Thursday, November 27, 2008

Bluff Europe's Record $10,000 Freeroll Takes Place Tonight!

Europe's largest poker magazine hosts an exclusive $10,000 freeroll in association with Diamond Bet, 27th November at 20:00 GMT

The largest prize in the Bluff Europe Madness freeroll series is up for grabs tonight at 20:00 GMT when the European publication teams up with Diamond Bet for its biggest ever event. The tournament, which has seen players from around the world sign up, will see $10,000 won -- winner taking home a first prize of over $1,500.

Players are already confirming their attendance at the event which has been publicised on the www.bluffeurope.com/madness website, as well as in the poker magazine itself. Once again Bluff Europe has proved popular worldwide – from the UK, Europe… and as far abroad as China.

"Our biggest ever freeroll has had the poker world buzzing", says Dave Bland, online editor at BluffEurope.com. "Every month we look to reward our readers, and this exclusive promotion with Diamond Bet has really set a new benchmark for our competitors."

Players who sign up to Diamond Bet via the Bluff Europe Madness webpage will also benefit from a 200% deposit bonus up to €777.

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

APT Ambassador JC Tran Dominates PartyPoker.com Premier League III

Asian Poker Tour ambassador JC Tran’s excellent run at PartyPoker.com Premier League III has continued after he won his first two heats and finished runner-up in his third. JC now sits clearly at the top of the table with 26 points at the $1.25 million event for 12 elite players in London.

Tran, who is also representing team PKR, won his first heat on day one at the expense of World Champion Peter Eastgate and has continued his great form. Cheered on by a large contingent in the green room, including WSOP Main Event final table pal David ‘Chino’ Rheem, and ‘Poker Pack’ pals Nam Le and Quinn Do he put on other great display. When it got heads-up he held 476,000 to Vicky Coren’s 124,000 and he looked the likely winner throughout. The decisive hand saw Tran raise with A6 off-suit and pushed all-in by Coren with KK. An ace on the flop was enough to take it down.

JC’s third heat was hugely eventful. All the previous heats had seen very few eliminations in early levels but this game was different and it very quickly become a heads-up battle between JC and Peter Eastgate. The 2008 WSOP Main Event champion completely run over the field and looked to be home and dry but the blinds were only at 2,000 – 4,000. Eastgate sat with 541,000 to Tran’s 59,000, a very different scenario to when the pair met on day one when the chip counts going into the heads-up stage were more level. Remarkably, as a 9-1 underdog, Tran fought back to hold the chip lead. Eastgate, however, eventually got his revenge for his defeat at the hands of Tran on day one to pick up 10 points. Eastgate pushed all-in with K3 and was called by Tran with A7. A king on the flop was enough to seal the deal for the $9 million Dane. With 6 points from the heat, however, JC is the man to beat and holds a very comfortable lead at the top of the league table and he looks set to qualify for the deep stacked final table on Sunday.

JC said: “It’s going great here in London, maybe I should move here! I was very pleased to come back in the heads-up after being a 9-1 dog but I was confident there was a way back as there was still so much play left at the table. It is a shame I couldn’t eventually win this heat but I am very happy with 26 points and topping the table.”

PartyPoker.com Premier League III sees the buy-in elevated to $75,000 and the added money raised to $350,000, making a total prize pool of $1.25 million. The series features 12 of the world’s best players playing in a unique league format. All 12 players will play six times in the preliminary stages. The leading four players will then progress to the final table with the next four battling it out in heads-up matches for the final two seats. Phil Hellmuth leads the strongest ever line-up that includes Tom ‘Durrrr’ Dwan, JC Tran, Nenad Medic, Devilfish, Tony G, Vicky Coren, Annette Obrestad, Roland de Wolfe, Andy Black, Juha Helppi and WSOP Main Event winner Peter Eastgate.

PARTYPOKER.COM PREMIER LEAGUE III – 24th – 30th November

LEAGUE TABLE AT THE END OF HEAT FIVE ON DAY THREE

26 pts JC TRAN
16 pts PETER EASTGATE
14 pts JUHA HELPPI
14 pts VICKY COREN
12 pts TONY G
10 pts ANNETTE OBRESTAD
8 pts TOM DWAN
7 pts ANDY BLACK
6 pts ROLAND DE WOLFE
6pts NENAD MEDIC
3 pts DEVILFISH
3 pts PHIL HELLMUTH

Friday, November 21, 2008

Progressive Jackpot Approaching a Million Dollars

Jackpot Pinatas looks likely to be the next progressive jackpot to hit one million dollars at Vegas-style online casino, JackpotCapital.com. It has been some time since this jackpot was cracked and with $975,000 already in the pot, online slots players around the globe are hoping to become Jackpot Pinatas millionaires any day now! And that’s not all: The Midlife Crisis and Shopping Spree progressive jackpots are also currently over $900,000 at JackpotCapital.com online casino.

Jackpot Pinatas is a five-reel, 20-payline slot machine that makes every day a fiesta. Piñatas have been used for hundreds of years to celebrate Christmas, Easter and birthdays. Every day can be made a special day with tasty tacos, beautiful señoritas, fresh limes, gifts, roses, piñatas and a major cash boost. Breaking three or more Dog piñatas gets players to the bonus round where the treats are doubled for free spins. The jackpot is hit with 5 Bull pinatas.

“These jackpots are always our most popular online casino games,“ said Oliver Smith from JackpotCapital.com. “When a jackpot gets as high as these three are right now though, a lot more people play them hoping to have the lucky jackpot-winning spin.“

JackpotCapital.com offers over 300 exciting games, each with state-of-the art graphics and sound to provide a unique gaming experience. Not surprisingly, the most popular games at JackpotCapital.com are the large selection of games tied to the site’s huge progressive jackpots. Just like the slot machines in Las Vegas that contribute to one mega jackpot, everyone playing card games like Caribbean Hold´em, Caribbean Stud Poker, and Let ‘Em Ride, or spinning slot machines like ‘Midlife Crisis’, ‘Shopping Spree’, ‘Light Speed’, ‘It’s Good to Be Bad’, ‘Crazy Dragon’ or ‘The Shark’ contribute to huge progressive jackpots.

JackpotCapital.com is pleased to accept players from the United States. New customers are eligible to receive a 100% Match Up Bonus on their first deposit.

Friday, November 14, 2008

Cryptologic Migrates Poker Players to Boss Poker Network

Cryptologic announced this week that they are migrating their poker operations and players to the Boss Media poker network giving their customers access to one of the largest poker networks in the world and enablilng the company to focus more on their industry-leading casino products.

CryptoLogic Limited, a world leader in Internet gaming software, has entered into a strategic Internet poker agreement with Boss Media AB, a subsidiary of GTECH Corporation, one of the world’s leading gaming technology and services companies. CryptoLogic will merge its major poker customers with Boss Media’s International Poker Network (IPN) within the first quarter 2009. The agreement is in line with CryptoLogic’s recently announced growth strategy to focus on its highly popular branded games and its Internet casino business.

This migration of CryptoLogic’s poker operations and customers to the Boss Media network, in tandem with other actions, will help generate significant cost savings for CryptoLogic, estimated at $12 million - $15 million per year.

“CryptoLogic’s aggressive action on its new strategy, as witnessed in several recent announcements – and our new agreement with Boss Media, is a major step in our journey back to growth, profitability and returning shareholder value,” said Brian Hadfield, CryptoLogic’s President and CEO.

“This partnership provides our poker customers with access to one of the largest poker networks in the world, while helping CryptoLogic reduce costs substantially. Also, it will allow us to focus on the continued development and licensing of the Internet’s most innovative casino games, and to leverage our lead in branded content games in partnership with the world’s top entertainment brands.”

Many of CryptoLogic’s poker licensees, including highly successful brands such as InterPoker and Parbet, are scheduled to join the IPN in early 2009. These sites will continue to use CryptoLogic’s back-office services, with the IPN integrated therein. GTECH Corporation’s subsidiaries, Boss Media and St Minver, will provide a fully managed poker solution to CryptoLogic’s poker licensees.

“This agreement reflects GTECH’s strategy to optimize our assets, and to broaden and grow our international player base — and CryptoLogic is an ideal business partner,” said Atul Bali, President of GTECH’s New Media & Sports Betting Co. “CryptoLogic is widely recognized for its innovation, integrity and commitment to its customers. We are delighted to welcome these customers and their players to our network and significantly increase the liquidity for our new enhanced player base.”

Thursday, November 13, 2008

RomeCasino.com Has No Intention of Leaving the US Market

Online casino welcomes Americans with new cash bonus and increases support for expected growth


While Microgaming online casinos have been forced to shut their doors to American players this week, RomeCasino.com confirms that it will continue to serve US players and is increasing its support staff to accommodate a flood of new players that have been blocked by their former favourite casinos.

In celebration of the decisions made by company executives, RomeCasino.com has launched a new $1000 New Player Bonus. The popular 200% deposit bonuses will remain as one of the most successful promotions the company has to offer.

Wanting to direct their friends to a casino that will accept them and process their transactions, many RomeCasino.com players are taking advantage of RomeCasino’s new “Gladiator Referral” program that gives a player 15% of his friends’ deposits.

The online casino industry was recently shocked by the news that Microgaming casino software decided to block US customers from gambling on all of their partner websites. Many feel that the move was made as a response to the recent announcement that the Bush administration will finalize the UIEGA regulations on the law passed in 2006. This may make it tougher for players to deposit and will force banks to reject transactions that they feel are online gambling related.

Some claim that the Kentucky courts directly targeted the company and their associated white labels, forcing company officials to block off Americans. It is unknown how long this will last but experts predict more companies to exit the market and focus more on European traffic. Many companies will remain in the US market and choose to adapt to the ever changing landscape.
With America’s love of ancient Rome and recent Hollywood hits focusing on the Roman Empire, RomeCasino.com has catapulted into the spotlight and has become the home to thousands of online gamblers in a very short time. Rome became one of the best online casinos for US players when they announced their flawless processing abilities.

“As any of our players will tell you,” said RomeCAsino.com CEO Josh Cartu. “We process US credit card deposits better than some companies that have been around since 1998. And we will continue to do so.”

Monday, November 10, 2008

PAF First to Tempt Online Poker Players with Jadestone's Multiplayer Dice Games

Jadestone Networks, the Nordic based owner and operator of the multiplayer skill games network GamArena, announced today that Nordic game operator Paf will be one of a limited number of launch partners for DiceArena, its new multiplayer games offering coming to market this quarter.

DiceArena has been labelled as both a serious competitor and an attractive complement to online poker. It consists of a range of multiplayer dice games, including brand new games and old favorites, aimed at a broad audience of existing, lapsed and latent online gamblers. DiceArena is built on a next generation technical platform and will hit the market with exciting games and inviting community features available for its players.

Paf will launch on the DiceArena network this quarter as one of the first wave partners. Primarily targeting Scandinavia, and later also its additional markets, it will boost the momentum of the launch with a multi-channel marketing campaign that includes both TV and online components.

Tomas Nilsson, Business Manager, Poker, Games & Dice at Paf said: “We’ve enjoyed working with many Jadestone products over the years, but DiceArena is the most exciting concept we’ve seen yet. We believe that our customers will respond very well to the inviting design and the immediate appeal of the games. This is like poker for the rest of us – with a smile. The design matches our target groups and aligns very well with our brand.”

“Paf has been an important partner for Jadestone since we got started in this business,” said Robert Henrysson, CEO of Jadestone. “We’re very happy to see them as one of the first out of the gate with DiceArena and extremely pleased with the strong marketing muscle they bring to the launch.”

The DiceArena suite of games has been in development at Jadestone for almost two years. With a number of high profile network partners lined up for DiceArena games, it’s one of the biggest new product introductions in Jadestone’s history.

Additional information about DiceArena can be found on http://www.jadestone.se/. There is also a newly launched consumer website with information and blogging about the DiceArena games at http://www.dicearena.com/.

Monday, November 03, 2008

Three Major Jackpot Wins in a Row Set Record at Online Slots Site

$134K Progressive Jackpot Win Brings Slotland‘s Autumn Total to $411,260

For the third month in a row, the Slotland.com progressive jackpot has been hit for well over six figures bringing the total Autumn jackpot wins at the online slots and video poker site to a record-breaking $411,260. The most recent player to struck it rich at Slotland was MINE0MINE who won $134,253 playing the popular Golden 8 slot machine on October 23.

Quite uncharacteristically for the jackpot with a reputation for being hit so regularly, after a big win in March ($195K) there were no big progressive jackpot winners again until a $168K hit in August. That was the start of three in a row though – big jackpot wins pretty well monthly in August, September and now October.

“The size of the jackpot depends entirely on how many people add a little extra to their wager,” said Ondrej Tuma of Slotland. “Some players do it every wager, others only do it if they feel particularly lucky.”

The Golden 8 is a 9-wheel 8-payline slot machine featuring the largest slot wheels on the Internet. On the Golden 8 slot machine, the way to win the jackpot is to get three Bar symbols on any one pay line. The big jackpot pool can only be won if the player has bet the maximum three coins on that spin. The last jackpot win on Golden 8 was in May when TOPNOTCHED spun a $179,166 win.

The Slotland jackpot is immediately re-set to $50,000 after a win. So many people around the world play at Slotland every day, and so many of them know it can really pay off to play the progressive, it can reach six figures again very quickly.

“It’s funny how it happens sometimes,” said Tuma. “No jackpot wins over the summer and then bam, bam, bam – three in a row.”

In September, MSMIKEY won $108,060 (€78,550) playing Jacks or Better video slot. MRSSMITHS had just won $168,947 (€123,000) the month before playing the Treasure Box slot machine. Introduced just last year, Treasure Box has been lucky twice this year: TEXASTEASER won the biggest Slotland jackpot ever, $195,083 (€126,910), playing Treasure Box last March.

Slotland.com features twelve unique slot machines and three video poker games. Four of the most popular online slot machines and two video poker games are also available on mobile phones and PDAs. All of Slotland’s games give players the option of placing a maximum bet for a chance at the progressive jackpot. All of the slots and video poker games on the mobile network are also tied to the same jackpot pools. Slotland is available in Spanish at Es.Slotland.com.

King Kong headlines CryptoLogic’s Latest Branded Casino Innovations

Lineup of seven new games also includes European blackjack, upgraded European roulette and Casinomeister-branded slot game

The world’s most famous giant ape headlines the newest seven-game lineup from CryptoLogic Limited, a leading software developer to the global Internet gaming market. The company today unveiled branded slot games based on Merian C. Cooper’s King Kong and the popular Casinomeister portal, as well as new European Blackjack and upgraded European Roulette software and other innovations.

“CryptoLogic has made its award-winning Internet casino platform its number one priority, and we continue to lead the way with the best branded and non-branded games on the market today,” said Brian Hadfield, CryptoLogic’s President and CEO. “CryptoLogic’s other branded games based on well-known characters have been both highly popular and highly profitable – and we have high hopes that King Kong and our other new games can scale similar heights.”
The new games are now available to players at Intercasino.com and WilliamHillCasino.com, and will be available on other licensee sites in the near future.

King Kong
King Kong takes on New York City in a smashing new 25-line slot game based on the classic 1933 film directed by Merian C. Cooper. Two amazing bonus features – King Kong Goes Ape and King Kong Smash – will have players going bananas as they smash planes for a chance to win free spins or a mystery prize.

Casinomeister
Casinomeister is a popular portal that provides information and news on online gambling, online casinos, player issues and industry events. With no other site of its kind, Casinomeister has been providing both players and operators with crucial online casino information for a decade.

For six months, CryptoLogic has exclusive rights to offer a Casinomeister-branded slot game. This 30-line slot gives players a chance to win up to 100,000 times their bet. In the Casinomeister Feature, free games commence with all prizes tripled – with a chance to win even more free spins for a possible jackpot hit.

CryptoLogic’s new Casino Bonus Pack also features European Blackjack and an upgraded version of European Roulette, two games with world-wide player appeal. European Blackjack features updated and market-leading functionality, including a resizable game window and auto-bet and auto-strategy options. In this version of Blackjack, the dealer does not receive a second card until after all the player hands have been completed. Liberal split and double-down rules are included to ensure an exciting game experience.

CryptoLogic’s exciting new presentation of European Roulette reinvigorates this traditional casino favourite. Brilliant graphics and sounds combine with exciting new features to put a state-of-the-art roulette game at the player’s fingertips.

Rounding out the seven-game pack are a series of action-packed 25-line slot games, including Little Master, a feisty slot game that packs a punch – and a few kicks – as well as a chance to double or quadruple any winnings with a Double Up feature. In Picnic Panic, players do battle with a group of sneaky ants. With two great bonus features and chances to win up to 7500 times your bet, you will be carried away by this lively and exciting new slot game. Dr. M Brace is one physician players will not mind visiting. This 25-line slot game delivers two pulse-pounding features, including a chance to win up to 10,000 times your bet.

“Today’s announcement is part of CryptoLogic’s commitment to release more innovative casino games – more often,” said Justin Thouin, CryptoLogic’s Vice President, Product Management and Business Development. “After pioneering the best branded content on the Internet, CryptoLogic knows the keys to success – and to growth in the casino gaming space.”

Boasting more than 200 games, CryptoLogic has one of the most comprehensive casino suites on the Internet today with games featuring some of the world’s most famous action and entertainment characters. CryptoLogic has earned rave reviews from industry peers and players alike, and in 2008 earned Gambling Online Magazine’s Top Casino Software award for the third consecutive year. Based on the votes of players around the world, it is widely considered the industry’s top honour.