Main Headlines
Borgata Announces 30 Million Hand Promotion
In anticipation of dealing 30 million hands in New Jersey, BorgataPoker.com has announced its Countdown to 30 Million Hands promotion.
- Borgata will be awarding $1,000 cash to the winner of each millionth hand dealt starting at 25,000,000.
- The winner of the 30 millionth hand will take home $10,000.
- Players dealt into milestone hands will receive prize money as well.
Infiniti Poker Promises Payments in a “Few Days”
After more than two weeks of silence following the unexpected shutdown of the site, Infiniti Poker CEO reassures worried players that they will begin to receive their money.
- Michael Hajduk, CEO of Infiniti Poker broke a two week public silence with a statement emailed to pokerfuse ensuring that players will begin to see their cash out requests processed.
- “I’d like to assure as many people as I can at this point that our efforts to resolve the 3rd party issues have been ongoing and at the top of our priority list. I hope that once players start to receive their requests that this notion will be vindicated.”
Technical Problems Further Delay PokerStars’ Anti-Ratholing System
The planned rollout of PokerStars’ “Buy-In Obligations” system which seeks to curb ratholing was cut short Monday due to technical problems.
- Due to “an issue that did not arise during testing,” the system has been disabled.
- The buy-in obligations system will track a player’s stacks across tables and force a player to return with the same stack size that they previously left with, even if joining a new table.
- Most players support the implementation of the system, which will be a first in online poker.
Winamax Billion is a Million Hands Bigger than a PokerStars Billion
The success of the promotion was slightly hampered as Winamax missed the opportunity to learn from its predecessor.
- Winamax promised to hand out €100k in bonus prizes for its billion hand promotion, but when the milestone hand hit yesterday, all the money had not been distributed. Winamax promptly extended the promotion for another million hands.
- The milestone hand was played at a €0.25/€0.50 heads up table and when the first player to act shoved all in, his opponent folded.
- Controversies encountered mirrored those experienced in years past by PokerStars.
March is National Problem Gambling Awareness Month
The National Council on Problem Gambling (NCPG) is running its annual Problem Gambling campaign during the month of March.
- The National Council on Problem Gambling (NCPG) is running its annual Problem Gambling Awareness Week, and extending it for the whole of March.
- The campaign aims to educate and inform health care professionals and the public about the warning signs of problem gambling.
Picks from F5 Poker:
Ladies of PokerStars Talk Love And Money
How to balance your relationship ranges. PokerStars reached out to their Facebook fans and had them submit questions for the Women of PokerStars. What came back was people wanting to know how some of the top female pros balance life and love in the game of poker.
Tournament Poker Edge Makes Their Case Against Chasing Live Tournaments
The juice is too damn high! While they may have an agenda, as Tournament Poker Edge does specialize in online poker training, they may also have a point. In this short essay, the pros at TPE say that if there’s a good live cash game near you, it’s worth sitting in – but if poker tournaments is your game of choice, the decision is easy: online is superior to live.
Epic Aftermath – Wicked Chops Poker Sifts Through The Rubble
Two years later: Where are the Epic Poker poker players? It’s been a few days over two years since Annie Duke and Jeffrey Pollack set fire to the house of Epic Poker. You remember, the league that was going to treat players like kings with a ton of perks and added cash to fuel their social media poker game and television show? At the time there were a lot of hard feelings against those who promised poker a revolution and then ended up paying themselves the most.
Sam Trickett, Neil Channing Befuddled By British Poker Awards
UK industry shines, confuses at awards ceremony. The best and the brightest of the growing UK poker industry congregated at the Hippodrome Casino in London last night to celebrate and dish out prizes for the British Poker Awards. In this recap by CalvinAyre.com we watch UK superstars like Sam Trickett, Neil Channing, Liv Boeree, Vicky Coren and Sam Grafton taking the stage to accept their trophies.
Poker Is Painful – Money Bubble Bursts With Little Fanfare At LAPC
Matt Savage announces that everyone is ITM to light groans. Poker is as good of as waste of time as any. So let’s waste a minute watching the mundaneness of the money bubble busting at the World Poker Tour’s Los Angeles Poker Classic. Gordon Vayo is all in and up against Oliver Price’s Aces. With no help from the board the young man unceremoniously packs up and heads out, having to step over the barrier of chairs in his path. Here’s the hand as reported by the WPT:
World Poker Tour Puts A Shot Clock On The Ballot
Is this the end of tanking? Players at the World Poker Tour Los Angeles Poker Classic (LAPC) were asked their opinion on the potential use of a “shot clock” to be put into effect next season. Looking to terminate the tanking in big buy-in tournaments, the WPT have distributed a questionnaire about whether or not a shot clock, like in the new PokerStars TV show the Shark Cage, should be put into effect.
Poker Podcasts and Training Vids:
Podcast: Episode 70: Jennifer Shahade Thinking Poker
Jennifer Shahade is a two-time American Women’s Chess Champion, an author, and a professional poker player. She joins the show to discuss the world of chess, her transition to poker, Open Face Chinese, the Grindettes, and her recent TED talk.
Podcast: Poker Advocacy Mar 3 2014 show Poker Advocacy with Rich Muny
Guest: Curtis Woodard and poker journalist Earl Burton
Podcast: PokerNews Podcast Episode #205: Future Snubs and Surprises feat. Joe Stapleton PokerNews Podcast
On this episode of the PokerNews Podcast the crew predicts the snubs and surprises for the 2015 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship, debuts a segment called “Weekly Winners,” and talks with EPT co-host Joe Stapleton, who calls into the show from a spaceship in Los Angeles.
Exclusive Articles on pokerfuse PRO:
Sunday in New Jersey: Party’s Monster $100k, Ultimate Hits “NO-verlays”
Two New Jersey’s online poker rooms had success with their Sunday tournaments last week, with PartyPoker’s audacious $100,000 Sunday Major smashing its guarantee, and Ultimate Poker hitting “NO-verlays” on its two Sunday bigs.
Ultimate Poker’s Total US Traffic Remains Below 100
Average cash game statistics have fallen off, but the company hopes to rebound with a series of new and innovative promotions. Ultimate Gaming’s two state regulated sites in Nevada and New Jersey have now spent six weeks with a combined average of less than 100 concurrent cash game seats filled.
Delays to Norway’s Liberalization of Online Gaming May Not Threaten Live Poker Plans
Norway’s regulator has sent the government proposals for the regulation of live tournaments. Norway’s coalition government is expected to delay new gambling laws following questions from the European Free Trade Area (EFTA). Norway is not a member of the EU; but as an EFTA country, is expected to comply with many EU regulations.
Super Series 888 Offers Spanish Players an Early Spring Tournament Championship
PokerStars Spain’s SCOOP will not start until April 6. Last week, PokerStars announced a provisional program for its Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP), meanwhile, 888poker.ES has already started its own Spring tournament series.
