Bwin Expected to Increase Revenues with Acquisition of Italian Online Poker

Bwin, an Austrian-owned gambling operator, is on the move to acquire an Italian online poker site, Gioco Digitale.  This move is said to bring more profits into Bwin's coffers, and even before this acquisition, Bwin's share has already risen from 7% to €29.10, the highest of which was seen in the latter part of July.

A Good Move

This bold move by Bwin has impressed analysts and investors alike, especially since Bwin's stock value increased since last Monday.

The only thing that Bwin wants to share right now is that the transaction to get a hold of Gioco Digitale is on its final stages, but as for the rest of the details, Bwin decided to keep mum on the issue.  [Read][more...]

Prahlad Friedman Bags the 2009 WPT Legends of Poker

August was a great month, indeed, for professional poker player, Prahlad Friedman, as he bags the 2009 WPT Legends of Poker tournament, which earned him a nice profit of $1,009,000.  In fact, not only has he won the prestigious title and that the much-coveted prize money, but he also defeated Kevin Schaffel, one of the November Niners of 2009 WSOP Main Event, heads up. [Read][more...]

$2M Prize Pool Up for Grabs at the Borgata Poker Open Championship Event

Last year, Atlantic City's Borgata was not included in the World Poker Tour's lineup, but this year is bound to be different.  This year, 2009, WPT will see its players at this prestigious hotel in Atlantic City, The Borgata, for a 16-day tournament series, from September 9, 2009 to September 24, 2009.  With a guaranteed prize pool of two million dollars, this event is sure to see poker players from all over the world battling it out at the felt battleground, the poker tables.

The Borgata Casino's Return

Last 2005, Borgata held a very successful poker tournament that piqued the interest of many poker player worldwide, and because of the huge success it created, Borgata is aiming for the same.  But this time, things are a bit different, especially since this casino/hotel is going to be one of the WPT lineups. [Read][more...]

Meet Mike Sexton

Mike Sexton will be 62 In September of this year as he was born in September 1947.  His birth state makes him a Hoosier although he and his brother went to the University of Ohio on a gymnast full scholarship.  He has been playing card games since he was a youth and his skill at the games was evident early in his adult life.  He played in college and even more when he finished a two-year hitch in the Army as Fort Bragg.  His after service job was as a Dance Instructor and working with a friend in a company the friend started.  The company sold articles to bases in North and South Carolina.  Along with his work he spent many hours playing variations of poker in the local card rooms.  His marriage ended and he lost the job, so he stepped up his poker playing for a few years and then he headed for Vegas to try his hand as a professional poker player.  One of the players that was his good friend growing up, and a player he learned from, later became a world-class seven-card stud player.  His friend from his youth was Danny Robinson. [Read][more...]

A Round Up of Poker Ferguson Michigan Poker and a Mish Mash

Chris Ferguson held the chip lead in the LA Classic until the end of the day yesterday.  He started the day with 1.7 million in chips and the lead.  He ended the day in sixth place and a chip stack of 1.5 million and the low stack at the final table.  The chip leader, Chris Karagulleyan, begins today with a stack totalling 4.0 million chips.  Ferguson got off to a very bad beat at the beginning of the round and dropped 500,000 in chips in one hand.  His round was a roller coaster ride, which saw him drop as low as just over half a million in chips and then recover to over 2.2 million only to go back down to the ending balance of 1.5 million.  This is his second final table at a WPT event.

Michigan may be going through a tough economic time, but Poker is still alive at the new poker room at the Turtle Creek Casino that just opened in its new location in June 2008.  The poker room has enjoyed a full table experience since it open.  Leslie Vancamp the poker room manager stated that the Poker Room had been booming from day one of its grand opening. [Read][more...]

NBC National Heads Up Tournament is Set

This annual Heads Up Tournament will be played at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas for three days starting March 5TH.  Each of the four years this 64-player match has been held has proven to be a severe test of Heads Up Play.  This year's announced field is a Who's Who list of poker players from around the world.  Many of them have a strong record in other prestiges' poker events and have a proven capacity to win at any tournament.  The number of WSOP winners is outstanding as well as those that have done well in the WPT and the major tournaments that have been held in Europe.  The list represents players from 15 different countries of origin, which enhances its International flavor.

The player list includes five celebrities, four of them previous players in the event, one Caesars qualifier and three amateur qualifiers.  Reading the list of professional poker players is like an all-star list of the all time best poker players that are still playing.   Famous players like Doyle Brunson and Chris Ferguson give a taste of the quality of the pros that are invited to play.  Previous champions of this tournament are automatic players as well as winners of some of the better-known tournaments. [Read][more...]

Is poker a game of skill? A South Carolina judge thinks so

A South Carolina judge by the name of J. L. Duffy stated it so in the middle of the trail of five men arrested for running a weekly game of Holdem.  He was very clear in his surprise statement that Texas Holdem was obviously a game of great skill and he had no doubt about it.  The defendant's attorney was very surprised by the comment and also said that it sounded very good for his clients.

This group of poker players pulled out all of the stops by binging in a real poker player as an expert witness.  Any one that watches the WPT on TV would recognize their expert witness as Mike Sexton who is seen every week commenting on the play during the Weekly WPT tournament.  You may have also seen him playing very well in some live tournaments this last year.

Since this trial is still going on, the verdict is not known yet and both parties state that no matter who wins there will be an appeal to a higher court.  The violation of the law is in dispute as gambling or betting on a chance outcome is illegal.  A game of skill would seem to go in the face of this law, but it is up to the judge how this case will be settled.   Other states, California for example, have used this logic to make poker rooms and the game itself legal using the game of skill logic. [Read][more...]

Professional Poker Players Still Seeking the WSOP Bracelet

While there are plenty of professional poker players that have won at least one World Series of Poker Bracelet, there are just as many that have not.  Winners of the WSOP bracelet include pros like Doyle Brunson, Bobby Baldwin, Hal Fowler, Stu Ungar, Jack Straus, Tom McEvoy, Jack Keller, Bill Smith, Berry Johnston, Johnny Chan, Phil Hellmuth Jr, Mansour Matloubi, Brad Daugherty, and Jim Bechtel.  Additional winners include Russ Hamilton, Dan Harrigan, Huck Seed, Scotty Nguyen, Noel Furlong, Chris Ferguson, Juan Carlos Mortensen, Robert Varkonyi, Chris Moneymaker, Greg Raymer, Joe Hachem, Jamie Gold, Jerry Yang, and Peter Eastgate.

Winners have been receiving a bracelet along with monetary winnings from the WSOP tournament since 1976 when Doyle Brunson won the tournament; a winner who has earned himself as many as ten of the coveted WSOP bracelets.  The only other person that has won more bracelets than Brunson is Phil Hellmuth who has taken home eleven of the WSOP bracelets.  Johnny Chan has also won ten WSOP bracelets, Johnny Moss has won nine, and Erik Seidel has won eight thus far.  Yet, what of the players that have won huge amounts of cash but have not brought home a WSOP bracelet?  What pros still have yet to get their hands on the coveted WSOP bracelet? [Read][more...]