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Darvin Moon was seven outs from the World Series of Poker main event Championship, but it wasn’t meant to be for the 46-year-old everyman from Maryland. Instead, the title belongs to 21-year-old online professional Joseph Cada, who eclipsed Peter Eastgate’s record for youngest main-event winner in poker history. The win was anything but easy for the Michigan native, who at times seemed resigned to his fate of finishing runner-up to the more inexperienced Moon. But experience ultimately prevailed, and it was Cada’s calm under pressure that allowed him to keep a level head and, eventually, take it down. Ironically, while...

A federal grand jury in San Diego has indicted an additional eight defendants for conspiracy to cheat a total of 11 casinos across the country, Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division Lanny A. Breuer and U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of California Karen P. Hewitt announced today. A one-count indictment, handed up in the Southern District of California on Sept. 1, 2009, and unsealed on Sept. 15, 2009, charges seven defendants each with one count of conspiracy to commit several offenses against the United States, including conspiracy to steal money and other property from Indian tribal casinos, and...

Classic Johnny Chan...

HOUSTON - A suspected robber was killed and another man was injured in a gun battle after three masked gunmen ambushed a card game in southwest Houston on Thursday, police said. Around 2 a.m., witnesses said the masked men waited for someone to leave the game, which was held inside an unmarked office park unit behind a shopping center. The gunmen burst in through the open door and began robbing patrons, one of whom pulled his own pistol, said Sgt. Juan M. De La Cruz, a Houston homicide detective. A gunfight ensued. One suspect was killed and one of the...

Howard Lederer, aka "the Professor," is a professional poker player, not a gambler. If Congress will acknowledge this distinction, it will rectify one of its recent mistakes. In 2006, Congress, cloaking cunning with moralizing, effectively outlawed Internet gambling by making it illegal for banks or credit-card companies to process payments to online gambling operations. This was more than moral pork for social conservatives. It also blocked online competitors from poaching gamblers from the nation's most aggressive promoters of gambling -- state governments. They are increasingly addicted to revenues raised by lotteries -- the 42 states that have lotteries spent $520...

Spoiler Alert.

The World Series of Poker Day 1d attracted record numbers, much to the chagrin of WSOP officials, who did not have room for the 500 or so extra people who ultimately got shut out, among them big name pros like Patrik Antonius and six-time gold bracelet winner T.J. Cloutier. "We are sorry, and I am sorry," said Jeffrey Pollack, World Series of Poker commissioner. "The last thing that we ever want to do is deny people entry into our events." Hundreds of hopefuls waited in the hallways at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas to see if...

Over $30 million belonging to at least 24,000 online poker players has been frozen by the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, according to statements released by the Poker Players Alliance (PPA) and Associated Press. The seizure of funds, according to the PPA statement, is a result of violations of the Wire Act of 1961 and the Illegal Gambling Business Act. The former has traditionally applied to online sports books. A Southern District judge issued a warrant for “an account at a Wells Fargo bank in San Francisco and a federal prosecutor told a bank in Arizona...

With a full house on the board, Nguyen dared his opponent, Kevin McBride, to call him after Nguyen went all in. Nguyen could only hold one card to win. Scotty was in fact holding the fourth 9 in his hand and he became champ. McBride graciously admitted that he only called because of Nguyen's taunts. Well, it seems were now getting the political version of those types of taunts from Democrats toward Republicans. Here is Chuck Schumer.

I'm thinking of playing on line poker for money. I've never done so. Can anyone give advice on which venues to use and which ones to avoid? Which ones charge the least overhead? I'm talking abut modest amounts of money--less than $5k. Can anyone give me some advice here?

A Buffalo, N.Y.-area financial institution that loans money to law firms to finance litigation was within its rights when it decided not to gamble on an attorney who used money he borrowed to play poker, a federal judge has ruled. Western District of New York Judge Richard J. Arcara ruled in Counsel Financial Services v. Melkersen Law, 08- cv-0156A(Sr), that Counsel Financial Services could call in just under $250,000 in outstanding principal on attorney Michael J. Melkersen's loan, plus $22,420 in outstanding interest and $3,923 in late payments. Melkersen argued that neither his card-playing, nor other personal uses of the...

Justice Thomas distributes Obama case for conference By Linda Bentley | November 21, 2008 Foreign national certified as presidential candidate WASHINGTON, D.C. – On Wednesday, Nov. 19, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas distributed Leo C. Denofrio’s renewed application for a stay of the election for conference on Dec. 5.  If four of the nine justices favor review, a hearing will be scheduled. His first application was denied by Justice David Souter on Nov. 6. However, rules of the court allow for the renewed submission to a justice of choice. Beginning in October, Denofrio made his way up through...

Bad beat of the year: The Danish government wants 73% of Peter Eastgate's WSOP winnings. Peter Eastgate won $9,152,416 in the 2008 WSOP Main Event, but the question is how much of it he will get to keep. Denmark has strict taxation rules for poker winnings - Eastgate has to pay 45% in taxes on winnings up to approximately $520 000 and 75% on the rest (over $8.5 million). The end result will be $6.6 million in taxes, if the Danish government gets what it wants. Eastgate moved to England shortly after reaching the Main Event final table to protect...

When Chris Moneymaker won the televised 2003 World Series of Poker after first wagering $39 in an online tournament, wannabe pro gamblers across the country turned to their own computers in hopes of repeating history. Greg "Fossilman" Raymer did just that in the 2004 championship game. Like Moneymaker, Raymer earned his ticket to the big time -- and millions in winnings -- by entering an online tournament. In fact, four of the top 10 finishers in the 2004 series were players from PokerStars.com.

The Bush administration is moving in its last weeks to complete regulations to enforce a controversial law that seeks to block Internet gambling. The move is drawing hot protests from Democratic lawmakers and supporters of online betting.

A little political commentary from poker celebrity Daniel Negreanu.

The casino craps player is a social animal, a thrill seeker who wants not just to win but to win with a crowd. Unlike cards or a roulette wheel, well-thrown dice reward most everyone on the rail, yielding a collective yawp that drowns out the slots. It is a game for showmen, Hollywood stars and basketball legends with girls on their arms. It is also a favorite pastime of the presumptive Republican nominee for President, John McCain. The backroom poker player, on the other hand, is more cautious and self-absorbed. Card games may be social, but they are played in...

A Fort Worth man trying to scratch an itch on his back used a revolver and accidentally shot himself. Jorge Espinal, 44, was drinking beer and playing poker around 3 a.m. Sunday morning in his home in the 3500 block of Montague Street, when he got up from the table and walked into another room, said Fort Worth police Lt. Kenneth Dean. “He told officers he had an itch on his back and grabbed the first thing he could get a hold of which was a revolver,” Lt. Dean said. “The gun went off."

A week or so ago, I found a great pic (painting) of the Republican Presidents playing poker. Bush 41 & 43, Reagan, Ford, Nixon, Eisenhower, Teddy Roosevelt and Abe Lincoln. My POS Dell laptop crashed and I had the pic as my desktop. Anyway, lost it in the crash and am hoping somebody can post it for me again. Any help would be much appreciated as well as the artist's name. Thanks in advance!

In Poker, Psychologists Place Bets On SkillIs it luck of the draw in poker? No, says Michael DeDonno, a doctoral student from Case Western Reserve University. (Credit: Image courtesy of Case Western Reserve University) ScienceDaily (Mar. 25, 2008) — Is it luck of the draw in poker? No, says Michael DeDonno, a doctoral student from Case Western Reserve University. He suggests putting your bets on skills over luck when playing the card game. DeDonno's findings from two poker-related studies with college students have implications for the gaming industry, and possibly even legal cases that challenge the theory of luck over...

Retired cop Mike Rose chomped on an unlit stogie and took one last peek at his cards, then shoved the remainder of his poker chips toward the dealer. "All in," he announced. Another player called the bet. Rose shook his head ruefully, turned up a losing hand and muttered, "He just caught me bluffing." The exchange Thursday night occurred not at an Indian gaming center or a Las Vegas casino but in a Sierra Vista storefront with a sign advertising Judge Lee's Arizona Card Room & Social Club. The place, open every night, is run by Harold S. Lee, a...

Police in San Mateo County, California apparently first spent months investigating the small-stakes poker game. From this firsthand account, it looks like a couple of the officers were playing regularly for several weeks before sending in the SWAT team, guns drawn, last week. If California is like most states (and I believe it is), a poker game is only illegal if the house is taking a rake off the top. In this case, it looks like that "rake" was the $5 the extra the hosts asked from each buy-in to pay for pizza and beer. Police also took a 13-year-old...

DOYLE BRUNSON (left) is a poker legend. Twice winner of the game's most prestigious annual tournament, the World Series of Poker (WSOP), held in Las Vegas, the cowboy-hat-clad southerner affectionately known as Texas Dolly also wrote what many consider to be the bible of poker theory, “Super System: A Course in Power Poker”. His reputation among card-shufflers borders on the superhuman. Indeed, after fighting off supposedly terminal cancer in the 1960s, he celebrated his return to the cardrooms with 53 straight wins. Adding to the mystique, both of his World Series titles were won with exactly the same cards: a...

LAS VEGAS (AP) — David "Chip" Reese, a card star who won one of the biggest cash games in the world and three World Series of Poker championships, has died. He was 56. Reese died in his sleep and was found by his son early Tuesday morning at his Las Vegas home after suffering from symptoms of pneumonia, said poker great Doyle Brunson, his longtime friend. "I knew him for 35 years, I never saw him get mad or raise his voice," Brunson said. "He had the most even disposition of anyone I've ever met. He's certainly the best poker...

Maybe Dallas wouldn't be ranked as the 34th most dangerous city in America if Dallas police weren't devoting precious resources to raiding friendly poker games played by veterans. In his latest video for Reason.tv, Drew Carey examines a paramilitary-style raid on a poker game at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1837 in Dallas, which has now been forced to close its doors. "Poker is about as American as baseball and apple pie," Carey says in theReason.tv video. "It was born here in America. Mark Twain loved it. He's a great American. Until recently, Supreme Court justices had a monthly...

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The House Judiciary Committee listened to testimony yesterday from Justice Department representatives, outside experts and lobbying groups in an effort to confront the legal tangles surrounding Internet gambling. The committee's hearing comes on the heels of last year's passage of the Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act (UIGEA), which prompted a number of further bills that that would, in various ways, legalize and regulate Internet gambling. The UIGEA, which came as part of a maritime port security measure, places the onus on financial institutions to ensure that electronic cash and credit card transactions are not used to pay...

Speaking at the Global Gaming Expo in Las Vegas today (Thursday) former Senator Alfonse D'Amato, chairman of the Poker Players' Alliance pressure group, said he expects the legalisation of online poker in the United States within 18 months. Other panelists in today's State of the Industry: Internet Gambling at the Crossroads keynote session at G2E said pending sanctions by the World Trade Organisation due to current U.S. policy on Internet gambling could be the major driver for legalisation. This is because non-gaming corporations likely to be affected by the sanctions could put pressure on Congress to make a change in...

The Absolute Poker Scandal October 16th, 2007 · 5 Comments Is AbsolutePoker.com rigged?Either way, the company is in big trouble. What follows in this post is huge news in the world of online poker and online casinos.Our story begins in 2003. Absolute Poker’s software is in development and many test accounts are created to make sure the program is working correctly. One of these test accounts, known as account #363, can see the hole cards at any table. This test account can not be used to play in real money games, it is only used for development purposes to see...

IRS to poker winners: Pay up! Fri Oct 19, 11:02 AM ET WASHINGTON - They're not bluffing: Tax collectors will start requiring poker tournaments to report the winners' take. Casinos and other sponsors of poker tournaments will be required to report winnings of more than $5,000 to the Internal Revenue Service beginning March 4, 2008, the tax agency said Friday. Sponsors who meet the reporting requirement won't need to withhold federal income tax at the end of a tournament, it said. If a sponsor does not report winnings, it is responsible for withholding the taxes and sending the money to...

A few weeks back I blogged about allegations of cheating at an online poker site called Absolute Poker. While things looked awfully suspicious, there wasn’t quite a smoking gun, and it was unclear exactly how the cheater might have cheated. A combination of some incredible detective work by some poker players and an accidental (?) data leak by Absolute Poker have blown the scandal wide open. Some opponents became suspicious of how a certain player was playing. He seemed to know what the opponents’ hole cards were. The suspicious players provided examples of these hands, which were so outrageous that...

A Brussels think-tank has accused the US government of reneging on commitments made to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) over internet gaming. Panellists at a trade forum levelled harsh criticism at the US, focusing on a burgeoning trade clash between the US and Europe over internet gaming. The forum believes that the US could be liable for up to US$100 billion in trade concessions to European industries after placing illegal discriminatory trade restrictions on European gaming operators. The disputed concessions arise from Antigua's victory earlier this year when the WTO ruled that the US violated its treaty obligations by excluding...

Prosecutors in Montgomery County, Pa. are hoping to get some state money to hire two additional investigators to focus on illegal gambling operations in the county. Part of the state’s plan to allow slot machines at racetracks and other resort areas was to set aside money to help law enforcement officials statewide step up enforcement of the gaming laws. The State Gaming Control Board has $5 million a year available and First Assistant District Attorney Risa Ferman says Montgomery County has applied for $250,000 of that money: "The gaming commission in an effort to regulate gambling wants to make sure...

Harvard Law school thinks it has found the solution to many of society’s problems, from teenage delinquency to world diplomatic crises: a hand of poker. The card game that is a game of skill to its advocates, and a potentially ruinous bet on chance to its detractors, is to be taught to disadvantaged US school children and college students to teach respect, business acumen and even war strategy. Charles Nesson, a Harvard Law school professor, will next week unveil a plan to set up “global poker strategic thinking societies” at universities around the world, including Harvard, Yale and Oxford, when...

Farah Nosh for The New York Times Phil Laak, a professional poker player, taking on Polaris, a computer program developed by a team of researchers.************************************************ VANCOUVER, British Columbia, July 25 — For anyone stuck on a casino stool, playing hours of video poker, rest assured: humans can still beat a computer. But computers may soon dominate on the felt-top table, as they have on the chessboard. In a match of wits between man and machine this week, a software program running on an ordinary laptop computer fought a close match, but lost to two well-known professional human poker players.The...

Prisoner poker could crack cold cases By PHIL DAVIS, Associated Press Writer Tue Jul 24, 6:10 PM ET TAMPA, Fla. - Prison inmates are getting a present from the state of Florida: playing cards. For detectives looking to solve dozens of cold cases, it's the start of a game of Go Fish that might pay off big. On Tuesday, Florida's nearly 93,000 state inmates started getting one of two decks that between them highlight 104 of the state's most troubling unsolved murder and missing persons cases. "What better way to get them talking than to have cards with the cases...

LAS VEGAS — ******, a 39-year-old psychologist who uses his professional training in his card-playing arsenal, won the top prize Wednesday of $8.25 million at the World Series of Poker. ***** vaulted quickly from eighth to the chip lead soon after play began Tuesday afternoon. He knocked out seven of the eight other players at the final table, reminiscent of last year when Jamie Gold ran over his opponents. The main difference, ***** did it from the back of the pack. "The only way I would win this tournament is to be aggressive from the very beginning and that's exactly...

The most feared professional poker player, ******* was eliminated from Day 1c of the 2007 World Series of Poker. After his stack was whittled down to around $35,000, ******* came over the top for all his chips after a Kh/8c/Ac flop. His opponent called and showed Ah/8h for two pair, while ******* had a flush draw with Qc/9c. The 3h and 6s on the turn and river didn't complete *******'s flush and one of the most feared players in the game has been eliminated. Sportsbook.com had made ******* one of the favorites to win the 2007 World Series of Poker...

Event #55, the World Series of Poker $10,000 No Limit Hold'em main event has started in Las Vegas By InsidePoker July 2007 Poker players from around the globe have descended on the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino for the first of four start dates at the World Series of Poker Main Event. A total of 1,287 players kicked off the first day’s play. Thousands more already have paid the $10,000 buy-in for the No-Limit Texas Hold’em Championship, commonly referred to as the Main Event. Registration remains open until July 9 at 2 p.m., after which official participation and prize money...

They Join Doyle Brunson, Johnny Chan, Stu UngarWelcome to the Hall, Phil Hellmuth and Barbara Enright. Hellmuth and Enright are this year’s inductees to Poker Hall of Fame. Enright is the first woman to be inducted into the 28 year-old hall. The criteria and standards for induction into the Hall of Fame are high," said World Series of Poker Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack. "A gambler must have played against top competition for high stakes, played well, and gained the respect of his or her peers, and stood the test of time. Barbara and Phil clearly meet these high standards, and we...

A Long Island college student majoring in finance has moved to the head of the class after winning more than half a million dollars at a World Series of Poker event in Las Vegas. First-time competitor Shankar Pillai, 22, of Commack was one of more than 800 players who put up $3,000 to buy into the no-limit, Texas hold 'em poker event, a game in which there are face-up community cards for all players to use and face-down hold cards for each player. "I'd never played in a World Series of Poker event. I wanted to give it a shot,"...

In what is thought to be the first comprehensive, empirical study of online-gambling behaviors, Harvard Medical School's Division of Addictions characterizes a majority of online gamblers' behavior as "moderate," concluding that its findings do not support previously-made claims that online gambling has "an inherent propensity" to cause problem or "excessive" gambling. The study, "Assessing the Playing Field: A Prospective Longitudinal Study of Internet Sports Gambling Behavior," was conducted with the support of the Austrian online-betting group Bwin in order to guide the company in its efforts to implement and promote responsible gambling. As its authors explain, the study responds to...

LAS VEGAS (AP) - Las Vegas pro ______ ____ won $2.3 million early Friday morning, beating out a field of 148 players in what is considered one of the most coveted bracelets in the World Series of Poker. ____ won the $50,000 buy-in HORSE event after a grueling 15-hour final table match that began play at 2 p.m. Thursday. Joking throughout the match, ____ kept up the humor until the 5 a.m. finish. "You know what did it? The lucky shirt," he said. The winner's purse was the fifth biggest in World Series history, falling just short of the $2.5...

Allyn Jaffrey Shulman Shows Why Online Gambling Is Constitutionally Protected As all my readers know, I am a passionate advocate for personal freedom. We live in a democracy in which the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ratified on July 9, 1868, protects our right to life, liberty, and property. The Constitution is a living, breathing document that is reinterpreted over and over again, but always with an eye toward protecting reasonable personal freedoms in a well-balanced society. The Declaration of Independence The language of the 14th Amendment was taken from the Declaration of Independence, where on July 4, 1776,...

I just received the transcript to my testimony before Congress earlier this month on Internet gambling. I thought you might enjoy one of the odder exchanges I had at the hearing. The exchange was with Rep. Spence Bachus, and I guess this was supposed to be his "gotcha" question for me. To be honest, I was so floored by the sheer ignorance of the question, I didn't quite know how to respond. To set up the exchange, one of the points of contention during the hearing was the reliability of age verification systems. Enjoy. Mr. Bachus: Mr. Balko, in your...

Phil Hellmuth, Jr. Makes Poker History! JUNE 12,2007 - 3:01:02 AM PST by: Nolan Dalla Poker Superstar First Player to Reach 11-Gold Bracelet Milestone Doyle Brunson and Johnny Chan Linger In Second Place with 10-WSOP Wins Each Las Vegas, NV (June 11, 2007) – Poker superstar Phil Hellmuth, Jr. made history today becoming the first player ever to win 11 gold bracelets at the World Series of Poker. The WSOP bracelet is considered the gold standard of the poker world. Each bracelet represents a single win at the world’s largest and most prestigious poker tournament. Coming into this year’s World...

PokerStars has landed one of the biggest sharks in the poker industry. Today, it announced that it signed Daniel Negreanu as a member of Team PokerStars. “I've enjoyed a long personal relationship with the folks at PokerStars since the company's founding in 2001 and have always felt as though PokerStars fully understood what players wanted: lots of tournaments, lots of variety, and great software,'' said Daniel Negreanu though a press release. “I'm very excited about joining Team PokerStars. The organization seems like the perfect fit for me and I'm glad they feel the same way.” A press conference is set...

The Skill Game Protection Act Defines Poker as a Skill GameA Florida politician who believes poker should be considered a game of skill has introduced a bill that would allow people to play online poker legally with government protection in the United States. The Skill Game Protection Act had been introduced by Representative Robert Wexler (D-Fla.). The bill would make several games, including poker, mah-jongg, bridge, and chess, exempt from current laws aimed against online gambling. Basically, the bill aims to clarify which games are skill games and which games are not. The bill specifically calls poker a game of...

For 300 weeks, give or take a few, I’ve played poker every Tuesday with the Coots. That’s a group here in Highlands, organized by Dick Strain and usually gathered around his round dining room table for these “probability seminars.” Last week, at the age of 82, Dick Strain cashed in his chips. No longer will this gentle man face us across a poker table, and relieve us of our ready cash. You can learn a great deal about a man by playing poker with him. Here’s what I learned about Dick. (Note that "gentle man" is two words, so the...

Vice President Fossilman? Greg Raymer, a name made famous worldwide the day he won the 2004 World Series of Poker Main Event, has been in contact with Libertarian Party officials and is seriously considering a vice presidential run in 2008. the offer. He will not make his decision until spring 2008, just before the Libertarian National Convention, but said he'd be willing to discuss the option and his platforms with anyone during downtime at the 2007 WSOP. "I had a conversation with one of the top guys in the Libertarian party who wanted to get a famous poker player involved,"...

He Makes History as the First Person to Hold Both WSOP and WPT Titles_________ is this year’s World Poker Tour champion. With the win, _________ is the first player to hold both World Series of Poker and WPT championship titles. _________ was part of a field of 639 players who paid $25,000 each to make the fifth WPT Championship the largest one yet. The players generated a prize pool of more than $15 million, of which $3.97 million went to _________, who won his WSOP main event bracelet in ____. The top six finishers were: