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]

Ivey, one of poker’s biggest stars and a long time member of “Team Full Tilt,” has been pretty quiet since the Black Friday Department of Justice seizures of PokerStars, Full Tilt and Absolute Poker. But now It looks as though the 8-time bracelet winner is taking up the cause of the people by working to settle the millions of player accounts that he believes Full Tilt has handled poorly.

Just a week after the initial crackdown on the big three sites, the DOJ announced that they had come to domain agreements with PokerStars and Full Tilt. They decided to open the .com domains back up to facilitate fund returns. By the end of April, PokerStars was slowly beginning to process cashouts.

Full Tilt has drawn the ire of many players for their handling of the situation. It was not until the middle of May that the company contacted customers regarding refunds. This was the first mention of cashouts that Full Tilt customers received following the April 15th shutdowns. The vague email made the statement “We apologize for the delay and the fact that we underestimated the time it would take to work through these issues.”

Phil Ivey is not pleased with Full Tilt and has made an announcement via multiple Facebook posts:

Phil IveyFor many years, I have been proud to call myself a poker player. This great sport has taken me to places I only imagined going and I have been blessed with much success. It is therefore with deep regret that I believe I am compelled to release the following statement. 9 hours ago · 782 likes · Comment

Phil IveyI am deeply disappointed and embarrassed that Full Tilt players have not been paid money they are owed. I am equally embarrassed that as a result many players cannot compete in tournaments and have suffered economic harm. 9 hours ago · 659 likes · Comment

Phil IveyI am not playing in the World Series of Poker as I do not believe it is fair that I compete when others cannot. I am doing everything I can to seek a solution to the problem as quickly as possible. 9 hours ago · 664 likes · Comment

Phil IveyMy name and reputation have been dragged through the mud, through the inactivity and indecision of others and on behalf of all poker players I refuse to remain silent any longer. I have electronically filed a lawsuit against Tiltware related to the unsettled player accounts. As I am sure the public can imagine, this was not an easy decision for me. 9 hours ago · 616 likes · Comment

Phil IveyI wholeheartedly refuse to accept non-action as to repayment of players funds and I am angered that people who have supported me throughout my career have been treated so poorly. 9 hours ago · 576 likes · Comment

Phil IveyI sincerely hope this statement will ignite those capable of resolving the problems into immediate action and would like to clarify that until a solution is reached that cements the security of all players, both US and International, I will, as I have for the last six weeks, dedicate the entirety of my time and efforts to finding a solution for those who have been wronged by the painfully slow process of repayment. 9 hours ago · 679 likes · 120 comments

According to BLUFF Ivey was a no-show at the $25,000 heads-up event on the opening day of the WSOP, prompting many to wonder about his whereabouts, as he was expected to compete in the event. Everyone got their answer last night as these Facebook posts began rolling in around 11 pm EST.

The rest of the Poker World has responded to the announcement via Twitter:

What do you think about the announcement? Everything about Phil Ivey in the past suggests that he is a truly genuine person. This decision to sit out the WSOP comes at great financial and emotional cost to him, I’m sure. Is he right to go to bat for the common poker player? Or would you rather see him in action at the WSOP?

[Photo Courtesy of Ivey's Twitter Account]

The long term concern is about the uncertain future of the game in the United States.  Will online poker ever get the national go-ahead along with federal regulation?  Will state governments butt heads with the federal government on the legality issue?  Will under the radar real-money sites continue to operate, or was the takedown of the big three a sign of things to come?

The more immediate concern has been about the money.  Many if not most serious online poker players have some degree of funds tied up in either PokerStars, Absolute Poker or Full Tilt.  Concerns that the money might have simply disappeared were partially assuaged last week when the U.S. government reached domain name agreements with PokerStars and Full Tilt to allow to facilitation of returns.

It looks as though PokerStars is now beginning the process of cashing out American players.

According to Bluff, PokerStars representative Steve Day announced in the Two Plus Two PokerCast (a podcast) yesterday that payouts could begin as early as yesterday the 26th in the best-case scenario.  From Bluff:

In an interview for the Two Plus Two PokerCast, PokerStars representative Steve Day announced that US players may be able to start processing cashouts starting Tuesday in a best-case scenario. Reports from players attempting to cash out after hearing the announcement noticed several different options available: Wire transfer (minimum $50,000), Check (up to $2,500), and Cashout Request to Direct Bank Transfer. The latter method states processing will take up to 72 hours with payment appearing in player’s bank accounts within five business days.

UPDATE: Selecting the “Cashout Request to Direct Bank Transfer” option now asks for additional banking information.

And apparently they have begun. PokerNews reported that sure enough, when they logged into their PokerStars account they were greeted with a pop up that said, “ We are pleased to announce that the Cash Out option in the PokerStars Cashier is now available.”  They were also told to expect delays in processing and delivering of funds.

CardPlayer posted a copy of the email sent to PokerStars players:

In light of recent developments, PokerStars is no longer offering real money play to residents of the United States of America and its territories.

The PokerStars Cashier is now available for you to cash out the funds in your real money account balance. We strongly recommend that you use the bank transfer option; to use it, you will need to have your current banking information at hand.

Please note that due to the expected high volume of cashout requests, we anticipate a delay in processing and delivery of your funds. Rest assured that your funds are safe and we will process your request as soon as possible.

Please contact paymentservices@pokerstars.com if you experience any issues.

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

So it looks like PokerStars users can proceed with extracting their winnings.  Although if you believe in jinxing, well, you might want to leave just a fraction of your funds in the account, as a good faith measure that the service will be up and running soon as the federal government extricates its head from its ass.

Some in the poker world are a bit concerned about the cashout process.  But c’mon, BJ! Don’t freak everyone out…geez.

Where’s my money?

As we told you last week, the U.S. government, PokerStars and Full Tilt poker reached domain name agreements a few days after the initial crackdown.  As part of those agreements, the .com domains for those sites will be restored in order to “facilitate returns of U.S. player funds.”

As of today, however, cash-outs are not yet available to U.S. players.  On the Pokerstars.com homepage, they link to a FAQ section that details where the company stands on money returns:

Your account balance is completely safe. You will be allowed to cash out your balance.

PokerStars has reached an agreement with the US Department of Justice that will allow players to cash out as soon as a suitable processor is found. This publically available agreement includes assurances from the DOJ that player cashouts can be processed safely. Cashouts for US residents are expected to be available within several weeks.

The Cash Out option in the PokerStars Cashier will temporarily be unavailable, to allow us to prepare the technical solutions and formulate the plan and processes required to allow you to cash out your balance. We will notify all US players as soon as this option is available again.

Providing you with the facility to cash out is our top priority right now, and hopefully US players will be able to cash out via the PokerStars Cashier in the near future.

Cashouts that have already been requested will be reversed and postponed to a later date, when they become available for everyone.  Money transfers to other players are also prohibited at this time.

Notably left out of that domain agreement announcement last week was Absolute Poker and its Ultimate Bet brand.  Since that announcement they have issues a statement regarding similar actions:

Absolute Poker has retained Blank Rome LLP as United States counsel to provide legal advice in relation to civil and criminal matters filed in federal court in Manhattan and made public on April 15, 2011. Absolute Poker is aware that on April 19, 2011, the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York entered into separate agreements with FullTilt Poker and PokerStars. These agreements concern the use of the respective www.fulltiltpoker.com and www.pokerstars.com domain names. The US Attorney, in a press release dated April 20, 2011, stated that the government is willing to enter the same agreement with Absolute Poker and UB.

Hopefully these refunds won’t take too long to begin.  Some people I know just might have rent money tied up in these sites. Ahem.

Real-Life Aftermath

Moving slightly away from the online impacts, Black Friday has led to some notable repercussions among the non-virtual world.  In the wake of the takedown, ESPN pulled poker advertising and certain televised poker events from its programming.  The PokerStars-sponsored North American Poker Tour as well as advertising paid for by online poker sites was axed.  The World Series of Poker will air as scheduled, however, to the collective delight of poker fans.

ESPN was not the only network to pull programming, as Fox and Game Show Network followed suit.  Fox pulled PokerStars’ The Big Game and Million Dollar Challenge while GSN has relegated its High Stakes Poker to only one night, Saturday from 10 pm to 3 am.

Some bricks-and-mortar tournaments have either been cancelled outright or downsized significantly.  Full Tilt’s Onyx Cup has cancelled its first two Las Vegas events and the World Team Poker championships in Vegas have been postponed.

Some online tourneys have reduced their prize pools significantly, for example Full Tilt’s FTOPS XX kicked off Saturday with a prize pool guarantee of $13 million as opposed to the original $38 million.  PokerStars’ SCOOP series downgraded from $45 million to $25 million guaranteed.  Thanks to Bluff Magazine for this tidbit.

Also, out of the 11 people officially indicted on April 15th, three have been arraigned and entered not guilty pleas.  These three include Utah bank exec John Campos and payment processors Chad Elie and Bradley Franzen.

Well, I still wanna play…what do I do now?

Even if the targeted sites being processing payouts soon, they have completely lost the ability to allow real-money play and to accept deposits. Playing on those sites isn’t an option.  Where else to get your fix?  Bluff has compiled a list of sites unaffected by this recent crackdown, many of which are offering deposit bonuses up to 200%.  These sites include DoylesRoom.com, PPNPoker.com and Bodog.com.

This obviously raises the question of security.  It’s fair to wonder how long these sites have before something similar to Black Friday happens to them.  But to the poker players with the cojones to pony up cash at this time, there are options.

As one commenter put it, “I think the best thing Poker players can do is flood these sites. If we force the government to play whack a mole… eventually this will force their hand into sensible legislation. If whenever they succeed at bringing one or two down, and others immediately arrive to fill the vacuum, they may soon see it as an overall losing battle with us.  I, for one, will be playing in a few of these rooms and hope to see many US and world players there”

Right on soldier.  I must confess that I may, unfortunately, lack the gumption to follow in those brave footsteps.  As hard as it is, the right thing might be to wait this one out – if only for a bit.  Or maybe I am over-thinking this, so…shuffle up and deal?

The Good, the Bad and the Funny…ish

The immediate aftermath saw poker lovers take to social media to vent their frustration, attempt to calm people down or to kick the online poker community while it was down.  The response has continued to be interesting if nothing else.

U.S. representative Barney Frank, always highly quotable, chastised the Justice Department and the White House for what he feels is a waste of resources and screwed up priorities.  He said the administration is “protecting the public from the scourge of inside straights” and asked that they “go after the people responsible for empty house, not full house.” (Yuk yuk)

While the poker-twitterverse has calmed, high profile individuals are still snark-tastic.  Take for instance Norman Chad’s tweet from earlier today:

The blame Obama train has seen its share of boarders.  Along with some representatives in Congress and Norman Chad, there’s this, whatever it is:

Where do you stand with all the online poker hullabaloo? Will you play at an alternate site or wait it out? What do you think the future looks like for the game? This writer is feeling somewhat of a rare emotion for him – optimism. Are you?

The network, based in Bristol, Connecticut, said this to Bloomberg in an email:

“We are aware of the indictment only through what has been announced publicly. For the immediate future, we are making efforts to remove related advertising and programming pending further review.”

Of course this announcement comes on the heels of “Poker’s Black Friday.” Eleven executives were indicted for fraud and violation of internet anti-gambling laws and 76 bank accounts associated with PokerStars, Absolute Poker and Full Tilt Pokerwere frozen.  The FBI also seized five different .com domains associated with the companies.

The extent of the content scheduled to be pulled by ESPN is unclear.  Removing advertising is an obvious move, as much of it is related to online poker sites.  What poker programming will stay and what will go is of great concern to poker fans, as the popular World Series of Poker is set to air on the network this summer.

ESPN.com’s poker editor Andrew Feldman has tweeted that WSOP events will not be removed, only North American Poker Tour (NAPT) events.  NAPT is a fledgling professional tour sponsored by PokerStars.

Many professional players show up to the WSOP basically dressed as walking billboards for online poker sites.  I wonder how many of them will be dressed this year.  Will ESPN have any sort of limit to this type of advertising?

What do you think of ESPN’s move? Let us know.

"We are very excited to bring the thrill and excitement of the World Series of Poker to the social
gaming space with Playdom," says WSOP VP Craig Abrahams. "We will immediately start to work on enhancing the game, bringing unique WSOP promotions and sweepstakes into the offering and ensuring that the battle for WSOP virtual championship bracelets can become a
Facebook-friendly endeavor."

"There is only one brand in poker that stands out and that is the World Series of Poker," said Sean
Phinney, VP of Business Development for Playdom. "We think big brands will win on social networks and we are excited to start working together to create a unique and fun social gaming experience."

The app is also available on MySpace, with other social networks following soon.

Playdom currently boasts over 46 million active monthly users across its network of games. Disney is paying $563.2 Million plus an earn-out of up to $200 Million.

In other online poker news, the New York Times reports that the House Financial Services Committee approved a bill that would effectively legalize online poker and other nonsports betting, overturning a 2006 federal ban. The publicatno also reports,  "Two of the biggest European operators of Internet betting sites, PartyGaming and Bwin Interactive Entertainment, said Thursday that they planned to merge, forming the world’s largest publicly traded online gambling company."

I would imagine that we’ll be seeing a lot more happening with this industry.

The World Series of Poker final table in Las Vegas has been set and poker superstar Phil Ivey is still in it..

The final table is as follows:

Phil Ivey [philivey.com]

Seat 1: Darvin Moon – 58,930,000
Seat 2: James Akenhead – 6,800,000
Seat 3: Phil Ivey – 9,765,000
Seat 4: Kevin Schaffel – 12,390,000
Seat 5: Steven Begleiter – 29,885,000
Seat 6: Eric Buchman – 34,800,000
Seat 7: Joe Cada – 13,215,000
Seat 8: Antoine Saout – 9,500,000
Seat 9: Jeff Shulman – 19,580,000

The player on the bubble eliminated in 10th place was Jordan Smith who collected $896,730 for his effort.

Perhaps the most unlucky player was Former University of Kentucky student Billy Kopp who at one point yesterday held the chip lead. He ended his day going all in for over $20 million with a 5-3 diamond flush only to be called by Darvin Moon’s Q-J diamond flush! Bad Beat Billy was drawing dead and finished in 12th place for a $896, 730 payday.

The winner in Novemer will receive $8,546,435 and a World Series of Poker bracelet. Here are the payouts for the final table:

1st — $8,546,435

2nd — $5,182,601

3rd — $3,479,485

4th — $2,502,787

5th — $1,953,395

6th — $1,587,133

7th — $1,404,002

8th — $1,300,228

9th — $1,263,602