2010 May |

Archive for May, 2010

Penn Gambling Taught to Nab Cheats

Saturday, May 29th, 2010

With poker becoming a reality in casinos across the state of Pennsylvania, dealer schools have popped up in a bid to train professionals to enter these gambling establishments. The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board and state police are also being given a course in poker – but from a different angle. State authorities are under no illusions that the introduction of poker could also bring with it the temptation by some people to commit crimes around the gaming tables.

As such, those who have experience working at the tables have been training control board employees and the police how to spot cheater at the tables when card games are eventually introduced into casinos by this summer.

“Quite frankly, we don’t want to be caught with our heads in the sand,” said a spokesman for the gaming control board, Richard McGarvey, who, along with his colleagues has already being undergoing an intensive course of over 5 weeks with professional dealers.

Each casino that has applied for - and received – a license to run poker and other card games on their floors have been training their new dealers to spot potential cheats or cheats in action. Each casino is in fact responsible for its own training, however the board was keen to ensure that its own people were able to identify criminals as well and are therefore also undergoing training.

“The number one job of the Gaming Control Board is to ensure the integrity of gaming in Pennsylvania,” said the Chairman of the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board, Gregory Fajt. “When a person comes into a Pennsylvania casino, they need to know they are getting a fair shake and they aren’t being cheated.”

It is believed that over 4,000 new jobs will be created with the introduction of poker in Pennsylvania, and millions of dollars will be generated for the state.

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Lacey Jones Poker Speculation High

Saturday, May 29th, 2010

One of the hottest poker players in the industry, Lacey Jones, has been keeping speculation high regarding her future plans, after it was announced that she is to leave her position on Team Absolute Poker and UB.

The player has been one of the most influential members of the site that makes up one half of the Cereus Poker Network and hasn’t left so much as a clue as to why she is leaving.

Jones’ announcement came just before the beginning of this year’s World Series of Poker event, when all eyes are on the poker world, so it seems that she definitely wanted to make an impact when she cut the cord with Absolute Poker.

Lacey Jones’ departure from the controversial online poker site prompted a wave of rumors and speculations as to why she was going her own way.

A recent Tweet (after days of silence), certainly didn’t clarify things when she wrote saying: “Today is a new chapter of my life and I’ve never been more excited! Get ready for some BIG things everybody!”

Absolute Poker, for its bit, has stressed very firmly that Jones’ departure has been done in an amicable manner and that there were no hard feelings from either side. This has led to speculation that Jones is simply ready to move on to something bigger, despite the fact that Absolute Poker is well placed on the list of popular online poker sites.

Some of said that her departure is due to the fact that Absolute Poker has been linked once again with a cheating scandal, being the sister site of Ultimate Bet where a security breach was recently reported. However, others have dismissed this rumor. It remains to be seen whether Lacey Jones will make another announcement in the coming days regarding her future on the circuit.

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Cake Poker Network Partners with CTXM

Tuesday, May 25th, 2010

There’s a lot going on at the Cake Poker Network, one of the more popular US facing online poker sites. Recently, one of the oldest poker rooms in the industry, Intertops, announced that it would be shifting to the Cake network, bringing a new boost of player activity to the platform. There are now 55 online poker rooms that belong to the Cake Poker Network, making it the 11th largest in the world, and boasting top names such as Doyles Room and Unabomber Poker (created by Phil Laak).

Two important things happened soon after Intertops joined the network. Firstly, Cake Poker announced several new exciting features that are sure to become a big hit with players. These are all incorporated in the launch of the updated software Cake 2.0 and include a handy calendar, tournament schedules and notification and a fantastic new lobby set up.

The other big change involves a partnership deal recently signed between Cake Poker and the European based casino software group, CTXM. The deal calls for the two to pool their services and market them as a joint venture to gaming sites across the globe.

“Since Cake and CTXM operate non-competitive businesses within the online gaming space and have a similar model, joining forces seemed like the perfect evolution of the relationship,” said the Chief Executive Officer of CTXM, Udy Yosha. “Our partnership with Cake perfectly fits with our strategy of providing one-stop-shop solutions to our partners.”

The director of marketing at Cake, Andrew Turner, said that his group is extremely pleased to partner with CTX due to their long history in online gambling and their high levels of innovation.

“We are also excited to be launching two new partners to the Cake Network in Comeon.com and AdamEvePoker.com, both of which bring strong brands and unique marketing approaches. We look forward to a long and successful partnership,” he added.