Category Archives: Poker News

Latest poker news

PokerStars Heading Towards The 100 Billion Mark

Only 5 billion hands to go

PokerStars is the biggest online poker room right now with more cash game players than any other site. With almost three times as much as the second most popular poker room, Full Tilt Poker, PokerStars continues its race for 100 billion hands. The increasing number of players that join the online giant will certainly help reach this impressive number in a short amount of time and in true PokerStars fashion, there will most likely be some nice bonuses to reward the lucky players that take part in the Milestone Hands.

Of course, it is not all about the money and poker studies show that players are more interested in having a good time than actually winning money. PokerStars has managed to capture that essence with great looking software that users can customize as they wish and make it perfect for their needs and enjoy their time as much as possible.

95 billionth hand dealt

Earlier this week, PokerStars dealt its 95 billionth cash game hand which paid out $122,000 to the players that took part in it. The suspense started from hand 94,700,000,000 as PokerStars awarded bonuses for every millionth hand called a Milestone Hand until the 95 billion mark for the Mega Milestone Hand.

Every Milestone Hand awarded players that were dealt into the hand with $20 plus another $60 multiplied by the number Player Points earned in the last 50 hands on the table. The players that got a share of the pot when the hand was over got their prizes doubled. Needless to say that the micro stakes tables were filled with action as the big Milestone Hand was just around the corner.

The bonuses for the Mega Milestone were pretty similar with the difference that the multipliers were bigger. The base prize was $10,000 and the number of earned points was multiplied with a cool $1,000 to make for the final prize. Monday morning, the 95^th billionth hand was finally dealt at a Hold’em virtual table for $0.08/$0.16. With nine players at the table, they all seemed to know what is going on and so they went all-in; the only exception was MenFedlak who lost his internet connection.

The $16 pot didn’t count for much when thousands of dollars would go to the winner of the hand and it was certainly a sweat for those at the table. After the table ran 3d-Qd-2c-6h-5h, Domy07 was the first to reveal his Js-Qc hand. The rest then mucked one by one until RickB17 turned over 4h-Jc for a straight and won the hand worth another $23,920. All the other players got prizes of over $10,000, including the one who got disconnected from the table when it was his turn to act.

The next step is now the big one, the 100 billion mark, which will be an amazing achievement for PokerStars that promises to offer the biggest prizes yet.

More online poker action

Players that want to stay away from the crowded tables on PokerStars can always go for something a bit smaller but just as good. The internet is filled with reliable poker rooms and Bet365 is one of the best right now with some very nice bonuses. Simply use this Bet365 Poker bonus code when registering or when making a deposit to get more benefits and also be sure to check out the Poker Academy to get some useful tips on how to improve your game. New players can get up to $1,000 for free and having a bigger bankroll is very important when playing online poker.

While PokerStars is known for having the most tournaments in the industry, Bet365 has some amazing promotions with plenty of users at the tables so that you can always find what you are looking for. Bet365 is mostly known for its sports betting section which makes for some of the best cash game tables on the internet. The players are generally loose and are just looking to have a good time and since the site uses the same accounts for all the sections, it is easy to jump from sports betting to poker to casino games. Given the international popularity of Bet365, the deposit options and customer support are top notch so it is easy to make a deposit and claim the large welcome bonus.

Multi Tabling Online Poker Tips & Strategy

Poker

Online poker has rapidly become one of the most popular types of poker in the world today. If you’ve ever played online poker, you’ll find that it’s a great way for players to be able to avoid one of the biggest down falls of poker, which is slow play! Playing online poker will allow you to see more hands per hour than you can see at a standard live poker table, but most importantly it allows you to even play additional tables at a time as well if you’d like to. The addition of the option of multi tabling in online makes it so that players can see an even higher number of hands per hour. With the option of playing many tables in online poker out there, players need to be sure to take advantage of the different strategies and tips that are related to multi-tabling. Let’s jump into it and give some tips and strategy here.

Setting a Number of Tables

The option to play so many tables when multi tabling can be a bit overwhelming, mainly because you can find yourself actually playing too many tables when all is said and done. With that being said, you need to be sure that you aren’t doing this, as playing too many tables can result in you not making the best decisions with the hands that you are playing. You’ll have hands and decisions constantly coming at you, and if you are playing too many tables then the decisions have to be made quicker. You should set a number of tables that you feel comfortable with, and that you can make sure that you have given yourself enough time to make decisions with each hand that you play.

Playing the Right Limits

While it’s safe to say that playing the right number of tables is massively important, think about if you were playing too many tables at limits that were too high. You have to be able to control the ups and downs that come with playing online poker and multi tabling, and a big part of this is playing at limits that will allow you to deal with the down swings that do come from playing online poker, and also from multi tabling. Make sure that if you do hit a down swing at the limits that you feel comfortable with, that you go to the lower limits until you are able to build that bankroll back up. This also means that if you end up hitting a good run and want to jump up to the higher limits that you can do so, but you have to know when to step back down if the hot streak doesn’t continue!

Tracking Wins and Losses

A key to knowing when you should be moving up and down in the stakes and knowing when you are playing too many tables, or when you can add a few more tables, is being able to track both your wins and losses. Using a program to do this is a great idea, as this will allow you to see how well you’ve done in a specific day, week, or even month and year. On top of that though it will also show you the results of how you’ve done at specific limits, which is a nice added touch that can give you the information that you need to help you decide where you should be playing and whether or not you are ready to bump the action up to the next set of limits as well.

PokerStars Ends 2012 Far Ahead Of Its Competition

A good year for online gaming and a superb one for PokerStars

As we take a second to look back on 2012, it is hard to ignore the immense success PokerStars has been having which made it the leader in the online poker industry by leaps and bounds ahead of the competition. Although “Black Friday” in 2011 damaged PokerStars quite a lot and gave its European competitors a big advantage, the online poker room didn’t take long to bring all its knowledge to the European shores and there basically wasn’t a new market in which PokerStars wasn’t there to dominate. After a few months, the success of PokerStars was becoming clear and one of the main competitors, bwin.party, got to the point in which it claimed PokerStars was the reason for its financial statements; clearly a force to be reckoned with.

PokerStars purchases Full Tilt Poker

To make things even better for PokerStars, the company decided to buy its former biggest rival, Full Tilt Poker, after settling the accusations with the US Department of Justice and paying off all the players. This move made a lot of customers happy since not many of them believed that they will ever get to see Full Tilt Poker live again or their money back. In one single move, PokerStars built a new throne on top of the one it already had and solidified its position as leader in the online poker industry.

Now that Full Tilt Poker is up and running under new management, the online poker room is seeing some good traffic. Although it is not as high to realistically compete with the PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker now has about as many real money players as the other big online poker rooms although the numbers have been going down a bit over the last few months as people calm down from the shock. If PokerStars is nowhere near other poker rooms, Full Tilt Poker is more amongst them but still in a decent position.

PokerStars to re-enter the US Market

Although things might be lonely at the top, PokerStars is not showing any signs of slowing down. In fact, the online poker room is looking for a way to get back into the United States market and offer its services to citizens once again. The window of opportunity might come by the end of the year as the New Jersey Senate recently passed a new bill that allows casinos in Atlantic City to offer online services within the state. The bill has yet to become a law and it is now waiting for Governor Chris Christie’s signature. PokerStars has reportedly placed an offer on one of the Atlantic City casinos which would mark the starting point for the company’s return to US soil and to the new online industry.

All in all, not a bad year for a company which started with the resignation of its CEO; Gabi Campos left PokerStars in January 2012 to pursue other opportunities.

Online Casinos in 2012

Since we are talking about online poker, we also have to mention the success online gambling has been having over these last 12 months. As some online casinos have stepped up their game, more and more players now seem to choose online gambling over traditional venues and the list of reasons can go on for quite a while.

Although new names came to the market, one of the sites that stood out is the Box24 online casino which has built on its reputation made across several years and has also added some great features to make it more interesting. The nice style and great looking games are very attractive and if we also add some large promotions into the mix, it is easy to see why Box24 has been getting so much attention lately.

The WPT will be held in Belgium for the first time

The World Poker Tour

There are certainly few events as popular as the World Poker Tour events and there are certainly many poker players who wish that they could take part in one of them. Today, it is now known that 2013 will be the first year that a World Poker Tour event will take place in Belgium, which has certainly startled a lot of poker players.

Brussels

This event will be called the Brussels National World Poker Tour and it will be held at the Viage Casino in the city of Brussels in Belgium. The dates that this event has been scheduled for are February the 14^th through February 18^th. According to recent announcements, the buy in or registration price for this event will be 1500 Euros + 150 Euros, for a total of 1650 Euros. There are also many satellite tournaments available online and at real time casinos, which mean that you could get access to this event for a price of 50 to 750 Euros.

Since this city is located almost in the middle of Europe, it will probably attract a lot of poker players from around the world and it will most likely be a very exciting event to watch. Many people who enjoy poker are already very glad to hear this news and there are also many who are already looking at the opportunities that they have to get a seat in this poker tournament.

David Kitai, who is one of the world’s top poker event organizers, will also be in charge of hosting this event in Brussels, which will surely guarantee that everyone that is attending the event has an excellent experience and that they get the opportunity to take home some large sums of cash.

Many poker sites are now offering opportunities to their members, who will allow them to get qualified for this event and they are even offering more bonuses and promotions due to the holiday seasons and the New Year that is fast approaching. There are different ways to get involved with poker these days and one of the one most popular ones is to form part of the World Poker Tour or to become a member of one of the poker sites that are associated with this type of event.

PokerStars

One of the most known poker sites in the world is without a doubt PokerStars and they have already sent a lot of players to WPT tournaments and to other important poker events around the world. Playing poker online through PokerStars is one of the best choices that poker players have today, because this site offers the best opportunities, the best software, the largest member registration and also the most interesting promotions to start making your bankroll larger.

Becoming a poker star at this website is not that hard and the best part is that it is free. If you are still not ready to start betting some of your hard earned money, you could try your poker skills at some of the free tournaments that are taking place all of the time and that are very fun to play. Not only will you learn more about poker, but you will also be able to win some incredible prizes, which could even earn you tons of money.

Qualifying for a WPT event

At PokerStars, you can find many satellites to WPT events, which are totally free and this is why many people are already trying this site. The reputation that this poker site has is simply amazing and they are already considered the world’s largest poker site. Anyone can download their poker software in just a few minutes and it is extremely easy to find your way within the tournaments section.

Americans can now play too

PokerStars for US players is also considered one of the most popular sites, as some recent changes are now allowing people from this country to be able to cash out from the PokerStars site, as some restrictions had been established in some parts of America. Overall, you can have a great time playing poker online and you have lots of opportunities to make a lot of money and prizes if you set your mind to it.

Don’t wait any longer

The promotions and bonuses are already out there and the free roll tournaments are also waiting for you. Once you start improving your poker skills at one of these poker sites, you can try playing against some of the top poker players in the world and even try to qualify or pay the buy in to one of the WPT events.

PokerStars Might Be Getting Back Into The US Market

PokerStars interested in buying the Atlantic Club Casino

The regulations imposed by the US Federal Government have made it very difficult for most gambling sites to prosper within the United States and although things are looking like they might change over the next few years, the future of online gambling in this market is still uncertain. However, despite the government’s best efforts, there are some very great online casinos that accept US citizens with the Old Havana Casino being right there at the top with the best of them.

Almost 20 months ago, on a day known in the poker world as Black Friday, some of the largest online poker rooms were accused of money laundry and fraud and were banned from the United States. PokerStars, now the leading online poker site, was one of them and there might be a way for the company to get back into the market. Earlier this week, it was reported that PokerStars is looking to buy a casino in Atlantic City, the Atlantic Club, which will most likely be the starting point for a large development into the US poker market.

This couldn’t come at a better time given the fact that New Jersey is voting for legalized online gambling and change seems to be in the air. The first step was already taken not too long ago when the assembly passed a bill that allows casinos in Atlantic City to provide authorized games to residents of New Jersey. If PokerStars does indeed purchase the casino and gets a license from the state, it is very possible for the poker room to start rebuilding its US customer base on the internet.

PokerStars Increases Online Poker Traffic

Last week, PokerStars dealt its 90 billionth hand and online traffic got a nice boost as a great number of players pitched in to make this happen; of course, the large bonuses offered for the winner of the 90 billionth hand as well as for those that took place in it may have also played a role in this. The boost in traffic was seen as a 3% increase worldwide across all online poker rooms and a 11% increase in PokerStars traffic during that week.

There were more than 93,000 cash games taking place on November 29, when the hand was dealt and the number quickly got back to normal once the promotion ended. It is expected for the stats to show a big drop in online poker traffic for the next week.

PokerStars is certainly the leading online poker room with a 7 day average of around 23,400 real money ring players. Full Tilt Poker, who was purchased by PokerStars and re-launched a few months ago, is now in second place with an average of 4,750 but it is still dropping from the initial FTP fever experienced when it went online. iPoker gets a very close third place with 2,750 and PartyPoker is not far behind with 2,700.

The next milestones for PokerStars are expected to take place in March and June when the 95 billionth hand and the 100 billionth one respectively, will be dealt. Massive promotions are expected for the milestone in June as PokerStars takes another step forward in the online poker industry.

Gambling News

If you want to know what else has been going in the world of online gambling, simply check out more gambling news and stay up to date with the most important events. This can mean the results of recent poker tournaments, information about some of the best online casinos and sports news from across the globe. There is always something new and exciting to talk about and news can be very important when gambling online, especially the ones that offer information about the latest promotions.

Esfandiari Leads The Pack 3 Days Into The WPT Five Diamond

The Magician is on his way to becoming the first player to win the same WPT event twice

The Word Poker Tour Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic event has just finished its third day at the Bellagio and Antonio Esfandiari will be leading the pack going into Day 4. He is one of the most popular poker players in the world and a regular face in the high-stakes tournaments having won a World Series of Poker title and a World Poker Tour title.

WPT Doyle Brunson Five Diamond

There were 503 entries for this WPT event with a buy-in of $10,300 and only 166 came back for Day 3. Walking around the casino floor, it was basically impossible to spot a soft table; numerous big poker names were present at the Bellagio, trying to get a share of the almost five million dollars prize pool. There was one table that had 5 former WPT champions playing against each other and the other tables were not far behind.

The large prize pool is a result of the fact that the WPT Doyle Brunson Main Event had a re-entry feature this year and 231 players took advantage of it; some poker players even used six buy-ins to make sure that they get the start they wanted. The winner will take home more than one million dollars and the 53 runners up will also get a piece of the pie.

Quite a few big names have already been eliminated such as Matt Salsberg, who won the WPT Grand Prix de Paris, David Baker, Chad Brown and many more.

Esfandiari Leads The Pack 3 Days Into The WPT Doyle Brunson

Antonio Esfandiari on top of the prize money from the 2012 WSOP Big One For One Drop event ($18,346,673)

Esfandiari, who won this event back in 2010, made a very big move today which got him the top spot in the leaderboard. He made a raise and got called by Shawn Cunix from the big blind and two other players at the table. Going into the four-handed flop, the table showed K, 9, 2 rainbow so Cunix checked and Esfandiari placed a bet which was raised by A. P. Phahurat. Cunix moved all in for almost 300,000 chips and Esfandiari called while Phahurat backed off. With all the cards on the table, Cunix showed pocket Deuces which got him a bottom set while “The Magician” did it again and showed a top set with pocket Kings. The pot placed him in the lead for almost one million and by the end of the night, Antonio Esfandiari was almost 300,000 chips ahead of his closest rival, Freedy Deeb.

If Esfandiari manages to maintain his lead and eventually win the event, he would be the first player to win a repeat title in the history of the World Poker Tour. Out of the 60 players remaining, it is hard to predict who will take it home but it is certain that the Magician has the experience to do it. The plan is to play on Friday until 27 players remain and have the final table play out in Sunday.

Online Casinos

Not many online casinos can match the glamorous experience offered by the Bellagio but there are certain advantages to playing online, one of which is the free money from bonuses and promotions. It is very common for the hot casino promotions to include large bonuses that will double your investment right from the start. The top online casinos can offer an even better deal with welcome bonuses going up to 300% as well as regular promotions to keep you going long after the initial deposit.

Reload bonuses, loyalty programs, free chips and more can all be found at the best online casinos in the business and the great games simply make the experience that much more enjoyable. Popular brick and mortar casinos are great for live poker tournaments such as the WPT events but for everything else, there are online casinos.

The World Poker Tour Announces an Event in China

Unibet Poker: The World Poker Tour (WPT) is really living up to its global brand name after announcing a national series event to be held in China. The Season XI roster already boasts events being held in two new countries, with the WPT Emperors Palace Poker Classic taking place in Johannesburg, South Africa Oct 22-26 and the move back to Canada for WPT Montreal Nov 23-26.

The WPT National China Poker Tournament, the first WPT event ever held in China, will play out between Dec 14 and 17 at the MGM Grand Sanya Resort on the beaches of Sanya, Hainan Island, China. The buy-in for the event has not yet been determined, but it is believed that the prize pool will be unprecedented.

“WPT National China Tournament Sanya demonstrates the exploding popularity of WPT National and Regional events, which provide players around the world with the opportunity to compete in affordable, world-class poker tournaments,” said WPT CEO Steve Heller.

The WPT Regional Events (US-based) and WPT National Events (worldwide) have become a very successful part of the WPT tour. The buy-ins are smaller than the Main Event entries thus allowing a wider field of participation. Amazing venues such as Vienna, Slovenia, Barcelona, Florida, Nevada, Venice, Madrid, Mauritius and now China allow the poker players the opportunity to expand their horizons and play all over the world.

“WPT National China Tournament Sanya is filling a void in the Chinese poker community, and we hope this will be the first of many similar events World Poker Tour will hold in China in coming seasons,” Heller added.

Churchill Downs Sets Eyes on Nevada

Churchill Downs

Nevada seems to be the place in America where everyone who has a vision for online poker gaming is collecting. Nevada wants to be the first place in America where you can get a license for online poker gaming. For this reason many big name companies are clamouring to get involved and applying for licenses before a ruling has been struck as to whether Nevada will legally be allowed to do so. One of these companies happens to be the hugely well known Churchill Downs.

With a huge list of businesses already trying to get involved in the possible online poker license venture in Nevada, it wasn’t going to be long before a big name plumped up the courage and joined them.

Sure enough this big name company came, but the company who did get involved surprised many because it was Churchill Downs Inc. Do you know this company at all? If you are outside of the United States you may not, for this reason we have compiled some information on this huge American institution.

Churchill Downs Inc profile

For those that do not know, Churchill Downs Inc is the largest company in America for horse racing, you could say they are the equivalent of the UK’s Ladbrokes or William Hill and they have the same high reputation.

Many of you will have heard of the Kentucky Derby, held at the Kentucky racetrack, well Churchill Downs actually owns the racetrack. The company is therefore based in Louisville, Kentucky, United States.

The company was opened in 1875 when it opened the Kentucky racetrack, since this time the company has grown to not only run horse races, but also to facilitate betting too.

Churchill Downs Inc and Poker

Whilst horse racing is where Churchill Downs excels, the company has made moves into the realms of online casino gaming. Online poker seems to be the most important sector of online casino gaming for Churchill Downs and this looks likely to compliment its huge online horse betting site.

In February Churchill Downs started its foray into online poker by acquiring Bluff.com, BluffPoker.com and BluffMagazine.com through purchasing their parent company Bluff Media. Whilst this purchase raised eyebrows, the recent revelation that they are applying for a Nevada online poker license is causing ripples through the United States.

While the Bluff Media network will pay dividends for Churchill Downs Inc, the company have taken this a step further as they look sets to try and establish an online poker network of their own. It has been reported that Churchill Downs are in talks with Playtech and Ongame to help develop and launch the poker network it wishes to establish.

The Nevada commission has already been approving licenses and Churchill Downs have a very big case for approval so many think the review of their application is a formality rather than a requirement.

Whilst waiting for Churchill Downs to develop their own poker network, why not try another poker site like Bovada to get your poker kicks.

We Kick Off The WSOP Main Event

No matter if you enjoy a nice poker game on the internet from time to time or if you regularly visit traditional casinos to play your favorite games, you surely know that the World Series Of Poker has reached the main event. It started on Saturday and it is a battle that will take two weeks to conclude with the biggest poker names in the industry taking a sit at the tables available at the Rio Hotel and Casino.

The WSOP Championship event is the biggest poker event of the year with increasing numbers taking part each time. The $10,000 buy-in doesn’t seem to stop poker enthusiasts as they come to Las Vegas for a chance to win the unique diamond and gold bracelet. Registrations are still open so the final prize pool is yet to be determined but there are more than one thousand players that already signed in. Last year, there were 6865 players that took part in the main event and the final table, also known as the November Nine, came from all around the world to make the most international final table in history. The German, Pius Heinz, managed to come back from seventh position when the final table started and won the $8.7 million first prize as well as the renowned WSOP Maine Event bracelet.

Poker amateurs that enjoy playing online had quite a lot of opportunities to score a ticket for this event. Online casinos offered ladder tournaments and satellites for the main event; some even starting from a free registration and going all the way up to a $15,000 ticket for the biggest poker event of the year. Users could just play from their mobile phones and advance through the rankings to win a sit at the tables in Las Vegas. Just follow the link if you want to learn more about mobile casinos and get prepared for the next year as there will surely be even more online satellites available.

Heinz is back this year, trying to defend his title; something that hasn’t happen since the 80s when Johnny Chan won the main event two consecutive times.

As the cards already started to hit the tables, there are some big names that didn’t last the first day of the WSOP Main Event. The biggest shock came from Phil Hellmuth that didn’t survive the day despite having a pretty good year; he won his 12^th bracelet just a few weeks ago and finished fourth in the Big One For One Drop tournament where he paid a one million dollars buy-in.

It is still early into the tournament but surprises are never late to appear in the world of poker. Heinz had a sit on the featured table but he didn’t seem to draw in much of a crowd. The 23 year old European champion is not very popular in the United States but the managed to survive the first day. It is still a long way to go until we get to see the November Nine battling it out for what seems to be one of the biggest prize pools in WSOP history.

iPoker goes through changes

iPoker dividing its poker sites into two tiers

Also, a new game mode!

One of the largest and busiest online poker networks in the world, iPoker, has made a couple of changes recently, and we here at Gambling Tabloid will bring you up to date with everything. They hope these changes will improve their odds of surpassing Party Poker as the world’s second largest online poker network in terms of traffic. However, even if they do manage to place second, they will still be a long way away from PokerStars, the dominating network that has been sitting at the #1 spot for quite some time now.

One of the largest moves that iPoker has just made is one that had been rumored left and right for the better part of the last year. iPoker has announced that they will be dividing their entire network of poker sites into two different tiers. Players that are registered with one of the lower ranked online poker rooms will only have access to a strict pool of poker tables, while players that are registered with the top rated online poker sites will have access to some special tables that are unique to their tier.

Rumors about this separation began to appear over the past months, and it wasn’t until February that online poker sites started to report on this as a sure thing. The same rumors put Titan Poker, Bet 365 and William Hill as the Tier 1 rooms, a fact which has yet to be confirmed or denied by iPoker.

Apparently, this change was made so the “lifetime expectancy” of users on the network can increase. In other words, they want their users to remain loyal for longer, and keep spending time (and money) on the site for years to come. Another reason is the need to balance out the poker sites, as some of them are worlds apart.

Another change is the introduction of Sprint Poker, which is essentially the same thing as Full Tilt Poker’s Rush Poker. Apparently, we weren’t the only ones who fell in love with the concept, and iPoker is now planning on introducing this gameplay to all of their skins. For the time being, only Bet365 has implemented the Sprint Poker game mode, but there are plans for it to be expanded to other poker sites if the Bet365 prototype proves to be successful. And if Full Tilt’s Rush Poker has taught us anything, it’s that this game format is, indeed, immensely popular, so we can expect to see much more of it on iPoker.