Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Poker News - Full Tilt software update: Tournament dollars and lobby notes added

Full Tilt software update: Tournament dollars and lobby notes added
Full Tilt Poker released a major software upgrade yesterday that apparently contains several significant changes to the backend of the client. While those changes may be largely invisible to users, other changes released in the update should be hits with players. The two major upgrades ��...full article

FTPFull Tilt Poker released a major software upgrade yesterday that apparently contains several significant changes to the backend of the client. While those changes may be largely invisible to users, other changes released in the update should be hits with players.

The two major upgrades are the introduction of tournament dollars and lobby notes. Excerpt from the FTP webpage regarding T$:

Spend your tournament winnings the way you want to with the introduction of Tournament Dollars (T$).

When you win a tournament entry though a satellite, you now have the option to un-register and receive your tournament buy-in back in T$. You can then use your T$s to enter any real money tournament or Sit & Go of your choice.

T$ are not transferable at the moment. Excerpt regarding lobby notes:

Finding your buddies and avoiding tough opponents is easier than ever now that you can view Player Notes in both the Main and Tournament lobbies. For ring games, simply click the table of your choice to view the lobby and see which players you’ve marked along with the corresponding color code of the note you assigned.

Whole thing here.



Insatiable lust for poker: Ivey back for more

But, I guess, if a notoriously soft player happens to then sit down at your own personal $500/$1,000 No-Limit Hold'em online table, it's just bad form not to sit and take his money for a while.

That was the case last night as Ivey - fresh from his first WPT title at the L.A. Poker Classic on Thursday, a flight to Vegas and two more days of play ending in a semi-final loss to Chris "Jesus" Ferguson in the NBC Heads-Up Championship - found himself right back at his high-stakes Ivey Deathmatch table on Full Tilt Poker.

For a little while, anyway.

This time, perhaps the most dominant force in poker squared off with guaranteed376 who, after a big winning session against Genius28 last week, may have been looking to roll his profits over against a possibly exhausted and less-sharp Ivey.

On the whole it looked like a short session, lasting only an hour or two and with fairly few huge Ivey-esque pots. And, in the end, it did appear as though Ivey came out ahead.

But, giving credence to the exhuastion theory, guaranteed376 did manage to take at least one big pot - for $107,998.50 - which ended up being the biggest Hold'em pot online over the last 24 hours.

Here's how the big hand began:

Full Tilt Poker Game #5477705591: Table Ivey Deathmatch - $500/$1,000 - No-Limit Hold'em - 21:51:49 ET - 2008/03/02
Seat 1: Phil Ivey ($210,991.50)
Seat 2: guaranteed376 ($53,994.50)
Phil Ivey posts the small blind of $500
guaranteed376 posts the big blind of $1,000
The button is in seat #1

*** HOLE CARDS ***

Phil Ivey raises to $3,000
guaranteed376 calls $2,000

*** FLOP ***

#3c-#Tc-#8s

guaranteed376 checks
Phil Ivey bets $4,000
guaranteed376 calls $4,000

*** TURN ***

#3c-#Tc-#8s-#4c

guaranteed376 checks
Phil Ivey bets $11,000
guaranteed376 has 15 seconds left to act
guaranteed376 raises to $46,994.50, and is all-in
Phil Ivey calls $35,994.50

To see the full hand history, the rest of the Top 10 biggest Hold'em pots won online over the last day, week and month, and lots more industry stats, jump over to the PokerListings.com MarketPulse section.

To check out an exclusive PokerListings.com interview with Ivey minutes after he won the LAPC main event, visit the Live Tournaments section right here.


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Brothers charged in theft-fueled gambling spree
The Daily Record is reporting an interesting story today about brothers Mohammed Imran and Mohammed Irfan, who turned a loophole in the ATM system into a little over $200,000 in cash that they apparently planned to use on a gambling spree, including playing in the ��...full article

RouletteThe Daily Record is reporting an interesting story today about brothers Mohammed Imran and Mohammed Irfan, who turned a loophole in the ATM system into a little over $200,000 in cash that they apparently planned to use on a gambling spree, including playing in the WSOP and entering high-stakes poker cash games.

Excerpt:

But yesterday, the swindlers admitted stealing £154,640 using an expired HBOS bank card.

The brothers planned to splash the cash in Las Vegas casinos, gambling against some of the world’s top poker players.

They wanted to play in a series of high-stake competitions including the Annual World Series of Poker in the city’s Rio Hotel.

Before the offence, Imran and Irfan competed regularly at Las Vegas’s top casinos, such as the one at the Bellagio Hotel - made famous in the Ocean’s 11 film.

Glasgow Sheriff Court heard the scam came about after the Halifax and Bank of Scotland carried out an overhaul of their autoteller system when they merged in 2005.

Whole thing here.



Bodog Poker Open kicks off this week
Online poker room Bodog Poker kicks off the inaugural installment of their tournament series, The Bodog Poker Open, on March 3rd with a $250 No Limit event that will have $10,000 added to the prize pool. The entire schedule is reprinted below. All of the ��...full article

BodogOnline poker room Bodog Poker kicks off the inaugural installment of their tournament series, The Bodog Poker Open, on March 3rd with a $250 No Limit event that will have $10,000 added to the prize pool. The entire schedule is reprinted below.

All of the events in the BPO have substantial amounts added to the pool as Bodog looks to generate interest in the series.

(more…)



PPA discloses 2007 lobbying totals

The PPA's 2007 lobbying total of $900,000 was up from $540,000 in 2006. In 2005, the first year of its existence, the PPA spent $260,000 on lobbying.

The non-profit PPA, which was founded in 2005, used the money to hire five Washington, D.C. lobbying firms in the hopes of influencing congressional opinion on legislation related to online poker.

Among the bills the PPA supports are Rep. Barney Frank's Internet Gambling Regulation and Enforcement Act (H.R. 2046), Rep. Jim McDermott's Internet Gambling Regulation and Tax Enforcement Act (H.R. 2607), Rep. Robert Wexler's Skill Game Protection Act (H.R. 2610) and Rep. Shelly Berkley's Internet Gambling Study Act (H.R. 2140).

Ogilvy Government Relations was the biggest recipient of PPA funds in 2007, with reported contract expenses of $480,000. The firm's Web site says Ogilvy "was founded on the principle that intelligence, experience, hard work and dedication can solve virtually any problem in Washington."

Other firms named in the PPA's disclosure forms include Patton Boggs LLP ($180,000), Park Strategies ($160,000), Barnes & Thornburg ($60,000) and Mattox Woolfolk LLC ($60,000). Park Strategies was founded in 1999 by PPA Chairman Alfonse D'Amato.

There is some evidence that efforts on behalf of the PPA such as Ogilvy's are beginning to pay dividends. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), chairman of the House Democratic Policy Committee and the House Education and Labor Committee, recently signed on as a co-sponsor of the Internet Gambling Regulation and Enforcement Act, bringing the total number of co-sponsors for Rep. Frank's bill to 46.

That good news appears to have bolstered spirits at the PPA. Director John Pappas recently told PokerListings.com that "it's not a question of if it will happen; it is only a question of when it will occur. It's a political impossibility to ignore the realities, that we need a regulated industry to protect the players and the game itself."

The OpenSecrets.org report on the PPA's lobbying expenditures is available here. More information on the Poker Players Alliance, including links to the full text and tracking of all the bills it supports, can be found at the PPA Web site.

Related Article: Pappas Looking to Expand PPA in 2008


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Hawbaker, Sklanskly, slightly autistic Sue
The ongoing drama involving Brandi Hawbaker and 2+2 honcho David Sklansky took a turn for the weirder this week when Sklansky, apparently acting preemptively in the face of threats from Hawbaker, issued a long, entirely bizarre thread on 2+2. A summary wouldn’t begin to do it ��...full article

HawbakerThe ongoing drama involving Brandi Hawbaker and 2+2 honcho David Sklansky took a turn for the weirder this week when Sklansky, apparently acting preemptively in the face of threats from Hawbaker, issued a long, entirely bizarre thread on 2+2.

A summary wouldn’t begin to do it justice. Here’s an excerpt and a link:

For the last 2 1/2 years I have been living with a handicapped 23 year old girl named Sue. She is blind in one eye and partially blind in the other. She is slightly disfigured, slightly autistic, and has frequent seizures. She can’t drive and can’t distinguish left from right. The cause of these things is that she is the product of incest. But she has an IQ of 125, is very artistic and loves everybody. She especially loved Brandi and was also attracted to her.

My relationship with her is unusual and private but is by no means a dark secret. Dozens of people know the details including of course Mat and Mason. Her mother loves me.


Whole thing here
.

Wicked Chops judges Sklansky here.



Chris Ferguson wins the National Heads Up Poker Championship
Adding an exclamation point to an already impressive NHUPC resume, Chris ‘Jesus’ Ferguson triumphed over a field of 63 opponents to bring home the 2008 National Heads Up Poker Championship title. Ferguson defeated fellow Full Tilt Poker pro Andy Bloch to win the title and half ��...full article

HUPCAdding an exclamation point to an already impressive NHUPC resume, Chris ‘Jesus’ Ferguson triumphed over a field of 63 opponents to bring home the 2008 National Heads Up Poker Championship title.

Ferguson defeated fellow Full Tilt Poker pro Andy Bloch to win the title and half a million in cash.

This year marked Ferguson’s third appearance at the final table in four attempts, a pretty astounding feat.

For some excellent photos from the final match, check out Poker Prof’s blog here.

For detailed coverage on the match, visit PN.com here.



Swede reaps benefit of PartyPoker/PL.com freeroll

Lindblom has been playing for about four years now and hails from Västervik, Sweden. He earns a living as a DJ and poker player.

"My little brother introduced me to poker," he said. "He showed me an episode of the WPT and after that I played some live games."

Now Lindblom plays online poker every day and makes the journey to the casino at least twice a month for some live action. Lindblom got a little luck to win the freeroll but played a solid game throughout.

"The field was mixed," he said. "I got a lot of good hands at the end of the tourney and built a big stack for heads-up play."

Because of that big stack it took only five hands for Lindblom to best his opponent in heads-up play. Lindblom held A-6 while his opponent had Q-5 and all the chips went in the middle. There were no surprises on the board and Lindblom walked away the winner.

Lindblom checks PokerListings.com a few times a week to catch up on news, tips and room reviews. His favorite room to play at is PartyPoker.com.

"I play at three different sites but most of the time at Party Poker because there are always a number of tables running and a lot of players," he said. "I like the support too. I receive quick answers and they are always kind."

When asked what he would with the money he won, Lindblom responded that he would withdraw a percentage and add the rest to his bankroll.

Keep checking PokerListings.com to learn more about exciting upcoming freerolls offered through PartyPoker.com.

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