Unprecedented Agreement with China State Sports Administration (CSSA) Provides WPTE Long-Term Exclusive Rights to Nation’s First National Poker Tour
Jeff Sofka of Bendigo Co. today announced that the company has helped engineer the development of China’s first-ever Government Sanctioned National Poker Tour in partnership with WPT Enterprises, Inc. and negotiated unprecedented exclusive rights to the Tour for its client. Women poker.
The agreement secures an innovative and exclusive marketing partnership in which WPT will be the Tour’s Commercial Sanctioning Partner along with the CSSA Leisure Sport Administrative Center (CLSAC), the Government’s National Sanctioning Federation for Poker. In addition, the WPT will manage the traditional “Properties” role for the Tour’s commercial rights, and is the Tour’s Title Sponsor. Play route 66 poker.
“WPT is thrilled to have the opportunity to extend our brand into this exciting market,” said Steve Lipscomb, CEO of WPTE, speaking at the Press Conference announcing the Tour in Beijing today, “and Sofka’s innovative thinking, strong relationships and knowledge of the market here have made this day possible.”
The WPT China National Traktor Poker Tour will debut in late 2007, with competitions across China leading to the first National championship team for this exciting Chinese Poker Game. This is the first time such a Poker Tournament has been held in China, which is expected to grow the popularity of the most widely played Chinese game to new levels, borrowing from the WPT success story in the US.
“Today is an exciting day for the CLSAC as we launch this new Tour with WPT,” said Mr. Xing Xiaoquan, Director of the CLSAC, “and we appreciate Mr. Sofka’s efforts in helping us take this idea from a dream into reality.”
Sofka teamed up with Business Development Heads Jon Kaplowitz and Laurence Kalinsky of WPTE, and Jimmy Shang of Bendigo’s Joint Venture Company in China, COG Marketing Group, to engineer the project. Play online poker.
WPT China will be created to operate the venture in Beijing under management of COG Marketing Group, which specializes in sports marketing for the China market. Shang and Sofka will spearhead the project on behalf of COGMG and WPTE.
Online poker players can be from anyplace in the world, playing at the same online felt, and with the satellites offered by many poker sites, they could also go just about anyplace in the world to play live tournaments.
One of the latest offerings is from PKR, which is awarding $52,000 worth of European Poker Tour prize packages for events in Barcelona and London.
The Barcelona event will be kicking off Season 4 of the EPT Aug. 28 through Sept. 1. With its €8,000 buy-in, it may seem like an impossibility for the average player, but for as little as $1.28+10¢, PKR players & women poker players can win their way there.
That satellite qualifiers for that amount have already begun, with the lowest cost daily multi-table poker tournaments running daily to get players into the $22.80+$1 daily multi-table tournaments, which will in turn get players into the weekly qualifier for the grand final satellite playing Aug. 10.
The weekly qualifier has a buy-in of $54+$5 and will hand out one seat to the grand final for every five players entered.
The grand final has a direct buy-in of $250+$20, and has guaranteed two prize packages worth $13,000 each to send players to Barcelona. The package includes $11,000 for the buy-in and $2,000 in spending money. Play route 66 poker.
"PKR.com is fast earning a reputation as a top destination for tournament poker," said Neil Wright, PKR card room manager. "With over $120,000 up for grabs every week in our guaranteed tournament schedule plus our highly popular regular promotions the word has gotten out and we're seeing records broken nearly every week."
He continued saying, "The EPT Barcelona and London qualifying programs are going to add even more spice and we're really looking forward to seeing our players get their shot at the big time." Play $500 match poker bonus.
The EPT London event is scheduled for Sept. 25-29, and PKR players can start trying to win their way when satellites start Aug. 13.
The full details of the qualifying program for London will be announced in coming weeks. Stay tuned to our poker blog for latest updates.
Most online poker players were merely annoyed when the failed politician, Bill Frist, used his position as Senate Majority Leader last year to ram his Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act through the Republican-controlled Congress. Sites run by publicly traded companies, including the largest, PartyPoker, stopped accepting players & women poker players from the U.S. But privately owned Internet poker rooms found their businesses doubling.
Similarly, when, first PayPal and then FirePay, announced they would no longer send or receive funds from gaming sites, players poured even more money into the leading e-wallet, Neteller. Play route 66 poker.
Then, the founders of Neteller were arrested, and the company, without warning, dropped the American gaming market. Neteller compounded the crisis by freezing all American accounts.
Online poker players have had to turn to other means to load funds on websites. But most banks decided years ago not to allow their credit cards to be used for 7995 transactions, the merchant code for playing online poker & gaming.
The Department of Justice also sent subpoenas to the investment banks, accountants, and even law firms, responsible for taking Internet gaming companies public on the London exchange.
Business for many Internet poker sites has dropped by 25% or more. Players are not only finding it difficult to get funds transferred. They are scared.
I receive e-mails every day from player who want to know if they are going to be arrested because they have played poker online. Some have asked for and received checks from poker operators, and are now afraid to cash the checks. Play $500 match poker bonus.
So, to answer these concerns:
1) You are not going to go to jail for merely playing poker online. It is not a federal crime to make a bet. Half the states do have ancient laws on the books making it a crime, sometimes, to make a bet. But these are never enforced. I have been unable to find anyone who has been charged, let alone convicted, for playing Internet poker.
2) It is safe to cash or deposit checks from online poker operators. Be aware that Americans are supposed to report and pay taxes on virtually all income from any source. The only crime the federal government really cares about when it comes to gamblers is tax evasion.
3) Your money can get tied up if a gaming operator or e-wallet decides to stop dealing with Americans. It has been more than six months since the CEO of BetOnSports was arrested changing planes in Dallas, and the money in its American former patrons' accounts is still tied up. Players will probably get 100% of their money back. Eventually. Without interest. So, do not keep too much money in any one place. Download poker wallpapers.
4) Be careful about new sites. Unscrupulous operators can jump in to fill the vacuum. The danger is greater with e-wallets than with gaming operators. Today, a crooked poker site would be slammed by players all over the blogosphere. But a crooked bank could act legitimately, until its operators disappeared with all the funds.
5) Although there is virtually no chance of getting arrested, you can get into trouble by playing poker on the Internet, when you use someone else's computer. The company you work for owns the office computers, and can legally spy on what you are doing. While it is not a crime under federal law to make a bet, it is grounds for dismissal if you are a federal employee gambling on federal property. Similarly, some colleges don't want gambling to take place in their dorms on their central computer systems. Stay tuned to our poker blog for latest updates.
Remember, even though there is money involved, it's not worth losing your job for or getting kicked out of school - it's only a game.
The state that can boast that it fielded the last two World Series of Poker champions will be hosting their State Championship once again at the Commerce Casino in the world’s largest poker room. The 2007 California State Championship will kick off on Tuesday September 4, and run 19 events with buy ins that range from $220 to $2,500. Online poker. Local and national poker pros are expected to attend, such as Antonio Esfandiari, Phil Laak and Tuan Le, and perhaps even the current WSOP champion, Jerry Yang, and last year’s champion, Jamie Gold, who are both from California. Women poker players.
Ethics Code Comes Out of World Poker Association
The World Poker Association has announced an adoption of an ethics code they hope will help promote professionalism in the poker industry. Download poker wallpapers. The ethics code will have to be adopted by any member, and in fact is mandatory for admission in the WPA, and for those current members that wish to remain affiliated. The Ethics Code is really an expansion of the Ethics Compliance Pledge already held by the WPA, and was developed with the help of Ethics Committee Co-Chair and World Series of Poker Champion Tom McEvoy. Stay tuned to our poker blog for latest updates.
Shortly after Hurricane Katrina, a group of local filmmakers rolled the dice with one of the first post-storm feature film projects in the region. This week, that gamble paid off in the form of a distribution agreement with MGM that will see the poker film "Deal" open nationwide. Download poker wallpapers.
he film -- starring Burt Reynolds, Charles Durning and Shannon Elizabeth -- will premiere in Las Vegas on Sept. 17. It will be released Sept. 28 to 250 screens in the nation's top 30 markets and New Orleans, said New Orleans native Michael Arata, whose Voodoo Productions collaborated with Crescent City Pictures on "Deal."
"Deal" tells the story of a raw, young poker player (Bret Harrison) who teams up with a wily veteran (Reynolds) to hone his skills. In a "Color of Money"-flavored twist, student and teacher have a falling out, after which they meet at the poker table in a high-stakes Texas Hold 'Em Poker tournament.
Gil Cates Jr. ("The Mesmerist") directed and wrote the film. Arata and business partner Jerry Daigle share producing credits.
"Deal" has the backing of the World Poker Tour, and it will be populated by real-life poker stars such as Phil "The Unabomber" Laak, Antonio "The Magician" Esfandiari, Chris Moneymaker, Joe Hachem, and actress and woman poker champ Jennifer Tilly. World Poker Tour co-hosts Vince Van Patten and Mike Sexton also appear, and the tour provided its TV set for the film's final showdown.
"It's the poker player's poker movie," Arata said. "We've got the 2003, 2004 and 2005 World Series of Poker champions."
Much of the film was shot at the Boomtown Casino in Harvey, with a couple of days worth of shooting done at Harrah's New Orleans Casino.
The film's trailer -- online at www.dealthemovie.com -- suggests a slick vibe, with a soundtrack to match.
At first though, Arata wasn't sure the movie would be a match for the city so soon after Katrina.
"We didn't know how the city would react, or if the city was even up for having a film production go through their neighborhoods," he said. "I thought, 'People are going through enough stuff in their lives.' " Play route 66 poker.
Then he saw how storm-weary local residents embraced the distraction -- and Reynolds.
"It's one of those days," Arata said, "where you think, 'Wow, I'm really doing something good.' "
Arata's Voodoo Productions is busy with more than just "Deal."
Two homemade films that the company shot this year with "American Pie" producer Warren Zide -- the teen comedy "American Summer," shot in New Orleans, and the horror flick "Autopsy," shot in Jackson, La. -- are in post-production at Louisiana Media Services in Baton Rouge. Both are scheduled for 2008 release. Play online poker.
Voodoo Productions and Zide are currently doing pre-production work in town on another film, the comedy "The Big One 3."
. . . . . . .
RUMOR HAS IT: The secretive local feature film production operating with the working title "Hunting & Fishing" is apparently the newest big-screen spoof from some of the writers behind the "Scary Movie" series.
The local and Hollywood New Regency Films production offices have been mum about every facet of the movie -- genre, plot, actors, etc. But the Los Angeles Daily News reported that the film will be a big-screen sendup of the epic Spartan battle film "300" and will star Kevin Sorbo ("Hercules") and Carmen Electra ("Scary Movie," "Epic Movie").
That explains the recent call for extras that included a request for models and bodybuilder types. Play $500 match poker bonus.
The Daily News report said the production was also on the lookout for look-alikes for Paris Hilton, Kevin Federline, Tyra Banks, Sanjaya Malakar, Ryan Seacrest, the three "American Idol" judges, the three "Dancing With the Stars" judges and Sylvester Stallone.
The writers and producers of "Hunting & Fishing" are reportedly Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer, both of whom share writing credits on the "Scary Movie" films with several other people.
Two huge movements have swept across the American pop culture landscape in the past few years- online social networking and the popularity of poker. A new web site, K9Poker.com, attempts to bring these two concepts together.
Social networking websites such as MySpace and YouTube have become main stream and are two of the most widely visited websites on the internet. Women poker. The corporate establishment is recognizing the value of these websites and betting on them as important marketing vehicles. In 2006, News Corp purchased Intermix Media Inc., owner of the popular MySpace.com for the sum of $580 million. More recently, Google bought out the ever popular video sharing website, YouTube.com, for $1.65 billion. Download poker wallpapers.
The mainstreaming of poker has been fostered by the popularity of The World Series of Poker event, the World Poker Tour series and the advent of online poker web sites like Partypoker.com. ComScore Media Metrix - which measures all U.S. Internet users at home, work and college locations -- reports more than 29.1 million monthly unique visitors to online gambling sites. Even with the passing of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006, playing poker remains one of the most popular recreational activities in the US and worldwide. Play $500 match poker bonus.
K9Poker.com, started by two amateur poker players, was created to connect people together through their common interest in poker. There are thousands of home games, poker tournaments, and players in cities all across US listed on this web site with new listings entered everyday. Poker players can use K9Poker.com to post a poker profile, establish a personal network of poker friends, search for local home games and tournaments, write poker blogs, find useful poker information, discuss poker, and much more. Poker News Source: eMedia Wire
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Unprecedented Agreement with China State Sports Administration (CSSA) Provides WPTE Long-Term Exclusive Rights to Nation’s First National Poker Tour
