Poker News - Lawyer: “Poker tournaments aren’t gambling” in PA case

Lawyer: “Poker tournaments aren’t gambling” in PA case
A lawyer who has been charged with operating illegal poker games is saying they aren’t illegal at all. Larry Burns, 63, of Westmoreland County near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was charged last year with misdemeanors for running poker tournaments and earning a profit from them. He wants gambling charges ��...full article

A lawyer who has been charged with operating illegal poker games is saying they aren’t illegal at all.

Larry Burns, 63, of Westmoreland County near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was charged last year with misdemeanors for running poker tournaments and earning a profit from them.

He wants gambling charges against him dismissed, saying poker is not actually gambling, in the latest court case that tries to distinguish poker from other types of wagering.

According to a story at majorwager.com:

“There are, however, a number of reported decisions of various courts of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania that define the terms ‘gambling’ and ‘unlawful gambling’ in ways that do not proscribe such conduct and which specifically state that wagering on poker or playing poker for money or other prices is not ‘gambling’ or ‘unlawful gambling’ within the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,” Burns’ defense attorney David Millstein wrote in a brief filed Thursday.

Whole thing here.

The motion to dismiss will likely be heard later this year.

Bill to suspend internet gambling ban introduced in U.S. Congress
House of Representatives bill 5767, which would serve to lift the ban on online gambling and poker in the United States, was introduced in the United States Congress yesterday by Reps. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) and Ron Paul (R-Texas). The new bill would basically prevent the ��...full article

House of Representatives bill 5767, which would serve to lift the ban on online gambling and poker in the United States, was introduced in the United States Congress yesterday by Reps. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) and Ron Paul (R-Texas).

The new bill would basically prevent the Department of the Treasury from enforcing the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006.
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Freeroll Your Way to Fame at Hollywood Poker

The promotion began March 19 and will run through May 31 with a weekly freeroll for depositing players running each Saturday at noon (EDT).

The freerolls require no fee or points to play; according to Hollywood Poker, they are simply a special "thank you" to all of the poker site's depositing players. And that "thank you" comes with a $300+$20 qualifier ticket to get the freeroll's winner into three weekly WSOP Package give-away events.

The rest of the players in the weekly freeroll final table will also receive a $30+$3 qualifier ticket, giving them a free shot in the WSOP qualifier event.

Hollywood poker has a couple different WSOP packages up for grabs. The first is the $16,000 Premium Package that includes:

• $10,000 WSOP Championship buy-in
• 12-day extended accommodation at the Venetian
• Airfare
• Transportation
• HollywoodPoker Clothing and Merchandise

The site also has $13,000 WSOP Side Event packages that have all the same travel and accommodation coverage, but give the winner $8,000 for WSOP side tournament buy-ins instead of a Main Event buy-in.

"It's all about star treatment at Hollywood Poker, and this is our way of rewarding loyal members who do what they love with us," said Vince Van Patten, Hollywood Poker spokesperson.

Poker players at Hollywood Poker will want to sign up for the weekly freerolls quickly. Space is limited to the first 4,000 players to sign up, and there are probably a lot of players hoping to get their hands on a qualifier ticket to potentially win one of nearly 40 WSOP packages offered at the poker site.

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Griffin, Brown sign on as PokerStars pros

Both players have made some noise on the poker circuit, with Gavin Griffin becoming the first to achieve the Triple Crown of poker and Chad Brown having made a steady living from his tournament winnings since 1993.

Gavin Griffin

Griffin first materialized as a blip on the poker radar in 2004 when he won a World Series of Poker bracelet in the $3,000 Pot-Limit Hold'em event. Since then he's accumulated nearly $4.5 million in tournament winnings, including adding two more major event wins to his record.

The first was his PokerStars European Poker Tour Grand Final win in 2007, propelling him even further into the public eye of the poker world. Then he won the 2008 World Poker Tour Borgata Open, making him the first player to achieve a WSOP, EPT and WPT win.

Griffin's biggest win was the $2.4 million he received for winning the PokerStars EPT Grand Final. He qualified for the tournament at PokerStars via a $600 double shoot-out satellite. Now he'll be representing the poker site as a member of Team PokerStars.

"This is the team I want to play with," Griffin said. "Team PokerStars Pro has nine other gold bracelet winners and the best online players in the world. I am proud to be a part of this lineup."

John Duthie, EPT director, said he was looking forward to seeing Griffin return to the EPT Grand Final to defend his title this weekend.

"The PokerStars EPT Grand Final has a deserved reputation as a showpiece poker tournament, and given the high level of advance entries, I am confident this will be the biggest, richest and most competitive poker event ever staged in Europe," Duthie said.

Chad Brown

#img: chad-brown_18755.jpg: right: Chad Brown#

Brown might be a familiar face to some people outside of the poker world. After growing up in New York City, Brown made his way to Hollywood in the early '90s in pursuit of an acting career.

While finding acting jobs here and there in films and on television, Brown supplemented his income playing poker at casinos across California. In 1993, he went deep to cash in a World Series event and has been cashing in major tournaments around the world on a regular basis ever since.

He's run up more than $2 million in cashes on the poker circuit, including eight cashes in the 2007 WSOP and cashes in WPT and EPT events as well.

His success has also extended to the online poker world. In 2006, he won the $5,200 H.O.R.S.E. event in the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker, earning $223,150.

"I'm ecstatic to be with Team PokerStars Pro," Brown said. "I am obviously familiar with the team from the tournament circuit and it's great to be on a team that includes legends like Daniel Negreanu and Joe Hachem. I am looking forward to winning a few bracelets and contributing to the team."

Some of PokerStars other pros include Chris Moneymaker, Greg Raymer, Barry Greenstein, Isabelle Mercier, Vanessa Rousso, Bertrand Grospellier and more. Brown can be found playing at the poker site as "ChadBrownPro," and Griffin will play under the name "GavinGriffin."

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#361 – NBC Heads-Up Championship #11 – Opinions Are Like A-Holes; Everybody Has One
I took a quick bathroom break right after the Hearts/Diamonds round of 32 concluded. I heard one side of the following cell phone conversation from one of the stalls:...

New host for

Tweeden has been a show host and sports reporter on the Fox Sports Network for the past seven years. She's performed Sports Emmy- and Telly Award-winning work covering everything from mainstream and extreme sports to news and entertainment.

Now she'll be working on Poker After Dark interacting with and interviewing some of poker's biggest stars for the viewers.

This isn't Tweeden's first foray into the poker realm either. She was a co-host and exit interviewer on the Mansion Poker Dome Challenge that aired on the Fox Sports Network in 2006. Poker fans will also find her hosting the 2008 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship when it begins airing Sunday.

With her new stint on Poker After Dark, she replaces Shana Hiatt, who was hosting the show up until the beginning of this year, when fans noticed Marianela Pereyra had taken over as host but Hiatt's photo still remained on the Poker After Dark Web site.

Hiatt had left the show to have a baby, and now she will be officially replaced as host by Tweeden.

Poker After Dark features one exclusive tournament each week bringing together six of the world's best poker players at a time to play for a $120,000 prize. The tournament is broadcast over six consecutive nights on NBC, allowing viewers to witness not only how the cards play out but also the table banter and the occasional tantrums.

The players who've tried their luck on the show include Phil Hellmuth, Doyle Brunson, Mike Matusow, Gus Hansen, Vanessa Rousso, JJ Liu, Phil Ivey, Daniel Negreanu, Chris "Jesus" Ferguson, Clonie Gowan, Cyndy Violette and more.

Check your local listings to find out when the show airs in your area.

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#372 - Chris Ferguson has won the NBC Heads-Up Championship
Details to follow immediately, 9 44 PM....

Epassporte reportedly pulling the plug on US poker players - updated
What started off as a rumor yesterday now appears to be fact, at least for the time being - e-wallet provider Epassporte has closed its doors to US players. The story broke yesterday in a thread over at 2+2. Original post excerpt: Apparently, epassporte has pulled the ��...full article

What started off as a rumor yesterday now appears to be fact, at least for the time being - e-wallet provider Epassporte has closed its doors to US players.

The story broke yesterday in a thread over at 2+2. Original post excerpt:

Apparently, epassporte has pulled the plug on US poker players, effective 1:00 pm PDT this afternoon.

Whole thread here. The poster, nic MiltonFriedman, declined to identify his source.

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Debate flares over WPT Ladies Championship

The WPT Ladies tour, which officially kicked off this January at Borgata in Atlantic City, will also conclude with a $1,500 championship event at the famed Las Vegas poker destination. What the event lacks in buy-in compared to the big tourney is already being made up for in controversy, thanks to a chunk of the prize pool being set aside up front for charity.

What's wrong with charity?

For the inaugural WPT Ladies Championship, the WPT chose to partner with Susan G. Komen for the Cure (SGK), a breast cancer charity which the WPT has supported in the past. While the charitable cause is a good one, the method of donation has raised some eyebrows: rather than soliciting donations from the players, the WPT chose to withhold 15% of the prize pool for a donation to SGK.

The WPT's decision to use the prize pool as a charitable trust has upset some players so much that they have decided not to play in the event at all.

Former WSOP Ladies Event champion Susie Isaacs was one of the first to step forward and declare that she would not play in the WPT Ladies Championship. In a post on her blog titled The World Poker Tour Ladies Championship Controversy, Isaacs said:

"As a working player who would gladly have donated 5% of any win I may have taken, I am very disappointed that this event is no longer on my schedule. With the 15% and the juice I don't believe it is playable from a financial point of view."

Lisa Adams, poker player and host of the radio show Poker Talk America, has joined Isaacs in boycotting the event because of her perception that withholding charity funds from the prize pool is unfair to players.

Both women have made it clear that they feel any event with part of the prize pool withheld for charity should be advertised as a charity event, not as a championship.

"No good deed goes unpunished"

For his part, WPT CEO Steve Lipscomb says his company is just trying to do a good deed.

"We're trying to promote women in poker and promote a good cause," Lipscomb said on the Wednesday episode of Poker Talk America, where he appeared as a guest along with Isaacs.

Lipscomb placed great emphasis on the fact that WPT Ladies was designed to give women poker players something that their male counterparts don't have - an exclusive event - and that the WPT hoped to encourage women to play poker by airing the Ladies Championship on television.

He said that the WPT would realize no monetary gains from hosting the Ladies Championship, even claiming to have faced angry opposition from shareholders to his decision to run the event. With his ladies tour now facing new opposition from part of the women's poker community, Lipscomb said on Poker Talk America that "no good deed goes unpunished."

Add it up

While nobody is questioning that the WPT has partnered with a good cause or that it hopes to encourage women to play poker, Isaacs and company are concerned over the equity of the situation.

In addition to the 15% being withheld for SGK, an additional 3% of the WPT Ladies Championship prize pool is being withheld for the tournament staff. Another $25,500 is being withheld to provide the winner of the tournament with a seat in the WPT Championship, according to the tournament structure posted on the WPT Web site.

If the tournament were to draw 300 players, that would add up to a whopping $106,500 being taken from the $450,000 prize pool before a single card had been dealt.

This week Jesse Jones, founder and chairman emeritus of the World Poker Association, wrote a letter to the WPT in support of the women choosing to boycott the Ladies Championship. In it, he said:

"I believe you are taking advantage of women, especially novice women who have no idea about prize pools and their equity in an event. I don't believe for a second, as Steve denied on air, that there is some long or short term gain for the WPT in offering a WPT Ladies Championship."

On Poker Talk America, Lipscomb said that the WPT would reconsider the charity element of the Ladies Championship next season - if, in fact, the WPT decides to bring it back. That decision won't be made until well after this year's tournament is finished.

Meanwhile, the tournament is still on track to proceed as scheduled. The WPT organizers said they are "thrilled to move forward with the 15% donation to benefit Komen to help end breast cancer forever."

That makes it the only championship event in poker to donate part of its prize pool to charity. However, the WPT is taking into consideration all the feedback their getting to consider for future events.

One such suggestion comes from Jones, who brought up the idea of the WPT making a donation to the Foundation from its own coffers for each player entering the tournament, while also asking the players to make a matching donation.

It was an idea the WPT said it would certainly consider for future events, and it would also "absolutely" be open to withholding part of the prize pool from one of its other poker tournaments, such as the WPT Championship in order to make a donation to an affiliated charity.

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