Phil Ivey is involved in another baccarat “edge sorting” lawsuit. Can he win?… If you thought Peter Eastgate was generous by donating his 2008 WSOP bracelet, then consider that Phil Hellmuth just gave away 11 of his… Cyril Mouly survived a deadly attack, where his driver was stabbed to death. Was his sketchy past the reason for the attack? Let’s discuss this question and more in the Weekly Flop.

Ivey being sued for $9.6m by Borgata – will he win this and the Crockfords Lawsuit?

As many have heard, the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa are suing Phil Ivey for $9.6 million in baccarat winnings. They contend that Ivey used edge sorting to beat them throughout four high stakes baccarat sessions in 2012. The lawsuit also names his accomplice, Cheng Yin Sun, and the card-deck manufacturer, Gemaco Inc.

If you’re familiar with the Crockfords case, where Ivey is currently suing to get £7.8 million in punto banco winnings, he basically used the exact same techniques to win there too. Edge sorting involves spotting tiny manufacturing flaws on the back corners of cards. Apparently, Ivey discovered that there was a faulty deck(s) in play at both Crockfords and the Borgata. He also had some help from Sun because she accompanied him to the table and told the dealer to rotate cards 180 degrees. This was done under the banner that Ivey is superstitious, although rotating cards really just makes it easier to spot the manufacturing flaws.

Now, both the Borgata and Crockfords allege that Ivey used fraudulent means to beat them. And while it appears that the 9-time WSOP champ went far beyond simply looking for card-manufacturing flaws, is what he did really any worse than card counting? Just think of the movie 21, where players formed well-trained teams in a deliberate attempt to count cards and fool casinos. So unless Ivey somehow placed faulty decks in circulation, or there’s something in the story that we’re not hearing, it’s hard to see how he’s much different than card counters.

Phil Hellmuth gives away 11 WSOP Bracelets

Phil Hellmuth has been called a lot of things in his career – self-aggrandizing, attention seeking, a jerk – but generous normally isn’t one word used to describe him. However, people may want to rethink this after Hellmuth tweeted of how he’s given away 11 of his WSOP gold bracelets.

The Poker Brat recently gave away #13 to his “bestie,” Chamath Palihapitiya, a venture capitalist who’s best known for being a VP at Facebook. Palihapitiya certainly doesn’t need the bracelet, given that he’s part owner of the NBA’s Golden State Warriors and fronted a $1 million buy-in for the 2012 WSOP Big One for One Drop. But it’s still a nice gesture by Hellmuth nonetheless. As for where his other bracelets have gone, here’s the breakdown:

WSOP Bracelets: 1 & 12 me, 2 wifey, 3 4 mom dad, 5 sister Ann, 6 bro/law John, 7 8 sons Phillip Nick, 9 10 11 bro Dave sis’s Kerry Molly

Cyril Mouly Escapes Knife-Wielding Assassins, but his Driver is Killed

It’s been a while since we’ve heard Cyril Mouly mentioned, and his name isn’t resurfacing for a good reason today. The Full Tilt Million Dollar Cash Game participant returned to his apartment building with his driver after a party in Paris. They were confronted by two helmeted assassins who both had knives. Mouly’s driver attempted to hold them off while the high stakes poker pro ran to the nearest police station. When the police arrived, they found the chauffeur lying on the ground with a dozen stab wounds. The 60-year-old man died just a few minutes later.

As of now, no motive has been released for the crime and we only have speculation to go on. But a good place to start looking for a motive is Mouly’s sketchy past, which involves his 2011 indictment for “organized fraud” and laundering money for gangs. The Frenchman has been on house arrest ever since, and both he and his driver were among 30 defendants in the case, which went to court last month. Letting the speculation fly, maybe the attack was to keep Mouly quiet, or even arranged by somebody who was defrauded?

The post Weekly Flop: Ivey’s Chances in Borgata Lawsuit, Hellmuth’s Giveaway, Cyril escapes appeared first on Rakeback News.

Thanks to his bracelet prop bets and stellar play, Phil Ivey has always been an exciting player at the WSOP. But will we be seeing less of him?…For the third straight week, Patrik Antonius continues to destroy his high stakes competition…Dan Bilzerian may very well be facing a big lawsuit after tossing a porn star off a roof and breaking her foot. Porn stars, lawsuits, Ivey rumors – let’s check out this edition of the Weekly Flop!

Phil Ivey to Play Far Fewer WSOP Tournaments?

How do you know that you’ve reached the pinnacle of poker fame? When reporters are eavesdropping on your conversations at the tables and reporting it as news the following day. Such was the case for Phil Ivey during the EPT Grand Final in Monaco. A PokerNews reporter listened in while the 9-time WSOP champ was talking to Talal Shakerchi and heard this juicy piece of gossip:

Ivey confirmed that he will be playing the One Drop and all the WSOP events this year but also said it would be the last time he would do such a heavy WSOP schedule. This year would be the end of a three-year WSOP bracelet bet and from next year on Ivey stated that he planned to play cash and maybe eight or so bracelet events.

Ivey has made some of the most famous WSOP prop bets in history, including when he wagered $5 million against Howard Lederer that he could win two bracelets in three years. But if Ivey’s conversation does indeed indicate future plans, we may be seeing a lot less of him in Vegas during the summer. Even worse, we don’t get to see as many of his legendary prop bets.

Patrik Antonius on a $1.5 Million Tear

There are plenty of poker legends who struggle in the online high stakes game today, including even Ivey. But one famed player who hasn’t had any trouble finding his bearings is Patrik Antonius. In each of the past few weeks, his profits have looked like this: $314k, $957 and $298k. Add it all up and that’s $1.57 million over the last three weeks!

Since Full Tilt relaunched in November of 2012, Antonius has earned over $2.7 million on his ‘FinddaGrind’ name. He’s made $5.1 million overall under FinddaGrind and another $11.3 million under his own name before Black Friday.

With a number of new high stakes stars emerging in recent years, it’s nice to see one of the legends like Antonius still doing well in today’s game. In fact, he’s doing better than well and has been downright dominating the online 8-Game tables.

Dan Bilzerian Likely to be Sued After Breaking Porn Star’s Foot

Only with Dan Bilzerian does this headline seem normal. The high stakes poker pro and Instragram sensation was hosting a Hustler magazine shoot at his home when he got the bright idea to throw a naked girl off of his roof and into a pool.

The girl he threw off the roof, 19-year-old porn star Janice Griffith, barely clears the pool’s edge…or so it seems on a video that TMZ put on their website. However, Griffith actually broke her foot when it hit the side of the pool. The teenage adult entertainer now says that she’s missed several jobs in the wake of the accident, “including a big one for Kink.com,” and she now plans on suing Bilzerian. What’s even worse than the pain from her foot – “I didn’t ever hear sorry from him,” she says.

We’re not legal experts, and given the amount of money that Bilzerian’s worth, it seems that he will have to ante up some money. But judging from the TMZ video, it doesn’t seem like Griffith is exactly resisting Bilzerian’s attempt to throw her off the roof. Either way, it was a stupid decision for both parties involved.

The post Weekly Flop: Eavesdropping Ivey, Antonius Still Rising, Bilzerian Breaks Girl’s Foot appeared first on Rakeback News.

The controversial Dutch Boyd got the short end of his legal battle with TwoPlusTwo…Online poker payment processor Daniel Tzvetkoff’s wild story is going Hollywood…The “Poker Princess” Molly Bloom didn’t fall from royalty while standing trial in a Manhattan courtroom. Find out more about these stories in the Weekly Flop.

TwoPlusTwo wins $60k Pot from Dutch Boyd

From his publicly stated money problems to the fact that he’s 30 some years old and still rocking a do-rag, Dutch Boyd hasn’t been doing so well these days. And he’s about to be doing a lot worse because he has been ordered to fork over $60,000 to TwoPlusTwo.

Three judges from the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals have decided that Boyd “acted in bad faith” when he registered the domain name TwoPlusTwoPoker.com – an obvious rip-off of the popular forum TwoPlusTwo. This upholds a ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Kent Dawson, who ordered Boyd to pay the forum $25,000 in statutory damages and $33,985 in legal fees.

After the ruling, Boyd said that this was a “bad beat” and mentioned how 2p2 should be rooting for him to do well at the WSOP this summer. It’s not entirely impossible for Boyd to earn a big score at the WSOP, given that he has two gold bracelets and more recently final tabled a $3k Omaha event in 2012. But he’s definitely going to have to win something for 2p2 to get their money.

Daniel Tzvetkoff Hitting the Big Screen

Most people in the online poker community don’t exactly appreciate Daniel Tzvetkoff, the online poker payment processor who became the key witness behind Black Friday. But even his biggest haters will be interested to know that Tzvetkoff’s life story will probably become a blockbuster movie.

James Leighton, the author who wrote about Tzvetkoff in the book Alligator Blood, has confirmed the rumors. “I can confirm that Robert Luketic has made an offer for the movie rights and the offer has been accepted,” he told PokerNews. Leighton went on to say that a film script has already been written and casting should start soon.

Luketic would be the perfect guy for such a project since he directed 21, the blackjack flick that features plenty of glitz, glamour, high-rolling lifestyles and danger lurking beneath the surface. We expect Alligator Blood to turn into the same type of movie because, according to the book description, Tzvetkoff went from working at an Australian Pizza Hut to “raking in $3 million a week and reveling in a jet-set lifestyle of fast cars, luxury yachts and VIP nightclubs.”

Poker Princess gets Royal Deal over Gambling Ring Case

Several high-profile figures have been put behind bars for their help in running a famous gambling ring with Russian mob ties. High stakes pro Edwin Ting got five months in jail, WPT Foxwoods champ Vadim Trincher received a five-year prison sentence, and wealthy art dealer ‘Helly’ Nahmad will be spending the next year in jail.

So what about Molly Bloom, who’s arguably the most-known figure in this whole case? She got off much luckier – we repeat, much luckier – than her counterparts. U.S. District Court Judge Jesse Furman gave her one year of probation, 200 hours of community service and a $1k fine. Apparently, both Furman and the prosecution felt as though Bloom was more of a minor figure in the ring, despite her constant coverage in the news.

Also famous for hosting a Hollywood poker ring that featured Ben Affleck, Matt Damon and Leonardo DiCaprio, Bloom is set to release her poker-related memoirs called “Molly’s Game.” And she’ll be hoping to cash in on these memoirs because it’s likely that her poker-hosting days are now behind her.

The post Weekly Flop: Dutch dinged for $60k, Alligator Blood Movie, Poker Princess Probation appeared first on Rakeback News.

Formerly one of the world’s staunchest opponents of live poker, the Norwegian government are currently working towards legalizing the game. And they can do so with even more confidence now since a study out of Norway identifies poker as a low-risk activity.

The University of Bergen conducted a survey of 10,000 people and discovered that poker is one of the safer gambling games available. Researchers found that 4.7% of the participants played online poker, and only 0.2% had wagered more than $4,600 over the past year.

Online Poker ranks Extremely Low for Compulsive Gambling

Using the Canadian Problem Gambling Index (CPGI), the University of Bergen were able to determine that poker ranks far lower than other gambling activities in terms of risk. The CPGI, which asks participants to answer 31 questions, ranks games on a scale of 1 to 10 in regard to whether or not they lead to problem gambling.

Internet poker only scored 1.09 out of 10, thus proving to be much safer than land-based bingo (8.33), online bingo (7.14) and “Belago” (6.15). For those who haven’t heard of Belago, this game works much like online slots, with the exception that it’s played in interactive video terminals.

From an overall standpoint, the study concludes that of Norway’s 5.02 million residents, 7.8% are low-risk gamblers, 2.4% are in the moderate category and 0.6% are problem gamblers.

What this means for Legal Norwegian Poker Efforts

Back in February, Norway’s Culture Minister, Thorhild Widvey, proposed a 2015 Norwegian Poker Championship. Additionally, casinos and clubs will likely be able to hold poker tournaments by gaining permission from the government.

None of these progressive moves towards legal poker in the country were in jeopardy, even if the study had turned up negative results. But now that the University of Bergen have proved that poker is a pretty safe game, it only inspires more confidence in Norwegian politicians who are working on legalizing it.

Will this eventually mean that the Land of the Midnight Sun will also regulate online poker too? That’s a big step from holding a single poker championship and letting casinos host tournaments with permission. However, the positive study at least plants the seed that poker isn’t the same as house-banked games like bingo and slots.

The post Norwegian Study: Poker Poses Little Risk of Problem Gambling appeared first on Rakeback News.

Image from: cardplayer.com

Tony G triumphantly won a seat in the European Parliament. And now he’ll have a chance to shape his home country of Lithuania…Greg Merson’s name will likely be added to the list of Big One for One Drop participants since he’s almost reached the $1 million buy-in…Black Friday narc Daniel Tzvetkoff might soon be celebrating two wins in a row. His life story is being made into a movie, and his lawyer is making a solid case to help him avoid more jail time. See more on this week’s hottest poker stories in the Weekly Flop.

Tony G looking to shake up Lithuania in European Parliament

As many poker players have heard, Antanas ‘Tony G’ Guoga won one of the 11 Lithuanian seats in European Parliament. The loud-mouthed poker pro helped his Liberal Party set history by winning two seats in the EP for the first time ever.

Back when Tony G announced his candidacy last October, he said, “I have packed up the bike and I am going to EU Parliament in Brussels to change Lithuania.” Now Guoga will get a chance to do just this as he embarks on a five-year tenure as a Member of European Parliament (MEP), starting July 1st, 2014.

Unfortunately, this means that we’ll hardly see Tony G in the poker world anymore as his schedule now includes the following: representing Lithuania as an MEP, operating PokerNews and TonyBet, serving as Vice-President of the Lithuanian Basketball Federation, and working with his various charities. Oh yeah, and Guoga will also be managing his massive fortune, which is worth a reported $36 million – making him the richest man in Lithuanian politics.

Merson raising Final 7% for One Drop Tournament

Another high-profile poker pro is close to generating the $1 million buy-in for the 2014 WSOP Big One for One Drop. Greg Merson, who famously won the 2012 Main Event along with $8.5 million, says that he needs to raise about 7% more of the buy-in. Merson’s plan is to front 15% of the buy-in himself and have people stake him for the other 85% for variance purposes. That said, he’s really close to his goal.

Anybody who’s backing Merson can be pretty confident about their horse. The 26-year-old not only has a Main Event title, but he’s also won a 2012 WSOP $10k NLHE event. In all, Merson has $10.9 million in live tournaments winnings, and he could add a large amount to this number if he cashes in the One Drop.

Tzvetkoff to escape Further Jail Time?

Things are really looking sweet for former online poker payment processor Daniel Tzvetkoff. Not long after learning that the book about him, Alligator Blood, will become a movie, the Aussie also has a decent chance of escaping more time behind bars.

His lawyer, Robert Goldstein, is currently making a good case for Tzvetkoff to remain free. “For a first-time offender who has never before experienced prison, four-plus months inside the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn constitutes a harsh and significant punishment,” Goldstein told a judge. Tzvetkoff’s parents and mother-in-law have also begged the judge not to tack on any more jail time.

For poker pros affected by the events of Black Friday, life in prison without the possibility of parole might seem like a more appropriate punishment. Even a probation report suggests that Tzvetkoff spend at least another 6-12 months in prison. But then again, Tzvetkoff did cut a big deal with the US DOJ that saw him dish dirt on PokerStars, Full Tilt, Absolute and UB Poker. So his full cooperation will still be taken into account.

The post Weekly Flop: Tony G to change Lithuania, Merson close to Big One, Tzvetkoff to go free? appeared first on Rakeback News.

He’s emasculated Ralph Perry, won a European Parliament seat, played in the biggest cash games and has become a successful entrepreneur. So what’s left for Tony G? Getting married…
Daniel Negreanu has more poker tournament winnings than anybody in history. But unfortunately, this doesn’t earn him much respect in the online poker world…
Phil Galfond has played in some of the biggest online poker games in history. So players in PokerStars’ $109 Sunday Rebuy were shocked to see the famed pro winning their favorite event. Read more on these stories in the Weekly Flop.

Tony G marries fashion model Aiste Slapokaite

Tony G has never had the best manners at the poker table, nor will he ever be mistaken for an underwear model. But having ambition, a charismatic personality and an estimated $36 million fortune will get you far with the opposite sex. Case in point, Tony G recently married his fashion model girlfriend Aiste Slapokaite.

The couple tied the knot in Vilnius, Lithuania, and Tony couldn’t be happier, expressing his joy with the following words:

I have searched for my other, better half for a long time and finally found her in my home country. We have tested each other during our two-year relationship, and I can easily tell that my wife is a wonderful person – wise, understanding, supportive, warm, sensitive, accepting me with all my weaknesses. I wish all of you to not get tired looking for the right person. Because it is so good to find somebody to be with in your life.

Life is definitely good for Tony G these days. He recently won a seat in European Parliament, he owns PokerNews and TonyBet, and he now has a hot model for a wife. Not even Jamie Gold or Jerry Yang ever ran this good.

Daniel Negreanu not good enough to beat online poker?

Any famous poker pro on TV is putting their play under a microscope. So it should be little surprise that Daniel Negreanu’s recent appearance on ESPN’s Big One for One Drop coverage drew some criticism. After finally hearing enough, he tweeted:

If people don’t negatively criticize and critique your poker play then you aren’t doing enough to think outside the box and be creative.

Then somebody challenged Negreanu by tweeting that he isn’t good enough to beat $25/$50 6-Max online cash tables. After some back and forth exchanges, Negreanu ended by tweeting that he could become a winning 25/50 player in two weeks:

@TyRaeL_88 @danielmerrilees I couldn’t be any more serious. 2 weeks. 5 hours playing, 4 hours studying numbers daily. Would bet a million.

This is a pretty short time frame to whip yourself into enough poker shape to beat 25/50 online games. But then again, this isn’t just anybody we’re talking about – it’s Negreanu, the guy with almost $30 million in live tournament winnings. It’s definitely possible that he could beat 25/50…the question is, though, how long would it take?

Phil Galfond wins $109 Sunday Rebuy

Phil Galfond has had a rough year in online poker, dropping about $1.3 million up to this point. But have things really gotten so bad that he’s forced to play low and mid-stakes tournaments now?

We highly doubt it, and even if this were the case, he’d find a high stakes backer in two seconds. Still, it was quite interesting to see the famed poker pro playing a $109 buy-in Sunday Rebuy tournament at PokerStars. And he showed these amateurs what it’s like to play against an elite pro as he ran through the 809-player field and grabbed the $45k top prize. Of course, this is pocket change to a guy who has nearly $7 million in online cash profits.

So again, why would he be playing this event? Looking to regain his passion for poker? Or is this akin to a big-time jock picking on the low-stakes nerds? Whatever the case may be, we don’t expect to see Galfond toiling in these mid-range buy-in tourneys too often.

The post Weekly Flop: Tony G marries Model, Negreanu Challenged, Galfond laying Low Stakes appeared first on Rakeback News.

The Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open was one of the biggest tournament success stories of 2013. However, the tourney took a major step backwards this year… Chess and poker share some similarities, but big prize money is not one of them. The launch of a $1 million chess event may change this, though… Phil Ivey is still celebrated as one of the world’s top poker pros, however, he’d better start improving his online results if he wants to keep this status.

SHRPO Overlay – Great for Players, Bad for Casino

Last year’s Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open (SHRPO) was a massive success, boasting 2,384 entrants and an $11.92 million prize pool. Given the results of 2013, SHRPO organizers were feeling pretty confident again by offering a $10 million guaranteed prize pool this time. However, their confidence was repaid with a $2.5 million overlay.

We’re not sure what the record is on the biggest tournament overlay, but this one has to be up there – if not the largest overlay ever. The players no doubt loved this since they got massive EV on their $5,300 buy-ins. However, it was definitely bad news for the Seminole Hard Rock Casino.

Scheduling seems to be the big culprit here since SHRPO ran on the heels of EPT Barcelona and at the same time as the Playground Poker Club (Canada) and Winstar (Oklahoma) tournaments. It also didn’t help that SHRPO kicked off during Labor Day weekend in the US, when many people are on vacation. Now the big question remains what the guaranteed prize pool will be for next year’s SHRPO.

Chess meets Poker with $1 Million Tournament

There are many parallels between chess and poker. They’re both skill games, they both require dedication, and there are a number of people who play both games well – namely Almira Skripchenko, Jen Shahade and Ylon Schwartz. Now we can add another link between the two games with the announcement of the “Millionaire Chess” tournament in Las Vegas.

With a $1 million guaranteed prize pool, this event is expected to draw over 500 players from around the world. And a massive overlay is imminent because the buy-in is only $1,000. Amy Lee, an entrepreneur from Vancouver, and Maurice Ashley, the only African-American chess grandmaster, don’t seem to mind taking a loss on this event. “If we only lose $200,000, we’ll be dancing in the streets,” Ashley told the New York Times.

Lee said, “In order to bring sponsors in, you have to make chess exciting, you have to make it fun.” We’re not expecting Millionaire Chess to ignite anything close to the Poker Boom. However, with big guaranteed events and continued promotional work, perhaps the game will see a major status increase within the coming years.

Ivey still experiencing Massive Struggles on the Virtual Felt

Thanks to 10 WSOP bracelets, legendary live cash exploits and pre-Black Friday poker domination, Phil Ivey has no doubt earned the respect of the poker community. Unfortunately, respect alone doesn’t net you profits.

Under his ‘Polarizing’ account, he’s lost $2.4 million so far in 2014. Dating back to November of 2012, Ivey has lost $5.1 million at Full Tilt Poker. Neither of these marks are the worst, with Gus Hansen having the most losses this year with $4.96 million, and most losses all time with $19.84 million. But it’s still quite surprising to see the man whom many called the world’s best player struggling so badly.

Can we expect a comeback in the future? Maybe, but Ivey will have to be more consistent with the time that he puts in on the virtual felt. He often stops playing online for months, only to make a comeback every now and then. Even if Ivey doesn’t pull his Polarizing name out of the hole, though, he still has $14 million in overall online poker winnings when his pre-Black Friday winnings are taken into account.

The post Weekly Flop: Biggest Overlay Ever, Chess Borrows from Poker, Ivey Downswing appeared first on Rakeback News.

Patrik Antonius is proving to be a model of longevity in online poker after reaching another huge milestone in his career….Is poker truly sleazy? A recent mainstream piece dives into the game to uncover what being a poker pro is really about….Argentina and Mexico aren’t your typical poker hotbeds. However, insider looks show that the game is definitely growing in these countries. Find out more on these stories in this edition of the Weekly Flop.

Patrik Antonius up over $17 Million at Full Tilt

Just last month we discussed how Dan ‘jungleman12′ Cates boosted his career Full Tilt Poker profits over $10 million. According to HighStakesDB, Cates has made more money than any other online poker player this year with $2.85 million.

But there’s another big name that’s crushing the online tables – Patrik Antonius. The Finn recently ran hot over a 48-hour span, racking up around $800,000 in profits. This upped his 2014 cash game profits to $1.61m.

Thanks to yet another big year, Antonius has $5.72m in winnings on his ‘FinddaGrind’ name, which goes nicely along with the $11.31m that he’s collected through his self-titled screen name. Add the two together and you’ve got over $17m in career profits, which is more than anybody else in online poker history.

NY Post on the “Sleazy” Online Poker World

The New York Post recently ran an article from the mainstream Australian media called “Inside the Sleazy World of Online Poker.” The title suggests that this could be another uniformed piece bashing the game, with Sheldon Adelson lurking in the shadows. However, it turns out that the article isn’t overly biased – aside from the writer’s prejudice against Dan Bilzerian and those “cigar-chomping Italians.”

This piece follows Dave, a 30-year-old poker pro who claims to be an IT worker for “legal and tax reasons.” Dave experiences the typical variance of any poker pro while ultimately coming out ahead most months due to his skill advantage. The Sydney man averages 200 hours on the tables every month, which usually equates to around $13,000 in profits. So despite the attention-grabbing title, this piece mainly covers how poker is a non-glamorous profession where hard work and long hours lead to big money.

The only downside is that the article also associates poker with nefarious characters like “Frenchie” (Alain Barataud), a guy who ran a huge World Cup ticket scam. “A lot of the players have disreputable histories,” Dave said. “Some of the renowned players just basically scam people for money. They use Full Tilt as their personal bank account.” Okay, this comment is a little pre-Black Friday. But overall, the article isn’t a terrible mainstream poker read.

Barbero and Guillen talk Poker Popularity in Argentina and Mexico

Didn’t Angel Guillen and Jose ‘Nacho’ Barbero just part ways with PokerStars? Sure, but they aren’t sitting at home crying about it or boycotting EPT tournaments out of spite. Both players were in attendance at EPT Barcelona, and they had a lot to say about poker in their respective countries.

Guillen told PokerNews that poker is really popular in Mexico right now, especially the online game. And he believes that as soon as there’s a major live tournament in his country, then poker will go “insane.” As it stands now, though, there are only some electronic tables at casinos around Mexico along with small tournaments. So legality/availability is the only thing holding poker back in Guillen’s eyes.

Barbero believes that live tournaments are growing larger and larger in his country. He says that Argentine poker rooms are trying high rollers where the buy-in is 70,000 pesos (approx. $5,300). But these events are kind of small right now and he’d like to see them grow larger.

The reason that PokerStars gave for not renewing Guillen and Barbero’s contracts is that they don’t hold any major live tournaments in Argentina and Mexico, However, if the game continues growing in these countries, it’s very likely that we could see them host major events in the future.

The post Weekly Flop: Antonius still Crushing, Poker Sleaze, Argentina & Mexico Booms appeared first on Rakeback News.

Four years ago, Mike ‘The Mouth’ Matusow and Ted Forrest made a legendary $2 million weight loss bet. Forrest won that prop bet, however, he still has yet to see the money.

Ever heard of Cort ‘thecortster’ Kibler-Melby? He isn’t the game’s best-known name, but after a massive win streak, he’s getting far more attention.

Famed UK pro Roland de Wolfe may be part of one of the biggest collusion scandals ever. However, it’s a little hard to trust the source that’s throwing the accusations. Let’s check out all of these stories in the Weekly Flop.

Mike Matusow still has $1.7m to pay on Weight Loss Bet

In 2010, Mike Matusow and Ted Forrest made one of the most-legendary prop bets in poker history. Matusow bet $2 million that Forrest couldn’t drop from 188 to under 140 pounds in two months. Miraculously, Forrest lost the weight and put himself in line for a $2 million payday…only he’s still waiting for that money.

The 6-time WSOP champ recently mentioned the unpaid debt by tweeting, “@CardPlayerMedia Correcting the numbers: @themouthmatusow has payed me $70.500 of the 1.8million he owes me for the weight loss bet”

This prompted Mike’s brother, Scott Matusow, to claim that Forrest never submitted to drug testing during or after the bet. The latter fired back by tweeting that he lost the pounds without any weight loss drugs. Forrest added that he’s a bit frustrated about waiting four years for over $1.7 million of the remaining payoff. Of course, it should be mentioned that this wager was made during the golden years of Full Tilt Poker, when both players were living off fat sponsorship deals. But now that this money has dried up, it’s a wonder if Matusow will ever be able to pay off the massive debt.

Kibler-Melby nets huge win in online poker

Perhaps Matusow can hit up Cort ‘thecortster’ Kibler-Melby for a $1.7 million loan because that’s exactly how much the German-American won on the high stakes online tables in a 10-day span. He absolutely dominated the 2-7 Triple Draw tables, netting $800 in a single day. He then came back in another session and made $400k, only to top his win streak off by earning $500k in 2-7 Triple Draw.

This is the most money won in such a short span for an online poker player in 2014. And it’s even more amazing that this comes from a lightly known player like Kibler-Melby. The 28-year-old has been around internet poker for a while, however, he just recently seems to be crushing the big stakes. And given his recent profit, we can probably expect to see plenty more of thecortster in the future.

Investor claims Roland de Wolfe worked him over for £10m

Roland de Wolfe was once one of the most-recognizable faces on the tournament scene, eventually completing the Triple Crown (EPT, WPT and WSOP title) in 2009. But ever since losing his sponsorship deal with Full Tilt during the Black Friday fiasco, de Wolfe has dropped off the face of the earth. So where has he been?

Apparently winning millions off of some rich investor in high stakes cash games. Iraj Parvizi, a Dubai-based investor and wannabe poker pro, claims that de Wolfe and Josh Gould colluded against him at Les Ambassadeurs casino. They allegedly encouraged him to bet more while splitting the profits later in games ranging from 2010 to 2013. Parvizi has since launched a £10 million lawsuit against Les Ambassadeurs while claiming that they did nothing to stop the collusion. For his case, he called forth Richard Marcus to look at the tapes, with the famed card cheat backing up his collusion story.

It’s a little premature to take Parvizi’s word in this case, though. After all, the reason why this litigation mess started is because Les Ambassadeurs sued him for an unpaid debt of £185,000. Plus Parvizi is currently being investigated for alleged securities fraud in the stock market.

The post Weekly Flop: Matusow Owes $1.7m | ‘thecortster’ Wins $1.7m | Roland the Colluder appeared first on Rakeback News.

Remember the Durrrr Challenge between Dan Cates and Tom Dwan? Yeah, we can barely remember either, but it’s still burning in Cates’ mind…

Ted Forrest isn’t giving up on the $1.7 million that Mike Matusow owes him – in fact, he’s willing to fight for it…

Are old school pros like Forrest, Johnny Chan and Huck Seed the face of the Bitcoin poker revolution? Find out in this edition of the Weekly Flop.

Dan Cates still frustrated over Durrrr Challenge

By now, most of the poker community has completely forgotten about the Durrrr Challenge between Dan ‘jungleman12′ Cates and Tom Dwan. Originally set to last for 50,000 hands, Dwan boasted that he’d pay $1.5 million to anybody who could beat him, while ‘Durrrr’ would earn $500,000 if he won. Cates was up $1.25 million before activity in their challenge stopped roughly 20,000 hands into the match.

Cates recently discussed the challenge again, saying that Dwan is not cooperating. “We have played zero hands in 2014 and only 2,500 of the 62k hands Tom played in 2013 were from the challenge,” Jungleman told PokerListings. “He failed to uphold any promises he made to me. He’s extremely frustrating. It’s outrageous. I feel like he won’t complete it, for a few reasons, but for now I won’t divulge his personal situation.”

We can only speculate on what personal details Jungleman knows about Dwan. But he’s probably getting closer and closer to revealing them because Dwan no longer responds to his calls or texts. That said, it seems unlikely that Cates will ever earn the $1.5 million bonus for winning this challenge because it isn’t even halfway finished. Furthermore, he hasn’t received any of the $400,000 in agreed-upon penalties that Dwan racked up for inactivity in the challenge.

Ted Forrest offers Mike Matusow a $1.8m Fight Freeroll

Jungleman isn’t the only one who’s been seeking money for years from a fellow poker player. One of the biggest stories recently has been Ted Forrest’s renewed efforts to collect on $1.7 million that Mike ‘The Mouth’ Matusow still owes him from a weight loss prop bet. The two recent exchanged tweets over the debt that hasn’t been paid in four years. And one of Forrest’s followers gave him the idea that the two pros should fight for the money. Here’s a look at what the 6-time WSOP champ thought of the matter:

Lol I love it! That’s the best tweet I’ve seen all day…although I’m pretty sure we are in different weight classes.

Stop??? Mike is younger than I am and has at least 40 pounds on me. Hell if he beats me il even give him his 70,500 back

@4viffer I would like to fight at 175 but for the mouth I could get talked into fighting at heavyweight!

Fighting matches between poker pros isn’t anything new since Gus Hansen and Theo Jorgensen had a boxing match, and Bertrand Grospellier and Lex Velhuis had a kickboxing bout. But never has one been for what essentially amounts to a $1.8 million freeroll. If Matusow wins, he’s not only relieved of the $1.7m debt, but would also get back the $70.5k that he’s paid. In Forrest’s eyes, he probably doesn’t see ‘The Mouth’ paying him much anyways, so he might as well have fun with this.

Chan, Forrest, and Seed jump on the Bitcoin wagon

It’s been a while since a bunch of big-name players got together and ran/represented a poker site. And after the way that the old Full Tilt Poker turned out, we didn’t think it’d happen again. Nevertheless, a group of well-known grinders that includes Johnny Chan, Layne Flack, Ted Forrest, Jeff Lisandro, Huck Seed and Jennifer Harman are now representing a venture called Breakout Gaming. It’s unclear who all owns a stake in the site, although both Chan and Forrest have been called partners for sure.

Scheduled to launch in mid-October, Breakout Gaming will accept Bitcoin deposits from players. Bitcoin will then be converted to Breakout Coin (BRO), which can be used to play online poker and casino games. As of now, it’s been confirmed that both No-Limit Hold’em, blackjack, fantasy sports and Open Face Chinese poker will be among the offerings.

It’s definitely interesting to see a number of poker legends getting together and backing this site. Of course, many players will understandably be skeptical of Breakout Gaming, given the murky BRO cryptocurrency, poker pros running it and unfavorable (possibly unfair) comparisons to pre-Black Friday Full Tilt. But who knows…maybe this could be the site that truly launches a Bitcoin revolution in online poker.

The post Weekly Flop: Never-ending Durrrr Challenge | Forrest Fighting Matusow | Bitcoin Bonanza appeared first on Rakeback News.

If karma truly does exist, then Ray Bitar is getting it back tenfold. The former Full Tilt Poker CEO is allegedly dying and flat broke…

The launch of the Ivey Poker Facebook app was short lived since it’s already been taken off the market. However, the reason why is actually a positive one…

In news that came out of left field, Mike ‘The Mouth’ Matusow was nearly paralyzed during surgery. Find out the details on all of these stories in the Weekly Flop.

Ray Bitar has no money and is close to death

Many believe that Ray Bitar got a sweetheart deal for his role in bilking former Full Tilt Poker players out of hundreds of millions of dollars. Sure he had $40 million in assets taken by the US government, but he also avoided serious jail time due to a life-threatening heart condition. The latter had some people speculating that Bitar was making his heart problem seem worse than it was to get sympathy.

But former Full Tilt Red Pro Allen Cunningham recently posted on TwoPlusTwo (under ‘Allen C’) that Bitar is “unlikely to live more than a couple years and is nearly penniless.” This of course drew some responses from posters, especially when Cunningham claimed that Bitar “didn’t get away with anything.” Here are a few of the negative comments:

• Nothing less than he deserves
• If you’re looking for sympathy for this filthy monster, you’re in the wrong place.
• He should be in jail for the rest of his life for however long that is.
• I guess flying in lobsta from Maine on a private helicopter doesn’t bode well for the BR.

Based on these posts, it appears that even with his life completely deteriorated, Bitar will never get forgiveness from certain FTP players.

Ivey Poker App shut down while eyeing Bigger Future

It’s only been a year since the Ivey Poker app launched on Facebook. But already, the Ivey League website, headed by 10-time WSOP champ Phil Ivey, sent their customers and followers a letter stating that the app has been shut down.

However, Ivey League claims that this shut-down is “just the first step in our evolution” as they “prepare to launch an even bigger and better gaming experience in 2015.” What this bigger and better gaming experience is will be anybody’s guess. But perhaps the short launch was just to get some feedback from players?

In any case, Ivey League’s bread and butter will continue to be their training services, which feature top pros like Patrik Antonius, Dan Smith, Mike Leah and Ivey himself.

Mike Matusow almost paralyzed by spinal surgery

In an age where poker pros tweet about every other meal they eat, it’s weird that Mike Matusow getting spinal surgery slipped under the radar. It comes as even more of a shock that he was almost paralyzed due to complications from the surgery. But as PokerStrategy.com reports, Matusow luckily recovered from the paralysis scare and will be fine.

Perhaps the reason why this was such a hush-hush ordeal is because Matusow isn’t the most consistent guy on social media. As loud and brash as he is at the table, The Mouth doesn’t tweet very often – except maybe to defend himself against Ted Forrest’s allegations that he doesn’t pay up on prop bets.

It’s nice to hear that Matusow is doing well and can continue his poker career, which includes four WSOP gold bracelets and over $9 million in tournament winnings.

The post Weekly Flop: Bitar Broke & Dying, Ivey Poker Down, Matusow Nearly Paralyzed appeared first on Rakeback News.

The Aviation Club de France (AFC) is one of Europe’s most-prestigious and historic poker rooms. But weeks after the AFC was raided, it still hasn’t reopened. Can the legendary poker room be saved?…

Phil Ivey’s business empire could be literally growing as he’s one of 26 Las Vegas applicants who were approved for a medical marijuana dispensary…

Jean-Robert Bellande has often been teased about his weight over the years. So he turned this into motivation to win a big prop bet, which you can read about below along with other highlights of the week’s poker news.

Poker Community asks French President to help save Aviation Club

Having opened in 1907, the AFC has just a little bit more history than your average Macau or Vegas poker room. Unfortunately, this classic gambling den is in danger of remaining closed after the September 16th raid that saw the top brass arrested for money laundering and employment irregularities. This case is still being sorted out, but in the meantime, no hands are being dealt and 213 former employees are without a job.

Thankfully, there are people working behind the scenes to try and save the AFC and keep one of the world’s more-fascinating poker rooms alive. Bruno Fitoussi, Bruno Lopes and Liv Boeree are just some of the players behind the “#BringBackACF” campaign, which is demanding answers from the French government about what will happen to the club.

Since no answers have been given yet, the group sent a letter to France’s President of the Republic, Françoise Hollande, urging him to ensure that the AFC is treated fairly in this matter. Published by PokerNews, the letter claims that the AFC is under “unfair persecution” and its closure would mean dozens of illegal poker clubs opening up throughout Paris. The latter may appeal to President Hollande since the government would rather keep tax dollars rolling in, rather than spending money to shut down illegal clubs.

Phil Ivey approved to grow Weed, but still has hurdles to clear

Phil Ivey has been a very busy man in recent times. He opened a poker training site called IveyLeague, lost a $12.1 million lawsuit to Crockfords, formed an entertainment/promotional company called All In Entertainment and won his 10th WSOP gold bracelet this past summer. So what’s next for the poker pro who knows no bounds? According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, marijuana is on his mind.

He was one of 26 applicants who were approved by the Las Vegas City Council for a medical marijuana dispensary. This is good news for the poker pro, however, he still has a number of obstacles standing in his way. He needs approval from the Nevada State Health Department along with passing a final hearing from the City Council. Furthermore, most of the 26 applicants won’t be able to open a pot shop since the state approved Vegas for less than half this number.

Still, Ivey is in the running and has a number of business credentials along with the necessary funding. So it’ll be interesting to see if the 10-time WSOP champion can soon expand to selling weed.

Jean-Robert Bellande drops over 40 pounds and picks up $70k

Jean-Robert Bellande has become the poster boy for self-effacing humor, making fun of himself for constantly being broke and overweight. But the Survivor contestant-turned poker pro will have a few less jokes to make about his own weight.

In a prop bet that’s spanned five months, JRB needed to drop from 287 pounds down to 245 to win $70,000. This is no easy task for a guy who regularly tweets pictures of himself at Vegas parties every week. And it came right down to the end as Bellande needed to lose several more pounds with just days left.

Having $70k out in front of him served as great motivation to lose the extra weight and hit his goal. All told, Bellande lost 43 pounds and treated himself to goat cheese pastries in the aftermath of the prop bet victory. With another $70k, he should be able to buy quite a few more goat cheese pastries in the near future.

The post Weekly Flop: Save Aviation Club, Ivey to Grow Pot, Bellande’s Belly Shrinking appeared first on Rakeback News.

After a decorated career in the US Navy, you’d think the last thing on Navy Rear Admiral Timothy Giardina’s mind would be cheating in poker. Nevertheless, the 35-year Navy veteran was caught using counterfeit $500 chips inside of Iowa’s Horseshoe Casino earlier this year. He was found guilty of poker cheating and fined $4,000 and demoted from his 3-star Admiral position.

As Giardina’s original story goes, he found three $500 chips in a Horseshoe Casino bathroom. He told the floorman that he’d give the chips back if anybody claimed them, only to later use them in a poker game. Casino officials later discovered that the chips were actually worth $1 and traced them back to Giardina. When presented with the evidence, he initially lied by saying that he bought the chips. But as it turns out, this might not be the only lie that Giardina told about the matter.

Giardina may have made the counterfeit chips himself

According to a recent Associated Press report, he may not have innocently “found” the counterfeit chips as previously stated. Instead, investigators claim that his DNA was found on the underside of adhesive stickers used to make the $1 chips look like $500 chips. The fake chips were discovered because the stickers covered up a security chip that’s only visible under ultraviolet light.

Giardina is described in the new report as a “habitual poker player” who would spend 15 hours a week playing at the Horseshoe in Council Bluffs, Iowa – just 15 minutes across the Missouri River from the Omaha-based nuclear bomb arsenal where he was stationed.

“Navy Tim” didn’t stop playing after the scandal

Giardina was said to be at the Horseshoe Casino so much that staff recognized him and gave him the nickname “Navy Tim.” Even after being busted for the fake poker chips, the Naval officer “continued to come in and gamble on a regular basis.”

Strange remarks regarding lie-detector tests

According to the AP report, Giardina had this bit of wisdom to offer to a casino security agent when discussing the lie-detector tests given to officers who hold security clearance:
(What) they’re really trying to do is find out if you got, you know, if you’re having sex with animals or something really crazy or you’ve got this wild life that you could be blackmailed into giving military secrets out.

Smoking used cigarettes

What kind of guy risks a job where he’s making over $14,000 a month to cheat in poker and try to earn a few hundred more? Maybe a guy who was seen by casino officials taking cigarette ends out of public ash trays and smoking them.

Following the poker cheating scandal, Giardina was relieved of his 3-star Admiral duties and sent to a 2-star desk job in Washington. At this time, it’s unclear if the recently released information by the AP will cause any further detriment to his military career.

The post Navy Admiral Tim Giardina’s Poker Scandal gets More Bizarre appeared first on Rakeback News.

Famed Spanish footballer Albert Riera was recently dumped by his Serie A club Udinese Calcio. And the reason for Riera being sacked allegedly involves poker…

Poker is so rampant in Brazil that a big tournament attendance record was set at the Brazilian Series of Poker…

Michael Mizrachi has opened his own Bitcoin poker site, and he’s signed some very interesting players to represent the brand. Find out who they are in this edition of the Weekly Flop.

Riera accused of skipping match for poker tournament

Although he’s never had a stellar international career, Spain’s Albert Riera has done quite well on the club level, playing for the likes of Manchester City, Liverpool and Olympiacos. However, the 32-year-old winger’s career isn’t exactly coming to a glorious end, especially since he was dropped by Udinese Calcio.

The rumor is that the Italian Serie A club sacked Riera because he skipped a match to play poker. Moreover, he was supposed to be at a match against Chievo, but is said to have instead played in a poker tourney in Slovenia, where he earned £3,000 for taking second place. The Daily Mirror first reported the story, however, Riera insists that this isn’t the case by tweeting, “To clarify, the termination of the contract (is) by mutual agreement, not due to reasons outside the football.”

Riera is pretty into poker and often tweets pictures of himself playing the game. However, one has to question if he’s so into poker that he would actually risk a career that’s made him a millionaire just to compete for a few thousand pounds.

BSOP Tournament claims Record

Nobody who watched the 2014 WSOP Main Event can forget Bruno Politano, who showed more poker passion than any player in recent history. And it appears that Politano isn’t the only one from his country who’s this passionate about poker.

Looking at the recent Brazilian Series of Poker, 2,935 players competed in the $460 buy-in opening event. And while the prize pool may not yet rival the WSOP Main Event, the 2,935 players made this the largest live poker tournament ever held outside the United States.

It’s pretty fitting that Chris Moneymaker took part in the tourney since he helped spark the poker boom that began in 2003. “If you’re looking for a different kind of poker trip this needs to be a stop on your list,” he tweeted. “Second year here and I doubt I’ll miss it again.” But more important to the Brazilian poker cause are players like Andre Akkari, Ariel Celestino, Politano and even football legend Ronaldo.

Michael Mizrachi opens Bitcoin Online Poker Site

While the Bitcoin movement has yet to truly take off in online poker, the potential is there. Quick deposits/cashouts, anonymity and good security are just some of the benefits that Bitcoin poker rooms bring to the table. And Michael ‘The Grinder’ Mizrachi wants to get on board in hopes that the cryptocurrency will keep increasing in popularity among players.

His new online poker room is called GetLuckyPoker.com, and it will feature Bitcoin banking, sponsored pros and a variety of games. As for the sponsored pros, Mizrachi’s three brothers (Robert, Eric, Donny), Luis Velador and Mike ‘The Mouth’ Matusow will be representing the site. Regarding the games, The Grinder says there’ll be “as many games as we can get up there,” including Badeci, Badugi and 2-7 Draw.

Mizrachi admits that he’s new to Bitcoin, but cites that he’ll “take the risk” in hopes of Bitcoin popularity increasing. This isn’t the three-time WSOP champion’s first run in the business world, so he at least has experience on his side in his GetLuckyPoker endeavor.

The post Weekly Flop: Footballer Sacked over Poker, Brazil Boom, Mizrachi into Bitcoin Game appeared first on Rakeback News.

Earlier this year, Amaya Gaming CEO David Baazov headed up the biggest online gaming deal in history – purchasing the Rational Group and its key assets, PokerStars and Full Tilt, for $4.9 billion. At the time, it was reported that Amaya needed an extra $3.6 billion in financing from a combination of GSO Capital Partners, Barclays, Deutsche Bank and Macquarie Capital. But little was known about the great lengths and pains Baazov went through to make this deal happen.

Forbes recently uncovered how the 34-year-old was able to convince big-time Wall Street players to believe in him against all odds. They also told the story of a man who spent weeks living on the streets after being kicked out of his home, only to later rise up and become the biggest figure in iGaming.

Baazov was originally laughed at for his PokerStars proposal

When David Baazov first approached the Blackstone Group (GSO) in Manhattan about a plan to buy PokerStars, he was essentially laughed at and told to leave. The Amaya CEO wanted Blackstone and other investors to buy shares of his company (worth $7 at the time) for $18 a piece. Despite the long odds, Baazov was eventually able to sell Blackstone and others on this price to increase the value of his company and make buying Rational a more-realistic proposition.

This was only part of the equation, though, because he also had to convince Rational to sell. Once again, Baazov ran into an iron wall when the Scheinbergs weren’t interested in selling, nor did they see how he could come up with the money. He continued to “phone-stalk” the Scheinbergs until they finally told him they’d be interested if he came up with a $3 billion commitment letter from a financial institution. With Baazov producing this letter (courtesy of GSO) combined with PokerStars’ inability to get into New Jersey, the Scheinbergs were finally convinced to sell for $4.9 billion.

Baazov slept on Montreal park benches for a while

After completing the PokerStars transaction, Baazov earned an $800 million share of the new-look Amaya Gaming. And this is quite amazing for a guy who spent part of his life homeless, living in Montreal parks and sleeping on benches.

Born to a construction worker in Israel, Baazov’s Georgian parents moved to Canada when he was just 1. By the time he was 16, Baazov was a math whiz who saw little value in school, eventually telling his tight-knot Modern Orthodox Jewish family that he quit. They responded by kicking him out of the house, which led to Baazov sleeping on park benches of public hockey arenas for a few weeks. There were times when he even had to hang out in the penalty box area to avoid the cold winter winds.

The rise of an iGaming king

Baazov would eventually make up with his parents and rent an apartment, from which he sold discount coupons for shopping malls and dry cleaning. He also started a computer-reselling company that had “about two” customers in its first five months of existence. But then the teenager caught a break when he landed a contract to sell computers to Montreal’s city library.

Years later, his company was doing $20 million worth of business when he decided to get out of the hardware business and form Amaya Gaming. Their first product was an electronic poker table that was sold to casinos and cruise ships. After taking Amaya public, with shares selling for just $1 in 2010, Baazov convinced former NATO commander and presidential candidate General Wesley Clark to invest in his company. From here, he continued expanding Amaya by purchasing the Ongame poker network and Cadillac Jack (slots-maker).

Buying consumers, not gamblers

Many poker pros might cringe at the Forbes piece on Baazov, given the direction that Stars is going – i.e. casino games, sports betting, lottery-style poker. However, the Amaya head man offers some perspective on why PokerStars is going this way. “We are a consumer-tech-focused company,” he says. “We didn’t buy Rational because of gambling; we wanted it badly because it had 89 million consumers. I wouldn’t call them players or gamblers – they are consumers.”

Again, some of these consumers are angry poker players who worry that the fish will migrate towards other forms of gaming. But given that only 5 million of the 89 million consumers are active on Stars, maybe Amaya will help re-activate some of these fish again. Considering Baazov’s previous successes, no matter the odds, it wouldn’t be a stretch to think that he can draw more recreational players out of the woodwork and make PokerStars an even bigger success.

The post PokerStars Owner David Baazov: Impossible Business Deals and Homelessness appeared first on Rakeback News.

Yahoo will shut down their online poker portal less than two months after launching, and in other news Edward Norton reignited rumors that a “Rounders” sequel could eventually happen.

Yahoo’s Fresh Deck Poker – “Incompatible” and “Insecure”

Last month, Yahoo made waves throughout the online poker industry by opening Fresh Deck Poker. Many predicted that they’d be a major player in the game and possibly enter the US real money market later on. However, Yahoo has already announced that they plan on closing their online poker site on December 31st – less than two months after opening.

Yahoo explained the sudden shutdown by writing, “changes in supporting technologies and increased security requirements for our Yahoo web pages (has led to the poker games being) incompatible, insecure, and no longer functioning correctly.”

The search engine giant originally created a buzz when they began advertising Fresh Deck Poker in their fantasy football section. The idea was to take advantage of the natural connection between fantasy sports and online poker. Going further, many expected that Yahoo would have no trouble monetizing Fresh Deck – whether through regulated iPoker or advertisements – given that Toyota and State Farm ads are plastered all over their fantasy football homepage.

But it’s obvious now that Yahoo wasn’t prepared to compete with the likes of Zynga, freemium poker sites, or online poker operations in Delaware, New Jersey and Nevada. Of course, one can’t rule out their potential return if they take the time and resources to fix the security problems that plagued Fresh Deck.

Norton optimistic about Rounders 2

It’s been a while since we’ve been teased with news on a potential Rounders sequel. And Edward Norton recently gave poker movie aficionados some hope during an appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman.

There to promote his movie “Birdman,” Norton was asked by Letterman about Rounders 2. “I just now heard, which I don’t believe possible, the possibility of a second Rounders,” Letterman said. “I don’t know how you make a second Rounders. Is there a possibility of it?”

Norton responded by saying, “I think there is a possibility of it. Yeah, we um, we couldn’t have had more fun making that movie. That was one of the best gangs of people ever. We did it right on the cusp of what became kind of the resurgence of the poker phenomenon.”

It’s been almost 17 years since the original Rounders was released, which many credited with inspiring them to play poker. 2003 WSOP Main Event champion Chris Moneymaker was one of these players, and everybody can agree that his inclusion in the poker world has been good. So perhaps a Rounders sequel could once again inspire millions to take up the game.

The post Yahoo Poker Folds Already | Rounders 2 Still Alive? appeared first on Rakeback News.

Just weeks ago, the Rio saw Martin Jacobson win $10 million and be crowned the 2014 WSOP Main Event champion. But more recently, it was the site of a notorious bandit being shot and killed…

Poker player Jeffrey ‘Gamblero’ Vanchiro was taped being carried out of the Madison Square Garden during a Brooklyn Nets game. And Gamblero recently spoke about the incident in which he describes as “being abducted by aliens”…

Want a big-name poker player to freeroll your WSOP action? Then check out Kathy Liebert’s twitter contest, which you can read more about in the Weekly Flop.

Notorious Robber shot, killed at Rio

We all know the Rio as the home of the world’s biggest poker extravaganza – the WSOP. But just recently, it was also the site of a grisly scene where police tased, shot and killed a man whom they suspect has pulled off various robberies in the Vegas area.

According to authorities, the man went into several casinos, pulled a gun on the clerk, claimed he had explosives on him, and robbed them of cash. The police, who’d been tracking the bandit, tailed him to the Rio. When “he did not comply with their commands,” they tased him, which was “ineffective.” During a struggle with the detectives, the robber was fatally shot when he reached into his waistband (presumably for a gun).

The Las Vegas Fire Department’s bomb squad showed up to the scene and determined that everything was safe. As for details on the other robberies, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports that this information will be available at a later date.

Jeffrey Gamblero speaks on Humiliating MSG Ejection

Poker player Jeffrey Vanchiro, better known as Gamblero, is one of the most-diehard Brooklyn Nets fans in the world. In fact, he’s actually become well known for wearing neon shirts under his jerseys, dancing in the aisleways and being loud and boisterous. In a recent game against the Atlanta Hawks, other fans thought Gambler was being a little too loud and reported him to Madison Square Garden security.

What ensued was Gamblero taking off his prosthetic leg and being carried away by security while the entire incident was video taped. So how does Gamblero feel about the matter now? He compares it to be “abducted by aliens” and tells ESPNNewYork.com the following:

“I’m Jeffrey Vanchiro right now. I’m looking for Jeffrey Gamblero. If you find him, let me know. … I’m alive. I’m not my normal self, but I’m working towards getting back to that. I have a lot of recovery to do: physically, mentally, emotionally. My goal is to get back to being Jeffrey Gamblero by the All-Star break.”

Vanchiro also tells New York Daily News that he has “bumps and bruises” from how he was handled by security. “I’m not a bad guy. I’m not a bad guy,” Vanchiro adds. “Did I think I was gonna get arrested? No, because I didn’t break the law. Is annoying people a crime? Is it? I would hope not.” Despite not liking how he was dealt with, Gamblero says he has no plans to sue MSG.

Kathy Liebert offers 1% WSOP Freeroll for Answers

Getting 1% of your WSOP Main Event buy-in paid for may not seen like a big deal to some poker players. After all, the Main Event buy-in is $10,000, so we’re talking $100. Nevertheless, this is better than nothing, which is why Kathy ‘PokerKat’ Liebert got some responses when she tweeted the following:

“What do you think are the two most important qualities to be a world class poker player? I’m going to favorite 15 tweets and chose one of those 15 to give a 1% freeroll to WSOP main event”

There are already plenty of responses, with Phil Gordon chiming in by tweeting, “no doubt really:  aggression and patience, with resiliency and courage as kickers.” Great answer Phil, but Liebert unfortunately isn’t taking it because Gordon is too rich. As for any other amateurs who are trying to scrape together $10k, the WSOP freeroll contest is still open on Liebert’s twitter.

The post Weekly Flop: Bandit killed at WSOP Home | Gamblero Abducted | PokerKat WSOP Freeroll appeared first on Rakeback News.

In one of the biggest Hollywood stories in months, North Korea is rumored to be behind a hack of Sony Pictures that revealed some very sensitive information. And an interesting subplot to this story is that the drama behind the film adaptation of Molly’s Game was revealed…

Many poker players who’ve watched the WSOP Big One for One Drop before know that it generates money for clean drinking water. But Olivier Busquet recently got to see that One Drop is about so much more…

Good news for TV poker fans – CBS is bringing Poker Night in America back. Find out the details on the renewal in this edition of the Weekly Flop!

Sony Exec has a Problem with Molly’s Game Writer

Not long ago, it was revealed that A-List Hollywood screenwriter and producer Aaron Sorkin (Social Network, Moneyball) will adapt the script for Molly Bloom’s hit book Molly’s Game. And thanks to hacked emails from Sony Pictures Entertainment co-chairman Amy Pascal, it’s plain to see that Sorkin favors the Molly’s Game project above anything else.

Pascal’s email, which was sent to several top movie executives, bashes Sorkin while alleging that he’s “broke,” “just wants to get paid,” and might be sleeping with Bloom. Here are some other revelations from an email that was released by Defamer:

“We paid him his insane fee on flashboys.”
“When the poker movie came around we didn’t want to not be in the Aaron business so we wanted that too.”
“After social network jobs and flashboys Aaron and mark took the project to the town on the ‘pretense’ that we don’t have money.”
“They went to every studio.”
“He wants to write them together or poker movie first.”
“When mike told them that we wanted to write flashboys first (how long ago did they make that deal) ari sent an email saying he was pulling out of the project.”

It’s plain to see that Sorkin wants to get Molly’s Game finished before anything else. And this is great for anybody who wants to watch the onscreen portrayal of the underground Hollywood poker ring involving Ben Affleck, Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon. But it looks like he’s butting some heads with Sony Pictures over his insistence on doing this film first. Since the email was leaked, Sorkin has since defended Pascal by saying, “Amy would rather cut off her own hand than intentionally hurt someone.”

Olivier Busquet sees One Drop work firsthand

The $1 million buy-in Big One for One Drop tournament has been a huge success in its two years of existence, generating millions of dollars for charity. Speaking of the latter, many poker players know that the One Drop foundation’s goal is to provide clean drinking water to impoverished countries. But as Olivier Busquet discovered, there’s more to One Drop’s work than building a well and leaving town.

Busquet was recently invited by 2014 One Drop champ Dan Colman to go to El Salvador and Honduras, where he got to see the extra work that the foundation does beyond providing water. “They don’t just go into an impoverished area, build a well and then leave,” Busquet said, while noting that 30-50 percent of these one-time projects fail. The EPT Super High Roller champ added, “(One Drop’s) key to sustainability is making it so that these people, when their lives are transformed, they stay transformed.”

A couple of things that One Drop does to create this sustainability includes helping get business loans for the residents of low-income areas, and using inventive ways (arts) to teach awareness on sanitation and hygiene level.

Obviously Busquet was touched by the trip to Central America. And hopefully, his buddy Colman, who once ranted that poker is a “dark game,” also came away from the trip with some positive experiences.

CBS renews Poker Night in America

In an era where poker television seems all but dead, Poker Night in America really seems to be defying the industry trend. Focusing on player personalities and backstories, PNIA has done a great job of piquing the interests of both casual and serious players.

CBS recognizes this, which is why they’ve decided to renew the show for another two seasons. Starting January 5th, they’re also moving PNIA to a stable time slot at 10pm EST on Monday nights. The show’s sponsor, 888poker, has pledged to back PNIA for two more seasons. That said, we can all look forward to another 52 episodes of this colorful poker show.

The post Weekly Flop: Molly’s Game Prioritized | Busquet’s One Drop | Poker Night Back appeared first on Rakeback News.

There’s some sad news to report in the poker world since Jeffrey ‘Gamblero’ Vanchiro (38) has died after falling out of a second-story window at his father’s house in Queens, New York. The ex-poker player and Brooklyn Nets superfan is believed to have jumped from the window in a “disoriented state,” suffering severe brain damage and spinal fractures upon his fall. Vanchiro was on a ventilator at New York Hospital Queens before passing away.

Death comes less than two weeks after Brooklyn Nets ejection

On December 2nd, Gamblero was ejected from an NBA game between the Brooklyn Nets and New York Knicks. The story made national headlines when a clip went viral of Madison Square security carrying Vanchiro off without his prosthetic leg attached.

Reports vary on what exactly led to the ejection, with most contending that Vanchiro was simply annoying Knicks fans while supporting his Nets during their victory. He admittedly yelled “Too easy!” Too easy!” during the game, at which point he said, “All hell broke loose.” Another report claimed that Vanchiro may have hit an angry Knicks fan with his prosthetic leg.

Gamblero denied this allegation, saying that he merely took his leg off in protest when security came. Whatever the case may be, he felt humiliated after being carried out of the MSG arena with thousands of fans watching.

Erratic behavior followed ejection

Vanchiro’s fiance, Kristi Evans, says that his demeanor changed following the ejection. “After that, he was a completely different person,” Evans told The New York Times. “He was paranoid. He was erratic. He was frightened. He was horrified. He was a bit delusional. He was having a lot of trouble sleeping. He couldn’t sleep at all. When he would sleep, or try to sleep, it would only take about 10 or 15 minutes before he would jump up screaming covered in sweat.”

Evans added, “he just stopped sleeping, because he didn’t want to have those nightmares anymore.” Vanchiro sustained minor head and back injuries when he was being carried out of MSG.

Graffiti and Poker Career

Aside from being one of the most-colorful Brooklyn Nets fans, Vanchiro was also an accomplished poker player and graffiti artist. The latter is where he gained significant fame, developing a reputation for being one of New York City’s most-talented graffiti artists.

But legal trouble forced him out of this avenue and into poker, where he made a living for several years. In all, Vanchiro earned over $370,000 in live tournaments, including a 2007 WSOP Circuit Atlantic City victory ($68,160) and fourth-place finish in the PaddyPower Irish Open 2009 (€40,000). More recently, he got back into art, putting his focus towards graffiti-style works on canvases.

The post Jeffrey “Gamblero” Vanchiro Jumps to his Death Following Brooklyn Nets Ejection appeared first on Rakeback News.

The WSOP is once again offering a gaudy $10 million payout to first place. But Daniel Negreanu doesn’t believe that bigger is better…Speaking of bigger, players can’t stop talking about the “The Colossus.” And some have already predicted that this $5 million WSOP tournament will break some major records…Want 100% rakeback? Then perhaps you should consider the startup poker site Bitnplay, which we’ll discuss in this edition of the Weekly Flop.

Negreanu nixes $10m WSOP top prize

It seems like a monthly occurrence (at least) that Daniel Negreanu plunges himself into the middle of some heated poker debate. This time, he’s taking on the WSOP over their decision to once again offer a $10 million guaranteed payout to the Main Event champ. ‘KidPoker’ has a problem with putting a disproportionate amount of money into the first-place payout, at the expense of more players cashing. Here’s a look at some of Negreanu’s tweets on the matter:

Re: WSOP main event payouts. I agree strongly that flatter payouts are more important than guaranteeing a $10 mill 1st prize. Increasing…

The chances of cashing, increases the chance that recreational players will play not only this year but in future years.

I’ve yet to hear either a pro player or an amateur that is in favor of a $10 mill first prize. It truly doesn’t serve anyone’s best interest

“Make the WSOP final table, become a millionaire.”Better tag line then “Beat 8000 players, win $10 million.” Easier sell guys it’s not close

Negreanu might be a little bit off his numbers on the last tweet since only 6,683 players entered the 2014 Main Event. However, he re-ignites a debate that was raised last year regarding such a big first-place prize. And it looks like Negreanu already has one powerful supporter since Phil Hellmuth tweeted, “Agree 100% RT @RealKidPoker RE: WSOP main event: Flatter payouts (paying more players) more important than $10 Million guarantee for 1st.”

The Colossus already expected to smash tournament records

By far the most-exciting addition to the 2015 WSOP lineup, The Colossus will feature a $5 million prize pool and a $565 buy-in. This ultra-low entry fee is only a third of the $1,500 needed to enter the “Millionaire Maker,” an event that drew 7.997 players last year. Going further, $565 is the smallest WSOP buy-in for a bracelet event in 35 years.

Considering how the buy-in is a recreational player’s dream, there are already some bold predictions being made about how many participants The Colossus will draw. Some on TwoPlusTwo have estimated that 12,000 to 15,000 players will take part in this re-entry tournament. The Las Vegas Sun reported that WSOP organizers expect over 13,000 participants.

The current record holder for a land-based tournament field is the 2006 WSOP Main Event, which attracted 8,773 players. And while this was a $10k event with no rebuys, it would still be impressive to see The Colossus beat this record by over 4,000 players.

Bitcoin poker site crowdsale-ing, promises 100% rakeback

Today, the notion of 100% rakeback is a perk that’s only enjoyed by those increasingly rare pros with a sponsorship deal. However, a startup Bitcoin poker site called Bitnplay is seeking to change this for those who make donations to their crowdsale effort.
Set to launch in early 2015, Bitnplay follows the same path as SealsWithClubs, Breakout Gaming and Get Lucky Poker in that it will only accept Bitcoin transactions. However, their angle is that they are raising startup funds through the crowdsale site known as Counterparty. Anybody who donates two bitcoins will receive 200 tokens, which equates to 100% rakeback for life at Bitnplay.
We’re assuming that this will eventually be a for-profit online poker site. But for the time being, those who believe in this site and don’t want to ever pay rake fees can get in on the ground floor at Bitnplay.

The post Weekly Flop: Negreanu Bashes WSOP $10m | Colossus Record | 100% Bitcoin Rakeback appeared first on Rakeback News.