Poker Player Blog

Jonathan Duhamel Assault Update—Last week WSOP champion Jonathan Duhamel’s suffered a home invasion. His WSOP gold bracelet, a WSOP watch and a large sum of cash were taken. Duhamel suffered a physical attack during the break in. Authorities acted quickly and now PokerNews.com is reporting that four suspects are being held in custody. Calls to the local police in Quebec, Canada (where Duhamel resides) ended in the arrest of Bianca Rojas-Latraverse last Saturday. She has been charged with conspiracy to commit a criminal act. After being questioned by police Rojas-Latraverse offered up two more names: John Stephan Clark Lemay and Andre Robert Perron. The suspects ages are 20, 22 and 26 respectively. A fourth individual went into custody Friday morning although police have yet to release any personal details.

Wire Act Clarification Could Mean Booming Economy—Of course we are still in the possibilities stage with the Wire Act interpretation. There has been no official ruling or report regarding the relationship between online poker gambling and the Wire Act. The recent ruling regarding sports betting being different from state based lotteries is just the opening of a door. If online poker were approved a state based online gambling system, eventually back by federal mandate, could ostensibly boost a state economy and provide sustainable new growth. Besides the fact that online casinos will provide a place for state residents to spend their money it will provide a number of new jobs in related industries. If new websites are about to spring up across the country those new sites need web designers, computer programmers, app developers and content writers to sustain them. There needs to be publicist, marketing departments and accountants; not to mention lawyers, underwriters and policy makers. Job creation would be almost instantaneous.

UIGEA Needs Clearly Defined—In 2006 the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) passed through Congress on the back of another bill. This week the 1961 Wire Act was reinterpreted and many think the UIGEA is next. With the new clarification of the Wire Act it no longer appears to apply in the Black Friday cases. Prosecutors are holding on to the violation of the UIGEA but should they? The UIGEA is an American law applying to businesses operated in America. The Big Three poker sites actually hold licenses from other countries and have a physical address in other countries. They are not businesses in America. They do however have American players and that’s where the Depart of Justice finds its justification for the upcoming court cases. Look for an official clarification in the near future.

Absolute Poker in Court—In court this week Brent Beckley, the co founder of Absolute Poker website plead guilty to charges. Beckley admitted before the court that he knowingly filtered American player funds through cover companies so their payment could be processed by American banks. In American online gambling is illegal and most banks will automatically stop any payment to a known poker website. Because Absolute Poker laundered the money through shell companies they manage to process millions of dollars within American borders. Beckley was facing a thirty year plus jail sentence before he plead guilty to fraud and money laundering charges. According to news sources he has worked out a plea bargain with the court system which will assure he spends less than two years in jail. Beckley is 31 years old.

Nevada Passes Intrastate Online Gambling—A month after the news of proposed online gaming legislation was announced, the state of Nevada passed gaming legislation with a unanimous vote. Several Nevada based companies have applied for licenses under the new online gaming law. They include International Game Technology, Cantor Gaming and Caesars Entertainment. It seems the license application processing will open up early next year. Many legislators have expressed concerns about legalizing online gaming at the state level and Nevada attempts to answer those concerns with the guidelines and rules that come with licensing. Site will have to have certain information on their websites regarding problem gambling, tax information and an avenue for conflict resolution. The licensed sites will be thoroughly examined and must make effort to ensure only in state residents of legal age utilize their website.

Wire Act Clearly Defined—After a question of the legality of selling state lottery tickets online the federal government was forced to clarify what was actually covered by the Wire Act. The verdict came back that the Wire Act applied to sports related betting only and had no sway over the selling of state lottery tickets. And because poker has recently been recognized as a card game of skill and so is not considered a sport in the literal or Wire Act sense. This is great news to poker players and pro poker organizations seeking passage of federal laws regarding online poker. The Poker Players Alliance (PPA) has been working with legislators for the last few years in an attempt to have federal regulation of the online poker industry. The hope is to legalize online poker in the United States and provide regulations and consumer protection for players. And although the deadline has passed to get federal regulation through the house this year, 2012 is looking a lot more promising.

Bodog Back in American Market—Bodog Poker voluntarily withdrew from the American market in the summer due to fears of closure by the U.S. Department of Justice but it seems they are making a return. Bodog has returned to the U.S. Market offering cash money games through a new website Bovada.lv. The domain “lv” is reserved for the country for Latvia but Bodog is using it to symbolize Las Vegas. This is a reference to the state of Nevada’s early jump on licenses in preparation for the passing of federal gaming legislation. So far, Bodog aka Bovada is the first poker site to do this but it could be the beginning of a new trend.

If you go to the Bodava website the home page displays an image of Las Vegas and what is meant to be a welcome to Nevada sign where Nevada has been changed Bodava. This is the site’s way of saying they are operating in the U.S.? Either way they are offering $1,600 in signing bonus so what the hey. Site users can bet on poker games, casino games, horse races and sports.

Doyle Brunson Gets EPL Achievement Award—The Epic Poker League, still new on the poker tournament scene, has awarded Doyle Brunson a lifetime membership that qualifies him for all future EPL tournaments. According to news sources Brunson found the gesture of lifetime membership very nice but he doesn’t expect to play a lot of tournaments in the future. Doyle Brunson won the WSOP Main Event two years running back in 1976 and 1977. To date he has 10 WSOP bracelets, 52 cash winnings and over $5 million in lifetime earnings. Brunson is 78 years old and hopes to play poker professional until he hits 85.

Agreement Between FTP, DOJ and Taipe Reached—It looks as though the Full Tilt Poker operation is finally being sold to Groupe Bernard Taipe (GBT). The agreement was decided between Full Tilt, Bernard Taipe and the U.S. Department of Justice. It was a two thirds majority vote and comes almost a month after the idea of asset transfer became viable. GBT takes on Full Tilt’s assets and its debts, including the paying back of American players. Of course GBT also takes on all of Full Tilt’s other debts whether related to the American portion of their company or not. Pokerlistings.com reports a $150 million in debt owed to players outside of the United States. The American player debt will be “facilitated” by the Department of Justice. Who knows if this is some sort of loan to GBT or the use of public funds. At the moment that isn’t clear. There is a long way to go for the matter of Full Tilt debt to be settled.

Another part of the agreement still under negotiation is the civil charges against the company that owns Full Tilt Poker. Until these charges are dropped or followed through, the poker site cannot be put back into action. Some poker fans suggest that a lot of the American players owed money will not claim it if the Department of Justice has access to their personal files. Maybe this is exactly what the DoJ and GBT want.

Influential Casino Owner Does NOT Support Online Gaming—Chairman of the Las Vegas Sands and campaign contributor, Adelson may hold up the passing of a national law. Adelson is a fixture of the Las Vegas gaming community and unlike many of his colleagues he does not see the positives of legalized online gaming outweighing the negatives. He believes that legalizing online gaming would encourage underage play. Because of this he will not support the legislation. As a well known republican fundraiser Adelson does have the ear of some key politicians in the debate for online gaming. In order for legal gaming legislation to pass, the bill will need support from both sides of the aisle. Maybe it will take more research and dissemination of online gaming facts to get folks looking at the positives. Because after all, online gaming is legal elsewhere in the world and other nations have managed to prevent minors from playing their games online.

Global Poker Index for Week Ending December 5, 2011

1. Bertrand Grospellier 2534.45

2. Erik Seidel 2526.35

3. Jason Mercier 2415.32

4. Eugene Katchalov 2405.03

5. Samuel Stein 2317.85

6. Shawn Buchanan 2219.40

7. Sam Trickett 2164.90

8. Chris Moorman 2051.57

9. Fabrice Soulier 2019.80

10. Matt Waxman 2014.07

Prague Settled Martin Finger Wins—Over the weekend the PokerStars European Tour in Prague came to a close and German player Martin Finger was named the overall winner. Winning came after a long day of poker play but came with the reward of a bracelet, a trophy, a title and of course, a little cash to sweeten the pot.

Here’s the final table results as reported by pokernews.com:

1. Martin Finger €720,000
2. David Boyaciyan €535,000
3. Nicolas Levi €270,000
4. Guillem Usero €205,000
5. Denys Drobyna €160,000
6. Ari Engel €125,000
7. Andreas Wiese €90,000
8. Mads Wissing €66,700

Full Tilt Hearing Prompts AGCC Independent Inquiry-–The Alderney Gaming Control Commission (AGCC) has begun its own independent investigation of their actions in regards to Full Tilt Poker. Because the Full Tilt Affair has been so public and because the company still owes its former customers somewhere in the region of $300 million, AGCC seems to be concerned about how it handled their case. Representatives of AGCC stated that their decision to commission an independent review was based on a need to present full transparency to the public. The independent investigation of AGCC’s interaction with Full Tilt Poker will be under the supervision of former British Gambling head, Peter Dean. With 20 years experience on the nation’s gambling commission he is considered a reliable impartial source to investigate the facts surrounding the license and hearings. The inquiry results will be made public in March of 2012.

Facebook Expands Poker and Gambling Platform—According to Pokernews.com, Facebook U.K. is talking with Brit poker sites 888 Holdings and Gamesys. The thought is eight licenses will be offered by Facebook for UK online casinos to advertise on the social networking platform. It seems the poker sites are hiring additional employees in anticipation of the licenses becoming available in the spring of 2012. Zynga Poker is Facebook’s current poker offering. The game is just for fun. Well they do offer cyber money to players to keep the game going but nothing illegal is happening. The advertising contract between Zynga Poker and Facebook nets the social site 30 percent in real money. Of course if the U.S. version of Facebook began to accept real money poker advertisers, Zynga may lose its edge.

Zynga poker has 30 million monthly users but doesn’t seem worried about real money competition. A spokesman for the poker platform told pokernews.com they had no intentions of changing from a virtual to real cash game. And of course free poker is great for newbees and no charge practice.

Andrey Pateychuk Scores Another Victory in WSOP Prague—the 22 year old Russian poker professional is making a little noise on the poker circuit this winter season. It was only a few weeks ago when Pateychuk won the Main Event at the WSOP San Remo. Now Pateychuk has won the Main Event at the 2011WSOP Prague. This year he has accrued a tidy sum of $1.5 million in winnings. Poker sites and professionals alike are saying that Andrey Pateychuk is the next big star in poker. Lets wait and see.

This week its all about the players. Here’s a quick look at this year’s Poker Hall of Fame inductees as well as whos on top in the GPI.

2011 Poker Hall of Fame Barry Greenstein—Born in Chicago in 1954 Brian Greenstein is the 42^nd inductee into the Poker Hall of Fame. Greenstein is known as the Robin Hood of Poker and has donated over three million dollars to charity since he became a professional poker player. Barry Greenstein has three WSOP bracelets, two WPT wins and 46 money finishes with over $7.5 million in earnings. Greenstein has been hitting six figures consistently for almost a decade and enjoys high stakes poker tournaments. He came in 22^nd in his very first tournament back in 1992.

2011 Poker Hall of Fame Linda Johnson—Linda Johnson was born in 1953 in Long Island. She currently resides in Las Vegas. She began playing blackjack on vacation when she still worked for the post office. Discovering she was good at cards she quit her job in 1980 and has played professional poker ever since. Johnson received her WSOP bracelet back in 1997 for winning the Seven Card Razz. She has enjoyed seven final tables during her career. With over $300,000 in poker earnings alone. Johnson has certainly done well. Besides playing poker Johnson has held a number of poker related roles. For eight years, Linda Johnson published Card Player Magazine. After selling the magazine Johnson continued to have a say by contributing articles to the publication. Johnson’s most well known contribution to poker would be her establishment of the Tournament Directors Association (TDA). The TDA is responsible for setting basic tournament rules.

Global Poker Index—Here’s the latest from the Global Poker Index website:

#1 Erik Seidel 2560.94

#2 Bertrand Grospellier 2493.71

#3 Jason Mercier 2398.58

#4 Eugene Katchalov 2371.55

#5 Shawn Buchanan 2331.45

#6 Samuel Stein 2178.26

#7 Sam Trickett 2121.17

#8 Sorel Mizzi 2107.57

#9 Fabrice Soulier 2018.48

#10 Matt Waxman 2003.46

Tapie Full Tilt Deal Reached—At the end of last week the U.S. Department of Justice gave French investor Groupe Bernard Tapie the right to buy the ill-fated and often mentioned Full Tilt Poker empire. Seems as though they have with a purchase price of $80 million. The U.S. government had confiscated the assets of Full Tilt and several of its board members and employees back in April. These seized assets were Full Tilt’s excuse for not paying American players there casino deposits. Well it seems Full Tilt officially forfeited these assets so the government could turn around and sell those assets to Bernard Tapie. Full Tilt has outstanding debt with American players totally somewhere in the region of $150 million. Under this deal Bernard Tapie will refund all non American players and the U.S. government will refund the American players. It seems it will be quite a red tape, application process.

Global Poker Index for this Week:

1          Erik Seidel        2,586.960

2          Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier      2,493.710

3          Jason Mercier   2,398.580

4          Eugene Katchalov         2,382.220

5          Shawn Buchanan          2,331.450

6          Sorel Mizzi       2,180.960

7          Sam Stein         2,178.260

8          Fabrice Soulier 2,018.480

9          Matt Waxman              2,003.460

10        Will “The Thrill” Failla   1,975.60+7

Source: http://www.pokernews.com/

SwitchPoker Accepts Bitcoin Currency— This week, SwitchPoker.com became the first online casino to accept the currency Bitcoin for withdrawals and deposits. For those cyber savvy geeks out there the term “bitcoin” is very well known. This virtual currency has been around for a couple of years now and is used by computer and tech companies and their customers to conduct online transactions.The Bitcoin is created through the use of CPU cycles on regular computers but it takes a lot of power to create a single Bitcoin which is why there aren’t as widely known as they might be. It seems only $21 million Bitcoins are expected to become official virtual currency. This cap eliminates needs for increases, budgets or inflation. It stays the same. Bitcoin is now being accepted for purchases from manufacturers outside of the virtual world. Players can actually purchase a single Bitcoin for approx. $2.30.

SwitchPoker.com may go down in history for this bold move.

After a long long night of poker play, we finally have a winner for this year’s 2011 WSOP Main Event. Pius Heinz fought hard for the title but somewhere around 2 in the morning he got it. Eight million in the bank, a gold bracelet and only 22 years old. It was a great battle to watch.

After a few hands we lost Player of the Year Ben Lamb to aggressive play from Czech Republic’s own Martin Staszko who went for a hip lead as fast as he could. And for a long time he held onto it, making Heinz a dangerously low short stack on several occasions. Half way through the battle most would have predicted Staszko the winner.

But laid back Pius Heinz wasn’t giving up. A few well paced bets and his chip count began to rise until he was nearly level with Staszko. For the next few hours, Staszko and Heinz traded the chip lead without incident and folks began to think the pay would never end. Both players were stubborn, aggressive and not about to give up that coveted bracelet.

In the last hour of play, Heinz’s chip lead began to dominate and Staszko had to go with several all-in plays. With giant pots of $30 and $40 million it seemed that Staszko was on his way out. But some how he just kept going and the audience, the commentators and the players began to show signs of fatigue.

Around two in the morning, Heinz’s chip count was up to 162,300,00 and Staszko was down to $44 million. He went all in with 10-7 and the crowd reignited into an anticipatory roar. Heinz called and laid out his cards: A-K. Staszko had to get lucky. The flop was 5-2-9 and things started to look grim. With a Jack on the turn it was all over. No-one cared what the river card was because Pius Heinz’s victory was secured.

A humble Heinz shook hands with a gracious runner up and claimed his place in poker history. It was a heck of a ride and I for one, cannot wait for next year.

Update: Stasko goes all in against Heinz with A-8. Heinz has a pair of sixes. The fop is 8-5-8 in Staszko’s favor. Turn is a 4. The river is a queen and Stasko survives. We all thought this was it for Staszko and play for the day but we are still going. Heinz has lost 20 million chips with Staszko. He drops Lamb back into fourth place. Time for a break.

After the break all goes well until Staszko goes up against Heinz once again. The pot sits at $40 million and its Heinz’s move. Everyone is waiting. We are over four minutes. Heinz folds. Staszko moves up to $58,400,00 chips. Is he making a comeback? Going for Heinz rather than short stacker Lamb?

After several hands Lamb goes all in against Giannetti who has pocket jacks. Lamb has A-7. Flop is K-5-9. Turn is 4 and the river is a 9. Lamb is still in the game. Gianetti is short stack. With 6,700,00 chips. Giannetti goes all in on the last hand. Staszko calls. Staszko has Q-2 and Giannetti has Q-10. Flop is 3-8-4. Turn is a 4 and the river is a jack and Giannetti wins.

Giannetti goes in once more against Lamb who is holding pocket kings to Giannetti’s A-3. The flop is Q-K-K!!! Lamb does it again with four kings and we say goodbye To Giannetti and his sunglasses. Its over for the night.

As we head into the final three here’s how things stand:

Pius Heinz 107,800,00

Ben Lamb 55,400,00

Martin Staszko 42,700,00

Its going to be a heck of a night on Tuesday!

2011 WSOP Main Event: Final Table Day One Basics

Well if you want a blow by blow account of the first day of the WSOP final table, head over to my other blog at www.fullofpoker.com Here I’m just going to show you how we got from nine to four before the dinner break. As I write we are one all-in away from the final three.

Here’s how it went down:

Lamb calls 9 million and Holden goes all in. Lamb has AK and Holden has AJ. The flop is 9-8-A. The turn is a Q giving Lamb the hand. Sam Holden leaves the table. Ben Lamb increase his stack by sixty percent. We are down to eight players.

Bounahra calls on the button and O’Dea goes all in. Bounahra folds. Lamb takes an easy pot on the button. Heinz takes a few more chips off Makiievski. Things are getting tight and I expect to see some players going out soon. Makiievski goes all in against Heinz. Flop gives Makiievski two pair but on the turn Heinz gets 3 nines! River is a 7 and we say goodbye to the Ukrainian.

Giannetti plays a few good hands and ends up just three million chips behind first place Pius Heinz. Out of nowhere Bounahra goes all in against Staszko. The flop is 6-7-2. The turn is a King and the river is a 6. Bounahra needed a five. We say goodbye to the Belize cheering section and a small nation’s poker hero. This makes O’Dea the short stack with Phil Collins not too far behind.

Collins moves all-in to Lamb who folds giving Collins some much needed chips. Lamb then moves all-in against O’Dea. This could be an elimination hand. O’Dea is taking a long time to make a decision. His bracelet winning father is watching him from the audience. He calls! The flop is 6-J-J. Turn is a 4. River is8! Ben Lamb wins! O’Dea becomes the short short stack. Next level will end him without a major change of luck.

O’Dea goes all-in right after the break with his stack of $2.2 million. He goes up against Staszko with pocket eights. Flop is 9-5-10. Turn is a jack. River is a 2. Its time to say goodbye to the Irishman. He certainly put up a good fight. What a difference a couple of hours can make.

Next hand Collins goes all-in with $16 million against Heinz. Heinz calls with pocket nines. Collins has A-7. The flop is 6-5-4. Turn is a 9! The river is a 7 and right after we lose O’Dea we lose Phil Collins.

As we go into the dinner break here’s how things stand:

1. Pius Heinz 85,500,00
2. Matt Giannetti 50,325,00
3. Ben Lamb 46,300,00
4. Martin Staszko 23,900,00