PokerStars recently signed a deal with Fox Sports to offer a free poker room on FoxSports.com.  In addition to the poker room, PokerStars will also offer several other services such as poker rules, poker strategy, and poker news.

Popular speculation is that FoxSports.com made this deal so that they could compete with ESPN.com, which leads all mainstream online sports sites in poker content.  Now Fox Sports has the benefit of having the world’s largest online poker room providing content for them.  

The obvious benefit to PokerStars is that they get to advertise their brand name on a mainstream sports website.  This should lead a lot of sports fans towards PokerStars’ fantastic online poker deals!

Joe Versaci, who is the North America Regional Marketing Director for PokerStars, reflected on the importance of the deal by saying, “Foxsports.com is one of the most popular online destinations in the world, with thriving sports, gaming, and poker arenas that host the best live and editorial content on thousands of sporting and gaming events every week.  This tie-in will see FoxSports.com and PokerStars combine the best live and editorial content with the web’s best online poker games.”

This is not the first time that PokerStars and Fox Sports have worked together.  Last year, the two sides created the “Million Dollar Challenge” TV show, which gives contestants a chance to play poker heads-up against both celebrities and PokerStars’ players.  When a contestant wins, they can choose to go home with their money, or risk the money to play Daniel Negreanu for $100,000; if they win against Negreanu, they get to come back and compete for $1,000,000.

If you’d like to appear on the Million Dollar Challenge, you should sign up for PokerStars and look for qualifiers.  As long as you’ve downloaded their poker software, you’ll be ready to win your way onto TV.

Just months after shocking the world with his retirement from casino poker, Peter Eastgate once again made poker news after putting his 2008 WSOP Main Event gold bracelet for sale on the popular bidding site eBay. 

As you may have guessed, Eastgate didn’t put the bracelet on eBay because he is hurting for money; after all, Eastgate did win over $9.15 million in the 2008 Main Event.  Instead, Eastgate put his bracelet up for sale to help the charity organization UNICEF.  Eastgate’s poker tournament bracelet was listed on eBay earlier this week for $16,000 (the price it was appraised at).

But you can guarantee that the bidding will go even higher since famous poker pro Tony G said that he’ll be bidding for the bracelet too.  The popular Party Poker player released a statement in regards to the bracelet that read, “I have decided that I am going to buy Peter Eastgate’s WSOP Main Event winner’s bracelet.  It is currently trading at $16,500 on eBay, and I am going to lead the bidding at $17,500. I don’t expect any further bids and, as I know, there are very few people with the heart and courage to challenge a determined Tony G.”

And while it’s definitely interesting that a noted live/online poker player like Tony G wants to buy the bracelet, his planned use for the bracelet is even more interesting.  He said, “The plan is to get it adapted into a special collar for my trusted German shepherd, Zasko.  The ultimate dog bling, as my gladiator and protector, he deserves to be kitted out in such style.”

Whether Tony meant for his comment to spark a bidding war or not, 40 bids were put in after his comments causing the price to rise from $16,500 to over $45,000!  Looks like he has some more bidding to do……

Phil Hellmuth has become synonymous with Ultimate Bet Poker as he’s been with the company since the late 90’s.  However, the unthinkable has happened and people are actually speculating that Hellmuth might leave UB after he showed up to the PokerStars NAPT Los Angeles event without his customary Ultimate Bet gear.

Since signing a deal with Ultimate Bet, it’s become customary for Hellmuth to be decked out in UB logos.  However, the absence of poker logos at the NAPT Los Angeles poker tournament started the rumors that Hellmuth could be signing elsewhere.  In addition to this, several poker news outlets have reported that Hellmuth is going to be signing a richer deal elsewhere.

One such site was Gambling911.com, which said an insider told them, “He is signing with PokerStars and was offered an amount he could not refuse.  This will be the biggest news in poker in the coming months.”

Full Tilt Poker is yet another poker room that is rumored to be Hellmuth’s new home.  But as of now, everything is pure speculation since Ultimate Bet still has pictures of him all over their website.  In fact, the front page of Ultimate Bet’s site still displays Hellmuth advertising their online poker deals.

Speaking of online poker deals at Ultimate Bet, they are currently running a promotion called “SnG Races to 3,” which offers players the chance to play in a free poker tournament worth $10,000.  The $10k freeroll gives players the opportunity to win $200 seats for the Sunday $200,000 Guaranteed event; just win three sit and go’s in the $5/$6, $10/$11, or $20/$22 groups and you’ll earn a spot in the freeroll.

In addition to this, UB has the always-popular 30% rakeback deals that players can take advantage of.  You can also sign up for this deal at UB’s sister site Absolute Poker.

It didn’t take long for “Isildur1” to make a splash at PokerStars after signing a deal with the world’s biggest online poker room last week. On his first day at PokerStars, Isildur1 played at the high stakes poker tables for over 14 hours before ending with a massive $287,000 profit. If you’d like to see Isildur1’s incredible skills in action, just download the poker software for PokerStars and join the other railbirds currently watching him.

And you’ll definitely want to be watching when the anonymous online poker star from Sweden takes on Isaac Haxton in the PokerStars SuperStar Showdown. The Showdown starts on Sunday, December 19th when Haxton will risk $150,000 to play poker with Isildur1 in $50/$100 holdem poker games. And there’s a twist to this contest where the players will multi-table on four poker tables.

As you may have guessed, the PokerStars SuperStar Showdown is much like what Tom Dwan is doing with Patrik Antonius and Dan “jungleman12” Cates at Full Tilt Poker. The main differences are that this challenge is actually being advertised by PokerStars, and the money at stake isn’t as high. Even still, $150,000 is a lot of money!

Poker rules for the SuperStar Showdown dictate that the winner will be crowned when either 2,500 poker hands are reached or when one of the players busts out.

If you’re unfamiliar with the contestants in the PokerStars SuperStar Showdown, both Haxton and Isildur1 are pretty well known throughout the internet poker world. Haxton burst onto the casino poker scene when he finished second in the 2007 WPT PokerStars Caribbean Adventure ($861,789). In 2009, Haxton made poker news headlines again when he took second place at the $40,000 WSOP 40th Anniversary No-Limit Hold’em tournament ($1,168,565). In all, Haxton has cashed 13 times in the WSOP and earned over $2.8 million in live tournament winnings; this doesn’t even account for all the money he’s made in cash games.

Isildur1 is a little more known than Haxton despite never revealing his true identity. Isildur1 is famous for taking an initial bankroll of $1,000 and turning into a $1 million in just a year. The Swede has also been involved in some of the biggest poker pots in history, and was the first person to lose a $1 million pot. Most people would probably favor Isildur1 in this match up, but Haxton is certainly a good player who will make the SuperStar Showdown exciting to watch.

We’re not even two weeks into 2011, and the biggest poker news of the year has already happened. On Sunday, Viktor Blom revealed himself to be mystery online poker player “Isildur1.”

The poker community has been buzzing about the identity of “Isildur1” ever since he stormed onto the high stakes scene in 2009. “Isildur1” was involved in some of the biggest poker hands in history, and earned millions of dollars over the past two years. Everybody from Sammy Farha to Phil Hellmuth was pegged as the man behind this poker screen name. But it ended up being the person who most people had tabbed as “Isildur1” in Blom.

Blom’s unveiling happened at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure when he played Bertrand “ElkY” Grosspellier in $50/$100 holdem poker. As soon as the matchup began at 7pm ET, the poker world knew for sure who “Isildur1” was. After the theatrics were over, Blom went on to defeat Grospellier in the 100-hand poker game.

It’s no surprise that Blom chose a PokerStars event to unveil his secret identity seeing as how the world’s biggest online poker room recently signed him. In just his first day as a Team PokerStars member, Blom earned $287,000 in a 14-hour session. Blom followed up this marathon session with two PokerStars SuperStar Challenges as he faced both Isaac Haxton and Tony G; Blom was defeated by Haxton and managed to beat Tony G.

One thing to look forward to with Blom as a PokerStars member is that he’ll now be competing in all of the major poker tournaments. PokerStars said as much by releasing the following statement:

“Although he’s yet to make a real impact on the live tournament circuit – his biggest cash so far being a 16th place finish at the World Series of Poker* Europe Main Event in 2010 – Viktor will be playing all the major events in the months to come, looking to take down his first title.”

Even if you favor online poker 100% over casino poker, you have to admit that it would be great to play in a land-based tournament where €1,000,000 is on the line. You especially have to admit that it would be great to play poker for this amount totally free of charge!

But who would give you a free shot at a €1,000,000 prize pool? Well if you read the title of this poker news, then you’ve probably guessed that Everest Poker is who since they’re currently giving away $9,000 prize packages for their own Everest Poker One tournament.

If you haven’t heard anything about this poker tournament, here’s the deal: Everest Poker One is going to be held at Monaco’s luxurious Sporting Monte-Carlo from April 21st to April 24th. And in case you didn’t catch it the first (or second) time, there will be €1,000,000 in guaranteed money up for grabs.

Those who are interesting in winning a $9k Everest Poker One prize package should download the poker software for Everest, and start playing in these satellites:

- Wednesday through Monday freerolls (times varies); the top 50 players move on to the 1,000 points freerolls.

- Wednesday through Monday 1,000 Summit Points satellites at 20:30 GMT; the winner receives a seat in the $360 prize package finals, while second and third place get a Sunday satellite ticket.

- $33 Monday satellite at 20:30 GMT; top three players earn $360 prize package finals seats.

- $33 Tuesday satellite (time varies); one $360 prize package finals seat is given away.

- $33 Sunday satellite at 20:30 GMT; five $360 prize package finals seats are offered.

- $360 prize package finals on Tuesday at 20:30; one $9,000 Everest Poker One prize package guaranteed, while one prize package will be given out for 27 players in this satellite.

If you win a $9,000 prize package, it will cover your $6,900 Main Event buy-in, and leave $2,100 left over for plane tickets and hotel accommodations. And of course the big prize is that you’ll be playing for the aforementioned €1 million prize pool free!

Anybody who has played online poker long enough knows that it’s a game of swings – especially at the high stakes. Even with this being said, it’s worth nothing that Gus Hansen, Patrik Antonius, and Di “Urindanger” Dang have already earned $1.5 million in 2011 – and we’re not even two months into the year!

It’s not surprising that all three players play at Full Tilt Poker because this site has one of the highest rakeback offers at 27%. And you can only imagine the massive amount of rakeback that Hansen has made with almost $2.5 million in ‘11 profits. As we reported before in our poker news section, Hansen is in the midst of a huge upswing that began in October of 2010; he’s earned around $5.5 million since then.

Patrik Antonius has also enjoyed a nice start to 2011 as he’s made $1.1 million in profits. And Antonius has proven to be a master of two games since he’s made over $356k in Limit Holdem poker, and an additional $446k by playing Omaha Hi/Lo. Besides the Hi/Lo and Limit games, Antonius has went on to earn plenty of profits in PL Omaha and NL Hold’em too.

Dang has hauled in the second most money this year behind Hansen with $1.5 million in profits. Dang’s best variation has been PL Omaha, where he’s made over $652k in these poker games. The earnings uphold Dang’s reputation as one of the top internet poker players in the world.

And while you may not rank up there with Dang, you can still make quite a bit of money by signing up at Full Tilt, and taking advantage of the aforementioned rakeback deal. Who knows…..maybe one day you’ll also be mentioned with the likes of Hansen, Antonius and Dang.

We’ve already brought you poker news about Mini FTOPS within the past few weeks. However, Mini FTOPS XIX at Full Tilt Poker is going to be so big that we’ve decided to remind you again because it starts next week on March 6th. We also want to remind you about Full Tilt’s 27% rakeback deals too.

Not only will Mini FTOPS XIX offer $8 million in guaranteed money across 45 poker games, but the buy-ins are extremely cheap since most of them range from $11-$55. Considering that you’d be playing for 6-figure tournament prize pools in most of these tournaments, the buy-ins are insanely low!

Want evidence of this fact? Then take a look at Sunday’s Event #1 holdem poker tournament, which offers a $300,00 prize pool, yet costs just $22 to enter. If you were to play in a similar-sized tournament at another online poker room, your buy-in would be 10 times this amount – if not much higher.

If you’re looking for another cheap tournament that’s really huge, Event #10’s NL holdem 6-max tourney on March 9th only costs $11 to enter, and the prize pool is going to be $250,000. When you add in the fact that this is a rebuy poker tournament and its also multi-entry, the prize pool should be much bigger. The Event #18 rebuy holdem tournament on March 12th also promises to be big since its prize pool is worth $300k, and the buy-in is a mere $11.

There are plenty of tournaments like this across the board in Mini FTOPS, so it’s a low limit player’s dream! Of course, anybody who wants to break out of the low limits, and take a crack at the big-time should consider the Mini FTOPS XIX Main Event. It costs $75 to enter, and the prize pool will be huge at $1.25 million. Even if you can’t afford the $75 buy-in, there will be satellites and qualifiers for the Main Event running throughout March. The same goes for all of the other Mini FTOPS tournaments too.

While Full Tilt Poker pro Tom Dwan and PokerStars pro Viktor “Isildur1” Blom are still busy issuing challenges on the felt, Victory Poker player Andrew “good2cu” Robl has a challenge of different sorts. Robl, who has been doing some mixed martial arts training when he’s not busy earning 33% rakeback at Victory Poker, has issued a $50,000 cage match challenge to any beginner fighter (or poker player).

Robl announced the challenge through his poker blog at CoinFlip, and started out talking about his training experiences by writing, “I’ve been training MMA (mostly jiu justi) 3-4X times a week. I train at Sergio Penha’s, and I recommend it to anyone who wants to train Jiu Justi in Vegas. Sergio is the Man!”

Getting to the actual challenge, Robl wrote, “I was planning on doing a $50,000 cage fight with Sorel Mizzi come WSOP * time – but Sorel backed out of the bet. He’s had enough problems recently without having to worry about my fists breaking his face. Sorel has always been a great guy in my experience – and I certainly hope the rumors about him aren’t true.”

Besides the MMA fight challenge, Robl also made poker news after a great run in the NBC Heads-UP Poker Championship. Robl was a last minute substitute, but showed that he was certainly no substitute after making it to the final four of this poker tournament; he was beaten by eventual champion Erik Seidel.

Apparently the cameras must like Robl because he was also on High Stakes Poker this past week. Robl got onto the show when poker amateur and Silly Bandz founder Robert Croak vacated his seat after losing a $268,000 pot to Phil Ruffin.

And Robl must seriously be working on becoming a TV star since he also showed up on PokerStars Big Game show, where he caused a small controversy when Party Poker pro Tony G and Daniel Negreanu claimed he was being a “nit.” Fortunately, everything seems to be good between the trio now.

Are British poker tournament pros Liv Boeree and Sam Holden starting a poker boom in the UK? The BBC definitely seems to think so since they prominently featured both players in a recent article called “Poker’s Faces: Are the British about to invade?”

In regards to Holden, the 22-year-old from Sussex is fresh off of a 9th place finish in the 2011 WSOP Main Event. And the big final table appearance has done more for Holden than just deliver him a $782,115 cash; it has also earned him plenty of fame through poker news. As the BBC put it, “Although he has now been a professional player for about four years, this year was his first entry into the WSOP tournament. His arrival at the final nine players at his first attempt has caused ripples in the global poker community.”

Interestingly enough, Holden doesn’t think that he’s alone in his outstanding accomplishments because there are plenty of other Brits who are playing well in the poker world. He told the BBC, “British poker is doing incredibly well at the moment. Over the last two years we’ve had brilliant results in the biggest tournaments in the world, both in live tournaments and online. Considering our population, and population of players, it’s quite incredible really.”

Moving along, those who follow poker need no introduction to Liv Boeree. She began playing in 2005, and catapulted herself onto poker’s main stage after winning the 2010 EPT San Remo Main Event ($1,698,300). Since that time, she has also experienced a great deal of success in online poker while playing at PokerStars. Currently, the 27-year-old beauty thinks that UK poker is definitely in a prosperous period as she said, “The UK has exploded onto the international poker scene. The boom started with the spread of online poker sites, and that’s trickled down into the nation’s subconscious. It was always popular in the US, but now we’re having our boom.”

She also spoke about how poker has risen from the underground clubs and high stakes casinos to become available for everybody. Her exact words were, “Twenty years ago people maybe imagined poker being played in underground rooms or in casinos with big high rollers. This is not the case…it’s so accessible now.”

One person from the BBC article who has benefited from the increased accessibility is 33-year-old Ian Taylor, who has made online poker a full-time job. But it hasn’t been glamorous for Taylor as he commented on the typical British poker grinder by saying, “If you took all the professional poker players in the country, you’d find there are a lot more like me than the Liv Boeree’s, and the big live tournament players that you’ve heard of.”

Despite the fact that not everybody can be Sam Holden or Liv Boeree, you can still bet that more Brits will be trying to emulate these poker stars based on all of the success that they’re having.

It’s not hard to spot the biggest poker story from this past week – Ryan Riess winning the 2013 WSOP Main Event along with $8,361,570. Riess capturing the Main Event title was only the beginning, though, since it opened up a number of interesting side stories too. We’ll cover each of these stories in depth, along with JC Tran’s disappointing finish and Germans crushing tournaments…

Ryan Riess: “The Best,” Sponsorless, Acknowledged by Megatron

Riess certainly didn’t hold back during his post-victory speech as he mentioned, “I just think I’m the best in the world.” This comment opened up a can of worms as many pros reacted to the boast, with some thinking that he was being plain cocky and others appreciating his confidence.

Love him or hate him, Riess is definitely one of the more memorable Main Event champs in history. Not only did he refuse to sign with a sponsor, but he also wore a Detroit Lions number 81 jersey to the final table. This happens to be the number of star wide receiver Calvin “Megatron” Johnson, who said, “To see that he won even though he could’ve been paid to wear some stuff that sponsors would’ve paid him to wear, you know that’s some love he’s showing for the Lions.”

It’s hard to tell what level of fame Riess will achieve in the future. But from his confident boast to shrugging off a sponsorship deal in favor of a jersey, it’s clear that he’s quite different from many other Main Event champions. And if Riess stays relevant, the 23-year-old could certainly appeal to a more mainstream crowd.

JC Tran’s Finish hurts Skill Argument
In the modern era of poker, it’s rare for a big-name player like JC Tran to have the chip lead going into the WSOP Main Event final table. So with his wealth of experience and large chip lead, Tran was an easy choice as the favorite to win the 2013 WSOP Main Event.

But it wasn’t enough for the 36-year-old as he struggled to a very disappointing fifth-place finish ($2,106,893). In the aftermath, Tran said that the best final table hands he was dealt were A-K (once) and A-Q (twice) in tough spots. Anybody who knows poker realizes that even the best players struggle when they go this card dead.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t exactly help the ‘poker is a skill game’ argument that the industry is preaching to politicians around the world. Governments that frown upon online poker often use the excuse that it’s just like any other form of gambling. And with Tran bowing out in fifth place after leading the world’s most prestigious final table, the skill-game argument takes a hit – no matter how unfair this may be.

German Domination Continues
Philipp Gruissem kicked last week off with a victory in the $100,000 WPT Alpha8 High Roller ($1,379,840). His German countryman, Tobias Reinkemeier, also had a very strong showing after taking third place ($564,480).

The Alpha8 event marks yet another outstanding recent tournament for German players. Just last month, Martin Finger won the UKIPT £50k London High Roller (£821,000), while Reinkemeier (£593,900), Christoph Vogelsang (£383,200) and Johannes Strassmann (£224,400) finished second, third and fifth, respectively. October also saw Germans take the top three spots in the 2013 WCOOP Main Event. And let us not forget Niklas Heinecker winning the GuangDong Asia Millions along with $4,456,885 back in June.

German poker players have a reputation for being strong in the mathematics and odds of the game. And based on what we’re seeing in the tournament world these days, there’s little reason to dispute these claims. That said, it’ll be interesting to see if the recent German domination will continue at major poker events.

The post Weekly Flop: Riess going Mainstream, Tran’s Sad Finish, and German Domination appeared first on Rakeback News.

Often hailed as the future of online poker banking, Bitcoin got a positive boost from the US government for once….The world’s number one tennis player, Rafael Nadal, is finally ready to step out from behind his laptop and play some live poker….And the second biggest winner in poker tournament history, Sam Trickett, was recently honored with his own room. Let’s analyze all of these stories in this edition of the Weekly Flop.

Bitcoin finally gets some Love from the US Government

Depending on how you look at it, the US government has either been online poker’s biggest enemy or its greatest savior. Okay, so only US Attorney Preet Bharara sees it as the latter, given that he’s led a crusade against online poker sites recently. So it’s no surprise that the American government has looked unfavorably at Bitcoin.

This virtual currency isn’t backed by a government or bank, meaning it can’t be controlled by anybody. So the US would have a heck of a time pulling off another Black Friday sting if Bitcoin were used by all of the poker sites.

Interestingly enough though, US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke recently said that he can see the value in virtual currencies like Bitcoin, “particularly if the innovations promote a faster, more secure and more efficient payment system.” His words led to a three-hour Congressional debate about Bitcoin, which is good because it’s at least being discussed, rather than completely dismissed. Furthermore, Bitcoin stock rose from $400 a share to $777 after Bernanke’s words.

Rafael Nadal is in for EPT Prague

Since Rafael Nadal signed with PokerStars last year, the only thing we’ve been given are little morsels of him playing poker. A short YouTube video here, or a victory in a small €10 online tournament there….basically nothing substantial to let the world know “Rafael Nadal plays poker!!”

But now the 8-time French Open champion has confirmed that he’ll play in a celebrity tournament at EPT Prague. Granted, this isn’t exactly the WSOP Main Event. But it’s nice to see the world’s number one tennis player taking time out of his offseason training schedule to play in a live poker event. Assuming he can notch a big finish in the celebrity tournament, it would definitely bring some mainstream fame to poker.

Sam Trickett gets Poker Room dedicated to him

The list of poker pros who get live poker rooms dedicated to them is pretty short. Phil Ivey has Ivey’s Room (Aria), Bobby Baldwin has Bobby’s Room (Bellagio) and Jamie Gold had the Jamie Gold Poker Room (Tropicana). Now the last one is a major fluke, but you get the idea that it’s even rare for the greats to receive such an honor.

Sam Trickett recently became one of these players when Dusk Till Dawn dedicated a poker room to him. Trickett is the UK’s all-time tournament leader with $19,855,960 in winnings, and this amount also ranks him second among everybody. Located in Nottingham, Trickett’s private room features 45 tables and draws some of the UK’s best cash game action.

The post Weekly Flop: Bitcoin rising, Rafa ready, Trickett gets own Room appeared first on Rakeback News.

The WSOP Europe and WSOP Asia-Pacific are now running on alternate years – does this mean that the WSOP expansion is slowing down?….. Gus Hansen seems to keep losing over and over again in online poker, but he supposedly booked a multi-million dollar backgammon win. David Beckham has landed yet another huge sponsorship deal, this time as the face of a big Asian gambling push. Here’s a closer look at these stories in the Weekly Flop.

WSOPE and WSOP APAC will alternative Years

Ever since 2007, the WSOP Europe has run on an annual basis. And that continued in 2013, with the WSOP Asia-Pacific also being introduced this year. However, the poker world recently found out that the master plan is to alternate these two events on a biannual basis, rather than have them run separately each year. So the WSOP APAC will run in 2014 at Australia’s Crown Casino, while the WSOPE won’t happen until 2015.

After they rolled out the APAC last year, many people wondered how far WSOP organizers were going to keep taking the expansion. Furthermore, the pros were getting annoyed at how the accomplishment of winning a gold bracelet was being diluted. It appears as if the WSOP has finally heard players’ requests and decided to stop handing out bracelets like free candy. Furthermore, this move should allow the WSOP to create bigger and better international events in the future.

Gus Hansen: The High Stakes Backgammon King?

It’s becoming a tired story now…Gus Hansen plays online poker, Gus Hansen loses. The Great Dane is now down around $11 million since Full Tilt Poker began offering games again in November of 2012. So where does this guy get all of his money from? Well, according to retired French footballer Jean-Philippe Rohr, a good portion of Hansen’s money came from a high stakes backgammon game.

Rohr, who’s a backgammon/poker pro himself, recently told PokerListings that Hansen won $2.5 million while playing backgammon. Apparently, the high stakes game took place in the three-time WPT champion’s Monaco hotel room last year. Hansen was doing so well in this game that he actually skipped Day 2 of the EPT High Roller, despite being the chip leader. Of course, this $2.5 million profit doesn’t even begin to cover the massive online poker losses. But it’s nice to hear that Hansen is at least doing well somewhere.

Beckham to promote Las Vegas Sands in Asia

David Beckham already has lucrative sponsorship deals with companies like Coca-Cola and IBM. And now, you can add one more big sponsor to the list since the recently retired footballer has inked a deal to represent Las Vegas Sands.

The plan is for Beckham to increase the Sands’ presence in China since direct casino advertising is illegal in the world’s largest country. Given that the former Manchester United star is already promoting youth football (soccer) in China, it only makes sense that he could also push gambling too – just not to the same age demographic hopefully. With Beckham’s instantly recognizable face and marketability, he should definitely give the Sands a boost in Macau.

The post Weekly Flop: WSOP Goes Biannual, Gus Finally Wins, and Beckham is back appeared first on Rakeback News.

PokerStars isn’t letting the latest gaming license rejection get them down, as they’re now off to New York… A poker pro leaving $300k in a cab had a happy ending, both for the player and the cabbie… French online poker traffic is in sharp decline, and the National Assembly rejected a measure that could’ve helped out the market in a major way. Check out all of these stories in the Weekly Flop.

Rational Group using Heavy Lobbying Efforts on New York

After being shut out of the Nevada online gaming market, PokerStars’ parent company, the Rational Group, had hoped to put their hooks into New Jersey. But again, they were rejected when state officials suspended review of their gaming application for two years. Popular speculation is that New Jersey are desperate to give their Atlantic City casinos a boost, and they don’t want them competing against PokerStars.

But Rational haven’t given up on the United States yet because they’re now sending high-priced lobbyists to the state of New York. The lobbyists are working on New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who was instrumental in gaining support for a recent project that’ll see seven new casinos built in the state. And while there’s no word on Cuomo’s stance on internet gaming, Rational’s obvious goal is to strike while the iron is still hot. Of course, online gaming has to be approved in New York before anything significant happens.

Cabbie gets $10k Reward for His Act of Kindness

2013 closed out with one of the biggest mainstream poker stories in a while. An unnamed Las Vegas poker player left $300k in his cab after getting a ride to Palms Place. The cabbie, Gerardo Gamboa, found the money sitting in a brown bag in his back seat. Rather than devising various ways to keep the cash, he did the honorable thing by contacting his cab company, Yellow Checker Star, and giving the money back.

It turns out that Gamboa won’t go empty-handed after his act of kindness. The poker player, who wishes to remain anonymous, gave Gamboa a $10,000 reward for finding and returning the money. In addition to this, Gamboa also got $1,000 from Yellow Checker Star along with a steak dinner for two.

French National Assembly Rejects Player Pooling Despite Steep Traffic Drop

Online poker got off to a pretty hot start in France when it was launched in 2010. But the traffic is in a steep decline now, and the average number of hourly cash game players has dropped from 5,500 at the beginning of 2013, to under 3,500 at the end of ’13. Most people see the decline as a direct result of the 37% tax rate that operators are charged, which has led a number of French online poker rooms to close.

With the enormous tax rate not budging, the country’s online poker regulator, ARJEL, have argued that they should pool players with Italy and Spain. Such a move would create bigger games and tournaments, leading to more overall profits for all three countries. Unfortunately, the National Assembly have rejected any plans to share liquidity between the three countries’ player pools.

One popular reason for rejecting shared liquidity is the idea that online poker is “out of date” and will continue eating markets up. French Global Poker Index owner Alex Dreyfus had a differing viewpoint on the subject, though, saying that sharing markets would increase both tax revenues for the governments and winnings for the players.

The post Weekly Flop: PokerStars in New York, the Kind Cabbie, French Poker in Trouble appeared first on Rakeback News.

If the story of Tom Dwan winning a $25 million pot in Macau sounds too good to be true, that’s because it is… Greg Raymer has the attention of backers everywhere after announcing a big staking deal… Cheating was so rampant at the Borgata Winter Open that they had to cancel a $2 million guaranteed tournament. Find out more about the hottest poker stories in the Weekly Flop.

Tom Dwan Won $25m Pot…wait, no he didn’t!

Nothing in the poker world is more mysterious than the giant cash games that take place in Macau. This former Portuguese colony and current casino mecca is a hotbed of rumors, from Patrik Antonius being denied a seat because he’s a nit, to guys consistently experiencing multi-million dollar swings. But lately, a story about Tom Dwan winning a US$25 million pot has blown all of these little rumors out of the water.

As CardPlayer Latin America reported, Dwan allegedly won the hand while playing in a US$15k/$30k NLHE game against a Chinese billionaire and two Chinese pros. But as much as we wanted to believe, it was more than a little suspicious that CardPlayer’s story came from third-hand accounts. These suspicions were confirmed by Dwan himself when he put the $25m pot rumor to rest by tweeting:

ya so at the time of this bogus macau story 36hrs ago i was losing on my macau trip, and definitely hadn’t won 25 million in a session.

Greg Raymer Offering Golden Staking Opportunity

The world of poker backing is never a sure thing, and there are more than enough staking horror stories out there to confirm this statement. But if ever there were a guy to put your money behind, it’s 2004 WSOP Main Event champ Greg Raymer.

‘The Fossilman’ recently announced through TwoPlusTwo that he’s trying to raise $100,000 or more for his 2014 poker campaign. He’s asking investors to buy shares of his action at $1,000 a piece, and he’ll be buying at least 20 shares of himself. The profit split will see Raymer take 40% and the backers receive 60%. In the event of a loss, all shares equally absorb the costs, including Raymer’s shares.

Sure, this isn’t your standard backing deal and it theoretically weighs in Raymer’s favor. But then again, this is a player who’s made $7,422,988 in his career and has reached the 6-figure mark in seven out of the past 10 years. Plus, he’s covering his own travel expenses so all he has to do is earn a profit on the felt for backers to win. Given that this staking deal arose because of his wife’s fear of poker variance, and not Raymer being a degen, we like this opportunity even more.

Borgata, New Jersey DGE cancel $2m Tourney over Counterfeit Chips

Cheating is certainly nothing new in the poker world. But rarely do a few unsavory players cheat so badly that they topple a $2 million guaranteed tournament. Sadly, that’s exactly what happened during the Borgata Winter Open $2m event, where one or more players were caught using a “significant amount of counterfeit chips.”

After complaints arose over $5k gray chips that were colored far differently from the rest, the Borgata and New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement conducted an investigation. They discovered that enough cheating had occurred to the point where it impacted the results. It’s a shame that they had to cancel this huge tournament since 4,812 players entered and created a prize pool worth over $2.4 million.

The post Weekly Flop: Dwan Denies $25m Pot, Raymer Seeks Investors, $2m Tourney Cancelled appeared first on Rakeback News.

A stupid act by the player who cheated in a $2 million gtd. Borgata tournament led police right to him… One of the best online poker players ever has landed a spot on the CBS show Survivor… Poker player Edwin Ting must have been an integral of a much-publicized high stakes gambling ring because he received a stiff prison sentence. Find out all the details of these stories in the Weekly Flop.

Christian Lusardi tries to flush Cheating Evidence, leads Police Right to Him

Nobody ever said criminals were the smartest people, and poker player Christian Lusardi proved this through a recent cheating scandal at the Borgata.

As much of the poker world has already heard, a $2m gtd. tournament was cancelled at the Borgata Winter Open when 160 counterfeit chips (worth $800k) were discovered. Finding the perpetrator presented a serious challenge to Borgata officials and the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement because there were 4,812 players in the field. But they caught a break when Borgata Hotel visitors complained about leaking pipes. As it turns out, Lusardi freaked out when his counterfeit chips propelled him to first place and flushed the remaining 540 chips (worth $2.7m) down the toilet.

This may have worked if he were trying to get rid of cocaine, but these were 540 hard, plastic poker chips that we’re talking about. Lusardi would’ve been better off if he’d just taken the chips downstairs in a bag and cast them out to the Atlantic Ocean. Instead, police merely looked at who’d stayed in the room with leaking pipes and found Lusardi. Even if he had gotten away with the crime, the Fayetteville, North Carolina resident would’ve only scored a $6,814 cash for his cheating efforts.

Garrett Adelstein makes the Cast of Survivor: Cagayan

Garrett Adelstein has never had a problem winning in life. He was the valedictorian in his high school class, a Summa Cum Laude with Honors graduate at The University of Arizona, an outstanding online poker player under the name ‘GMan,’ and was a popular instructor at the poker training site DeucesCracked. Now, Adelstein will be trying to win once again since he’s landed a spot on CBS’ Survivor: Cagayan.

The 27-year-old, who lists his hobbies as bodybuilding, alcohol, psychology and cinema, is part of the Brains tribe, which will be competing against the Beauty and Brawn tribes. Assuming he wins, Adelstein will be collecting a $1 million prize. But even if he finishes just seventh or better, he’ll have outdone fellow poker pro Jean-Robert Bellande, who was eliminated in eighth place on Survivor: China.

Edwin Ting headed to Prison for High Stakes Gambling Ring

Among the 34 people indicted for running a high stakes gambling ring that netted over $100 million, Edwin Ting recently had his day in court. And the poker pro probably wishes that he hadn’t since Federal Judge Jesse Furman handed him a 5-month prison sentence. Additionally, Ting will also have to pay back $2 million as punishment for running lucrative high stakes poker games in New York.

So far, 25 defendants have pled guilty to their charges, with only four of these people receiving sentencing. Kirill Rapoport received 6 months in prison after it was discovered that he sent mixed martial arts thugs to collect debts from players. Justin ‘BoostedJ’ Smith, who’s won millions in poker, got a comparatively light sentence after receiving three months of home confinement and two years of probation. Poker pros who helped run the ring and have yet to agree to a plea deal include Bill Edler, John Hanson and Abe Mosseri.

The post Weekly Flop: Chips in the Pipes, Adelstein a Survivor, Ting jailed appeared first on Rakeback News.

The 2014 WSOP may or may not be guaranteeing the second biggest Main Event prize ever… Any questions of IveyPoker being successful were laid to rest last week, but the site actually did too well… There’s a good chance that cheating accusations leveled at 3-time WSOP gold bracelet winner Chau Giang are completely false. Let’s take a closer look at all of these stories in the Weekly Flop.

WSOP Posts Massive Main Event Guarantee, Then Takes It Down

WSOP Main Event participation has been in decline since 2010, when 7,319 players entered the tournament. So Caesars Interactive may be thinking of a new strategy after temporarily posting a $10 million guaranteed top prize. The $10m payout was listed on WSOP.com under the 2014 schedule section.

Unfortunately, any evidence of this has been removed from the website. And Caesars Vice President Seth Palansky wasn’t ready to give any hints on if the $10m first-place prize was for real either as he simply said, “We’re still working through some things on the schedule and nothing should be taken as final.” Was posting the guaranteed top prize an honest mistake? Or was it meant to drum up publicity?

In somewhat related news, a player is selling their 2013 WSOP bracelet on eBay for $99,995. There’s no word on who the seller is, but they listed a $10k buy-in event bracelet. The only players who won $10k buy-in tournaments last year, other than the Main Event, were Daniel Alaei, Jesse Martin and Mark Radoja. So take your pick from these three.

IveyPoker So Popular That Visitors Crashed It!

Phil Ivey launched IveyPoker.com in late 2012 to much fanfare. But as time went by and nothing serious was done with the website, people began to speculate that Ivey would never see any profits from the training site. But as it turns out, IveyPoker may be too successful for its own good. Not long after launching new training videos and content, the site attracted too many visitors and crashed.

Ivey tweeted: “You guys love the new site so much that we’ve exceeded our bandwidth. Please stay with us as we work to resolve some technical issues.” As of now, everything is back to normal. And judging from the larger-than-expected early turnout, IveyPoker should continue receiving lots of players who are hoping to learn from the best.

Chau Giang Cheated in Poker… Or did he?

Todd Brunson caused quite a stir when he tweeted a story about 3-time gold bracelet winner Chau Giang stealing $800 from another player during a Bellagio cash game. Brunson claimed that another pro went to the bathroom, and Giang reached over and took $800 from his chip stack.

If a very successful high stakes player putting his career and reputation at risk for $800 sounds a little fishy, that’s because it probably is. Somebody who claims to have been in the game with Giang got on TwoPlusTwo and wrote that Chau came back from the bathroom and said that somebody took $400 from his stack. Other players at the table told him it was ‘Shun,’ so Giang took $800 – half for what he believed was his, and another half to play the same joke on Shun.

Obviously it’s difficult to cut through all of the gossip here. But nobody should really be jumping to conclusions about Chiang suddenly being a cheater just because Brunson tweeted a second or third-hand account about the Bellagio incident.

The post Weekly Flop: WSOP Guarantee, IveyPoker Too Successful, Chau Giang Falsely Accused appeared first on Rakeback News.

Tom Dwan apparently didn’t part with Full Tilt Poker on terms quite as good as many people thought… Joe Hachem sparked some discussion and even outrage over his comments about WSOP Main Event champs… PokerStars are on the path towards yet another big-time record. Check out these stories in the latest Weekly Flop.

Dwan Obviously has a Problem with Full Tilt
Once part of Full Tilt’s ‘Professionals,’ Tom Dwan and his former sponsor split right before Christmas when his contract expired. Full Tilt’s official statement made it sound like there was no ill will between the two parties, as it read:

Full Tilt Poker and Tom Dwan have agreed to part ways following the recent expiration of Dwan’s contract. To have one of the most respected names in poker on our team has been a great pleasure. We will continue to watch Tom at the tables and wish him every success in the future.

However, a recent interview with Bluff suggests that Dwan doesn’t quite share the same sentiment. After being asked about the long-delayed Durrrr Challenge between he and Dan Cates, Dwan said, “I haven’t been comfortable playing on Full Tilt because I have a really big issue with them.”

While being vague, he continued to mention something about how Full Tilt doesn’t “have the hands” from the early part of the challenge. Dwan says that there’s more to come on his feelings about Full Tilt. So for now, all we can do is guess on what exactly has him so miffed.

PokerStars shoots for Tournament World Record (Again) with 230,000 Players
PokerStars have already broken multiple records when it comes to online tournaments. And they’re gunning for another record again, this time pursuing their own mark for the largest number of players in a tourney.

Stars will hold a $1 buy-in tournament with a $300,000 guaranteed prize pool on February 23rd at 13:00 ET. The goal is to get 230,000 players to enter this event, which would break Stars’ old record of 225,000 players in a June 16th, 2013 tournament.

To sweeten the deal, PokerStars are guaranteeing a $25,000 payout to the first-place finisher. The next 60,000 players will share in $275,000 worth of prize money. Even though the buy-in is just $1, Stars are also offering satellites for those who want to win their way into the big event.

Hachem calls out Main Event Champs, gets Backlash
As many poker players know already, Joe Hachem gave a candid interview with Bluff where he called out Jamie Gold and Jerry Yang for disgracing the legacy of WSOP champions. He also implied that some of the younger champs like Ryan Riess and Greg Merson need to become more sociable and serve as ambassadors for the game.

Hachem’s words certainly didn’t fall on deaf ears since several players commented on the matter. First off, Brett Richey completely blasted him with several tweets, including this one, “Almost impossible for someone to come across worse than @JosephHachem did after winning the main. Yet he’s lecturing ppl on how to behave.”

Yang also weighed in by saying that he wasn’t sure why Hachem called him out. The 2007 Main Event champ said that he gave $1 million of his ME payout to charity, before questioning what Hachem has done for charitable causes.

Daniel Negreanu seemed to agree with a few of Hachem’s principles, such as how it’s good for the game if younger pros are more outgoing and personable. However, he added that the limelight isn’t for everybody and there’s no rule that Main Event champs have to be ambassadors for the game. With all of the discussion going on, maybe Hachem has at least got the ball rolling for the poker world to take a look at itself and do more to interest the casual observer.

The post Weekly Flop: Dwan’s Issue, Stars goes for New Record, Hachem is heard appeared first on Rakeback News.

150 players at the Russian Poker Tour’s Kiev event were locked indoors, then finally evacuated due to the deadly riots in the Ukraine… On a lighter note, Phil Ivey recently discussed an amazing golf prop bet where he turned $1k into $200k… Deadspin wrote a disparaging article on tournaments that got the  poker world’s attention. Here’s an in-depth look at these stories in the Weekly Flop.

RPT Kiev Players fear for their Lives during Riots
One of the biggest international news stories lately is the bloody riots that erupted in the Ukrainian capital of Kiev. Nearly 80 policemen and protestors (mostly the latter) have been confirmed dead and hundreds more were injured in clashes that broke out over anti-protest laws. And in the midst of all this, a poker tournament was taking place.

The RPT Kiev event never finished, though, because clashes outside the Khreschatyk Club started escalating. Tournament officials locked the 150-some players inside the building and served free food and drinks until the deadly situation got better. Eventually, all of the players were evacuated from the casino and to safety. In the aftermath, a spokesman said, “This was the most stressful day in the history of the RPT.”

Some people questioned why the RPT still chose to hold this tourney. Prior to the event, RPT organizers issued a statement that “the situation in Kiev is getting better and there are no reasons to worry for the guests and participants of the RPT.” Obviously this wasn’t the case and running the Kiev tournament was a big mistake. But at least those in charge did a good job of keeping everybody indoors until things settled down.

Ivey talks Golf and Macau High Stakes Games
Phil Ivey hasn’t exactly been a big fan of doing interviews throughout his career. But when the 9-time WSOP champion does do one, he’s always got plenty of interesting stories. He certainly didn’t disappoint in a recent interview with PokerCast.

One of the subjects that he covered was a golf prop bet with WSOP bracelet winner Joe Cassidy. Ivey took 200-to-1 odds on if he could hit a fairly long shot. As Ivey put it, he basically felt like he was “just giving Cassidy $1k.” But amazingly, he made the shot and earned $200,000 off the bet.

Aside from this, the 38-year-old also gave a little glimpse into the hush-hush Macau high stakes action. Many poker pros dream of playing in these games because of the Asian whales. But Ivey said that a lot of the businessmen are getting better and his edge has gotten smaller. He also advised that any pro who wants to get in the big Macau games simply needs to hang out in the card rooms there more.

Poker Tournaments: An Impossible Way to make an Easy Living
Most players these days are aware that you can’t just read a few articles on bet sizing and 3 betting, then proceed to turn out a 50% ROI in tournaments. But would one dare say that you’ll “never make a living playing poker tournaments?”

This is the point that a recent Deadspin.com article attempts to make about live tournaments through the use of Hendonmob stats and an odd reference to Chris Moorman’s online ROI. The Deadspin piece is pretty well written and cites lots of stats/examples in coming to the conclusion that most US-based pros struggle to make an annual salary of $60k through live tourneys. One decent point is how few big weekly tournaments there are in Las Vegas for pros to capitalize off their positive ROI’s.

Just to nitpick the article, though, many of the better pros don’t just stay on US soil. They travel around the world to wherever the biggest events are. So essentially limiting players to Vegas weekly tournaments and the WSOP is a stretch. However, we get the point: the average skilled player will have an easier time earning a living through live cash games.

The post Weekly Flop: RPT Kiev Evacuated, Ivey’s Golf Bet, Poker Tournaments Not Profitable? appeared first on Rakeback News.

Phil Ivey has dipped into the boxing and entertainment industry, and he’s already off to a great start… Shane ‘shaniac’ Schleger has been openly discussing his 15-year crack habit, and people have been furiously ripping him for it… Out with the talk about young poker pros needing to be ambassadors and in with the new shot clock debate. Find out what’s hot in the poker world in the Weekly Flop.

Phil Ivey jumps into the Boxing & Entertainment Promotion World
Unlike other ex-Full Tilt pros who lost a sizable amount wealth from the Black Friday ordeal, Phil Ivey has refused to fade away. He’s gotten IveyPoker off to a strong start after launching training videos featuring himself and other top pros. And now he’s co-founded a boxing and entertainment promotion company called All In Entertainment.

Ivey’s partners include Dallas Mavericks shooting guard Monta Ellis and Washington D.C. businessman Jeff Fried. The group are already promoting rising welterweight boxer Dusty Hernandez Harrison (20-0) as well as Andre Ward (27-0), the WBA title holder and 2011 Ring Magazine fighter of the year.

This company isn’t relegated to just boxing either since they also promote Denver Nuggets point guard Ty Lawson, NBA Hall of Famer Isiah Thomas and famed NFL broadcaster James Brown. Judging from the clientele, Ivey is proving to be far more than just a poker player and continues to expand his business empire outside of the game.

Shane Schleger opens up about Crack Use, sparks Heated Discussion
After excelling in the online poker world for years, Shane ‘shaniac’ Schleger has been devoting more time to his marriage and writing lately. Speaking of the latter, he penned a controversial piece on Slate.com about his varying crack use over the past 15 years. Schleger discussed how he was first introduced to the drug, why crack continues to fascinate him and how he’d like to cut down on his crack use in 2014, though he doesn’t expect to totally be off the drug.

As explained in the article, he’s not trying to get attention or shock people by openly discussing his habit. Instead, Schleger aims to “forge a truthful, direct discussion about drugs before we can comprehend addiction, much less effectively treat drug abuse or hope to implement rational drug policy.” He adds that his greatest fear is that society isn’t even close to achieving this honest dialogue.

Even reading a small portion of the 1,000-plus comments under Schleger’s Slate article, you can see that his prediction is right. Many of the commenters accuse Schleger of being self-deluded, a junkie, and using gambling (poker) as another “high.” Nobody would argue that crack use is a healthy habit that leads to more success. But all Schleger is trying to do is start an adult conversation about recreational drug use without people jumping down his throat and immediately labeling him an addict.

Shot Clock is Poker’s Latest Hot Topic
Throughout the early part of 2014, the poker community was fixated on whose role it is to make poker more fun and interesting to general audiences. Now, thanks to the WPT’s surveys, we’ve moved on to the topic of whether or not poker should feature a shot clock.

According to WPT surveys distributed at the LA Poker Classic, 80% of the players were in favor of a clock. PokerNews also did a poll that shows over 80% of the voters would like a clock. Taking these results into account, it’s pretty clear that live tournament players are tired of seeing others tank for five minutes before mucking 8-3 offsuit.

However, some pros like Marvin Rettenmaier and Jonathan Little have publicly voiced their disapproval over a shot clock. Little expressed the opinion that a clock would discourage recreational players. But while this may be true, the vast majority of players voting in favor of the shot clock probably means it will become a reality in the WPT.

The post Weekly Flop: Ivey Invests in Boxing | Schleger Smoked Out | Shot Clock is Hot appeared first on Rakeback News.