iMEGA Issues a Statement after Online Gambling Hearing
September 30, 2007
The iMEGA vs Gonzalez, et al trial had a session in court on Wednesday in New Jersey. Oral arguments were stated by both parties discussing the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act. iMEGA would like the UIGEA to be declared unconstitutional or otherwise rendered unenforceable. After this hearing, iMEGA issued a short statement on the subject.
Based on the decision of the U.S. District Court earlier today, iMEGA eagerly awaits the action of the Honorable Mary L. Cooper and the Court.
We agree that children and problem gamblers need protection. We know that technology is available that will accomplish this. This law - in addition to being defective and unconstitutional - will not provide greater protections. In fact, it will only make these groups more vulnerable.
These regulations, if promulgated, would stifle online innovation and commerce; inadequately protect children by failing to ensure adequate safeguards; have a chilling effect on the privacy rights of individuals; and potentially lead to the loss of thousands of U.S. white collar jobs." Stated iMEGA president Edward J. Leyden. This is only a small portion of the statement rendered by iMEGA.
Other legislation trying to be past, such as the Internet Gambling Regulation and Enforcement Act, are being supported by iMEGA. iMEGA are trying to support legislation that will regulate the online gambling industry not prohibit it. iMEGA has been using Eric Bernstein and Phil George as their counsel for trial and they have recently hired Ogilvy Public Relations to help them. The iMEGA vs Gonzalez, et al trial presiding judge is Mary L. Cooper. She has listened to arguments from both sides and within the next thirty days will provide a verdict.
iMEGA, The Interactive Media Entertainment and Gaming Association was founded in 2007. Their goal is to work with the government, corporations and citizens in a cooperative and constructive manner. The company would like to focus on continuing the growth of the Internet and promote innovation, openness and freedom of the Internet for everyone. This is their mission as stated on their website.
PokerStars European Poker Tour
September 30, 2007
With the top 32 poker players getting paid from this event, the final 40 players took a seat in Day 3 of the PokerStars European Poker Tour at the Grosvenor Victoria Casino in London. Must had visions of being this years champion, all wanted to avoid being the first eight eliminated.
Looking to continue their good tournaments this day would be the current chipleader Surinder Sunar and who is being chased by a lot of good poker players all looking to finish on top including WSOP champions Chris Moneymaker and Alan Smurfit.
In every major tournament there has to be one that “busts the bubble” which means finishing one place out side the money spots. This tournament the distinction went to Carlo Citrone. Carlos waited and got all his chips in the pot with a solid AQ of diamonds but was called by the AK off suit of Vijayan Nagarajan. Neither players hand improved and Citrone was left watching the rest of the action, out in 33rd.
After Carlo went out, a lot of relieved short stacks also made their moves and the eliminations started rolling with Fuat Can, Marc Goodwin and Stuart Nash leaving the tournament shortly after.
Katja Svendsen went all in with JJ and was called by Chris Moneymaker with QQ and Daniel Mangas with KJ. A king flopped sending Katja home, tripling up Mangas and Moneymaker made a little of the side pot. It did not help either though as Mangas went out a few hands later and Moneymaker also missed the final table.
Other notables out are Roland de Wolfe, Phidias Georgiou, Alan Smurfit and even though he started the day as chip leader Surinder Sunar, was eliminated before the final table also.
Congratulations to all that finished in the money and to the final eight still vying for the title at this PokerStars European Poker Tour stop in London.
The Final Table is:
Florian Langmann — 927,000
Joseph Mouawad — 780,000
Marcel Baran — 583,000
Josh Egan — 477,000
Anthony Lellouche — 466,000
Paul Mendes — 282,000
Ian Cox — 234,000
Fredrik Haugen — 190,000
Twenty-Two Year Old Wins Big With PartyPoker Online Poker Promotion
September 29, 2007
James McManus isn’t your average twenty-two year old student. In the past two months, McManus has accumulated almost $100,000 dollars in prizes from PartyPoker. His first prize came when he won a bad beat jackpot. It was worth $52,000 dollars. More recently, McManus has won PartyParker’s The Grind promotion. With this win came a Mini Cooper S convertible and a Nintendo Wii. He received this when he came in sixth at the final table of the Grindroll.
The Grind promotion was a series of Grindrolls that were worth $100,000. A player must earn 25 party points per day for three days in a row to receive $2,000 dollar Grindrolls. If a player received more party points then the Grindroll amounts grew larger. McManus earned enough to play for several weeks and so he was automatically entered into the drawing for the prizes that he won.
“I opted to take $40,000 rather than the car,” he said. “A Mini Cooper S convertible would be great, but I don’t really have the need for it at the moment. I’m looking forward to getting my Wii though. I also won the bad-beat jackpot two months ago. I had pocket queens and flopped quads, my opponent had pocket nines and ended up with quad nines. He got $104,000 and I got $52,000 and won the hand. That was brilliant, but to win all of this in such a short period of time is fantastic.”
“It has been a good couple of months,” said McManus, with great understatement. “I didn’t have many debts, but I’ve paid off all that I did have. I intend to use some of the money to build a bankroll for online cash games. I’ve thought about the tournament circuit a bit, but I would need a bigger bankroll and I’m happy where I am now.”
McManus recently finished college where he was studying math which he says helps him during play. “It has been going great recently. I normally play $2-$4 or $3-$6 no-limit cash games and the odd tournament. I intend to stick to the same stakes, for the time being, and build on what I have.” Since graduating McManus plans to work in the finance industry or as a teacher but I imagine we will be seeing more of him in the poker world very soon.
Ultimate Bet’s First Ever Online Poker Bad Beat Jackpot Won!
September 29, 2007
The first ever UltimateBet Bad Beat Jackpot was hit this week and 343 Texas Holdem poker players has reason to celebrate.
The online poker jackpot of $112, 885.50 was hit Sept. 26th when quad jacks were beat by a straight flush at a $.25/$.50 Texas Holdem poker table.
Like most bad beat jackpots, the loser (quad jacks) got $36, 678.03, the winner (straight flush) won the pot and $18,339.01. The other four players seating at this 6-max table also won $1,000. The biggest difference in Ultimate Bet’s bad beat and everyone else’s is that the 337 other online poker players who were playing at UB’s $.25/$.50 bad beat tables shared $18,000.
The bad beat jackpot is triggered when a player sitting at special bad beat tables lose a hand holding quad eights or better. At UB, 65% of the progressive jackpot is divided among the online poker players, 25% remains for the next jackpot and 10% goes to UltimateBet for administrative fees.
Those are very similar to most all bad beat jackpots, where Ultimate Bet set’s itself apart is that all players seated at a bad beat jackpot table featuring the same table limit and game type of the players that hit the jackpot, share in the bonanza. In this case it was all players at the $.25/$.50 bad beat tables.
To qualify for the Bad Beat Jackpot, you have to play at the tables categorized in red text in the lobby. At the table $.50 is collected in addition to the rake and placed in a progressive jackpot. Try your luck at the unique bad beat jackpot at UltimateBet Poker, the only home of Pineapple Poker online.
Will Norway Ban Online Poker? Some Say Yes.
September 29, 2007
While there has been a lot of say lately in regards to the United States and their Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, there may be another country on the verge of taking the same steps that has already cause so many upsets.
Just weeks after Norwegian Annette Obrestad won the biggest tournament ever in European history, the Norwegian culture minister, Trond Giske, is considering following in the steps of the United States and banning online rooms. And it is rooms like those that Obrestad learned the ropes, made a name for her, and made her a success.
Under the current Norwegian law, the act of online gambling is already illegal so basically it is assumed that the new law would just place stricter enforcements on the ban such as blocking transactions between banks and online gambling accounts.
Will this tremendously affect the Norwegian poker players? It may, as there is the chance that anyone from that country would be denied access to the online poker rooms because of their IP address.
I guess time will tell as if this new law comes into effect, it could be as early as next spring. And I am sure every Norwegian poker player is hoping for a bright outcome.
PokerStars European Poker Tour Day 2
September 28, 2007
PokerStars European Poker Tour in London had 142 players hit the tables in Day two and among them was some stiff competition in the way of some very talented poker players. Among others having a seat today was Roland De Wolfe, Patrik Antonius, Jeff Lisandro, Daniel Negreanu, Chris Moneymaker, Surinder Sunar, Liam Flood and Liz Lieu.
There were also many online qualifiers and other part time tournament players in the hunt to be one of the 32 that finish in the money at this prestigious event. £8,153 was the award for 25th – 32nd and £611,520 ($1.24 million) awaits the eventual EPT champion.
This event is being recorded for television and for that reason they played down to 40 players left when play was halted so crews could re-set up to capture the eventual bubble player. Play will resume in day 3. We can only wait and see if the camera crew was on their game because it only took a record six hours for the 102 players to be bumped to the rail.
The 2003 WSOP champion Chris Moneymaker is still playing and even had an early chip lead when his quad two took down aces.
Sent to the side games in this day was Team PokerStars Daniel Negreanu, who pushed his AQ and top pair on flop against KK. Even though the third queen rivered, it put 4 spades on the board and the one of the K’s happened to make the flush.
Liz Lieu put up a valiant effort as she entered the day shortstacked but by the dinner break, the poker divas was also on the rail watching. Barny Boatman (Hendon Mob and Full Tilt Poker pro) also left the event early in day two. Other notables gone after day two are Jeff Lisandro, Mark Vos, Patrik Antonius and the cumulative day one chip leader, Frenchman, Nicholas Levi.
The last pot of the day was big as three players were all in after the flop, Surindar Sunar, Liam Flood and Erik Friberg. Liam Flood showed AK suited for a flopped 4flush, Friberg showed 44 for a flopped set and Sunar showed 99 for a higher flopped set. No players improved and Sunar ended the day as the chip leader, Friberg was left starting day 3 crippled and Liam Flood had the honors of stopping play for the day going out 41st.
Day 2 PokerStars European Poker Tour Leader Board:
1. Sunar Surinder - £403,400 chips
2. Ben Grundy - £220,000 chips
3. Anthony Lellouche - £213,800 chips
4. Lam Trinh - £207,400 chips
5. Phidas Georgiou - £200,200 chips
6. Pascal Perrault - £172,800 chips
7. Josh Egan N - £162,300 chips
8. Fredrik Haugen - £152,400 chips
9. Stuart Nash - £125,100 chips
10. Alan Smurfit I- £122,100 chips
NBC and Full Tilt Poker Team Up On Poker After Dark
September 28, 2007
NBC has a hit on their hands with their new show – Poker After Dark. The show features the world’s top poker professionals vying for the winner-takes-all prize of $120,000. It airs nationally Monday - Friday Nights (2–3am) and Saturday Nights (1-2am) and is hosted by Shana Hiatt (host of the World Poker Tour and official spokesperson for PokerPlayer). The show can also be viewed daily at NBC's poker page.
The new week kicks off Monday, October 1st with poker pros Annie Duke, Andy Bloch, David Williams, along with returning players/previous winners Phil Laak, John Juanda and Clonie Gowen.
Full Tilt Poker is even giving you a chance to join in on the action with their continuous online Poker After Dark Sit & Dark Tournament. You can win the $25,000 Poker After Dark prize package ($20,000 tournament entry fee and $5,000 in spending money). For your chance to play with pros and have a chance at winning $120,000 go to Full Tilt Poker to play for your free Poker After Dark seat.
Day One at the PokerStars European Poker Tour (EPT)
September 28, 2007
The London stop on the PokerStars EPT tour is trying to become the biggest event in the U.K. and they are on the right path. Though attendance was with-in 6 players from last year’s event, the prize pool grew by about £700,000 and this year, the poker pros and online poker qualifiers will battle among each other for a total prize pool of £2,038,400.
Pocket aces didn’t work as well for Finland's Juha Helppi, as he was the first sent to the rail in day one B when he was outdrawn by pocket queens.
Some were left just shaking their heads as lady luck was just not on their side. Ram Vaswani, who won the WSOP shootout event this year for his first WSOP bracelet, was left muttering, "I was in every pot, I didn't win any of them."
PokerStars EPT Leader Board After Day One:
1. Nicolas Levi - £100,300
2. Daniel Mangas - £98,500
3. Antony Phillips - £94,600
4. Chris Moneymaker - £79,700
5. Ola Brandborn - £73,100
6. Fredrik Haugen - £63,800
7. Vijayan Nagarajan - £59,800
8. Joseph Mouawad - £59,700
9. Anthony Lellouche - £58,000
Dust Till Dawn is Granted Gambling License
September 28, 2007
As reported on earlier, Dusk Till Dawn poker club was trying to get its gambling license to become the first legal poker club in the UK and on Wednesday after a three day court case, a magistrate granted that license.
After an inspection of the club, the magistrate granted a poker venue only license. Adam O’Connell of Dusk Till Dawn had this to say after the announcement, “Obviously we are all absolutely delighted. The magistrate said that if we were applying for a casino license then it would have been rejected but because they liked what we were doing, and that there was a demand for the type of poker club we were offering, they were willing to grant a license as a poker only venue.”
The land base casinos of Gala, London Clubs International and Stanley Leisure put up stiff opposition claiming mainly that there was not enough interest in the this type of club to justify its opening. London Clubs International withdrew from the case after the first day but the other two were in attendance when the decision was announced.
“On the second day the magistrates inspected the club and we think this might have swung things in our favor, as they were very impressed and had a lot of questions about it.” “After the final speeches today, we had quite a long wait for the verdict, which was a very nerve wracking experience,” continued O’Connell.
The Dusk Till Dawn poker club is on target for a mid-November opening.
PlayersOnly Beauty Carrie Stroup Featured in FHM
September 27, 2007
In the world of online gambling, PlayersOnly Hostess Carrie Stroup is one of the most recognized models. On the state-of-the-art website, she appears to come alive with the utilization of Virtual Reality. With her infectious personality and dazzling looks, considerable exposure has been brought to this scene. So it’s not surprising that after appearing in the September, 2007 issue of Playboy Magazine as “Babe of the Month” this down-to-earth beauty will be adorning the pages of FHM Magazine, October, 2007 issue with an interview and 4-page photo spread.
Carrie Stroup is also a writer for Gambling911.com, where she is considered a “good” girl among their group of sexy female reporters; she doesn’t use swear words or act in a promiscuous fashion. Her articles always feature betting odds from either Sportsbook.com or PlayersOnly.com. She is perhaps the most recognized personality covering the 2008 Presidential betting circuit. Stroup is also the official American Idol results reporter for Gambling911.com. In fact, the website is often referred to as “AmericanIdol911”. Non-stop coverage of the show and various bet offers along with Stroup’s live coverage has attracted more than 1000 new visitors per second immediately after each show.
Beginning Sunday, September 30th, PlayersOnly.com’s biggest tournament series ever will be underway. They will be awarding a total of $1Million over the next ten months with winners of monthly finals taking away $75,000 each. As a newbie poker player, Stroup said “Omigod… I tried playing in one of the games they run all week where you qualify for the Sunday Final,” and “I didn’t last long. I’ll be watching the game on Sunday though – pretty exciting to see someone win $75,000!”
If her escalating popularity is any indication, this former Miss Teen USA will have presence for a long time to come.
Canadian Online Slots Player Wins the 2nd Progressive Jackpot in Weeks Won at Popular Online Casino
September 27, 2007
What is better than giving away one jackpot, giving away two. A Canadian woman last weekend became the second online slots player at Slotland’s online casino to hit a progressive jackpot in just a few weeks. Her big jackpot was for $146,761 while the other jackpot winner was $165, 318.
“I usually play the Booster slot because I like the way you can boost your bets. But a friend won a few dollars playing the slot machine called Magic so I decided to give it a try last Sunday.” “That machine sure lived up to its name that night, eh?” said the woman.
A recent online slots survey showed 80% of the respondents said the liked the slot machines over all the other online casino games because of the jackpots. They flock to Slotland’s because they have a progressive jackpot that hits for $150,000 or more on a regular basis.
“I know a lot of people think slots players just like slots because they’re easy,” said John Lancelet of Slotland Casino. “But the chance to win hundreds of thousands on a very minimal bet is a big part of it!”
A new policy instituted this year at Slotland online casino will guarantee it will not take a long time for the jackpot to reach high levels once again. When a jackpot hit several times in a week, Slotland now doubles the start-up amount. Now it will re-start at $50,000 and will not take long to be over $100,000.
Online Gambling and iMEGA Had Day in Court
September 27, 2007
The iMEGA group finally had its day in court Wednesday arguing that last years sneakily passed UIGEA law was unconstitutional and violates the rights of citizens in the U.S. to gamble in the privacy of their own homes.
The federal government had 270 days after the UIGEA passed to have a set of regulations in place; it has missed that deadline so the law has not been applied yet. The Internet Media Entertainment & Gaming Association sued the federal government this summer and wants the law declared unconstitutional. The U.S. Justice Department wants the lawsuit dismissed.
Now it is in the hands of U.S. District Court Judge Mary L. Cooper who heard arguments in the case in Trenton N.J. Wednesday. According to the Associated Press, she expects to have a ruling within 30 days.
The president of the industry association, Edward Leyden said that this law is limiting a $50-$60 billion a year industry and "It's a large market now, and it's growing."
The U.S. federal government is adamant though that online gambling is illegal.
Leyden said the online gambling industry welcomes government regulations and even a tax on if necessary, and so do some in Congress like Rep. Barney Frank who is trying to introduce a bill that will regulate the industry.
"That's exactly what we want — that kind of protection for our customers, kind of like a Securities and Exchange Commission for online gambling," Leyden said. "Nobody in this industry wants to be tagged with the reputation of not being straight with the players."
This is not the only court battle the U.S. is in, several countries, most notable Antigua and Barbuda are seeking compensation through the World Trade Organization. The WTO ruled in December against the U.S. saying that the ban on online gambling went against current trade policies and is illegal.
Ongame Network Launches New Online Poker Tournament Feature
September 26, 2007
The Ongame Network Ltd has announced the release of Heat Tournaments. A heat tournament is similar to a WSOP main event in that it is a big online poker tournament featuring several starting heats. Each heat will start separately from other heats and last for certain time periods. Players who are still in the game after the allotted time period will take their chip stacks and merge with other players that are left from different tables. They will play in a final set at a later time.
Ongame Network partner sites will start running this new software during the 17th edition of the Grand Tournament, with one heat starting on the 28th of September and another the following day. This new concept will allow players to choose which day they would like to participate in a tournament. This is a really great feature since globally people from different time zones may not have been able to play in a tournament due to their conflicting schedules.
Heats will also eliminate the problem of playing in a tournament for several hours straight online. “The benefits of having the option to use heats when setting up tournaments are two-fold,” says Tomer Katz, spokesperson for Ongame Network. “One, we can now do a better job of tailoring our partners’ tournaments in accordance with the habits, geographical origin and overall scheduling demands of their customers. Secondly, players can participate in tournaments with even bigger fields than before without the drawback of having to dedicate more than a few hours at a time in order to be able to finish them.”
Irish Open, Europe’s Longest Poker Tournament Gets a New Home
September 26, 2007
The Irish Open has been growing for several years now, and due to the recent explosion in poker interest, PaddyPowerPoker.com has announced the need to change venue for next years event. The new location has all ready been chosen as Dublin’s City West Hotel, with the larger conference and ball rooms the new site will accommodate the growth comfortably.
PaddyPowerPoker.com has been the tournaments primary sponsor for a number of years now. The Irish Open is one of Europe’s longest running Poker Tournament, and the growing popularity of the online poker room and the game in general has forced the need to have enough space to hold nearly 1000 players. This is reminiscent of the World Series Of Poker in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.
A Paddy Power spokesperson spoke about the change in location saying, “Citywest Hotel is the ideal location for the 2008 Irish Open. We searched the length and breadth of the country to find a venue that could provide players with the famous atmosphere and communal spirit of the Irish Open while still being big enough to accommodate the huge field.”
This years tournament was held over the Easter Weekend, and it saw some of the biggest names in poker come out for the event. Dave Devilfish Ulliott, Andy Black, Padraig Parkinson, Scott Gray, Jennifer Tilly, Ericka Schoenberg, and Roland De Wolfe, to name a few.
This open also has one of the longest heads up play seen for the Terry Rogers Memorial Trophy, and the first place prize pot of more than 900 thousand dollars. Marty Smyth went head to head with Roland De Wolfe with back and forth results for several hours, until Smyth finally won the match, the prize money, and the trophy.
The tournament secheduled for 2008 has a feature buy in of 5, 922 plus 423 dollars giving as many participaints a chance at a portion of the largest Irish Open Poker prize pot thus far!
Online Gambling Ban to Cost $100 Billion says EU
September 26, 2007
The European Union (EU) said Wednesday that trade concessions from the U.S. to compensate for the illegal banning of foreign gambling companies will be upwards of $100 billion, according to EU online gambling sites.
When Washington law makers stopped US banks and credit card companies from processing payments in October of last year via the UIGEA, U.K. gambling operators were unexpectedly forced to withdraw from the profitable U.S. market.
According to a World Trade Organization ruling made in December that ban broke global trade rules and opened up the opportunity for the E.U. to seek concessions. Now in early negotiations, the E.U. and the U.S. are still working on how much that may cost.
Craig Pouncey, a Brussels-based trade lawyer for Herbert Smith LLP law firm said, "One major question is how strong the E.U. will be in pushing the U.S. for all of the concessions available to it."
About half of the worlds online gamblers are based in the U.S. and lawyers representing the European gambling industry said their companies have lost billions in revenues and market value will U.S. companies like the Sands and Yahoo are still free to offer internet games to Europeans.
The U.S. after the ruling came down, announced a legal maneuver to change the commitments it made as part of the international treaty in 1994 that regulates the trade in services between the 150 member WTO. The U.S. did not challenge the ruling claiming the maneuver ended the case.
World Poker Tour Adds Amateur Poker League and WPT Poker Cruises
September 26, 2007
The World Poker Tour Enterprises has been busy as of late. It announced that it has agreed to a five year deal with Classic Gaming Cruises (CGC) to create WPT Cruises. These cruises are set to start dealing in February from Miami to the Caribbean on Norwegian Cruise Line.
The second big deal announced was a five year contract with the Amateur Poker League (APL). This partnership will create the World Poker Tour Amateur Poker League (WPTAPL) and give the amateur poker player the opportunity to qualify for a $10,000 buy-in to a WPT event and also a chance to win a $25,000 seat the WPT Championship.
There are over 30,000 amateur poker players playing in more than 500 APL tournaments in about 180 locations on a weekly basis. With this new agreement, players will now earn WPTAPL points for each event entered.
These points will be posted on a leaderboard which can be viewed at www.wptapl.com. These points qualify poker players for regional tournaments and the winners of the regional poker tournaments will go to compete April 2008 in Orlando, FL for a shot at a $10,000 seat into a WPT Main event. Also each month, one seat will be given away to a WPTAPL member to the WPT Celebrity Invitational tournament, were top pros and Hollywood stars compete for big money and a $25,000 seat into the WPT World Championship.
Steve Lipscomb, WPTE Founder, President and CEO had this comment, "These innovative partnerships are an exciting addition to our business as they help create a broader experience for WPT fans and players of all levels and locations. Poker is not just about the tournaments anymore. It's a phenomenon that has captured and held the attention of millions of people around the globe, and we want to continue creating these exciting opportunities for everyone to experience and enjoy the sport of poker."
Online Poker Room, CelebPoker Team Search Complete
September 25, 2007
Renowned online poker site CelebPoker.com announced the conclusion of its search for players to represent the poker site at major live European events after months of competition and online activity.
The Gibraltar-licensed site began the global search for players to make Team CelebPoker in June. The final results have eight competitive players getting their opportunity to do battle across the felt from some of the top poker players in the world at live European Poker Tour (EPT) events in the UK and Austria for millions in prize money.
The first part of the new Team CelebPoker had S Hollaar, T Wolfer and R Schut in London this past week. EPT Baden will see new members D Anadon, C Kibler-Melby, C Hohendorf, E Halvorsen and T Koguc fighting to reach the final table. Together the team will be placed to make the powerful impression that comes with Celeb Poker.
Poker Room Manager, Linda Donovan, for CelebPoker spoke about the new team saying, “These players are to be congratulated on this incredible achievement. Gaining a slot on the first ever Team CelebPoker is a real honor and, consequently the competition for places was fierce. We have had thousands and thousands of entrants from all over the world and these eight players represent the hottest online poker talent around. I am convinced they will be a real force to be reckoned with at the EPT.
Team CelebPoker is a fantastic concept and has even exceeded our expectations. It doesn’t stop here either, we will continue our search for the best online players and provide them with further opportunities to compete in the world’s top live events and become the next poker celebrity.”
The opportunity is down for now, as the first team has been made. CelebPoker will have openings in the future, and if a competitive player did not make it to this team, it will become available again.
Sit n Go Skill Survey Results
September 24, 2007
The release of the Sit N Go Poker Tournament survey by StarTracker, reveals the real winners of a Sit n Go Tournament. It is again evident that this is a game of skill, not chance.
Mark Holland a spokesperson for Sitangoplanet.com said “One of the most interesting findings was that just 5 percent of Sit N Go Players made 85 percent of the total profits over the survey period. Those players who work to understand the important poker strategy concepts involved are making a great profit — while the majority of players without this knowledge are actually losing money.” According to the results in the survey the differential is substantial.
The typical Sit N Go Tournament is fairly small, with no scheduled launch time. Once the table has 9 players the tournament begins. The top three of the nine will pocket a progressively larger portion of the total prize money. Sit and Go Planets survey proves the myth regarding Sit N Go Tournaments requiring less skill that other poker play various, false. This also further gives evidence to the need to be well versed in the game to play competitively and to win a steady pot playing the game. Skill is seen in Sit n Go tournaments, and larger promotional and sponsored tournaments, both online and off.
NRL Responds to Crowe
September 24, 2007
David Gallop, Chief Executive of the National Rugby League (NRL) in Sydney, Australia recently responded to the poker machine free approach laid out by Hollywood actor and South Sydney Team co owner, Russell Crowe.
In his statement made through the local newspaper, News Limited, he clearly said that it was the NRL’s ultimate goal for the clubs to become profitable, and remain so, without the assistance brought by the poker machines. He went on to explain that the clubs are aware of the need to be without the machines as a staple, however it is not currently possible to expect all or even most of the clubs to continue to be profitable without them.
As the proposal laid out by South Sydney’s co owners, Peter Holmes a Court and Russell Crowe, was discussed, Gallop made it clear that they are in a unique position facilating the change now, instead of later. In the interview, the idea proposed by Crowe and Holmes a Court, is evidently not a new one. David Gallop also put forth the goal for the NRL to have all the clubs to be profitable based on season memberships, gate revenue, corporate hospitality and sponsorship, as is the case with most major sports.
US Meets Deadline in iMEGA Online Gambling Suit
September 24, 2007
Waiting till the very last minute (deadline was Sept. 21st), the US Department of Justice did submit an eighteen page response brief on behalf of the Federal Trade Commission and Federal Reserve addressing the iMEGA’s request for a temporary restraining order against the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIEGA).
Nothing new was presented and the eighteen pages basically repeats the arguments the DOJ have made in their previous motion to dismiss the suit. The DOJ is trying to argue for the dismissal based on the grounds that iMEGA does not have legal standing to pursue the case and that since regulations that the UIGEA calls for have not been brought forth yet, that the iMEGA case itself is “unripe” and therefore can not be settled.
The government set a 270 day deadline from Oct 13th 2006 to have regulations in place to enforce the UIGEA. The government has missed that deadline and is now trying to use that missed deadline as an argument to dismiss this case.
The DOJ wrote that the plaintiff is, “mischaracterizing the UIGEA as ‘presuppos[ing] the elimination of th[e internet gambling] industry and its direct/indirect supporters’, (Pl. Opp. At 9), the criminal prohibitions of the Act are rather limited.”
IMEGA suit claims, “The action of gambling in private on the Internet is protected by First Amendment privacy concerns."
Hon. Judge Mary L. Cooper (3rd District/Trenton division) has set September 26th as the date to hear arguments in the case.
Read the DOJ Response (in PDF form) courtesy of the iMEGA website.