Main Headlines
PokerStars to Use Same Hotel for EPT Barcelona 2014
Players staying at the hotel in 2013 suffered “sharking” attacks on laptops stolen from their rooms.
- PokerStars has confirmed that the 2014 EPT Barcelona will continue to use the Hotel Arts, Barcelona inspite of security issues that surfaced last year.
- Last year, players reported that while staying at the hotel, their laptops were taken and “sharking” software installed.
- PokerStars has expressed their concerns regarding security to the Hotel Arts and Stars has been “assured that these concerns are being taken very seriously and are being addressed.”
Internet Gaming Bill Expected in Louisiana
Potential revenue for the state and concerns over consumer protections could prompt the introduction of a bill to regulate online gaming in the state of Louisiana.
- A joint committee of the House Administration of Criminal Justice Committee and the Senate Judiciary B Committee are studying the feasibility of online gaming in the state of Louisiana.
- A bill calling for a study of internet gambling was introduced by Representative Rep. Mike Huval last year, but it died in committee after passing the House.
- Louisiana Gaming Control Board Chairman Ronnie Jones told a local newspaper,“I suspect a bill will likely be introduced, but I can’t confirm.”
One in Twenty Still Face Geo-Location Issues in New Jersey
95% success rate still leaves a lot of customers locked out.
- In order to comply with the regulations of New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement, online poker rooms must ensure that players are located within the state at all times to play for real money.
- GeoComply recently revealed a 95% success rate for accurately verifying players within the state.
- According to a recent press release from the geolocation company, their system have successfully performed 5 million verifications for online gaming in the state.
- “We know that that is little comfort to the 5% that still have problems.”
UK Internet Service Providers Reject Gambling Commission Requests
ISPs rejected requests to insert pop up warnings when UK customers access overseas gambling sites.
- At a meeting with the UK Gambling Commission last week, UK internet service providers (ISP) rejected requests that they insert warning pages when customers access non-UK based gambling sites.
- An ISP spokesman explained: “We do not believe that it is for ISPs to decide what content customers should access. It is really important that there is either a proper legal framework when it comes to blocking access to sites”
Picks from F5 Poker:
Jennifer Harman Goes Hollywood
Former Full Tilt Pro talks stars, sharks and scripts from the halls of the PCA. Check out this very well produced video from All In Magazine where they catch up with 2-time WSOP bracelet winner and long time poker personality Jennifer Harman. In the clip the former Full Tilt sponsored player gushes over PokerStars, takes you behind the scenes on the new PokerStars TV show 'The Shark Cage’ and also reveals her plans for writing and producing a big-time Hollywood flick.
Poker in PA: Players Flock To Pittsburgh
“Interest in poker is definitely heightened” Vegas. Atlantic City. Los Angeles. All hotbeds of poker. Now…Pittsburgh?
Lock Poker, Card Player Put On Blast By Online Players
The argument against Lock Poker in under 6 minutes. Lock Poker’s public relations department must be one hell of a place to work. With the site seemingly on a massive decline, players are lining up trying to get money off the site. As reported by our big bro pokerfuse, site pros are abandoning ship and now they are the subject of a player-made video essentially calling the site one big scam.
Borgata Winter Open Weathers Its 2nd Storm of the Series
Borgata’s Event 12 — dead from natural causes. Rarely will a poker room cancel an event in a major tournament series but for the 2014 Borgata Winter Open the cancellation of today’s Event 12 makes it the second time in about a week. If you’re headed in that direction note that the $260+$40 buy-in $150k guarantee won’t be happening today due to the threat of a massive snow storm caused by the incredibly unwelcome “polar vortex.”
Issac Haxton vs. Isildur — Ike Posterizes Blom In Nosebleed Action
Undeterred, Victor Blom takes on all comers. Two of the biggest online stars in the game went toe to toe last night according to the Full Tilt Poker blog. Team PokerStars Online’s Issac Haxton logged on to his Full Tilt Poker account (as “luvtheWNBA”) to get into it with Full Tilt Professional phenom Victor “Isildur1” Blom.
Former Irish Open Champ Has Friends In Low Places, Looks To Lose Big
Money meant for safe keeping, ends up in hands of the authorities. Everything was looking up in 2010 for Irish poker pro Paul Carr after all, he’d just hit the biggest score of his career when he took down the Paddy Power Poker Irish Open Main Event for €312,600 ($421k). Things would likely still be great, if he’d just have paid his taxes and put that cash in the bank.
Bad Beat Diaries — Quad Kings Get Straight Flushed For A $183k Payday
Harrah’s Philly pays out 6-figures on a 1/2 table. Every once in a while a bad beat can be a good thing as illustrated this past Sunday at Harrah’s in Philadelphia when a couple of $1/$2 NLHE players walked away with five figure scores after their hands helped hit the $183,623 bad beat jackpot.
Vanessa Selbst Almost Finished With 2014 Poker Goals
New blog post lays out her plan on and off the felt. It’s no secret that we here at F5 love Vanessa Selbst. Besides being one of the best poker players on the planet she invests her time and money into social causes she believes in, which makes her a player you can believe in.
Poker Podcasts and Training Vids:
Training Video: Mattraq1: Aggressive And Out Of Position Play vs Turbo Regulars HUSNG
The fourth installment in Matt’s debut series on creative play against turbo regulars sees him talking about playing strong flushes out of position, cbet sizing on different board textures, facing small sized 3bets with weak hands, aggressive flop leading, and more aggressive play against an opponent he now has some history with. Matt also gets cute with an interesting multi street bluff.
Training Video: Nice Hand, Sir: Part 4 Drag The Bar
Stosh fires up the Poker Tracker 4 replayer for a review of some mid-stakes NL 6-max hand histories. He provides in-depth analysis while digging into the HUD statistics and exploiting his opponents weaknesses.
Training Video: Microlimit Coaching with Pedro: Playing as the Preflop Aggressor Deuces Cracked
Pedro and threads13 return with an overview of playing as the preflop aggressor as a continuation of episode 3, taking a look at PT4 and learning how specific filters and tools like Combonator can be used to understand constructing postflop ranges better.
Exclusive Articles on pokerfuse PRO:
partypoker Restructures MTT Schedule
Bigger guarantees and faster structures in party’s revamped tourney schedule. partypoker has announced a new weekly MTT schedule on its primary dot-com network. The new schedule promises more variety, and bigger guarantees.
Greek Monopoly OPAP To Choose IT Development Partner for Online Gaming
888 and Playtech are bidders for OPAP’s new internet gambling platform. Greek gambling monopoly OPAP is going ahead with plans to develop its own internet sports betting platform. The result of a competitive tendering process to find a partner for the work is expected to be announced shortly.
Macedonia to Launch Online Gambling Monopoly
A joint venture with Austrian Casino is expected to launch online lottery in mid 2014 with online gaming and sports betting to follow. The Republic of Macedonia has partnered with Casinos Austria to establish an online gambling monopoly. The new “State Video Lottery” is planned to launch in the first half of the year.
Regulation in Review: Europe and Beyond
A weekly review of the latest developments in gaming regulation. This week: France, Spain, Germany, the Netherlands, UK, Colombia, Switzerland and the EU. France
