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PokerStars’ 10th Anniversary Sunday Million Features $10 Million Guaranteed

In celebration of the 10th anniversary of PokerStars online poker room, the December 18th Sunday Million will feature a $10,000,000 guaranteed prize pool, and you can qualify for as little as $1 or buy-in directly for $215. The first place finisher is guaranteed $2 million. This will be the biggest Sunday Million ever.

PokerStars is hosting hundreds of satellites up until the main event. You can find these satellites by logging in to your PokerStars account, click “Tourney,” then click “Events,” then “10th Anniversary,” and then click “All.” Your best bet is to register for the $11 Sunday Million Mega Satellite that takes place about an hour before the Sunday Million at precisely 13:45. There are 1,000 guaranteed seats for the big event that will run live at 14:30 ET.

Another easy way into this massive tourney is to use turn your Frequent Player Points into cash, then buy-in for $215.

PokerStars and the Sunday Million have come a long way over the past 10 years. The first Sunday Million ran in 2006 on March 5th, and US player “aaaaaaaa” won the inaugural event after beating 5,892 other players. Since then, this event has grown to be the biggest weekly online poker tourney and averages about 7,000 players each week, though that number is expected to increase for the special $10 Million Sunday Million taking place this weekend. The largest Sunday Million took place on March 6, 2011 when nearly 60,000 players took part and helped raise a prize pool of almost 12 million.

French Gambling Addict Suing French Government

Thirty-seven-year-old French problem gambler is suing the government of France for €100K (about $132K in $US) for failing to prevent him from playing online poker, according to his lawyer.

The defendant registered with the interior ministry in the city of Reims last year, voluntarily banning himself from Internet gambling sites and casinos. His lawyer, Emmanuel Ludot, says he was still permitted access to them.
Ludot said, “It’s all well and good to moralise about online games but we all know that they rely on the addiction and sickness of players.”

Ludot explained that his client, who was unnamed, was registered by the ministry under the wrong address, and he was therefore still allowed to play at online gambling sites.

The interior ministry denied comment due to legal proceedings that are currently active.

French gambling law allows gambling addicts to register themselves with the ministry in order to ban their access to online gambling websites, and the sites must then check with this ban list prior to allowing players to play online at their sites for real money. Already, the list has roughly 36,000 players registered who have self-banned themselves from online gambling.

Blom is Back!

After taking a three-month break from poker, Swedish online poker phenomenon Vikto “Isildur1” Blom is back. After 21-year-old Blom disappeared back in September from PokerStars, rumors abounded about whether or not he had some dispute with the online poker site or had even possible moved to another site.

Others speculated that Blom had taken up with another Swede, sharing an online poker account, only to become elusive once again. Back in January of this year, Blom finally revealed his identity at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) after being unknown since his emergence on Full Tilt Poker in September of 2009.

None of this, however, was the case. Blom reappeared at the PokerStar tables to play mostly at the $100/$200 Pot-Limit Omaha games when he experienced a very successful 12-hour online poker session with no less fervor than before his sabbatical. He managed to successfully wrangle with Terken89, Jeans89, Phil Galfond, and FakeLove888 (rumored to be Patrik Antonius, famed Finnish online poker star. Blom also took $241K form VietRussian.
By the end of the session, Blom was up more than $600K.

Negreanu to Go on Poker Sabbatical

Canadian poker pro Daniel Negreanu recently expressed that he was physically and mentally drained after a two-month European trip in Europe, which ended with the EPT San Remo in which he busted out on Day 1a.

Negreanu wrote of this unfortunate loss, “I played good for the first three hours or so, then just collapsed and had no interest/energy to continue. I was spent, and played terribly, hoping to either get lucky and double up, or catch the next flight home. I can’t remember the last time I mailed in a tournament like that, but I just didn’t have it.”

Apparently his motivation is still lacking since returning home, still unfocused at the WPT Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic where he was knocked out on Day 2. So, in light of all of this, Negreanu has decided to take a break from poker and concentrate on himself. He currently does Bikram Yoga every day and is reading “A New Earth” by Eckhart Tolle, which he says, “advocates present moment awareness and the dismantling of the ego as the path towards awakened living.” He is also delving into some charity work for “Threesquare,” a Nevada charity with the purpose of feeding the hungry.

This year, Negreanu’s assessment of his tournament results includes six cashes that netted $1.5+ million, which he gained all but about $86K on two $100K buy-in events that he says were the “only two really good results in what was otherwise a bad year for me tournament wise.”

How long he’ll be breaking from poker is unknown, but hopefully he will be happier with his 2012 results after his poker sabbatical.

Google TV Adds Zynga Poker

Zynga Poker, with a current active membership of around 30 million players is now going to offer its online poker app to Google TV, as Google TV hopes to get more people utilizing the Web TV service.

The Zynga brand, which is home to the ever popular Farmville and Mafia Wars Facebook apps, is readying itself for a $900+ million public offering.

Google TV is no available on Blu-ray players, Sony TVs, and the Logitech Revue companion box, Google TV, owned by Google, is hoping to get more consumers on board with their recently added Android Market apps to their Google TV offerings. Zynga Poker is one of those Android-based platforms, and it is free to download.

Players of Zynga Poker can play Texas Hold ‘em with other players from around the world in tournaments and VIP tables. Much like other Facebook app games, players can send each other gifts such as poker chips, and they can chat together as well. Now by incorporating Google TV, the game becomes even more social and accessible. Users can also purchase other virtual items to increase their status and move up levels (like Farmville).

In a blog post published by Google, Zynga said, “Especially optimized for playing poker from the comfort of your own couch, Zynga Poker for Google TV features custom graphics and a new way to control the game with the Google TV remote. Up the ante and play Zynga Poker from just about anywhere, whether you’re commuting to work or taking a break to connect with friends.”

Zynga Poker was added to its Google+ Games last August, along with 15 other initial launches. Google invested at least $100 million into Zynga in hopes that users would spend more time on their social network and off of Facebook.

MGM Resorts Cracks Down on Trademarked Domain Names

Website domain names circuscircuspoker.com, luxorpoker.com, bellagioonlinepoker.com, ariapoker.com, mandalaybayonlinepoker.com, excaliburpoker.com, and mgmpoker.com were registered back in 2002 and 2005, but MGM Resorts International is now taking legal action to sue the two companies and four individuals for trademark infringement.

In efforts to avoid confusion in the future should online poker become regulated and legalized in the US, MGM is cleaning house ahead of time to eradicate these websites.

The lawsuit claims that MGM casino names used in the domain names are widely recognized due to the billions of dollars MGM has spent to promote and advertise their brands, and the defendants are attempting to benefit from MGM’s investment. According to the suit filed, the companies and individuals who registered these domain names had the intention of profiting off of the “substantial fame, goodwill and consumer recognition” of the land-based casinos owned by MGM.

The suit goes on to say, “The defendants have or have had a bad faith intent to profit from their registration of the domain names,” charging the defendants with “cybersquatting.” This term is defined as using other business’s trademarks in order to profit online.

“The defendants have done nothing more than tack on the descriptive terms ‘poker’ or ‘online poker’ to each of the MGM marks to form the domain names. Accordingly, there is no question that the domain names are confusingly similar to the MGM marks,” MGM Resorts’ Lewis and Roca LLP attorneys say. The legal document submitted to the judge requests an order to temporarily restrain the domain owners from using these names.

Named in the suit are Shahram Kolahzadeh, resident of Zimbabwe and owner of ariapoker.com; Evan Krentzman from Woodland Hills, California, bellagioonlinepoker.com; Roberto Ciamillo, Shelby Township, Michigan, circuscircuspoker.com; Adam Majewski, McKinney, Texas, excaliburpoker.com; PokerSons, London-based company, mgmpoker.com and luxorpoker.com; and RevNet, Hackensack, New Jersey, mandalaybayonlinepoker.com.

PokerStars Launches Corporate Blog

The new PokerStars corporate blog has recently been launched which promises to keep the public informed about current news, updates, and views on the business and the industry with posts from all types of PokerStars employees including customer service reps, product managers, software engineers, as well as PokerStars executives. Being introduced at the cusp of the company’s 10^th anniversary (on December 18^th PokerStars will turn 10), the PokerStars corporate blog will open up the company to the public, after keeping a rather low corporate profile in the past. It will show how the company will evolve to the next phase of growth as the Internet poker industry goes through changes.

In the inaugural post, Eric Hollreiser, Head of Corporate Communications, writes about the company’s dedication to the business. He says, “During our first decade, we kept a fairly low corporate profile; preferring to keep our heads down, our eyes focused on innovation and our ears tuned-in to the hops and concerns of our growing number of customers. That dedication has helped us become the leading poker company in the world and helped us set the standard in delivering customer service to online poker players.”

He goes on to explain how the PokerStars brand will from here on out be more transparent in an effort to better communicate with “customers, communities and constituencies who often have questions about us” now that the industry is and will continue to be changing so much in the future.

Hollreiser then goes on to answer one of the most frequently asked questions of PokerStars corporate regarding how the company maintains player funds and accounts. Mentioning Full Tilt’s inability to pay players after Black Friday, he says that this has been a key concern for PokerStars. He then sheds light on what he can without legal limitations.

First, he explains that real money player funds are kept in a separate account from operational funds, describing it as a “wise and conservative business strategy” that allowed for a higher level of customer service. Furthermore, PokerStars’ license is with the Isle of Man Gambling Supervision Commission (GSC), which requires the strictest in gold standard regulation. Player-owned funds, both deposits and winnings, are protected from operating funds and held in segregated bank accounts.

Another method of protecting player funds that PokerStars uses to ensure players can always access their money whenever they want to is by insuring player funds when payment processors delay monies, sometimes up to a few weeks. To keep this issue from affecting players, PokerStars makes daily transfers from the operating accounts to the segregated player accounts, so that the player never has to wait and the company takes on the risk of the delay. And this process is all scrutinized by the regulators that license the online poker site, so it’s all on the up and up.

On a daily basis, the Treasury Department reviews player transactions to ensure that there is more than enough to cover player balances. And this is all reviewed by regulators, and the Isle of Man GSC, which has the power to audit at any time.

And in closing, Hollreiser says, “It’s these kinds of protections that have enabled us to refund more than US$125 million to US players since April 15.”

Further posts on the PokerStars corporate blog will no doubt be interesting to read.

Richest Poker Tournament Ever Expected to Hit Macau in 2013

According to recent reports, a brand new poker tournament, the Macau Pro Am Open, which has high-stakes players everywhere squirming in their seats, may be in Macau’s future come spring 2013. What makes this poker tournament so exciting? The prize pool is set at $100 million—the highest prize pool ever in the history of poker—both online and off.

American businessman William Murray to GamingToday says that various Chinese companies are collaborating now on this massive tourney. The prize pool is said to be set at $100 million, but the tournament would still run even if it only made a $65 million prize pool. The first place finisher would receive up to $25 million in winnings.

What makes the Macau Pro Am Open even more exclusive is that it will only allow about 500 players to register. The ideal player field would be 33% US, 33% Far East, and %33 from other parts of the world, such as Europe. Participants would be expected to buy-in at around $200K in order to make the $100 million prize pool.

Still No Guarantee of Full Tilt Player Refunds

Attorney Jeff Ifrah, representing Full Tilt Poker, says that US players still owed money by Full Tilt may be reluctant to make a claim to procure their lost funds due to the fear of taxation. Ifrah has requested on behalf of these wronged players that US authorities go easy on these players and to allow them to make claim to and receive their cash without being crazy taxed.

Ifrah says, “Players need some encouragement to submit their claims as some may be concerned about action from the IRS.”

Once the French investment firm Grope Bernard Tapie reached an agreement with the DOJ to allow the sale of Full Tilt Poker to go through, Ifrah says the US government will establish a fund to oversee the payback to the former US players of Full Tilt of the millions of dollars still owed to them. However, Ifrah says there are other issues that will have to be resolved before claims can be made. For instance, motions filed by Full Tilt Poker board members against the US government will have to be attended to, though these motions are expected to eventually be dropped.

There is still about $150 million in payment still owed by Full Tilt to its players, and it has still not been decided how much of this amount will be repaid, nor does the takeover of the company by Groupe Bernard Tapie guarantee any money will be refunded at all.

The terms of the deal state that some of the money still sitting in bank accounts that are associated with Full Tilt Poker will be returned to the buyer when the sale is complete. The intention is to “bring this matter to a complete resolution as soon as possible.”

Toby Maguire Settles in Illegal High-Stakes Poker Lawsuit

Earlier this year, Hollywood A-lister Toby Maguire was one of 22 people who was sued for winning cash while playing illegal poker games associated with convicted Ponzi Scheme con artist and Beverly Hills hedge fund manager Brad Ruderman, the CEO of Ruderman Capital Partners. The parties filed papers in bankruptcy court Wednesday that reveal Maguire has agreed to pay more than $80K in order to be dropped from the litigation that is ongoing in an attempt to collect money for those victimized by the fraudulent scheme.

Maguire was one of many Hollywood participators in the high-stakes poker games at the Beverly Hills hotel with Ruderman. Ruderman has since been convicted of investment and wire fraud and is serving out his sentence in a Texas prison. Meanwhile, a trustee of the company is trying to collect the $25 million that had been allegedly lost in the poker games.

Other celebrities named in the suit include Gabe Kaplan, Nick Cassavetes (director of The Notebook), and Cody Leibel (record label owner). Ben Affleck and Leonardo DiCaprio were tied to $50K buy-in games, but were not targeted by the lawsuit.

According to reports, Maguire won at least $300K playing poker, but according to the judge, the poker winnings were considered ill-gotten gains from the unknowing clients of Ruderman as the games were not licensed.

The agreement was signed by Maguire on November 18^th and is subject to approval by the judge on December 21^st.

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