Poker News

ANZPT Auckland – Day 1B Report

November 23 2012
While the Day 1A starting field of the ANZPT’s Auckland Main Event was by no means an impressive one, Day 1B managed to underperform it: 56 players showed up for the action at the SkyCity Casino’s tables, looking to earn a ... Read More

The Poker Grapevine – Dan Smith Retains his GPI Lead

November 23 2012
The 2012 GPI Player of the Year race is slowly nearing its finish line and Dan Smith who has pretty much expanded a monopoly over the top spot for no less than 13 straight weeks, is still the leader, looking as ... Read More

The Poker Grapevine – Reid/Kyl Bill may be Unconstitutional

November 23 2012
With Congress’ lame-duck session looming on the horizon, the question on everyone’s mind is: will a poker bill be pushed through this time? Partisanship proved to be the un-doing of a similar push a couple of years ago, when ... Read More

ANZPT Auckland – Day 1A Report

November 22 2012
66 players bellied up to the tables of the SkyCity Auckland Casino on the first of two planned day 1 flights of the ANZPT’s New Zealand stop. 26 of these players managed to secure their seats for Day 2, with Angie ... Read More

The Poker Grapevine – Chad Elie Speaks

November 20 2012
A couple of weeks ago we ran a piece on Chad Elie, the payment processor who ended up going to prison for 5 months for his involvement in the handling and facilitating of funds transfers for online poker sites which ... Read More

Online Poker Weekend – Jason Koon Wins Warm-Up

November 20 2012
Over the weekend, the online majors all beat their guarantees yet again. The Sunday Million saw its guarantee exceeded by $300k+ (by a margin a tad smaller than usually though) and the Sunday Warm-Up exceeded its guarantee by almost $200k ... Read More

WSOP-C Harvey’s Lake Tahoe Main Event – Day 2 Report

November 20 2012
The official Day 2 of the WSOP’s Lake Tahoe Main Event hosted by Harvey’s is in the books. A total of 165 players showed up at the tables at the beginning of the day. Most of these players were legitimate Day ... Read More

The Poker Grapevine – Spanish Court Rules in Favor of PokerStars

November 20 2012
PokerStars have scored a massive legal win the other day when a Barcelona court passed a ruling, declaring PokerStars’ operation in the country since 2001 legal. The site has been bogged down in legal issues in the country, despite the fact ... Read More

WSOP-C Harvey’s Lake Tahoe Main Event – Day 2 Report

November 19 2012
The WSOP-C’s Harvey’s Lake Tahoe stop has been in progress for almost a week now. This weekend, the Main Event finally kicked off. There were two day 1 flights, Day 1A and Day 1B, which yielded a starting field of ... Read More

WSOP-C Harvey’s Lake Tahoe

November 18 2012
The WSOP-C has generated record starting fields, massive individual prizes and action well enough to live up to the hype of the circuit’s name. The 6th stop of the current WSOP-C season is in full swing at Lake ... Read More

WPT Copenhagen – Emil Olsson Wins

November 18 2012
The WPT’s Copenhagen Main Event is finally in the books and the player who took down the title together with the top prize, was Emil Olsson. Olsson bested Morten Klein heads-up, to claim the DKK 1.2 million prize and a ... Read More

The Poker Grapevine – Anti-Lederer Petition

November 17 2012
Howard Lederer has made the news for two separate reasons in the last few days. First, he had his lawyer file a motion to have a lawsuit against him dismissed. The suit is apparently about forcing him to forfeit about $40 ... Read More

WPT Copenhagen – Day 4 Report

November 17 2012
Eighteen players returned to the tables of the WPT’s Copenhagen Main Event on the 4th day of action, looking to play down to the 6-handed final table. In about 4 levels, that objective has indeed been accomplished. The player to ... Read More

Sahamies up $1 Million Again

November 17 2012
Even though high stakes cash games are slowly but surely flaring up at Full Tilt Poker, over at PokerStars, there are still players resisting the flow: the biggest online poker cash game winner of the week, Ilari Sahamies, took down ... Read More

WPT Copenhagen – Day 3 Report

November 16 2012
Day 3 of the WPT’s Copenhagen Main Event would see the money bubble burst. 45 players returned to action, and they successfully played down to the final 18. Stanislav Barshak finished what was probably the penultimate day of the poker tournament ... Read More

MGM Picks Up Nevada Online Poker License

November 16 2012
MGM has long been looking to secure a license which would allow the brick and mortar casino operation to go head to head with some of the world’s largest online poker operators, in a legally regulated way. The casino giant ... Read More

The Year’s Remaining Major Poker Tourneys

November 15 2012
The end of the year is now less than two months away, and thus far, despite some adversity, it’s safe to say that 2012 has been a great year for the poker tournament circuit. None of the major ... Read More

WPT Copenhagen – Day 2 Report

November 15 2012
The second day of the WPT’s Copenhagen Main Event saw the field play down to the final 45. The player who finished the day with the largest stack of chips (445k) was Frei Dilling Kjaer, who is a relative unknown on ... Read More

PPA: No Progress in Repayment of US Players

November 15 2012
Full Tilt Poker has repaid all those who are currently allowed to access the freshly re-launched online poker site’s real money tables and even those who can’t play, but reside outside the US. US-based players will apparently have ... Read More

WPT Copenhagen – Day 1A-1B Report

November 14 2012
Day 1A chip leader Andre Petrovic of Sweden took advantage of his large stack to power his way into the overall lead for day 2 of the WPT’s Copenhagen Main Event. The poker tournament drew a starting field ... Read More

WPT Jacksonville – Noah Schwartz Wins

November 14 2012
Six players returned to the tables on the 4th and final day of the WPT’s Jacksonville Fall Poker Scramble. The goal was nothing short of playing down to a winner, and when the day ended, it did so because a winner ... Read More

The Poker Grapevine – Cole South Joins Ivey’s Site

November 14 2012
Phil Ivey has apparently been quite busy lately, pushing his IveyPoker.com and recruiting instructors for the site. Ivey’s latest acquisition is Cole South, the online poker pro who used to be one of the major head-liners at Full Tilt ... Read More

The Online Poker Weekend – Sunday Million Goes to Kenji Tsukamoto

November 13 2012
This weekend, things were back to normal at PokerStars (following their successful Double weekend) and for the first time in a long while, there were Sunday majors to cover over at Full Tilt Poker too. The Sunday Brawl was back ... Read More

APPT Macau: Asia Championship of Poker – Xing Zhou Wins

November 12 2012
It took the initial 184-player starting field 5 days to play down to a winner in the APPT Macau’s Asia Championship of Poker. On the last day of the poker tournament, 9 players showed up for the ... Read More

WPT Jacksonville Fall Poker Scramble – Day 1B Report

November 12 2012
The second day 1 flight of the WPT’s Fall Poker Scramble in Jacksonville saw 263 players cough up the $3.5k buy-in. This day’s yield brought the total number of participants to 477, and set the final size of the prize-... Read More

The Poker Grapevine – Full Tilt Back in Action

November 12 2012
Last Tuesday, the online poker world has witnessed something many had long given up hope on: the re-launch of real money games at Full Tilt Poker. The much-hyped re-launch did indeed turn out to be all it was ... Read More

The Poker Grapevine – UKIPT Bristol Action

November 11 2012
The Bristol Main Event of the United Kingdom and Ireland Poker Tour kicked off on Thursday, drawing 235 players on its first day1 flight. Among those who coughed up the £770 buy-in, were quite a few “name” players too. Dan ... Read More

APPT Macau: Asia Championship of Poker – Day 4 Report

November 11 2012
Michael Kanaan had the largest stack when 22 players returned to the tables of the APPT Macau’s Asia Championship of Poker and he was the still on top when the action was called for the day. After 7 hours of grueling ... Read More

The Poker Grapevine – FTOPS XXI Schedule Released

November 10 2012
Even before their much-hyped re-launch, Full Tilt Poker had promised to bring back their popular FTOPS (Full Tilt Online Poker Series) as soon as possible. True to their word, they have recently announced the schedule of the 21st edition ... Read More

APPT Macau, Asia Championship of Poker – Day 3 Report

November 10 2012
The third day of the APPT Macau’s Asia Championship of Poker wrapped up exactly in the wake of the money bubble. As soon as the bubble burst, the day was called and thus all those who survived could go to bed ... Read More

Online Poker Action – Sahamies Loses Big

November 10 2012
He who lives by the sword, dies by the sword and no one could attest to the truth behind that saying more readily than Ilari Sahamies, the Finn pro, who spent two of the last three weeks felting opponents and wreaking ... Read More

The Poker Grapevine – Cantu Gets Even

November 09 2012
Brandon Cantu went on quite a tirade following the WSOPE’s $10k Mixed Max event, the heads-up finish of which got postponed at a most inopportune moment for him, and which he ended up losing to Jonathan Aguiar. Back then, Cantu ... Read More

WSOP-C River Rock – John Crncic Wins

November 09 2012
The WSOP-C’s River Rock Main Event has wrapped up on Wednesday, setting the record for the largest ever live poker tournament held in Canada. The event was also the first ever WSOP-C event held in Canada, ... Read More

Obama Wins Second Term – What Does it Mean for Online Poker?

November 07 2012
The US election, especially its presidential side, has long been viewed as a major factor concerning the prospects of legal and regulated online poker in the US in the near future. Online poker advocates have always preached that it would ... Read More

A Major Step – First Tribal Online Casino Launched

November 07 2012
While the attention of the general public was focused on the outcome of the US election and that of the online poker community on the re-launch of Full Tilt Poker’s real money tables, another, seemingly insignificant yet potentially extremely ... Read More

WSOP-C River Rock – Day 2 Report

November 07 2012
246 players returned to the tables of the WSOP-C’s River Rock Main Event, looking to secure a seat for Day 3. The survivors represented the yield of no fewer than 3 Day 1 flights, some of which saw the same ... Read More

Full Tilt Poker Re-opens for Real Money Play

November 06 2012
It’s now official: at noon GMT, Full Tilt Poker has re-opened its real money tables, giving players access to $184 million in funds and allowing them – for the first time since the Black Friday shutdown – to play at ... Read More

The Poker Grapevine – Elie Takes Swipe at Lederer

November 06 2012
Online poker payment processor Chad Elie, he who has been recently sentenced to 5 months in prison after looking at a near life-sentence, decided to lash out at one of his former partners, Full Tilt Poker’s Howard Lederer, who ... Read More

The Online Poker Weekend – Double Vision Sunday

November 06 2012
This weekend was quite special at PokerStars: as part of their special Double Vision promotion, PokerStars offered all their weekend majors twice. What resulted was a tournament frenzy, which left no fewer than 8 players with 6-figure hauls. The ... Read More

WSOP-C River Rock – Day 1C Report

November 06 2012
386 players showed up on Sunday at the River Rock Casino for the third Day 1 flight of the WSOP-C’s first ever Canadian stop. After a full day of green felt battles, exactly 100 of them earned the right ... Read More

Daniel Cates is the New All Star Showdown Champion

November 05 2012
The All Star Showdown has wound down at PokerStars and the winner is Daniel Cates. Cates bested Ben Sulsky heads-up in the final which was held yesterday. The final took place at 4 heads-up tables, and Cates provided ... Read More

A new Online Poker Boom Looming?

November 05 2012
The online poker industry has slowed down quite a bit in recent years due to the legal problems the start of which was marked by the passing of the 2006 UIGEA. Since then, other countries have come up with legalization ... Read More

Phil Ivey’ Training Site

November 05 2012
Although the online poker community has pretty much lost its faith in “poker professors” with the Howard Lederer fiasco, there’s always room for others to step up to the plate in this vert, especially if that other person’s name is ... Read More

WSOP-C River Rock – Day 1B Report

November 04 2012
352 players bellied up to the tables of the River Rock Casino on the second Day 1 flight of the WSOP-C Main Event taking place there. The Day 1B turn-out took the total number of registrants to 646.
... Read More

WSOP-C River Rock – Day 1A Report

November 04 2012
Although seemingly insignificant in comparison to its bigger brother, the WSOP-C is a living, breathing and evolving entity too, where many a poker pro disillusioned with the online poker scene or the mainstream circuit, has found success. This week, ... Read More

The Poker Grapevine – Bwin.party Poker Revenues Headed South

November 04 2012
Bwin.party may be the largest online gambling/sports betting/gaming group in existence, with a solid presence in the online poker industry too, but that doesn’t mean they’re immune to revenue losses stemming from the various adverse legal environments that have developed ... Read More

The Poker Grapevine – Full Tilt’s Imminent Re-launch

November 03 2012
Things are definitely heating up at Full Tilt Poker, the much-hyped re-launch of the operation only a few days away. The site has begun re-paying its non-US customers and the process is indeed well underway. Many of ... Read More

Online Poker Action – Sahamies Week’s Biggest Winner, Again

November 03 2012
Ilari Sahamies has grown wings these last few weeks: at one point – only a few weeks ago – the Finn was in a massive $1.5 million hole. He is now among the main contenders for the biggest online poker ... Read More

The Poker Grapevine – Gearing Up for the Micro Millions

November 02 2012
It seems like the last Micro Millions only wrapped up a few weeks ago, but PokerStars are keeping their recreational and low-stakes player base on their toes: the third installment of its popular Micro Millions Series is in the ... Read More

The Poker Grapevine – PokerStars All Star Challenge

November 02 2012
The PokerStars All Star Challenge we told you about a week ago is in full swing. As a matter of fact, the first round matches are all in the books already. Players who have thus far logged wins are Phil ... Read More

MGM Grabs Preliminary Online Poker License Approval

November 02 2012
The race for legal online poker heats up in Nevada, even as none of the operators who have secured all sorts of preliminary approvals and licenses have yet launched their poker rooms. The latest major live casino operator to join ... Read More

Full Tilt Poker Opens Play Money Tables

November 01 2012
Full Tilt Poker is expected to re-launch on November 6, but non-US players with accounts at the site were able to set foot “inside” today, hitting the play money tables. While play money action is usually quite irrelevant, this ... Read More