Wednesday, March 28, 2007

WPT Mobile Brings Hold'em to Your Phone

Mobile Content Aggregator Adds World Poker Tour Texas hold 'Em and 7 Card Stud to its Mobile Casino Games Collection

Hands-On Mobile, a respected international developer and distributor of mobile content and applications, and World Poker Tour Enterprises have announced a lengthy extension to their highly profitable deal to make the ever-popular World Poker Tour Texas Hold’em Internet casino game and other products accessible to mobile phones worldwide.

'We’re excited to continue our relationship with the World Poker Tour,” says Jonathan Sacks, Chief Executive Officer, Hands-On Mobile. “Together, we brought cutting-edge connected games to the forefront of the market and made World Poker Tour Texas Hold ‘Em the most successful mobile poker game in the world.”
World Poker Tour Texas Hold’em has caught the imagination of poker enthusiasts the world over with over 5 million downloads, hundreds of thousands of hands played weekly, and tens of thousands of users per month.

“Extending our brand beyond television and onto mobile devices has catapulted the World Poker Tour franchise into the number 1 poker brand across multiple platforms, including television, mobile and online,” said Steve Lipscomb, Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer, World Poker Tour Enterprises.

Friday, March 23, 2007

MaharajahClub.com Shortens Odds on India as Team Prepares for Tonight's Must Win Game Against Sri Lanka

Indian Souray Ganguly Strong Contender But Ricky Ponting Remains Favourite for Best Batsman

Odds on India to win the Cricket World Cup were lengthened after their shocking loss to Bangladesh in the Opening Match of Group B, but their win over Bermuda on Monday prompted MaharajahClub.com bookmakers to shorten the odds on India winning the Cup to 8/1. Australia remains the clear favourite at 2/1 to take the coveted cricket prize.

India, which had a record-breaking 257 runs in Monday’s game, must win tonight’s match against rival Sri Lanka to continue in the tournament. Additionally, with 155 runs so far, Indian Batsman Sourav Ganguly (12/1) is a strong contender for Best Batsman in the tournament but Australia’s Ricky Ponting (136 runs) is the favourite for this prop at 6/1.

“Most of our punters are southeast Asians living in Britain, so their loyalties are split between India and England,” said Sachin Pawa CEO of MaharajahClub.com. “The loss against Bangladesh had some people sceptical about India and we started to see more money wagered on England, but since the win against Bermuda we’re seeing much more money back on India this week.”

MaharajahClub.com offers more Cricket World Cup betting propositions than any other online sportsbook. While most sportsbetting sites just offer cricket as an afterthought, MaharajahClub.com offers odds on every match in the month-long Cricket World Cup tournament as well as player props like Best Batsman and Best Bowler. MaharajahClub.com offers in-running wagering on many games including Saturday’s Australia/South Africa match-up.

The Second Stage, or Super 8, phase of the Cricket World Cup continues next week in Antigua & Barbuda, Grenada, Guyana and Barbados. The Semi-Final Round will be held in Jamaica and St. Lucia the following week with the Final Match in Barbados April 28th.

Complete and current Cricket World Cup odds and props are posted at the MaharajahClub.com Sportsbook (www.MclubSports.com).

Tuesday, March 06, 2007

Asian Poker Classic Introduces the Sport of Poker to India

International Poker Tournament in Goa Deemed a Huge Success

March 4th 2007 was an historic day in Indian sport as Carl Hostrup from Denmark (1st place), Samuel Lehtonen from Sweden (2nd place), and Pranav Bathija from India (3rd place) shared their portion of the $1,000,000 (44,490,085 INR) prize pool at the Asian Poker Classic (APC) sponsored by MaharajahClub.net, India’s first-ever professional poker tournament.

“This is my biggest tournament win, and I still cannot believe that I am the champion. Yesterday I told people that I would win, not to boast, but to give myself the positive attitude I needed to win. I came up with a strategy on how to play the final table, and combined with my positive attitude, played my way to first place,” said Hostrup.

The tournament attracted 143 participants from over 15 countries to compete for the $1,000,000 prize including high profile players such as Ross Boatman, Roy Brindley, Mark Goodwin, Issac Gulazan, Arshad Hussain, Mel Judah, John Kabbaj, Lee Nelson, Jani Sointula, Surinder Sunar and Willie Tann. The main event, held over three days at Goa’s luxury five-star Intercontinental Grand Resort, was the first of its kind, and has introduced the globally-popular sport of poker to the Indian sub-continent. The poker tournament provided a unique experience -- unlike anything the poker community has seen before.

“Poker is a global sport with players from almost every country around the globe. And now India has taken its place as a viable poker destination. We are extremely proud of the success of this year’s Asian Poker Classic and hope that it provides the platform for the future growth and development of the game in India,” said Imran Hassan, Director of Operations for the Asian Poker Classic.

Not only was this tournament a first for India, but it was one of the most generous tournaments in poker history, with sponsors MaharajahClub.net guaranteeing a minimum $1,000,000 minimum prize pool and a $250,000 overlay. The tournament also marked the introduction of Team Maharajah - a group predominantly of Indian players who took the tournament by storm. Team Maharaja proved that Indian poker players could compete with the world’s best, with five Asian players finishing in the money, including a third place result from Pranav Bathija of Mumbai.

“Of course we knew Indian poker players would come to the APC, but we wanted to make sure that this tournament would be recognised throughout the global poker community, and that it would bring the best poker players from around the world to compete in India. The final table alone included players from Denmark, Great Britain, India, Poland, Spain, Sweden and Vietnam,” said Hassan

“It’s also been a feast for the Danes at APC – two of us made it in the money but, I can see that the game has a bright future here in India. Pranav has a great future ahead of him in poker and if all Indian players are good like him, we are in big trouble,” said Carl Hostrup.

Pranav Bathija, who learned the game of poker in just four months playing at MaharajaClub.net, commented, “I have enjoyed my path along the poker trail; I have developed a true love for the game, and am grateful that my training on MaharajahClub.net has now come to fruition. It was a fantastic experience and I wish to win it next year!”

Thursday, March 01, 2007

African School Children Say Thank-you Slotland!

Classes begin at Malawi School Funded by Slotland.com

Classes have begun at the rural African school built by popular online casino and mobile slot machine site, Slotland.com. It’s not only changing the lives of the children of Juma, Malawi – the project is now reaching out to bring new hope to surrounding villages as well.

“In Europe and America and everywhere Slotland.com games are played, we take basics like education and food and water for granted,” said Hannah Morante of Slotland.com. “Slotland feels obliged to share our bounty.”

A little more than a year ago, Slotland.com began collaborating with local villages in Malawi to build and operate the elementary school. Classes have now begun and hundreds of villagers are involved in maintaining the school and the demonstration gardens that feed its 116 students.

"These people don’t know what an online slot machine is and they’ve never seen a mobile phone, never mind played video poker on one,” said Slotland’s local project coordinator. “But they do understand generosity and are all forever grateful to Slotland.com.”

Opening a school takes more than construction of a building. The popular online and mobile slots machine site provided all funding for building the school as well as training volunteers and recruiting teaching staff. They’ve also provided skilled project coordinators to teach villagers to run the school when they eventually leave.

The school, known as Umodzi-Mbame, provides meals to all students and even grows the food it serves. Its gardens have been used to demonstrate new farming methods to local farmers – ways to conserve soil and water and produce more food with less work.

We got the village elders on side from the start,” explains the project coordinator. “Our project depends on the involvement of the whole community so their support was critical. It’s amazing what a positive difference Slotland has made here."