Brett Angell Wins £115k and Pokerstars Title

This year’s PokerStars UK and Ireland Poker Tour London were won by first time champion Brett Angell who is also an IT consultant and plays poker as a hobby. Nearly 1080 players consisting of both amateurs and poker professionals participated at this event, which is considered the largest poker event in London. Brett is not a regular gambler and regards poker as a game of skill and luck instead of regular source of income. A regular at Teesside Park, Brett honed his talent by playing poker at the Gala Casino every week. His balanced and calm approach to the game is unlike most gamblers who get flustered when they lose and starting wagering larger sums. Brett Angell won the Grand Final Championship title along with an amount of £ 115,083.

Brett Angell

Early career in poker

His interest in poker was kindled by watching his brother play online poker and he used his mathematical abilities to develop his skills. Unlike his brother and others in his immediate friends’ circle who prefer online poker, Brett prefers playing face to face which gives him the liberty of watching expressions and moves of other players. He has developed his poker strategies by gauging cards of other players from their facial expressions and playing only within limitations.

Accolades in poker

Before his most recent win, Brett won £ 80,000 at a poker event in Nottingham during 2011 which he invested in buying up a home in Marske. In August 2014 he won £ 24000 at a poker tournament in Newcastle. Brett also works as a systems analyst at A-One, an IT firm and dabbles in poker for trying out his calculative skills.

Future plans

He has been invited by friends to become a poker professional but is not keen on joining them as the game is unpredictable. He wants to enjoy poker as a game where he can be either a winner or a loser depending on luck and skill. Instead of becoming a diehard poker addict he wants to play poker in Europe on a casual level while holding his regular job.

Expansion of PokerStars in Spain

The acquisition of PokerStars by Amaya Gaming seems to be going well. The Canadian company always believed there was a lot of untapped potential with this website. They have now decided to expand their operations in Spain, with other countries rumored to be next. Blackjack and Roulette are now available to players in Spain through the website PokerStars.es.

amaya-pokerstarsTheir president had this to say on the matter: “This decision does not mean we are taking our eye off the original ball. We still want to be number one in Spain when it comes to online poker. However, adding these games gives us a chance to bring more quality products to our loyal customers.”

The licenses to operate these games were obtained earlier this year through REEL Spain, a subsidiary of PokerStars in Spain. The President had further comments to make on the news: “Through our research we know that many of our customers want to be able to play other games on our platform. This move ensures that players who prefer an overall casino games package can sign up with PokerStars. We will still cater to our core clientele, while giving them the option to enjoy these two new games.”

With the move in Spain completed, it appears that Amaya Gaming is turning its attention to Italy. They want to add games to the Italian PokerStars website as well. In addition, they want to improve their sponsorship policies in the country. PokerStars has been successful with sponsoring poker tables and rooms at various elite casinos. Poker tables with the PokerStars logo attract attention and business to their website. Adding sponsorship in Italy will boost their business.

Italy should expect a series of online casino games with the PokerStars brand in the coming six months. This transition is being handled by the gaming director of EuroBet, Marco Trucco.

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Another Poker Series by Bet65

The month of September 2014 has been buzzing with excitement over the online poker tournament that would last a week from 15 to 21 of the month. The tournament, known as iPOPS, has great prizes where players can participate in 21 games.

The mini poker series

poker seriesThe popularity of the series is such that it is organised when the big poker players are battling it out in another big poker tourney. However, this mini poker series is for those who want to play in poker tournaments, but do not have access to large sums of money for buy-ins, which start from €0.50 with the main event offering €20,000.

The promotion of the tournament

There is already participation confirmed for many that is guaranteed to make it a success. Even so, big promotions are happening to draw the crowd and its participation in the event. One such promotion is by Bet65, which is offering packages enabling them to participate in the tournament.

The Bet65 promotion

Through a freeroll in the amount of $5,000, Bet65 is offering packages from €20 to €1. The highest package of €20 will enable the winner to participate in the main event. The main draw for the event is €20,000. This is making it a very exciting online series for the poker players from all over the world.

Even the €1 that is being offered to four participants of the draw is guaranteeing the winners to enter and play the game of their own choice. There are other prizes from €10 that will enable players to re-buy to others like €5 to €3 that will each be given to two players to play in the event of their own choice.

Bet65 is also offering more promotions lasting from the last week of September, enabling winners to get free buy-ins in other games of the season.

Visit Crazy Vegas! You Could Win Just Like This!

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to win thousands of euros almost instantly? Do I even need to ask? Of course it would! Well, you’re in luck, because the world’s most intuitive and secure online casino Crazy Vegas Casino is here to save the day! A Crazy Vegas Casino player called A.G. won a whopping €40,000 on June 11th, 2014. Want to follow in his footsteps?

casino_winningsA.G. played the Terminator 2 Video Slots game that was introduced on June 6th. A.G. won the lucky spin, netting €40,000 for himself in no time. Terminator 2, based on and featuring footage of the blockbuster movie, is a truly breathtaking experience. With a five-reel slot sporting 243 ways to win and a Free Spin Bonus that increases potential win conditions, you’re bound to be in the money by the time you’re finished playing!

So, how does Crazy Vegas Casino work? After installing the free software it takes no time to sign up for the site and get playing, and when you do, you’ll get a warm welcome. This is because when you register, you’ll be offered two Welcome Bonuses to get you started on the road to winning big. The first is the FreePlay option, which gives a player 3000 free credits, which means no deposits are required, for the first hour of play on any game.

The second option is called the 3-tier deposit bonus. It tops the first three deposits as such:

  • The first deposit will be matched 100%
  • The second deposit will be upped by 200%
  • The third will earn 50%.

This means that your first three deposits will be upped by $/£/€500. Yes, you read that right: this online casino offers payouts in American/Canadian dollars, British Pounds, and Euros!

If slots aren’t your thing, Crazy Vegas isn’t limited to them. The website offers a vast variety of games including Blackjack/21, video poker, craps, and baccarat. Indeed, Crazy Vegas offers 600 games! The most popular games are included with the download, but over time, the rest of the massive collection downloads itself to your copy of the software in the background as you play.

So, if you want a great time while making some money, visit www.crazyvegas.com today! You could win big just like A.G.!

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The Hottest Five on PokerStars’ Social Score

Poker Player

PokerStars has ranked Daniel Negreanu as the topmost power player on social media based on findings of social monitoring tool FollowerWonk. The research was done by studying the gaming patterns of poker players who frequently used online gambling sites and social media to feed their passion for gambling.

Besides Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube, the study also used Instagram postings to rank the players. The social media followers of PokerStars rankings around the world were expecting Joe Sebok to be ranked among the top five, but he fell to the 14th place due to his exit from poker.

Topper Negreanu followed by Phil Ivey

PokerStars gave the highest ranking to David Negreanu, as he scored 78 out of 100 on social networks. He has an impressive following of 306,000 on his Twitter account and around 122,000 fans on Facebook, who follow his moves on a daily basis. Though Phil Ivey has more Twitter followers than Negreanu (numbering 957000 in all along with 194000 Facebook fans), Phil lost out to David Negreanu due to lack of comments on his Facebook page. Phil is not a member of PokerStars Pro and does gambling at home during free hours from his full time job.

Liv Boeree

Though a dedicated player, Liv is not very active on YouTube and prefers to use the social networking site Vine for keeping in touch with her fans. This has led to her ranking at 3rd position, since she has 86000 followers on Twitter and 55000 followers on Facebook. There are other players with a greater number of followers on these two sites. However, Liv has managed to keep her ranking due to her positions on FollowerWonk and Likealyzer. Since her activity and the number of followers in Vine were not considered, she could have lost in rankings; her dedicated followers on these two websites more than made up for the lapse.

Joe Hachem

This World Series Poker champ of 2005 has been ranked fourth by PokerStars based on social network followers. Joe Hachem is of Lebanese Australian origin and has 30000 followers on Twitter, followed by 18000 followers on Facebook. He is actively followed on YouTube and Instagram, which has helped in pushing up his ranking to among the top five players in online gambling sites.

Jason Mercier

His lack of activity in YouTube has pushed Jason’s ranking below the top stars to the fifth position, though he has 89000 followers on Twitter and his fans on Facebook number 410000.

Unusual Turn In High Stakes Poker Game Leads To Fatal Gunpoint Robbery

Participants in high stakes poker games are no strangers to taking risks. However, in a rather unusual turn of events in mid-July, one high stakes poker game resulted in higher stakes than anyone was betting on. In Texas, a group of card shark business men were gathered in the basement of a local store to engage in a high stakes game. The game proceeded as one would expect, with the players taking their turns, calling one another’s bluff, and placing their large bids on the table. However, the strange turn of events occurred when two masked robbers broke into the store and held up the party at gunpoint. The gunmen opened fire on the group, killing at least one participant and injuring several others. They then took the roughly $8,000 that was on the table in addition to the wallets of the dozen or so people that were on site, and fled. Police still have no leads in tracking these two suspects down.

poker game

While robbery is certainly something that players in such card games must take into consideration as a potential risk, it’s rarely an outside force that holds up the game. The incident reads as something right out of a highly tense action film, with the men minding their own business when suddenly the stakes are raised. And while the tragedy is certainly something that has the community in shock, it is also something that has raised many questions for the locals.

Some of the questions being raised have to do with the unusual nature of the robbery. How did the robbers, for instance, know that this game was taking place? Some theorized that they had accidentally stumbled upon the game, after breaking into the establishment to commit a burglary of the cash register. Others took a more sinister outlook, accusing one of the players of being an informant about when and where the game would take place. Others, on the more conservative side, residing in the community are raising questions about why such a game was taking place in the first place. There was clearly an air of discretion surrounding the game, and the volume of money in play seems to go well above and beyond that of a typical friendly Friday night poker game.

Many questions do still remain, and the detectives assigned to the case are working hard to find answers to them. There are many answers they’ll need to find, too, to put this unusual turn of events at an otherwise friendly card game to rest.

William Hill Goes Australian With Pokies, Poker, and More

The history of online/video games is changing rapidly with recent actions by William Hill.

William Hill dominates the British gaming circuit when it comes to online gaming including the likes of online mobile games, poker, slots, pokies, keno, blackjack, and card games. The company got a lot bigger with its recent purchase of Australian online mega-corporation Tom Waterhouse NT. Paying more than A$110 million, or $34 million US and $64 million British pounds, William Hill also took on Waterhouse’s company debt.

William_HillThe transaction makes William Hill Online Betting Australia’s top online sports betting presence. Company leaders pledged to put more into the Australian company and create even better online games. William Hill officials have promised to invest more than A$70 million and have guaranteed A$10 million in investment in 2014 and A$30 million next year.

This acquisition adds to William Hill’s already significant Australian holdings. The company was operating Centrebet and recently took over Tabcorp Holdings Ltd. from Sportingbet PLC. This was part of an overall William Hill plan to expand in compatible areas, according to Ralph Topping, William Hill CEO. Topping was optimistic.

William Hill is a super-giant in the gambling world. It has annual revenues exceeding $1.2 billion pounds. While some may say Tom Waterhouse will bring down the company value due to it’s previous lack of revenue, William Hill officials beg to differ. They believe the influx of capital and expert personnel will turn around the Australian company.

Waterhouse, after whom his company is named, will remain with the management team, Topping said. William Hill also is retaining most of Waterhouse’s team, which add to “substantial synergies,” Topping said. Australia is now being called the company’s second home market for William Hill. Waterhouse expressed optimism the new connection would provide better action.

Join the Summer Heat of the Vegas Pool Parties!

It’s that time of year when the temperature starts rising in Las Vegas and the sexy people come out from their hotel rooms after a night of gambling and partying to head out to the pool. It’s tough to say which pool party is the absolute best but one thing is certain, they are always a good way to spend Las Vegasthe afternoon. No matter what you’re into, Vegas pool parties deliver for daytime fun and a way to escape the heat. Some of the most known Vegas pool parties are at held Wet Republic at the MGM Grand, Bare Pool at the Mirage, Encore Beach Club at the Wynn Encore Resort, Liquid Pool Lounge at Aria, Marquee Dayclub held the Cosmopolitan, Hard Rock Rehab Pool, Tao Beach at the Venetian, and Daylight Beach Club held at the Mandalay Bay.

This happens to coincide with the collegiate spring break for most American universities and also is the unofficial kick off to the summer season for Las Vegas. Things can get busy during these times as people flock to Sin City to enjoy everything that the city has to offer. Most pool parties in Vegas officially open their doors in the beginning of April with a kickoff party featuring world renowned talent and the party really begins to get set off by the first weekend in May.

Bare Pool Lounge – March 13th
Daylight Beach Club – Preview Weekend: March 28th and Grand Opening on April 5th.
Encore Beach Club – March 14th.
Liquid Pool Lounge – March 13th.
Marquee Dayclub – March 7th
Palms Pool/Ditch Fridays – March 17th.
Rehab Pool – The Hard Rock pool opens on March 7th and Rehab will open on April 12th.
Tao Beach – To Be Announced
Wet Republic – Saturday, March 15th

If you’re looking for some fun and adventure in the sun, Vegas pool parties are where you want to be. Here are the prospective opening dates for each of the pool parties in 2014.

Borgata Poker Tournament Canceled Due to Cheating

AHM7XH Playing Cards

The poker world was stunned on Friday, Jan. 17, 2014 when play in the first event of the Borgata Poker Open was suspended due to the discovery of counterfeit chips. The $560-buyin event had already been running at the Atlantic City, New Jersey casino for three days, and the initial field of 4,812 entrants had been reduced to just 27.

Investigation Results

Casino management and the state’s Division of Gaming Enforcement conducted an investigation, which determined that a large number of counterfeit 5,000-denomination chips had been introduced into play by “one or more tournament entrants.” The event was then canceled, though it was determined that the cheating was restricted to that single tournament, and the remainder of the Borgata Poker Open proceeded as planned.

Suspect Arrested

After the cancellation of the tourney, hotel workers at Harrah’s Resort in Atlantic City discovered a substantial number of counterfeit Borgata chips in a blocked sewer pipe. Investigators found that 42-year-old Christian Lusardi, of Fayetteville, South Carolina, had been staying in the room where the pipes were clogged. He had, by that time, left the hotel after cashing in the tournament. A warrant was issued for his arrest.

Lusardi was discovered in a motel about a week later and apprehended. He was charged with theft by deception, rigging a publicly exhibited contest and criminal attempt. The fate of the prize pool, more than $2 million, remains to be determined; no decision has yet been made by the authorities or casino management.

A Voice of Protest

Online-Casino-Gambling11

The Internet Gambling Control act is poised to have a big impact on the world of online poker for many players concerned. Contrary to popular belief, not all members of the gaming community are enthusiastic when it comes to the wide spread of online poker. One particularly loud voice in this conversation is the CEO of the Las Vegas Sands. Sheldon Adelson has made his concern known over this growing industry based on “moral grounds.” His stance on iGaming is clear. He, along with many others, are forming the Coalition to Stop Internet Gaming. As a part of this effort, the organization has drafted what is being called the Internet Gambling Control Act. This “anti-online poker” bill can be found all across the Internet, gaining steam as time moves forward.

This document seeks to do more than impact online poker as well. Certain sections of the text hope to amend The Wire Act and reverse some decisions that have already been made by the Department of Justice. According to the Coalition, their primary aim is to refocus the efforts that have been made in the past to address issues with fraud, money laundering, cyber crime, under-age gaming, and terrorism funding. The bill is rather expansive, outlining a large number of conditions that should go into effect within the first two years of its passing. The majority of these conditions apply directly to studies that will fall on the shoulders of the FBI.

Among the key points to fall under scrutiny with the help of the FBI is the availability of technology that allows individuals to manipulate online poker games and other gaming systems for fraudulent purposes. There is also very clear language that is aimed at redefining the terms set out by the Wire Clarification Act which regulates the use of the Internet in relation to online gaming. While this draft has very serious implications along with some big names at the bottom, it is yet to receive any official type of sponsorship, making it unclear exactly how likely it is to impact the current online poker laws.