A couple of video gaming and poker enthusiasts from Belarus aim to create the world’s first role-playing poker game called Lord of Poker and are taking to Kickstarter in a bid to turn their dreams into reality.

Gaming intelligence kingpins Newzoo has estimated that brands looking for the right marketing angle will invest $325m into eSports by the end of the year. eSports teams will net $128m, and $197m will find its way into eSports video content.

Thanks to big-time investors like Mark Cuban, Shaquille O’Neal and Alex Rodriguez, and the interest of 33.4 million eSports fans in the United States alone, major brands like Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and Intel are willing to increase that figure to $800m by the end of 2019.

The world of poker has already taken a keen interest led by the Duracell Bunny that is Alexandre Dreyfus. The enigmatic Frenchman is betting his reputation on the success of the Global Poker League (GPL) – a new format of poker that is heavily influenced by live eSports events.

Twitch sensation Jason Somerville continues to be the market leader for online poker on the live streaming monolith after passing 10 million views earlier last week.

Jason Somerville is the new ’10 million Twitch Viewer Man’.

Ok, it doesn’t have the same ring as the ‘6 Billion Dollar Man’ but his cyber exploits are equally as impressive when it comes to his unofficial role as recreational poker player gatekeeper.

Anyone who has traveled to Burning Man Festival in Black Rock City will understand the importance of the meet and greet at the gates. Seasoned burners meet the newest virgins with the huggiest of hugs before getting them to roll around in the dirt.

Twitch sensation Jason Somerville continues to be the market leader for online poker on the live streaming monolith after passing 10 million views earlier last week.

Jason Somerville is the new ’10 million Twitch Viewer Man’.

Ok, it doesn’t have the same ring as the ‘6 Billion Dollar Man’ but his cyber exploits are equally as impressive when it comes to his unofficial role as recreational poker player gatekeeper.

Anyone who has traveled to Burning Man Festival in Black Rock City will understand the importance of the meet and greet at the gates. Seasoned burners meet the newest virgins with the huggiest of hugs before getting them to roll around in the dirt.

After England come from two goals down to beat the World Champions Germany, Lee Davy takes a trip down memory lane to share his experience of a rivalry that only ever seems to go one way.

It’s 1990.

Empty cans of beer litter the floor. Tina lies on her side, panting feverishly, tongue lying beside her with a life of its own.

EMF Children belts out from the living room. Strobe lighting sneaks underneath the kitchen door.

After England come from two goals down to beat the World Champions Germany, Lee Davy takes a trip down memory lane to share his experience of a rivalry that only ever seems to go one way.

It’s 1990.

Empty cans of beer litter the floor. Tina lies on her side, panting feverishly, tongue lying beside her with a life of its own.

EMF Children belts out from the living room. Strobe lighting sneaks underneath the kitchen door.

In this week’s weekly poker news round up everyone wants to prove their innocence, and a ton of other stuff happened such as PokerStars pissing off their customers, 888Poker hiring a Brazilian and much more.

Seriously, you couldn’t make this shit up.

PokerStars, the world’s largest online poker room, finally snuggle into the same bed as their American online poker operators, after the feds booted them out during the Black Friday debacle, and before spooning can begin the Canadian securities regulator charge their CEO with insider trading.

While the king of online gambling pleads his innocence those who prefer PokerStars packed their bags and went the way of the Littlest Hobo will be rubbing their hands. What a delight it must be to the naysayers in New York, California and any other state in the not so United States of America who want to see online poker die. And what must the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE) be talking about over their twinkies and tea?

In this week’s weekly poker news round up everyone wants to prove their innocence, and a ton of other stuff happened such as PokerStars pissing off their customers, 888Poker hiring a Brazilian and much more.

Seriously, you couldn’t make this shit up.

PokerStars, the world’s largest online poker room, finally snuggle into the same bed as their American online poker operators, after the feds booted them out during the Black Friday debacle, and before spooning can begin the Canadian securities regulator charge their CEO with insider trading.

While the king of online gambling pleads his innocence those who prefer PokerStars packed their bags and went the way of the Littlest Hobo will be rubbing their hands. What a delight it must be to the naysayers in New York, California and any other state in the not so United States of America who want to see online poker die. And what must the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE) be talking about over their twinkies and tea?

Daniel Negreanu has responded to the PokerStars rake increases by advising complainers to find a different game, and former Full Tilt CEO Ray Bitar might not know how to run an online poker room, but he can organise a mean wedding.

Within days of PokerStars announcing plans to increase rake by approx. 4% across a wide variety of games 2+2 poster MeleaB created a poll on the forum entitled:

“How Will Negreanu Respond to the New Stars Changes?”

At the time of writing, 56.33% of them assumed Negreanu would answer as follows:

Daniel Negreanu has responded to the PokerStars rake increases by advising complainers to find a different game, and former Full Tilt CEO Ray Bitar might not know how to run an online poker room, but he can organise a mean wedding.

Within days of PokerStars announcing plans to increase rake by approx. 4% across a wide variety of games 2+2 poster MeleaB created a poll on the forum entitled:

“How Will Negreanu Respond to the New Stars Changes?”

At the time of writing, 56.33% of them assumed Negreanu would answer as follows:

THE AMERICAS

Quebec’s securities regulator filed insider trading charges against Amaya Gaming CEO David Baazov over illegal trades in seven companies; DraftKings and FanDuel reached a deal to exit the New York market and Yahoo followed them to the exits the following day; Pinnacle Sports won control of the Pinnacle.com domain; New York politicians included online poker language in their new budget proposal; Baha Mar’s receivers officially began looking for a buyer for the stalled $3.5b casino project and gaming law attorney Cory Levi pondered the wisdom of Quebec’s proposal to IP-block online gambling sites it doesn’t like.

EUROPE

William Hill issued a profit warning after 3k online customers opted for self-exclusion in the first two months of 2016; betting firms’ spending nearly tripled on European football league shirt sponsorships in one year; Russia’s bookmakers struggled to adapt to the country’s new licensing and payments regime; Sporting Index branched out with a new online casino; Oddschecker’s Andy Lulham revealed ways to survive the cutthroat affiliate marketing sector; The Mobile House’s Richard Downey claimed TV advertising campaigns were no longer just for gambling’s major players; OpenBet’s Peter James explained why real-time data was just the ticket for a better user experience and David Vamplew took issue with PokerStars attempting to disguise the impact of its new rake increases.

THE AMERICAS

Quebec’s securities regulator filed insider trading charges against Amaya Gaming CEO David Baazov over illegal trades in seven companies; DraftKings and FanDuel reached a deal to exit the New York market and Yahoo followed them to the exits the following day; Pinnacle Sports won control of the Pinnacle.com domain; New York politicians included online poker language in their new budget proposal; Baha Mar’s receivers officially began looking for a buyer for the stalled $3.5b casino project and gaming law attorney Cory Levi pondered the wisdom of Quebec’s proposal to IP-block online gambling sites it doesn’t like.

EUROPE

William Hill issued a profit warning after 3k online customers opted for self-exclusion in the first two months of 2016; betting firms’ spending nearly tripled on European football league shirt sponsorships in one year; Russia’s bookmakers struggled to adapt to the country’s new licensing and payments regime; Sporting Index branched out with a new online casino; Oddschecker’s Andy Lulham revealed ways to survive the cutthroat affiliate marketing sector; The Mobile House’s Richard Downey claimed TV advertising campaigns were no longer just for gambling’s major players; OpenBet’s Peter James explained why real-time data was just the ticket for a better user experience and David Vamplew took issue with PokerStars attempting to disguise the impact of its new rake increases.