This month marks five years since fast-fold poker made its debut with Rush Poker on Full Tilt.

Since that time, the copycats have come out in full force with similar names such as Blaze Poker, Speed Hold’em, Zone Poker, FastForward, Zoom Poker, Fast Poker, etc. You get the idea.

It is safe to say that fast-fold poker is now a staple of the online poker industry, providing impatient players with the option of being quickly jettisoned to a new table and a new hand when their starting hole cards are deemed unworthy of playing.

PokerScout.com reports that at present almost 45% of cash game action on Full Tilt takes place on Rush Poker tables. That presumably includes Adrenaline Rush, an even faster version of Rush Poker that Full Tilt unleashed one year ago. Adrenaline Rush allows a maximum of only four players per table and no post-flop betting.

Andy Beal is apparently not done with high stakes poker after all. On Friday, the billionaire that took on poker’s elite during the early years of the Poker Boom returned to Bobby’s Room at the Bellagio to play some high stakes Limit Hold’em.

Beal’s opponent was Todd Brunson, son of the legendary Doyle Brunson. Both players sat down with $5 million apiece, playing blinds of $50k/100k. However, by the end of the night it was Brunson that walked away with $10 million.

Pro poker player Kyle Loman notified the poker world of the epic clash between the two players via Twitter and provided regular updates throughout the night. In the early hours of the confrontation, nearly 20 people were railing the game in Bobby’s Room, including Doyle. However, as the match continued through the night, only Doyle remained and he eventually went to bed.

The Win is Only Mildly Epic Considering the Stakes

Amid the California online poker legislation talk and the return of Andy Beal to the Bellagio, a small story with the potential for huge industry-wide ramifications has quietly been gaining steam: Nevada Senate Bill SB40.

SB 40 is designed to prevent sports betting proxies from placing bets (either for a fee or a share of the proceeds) without being properly licensed in the state, but based on its current language the bill would ostensibly make staking in poker tournaments a felony in the state, and this has some poker players extremely nervous.

SB 40 was pre-filed on behalf of the Nevada Gaming Control Board on December 20 but just came to light this past week.

What does SB 40 do?

BIG:T;he online poker legislation proposed this week by California Assemblyman Reginald Jones-Sawyer has received a thumbs up from the coalition that includes PokerStars.

Lacking a specific “bad actor” clause, as well as including the state’s horse racing industry, AB 167 is seemingly inclusive rather than exclusive, a departure from previous bills proposed over the past several years.

Q:We applaud Assembly Member Jones-Sawyer for his thoughtful approach to iPoker legislation in California which takes into account many years of input from stakeholders on all sides,” said a statement issued by the PokerStars Coalition that includes the San Manuel and Morongo tribes, and the Commerce, Hawaiian Gardens and Bicycle cardrooms.;

That coalition further stated that the particulars and fine print of the proposal are still being analyzed, presumably by attorneys who can wade through the legalese, but a first reading finds encouragement in the fact that AB 167 “will move the discussion of online poker forward in a positive direction.”

Amaya Gaming was the darling of the gaming world in 2014.

The little-known Canadian B2B gaming company became an overnight sensation when it purchased PokerStars and all of its assets this past summer, a remarkable $45 billion deal orchestrated by company CEO David Baazov.

In the lead up to the sale, and in the aftermath, Amaya stock was a hot commodity – volcano/supernova/surface of the sun hot – as the price went from $7 to $35. And when a stock sees that type of increase in just a few short months it usually draws the watchful eyes of regulators, which is precisely what happened to Amaya Gaming and the companies that helped finance the sale.

Amaya saw its stock price tumble following the investigation by Quebec security regulators, who intimated they were investigating potential trading shenanigans that may have taken place during the lead up to the sale of PokerStars to Amaya Gaming.

As promised, Assemblyman Reginald Jones-Sawyer introduced an online poker bill to be considered during California’s 2015 legislative session.

The Internet Poker Consumer Protection Act of 2015 is the second online poker bill proposed in the state in as many months, and looks to be a bit more palatable to California’s gaming interests as a whole than the measure volleyed by Assemblyman Mike Gatto (AB 9) in December. Racetracks are allowed to participate along with cardrooms and Indian tribes in Jones-Sawyer’s measure (AB 167), while horsemen had been scratched from the program under the Gatto-sponsored bill.

The latest proposal contains no specific “bad actor” clause, which also differs from the bill introduced last month. But AB 167 does include language that may exclude PokerStars by prohibiting those who have “contemptuously defied a legislative investigative body” of any state, the U.S., or jurisdictions in foreign lands “when that body is engaged in the investigation of crimes relating to poker ….”

Parties involved getting closer?

BIG:T;he sale of the Revel will continue without delay. According to a report from the Press of Atlantic City, a federal judged has denied requests from former tenants and the casino’s former power provider to halt the sale of the casino.

Chief U.S. District Judge Jerome Simandle issued a 50-page opinion on Wednesday that put an end to an attempt to block the $95.4 million sale of the Revel to Florida real estate developer Glenn Straub. Straub was the backup bidder in the initial Revel auction and was awarded the backup bid after Brookfield Holdings failed to close on their deal.

Judge Rules City Could Be Irreparably Harmed if Straub Walks Away

The key to the judge’s ruling on Wednesday was two-fold. First, Straub made it clear that he would walk away from the deal if he did not have clear title to the property. Second, Straub was the only remaining bidder and there are no parties currently waiting in the wings to take a gamble on the casino.

Ultimate Poker was the talk of the town for two years running, but it would take a miracle for the company to become one of the big stories of 2015.

Ultimate was one of the biggest stories of 2013 thanks to the historic launch of Ultimate Poker. The company launched the first legal, fully licensed online poker room in the United States on April 30, 2013, forever etching their name in the poker annals.

Ultimate Poker was one of the biggest stories of 2014 as well, but for reasons the company, its employees, and its investors would just as soon forget.

RIP Ultimate Poker: April 30, 2013 – November 17, 2014

I am close to finishing my first book. Quick confession: it’s actually a collection of blog posts that I have written over the past five years. The process has been an arduous one. A journey blocked by fear, procrastination and self-judgment.

I once read that the best way to write a book is to think of it as a block of wood. That block of wood is your daily practice of writing. Over time your book will emerge from that piece of wood. It will have definition, substance and individuality – but first of all you need to keep hammering away like a woodpecker.

This is why I have so much admiration for Jonathan Little. He churns out books at the rate the unemployed of the Chatsworth Estate churn out kids. The quality is impressive also. Every one of his books is like a tome. Thick, voluminous and containing more treats than a Kinder egg.

How does he do it?

When WSOP.com and the All American Poker Network (888 Poker) entered the New Jersey market in late 2013, most were surprised that the two companies did not share player pools in the same fashion that Borgata and PartyPoker did. As a result, Borgata spent the year on top of the NJ online poker market. That now has changed.

Starting last week, WSOP.com and 888poker started to partially share player pools in cash games and in select tournaments and Sit & Go tournaments. In less than a week, that sharing has allowed both sites to leapfrog PartyPoker to take over as the top spots in New Jersey.

WSOP.com Solidly in First – 888 Holds Slight Edge for Second

PokerScout.com is the game’s top source for online poker traffic and the site has been tracking WSOP.com’s rise over the past week. Both WSOP.com and 888 have leapfrogged Party Borgata in terms of seven-day average. Borgata is still in second place when considering peak hour players.

There have been plenty of exciting, history-making moments since ESPN expanded their World Series of Poker coverage in 2003. The dawn of poker on TV brought about instant classics such as Chris Moneymaker vs. Phil Ivey, Moneymaker’s bluff against Sammy Farha, Joe Hachem’s flopped straight, and Mike Matusow’s KK vs. AA. Thanks to the cameras these hands are etched in our minds, as are a few older hands like Johnny Chan’s slowplayed straight against Erik Seidel and Doyle Brunson’s back-to-back wins with Ten-Deuce.

These hands turned poker players into legends, and helped shape poker history. But there are other hands, hands few people have seen, that forever altered the course of poker history as well. Here are six of them.

1984 Main Event: Cowboy Bluffs Jesse Alto

Jesse Alto could very well be the best “old school” player never to win the World Series of Poker Main Event. Alto made the final table a remarkable seven times (six if you discount his 9th place finish in 1988), and he had several legitimate chances at winning the title.

Online poker has two new millionaires, compliments of PokerStars and their $5 Spin & Go promotion.

The weekend produced two $1 million jackpot winners, one hailing from the Czech Republic and the other from Canada, who joined a Russian player that claimed the first million-dollar prize last Monday. For those keeping score, that’s $3 million paid out to winners in the course of a week! And $600,000 to the losers!

The $1 million prize on a $5 buy-in promo began in December, but the jackpot never hit before 2015 arrived. The new year has crowned three winners with almost two weeks left to go in the promotion.

$1 million winner on Saturday

The cryptocurrency known as Bitcoin has seen its value drop to $209 as of this writing, with a number of industry experts sounding the alarm that the end may be near.

The virtual currency’s appeal to the world of online poker and gambling is evident in the ability to process transactions anonymously, yet that appeal also brings with it a fear of illegal activity. A push to increase the use of Bitcoin as a payment processing alternative on poker sites began in the new year, but that push may end up falling off a cliff if those financial experts are to be believed.

The U.S.-friendly Winning Poker Network added Bitcoin for deposits last week. That followed the announced launches of Bitcoin-only poker rooms Get Lucky Poker, BitnPlay and Burnturn Poker, the latter two preparing to enter the market later this year and the former currently in beta testing.

Bitcoins have no physical form and must always be converted into another currency. Their acceptance remains a niche market at best, with mainstream acceptance seeming more unlikely as time moves on.

When you end the year as the biggest online cash game loser on the planet, it’s not a bad idea to focus your energy elsewhere. That’s exactly what Gus Hansen has done, who according to reports in the Danish rag Berlingske Business Growth, has invested ‘millions’ into the game of Bridge.

It was a sour 2014 for the Great Dane. Not only did he end the year with $5,864,263 in losses spread over 1,604 sessions and 200,904 hands, but his employment with Full Tilt ended after the online gambling outfit dropped The Professionals around the same time they were cutting the word poker from their brand name.

Hansen is a renowned Bridge enthusiast. In 2010, the 40-year old surprised everyone when he partnered with the Irishman Tom Hanlon to win the Pro-Am pairs event at the inaugural Copenhagen Bridge Invitational. The pair also squared off in a special Bridge, Blackjack and Pool event at the 2013 Full Tilt United Kingdom & Ireland (UKIPT) Galway Festival. Hansen won the event after taking the honors in both pool and blackjack, with Hanlon winning the Bridge game. The festival was also the home of the inaugural Irish Bridge Masters.

With over $20m in online cash losses, the Dane, who is the biggest loser in the history of the game, has joined forces with Hanlon and businessman Nils Foss to invest in a Bridge shuffling machine known as Bridge+More. The device belongs to Bridge Company (founded in 2009 under the name Bridge4People), a company that specializes in developing and selling innovative products and services to the Bridge community.

When California Assemblyman Mike Gatto introduced an online poker bill last month, he indicated at the time that AB 9 was being offered as a starting point and that changes would be required before the final version was achieved.

The first amendments to AB 9 have been announced via press release and Gatto has decided to scrap the idea of requiring in-person appearances for initial deposits and certain withdrawals. That provision in Gatto’s proposal received considerable criticism and the lawmaker showed his flexibility by nixing the idea.

Q:After meeting with security experts and hearing from poker players and industry professionals, I have concluded that online poker would be best served by making in-person registration an option rather than a requirement,” Gatto said.;

Gatto’s initial thoughts were that the anti-online gambling crowd who are concerned about fraud, money laundering and minors accessing gaming sites would be appeased by the in-person requirement. He has since apparently become convinced that he was perhaps trying to fix a problem that exists only in the minds of those who oppose online poker and gambling.

The 2015 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure is officially in the books and this year’s edition is heralded as a complete success. Despite the controversy surrounding re-entry events, both high roller events shattered records for entries and prize pools. Also, Kevin Schulz walked away with the PCA Main Event title and $1.49 million.

Kevin Schulz Wins PCA Main Event for $1.49 Million

The 2015 PCA Main Event drew a solid field of 816 players but for most of the first four days, the poker world was obsessed with the man known as Ronaldo. The retired Brazilian footballer went deep in the Main Event, ultimately finishing in 26th place. Once the obsession over Ronaldo died down, we could focus on who would take down the $1.49 million first place prize.

The final table of this event started with Chance Kornuth as chip leader and American pro Kevin Schulz second in chips. Kornuth would fall in third place, leaving Schulz to battle Diego Ventura for the title.

Most of the time poker is a very predatory game for someone like me, taking money from others to pay my bills. I don’t produce anything or make the world a better place by playing poker, so it can be an unfulfilling job at times, which is why I like charity events so much. They aren’t just fun, they make you feel like poker is actually doing some good in the world.

I’m proud to be a part of the Restock the Shelves event happening across the country on Monday, January 19th, representing Blue Shark Optics. Aside from the fact that I really like the glasses, I’m proud to be a part of the pro team at Blue Shark because they do so much for charities. Cosponsors Ante Up are also an excellent company, and a host of other poker companies have joined to provide special prizes at different venues.

I will be playing at my local card room Running Aces Harness Park in Columbus, Minnesota at 6 pm on the 19th, facing off against my friend and Ante Up Ambassador, John Somsky. We have a friendly $50 last longer bet that goes to the charity. I will also be providing a copy of my book to the bubble guy, and Ininja Poker will also provide a $50 bounty for whoever busts me and a free t-shirt for everyone at the table when I bust out.

The event I am playing is a freeroll with a $5 add-on that goes to the charity and they will also be accepting non-perishable food items. I plan to hustle my neighbors for a car load of groceries before the event. If I can buy stuff from their kids every time they have a fund raiser, they can hand over a few cans of soup!

Online poker players in the U.S. who are not located in regulated states continue to patronize offshore sites because, well, most want to play poker from their homes and what other choice do they have?

For those players, here’s a look at whats going on at the U.S.-facing unregulated sites.

Double Your Pleasure

Not one but two “The Cage” matches are on the schedule tonight, January 14, at the Winning Poker Network (WPN). Players have a choice to play either No Limit Hold’em or Pot Limit Omaha (or both) provided they have the $5,100 buy-in. That’s $10,200 to play both, with identical starting times of 8:00 p.m. EST.