Sat, 02/12/2011 – 02:47 – PokerPages Staff

Team PokerStars sponsored pro Daniel Negreanu was one of the surprise winners on the virtual felt after a lucrative high stakes cash game session.

‘Kid Poker’ posted an upswing of $46,000 on the world’s biggest online poker site, suggesting he may become one of the nosebleed regulars in the near future.

Phil ‘OMGClayAiken’ Galfond has dominated the online poker headlines recently and it was no different on Wednesday evening after another eventful session on the virtual felt.

Galfond is not known for his huge swings in profits but the Wisconsin native has followed one of the worst downswings in his career with several huge wins in the last two weeks.

It proved to be an evening to forget for the 25 year-old who dropped $230,000 against Jared ‘Harrington25′ Bleznick in $500/$1,000 Cap Pot Limit Omaha Heads-Up exchanges.

Galfond fared no better against 2010 World Series of Poker Europe bracelet winner Gus Hansen. The ‘Great Dane’ raked in $36,000 from another heads up battle.

Those figures have pushed Galfond into the red by over $500,000 for the calendar year.

Bleznick was the biggest winner after taking down $248,000 from various high stakes cash games. Andreas ‘skjervoy’ Torbergsen  also prospered.

‘Omiphalotus’ (-$203,000) recorded the biggest deficit. Galfond, ‘tuff_shark’ (-$75,000), Dan ‘jungleman12′ Cates (-$101,000) and Ilari ‘Ziigmund’ Sahamies (-$44,000) rounded out the top five.

Sat, 02/12/2011 – 02:59 – PokerPages Staff

The French gaming regulatory agency, ARJEL, has suspended PokerStars Home Games for native players due to its possible violation of the country’s law.

PokerStars.fr released a statement on the site explaining the situation on Thursday.

“The Regulatory Authority of Online Games (ARJEL) decided to make a system analysis of Home Games to be able to ensure compliance with French law.”

“We apologize for this temporary inconvenience and appreciate your loyalty to PokerStars.fr Home Games.”

PokerStars.fr confirmed that the plethora of gaming options will still be available to users despite the ongoing investigation.

“You can still enjoy the most popular tournaments on the net, such as the Classic, the Sunday Special, or the famous Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP), not to mention the incredible cash games.”

ARJEL has been the regulatory authority of the French Gaming Industry since last April when new laws were passed to allow citizens to play online poker on a unique gaming site.

PokerStars Home Games were introduced in January and have been a success thus far. ARJEL have not revealed the aspects of the gaming setup which could be in breach of French laws.

French Team PokerStars sponsored Pros Bertrand ‘ElkY’ Grospellier, Vanessa Rousso, Thomas Bichon and Arnaud Mattern have not yet commented on the developments.