Tag: pokerstars

PokerStars has just launched their mobile app in the UK, which allows players with compatible phones to play real money games, even if they’re away from their computer. The app, which was made available for download on February 14th, allows players to play sit-and-go games, multi table, and compete in all the PokerStars tournaments.

The app is available throughout Great Britain (save for Northern Ireland), and versions exist for the iPhone, iPod, iPad, and various Android devices. The game has been rescaled to fit perfectly on the screen of the various devices that can use it, and the graphics and playability are uncompromised. Truly, using the PokerStars Mobile App is pretty much exactly like playing PokerStars from your computer, but with added portability! Now you can play from absolutely anywhere– waiting in line, on a plane (if the plane has wi-fi, that is), during boring business meetings. The new PokerStars app aims to revolutionize the way that players relate to poker and fit it into their lives, and from what we’ve seen, it has the potential to do just that!

PokerStars mobile is ideal for the casual player who is trying to beef up his or her game whenever the opportunity presents itself (and when you can play a few hands at the grocery store checkout, that opportunity presents itself far more often). The poker games currently covered by the app are Hold’em, Omaha, and Omaha Hi/Lo, and all come in No-Limit, Pot-Limit, and Fixed-Limit. Multi table doesn’t work exactly like it does on the computer– but it’s a reasonable approximation for the platform. Four tables is the limit for all devices except for the iPad, which can accommodate five, and one nice thing about multitabling on PokerStars Mobile is that your hole cards are clearly displayed, despite the small screen size.

PokerStars launched a mobile app in Italy last year, and while Italian players could only play for pretend money, rather than use their PokerStars funds, the app was popular and allowed PokerStars to run a successful beta test among an existing client base. A year later, with some added functionality thrown in, the same technology is seeing a re-release as PokerStars mobile 2.0, aimed at Britain.

So how does the app work with the functionality of your phone and plan? Well, for one, if you answer a call, you’ll have so sit out a hand, and if you’re gone for more than 25 seconds, you’ll be booted. Playing runs smoother over Wi-fi than 3G, but the same can be said of pretty much all apps that require a constant data stream. Because the game is using data (1MB down and 500KB up per hour), you’ll probably want to think carefully about whether or not to use the app if your plan isn’t unlimited.

You can download the app from pokerstarsmobile.com, although you’ll need a PokerStars account beforehand. PokerStars is currently offering a sweet 100% match on opening deposits, so there’s never been a better time to join PokerStars and play… now from anywhere!

The last year has been a rough one for PokerStars. First, they were hit with Black Friday, causing them to pull out of the American online poker market and wrestle through negotiations with the United States Department of Justice. In May, Thomas Kremser, the director of the European Poker Tour since 2004 left, stating that the “time is right to explore new adventures”. Now, in the last month, PokerStars has lost not only John Duthie as the CEO for the EPT (and brains behind its conception) and member of Team PokerStars Pro, but now Gabi Campos, the CEO of PokerStars, has decided to leave the company as well.

Campos came to PokerStars after Black Friday when the previous CEO was indicted by the US DOJ in the events surrounding Black Friday. The previously family-controlled business sought out Gabriel “Gabi” Campos Woslovsky, a former member of Mossad, the Israeli Intelligence Agency, who had extensive experience managing computing and IT teams throughout Israel. Campos made a career change and joined up with PokerStars competitor 888 Poker in 2007, becoming the managing director of Dragonfish in 2009. PokerStars does not currently have a replacement lined up for Campos, although they have announced that they will be actively searching while he stays on until February 1st of this year. This is a surprising turn of events, as Campos, while a part of PokerStars since late July, only took over operations in early October.

A lot of speculation is circling regarding Campos’ departure. Many are pointing to Campos’ history, stating that this sudden departure seems very similar to 15 months ago, when he cut ties 888 Poker to “pursue new challenges”. Even the wording this time around is similar, as PokerStars has released a statement that his departure is due to plans to “pursue other opportunities”– does this mean that Campos is hopping over to another poker giant?

However, it’s hard to look at Campos’ departure without taking into consideration that he is not the only PokerStars loss recently. Recent news articles make it seem like a lot of important people are jumping ship from PokerStars, all citing vague reasons such as “other opportunities” and the predicted poker boom that may or may not result from the return of online gambling to the United States. Players Greg Raymer and Joe Hatchem have also ended their relationships with the site in the last year, and Hatchem also fed the media a line about his departure, citing, like the others, that it was “time to pursue different career opportunities.”

PokerStars has received a lot of criticism lately from players due to a proposed rake structure change which was tossed out due to player protests. PokerStars is changing their VIP program and contributed rake method however, and a lot of players are openly unhappy with these changes. Could the changes at PokerStars, both at the tables and in the offices, be an indication of trouble in paradise? Maybe, but maybe not. Only time (or insider information) will tell exactly what’s going on over at PokerStars.

At long last, there’s a little bit of good news for PokerStars, which has seen the vast majority of its assets frozen since Black Friday last April. The United States Department of Justice, which was responsible for freezing the assets of not only PokerStars but also Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker, has released one account belonging to Sphene International, one of the payment processors for PokerStars.

PokerStars has been fully complying with the US Justice Department since the site was booted from doing business in America, unlike Full Tilt Poker, which has made news time and again for delays in legal proceedings, multiple class action lawsuits, and money trapped in customer accounts that has now been there for almost six months. PokerStars has released the money that their American players had in their accounts as soon as possible and has been forthright about the circumstances facing the company and how this translates for their current and former customers.

The DOJ account release of one of the accounts that PokerStars has, located in Bank Hapoalim (Suisse) SA in Luxembourg, does come with a stipulation: the company must keep a minimum balance of at least 5.5 million dollars in the account at all times. The exact wording used by the US government was: “WHEREAS, the Government and PokerStars have reached an agreement pursuant to which PokerStars consents to the restraint of $5.5 million in the Account for the pendency of the above captioned case, and the Government agrees that it does not object to PokerStars’ use of the remaining funds in that account”. In short, PokerStars has to keep money put aside equal to the amount that they reportedly made off of their US customers.

Because this 5.5 million was gained illegally, as online gambling has serious restrictions in the United States (to the point where Annie Duke recently made a public comment about the legality of poker but illegality of online poker in the US), the US Government may be planning to seize these assets once the rest of the legal action against the site has been resolved. At any rate, the money will stay there until the federal government figures out what it wants to do.

Although many players thought that Black Friday could negatively affect PokerStars as a company, it remains the leader in online poker. With so many other online poker sites pulling out of the US market (either by force or as a preemptive measure to avoid possible trouble in the future), the loss of the Americans from the player pool seems to be affecting everyone. With Full Tilt floundering, however, PokerStars has still seen steady growth since Black Friday, despite being targeted by the US government.

While PokerStars still has plenty of other accounts that haven’t been unfrozen yet, this new development has a lot of people wondering whether this is a sign that the damage caused by Black Friday is starting to be resolved. It’s too early to determine whether other accounts with PokerStars or other sites will be unfrozen, but PokerStars’ constant cooperation with the US government and general hands-up, mea culpa stance can only be helping them at this point in time.

PokerStars, which has been at the center of the poker media spotlight since last April’s Black Friday, has released a public statement about Full Tilt’s recent license suspension. Full Tilt Poker had its licence revoked on June 29th by the Alderney Gambling Control Commission (AGCC) and has been barred from accepting new players, accepting money from players, allowing players to withdraw funds, or allowing players to take part in any kind of poker game on the site (the AGCC was pretty specific that Full Tilt Poker isn’t going to be doing much of anything for quite some time). Although the Full Tilt website states that the site is merely down for maintenance, the site will not be back up until the net hearing, scheduled for late July.

PokerStars, which has, like Full Tilt and Absolute Poker, been under fire from the United States government for alleged bank fraud, money laundering and illegal gambling, assures players that there is no need to worry that the fate of Full Tilt will become the norm across the board.

The statement highlights a few key points that are an excellent strategic move, even in the instance that the next hearing regarding the Full Tilt case results in a reinstated license. PokerStars has made their points while creating a subtext so clear that it’s hard to miss (interpretation of subtext in italics below):

• The PokerStars license is intact. It’s so intact, in fact, that they got special reiteration from the Isle of Man licensing board, saying that it’s intact. (You know whose license isn’t intact? Full Tilt– but ours is!)
• PokerStars has already released over $100 million of US player money that had been locked in their accounts since the US Department of Justice took the site down and froze all the accounts two months ago. While there’s still a lot of funds left in limbo (about $400 million is still frozen in US player accounts), PokerStars is doing everything they can to release the remainder of the funds. Players from the United States will still have to find another site on which they can play, but at least they’ll be able to access their own money to do so. (We’ve already given your money back– or we’re about to give it back– but you know who hasn’t shown you a dime? Full Tilt and Absolute Poker! We’re very obviously trying much harder for you, so if there comes a time when you have to choose between sites, remember that we work the hardest and are the most honest!)
• The US Department of Justice has already given PokerStars their stamp of approval to continue working elsewhere in the world. (This is all a big misunderstanding, and we think that it may just go away entirely very soon. Remember that PokerStars is working hard to find middle ground with all interested parties and governments!)

The original text of the statement is as follows:

“In light of today’s news that Alderney Gambling Control Commission has suspended Full Tilt Poker’s license, PokerStars wishes to assure our customers that their funds are completely safe and that our operations are completely unaffected.  The Isle of Man Gaming Commission today re-affirmed that PokerStars’ worldwide licensing is intact and that our operations are in full compliance with all of its requirements.  PokerStars’ online operations continue as normal and all funds in players’ accounts are safe and available for withdrawal as usual with no delays.

PokerStars also remains in full compliance with our licenses in other jurisdictions where we are regulated, including France, Italy and Estonia.

As provided under our licensing, PokerStars has always maintained the integrity and security of our players’ funds, by keeping all such funds in segregated bank accounts, always available for immediate withdrawal.

Since the actions of US Department of Justice in April, we have returned more than $120 million to US players and continue to act upon requests as they are received. Players outside the US have not been affected and all cash-outs have been processed without delays.  Further, PokerStars entered into an agreement with the Department of Justice which expressly confirmed the company’s ability to operate outside the US.

We will continue to operate as a responsible corporate citizen and are committed to serving the needs of our customers in complete compliance with our regulatory requirements.”