This Week’s Best Poker News

April 1, 2013

UltimateBeat Documentary

It looks like we’re in for a lot of surprises from the world of poker in the nearby future, and that’s some exciting poker news. Some of you might remember the Ultimate Bet scandal that was somewhat overshadowed by the bigger one over at Full Tilt Poker. Back then, in mid 2011, Ultimate Bet closed its doors so to say, and remained a free play platform only.

But even earlier than that Ultimate Bet was in the center of attention because of a cheating scandal that was and still is without a match in the online poker world. The cheating involved the use of “super user” accounts that could see what cards the other players had at all times. This lead to an immense outrage by the online poker community, which lead to the beginning of the end for UB. Although Ultimate Bet would later claim that the problem was quickly solved, but not many details emerged from behind the scene.

Back in August of last year the first rumors regarding a film from the Ultimate Bet scandal that would tell us everything related to the much debated issue. The investigator that was on the case from Ultimate Bet, Scott “ElevenGrover” Bell, was supposed to be overseeing the film, which was to be released by DoubleHead Pictures.

If you’re excited by that film, good news! The project has managed to raise more than enough funds on Kickstarter and is going into production, with a June release being highly speculated. As a side note, I cannot believe that a film about online poker, of all things, has had such a difficult time raising just $6,500. I mea, come on, just let a high roller play for five minutes and you’ll get that same amount!

We’ll keep you posted with more news from UltimateBeat, the documentary film that we’re very much looking forward to this summer.

Rocco Palumbo wins WPT Venice

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The World Poker Tour has just ended its stop in Venice, where a local Italian player has won the grand prize worth $180,000. Rocco Palumbo is well known to poker fans as he took part in last year’s World Series of Poker as well, winning Event #44 – a No Limit Holdem tournament with a $1,000 buy-in. Back then, he won close to half a million dollars, and he now added the WPT trophy to his name.

The spokesman for Party Poker, Mike Sexton, was a crowd favorite and one of the most talked about names to win the WPT Venice stage. However, after reaching the final table, he ended up in 3rd position, earning a more than decent $70,000 paycheck, although I’m sure that he would have preferred to make it to first place even if he wouldn’t have won anything – a PartyPoker man winning the WPT, that would have been something!

Palumbo is now on the hunt for an EPT title to add to his record, after having become a WSOP and a WPT winner. As for the World Poker Tour, it’s off to Spain for the Barcelona stage, so check back soon for more news from the WPT!

Good news for Online Poker in Washington

Poker fans in Washington State are delighted to hear that their favorite game might become a lot more accessible in their state in the near future. The 2006 anti gambling law introduced by Margarita Prentice (the current Washington State senator) made playing online poker a felony within the traditionalist state. A bit excessive, since most countries that ban online poker only sanction the people behind the online poker sites, rather than the players.

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Well, that’s the case in theory, at least. In practice, it’s another matter altogether, as the law has rarely been imposed and is – according to many voices – on its way out. After a bill by the Poker Players Alliance has failed to collect the necessary number of votes, there are two initiatives that are currently trying to overthrow the current bill. You can help as well, if you go to Twitter at @OlympiaChange and add your name to the thousands of others who are trying to make Washington State a better place for online poker players.

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