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	<title>Online casinos</title>
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	<pubDate>Sun, 24 Jan 2010 22:29:51 +0000</pubDate>
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		<title>The techies&#8217; worst - server failure on a busy Sunday</title>
		<link>http://absynthemuse.com/?p=56</link>
		<comments>http://absynthemuse.com/?p=56#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 24 Jan 2010 22:29:51 +0000</pubDate>
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		<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[The Internet&#8217;s second largest online poker site, Full Tilt Poker successfully overcame the techies&#8217; worst nightmare on Sunday - a server failure whilst tournaments on the busy site were going full blast.
The crash came during one of Full Tilt&#8217;s heaviest traffic timeframes, when thousands of players around the planet were in action on its famous [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>The Internet&#8217;s second largest online poker site, Full Tilt Poker successfully overcame the techies&#8217; worst nightmare on Sunday - a server failure whilst tournaments on the busy site were going full blast.</p>
<p>The crash came during one of Full Tilt&#8217;s heaviest traffic timeframes, when thousands of players around the planet were in action on its famous Sunday <a href="http://www.microgamingcasinos.eu/casino-bonuses/no-deposit.html">microgaming no deposit bonus</a> tournaments, and the stoppage impacted everyone playing on the site around 19h45 Eastern time.</p>
<p>Technical staff wrestled with the problem for several hours before it was sorted out, whilst the international player community bemoaned the temporary loss of the site and the disruption to their gambling activities.</p>
<p>&#8220;Unscheduled Maintenance In Progress: We recently experienced a network outage. We expect to be operational shortly,&#8221; said one of several messages posted by site management to keep players informed. But after over two hours the site had to cancel all running tournaments. </p>
<p>It was not until 23h15 that Full Tilt&#8217;s support unit emailed players explaining that when a tournament is cancelled before it reaches the money, according to tournament rule 31.2.<br />
1) All players still in the tournament at the time of the cancellation will be refunded their tournament buy-in and tournament fee. Players will have their buy-ins refunded in the tournament prize pool currency.</p>
<p>2) In addition, the remaining prize pool will be divided and distributed according to chip count. </p>
<p>For tournaments that award non-monetary prizes, such as live tournament seat packages, Full Tilt Poker assigns a monetary value to the prize and distributes it in cash to the remaining players based on their chip counts. In ring games, the hand being played at the time of the stoppage was considered dead and all bets were returned at the point of the crash.</p>
<p>The crash is likely to have been expensive for Full Tilt, but operations are now back up and running normally.</p>
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		<title>Next year&#8217;s lineup from Clarion</title>
		<link>http://absynthemuse.com/?p=55</link>
		<comments>http://absynthemuse.com/?p=55#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 06 Jan 2010 16:09:45 +0000</pubDate>
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		<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[The large number of conference and expo events available to the online gambling industry is underlined this week by a statement from Clarion Gaming outlining its plans for 2010. 
2010 schedule of Clarion Gaming conferences about online roulette strategy:
Combating Cybercrime, 26th January, Earls Court Exhibition Centre, London
Win the battle against cybercrime by listening to practical [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>The large number of conference and expo events available to the <a href="http://roulettesoft.org/">online gambling</a> industry is underlined this week by a statement from Clarion Gaming outlining its plans for 2010. </p>
<p>2010 schedule of Clarion Gaming conferences about <a href="http://casinohackers.com/">online roulette strategy</a>:</p>
<p>Combating Cybercrime, 26th January, Earls Court Exhibition Centre, London</p>
<p>Win the battle against cybercrime by listening to practical experience from over 20 recognised experts. Join 150 + international anti-fraud specialists at the 6th annual Combating Cybercrime Conference.</p>
<p>Asian iGaming Congress (AiG), 9-11th March, Manila, Philippines</p>
<p>Meet the top people in Asian iGaming. AiG provides an exclusive environment to network and do business with current and future partners.<br />
Backed by the licensing authority and master licensee in the Philippines, AiG offers a well-connected launch pad to secure key contacts and business in Asia.</p>
<p>World Gambling Briefing (WGB), 24-25th March, Malta</p>
<p>World Gambling Briefing focuses on the tangible shifts in policy around the world to highlight where opportunities exist, the nature of those opportunities and how to take advantage of them. Over 150 attendees, 2 days, 15+ sessions, 30+ speakers makes WGB an unmissable annual meeting for everyone involved in building a global business and exploiting unpredictable opportunities as they arise.</p>
<p>BetMarkets, World Poker Congress, Bingo Business, eCasino Conference – together at iGaming360, 28-30th April, Madrid, Spain</p>
<p>Bringing the worlds of sports betting, bingo, poker and casino together, iGaming 360 builds on the success of BetMarkets and WPC to deliver complete networking and learning opportunities in the spring, immediately prior to the football World Cup in South Africa. Over 500 attendees, 3 days, 40+ sessions, 70+ speakers, all 4 gaming sectors result in iGaming360 being the major networking, business deal-making, learning and development programme for the first half of 2010. </p>
<p>GiGSE, 12-13th May, location tbc</p>
<p>One of the original and most popular conference and expo get-togethers, with the prospect of a regulkated US market on the horizon and renewed interest in the North American region.</p>
<p>Latin American iGaming Congress (LAiG), -1st - 2nd September, Uruguay </p>
<p>Latin America is an emerging powerhouse that has performed well through the recession. It has a huge domestic gambling market, benefits from increasingly good connectivity to the web, and actively seeks investment. A potentially potent platform to successfully offer gaming services to a significant market. </p>
<p>European iGaming Congress (EiG), 19-21st October, Copenhagen</p>
<p>Europe-focused EiG is the benchmark for any gaming conference in the world. It offers an unparalleled range and depth of topics to learn about, from high-level strategic debates to tactics for increasing player loyalty. At EiG, businesses are regularly launched, strategies set for the year ahead, reputations built and life-time connections made. EiG is there to be a practical tool for the industry to leverage for networking and learning, so their next year is more successful than the last. With 35 of the Power 50, over 140 CEOs, 1500 attendees, 35+ sessions, 110+ speakers, 70 exhibition stands and the chance to meet every important iGaming professional in the industry the numbers speak for themselves. </p>
<p>Technology, Innovation and Security in Gaming (TISiG), 30th November – 1st December, Guernsey</p>
<p>Evolving from the popular and growing Combating Cybercrime conference, TISiG is a 2 day event that looks at all the most important aspects of building a strong, scalable and successful online gaming business from behind the scenes. </p>
<p>Clarion announces yet another conference</p>
<p>Just in case the industry is not yet conferenced-out, Clarion Gaming is planning a new event to run next summer titled iGaming 360.</p>
<p>&#8220;This 3-day, high-impact, innovation-focused networking and learning event unites the whole of the gaming industry prior to the World Cup by delivering 4 focused conferences in one event,&#8221; says a statement from the company this week. </p>
<p>If readers are feeling jaded by the plethora of conferences currently available to the industry, Clarion promises that iGaming 360 is really different: &#8220;Whether your expertise is in casino, poker, bingo or sportsbetting, iGaming360 brings you 4 targeted conferences within one event, allowing you a dedicated focus within one incredible networking hub,&#8221; says the blurb.</p>
<p>&#8220;No other iGaming event has ever brought together 4 conferences, 4 markets, 4 zoned exhibitions and combined them with unbelievable networking, innovative learning formats, blow-out parties and such first-class choice!&#8221;</p>
<p>The inaugural event is scheduled for Madrid in Spain between April 28 and 30, 2010, and promises key insights into the challenges and opportunities of the year ahead.</p>
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		<title>Young gun Cada looking to make history at November Nine</title>
		<link>http://absynthemuse.com/?p=54</link>
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		<pubDate>Tue, 22 Dec 2009 21:38:00 +0000</pubDate>
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		<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[Life-changing decisions aren&#8217;t supposed to be so straightforward and easy. But for Joe Cada the decision to become a professional online poker player was just that. 
Sure, he was letting down his parents by dropping out of college and giving up his job as a bus boy at the age of 19, but there were [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Life-changing decisions aren&#8217;t supposed to be so straightforward and easy. But for Joe Cada the decision to become a professional <a href="http://casinoahora.com/">online poker</a> player was just that. </p>
<p>Sure, he was letting down his parents by dropping out of college and giving up his job as a bus boy at the age of 19, but there were extenuating factors. Factors like the $300,000 he had sitting in the bank from his <a href="http://casinodoors.com/">internet poker</a> winnings. </p>
<p>&#8220;Yeah, that pretty much made it a no-brainer,&#8221; Cada says with a hearty laugh. &#8220;My parents weren&#8217;t thrilled about it, especially my mother. But I explained it to her carefully. I sat her down and told her that I was already having success as a <a href="http://casinofashions.com/">online poker</a> player and that if things didn&#8217;t work out, I had money set aside to go back to college.&#8221; </p>
<p>Two years later, Cada isn&#8217;t worrying about filling out college applications. Instead, the 21-year-old is preparing for the World Series of Poker Main Event final table that will be played in November at the Penn &#038; Teller Theater in Las Vegas. If Cada, who has signed a sponsorship deal with PokerStars, can rise from his fifth-place chip stack and outlast the eight other players at the table, he will not only win the $8.5 million first-place prize, but also become the youngest winner of the event, a record that stood for 20 years before 22-year-old Peter Eastgate took the distinction away from Phil Hellmuth, who was 24 when he won poker&#8217;s most prestigious title in 1989. </p>
<p>But just because he&#8217;s the youngest member of the November Nine, Cada is by no means the most inexperienced. In fact, Cada thinks that he may have played as many poker hands as anyone at the final table, which is quite a statement considering there are some veteran poker pros that will saddling up next to him on Nov. 7, including a guy named Phil Ivey. </p>
<p>&#8220;Poker is my life,&#8221; says Cada, a native of Shelby Township, Mich. who bought a house – with cash – when he was 19. &#8220;I may be young, but I&#8217;ve been doing this a long time. I&#8217;m not going to be intimidated just because I&#8217;m the youngest player at the table. </p>
<p>&#8220;But I have to admit, breaking that record would be really cool. I told Eastgate when I saw him this summer that I was going to break it. He just laughed and said, &#8216;Yeah, you probably will.&#8217; I hope he&#8217;s right.&#8221; </p>
<p>Cada grew up 30 minutes north of Detroit and graduated from Utica High School in 2006. At Utica High, Cada was your typical high school kid. He loved sports. He played everything, but soccer was his favorite. He&#8217;s still an active player on the pitch, although he is sidelined right now with a separated shoulder. He&#8217;s a diehard fan of the University of Michigan. And he also still follows the Detroit Lions, &#8220;even though they suck,&#8221; he adds. </p>
<p>Cada, the youngest of four children, says he was an average student, but mostly because he didn&#8217;t exactly exert himself when it came to his studies. He did, however, always love math and logic, which he thinks helped him when he started playing poker. </p>
<p>&#8220;After the Moneymaker thing at the World Series (in 2003), that&#8217;s what everyone my age started to do,&#8221; Cada remembers. &#8220;I played a lot of home games and always seemed to do pretty well. Then I heard that you could play online so I started dabbling in that a little bit.&#8221; </p>
<p>Cada had mixed results online at first, saying he was &#8220;basically a break-even player.&#8221; But he quickly got better and better and worked hard to go from a good player to a great player. He played as much as he could, both online and in home games. He studied how other people – both good players and bad players – played the game and he visited a number of different poker training Web sites. He endlessly watched hand histories of himself and other great players. When Cada turned 19 he began making the 45-minute drive to Windsor Casino over the Canadian border to play tournaments on weekends. And eventually, thanks to making a major commitment to the game, he began making huge profits. </p>
<p>After high school, Cada enrolled at Macomb Community College in Warren, Mich., mostly, he says, to please his parents. He also picked up a job as a bus boy at a local restaurant, but in reality he was keeping the hours of a full-time poker professional, playing around 40 hours a week online and driving to Canada every Sunday for live tournaments. </p>
<p>&#8220;It just got to the point where I couldn&#8217;t do school, a job and poker,&#8221; he says. &#8220;I had to pick one and it wasn&#8217;t hard to choose poker over everything else.&#8221; </p>
<p>Once his parents gave him their &#8220;semi-blessing&#8221; for his career choice, Cada started to ramp up his time at the tables even more. In January of 2008 he took down a $750,000 guaranteed tournament on Full Tilt that won him $147,000. He traveled to Costa Rica, Aruba and the Bahamas for tournaments. And the more success he had, the more it confirmed to both him and his parents that had he made the right choice. </p>
<p>During the last few years, Cada has seen the usual ebb and flow of a poker professional. He has hit dry spots, but they have been manageable because of the bankroll he has built. One of his worst dry spells came just before this year&#8217;s World Series of Poker, the first he could play in because the age requirement is 21. </p>
<p>&#8220;It was brutal,&#8221; Cada says with disgust. &#8220;I was playing in some big live tournaments and playing a lot of high-stakes Omaha online and having absolutely no luck.&#8221; </p>
<p>The timing couldn&#8217;t have been worse because the WSOP was right around the corner. That&#8217;s why he made the decision to see if he could get someone to back his WSOP buy-ins. A friend introduced him to Cliff &#8220;JohnnyBax&#8221; Josephy and Eric &#8220;Sheets&#8221; Haber, who decided to buy Cada into the WSOP with the agreement of getting 50% of his winnings. </p>
<p>Cada says he played in about 15 events before the $10,000 Main Event, cashing in two of them. He won $21,533 by placing 17th in a $1,500 No Limit Event and took home $6,681 with a 64th-place finish in a $2,500 No Limit event. So heading into the Main Event, Josephy and Haber were about even with their investment. But that all changed when Cada made the final table. Every November Niner has already received a check for the ninth-place prize of more than $1.2 million. </p>
<p>&#8220;People ask me if I regret [getting backed] all the time and I always say no way,&#8221; Cada says convincingly. &#8220;I was running bad at the time and the last thing I wanted to do was drop another 50 or 60 grand at my first World Series. I did what I had to do and it honestly doesn&#8217;t bother me one bit. They had confidence in me and it&#8217;s paying off. Good for them.&#8221; </p>
<p>As he gets ready to play the biggest final table of his life on poker&#8217;s grandest stage, Cada says he&#8217;s more than ready for the experience. </p>
<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m sure there will be some nerves at first, but I&#8217;m ready for this,&#8221; he says. &#8220;It&#8217;s not like I&#8217;m being asked to go out and try and play in an NBA game for the first time or something. It&#8217;s poker. I&#8217;ve done this my whole life. I&#8217;m going to do what I always do. It&#8217;s just going to be watched by a lot more people, that&#8217;s all.&#8221; </p>
<p>Cada will enter the final table with the fifth-biggest stack at 13,215,000. He trails the three top chipleaders &#8212; Darvin Moon (58,930,000), Eric Buchman (34,800,000) and Steven Begleiter (29,885,000) – by a wide margin, but feels his experience and his position at the table make him a threat. </p>
<p>&#8220;I like where I&#8217;m sitting,&#8221; Cada says as his voice rises in excitement. &#8220;I&#8217;ve got aggressive players to my right (Buchman and Begleiter). I&#8217;m directly across the table from Ivey and to the left of the chipleader. I&#8217;m good with that.&#8221; </p>
<p>Good enough that Cada firmly believes he has a chance to win the Main Event. But even if he falls short, Cada is thrilled to have made it this far in his first WSOP, if only because he feels it has legitimized his life as a professional poker player. </p>
<p>&#8220;The one thing I&#8217;ve noticed during the last few months is that people take me more seriously when I tell them what I do for a living,&#8221; says Cada, who added that he envisions playing professional poker for the rest of his life. &#8220;I think people have a better understanding of what I do now. </p>
<p>&#8220;Before when I told someone I was a professional gambler, they&#8217;d immediately think I was some kind of degenerate. Hopefully, I can win the whole thing. I think that would end those thoughts forever.&#8221;</p>
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		<title>ESPN may extend its &#8217;same day coverage&#8217; of WSOP final table</title>
		<link>http://absynthemuse.com/?p=53</link>
		<comments>http://absynthemuse.com/?p=53#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 22 Dec 2009 21:35:22 +0000</pubDate>
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		<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[Producing an episode for the World Series of Poker on ESPN is no easy task, even when you have several weeks to edit down the more than 15 hours of tape from one online gambling day and put it into a neatly wrapped package of two one-hour shows. Trying to do it in less than [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Producing an episode for the World Series of Poker on ESPN is no easy task, even when you have several weeks to edit down the more than 15 hours of tape from one <a href="http://casino-counter.com/">online gambling</a> day and put it into a neatly wrapped package of two one-hour shows. Trying to do it in less than 24 hours is an even more dubious task, but that&#8217;s exactly was ESPN was able to do last year with its telecast of the Main Event&#8217;s final table. </p>
<p>Now, one year after not only pulling off the &#8220;groundbreaking same-day coverage&#8221; – as ESPN called it – Senior Producer Jamie Horowitz and his team are ready to do it all over again next week in Las Vegas when the second annual November Nine commences at the Rio All-Suite Hotel &#038; Casino. </p>
<p>Horowitz feels the network is poised to produce a show even better than last year&#8217;s final table telecast that &#8212; despite being completed just hours before it went on the air &#8212; pulled in outstanding ratings, equal to the amount of viewers ESPN captures for a regular season NBA or Major League Baseball game. </p>
<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m optimistic we can do it again,&#8221; Horowitz told <a href="http://casino-free-gambling-game.com/">online casinos</a> earlier this week. &#8220;And when I say optimistic, it&#8217;s not cautiously optimistic, but extremely optimistic in our ability to produce a show I think poker fans all over the world are going to love.&#8221; </p>
<p>Horowitz, a 33-year-old Boston native who joined ESPN in 2006 after helping create The National Heads-Up Poker Championship on NBC, is bursting with confidence because the WSOP&#8217;s revamped final table schedule gives ESPN extra time – and flexibility – to improve on last year. It even gives <a href="http://casinoadvisoronline.net/">online gambling</a> the option to go beyond their two-hour window and bump the start of SportsCenter. </p>
<p>The new WSOP final table schedule builds in an extra day in between the time the November Nine goes from nine players to two and when the heads-up portion of the event begins. Last year the final table began on Sunday at 11 a.m. and played until after midnight, with Ivan Demidov and Peter Eastgate making up the final two players. Heads-up play began Monday night at 10 p.m., lasted until around 2:30 a.m. and the final two-hour episode was finally edited and ready to go just before 4 p.m. on Tuesday, only a couple hours before it aired on ESPN. </p>
<p>This year, the final table will begin a day earlier on Saturday, Nov. 7 at 12 p.m. Las Vegas time. Sunday will be an off day – expect, of course, for the ESPN people – and the heads-up play will start Monday night at 10 p.m. The final table episode will air on Tuesday at 6 p.m. Vegas time. </p>
<p>Horowitz said that every extra minute he and his team gets for editing purposes is a bonus. The extra day will also allow ESPN to go over the previously allotted time of two hours for the final table episode, if necessary, something Horowitz is ecstatic about because it means there will likely be more time dedicated to the heads-up portion of the event. </p>
<p>Horowitz called the decision to add an extra day a &#8220;triple win&#8221; for Harrah&#8217;s, the players and ESPN. He thinks Harrah&#8217;s benefits because of all the logistics that are involved in pulling off an event of this magnitude. The players, he says, will also like the extra time because it will enable them to get a full days of rest and come in ready &#8220;to play their very best poker.&#8221; </p>
<p>Last year, the entire final table took 15 hours and 39 minutes, which, at the time, made it the longest running Main Event final in WSOP history. And as we pointed out in our November Nine recap from last year, only 24 out of the 274 hands that were played at the final table (less than 10 percent) were shown on TV. </p>
<p>Also, the heads-up match between the eventual champ Eastgate and runner-up Demidov lasted four hours and took 104 hands to complete. ESPN only had time to show two of those heads-up hands and the first one it showed was actually the 97th of the heads-up match. Because of time constraints it was never mentioned in the telecast that Demidov, who came into heads-up trailing Eastgate by more than 23 million chips, actually came back to take the chip lead, before Eastgate stormed back to win the title. </p>
<p>Horowitz said that ESPN did quite a bit of research through surveys, focus groups and online polls and found that while the majority of the viewers of last year&#8217;s episode like what they saw, they also wanted to see more heads-up play. </p>
<p>&#8220;And that&#8217;s what we&#8217;re going to give them,&#8221; he said. &#8220;The best part is that we aren&#8217;t constricting ourselves to two hours. If we feel we have the kind of material that warrants going over two hours, we&#8217;re going to do it, much like a NFL or NBA game that goes into overtime. Chances are if we do go over two hours, those extra minutes of coverage may be some of the best stuff we have.&#8221; </p>
<p>And with a guy like Phil Ivey sitting at the final table, there&#8217;s likely to be plenty of footage that poker fans are going to want to see. While saying that he is &#8220;in the business of rooting for great stories, not rooting for specific players,&#8221; Horowitz said that having one of the game&#8217;s most popular and recognizable players in the mix this year can only aid ESPN.<br />
&#8220;It&#8217;s great because when you look for a great story, you have two ends of the spectrum and I think we have both this year,&#8221; he explained. &#8220;On the one end, you like to have an unknown &#8212; a guy like Chris Moneymaker in 2003 who literally came out of nowhere to beat a pro like Sammy Farha. That&#8217;s a great story and I think we have that element in [chipleader] Darvin Moon, who is definitely the kind of guy people can get behind because he&#8217;s an amateur&#8217;s amateur. </p>
<p>&#8220;On the other end of the spectrum, a good story is when you have the big star. And we have that with Phil Ivey. I think as storytellers, we&#8217;re incredibly lucky to have Phil there. I mean, we covered him from the very first day when he walked in and sat down right up until now. That certainly makes for compelling TV.&#8221; </p>
<p>The poker viewers have certainly been captivated by this year&#8217;s coverage already. Ratings for this year&#8217;s WSOP coverage are already up 12% from last year overall, including 12% in the male 18 to 49 demographic and 16% in the male 25 to 54 demographic. This means that there&#8217;s already more interest in the WSOP this year and that should equate to more interest in the final table. </p>
<p>From an actual production and editing standpoint, ESPN will use a similar strategy to last year. A makeshift production studio will be set up in the Rio parking lot that will mirror the studios that ESPN uses in New York at 441 Productions for its WSOP production. Production staff will be sitting in golf carts outside the theater waiting to collect tapes from 40 high-definition cameras and drive them to what Horowitz calls the &#8220;poker compound&#8221; three minutes away </p>
<p>Last year&#8217;s show required several producers to go without sleep between the hours of 8 a.m. Sunday morning until the show aired on Tuesday night. Announcers Lon McEachern and color man Norman Chad spent about 14 hours in a voice over booth on Monday. </p>
<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m trying to get all my sleep in now before we go into production because there&#8217;s not much time to get sleep once the final table begins,&#8221; said McEachern, who is in his seventh season as the main announcer for ESPN poker coverage. &#8220;It&#8217;s really an amazing experience to go through. [Norm and I] are in the driver&#8217;s seat when it all unfolds and sometimes we get too much of the credit. But in reality it&#8217;s really a great team effort by all of the dedicated and talented people that work around us.&#8221; </p>
<p>&#8220;I generally sleep while Norm is talking, so that usually gives me 45 to 50 minutes per hour to sleep during the telecast,&#8221; chimed in McEachern&#8217;s color man Chad in his typical tongue-in-cheek fashion. &#8220;So I expect to be fully rested.&#8221; </p>
<p>While the extra day this year will aid ESPN from a time standpoint, Horowitz certainly doesn&#8217;t expect to be getting much sleep over the course of the three days of the final table. In fact, he expects the editing process to last right up until late Tuesday afternoon. </p>
<p>&#8220;The action will start on Saturday at 12 noon and we&#8217;ll literally start editing film about 15 minutes later,&#8221; said Horowitz. &#8220;It&#8217;s just such a cram edit. I don&#8217;t think the casual fan realizes that the shows we put together for the other World Series coverage takes us four to five weeks and we use every bit of that time. Now, we&#8217;re doing it in a day or two, so needless to say the extra time will certainly come in handy. </p>
<p>&#8220;But I still don&#8217;t see us finishing this thing until we actually have to start feeding it back to [ESPN headquarters in] Bristol [Conn.], which would be around 4 p.m. Vegas time.&#8221; </p>
<p>One part of the WSOP coverage that has been scrapped this season is the preview show that ran the week before the final table last year. Horowitz said the network felt that it would be better suited to run its coverage of the Main Event directly into the week before the final table instead of taking a week off for the preview show, which last year featured footage of what the nine players did during the 117-day break and analysis and predictions from poker pros like Phil Hellmuth, Daniel Negreanu and Kenny Tran. </p>
<p>&#8220;We&#8217;re experimenting; just because we didn&#8217;t do it this year doesn&#8217;t mean we won&#8217;t do it next year,&#8221; he said of the preview show that was hosted by McEachern and Chad. &#8220;I compare it to the Super Bowl. They&#8217;re always experimenting with taking a week off before the game. This year we&#8217;re trying it without the &#8216;off&#8217; week.&#8221; </p>
<p>The more Horowitz talked about the final table telecast, the more excited he got. He certainly didn&#8217;t sound burnt out from the 192 days of coverage the network did this past summer, coverage that required 28,000 pounds of equipment. Instead, Horowitz was anxiously looking forward to what he calls a &#8220;demanding, yet gratifying professional experience.&#8221; </p>
<p>&#8220;We can&#8217;t wait to do this whole thing all over again,&#8221; he said with a rise in his voice. &#8220;It&#8217;s the Super Bowl of poker. And the crowd inside the Penn &#038; Teller Theater really adds to the electricity. I can&#8217;t wait to see what the finished product looks like because I think we&#8217;re on the verge of putting together a terrific two hours of poker &#8212; and quite possibly more.&#8221;</p>
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		<title>PPA calls for online poker legislation in Massachusetts</title>
		<link>http://absynthemuse.com/?p=52</link>
		<comments>http://absynthemuse.com/?p=52#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 22 Dec 2009 21:31:07 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[The Poker Players Alliance (PPA), the leading online poker grassroots advocacy group with more than one million members nationwide and more than 25,000 in Massachusetts, testifies today before the Massachusetts Joint Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technologies calling for licensing and regulation of online poker. 
The hearing is being held to look into the [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>The Poker Players Alliance (PPA), the leading <a href="http://best-casinos-poker.com/">online poker</a> grassroots advocacy group with more than one million members nationwide and more than 25,000 in Massachusetts, testifies today before the Massachusetts Joint Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technologies calling for licensing and regulation of <a href="http://bestonlinecasinogames.biz/">online poker</a>. </p>
<p>The hearing is being held to look into the impact of proposals to expand <a href="http://bumpercasino.com/">casino gambling</a> throughout the Commonwealth. </p>
<p>&#8220;Sadly, while the game of poker has evolved, the way politicians think about it has not,&#8221; said Randy Castonguay, Massachusetts state director of the PPA. &#8220;As this Committee discusses the pros and cons of regulating expanded gaming in our Commonwealth, it would also be appropriate to consider the existing Internet poker play that is occurring today without any state oversight or control. Regulation of Internet poker is not expansion of gambling, it is simply the responsible government response to an industry that exists today.&#8221; </p>
<p>Licensing and regulation of online poker would result in several benefits to Massachusetts residents, the first and most important of which is implementing state-based consumer protections which do not exist today. A regulated marketplace will also help the state combat underage access to online poker as well as identify and provide services to problem gamblers. Finally, licensing and regulation would provide significant state tax revenue – conservative estimates show $40 million annually for Massachusetts. </p>
<p>&#8220;We are advocating regulation of Internet poker, not Internet craps or roulette. And as every member of this Committee knows, unlike craps and roulette, poker is a game of skill that has been played in the home since Americans have been playing it. Regulating poker on the Internet is simply recognition of the game&#8217;s 21st Century place in American culture,&#8221; continued Castonguay.</p>
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		<title>888 jackpot is spinning out of control</title>
		<link>http://absynthemuse.com/?p=51</link>
		<comments>http://absynthemuse.com/?p=51#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 22 Dec 2009 21:29:52 +0000</pubDate>
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		<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[One of the world&#8217;s leading online casino operators will use TV as the backbone of a media campaign to communicate the launch of the largest ever slots jackpot. 
888 online casino has mounted a campaign to highlight the GBP8.88M jackpot that is available when you play its new Pirates&#8217; Millions casino game - offering users [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>One of the world&#8217;s leading <a href="http://roulettesoft.org/">online casino</a> operators will use TV as the backbone of a media campaign to communicate the launch of the largest ever <a href="http://888casinoonnet.net/">slots jackpot</a>. </p>
<p>888 online casino has mounted a campaign to highlight the GBP8.88M jackpot that is available when you play its new Pirates&#8217; Millions <a href="http://allcasinodirectory.com/">casino game</a> - offering users three completely free spins at the ground breaking prize. </p>
<p>Adverts launched this week (October 21st) will show Trigger Happy TV star Dom Joly pull on a snorkel and mask to avoid drowning in money as he lands the prize whilst playing on his laptop. </p>
<p>The ads will initially air on ITV2, ITV3, ITV4 and Channel 5 - with further rollout discussions expected after the initial schedule. </p>
<p>The above the line investment for Pirates&#8217; Millions follows the success of the company&#8217;s previous 888ladies campaigns - one of which featured Vic Reeves, driving high levels of sign up from new players and seeing 888 brand awareness increase significantly. </p>
<p>The opening burst of Pirates&#8217; Millions media will also see 888 use outdoor and an extensive online campaign on all UK&#8217;s main portals to push the Pirates&#8217; Millions message, and Itai Pazner, Senior Vice President COO 888, believes the message will engage anyone who enjoys a flutter. </p>
<p>He said: &#8220;This is the biggest ever online slots jackpot and everyone who visits the site will be allowed three free spins the first time they play the game, without having to deposit any money or enter card details! </p>
<p>&#8220;This will offer the unique opportunity for someone to become a millionaire without paying a penny, and we believe it will really appeal to everyone from on-line casino regulars to those who play the lottery or buy the odd scratchcard. </p>
<p>&#8220;The 3 free spins sign up offer is not limited in terms of the number of people it is open to, and this campaign is designed to show people the game, get them to have a go and raise awareness of the staggering jackpot that is available. </p>
<p>&#8220;We have started to gain a reputation for producing some fun and memorable adverts for our 888ladies campaigns - like the recent bingo superstars which put real woman in celebrity lifestyles, and we want to build on that. </p>
<p>&#8220;Our creative with Vic Reeves showed that TV is a great way to reach our target audience and we believe that Dom Joly&#8217;s fun-loving image is ideal for communicating the messages of Pirates&#8217; Millions.&#8221;</p>
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		<title>Full Tilt&#8217;s Akenhead makes another final table</title>
		<link>http://absynthemuse.com/?p=50</link>
		<comments>http://absynthemuse.com/?p=50#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 16 Dec 2009 20:04:27 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[Full Tilt Poker pro James Akenhead will make his third final table appearance in as many casino gamblings months on Poker Million, the Full Tilt Poker sponsored tournament which airs on Sky Sports TV. 
Akenhead is already a member of the &#8220;November Nine&#8221;, one of nine online gambling players who will play at the WSOP* [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Full Tilt Poker pro James Akenhead will make his third final table appearance in as many <a href="http://casinogamesformac.com/">casino gamblings</a> months on Poker Million, the Full Tilt Poker sponsored tournament which airs on Sky Sports TV. </p>
<p>Akenhead is already a member of the &#8220;November Nine&#8221;, one of nine <a href="http://casinoheavens.com/">online gambling</a> players who will play at the WSOP* Main Event final table on November 7th for a first-place prize of $8.5 million. In October, he made it onto the WSOP Europe Main Event final table in London, where he finished 9th and won GBP66,533 (over $70,000). </p>
<p>One of the UK&#8217;s leading players, Akenhead qualified for the Poker Million final table by winning the second semi-final on October 9th. His current run of good form was evident throughout, including knocking out Tom &#8220;durrrr&#8221; Dwan and decimating Antonio Esfandiari&#8217;s stack in a single hand. Poker Million&#8217;s final table will air on Sky Sports TV in December. </p>
<p>Akenhead is excited to be at another final table. &#8220;I&#8217;ve watched previous Poker Million&#8217;s on television, so to get to the final table in my first appearance is something I&#8217;m proud of,&#8221; said Akenhead. &#8220;It&#8217;s the biggest <a href="http://casinoinformationsite.com/">gambling tournament</a> of this structure I&#8217;ve ever played in.&#8221; </p>
<p>Taking 338,000 chips into the final, he will face six other players including Full Tilt Poker colleagues Dag Martin Mikkelsen, Cardrunners&#8217; co-founder Taylor Caby and Peter Vasiliou, a travel consultant from London who qualified online at Full Tilt Poker. </p>
<p>The seventh and last spot at the final table can still be won online at Full Tilt Poker in the Poker Million - Last Chance promotion. The winner will bypass the heats and semi-finals and win their way directly onto the final table. To learn more about Poker Million - Last Chance or other Full Tilt Poker promotions, please visit http://www.fulltiltpoker.com. </p>
<p>Akenhead will be joined at the WSOP Main Event final table by Team Full Tilt&#8217;s Phil Ivey and fellow Full Tilt Poker pro Steven Begleiter. Akenhead is the table&#8217;s shortest stack in ninth place, with Ivey in seventh place and Begleiter holding the third most chips in play. Akenhead has come close to WSOP glory before, when he finished 2nd in a 2008 WSOP $1,500 No-Limit Hold &#8216;em event and cashed for $520,000. He has already won $1.2 million in prize money from this year&#8217;s Main Event.</p>
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		<title>Casino Plex issues jackpot alert</title>
		<link>http://absynthemuse.com/?p=49</link>
		<comments>http://absynthemuse.com/?p=49#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 16 Dec 2009 20:02:33 +0000</pubDate>
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		<description><![CDATA[One of the Internet&#8217;s most popular online casino sites, Casino Plex, continues to lead the way when it comes to huge progressive jackpots.
Two of the largest progressive jackpots available to players today are Beach Life and Gold Rally, both standing at super high levels. Beach Life, the 5-reel, 20 payline video slot game with a [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>One of the Internet&#8217;s most <a href="http://casinoahora.com/">popular online casino</a> sites, Casino Plex, continues to lead the way when it comes to huge <a href="http://casinodoors.com/">progressive jackpots</a>.</p>
<p>Two of the largest progressive jackpots available to players today are Beach Life and Gold Rally, both standing at super high levels. Beach Life, the 5-reel, 20 payline <a href="http://casinofashions.com/">video slot game</a> with a summer theme is now close to 1.5 million and Gold Rally, the 8-line Wild West themed slot game featuring two interactive bonus stages is almost at 1 million.</p>
<p>These two games are tremendously popular at Casino Plex but when their jackpots get as high as they are right now a lot more players try their luck hoping to become instant millionaires said Harry Christodoulou from Casino Plex.</p>
<p>Online casino games that feature Progressive Jackpots are extremely popular amongst online casino players because of the huge prize money they carry and can be won in the blink of an eye. Every time a player places a bet on one of these particular games, a small percentage is added to the jackpot.</p>
<p>Since these two games are very popular, the progressive jackpots tend to increase a lot faster.</p>
<p>CasinoPlex offers 19 different games that feature Progressive Jackpots and well over 100 popular casino games including Blackjack, Roulette and Craps.</p>
<p>Furthermore, Casino Plex is the home of The Incredible Hulk and Iron Man, both games from Marvel. Their massive 5,000 High Roller Bonus and the very generous 500 Welcome Bonus make this casino powered by Playtech a must try!</p>
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		<title>Newspaper accolade for innovation and independent thinking</title>
		<link>http://absynthemuse.com/?p=48</link>
		<comments>http://absynthemuse.com/?p=48#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 12 Dec 2009 20:12:00 +0000</pubDate>
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		<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[Isle of Man-based online gambling software provider Microgaming has been declared the winner of the 2009 Isle of Man Newspapers Award for Innovation and Independent Thinking.
This is not the first time that the gambling company has been recognised by the media; in 2008 Roger Raatgever, Microgaming&#8217;s CEO, was named Business Person of the Year and [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Isle of Man-based <a href="http://neweuropeancasinos.com/">online gambling</a> software provider Microgaming has been declared the winner of the 2009 Isle of Man Newspapers Award for Innovation and Independent Thinking.</p>
<p>This is not the first time that the <a href="http://officialcasinonetwork.com/">gambling company</a> has been recognised by the media; in 2008 Roger Raatgever, Microgaming&#8217;s CEO, was named Business Person of the Year and the firm received the Company of the Year accolade, and in 2007 the New Business and Programme Development award went to the software provider.</p>
<p>The annual awards celebrate achievement, dedication and excellence across all economic sectors of business and the community on the Isle of Man. </p>
<p>The awarding committee recognised <a href="http://onlinecasinoinformationsite.com/">microgaming casinos</a> as a leader in the e-Gaming sector, and applauded the innovative thinking that has successfully driven the business forward since it developed the first online casino software over a decade ago. </p>
<p>Microgaming’s technological prowess in bringing a host of gaming ‘firsts’ to market was noted, together with its status as an industry leader in terms of responsible gambling and its dedication to the local community in establishing the Microgaming Health and Care Trust, which assists the health and wellbeing of the Manx community. </p>
<p>The internationally active company set up its headquarters on the Isle of Man in 2001, motivated by the island&#8217;s strong reputation as an IT hub and a centre for IT skills.</p>
<p>Chief executive Roger Raatgever, commenting on the latest award, said: “We are honoured to be recognised for our innovation and independent thinking as these attributes have been central to our growth over the last decade. </p>
<p>&#8220;This award recognises our ability to harness the creativity and passion of our team to inspire the most inventive and cutting-edge games on the market. The Isle of Man is a dynamic place both to work and live, and is a leading jurisdiction in the e-Gaming industry. We are proud to call it home. We look forward to playing an ongoing role in contributing to the economic and social success of the Island for a long time to come.”</p>
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		<title>Giggle&#8217;s Growing Promotion</title>
		<link>http://absynthemuse.com/?p=47</link>
		<comments>http://absynthemuse.com/?p=47#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 13 Nov 2009 22:56:15 +0000</pubDate>
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		<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[Giggle Bingo is a fairly new online casino gambling site operating in the UK market. There are already a lot of internet bingo sites operating in the UK, but despite that fact there is still not market saturation. Which is good casino news for this sweet little bingo site that has announced a new Monthly [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Giggle Bingo is a fairly new <a href="http://sp.411casinodeals.com/">online casino</a> gambling site operating in the UK market. There are already a lot of internet bingo sites operating in the UK, but despite that fact there is still not market saturation. Which is good <a href="http://fr.nzcasinos.com/">casino news</a> for this sweet little bingo site that has announced a new Monthly Megapot <a href="http://fr.all-casino-slots.net/">gambling promotion</a> on the site that is designed to promote the new Giggle Bingo site and also allow for some pretty high payouts on the site. The promotion is designed to become a monthly regular at the bingo site – in competition with the other online casinos and internet bingo sites that are really gearing up for the holidays with exciting monthly prizes that will surely give an appreciative boost to lucky bank balances right before the start of the holidays. </p>
<p>In this case, the Monthly Megapot has a prize pool of a cool GBP 1,500. This is a one-off game, so if you don’t win this month’s Megapot you are not automatically entered for any other Giggle Bingo promotions. Instead, this is a special promotion running throughout the beginning of the month and ending on the 24th of November. For interested online casino bingo gamblers, it’s pretty easy to enter to win the special promotion, all you have to do is head to the Friendship Room in the gambling site and buy a ticket. As an added bonus and unlike some other promotions at online casinos, you can also just straight-out earn a ticket to the Megapot event through other game-play on the site.</p>
<p>That means that if you really love some of the other online casino bingo games at Giggle Bingo, you might just qualify to earn an entry to the Monhly Megapot when the competition takes place on November 27th.</p>
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