Customs confiscates money from poker players

One of the first lessons you learn at the poker tables is that patience is a virtue; for two brothers and a cousin returning to the US from the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) in the Bahamas this lesson appears to have gone unlearned.

18 year-old Sean Ruane of Maywood, New Jersey, his 23 year-old brother Michael Ruane, and the pair’s cousin, 18 year-old Thomas Freeman Jr. were detained by customs officials in the Bahamas for falsely declaring the amount of money they had in their possession according to Tribune242.com. The trio appears to have been aware of the $10,000 law as they divided the over $26,000 they had amongst themselves to fall under the $10,000 threshold in order to fast-track through customs because they were running late for their flight. They soon realized the folly in their plan when they realized they were unaware that it applies to a family and not an individual.

Customs officials became suspicious and conducted a secondary when the younger Ruane began sweating profusely and appeared nervous –another not so good trait for a poker player to have.

While the trio made what appears to be an honest mistake, and there doesn’t seem to be any nefarious activity that took place (perhaps they had plans to hide the $26k for tax evasion purposes) the judge handling the case in the Bahamas, Deputy Chief Magistrate Carolita Bethell, was quick to chastise the youngsters, and despite pleas from their defense attorney to waive a custodial sentence, the judge let the trio sweat before handing down their sentence.

All three plead guilty to the charge and called it an “unequivocal mistake”. Defense Attorney Keith Seymour pointed out their clean criminal records in the Bahamas and in the US, and stated that they realized their money would be confiscated, and they just wanted to return home.

In the end they were convicted, but the judge did not fine or sentence them further, citing that “The confiscation of funds is punishment enough,” adding, “because you have no convictions in this jurisdiction and because you did not waste the court’s time and pleaded guilty.” She did however lecture the three men, stating, “All you had to do was fill out a form, instead you intended to deceive the officers at the pre-clearance… And now you’ve lost all this sum of money,”

This is a valuable lesson for not only the two brothers and their cousin, but for poker players who travel internationally in general. If you’ve done nothing wrong don’t try to get around the system. It’s also a good idea to brush-up on local laws, since had one of the offenders criminal records not been as squeaky clean it’s, or had their attitudes about the funds seizure been different, it’s likely additional fines and possible jail time could have come from this!

News Source: Poker News Boy

Players finally strike back at UB Poker

Three years after the doors were completely blown off the Super-User scandals taking place at Ultimate Bet Poker a group of eight players has decided to file RICO charges against the site’s parent company Exscapa Software. 
The eight players were some of the biggest players at the site during the Super-User days, including well known UB players like Brad Booth, Tom Koral, Dustin Woolf, and Daniel Ashman.

Here is a look at the full list of Plaintiffs named in the lawsuit:

* Daniel Ashman of Cambridge, Massachusetts

* Brad Booth of Vancouver, British Columbia

* Thomas Koral of Skokie, Illinois

* Greg Lavery of Madison, Wisconsin

* Dave Lizmi of Baltimore, Maryland

* Joseph Sanders of Lima, Peru

* Daniel Smith of Bethesda, Maryland

* Dustin Woolf of Los Angeles, California

It seems an odd move so many years after the fact, and after the sites have repaid players millions in that time period, made even more bizarre considering the sites are being liquidated to repay players after the site was named in the Black Friday lawsuits –indications are that the sites will be able to repay only 15% of what is currently owed.

The group of players is not only seeking their monetary losses, but also compensation for interference with prospective economic advantage, intentional infliction of emotional distress, unfair business practices, fraud and negligence. Thus far no specific people have been named as defendants, but the complaint allows for the defendants to be amended in the future; at this time the complaint cites 10 John Does as defendants.

Here is a look at the complaint that was filed on January 13, 2012:

Since at least June 2003 and until at least January 2008 Excapsa/UltimateBet did conspire to and did direct, effect, and permit the theft of over $2 million held in plaintiffs’ online poker accounts at UltimateBet.com. Specifically, by creating and making use of an intentional a security flaw in the UltimateBet.com software, and with the assistance of owners, agents, and employees of Excapsa and its various subsidiaries that operated UltimateBet, defendants either allowed others to or did directly view plaintiffs ‘hole cards’ during high-stakes poker matches run at UltimateBet.com.

With the assistance of owners, operators, officers, employees, and/or agents of Excapsa and its subsidiaries, the cheaters were further able to change their online identities to avoid detection and to improperly funnel their illicit proceeds through various UltimateBet accounts in a manner that would have been impossible without insider assistance. Through these activities, defendants stole or caused to be stolen at least 20 million dollars from plaintiffs and other high-stakes poker players at games run by UltimateBet.

At this time, plaintiffs suspect but do not know the identities of Does 1-10. Evidence, some of which is discussed below, has arisen that some of the founders and management of UltimateBet and Excapsa, including Greg Pierson, Jon Karl, Jack Bates, Russ Hamilton, and others who formerly operated (and may continue to be involved in the operation of) UltimateBet were likely aware of or involved the conspiracy to cheat players. However, because the identities and activities of UltimateBet and those who have profited from its operations has been intentionally shielded though numerous agents, subsidiaries, and foreign corporations, it will be necessary to conduct significant discovery before a complete list of defendants can be identified. After such discovery, plaintiffs will seek to amend the complaint to add additional defendants.

In “the UltimateBet.com online poker cheating scandal” plaintiffs and other high-stakes online poker players were cheated out of millions of dollars in crooked online poker games where their opponents (employees, agents, owners, and/or officers of Excapsa/UltimateBet) had illicit access to players ‘hole’ cards. Plaintiffs unknowingly played games of high-stakes poker with their cards essentially face-up. The facts underlying the case have already been the subject of intense public interest and media scrutiny, including a feature story on 60 Minutes, an investigative series by the Washington Post, a feature article by MSNBC, and hundreds of articles and news reports across the Internet.

Party Poker Bonus Codes can Boost Your Bankroll

When I was searching articles about poker, I just read more abot the bankroll until I found this article that helps me a lot to give an overview about the poker bonus which is being released by different number of poker rooms around the world.

Those of you who play poker online know how easy it is to quickly run through a deposit before getting comfortable at a table. Party Poker knows this and therefor offers several different bonus offers to new players to boost their bankroll.

Do not get me wrong, we all know the other reasons they give you a bonus as well. If you have never played on Party Poker before, you should be able to take advantage of one of their new bonus offers. Remember that Party Poker offers these bonuses to first time players only.

Last week Party Poker launched two new bonus offers. This is because of the recent laws passed in the United States that prohibit US residents from gambling online. Party Poker is now trying to gain more players by offering better bonuses to new real money players.

The two new bonuses they are offering are an extra 120% of your first deposit limited to 200 dollars, and a 50 dollar bonus on your first deposit. I personally find the 120% bonus to be a better offer because you can receive up to $200 of free money to play with.

Keep in mind the fine print. In order to receive this bonus you have to play a certain amount of raked hands. A raked hand is any hand in which Party Poker takes their percentage out of. What happens if your deposit runs out before you reach the required number of ranked hands? You do not get the bonus. Play it safe until you reach the required number of raked hands. Keep an extra 20 or 30 dollars aside incase you lose it all. This way you can use your last bit of money to reach the raked hand limit and receive your bonus.

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Article Source: Ezine Articles

Preview of the 2012 Aussie Millions Poker Festival

The tenth running of the celebrated Aussie Millions Poker Championship is set to begin Thursday with the first of 26 events at Crown Casino in Melbourne, Australia. The series will continue until Jan. 30.

Over the past decade the Aussie Millions has grown in prestige and popularity.

In 2011 the Aussie Millions made history by playing host to the largest open buy-in tournament ever — the $250,000 Super High Roller. Incredibly, 20 players put up the massive buy-in, building a nearly $5 million prize pool.

Eventual champion Erik Seidel took home nearly $2.5 million for the victory.

The $250,000 buy-in tournament is scheduled to return in 2012. It’s record-setting events like this, combined with the growth of the main event, that have helped the Aussie Millions become one of the premiere tournament stops.

The $10,000 main event, a week-long endeavor starting on Jan. 22, drew 721 players last year, building a $7.2 million prize pool. Australian David Gorr was the last man standing. He earned $2 million and 2,400 Card Player Player of the Year points for capturing the title.

In addition to the $250,000 and the $10,000 events, the series will once again host its $100,000 Challenge.

Last year saw a record turnout of 38 players to build a prize pool of just under $3.8 million. Eventual champion Sam Trickett earned $1.5 million for topping the elite field.

The 2012 Aussie Millions will also be spreading tournaments with a wide selection of games — including Chinese poker, H.O.R.S.E. and pot-limit Omaha. With buy-ins as low as $500, every player from the weekend warrior to high rollers will have something to play.

In addition to tournament action, the Aussie Millions has historically been home to some cash game action. Last year’s nosebleed games of $500-$1,000 no-limit hold’em featured the likes of Phil Ivey, Patrik Antonius and Tom Dwan, as well as regulars from Macau.

Check out Card Player TV’s behind-the-scenes look at the game below:

Play rake free tournaments on PartyPoker!

Play rake free tournaments on PartyPoker! All multi-table tournaments (MTT’s) are rake free during January with all fees eliminated!

This unique offer is simple: all money paid by the players will go to the prizepool. The rake free period applies to ALL MTT tournaments.

We will run this outstanding value promotion for the whole month of January  – we are already pleased with the positive response we have seen from the poker community.

$0 tournament fees will run for a limited time. Click “like” and play these rake free tournaments!

Dress to Kill – Poker Fashion Tips

While playing online poker, you could actually dress into anything you like. However, when you venture out to a real casino, there would be other players around you. At the same time as clothing may perhaps seem inconsequential, it plays an important role in how people perceive you. We have listed a few fashion guidelines for poker rooms, leaving you comfortable as well as attractive.

Get into action

While entering poker rooms, your first priority would be to make money. However, you need to dress in such a way that people would want to play with you. Loads of women dress too ‘seriously’ for poker games or they eventually end up looking like boys. One of the most important tips is to dress like a girl. Such a way, your fellow players may consider you to be an easy bet and may perhaps want to play with you.

Be clean

At the same time as this might seem irrelevant, it is extremely important to be clean. Poker tournaments can last for days and hence you must shower at least once a day, apply some good perfume and wash your hair everyday. You would be sitting pretty close to the other poker players and hence you might not want to stink. Secondly, you must wash your hands regularly. The chips in the casino have never been washed and therefore hand sanitizers make an excellent accessory at the poker table.

Dresses work well

You would often come across most delusionally-dressed players in the poker room. On the other hand, poker room is also a perfect place to flaunt your expensive dress. It would be entirely your call, but make sure that you are in pace with the fashion trends across the world. Do not wear exposing clothes. For one, you would attract a lot of male attention that may perhaps make you feel uncomfortable. In addition, a majority of these casinos have their air conditioning system on max and you might actually feel cold. Poker games are interesting and they call for a lot of attention. Wear clothes which would allow you to relax and feel good during the games. A positive attitude can ultimately make a big difference to your mindset during the exhaustive games.

Poker Can Be A Lot of Fun

Please always play with the intention of having fun and leave the heavy gambling to the pros. Many lives have been destroyed because of addiction to gambling.

For those who are poker fanatics, it is then a very important step to learn about the poker odds for you to fully master the poker game. So what then are the poker odds?

First things first, it is important to remember that the poker odds is basically composed of three major types of poker odds which play a great part in poker. It is a common knowledge that some of the poker players today are familiar with the card poker odds, and most of them even base their playing and betting decisions on those card poker odds. However, the card poker odds are meaningless without the consideration of the investment poker odds. And in line with that the presence of the edge poker odds, which evaluate the relative performance of every poker player is then considerable.

In particular, the card poker odds are explained to be the probabilities of being drawn or dealing to different poker hands. It is then considered that due to its being the first important poker odds, the card poker odds are then reviewed in most resources about poker. To further give ideas about this type of poker odds, one of the probabilities to explain this particular thing is to know that there are 2,598,960 various poker hands in a 52-card deck. So is a poker player is dealt with 100,000 poker hands in his lifetime, that poker player will never hold on his first five poker cards more than four percent of all the possible poker hands. With such sample probability alone, the card odds will then reveal a sort of interesting information.

The investment poker odds, as it is defined by most resources on poker, are essentially the calculated returns on the money that is bet. It is just then necessary to note that the investment poker odds are approximated based on the this formula: the potential size of the pot by dollar being multiplied by the probability of winning the pot, over the potential loss by dollar is equal to the investment poker odds. So then if you are poker beginners or are not mathematically inclined, forget the formula for now and read on. With enough poker experience, you will later on realize that the accurate calculations of the investment poker odds are not best achieved by mathematical problem solving but by the proper thinking methods.

Along with that basic knowledge about the investment poker odds, it is also noted that the investment poker odds are essential for making playing decisions and correct betting. However, many poker players lose sight of this since most of them rely on card poker odds which often lead to wrong decisions. This is for the reason that sometimes the investment poker odds favor drawing to an inside straight and sometimes favour folding three aces before the draw.

Lastly, the edge poker odds are then poker odds that function to indicate the relative performance of a player in a poker game. It is noted that the more games used to estimate the edge poker odds, the more significant they become. And the edge poker odds that are based on ten or more games should reflect the relative performance of a player fairly accurately. With that, the best poker player is therefore able to maintain edge poker odds from 25% to 65%, depending on the game and the abilities of the other poker players.

Article Source: Expression Web Designer Tips