Florida lawmakers may have done a good turn for online poker players recently when a measure was placed into an unrelated regulatory bill that could see online poker becoming legal in the sunshine state. The move could make Florida the first to embrace online poker for the citizens of the state.

Passing the Florida Legislature by overwhelming margins, bill 425 contains a clause requiring the legislature’s policy research arm to carry out an analysis of the effects of online poker on Florida’s land based poker rooms.

Lobbyists representing American Poker Ventures pushed to have the house bill introduced. It requires the policy arm to report by December 1st 2009, “regarding the enactment of laws to provide for protection and remedies from existing and unregulated online poker activities.”

A political consultant from California, Jim Tabilio, heads up the newly organized American Poker Ventures LLC. Mr.Tabilio is also president of Poker Voters of America. This is a grassroots national lobbying group that is dedicated to protecting poker players’ rights by keeping elected officials as well as media informed about the impact of federal and state laws on poker players in the USA. Florida’s regulated card rooms are the proving grounds for the first attempt to regulate and control the very lucrative online poker industry.

This Florida bill is not quite the same as that introduced in California back in February 2008 by the democrat Lloyd Levine. AB2026 was a bill introduced to allow poker players to play online within the USA.

The non-profit group Poker Voters of America takes a different tack from some of the different groups such as the PPA that are out there now.

Poker Voters of America are those political people who know how to get things done when it is legislative or campaign oriented. The group’s message is obvious; stating that there is no substantive difference between the way 70 million people play poker every week than the way they play online. Lots of people like to play and it is a harmless and fun entertainment value. People ought to be able to make up their own minds about how they want to spend their entertainment dollar.

Posted by Diana Sterling in New Poker Sites, Poker News | No Comments » May 26th, 2009

For someone who is a die heart fan of poker, perhaps even living and breathing it, wouldn’t it be great to have the opportunity of learning the rules of the game from the young guns of the industry? So, glad tiding to all the poker connoisseurs out there.

PokerSwat just entered the highly competitive poker training market as a new player featuring some of the young geniuses in the poker industry sharing their secrets with the site’s members.
The professionalism of the online trainers is second to none in the industry.

The company has lined up some familiar faces in the online poker world such as “Andy McLeod” Obst, Soren Konsgaard, Stephen Costello and Morton Erlandsen. Other legends include the young poker sensation Aurangzeb Sheikh, known by his peers as Ozzy87, Marty Smyth, Alec Torelli and Christopher Egemo.

Donal O’Connor, the Marketing Executive for PokerSwat Limited expressed his enthusiasm in the following words, “We are really excited to bring PokerSwat to the masses and believe that it would be remembered as a remarkable service in the online poker industry in the form of the training videos and other coaching material we bring to the poker freaks.”

Prospective customers can enjoy three different levels of memberships. A Silver membership which is available for $13.99 per month plus a $23.99 sign-up fee can be used to access all videos up to $0.50/$1 in cash games as well as micro-limit multi-table and single-table tournaments. Apart from that, silver members also gain access to strategy articles, blogs and various freerolls.

Following Silver membership is the Gold status, which grants the right to view videos up to $3/$6 as well as mid-stakes tournaments. A Gold membership costs $19.99 per month plus a $39.99 sign-up fee.

However, the mega membership type is Platinum, available for $24.99 per month plus a one-time fee of $49.99. Platinum members can access all videos on the site as well as podcasts and can also chat live with the young mentors. Discounts on all memberships are available for customers who wish to sign up for three, six, or 12 months at a time. A free account is also available, which grants access to the site’s forums, five sample videos, and blogs.

So, if you are looking forward to give a tough time to your competitors, PokerSwat ought to be your ultimate choice.

Posted by Diana Sterling in New Poker Sites, Poker Articles, Poker News | No Comments » May 7th, 2009

The World Poker Tour (WPT) Foxwoods Poker Classic has been officially launched from the Connecticut casino on Friday.  Players attendance has significantly dropped by 25%, the exact reason for this is still unknown, but it can either be because of the current economic crunch or the ongoing spring championships of online poker tournament series. A recent news on the WPT website about the drop in attendance stated that  “While some of the West Coast pros stayed in Las Vegas for the Bellagio prelims, it’s clear that the economy is playing a factor here in the Northeast, where only 259 players showed up for the WPT Foxwoods Poker Classic.”

In 2008, 346 players participated into the Foxwoods poker classic with Erik Seidel emerging as the winner by earning $992,000 from his victory. Erik seidel already own eight WSOP (World series of Poker) bracelets, but this was his first WCPT victory. The 2008 Foxwoods final table featured Ted Forrest who managed to earn $103,000 by grabbing sixth place.

Due to the low turn out the fox wood poker classic, which will go on air through Fox pro net is going to award less than three million dollars to the winner. Details of paydays are as follow.

1st Place: $731,079
2nd Place: $409,405
3rd Place: $214,449
4th Place: $138,905
5th Place: $106,007
6th Place: $85,292

Day one at the Connecticut casino featured 5 levels of 90 minutes each, which resulted in 165 players survival. Ken Adams paced the field who builds up a stack of 140,775 over three times the average of over three times the average of 46,500. The tournament champion will be crowned on Wednesday 8th of April, the winner apart from getting $731,000 in cash, will also grab $25,000 entry into the WPT Championship starting on April 18.

Posted by Diana Sterling in New Poker Sites, Poker Articles, Poker News, Poker Pro Players, Poker Tournaments, WPT, WSOP | No Comments » April 6th, 2009

Bodog is giving online poker players (Mac users included) the chance to play on the virtual felt anytime, anywhere, with its new Instant Play poker client. With absolutely no software to download, all a player needs to instantly access the Bodog Poker Room is a web browser and an Internet connection.

The flash-based poker client currently allows players to play one Texas Hold’em cash game table and features many of the same innovations as the downloadable Bodog Poker client, including a resizable window, a player spotlight that highlights action as it moves around the table, player-to-player chat, game details and other customizable options.

“The new Instant Play option at Bodog is perfect for when I want to play poker on my Mac or play cash games on a friend’s computer who may not have the Bodog Poker client installed,” says Bodog Poker Pro Evelyn Ng. “You can even snatch a few games at work.”

Indeed, the Instant Player version of Bodog Poker gives players total freedom to play when and where they want, whether it’s getting in 20 minutes of poker during a break at work, playing a marathon session from a hotel room while on a business trip, or hitting the tables on that shiny new Mac at home.

Players using Instant Play for cash game action also have access to amazing incentives. The “Points to Cash” program lets players accumulate points just for playing – win or lose – that can be cashed in for up to $500 a month. The Royal Flush Bonus awards 50 times the big blind up to $200 if a player takes down a pot holding the king of all poker hands and, conversely, the Bad Beat Bonus awards 100 times the big blind up to $1,000 if that seemingly dominant hand is crushed by one better.

Click here to visit Bodog Poker Now!

PR: wait… I: wait… L: wait… LD: wait… I: wait… wait… Rank: wait… Traffic: wait… Price: wait… C: wait…

Posted by Diana Sterling in New Poker Sites, Poker News, Press Releases | No Comments » February 19th, 2009

Anxious followers of high stakes poker are desperate to get a piece of the action and for some ardent poker players the widely popular high stakes game is a classroom, a temple, a place to watch and learn from the best of the best. Those select few are studied, who have continuously proved to the masses that poker isn’t just a game of dumb luck, but a shrewd, strategic and calculating game that demands skill, patience and a bit of an attitude if you desire to out last the rest of the competition. These poker grand masters are studied, admired and adorned for their dexterity by a many hardcore enthusiasts who don’t just play a game of poker, they live it.

Sami “LarsLuzak” Kelopuro  battling it out with Tom Dawn is one such ultimate example of knowing when to hold ‘em or fold ‘em.  Kelopuro faced the wrath of Dwans skill who cleaned out Kelopuro is a few masterful moves. In a big session at $500/$1,000 levels, Kelopuro and Dwan faced off in No-Limit Hold’em.

Dwan was dealt his hand which was 10, 7 club suit and Dawn instinctively knew that it was good enough to raise to a bet of $3,000. Kelopuro decided to grab a piece of the action and raised his bet to $11,500.
Dwan called the raise and the flop rolled out 10hearts, 3clubs, 2hearts.  Kelopuro laid down a hefty chunk of $14,000 which Dwan promptly called. The turn came K clubs putting Dwan on a flush draw which may lead to a better hand than his pair. It was again Kelopuro who launched the assault, this time more than doubling his previous bet and laying down a confident $36,000.

Dwan pursued and called again. The river came out a 7 placing Dwan on the top with two-pair. Kelopuro raised the bar and fired away with $88,000 into the pot and Dwan pushed all-in for his last $229,785.
Kelopuro with only $57,194 remaining in his game made the call. Dwan showed his two-pair and Kelopuro was washed clean.  The $413,389 pot for Dwan was an astounding amount that is considered to be the fifth biggest No-Limit Hold’em pot of 2009 thus far.

Amusingly it’s worth mentioning that the third largest pot of 2009 also featured a Dwan and Kelopuro face-off.  In that hand Dwan won $446,559.

PR: wait… I: wait… L: wait… LD: wait… I: wait… wait… C: wait… SD: wait…

Posted by Diana Sterling in New Poker Sites, Poker News, Poker Pro Players | No Comments » February 12th, 2009

From 1st February until 31st March 2009, CelebPoker.com is offering players the opportunity to get rich and to become one of the stars of live poker at the prestigious high-stakes San-Remo Main Event from 18-23rd April 2009. €4M prizepool is expected with over €1M for the winner.

London, England (PRWEB) January 07, 2009– From 1st February until 31st March 2009, CelebPoker.com (a UK Poker Room with a EU Licence) is offering players the opportunity to get rich and to become one of the stars of live poker at the prestigious high-stakes San-Remo Main Event (18-23rd April). Players on UK poker site Celebpoker.com can qualify for an online poker tournament with Lucrative Sponsorship Packages as prizes, by simply playing on the CelebPoker poker site.

Three €6,500 packages to the San Remo Main Event are up for grabs for the winners of the “Team CelebPoker” online grand final on April 12th, with a runner up prize of €500 paid out for the 4th Place finisher.

The Italian San-Remo event made its debut last year with a massive field at Casino San Remo. Every seat in the house sold out as 701 players forked out €5,000 (or qualified for the event online) to compete for €3.1 million in cash. Young American poker player Jason Mercier rose to the top to capture the title and €869,000 in one of the final table battles of the season. This year the organizers have increased the player cap to 800 players, meaning an extra 99 seats are available compared to last year’s tournament potentially adding an additional €495,000 to the prize-pool.

The 2009 San-Remo Main event has a buy-in of €5,250 with an expected prize-pool of €4,000,000 (with an estimated prize of over €1,000,000 for the winner!)

Team CelebPoker San-Remo Sponsorship Package Information

• €5,250 seat in the San Remo Main Event
• €1,250 Expenses for travel / accommodation

Posted by Susan George in New Poker Sites, Poker Articles | No Comments » January 9th, 2009

Cool Hand Poker offers your potential poker playing market a friendly, safe environment where they can sit down, relax and play a good game of poker at their own pace.

Cool Hand Poker has adopted a unique approach to capturing a substantial portion of people playing or wishing to play poker online. It appeals to the social player who enjoys playing poker for the fun and excitement it brings.

Cool Hand Poker offers your potential poker playing market a friendly, safe environment where they can sit down, relax and play a good game of poker at their own pace.

Cool Hand Poker still offers all the great poker games that poker players will want to play: Texas Hold’em, Omaha, sit’n go and multiplayer tournaments.

There will also be fantastic leader board promotions and tournaments, adding to the poker excitement that can be found at the poker tables every day!

But more importantly, the atmosphere of Cool Hand Poker will be unlike any other poker room out there. Players will be encouraged to take their time, learn to play the game and simply enjoy playing.

Cool Hand Poker is set to revolutionise the way poker is played. It is definitely the poker that many players out there have been waiting for and want to play.

To find out more about Cool Hand Poker, click here to visit their site.

Posted by Diana Sterling in New Poker Sites | No Comments » October 2nd, 2008