Poker Blog and Poker Gossip

Forgot to post this a few weeks ago, but Mansion has now moved over to the Ongame network.  What does this mean?  More traffic, better software, better support and payment methods, plus much more!  Check out the revised Mansion Poker Review.  (Okay, maybe its not fully updated, it still has the old screenshots, but the new ones are very similar to Pokerroom, Hollywood Poker, or Chan Poker as all these sites are on the same network).

Also, they have updated their bonus so its now $500:

Zero Roulette, the flagship product of the Betfair Casino, has been on a losing streak in 28 of the 130 countries or territories in which it has customers. With no zero to create a house advantage, Betfair’s revolutionary Zero Roulette offers punters a fair chance of winning. It is the only casino game which offers 100% payback to customers.

In fact, in some territories customers have come out on top in Zero Roulette.

- Customers in Greece beat Betfair Zero Roulette to the tune of £29,700 – an actual payback of 100.02%.

Other significant winners over the year included customers from Spain at +£25,400, Germany at +£3,400, and The Czech Republic at +£3,800.

Significant European winners also included customers from Poland, Georgia and Lithuania.

Customers from Malaysia performed the best in Asia – beating the Betfair Casino out of £10,100 at Zero Roulette.

“While most casino operators are looking for clever ways to increase the edge they have over their customers we aim to offer our customers more value,” said Betfair’s Head of Casino Sam Hobcraft. “The results prove that Zero Roulette pays more back to customers per stake made than any other casino product on the market, we have even taken a loss in some countries.”

Betfair entered the online casino market in October 2006 launching the revolutionary Zero Lounge – an area where the customary house-edge is removed for “Zero” games of Baccarat, BlackJack, Jacks or Better and Roulette. In one year of operation the Betfair Casino has catered for more than 75,000 individuals placing over 90 million individual bets. Zero Roulette has proven to be the most popular game, catering for 25% of all bets made.

Notes:
1. Betfair Casino operates under the Betfair Games brand which is licensed in Malta.
2. Betfair is the world’s largest online betting company with over 1 million customers worldwide.
3. Betfair won back-to-back Egaming Awards for Socially Responsible Operator of the year in 2005 and 2006 and Operator of the Year in 2007.
4. The Betfair Casino was short listed for the 2007 Egaming Awards for Casino of the Year and Innovation of the Year.
5. For Zero Blackjack, the rules have been changed such that the house edge is zero. Suited Blackjack and five card 21 pay 2 to 1. By lowering the commission charge from 5 percent to ~2.75 percent, the house edge in Zero Baccarat is decreased to zero. In Zero Jacks or Better, the royal flush payout is increased. Players will have to play the correct strategy on Zero Lounge games of Blackjack, Baccarat and Jacks or Better in order to take advantage of the zero house edge. Roulette will consistently offer zero edge regardless of strategy.

This news couldn’t have come at a better time. Our Betair Casino Bonus just recently doubled to £100 in Free Casino Chips until November 19th. Read our Betfair Casino Review for more information.

Sorry for the lack of updates as of lately, but I spent the last few days in sunny chilly Las Vegas. I went with a bunch of friends for one of my friends’ brothers’ bachelor parties. We stayed 3 nights at the Hard Rock Hotel and had lots of fun. Here are some of the notable events from the trip….

First day/night, Gambled most of the day at Hard Rock (lost about $450) then played some poker at Ceasars Palace. Got busted when my King high flush ran into an aggressive players’ ace high flush. Went to Wing Lei for dinner at the Wynn. My friend and I ran into Young Joc in the hallway. I wasn’t too sure if it was him, but my friend is 100% positive it was. After dinner we hit the tables for a bit. While we were hanging out we caught Charles Barkley hitting the blackjack tables. They shut the table down for him, and the stakes were probably very high (since he has a gambling problem). Our guesses were at least $10K per hand, but probably even higher. Went back to our hotel after going to a few more places, got wasted (my friends’ B-Day) and ended the night.

Second day, slept late went straight to dinner at N9Ne steakhouse. Had a serious dinner… 32oz steak, lobster, shrimp, oysters, and much more, but I could hardly eat anything because I was feeling sick from the night before. We were sitting in the same room (separated by a glass mirror divider) as the guys from Jackass and Freddie Prince Jr. and Sarah Michelle Geller were a few tables away. Went to Moon Nightclub at the Palms, left there in a limo (thank you Palms!), then hit the Rhino (link is to a strip club website), followed by Scores (another strip club) in limos all night… Thanks Gary!

3rd Day… Went to the Las Vegas Gun Store. Shot an AK-47, AR-15, Glock, Tiger Mini and something else. Went for dinner at Mario Batali’s B&B. After dinner took another limo back to the Hard Rock. Went to Body English and shut the place down (stayed til’ close).

Last day, did some shopping, had brunch at the Wynn, then flew back later that night.

All in all, it was lots of fun and I can’t wait to go back to Vegas.

I added two new pages to the site today. On these pages I rank the Easiest Poker Sites, and the Best New Poker Sites. Check them out and if there are any other recommendations for charts, or something you don’t agree with, be sure to post it as a comment to this blog post.

I added a review of Sky Poker this evening.  For those not already familiar with this site, Sky Poker is run by Sky Broadcasting (UK’s largest digital pay television platform and a leading broadcaster of sports, movies, entertainment and news).

Read all about their new site, which doesn’t require any download at all!  This means you can play it on your Mac and Linux machine also.

As a new player, you will get 500 Sky Points for FREE by signing up through Bankroll Boost.  These points are credited automatically and can be used to by into tournaments for free!  For example, 200 points will get you into a $1000 Freeroll.

Sky Poker Review

I will start adding some more posts again now that I am back.  Sorry I couldn’t write while I was away, but there was hardly any time, and it was hard to get to a computer with views like this infront of me: