Absolute Poker in Court

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.

And despite the final game the results of the 2010 WSOP are in and what a ride it has been. For those who like recap without too much drama here are the results of events 53 through 56.

Event 53: $1,500 Limit Hold ‘Em Shootout tournament. . It didn’t take long to thin the herd from an acceptable 548 players down to an acceptable 64. Brendan Taylor from the United States came out on top taking home a modest but certainly acceptable $184.950 not to mention a gold bracelet. It was Aces everywhere and despite Ben Yu having A 9 he still lost out to Taylor’s A 7.

Event 54: Another $1,000 No Limit Hold’em event kept fans going over the holiday weekend. Marcel Vonk from the Netherlands took home the bracelet and the nice pot of $570,960. He won against David Peters who’s final hand was an acceptable K8. This was the first time a Dutch competitor won a WSOP bracelet. Certainly a great way to balance that World Cup loss.

Event 55: It was Daniel Alaei that took home the win and a beautiful $780,599 in this $10,000 Pot Limit Omaha Championships. His final hand was a clean 7655. Miguel Proulx took second place in this game. There were a total of 346 entrants for four days of play. It was Alaei better known as Steamraise hails from Los Angeles and now has three WSOP bracelets to his name.

Event 56: The $2,500 No Limit Hold’em was taken home by Tomer Berda along with $825,976 in prize money.  It was a heads up finish full of intensity as Vladimir Kochelaevskiy rode Tomer Berda for a little while before losing his 10 6 to Berda’s A 4. It always comes down the right Ace at the right time doesn’t it?

The final event is still underway as I write but of course any final event deserves its own blog so stay tuned.

WPT Grand Prix Paris Tournament: Theo Jorgensen takes home over $800,000 after the close of the tournament on May 15, 2010. There were a total of 247 players and the action took place over seven days. The main game was Holdem. The final table included Antoine Amourette who came in second and Per Linde who came in third.

The Unlawful Internet Gambling Act is set to go into law June 1^st despite attempts from the Poker Players Alliance to have poker be exempted from the legislation. This means online gambling will be regulated to increase national revenue and boost employment at the expense of online gamers. The PPA explains that peer to peer play should not be affected by the law.

Faraz Jakar is named player of the year by the WPT on account of his 1.42 million in winnings, two final tables and several cash wins. His third place finish at the Five Diamond World Poker Classic back in December 2009 gave him the points he needed to snag the title. Jakar takes the title from last year’s recipient Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier.

Thuy Doan fundraising tournament to take place May 16 over at Full Tilt Poker. The money raised will go towards paying for the young female player’s prosthetic leg, one of the many problems she has encountered since contracting cancer. Buy ins start at $100.

The WSOP Poker Player’s Championship is scheduled for May 28 and will take place over five days. There’s a $50,000 buy in to ensure only the best of the best get to play. Every type of poker play will be on the tables including Stud, Omaha, Holdem and Razz.

And of course, the world prepares for the World Series of Poker tournament in Las Vegas to begin May 27^th. Just a few more days until things start to get serious.

Massachusetts politicians have been debating a bill to tax and regulate online poker in the state to boost the economy. They are trying to make tax gambling revenue on online sites while simultaneously promoting the opening of casinos and slot machines in the state. This will stimulate growth that’s for sure but taxing online poker has put many up in arms.

The Absolute Poker scandal resurfaced this week after a pro blogger revealed additional files and data that pointed to Scott Tom, co-founder of the online poker company as the responsible party who embezzled over $800,000 during online poker tournaments using fake accounts. Joe Norton, the other founder of the company, had admitted back in 2007 there had been a breach in security from someone inside the company. The blogger that broke the story, Hayley Hintze, has been threatened with two lawsuits by the online poker giant for liable.

Full Tilt Poker faces issues with both the state of Kansas and the government. An earlier lawsuit regarding the payment of compensation to poker game losers in the state will probably come to nothing as the Full Tilt gaming site is a peer to peer site. The company itself did not play against the residents of Kansas who are upset at losing. The suit did apparently spark a grand jury investigation of the company but that remains a rumor on the poker circuit rather than a hard fact.

It seems the week has ended on a high note with the legal determining that poker is a “mind sport” and thus on a level with chess and bridge. The announcement by the International Federation of Poker allows the game of poker to join the other mind skill games at the IMSA World Mind Sport Games which will take place in London at the same time as the 2012 Olympics.

It’s important for poker players, especially online players, to keep up to date on possible changes to poker laws, issues of honesty with poker game producers and possible corruption on sites. To enjoy a safe, fair game of poker, the player must make smart choices. Being informed is the only way.