Poker Blog and Poker Gossip

Bwin.party Digital Entertainment Plc, the giant online gambling company, has recently issued a press release stating that it is going to partner with United Auburn Indian Community (UAIC), an Indian tribe based in California, in a bid to grab a share of the online poker market in California as soon as the state legalizes and regulates its online poker industry.

Bwin.party, which is based in the UK, had also applied for a license to operate in Nevada. Since it had already partnered with MGM Resorts, a Nevada license would enable it to provide the gaming software for online poker rooms operated by MGM Resorts.

Bwin.party’s partnership deal with UAIC will be valid for 10 years. Since UAIC is federally approved and runs the land-based Thunder Valley Casino Resort near Sacramento, California, it is qualified as per law to apply for a license to operate an online poker business in California and Bwin.party will provide the required gaming technology and expertise.

Speaking about the suitability of California for an online poker business, Bwin.party CEOs Jim Ryan and Norbert Teufelberger said that California has a large online poker community. The combined resources and assets of Bwin.party and UAIC will help both companies to grab the opportunities that will be created as soon as online poker is legalized and regulated in California, they said.

Satisfied about the partnership, David Keyser, the chairman for UAIC, said that UAIC chose to partner with Bwin.party because of its valuable experience in the online poker industry, large base of loyal players, and topnotch technology.

Although US online poker is yet to be legalized at the federal level, Keyser feels that it is just a matter of time before this happens. Meanwhile, the Department of Justice’s statement of December 2011 has opened a flood of opportunities for online poker at the state level.

Lock Poker, one of the largest online poker rooms on the Merge Gaming Network, has confirmed that it is going to acquire Cake Poker Network, owing to which it will leave Merge Gaming Network. By the end of this month, Lock Poker will have rebranded Cake Poker Network as Revolution Gaming.

Expressing excitement over the acquisition, Lock Poker CEO Jennifer Larson said that the acquisition is a dream that has come true for Lock Poker. Explaining that the online poker room has outgrown Merge Gaming Network although the network served as an excellent stepping stone when Lock first joined it, Ms. Larson said that Lock Poker now needs to move on. According to Lock Poker, the only way to success is to adhere to its philosophy of partnering with its players.

The transition will be smooth and hassle free because Lock Poker has its own cashier, and online poker players at Lock Poker will hardly notice the change. Besides, Cake Poker has already announced that it will continue operating under the name of Revolution Gaming.

The Lock Poker software will be updated on May 31 without causing any inconvenience to players. If online poker players log into their Lock Poker accounts, they will find their real money accounts and all their favorite Lock Poker features unmodified. Since Lock Poker will continue with its own cashier, requests for withdrawals will be processed in record time as usual. Owing to a major change in theVIPprogram, poker players will receive larger and better rewards for loyalty, and rakeback players will get Revolution Gaming’s larger rakeback percentages.

Players who want to experience the new Lock Poker experience simply have to register a real play account. If they sign up through the link provided on Card Player, they will receive a grand first deposit bonus of 150 percent up to $750.

Amarillo Slim, the reputed and legendary poker player who has often been described as one of the best poker players in the world, passed away a few days ago at the ripe old age of 83.

Slim’s son, Bunky Preston provided a statement regarding his father’s death and said,”He was playing poker until the very, very end.”

Sadly, the famous poker player had been battling colon cancer and died from the illness. Amarillo Slim has had several noteworthy achievements during his lifetime, one of which is a place in the Hall of Fame.

Amarillo Slim did a lot for the entire poker industry during his lifetime and helped to bring the game of poker into the forefront. Born as Thomas Austin Preston, Jr., the poker player was eventually called Amarillo Slim at the poker table. Slim has been credited to be the player who “brought poker out of the back alleys.” According to Larry Grossman, a poker historian, “It was really Slim that became the face of poker for middle America.”

Slim was also known for his interesting tips and had a unique approach for playing professional poker. Slim has been known to have said, “Look around the table. If you don’t see a sucker, get up, because you’re the sucker.” Another tip for winning at poker that Slim was often known to share was that, “Anyone that never loses doesn’t do much playing. If there wasn’t any losing, it wouldn’t be any fun.”

Amarillo Slim also became a very popular poker player in the course of time. Slim won several poker games and even took the championship title for the World Series of Poker in 1972. Slim has also appeared on several talk shows like the Tonight Show and has helped popularize the game of poker.

The World Series of Poker recently announced its plans for expansion for next year. For the year 2013, the World Series of Poker has plans to extend its boundaries and host the WSOP events in a city that it has never visited before.

In 2013, poker players in Melbourne, Australia, can expect to enjoy the World Series of Poker right in their own city as the WSOP will be hosting several events with gold bracelet prizes for players there.

The new venture into the country of Australia is part of the WSOP APAC or the World Series of Poker Asia-Pacific tourney and will be conducted at the Crown Melbourne. The Crown Melbourne has formed ties with the World Series of Poker organization and has made plans to host the WSOP there next year and perhaps for several more years.

According to Ty Stewart, the director of the World Series of Poker, “Our goal is to establish the worldwide grand slam of poker and use our platform to elevate the game through a series of major championships. With WSOP Las Vegas growing annually and WSOP Europe poised for long-term success after five years, the time is right to turn our attention to the dynamic poker scene in Asia and Australia. Given Crown’s success with the ‘Aussie Millions Poker Championship,’ we couldn’t ask for a better partner than Crown to establish the Asia-Pacific’s definitive poker festival.”

The WSOP will be hosting 5 gold bracelet events at the Crown in Melbourne and the tourney will take place on the 4th of April 2013 to the 15th of the same month. The Crown Melbourne is also the host of the Aussie Millions poker tournament. Although the entire schedule and lineup of events for the WSOP APAC 2013 has not been released, players are still very excited.

The European Poker Tour or EPT recently hosted an all female poker event at Monte Carlo. This is the first time in history that the EPT organisation has ever hosted an all female poker tournament event and it was won by Victoria Coren. The event featured a €5000 heads up poker tournament in which only female players were allowed to participate.

Victoria Coren, a well known television broadcast host and poker player, proved her mettle at the poker table when she won the first place prize at the all ladies event at the European Poker Tour 2012 at Monte Carlo. Coren had to go up against several other well known top poker players like Melanie Wisner, an American poker player and Annette Obrestad, Juha Helppi.

Once she had won the €58,900 prize, Victoria Coren was excited and commented, “I’m really happy and excited to have won this event. Just like when I won the big EPT tournament in London a few years ago, I’m not even thinking about the money yet – I’m just really pleased to come first in a tournament full of such brilliant professional players…My competitive streak is very satisfied! But don’t get me wrong, that kind of money will buy a LOT of delicious cups of tea…”

This is a noteworthy win on account of the fact that this is a historical event in the EPT. However, this is not the first time Coren has participated in an international poker tourney and cashed in the money as the celebrity poker player has also participated in and placed in the final table of the first IFP event held in November of 2011.

Coren had to go up against Melanie Wisner for the last leg of the event, but managed to come out on top in first place and won €58,900 for her troubles.

In a surprising move, after Full Tilt Poker recently re-launched itself as New Full Tilt in Ireland and poker players expected the site to go back live and things to start working again, news reports reveal that the deal between Full Tilt Poker and Groupe Bernard Tapie has been dropped.

Although it appeared that Groupe Bernard Tapie was almost about to buy out the Full Tilt Poker site from the US Department of Justice for a sum of $80 million, the deal was cancelled soon after an issue about how soon the US poker players with FTP should be paid.

Groupe Bernard Tapie and the US Department of Justice butted heads over this issue and when it was found that they could not reach a suitable agreement, the GBT bowed out of the deal. This was because the US Department of Justice had demanded that Groupe Bernard Tapie pay back all of the Full Tilt Poker players within 90 days of making the purchase. What’s more, the DOJ had demanded that all Full Tilt Poker players be paid back in full. Perhaps, this was too much of Full Tilt Poker troubles for Groupe Bernard Tapie to take on and they realized that it was not worth the deal.

According to Benham Dayanim, the attorney and spokesperson for Groupe Bernard Tapie, the sudden 90 day deadline was a deal breaker. “We were not prepared to do that. The DOJ did not make that a deal-breaker until the very end.”

Barry Boss, who is the attorney for Full Tilt Poker made an official statement revealing that the deal between Full Tilt Poker and GBT would not be taking place. “Despite this development, Full Tilt Poker is more optimistic than ever that its No. 1 goal will be obtained: Full Tilt players will be repaid,” he said.