The Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino has had to remove their 14 automated poker tables after experimenting them out for the past few months. The process was that the electronic games would automatically shuffle and deal video-type cards. These cards would appear on a large display screen at the centre of the table. Every player at the table had a smaller-sized display screen equipped with the sensor controls to place further bets, to call or to fold.

The aim of these automated tables was to attract the younger generation of gamblers out there but this didn’t quite succeed. For example, poker player Ira Cohen from Brooklyn New York, says he much prefers a live environment with real dealers and the human friendly atmosphere they generate. Meanwhile the casino union clubs held the fear that the automated table games could have increased dealer layoffs.

Although most books are dated now, they still have great information in them which would be a impossible task to find elsewhere. Some books should still be read by all poker players, which we will list now.

1 – Phil Gordon’s Little Green Book

Written by a true poker legend, Phil Gordon, this book gives players a fantastic insight into poker math and other fundamental factors in the game of poker. His writing is top class, with added humour where possible. He tells readers in the book this is how he plays poker, and doesn’t care who disagrees with him.

The book also tells players exactly what they want to know, without the useless dribble involved. He goes through making big lay downs and why to make them, why he would make a bet in certain decisions and where you would be best to call.

Overall this book shouldn’t be over looked by players, as for a small price you are paying for the individual views of a player who has seen pretty much everything in the poker world and even if you disagree with what he says, there is no doubting this is a great read.

2 – Harrington on Hold’em

The writer and book should need no introduction, the man himself Dan Harrington decided to write a book on Hold’em, which offers players the cheapest insight to poker they will ever be offered. If you cannot take advice off a WSOP Main Event winner, who can you take advice off?

This book is adored by many top players, some people live and die by what Harrington has to say in this incredible read, and they seem to do pretty well in the poker world.

The book focuses on No limit Hold’em Tournaments and after reading this book, you will never think about poker in the same way again. He goes through everything a tournament player will ever think about during a game, pot odds, betting strategies, opponent styles etc.

After reading this book you will probably look back and think how bad of a player you were, as I remember I thought just that.

3 – Mike Caro Book of Tells

This is a great book aimed at newer players to the live poker circuit. If you are about to play your first live game or your not doing to well in live games, pick up this book and study it. Caro goes through how players act when they are bluffing, strong, weak etc. and also how they may act if they are trying to disguise their hand.

Pokerstars.com

You will be hard stretched to find a player who wouldn’t recommend Pokerstars. It is simply the best poker site on the net. You will not find a site with traffic like it, and no room can beat its unique $1.5m Sunday tournament which brings the worlds best players together to battle it out for the elusive title of being the Sunday Million Champion. Also a week’s worth of fame in the poker world comes from winning the Sunday Million, which is fully deserved for coming through a field of thousands to win one of the hardest tournaments in the industry.

Pokerstars treats players exactly how they should be. They reward players for playing on their site with their VIP programme and poker store, and also give them top notch security so they never have to worry about the safety of their online poker money.

Full Tilt Poker

Full Tilt Poker heavily markets their brand on one thing, the ability for players to play with the worlds top poker pro’s. This is probably the biggest attraction of Full Tilt Poker, as the chance to play with players such as Phil Ivey, Gus Hansen and Tom “durrrr” Dwan, is too much to resist for any poker player.

They also offer fantastic software, which can be fully customised to the players needs. Whether you want to view avatars, turn them off, upload a custom background or auto reload your stack, it is all possible at Full Tilt Poker.

Aced Poker

Although many players may not have heard of this room, it is an up and coming room which is ready to take the poker industry by storm. Hosted on the Merge Network, Aced Poker has very unique ways of rewarding players. They have their interesting “Outs” programme which players are going crazy about and over $150,000 given away each month in freerolls to loyal players. Carbon Poker is another great poker room on the Merge Network.

The big news in the poker world that Jamie Gold has signed for this site has definitely increased traffic for the site as well. Before the signing you would have been hard stretched to find a regularly running high stakes game, but now with so many players wanting to play and bust Jamie Gold, the tables are filled more often.

Party Poker

Former number one site in the world, Party Poker unfortunately doesn’t offer its services to US players. Despite this, it should still be a serious contender for any European poker beginner. They have also recently had a huge face lift, making their tables and lobby much more attractive and have improved playability.

Titan Poker

Again, Titan Poker has closed it doors to US players but should not be a turn off for European players. They offer some of the juiciest games on the net, with most players at small limits being beginners themselves and very soft competition for any semi-experienced player.

They offer a good software which is simple and focused on usability for the player then extravagant features. We respect this as the number one thing a player wants is to be able to comfortably play poker for as long as they wish. At Titan Poker this is easily possible and whether you want to play marathon sessions of multi-tabling, you will never be in a second of discomfort.

Chief of staff for Congressman Jim McDermott (D-WA) Mike DeCesare, told Card Player earlier on his week: “I expect that we will introduce the legislation in 2-3 weeks. Like last session, we will introduce after [Congressman Barney Frank’s legislation]”.
Having fought for the taxation and regulation of online poker in the past, McDermott is best remembered in the H.R. 6501 bill he introduced last year. This bill was meant to use the income from the regulation of Internet gambling onto new opportunities and job training for past foster care part-takers.
Also at the heart of the fight for online poker is Frank (D-MA). Having previously introduced the Internet Gambling Regulation and Enforcement Act of 2007, this bill also never made it to the House floor for the vote. In fact, this would have revoked the UIGEA.

An assistant for Congressman Barney Frank (D-MA) spoke to Reuters last month about how the online poker players and fans could wait and see changes very soon. A spokesman said in February, “The bill introduction should happen in the next month,” “Mr. Frank will bring back legislation to repeal the UIGEA.”

During the SAFE Port Act in 2006, the UIGEA was passed as a last-minute attachment. The legislation does not criminalize the playing of online poker in the United States, but it severely looks down on the industry because it makes it illegal for credit-card companies, payment processors, such as PayPal and the banks to make transfers of funds from such customers to the online casinos, and vice versa.

2005 saw the founding of The Poker Players Alliance, which is out there to protect the rights of poker players. This non-profit organization has been particularly pro-active in the past months in its dispute against the UIGEA. Last January, the PPA Chairman Alfonse D’Amato forwarded the case for a regulation in an article for the Congressional magazine Roll Call, and he called in with Card Player last month to discuss further the PPA’s future.

Greg Raymer, former World Champ and a patent lawyer as well as member of the PPA Board of Directors, was also involved in this political trail defending the game. Raymer attended the Conservative Political Action Conference during the end of February on behalf of the PPA, and since then he has been seen on Fox Business News to explain why he and most people are pro the regulation of online poker.

The WSOP brand has been under Harrah’s control since the day it got Binion’s to purchase the world’s top poker tournament. Nevertheless, the firm has never made use of its rights online, and doubts have been raised that an online poker room holding the WSOP logo would be a great outcome. Harrah’s is keen to hold these rights and to gear up its own internet casinos once the UIGEA is revoked, but the current financial situation may push them to sell out.

Moving the online licence of WSOP up for bid would definitely elevate the cash for Harrah’s without them having to give up the other hotel-casinos. At the moment rumour has it that the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas might be on the market soon. Harrah’s official representatives’ focus is to avoid divesting the firm of more casinos.

Internet gambling sites would jump at the chance to take over control of the WSOP’s Internet usage. This would mean that any casino that is looking to expand into the poker field would have this top-known name in the business at its reach. Likewise, the established online poker websites yearn to block competitors from using this powerful brand against them, as well as using it to boost up their own existing identity.

If the income reported so far continues to leap down at Harrah’s casinos, the sale of their current assets to convert into cash will be obligatory. Harrah’s Entertainment showed a loss over $4 billion in their last quarter, that together with their debt payments on the bank loans. Hannah’s would hate to give up the WSOP online, but this may be hard to avoid at this point and circumstance.

Expekt is a Malta based operation that has caught the eye by many in the online gambling industry. They provide sports betting services for over 20 countries across Europe. Their presence has been especially felt in Eastern Europe. They have established themselves as a well known brand that clients can safely place bets at. Many pundits feel that Expekt will form a fitting relationship with Betclick. Betclick is also a Malta based operation but is mainly concentrated on the French market.

In 1999 Christian Haupt and Conny Cesar founded what we now know as Expekt. These two also own casino and poker software operation Tain but it is understood that this company was not involved in the deal. It is also believed that their retail stores in Germany and Austria are not part of the deal either.

Mangas Captial Gaming will be buying the Expekt sportsbook backend as well as their marketing functions and customer base. It is expected that the current management team at Expekt, including their CEO Per Widerstrom will be retained. It is unclear at the present time as to whether there will be any redundancies among the rest of the staff currently working at Expekt.

MCG bought 75% of Betclick.com last May for an undisclosed fee. They are also rumoured to be in talks with Nordicbet in regards to a possible acquisition of their operation. In times of economic uncertainty it seems as though the team at MCG are going from strength to strength. This also means that other, struggling operations may see this as a perfect time to sell.

MCG is an offshoot of Mangas Captial Entertainment which was founded by Stephane Courbit who is the former head of Edemol France. We understand that MCG is partially bankrolled by the owners of the Monte Carlo Casino. The Societe des Bains de Mer (SBM) bought around about 50% of MCG last December for a deal thought to be worth about €100m. Sources close to SBM have revealed that they have known for quite a while that SBM have been looking for an avenue to get into the online gambling market. If recent success is any indicator, they look like they have made an intelligent decision.

An industry source has revealed that this latest Expekt deal made by MCG will not be the last. It is believed that they have more than €100m left in their investment pool for further acquisitions. The exact words the source used were “They are looking at other deals. The investment fund is well north of €100m. They have plenty more in the tank.” It looks like exciting times over at MCG at the moment as they look to extend their presence all across Europe and increase their market share. Only time will tell if they can capitalise on their large amount of investment funds to acquire more online gambling operations.

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 Poker 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.

Check out our Bodog Poker review today to see what all the fuss is about get on board already if you’re using a Mac computer! The process is simple to setup and access, and the best part is, you don’t have to download anything. You just need to have Java installed and you’ll be good to go. However, in case you do feel the need to have the actual downloadable version of Bodog on your Mac, you always have the available options of running a PC Emulator program or even running Boot Camp software to get the standard download that many Windows users already have.

After making his “heads-up challenge to the world” at the beginning of 2009, Dwan has literally had to eat his own words on the high stakes tables this year, and is paying the cost dearly via his bankroll.

You may ask yourself, “just how down is Dwan right about now? ”

Well, “down” to the tone of just over $3 million in the first 3 weeks of this year - which is more than HALF of his total profit for all of 2008!

Whether its just variance taking its toll on the young phenom or just ego getting a bit of a karma wake-up call, this is certainly not the way “Durrr” had imagined he would be running in the cash games he once owned throughout the latter part of 2008.

It’ll be very interesting to see how much he’ll be able to hold up after he answers the takers of his aforementioned heads-up challenge.  I’m sure Patrik Antonious and Phil Ivey are itching to get a piece of the “kid” while he’s in a massive downswing.

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.

The 80-year old Amarillo Slim is one of the pioneers of poker and was responsible for bringing the game itself to the forefront of Vegas lore when he, Sailor Roberts, and Doyle Brunson traveled to and from Texas and Nevada as road gamblers and “hustlers.”  He is also one of the few players to have won the WSOP Main Event more than once in his career and is also a member of the coveted Poker Hall of Fame.

We wish Slim nothing but the best and hope he has a speedy recovery.

Apparently, NLOP will manage and operate the legal online poker room, but Players Network will be compensated through a percentage of the advertisements, a monthly fee on each player, and a substantial piece of the revenue made off VIP subscriptions that provide players with access to premium services and content. In addition, Players Network will have rights to the site’s registration database to market their services to. Players Network’s president of programming, Michael Berk, explains in a CNNMoney.com article that with the “unparalleled ability to run ads for ‘Players Network’s Poker Club’ on our proprietary programming in over 22 million TV homes in the US, 121 million TV homes in Europe, and on our Broadband and Mobile platforms, Players Network has the ability to reach more potential members than any other poker site out there.”

Trying to explain exactly what role Players Network plays in the industry of “gaming lifestyle” is rather difficult because their reach is so widespread. The company’s “About Us” page states this:

The “gaming lifestyle” category includes travel, entertainment, music, performance, dining, spas, shows, legal gaming, tournaments, vacations & travel and celebrities from the music, sports and gaming areas. Players Network will do for gaming what ESPN did for sports, MTV did for music, CNN did for news and Nickelodeon to children’s programming.”

NLOP, on the other hand is very easy to understand. They are the industry leader for providing free and legal online poker play in the US through their social gaming platform. The keyword here is “social.” NLOP has successfully created an “interactive social network for poker players,” says Berk. This phenomenon is sort of like a cross between MySpace and a chat room at an online bingo parlor, which is more about the social aspect than the game of bingo, in most cases. There is something to be said about doing the right thing, as NLOP’s players feel good about playing poker there.

There is little doubt that this new alliance will play a major part in the future of poker and come out of it successful, on top of helping to move poker forward in spite of its negative connotation that unfortunately holds the game back.