Online Video Poker

IL THE NEXT DEADLINE FOR IOWA INTERNET POKER LEGALISATION (Update)
2011-03-14

Still plenty of political activity ahead
The online poker legalisation bill introduced recently to the Iowa Legislature (see previous InfoPowa report) faces a new deadline in its progress through the lawmaking process.
The Sioux City Journal reported over the weekend that both chambers will be focused on meeting a second self-imposed deadline - April 1 – for Senate bills to clear a House committee and House bills to win approval of a Senate committee.
Politicians said that if the online gambling bill reaches the Senate floor the debate is likely to be lively.
Senate Majority Leader and Democrat Mike Gronstal, has not ruled out the possibility of a Senate debate on the bill, although he feels it is unlikely at this stage.
In the coming week, Gronstal and House Speaker Kraig Paulsen have indicated that their program will be largely focused on committees looking at bills the other chamber has sent over, ranging from dove hunting, tax cuts and late abortions to collective bargaining reforms and same sex marriage proposals.
“We’ll bring the good House bills out of committee,” Gronstal said, but he and Paulsen indicated the April Fool’s Day deadline will claim many casualties.

NEW SOFTWARE UPDATE FROM POKERSTARS
2010-12-13

Latest version offers a wealth of features
Online poker giant Pokerstars.com has released its latest software update, which includes new features such as:
- Font Changes for Games - PokerStars changed the fonts for games to be more distinguishable and friendlier to people with various types of color blindness.
- Changes include:
• Ring games players are waitlisted for will be blue, bold and italics.
• Ring games players are seated at will be red, bold and italics.
• Tournaments players are part of will show the "State" column in red, bold and italics.
- Find Seat has been opened as a feature to all real money players after making some back-end adjustments. The changes can make joining 24 tables or swapping tables simple.
- Volume Sliders - for all PokerStars sounds and also individual volume sliders for each sound.
- Bracket for Heads Up Tournaments - PokerStars has developed the ability to display a bracket for Heads Up tournaments from the Tourney Lobby which will show the pairings of opponents and how the tournament has progressed. The feature is in Beta stage and will be slowly added to selected Heads Up tournaments. For now the bracket will only be available after the tournament is down to 64 players.
- Register to Any - past issues resolved and upgraded.
- Font for the text within dialogs was changed to a font that is easier to read in the Windows client.
- Detached Chat minor updates.
- Bet sizing buttons have changed behavior for draw games - the first draw will show the pre-flop shortcuts, while subsequent draws will show the post-flop buttons
- PokerStars has a new mixed game combining two of the most popular game types - No Limit Hold'em/Pot Limit Omaha that will become available over the course of December.

ENTREPRENEURIAL STUDENT FOUNDS U.S. COLLEGE POKER CLUB
2010-10-07

Arizona State University finance sophomore defends legality of online poker offering
Chandler Bator, a twenty-one-year-old finance sophomore at Arizona State University, says he carried out both legal research and viability calculations before launching his college student-targeted online poker venture Your College Poker Club, which operates on the subscription club model and offers its members cash prizes in weekly tournaments.
Bator has merged social networking with the subscription club concept in what he is confident will prove to be a rewarding and nationwide commercial enterprise. The site caters for college students over the age of 18 years, connecting its members by promoting intercollegiate interaction.
Bator's ambition was to create a legal, subscription-based internet poker website that would be accessible to students across the United States.
“We are trying to create a U.S.-based company in which students will be able to spend their money in a responsible manner, while gaining opportunities to win cash and prizes,” the young entrepreneur said.
Private funding provided through investors make it possible to obtain prizes and cash incentives, like seats at the World Series of Poker tournament valued at $10,000, Bator said.
Your College Poker Club also received publicity through the National Collegiate Entrepreneurs Organization, which is connected with 400 universities nationwide.
Thus far Bator's gambling website has targeted 160 schools across the USA, with three to five representatives hired to promote the growth of the business. Representatives work on commission and receive $3 per member recruited. Members pay a club subscription of $20 a month.
The venture is being publicised by Clearview Marketing LLC of Mesa, Arizona.

CAKE POKER MANAGER APOLOGISES FOR SECURITY BREACH (Update)
2010-07-28

"Somewhere along the software ladder, there was a error of omission, commission, stupidity, documentation or some combination thereof.
Lee Jones, the Cake Poker Network cardroom manager, has 'fessed up to the embarrassing disclosures by Poker Table Ratings Tuesday (see previous InfoPowa report) that the security encryption on the network was not all that it should be.
The PTR sleuths have in the meantime produced video evidence of their ability to successfully steal hole cards as these were dealt, along with passwords and user names from multiple Cake Network skins.
Posting on the respected poker forum 2plus2, where a lengthy thread is running, Jones wrote:
"Sure, when the issue came up in May, I asked our software management team. They told me that we were more secure than Cereus [another network whose security flaws were exposed by PTR]. When this all came to light a few hours ago and they got down into the actual code, it turned out they were wrong (as one of the senior managers just admitted to me).
"Somewhere along the software ladder, there was an error of omission, commission, stupidity, documentation or some combination thereof. I'm not happy about it and neither is the manager to whom I spoke.
"Furthermore, I definitely have to accept some blame here. I could have (and wished I had) pushed further on the response I got, talked to some development people about it (they're in-house), etc.
"I'm going to post an official response shortly, but believe me, I feel crappy about having said in May that we had stronger encryption than Cereus did when we didn't. The lesson I've learned is to ask more harder questions when these sorts of things come up.
"I owe the entire Cake poker community an apology: I am very, very sorry."

WORLD SERIES OF POKER ROUNDUP (Update)
2010-06-28

Tournament of Champions gets underway
The poker action continued on several events at the 41st World Series of Poker in Las Vegas over the weekend, and the much anticipated Tournament of Champions kicked off.
In event 45, the $1,500 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em competition, 35 players – all that remains from a massive original field of 3 100 – returned for what they hoped would be the final day on Sunday afternoon, with UK player Sam Trickett leading the charge on chip counts at 922 000.
By late night Sunday, Day 3 action had seen all but three players dismissed, including Trickett, with only Raymond Coburn (5 600 000), Jesse Rockowitz (5 500 000) and Thiago Nishijima (2 800 000) still in the game by level 28.
Play looked set to continue into the wee small hours of Monday morning.
Sunday afternoon also saw the return to the felt of 21 survivors in event 46 – a $5,000 buy-in Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-low Split-8 or Better contest that started out with 284 players in a stellar field that was reduced to first 130 and then 21.
Sergey Altbregin was the chip leader going into Day 3, chased by Dave "Devilfish" Ulliott and veteran player Perry Green, who holds three WSOP bracelets and finished second to Stu Ungar in the Main Event back in 1981.
By late night Sunday level 24 had been reached and the battle still raged, with only six players left standing, led by Dan Shak (1 080 000) and Joe Ritzie (940 000).
In event 47, another of the popular $1,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em competitions, Day 1B started Sunday after Day 1A pulled in 1 759 hopefuls which was reduced to 257 survivors. There were big names galore in both Day 1s, and many of them have fallen in the hectic poker to decide who stays and who goes.
By Sunday evening and at level 9, Day 1B entrants had been whittled down to 476 from an original 1 369 registrations, and the officials called it a day.
The survivors will combine going into Day 2 with a field 773-strong, derived from a total initial entry field of 3 128 generating a prize pool of $2 815 000.
Day 1B leaders at close of play were Ben Klier (65 275) and Richard Ferro (64 375). Day 1A’s chip leader was Chernykh Moscow, who finished with 75,150.
Notable names eliminated have included Phil Ivey, Jonathan Little, Jennifer Tilly, Joe Sebok, Jason Mercier, Beth Shak and Humberto Brenes.
In event 48, the $2,500 buy-in Mixed Event, Sunday afternoon’s 192 starters were all that was left of an original 453 contenders
Jared Jaffe held the lead on 68,600, followed by Justin Smith (66,000), well ahead of a nevertheless intimidating slew of top players like Daniel Negreanu, Mike Matusow, Jennifer Harman, Alex Kravchenko, Michael Mizrachi, Bill Chen, Justin Bonomo and Chris Ferguson.
Tournament officials told the late afternoon starters that nine levels would be played before the chips were bagged until Monday afternoon.
By late Sunday night the action was still brisk, with 48 players left by level 15, and Adam Spiegelberg comfortably in the lead on 196,000, and Justin Smith retaining his number two position on 126,000.
The keenly anticipated Tournament of Champions, which kicked off Sunday afternoon, probably attracted the most interest over the weekend.
After three years out of the limelight and an extensive revamp, the event features a stellar player list of 27, twenty chosen by popular vote, who will play on three tables in a $1 million freeroll that will leave only nine players with a paycheck.
The composition of the player list is bound to catch the eye of public and media alike, comprised as it is of former champions Mike Matusow, Mike Sexton, and Annie Duke along with 2009 WSOP Main Event winner Joe Cada and 2009 WSOP-Europe champion Barry Shulman.
They will be joined by Top 20 vote-earners Phil Ivey, Daniel Negreanu, Doyle Brunson, Phil Hellmuth, Erik Seidel, Chris Ferguson, Allen Cunningham, Johnny Chan, Scotty Nguyen, Barry Greenstein, John Juanda, Jennifer Harman, Huck Seed, Dan Harrington, T.J. Cloutier, Sam Farha, Howard Lederer, Greg Raymer, Joe Hachem and Antonio Esfandiari.
The two remaining players are WSOP Academy Playoff winner and internet phenom Bertrand Grospellier and WSOP.com U.K. online qualifier Andrew Barton.
Former champion Mike Sexton was given the privilege of making the ‘shuffle up and deal’ call as the pros got down to business Sunday afternoon.
By late night Sunday Day 1 play had been completed at level 4 with only 5 players eliminated. Leading the 22 survivors was Erik Seidel on 72 075, with his nearest rival, John Chan on 71 325.
The rest of the top ten looked like this:
3 Mike Matusow 70,575
4 Barry Greenstein 56,775
5 Joe Hachem 55,650
6 Huck Seed 51,875
7 Bertrand Grospellier 51,175
8 Allen Cunningham 49,300
9 Scotty Nguyen 48,900
10 Dan Harrington 38,250
Average Chip Stack size was 36 818.

NEW SOFTWARE PROVIDER FOR ONLINE POKER SITE
2010-05-13

Dusk Till Dawn engages with GTechG2, drops Cryptologic
The online poker site owned by the UK-based Dusk Till Dawn poker room and hitherto powered by Cryptologic has switched to GTechG2-Boss Media software for both online casino and poker room operations.
Owned by DTD Limited and headed by Rob Yong, Dusk Till Dawn Poker.com is a well established and long running site offering both casino and poker action over the Internet.
The new software arrangement is initially designed to run for three years and will also see GTech G2 provide its Webdollar Cashier payment system, which allows online gamblers to enjoy casino and poker games from a single wallet.
“The new deal with GTech G2 marks the end of a successful three and a half year affiliation with Cryptologic, which started before the [land] Dusk Till Dawn Poker Club venue opened in Nottingham,” said Nick Whiten from Dusk Till Dawn this week.
“Cryptologic has changed its business model to focus on the internet casino sector and, with DTDPokerClub.com continuing to be primarily a poker business, a natural and mutual end to the partnership has transpired.”
DTDPokerClub.com will also join GTech G2’s International Poker Network, which has recently grown to include more than three million active players (see previous InfoPowa report).

GETTING THE POOP ON SCOOP
2010-02-25

Pokerstars releases information on its 2010 Spring Championship Of Online Poker

Online poker provider Pokerstars has released details of the next SCOOP (Spring Championship Of Online Poker) tournament, which is scheduled for May 3 and is to run for two weeks with guaranteed prize-pools totaling $36 million.

The 33 events planned will embrace almost every form of poker, and will each have a choice of three buy-in levels and guaranteed prize pools.

A NLHE six-max competition kicks off the tournament on May 3 with buy-ins of $5.50, $55 and $530. This will be followed three hours later by a fixed-limit Badugi event.

The big money will be in the main event, scheduled for the last two days of SCOOP and guaranteeing prize pools of one, three and five million dollars respectively.

PARTY POKER HITS ON A FAVE
2009-12-23

New $25/$50 PLO virtual tables proving a big hit with players

Party Poker spokesmen this week described the launch of new $25/$50 PLO tables on the website as a significant success...so much so that virtual queues have formed and the company is busy providing more tables.

“Demand meant we recently introduced a new $25/$50 Pot Limit Omaha table but since then we have had to open up more tables for high stakes action," the spokesmen revealed. "We used to have big limit games but this is the biggest game we have had at PartyPoker.com for a long time. The high stakes action has really picked up.”