“PKR’s one year association with Jake Cody has now come to its conclusion,” said the Media Manager for PKR, Dan Grant. “We are proud to have worked with Jake over the last year and wish him the best of luck for the future both at and away from the felt. He is a huge talent, a class act and a pleasure to deal with.”

The 24 year old Cody had an exceptional run in 2011 when he was snapped up by the 3D poker room. By the end of 2011, he had already pocketed nearly $1.4 million in winnings, nearly half of which came from his winning the World Series of Poker $25K Limit Hold ‘em Heads Up Championship.

2011 was also the year that Cody became the youngest ever Triple Crown winner, after bagging the GBP5K World Poker Tour London title, where he won GBP 273,783, as well as the GBP5K European Poker Tour Deauville, where he won GBP 857,000 the year before.

With such a great couple of years under his belt, Cody was careful to choose the right sponsorship deal and felt that he had found it with the award-winning PKR. At the time of signing, he commented: “I’ve been patient with sponsorship, waiting for the right deal to come along. It’s a great site to be involved with right now and I think I can help take it to the next level.”

Somehow, however, 2012 has been a poor one for Cody, who has only managed to win $55,000, which could explain why his sponsorship deal wasn’t renewed by PKR.com.

Nevertheless, Cody shouldn’t have a problem finding a good pro team to play in. He has over $3.1 million in total live tournament winnings and was named 2011 British Poker Awards Player of the Year (2011).

The court ruled that Poker Stars was correct in claiming that it has always operated legally in Spain since it first launched its services over a decade ago because there were simply no regulations to dictate otherwise.

In 2012, after major reforms in its gambling laws, the Spanish Gambling Commission issued Poker Stars with an online poker license.

“This ruling confirms the legal advice we have been given and which we have followed in Spain for years,” said Paul Telford, speaking for Poker Stars. “We are very pleased the court agreed with our position and look forward to continuing to provide our licensed poker services as the leading brand in the Spanish market.”

One of the lawyers acting for Poker Stars, Antonio Vazquez-Guillen also commented on the positive outcome of the case and said that the “Barcelona court judgment is absolutely clear in its conclusion that Poker Stars has always operated in Spain according to the law. We are very happy with this outcome. It clarifies a question that, in our view, should never have been brought to a Court of Justice.”

Poker Stars, which boasts over 50 million registered players, recently reached a three way deal with the US Department of Justice to purchase its arch rival, Full Tilt Poker. FTP began operations on November 6th after an 18 month hiatus. Poker Stars operates under licenses from the Isle of Man and Malta governments, as well as separate licenses by the governments of Denmark, Estonia, France, Italy and Spain.

On the downside, not many people seemed to know they were closing down for a few days while they were updating their online poker room. Also, BetOnline’s poker players are having their funds transferred to their sportsbook account during this process. But don’t be worried if you have money tied into the poker room, although it may get transferred you will still have access to it.

If any new significant information comes up during this process, we will be sure to put up updates. In the meantime, if you are looking to play at reputable online poker rooms during the temporary closing of BetOnline, we recommend the following:

CarbonPoker.ag – They always have great bad beat jackpots along with nice bonus promotions.

Bovada.lv – Previously named Bodog, accepts US players only but has quick electronic payouts.

Fairly recently, Bodog.com switched its domain name to Bovada.lv to continue to accept gamblers within the United States. Bovada is the same as Bodog, so don’t be confused. With all the recent U.S. regulations and issues facing the online gambling world, Bodog.com just changed its name to Bovada.lv so they still could accept wagers from the U.S.

For those looking to gamble online that are within the United States, including people from Washington, New York, Utah and Maryland, we recommend BetOnline.com as a trusted and reputable online gambling site.

For those that are outside of Washington, New York, Utah and Maryland, and are looking to wager online to play casino games, poker, or place sports bets, Bovada.lv will still accept and payout any wagers placed.

The win was made through the promotion offered by Harrahs where players are paid out cash prizes if they manage to draw a royal flush. The sum of the prize depends on the make-up of the royal flush, and whether it is in clubs, spades, hearts or diamonds. The payout also depends on how much money is bet on the hand by the poker player.

Harrah’s top payout of $1 million was earmarked for a royal flush in diamonds – the exact hand landed by the woman, despite her very low wager.

Harrah’s Resort would not divulge the identity of the woman when approached, but did confirm that she had only been playing for two hours at the table before she hit the winning jackpot. The casino also said that the woman had notified them that she had only ever played Three Card Poker 6 twice in the past.

Harrahs’ promotion kicked off at the end of September and this marks the second time that the $1 million payout has been won since then. The first jackpot was won in October after another unidentified man wagered just $19. In November, 2011, a man from Virginia bagged $100,000.

The three issued press releases this week outlining the creation of a company that would set up web platforms and would put Bwin.Party in a position to enter the market when it becomes legalized and regulated.

Bwin.Party will have a 65% majority stake in the company, while Boyd Gaming will have a 10% stake. MGM Resorts will own the balance. According to the press releases, all three companies will have board representation.

According to a separate contract, Boyd Gaming entered into an agreement with Bwin.Party that it would use the online company’s technology to establish its own poker brand in the United States once the appropriate legislation has been passed. Although not yet confirmed, MGM is also thought to have entered into a similar 15 year agreement with Bwin.Party.

The President and Chief Executive of Boyd Gaming, Keith Smith said: “We see online poker as a compelling future growth opportunity for our company, and this agreement would position Boyd Gaming to quickly become a leader in the online poker market in the United States.”

Although Bwin.Party cannot predict when changes will come about in the US online poker market, the group was sure that it was gaining “significant momentum” by entering into these agreements. The venture also allows Bwin.Party to apply for a Nevada Gaming Commission gambling license.

A hearing scheduled for July 26th was meant to enable representatives of Full Tilt Poker to explain to the AGCC why it could not pay back its players since an FBI indictment against 11 executives in the online poker industry. The Commission wants Full Tilt to prove that it can protect its player’s funds and pay them out under any circumstances – something that the poker room has been unable to do.

Full Tilt was hoping that by the time the rescheduled hearing’s date came up, it would have good news regarding an acquisition deal, which would have allowed it to start paying back its players. Unfortunately, nothing concrete has happened between July and now, and analysts believe that the Alderney Gambling Control Commission will not be so quick to re-license the online poker room.

Full Tilt will have to come to the new hearing with better news and a full explanation of how it plans to pay back the millions owed to its players. If not, the chances of the group receiving an operating license by the AGCC are slim.

In the statement, the online poker room blamed the government for seizing its funds repeatedly over the years.

“As is obvious from the events that have transpired since April 15th, Full Tilt Poker was not prepared for the far-reaching, US government enforcement effort of Black Friday. Full Tilt Poker never anticipated that the DOJ would proceed as it did by seizing our global domain name and shutting down the site worldwide.”

In April, the group managed to reach a deal with the Department of Justice with the objective to help its players access their funds, however this never came to fruition and players are still left frustrated that they haven’t been paid out yet. The group claims that the money seized over the years by the government meant that $115 million was lost. It also claimed that one of its payment processors stole $42 million from the company, leading to more financial woes.

“Until April 15th, Full Tilt Poker had always covered these losses so that no player was ever affected,” said the group. It also said that it had “unprecedented issues with some of its third-party processors that greatly contributed to its financial problems.”

Fill Tilt said that its Dublin heaquarters has received visits from around six investment groups who expressed an interest in investing in the online poker site. It has also hired a financial advisor, not named in the statement, “to assist us in our search for an infusion of cash as well as a new management team to restore the site and repay players.”

A-Rod said that the parties did not discuss any disciplinary measures and he is now waiting to see if anything comes out of the meetings.

“In fairness to them, I said what I had to say,” he said. “I answered all their questions until they were tired, and then I’ll let them come back to us. I don’t know what they’re going to do with the information.”

In July this year, tabloids published an article claiming that A-Rod was seen attending underground poker parties in homes that were also frequented by stars such as Leo DiCaprio and Matt Damon. One tabloid also said that drugs were used at one of the parties and that a fight nearly broke out.

After the stories broke, the MLB issued a statement saying that it took these claims very seriously and would be investigating the matter. “As part of the investigation, the commissioner’s office will interview Mr. Rodriguez,” read the statement.

This is not the first time that Alex Rodriguez has been involved in poker games. In 2005, he was warned by the Yankees and the MLB to stay away from poker parlors after he was seeing playing in a New York based parlor with legendary poker pro, Phil Hellmuth.

The meeting began in London this week, with a request by Full Tilt’s solicitor, Martin Heslop, to postpone the hearing, citing fears of jeopardizing ongoing buyout negotiations by interested European investors as a reason. He also asked for future meetings to be held in private, away from the eyes of the media and players who were not only invited, but also encouraged to attend by the AGCC.

The Alderney Commission discussed the request for a private hearing, and an hour later, frustrated players and the media were ushered out of the room. There are no minutes of the meeting that transpired between the two sides in the private hearing, and the only statement that ended the day was that the meeting was going to be adjourned until September 15th. Poker forums, however, have noted that one of the reasons why the AGCC capitulated to these demands is that Heslop told the commission in no uncertain terms that Full Tilt would promise to pay back the GBP 250,000 in unpaid licensing fees owed to the commission if it granted the motion to have the hearing adjourned. The media went one step further and called this blackmail.

Watch this space as more details of the ongoing Full Tilt saga.