A Christmas gift came 888poker's way when the poker room landed in second place in the worldwide rankings, according to the latest tabulations from PokerScout.

Poker superstar Phil Ivey's poker website is preparing for an upcoming launch of Ivey League, which is the training portion of IveyPoker.com that is designed to assist players in improving their play on the felt.
A recent photo tweet by the nine-time WSOP gold bracelet winner showed Patrik Antonius and Aaron Jones working together in filming a new video that will be available at the coaching site. The two pros are among dozens on the Team Ivey roster who will be lending advice to players on how to climb up the ranks and advance to new levels of profitability in poker.
Ivey announced the launch of his site in late 2012, saying that he wanted "to teach the world how to play better poker." Following that announcement, almost three dozen pros were selected in piecemeal fashion to join Team Ivey in providing training. Ivey's hand-picked roster includes instruction from diverse playing styles from the nit leanings of Allen "Chainsaw" Kessler to those pros who favor a somewhat looser approach.
While the pros at Team Ivey are far removed from the beginning levels of play, they have not forgotten the basics needed to instruct rookies who are new to the game. More advanced levels of training are also available from a well-rounded stable at IveyPoker that include tournament champions, cash game specialists, and experts on all game types and forms of poker, according to IveyPoker.com.
In February, the renowned poker coaching site LeggoPoker.com was acquired by IveyPoker, with Ivey stating that "LeggoPoker is one of the best teaching sites on the market.” He added that the acquisition brings with it "a great match with IveyPoker and together we will offer a top-notch educational poker destination in Ivey League.”
Over the summer, a social media game of poker was launched at the site, but the training videos remained under development. Those videos will soon be available as the long-awaited launch of the Ivey League will commence once the "finishing touches" are completed.
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A recent poll of 1,011 Americans found that 2 out of 3 support the legalization of online poker.
Those numbers clearly contradict what anti-online gambling casino mogul Sheldon Adelson came up with in a survey of his own in which the Las Vegas Sands CEO claimed that over 70% of Americans were against online poker regulation. One may wonder how such a discrepancy exists from two seemingly similar surveys.
The answer lies in who was surveyed and the manner in which the questions are phrased. Surveys can often obtain the results that the questioners hope to elicit merely by asking questions in a biased fashion.
The Reason-Rupe poll was conducted via telephone in early December and found 65% in favor of online poker, 32% opposed, and 3% undecided. The results also showed that college-educated respondents who earn between $60,000-$110,000 annually are more supportive of Internet poker, while those on the lower end of the income scale were less inclined to vote positively.
Adelson wrote an op-ed piece in November that was published in the Las Vegas Review-Journal voicing his anti-Internet gambling stance that relied heavily on his poll results. The casino magnate has launched a campaign against online gambling and will undoubtedly use his enormous wealth estimated by Forbes to be around $28 billion to fund his recently-formed coalition to prevent online gambling legislation.
The Reason-Rupe survey found that Americans of an advanced age are less likely to favor online poker. The approval rate dipped to 55% of those surveyed who were above the age of 55.
Those findings indicate what anyone with a bit of common sense could reveal. That Americans who spent the majority of their lives without Internet access have yet to fully embrace the computer age. Adelson is 79 years old and can likely be counted as being among the elder segment of the population who are not computer-savvy and continue to distrust the latest technological advancements.
http://www.pokerupdate.com/

Bankruptcy proceedings that include a public auction to find a new owner for the Atlantic Club Casino Hotel have been on the fast-track in New Jersey, but those proceedings have apparently been slowed by a lack of desire among potential buyers.
On the block for two days, a new owner for the struggling casino has failed to emerge, postponing any further court hearings until Monday. To further complicate matters, the local union representing casino employees has objected to the sale, asking the court to force any buyer to assume the constraints of the existing collective bargaining agreement.
The Atlantic Club owners, Colony Capital LLC, prefer a sale that excludes any liabilities, including the contract with the union, the Press of Atlantic City reported. Whether or not the owners get their wish will likely be decided by a bankruptcy judge.
As many will recall, PokerStars had brokered an agreement to acquire the casino for $15 million roughly one year ago. The deal fell through several months later when the Atlantic Club utilized a contractual clause that allowed the sale to be nullified based on a casino licensing stipulation.
The belief was that the Atlantic Club could possibly be sold for a larger price following the enactment of online gambling legislation in the state of New Jersey last February. But it appears that the Atlantic Club may not have played their cards correctly considering that the result of voiding the agreement with PokerStars led to a bankruptcy filing and the inability to secure a new buyer.
“God only knows what’s going to happen,” said Local 54 union president Bob McDevitt.
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Despite being deemed a success by online poker proponents, last week's House subcommittee hearing on Internet gambling has not prompted federal lawmakers to act with any great urgency on the matter.
In somewhat of a let-down to Internet poker players throughout the U.S. who had high hopes after representatives from both the Poker Players Alliance and American Gaming Association laid out a strong and convincing need for federal regulation during the hearing, House Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade chairman Rep. Lee Terry (R-Nebraska) told Gaming Today that he and his colleagues don't plan on moving swiftly.
“There’s really nothing on the agenda next for this,” Terry said. “We are going to see how things are evolving in Nevada and New Jersey and other states."
That is precisely what U.S. online poker players didn't want to hear. The longer it takes for federal legislators to act on the issue, the less likely that any proposals will advance. If more states eventually join Nevada, Delaware and New Jersey, the odds increase that a federal scheme will never be realized.
While a state-by-state patchwork of regulation is better than none at all, it will not be as favorable as a federal plan that would include all states less those that choose to opt out. The proposal on the table submitted by Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) that was a centerpiece of the December 10 hearing aims to do exactly that, but U.S. lawmakers remain nonplussed.
"I don’t think a case was really made," Terry said, with regard to the need for immediate action. "When it comes to setting parameters for Internet gambling where issues of technology and privacy come into play, I don’t know how you can do that.”
The states know how to do it and three have already done so. A handful more may come on board next year, with Pennsylvania, Illinois and Mississippi believed to be the most serious candidates. California could be included in that bunch, but rumors abound that Golden State lawmakers prefer not to partner with other regulated states.
In the meantime, American players are left no option but to play at sites that are unregulated and located overseas. That continues to be a poor option for some who desire consumer protection that a regulated environment would bring. Black Friday's fallout is still etched in the the minds of many U.S. players.
There are some decent online poker options for U.S. players currently, if decent were to be defined as poker rooms that process cashouts both speedily and efficiently. Americas Cardroom and Bovada Poker currently fit the bill in that regard. However, it certainly doesn't compare to playing at PokerStars where the guaranteed tournament and cash game selections leave nothing to be desired.
But as is evident from April of 2011, unregulated sites operating in the U.S. can vanish at any moment, leaving players out of luck and with virtually nowhere to turn. Sad to say, we are getting used to that, as we have been turning toward federal lawmakers to effectuate online poker legislation for years. But those pleas have fallen on deaf ears.
http://www.pokerupdate.com/