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Fox Poker Club to Close

GentingUK, the country’s leading casino operator, has announced that their Fox Poker Club situate onShaftesbury AvenueinLondon, has been forced to close down.

The Fox Poker Club was London’s first fully licensed legal poker club and was once considered to be one of its most popular card rooms due to its excellent location and fantastic service.  Since opening in September 2010 it did not take long for the poker club to become a firm favorite with locals and out of town poker fans.  The Fox Poker Club celebrated its 10,000^th member in January 2011.

Despite the fact that the West End-based private members club had become a firm fixture of the London poker scene in the past few years, and Genting UK’s best efforts as well as the poker club’s dedicated team of staff, the venue is not proving to be commercially viable.

At present it is not known whether the closure of the poker room is permanent or whether it will reopen next year as a different type of gambling venue.

A spokesperson for GentingUKsaid: “We have carefully reviewed the performance of the Fox Poker Club over the last few months and it has unfortunately become clear that despite offering a dedicated venue and the best efforts of our staff, there is insufficient demand for the club in its current format.  We will now be entering a consultation period with staff, during which the club will be closed”.

The Fox Poker Club website posted an announcement that reads:  “It is with regret that Genting UK Plc today announces that the Fox Poker Club will cease operation. The Management and Staff of Fox Poker Club would like to thank all of its customers for supporting the venture over the past two years. Further information will be released shortly”.

The Fox Poker Club also announced that all funds, such as tournament tokens, player deposits and cash chips can already be redeemed at the Cromwell Mint in Kensington as from this week.

BetVictor Club Poker League Won by UK Player

The inaugural BetVictor Club Poker League competition has been won by a British player “alias 111” who took home a lucrative prize of Euro 1,500.

Online players gathered from all parts of the world in order to try their skills in the very first league launched by online poker room, BetVictor.

BetVictor Club offered a free play league which 500 players took advantage of and the site handed out over Euro 10,000 in prize money.  BetVictor invited players to enter the league and earn points throughout the month of November and the winner pocketed the top prize.

Players from a total of 47 different countries were attracted to the BetVictor Poker Club League last month with 20% of the field being dominated by players fromIsraeland 20% from theUK.  However, only one player fromIsraelmanaged to make it to the Top Twenty List.   Although theUKalso only managed to get one of its men into the top ten, namely “alias 111”, he finally made it to the very top of the board.

According to Mark Napolitano, a host at the BetVictor Club, “In a League that started out being heavily dominated by Bulgarians, in the end they just failed to close the deal eventually finishing with a still impressive 4 top 20 finishers even though they only had about 6% of the total entries. Top Bulgarian was “gladius1” who finished as runner up.’

Romaniahad approximately 15% of the starting field and ended the month with 4 top 20 finishers after taking 3d and 4^th spots in the inaugural League.

BetVictor revealed that it had been a very tough competition with the top ten finishers split by less than 50 points.

Napolitano added that each one of the top ten had a good chance of taking the top spot and winning the prize of Euro 1,500 right up until the very end of the competition.

The second-place win of Euro 1,000 was earned by Gladius1 fromBulgaria.

Hot Christmas Promotions at InterPoker

InterPoker.com, the online poker arm of leading online casino, InterCasino, is offering players an opportunity to combine hot online poker action with an opportunity to win some lucrative prizes this season.

Players have a chance to win guaranteed bankrolls to play at the poker room right through the New Year as well as an amazing Advent Calendar that offers a guaranteed prize pool of Euro 25,000.

The first promotion to take place at InterPoker next month will be run exclusively for players at the site and is the 2013 Bankroll Bonanza.  Players are being offered a chance to win a guaranteed monthly bankroll for 2013 and InterPoker is putting up 50 bankrolls which add up to a total prize pool of Euro 10,000 this December.

InterPoker has set up 4 routes for players to get hold of a bankroll for a year.

The online poker room will be running a Bankroll Bonanza Race Off and a Sit ‘n Go Bonanza from 1^st December to 31^st December 2012.

Between 5^th December and 20 December, 2012, a Rake Chase Tournament will run at the site while a Christmas Freeroll Tournament will run on 30^th December, 2012. 

The bankrolls will be distributed in the following manner –

Bankroll Bonanza Race Off           15

Sit ‘n go Bonanza                            15

Bankroll Tournament                      10

Christmas Freeroll                           10

InterPoker will be putting players into the Christmas spirit throughout the month of December by running a Euro 25,000 Advent Calendar.  Daily events will take place in order to give players an opportunity to earn some cash to spend on Christmas gifts.

The Euro 25,000 Advent Calendar series commences at InterPoker on 1^st December and will continue until the 24^th December 2012 during which time players will be able to participate in a selection of extra freerolls, Gift MTT’s, Cash Rake Races as well as Sit ‘n Go Races.

InterCasino offers all new players a welcome bonus of 200% up to Euro 1,000 when downloading the software and registering with the site.

Jake Cody Parts Ways with PKR Online Poker Room

Jake Cody, the British poker ace, has announced that he has parted ways with three dimensional online poker site PKR after his annual deal to represent them at live tournaments around the world expired.

Cody signed a sponsorship deal with PKR a year ago but according to Dan Grant, PKR media manager the association has now come to its conclusion.  Grant added that Cody had huge talent, a class act and that it was a pleasure to deal with him and wished him the best of luck in his future, both at and away from the felt.

Cody’s departure leaves only four names still remaining on PKR’s pro roster, namely Vladimir Geshkenbein, Scott Shelly, Marc Barriler and Sofia Lovgren.

24 year old Cody joined the site shortly after winning the $25,000 buy- in NLHE heads-up event at the 2011 World Series of Poker which resulted in him becoming PKR’s highest profile pro.  Cody is also one of very few players to have won poker’s Triple Crown for European Poker Tour Deauville, World Poker Tour London and World Series of Poker titles.

Cody’s departure is rumored to be a cost-cutting measure for PKR as the last few years have been tough for European online poker companies.  It is thought that PKR’s informal search for outside investment may be taking a more concrete form as formal prospectus to potential investors have been distributed by the company who is hoping to bag a seven-figure amount or an outright sale of the company.

PKR’s revenues have been cut by almost 25% over the last few years due to the downturn in online poker’s fortunes.  Several observers put the sale value of PKR at GBP 50 million which is only about half of what it was thought to be worth just two years ago.  The company has met with prospectiveUSpartners, including tribal casinos inCaliforniabut no contracts have as yet resulted from this.

Paddy Power Poker offering Qualifiers for Aspers Christmas Cracker

Paddy Power Poker has revealed that it will be hosting a series of reduced buy-in satellites for those online poker players wishing to participate in the main event of next month’s Aspers Christmas Cracker tournament.

The Aspers Christmas Cracker live poker – no-limit hold’em event is scheduled to be held at Aspers Casino in WestfieldStratfordCityon Saturday, 15^th December and Sunday, 26^th December 2012. 

The organizers of this great festival will be adding an amount of GBP 10,000 in cash to the pot and Aspers Casino Stratford and iFind Poker will also be awarding special prizes that include iPhones, Apple iPads and Android devices to lucky players.

The event kicks off on Saturday, 15^th December at 2 pm and continues until Sunday, 16^th December at 3 pm with players starting with 20,000 in tournament chips and a 30 minute clock that will increase by five minutes after every eight levels.  

Paddy Power Poker is giving players an opportunity to avoid the GBP 250 buy-in by visiting the online poker site on Tuesdays from 9 pm and participating in GBP 22 buy-in no-limit hold’em online re-buy satellites in order to have a chance to win one main event seat.

The online poker site will also be hosting GBP 44 buy-in no-limit hold’em freezeout counterparts on Friday evenings from 9 pm with each event promising to award players a main event package valued at GBP 500.

According to a statement from Paddy Powers Poker the online poker site is giving their loyal players an early Christmas treat and an opportunity to boost their bankroll for the festive season with a chance to visit and play at the luxurious new Aspers Casino in the East End of London.

The first prizes are non refundable and non transferable and cannot be converted to cash.  Players are required to either play or else forfeit the seat.

PokerStars Premiers Third MicroMillions Tournament

Following PokerStars MicroMillions first and second online poker tournament series, the first of which took place in March of this year, the Poker site has revealed that the third installment of this major online tournament series is due to run from Thursday, November 15 to Sunday, November 25.

MicroMillions is the biggest low-stakes poker tournament festival and features a guaranteed prize pool of $5 million and this latest edition of the festival is geared for players with small bankrolls. 

Although the buy-ins for the festival is small, the prizes are massive and the event features 100 tournaments running around the clock and millions of dollars in guaranteed cash prize pools.  The buy-ins commence from as low as $0.11 up to $22 and the festival will end with a no-limit hold’em main event that offers players $1 million in total prize money.

A spokesperson for PokerStars said that unlike other online poker festivals that only feature two or three tournaments a day, MicroMillions will be featuring up to ten tournaments per day.

Players from all over the world will be given the best possible opportunities to participate in these tournaments that commence every two or three hours each day.   The full schedule of events can be found on the MicroMillions lll web page.

A total of 1,294,883 participated in the first MicroMillions festival while the next festival featured “SoyDelGlobo” an Argentinean player who topped a field of 65,063 other participants to win the main event prize of $157,218 in cash.

The winner of the MicroMillions lll main event which is scheduled to commence at 7.30 pmLondontime on Sunday, November 25, will win a guaranteed cash prize of at least $150,000.

According to PokerStars, the MicroMillions series complements their other online festival offerings which include the most esteemed and richest series in online poker, the World Championship of Online Poker (WCOP) and Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) as well as the Turbo Championship of Online Poker (TCOOP).

Sky Poker Running Jackpot Boost Day

Sky Poker, the British Sky Broadcasting’s online poker division, has announced that a wonderful jackpot prize is being offered by them to any player winning both the Main Event and the Mini Event with Sky Poker’s Jackpot Boost.

In addition to this, the Sky Poker Jackpot will be increased to a whopping GBP 10,000 during the period that the UK Online Poker Series takes place.  Sky Poker customers are, therefore, being given an opportunity to win massive cash prizes.

Although players may think that it is impossible to win both the Main event and the Mini event on the same night, Sky Poker has revealed that this has already been done on several occasions.

Dylan “dylan12” Davies, was the first recipient of the Jackpot prize when he won the 8 pm Bounty Hunter as well as the 8.15 pm Mini Bounty Hunter on 19^th September 2011 that resulted in him taking home GBP 1,718 in winnings as well as a massive GBP 6,500 Jackpot.  Dylan’s cash win of GBP 8,218 was for a buy-in total of GBP 25.30.

Alan “alan1506” Jenkins also managed to win both the Primo and the Mini Primo on Sunday, 22^nd January, 2012, that resulted in a lucrative GBP 6,800 jackpot prize.  In addition to this jackpot prize, Alan also won GBP 405 for taking down the Mini Primo.  The first prize for the Primo itself was a whopping GBP 3,415 resulting in Alan taking home in excess of GBP 10,620 for one evening of online poker.

Sky Poker has also revealed that it will be adding a further amount of GBP 100 to the prize pool for each week that passes without anybody winning it so as to give players more of an incentive to win the big Jackpot.  However, as soon as the Jackpot has been won, Sky Poker will reset the amount to GBP 5,000.

Sky Poker is licensed and regulated by the Alderney Gambling Control Commission.

Priority Club Launched at Sky Poker

LeadingUKpoker site, Sky Poker, has announced that it is offering their poker players a fantastic opportunity to join the Priority Club at the site which will entitle them to some amazing rewards.

In order to become a member of the Priority Club at Sky Poker and take advantage of its huge range of rewards and services, players must continue to play poker at the site and earn a minimum of 10,000 Poker Points each month. 

Sky Poker has revealed that players’ Sky Poker Priority Club membership will be determined on their previous month’s play.  The poker points will be calculated for players by Sky Poker who will send players a notification via e-mail at the beginning of each month.

The advantage of being a member of the Sky Poker Priority Club is that online poker fans will be offered immediate access to all its best promotions as well as a chance to participate in several special offers and competitions.

Online players who have been members of its Priority Club for a period of over three months and who have earned at least 10,000 points a month will be eligible to receive the best rate on Sky Poker’s popular Cash For Points campaign.  Sky Poker also stated that Priority Club members will have the benefit of receiving their Cash For Points bonuses on the first business day of each month, which is before any other players receive theirs.

Those players who are keen on tournaments will be given direct buy-ins to any of the Sky Poker Tour Events by being a member of the Priority Club.   Members wishing to guarantee their place in one of these amazing special occasions need simply contact their Account Manager who will ensure that they get their place at their chosen event.

Priority Club members at Sky Poker will also be given exclusive access to a wide range of promotions, competitions and freerolls.

Players not wishing to miss out on wonderful, cash-winning opportunities should make certain that their contact details are up to date and that their account is set to “Contactable”.

New Full Tilt Poker Signs on “Durr” and “Isildur1”

Full Tilt Poker has confirmed that it has signed up two very popular online pros to join its new Team Full Tilt as it gets ready for its re-launch on Wednesday, November, 7, 2012.

“Isildur1”, also known as Viktor Blom and Tom “durr” Dwan will be joining Full Tilt Poker’s team of sponsored players after signing professional agreements with the site.

The two pros will be joining Gus “The Great Dane” Hansen who has already signed up and was the first member of the new Full Tilt team.  Blom, Dwan and Hansen will be forming a new team of ambassadors for the site called “The Professionals” and it is hoped that they will attract poker fans to the newly launched site to try their own cash games as well as high stakes games of their own against one another.

Dwan was originally a member of the Poker Stars’ professional team but has now joined their newly acquired Full Tilt site together with Blom and Hansen.

Sarne Lightman, Full Tilt Poker’s Head of Marketing, said that Dwan is one of the most feared and respected poker players in the world today.  Lightman added that his exploits at the Full Tilt Poker tables resulted in a huge following in the poker community and they are thrilled to bring that action back for their players. 

Lightman also said that in choosing their Pros they approached the three poker players whose innovative and unique styles have had the most impact of how modern poker is played.

Blom revealed that his decision to join Full Tilt was made easy by the software and his past success at the site.  He added that he has always loved playing on the Full Tilt Poker software and that it was at Full Tilt where he made his name and enjoyed some of his greatest victories.

When the new Full Tilt Poker re-launches on November 6 full account balances and previous rewards will be available immediately for the rest of the world.  However, only play-money games will be available for US players until such time as proper legislation is passed in theUnited States.

Questions over Phil Ivey’s Huge Payout

Crockfords, the oldest private gaming club in the world, is investigating a GBP 7.3 million win by Phil Ivey, the world’s top poker player and the up-marketMayfairgaming club is meanwhile refusing to pay him anything of his win.  Crockfords has informed the Gambling Commission of its decision.

Ivey, a 35 year old fromCalifornia, was evidently playing Punto Banco at the casino accompanied by a gorgeous Oriental woman when he struck an amazing winning streak.  Despite the fact that the 184 year old casino had at first undertaken to transfer Ivey’s winnings into his bank account, six weeks on Ivey has received only GBP 1 million of his winnings.

Crockfords, in an unprecedented move, has decided to begin an exhaustive inquiry and has interviewed their staff as well as the female croupier as they fear that there could have been some form of collusion, although it would appear that this has been ruled out.

Although it does not appear as if the police have been brought into this matter and it is not yet clear what, if anything, Ivey has been accused of, it has been revealed that lawyers for both Ivey and Crockfords are engaged in an extremely tense stand-off.

Ivey had been playing at the casino for approximately seven hours during two nights over the August bank holiday when he struck his remarkable winning streak.  The casino became suspicious when it was discovered that Ivey’s companion’s membership of anotherMayfaircasino had been suspended.

Crockfords is owned by Genting, the Malaysian gaming corporation who have flown investigators toLondonfrom Kuala Lampur to interview everyone who happened to be working at Crockfords on the two nights in question.

Investigators also examined hours of film from Crockford’s surveillance cameras and scrutinized the cards that were used but no imperfections or marks that would have given Ivey any advantage were found and according to a source, Ivey had at no time touched the cards. 

When Ivey was approached by a reporter at a tournament inCanneslast week he declined to comment.   According to his mother, who lives inLas Vegas, the fact that he has never mentioned the matter to her suggests that it cannot have been very important to him.