The belgian gambling commission fined a record breaking number of 51 poker tournament organisators over the year 2009. Figures of the commission show that in the first two months of 2010 even more fines submitted.
In the months January and February 17 tournament organisors where fined.

According to Marjolein De Paepe, the gambling commissions spokesperson, poker has become top priority, and therefore no reason excists to bring down the number of searches. If you get caught, make sure you hide the money in a safe place. Last week the commission took about $10.000 from a illegal poker tournament. In other words, the "Megahype" keeps existing.

We have no sight on what's happening with the individual cases in the court. That's why we are investigating if we can add illegal gambling games like poker in to the national safety plan.

The german police have caught their first suspect of the spectacular poker robbery almost a week ago in a five star hotel in Berlin.

Last saturday four masked men armed with guns and grenades entered the Grand Hyatt. The took a total of more then $300.000 in cash.

Rumours go that the apprehended suspect is an arabian man. Further details aren't available.

Update : Suspect is released as he has nothing to do with the robbery.

LONDON - Titanpoker.com, Europe's leading online poker room, launched the new 9.6 version of their online poker software earlier this week.

Members of Titan Poker can expect to find a host of new features and functionalities, such as an updated Flash version (compatible for Mac users), an exciting variation of Stud poker called RAZZ, and five additional languages, including Czech, Greek, Hungarian, Portuguese and Romanian. Along with enhanced software the launch unveiled a radically revamped website and a sleek new brand logo.

Other notable developments include the Titan Poker Academy, a comprehensive poker strategy guide which provides valuable insights for both beginner and veteran players on odds calculations, money management, positioning, bluffing and more.

The new Titanpoker.com showcases the World Challenge 2010, an exciting international tournament offering the top five Titan players from around the world a chance to represent their country and a $13,000 prize package for the WSOP* Main Event in Las Vegas.

Besides being fun and challenging, playing online poker does have another benefit : It reduces your stress level.

A group of Canadian scientists made that conclusion after the found that the stress hormone called cortisone is altered in the online poker players body. The found that the cortisol level drops about 17% when players are enjoying an online game.

The report follows earlier studies that gambling, or playing poker, stimulates the brain. According to those studies, the brain activity involved in playing poker can cause improvements in cognitive function, as well as a reduction in the process of aging.

Recently there have been lots of rumble going around that Florida is about to legalize online poker. The legislation outlines a fully regulated system for online gambling in Florida.

Figures show that allready 900.000 Floridians play online poker at unregulated "offshore" poker sites. Making poker legal in Florida will bring in a cash flow of approximately $200 million in the first year only.

If the plan goes trough, poker can be played only under strict conditions :

- The minimum gambling age will be 21
- Extra supervision for money laundering have to be in place
- Limits on how many times in a specific period a player can deposit money
- Limits on how much money a player may lose in a specific amount of time
- A time limit on the maximum amount of time one can play in a session

Seeing these strict rules, the question remains if anyone is willing to play at such online poker room. In my oppinion, no one wants to be cut of when he or she is on a heater.

A 8 year old boy from Chandigarh, India, won a online poker tournament worth $500.000. The poker company in question refuses to payout the money as it states that the boy is not legally entitled to play online at their poker room.

The boy, name Aashin Nanak, is a computer genius. He learned to handle the computer when he was only a couple of years old. His mother sat him down in front of the keyboard when she was working at her job as a hotel room cleaner.

Mrs Nanak said,'He has always loved the internet and computers he started his own web pages when he was only four years old, he is a very clever boy” Aashish has been playing online poker since he was six, but had been using computers since age three. He was introduced to the internet when his mother who cleans at a local hotel, had sat him in front of a cartoon playing on a computer screen to keep him quiet.'

Anthon-Pieter Wink, chief editor of pokermagazine Card Player, won more then $230.000 by finishing number 1 in the 10th edition of the Unibet Open in Budapest.

Wink had to beat a total of 460 other poker players from 23 countries.

The dutch success was not a surprise. The last 3 editions dutch players finished in 3th spot twice, and one time in 2nd.

On the final table Wink played consistent. Starting the day on place 3 of the chipcount, he rapidly gained more chips and moved towards the top spot.

Here is a list of the top 10 :

1 Anthon-Pieter Wink - €172,500
2 Peder Skaj - €110,400
3 Joachim Buch - €74,175
4 Maksim Tyurin - €53,475
5 Claus Nielsen - €41,400
6 Danny Dabbagh – €28,290
7 Nils Ral – €21,045
8 Zsombor Gall – €14,835
9 Christian Kall – €12,075
10 Mitrovic Hrvoje – €8,970