in the frozen bank accounts. And while players may not be getting back their full account values, something is better than nothing at this point when pretty much all hope was otherwise lost. Repayment might be as low as 25 cents on the dollar.

Brent Beckley, co-founder Absolute Poker, has plead guilty to charges put against him by the DOJ. Whether or not there will be future legal avenues for players that will help them get all the money owed to them is unclear, but as they now have nothing, 25 cents on the dollar should be considered better than where they are at now.

California Legislature to Possibly Approve Intrastate Internet Poker

While California is one of the more liberal states, with its legalization of medical marijuana use, it would seem typical for it to be one of the first states to allow intrastate online poker. The state is in fact set to pass new legislation that will make online gambling legal in the state of California, and while this is in obvious opposition to the federal government’s stance on Internet poker, the feds have not yet made an official statement on their position regarding this legislation. The silence has done nothing but encourage speculation that the feds may not be that concerned with trying to stop it.

It is no secret that California has issues with its economy, and online gambling would do nothing but boosts its otherwise struggling state. In fact, California by far holds the biggest state economy in the country and contributes 13% to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product, but it also has a deficit of more than $26 billion.

State Senator Lou Correa says that if legalized within California, it could generate up to $1.4 billion in the next 10 years and create up towards 1,300 jobs for California citizens, a state that now has an unemployment rate of about 11.7%, which is about 3% higher than the national average.

The news regarding legal intrastate online poker in California is being well-received by the online poker community, especially by many online poker pros, who have claimed that they will move to California because they cannot otherwise play in their own home state. This will in turn generate more tax rev for the state. A similar bill was recently introduced in the state of Massachusetts, which if passed would allow a certain number of Internet poker sites to operate legally within the state.

DOJ Deems Online Poker Excluded from the Wire Act

You may have heard the buzz about the next step toward Internet poker becoming legal in the US or seen the story on television news, and many people are seeing a light at the end of the tunnel when it comes to regulating online poker in the United States. A recent statement released by the Department of Justice is at the root of all the talk. The statement touched on the Wire Act of 1961, clarifying its standpoint on Internet gambling and online poker, and actually reveals that online poker is not covered under the Wire Act whatsoever. In the future, this will make it easier for companies that exited the Internet poker market in the US because of violations of the Wire Act, including Full Tilt Poker, pending the transfer of funds from the DOJ to the Bernard Tapie Groupe that is taking over the former online poker room.

In the statement, US Deputy Attorney General James Cole made a comment regarding the statement that said, “The Department’s Office of Legal Counsel (“OLC”) has analyzed the scope of the Wire Act, 18 U.S.c § 1084, and concluded that it is limited only to sports betting.”

The fact that the Wire Act doesn’t apply to online poker is pretty much the best news that the online poker community, the Poker Players Alliance, the American Gaming Association, and online poker sites aside from Internet poker being deemed legal in the US.

Following the statement by the DOJ, the AGA is currently seeking federal legislation for Internet casino gambling and Internet poker. The AGA says, “The Department of Justice’s interpretation regarding the scope of the federal Wire Act validates the urgent need for federal legislation to curb what will now be a proliferation of domestic and foreign unlicensed and unregulated gaming websites without consistent regulatory standards and safeguards against fraud, underage gambling and money laundering.”

The AGA believes it’s in the job of the federal government to set up a federal regime that would regulate and license Internet poker, rather than leave it to the individual states. They feel that multiple laws at the state level would limit customer choice across the country and leave gaps in control, which could lead to under-age gambling online, money laundering, and fraud. They also see problems with potential revenue, as state limits on player pools would be dictated by intrastate laws.

In order to prevent these potential negative outcomes that would only hinder the success of the industry, the AGA is attempting to implement “federal legislation that protects states’ rights, establish uniform safeguards to protect US consumers, keep children from gambling on the Internet and provide the tools law enforcement needs to shut down illegal Internet gambling operators.”

The PPA has also responded to the DOJ’s statement. It says, “This is a much needed clarification of an antiquated and often confusing law. For years, legal scholars and even the courts have debated whether the Wire Act applies to non-sporting activity. Today’s announcement validates the fact that Internet poker does not violate this law.”

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