Another interesting week of online poker in Nevada is now behind us and we’ve got a number of stories to get you caught up on.
We’ll start off this week’s column with our usual look at the big stories coming out of the two Nevada online poker sites, Ultimate Poker and WSOP.com, before moving on to the latest tournament results and traffic numbers in Nevada, and finally finishing up with an interesting story that could get a whole lot more interesting if the SCOTUS decides to hear a certain poker-related case.
Get ready for the scoop on all these stories and more in this week’s Nevada Online Poker Review.
The WSOP.com Scoop: Satellites to WSOPC Caesars Palace
WSOP.com is running tons of satellites to the World Series of poker this year, but as the World Series of Poker is still a ways off (it will be here sooner than you think though) WSOP.com is also offering their players satellites to an event a little closer on the calendar, the WSOP Circuit Series stop at Caesars Palace which begins on February 28th.
Beginning on February 19th and running through the 26th, WSOP.com will host a nightly satellite to the $1,650 Main Event at the WSOPC Caesars Palace. The satellites will be $16.50 buy-ins with rebuys and add-ons available. At least one seat will be awarded each night.
You can find the complete satellite schedule by visiting www.WSOP.com.
The Ultimate Poker Scoop: Two Street Holdem on hold
After we spent last week’s Ultimate Poker Scoop teasing the imminent launch of Two Street Holdem, Ultimate Poker threw a monkey wrench in the engine and put a damper on things when they announced the launch of their new game would be put on hold to work out a few more details.
The delay was relayed to the poker community by Chris Danek, who also happens to be the game’s creator.
According to Danek’s Twitter account, UP is still trying to work out the best blind/ante structure for the game as well as iron some of the interface issues the game creates—being a two street game and using the four-street software of Holdem games.
Weekly Guaranteed Tournaments in Nevada
WSOP.com Sunday $15K Guaranteed
The WSOP.com Sunday Guaranteed in Nevada blew through its guarantee this week, as 89 players put up the $215 buy-in ($200+$15), creating a prize-pool of $17,800.
Here is a look at how the final table participants fared:
- MrBeaumont – $5,073.00
- deigo – $2,937.00
- Leona – $1,780.00
- BShriever5 – $1,424.00
- Roldy – $1,228.20
- MrMcSpewins – $1050.20
- Turbozzz – $872.20
- SuGaRaY71 – $605.20
- Karla10 – $480.60
The $10K Guarantee tournament at Ultimate Poker
Ultimate Poker’s $100 buy-in ($91+$9) $10k Sunday Guaranteed pulled in 119 players, just inching past the guarantee, as the prize-pool’s final tally was $10,829.
- dubasdb – $2,782.54
- RunninGoodMC – $1,949.44
- allprowi – $1,324.65
- FeelsGoodMan – $983.10
- PokerPro – $758.17
- BullDog59 – $583.24
- DeepInYa – $474.93
- FLUFFYBUNNY – $366.62
- jnasty1979 – $256.31
Traffic trends in Nevada
Cash-game traffic in Nevada barely moved week-over-week according to www.pokerscout.com. WSOP.com is maintaining average traffic numbers of 110-120 cash-game players. Ultimate Poker seems to be using the cruise control button as well, as average traffic at the site remains at 75 cash-game players.
The word on the street
DiCristina case is up to the Supreme Court
This Friday the United States Supreme Court will decide if they will hear the DiCristina v. United States case, which was pivotal in getting poker recognized as a game of skill—a ruling that was unfortunately later reversed.
Here is a look at what will be up for discussion from the SCOTUS blog—yeah, the Supreme Court has a blog; who knew:
Issue: (1) Whether 18 U.S.C. § 1955, which outlaws certain “gambling business[es]” and provides that gambling “includes but is not limited to pool-selling, bookmaking, maintaining slot machines, roulette wheels or dice tables, and conducting lotteries, policy, bolita or numbers games, or selling chances therein,” makes it a federal felony to host poker games; and (2) whether including-but-not-limited-to clauses merely provide examples without in any way limiting the term being defined (as five circuits have held) or whether they restrict the term being defined to things of the same general kind as those enumerated (as four circuits and many state courts of last resort have held).
The DiCristina case stems from a private poker game in New York where Lawrence DiCristina was charged with running an illegal gambling operation. DiCristina successfully argued that poker was a game of skill, but that decision was later overturned, and now the case is making its final stop at the Supreme Court.
If the court chooses not to hear the case the current ruling will remain.
