Tapie-Full Tilt Poker Deal Hits Pay Dirt
January 26, 2012 - 4:11pm
by Wendeen H. Eolis
No formal confirmations of additional investors yet, but the noise is ever louder today; Group Bernard Tapie has lined up at least one moneyman "ready to punt." According to several generally informed sources familiar with weeks of efforts to raise more funds, GBT has locked up a commitment with at least one and maybe two substantial participants to nail the acquisition of the Full Tilt brand. Additional funding might not be crucial, but for Tapie's reluctance to put in more capital of his own than suits his taste.
A lawyer close to one purported investor says, "The deal should get done." He estimates the time table for a re-launch of the FTP site as before the end of the first quarter." Another lawyer, with strong ties in the current Full Tilt brouhaha says; "The die is cast; Full Tilt is effectively out of control; the deal is now unstoppable unless Tapie fails to deliver the necessary checks to the Court."
Poker Scandal Part 4
January 19, 2012 - 12:32pm
Editorial By Stanley R. Sludikoff, Publisher
Read: Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.
In this segment it is my intention to take up the issue of the alleged illegal activities of poker celebrities Chris Ferguson, Howard Lederer, et. al. I say “alleged” because no indictments have been handed down, and everyone should be granted the supposition of innocence until proven guilty.
Poker Stars is Too Big to Hide Internal News
January 18, 2012 - 10:50am
by Wendeen H. Eolis (Updated 01/20/12 6:58 EST)
The Parade of Unsung Departures - Updated
Special Note: This article updates the author's breaking news and follow up story about PokerStars CEO Gabi Campos ' departure plans, taking into account relevant communications--not marked confidential--between Poker Stars and the reporter.
In a personal email to this reporter one day after publication of the breaking news, PokerStars founder Isai Scheinberg confirmed "Gabi's (Campos) departure. Hours after Poker Player Newspaper broke the story, Poker Stars gave an exclusive statement to Poker News, attributed to "top officials" of the Company :
“Poker Stars announced today that Gabi Campos has decided to step down from his position as Chief Executive Officer, effective February 1, 2012, to pursue other opportunities. The company thanks Gabi for his hard work and commitment and wishes him the best in all his future endeavors. A search for Gabi’s replacement is under way.”
Poker Stars CEO Gabi Campos is Off the Grid: A Parade of Unsung Departures
January 16, 2012 - 11:00am
by Wendeen H. Eolis
PokerStars Chief Executive Officer Gabriel Campos Woslovsky’s current whereabouts are murky; only his closest associates may know his GPS location. But the buzz emanating from the Isle of Man offices of Poker Stars is loud and clear; Gabi Campos, as he is better known within Poker Stars, has left the building-- after a reign of less than two years.
Gaming Industry Executives at Odds over Online Poker
January 15, 2012 - 11:43pm
By Shari Geller
The president of M Resort, Anthony Marnell III, recently joined Sheldon Adelson, Chairman of the Sands Corporation, in announcing his opposition to the legalization and regulation of online poker in the United States. In a time when the efforts towards bringing online poker back to the U.S. is under attack from the religious right, the morality police and skittish lawmakers, opposition from those within the gambling family comes as a heavy blow.
The interview with Marnell was conducted Nevada Newsmakers, a statewide public affairs television program, on December 13, just a few days before the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) issued a statement reversing its earlier position that the Wire Act made online poker illegal. In the DoJ’s published opinion letter, the federal government claimed that the Wire Act did not apply to online poker.
Poker Scandal Plagues Industry Part 3
January 9, 2012 - 9:40am
by Stanley R. Sludikoff, Publisher
[Read Part 1 Read Part 2]
There is no doubt that the United States of America has unclean hands in this mess. First Congress failed to protect its citizens when they knew that millions were playing poker on the internet. Instead a small minority of senators and representatives, who were seeking to legislate morality as they saw it, looked for a simple way to stop people from gambling on the internet.
Flushed Away!
January 26, 2012 - 2:00pm
by Richard G. Burke
Fred likes to fish, so he and his wife rented a Reno resort hotel room for a week. She enjoys the pool while he—armed with flies, rods, reels, waders, and a sack lunch—fishes in the nearby mountains’ catch-and-release streams. After supper they head to the casino, she to play bingo or the slots and he to the nightly low-entry-fee, no-limit hold’em tournament in the poker room.
You need to understand that Fred doesn’t wail about his poker results; win or lose, he has a ready smile and a cheery attitude. Just the same, he came as close to wailing as I ever heard when he called me that night.
His tournament started at 7 p.m. with five full tables of ten, paying five places. Each player started with $1,500 in tournament chips. The blinds started at $25-50 and went up every 20 minutes. After two-and-a-half hours of solid play, catching a few hands, and stealing blinds upon occasion in the right spot, Fred moved to the final table.
Plains Poker Part 3
January 25, 2012 - 5:27pm
by Ashley Adams
Read Part 1 and Part 2
On Wednesday, my friend Andrei and I left the magnificent 65 table Winstar Casino poker room in southern Oklahoma ready to head back toward Kansas City, but wanting to play some more poker before our Friday morning flight. By Wednesday afternoon we had arrived at the major poker room in the Oklahoma City area—the beautiful, 24 table, Riverwind Casino (1544 W State Highway 9, 405.322.6000) just south of Oklahoma City in Norman.
Dilemma Spot: Folding Big Pairs After the Flop
January 24, 2012 - 2:45pm
by David Chicotsky - @TheMavenVT
In tournaments, with average chip-stacks of less than 50 blinds, hands like aces or kings don’t give players too many dilemma spots preflop.
It’s after the flop, when players are often faced with a decision for their entire stack, that basic estimation skills are needed to figure out what to do. These skills apply when figuring out whether to hold on to a big pair until showdown, or lay the hand down. So which factors will most likely lead you to fold a big pair post-flop?
An Incredible New Book & Author Part 2
January 24, 2012 - 2:20pm
By George “The Engineer” Epstein
[Read Part 1] Continuing our review of Thomas M. Green’s unique new book, Texas Hold’Em Poker Textbook...
The Flop (There are 19,600 possible flops). A “sparse” flop—three cards of different ranks, not in sequence and different suits—will occur almost 75 percent of the time.
