February 23rd, 2009

For a while it looked like the thousands of poker players on www.fleetstreetgames.com would be kicked to the virtual street after the site closed down, but PokerStars has decided to forge a deal with FleetStreet letting all its players transfer their balances to PokerStars’ online poker site.

Fleet Street Games started just last February and had a unique format, which offered subscribers from all over the world the chance to enter numerous poker tournaments each for just one fixed monthly fee.

Unfortunately the site was particularly hard hit by the economic downturn, and Fleet Street Games was unable to raise its second round of funding.

PokerStars, on the hand, is the world’s largest online poker room, with 19 million players worldwide. Its tournament selection and sheer volume of games are virtually unmatched.

Dan Goldman, president and CEO of Fleet Street Games, told outgoing FSG players they will have a solid home at PokerStars.

“Many FSG players will, I am sure, already be familiar with PokerStars,” he said.

“It is, as I know from long personal experience, the best all-round online poker site in the world and although we are extremely disappointed we couldn’t make a go of FSG in the present economic climate, we are thrilled that we have been able to secure such a great new home for our players.”

February 17th, 2009

The online gambling domain case continues as lawyers for the Commonwealth of Kentucky are asking to submit a much longer appeal brief than is allowed by rule.

The motion asks for an additional 30 pages added to the standard 50 pages allowed in its appeal of the Kentucky Court of Appeals ruling that the seizure order issued by Judge Thomas Wingate against gambling sites’ domain names should be set aside.

Kentucky is now taking the case to the State Supreme Court, and the state’s lawyers believe they need additional pages to state their case in the appeal as well as an extra 10 days beyond the filing deadline for their brief.

“They’re certainly within their rights to make their request, but they don’t really seem to be bringing anything new to the table,” said Joe Brennan Jr., iMEGA’s chairman.

Brennan said the motion will be a repetition of the same arguments that failed in the Court of Appeals. Kentucky had argued that iMEGA is an illegal gambling association and had no right to represent its members in court, and that domain names are “gambling devices” according to Kentucky law.

“Those arguments didn’t work before, but maybe they feel the added volume of pages will overcome the flaws found by the Court of appeals in their attack on our members,” Brennan said.

Brennan also suggested Kentucky’s attorneys might save space in their brief if they dropped the assault on iMEGA’s standing.

“Perhaps they might review Hunt v. Washington State Apple Advertising Commission, where the U.S. Supremem Court establish the right of associations to stand in court on the behalf of their members,” Brennan said. “Since that’s been a settled issue since 1977, I think it’s time for the Commonwealth’s attorneys to move on.”

February 10th, 2009

Antigua’s trade dispute over online gambling, initiated in 2003 and under negotiation since 2007, may be looking at delays again now that a new U.S. president is in power.

In 2003, Antigua filed a case with the World Trade Organization claiming that the United States’ total prohibition of Internet gambling services offered by Antiguan operators to consumers in the United States was in violation of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) treaty.

The WTO agreed. The United States appealed its decision, but lost in early 2007.

Rather than comply, the United States then decided to pull online gambling unilaterally from its international treaties, despite the commitments it had made under the GATS treaty to free trade in such services.

Following the ruling against the U.S. on appeal, the United States and Antigua began discussions regarding monetary compensation due to Antigua under the WTO findings. In addition, the countries continued talks aimed at getting the United States to change its policy toward Antigua’s online gambling services.

Last month, Antigua’s Finance Minister, Dr. Errol Cort, flew to Washington D.C. to meet with representatives of the U.S. Trade Relations (USTR) as well as “high-ranking officials of the Justice Department” to try to reach an overall agreement before the end of the Bush administration.

Cort left empty-handed and, thus, almost six years after the trade dispute began between the two countries, they are no closer to a resolution. Now they will have to deal with President Barack Obama’s administration to settle the matter.

February 8th, 2009

In an offer exclusive to PokerListings.com players, PokerStars and PokerListings.com are putting up 1,000 seats to the Sunday $200k tournament and $15,000 cash in a freeroll tournament.

The freeroll tournament will take place on March 14 at 8:00 p.m. GMT.

On top of playing for a share of $15,000 cash, the top 1,000 finishers in the tourney will receive a seat to the next Sunday $200k event.

In order to get your seat, you need to:
Be a PokerListings player on PokerStars (new or existing)
Collect 100 frequent player points between Feb. 1 and Feb. 28

The total prize pool for this freeroll event is worth $25,000.

January 19th, 2009

Thousands of players packed into their virtual seats in this week’s edition of the PokerStars Sunday Million but it was online player LosChief who would walk away with the best of it, taking down a staggering $183,134.

When all the entries were tallied in poker’s biggest weekly online tournament there was a total of 8,260 players in the hunt for exorbitant amounts of cash. The players combined to create a prize pool of $1.6 million, which was just enough to eclipse the PokerStars guarantee of $1.5 million on the tournament.

The top 1,261 players would get paid and it would take roughly three and a half hours to get to that point. It took about five more hours to get down to the final table of nine and by that point LosChief had been established as one of the middle stacks.

After outlasting seven of his eight opponents, LosChief entered heads-up play against Birdstone44 with nearly the same amount of chips. The two players decided to do an almost even chop but leave $30,000 for the first-place finisher.

As you’ve probably ascertained, LosChief was able to crank the aggression and finally put Birdstone44 away for good. Second place was still good for $151,560 so it was hard to feel sorry for Birdstone44.

Meanwhile the PokerStars Warm-Up was played out on a cosmic level with Kenny “SpaceyFCB” Hallaert eventually taking top honors for $107,844.

Finally the $109+R Sunday tournament (which is typically one of the larger events of the day) went to Nick “FU_15″ Maimone, who beat arbianight in heads-up to take down the $71,058 first-place prize.

It looks to be a busy week for PokerStars fans, as the site is in the midst of hosting EPT Deauville in France and LAPT Vina del Mar in Chile.

January 16th, 2009

Every Sunday at 5:30 p.m. ET, UltimateBet kicks off its $200k guaranteed tournament. Thanks to this series of tournaments, Sundays have become the ultimate tournament day.

For years now, UltimateBet has been running a weekly $200k guarantee tourney. UltimateBet is proud to say that this player favorite is still going strong, with online satellites running daily for a discounted line into the action.

The $200k guarantee sports a $200+$15 buy-in, with first place winning around $80,000 - not too shabby for a lazy Sunday. If $200 is too much of an investment for you, or you just don’t feel like paying the full buy-in, UltimateBet offers multiple satellites to get your seat:

Multiple Daily Turbo Rebuys: For $5+$50?, you can enter into a daily turbo rebuy tourney, this being the cheapest way to win your seat into the $200k. If you’d like to play in a similar tourney with fewer players, the same tourney is also run with a $15+$1.50 buy-in.

Three Seats Guaranteed: For only $10+$1 to enter, the top three finishers receive their $200k tourney gold ticket, simple.

Special Saturday Satellites: On Saturdays you’ll find a $25+$2.50 short-stack tourney, and a $40+$4 deep stack tourney, with the winners being awarded $200k tickets.

There will also be three different sit-and-go satellite tables running on Saturdays:
$200k GTD Regular $35+$3.50 SnG
$200k GTD Turbo $50+$5 SnG
$200l GTD Regular $50+$5 SnG

With some of the world’s best online tournament structures, and some of the quickest game play, UltimateBet is a common player favorite for online tournaments. If you’re not a member, sign up now to get yourself into the action, and win your share of a guaranteed $200,000.

January 13th, 2009

The 2009 Aussie Millions in Melbourne, Australia, may not see its biggest events until this weekend, but the series is already making news with the winners of its first events.

Mel Judah, a former Aussie resident, picked up a win this week in Event 3 of the tournament series, an Omaha Hi-Lo event. According to the Aussie Millions Web site, the $1,100 Omaha Hi-Lo event is one of the smaller tournaments, but because it is one of the more specialized, it brings out many familiar pro faces.

This time around Judah was more than just a pro face in the crowd as he topped a field of 102 players that included Ivan Demidov and Alexander Kostritsyn to win $30,600.

Judah also picks up an Aussie Millions championship ring valued at $4,000 for the win.

That takes Judah up to more than $3.1 million in tournament winnings. His poker resume also includes two World Series of Poker bracelet wins and a World Poker Tour championship win.

Judah also cashed in the first event of the Aussie Millions. He picked up $2,337 in the $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em event, which had a $500,000 guaranteed prize pool.

The big winner in that event was German player Christian Heich. He topped a record field of 731 entrants to pocket the $106,555 top prize.

Some of the local favorites in the event included Eric Assadourian, David Saab and Jamie Pickering.

But after a couple days of play and about an hour of heads-up play, Heich came out ahead when he flopped a set of jacks to rival Steve Topakas’ straight draw.

Heich also picks up a championship ring.

The action continues this week with new events each day leading up to the start of the $100,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em Challenge starting on Saturday. The Aussie Millions main event will then start on Sunday.

As usual, the PokerListings live tournament reporting team will be on the scene for those two events to bring our dear readers the best live updates, reports, photos and interviews from Down Under.

January 10th, 2009

When Hollywood Poker makes a promise, it follows through. This time it’s with a newly upgraded ClubHollywoodPoker Rewards Program.

“As promised, our 2009 ClubHOLLYWOODPoker Rewards Program greets loyal members this New Year with one of the industry’s most competitive rewards plans ever!” said Vince Van Patten, Hollywood Poker spokesperson.

“This latest program upgrade is a clear indication that we have not changed our player-oriented focus, as we continuously find ways to give back to them in a big way. With this, members can now exchange points for cash with by simply clicking on a button!”

Some of the improvements include the “Points for Cash Exchange” plan, which gives members the option to exchange their player points for up to $1,000 in cash.

There are several additional point-exchange plans that club members can take advantage of including No Load Bonuses, Network-Wide Tournament Tickets and access to more than 400 items in the loyalty store.

Some of the more extravagant items in the loyalty store include vacation packages to places like Monte Carlo, Las Vegas and Macau. There are also the latest consumer electronics, gaming consoles and more available to purchase with points.

Along with the release of the 2009 ClubHollywoodPoker Rewards Program, Hollywood Poker is also introducing a Premium Player Club Program and the 2009 Walk of Fame Program exclusive to high-rolling VIP players.

December 26th, 2008

On Sunday PokerStars will be working to end the year on a high note with a new world record to add to its list of accomplishments.

On Dec. 28 at 3:30 p.m. ET, PokerStars is hosting a tournament that can accommodate as many as 35,000 players in an attempt to break the World Record for the Largest Online Poker Tournament.

The current record stands at 26,517 players, and is held unofficially by PokerStars. If the poker site can fill up the special tournament on Sunday, it would shatter that record.

PokerStars has made the World Record attempt tournament accessible to all players, giving it an $11 buy-in. Plus the poker site sweetened the pot with a guaranteed $500,000 prize pool.

The Guinness World Record Attempt tournament can be found under the Tourney > Special tab in the PokerStars lobby.

This could be the second entry for PokerStars in the Guinness Book of World Records. The poker site already holds the record for “The Most Players to Simultaneously Play Poker Online.” PokerStars set the record first in December 2007 when participation hit 151,758 players, and again when it hit 213,000 players on Nov. 30, 2008.

The world record attempt is just one of the ways PokerStars is winding down the year. It will also be hosting a series of tournaments and cash giveaways the final week of 2008.

Along with the world record tournament, PokerStars will host its usual Sunday Million tournament, but this week it will have a guaranteed $2.5 million prize pool instead of$1.5 million. The Sunday Warm-Up will also get a boost up to a $1 million guaranteed prize pool on Sunday.

PokerStars will also be hosting extra FPP qualifiers for the Sunday Million this weekend, giving all players at the poker site the chance to end 2008 with a little extra cash.

For more information on these and other events at the poker site, visit PokerStars.

December 22nd, 2008

The holiday specials just keep coming for online poker players. The latest comes from PKR, which is kicking off a Christmas Cracker explosion of special tournaments starting today.

There will be 13 events on the Christmas Cracker schedule that will have guaranteed prize pools plus special Christmas gifts for players.

The guaranteed prize pools will add up to more than $170,000 in prize pools given out through nearly two weeks of holiday tournament action. The events start off today with a $5,000 guaranteed event that will also offer the winner a personalized luxury PKR chip set.

Other prizes that players can snag for first-place finishes in the events include a Sony PlayStation 3, Apple iPod Touch, Panasonic Home Cinema System, Cristal 2002 champagne and more.