Category: Poker Rooms

London has already witnessed a great number of poker events taking place this year but it seems that there is always room for one more! Given the size and scope of PokerStars, there is no doubt that when they make an announcement, people pay attention and there will have been a great deal of focus and attention paid to the fact that PokerStars are taking their VIP Club Live out on the road this year. Four big dates have been announced but for poker players in the United Kingdom, the big draw is going to be the London event.

You will have to wait until November 2013 to feel the benefit of the London live event but if you are desperately keen to get involved before then you should note that the first event takes place in mid-July in Vancouver. After this, there is an August stop in Berlin, an October stop in Sao Paulo and then final big event of the year is in London.

Don’t overdo it at the open bar

The fact that there is going to be a great deal of poker games on offer will be enough to grab the attention of many folk but there is a lot more to this special live event than just poker. There is going to be an open bar, which is great news but if you are looking to keep your wits about you with respect to playing poker, you may not want to indulge too much at the open bar! There will be food available all throughout the day, there will be big prizes and there is the promise of a lot of entertainment being provided too.

There is also going to be the chance to meet some of your favourite Team PokerStars players, which is definitely going to be a major draw for a lot of poker players. The list of poker players has not been released yet but if you have always wanted to meet your favourite player from the PokerStars roster, this could be the ideal opportunity for you to do so.

Tickets are now available from the VIP store at the PokerStars site and the amount that players have to pay will depend on the level of VIP status they hold on site. That is another incentive for sticking with a poker site but the night looks set to be a dazzling evening of poker action and entertainment.

Ladbrokes may be one of the most popular names when it comes to British bookmakers but the company provides a whole wealth of online gaming opportunities. You may first have come across Ladbrokes through their bright red stores on the High Street in your local city or town but nowadays, people are more used to logging on to their Ladbrokes account and enjoying some gaming fun without leaving the house. Poker has been at the heart of the online gaming entertainment provided by Ladbrokes but the company has announced that there will be a change to the poker provision it provides.

In a press release, Ladbrokes announced that they would be switching from the MPN (previously known as the Micrograming) poker platform and would be switching to the iPoker Network, which is part of Playtech. This is a big transition, moving from one major player in the online poker industry to another and there will be some players who will be unsure about this move. There will have been poker players that selected the Ladbrokes site because of the fact that it was on the poker network that it was and wasn’t part of the iPoker Network. Whether these poker players will decide to stick with Ladbrokes or switch to another poker provider remains to be seen.

A bigger poker network awaits for Ladbrokes

Of course, online poker players that are fans of the iPoker Network may now look more favourably on the Ladbrokes poker offering and could decide to create an account with the company. One of the first changes that will come in the partnership between the two will be the creation of a Vegas tab for the Ladbrokes site and rang of games.

There is yet to be a date announced for when the transfer of the Ladbrokes poker element will take place but it is expected to take place sooner rather than later. Given that Ladbrokes signed up to be part of the Microgaming Network back in 2009, this represents a major change for the company. Microgaming, or MPN as it is now known, has been ranked at around the 10th largest network for online poker traffic but with Ladbrokes being one of the major skins of the network, this may result in a drop-off. With iPoker currently ranking in fourth position, only behind serious names like PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and the partypoker network, it is easy to see why Ladbrokes have been happy to make the switch.

Ladbrokes will be joining with a number of their online betting rivals including William Hill, Paddy Power and the highly recommended bet365 Poker. The immediate news for Ladbrokes was positive as when the news broke, their share price leapt to its highest point in the past five years.

Even though the Ivey Poker site and app is yet to launch, another new name has been added to the list of professional poker players on its list. Toby Lewis, the Southampton born poker player has been announced and he won’t have far to look for British company at Ivey Poker. This is down to the fact that he is joining a roster which already contains John Eames, Matthew Frankland and James Dempsey.

Lewis has already made a name for himself, although you may recognise his online name of “810ofclubs” more readily but there is no doubt he has had an impact in both online and offline poker competition. It is this sort of impact that Ivey Poker will want Lewis to make while he is wearing their logo at poker events around the world.

A lot of poker talk taking place

The fact that so many people in the poker community are talking about Ivey Poker when it is yet to launch says a lot about the excitement surrounding this new poker product. There is no doubt that everyone is looking to find new ways to play poker and a good poker app for smartphones and tablets is definitely required. There is quite a roster of names being lined up for Ivey Poker and the opportunity to play for real money against the big name poker players is a thrilling prospect.

Okay, it can often be a daunting, scary and downright crazy prospect but there is definitely a lot of scope for bringing the professionals and non-professionals together in this way. The tutorial packages where the pros give away their secrets and tips may be the best thing about the app in the long run but anything which brings something new and exciting to the poker table has to be congratulated and examined in-depth.

The Dusk Till Dawn poker club in Nottingham is one of the most loved and respected poker clubs in the country but for many people, it is not exactly convenient. There will be plenty of people that make a special trip to take part in some of the major poker events and tournaments provided by the poker club but on the whole, most UK poker players will only be familiar with the club by reading about it.

This is likely to change though with the announcement that Dusk Till Dawn have agreed a three year partnership with Genting Casino. This move will see the Dusk Till Dawn website get a makeover with Genting providing a white label version of their own site. The Dusk Till Dawn branded poker site is scheduled to be released any day now and there will be a number of additional benefits from this move.

Get a chance to play with the big poker names

There are plenty of satellite events lined up so if you still have ambitions of playing at some of the biggest poker events around the table with some of the biggest poker players in the world, you should have plenty to aim for.

One of the major satellite tournaments that will be running include the £1m Genting Poker Series, which is definitely a poker tournament you want to be involved with. With online poker being such a massive industry these days, it makes sense for any firm with a strong name and reputation in poker to develop their online offerings. This means providing customers with a great service that can be relied upon and adds something that other people can’t provide.

With the combined power and appeal of Dusk Till Dawn and Genting, this partnership is likely to be a success for all parties.

When it comes to the many different tourist destinations in London, it is easy to see why so many people still believe that Leicester Square is the place to be. There are so many iconic London images, buildings and scenes taking place here on a regular basis that there will always be something to take your interest. The thing is though; it is not as if Leicester Square and the businesses that currently operate from there are taking their custom for granted. They still work hard to provide entertainment and attractions that people want to see and if you love casino and poker in particular, the Hippodrome remains one of the most magical places in the area.

Poker is in high demand

The Hippodrome has a great history and has played host to some of the biggest names and keenest crowds over the years but it has been refurbished as one of the major casino venues in the capital. This spring, it will be focussing on bringing poker to players in the capital, which should be of benefit to London residents, tourists and everyone else that makes up the huge number of people in and around London on a daily basis.

There is a low key approach to hosting major poker events with a low-level buy-in tournament taking place in April. This event is part of the UKIPT but many more big events will be coming after that. Before that, if you are keen to be part of the poker activity in the venue, you will be delighted to know that PokerStars LIVE, a 24 hour venue, will be ready for business on the 4th of March and there will be plenty of cash games and tournaments from the first day.

There are plenty of poker clubs in the UK which have a great reputation and Nottingham based Dusk Till Dawn is definitely one of them. The club has been the scene for a number of great poker triumphs and the recent Multi Prize Pool Poker event, held at the weekend, was a roaring success. This style of event carries a unique twist in that there is just one tournament but the variety of buy-in levels allows a strong number of guaranteed prizes to be offered.

Andy Young is the poker player who benefitted the most from this innovative poker tournament. From a prize pool fund of £30,000, Andy managed to scoop just less than one third of this. He managed to take away £8,550 through buying into Prize Pool 3, which was at a level of £200.

You have to speculate to accumulate

The unique nature of the event and the benefits that can come from being eligible for all prize pools can be seen in the fortunes of the players that finished second and third in the event. Robert Lane was the runner-up, bagging a total of £3,493 for his troubles. This came from his share of Prize Pool 1 and Prize Pool 2. However, third placed poker player Ben Vinson actually walked away with more than Lane, as he scooped up a total of £3,717. He may have received less than Lane did in Pot 1 and Pot 2 but as Vinson was also eligible for a share of Prize Pool 3, which delivered £1,628, he managed to leapfrog Lane with respect to earnings for the event.

There wasn’t too much money between the two players so Lane may say that he prefers the kudos of coming second but with a little bit more conviction or initial layout, he could have been celebrating a bigger cash boost.

Anonymous sources have reported to eGaming Review and Gaming Intelligence that the deal between Groupe Bernard Tapie and the United States Department of Justice is looming in the near future, and should be completed very soon (by the end of next week– around the 23rd). Most poker players are unconvinced, however, as this is not by any means they’ve heard the “no, no, we’ll have things fixed soon” or “resolution is just around the corner!” spiels before. Most people aren’t getting their hopes up and are instead regarding the news with a dose of skepticism common among the once-bitten and twice-shy.

Benham Dayanim, the lawyer for Groupe Bernard Tapie, gave March 16th as the extended deadline for repayment of outstanding debts by professional poker players with outstanding debts to the site– players like Mike “The Mouth” Matusow, David Benyamine, Phil Ivey, Erick Lindgren, and Barry Greenstein. GBT blamed these players for the delays in both finalization of a deal and repayment of the players whose money was tied up in Full Tilt for the better part of the last year. The anonymous sources saying that a deal is imminent are implying that enough of these players must have coughed up their owed funds since GBT called them out for their responsibility.

The majority of the “evidence” that the deal is going down soon seems to lie in discussions that Groupe Bernard Tapie has been having with several prominent groups in an effort to obtain licenses and reopen the site. According to the anonymous sources, GBT has been in talks with the Alderney Gambling Control Commission (the AGCC, which was responsible for dismantling FTP last summer), the Kahnawake Gaming Commission, and the licensing board in Spain, where legislative changes require more paperwork than they did a year ago. Tapie is allegedly also putting a team together for the reopening of the website and has an investor who will repay all of the former Full Tilt players. Last week, we were speculating about whether GBT really wanted to reopen the online poker site, or if they just wanted to seize the software, as the Full Tilt name has been so damaged that it likely can’t bounce back, and now they’re allegedly getting all their ducks in a row to reopen the site? Some news sources are speculating that the FTP site, remastered by GBT with new graphics and a new look, could be open sometime in April (although not to American players). It seems a big leap from last week, when there were no new developments at all.

The timing of these rumors, released by “anonymous sources” to news outlets that require hefty subscription fees in order to get the full story, if particularly curious. Within a week of news breaking that another company might be interested in acquiring Full Tilt, and as more and more ire is directed at the flailing company and the players and other people behind it, not only does Ray Bitar come out of nowhere to make a statement– his first in the 11 months since Black Friday, but now more rumors are being leaked? It all just seems a little well-timed to be coincidence.

We’ll see by the end of next week whether there’s actually something going on over at Full Tilt, or if these conveniently-leaked rumours are nothing more than another smokescreen. Keep coming back to Max Poker Bonus for the latest developments in the Full Tilt Poker deal and other poker news as it develops!

At long last, Full Tilt CEO and co-founder Ray Bitar has made a statement about Full Tilt Poker and his prolonged silence since Black Friday. His statement, which essentially amounted to “I’m sorry that I didn’t say anything sooner, but it was for your own good, and that’s really all you need to know,” has further angered many people in the poker community, who have been calling for Bitar to make a statement directed at former FTP players.

Eleven months after Black Friday, Bitar finally has something to say, but it seems to be a matter of too little, far too late. Players have been looking for a sense of accountability from those associated with Full Tilt for quite some time– most players could have dealt with the “you’re not getting your money back right away” if there had been honest communication about what was going on. Given that Full Tilt was not the only company affected by Black Friday, and that one of these companies, PokerStars, is now doing better than ever, the scandal doesn’t seem to be the issue. The problem is that players have been waiting for almost a year for someone to come forward and account for the site’s actions, and all they’ve gotten is radio silence and continual delays.

Most people don’t consider this information blackout to be over, as Bitar’s statement was indirect at best: “I would like to offer my sincere apology to all who have been affected by these events and to clarify that my silence was not an attempt to “hide,” or “ignore,” the situation. It was done out of necessity to ensure the focus remained on the continued efforts to reach the best outcome for the players. My entire focus is on obtaining a successful resolution for the players. I hope that before long I can provide some good news for all of the players involved.”

Why wait this long to say that, when the statement is so vague that it could have been made at any point in the last year? How does it Bitar’s refusal to speak about events at FTP benefit the players in any way, especially given that an official statement from Bitar months ago could have eased the minds of concerned players, at least for a time? There’s a lot of speculation around why Bitar chose to speak now, but a common opinion is that Groupe Bernard Tapie is close to reaching a deal with the US government (and if they don’t manage to do so, another company is ready to swoop in and salvage what little value the company still has), and he wants to be able to make a statement now in an attempt to preempt that finalized deal.

Bitar claims that his lawyer(s) encouraged him not to speak about any of the goings-on at Full Tilt and that talking could have potentially impacted the ability of the company to make a deal, stating that “while it might satisfy people to have specific information about those ongoing discussions – and it would certainly take some of the heat off myself – I am convinced that such public statements would diminish the likelihood of a successful outcome.” Really? What kind of mess is behind the scenes at Full Tilt that a short, apologetic message might come across as bad for everyone? It’s far more likely that Bitar and his legal team have been trying to avoid admitting to any accountability for the condition of the company in the face of looming criminal charges.

Stay tuned with MaxPokerBonus.co.uk as we bring you more up-to-date news about the Full Tilt scandal and other important poker news!

There’s a new player on the Full Tilt Poker scene, and rumor has it that they’re looking to step in and strike up a deal, since Groupe Bernard Tapie has been having some problems working out the details with the United States government.

Unlike Groupe Bernard Tapie, this British-based private equity company doesn’t seem interested in relaunching the Full Tilt site, which seems to be where a lot of the current negotiations are running into problems. Instead, the new interest seems to be solely in purchasing the Full Tilt Poker software, and they’re willing to pay between 30 and 35 million dollars for it. Between the considerable amount they’re offering and the potential formal death of Full Tilt Poker once and for all, it seems quite likely that the US Department of Justice would be willing to accept their offer, although what this means for players who are still hoping to reclaim the money that they’ve lost has yet to be seen. Since the company’s debts to its players are roughly ten times the amount offered by the new company, it doesn’t bode well.

At this point, Full Tilt’s software, which was widely considered the best online poker software on the market, is the former company’s only viable asset. The Full Tilt brand means next to nothing now, having been tainted (likely forever) by scandal after scandal. Even if the company is bought out by another taker, players will be unable to forget that they’ve spent the better part of a year associating the name “Full Tilt” with getting ripped off. Since the software is the only thing that Full Tilt has that’s worth anything (apart from its customer database, which could be valuable to other online sites), it makes sense that this new company would buy the software and then resell it to the highest bidder– 888 Poker and bwin have both been rumored to have interest in procuring the software for their sites.

Chances are, despite what Groupe Bernard Tapie has been saying about relaunching Full Tilt, the “buy and resell” tactic is probably what they plan on doing as well, but they fear endangering the state of their negotiations with the US DOJ if they openly admit it. If they can drag down FTP and scare off other buyers in the process, they can snatch up the company and its associated software for much less than it’s worth and then use it themselves for the International Stadium of Poker Tour (ISPT). The longer they can stall before making the purchase, the less the software is worth to competing sites, who have seen developments of their own in the past year, but that doesn’t really make it any less valuable to GBT, who would be getting some excellent software for far less than market value.

While rumors state that the company is only interested in Full Tilt if the deals with GBT and the US DOJ fall through, much is still unknown about the company and its motives, so it will be interesting to see how the presence of an alternate solution affects the outcome of current FTP negotiations.

Remember to bookmark MaxPokerBonus.co.uk so we can continue to bring you all the news about Full Tilt Poker and other poker legalization and post-Black Friday updates, as well as tournament results and all things poker!