The legalization of online poker in Nevada is being propelled by the efforts of casino companies and Nevada legislators. For some time now, several sectors have made efforts to lift the ban on online gambling, especially on poker, and Nevada seems to be leading the way, with one of the main casino operators joining forces with a renowned online poker site.
Many efforts are being made in Nevada to achieve the legalization of online poker. This week, legislators started considering the topic and an important online poker site made a deal with a large casino company to try to force federal action. Besides, gambling authorities approved a plan presented by a renowned casino company to offer online gaming overseas.
Last Thursday, a group of Nevada lawmakers conducted a hearing in Carson City concerning new legislation that would make online poker legal in Nevada. However, the casino industry, who also offers poker games, is against this measure since they feel they would lose profits if online site are allowed to offer poker.
Companies such as Caesars Entertainment and MGM Grand Resorts have said they would prefer federal regulation instead of state regulation when it comes to poker games. “I’d be willing to bet that no major gaming legislation has ever passed in Nevada that has been opposed by the state’s largest casinos,” an expert in gambling law commented.
Steve Wynn, CEO of Wynn Resorts said that his company is convinced that the lack of regulation of Internet gaming in the United States has to change. “We must recognize that this activity is occurring and that law enforcement does not have the tools to stop it…. It is time that the thousands of jobs created by this business and the potentially significant tax dollars come home to the U.S.”
Mar01
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Michael Tureniec claimed the title at the European Poker Tour Copenhagen this week. The Swede player, who ended in second place in the EPT London in 2008, received a prize of half a million Euros. Although 2010 was not a great year for the poker player, he seems to be in a good streak now.
The new winner of the EPT Copenhagen is Michael Tureniec from Sweden, with a prize of €496,271. He played the heads-up against Swede Per Linde and showed the poker skills that put him in second place in the 2008 EPT London. Per Linde, John Eames, Juha Helppi and Kevin Iacofano were also in the final table of this poker event.
This year, the EPT Copenhagen main event welcomed 449 poker players from different countries. Kirsty Thompson, who is an EPT spokesperson, commented on the success of the poker tournament and said that many Scandinavian players took part in it. “This made for a very exciting five days leading up to a world-class final table. Congratulations are due to all those who made the money, especially our winner Michael Tureniec.”
Tureniec commented that he was really happy and was glad he was able to win against such tough opponents. “It’s such a tough field here with a lot of Scandinavian poker player,” he added and said that now he plans to buy a car and get a driver’s license.
Peter Eastgate was another familiar face at the poker table. In 2008 he won the WSOP main event and last year he retired from the poker circuit. The next event in the European Poker Tour is the EPT Snowfest event in Saalbach-Hinterglemm in Austria.
On 1997, Bigler was on vacation from his job as a business man when he played for the first time at de Horseshoe Casino in Las Vegas. At the same time, the World Series of Poker were taking place. About that occasion he says: “I remember wondering myself what was I doing with all those poker chips. I didn’t even know what poker was”.
Poker game was getting his attention and he decided to learn more about it, he read books and his interest in playing started to grow. At his native country, Switzerland, he found very few people who knew how to play poker. In fact he told: “At Switzerland, most people relate poker with old western movies where players got shot during poker games”.
Bigler got experience in poker tournaments at Vienna, Paris and Amsterdam and then he won his first satellite tournament on December of 1998 at Atlantic City. On January of 1999, he won a Pot-Limit Hold’em tournament in Reno, However, Bigler’s ambitions are beyond that and he is decided to make his name really well known at television poker.
On 2001, Bigler sold his business at Switzerland to become into a professional poker player. On 2002 Bigler won his $10,000 seat at the Bellagio’s Five Diamond World Poker Classic in Las Vegas and got to the final poker table being the first player eliminated.
Jan04
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Poker tournament World Poker Tour Diamond World Poker Classic is the scenery of exciting poker hands and plenty of action. Day 4 of the tournament saw the group of poker players decrease from 54 to 15 in the middle of plays that were really great and lots of expectation and good poker.
Antonio Esfandiari continued being chip leader of the night with 2.680.000 in chips. He was accompanied at the top by an impressive number of professional players that included the runner-up of the 2010 World Series of Poker Main Event, John Racener, plus Andrew Robl, Kirk Morrison, Luis Velador, Andrew Lichtenberger and Vanessa Rousso, among others.
Professional poker player Sorel Mizzi may win more than just the first prize if he wins the tournament. Sorel finished the night with 1,380,000 in poker chips and if he walks out of the Bellagio victorious he will win 2,400 points and will have a total of 6,985 points in the Card Player of the Year race, replacing Thomas Marchesi who currently leads the ranking.
Since the championship has so many top level professional poker players, there were several noticeable eliminations during the day, but none of them as noticeable as the elimination of the player after whom the event is named: Doyle Brunson. The veteran player was applauded by the whole room when he was eliminated.
The strangest elimination of the night was David Bakers’ elimination. After accumulating 1 million in poker chips he had to endure a bad luck streak. Finally, he was eliminated by Andrew Robl. The action will continue tomorrow with the 15 finalists showing their best poker Texas Hold’em skills.
Nov09
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The first game of the World Series of Poker Europe will take place on Thursday this week. Since it first started in 2007, the WSOP Europe has become more and more popular and more poker tournaments have been added. In 2007 there were only three poker events and the next two years offered four events each. This year, there are five events.
More events mean more players and a bigger prize pool, which has reached the £15,166,890. Besides the cash prize, the winner will take home a golden WSOP bracelet, a trophy coveted by most poker players in the world. As to the number of players, in 2007 the competition had an average 207.76 players and in 2009 it climbed to an average 313.5 players, with more participants expected this year.
The schedule for this edition includes only one non-hold’em event: the £5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha. Besides, the tournament will include a £2,500 No-Limit Hold’em Six-Handed event and a £10,000 No-Limit Hold’em High Roller Heads-Up event. The first one is expected to attract a big number of players and the second one is meant for elite poker players.
The two only players who have managed to cash all three years of the WSOP Europe are Chris Ferguson and John Juanda. Ferguson made it to the final table twice but he has not been able to win yet. Juanda was the winner of the WSOP Europe Main Event in 2008 and took home a £868,800 prize. These two great poker players will be back this year to show their game in European poker tables.
Aug10
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