Poker News May 16th, 2008
Judge deals blow to online poker players
Game enthusiasts tried to get gambling ban overturned
A King County judge Thursday upheld a state law that bans Internet gambling in a widely watched case filed by a Renton poker player.
Lee Rousso had argued that the 2006 law, which made Internet gambling a felony, violates the U.S. Constitution’s commerce clause and is cruel and unusual punishment. After the hearing, he relayed Superior Court Judge Mary Roberts’ decision to roughly 70 disappointed poker enthusiasts gathered for a rally outside the Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent.
“That’s just the way the game is played,” said Rousso, an attorney. “The court of law is probably the biggest casino there is.” He promised an appeal.
The crowd included men who live with their parents, women with college-age children, parents with sleeping infants, and poker celebrities who showered the crowd with autographs. Most in the group wore crimson T-shirts proclaiming, “POKER is not a crime.”
Poker: Know how to read your opponent’s bet
How you interpret the size of an opponent’s bet, especially in relation to his stack at certain points in a tournament, can give you the chance to take down a pot or tell you to get away from a loser.
Marcel Luske read it right at the $15,000-buy-in Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic at Las Vegas’ Bellagio in 2007.
With blinds at $2,000-$4,000 plus a $500 ante, players neared the money bubble, the point where those remaining in the event finish in the money, allowing aggressive players to take advantage of those who fear risk.
After a player in middle position raised to $12,000, Luske looked down to find 10-9 offsuit in the big blind. Owning a considerably bigger stack, Luske called the additional $8,000.
“The guy is not strong enough in chips to make a move,” Luske said. “In the bubble position, it’s very hard for people to play hands when they’re not that strong in chips.”
World Series of Poker Main Event changing
The World Series of Poker, poker’s most prestigious event, will kick off in a few short weeks. The WSOP features world championships in various forms of the game, all leading up to the granddaddy of them all, the $10,000 buy-in Main Event.
This year, however, the Main Event will be just a little bit different.
Harrah’s, the operator of the WSOP, with input from the Players Advisory Council, decided to postpone the final table of the Main Event until Nov. 9 a delay of more than three months. That’s right; more than 7,000 players will start play on July 3 and battle down to the final nine on July 14, at which time play will come to a stop.
PokerTime Goes Private
PokerTime will start to go private, with the aim of becoming a completely private Poker Room in the near future. However, they will continue to use Microgaming’s tried-and-trusted software as they believe that it is the very best available.
From 15 May 2008, all of their Hold‘Em tables with stakes of $1/$2 and below will move onto a private network. At this point, nothing will change with regards to their high-stakes tables.
“By moving our small-stakes tables onto a private network we’ll be able to immediately add value to our mass market. Our focus will be on successfully growing this community,” explains James Grant, Customer Relationship Manager of PokerTime.
This move will enable PokerTime to add value to their players in the form of bigger and better exclusive promotions, including higher-paying bonuses and more private tournaments.
It’s anticipated that such offerings will favourably differentiate PokerTime from other Poker Rooms on the Microgaming Network. Yet their players will still have access to the best of the Microgaming tournaments and software, but with the added luxury of playing in private environment. “In essence, we’ll be giving them the best of both worlds,” concludes Grant.
Tournament Winners: FTOPS VIII - Events 12, 13 and 14
Full Tilt Poker’s 8th Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS VIII) crowned three more 1st place victors Tuesday, dealing out impressive prize pools that totaled more than $1.1 million. The winners, “DaEvils”, “the aviator1” and “dud711”, were each awarded with a gold FTOPS VIII jacket and gold FTOPS VIII custom avatar.
FTOPS VIII – Event #12
The first event of the day turned out to be the biggest, starting as a $200 + $16 NL Hold’em with one re-buy, one add-on and a guaranteed prize pool of $300. Hosted by Full Tilt Pro and 2007 WSOP final table finisher Lee Watkinson, an enormous field of entrants eventually jumped the GP up to $455,200.
As the tournament dwindled, Steve Berhcer was the only member of team Full Tilt to cash, taking 18th place and $1547 for his efforts, but it was “DaEvils” and “DERAJ21” who went heads-up at the final table. The skilled game play of “DaEvils” turned out to be too much for “DERAJ21”, hitting the rails in 2nd place to pocket $66,004. “DaEvils” was crowned the victor, earning the gold FTOPS jacket and avatar, along with the day’s highest payout of $104,696.
FTOPS VIII – Event #13
Full Tilt Poker commenced the 13th event of FTOPS VIII with a $500 + $35 NL H.O.R.S.E. tournament guaranteeing a prize pool of $300,000. Full Tilt Pro David Singer, final tablist in both the 2006 and 2007 WSOP $50k H.O.R.S.E. events, gained the honor of hosting the event that attracted a field of 607 participants; enough to raise the GP by an additional $3,500.
Notable cashes were awarded to 51st place finisher “fkscreennames”, winner of FTOPS VI, and Jeff Madsen, the highest cashing Full Tilt Pro of Event 13, who ended the day in 23rd position.
The final table came down to heads-up play between “the aviator1” and “OrBigEarn”. In the end, it was “the aviator1” besting his opponent for the 1st place prize of $70,381. “OrBigEarn” took home $46,283 for his 2nd place triumph.
FTOPS VIII – Event #14
This $200 + $16 NL Hold’em Turbo tournament, hosted by Full Tilt Pro Amanda “MandyB” Baker, saw an impressive field of 2,140 rounding out the entrants, hiking the expected guaranteed prize pool of $200k to a whopping $428,000.
Team Full Tilt saw several cashes in the event, including Scott Fischman in 37th, placing him in 8th place on the FTOPS VIII leaderboard, and Berry Johnston in 25th position, placing him in 22nd place on the leaderboards. When Event #14 came to a close, it was “whothedonk” topping the FTOPS VIII leaderboard, who’s cashed multiple times in the series thus far, including a 1st place victory in Event #2.
Heads-up play commenced as the final table was decreased to “dud711” and “OneUponAStar”, who eventually relented to the upper-hand of “dud711” to claim 2nd place and $56,496. “dud711” ended the day with a shiny new gold jacket, the coveted gold FTOPS VIII avatar, and $87,290.60 to roll in.
PKR 3-D Online Poker Room Ranked #1 In UK
PKR Poker, an enormously popular online poker room established in 2006, has proved its innovative success by ranking number-one in a recent poll by Hitwise, an Internet competitive intelligence service, having received the most hits in the online poker category. The poll covers the first quarter of 2008, calculating web site hits coming from the UK.
PKR Poker has been one of the most rapidly expanding online poker rooms in the world, dues to its ground-breaking three-dimensional environment and pioneering features, like its unique ‘Emote Control System’. PKR beat out the UK’s most prevalent online poker rooms, including Ladbrokes, William Hill and VC Poker.
“We are extremely pleased with this award,” exclaimed PKR Marketing Director, Simon Prodger. “We have seen some phenomenal growth and it’s not slowing up. We have never accepted US players, so to achieve the top ranking in the UK is fantastic.”
[…] criminyjicket wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptJudge deals blow to online poker players Game enthusiasts tried to get gambling ban overturned A King County judge Thursday upheld a state law that bans Internet gambling in a widely watched case filed by a Renton poker player. Lee Rousso had argued that the 2006 law, which made Internet gambling a felony, violates the U.S. Constitution’s commerce clause and is cruel and unusual punishment. After the hearing, he relayed Superior Court Judge Mary Roberts’ decision to roughly 70 disappointed po […]
[…] cgn.nu wrote an interesting post today on Poker News May 16th, 2008Here’s a quick excerptJudge deals blow to online poker players Game enthusiasts tried to get gambling ban overturned A King County judge Thursday upheld a state law that bans Internet gambling in a widely watched case filed by a Renton poker player. Lee Rousso had argued that the 2006 law, which made Internet gambling a felony, violates the U.S. Constitution’s commerce clause and is cruel and unusual punishment. After the hearing, he relayed Superior Court Judge Mary Roberts’ decision to roughly 70 disappointed po […]