It's been nearly a week since the final table of the 2011 World Series of Poker was determined and poker's biggest tournament series ended on a great high. It's now time to go back to reality and deal with an online industry that continues to search for answers.
On June 29, the Alderney Gambling Control Commission suspended the license of Full Tilt Poker. That suspension ensured that players could not play on the site or access any money in their accounts. On Tuesday, attorneys for Full Tilt Poker met with the AGCC and many expected that a decision would be made on whether FTP's license would be reinstated (and play would resume). According to PokerNews.com, no decision on that front was made, but instead, the hearing was adjourned to allow further discussions regarding the sale of the company to take place. The AGCC said that the two groups will come together again no later than September 15, 2011.
The hearing was scheduled to take place in a public setting, but the AGCC granted the appeal of privacy from FTP's lawyers who, according to EGaming Review, "... gave two reasons why a public hearing should be switched in favour of a private session suggesting that 'highly commercially sensitive information' could be revealed, which could then have a 'highly damaging effect' on any acquisition of the licenses and assets by a third party. He added that 'privilege versus self-incrimination' was also a factor. In other words, other proceedings, such as those in the US, would affect the respondents if the hearing continued to be held in public."
Both sources also mentioned that during the hearing, it was revealed that Full Tilt Poker owes the AGCC approximately 250,000 pounds in unpaid licensing fees.
As Full Tilt faced the fire, Bodog became the latest company to reveal their brand's exit strategy for the U.S. market. According to a release this morning, the Bodog brand will cease to operate in the United States at the end of the year.
The statement addressed the fact that Bodog UK had been recently awarded a license by the UK Gambling Commission and continued, "... In order to ensure the brand's expansion is not affected by negative perceptions, both in the UK and elsewhere in emerging markets such as Asia, where Bodog88 is already successful, a decision has been made to withdraw the Bodog brand from the US market at the end of 2011. As a result, the Morris Mohawk Gaming Group's (MMGG) brand licensing agreement will be allowed to expire on 31 December, following which US residents will no longer be able to access bodog.eu or any other Bodog branded website."
ESPN the Magazine editor-in-chief speaks about the closing of online gambling sites in depth on his Behind The Bets podcast.
Previous WSOP Experience - 2011 November Nine
A quick look at the final table, by Matthew Willis, ESPN Research
Out of the final nine players, the experience all lies at the top of the chip counts.
Those five players (Martin Staszko, Eoghan O'Dea, Matt Giannetti, Phil Collins and Ben Lamb), each have at least four previous WSOP cashes and all have over $20,000 in previous WSOP earnings. Combined, they have a total of 13 cashes this year and three previous main event cashes.
The bottom four (Badih Bounahra, Pius Heinz, Anton Makiievskyi and Sam Holden) have a combined two cashes (none have multiple cashes), one cash this WSOP, and only Heinz has more than $10,000 in previous earnings. None had previous cashes in the main event.
The November Nine and their WSOP history (Not including the main event cash)
Small blinds: Lock Poker announced the signing of Chris Moorman and Nicky Evans to their roster of sponsored pros called LockPRO ELITE. ... Pius Heinz, Matt Giannetti and Martin Staszko have agreed to be part of the Bad Beat on Cancer (the official charity of the WSOP) and will donate one percent of their winnings to cancer research. ... Miha Travnik won the WPT stop in Slovenia. He earned $144,399 and became the first Slovenian ever to win a major international poker tournament. ... PokerStars dealt its 65 billionth hand on Sunday. By winning the hand, he received $68,420. ... PokerStars announced the schedule for the 2011 World Championships of Online Poker and it will feature 62 events and a $5 million prize pool guarantee in the $5,200 main event. ... FairPlayUSA launched this week and is a "new coalition of law enforcement officials, consumer protection experts, poker players, companies in the commercial gaming industry and other Americans concerned about Internet gambling." Their aim is to educate policy makers and members on their board include 2004 WSOP main event champion Greg Raymer, former Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Tom Ridge and expert in cyber safety issues Parry Aftab. ... The 17-event Florida State Poker Championships is underway at the Isle Casino Popmano Park. It will conclude with a $5,300 main event starting on Friday, July 29. ... Elio Fox defeated the field of 224 in the $10,000 event Bellagio Cup VII to earn $669,692. The event is no longer part of the World Poker Tour schedule. Steve O'Dwyer won the $5,000 event for $259,425.