Today, PartyGaming released its preliminary 2007 full-year results and the news that CEO Mitch Garber would not be renewing his contract in May 2009. In late January, PartyGaming announced its net revenue numbers, which showed...
Everest Poker signs multi-year deal with WSOP
GigaMedia Limited, owner of Everest Poker, announced today it has secured a multi-year promotional agreement with the world's largest and most prestigious poker tournament.
Under the terms of the deal Everest Poker will be the sole poker-related table sponsor of the WSOP and will enjoy a prominent logo position on the felt of every table in the competition - as well as exclusive brand positioning on the coveted inner rung of the championship table.
It is assumed Everest Poker will take the place that PartyPoker has held in previous years.
The alliance will also include other prominent on-site visibility at the WSOP, including hanging banners and barricade logos.
"We are very pleased to have Everest Poker join the World Series of Poker family," said WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack. "Everest Poker is one of the leading poker brands in Europe and around the world and will help strengthen our own brand even further."
Everest Poker is one of the world's largest poker sites, and has received critical acclaim from industry journals. The multi-national Everest Poker online community offers customer support and software in over 15 different languages.
Its new WSOP affiliation will only help grow its brand even more, according to GigaMedia CEO Arthur Wang.
"We are proud, very excited for Everest Poker to be the sole poker related table sponsor of the World Series of Poker, one of the greatest championship events in the world," Wang said. "We plan to bring our large international player base to the WSOP to make it an even greater event - in partnership with Everest Poker."
The 2008 WSOP will kick off on May 30 in Las Vegas at the Rio with 55 events scheduled to be played through to July 15.
To learn how to qualify for the WSOP through Everest Poker click here.
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Phil Ivey creeps up POY standings
Thanks to successes he racked up at the beginning of the year, Men "The Master" Nguyen is still atop the POY race. With seven final tables in the first two months (and four wins overall), Nguyen sits with 2,436 points.
Although he wasn't able to add to his point total in either the World Poker Tour's $10,000 L.A. Poker Classic championship event or the WPT Invitational, he has still garnered over $500,000 in winnings and will continue to be a player to watch throughout this poker year.
EPT champion Mike McDonald holds on to his second-place standing, but there's a new contender challenging him and the rest of the field.
After his huge weekend at the end of February, where he won the WPT L.A. Poker Classic and then jetted off to Las Vegas for the 2008 National Heads-Up Poker Championship (tying for third), Full Tilt pro Phil Ivey entered the Top 10 for the first time.
Considered one of the best in the game, Ivey could snag the POY championship if he focuses on the tournament scene instead of the more lucrative cash games.
Joining the Top 10 this week is European Poker Tour Scandinavian Open champion Tim Vance. His winnings of $1,210,699 put him in seventh place at this point.
Another champion from the past two weeks, World Series of Poker Circuit Council Bluffs victor Ben Hock, sits with the same points as Vance but loses out on the 2008 earnings tiebreaker and is in 12th place.
The Top 10 for the PokerListings Player of the Year race looks like this as we enter the second week of March:
| Player | Country | Points | FTA | 2008 Earnings |
| 1. Men Nguyen | United States | 2,436 | 7 | $514,426 |
| 2. Mike McDonald | Canada | 2,140 | 3 | $1,487,214 |
| 3. Phil Ivey | United States | 2,000 | 1 | $1,721,100 |
| 4. Bertrand Grospellier | France | 1,600 | 1 | $2,000,000 |
| 5. Alexander Kostritsyn | Russia | 1,600 | 1 | $1,452,000 |
| 6. Gavin Griffin | United States | 1,600 | 1 | $1,401,109 |
| 7. Tim Vance | United States | 1,600 | 1 | $1,210,699 |
| 8. Howard Lederer | United States | 1,600 | 1 | $1,100,000 |
| 9. Brett Faustman | United States | 1,600 | 1 | $892,413 |
| 10. Bart Tichelman | United States | 1,600 | 1 | $415,595 |
Completed qualifying events: 2008 L.A. Poker Classic, Venetian Deep Stack Extravaganza, 2008 Midwest Regional Poker Championship Main Event, 2008 Oklahoma State Poker Championship (Event 2; Championship Event), EPT Scandinavian Open, 2008 Heartland Poker Tour Mille Lacs Championship Event, 2008 National Heads-Up Poker Championship, WPT Invitational, WSOPC Council Bluffs, 2008 Broadway Festival Main Event, 2008 Campeonata de España-Valencia, 2008 CAPT Bregenz Open (Events 2, 3, 4; Championship Event), 2008 Great British Poker Tour Edinburgh Main Event
Bubbling just under the Top 10 on the POY standings is the aforementioned Hawk in 12th place, as well as another player who won big during the first weekend of March, Chris "Jesus" Ferguson. With his takedown of the National Heads-Up Poker Championship (the third time in the four-year history of the tournament that he has made the final two), Ferguson enters the second tier.
Michael Binger also numbers among this group in 18th place after a victory in one of the preliminary events at the L.A. Poker Classic.
Victory in Los Angeles puts new leader atop Ladies POY race
The Ladies Player of the Year race saw changes at the top this week due to a decisive victory by Marisol Banuelos at the L.A. Poker Classic. Banuelos, a Los Angeles resident, defeated a field of 605 in Event 26, $500 No-Limit Hold'em, and with its prize pool of almost $300,000 earned enough points to place her atop the Ladies POY race.
Former leader Diane Nguyen was unable to earn any more points over the last couple of weeks; she's now in second, albeit with a solid hold on the slot. Two other early-season contenders, professional Vanessa Selbst and Jennifer Golin, are in third and fourth place respectively.
Joining the Ladies Top 10 this week are two recently crowned champions. By becoming the first woman to win a WPT open event, Van Tuyet Nguyen (the wife of Men) jumps up into fifth place, in a tie with several other women. One of them is Lorraine Bane, who won the High Heels Poker Tour stop in Council Bluffs.
The Ladies Top 10 lines up like this:
| Place | Player | Points |
| 1st | Marisol Banuelos | 640 |
| 2nd | Diane Nguyen | 410 |
| 3rd | Vanessa Selbst | 347 |
| 4th | Jennifer Golin | 326 |
| 5th | Lorraine Bane | 320 |
| Regette Bechara | ||
| Marga G. Dominguez | ||
| GiGi Dong | ||
| Christy King | ||
| Irina Liepina | ||
| Van Tuyet Nguyen | ||
| Louise Rocchio |
Over the next two weeks, several events are unrolling that will have a significant impact on the PokerListings POY race. The Wynn Classic in Las Vegas, the WPT's Bay 101 Shooting Star tournament in San Jose, California, the WSOPC stop in Atlantic City and the EPT's Polish Open will all crown champions.
Smaller events will also make their mark, so join us in a couple of weeks to see how the PokerListings Player of the Year races shape up by then.
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#368 – NBC Heads-Up Championship #18 – Chris Ferguson Has Eliminated Phil Ivey to Make the Finals of the Championship for the Third Time in Four Years
Chris Ferguson eliminates Phil Ivey to win his way into the finals. On a board of 9-4-3-5, Chris bets 100,000. Ivey moves all-in. Chris thinks about it for 4 minutes. He’s shaking his head almost imperceptibly. He doesn’t look happy....
Bodog Poker Open Event 2 goes to 3pounder
3pounder outlasted 249 players to take down first place at BPO Event 2: 6-handed. The online player beat pepsiontherocks to win $23,292.
The second event of the BPO brought out many of the elite poker crowd including Team Bodog members David Williams, Josh Arieh and Evelyn Ng. In addition, a number of Bodog regulars like Joe "Dyzalot" Morneau, Matt "thatsNice" Larsh and Jon "PearlJammer" Turner played in the event.
3pounder was another well-known Bodog player and has earned close to $250,000 at the online poker room. Incredibly 3pounder cashed in a $30 re-buy tournament that was also being held on Bodog just after finishing the BPO event.
Next up for the BPO will be Event 3: $100+$10 buy-in No-Limit Hold'em with re-buys. Play gets under way at 8 p.m. (EST) today with Bodog kicking in an extra $10,000 to the prize pool.
The entire series will culminate on Sunday with the BPO $500 buy-in main event featuring a prize pool with an added $25,000 and an Omega Speedmaster watch.
Here are the complete final-table results from Event 2:
1. $23,292.50 - 3pounder
2. $14,822.49 - pepsiontherocks
3. $9,825.20 - SheehanMatt
4. $6,776 - ShuMoneyTonite
5. $5,082 - herdgolf86
6. $3,811.50 - alcarmo
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Full Tilt Poker drops Jonathan Little
That's the message Full Tilt is apparently sending by firing WPT winner Jonathan "Fiery Justice" Little. The decision to drop Little was announced by Full Tilt administrator TilterRick on Tuesday afternoon in the Full Tilt forums.
What follows is an excerpt from the official Full Tilt press release:
"Despite having a great year on the WPT, Jonathan Little is no longer affiliated with Full Tilt Poker. He violated the terms and conditions of Full Tilt Poker by allowing others to play his account. While we encourage our pros to play as much as they can, we do not allow them to share their account with any other players..."
The release went on to say it is imperative that all red Full Tilt pros are, in fact, the pros they are advertised to be. It is assumed Little would have been trying to generate more in rake-back without actually playing.
Suspicions were raised earlier this month on the PocketFives forums when user rusypolano noticed that Little had played 1,227 sit-and-gos in just seven days. It's undetermined if that discovery precipitated Full Tilt's subsequent action. Other forum members have claimed Little was playing on Full Tilt while competing in the NBC National Heads-Up Championship.
Earlier this year Sorel "Imper1um" Mizzi was busted for buying an account from a friend who was deep in an online tournament. Before that, online player Josh "JJprodigy" Fields was busted for multi-accounting.
This is the first case of a well-known professional player getting caught violating his sponsor's terms of service.
Little entered the poker spotlight with a first-place finish at the 2007 WPT Mirage Poker Championship, after considerable online success. Little went on to have an exceptional season at the WPT with a seventh-place finish at the Gulf Coast Poker Championship, a second-place finish in the WPT North American Championship and finally a 53rd-place finish at the Doyle Brunson World Poker Classic.
Little has cashed for well over $2 million in WPT events alone and also has numerous cashes at the WSOP.
Meanwhile the online poker community is buzzing over Little's apparent firing. Some think he should have received a warning before termination while others are simply calling it justice.
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#362 – NBC Heads-Up Championship #12 – Highlights from High Noon
In the second pair of brackets today, Clubs/Spades, all but one of the matches ended in 70 minutes and without as much weird action has the Diamonds/Hearts round of 32. I was saving up my round-up notes for the end...
Canadian online gambling coming under fire
Home to about 400 online poker and sports-betting sites, including Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker, Kahnawake is thought to have the third-largest number of gambling operators of any jurisdiction in the world.
The reserve's online gambling business came under fire in December when one of its customers pleaded guilty to illegal online gaming charges in Quebec and agreed to pay a $2 million fine.
At the time, Joe Delaronde, a member of the Kahnawake band council, told CBC that the charges against the company and the fines in Quebec were part of the wider jurisdictional battle between the Mohawk community and the provincial and federal governments.
The online gambling battle in general was kicked up another notch in February when Hon. Roy Cullen (Etobicoke North, Lib.) raised the issue during a debates session of the House of Commons. He said at the time:
"Mr. Speaker, every day Canadians are being victimized by illegal Internet gambling operations. While it is a crime to operate Internet gambling websites in Canada, this has not stopped many offshore companies from soliciting bets from Canadians."
He goes on to point out that the illegal online gambling industries are hurting legitimate gaming industries such as Woodbine in Etobicoke North (outside of Toronto), costing millions of dollars in lost revenue and putting Canadians out of work.
"When is the government going to act? What steps is the government going to take to address this problem? Or does it not care?" he asks.
Minister of Justice Rob Nicholson's response was to point out that Cullen's observation that Internet gambling is illegal is correct, though there are exceptions.
"That being said, I have asked departmental officials to look into ways in which we might assist with the enforcement of the Criminal Code," Nicholson said.
Genevieve Breton, Nicholson's director of communications, confirmed in a National Post article this week that following recent concerns surrounding Internet gambling, the Minister of Justice has directed his officials to investigate whether other measures could assist with the enforcement of the Criminal Code against the reserve in Quebec and other illegal online gambling operations.
According to the National Post, those other measures are understood to be moves to restrict banks and credit card companies from allowing online gambling transactions, similar to what the United States passed with the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act.
While those efforts have found support from owners of horse racing tracks such as the Great Canadian Gaming Corp., the Mohawks of Kahnawake continue to insist such laws wouldn't apply to them.
They point to their sovereignty as well as to Section 35 of the Constitution, which protects native culture.
According to the Mohawks, gaming has been central to their culture as a means of settling disputes through competition rather than violence.
Michael Lipton, a Toronto lawyer who specializes in gaming law, said in the National Post article that he believes the government should bring the Kahnawake sites into the system and regulate them. It would provide better protection for customers as well as bringing in tax revenue.
"I think [Ottawa] should embrace this and recognize that people don't want to be in a position where the government tells them what they can or can't do in the peace of their own home," Lipton said in the article.
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- Quebec Fines Online Gambling Site
- Native Band Firm on Internet Casino Hosting
- Internet Gambling Faceoff Brewing in Alberta
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Women's Poker Spotlight: Poker's Fresh New Faces
As we prepare for the 2008 World Series of Poker, it's interesting to ponder what this year's field of women poker players might be like. 2007 was a fantastic year for women in poker as we witnessed the creation of the Women...
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