It seems that the marriage of poker and technology never ceases. As casinos work to track transactions, and combat fraud, The Las Vegas Review-Journal has word of how Shuffle Master has acquired the patent for using RFID technology inside poker chips. Very interesting news indeed.
There is a darker side to poker that isn't often looked at, but every so often it rears its head. Poker is big money, and with big money, crime is soon to follow. Sadly thats just what happened to a player in the Aussie Millions tournament.
22-year-old American Jason Potter saw his first-ever trip to an overseas tournament take a major turn to the worse when he was robbed at knife point while walking back from a McDonald's in the early morning hours of Monday.
Scary stuff. Read the whole article over at Poker News to get the details, and maybe it can serve as a cautionary tale for us all.
There is an article over at The Poker King that sheds light onto a very very dark and stormy controversy.
It seems that the recent shenanigans over at the WCOOP aren't the only spate of cheating hitting the headlines.
In this case, the cheating is not the news, but the apparent cover-up by Absolute Poker is. Read the story over at Poker King, and take our advice: If you want to lessen the potential for cheating, head to a brick and mortar game. Besides, there's nothing like looking your opponent in the face when you suck out on the river.
World Championship Of Online Poker Winner Disqualified
Cheating has been a part of poker since its inception. Wherever there has been money changing hands, and games of skill and chance, people have been trying to swindle their way into big earnings. The entry of online poker has been no exception. We are sad to say that today cheating in a major online tournament has reared its ugly head, and the winner of the WCOOP has been disqualified for cheating.
On the bright side, this player was caught, and justice is served. We can only hope that online tournament organizers continue to remain vigilant against any and all forms of cheating in online poker, so that it can stay as clean and fun as possible.
We recently came across a series of articles at PokerNews.com about the College Poker Scene. The latest in the series talks about what is going on at Arizona State University. We can only wish that we had a resource like this for our college days. Maybe then we wouldn't be paying so much in college loans.
Here's a bit from the latest article:
Last year, the Arizona State Student Poker Club held online tournaments via Full Tilt, with buy-ins of $20. The tournaments were held privately, but any member of the club was allowed to play. The last tournament was held on November 6, 2006 and although there were over 40 entrants, it is unclear whether or not the club has any future online tournaments
scheduled.
If you're excited to be a part of the Williams Campus Housing and want to play poker, then the Williams Campus Housing Poker Night is just for you. The event takes place on September 27, at the Union Cooley Ballroom. Play starts at 5pm and is scheduled to last until 10pm. Unfortunately for some, this event is listed as a private event.
They may not be worth much at your local casino, but you can now earn yourself some virtual poker chips on Facebook. Bscially the deal is, you earn chips by doing things on facebook like inviting friends. And what do these chips do? Why you can play them via a Hold'em game.. what else?
Having been built at a kitchen table by San Francisco entrepreneur Mark Pincus, this is a friendly and free game available to the 40 million Facebook users worldwide. Virtual poker chips are the reward, and a sign of your Facebook social status. On sign up you get 200 free chips and another 500 free chips for every friend that you invite.
The notorious former Playboy model Pamela Anderson has revealed she is dating a poker professional after he offered her an ‘indecent proposal’ to clear her poker debts.
Anderson, who was playing poker for the first time in Las Vegas, was down $250,000 (£125,000) when the unnamed poker star offered to wipe the slate clean in return for sex. Anderson initially turned him down before giving in to his offer.
Now we are wondering... just who was this mystery poker star?
It seems that Daniel Negreanu is not just a spectacular poker player, but also a savvy business man as well. His latest venture has him marrying poker tips and tricks, and leveraging the latest in cell phone technology as he does it. We think its fantastic!
Top poker player Daniel Negreanu has teamed up with mobile entertainment company I-play to create a series of instructional 'made for mobile' poker videos. These videos can be downloaded and viewed from almost any type of phone, and will be available on selected carriers. The series, called "Win at Texas Hold'em," was released earlier this week on both the Sprint and Cingular mobile networks.
The videos are two- to three-minute clips presented by Daniel himself, offering helpful tips to poker players of all skill levels. Over 100 clips in total were shot recently at the Venetian Hotel and Casino. The videos have been separated into five categories: Beginner, Advanced, Bluffs & Tells, Tournament Tips and Winning Secrets. Special segments of Daniel's popular video blog will also be featured in the application.
Looks like this Ocean's Eleven is now Ocean's Ten:
The alleged ringleader of a $1.5 million Indian casino heist, an inside job in which 10 workers were hogtied, has been arrested, authorities said Monday.
Rolando Luis Ramos, 25, a video security technician at the Soboba Casino in San Jacinto, was arrested Saturday at a hotel near Los Angeles International Airport and booked for investigation of strong arm robbery, false imprisonment, kidnapping and battery, Riverside County Sheriff's Sgt. Dennis E. Gutierrez said in a statement.
If we've said it once, we've said it a hundred times. Don't think you can put one over on casinos! They know their security! But if you insist on doing it... you may want to have your passport ready BEFORE you rob the place!
The Cal State Championship is gearing up again, running from September 4-23,
2007. It will be hosted by the Commerce Casino, the world's largest poker casino.
The tournament events are open to everyone; you don't need to be a California resident to play. If you were looking for an easy field, the California State Championship might not be the best place to find one. If you are looking, however, to make a name for yourself, then these are great events in which to prove your skills. California has more card rooms than any other state in the US and has established
Pokerstars
itself as a poker mecca for players. Weaned on a card-room culture, California players have a well-earned reputation for being experienced, aggressive, and savvy.
If you cheat at poker, you may just end up getting caught like a bunch of fools at the Borgata in Atlantic City. Poker News.com has the story:
This week the New Jersey Attorney General's office released details on the arrests of four individuals involved in a poker-related cheating scam at the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa in Atlantic City on June 7, 2007. A noted casino-industry cheating expert, Steve Forte, along with Joseph T. Ingargiola, Stephen Phillips, and James C. Harrison, have been charged with using a computer and cheating devices to commit theft, attempted theft by deception and conspiracy. All defendants are currently free on bail.
The four men allegedly were involved in a scheme that involved luring high-stakes poker players to a Borgata hotel room which was fitted with hidden cameras. The cameras were placed in a
manner such that players' hole cards were visible. There were also instances where marked decks of cards were employed. The NJ Attorney General's Office also alleged that the men were using computer simulation programs to calculate their odds in any given hand.
We say.. why cheat, when you can just be a better poker player.
While Jerry Yang won the most money at the 2007 World Series of Poker ($8.25 million for winning the Main Event), Scotty Nguyen was the best overall player in the 55 tournaments that made up the Series, according to the Casino City WSOP Player of the Year leader board.
Nguyen, who entered the Main Event ranked third on our leader board, leapfrogged over Michael Binger and Thor Hansen with his 11th-place finish to claim the title with 373.1 points.
Alexander Kravchenko, who was fourth in the Main Event, moved up from 15th to second, but wouldn't have been able to reach Nguyen, even with a win in the Main Event.
Yes, this was a fine year for the WSOP. It didnt feel as if there was as much of the empty hype this year, and we felt the matches were generally of high quality entertainment.
Congrats to all the winners, and we hope to see you again next year!
The Casino City Times had a story recently that caught our eye. The question here stems around a website called HomePokerGames.com. The idea of the site is to allow for your home poker games to get some variety by opening the typical invite list to encompass some strangers. The argument being that this can vary the poker crowd enough to keep the games interesting.
Like a gambling version of Internet dating, the site - www.homepokergames.com - lists buy-ins and limits for games as well as any house rules, such as no smoking, drinking or swearing.
But the amount of money at stake - buy-ins and organized tournaments that in some cases start at $20 and go up to $100 or more - is alarming some lawmakers and players.
At a recent gathering in Las Vegas, legislators from casino states beyond Nevada discussed how the Web site may be advertising games that are illegal or, at the least, generating tax-free winnings.
"I had no idea this was going on in my state," said Steven Geller, a Democratic state senator from Florida. "You've got all of the problems of casino gambling and none of the benefits. There's no job creation and there's no programs for problem gambling."
Geller also said players are risking their safety.
"You've got serious, hard-core gambling by serious, hard-core gamblers," he said. "You don't have to watch 'The Sopranos' to realize you've got a big security issue."
Now, while we can understand wanting to mix it up (our own poker games got stale after a bit), we think that inviting total strangers is just asking for trouble, either by unruly players, or in some case, by your local law enforcement. In our opininon, keep home games for fun, and only among friends. If you want to make real money, head to a casino, the watresses are better anyway.
We can only help that all this changing of hands will see this gem of Vegas into the hands of folks who will care for this classic casino, and maybe even bring it to another high. The story is over on the Poker News:
As the 38th WSOP battles onward, the place where it all started has been sold once again. On June 27th, MTR Gaming Group announced that they had signed a definitive agreement to sell Binion's Gambling Hall and Hotel for $32 million to TLC Casino Enterprises, owners of the Four Queens Hotel and Casino. MTR bought Binion's from Harrah's in 2004 for $20 million shortly after Harrah's purchased it from Becky Binion Behnen. Harrah's retained the rights to the WSOP.
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RFID in your Poker Chips?
