Australian Online Poker Information

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Latest reports suggest that the conclusion of the takeover of Full Tilt Poker by Groupe Bernard Tapie will conclude tomorrow.  The deal has been in the works for a long time.  Last month, a deal was signed for Full Tilt to be sold for $80 million, but there were a lot of conditions attached to the deal, and it took a while to iron out the details.  The biggest stumbling block was that there were several players that owed Full Tilt money, and GBT wanted those players to settle their debts before any sale took place.

It is believed that GBT has an external investor lined up that will inject enough funds into the site to repay any players who currently have funds stuck inside the site.  Those that are happy to leave money in their accounts will have to wait a while before they will be able to access their funds.  Once the deal is signed, it could take as long as four weeks for the site to re-open to players.

If the timings are correct, the site could open the day after the anniversary of Black Friday, which would be interesting from a symbolic point of view.  Hopefully enough players will return to the site to allow them to reverse their fortunes and once again become an exciting and fun place for poker players from around the world to hang out.

When it comes to the future of Full Tilt Poker, things are still up in the air.  When the site was shut down last year, that opened up a lot of concerns about its future.  The acquisition deal by Groupe Bernard Tapie is apparently in its final stages, but many poker analysts are concerned that there hasn’t been enough forward action, and that the deal may not ever get finalized.  This casts doubts on the possibility of players getting access to their funds.

Matt Glantz is just one of the pros that has expressed concerns.  He says that he has had several interviews with shareholders, and they have not had much to say since Black Friday.  Could their silence be because of fears of locking out an acquisition deal? Glantz has publicly stated on his blog that he believes that Groupe Tapie has no intention of going through with the deal.  He believes that their motive is publicity led, and that they are not interested in ownership of the troubled online poker company.

Of course, at this stage this is all speculation.  Groupe Tapie are still issuing statements about their intent to purchase the site, and while progress is slow, it can’t be written off just yet.

Poker is a game that crosses cultural boundaries.  No matter where you’re from, and what your age, gender, or income, you can appreciate the beauty of the game.  Bodog have quite clearly decided to take advantage of this universal appeal, as they’re expanding their horizons.   Last year, they introduced a recreational model, aiming to appeal to the more casual market, that doesn’t want to get into high stakes gaming.  Now, they’re targetting another audience – Asia.

They’re marketing their sites to the Asian market by promoting their anonymous, HUD-free playing environment.  They believe that this feature, which prevents pros from accessing hand data about their opponents, leveling the playing field somewhat, will be significant in the Asian market.

Robert Gustafsson, the Managing Director of the new Asian site, said “Poker is still in its infancy in Asia but the Bodog product is totally in line with how Asian players think: Trust is vital. This is why they only use Live Dealer casinos over the more common RNG casino in Europe. I can see anonymous tables making a similar impact over here.”

Who knows – in a couple of year’s time we may see a flood of Asian pros dominating the live poker scene as a result of the new players introduced to the world of poker.

Last year saw the seizure of several online poker domains by the US DOJ.  The seizures are still going on, only this time is seems they made a mistake.  The ICE and DOJ are continuing their crackdown on poker, but they have seized Bodog.com, which is the wrong domain.  Bodog moved their gaming off that domain a long time ago, and now trades under country based top-level domains, rather than .com.  The Bodog domain has not contained any actual gambling content for a long time.

Federal agents claimed that they were able to set up accounts, and gamble, on the .com domain, but it looks like they didn’t notice that the domain simply contained links to other sites.  This makes the seizure useless from the point of view of preventing online gambling in the USA – if anything, it could have actually harmed the cause by providing free publicity to the site.

Considering it’s expected that the law surrounding online gambling in America will be changing soon, all of this may be pointless in the long term, but it’s still interesting to watch from the sidelines.

If you’re a strong poker player, and would like to expand your potential earnings, then playing multi-table poker is a good way to start.  Expert online poker players often play five or more tables at once, but when you are first getting started, even playing just two or three tables can increase your chances of scooping big pots.

Multi-tabling has several advantage but it also has setbacks.  Multi-table poker gives you the opportunity to see more pre-flop scenarios, and thereby puts you in a better position to see strong hands and big pots.Since your attention is divided between several tables, you’re less likely to send tells – and you’re also less likely to see tells from other players.  This focuses your attention on the most important thing in the game – the cards.

Lower Limits

One potential downside, however, is that unless your bankroll can support the vastly increased number of hands you’re playing, you’re going to have to move down to some lower limits.

This means that you will be playing against a new group of players – and, if you’re down to micro-stakes, they may not play with the same level of risk aversion as you’re accustomed to.

If you’re moving down from $5 games to $2 games, then you should still be able to dominate using the same strategies, but in the $1 or lower rooms, players are often more erratic.

If you are considering multi-tabling, then start slowly, and don’t over commit yourself.  Done right, it can be a great way to maximise your earnings.

Jim Murren, International Chief Executive Officer of MGM Resorts, has spoken up to say that he expects legalization of online poker to take place at a federal level sometime this year. His remarks echo the hopes of many casino executives who all hope to grab a slice of what is currently a thriving global market.

“It’s not easy, not because it’s a complicated issue,” Murren told analysts during a recent conference call, before going on to add, “It’s becoming a clearer issue. It’s because Washington is becoming more complicated.

Murren was also quick to state that: “We’ll be one of the first horses out of the gate when it’s approved.”

Many organizations – both bricks and mortar casinos and foreign gaming websites, are currently working towards an online poker solution ready to target the USA once poker becomes legalized over there.

Later this month, Iowa State Senator Jeff Danielson will be proposing a bill which will regulate poker in the state.  His proposal comes in the wake of the U.S. Department of Justice’s memorandum clarifying the nature and intention of the 1961 Wire Act, which is intended to apply only to sports betting, and not to online gaming.

Since the clarification of the ruling, many states have  moved to consider relaxing their online poker rules.  Those states include New Jersey, Connecticut, Florida, and California. It’s likely that many other states will follow suit.

Danielson said of the proposal “We believe by the end of this year you will see a handful of states continue to authorize it.  Because of the DoJ’s opinion, we believe you’ll see very quickly multi-state compacts”.

The clarification of the bill hasn’t changed everyone’s minds, though.  There are still many senators that are against gambling, and will fight any expansion of it.  It’s going to be an interesting time for our poker playing friends in the states.

Two big brands, Caesars Interactive Entertainment and 888 Holdings, have teamed up to get ready for the United States poker market.  The partnership comes in anticipation of a change in American gambling laws, which would open the door for certain, limited, forms of online gambling.

888 Chairman Brian Mattingley, said “888 has taken a prudent approach to regulation, which culminated in the successful review conducted by the NGC, putting 888 and Dragonfish in pole position for the US market.  This gives us a strong platform to roll out our cutting edge, turnkey solution to other potential partners as the market opens.”

In recent years, 888 has been a driving force for the World Series of Poker brand in other countries, such as the United Kingdom.  It will be interesting to see how the US market evolves when online gambling opportunities open up over there.  Those who were in a position to move swiftly when the law changed (such as Caesars), should have definite advantage in the early days.

If you’ve ever missed a freeroll, or gotten confused about the dates of a forthcoming tournament, then you’ll love this mobile application. On-Mobi has released a new Poker Planner application on the Apple App Store.  The application acts as an online tournament reminder.  Poker players can purchase notification bundles for a small fee (20 notifications for $0.99, US dollars or 200 for $4.99).  They will then be informed about tournaments ahead of time, ensuring that they don’t miss out.

You can set up the app to inform you about tournaments based on a range of criteria – including real money or play money play, your preferred sites, buy-in, tournament name, and the time that the tournament will start.   This will allow you to stay on top of the poker calendar, making sure that you don’t lose track of all the tournaments that are going on during peak season.

The app is free to download, but the notifications will cost money.  For the small fee, however, it’s worth at least buying one pack of notifications to see whether it’s useful to you or not.

The word is out: Full Tilt Poker is no longer allowed to offer poker gambling services to players all over the world. This shocking announcement has been met with dismay by poker fans and the Poker Players Alliance (PPA). Read the rest of this entry »