Table for two?

That’s right, all you have to do is play their Thursday Freeroll tournament and the top male and female finishers come back on Sunday for a face-off for €500 and a romantic trip for two to Paris.

Which is all well and good if you’re single – but if you’re not it means staying in to play poker on Valentines Day, in which case you will soon almost certainly be single.

Still, s’pose you could always take the other finalist to Paris with you. Poker – ain’t it romantic? Read more.

But enough about America, the Chinese are now polishing their boots, loading ther guns and revving up their tanks in readiness for the latest purge of online gamblers.

According to a statement from the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) released Monday, the campaign will target “major and severe cases, arrest domestic and foreign groups that organize online gambling and severely punish criminals.” Note the liberal use of the word ’severe’ there, bookmakers, and get the fuck out of Chinatown. Read more.

'But they said the Colts were a shoe-in, Doyle'

Take Brunson. Looks like he lost $100,000 on the Colts, but then that may not come as any great surprise given that he thought they were playing the Patriots.

And as for Ivey, word has it he had $2m riding on Peyton Manning and Co. Ouch!

Admittedly, the only reason I’m being so smug is because I backed Drew Brees for MVP – but if you can’t brag when you’ve outfoxed those two, when can you? Gents, don’t give up your day jobs. Read more.

California: gambling lifesaver?

Now, the Sunshine State is hoping to lead the US out of the dark ages and into the bright, rose-tinted world of legalized and regulated online poker gambling.

In other words, the Senate Governmental Organization Committee begins an informal hearing later today. Read more.

This article isn’t going to defend the notion that poker isn’t a man’s game anymore, because it really never was in my opinion. To be a man’s game, the game must have something in it to make inherently geared towards the male sex. Let me elaborate. For example, the game of Football, now, that’s a man’s game. Why? Because inherent in the game is bone crushing physical contact and while there is a large skill component to the game, a very large and perhaps the largest component of the game is pure unadulterated, raw, earthshaking brut strength. So yes, a sport or game can be dominated by men, but that doesn’t make it a man’s game. Take baseball for example, a sport dominated by men, but because of the high skill component, it is reasonable to assume that there could one day be a woman baseball player. She’d probably play second base and hit for average, but it is conceivable. It would never happen. But the point is, poker is a skill game, you require nothing else but skill and concentration.

Do men really doubt their female counterparts at the poker table? Do men really think that a woman doesn’t have the killer instinct necessary to beat them? Probably. Lord only knows why. Just because a woman sits across from you, and she may have a really nice set of breasts and a beautiful smile, don’t think that when those cards are dealt she’s not dying inside to take your punk ass to the cleaners. I found that out the hard way. I got run up for about three hundy, and no I don’t feel good about it. She could have at least kissed me on the cheek before bending me over. Cute too. But that’s besides the point. The point is men have to start realizing that a female poker player can’t be taken for granted these days. I know, there’s female champions on TV all the time, but it’s the ones you don’t know about that will bite you. And yes, the best player in the world and leader of the money list is a man, the man, but how long before a woman takes that spot?

You see, anyone can play online poker, and there are women who log way more hours than you do, believe it or not. Furthermore, the game is growing on the female sex, they’re savvy, deceptive and cot-dammit they can be downright vicious. So look out dudes, it’s a whole new game. And should you be embarrassed if you lose to a woman? Probably not, but under the man code, you damn skippy, so step up your game fellas, otherwise those cleavage shots and pretty faces will be the last thing you remember before you lost your shirt…That was my favorite button up too…

While Quebec is already home to the Kahnawake Gaming Commission which houses many other online gaming entities, statements released by government officials indicate that Kahnawake is viewed as a competitor. Furthermore, statements suggest that the Quebec government is stiffening its stance against Kahnawake and what they term as illegal online gambling. It was a big fat French backhand with a white silk glove to the face, and the Mohawk Council of Kahnawake fired back denouncing the sentiments of the Quebec government.

The Quebec government referred to Kahnawake as an underground economy, and referenced them as illegal gaming. Interestingly enough, Kahnawake doesn’t actually offer any online gaming themselves. In fact Kahnawake’s role is more closely defined as a world class host for online gaming and a major third party regulator for online gaming practices. Surely, the Quebec government is aware of this, non? It would appear not, judging from various statements made. The notion that Quebec will suddenly break into the online gaming market and just start bullying the competition is ridiculous, anyone in the industry knows that. Quebec will only be offering their online services to Quebecers residing in the province, they will be competing with established entities like PokerStars, PartyGaming and Full tilt, so how much of a market share can they really take?

So much for the Statement of Understanding and Mutual Respect, in which the Quebec government acknowledged and accepted Kahnawake, now the tune being sung is different. It appears all bets are off with the Quebec government and Kahnawake. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Conventional wisdom would suggest that instead of being at odds with Kahnawake, why not utilize their expertise to offer the best product possible to give the best chance at competing in an already established market. Furthermore, why turn your back on Kahnawake, which has been operating for twelve years providing in province jobs and conducting its business with class and without reproach? It makes you scratch your head when you really think about it. It’s fair to say the Mohawk Council of Kahnawake isn’t happy about the Quebec government’s stance and under the circumstances, they have every right to be disgruntled.

Now say 'Ahh'

Excellent. So this means we should all be flying jet planes, racing cars and taming lions for a living. Oh hold on, it says expert gambers… Doh! Read more.

Which way to the casino love?

With the US economy in more brown stuff than an Indian sewerage worker on national curry day, the two struggling states are eyeing up the prospect of legalizing casinos to boost their empty coffers. Read more.

Negreanu: doffing his cap

So it’s refreshing to see a bit of sanity and class restored to professional poker’s proceedings with Daniel Negreanu paying a glowing tribute to Phil Ivey, who has leapfrogged him to become the leader in the all-time money list.

“It’s my belief that Phil Ivey is the best poker player in the world, and that includes every format,” he said Negreanu. “I’ve played live with him, at cash, Hold’em, Stud, Omaha, whatever, and he is just the most consistently good player at everything.” Read more.

Cake eating humble pie

Fortunately the incident, in which the pot was incorrectly paid out to the losing player left no-one pennliess, as it took place at a $0.02/$0.04 NL cash table and handed over a pot of $5.72 to the wrong player.

But obviously, the Cake Poker Network has been left with egg on its face, flour down its jumper and sugar in its petrol tank amid serious reliability issues.

To add insult to injury the micro-stake players in question are also now in line for a windfall as CardRoom Manager Lee Jones had previously vowed to pay out $500 in compensation to any Cake Poker player who was mis-awarded a pot and could support their claim with their hand history.

Let them eat Cake! Read more.