Poker in the News

PartyPoker.com has reportedly offered Paris Hilton a chance to win her favorite car back, a Bentley worth an estimated $150,000. If Paris wins a heads-up poker match against professional player and spokesperson Mike Sexton, they will buy back the car for her.

Paris Hilton lost the car during a poker game at her family's casino in Las Vegas earlier this year.

There are a few interesting bits in this article...

The American Gaming Association, which has been very against online gaming, is now calling for a congressional study into possible legalization of online gaming. Also, the AGA said the study "may also review recent rulings by the World Trade Organization, which suggest that a ruling by the U.S. attorney general prohibiting traditional companies from hosting online gambling sites in the U.S. may violate international trade rules."

Brokerage firm Numis said in a recent report to clients that "We are now even more confident that the current prohibitive bills, and any future bills, placed before the House of Representatives will fail."

So the big land-based casino operators are reversing course--- rather than putting pressure on making online gambling illegal, they want to get in on the business.

It's good news for online poker players.



Online gaming lures new players; overall market grows - MarketWatch

Straight from Cardplayer magazine--- Harrah's has announced that the 2006 WSOP will have a $50K buy-in H.O.R.S.E. event (No Limit Hold'em, Omaha, Razz, Stud, and Stud 8-or-better). This is the first WSOP to have an event with a buy-in higher than $10K.

They also have instituted a player advisory committee consisting of Chris Ferguson, Scotty Nguyen, Jennifer Harman, Howard Lederer, Daniel Negreanu, and Robert Williamson III.
Poker News - Harrah�s Adds $50,000 Event to WSOP, Forms Player Advisory Panel

Fox Sports Net has announced the a new televised poker series, The Mansionpoker.net Pokerdome Series, which promises to have the largest payday in sports history, with the winner taking home $60 million dollars.

The "Pokerdome" will be built specifically for the show. Players will be enclosed in one-way mirrored glass with microphones everywhere so that the audience can see and hear everything, but be invisible to the players. The cards will have computer chips embedded in them so that the audience will know what each player is holding and discards.

There will be a special "speed poker" series, where each player only has 15 seconds to act or be forced to fold.

USATODAY.com - TV poker about to reach new heights

Rep. Jim Kasper of Fargo, North Dakota, has said that he isn't accepting contributions for a ballot initiative to license Internet poker site in the state of North Dakota----yet.

"Anybody who e-mails me or calls me and has money, I said, 'Tell your friends to e-mail me and keep your money until I make a decision on what we're going to do, because I have made no decision.'"

Currently, no state licenses Internet poker companies because the US Justice department disapproves, and maintains that Internet gambling is illegal.

Kasper has met with many gambling industry officials and discussed the possibility of them financing a November 2006 campaign to bring Internet poker to North Dakota. Licensing of internet poker in North Dakota would bring millions of dollars of licensing revenue and other fees to the state.

Grand Forks Herald | 12/03/2005 | INTERNET POKER: Kasper says he's not taking donations for measure

The Svenska Spel, the Swedish government owned gambling monopoly, has been given permission to launch an internet poker room (although it is still prohibited from opening and running internet casinos).

The government wants to "channel internet gaming to organizations under the control of the Swedish state", so that they can better regulate the industry. A number of conditions were attached to the license-- including that minors must be prohibited from playing, and that all players set loss limits.

The Local - Net poker gets the green light

Bodog.com is launching four slick TV ads that focus on common types of poker hustlers. The ads are called "The Hustler", "The Under Dog", "The Ringer", and "The Wild Card", and provide details on the tactics that each of these poker personalities use.

The ads will run on Spike, Comedy Central, USA and the GSN networks over the next few weeks. The ads will also start running in select movie theaters starting on December 2nd.

Bodog.com's New Ad Spots Give Poker Players An Ace Up Their Sleeve