Finally, after the increasing amounts of processes put up across multiple countries, a Pennsylvania judge ruled poker a game of skill rather then a game where luck is the biggest factor.
Altough the case wasn't particulair big, the outcome may be considered a breaktrough for many others fighting to prove poker a game of skill. For example, in the U.S.this could be a step towards legelization, and in the Netherlands it could be the end for Holland Casino's monopoly for organising poker events, and besides, it would make an end in the hunt for online poker players to let them pay gambling taxes (because if it's a game of skill, no gambling is involved and therefore no taxes should have to be paid).
The case in question was that of Walter Watkins and his Girlfriend Diane Dent. The two ran a small No Limit Hold'em game in his garage. No rake was taken, instead they encouraged the players to tip their dealers.
After being arrested, taken out of home, shackled and spending a night in prison, the two faced 20 charges each.
While the process was underway, Judge Thomas A. James Jr. simply stated that if the majority of the game involved skill, then there was no gambling involved and the charges would be dropped immediately.
To come to this verdict, Judge James Jr. reviewed numerous poker strategy resources like Mike Caro's "Secrets of winning poker, Explaining winning poker. At one moment, James Jr quoted a passage of the book : "...the money flows from the bad to the good players."
For anyone who's playing poker at PKR, here is a short list of 'secret' commands, that can be typed into the chatbox directly to show your emotion or to taunt your opponents.
PKR is a 3D poker room with very nice graphics, you'll need a computer with a decent graphics adapter tough, to play there. With the ability to show emotion and even taunt your opponents you really get the feeling that your playing live opponenst.
Here's the list :
/rude /phew /bosh /grr /kiss /noway /oops /owned /hello - silent hi /orly /Ohreally /nk - no kidding /nty - no thanks /niceone /tut
/yay /sweet /typical /atlast /shutup /sorry /whatever /shame /bravo /gasp /inyourface /iyf /crikey /finally /me followed by anything!
If you have any additions you would like to share, feel free to post them beneeth, or mail me at info@royalflushed.net.
In August 2006, the first ever FTOPS event was a straight succes. With eight events and a total price pool of more then $1 million it was the best online poker tournament available. Now, about 3 years later, the tournament has even got bigger : 25 events with a smashing price pool of more then $15 million guaranteed!
Then FTOPS XI will start on 04 february, with a NL Hold 'em event with a guaranteed price of $1.000.000.
Some of the other tournaments :
- Feb 6th : NL Hold 'em Triple Shootout, $200.000. - Feb 7th : NL Hold 'em Rebuy, $500.000 - Feb 8th : NL Hold 'em $1.500.000
The main event takes place on February 15th; then the NL Hold 'em with a guaranteed price of $2.500.000 will start.
The buy-ins of the different tournaments ranges from $100 to $500 with some exceptions ($1000 and $5000 buy-ins for 2 NL Tournaments). You can also qualify for the different tournaments via multiple satellite tournaments.
For more information about FTOPS XI, see Full Tilts website : FTOPS XI Schedule
Peter Eastgate Wins the 2008 World Series of Poker Main Event!
Peter Eastgate has won the 2008 WSOP's main event. At the final table he eliminated Ivan Demidov who finished 2nd and won an impressive $5,809,595. Eastgate took away a smashing $9,152,416, not bad at all for the 22 year old who became the youngest winner ever, breaking the record held by Phil Hellmuth Jr.
Here's a summary of the last hand they played :
Peter Eastgate has the button and limps in. Demidov checks his big blind. The flop comes : 2d Ks 3h.
Demidov checks, Eastgate quickly bets 1.25 million which Demidov calls instantly. On the turn comes an 4c. Demidov checks again, but Eastgate won't slow down and bets 2 million more. Demidov thinks for twenty seconds before he check-raises to 6 million. With that bet he committed half he's stack to that pot. This could be the end if Eastgate comes along.
Eastgate thinks for about 30 seconds before he desides to call the bet Demidov made. When he did, everyone in the room held their breath...
The river comes, its the 7s. Demidov moves all in with he's remaining chips and eastgate snap-calls. Is it over? Demidov show first, he got 2 pair : 4h 2h. Eastgate is next to show, and turns over Ad 5s...it's over! Eastgate made a straight and has been crowned the champion of the 2008 World Series Of Poker.
Peter Eastgate (born 1986) is a 22-year old professional poker player from Odense, Denmark. Eastgate's prior results include a money finish in the 2008 European Poker Tour event in Copenhagen and a final table finish at the 2007 Irish Poker Open.
By winning the Main Event, he became the youngest ever WSOP Main Event champion surpassing Phil Hellmuth who was 24 at the time of his victory.
When playing poker, you should never let limpers get into a pot for a small fee. When you got good starting hands you should always place a big enough bet to scare players away that otherwise would have called if they bet was too small.
Here's an example why you shouldn't :
Lets say you're the small blind and you got a pair of aces in your hand. A couple of guys behind you call, it's your turn and you decide to place a bet, probable about 2 to 3 times the big blind (lets say blind levels are 50/100 and you bet 300).
Most likely some of the players would fold, but there's always players who will take a change and are willing to pay a small fee just to see the flop.
For example one of the limpers got 6s 8s, he/she calls your raise and when the flop comes he hits a 2 pair (or worse a straigt / flush). You will lose your hand because you let him limp into the pot. The best thing to do with your pocket aces is to make the bet too steep for limpers to go with, and if someone decides to call, it will be more likely he has a big hand also but will probably lose to your aces.
You should also remember that your pocket aces (or Kings) will almost certainly win against one opponent, but the more opponents in the pot the more likely that someone else will get more then just one pair and takes down the pot.
As the U.S. citizen have just send Barrack Obama to the white house and also increased the democratic majorities in both houses of congress, many online poker players are anxious to see what change they democratic party will bring to the online poker scene. Barrack Obama is known to be an avid poker fan; he used to play regularly in his home state of illinois so that should be a good head's up for many U.S. poker fans who want to play online in a legal mather.
The direct impact on the market was a positive one, investors believe the elections will bring more support for legal and regulated online gambling. This is not only positive news for the players, but also for any American citizen; In a recent study from PriceWaterhouseCoopers it is estimated that the online poker industry could generate over $40 billion in taxable revenue over the next 10 years in all areas from income tax, wagering tax, licensing and corporate income tax.
The study also noted that there is the potential for $17.6 billion in taxes per year if every state in the U.S. gets on board.
In a reaction on the potential regulations of online gambling in the U.S., many major online poker sites stated that they wouldn't hasitate to bring their business over to the state when they were legally allowed so.
The court in Amsterdam have began their investigation to determine wether poker is a game of skill or a game of change after justice started a process against two poker tourney organisers they arrested almost a year ago.
The suspects, who were arrested in 2007 in Bussum, are glad that the process has finally started because they want to have a principal decision from the judges. If they are not guilty, then the way is free for everyone to start organizing their own poker tournaments for money and the state owned holland casino no longer has the monopoly on this.
As far as is know this is the first process since the high council desided almost ten years ago that poker should be placed under the law of "Games of change". According to the lawyer of the two man, Mr. Peter Plasman, it will be a trial process. He stated that in this process a new situation is involved and new details are available.
Justice have stated they are available to investigate this case more deeply. With the request to bring this process for the high council we will approve the lawyer to bring in an expert withness to provide more details about the game, says a spokesman. According to professor Ben van der Genugten poker isn't a game of change. The popularity of the game has increased enormously. It is estimated that over 100.000 dutch people play poker (legal or illegal), mostly on the internet, some in the club or at home.
Pokerchampion Rob Hollink knocked out by government
Pokerchampion throws towel in the ring Poker professional Rob Hollink from the Netherlands won from the best poker players troughout the world, millions of poker fans followed he's accomplishments while he was winning tournament after tournament. Last summer he acchieved the best result in he's entire career as an professional poker player by winning on the World Poker Championship in Las Vegas. Despite of all he's accomplishments Rob Hollink desided to quit playing international tourneys, according to him, the government made it impossible to play.
In 2005 an Australian poker player Joe Hacher won 7.5 million dollar playing a poker tourney in Vegas. He was welcomed home as as Hero in he's own country. The government was proud of him that he put their country in the international spotlights. With the dutch government however, you can forget about that kind of treat...
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Ultimate Bet
The ‘juicy’ Holdem cash games which UB first became famous for are still running today in several formats including fixed and no-limit, full-ring and 6-max. Tourneys are a new focus for this site with the line up of re-buy, knockout-bounty and satellite qualifier tournaments increasing all the time.
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Full Tilt Poker
Full Tilt has only been around since 2004 but has grown into one of the best poker rooms online. Full Tilt accepts players from the U.S. and offers many easy deposit options. There are many profession poker players such as Phil Ivey, Chris Ferguson and Mike Matusow that call Full Tilt home. The software is very fast and functional and overall it is just a great place to play poker. There is a wide range of great tournaments to play in and the SitnGo’s are very popular. You will also receive one of the best deposit bonuses when you make your first deposit
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Finally, after the increasing amounts of processes put up across multiple countries, a Pennsylvania judge ruled poker a game of skill rather then a game where luck is the biggest factor. 
For anyone who's playing poker at PKR, here is a short list of 'secret' commands, that can be typed into the chatbox directly to show your emotion or to taunt your opponents. 
In August 2006, the first ever FTOPS event was a straight succes. With eight events and a total price pool of more then $1 million it was the best online poker tournament available. Now, about 3 years later, the tournament has even got bigger : 25 events with a smashing price pool of more then $15 million guaranteed!
Peter Eastgate has won the 2008 WSOP's main event. At the final table he eliminated Ivan Demidov who finished 2nd and won an impressive $5,809,595. Eastgate took away a smashing $9,152,416, not bad at all for the 22 year old who became the youngest winner ever, breaking the record held by Phil Hellmuth Jr.
When playing poker, you should never let limpers get into a pot for a small fee. When you got good starting hands you should always place a big enough bet to scare players away that otherwise would have called if they bet was too small. 
As the U.S. citizen have just send Barrack Obama to the white house and also increased the democratic majorities in both houses of congress, many online poker players are anxious to see what change they democratic party will bring to the online poker scene. Barrack Obama is known to be an avid poker fan; he used to play regularly in his home state of illinois so that should be a good head's up for many U.S. poker fans who want to play online in a legal mather.
The court in Amsterdam have began their investigation to determine wether poker is a game of skill or a game of change after justice started a process against two poker tourney organisers they arrested almost a year ago.
Pokerchampion throws towel in the ring
