The European Court of Justice today issued a landmark ruling on Germany’s protectionist gambling sector saying it was “unjustifiable” and must be dismantled according to Bloomberg news agency.
“The German rules do not limit games of chance in a consistent and systematic manner,” the Luxembourg court said. “In such circumstances, the preventive objective of that monopoly can no longer be pursued, so that the monopoly ceases to be justifiable.”
Under the current system only the country’s 16 federal states (Lander) can offer gambling services.
Sigrid Ligné, secretary general of the European Gaming and Betting Association, is delighted with the ruling saying, “This is a landmark ruling which will have a decisive impact on the much needed reform in Germany. Other Me
Read full
With the EPT in Portugal, the WPT in London, the WSOPC in Iowa and Tom Dwan kicking off the second durrrr Challenge online, it was a busy week for the PokerListings news team.
A few stories slipped through the cracks, but we caught them all and neatly organized them into our regular Poker News in Brief feature below.
This week we’ll take a look at the 2010 Poker Hall of Fame nominees, a new WPT TV deal, WSOPE qualifiers on UB, WCOOP kicking off and more.
Hall of Fame nominees announced
Ten nominees have been named for the 2010 class of the Poker Hall of Fame after a two-month voting process on WSOP.com.
The ten players under consideration include Chris Ferguson, Barry Greenstein, Jennifer Harman-Traniello, Dan Harrington, Phil Ivey, Linda Johnson, Tom McEvoy, Daniel Negreanu, Scotty Nguyen and Erik Seidel.
These names will be vetted by the Poker Hall of Fame Governing Council, who will then select the final list of candidates.
The 16 living Hall of Fame members and a 17-person media panel will then determine who will enter the Hall at an induction ceremony held as part of the World Series of Poker Main Event final table festivities in November.
The Poker Hall of Fame, established in 1979, traditionally elects one or two members annually.
High Heels Heads South
The High Heels Poker Tour, the first all women’s poker tour on the U.S. E
Read full
20-year-old Brit Toby Lewis won PokerStars EPT Vilamoura main event Thursday.
“I’m pretty happy at the moment” he said. “This title means a lot to me.”
Banking the €467,836 first-place prize was no easy feat for the Southampton native, who overcame a final table that included EPT Season 1 Grand Final champion Rob Hollink, English football legend Teddy Sheringham and 2010 Aussie Millions runner-up Frederik Jensen.
Lewis, whose largest previous live cash was a final table appearance at PokerStars IPT Venice, actually moved into the lead taking a rather large pot off rising Swedish star Martin Jacobson on the tournament’s penultimate day, then beat the Swede heads-up to take the title.
“I was disappointed not to win IPT Venice, but this means even more,” he said. “It was
Read full
Day 3 has come to a close at the European Poker Tour Vilamoura €5,000 no-limit hold’em main event and there are just 24 players remaining from the original 384 players that entered the event. Today was especially tough on the professionals, particularly day 2 chip leader Brandon Cantu. He came into the day with 557,400 but he eventually fell in 36th place.
The remaining players will return tomorrow and play down to the final table of eight. You can watch all of the action live on the EPT Live video feed, which will bring you every minute of the tournament. Yo
Read full
Have you been playing at RPM Poker this month? If you have, then you are in the race to share $1 Million, and if you haven’t – you still have time to jump in! When you play in RPM Poker’s Mega Millions, you have a shot at over 12,500 individual prizes, totaling over $1,000,000 in cash!
How it works is simple: RPM Poker will track your total number of VIP points earned during the month and when you earn the required number of points for a level, you will win a FREE cash reward, which will be deposited straight into your poker account! And if you play hard and play often to clear all the levels, you’ll win $25,000 which will be paid to you immediately! The Read full
August 18th is the first day of the new UBOC. The Ultimate Bet Online Championship will run for the 5th time. The Main Event will be hosted by Phil Hellmuth and will end the series on August 29th. There will be an assortment of poker games and $4 million in guaranteed prize money over the course of 20 events. Players who cash in multiple events will get rewarded from the Bubble Buster promo, which will pay cash to players who cash in UBOC events. If a player knocks out a UB pro they get a T-Shirt and $200 tournament dollars
The $2,500 AUD no-limit hold’em main event at the PokerStars Australia New Zealand Poker Tour stop at the Gold Coast in Australia crowned a champion on Sunday, August 15. The tournament drew a strong field of 287 players, which represented growth from the field of 249 players that attended last year. The champion was Nauv Kashyap, who walked away with $182,965 from the total prize pool of $717,250.
Read full
Are you an avid online poker player who has a bunch of poker playing buddies? If you are, you need to scope out Titan Poker where playing poker with your buddies can pay off big!
The more poker buddies you have, the more money you can make when they sign-up for a new player account at Titan Poker! Just have them join, make a minimum deposit of only $20 and play in their favorite cash game to earn 100 Titan Poker Points – and you get paid! For every friend you can get to do that – you will pocket $100! And if you invite five or more friends and they all take you up on your offer, you can get $150 for each of them! Read full
The PokerStars European Poker Tour’s seventh season kicked off in Tallin, Estonia this week and is already breaking records.
With 182 players entering on EPT Tallin’s Day 1a Wednesday and another 238 on Day 1b Thursday, a total of 420 players ponied up the €4,000+€250 buy-in, smashing all records for a tournament in Estonia.
The total prize pool is a whopping €1,596,000 with €400,000 earmarked for first.
Coming off a final table at IPT Venice last month and a win in the WPT Spanish Championship right before the 2010 WSOP, German Ali Tekintamgac rushed out to the chip lead on Day 1a Wednesday.
A total of 89 Day 1a players made it through to Friday’s Day 2 with Italian Team PokerStars Pro Luca Pagano, the record holder for EPT final tables (6) and overall cashes (14) hot on Tekintamgac’s heels.
Players from a total of 41 different countries are competing in Tallin.
The EPT is Europe’s richest and most popular poker tour.
Read full
The Full Tilt Online Poker Series XVII (FTOPS) has nearly reached its halfway point, and a number of notables have put in solid performances. Of the 34 events in the series, 16 have been completed, and only one tournament has failed to make its guarantee.
The series started with a no-limit hold’em tournament, which Brent “Broberts85” Roberts took down for $164,357. This was Roberts’ second FTOPS win and the fourth final-table appearance of his career.
Team Full Tilt Poker pro Chris Ferguson made a strong showing for his site in event No.
Read full
