Completely Control Your Game Now on Chili Poker
December 31, 2008
Chili Poker has announced an exciting new FREE program just for Chili Poker players! Are 
you serious about your poker playing? Do you want to improve your game and be a constant winner? If you answered yes, then Chili Poker has a cool new tool you will love!
Now on Chili Poker, you can have total control over all of your poker playing with free and unlimited access to all of your statistics! With the ChiliStats tool, you can easily find everything about your poker play, right at the tip of your fingers including;
• All of your winnings and losses.
• How many hands you have played over a given session.
• How much you have deposited and spent playing.
Could your game use some improvement? Then you will want to make use of the ChiliStats tool to analyze your game and see where your leaks are. First you can categorize the games you play in to pinpoint just what your best games are. Track your win/loss results by game type, date or buy-in, to see if you do better at a certain time of day or in a certain game like Hold’em. And, to find out just what your win rate is, use the same formula with ChiliStats the pros use, to figure out your Return on Investment (ROI).
To get started, download Chili Poker and get rolling with an automatic deposit bonus of 100% up to $600! Then get to playing and tracking your game to plug your leaks, chart your ROI and analyze your strong points! With all this valuable information at your fingertips, you are bound to be a winner in no time! Take advantage of ChiliStats and get a handle on your game and know where you stand as a winning player. Since Chili Poker now has a partnership with Addictel, they want all players to enjoy the game, but if you ever feel you have been playing too much, you can now place a limit on your deposits. This is one more way that Chili Poker excels at giving you all the valuable tools you need to control your game and be a consistent winner at poker. And, when you make that big score, don’t forget Chili Poker now has a debit card option for your cash outs!
Chili Poker stands alone when it comes to easy and fast cash outs thanks to Ukash! The only poker site anywhere that gives you instant access to your money is Chili Poker, where you have the option to get a Ukash Mastercard debit card, which gives you the opportunity to spend your winnings immediately! The Ukash card is totally free and can be used just like any debit card for purchases, wherever Mastercard or ATM debit cards are accepted! Plus, if you want cash, you can make a withdrawal at any ATM displaying the Mastercard logo!
Win big and get your winnings fast, only by playing at the spiciest spot for poker online – Chili Poker!
*Are you a US citizen, a victim of the UIGEA? There are plenty of sites that accept US Players. PokerStars has a seat waiting for you and free $25 right now for a limited time. Come in and play!*
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Poker Plus – New Year Poker Resolutions
December 31, 2008
Have you made your New Year’s resolutions yet? Do you make a list or simply keep them all to yourself in case you fall short of your goal? Whichever way you do it, making plans to do better next year is a good plan, especially when it comes to your poker play.
All of us have leaks in our game, the important thing is to realize what they are, admit we have them and work on plugging them. Your biggest weakness could be when you play if you are tired. Fatigue can play havoc on your patience, stamina and solid decision making. This is an easy fix, just change your playing schedule and only play when you are rested and alert. In our busy lives, many times we can only play at night when the kids are in bed and by then we should be relaxing and preparing for sleep ourselves, but we take that opportunity to play instead. If this is the case for you, think of another time you can play, like maybe Saturday mornings when the kids are at Soccer practice.
Other weaknesses you may have could be more complex like deciding the right bet amount in No-Limit, hand selection and playing position. While much of your play is trial, error and learning as you go; there are a billion experts out there who you can call on to get answers. Poker sites like PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker boast a stable of pro players, who are happy to answer your questions via their blogs. Or, you could invest in some of the hundreds of excellent books on poker that are readily available.
Another problem you may have is game selection. Hold’em may be your favorite game but if your cards are running bad, you may need to back off, regroup and find a different game. With the variety of game choices and limits available, trying them all is easy. Don’t be stubborn and keep playing a game you can’t win in, just because it is what you like best. If your objective is winning, it shouldn’t matter what game you win in – as long as you win. Don’t be hesitant to try something new and if you want to get comfortable with a game you haven’t played before, play a micro buy-in tournament or play money game.
Lately I have had this happen to me, I can’t seem to win in my beloved seven card stud hi-lo split. A friend coaxed me into playing a $2.20 buy-in Badugi tournament. Since I had been a LowBall dealer for years, the low only format of the game was familiar and comfortable to me. The two things I had to watch for and remember was; the best hand contains no pairs and no duplicate suits. The best hand is A-2-3-4 all different suits and you get to draw three times to try and make your hand. After a few mistakes like overlooking two spades in my hand, I got the hang of the game pretty quick. The best part of this is that very few players have a good grasp of the game, so the games, for now at least, are pretty soft. While I find the game rather boring and very slow because of the triple draw, I have been doing very well when I play it. Therefore, as much as I love the 7 Stud, I have backed off and been playing what I am winning at, Badugi. So, don’t be afraid to try a new game, it just may revive your bankroll.
If you have been in a slump, it may be refreshing and provide a change of attitude if you play on different poker sites. The same thing all the time gets old, so get a new view and sign-up at a site you haven’t played at before. Be sure to take advantage of any deposit bonuses, first depositor freerolls and any other bonus deals. If you live outside the USA, your choices are unlimited, for those of us in the states, we have fewer options, but we still have them, like Cake Poker. A nice 100% deposit bonus up to $600 is offered by Cake Poker plus they have a freeroll for new depositors only. Sadly, the best promotions for new players are found on poker sites that players in the USA are prohibited from playing at. Thanks again to the UIGEA for our limited choices, but look around and you can still find some nice incentives.
In the New Year I hope to be able to play more poker and plug up my biggest leaks. I know what they are; it is just hard to stop the flow. Distractions, illness, fatigue, impatience and limited time, those are all the things I have to work around to improve my game. Some are easier than others to change and the easiest one for me may be distractions. My biggest distraction seems to be the phone ringing when I am in a tourney. My new plan is to let calls go to voice mail and return the call when the break comes. Next is time and tiredness. If I plan on playing at night when I have the time with no distractions, I will try to fit a nap into my daily schedule to feel more rested. The harder stumbling blocks to playing my best game are patience and ill health, those two I just can’t see much hope of mastering. The patience thing I keep in check by just leaving the game instead of going on tilt and continuing to lose, this naturally is more difficult in tournaments than cash games.
Whatever your poker resolutions are, here is a big New Years wish that you will achieve all your poker goals!
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Qualify Now for New Years PokerWorks-Full Tilt Freerolls
December 30, 2008
With the start of the new year, many people decide to make resolutions and promises that
they hope to pursue over the next twelve months. Though many resolutions can be complicated, PokerWorks wants to offer its readers an easy one: Play in Full Tilt freerolls and earn free money playing the game you love.
PokerWorks has once again joined forces with Full Tilt Poker to offer some of the most lucrative freeroll poker tournaments you’ll find on the internet. Just in time for the new year, when holiday gift bills are rolling in and family is leaving you to your poker devices, there is a worthwhile way to spend your time throughout the month of January.
There are five $500 freeroll tournaments on Full Tilt Poker of which we speak, the first on Thursday, January 1st at 4:15pm ET, and the next on each subsequent Thursday thereafter in January of 2009. Each tournament gives players who sign up for Full Tilt Poker during the qualifying period, and make a minimum deposit into that new account, the chance to play in the freeroll that corresponds with their sign-up period.
Once a new player is signed up, 20 points must be earned on Full Tilt through regular cash game or tournament play in the qualification period, and that qualifies that player for the associated freeroll automatically. It’s that easy!
The tournament dates and qualification periods for each are as follows:
Tournament: Thursday, January 1
Qualify: December 25 -31, 2008
Tournament: Thursday, January 8
Qualify: January 1 – 7, 2009
Tournament: Thursday, January 15
Qualify: January 8 – 14, 2009
Tournament: Thursday, January 22
Qualify: January 15 – 21, 2009
Tournament: Thursday, January 29
Qualify: January 22 – 28, 2009
Once you set up your new Full Tilt Poker account and earn the required 20 points, simply go to the tournament lobby to look for the freeroll and register.
Keep in mind that anyone who previously signed up for a Full Tilt account via PokerWorks can also qualify by earning the 20 points in any of the qualification periods listed and enter the freerolls as well.
And for new Full Tilt players, don’t forget to use the bonus code “POKERWORKS” upon making that initial deposit to earn a 100% bonus on any dollar amount up to $600.
So many ways to earn money through PokerWorks and Full Tilt Poker freerolls, so little time! Start now to launch 2009 the right way!
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The Different Stages of A Poker Tournament
December 30, 2008
It's Not All About The Cards
In every poker tournament, there are different stages that require different tactical approaches. In this article, I am going to discuss these stages and a few ideas on how to 
approach them.
Early Stages
This should be the stage of the tournament where you do the most limping/calling of raises/playing of marginal/speculative hands. Why? Well because the cost relative to the percentage of your stack. For example, 8-7s for a 3x BB raise in the first couple of levels will usually be a small percentage of your stack. In the later levels, it'll be a much larger percentage. You should be looking for as many opportunities to see flops and pick up pots as you can at this stage.
This is the stage when the really bad players will either build big stacks or give their chips away – don't sit back and let other people do the picking off, get in there and try and get some of those chips yourself. It's all about implied value at this point. Make the 200 call with a speculative hand – your goal with the hand is to not win the 200 bet your opponent made, but to win the 10K he has in his stack.
Small to middle pairs are GREAT at this stage as their implied value if you flop a set is high. Most important at this stage… play small pots. Don't over commit yourself to marginal hands. Make your stab if you think you can win the pot, but be careful if you face any adverse pressure. It's ok to fold the best hand at this stage because if you are wrong, it's harder to recover.
Middle Stages
This is typically the stage where the antes kick in. How you play here will depend on how you did in the early stages, so we'll separate this into three categories:
SHORT (< 20x the BB) – basically, you're going to have to look for two types of pots. 1) Ones where you can double up with premium hands (and you should push these hands aggressively) and 2) Ones where you can pick up pots with minimal risk despite holding marginal/poor cards (some good examples – being on the button with two players you know are very tight in the blinds or my personal favorite, moving all in from late position, or the blinds when two weak/passive players have limped in, these are easy stack builders).
MEDIUM (20-40x the BB) – here it's important to play positionally strong poker. Don't be raising with pocket 2's under the gun (but at the same time if you think you can limp in with it and see a cheap flop, by all means do so) and don't be calling raises with K-J. Use first in vigorish to your maximum advantage. Re-raise positional raises if you feel they are just that. Don't play overly tight, but pick the right spots to make your "gap" steals.
BIG (>40x the BB) – you still want to play positionally strong poker, but you can afford to take a few more luxuries. Where you might have limped with pocket 2's under the gun with a medium stack, with a big stack you can raise. You have the chips to induce fear – use them. You should be applying the gap concept liberally, open raising at least 1-2 times an orbit. This will pay off when they eventually 1) play back at you when you have a hand or 2) just call you and you hit the flop with your marginal hand and they pay you off.
Late Stages
Again, much of what you do here will depend on your stack size.
SHORT (<10x the BB) – you can't afford to sit back and wait. Many people will advocate moving all in with any ace first to act, and there are certainly times to do so (I'm much more likely to move in with an ace in later positions than I am earlier), but generally you want to move in with a hand that you know if called has "outs" – the best hands to do so with are connected cards ten and under and pairs. Obviously, you're still going to move in with your big aces, your K-Q suited type of hands, etc; but if push comes to shove, don't be afraid to move all in with 8-7s. You aren't in the position to be folding your way into victory so quite simply you're just going to have to take some chances to maintain your stack (meaning you should be doing this at least once per orbit in order to maintain your stack until you do hit that premium hand).
MEDIUM - much like the middle stages of the tournament, you want to play positionally strong poker and avoid coin-flip confrontations with stacks that are bigger than yours and embrace coin-flip confrontations with stacks that are <50% the size of yours. Use the gap concept in the right spots. Generally speaking, you should only be coming into pots at this stage for a raise.
BIG – Keep attacking until they start coming back at you, and when they do start to play back at you, adjust and pick your spots. Attacking doesn't mean doing so blindly (i.e. re-raising a raiser with 8-5 offsuit when you know the raiser only raises with good hands) but doing so in the best spots (for example, you are in the SB and a player that you know is capable of raising with any two raises first to act from the cutoff – this would be a good time to pop them back and use your stack).
Knowing where you are at relative to the stage of the tournament you are in can have a significant impact on your long term profitability in tournament poker. Too many players make the mistake of panicking because they feel as if they have to have a certain amount of chips. There are times to panic, so know when those times are and adjust accordingly. Otherwise take advantage of your opponent's fears and panic and you'll find yourself making it much deeper in the tournaments you play in.
*Each article in this Poker Strategy Book has provided ammunition for your tactical approach to playing online poker tournaments. Many online poker sites such as PokerStars, PartyPoker, Poker770, and Pacific Poker provide you with ammunition to start your bankroll FREE.*
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Do Dublin with Titan Poker
December 29, 2008
Would you like to travel to the most beautiful cities in the world? How about not only going 
to those places but playing poker there, in some of the most prestigious live events on the planet? For a poker player, winning an all expense paid trip to an exotic city is exciting enough, but add poker to the mix and it is a dream come true!!
Thanks to Titan Poker, once again you have the opportunity to win your seat and not just any seat, but one on an airplane that will whisk you to Dublin, Ireland! Yes – you can win your way to the 2009 Irish Open, but first you have to download Titan Poker and use bonus code: POKERWORKS. This will get you not only a deposit bonus of 100% up to $500 but $50 FREE as well! Then use that free money to win your way around the world!
Titan Poker is once again giving you the chance to compete for a prize pool worth several MILLION Euro's! And to make the deal even sweeter, you will be competing in the historic and beautiful Emerald Isle – Ireland!
The Irish Open 2009 kicks off in Dublin this April – with a huge pot of gold for you to win! Last March The Irish Open was a rousing success held at the CityWest casino in Dublin and 18 Titan Poker Players were there, to claim their share of the cash. When the last hand faded into history, a prize pool worth €3,000,000 had been awarded to the winners! This year the prize pool is a guaranteed €3,000,000 and Titan Poker wants you to be in on the action!
Titan Poker is staging Irish Open 2009 Super Satellites every Tuesday and Sunday which will reward those who have the Luck O’ The Irish with a seat at the main event at the Irish Open, to be held from April 10th to April 13th 2009!
Polish those lucky charms and you could win a prize package worth $6,500 Packages to the Irish Open that will include:
• Your Main Event buy-in worth -€3,200 + €300 (about $4,700)
• Money for your hotel for five nights in Dublin of approximately $800.
• Cash for airfare and pocket money of up to $1,000.
You can win your prize package for this amazing event by playing in the many Sit n’ Go satellites and qualifiers that Titan Poker has on tap. And, get ready for this – you can get to The Irish Open for just $0.48 by winning one of Titan Pokers “1” Hand Stage 2 Satellites!!
Many more choices are available also, with qualifying tournaments that are running now with buy-ins of $2.20 up to $215. There are so many Irish Open qualifiers that you won’t have time to play them all – but play often and play a lot because they run until April 1st 2009! Get started playing on Titan Poker and you may be spending your Spring Break in Ireland – and winning a pot o’ gold!
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December 29, 2008
Those who like to get expensive merchandise for free should definitely head on over to 
Sportsbook Poker because they’ve recently opened up their Player Rewards Store. At this store players will be able to cash in the Gold Chips they earn from ring games and poker tournaments for cool prizes that other sites just don’t have.
If you’d like to get your hands on the incredible merchandise the room is giving away then you should start by signing up for Sportsbook Poker. It’s best to do this with the POKERWORKS bonus code so that you get the 100% deposit bonus up to $1,000 along with the chance to get the free merchandise.
Once you’ve signed up for Sportsbook Poker then you’ll want to start earning the Gold Chips they offer though the rewards program. Gold Chips come via Frequent Player Points (FPP) and the more FPP’s a person earns, the faster they will get Gold Chips. All players have to do to earn these FPP’s is play in tournaments and ring games at Sportsbook and their Gold Chip meters will begin to fill up.
Once Gold Chips are earned, you can head over to the Sportsbook Poker lobby and click on the “Rewards” tab. After clicking on the Rewards tab you will see another list of tabs with the “Store” option being one of them. The Store option brings you to the Players Rewards Store and this is where all of the great merchandise awaits. In the store, you’ll find categories for Electronics, Gaming, Media, Poker Room, Sports, and Miscellaneous.
If you go into the Sports section of the store you will see that Sportsbook offers amazing prizes such as Super Bowl tickets for 9,600 Gold Chips. If you’re not a sports fan or just don’t want the tickets then there are plenty of other categories to choose from like the electronics section which offers a range of brand name products. A person could get an iPod for 263 Gold Chips, a Nikon Coolpix Digital Camera for 600 chips, or a Toshiba Portable DVD Player for 777 chips.
Any video game players should appreciate the Gaming section since this is where a Nintendo Wii can be purchased for 1,660 Gold Chips and an Xbox 360 will take 2,296 chips to earn. DVD’s are a very popular item in the Media section with titles like Rounders, Casino Royale, and Bourne Ultimatum all available for around 100 Gold Chips.
If you’ve ever wanted to build your own poker themed room then the Poker Room section will have what you need. Multiple poker books and magazine subscriptions are available here along with actual poker tables.
The last area of the Player Rewards Store is the Miscellaneous section where everything from expensive watches to microwaves can be bought with Gold Chips.
You can literally find just about anything in the Sportsbook’s Player Rewards Store as they have one of the widest selections to be found in the online poker world. And all you have to do to get this merchandise is sign up at Sportsbook Poker with the POKERWORKS bonus code and start playing.
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Charity Report: Annual Poker for the Homeless Set for January
December 28, 2008
Just as the official season of giving wraps up with the holidays and the start of the new 
year, the annual Poker for the Homeless event comes to Ireland on January 4th with the hopes that poker players will keep up their generous spirit and ante up to help homeless charities in Ireland.
For the third year running, well-known poker pro Padraig Parkinson is organizing the charity poker tournament in Galways. Formerly known as Simon Poker Day, Poker for the Homeless will take place as part of the PartyPoker.com Irish Poker Championship in the beginning of January 2009. The €330 buy-in tournament has raised €100,000 in past years and looks to do add a great deal more as poker players open their hearts and wallets to help the homeless in Ireland. Players scheduled to participate are Parkinson, Noel Furlong, Mike Sexton, Kenna James, Dave “Devilfish” Ulliott, Marty Smyth, Mad Marty Wilson, Ciaran O’Leary, and Surinder Sunar.
PartyPoker.com is one of the sponsors of the tournament, but other sites like Ladbrokes Poker, Boyle Poker, Bruce Poker, and Poker Trillion are also offering support. And with €100 from every buy-in for the €300 + €30 freezeout tournament going directly to the charity, organizers are hoping to raise funds and awareness for the problem.
Parkinson commented, “We’re moving to Galway for this event and are very grateful for all the support we’ve had from our sponsors. Local homeless charities will benefit directly from this event and, as usual at an Irish tournament, we plan to have some fun along the way.”
Poker for the Homeless is a charity collective in Ireland that raises money for various homeless charities, including Simon Community and Brother Kevin of the Capuchin Day Centre. Hosting the annual charity tournament around the holidays helps organizations at the time of year that they need it the most. And with an economy that has worsened over the past year, there are more people in the community who are becoming homeless and need assistance more than in years past. For the poker community, this is another chance to help people in need, and poker players are never one to back down from a challenge, especially one that means so much to the well-liked Parkinson.
If the past two years are any indication, Poker for the Homeless on January 4th looks to be a wildly fun and worthwhile event. To participate in the tournament or obtain more information about the events, contact Brendan.Murray@PokerMediaConsulting.com.
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The Year in Poker: September, 2008
December 28, 2008
September was a huge month for poker, with significant events running around the globe. The annual World Championship of Online Poker at PokerStars ran for much of the month and set attendance and payout marks, while the World Series of Poker Europe drew the largest names in the game to London as the month drew to a close. On a different front, a pair of significant American legislative and legal happenings demonstrated with certainty the importance of online gaming in the world’s political views. Major stories broke almost every day, but these were among the most important of all:
Carter ‘ckingusc’ Takes 2008 WCOOP Main Event
The largest prize pool ever for an online poker tournament occurred on the weekend of September 21-22. The occasion was the Main Event of PokerStars’ seventh World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP), and 2,185 players chipped in $5,000+200 each to build an incredible $10,925,000 purse. The two-day event wound down to a final table at which a five-way deal assured at least $780,000 for five different players — Carter “ckingusc” King, “liberace”, Alex “AJKHoosier1″ Kamberis, “Markush13″ and “ShoesRDurrty”. King wound up taking the title and the remaining $200,000 after the chop, giving him the title and a total payday of $1,265,432. Interestingly, King’s payday was still less than that of eventual runner-up Liberace, who had the lead at the time of the chop and walked away with $1,375,249.
Kentucky Domain Name Seizure Threatens Online Gambling World
Officials for 141 domain names connected to Internet gambling awoke to a nasty surprise on September 23rd, when news emerged that a seizure order orchestrated by Kentucky Governor Steven Beshear attempted to gain control over those sites in an attempt to remove the sites – and/or access to their services – from Kentucky. The uproar was immediate, and quickly drew opposition from far more than the sites themselves. Internet business and freedom organizations quickly sided with representatives of the online sites, even as the Commonwealth of Kentucky attempted to assert its will over the rest of the online world. A stay of the order was granted within days, and the legal battle escalated through the latter part of 2008.
EPT Barcelona Title Goes to Ruthenberg
The PokerStars.com European Poker Tour’s Spanish event is among its most prestigious offerings, and German star Sebastian Ruthenberg claimed his first EPT title in Barcelona. Ruthenberg’s victory brought him a €1,361,000 payday, with Fintan Gavin finishing second for €792,000. The EPT Barcelona stop was loaded with talent, including Jason Mercier and Davidi Kitai, who both also made the final table.
Theo Jorgensen Captures WSOPE PLO Bracelet
It might be named for an American Midwestern city, but pot-limit Omaha has become widely popular in Europe. No surprise, then, that Event #3 at the World Series of Poker Europe, £5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha, drew such a deep and talented international field. Denmark’s Theo Jorgensen became the second Dane to claim a bracelet by winning here, joining Jesper Hougaard, who captured the WSOPE’s Event #1. Jorgensen collected £218,626 by besting Canadian online star Sorel Mizzi at the end of a fast-paced, seven-hour final. Mizzi claimed £132,000 as the runner-up, with 78-year-old Eric Dalby’s attempt at becoming the second-oldest bracelet winner ever falling short; Dalby finished third for £84,562.
Frank Reintroduces Payment Systems Protection Act, Menendez Offers Skill-Games Bill
Stung by the defeat of his original bill earlier in the year, Rep. Barney Frank reintroduced modified Payment Systems Protection Act in September. The bill was designed to force clarification of the United States’ 2006 Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA), whose unfunded mandate upon the banking industry was a major impetus behind the bill’s introduction. Frank’s bill quickly passed his House Financial Services Committee but did not come to a vote as Congress ended for the year. As the month drew to a close, Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) introduced his Skill Games Licensing and Control Act, S. 3616, which was drafted with the assistance of the Poker Players Alliance and sought to bestow a “skill games” legal status upon poker and a handful of other games, with the eye of creating a regulatory and licensing framework to govern them.
Eddie Sabat Wins APPT Macau
2008′s breakthrough poker names surely included American Edward Sabat, who traveled across the Pacific in early September to claim victory at the PokerStars.com Asia Pacific Poker Tour stop in Macau. A truly international field of 538 players were on hand for one of the first major poker events in China, and online qualifier Sabat conquered them all, heading back to the U.S. with $453,851, which tripled his live-tournament career earnings. Sabat’s final foe was Malaysia’s Charles Chua, whose second-place finish was worth $291,871.
KGC Announces UltimateBet Sanctions, Names Hamilton
Stung by the second major online-poker scandal in two months involving sites housed on the Kahnawake reserve, the Kahnawake Gaming Commission, responsible for sites’ licensing and regulation, announced major sanctions against UltimateBet Poker in late October. The fraudulent play uncovered spanned nearly four years, and in its report, the KGC also cited “clear and convincing evidence” against UB official Russ Hamilton. The KGC also assessed penalties against UltimateBet, including a $1.5 million fine and the removal of any and all persons deemed “unsuitable” in remaining part of the site’s operations. The site was also ordered to resume paying refunds to affected players, which totaled more than $16 million when a second round of payments was completed.
Jacobs Tops ‘ElkY’ in WCOOP Heads-Up Final
Among the marquee events in the 2008 World Championship of Online Poker at PokerStars was Event #19, the $25,000+500 Heads-Up NLHE tourney. The event featured a 64-player bracket format, and the finals pitted Steve “stevesbets” Jacobs against Team PokerStars Pro Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, who compiled a phenomenal 2008 WCOOP by going deep in event after event. This title went to Jacobs, however, who cruised past Grospellier to win $560,000. Grospellier won $320,000 as the runner-up, with Gavin Griffin, Victor Ramdin and Vanessa Rousso each making the final table.
UB Statement About Hand Malfunction Involving Hellmuth
December 27, 2008
If it ain’t one scandal, it’s another. And if it’s not a scandal, it’s another situation that calls 
into question the legitimacy and trustworthiness of UltimateBet. The COO addressed the problem, which involved a hand on UB in which Phil Hellmuth won the pot with the worst hand, but not until a week of speculation around the internet had worked itself into somewhat of a frenzy.
As the end of 2008 approached, it seemed as if the UltimateBet scandal had been somewhat resolved and on its way to the annals of poker history. Not only did the Kahnawake Gaming Commission publish its decision in the case, but Tokwiro Enterprises ENRG, the parent company of UltimateBet and Absolute Poker, won a settlement with the former UB company of ownership to finish repayment of its cheated customers. And at the end of November, Tokwiro announced that the rollover of UB and AP into the CEREUS software platform, which would supposedly be the most secure and safe for its customers with all of the new measures put into place since the scandals.
Yet, despite the attempts to rid themselves of the scandals, a new one emerged in the week prior to Christmas, albeit on a smaller scale than the major UltimateBet scandal. This involved a hand played on December 20th between UltimateBet-sponsored player Phil Hellmuth and a player named DOUBLEBALLER. The two were playing $200/$400 limit hold’em, and one particular hand enraged DOUBLEBALLER when his K-Q lost to Hellmuth’s 10-2. The board hadn’t done anything magical for Hellmuth, and DOUBLEBALLER, according to the hand history, won the hand, but the pot was awarded to Hellmuth.
When DOUBLEBALLER contacted UltimateBet’s customer service with the hand history, he was awarded a $2,300 credit, which was only a portion of what he was owed. As word spread about the software glitch and the length of time it was taking UltimateBet representatives to acknowledge the scope of the problem and reimburse the cheated player in full, the internet poker forums were bursting at the seams with other players claiming to have been a victim to the same type of glitch.
Tokwiro Enterprises COO Paul Leggett posted a blog entry on the UltimateBet blog later the same day, though his response to the issue was brief. “Earlier today we learned about a poker hand where our system paid out the losing player instead of the correct winning hand. The hand number is #1162170993. We are investigating this software malfunction as our absolute top priority. This is the first incident of this kind we have encountered. We are currently examining the poker system and the application logs in order to pinpoint the cause of this malfunction.”
And with each passing day, speculation grew that the Kahnawake Gaming Commission, issuer of the gaming license for the site, was not pleased to hear about this malfunction in a new software platform that was supposedly tested and retested to ensure the security of its players. While there has been no formal statement from the KGC about this matter, it is likely safe to assume that no one involved is particularly happy to see this situation arise.
Several days later on December 23rd, an official statement, entitled “Winning Hand Correction,” was released by Leggett via the Tokwiro public relations department. It read, in part, as follows:
“After learning of the incident, we credited the player the correct prize to his account. We then began an investigation into the malfunction. We have now completed our preliminary investigation into the software malfunction regarding an incorrect payout in hand #1162170993 on the CEREUS Poker Network.
“We have concluded that the malfunction occurred because the winning player disconnected from the table at the precise millisecond when the software was awarding the pot, in conjunction with the ‘player’s state’ data being cleared from the memory cache.
“Phil Hellmuth, who was involved in this incident, said, ‘The only time in my life where I’ve had one pair beat three of a kind is when I made a big bluff in a poker tournament and now because of a software malfunction in online poker. I am one of the most watched players on the internet, and all I can say is that it is pretty obvious that there was no malicious intent and even more obvious that UB handled this problem well. Sometimes these things happen on the internet. The important thing here is that I continue to have a ton of trust in UB’s software and new management team.’
“There is a prevention system in place designed to protect hand results against disconnections. However, after conducting an extensive source code analysis, we found logic in our code that we have enhanced to further ensure this malfunction cannot reoccur.
“While enhancing the software to prevent this malfunction from occurring again, we introduced a new defect that caused 36 hands to award incorrect payouts. All players have been reimbursed for these hands as well.
“We have implemented a new method into the code and updated the game servers. Both errors are no longer reproducible. Furthermore, we are conducting extensive tests to simulate every possible disconnection scenario to ensure this type of malfunction cannot occur in the future.
“We are currently reviewing historical hands in our database to see if there ever were similar incidents in the past… We recognize the severity of these issues and we will continue to give them the attention they deserve until we are absolutely certain that they cannot happen again.”
Tokwiro and UltimateBet did respond to this incident in a timely manner, and all players affected have been reimbursed. Whether the incorrect payout would have been detected had DOUBLEBALLER not posted it on the internet forums immediately cannot be known, but UB did respond quickly and, at a glance, thoroughly.
UltimateBet seemed to rebound from its previous scandal, as did Absolute Poker, so this current software glitch and the problems that ensued may not affect the player base of either site. However, for those who were wary of the sites before, this may not fare well for UltimateBet as its new and much-lauded software platform is in full effect but with glitches that are being discovered as players encounter them during play.
Tokwiro Enterprises has nothing short of a full-time job on its hands to get past this mid-December snafu and repair its image going into the new year. 2009 will be a challenge, but Tokwiro has shown that it is no stranger to that and will not back down from it. Time will tell how the site recovers and moves forward.
Latest Poker News
UB Statement About Hand Malfunction Involving Hellmuth
If it ain’t one scandal, it’s another. And if it’s not a scandal, it’s another situation that calls into question the legitimacy and trustworthiness of UltimateBet. The COO addressed the problem, which involved a hand on UB in which Phil Hellmuth won the pot with the worst hand, but not until a week of speculation around the internet had worked itself into somewhat of a frenzy. Dec 27, 2008
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Gold Cards mean Big Bucks at Sportsbook Poker
December 27, 2008
The simple act of playing poker with money on the line is enough to create excitement among people. But Sportsbook Poker wants to make things even more exciting for players 
through their special Gold Card promotion. That’s because anyone who is dealt a Gold Card could be in line to receive lots of extra cash from Sportsbook Poker.
Players receive these Gold Cards while playing in ring games and tournaments at Sportsbook and each one earned can be added to a person’s Gold Card collection. The great thing is that you get to keep a Gold Card even if you fold in the hand where it was dealt to you. Gold Cards are randomly dealt out to players as soon as their table meets the required rake. So anybody at any table limit is eligible to receive these Gold Cards with the higher stakes players having more chances at them.
Gold Cards truly are golden at Sportsbook Poker since players can use them in multiple ways. One way a person can use their Gold Cards is to buy their way into tournaments and freerolls at Sportsbook. This can come in handy for those who like to enter big tourneys such as the $250,000 Guaranteed which happens at least once every month. Players can also use Gold Cards to buy into the $100,000 Guaranteed which takes place every Sunday at Sportsbook.
Those who love jackpots will definitely be happy to hear that Gold Cards can be used to enter the $52,000 Jackpot. Two players have already claimed the $52K and a third player will be earning this amount very soon! If you’d like a shot at the $52,000 Jackpot then sign up for Sportsbook Poker using the POKERWORKS bonus code so that you are not only eligible for the $52K, but so that you also get the 100% deposit bonus up to $1,000.
The Gold Card 500 Race is another way players can use their Gold Cards to make money. This unique concept sees people using a Gold Card to enter the 500 Race and each card is worth so many miles around the track. Whoever has the Gold Cards which get them furthest around the track will win the race and the $500 that comes along with it. The top 10 finishers in the Gold Card 500 Race will all earn an amount of cash ranging from $500 to $110 for 10th place.
At the end of each month, players can redeem their Gold Cards for $500 in cash if they have the right ones. Sportsbook will show the current monthly hand players need to hold for the $500 in the lobby. The Gold Card $2,000 Daily Lottery is another way in which the cards can be used to earn cash. Each day certain Gold Cards will allow a person to enter the $2,000 Daily Lottery freeroll tournament where they will battle for their share of the $2K.
Of course you can always just hang onto the Gold Cards and use them at a later date until you decide what to do with them. And this can be a very smart decision considering how many options there are.
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Gold Cards mean Big Bucks at Sportsbook Poker
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