Cake Poker will still be available to players in other countries

Cake Poker has become the latest site to pull out of the United States online poker market, it has been announced. All American players will be automatically moved to Juicy Stakes Poker – another client on the Revolution Gaming Network.

Cake Poker can be expected to focus on the European market. It is unclear exactly why Cake Poker has decided to take this step, although in the current climate it is unfortunately not a big surprise.

Exact details are still unclear, and we’ll be bringing you updates as we receive them.

Discuss this news article in our forum here.

Whether or not this is your first time hearing of Poker Table Ratings (PTR), this is a huge development for any player on PokerStars.

There is no denying how big PTR.com has gotten over the last few years. Just like with tweeting and Googling in the internet world, “PTRing” has become its own verb in the poker world. Since Poker Table Ratings (ironically) doesn’t keep their subscription information public, it’s impossible to quantify exactly what percentage of players used the search function—which allowed players to see opponents’ career results—or what percentage of players purchased hand histories and/or had paying subscriptions. (These subscribers were given access to information as specific as Fold to River Raise and Raise Continuation Bet based on every hand ever played by every player on the site.) Without knowing the exact numbers, though, it is clear (based on frequent interaction with players in forums, chat rooms and Skype) that the search function was used during sessions by the vast majority of regulars and that it was a very common practice for regulars at $0.50/$1 NL and higher to have very privileged (and very illegal) information—that is, hand histories and/or paid subscriptions.

There are so many effects of this move that it deserves its own top 5 list. There is no fluff here; these are all very noteworthy changes to the game of online poker.

Note that PTR still tracks hands for several other sites, and this move only affects PokerStars.

Also note that PTR technically is not completely shutdown for all Stars-related gaming. Players can still e-mail PokerStars in order to give consent to making their playing information public, but it is unlikely that a significant enough number of players will do this for players to even bother searching the site. Anyone who hasn’t heard of Poker Table Ratings will obviously not e-mail Stars support in order to consent to a tracking service they know nothing about, and players who have heard of the site will generally know that it is only to their disadvantage to have their playing information out there for anyone to see.

Anyway, here are the top 5 reasons you should care about this move:

The Good, Bad and Debatable of a PTR-Free PokerStars

#5: Less Tank Tapping – GOOD!

Everyone knows that tapping the tank is bad for everyone in the game—bad for the fish being ridiculed and bad for the sharks who are trying to keep the fish at the table until all of their chips are gone.

And Lee Jones, PokerStars’ Head of Home Games, aptly pointed out last week that the ability to search any players’ results facilitated exactly that. In a lot of cases, there was explicit derision that took place in the table chat feature where a bully would rub it in that a player had losing results for their career. Even more commonly was there implicit derision—that is, even without a player openly mocking someone, just the fear that there was a site out there making all of their results public was enough to make players shy away from the potential embarrassment of playing. PokerStars’ takedown of this site—even if it’s a site a fish didn’t know of before—is a great PR move so that players can feel that the privacy of their results are respected.

#4: Coaching, Staking and Book Buying – BAD!

If you’re just a casual player who doesn’t invest in electronic books, coaching or staking players, then you can skip this. For everyone else, you likely already know how important PTR has been to deciding on what coaches to hire for personal use or for a training site, how uncertain it is to make staking decisions on players who aren’t well-connected in the poker community without PTR and how much less likely you are to drop a couple grand on a book written by an unknown player who can’t back up their credentials with some massively winning results. It might also be a lot tougher to get action on Prop Bets now that under-the-radar winners can become hustlers.

But, hey, we got by back in those pre-PTR days, so this doesn’t quite make the top 3.

#3: No More Bum Hunting (Especially at Heads Up) – Debatable

If you’ve ever been in PokerStars’ Heads Up lobby, then you already know how bad, ridiculous and embarrassing bum hunting had gotten. The first 20 tables would have one regular sitting on them waiting for a random fish to stumble upon their table, and if anyone with winning results ever tried to sit at “their” table, they would sitout immediately. It was a complete action killer—one that Phil Galfond expressed extreme frustration over recently.

Well at last, players are going to have to actually tangle with other players in order to find out if they’re any good. This is listed as “Debatable” because not all players are pleased by this move, but this really helps action at Heads Up tables. And since the point of poker is to—you know—play hands of poker, this is a big win for the game.

#2: Bots, Collusion and Multi-Accounts – BAD!

Online poker has had a great one-two defense against dishonest play over the last few years. The first weapon was a data-mining site that kept such thorough information on every players’ style that it seems implausible that there would be software (or collusion strategies) sophisticated enough to bypass suspicion. The second weapon was the poker community itself, which was chock full of smart, studious players who had an invested interest in keeping the game clean. The sleuths are still there, but their biggest investigative tool is gone.

Now, PokerStars has demonstrated an impressive willingness to take the short-term PR hit that comes from admitting that they have found cheaters on the site in order to achieve the most crucial long-term goal of getting those cheaters off the site. This helps give a vote of confidence that they will take all necessary steps to pick up where PTR left off. But no matter what steps they take, there will be a drop-off in the efficacy of catching cheats that existed under Poker Table Ratings.

#1: Leveling the Playing Field – Debatable

To put it simply, those who used PTR have been denied a gargantuan tool for winning the information war that we call poker. Those who hadn’t heard of PTR, or refused to use it on principle, are no longer being disadvantaged. Then, there are plenty of players in between who used PTR but to such a casual degree that they were probably being cheated more than they were cheating.

The use of Poker Table Ratings had become so rampant that it blurred the lines of what was cheating and what was just “keeping up” (kind of like steroid use in the 1990s MLB). In fact, there are those who argue that data-mining is part of the game regardless of what steps PokerStars takes. So, these people argue, getting rid of such a well-known avenue may level the playing field among all the “honest” players but make for an even bigger advantage for more persistent cheaters.

In the end, though, this move has lent such a big helping hand to those who were following the rules all along that it seems like a huge win for the game.

Though it may look like the final score is 1 Good to 2 Bads, both of those “Debatables” are really improvements to the game of poker.  So while PokerStars has been solidifying their already-extensive hold on the poker market, they have been embarking on a landmark move to ensure that the gaming across their network is honest.

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A best of luck to all of  readers who are ready to try their hand at the changed gaming environment of PokerStars cash game tables.

Since it was founded, the Tiger Woods Foundation has raised more than $13 million to help children and young adults from all over the world realize their educational dreams.  Since 1998, the foundation has hosted a “Tiger Jam” weekend every year to raise funds for the Tiger Woods Foundation.  This year is the first time Tiger Jam will include a poker tournament, however.

“Tiger’s Poker Night” will be held at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas this evening.  The event will begin at 6pm when appetizers and drinks are served.  The poker tournament will begin promptly at 7pm.  The buy-in for the poker tournament is $10,000.

Win or lose, participants will have the chance to meet at least two renowned poker players:  Phil Helmuth and Doyle Brunson.  Despite being known as the “Poker Brat,” Helmuth is a philanthropist who actively supports several worthy charities.  He will be the emcee of this year’s inaugural Tiger’s Poker Night.  One of just a handful of people to win the WSOP Main Event twice, Brunson has won more than $6 million in poker tournaments alone.

In exchange for the entry fee, people get a seat in the tournament, a two-night stay for two at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino and two tickets to Saturday’s “Tiger Jam,” which will spotlight Jon Bon Jovi and Friends.  The entry fee also gives people the chance to win prizes.

The winner of the poker tournament will have the opportunity to be a member of a foursome that plays a round of golf with Tiger Woods himself.  Other prizes include a putting lesson given by Tiger Woods, Pro-Am spots for PGA Tour competitions, rounds of golf at select courses around the United States, original items signed by Tiger Woods and a golf club fitting at Fort Worth’s, “The Oven.”

The current cost to attend a 2-day Boot Camp is $1,895.  Beginning later this year, players will have the option to use WPTBootCamp.com’s payment plan to pay a camp’s attendance fee.  If a student uses the plan, he or she will have to put down an initial payment of $495.  Once the initial payment is made, the individual can attend a Boot Camp without having to pay the balance of the attendance fee prior to the start of the selected Boot Camp.  Instead, the World Poker Tour Boot Camp will charge the attendee’s credit card $199 per month for a total of seven months.

At present, the World Poker Tour Boot Camp has camps scheduled in several states including Nevada, New Jersey, Indiana, Florida and Texas through the end of the year.  Players can choose to attend Boot Camps that address how to improve their play in either cash games or tournaments.  Camps range in length from one to two days and some of them are open to alumni only.

After being offline briefly at midweek, PokerTableRatings.com went live again with a statement expressing the company’s willingness to comply with the order.  The statement reads in part:

“The most contentious aspects of PTR seem to be the premium services we provide, namely player stats, however when compared to widely-accepted poker HUDs from other software providers, we believe the differences are negligible. Tools exist to give advantages to players who know how to use them and who are willing to pay for them, plain and simple and these will not go away. Players will always be looking for advantages and we are just one of many services offering an advantage.

That said, we will fully adhere to the cease and desist notice by Stars, though we do not believe that we are a disservice to the online poker community. We continue to search and most importantly detect bot rings month after month and provide information about these true game-breaking activities to brands that care about the integrity of their games. We’ve provided unrivaled publicity to players who have gone on to become sponsored celebrities of the online poker world and we have given all players a public forum to show off their impressive wins or gain sympathy for their crushing defeats.

We still fully believe in our product and will continue to introduce new and exciting features to our customers. We have been actively developing new tools that will give more control and ownership of profiles to their respective players so that PTR can be a service that every poker player would be proud to use. The latest events, though a disruption in our plans, do not derail them. Our team is committed to evolving PTR even further in order to continue to provide hundreds of thousands of members of the online poker community with valued services and tools to keep the game of poker fun and engaging for all.”

Poker Table Ratings is a data-mining site that claims to record 18,000,000 hand histories daily.  The site also suggests that its records are generally 400% “fresher” than those published by the company’s competitors.  The data collected by Poker Table Ratings is compatible with Hold’Em Manager, Poker Tracker and Poker Office.

In addition to being able to review statistics related to other people’s play, people can purchase hand histories drawn from certain websites including 888Poker, Party Poker, OnGame and Bodog, among others.  People can also pay a monthly fee for a premium service that enables them to do detailed searches on specific players.  The fee for Poker Table Ratings’ monthly service ranges from $9.99 to $32.49 depending on the level of service a person desires.

Prices for hand histories vary depending on the site and game.  A history of No Limit Hold ‘Em hands at tables with the highest possible blinds and 7-10 players for Absolute currently costs $198 at PokerTableRatings.com.  A hand history for a comparable game at Bodog has a current price tag of $207.90.

Guy Laliberte, founder of Cirque du Soleil, started One Drop in October, 2007.  The charity’s mandate reads as follows:

“In Canada, ONE DROP is a charitable organization that develops integrated, innovative projects with an international scope, in which water plays a central role as a creative force in generating positive, sustainable effects for local and foreign populations and in the fight against poverty. More specifically, ONE DROP Canada, in cooperation with partner Oxfam and others, develops access-to-water and sanitation projects in countries where access to this vital resource is lacking. In addition, ONE DROP is involved in raising awareness among individuals and communities on water-related issues to convince them to mobilize for universal access to water and urge them to adopt sound habits for managing this precious resource for future generations. In closing, ONE DROP Canada is also involved in fundraising—a crucial activity if it is to realize its dream of water for all, today and tomorrow. To this end, the partners of ONE DROP have joined forces with the organization for pursuing this objective.”

More than $111,000 of each player’s entry fee will be given to One Drop which will use the money to initiate a legacy project in a foreign country.  With the current field, the charity is expected to receive more than $3.3 million that will be used to help individuals have access to clean water.

While the WSOP is allowing some participants to remain anonymous leading up to the tournament per their requests, some notable players have already put deposits down for their seats, including Daniel Negreanu, Gus Hansen, Johnny Chan, Tom Dwan, Jonathan Duhamel, Erik Seidel and, of course, Guy Laliberte.

The first $1,000,000 buy-in Big One for One Drop poker tournament will be held at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas beginning on July 1, and ending July 3, 2012.  The event will be aired on ESPN.

Some other advantages Gold membership provides include being able to play poker without the distraction of advertisements, the ability to participate in private games, receiving informative newsletters, and attending monthly online workshops conducted by poker professionals.

People who choose to play poker at FaceUpGaming.com for free can compete to win monthly cash and prizes worth an approximate total of $1,000.  Regardless of whether someone is playing for free or is a Gold member, the individual has the choice of recreating a casino-like atmosphere by enabling the website’s live video and audio chat feature.  By doing so, a person can actually see and interact with the people with whom he or she is playing cards as the individual would with people at a home game or in a casino.

Signing up at FaceUpGaming is fast and simple to do.  The site provides email and chat support and its customer service representatives are knowledgeable not just about the site’s technicalities, but about poker, too.  Whether a person wins a prize or money playing poker on FaceUpGaming.com or not, he or she has already been awarded with an enjoyable, advanced, and colorful place to play cards on the Internet.

While Black Friday didn’t affect Canadians’ tendency to play online poker, the events of that day seem to have influenced the decisions they make about where they play.  Since mid-April, 2011, Canadian players have consistently chosen to play online poker on websites operated by publicly traded companies rather than on ones operated by privately-held organizations, meaning they are gravitating to sites such as 888 Poker and bwin.party instead of returning to play at PokerStars, one of the companies impacted by Black Friday.

According to G-poker spokesman, Jeremy Taylor, 888 Poker’s popularity has grown among Canadian players since Black Friday despite already having a strong presence in the Canadian market before that fateful day.  Taylor predicts that 888 Poker will be “first in line for American legalization” which will enable Canadians and Americans to reunite in online poker games.

Even with its own increase in popularity among Canadian poker players, bwin.party’s gross revenue dropped 10 percent in 2011 compared to the numbers bwin.party Digital Entertainment reported a year earlier.

In its annual report, the company stated that Black Friday “will prove to be a fundamental shift in the shape and structure of the global online poker market.”  The report continues, “We believe it is only a matter of time before the worlds of real money gaming and social gaming converge. This represents a major opportunity for bwin.party and we have a number of initiatives already underway in this area that we expect to drive value for shareholders in the medium to long-term.”  One of the company’s initiatives is developing a social poker community on Google+.

First, he outlines the good. Poker has afforded us a lot of luxury. A lot of freedom a lot of poker players most certainly would not have held in a 9-5 job, especially for the internet generation who could simply play whenever they wanted to. Lots of poker players have traveled the world on the circuit and seen things they would have been unlikely to see in their lifetimes. Poker players have lived in his words “a lavish lifestyle” that poker money has afforded us all that we certainly would not have without it. He also points out that certain poker players have invested their money intelligently and made lots of money outside of poker without poker, but this seems to be a rarity.

He then further outlines what he considers more common, the ‘curse’ that poker has brought a lot of people. Losing has a large psychological effect on people, the study he uses claims losing is 2.5x as bad as winning an equal amount is good. Losing has a large effect on our stress and anxiety to the point of causing depression among even the most seasoned pros. He furthers this with poker is a negative sum game which brings out the worst in people, in regards to scams and lying. This combined with various life leaks of poker leaves many poker players full of bad life experiences that have resulted directly from poker.

Poker has certainly been a blessing and a curse for most players. No one is immune to tilt or has plugged all their life leaks, we do the best we can plugging them and moderating them on what we can and it’s either good enough or it’s not. I can certainly say poker overall has been an overwhelmingly positive experience in my life and hopefully it has been so in yours as well. I certainly recommend reading the whole blog at http://sorelmizzi.info/blessingorcurse/.

Tirola’s most recent film details the history of poker throughout the 1800s and 1900s, discusses the increases and decreases in the game’s popularity over the years, and describes the impact that recent legislation has had on online poker.  Professional poker players, actors, actresses, and pop-culture icons alike are interviewed in “All-In: the Poker Movie,” including Kenny Rogers, Matt Damon, Phil Helmuth, Amarillo Slim, Frank Gifford, Jennifer Tilly, Annie Duke, and, of course, Chris Moneymaker.  It is the testimonials provided by these people, among others, that help Tirola tell poker’s historical and current stories.

Even though the original version of Tirola’s documentary already had a press screening at the beginning of last year and was scheduled to be released in July, 2011, the director decided to adapt his film to reflect the changes that occurred on April 15, 2011, the day Tirola and many others refer to as “Black Friday.”

On April 15, 2011, the U.S. Department of Justice effectively ended online poker in America as a form of gambling for money.  More than just a threat to the livelihoods of professional card players, the Department of Justice’s move was interpreted by many as a threat to people’s personal freedoms.  “All-In: The Poker Movie” portrays April 15, 2011 as the date that an attack was launched against personal freedoms in the United States, with some of the people interviewed in the film likening the date to the day Pearl Harbor was attacked or the time John F. Kennedy was assassinated.

In a review published in The New York Times on March 22, 2012, Neil Genzlinger suggests that Tirola should have named his movie, “All In: The Poker Propaganda Movie.”  Genzlinger explains his comment later in his review when he writes, “The film, though, is so padded with cheerleading that it doesn’t have time for a serious exploration of poker’s place in the broader culture or the consequences of its rapid rise and global reach.”

By contrast, when he was asked about Tirola’s film during an interview with Entertainment Weekly’s Clark Collis, Chris Moneymaker commented, “I had no idea what to expect. I honestly thought this movie started in 2003 and went to current day. I didn’t know it went back to 1800s or whatever. I actually learned a lot, which is cool.”

Regardless of whose impression of “All-In: The Poker Movie” is more accurate, the film can be seen at Hartford, Connecticut’s Real Art Ways on March 23, 24, 30 and 31, 2012.  The documentary also opened at New York’s Cinema Village on March 23.  Beginning on April 24, 2012, viewers will be able to watch “All-In: The Poker Movie” in the comfort of their own homes on video on demand.