Archive for the ‘Poker News’ Category

Atlantic Club successfully backs out of PokerStars Deal

Sunday, May 19th, 2013

For the past few weeks, the Rational Group (PokerStars’ owner) and Colony Capital LLC (owns Atlantic Club Casino) have been at war over a business deal. The Rational Group was set to buy the Atlantic Club for $15 million, but they failed to obtain a New Jersey casino license by April 26th, 2013.

What’s significant about this date is that Rational needed to obtain a license by then or the original agreement was altered. Furthermore, the purchase contract stated that Colony Capital could back out of the deal if PokerStars failed to get a license by the 26th. Because Rational failed to meet this clause, a New Jersey Superior Court judge recently ruled that Atlantic Club could terminate their pending deal with PokerStars. Plus they can sell to any company they wish to now.

What made this situation particularly complicated is how Rational dumped $11 million into Atlantic Club to keep it operational. The casino was on the verge of bankruptcy when PokerStars entered the picture and needed money to continue operations. Because they spent so much on Atlantic Club, Rational argued that they’d already met most of the $15 million purchase agreement. But as unethical as it may seem, Colony Capital was able to back out simply because the contract stated they could.

Popular speculation is that Atlantic Club owners didn’t fully realize how much more valuable their property was until partway through the selling process. Because only casino operators can get an online gaming license in New Jersey, the Atlantic Club is probably worth far more than $15 million. So by getting out of a deal with Stars, Colony Club can now seek a more lucrative deal. Of course, this all hinges upon Atlantic Club’s ability to stay open until they find a new suitor.

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Jamie Gold Busto? Selling WSOP Bracelet

Saturday, May 18th, 2013

People have been wondering for years if 2006 WSOP Main Event Jamie Gold is busto. And the poker world is only going to further buy into this rumor now that Gold is selling his 2006 Main Event bracelet through an auctioneer.

The bracelet is being sold through Heritage Auctions, which dubs themselves as “The World’s Largest Collectibles Auctioneer.” The bidding will be open on July 13th, 2013 and the auction happens from August 1st-2nd. Heritage provides a lengthy description of the product on the sale page, including the following excerpt:

The bracelet features 259 stones including over seven carats of diamonds and 120 grams of white and yellow gold. Rubies are inset to create the red of the heart and diamond suits, while a sapphire represents the spade and three black diamonds the clubs. The clasp is stamped “14K.” Fine condition. An absolutely amazing representation from one of the most talked about WSOP events in history.

It’s hard telling how much this bracelet will sell for. The only true comparison we have is when 2008 Main Event champ Peter Eastgate sold his bracelet on eBay. Scottish millionaire and philanthropist William Haughey bought the hardware for $147,500. Of course, it’s worth mentioning that proceeds from Eastgate’s bracelet sale went to charity, whereas Gold’s bracelet is likely being sold for his benefit.

Jamie Gold first gained international poker fame after winning the 2006 Main Event along with $12 million. The $12 million payout is the largest WSOP ME payday in history, and the second biggest tournament score of all-time. Unfortunately for Gold, he didn’t get the full amount after settling a lawsuit with Crispin Leyser (undisclosed amount) over a Bodog staking arrangement. He also donked off a great deal of money while playing against some of the world’s best players on High Stakes Poker.

One more point worth making is that Gold has failed to earn much additional revenue through poker since ’06. He only has $150k in tournament winnings since winning the Main Event.

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Did Annie Duke cheat at UB Poker?

Sunday, May 12th, 2013

The biggest poker story from last week involved audio tapes being released that finally prove who was involved in the UB “God Mode” cheating scandal (2003-2007). In the tape, Russ Hamilton, Iovation CEO Greg Pierson, and Ultimate Bet lawyers, Daniel Friedberg and Sanford “Sandy” Millar all discuss how Hamilton cheated players out of millions through the God Mode (see other players’ hole cards). They then talk about ways to minimize the damage while repaying as few players as possible.

One of the most interesting names brought up during this discussion is Annie Duke. The former WSOP champion is said to have possibly used God Mode – although not nearly to the extent that Hamilton did. In Duke’s case, she used God Mode (according to Hamilton) when it was on a 15-minute delay.

This means that she didn’t see opponents’ hands in real-time, like Hamilton, but she would’ve been able to access hole cards that might not otherwise be available through hand histories. So our question is, would Duke be considered a cheater?

Assuming Duke did indeed use God Mode, you’d have to consider her a cheater, even if it were on a 15-minute delay. Being able to see other players’ cards after a session provides a huge advantage because you’d get to see what range they played in various situations. So if we take Hamilton’s word at face-value, Annie Duke is a cheater.

But that’s the thing: do we believe what Hamilton says? Based on his reputation and actions, the likely answer from most people is “no.” Sure Duke draws the ire of the poker community for her failed run as the Epic Poker League commissioner and promises of a $1 million freeroll which never materialized. But to lump her in the same boat as Russ Hamilton based on his word alone…now that’s hard to do.

One final thing worth mentioning in this discussion is that Duke never had amazing online cash game results like Hamilton. So based on this evidence alone, it’s another piece supporting the theory that Duke isn’t really a cheater.

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Johnny Lodden discusses Bleak Norwegian Poker Situation

Friday, May 10th, 2013

Johnny Lodden has earned countless millions in live and online poker cash games. Plus he’s added another $1,250,499 in live tournaments. But with the current poker situation in Norway, even Lodden is having a hard time.

According to him, the biggest problems facing Norwegian poker are the mafia, ridiculously-high taxes, and live games being illegal. He recently addressed these problems in an interview with PokerListings.

Lodden addressed both the mafia and illegal live poker by saying, “We play online and we do also get to play live poker in illegal clubs. Nowadays it is really hard with the legislation and the mafia coming in and taking over some of the clubs in Norway.”

“Now we have started up a new club which is really nice, but of course we don’t have as many players as before. When they know the mafia might be involved and they have families they don’t want to play anymore and risk anything.”

Unfortunately, it doesn’t look as if the current situation will change any time soon. Norway’s favored political party (Hoyre) isn’t in favor of poker, which means they’re unlikely to change the illegal status of live games. Based on this, Lodden doesn’t think Norwegian poker players have much to look forward to at this point.

“We have everything against us. It is annoying to pay so much tax (half of winnings), but I do not mind paying my taxes since I live in a country where everyone pay taxes, that is how it is. However, I would like a tax system where you pay less tax on your winnings and where you can tell the authorities that you did not win anything this year so you cannot pay taxes.”

While things are tough for Norway’s poker players in general, at least Lodden has a deal with PokerStars to fall back on. And he’ll be representing the world’s largest online poker site this year at the 2013 WSOP. Lodden is hoping to win his first career WSOP gold bracelet.

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Former Absolute Poker COO Paul Leggett back in Online Poker

Monday, May 6th, 2013

A sizable portion of the poker community have collectively raised their eyebrows over a big hire. Former Absolute Poker COO Paul Leggett is now going to be taking the same position with Canada’s Amaya Gaming. As both Pokerfuse and eGaming reported, he’ll replace former Amaya COO Paul Bertilsson, who will stay on with the company in another role.

Leggett is an interesting, if not controversial hire because he was Absolute Poker’s head man during Black Friday. This day started Absolute’s demise and saw them eventually go offline with millions of dollars in player deposits. So it’s quite strange that Amaya Gaming would want to bring on such a murky figure.

As for his role with Amaya, he’ll oversee the company’s newest purchase, the Ongame Network. Ongame is one of the oldest networks in the poker industry, and they’ve lost some major traffic in recent years. One of their largest rooms, bwin, joined Party Poker, which fueled Ongame’s drop from the fifth most heavily-trafficked network to the 18th most popular.

Leggett’s job will be to help Ongame regain some of their lost traffic and move back up the ladder. However, it’ll be interesting to see if his new role has any effect on Ongame’s new position in the regulated Nevada internet poker market. Last year Ongame signed a deal to provide software for Bally Technologies, which obtained an online poker license from Nevada.

Perhaps just as important as the licensing aspect is what players will think of Leggett’s hiring. The Absolute Poker name doesn’t exactly carry a good reputation because of all the player deposits they never refunded. So with Leggett now heading Ongame, players who were burned by Absolute might think twice about depositing with their Nevada-based poker room.

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Author explains why Phil Hellmuth is Poker’s Phil Mickelson

Wednesday, May 1st, 2013

With 41 PGA Tour victories and 4 Majors Championships, Phil Mickelson is one of the greatest golfers of all-time. With 12 WSOP gold bracelets, Phil Hellmuth is one of the best poker players in history. And author/mental coach Jared Tendler has found a way to link both of these greats.

Tendler, who co-wrote The Mental Game of Poker 2 with Barry Carter, described both Hellmuth and Mickelson as guys who are excellent at their respective games, but have issues when things aren’t going right.

He told PokerListings, “Hellmuth and Mickelson both have more mental game issues than Tiger and Ivey. Both Hellmuth and Mickelson are great champions, won a ton, but I don’t think they have the composure and consistency that Ivey and Tiger show.” He added, “That’s a testament to how good they are when they’re at their best but it’s almost more telling about how good they are at their worst.”

Tendler also drew a comparison between Phil Ivey and Tiger Woods by saying that they both bring a mental intensity and focus that no other player can match.

“Like Tiger and Mickelson at their best might actually be equal. But Tiger might be three shots better when they’re both at their worst,” said Tendler. “Ivey might be a full big bet better than Hellmuth, or Galfond or whoever when they’re at their worst.”

The author also explained one of the biggest concepts in his book, which is being “in the zone.” Tendler stated the following:

The zone is basically the peak of your mental performance. It’s the space in your own mind where everything just seems sort of easy and natural. You’re making very high-level decisions very easily.

If you’re a golfer your golf swing is working out and every shot’s going where you want it and you’re able to visualize the shot very easily.

In poker your reads are spot-on and you’re able to make correct decisions easily, sometimes to the point that you’re not even sure exactly why it’s right.

Seeing as how poker skills are determined by your drive to learn and ability to focus, it definitely sounds like Tendler’s book could be pretty helpful for players.

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Father says Black Friday led to Poker-Playing Son’s Death

Saturday, April 27th, 2013

Black Friday affected the lives of numerous US online poker players since they could no longer play at the world’s biggest sites or access their bankroll. Matthew “notnmyhouse” Roth was one of these players, and he unfortunately took his own life yesterday.

Roth, who suffered from depression and anxiety, shot himself in the head while sitting in his car outside Las Vegas’ Wild Wild West Gambling Hall. The 26-year-old had just been in his hometown of Fairbanks, Alaska two days earlier and had his dad, Bill, drive him to the airport.

Speaking of Bill, he blames Black Friday for the death of his son. The 45-year-old told the Las Vegas Review-Journal, ““The federal government two years ago shut down his site, took his money, and with that – they didn’t know it – but they took my son.”

He added, “They took his livelihood, self-esteem, drive. They took his focus. “Imagine all of a sudden your job is just not there. All of a sudden, your money is taken away and you’re struggling to find work.”

As Bill Roth alluded to, his son fell into a deeper depression when he couldn’t play poker at the largest sites like Full Tilt and PokerStars. Matt had previously been a very talented player who made a living through mid-stakes Full Tilt cash games.

His friend from Alaska, Josh Norum, attested to Roth’s impressive poker abilities. “He worked extremely hard to be the best at everything he pursued, but cards were his true passion,” said Norum. “He could read the cards and people’s playing ability unlike anyone else I know.”

Going back to Bill Roth, the LVRJ reported that he wonders if his son would still be alive had Black Friday not came. After all, Matt was a huge poker fanatic and became very distraught when the game he loved was essentially taken away.

Whatever the case may be, it’s definitely a tragedy that Matthew Roth took his own life, and may he rest in peace.

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Joe Sebok claims Nude Photos Extortion Plot ruined his Career

Tuesday, April 23rd, 2013

Once a solid tournament pro with almost $1.9 million in winnings, Joe Sebok has been off the poker radar for the past few years. In fact, he’s gotten more attention for his blue collar job of crushing grapes than he has for playing poker. And now Sebok is blaming an extortion plot involving nude photos for his rapid drop-off in the poker world.

Two California men named Tyler Schrier and Keith James Hudson, and a Philadelphia man named Ryder Finney were the perpetrators in the crime. Schrier and Hudson were recently sentenced to 42 months and 24 months in prison, respectively, for charges including hacking into a protected computer, stealing naked photos, extortion and hacking into an email account. Finney has yet to be sentenced since he’s in a different state.

Sebok and a number of other people were victimized by the trio in 2010. According to the Los Angeles Times, the hackers got into Sebok and others’ computers to steal sensitive information and emails. They then used this info to extort thousands of dollars out of the victims. When Sebok refused, they sent his naked pictures to an estimated 100 people.

The 36-year-old told U.S. District Court Judge James Otero that this incident had an extremely negative impact on his career and “instantly damaged my ability to sustain my livelihood doing what I had been since 2005.”

He continued by saying, “In short, I was no longer able to maintain my then-current level of participation in the poker industry, representing the brands that I had been previously, as well as greatly destroying my ability to do so with new companies moving forward.” Sebok added, “Without belaboring the point too much, it was a nightmare, and one that I was forced to live through with millions of people watching.”

Since 2010, when the extortion plot took place, Sebok has only earned $24,792 in live tournaments, thus indicating some truth to his courtroom statements. Furthermore, Sebok hasn’t been sponsored by a poker site since his controversial signing with Ultimate Bet in 2009. Many people labeled him a sellout for joining UB Poker based on the room’s previous scandals. To this day, many people continue to loath Sebok for representing UB.

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Full Tilt Poker gets Player Segregation Right

Sunday, April 21st, 2013

One of the bigger poker stories from last week involved Full Tilt Poker rolling out their ‘New to the Game’ tables. The games are meant to help new and/or recreational players get used to real money poker without being throwing into shark-infested waters (a.k.a. player segregation).

New to the Game tables are open to any real money player, they’re offered in low stakes NL Hold’em and Omaha ring games/tournaments, and players can try these tables for 2,000 cash game hands or 75 tourneys. Additionally, New to the Game tables run at a slower pace and players can only try two tables at a time.

The key in all of this is that players can only participate in 2,000 ring game hands or 75 tournaments. And this is where Full Tilt gets the idea of player segregation right, versus other rooms like Party Poker and Lock Poker.

Both Party and Lock run similar player segregation models where they prevent winning grinders from competing against losing players. In Party’s case, they didn’t even warn players about segregation; they just hid the losing players from winners and certain people happened to notice. In either case, there is no limit on how long the players are divided up, which really punishes winners.

Full Tilt, on the other hand, puts a restriction on how long players can try the New to the Game tables. Once the 2k cash game hands or 75 tourneys are up, people are forced to “graduate” to the regular games. What’s more is that everybody has a chance to try these tables, rather than being restricted to losing players.

Segregation is still in the early stages in the online poker world. So it’ll be interesting to see if more sites take a similar approach to the matter as FTP.

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Ray Bitar avoids Jail Time – A Travesty or Humanity?

Tuesday, April 16th, 2013

Disgraced Full Tilt Poker CEO Ray Bitar finally had his day in court, and he got about as light of a punishment as he could’ve hoped for. Bitar was credited with “time served” before sentencing and won’t have to do any more jail time. The reason why is because he needs a heart transplant and would likely die behind bars. The kicker is that he’ll have to forfeit $40 million worth of assets, which isn’t that much of a kicker when you consider what he did.

Not long after Bitar was indicted by the US Department of Justice on various felony charges, Full Tilt eventually lost its license along with $330 million worth of player deposits. It was later revealed that he used funds from Full Tilt player accounts to pay himself and other board members. He also misled new players into thinking that their money was kept separate from FTP’s payroll and expense accounts.

Considering that Ray Bitar earned well over $40 million during his time at FTP, it’s pretty clear that $40 million in asset forfeiture and a little time served in jail is a sweet deal. In fact, most would say that justice wasn’t served at all in this matter.

Millions of professional players who trusted Full Tilt with money had their lives rocked. Some pros were forced out of the game altogether when their bankroll essentially vanished on FTP. All the while, Bitar was lining his pockets with money, even though he knew the risks associated with running a US-friendly online poker site.

Obviously what he did was immoral and affected a lot of people’s lives. So most would rather take the risk of him dying in jail over letting him get away with a less than satisfactory punishment. On the other hand, if Bitar’s heart condition is as bad as he claims, it seems like he’s suffering enough already. Fretting about what would happen to him all these months definitely took a toll on the obese man.

So has justice been served in this matter? The truth is that there’s no clear answer, but just know that Bitar didn’t get out of this matter totally unscathed.

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