Ok-Poker!

Book Explores The Similarities Betwen Texas Hold’em And Sex, Gives Advice On How To Score At Both

What do Texas Hold’em and your sex life have in common? If you’re like most guys, it’s probably along the lines of a lot bluffing and even more folding. If you are Randall Klitz, the similarities between the two are more clear.

According to a recent piece in online magazine Science Daily, results from two studies have revealed that skill is more important than luck when it comes to being a successful poker player.

The magazine quotes Michael DeDonno, a doctoral student from Cleveland’s Case Western Reserve University, who carried out two poker-related studies with students that found skill winning out over luck.

‘This article provides empirical evidence that it is skill and not luck,’ said DeDonno.

Poker's uncertain legal status in Norway has caused this year's Norwegian Poker Championships to be moved to Nottingham England, where the event will take place at the Dusk Till Dawn club from April 28th through May 5th, 2008.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA -- PurePlay, the first and largest U.S.-compliant play-for-cash online poker destination, today announced completion of its first-ever tournament to award a free seat to the World Series of Poker*. More than 30,000 players competed for a $10,000 seat at the poker championship, to be held in Las Vegas in July. This enthusiastic response spurred PurePlay to kick off a second qualifying tourney, now underway. PurePlay also announced it will be giving away more seats in monthly tournaments leading up to the main event.

In what is a surprise as much as a coup for organisers Harrah’s Entertainment, David Beckham is set to play in this year’s 2008 World Series of Poker Europe.

The event, which is scheduled to be held from September 19th to October 1st in London, England, will see Beckham missing at least one game for his Major League Soccer team, Los Angeles Galaxy.

Beckham has been granted a wild-card for the tournament with organisers hoping his inclusion in the event will draw in record viewing figures and take the game to a global level.

Wendeen Eolis, who served as World Poker Association Vice-Chair in 2007 and Chair of its Executive Committee since last December has been elected by the Board of Directors to serve as the organization’s Chairman.

The mandate for Eolis will be to continue to push WPA’s evolving mission - to promote poker as a sport by advocating professionalism and uniform rules and standards of conduct, and by helping to create increased economic opportunities for players.

Grand Sierra Resort and Casino welcomed 261 players and a $1.8 million prize pool for the four-day World Poker Tour World Poker Challenge March 25-28. Lee Markholt won the event and took home $468,315 along with a $25,000 seat in the World Poker Tour Championships at Bellagio in Las Vegas on April 19. He was also awarded the World Poker Challenge 2008 winner’s bracelet.

It was announced this week that the Asian Poker Tour will be returning this year and will begin in the Philippines on May 27th through the first of June. This year’s schedule has four events that will be held in the Philippines, Macau, Singapore and South Korea. The dates and venues for the other three events have not been announced as of yet.

Chris Moneymaker was a mild-mannered accountant in Tennessee when he spent $40 to enter an Internet poker tournament. Before he was done, he’d won $2.5 million in the 2003 World Series of Poker (the first tourney he’d ever played in a casino) — giving the hundreds of thousands who watched on ESPN something to shoot for.

“I think anyone who comes in this room thinks, yeah, that could be me,” said 40-year-old Fran Lieberman, who sat waiting for a tournament to begin in the poker room at Casino del Sol last month. “Who wouldn’t?”

Former Senator Alfonse D’Amato, chairman of the Poker Players Alliance (PPA), the leading poker grassroots advocacy group comprised of almost one million online and offline poker players nationwide, issued the following statement on today’s hearing before the House Financial Services Committee hearing on the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA).

The upper house of the Dutch parliament voted down a bill to grant monopoly operator Holland Casino an exclusive license to provide online gaming services in the Netherlands by a margin of only two votes on Tuesday, dashing Holland Casino's hopes of offering poker and online gambling to Dutch players over the Internet.

Holland Casino had been working for over a year on developing an online offering in cooperation with software provider CryptoLogic.

Ever since the World Series of Poker starting showing up on television sets, poker's popularity has grown to extreme heights.

In Florida, it has been the only game in town for a while now. That is all about to change, with the Seminole Indians being just a few short months away from unveiling their new legalized blackjack tables at their casinos.

Blackjack has long been one of the most popular casino table games. It is fast paced, which keeps people's attention, and it is also an easy game to learn. People from all walks of life enjoy the game.

DoylesRoom.com today announced the release of its groundbreaking new poker software. Chockfull of innovative features and previously unseen customizable options, this latest software download stands to not only raise the bar, but single-handedly revolutionizes online poker game play.

PaddyPower Poker just announced their Billionth Hand promotion, which will see hundreds of cash prizes won in the run-up to the 1,000,000,000th cash table hand being dealt. The winner of the Billionth Hand will win a huge $50,000 prize, while the participants in the hand will share $30,000.

Players can also win prizes of up to $14,000 by participating in the Countdown and Jackpot hands, which will occur in the lead up to the Billionth Hand. The Countdown hands occur every 200,000 hands, while the Jackpot hands occur every 5,000,000 hands in the run-up.

Texas Hold 'Em Poker games are not just for television. Follow these tips and you are almost certain to have a good time throwing your own poker party.

The Basics

First of all, you need to determine how many players you are going to have over. This sets the parameters for everything else you need to decide, such as how many tables you are going to use.

Brent Garza, a 23-year-old with seven years of poker experience, said he prefers to invite eight to 10 people for poker get-togethers.

The Poker Channel has announced two carriage deals in The Netherlands and a restructuring of the company.
An additional 550,000 subscribers to UPC’s digital basic package, as well as subscribers to KPN’s basic IPTV package, will be able to view coverage of poker tournaments including the Irish Open 2008, the European Poker Masters and the Million Dollar Cash game.

LONDON -- VEGA PROMOTIONAL SYSTEMS, INC. today announced it is expanding its Latin American Poker Tour (LAPT) to include North American venues. The name of the Tour has changed to become the "Poker Tour of the Americas" (PTA).

As a result of increased interest from cities all over North and South America, Vega has agreed to expand the Tour's reach to include cities in the United States and Canada.

Two of three people charged in a Middletown gambling raid in February pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor offense this week.

Laurie Anderson, 37, and Matthew Balotin, 30, each pleaded guilty to third-degree conspiracy, according to Court of Common Pleas records.

Anderson was sentenced to six months' probation and Balotin was sentenced to one month probation. Both will be discharged from probation early after they pay fines and other court costs, court records showed.

Rakerz.com today launched as one of the top premium rakeback providers. Not only does Rakerz.com provide regular poker rakeback like so many others but also sports an advanced rakeback tracking system, providing rakeback statistics from all different poker sites right on Rakerz.com.

The poker world was abuzz recently when the chip leader at a World Series of Poker Circuit event in Atlantic City was disqualified for unruly behavior. Down to the final five players at a relatively noteworthy tournament, it is simply unheard of to have a tournament director make such a bold and decisive move at a critical juncture that late in the contest. Poker chat forums instantly debated the topic of the ousted player, with most of the comments supporting the tournament staff for the move.

The game of poker is not for the weak. It is a grueling test of patience and endurance. Most of the time a player has to be able to deal with getting bad beats within the cards.

If people take the game too seriously, it can end up the way it did in an Atlantic City parking garage on Saturday. One man was killed by another, who has been taken into custody.

The stabbing took place after an argument over a poker game. The two men were playing cards at the Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort in Atlantic City.

CHARLESTON, S.C. --

An assistant prosecutor for Calhoun, Dorchester and Orangeburg counties was among 27 people arrested in a raid on a Hanahan house where people were playing poker, police say.

Don Sorenson was charged with unlawful games and betting. He submitted his resignation to chief prosecutor David Pascoe. But Pascoe told The (Charleston) Post and Courier that he is suspending Sorenson without pay until he decides what the 13-year veteran's future will be with the office.

A home telephone listing for Sorenson could not be found Sunday.

Confidence at the poker table can be great.

You sit there, win a few big hands, and the table starts to earn respect for you and your style of play.

Especially if you've been particularly stingy early after sitting down to a new cash game.

Only play premium hands, bet small unless you feel you have the nuts and generally play conservative - I mean Rush Limbaugh conservative.

This can instill a measure of confidence as you go forward that can help you.

It can also be damning.

IF he plays his cards right Graham Barkworth could have been crowned the first UK Pub Poker Champion.

The 42-year-old, of Rosebery Avenue in Bridlington, made it through the regional round of Redtooth Poker in Leeds but missed out on the top spot in the national final.

Mr Barkworth has been playing poker for over three years, after initially starting on the Internet and then when pub poker took off he started playing at The George in Prince Street on Tuesday evenings.

With a first place prize of a seat at the Main Event in the 2008 World Series of Poker, over 100 professional poker players including Doyle Brunson, Phil Ivey, Jennifer “Jennicide” Leigh, Joe Hachem, and, of course, Jennifer Harman herself, the Second Annual Jennifer Harman Charity Poker Tournament, which will be held at the Venetian poker room Apr. 18, looks like it’s shaping up to be at least as much of a success as last year’s inaugural event.

LONDON -- Leading full service mobile gaming solutions provider Spin3, powered by Microgaming, the world's largest online gaming software provider, has launched a new 3 Card Poker gambling game for mobile phones. Spin3's latest game demonstrates their leadership in the mobile gambling industry and in providing total mobile gaming solutions for the casino sector.

Shanky Technologies is reporting very strong initial sales for their new "Hold'em Bot" program, which is a piece of software that plays online poker automatically for the user. The release of this product is expected to greatly increase the number of pokerbots playing in online poker games, a trend that is likely to continue in the near future.

Despite heading to the final table in his home country with the chip lead Italian Dario Minieri was unable to capture his first PokerStars.com European Poker Tour championship Saturday in San Remo.

Instead Jason Mercier from Fort Lauderdale, Florida took home the title and the €869,000 ($1.36 Million US) first place prize. Mercier, who qualified via online satellite, outlasted 700 other players including runner-up Antony Lellouche of France.

Minieri had to settle for third after Mercier made his flush against the local hero’s pocket queens.

Seamless Transition of Player Accounts, Enhanced Customer Service to Benefit Players

Montreal, Quebec -- Absolute Poker, one of the world's most popular sites for online poker gaming enthusiasts, today announced that it has completed the migration of player accounts from Vegas Poker 247. Absolute Poker had previously announced its acquisition of Vegas Poker 247 in February 2008.

It's a little after nine on a Saturday morning in the Olympus Ballroom on the second floor of the Caesars Indiana Hotel & Casino, and the WSOP Academy is in town. 60 or so poker aspirants have gathered here, in a quietly overstated, upscale conference room, as the latest attendees of one of the WSOP Academy poker camps.

There's no felt table, no free drinks and no poker face, but Internet gambling is booming in Germany. No one, however, talks about the online game's risks and negative side-effects.

Nine years after retiring from his professional tennis career, millionaire Boris Becker is cashing in on aces once again. He's become the spokesman in a high-profile ad campaign for a poker Web site.

The first stop in the WPT Canada will be the Coast to Coast Poker Championships in Richmond, B.C. at the River Rock Casino.

The All Africa Poker Tournament

Watch legendary poker moments as formidable poker pro’s and celebrities from across the globe, throw down the gauntlet, to be crowned the next poker king or queen, at the leading poker tournament in Africa- the All Africa Poker Tournament.

This phenomenal tournament has not only made more than a dozen millionaires, but has been the platform from which many local poker players have been elevated into international poker stardom. Experience all the poker thrills first hand.

World Poker Tour- Season 4

Up to 290 000 poker fans enjoy the game.

Deutsche Welle reports that the game of poker is enjoying growing popularity in Germany, with between 200 000 and 290 000 Germans regularly playing on the Internet. In 2006, it was estimated that players spent around Euro 1 million gambling online.

The timing was coincidental, but shortly after a reader from Henderson proposed a tournament based on duplicate poker in this column recently, an online poker site announced the inaugural Duplicate Poker World Championship with the finals set for this fall.

The site, DuplicatePoker.com, is legal in most parts of the United States because the game is considered skill-based. (Not that regular poker isn’t, but that’s another story for another day.)

Most U.S. citizens are eligible to compete in the championship’s qualifying period, which runs through Sept. 14.

As Betfair Poker is the home of the world's best online MTT player, Annette 'Annette_15' Obrestad, it is clearly a poker room that expects perfection. Winning the occasional MTT here and there simply isn't good enough, to really knock on the door of greatness you have to win the 'Pokerfecta'.

'Play the hand that's dealt you." Card talk has always sounded profoundly philosophical to me, and I am not even a real card player. More of a penny-poker kind of girl, I believe my strategy at the poker table boils down to this: Always play to the end and never fold.

This, of course, goes counter to my natural instincts. A big, whiney, scared chicken by nature, I should be the first one to fold. I should be disgustedly flipping my cards in the muck after the first bad deal, grousing that I never get lucky.

IT PAYS to be cool.

The cautious style of veteran campaigner Kent del Rosario paid off as he ruled the second leg of the Filipino Poker Tour and the third Pagcor World Charity Poker at the SMEX Convention Center in Pasay City.

The 28-year-old Del Rosario played it cool all throughout the 25 levels of play and made his biggest move against his final foe Kirby Te to win the biggest jackpot ever in local poker history.

Following the success of the Spanish Championship on last year's World Poker Tour, WPT Enterprises and Grup Peralada announced they are bringing the event back to the Tour schedule again this year, to be hosted by Casino Barcelona on May 21 - 27, 2008.

The event is expected to draw a field of over 400 players, including the new face of the WPT Poker Made Millionaire, Poker Pro Antonio "the Magician" Esfandiari, as he represents the worldpokertour online site at the tables.

The World Series of Poker, the ultimate rollercoaster of tournament poker, returns this summer. This year's WSOP in Las Vegas will be the biggest poker event on the planet. A champion will be decided, bracelets will be won and you could be there too by qualifying online at the poker room at Bet365.

Bet365's WSOP main event package, which is worth $14,000, includes travel and accommodation expenses. Satellite tournaments start from as little as $6 and are running now. See the satellite schedule in the Bet365 Poker lobby and prepare to plot your way to victory!

$30,000 Heads-Up Poker Match with Phil Hellmuth Heats Up this Weekend at UltimateBet.com

Final Four in UltimateBet’s Heads-Up SmackDown Bracket of Champions battle it out for the chance to play poker sensation Phil Hellmuth for $30,000.

Leading online poker site UltimateBet is putting its biggest pro, Phil Hellmuth, front and center in this weekend’s Heads-Up SmackDown Bracket of Champions. And one talented Texas Hold’em player will win the chance to outsmart him in a game of online poker for $30,000.

A Westmoreland County lawyer charged with illegally operating poker tournaments wants those charges dismissed, saying the card game is not gambling.

Larry Burns, 63, of Derry Township was charged last year with misdemeanor gambling counts for running tournaments for a profit.

Police contend Burns made about $31,000 in profits from three Texas Hold 'Em tournaments in Seward, in addition to an undisclosed amount from weekly poker games in Hempfield.

Model/TV personality Leeann Tweeden has been tapped as the new host of the popular poker television show Poker After Dark, according to WickedChopsPoker.com

Model and actress Abi Titmuss is swapping posing for poker next month in an unexpected career move. No longer content with simply raising the pulse of the average UK male or treading the boards, Abi is set to raise the stakes in Europe's biggest annual poker event for women - the Ladbrokespoker.com European Ladies Championship (ELC) on 3rd and 4th of May 2008.

A POKER night organised in memory of a factory worker has resulted in a big win for charity.

Workers at Walkers Snack Foods, in Peterlee, set up the event as a tribute to their colleague Tommy Langley, who died last year.

Factory contractors were asked to buy poker tables for the evening at a minimum of £100 each, though one business paid a generous £400 to take part.

A raffle was organised with staff being asked to bring in unwanted Christmas presents as prizes, helping to boost the total sum raised for the Hartlepool and District Hospice to £1,269.

Internet Poker Rankings, which tracks the top internet poker players in the world, has expanded to track the growing popularity of Internet poker internationally. In 2008, Internet Poker Rankings will award the first ever International Internet Player of the Year. This race is open to all players, but focuses on sites and tournaments with a high international presence.

Figures from the State Government show Queenslanders lost more than $1.7 billion on poker machines in the past year.

There are more than 40,000 poker machines in Queensland with punters losing about $34 million a week.

The Salvation Army says the Queensland Government should implement a system gives gamblers a better idea of how much money they are losing.

The Salvos want electronic devices attached to poker machines that flash up total figures of money spent by gamblers in a session.

Salvation Army captain Peter Sutcliffe says the Government must be alarmed by the figures.

<!-- Article Content -->The European Poker Tour rolls back into beautiful Monte Carlo on the Cote d'Azure for the 2008 EPT Grand Final on Saturday.

THE new structure of the poker machine industry in Victoria could expose it to the danger of corruption and infiltration by organised crime, a former Tattersall's chief executive has warned.

Peter Gillooly, the chief general manager of the gaming giant for 16 years when it was a private company, told The Sunday Age that Tattersall's and Tabcorp had instituted the "type of controls … that were designed to stop that sort of thing".

According to reports emanating from numerous sources, online payment processor ePassporte has discontinued its deposit services to online poker sites for US residents. A statement announcing ePassporte's decision to withdraw was previously mailed to officials of sites using the service, details of which are now being leaked to the general public.

For some aficionados, all bets are off after Hanahan raid leads to nearly 200 warrants

He was new in town, looking for a game, and got the e-mail address of another poker player off a Web site.

But when he showed up for the game in Mount Pleasant, they refused to let him in.

'Nobody knew me, or could vouch for me, so I couldn't play,' said the man who asked not to be identified. 'I had to leave, which was stupid, because if I was a cop, I already knew where the game was.'

<!-- Article Content -->NASCAR driver Tony Stewart and Kid Rock met up in Detroit at the Michigan International Speedway to play a little poker.

Orpe is a professional player and has taken part in the European Poker Tour as well as worked as a commentator on Poker Night Live.

This fantastic prize includes airfare to Las Vegas, accommodation at a top hotel, $10,000 buy-in to the 2008 WSOP main event and spending money. The WSOP Main event will take place from July 1st 2008.

-- PokerRoomSchool is sending one lucky player to the WORLD SERIES OF POKER 2008 Main Event!

Will it be you?

This fantastic prize includes airfare to Las Vegas, accommodation at a top hotel, $10,000 buy-in to the 2008 WSOP main event and spending money. The WSOP Main event will take place from July 1st 2008.

United States film studio MGM has announced that several top international poker professionals will have cameo roles in its new casino-themed motion picture Deal, which is due for release on April 25.

With a storyline revolving around poker, the new film features Hollywood veteran Burt Reynolds alongside Shannon Elizabeth and Bret Harrison. Also appearing as themselves will be Phil ‘The Unabomber’ Laak, Antonio ‘The Magician’ Esfandiari, Vincent Van Patten, Joe Hachem, Chris Moneymaker and Greg Raymer.

“Deal is the best poker movie since Rounders,” said Hachem.

Recent controversy over pokie trust funding has sparked concerns that money is not going back into deserving communities.

The Problem Gambling Foundation has asked the Department of Internal Affairs to investigate claims about dubious pokie trust funding of the racing industry.

The Gambling Act forbids any gambling operators from receiving benefits in the distribution of grants.

The foundation’s director of social marketing, Bill Bradford says the situation has been concerning them for some time but nothing has yet been done about it.

Online poker is once again in the spotlight this week, with the news that new poker room Poker Trillion are leaving the Boss Media Network, issuing a garnishee order and filing a €45 million law suit against them. On Friday, Poker Trillion customers were emailed to inform them of the 'freezing order' on the bank accounts of Boss Holdings Limited.

Following recent reports that American online payment processor Epassporte is no longer accepting US depositors, PokerEchecks.com has launched a new information page explaining its service and reassuring players.

The site stated that its fast, reliable and secure service is available at PokerStars.com and FullTiltPoker.com as long as players have a bank account and can provide their routing and account numbers. As fast as credit card deposits, PokerEchecks.com stated that funds are immediately available for play and may even be used to cash out in some cases.

The second day of play at the PokerStars European Poker Tour Grand Final wrapped up in Monte Carlo Monday and while players from around the world entered the event the top chip stacks all belong to players from Norway.

Oyvind Riisem, who finished 4th in the 2007 World Series of Poker Europe main event, leads the way with 441,400 chips. Fellow countrymen Johnny Lodden has the next biggest stack with 380,300. Borge Dypvik and Andreas Hagen are third and fourth with 296,000 and 276,800 respectively.

On Wednesday, CD Poker will be dealing another World Series of Poker* Main Event Freeroll exclusively for PokerListings.com players.

The freeroll is open to players who signed up at CD Poker through PokerListings.com and then accumulated 200 player points during the qualification period.

UK poker personality Liv Boeree set to run poker school at 2-day communications industry event in the UK.

The Allegheny County district attorney has charged a vending firm and its owner with operating an illegal gambling business, the second set of charges to grow out of an ongoing grand jury probe into poker machines.

Kenneth J. Angelo, and his firm, Angelo Amusements, both of Elizabeth Township, face charges of conspiracy, corrupt organizatons, dealing with proceeds of unlawful activities and gambling devices.

Antonio Esfandiari hasn’t won a major tournament since May 2004 when he won his only World Series of Poker bracelet in the $2,000 Pot Limit Hold’em event. But if Tuesday is any indication the man known as “the Magician” may be about to add another win to his resume.

Esfandiari leads the PokerStars European Poker Tour Grand Final with 1,198,000 chips through the third day of play. He started the day in 44th position with 121,400 chips and managed to move his way up the ladder throughout the day. A total of 124 players started the day with chips but by day’s end only 39 remained.

Phil "OMGClayAiken" Galfond, generally considered one of the top five online cash game players in the world, has put in an impressive April so far.

About two dozen poker players accused of illegal gambling appeared in Hanahan Municipal Court on Wednesday morning, and about half pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges, though the fate of thousands of dollars in seized assets is likely to remain in the air for some time.

For those who pleaded guilty, Judge Victor Revelise imposed a $257 fine for the charge of unlawful games and betting. Others received a continuance that postpones their court dates for another two weeks. Others await jury trials.

Plenty of changes on tap for PAD4 that are sure to delight audiences.

With three highly successful seasons of one of the most widely-watched poker shows in the books, the filming of the 4th season of NBC's hit late-night program Poker After Dark will conclude on Friday, April 18 in Las Vegas. Ten new episodes will be aired beginning in July, but some exciting changes are in store that should easily please the most diehard poker fan as well as the casual viewer.

For the third year in a row a North American has captured the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour Grand Final. Glen Chorny, a 22-year old from Ontario, Canada came out on top of the 842-player field to win the €2,020,000 ($3.2 million US) first place prize.

Runner-up Denes Kalo, from Hungary, earned €1,179,000 ($1.9 million US) after being eliminated on the first hand of heads-up play. Another Canadian, Maxime Villemure, finished third despite fighting a fever and stomach issues for the final two days of play.

Finns spend as much as 50 million euros annually on foreign online poker games, reports the newspaper Keski-Uusimaa.

The newspaper says domestic online poker would bring in several million euros in additional income, which could be used for public projects.

Ilkka Juva, the communication director of the Finnish lottery company Veikkaus, says up to two-thirds of the money spent on foreign online poker could be redirected to Finns, if Finland provided domestic online poker.

PlayboyGaming.com have pulled off an amazing coup by securing the sponsorship of a prodigal poker pro who's had the major online poker rooms clamoring for his signature.

Dennis Plejdrup, a young Dane, also known by his online alias "dazzy", lives in Aarhus and worked as a financial adviser before becoming a poker pro in January 2006.

Since turning pro, Plejdrup's high stakes play and incredible success have established him as one of the hottest properties in online poker and as a result he's attracted huge sponsorship interest from the world's largest online poker sites.

For the second time in two months, Putnam County deputies have been called to a shooting at a card game. Officials said it was just coincidence that one man had ties to both incidents.
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On Feb. 16, Freeman G. Turner, 45, of Palatka discovered the bodies of three men who had been killed in an all-night poker game on Carver Street. He was not a suspect in the shooting and another man was ultimately arrested in the case and is awaiting trial.

At about 11:30 p.m. Thursday, Turner was playing cards with several acquaintances at 101 Carole Road in Palatka, investigators said. The game was interrupted when the front door was kicked open and a man armed with a gun rushed in.

Melody is everywhere and if you take advantage it might become your best friend in poker games. Psychology presents different aspects of music where personal matters are connected to melodies. For instance, the songs you listened to on a Saturday night at your friend's house, during a rainy night downtown in the city, or even when finishing primary school can remind you again and again of different feelings. As well, in a poker room music can successfully benefit you to improve your abilities.

Music is a way of expression, an art and an entertainment. It is the combination of sounds that affect our emotions and our moods therefore, it can even be so powerful that our way of thinking is constantly affected.

According to SSNN strip poker is expected to be included in the 2008 World Series of Poker schedule of events. According to reports, not only will this again be the biggest World Series of Poker main event ever, organizers of the WSOP are said to be in favor of, in fact, preparing for, a world series of poker, strip poker event.

It’s something we’d been considering, and finally decided to give it the go ahead,” said a top World Series of Poker official. “We grew so fast for a while, but things have tailed off a bit in the last year or so. Everybody around the office really thinks the naked chicks will spur some more growth.

WPT Enterprises, Inc., operators of the World Poker Tour, announced today the settlement of a lawsuit brought against it by several big-name poker players. The action, which focused on the player release form used by the World Poker Tour, was originally filed by seven players who announced the suit at a press conference at the Rio in Las Vegas during the 2006 WSOP. The resolution of the suit involves a modificiation of the WPT's player release, with no money damages involved.

As Hillary and Barack fight for the votes, many poker players are asking the same question: Where do the Democrats stand when it comes to Gambling?

Senior executive at Harrah's Entertainment and, conveniently, the co-chairperson of the National Women's Business Council of the Clinton Campaign, Jan Jones, reflect on Clinton's support for gambling last Friday. "What we have found in every instance," explains Jones, "when you create an economic engine that drives job creation and encourages capital investment, you have an industry that builds community and provides livelihood."

Player release dispute resolved amicably

Five determined professional poker players have seen their resolve rewarded by the settlement of their long-running legal dispute with World Poker Tour Enterprises Inc. over the use of player release forms. Although the settlement includes no pecuniary damages, it does involve a change in the contested WPT player release.

Top pros Chris Ferguson, Andrew Bloch, Annie Duke, Phil Gordon, and Howard Lederer, accompanied by Greg Raymer and Joe Hachem originally launched the dispute with WPT some two years ago (see previous Online-Casinos.com/InfoPowa report) The latter two players subsequently relinquished their involvement in the action.

In 2007, the players applied for a summary judgement on the issue, which was denied.

IT WAS once the exclusive territory of fedora-wearing mafioso in dimly lit backrooms and whisky-slugging cowboys whose six-shooters lay next to their cards on the table.

But something has happened in the dangerous, murky world of poker made famous by the likes of gunslingers Doc Holliday and Wild Bill Hickok, who was shot in the back while he played.

The most famous card game of them all is becoming one for the girls as ladies swap bingo for blackjack and bored pensioners abandon their quiet nursing homes for a bit of action.

And Wales’ casinos are cashing in on the trend, with the glitzy gambling arenas offering tutoring, hen night and birthday packages which are soaring in popularity.

A former head linesmaker for the online gambling website Nine.com was nabbed in Panama while attempting to obtain a new passport. MajorWager.com first broke the story Sunday morning.

The linesmaker, whose first name is "Rick", was well respected within the offshore sportsbook world. He had recently lost over 400 pounds.

Rick also worked in the same operation as high profile poker cheat and scammer Allan "AJ Green" Grimard. You might recall that Grimard worked as a consultant for the online poker room Absolute Poker, where he used a "super user" account to cheat players out of thousands of dollars in specified tournaments. Absolute later had to refund all individuals who participated in the tournaments.

Though gambling in Finland is organized as a national monopoly, online poker has yet to be managed by government agencies; but the idea to do so is being rekindled according to comments from Veikkaus, Finland's national betting agency for lottery and sports betting, managed by the Finnish Ministry of Education.

Finland's Gambling market is divided between three governing bodies. In addition to Veikkaus Oy, who manages lottery and sports betting, there is RAY, the Slot Machine Association who operates and oversees casino games, slot machines and table games, as well as Fintoto Oy, who runs pari-mutuel wagering on horses and online games.

The amount of people this year doesn't quite match last year's event, but what couldn't be matched in numbers was replaced with quality players. This year's tournament will be harder to win than ever.

Glen Chorny became a regular at the late-night $40 poker tournaments at Sarasota Kennel Club starting in December, after he gave up on college and moved into his parents’ Lakewood Ranch home.

Then last week he won the biggest poker tournament in European history, collecting the $3.1 million top prize and launching his career as a pro.

Playing poker on a computer on his parents’ lanai, the 22-year-old Canadian had won an all-expenses paid entry into the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour Grand Final in Monte Carlo.

“I honestly told people going into Monte Carlo I had to win it for myself,” Chorny said Monday, in a phone interview from Las Vegas. “I wanted to arrive in the poker world, so to speak.”

CHARLOTTE -- More than 200 people from the Charlotte area participated in a poker tournament on Sunday. They were playing for a chance to compete in the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas this summer.

The tournament was held at the Quaker Steak and Lube on Speedway Boulevard in Concord.

“Poker is huge,” explained participant Randy Blalock. “You see all the WSOP coverage on TV and [World Poker Tour]. As big as it is, people are hooked on it and I don't think it's going away anytime soon. I hope not.”

The winner of the tournament received a $10,000 buy-in to the World Series of Poker, and the top eight players won trips to play in a smaller poker tournament in Mississippi.

Written by News 14 Carolina Staff

news14.com

22-year-old who played at Kennel Club wins $3 million in Monte Carlo

SARASOTA — Glen Chorny became a regular at the late-night $40 poker tournaments at Sarasota Kennel Club starting in December, after he gave up on college and moved into his parents' Lakewood Ranch home.

Then, last week, he won the biggest poker tournament in European history, collecting the $3.1million top prize and launching his career as a professional player.

Playing poker on a computer on his parents' lanai, the 22-year-old Canadian had won an all-expenses paid entry into the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour Grand Final in Monte Carlo.

The 888.com World Poker Crown is coming up this weekend. Starting today, every hour, on the hour, 888 has a one cent "almost freeroll" where the winner picks up a $1050 entry to the World Poker crown for their shot at poker glory.

(PRWEB) April 22, 2008 -- The http://www.worldpokercrown.com [888.com World Poker Crown] is coming up this weekend, with cards in the air at 2pm sharp (GMT) on Saturday April 26. The WPC boasts a $3,000,000 guaranteed prize pool and $1,000,000 for first place.

Starting today, every hour, on the hour, 888 has a one cent "almost freeroll" where the winner picks up a $1050 entry to the World Poker crown for their shot at poker glory. Each event opens for registration 30mins before it starts, and is limited to the first 500 players.

Poker Players' Alliance announcement expected this week

One of the most active pro-online poker groups in the United States, the Washington DC-based Poker Players Alliance, is expected to show phenomenal growth and influence this week when it announces that membership has passed the one million mark.

Reliable sources say that the announcement will be accompanied by the formation of a new political action committee and a voter-registration drive as part of the PPA's "If You Play, Have a Say campaign."

Last year’s WSOP crowd was greeted by record breaking high weather reports. What a break from the spring drizzles! PokerStars is offering online poker players a way to get there for free. With their Steps to the WSOP program.

Players can either use their Frequent Player Points, and get into the big game for free, or buy into satellites at the level (or step) that they feel is the appropriate level for them. Entry into FPP satellites is available for 500 frequent player points.

Online poker room Titan Poker's monthly Guaranteed Prizes have doubled in just five months.

Titan Poker, the largest poker room on the iPoker Network, now guarantees more than $16,000,000 in monthly online poker tournaments. This monumental increase reflects the growing status and success of the popular online poker room.

Titan Poker's guaranteed prize pools are continuing to rise weekly, based on the rapidly growing number of players constantly drawn to the online poker room's exciting promotions, thrilling tournaments and excellent customer service. Titan Poker recently captured Gambling Online Magazine's Gold Award for providing the Best Online Poker Customer Service for the second year in a row.