First, the poker world had to deal with the Phil Hellmuth vs. Daniel Negreanu spats. Those, for the most part, have died down but Kid Poker soon found himself embroiled in another feud, this time with Doug Polk. Polk has continuously trashed the world’s second-winningest poker player in a bid to keep his name in the spotlight. Now, a new feud has creeped up between two other players and it’s time to break out the popcorn and enjoy the show.

William Kassouf and Shaun Deeb recently found themselves digitally duking it out on Twitter, sharing jabs and insults. It started after Deeb, who had joined Joey Ingram for his poker podcast on YouTube, questioned Kassouf’s character and accused him of hitting on his wife.

During the podcast, Ingram asked Deeb whether or not he had teamed up with Kassouf to coach Tony Miles, who would go on to take second place at the WSOP Main Event. Deeb said, “No, he was not coaching.  He was attempting to be an attention-whore cheerleader.”

When CardsChat asked Kassouf why Deeb made the comments, he replied, “Apparently, he’s always been a Will Kassouf hater from my fun table antics, speech play, and general enjoyment of the game. It probably stems from the 2016 WSOP Main Event. He’s part of Team JohnnyBax and it’s no surprise Cliff Josephy doesn’t like me.”

Ten-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner, Johnny Chan, is the new face of the first rake free crypto online poker room, No Limit Coin Poker, based on the Evenbet poker platform.

So Doug Polk went all Paddy Power on us this summer paying for a billboard outside of the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas during the World Series of Poker (WSOP) taunting Daniel Negreanu with the words:

MORERAKEISBETTER.COM

And yes, the website does exist.

Switzerland’s casinos can’t choose an online gambling technology partner that has had any dealings with Swiss punters in the past five years, according to the government’s latest regulatory proposal.

In June, Swiss voters overwhelmingly voted in favor of the country’s new gambling law, under which only local casino operators can offer online gambling products. The law also requires Swiss internet service providers (ISPs) to block the domains of international sites currently serving Swiss punters without local authorization.

The new law is due to take effect on January 1, 2019 and Swiss regulators are currently holding a consultation with stakeholders on the nuts and bolts of how local casinos can take their action online. Chief among the topics being discussed are which technology providers will be eligible to assist the casinos in this endeavor.

Various models are being discussed, including pure game-licensing arrangements with foreign providers, allowing the international firm to supply everything but the casino brand, or joint ventures in which the international firm would be an active partner in the online operation.

The 49th Annual World Series of Poker turned out to be another record-breaker, creating a whole host of records including most entrants, most significant prize pool, and the highest number of millionaires.

As I write this, Tom Dwan is ordering a coffee, giggling with Gabe Patgorski and Peter Jetten.

I wonder how many World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelets Dwan could have won if he decided to make bracelet hunting his passion. What if he had decided to create a legacy of a public nature instead of a private one.

We will never know.

A round-up of the first day of action at the Triton Poker Series Jeju warm-up event, the HKD 100,000 Short-Deck, Ante Only that saw only four people remain at the end of Day 1A.

I once boarded a flight to Scotland when I was heading to Wales.

I nearly missed a flight when I lost track of time, working in a coffee shop in the airport lounge in Barcelona.

And, now, standing in front of an elevator that never seems to stop at my level, or when it does, it’s full of people who don’t want to leave, I have to consider a previously unthought of way of missing my flight.

Russian bookmakers were among the top television advertisers during the 2018 FIFA World Cup, while one local politician wants to send individuals who promote illegal online casinos to Siberia.

Local media outlet Sostav.ru reported this week that Russian-licensed bookmaker Fonbet was the top television advertiser during the World Cup, accounting for 18% of all advertising placements and 8% of overall ad minutes, outstripping even the tournament’s official sponsors Alfa Bank, Kia, Coca Cola and Adidas.

Not to be outdone, bookmakers Winline ranked fourth on the overall World Cup TV advertising chart, accounting for 7% of all ad placements but 23% of ad minutes. Liga Stavok was the third-highest bookie, placing 21st overall, albeit with a comparatively tiny 1% ranking in both ad placements and minutes.

All told, Russian bookmakers accounted for 26% of all World Cup TV ad placements and 32% of minutes. These figures appear to be in direct violation of the 2017 rules that limited bookmakers to 20% of the total allowable advertising time in sports broadcasts. Fonbet insists that it booked seven 30-second spots on each World Cup match broadcast on Channel One and Russia-1, which it claims were within its limits.

The Canadian province of Quebec has suffered a legal defeat in its plan to block the domains of internationally licensed online gambling operators.

On Tuesday, Quebec’s Superior Court published its July 18 ruling (viewable here, en français) declaring that the online gambling domain-blocking provisions of the province’s Bill 74 are unconstitutional.

The province had sought to force local internet service providers (ISPs) to block international sites in order to boost the fortunes of Espace-jeux, the online division of the Loto Quebec provincial gambling monopoly.

Quebec’s government had attempted to frame its censorship under the risible guise of protecting the health of the province’s residents. But the court found that Bill 74’s “pith and substance is to prevent online gambling not set up and operated by the province from being ‘communicated’ by ISPs, and not the protection of consumers or their health.”