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A WCOOP Win for the Online Poker History Books

In a story that sounds very familiar to Chris Moneymaker’s 2003 WSOP Main Event win after qualifying in online at PokerStars, is the Main Event winner of the most recent installment of the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker.

Low-stakes Russian grinder “maratik” had entered into a qualifier for a mere 40 Frequent Player Points. Days later, he’s a millionaire after winning the WCOOP Main Event, outlasting 1,825 players in the $5,200 buy-in event.

By the second day of the two-day event, the player field was whittled down to just 245 players, 225 of those would be getting paid. Cashers included 2010 WSOP Main Event champ Jonathan Duhamel and Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier.

When the 10-hour final table was reached, maratik was in fourth place, while Mike “munchenHB” Telker was in the lead of the remaining nine players.

After only six players remained, play paused and deal negotiations went on for nearly an hour. munchenHB’s demands were eventually granted when his cut was upped from $948,584.34 to $1 million.

Ultimately in a heads-up battle between Ryan “TheCart3r” Carter and maratik, maratik had a better two pair, and the near 25-hour of play across two days was over.

Full Tilt to Re-Launch in November and Funds Expected to be Returned

After taking over the Full Tilt Poker entity in a deal with the Department of Justice on August 9th, PokerStars has finally announced their plan to repay the $184 million still owed to former non-US Full Tilt players. Furthermore, the Full Tilt Poker platform is scheduled to re-launch the first week of November.

Since the deal was sealed, a plan to repay the delinquent accounts has been in the works, discussing ways in which to carry out the paybacks with multiple regulators in global jurisdictions. The process is required to follow all local regulatory criteria; thus, the repayment procedure will vary between jurisdictions of individual players. Needless to say, this was a big undertaking but was a requirement of the deal made between PokerStars and the DoJ. Also under the terms of the arrangement, the DoJ would be responsible for repayment of US players.

PokerStars has already enlisted the help of a locally licensed platform to handle repayment in Spain, France, Denmark, Belgium, and Estonia. Players will be able to link their Full Tilt player accounts with a PokerStars account through which they will have access to their funds and be allowed to withdraw or use their balance to play online. Players located in Italy must wait longer, as PokerStars has not yet determined the proper repayment process and is still working with regulators.

When the Full Tilt Poker site re-launches in November, other non-US markets will have full access to their Full Tilt accounts as well. Let’s hope everything goes smoothly and within less than six weeks, forlorn Full Tilt players will be back in business.

Long Time Coming for Jason Mercier

PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker, also known as WCOOP, event #64 the 8-Game High Roller was completed and the title went to Florida’s Jason Mercier, who outplayed a field of 93 players. Four and a half hours later, he’d won the title and the $253K+ payout. This win takes his overall online tourney winnings to $1,559,648.

Just after winning, Mercier hopped on a plane to France, tweeting, “Id like to go to sleep, however, I have a flight to Cannes in 3 hours. Gotta pack and head to airport. Wsope plo 5k event at 5pm #neverstop..First tourney win of 2012… Why stop now? #itaintending.”

With confidence like that, who needs sleep?!

Mercier cashed his first live tourney in 2008 and has amassed nearly $8 million since. At only 25 years of age, he’s earned a seven-figure income each year since, until this year. He hadn’t even earned the cost of his buy-ins. Another tweet he recently posted:

“Really over the ridiculous losses, beats, and #justbadluck that I have experienced at every single point in this wonderful year of 2012..I am very fortunate to be where I am today in poker..This I know. However, this year has been unbearable. Almost any pro poker player..Would be completely broke if they ran like I have run this year.”

With any luck, he’ll sweep the WSOPE in Cannes. He’s on a roll though, taking down the likes of Daniel Negreanu (3^rd place) and a slew of other tough competitors in the 8-Game High Roller WCOOP event.

More Nevada Licenses for Online Poker Granted

As Nevada moves in the right direction for legal and regulated intrastate poker, three more companies have been approved for Internet poker licenses by the state. These and other companies will be ready to open when legislature allows online poker within the state and Nevada gives the green light on intrastate Internet poker.

The Nevada Gaming Commission approved slot machine fabricator WMS Industries of Waukegan, Illinois was approved for an online poker license as an interactive gaming system manufacturer and service provider.

Also, the company that owns Las Vegas’ Stratosphere Hotel & Casino on the Strip, American Casino & Entertainment Properties LLC was also approved for an interactive gambling operator’s license. ACEP plans to launch a free to play poker site by the end of the year to anticipate moving over to real-money bets in 2013.

And thirdly, Las Vegas’ PokerTrip Enterprises Inc. was also granted approval as an online poker marketer.

PokerStars Team Online Takes on Two New Players

The PokerStars Team Online roster has expanded to include two new online poker players. Naoya “nkeyno” Kihara and Caio “pessagno” Pessagno have joined the PokerStars online team. These two will be participating in live and online poker events while representing the PokerStars brand.

Kihara is the first Japanese poker player to score a WSOP bracelet after winning the $5K 6-handed LO event and more than $500K in winnings. He plans on attending the 2013 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure next January and can be found online at PokerStars as well in the meantime. Kihara stated, “I want to be a top poker pro who every poker player knows and can be proud of. To be a member of Team Online is a really big step.”

And Pessagno has an impressive background in poker himself. He’s been playing for years at PokerStars mainly playing tournaments at the mid- and high-stake level. He’s amassed more than $1.8 million in cash outs from PokerStars and plans to play online and live as well. His next live appearances will be at the Latin American Poker Tour and the the Brazilian Series of Poker, as well as the PCA. He says of his new venture, “Being part of this team is a dream for any professional player, and for me this is the beginning of a new stage in my life. I sacrificed a lot to be here, and I feel very accomplished to have followed this path.”

Black Friday Indicted Poker Exec Pleads Guilty

Former Full Tilt Poker payment processing director Nelson Burtnick pleaded guilty Wednesday to charges of concealing online poker payment transfers in an effort to evade US anti-Internet gambling laws.

Burtnick was one of the 11 individuals indicted on Black Friday when the DoJ and FBI decided to take down the online poker industry in the US by seizing the domains of the three biggest online poker sites servicing US poker players.

Burtnick is a former head of payment processing at both Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars. He admitted at Wednesday’s hearing that along with others, he used third-party payment processors at both companies to hide US online poker payments from banking institutions, so that the payments wouldn’t be red-flagged and would go through as non-gambling related transactions. Prosecutors say that billions of dollars were transferred from US gamblers and masked behind non-existing merchant transactions for such items as flowers, jewelry, golf balls, and other various merchandise.

After pleading guilty to one count of conspiracy with allegations of laundering money and two counts of receiving funds in connection with illegal online gambling, the Canadian now faces up to five years per charge in prison.

Quoted by the Wall Street Journal, Burtnick said, “I knew what I did was wrong.”

Phil Galfond Suing Bluefirepoker

Bluefire Poker, online poker coaching site, is being sued by US poker pro Phil Galfond, who had contributed to the site as a lead instructor until the two parted ways in 2011. His videos being the most popular on the Bluefire Poker site at the time.

Twenty-seven-year-old Galfond is one of the most successful Internet poker players in the history of the industry, profiting more than $7.8 million on Full Tilt and then is currently up nearly $2 million on PokerStars, and is advice on poker is well revered in the poker community, so it was a shock to many when he announced his separation from Bluefire in a post titled, “A Sad Day.” He explained in the post:

“As of today, BluefirePoker.com and I are parting ways. It’s very hard to walk away from something I helped build from the ground up. Please know that it was a very difficult decision that I struggled with for a long, long time. I’m sorry that I can’t elaborate further.”

Now, the reason for the breakup is more apparent as Galfond has announced that he is suing his former partner William F. Murphy, who Galfond alleges did not pay him his rightful part of the profit shares from Bluefirepoker.com.

When the site launched in 2009, Galfond apparently agreed to a joint partnership in which he would be paid up to 38.33% of Bluefire profits in return for video postings, blogging, and assisting the overall operations of the company by offering input on major decisions of the company. Galfond has revealed that he was paid $179K for 2009 and more than $238K for 2010 by Murphy, but has yet to be paid for last year. Furthermore, Galfond claims that he was not even shown any accounting history or tax returns to verify the amounts he was paid.

Galfond’s claim states:

“Blue Fire has been immensely successful, having thousands of members who pay an initial enrollment fee of $100 in addition to a subscription fee of $30 per month. Upon information and belief, the defendant Murphy has misappropriated and converted to his own use and possession the assets of MGH.”

Online Poker Bill Draft in Circulation

A draft of the “Representative Joe Barton’s Bill in the House (Gambling Prohibition, Poker Consumer Protection and Strengthening UIGEA Act of 2012),” a bill supporting online gambling legalization including Internet pokier, is now in circulation. Originally proposed by Harry Reid (Nevada) and Jon Kyl (Arizona), the bill suggests the regulation of the online poker industry and the legalization of the online poker, and proposes to toughen up some existing poker legislature.

First of all, this bill will revoke the DoJ’s recent announcement that the Wire Act of 1961 doesn’t apply to online casino and online poker betting. In addition, it recommends amendments to the 2006 UIGEA, the Wire Act of 1961, and the IGBA (Illegal Gambling Business Act) of 1970.

If passed, the bill will require a new government agency of the department of commerce to be called the Office of Online poker Oversight (OOPO) that will oversee all intrastate gambling as well as Indian gambling. This agency will also receive applications for licensure and then grant gambling licenses with the stipulation that any online gambling company that continued to operate within the US post-UIGEA will be denied a license. Fortunately for PokerStars, part of their recent Full Tilt Poker deal with the DoJ forgives them of any post-UIGEA US activity, so that they will be able to apply.

The bill furthermore proposes to prohibit all state-level gambling except online poker and horse racing betting and then suggests up to 10 years in prison plus fines if any other forms of bets are taken.

But even if passed, it would be a while before any legal online poker bets will be placed on US soil since the bill requires a 15-month waiting period before the regulated US poker market could open its doors. It’s been a long time coming, so what’s another 15 months? It’s been a long enough gestation period for the two senators to agree on the bill. US Senator Dean Heller (Nevada) had sent a letter to Reid that stated, “It would be best for the Senate to step back and let the House of Representatives act first on Web Poker.” Alas, we must wait even longer, but at least the ball is still rolling. It’s a good thing online poker players have the patience of Job.

WCOOP Still Happening

The 2012 World Championship of Online Poker, hosted by PokerStars, is in full swing with about five days remaining when the 2012 WCOOP champion will be crowned. The cumulative guaranteed prize pool amasses $30 million across 22 days and 65 action packed events. The Main Event alone will garner a $5 million prize pool with $1 million going to first place, along with the champion bracelet.

The Main Event will take place on September 23, 2012 at 12:30 p.m. and features a $5,200 buy-in, but there are still opportunities to qualify. Other opportunities to get in on the action include several more tournament events for which you can qualify for now including NLH, PL Omaha, HORSE, and 8-Game High-Roller events ranging from $215 buy-ins up to the $10,300 high-roller tournament, which offers a $400K prize pool.

Since 2002, the WCOOP has been the biggest online poker tournament series in the world with the inaugural WCOOP consisting of only nine events and a prize pool that totaled just under $800K, which doesn’t sound like much now, but at the time it was historical. Despite the ups and downs of online poker over the past 10 years, the WCOOP has survived and is obviously here to stay. In fact, the pre-Black Friday WCOOP of 2010 paid a prize pool of more than $63 million and the following 2011 post-Black Friday WCOOP paid just more than $47 million, and it’s looking like that number will be matched this year.

Don’t miss out on the opportunity to take part in this massive online poker event that only comes around once per year.

Online Poker Pro Scammed for $140K

A recent online poker scam left high stakes poker pro “MicahJ” victimized after having his bank account and Lock Poker account infiltrated by a hacker. Unfortunately he lost about $140,000 in the two-fold scam.

Like most online poker stories and scandals, this one hit the popular online poker forum TwoPlusTwo, where player “FWHITNEYDOH,” a regular Lock Poker player, and recipient of an $80,000 loss by MicahJ from an Omaha 8 or better game, denied knowing anything about the scam. Whoever lost the $80,000 though wasn’t MicahJ. It was the hacker playing under his account. Not only did he lose the cash playing online poker, but he also transferred around $54,000 from MicahJ’s bank account into his own.

The hacker, “highgrind22” had contacted MicahJ with a proposition to buy some of his funds on Lock Poker. He also sent a screenshot of his bank statement to verify that he in fact had the cash to buy the funds. Unfortunately though, it was an .exe file that likely included a keylogger program that made it possible for the scammer to access sensitive data on MicahJ’s computer.

MicahJ explained what happened next in writing:

“The hacker had access to my account for 3 days. The first couple days he made small transfers out of my account, and played and lost small amounts (no more than 10-15k)..However, on the third night, he transferred significantly more (a majority of the 54k) and also lost ~80-90k playing 25/50 plo8 on the same night.”

By the third day when MicahJ finally noticed that something wasn’t right, it was too late.

TwoPlusTwo member “TyTy” has reported that the scammer texted him admitting to stealing the cash and losing the $80,000 in eight hours at Lock Poker Omaha tables.

It has been recommended that MicahJ begin using a different computer, change all his passwords, and wipe out his computer. Lock Poker is looking into the incident.

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