01:27 min., February 21 2012
The room is more full than was expected for today. Sarah has the details on who is here for Day 1b and who survived Day 1a.View the original article here
01:34 min., January 25 2012
Find out who will be returning to Day 3 of the 10th Anniversary Aussie Millions Main Event.View the original article here
01:55 min., December 05 2011
It's Day 1a here at EPT Prague and players are filing in including the past two champions at this stop. Kristy fills you in.View the original article here
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02:41 min., October 11 2011
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Now that Pokerlistings.com and PartyPoker have gotten cozy (thanks to their sponsorship of our WSOP coverage) we’re taking the time to check in with their Team Pros here at the WSOP.
Bodo Sbrzesny joined Team PartyPoker in 2009 after enjoying immense success playing online. Sbrzesny was so successful, in fact, that thanks to winning a rake race he secured himself a spot on The Poker Den, a popular televised cash game in Europe.
Sbrzesny managed to more than double his $20,000 buy-in playing against experienced pros like Roland de Wolfe and Barney Boatman.
He’s in Las Vegas this summer playing the WSOP and he got his first result this afternoon, finishing 22nd out of 2,828 for $19,127.
We caught him moments after busting so he could bring us up to speed on his World Series.
PokerListings: This is a great result in such a big field. What do you think of these low buy-in, big-field events at the WSOP?
Bodo Sbrzesny: It’s great to play these types of tournaments because with so many players the prize pools get really big. It’s great to have a chance at a really big score for such a low buy-in.
There’s more than half a million dollars for first in these events so it’s definitely good money for three days of work if you can win.
The fields are definitely really soft but it’s also a lot of fun playing with recreational players. It’s not all quiet and business at the table.
People are having a lot of fun and talking so it’s much more social.
Even though it’s a good result it must be hard to get this close and bust with just a few tables left.
Yeah, if I had made the final table it would have been a good achievement but a 22nd-place finish doesn’t really mean much.
The cash is nice of course. It means I can go out and party (laughs).
Does this finish give you more motivation to play even harder in the next event?
I feel like I already have the motivation to get something big this summer.
For me it’s more about feeling good about your table when you’re this deep. I felt like this table was a bit soft so it’s too bad I couldn’t go deeper.
When you’re here in Las Vegas is it all poker or are you doing other stuff to have fun?
Usually I like to party a lot. Last year I think we went out like 20 nights (laughs).
But this year I’m trying to play about 15 tournaments and get some real results so I’m definitely not partying as much.
Because I decided to play a lot of events this summer I know it’s going to be hard, and I know it’s going to cost like $40,000, so it’s really important I play my best and get some results.
If I was only here to play a few events I’d be out partying a lot more.
For all the action from Las Vegas keep an eye on our 2011 WSOP Live Coverage section, brought to you by PartyPoker.
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01:57 min., September 30 2011
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September 29 2011, Chad Holloway
After the Alderney Gaming Control Commission (AGCC) announced the revocation of Full Tilt Poker's license, the site released a statement to PokerStrategy. In the statement, FTP claims an “interested investor testified before the Commission” during the September 19, 2011 hearing; however, as a result of revoking the license, the AGCC’s decision “makes it more difficult to execute the sale of the company and hence repay its players.”
The statement concluded: “Notwithstanding the potential damage done by the Commission and its disregard for our players, Full Tilt Poker remains committed to repaying its players in full and continues in active negotiations. A further statement will follow shortly."
On an unrelated note, the U.S. Department of Justice released an update of its own regarding player funds. The update was issued as part of the Department of Justice's Victim Notification System, where the "government attempts to identify each victim in a given case, and to provide those victims with the information necessary to access the Victim Notification System."
In the update, the DOJ assures victims that the FBI and other agencies are attempting to secure as many FTP funds and records as they can, with the possibility of returning the “forfeited funds to victims.” However, the DOJ admits that this is not certain and would be contingent upon many factors including the amount seized, successful litigation, and other procedures. In regards to a time frame, the DOJ states: “We cannot predict the duration of proceedings in this case, other than to state that they will last for many months at the least.”
Reprinted below is the DOJ’s statement in full:
After the amended complaint in United States v. Pokerstars et al., 11 Civ. 2564 (LBS), was filed on September 22, 2011, the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York received a number of new inquiries from individuals regarding the recovery of their funds from Full Tilt Poker.
By way of background, in April of 2011, this Office entered into a domain-name use agreement with Full Tilt Poker. That agreement, among other things, expressly authorized Full Tilt Poker to return player funds to players. However, as the September 22 amended complaint alleges, Full Tilt Poker did not in fact have player funds on hand to return to players. Instead, the amended complaint alleges that Full Tilt Poker had, among other things, (a) transferred significant amounts of players’ real money deposits to principals of the company, while (b) allowing many players to continue to gamble, and “win” and “lose,” with phantom credits in their player accounts.
At this time, this Office, together with the FBI and other agencies, is attempting to trace, secure and forfeit as much as possible of the funds derived from operation of the fraud committed by Full Tilt Poker and its board members that is alleged in the amended complaint. The Office is also attempting to obtain and examine the books and records of Full Tilt Poker. Many of those books and records are kept overseas. The return of forfeited funds to victims of the alleged fraud may be possible, but will depend on several factors, including the successful conclusion of the litigation, the amount of funds seized and ordered forfeited by the court, and compliance with other procedures the Department of Justice may eventually establish regarding return of forfeited funds to victims who lost money as a result of the alleged fraudulent conduct. ?We cannot predict the duration of proceedings in this case, other than to state that they will last for many months at the least. We will apprise victims of the alleged fraud of future developments as appropriate. General information regarding what is known as “remission” (i.e., return to victims) of funds that have been seized and forfeited is set forth in Department of Justice regulations found at 28 C.F.R. Part 9.
For news, updates, and more follow PokerNews on Twitter and Facebook.
Follow Chad Holloway on Twitter — @ChadAHolloway
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September 16 2011, Elaine Chaivarlis
We know you want to get your weekend kicked off just as bad as we do, so we're going to get straight to the point today. First we'll give you an update from the Partouche Poker Tour, then we'll tell you what Manny Pacquiao has to do with the Asian Poker Tour, and after that, we'll sprinkle in a few other news.
In Case You Missed It
We know you miss the PokerNews hostesses when there aren't live tournaments running, but we've remedied the situation this week. Kristy Arnett and Sarah Grant discuss the top poker news stories in the newest edition of the PokerNews Weekly.
You get daily recaps of the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker, but what about the high-stakes online cash games? Don't worry, not everyone is grinding tourneys, the Online Railbird Report has the scoop on the heavy hitters.
On Day 12 of the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker, Shane Schleger added his name to the list of Team PokerStars members to win a gold bracelet. He wasn't the only one to win a bracelet though, read our daily WCOOP recap for all of the results.
Who are you going to start on your fantasy team this week? Should you bet that team with that spread? The Pigskin Diaries attempts to help you out for week two of the 2011-2012 NFL season.
There's has been a bit of controversy surrounding poker player Michael DiVita and the Epic Poker League. We sat down with DiVita, and EPL's Standard and Ethics chair Stephen Martin, to get their stories.
*Photo courtesy of TheAsianPokerTour.com
Une Mise à Jour (an update)Our French is getting better. If the Partouche Poker Tour Main Event doesn't end soon, we may be writing the Nightly Turbo in French every night — not. Day 4 of the PPT began with 47 of the original 579 entrants.
It was a bad day for start-of-the-day chip leader, Juan Maceiras he began the day in the "penthouse," but was eliminated in 36th place, taking home €20,000. Ludovic Lacay, who began Day 4 second in chips fared a little better. He has moved on to Day 5, but bagged up the third-shortest stack in the room — 365,000.
Sam Trickett (512,000), Juha Helppi (366,000), and Will Failla (775,000) are also part of the 18 who moved on to Day 5.
The €5,000 buy-in heads-up event also kicked off on Friday at the Partouche Poker Tour in Cannes. Thirty-two players entered, including Phil Hellmuth, Sorel Mizzi, Alex Kravchenko, Olivier Busquet, Daniel Cates, James Bord, Andrew Feldman, Jake Cody, and JP Kelly.
To find out who advanced in the heads-up event, check out the PPT chip counts.
PartouchePokerTour.com has all the updates from the Main Event.
Let's Get Ready to Ruuummmbbblllleeeee!Manny Pacquiao and the Asian Poker Tour are joining forces. From Dec. 7 through 12, the APT is holding Manny Pacquiao World Poker Event at the Pan Pacific Hotel's Asia Poker Sports Club in Malate, Philippines. The deal was signed last week, and will become an official APT Accredited Event given the approval from the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation.
“The APT is obviously proud to be ensuring its popular and trusted protocol is followed at the Manny Pacquiao World Poker Event. I’m sure it will be a pleasure working with such a respected personality as Manny and we’re looking forward to seeing a large turnout come December 7," said APT tournament director Lloyd Fontillas.
Pacquiao, who is a ten-time world boxing title holder, is a supporter of poker in the region. The event will feature a PHP 500,000 High Roller, PHP 11,000 Pot-Limit Omaha event, and PHP 50,000 buy-in Main Event.
If you want to find out more, check out TheAsianPokerTour.com.
Was there ever a day we thought we'd use both of Buffer's catchphrases in headlines in the same piece? No, but it happened. There are two big fights going down this weekend: Floyd Mayweather is fighting Victor Ortiz, and Jake Shields and Jake Ellenberger are headlining the UFC's Battle in the Bayou.
You may be concerned with those fights because you plan on dropping serious dough on them, but you should also know that fellow poker player Terrence Chan is making his fighting debut at Battlefield Fight League 11. The fights take place Sept. 17 at the Vogue Theatre in Vancouver, B.C., Canada.
Chan was busy cutting weight on Friday, but for the last few weeks, he's been answering questions in a TwoPlusTwo thread dedicated to his fight.
To find out more about the Battlefield Fight League 11 card, check out BattlefieldFight.com and you can read about Chan's MMA journey on his blog.
LGA on LockPoker.euLast month, the Lotteries and Gaming Authority of Malta announced that LockPoker.eu had "no connection whatsoever with the Authority" and the LGA logo on LockPoker's website was "false and misleading."
The LGA issued another announcement regarding LockPoker on Thursday, clarifying some things.
"Lockpoker.eu is a website which has now been notified to the Authority as an intermediary of Alfard Malta Ltd (holder of a Maltese Remote Gaming Licence LGA/CL3/694/2010) which is to be operated on the Merge Gaming Malta platform (holder of Licence LGA/CL4/693/2010). Although duly licensed in Malta Alfard Gaming Ltd does not yet have the authorization to go live from Malta as currently Merge Malta Limited is in the process of finalising its technical setup in accordance with the Maltese Regulations, a process to be concluded shortly."
"The Authority, however, denies spins by certain sections of the media. This was a case of having failed to notify the Authority of an intermediary arrangement in a timely fashion. The Authority, ever vigilant in the public interest, took immediate action as it does in all similar cases, irrespective of the nature of the infringement."
It seems as though it was all a misunderstanding.
Read more at LGA.org.mt.
Follow us on Twitter for up-to-the-minute news, tell your friends about us by "liking" the Nightly Turbo, and while you're at it, sign up for the newsletter below.
Follow Elaine Chaivarlis on Twitter — @LaneyLV
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September 14 2011, Elaine Chaivarlis
It's Wednesday, and all we can think of is getting to the weekend so we can partake in some good old fashioned pizza eating and football watching. Luckily we're halfway through the week and pretty much through with our work day. Don't worry, we won't leave you before delivering the news. Read on to see what Full Tilt Poker didn't say said in it's latest press release, find out why you won't be happy with the Alderney Gambling Control Commission, and more.
In Case You Missed It
Kristy Arnett, Chad Holloway, and Rich Ryan discuss the Epic Poker League, World Poker Tour, and WCOOP, then they're joined by Michael "Timex" McDonald. What did he have to say? You're going to have to listen to the PokerNews Podcast to find out.
The PokerStars.net Russian Poker Series concluded last weekend. The event attracted 322 entrants and created a prize pool of $718,000. Check out our recap of the RPS event to find out who won.
Three bracelets were awarded on Day 10 of the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker. We'll tell you that Noah Boeken won one, but two find out who else did, you'll have to read the daily WCOOP recap.
ESPN's coverage of the World Series of Poker continued Tuesday night. Daniel Negreanu, Allen Cunningham, and Jean-Robert Bellande were featured on the Day 5 broadcast.
Casinos in Ecuador have six months to shut their doors, following a law that was passed prohibiting gambling in the country. Inside Gaming has that story and you'll find out how much more Wynn Macau is willing to pay for a lot on the Cotai Strip.
The PokerNews Live Reporting Team is gearing up for the World Series of Poker Europe in Cannes, France. If you are too, then you'll need to check out the PokerNews Jet Set, if you're not, check it out anyway — it'll probably make you book your ticket immediately.
Full Tilt Poker StatementOn Wednesday, Full Tilt Poker released its latest statement to PokerStrategy.com. The statement touches on the the financial issues the company is facing and how it is positioning itself to deal with them. According to the press release, approximately 250 positions at Pocket Kings Ltd. could be affected by the new cost optimization program.
Here is the statement in its entirety:
"On April 15th 2011 the United States Department of Justice unsealed a federal indictment against a number of individuals employed by major online poker operators. After the issuance of that indictment and a related civil case brought by the United States government, Full Tilt Poker withdrew from the US market. Then in a related action, on June 29th, 2011, Full Tilt Poker had its operating licenses suspended by the Alderney Gambling Control Commission."
"As a result, Pocket Kings Ltd. (provider of marketing and technology services to Full Tilt Poker) has adopted a cost optimization program and estimates that they need to reduce their costs by approximately €12m. This program is intended to streamline the company’s operations in order to better position itself for future growth and profitability in Full Tilt Poker’s markets outside of the U.S."
"If all of the required cost savings were to be achieved through redundancies, approximately 250 positions could be affected; however the exact number cannot be confirmed until the conclusion of a consultation process with its workforce."
"Notwithstanding the foregoing, Pocket Kings firmly believes it has a very strong future in Full Tilt Poker’s Non-US Markets, and is fully committed to ensuring Full Tilt Poker restores the site and repay players in full. To this end, Full Tilt Poker has retained Sea Port Group Securities, LLC as its financial advisor with regard to raising capital and/or assisting in securing a strategic partner in order to fund continued operations of Full Tilt Poker's non-U.S. business. The Company is in active discussions with several parties and will provide a further statement in due course."
Behind Closed DoorsThe Alderney Gambling Control Commission will hold its hearing regarding Full Tilt Poker on Sept. 19 — four days after its "deadline." The public may have been allowed at the first hearing in July, but there will be no such luck this time around. The AGCC released a statement today announcing that the hearing will take place "in camera" which we guess is a fancy way to say "behind closed doors." We're pretty sure the public is a little fired up about this, but there's also someone else who doesn't agree with this decision, executive director of the AGCC, Andre Wilsenach.
“I am pleased that the FTP hearing will continue as scheduled, as was argued on my behalf. However, I am disappointed with the tribunal’s decision that, notwithstanding my arguments to the contrary, the hearing will be held in private. I believe the public has a right to know the reasoning behind the decisions to suspend FTP’s licences and call a hearing, and to hear the evidence that will be put forward on my behalf," Wilsenach said in the press release.
"It is my understanding that the tribunal conducted a difficult balancing exercise of the interests of the various parties, taking into account the legal arguments for and against further postponing the hearing, and for and against allowing the public to attend the proceedings.”
GamblingControl.org has more.
Partouche Poker Tour UpdateOf the 333 players who entered Day 1b of the Partouche Poker Tour, only 182 survived. Chino Rheem, Olivier Busquet, Freddy Deeb, Tobias Reinkemeier, Jason Mercier, Sam Trickett, Antonio Esfandiari, and Daniel Cates were among those who made it to Day 2. Those 182 combined with the Day 1a survivors bring the Day 2 starting field to 322.
Soon after the dinner break on Day 2, Jason Mercier was eliminated when, according to PartouchePokerTour.com, his 
failed to get there versus his opponent's nines.
Many of the notables were eliminated on Day 2 of the Main Event, but that didn't stop them from getting in on side-event action. The €1,500 side event attracted a field of 285, including Phil Laak, Vanessa Selbst, Fabrice Soulier, Guillaume Darcourt, Matthew Waxman, and Jennifer Tilly.
Here's an interview with Mercier right before his bust-out.
Check out PartouchePokerTour.com for more.
Poker Traffic UpdateIt's that time of the week again — you know, when we bring you the latest online poker traffic numbers. According to PokerScout, online poker traffic saw a 1.3 percent increase this week, with seven of the top 10 sites booking increased week-over-week numbers in traffic.
PokerStars, PokerStars.it, and PokerStars.fr were the three sites in the top 10 that saw decreases in traffic. As for the second and third place spots, Both PartyPoker (6 percent gain) and the iPoker Network (3 percent gain) saw solid increases in traffic, but PartyPoker is still sitting in third but is slowly gaining on the iPoker Network.
PokerScout's ACES indicator shows that year-over-year, online poker traffic has decreased 29 percent. Year-over-year gainers include 888poker (118 percent), Bodog (55 percent), and the iPoker Network (21 percent).
Everest Poker, the Microgaming Network, and the Ongame Network have all seen 20 percent decreases in year-over-year traffic.
There is plenty more data where this came from, and you can find it at PokerScout.com.
Another Free-Play Online Poker SiteThe Barona Resort and Casino in San Diego announced the launch of its beta free-play online poker site.
"Barona free-play online poker is one more way that we make fun happen for our Barona players," said Rick Salinas, general manager of Barona Resort & Casino. "We are always looking for new and inventive ways to bring excitement to our players and our new free-play site gives us the opportunity to provide more fun for our players while they are at home."
Barona's online poker site is only in beta release but is expected to fully launch in the next few months. The entirely free-play site will allow Club Barona members to play poker for free from their homes with the opportunity to win prizes like accommodations at Barona's hotel, rounds of golf on its championship golf course, gift certificates to the casino's restaurants, and Barona-branded apparel.
Find out more about the launch at MarketWatch.com.
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Follow Elaine Chaivarlis on Twitter — @LaneyLV
