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PartyPoker Big Game Livestream Underway

 The PartyPoker Big Game VII is right now live-streaming from the Merit Crystal Cove Casino in North Cyprus.

Some of the top professionals in the game are sitting down for a 12-hour session of $50/$100 No-Limit Hold’em (with the occasional $200 straddle): Recent “PartyPoker 'Road To Old Trafford’ winner Sam Trickett will be playing alongside nosebleed heads-up beast Dan “Jungleman” Cates, and WPT Champion/WSOP Bracelet winner Dominik Nitsche.
Also expected to also take part are the likes of Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi, Chino Rheem, November Niner Kelly Kim and more.
The action is being shown exclusively from the PartyPoker Facebook page, where Jesse May is calling all the action, and fans can vote on who to evict from the table every three hours.
Author: Ekaterina
15 . 08 . 2013 y.
Sneak Peek of Ultimate Poker v2 Demos New Avatars, Resizable Tables

 Hawk-eyed viewers of a recent Bloomberg TV interview with Ultimate Gaming Co-Founder Tom Breitling will have spotted what is the first glimpse of Ultimate Poker’s next generation poker client.

The biggest visible change from the screen capture, taken from the beginning of the segment, is the large selection of new player avatars. These apparently replace the cartoonish square pictures in use today. They resemble quite closely the style of Full Tilt’s iconic avatars—though Ultimate’s all seem to have the same expression.
The bald eye-patched avatar pictured in the three hole in the screenshot above that bears a striking resemblance to Poker Product Manager Chris Danek—and also serves as his Twitter avatar—suggests that we may see more familiar faces in the collection of avatars in v2.
There is also a new semi-circular bar around the active player, and a yellow power-bar to show their time to act, replacing v1’s the rather garish green box.
The screenshot also demos the new resizable tables, which can apparently be full-screened as well as shrunk small. There is a new menu strip along the top to bring up the lobby, enable automatic top-up, turn off sound and sit out, but otherwise the overall table layout looks mostly untouched, and the deck and chips are the same.
The poker room completed a 90-day field trial over two weeks ago, which lifted them from reporting burdens and allowed them to roll out the new version. Though initially slated to be “days” away, the software is still waiting for the green light from third-party testing.
The only other known addition in v2 is the the new VIP program, “Color UP,” which will have ten different rewards tiers and attribute rake on a “winner takes all” basis.
Author: Ekaterina
15 . 08 . 2013 y.
Poker Debate Begins in Taiwan

 The debate on legalising poker has started to heat up in Taiwan after a Taiwanese politician stated his positive views on the game.

The kind words came from Government Minister Yang Chiu-hsing, who said that poker should be officially defined as an ‘intellectual contest’ instead of gambling. While Taiwan does not have a law covering poker tournaments per se, it does have strict laws against gambling, which could potentially lead to legal nightmares for promoters who host poker events there.
That is likely the reason why no major poker events have been held in the East Asian island nation up to now, especially while an increasing number of poker events are held in other regional areas like the Philippines and Macau. Minister Yang’s views have led him to call for the legislature to make a distinction on poker tournament and other forms of gambling that exist.
Other countries in the area have also undertaken actions and debate on regulating poker and other forms of gaming. A debate on the legalisation of casinos has gone on in Japan for quite some time, with that country’s legislature set to vote on the issue in the near future.
In Far East Russia, the city of Vladivostok and the area surrounding it has been declared as one of just four areas in Russia where legal gaming can take place. This has led to various companies and gaming figures outlining their interest in being a part of the soon to be established industry there.
Like most other places, Taiwan would likely see a boost in tourism numbers should it choose to make the legal issues of poker more transparent. This would especially be the case should it host large scale poker events as these would attract players from all over Asia and possibly the world.
Economic experts have estimated that such an event could bring around NT$45 million (around US$1.5 million) in tourism revenue. That would be a welcome contribution to the Taiwanese economy, which has slowed down in recent times.
Allowing poker events to be hosted in Taiwan would also help keep poker players from playing in other nearby areas, like the Philippines and Japan, should that country end up legalising casinos. With the potential for most of its neighbours to have no legal obstacles to playing poker, Taiwan may be ‘left behind’ in the near future, which could lead to potential tourism and gaming money going elsewhere.
Taiwanese poker players are among the top professionals in Asia. Poker pro Fan Yun-hsiang won the Macau Poker Cup Red Dragon event back in April, and is currently on top of the Asia Player of the Year rankings. Other Taiwanese players like Chen Li-han and Lin Hung-sheng have also been consistent performers in major Asian poker events.
Author: Ekaterina
14 . 08 . 2013 y.
Bodog Ups Guarantees of Daily, Weekend Tournament Schedule

 The Bodog Poker Network has made numerous tweaks to its daily schedule of multi-table tournaments (MTTs), with many guarantees increased 25% or more.

According to US affiliate and news site ProfessionalRakeback.com, The nightly $6k and $9k guaranteed tournaments are now $8k and $10k, and the $15k guaranteed, which runs every day Monday through Saturday, is now up to $20k.
The big weekend tournament schedule has also seen changes. The $60-buyin Sunday turbo now has a $20k guarantee, up from $15k, and there are similar increases at the smaller $11 and $5.50 buyin Sunday tournaments.
There have been a couple of causalities in the revamped schedule: the Saturday 10k is now a $5k knock-out tournament; the Saturday $4k is down to $3k.
Bovada, a skin on the Bodog network, is the largest offshore site still accepting players from the United States. Also on the network is Bodog.EU, which operates primarily in Canada (not, as the domain would imply, in Europe), and Asia-focused Bodog88. The network recently unveiled its anonymous take on the fast-fold variant, named Zone Poker.
 
Author: Ekaterina
14 . 08 . 2013 y.
Paddy Power Expresses Interest In New Jersey Market

 It has been no secret that a number of online gaming companies have wanted to make a place for themselves in the new legal online gaming market in various US states.

We have seen this in the state of Nevada, where Ultimate Gaming's online poker service, Ultimate Poker, was the first and currently only company to legally operate in the US. Other companies, such as Caesars, have voiced their desire to launch a service in that state.
New Jersey is another state where companies have voiced their interest in establishing operations. Companies like Ultimate Gaming have made moves that have brought them closer to becoming a part of the online gaming market in that state, which is set to officially launch later this year.
It appears that Paddy Power has thrown its name in the growing list of companies aiming to launch a service in the soon to be established New Jersey online gaming market. The Ireland-based company has placed an application with the state’s Department of Gaming Enforcement (DGE) to launch and operate an online gaming service with the state.
As part of New Jersey’s online gaming laws, companies that are already licenced, such as casinos, can only apply to get a licence to operate online gaming services. That means that external companies wishing to operate such a service must partner up with brick and mortar casinos that are located within the state.
Ultimate Gaming have already done this, joining forces with the famous Trump Taj Mahal casino in applying for a licence. Gamesys have also done a similar move, partnering up with Tropicana Casino for the purposes of eventually launching an online gaming service in New Jersey.
It is currently unclear which casino Paddy Power has partnered up with or whether they have yet formed such a partnership. A representative for Paddy Power did not confirm that, but told the Irish Independent that the company is still in the early stages of operating a company in the state.
“We want to make sure that we're in place and ready," said the representative. “"We have applied for the licence to be in there, and we'll then see what is viable. We're putting ourselves in position."
While New Jersey is quite small, it does have a thriving live gaming industry, with Atlantic City being synonymous with the pastime. This could result in a solid online gaming industry once it is launched, which shows why non-US companies like Paddy Power have expressed strong interest in operating there.
Author: Ekaterina
13 . 08 . 2013 y.
Over 4500 Sites Now on Italy's Blacklist

 European countries such as Greece, Belgium and Bulgaria have been in the poker news headlines recently regarding their ever growing blacklist of online gaming websites.

Greece recently expanded its blacklist to over 400 such websites while Bulgaria’s list has grown to over 100 sites and counting. While those numbers can be seen as being unnecessarily high, they are nothing when compared to the number of blacklisted online gaming sites in Italy.
The recent round of listings by the southern European country’s regulator has put the total number of blacklisted gaming sites at…wait for it…4,513. The number broke through the 4,500 mark after the Autonomous Administration of State Monopolies (AAMS) blocked a total of 34 .com gaming websites since its most recent update that came last month.
Italy boasts the largest online gaming blacklist in the world since the AAMS started the list back in 2006. The country has blacklisted nearly 645 online gaming sites per year on average, or two sites per week. No matter how one presents the statistics, the facts are that the blacklist is amazingly long.
The primary reason for the blacklisted sites is that the regulator has aggressively pursued online gaming sites that have not adhered to the country’s Finance Act. The Act states that any online gaming company wishing to operate in Italy must have a national licence granted to it by the AAMS.
While the blacklist has not been fully effective in stopping Italian players from playing on some non-licenced gaming sites, it appears to have also enhanced traffic to Italian-registered gaming services.
According to PokerScout, PokerStar’s Italian site is the sixth largest of all poker services, with a seven day average of 1,600 players. The .it sites of Ongame, PeoplesNetwork and iPoker are also in the top 20 of PokerScout’s Online Poker Traffic List, coming in 16th, 17th and 19th respectively.
Author: Ekaterina
13 . 08 . 2013 y.
Bovada Introduces “Zone Poker”

 A variation of Rush Poker has finally made its way to the United States and has been pretty popular through its first few days of trial at Bovada.   Bovada has introduced “Zone Poker” to its players in hopes of capturing more of the US market, which PokerScout.com says it already has a healthy lead on.  Zone Poker works just like Rush Poker in that you are dealt your hand and are given the option to fold the hand before it is your turn.  You also have the option to “check/fold” your BB which will award you the pot if it is folded to you, but will just check/fold if there is any kind of betting going on before it is your turn to act.

The new wrinkle added that makes this variation different than anything seen on the market thus far is that Bovada has completely anonymous tables.  This means you are given a number 1-6 based on your seat at the table and that is the only identifier as to who the player is.  As you move tables, your number changes, so you are really just playing poker in a complete vacuum.  The means that you get no reads that you can use form hand to hand on individual players, and hoping to see the same player again becomes nothing more than an idle hope. It will be interesting to see how people react in the long term with this kind of wrinkle.  I found it a little odd at times, because you really had no flow for how the game was, and it looks like it would help players who play a very solid game.  You can also run more exploitive plays, because you don’t have to worry about the long term near as much.
Author: Ekaterina
12 . 08 . 2013 y.
David Sklansky Trying to Keep the Game Fresh with Unique Hold’em Variation Suggestions

 David Sklansky has been active lately over at the 2+2 forums by trying to suggest new variations of Hold’em to keep the game interesting and fresh.  His first thread talked about exposing non-used cards.  This suggestion wasn’t met with support, because people just didn’t really see the point in it.  Some people also felt that giving this much information took away from the action and would actually make the games more nitty, which is not something that anyone wants to do.  Sklansky agreed with this and actually said that his idea wasn’t as great once he got more opinions on it.

He then came back with a second thread that had two new suggestions.  The first of those suggestions wasn’t really met with a lot of support, but was interesting none the less.  His suggestion was the blinds were only able to raise, and you could only limp if you were in early position.  The second suggestion was more liked and got some support from Justin “zeejustin” Bonomo.  It essentially was that you couldn’t be dealt AA or KK preflop.  This would essentially make domination a lot less likely and it would allow people to play even more hands, kind of like Pot-Limit Omaha allows that, because equities just run a lot closer.
The thread has some other really unique suggestions and has some well-known players putting in some other suggestions and thoughts.  It’s worth a read, and might give you an idea for your next home game.
Author: Ekaterina
12 . 08 . 2013 y.
Yet Another Football Sponsorship Deal for bwin.party

 It seems to be a case of another week, another football club partnership deal for Bwin.party, with yet another deal being announced by the gaming company.

This time, the company has signed a deal with French football club Olympique de Marseille, in a move that would see bwin.party become the club’s official online betting and gaming partner. The deal now sees the company directly involved in the top tier football leagues of the overwhelming majority of major western European nations.
It comes after bwin has signed a number of similar deals with other football clubs in recent times. Just last month, the company announced that it had signed a sponsorship deal with Belgian club RSC Anderlecht. Before that, it had announced that it had also signed sponsorship deals with Italian club Juventus and Spanish football giants Real Madrid. Bwin.party also had sponsorship deals with English Premier League club Manchester United and German Bundesliga club Bayern Munich.
Bwin.party CEO Norbert Teufelberger said that the latest deal with Marseille would be a huge boost in the company’s marketing efforts across Europe, citing the history and success of the club as a mainstay in top level French football.
“We are proud to establish this partnership with Olympique de Marseille, one of the oldest and most successful clubs in France and Europe,” he said. “Today’s announcement means that we are now partnered with six of the greatest clubs in European football, enabling us to offer our customers an unparalleled range of online and real world offers.”
The deal will certainly give the owners of PartyPoker.com the opportunity to market themselves on a huge scale in France, and all over Europe, in conjunction with its other sponsored clubs. The only French club to have even won a UEFA Champions League event, Olympique de Marseille have also won the Ligue 1 (France’s top football league) title nine times.
What the deal also shows is that bwin is deadly serious about addressing its dwindling financial performances that have plagued the company in recent times. That is especially the case with the company’s poker offering. Revenues for bwin’s poker operations fell by a massive 37 per cent in the first quarter of 2013 to €33.1 million.
Bwin also announced earlier in the week that it had hired PokerStars director of strategy and business development Jeffrey Haas to be the company’s head of poker, further showing that its desire to boost its poker operations is a huge priority.
It will be a difficult battle as online poker revenues for a number of gaming companies have decreased in recent times. However, bwin’s sponsorship deals with Olympique de Marseille and other top tier football clubs put it in direct contact with hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of fans across the continent.
While it is still early days, the move may pay off for bwin, though it will likely be a difficult undertaking.
 
Author: Ekaterina
12 . 08 . 2013 y.
Big Names Headline “Poker Night in America” Debut

 Rush Productions, the company behind the new Nolan Dalla-fronted poker program “Poker Night In America,” has unveiled the list of poker professionals and personalities that are committed to attending the filming of the premiere episode.

As pokerfuse first reported last week, the show is flying in a select group of players to New York to participate in a made-for-TV cash game.
Mike “The Mouth” Matusow, Phil Laak, Greg “FBT” Mueller, David Williams, Layne “Back To Back” Flack, Gavin Smith and Eli Elezra headline the West Coast crew. They’ll be joined by David “ODB” Baker, Shawn Buchanan, David Levi, Tom “DonkeyBomber” Schneider as well as the only two people to survive the cuts of the open casting call, Lauren Billings and Pokernews’ own lead on-camera reporter, Kristy Arnett.
Set to meet them at the airport is a crew of East Coast natives who are also planning on participating: WPT Champ Will “The Thrill” Failla, Parx Poker Room rep Matt Glantz, Shaun Deeb, Dwyte Pilgrim, Amanda Musumeci, Dennis Philips and more will be all be on hand. Even Darvin Moon is planning on coming out of the woodwork, literally, for the event.
“Poker Night In America” is hoping to change the face of poker television by combining on-felt play and interviews with unscripted reality TV style coverage.
Filming of the $25/50 cash game will begin on August 8 followed by the first flight of the $1500 Main Event starting on the 9th. The event will take place at Empire State Poker Classic Main Event held at the Turning Stone Casino and Resort in New York.
Author: Ekaterina
09 . 08 . 2013 y.
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