Archive for June, 2011

Toby Maguire Sued for $300k Won in Illegal Poker Game

Saturday, June 25th, 2011

Poker’s quest to appear as unpalatable as possible in the mainstream media continued this week with news of a high profile law suit. Toby Maguire, star of Spiderman, has been sued by two individuals who claim that he won hundreds of thousands of dollars stolen from them by a convicted fraudster. The news has been the talk of poker forums for the past 24 hours.

Bradley Ruderman was found guilty of operating an ponzi scheme back in 2007 and is currently serving a 10 year prison sentence. An investigation by the FBI uncovered some additional information, including the exclusive poker game Ruderman liked to attend.

Held in classy hotels around California, a regular group of businessmen, filmmakers, and hustlers gathered to play for high stakes. Pots were reported to be in the tens of thousands of dollars, involving Gabe Kaplan and film director Nick Cassavetes. The kind of stakes that rival even the biggest tables at top texas holdem sites.

The claimants are looking to recover $311,000 from Maguire. Toby reportedly won the money from Ruderman over a number of sessions and the disgraced businessman paid off his debts using money illegally embezzled from the two plaintiffs. Maguire…

Phil Ivey Issues Public Statement Against Full Tilt

Wednesday, June 8th, 2011

Players everywhere were stunned when they heard that Phil Ivey filed a lawsuit against Tiltware, famous for offering some of the online poker best games around. Widely regarded as the best poker player in the world, he is claiming $150 million to cover the money he has lost due to damage to his reputation.

The problems have been rampant with Full Tilt since April 15th, when they were indicted by the Department of Justice. Their biggest worries come from the fact that they have been unable to repay American players despite reaching a so-called agreement with the Department of Justice. PokerStars players were paid back weeks ago, which makes the situation even worse for this download free poker site.

Ivey is unhappy with the way the site has handled the problems. Moreover, he feels that his “name and reputation have been dragged through the mud” because of “inactivity and indecision”.

To highlight his cause, Ivey will not be playing any WSOP events this year. He brought up the fact that since many Americans have money trapped on Full Tilt, they are unable to afford entry into WSOP tournaments. He feels that it is morally wrong for him…

Allen Bari Wins WSOP Event #4

Tuesday, June 7th, 2011

The first in a long line of 2011 bracelet winners have been enshrined. Among their number is first-time WSOP victor Allen Bari. The 26-year-old has been a regular tournament grinder for a few years, but has reached a new high point with his success in Event #4.

The $5,000 No Limit Hold’em Tournament was one of the most popular so far, with 865 players electing to pay the entry fee. The lack of us poker sites has seen tournament fields swell so far this year and while the party atmosphere might not be as buoyant as usual, there are still reasons for hope.

Allen Bari will certainly be feeling pretty good about his World Series, having picked up a career-defining $874,116. The famously arrogant player has attracted more than his fair share of criticism over the years. “I don’t lie. I’m just better than most people at poker,” he told reporters after the event. Having not won a major title since the 2008 Borgata Summer Open, many were beginning to question his bravado.

Thankfully he always had a friend and backer in live and online poker best tournament master Jason Mercier. “I think Allen’s been one of the…

WSOP Rematches Crown New Victors

Friday, June 3rd, 2011

Just mentioning the WSOP evokes years of history. Players measure their worth in the bracelets and define their careers by moments of glorious success or crushing failure. Nowhere are these twin forces more acutely felt than during the final moments of the Main Event. Becoming poker’s World Champion is an incredible feat, but it means heartbreak for your defeated opponent.

Yesterday at the 2011 WSOP, a select group of players were given the chance to relive their famous heads-up battles. First up, Johnny Chan and Phil Hellmuth squared off in front of the poker video cameras. Hellmuth’s victory in 1989 launched his career. At just 24-years-old he became the youngest ever Main Event winner. Already a legend, Chan was aiming for an unprecedented third consecutive victory.

Hellmuth took some time to reminisce before yesterday’s rematch. “When we sat down to play the final, I leaned over and whispered, ‘I’m going to play perfect poker today, so the only way you’re going to beat me is if you play perfect and get lucky.’”

That might have been true in 1989, but in 2011 The Orient Express dominated the match. As the Rio Casino download roulette tables tinkled in the…

New PartyPoker Promo: the Big Draw

Friday, June 3rd, 2011

Not only does PartyPoker have an excellent no download free casino, they also have fantastic poker games. Their brand name is one of the most trusted in the world when it comes to online gambling, and now Black Friday has them setting even loftier goals. The April indictments have opened the doors to customers that might not feel comfortable playing on Full Tilt Poker or PokerStars for the time being.

One of PartyPoker’s recent promotions is the Big Draw. As usual you earn points for playing real money poker games, and then you receive tickets for daily prize draws. Added up all the prizes are worth half a million dollars, and some of them will blow your mind away! For example, you could potentially win a 46 inch television or an iPad! You don’t win iPads while using Bingo codes, do you?

Draws take place every day. You must earn a ticket the same day as the draw to be eligible for it. A cool surprise: all the tickets you used in previous draws are always included in the daily draw provided that you earned at least one new ticket that day!

To win the huge prizes, though,…

Win Your Way into a PokerStars Main Event

Wednesday, June 1st, 2011

People often choose poker rooms based on game selection and poker bonuses. Some sites are better for cash games than others, while other sites are better suited for tourneys. If you also really enjoy live games, satellites for live events might also be a selling point for you. PokerStars has always offered a variety of live satellites, but a recent change has made getting into huge live events even simpler.

I recently mentioned that PokerStars does not have any promotions for the WSOP this year. The PokerStars download doesn’t actually have any WSOP Main Event satellites at the moment. This does not mean that you can’t get into the WSOP Main Event via PokerStars though. There is something called the Main Event Passport that will get you to Vegas.

The Main Event Passport is not limited to just the WSOP. Upon winning a Main Event Passport, you have five options: the WSOP Main Event or one of four PokerStars tours. The PokerStars tours available include the PCA, EPT, LAPT, and APPT.

Each Main Event Passport is worth $13,000. It includes a Main Event buy-in for your tour of choice, and then also cash for expenses. Only a…

PPA May Fly-In a Success

Wednesday, June 1st, 2011

As part of their movement for US poker sites, the Poker Players Alliance (PPA) organized a D.C. fly-in on May 24th. The hope was to bring as many poker advocates as possible to Capitol Hill to show their support for online poker and to stress the need for regulation.

In total around fifty people participated in the rally. The PPA paid for 24 members to fly-in, including a variety of their state directors. They were joined by 12 regular PPA members that were able to pay for their own flights to Washington. In support of the rally, around fifty other PPA members met in district offices closer to home.

The PPA’s executive director made it clear that they did as much as possible to increase participation. “Obviously we would have liked to have more players there, but I’m not sure what the PPA could have done more to promote it,” he stated. He added that the rally was an overall success, especially since organizers only had 3 weeks to put it together.

Clearly casinos for USA players need all the help they can get when it comes to the regulation. Members of Congress have stated that they wouldn’t…