The site is UltimatePoker.com, and is run by “online poker specialists” with over 30 years of combined experience. It’s also backed by Vegas gaming leaders, but perhaps most importantly, it has the government’s seal of approval.

UltimatePoker’s team includes: Co-founder and Chairman Tom Breitling, CEO Tobin Prior, CTO Chris DeRossi, and CMO Joe Versaci. The company is a subsidiay of Station Casinos.

“Ultimate Gaming represents the next generation: A new breed of real money online gaming company backed by regulation and driven to create authentic entertainment experiences across online and social casino platforms,” the site says. “Ultimate Poker is a licensed online poker room, leading the way through extraordinary service, best-in-class rewards, and a true-to-its-roots poker experience.”

According to Reuters, the site will operate under a 30-day license while it “works out the kinks”. It will then most likely be granted a formal license.

“Ultimate Poker is a licensed online poker room in the state of Nevada, leading the way through extraordinary service, best-in-class rewards, and a true-to-its-roots poker experience. Created by online poker specialists and backed by Las Vegas gaming leaders, Ultimate Poker brings fun back to the online felt by merging entertainment, competition, and the gaming lifestyle. Ultimate Poker is the exclusive online gaming partner of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), the fastest growing sports organization in the world, and is the online poker product of Station Casinos, the preferred gaming destination for Las Vegas locals.”

Expect many more sites to follow Ultimate Poker’s lead. Delaware and New Jersey have also legalized online gambling, and will no doubt be keeping an eye on how UltimatePoker.com pans out for the state of Nevada.

Zynga announced that ZyngaPlusPoker and ZyngaPlusCasino will be launching as downloadable and Web versions today. The games, powered by bwin.party, will give of age UK citizens the chance to blow all their money on simulated gambling. The games will also be available on mobile and Facebook later in the year.

Here’s what interested players can look forward to:

If you want to start playing the games, you’ll need to vist Web sites for either ZyngaPlusPoker or ZyngaPlusCasino. Once again, these games are only available in the UK for now.

It will be interesting to see if Zynga’s new real-money gaming initiative will pay off as it works towards a profit after a year of monumental losses. If it does work out, we might start seeing more real money online games pop up in more countries. The games maker might also start lobbying countries, most notably the U.S., to repeal anti-online gambling laws.

Raleigh news outlet WRAL is reporting that Raymer was one of five men picked up for soliciting prostitution at a hotel sting set up by police on Wednesday, March 13. Raymer and the other men allegedly responded to a fake online ad posted by police.

Raymer has been charged with prostitution and attempted crimes against nature. He was released on a $1,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in court on April 18.

Raymer won money in the 2001 World Series of Poker, where he left with $1,500 from the Omaha hi-lo split 8 or better event. In 2004, Raymer rocketed to fame when he won the no limit Texas hold ‘em event at that year’s World Series of Poker, claiming a $5 million prize. Since that time, Raymer has gone on to win money at a variety of poker tournaments and now operates a poker training school called Fossilman Poker Training, which offers online classes or in-person seminars at casinos across the U.S.

I’m impressed, but that’s coming from someone who makes a fool of himself at the neighborhood poker game by turning a simple bridge shuffle into an impromptu game of 52-card pickup.

[The Virts via BoingBoing]

EA announced that they have secured the license and branding for World Series of Poker to release a game based on the property for iOS devices. The game is being designed with both novice and hardcore players in mind. That’s a good idea as the game will replicate the actual World Series of Poker and those guys can get pretty aggressive.

“EA and Caesars have teamed up to bring the most authentic poker game to the App Store,” said Bernard Kim, Senior Vice President of Social and Mobile Publishing at EA. “We’ve taken the adrenaline rush of playing at the table and combined it with stats to help you anticipate your opponents’ moves for a truly fun and competitive game that fans can play anytime. No other app captures the true poker experience like World Series of Poker.”

As for features, players can expect two styles of poker – Texas Hold’em and Omaha Poker. It will use Facebook log-in to connect players with friends and people around the world as they compete to become king of the table. To replicate the World Series of Poker experience, players will win rings and bracelets just like their favorite players.

Of interest to hardcore players, there will be exclusive high-stakes tables for players who reach pro-status. If you find yourself losing money, EA will allow you the opportunity to spend real money to buy more chip stacks and gold. It’s like a real casino without the real money.

“We are excited to partner with EA and bring a fun and authentic poker experience to your phone or tablet,” said CIE Chief Financial Officer Craig Abrahams. “The WSOP defines the ultimate poker experience and now EA is helping bring the virtual Vegas experience to our customers across multiple mobile devices worldwide.”

The game is available on the App Store for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad. It’s free, but don’t make that an excuse to blow all your money on virtual chips. You’re better off wasting your money at a real casino.

“I think it’s a good natural fit. I think, philosophically, the part people haven’t noticed yet, real money gaming is the perfect fit with virtual goods and social games.”

Zynga would be naturally well-positioned for this kind of transition. With 30 million monthly players, Zynga Poker is the largest online poker game in the world, and the company is releasing more gambling related games like Zynga Bingo.

“We’re interested, but you should expect to see us do a lot more than what you’ve seen in offshore casinos,” said Pincus.

We wander what “a lot more” means when it comes to online gambling, an already multi-million, all be it illegal industry.

This revelation may have come just in time, as many analysts believe social gaming, and Zynga in particular, has and will continue to see stagnation.

A recent Justice Department ruling may open the door for online gambling on social sites like Facebook. With people already shelling out millions for Zynga coins, just to by a virtual upgrade for their virtual farm, the possibilities for making money on gambling in that market are endless.

Epic Poker League, the new professional poker league that hosted its third Inaugural Season Main Event in Las Vegas last month, announced a partnership today that will bring Epic Poker League programming to millions of fans across Europe. More than 70 hours of Epic Poker coverage will be featured on The Poker Channel. The channel broadcasts to 30 million cable and satellite TV homes and online to a global audience.

“Expanding our television coverage into Europe is a step forward for building a global fan base for Epic Poker,” Katherine Kowal, Vice President of League Operations and Programming, Federated Sports + Gaming, said. “Poker Channel Europe, with quality distribution and broad reach, will help us introduce our content to a very important market and audience.”

Epic Poker League is an exclusive tournament series created by Federated Sports + Gaming that has more than 200 of the world’s top live tournament players vying for $20,000 in rake-free main events and a $1 million cash prize to the overall champion.

Epic Poker League will begin airing on The Poker Channel on Sunday, January 15. A full TV schedule with previews and programming details can be found at their Web site.

“With the incredible success of Epic Poker League’s first three events and high-quality production, they are a great partner for the Poker Channel,” Chris White, Gaming Media Group’s Director of Business Development, said. “We’re proud to bring this unique format featuring the world’s best players to millions of Poker Channel viewers.”

The Poker Channel broadcasts tournaments, alongside instructional shows, news updates, live events, tournament reports and player interviews. Cable and TV satellite coverage extends to all of Western Europe and most of Eastern Europe.

Epic Poker has also launched a new Facebook game that is available to play now.

One way that the online poker community is trying to get its message out is through social media. As Rich Muny, the Vice President of Player Relations at the Poker Players Alliance (PPA), explained to WebProNews, interaction on social networks is very natural for poker players since the Internet is where they play their game.

Since the 2008 election, many politicians see that a presence in social media is important. In return, the poker industry is using this trend to get their message out. Muny told us that the perception is that all online gaming efforts are driven by lobbyists and not the players. However, through social media, the players themselves are able to show that they support legislation.

Social media outlets have also helped poker players provide education to lawmakers not only on legislative matters, but also on other areas involving the game of online poker.

“There’s education for legislation, education for what we’re seeking, education for what it does, and education on the fact that a lot of people support the right to play,” said Muny.

He calls the impact of social media “astounding” and said that it is especially important that poker celebrities such as Doyle Brunson, Phil Hellmuth, and Daniel Negreanu are actively participating in the conversation as well. Even if these stars don’t address the legislation issues specifically, they still help to create buzz around online poker. What’s more, organizations like the PPA can capitalize on the buzz to create further awareness.

Muny said that the social media efforts have been a “very effective” means for getting lots of information out quickly. The PPA even has a daily action plan that includes preset tweets and Facebook posts that target the exact legislators that need to be reached.

Muny told us that the online poker community hopes that its message is heard and that online poker will be regulated in the near future.

According to a release from the Safe and Secure Internet Gambling Initiative, some members of the house are looking to regulate the game.

Today, “influential member of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce” Joe Barton introduced the Internet Gambling Prohibition, Poker Consumer Protection, and Strengthening UIGEA Act of 2011 on the House floor. Besides being quite the mouthful, the bill would, among other things, assign regulatory powers to the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Barton is a Republican Congressman from Texas, but the bill has bi-partisan support. It is being co-sponsored by Shelly Berkley (D-NV), John Campbell (R-CA) and Steve Cohen (D-TN).

Here’s how it would work: The U.S. Commerce Dept. would become the overall regulators of this brand new industry. The bill would leave some power to the states, as their individual commissions would have the job of issuing the licenses to qualified applicants. To be a qualified applicant, operators would have to agree to certain regulations that would help protect against things like gambling abuse and such.

And of course the taxes collected from America’s love for online poker would hopefully “stimulate U.S. economic expansion.” You want new jobs and more revenue, people? Online poker is the way to do it says Barton.

According to market research, regulation of all forms of internet gambling would generate $67 billion over five years and create over 25,000 new jobs. Sounds pretty good to me.

Now, before you run along and get too giddy about this bill, it has one serious flaw in the eyes of some – the prohibition of credit card use to fund internet gambling. Here’s what Michael Waxman of Safe and Secure has to say about that:

“It simply doesn’t make sense to limit the use of credit cards for those seeking to gamble online. Consumer protections for users of credit cards are much greater than those involving most other forms of payment. If someone is interested in using funds from their credit card to gamble online, they are not going to be stopped from doing so. They’ll find less transparent mechanisms to move funds from cards to other payment mechanisms. The solution is to have broad consumer protections in place overall, and the law needs to require that in any case.”

Amen, brother.

Is there a real chance that this bill could gain enough support to survive? It’s tough to tell at this point. It’s important to note as well that this isn’t the only internet gambling bill on the table right now. H.R. 2230, introduced by three members of both parties, would charge a 2% tax at the federal level on internet gambling and would give the states the option of imposing an additional 6%.

Online poker has been on the minds of many since the DOJ seizures of many popular sites dubbed “Black Friday.” ICE seized even more domains recently.

As we are all well aware, people are going to find a way to play poker online. I guess the question becomes, does the government want to make money on it? Let us know what you think about the regulation of online poker.

According to RadarOnline, Maguire is just one of many Hollywood elite being sued in connection with a extremely high-stakes underground poker ring.

According to the court filings, the games were part of what they call “clandestine Texas Hold’em poker games” that were held at swanky locales like the Four Seasons in L.A., the Beverly Hills Hotel and occasionally at the private residences of the players. The lawsuit also says that they used “professional-type” poker tables and hired dealers.” I would sure hope so, as a high-stakes game on a foldout table with two decks you have to shuffle yourself seems like it would suck.

Private poker games for money are technically illegal in California, but it is rarely a prosecuted offense. Nobody involved is under criminal investigation as a result of the games.

So at the heart of the civil suit against Maguire is one of the game’s players, Ruderman Capital CEO Brad Ruderman. Ruderman was recently convicted on counts of both wire fraud and investment adviser fraud for organizing a Ponzi scheme that swindled millions out of his investors. Apparently, the FBI investigation into Ruderman found that he lost over $25 million of investor funds during these poker games. So not only is he a fraud, but he apparently sucks at cards. Swell.

The lawsuit alleges that Tobey Maguire received just over $300,000 of investor money as winnings from Ruderman. It’s unclear whether Maguire or any of the other players knew anything about Ruderman’s finances.

From the lawsuit –

The trustee is informed and believes that the Defendant (Maguire) did not have any contractual or other relationship with the Debtor, that the Defendant was not a member of, investor in, or creditor of, the Debtor, and that the Defendant improperly received funds of the Debtor. The trustee is further informed and believes that the Defendant received funds from the Debtor as payments for the personal gambling debts of Ruderman. The payment of the personal gambling debts of Ruderman was not an authorized or legal use of the fund of the Debtor, and was paid from funds of investors in, and members of, the Debtor.

Now the investors who lost their money want some of it back. And they are going after Maguire.

Here’s the other big news from all this – Maguire wasn’t the only A-lister involved in these games that had “armed guards in bulletproof vests” manning the doors. Matt Damon, Ben Affleck and Leonardo DiCaprio also played in the $100,000 buy-in hold’em games.

Forget all the civil suit stuff, I’m sure you want to know how the various stars played poker. Were they any good?

Apparently Tobey Maguire is excellent. According to Radar’s sources, he won around $1 million a month for a period of a couple years. Players were also impressed with Ben Affleck’s poker talent. But Damon and DiCaprio? Not so much. Apparently DiCaprio was a tightwad as well. Never would’ve guessed that.

It’s good to know that controversy can still come to good ol’ fashioned bricks and mortar poker games, not just all the online poker. $100,000 buy in? Try that on Full Tilt.

[Image Courtesy]