The Calvin Ayre Foundation thinks girls need computers too. Here’s a nice story about Operation: Beehive, which apparently isn’t The Rock’s next action movie. It’s the winning Team Beehive, from the Antigua Girls’ High School. The team impressed the Foundation with their series of clean-up activities and a new school sign. They were awarded the grand prize of 21 computers for a new computer lab in their school. The ceremony took place last Thursday and our fearless Canadian leader Calvin Ayre was on hand to celebrate with the students. The article also mentions that...

Rien ne va plus at Paddington Casino The closure of Ladbrokes’ loss-making casino in Paddington this week has left this old dog with mixed emotions. On the one hand its difficult to feel any sympathy for the 100 or so staff who have been laid off as the ones I dealt with were about as cheerful as Gordon Brown on letter writing day. On the other hand the casino did have a PokerPro table. I don’t know whether you’ve ever had the pleasure but these electronic sit&go touch-screen tables are state of the art poker joy. Once you’ve charged up your poker card with money, you insert it in the...

Tony Cascarino silenced the critics with his Grand Final winI was delighted to learn that Tony Cascarino won the Grand Final of the 2009 Grosvenor UK Poker Tour last night. I had the good fortune to chat with Cascarino over dinner when he won the Bolton leg of the 2008 tour and found him to be great company – even if he did refuse to give me an interview on the grounds that he was working for a rival national publication. The other reason this result pleases me is because celebrity players often have to work twice as hard to get the recognition they deserve. Fellow card professionals and even...

Get a full house and, Bingo, you've got the X-Factor William Hill bingo has teamed up with sister website William Hill sports to offer free betting on the X-Factor. In a cunning attempt to boost novelty betting, which most online websites are obliged to pay lip service to without actually taking much profit, Hills are hoping that the many men who play bingo on the sly will familiarise themselves with the sports website and maybe occasion a flutter or two on their website, while the female demographic will be swayed by the lure of enhancing their X-Factor viewing. Then at least they’ll...

William Hill are looking set to finish the year on a high, as it has regained its standing as leading bookmaker in the UK. For a long time this year Ladbrokes was top dog with a stock price at over 244.80 a share. Since then though the bottom has fallen out and the Magic Sign is now valued at a distinctly unmagical 131 a share. Hills meanwhile is flying high at 180, although Party Gaming is looking very healthy indeed – just in time for a swoop on the US market – they hope. Read more here William Hill are set fair for the year .

888 are trying to corner the male Bingo market Not content with its already successful site 888 Ladies Bingo the egaming operator has decided to branch out and launch a less female-centric site, simply called 888bingo. The website will initially run on the globalcom network, which is powered by their dragonfish company, but the long-term view is to move it to a standalone site. It seems that more men play bingo than meet the (Kelly’s) eye (did you see what I did there?) so it makes sense to offer a new brand. Read more here.

Sportingbet may not make market moves in FranceWith uncertainty still dogging the deregularization of gambling in France, Sportingbet is considering pulling out of the French market. Only a month ago the bookmaker announced its full intention to launch in France but chief executive Andrew McIver has since admitted there has been, what our cross-chanel cousins term, a volte-face. “We are now not sure what we’re not sure what we’re going to do,” he told EGR Magazine. “The situation has changed so many times that we still can’t be sure what the best course for us to take is.” To...

263 staff have been axed in Ladbrokes' latest cleanout Ladbrokes may be one of the country’s leading bookmakers but at present they are dispensing with staff like livestock in a foot and mouth outbreak. A further 263 jobs have been lost in the latest cost-cutting exercise, following the closure of offices in London. We doubt there’ll be a Christmas party in Gibraltar this year. Read on…

Computer hackers are the scourge of second life gamersJust imagine. You’ve spent years building up your career as a warrior, working your way up the social scale to earn kudos and riches beyond your wildest dreams only to have it all snatched away in the night. Now we may just be talking about virtual world computer game Runescape here. And if you’re tempted to say, ‘get a life’ then that’s exactly what one computer hacker did. It turns out there are thousands of real-life pounds to be made from second-life virtual games and the hacker involved in this particular ‘identity...

Read all about Five Easy FleecesPlaying tournament poker and getting nowhere fast? Playing by the book, but can’t work out why your methods are not reaping their rewards? Well look no further than The Poker Tournament Formula II Arnold Snyder’s groundbreaking new book. Following up on his previous work, unsurprisingly called The Poker Tournament Formula Snyder looks at slower, deeper stacked tournaments revolutionising the accepted wisdom of such Hold’Em luminaries as Dan Harrington. Read all about playing Small Ball, deploying Five Easy Fleeces and negotiating the Minefield in his latest...