Internet poker online

One of the most respected CardRunners instructors, South put in some serious time last night at the $200/$400 PLO tables with the likes of Gus Hansen, Rafi “howitfeelslike” Amit, Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond, sunra18 and Chau Giang.

South, who came up through the online poker ranks as CTS, seemed to have Hansen’s number in the games and took numerous pots worth over $100,000 from the Great Dane.

In the biggest hand of the session, which actually ranked as the 12th biggest pot of the year, South flopped two-pair against Hansen’s pair of aces. To rub salt in the wound South rivered the nut-flush to emphatically earn the checkmark and the $446,583 pot.

Over the past couple of days South has profited approximately $800,000 from the high stakes PLO games on Full Tilt.

South is perhaps a testament to how popular PLO has become over the last few years. When South joined Cardrunners several years ago his bio suggested he was just learning the game. Now he is winning $500,000 pots.

Meanwhile, if there was any ever doubt as to the level of Hansen’s degeneracy, the last few weeks on Full Tilt have erased it. Hansen has played almost every day at the highest stakes available and although he’s still sitting on a small profit, the swings have been huge.

Check below for a couple of the biggest South hands in the PokerListings hand-replayer:

Gus Hansen goes south.

Score one for Gus Hansen

Visit PokerListings.com

Read more from the original source here:
Cole South goes north for $800k on FTP

NBC’s prime-time poker-themed game show Face the Ace is set to premier this Saturday night Aug. 1 at 9 p.m. ET with a group of facetheace.com and Full Tilt Poker qualifiers taking on the some of the world’s best poker players with $1 million on the line.

Hosted by The Sopranos Steve Schirripa, contestants on the show will first select a pro from behind four smoked-glass doors and then play that pro in a heads-up No-Limit Hold’em match with $40,000 up for grabs.

Should the contestant prevail, they can keep the $40,000 or choose another pro to play for $200,000. Contestants moving on to the third round will play for the $1 million top prize.

If the contestant loses at any point, they walk away with nothing and the winning pro takes $10,000 for their charity of choice.

“Most people don’t get to compete against their favorite athletes in sports like football or basketball,” said Schirripa.

“This show gives contestants an incomparable opportunity to test their skills against some of the best poker players in the world.

For a guy who spends a lot of his time playing poker in a Full Tilt jersey, it may come as a surprise that Greg Mueller’s nickname…

Continued here:
The PokerNews Profile: Greg ‘FBT’ Mueller

After recently celebrating their fifth anniversary, Full Tilt Poker could have sat back for a bit on its laurels and waited for its next FTOPS schedule to begin in less than a week (August 5th, to be exact). Being one of the more aggressive online poker rooms, however, Full Tilt has charged ahead with changes and is offering a bonus program that is open to nearly every player on the site.

The changes that Full Tilt Poker has made to the site itself are sizeable, as it takes a couple of minutes to download the upgrade and install it. Once the changes have been made, there is a new login screen – featuring Team Full Tilt member Patrik Antonius – that leads players to their first decision:  what “view” the players want to use to see the Lobby.

Basic View is just what it says, a beginner’s guide to playing on Full Tilt that walks players through pretty much every aspect of play on the site. The Classic View is the version that Full Tilt has used for several years and most players would recognize easily. The real change, however, is in the new Standard View, which is in a Beta mode and warns players that “…you may experience some technical issues.”

The Standard View is where the new bells and whistles are at on Full Tilt Poker. Once there, all of the current Full Tilt promotions are presented on one side of the lobby and offers an easy way to learn more about them. You can also customize the Lobby to display your favorite poker disciplines and available games without having to search through the entirety of the Lobby listings. Finally, you can set up what is called a “Lobby Widget”, which offers on-demand information regarding your account, favorite games and Full Tilt Points balance without having to return to the full Lobby.

Along with these changes, Full Tilt Poker is now offering something that is becoming more prevalent in the online poker industry. In some live tournaments, the competitors will make deals at the final table (normally by chip count) to ensure a better portion of the final table payday than what the actual payouts would be. Full Tilt now offers the ability for its players to make these types of deals, something that many had asked for on the site.

To introduce the changes and encourage its players to try them out, Full Tilt Poker is offering the “Biggest Bonus Ever”, a bonus program to pretty much everyone who has ever played on the site. For players who have earned at least one Full Tilt Poker point by July 28th, a bonus of $100 can be earned through play on the site.

To get started with earning that bonus into your Full Tilt Poker account, players need to go to the “My Promotions” box under the Cashier button. By clicking on the link “Biggest Bonus Ever”, players will be directed to a website where they can learn more about the program and sign up to attack the bonus.

The bonus is being offered between now and August 16th and players have 30 days from the initial acceptance of the bonus challenge to be able to earn as much of the $100 as possible. For ring game play, players earn one Full Tilt Point for each dollar raked from the pot in hands where they are dealt cards. Players can earn partial Full Tilt Points if less than one dollar is raked, with a maximum of three points earned per hand. For tournament and Sit & Go play, players earn seven Full Tilt Points for each dollar in tournament fees paid. There is no cap to the number of points a player can earn per tournament.

With the “Biggest Bonus Ever” and the FTOPS XIII coming in a week, Full Tilt Poker will be a very busy site over the next few weeks.

Continued here:
Full Tilt Upgrades Software, Offers “Biggest Bonus Ever”

In recent news released by Playtech, which operates the popular iPoker Network, it was revealed that the company’s Gross Income for the second quarter of 2009 rose by 23.3% year over year to €33.1 million. That figure was slightly below the €33.8 million recorded during the first quarter of 2009.

For the first half of the 2009 calendar year, Playtech recorded Gross Income of €66.9 million, up 29.8% from the €51.6 million recorded during the first half of 2008. A statement released by the company explains, “The Board is confident the Company will deliver strong growth for the full year to December 2009 compared to 2008. However, owing to the slower than anticipated start to WHO and the general challenging economic environment impacting some of our licensees, the Board believes that full year trading will be below current market expectations.” The acronym WHO refers to William Hill Online, which partnered with Playtech to open the 2009 calendar year.

Total Group Revenues for Playtech were €27.0 million, a jump of 0.4% compared to the second quarter of 2008 and a drop of 4.2% from the €28.2 million recorded during the first quarter of this year. Poker revenues rose by 17.8% year over year to €8.2 million; that figure represented a 6.4% drop in comparison to the €8.8 million recorded in the opening quarter of 2009.

Playtech derived 62% of its revenue from the European continent, down from the 72% that this region provided during the second quarter of last year. Contrastingly, its portion of revenue from Asia Pacific grew from 21% during the second quarter of 2008 to 32% during the recently completed quarter. A partnership with Betfair to provide casino and Bingo software to the independent site is expected to add increased revenue during the fourth quarter. In addition, Playtech will provide its full spectrum of products, including casino, poker, and mobile games, to NetPlay TV.

With regards to its Italian market, Playtech notes, “The Italian poker network is exceeding management’s expectations and is now Italy’s third largest poker network by revenues generated by the network licensees, while further positive progress in regulations will bring new opportunities in Italy from this strong base.” In the wake of new internet gambling laws in Italy, PokerStars recently transferred players from its dot-com site to PokerStars.it. Playtech has also forged a partnership with the iPoker Network site Chili Poker “in anticipation of the introduction of new regulations liberalizing the French market for online gaming.”

The company also spent the second quarter hard at work on a strategic partnership with the Serbian State Lottery. Playtech will provide casino and poker products in the Serbian language in its first agreement with a country’s lottery. New Serbian players will join the world’s third largest online poker network behind PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker. The iPoker Network is largest that does not accept players from the United States, boasting a seven-day running average of 5,500 real money ring game players. At its peak, expect to see over 10,000 poker hopefuls heading to the felts of the massive network to compete in cash games.

iPoker Network sites include BetFred, Boyle Poker, CD Poker, Expekt, Mansion Poker, Noble Poker, Paddy Power Poker, Poker Ocean, Titan Poker, and VC Poker. Playtech is publicly traded on the London Stock Exchange under the symbol “PTEC.” The stock closed trading on Friday at ₤291.75, down ₤11.00 on the day (3.63%). Last September, prior to the worldwide economic meltdown, Playtech’s stock had been trading as high as ₤528.

The company was founded in 1999 and forged its first deal, with Swiss Casino, two years later. The iPoker Network came to life in 2004, one year removed from Chris Moneymaker defeating poker pro Sammy Farha in the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event.

Read more here:
Playtech’s Gross Income Grows by 23% in Second Quarter of 2009

This week saw Congressman Barney Frank’s (D-MA) HR 2267, the Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection, and Enforcement Act, officially break 50 co-sponsors. The bill establishes a complete licensing and regulatory framework for internet gambling outfits to solicit U.S. customers.

The addition of two Congressmen officially pushed the support to over 50 co-sponsors. On July 27th, just a few days removed from the conclusion of National Poker Week, Congressman Mike Thompson (D-CA) lent his name to the bill to become co-sponsor #50. One day later, Congressman Dan Maffei (D-NY) joined on. Flanking Thompson and Maffei are Congressmen from both sides of the aisle. Each has come out to support legalizing the internet gambling industry in the United States and reaping tax revenue in return. Here is a full list of HR 2267’s co-sponsors, as given by the Safe and Secure Internet Gambling Initiative (SSIGI), along with the political party each belongs to (Democrat or Republican):

Alaska
Don Young (R)

Arizona
Raul Grijalva (D)

California
Michael Thompson (D)
George Miller (D)
Michael Honda (D)
Linda Sanchez (D)
Bob Filner (D)

Colorado
Jared Polis (D)
Ed Perlmutter (D)

Connecticut
Joe Courtney (D)

Florida
Robert Wexler  (D)
Alcee Hastings (D)

Hawaii
Neil Abercrombie (D)

Idaho
Walt Minnick (D)

Illinois
Luis Gutierrez (D)
Bill Foster (D)

Indiana
Andre Carson (D)

Massachusetts
James McGovern (D)
Barney Frank (D)
Michael Capuano (D)
William Delahunt (D)

Michigan
John Conyers (D)

Nevada
Shelley Berkley (D)

New Hampshire
Paul Hodes (D)

New Jersey
Robert Andrews (D)
Frank LoBiondo (R)
John Adler (D)
Steven Rothman (D)

New York
Tim Bishop (D)
Steve Israel (D)
Peter King (R)
Carolyn McCarthy (D)
Gary Ackerman (D)
Joseph Crowley (D)
Jerrold Nadler (D)
Edolphus Towns (D)
Mike McMahon (D)
Charles Rangel (D)
Paul Tonko (D)

North Carolina
Melvin Watt (D)

Ohio
Steve Driehaus (D)
Tim Ryan (D)

Oregon
Earl Blumenauer (D)

Tennessee
Steve Cohen (D)

Texas
Ron Paul (R)
Ciro Rodriguez (D)

Virginia
Bobby Scott (D)
Tom Perriello (D)
James Moran (D)

Washington
Jim McDermott (D)

HR 2046, introduced during the last Congressional session and labeled the Internet Gambling Regulation and Enforcement Act, garnered 48 co-sponsors. Frank unveiled it to the world in April of 2007, but it was not acted upon. The new version forbids gambling on any event that would violate the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act. However, Poker Players Alliance (PPA) Executive Director John Pappas noted during National Poker Week that sports leagues are seeking clearer language in the bill. He explained, “Changes need to be made to explicitly outlaw sports betting.”

HR 2266 was introduced on May 6th, the same day as HR 2267, and calls for industry compliance with the 2006 Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) to be delayed by one year to December 1st, 2010. The measure is dubbed the Reasonable Prudence in Regulation Act and is up to 32 co-sponsors. On its sister bill reaching the milestone 50th co-sponsor, SSIGI spokesperson Jeff Sandman commented in a press release, “Reaching this milestone illustrates that momentum is growing for a shift in U.S. policy and a rewrite of U.S. internet gambling laws. We also expect an increased spotlight on internet gambling as a way to augment federal revenues and help cover the cost of necessary policy initiatives.”

During a Fly-In orchestrated by the PPA as part of National Poker Week, over 100 meetings were held with Congressmen and their staffs from around the United States. Attendees included 33 PPA State Directors and a handful of poker’s elite, including Poker News Daily Guest Columnists Annie Duke and Linda Johnson, PokerStars pros Dennis Phillips and Greg Raymer, Full Tilt Poker pros Andy Bloch and Howard Lederer, and online poker sensations Chris “Fox” Wallace and Jordan “iMsoLucky0” Morgan.

Over 375,000 concerned players signed an online poker petition, which was presented to U.S. President Barack Obama last week. In addition, nearly 200,000 letters and e-mails were sent to Representatives and Senators during National Poker Week. The PPA’s Randy Law admitted that just 80,000 were sent during the entire 2008 calendar year. The organization currently has over 1.2 million members after boasting only 50,000 in mid-2006.

More here:
Barney Frank’s Internet Gambling Bill Breaks 50 Co-Sponsors

Steven Begleiter, third place in chips at the November Nine 2009, is a Senior Principal at investment firm Flexpoint Ford in New York City. Prior to joining Flexpoint Ford, he was a Senior Managing Director at infamous Bear Stearns & Co. where he was a member of the firm’s Management and Compensation Committee.

Read the original here:
November Nine Profile - Steven Begleiter

From his perspective, the money is pittance. But still, $750,000 is $750,000 and it makes a bold statement when you return from playing for millions in the Bellagio and making the November Nine to immediately crush the biggest online games.

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Phil Ivey Returns to Full Tilt; Wins $750,000

Richard Ashby has had, like all high-stakes cash game players, ups and downs. He can write off July as a massive “up” however, as he won over $1,000,000 in the past month playing anywhere from $25/$50 NLHE to $300/$600/$100a PLO tables.

Read the original here:
Richard Ashby Up Over $1m in July.

We’ve all heard how Chris Ferguson turned $1 into $20,000 but could someone turn $5 into $100,000 in a year? Well that’s the exact challenge that has been thrown down to Thomas ‘Boku87’ Boekhoff by Poker Stars.

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Thomas Boekhoff attempts to turn $5 into $100,000