Poker Editorial

On Monday, April 1st, the 2013 Irish Open came to an end in Dublin, Ireland at the Burlington Hotel. After finishing in fourth place in last year’s Irish Open, Ian Simpson made a fantastic comeback to win the grand prize in this year’s Irish Open poker tournament. In addition to winning the title, Simpson also bested Michael Farrelly heads up. For his first place finish, Simpson took home £265,000 as well as asked for his girlfriend’s hand in marriage. Of course, she said yes!

Although Simpson was the ultimate winner of the 2013 Irish Open, there were several other notable players that were seen at the final table. Michael Farrelly finished in second place with £141,500 and Mark Davis took third place with £99,000. Namir Mohamed, Calvin Anderson, Declan Connolly, Tom Brady and Adam Fallon were also among the eight finalists at the final table with Simpson.

Once Adam Fallon reached the final table, he was disappointed once he was eliminated from the table. Fallon was forced to reschedule his flight back to the United States, but Fallon found himself all-in and at risk Pre-Flop holding an Ace-Jack unsuited. Unfortunately, Fallon’s hand was not able to hold against Farrelly’s Ace-King unsuited. The Flop, Turn and River gave the board triple Nines, a Queen and Six. After Fallon’s elimination, Tom Brady was the next player to leave the tournament when his short stack all-in Pre-Flop was called by two other opponents. The Flop, Turn and River gave the board an Ace, Five, King, Ten and Seven and Namir Mohamed showed an Ace. Brady was holding a Six-Three unsuited, ultimately sending him home.

Mohammed took fourth place after he lost a race to Simpson. Once Farrelly opened for a raise Pre-Flop, Mohamed three-bet shoved, only to have Simpson shove again. Fortunately for Simpson, his pocket Tens held up against Mohamed’s Ace-Queen unsuited. The Flop, Turn and River gave the board a Jack, Five, Eight, Three and Six.

Mark Davis took third place and winner would be determined within three hands of heads-up play between Farrelly and Simpson. Farrelly was holding a Seven-Four unsuited and Simpson was holding a Four-Three unsuited. The Flop revealed a Queen, Five and Six on the board. Farrelly immediately bet and Simpson raised his bet to one million. Farrelly then proceeded to move all-in and Simpson called. Both players were holding open-ended straight draws. Unfortunately, Farrelly’s open-ended straight was not as strong as Simpson’s. The Turn revealed an Eight on the board and the Two spiked on the River, ultimately giving Simpson the winning hand.

Before any of the cards on the table were removed from the last game, Simpson got down on one knee to propose to his girlfriend, Emma. In addition to Simpson’s great winnings, he also went home knowing who he would be spending the rest of his life with.

The poker player of today is much different than the poker player of yesterday. The picture that comes to mind of yesterday’s poker player might be that of a rich tycoon, sitting in the back room of a Las Vegas hotel or at an exclusive men’s club with other male tycoons, elites, and the like. High stakes poker used to be a sport for the rich and the connected.

The poker player of today comes from all backgrounds, ethnicities, socio-economic status, gender, and age. The ever present televised poker games such as World Series of Poker and the World Poker Tour have brought the old closed-door game into the contemporary world. The attraction of these highly publicized games and tournaments have turned millions of people into avid poker enthusiasts. Though many people do not participate in these hyper-visible representations of the modern day poker game, they do find other ways to enjoy the game socially.

Online poker gaming is the revolution that has helped draw the at-home player to countless poker rooms in the virtual world. So the poker room is no longer just in Las Vegas, it is on demand and at your fingertips. There are a number of games to choose from like Texas Holdem, Omaha, Razz, Seven Card Stud, and many others, though Texas Holdem is one of the most popular both online and in the real-world games. There are no longer physical limitations placed upon the game. Any number of hands can be dealt on any number of tables. Gameplay can be 24 hours a day and seven days per week. There is always a room to join, a table to flop, and a hand to win. Therefore, the opportunities for online poker gameplay are infinite.

Furthermore, the opportunities for online poker continue to expand. Even in the United States there are attempts to legalize real-money online poker games. Some of these states include New Jersey, Delaware, and Nevada, which have already legalized online poker gambling. Other states are now also looking into poker legislation. Texas is looking to pass an amendment that will opt into any Federal legislation that gets passed to legalize and regulate online poker. New York is proposing legalization of intrastate online poker. Illinois wants to expand laws to legalize internet gambling, including poker. California introduced a bill to permit intrastate online poker and to create a regulatory framework for it. Hawaii and Iowa introduced similar bills, though the one in Iowa did not make it out of full committee this time. Australia is also approaching the idea of creating regulated online poker gambling as an initiative for consumer protection. The point is, the popularity of online poker is spreading and the tide for the real money games being legalized will surely come in sooner rather than later.

Poker greats have experienced their own highs and lows, much like the professional players of a number of other games. Poker has its own halls of fame and shame designated for those who have found themselves in great esteem and those who have found themselves in embarrassing situations. Some high profile players have spent stints in both halls since 2012.

Ilari Sahamies has had an interesting 2012moving between the two halls. He rode the poker roller coaster but ended in triumph but luckily for him, he ended 2012 in the hall of fame and by all indications he is gearing up for a similar experience in 2013. The poker superstar started 2013 with a win and a loss.

A duo of cheaters was discovered in Jean Paul Pasqualini and Cederic Rossi. The duo has been slapped with a suspension by the Global Poker Index after damning video evidence revealed suspicious activities. They were found guilty of using hand signals to tip each other off.

This suspension is no doubt good news for many poker players who are appalled by the idea that others are using dishonest means to gain an advantage over them. What makes matters worse is the allegation that the cheating may have been going on since 2009 since the video evidence was gleaned from the 2009 Partouche Poker Tour main event in which the duo placed first and second.. The decision to suspend the players was made after overwhelming feedback from the top 20 GPI players in favor of the move. Of course this is not the first time that the GPI is banning players however this case is special because of the heights to which the players climbed.

On a more positive note, one of pokers greatest is making a laudable philanthropic move by playing for charity, a move that is sure to secure him a place in the poker hall of fame and who knows? Maybe a Nobel peace prize as well. Negreanu has set in motion, plans to raise over 200,000 dollars for the St Jude Children’s Research Hospital. He announced his pans recently via twitter and also published a video explaining his plans. Negreanu hs pledged to match the sum of all donations received and this is of course, in addition to his initial donation of 100,000 dollars.

In addition to offering to host a social event at his newly renovated home for four donors Negreanu has encouraged all his followers to share and repost his twitter post ad video to get the word out. In order to qualify for random selection for the social event, donors have to pledge at least 2,500 dollars. The move has inspired many of his followers and other poker fans to make donation; and to date the fund has grown to just over 158,000 dollars.

Jake Cody is a triple crown winner with European Poker Tour, World Poker Tour and World Series of Poker titles to his name at only twenty two years of age. This professional poker player from the UK was signed by Daniel Negreanu at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in the Bahamas and is now the newest member of Team PokerStars Pro.

According to www.wikipedia.com, Jake Cody is from Birmingham in the UK. But what is interesting about this English poker player is that his career started online, he placed a $10 deposit and played twelve hours a day, he has never had to make a deposit since with over $600,000 in online winnings.

Jake Cody entered the live events in 2010 where he went on to win 857,000 Euro in the European Poker Tour and £273,783 in the World Poker Tour Event in London the same year.

He gave up his studies to play poker on a professional level and within a few years he has over $3 million in live earnings. His first World Series of Poker bracelet win was in 2011 and he was the Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year at the European Poker Awards in 2011.

To date he has twenty live cashes and it will be exciting to see how this young player progresses as part of the Team PokerStars Pro.

Other Team PokerStars Pro Players

Team PokerStars Pro is made up of a number of known names in the poker world including Daniel Negreanu, a Canadian pro player who has four World Series of Poker bracelets and two World Poker titles to his name. Daniel Negreanu was also voted Card Player of the Year and World Series of Poker Player of the Year in 2004. He has a total of over $16 million in live winnings.

Another of the known names is Jonathan Duhamel who is better known for winning the 2010 World Series of Poker main event. This French Canadian pro player from Quebec was the first ever Canadian to win a main event bracelet at the World Series of Poker. He has over $10 million in live earnings.

Then there is Joe Cada, a very famous American professional poker player who is the youngest player to ever win a World Series of Poker main event at twenty one years of age. He won the 2009 World Series of Poker event. He has seven World Series of Poker cashes to his name. Joe Cada is also an avid online poker player taking part is various Sunday major tournaments.

As we can see Jake Cody is joining a prestigious team of poker players by joining Team PokerStars pro and we can only sit back and watch as he grows from strength to strength.

While Congress is debating the federal budget, Nevada casino interests are supporting a Democratic senator. At the same time, a Republican senator that is opposed to betting is also working together will the mentioned parties in order to push an online gambling bill. Harry Reid, the Senate Majority Leader, and Jon Kyl, the Arizona Republican senator, are currently searching for a legislative package that may help to expand the forms of online wagering. This legislative package would also limit others and would create an Office of Online Poker Oversight under the Department of Commerce. The initiative for this advancement has been discussed before, but it was never publically announced. This advancement would create a federal system for online poker, which is an advancement that many casino operators have been pushing for during recent years. This bill would ultimately prevent states from legalizing nearly form of online gambling, including sites that operate state lotteries.

With that being said, state lottery directors are concerned enough about the measure that they have made their way to Washington to advocate against it. With their efforts, they have represented the first coordinated D.C. action for lottery directors. Companies, such as GTech, are helping to coordinate the first visit. If the bill passes, GTech is expected to lose a huge potential business running online gambling sites for lotteries. Arch Gleason, the president of Kentucky’s lottery, commented, “All of the lotteries in the country agree this is a matter of states’ rights.”

An informal draft of the bill was sent to state legislatures, asking them if they want Internet poker to be offered in their states or not. If the bill passes, poker sites would be operated by casino companies, card clubs, slot-machine manufacturers, Indian tribes and race tracks for the first two years. The Commerce Department’s online poker office would also supervise state regulatory bodies, which would license online poker companies. The revenues of online poker would be taxed at 16%; most of the money would go to the states. Regardless of whether or not a state chooses to partake in the federal poker system, other online gambling activities would be restricted to horse racing betting and limited lottery ticket sales.

The bill was first discussed in 2010 and was created by Mssrs. Reid and Kyl, but they never introduced it. During Reid’s re-election campaign in 2010, he received strong support from Nevada companies, such as Caesars Entertainment Corporation and MGM Resorts International. Both of which want to run national online poker sites. During the beginning of 2012, Reid stated that Internet poker “may be the most important issues facing Nevada since Yucca Mountain.” There is a general notion that the government may be able to raise money by legalizing and taxing some Internet gambling and it is gaining more attention in Washington. On Tuesday, December 4th, one version of a tax was included in a deficit-reduction proposal that was crafted by the Center for American Progress and was supported by former Clinton Treasury secretaries, Robert Rubin and Lawrence Summers.

Following an exhausting five days of poker at the 2012 PokerStars APPT Asia Championship of Poker Main Event, it was Xing Zhou that ultimately took home the title. From the 184 players, Zhou was able to make the final table a truly memorable moment for poker fans everywhere.

Jacques Zaicik has the short stack at the beginning of the day, but he was quickly able to double his stack during the second hand of the day. Shortly following Zaick’s chip increase, Zhou was facing Michael Kanaan over a pot of nearly 1,000,000 chips. Luckily, Zhou was able to keep in the game with his flopped set and overpowered Kanaan’s top pair at the table. Zhou’s win, without a doubt, had an immense impact on the remainder of final table once he was able to take the chip lead.

The first player to be eliminated from the final table was Henry Wang. As Wang went all-in against Alan Sass at the final table, Wang’s Queen and Four was not enough to win against Andrew Hinrichsen’s Ace and Ten. After his elimination, Wang managed to take home HKD$432,000 for his efforts at the final table.

Following Wang’s elimination, the table fell quiet for a considerable amount of time. It wasn’t until Zhou came face-to-face with Tsugunari Toma when things started to heat up. Zhou was able to take a massive chip lead. With Zhou’s flopped-set of eights, Zhou raised Toma’s bet of 95,000 chips to 200,000 chips. Toma immediately called after the three-bet raise. The turn card revealed a Five of Hearts and Toma called a big bet of 311,000 chips. The Ace of Diamonds on the River signaled Toma to raise the pot to 450,000 chips. As much as Zhou didn’t enjoy Toma’s raise, Zhou called and managed to beat Toma’s pocket Kings. The win raised Zhou’s chip count to 3,000,000, while the individual with the nearest amount to his had only 500,000 chips left to play.

After more than six hours of play, Ying Kit Chan suggested that he and Zhou to cut the difference in first and second place money, then flip blind for the title. Zhou eventually agreed to Chan’s proposal, regardless of the fact that Zhou had a major chip lead over Chan. Throughout the last hand, neither of the players looked at their cards until the River was out on the table. Each player then revealed their cards one at a time. It was Zhou’s Ten and Six that beat Chan’s Seven and Five, leaving Zhou with the higher stack. Both Zhou and Chan took home HKD$3,547,500, but it was Zhou who took the title.

Without a doubt, the media has greatly impacted the popularity of poker today. Now, people from all over the world are taking the opportunity to become better poker players online. If you are interested in learning more information about the different variations of poker available online today, be sure to visit http://www.omahapokergamer.com/.

“It is just the worst experience in the world to watch your child go through cancer and everything that that means,” said Jim Clark Sr., who still remembers when his 19-year old son as diagnosed with cancer three years earlier. When Jimmy Clark Jr. was diagnosed with with a rare bone cancer, Osteosarcoma, in 2008, he was treated at Penn State Hershey Medical Center. The tumor that was removed from his right leg at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. The Four Diamonds Fund was able to assist the Clark family with their hospital expenses that their insurance was not able to cover. “I cannot stress the importance of an organization like the Four Diamonds Fund that right at the beginning says, ‘We know you are going through a lot, and you don’t have to worry about the expenses.’ That does mean a lot” said the survivor’s father.

In 2010, Jimmy Clark Jr. graduated from Red Lion Area High School and was able to create an event in which he would be able to give back in a way that was entertaining for all. Now cancer free, Jimmy Clark Jr., a sophomore at Penn State New York, is continuing to raise money to help other children that have been diagnosed with cancer. In the last two events, the cancer survivor was able to raise over $21,000 for the Four Diamonds Fund.

On Saturday, October 27th, the 3rd Annual Poker with Jimmy Texas Hold’Em Poker Tournament will be located at the Goodwill Fire Company (2318 South Queen Street). Interested players may join the tournament are requested to make a $20 donation in advance. If players are not able to make an advance donation, a $30 donation may be made at the door instead. Players will be admitted at noon and the games will start at 1pm. Children that are 14 years of age or younger must be supervised by an adult. Any player that has played at the event before is encouraged to bring a friend as you may receive an additional $20 in poker chips. “We’re excited about the poker tournament, and hopefully we’ll get a lot of poker players out there and raise a lot of money,” said Jim Clark Sr.

Everything that players will see at the tournament has been donated. The winner of the first-place prize will have a choice between a trip to Las Vegas for three days, a big screen television or Apple bundle. The bundle includes an iPad, accessories and an iTunes gift card in the value of $100. In addition, all of the money that is raised during the event will be donated to the Four Diamonds Fund at Penn State Hershey Children’s Hospital.

The English Poker Tour kicked off on Tuesday with a host of pro players registering for the event. Names such as Fabian Quoss, the 2010 Champion, Liv Boeree and Sam Trickett were among the well-known poker faces to attend the event.

Day 1a started with the £2,180 main event and a guaranteed prize pool of £250,000. The first day brought a whirlwind of excitement with Igor Kurganov, a Russian player taking the lead with 117,450 in chips. » Read more..

This past weekend was a hive of activity with live poker events happening around the world, Day 1a of the 2012 PokerStars.com EPT Barcelona main event started on Sunday with over four hundred players taking part in the exciting event.

At the end of the day Aku Joentausta led two hundred and twenty six players to the next event. » Read more..

One of the biggest recent developments in online poker has come from the perennial leading website of PokerStars. Early in 2012, the company launched a new type of poker game on its site, called Zoom Poker which allowed people to play more hands than ever thought possible. It is only currently available at play money tables while it is being tested live, but it is thought that the format will enter the real money games in just a short time. For a person that has not yet heard about this new exciting way to play the game, Zoom Poker may represent the future of how they play poker online. » Read more..