Featured Articles Archive - Page 684

WSOP Update - Day 29

LAS VEGAS -- One established professional won his first World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet on Monday night, while another will be looking to make history with his 10th tonight. Here's an update on all the action from the Rio All-Suites Hotel and Casino. Event # 32 - $5,000 Pot Limit Hold'em Jason Lester, best known for finishing fourth in the 2003 Main Event, won his first WSOP bracelet and over $550,000 by beating young Internet pro Alan Sass heads-up...read more

Sands Corp. Suing Sun Over 'Mean-Spirited' Column

Las Vegas Sands Corp. has sued the Las Vegas Sun, Publisher Barbara Greenspun and its business editor, claiming the company was libeled by a column that handicapped the recent bidding for a casino license in Singapore. The April 2 column, authored by Sun Business Editor Jeff Simpson, ranked Las Vegas Sands behind both MGM Mirage and Harrah's Entertainment in bids to win the right for developing the city-state's first casino site, located in Singapore's Marina Bay district. An eight-page complaint was filed in Clark County District Court July 12, seeking more than $10,000 in damages...read more

Lester Wins One for the Old Guard

LAS VEGAS -- It was a classic battle of the old guard versus the new guard, and after World Series of Poker (WSOP) veteran Jason Lester taught the young gun a quick lesson in heads up play, he left the Rio All-Suites Hotel & Casino in the traditional way, with a gold bracelet around his wrist and $550,764 in cash in a cardboard box. Alan Sass, meanwhile, stayed in character as a young gun, heading out the door with a small army of friends to one of Las Vegas' most well-known gentlemen's clubs...read more

Short-Term Prospects not Good for HR 4411 in the Senate

With the Senate facing a jam-packed schedule for the next week, all indications are that Internet gambling prohibition bill, HR 4411, will not progress to the Senate floor before the recess on Aug. 7. An aide to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., told Reuters last week that the bill would not receive a vote before the recess, which lasts until Sept...read more

World Series of Poker: Rivers Run Through It

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- Harrah's Entertainment Chairman Gary Loveman views the World Series of Poker much as he views one of the casino company's hotel operations. It's all about the brand. For Harrah's, the gaming industry's largest operator, it's three-year ownership of poker's iconic event has been leveraged into a year-round competition involving not just the six-week tournament at the Rio -- the World Series of Poker's home venue in Las Vegas -- but play at the company's casinos throughout the United States. Loveman, who engineered the purchase of the World Series of Poker from the Binion family in 2004, said the game has expanded enormously...read more

WSOP Update - Day 28

Two World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelets were awarded on Sunday night/Monday morning at the Rio All-Suites Hotel and Casino, both to relatively unknown players. Meanwhile, the final table for the $5,000 Pot Limit Hold'em event will be contested Monday, and Phil Hellmuth will try to make another final table in his quest for his 10th gold bracelet in the $1,000 No Limit Hold'em with Rebuys tournament. Event # 33 - $1,500 Seven-Card RazzJames Richburg of Long Beach, Calif., came from behind to defeat Carlos Mortensen to claim his first WSOP bracelet and win $139,576 in the $1,500 Seven-Card Razz early on Monday morning. Play started with 40 players at 4 p.m...read more

"Hyperborean" Wins Poker Bot Competition

BOSTON -- The University of Alberta's "Hyperborean" was the best poker playing computer program at the 21st National Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AAAI-06) at the Seaport Hotel and World Trade Center last week. Hyperborean defeated four other "poker bots," including teams from Carnegie Mellon University and Monash University in two competitions...read more

Rebecca's Recommendations - July 21, 2006

What craziness! Ok. BetOnSports has some serious issues to deal with. More specifically, the BetOnSports CEO was arrested at the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport on his way home to Costa Rica. Why? He was charged with racketeering conspiracy for participating in an illegal gambling enterprise...read more

IGT Records Higher Earnings

RENO, Nevada -- A slight increase in slot machine sales revenue during what analysts have considered a challenging market helped Reno-based International Game Technology grow earnings during the company's third quarter. The gaming industry's largest slot maker said Thursday that its product sales revenues increased 8 percent in the quarter ended June 30, largely because the games now being shipped are priced higher than previous models. IGT's third-quarter net income actually slipped slightly to $114.1 million compared with $114.7 million for the same quarter a year ago...read more

WPT Hit with Lawsuit

LOS ANGELES, California – A New York-based law firm hopes to turn a group of professional poker players into the Curt Flood of their sport. An antitrust lawsuit was filed Wednesday in federal court in Los Angeles against the operator of cable television's World Poker Tour, asking that producers no longer use the players' likenesses in conjunction with the broadcasts, video games and other World Poker Tour products. Players competing on the World Poker Tour signed agreements several years ago with the producers allowing their likenesses to be mass-distributed. "We believe those agreements are no longer valid," said Jeffrey Kessler, lead attorney for the players and a partner with Dewey Ballantine in New York. The World Poker Tour, televised on the Travel Channel since 2003, is considered one of the catalysts in growing the interest in poker nationwide. Kessler accused the World Poker Tour's producers of "price fixing" by colluding with 12 casinos to prevent players from entering tournaments unless they forfeit their rights...read more