The chosen players will then be analysed by a 16 member committee which will take the final decision as to whom is the most ‘virtuous’ of them. Besides the player nominated for 2010, the committee will also choose a player that will automatically enter in the next year’s selection process.

The criteria for entering the Poker Hall of Fame is:

• The player had to play against acknowledged top competition

• To play for high stakes

• To play consistently well

• To prove his/her abilities for a long period of time

• Or, for non-players, to have contributed to the development of the poker game in the long term

The 2010 nominations are now closed and the 10 players chosen by the public are:

• CHRIS FERGUSON

• BARRY GREENSTEIN

• JENNIFER HARMAN-TRANIELLO

• DAN HARRINGTON

• PHIL IVEY

• LINDA JOHNSON

• TOM McEVOY

• DANIEL NEGREANU

• SCOTTY NGUYEN

• ERIK SEIDEL

Bwin holds the 3^rd position worldwide as a poker provider after PokerStars and Full Tilt and the CEO’s believe that their site would have been the first if they hadn’t withdrawn from the US market in 2006.

Teufelberger thinks that these two websites are ranked the first two in the world solely due to their monopoly over the American market:

“It’s not because they have premier marketing skills or premier technology, what they have is hundreds of millions of dollars from what we see as an illegal market. We would expect that once the US regulates, these two companies will not have access to the market, and once that happens we’ll then see who the leader will be. They say they’re not operating illegally but I think they are.”

Teufelberger puts forth the hypothesis that once the US online gambling market will be deregulated, PokerStars and Full Tilt will not be offered a license to continue to operate. He wonders if they will be prosecuted, let alone having withdrawn their licenses.

“I used to be personally licensed and operated in the land-based environment in the US so I know how stringent the US authorities are in their licensing process and I cannot imagine that a company which in the view of the DoJ (Department of Justice) and several state licensing authorities in the US, that acts illegally, will be able or qualify to get a licence. In my view this will be absolutely impossible. What does that mean in the end? I don’t know. They may be prosecuted, they may not be prosecuted”.

The Bwin CEOs are aware that PokerStars and Full Tilt could nonetheless be granted a license in the newly deregulated US market. Should this happen, then pulling out of the US market in 2006 will have been their “biggest mistake”.

As a stockbroker he swindled over 20 of his clients and has stolen from them the beautiful sum of over $400,000. Nothing so special so far. The best part of this situation, the one that seems taken out of a movie, is the fact that the judges have given him a sentence never heard of before. He has to repay the stolen sum by playing poker!

He is now free to leave his home state New Mexico and travel to tournaments and cash games in the attempt to make $7,500 monthly as decided by the court. If the first 2 payments are not done, then he will face immediate sentence of up to 12 years. The reason why judges have agreed to this unusual conclusion is that poker is McMaster’s only chance of raising the money he owes.

According to prosecutor Phylis H. Bowman: “There’s nothing to indicate that he’s a violent threat to society. So based upon those factors, that’s what determines conditions of release. It has nothing to do with profession.”

We will see if he comes back victorious from his tournaments or if he will come back at all. To be continued!

]]> http://www.bestfreecasinosgames.com/?feed=rss2&p=20 http://www.bestfreecasinosgames.com/?p=19 http://www.bestfreecasinosgames.com/?p=19#comments Mon, 26 Jul 2010 07:26:02 +0000 admin http://www.bestfreecasinosgames.com/?p=19 The famous boxer Evander Holyfield has recently become the representative of Realdealpoker.com, a new poker room that is looking to attract its clientele. This room has an innovative and unique approach in that it uses real cards instead of an algorithm. Evander Holyfield is there to make this approach popular to online poker players. This box champion has won against Mike Tyson and George Foreman and its popularity should have an impact on the success of Realdealpoker.com.

Realdealpoker.com is the only website distributing real cards instead of using a random number generating algorithm found on all the other websites. Gene Gioia, initiator and head of Real Deal Poker declared that their revolutionary technology uses real cards and this ensures the fairness of the game. “We have achieved something that everyone deemed as impossible, that is distributing real cards in an online environment”.

Holyfield was present in Las Vegas at the Ante Up For Africa charitable tour. He will also play at ‘Poker in the Park’ in London on September 2^nd and 3^rd . “We are delighted that a superstar such as Evander comes at Poker in the Park. We are used to having guests the most famous poker players but his presence here illustrates the synergy that exists between poker and the major sports, and the exciting development of poker in general” said Michael Caselli, the event organizer.

Due to a “data crossover” error, several players were accidentally switched to other players’ accounts. In 12 cases, players could access other users’ personal information and as a result $8000 were wagered by players using others’ accounts before the site was taken down.

BCLC president and chief executive Michael Graydon claims that those affected were first announced of this breach.“Our first priority was really to our players and making sure we got to them first. We wanted to make sure that they heard from BCLC and not read it in the newspaper,” he said. He also added that they have “been open and transparent with the customers affected. We identified them very quickly and we communicated with them very quickly.”

Graydon believes that people will not lose confidence in PlayNow.com and in BCLC after this incident. They are currently working with the platform provider of the site to fix the problem and bring back online PlayNow.com.

]]> http://www.bestfreecasinosgames.com/?feed=rss2&p=18 http://www.bestfreecasinosgames.com/?p=17 http://www.bestfreecasinosgames.com/?p=17#comments Fri, 02 Jul 2010 07:30:13 +0000 admin http://www.bestfreecasinosgames.com/?p=17 A study carried out by Nova Southern University has made a shocking discovery: 4 out of 5 poker players (i.e. 80% of them) take drugs in order to improve their performance at the poker table.

According to the study author and specialist in pharmacy Kevin Clauson, drugs help poker players to “stay awake longer, to focus and concentrate better” which is an advantage in face of the competition. Professor Clauson points out that these substance are surely dangerous for human health and they can have negative effects in the long term.

But are they truly drugged? The study shows that besides regular energizers like caffeine from coffee, guarana from energy drinks, professional and amateur players all over the world moved on to more serious substances such as marijuana, amphetamines, cocaine, Valium and other prescription drugs which is supposed to enhance their game.

The study consists of interviews with players at last year WSOP in Las Vegas and an international online questionnaire that collected answers from professional, semi-professional, amateur and recreational players in North America, Europe and Asia. They all admitted having used some sort of drug or substance to improve their concentration or to calm their nerves, stay awake and sharpen their memory.

This resembles in large to sports people who take performance enhancers and win easier. While the sports people are expelled from competitions and their prizes withdrawn if discovered drugged, poker players go along with their drugging habits which is not quite fair.

Google has taken the decision to allow advertisements for the online gaming industry on Youtube because the company thinks it can block youth access. A system of verification will be put in place so that every user that wants to see the adds will have to confirm they are over 18. Regulators of online advertising were assured that the software for age verification is efficient in monitoring the ad campaigns and allowing access only to mature audiences to the gambling spots.

Ladbrokes is the first casino to have taken advantage of this positive development and others are expected to follow the trend.

Google’s spokesperson James Cashmore has stated that his company has been discussing with “ brands and agencies about this for more than two years” and that he is sure the spots won’t be displayed to underage Youtube visitors.

After years of banning advertisements for online casinos and gaming operators, Youtube announced in 2008 that it would remove its restrictions in the UK if the companies are based in the European Economic Area or are registered with the Gambling Commission.

“The level of taxation is too high for a new market (which has just opened)” said he. “What is visible on the French market today is a boom of new clients who have not played until now because it was considered illegal to play on the Internet. Now, that this activity is ‘legal’, we have beaten all our records in the last few days”. He gives credit to the World Cup that had a positive effect by bringing new clients to open an account and start betting on Betclic.

According to Beraud, the high level of taxation on the French market can determine clients to search illegal operators which offer cheaper services. He also stated that it is still difficult to trace these operators and stop them from activating on the online betting market and blocking the websites is not a 100% efficient measure as it was seen on the Italian market.

Besides issues concerning the illegal operators and the high taxation rates, another problem is that “the new legislation leaves out the online casino games which are very important because they create margin and without them it is difficult to be profitable.” This is not the first time that Beraud points out the importance of an equilibrium between the taxation and the array of authorised  games. He predicts that following France, the next countries that will regulate their online gaming markets are Danmark, Germany and Spain.

As far as the French market is concerned, Beraud hopes that operators such as Betclic will be allowed to extend their offer of online games in the next year and a half. He also told the audience that the French market would not be so profitable in this period due to very tax quotas on egaming revenue.

You can find below a summary of their summer offers:

Hat Trick Hero – if you play UK Pub slots you can win one of the Hat-trick Hero games daily and a prize of £200. To qualify for the Hat-Trick Hero game the player must deposit and purchase £25 and have a turnover of £100 at a UK Pub slot or make a combination of 3 UK Pub slots every day.

£30K Prize Draw – the sum of £30,000 is up for grabs as you can win £50 daily if you comply with the following conditions: play on the selected slots - Mega Moolah, Burning Desire and Thunderstruck, deposit £20 and turnover £20 every day. There will be 20 randomly selected players rewarded daily with £50 each.

Summer Holiday Free Spins - Ladbrokes Casino offers 25 free spins daily to 20 randomly selected players at the Summer Holidays slot which you can find in the Download Casino. You can also play Summertime and Beach Babes besides Summer Holidays. To qualify for the spins, the deposit should be £25 and the turnover £150 on any of the slots mentioned earlier.

At the 2010 Gaming Awards Ladbrokescasino was voted “the top dog” in the industry of online casinos. The judging panel was formed of 25 specialists from the gaming industry. The judging criteria ranged from quality and variety of games offered, customer services, to innovation on the casino market and the use of modern technologies.

“We’re really proud to receive this award. We have a fantastic team at Ladbrokes and this is great recognition of all the hard work they have done. 2009 was a great year for us and we believe 2010 will be better, it has certainly started the right way” said Natalie Coles, Head of Ladbrokescasino.com.

The first set of rules refers to players’ talk. They are not allowed to make useless, repetitive and excessively negative remarks about the style of their opponents as this kind of behaviour is sanctioned. Any unwanted remark from the public that can effect the course of the game can also lead to sanctions. Therefore, in poker it is good to have a respectful conduct!

Another set of rules applies to the language of the poker tour. Only the language of the language of the country and English are allowed to be used between participants at a professional poker event.

The practice of ‘rabbit hunt’ is forbidden because players usually frown upon it. It is done in a situation where one player wins a pot without a showdown and another player asks the dealer to show cards would have come up in case the hand had been played till the end. Usually, these players who ‘hunt the rabbit” want to see if they would have hit a straight, a flash or some other gaining hand.

Gestures, noises, words, postures, objects that may disturb the other participants are also sanctioned and players are not allowed to use the mobile phone at the poker table.

The last but not least of these rules of conduct is to not underperfom. Underperforming means playing poorly in order to support another player which is penalised and his bets are withdrawn.