Rather than rely on a sliding scale of innocence, South Carolina has historically stated that all gaming is illegal. Only until recently has it started to change its tune, especially given the case where 25 people, several thousands of dollars in cash, a weee bit of marijuana, and the set-up of a poker tournament were discovered during a police raid in 2006. Initially found guilty by a local judge, the decision was later reversed by a circuit court judge who based his decision on the fact that the men were playing Texas Hold’Em, a game the judge considered to be a game of skill.

The case has escalated to the South Caroline Supreme Court as the Attorney General is again appealing the decision, arguing that the guilt lies not in whether or not Texas Hold’Em is a game of skill, but in the fact that the men created a “House of Gaming” when they announced the poker tournament online, charged a cover fee, and had more than 25 participants gather in one place.

We’ll keep coming back to the skill versus chance argument time and time again as courts around the nation and, arguably, above it, battle out how to make online gambling work (or not work) in the framework of our governing bodies. While South Carolina determines its stance, the rest of the  country waits for the bigger verdict: whether or not to allow an online “House of Gaming” to promote a game of skill across state, country, and international borders.

For the full story, read the article, “Top SC Prosecutor: Casual Poker Games Not Illegal“.

Full Tilt just released the details of the November FTOPS XVIII schedule, which includes their popular Turbo and Super Turbo poker, as well as Knockouts and Shootouts. Each event is hosted by a Full Tilt Pro (to be released at a later time). You’ll also see a Two-Day Event with a prize pool of $2,000,000 and, of course, the main event, worth $3,000,000. For even more options, FTOPS XVIII will also feature seven different patent-pending Rush Poker Tournament events, startgin with $150,000 in guaranteed prize money.

Whether you gain access through any of the Full Tilt Steps Tournaments or other satellites, one thing is for sure–cash and prizes await the players who make it to the final tables. Satellite tournaments are running now for entry into FTOPS XVIII tournament events, which start Wednesday, November 10th.

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PokerStars also stated that, prior to the above case, it was able to operate in Washington State due to its educated understanding that the state had no jurisdiction on online poker. As this case confirms otherwise, PokerStars vows to make every reasonable effort to assist its Washington State customers with cashouts and account maintenance. They also pledge to actively monitor the situation, hopefully to reverse their decision if the case is accepted by the Supreme Court and is found to be unconstitutional.

For those of you who do not live in Washington State, we reported last week that PokerStars hosted a record number of players on its race to celebrate  its 50,000,000th hand.

Still unconfirmed, there is speculations that FullTilt poker will follow PokerStars lead.

Accepts all Players, except residents of Washington

Wednesday, Sept. 22^nd, tbvle was involved in a hand at the PokerStars NL micro table. Well, not just any hand, the 50 billionth hand.  The month long promotion at PokerStars was about to pay off and tbvle not only held off 5 opponents for the $26 pot but also walked away with $56,140.

For those that count success by how many BB’s you win, this one takes the cake!

This still unknown player also won an extra $50,000 earned from VIP Player Points (VPP) accumulated leading up to the milestone hand. Once it was announced the 50-billion hand was about to be dealt, the whole site was frozen allowing the approximately 220,000 players to all watch the winning hand go down.

Tblve had a pocket pair of queens hold up to win the milestone pot.

In addition the other players at the table earned $3,000 each and everyone dealt in the hand received an entry to the $5,200 World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) main event on Sept. 26.

For the month, PokerStars awarded almost $1 million to poker players during this promotion.

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The app has been developed from the most authoritative online poker odds calculator, the CardPlayer.com Poker Odds Calculator and is available, for a limited time only, for free download via the iTunes store – simply search for “Poker Odds” in the iTunes app store.

The app is available for the iPhone and iPod Touch supporting iOS4.0 or later operating systems and calculates odds for both Texas hold’em and Omaha.

Using a unique card-wheel, the app allows players to simply enter between two and nine sets of hands including flop, turn, and river cards, to instantly get the percentage chance of any given hand winning a pot.

A spokesperson for Card Player Media said, “Our online calculator has long been considered the industry-standard poker odds calculator and now we’re proud to offer it as our first iPhone app to poker players to help them settle disputes and decide the most profitable move to make in Texas hold’em and Omaha. Best of all, it’s free… for now!”

It has been in the USA Today but now you will see commercials for the new site on ESPN’s coverage of the 2010 World Series of Poker broadcasts. Now we can welcome Harrah’s to the world of online poker and of course start the speculation of is there more to this story as far as possible insights into the regulating of online gambling in the United States.

Right now though it is just an online poker site that is free to play and open to all U.S. residents who want to play. You compete for free chips but that will soon change as WSOP Communications Director Seth Palansky said that there are plans to add significant prizes such as seats to the 2011 WSOP and packages to Harrah’s properties in Las Vegas. Palansky said,

“This was the next logical step for us. We’ve seen a very good response, with a lot of folks downloading the game.”

So with the passing of Barney Frank’s bill in the House Financial Services committee fresh on everyones mind, what does Palansky think the future holds?

“We watch these things closely, but it doesn’t affect how we operate on a day-to-day basis. We have enough opportunities to seize and deal with currently that we don’t have to worry what may or may not happen.”

The WSOP also has ventured into the mobile and social marketing arena. On July 27th, they launched a gaming application on Facebook and already have a successful mobile app to play on your cell phone. It appears this is a long term project as Harrah’s signed a multiyear contract with 888 Holdings Plc to run their gaming software, Dragonfish.

Sand’s cashed in five separate WSOP events this year winning a total of $88,000 and toping the leaderboard with 2,269.10 points. During this year’s WSOP he also found time to cash in three online poker tournaments as well bringing his career earnings to over $2.3 million.

If you recall, this year’s WSOP was a competition between David Sands, Daniel Kelly, Faraz Jaka and Michael Martin to earn a spot on the coveted Brunson Pro poker team. Points were awarded for every cash they earned in an event and tallied throughout the WSOP.

For those of you following the Brunson 10, you may notice that Daniel Kelly actually had the most points, but before the Become a Legend Leaderboard competition started, DoylesRoom.com announced that if any player won a bracelet they automatically made the team. Daniel Kelly won the World Series of Poker Event #52, a $25,000 buy-in tournament. That win netted him a WSOP bracelet, $1.3 million dollars and the seventh spot on the team.

8 of the 10 team members are set and they are: David Sands, Daniel Kelly, Zachary Clark, Amit Makhija, Dani Stern, Chris Moorman, Alex Kamberis and Steve Gross. That leaves two more online players to be handpicked for the team. Head over to DoylesRoom and find out how they will be chosen.

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This years no limit Texas Hold’em main event will field a total of 7,319 players. That is the second best field to only the 8,773 taking a seat in 2006, the year Jamie Gold won $12 million.

This year however is up over 12% from last years which equates to 825 more players in 2010. 2,391 players entered Thursday which was the last day to get into the $10,000 buy-in tournament.

The total prize pool for the tournament is $68.8 million. Thats $7.8 million more than last year. According to the main event tournament director, Jack Effel, 747 players will make the money in this years main event.

As the immortal words “Shuffle up and Deal” ring through the casino, the early favorite to win it all is Phil Ivey. Good luck to everyone competing this year!

It was a rookie however; barely old enough to even get into the casino that took home the $1,338,609 first place price. 21 year old Dan Kelly, a senior at Villanova can now add a WSOP bracelet to his growing resume. Dan has already amassed a great reputation playing online at DoylesRoom and now according to ESPN, has locked down an endorsement deal with them.

Dan Kelly said of the win, “It’s a mixture of being shocked and excited. I definitely thought I could win, or I wouldn’t be playing. But you can’t expect to win a tournament, even if you play perfect. This definitely exceeds my expectations.” He says he will head back to Villanova and graduate then pursue his poker career afterwards.

Here is how the top 18 ended up in Event 52 at the WSOP:

1. Dan Kelly ($1,315,518)
2. Shawn Buchanan ($812,941)
3. Frank Kassela ($556,053)
4. Jason Somerville ($386,125)
5. Mikael Thuritz ($272,084)
6. Eugene Katchalov ($194,559)
7. Sam Trickett ($141,168)
8. Bryn Kenney ($141,168)
9. Isaac Haxton ($104,651)
10. Brian Hodhod ($104,651)
11. Daniel Negreanu ($77,569)
12. Abe Mosseri ($77,569)
13. Martins Adeniya ($58,699)
14. Billy Jordanou ($58,699)
15. Heather Sue Mercer ($58,699)
16. Vadim Trincher ($58,699)
17. Carlos Mortensen ($58,699)
18. Justin Bonomo ($58,699)

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These up and coming online poker players have faired well so far with total wins between them adding up t0 $214,44.  As of the 23rd the competition for the next spot on the team looks like this:

1.    David Sands = 2269.10 points ($88,416)

2.    Faraz  Jaka = 1,143.31 points — ($109,187)

3.    Dan Kelly = 653.68 points — ($17,471)

4.    Michael  = 0 points

Team DoylesRoom have shown us they are a force to be reckoned with so far.  All together they have cashed $1,064,906 at this years WSOP so far. The current 6 members of the Brunson 10 all have cashed with Amit Makhija leading the way with $208,148 in two events followed by Dani Stern who has cashed for $161,934,Chris Moorman has earned $46,470, Zach Clark has cashed for $22,568 in two separate events, Alex Kamberis earned $1,240 and Steve Gross has collected $3,404 at the WSOP.

The DoylesRoom pros have also had a strong tournament so far.  Allen Kessler has earned $370,374 by cashing in 7 separate events. Cashing in 3 events, Hoyt Corkins has brought home $11,000 and Todd Brunson has won $26,292 in two events so far.

To keep track of how DoylesRoom.com players and pros are doing at the World Series of Poker, visit DoylesRoom.com.

Accepts all Players