It seems like the market’s response to Atlantic City’s huge fore-front experiment was a very negative one. This involved cutting out dealers & chips, and then replacing them with automated poker games.

The poker community has been told that the congressional action regarding the reversal of the UIGEA (Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act) will happen very soon. This has been confirmed by both Congressmen Barney Frank and Jim Mc Dermott when they spoke about introducing the bills.

The World Series Of Poker has advanced a lot recently, as stated by the gaming industry experts. In fact, Harrah’s Entertainment is being pushed to give up a number of possessions in order to avoid bankruptcy and alleviate their liquidity issues.

Mangas Captial Gaming (MCG), which is the majority owner of Betclick has announced that they have now acquired Expekt’s sports betting and gaming operations. After a long series of discussions and negotiations it is believed that Expekt.com eventually agreed to sell for between €110m and €125m.

Bodog Poker, one of the industry leaders in recent years in the sportsbook and casino sector, has really been making strong efforts to bulk up their software in another important part of their operation: the poker room.

The site has been making great strides in the playability and graphics department, completely overhauling their poker software recently to really match up with the big boys in the online poker world. With its current setup, Bodog makes it super easy to multi-table, and has endless customizations in regards to how your table looks and setting up different avatars and buddy notes.

In addition to that, they just added a new Mac-friendly software client to their already-packed arsenal of poker goodies. Right now, new and existing players can go directly to the Bodog Life website and click on the “Instant Play” feature that allows all Mac users to play right through their browser and not ever needing to download the regular software. This makes finding and opening up tables easy as ever and so far there haven’t been many complaints whatsoever as far as lag or dull graphics go.

Tom Dwan, also known as the infamous “Durrr” on Full Tilt Poker, is not exactly having the most stellar start to his new year - especially on the virtual felt.

“Amarillo” Slim Preston, hands-down one of the greatest living gamblers and poker players of all-time, was rushed to a local area hospital in Amarillo, Texas, this past week after being beaten and robbed of his possessions and a large amount of cash.

The robbery, which occurred when Preston was trying to collect on a $3,000 debt that was owed to him, not only costed Slim $8,000 in cash and an $85,000 ring he was wearing, but he also suffered a broken jaw, hand, and thumb!

According to police reports, he was led to an open field in his hometown of Amarillo by someone planning to give him a 4-wheel drive vehicle as collateral on the debt, but was then subsequently beaten down and blatantly robbed on the spot. The person was not identified in the reports, however, local police authorities are hoping to find the culprit as soon as possible.

Players Network, a leader in the industry of “gaming lifestyle,” has announced their partnership with the National League of Poker (NLOP) to invent a new online poker site under the Players Network brand.

Tom “durrr” Dwan’s Million Dollar Poker Challenge is comprised of 50,000 poker hands at tables with stakes of $200/$400 or more. After the last hand, whoever has the biggest bankroll will either win $1.5 million from Dwan, or Dwan will win $500,000 of his opponent’s money.

It wasn’t long after Dwan’s challenge that Phil Ivey took Dwan up and agreed to compete… and then David Benyamine and Patrik Antonius followed. These are three of the biggest names in online and live poker. Phil Ivey is a five-time WSOP bracelet winner, Benyamine has one bracelet, and although Antonius has more than $750K in WSOP winnings, he doesn’t wear a bracelet. Dwan has no WSOP bracelets either, but these guys are just about all in the same league, expect for Ivey, who blows them all away.

Online opinion polls show that Dwan has no chance against Ivey. Although there are some who believe this whole thing is hype and the challenge will never actually take place or that Dwan will never follow through and end up paying out of his pocket when he doesn’t complete the challenge. But Dwan is a pretty cool guy who would not likely make such a joke out of himself.

There are questions though, surrounding the challenge. Like when and where it will take place. It is most likely that FullTilt Poker will win the free advertisement off this one.

Tom Dwan, known affectionately by his poker fans as “durrrr,” has issued an online poker challenge to anyone who has the guts and the bankroll to take it. It is a “heads-up challenge to the world,” according to Dwan. A Bluff Magazine article introduced the challenge, and then Dwan later expounded in a post on the 2 + 2 forum.