The celebrities hit town in force at the APT Macau
August 26, 2008
Posted by VBruce in : General , add a comment
After an excellent Olympics in Beijing, I have turned my attention back to poker. My thoughts are still in China, this time, Macau, China. The prestigious Galaxy StarWorld Casino Resort and Hotel is the place to be. As I type, some of the greatest poker players of our time will be arriving to prepare for the APT Macau. The Asian Poker Tour (APT) is the original and largest poker tour in Asia. The $1.5 million Guaranteed event will ensure a talented field.
3.30pm, today is the official opening of the APT Poker Room, Level 2.
4.30pm, Doyle Brunson who is commonly known as the ‘Godfather of Poker’ will be there for book signing. He will intermingle with the poker fans until 6pm. Then he must dash off to prepare for the Charity Celebrity Poker Challenge, hosted by Matt Savage, one of the top poker tournament directors.
The proceeds of this event will go to a group called the Caritas De Macau. They are a social organization set up for the people of Macau to help them financially, morally and spiritually.
Boxing fans are in for a treat, Manny Pacquiao; world champion of four different weight classes will be playing. He may have picked up the poker bug during his last visit to Las Vegas in June, where he defeated David Diaz to lift the WBC world lightweight title, at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino. A bit of advice, if you find yourself playing at his table and unleash a horrifying bad beat on him, be nice about it. Boxers can box, poker players can play poker. Some poker players consider trash talk as part of their strategy. Just remember, Manny Pacquiao was voted the best pound for pound boxer in the world by Ring Magazine, or you may return home with a vague recollection of your memorable trip to Macau.
The charity event has also attracted other top stars including musician Renee Dai, movie star Michael Wong, and commentator Angie Mak. Jam packed with glamour, Miss Hong Kong winner Tracy Ip, models Wylien Chiu, Natalie Ng, Cha Cha, Janice Man, Erica Yuen, and cult glamour model Tila Tequila will be there. Where the ladies go, multiple WSOP champion Doyle Brunson goes, so I’m sure he will sneak a spot at some of their tables.
The Asian Poker Tours CEO, Chris Parker stated:
“We are delighted to bring the APT to Macau and really excited about offering Asia’s largest ever guaranteed prize pool. The charity poker challenge will be good fun, and, most importantly, it is an aid of a brilliant charity in Caritas De Macau.”
“I’m looking forward to Manny Pacquiao going head-to-head with Doyle Brunson. Manny never goes down but will we see the flyweight king get knocked out by the heavyweight poker legend? That said, perhaps both will get distracted by all the models at the table!”
The Celebrity Poker Challenge is not the only place you can rub shoulders with the above mentioned celebrities. The famous Whisky Bar, StarWorld’s, is the venue for a post Poker Challenge party.
Online poker sites such as partypoker.com and virgingames.com held low buy in online satellites’ to qualify for the APT Macau. Although the qualifiers have now closed, you can still book your spot at the tables if you can afford the USD $5000 + $300 tournament entry fee. The event will have a staggered start. The first group of players will start play on the 27th, and the second group on the 28th August.
The field will be packed with top, recognizable professional poker players such as 10 times WSOP winner Johnny Chan. Interestingly, Chan was the inspiration behind Ed Norton and Matt Damon’s character’s in the acclaimed 1998 poker movie ‘Rounders.’ Doyle Brunson’s son Todd, a world poker champ in his own right will be there. Also, the APT Manila champ David Saab and other high stakes poker players Huck Seed, Mel Judah, Kenny Tran, Liz Lieu, Quinn Do, Steve Sung, John Juanda, J.C Tran and Nam Le, will all pleasure us with their presence.
The man of the moment Michael Phelps has been offered a free invitation to take part in what should be a superbly organized event. Anyone who has watched the Beijing Olympics will know the name Michael Phelps. At the tender age of 23, he is already the most successful Olympian in history. He may be superhuman but still loves to sit back and play a game of poker. Who knows what this guy is capable of?
I love my crazy bets, for the next Olympics held in London I have a $1 bet that Michael Phelps will win gold at the mixed synchronized swimming. 500/1 odds seems a steal with his immense talent and versatility. Although I am worried, if he adopts the perfect poker face instead of keeping with the synchronized smile, the judges may mark him down.
Friday is marked for a mouth watering cash game. If you are one of the worlds best poker players and can afford the HK$1million buy-in, don’t miss it. Unfortunately, I fail miserably on both counts, so that leaves me on the sidelines. For now, I’ll have to content myself by watching the action unfold!
HR 6663: The way forward for online poker?
August 25, 2008
Posted by VBruce in : General , add a comment
Peter Sessions, a US Republican Congressman recently introduced a new Bill, the HR 6663. This Bill was introduced to clarify points laid out in the UIGEA, implemented, in my opinion rashly, and without any clear guidelines, back in September 2006.
HR 6663 – Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Clarification and Implementation Act of 2008
Let’s get one thing clear, we are poker players. We play online poker for the enjoyment of playing poker, in the comfort of our own homes. We are not lawyers; we do not want to be lawyers. I’m sure lawyers are very nice people. I can feel a few lawyer jokes springing into my head. The point is 99.9 % of us have clearly defined aims. Deposit and play, withdraw and enjoy our winnings. Is that too much to ask?
The HR 6663 Bill was introduced by Peter Sessions, a Texan Republican, to unravel the legal mumbo jumbo set out in the original UIGEA Bill. HR stands for House Resolution. All I, and most poker players online want to know is, “Is this good for online poker? Will we finally put to rest the most confusing law in online poker’s short history?” I can only re-emphasize, we are poker players, first and foremost. We are only playing a game we love. We are not axe murderers. We are not even stealing our neighbor’s internet connection.
For a deeper understanding of this bill, I have been scouring internet forums looking for a more balanced view of this new modification to the UIGEA. This change seems to specifically target sports betting. As for its outreaching effects to online poker, the implications seem less clear cut, at this moment in time.
The largest lobbying group, the Poker Players Alliance (PPA), are a little skeptical about the new changes. The PPA was set up to protect the game from misguided laws and government interference. The groups aim is to establish favorable laws, at the same time, provide a safe, secure and regulated environment to play poker.
PPA’s front man, Alfonse D’Amato responded by stating:
“Congressman Pete Sessions has been and continues to be a good friend to poker players who want the freedom to play America’s greatest card game. His dedication to the conservative principles of individual freedom and personal responsibility are unparalleled in the U.S. Congress.”
“We are, however, puzzled by the introduction of H.R. 6663 and by the purpose of this legislation. While we agree with several findings in the bill that correctly identify the illegality of sports wagering, the PPA remains concerned with the implication H.R. 6663 asserts in that the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) has made Internet poker an unlawful activity that needs special protection from prosecution.”
In layman’s terms, the PPA has always regarded online poker as legal. Mr. D’Amato is concerned that the new modification will sink online poker deeper into murkier water.
As the House is on a recess until September, the poker community is left to argue the finer points of the Bill. We are left in limbo. All we ask is for the US government to see sense. The US government has continued to mess around with new laws; they have continued to disrupt the game which was doing fine without them. They seem to have jumped in head first, meddling with a game; probably half of them have never played before.
Yes, the online game needs regulation. We don’t want the game to regress back to the days of the ‘Wild West’. The US government is probably realizing the error of their ways, now they are using the legal mumbo jumbo to climb out of the hole they made for themselves, and for the poker community as a whole.
Maybe the US government should be working with the online poker community, instead of pitting their wits against them. Maybe they should have followed the UK’s lead. Maybe they should have worked more closely with the PPA, instead of regarding them as a threat to their bright ideas.
Time will tell. September will be an interesting month; we should have a clearer understanding of the implications surrounding this new bill. We, the poker community want to keep the undesirables from tarnishing the game. As it stands now, the US government have done nothing more than attempt to block all logical attempts to clean up our game.
Not all US law is as vague as those currently being developed, and implemented by the US government think tanks. In Texas, it is illegal to sell your eyeballs. In Kentucky it is illegal to dye a duck blue and sell it on, unless you offer at least six more quality blue dyed ducks for sale at the same time.
Gambling in Vegas is embraced. You can purchase lottery tickets. Buy scratch cards and scratch away till your hearts content. The hypocrisy of it all would be funny if it wasn’t so damaging to the online poker community and the gaming industry as a whole. I won’t even touch on the International views on the US governments approach, and their brazen interference with worldwide gaming and trade laws.
Bad Beat Poker World Record Broken!
August 18, 2008
Posted by NewsBug in : General , add a comment
If you are like every other poker player in the world, you will fear the dreaded Bad Beat. It happens to us all without exception. To compensate, many poker sites have introduced a bad beat Jackpot to soften the blow. The Bad Beat Pot works like a progressive jackpot, and just gets bigger and bigger until we have a winner, or a loser, whichever way you look at it.
I have been watching the Partypoker jackpot closely. The Bad Beat pot, for the very first broke the $1 million barrier. A world record in itself, all it needed was a player sitting at the special partypoker bad beat tables, to lose a hand with 4 of a kind 8′s or better.
On Thursday 14th of August, at 23.12 ET, the history records were rewritten when ‘Judith75′ from Germany and ‘Hi yall’ from Scotland battled it out at a $0.50/$1 Bad Beat table. Fighting over a $24 pot, little did they know, in seconds, they would find themselves involved in one of the richest pots ever?
By the time they played this momentous hand, the Bad Beat jackpot had climbed to a remarkable $1,013,381.63. It is every poker players dream to land a royal flush at the tables. This honor was left to ‘Hiyall’. Being a fellow Scot, we know how to come out 2nd best in an unbeatable situation. We are the only people in the world who watches our National sporting teams with our eyes closed.
‘Hiyall’ scooped the $24 pot with the unbeatable hand. The loser ‘Judith75’ flips over quad 9′s. On a standard table ‘Judith75′ would have been absolutely sickened. Not this time. That disgusting Bad Beat brought a smile to every player at the table, none more so than ‘Judith75′ whose losing hand triggered the world record Bad Beat Jackpot.
When you visit Partypoker.com, you will see specially designated Bad Beat tables. These tables are located at the cash game area. When a winning Jackpot is struck, 70% is distributed among the players at the table. 20% is used to commence the new progressive bad beat jackpot, and 10% is retained by partypoker.com as an administration fee.
The player distribution:
50% to the bad beat hand
25% to the winning hand
25% split between all other players who contributed to the pot.
Using this structure, the lucky loser ‘Judith75′ collected a cool $354,683.57. ‘Hiyall’, keeping with Scottish tradition managed to come out second best with an unbeatable hand, collecting $177,341.79 (plus the $24 for winning the pot). All other players who contributed to the pot got their share of the remaining 25%. In this case, all ten players were involved in the pot, so the remaining seven players all collected $22,167.72 each. A happy ending all round, for what could have been a tragic hand for ‘Judith75,’ had it not been for Partypoker.com’s special Bad Beat Jackpots tables.
