“These interactive versions will offer enhanced bonusing, proven play mechanics, progressives and other outstanding features,” read a company statement, “that only a company with more than 80 years in the gaming industry can provide.”

The games offered through the RGS will come in two groups – play-for-free and wager based. Both will be available on a global scale on a business-to-business basis, aimed at customers just entering the gaming market. This information was confirmed by Bally’s Senior VP of Tech, Bryan Kelly, who said that his company’s “integration of the RGS into our cloud-based mobile platform gives operators the ability to incorporate Bally’s play-for-free or wager-based games into their mobile offerings.”

The great irony here is that, though based in the U.S., Bally will have a hard time marketing their products domestically. Officially, online gambling remains outside the grounds of legality.

Those able to jump on the Bally’s bandwagon, however, will meet with several new additions over the coming year. The company, says iGaming Business, is planning to add several more aspects to the RGS, including products which will assist in the management of data on the casino, slots, and hospitality fronts.

So, it appears as though Bally is going for the total digital package. Should online gambling legislation pass within the United States, they could soon be doing business on their native soil.

One person frequently viewed is John Roberte Bellande, you can follow him on twitter @brokelivingjrb. John Roberte certainly is not shy about tweeting his every up and down after each session, as well as retweeting what the doubters and believers say about him. He plays exclusively at the Aria in Las Vegas and will frequently post pictures and videos from inside “Ivey’s Room” which often runs some form of mix game ranging from 7 game to 11 game as well as including some No Limit Hold’em depending on who is present. The games in 11 game consist of things like Stud08, Pot Limit Omaha as well as games such as “Badeucy” which much isn’t known about unless you play in those games. Bellande’s goal with his twitter was to have a journal of sorts while he take’s his bankroll from zero to a million, unfortunately thus far Bellande has not had much success, mostly jumping from backer to backer due to poor results. I don’t play in these games nor do I have any knowledge of most mix games so I don’t feel it’s fair to comment either way if he is indeed a good player running horribly or a bad player who ran hot at one point in his career. Either way his story is certainly fun to follow and I wish him the best of luck.

Another option is to read blogs from top name pros, in particular Gus Hansen and Daniel Negreanu are of interest to read from time to time. Daniel mostly keeps a recap of what he has been doing for the past month or so in his blog while Gus tends to write shorter posts but usually after he finishes his poker sessions. According to Gus’s blog he has recently been in Macau playing with players such as John Juanda, Sam Trickett, Andrew Robl and Richard Yong, as well as others who he does not name. Gus does not name the other players in the pots he plays out of respect for the other player but he certainly keeps the reader interested by talking about some of the hands he’s played. According to Gus, there has certainly been no shortage of large pots in Macau as he has won and lost many pots worth 13.5 to 16 million HKD which is roughly equivalent to $1.6 million to $2 million. While this information is small, brief and offers very little insight into what’s going on the same way TV poker did for the poker world, it is certainly better than nothing and we hope all three players continue to keep us updated.

The tournaments wish to play second fiddle to none, running the gambit of the biggest PokerStars-sponsored events in some of the most desirable destinations and, of course, headlined by some of the biggest female names in poker, including Liv Boeree, Vanessa Rousso and Vicky Coren. The series has seen two tournaments in the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) and three in the European Poker Tour (EPT), passing through London, the Bahamas and Madrid along the way.

American Kathy Saraf took down over $25k in the last event in the Bahamas, just a few months after satellite qualifier Jan Combes had won the preceding title in London.

The next stop should not disappoint either. In April, the PokerStars Women Live series will join the EPT Grand Final in Monaco. It shall be an eventful and lavish week of poker, being sponsored not only by PokerStars, but by the world famous casino eponymous for the hosting city–the Monte Carlo.

Now it’s just a matter of waiting to see what stories may come out of the event.

“By tweaking current laws,” said Whelan, “we can give casinos more regulatory freedom to offer diverse gaming opportunities to their patrons and can ensure that the state is doing its part to encourage non-gaming development within the designated tourism zone within Atlantic City.”

The mobile gaming bill, however, isn’t the only hat the senator has thrown into the ring. As he alluded to above, Whelan has also proposed a law which would allow for the creation of a new tax credit program aimed at non-gambling companies in the gaming-safe zone.

“These bills, taken as a whole, will make it easier to attract new investment in Atlantic City,” he said, “gaming and otherwise, and will make it easier for Atlantic City to be one of the major resort destinations along the East Coast.”

As the representative of the area surrounding New Jersey’s casino scene, Whelan’s political views have a great deal in common with another of the state’s senators, one Raymond Lesniak. Lesniak has been at the forefront of several gaming bills over the last few years, including one which made it all the way to the governor’s desk before being cut down. While most of his efforts have been aimed at the field of intra-state online gaming, it would come as no surprise if Lesniak became one of the primary supporters of Whelan’s efforts. The matters are scheduled to appear before the New Jersey State Senate in the near future.

In his twitter Matusow claims, “for all my fans out there just to let u all know I don’t owe full tilt anything why my name is mentioned I don’t know,” but GBT responds that Matusow does indeed owe nearly $700k and any attempts to reach Matusow have not been returned. Tapie has claimed that former Full Tilt players deserve to know how their money was used and how much was used and potentially lost by former FTP pros. Tapie has also called for those former big name pros to “honour” their debts and prove to the poker world that true professionals honor their debts in what he calls ‘the basic rules’ of professional gambling.

As previously stated, Barry Greenstein owes Full Tilt Poker money to the subject of $300,000 USD. In a post on twoplustwo, Barry went on to detail that he does indeed owe the money and fully intends to pay it back. However, he further states that he will pay it back to the DOJ’s fund to restore lost American funds rather than to GBT itself. This was met with mixed reviews with some Americans viewing this news as good, but the rest of the world made the point that Barry borrowed the money from FTP and as such he should not get to pick and choose where the money goes as that money was borrowed from the whole of FTP, not just the American part of Full Tilt Poker.

Earlier in the past calendar year Subject:Poker stated both Phil Ivey and David Benyamine owed FTP money and perhaps this GBT claim verifies Subject:Poker’s information. Subject:Poker had claimed David Benyamine owed Full Tilt Poker some unspecified amount and that perhaps Phil Ivey could owe as much as $6.1 million. Subject:Poker did however acknowledge that it was possible that both players had settled their debts but this new claim from GBT seems to lean towards that not being the case.

Certainly this bodes poorly for former Full Tilt Poker players as GBT has claimed this could seriously hamper any attempts to finalize a deal with FTP. GBT has stated that in the process of the diligence of FTP, that finances were far worse than expected. With the previously stated hope that Full Tilt Poker could be up and running by March 1st 2012, it seems even more likely that a deal may never get done. Most Full Tilt Pros named in the above list have remained completely silent about their debts with the exceptions of Greenstein and Matusow, so as always all we former players can do is wait to see what happens next.

Mitt Romney, the current Republican frontrunner, has publicly stated that he is “not in the betting business” and does not support legalized online gambling. He claims the social costs are too high, and legalization would have detrimental effects on people’s addictive habits. Rick Santorum has made similar statements in a public television interview as he told viewers he believes “gaming is not something that is beneficial,” and is a “vice” – the detrimental effects of which would “grow exponentially” if people were allowed to gamble in the comfort of their own homes.

Fellow FTR writer surviva316 recently brought us an article which revealed that Newt Gingrich‘s main financial backer is Sheldon Adelson, CEO of Las Vegas Sands Corp who has a strong financial incentive to oppose the legalization of online gaming, a clear competitor to his brick and mortar casino business. Since policy decisions can often be explained by following the money trail, even though there have not been any public statements on online gaming from Gingrich, one would be led to assume that Gingrich will be highly unlikely to take any steps to make online gaming legal.

From the Republican camp, that leaves us with Ron Paul, who has been outspokenly opposed to any government act which violates individual freedom. His answer to a direct question in a TV interview about whether he supports the legalization of online gaming should speak for itself: “I think people should have legalized freedom. People should be free to make their own decisions. There should be no regulations on the Internet.” A true libertarian, he clearly believes that banning online gaming is an infringement on people’s freedom to choose. Ron Paul is the only Republican candidate who has taken a stance in support of legalizing online poker.

And what of the current Obama administration? Recently the Justice Department has published information that states the Wire Act of 1961 does not make the sale of online lottery tickets over the internet illegal. The previous interpretation of the Wire Act made it illegal for wagers to be placed if it used telecommunications lines crossing state lines. This re-interpretation of the law has led many optimistic pro-online gaming advocates to speculate that this opens the door for full legalization of online gaming by means of allowing states to regulate and tax online gambling. In September, the Poker Players Association started an online petition to license and regulate online poker and submitted it to the White House, but the poker community has yet to receive an official reply.

In short, Ron Paul is the only politician in the running for President who has publicly declared himself to be pro-online poker. Unfortunately for our community, according to recent polls he seems highly unlikely to win the Republican nomination, whereas all other Republican candidates seem very likely to oppose legalization. A reply from the White House to the PPA petition would clarify whether a reelected Obama-led government will be supportive of licensed and regulated online poker.

At the time of the dealing, there were some 200,000 players active on the PokerStars servers. Once the hand was scheduled, the fortunate six were informed of their participation in the milestone. A short break was taken to allow outside viewers to log in and watch, after which action was resumed.

The way PokerStars structures the rules in these milestone hands is interesting. While everyone who participates snags at least some free cash, the winner earns an extra-hefty profit. As such, every one of the table’s six players bet their respective hearts out at each turn. In the end, however, it came down to two individuals splitting the pot with seven-high straights on a board of 5s3s7s6hTc.

Though the hand itself may have been somewhat anticlimactic, the free money more than made up for any perceived lack of drama. The player taking home the largest chunk of the prize was edroqui07, who snagged an incredible $42,810. This is made all the more impressive by the fact that he held some $35.92 at the beginning of the hand.

Next on the list was acer2831, who received $34,600 for his share of the split pot. Prior to this, he’d held just $22.36. The rest of the participants each netted somewhere in the neighborhood of $16-$20,000.

Here, courtesy of the PokerStars blog, are the comments of the lucky players after being informed of their earnings:

edroqui07: $42,810… “yeeeaaaaaaaaaa”
acer2831: $34,600
i-268: $19,450… “awesome, ty”
ant_poker: $19,010… “ooooh”
Sebastfrz: $16,970
pavl007: $16,970… “enough for a sandwich”

This practice of handing out free cash to users participating in milestone hands will continue. Keep an eye on the ticker, and make plans to log on once 80,000,000,000 draws near.

With online tournaments headed in the right direction, along with more sites popping up since Black Friday, it seems online poker is back and better than ever.  It might still be difficult to find a lot of action in high-stakes games, but the micro, low, and mid-stakes levels are still thriving.  If you’re looking for a new poker room, be sure to check out the reviews on FTR for details on nearly every online poker site in existence.

The results from this past Sunday can be found below:

Party Poker Winter Million Guaranteed
1,809 Entrants; $1,085,400 prize pool
*3-way chop

1. SteveZolotow $130,139
2. Stel_77888 $129,374
3. trixibelle1 $142,627
4. THEKID_M8 $57,526
5. TheHoffmann $46,672
6. lindaa10 $35,818
7. Lnda19 $27,677
8. cor1958 $18,994
9. DrunkenRiver $14,110
10. untaktik $9,225

iPoker Sunday $200k Guaranteed
1,036 Entrants; $207,200 prize pool

1. KiinKiin $35,224
2. JimBeam22 $25,900
3. Ollieboy1 $19,663
4. skuja85 $14,089
5. MyStapler $10,256
6. expekt3571965 $8,184
7. Sitoutpre $6,112
8. Bizbills $4,040
9. chrismullins01 $2,237

BWin Poker Sunday $250k Guaranteed
1,319 Entrants; $250,610 prize pool

1. U R Donkey $39,309
2. fuzzbungle $26,820
3. Gagurgel $19,450
4. thaitai $14,331
5. birmpilis_gr $10,595
6. SweKusk $7,861
7. Falaffel35 $6,346
8. guligen $4,954
9. Linden00 $3,859
10. jinzo $3,030

PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up $500k Guaranteed
3,624 Entrants; $724,800 prize pool
*3-way chop

1. MarinaBalbes $97,939
2. ms.bon-bon $77,931
3. Leviathan74 $82,521
4. Tomascibak $41,676
5. bergeroo $30,804
6. zackmorris99 $23,556
7. PokerSavage1 $16,308
8. Salsicha $9,060
9. jenbizzle $5,798

PokerStars Sunday Million Guaranteed
7,401 Entrants; $1,480,200 prize pool
*6-way chop

1. MatejK992SLO $177,691
2. m0rtengud $116,420
3. fr0zZy $113,001
4. *C@LLMEM8* $119,780
5. GiegelGagel $85,118
6. sprenger62 $76,831
7. grackhack2 $31,824
8. Eskapisten $17,762
9. MeirDa $11,471

PokerStars Sunday500 $250k Guaranteed
760 Entrants; $360,000 prize pool

1. Big Huni $68,780
2. cheb-achie $49,400
3. Ramux $37,050
4. thecornerAA $27,740
5. veeea $19,570
6. noirduck $15,770
7. Mamljk $11,970
8. Roma-Tilt $8,398
9. theNorfman $4,864

bet365 offers its players tons of freerolls from now until March 6th. These freerolls are easily found in the $50,000 Freeroll Frenzy section of the lobby. There is $50,000 being offered by bet365 Poker in the form of cash and tournament prize-pools. Players can participate in 360 freerolls. Additionally, there are three big $10,000 Guaranteed tournaments that players can qualify for through freerolls, heads-up qualifiers or a direct buy-in for $10+$1. Lastly, tournament players now earn 20 Merit Points instead of 15 for every $1 paid in tournament fees.

There will be three $10,000 Guaranteed tournaments, each separated by a 10-day qualifying period. The tournaments are scheduled to run on February 13th, February 24th, and March 6th of this year. Players have 10 days before each tournament to qualify through heads-up qualifiers to play in these $10,000 Guaranteed tournaments. These heads-up qualifiers are based off the ‘Steps’ model with three steps to go through. The first step costs $1.65+$0.15 or 375 Merit Points to enter. The second costs $3+$0.30 to enter and the third costs $5.50+$0.50 to enter. The last qualifier will award $11 to the victor which is the direct buy-in cost.

This promotion is sure to stir up some tournament action at bet365 Poker. There is little reason to say no to participating in this awesome promotion. Good luck at the felt!

Example 2 – Betting Draws for Value

We are on the button in a standard loose-passive game.  4 players limp to us and we have KhQh.  What should we do?

Answer – raise.  Again, even though we are behind Ax and small pairs, a hand like KQ suited plays so well multiway that we need to raise here for value.  With 4 other players in the hand and the BB likely to call close to 100% of the time, that means that we are basically guaranteed to have 6 players in the hand.  As long as our hand has more than 16.6% equity (1 in 6), then we should raise.  KQs has well over the 17% equity we need 6 handed versus wide ranges.  If you don’t believe me then pokerstove it yourself.  We raise here because we have a pot equity edge and we want to maximize it.  The fact that we will lose with our hand over 75% of the time does not mean that we should not raise with it.

Both the SB and the BB call our raise as well as the remaining 4 limpers (which we expected and is why we raised).  So on the flop we are 7 handed and the pot has 12.5 SBs.

The flop comes 4hThJs.  The SB who plays almost every hand preflop, but does not lead out postflop unless he has top pair and a good kicker or better, leads out.  3 players call, 2 players fold, and it comes to us on the button.  The pot is now 5 handed and there are 16.5 SBs in the pot.  What should we do?

Answer – raise for value.  We know that we are behind the SB right now, but we don’t care because our draws are so good.  We have 9 outs for the flush, and 6 more outs for the open end straight draw (we only have 6 instead of 8 outs for the straight because we can’t count the Ah and 9h twice), and it is possible that our K and Q will still win the pot for us if they were to hit as well.  Because it is also possible that someone has the nut flush draw and it’s possible that we are drawing dead with the K and Q outs, I will be conservative and say that we have only 15 outs.  But 15 outs will win the pot over 50% of the time (from our outs times 2 per street rule we know that a 13 out hand on the flop wins right around 50% of the time by the river).  So we want to raise here for value.  Even if the worst outcome happened and the SB was to 3-bet and show everyone that he had flopped a set of tens and all the other players folded, we would still be fine with that result because we would still have about 40% equity in a huge pot which we had contributed well less than 40% into.

We raise, the SB calls, and the 3 other players call as well.  The pot is 5 handed and has 22.5 SBs which means it has just over 11 BBs on the turn.  The turn is the 8d.  The board now reads 4hThJs8d.  Everyone checks to us.  What should we do?

Answer – Bet.  The first thing we do is figure out where we are at in the hand.  The SB just calling our raise on the flop and then checking this turn likely means that s/he had a hand like AJ or KJ rather than 2 pair or better because he likely would have 3-bet those on the flop.  He still could have 2 pair and have been scared that we have a set, but we shouldn’t be overly concerned about that.  We also know that someone could have hit a straight with Q9 or 97 at this point and with just K hi we don’t have the winning hand right now.  But with 4 other players in the hand and with our still current 15 outs we should still bet here.  Betting serves two purposes: 1) it maximizes our value when we do hit our hand because it adds bets into the pot – with 15 outs we know we have about a 30% chance of hitting our hand on the river using the outs times 2 rule; so as long as 4 players call our bet then betting here is correct because we have a pot equity edge; 2) betting could easily get a better hand to fold and can increase our likelihood of winning the hand if a K or Q hits – if we check here it allows everyone to stay in the pot for free; but if we bet we can get hands like AK, AQ, TQ, and TK to possibly fold.  If we bet and get those hands to fold now, we win when a K or Q hits the river.  If we check and allow those hands to stay in, we lose to them on the river.

No matter what happens at this point we know that we have played our hand correctly.  If we bet and someone raises then we just call and hope to hit our flush or straight.  If we bet and everyone calls, then we just check back the river unless we hit one of our outs.  If we bet and hit our straight or flush, then we bet again on the river.  The point here is that in multiway pots, when you have a pot equity edge, you need to keep betting even if you don’t have a made hand.  So with huge draws in position you want to keep betting.  Betting maximizes value, and it gives your opponents the opportunity to fold a better hand.