Poker News

Below you'll find the latest in poker news. Topics vary from World Series of Poker updates to state regulation to general player news.

7/4/2013 - Casino Employee Steals From Employer For WSOP Entry - FTW?

Troy Wilcoxon, and his friend James Nollette, are facing charges for stealing $25,000 from the Lancer Lanes Casino in Clarkston, Washington, where Troy once worked. Troy is suspected to have stolen the money to cover about $15,000 in debt that he owes, but also to cover his trip to Las Vegas. He reportedly made the trip to Las Vegas to enter the Casino Employees WSOP event, where he parlayed his $500 buy-in into a 11th place, $5,010 finish.

7/3/2013 - A Determined PokerStars Enters Deal, And The New Jersey Online Poker Market

With their previous deal ending, PokerStars managed to quickly find another way into the New Jersey online gambling market. They revealed that they struck a deal with the Resorts Casino. Details were not released as of yet, however, it’s clearly a win/win since Resorts is able to file for the license and PokerStars has well over 10 years of online poker experience. I think we can all agree that PokerStars has used up their 'one time.'

7/1/2013 – Full Tilt Poker Brings Back the Black Card Program

Full Tilt Poker announced that they were bringing back the Black Card promotion. This was (and still is) an interesting promotion where players need to keep a rolling average of points to obtain and maintain their status. Players will need to average 500 Full Tilt Points (about $1,400 in rake) to qualify. Unfortunately, this is not as good a deal as the VIP program that PokerStars runs.

6/27/2013 – One Drop Attracts a Large Audience In Despite of Smaller Buy-In

2012 was the first year for the Big 1 For One Drop, a charity tournament that has a buy-in of $1 million dollars. The WSOP decided to push the next event to 2014, due to the buy-in being so large. So this year they decided to hold a $111,111 high roller tournament that would also support the charity. The tournament was expected to draw in 100 players, but did much better than that, drawing in 166 players and a prize pool of $17.9 million. Nearly $5 million is set aside for the winner, which has yet to be determined.

6/26/2013 – Neteller to Make a Comeback to America?

Back in the day (2006) Neteller was the go to e-wallet for American poker players. However, they were forced to leave following the passing of the UIGEA. But it looks like they will be coming back. Caesars announced that Neteller would be the primary payment processor for when they launched their real money poker site, which is expected to go live online towards the end of 2013.

6/21/2013 – Dumb Dealer Leads to WSOP Exit, Refund and Being Fired

Mike Sowers, a poker pro, was involved in a hand where he knew he was going to lose before the turn was even dealt. Odd, right?! Listen to this. Mike was dealt a pair of 99s and flopped a set on a 987 of hearts board. He checked the flop, got pushed all in and he called. He was up against a pair of queens, one of them a heart. The dealer (which was new to the table) told Mike, sorry man, bad beat. The turn was a heart, sending Mike to the rail. Mike left, only to later find out that the dealer was overheard, laughing, and saying he didn’t even shuffle the deck before the hand. The dealer was later fired and Mike was issued a refund.

6/20/2013 – Kentucky Earns $6 Million Versus PokerStars in Domain Case

Prior to Black Friday, Kentucky filed lawsuits against 141 gambling sites, stating that they were illegally operating within the state and defrauding customers. Since they were the first to take action against these sites, their claims were still outstanding. Those claims were dropped this week when the federal government made a $6.075 million dollar (settlement) payment to the state.

6/17/2013 – PokerStars Holds Another $1 Tournament, Remakes History

PokerStars is known for many things. One of those things being their tournaments. Well, a couple years ago they set out to establish a record for the world’s largest poker tournament (ever). They managed to do that, offering a tournament where the buy-in was only $1. That tournament attracted 200,000 players. They setup to break that record -- and they did -- with another $1 tournament. This tournament was capped at, and seated, 225,000 players. It took 4 hours to complete this record breaking tournament, and for the $25,000 first place prize, to be awarded.

6/4/2013 – Ultimate Poker Adds 4 Poker Pros to Roster

Ultimate Poker, the first and only legal online poker site located in Nevada, has added 4 more “pros” to their roster. This brings their total to 9 pro players. The most recent players to join include Jason Somerville, Lauren Kling, Jonathon Little and Will Reynolds. They will join Antonio Esfandiari as the faces of Ultimate Poker. The 4 new pros have collectively earned more than $12 million between live and online scores.

5/29/2013 – The 44th WSOP Starts Today

The 44th Annual World Series of Poker started today. This series lasts for 49 (consecutive) days. The first event is the $500 Casino Employees event, which is a running tradition for the WSOP. It will be followed by the $5k 8-handed NLHE event, and then the event everyone is talking about – the Millionaire Maker. This is a guaranteed tournament with $1 million set aside for the winner (by Caesars). Players eliminated on Day 1A will be able to buy back in for $1,500 on Day 1B. The Main Event will end on July 6th with the WSOP Main Event. Like the last couple of years, the event will end with the final table being paused until November for the "November 9."