Poker news May, 29th
World Series of Poker
Last May, Jerry Yang was just a 39-year-old social worker from Temecula with six kids, a hefty mortgage and a wife who worked at night to make ends meet. Poker was a recently acquired, TV-inspired hobby he indulged in at the nearby Pechanga Casino.
But as this year’s 55-event, six-week World Series of Poker season kicks off Friday, Yang is a millionaire who is gunning to defend his title as 2007 winner of the $10,000 World Championship No-Limit Texas Hold ‘Em, a.k.a. the Main Event.
The promise embedded in Yang’s story is precisely why Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack believes more than 30,000 people will play and why more than 100,000 people will come to the Rio All-Suites Hotel-Casino just to watch for free.
“You can’t buy your way onto an NBA court, but you can buy your way into the World Series of Poker and walk away as a world champion,” Pollack said.
Indeed, anyone can play in the events, which have entry fees from $1,000 to $50,000. Some don’t even have to; Yang won his Main Event entry in a satellite tournament. That cost $225; in two weeks in July he outlasted 6,358 players to win $8.25 million.
Absolute Buddy
Online casino operator Absolute Poker has developed new software designed to make playing friends online a snap. Absolute Buddy allows players to locate both offline friends and familiar opponents online.
By placing the names of online competitors into the Absolute Buddy program, gamblers can detect if the players are online, and if so, where.
If a player is currently signed in, his name will be highlighted in bold. A triangle next to the name signifies that the player is currently seated at a table. Single-clicking on the triangle reveals the name of the table; double-clicking puts the gambler at the table with the player he sought.
Players can plan to play against each other, and easily find a table to share.
The software is designed to be similar to online instant messaging services, such as Goggle Chat and AIM. This assures gamblers of ease of use and comfort.
Not only can players seek out friends, the device is useful in finding both opponents that have been easy prey and those that one wants revenge upon for a bad beat.
Vegas Luck Hits UltimateBet as Online Poker Player Cashes in on $546,253.86 Bad Beat Jackpot
56-year-old online poker player from Florida wins $177,532.51 with losing hand
A little Vegas luck was definitely on one online poker player’s side Tuesday morning. A Texas Hold’em player with the moniker “joeyvegas0711” popped UltimateBet’s latest Bad Beat Jackpot, which had been sitting at a staggering $546,253.86.
The jackpot exploded at 10:38am on May 27th when joeyvegas0711 turned over an assumingly unbeatable four queens. But everything changed the moment babybaby16 flipped over a queen-high straight flush and swept the $35.44 pot in his direction.
For his losing hand, joeyvegas0711 took home $177,532.51 of the $546,253.86 Bad Beat Jackpot. BabyBaby16 added an additional $88,766.25 to his $35.44 pot and 270 other players shared another $88,766.25.
Bad Beat Jackpot is just like traditional Texas Hold’em poker with an added jackpot component. In addition to rake, $0.50 is collected from qualifying poker hands and placed into a constantly growing pot until someone hits the jackpot.
When a player loses a hand with four 8s or anything better, 65% of the jackpot is divided among Bad Beat Jackpot players (25% remains in the pot for the next jackpot and 10% is dedicated towards administrative fees). All players seated at a Bad Beat Jackpot table featuring the same limit and game type as where the bad beat occurred also win a piece of the jackpot.
Full details on UltimateBet’s Bad Beat Jackpot game can be found at www.ultimatebet.com .
PurePlay to Award Highest Number of Seats to Poker’s Main Event
PurePlay, the largest U.S. compliant play-for-cash online poker site, announced today that it will be extending its 2008 World Series of Poker* seat giveaway through the month of June, with hundreds of World Series qualifiers running every day. PurePlay, the U.S. market leader, will be giving away the largest number of Main Event seats among all U.S. based poker sites.
San Fransisco, CA (PRunderground) May 29, 2008 – PurePlay, the largest U.S. compliant play-for-cash online poker site, announced today that it will be extending its 2008 World Series of Poker* seat giveaway through the month of June, with hundreds of World Series qualifiers running every day. PurePlay, the U.S. market leader, will be giving away the largest number of Main Event seats among all U.S. based poker sites.
PurePlay’s most recent winner is Donald Wilson of Sylvan Lake, Alberta, Canada. Said Wilson, “PurePlay’s offer of cash prizes without risking my own money has always been attractive, and they’re the reason I’ve been an enthusiastic regular on their site. Without risking a dime of my own money, my dream of winning a seat to the WSOP* Main Event came true. Who knows, if I play my cards right I could walk away with millions.”
Blackjack Pays Out Most in Bodog’s Online Casino
The biggest payday yesterday in Bodog’s online casino came from Blackjack. (Bodog Beat Image)
Congratulations to Matthew E. of TX for being yesterday’s biggest Bodog casino winner with $19,296 from Blackjack! The other top nine winners are as follows:
* Robert G. of CA came in second and apparently also know how to play Blackjack. He won $7,840.
* Steven H. of PA rolled the bones and made $6,793 from Craps.
* Jimmy W. of MD was yet another big Blackjack winner with $6,289.
* David B. of FL made two big scores yesterday. One from the Realm of Riches slot for $5,737 and one from Tri-Card Poker for $4,180. Way to diversify David!
* Joan L. of NY nabbed a piece of the Aztecs Treasure slot for $5,249.
* Walter S. of MO played one of our favorite games, Let em Ride, and won $4,389.
* Barbara W. of GA laughed it up after winning $4,115 from Joker Poker.
* And finally, Renee W. of MA took a dip in the Crystal Waters slot and swam away with $4,020.
Bodog’s online casino has dozens of great casino games including the ever popular, and apparently quite lucrative, game of Blackjack.
Learn to count cards MIT style here: Card Counting
Posted in Uncategorized
May 29th, 2008 at 4:36 pm
[...] Gabe Utasi wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptWorld Series of Poker Last May, Jerry Yang was just a 39-year-old social worker from Temecula with six kids, a hefty mortgage and a wife who worked at night to make ends meet. Poker was a recently acquired, TV-inspired hobby he indulged in at the nearby Pechanga Casino. But as this year’s 55-event, six-week World Series of Poker season kicks off Friday, Yang is a millionaire who is gunning to defend his title as 2007 winner of the $10,000 World Championship No-Limit Texas Hold ‘Em, a.k.a. the [...]
May 29th, 2008 at 5:46 pm
[...] jmorrow55 wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptWorld Series of Poker Last May, Jerry Yang was just a 39-year-old social worker from Temecula with six kids, a hefty mortgage and a wife who worked at night to make ends meet. Poker was a recently acquired, TV-inspired hobby he indulged in at the nearby Pechanga Casino. But as this year’s 55-event, six-week World Series of Poker season kicks off Friday, Yang is a millionaire who is gunning to defend his title as 2007 winner of the $10,000 World Championship No-Limit Texas Hold ‘Em, a.k.a. the [...]