PokerNews Cup and 2016 EPT Barcelona Trip Report

In August, I was covering two live events and both pretty much highlighted the difference and uniqueness of rather small tournaments and big festivals, as well as the problems and challenges that come along with it. At the end of the blog entry, I will also include the stats of my fitness watch tracker with regards to steps and kilometers walked while on duty. Now if only I could stop the kilos from going back up while cooking at home ...

PokerNews Cup in Rozvadov

The PokerNews Cup returned to the King's Casino in Rozvadov and the €250 Main Event was scheduled with four starting days, one reentry per flight and a guarantee of whopping €200,000. The last two Day 1s overlapped, which made things a bit more complicated with regards to updates, but ultimately they turned out to have a strong field each and smashed the guarantee by quite some.

With such a rather low buy-in, it's somewhat inevitable that you won't know many players right away. Some familiar faces from other circuits make for a base to start with, and fortunately the casino ensured that all players would go to their tables with a copy of the entry ticket in order to identify them.

By the time the last three tables were reached, all remaining participants were known and that obviously helped a lot for the live reporting. Since only Day 2 and Day 3 were scheduled in order to determine a winner, all Day 1s and Day 2 ran pretty long, but that is nothing uncommon anymore for smaller festivals and one gets used to it. Also, if you missed one elimination there was no big drama about it, while at big events this may become an issue.

The final table played fast and furious at the start, then slowed down a lot as it does often when a live stream is available. Even though the first-place payout of just over €44,000 may not sound much for a professional poker player, it can be quite important for a recreational. No deal was made in heads-up, and the underdog in chips emerged victorious and screamed out his joy after the last hand - that's what poker is and should all be about: Having fun at the table, showing emotions, and not being boring.

Pros:
- Less pressure due to more relaxed atmosphere
- Many participants appreciate the reporting
- Free buffet and soft drinks available to the participants

Cons:
- Big fields with barely any known players
- Players tend to get rid of the media tickets or prefer nicknames
- There really isn't much else one can do in Rozvadov

PokerNews Cup summary

Number of days: 5
Number of steps: 38,830
Distance walked: 31.85km
Weight change: -1.2 kilos

2016 EPT Barcelona

The stark contrast going from the small festival at a big casino in a middle of nowhere to a big festival spread across two tournament rooms in a big tourist city such as Barcelona was a given right away. The hotel was a good 20-minute walk away from the venue and there were small corner shops open 24/7 every other street. This year I didn't run into any trouble with pickpockets, while some players and dealers did have the misfortune.

One year ago, the festival at the Casino Barcelona already smashed many records in terms of participation, as well as players getting their seats quite delayed as alternates. The latter wasn't as much of a problem this time around, except for maybe the €1,100 Estrellas Main Event. However, it was inevitable not to notice, that the venue was very close to their max capacity and that had some negative impact on the Satellite and cash game waiting lists.

A few days before the start of the festival, PokerStars announced that the Main Events will be paying out the top 20% of the field and the initial €10,000 High Roller paid as much as 23% much to the disguise of many pros. The money in the €1,100 Estrellas Main Event and €2,200 High Roller was reached early on Day 2 and the early starting times of 10am didn't necessarily find much love in general.

Whether or not that trend will continue remains to be seen, as PokerStars and the EPT should have received plenty of feedback from the pros and recreational players alike. They even reverted the payout back to 15% for the €50,000 Super High Roller and the €25,000 Single-Day High Roller, further giving all participants a questionnaire to fill out with regards to their preference. Since those events include the option to reenter, I cannot imagine many votes towards keeping a payout of the top 20%.

For the first time in many years, the EPT Main Event reached the money at the end of Day 2 and a minimum cash ensured a net profit of €330 compared to the buy-in of €5,300. This may or may not keep more players sticking around on the circuit, but only Satellite and online package winners can really be "happy" about that kind of return after putting in quite some effort in the tournament. It was also the first time that I have seen a "lunch break" being introduced for a live poker event, and from a personal point I'd have preferred to have a dinner break instead on those few days when it happened.

There were four major events to be covered, and German wunderkind Fedor "CrownUpGuy" Holz did what he knows best by winning the initial €50,000 Super High Roller in impressive fashion. Next up, there was the choice between going mental in the huge Day 1b field of the Main Event or eventually pulling an all nighter in the €25,000 Single-Day High Roller the next day. I will likely always opt for the latter, because it helps to know a lot of the players from the years on the live reporting circuit.

As of Day 4 of the Main Event, the reporting teams split up to cover the final €10,000 High Roller as well and especially the restart of the Main Event turned out to be quite hectic. The back-and-forth running at least helped to reach the daily goals on my tracking app, while the final day saw a very long final table of the last seven and 36 players return for the High Roller.

While not all tables were being used anymore, and the new events were played as Turbo anyways, the High Roller took place in the far corner of the main tournament room. Down to the last nine, two other final tables were moved to the tables right nearby and one of them turned out to be very disturbing with a very loud rail during ongoing deal and "who gets to keep the trophy" negotiations. After some 15 minutes, the table was moved away further, while one mistake during that time may have cost €100,000 in equity.

It did have one big advantage though - at least for us live reporters: We could set up nearby for the final day and didn't need to run back and forth to the media room in order to maintain more thorough updates when it matters the most.

All in all, the EPT Barcelona was a crazy and frantic as I remembered from two sears ago. It was nice to see many familiar faces again and catch up briefly while running back to the tables. Except for one day, I was able to work out in the morning before heading to the casino - this should always be a priority of mine whenever possible. And improving my Spanish. Mierda.

2016 EPT Barcelona summary

Number of days: 11 (incl travel days)
Number of steps:140,775
Distance walked: 115.46km
Weight change: -2.0 kilos

What is up next? September will mainly focus on sorting out a few personal things back at home before the WSOP Circuit kicks off at the end of the month in Berlin. And the EPT will be calling again at the end of October on Malta prior to a semi-morning-vacation-ish experience at the WSOP Circuit on Sint Maarten. By then, I shall hopefully have lost a few more kilos and regained a more balanced physical shape - fingers crossed!

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WSOP Asia-Pacific 2014 Trip Report

Keep in mind that this blog entry was written in the train back in Germany while already being on the road for more than one whole day. Thus, you can keep all typos that you find but I may insist in 50% of the profit if you sell them. 

Two days after my 30^th birthday, I received an email whether or not I was interested in covering the World Series Of Poker Asia-Pacific in Melbourne. After having spent more than six weeks at the summer equivalent in Las Vegas, I didn't necessarily hesitate long to agree after checking my schedule for the availability and time flew by.

Obviously it is not necessarily an advantage to live in the middle of nowhere for international travel and it was barely a surprise to see more than 30 hours on my itinerary with train to Frankfurt, a stopover in Bangkok and ultimately the arrival in Down Under. The usual trick to exhaust your body by staying awake the whole time and then falling straight into the new time zone worked.

Mind you, that was also absolutely necessary as my work started straight the day after at the Crown Casino. On top of that, a little surprised waited for me when picking up the media credentials. While I knew that the main focus of my work should be taking pictures, there was no mention that those pictures would not just be for PokerNews but also the official shots for the WSOP as well. Just a tad more pressure on top.

Except for the first and the last two days, I worked 12-14 hours per day and 18 days straight. Not that this is a rare occurrence on live events anyways, but I didn't get to see much of the city and should probably take a few extra days in case I am heading to the other side of the planet once again.

The light conditions were quite difficult to say the least. Barely any thorough light that comes down to the tables and a whole section in the back that was totally dark. Then again, nobody ever said it was gonna be easy and challenges typically bring out the best of us. Eventually I got to do some portrait shots as well and was satisfied with the outcome, though there is a lot of room for improvement.

I'd probably consider myself as advanced amateur that still struggles with the light settings too often, though I also tend to be very strict on myself and the quality of my work. As an advantage, I can do both the live reporting and the photography and that combination is most wanted these days when everyone except for PokerStars doesn't really want to spend much on their media representation.

Low and behold, the two and a half weeks were done and dusted by far faster than expected and suddenly I was sitting here at more than 200km/h in an ICE on my way home while reflecting about the favorite moments of the series that included 10 events in total. Below they are in no particular order of importance.

Australian girls like chocolate too

Okay, that was barely a surprise but there is a reason why I tend to take chocolate with me on each live event. It doesn't take much to make a girl smile but the effort is always worth it.

The miracle of Sam Cohen

I know Sam Cohen for about three years now from various events from all over Europe and also the WSOP 2014, yet this time it was quite an outstanding accomplishment. In the middle of Day 2 of the AU$ 10,000 Main Event, Cohen was down to less than one big blind and then doubled up several times to eventually cash one day later in 26^th place out of 329 entries.

From a tiny DeepStack Event to WSOP history

In April 2014, I randomly met Scott Davies in the Mega Poker Series Madrid as he was just in the Spanish capital and participated in the €700+70 Main Event. Half a year later I got to take his winner picture in the WSOP Asia-Pacific Main Event when the American won his very first golden bracelet. He already came close during the summer by finishing fourth in a Heads-Up Event in Las Vegas and joked that he'd only be in Melbourne for the pictures.

Final Tables for Kurita and Italiano

During the 6-Max Event I stumbled over a very photogenic female player from Japan and Yu Kurita ended up on the final table of said tournament as well as min-cashed the Main Event. The latter event saw local player Ang Italiano turn an investment of AU$ 130 through the Step Satellites into a sixth place for a payday of AU$ 118,769. Poker needs more of these stories, as it shows that everybody can do it.

The fifty shades of Phil Hellmuth

Phil Hellmuth has gotten a lot better at controlling his emotions and even joined the high-fives, started by to-be bracelet winner Alexander Antonios, at the final table of the $2,200 Six-Max No-Limit Hold'em. There is very little doubt with regards to the skills of the “Poker Brat” in MTT's, but he still easily gets upset and clearly shows that at the tables.

Leah crowns splendid year

It was kind of mandatory to use this play on words for the title of this paragraph. Mike Leah already had a final table at the WSOP during his summer and then came second to the steam-rolling Dan Colman for his first-ever seven figure score. He earned two WSOP circuit rings and then Leah claimed the elusive maiden golden bracelet in the $25,000 High Roller Event.

Impressive battle for the POY title

The neck-to-neck race between Brandon Shack-Harris and George Danzer continued in Australia and both players aimed to write down their name in poker history for the Player of the Year (POY) ranking. The lead changed a few times during the WSOP Asia-Pacific and Danzer claimed his third bracelet of 2014 in the $5,000 8-Game Mixed to secure the title. Both contenders showed impressive performances and determination with plenty of extra pressure on their shoulders and that deserves the utmost respect.

The Australian mentality

No matter what, Australians tend to be very polite and one simply has to embrace the accent. Calling strangers “mate” despite never having met them before and starting conversations or asking whether someone was okay is very charming. The only downside for visitors like me are the extremely expensive prices.

Moral of the story

Despite a very long trip of 32 hours and more either way and long working hours, I would still agree in a heartbeat to head down under again if I was asked to. I like challenges and there is also one particular charming smile that will stay in my memory.

What's next?

No rest for the wicked. About one week time to catch up on all regular duties and reload the batteries before I am heading the exact opposite direction via Paris to the beautiful Island of St Maarten for the second edition of the Caribbean Poker Tour.

The series includes a Championship Event of the World Poker Tour and I will once again be in charge for the overall live updates and press work. At least the mornings should include a few trips to the pool or beach and one of my favorite people will be there as well to lighten up the mood.

___

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My WSOP 2014 Highlights at a Glance

If someone would have told me only two months prior to the World Series Of Poker 2014 that I would be working there for more than six weeks, I'd shrugged and called them crazy. During the EPT Vienna I covered the Highroller events for a German website and chatted with Chad Holloway, who suggested to apply with PokerNews for the Series.

One week later I had an invite for EPT Sanremo to do a trial run and immediately accepted when the offer for Las Vegas came by email. Three other small live tournaments in Europe were proposed to me but the WSOP opportunity doesn't come that often, so the decision was quite easy.

Trips over the pond are always some kind of adventure when you live in the middle of nowhere and thus it took almost one full day from door to door. Fortunately I was able to avoid jetlag and after some brief introduction, we were all thrown in the cold water that is the Rio's. If you ever played an event at the WSOP in the past 10 years, you will know what I mean with cold and a hoodie is typically the best friend.

The by far biggest difference to the tournaments I usually cover is the fact that no media cards exist and early on, you simply have to stick to the familiar faces that you know.
Anyways, enough of the intro and straight to my personal highlights in no particular order. People tend to use top five or top 10 lists, but all the below experiences have the same important value for me.

The Year of the Germans and a surprising Interview

There may have been barely any German among the top 100 players of the Main Event, but it still was a very successful year with a total of five golden bracelets (two each for Dominik Nitsche and George Danzer as well as one for Florian Langmann) . Furthermore, a couple of Germans reached Final Tables (Heinz Kamutzki, Ismael Bojang and Manig Loeser among others) but the biggest surprise was possibly the 3rd place of Max Kruse in a 2-7 Lowball event. He is a football striker for the team that I support in Germany and I had the pleasure to do an interview with him for Pokernews that can be found here.

Mixed Game Specialists on the Rise

Aforementioned Danzer and Brandon Shack-Harris battle for the Player of the Year (POY) honors and both reached tremendous results with several Final Table appearances next to their name. While Shack-Harris only won 1 bracelet, he scored another 2 second place and 1 third place finishes this summer. Melissa Burr was the first woman to ever cash in the $ 50,000 The Poker Players Championship and impressed with four Final Table results, missing out on another by only four spots.

Hollywood Poker Open: Kitty claws and Deadman defeats Nemesis

Initially, I was disappointed that I was sent to cover the Hollywood Poker Open instead of the Ladies Event at the WSOP, but the location off the strip was most excellent . The tournament itself under the guidance of Bill Bruce had an excellent structure and they looked after my colleague Aaron and I the whole time. Maybe it was also quite appreciated because of the bikini contest at the pool during Day 2. Either way, I was quite happy about the third place of EPT regular Kitty Kuo. And then there was Simon Deadman, who had already racked up a ton of second place finishes in 2014 and finally scored that long-overdue big win.

How to cover a Mixed Game

I love to play Seven Card Stud and Pot Limit Omaha (both Hi and Hi Lo) in my rare free time but you barely ever get the chance to do the live reporting on these poker variants. It was a hell of a challenge for me especially since it was held in limit as well. But after being confused for quite some time on the first day, I eventually got used to it and mastered the challenge that was $ 2,500 Omaha/Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo (Event #25) thanks to the help of Chad.

Wizards getting their Reward

One of the biggest names to win a bracelet this year was definitely Phil Ivey. But I was even more pleased by the wins of Dan Kelly, Paul Volpe, Bryn Kenney, Calvin Anderson and Vanessa Selbst. The latter once again confirmed that she is by far the most feared woman on the international poker circuit. Kelly finally won his second bracelet whereas the other three online wizards finally claimed the important first victory.

Magicians from Belgium: Davidi Kitai and Pierre Neuville

Davidi Kitai was already a member of the elusive Triple Crown club even though some media outlets argue that the WPT Invitational win should not count. However, there is little doubt over the mad skills of the Belgian at the poker table though and he confused the hell out of Phil Hellmuth on the way to his third WSOP bracelet.

EPT serial qualifier Pierre Neuville set several records in Las Vegas this summer, cashing in eight WSOP events as over 70 year old, including an impressive second place finish in the $ 5,000 No Limit Hold'em - Six Handed (Event #24) for $ 385,041. He is probably the most friendly and polite player I have ever met on the international poker circuit and showed all the young guns that age doesn't matter.

Meeting old and new Friends

Of course these big festivals also draw the attention of all regulars on the circuit and gives you the opportunity to see all the familiar faces that one otherwise only knows from TV and poker videos on YouTube. You walk through the huge rooms filled with poker tables everywhere and stumble over friends that you haven't seen for a few years. New friendships are established and all those cherished moments help a lot to get through the long grind and lack of sleep.

The Poker(News) Family

Every deep run of a friend sparks some extra motivation but we all have those days when nothing seems to go right. A saying suggests to simply "go left" when that happens and then there is also the smile, handshake or hug to cheer you up. Further, it is important that all colleagues help each other and I for one as "PokerNews newbie" definitely needed and appreciated that a lot.

Lessons that I learned

- I am too stubborn
- Almost all women like chocolate
- Consistency is the key to success
- I need to improve on my writing and taking pictures

The whole Vegas trip was a massive learning experience for me and should improve the performance at my other future live coverages significantly. All the tiny mistakes add up, but often one should just concentrate on getting the work done and worrying about the rest later. Nobody is perfect but as long as you learn from the mistakes, it will be worth it and makes you stronger.

On the way back home, I had the unfortunate timing to fly from Las Vegas to Charlotte while Germany gobsmacked Brazil in the semi final of the World Cup of Football. At least I was back home in time to watch the final victory over Argentina, otherwise it would have probably been even more cruel.

Last but not least I would like to thank PokerNews for this awesome opportunity and hopefully I didn't drive too many people insane with my funny German accent.

Hasta la promixa vez!

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Unverhofft kommt oft

Bei meinem Blog war ich insbesondere 2013 und auch zu Beginn diesen Jahres nicht wie sonst üblich fleißig, sondern ließ die Zügel etwas streifen. Das könnte durchaus daran liegen, dass die letzten sechs Monate etwas chaotisch waren.

Neben meinem Steckenpferd "Mega Poker Series", bei denen ich die englische Berichterstattung und Pressearbeit erledige, kam mit der Caribbean Poker Tour ein im positiven Sinn sehr überraschendes Event im letzten November hinzu. Mal ehrlich, Arbeit in der Karibik mit Sonne, Strand und mehr ... und dafür auch noch bezahlt werden. Wer hat das schon?

Im Dezember durfte ich dann erstmals für die World Poker Tour offiziell in Prag berichten und dort siegte mit Julian Thomas dann gleich ein Deutscher. Für das Jahr 2014 stand allerdings zu Beginn nur die MPS im Montesino zu Wien fest, weitere Events waren in der Schwebe und da macht man sich dann schon so seine Gedanken.

Per Zufall fragte ich dann im Februar beim European DeepStack in Dublin an ob sie jemand brauchen würden und innerhalb von zwei Stunden stand der Deal per Facebook und die Flüge waren gebucht. Soll noch jemand sagen, dass soziale Netzwerke zu Nichts gut sein würden. Das nächste Event in Tanger / Marokko kam dann noch überraschender, ebenfalls per Facebook über eine Poker Bekanntschaft aus Belgien.

Insgesamt 13 Stunden pro Trip waren es nach und von Nordafrika, doch Spaß gemacht hat es trotzdem und ich konnte wieder mein Französisch vermehrt anwenden. Die Zuständigen vor Ort waren von der gründlichen deutschen Arbeitsweise sehr angetan und so wurde ich gleich wieder eingeladen für Ende Mai 2014, was ich aber leider wegen eines anderen Turnieres absagen musste.

Nur zwei Tage zu Hause und schon stand der nächste Trip an, zur EPT Wien in der Hofburg.

Tägliche Bilder sowie die Berichterstattung von den Highroller Events gehörten zu meinen Aufgaben und nebenher half ich PokerNews aus wenn etwas Wichtiges passierte. Einer der Blogger schlug dann vor, dass ich mich bei Ihnen für die World Series Of Poker bewerben solle. Gesagt, getan. Viel Hoffnung hatte ich zwar nicht, aber fragen kostet ja nichts.

Am 31. März kam dann die Anfrage, ob ich die EPT Sanremo als Testlauf für PokerNews machen könnte und einen Tag später, ausgerechnet am 1. April, kam nach meiner Zusage die Reisebuchung. Entweder war es ein sehr makabres Timing oder aber reiner Zufall. Jedenfalls verlief in Sanremo alles nach Plan und bei meiner ersten EPT für PokerNews gewann Ole Schemion gleich das Highroller Event. Zudem schrieb Victoria Coren Mitchell Geschichte und obsiegte zum zweiten Mal bei einem Main Event der European Poker Tour.

Direkt im Anschluss ging es weiter nach Madrid zum Start der Saison 3 für die Mega Poker Series und am Tag meiner Ankunft wartete eine Einladung für die WSOP 2014 mit PokerNews in meinem Email Postfach. Die Flüge sind mittlerweile gebucht und ich werde für mehr als sechs Wochen erstmals über alle Events berichten, zuvor waren es jeweils nur einzelne Turniere. Wenn das mit den Zufällen und deutschen Siegen so weitergeht, dann dürfen wir uns im Sommer wohl über einige Bracelets aus dem deutschsprachigen Raum freuen. ;)

Leider verpasse ich dadurch die Mega Poker Series in Bulgarien gegen Ende Juni, dafür darf ich aber direkt vor dem Vegas Trip noch vom Masters Finale in der Hohensyburg berichten. Irgendwie passt das Motto "unverhofft kommt oft" wie die Faust aufs Auge für den bisherigen Jahresverlauf. Mal sehen was sonst noch so kommt. Ach ja, falls jetzt jemand denkt dass man damit reich wird: Beim Geld sicher nicht, höchstens an Erfahrung und Schlafmangel. Spaß macht es trotzdem. :)

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CryptoLogic and BossMedia to merge?

Hot of the press, I found this rumour about the 2 poker networks CryptoLogic and BossMedia to merge in 2009 ... . BossMedia is a subsidiary of GTech and the move is part of a so called "alignment and growth strategy" - predictions say that this merge will create savings of up to $15 million for CryptoLogic.

Boss Media will take responsibility for providing poker solutions to CryptoLogic's poker licenses such as Sun Poker, Playboy Poker, InterPoker, Betsafe Poker and William Hill as part of this agreement.

The president and chief executive officer of CryptoLogic, Brian Hadfield, said: "This partnership provides our poker customers with access to one of the largest poker networks in the world, while helping CryptoLogic reduce costs substantially." He also added that it would help the firm to "leverage" its lead in branded content games developed in partnership with some of the top entertainment brands across the world.

According to the Canadian Press, CryptoLogic is predicting a more successful year in 2009, despite the current loses of about $5.9 million between July and September 2008

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D-Rep. Frank urges Treasury Department to put gambling rules on hold

Nikos Portiakos is a staff writer for WDIAV and covers Las Vegas and Gambling.

Barney Frank, congressman and chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, sent a letter advising the Bush administration officials to delay the implementation of several rules that would result in the prohibition ofonline gambling before President-Elect Obama takes over the White House in January, 2009. As reported by the Dow Jones Newswire, the Treasury Department has finished the review of a series of regulations that would ban online gambling activities in the U.S. and is trying to have them implemented in the waning days of the Bush administration. The controversial rules would prevent banks and other financial institutions from processing all kind of transactions, including credit cards, bank transfers and ACH transactions for most online casinos,sportsbetting sites andonline pokerrooms.

Congressman Frank sent a letter this Monday in where he tells Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, that approving and executing the rules as they are "will tie the hands of the new administration, burden the financial services industry at a time of economic crisis and contradict the stated intent of the Financial Services Committee." Frank urged the officials to wait until Obama's administration officially takes office to provide the new government with a chance to evaluate and analyze all the possible the implications and effects the country would face after implementing the rules.

The rules stem from a last-minute addition to a law passed in the final hours of the Republican controlled Congress in 2006. The project to ban online gambling was approved in the last minute by a Republican controlled Congress in 2006, the project was attached to a port security bill that had no relation with the gaming prohibition but that was voted due its relevance for the national security. But even when the bill was voted, the rules proposed by the Treasury in October 2007 don't classify and identify which activities can be considered illegal. Two years after the UIGEA's approval, the Treasury Department hasn't been able to complete a series of rules and definitions needed to implement the ban, partly because the amount of propositions and amendments introduced since 2006.

Frank has strongly opposed any legislation that would require banks to reject to financial transactions related to gambling sites, Frank also has insisted that instead of simply banning online gambling, the government has to regulate and tax some forms of online gaming. Frank's proposal has been well received by other democratic lawmakers, gambling industry representatives as well as banks and financial lobbyists, and even by some Federal Reserve officials.

"I strongly urge you to delay implementation of these major and deeply flawed regulations to permit the incoming administration the ability to review the consequences of a significant policy decision, rather than unfairly being denied that opportunity." Frank expressed in the letter addressed to the government's officials.

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Kentucky to ban online poker on november 17th

Unless KY Traffic Blockage is Shown by Nov 17, Judge Orders Domains Seized
by http://PokerPages.com
Fri, Oct 17th, 2008 @ 12:00am
Kentucky circuit court Judge Thomas Wingate ruled October 16 to uphold the domain seizure of 141 online poker and Internet gambling sites to the Commonwealth of Kentucky, EXCEPT sites whose owners "or respective registrants or their agent, or any other person with an interest or a claim" can demonstrate in person to the court that their site blocks traffic to Kentucky residents on or before a hearing on November 17. If blockage to Kentucky residents is not demonstrated, then the domains will be forfeited to the commonwealth.

On the downside for Kentucky state coffers, the ruling did not order any fine to be paid to the state.
Also, the question has been raised by gambling911 whether any person that appears before the court representing a domain to prove traffic has been blocked to Kentucky could "ultimately be subpoenaed. The judge implies immunity in his decision but that is a really hard call."

THE CORE MATTER: KENTUCKY'S FORFEITURE LAW

At the heart of the matter is the Kentucky law saying "any gambling device or gambling record possessed or used in violation of this chapter is forfeited to the state, and shall be disposed of in accordance with KRS 500.900, except that the provisions of this section shall not apply to charitable gaming activity as defined by KRS 528.101(1)."

SUMMARY OF JUDGE'S OPINION AND ORDER

Wingate wrote a 44-page opinion for upholding his initial order for the seizure, stating in his summary that "judicial interference of the Internet will NOT create havoc," and furthermore that the "Internet with all its benefits to modern day commerce and life, is still not above the law, whether on an international or municipal level."

You can read the entire document that Gambling911 kindly posted a copy of, at:

In the Opinion and Order the Judge addresses the issues raised at the September 25 and October 7 hearings. Here are highlights of some of the judge's replies to those issues raised:

# Are the Defendants 141 Domain Names Property? Reply: the Judge cited other cases that shows domain names have value similar to property, as they are definable, can be exclusively claimed, and can be auctioned. Therefore they are property.

# Do the defendants 141 Domain Names have a presence in Kentucky? Reply: because they do business in Kentucky, they have a presence. He dismisses the argument that no domain name is registered in Kentucky.

# Are the Domain Names, by reason of their illegal or unlawful use, gambling devices? Reply: The Judge says that he follows the spirit of the Kentucky gambling device description and because the 141 domain names connect to 'virtual casinos', they act as gambling devices.
# Is poker "Gambling" as defined by KRS 528.010(3)? Reply: Because poker has all 3 elements that define gambling: the element of chance, risking something of value for a chance to win a prize, and the awarding of a prize to the successful player, that online poker is gambling.

FRIEND OF COURT

In his opinion, the judge noted that only PPA, iMEGA, the Internet Commerce Association (ICA) and Network Solutions Inc (NSI) have 'friend-of-court status' and can continue to "present briefs and memoranda for purposes of informing the court of the ever-changing facets of the Internet," but they could not represent any domain.

GAMBLING & INTERNET COMMUNITY REACTION

"Clearly, we believe the judge in this case got it wrong," said John Pappas, executive director of the Poker Players Alliance(PPA). "First of all, we strongly disagree with Judge Wingate's ruling that poker is not a game of skill. As demonstrated in the amicus brief we filed, skill plays an essential role in being a successful poker player. Additionally, we believe that by confirming Governor [Steve] Beshear's actions, the court has set a dangerous precedent for censorship of the Internet. Today's ruling is a big step backward for both personal rights and Internet freedom."

Joe Brennan Jr., chairman of the Interactive Media Entertainment & Gaming Association (iMEGA) said, "What Judge Wingate has done is to create the 'ultimate weapon' to be used by the powerful and influential to attack content they oppose. This will enable government to eliminate competition from differing ideas, beliefs and commerce. This decision today is where it starts, but where will it stop?"
Brennan noted that iMEGA had already prepared for this possible result from the Kentucky court, and will challenge this decision at both the Federal and State courts, to prevent "this cancer from metastasizing and threatening the entire online world."

"This decision must not be allowed to stand, because of the threat it poses to the Internet as a whole," said Brennan. "Judge Wingate has ignored the clear laws of his own state in coming to a decision that essentially green-lights any jurisdiction - in the US and abroad - to ignore our rights and abuse their power to do away with competition or speech or content with which they oppose, regardless of the law. This is a dark day for Internet freedom."

PPA PRESSES LEGISLATION & REGULATION NOT PROHIBITION

"I am certain that many of the plaintiffs in this case intend to quickly appeal this matter,"noted John Pappas, executive director of the PPA. "We are confident that the Kentucky Appellate Court will review the facts and overturn today's order. At the same time, the PPA will continue its efforts to protect the rights of Kentucky citizens to play poker online."

Pappas added, "To truly address Governor Beshear's concerns with online gaming, the PPA continues to encourage the introduction of legislation, modeled after federal legislation such as that introduced by Senator Robert Menendez and Congressman Barney Frank, that would license and regulate online gaming. This approach would allow Kentucky to legally capture millions of dollars to increase revenue and fund critical state programs."

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USA and the UIGEA

Just one week after a historic election the Poker Players Alliance is pitted in a fight to keep anti-Internet poker regulations from being enacted and we NEED YOUR HELP!

The current Administration is hastily finalizing a number of "midnight rules" before they leave office and the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) is on the list. See the 11/06 story in Dow Jones. Just like UIGEA was snuck into legislation in the dark of night in 2006, our opponents are again trying an 11th hour sneak job. We need you to help us expose and stop this reckless rulemaking.
Please call the U.S. Federal Reserve and tell them not to approve the UIGEA regulations -- Consumer Complaints, 888... or Public Affairs, 202....
Tell them:

* The federal agencies responsible for our nation's economy should not be focused on Internet poker regulations.

* Finalization of the UIGEA rules will add additional burdens on our already crippled financial systems.

* Internet poker is a game of skill and form of recreation for millions of Americans; it should be exempted from the UIGEA.

* Please do not finalize the UIGEA regulations until their impact on our banking systems and average Americans has been fully studied.


Your call will make a huge difference and will add the public's voice to these last minute policy decisions our government is poised to make.We can't stand idly by while they make decisions that will impact our right to play America's card game.PLEASE CALL TODAY!
Proud to play,
Alfonse D'Amato, Chairman
Poker Players Alliance

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Merge Network bans Kentucky Players

Merge Poker network bans Kentucky players
11/04/2008

According to reports on several online poker information portals this week, the burgeoning Merge Gaming poker network has joined Microgaming in excluding Kentucky residents from all network activity, presumably as a precaution against the predatory behaviour of Kentucky governor Steve Beshear and his contingency-contracted lawyers in their efforts to seize international domain names.

As far as can be ascertained, the ban does not apply to existing customers.
Merge has been around since early 2007, but its history goes back before then when it was better known as poker.com . The network attracts around 4 300 simultaneous players on a good night and boasts almost 20 skins, including Poker Nordica, Iron Duke, Jam Poker, CarbonPoker, PDC Poker, Texas Holdem, Golden Arch Poker, Rumble Poker, Poker City, WalkerPoker, BetED Poker, PokerOne, RPM Poker,G2Gpoker, Spin32Poker, Lucky Hog, Reefer Poker, Wass Poker and ACED. The operation carries a Kahnwake licence.

Meanwhile, the characteristically outspoken owner of Doyles Room, poker legend Doyle Brunson, has spoken out against the Kentucky attempt to hi-jack global industry domain names, writing on his blog: "I'm not going to go into all the legal issues, but Kentucky is in for a hell of a battle and every legal opinion I've heard says they don't have a chance of winning."

http://www.reviewed-poker.com/poker_news/1104082.php

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News from UB/AP

found at pokerspace.com:

****UB AND AP MERGE AND CHANGE NAME****

Hello Everyone!

My name is Danielle and I am one of the Affiliate Managers for Chipleader, The Affiliate/Marketing program that represents two outstanding poker brands Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet. Chipleader has worked closely with Chris for quite some time now and we wanted to get the word out about our upcoming platform merge to Pokersolutions members first!

With that being said, We are pleased to announce the new launch of the CEREUS network, Absolute poker and Ultimate Bet’s new integrated software platform. CEREUS is the result of more than 18 months development and delivers a secure, responsive, and flexible online poker gaming experience.

The development team has worked hand in hand with infrastructure architects to create a scalable environment with negligible downtime: ensuring that client software can be updated with very little impact on the end users.

CEREUS combines and enhances the best features from both the Absolute Poker and the UltimateBet client software. Poker fans will enjoy more tournaments, increased peak-time player volume, and expeditious customer service response. Please keep in mind that the brands will still stay completely separate, they will just operate off the same system.

Here are just some of the advantages that you will get from this massive integration:

*Liquidity on both AP and UB will be instantly double
*BadBeat Jackpot will constantly hit $1M (largest in the world)
*Promotion offers, loyalty offerings and conversion rates will spike tremendously

We anticipate the launch to happen in the first week of August, please feel free to contact the Chipleader crew with any questions or comemnts; Danielle@chipleader.com, Marcela@chipleader.com, and Diego@chipleader.com. We look forward to working with you!

Cheers,
Danielle / Chipleader Team/ AP/UB management”

Also, here is a press release that is going out:

“Miami, FL (PRWeb) July 24, 2008 – Today, the management of both Absolute Poker and UltimateBet announced the upcoming launch of CEREUS: a NEW POKER PLATFORM that will integrate the customers and features from both poker rooms, instantly making CEREUS the third largest online poker network.

CEREUS is the result of more than 12 months innovation and development. Absolute Poker and UltimateBet will retain their unique assets yet share more players, more action, more tournaments, incredible new features and massive promotions.

Paul Leggett, Chief Operations Officer of both Absolute Poker and UltimateBet, said:

“I am so excited to announce the launch of our new poker network CEREUS. This is a huge landmark for our company and online poker. I’m confident that Absolute Poker and UltimateBet customers will be thrilled by the new platform and we look forward to welcoming many new players from around the world.

“CEREUS not only delivers the best online poker experience; it enables our company to improve our operations and deliver significantly better value and service to our customers.

“Our company’s goal is to provide poker players with the ultimate online experience. The launch of CEREUS is a major step for us in achieving our goal and we look forward to making many more exciting announcements very soon.”

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WPC Final - live streaming!

The 888.com World Poker Crown offline final table will be streamed LIVE Thursday May 8th beginning at 3.30pm (www.888.com/wpc) from Peralada Castle in Spain this Thursday.


To celebrate the new 888Sport.com site and to make the stream more interesting you can bet on who will win the World Poker Crown. 888sport. To signup and bet, visit: www.888sport.com

Player Name - Chips - Price
Jack Hinchey (Canada) - 349,000 - 1.76
Michael Lawson (Canada) - 207,000 - 3.00
Bart Wetsteijn (Netherlands) - 139,000 - 5.55
Piotr Skiba (Poland) - 102,000 - 8.00
Pini Roberto (Italy) - 85,000 - 10.001
Mark Rossler (Germany) - 58,000 - 16.00
Mark Castonguay (Canada) - 52,000 - 16.00
Arjan Van Bavel (Netherlands) - 41,000 - 25.00
Mike Leah (Canada) - 40,000 - 25.00
Gisbert Vandoesberg (Netherlands) - 38,000 - 25.00

As an extra BONUS 888 is offering 4 x $17,000 WSOP packages to all LIVE stream viewers.

To be eligible to win a one of the four $17,000 WSOP packages (and hourly freerolls for $550 WSOP qualifiers), visit www.888.com/wpc and guess who will TAKE IT!. By registering your vote on who will win you will be eligible for this great promotion. Full details are at the web site.

The livestream will be at: www.worldpokercrown.com

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Pokertrillion vs BossMedia ...

http://ukgamblingforums.co.uk/pokert...press-release/

April 12, 2008 Malta – Trillion Limited (POKERTRILLION.com).
There have been a lot of rumours, a lot of speculation, and a lot of questions surrounding the current position between POKERTRILLION.com, Boss Holdings Limited and Boss Media Malta Poker Ltd. This statement seeks to clarify everything.
On Friday 11th April 2008 POKERTRILLION.com achieved a freezing order of the bank accounts of Boss Holdings Limited and Boss Media Malta Poker Ltd. The freezing order was executed at five of the banks where they hold accounts, and it will be executed at the reaming two banks early Monday morning. The freezing order has been made in conjunction and relating to a €45million initial law suit being taken by POKERTRILLION against Boss Media and Webdollar for alleged fraudulent, and potential criminal activities of various personnel and/or the management of Boss Media, or their associated companies in various jurisdictions including but not restricted to, Sweden and Malta.
It is anticipated that this will have a serious detrimental impact on the players who have money with Boss Media or any of its associated companies including Webdollar, because obviously the accounts have now been frozen so it is likely that when the freezing order is executed across all the Webdollar and Boss Media accounts, players will find it impossible to withdraw funds.
POKERTRILLION.com as a small and new entrant to the market is taking a zero tolerance approach to being mistreated by Boss Media, furthermore, owing to the massive irregularities surrounding Boss Media and their handling of POKERTRILLION.com this led to a number of contractual issues that led to POKERTRILLION.com making extremely exciting and important developments in the way in which it operated its business.
Further information will be released as and when the courts give permission for POKERTRILLION.com to discuss such developments. In the interim, all players who hold accounts with POKERTRILLION.com have an unconditional and unlimited guarantee on all funds they hold through POKERTRILLION.com.
It is highly likely, if Boss Media follows the proper code of conduct as it should do, it will have to make a full and complete disclosure to the Stockholm Stock Exchange where they are listed. This invariably will have a catastrophic effect on their share price, and may even lead to the arrest by the authorities of certain members of their management team and the possible suspension of their sharers. This in turn, would mean that players not in the POKERTRILLION.com stable would find their funds in serious jeopardy yet again.
POKERTRILLION.com however is delighted that this situation has created the ability to develop some fantastic new opportunities which are to be revealed in the coming week.
Should you require any further information please contact manager@pokertrillion.com or the judicial courts in Malta.

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AbsolutePoker + Vegas247 merge

AP/VP MERGE - SHOULD HAPPEN FRIDAY 4th‏
From: info@suitedpockets.net
Sent:
Reply-to:
To:


The following is an email sent to you by an administrator of "Suited Pockets". If this message is spam, contains abusive or other comments you find offensive please contact the webmaster of the board at the following address:

info@suitedpockets.net

Include this full email (particularly the headers).

Message sent to you follows:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I've been told that on Friday, April 4th,
VP247 will merge in to Absolute Poker.
This will mean you will have your VP247 account available
to you from the Absolute skin. You'll also retain your
Absolute account. To be clear -- you'll have TWO money
accounts.

For all you VP247 users, please watch your email as
Absolute is set to mass out to everyone pretty soon.

-Marc
Suited Pockets

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Pacific gives WSOP seat to PL.com player

The latest PokerListings.com player to pick up a free seat to the 2008 World Series of Poker Main Event is Michael Killenberger from Germany.
The 33-year-old, self-employed management and financial consultant has been playing poker for about three years.
Killenberger said he was first attracted to poker because of the "competition, the strategic approach and complexity of the game and, of course, the possibility to win money." Now he plays online at Pacific Poker about four times a week.
All that play translated to earning enough player points to get into the WSOP freeroll staged last week at the poker site. Killenberger had signed up at Pacific Poker through PokerListings.com, so he was eligible for the WSOP freeroll after collecting 50 player points during the qualification period.
He was among 151 players who took advantage of the freeroll, which turned out to be a very international event.
"The top eight finishers came from Germany (me), Canada (two guys), Romania, Ireland, Italy, Slovakia and Britain," Killenberger said.
In the end it was German ingenuity that won out as Killenberger took down a player called Honeyel in heads-up play. Killenberger describes the final hand like this:
Blinds were $2,000/$4,000
Chipstacks: me $129,264; Honeyel $21,736
Me SB: Ad-Qd
Just limped in to trap. Hoped he will go all-in pre-flop.
Honeyel checked
Flop came: 6d-Th-4c
I checked. Honeyel went all-in. I called with the two overcards.
Honeyel showed 6s-5s
Turn came Kh. Finally, river came Qc and made me higher pair.
And with that, Killenberger had won a prize package to the 2008 WSOP Main Event that includes the $10,000 buy-in plus money for travel and accommodations.

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