WSOP Online Possible

The World Series of Poker may be coming online. The WSOP brand owners, Harrah’s Entertainment, Inc may have recently struck a deal with Pacific Poker operators 888 Holdings. According to a recent report the WSOP owners approached 888 due to their specialty in creating online poker rooms, or more specifically a subsidiary firm called Dragonfish that handles that end of the business. Should the WSOP manage to float a viable online platform it could mean serious competition with the already established brand leaders in online poker, due to the world wide popularity and strength of the WSOP brand.

NFL Season has started Early at SportsBook Poker

This Sunday marks the official start of the NFL’s regular season and many football fans are extremely excited!  But SportsBook Poker isn’t waiting for Sunday to start the NFL season since they are already running a promotion called the NFL Kick Off.  Any poker players who also happen to be football fans will really appreciate this promotion since SportsBook will be giving away $75,000 in cash and NFL-related prizes throughout the rest of September.  

As far as the cash goes, SportsBook Poker will give out $60,000 in bonus money through their brand new NFL PRIMETIME ring games.  To earn a piece of this $60k in bonus cash, you just need to play at any cash game tables marked NFL PRIMETIME.  While you’re playing in these NFL PRIMETIME games, you will earn Frequent Player Points (FPP’s) which will in turn help you win a share of the $60,000 in cash.  All you have to do to find the NFL PRIMETIME tables is go to the SportsBook Poker lobby and look for the games that are listed in green.  

Just remember though that only the FPP’s you earn in NFL PRIMETIME games will count towards earning a share of the $60k.  Another thing you need to remember is that you should download SportsBook Poker through PokerWorks so that you can get the 100% deposit bonus up to $1,000 as well.  After downloading SportsBook through PokerWorks, you’ll also be eligible to earn a seat in the NFL Weekly $10,000 too!

Basically as long as you can earn at least 100 FPP’s within the allotted week, you will receive a seat in the Sunday NFL $10,000 Weekly tournament.  As indicated by the name, the Sunday NFL $10,000 Weekly tourney is a poker freeroll featuring a $10k prize pool.  There will be 3 of these poker freerolls (Sept. 13th, 20th, and 27th) throughout the month of September so you’ll have plenty of chances to get 100 FPP’s and earn a spot.

Of course, the only thing which can top the Sunday NFL $10,000 Weekly is the NFL $30,000 Primetime Final.  To get into this, you just need to earn 500 FPP’s throughout the remainder of September, and you will be eligible to play for a share of the $30k on October 4th.

If you hurry to SportsBook Poker and sign up before September 14th rolls around (Monday), you can also cash in on a $500 reload bonus and a chance at free NFL tickets.  The reload bonus is worth 100% up to $500 and you can earn this on top of the 100% up to $1,000 deposit bonus if you make a subsequent deposit and use the NFL9100 code.  When you use this code, you’ll automatically get a seat in the WIN NFL TICKETS freeroll poker tournament which happens on September 20th.  

The top 3 finishers in the WIN NFL TICKETS freeroll will earn a $3,000 NFL prize package which includes tickets to an upcoming game while the top 20 placers will get a free $100 NFL sports bet to be used at SportsBook Poker.  With all that you can win in the NFL Kick Off promotion, it’s definitely worth playing at SportsBook during the rest of September!

KGC passes judgment on UltimateBet scandal

1994 WSOP Maiin Event champion Russell Hamilton.The Kahnawake Gaming Commission released its final decision regarding the UltimateBet cheating scandal Friday.

The Commission once again confirmed that cheating did occur on the online poker site and that Tokwiro Enterprises, owner of UltimateBet, had returned a total of $22 million to its affected customers.

Tokwiro Enterprises was also fined $1.5 million over the incident.

“Despite the unfortunate circumstances that resulted in this cheating, we are satisfied that the actions taken by the Commission provided an equitable result for affected players – our first priority,” said KGC Chairman Dean Montour.

“We remain optimistic that this experience and the lessons learned from it will result in a higher standard of gaming regulation for companies licensed and regulated within the Mohawk Territory of Kahnawake and elsewhere.”

According to the decision, the ability to view hole cards was enabled by illicit software placed on the UltimateBet servers prior to November 2005. A third party account was then used to view players hole cards and the information passed on to the offending players.

The user names on the accounts maintained by those responsible were changed often in an apparent attempt to avoid detection.

The Commission named 1994 WSOP Main Event champ Russell Hamilton as the individual it believes is primarily responsible, adding that there were 31 individuals who were associated to varying degrees with Hamilton when the alleged cheating took place.

Names were not released to the public.

In total, the KGC’s investigation revealed 23 accounts with 117 different usernames were used to facilitate the cheating and the money was disbursed using player-to-player transfers on the site.

The Commission has provided the results of its investigation to law enforcement authorities, who will determine whether criminal charges should be laid against one or more of the individuals involved.

The KGC noted that UltimateBet has taken significant steps to modify its control systems to prevent cheating and other improprieties in the future.

To read the full text of the release click here.

Australia Poker Tournament

Online poker room Titan Poker is hosting satellites to an Aussie poker event. The Poker Cup Australia will run in Melbourne, and Titan Poker will be awarding lucky players prize packages that will take them down under to compete. The satellites are called the Poker Cup Australia Super Sat and cost $25 to play. The winner will get the trip to Melbourne to play in the main event, which runs near the end of September. The prize package will cover the cost of playing as well as the spending money and airfare to the event.

PartyPoker offers seats in Conrad Poker Tour

‘I’m aiming for success but also looking forward to having a top group of PartyPoker.com qualifiers to cheer on too.’PartyPoker players will have a chance to qualify for one of South America’s most lucrative tournaments this winter.

The Conrad Poker Tour final event takes place at the Conrad Punta Del Este Resort and Casino in Uruguay Dec. 4-5 with an estimated prize pool of $1 million.

The $2,500 buy-in event is one of the most highly anticipated tournaments of the year for South American players, according to Latin American PartyPoker Ambassador Felipe “Mojave” Ramos.

“This is one of the major dates on the Latin American poker circuit, which I am very much looking forward too,” said Ramos. “I’m aiming for success but also looking forward to having a top group of PartyPoker.com qualifiers to cheer on too!”

There will be four main qualifiers to the event, all of which will be open to players located in Uruguay, Argentina, Brazil, Peru or Chile.

The qualifiers will take place Sept. 11, Oct. 1, Oct. 22 and Nov. 12 on PartyPoker.

Each package won on PartyPoker will include the buy-in for the event, two nights accommodation at AWA Boutique + Design Hotel in Punta del Este, transportation from the hotel to the casino, $500 spending money and a reception dinner with Ramos at one of Punta del Este’s high end restaurants.

WSOP makes Changes

This year’s $40k celebratory poker event won’t return in 2010. The World Series of Poker hit 40 years old in 2009 and so the WSOP held a $40k no limit Texas hold’em event to celebrate. The draw was huge as was the participation, but the organizers of the WSOP said it was never intended to be a long term event. They announced that it will not return next year. Other news about the WSOP includes the addition of more $1,000 events, following the “stimulus special” that was held this year.