Online Gaming News Weekly Review

Noticias de la Industria

Online Gaming News Weekly Review This weeks top stories

SKILL GAMING FIRM SIGNS UP TOP UK BOOKIE GameAccount adds Stan James to it's blue chip client list The respected UK bookmaking firm Stan James is the latest client to join the client list of the UK skill games provider GameAccount. The multi-year deal enables Stan James' online customers to engage in playing GameAccount's market portfolio of online games including Gin Rummy; Multiplayer Blackjack; and Backgammon. All GameAccount person-to-person skill games offer multi-table tournaments - a first for skill gaming - together with head-to-head cash games. "Skill games broaden the demographic appeal of our online sportsbook offering, particularly relevant for southern Mediterranean and Middle Eastern countries where Backgammon is a cultural phenomenon," said Russell Young, Head of eGaming for Stan James. "GameAccount was chosen after an exhaustive process investigating the potential for these emerging games, the experience of potential suppliers and the technical capabilities of their respective platforms." Stan James becomes the first licensee sportsbook operator in 2008 to join the GameAccount Network following membership by other leading bookie firms like William Hill, BoyleSports, PaddyPower and Sportingbet Europe. All GameAccount licensees enjoy the benefits of GameAccount's recent software upgrade which includes navigation enhancements for the games lobby, more information for tournament players and brand new side games. Players can now easily find and register for the next tournament to start and simply navigate between game tables. And for the first time in the skill gaming industry, players can launch side games from the game lobby without missing a moment of live person-to-person skill gaming action. "We are delighted to welcome Stan James into our fast-growing Network, which has experienced explosive growth in player numbers and staking activity," said Kevin Dale, Chief Executive Officer at GameAccount. "Our blue-chip corporate customers benefit from unique skill gaming software in attracting new players - reducing the dreaded churn and driving meaningful revenues comparable to poker. Gin Rummy, Backgammon and our unique Multiplayer Blackjack form a compelling suite of person-to-person games super-charged by the presence of new instant win side games to fill idle minutes. GameAccount is integrated with several sportsbook platforms including Orbis and Finsoft. Stan James is our third licensee sportsbook operator utilising the Finsoft sports betting software platform."
BIG POKER CIRCUIT WIN FOR CUNNINGHAM Poker pro takes down the WSOP-C main prize at Caesars in Vegas Top poker pro and Full Tilt Poker Team member Allen Cunningham is $499 162 richer this week after winning the three day World Series of Poker Circuit championship at Caesars in Las Vegas. Cunningham outplayed his heads-up opponent Ben Fineman, who took home the second place prize of $257 637. This was despite a 3 to 1 advantage in chip stack in Fineman's favour going into the final tussle. The competition attracted an entry field that sported many famous names in international poker, including Todd Brunson, Alex Kravchenko, Erick Lindgren, 'ZeeJustin' Bonomo, Ralph Perry, Blair Hinkle and Chris Ferguson, and going into the final table Cunningham was low on the chip count totem pole at 296 000 - well behind his ultimate heads up opponent Fineman who started with a chip count of 828 000.
BIG WINS IN INTERNET CASINOS European online gamblers score big Several online players hit into big money at online casinos over recent weeks, winning six figure amounts on both progressives and standard slots. At the Playtech-powered Europa Casino, a Norwegian player using the handle SisselA was described as 'ecstatic' over a Euro 289 500 hit on the progressive jackpot, Queen of Pyramids. Sissel had been a member of the online casino for less than two weeks when she struck it lucky after wagering a mere Euro 2.25 bet.

In an interview with Europa Casino management, an Sissel said that she prefers to play at online casinos for convenience, privacy and security....and tends to stay calmer and more controlled when placing her bets.

Players at Europa have been fortunate lately with a number of big wins, including an extraordinary progressive hit on the Diamond Valley progressive by GuyJ. of Luxembourg who scored a major Euro 125 137 win on a stake of only Euro 5. Later in the week, a 30-year-old unnamed player from Denmark won a remarkable Euro 323 578 in one day at Windows Casino.... all without hitting any progressive jackpots.

A press release from the casino reveals that the player is a relatively new arrival at Windows, who deposited Euro 110 and managed through good fortune to make it go a long way!

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything quite like this,” Greg Gomez, the Windows Casino’s manager, opined. “This is one of the biggest wins we have ever seen at Windows Casino and certainly one that we will remember for many years”.

The lucky Dane achieved extraordinarily good results playing on a number of slots games: On 'Football Rules' he won Euro 224 000, on 'Desert Treasure' Euro 70 000 and by adding smaller wins from all the other slots games he played, he ultimately won in total a bank-boosting Euro 323 578 in prize money.
  ONLINE GAMBLING STUDY RESULTS RELEASED More males than females gambling online, and the biggest age group is between 18 and 34. The UK Gambling Commission has released its latest independent study results, presented by ICM Research. The omnibus study was carried out via a sample of 8 000 adults between June 2007 and March 2008. Key findings in the study are: * Over the year to March 2008, 8.8 percent of the 8 000 adults surveyed said they had participated in at least one form of remote gambling in the previous month. * Those participating in remote gambling remain more likely to be male than female, and are more likely to be aged 18-34. * If those only playing National Lottery games remotely are excluded, 5.1 percent of respondents had participated in remote gambling.
* Overall, 6.3 percent of respondents said they had gambled remotely on the National Lottery/tickets for the National Lottery draw in the previous month. * Remote gambling via a computer, laptop or handheld device was the most popular form of remote gambling (7.1 percent of all adult respondents), followed by gambling via mobile phone (2.4 percent) and interactive/digital TV (under 2 percent). Still on the subject of surveys, the Gambling Commission has also announced that it has commenced planning for the 2010 British Gambling Prevalence Study - a key assessment of the UK business carefully analysed by industry practitioners in previous years. The large-scale, nationally representative survey of participation in gambling and the prevalence of problem gambling in Great Britain will build on the two previous British gambling prevalence surveys carried out in 1999 and 2007.

A Gambling Commission spokesperson said the project will be divided into three phases:

1)    pre-fieldwork: working with the survey steering group. The service provider will advise on study methodology and will design the study questionnaire

2)    fieldwork: the service provider will carry out the fieldwork, providing detailed reports on progress

3)    analysis and reporting: the service provider will provide detailed analysis of the findings, will draft the final report and incorporate peer review recommendations

Commission staffers plan to engage with academics and other interested parties who have expertise in gambling prevalence studies and have issued an open invitation for relevant persons to participate in a discussion on 17 June 2008 in advance of the tendering process.

Interested parties are invited to contact Kati Virtaal Toohill at k.virtaaltoohill@gamblingcommission.gov.uk
UK GAMBLING COMMISSION ENFORCEMENT CHIEF DEPARTS Director of Monitoring and Enforcement to leave Commission in July 2008

The UK Gambling Commission has announced the imminent departure of Andrew Lyman, a Director at the Commission responsible for Monitoring and Enforcement, who will be leaving shortly to take up a senior executive role with the Association of British Bookmakers (ABB).

"Having been involved in regulation for some years, I am looking forward to joining an organisation with a broad commercial focus. This new role will provide an opportunity to develop my legal, negotiating and other skill sets in a challenging environment." said Lyman, whose remaining time with the Commission will be spent on internal project work, distinct from his current regulatory role.

Gambling Commission Chief-Executive Jenny Williams said: “We are very sorry to see Andrew go but with his expertise and understanding of the Commission’s work he will continue to contribute to the promotion of socially responsible gambling in his new role at the ABB.” Lyman's successor has yet to be named.
CARVE-OUTS DON'T HELP HERE Kentucky Derby could be impacted by UIGEA complications U.S. horse racing companies comfortable with their specially exempted online betting status in US legislation have apparently discovered some inconvenient facets of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act which has so effectively reduced competition by offshore firms. The Boston Herald quotes gaming and banking industry experts as saying that horse racing fans looking to place online bets for the 134th Kentucky Derby this weekend may find their transactions blocked by banks and credit card companies trying to avoid running afoul of unclear federal regulations.

"Unless the government takes the responsibility of telling the banks which merchants they shouldn’t deal with, and when banks take the position that they are not going to process these transactions without guidance, all heck will break loose," said Tony Cabot, an attorney with the Las Vegas firm Lewis and Roca, which represents the Nevada Pari-Mutuel Association.

The Herald notes that advocates for the banking and online gambling industries, legal scholars and several members of Congress are pushing the U.S. Treasury, the Federal Reserve and the Justice Department to clarify whether a regulatory exemption in the Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act that allows Internet gambling on horse racing could also mean that banks and credit card companies would be penalised for processing the money from those wagers.

Under the law, passed in 2006 as part of the SAFE Port Security Act, the nation’s banks and credit card companies are prohibited from accepting payments for some online bets or wagers. However, the financial institutions are largely left to figure out which gambling transactions are illegal and block payments.

Financial institutions say this unfairly puts them in the position of trying to decide what’s legal with little clear guidance from the federal agencies responsible for implementing the rule.

Until the federal agencies issue better guidance, some financial service companies may refuse to handle any online gambling transactions, said I. Nelson Rose, a law professor at Whittier College in Costa Mesa, California. "The problem is that in some states online gambling is legal, in others it is not and in still other cases the question depends on where the bettor is, where the gaming operator is and what form of gambling is taking place," Rose told the newspaper. The Herald recaps recent Congressional hearings and requests from federal officials for comment on implementing regulations designed to underpin the UIGEA. Over 200 responses were received and are still being considered by federal drafters. On the hearings front, many witnesses across the spectrum of those involved in the process were sharply critical of the law, which they called vague and costly for financial institutions to implement. One of the most common complaints is that the rules fail to sufficiently define key terms, leaving financial institutions to figure out how to comply, said Congressman Luis Gutierrez.

"For example, the regulation fails to adequately define what constitutes ‘unlawful Internet gambling’ or ‘restricted transaction,’ yet requires the financial institutions to make a determination on their own about what is lawful or unlawful," Gutierrez said. Also noted by the Herald are the current IGREA legislative attempts led by Congressman Barney Frank to legalise and licence online gambling, and a more recent move in concert with Congressman Ron Paul to halt federal drafters from further work on the now long over deadline regulations.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers and Rep. Chris Cannon took former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to task in a letter last year for the UIGEA's ambiguity on which states should block online horse gambling transactions. They still await a definitive reply. In response, Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian Benczkowski said then (and the Department of Justice has since reiterated that) "...while the UIGEA requires that the regulations be issued ‘in consultation with the attorney general,’ the Department of the Treasury and the Federal Reserve have the primary responsibility for drafting the regulations, and therefore we would defer questions concerning the timing or the scope of the regulations to those parties."
MARVELLOUS MARTY IS THE PARTYPOKER WORLD OPEN CHAMP Irish eyes and fortune are smiling on 33 year-old Ulsterman

33-year-old Marty Smyth of Ulster in Ireland scooped $250 000 this week after winning the PartyPoker.com World Open IV in London, truimphing over 72 other entrants in the $8 000 buy-in event that generated a total prize pool of $576 000. The final table line-up was impressive to say the least, and included Neil Channing, recent Manchester GUKPT winner Marc “Mr Cool” Goodwin, Andy “The Spider” Ward, Dixie Dean and Ryan Fronda.

“I’m delighted and very proud,” said Smyth, who won the 2007 Irish Open and has made the final table in the Poker Million the last two years. “With the way Neil (Channing) is running at the moment he was the last person I wanted to take on heads-up. I hope this sparks a run for me as good as his! I’m so happy to win the trophy and the money will come in handy for Vegas.”

Smyth's heads-up opponent was Neil Channing, who has been on fire in recent months, taking Marty’s Irish Open title in January and leading Great Britain to victory in the PartyPoker.com Poker Nations Cup as well as other impressive results. He also looked the most likely winner to everybody. As well as playing some majestic poker, the man they used to call ‘Bad Beat’ was getting cards when he needed them. “I thought it was my day,” said Channing. “I believed during the final table that if I didn’t win this I would be disappointed and I am. That said, it would have been a bit ridiculous if I managed to take down this title as well!”

Channing went into the heads-up with Smyth leading 995 000 to 405 000. Many thought the writing was on the wall but Smyth clawed his way back and in an epic heads-up that lasted as long as the rest of the heat before it, the Ulsterman drew level making it an even match at 700 000. Many started to fancy Smyth but were convinced that perhaps it was too much to overcome the “goldenballs” of the European poker circuit. However, the Irishman wore Channing down and eventually all the money went in the middle. Channing flat called in the small blind with 9h 9c, Smyth came over the top with Qc Qs. Channing pushed all-in and Smyth called. The board 10s 5d 2d Kh Kd brought no help and the PartyPoker.com World Open IV had itself a very popular winner. Channing earned a useful $100 000 for his second placing.

A PartyPoker.com spokesman said: “It would be fair to say that Marty was an extremely popular winner. He’s done European poker a favour by derailing the Channing bandwagon, but make no mistake he is one of the finest players on the circuit at the moment.”

Eddie Hearn, Director of Matchroom Sport said: “This was without doubt the strongest field we have seen at the PartyPoker.com World Open and the players certainly didn't disappoint. The standard of play was simply stunning throughout and Marty was a deserved winner. The PartyPoker.com World Open is now firmly established as one of poker’s major titles.”

The event featured a top class field led by ‘Ambassador of Poker’ Mike Sexton and included Dave “The Devilfish” Ulliott, Juha Helppi, Theo Jorgensen, Ian Frazer, Roberto Romanello, Jon Kalmar, Thomas Bihl, Surinder Sunar, John Tabatabai, Christoph Haller, Jan Peter Jachtmann and Liam Flood. Coverage of the Matchroom Sport organised event will be broadcast on Channel 5 in the UK later this year and will be fronted by Jesse May. Last year, 45-year-old former Sidcup betting shop owner Anthony Hardy triumphed over a final table that also featured Ian Cox, Ram Vaswani, David Rudling, Ian Frazer and eventual runner-up Ian Woodley. The winner in 2006 was Pippa Flanders, while in 2005 Lee Nelson won the inaugural event.

The winner of each of the 12 heats progressed to the semi-final stage, and, for the first time in the event's history all was not lost for the runners-up on the table as they battled it out for the remaining two semi-final spots in “last chance” turbo heats. The two unlucky players who missed out on the bubble for the final table were Simon Craig and Andy Greekfish.

NBC NATIONAL HEADS UP CHANGES New list of automatic invitations A new automatic invitation list to play in one of poker's premier televised tournaments - the NBC National Heads-Up Championship - is was released this week, providing a tourney with increased expert participation and viewer interest. Now four years old, the championship generates so far unsurpassed poker television viewerships, with the likes of Phil Hellmuth (2005), Ted Forrest (2006), Paul Wasicka (2007), and Chris Ferguson (2008) the top stars so far. According to a release from the NBC, the automatic invitation list will be used for the 2009 spectacular and will be structured as follows: * Previous 5 National Heads-Up Poker Champions * Previous 2 National Heads-Up runners-up * Defending National Heads-Up semifinalists * Any player who cashes in the past 4 consecutive years of the National Heads-Up Poker Championship * Previous 3 World Series of Poker Main Event Champions * Defending World Series of Poker Main Event runner-up * Beginning with the 2008 WSOP, multiple bracelet winners in the same year will receive an automatic invitation to the next Heads-Up Championship * Defending World Series of Poker Player of the Year * Defending World Series of Poker Heads-Up Champion * Defending World Series of Poker Europe Main Event Champion (21 or older) * Reigning World Poker Tour Player of the Year * Reigning Monte Carlo European Poker Tour Grand Final Champion (21 or older) * Reigning Card Player magazine Player of the Year * Reigning Bluff magazine Player of the Year * Reigning ALL IN magazine Player of the Year * Online and NBC qualifiers (1-3) (must be 21 or older) * 2 x host venue qualifiers (2) Players receiving an invite to the event are still required to buy-in for the full entry fee, unless they win a seat through an online qualifier.
WEB GAMBLING STILL IN THE TOP TEN ZD Net blog users by category shows growth in online gambling interest The popular online information and news site ZDNet's latest US statistics for February and March 2008 indicate a growing interest in online gambling, currently showing the third largest percentage monthly increase. The Radio Entertainment category showed the largest visits growth from February to March 2008 with 27 percent, followed by Gay and Lesbian (albeit at very low actual numbers) at 26 percent and Online Gambling at 14 percent - an interest in March to 12 592 from 11082 the previous month. The only other category showing growth over 10 percent was Retail Health Care at 12 percent. ZDNet also notes that the top five search engines for March 2008 were: * Google with 58.7 percent of market share and a year-on-year growth of 25.5 percent. * Yahoo! which was in negative year-on-year territory at -4.5 percent but still holds 18.1 percent of the search business. * MSN showing impressive year-on-year growth of 36 percent to command a market share of 12 percent. * AOL which lost Y-o-Y growth by -19.4 percent and now has a 4.1 percent market share. * Ask.com tops the list in terms of Y-o -Y growth of 52.4 percent and now has around 2.4 percent of the market. Other items of current Web interest on the informative ZDNet site include the fact that 68 percent of searchers click on entries in the first page of search results, 59 percent of Internet users make use of social media to vent on customer care issues, and Web 2.0 spend will reach $4.6 billion by 2013.  POSITIVE Q1 RESULTS FROM NETENT Sales, profit and margins all up in January to March 2008 period The Swedish online gambling turnkey provider and games developer Net Entertainment is off to a good start to 2008, with positive Q1 results showing improvements in sales, profits and margins. Highlights of the interim report released this week include: • Net sales increased by 27 percent to SEK 42.8 million. • Operating profit increased by 35.1 percent to SEK 16.9 million. • Profit after tax increased by 34.4 percent to SEK 15.4 million. • Net profit margin was 36.1 percent, up 2 percent on previous quarter. • Operating margin was 39.6 percent. • 4 new license agreements for the firm's CasinoModule system were signed. • The company received a pilot order for its CasinoCafé 'kiosk' system.

Johan Öhman, CEO of the company said: "Net Entertainment achieved strong development in the first quarter, with a 27 percent increase in net sales over the same period in 2007 and a 17.7 percent increase over the previous quarter. "Profitability continues at a healthy level and the operating margin rose to 39.6 percent for the quarter. Growth is being driven by the generally strong growth in the market, successful new games and new customers opening a number of casinos in the quarter. "Net Entertainment continues to make good sales progress and four new licence agreements for CasinoModule were entered into during the quarter. One of the agreements is with leading Internet operator, Bet-at-home.com. In addition, a pilot order for CasinoCafe was secured." Ohman went on to reveal that during the quarter, Net Entertainment has pursued its recruitment drive in order to strengthen the organisation and reduce its dependence on consultants. The company has also started the development of contracts in the Ukraine in a bid to accelerate the pace of development and to increase cost efficiency. The company plans to switch to the Swedish small cap exchange, hopefully in the thrid quarter of this year, and Ohman revealed that Net Entertainment's Board of Directors is to file an application to move its exchange listing to the OMX Exchange in Stockholm. The transition to a different exchange will increase investor awareness in Net Entertainment stock and likely its liquidity. Ohman predicts that the online gaming market will continue experiencing positive growth, benefiting the company through the organic growth of its current licensees. "Our highly competitive product portfolio and continuing focus on the development of new, innovative games also present us with excellent opportunities for entering into agreements with new customers," he said. "I am convinced that our healthy order book, strong product portfolio and brisk pace of development provide us with excellent opportunities for continued profitable growth." Ohman revealed that the second quarter indications point to a strong start for Net Entertainment, too, with strong developments in the sales pipeline.
PUTTING ON THE RITZ PKR Poker lays on a night of glam, glitz and celebrity in London Jez San's burgeoning PKR.com online poker company scored another marketing coup over the holiday weekend when it laid on a night of glam, glitz and celebrity by hosting an afterparty for the attendees of the Professional Footballer's Association Awards. The initiative is another interesting involvement by an online gambling company in events in the wider sport and entertainment worlds following Full Tilt Poker's recent marketing partnership with the World Series of Golf (see previous InfoPowa report) Held in London's plush Albannach restaurant in Trafalgar Square, the PKR.com team served up fun poker and casino room action for the star-studded guest list. Celebrations continued well into the wee small hours of the following morning at the invite-only after party. The blackjack and roulette tables, along with a private poker room were extremely popular, with prizes ranging from free cash to spend at PKR Casino.com to personalised, luxury poker-chip sets. Partygoers at the bash included high profile Premiership stars Micah Richards, Jermain Defoe, Carlton Cole, Jimmy Bullard, Anton Ferdinand and the entire Fulham first team. There were also appearances from rugby legend Martin Offiah, as well as numerous celebs from the world of TV and music. PKR.com added to the glamour factor with their own spectacularly costumed ‘team’ of eleven beauties in PKR football kit. Lucky online regulars at the PKR poker website were treated to complimentary tickets, allowing some lucky football fans a golden opportunity to rub shoulders with some of The Beautiful Game's elite. Marketing Manager Erika Schwartz said, “It was a great evening and a fantastic opportunity to introduce our brand to some influential people as well as reward some of our loyal players”.  PPA REMINDS SEN. KYL OF UIGEA IMPERFECTIONS One of the most egregious flaws in the bill is that it does not define "unlawful Internet gambling" clearly Las week's report in the Las Vegas Review-Journal (see previous InfoPowa report) that Senator Jon Kyl was growing impatient with the protracted drafting process on regulations to support the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act elicited a tart response this week from the Poker Players Association. The Las Vegas director of the PPA, Ken Illgen minced no words in his letter to the LVRJ editor, saying: "Frankly, the confusion regulators are dealing with as they develop the regulations to enforce the law is a direct result of how this act was written and sneaked into a must-pass port security bill in the dead of night, allowing no time for review and debate." Illgen goes on to point out that one of the most egregious flaws in the bill is that it does not define "unlawful Internet gambling" clearly - something that the legislators trying to make Internet gambling unlawful should have included.

"This law is clearly unworkable, as regulators, bankers and several members of Nevada's congressional delegation have publicly stated," Illgen concludes. "To truly place checks and balances on Internet gambling, Congress should look to existing legislation that would seek to regulate online gambling in order to protect children and problem gamblers and collect the billions of dollars in lost tax revenue from these transactions.

"Let's not blame regulators for struggling to enact this flawed and ambiguous bill, and [instead] start looking for workable solutions to truly regulate this growing online industry.
  IF YOU PLAY, HAVE A SAY WSOP timing for Poker Players Alliance voter drive The World Series of Poker timeframe represents a unique publicity opportunity where world interest is focused on the game of poker, and the one million members strong Poker Players Alliance intends to exploit it.

The organisation announced this week that it will launch a voter registration effort during the World Series of Poker (WSOP) in Las Vegas, which begins May 31 and runs through November, with the aim of rallying support for reversing or blocking federal and state laws that prohibit gambling on online poker. The campaign is centred on the slogan "If you play, have a say," with messaging and strategy developed by the Herald Group, which is also providing media outreach and other tactical communications support. PPA has already launched a Web site, www. poker-2008.org, where players can download forms and get information on voter registration. Outreach timed for the 39th annual poker series will include speaking with trade magazines; posting comments on the online poker message boards where players discuss poker strategy, legislation, and other issues; running online, print, and possibly TV ads; and posting videos featuring top poker pros on social networking sites, such as Facebook and You Tube. Formed in 2005, the PPA is flourishing, thanks to funding from individuals and Canada-based industry trade group Interactive Gaming Council, according to PPA executive director John Pappas. Membership was further enhanced by the 2006 passage of the Unlawful Gambling Enforcement Act, which, among other things, bans online gambling financial transactions, he added. "Out of this has sprung a political constituency that [we've] tapped into to influence public policy in Washington," Pappas said. "And we've found that one of the best things we can do is not only lobby members [to] send letters to members of Congress, and attend town hall meetings, but get players registered and active on election days." The PPA is encouraging members and other players around the country to support legislation currently proposed like Congressman Frank's IGREA, that would regulate online gambling to prevent play by minors or "problem" players. Outreach during the WSOP, which annually attracts tens of thousands of players and is broadcast on ESPN, will include a booth and online terminals for registration, advertising, and still-to-be-determined public events.
BONOMO JOINS BODOG Top Internet poker player signs up as a Bodog pro The handle 'ZeeJustin' used by top Internet poker player Justin Bonomo (22), is recognisable to most online poker players and could become more so following his agreement to join the professional player list at online poker site Bodog Poker. The young pro joins David Williams, Evelyn Ng, Josh Arieh and Jean-Robert Bellande on a team with big ambitions that include an appearance at this year's World Series of Poker. In a statement released by Bodog, Bonomo said: "I'm extremely excited about joining the select ranks of Team Bodog pros and becoming an ambassador for the Bodog brand alongside David, Evy and Jean-Robert. I know each of them personally and I have tremendous respect for each of them." Bonomo added that he was ready to start his team involvement by playing online against players around the world on the Bodog virtual poker tables, and that he hoped for a big win and a gold bracelet at WSOP 2008. The young poker professional has done well in his short but successful career, which started online and developed into land tournament achievements of note, with numerous cashes in WSOP, WPT and EPT events. He made the final table of the 2007 $2 000 No-Limit Hold'em event, as well the 2005 EPT French Open and the 2007 Caesars Palace Classic. His most recent success was a fifth place finish in the 2008 World Series of Poker Circuit at Caesar's Palace, which boosted his bank balance by $69 594. Morris Mohawk Gaming Group, which now handles the North American operations of Bodog, announced Bonomo's involvement, with CEO Alwyn Morris saying: "Justin is one of the most feared and skilled players in poker today and we're thrilled to officially have him join our team of world-class poker pros. We expect him to make a lot of noise this year for Team Bodog, beginning with the WSOP this summer."
BIG FULL TILT POKER WIN FOR POKER AUTHOR Sunday tournament pays off for Matthew Hilger Matthew Hilger, poker author, poker publisher, and poker pro, won the Full Tilt Poker $750 000 Guaranteed Poker Tournament over the holiday weekend, pocketing over $132 000 for his first placing. The win topped an rewarding tournament record this year, with 9 entries that yielded 3 top 100's, 2 final tables, and finally the big win. Hilger now has his eyes set on the 2008 World Series of Poker (WSOP), where he has cashed three of the last four years in the main event and nine times overall. Hilger became closely associated with Internet poker when he released his best-selling book, 'Internet Texas Hold'em'. Following the book, he created an online community, visited poker forums and read strategy articles to get

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