PokerRoom.com was initially launched in 1999 and quickly grew into one of the most popular poker rooms. Most of the PokerRoom player base lived in the United States and once the UIGEA was passed in 2006 it destroyed PokerRoom. In 2006 OnGame had to leave the US market because of the UIGEA and within a few years it forced PokerRoom to close down.

After PokerRoom had to stop operating in the US market in 2006 it quickly crippled the poker site. PokerRoom tried to hang on to the small market share they had left, but in 2009 PokerRoom had to close their doors. PokerRoom made an announcement in 2009 that they were closing shop and that current PokerRoom players plus balances would be transferred to Bwin Poker.

PokerRoom Rumours

Throughout much of December there were rumours circulating the poker forums about PokerRoom reopening. In December Bwin’s SEO Manager made a Tweet on Twitter that stated PokerRoom would launch again with real money poker games. The Tweet was deleted from Twitter soon after, but now the rumours have been confirmed.

Bwin.Party Reopens PokerRoom

PokerRoom is now open for business again and have real money games running. US players still won’t be able to play, but you can sign-up and participate on the PokerRoom Forums. The OnGame Network still can’t accept US players, but if online poker becomes legal this year in states across the USA I’m sure OnGame will try and become licensed to operate in the country.

Bwin.Party has been trying to sell the OnGame Network and apparently they have several interested investors looking at possibly purchasing the network. Bwin Poker players would be merged with Party Poker, but the rest of the network would be sold, which could be one reason why PokerRoom was re-launched.

PokerRoom is a well-known brand in the USA and has never had any payout problems with players. Having such a well-known brand in the US market could be beneficial for potential investors of the OnGame Network, as it would allow them to work towards becoming licensed in the US states that have legalized online poker.

The OnGame Network ranks 5^th in overall poker traffic right now according to PokerScout. With the reopening of PokerRoom there is no doubt that the sale of OnGame will be sweetened up a bit. PokerRoom is offering great bonuses right now to new players that sign-up and you can also take advantage of our great OnGame VIP Deals.

This week the 1^st licensed poker rooms in Denmark launched despite scepticism that licensed poker rooms might not be able to launch in January 2012 due to technical issues. Regulated online poker was coming to Denmark in 2012 at some point regardless of technical issues, but many industry experts thought that the 1^st Denmark licensed poker rooms wouldn’t launch in January 2012.

In December 2011 the Danish Gambling Authority made an announcement that 38 online gambling operators received a total of 55 licenses to operate regulated online poker rooms, online casinos and online sportsbooks. The top online poker sites in the industry including PokerStars, Party Poker, 888 Poker and PKR Poker all received a license from the Danish Gambling Authority.

The new online gambling regulations came into affect in Denmark on January 1^st 2012. However, one of the regulations is that all poker rooms need to implement NemID, which is a system in Denmark to ensure logging into online services is secure. It quickly became apparent that poker rooms weren’t going to be able to implement the NemID system in time for the New Year.

During the holidays the Danish Tax Authority (SKAT) stated that licensed operators in Denmark would still be able to launch this month without the NemID system implemented. Every licensee has been given until March 1^st 2012 to add NemID. If NemID isn’t implement by March 1^st the poker sites that haven’t implemented the system will need to cease operations until they do.

How Will Poker Rooms Survive in Denmark?

One question many people are wondering is how online poker operators will survive in the Denmark market. Poker operators are going to need to pay a 20% tax on gross earnings, which leaves little profit margins for network skins. The fact that there will be so many poker rooms licensed in Denmark means that the competition is going to be incredibly tough as well.

Bwin.Party & Danske Spil Launch Regulated Online Poker Room

A few days ago Bwin.Party made an announcement that they just launched a poker room in Denmark with Danske Spil. For those of you that don’t know, Danske Spil is the national lottery operator in Denmark. The brand new poker room should be able to grab a large percentage of the online poker market in Denmark due to the fact it’s operated by Danske Licens Spil.

Danske Licens Spil already operates online gambling and has 600,000 registered Danish gamblers. This will definitely help the new poker room launch with a bang and it will help bwin.party gain a piece of the Danish market. Both parties have made statements about the new partnership and both companies expressed their excitement to work together.

Bwin.Party has been forming several great partnerships in regulated or soon to be regulated online poker markets. Once the new regulated markets have time to mature I think we’ll find that Bwin.Party has done a great job forming partnerships with companies that have local experience.

On Wednesday December 21^st 2011 Jonathan Duhamel was the victim of a home invasion. Duhamel is famously known for winning the 2010 World Series of Poker Main Event and he also frequents high stakes poker games regularly. Jonathan lives in a suburban neighbourhood in Boucherville, Quebec and it isn’t where you’d expect a home invasion to happen.

Initially the police weren’t sure if Duhamel was targeted because of his fame from winning the 2010 WSOP Main Event. It didn’t take long for the police in Quebec to arrest Duhamel’s ex-girlfriend Bianca Rojas-Latraverse in connection with the robbery. It has been reported that Bianca has been charged with five separate offences including conspiracy.

After interrogating Bianca the police in Quebec announced the arrest of two men. John Lemay and Andre Perron were arrested after police were finished interrogating Bianca. It has been reported that both men have been charged with various offences including robbery, breaking and entering, assault and forcible confinement.

Another man was recently charged in connection with the home invasion, but the individual’s name hasn’t been released by police and we’re unsure if the other individual will be charged with anything. According to Duhamel two men broke into his home around 9:00AM on Wednesday December 21^st.

The two men reportedly assaulted Duhamel while threatening his life if he didn’t give them his valuables. Duhamel quickly gave them what he would in his house, which included a black Rolex Submariner watch, his 2010 WSOP ME Gold Bracelet and an unknown amount of €500 Euro bills. Duhamel went to the hospital briefly after the home invasion, but he has stated that he’s fine and is only dealing with some bumps and bruises from the assault in his home.

It was reported that Perron was in possession of the Rolex Submariner watch at the time of his arrest, but the 2010 WSOP Bracelet and €500 Euro Bills haven’t been recovered yet. If the bracelet isn’t recovered it has been announced by the WSOP that they’ll replace the bracelet for Duhamel, but I’m sure Jonathan wants the original bracelet that he won.

The police are still busy investigating this case and haven’t released a lot of information yet. The police are still trying to recover the other items stolen during the home invasion and I’m sure there are still going to be more charges in this case. According to the 2+2 Forums several individuals warned Duhamel about Bianca when he was going out with her. Apparently she has tried faking medical school enrolment in the past and several other accusations.

Bianca was definitely the mastermind behind the robbery and it appears that she has had problems in the past. Duhamel wasn’t going out with Bianca at the time, but she knew where he lived and that he would have valuables in his home. It’s a shame that Duhamel had to go through this ordeal right before Christmas, but it has been reported that Duhamel spent Christmas with his family after he was released from the hospital.

We recently reported that online poker was legalized in the state of Nevada and now we’re happy to report that the US DoJ decided that the Federal Wire Act of 1961 only applies to sports betting. Back in 2009 New York and Illinois submitted a proposal to use the internet and processors located out-of-state to processors to sell lottery tickets to customers that live in-state.

The US DoJ released a report right before Christmas Day that stated “Interstate transmissions of wire communications that do not relate to a sporting event or contest fall outside the reach of the Wire Act”. This basically means that it would be legal to run online poker rooms that offered interstate poker games according to Federal law. As long as the states that are running the poker games have legalized online poker there is no federal law that would prevent interstate poker games from being legal.

If the Wire Act does only apply to sports betting this would mean that it’s possible to legally run interstate poker games or even run poker games with international poker players legally. Nevada is going to be the 1^st state with regulated online poker and the operators in Nevada will have a huge head start on the rest of the industry. 888 Holdings has applied for a license and if they do receive a license they could run poker games with an international player pool as long as online poker is legal in the jurisdiction.

This should also help other states decide whether or not they should legalize and regulate online poker. Other states would be able to partner with licensed operators in Nevada if they wanted to, which would allow them to run interstate poker games. I think this would make the decision to regulate online poker in other US states a lot easier.

Initially most poker games will be intra-state only, but with the recent news from the US DoJ that the Wire Act only applies to sports betting it won’t be long before states form deals with each other to offer legalized and regulated interstate online poker games. 2012 is shaping up to be a huge year for online poker in the United States and I think we’re going to see a lot of progress towards a regulated industry that earns lots of tax revenue for the states that legalize online poker.

The US DoJ didn’t specifically say that online poker doesn’t apply to the Wire Act, but with their statement that we quoted at the top of this article it’d be hard for the DoJ to say that poker is a sporting event or lottery.

On April 15^th 2011 the online poker world changed forever. That day is known as Black Friday and it’s the day that the top US poker sites were seized by the US DoJ. Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet made up the Cereus Poker Network and both sites were apart of the Black Friday fiasco in the United States. It quickly became apparent that the Cereus Poker Network was hard on cash and that players were most likely going to not be repaid any of the money that they were owed.

It was just reported that Brent Beckley had pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges. Beckley is a co-founder of Absolute Poker and he is the 2^nd person to work out a plea deal with the US DoJ so far. Beckley was initially facing a long list of charges that included the operation of an online gambling company, conspiracy to commit bank fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to violating the UIGEA.

Beckley was living in Costa Rica, but is a US citizen. Beckley just recently traveled back to the USA (December 19^th) according to a press release that was released by the US DoJ. Beckley worked out a plea deal and it’s expected that he will spend roughly 18 months behind bars although that’s much better than the 30+ years he was looking at initially. Beckley was the co-founder of Absolute Poker and dealt with payment processing department.

Beckley confessed that he knew it was illegal to accept credit card payments from US players. He also confessed that he knew it was wrong to deceive the banks in the USA. Payment processors were setting up 100’s of shell companies to process payments in the United States for online poker companies, but it all came falling down on Black Friday. Beckley actually ended up with a good plea deal in my opinion and we might see more of the individuals indicted on Black Friday go down this route with the US DoJ.

The other individual that has signed a plea deal with the US DoJ is Bradley Franzen. Franzen was allegedly operating a payment processor and was contacted by an online poker room in 2009. Franzen started opening up shell companies and processing the payments for the poker room until he was caught.

Franzen signed a plea deal in hopes of receiving a reduced sentence, but it hasn’t been announced what his sentence will be. Apart of Franzen’s deal also states that he has to cooperate with the US DoJ if they need him to testify against other individuals. Players with money on the Cereus Poker Network most likely won’t receive any of their funds and I’m sure they aren’t very pleased with the decision to workout plea deals with the individuals responsible for this mess.

The US DoJ and Group Bernard Tapie (GBT) agreed upon a deal on November 17^th 2011 to purchase Full Tilt’s assets. The deal could only go through if 2/3 of the FTP shareholders agreed to the deal. It was reported that the deal received a majority vote and now the next step in the process is for Full Tilt Poker to forfeit their assets to the DoJ. After the forfeiture of assets the DoJ will sell the assets to GBT for $80M although there are also terms that are apart of the deal.

What Does the Deal Mean for Full Tilt Poker Players?

One of the terms of the deal is that GBT would need to repay non-US players that haven’t been paid. This amount is estimated to be around $150M. US poker players are also owed an estimated $150M, which would be paid by the DoJ. It’s unclear how US players will receive their money, but players will need to claim the money from the US DoJ. There are other terms that need to be met in order for the sale to finish, but it looks like Full Tilt Poker will be making a comeback sooner rather than later.

Full Tilt Poker Applies for Spanish Online Gaming License

It was also reported last week on a Spanish poker news portal that GBT has applied for a Spanish Online Gaming license. Before the license can even be awarded to Full Tilt Poker GBT has to repay any Spanish players that haven’t been paid out yet. I’m sure paying the players in Spain won’t be a problem for GBT and Spain would be a great market to enter initially. If Full Tilt Poker receives a license to operate in Spain it could help them gain traction in the online poker market before re-entering other markets.

What is a Spanish Online Gaming License?

Right now online poker in Spain is unregulated, but that’s about to change in 2012. Spain is supposed to regulate online poker by the beginning of 2012. Last week was the last week to submit an application for a Spanish online gaming license and it was reported that roughly 50 online gaming operators have applied for a license. Initially the Spanish online poker market will be segregated from the rest of the market, but Spain may open up their poker sites to international players in the future.

The Spanish poker market will be similar to Italy and France except Spain will charge a lower tax. The lower tax should help keep the rake low in the Spanish poker rooms and that should be enough to sign-up most Spanish poker players. Once the 1^st licensed Spanish poker room opens up it’ll become illegal to operate an unlicensed online poker room although we’re unsure how Spain will be able to monitor whether or not unlicensed poker rooms are operating in their country or not.

The 2011 WSOP Main Event just finished up and they can now add to there long list of winners a 22 year old German, Pius Heinz.  He was able to beat Czech born Martin Staskzo for the $8.7 million dollar first prize.  Do not feel bad for Staskzo because for his second place finish he walked away with a cool $5.3 million.  One very interesting piece surrounding Heinz is the fact that he was not really sure about playing poker full time earlier this year.  Just imagine how happy he must be right now that he did in fact grind through and played poker at the WSOP.

The heads up battle between Pius Heinz & Martin Staskzo lasted a total of 119 hands and the winning hand went down like this:

Heinz : Ace King

Staszko : 10 7 of Clubs

Board : 5 of clubs, 2 of diamonds, 9 of spads, jack of hearts and 4 of diamonds

Heinz was able to win it all with a Ace high and with that he is new WSOP Main Event champion!

According to reliable sources the US DOJ and Groupe Bernard Tapie who is the group trying to buy Full Tilt Poker have come to an agreement.  The agreement calls for all USA players getting there balances back from ceased funds.  GBT will then be liable for all non-USA player balances.  Plus GBT will have to pay a fine to the US DOJ which will then drop all charges against the Full Tilt Poker company.

The existing CEO and chairmen of Tiltware sent the following email to existing shareholders.  It currently seems that the only thing standing in the way of GBT taking full control of FTP is the FTP shareholders.  They need a ? approval in order to fully sell the company.

Dear members,

I am pleased to announce that today the Department of Justice and Groupe Bernard Tapie have reached an agreement in principle regarding the acquisition of the companies comprising FullTiltPoker. My understanding is the deal provides that in exchange for an agreed upon payment by GBT, and a GBT commitment to assume responsibility for payment of ROW players, DoJ will reimburse US players and settle the outstanding civil litigation with the companies comprising FTP. Beyond these conditions, issues like the time frame and process for repayment of players remain unclear at this point and time.

With DoJ’s consent now in hand, GBT may now proceed to finalize an agreement to acquire the companies or assets that comprise FTP.  That agreement will very likely address the status of your shares or interests in the successor company. When I receive that agreement, I will coordinate with our attorneys to ensure  the terms of that proposed agreement will be shared with the membership and voted on.

-Ray

The US Department of Justice has now received warrants to seize some assets of Howard Lederer, Chris Ferguson & Rafe Furst. All three were recently added to an amended civil complaint against Full Tilt Poker.  All three are still board members of Full Tilt Poker.  According to the updated civil complaint the owners of Tiltware LLC received around $440,000,000 in payments according to the US DOJ and listed in the updated civil complaint.

The FBI as well as other law enforcement agencies have now be authorised to take full control of the following accounts:

• account numbered GB81 RBOS 6095 4234087766 held at NatWest, under the name of Raymond Bitar
• account numbered 7655741861 held at Wells Fargo Bank N.A. under the name of HH Lederer Consulting LLC
• account numbered 40039049628 held at Citibank N.A., under the name of Chris Ferguson
• Account numbered CH87 0875 5057068400100 held at Pictet & Co Bankers, Switzerland, under the name Telamonian Ajax Trust

You can view the documents here:
Updated Civil Complaint
Warrant for Seizure