Online Poker News

Day 1b of the World Series of Poker Circuit Caesars Palace $1,600 Main Event saw 354 players take to the felt, creating a total field of 662 players between the two Day 1 flights. After 15 rounds of play, 76 players’ accumulated enough chips to progress to day 2 scheduled for Sunday. They will join the other 58 survivors from day 1a to hopefully return to the tables.

Jeff Fielder is the overall leader heading into Day 2 after building a stack of 437,500 chips on Saturday. Fielder ascended to the top of the leader board when he won a massive pot late in the day against Mark “P0ker H0″ Kroon, who at the time was second in chips. Some of the notables that registered only on Day 1b and failed to advance to Day 2 were Jamie Gold, Steve Billirakis, Frank Kassela, Eli Elezra, Gavin Smith and Bryan Devonshire. The 134 players will return Sunday at 4 p.m. local time, and they will play down to either a final table or through 12 hours of play, whichever comes first.

There are few if any people that do not know that it’s illegal to play online poker in America, but how many of us know that the same applies to a part of the United Kingdom? This is Northern Ireland and a move is afoot to get the law changed and most, if not all, of us British poker players support their quest to have the freedom to play this great game.

The story really begins for us around 2006 when a private members club called the Cavendish Club was raided by police during a major monthly poker tournament. Police seized both club’s poker equipment and members’ cash. The club’s representatives attended a Magistrates Court to challenge the seizures and to also attempt to have poker recognised as a game of skill so that it would be an illegal activity in Northern Ireland under the Betting, Gaming and Lotteries Act. However, their pleas fell on deaf ears as the Resident Magistrate deemed that poker was not a game of skill and is therefore illegal to play, commercially, in Northern Ireland.

It seems that it perfectly ok to play games of chance such as the lottery, or betting at the bookmakers, but they do not permit the playing of poker, which we all know has a large element of skill, psychology and mathematics involved. Some laws are very strange!

A whole host of British players have been nominated for an award in the 11th edition of the European Poker Awards takes place at the Aviation Club de France on January 25th 2012 There are a total of nine categories for this year’s awards including Internet Player of the Year, Europe’s Leading Lady, Rookie of the Year, Best Tournament Performance, and the coveted Player of the Year award.

Of the six nominations for the Player of the year award two Brits, Jake Cody and Sam Trickett. They are up against Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, Eugene Katchalov, Andrey Pateychuk and World Series of Poker Main Event champion Pius Heinz. Cody and Trickett are also nominated for the Best Tournament Performance category, and the rookie of the year award see Sam Holden nominated. Victoria Coren and Liv Boeree are up for the Leading Lady award. Come the 25th January and we will find out who has been successful.

The circus is up and running and  kicked off the new year with its inaugural stop at The Bicycle Casino, getting started the very first day of 2012. The Bike will play host to 34 total events and 12 WSOP Circuit gold-ring events, including the $1,600 Main Event, which began at noon today. A number of tournaments remain, but there have already been some notable winners. Michael Rosenbach won his third WSOPC ring in as many months when he won event no. 4, a $555 six-max no-limit Hold’em event with 171 total entrants. The 29-year-old pro earned $22,035 for his victory.

However, it was not just Rosenbach to win their third WSOP Circuit gold ring at The Bike. La Sengphet took down event no. 5, a $345 no-limit Hold’em event, to become the very first female player to join that illustrious group, which includes 2010 player of the Year runner-up Dwyte Pilgrim, Kyle Cartwright and Mark Smith. Sengphet topped a field of 377 to earn the $25,242 first-place prize.

Thoughts are being raised in the USA to legalise online poker and start to collect some taxes from the game. Legal online poker is fast becoming a reality. New Jersey may pass legislation by next week. Nevada has passed rules on how to regulate the websites already. California intends to take it up when the legislature reconvenes this year. More and more states are taking up the fight to get some much needed dollar taxes.

If poker players are willing to pay a fee and pay taxes on their winnings, to take part in a game or two of online poker, you will be hard pressed to find an elected official who will say no. In a time where education budget cuts and city services budget cuts are the focus of so many press conferences, finding willing tax payers is a jackpot for state and local governments. Legalising online poker is surely one way forward.