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Online Poker News from 2008

  

 

That's right, before the World Series events kick off in June, Full Tilt has decided to sneak in a warm-up in the form of FTOPS VIII. What's at stake?

$10,000,000 in guaranteed prize money that will be distributed throughout 24 different events. That's a lot of money, and a lot of tournaments. Direct buy-ins range from $200 to $2,500, but satellites are up and running already.

The easiest way to find a satellite to the game you are interested in is to visit the Full Tilt website and check out their FTOPS schedule page. They have a link to the times of the different satellites running for each event.

Besides the expected mix of games like Hold'em, Omaha, HORSE and Razz, there are 3 "mystery" eventson the schedule. they are being billed as "unlike anything FTOPS has ever seen before". I have no idea what that means, but it should be interesting to find out.


Calvin Ayre Retires

Calvin Ayre Announces Retirement from Bodog

April 21, 2008 - Calvin Ayre, the internationally noted billionaire playboy founder of Bodog, will be retiring from his largely ceremonial role as the face of Bodog.

Additionally he will no longer be involved in Bodog operationally. In mid 2007 he successfully transferred ownership of the Bodog brand in North America to the Morris Mohawk Gaming Group. Internationally Bodog has put in place a very competent and significantly European executive team that is already managing Bodog Europe and Africa and plans to further expand to Latin America.

Ayre will be taking some time to himself in his home in Antigua and will continue to support charitable opportunities through the Calvin Ayre Foundation.

Ayre noted that, “While it has been great fun to live my life in front of the world’s cameras and online though my blog, I am looking forward to a more private and meaningful period of giving back and working to support the Calvin Ayre Foundation.”



eCogra Update:

eCOGRA AND GAMCARE TEAM UP ON RESPONSIBLE GAMBLING EDUCATION

eCOGRA responsible gambling standards described as comprehensive and practical

London, 26 March 2008 - The UK problem gambling charity GamCare and eCommerce and Online Gambling Regulation and Assurance (eCOGRA) pooled their expertise in London last week to train almost 40 online casino managers on the principles of responsible gambling, and how to identify and handle problem gamblers.

Management delegates travelled from their bases around the world to attend the two day intensive training course, which featured lectures, case history studies and interactive training exercises supervised by expert GamCare officials Andrew Poole and Amy Webster. The course covered all aspects of responsible gambling and the now well established principles for handling this important management function which eCOGRA 'Safe and Fair' sealed gambling venues are required to use.

Former UK Gaming Board Chief Inspector, GamCare Trustee and eCOGRA Independent Director Bill GalstonOBE welcomed delegates to the course, stressing the critical importance of a coherent and professional responsible gambling program at online gambling establishments.

"For both humanitarian and ethical reasons - and to correct adverse misperceptions by some - a comprehensive responsible gambling policy is a critical investment for any online gambling operation," he said. "eCOGRA has made huge strides in this area in developing a set of best practice requirements for online gambling operations, and this third course on the subject will coach managers in how to apply these tools.

"On this course we are especially pleased to also welcome experienced managers from major companies that are members of the European Gaming and Betting Association, adding to the pool of experience that makes these occasions such a valuable two-way exchange of knowledge," he said.

Andrew Poole, managing director of GamCare's Trade Services Limited company conducted a thorough review and explanation of the eCOGRA responsible gambling requirements and standards, describing them as both comprehensive and practical.

"This course will give you sufficient information and insight to set up a solid responsible gambling program at your companies if you have not already done so," he said, stressing the need for training and making responsible gambling a part of the corporate culture.

The eCOGRA standards provide minimum requirements in respect of warnings and options regarding problem gambling, self exclusion and control mechanisms for gamblers, and promotional and advertising best practices in this area.

GamCare's Amy Webster conducted much of the training, which included expert tuition on the prevention of underage gambling, the psychology of problem gamblers, how to identify compulsive players and the best way to handle cases of this nature.

eCOGRA CEO Andrew Beveridge wound up the course by addressing delegates: "I believe I can safely say that this course is the best we have held to date, not only in terms of expert tuition from our colleagues at GamCare, but also due to the commitment and experience which delegates have generously shared throughout.

“Responsible gambling is an absolutely essential operational element and I am confident that you return to your companies motivated and with the right tools to ensure that a quality responsible gambling policy is constantly reviewed and refreshed.

"Your commitment to eCOGRA has its roots in a real desire to be professional, responsible and above-average in your operational practice, and the responsible gaming aspect is now firmly entrenched as an integral part of our standards necessary to achieve this level of business conduct."



Feb 20, 2008

ECOGRA put out two press release statements recently. Here are copies of each:

SUSPENSION OF eCOGRA SEALS

An onsite review was recently conducted by eCOGRA's Compliance and Advisory Services staff at the operations for the following casinos as part of a normal seal renewal process:

Challenge (www.challengecasino.com)
Golden Reef (www.goldenreefcasino.com)
I Big Casino (www.ibigcasino.com)
Music Hall (www.musichallcasino.com)
Nostalgia (www.nostalgiacasino.com)
UK Casino Club (www.ukcasinoclub.com)

The audit revealed failures in compliance with eCOGRA's Generally Accepted Practices. It has therefore been decided to suspend these seals pending further investigation.

The Management of these casinos have been advised of this action and requested to comment on the findings of the audit review. Further information will be provided once these investigations are concluded.

It should further be noted that the operations applicable to Arctic Poker (www.arcticpoker.com) did not form part of the eCOGRA review, and therefore the seal for this site has been revoked, as the time by which it should have been reviewed has expired.



BIG DEMAND FOR THIRD RESPONSIBLE GAMBLING SEMINAR

Working with GamCare, eCOGRA will host its third intensive training initiative in March 2008

London, 18 February 2008 - Starting March 19 this year, eCOGRA will be hosting the next training course in London, and eCOGRA accredited companies and other firms currently under review around the globe have already committed to the expense of sending managers to attend, registering over 40 delegates.

The two day course will commence with an address by a senior independent director of eCOGRA and former Chief Inspector of the UK Gaming Board, Bill Galston OBE followed by detailed practical tuition sessions on the clinical and social aspects of problem and underage gambling presented by expert professional speakers from GamCare.

The highly interactive programme has been designed to cover all aspects of responsible gambling awareness and the implementation of effective and practical measures to identify and exclude problem gamblers, with the emphasis on player protection, customer communication and providing players with helpful information. The managers attending will be coached on how best to ensure that staff is adequately and regularly trained to deal with responsible gambling issues, and that marketing initiatives are in compliance with the Responsible Gambling Code.

One of the key sessions will examine intervention and interaction; how to deal with problem gamblers and the fine line between intervention and interaction. With the UK code recommending that companies engage in “interaction” this aspect will be explored and guidelines given on how it can best be achieved, and where the operator’s responsibility ends.

In practical terms, eCOGRA and its partners have done more than most when it comes to the professional study of responsible gambling and the development of staff training aimed at reducing the possibility of underage or problem gambling.

The player protection organisation has partnered with leading international responsible gambling bodies to present two previous major training courses for operational managers, who then return to their home bases to implement measures and expand the training to other members of staff.

"Our previous courses have been well received as valuable guidance in complying with best practice standards for combating problem and underage gambling," eCOGRA's Fair Gaming Advocate Tex Rees said. "The next course has combined the expert professional knowledge of GamCare counsellors with the growing practical experience of top online gambling operators to produce what we believe is an effective and useful approach to a key industry problem."

To go along with the press release, I've posted a video on the UnknownPoker channel at Youtube with Mark Seif's comments on the Absolute Poker Scandal.

As reported by the NY Times, there is a cheating scandal at Absolute Poker. Sites like two plus two and pocketFives have threads upon threads of conversation in their forums about this latest black eye for online poker. Here's AP's latst words on the matter . . .

Dear AP Player:

I am the former Grand Chief of the Mohawk Territory of Kahnawake and the owner of Tokwiro Enterprises ENRG, which holds a 100% interest in Absolute Poker.

As many of our players are aware, there has been a security breach in our system that allowed unlawful access to player information that resulted in unfair play. I am writing to you today to let you know what we know so far in order to set the record straight, and to assure you of AP’s commitment to player security. I am sure that this letter will not address all of the questions and concerns you may have, nor will it extinguish the heated discussion surrounding this issue. At this point, our intention is to let you know all we can disclose and to assure you of our continued efforts to keep you informed as best we can as the investigations continue.

We deeply regret this situation has occurred. A breach in security in online poker is serious and of great concern to players and the industry worldwide, and this particular situation has been the subject of debate within the poker player community and in the media, giving rise to the creation of several websites and hundreds and hundreds of comments, opinions, and theories of what occurred – some of which are accurate, and some that are not.

Like you, I have not been happy that during the initial stage of our investigation, AP has not been more forthcoming in providing a timely or comprehensive explanation on this matter, giving rise to anger, suspicion, and concern on the part of our valued customers. I hope that our customers can appreciate that this remains an incredibly complex and sensitive issue, and I want to give you my strongest possible assurance that we will be as forthcoming as possible on how this breach occurred and what we are doing to remedy the situation.

What We Know and Actions We Have Taken

AP was notified by a customer that a possible cheating incident occurred during a recent tournament, and in response forwarded players’ hand logs. This disclosure of the hand logs prompted our customers to determine that a more serious security breach had occurred. We immediately launched an internal investigation and also requested a formal audit by Gaming Associates, an acknowledged world-wide expert in audits, interactive gaming tests, and information security.

Based upon our preliminary findings, it appears that the integrity of our poker system was compromised by a high-ranking trusted consultant employed by AP whose position gave him extraordinary access to certain security systems. As has been speculated in several online forums, this consultant devised a sophisticated scheme to manipulate internal systems to access third-party computers and accounts to view hole cards of other customers during play without their knowledge. As this consultant was aware of the details of our fraud detection process, the likelihood that the scheme would be uncovered through our normal procedures was minimized. We consider this security breach to be a horrendous and inexcusable offense.

We will pay for all losses suffered by the affected players as soon as our audit is finished and the amounts are determined. Although we are in the process of attempting to recover all the winnings of this consultant, any unrecovered losses of affected players will be paid by Absolute Poker so that all affected persons will be made whole.

Next Steps

We are still investigating whether the consultant was acting alone or in concert with others, and it appears at this time that all account holders are innocent of collusion and were unaware of any wrong-doing by the consultant, who was immediately terminated. We continue to investigate this matter aggressively, and all of these preliminary findings are subject to the audits currently underway. We have recently uncovered additional accounts used by the consultant that have not been publicly reported. So as to not compromise the investigation, we are not releasing the names of these additional accounts at this time, and will contact these affected customers individually.

The specific allegations of unlawful activity are being investigated both by AP and by the authorized authorities, including the Kahnawake Gaming Commission. We will continue to actively cooperate with these authorities in full compliance with the Regulations Concerning Interactive Gaming. In addition to our own investigation and the audit by Gaming Associates, we have also submitted to an audit by the Kahnawake Gaming Commission.

Please be assured that we have corrected the problem that allowed the system to be unfairly manipulated. We are working furiously to increase the safeguards within our systems. While we are satisfied that our systems are secured, we realize that our security systems must be continuously monitored and enhanced.

Without question, this incident has been unfortunate for all concerned, and we will emerge as a stronger company. I realize it will take some time and much more information for AP to re-earn the trust and confidence of our customers who are in doubt of our commitment to the highest levels of security, privacy and integrity. As we move to address and correct this situation, our valued customers have played a vital role in uncovering this scheme through various online forums and have become an active part of the solution.

With my full sincerity, I thank you, and I promise to keep you updated as we bring this situation to a close.

Sincerely,

Joe Norton

October 19, 2007

WCOOP Main Events Results have Changed - as the winner of the event has been disqualified. After an investigation that lasted 2 week, PokerStars has decided that the actions of "TheV0id" were "in breach of the PokerStars Terms of Service."

Speculation on the message board(s) centers around the idea that the winner of the event played the same tournament under more than one screen name, enabling him to continue playing on one account after another had been knocked out.

The investigation into the WCOOP main event has now been concluded.

We have determined, based on the totality of evidence, that the tournament winner “TheV0id” was in breach of the PokerStars Terms of Service.

In the interests of game integrity, “TheV0id” has been disqualified from first place.

All other WCOOP main event prize-winners, in addition to the player who originally bubbled in 415th place, will therefore advance one place in the prize pool. The necessary financial adjustments to reflect the revised tournament places will be made within the next 24 hours.

Please note that we are unable to release further details of this investigation, for reasons of confidentiality and privacy.

Stephen Winter
Manager, PokerStars Game Security

Ka$ino, the original 2nd place finisher, just became a very happy man. And a lot richer.

October 18th, 2007

Doyle's Room is Back!! And by that I mean the once again accept U.S. Players - woo-hoo!

On October 18th, they announced their "return to the U.S. market". It also marks the return of the relatively-famous wekly "Bounty Game" that they had been running on Thursday Nights.

New players get a free entry into the event, veterans pay the $27.50 entrance fee. Doyle and Todd both play, along with Mike Caro, another of the old guard poker pros. It's fun just to be able to grab some table time with these guys, but to crank up the entertainment value, there are boutnies placed on their heads. Knock them out of the tourney, win extra cash. It's that simple.

Of course there are other promotions as well, but the fact that more rooms, especially higher profile ones like Doyle's Room, coming back to the U.S. is a welcome sight.

October 16th, 2007

New Press Release from eCogra:

MORE EMPHASIS ON REAL REGULATION BOOSTS INTEREST IN eCOGRA
- Harmonisation of regulations may be difficult to achieve, but the pressure is on for operators

London, 16 October 2007 - With competition soaring in the European arena following the move away from the legality-ridden and confusing problems of operating in the United States, the need for acceptable standards and licensing has never been stronger, says Andrew Beveridge, CEO of eCommerce and Online Gaming Regulation and Assurance (eCOGRA).

The growing necessity for online gambling operators to commit to serious licensing jurisdictions with real regulatory requirements was again evident in several key presentations at the European iGaming Congress and Expo held recently in Barcelona.

Adding momentum to the trend, the United Kingdom's recently published advertising "white list" has spurred numerous companies to gravitate toward effective and acceptable licensing jurisdictions like Gibraltar, Malta, Alderney and of course Britain itself.

The swing has also generated substantially more interest in private non-profit standards and player protection bodies like eCOGRA which numbers some 120 tier one online gambling venues on its accredited list.

Formed four years ago with respected international and independent directors at the helm, the London-based organisation has consulted internationally to develop advanced best practice standards for operational conduct...and the technology to inspect and continually monitor accredited companies to ensure compliance.

Beveridge and a growing London-based professional team have engaged regularly with several licensing jurisdictions on the acceptability of its standards, laying the groundwork for compliance with most jurisdictional requirements in terms of game fairness, customer service, responsible gambling, management integrity, operational efficiency and accounting best practice.

"We're aware that there are inter-nation and perhaps political difficulties in reaching a harmonised form of detailed international standards and regulations among national licensing jurisdictions," said Beveridge at the Barcelona conference.

"But the main prize is surely a safe and fair online gambling environment for the players? That is our goal in promoting practical standards on which we can all agree and the inspection and monitoring necessary to ensure compliance.

"We are confident that eCOGRA makes it possible for accredited operations to meet or exceed the principal demands of the top licensing jurisdictions, and that has generated substantial interest in our activities by operators who look for professional guidance in reaching the right levels of acceptability."

September 29th
Dream Poker is assimilated by GNUF. Dream had been offering a very solid line-up of bonuses and player rewards, and I had been recommending them as one of the more player-friendly places to play on the prima network. That may have made them a tasty target for GNUF who is taking over the player-base.

Players can instuall the "GNUF colored" version of prima poker and continue play on the network. There has been no change in their stance towards U.S. players as neither Dream nor GNUF will accept them.

♠ World Championship of Online Poker Recaps ♠

Event #23 - No Limit Hold'em Main Event
And finally, the Main Event of the WCOOP 2007. This No Limit Hold'em tournament had a direct buy-in of $2,600, and a guaranteed prize pool of 5 million. With 2,998 players signing up, the actual prize pool was stretched to $7,495,000.

The tournament lasted nearly 22 hours!

A handful of players walked away from the tables with over a quarter million dollars each. The top two made a deal during the tournament. The winner, TheV0id, earned $1,228,330. The second place finisher, ka$ino, won $850,782.

Those are some amazing numbers. Room pro Vanessa Rousso, who plays under the name of "Lady Maverick" took third place, which means an extra $463,000 in her pockets.

Event #22 - Limit Hold'em
The focus turns back to Hold'em for the final events of the series. Limit Hold'em was in the spotlight for Event #22 as 616 players paid $1,060 a seat to compete. The prize pool produced was $616,000.

Players finishing in the top 90 places were in the money, with the top 2 players each taking home over $100,000. There was a deal reached when the game got to the heads up portion of the tournament, so Sowerss took home $120,184 while the second place finisher, jumper17 earned $108,967.

The $616,000 in prize money was better than triple the PokerStars guarantee of $200,000.

Event #21 - H.O.R.S.E.
The final HORSE event of the WCOOP took place over the weekend. This event was a elite competition, with a buy-in of $5,200 (including fees). The field consisted of 177 top notch players competing for a prize pool totalling $885,000.

Those who placed in the top 24 took home a piece of that prize pool, with several players earning over $100,000.

  • 1st Place: hairos - $202,921
  • 2nd Place: svesken - $176,921
  • 3rd Place: tj_trail - $103,987
Event #20 - No Limit Hold'em Triple Shootout
One of the smallest events of the series, the NLHE Triple Shootout drew 729 players. They each bought in at $530 (including fees) producing a $364,500 prize pool, which surpassed the PokerStars guarantee.

Those who finished in the top 81 made the money list. The top 4 finishers each received over $25,000 for their efforts.

  • 1st Place: lyerly - $76,545
  • 2nd Place: Zock'n'Rock - $51,030
  • 3rd Place: AJunglen7 - $36,450
  • 4th Place: DumpingKGB - $27,337
Event #19 - Pot Limit Omaha (6-max)
Short table action was alive at the Pot Limit Omaha game. Over 1,000 players signed up for Event #18.

The prize pool came in at $523,000, with anyone placing in the top 123 making the money. Nearly half the prize money found its way into the pockets of the top 3 finishers.

  • 1st Place: buck21 - $97,262
  • 2nd Place: Gu Minda - $77,053
  • 3rd Place: muzzu - $41,840
There was a deal made during the heads-up portion of the tournament.

Event #18 - 7 Card Stud Hi/Lo
Not one of the more mainstream poker game, the 7 Card Stud 8 or better tournament still drew nearly 600 players (598) to push the actual prize pool well beyond the PokerStars guarantee. The top 88 players all took a share of $299,000 home with them.

The top three players reached a deal giving each of them a nice payday.

  • 1st Place: BigLL - $48,367
  • 2nd Place: mysticaces - $38,712
  • 3rd Place: crazyjanie - $49,473
Event #17 - No Limit Holdem (6-max)
Hold'em is back in the spotlight for Event #17, with 2,873 players going at it on 6-man tables. This event was another tournament where the actual prize pool ($861,900) doubled the PokerStars guarantee ($400,000).

Anyone placing in the top 402 spots made the money in the event. The top 3 players did especially well, each taking home over $50,000.

  • 1st Place: pes4fans - $167,553
  • 2nd Place: PeachyMer - $98,946
  • 3rd Place: pape85 - $62,918
Humberto B. was on the money list for this event as well. Back to back ITM, nice job Mr. B.

Event #16 - Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo
Well, the $320 PLO8 event finally came around, and 1,536 players joined together for Event #16. The prize pool grew to $460,800, which was better than double the PokerStars guarantee.

In the end, 225 players made the money, including Humberto B. from Costa Rica. I'd imagine that's the real Humberto Brenes. The final three players made a deal which gave each of them at least $46,000.

  • 1st Place: tiger76 - $61,419
  • 2nd Place: GotGame76 - $68,974
  • 3rd Place: INKO05 - $46,784
Event #15 - 7 Card Stud
Things seemed to settle down a bit with the 7 Card Stud event on Monday. A mere 696 players bought into the tournament, but that was enough to surpass the guaranteed prize pool (which was $100,000) and produce a $208,800 pool.

The tournament ended early, by WCOOP standards, concluding before 5am eastern. The top 6 players made a deal, which left each of them with a nice payday of roughly $20,000.

  • 1st Place: Ubsolute - $25,000
  • 2nd Place: sascos - $19,902
  • 3rd Place: Dersu Uzala - $22,360
  • 4th Place: spielraum.at - $19,805
  • 5th Place: Grape - $21,011
  • 6th Place: Lystig - $18,828
Lystig is having a great run here in the 2007 WCOOP. This was not his first final table, as he placed in the Limit Omaha 8 or better event as well.

Event #14 - No Limit Hold'em
This event was kind of like the Sunday $2,000,000 guaranteed. With a buy-in of $1,050 it certainly ranks as one of the prestige tournaments of the series. In the end, 3,325 players took part in the event, which produced a total prize pool of $3,325,000.

It also stretched the length of the tournament to over 18 hours.

The top 486 players made the money. The top 5 made lots of money.

  • 1st Place: mig.com - $580,212
  • 2nd Place: chulwoo - $292,932
  • 3rd Place: Trickybstrd - $210,472
  • 4th Place: ephman - $166,250
  • 5th Place: saphire1 - $130,340
Event #13 - Pot Limit Hold'em
While No Limit is the more popular betting style, Pot Limit is still alive and kicking. And judging from the turn-out for Event #13, it'll be around for some time to come. Over a thousand players filled the seats at the Pot Limit Hold'em WCOOP event, creating a prize pool of $545,000.

The top 153 players all took home prize money, but the top 6 did especially well, each bringing in over $20,000.

  • 1st Place: antroff - $117,175
  • 2nd Place: betgo - $64,473
  • 3rd Place: Tycoon_Kid - $43,600
  • 4th Place: shahmat - $34,880
  • 5th Place: Bill Chen - $28,067
  • 6th Place: kedvedert - $21,255
Event #12 - H.O.R.S.E.
Multi-game tournaments are back in action at the WCOOP with the HORSE event. Rotating between Hold'em, Omaha, Razz and Stud players are tested in different ways. The tournament attracted 1,639 players, each with a buy-in of $215 (including fee). The resulting prize pool totalled $327,800.

The tournament itself lasted until nearly 8 am, after a 3 in the afternoon start, so it took some time to battle down to the winner. You didn't need to stay up that late to find yourself in the money though, as the top 176 places got paid. That includes four players who pocketed over$20,000 in cash for their efforts.

  • 1st Place: jaliks - $72,116
  • 2nd Place: Hikkespett - $42,614
  • 3rd Place: TheBigViking - $27,863
  • 4th Place: Cactus Benny - $20,651
Event #11 - Razz
Another lowball game, the Razz event attracted over 1,100 players, each contributing $200 to the prize pool. That meant there were $235,200 awarded in prize money.

Of course the top players faired well, with three players taking home over $25,000 for their efforts. Anyone placing in the top 112 made the money.

  • 1st Place: OnlyPlayRagz - $41,136
  • 2nd Place: needabanana - $37,296
  • 3rd Place: larki1 - $29,759
Placing in the money were Fossilman and SKOAL, who have also done well in other WCOOP events this season.

Event #10 - NL Hold'em Match Play
"Match Play" means Heads Up. Over 1,800 players particpated in the event, which lasted until 7 the following morning. They generated a prize pool of $565,800.

In the end, the top two players reached a deal that provided them both a payday of over $50,000.

  • 1st Place: ugotmeyet? - $82,054
  • 2nd Place: ansuz - $65,054
Overall, the top 256 places were paid. Players in the event started with 3,000 in chips, and the direct buy-in was $320.

Event #9 - No Limit Hold'em with Rebuys
With $1,000,000 guaranteed, this event is slated to be one of the larger tournaments in the WCOOP. With 2,188 players competing, the game lasted until 9am. Considering it started at 3 in the afternoon the previous day, that's a long event.

Of course with the top 4 finishers taking home better than $100,000 each, it was probably worth the loss of sleep.

  • 1st Place: ruthan - $198,125
  • 2nd Place: LUHMAN - $109,241
  • 3rd Place: yojje - $107,109
  • 4th Place: kiwid10 - $144,539
Those players reached an arrangement, which is why the fourth place finisher took home more money than the second and third place finishers.

Anyone finishing in the top 270 received some form of payout.

Event #8 - Limit Omaha Hi/Lo
This event drew nearly a thousand players (917) and produced a prize pool of $458,500.

the top 135 players all placed in the money, with the top 4 working out a chop arrangment that saw each of them take home over $40,000.

  • 1st Place: copi - $87,882
  • 2nd Place: SKOAL - $40,729
  • 3rd Place: rkruok - $49,680
  • 4th Place: Lystig - $53,937
A certain amount of kudos should go to the 4th place finisher, Lystig, for his deal-making skills.

Event #7 - Limit Hold'em
Hold'em returns to the spotlight at the WCOOP with 2,059 players taking part in the Limit Hold'em tournament. The prize pool generated by the field was $411,800, with payouts being awarded to the top 270 finishers.

Once the table got down to heas up play, Cardinal7 and TheMasterJ33 struck a deal. In total, four players took home over $20,000 from the event. They were . . .

  • 1st Place: Cardinal7 - $67,933
  • 2nd Place: TheMasterJ33 - $53,629
  • 3rd Place: PapaPapsilon - $28,990
  • 4th Place: superbrono - $23,472
Event #6 - Pot Lmit Omaha with Rebuys
Well, this was quite the event. The tournament had a guaranteed prize pool of $400,000, but the 772 participants provided enough monies through entry fees and rebuys to boost the actual prize pool to $713,000.

That's enough money to pay out the Top 90 places. The top 3 places each paid over $50,000.

  • 1st Place: FossilMan - $168,362
  • 2nd Place: O.Mustang - $97,022
  • 3rd Place: MrSmits - $64,919
Yes, that's right. World Series of Poker Champion Greg Raymer also known as the "FossilMan" won the event!

Event #5 - No Limit Holdem
The big event of the weekend was undoubtedly the No Limit Holdem tournament on Sunday. This event had the highest buy-in of the 2007 WCOOP so far at $530. The guarantee was whopping $2,000,000.

A field of 6,025 players pushed the actual prize pool over $3,000,000, with the top 900 finishers landing in the money.

How long does it take to play a tournament with over 6,000 participants? Well, Sunday's game lasted over 20 hours.

For the top 4 finishers it was time well spent, as they each carried home over $125,000 for their efforts.

  • 1st Place: AB_illusive - $398,648
  • 2nd Place: taktloss47 - $260,184
  • 3rd Place: glynda - $162,373
  • 4th Place: wNwNw1 - $126,525
The top two finishers reached a chop arrangement.

Event #4 - 2-7 Triple Draw
The first lowball tournament of the series (and the second Draw poker event) was the 2-7 Triple Draw tournament that took place on Saturday. There were 349 players who ponied up the $215 entry fee to particpate in the event.

PokerStars guaranteed a prize pool of $100,00. The actual prize pool for this tournament was $129,800.

The top 84 players finished in the money, with prizes of over $10,000 going to the top 3 finishers.

  • 1st Place: Donald - $32,450
  • 2nd Place: pstarfish - $18,821
  • 3rd Place: omaha kid - $12,006
Event #3 - Pot Limit Omaha (6-max)
The first Omaha event of the series was a 6-max tournament that drew 1,818 players. That resulted in a prize pool of $363,000 that was distributed amoung the top 270 finishers.

PokerStars was guaranteeing $200,000 for the event.

The top 4 finishers all took home over $15,000.

  • 1st Place: jalla79 - $67,739
  • 2nd Place: TomNordli - $49,739
  • 3rd Place: ely_cash411 - $27,379
  • 4th Place: madisco - $16,434
In this tournament, a deal was made when the game got down to heads up play. The players were even in chips, so they decided to set aside the tournament bracelet, plus $18,000 for the eventual winner.

Event #2 - Pot Limit 5 Card Draw
Draw poker is alive and well, as evidenced by the 857 player turnout for an event that ran at the same time as the Hold'em 6-max event.

PokerStars was guaranteeing a $100,000 prize pool, but with the strong turnout the actual prize pool eclipsed that marked and settled in at $171,400. Each of the 857 players paid $215 for their seat in the contest.

The top 4 players each took home over $15,000.

  • 1st Place: spielraum.at - $26,265
  • 2nd Place: jaygee1984 - $20,654
  • 3rd Place: peseudos - $26,912
  • 4th Place: boro83 - $17,609
Yes, that's correct. The third place finisher actually took home more than the player who ended up winning the event. When the tournament got down to 4-handed play, a deal was struck amoung the remaining players.

Chalk one up to the deal-making skills of peseudos.

Event #1 - NL Hold'em [6-max]
This event carried a $400,000 prize pool guarantee. It turns out that 4,610 players signed up for the tournament, boosting the actual prize pool to $922,000, over double the PokerStars guarantee.

The buy-in was $215 per player, which bought you a starting stack of 3,000 in tournament chips. Payouts went to the top 524 finishers.

Unlike the FTOPS series which start their tournaments later in the evening, the WCOOP events start mid-afternoon Eastern time. This tournament lasted until nearly 8am the following day. The final tablists traded in their lack of sleep for a payday of at least $10,000. The top 3 finishers faired quite well, taking home over $84,000 each.

  • 1st Place: samh133 - $155,560
  • 2nd Place: WiLDmAn75 - $96,351
  • 3rd Place: LUUFCBas - $84,709
August 28th, 2007
There seems to be trouble in Bodog land.

Bodog is encountering DNS issues related to several of its websites and is directing customers to an alternate site (www.newbodog.com) with little or no interruption to service.

“We are having difficulties related to our DNS registration but in little more than 12 hours, nearly all aspects of the website have been updated to reflect the environment our clients are accustomed to,” says Bodog founder Calvin Ayre. “We are working to resolve any of the minor remaining glitches on the alternate site, but other than that it is business as usual.”

According to Ayre, the problems result from a dispute over the ownership of the Bodog.com domain name.

“We are fighting this dispute and are confident that we will win,” says Ayre. “I sincerely apologize to any customers affected by our interruption and will continue to provide updates as they become available.”

August 21st, 2007

eCOGRA IN SYNCH WITH UK COMMISSION'S REMOTE GAMBLING TESTING STRATEGY

- Player protection and standards body applauds accent on outcome based testing

London, 21 August 2007 - Andrew Beveridge, CEO of eCommerce and Online Gaming Regulation and Assurance (eCOGRA) expressed support this week for the UK Gambling Commission's recently published testing approach for online gambling software.

The player protection and standards body chief says his organisation is especially pleased that the Commission has recognised the validity of outcome based testing principles and methodology.

"It is encouraging to see that the Commission has officially adopted outcome based testing to assess compliance with their remote gambling technical standards," Beveridge said.

In addition to the outcome based testing, both eCOGRA and the Commission require verification that the development, implementation and maintenance of the gambling software is representative of best practice standards.

"It's worth noting too that eCOGRA goes significantly further than these excellent guidelines in that our RNG (Random Number Generator) testing incorporates every single live gaming transaction on an ongoing basis, and we additionally perform monthly payout percentage testing and routinely publish the results. RNG testing per se actually says little about the fairness of a game - a random game with a 40 percent payout is hardly fair, for example", he added.

Beveridge said that the Commission's decision on remote gambling testing was a positive event for the industry. "This is the sort of thing we have been applying since eCOGRA started operations almost five years ago, and we know from experience that the principles and methodology is effective," he said.

Responsibility for outcome based testing at eCOGRA lies with a dedicated professional team that operates the organisation's Total Gaming Transaction Review and the analysis and ongoing monitoring elements that support it. The process is part of eCOGRA's self-regulation regime for some 118 tier one online gambling casinos and poker rooms that have been accredited by the independent, non-profit body.

"Our TGTR work is subject to a regular review by auditors KPMG in London, and we have introduced a full explanation of the process, including graphics at www.ecogra.org/fairness", Beveridge said.

He concludes by saying that he has little doubt that the test regime prescribed by the Commission will have a positive influence on the testing methodologies accepted by other credible licensing jurisdictions.

"Hopefully the source code vs. outcome-based testing debate is now finally put to rest!" he said.

August 6th - Press Release from ECogra:

ONLINE OPERATOR INTEREST SURGES AS eCOGRA INTRODUCES NEW SERVICES

eCOGRA's new services prove to be popular safeguards

London, 1 August 2007 - The independent player protection and standards body eCOGRA (eCommerce and Online Gaming Regulation and Assurance) has experienced a surge of interest in its expanding range of professional services following a decision earlier this year to accept online gaming and betting operators that do not necessarily use the software of eCOGRA member software providers.

"It is very encouraging from an industry perspective to see a significant number of big name applicants undergoing the inspection, probity checks and monitoring procedures we use to accredit sites for the "Safe and Fair" eCOGRA seal", says eCOGRA CEO Andrew Beveridge.

"There is no reduction in the inspection and monitoring levels, or the standards required to satisfy our independent directors before an organisation is certified. However, the policy now in force opens up our services to a wider range of online gambling operators who want to achieve third party verification that the players are protected, the games are fair, and responsible practices are implemented", he said.

Based on industry and business requirements explicitly requested by operators, eCOGRA has expanded its services to include specialist reviews and advisory services. The provision of these industry specific and specialist services is made possible through the appointment of a highly qualified team with Big 4 accounting firm experience in auditing and advisory practices.

Specialist Reviews
eCOGRA is drawing on its vast knowledge and capability in setting and enforcing standards to the benefit of the industry. Partnering with other organisations wanting to promote fair and transparent practices, eCOGRA is assisting these organisations by helping them to set standards and monitor compliance.

eCOGRA has also recently developed standards specifically focused on the operation of affiliate programs. The main objective of these standards is being able to provide some level of comfort to affiliate marketers that they are being paid the correct amount, that accounting practices and calculations on affiliate revenues due is correct, and that appropriate controls are in place to prevent skimming. This set of standards is proving extremely popular with leading affiliate programs.

Verification Services
eCOGRA's reputation and ability to provide independent verification has been an important mechanism for operators wanting to provide additional assurance to players, or other third parties, that relevant information has been verified by a trusted source. Most recently, these services have included eCOGRA performing independent verification of winnings that have been published and marketed by the operator.

Information Security Services
eCOGRA approved operators have benefited from receiving best practice Information Security Policy templates to assist in the protection and safeguarding of the online gambling environment. Underpinning this is the confirmation that the security configuration of the technology being used conforms to the documented policies and best practices implemented by the operator. eCOGRA has therefore designed information security review services that are performed to identify any control weaknesses and system vulnerabilities that may allow malicious users and attackers to circumvent security mechanisms on Internet gambling sites.

Advisory Services
eCOGRA is able to assist and advise operators based on extensive industry experience and knowledge, and an understanding of the unique and specific challenges facing online businesses. Financial, business process and technical skills are utilised to develop and tailor innovative solutions to assist operators in a range of business and industry related challenges.

The services are designed to compliment many of the other facilities which form part of the eCOGRA offering, such as dispute mediation, responsible gambling training, and payout percentage and RNG certification.

"The popularity of these services shows that there is a genuine move in the industry toward a more professional standing through self-regulation and implementation of best practice standards.", said Beveridge. "The result is growing operator demand for audit type services that give both players and other industry stakeholders the necessary confidence in safety, professionalism and efficiency, and we have and will continue to develop a basket of services carried out by qualified specialists to satisfy this demand."


July 31st - Neteller is now allowing U.S. residents to begin withdrawing funds again.

July 31st - EcoCard is suspending their online gaming transactions that involve customers from the United States.

This change will be effective from 24th, August, 2007 at 10:00 A.M. PST

After this date US located customers will still be able to continue to use their EcoCard account at non-internet gambling supported merchants, to make Person to Person Money Transfers and for Withdrawals.

July 17th - I had written about the WPT Boot Camp at one point here at Unknown Poker.com. They are one of the training options open to poker players who are seeking help in improving their game.

Well, today is the day they play the Final Table of the Main Event at the WSOP in Vegas, and wouldn't you know it, there are several WPT Boot Camp participants that have found their way into the top 15. I received this email notifying me of their success this morning, and as a nod of acklowledgement to those that are active about improving their game and then achieve success because of their work, I'd like to reprint it here:

Today is a very exciting day for all of us who dream of making it to a final table.

WPT Boot Camp prides itself on offering the premiere events for those who share that dream and want to fast-forward their game to that next level.

The WSOP main event began with a field of 6,358 players and when it came down to the final 13 players, amazingly, two WPT Boot Camp alumni remained. Early Monday morning, our own Bill Spadea, took 13th and cashed for a whopping $429,113!

But here is even more exciting news. When the WSOP main event final table begins play today, another WPT Boot Camp alumni, Lee Childs, will take seat #3, and will go to battle with 8 other players, with the 5th largest chip stack of 13,240,000. Lee is a recent alumni from our event at the Borgata on April 17th, which was taught by Vanessa Rousso and Tom McEvoy.

Lee recently left his job as a VP in applications development to take time off and focus on poker. Lee has no major cashes up until now, but he's guaranteed to take home more than $525,000 from the Main Event.

Lee called me yesterday and he is amazed at his sudden popularity and seemed very confident and felt good about being a middle stack. His teachers and some of our other pro's have called him as well to offer their support and insight.

I know you all join me in wishing another player who just a week ago had final table dreams good luck!

We always say that taking a WPT Boot Camp is truly your fast track to a final table; but in our wildest dreams, we never thought it would at the ultimate final table!

Steve Berman - VP/Co-Founder
WPT Boot Camp
www.wptbootcamp.com
(866) 978-2668


July 16th - in land-based poker news, the Final Table participants for the Main event of the WSOP 2007 has been determined. Today is a day off from action at that tournament. A video feed for the final table is available via pay-per-view from ESPN.

The dates for the Full Tilt Online Poker Series 5 (FTOPS IV) have been announced. This tournament series has 14 Events (including a $2,500 buy-in game), and features a guaranteed prize pool of $7,000,000.

Absolute Poker is offering a reload deposit for their VIP players Monday through Wednesday. The offer is 25% bonus of up to $200.

July 13 - Royal Vegas Poker has re-opened their doors. For a while Royal Vegas had ported their players to PokerTime, another one of the prima poker rooms. I received a player's email that Royal Vegas is now back in business.

Luckily, I hadn't deleted the poker room software from my computer. I opened the poker room, received some software updates, and sure enough, I was back at Royal Vegas.

July 9th - Ultimate Bet has a reload bonus offer in place for existing players between 00:01 ET on Monday, July 9th and 23:59:00 ET on Tuesday, July 10th. It's 20% up to $200.

In other Ultimate Bet related news, Phil Hellmuth was fooling around in the Ultimate Bet stock car in the parking lot of the Rio at the WSOP. He guided it into a cement barrier. There's some video of it at Raw Vegas TV.


June 27th - two news blurbs for today. Sun Poker has announced that they now host . . .

Headhunter Bounty Tournaments

In this type of poker tournament, the prize structure is markedly different.

50% of the Prize Pool is used for the traditional top place finishers. 50% of the prize pool is awarded as "bounty" prizes.

Every single player has a bounty on their head so a player gets paid for every single player they knock out. The bounty on a player's head increases with every knockout.

At the beginning of the tournament a player's bounty price will be equivalent to 50% of the buy-in + their headhunter rating. For every player a player knocks out, they will be credited with 75% of the bounty in cash and the other 25% will be added to their bounty.

If a player wins the tournament, they take home the prize pool + the value of their head. In addition, the player's headhunter rating increases. The player who has the highest headhunter rating at the end of the week advances to the Weekly Champions Tournament.

Bounty tournaments do add a bit of fun to the game, and it's interesting to see this type of tournament being played online. I received the announcement from Sun Poker, but it may be a Cryptologic Poker Network addition, so it may also show up at places like Interpoker as well.

June 27th - With the WSOP taking place, a lot of the poker world is focused on the events from the desert these days. Still, the online world is moving along with the latest gaming shop closing its doors.

Tournament Blackjack provider Get21 is in the process of ceasing operations. Here is a cut and paste from the email I received regarding their exit from the gaming market:

"I regret to inform you that Get21 will cease its operations in the Tournament Blackjack game room as of July 15, 2007. The game room will remain open until then, but there will be no promotional tournaments offered as of July 1, 2007.

Tables will only be available in the following sections of the lobby:
QUICK GAME
-SHOOTOUT
-HEADS-UP

SIT & GO
-SINGLE TABLE
-MULTI TABLE

SCHEDULED
-REGULAR TOURNAMENTS

Players with any existing balance must withdraw their balance from their account OR play it down to $0 (zero) no later than the date of closure: July 15, 2007."

June 13th - I've been away on vacation for a few days, and it seems as soon as I left Daniel Negreanu's Full Contact Poker closed shop as far as providing online poker games. The plans are to merge player accounts into PokerStars, with Daniel joining the team of players at Stars.

Also waiting for me in my inBox was this note:

"It is with great sadness that we must inform you that the SkillGames Network is closing down.

Effective June 6, we will cease to offer live gaming.

Our Poker client will be closed briefly while we close the games, but will reopen and your accounts will be active for you to withdraw your remaining funds.

We sincerely regret that we can no longer offer our live gaming, however it is no longer an option for us.

We thank you for your support over the years, and wish you the best of luck in your Poker playing future.

Sincerely,
SkillGames."

I have to admit that was no surprise.

June 6th - The World Series of Poker is taking place right now. Officially, PokerNews.com has the rights to display current action and chip counts. Apparently CardPlayer.com is mimicing the information with their own live chip counts. Considering all of the money invested in this information, and the way it may or may not be public domain (like the pitch count and score in a baseball game), it'll be interesting to see how this plays out.

In the meantime, if you're interested, CardPlayer and PokerNews have coverage of the WSOP events, as they take place.

June 1st - The start of the Fantasy Poker League at Full Tilt. Choose players for a team, and then receive points based on their values of their cashes at the WSOP.

May 31st - Concerning the close of U.S. player accounts at Dream Poker, I received a copy of an email from support containing this phrase . . ."We kindly thank you for playing with us and ask you to please withdraw any/all funds you may have in your DreamPoker account before the end of the month(05/31/2007), as all U.S. player’s accounts will be closed thereafter."

If you have funds at Dream Poker, withdraw them now. That is all.

May 26th - Absolute Poker is running a reload bonus for all of their regular players. Bonus Code MAY25VIP will unlock a 25% bonus of up to $200.

Dream Poker has announced plans to close its doors to All U.S. players on May 31st.

May 25th - Ultimate Bet is running a reload bonus of 15% up to $150 for their existing players.

May 23rd - Poker Stars finished dealing their 10 Billionth hand. The winner of the hand, which took place on the $.01/$.02 sat in on the biggest big blind special ever.

Justine Hall found 83s on the blind, and ended up hitting a flush on the hand, giving her the pot, and a cool $100,000 for winning the promotion. Not a bad haul from the penny ante tables!


I'm not sure what's more surprising, that Poker Stars is at hand 10,000,000,000 already, or that Justine has a picture of an attractive woman as her player icon at PokerStars, and she actually is an attractive woman. There goes my theory that all the pretty femanine faces at Stars are actually hiding someone named Ralph.

May 22nd - This is the week that Mansion Poker is running their WSOP promotion. They've been running guaranteed money tournaments, which have caused quite the buzz because they've been having to add money to cover the prize pool (can you say, overlay?), so players are excited about this WSOP opportunity.

Here's the specs on the tourneys:

8 WSOP seats A DAY – For a week.

Buy-in: $100
Satellites: $10 Rebuy MTT or $20 Freezeout

Tournament times:
11.00 AM GMT
Monday, Wednesday and Friday
8.00 PM GMT
Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday

They do not take US players, so you know. But, if you're from outside the US, this is probably one of the better chances to get a WSOP seat online.

May 21st - Paradise Poker will begin their migration to the BOSS media software on the 24th May.

May 20th - Jungle Poker will be undergoing some server maintenence, and will be closing operations between 1 AM and 8 PM EST.

May 18th - Ultimate Bet has announced the grand opening of the Ultimate Points Store. This adds an extra wing to the customer rewards program at the room, and is a welcomed addition.

May 17th - Press Release from eCogra

GIBRALTER ACCEPTS eCOGRA CERTIFICATION FOR ONLINE GAMBLING INTEGRITY - eCommerce and Online Gambling Regulation and Assurance (eCOGRA) has become one of the first organisations to be approved by the Minister responsible for Gambling of the Government of Gibraltar for purposes of testing and certifying the integrity of online gambling equipment and software used by Gibraltar’s licensees in compliance with the Gambling Act 2005.

The independent standards and player protection body announced this week that the Total Gaming Transaction Review, used for continuous monitoring and data analyses to assess accurate payout percentages and certify Random Number Generation fairness, has been extensively evaluated by the Gibraltar authorities before being accepted.

Earlier this year, eCOGRA appointed a high powered and professionally qualified specialist team with a cumulative total of 18 years’ experience to operate the TGTR process, providing the most comprehensive data verification service available to online gambling operators to date.

The service includes:
§ Onsite audits to ensure that software used by the online casinos and poker rooms is being developed, implemented and maintained in a manner representative of best practice standards;

§ Independent verification of the completeness and accuracy of all date used in the calculation of the payout percentage and RNG reports;

§ Annual quality assurance reviews by leading audit firm KPMG on the methodology and processes used to produce the payout percentage and RNG reports; and

§ Reports in 14 different languages, including Chinese and Japanese.

eCOGRA CEO Andrew Beveridge said: “We are delighted that a regulator of the calibre of the GRA has accepted this advanced process after intensive study. Our testing principles and methodologies have now been recognised by several other international jurisdictions concerned with protecting players through the professional and continuous testing of online casino and poker room operators. Over 130 tier one online casinos and poker rooms currently use our widely proved TGTR services. In addition we now have the added scrutiny of the leading audit firm KPMG through their annual quality assurance reviews, thus providing an unrivalled verification programme. “

May 17th - Full Tilt Poker is in full swing with the spring version of their "Online Poker Series". Tournaments are taking palce right now, with the main event scheduled for Sunday afternoon. Direct buy-in is $535, and the guaratneed prize pool is $1.5 Million.

In unrelated news, I finally have the new UnknownPoker template in place, with more improvements already in the pipeline.

April 17th, 2007

Doyle's Room - Some interesting developments in the world of online poker include the recent move of Doyle's Room from the Tribecca Tables network of poker rooms to Microgaming's Prima Poker network. This move doesn't seem to be the only shift involving the Tribecca network, but the dust hasn't settled yet on which rooms will be moving and to where.

Room Pros - Also, the legal environment for poker pros promoting online poker rooms to the United States public has taken a turn south. The pros of both Ultimate Bet and Absolute Poker are no longer involved in marketing those rooms to US citizens. They will however keep their positions as endorsers to non-US markets.

April 10th, 2007

The site and schedule for the first of what may be an annual Pokerbot World Championship has been announced. These tournaments will allow pokerbots to play a mix of human players, and other pokerbots. Buy-ins for the turnaments range from 410 to $10,000, and the take place in late September.

March 23rd, 2007

Planet Poker is closing their real money play operations. An email from the company states:

"After 9 years in business, Planet Poker has made the difficult decision to cease real money operations."

"Real money tables and tournaments will continue at Planet Poker through to 31 March 2007, but effective immediately you can no longer make a deposit."

March 23rd, 2007

Mansion Poker is changing the times for their big $100,000 Guaranteed tournaments. They've been shelling out the cash to make up the difference between the guarantee and the player contributed portion of the prize pool, so this might be an effort to make it a more convenient start for more players.

The new times are:
Monday's, Wednesday's & Friday's: 11:00 GMT (12:00 CET)
Tuesday's, Thursday's, Saturday's & Sundays: 20:00 GMT (21:00 CET)
Players can enter these daily events via our $10 Re-buy or $20 Freeze-out super satellites or buy-in directly for $100.

March 20, 2007

Sun Poker has added a $50,000 seat to the HORSE event at the 2007 Wsop to their already outrageous offer of 100 WSOP seats via their "One Sick Promo" campaign.

March 7th 2007

The Poker Player's Alliance has announced a new Chairman of the Board, former US Senator Alfonse D'Amato. Several online poker rooms are working to bring attention to the PPA by aiding in a membership drive. You can read more about the Poker Player's Alliance Membership Drive and what PokerStars and Fulltilt are doing to help.

February 27th, 2007

In online poker news, both Ultimate Bet and Absolute Poker have lowered their welcome bonuses. Absolute will still give new players up to $250 when signing up, but that has been lowered from $750. Ultimate Bet now offers new players a max of $350 in bonus money.

February 20th, 2007

To recap a couple of recent events in the realm of online poker . . .

Paradise Poker has changed software. They are now using the Boss Media poker software to power their room.

Doyle Brunson was not arrested. But, Tribecca Tables, the network whose software powers Doyle's Room, is completely pulling out of the US market. So, Doyle's Room will stop accepting players from the US shortly. They have plans to change software providers, and allow US player to play again soon thereafter.

February 7th, 2007

This Friday will be the start of Full Tilt's Online Poker Series III. This year, there will be 10 tournaments, and $3.4 million in guaranteed prize money. Events range from short-table NL Hold'em to HORSE to Pot Limit Omaha.

The main event will be hosted by Chris Ferguson, and feature a $1.5 million dollar guarantee.

February 1st, 20007

In case you've missed it, Dream Poker has changed their welcome offer. They've eliminated the $10 Free No Deposit portion of the welcome bonus, and changed it to an "upfront" bonus. Now, players making their first deposit receive the bonus money right into their player accounts.

This means you can put the money into play at the tables before having to reach any raked hand requirements. And, once you do reach the raked hand requirement, you can cash the bonus money out. So, it functions as a standard deposit bonus, with a friendlier twist.

January 31st, 2007

Cardplayer is reporting that both Mansion Poker and Bodog Poker are running into problems getting enough people to cover their guaranteed prize pools on two big money tournaments. Apparently the Tuesday $70,000 at Bodog is coming up short, so they've been kicking in ten(s) of thosand(s) of house money to cover the guarantee.

Mansion on the other hand, is running daily $100,000 events that they've needed to prop up with as much as $50,000 in house money. Overlays like this simply won't last, so get them while the getting is good.

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