Monthly Archives: September 2016

US federal judge: Bitcoin qualifies as money

Bitcoin, the king of digital currencies, counts as real money.

That was the decision handed out by U.S. district Judge Alison Nathan in Manhattan on the ongoing criminal case involving the now defunct Florida bitcoin exchange Coin.mx and one of its former operators, Anthony Murgio.

Murgio, who was indicted on alleged money laundering charges last year, wanted the court to dismiss two charges related to Coin.mx’s operation on grounds that bitcoin don’t count as “funds” under the U.S. law.

Nathan, however, believes otherwise.

Nurse Beats Over 30,000 Players to Win Two Mini-WCOOP Events Simultaneously; Kroko-Dill Wins 2nd WCOOP Title; SixthSenS19 Tops Leaderboard

A French nurse living in Prague has beaten over 30,000 entrants to win two Mini-World Championships of Online Poker (WCOOP) events simultaneously; Andrey ‘Kroko-dill’ Zaichenko picks up his second WCOOP career win, and Fabrizio ‘SixthSenSe19′ Gonzalez tops the leaderboard.

A French nurse living in Prague, Czech Republic has won two Mini-World Championships of Online Poker (WCOOP) titles simultaneously, after wading through 30,000+ entrants.

At 11 am Sep 11, Iwan ‘Ethanolol’ Roberts, 34, entered Event #27: $2.20 No-Limit Hold’em {Deep Payouts}. At 12:30 pm he also entered Event #28: $11.00 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em 8-Max.

He won them both.

Nurse Beats Over 30,000 Players to Win Two Mini-WCOOP Events Simultaneously; Kroko-Dill Wins 2nd WCOOP Title; SixthSenS19 Tops Leaderboard

A French nurse living in Prague has beaten over 30,000 entrants to win two Mini-World Championships of Online Poker (WCOOP) events simultaneously; Andrey ‘Kroko-dill’ Zaichenko picks up his second WCOOP career win, and Fabrizio ‘SixthSenSe19′ Gonzalez tops the leaderboard.

A French nurse living in Prague, Czech Republic has won two Mini-World Championships of Online Poker (WCOOP) titles simultaneously, after wading through 30,000+ entrants.

At 11 am Sep 11, Iwan ‘Ethanolol’ Roberts, 34, entered Event #27: $2.20 No-Limit Hold’em {Deep Payouts}. At 12:30 pm he also entered Event #28: $11.00 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em 8-Max.

He won them both.

Nurse Beats Over 30,000 Players to Win Two Mini-WCOOP Events Simultaneously; Kroko-Dill Wins 2nd WCOOP Title; SixthSenS19 Tops Leaderboard

A French nurse living in Prague has beaten over 30,000 entrants to win two Mini-World Championships of Online Poker (WCOOP) events simultaneously; Andrey ‘Kroko-dill’ Zaichenko picks up his second WCOOP career win, and Fabrizio ‘SixthSenSe19′ Gonzalez tops the leaderboard.

A French nurse living in Prague, Czech Republic has won two Mini-World Championships of Online Poker (WCOOP) titles simultaneously, after wading through 30,000+ entrants.

At 11 am Sep 11, Iwan ‘Ethanolol’ Roberts, 34, entered Event #27: $2.20 No-Limit Hold’em {Deep Payouts}. At 12:30 pm he also entered Event #28: $11.00 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em 8-Max.

He won them both.

Belarusian Ice Hockey Recruits Sportradar Fds Defence

The Belarusian Ice Hockey Association (BIHA) have signed the leader in ice hockey bet monitoring as part of their integrity set up, with Sportradar’s Fraud Detection System (FDS) all set to oversee the Belarusian ExtraLiga and Ruslan Salei Cup for the next two seasons.

Over the course of the two years, the FDS will monitor the largest array of betting operators across over 720 matches: 650 coming from two seasons of the Belarusian Extraliga and the remainder coming from two years’ worth of Ruslan Salei Cup matches.

“All leading international federations and major leagues realize the importance of accurate and credible monitoring systems to protect the reputation of their teams, competitions and sports. We have chosen Sportradar as our main partner in this matter because the company is the recognized world leader in the prevention and detection of matchfixing. Their services are highly trusted in the sports world and their expertise has been repeatedly acknowledged by law enforcement agencies across a range of countries. The IIHF and NHL, the world’s largest ice hockey organisations, have already signed up with Sportradar. We have become their first partner at the national league level in the European market. It is important to note that the beginning of our cooperation does not mean that there have been any violations during games of the Belarusian Championship, but that the Federation primarily strives to prevent potential threats and secure the clubs and fans against possible risks. I am sure that other leading European leagues will follow our example soon,” said Yaraslau Zauharodni, General Secretary of the BIHA.

Sportradar’s Managing Director Integrity Services Andreas Krannich added: “We are now building a bit of momentum and a reputation in the ice hockey world, in the wake of our work with the International Ice Hockey Federation and the North American NHL, so it is great to see another critical ice hockey nation sign up to our award-winning Fraud Detection System. The FDS is completely tailored to the context, markets and idiosyncrasies in Belarusian ice hockey and we look forward to working with Mr Zauharodni and his team over the coming seasons”.

2016 Class of Emerging Leaders of Gaming to be Recognized at G2E

The Innovation Group to program Emerging Leaders education at G2E Innovation Lab

The Innovation Group and Global Gaming Expo (G2E) announced today six individuals to be honored as the 2016 class of Emerging Leaders of Gaming:

• Aron Ezra, Chief Executive Officer, OfferCraft;

• Joanne Israel, General Manager, Seneca Buffalo Casino;

Saipan licenses its first junket operator

Saipan gaming regulators have approved their first junket operator license, paving the way for the first junket deal with the island’s only casino.

On Monday, the Marianas Variety reported that the Commonwealth Casino Commission had issued a provisional license to Du Young Jang, the owner of South Korean junket operator Big Bang Entertainment.

Commission director Deleon Guerrero said Big Bang’s roster of high-rolling gamblers is drawn primarily from South Korea and Japan. Big Bang’s license was issued on Aug. 11 and will expire on Aug. 31, 2017.

There are currently 18 other junket license applications awaiting the Commission’s stamp of approval. The Commission serves all of the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands, including Tinian and Rota.

3-Barrels: Norman Chad Needles Sorel Mizzi; PokerStars Promote ‘Lads Night In’; Record Fifth WCOOP Win For Dan ‘djk123’ Kelly

3-Barrels of real value including the World Series of Poker commentator, Norman Chad, needling Sorel Mizzi, PokerStars partnering with Prostate Cancer UK for ‘Lads Night In’ promotion, and Dan ‘djk123’Kelly wins record fifth World Championships of Online Poker title.

WSOP commentator, Norman Chad, has given Sorel Mizzi the needle, big time, on Episode 2 of the WSOP Main Event. Broadcast on ESPN, in the build up to the airing of the November Nine, at point 37:38 of the 42:50 episode, Mizzi is sitting next to a player with the name Dan Cheater, at which point Chad says:

“Cheater sitting next to Sorel Mizzi…huh…that’s interesting.”

In July, Mizzi was a guest of Joey Ingram’s on the Poker Life Podcast where he talked openly about his past involvement in incidents that could be classed as either immoral or straight up cheating.

3-Barrels: Chris Moorman & Dan Fleyshman Get The Quill Out; David Williams Misses Out on Masterchef Title

3-barrels of true value including Chris Moorman and Dan Fleyshman giving us an update on their respective book projects and David Williams fails to win 2016 Masterchef.

When the world’s most successful online tournament player in history signs with a publisher to launch a book the poker world gets pretty excited.

I didn’t.

I wasn’t interested in his grey matter.

WPT National Iberia to Stick With Multi-Venue Series Concept; Richard Lawlor Wins WPT National Ireland

Living it Loving it and the World Poker Tour are sticking with their Multi Venue Series format for their Iberia National Event triumvirate, and Richard Lawlor wins the World Poker Tour National in Killarney, Ireland.

Living it Loving it (LILI) and the World Poker Tour (WPT) are rolling out a new and improved version of the Multi Venue Series (MVS) that proved so popular the last time they let it off the leash.

In May, the two organisations took on the difficult challenge of operating three events simultaneously in the Iberian Peninsula with 7% of the field in each of those events making it through to the Grand Final held in the Casino Gran Madrid.

494 players competed across the board, and the Portuguese player Jose Lopez was crowned the first MVS champion and rewarded with a €80,000 purse.

WPT National Iberia to Stick With Multi-Venue Series Concept; Richard Lawlor Wins WPT National Ireland

Living it Loving it and the World Poker Tour are sticking with their Multi Venue Series format for their Iberia National Event triumvirate, and Richard Lawlor wins the World Poker Tour National in Killarney, Ireland.

Living it Loving it (LILI) and the World Poker Tour (WPT) are rolling out a new and improved version of the Multi Venue Series (MVS) that proved so popular the last time they let it off the leash.

In May, the two organisations took on the difficult challenge of operating three events simultaneously in the Iberian Peninsula with 7% of the field in each of those events making it through to the Grand Final held in the Casino Gran Madrid.

494 players competed across the board, and the Portuguese player Jose Lopez was crowned the first MVS champion and rewarded with a €80,000 purse.

FanDuel raises rake, DraftKings raises eyebrows as sponsored pro wins $1m

Daily fantasy sports fans are furrowing their brows after a DraftKings contractor won $1m via the site and rival FanDuel boosted its rake.

DFS pro Al Zeidenfeld placed first in DraftKing’s $5m Millionaire Maker on Sunday, netting a cool $1m for his troubles. But Zeidenfeld is a DraftKings’ sponsored pro, seemingly raising uncomfortable echoes of last fall’s ‘insider trading’ scandal that kicked off the rush to regulate DFS across the US.

But to be fair, while Zeidenfeld collects a check for promoting DraftKings, he isn’t an employee and a DraftKings rep promised Deadspin that Zeidenfeld didn’t have access to contest data or any other non-public information. As such, Zeidenfeld’s big payday isn’t likely to spark the same level of customer outrage that erupted after actual DraftKings staffer Ethan Haskell’s $350k DFS payday last fall.

A far louder hue and cry is likely to emerge as more customers – particularly high-volume players like Zeidenfeld – become aware that FanDuel has boosted the rake on many of its DFS contests.

FanDuel raises rake, DraftKings raises eyebrows as sponsored pro wins $1m

Daily fantasy sports fans are furrowing their brows after a DraftKings contractor won $1m via the site and rival FanDuel boosted its rake.

DFS pro Al Zeidenfeld placed first in DraftKing’s $5m Millionaire Maker on Sunday, netting a cool $1m for his troubles. But Zeidenfeld is a DraftKings’ sponsored pro, seemingly raising uncomfortable echoes of last fall’s ‘insider trading’ scandal that kicked off the rush to regulate DFS across the US.

But to be fair, while Zeidenfeld collects a check for promoting DraftKings, he isn’t an employee and a DraftKings rep promised Deadspin that Zeidenfeld didn’t have access to contest data or any other non-public information. As such, Zeidenfeld’s big payday isn’t likely to spark the same level of customer outrage that erupted after actual DraftKings staffer Ethan Haskell’s $350k DFS payday last fall.

A far louder hue and cry is likely to emerge as more customers – particularly high-volume players like Zeidenfeld – become aware that FanDuel has boosted the rake on many of its DFS contests.

FanDuel raises rake, DraftKings raises eyebrows as sponsored pro wins $1m

Daily fantasy sports fans are furrowing their brows after a DraftKings contractor won $1m via the site and rival FanDuel boosted its rake.

DFS pro Al Zeidenfeld placed first in DraftKing’s $5m Millionaire Maker on Sunday, netting a cool $1m for his troubles. But Zeidenfeld is a DraftKings’ sponsored pro, seemingly raising uncomfortable echoes of last fall’s ‘insider trading’ scandal that kicked off the rush to regulate DFS across the US.

But to be fair, while Zeidenfeld collects a check for promoting DraftKings, he isn’t an employee and a DraftKings rep promised Deadspin that Zeidenfeld didn’t have access to contest data or any other non-public information. As such, Zeidenfeld’s big payday isn’t likely to spark the same level of customer outrage that erupted after actual DraftKings staffer Ethan Haskell’s $350k DFS payday last fall.

A far louder hue and cry is likely to emerge as more customers – particularly high-volume players like Zeidenfeld – become aware that FanDuel has boosted the rake on many of its DFS contests.