Online Poker News

There has been some great news for online poker buffs last week, their preferred casino game is on the up again which suggests that a recovery may well be underway. Although the gain was only 1.3 percent, the news was especially satisfying, with the World Series of Poker still on-going and the card rooms looking toward the traditional late summer increase in player activity.

The strong upturn comes at the perfect time for online poker, as the industry has been in a gradual decline for most of this year. The recent upswing is in spite of the on-going WSOP, suggesting that sustained growth may be returning. With the back-to-school increase in poker traffic and events like PokerStars’ World Championship of Online Poker coming up, things are starting to look promising for the industry once again.

June 1 will perhaps come down in online poker history as the day the online poker population came together in protest of the implementation of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006, or UIGEA. The law has been unpopular in the ‘States particularly with poker players but with members of the public as wee as they consider it is a breach of a person’s fundamental liberty to choose, something precious in America.

A reprieve was put in place to extend the date for the implementation of the act to June the first 2010 As\this date looms large online poker players have been converging in forums and discussing ways to show their protest of the UIGEA implementation.

Online poker is a huge pastime all over the world including residents of the United States and while they have been enjoying this opportunity to enjoy their games online, the implementation of this Act will definitely make it harder for them to play poker that is unless they can find other means to get online and play without being detected.

In an effort to enhance its poker room, Bodog Poker has tweaked its site by making some interesting additions which have been greeted with enthusiasm by online poker players. In an effort to add some spice to the poker experience, Bodog Poker players now have the option of showing one, both, or none of their cards after a hand is over. When folding players can always show their cards, or muck them without revealing what they held, but now they can flip over just one card to mess with their opponent’s minds, that’s different!

They have also decided that when a player reaches the final table in one of the multi-table tournaments, they will be rewarded with a seat at an exclusive final table. These are enhancements that have gone down well, but in addition they have added new and entirely different graphics which has added a special bit of flair for just those players that eventually make it to the final table, well worth a look at this online poker room.

Do you fancy owning a poker site; if you do it could be possible to buy one if you have the odd £25 million to spare! It is understood the Gaming Media Group (GMG), which owns both the Poker Channel and website Poker Heaven, has appointed advisers from Cavendish Corporate Finance to explore strategic options for the business. It is thought that a number of groups are interested in snapping up the poker site and these include names such as Full Tilt, and 888 Holdings.

The business has come a long way since it was founded in 2005 and it has grown significantly and now provides specialist poker programming that includes branded tutorial shows, player interviews, cash games, online event coverage, daily news updates and live coverage of international events. Poker Heaven, which is linked to the Poker Channel, has developed into one of Europe’s most widely recognised online poker operations. It is thought that the company had received a number of unsolicited approaches from trade buyers which sparked the move.

Unknown by many in the UK but well know and controversial in the States, former NBA player Dennis Rodman, has reportedly signed a deal to serve as a celebrity spokesperson for Curacao-licensed OnlyPoker.com. The 48-year-old former Chicago Bulls and Detroit Pistons player signed the sponsorship deal last week with the online poker site currently displaying a photo of Rodman featuring the caption ‘The Bad Boy Is Back’.

Many online poker rooms in the North Americas just love to feature former sports stars and often the more controversial the star the better the reception they seem to get.  Within Europe the tendency is for not trying to entice potential players to their online poker sites through personality, but by offering tempting prizes, free plays and bonuses etc., all of which seems to work better in their culture.