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Party Announces “New Jersey Online Poker Championship”

 Partypoker has announced that its NJ network will host the inaugural NJOPC—the “New Jersey Online Poker Championship”—next month.

The ten-event series will start on April 19 and run through to April 27. According to a tentative draft schedule, subject to change, it will culminate in a $200,000 guaranteed Main Event, with a $50,000 first place prize.
The tournament series will be accessible to players on the two poker rooms on the network, partypoker NJ and Borgata Poker.
The series is slated to kick off with a $50,000 freeroll event. Buyins for the other nine events range from $50 to $200. All events so far are no limit hold’em; all but one are freezeouts; two 6-max tournaments offer the only other variety.
Event #7 is the most interesting—Player’s Choice. The buyin and format is up for discussion among players on partypoker’s official customer support forum. The event is listed with a $15,000 guarantee.
The headlining event #10, the $200-buyin $200,000k Main Event, promises double the prize pool of its largest guaranteed tournament to date: The special $100,000 Sunday which ran at the beginning of March. The tournament enticed 786 players to the tournament, smashing the guarantee and creating a prize pool of nearly $150,000.
According to the draft schedule, the Main Event will replace the normal Sunday $50k, and the other events will replace the Daily $10ks. Given the network’s recent success with MTTs, the schedule might seem a touch unambitious.
However, the purpose of the announcement “is to gauge feedback from the community … whether you like the events, buyins, format, structure, etc,” according to a party representative. The network has in the past responded to player feedback to structure and schedule, so further changes are not unlikely.
 
Author: Ekaterina
12 . 03 . 2014 y.
Players Suspicious as Superwins.EU Launches on Lock Poker’s Independent Network

 Superwins.EU is a new online poker room sharing the same liquidity as Lock Poker. Lock left Revolution Gaming amid acrimony last October. Until now it has been the sole site on the network.

Players posting on poker community forum 2+2 are suspicious that the new skin is not independent of Lock.
The branding of the new site is similar to that used by Lock Poker, and poster “dougmanct” dug into the internet details to produce evidence that the two sites appear to be linked.
He found that the Superwins terms and conditions identify Stacktrace N.V. as the company with whom the agreement is being made. The Curacao regulatory notice for Stacktrace shows that it has licenses to operate www.lockpoker.eu, www.lockcasino.eu. Furthermore, “The server at superwins.eu has a service running that uses a SSL certificate registered to lockpoker.eu,” according to the poster.
Poster “Yur Daddy” released a copy of his chatlog with Lock rep “Quinn” in which Quinn stated that the new site “is not related to Lock but is on the same global platform as [Lock].”
Awareness of the site began after a review was posted on PokerNewsBoy.com, a news site and online poker affiliate, where Gerry Poltorak is listed as “Editor and main share holder.” On his Linked In profile, Poltorak describes himself as Co-owner of PokerNewsBoy and PokerForums.org, CEO of PoltMedia and Affiliate Manager for Lock Poker.
On PokerForums.org, Lock Poker is heavily promoted, and [email protected] is given as a support email address, suggesting close ties with the troubled poker room.
The evidence has been sufficient to arouse strong suspicions among players that the new skin is simply a device to evade Lock Poker’s bad reputation for processing withdrawals.
The latest data on pending Lock Poker cashouts shows players owed over $900k. The average waiting time to receive a Western Union payment is currently 275 days for US players—to receive a check the average wait is 265 days. Some have reportedly waited over a year for cashouts, and the numbers continue to grow.
 
Author: Ekaterina
12 . 03 . 2014 y.
Mexican Government Gets to Work on Draft Gambling Bill

 The Ministry of the Interior in Mexico has announced plans to establish a National Institute of Gaming and work with the House of Representatives to finalize a draft of new gambling laws.

Poker players who left the US to play from Mexico have been concerned about early drafts of the proposed bill. The nationalistic nature of the proposed measures would effectively exclude many international operators and add high gaming taxes.
The concern is premature. While there are strong lobbying interests, and plenty of political posturing, there is still no proposed text which has any authority.
Interior Minister Miguel Angel Osorio Chong has released a statement together with the head of the Parliamentary working group Ricardo Mejía Berdeja, announcing their commitment to work together on the text. To this end they have formed a new group which includes regulators, junior ministers and politicians to create the new draft.
The proposal for a National Institute of Gaming will be presented to parliament next week. The proposal is that the Interior Minister, five other ministers together with experts in business, education and research will establish compliance procedures to implement the new laws.
Several attempts have been made to introduce a gambling bill over the last few years, and all have failed. The extant gaming laws date back to 1947 and are agreed by almost all to be in need of change—so far Mexican politicians have failed to agree on how they should change. The implementation of any new laws is not likely to be imminent.
Author: Ekaterina
11 . 03 . 2014 y.
Sam Trickett Signs with Everest Poker

 UK professional poker player, Sam Trickett has signed on to be the brand ambassador for Everest Poker.

“Trickett will work with the Everest Poker team in London to ensure the customer offer remains one of the strongest in the market,” according to a press release issued on Monday. “He will also attend Everest Poker Live events, where players will have the opportunity to receive personal coaching from him.”
Trickett will bring fans closer to the professional poker player experience by blogging and creating videos documenting his poker exploits.
Fans will also have a chance to win a piece of Tricket’s 2014 WSOP action. Ten percent of his winnings in the bracelet event he enters will be made available through Everest Poker. The One Drop event is excluded.
“We want to encourage players to get behind Sam’s quest for a first bracelet this summer,” Des Duffy of Everest Poker commented about the WSOP promotion. “With Sam’s consistent record of cashing at high profile tournaments there could be a huge amount of value on the table.”
“I’ve promised my mum a bracelet and will be doing my very best to score big for everyone who’ll own a share in me,” Trickett added.
Trickett has nearly $20 million in live tournament earnings with his biggest score of over $10 million coming as a result of his second place finish in the WSOP’s Big One for One Drop in 2012 Trickett only trails Erik Seidel, Daniel Negreanu, Phil Ivey and Antonio Esfandiari on the all-time money list.
Everest Poker opened in 2004 and moved from its independent poker room to a top tier skin on the iPoker network in November of 2013. Everest also moved its regulated French site to iPoker.FR where it helped propel the network into 4th place in the French market.
“Everest is a great poker brand and I will be doing everything I can to make it one of the most recognised in the world,” Trickett said.
Author: Ekaterina
11 . 03 . 2014 y.
Equity Poker Network Buys Action Poker

 Chico Network brand, Action Poker, has been traded once again, this time it becomes part of the Equity Poker Network (EPN), the “cooperative” style network which aims to reduce competition between skins to maximize mutual profitability.

In October 2011, Play Safe Holding AS sold the Chico Network to Julian International Holdings but kept the Action Poker brand. Since then Chico has been restored to growth and cash out problems have been resolved. Now, Action Poker returns to its former CEO, Clive Archer, the founder of the EPN.
According to EPN, the “transition to EPN will be swift and relatively seamless to ensure that remaining Action Poker account holders will be shielded from any apparent impact to the availability of their gaming options, and in the interests of continuity of their play.”
EPN uses Chico software, so players should be familiar with their new environment. The target market will be different to EPN’s main skin, FullFlushPoker.com, to which Action Poker will be a “European sister brand.”
Action Poker players will be offered a new deposit bonus of 150% up to $600 plus an instant cash back payment for all deposits above $50.
Since the EPN launched it has shown slow but steady growth, with six separate skins generating a player pool which manages to fill an average of 150 cash game seats. A Full Flush Poker spokesperson said that they were “excited to be the instrument of Action Poker’s rebirth” and planned to restore the brand “to its former glory.”
Although a banner announcing the transition to EPN is on the Action Poker home page, the terms and conditions continue to identify the ownership as Play Safe Holding.
Author: Ekaterina
10 . 03 . 2014 y.
New Jersey Regulators Ease Geolocation Restrictions

 Restrictions on the geolocation technology used to determine if online gamblers are within state borders have been relaxed by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE) according to Brian Mattingley, CEO of 888 Holdings Plc.

Geolocation issues are believed to have diminished the potential growth of the New Jersey market. Mattingley, whose company provides the software both for the WSOP NJ and AAPN networks, says that the regulator has listened to these concerns and reacted with flexibility.
The increased flexibility in determining a player’s location in proximity to the state borders has “significantly” increased the accuracy of the results of the geolocation technology “in the second and third month,” Mattingley explained to Philly.com.
The New Jersey regulations state that “Internet or mobile gaming system shall employ a mechanism to detect the physical location of a patron upon logging into the gaming system and as frequently as specified in the Internet gaming permit holder’s approved submission.”
Many players have reported that they have been unable to log on, deposit, or worse, have been locked out of play while seated at the tables, because their location information has been deemed unacceptable.
The regulator’s determination that no player outside the state be allowed to play has prompted a very cautious approach while the regulator becomes more confident in the the accuracy of the technology
Initially, the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE) adopted a strict policy, but according Mattingley, the DGE has reduced the buffer zone which is designed to ensure players are well within state borders.
Spokesperson for the DGE, Kerry Langan, stated that the DGE had “worked with the geolocation vendors and casinos to enhance the technology to make it more accurate and reliable, and to reduce false negatives.”
The recent California Symposium discussed the reasons why growth has been lower than expected, and identified geolocation issues, along with banking problems, as primary causes.
Author: Ekaterina
10 . 03 . 2014 y.
888 New Jersey Offers a Mad Month for March

 888poker New Jersey is offering tickets to a $88,888 freeroll tournament as the ultimate prize in its Mad Month promotion.

The promotion runs from March 5 until April 6 during which freeroll tournaments will run every Wednesday, Friday and Sunday each with a guaranteed prize-pool of $8,888. The final $88,888 freeroll will take place on April 6.
Players can gain tickets to the smaller “MAD” freerolls by completing daily challenges—play 88 raked cash game hands, play a tournament with a buyin of $8 or more, or wager $88 on any casino game—the completion of any one of which earns a ticket.
Entry to the final $88,888 freeroll is achieved in one of four ways: finishing in the top 8 of any of the smaller Mad freerolls, earning 8 tickets to the MAD freerolls, winning a place through $8 satellite tournaments, or winning a cash game or tournament hand either with quad eights, or a full house containing 888.
All registered players will receive a Mad Month Package that includes $10 free to use at the poker tables, 1 free ticket to an $8,888 MAD Freeroll and $8 in 888casino FreePlay with no deposit required.
888poker NJ is the only room on the All American Poker Network New Jersey, and it currently lies in third place in the cash game traffic rankings for New Jersey regulated sites. Along with its competitors, it is engaged in a promotional battle for market share as the market grows to its full potential.
Author: Ekaterina
07 . 03 . 2014 y.
Financial Transactions with Unlicensed iGaming Operators to be Blocked in UK

 The UK House of Lords refused to support an amendment to the Gambling (Licensing & Advertising) Bill—similar to the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act in the US—which would have obliged financial services companies to block payments to non-UK licensed gambling sites.

Instead, the UK Gambling Commission has made a voluntary agreement with MasterCard, Visa and PayPal to restrict such transactions.
The agreement was announced by Baroness Jolly in a response to the failure of the amendment. The three financial service providers have agreed to block transactions to non-UK licensed sites following the introduction of the new law at the end of this year.
The debate also failed to support severe advertising restrictions. In order to avoid defeat in a vote on the issue, the government announced that it would direct the Advertising Standards Authority to investigate whether the current rules are sufficient and whether they are enforced “proportionately and consistently.”
In the US where UIGEA exerts significant restrictions on the conduct of financial transactions with online gambling sites, the top online poker rooms have still been able to process deposits and withdrawals. The US’s inability to halt gambling transactions using UIGEA does not suggest that a voluntary system will achieve great success.
The new UK gambling bill, which will come into force this year, will require all online poker and other gambling operators with UK resident customers to be licensed by the UK Gambling Commission. That license brings the operator into the UK, tax regime which levies a 15% Gaming Duty on gross gaming revenues.
A report by KPMG indicated that the proposed Gaming Duty rate of 15% was actually likely to incentivize players to use non-UK licensed sites.
Recently, the Dutch regulator announced a similar arrangement in advance of changes to its own gambling laws which are expected in 2015.
 
Author: Ekaterina
07 . 03 . 2014 y.
Unibet Switches Off MPN Skin

 As scheduled, Unibet has turned off its online poker room on Microgaming’s MPN network, making its new independent room its sole online poker offering.

The new client launched as a real money “beta” two weeks ago. The new software is a radical departure from traditional online poker rooms: There is no table selection, no seat selection, there are no hand histories saved to the hard drive, and any form of hand tracking and HUDs are not permitted. Players can change their screen name whenever they choose.
The new client also introduces many social features becoming increasingly popular in online poker, including missions and achievements.
Since the beta launch the client has run concurrently with its old MPN skin, though the new client has been heavily promoted to existing customers.
This changed yesterday when the old client was switched off. All players must now download the new software and migrate to the new independent poker room.
There have been a variety of issues and bugs since the beta launch, though new versions have been pushed out on a regular basis. The new room boasted over 500 concurrent real money cash game players yesterday, according to self-reported data—suggesting at least that the new product has piqued the interest of its large existing customer base.
An advertising campaign, set to air in the UK, promotes the “same game, whole new experience” of the new software.
Author: Ekaterina
06 . 03 . 2014 y.
Betfred Poker Now in iPoker Top Tier

 Betfred is now a member of the top tier of iPoker skins. Betfred players will now have access to a wider player pool and a greater choice of tables. The move will, conversely, reduce the liquidity in the lower tier.

iPoker split its skins into two tiers in September 2012, creating two distinct player pools. The division effects all low stakes NL ring games, all heads up NL tables, and many low stakes SNGs.
The threshold requirements to make it into the top tier were published as retaining an active monthly player base of over 6,000 and recruiting over 850 new players per month.
The first members of the top tier included Titan Poker, Paddy Power, William Hill, Bet365, Poker770, and Winner Poker.
Since then high-profile additions on the network have also entered the top tier: Everest Poker moved in late 2011, Betfair joined in January 2013, and Coral made the switch in April 2013.
The split occurred following complaints by the larger skins that the recreational players, which their marketing spend contributed to acquiring, were being exploited by high rakeback grinders from smaller operators.
Betfred was founded in the UK in a back street shop in Manchester in 1967. The initial finance for the business came from placing a substantial bet on England to win the football World Cup in 1966. Brothers Fred and Peter Done have since expanded the business to the point where annual turnover is now in the billions of dollars.
Author: Ekaterina
06 . 03 . 2014 y.
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