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Party Gaming making some major moves as the largest online poker corporation
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By Pete Harrison
LONDON (Reuters) - Online poker operation PartyGaming (Owner of
PartyPoker) said it was taking over two of its four partners and ending its relationship with a third as it prepares to launch a new, upgraded service.
Friday's news put pressure on
Empire Online aka Empire Poker, the fourth partner, which PartyGaming is also in talks to buy, analysts said.
PartyGaming said it had agreed to pay $14.5 million cash for Multipoker and was buying most of IntertopsPoker, which sources close to the deal said had gone for about $4 million cash.
The two deals add about 300,000 players to PartyGaming's
PartyPoker Web site, but more importantly give the company access to Multipoker's Scandinavian clientele.
PartyGaming's shares were up 1.6 percent to 93 pence by 1136 GMT, valuing the group at around 3.7 billion pounds.
A third partner, Coral Eurobet, is due to leave PartyGaming's online poker platform, migrating its players to a new platform over the next few weeks, it added, confirming a Reuters report last week.
RISE AND FALL
"We now look forward to the launch of the Party-branded integrated platform in the first half of 2006, when we will expand the number of games available to our customers," PartyGaming Chief Executive Richard Segal said in a statement.
PartyGaming listed in June with a market value of 4.6 billion pounds, swiftly rising to more than 6 billion.
Party Poker - The Biggest Online Poker Room and big bonus $100 for new players. Sign up today. Learn to Play pokerBut cautious language in a September statement spooked investors, wiping 2 billion pounds off its value, and its shares have not yet recovered the lost ground.
Empire Online was founded by marketing guru Noam Lanir, son of an Israeli war hero, and listed on London's junior AIM stock market in June.
After a 790 million pounds bid by rival Sportingbet was aborted in September, its shares have waned as various moves by PartyGaming have illustrated the vulnerability of Empire's customer base. It is now worth around 250 million pounds.
Players on PartyGaming's four partner sites, known as "skins", have been able to compete with each other in the online poker room, but the loss of players from IntertopsPoker, Multipoker and Coral Eurobet leaves those of Empire Online on their own.
This represents a 40 percent reduction in the number of players, analysts said, raising the risk that Empire will lose its own players as they follow the herd.
"PartyGaming is using this to further squeeze down the price it pays for Empire -- that's if it bothers at all," said Robin Chhabra at Evolution Securities.
"They're just deciding now if they're going to squeeze it and then buy it, or just kill it," he added.
Empire's shares had lost 22 percent since Reuters reported last week that Coral Eurobet had decided to go it alone, and by 1136 GMT, they lost a further 1.7 percent to reach 86 pence.
NBA Basketball Legends show up for the sportsbook annual tournaments
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Paradise poker offers bigger weekly guranteed poker tournamentsJulius Irving (Dr. J) at the Sportsbook.com Poker Tournament at the National Basketball Retired Players Association annual meeting in Jamaica.
NBA basketball legends Julius Irving and Moses Malone were among dozens of former NBA and ABA greats to play poker with Sportsbook.com at the annual National Basketball Retired Players Association's (NBRPA) Legends of Basketball meetings in Trelawney, Jamaica.
Sportsbook.com owner of
Paradise Poker, the world's largest online sportsbook and casino, sponsored the poker tournament that featured 30 former professional basketball superstars. Former Houston Rocket, Cliff Meely won the tournament.
"
Sportsbook.com is thrilled to have sponsored this event with the NBRPA," said Alex Czajkowski, Marketing Director, Sportsbook.com. "This poker tournament was a highlight of the weekend for a lot of these players. They had a great time with Sportsbook.com and we hope to do it again in the future."
The NBRPA is an Association made up of over 1,000 retired players from the NBA, ABA and the Harlem Globetrotters, This year, the member's annual meetings were held at the Star Fish Resort in Trelawney, Jamaica.
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Dart leagues, bowling leagues and... Poker Leagues???
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Play at Paradise Poker - Bigger and Better TournamentsPoker players in their own league
Jill Cohen
The Desert Sun
November 9, 2005
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Bowlers have leagues. Dart throwers have leagues. And I have just discovered, much to my surprise and delight, that poker players also have leagues.
This past Saturday night, Soboba Casino launched the Soboba Poker League. The game is no-limit Texas Hold 'Em. There are nine teams, each team consisting of 10 players. The prizes are awarded on both an individual and team basis. The players compete for cash, trophies, a gold bracelet, an entry into the 2006 Legends of Poker Tournament and bragging rights.
I am on Team Just Ice, whose core group is four guys who make their living as poker dealers (when they're not on the golf course). We did well, and at the end of Week 1, Just Ice is second in the standings, behind Team Soboba, ahead of Bad Beat and Card Sharx.
Rules of the game
The way it works, a monthly tournament is held. The 10 players who make it to the final table each receive a certain number of points based on what place they finish. For example, this week I finished in fifth place, for which I earned 6 points for Team Just Ice, and 6 for myself. Other players from Just Ice came in sixth, seventh and eighth. Together, we earned a total of 24 points for our team.
Find out why poker players are raving about Titan Poker - 100% Deposit Bonus up to $500!After six months of play, there will be a championship tournament. All 10 members of the team with the most points will be entered into the final. The three top-ranked players from each of the other eight teams will also be entered. At the tournament's end, the second- through 10th-place winners will divide up $2,000 in prize money. The first-place winner will be awarded an entry into the 2006 Legends of Poker Tournament at The Bicycle Casino (a $5,000 value). In addition, the player who earned the most overall points throughout the six-month season will get a trophy and a gold bracelet.
Team poker is a truly unique experience. Usually, poker is a solitary effort. You are a lone combatant attempting to outplay everyone at your table. But in this version, you are not alone. You are pulling for other players at the table. That said, when pitted against your teammates, you're motivated to win because of the individual points and prize money. But when you're out of the hand, watching your teammates play against members of the other team, you've got a rooting interest. This is definitely a horse of a different color.
Strategies for short handed limit hold em
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Get your 100% Deposit Bonus up to $600 at Full Tilt Poker - Play where the poker pro's play!!!In last week's tip, I shared some strategies for playing short-handed no-limit cash games. This week, I'm following up with some more short-handed advice, this time concentrating on Limit Hold ‘em.
If you read last week's tip, you'll know that hand values change in short-handed play and that it's proper to play a greater percentage of hands than would be wise at a full ring game. In these games, I play a lot of hands. So many, in fact, I've gotten the reputation of being something of a maniac. But there is a method to my madness. By the end of this article, I think you'll agree.
Button Play
In a three- or four-handed Limit Hold ‘em cash game, I will raise about two of every three times I have the button. The quality of my hand is essentially irrelevant. The position raise puts me in control of the hand and, even if I'm holding total trash, the pressure puts the blinds in a spot where they need to catch a piece of the flop.
For example, say I raise on the button and the big blind calls with a modest but playable hand, maybe Qc-Td. Now, if the flop comes with any Ace or King, the blind is going to have a very difficult time continuing with the hand if he checks and I bet the flop. In fact, the blind is going to have a very difficult time continuing on any board that doesn't contain a Queen or Ten.
If I follow up my raise and bet the flop with, say, 7-high, and get called or check-raised, it's very easy to lay down the hand. I know this is going to happen at times, but I pick up the pot often enough to make the constant button aggression profitable.
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When playing against opponents who raise frequently in position, I'm sure to respond with aggression in the small blind. If I'm holding a hand that's likely best at a three-handed table - something as modest as A-9 might qualify - and I'm facing a button raise, I take control of the hand and three-bet. That puts additional pressure on the big blind. If I only call the button raise, the big blind will be getting great odds (5:1) to call the additional bet. And I'd far prefer to play the hand heads-up.
After three-betting from the small blind, I follow up with a bet on the flop almost 100 percent of the time. Since I represented a big hand pre-flop, I want to put my opponent to a decision immediately. Once I see how my opponent reacts, I can decide how I should proceed with the hand. I'll have to give it up sometimes, but the pressure will force a lot of folds.
Big Blind Play
The big blind is the only place where I'm content to call bets pre-flop. In fact, a call is my usual reaction to a button raise. If I start with a moderate hand, I can see the flop and decide how to proceed. If I start with a strong hand, like pocket Aces or Kings, I'll still call and look to check-raise the flop. I don't like to three-bet from the big blind because it tends to announce my hand. My opponents know that I'm starting with a very big hand.
Overall Goal
As you can probably tell by now, I believe that aggression is key to success in short-handed Limit Hold ‘em. I think the constant bets and raises create two dynamics that can be exploited for profit. First, by being the aggressor, I have the opportunity to pick up a number of pots where both my opponent and I miss the flop.
Second, the aggression has the tendency to lead opponents to make some very bad decisions. After some time, opponents may call bets on every street with nothing more than Ace- or King-high. When they start doing that, I can tighten up and only bet hands that are likely to be winners at showdown.
At times my style may look maniacal. But in short-handed limit play, it works.
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A little history on roots of poker and its evolution to the world series of poker
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Get your share of over $1,000,000 in tournament prize pools at Ultimate.Bet!The Tournament Poker Shift To No-Limit Hold 'Em
November 02, 2005
Earl Burton
If you look back at the history of the game of poker, there has been several subtle movements in the most popular forms of the game. Originally the game, played on the riverboats of the Mississippi and in the gaming houses of New Orleans, surprisingly had no draws at all! Twenty cards were used, the four suits of Aces through Jacks, and five cards were dealt out to the players. They wagered on who had the best hand through what they sat there and held or helped to popularize the bluff by making their opponents think they had more.
In the Civil War, Five Card Stud and Draw came into being as the choice of the soldiers who, looking for a diversion from the bloody battles, came together and competed against each other with a full deck of cards (which allowed more players to get in the game than the original four player limit). This carried over into the late 19th century Wild West. Even during the success of the game in that period, Texas Hold 'Em was coming into being, as was Seven Card Stud and Omaha as well.
Let's fast forward the clock to the mid-1980's. Of the fourteen events that made up the 1985 World Series of Poker, there was a pretty even balance of games across the board. There were five Seven Card events (with one split game and, interestingly, the Women's Tournament), three Omaha games, two Ace-to-Five tournaments, and one each of Kansas City Lowball, Limit Hold 'Em and a No-Limit championship, with the Main Event being (as tradition has been throughout its history) another No-Limit event. This seemed to be the true test of poker, with players playing in pretty much every event and challenging their skills across the board.
With the announcement last week of the schedule of events for the 2006 World Series of Poker, there has been a maelstrom of protest from pretty much everyone. Of the forty four events that make up the 2006 schedule, over half are No-Limit Texas Hold 'Em events, with games such as Omaha, Seven Card, Razz and others reduced to second class citizen status, battling for the other twenty or so slots. This hasn't set well with many players and has brought a tremendous amount of criticism upon Harrah's, who set the schedule for the 37th renewal of the World Series.
As usual, you have to look at all parts of the spectrum before you rush to get your torches and burn down the castle. Currently, the world of poker is dominated by the No-Limit game. People see the contests on the World Poker Tour or the World Series on ESPN and, naturally, want to take their shot at the tournaments as well. For the newcomers to the game (especially the younger generations), they may not even realize that there are "other" forms of poker that have many more nuances and strategies to challenge their skills.
The move to no-limit has also been accelerated by other tournament schedules that only have no-limit events. A look at the recent September WSOP Circuit stop at Harrah's in Las Vegas was nothing but no-limit tournaments and the recent Festa al Lago tournament at the Bellagio in October was all no-limit as well. To lay the entirety of the blame on the door of the Harrah's WSOP management team is not deserved.
Players and message boards have also been griping about the lack of tournaments other than no-limit at the World Series, especially the lack of a mixed game such as S.H.O.E or H.O.R.S.E. Daniel Negreanu, in his blog, was especially harsh in his criticism of the WSOP management because, for the second year in a row, there was no mixed game, which he feels is a true poker challenge. While I tend to agree with Daniel about mixed games being a very good poker challenge, it's not like there was a tremendous background of mixed games in World Series history. By my research, the first mixed game event in World Series history (a S.H.O.E tournament) was held back in 2001! As recently as 2004, there was a mixed game tournament in the World Series; this doesn't lend to a rich tradition of mixed games being a part of World Series lore!
The major tournaments move toward no-limit is very simple. It is following the apparent desires of the majority of people who play the game. While most may only be recent converts to the thrills of the sport of poker, with their money (and the television exposure generated by that money) the players are stating that this is the game of the moment. Thus, the casinos and tournaments are granting what apparently is being asked for. When you add in the factor that, in general, no-limit tournaments are a much quicker event than the drawn out battles of Omaha Eights or Better (Hi/Lo) or Seven Card (both Stud and Hi/Lo) tournaments, then the casinos are going to go with those games that keep the faces changing in the seats that are there.
If the casinos, though, see that the recognized faces of the game are avoiding certain tournaments (except for their Main Events, of course), then this could signal that some changes should be made. For the most part, you don't see the big names of the game playing in low buy in events. Because of the tremendous travel expenses and efforts in tournament play, many professionals avoid the preliminary events that make up a full tournament schedule, especially if all the events are no-limit. Perhaps more of the pros would show up if more diverse tournaments were offered (look at 2005 World Series double bracelet winner Mark Seif, who played and won the Seven Card Championship at the U. S. Poker Championships in Atlantic City). This might be something that would shake the casinos attention.
Players do have some ammunition, though. Tournaments, even the World Series, are always looking for ways to maximize participation in the events. Continued clamoring for events other than No-Limit Hold 'Em is a good step. Even something as venerable as the World Series schedule for 2006 isn't set in stone; with enough effort, and enough big names talking, perhaps there could be some adjustments by Harrah's to the schedule to allow for more alternate games. Lacking that, then perhaps another casino could set up a tournament schedule that would offer the balance that many want. This "Alternate Games Poker Championship" could truly be a success, offering the Omaha, Seven Card, and mixed games, along with a no-limit match, that would be a test of poker abilities. It would just take a casino to step to the plate to offer such a tournament, and it would take an overwhelming response from the players to show the support for such an event.
Perhaps it is all just a sign of the continued evolution of poker. While no-limit is the current rage, perhaps in a couple of years (with the increase of popularity of Omaha, especially in Europe and growing in the U. S.) people will be screaming about the lack of no-limit tournaments. Like a rubber band when pulled, when it is released it will snap back Poker is much the same way; as one game becomes big, the others lose a little luster. Eventually, though, it will come back to the same shape. Perhaps then we'll have the diversity of games making their return to tournament poker overall, not just the World Series!
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The WSOP Brings In New Online Mac Casino And Poker Players
With the World Series of Poker nearing the final table showdown, many new online mac casino and mac poker players are starting out at Pacific Poker’s online mac casino.
(PRWEB) October 26, 2005 -- New online mac casino poker players are entering the online poker world at Pacific Poker’s Mac compatible online casino (
www.PacificPoker.com/mac/). The WSOP is bringing new players to online mac casinos by the hundreds.
Online Mac casinos seem to be a rare software to come by says many mac users. Most online casinos are not made for mac users. Pacific Poker recently upgraded its software to become fully Mac compatible with a full casino and Poker Room at
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The thought of winning millions of dollars like this years WSOP champion who’s name can be found by going to the World Series of Poker’s website (www.WorldSeriesofPoker.com) is bringing in flocks of new players to the online Texas Holdem tables. Pacific Poker has satellites for million dollar tournaments at their website also (
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Online mac casino players can use the no download version of Pacific Poker’s software to play when they want without having to buy a Virtual PC software. This Virtual PC software component is needed to play at most online poker rooms that are not mac compatible.
It is well documented on many online poker informational websites that Pacific Poker is known to have the worst players. Many average players with a good solid Texas Holdem fundamentals can win large profits daily at this poker room.
One of the reasons many Mac Pacific Poker players say the reason for so many loose bad players is because Pacific Poker has an online casino and many casino players try their luck at the poker tables having no idea how to play.
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