Thursday, June 28, 2007

Intertops First Sportsbook to Post NFL Lines

New England Patriots Early Favorites to Win Super Bowl XLII

Gridiron fans don't have to wait until September to back their favorite NFL teams. Intertops.com – the company that took the first online wager ever – is the first online sportsbook to post betting offers for the 2007 NFL Regular Season. Week One lines and dozens of props, including Divisional Winners and who will win Super Bowl XLII, are already online at http://www.intertops.com/.

The New England Patriots are the early favorites to win Super Bowl XLII in Arizona next February. Intertops.com odds favor the Pats to face the Chicago Bears (+1800), New Orleans Saints (+2200), Dallas Cowboys (+2500) or Philadelphia Eagles (+2500).

The Pats are the favorite, at +400, to win Super Bowl XLII with the Indianapolis Colts at +650 and the San Diego Chargers at +750. (All odds quoted are those posted at Intertops.com Sportsbook as of June 28, 2007.)

“We’ve had our eye on the Patriots during the off-season,” said Intertops.com manager Michael Weiss. “They were already strong and they’ve done more to improve the team than any other franchise. We think they’ll go all the way this season!”

The Patriots, who open their training camp at Gillette Stadium July 27th, have signed several strong players recently, including athletic Baltimore linebacker Adalius Thomas. Some question the decision to trade for former Raider bad boy Randy Moss but Pats fans have Bill Belichick to keep him in line. Tom Brady must be pleased the team has also signed free agents Donte' Stallworth (Philadelphia) and Kelley Washington (Cincinnati).

In addition to Super Bowl XLII props, Intertops.com Sportsbook has also posted odds for September NFL games, including the season opener between Indianapolis and the Patriots. The long-established gambling site offers a wide variety of NFL props including Spread Winner, Over/Under Totals and Straight Up bet on the outcome of the game. The popular casino, poker and sportsbetting site also takes First Half and Second Half Side, Spread Winner and Totals wagers. Intertop's current NFL lines.

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Poker in the Park Celebrates London, Europe's #1 Poker City

World Poker Tour Sponsors Leicester Square Poker Celebration

Bluff Europe has declared “London is now the number one poker destination outside of Las Vegas!” (Bluff Europe, July 2007) Together with World Poker Tour, they're putting on Poker in the Park, a huge outdoor poker party in central London on July 6th.

Says Bluff: From the stylish casinos of Mayfair to the home games of Hackney, Londoners are flopping the nuts, missing their straights and sucking out big time.

Haven’t a clue what they're talking about?

Get to Leicester Square from 12:00 PM to 4:00 PM on Friday July 6th for a spot of ‘Poker in the Park’ to get the low down on the poker craze that’s sweeping the city.

This is one of those times that I wish I could be in two places at once! I'll still be in Las Vegas recovering from the PlayersOnly.com WSOP party but if you're in London July 6th -- get down to Leicester Square!!!

Friday, June 22, 2007

Wanna Come to the Biggest Party at the WSOP in Las Vegas?

I've got tickets to 'PlayersOnly.com presents Bluff on the Strip'

Sometimes I blog about great igaming parties and events that I've gotten myself invited to. This time I can invite you to come along!

I'm co-hosting the biggest party at the WSOP on July 5th and I have some tickets for my blog readers. PlayersOnly.com presents Bluff on the Strip will be at the Sapphire Gentlemen's Club, the biggest strip club in Las Vegas, the night before the Championship tournament begins at the WSOP.

PlayersOnly.com will be picking up the bar tab from 10 pm to midnight, so come thirsty!

There'll be poker tables, of course, and heads up matches for lap dances. And Carrie Stroup, the cover girl all over PlayersOnly.com, will be there. If it's like the Bluff party same time last year, every poker player (pro and wannabe) will be there. There were also a lot of celebrities in town last year that showed up to party, Lance Bass for one, and half the NBA it seemed.

If you'll be in Vegas July 5th and you like boobs and poker, send me a note and beg me for tix: gamblogger@gmail.com.

Thursday, June 21, 2007

Heavy Bidding & Heated Competition Anticipated in Final Weekend of PlayersOnly.com’s $150K WSOP Giveaways

Satellite tournaments and low bid auction end this Sunday

It’s almost time for the WSOP Main Event, which means PlayersOnly.com’s $150 WSOP Giveaways campaign is coming to a close. The last of PO’s twelve satellite tournaments will be this Sunday night, and Sunday is also the last day to place bids in their unique Low Bid Auction.

Bidding has been steady in the unique low bid auction of a WSOP Player Package and is expected to be heavy in the final weekend. While they obviously can’t be specific, the site says the winner is quite certainly going to get a very sweet deal.

"Of course I can’t divulge which bid amounts still don’t have unique bids on them yet, or which bids already have multiple bids," said PlayersOnly.com Manager, David Anderson. "All I can say is this $12,000 prize package could easily go for peanuts!"

Bids can be placed until midnight Sunday either online at www.playersonly.com/bidWSOP or by cell phone text. (Full phone bid instructions also at www.playersonly.com/bidWSOP.) Any registered player can place bids and players can place as many bids as they want. Registration is free, however PlayersOnly.com accepts registrations from U.S. residents only. There is a charge of US$1.99 per bid – but the first bid is free.

Meanwhile, at WSOP satellite tournaments every Sunday since April, the cutting-edge casino and poker site has also been awarding $12K prize packages to weekly tournament winners. While many players that win WSOP prize packages online this year will pocket the cash rather than risk it at the WSOP, the winner of PlayersOnly.com’s very first WSOP satellite tournament remains adamant that he’ll be at the Big One.

"Oh, I’m definitely going to Vegas!" said the excited winner in my podcast interview that can be heard here: www.lyceummedia.com/playersonly/PlayersOnly-WSOPSatelliteWinner1.mp3. "I’ve got my plane ticket and my room at the Rio – deal me in!"

The final WSOP satellite tournament will be held this Sunday. Players can buy-in for a hundred dollars or win a qualifying free roll tournament held twice a day. Complete tournament details can be found at www.playersonly.com/poker/wsop.php.

The $12,000 World Series Prize Packages awarded to tournament winners and the low bid auction winner include airfare, accommodation and enough cash to register in the ultimate poker tournament, the World Series of Poker Main Event, which will be held in Las Vegas July 6 – 17 at the Rio Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.

London Declared Europe's #1 Poker City

Poker in the Park will celebrate with play-for-fun tournaments in Leicester Square Park July 6th

Just yesterday, Bluff Europe Magazine declared London “Europe’s #1 Poker City”. Today they announced that they're partnering with World Poker Tour to present “Poker in the Park” in the heart of London. The event will be held in Leicester Square Park on Friday, July 6th, from 12:00pm to 4:00pm. There'll be ‘Learn to Play’ and ‘Play-for-Fun’ tournaments for poker enthusiasts and players of all skills and backgrounds.

The event, presented by Bluff Europe and sponsored by the World Poker Tour, is open to all visitors over 18 years of age. Visitors who choose to play might find themselves across the table from actress Mimi Rogers, who is also a WPT Board member and poker enthusiast. WPT president, founder and CEO, Steve Lipscomb, will also attend the event. In addition, World Poker Tour poker gift packages will be given to the first 1,000 visitors.

“We are pleased to be a part of this celebration as London is named the #1 poker capital in Europe,” said Lipscomb. “World Poker Tour was at the forefront of the global television poker phenomenon, which helped bring the poker boom to London. We are honoured to have played a part in this great city’s rich history.”

To mark the magazine’s naming of London as Europe’s No.1 poker destination, a plaque will be awarded to the Mayor of London, congratulating the city for its services to the poker community.

“Poker in the Park is an opportunity for people who have an interest in the game to come out and play for free in a fun, friendly environment, and to find out what all the excitement is about,” said Michael Caselli, editor-in-chief of Bluff Europe. “People are really beginning to see that poker is a game of skill and intellect and that tournament poker is about mental fortitude – it really is about the sport of poker. The event is also a celebration of the London poker boom which punctuates London as one of the most exciting places to be right now.”

Friday, June 15, 2007

Asia Cup Polo Pits England Against India

The fight for the trophy will be between India and England as these two proud nations take on each other in a classic encounter. Cricket?! No -- POLO! I'm talking about Asia Cup Polo at Kirtlington Park on June 30th. The clash will be one of the highlights of this year’s British polo calendar, played out in front of thousands of spectators at the Oxfordshire venue.

Sponsor MaharajahClub.com is a gaming site for South East Asian communities in the UK and abroad. In March, MaharajahClub.com sponsored the Asian Poker Classic, held in Goa, India. They'll have poker and casino tables set up at Kirtlington Park so fans can play a variety of casino games while they enjoy the days events.

Asia Cup Polo is part of “Celebrasian”, a festival celebrating all aspects of Asian culture. Running from June to July, “Celebrasian” brings together Asians and non-Asians through events as diverse as business, food, fashion and sport.

The setting for the Asia Cup couldn’t be better. Kirtlington Park Polo Club founded in 1926, is one of the UK’s most prestigious venues and has been a breeding ground for some of the nation’s top polo professionals.

“The sport of polo has a long tradition in India and England", said Sachin Pawa of MaharajahClub.com. “So both sides will be determined to prove their supremacy -- it's going to be a great day!”

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Playboy Mansion Tournament Qualifier at PlayersOnly.com Sunday Night

Players Can Qualify for the Final Tournament Through Direct Buy-in and Free Roll Tournaments, and both Sit and Go & Multi-Table Cash Satellites

My favourite U.S.-facing online poker room PlayersOnly.com is sending five tournament winners to compete in the All Star Night at the Playboy Mansion celebrity fundraising tournament in Los Angeles June 21st. The top 5 finishers of PO’s Playboy Mansion Party Final this Sunday, June 17th will each receive a pair of VIP tickets to the event.

Hosted by Rodney Peete and attended by over two hundred athletes, celebrities and Playmates, All Star Night At The Playboy Mansion is one of the biggest and most anticipated events of the year. This year’s invitation-only event – at one of the hottest party venues on the planet -- will feature a runway fashion show spotlighting the season’s latest and hottest swimsuit and lingerie designers and a surprise guest musical performance.

Players can get to the Playboy Mansion Party Final by winning a qualifying free roll this Saturday, June 16th at 6 pm ET or by winning one of many daily cash satellites between now and then. Players that want to avoid the crowds at the free roll tables can enter a cash satellite Sit and Go with fewer players. S&G satellite buy-ins range from $2 to $10. There will also be $5 Multi-table tournament satellites running everyday at 12:30 a.m. until the 16th. The complete tournament schedule and structure is posted in the PlayersOnly.com Tournament Lobby.

PlayersOnly.com has donated $2000 to be given to a charity named by the winner of a celebrity poker event held prior to the Party. Proceeds from All Star Night At the Mansion will benefit the Hollyrod Foundation for Help and Hope which is dedicated to providing medical, physical and emotional support to those suffering with debilitating life circumstances especially Parkinson’s Disease.

In addition to the special Playboy Mansion Tournament, PlayersOnly.com’s weekly WSOP satellites will send twelve winners to the WSOP. Their unique low bid auction, where a $12,000 prize package could go for less than a buck, will send another winner to Las Vegas next month. The satellite tournaments and low bid auction conclude June 24th.

Mobile Entertainment Conference Concludes Greedy Phone Companies are the Biggest Barrier to Mobile Gambling

Italy Seen as the Most Progressive Market for Mobile Entertainment and Mobile Gambling

While analysts continue to predict great things for mobile entertainment, delegates at the recent Mobile Entertainment Market (MeM) conference in Monte Carlo were talking as much about barriers to explosive growth as they were about new developments in mobile content. The Mobile Games Manager from Slotland.com, a leading provider of real-money mobile casino games, attended the conference and reports that the concensus in Monaco was that if phone network providers loosened the reigns it would stimulate development and make more entertainment more available to mobile users.

“There’s lots of interesting things happening, especially in progressive markets like Italy,“ said John Lancelet of Slotland.com. “But mobile network providers slow the pace by making data transfer so expensive and by pretty well excluding independent content providers from their portals.”

Data transfer costs are prohibitive and many users are confused about what it will actually cost to download a song or play a game. They are understandably reluctant to buy an MP3 for $1.50 knowing it could cost another $5.00 in data transfer fees to download it, or to play a casino game only to have their winnings gobbled up by phone charges. According to the word on the street at MeM, Italy is the place to go for the most reasonable flat fee offers and South Africa has the best price-per-megabyte fees for downloads.

Phone companies, whose mobile portals are still the only significant source of mobile traffic, have a virtual monopoly on mobile content -- mostly because customers don’t know that they can venture off the phone company’s home page. And unfortunately, since mobile network operators take a much higher percentage of the profits than internet portals, most independent entertainment providers can’t get their product to players this way. However, just because the phone company isn’t offering mobile gambling doesn’t mean players don’t have access to real-money casino games on their mobile. Mobile surfers that leave the phone company’s portal soon find popular independent operators like Slotland.com.

“Generally, mobile content market today is in a similar stage to where the internet was in the late 80s and early 90s when AOL, MSN and similar internet access providers thought that every internet visitor will access the web through their home portals, and no other pages, and every content provider would have to advertise and gain customers through their portals only,” observed Lancelet.

Meanwhile, independent companies like Slotland.com continue to make fun mobile entertainment available. The long-popular slot machine and video poker web site has 5 real-money slots on their WAP site, wap.Slotland.com. The mobile games are tied to Slotland’s famous online progressive jackpots, and players can use their Slotland.com player account on the computer or on the mobile phone.

Monday, June 11, 2007

How Long Can GingerNinja Live in a Cardbord Box on the Streets of London?!

Facebook personality posts challenging wager on GottaBet.com

GingerNinja (Adam Scott) the philanthropic spirit well-known on Facebook, has announced that he'll become homeless and live in cardboard box in London's Parliament Square for 7 days in an attempt to raise money for London homelessness charity St Mungo's. He's placed a bet on the popular UK bet-for-fun/social networking site, GottaBet.com.

GingerNinja will be living, eating, and campaigning, all within the confines of parliament square and sleeping out in the open with only the shirt on his back and a cardboard box to protect him from the elements.

The bet on GottaBet is for how long GingerNinja will survive on the streets of London. I personally put my one peanut bet (just betting for fun on GottaBet) on "1 - 2 days". It's not that I don't think he can do it. It's just that I can't see the authorities allowing him to hang around long.

If you would like to donate cash to the cause please visit the St Mungos donation page: http://www.mungos.org/donate_now.html

If you'd like to bet some peanuts:

Saturday, June 09, 2007

Pocket5s Member Becomes Youngest WSOP Bracelet Winner

Steve “MrSmokey1” Billirakis made World Series of Poker history on Sunday in the $5k Mixed Hold ‘Em event, becoming the youngest bracelet winner of all-time. At the time of his victory (worth $536k), he was 21 years and 10 days old!


MrSmokey1 has been a name the Pocket5s poker community have known for years, and his wins have been numerous. Just two weeks before his big win, he took down the PokerStars $200 rebuy for $57k, which was just one of many big online wins he’s had over the years.

While this was Steve’s first WSOP event, he’s already had a taste of live success, including 3rd place finishes in the Paradise Conquest $5k event and the $2,500 British Columbia Poker Championships.

Thursday, June 07, 2007

Gardener Rakes in Over $1 Million on PartyCasino.com Jackpot

18 Cent Stake Nets US$1,092,957

A 39-year-old self-employed landscape gardener from a council estate in Sunderland , UK is celebrating after raking in a PartyCasino.com jackpot of US$1,092,957 off a stake of just 18 cents, a record for the online casino.

OnlineCasinoNews.com reports today that Brian Somers, who normally earns around $15,000 a year, won the PartyMega Jackpot on the Super Fortune Wheel game on the online casino last week.

"All of a sudden the screen started flashing," said Brian in an interview with OnlineCasinoNews.com. "I was asked to choose six smiley faces. Four revealed golden dollars and the ticker at the top of the screen started to race and all these numbers came up. It said I had won over a million dollars. I thought it was a mistake. I turned the computer off and even unplugged it. I then logged back on saw $1,092,957.68 on the screen and got on the phone and they said 'your balance is over $1 million dollars sir.''

Brian said that he intends to use the money to secure the future of his six-year-old son Corey with his windfall. 'I'm hoping to use the money to make myself and my family secure for the rest of their lives. I want to buy a house, go on holiday and get a new car. I also want to expand my gardening business.'

Brian said that his previous biggest win was £40 on the UK National Lottery and that he might also use his winning to purchase a Sunderland FC season ticket.

"We've seen some big winners in our time but for someone to win so much from just 18 cents is truly remarkable and is a record win,” said a PartyCasino.com spokesman. “Brian is a great guy and deserves it and we wish him and his family all the very best for the future."

Wednesday, June 06, 2007

UK's Best Poker Players Head to Vegas for WSOP

The best poker players in the UK are heading to Las Vegas this month to battle for gold bracelets at the World Series of Poker. The June issue of Bluff Europe Magazine, which hits UK newstands this week, features reports from the Scandinavian Poker Championships, the Grosvenor Poker Tour Manchester and a special feature from Hollywood star Jennifer Tilly at the Irish Open, not to mention all the news, views, gossip and strategy tips from some of the best poker players in the world.

This issue of Bluff Europe has an added bonus -- a DVD of ‘Learn from the Pros’, courtesy of Full Tilt, will be given away free in each issue.

“Until now Bluff Europe Magazine has been distributed in the UK through casinos, cardrooms and via subscriptions,” said Editor Philip Conneller. “But poker's become so popular, and with the WSOP around the corner, we're finding a more mainstream readership.”

Tuesday, June 05, 2007

U.S. Government to Allow NETeller To Return US Payments

Online payment specialist NETeller has announced that it has agreed a plan with the US Government to distribute millions of dollars belonging to American customers that were frozen after the company and its founders were charged with racketeering and other charges related to online gambling in February.

OnlineCasinoNews.com reports that the UK-based company said a plan that the United States Attorney’s Office has agreed to would allow US customers to access their NETeller accounts online for a certain time and make a request for their funds.

The company said that, in accordance with its terms of use, no interest on account balances will be paid but that it would also not charge fees for processing these requests. Funds will be distributed either by electronic transfer to the bank account on record with NETeller or by a cheque to be sent to a mailing address as confirmed by the customer. If an American customer has a bank account already registered with NETeller, funds will be transferred electronically subject to a confirmation by the customer that the registered bank account remains valid.

NETeller also stated that US customers would receive the entire balance of funds in their account with no requests for partial payments processed and that they would not be able to use their accounts for any transaction other than to request their funds.

“The agreement on the distribution plan represents a milestone in our cooperation with US authorities,” said Ron Martin, President and CEO of NETeller.

“While we are disappointed not to have been able to return funds to our US customers at this point, we believe that the steps we have made in our discussions are significant and we hope to be able to announce further progress with the United States Attorney’s Office by July 13, 2007.”

Friday, June 01, 2007

This Week's William Hill $2500 Free Roll is for Gambling.com Magazine Readers

This week's $2500 Free Roll Tournament at William Hill Poker is for Gambling.com Magazine readers! To participate, logon to www.williamhillpoker.com Sunday, June 3rd at 17:00 GMT. Sign up in advance -- use the password 'WHGAMBLING". You'll be charged a $2 buy-in for age verification but that will be immediately refunded back into you account within 48 hours

Bon chance!