Tribeca sells its European-Facing Platforms to Playtech.

Playtech bought the online software company’s European-facing poker platforms only three days after Tribeca announced that it would stop doing business with customers located in the U.S., for $75 million.

Tribeca supplied platforms and eGaming solutions to the sites of PaddyPowerPoker, UK-Poker.net, Victor Chandler, and Royal Blue Poker.

The shares of Playtech rose almost 9 percent higher than at the start of the day, just after this announcement.

Playtech is now going to be one of the world’s largest poker gaming software and platform providers after this deal.

Daryn Firicano in lead in the WPF Main Event.

World Poker Tour events are always flooded with amateurs to make it big in the world of poker, but this time the scenario was completely different as professional poker players are leading the event this time.

Daryn Firicano, of Woburn Mass., was leading the show at the end of the day after amassing $340,000 in tokens.

Firicano is confident about winning his first major tournament.

Earlier this summer he made it to final table of No-Limit Hold'em at the World Series of Poker.

Summit to maximize poker potential in Europe.

The second Poker Summit – Europe that is scheduled on Dec 6-7 will make an attempt to maximize the poker potential in Europe.

This will be a forum for live and online poker strategy.

Experts from the industry are supposed to attend the event to discuss the scope of the growing gaming business.

Mark Blandford, the founder of SportingBet, Plc., PKR.com president Jez San and 888.com CEO John Anderson are to attend the event and share their word with everyone.

Second Full Tilt Online Poker Series starts.

After the success of the first series of Full tilt online poker, it is back with its second series in this month. The Full tilt online poker series that started yesterday, promised an increase in the prize pool.

The prize money is said to as high as $1 million, the largest prize pool in the history of Full Tilt Poker.

The prize pool for the five of the nine events is going to be $200,000 or more including the million-dollar final event. The pre-tournament total is expected to be more than $2.5 million according to the sources of this event.

Pam closes her poker site.

Pamela Anderson, one of the popular actresses in Hollywood, recently became a victim of the anti-gambling legislation in the United States. She had to fold her poker site Pamelapoker.com.

The craze for Texas Hold’em swept across her mind and she opened this site to cash in the craze for the game, but this attempt brought her failure.

Pam said, “Poker site should have been shut down last month. I have nothing to do with it anymore. Too many shady areas. I really don't want to encourage people to gamble. This must be turned off. It just didn't work out. Even in my heart. Good luck to Doyle’s Room. I love him. He is authentic to the game. I made a mistake getting involved in something I know nothing about for a quick buck! Yuck. So unlike me. Glad it's over.”

Poker game featuring Howard Lederer released.

Poker game featuring Howard Lederer was released according to an announcement by Crave Entertainment. This is called Xbox 360 version of the “World Championship Poker “.

This game was recently shipped for sale all across the United States.

The game has given the poker players a wonderful opportunity to play against some of the most successful poker players including Howard Lederer, Robert Williamson III, Marcel Luske, and Annie Duke.

Their likenesses, voices, play styles and even signature traits are all in the game.

Harrah's a majority shareholder of London Clubs.

Harrah’s recently announced it has become a major shareholder of London Clubs International after it acquired almost 83% of the club’s shares. They are expecting to take charge of 100% of the shares by the end of this year.

Harrah’s CEO Gary Lovemen said, “ There are limited opportunities “ as Harrah’s has operated casinos only in US till now. Harrah’s has certainly got an international exposure after acquiring London Clubs shares.

London Clubs operates seven casinos in the UK and has four more under development. It also operates two casinos in Egypt and one in South Africa. Coupled with Harrah's brand and experience, London Clubs now has chance to make it big.

Cindy Margolis signs agreement with Tropical Poker.

Cindy Margolis, the extremely popular supermodel, actress and poker celebrity has signed an agreement with Tropical Poker this past week.

She is now going to be a representative of Tropical Poker brand in the press, media interviews, and poker events and at the 2007 World Series of Poker. Tropical Poker has now given a chance for Cindy’s fans to play poker and chat with her online.

"I am positive that the Tropical Poker brand will suit me very well, and I look forward to being a representative for them. I couldn’t be happier to join the Tropical Poker team," Margolis was quoted as saying.

BetOnSports makes a deal to avoid civil suit.

BetOnSports, the U.K Company has avoided a civil suit filed against it by the U.S. government after the company made a legal deal with the government.

BetOnSports which was once one of the leading companies in sports betting worldwide gaining more than $1billion from U.S. customers alone, has to discontinue all its operations with U.S. and refund all money remaining in the U.S accounts in order to get the case closed.

The company has been given seven days to provide investigators with financial documents and company records according to the deal, approved by U.S. District Judge Carol E. Jackson in the St. Louis Federal Court.

All-Star Challenge to start this month.

All-Star Challenge, which made the way for online poker professionals Chris Ferguson, Howard Lederer, Mike Matusow and Erik Seidel will take their place between November 17th and 19th.

To win a prize-pool of $511,990,the visitors of Full Tilt Poker have been trying to qualify for the tournament since mid-September.

The Dublin event is part of the European Poker Masters (EPM) tour, which is in its inaugural season on the circuit.

With London, Vienna and Paris hosting events involving some of the games most happening names, EPM runs tournaments across the continent.

CelebPoker makes way for Helsinki Freezeout.

CelebPoker has now made the way easier for the poker players by offering them seats to the Helsinki Freezeout taking place from January 1-13 at the Grand Casino in Helsinki through satellite tournaments.

The site is offering prize packages worth $4,400 which includes the €2,500 + €100 buy-in for the tournament's No-Limit Texas Hold'em Main Event as well as $1,000 for travel and accommodations.

The freezeout, which is to start in January, will have the winners of the monthly tournaments, which will take place on November 26 and December17 participating in the main event.

WSOP Tourney and Event Directors announced by Harrahs.

Jack effel has been made the 2007 World Series of Poker Tournament Director and Robert Daily; this year’s tournament director has accepted the duties as next year’s event director, according to Howard Greenbaum, Harrah’s Western Division Vice President of Specialty Gaming.

“Jack and Bob know the poker business inside out,” said Greenbaum. “Given the enormous complexity of hosting an event of this magnitude, it’s important to have truly exceptional people overseeing the details. Jack and Bob fit that description.”

“Improving tournament operations is our top priority for 2007,” said World Series of Poker Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack.

Ladbrokes confirms its talks to buy 888.

Last night there was a confirmation from Ladbrokes, the gaming group regarding the talks it had to buy the online betting company— 888, for an estimated £470 million.

There was another online betting company – PartyGaming in the race, which also had merger talks with 888,in order to prop up its business after the America’s recent crackdown on Internet gambling.

In a statement, Ladbrokes said: 'The Board of Ladbrokes notes the speculation in the weekend press and the company can confirm that it is in the early stages of reviewing a possible transaction involving 888. No decision has been made as to whether any proposal will be made to 888.'

Casino Royale poker set released by Cartamundi.

The latest James Bond movie “ Casino Royale” is going to get its poker accessories from Cartamundi, a Belgian company. The company has announced the public release of sets of playing cards and poker chips for the very famous fictional 007 agent in the film.

"We are proud that a Belgian company, Cartamundi, is able to contribute to the success of the world-famous Bond films," said Bert Van Pelt, business unit manager, playing cards.

"We hope the publicity generated by the new James Bond film will raise the profile of both Cartamundi and poker in general. Poker has become an absolute rage throughout the world, so we are convinced that this trend can only be stimulated further by the new Bond film 'Casino Royale.'"

Dan Fleyshman, the new 2006 Chairman of Poker.

CEO of Who’s your Daddy Inc, Dan Fleyshman also known as King of the Energy Drink, was made the new 2006 Chairman of poker. He was also awarded a prize money of $43,350 at The Palms in Las Vegas, Oct 27,2006.

"I've played this game with some of the icons of poker in the past and playing against CEOs was just as hard," says Fleyshman.

"The elimination process was draining because these CEOs are good players. At one point, I took a sip of my Who’s Your Daddy Green Ice Tea for an extra boost and it gave me the energy I needed to finish the game and take home the championship."

Amateur Poker Championship announced by APAT.

The U.K Amateur Poker Championship was announced this week by the Amateur Poker Association. This event will be hosted at the Aspers Casino in Newcastle Dec.2-3.

"We are delighted to be bringing an APAT event to the Northeast," said Tony Kendall, APAT chairman. "Aspers is a fantastic venue, and our players are going to have a wonderful time."

All players will start the Texas Hold'em tournament with 10,000 in chips and play for an estimated £15,000 prize pool. The winner will get a Silver Challenge Cup plus a $12,000 2007 World Series of Poker Main Event prize package, in addition to the cash prize.

Hollywood Poker Anniversary Freeroll starts Friday.

The second anniversary celebrations of Hollywood Poker are going to rock this month with a freeroll that will give entry for one lucky player into the Ongame Network Poker Classic where they stand a chance of winning a piece of $1.2million.

The Hollywood Poker Anniversary Freeroll is scheduled to take place on Friday at 9 p.m. (EST). Daily qualifiers are currently running through which the top five players will win entry into the freeroll.

Any player who makes a deposit for the first time will receive a ticket into a daily qualifier by the end of the day. The daily qualifiers cost 100 poker points.

The winner will earn the $5,200 entry into the Ongame Network Poker Classic which begins its online final Saturday, and the rest of the players who make the final table will share a $1,000 final table bonus.

Eon –the online poker room debuts.

On one side the changes in the online poker legislation might have brought down the faith of many investors in the online poker world but at the other side there is a reason to smile as Eon the online poker room debuts.

Poker Eon.com is fully available in Swedish, which is fitting because they are one of the most successful groups of online poker players to date.

After the Swedish government launched its own regulated online poker room, Swedish players started enjoying the game at their own place.

Ongame Poker Classic all set to begin.

One of the most unusual tournaments in the history of online poker, Ongame Poker Classic is all set to begin this November 4. 231 players have already registered for this event.

Initially there was some concern that a number of players might seek a refund for the tournament due to the law passed against online gaming but now the clouds of doubt have been cleared and the event is ready to rock.

The number of players is increasing day-by-day for this $5,000 tournament. Currently the prize pool is $1,255,000 and it is expected to reach more with three days left for players to register.

There is small twist in the tale i.e., once the tournament reaches 45 remaining players; it will pause for four weeks and then resume in Barcelona, Spain on Dec. 2.

WPTE continues its deal with Budweiser.

World Poker Tour Enterprises made an announcement regarding the continuation of its sponsorship deal with Budweiser for the current year. Two more sponsors for World Poker Tour were also added recently.

Mike Sexton, Vince Van Patten and Sabina Gadecki will host the show.

"Budweiser is a classic American beer meant to be shared with friends over a great game of poker," said Randall Blackford, Director of Budweiser Marketing, Anheuser-Busch, Inc. "The World Poker Tour continues to deliver the best poker tournaments and poker programming on television and we are pleased to be back in action for Season Five."

Online poker site launched in India.

The first online poker site, Maharaja.com that totally targets the places in Southeast Asia and the Asian market in Europe has kicked off on Wednesday.

According to a company press release, the main intension of Maharaja Gaming in launching this site is to widen its scope in the Asian market.

Despite the recent changes in the US legislature concerning online gambling, this site may be able to capture the attention of the people in the market.

The press release stated that the point behind the Maharajah Club is to bring the fun side of poker to the gaming market in India.

Poker players protest on UIGEA at election time.

Poker players across the United States have decided to raise their voice against the
Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) as the time for the 2006 elections is nearing.

All the poker players will gather in the capital to play poker in the streets to protest on UIGEA, on Friday and Saturday. Some celebrities who support poker will attend this “Protest for Freedom”.

"We think we have enough people who confirmed showing up for the event that could fill up the square behind the White House," said Debbie Richardson, who organized the event. "The more people show up for the protest the more interest the press will show."

Online Gambling Conference hosted by Britain.

Britain organized an online gambling conference on Tuesday, at an international summit on the sector to build support among various nations except United States, to improve regulations of the Internet gaming industry.

Tessa Jowell, Britain’s Culture Secretary said, gamblers would be provided better protection than U.S.

He said, 'Remote gambling has gone from a niche to mass market in a matter of years,' Jowell told journalists during a break in the gathering, the first summit to discuss the global impact of Internet gaming.

'There is a recognition that it is in the interests of all our citizens that we move to a framework of global standards on Internet gaming.'

New York Casino brings in Lightning Poker.

A manufacturer of electronic automated poker tables, Lightning Poker announced today regarding the independent verification of its product. Turning Stone Casino in Verona is said to bring in the Lightning tables soon.

Tournament poker mainstay Brian Haveson is Lightning Poker’s CEO and he had this to say about the certification:

“We are pleased to have received independent certification of the Lightning Poker gaming system by GLI, allowing us to move forward rapidly with our marketing efforts. In addition, we are excited to work with Turning Stone Casino to introduce the Lightning Poker product. We look forward to a successful launch at Turning Stone and expect to announce more installations in the near future.”

PartyGaming and 888.com plan to merge.

On Monday online gaming firm 888 Holdings Plc confirmed, it held talks with third parties from the day United States banned Internet gambling financial transactions.

888.com and Party Gaming.com were holding talks about their plan to merge, according to the weekend media reports in the United Kingdom.

In a statement 888 said it had held "various preliminary discussions with third parties following suspension of its U.S. activities," adding that there was no certainty that the discussions would proceed to an offer being made for the company or any other action.

PartyGaming was not immediately available for comment.

First of June marks the beginning of 2007 WSOP.

The excitement is all set to catch the nerves of all the poker players, as the 38th World Series Of Poker (WSOP) is to start on June 1,2007 and the final table of the $10,000 main event will take place on Tuesday, July 17.

The starting date was announced today by Harrah’s. This announcement by Harrah’s brought in the glimpses of 2006 WSOP and they said they are going to release a more complete schedule by the end of the year.

All the tournaments generated a prize pool in excess of $171 million, and more than 48,000 players registered for events last summer.

Soren Turkewitsch claims N.A. Poker Championship.

The grand event of 2006 North American Poker Championship has come to an end in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. Soren Turkewitsch finished first with the total winnings of $1,352,224.

Turkewitsch also claimed a bracelet, and a $25,000 entry into the WPT Championship Event.

Jason Sagle finished second with prize money of $676,107 and John Lam was placed third with prize money of $352,541.

As this was a World Poker Tour event, the final table action will be broadcast on an upcoming episode. Next up on the tour will be the World Poker Finals held at Foxwoods November 12-16.

NBC tapes Poker After Dark.

The taping of the most awaited show, Poker After Dark has begun at the South Hotel Casino in Las Vegas earlier this week. The show will debut on Jan. 2, 2007 at 2:05 a.m. ET, six nights a week.

This show is NBC’s second poker program, the first being the National Heads-Up Poker Championship that aired earlier this year and the ratings shot up to the sky.

Each hour-long show will feature six professional poker players competing for $120,000 in a winner-take-all format.

Players include Phil Ivey, Daniel Negreanu, Doyle Brunson, Howard Lederer, Chris Ferguson, Erick Lindgren, Jennifer Harman, David Benyamine, Allen Cunningham, Gus Hansen, and more.

Borgata Hotel Casino to host Charity tournament.

Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa in Atlantic City have come up with a noble cause to raise money for the National Austim Association (NAA). This event is said to be held on Thursday November 2,2006.

The Borgata’s luxurious 85-table poker room will play host to $250 buy-in tournament and $100 from each entry will go directly to the National Austim association.

According to NAA president and parent Wendy Fournier, Texas Hold’em is a great way to raise awareness and badly needed funds.

“Autism has reached epidemic proportions in the U.S. affecting one in 166 children. We hope that the growing popularity of poker playing will offer an enjoyable venue for people to partner with NAA in finding a cure for the hundreds of thousands of children now diagnosed with autism," she said.

Mike Carlson wins the Heartland Poker Tour.

Oct 22 had been a big day for Mike Carlson, a resident of Minnesota, as he won the Heartland Poker Tour (HPT) Grand Casino Mille Lacs event outlasting a field of 400 players in Onamia.

Carlson even beat Mike Simon, who had won the World Poker Tour Season 4 World Poker Challenge in Reno earlier this year.

The final table of the poker tournament was recorded and will be broadcast on regional cable television starting in 2007. The tour was created and designed to give players around the country a chance to make the big time. There have been events in Wisconsin, California, Minnesota and Michigan with upcoming events in Indiana and South Dakota.

CryptoLogic releases its new poker software.

As a part of the Autumn Windfall promotion on Oct 21, Crytologic has released its new poker tournament leader board software. With this release, a new opportunity has come for the licensees of the company to see how they rank among the players from several sites.

"Our software now powers the world's largest shared poker network that excludes U.S. players," said Lewis Rose, CryptoLogic's president and CEO. "Innovations like the tournament leader board and Hold'em Blackjack, announced last week, meets the needs and desires of online players throughout the world."

The players can now win even more money with this leader board. Players have the opportunity to win more than $300,000 in money-added tournaments as well as leader board prize.

LVFH sells Action Poker Network.

The Canadian eGaming software developer, Las Vegas From Home.com Entertainment, Inc (LVFH) announced today that it sold its Action Poker Network (APN) to a company in Norway.

The network was bought by Playsafe Holdings Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Playsafe Holding AS (Norway)— a public company listed in Norway for $2,35 million and the transaction is to be completed on or before November 17, 2006.

The company had this to say in a press release:

“Although the Company had already engaged GMP Securities LP several months ago to assist in exploring the sale of the Company's APN so that it can focus on its Asian Multiplayer Software Platform (AMSP), the Company expedited the sale of the Company's APN as a result of the recent enactment of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 in the United States.”

CelebPoker makes way to Asian Poker Classic.

Players at Celebpoker have a reason to smile as they have a chance to make their way into the Asian Poker Classic that begins from March 1st in Goa, India.

The site CelebPoker.com, is giving away several seats through satellite tournaments.

The total prize package includes the $5,000 + $300 entry into the tournament as well as four nights accommodation and $1,360 travel money.

Satellites run every day for $4 of which the winners will win entry into the weekly $35 final. The winner of the weekly final also wins entry into the $350 monthly final where he could win a seat in the Asian Poker Classic.

Pot-limit specialist Billy Duarte passes away.

Billy Duarte, the pot-limit specialist passed away on Monday due to cancer. Billy was a high stakes pot limit cash game player and he used to gross over $600K in the tournaments.

On October 12th,Billy Duarte played the senior's event at the Bellagio. Duarte also made to the two final tables at this year's WSOP.

During his illness, he was able to quit smoking and felt that his attention and focus were aided by the fact that he no longer craved nicotine at the table.

North American Poker Championship Begins at Niagara

North American Poker Championship, the most awaited event began today at the beautiful Niagara Fallsview Casino Resort with 600 players competing for this $10,000 event.

So many players turned up for the event that the first day had to be split up into two days. The first of about 260 players kicked off the event at around 12:30 p.m. EST.

The final table is scheduled to take place Sunday, Oct. 29.

“By staging the North American Poker Championship in this beautiful Canadian casino, we put out the welcome mat for all poker enthusiasts in Canada and truly lay down the gauntlet to see who can reign supreme on the continent," said Steve Lipscomb, CEO and founder of WPT Enterprises. "We are thrilled to welcome the Niagara Fallsview to the WPT family and look forward to an inspiring and exciting event that will attract players from both sides of the border."

6 new contracts in PokerTek’s hand.

Six new customers have signed contracts with PokerTek for the installation of PokerPro™ tables. PokerTek will install PokerPro™ in Michigan and Arkansas, domestically.

Aristocrat Leisure Limited, PokerTek’s international distributing partner will install PokerPro™ in Australia, London and Italy.

"Casino operators around the world are recognizing that automated poker delivers both increased player satisfaction and improved poker room economics," said Lou White, Chief Executive Officer of PokerTek.

Greektown Casino of Detroit, Michigan, has agreed to be the first casino location in Michigan to offer automated poker.

Ladbrokes plans Poker Million Tournament.

Ladbrokes, the UK betting group will be behind the grand event of Poker Million tournament that is to take place in Las Vegas next year.

Ladbrokes is serious about the new project and is planning to invest GBP 3million as an initial investment.

Ladbrokes is betting on the fact that more than half the players in this year's WSOP qualified online in Internet tournaments where online gambling sites sponsored large numbers of players to the big Vegas event.

The winner will walk away with $1.2 million out of a total prize pool of $4.1 million.

Bodog takes on Betcorp

Betcorp is now out of the betting industry after Bodog took on Betcorp. Betcorp, the Australian company accepted that it was being sold to Bodog for $9million.

The shareholders still need to approve the deal after which they will receive their money.

In addition to the money, Bodog also assumes around $2 million in Betcorp debt. Betcorp estimated that it would cost the company $6 million in severance and closure if it were simply closed.

“This purchase, which speaks directly to the current strength of our business, is the first of many possible international acquisition targets under consideration,” says Calvin Ayre, the founder of Bodog. “We couldn't be better positioned to build upon our current success and growth and to continue our aggressive push towards international expansion into markets such as Europe and Asia.”

Andreas Walnum claims the title at Festa al Lago.

Andreas Walnum, a 23-year old Norwegian poker pro took home $1.1 Million after winning the WPT Festa al Lago tournament in Bellagio’s Grand Ballroom.

Walnum, the youngest player at Festa al Lago final table also took home a diamond-encrusted Bellagio bracelet, and a $25,000 entry into the World Poker Tour Championship event.

His total winnings were $1,090,025 after finishing first leaving behind the professional poker players.

The 2006 Legends of Poker first-place finisher, Pelton came into the last day of the Festa al Lago with the opportunity to join Gus Hansen, Howard Lederer, Erik Lindgren, and Daniel Negreanu as the only players to win multiple championship events in a single WPT season.

Ultimate Bet to merge with Absolute Poker.

After all the rumors in the poker world, the truth is finally out. Absolute poker is going to purchase online poker rival, Ultimate Bet.

The news has been confirmed by two reliable industry sources while no other details are made available at this time about the merger. For the time being, the two brands will remain separate.

Few days back Blast Off Ltd. bought Ultimate Bet’s parent company, Excapsa .Now even Ultimate bet is following the same suit and making a deal with Absolute Poker.

Antigua and Others to file lawsuit against US.

Antigua and Barbuda, along with the representatives of European Commission, Japan, and China have made a decision to file a lawsuit against the United States, earlier this week. They also held some sessions with the representatives from Brazil, Barbados, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago.

Antigua maintains that the US is still not in compliance with the WTO’s decision as US was violating international trade agreements with its gaming policy.

“All meetings went well – a great thing about our case is that you don’t have to care about gambling at all to be on our side on the WTO legal issues. I would say that our support with these other countries is probably quite strong, and having them on our side on the important issues is of very great help to our case. It can only enhance the credibility of a small country to have some of the major players in the WTO agreeing with our position,” Mendelson told Card Player.

Neteller to process payments from U.S. poker players.

Neteller today released a statement about their intension to continue processing gambling transactions for U.S. poker players until the establishment of regulations by the Federal Government for the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act.

Though the company’s headquarters are located outside the U.S, the company said they would comply with the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act and its regulations.

Neteller said: "This action is intended to ensure that the Company is able to continue to operate with the support of its principal commercial partners and to protect its shareholders, business partners, employees and reputation."

PartyPoker.com German Open to start in London today.

Poker Den in London is all set to rock today with German Open sponsored by PartyPoker.com. The event which will go on for four days has a prize money of €50,000.

This event will feature 36 of the top German-speaking poker players. Some of the key German poker players in the €2,500 event include Lothar Landauer, Toni Vadjavand, Eduard Scharf, Michael Keiner, and Dominic Koffert. They will be playing for a piece of the €117,000 prize pool.

The cynosures of this poker tournament will be famous Germans such as Rudiger Abramzik, Klaus Baumgart, Lou Richter, Uli Stein, and Roman Vega. They will all play at the same table and the winner is going to earn a spot in the main tournament and go heads-up with a professional poker player.

BetonSports Plc. comes to preliminary agreement with US government.

BetonSports Plc. and US government have reached a preliminary agreement to end the case against the company, which was stopping it for doing the business in United States.

The terms of agreement have not been disclosed yet. U.S District Judge Carol Jackson has given a week time for BetonSports Plc. and the U.S. Department of Justice to resolve the issue.

U.S. Department of Justice filed a civil suit against the company in July for racketeering and fraud in U.S.

BetonSports, Plc. are now being stopped from operating in the United States, and the government was seeking to force them to give up $4.5 billion and other property.

Party Poker took a plunge by 90 percent.

On Monday the shares of Party Gaming plummeted further 13 percent after the analysts suggested its exit from US on Friday. Due to the new anti-online gambling legislation, 90 percent of the revenues have been wiped off from the PartyPoker business.

Comparing Saturday night's poker traffic with a week earlier, Ivor Jones, of Panmure Gordon, said: "Our very tentative estimate would be that rake and tournament fees would have been down more than 80 percent ... real money play appears to have picked up sharply at the poker sites which have said they intend to continue to operate in the US."

UBS analyst, Julian Easthope, said: "Liquidity drives revenues and Party will likely lose its market lead position." Retaining small players is vital to attract big-pot regulars. Operators typically generate 70 percent of revenues from just 30 percent of players.

PartyGaming shares fell 4.5p yesterday to 30p - a quarter of the flotation price. Yesterday, PartyGaming had a market capitalization of GBP 1.2 billion.

Online gaming rules tightened.

Rules for online gaming have tightened after President George W. Bush signed the legislation to ban the Internet gambling on Friday, October 13th.

It was a 10-minute ceremony on Friday at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building where he signed the bill to ban Internet gambling to increase the security at the nation’s ports. During the ceremony Bush did not speak a word on online betting.

Under the new law, credit cards, checks and other bank instruments can no longer be used to pay for Internet bets.

Mac users have a tough time after Online Poker Legislation.

Now that the bill against the online gaming has been passed, Mac users are really having a tough time. As Bwin, the parent company of PokerRoom.com, recently announced that its online room would no longer accept U.S. customers, Mac players are now left with only one choice — Full Tilt Poker.

The things really looked bright for Mac players before the passage of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Act as Full Tilt poker announced the launch of their Macintosh platform and Party poker launched the beta version of their new Mac friendly platform.

Hold’em Blackjack the new game on the block.

Hold’em Blackjack was the new game on the block developed by CryptoLogic Inc., a leading software developer to the global Internet gaming industry. It is a brand new game with the combination of blackjack and poker.

Andy Goetsch, the Vice President of Poker Software Development, created Hold ‘em Blackjack exclusively for licensees of WaterLogic Limited, CryptoLogic’s licensing subsidiary.

"Hold’em Blackjack is just the latest example of CryptoLogic's unique brand of innovation and intelligence, which consistently wins the heart of the online player," said Lewis Rose, CryptoLogic's President and CEO. "For CryptoLogic, it's a simple yet exciting concept - powerfully executed. For players, it's a whole new entertainment experience. And for the world's blue-chip gaming brands, Hold’em Blackjack is another way to keep players coming back for more."

Betcorp withdraws its U.S. operations.

Betcorp Ltd, the Australian online gaming company said it has withdrawn all its operations from U.S in response to the new law.

Betcorp said it suspended the accounts of United States residents and was now in talks to sell the business.

"The board is continuing discussions with a number of unconnected parties who have expressed interest in the acquisition of the group's gaming operations and infrastructure," Betcorp said in a statement to the Australian Stock Exchange.

"There is no certainty that such discussions will lead to a sale, or on what financial terms such a sale might take place," it said.

Unlawful Internet Gambling Act signed by President.

The port security bill that includes legislation for online gaming was signed by President George W.Bush on Friday, October 13th. The bill’s official name is the Safe Accountability for Every Port Act of 2006.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist worked to get the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGE) attached to the port act, last Friday. Congress passed the act in the last vote before an extended election-year recess.

Earlier that week, Frist tried to get the UIGE attached to a major defense-spending bill, but both Republican and Democrats spoke out against this action because of the importance of the defense-spending bill.

Several online sites, including PartyPoker and 888.com, said they will stop allowing real-money players located in America to play on its sites after Bush signed the bill.

Other sites, like PokerStars, Absolute Poker, Bodog, and Full Tilt, said they would still do business with Americans in the US even after Bush signed the bill into law.

Private Maltese Company buys Excapsa Software.

Blast Off Ltd, a privately owned company bought the entire operation of Excapsa Software, the parent company of UltimateBet.com for $130 million. This move was made just one day before U.S President George W.Bush signed the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act into law.

Blast Off Ltd., which operates Online Elimination Blackjack ™ was associated with Excapsa via the Ultimate Blackjack Tour. Excapsa was one of the last publicly traded online gaming companies to divest itself of its US operations prior to the signing of the law.

Paradise Poker drops out of U.S market.

Another feather has been dropped from the cap of the U.S market, as Paradise Poker has announced that it will stop accepting the U.S customers. This move was made keeping in view, the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act that has to be signed by President George W. Bush on Friday, October 13th.

All U.S. customers who at present have money at Paradise will be able to cash out as normal and will actually still be allowed to play until November 13. However, no new deposits will be accepted from the customers.

In addition to this, U.S. players will not be able to make inter-account transfers or transfer money to the company’s sportsbook, Sportsbook.com.

While this is unfortunate, one can still appreciate the closing line from Paradise’s statement. "…[We] remain hopeful that the day will come when the U.S. will join much of the rest of the world in recognizing the sense behind regulating, rather than the prohibiting online poker."

Poker Stars continues its service to U.S. Market.

Many Online poker players had a reason to smile on Wednesday when the second-largest online poker site declared its wish to continue its services with U.S market.
Initially Poker stars delayed its response to the impact of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act [UIGEA], giving the firm a chance to examine the legal ramifications and reach of the new measure, which has to be signed into law by President George W. Bush on Friday, October 13th.

A message posted on the online poker rooms' website confirmed Poker Stars will stay in the U.S. market and continue their business with U.S.

Part of the statement reads -

Poker Stars has received extensive expert advice from within and outside the U.S., which concluded that these provisions do not alter the U.S. legal situation with respect to our offering of online poker games.

Therefore, our business continues as before - open to players worldwide including the US. You may play on our site as you did prior to the Act.

Cory Lidle killed in Plane Crash.

Wednesday afternoon was a disaster in the world of poker and baseball as Cory Lidle left behind the poker legacy. The 34-year –old baseball player and, popular member of the poker community was killed in a plane crash in New York residential high-rise.

Lidle started his poker career in 2004, and spent a much of his off-time at the lower limit tables in California, or playing with his teammates while flying to different venues during baseball season. He always believed practice proceeded success in poker. He also worked on his golf swing, and diligently studied on how to be a pilot.

In an interview earlier this year in Las Vegas he said, one of his dream was to become a professional poker player after his retirement.

“If you come across a table of baseball players at a poker table,” said Lidle, “snag a seat or at least put your name on the waiting list because it could really pay off.”

Antigua against US anti-gaming law.

Dr Errol Cort, Antigua and Barbuda’s Minister of Finance expressed his dismay over the recent bill that was passed against the online gaming by U.S Congress. Dr Cort just returned from a visit to the US to persuade officials to accept the WTO's anti-US ruling on Internet gambling.

Dr Cort stated that,"It is remarkable that on the heels of our visit, during the course of which we highlighted the desire of Antigua to amicably work together with the United States Government in ensuring the safe delivery of these services to consumers in America, the Congress should choose to further protect their remote domestic industry at the cost of countries such as Antigua and Barbuda, where these services are highly regulated."

"...Antigua-based operators are thought to account for 25% of the estimated $12 billion wagered online by American punters every year..."

Devon Miller walks away with UltimateBet Aruba Poker Classic Championship.

Devon Miller, from the United States claimed the title of UltimateBet Aruba Poker Classic Championship, after winning at the final table of the spectacular event. He outlasted a field of 512 players and took home a prize pool of $744,960.

The event which lasted for three days, had Devon Miller, Jason Atwood, Jared Brintz, Terry Eischens, Cliff Josephy, and Joe Sebok on the final table. Miller had to fight a tough battle though he had an upper hand in the game.

Despite having a six-to –one lead on Cliff Josephy, also known as Johnny Bax, it still took an hour for Miller to break the bubble. Josephy finished second with a prize pool of $446,975 and Terry Eischens finished third with a total pool of $235,905.

NBC announces late night show—Poker After Dark.

Marc Graboff, President, NBC Universal Television announced the telecast of the exclusive late night show – “Poker After Dark”, debuting Jan. 2 at 2:05 a.m. One of the most recognizable faces of the poker world, Shana Hiatt, will host the show.

The show airing from Monday-Saturday will feature six poker professional players competing for the first prize of $120,000.Friday night will come up with the winner of the week’s play.

Saturday night's show – the "director's cut" – will recap the entire week’s events with Hiatt and that week's winner offering commentary and insight into their winning strategy.

"Poker After Dark" will feature the world's top pros, battling for the $120,000 pot – including Phil Ivey, Daniel Negreanu, Doyle Brunson, Howard Lederer, Chris Ferguson, Erick Lindgren, Jennifer Harman and Gus Hansen.

Alex Jacob claims the title of U.S. Poker Championship.

Alex Jacob solidified his place as one of the rising stars of the poker after winning his first major title of U.S. Poker Championship on Saturday. He finished first with total winnings of $878,000.

The victory at this grand event made Jacob as one of poker's rising young stars. Jacob has won more than $1.6 million in just one year of live-tournament play.

Online gambling executives move to Barcelona.

All the roads of the online gambling executives lead to Barcelona now for the fifth annual European I-Gaming Congress & Expo (EiG) this week, while the legislative chaos still continues in America and Europe.

This three-day event, which consists of several hours of conference discussion and presentations about the industry's most pressing topics, begins on Wednesday. The conference will also include an exhibition area where more than 40 global online gambling companies will display their latest products and services.

Allen Cunningham joins the list of Team Full Tilt.

Allen Cunningham, one of the best young players in the world was officially announced the thirteenth member of the Team Full Tilt on Tuesday. Team Full Tilt continues to be one of the true forces on the tournament poker and online poker scenes.

Allen has been competing at the professional level for almost a quarter of his twenty-nine years. Cunningham has won tournaments around the world and competed on both the World Poker Tour and World Series of Poker stages, since starting out seven years ago.

Mike Sexton to target new US law in media blitz.

The highly respected “Ambassador of Poker”, Mike Sexton will be targeting the city of New York and Washington in the media blitz planned by him this week. Mike Sexton planned to do so as he wanted to fight against the ban on online gambling proposed by US politicians recently in a public way.

Sexton says he is going to fight the good fight in a very public way in an effort ".... to call attention to the great injustice that has been done to people's right's everywhere with the passage of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act."

Palms Las Vegas to host CEO Poker Tournament.

The mainstream television is going to witness another grand event, as CEO Entertainment will host its inaugural CEO Poker Tournament from October 22 – 27 at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas.

World CEO Entertainment’s William Peraza, Jr. and President of CEO Poker Maria Gomez organized the five-day black-tie affair to satisfy the competitive spirit of elite worldwide executive.

PartyGaming to lose its place in FTSE 100.

Last week the shares of PartyGaming collapsed in the online gambling rout. This collapse is now going to bring another blow to PartyGaming as it is going to lose its place in FTSE 100 index.

A year ago it joined the elite club of Britain's 100 biggest companies but due to the US clampdown on Internet gambling its shares have taken a dive. Tomorrow will be its last day as a FTSE 100 member, after which it will be relegated to the FTSE 250 index.

Rock 'N' Roll Celebrity Poker Tournament to rock in November.

Rock fans and the poker fans have reason to smile again as the VH1 Classic Rock ‘N’ Roll Celebrity Poker Tournament is rescheduled on November 2.Many celebrities are going to be a part of this exciting event.

When the Rock ’N’ Roll Celebrity Poker Tournament was first announced, all the rock fans and poker fans were ecstatic about the idea of guitar players, drummers, and rock anthem singers getting together to play the game the world was talking about, No Limit Texas Holdem, but they were disappointed as the schedule got cancelled on June 8.But now the smiles are back on their faces as the event is rescheduled on November 2.

Britain’s gates more open for online gaming companies.

Britain’s gates have become more open for online gaming companies as it is considering legislation that would make it a lot easier for online gaming companies to be based in Britain, the Sunday London Times is reporting.

At present, most online gaming companies like Party Gaming are having their base in places like Gibraltar. These locals allow the companies to enjoy the protection, and licensing ability of a EU state, while being tax friendly to the high revenue businesses.

Mary Jones claims Taj Mahal US Open Poker title.

Mary Jones, who won the World Series of Poker ladies event this July, proved herself again after winning this year’s US Open Poker Championship at Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City. Jones won the $500 no-limit Hold’em event.

Mary Jones took home $47,192 and Us Open title after outplaying a field of 272 players. At one point Jones was out chipped nearly 3-to-1, but rallied back during the final table, even sending renowned poker player Scott Fischman to the rail.

Rendezvous all set to shine with Harbour Lights Festival.

It has been a disastrous week in the history of poker, with Congress passing the bill against online gambling in U.S. But that’s not the end of the game as Harbour Lights festival will soon be a reason for a smile on faces of the poker players in East Sussex.

According to pokernews.com, Rendezvous Casino on Brighton Marina, East Sussex is going to be a venue for the Harbour Lights Festival, starting from next week, Monday 9th October with main event finishing on Sunday 15th October.

WSOP & WPT popularity takes a dip with the ban on Poker.

The loss of Internet qualified players could have made a serious impact on popularity of WSOP, WPT and the other major tournaments that take place at major land gambling establishments like Harrah’s and MGM Mirage, according to the Las Vegas Sun newspaper.

In an article titled "Congress Deals Poker Fans a Hand They Can't Bet" the Las Vegas Sun newspaper reports that for nearly a decade, the campaign by conservative members of Congress to outlaw online gambling remained on the fringes in Washington. But with Republican lawmakers nervous about the November 7 elections and eager to find issues that will please conservative religious groups, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and other Republican leaders saw an opportunity to adopt the ban. They attached it to an unrelated port security bill, which was approved by Congress early on Saturday.

Professional Poker Tour Season II postponed.

Season II of Professional Poker Tour events scheduled to take place at Foxwoods Resort Casino and Bellagio, this November have been postponed to next year. The delay is reported due to the pending of the negotiation of acceptable broadcasting agreements.

World Poker Tour (WPT) said in a statement on its Web site, “While we continue to negotiate the broadcast of the second season we have decided to delay these tournaments for the benefit of players who need to make long-term travel arrangements as well as the league itself."

Corporations in New York try their luck in Poker.

The game of poker, which is infamous for inviting huge risks has now become a favorite hobby for overworked, highly compensated investment bankers. They are now looking forward to test their wits and try their luck and to compete for huge sums of money. These days many New York corporations are using poker as part of a safe night out.

In the past, banks, brokerages, and hedge funds that used some of the illegal means of entertainment for attracting their clients, have now shifted their focus and are using poker tournaments as a platform to woo clients and to facilitate "meet and greets."

Private poker companies run business as usual.

Many private poker companies run their business as usual in the US, atleast for the immediate future by maintaining a low profile. Full Tilt Poker recently posted an open letter to players on its website summarizing the current events taking place in the U.S.

Also, Full Tilt poker came out with some measures it is taking to research and clarify the new legal situation, assuring players that Full Tilt will remain open to U.S. players.

Piggy-back tactics of Republican condemned by Bluff Magazine

Bluff magazine, the most popular magazine in U.S, condemned the actions of U.S legislators for approving a proposal that would make the financial transactions with online gambling companies illegal

The magazine's president, Eddy Kleid said: "Having been unable to gain enough support to pass the bill on its own merits, Republican leaders strong-armed their way into piggy-backing the bill on the must-pass Port Security Act."

Stacked launches PlayStation Portable system.

STACKED with Daniel Negreanu has launched the PSP (PlayStation Portable) system according to an announcement made by Myelin Media LLC, a publisher of interactive entertainment software, today. This premiere Texas Hold ‘Em video game developed by 3G Studios, STACKED uses artificial intelligence (AI) system that devises new strategies as it learns more about each player’s individual style of playing the game.

The AI will become more advanced in its moves as it builds a profile of weaknesses and attempts to exploit them, as the play progresses. This sophisticated video game rated T for Teen by the ESRB, STACKED for the PSP system is available for purchase at leading retailers including Best Buy, EB Games and GameStop, and carries a suggested retail price of $19.99.

WTO Agreements violated by U.S. Gaming Prohibition

The World Trade Organization (WTO) is against the US for attempting to ban online gambling, and now that anti-online gambling legislation has made it through Congress, more number of complaints from WTO will probably be filed.

United Kingdom is one of the nations in the world that passed laws to allow, tax, and regulate online gaming, including poker, on its land. It’s the first truly industrialized as well as the richest nation to do so. And as a member of the World Trade Organization, it will soon have to decide to try to take on the strongest nation in the world with millions of dollars at stake.

PartyGaming suspends its interim dividend in the wake of U.S storm.

The most popular British online gaming company PartyGaming has now suspended its shareholders dividend in the wake of US moves to ban Internet betting. Shares in PartyGaming sank 6.67 percent to 42 pence in mid-afternoon, on Tuesday.

London's FTSE 100 index slid 0.76 percent to 5,912.80 points. The stock had plunged 58.66 percent in value on Monday. PartyGaming, which has its major share in U.S, is going to suspend all the bets with US residents once President George W. Bush signs the Act into law.

Lafayette River Club will open new poker room in October.

Lafayette River Club, which always entertains its players, has now brought in smiles on their face as it is going to open a new poker room in Indiana on October 7.The poker players are now excited about this as the cards will be in air soon.

According to reports of launchpoker.com, described as a "totally legal, above ground operation" by Matthew Lackey, the new poker room will be the place where the Lafayette River Club will be hosting a number of special events each month.

Lackey is the Indiana public relations manager for River Clubs of Indiana, the organization that owns the Lafayette River Club and two other clubs.

One special event will be a "college night" on the first Wednesday of every month where players with a valid college ID can skip the $25 entry fee.

Progressive Platforms to be introduced by WPT Enterprises, Inc.

WORLD POKER TOUR® Enterprises, Inc. announced that it is going to attend MIPCOM, the global tradeshow for content creation, production and distribution, in Cannes, from October 9 - 13, 2006. WPTE, which is the global leader in poker entertainment, will now offer new sponsorship, licensing and programming opportunities for 2007.

According to the pokergazette.com, to foster increasing worldwide penetration, the WPTE aims to build its international partnerships via joint ventures, local programming, merchandising, and other strategic alliances. WPTE will showcase at MIPCOM the World Poker Tour Season IV, the flagship show in poker television. Executives will also present the premiere season of the ground-breaking PROFESSIONAL POKER TOUR(TM) (PPT), which is currently airing on the Travel Channel in the United States.

"We look forward to leveraging a premiere tradeshow like MIPCOM to strengthen relationships and create opportunities to further expand poker throughout the globe," said Gary MacKinney, WPTE Executive Director of International Distribution. "The WORLD POKER TOUR will continue to add international stops while exploring locally-produced televised tournaments in key markets."

WPT programming currently airs in 154 countries, including Spain, Canada and Philippines. It also recently inked pacts with Kanal 5 in Sweden, Macau Cable in Macau and MediaCorp in Singapore.

"When the WPT made its television debut five years ago, it incited a national poker phenomenon that continues to escalate," said Robyn Moder, Executive Vice President of WPTE. "As the WPTE begins to roll-out its international formats, we hope to use our excellent and well-seasoned production experience to help our international partners create for their audiences compelling poker programming of the same magnitude."

DnKid is the winner of Poker Stars 6-Handed WCOOP Event.

The Poker Stars' World Championship ended when Dnkid went on to win the title outlasting 1,741 entrants in the six-handed pot-limit hold'em event. The event took a long time before the burst of the final bubble and Dnkid was declared the winner.

Reports from the cardsplayer.com said, the blinds were accommodatingly low when the field thinned to the final seven and short stacks could afford to be choosey with their hands. Finally, after 55 minutes of play, MazeOrBowie busted out when his big-slick turned pair of kings ran into DnKid's set of jacks.

At last the marathon was over and the final six were ready to vie for a significant portion of the total $522,300 prize pool. DnKid entered the table as the chip leader with $1,489,431 and spaceMe trailed in second with $1,082,179.

The other players were relatively evenly stacked, with Goodfella_84 bringing up the rear holding $306,571. DnKid and spaceMe kept their leads for the next 35 minutes and still no one had busted.

The players finally agreed to pause the tournament and discuss a deal. It was eventually agreed that a by-the-chips chop was fair, with $10,000 and the 14 karat gold WCOOP bracelet left to race for, and play continued.

Block on state ban of video poker denied by N.C Judge.

Superior Court Judge in North Carolina denied the temporary block on the state ban of video poker, by the operators on Thursday according to a spokeswoman for the state Department of Justice.

As per the reports of topix.net, The North Carolina Amusement Machine Association, many of its member companies and some video poker players had asked Wake County Judge Narley Cashwell to issue a temporary restraining order preventing the law from taking effect while their lawsuit challenging it is pending.

The group sued two weeks ago, questioning the constitutionality of the law approved in June. Beginning Sunday, it requires the number of machines in operation at any location be reduced to two from three. That number will drop to one by March 1 and zero on July 1. Repeat offenders or those caught with five or more machines would be guilty of a felony.

Cashwell heard arguments Wednesday in Raleigh for less than half an hour from attorneys representing the association and the state, which is defending the law and opposed the temporary order. The judge denied the group's request Thursday afternoon, said Noelle Talley, spokeswoman with the North Carolina Department of Justice.

Andy Bloch outplays poker superstars in Pro-Am Equalizer.

Last Thursday poker world witnessed a big game when Andy Bloch won the Pro-Am Equalizer tournament by outplaying a table of superstars. He finished first and his total winnings were $500,000. He had to beat Allen Cunningham, Phil Laak, Phil Ivey, Huck Seed the actor and the amateur of the group, Nick Gonzalez to claim the title.

According to the cardplayer.com, the match went well over six hours, and the blinds – which started at 1,500-3,000 – hit 15,000-30,000 before it was all over.

The Pro-Am Equalizer featured 12 famous amateurs and 24 professional poker players. Six heats of six players took place Monday through Thursday, and the winners played for the $500,000 prize today.

Bloch got up fairly early in the match by knocking out Gonzalez, who started with 300,000 chips. The rest of the pros started with 200,000.

Gonzalez, who show host Phil Gordon predicted would win his qualifying match because of the extra chips and solid play, held his own during the brief while he was there. Whenever the pros tried to bully him, he fired right back.

Flanders makes everyone wonder at the World Poker Open

Pippa Flanders, wife of poker player Tim, has caught the attention of everyone by winning the World Poker Open and grabbing on of the largest prizes for a woman on European soil.

Flanders has won $200,000 in this tournament. In this tournament where men dominated the participants list, with only two ladies taking part, it seemed very unlikely that a woman would win this title. Nevertheless, Flanders was too aggressive and strong for all others.

Among the other big cash prizes were Tony G, Roland De Wolfe, Marc Goodwin, Tony Bloom, Kenna James, Harry Demetriou and Lee Nelson.

Tim has watched the play supporting his wife and was excited as she won the tournament outplaying big pros.

Flanders said, with a lot of excitement, "To have been one of only two women who entered amongst over 70 entrants and to have won it is simply unbelievable and wonderful. Go girls! I had a fantastic time playing the game and it was such a wonderful ending that I had always hoped for, but never expected. I still can't believe I beat all those top names to the title. It really is a dream come true."

“Aces The Movie” to be premiered in Hollywood on October 7th.

Another poker movie is going to hit the screens soon. Aces.com is premiering their production, “Aces The Movie” in Hollywood on October 7th. This story of three sexy college girls trying their hand at poker is directed by the Rolling Stones video director Daniel Zirilli.

The movie plot goes like this: three sexy college girls come up with some excellent strategies to win poker using their mathematics and physics theories and start sweeping off all the tournaments. Finally, they end up at one of the best and toughest tournaments Rio de Janeiro. Now, they are up against the best plan and their best theories are put to test.

Lacey Toups, Christina Morris, and Sheena Chou are playing the three poker babes in the movie and Diggity Domino is another main attraction.

Moreover, Aces.com is giving away some all-expense paid trip to the gala movie premiere. Two party prize packages were awarded to Wednesday Night Free Roll Tournament winners in July and another two will be awarded September 13th and 20th. The winner of the Three-Card Poker Tournament September 11 – 18 will also win airfare and accommodation to attend the event.

What are you waiting for? Go give it a try….

Paris Hilton Arrested: All in the name of a burger.

Hollywood celebrity and poker player Paris Hilton was arrested for alleged drunken driving. However, Paris claims that the whole issue has been exaggerated and that she was only driving a bit fast to get a late-night burger.

Hilton, 25 was pulled over by police in Hollywood around 1 a.m. for speedy and erratic driving leading to a suspicion of drunken driving. Paris later told that she was out for a charity party raising funds after a hard day of shooting for a music video.

Paris said, "I had one margarita, was starving because I had not eaten all day. Maybe I was speeding a little bit and I got pulled over. I was just really hungry and I wanted to have an In-N-Out Burger."

Since there were a lot of photographers around, the police did not want to give her any special treatment and cause unnecessary hype. Even though she failed the sobriety test, she was not charged with any offense as of now. That decision will be made by the Los Angles County District Attorney during the process of the issue over the next few days.

Star City Casino faces accusations of evading responsibility.

Star City Casino of Australia is being blamed for its irresponsible attitude in allowing a minor bank servant to play at high-roller status without assessing any background details.

Erick Tjandra, a 32-year-old minor bank employee gambled at Star City Casino with about 8 million dollars of stolen money. He has stolen approximately 10 million dollars from a dozen different banks over the past year or so. Now, the courts are condemning the irresponsible act of the casino and for not showing any moral responsibility before giving Tjandra the celebrated high-roller status.

Justice Christopher Armitage said, "To allow a young man who is obviously a minor servant of the bank to be in the high rollers' room was irresponsibility.”

James Bond plays high-stakes poker

Poker is an exhilarating and strategic game, and this is what has caught the interest of the producers of the latest Bond flick, Casino Royale. In this movie, you will see the new James Bond, Daniel Craig, exhibiting his sharpness at the poker table.

In Casino Royale, Secret Service gets information that Le Chiffre, (played by Mads Mikkelsen) is planning to raise money in a high-stakes poker game at Le Casino Royale to fund the terrorist organization he is supporting.

And Bond 007 is assigned the mission to play against him in an attempt to financially demolish that terrorist organization. So, Daniel Craig has added to the arsenal of Bond the strategy of gambling. He has been trained a bit to understand the bluffing acts of poker and the casino lifestyle.

Daniel Craig has liked and enjoyed the game so much that he started playing poker at his leisure time as well.

The cast of Casino Royale includes Eva Green, Catherine Murino, Judi Dench, Jeffrey Wright, and Giancarlo Giannini. And the movie is scheduled to be released on November 17 of this year.

Jamie Gold might end up with only $6 million!

Out of the $12 million that Jamie Gold has won at the WSOP event this year, it is possible that he might have to give away half of the amount due to a legal conflict.

A district court has ordered Bodog—Jamie’s sponsor for the WSOP event—to withhold the winning amount till the dispute is settled.

The dispute started when Crispin Leyser has filed a lawsuit against Gold claiming that they had a deal to share the winnings of WSOP in half after a business agreement they had before WSOP. Crispin Leyser is a television development executive and instructor for the World Poker Tour Boot Camp.

The allegation is that that Jamie Gold had an agreement with Bodog.com that paid for him to enter the Main Event in return for Gold finding celebrities to wear Bodog-sponsored clothing during the WSOP event. Now, Leyser claims that after he met Gold in Las Vegas in July, they made a deal that Leyser would help Jamie Gold find celebrities to wear the Bodog-sponsored clothing in return for half of Jamie’s winnings at WSOP.

Leyser says that he had satisfied his side of the condition by finding Dax Shepard and Matthew Lillard to wear Bodog.com gear. Now the dispute is that Jamie Gold has backed off from the deal after winning the whooping amount of $12 million. If Leyser is right and wins the lawsuit, Jamie Gold will end up with only $6 million of his winnings!

John Vorhaus’s new book, Killer Poker Online 2 is about to be released soon.

John Vorhaus has authored six books on poker and has written numerous articles on this game. He is a well-known, full-time writer and part-time poker player. In this book he describes some advanced tips and strategies on how to effectively play winning poker online cut into four chapters extended over 200 pages. The funny aspect is that he advocates the exactly opposite theories in the next half of the book!

One of the advices John Vorhaus gives in this book is to play heads-up Sit-n-Go, short-handed Sit-n-Go, and regular Sit-n-Go tournament to familiarize with final table play. There are many other strategies he explains and is a book worth reading for crazy online poker players.

Exciting news for California poker lovers:

League poker is about to coming to your area very shortly. Casino Morongo's Tag Team Poker League starts on the 6th of September and will be held on every Wednesday night until 13th of December.

League poker is absolutely entertaining and refreshing since it is not you alone. You get into the tag of a “team” and everyone’s play affects every other teammates play and your benefit and lost depends on others in your team as well. Moreover, 1+1 is always fun and that’s what makes league poker exhilarating.

The money out there in the league poker is also great. There is a weekly payout for the winning team and the final prize at the end of 14th week.

You know what! The top two teams will get $10,000 entries into the 2007 WSOP. What are you

Hogan gets 10-year imprisonment

Most of you must remember the bank robbery in December 2005 by a college student, Gregory Hogan Junior. Since being caught, Hogan has been stating that he had a lot of debts from online poker games and there was hype in the media that it was gambling crime.

Judge William H. Platt, from the courts in Pennsylvania, after considering all the evidence presented, sentenced him a 10-year imprisonment and a rigid parole period after release that restricts him from accessing the Internet. Responding to Hogan’s defense requests, Judge Platt sentenced Hogan to a youthful offender's version of state prison instead of main prison system.

Even though the backdrop of the robbery is somehow related to poker, it certainly should not be called poker crime. Hogan just walked into a dark future sabotaging his bright academic and professional career by entering into a bank from the wrong side.

Of course it is nice to know that Hogan wants to help people by talking to them about the risks of gambling, it would be inappropriate to label this event as poker induced crime.

Jamie Gold and his triumph story at the 2006 WSOP

Since the WSOP 2006 event started on the 17th of July, Jamie had been completely unstoppable. He climbed the rungs to Main Event by almost doubling the stack every day. He kept his place in the top 100 intact all the days among the 8773 players altogether. Gold was in total control of the final table keeping every other player at a distance.

Jamie knocked out 7 of his last 8 opponents including Allen Cunningham who has been the most favorite player for this WSOP). Early in the tournament, everyone struck off Jamie as a lucky chap, but then it turned out to be just a speculation as he came up with astonish amount of chips at the end of every day.

On Thursday night, it was apparent for every one that this guy is no lucky chap but has extreme poker sense and strategy. Jamie started the final day with a considerable chip lead and played the big stack brilliantly to gobble as many pots as he could. He played more hands than anyone else, bet and raised more than anyone else, and so brought far more folds than any other player at the table. He was aggressive and vicious, and at the same time sensible and strategic. All the attempts by his opponents to trap him have proved ineffective—he either had a strong hand or selected his folds excellently at the right time.

After eliminating Cunningham in the 4th round, it was merely a matter of time before he could beat Wasicka and Binger. Of course, Wasicka will be explaining to himself for a long, long time why he folded his 7s-8s hand when the flop was 10c-6s-5s that would have probably ended in a flush on the river. This fold by Wasicka made Jamie win the pot with a straight on the turn.

Binger did not probably hold a chance with his meager stack and unlucky hands. Finishing at the 3rd-place, Michael Binger called Jamie "a vacuum cleaner – he picks up all of the pots that no one wants." Reviving after his astounding triumph, Jamie said:

“A few of my friends said, "C'mon, there's no way you can lose this." I just didn't want to listen to that, I didn't think about it. All I thought about were the players I was playing with at each table, I never thought about the tournament, everyday I would think about my table and I crushed every table I played at except for one that I was on with Danny Negreanu, I could not beat him. He was amazing - I could not beat him.”

BetOnSports.com is closed.

The United States government has filed a case against BetOnSports (BoS) indicting of charges ranging from operating an illicit gambling business to money laundering. BoS, It has been forced to close down its poker and casino websites as well as its betting sites.

The site’s support team mentions that they have temporarily suspended the services and no financial or wagering transactions will be held during this period of suspension.

The spokesperson from BoS has mentioned that they are going to file against this indictment and would seek Supreme Court’s assistance in this regard.

However, this case comes as a warning to other gambling and betting sites that are possibly operating some back-end business.

This event certainly affected the share market of this as well as other gaming sites overall. There was a rumor as well that BoS has sealed a deal with the Department of Justice.

2006 Tournament of Champions

This year Tournament of Champions turned out to be a very exclusive event. In all 27 players were invited for the Tournament- players from last year’s final table, the twelve World Series of Poker circuit event winners and 6 Harrah’s sponsor exemptions. So it turned out to be a-nail-biting event! The final table was a gathering of Poker big names and mind boggling talent.

The final table consisted of:

1. WSOPC event winner Thang "Kido" Pham
2. Former World Champion Chris "Jesus" Ferguson
3. Online poker pro Darrell "Gigabet" Dicken
4. Defending TOC champion Mike Matusow
5. 2004 World Series Player of the Year Daniel Negreanu
6. Chip Leader Andrew Black
7. World Poker Tour announcer Mike Sexton
8. "The Great Dane" Gus Hansen
9. Circuit event winner Chris Reslock
10. Foreign poker pro Daniel Bergsdorf

Gus Hanson was the unfortunate 10th player who was sent home with no profit from the $2 million freeroll. It was the final 9 players were to benefit from the game. When Mike Matusaw left at the 3rd place, the chip stacks were:

		Sexton 1.488 million
		Negreanu 1.212 million

After the almost-16 hours final game, both Mike Sexton and Daniel Negreanu were exhausted. Negreanu, in fact, dropped out of the first open event of 2006 World Series when the Tournament of Champions final table rolled into wee hours of the morning. But he didn’t go home empty handed. His efforts were rewarded with $325,000 for finishing second and Mike Sexton went home the Winner with his bootie of $1 million.

WSOP 2006: Broadcast and Sponsors

Harrah’s Entertainment Inc. and ESPN have reached an agreement to extend their partnership to broadcast the World Series of Poker through 2010. ESPN had been the Event broadcaster for last eight years. In addition, ESPN has also announced that it will also offer a pay per view live broadcast of $10,000 tournament’s final table. The cost of this paid broadcast it yet to be released. This will be the first time World Series of Poker will be broadcast live. And the normal broadcast will be shown later this year.

Harrah’s and Miller’s Brewing Company have also closed a deal, which is supposed to be the largest of its kind between a Gaming Company and a Corporate Sponsor, making Milwaukee’s Best Light, the official beer for the tournament till 2008. According to the deal, the Milwaukee’s Best Light will be incorporated in several components of the tournament, while it will promote the event nationally round the year. The details are still not finalized but the sponsorship will be advertised prominently during the World Series of Poker events as well as on ESPN broadcast.

Ladies WSOP 2006: more booties

The Gold Coast Casino has entered a partnership with LIPS Tour to host a Ladies’ Super Satellite on July 7th at 7pm. The buy-in for the even is $100 +$25. They will also be awarding one seat for every ten women in the starting field into the Ladies’ World Series of Poker event on July 9th. And any left over prize pool which is less than $ 1000, will be awarded as either as a buy-in for the Orleans Open Ladies’ event on July 10th or as cash.

Tim McGraw to host a Charity Poker Event

Tim McGraw, a Grammy winning country singer is hosting a Poker Fundraiser on 3rd November in Philadelphia to support the Tug McGraw Foundation. The Foundation was formed in the memory of Tim’s father Tug McGraw who died in 2004 after a tough battle with brain cancer. The Tug McGraw Foundation helps patients diagnosed with brain tumors.

McGraw has a great evening planned. There would be poker, a live show by McGraw’s band- The Dancehall Doctors, live and silent auctions and an award ceremony to recognize and honor the work of people who have contributed towards making the lives of the brain tumor patients and their families.

The Event will take place in Crystal Tea Room in Philadelphia and the various prizes would include a trip to the 2007 World Series of Poker. People expected to participate include Bob Costas, White Sox First Baseman Jim Thome and former Chicago Bears quarterback Jim Macmohan.