Poker News and Poker Gossip

Not to be confused with Sky Poker, many airlines have started to look at Poker as a form of entertainment for their guests. For more than a year now, Delta Airlines has provided in-flight Texas Hold’em Poker games through an online venue. Now because of the success for more airlines are getting into the gambling business. British Airlines, Singapore Airlines, Cathay Pacific, and Virgin Airlines will begin offering casino games through online gambling portals.

The opportunity to offer these games will permits online poker players to hone their skills while traveling. They games will be offered in-flight for extended in air travel. While Texas hold them poker has become a revenue-generating forum for Delta Airlines, the games have only been permitted on flights with in the US borders. In the case of the new gambling Airlines the games will be played on flights that originate as well as end outside of the United States. This is an observance of the United States Prohibition of foreign gambling operators offering US citizens online gaming opportunities.

The United States Department of Transportation invested time and finances into a study regarding the potential revenue offered by in-flight gambling. This study revealed that a US based airlines could potentially add an additional $300 million to their annual revenue base. To do this they would use the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 as their protection. This would facilitate the ability to offer in-flight gambling to anybody on their Airlines. However the US would have to open the ability to offer online gaming through the airlines on international flights. This confirms the advantages Singapore Airlines, British airlines, Virgin, and Cathay Pacific will appreciate as they begin to introduce in-flight gambling and poker opportunities.

A while back we reported on Chris “BluffmagCV” Vaughn getting busted for cheating on Full Tilt.  Well, Chris is back playing again at PokerStars under his account SlippyJacks and was caught up in some discussion with a player on the rail this morning about the incident.  Here is the chat:

ilivebythe5 [observer]: chris you actually playing this tournament?
SlippyJacks: yes
SlippyJacks: im on a downswing
SlippyJacks: dont make fun of me!
ilivebythe5 [observer]: so you are playing clean now i see?
SlippyJacks: if i win this one ill be breakeven on the week
SlippyJacks: not sure what clean means
Sanborn12 [observer]: k i will take it easy on you.
ilivebythe5 [observer]: no controversy on who is playing for you
SlippyJacks: obv
SlippyJacks: that was long time ago
SlippyJacks: or long time in poker years
SlippyJacks: ie like 9 months
ilivebythe5 [observer]: haha i know
ilivebythe5 [observer]: i’m saying, glad to see you’ve come clean
SlippyJacks: oh
SlippyJacks: ty
ilivebythe5 [observer]: gl
SlippyJacks: yah it only happened once
SlippyJacks: stupid mistake
SlippyJacks: =(
SlippyJacks: all it takes is once tho
swellmuth [observer]: ^^^agreed
Sanborn12 [observer]: lol i think i know but it happens to the best of us
ilivebythe5 [observer]: true, and people had a HAY day with it
SlippyJacks: this is also true
SlippyJacks: i was jus a broke *** kid
SlippyJacks: and my eyes were bigger than my stomach
SlippyJacks: yanno
ilivebythe5 [observer]: but i guess when you accomplish one of greatest feats in online that happens
SlippyJacks: its easier to say u wouldnt do it after u get rich an ****
SlippyJacks: never bein able to play ftp
SlippyJacks: is pretty big punishment
SlippyJacks: in itself
SlippyJacks: im sure sorel would agree
hoooopi [observer]: gl slippyjacks wish u can win
SlippyJacks: tyty
ilivebythe5 [observer]: yeah, but he is at least better than I am only playing one card
ilivebythe5 [observer]: if i was half as talented as that guy, wow
SlippyJacks: hhaha
SlippyJacks: he learned it hand by hand
SlippyJacks: like everyone else
SlippyJacks: it can be done
ilivebythe5 [observer]: granted you still made it pretty darn far yourself in both of them
SlippyJacks: well
SlippyJacks: i won the second one
SlippyJacks: i sold the ftp one with 22 left
ilivebythe5 [observer]: yeah i know but i’m saying that’s still pretty darn good
SlippyJacks: haha
SlippyJacks: lucky
SlippyJacks: any idiot can win a poker tourney

One of the greatest ways to make more money playing poker online is by reading lots of poker books, but if you are like me, you might hate to pay for books. Well, guess what, now you don’t have to! A new site has launched that will give you some of the best poker books for FREE, just for signing up at a poker room.

Launched very recently by my friend Marcelo, FreePokerBook.net’s goal is to reward players for their sign-ups at some great poker rooms. Each time you sign up at one of the rooms they promote, you will receive between 1 and 4 high quality poker books.

Some of the free poker books include: “Super System” by Doyle Brunson, “Winning Poker Secrets” from Mike Caro, “Million Dollar Hold’em” from Johnny Chan and Mark Karowe, “Championship Hold’em” by T.J. Cloutier and Tom McEvoy as well as many others. According to the site you can get any book on Amazon up to $25 in value.

If you are unsure which books to pick, you can’t go wrong with Super System by Doyle Brunson. It is considered the poker bible by many poker players and was the first book I ever read related to poker. I learned a ton of great info from reading it and highly recommend it to any players that are looking to take there game to the next level.

To get the books at the different sites you will need to make a deposit, collect a small number of player points (varies per site) and notify FreePokerBook.net that you have completed the requirements. They will then ship the books out directly to your front door.

Don’t read, or already have these books? No Problem! FreePokerBook.net will send you $25 in cash instead.

The best offer I found on the site is for Cardoza Poker, a site started by professional gambler and author Avery Cardoza. When you sign-up through FreePokerBook.net you will get up to 4 books for free! All you have to do is use their Bonus Code, and start playing. The full details can be found on their Cardoza Poker Bonus Code page.

Other rooms currently listed on the site are: Cake Poker, Full Tilt Poker, Titan Poker, and Sun Poker. All of these other sites will get you 2 books, other than Full Tilt Poker, which is only 1 book.

The free book promotions are separate from all the regular deposit bonus promotions, so you will still get a bonus for your sign-up on top of the free books.

If there is anything that you don’t understand about the process FPB.net has a support email that will answer all your questions. Just send them an email and they will work with you to getting your free poker books.

What are you waiting for, go get your free poker books now!

Last week brought about one of the biggest hands online ever for 19 year old Full Tilt Poker player, Brian Hastings. This is one of the largest hands online ever on Full Tilt Poker’s High Stakes PLO tables and reaches $354K! It just amazes me sometimes what these idiots will play with for such huge pots (check out their hands pre-flop):

Full Tilt Poker Game #6355221650: Table Pantheon (6 max) - $200/$400 - Pot Limit Omaha Hi - 0:46:32 ET - 2008/05/10
Seat 1: SteveSung ($176,831)
Seat 2: Brian Hastings ($233,327)
Seat 3: howisitfeellike ($18,396)
Seat 4: OMGClayAiken ($101,881), is sitting out
Seat 5: La Key U ($17,798)
Seat 6: CHUFTY ($36,192)
CHUFTY posts the big blind of $400
SteveSung raises to $1,200
Brian Hastings raises to $4,000
howisitfeellike folds
CHUFTY folds
SteveSung calls $2,800
*** FLOP *** [Kh 7c Jh]
Brian Hastings bets $6,800
SteveSung raises to $28,800
Brian Hastings has 15 seconds left to act
Brian Hastings raises to $94,800
SteveSung has 15 seconds left to act
SteveSung has requested TIME
SteveSung calls $66,000
*** TURN *** [Kh 7c Jh] [5d]
SteveSung bets $78,031, and is all in
Brian Hastings calls $78,031
SteveSung shows [3h 8h Ts 6c]
Brian Hastings shows [5s Js 3c Jc]
*** RIVER *** [Kh 7c Jh 5d] [3d]
SteveSung shows a pair of Threes
Brian Hastings shows three of a kind, Jacks
Brian Hastings wins the pot ($354,060) with three of a kind, Jacks
SteveSung is sitting out
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $354,062 | Rake $2
Board: [Kh 7c Jh 5d 3d]
Seat 1: SteveSung showed [3h 8h Ts 6c] and lost with a pair of Threes
Seat 2: Brian Hastings showed [5s Js 3c Jc] and won ($354,060) with three of a kind, Jacks

If you have a big enough bankroll to take on donks like these, head over to Full Tilt Poker.

No deal was made, and the players at the final table played out the tournament for the full prize pool.  In the end, kared69 came out on top winning just over $200,000 after beating out etushekki.  Kared69 outlasted just over 7,000 players to take the first place prize.

Prior to winning this event, Kared69 had only had 3 cashes, the biggest being just $215.  This was definitely a huge increase to his bankroll!

Here are the final results from the tournament:

1. kared69 — $200,558
2. etushekki — $100,990
3. bestbuy82 — $71,120
4. Stefano/Zio — $56,896
5. KILLER ACE — $42,672
6. draqq — $31,293
7. traction1 — $22,047
8. Genius005ca — $12,802
9. perezj234 — $8,392

The Sunday Millions tournament runs every week on Pokerstars.com at 16:30EST.  The direct buy-in is $200 but there are satellites starting at around 500 player points, or about $10.  Visit Pokerstars.com today.

Many professional players showed up to play the FTOPs Main event this past weekend, including Phil Ivey, Andy Bloch, Huck Seed, and Robert Mizrachi, but it was a non-pro that ended up winning the event that goes by the alias Cheesemonster. Prior to this event, Cheesemonster had roughly $200k in online winnings, but this win sky-rocketed his Full Tilt winnings to almost $600,000.

Cheesemonster outlasted 4,748 players, to win a total of $410,780 of the $2 Million Guaranteed in prizes. Ivey busted out on the bubble, and the most known online player at the final table was Jason “strassa2” Strasser.

The final results were:
1. cheesemonster — $410,780
2. MarMoss — $249,375
3. SLmelonman — $161,500
4. frostey — $125,875
5. Dwarf — $95,000
6. R3dL0bster — $71,250
7. kiwid10 — $54,625
8. awriver — $41,563
9. Jason “strassa2” Strasser — $30,875

Not bad for a $500 buy-in event! The FTOPS series of events run roughly every 4 months on Full Tilt Poker and this year they boasted over $20 Million in guaranteed prizes. For more info, visit Full Tilt Poker.