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BELGIAN PROBLEMS FOR ONLINE POKER GIANTS
2011-03-17

Have Full Tilt and Pokerstars been given their marching orders?
The internet's two biggest poker operators, Full Tilt and Pokerstars, have always been meticulous in adhering to the often complex laws of different jurisdictions as advised by their legal eagles - for example the departure from Washington state recently by Pokerstars following a judicial ruling.
That obedience may see both giants at least partially exiting the Belgian market soon amid a growing number of media reports since March 10 alleging that the operators have been sent warnings to depart by the Belgian Gaming Commission.
It is claimed in unconfirmed reports that the letters went out to licensing jurisdictions Alderney and Gibraltar (and presumably to Malta and Guernsey), requesting cooperation in closing out any licensees operating illegally in Belgium and warning that such licensees could face punitive measures if the warning is ignored.
Some of the reportage claims that Pokerstars and Full Tilt are referred to specifically in the warning, which sets a deadline for response of April 1st.
Begium's foray into online gambling has not been without criticism (see previous InfoPowa reports) as operators and trade bodies have protested that the new licensing dispensation implemented earlier this year is disciminatory against foreign operators and restricts licensing to existing Belgian land gambling licensees.
The regulations set the minimum gambling age limit at 21 year - higher then the norm in online poker sites, and insist on Belgian presence and domains.
The European Commission is yet to sign off on some of the regulations, although that does not appear to have slowed down the Belgians in pushing ahead with their plans. These include provisions for ISP and financial transaction blocking if required.
Belgium has adopted the increasingly common "walled garden" approach to internet gambling regulation in Europe, attempting to 'ring-fence' activities within its borders.
The chairman of the Belgian Gaming Commission, Etienne Marique, apparently flexes his regulatory and political muscles in the letter, threatening his fellow regulators in Alderney and Gibraltar with personal legal action if they do not cooperate in "preventing these crimes from taking place", although quite how he would go about this is not clear.
At the heart of the Belgian move is probably a commercial protectionist motive. Unless well established and popular international operators like Pokerstars and Full Tilt can be excluded from the domestic market, it is unlikely that players will be inclined to move to Belgian-licensed online poker rooms with lower global player liquidity.
That said, Pokerstars has signed a partnership agreement with the Belgian land-based (and licensed) Circus Groupe (see previous InfoPowa report) which presumably gives Pokerstars some local leverage.
The quid pro quo for being allowed to operate within the Circus Groupe partnership is that first deposit bonusing is not permitted, and that the online poker giant will allow only Belgian players vs. Belgian players in cash game action on its Begian-domained, dedicated website.
Neither Pokerstars nor Full Tilt had commented on the reports as InfoPowa went to press.

ARJEL AWARDS FURTHER ONLINE GAMING LICENSES (Update)
2010-12-23

Winga.fr and mypoker.fr receive French licenses
French online gambling regulator de l'Autorité de Régulation des Jeux En ligne (ARJEL) has officially licensed a further two poker rooms winga.fr and mypok.fr.
Mypok.fr is a joint venture between Spiral Solutions and Socodem Group (see previous Infopowa reports). The Socodem Group manages two land based casinos in France and is now expanding its presence online, launching in 2011.
Winga.fr is owned by Buongiorno SpA who recently launched its WINGA online and mobile skill games including poker and bingo into the Italian market on winga.it. The company signed an agreement this week with Playtech (see previous infopowa reports) who will provide Buongiorno with its online casino product.

ANTOANELL JUDET JOINS TEAM POKERSTARS PRO
2010-10-19

Trades His Cue For Some Cards
Antoanell Judet, former billiards champion, is the latest member of Team PokerStars Pro. He will be participating in online games at PokerStars.com under the screen name “Toni Judet” and joins other celebrity names such as Boris Becker, Fatima Moreira De Melo and Sebastien Chabal.
Judet began his poker playing career five years ago and has become one of Romania’s most successful professionals with $701,854 in live tourney earnings to date.

BIG WIN FOR AUSSIE ONLINE POKER PLAYER
2010-08-16

But does that name ring a bell...?
Intriguing the InfoPowa staff over the weekend was a report which appeared in online media announcing a big win for what it described as a "South Australian pub league poker player" on the 888poker.com website.
Player Anh-Tuan "...hit 888poker's largest Royal Jackpot in history at over $190 000 playing on a $1/$2 No-Limit Hold'em table, [where] he hit the Royal Flush of Spades," one report noted.
The intriguing bit comes in on the punter's name....on checking the veracity of the story it appears from the Linked-In website that one Anh-Tuan is, or perhaps was, a poker tournament director based in Adelaide, Australia at.....888poker.com!
Perhaps it was just a remarkable coincidence, or maybe the lucky player had moved on? Whatever....Gareth Edwards, the current Director of Strategy for 888, congratulated Anh-Tuan on his big win, saying: "When we established the jackpot on 888poker we hoped for big wins for the players and we are excited to see our first 190 000-plus jackpot.
"We congratulate Anh-Tuan on his victory and look forward to the next set of big winners and jackpots."

CALIFORNIA ONLINE POKER PROPOSAL ON HOLD (Update)
2010-06-30

Tribal gambling interests prove a stumbling block

Tuesday’s much anticipated Californian Legislature hearing on the legalisation of online poker in the state made little progress, with proposer Sen. Rod Wright saying he was temporarily putting a hold on the bill whilst he considers concerns raised by opponents.

"This bill still needs a great deal of work," Wright said of his Bill SB 1485 during a meeting of the Senate Governmental Organization Committee, where the bill was scheduled to come up for a vote.
"For every issue, there were people who liked it and people who hated it."
Wright justifies the bill by saying that with a million Californian poker fans playing regularly, there is clearly a very strong demand and the juggernaut is hard to stop, therefore the state should regulate it to ensure high standards of safety….and tax it to bring money into the state’s coffers.
Independent analysts have estimated that up to $2.1 billion annually could be realised from legalisation.
SB1485 would have authorised the state to contract with up to three gambling operators, including Indian tribes, to offer poker hubs over the Internet to state residents age 21 and older, reports Associated Press from the hearing. At least 10 percent of the monthly profits would have gone to the state, which faces a $19 billion deficit.
Numerous tribal groups, represented by the California Nations Indian Gaming Association, announced prior to the hearing that they were opposed the bill, saying it threatens their federal gambling compacts, endangering employment opportunities in local communities (see previous InfoPowa reports).
There were also concerns voiced by the Poker Players Association that the proposal would make it a misdemeanor to visit unauthorised gambling websites.
"Criminalising harmless recreational conduct that typically takes place in the privacy of one's home and cannot be practically enforced undermines public respect for all laws," the Alliance said in formally opposing to the bill.
Another opponent was the Morongo band of Mission Indians, who have previously made a bid in conjunction with Californian card rooms to acquire an exclusive licence to offer intrastate online poker, and appear unprepared to accept anything short of that at federal or state level.
Despite the challenges, Wright said that the bill was moving in the right direction, and he would continue to push for legalised online poker in California.
"The world isn't standing still while we figure out what to do," he cautioned. "The longer we wait, the more difficult it will become to get that business back to the state as different outlets of gambling become available and more entrenched."

BUSY DAY AT WSOP
2010-06-02

Snapshot of five ongoing events
The 41st World Series of Poker at the Rio in Las Vegas is now well into its stride, with several events running at the same time.
Probably the largest of these is the $50 000 buy-in Player’s Championship, which over the past four days has seen an original field of 116 playing down to just short of the final table heads up as InfoPowa went to press.
Day 5 (Tuesday) saw the final table of eight sit down, decided on the previous day after Nick Schulman was eliminated in 9th position and took home $152 730.
The Mizrachi brothers, Robert and Michael were among the last eight survivors when play commenced, with the former holding the chip lead (see previous InfoPowa reports).
With such talented players this final leg was always going to be a hard-fought battle, and it was late Tuesday night Vegas time before play reached the three handed stage.
The departures went like this:
8th placed Mikael Thuritz eliminated by Mike Mizrachi for $182 483.
Daniel Alaei taken down in 7th by Vladimir Schmelev for $221 105.
David Baker out in 6th place for $272 275
Robert Mizrachi eliminated at 5th by brother Mike for $341 429.
Juan Juanda takes 4th place, collecting a $436 856 paycheck for his time and trouble.
Just after 10pm Vegas time Tuesday the remaining players were on a brief break, and the leader board looked like this:
David Oppenheim 9,800,000
Vladimir Schmelev 5,000,000
Michael Mizrachi 2,600,000
Level 25 Small Blinds were at 30k 000; Big Blinds at 60 000; Ante – 15 000, with average chip stack now at $5,800,000 as the three survivors went after a winner’s prize of over $1.5 million from a total prize pool of $5 568 000.
Also playing down to the last 15 players is Event 3 – the $1 000 buy-in No-Limit Hold'em event which saw day 2’s remaining 481 whittled down to only 43 at the start of its third day, and 15 survivors by the time InfoPowa went to press.
Everything appeared to be going Men ‘The Master’ Nguyen’s way initially as he demolished opponents and rose up the leader board, but then his fortunes changed and he was eliminated.
By 9pm Vegas time Tuesday there were only 15 survivors from a starter field of 4 345; average stack was $869 000 and the chip count leader board looked like this:
Adam Daya 1,750,000
Dash Dudley 1,600,000
Cory Brown 1,450,000
Nicholas Mitchell 1,300,000
Gabe Costner 1,300,000
Irving Rice 1,065,000
Rich Rice 820,000
Bart Davis 785,000
Samuel Paolini 735,000
Dmitry Gromov 650,000
Event 4 – the $1 500 buy-in Omaha/8 competition saw 274 players return on Day 2 with some big names in the mix – try Ylon Shwartz, David Bach, Jeff Madsen, Chau Giang and Brock Parker as examples. All ended up with good placings on the leader board by the time the chips were bagged and tagged.
Event 5 – the $1 500 buy-in No-Limit Hold'em tourney attracted 2 092 players, with Brit poker pro Chris Moorman doing well and finishing in third place by the end of the first day, by which time the large entry field had been reduced to 243 players.
The registration list for Event 6, the $5 000 buy-in No-Limit Hold'em Shootout, read like a who’s who of international poker, with the following just a few of the big names spotted as the action commenced: Daniel Negreanu; 2009 WSOP Champion Joe Cada; Johnny Chan and Eli Elezra; Chris Ferguson, Kathy Liebert, Eric Lingren, Mark Seif, Barry Schulman, John Robert Bellande Nick Schulman, Mike Matusow, Greg Raymer, Phil Ivey, Phil Hellmuth, Todd Brunson, Tom Dwan, Andy Bloch, Faraz Jaka, Jennifer Tilly, David Rheem and Tony G.
The event was capped at 2 000 players and early reports indicate that this was reached without a problem.
By 10pm Vegas time Tuesday the first round winners were emerging in a steady stream as play approached the final hour or two of the day. Only 13 tables remained of the 36 that started the day, delivering 23 players advancing to the second day.
Notable eliminations have been: Kathy Liebert, Alan Peterson and Phil Ivey, along with Aussie ace Jeffrey Lisandro, Barry Greenstein, Daniel Negreanu, Jennifer Tilly, Kirk Morrison and Todd Brunson and Vivek Rajkumar.

PADDY POKER NEGOTIATING TIGER WOODS DEAL
2010-03-05

5 year, GBP 5 million sponsorship on the table

The land and online betting group Paddy Power.com has ambitious sponsorship plans for ace but disgraced international golf champ Tiger Woods - the company has entered negotiations through IMG to sponsor the world's best golfer in a five-year, GBP 5 million deal.

Woods, who is four titles short of equalling Jack Nicklaus's record of 18 majors, has not played since a car crash at his Florida home last November, reports The Guardian newspaper. In December he announced an indefinite break from the game after admitting marital infidelity. Last month he apologised for his behaviour but announced no date for his return to golf.

Paddy Power hopes to use Woods's images annually for its GBP 5 million, adding additional incentives of GBP 1 million for winning a US major and GBP 2 million for winning the Open.

Company spokesmen said: "We're in negotiations with IMG to sponsor Tiger. It's still in the early stage of the negotiations, really. It's going to be, if it all comes off, the biggest kind of sponsorship deal we have ever done by quite a way."

ONLINE POKER PLAYER HELPS THE HOMELESS
2009-12-23

'Leatherass' turns a heart attack to good advantage

The Portland Mercury blog carries an interesting video interview with a local online poker player with a heart of gold this week - he uses a significant chunk of his online winnings to prepay six months of rent for currently homeless families.

Dusty 'Leatherass' Schmidt (28) is a well known high stakes grinder (and a mean golfer to boot) who was one of the early PokerStars Supernova Elites and is an instructor at StoxPoker. His bread and butter poker comes from middle stakes cash games in 5/10 and 10/20 with some 25/50 and very occasionally 50/100 action when the games are good.

Interviewed in a local park, where he used his laptop to play several online poker tables simultaneously, Schmidt explaining that he became obsessed with Internet poker after a heart attack four years ago left him bedridden for months.

Overcome with medical bills, Schmidt bet his last $1 000 on a hand and won back not only enough money to cover his bills, but enough to make a good living, too.

He told the Portland Mercury reporter that in the last three years, he has made over $1 million a year on Internet poker (and won an Aston Martin).

This (December) month, he decided to donate all of his December winnings to Transitions Project, a Portland homeless non-profit organisation. With the $20 000 he has won so far, Schmidt plans to help support three families by prepaying their rent.