RakeBackCodes

888 Holdings & Caesars Extend Partnership

RakeBackCodes — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 21:15:18 +0000

888 Holdings and Caesars Interactive Entertainment just announced that they extended their partnership. The new deal between the two gambling giants is different than the previous deal. 888 Holdings has a B2B division called Dragonfish that works with other businesses that want to enter the online gaming markets.

For the past three years Dragonfish has provided Caesars with the software to run the WSOP online poker room in the UK. The new deal also states that Dragonfish will provide CIE with an online poker platform in the United States. Online poker is going to be legal soon whether it’s on a state-by-state basis or at the federal level.

As soon as regulation takes place Caesars will be in a prime position to be one of the 1^st US poker sites to hit the market. 888 is one of the companies that have applied for a license to operate a poker room in Nevada as a service provider. Last year the partnership between these two companies received the approval from the Nevada Gaming Control Board as well.

Both companies will benefit from the extended partnership if the US online poker market is regulated in the near future. 888 will be able to take advantage of being able to enter the US market while CIE will be able to leverage 888 Holdings software. Recently the 888 Poker software has become one of the most impressive platforms in the industry.

888 stated in a press release that the company is actively pursing other partnerships in the USA. With the legal problems surrounding the top poker rooms in the industry, 888 have been able to be the benefactor. 888 has a powerful software suite and I wouldn’t be surprised to see more companies partner with 888 once the US market is regulated.

Caesars isn’t the only company in the USA to seek out partnerships before online poker is regulated. Bwin.Party has already inked two partnership deals with MGM and Boyd, so Caesars won’t be the only land-based casino launching online poker in the US. In my opinion it won’t be long before Americans will have the chance to play online poker in their home with their favorite casino brands.

888 Holdings stocks have been skyrocketing this past year and with the recent news stocks were up over 10%. 888 Holdings is one of the few gaming stocks I’d consider owning, as the company is poised for huge growth in the next year or two. Stay tuned to find out about the latest news regarding online poker regulation in the USA. It remains to be seen if USA players will be able to earn 888 rakeback.

Oliver Speidel Wins the 2012 Aussie Millions Main Event

RakeBackCodes — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 21:21:32 +0000

The 2012 Aussie Millions finished up this weekend and Oliver Speidel was crowned the champion. Oliver Speidel may not ring a bell, as Speidel doesn’t have much live poker experience. Speidel is a Melbourne resident, which makes it two years in a row that a local has won the Aussie Millions Main Event.

Speidel had an incredible run the past couple weeks at the Aussie Millions, but noone would have picked him to win the main event at the 2012 Aussie Millions. Speidel finished in 2^nd place in the $1000AUD NL Holdem Shootout Event and he also finished in 6^th place in the $1500 NL Holdem Bounty Event this year at the Aussie Millions.

I’m sure Speidel was ecstatic with his two final table finishes in the smaller tournaments at the 2012 Aussie Millions, but winning the main event must have been incredible. Speidel was the most active player on the final table and he was able to knockout Yann Dion quickly in 7^th place to start off the final table.

By the time the action went heads-up with Oliver Speidel and Kenneth Wong, Speidel had a big chip advantage. Wong won a few hands quickly to start the heads-up battle, but it didn’t take long for Speidel to finish Wong off. Wong had pocket 9’s and went all-in, but Speidel woke up with pocket aces, which is the way the cards were falling the past two weeks for Speidel at the Aussie Millions.

The final table only had seven players and none of the players were big name superstars. Phil Ivey made a deep run in the tourney this year, but he was eliminated in 12^th place just before the final table. Ivey didn’t win the main event, but he did win the $250K Super High Roller Event for $2,000,000AUD after beating his friend Patrick Antonius heads-up.

The 2012 Aussie Millions is now wrapped up until next year. If you’ve never played in the Aussie Millions make sure you do your best to ensure you play in the Aussie Millions next year. Take a look at the results below to find out who made how each player finished on the final table at the 2012 Aussie Millions Main Event.

2012 Aussie Millions Main Event Results

Oliver Speidel – $1,600,000AUD
Kenneth Wong – $1,000,000AUD
Mile Krstanoski – $610,000AUD
Mohamad Kowssarie – $405,000AUD
Patrick Healy – $300,000AUD
Bjorn Li – $230,000AUD
Yann Dion – $170,000AUD

World Poker Tour Announces Season X TV Schedule

RakeBackCodes — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 21:35:30 +0000

The World Poker Tour (WPT) released the WPT Season X TV schedule yesterday. The action will be aired on Fox Sports Net (FSN) and various FSN affiliate networks in various regions. The WPT will be increasing coverage of Season X on the FSN and there will be 37 episodes broadcasted this season compared to the 26 episodes that were broadcasted during Season IX.

There are twelve events during Season X of the World Poker Tour and each event will have 3 episodes. The premiere show on FSN will air on February 12^th 2012 and be a Season X Preview, which will also include highlights from Season IX of the WPT. Each episode will air on the FSN at 8PM and 11PM local time. If you miss an episode on Sunday you can watch a replay on Wednesdays at 11PM.

Season IX of the WPT was very successful on the FSN and ratings were up by over 30 percent. The WPT expects Season X to have even better ratings and they’ve added new features to the broadcasts to make them more entertaining. There will be several new segments on the TV show, but a lot has remained the same including the commentators Mike Sexton and Vince Van Patten.

WPT Season X TV Schedule

Season X Preview (February 12^th)
Legends of Poker (February 19^th – March 4^th)
Grand Prix de Paris (March 11^th – March 25^th)
Borgata Poker Open (April 1^st – April 15^th)
World Poker Final (April 22^nd – May 6^th)
Five Diamond Classic (May 13^th – May 27^th)
Venice Grand Prix (June 3^rd – June 17^th)
LA Poker Classic (June 24^th – July 8^th)
Bay 101 Shooting Star (July 15^th – July 29^th)
Seminole Hard Rock Showdown (August 15^th – August 19^th)
WPT Jacksonville (August 26^th – September 9^th)
WPT World Championships High Roller (September 16^th – September 30^th)
WPT World Championships (October 7^th – October 21^st)

The World Poker Tour has a huge TV schedule on the FSN for Season X and I can’t wait to start watching the action. Don’t forget that the action starts in roughly two weeks from today with a preview of Season X to get viewers ready for the upcoming season of high stakes poker. I like the fact that there will be 3 episodes for each event now, as that will allow more action from the early stages of the tournament to be shown. You can plan online and earn WPT Poker Rakeback which will give you money back just for playing online.

Zynga Could Offer Real Money Gambling in the Future

RakeBackCodes — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 13:15:48 +0000

A spokesperson for Zynga made a statement on Friday that the company is currently in active talks with various companies to explore the real money online gambling industry. The United States has decided to open up the online gambling market and allow states in the country to legalize/regulate online poker. Nevada has already legalized online poker and several other states could be close to legalizing online poker in 2012.

Potential Zynga Partners

The US online gambling market is huge and there is plenty of money to be made in the industry. Zynga didn’t announce who they are in talks with at the moment, but there has been speculation that it could be a UK company. Some of the top candidates that would make sense for Zynga include 888, BetFair, Bet365 or numerous other big UK gambling companies. The biggest hurdle still for companies that want to enter the real money gambling market is the legalities and regulations that need to be followed.

Zynga Poker Market Reach

Zynga is still far away from offering real money gambling, but it’s an option that they’d be silly not to look at considering that the online poker industry in the USA looks to finally be opening up in 2012. Zynga Poker is currently a free-to-play poker room that can be played on Facebook, Google+, Yahoo, iPhones and Androids. According to recent reports Zynga Poker has an active player base of 7+ million poker players daily and 30+ million poker players monthly.

Right now the only revenue streams that Zynga Poker has include advertisements and the purchase of virtual poker chips. Lots of players have purchased virtual poker chips and Zynga also announced that the Zynga Poker player base is interested in real money gambling. It’s hard to say what number of Zynga Poker players would be interested in playing for real money if it was legal in the United States, but the potential market reach is incredible and Zynga Poker could easily become one of the giants in the industry.

Zynga Casino

Several months ago (October 2011) Zynga announced that they were developing a new Zynga Casino platform that will be open to Facebook users initially. The Zynga Casino would feature the Zynga Poker games plus a new Zynga Bingo game. In the future there are also supposed to be casino games developed to put into the Zynga Casino. If Zynga wants to get into the real money gambling industry opening a Zynga Casino platform in 2012 could be a great first step for the social game giant.

Zynga Stock Rises

Zynga’s IPO last month earned the company $1B, as Zynga sold 100K shares at $10 per share. Unfortunately for shareholders the stock dropped immediately after the IPO and hasn’t been above the $10 IPO price since. The Zynga stock did rise over 6% on Friday after reports were released confirming that Zynga is actively seeking a partner to enter the real money gambling market in 2012.

Merge Gaming Network $1M+ Bad Beat Jackpot Won By Eulson

RakeBackCodes — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 01:10:09 +0000

The bad beat jackpot at the Merge Gaming Network had been built up to over $1M+ this past weekend, but it was won by a player named Eulson. If you want to play for a chance to win the bad beat jackpot on the Merge Gaming Network you need to play on the poker tables listed “Bad Beat Jackpot”. These tables have special rake rules and are the only tables eligible to win the BBJ.

In order to win the bad beat jackpot on the Merge Gaming Network a player needs to lose with Quad 7’s or better. Both players in the hand need to use both their hole cards and the pot needs to go to showdown. The hand also needs to have a minimum of $5 in the pot and a minimum of four players have to be dealt cards in the hand.

This weekend the bad beat jackpot was won by Eulson on the $1/$2 Limit Holdem BBJ Tables. Eulson was dealt pocket 7’s while 123MaryC was dealt pocket Queen’s. The flop was 7-Q-Q and both players were trying to trap on the flop. When the turn was a 7 the players started raising each other to build up the pot until they both were all-in.

The river was an Ace, but that didn’t matter, as both players already had quads. 123MaryC won the pot with quad Queen’s while Eulson lost with Quad 7’s, but since the hand qualified for the BBJ everyone at the table won money. Eulson took home $355K for winning the bad beat jackpot while 123MaryC won $177K for winning the hand that triggered the Merge Gaming Network BBJ.

The rest of the players that were dealt cards in the hand won $25K, which is a nice payday for not even having to play a hand. The Merge Network BBJ has paid out huge payouts in the past and is definitely worth chasing. Carbon Poker is a great poker room on the Merge Gaming Network and they have BBJ ring table games running 24/7. You can even get Carbon Poker rakeback and earn a percentage back each month.

A total of 70% of the bad beat jackpot is paid out to players at the table when the jackpot is won. The winner of the BBJ receives 50%, the player that won the hand that triggered the BBJ wins 25% and the rest of the players split-up 25% of the remaining 70%. The network keeps 10% of the BBJ and 20% of the jackpot goes back into the BBJ, which means the current BBJ is over $200K.

Yatahay Poker Network Re-brands as the Winning Poker Network

RakeBackCodes — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 12:57:20 +0000

The Yatahay Poker Network was launched in 2001 and has always been a small operator with a US player base. Yatahay announced that as of today (January 12th 2012) the Yatahay Poker Network will be re-branded as the Winning Poker Network.

Yatahay was one of the online poker networks that ran into problems in 2011. DoylesRoom and TruePoker were both shutdown by the US DoJ and if you visit either site you’ll still notice the seizure notice. DoylesRoom is no longer operating and has been acquired by Americas Cardroom while True Poker is operating on the TruePoker.eu domain currently.

Winning Poker Network Skins

The Winning Poker Network is currently home to True Poker, Americas Cardroom, 5Dimes Poker, BetCris Poker, BetDSI Poker, Bookmaker Poker and Island Casino Poker. The network is still very small and only boasts an average of 100-200 real money players at any given time.

According to PokerScout, the Winning Poker Network has grown by nearly 85% in the past year in terms of traffic. The fact that the top US poker sites were shutdown in 2011 helped the Winning Poker Network grow. Acquiring DoylesRoom software has allowed the network to improve upon their current software suite and has made the playing experience better.

The network will still accept US players and nothing is going to change except for the name of the network. Changing the name of Yatahay to Winning isn’t going to cause any damage and it might be just what the network needs to continue growing in 2012.

By no means is the Winning Poker Network ideal for most online poker players due to the low traffic, but if the network can keep growing and improving upon their software they may have a chance to survive a bit longer. One problem that the network may have to face soon is the legalization of online poker at the state level.

The Winning Poker Network would never be able to get a license in the USA and once licensed poker rooms open up that are legal to play in, noone is going to want to play at the Winning Poker Network. Right now most of the traffic is sports bettors that are using some of their bankroll to play online poker and although the network has been growing I don’t think they’ll be around once legal poker sites launch in the USA in the future.

According to a spokesman for the Yatahay Poker Network / Winning Poker Network, the network has seen prize pools growing each month in the poker room and they expect to have an even bigger year in 2012. I’m not fond of the name change, but if the company thinks a new name will help the network grow, all the power to them.

Viktor Blom Wins 2012 PCA Super High Rollers Tournament

RakeBackCodes — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 23:33:36 +0000

Viktor “Isildur1” Blom is one of the most famous online high stakes players in the world. With all of the success Blom has had online against the best high stakes players in the world, Blom has never been interested in tournaments. In fact, Blom had never won a live poker tournament in his career until this past weekend.

PokerStars is hosting the 2012 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) right now in the Bahamas. The 1st tournament to be played in the Bahamas this past weekend was the Super High Rollers Event. A total of 32 of the best high stakes poker players in the world played in the 2012 PCA Super High Rollers Event and each player had to pay the $100,000 buy-in to enter the tournament.

Eight players made the final table in the Super High Rollers Event including Viktor Blom, Dan Shak, Galen Hall, Jonathan Duhamel, Daniel Negreanu, Scott Seiver, Mike McDonald and Humberto Brenes. Only the top five players in the event made money, which meant that 3 players from the final table were going to be -$100,000 regardless of their efforts to make it this far.

Unfortunately for Brenes (8th), McDonald (7th) and Seiver (6th) they were the unlucky three players to be eliminated. Brenes was on the short stack from the start of the final table and was eliminated by Hall quickly. McDonald was next to go when he went all-in with K/J. Blom made the call with A/J and won the hand. McDonald actually hit a King on the flop, but Blom hit his Ace on the river.

Negreanu was the next player to be knocked out of the 2012 PCA Super High Rollers Event. Negreanu shipped his remaining stack with an A/K and Blom called with pocket eights. Blom’s pocket eights held up and Negreanu was knocked out of the event. After Daniel was eliminated Duhamel was the next to go, as Blom knocked him out in a big pot.

The final three players battled it out for a long time and at one point the three players were discussing a possible deal, but the deal talks never amounted to anything and the three players battled it out for hours. Viktor Blom and Dan Shak made it heads-up and Blom had a 1.3 million chip lead at the time against Shak.

Shak was trying to inch away at Blom’s stack, but he lost a huge pot early in the heads-up battle. From that point Shak wasn’t able to recover and Blom picked up his first win in a live poker tournament. The format was definitely ideal for Blom, as there was big money on the line and a very small playing field.

2012 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Results

1. Viktor Blom – $1,254,000
2. Dan Shak – $846,700
3. Galen Hall – $470,400
4. Jonathan Duhamel – $313,600
5. Daniel Negreanu – $250,900
6. Scott Seiver
7. Mike McDonald
8. Humberto Brenes

Belgium Gaming Commission Releases List of Licensed Gambling Sites

RakeBackCodes — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 13:09:09 +0000

Last year Belgium passed new legislation that would regulate online poker and the Belgium Gaming Commission just released the list of gambling sites that received a license to operate in Belgium. A total of three poker rooms, four casinos and two sportsbooks have received a license to operate in Belgium.

What Poker Rooms Received a Belgium Online Poker License?

• Partouche.be
• Casino777.be / Poker777.be
• PokerStars.be

From now on online poker players in Belgium will only be allowed to legally play with one of the three poker sites above. Apparently there may be criminal sanctions for playing with an unlicensed poker room in 2012 if you live in Belgium. The four major ISP’s that operate in Belgium have agreed to start blocking access to unlicensed poker rooms.

Right now the iPoker Network and Party Poker accept Belgium poker players and there is no clear sign that access will be blocked, but we’d recommend being cautious playing with unlicensed sites. Party Poker has stated that the law is “unenforceable” and they plan on allowing Belgium poker players to still play for real money at this time.

The reason some poker sites didn’t receive a license to operate in Belgium is because online poker rooms had to receive the backing from a land-based casino in Belgium. PokerStars was able to partner with the Circus Groupe and Casino770 was able to partner with Casino Spa in order to receive their license.

What Does This Mean for Belgium Poker Players?

If you play online poker in Belgium we recommend playing with one of the three licensed sites only. This month Belgians will need to go through a verification process to confirm their identity. This process started this month and once you complete the process you won’t need to worry about completing the process again.

According to recent reports players will need to complete the process immediately or else the cashier will be frozen. Once you fund your account with €3000 or withdraw €3000 you won’t be able to use the cashier until you’re verified. The great news about the new Gambling Act for poker players is that the player pool isn’t segregated.

This means that if you join PokerStars.be you’ll be able to play on the PokerStars Network including all of the huge MTT’s and 24/7 cash games that run in the poker room. The Belgium Gaming Commission won’t be limiting player deposits, stakes or anything else, which is unlike many other countries that have regulated online poker.

Belgium still needs to decide on the taxation players will face on their poker winnings, but for the time being the laws are out of date and players don’t need to pay taxes on their winnings. Denmark also joined Belgium this month with rolling out their first group of licensees, but in Denmark there were way more licenses awarded due to the entry requirements being much simpler.

Switch Poker Releases Android Poker App

RakeBackCodes — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 13:33:28 +0000

Switch Poker is one of the leading innovators in the mobile poker industry right now. Switch Poker was founded in 2010 in Ireland and the company was the 1st operator to release a real money iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch app. Last week Switch Poker released a press release that stated they just released a brand new poker app for Android users.

Poker players that want to play online poker on their mobile device can download the app at Switch Poker. The app is packed with features including the ability to register a new account and utilize the cashier for deposits. Players will also be able to multi-table using the Switch Poker android poker app by using the new “swipe” feature that makes multi-tabling a breeze.

If you have played online poker on your Android you’ll know that most Android poker apps are developed using Flash. Switch Poker developed their Android poker app without using any Flash. The app is currently compatible with Android version 1.6+ and there is a simple guide on Switch Poker that will walk you through each step required to download the app to your Android device.

Conor McCarthy is the co-founder of Switch Poker and he recently released a statement. McCarthy stated that “We aim to continue to innovate in mobile poker and give players what they want”. Last month Switch Poker made an announcement that they would become the 1st poker room to accept Bitcoin payments from players.

Switch Poker has done lots of innovation since launching and the company is always working towards making mobile poker as easy as possible for poker players from around the world. Switch Poker now offers an app for iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch and Android poker players and the poker apps developed by Switch Poker are the best in the industry.

The Switch Poker Android app offers play money and real money poker games. You don’t need to play for real money and if you just want to play for play money on your Android device it’s possible using the new app. To download the new Android app from Switch Poker you need to visit Switch Poker using your Android device and follow the instructions for downloading the app.

Other poker networks have also been working on Android apps and there will be lots of competition for Switch Poker. The majority of mobile poker rooms are only available in limited countries right now, but that will change in the near future. The Android market is booming right now and the poker networks that do enter the market will see an increase in action.

Nevada Legalizes Online Poker

RakeBackCodes — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 13:00:08 +0000

It was only a matter of time before online poker became legal in parts of the United States. This week Nevada has become the first state in the United States to pass regulations that would legalize online poker. Unfortunately, online poker is only legal in Nevada right now, but this news should trigger a chain reaction and I can see more states regulating online poker. Earlier in the week the Nevada Gaming Commission passed a vote (4-0) to regulate online poker in the state.

Apparently there have been only six companies to apply for a license to operate an online poker room in Nevada. The six companies that have applied for a license include IGT, Bally Technologies, South Point Poker, Cantor Gaming, 888 Holdings and Shuffle Master. The number of licenses up for grabs in unclear at this time, but there is little chance that six companies could compete in a market that’s as small as Nevada.

Although the Nevada online poker market isn’t huge on its own, the US online poker market is massive. Once other states decide to regulate online poker the licensed operators in Nevada would be able to benefit from new markets opening up. The regulations will allow operators to run interstate poker games, but only once it’s legal. There is no doubt that the poker rooms that are licensed in Nevada will have a huge advantage if online poker is regulated at the Federal level in the future.

Initially the poker rooms will only be able to accept residents of Nevada. Players will need to confirm their ID and every player will need to be 21 years of age or older just like in a land-based casino in Las Vegas. There are going to be other security features to ensure that players gamble responsibility and that there is no identity theft happening on the network. After Black Friday it has been difficult to find a safe online poker room to play with, but Nevada residents will now be able to play with a regulated operator.

None of the license applications have been approved yet and that will take a bit of time, but as soon as the 1^st online poker room is licensed and opens up in Nevada it’ll become illegal for unlicensed poker rooms to operate in the state. 888 Holdings is the only major online poker operator to apply for a license in Nevada and they could benefit if online poker is opened up nationally. I’m sure the Nevada market isn’t that enticing due to the low volume of players, but 888 is positioning themselves nicely for the future.