PokerWorks

Splashing the Pot captures the foam created by the disturbance and turbulence of action, action, action, and is filled with tidbits above and beyond the victories and beats and adds a little spice to the game of poker.

Full Tilt Poker Introduces Rush Poker
Full Tilt Poker, in many people’s eyes, has created the greatest thing to come to online poker since maybe the invention of online poker itself.  Before you sit down to play your first hand of Rush Poker, you are warned by a pop-up screen: “Rush Poker is extremely fast paced – prepare yourself for the most intense poker action in the world!”

Intense is right.  When you decide what limit you want to play you are added to a player pool of up to 1000 players.  When you fold a hand you are automatically shipped off to another table, limiting the time you have between hands to literally about a second.  If you see that you don’t like your hand right away you can opt to click the “quick fold” button as opposed to waiting for the action to be on you, and this too ships you automatically to your new table.
 
While most initial reviews have nothing but praises for the new innovation, some aren’t so kind, suggesting it takes something out of the game.  For starters your table position changes constantly, so there is no getting comfortable at any table.  It also takes the part of the game out where you sit patiently waiting for someone to make a mistake so you can pounce on them.  However, you do play with the same 1000 people and over time you are going to start to see the same players.  People have suggested that making use of your “notes” feature will be needed in order to succeed at this game.  There is only one way to find out if you like it, and that’s to get into the action yourself by using this link on PokerWorks.

Aussie Millions Action Continues Down Under
On our last edition of “Splashing the Pot,” event #4, the $1,100 buy-in, was winding down with a handful of notable players left, and one of those notable players ended up the winner.  Annette “Annette_15” Obrestad entered the final table third in chips, and hours later she was hoisting the $40,000 first place prize.

Jonathan Karamalikis took down event #6, the $1,650 No Limit Hold’em with bounties tournament.  After the prize pool and bounties were added up, Karamalikis walked away with AUD $122,700 which amounts to just over $111,000. Perhaps better known online as “xMonsterDongx” and “MONSTER_DONG,” Karamalikis controlled the action from the final two tables down, entering the final table with the chip lead, and never once lost it on his way to victory.

Additionally the $1,100 H.O.R.S.E. tournament is heads-up between Raabi Mattouk and Paul Ramondetta.  Mattouk holds a 540,000 to 370,000 chip lead over Ramondetta as of this writing.

Poker Players Alliance Gears Up for Big Couple of Months
The PPA had a small victory when in December of 2009 the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) was delayed for six months instead of being put into effect; with the new date for it take place being June 1, 2010.  Rather than rest on that small victory, the PPA, over one million strong, continues to look for ways to delay the UIGEA again, this time permanently.

Congressman Barney Frank (D-MA), who first sponsored the Internet Gambling Regulation and Enforcement Act in 2007, has been able to drum up the support of 65 fellow members of Congress, including most recently Elion Engel (D-NY) and Charlie Melancon (D-LA).

The next step for Frank and the PPA is to push for a mark-up meeting (a meeting of the committee held to review the text of a bill before reporting it out) in Congress in regards to bill HR 2267 which is the Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection, and Enforcement Bill.  If they receive this mark-up meeting they would like to get this bill to congress to be voted on as soon as possible, and one of the ways they could do it has a bit of an ironic twist to it.  In 2006 sneaky members of Congress who opposed internet gambling added the bill to the Port Security bill, which was of course sure to pass.  While Frank’s main reason for attaching his bill to another bill is more for time constraints than in an effort to “get back” at anyone, there are those who have taken notice of the irony value which could arise.

Charity Tournaments Continue for Victims of the Haitian Earthquake
A number of poker rooms will continue to host poker tournaments with portions of the proceeds going to the Haitian earthquake relief efforts. The Microgaming Network is hosting a 10 + 1 tournament with all proceeds going directly to the Haitian Health Foundation.  The tournament starts on Friday at 6:30 GMT.  If you don’t already have a Microgaming Network poker room in your list of favorites, you can register today with LadBrokes Poker.
 
PokerStars and Full Tilt also continue to match donations made on their “dummy” tournament lobbies.

Freeroll Fun Continues on PokerWorks
PokerWorks celebrates adding Winner Poker to its family of poker rooms with a Freeroll with a $1000 prize pool.  To be eligible for the tournament, download Winner Poker and meet the requirements by Tuesday, January 26 at 2:35 PM eastern time.  The freeroll is also open to members of Winner Poker, provided you originally downloaded Winner Poker from PokerWorks.

Party Gaming Acquires TonyG Poker Assets and Signs Tony G
Tony G is in high spirits and very elated about joining the Party Poker Team as he shares his news with you in the PartyPoker Blog. In Tony’s words, “The daddy of them all to me though is the Premier League and I am focused and ready for the challenge in Vegas in February… After coming second and third in the Premier League in the last two years I am so determined to take it down this time.” Tony’s at the Aussie Millions now, with his bike, will he be riding out or giving it someone else?

Play with Tony G at Party Poker!

*Read Billy Monroe’s Blog*