Doyle Brunson Strikes Out at Anurag Dikshit

In a recent blog posted by Doyle Brunson, he minced no words on how he feels about the Party Gaming co-founder Anurag Dikshit, who has struck a deal with the United States government agreeing to pay $300 million and admitting breaking the law in the process.  Doyle rarely voices his opinion so openly but did just that on his most recent blog.  He is a 10 time World Series of Poker bracelet holder and an ambassador of poker.
 
In his blog, he claimed, “Anurag Dikshit is appropriately named!”  Doyle went on to say, “It looks like he would feel a sense of obligation to online poker, the industry that made him a rich man. Instead, he folded up like an accordion and pled guilty to breaking some kind of mystery law and is paying a 300 million dollar fine and possible 2-year jail term.”  Brunson also makes note of the fact that Dikshit made billions of dollars from internet gambling.
 
On December 16, Dikshit appeared in the Southern District Court of New York where he confessed to violating the Wire Act of 1961.  In the past, the Wire Act typically has applied to online sports betting though this case mentioned online poker specifically.  He is scheduled to be sentenced two years following the date of his U.S. court appearance on December 15, 2010.  While waiting for that date, his travel has been restricted to the European Union, New York City, India and Gibraltar. 
 
Brunson wound up his opinion giving an overview of how rival online rooms were taking the news, “It certainly created some ill will from the other online poker sites. I personally can’t imagine what was going through his mind when he made his decision.”  The Microgaming Network which includes Doyle’s Room announced in November that it would no longer be accepting new U.S. customers.

NBC’s Poker After Dark Debuts Fifth Season

NBC is all set to debut its fifth season of Poker After Dark in its usual late night air time of 2:05am tonite and also with its usual cast of characters.   Executive Producer, Mori Eskandani said, “Basically, we’re going to have 16 new episodes that will be spread out in 2009.”
 
The first three episodes called, “Close, but no Cigar” will feature players who in recent years couldn’t quite make it to the finish line at the final table of the World Series of Poker main event.  Highlighting the table will be the brash but lovable Mike Matusow who finished in ninth place in the 2005 main event and placed high in this year’s event.  In contrast to Matusow will be his fellow Full Tilt pro, Allen Cunningham, who in 2006 finished in fourth place after losing a coin flip hand against that year’s champion, Jamie Gold.
 
Also featured at the table will be two main event runner-ups, David Williams and Dewey Tomko.  Tomko has the dubious distinction of finishing second in the main event not once but twice in 1982 and 2001.  In 2004, Williams managed to eliminate the entire field but the eventual champion of 2004, Greg Raymer.  Joining the other players will be Andy Black who finished in fifth in 2005 and Lee Watkinson who made it to eighth place in 2007.  Both players’ departure from the final table was unexpected.  At one point Black was the chip leader at the final table before a few errors caught up with him and sending him home.  In 2007, Watkinson was the last remaining pro at the final table but saw his tournament hopes die when he re-raised all in with A-7 against Jerry Yang‘s A-9. 
 
All players will be ponying up $20,000 of their own money with the winner taking all.  Poker After Dark will feature cash games as well as six player sit and go’s.  Eskandani feels that the combination will appeal to a wider audience.  “We like to cater to everybody’s tastes,” said Eskandani.
 
Also debuting will be a new series of episodes on January 5 entitled, “Speak Your Mind” and will feature some of poker’s most notorious and outspoken players like Phil Hellmuth and Todd Brunson as well as other players who don’t hesitate to express themselves at the table.
 
On February 9, the episode entitled, “Brilliant Minds” will feature players who have Ph.D’s and will include Chris Ferguson and Andy Bloch.  February 16th’s “Nets vs Vets” episode will pit young internet players such as David Benefield against poker veterans like Doyle Brunson.

Tom Dwan rumored to have won 500K at High Stakes Poker taping

It’s being rumored that Tom “durrrr” Dwan pocketed a little over 500K during the recent taping of High Stakes Poker at the Golden Nugget in Las Vegas. The popular show is entering its fifth season and is scheduled to air in the US on March 4th, 2009. While filming has wrapped and the results are supposed to be kept a secret until the show airs, there are rumors floating around the chat windows in Full Tilt Poker that Dwan was a big winner.

This rumor is apparently being bolstered by comments from the Executive Producer of the show, Mori Eskandani. In an interview with Poker News Daily, when asked about viewer reaction of bringing Dwan on the show, had this to say:

”Tom Dwan has been so hot in the cash circuit. I call him the ‘Michael Jordan of Poker.’ He gets the game going. People are going to be, as promised, thrilled to watch these shows. They’re going to see what Peter Eastgate needs to do to in order to become a pro. They’re going to see why Tom Dwan is so good.”

Those comments seem to indicate that while the youngest World Series of Poker winner in history didn’t fare too well, the young Internet phenom Dwan played very well considering the competition at the table. With big names pros such as Doyle Brunson and Daniel Negreanu, the fact that Dwan came out a winner carries significant weight.

It’s worth noting that as of this writing, Dwan is also leading the cash game winnings online according to a major tracking site. With over $5 Million in total winnings and a few more days left in 2008, Dwan may go down in history as the biggest cash game winner of the year. His closest competition is almost $3 Million behind but with the money changing hands at such high levels, anything can happen.

Regardless, 2008 has been a good year for Dwan and the upcoming season of High Stakes Poker will only solidify that fact.

 

Image by waldo483 under Creative Commons license.

Rakeback.com Website Now Available in 7 Languages

More poker players around the world now have easier access to rakeback, as the Rakeback.com main website has been translated to six more languages besides English.

• German: http://de.rakeback.com
• Italian: http://it.rakeback.com
• Spanish: http://es.rakeback.com
• French: http://fr.rakeback.com
• Russian: http://ru.rakeback.com
• Portuguese: http://pt.rakeback.com

Languages can be switched with the flag icons at the website header. More language support is planned for early 2009.

Full Tilt 3Xmas Happy Hour

Earn three times the usual amount of Full Tilt Points on any regularly scheduled Happy Hours through January 1st. There are also additional 3x extended Happy Hours on the following days:

• Wednesday, December 24th

• Thursday, December 25th
• Friday, December 26th
• Wednesday, December 31st
• Thursday, January 1st

The Happy Hour games are marked with a smiley face in the Players column of the Full Tilt Poker lobby. Points can be used to buy tournament entries or merchandise from the Full Tilt store.

No account at Full Tilt yet? Create a Full Tilt rakeback account through our website.

High Stakes Poker Returns to Air in March 2009

It’s being reported that High Stakes Poker, the runaway hit for the Game Show Network (GSN) will return to the air in the US on March 1st, 2009. Now heading into its sixth season, the show is returning to it’s roots and hosting a fairly “sane” game with a $200K buy in. They have played with an ultra high stakes format in the past with a minimum buy in of $500K but the play withered and didn’t make for good television. Thus, they’ve returned to a buy in that’s more palatable to the pro players that make the show exciting and it appears that season six will not disappoint.

The backbone of the show is the players that sit around the table. Filming of the show will be wrapped by the time this goes to press but reports on the scene indicate that many players have returned. The usual suspects are all going to be on the show – Doyle Brunson, Daniel Negreanu, Eli Elezra, and Antonio “The Magician” Esfandiari. A rotating roster of “guest” players that include Tom “durrrr” Dwan, the Internet poker phenom, joins them. Also scheduled to appear are semi-celebrity names such as Sam Simon, creator of The Simpsons, and Nick Cassavetes, who directed the tearjerker “The Notebook”. While they’re not household names in the poker world the producers of High Stakes Poker are hoping it lures in other demographics to view the show (read: women and more 18-24 year old men).

GSN is betting that this new season of High Stakes Poker will be the biggest so far. With the regularity of no-name players making World Poker Tour final tables, they may be onto something. With so many programs and networks fighting for viewers, the poker options are the WPT where you likely don’t know the players or High Stakes Poker, with major names and few celebrities tossed in for good measure. While no time slot has been announced yet for the show, I know what I’ll be watching.

Two Holiday $100k Tournaments on 27th & 28th

Over the Christmas holiday, Full Tilt Poker is giving all players the chance to turn 2,000 Full Tilt Points into $100,000 with The Holiday $100K tournaments. Satellites are running through December.

1. The first Holiday $100K begins at 15:15 ET on December 27th.
2. Due to popular demand, an extra second Holiday $100K has been added on December 28th at 15:15 ET.

You are allowed to participate in both tournaments, but both have a limit of 10,000 players and the first one is already filling up fast.

Direct buy-in is 2,000 Full Tilt Points, or you can win your seat from the many satellites running throughout December for as little as 50 FTPs. Multiple daily freerolls are also running at 40 minutes past the hour.

• If you don’t have an account at Full Tilt yet, create a new 27% Full Tilt Poker rakeback account from Rakeback.com and save on your rake.

Two Holiday $100 Tournaments on 27th & 28th

Over the Christmas holiday, Full Tilt Poker is giving all players the chance to turn 2,000 Full Tilt Points into $100,000 with The Holiday $100K tournaments. Satellites are running through December.

The first Holiday $100K begins at 15:15 ET on December 27th, and due to popular demand, an extra second Holiday $100K has been added on December 28th at 15:15 ET. You are allowed to participate in both tournaments, but both have a limit of 10,000 players and the first one is already filling up fast.

Direct buy-in is 2,000 Full Tilt Points, or you can win your seat from the many satellites running throughout December for as little as 50 FTPs. Multiple daily freerolls are also running at 40 minutes past the hour.

 

• If you don’t have an account at Full Tilt yet, create a new 27% Full Tilt Poker rakeback account from Rakeback.com and save on your rake.

David “Chino” Rheem Joins ‘The Poker Pack’

AsianLogic Plc, owners of The Asian Poker Tour have announced that they have reached a deal with David “Chino” Rheem in which he will join ‘The Poker Pack’ and represent them at future events.  The Poker Pack was formed in August after the Asian Poker Tour event in Macau with poker pros JC Tran, Nam Le, Quinn Do and Steve Sung.

Since that time, the newly formed group has had non stop success at major events around the world.  Nam Le won HK$3.7 million ($473,915 US) and final table placing for Quinn Do at a high rollers event in Macau, a runner up place for Nam Le taking home $943,215 at the World Poker Tour Festa Al Lago and an impressive win for JC Tran who represented the Asian Poker Tour and PKR recently at the PartyPoker.com Premier League III in London.  The Poker Pack was also representing at a recent special bounty tournament on PKR which broke records for the site.

David “Chino” Rheem is a well respected and liked poker pro on the circuit.  He will be taking part in the Asian Poker Tour Philippines which will be held January 27 through February 1 with his fellow Poker Pack members.  His notoriety increased this fall after he finished on the final table at the World Series of Poker Main Event and bringing home nearly $1.8 million when he finished seventh.  He has a total of six World Series of Poker cashes and circuit tournament winnings well over $2.5 million.

“The opportunity to sign a deal with all my friends was too good to be true! I have a huge amount of respect for JC, Nam, Quinn and Steve and together as a team I think we are really going places. I already pretty much travel the circuit with the other members of The Poker Pack and to be formally signed up is fantastic.” Rheem said.

CEO of AsianLogic Plc, Tom Hall said, “Chino is a great guy and magnificent player and we’re really happy to welcome him into The Poker Pack. If you look at how much prize money all these guys have made in 2008 and how much they may make in 2009 it is scary! As individuals they are all well known players on the circuit – together the possibilities are endless! There are many teams in poker but these guys are a really unified unit. They travel everywhere together and enjoy each other’s success. Poker is in its infancy in Asia and we’re excited by what we have lined-up for The Poker Pack and what they will achieve as a group.”

PKR $5000 Activity Freeroll

PKR and Rakeback.com have teamed up to give you an exclusive $5000 Freeroll.

And it couldn’t be easier to qualify, simply register an account and play a real money hand until the end of January 2009 and you’re in!

The tournament will take place on Saturday 7th of Feb 2009 at 17:00 GMT, and the registration to the tournament opens 48 hours before the start.

You can find the tournament on the PKR lobby under the name “Freeroll#RBK”.

There’s no password for this tournament, simply play one real money hand and you’ll automatically be allowed to register for the tournament.

Don’t have an account on PKR yet, what are you waiting for?

Get 30% PKR Rakeback