Juha Helppi and Rob Varkonyi Play Deep Sea Poker at the Caribbean Poker Classic

Poker cruises have been quite “the thing” for some time now, but it seems that the people behind the Caribbean Poker Classic may have confused the public's interest in playing poker on the water with playing poker in the water. Unless there's another explanation for putting a former WSOP champ and another budding pro player at the bottom of the ocean for a friendly, not to mention wet, game of cards.

Wednesday, 30 November 2005

Greek Online Poker Room Marks a First for CryptoLogic and the Industry as a Whole

Online poker history has been made this week, with the launch of the first Greek-language online poker room. The site also marks the first online poker site in a European language for CryptoLogic, the company behind the new Greek poker platform.

Tuesday, 29 November 2005

Online Poker in North Dakota: The sequel

North Dakota State Representative Jim Kasper is far from giving up the fight for online poker. Although, earlier this year, the state Senate shot down Kasper's online poker licensing bill and accompanying constitutional amendment in a dramatic 44-3 vote, the tenacious legislator has waited not even a year to try again.

Monday, 28 November 2005

FSN Goes Down Under for Aussie Millions Poker Tournament

Come March 2006, Fox Sports Net (FSN) will broadcast the 2006 Aussie Millions, the main event of the Crown Australian Poker Championships. FSN is filming and producing the championship tournament at the Crown Casino in Melbourne, dividing the five-day tournament into a 10-part series.

Sunday, 27 November 2005

Online Poker License in the Bag for Svenska Spel

About a month after Boss Media announced that it was planning to power an online poker site for veteran partner Svenska Spel, the two companies can indeed embark on this initiative. Although the two companies decided a month ago to expand their partnership to include online poker, Svenska Spel had yet to receive approval for an Internet poker license.

Saturday, 26 November 2005

Phil Ivey Wins Big in Monte Carlo Poker Tournament

Beating out 112 players, Phil Ivey has won the 2005 Monte Carlo Millions, including its $1 million top prize and championship title. Touted as the “most exclusive poker tournament in the world,” the Monte Carlo Millions took place this week at the glamorous Casino de Monte-Carlo.

Friday, 25 November 2005

Canadian Poker Tournament Awards Highest Prize Allowed by Law

Although $382,000 (not to mention $382,000 Canadian) worth of poker winnings may seem like peanuts compared to the multi-million dollar jackpots won at major U.S. tournaments, in British Columbia, it's a record-breaker.

Thursday, 24 November 2005

BenefitPoker.org Takes Charity Poker Tournaments Online, but Doesn't Forget about Cash Games

A new concept has recently debuted in the world of online poker: online charity poker. Sure, various online poker rooms have hosted charity tournaments following the occasional sweeping natural disaster, but never before has an online poker site been launched mainly as a platform for charity poker.

Wednesday, 23 November 2005

Off The Strip Texas Hold 'Em Tournament Deemed a Success

The recent Off the Strip Texas Hold 'Em Tournament, headlined by Vince Neil of Mötley Crüe, succeeded in raising $150,000 for charity through the tournament and accompanying auction. Not bad for a first-time tournament. It probably helped that Off the Strip had a good measure of celebrity brawn.

Tuesday, 22 November 2005

Empire Online to Party in the Courtroom

Although both companies have been rather hush-hush about the details of the bid, PartyGaming's efforts to take over Empire Online have officially fallen through. The online poker partners-turned-rivals have had a rocky past few months, with Empire Online getting the raw end of the deal thus far.

Monday, 21 November 2005

Barely Old Enough to Drink, Nick Schulman Wins World Poker Tour Finals

The World Poker Tour Finals came to a close on Friday, after a final table that was short, sweet, and to the point. This year's WPT Finals was a record-breaking event on many levels. In addition to record-breaking participation and prize pools, this year's tournament also crowned its youngest champion in history.

Sunday, 20 November 2005

Manchester United Legend Tries His Hand at Online Poker

Old school Manchester United fans, listen up. Paddy Crerand, the man, the legend, will be online at Ladbrokes poker .com this coming Wednesday for a friendly game of charity poker.

Saturday, 19 November 2005

Yo Quiero Poker: Online poker conquers Spain

The first online poker room focusing specifically on the Hispanic market launched recently at Poker Loco .com. In recognition of recent statistics according to which the popularity of poker has positively blossomed in Spain, Poker Loco decided to make the most of this burgeoning market.

Friday, 18 November 2005

Online Poker and Sportsbetting Unite at Paddy Power

Combining poker, the game of the moment, with the more seasonal favorite of sportsbetting, Irish gaming and betting company Paddy Power has launched 'poker betting' on its online betting site, Paddy Power .com. Through this new feature, Paddy Power gives poker fans the chance to bet on the future winners of major tournaments.

Thursday, 17 November 2005

Tribeca Tables Adds Badugi Poker to Online Game Variations

Tribeca Tables, an online poker network and software developer, announced that it has added a new poker game to its offerings. The new game, called badugi poker, represents an effort by the company to set itself apart from the plethora of competing online poker rooms on the Web.

Wednesday, 16 November 2005

Prima Poker Network Nears 40-Member Mark Following Online Poker Room Additions

The Prima Network, a conglomeration of partner online poker rooms, announced yesterday that it has added six new poker sites to their already expansive partner list. The online poker rooms joining the Prima Network include of PokerTime.com, betEd.com, DreamPoker.com, AllInPoker.com, PokerArena.com and 5DogsPoker.com.

Tuesday, 15 November 2005

World Poker Tour (WPT) Finals Get Cracking: WPT exec moves up, defending champ moves out

The $10,000 buy-in World Poker Tour (WPT) Finals kicked off yesterday at Foxwoods Resort Casino, with the final table commencing on Friday. As far as prize pool is concerned, an official figure has not yet been released. However, entry, and thus prize pool, has grown successively every year that the WPT has taken place.

Monday, 14 November 2005

Update: PokerShare.com to fold

As a follow-up on last week's article, “PokerShare.com Closes Doors to N. America; Excapsa and Ultimate Bet May be to Blame,” (Poker 777, November 8, 2005), PokerShare.com, a member of the Excapsa network, has reportedly contacted its remaining player base, informing it of the site's impending closure

Sunday, 13 November 2005

PartyGaming Swallows or Spits Out Competition in Online Poker Battle Plan

As part of its current strategy to divide and conquer the world of online poker, PartyGaming is quickly eliminating the competition by buying it out. Over a month after announcing that it was removing its multi-million player stronghold from the existing platform, leaving players on white label sites to fend for themselves with a severely depleted player base, PartyGaming has made acquisitive offers to at least three of its “skins.”

Sunday, 13 November 2005

The Players Network Channel: Poker TV on demand

Poker aficionados now have even more to watch on TV, thanks to this week's launch of The Players Network channel, a video on demand (VOD) option for Comcast Digital Cable subscribers. The Players Network is all poker, all the time, except for the odd segment on sportsbetting, blackjack, and the like.

Saturday, 12 November 2005

Baltimore Prosecutors Dismiss Charges against Poker Players Due to Police Blunder

The 80 poker players arrested amidst a November 2nd raid on a South Baltimore club are being cleared of charges, according to an announcement made yesterday by city prosecutors. Charges are being dropped due to an error made by police, who misapplied the law when issuing tickets during the raid.

Friday, 11 November 2005

WSOP Tournament of Champions: Mike “The Mouth” Matusow devours poker's cream of the crop

In the early hours of Wednesday morning, the World Series of Poker 2005 Tournament of Champions (TOC) came to a close, crowning Mike “The Mouth” Matusow a champion among champions. Matusow and another 113 of professional poker's top players came to Las Vegas' Caesars Palace this past Sunday with their eyes set on the championship.

Thursday, 10 November 2005

Revenues for WPT Enterprises Down Almost a Third in Q3 2005

WPT Enterprises, Inc., the company behind the wildly popular World Poker Tour (WPT) program, yesterday reported results for Q3 2005, which included, among other things, a substantial drop in revenues. Whereas WPT Enterprises posted revenues of $3 million for Q3 2004, the corresponding quarter in 2005 saw just over $2 million in revenues, constituting a drop of over 28 percent.

Wednesday, 9 November 2005

PokerShare.com Closes Doors to N. America; Excapsa and Ultimate Bet May be to Blame

After only two months in operation, online poker site PokerShare has reportedly been forced to close out its North American accounts. Just a little bit of background: PokerShare is a 'white label' version of Ultimate Bet, and both sites operate on the Excapsa network.

Tuesday, 8 November 2005

Poker Oddity of the Week: Poker Pro Ringtones

Professional poker players are busy people. When they're not appearing on the plethora of televised poker programs, giving their two cents on poker radio, or moonlighting at various online poker sites, the pros are having their voices recorded for ring tones.

Monday, 7 November 2005

The Poker Summit Europe Puts Land-Based and Online Poker on the Table

Just one month remains until “The Poker Summit Europe,” a two-day convention bringing together some of the most influential figures in the world of poker to discuss the most relevant and current issues facing the industry. The Summit, scheduled to take place in London on December 5 and 6, will discuss a wide range of topics affecting poker NOW, both online and off.

Sunday, 6 November 2005

New York Poker Dens Close Shop in Fear of Police Raid

A number of underground New York poker clubs have decided to close their doors following a report that Yankees star and avid poker player Alex Rodriguez is in hot water with his team and Major League Baseball (MLB) over his poker-playing habits.

Saturday, 5 November 2005

The Saga Lives on: PartyGaming courts Empire Online in preliminary takeover talks

In response to media speculation surrounding the ongoing PartyGaming-Empire Online saga, Party released a statement clarifying the company's intentions in relation to its competitor and former partner.

Friday, 4 November 2005

Florida Government Officials Get Down with Poker at Charity Hold'em Tournament and Casino Night

Even government authority types enjoy a hand or two of poker from time to time, at least in Florida. Local and state officials pitched-in this past Saturday at a Bradenton, Florida, fundraiser casino night benefiting the charity, Just for Girls. Event organizers got Vegas down to a T, from the Texas hold'em tournament at center stage to the Elvis impersonator and the makeshift wedding “chapel”.

Thursday, 3 November 2005

WSOP Tournament of Champions Heads for Caesars Palace

Pro poker's cream of the crop will be getting a risk-free shot at $2 million in prize money at next week's World Series of Poker (WSOP) Tournament of Champions. The freeroll tournament, coined “poker's All-Star event” by Harrah's VP Jeffry Pollack, is scheduled to take place November 6th to 8th at the Harrah's-owned Caesars Palace.

Wednesday, 2 November 2005

777 Sports Reports Positive Reaction to Online Poker Offering

Two month's after launching a limited release of its new online poker feature, 777 Sports Entertainment Corp. has offered a positive assessment of reactions to the new multiplayer poker platform.

Tuesday, 1 November 2005