We're trying to get you caught up on the week's top poker news stories. In this edition of the Weekly Turbo, we bring you the recent layoffs at a subsidiary of Full Tilt Poker, the newest inductions into the Poker Hall of Fame, and more. More Layoffs at Pocket Kings Ltd.
As many as 180 employees of Pocket Kings Ltd. Were laid off between Wednesday and Friday of last week, according to a report in. The Ireland-based company, which has provided software, information technology, customer support, and other services for Full Tilt Poker, has now watched at least 400 employees walk out the door since Black Friday. Employees were informed in September that the company would be laying off up to 250 workers from its offices in Dublin during a four-week consultation period. That stage ended last week, and employees who spoke to The Irish Times said they had been offered statutory redundancy. The layoffs spurred a number of alleged former Pocket Kings employees to provide their insights on the company's operation at TwoPlusTwo over the weekend.
On Saturday, one of the alleged workers created a thread called 'FTP Employees answer questions' and subsequently answered close to 130 questions about the day-to-day activity of the company, the chances of players getting their money back, and much more. At one point, the former employee opined that the sale of the company to Group Bernard Tapie 'will not go through.' He added that if the deal falls through, he can't see the company lasting past January. While we can't confirm that the poster has actually worked for Pocket Kings, his answers are very thorough, which leads us to believe he's legit. Take a look at the full thread at. Barry Greenstein, Linda Johnson Join Poker Hall of Fame The World Series of Poker added two new inductees to its exclusive Poker Hall of Fame on Thursday.
Barry Greenstein and Linda Johnson were voted in by a 35-person panel of existing Hall of Famers and media members, becoming the 41st and 42nd members of the elite group of poker icons. 'I'm happy to be inducted into the Hall of Fame alongside my friend Linda Johnson who has been the most fervent ambassador for poker for as long as I can remember,” Greenstein said. Greenstein and Johnson will be officially inducted on Tuesday, Nov. 8, at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino as part of the November Nine festivities. The ceremony will take place at 4:30 p.m. 8 inside the Penn & Teller Theater.
It will be immediately followed by the three-handed finale of the WSOP Main Event final table. The 2011 Hall of Fame finalists who were nominated but did not receive the necessary votes were Annie Duke, Jennifer Harman-Traniello, John Juanda, Marcel Luske, Jack McClelland, Tom McEvoy, Scotty Nguyen and Huck Seed. All eight finalists are eligible for the Hall of Fame next year.
Read more about the 2011 Poker Hall of Fame class at. CEREUS Network Proposes Plan to Reimburse Players The Kahnawake Gaming Commission released a statement Thursday saying that the CEREUS Network has proposed a plan to the U.S. Department of Justice to allow the reimbursement of all of players from Absolute Poker and UB.
Blanca Games, which acquired the CEREUS Network in August 2010, has purportedly been in 'close and regular discussions' with the KGC about a solution to facilitate the payments, a process that's been ongoing since Black Friday The CEREUS Network has been virtually silent since it came to an alleged agreement with the Department of Justice on May 10. However, with a deadline of Oct. 31 to respond to the filed last month, it was only a matter of time before we heard from the embattled company.
Read the full release at the. Al Krux Arrested on Drug Charges This would make for a good piece. Professional poker player Al Krux and his son, Adam, have been arrested on felony marijuana charges, the Syracuse Post-Standard reported Wednesday. Krux, who has reached the final table of the World Series of Poker Main Event three times, has been charged with first-degree criminal possession of marijuana after police discovered 40 pounds of marijuana and 90 marijuana plants at his residence in DeWitt, N.Y. Search warrants were implemented on two of Krux's residences on Tuesday after tips were given to DeWitt police about suspicious activity.
2018 Poker Hall Of Fame
Al Krux was then stopped in his vehicle and found with 25 pounds of marijuana, and Adam Krux was pulled over in a separate vehicle holding 15 pounds of marijuana, according to police reports. Both men were held at the Onondaga County Justice Center on $20,000 bail. Krux, 68, has more than $1 million in live tournament earnings during his poker career.
He made the WSOP Main Event final table three times, most recently in 2004 when he took sixth place for $800,000. He also won a WSOP bracelet in 1996 for $156,375.
His most recent cash came at the 2010 WSOP when he finished 118th in a $1,000 no-limit hold'em event. It seems that he's been working on other projects since then. More on this story can be found at the. Players Surveyed About Full Tilt Poker An interesting article from Spanish poker site Poker-Red made its way to TwoPlusTwo on Tuesday. According to the report, an employee of Poker-Red received a phone call from a French magazine, LivePoker, to answer a survey about Full Tilt Poker.
The magazine has apparently been reaching out to Full Tilt Poker players who have mid-to substantial amounts of money stuck on the site. After the survey was finished, survey takers were polled about preferred payout options if they were to get their funds back. What's interesting about this French magazine is that it is run by George Djen, founding partner of FullFun Company. FullFun recently partnered up with Groupe Bernard Tapie to create the International Stadium Poker Tour. As you know, last month, and all of its associated assets. Connect the dots.
In the article, Red-Poker draws the conclusion that either Group Bernard Tapie has already taken the reins at Full Tilt Poker or they have borrowed the player database from FTP in order to receive feedback from customers. Either way, it could be a step in the right direction for players hoping to receive their funds. The full article can be found at. It’s written in Spanish, so we recommend using Google Translate if needed. Support Cerebral Palsy at the All-In for CP Charity Event The Fourth Annual All-In for CP charity tournament will take place on Dec. 9, 2011 at the Venetian in Las Vegas. The event, which attracts many top poker pros and several celebrities, will raise funds to ease the lives of those with cerebral palsy.
The All-In for CP will feature a buy-in of $540 with unlimited rebuys for the first 90 minutes. Among the celebrities and poker pros expected to attend are Sam Simon, Jennifer Tilly, Shannon Elizabeth, Montel Williams, and Mekhi Phifer.
Antonio Esfandiari, Dan Fleyshman, Dennis Phillips, Phil Laak, and Barry Greenstein. Get more on this story at. William Hill Dispute Settled Online gambling giant William Hill announced Tuesday that it has resolved the dispute at its support center in Tel Aviv by firing seven senior managers in the wake of a. The walkouts were reportedly sparked by rumors that the company would be moving operations to the United Kingdom or Gibraltar. The strike in Israel prompted similar protests at William Hill offices in Bulgaria and the Philippines, which motivated the company's co-CEOs to travel to Tel Aviv to restore order before business operation were affected.
'The group can now confirm that normal operations have resumed and that William Hill Online remains committed to its operation in Tel Aviv,' William Hill said in a statement Tuesday, as reported by The Guardian. The Guardian reports that that some senior managers at William Hill Online may have plotted to set up a rival business, but it is believed that William Hill spent about £2 million on severance pay for the dismissed staff in exchange for non-compete clauses. Get more on the story at. While you're at it, and sign up for the newsletter.
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RELATED NEWS. 16th December 2018 Two massage therapists formerly working for a third-party massage services firm used until very recently by the Bellagio for its poker events have filed a class-action lawsuit against the third-party.
14th December 2018 The solitary confinement prop bet between Rich Alati and Rory Young has had the poker world talking during the last couple weeks. Would Alati stay in his isolation room for. 13th December 2018 Here’s an interesting story emanating from the United Kingdom, where in a not-unforseeable development, a British law firm is threatening “clawback” lawsuits targeting prominent bookmakers William Hill and PaddyPower Betfair. 13th December 2018 888 Holdings Plc. Has acquired total ownership in the All-American Poker Network (AAPN) and its parent company, AAPN Holdings LLC, in a $28 million cash-only deal.
888 Holdings was, prior to. Why Isai Scheinberg Should Not Be in the Poker Hall of Fame 6th August 2015 //, Last week, Caesars Entertainment and the World Series of Poker issued a series of reminders that the public-nomination phase for nominations for the Poker Hall of Fame will soon be drawing to a close, and that fans of poker should nominate their favorites for possible consideration. Here’s the, which is always worth a visit anyway. And as always happens — at least in recent years — there’s the annual call for the nomination and induction into the HOF of former PokerStars owner Isai Scheinberg.
This year, the chorus for the Scheinberg cause is being led by former pro player and former Stars employee Terrence Chan, with on-again/off-again Stars exec Lee Jones sounding the Isai trumpet as well. Chan, a/k/a “Not Johnny” Chan (the nickname being a great poker tale of its own), also recently had a stint with short-lived Nevada startup Ultimate Poker, and these days is making a name for himself as a mixed martial arts fighter.
Absolute Poker Hall Of Fame Games
He’s highly respected both within and outside the poker world, knows several different aspects of the business, and when he says something, one is best served by paying close attention. Chan replied as follows to the WSOP’s latest call for nominations, on Twitter: Isai Scheinberg. Do I have to explain this to you guys every year? — Terrence Chan (@tchanpoker) Chan has also taken to the 2+2 poker discussion forums today to tout his case for Scheinberg’s nomination and induction,: Campaign for Isai Scheinberg for the Poker HOF The purpose of this thread is a call to action for the poker players of 2+2 to nominate Isai Scheinberg for the Poker Hall of Fame. The WSOP tweeted this from its account yesterday: “We need your help!
Tell us who should be considered for Poker Hall of Fame induction: In my opinion, if the man who has done more to grow poker than any other individual in the world in the past 20 years (at least) is not in the Poker HOF, it is illegitimate. You all know the story.
Poker was a niche game before the “Moneymaker Boom”, and PokerStars was one of the largest driving forces in the Moneymaker boom. The growth in the main event field following Moneymaker’s win was unprecedented.
PokerStars expanded into, and created, brand new markets where there were very few poker players. Prior to 2003 there was very little poker played in much of continental Europe, South America, Asia, and Australia. We have all benefitted from the company that this man built. Some people reading this made played online poker professionally, or made good money as serious semi-pros. Some made careers out of the poker industry in various ways (journalism, television, or working in b&m poker rooms). But millions of others simply found a way to play a game they found enjoyable; a place where they could play any time, anywhere (until 2011), across myriad stakes, on an enjoyable software platform run by an attentive and professional team.
Yes, I know there are political reasons why he “won’t”. Caesars does not want to bring attention to PokerStars. Doyle’s friends take precedent. (I don’t agree that it is the case, by the way, that animosity/conflict between Caesars/CIE and Stars/Amaya would preclude them from accepting Isai.) But we know serious poker fans and poker players agree that he belongs.
The original WSOP tweet got 4 favorites. Sony sdt-9000 drivers for mac. My tweet calling for Isai to be nominated got 36 favorites. WSOP has 32 times more followers than I do. Nine times as many favourites for an account with 1/32nd the following.
You might argue the “average poker fan” does not know who Isai Scheinberg is. That may or may not be true. But if that’s the case, it’s time to let them know.
I suspect here I’m preaching to the choir to some extent, so I’ll wrap it up here. It is well and good to tweet, post on 2+2, and so on, but us poker players often have a reputation of outrage without action. So if you agree with this post, click on the link, fill out the form, and nominate Isai. Let’s flood wsop.com with Isai nomination ballots, and see if they have the balls to once again ignore a man who has lined their own pockets with millions. The facts that Chan cites about Isai Scheinberg are correct, and most of his assertions about the Poker Hall of Fame and its selection process are arguably correct as well. The above by Chan is heartfelt, well-intentioned, intelligent and sincere and it still only tells half the story. It’s very true that Isai Scheinberg’s industry accomplishments dwarf those of many others who are already enshrined.
It’s also very true that the political and business enmity that existed between Caesars and the Scheinberg-led PokerStars of the pre-Amaya era have likely erected a permanent wall barring Isai from consideration. Even if Caesars and Scheinberg had been behind-the-scenes best buddies, however, it changes nothing. There’s that little matter of the outstanding Black Friday indictment still facing Scheinberg.
As most of our readers intimately know, PokerStars and two other major US-facing companies, Full Tilt and Absolute Poker, were forced to abandon the US market after the indictments against the three companies and 11 individuals (including Isai Scheinberg) were handed down in April of 2011. The “Do No Harm” Theory of Enshrinement Eligibility Want to get elected to a Hall of Fame of any sort, someday? Do lots of good, important things. And while you’re doing that, don’t do a whole bunch of bad things that wipe out the good that you’ve accomplished. Call it the “Do No Harm” theory, a nod in the direction of the “First, do no harm” line that classical physicians were often asked to intone as part of the Hippocratic Oath. As one can see, Isai Scheinberg has done plenty of the important things that would be important HOF enshrinement markers, if one only considered that one side of the ledger. However, the ongoing presence of the alleged US-bank-laws violations against Scheinberg and the old PokerStars is way too much for any serious US-based HOF consideration — not only at this time, but for the foreseeable future, probably several decades.
What did Scheinberg do that would prevent him from serious consideration by the Poker HOF? Isn’t it true that online poker was subsequently acknowledged to be okay to play by US citizens, per a DOJ opinion. And isn’t it also true that online poker is all that PokerStars ever offered? Yes, and yes, but the charges against Scheinberg and his company had more to do with the intentionally mislabeling of deposits and withdrawals of US players, through a shady series of third-party payment processors.
It was all done, allegedly, with Scheinberg’s full knowledge and approval, and Scheinberg has chosen not to come to the US to contest the charges, evidence about which has surfaced in several ways in the years that have followed. Maybe Scheinberg got some bad, bad legal advice along the way but he has chosen to protect his massive fortune and not use some of that billionaire-style wealth to either battle the case in court, or to reach a settlement which would end the case against him, once and for all. His son Mark reached a settlement with US authorities over many of the same allegations, and that was without the junior Scheinberg even being charged in the Black Friday case — threatened with charges, perhaps, but not charged. There was once a moment in online-poker history when it appeared that PartyGaming would have to fight the “big legal fight” regarding online poker’s legality in the US. Party cut and ran, however, when the UIGEA was passed back in 2006. At that point that industry responsibility regarding the US market fell to PokerStars, and when the big choice came, Isai Scheinberg simply did not stand up to his responsibility.
That’s how one wipes away a whole lot of good deeds and accomplishments, regardless of how outstanding — at least, relative to its competition — PokerStars always was as a poker site. Railside : rails ide app for mac. It doesn’t matter any more; Isai has run off with his money, for better or for worse.
A US-based Poker Hall of Fame simply -cannot- consider him for enshrinement when all things are considered, including the damage to poker in general and online poker in particular that Black Friday caused. Isai Scheinberg is far from the only possible candidate for the Poker HOF whose negatives neutralize his or her plentiful positives. Annie Duke is another fine example, among the game’s leading, perhaps even groundbreaking, female players, but with such a disaster of a resume from her days at UltimateBet and with the Epic Poker League that she’s no longer a serious HOF candidate. Full Tilt’s Howard Lederer and Chris Ferguson could both also put forth a whole bunch of positives, but seriously? The concept of either of them being a HOF-er is laughable, given what transpired in Full Tilt’s latter years. I mean, if one were to consider only positive achievements as measurement, one could think Russ Hamilton, cheater extraordinaire, could be in the HOF.
Granted that Hamilton is the ad absurdium example, but the greater point about not shredding one’s own good will through misbehavior applies to all these people in one form or another. That very much includes Isai Scheinberg, no matter how fondly he’s viewed by his former employees or other industry heavyweights. The HOF Voting Process Does Indeed Suck It’s hard to argue much about the lack of transparency and the “good ol’ boy” network behind the scenes of Poker Hall of Fame voting that Terrence Chan alludes to in his post. There are way, way too many of the group of players than can generally be described as Doyle Brunson’s old cash-game cronies in the HOF, whether or not that generation of players helped establish the game of poker as a Las Vegas staple. To be perfectly and brutally honest, the utter lack of European players or industry people in the HOF continues to be an eyesore on the Hall’s legitimacy. This year, the recently deceased David “Devilfish” Ulliott wil receive a lot of long-overdue consideration, but European poker stalwarts such as Thor Hansen and Chris Bjorin have been finalists before, and to the best of my knowledge, have never come truly close to being voted in.
It’s been a case, for a couple of decades, of the the existing “in crowd” of the HOF’s selection committee continuing to choose more and more of their own friends and social poker circles. It’s a self-feeding cycle, too. International players and their absence from the HOF are the worst oversight, of course, but not the only one. I think women’s representation to date has been more or less fair, though I think Jennifer Harman’s election to the HOF is overdue. And of course, being Caesars-owned and operated as a promotional tool for the benefit of Caesars’ brands and properties, the HOF has always had a WSOP-centric flair to it, in terms of the accomplishments of those who are ultimately selected. Perhaps the best comparison to the way the Poker Hall of Fame operates would be to compare it to the Veteran’s Committee in baseball.
That committee is charged with finding candidates from baseball’s older days who were overlooked by traditional Baseball HOF election methods. However, the Veterans Committee quickly devolved into an old-timer’s “in club” of its own, with as many of the committee’s choices as not being truly questionable additions to the baseball Hall. Now imagine that a poker version of the Veteran’s Committee was the only way in which one could be elected to the Poker Hall of Fame. As most people in poker truly realize, that’s pretty much what the game has today. The HOF ain’t that much and it ain’t gaining any ground. That’s what angers folks like Terrence Chan, even if his own favored candidate, Isai Scheinberg, has serious problems of his own.
The HOF needs to be better. Unfortunately, electing Scheinberg to the HOF is the wrong way of accomplishing that goal. I can be disappointed in the HOF for being bad at what it does, but I cannot get behind the concept of electing Isai Scheinberg as a way to compensate for that HOF badness. Two wrongs, after all, don’t make a right. ABOUT US Founded in 2013, Flushdraw.net set its sights on becoming one of the foremost authorities in poker journalism. In the years since, our team has continued to build on that vision, working countless hours to bring you the very best in investigative reporting and other breaking news reports in the world of poker and gambling. We hope that you see Flushdraw.net as a site that not only aims to deliver quality news, but a site that also gives our readers a valuable resource for unbiased reviews, strategy articles and gambling law updates around the world.
RELATED NEWS. 16th December 2018 Two massage therapists formerly working for a third-party massage services firm used until very recently by the Bellagio for its poker events have filed a class-action lawsuit against the third-party. 14th December 2018 The solitary confinement prop bet between Rich Alati and Rory Young has had the poker world talking during the last couple weeks. Would Alati stay in his isolation room for. 13th December 2018 Here’s an interesting story emanating from the United Kingdom, where in a not-unforseeable development, a British law firm is threatening “clawback” lawsuits targeting prominent bookmakers William Hill and PaddyPower Betfair. 13th December 2018 888 Holdings Plc. Has acquired total ownership in the All-American Poker Network (AAPN) and its parent company, AAPN Holdings LLC, in a $28 million cash-only deal.
888 Holdings was, prior to. Women in Poker Hall of Fame Finalists Announced, Flushdraw’s Haley Hintze Among Honorees 4th April 2018 //, The finalists for this year’s inductee class of the Women in Poker Hall of Fame (WiPHoF) have been announced. After a two-week long public nomination process and subsequent vetting by the WiPHOF Organization Committee and current Hall of Fame members, the final list of eleven nominees was produced. I will get to all of the deserving women, but for our purposes today, I want to draw your attention to one name on the list: Flushdraw.net Contributing Editor and my colleague,.
Current Members of the Women in Poker Hall of Fame Sometimes Haley and I compete for article topics. We’re on a “first dibs” type of system, so there are times I’m disappointed that she nabbed a topic about which I wanted to write. Sometimes, though, she tosses me an article and this was one of those times. Certainly, one of us was going to write about the WiPHoF nominations, but since she is one of the finalists, she felt like it would be a conflict of interest to toot her own horn. Haley even told me, “If you do do a piece please don’t make it all about me, either.” Sorry, Haley.
This is going to be mostly about you. When I was invited to write for Flushdraw a few years ago, one of the things that excited me about the opportunity was that I would get to work with Haley. Well, we don’t really work “together” too much – we basically do our own thing – but I very much appreciate the virtual proximity I have to Haley and the ability to shoot her a line when I need to.
I’d like to think I’ve absorbed something via same-site osmosis. Haley is the bulldog of the poker media world.
I readily admit that I often write about easy topics or articles like this one where I can just riff, but Haley tackles the tough subjects. She is not afraid to go down the investigative rabbit hole, to go after the deeper details of a story that others can’t get. And if she pisses someone off in the process (always deserving), she doesn’t give a shit. Haley Hintze is one of the few true investigative journalists we have in this industry, putting the vast majority of affiliate fluff writers to shame. I like to think I’ve done a solid job in my career, but I’m just a poker writer. Haley is a journalist. Any talk about Haley Hintze and her contributions to the poker world has to center around her expose of the UltimateBet and Absolute Poker “superuser” scandals from a decade ago.
The initial revelation that players had somehow been cheated by someone(s) who knew all of their hole cards was made by players using hand tracking software, but it was Haley that spent years tracking the accounts, tracking the money, collecting the evidence, in order to reveal the full extent of the scandal and the names of the people behind it. Of her nomination, Haley said: Being selected as a finalist for Women in Poker Hall of Fame consideration is an unexpected and humbling honor. WiPHoF occupies an important and unifying niche in poker and helps bring women into the game, an absolutely vital component for poker’s continued health and growth.
Video Poker Hall Of Fame
I’ve been fortunate enough to work for several prominent sites over the years. Including here at Flushdraw. Flushdraw founders Paudie and Ian deserve special recognition and thanks for creating a site where open discourse on many of poker’s and gambling’s trickier targets is brought to the public. At this point, Haley is probably reading this and wishing I would stop talking about her (I expect an e-mail scolding), so I will move on. There are ten other very deserving candidates to be members of the Women in Poker Hall of Fame Class of 2018. ABOUT US Founded in 2013, Flushdraw.net set its sights on becoming one of the foremost authorities in poker journalism. In the years since, our team has continued to build on that vision, working countless hours to bring you the very best in investigative reporting and other breaking news reports in the world of poker and gambling. We hope that you see Flushdraw.net as a site that not only aims to deliver quality news, but a site that also gives our readers a valuable resource for unbiased reviews, strategy articles and gambling law updates around the world.