May 20 2012, Brett Collson

Did you miss any of the top poker news stories this week? Well you’ve come to the right place to get caught up. We’re covering the new-look bracelets at the World Series of Poker, the Season XI schedule on the World Poker Tour, and more.

Poker Tournaments

New WSOP Bling

The World Series of Poker has unveiled the new gold bracelets that will be awarded to each winner at this year’s WSOP and WSOP Europe.

Celebrity jeweler Jason Arasheben, also known as “Jason of Beverly Hills,” was selected to design this year’s gold bracelets. Each piece features a collection of round cut diamonds while the four card suits will feature rubies and black diamonds. The bracelet features over 160 grams of 14 karat gold and over 35 carats of flawless diamonds.

Arasheben has designed championship rings for the Los Angeles Lakers, plus custom jewelry for celebs like Rihanna, Justin Bieber, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Matt Kemp.

“Blinger is Better,” said WSOP Executive Director Ty Stewart. “Jason grasped the heritage of WSOP bracelets, but was only interested if he could take it up several notches. This is a trophy that truly embodies the promise of today’s WSOP – seemingly unthinkable dreams are dealt each year. I challenge anyone to keep a poker face when they see this bracelet in person.”

Get Ready for Season XI

The World Poker Tour unveiled the first part of its Season XI schedule on Wednesday. In addition to nearly a dozen stops in the regular WPT slate so far, there will be at least 13 tournaments on the WPT Regional and National schedule around the world.

Season XI kicks off in Cyprus on Aug. 4 for the WPT Merit Cyprus Classic. The tour will then make stops in Pennsylvania, California, Paris, Malta, and many other destinations in the U.S. and Europe. The 11 Main Events on the schedule thus far feature buy-ins ranging from $3,500 to $10,300.

The WPT Championship kicked off at Bellagio this weekend. The season X finale features a $25,500 Main Event plus the $100,000 re-entry WPT Super High Roller, both of which will be televised by Fox Sports Net. Stay tuned to PokerNews.com for results for both events.

For more information on the Season XI schedule, read the article here at PokerNews.com.

Poker Business

TwoPlusTwo Returns

Last Saturday, the nightmare ended for forum fanatics when TwoPlusTwo went back online after a two-week hiatus. The site was shut down to address the security breach that took place on April 26.

In an interview with the TwoPlusTwo Pokercast last week, owner Mason Malmuth said that he had no choice but to shut down the forum immediately upon learning that a hacker had infiltrated the site. Malmuth added that the necessary precautions had to be made before he could allow members to return.

TwoPlusTwo users were met with the following message when the site went back online:

Welcome Back! As most of you know, we had a problem that meant the forums had to be taken down for a little over two weeks. In order to log into the forums you must reset your password. To do this – enter the e-mail address for your forum account into the Password Recovery Form and then follow the instructions that are mailed to you.

Let the trolling and photoshopping recommence!

Cleveland Rocks

Ohio’s first casino opened in Cleveland on Monday morning, nearly three years after voters approved the project by a 53 percent vote. The $350 million Horseshoe Casino Cleveland features a 30-table World Series of Poker-branded poker room which is expected to host a WSOP Circuit stop in the near future.

Caesars and Rock Ohio began developing the Horseshoe as a joint venture after Ohio voted to allow casinos in 2009. The casino will have 100,000 square feet of gaming floor to hold 2,100 slot machines, 63 table games, and the poker room. The casino is expected to employ about 1,600 people.

Horseshoe Casino Cleveland, developed by Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert, is the first of four casinos launching in the state by the end of next year. Toledo is launching the Hollywood Casino next week, and Cincinnati and Columbus set to open casinos by next year.

Read more at Gaming Today.

Mizrachi Signs Extension with Breeders’ Cup

DeepStacks Pro Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi has renewed his contract with the Breeders’ Cup through 2012. “The Grinder” will resume his role in helping to raise awareness of the Breeders’ Cup within the poker community.

The two-time World Series of Poker and World Poker Tour champ will take part in the Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge and will actively encourage his fellow poker pros to participate in the $10,000 handicapping event. The Breeders’ Cup will take place Nov. 2 through 3 at Santa Anita Park outside of Los Angeles.

“Partnering with the Breeders’ Cup has been amazing” said Mizrachi. “I look forward to fine-tuning my handicapping skills as I prepare for the Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge. Check my Twitter and Facebook accounts for updates as I plan to visit a number of tracks throughout the summer.”

As part of his deal last year, Mizrachi hosted the inaugural DeepStacks Poker Tour Breeders’ Cup Celebrity Invitational, which attracted big names like Mike “The Mouth” Matusow, John Racener, David Williams and Karina Jett, as well as NBA players Brian Cardinal, Jermaine Taylor and Carl Landry. The second event will be held later this year.

Read more at Deepstacks.com.

Bwin.Party Gets Social

Social media is becoming the way of the Internet, and bwin.party isn’t far away from getting in on the action. The company says it is close to launching a social gaming platform that will see the worlds of real money gaming and social gaming converge.

“Our strategy to enter the social gaming market is almost complete and we plan to host an analyst briefing to present our strategy later this month when we will provide further details on how we will enter this exciting new business segment,” the company said in a statement this week.

“We believe that by leveraging our core assets, we can make a meaningful inroad into this fast growing and profitable market with relatively low levels of incremental investment.”

Bwin.party co-CEO Jim Ryan sees significant potential in the social gaming market. He told PokerNews earlier this year that the company’s main objective for growth is bringing more of a social appeal to the consumer base, which in turn would provide maximum entertainment value for customers.

“This represents a major opportunity for bwin.party and we have a number of initiatives already underway in this area that we expect to drive value for shareholders in the medium to long-term,” the company said.

Read more at bwinparty.com.

Poker Legislation

Illinois Joins Online Poker Race

Illinois made history in March by becoming the first state to offer online lottery tickets on the Internet. Now, legislation has been introduced that could ultimately allow the state to offer other forms of online gambling like poker.

On Tuesday, Senate President John Cullerton proposed an amendment to a bill that would create the division of Internet Gaming within the Illinois Lottery. Illinois officials estimate the state would gain hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue under the new legislation.

Cullerton says that the bill has to be approved by May 31 to qualify under legislation pending in the U.S. Senate.

Cullerton’s proposal comes nearly five months after the Department of Justice changed its position on the Wire Act of 1961. On Dec. 22, the DOJ released a response to Illinois and New York regarding the Wire Act’s effect on intrastate sales of lottery tickets via the Internet. In the memo, the DOJ found that the Wire Act only applies to sports betting.
Reuters has more.

Live Poker in North Carolina?

North Carolina lawmakers have begun deliberating whether to allow live-dealer card games at the state’s only brick-and-mortar casino.

State legislators this week approved a bill that would sanction the Harrah’s Cherokee Casino to offer Vegas-style card games like poker and blackjack. The bill passed by a vote of 33-14 and will now be passed along to the House.

Per North Carolina law, live-dealer games are illegal everywhere in the state. Harrah’s Cherokee only offers video machines, but the new legislation could bring up to 400 additional jobs to the Harrah’s Cherokee Casino and Hotel. A percentage of the revenues from the casino would be sent to the North Carolina education department.

Read more at goerie.com.

Poker Players

Galfond’s Early Years

Phil Galfond’s introduction to poker certainly doesn’t compare to the exhilarating tales of most old-school gamblers, but the high-stakes wizard’s ascension to the nosebleed games should still be fascinating to most poker enthusiasts.

On Tuesday, Galfond shared his story in a blog entry titled My Poker (+other) Story. The 5,000-plus word entry includes Galfond’s first taste of online poker during college, his decision to drop out of school to become a poker pro, and the surprising relationships he’s built because of that decision.

Here’s a particularly funny excerpt from the blog:

I’m an introvert, so I enjoy my alone time. Actually, I need my alone time. I like people, sure, but too long in a crowded environment with no chance to get away is debilitating. I need my alone time to reset. My room was poker plus alone time – heaven.

My heaven was part of a three bedroom apartment. I shared it with two girls, one of whom was sure I was gay for the majority of that year. I think it was because I had a small poster on the outside of my door of a cat with a tiara that read “I’m a Princess” (I thought it was funny), and because she never saw me with a girl.

Galfond is a gifted writer and his story will hit home with a lot of poker grinders out there. You can find his blog at PhilGalfond.com.

Hollywood Celebs Dodge Poker Court Battle

The Hollywood A-listers linked to the legal troubles of former poker buddy Bradley Ruderman can breathe a collective sigh of relief now that the case has been settled out of court.

Howard Ehrenberg, the bankruptcy trustee seeking to recoup as much as $5.2 million for investors that had been conned by Ruderman, told Celebuzz.com that all 22 defendants involved in Ruderman’s Hollywood poker game have settled for a total of $1.75 million. Among the celebs being sued by Ehrenberg were actor Tobey Maguire, film director Nick Cassavettes, and former High Stakes Poker host Gabe Kaplan.

Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Leonardo DiCaprio and Alex Rodriguez were also rumored to be a part of the underground game but were not facing legal action. With all 22 settlements secured, details of the illegal high-stakes games will stay out of the court room.

Ruderman is serving a 10-year prison sentence for running a Ponzi scheme to pay off debts. Ruderman operated a wire-fraud and investment-adviser fraud scheme that lost investors $25 million, and then allegedly lost another $5.2 million in the high-stakes poker games trying to win the money back.

Celebuzz.com has more.

Daniel’s Weekly Rant

This week, Daniel Negreanu applauds the WSOP for some rule changes, rants about ballerina flats (hey, they’re comfortable – at least that’s what we hear), and goes on a tirade about Jeffrey Pollack.

Follow PokerNews on Twitter for up-to-the-minute news.

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May 09 2012, Chad Holloway

Last week, PocketFives.com, a leading online poker community dating back to 2005 and catering to online and live poker players, launched PocketFives Local, which are localized poker community pages that “provide a unique medium for poker players to view local activity and interact with players in their area.”

As part of the PocketFives Local initiative, a specialized page has been established for every country in the world and each U.S. state featuring a wall “that displays activity like the latest posts in the PocketFives forums, new members joining the site, the newest player accolades earned, the latest cashes in live and online tournaments, and general chatter.”

As PocketFives Co-Founder Cal Spears said: “The central feature of this page is a column displaying updates on players in that location. Any time a player in that location does something noteworthy, such as cash in a live or online tournament or win a new PocketFives badge, we’ll automatically generate a post to this column.”

In addition, each page will designate several “Leaders;” for example, the member with the most referrals will be designated as the page’s “Ambassador.” Similar title will be awarded to the players with the largest cash in the last three months, most Local posts and most cashes in the last three months.

Essentially, PocketFives Local is a social media site designed for poker players where members not only interact with one another and keep abreast of the latest poker developments in their area, but also “Raise” updates (similar to Facebook’s “Like” button) while maintaining the ability to comment on any item that appears in the main stream. They’ll also be updated, via PokerNearMe, of scheduled poker tournaments in their area.

PokerNews recently caught up with Spears to learn even more about PocketFives’ latest innovation.

How did the idea for PocketFives Local come about?

After Black Friday, the original team that developed PocketFives regained control of the website. We looked at the site and figured we needed to find a way to make it more relevant and more modern, given what had happened with online poker. It looked like poker was going to be a lot more localized. Different countries around the world were setting their own requirements. In the U.S., it could go the state-by-state route.

Basically we just had the one forum in English that gets a lot of action but isn’t very inviting for people around the world, so a big part of PocketFives Local was to get something relevant to every community around the world. We had all this information in our database already. We already have a lot of non-U.S. traffic because people want to be in the rankings, but we haven’t given them much in the way of community, and this was the perfect solution for that.

This seems social media-esque, almost like a Foursquare for poker. Would you agree?

I think it’s like Google+ meets Facebook because you have a wall where people can interact, you “raise” stuff the way you “like” other people’s activities. The biggest difference would be that we’re feeding a lot of stuff to the wall, like our deal with the Hendon Mob where anytime somebody in our database scores in a live tournament, Hendon Mob feeds us that result and we post it on the wall. Of course, we have the online scores in our database, so anytime someone scores online, we have a lot of automated feeds going in. I think that’s the biggest difference between a site like ours and a site like Facebook, which is entirely social interaction, whereas ours is a social interaction mixed with automated updates from our database giving you news on what’s happening in poker in your area.

How will the “PokerNearMe” be updated? Will someone within PocketsFives be updating it in each page or will members be responsible?

PokerNearMe is the actual name of the company. So if you go to pokernearme.com, you will find the company that has a pretty robust set of searches, and, from what I can tell, every single relevant live poker tournament. We checked them out early. I liked what we saw and we’ve got a deal with them to post on our local poker communities. It seems to be working out really well, so far.

When I visited PocketFives Local, I was immediately taken to the Wisconsin page, which is where I’m from. Are visitors always automatically routed to their proper page?

It looks at your IP address and then does its best to match you to a location in our database. If you’re already a member of PocketFives and you have your location in your profile as a lot of people do, it falls to that first, so it will look and see where you are in your profile. If it doesn’t have that in the profile, it will just look at your IP address and send you to the most appropriate page.

Is there anything stopping someone from, say Florida, viewing and posting in the California page?

No, it’s all open right now. You can post on any wall that you want to. That does open us up to some concerns with spam, but right now we really just want to figure out exactly what we have and how people are interacting with it, how people are using it, so we’re looking at every post right now that happens and getting a feel for what this is exactly to our users. From there, we’ll decide where we want to go with it and what changes we want to make.

In the press release you state that the local pages are Phase I of reaching a broader audience. Do you have an idea of what Phase II may be and can you share it with us?

We have a lot of ideas, but we’re still in that feeling-it-out phase in determining which direction to go next, but I’m happy to tell you the direction we have in mind, what we have on our plate right now that we’re deciding between. The first would be expanding the local pages to the rest of the locations in our database. Right now we have country and state, but we go as far as city in every single country in the world. So if you wanted to use our sortable rankings that we have on the front page, you could look up rankings just for Paris, France.

The plan is to eventually have a local community devoted to Paris, France, as an example. That’s going to expand and multiply the number of ranking pages we have exponentially, so we haven’t decided if that’s what we want to do yet as we want to see how people are interacting on the country level first.

In the meantime, we’ve been thinking of some other things we might want to do, one of which is a PocketFives Rail idea. With this, you would be able to “Rail,” which basically means to follow, any PocketFives member of your choosing. So every time you see a username on PocketFives, whether it be on a community page or a forum post, there would be a little button beside their screen name that says “Rail.” We’d design a rail page just for the people you want to follow, so instead of putting you into a location page, where you may or may not get enough people playing poker around you, the rail page would be specifically the people that you told us you want updates on. It’s going to look a lot like the middle column on the local pages where it posts live updates, but this would be just for the people that you’ve chosen to follow.

That’s something I’m pretty excited about. I think we’ll be in market with that very soon. We already have the foundation for it, so it wouldn’t be an enormous project. We’re also thinking about doing PocketFives group-style pages where your groups can have their own pages on PocketFives where you interact with each other but no one else can see it, similar to a circle on Google+.

You’re also going to be designating various titles to members such as “Table Captain” and “Grinder.” How did the idea for these leaders come about?

We wanted something kind of fun and something that could give people an extra sense of pride outside of just the rankings, and we also wanted to promote two of the big things we want people to do, which is post on the walls and to have people refer their friends. The “Ambassador” and “Table Captian” are based on that.

“Grinder” is the person with the most cashes, and that’s always cool to know who’s playing the most poker . . . we didn’t have anything to recognize that person, though they do typically show up in the rankings, so that’s what the “Grinder” title is. It only calculates it over the last three months, so this is the guy who is playing the most in your area right now. The “Chip Leader” is pretty straight forward, that’s just your biggest score in the last three months, so that’s the guy who stuck it big recently.

Do you envision ever using these local rankings to hold some sort of competition among the top performers? For instance, it would have been easy, prior to Black Friday, to host some sort of online tournament for qualifiers.

Yes, it’s something we’d like to do, and you kind of touched on what makes it difficult. It’s a little bit disjointed now because not everybody can play on the same sites. What we’d like to do with the P5′s leaders, the four guys in every single location, we’d like to invite them to a monthly freeroll or something where they compete and the winner gets a nice prize of some sort. That is something we have in mind, but haven’t actually executed on it yet.

To learn about your PocketFives Local community, visit PocketFives.com and click on the yellow “Local” link at the top of the site.

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