What’s the deal with online poker in the United States?

Many of you may believe it is currently illegal to gamble online, including online poker, in the United States. When did this come into effect? Ironically on (Friday) October 13th, 2006 perhaps the most un-luckiest day of the year President George Bush signed a bill that tightened security measures from online gambling including everything from poker to bingo. This bill also put heavy restrictions on banking institutions that knowingly transfer funds to such people or businesses.

But the truth about this bill is that it is technically not illegal to participate in online casinos in most of the US. In fact only 11 states have laws against this including Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana (felony to play online poker), Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, South Dakota, Washington (felony to play online poker) and Wisconsin that disallows gambling online. So why is it still difficult for people in the other 39 states to gamble online? The truth of the matter is that when the news of the bill broke nearly all of the available online casinos dropped US members and users.

Online gamblers don’t fear! There is still several sights including some great online poker sites that still accommodate US users. A few to check out are Absolute Poker or Full Tilt Poker.

Hand #206

Two players left and its ALL IN action Q9 vs. a pocket pair of tens. It was Rhynie Campbell and Erik Cajelais in the ultimate show down. Campbell’s pocket pair looked pretty strong but as the flop came, Q 9 3, Campbell’s fate seemed sealed. Then came the turn, it’s a K, even worse news. But then the river came and the only card Campbell could win with was a ten and believe it or not it was a ten! The crowd at the Turks and Caicos Poker Classic went wild.

This years WPT Turks and Caicos Poker Classic winner is Rhynie Campbell. He takes home just over $400,000 and a priceless WPT title.

Turks and Caicos Poker Classic Kicks Off

A slight delay due to original plans being changed has taken but the luxurious Turks and Caicos Poker Classic is slated to kick off today in the beautiful Caribbean. Play was scheduled to start yesterday but there was no complaint from the players who enjoyed the beautiful beaches and endless list of things to do at Club Med The Players Club where the tournament is taking place. With a prize pool of over $1 million, really who would complain?

Host Jack McClelland and his staff from the Bellagio hotel and casino in legendary Las Vegas have prepared nothing but the best for the expected 168 poker pros. Action begins at 12 noon today and is expected to end by midnight each night. The buy in for the event is $7,500, players start with 20,000 chips, and blind levels increase every 90 minuets. Hopefully, after a relaxing unexpected day off the players will be ready for some serious high stake action.

A Political Poker Star?

Well maybe not a star but Senator Barack Obama is no first timer to the poker room. As the Associated Press reports, starting in 1997 Obama and other senator and associates began playing in poker nights they often referred to as ‘Committee Meetings’. Although it is illegal to play poker for money outside a deemed casino in the United States, low stake poker games like the ones Obama and friends organized are often overlooked and viewed as harmless fun. And in fact it was fun, on a typical night players joked and bantered about legislative leaders and never lost or own more than about $100. A self proclaimed ‘pretty good’ player, Obama became known to fellow competitors as a cautious player with a good poker face.

Low stakes poker nights are a small change now for Barack who is now in the most difficult competition of his life, the presidential race. But his poker tactics are very similar to his analytical approach to his campaign. Like Larry Walsh, a former Senator, said, “When Barack stayed in, you pretty much figured he's got a good hand”. Hopefully this proves true in his race to the White House. His poker buddies are looking forward to maybe one day having a ‘committee meeting’ in perhaps the oval office.

Poker Games Number One Download

Even before Apple’s iPhone made its market debut ‘Scenario Poker’ became the number one downloaded game. Although it is no longer the number one download the popularity of poker simulated games is still astronomical especially when it comes to games for cell phones and personal computers. The game ‘Scenario Poker’ allows users to participate in a three round shoot out style tournament with 27 other competitors. Perhaps the best component of the game is that as soon as you make your move the play move lightning fast around the table and it is almost instantly your move again. This allows the player to see an unreal amount of hands and the usual mandatory patience aspect of live poker is taken away. The poker application has been listed on Apple’s ‘Top 50 Widget List’. Apple’s ‘Widget List’ consist of the current top 50 downloaded widgets, which are for MAC OS X Dashboards. Some more of the popular downloads include Starry Night Widget which allows users to view the sky from any location on Earth and the You Tube widget that gives full access to the website.

Other popular poker downloads include ‘Texas Hold’Em’, Full Tilt Poker, Poker Stars, and Party Poker. Start downloading your favorit Widgets HERE.

Sheikhan Faces Deportation

In a departure from typical poker updates, The Las Vegas Review-Journal has released information that high stakes poker room staple Shahram "Shawn" Sheikhan is facing possible deportation due to a misdemeanor conviction nearly ten years ago. In 1995 Sheikhan was convicted for ‘sexual battery and annoyance or molestation of a child' and served nine months in jail for the crime. Sheikhan, a citizen of Iran, is a legal citizen of the United States because his wife is American born but on August 30th he was arrested by immigration police and later released a week later when he met the $10,000 bail.

Why is this legal US citizen now facing deportation? According to The Las Vegas Review Journal, A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesperson, Virginia Kice, noted in the release that Sheikhan "was targeted for ICE arrest because of his criminal history. We want to see him removed from the United States." Currently the ICE has an ongoing ‘Operation Predator’ program.

Sheikhan is being represented by none other the famous poker attorney David Chesnoff who being known when he represented and won the case for Bruce Crispin Leyser against Jamie Gold winner of the 2006 Word Series of Poker 2006

Roy Winston Wins!

The Borgata Poker Open 2007 has come to an end but of course it was not without a bang. Going into the six person final table there was nothing but pure talent filling the seats including famous face Mike Matusow, who finished in a disappointing sixth place. Others at the table were Heung “Scott” Yoon, Roy Winston, Haralabos Voulgaris, Mark Weitzman, and Eugene Todd.

But only one doctor of poker, and real life doctor, reined supreme. Roy Winston came out on top of this tier one battle. Walking away with over 1.5 million dollar it was all in a few days work. When it came down to a heads up battle it took 84 hands to decide the outcome of the showdown between experienced player Winston and Heung Yoon. The patience paid off when the final hand, a classic battle, came down to A-K versus 4-4. Yoon drew dead and Dr. Winston took the title home.

The Borgata Poker Open Day Three

Its day three at The Borgata Poker Open and there is only 18 players left from the field of 560. The tournament is moving at a very reasonable place with pay-out being made already for those players who finished in the top 27 positions. One of the notable players who still remains in the tournament is poker original Mike Matusow. Here is a list of the top ten current chip standings:

1. Roy Winston- 1,725,000
2. Tom Nguyen- 1,575,000
3. Darrell Hopkins- 1,350,000
4. Brian Strahl- 1,195,000
5. Victor Ramdin- 1,130,000
6. Eugene Todd- 1,050,000
7. Mark Weitzman- 1,040,000
8. Michael Vela- 950,000
9. John Kranyak- 790,000
10. John Hoang- 780,000

Looking back on day one of the action, this blog, is an entertaining piece about how player Davidson Matthew used a magazine to intimidate player Victor Ramdin during hands he played against him. Ramdin was recently on the cover of a poker magazine which Matthew held over his face. Creepy, or smart? Well Matthew’s unique tactics failed him as he busted early in day one.

2007 Borgata Poker Open

Welcome to Atlantic City, home of the elegant poker hotspot The Borgata Hotel and Casino. This years Borgata Poker Open, a stop on the 2007 World Poker Tour, kicked off yesterday with a field of 560 players. With a top prize of over 1.5 million dollars the $10,000 entry fee seemed minimal to some.

At the conclusion of day one, only 360 players remained with an average chip stack of 46,667. The playing field consists of not only top pros but many amateurs round out the field. In addition, the Borgata Poker Open as drawn many online poker players to the live scene including up and coming youngster, 21 year old Mario "Pwnasaurus" Silvestri.

After day one, amateur Stanley Kasprzak lead the pack and a notable performance from poker great Mike Matusow took place as he finished inside the top 15 for the day. Play continues today at 11AM local time and will conclude sometime on Thursday September 20th, 2007.


Check out this series of Poker blogs from The Borgata Poker Open

The Never Ending WSOP Europe

Its been said that the play of poker is 99% being patient and waiting for playable hands and the other 1% is the moments filled with insatiable excitement awaiting your fate that the cards hold. That 1% is the reason people play poker, its chasing the feeling of beating A-A with your 5-3 suited hand, bluffing your 7-2 off suit, and out playing your opponents.

The final table of the WSOP Europe main event with players such as online legend Annette "Annette_15" Obrestad promised to deliver serious poker action. And in fact it did with other poker heavy weights John Tabatabai, Matthew McCullough, Oyvind Riisem, Johannes Korsar, Dominic Kay, Magnus Persson, Theo Jorgensen, and James Keys filling the remaining seats. Although play was expected to come to an end on Saturday, the final table was not set until Sunday and the winner was not crowned until nearly 1am Monday morning. There was plenty of patience needed that the game of poker is infamous for but the out come of this event will forever go down in poker history.
Online poker player “Annette_15” proved she was not only an online superstar but a stellar live player as well as she took home the coveted gold bracelet early Monday morning.

The win for “Annette_15” is obviously remarkable because she is a female and this win makes her the first female player to win a WSOP main event bracelet. But there is so much more to this story from the women is being called the ‘Queen of Europe’. This year’s final table was one of the toughest tables ever in final table history. Surrounded by perhaps the hardest-hitting players Europe has to offer “Annette_15” slowly plowed her way through the field after one of the longest heads up battles ever seen in a WSOP event. However, perhaps the most extraordinary aspect of “Annette_15’s” win is that she is the young age of 19. Yes, not even legal for her to gamble in the US she is making a serious mark on the world of poker. The awards presentation brought this barley legal teen to tears behind her dark sunglasses, a touching moment for all female players of the game.

Congratulations to “Annette_15” my poker hero!

Revisitng the 2007 World Series of Poker

With all of the talk about the WSOP Europe currently in tournament play it is important to look back on this year’s US WSOP which the European tournament is based on. Just this year a 39 year old physiologist from Temecula, California named Jerry Yang made history by winning the 2007 WSOP Main Event. Although Yang was not the first armature to win the event, his win does portray how anyone can be apart of the poker action and even be successful. In fact, this was only Yang's second year of playing poker and in just five short days of play he took home a staggering top prize of $8.25 million along with his first WSOP bracelet.
Yang believes he could have never done it without being aggressive and applying what he knows about psychology; “I study my opponents very carefully, and when I sensed something, when I sensed some weakness, I took a chance. Even if I had nothing, I decided to raise, re-raise, push all-in or make a call.” All of Yang's hard work paid off in the end when he defeated a total of 6,358 players each who paid a $10,000 fee to enter the no-limit Texas Hold ’em main event.

Gator Nation Embraces Poker

Despite recent government regulations of gambling online (Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act) in the United States which has directly affected the poker fan population. The popularity of poker in Florida area is at an all time high and that does not fall short with the Gator Nation. Students at the University of Florida have found ways to still get their poker fix in a legal and philanthropist type way.

Last year students organized several events such as, the Student Global AIDS Campaign Poker Tournament and the second annual AMA poker fundraiser. The effort continued this year as the University of Florida sorority Pi Delta Psi put together the 'Poker with a Purpose' tournament on August 26th. The donations for the tournament went towards the construction of an Asian-American Institute in Gainesville.

If one is looking to find some poker action off campus look no further than the Gainesville community. Throughout the year poker tournaments like ‘Poker for Pets’ take place to raise funds to benefit non profit organizations within the community and even nation wide.

For a more competitive environment, there are many poker rooms in the area in addition to Florida’s 137 casinos. One such player who enjoys competitive poker play is University of Florida’s own Jonathan Westra an online poker professional. Just last year Westra made a name for himself on the WSOP circuit by taking 26th, 25th, 9th, and 4th at four different events. Like Westra has made is mark on the poker world, Florida students and residents alike continue to support not only the game of poker but also the charities they support.

Please take a look at this video pretaining to the recent Government restrictions on Online Poker
http://video.msn.com/v/us/msnbc.htm?g=def90a9b-0599-453e-a8bf-d3c730949c09&f=00&fg=copy

WSOP Europe Day 2

With 111 players returning for day 2 at the Empire Casino in London, it did not take long for some serious action to take place. The field still filled with an endless list of poker superstars each yearning to win the coveted Gold bracelet and not to mention the £1,000,000 first prize.

After the field had been reduced from day 1 action, the play continued in a single casino (the Empire Casino). One table that caught everyone’s attention was what was being called ‘The Table of Doom’ that featured Humberto Brenes, Phil Hellmuth, Farzad Bonyadi and Jan Sorenson who combine have a total of 18 WSOP bracelets a staggering number. But the most feared player of the day and leader and the end of day 2 was none other than Gus Hansen. He started his run to the top by knocking out poker royalty in the form of Pam Brunson of the Brunson family poker dynasty. Other victims on Hansen’s list include WSOP bracelet winner Greg Raymer and online poker's Hendon Mobster Ram Vaswani when Hansen flopped a full house, sevens full of fives.

At the end of the day, professional poker's Gus Hansen reined supreme among only 40 players who remained. One of the 40 players who was still standing at the end of the day included yesterday’s stand out player Phil Hellmuth, although he took several serious hits throughout the day leaving him with a miniscule chip stack. Play at the Empire Casino is moving a rapid pace and play should come to an end within the next few days.

WSOP Europe Main Event Update

The intense play continued yesterday at the World Series of Poker Europe Main Event. All three of the Casinos which are hosting the event were filled with eager players and fascinated onlookers. From ordinary Joes to online poker superstars each player was in search for the coveted Gold Bracelet. Some new but familiar faces have found themselves at the top of the chip lead with about four days of play remaining.

American poker superstar, Phil Hellmuth was one of the few at the top at the end of the day but he certainly did not come quietly. A ‘celebrity’ in the poker world, Hellmuth arrived at the Empire casino in a not so timid red double-decker bus. As he exited the bus he was surrounded by eleven scantily clad women, one for each of his World Series of Poker Bracelets.

Also one of the early leaders in the event, Annie Duke, remained in the top ten of the chip lead. Other leaders at the end of day included Huseyin Yilmaz at the Sporstman Casino and Janne Lamsa at the Fifty Casino.
The World Series of Poker thus far has fulfilled its promise to be an exciting star studded tournament with non-stop action.

Phil Hellmuth arrives at the WSOP Europe

PokerNews Cup to Be Televised

The world of Poker continues to prove its popularity and stability as the NPL, National Poker League, announced today that it will be filming five one hour episodes of the PokerNews Cup which is held in Australia. The episodes will air on NPL’s global distribution that extends to over 5 million households and reaches 14 countries. Some of the networks include MOJO HD, WGN Superstation Cable Network, and CBS Stations, plus TF1 in France, Sky Italia in Italy, and EuroSport in the UK, Spain and Poland.
The PokerNews Cup marks the first live tournament for online poker company PokerNews. The event will take place on October 21st through the 29th at the Crown Casino in Melbourne, Australia. Six tournament style events will lead up to the AUD$3,000 Main Event. Expectations for the event are positive, with an expected large international field and a prize pool well over 1 million dollars.
The NPL coverage will focus mainly around the three days of the main event. Producers plan to construct an arena like structure on the casino floor much like the one seen at the Rio all suite hotel and casino in Las Vegas for The World Series of Poker. Episodes are schedule to air in mid-December and PokerNews executives are hopeful of the event’s success.

Rio Hotel & Casino http://www.harrahs.com/casinos/rio/hotel-casino/property-home.shtml

World Series of Poker Europe

The main event of the European equivalent of the popular US World Series of Poker kicked off today after four days of play. The World Series of Poker Europe began on September 6th with Event number one, a £2,500 H.O.R.S.E. tournament with 105 entrants, and continued on with Event number two, a £5,000 Pot Limit Omaha tournament with 165 entrants. The winner of the first event was Germany’s Thomas Bild and event number two winner was Italy’s Dario Alioto. But like the US event, all of the attention is on the main event, a £10,350 (roughly $20,000) No-limit Hold’em tournament.

The tournament will take place over six days concluding most likely sometime on Saturday September 15th. Unlike the US version of the event, the tournament takes place at three different locations including The Casino Empire, the Fifty and the Sportsman.

Although early in the action, well known professional poker player Annie Duke has made several aggressive moves more than doubling her chip stack and putting her comfortably in second on the chip counts list. The current lead belongs to Dean Sanders who is only ranked 2622 in the Player of the Year standings. Play will proceed through the late evening and continue to gain excitement as the tournament moves toward the final table.

Gulf Coast Poker Championship Wrap Up

Play at the Beau Rivage Casino in Biloxi, Mississippi came to an exciting conclusion as Bill Edler, know as “The Stunning One”, took home the top prize of over $700,000. The tournament began on Thursday September 6th and continued through till Sunday September 9th. With a purse of over 2.4 million dollars, players were anxious to get their piece of the prize money. Each player put up a $9,700 buy in and an additional $300 entry fee. The playing field consisted of 256 competitive poker players.

The final table action was a showdown between professional poker players Bill Edler, Tom Franklin, David Robbins, and rounding out the field three non-professionals Hank Sitton, John Davidson, and Tim Frazin. When it came down to only two, Bill Edler and David Robbins, the final hand was an ace of hearts and nine of spades versus a queen and a seven of diamonds. The flop, turn, and river were all in favor of Bill Edler’s ace and nine giving him his first WPT championship. In addition to the prize money, Edler also received a $25,000 entry into the Season VI WPT World Championship in April and a $10,000 entry into the World Poker Open in Tunica this January.

But this tournament was no cake walk for Edler; in fact his performance is being called one of the greatest come backs in poker history. With 17 players remaining in the tournament, Edler was crippled with only 2,000 chips when the blinds were 4,000 and 8,000 and the ante was 1,000 chips. Edler then made several aggressive all-in moves propelling him not only to one of the top chip leaders but also taking him to the final table where he eventually took home first prize.

http://www.beaurivage.com/

Professional Poker, a Professional Sport?

What defines a professional sport is it grueling physical activity, rock hard athletes, or can it extend beyond that? Surely professional poker lacks aggressive physical activity, toned bodies, and jeering fans. But what professional poker does have is sharp minds, tactical plays, and suspenseful moments. This has lead some to call this once card shark only game an actual professional sport.
The recent rise in the popularity of poker can be accredited largely to the now most famous of all poker games, ‘Texas Hold'Em. As demand for poker increased events like the WPT, World Poker Tour, and the PPT, Professional Poker Tour, were introduced and compared to such organizations as the MLB and NBA. This marked the evolution of poker into a professional sport.
But some still argue against the idea that poker can actually be considered a sport. Critics argue that poker can not be considered a professional sport not only because the lack of physical activity but more due to the fact that it is the only ‘sport’ that any person may compete in given they have the money to buy into an event. Take the World Series of Poker, perhaps the most poker event to date, unlike other professional World Series or finals, literally there is no qualifications to enter expect for age (all players must be twenty-one years of age by law) and money. The exception to this is the PPT, in which players must qualify with wins and player points to be allowed to compete. However, the WPT and the World Series of Poker still remain the most popular events to date.
The popularity and draw to poker may not be that it is now held to be a professional sport by some but simply that it is fun, exciting, and great entertainment. With these attributes poker certainly does not fall short of any other professional sport out there.





http://www.pokerpages.com/pokerinfo/tournamentgallery/ppt/about.htm
Professional Poker Tour, PPT, Article