The Australian Football League(AFL) has found itself in the eye of controversy after local launched an investigation surrounding bets made on Brisbane Lions midfielder Lewis Taylor winning the league’s Rising Star Award.

The controversy reportedly started when authorities discovered that former North Melbourne premiership player and Herald Sun columnist David King admitted that he placed two bets on Taylor to win the award. Normally, such an occurrence wouldn’t have been treated with the attention it’s currently getting, but King is a media member with potential ties to inside information on who is awarded major medals, hence the decision by local authorities to open an investigation on the case.

According to the Herald Sun, the AFL has since launched its own review of betting protocols involving its major medals. The league’s football operations manager, Mark Evans, told the newspaper that new security measures on major awards would be put in place if it was “deemed necessary.”

“Fair to say we will review, or we are reviewing our procedures around the Rising Star and other awards,” Evans added. “We will make sure we have got those (new measures) in place before this year’s awards take place.”

For his part, King has denied any wrongdoing, specifically on rumors that he was using inside information to place the bets on Taylor winning the “Rising Star” award. Instead of taking that perceived short cut to cash in on his bets, King told the Herald Sun that the bets he made were based on his “own football opinion on this guy’s ability to win the award.”

“I know that I placed bets on Lewis Taylor and those amounts were not out of line with my normal wagering,” King added.

But whether he did or didn’t bet on Taylor to win the award isn’t the issue. The real issue here is that King is a media member with access to information that the public isn’t privy to. They’re called “sources” and any leaks from these sources puts him in a position to use these kinds of information to make his picks.

A triumvirate of news stories including Sam Trickett’s accident in his Ferrari; Katie Dozier getting upset with PokerStars and Daniel Negreanu asking if it’s possible to ban certain players from the World Series of Poker?

What a week it’s been for Sam Trickett.

He flunked the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA); likewise at the Aussie Millions, and then lost a ton of money on the Superbowl after a Pete Carroll last minute call that still infuriates him to this day.

Could things get any worse?

In a recent interview with yours truly, I asked him to choose his three most prized possessions. They were his house, his dogs and his Ferrari.

Nooooooooooo! Gutted ! #IamOktho pic.twitter.com/VTmirpQKXe

— Sam Trickett (@Samtrickett1) February 21, 2015

Andrew ‘luckychewy’ Lichtenberger has joined ranks with the Poker Players Alliance in the war against Sheldon Adelson, and anyone else trying to ride roughshod over a fully regulated online poker market in the U.S.

We are at war.

Sheldon Adelson and his band of Crony Capitalists have taken up arms. They have loaded up the tank with shells full of RAWA and the cannon is aimed directly at Capitol Hill.

Who will stop them?

Who is going to save the world of poker?

It feels like an unfair fight. He has all that money, all that influence and organization. That’s going to be the killer. The octogenarian is more organized than we are. He has a plan. Our only plan is to hope he dies of old age before RAWA gets underneath the fingertips of a man without morals.

The online poker industry is in the midst of conflict.

A number of my contacts within the Bitcoin industry have mentioned the importance of big name iGaming operators and suppliers jumping on the Bitcoin bandwagon.  Once this happens, it will be a domino effect, they have said.  Now we’re finally started to see the deals come in and I think its only a matter of time before the floodgates start to open and Bitcoin becomes more prominent in the iGaming industry.

CoinGaming.io, “io” being a popular domain extension for innovative companies and start-ups, is a an online gaming platform provider specializing in Bitcoin solutions for the fiat iGaming sector.  Mark McGuinness has over fifteen years of experience in the digital marketing industry and is currently serving as the Communications Director for Coingaming.io.  I had the opportunity to sit down with Mark and talk with him about what the deal with Microgaming entails, why its so important for the Bitcoin industry and what some of CoinGaming’s plans are over the coming months.

Thank you so much for joining me today, Mark.  Lets talk about the Coingaming deal with Microgaming and what it entails.  Can you elaborate?

We are extremely pleased to be the first-ever licensed Bitcoin only, online gaming platform to offer Microgaming Quickfire games.

Microgaming is one of the world’s foremost gaming software brands and quite rightly chooses its marketing partners carefully. Our journey took several months of discussion with several stakeholders involved in the process, covering due diligence, updated gaming licence requirements, and a positive outlook towards Bitcoin and the subsequent integration from both the Isle of Man (where Microgaming are headquartered) and Montenegro (where our gaming licence is held).

This successful outcome means, we are now able to offer Quickfire, powered by Microgaming, to operators that use the Coingaming Bitcoin only online casino platform.  With access to over 400 games, which include games like Avalon II, Thunderstruck II, and branded content titles such as; The Dark Knight™, The Dark Knight Rises™ and Playboy™ players now have the opportunity to play some of the best gaming content available.

Early feedback has been amazing; with our first operator www.bitcasino.io being live for over 2 weeks now, reporting positive player engagement and high volume on the Quickfire games.

Main Event Travel: Solving Problems for Poker Players Video

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Lee Davy shares an op-ed based on his experience of playing poker with a transgender, and Doyle Brunson’s outspoken reaction to Bruce Jenner’s decision to become a woman.

I recently played poker with someone who is transgender. At least I think I did? I liked it. It piqued my curiosity. I’m not a cat. I’m the kid who stared at his Grandmothers moustache.

I grew up in a little mining village. Asian people worked in restaurants, Indian people ran corner shops, and there was only one black man in the whole village. I don’t know what he did? I don’t even know if I am allowed to call him black?

Then there was the kid who was not really Chinese, and not really white. He was a bit of an oddity. His name was Lee.

I know a bit about being the kernel in the popcorn. So forgive my fascination when a woman who looks like a man, but is a woman at heart, and a man in physical appearance, sits down at my poker table and starts kicking ass.

She sat down and everything changed. There was an awkwardness at the table. It wasn’t there before. There was confusion during a hand. Somebody called her him by mistake. Cheeks reddened. Hope that the male vernacular had not passed those pearl earrings not doing enough to fan the flames.

For several hours prior to this young woman taking her seat, some of the players were saying the word ‘ladies’ each time a pair of queens was shown to the table. The tone of the word was queer. Someone uttered it once, after the young woman sat down. Once again blusher was applied. I never heard it muttered again.