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October 9: FirePay drops US clients’ access to poker
FirePay is probably the second-most popular method to transfer money to online
poker sites behind Neteller. Some players, who have had restricted access to
Neteller due to their location, have found FirePay to be a good substitute.
Although FirePay will not cancel accounts of US customers, the accounts can
only be used for non-gaming transactions. The company’s official statement:
“Beginning the day President Bush signs the Act, FirePay will decline any
purchase transactions from US FirePay account holders at any gambling merchant
site. Ten days after President Bush signs the Act, FirePay will decline any
transfer attempt made by any online gambling merchant to a US FirePay account.
All US FirePay accounts holders will continue to be able to make purchases and
receive payments from non-gambling, online merchants, as well as "Deposit
From" and "Withdraw To" their US bank account.”
October 9: Online petition started
A California man started an online petition to help demonstrate the power of
the online poker marketplace. The petition has over 10,000 signatures and is
increasing daily. The goal is to spread the word to as many poker-related
discussions as possible. The
petition
can be found here
October 10: Allen Cunningham added to Team Full Tilt
The already excellent stable of professional poker players at Full Tilt Poker
has been added to, Full Tilt Poker announced. The 2005 World Series of Poker
Player of the Year award winner (one win, three other final tables, and
another cash) has over eight million dollars in career wins. His biggest money
win was at the 2006 World Series of Poker Main Event, when he finished fourth
(out of 8773). There are thirteen fully sponsored professionals on Team Full
Tilt. Among the past wins of the fifty full- or partially-affiliated players
at Full Tilt are 67 World Series of Poker bracelets.
October 11: Tain and Tribeca networks merge
One of the first of many expected mergers and acquisitions of online poker
sites (after the US law change) involved two large networks. The Swedish
network Tain merged into the Tribeca network, increasing Tribeca to 91
different sites. The most notable Tribeca site, by far, is the popular Doyle’s
Room. Golden Palace Poker is another large portal to the Tribeca network.
October 11: Late night poker coming to the US
Borrowing on the success of the BBC’s Late Night Poker, American television
network NBC has announced it will begin airing Poker After Dark on January 2,
2007, at 2 a.m. Eastern Time. Former World Poker Tour host Shana Hiatt is back
on television after a recent legal clash with her former employer regarding a
non-compete contract.
The hour-long show will air six days per week, and features six professional
poker players vying for a winner-take-all prize of $120,000. Each week of six
shows features five nights of action, followed by a sixth-night “recap,” with
commentary by Hiatt and the winning professional.
Marc Graboff, President of NBC-Universal Television (West Coast), said in a
statement “We saw this as an opportunity to program this time period with
original programming. We're pleased to bring late night television viewers
this inside look at the professional poker scene.”
Poker Productions is the company behind this new series, as well as High
Stakes Poker, Poker Superstars, Intercontinental Poker Championship, and the
National Heads-up Poker Championship.
Professional poker players committed to the shows include Daniel Negreanu,
Phil Ivey, Howard Lederer, Chris Ferguson, Jennifer Harman, Gus Hansen, and
Erick Lindgren.
October 13: Harrah’s to disallow online WSOP satellites?
In a move that will most certainly reduce the field of the 2007 World Series
of Poker, Harrah’s, the parent company of the WSOP, has announced that many
third-party registrations will be disallowed.
The difficulties will arise because Harrah’s, as an American company, would be
prohibited from doing financial transactions with online poker sites under
some interpretations of the law. A more speculative view suggests that as
Harrah’s might one day be a major player in regulated US online gaming, any
move on their part to reduce the influence of the online poker industry is to
their advantage.
The speculation may have started with an email from Full Tilt Poker that
advised its players that online satellite wins for US events would be paid in
cash to the player’s account. The player would then be responsible for his or
her own buy-in at the tournament.
It is believed that the new rules, when made official by Harrah’s, will
restrict third-party registration to the WSOP to charitable organizations and
WSOP-licensed casinos in the US and elsewhere. All other third parties would
be eliminated.
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