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Brent Beckley Pleads Guilty to Avoid 30-Year Jail Sentence

Absolute Poker co-founder Brent Beckley, one of the 11 individuals named in the Black Friday indictments handed down by the US Department of Justice on April 15^th earlier this year, has pleaded guilty to illegal gambling operation charges and money laundering.

Thirty-one-year-old Berkley, a resident of Costa Rica admits, “I knew it was illegal to accept credit cards from players to gamble on the Internet.”

Referring to the allegations that he hid online poker payments by listing these transactions as other items like jewelry, golf equipment, flowers, etc., Berkley said, “I knew it was illegal to deceive the banks in this way.”

He admitted to Judge Ronald Ellis in Manhattan Federal Court earlier this week that he accepted credit card payments from 2006 through 2011 for deposits for online poker player accounts at Absolute Poker.

Transactions allowed by Beckley to go under the radar were in violation of the UIGEA, which deems it illegal for payment processors to process transactions for online gambling purposes. Ira Rubin assisted Beckley in concealing these transactions, also indicted on Black Friday.

Sentencing is set to go down on April 19, 2012, and Beckley could serve only one and a half years in jail, thanks to his plea deal, which will keep him from having to serve the max 30 years.

PokerStars Introduces Turbo Championship of Online Poker

PokerStars has recently announced a brand new online poker tournament series that will compete with all other online poker tourney series, the Turbo Championship of Online Poker (TCOOP). This series will feature 50 individual events and will run for 10 days from January 19^th through 29, 2011 with at least four events each day throughout the series.

The TCOOP will offer a multitude of online poker games featuring a fast-paced turbo blind setup. Buy-ins will range from $5 up to $2,100 (the High Roller event on January 29^th).

The series will culminate on Sunday the 29^th with a Main Event that will cost a $700 buy-in to play that will be followed by a Hyper-Turbo “Wrap Party” tourney with a buy-in price tag of $215.

TCOOP Schedule:

Thursday, January 19, 2012
Event 1: $22 NLH [6-Max]
Event 2: $33 NL Omaha Hi/Lo
Event 3: $134 NLH [Knockout]
Event 4: $33 NLH

Friday, January 20, 2012
Event 5: $22 PL Draw
Event 6: $55 NLH [6-Max, Shootout]
Event 7: $22 NLH [Rebuys]
Event 8: $55 NLH [Big Antes, 2x Chance]

Saturday, January 21, 2012
Event 9: $55 PL Omaha [Knockout]
Event 10: $21 NLH [Rebuys, 3x-Turbo]
Event 11: $109 NLH [Heads-Up]
Event 12: $33 Triple Stud
Event 13: $33 TCOOP Special — Saturday Speedway

Sunday, January 22, 2012
Event 14: $55 NL Omaha Hi/Lo [6-Max, 2R1A]
Event 15: $55 NLH [6-Max, Hyper-Turbo]
Event 16: $55 NLH [Knockout]
Event 17: $109 NLH [1R1A]
Event 18: $22 PL Omaha [6-Max, Rebuys, 2x Turbo]
Event 19: $215 TCOOP Special — Sunday Supersonic [Hyper-Turbo]

Monday, January 23, 2012
Event 20: $55 PL Omaha [6-Max, 1R1A]
Event 21: $44 NLH [4-Max]
Event 22: $82 FL Omaha Hi/Lo
Event 23: $153 NLH [6-Max, Hyper-Turbo]

Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Event 24: $109 PL Omaha Hi/Lo [6-Max]
Event 25: $215 NLH
Event 26: $22 Stud
Event 27: $22 NLH [Rebuys, 2x-Turbo]

Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Event 28: $82 NLH [2x Chance]
Event 29: $109 NLH [Shootout]
Event 30: $11 PL Omaha [6-Max, Rebuys, 3x Turbo]
Event 31: $22 Stud Hi/Lo

Thursday, Januayr 26, 2012
Event 32: $33 NLH
Event 33: $55 NLH [Rebuys, 2x-Turbo]
Event 34: $22 Stud
Event 35: $215 NLH [2x Chance]

Friday, January 27, 2012
Event 36: $82 NLH [6-Max]
Event 37: $55 PL Omaha [6-Max, 2R1A]
Event 38: $55 NLH [Ante Up!]
Event 39: $109 FL Hold’em [6-Max]

Saturday, January 28, 2012
Event 40: $109 HORSE
Event 41: $109 PL Omaha [Heads-Up]
Event 42: $33 NLH [Rebuys, 2x Turbo]
Event 43: $109 NL Omaha Hi/Lo [6-Max, Hyper-Turbo]
Event 44: $33 TCOOP Special — Saturday Speedway

Sunday, January 29, 2012
Event 45: $109 NLH
Event 46: $215 NLH
Event 47: $2,100 NLH  [High Roller]
Event 48: $320 8-Game
Event 49: $700 NLH Main Event
Event 50: $215 TCOOP Wrap Party [Hyper-Turbo]

Read more: http://www.pokernews.com/news/2011/12/pokerstars-announces-turbo-championship-of-online-poker-tcoo-11665.htm

2012 WSOP will Feature a $1 Million Dollar Buy-in Charitable Event

As part of 2012’s 43^rd annual WSOP that will take place next summer at its usual Rio All-Suites Hotel & Casino venue, the Big One for One Drop featuring a $1 million buy-in will be added to the lineup. The tentative date for the Big One for One Drop is July 1^st through 3^rd, 2012, and there are already 22 players signed up, which meets the minimum requirement of participants to form an official WSOP bracelet earning event.

Interestingly enough, the creator of this baby was Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberté, who approached the CEO of Caesars Interactive Entertainment, Mitch Garber, with the idea to combine the charitable character of the poker player base and mix it with the WSOP’s expertise and global outreach in order to host the world’s biggest ever live poker tournament in an effort to raise awareness on the worldly need for clean water.

Jonathan Duhamel, who is already committed to participating says, “I am absolutely thrilled to participate in the biggest poker event ever organized. One million dollars is a lot of money but my participation comes naturally, being a spokesperson for ONE DROP and because of my attachment to such a great cause. Life starts with water and because of its uneven distribution, a person dies every 20 seconds. The Big One for One Drop will raise $111,111 per participant, which will definitely prove the poker community attachment to ONE DROP. As for me, I personally commit to give 5% of my winnings from this tournament to ONE DROP.”

Minus the $111,111 of each buy-in that will go to helping a country in need of more accessible clean water, the million-dollar buy-in of each player will leave $888,889 left to the prize pool, which is now estimated at around $20 million. The maximum amount of players allowed to participate will be 48.

The NLH event will award a special edition platinum bracelet and will be televised on ESPN. An expected 20% of the field will cash out, about double of a typical tourney payout.

Confirmed players include Guy Laliberté, ONE DROP Chair and founder of Cirque du Soleil; Phil Ruffin, owner of Treasure Island Resort of Las Vegas; Bobby Baldwin, four-time gold bracelet WSOP and CEO of MGM-Mirage Resorts; Daniel Negreanu; Gus Hansen; Patrik Antonius; Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier; Andy Beal; Tom Dwan; Johnny Chan; Tony Guoga; and Duhamel, along with others.

Billionaire Casino Mogul Denies Online Poker

Las Vegas Sands CEO Sheldon Adelson, who has a great deal of clout when it comes to the legalization for online gambling with Republican lawmakers due to his large donations to political campaigns, made a comment last week that Internet gambling technology isn’t advanced enough to prevent underage gambling. Adelson is especially tied to Senator Jon Kyl, Republican from Arizona, who happens to be a big supporter of the UIGEA and the opposition against US Internet poker.

Adelson’s statement has outraged poker players, who have decided to boycott the Venetian Poker Room at the Sands and are urging others to stay out of the room as well.

Spokesperson for the Poker Players Alliance (PPA) Richard Muny urged radio broadcast listeners to send messages via Twitter straight to the Venetian telling them of their displeasure with Adelson’s statement.

Seventy-eight-year-old Adelson is on Forbes list for richest American, ranking 8^th, 16^th in the world, and is estimated to have a net worth of $21+ billion, taking in an estimated 80% of the $2.4 billion in quarterly earnings from the Las Vegas Sands, and casinos in Macau and Singapore.

Adelson traveled to Asia just recently in support of casino legalization in Japan and Vietname and is also backing a Miami casino resort property in hopes that Florida will legalize gaming. Before he went to Asia though, he visited DC to notify the American Gaming Association (AGA) and Kyl of his opposition to the regulation of Internet poker.

Despite the attempt by other Las Vegas casino owners to change Adelson’s opinion based on the potential $5+ billion in possible annual revenue that regulated online poker would generate, the billionaire casino mogul refuses to change his mind.

While many big casino operators in Vegas have already formed partnerships with successful overseas Internet poker companies, Adelson has not. Many insiders, including Internet poker pro and poker writer Zach Tracy, believe Adelson is so strongly opposed to regulated online poker because he has not yet made any connections and is not in a position to compete with these other brands.

Tracy says, “He is in opposition because all of his industry ducks are not in a row yet to compete in a new market. I think he is trying to block competitors from getting a bill through.”

Recently inducted into the Gaming Hall of Fame, Adelson may be only hurting himself by alienating his brand from its customer base and the rest of the online poker community for that matter. Despite his obvious business sense that has brought him this far, many do not believe this is the best decision for his company because of the far-reaching impact it may have on the cause to regulate online poker in the US.

PokerStars’ 10th Anniversary Sunday Million Features $10 Million Guaranteed

In celebration of the 10th anniversary of PokerStars online poker room, the December 18th Sunday Million will feature a $10,000,000 guaranteed prize pool, and you can qualify for as little as $1 or buy-in directly for $215. The first place finisher is guaranteed $2 million. This will be the biggest Sunday Million ever.

PokerStars is hosting hundreds of satellites up until the main event. You can find these satellites by logging in to your PokerStars account, click “Tourney,” then click “Events,” then “10th Anniversary,” and then click “All.” Your best bet is to register for the $11 Sunday Million Mega Satellite that takes place about an hour before the Sunday Million at precisely 13:45. There are 1,000 guaranteed seats for the big event that will run live at 14:30 ET.

Another easy way into this massive tourney is to use turn your Frequent Player Points into cash, then buy-in for $215.

PokerStars and the Sunday Million have come a long way over the past 10 years. The first Sunday Million ran in 2006 on March 5th, and US player “aaaaaaaa” won the inaugural event after beating 5,892 other players. Since then, this event has grown to be the biggest weekly online poker tourney and averages about 7,000 players each week, though that number is expected to increase for the special $10 Million Sunday Million taking place this weekend. The largest Sunday Million took place on March 6, 2011 when nearly 60,000 players took part and helped raise a prize pool of almost 12 million.

French Gambling Addict Suing French Government

Thirty-seven-year-old French problem gambler is suing the government of France for €100K (about $132K in $US) for failing to prevent him from playing online poker, according to his lawyer.

The defendant registered with the interior ministry in the city of Reims last year, voluntarily banning himself from Internet gambling sites and casinos. His lawyer, Emmanuel Ludot, says he was still permitted access to them.
Ludot said, “It’s all well and good to moralise about online games but we all know that they rely on the addiction and sickness of players.”

Ludot explained that his client, who was unnamed, was registered by the ministry under the wrong address, and he was therefore still allowed to play at online gambling sites.

The interior ministry denied comment due to legal proceedings that are currently active.

French gambling law allows gambling addicts to register themselves with the ministry in order to ban their access to online gambling websites, and the sites must then check with this ban list prior to allowing players to play online at their sites for real money. Already, the list has roughly 36,000 players registered who have self-banned themselves from online gambling.

Blom is Back!

After taking a three-month break from poker, Swedish online poker phenomenon Vikto “Isildur1” Blom is back. After 21-year-old Blom disappeared back in September from PokerStars, rumors abounded about whether or not he had some dispute with the online poker site or had even possible moved to another site.

Others speculated that Blom had taken up with another Swede, sharing an online poker account, only to become elusive once again. Back in January of this year, Blom finally revealed his identity at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) after being unknown since his emergence on Full Tilt Poker in September of 2009.

None of this, however, was the case. Blom reappeared at the PokerStar tables to play mostly at the $100/$200 Pot-Limit Omaha games when he experienced a very successful 12-hour online poker session with no less fervor than before his sabbatical. He managed to successfully wrangle with Terken89, Jeans89, Phil Galfond, and FakeLove888 (rumored to be Patrik Antonius, famed Finnish online poker star. Blom also took $241K form VietRussian.
By the end of the session, Blom was up more than $600K.

Negreanu to Go on Poker Sabbatical

Canadian poker pro Daniel Negreanu recently expressed that he was physically and mentally drained after a two-month European trip in Europe, which ended with the EPT San Remo in which he busted out on Day 1a.

Negreanu wrote of this unfortunate loss, “I played good for the first three hours or so, then just collapsed and had no interest/energy to continue. I was spent, and played terribly, hoping to either get lucky and double up, or catch the next flight home. I can’t remember the last time I mailed in a tournament like that, but I just didn’t have it.”

Apparently his motivation is still lacking since returning home, still unfocused at the WPT Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic where he was knocked out on Day 2. So, in light of all of this, Negreanu has decided to take a break from poker and concentrate on himself. He currently does Bikram Yoga every day and is reading “A New Earth” by Eckhart Tolle, which he says, “advocates present moment awareness and the dismantling of the ego as the path towards awakened living.” He is also delving into some charity work for “Threesquare,” a Nevada charity with the purpose of feeding the hungry.

This year, Negreanu’s assessment of his tournament results includes six cashes that netted $1.5+ million, which he gained all but about $86K on two $100K buy-in events that he says were the “only two really good results in what was otherwise a bad year for me tournament wise.”

How long he’ll be breaking from poker is unknown, but hopefully he will be happier with his 2012 results after his poker sabbatical.

Google TV Adds Zynga Poker

Zynga Poker, with a current active membership of around 30 million players is now going to offer its online poker app to Google TV, as Google TV hopes to get more people utilizing the Web TV service.

The Zynga brand, which is home to the ever popular Farmville and Mafia Wars Facebook apps, is readying itself for a $900+ million public offering.

Google TV is no available on Blu-ray players, Sony TVs, and the Logitech Revue companion box, Google TV, owned by Google, is hoping to get more consumers on board with their recently added Android Market apps to their Google TV offerings. Zynga Poker is one of those Android-based platforms, and it is free to download.

Players of Zynga Poker can play Texas Hold ‘em with other players from around the world in tournaments and VIP tables. Much like other Facebook app games, players can send each other gifts such as poker chips, and they can chat together as well. Now by incorporating Google TV, the game becomes even more social and accessible. Users can also purchase other virtual items to increase their status and move up levels (like Farmville).

In a blog post published by Google, Zynga said, “Especially optimized for playing poker from the comfort of your own couch, Zynga Poker for Google TV features custom graphics and a new way to control the game with the Google TV remote. Up the ante and play Zynga Poker from just about anywhere, whether you’re commuting to work or taking a break to connect with friends.”

Zynga Poker was added to its Google+ Games last August, along with 15 other initial launches. Google invested at least $100 million into Zynga in hopes that users would spend more time on their social network and off of Facebook.

MGM Resorts Cracks Down on Trademarked Domain Names

Website domain names circuscircuspoker.com, luxorpoker.com, bellagioonlinepoker.com, ariapoker.com, mandalaybayonlinepoker.com, excaliburpoker.com, and mgmpoker.com were registered back in 2002 and 2005, but MGM Resorts International is now taking legal action to sue the two companies and four individuals for trademark infringement.

In efforts to avoid confusion in the future should online poker become regulated and legalized in the US, MGM is cleaning house ahead of time to eradicate these websites.

The lawsuit claims that MGM casino names used in the domain names are widely recognized due to the billions of dollars MGM has spent to promote and advertise their brands, and the defendants are attempting to benefit from MGM’s investment. According to the suit filed, the companies and individuals who registered these domain names had the intention of profiting off of the “substantial fame, goodwill and consumer recognition” of the land-based casinos owned by MGM.

The suit goes on to say, “The defendants have or have had a bad faith intent to profit from their registration of the domain names,” charging the defendants with “cybersquatting.” This term is defined as using other business’s trademarks in order to profit online.

“The defendants have done nothing more than tack on the descriptive terms ‘poker’ or ‘online poker’ to each of the MGM marks to form the domain names. Accordingly, there is no question that the domain names are confusingly similar to the MGM marks,” MGM Resorts’ Lewis and Roca LLP attorneys say. The legal document submitted to the judge requests an order to temporarily restrain the domain owners from using these names.

Named in the suit are Shahram Kolahzadeh, resident of Zimbabwe and owner of ariapoker.com; Evan Krentzman from Woodland Hills, California, bellagioonlinepoker.com; Roberto Ciamillo, Shelby Township, Michigan, circuscircuspoker.com; Adam Majewski, McKinney, Texas, excaliburpoker.com; PokerSons, London-based company, mgmpoker.com and luxorpoker.com; and RevNet, Hackensack, New Jersey, mandalaybayonlinepoker.com.

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