Craker spoke with New Zealand’s 3 News after his win that spanned 4 days, saying, "I just felt something was just telling me – before I’d even started – that I was going to have a good go at it." He added, "On day two I played probably my best poker of the tournament which got me up there."

The Final Table included (showing chip counts):

Source: pokerpages.com

But poker has topped third on that list, behind only NASCAR and the NFL, a couple of properties that are legendary for television audiences. Poker comes in ahead of baseball, basketball, and hockey. How do you think Gary Bettman feels about THAT?

Obviously, poker has experienced a boom that dates back to 2003, and what is now known as ‘The Moneymaker Effect’. That was the year that a 32-year-old accountant from Tennessee managed to satellite his way into the World Series of Poker Main Event for $39, and walk away with the title and $2.5 million dollars. And from the moment that WSOP hit television, every guy in the world thought to himself, ‘that could be me’.

The resulting poker boom was breathtaking, and the WSOP has taken on the air of a month long Superbowl. With first place money in the $10 million dollar neighbourhood. That’s a pretty nice neighbourhood, and a lot of people want to take a crack at moving in.

Because of this giant explosion in the world of poker, several interesting things happened. Professional poker players, formerly a bunch of leather assed Texas rounders if you believe pop culture, took on the status of rock stars. Previously anonymous pros now found themselves household names.

Last year, Canadian poker star Daniel Negreanu and I were walking through a mall to grab a bite to eat at a tournament. We were approached by a young man in his early twenties who asked Daniel if he would autograph his forearm. So that he could get it tattooed on permanently! You’re talking Wayne Gretzky/Gene Simmons country right there. Rock stars.

But here’s the big difference that makes poker so appealing: accessibility. If you are a tennis fan, can you play tennis with Roger Federer? No chance. If you’re a golfer, can you play a round with Tiger Woods? Not unless you’re a millionaire. But if you’re into poker, you can sit down at a poker table and find yourself staring across at Doyle Brunson, or Johnny Chan, or Phil Hellmuth. You actually get the opportunity to test yourself against the legends of the game. And that’s why millions of players every year bust their butts trying to qualify to play in a WPT or WSOP event. Well, that and the prize money.

You can’t turn the TV on anymore without finding poker on one station or another. Everyone is playing, from garbage men to movie stars, and they all share the dreams of World Championship bracelets and millions in prize money. And that dream is very much attainable.

Two years ago, a part time auto worker from Oshawa named Soren Turkewitsch won his way into a World Poker Tour event in Niagara Falls. Five days later, he was holding a trophy and a cheque for $1.3 million bucks. Not a bad payday for a few days work. Might even be more than GM was paying him.

The poker boom is still going strong. I spent most of July in Las Vegas at the 2008 World Series of Poker, and I can guarantee you that poker is still on the upswing. Numbers for the WSOP were huge this year, and look to be getting even bigger. The final table from the main event will be played in November, and whether it’s some Cinderella-story nobody from next door, or one of the mega rich superstars we see on television who wins it, you can be sure it will be fun to watch.

What I’m hoping to do with this space is give you a peek at something even MORE interesting than just the surface scratching that is done with poker on TV. The world of high stakes poker is overflowing with colourful characters and wild stories. Most of the time, the behind-the-curtain world of professional poker players is infinitely more interesting than the actual card playing you see on the little screen.

High roller lifestyles, young millionaires, old road dogs, and crazy prop bets are all part of day-to-day life. For example, the aforementioned Daniel Negreanu had a little side bet with Phil Ivey for this year’s World Series of Poker: $200,000 per bracelet. Since Daniel won a bracelet, and Phil didn’t, Ivey owes Negreanu 200K.

Think that’s crazy? How about a prop bet to spend 12 straight hours in a hotel pool for $25K. Or how about losing 50 pounds of body weight in one year for a hundred grand? These kinds of crazy bets are just part of daily life in the poker world.

Like Cat Stevens once said, ‘Oooh baby, it’s a wild world’. But it’s a fascinating and fun world too. Come on by and have a look beyond the looking glass. It’s all-in or nothing, and the game is on…

Chris Tessaro is the host of The Hardcore Poker Show, North American wide on Wednesday nights at 8 PM on Sirius 98. www.hardcorepokershow.com.

Source: torontosun.com

Politico

That would be this New York Times story, describing McCain playing the craps table with Rick Davis and Scott Reed. Davis is a longtime McCain friend and associate, currently his campaign manager, who runs a lobbying firm that represented Indian tribes with casino interests. Reed also worked as a lobbyist for Indian tribes, but he was also Bob Dole’s campaign manager in 1996, where McCain is a top surrogate. To define these longtime buddies of McCain as lobbyists, you would also have to define David Axelrod as a lobbyist.

Beyond that, are we supposed to ignore the fact that the criticism is going to come from the guy who used to have a weekly poker game with lobbyists?

USA Today, July 6 of this year: "On Wednesday nights during Illinois General Assembly sessions, a group of lobbyists and lawmakers used to gather at the headquarters of the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association for a weekly poker game. Barack Obama, who represented part of Chicago as state senator from 1997-2004, was a regular."

I guess gambling with lobbyists is scandalous, but if a Democrat does it, it’s okay.

Source: acc-tv.com

In two separate cases, Michael Josem, from Chatswood, analysed detailed hand history data from Absolute Poker and UltimateBet and uncovered that certain player accounts won money at a rate too fast to be legitimate.

His findings led to an internal investigation by the parent company that owns both sites. It found rogue employees had defrauded players over three years via a security hole that allowed the cheats to see other player’s secret (or hole) cards.

Now the owners of the sites have filed a $US75 million claim against the makers of the software that powers them, claiming they were unaware of the security holes when they purchased the sites in 2006, MSNBC reported this month.

Official investigators – brought in following Josem’s revelations – have named one of the world’s most successful poker players, Russ Hamilton, as the main perpetrator of the fraud.

Suspicions of unfair play at Absolute Poker were first raised late last year. Josem plotted the win rate of several thousand players against the suspicious accounts and found the cheats won money at a rate that was 100 times faster than a good player could reasonably win.

The cheating accounts played every hand as if they knew every card that the other players had and folded hands at just the right time.

The findings led to an investigation by the Kahnawake Gaming Commission, which licenses several hundred online casinos and poker rooms. It found Absolute Poker attempted to cover up the cheating by deleting gaming logs and records and fined it $US500,000.

Absolute Poker repaid those who had lost money but refused to release the cheater’s identity because a private settlement was reached.

A few months later, Josem and players from the Two Plus Two online poker forum used the same methods to uncover almost identical cheating occurring at Absolute Poker’s sister site, UltimateBet. One player account, NioNio, netted a profit of $300,000 in just 3000 hands and won 13 of the 14 sessions recorded on the MyPokerIntel.com website, which tracks high stakes online tournaments.

"The chances of a player winning at those rates is approximately equal to winning a one-in-a-million lottery on six consecutive occasions," said Josem.

"In poker, a contest of limited information, if you know what cards your opponent has, you’ll never lose – and this is precisely what happened."

The cheats passed their fraudulent winnings between multiple user accounts in an attempt to avoid detection.

The Kahnawake Gaming Commission today released the initial findings of an audit it is conducting into UltimateBet.

It named World Series of Poker winner Russ Hamilton, previously associated with Ultimate Bet’s affiliate program, as the main perpetrator. Commission spokesman Chuck Barnett said the names of others involved would come out when the final report was released in November.

The commission ordered UltimateBet to begin refunding all players adversely affected by the cheating scheme and remove any staff connected with the scheme by November 3.

The site has also been fined $US1.5 million and will have its licence revoked if it does not comply with any of the sanctions.

An Australian company, Gaming Associates, conducted the official investigations on both UltimateBet and Absolute Poker for the commission. Its principal consultant, Alan Pedley, refused to discuss the specifics of the findings as he was bound by a non-disclosure agreement.

As a result of his detective work Josem has been employed by the leading online poker site, PokerStars, to work on its security team.

He said other sites weren’t vulnerable to the same cheats because they used different software and had more credible operators.

"Just as not all insurance companies behave the same way as HIH, and not all politicians are the same as Brian Burke, not all poker companies are the same as UltimateBet and Absolute Poker," Josem said.

"The employees of the leading online poker operators simply don’t have the feature or ability to view hole cards of players during a hand and they don’t have this ability because of a security decision that was made when their software was first written many years ago."

Josem said people could still be confident about playing on online poker sites because, if something untoward happened, it could easily be caught by statistical analysis, precisely as happened in this situation.

"Every online poker hand is recorded electronically and can be analysed after the fact. Just as the third umpire video replay can be used to enforce the rules in cricket, third-party analysis can be used to enforce the rules of poker."

Source: The Age

Brought together by their recent acquisition by GTECH, Boss Media and St Minver are now exporting their Poker expertise to Italy in conjunction with their GTECH sister company Lottomatica Scomesse. "The network will initially be for Italian poker players exclusively, but we hope that eventually, legislation will allow us to pool liquidity from the Italian network with our other European poker networks, possibly even with the IPN hosted outside Italy," says Per Karlsson, Head of Poker at Boss Media. The company continues to be the dominant solution provider in the national operator segment of the e-gaming market. The new Italian poker network represents the third online poker network Boss Media has launched in Europe for nationally-licensed operators. Boss Media has also supplied poker network solutions to Sweden and Austria.

The launch of the Italian project is an example of how Boss Media plans to take advantage of the combined skills and resources of the GTECH family of companies to further develop its poker platform. "With additional resources to invest in development of the poker platform and bring the player’s user experience to a new level, we aim to grow and acquire even more market share" says Karlsson. Karlsson continues "Albeit industry poker growth has slowed down IPN is still growing strong in terms of market share thanks to a reliable poker system and attractive tournaments and promotions. Our September Sizzler campaign increased rake in the IPN by almost 11% compared to August."

Boss Media has already invested significant resources in the development of its jackpot system and multi-table tournament technology. Early this December, the new Bad Beat Jackpot will be introduced at the IPN. With an initial value of no less than €100,000, this progressive jackpot will keep growing and drawing interest until one lucky player hits it.

With the release of Boss Media’s upgraded poker system software this November, the IPN will be capable of arranging multi-table tournaments in all its games. Poker fans in the IPN can expect even more tempting tournaments such as the 10-week promotional schedule of €5,000 free rolls. The You Only Live Twice tournament takes off this month, and in December, the IPN will hold a €1 Million Guaranteed tournament with satellites starting in October.

In addition, Boss Media will offer all IPN partners a full suite of instant-play games that can be offered to players as side games within the poker room. "Fast games like slots, video poker, scratch tickets and others heighten the entertainment value of a poker room," says Eric Matsgård, Head of Casino & Games at Boss Media. He says the company intends to expand its selection of exciting instant-play games through cooperation with innovative game creators like the recently-acquired Dynamite Idea as well as games from Spielo, Atronic and other sister companies within the GTECH Group. "We’re now bigger, better and even more motivated to do great things in gaming."

Source: igamingbusiness.com

Gioia came from a professional background as a consultant in charge of auditing software installations for nationwide companies. He decided the way to assure players the game and system were legitimate was to deal actual cards.

Gioia and his brother created a machine, which they call the "Real Deal", to continuously shuffle and deal cards at very high speed. The results can be transmitted to computers running hundreds of simultaneous games. This should give true results, unlike the random number generators currently used, Gioia believes.

All hands dealt are recorded and available for future auditing.Gioia will open the site realdealpoker.com to give free demonstrations of his product.

After the AbsolutePoker and UltimateBet cheating scandals, players are more suspicious than ever of online poker rooms. One poll showed over two-thirds of online players do not trust the deal, and many players aviod Internet play for reasons of trust.

Gioia doesn’t accuse sites of cheating, but he notes they can’t prove they don’t, and his method can. He hopes that the demo website will bring him the financing necessary to get his own online poker room running, and then the natural draw of an auditable site will bring customers flocking.

Source: onlinepokerwebsite.net

As the growth in online poker in Europe is starting to level off, Jadestone readies a new gaming service aimed at both casual and hardcore players looking for something new and different. The DiceArena network, operated by Jadestone Networks, will feature a range of carefully selected dice games. The launch games will be the all-new Dice Hold’em(TM) and casual friendly, fast paced Shoot the Moons. These will be followed by the classic board favorite Backgammon and Liar’s Dice, which will let players take their bluffing skills to new heights.

“Billions of people have played with dice,” said Robert Henrysson, CEO of Jadestone. “We all know how to shoot dice and immediately associate it with exciting social gameplay. We’re now taking that feeling online with DiceArena. With quick and easy gameplay, it’ll be enjoyable for casual players but also a fun diversion for the more seasoned poker pros.”

The DiceArena suite of games has been in development at Jadestone for almost two years. With a high number of network partners lined up for DiceArena games, it’s one of the biggest new product introductions in Jadestone’s history.

“We’re really trying to create something new with this product,” said Linus Dalin, Product Director at Jadestone. “The whole experience is designed to be about fun and excitement rather than hard competition. We want the gameplay to be accessible and the look and feel to be really inviting. We’ve also seen in user tests that casual players enjoy the social features, like playing with the avatar editor to create their own in-game image.”

The DiceArena game service is built on a proven platform specifically designed for multiplayer turn-based games. It is heavily based on experiences from the online poker industry and contains all functionality and more from regular poker systems. DiceArena applies a network based model, aggregating players from a group of different network distribution partners.

The business model is based on in-game rake and tournament fees. Rake is taken from every real money game pot. The model is the same as for online poker. For tournaments, there will also be fees paid by each entrant.

Additional information about DiceArena can be found on www.jadestone.se. There is also a newly launched consumer website with information and blogging about the DiceArena games at www.dicearena.com.

Gov. Steve Beshear announced the state’s actions at a press conference that took place yesterday. The Justice Cabinet asked Circuit Judge Thomas Wingate to transfer control of the domain names to Kentucky last Thursday. The judge ordered the immediate transfer of the domain names to the state, pending the results of a forfeiture hearing, which is scheduled for Sept. 25.

According to the Governor’s office, if the judge allows this to happen, it will legally allow Kentucky to block its citizen’s from accessing the sites on the list.

The list of “dot com” domain name include ones associated with Full Tilt Poker, Doyles Room, PokerStars, BodogLife, Ultimate Bet, Absolute Poker and Cake Poker, as well as many online sports books and casinos.

Democrat Beshear, who ironically is trying to convince state politicians to permit casino gambling in Kentucky, is going after the online gambling sites because he says they’re undermining the state’s horse racing industry, allows minors easy access to the sites, and takes away taxes and licensing compensation that would normally go to the state.

Through a press release announcing this maneuver, Beshear said that Kentucky loses “tens of millions of dollars” a year to unregulated and unlicensed online gambling. He also said the unregulated industry is a threat to national security.

“Unlicensed, unregulated, illegal Internet gambling poses a tremendous threat to the citizens of the Commonwealth because of its ease, availability and anonymity,” Beshear said at Monday’s press conference. “The owners and operators of these illegal sites prey on Kentucky citizens, including our youth, and deprive the Commonwealth of millions of dollars in revenue. It’s an underworld wrought with scams and schemes.”

John Pappas, Executive Director of the Poker players Alliance, quickly disagreed with Beshear that online poker is even illegal in Kentucky. In a statement regarding Kentucky’s actions, he framed the argument as one of choice: Kentucky chooses not to regulate and license online poker.

Pappas’s entire statement follows:

The Poker Players Alliance is outraged at the actions taken by Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear and the Franklin County Circuit Court to seize the domain names of Internet gambling websites. We believe this action not only unduly restricts the freedom of Kentucky residents to play games of skill, such as poker, online, but sets a precedent for censorship of the Internet by force.

Many of Governor Beshear’s arguments – that online poker is illegal, unregulated and without a mechanism to capture tax revenue – are false. Online poker is not illegal under Kentucky law, is regulated in its home jurisdiction and the Commonwealth of Kentucky chose not to license and regulate poker websites.

If the Governor truly wants to implement tighter regulations, taxation mechanisms and consumer protections on Internet gambling, the PPA suggests he publicly support federal legislation by U.S. House of Representatives Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank, H.R. 2460, which would achieve those goals.

Poker is a game of skill, a true American pastime and has a proud heritage in Kentucky. Simply because the game has evolved into the 21st Century, it should not be treated as suspect activity. Forcefully and secretly seizing control of websites that offer online poker games is not a sound public policy or a sound legal solution.

Source: CardPlayer.com

Playtech

A full downloadable play-for-real option will be launched by the end of this year, however players can already become familiar with Playtech’s superb poker suite at Eurobet Italia in a play-for-fun mode. All the games will be customized to suit Italian gambling regulations.

The Managing Director for Eurobet Italia, Domenico Giovando said about the new deal: “Playtech has a proven track record and were able to meet our needs, and more importantly were able to adapt their services to the Italian market. We are confident that we will both benefit from this partnership. In fact, Eurobet is one of the few Italian operators with a strong experience in poker gained on an international stage, and Playtech gives added value with their leading position in poker platform management worldwide.”

Eurobet is the second site to join the network, following on the heels of Italy’s leading land based operator, Snai, who also launched a site last month.

The Chief Executive Officer of Playtech, Mor Weizer said: “We are very pleased to have reached this agreement with Gala Coral’s Eurobet, one of the leading online gaming operators, a group which is highly experienced in the global market and strongly established in Italy, and now joins Snai on Playtech’s expanding Italian poker network.”

“We are committed to continue expanding our presence in regulated European markets in general and specifically further establish our presence in the Italian market and look forward to working with Eurobet to provide an exciting gaming experience for Italian players,” concluded Mor.

Source: online-poker-insider.com

The bill, HR6870, would likely make it easier for Internet poker players to make deposits and cash out winnings online.

The enforcement act, signed into law by President Bush in 2006, severely restricts financial transactions linked to online gambling. After its passage, several major poker sites pulled out of the U.S. market.

Efforts to overturn the law are followed closely in Las Vegas, which has become the de facto home of many major players with online gambling interests.

Jay Lakin, the co-owner and vice president of Poker Source Online, praised the committee chairman, Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., for leading the drive against the enforcement act.

“The fact that Barney Frank introduced HR6870, the Payments System Protection Act, on a Thursday and had it marked up Tuesday shows that he’s motivated to overturn the UIGEA,” Lakin said. “Maybe there is finally a light at the end of the tunnel.”

Although approval of the bill generated praise from poker players, one of its provisions has to worry online sports betting advocates. The bill evidently would expressly prohibit financial institutions from approving transactions linked to sports betting.

Many serious sports bettors in Nevada, the only state with legal sports betting, would like to have some online “outs,” or sports book accounts, to complement their casino sports wagering — without fear of treading in a legal “gray area.”

Some big offshore sports books already offer an online poker room as part of their operation, though. It’s possible others could add poker if they believe they could take advantage of a U.S. law that permits online financial transactions linked to poker.

In other words, perhaps U.S. citizens could deposit money into the poker room of a particular online gambling giant, then transfer the funds into the sports book of the same operation and bet sports to their hearts’ content.

It’s unclear how lawmakers, if they remain dead set against sports betting, would address such potential loopholes, according to Dan Cypra of Pocketfives.com, a poker insiders’ Web site.

“There are probably a couple of ways it could go, depending on how it’s enforced,” Cypra said.

Regardless, Cypra believes the ongoing economic turmoil in the United States could prompt more lawmakers to look toward online betting and its ancillary financial businesses for new streams of revenue.

“The longer we struggle with the economy, the more important online gambling becomes,” Cypra said.

Poker for a cause

The Hacienda near Boulder City will host the second annual Shane Patton Scholarship Fundraiser, a no-limit Texas hold ‘em tournament, at 5:30 p.m. Saturday in the hotel’s banquet room.

Sign-ups begin at 5 p.m. for the tournament, which carries an entry fee of $50 with $20 rebuys available for players who bust out early.

Half of the prize pool goes to the Shane Patton Scholarship Foundation, which honors the memory of Patton, a 2000 Boulder City High School graduate who died in Afghanistan while serving as a Navy SEAL.

Patton was killed along with 15 other U.S. servicemen when their MH-47D Chinook helicopter was shot down during a rescue mission.

The incident was the basis for last year’s best-selling book by Marcus Luttrell, “Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10.”

Since last year’s benefit tournament at the Hacienda, the Patton foundation has awarded seven scholarships to Boulder City High graduates.

The other half of the prize pool goes to the tournament’s top finishers. The payout structure will be determined by the number of entries.

To register early, call Grant Turner at 375-6923.

Contest update

Las Vegas poker pro Bill Edler won the first opening-round match in the “Money Talks” football handicapping contest sponsored by Leroy’s sports books, with a second pairing scheduled for tonight at the Riviera.

Edler went 5-2 against the point spread in his seven picks to knock out Sal Selvaggio of Maddux Sports (4-3) last week.

In this week’s match (10 p.m., KLAV 1230-AM), Ken “the Shrink” Weitzner faces Minnesota-based Vince Armstrong, a newcomer to the $5,000-entry contest.

Weitzner, a former psychiatrist who owns the Eye on Gambling Web site, was knocked out by Jorge Gonzalez in last year’s contest.

The “Money Talks” contest, the biggest event of its kind in Nevada, includes 16 entrants competing in a bracket-style, single-elimination tournament for a winner-take-all prize of $80,000. Picks, results and the full bracket are updated online at www.leroys.com.

Source: casinocitytimes.com