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World Poker Tour Selected to Help Celebrate The 2008 Golden Globe Awards

December 31, 2007

The World Poker Tour (WPT) has been chosen to help celebrate The 65th Annual Golden Globe
Awards by donating gift baskets at the Awards annual gift suite held this year at the new
Thompson Hotel in Beverly Hills. The WPT is one out of only twenty-five vendors selected for
this event. The 2008 Awards will be held January 13th, 2008 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in
Beverly Hills.

GBK Productions is hosting the gift suite and Founder Gavin Keilly would like not only to
celebrate the Awards but make this year’s Award’s gift suite more personal for their non-profit
honorees and the celebrity award presenters. Both parties will be receiving the same $50,000 gift
bag and it is hoped that the non-profit organizations will gain the attention of celebrities who
might support their cause(s). GBK has chosen the The Writer’s Guild, The Brent Shapiro’s
Foundation and The Gondobay Manga Foundation founded by Isaiah Washington as their
honorees. The event production company will be donating 20 percent back to these charities.
Gavin Keilly is quoted as saying, “It is a pleasure to be in a position to be able to continue to
help these non-profits.”

Gift Suite donations from The World Poker Tour will include a three month subscription to
ClubWPT.com where 4,000 plus poker and black jack tournaments can be played every month
with a chance of winning $100,000 plus in cash and prizes. The Celebrities receiving this gift will
be invited to play in the WPT Celebrity Invitational for a $200,000 first prize. In addition, the Top
10 Celebrities Charity of choice will receive a donation.

The Invitational will be held March 1st through March 3rd, 2008 at the Commerce Casino in
Commerce, which has been nicknamed “Poker Capital of the World”. The Casino recently unveiled
The WPT Poker Walk of Fame preceding the L.A. Poker Classic Tournament. The inaugural
members include; Doyle “Texas Dolly” Brunson, Gus “The Great Dane” Hansen and James
“Maverick” Garner.

Written by admin · Filed Under US Poker News 

New Casino Plans for Atlantic City

December 26, 2007

According to the Detroit Free Press, by the year 2012 Atlantic City will be a brand new place. Currently four companies are planning on helping Atlantic City be as big as Las Vegas. The four companies will be contributing over $9 billion dollars to bring new mega-casinos to the area.

Revel Entertainment Group is one company with plans in Atlantic City. In November they revealed their plans to build a $2 billion casino-resort that would be called Revel. It would open in 2010 and be the tallest building in Atlantic City. The Revel will be two towers with 3,900 rooms. It will also be the home of the first casino wedding chapel in Atlantic City.

Pinnacle Entertainment is another group with plans to build a new casino in the area. Their casino will be built on the site of the former Sands Hotel Casino. It is expected to open late in 2011 or early 2012.

The largest new casino in the works is going to be built by MGM Mirage. It would be placed next to the Borgata and be the largest project ever for Atlantic City. It is expected to open in 2012. It will consist of three hotel towers with more than 3,000 rooms. It will also be the home to the largest casino floor in Atlantic City. 5,000 slot machines and 200 table games will be available. A possible fourth casino could be in the works that would be built by Curtis Bashaw and Wally Barr.

With the addition of the new casinos in the upcoming years, there will be more room for players to enjoy poker and other games. More poker tables will be available at all the new casinos and the poker circuit will have more room for events and tournaments. We will surely see World Poker Tour and World Series of Poker events at the new casinos in the upcoming years.

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Automated Poker Tables Installed At Fantasy Springs Casino

December 19, 2007

PokerTek, Inc. is placing five PokerPro tables at California’s Fantasy Springs Resort and Casino which makes it the ninth establishment to have the all inclusive PokerPro Platform; fourth of which are in California alone.

PokerTek, Inc. whose main office is in North Carolina is the developer of the automated poker tables and software, PokerPro and PokerPro Heads-Up. It is specifically marketed with the premise of increasing revenue, lowering expenses and bringing in new players for casinos. The PokerPro system is making a marked change throughout the poker industry. PokerPro is a ten seat automated table and PokerPro Heads-up happens to be the first two seat automated poker table in for heads-up play. In addition to being installed in casinos, PokerPro is available on the majority of cruise ships throughout the world.

The Cabazon Band of Mission Indians are the owners of the Palm Springs Casino which is now the first 100% complete PokerPro property in Southern California. At the Casino, players can enjoy the action of Las Vegas with forty tables of card games like 3-Card Poker, 4-Card Poker, Jackpot Pai Gow and Mini-Baccarat. They can also play on six poker tables, games like No Limit Texas Hold’em and Crazy Pineapple.

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Greyhound Poker Announces Grand Opening

December 15, 2007

Greyhound Poker has just released their new online poker client. This new offering to the online poker world will cater to both micro stakes poker players as well as high stakes poker players alike. The software is completely designed in flash operating entirely on a java client, therefore there is no download required, or available.

The new online poker room is offering players the Greyhound Poker Bonus of 200% up to $300.00 Players looking to check out the software before downloading are invited to download and play with an instant $20 free poker bankroll offered by Greyhound Poker.

Greyhound is already offering a full tournament schedule, including guaranteed poker tournaments, freeroll poker tournaments and turbo tournaments and some as well as quite a few satellite tournament opportunities. Sit’n'go tournaments, larger Multi-Table tournaments and heads-up poker play can be found at all levels on the site.

Greyhound poker players have the most sophisticated options in online payment processing available as well, as the site utilizes an array of deposit and withdrawal methods, including multiple credit card processors and debit card solutions, ACH (electronic checks), money transfer systems and a multitude of e-wallet providers.

During our interview with Karim D., spokesperson for Greyhound Poker, he explained to us excitedly that the poker room’s customer support team will be available 7 days a week, every day of the year, and is available around the clock, Dahmani also hinted that the site may offer webcam poker play in the very near future. Customer support is offered by phone, fax, email and via toll free customer support telephone numbers.

Greyhound Poker is a fully licensed online poker room with licensing by the Government of Costa Rica. Greyhound Poker software is tested regularly and certified for integrity and fairness of all games by an independent auditing firm.

Written by admin · Filed Under US Poker News 

Antigua and Barbuda Ruling Delayed by WTO Arbitration Panel

December 15, 2007

Online poker players across the United States were on edge yesterday awaiting the final ruling of the World Trade Organization Arbitration Panel in a case involving Antigua and Barbuda against America. Antigua and Barbuda have claimed billions of dollars in losses due to the loss of online gambling business from the United States.

All involved may once again rest easy, as the wait continues. The World Trade Orders decision was as was rather expected by many in the industry, once again delayed. Gretchen Hamel, Trade Representative’s office spokesperson (US) conveyed to the press that the report would be delayed.

This means that the online gambling world will have to wait a little longer to find out if the World Trade Organization arbitration panel will decide in favor of Antigua and Barbuda in its case against the United States. The WTO did not issue any formal statement, no interviews were given, just a message to Reuters that got the word out.

In the case against the United States, in which Antigua and Barbuda first filed in 2003, following the UIGEA (Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act) that was passed sometime in the middle of the night, attached to the backend of a Port Security bill, before being signed into law by George Bush the following morning, Antigua and Barbuda are asking the World Trade Organization to award them $3.44 Billion Dollars annually.

Upon the first request of $3.44 Billion, the United States did make an offer to settle, a half a million. Antigua and Barbuda chose to pass on that offer, and no agreement was made.

Many online poker players, and other people following this case believe that the lack of line item veto in the presidents office was literally the deciding factor in the original implementation of the UIGEA.

Written by admin · Filed Under US Poker News 

2008 WSOP Schedule of Events Has Been Released

December 13, 2007

The World Series of Poker schedule has been released for 2008, and the long awaited list of dates comes with some pretty new and exciting changes to be seen in the upcoming World Series of Poker (WSOP). The most notable change is that we will have not just one main event $10,000 buy in no limit game. The WSOP is gearing up for major high stakes tournament action at Harrah’s this year! In total there will be six ten thousand dollar World Series of Poker events in 2008!

The 2008 World Series will kick off on May 30th beginning with the first of these $10,000 buy in events. The first 10k event is the Pot Limit Holdem World Championship which has increased greatly in popularity throughout the history of the WSOP.

The increase in 10k events has however brought a decrease in some of the smaller and medium sized poker events at the WSOP. In total the 2008 WSOP will feature 8 $10,000 buy-in events, and just 31 events that can be bought into for less than 2k, it looks as though we’ll be seeing a lot more professional poker pro’s this year, and perhaps a few less amateur poker players just looking to sit down to a game of cards with the big boys.

There is however a five day span of the world series of poker (6/17/08 - 6/21/08) that medium stakes players will want to make a note of. During this period of time, three $1,500 buy in No Limit Holdem tournaments are available. Perfect timing for a trip to Vegas, a mini vacation, and some serious World Series worthy card play.

To grab a look at the schedule, check out worldseriesofpoker.com

Written by admin · Filed Under US Poker News 

Hold’em for the Holidays Tournament in Washington

December 5, 2007

Kicking off this holiday season The World Poker Store and Marcel Luske, an international poker pro, will present a free Texas Hold’em tournament this Friday December 7th. The tournament is called Hold’em for the Holidays and will take place at The World Poker Store retail location in Federal Way, Washington.

Luske will be on hand at 5 pm to meet fans and sign autographs. He will also participate in final table play.

This week The World Poker Store has been giving away reserved tournament seats and the event is open to the public at a first come first seated basis. Seating is limited and the tournament is free with prizes being awarded throughout the event. Many big name poker pros represent The World Poker Store including Phil Hellmuth, Liz Lieu, Johnny Chan and Patrik Antonius as well as Hoyt Corkins and of course Luske are members of the World Poker Store Advisory Board and represent the company from all over the world.

The board is used to promote the company as well as advise the company of current trends and goings on in the poker world.

The World Poker Store has many different items to offer. They have DVDs, books, apparel, poker paraphernalia, Casino Quality Chips, Texas Hold’em Tables and Tour Pro collectables. The Washington store where the event will take place is one of three land based stores and is the most recent to open. Players must be twenty-one years of age to enter the tournament and can contact the store for additional information.

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Bodog Wins Latest Round Vs. 1st Technologies

December 5, 2007

Bodog Entertainment Group, S.A. and the company’s founder, Calvin Ayre have won the latest round in their courtroom battle with 1st Technologies over patents and domain names. Bodog Entertainment Group, S.A. seeks to reclaim its domain names, including BodogPoker, previously confiscated by 1st Technologies.

Calvin Ayre was expected to appear in a Nevada courtroom to examination, but it came as no surprise to many experts and analysts of the case when he failed to appear. 1st Technologies immediately made a motion to hold the online gambling executive in contempt of court.

A statement submitted by the Bodog legal team to the Las Vegas magistrate requested a ruling in their favor on the grounds that Calvin Ayre, nor the Bodog Entertainment Group, S.A., resides in Nevada, therefore should not be responsible to appear in a Nevada courtroom.

Much to the dismay of 1st Technologies, the judge granted Bodog’s favorable ruling and denied the motion to hold Ayre in contempt of court for failing to appear. Calvin Ayre’s high profile status as an executive in the online gambling business could pose potentially dangerous situations to himself were he to have made the appearance.

In related news that could hold significant bearing on the outcome of Bodog vs. 1st Technologies, the legal team of Bodog is seeking clarification by a Washington state court case that seeks to rule on the proprietary ownership of domain names and whether such domains may be seized to satisfy a judgment.

A court in Virginia previously ruled on the same case, determining that domains could be subject to seizure to satisfy a legal judgment. Should Washington state make the same ruling, the impact could be detrimental for 1st Technologies.

The confiscated domains are currently in languish where, according to independent evaluations, they are steadily decreasing in value.

Written by admin · Filed Under US Poker News