May 20, 2012

In a letter to petitioners, the Obama administration affirms the right of States to govern online gambling but also admits its “open to solutions” to protect consumers.

After almost eight months, petitioners calling on the Obama administration to license and regulate online poker have finally received a response.

An email was sent out late Friday to the nearly 10,000 people that signed the online petition back in September of last year. The White House is committed to responding to all petitions that receive more than 5000 signatures.

Authored by Brian Deese, Deputy Director of the National Economic Council, the response did little to appease the concerns of the poker community as the White House did not promise to take any new actions to advance the legislation and regulation of online poker.

A large part of the four-paragraph response was taken up with unnecessary repetition of why players want licensing and regulation of online poker.

However, among the rhetoric were three points of interest.

First, Deese made it clear that the White House and the US Department of Justice are on the same page—betting on sporting events and contests is a violation of federal law, but not other forms of gambling.

“Online gambling on sporting events or contests violates federal law” he writes, but “the legality of other forms of online gambling is dependent upon the law of the states where the bettor or gambling business is located.”

Which leads to the second point which is made quite clear: That online gambling is a matter of state law.

“It is left to each state to determine whether it wishes to permit such activity between its residents and an online poker business authorized by that state to accept such wagers,” the letter continues.

Some see this response as a clear indication that any chance of legislation on the federal level is dead. But Deese’s third point indicates that the Obama administration has not finalized its position on the matter and the door was left open for the approval of Federal legislation focusing on consumer protections should such a bill reach the President’s desk.

“The Administration will continue to examine this issue and is open to solutions that would help guard against the use of online gambling sites as tools for conducting illegal activities or preying on unsuspecting individuals to the extent that online gambling is permitted.”

Looked at in its entirety, the response to the petition does little to change the view of the US legal landscape surrounding online poker beyond confirming what was already included in the Christmas Letter clarifying the Wire Act. Those parties that prefer a state-by-state approach will continue to advance their interests and those that prefer Federal legislation will continue to hold out hope that a lame duck compromise will materialize.

Trading was halted after Facebook Inc. began trading in its much-awaited initial public offering.

Other social networking shares were also down in morning trades. LinkedIn was trading down more than five percent, while Groupon was off 7.5 percent and Yelp Inc. tumbled more than six percent.

Also in the red were shares of Renren Inc., the China-based social networking company, which were down more than 12 percent.

Shares of Facebook were trading mostly flat at $38.

Bookmaker has released odds on the Facebook closing price at the end of opening day May 18, 2012 (find odds here).

Facebook has priced its IPO at $38 million ahead of Friday’s opening bell.

Fronted by 20-something CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook could raise $16 billion in funding as well as an overallotment option.

“It sets the tone for long-term, product-driven Internet companies,” says David Morin, a former Facebook executive and current CEO of the social networking company Path.

“They could have gone public in 2009 at a much lower price,” said Nick Einhorn, research analyst at IPO investment advisory firm Renaissance Capital. “They waited as long as they could to go public, so it makes sense that it’s a very large offering.”

In addition to the Closing Price odds for Facebook, Bookmaker is also offering betting on what founder Mark Zuckerberg will be wearing on Friday.

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Shaun Deeb will always know what time it is

After winning his third SCOOP watch yesterday, Shaun Deeb is having perhaps the greatest SCOOP tournament series in PokerStars history. All three of Deeb’s wins have come in Stud tournaments and Deeb has pocketed over $125,000, the three Championship SCOOP watches, and looks to be on track for the Player of the Series award, considering he has another final table on his 2012 SCOOP resume!

We’ll have a full report on Deeb’s accomplishments in the coming days.

Jackie Glazier wins the Melbourne Poker Championships Main Event

Jackie Glazier is one of the top tournament players in Australia, and her poker resume just grew by nearly $100,000 after her win at the Melbourne Poker Championships Main Event. Just a week before Glazier finished in second place at the Joe Hachem Deepstacks tournament, pocketing $35,000 in the process. For her career Glazier has racked-up over 4400,000 in tournament winnings, almost exclusively in Australia.

Here is a look at the final table payouts from the event:

1. Jackie Glazier — $95,000

2. Simon Moshi — $67,000

3. Ryan Hong — $47,000

4. Liwei Han — $35,000

5. Nishi Gamage — $27,000

6. Simon Kidson — $21,000

7. Sherrie Gelberg — $17,000

8. Stelios Yenofkian — $13,000

9. Paul Schembri — $10,000

10. Ismail Ismail — $7,000

Serock picks up his first live tournament win

Joe Serock was one of 31 players who went to the PPC Aruba tournament, as the Poker Players Championship organizers attempt to bring major tournament action back to the island nation. While the turnout wasn’t quite what they were hoping for, Serock left happy, considering he picked up his first live tournament win, and over $40,000!

Here is a look at the payouts from the event:

1. Joe Serock – $40,594

2. Jesse Chinni – $24,357

3. Dave Poces – $15,336

4. Steve Karp – $9,923

IPT San Remo results

The Italian Poker Tour was in the poker hotspot of San Remo this past week, and in addition to a €200,000 prize in the Main Event, the tour also awarded a €73,500 prize to the winner of the High-Roller event where 41 players competed in the €5,000 buy-in tourney. Here is a look at the results from the two tournaments:

IPT San Remo Main Event

1. Davide Biscardi – €200,000

2. Philippe Clerc – €130,000

3. Jakub Michalak – €81,200

4. Mirko Schiano Di Tunnariello – €60,800

5. Christer Lagerstrom – €40,500

6. Scott Baumstein – €32,500

7. Pasquale Braco – €24,300

8. Alessandro Longobardi – €16,220

High Roller Tournament

1. Borge Dypvik – €73,500

2. Mustapha Kanit – €47,700

3. Carlo Savinelli – €27,800

4. Faraz Jaka – €19,900

5. Pier Paolo Fabretti – €15,900

6. Rocco Palumbo – €14,050

A hedge fund manager named Bradley Ruderman is currently in prison for operating the ponzi scheme, defrauding a number of clients. He has admitted to losing $5.2 million at the poker tables in the past. Maguire and other celebrities were known to have taken part in the games.

Back in November, Maguire reportedly agreed to pay $80,000 to settle the lawsuit filed over more than $311,000 he was paid by a convicted Ponzi scheme operator in Texas Hold ‘Em matches that included celebrities, businessmen and others”. Former “Welcome Back Kotter” star and professional poker player, Gabe Kaplan, has also agreed to pay $26,900 in connection to the scheme.

“All of the poker cases are now resolved,” bankruptcy trustee Howard Ehrenberg told The Post on Tuesday (May 15, 2012).

“We will recover approximately $1.75 million for the benefit of the creditors of the bankruptcy estate,” Ehrenberg said.

“I assume that the poker winners who had to turn over money are not happy about it, but the settlements were fair in my opinion. “

“The settlement of every poker related case without having had to incur the cost of taking any of them to trial means that the fund available for the victims has been maximized,” Ehrenberg told Celebuzz.

Ruderman’s victims, who filed 22 lawsuits, reclaimed a healthy chunk of the $5.2 million they had sought.

- Jagajeet Chiba

Isildur1 isn’t the only big named who is making hey in the 2012 SCOOP, joining Blom in the two-win SCOOP club was Shaun Deeb, who picked up his second SCOOP win in 2012 and his third overall this weekend, after capturing the Triple Stud tournament title.

Other players ripping it up in the SCOOP series include Lock Poker pro Paul “PaulGees” Volpe, George “Jorj95” Lind, George Danzer, Mickey “Mement_Mori” Petersen, and Steve “Gboro780” Gross.

Here is a look at some of the recent results from the PokerStars 2012 SCOOP series:

SCOOP #17-H: $2,000 No-Limit Hold’em 10-Max Shootout ($150K Guaranteed)

An absolutely stacked final table played for the SCOOP shootout title in Event #17.

1. Andrew “southrnctowl” Badecker — $60,000

2. Wizowizo — $40,000

3. as1025 — $27,000

4. Jason “jdtjpoker” Wheeler — $19,800

5. Ignat “0Human0″ Liviu — $14,000

6. Alex “MrKlout” Balaguer — $11,000

7. Shaun “shaundeeb” Deeb — $8,800

8. Eugene “E. Katchalov” Katchalov — $7,500

9. Jonathan “MONSTER_DONG” Karamalikis — $6,400

10. Jude “j.thaddeus” Ainsworth — $5,500

SCOOP #18-H: $1,000 Pot-Limit Omaha 6-Max w/ Rebuys ($200K Guaranteed)

A three-way deal between three very well known pros marked the conclusion of this wild tournament.

1. Julian “MrCoco” Gardner — $118,606.67

2. Jason Mercier — $114,606.67

3. Phil “MrSweets28″ Galfond — $114,606.66

4. O.Klunssila — $54,560

5. Joseph “subiime” Cheong — $40,920

6. Sira Al Aziz — $27,962

SCOOP #19-H: $2,000 Triple Stud ($50K Guaranteed)

Deeb’s second SCOOP win in 2012 was his second final table in two days (see above), and his third SCOOP win called for Deeb to get by a very tough final table.

1. Shaun “shaundeeb” Deeb — $44,200

2. Stephen “stevie444″ Chidwick — $28,560

3. Eugene “E. Katchalov” Katchalov — $20,400

4. JohnSmith — $13,600

5. PerpCzech — $10,200

6. GVOZDIKA55 — $7,480

7. Brian “$tinger 88″ Hastings — $6,120

8. Spokey — $5,440

Samtrickett1: “Just sent my form off to register for the $1m buy inn tournament.Now im excited for the WSOP………..” May 08 2012

Andrew_Robl: “Excited to play poker for big money and help charity by playing the $1,000,000 tournament for @ONEDROPdotorg at the WSOP this summer.”

Apparently the Macau cash-games have been good for the two poker pros, considering they are two of the players whose name is constantly mentioned as being in attendance at the ultra-high-stakes cash games.

The two players join a growing list of roughly 40 players (according to WSOP Executive Director Ty Stewart during a conference call on Tuesday), with a strict cap of 48 players set for the tournament.

Trickett recently announced that he would be ending his relationship with his most recent sponsor, Titan Poker, and went on to say that he would be repping Matchbook.com at the Big One for OneDrop tournament –Matchbook.com is partially owned by Trickett’s good friend and longtime backer James Bord, who is no poker slouch himself having won the 2010 World Series of poker Europe Main Event.

Trickett wasn’t the only poker pro to leave Titan Poker this week either, as German poker pro Marvin “MadMarvin” Rettenamier also announced his departure from Titan Poker last week. Titan released their first official statement on the loss of their two sponsored pros, who just happen to be two of the biggest names in poker. Here is a look at the statement from Titan Poker released on Thursday:

“Following a remarkable two year partnership with our Team Titan pros Sam Trickett and Marvin Rettenmaier, a mutual decision has been made to part ways. From our side, we are pursuing a new branding strategy which moves away from focusing on a pro team and emphasizes our appeal to main stream and recreational poker players (see Titan Rewards and Titan Treasures). Titan Poker wishes Sam and Marvin continued success in their professional poker careers and would like to thank them both for a great run.”

Robl is known more for his cash-game prowess than for his tournament results, but with a number of wealthy businessmen already registered for the $1,000,000 tournament it seems that “Good2Cu” as Robl is known online simply couldn’t pass up the chance at an estimated $15 million first-place-prize.

Chairman James Murren referred to the game as “Casino Mogul”, however, partners of the firm have not decided on an official name as of yet.

“Internet gaming is here!” Murren declared at the 19th annual Southern Gaming Summit.

Of course, Internet gaming for many has been around for the better part of 15 years but MGM has yet to take the bull by the horns. But this year, the state of Nevada finally passed a law regulating intrastate online gambling. Murren hopes federal legislation will be passed in the not-so-distant future.

“It is better at every level than a state-by-state solution,” he said. “You can more accurately regulate, enforce, tax. You can have a better crime prevention component to it.”

“It will be here this year,” Murren said of Internet gaming. “It won’t be here likely at a federal level because the federal government is doing what they are best at ˜ nothing at all.

“It will be done at a state-by-state level and we will be actively engaged.”

The odds of federal legislation being passed remain slim, according to Murren.

“And if it isn‚t happening don’t blame Sen. (Harry) Reid,” Murren said. “Blame the House Republicans. That‚s where it is being held up.”

- Aaron Goldstein

Respected poker pro Barry Greenstein has made a slightly tenuous link between the rights of gay couples to be married in the USA and the difficulties faced by internet poker players in the States.

US President Barack Obama stated on Wednesday that he backs same-sex marriage in his nation, ensuring that controversy erupted within the notoriously conservative country.

However, it is unlikely that Obama had any idea that Poker Hall of Famer Greenstein would weigh into the arguments by asserting on micro blogging website Twitter that the president should consider the problems faced by poker players in the States in the same manner.

The three-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) champion wrote: “@barackobama admitted he thinks gays should have equal rights. Will he also admit poker players deserve their personal freedom?”
Poker Hall of Famer Questions Political Support

The 57-year-old Team PokerStars Pro believes that the USA’s leading politicians support the efforts made by many individuals and pressure groups to legalize internet poker but are unwilling to publicly reveal their backing following the events of Black Friday last year when the US Department of Justice (DoJ) shut down numerous online poker rooms – including Full Tilt Poker, PokerStars and Absolute Poker.

Certainly, these efforts to gain new legislation have so far failed to gain any great level of political support in Congress, although numerous states are individually considering intra-state laws after the DoJ adjusted their attitude towards internet poker last year.

However, while many will agree with Greenstein, Stuart Hoegner – a gaming solicitor and accountant – has questioned that position, mainly due to the fact those issues faced by disgruntled poker players cannot really be compared to the basic human rights of gay couples to be wed.
Gaming Lawyer Questions Greenstein’s Claim

Hoegner said: “My problem is with the implication that the two rights are somehow equivalent. I support both rights, but they aren’t the same, nor are they equivalent. One is a fundamental issue of civil rights and human dignity.”

The lawyer continued by pointing out that, while American players’ freedoms to play online poker are important, as well as “an economic right and a personal freedom,” this issue cannot be “accorded the same level of urgency as a state law discriminating on the basis of someone’s sexual orientation.”

Hoegner – who also stated that enjoys playing online poker – added that he “would never say that my right to attend an online cardroom is as imperative as someone’s right to state recognition of and respect for one of their closest and most intimate relationships”, before emphasising that these rights are not “worthy of the same deference and protection”.
Twitter Blog Was Probably An ‘Off-The-Cuff’ Remark

Additionally, Hoegner pointed out that, while Greenstein is “an exceedingly smart guy, an incredible poker player, and a passionate advocate for the game”, he is almost certain that the poker star’s “off-the-cuff” comments were probably made without really thinking through what he was writing on Twitter.

No matter, Greenstein should probably prepare himself for something of a backlash from many pressure groups within the USA.

Another WSOP final event will also be broadcast live with the same delay. The player hole cards will also be revealed as part of the airing for both events on ESPN.

The million dollar buy-in “Big One For One Drop” will be televised live and is expected to draw some top name pros.

Doug White, ESPN’s Senior Director of Programming and Acquisitions, commented in a press release, “Fans know Tuesday night is poker night on ESPN. Beginning with the Big One for One Drop and the WSOP National Championship, and continuing on Tuesdays with the WSOP Main Event, we will set the stage for this intense competition and continue the excitement through the final table in October.”

Live coverage will be trimmed back from last year.

WSOP Executive Director Ty Stewart explained the rationale behind the move to cut back live coverage.

“We want to protect the high ratings in the Tuesday night window and there was definitely some erosion of the Tuesday night airings last year. Beyond that, we had to make several considerations in the production to keep the integrity of the game because it was a full-field event with multiple tables.”