17 Jul 06
Critics deal TV poker a bad hand
"Of late, poker has become equal parts cultural phenomenon and cultural punching bag. It is amazing how many people are playing it and watching it on TV and, to some, it is deplorable how many people are playing it and watching it on TV."
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17 Jul 06
Reese back in fold with big WSOP win
"When the back and forth tussle was over early Saturday, Chip Reese won his first World Series of Poker event in 24 years and collected his richest tournament paycheck ever - more than $1.78 million.
His last championship, in 1982, was worth $92,500."
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17 Jul 06
Shuman is 'The Poker-Playing Pastor'
"'The idea is mostly to provide a fun place to hang out,' Shuman says. 'We don't do heavy evangelism.' Still, he adds, it's often easier to connect with the faithful over a round of Texas hold 'em than from behind a conventional pulpit."
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17 Jul 06
Poker millionaire is over the moon
"STAR TREK fan Sarah Lang is reaching for the stars after winning £1million on a TV gameshow [ITV's Pokerface].
The 31-year-old mother of two is planning to buy a plot of land on the moon. "
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17 Jul 06
Betting boss detained by US federal agents
"David Carruthers, chief executive of online gaming group BetonSports has been detained by US federal authorities while changing planes in America.
He and his wife Carol were on their way from the UK to the group's operations in Costa Rica. ...
US legislators have now approved a bill to crack down on internet gambling. The House of Representatives has voted to expand the definition of gaming to include online casino games and poker, and to make it illegal for banks and credit card companies to make payments for online gambling sites."
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14 Jul 06
Poker Star Blasts House Vote
"Top U.S. poker playing star Howard "The Professor" Lederer came out with guns blazing this week in an article condemning the House of Representatives vote against online gambling.
In an excellent guest article in the New York Daily News, Lederer says that the machinations of Washington politics defeat him most of the time, but it is clear that effectively banning certain forms of online gambling - in particular online poker - is a terrible idea.
Lederer writes that Bill HR4411 offends common sense by trying to ban something that is enjoyed by millions of Americans and is legal in other forms."
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13 Jul 06
Tip of the Week: Bad Beats
Bad beats happen to the best poker players, the worst poker players, and everyone in between. There really isn't a definition of what a bad beat is, but I would say it's any time that you have your money in the pot and have at least a 75 percent chance of winning the hand. ...
The bad beats I'm talking about are the ones where you dominate your opponent, either with a higher pocket pair than his, a pair with a higher kicker or some other situation where he is a huge underdog once all the money goes in. Those are the ones that make you feel like you've been punched in the gut when you lose, and your reaction to these bad beats can make or break you as a poker player.
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13 Jul 06
Computers find poker tougher than chess
It may surprise you to learn that it's more difficult for a computer to play poker, perhaps the world's most popular card game, than chess, the pastime of deep thinkers.
Unlike chess, poker deals with tricky matters such as uncertainty, probability, guesswork and deception - human wiles that a chess-playing robot, such as the one that beat world champion Garry Kasparov in 1997, doesn't need to consider.
As a result, computer experts say, poker is more like real life - with all its subtleties and complications - than chess is, with its fixed rules and vast but finite possibilities.
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12 Jul 06
Poker Players Alliance: critical mass?
"Boasting a membership of approximately 30,000, The Poker Players Alliance represents online gambling's best hope of support against online gambling opponents in light of a bill banning the activity which passed the House floor Tuesday."
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12 Jul 06
Full Tilt Poker Player Wins Bracelet
LAS VEGAS, Nevada -– (PRESS RELEASE) -- Full Tilt Poker's Allen Cunningham has joined an elite group of World Series of Poker champions by winning his fourth career WSOP bracelet for his victory in the $1,000 No-Limit Hold 'em with Rebuys tournament. After only 16 days into the 47 day event, Cunningham is the third Full Tilt Poker pro to win a 2006 World Series of Poker bracelet following Rafe Furst and Mark Vos.
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12 Jul 06
WSOP '06: The winningest player
"At the largest World Series Of Poker to date it is easy to ignore the most impressive sequence of results by any one player because he hasn't won a single bracelet at the 2006 WSOP, at least not yet. Juan Carlos Mortensen, aka The Matador, has done the near impossible...
In tournament field sizes that routinely top 1000 players Mortensen, a former winner of the WSOP Main Event, has finished 9th,9th, and 10th in three No-Limit Hold'em events. This level of consistency is an amazing achievement, especially when you look at the long list of top poker players that have yet to cash at all in any of the events."
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12 Jul 06
What's wrong with an online gaming ban
... But the scope of such legislation is vast, and Goodlatte, Leach and the state of Washington may be biting off more than they can chew. A ban on online poker, the way Leach and Goodlatte want, and the way Washington St. has it, would be almost impossible to enforce and would violate a number of existing privacy laws.
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11 Jul 06
House OKs Bill to Rein in Online Gambling
Forbes - The House passed legislation Tuesday that would prevent gamblers from using credit cards to bet online and could block access to gambling Web sites.
The legislation would clarify and update current law to spell out that most gambling is illegal online. But there would be exceptions - for state-run lotteries and horse racing - and passage isn't a safe bet in the Senate, where Republican leaders have not considered the measure a high priority.
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11 Jul 06
Meyer Wins 2006 Ladies WPC
... When Bob Meyer proudly watched his wife Mary Jones Meyer win the 2006 Ladies World Poker Championship late on a Monday night at the Rio Casino in Las Vegas, it was as though he personally had won poker’s world championship. Meyer rushed to the stage and hugged his wife in a whirlwind dance immediately after witnessing her first major poker tournament win and $236,094 in prize money in the most dramatic fashion.
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11 Jul 06
Have They Gone Crazy in Congress?
So here we have it again. The federal government trying to control what you use your hard earned money for. Doesn't the federal government have better things to do than try to block people from going online to make a wager on the Super Bowl or play online poker after hard days work?
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10 Jul 06
Poker Crackdown in the UK
"Illegal poker game organisers will be looking over their shoulders after the UK Gambling Commission contacted local authorities and law enforcement agencies throughout the country last week, advising them to take action against illegal poker games that have sprung up in the wake of the game's global popularity."
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10 Jul 06
WSOP: Mikey The Chimp Is Ready
"The World Series of Poker Main Event has seen some weird and wonderful characters take part, many of them providing us with a good laugh. This year is about to get completely whacky. According to a VERY reliable birdie that whispered in our ear, a trained chimpanzee will hit the tables and no doubt cause a stir!"
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10 Jul 06
Robot poker player ups the ante
"Computer scientists at Carnegie Mellon University have developed a smart learning program that can play a winning hand of Texas hold 'em.
Professor Tuomas Sandholm and graduate student Andrew Gilpin are behind the game theory program that will compete in the Computer Poker Competition on 16-20 July in Boston run by the American Association for Artificial Intelligence."
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07 Jul 06
WSOP Update - Day 12
Zack Zwerner, founder of the biggest bingo enterprise in America and former high-level casino executive, is the latest gold bracelet winner at the 2006 World Series of Poker, (WSOP) capturing $341,426 after three grueling days of Omaha High-Low 8/OB.
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07 Jul 06
World Series of Poker Circuit Announced
(PRESS RELEASE) -- Harrah's Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE:HET) said the third season of the popular World Series of Poker Circuit will include 11 tournament stops that will bring high-stakes poker action and excitement to players at nine Harrah's-operated casinos around the country.
"For the first time, our Circuit events are tied to the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas," said Jeffrey Pollack, Commissioner of the WSOP(TM). "If you win the $5,000 buy-in no-limit hold'em Circuit championship at one of our properties, you're headed to Las Vegas to play in our Main Event."
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