Ok, let's get started. All the links:
- "888 Poker has seen revenues increase 88 percent year-on-year as it takes a major slice of the Spanish market and looks forward to further growth in the States. It was a case of all the eights for 888 Poker, as the companys revenue in the first quarter of 2012 showed an 88 percent year-on-year increase, prompting investment bankers and stockbrokers - Panmure, Gordon & Co. - to upgrade the companys profit forecast by a staggering 22 percent. The companys growth has been attributed to the shutdown of Full Tilt Poker coinciding with the launch of features intended to attract recreational poker players - such as the player-focused Poker 6 Platform and the popular PokerCams. Other promotional initiatives offered by 888 Poker have also increased its market share, especially the no deposit poker bonus of 5.00/$8.00" - [www.pokernewsreport.com]
- "On the morning of the 5th July six luxurious limousine's pulled up outside the Palazzo and shuttled our team to the Rio" - [betting.betfair.com]
- "The 2012 World Series of Poker The Main Event has reached its official Day 3 and 1,765 players of the original 6,598 are still in with a chance of becoming this year's champion" - [www.pokerchanneleurope.com]
- WSOP 2012: Zen & the art of being Marcel Luske - "
At 11:58am, Marcel Luske's WSOP ammunition sits in a bag of orange and yellow chips" - [www.pokerstarsblog.com]- Money Bubble Looming In The WSOP Main Event - "David "doubledave22" D'Alesandro At the start of play there were 1,738 players eager to get into their seats but by the time the curtain came down on another day of intense poker action more than 1,000 of those were no longer in the Main Event's field; just 720 players now remain Day 3 of the 2012 World Series of Poker Main Event has been completed, after five 90-minute levels were played out in the vast tournament area of the Rio All Suite Hotel and Casino At the start of play there were 1,738 players eager to get into their seats but by the time the curtain came down on another day of intense poker action more than 1,000 of those were no longer in the Main Event's field; just 720 players now remain. Of these 720 players just 666 of them will receive any prize money for their efforts meaning 54 players will be leaving the Rio - on Friday 13th of all dates - empty handed. One man who is almost guaranteed to be walking away with a share of the massive $62,021,200 prize pool is the overnight chip leader Dave "doubledave22" D'Alesandro who managed to end the day with a huge stack of 1,100,000 chips" - [betting.betfair.com]
- "LCI UK Poker Tour Nottingham Main Event starts today" - [www.bluffeurope.com]
A recently released Bwin.Party trading update focuses attention on PokerStars' Zoom Poker as the reason for a decline in revenue. The July 10 update from the parent company of PartyPoker alludes to "continued pressure" in the online poker marketplace as being the result of the launching of Zoom Poker, which has taken a huge chunk of the fast-fold Internet poker market" - [
While the chip counts are still a few hours from being confirmed, Daniel Negreanu, Eugene Katchalov and Vanessa Selbst showed them all who the pros were, each bagging up around 300,000, leading the liveried few" - [
Howard Lederer, Rafe Furst and Chris Ferguson each filed motions to dismiss the Black Friday charges against them. While Full Tilt CEO Ray Bitar was trying to gain his freedom on $2.5 million bond related to a superseding indictment unsealed last week, his colleagues on the board of directors were fighting the allegations in the original Black Friday indictment" - [
A record-breaking 3,418 players were on hand for Day 1C of the 2012 WSOP Main Event, taking the total field up to 6,598 runners, slightly down on last year but still impressive given the prevailing economic and regulatory conditions" - [
Britain's newest live poker tour heads to the Midlands this week as the LCI UK Poker Tour hits Nottingham" - [
I can confirm that Salvatore Bonavena does not speak English" - [
By now you may have heard of the new online poker site Skillbet.com, where players compete against one another in game of "Duplicate Poker" where each player is given the same two hold cards and the person who plays them the most skillfully (wins the most money or loses the least money) will be rewarded. According to a recent press release that landed in my inbox, Skillbet has been deemed legal under 28 different states' laws in the US -this was determined by legal experts ostensibly hired by Skillbet; the states in question have not deemed Skillbet, and Duplicate Poker to be legal at this time" - [
The newest poker champion shares a name with Georgy Zhukov, who is the most decorated military commander in Russian history" - [
New research prepared by the German research group Academicon for an Australian government review of online poker has revealed that Australians lead the world in online poker - albeit illegally! Online poker has been illegal in Australia since the Interactive Gambling Act 2001, yet the research indicates that almost 130,000 Aussies - out of a total population of 22 million - are logging into their online poker accounts on a regular basis" - [
Roberto Luongo will play in the Main Event Roberto Luongo is not only one of the best goalies in the NHL; he also enjoys the game of poker, and is a solid player in his own right" - [
Ray Bitar, CEO of Full Tilt Poker and one of the leading perpetrators in the biggest online poker scandals of all time, was yesterday arrested at New Yorks JFK airport as new charges were added to the existing "Black Friday" indictment accusing Bitar of operating an illegal gambling business in contravention of UIGEA, wire fraud and money laundering. Although Bitar and his lawyer, Jack Baumann, arrived in New York from Dublin with the intention of surrendering to FBI agents - and had advised the US District Court in advance of his arrival - neither man was prepared for the scene of agents boarding the plane and arresting Bitar before he had a chance to unpack his duty free" - [
It would take a lot to push the Big One for One Drop poker tournament off the front page, but we may have the one news item capable of doing just that, as an E-Mail is being circulated that originated with Full Tilt poker CEO Ray Bitar where he claims to be surrendering to the US Government, and that PokerStars will be handling Full Tilt Poker employee payments for July" - [