PokerRoom is Back!

Now that they are back in the game, there are some interesting changes that have taken place over at PokerRoom.com. Players can take advantage of the hot deposit bonus system, allowing players to earn up to a one hundred percent deposit bonus for deposits that are made into the online casino of $100, $500 or $1,000 and clear through the deposit bonus as player points are earned after taking part in poker games and gaining experience.

New to PokerRoom.com is the loyalty program, allowing players that have made real money deposits into the online casino and players taking part in poker cash games to accumulate points to become part of elite players clubs. Players that have made a deposit into the online poker account can become a member of the green room after one point is accumulated. Players that have earned 1,500 player points and have earned a minimum of 1,500 player points every thirty days are eligible to become members of the Silver VIP room, gaining entry into special tournaments and player privileges. To obtain entry to the Gold room the player must earn 6,000 points every 30 days which will guarantee the player special access to points, tournaments and gold status and have the option to convert the player points into currency that can be used on PokerRoom.com.

After two years offline, PokerRoom.com is back with some great changes that are going to translate into a huge community of players taking part in the online games and tournaments.

With Wire Act clarification in place, online poker legalization may have a green light in many localities.

Just before the holidays, the Department of Justice changed their stance that the Wire Act of 1961 applied to all forms of betting that occurred over the internet. Now, the Department of Justice is of the belief that the act is only applicable to sports betting, opening the doors for other types of online gaming, including poker and online lotteries.

The department of Justice released a statement on Friday, stating that “the interstate transmissions of wire communications that do not relate to a ‘sporting event or contest’ fall outside the reach of the Wire Act”.  The opinion was in relation to concerns from the DOJ that bills proposing online lottery ticket sales in both Illinois and New York violated the Wire Act and the UIGEA.

What does this mean for online gaming? This means that lotteries are free to sell online tickets, and can even open the doors for online poker to be accessible throughout the United States. The Poker Players Alliance is only one of the groups that feel the overturning is a long time coming – and has released a statement saying that much and applauding the decision that has been made by the Department of Justice.

Despite the doors that could be opened with the act, there is the chance that federal laws can be developed to create licensing and regulations for internet poker being facilitated throughout the US to ensure that the games being played are being done so legally.  Nevada recently approved online poker regulations and will likely be used as a guinea pig for other states and Congress as they determine whether to proceed with online poker legalization.

We have seen the changes through the potential comebacks of popular online real money poker websites but what do you think of the change of the opinion of the Department of Justice? How is this going to change poker for you?

Before we talk about the games, let’s talk traffic.  A poker site cannot thrive if players don’t show up for the games.  That is not a problem at PokerRom.  As a member of one of the largest poker networks in the world, PokerRoom has literally thousands of players at the cash game tables each and every day, even at off hours.  What this means is that you will always have plenty of players to compete against.  Also, since PokerRoom does not use props or allow bots on their network, you can rest easy in that you will play against live players.

Now, let’s talk about the games.  It is obvious that Texas Hold’em is spread at PokerRoom.  It is the most popular game.  However, unlike some sites, you can also play fixed limit and pot-limit Texas Hold’em.  Limits in games start as low as .01-.02 for NL games and move all the way up to $500-$1,000 blinds in fixed limit games.

Omaha players will find plenty of action on PokerRoom.  As the second most popular poker variant in the world, there is plenty of action in both pot-limit Omaha and fixed limit Omaha Hi-Lo split.

If you are a Stud player, you know that a limited number of sites actually have regularly running games.  At PokerRoom, both Seven Card Stud and Stud Hi-Lo split are offered at most limits.

Old school games such as Five Card Draw have begun to make a comeback in recent years.  PokerRoom has always offered Five Card Draw games and players can play in either fixed limit or pot-limit games.

If you don’t know how to play any of the games listed above, check out the PokerRoom website.  There you will find rule for the games spread at PokerRoom and in the forums at the PokerRoom Community, you can find strategy articles written by PokerRoom members to help you further your game so you don’t become like the guy below.

PokerRoom is the first poker site you should check out when searching for cash games.  With a wide spread of games on one of the largest networks in the world, you are sure to grow your bankroll.  Register for your free account today and in a few minutes you can take your seat at some of the juiciest cash games on the net.

PokerRoom Could Offer Real Money Games Again Soon

The story originally started as a rumor reported on by PokerFuse.com.  A SEO executive with bwin.com tweeted the site would reopen, but later changed that story and claimed it as overexcitement regarding website updates at PokerRoom.

Rumor turned into speculation as players wondered what the banner meant at PokerRoom stating that they are going “Back to the Future.”  That question was partially answered on Tuesday when PokerNewsBoy reported that the site was under consideration for reopening.

PokerNewsBoy spoke with sources at bwin.com and they said that the site was being strongly considered for reopening.  The reporter pressed further regarding the website updates and another source said that the updates were needed regardless of whether the site reopens.  Finally, the source confirmed that the SEO manager jumped the gun regarding his statement.

PokerRoom.com closed in 2009 after a decade long run in the online poker industry.  As one of the foundation sites of the Ongame Network, PokerRoom was among the industry leaders in many categories.  If you play poker on a Mac, you can thank PokerRoom for pushing the envelope and actually becoming the first site to offer a Mac Poker client.

PokerRoom was also among the first online poker sites to regularly spread games other than Texas Hold’em.  For a while, they were one of the only online sites to offer Five Card Draw poker on their site.  Also, they were the first to target the home poker game market and did so years before other sites came up with their own concept.

Nevada residents should be able to play online poker sometime in 2012.

Those laws are nearly complete and will be voted on sometime in December.  In addition, it has also been announced that online poker applications will be accepted by the GCB in February.  Companies that already have a gaming license in the state and can meet the GCB’s technology standards for insuring intrastate play by legal aged residents will be able to obtain a license rather quickly.  Those that are new to online poker in the state will have to go through the full investigation process that any new organization that applies for a license must go through.

What this basically means is that sometime next year, Nevada residents will be able to play online poker from their homes.  Of course, there is some resistance to this concept, primarily from the Indian nations.  They feel online poker will cut into their gaming profits and they also feel that they have been left out of the process since they were not allowed to set their own policies.

With that said, the prospect for online poker should greatly excite Nevada casinos, especially those looking for a way to increase revenues during these tough times.  Also, other states and even the federal government can take note of the successes and failures of Nevada’s online poker regulations.  Hopefully they can help to influence other states and even Congress to move forward in this area.

It should also be noted that players from outside of the state cannot play on Nevada run poker sites.  This will be true intrastate poker for state residents only.  Time will tell what impact that online poker will have on Nevada, but the impact on the rest of the country may prove historic.

The 2011 Women in Poker Hall of Fame Inductees

Kristy Gazes is recognizable name in the poker world, not just for her good looks, but her fierce competitive nature at the poker tables.  Gazes has just over $1 Million in tournament earnings, putting her 19th on the Women’s All-time Money List.  She is recognizable to most casual poker fans due to her Ladies Night Out WPT win at the 2007 Legends of Poker.  She made the final table at the 2007 Aussie Millions Main Event and her largest score to date is a $250k score for winning the FullTiltPoker.net Championship in 2005.

Margie Heintz is not a recognizable figure to most that have come into poker over the last decade or so.  She made history in 1977 when she became the first woman in history to deal in the World Series of Poker.  To that point, a woman had not even applied to deal.  She did such a great job that she was invited to deal the final table of the Main Event.  The final table was televised on CBS that year and a national audience saw history made.  Heintz is still in the industry as she is the poker room manager for the Eldorado Hotel Casino in Reno.

Phyllis Caro is a recognized figure in the poker industry.  She started out as a dealer for various casinos in the late 70′s and early 80′s before meeting her husband, poker pro Mike Caro.  After she retired from dealing, she helped her husband write several of his books, including his book of tells.  Later, her and Mike were hired on by the Bicycle Casino in Los Angeles.  From there she moved on to Hollywood Park Casino to become the Director of Poker Operations.

Fans were heavily involved in the Hall of Fame voting process.  Fans were allowed to nominate three women for the Hall of Fame and once the final nominees were selected, fans then voted for whom they wanted in the Women’s Hall of Fame. The 2011 class will be inducted on September 2nd, 2011 at the Golden Nugget Casino in Downtown Las Vegas, NV.

The three main criteria that a nominee must meet for election are:

• Must have been active either as a player or in the poker industry for at least 15 years
• Must have contributed in the poker world in a significant way.
• Must be a proponent of women’s poker.  (They are not required to play in women’s only events, but they must support them.)

Here are the current Women’s Hall of Fame members prior to this year:

2010 – Billie Brown, Jennifer Harman, Kathy Liebert

2009 – June Field, Jan Fisher, Cyndy Violette

2008 – Barbara Enright, Susie Isaacs, Linda Johnson, Marsha Waggoner

Various attempts at having the legislation repealed has gone through the senate and Senator Barney Frank has worked tirelessly to show the US government that there is a sizeable tax revenue to be generated from accepting that the American people like engaging in this pastime and using the tax revenues as a positive income stream for the country rather than taking this restrictive measure to ban such gaming activity UIGEA represents.

Unfortunately Barney Franks attempt to have the legislation appears to have stalled and with only a couple of days before the bills implementation, only a miracle will save the US Poker market now. Other sports such as greyhound racing, horse racing and various Keno games will also be acutely affected. Attempts were made to differentiate poker as a skill game, but whilst some small judgements were made in online poker’s favour there was no large precedent case that would have a knock-on effect to the UIGEA bill. It was too little too late.

The Aftermath of UIGEA for Poker

After June 1st it will not be illegal for you to play online poker so you can still play poker tournaments online and shoot for the big prizes! The problem is getting the money in and more importantly the money out of the US poker rooms.

When you cash out, the online poker room approves the cash-out and either the bank or a third party payment processor conducts the transfer between the bank account used by the poker room and your own bank account. If you think of the payment processor as a bridge, the UIGEA bill will destroy all of the bridges! Harsh penalties will be in place for the payment processors if they defy this bill so come June 1st, en masse, they will stop processing the transactions.

When UIGEA was signed in 2006, many poker rooms immediately left the US poker market for fear of prosecution, but some remained and did very well. It may be the players this time that withdraw their money to see how things work out before putting their money back into poker. I have read some articles that suggest player to player transfers may be the only way to get money in and out of the site which could cause massive problems given the nature of such transfers, and the inevitable disputes that would occur and, of course, cheating players.

It is predicted that for US players size and frequency of cash-outs may become limited and there may be a fee introduced for these transactions. The speed and efficiency of transactions is sure to be negatively effected whilst poker rooms like Pokerstars and Full Tilt Poker search for ways of complying with UIGEA and providing good customer service.

A Silver Lining?

Some of Europe’s leading poker rooms are expecting a surge in business. Cashing in and out from bwin.com is particularly smooth and this will be exceptionally difficult to achieve for even the well-meaning poker rooms in the US poker market. Online gaming is more accepted in Europe so these poker rooms look likely to achieve a surge in business. The UIGEA bill may be particularly painful for US poker players but there could be a seismic shift in the balance of power between online poker rooms favouring bwin.com as their already good levels of customer service will be ever rarer in the market. European poker could be in line for a real boost in popularity after June 1st.

Peace of mind is available at bwin.com at a time when this is very much under threat elsewhere, so maybe getting an account there is a good idea given current circumstances in online poker.

By Malcolm Clarke

All has not been going smoothly for Boku87 in his current online poker challenge as he has been suffering the dreaded downturn as of late. He plays many online poker tournaments at once often multi-tabling up to thirty tables. Any sustained set of bad results can be damaging to his bankroll. He has admitted that due to the excellent start of his challenge when he turned the $5 into $17,000 within three months he was so confident of completing the challenge in record time that he concentrated more on writing his book than grinding profits.

Online poker fans noted that at that rate of success the challenge could be completed in less than six months. The initial rise of his bankroll to $17,000 from the starting bankroll of $5 was nothing short of spectacular. Boku87 has correctly judged that if he earns the money within six months this will be accepted as the new success benchmark of online poker bankroll building. He would struggle to beat this record and it is better for his career not to peak at this point. It is much more sensible for Boku87 to complete the challenge in a more standard time of one year or close to it. It will still be a success for him.

High Stakes player Isildur1 has rocked the nosebleed stakes of online poker by challenging and beating the best, enduring wild swings in the process. It has contributed to a change of attitude towards online poker wins and losses. There was a time when losing $1 million was a massive win or loss. It remains a massive win or loss in the railbird’s eyes but for Patrik Antonius, Tom Dwan and their high stakes poker colleagues this is a regular event. Isildur1 has lit the touch paper on wild high stakes poker action.

If Boku87 was to complete this challenge in six months then he would be expected to match this or do better in future. He will be aware that this run was skill but also a large lucky streak. I always thought he would take his time and give himself realistic targets to beat in the future so his current slow progress is not surprising to me.

Like many other online poker players Boku87 has found that playing poker for a living does have its downsides. I can testify that sitting in front of my computer writing I encounter some days where I would prefer to do anything but type however we are professional. The same goes for online poker grinding. Playing one table can be fun as you watch each player and get into the game. This is the fun of online poker. Playing thirty tables at once is nothing short of a brain marathon and you cannot focus but for a few seconds on any one table and Boku87 does this type of thing for twelve hours per day. He has taken a small break to write his book to avoid burning out which will assist his poker challenge progress.

I have followed Boku87’s challenge closely and look forward to doing so in the future as he moves closer to his goal of making $5 into $100,000. He currently stands at $22,000 profit after five months so there is plenty of time for him to grind to the finish line and cement his place as a legend of poker bankroll management and online poker grinding.

By Malcolm Clarke

The report said that between June 2003 and December 2007 cheating occurred where the player’s rights to a fair and honest game were violated. The cheating was declared to have been initiated before the current owners Tokwiro Enterprises bought the site and that Tokwiro had no prior knowledge of any flaw in the security of the site when they took ownership of Ultimate Bet. The report vindicates the current owners saying that “No Individual identified by the Commission as unsuitable is currently involved in any aspect of Tokwiro’s ownership, management and operations”. Tokwiro have refunded an amount totally $22,054,351.91 to player’s adversely affected by the cheating and this was overseen by KPMG. This is the largest refund ever initiated in regards to online gaming. Tokwiro also paid a $1.5 million dollar fine.

Tokwiro have been permitted to carry on being licensed for online gaming purposes meaning Ultimate Bet can continue trading. They are, however, subject to certain conditions. These include agents conducting periodic checks on the software and code to detect or monitor for any anomalies, any upgrades must be tested by an independent testing facility which the Kahnawake Commission will select, all daily operations for the next twelve months must be passed to the commission including details of financial and gaming records. Because of the difficulties in ascertaining ownership identities of personnel, within 30 days of 11th September Tokwiro are required to file applications for licensing of any person, entity associated with the company in terms of their role as director, key person, shareholder or officer to ensure transparency of ownership. This will reveal whether the professionals who chose to defend the site during the scandal, namely Annie Duke and Phil Hellmuth, have an ownership interest in the site which has been speculated upon during this investigation.

The blame for the scandal was placed at the door of 1995 World Series of Poker Main Event Champion Russ Hamilton. The report suggests he was primarily responsible for and benefited from the cheating. They said the vast majority of the accounts associated with the cheating were linked to Hamilton and money transferred to player accounts was owned or linked via IP addresses to Hamilton. The commission have reported “extensive information” to law enforcement groups regarding Hamilton and “31 individuals who were associated, to varying degrees, with Russell Hamilton, the cheating accounts and/or transactions relating to the cheating accounts”. It remains to be seen whether criminal proceedings will be made against Hamilton or any other party in regards to the cheating.

The online community who reported the cheating are disappointed the names of the 31 people associated with the scandal and Russ Hamilton have not been named. The commission, by not naming them, have left it to Tokwiro to identify the individuals involved which they have not chosen to reveal in the past. The report praised the work of the online community for their policing and investigation into the cheating scandal and said they would play an important part in the future of secure online gaming.

All quotations from this article are taken from the report which can be viewed in full by visiting the Kahnawake Gaming Commission website and downloading the full report.

By Malcolm Clarke

E! Hollywood Hold’em

This show offers you an opportunity to watch your favorite celebrity by allowing you to be a railbird at his/her home game with some famous and not so-famous friends.

Tilt On ESPN

This is a fictional show that runs on ESPN. You will have some amazing entertainment here watching Michael Madsen as Don “The Matador” Everest.

Ultimate Poker Challenge

There is a lot of poker to watch at this show, as it hosts a series of no-limit Texas Hold’em Tournaments taking place at the Plaza in Las Vegas.

Poker Superstars On Fox Sports

Poker Superstars is a great show that runs on Fox Sports. Watching this show will help you compare the pace of the action with playing online, as this is a fast-paced invitational series of tournaments, where the blinds go up very rapidly.

Poker Royale On GSN

The poker table of this show brings together two opposing groups to duke it out. It can be Celebrities Vs Pros or simply Boys Vs Girls. It is always great to watch your favorite celebrities like Lance Bass and Jennifer Tilly holding up against Pros like Kathy Liebert and Scott Fischman.

Celebrity Poker Showdown On Bravo

This is one of those shows that have contributed a lot to the huge popularity of the poker game. Though, it cannot be said that it is the best poker TV show, yet you will love it because of the humor and commentary of the hosts Phil Gordon and Dave Foley.

Other popular shows on television include ‘The World Series of Poker’ on ESPN and GSN’s ‘High Stakes Poker’.