It’s that time of the year again.
People go into vast sums of debt purchasing toys for their kids that they will never play with, we all get fat eating a form of meat we don’t even like and spend every waking minute trying to dodge doing any ‘real work’ because it’s Christmas.
So here I am just about to do the same as I trawl through the first half of the calendar year to dig out the poker stories that got us all the gossip mongers in a dither.
1# New Jersey Paves The Way For Online Gambling
Gov. Chris Christie waited until the very last click of the clock before agreeing to conditionally veto the New Jersey Gambling Bill, in the biggest news to hit the US in terms of online gambling in 2013.
The conditions were met, the bill was passed and New Jersey was on its way to becoming the third, and certainly the most voluminous, state to create an iGaming framework in the US.
2# Rational Group New Jersey Battle
PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker owners, The Rational Group, were well ahead of the game when in they began negotiations with the investment company Colony Capital LLC, to purchase their Atlantic City based brick and mortar casino The Atlantic Club, in a deal reputed to be worth $50m.
All was going swimmingly until the American Gaming Association (AGA) – some believed backed by the might of Caesars Entertainment – decided to get involved and sent a 15-page submission to the Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE) to remind them of how dastardly PokerStars are by remaining in business post UIGEA.
To cut a rather long story short, the deal died on its arse, Stars sued for the $11m advance they had given the AC assuming the deal would go ahead, and when the virtual doors finally opened later in the year, Stars were inconspicuous by their absence.
2# Full Tilt Poker Returns to Business
I know that the official reopening of Full Tilt Poker (FTP) was November 2012, but the early part of 2013 was bustling with FTP news stories all appertaining to the mire that went before.
Chris Ferguson reached a settlement with the US Department of Justice (DOJ) on the civil charges stemming from the Black Friday debacle. The carrot chopping religious leading look-a-likey agreed to pay $2.35m, plus forfeit “all funds in the Ferguson Account” as well as waiving any claim to the millions in remuneration Ferguson claimed he was owed by FTP before it fell apart.
That left Ray Bitar to settle his business and settle it he did. Appearing in front of a Manhattan federal court via video link from California, where he is awaiting medical treatment for his heart condition, he pleaded guilty to one charge each of wire fraud and violating he UIGEA.
Bitar was sentenced to ‘time served’ after his attorney said Bitar only had a 50% chance of seeing 2014 due to that heart complaint. Bitar was also ordered to pay $40m in cash, property and anything else he had stowed away in his piggy banks.
After all of that nonsense was sorted out it was time to turn their attention to the players, and FTP hired the Garden City Group (GCG) to act as the Claims Administrator in the case of returning the funds to the US players who lost them during Black Friday.
It’s believed the players will have their monies returned in March 2014.
3# Real Money Online Poker launches in Nevada
“One small step for man, one giant leap for US online grinders.”
The first hand of legal real money online poker was dealt by Ultimate Poker on Tuesday April 30th, in the state of Nevada.
Ultimate Poker, the online poker branch of Ultimate Gaming, the offshoot of Fertitta Interactive, who is the offshoot of Station Casinos decided to go it alone, with their own online poker technology, and not withstanding an array of technological issues was deemed a success.
Then as the world’s population of grinder’s headed to the Rio Casino for the WSOP, Caesars launched a successful marketing campaign for their proposed launch of WSOP.com; a rival of Ultimate Poker.
Unfortunately, during a play money trial, on a Mac Client, a few lucky players were able to deposit and play for real money. It’s safe to say the glitch set the world’s most prestigious poker outfit back a little in their bid to become the second legal real money online poker room in Nevada.
4# Jean Paul Pasqualini and Cedric Rossi Caught Cheating at the Partouche Poker Tour
The world of poker lost two of its players in the early part of 2013 as the French duo of Jean Paul Pasqualini and Cedric Rossi had to head to the hills after a video was released by a third French poker player, that clearly showed the pair communicating through hand signals during the final table of the 2009 Partouche Poker Tour (PPT).
This was quite significant considering Pasqualini won the event for $1.4m and Rossi finished second for $867k. It was the second time the PPT had been the stage for a scam after Ali Tekintamgac was disqualified from the final table of the 2010 PPT, after it was alleged he used the assistance of live tournament reporters who were viewing his opponent’s hole cards (it wasn’t me guv).
Both Pasqualini and Rossi were promptly banned by the Global Poker Index (GPI), which means absolutely nothing, but as poker stands there is very little anybody can do about suspected cheats, so kudos for the team at GPI for at least elevating the severity of the issue.
5# Rob Yong Promises to Hand €1m to the Winner of the ISPT
When Prosper Masquelier promised the world that his brainchild, The International Stadiums Poker Tour (ISPT), would be the biggest tournament the world had ever seen, and would create a prize pool of €30m, the world replied in their droves.
“You’re having a laugh.”
From that point onwards the format of the ISPT changed more times that a bashful chameleon, and it was looking likely to be the most expensive flop the world of poker had ever seen.
Step forward Rob Yong, the owner of the Dusk Till Dawn (DTD) poker room in Nottingham, UK, and a Marvel superhero in his spare time. Yong decided that DTD were going to sponsor the event and he would guarantee the winner €1m out of his own pocket if the tournament didn’t deliver the numbers needed to produce the dosh.
Introducing DTD into the race did save the tournament from disaster, but it didn’t save Yong from dipping deep into his pockets. 761 players made it one of the largest fields the UK had seen, but Yong was stuck with a €589,000 overlay – the largest of its kind ever – and the Pole Jakub Michalak took €436,000 of it for first place after a deal was made at the final table.
7# The Emergence of 888 Poker
Whilst PokerStars was having its problems with Uncle Sam, one online poker operator who wasn’t was 888 Poker.
The Gibraltar based company partnered with the Nevada casino Treasure Island in a bid to have their online gaming operator license approved by the Nevada Gaming Commission (NGC), and they were duly successful.
This means, when the outfit are up and running, 888 Holdings will provide the software for Treasure Island’s online poker room. This was in addition to the news that they would also serve as the online poker platform for Caesars Interactive and slot machine manufacturer WMS Industries in Nevada.
Not content with having a foothold in the desert, 888 were also chosen to operate the Internet Gaming Systems and Service for the Delaware State Lottery, and partnered with Caesars in New Jersey to operate under their own brand in the Garden State – making them players in all three US iGaming states.
888 Poker were also the official sponsors of the World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE) and World Series of Poker – Asia Pacific (WSOP-APAC) during 2013.
8# The First Ever WSOP-APAC Event is Held
After six successful years in Europe the WSOP decided to branch out and create a series of bracelet events at the Crown Casino in Melbourne.
The 2013 WSOP-APAC event would contain five bracelets events and would act as the beginning of the WSOP calendar for 2013.
Phil Ivey would walk away with his ninth gold bracelet earned in the A$ 2,200 Mixed Event where he would defeat a final table that included Daniel Negreanu (4th).
Kid Poker would kick on from that close run thing to win the A$10,000 Main Event for $1m, tick a couple of actions off his 2013 ‘To Do List’ and head into the WSOP in the Summer with the Player of the Year lead.
9# Ultimate Bet Cheating Tapes Emerge
Almost a decade after it had begun, the Ultimate Bet (UB) cheating scandal had its arse dragged back into the limelight after two audio recordings were released that contained details of conversations between UB principals discussing ways that they could minimize the fallout from the scandal.
The tapes were made in 2008 by Russ Hamilton, the kingpin of the scandal, and were released by his former assistant Travis Makar. People listening to the tapes heard how Hamilton profited over $16m during his use of the infamous God mode, but most of the conversation held between Hamilton, UB founder Greg Pierson and UB attorney’s Daniel Friedberg and Sanford Millar centered around ways to minimize the scandal and limit potential ‘make good’ payments to people Hamilton had robbed.
Leaked porn tapes yes…but audio tapes?
10# Lock Poker Withdrawal Scandal
Lock Poker, and the Revolution Gaming Network (RGN), continued to make the news in 2013 when they decided it would be a good idea to prohibit large-scale cash outs, and promptly cancelled withdrawal requests made by several high stakes players after introducing a controversial policy regarding player-to-player transfers.
So it wasn’t particularly great timing for Lock to take a group of their selected pros on an all expenses paid trip to sunny Portugal. Chris Moorman and Paul Volpe left before the Portugal holiday and the rest of the crew were left in the stocks whilst 2+2 forum posters welted handfuls of excrement at them.
11# Phil Ivey Sues Crockford’s for $12.1m
2013 was the year that we learned that the Tiger Woods of poker, Mr. Phil Ivey, was also the Tiger Woods of Punto Banco.
The world’s greatest poker player won £7.3m at the tables of the Genting owned Crockford’s in London’s Mayfair in just two sessions, whilst accompanied by an Asian female acquaintance.
Crockford’s smelt something fishy, realized it wasn’t the tuna sandwiches, and promptly withheld Ivey’s winnings.
Ivey reacted by suing the casino for $12.1m and in the ensuing legal wrangle Ivey accepted that he won the money using a controversial card sorting technique known as ‘edging,’ which sounds about as inviting as a card counter in a game of Blackjack.
Ivey contests that he has done no wrong and the case continues.
12# Canada Dominates the World Series of Poker in Vegas
It goes without saying that the Americans won more gold than anyone at the WSOP.
Just like Santa, and sex with my wife, it happens every year.
But the real story at this years WSOP was about the team that mopped up the second highest total of gold, as the Canadians cleaned house to break all the records in 2013.
The 2013 tournament attracted 107 different countries and the Canadians earned 10 bracelets, made 561 cashes and clocked in an impressive $10,579,113 in earnings, and that doesn’t even factor in Daniel Negreanu’s WSOP-APAC A$10,000 Main Event victory, his €25,600 WSOPE High Roller victory and of course his 2013 WSOP Player of the Year award.
And we thought all they could do was shoot pucks and ducks!
13# Sheldon Adelson Calls Online Poker a Cancer
Just as everyone was getting excited about the return of iGaming in the United States, along came old father time to put a dampener on it.
It what might turn out to be one of the most hypocritical stances you will ever see. Sheldon Adelson, the 15th richest man in the world, who earned that crust taking money from people who like to gamble, told Bloomberg during an interview about online gambling that it was a ‘train wreck, it’s toxicity, it’s a cancer waiting to happen.”
This opinion ruffled a few feathers in the poker hierarchy and Nolan Dalla, WSOP Media Director, vented his anger on his personal blog and asked for a boycott of the Venetian Poker Room in a show of support.
Unfortunately, poker players can be a fickle bunch, and the boycott didn’t have the numbers one would expect as players flocked to the room hoping to take advantage of a few days without any regs playing.
This was not the end of the Adelson rant as we will find out when we cover the news from July through to current time in Part 2 of the Top Poker Stories of 2013, which will be released when I can be bothered.
What?
It’s Christmas!
Are there any stories in the first six months that you deem to have been worthy of making this list? If so please let us have it.
