Internet Texas Holdem

PokerStars is, without a doubt, one of the most innovative money poker sites on the Internet. Running fun promotions is a priority for them, and they are always looking for ways to make the game just that much more fun. Long time users of the site should be familiar with the World Cup of Poker.

The World Cup of Poker puts countries from around the world against each other at the poker table. People that love sandy destinations will be happy to hear that the big event takes place on Paradise Island during the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA).

It should come as no surprise that the theme of the World Cup of Poker is soccer. Each team has different positions that were inspired by the popular sport. There were four open spots on each team, and to receive one, a player was required to download PokerStars and place first in an online qualifier. The qualifiers ran on August 20th and 21st.

If you were a normal recreational player, there were three positions open to you. The goalkeeper position was a freeroll. Players had to pay $1.10 to compete for the defender position. Furthermore, the midfielder position…

The very first Epic Poker League Main Event is in the books. The tournament took place in Vegas, started on August 9th and finished up on August 12th. 137 people ponied up $20k each to buy-in, and $400,000 was donated to the prize pool by the league itself. This meant that first place was $1 million with the total prize pool $3,140,000. That’s an awful lot of money for some extracurricular online casino gambling.

It’s no surprise that the final table was extremely tough, with over $45 million in total tournament earnings and 16 bracelets at the table. Both Jason Mercier (a PokerStars download pro) and Erik Seidel were at this final table, two of live poker’s hottest pros in this day and age. Mercier has gone deep in countless huge events the last few years. It can be argued, though, that Seidel is having one of the most impressive years of tournaments the poker world has ever seen. Before the final table Seidel had cashed for $5 million in 2011 so far, including an impressive four outright wins.

Joining Mercier and Seidel at the final table were Hasan Habib, Gavin Smith, David “Chino” Rheem, and Huck…

Of the poker series hosted in major Canadian cities, the British Columbia Poker Championships (BCPC) is one of the best. The BCPC takes place at the River Rock Casino Resort in Richmond British Columbia, and it will enjoy its sixth year in 2011.

Daniel Negreanu won the Main Event of the BCPC back in 2008 for $371,910. The PokerStars download ran satellites to the tourney that year, and several poker pros made the trip to play it.

The series has remained fairly popular over time as the location is just a short distance from Vancouver, one of the most popular cities in the world. A lot of the locals that download free poker in the area hear about it and decide to make the short commute to participate.

This year’s series will run from October 25th to November 9th with four events. The first event of the series is a bounty event, costing $550 to enter and featuring a maximum field of 528. The estimated prize pool is $237,600. The event will last four days in total, wrapping up on October 28th.

The next event, a $1,100 No Limit Hold’em tournament, has an estimated prize…

There haven’t been many beneficiaries from Black Friday, but the newly minted bwin.Party were expected to be one of the few. The result of a recent merger between Austrian gambling experts Bwin and longtime online poker giants Party Gaming, the duo became the world’s biggest listed online gambling group when they melded together earlier this year.

With the likes of Full Tilt and Absolute Poker shedding thousands of customers, the best euro poker sites were expected to pick up most of the slack. Instead, PokerStars has snapped up a large chunk of the floating player base, while bwin.Party has only seen marginal gains. This poor performance saw share prices take a massive drop, with worried investors shedding their stake in the company.

Over the last few days, the tide has finally started to turn. Since falling 45%, the bwin.party share price closed at 105.7p yesterday. The rise was largely due to a rumored take-over by Wynn Resorts. The Las Vegas casino conglomerate, owned by Steve Wynn, may pay as much as 170p a share for the online gambling company.

With the possibility of a sale in mind, financial analysts have begun recommending bwin.Party as a sound investment. Meanwhile,…

Recently the Epic Poker League saw its first event take place in the Palms Resort Casino in Las Vegas, one of the most popular casinos for USA players. Prior to the Main Event was a $1,500 Pro/Amateur tourney that got 190 participants. Those that finished in the top 9 received seats in the Main Event.

128 pros paid the $20k buy-in in addition to the 9 qualifiers, which meant a total field of 137 players. Thanks to the $400k that was added to the prize pool, the total prize pool ended up at $3,085,200.

It comes as no surprise that the field held a huge number of tough pros since that is the goal of the Epic Poker League in the first place. There were the online poker best and also many live specialists. It was expected that there would be an absurd amount of action to look forward to due to the 6-max structure of the event.

At the start of the tourney, everyone had a 250bb stack. Levels were scheduled to last 90 minutes. There was a lot to play for since 1st place awarded an astounding $1,000,000.

The event was not without…

Black Friday has been the start of many problems between poker players as the online poker best have been forced to make many changes. Drama has been rampant, and stories of unethical situations have unfortunately surfaced as a result. A good example of all of the above is the story of Jose “Girah” Macedo.

Macedo became famous as someone who went from rags to riches. Nicknamed the Portuguese Poker Prodigy, he apparently turned a €30 deposit into a bankroll that could support games all the way up to $100/$200 No Limit Hold’em. Two respected players, Daniel “jungleman” Cates and Haseeb “DogIsHead” Qureshi, vouched for his skill and knowledge of the game.

Apparently due to lawyer instruction, Macedo wasn’t willing to tell anyone the screen names he used in online poker rooms. People didn’t really question this, though, because numerous pros were willing to put up six figures worth of action with anyone who wanted to challenge the story of Macedo.

Soon Macedo was made a Lock Poker Pro, but this is where things get sketchy. He was the winner of a Lock Poker competition, but then he was disqualified for multi-accounting. His story was that…

The World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) is less than a month away, and PokerStars has rolled out yet another excellent promotion called the VIP Club Mega Month. It will make it possible for those with small bankrolls to get into a few WCOOP events.

VIP Club Mega Month is a dream come true for low stakes players because now it will take just 10% of the normal VIP Player Points (VPP) requirement to get SilverStar status and up. PokerStars already has one of the best VIP programs of all the money poker sites, and now they have made it possible for even microstakes players to reap the full benefits of the program.

It breaks down as such: to attain SilverStar, you’ll need to get 75 VPP versus the usual 750 VPPPs; to get GoldStar, you’ll need 300 VPPs versus the usual 3,000 VPPs; and to get PlatinumStar, you’ll need just 750 VPPs versus 7,500 VPPs. Another way to quantify it is by determining the amount of rake you will have to pay to achieve each status. You need to spend a mere $14 in tournament fees to achieve SilverStar, and you have to pay $140 total…

After Black Friday, it wasn’t just the big poker sights who felt the pinch. The sudden withdrawal of U.S. funds dealt crushing blows to many online sights and affiliates. While in TV land, sponsorship deals fell by the wayside and many fans feared for the future of their favourite shows.

Devotees of Poker After Dark need not have worried. Last week saw the triumphant return of one of the nation’s best poker video offerings. Proceedings kicked off with a $200/$400 cash game, with players buying in for around $100,000. The show is currently airing on NBC at 2:05 am weekdays, with a special “Director’s Cut” every Saturday at 1:00 am.

Leanne Tweeden and Ali Nejad were on hand to intro and commentate on the action, as usual, and the roster of pros on display looked familiar too. Mike Matusow, Peter Jetten, Brandon Adams, and Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi all took their places at the felt.

Even Chris Ferguson, one of the purported owners of Full Tilt Poker, was present for this season’s opening cash game. Although there was no sign of the brazen Full Tilt advertisements which have swamped previous seasons.

The final cast member will already be familiar…

If you are a fan of online poker rooms, you are likely in tune with the ongoing saga of Full Tilt Poker and their licensing issues. Recently the Kahnawake Gaming Commission gave the site a renewal of their Secondary Client Provider Authorization for a term of two years.

It has come as a surprise to many people to learn that Kahnawake provides Full Tilt with any sort of license in the first place. Kahnawake also provides licensing for UB and AP, two sites that are infamous for scandals. Cereus once hosted some of the best Mac poker sites available, but they were hit hard by the loss of American business since Black Friday. This is, of course, the same problem that Full Tilt has had.

Despite the fact that Full Tilt was able to renew their secondary license, their primary license from the Alderney Gambling Control Commission (AGCC) is still suspended and pending an upcoming hearing. While the hearing between the AGCC and Full Tilt will hopefully take place as soon as possible, chances are they will not meet until September 15th.

Full Tilt’s primary license is still valid despite the fact it is suspended, which…

With a cloud of black doom hanging over Full TIlt, there is at least a small ray of hope for the cash-strapped online poker site. And perhaps their customers, who are still waiting impatiently for refunds on their frozen accounts. Players worldwide are stuck midway through their poker bonuses, hoping for a positive outcome.

The Kahnawake gaming Commission have seen fit to renew Full Tilt’s Secondary Client Provider Authorization (CPA) license. The KGC is based in Mohawk territory, within Canada. They play host to a number of internet slots and gambling sites, including the unpopular Absolute Poker and UB brands.

Full Tilt’s company’s Primary CPA is currently suspended by the Alderney Gambling Control Commission. A hearing was called in London to discuss the suspension, but Full Tilt successfully argued for an adjournment in order to secure investment. A replacement hearing will be convened no later than September 15.

According to KGC regulations, any company whose primary license is suspended must apply for a Primary CPA in Kahnawake.

“In the event the license from the primary jurisdiction is suspended, revoked or allowed to lapse, the holder of a Secondary Client Provider Authorization must, within thirty (30) days, apply…