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Aussie Millions winner signs with Party Poker

Party Poker have signed 2009 Aussie Millions Main Event winner Stewart Scott.

The 37 year old Australian poker player made history last January as he became the first Australian in recent times to win the Main Event and the $1,865,724 cash prize.

A former gourmet chef who started his career in Adelaide, Scott spent a small period running an IT business before breaking onto poke main stage. His first notable win came in 2006 where he was awarded a $30,000 WSOP package from winning a satellite series at SkyCity Casino in Adelaide.

The Aussie Millions champion has been a loyal member of PartyPoker.com’s VIP club and will now make his debut representing the PartyPoker team at this week’s PokerNews Cup in Melbourne, along with 17 other online qualifiers who secured satellite packages to the event.

"It's great to put pen to paper and sign-up to represent PartyPoker.com - it's always been my site of choice. I am looking forward to defending my Aussie Millions title in January and am even more excited that I will be doing this as an ambassador for PartyPoker.com with a large team of online qualifiers!"
A PartyPoker.com spokesman said of Scott’ signing: "We are delighted to have signed up Stewart as a brand ambassador leading up to the 2010 Aussie Millions. As well as being a loyal customer, Stewart is a popular member of the Australian poker community and we look forward to working together."
After fellow Australian Jeff Lisandro’s domination of the poker circuit this year (including the $10,000 World Championship Seven-Card Stud H/L-8 Event, the $2500 Razz and the $1,500 Seven-Card Stud) and his nomination as the World Series of Poker’s World Player of the Year Award – there seems to be no reason Stewart Scott can’t follow suit and be the next biggest thing to hit the poker stage from down under.

Talk Surfaces of Possible Merger Between PartyGaming and bwin

Rumors of big business acquisitions seems to be the order of the day in the online gambling industry and bwin, one of the big names in the industry, seems to be in the thick of things. Less than a month after rumors of a merger between 888.com and bwin was shot down, comes another news item about the possible merger of PartyGaming looking to merge with, who else, bwin.

There have been rumors of the supposed PartyGaming - bwin merger for quite a while now, with the first drift emerging sometime this summer. However, the possibility of the deal actually crystallizing seemed to materialize only recently, when newspapers like the London Sunday Times first printed news about the possibility of the merger.

PartyGaming and bwin are two of the biggest online gaming organizations in Europe and a merger could lead to a new business entity valued at over $3 billion. However, PartyGaming has, in recent times, seen a decline in certain areas of its operations.

PartyGaming has recently been taking a hit in online poker. Its online poker division, Party Poker, has seen profits go downhill because of the decision not to operate in the US market after the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) of 2006 was passed in that country. It has also seen a slowdown in online sportsbetting recently with PartyBets, the online sports book division of the organization, almost coming to a standstill.

When you consider the fact that bwin has a strong presence in online sportsbetting, a merger between the two organizations seems to make perfect business sense. However, a Reuters report on Monday indicated that it might yet be early days to talk of a possible merger between the two outfits.

Speaking to Reuters, a spokesperson from bwin said, “We are always talking to everyone, because we believe that there will be more consolidation in the sector. (But) we are not in any advanced talks, including with PartyGaming.” There has been no word of confirmation or denial so far from PartyGaming.

Unlimited Cash Rewards from Party Poker

Party Poker Online Poker Room will be offering a new promotion, Cash Machine, at the beginning of 2010. This promotion, which will be brought back by popular demand, will run from 00.00 ET on 4th January to 23.59 ET on January 31st.

Players earning 10 or more PartyPoints on at least 10 days during the promotion will be eligible for an unlimited cash reward.

After winning in the cash games during the promotion Party Poker will review the number of PartyPoints earned at the end and will then tally the score on player’s highest earning days and reward them with $1 for each point earned on their lowest amount earned during those days.

All that is necessary to take part in this cash promotion is to play the games and earn Party Points. 100 Party Points earned for 10 days of the promotion will result in the lowest daily points total in this period also being 100 and Party Poker will then put a $100 cash reward into the player’s Party Poker account.

There is no limit to the cash that can be won or the amount of points that can be earned i.e. if the lowest points total during a player’s 10 highest earning days amounts to 1,000 points, Party Poker will pay out $1,000.

More exciting news is that those players at Party Poker who manage to earn 1,000 Party Poker Points per day on at least 20 of the 28 days of the promotion, will be rewarded with an additional Cash Machine bonus over and above their normal Cash Machine payout, from $500 to $5,000.

If this sounds interesting to you, just click here to get to Party Poker!

Online Poker Ban in Belgium Defies European Union regulations

The European Commission is not pleased with the current changes proposed by the Belgium Government to its online gambling laws.

The Belgian newspaper, De Standaard, has reported that operations of online poker rooms and casinos will be nationalized in terms of the new regulations that are being enforced this year that will result in the exclusion of outside operators and would see Belgian poker players blocked from foreign poker sites. The Belgium Government will be asking Internet Services Providers to block sites such as Full Tilt, Party Poker and PokerStars. This will result in the government having ultimate control of the online poker industry in the country and generate a huge amount of revenue for the economy.

The proposed Belgian online gambling regulation plans to restrict online casinos and Internet gambling operations to domestic providers only despite the European Commission’s complaints that its rules do not conform to EU requirements.

The government has cited so called terrorist operations as one of the reasons for nationalizing its online casino industry even though there is no proof of this type of problem.

The Belgium Government is in direct violation of the attempts of the European Commission to get member states to adhere to free trade agreements.

Belgian poker players are very angry about the fact that players who will be found engaging in play on online sites that are based outside of the country will be subject to prosecution. Although it is presumed that these players will strongly object to the regulation the fact that the government has already defied the EC makes it unlikely that their pleas will have any effect on the government.

PartyGaming and Denmark Sign Poker Deal

Danish online poker players will be enjoying a brand new platform thanks to a five year deal signed between Danske Spil, the Danish government controlled gaming group and online gaming specialist, PartyGaming.

In terms of this agreement, PartyGaming will provide Danske Spil with the know how on how to operate a lucrative online gaming platform for poker and casino games.

Danske Spil spent seven months on a screening process among potential online partners in an attempt to find a supplier that matched its own high standards for security, product quality and ethical requirements.

Denmark has put forward draft legislation to open up its gambling market and it is expected that the law will be passed in 2011.

Jim Ryan, CEO for PartyGaming said that this is a landmark B2B deal and validates PartyGaming’s strategy to become a leading provider of B2B services to corporate as well as governments worldwide. He added that Danske Spil is one of Europe’s leading gambling businesses that is pre-eminent in the Danish market and they are thrilled that Danske Spil has recognized their expertise and high standards of business practice. They are looking forward to building a significant and profitable enterprise as soon as the newly regulated Danish online gaming market opens.

The CEO of the Danish group, HC Madsen announced that with some of the world’s leading products in online poker and casino as well as large international customer base, PartyGaming is definitely a strong business partner for Danske Spil.

The Dankse Spil Group is one of Europe’s largest betting and gaming organizations and had a turnover of nearly DKK11 billion during the 2008 financial year.

Team Party is off to a Good Start

Party Poker has not been known as a site that has a team of pros put together. It was pretty much all laid on the shoulders of Mike Sexton alone. However, Party Poker has recently took a turn in a different direction and decided to put together “Team Party”. Party Poker also announced that Kara Scott would be one of the players joining them. Then, on Thursday they made yet another announcement. They would be adding Antanas Guoga, also referred to as Tony G, to their team. Tony G is known as being a controversial player in the poker world, often referred to as the big mouth of the poker table. However, he is also known as being one of the most generous of the poker players. Tony G has been known to share as much as half of his poker winnings with charities. In 2006, he donated just under a half of a million dollars worth of his winnings to charity. Then, in 2007 he actually donated his entire winnings, a total of $200,000, to an orphanage located in Russia. He did have his own online poker room which was called TonyGPoker.com, but it is now considered to be part of the PartyPoker network and its players are being relocated to Noble Poker. Team Party appears to be getting off to a good start with their selection of added team members and it appears as if they are making good choices and selecting more than capable players. It will be interesting to see which player’s Team Party sets their sights on next.

Talks of Merger between Online Casino Operators

Two of the world’s larges Internet gambling companies, PartyGaming PLC and bwin Interactive Entertainment AG are presently in talks about a possible merger that could result in the creation of a multi-billion pound “gambling giant” that could control about 15 percent of the European online casino market.

It was reported recently that PartyGaming Plc, trading on the London Stock Exchange and valued at approximately 1 billion pounds and Austrian bookmaker, bwin Interactive Entertainment AG, trading on the Vienna Stock Exchange and valued at about 1.2 billion have been negotiating a merger for quite some time in an attempt to form a huge online casino, poker and sportsbetting operator with a value of more than $4 billion.

Despite these ongoing talks bwin’s head of investor relations, Konrad Sveceny, reported that negotiations were still at a preliminary stage and that they are also having some successful talks with many other competitors, including Italy’s Gioco Digitale.

At present bwin has the largest European market share among publicly listed online casino operators with 8 percent, PartyGaming is second with 6.3 percent and the closest competitor is the U.K.’s second-largest bookmaker, William Hill with 4.5 percent.

The fact that Bwin has one of the largest online sportsbook operations in the world and would like to increase its online poker numbers while PartyGaming has the fourth largest online poker room and wants to expand its sports betting business would see a merger between these two companies make a lot of sense.

There is bound to be a surge in mergers and acquisitions among gambling companies in Europe due to the anticipated opening of the U.S. online casino market.

PartyGaming gets Phil Tufnell

Anyone good in marketing knows that you can get people’s attention by associating with the right names. Obviously, PartyGaming realizes this and that is why they have hired Phil Tufnell, the well known former cricketer, as their first celebrity ambassador. Phil Tufnell has made quite the name for himself with his reality TV stints and his TV presenting. PartyCasino is looking forward to the extra publicity that Tufnell can bring to their Party Casino cross gender apparel. Tufnell has a lot to bring to the table; his name is quite well known and respected. He has been on TV quite a bit and will be a highly recognizable personality. He will be doing press, television, and outdoor campaigning for PartyGaming which will highlight the casino games which are available on their site. These ads will be viewable for the very first time on Channel 4 in the UK. They will be played during Celebrity Big Brother tonight. PartyCasino is already very popular and the addition of Tufnell will surely have them seeing many new members in the following months. The site currently offers more than 140 games. These games include 100 slots and the site has a great reputation of its own. PartyCasino is the largest online casino in the world and it continues to gain more popularity each day. The site pays out more than $10,000,000 each day to its players, this is an incredible amount. Tufnell has definitely chosen a winner to join up with, and PartyCasino is gaining a celebrity who can help turn yet even more eyes towards them.

Party Poker Qualifier Tyron Krost Wins 2010 Aussie Millions Poker Championship

A 23 year old Party Poker qualifier, Tyron Krost from Sydney, became a multi-millionaire after winning a prize of AUD $2 million at one of the world’s biggest poker tournaments. This Australian native succeeded in taking home the title in the 2010 Aussie Millions Main Event after knocking out 746 players.

Krost has been playing poker for a few years and has two small WSOP cashes to his name but took a year off poker in order to focus on his studies at UNSW. He had no intention of entering the tournament but when other plans fell through he was dragged by a friend to enter the showdown via a satellite tournament.

Stephen Shelly who won AUD $125,000 was the first player to be eliminated from the eight-handed Aussie Millions Main Event final table, followed by Betfair pro, Annette “Annette 15” Obrestad who earned AUD $175,000.

Steve Friedlander was next to exit, banking AUD $250,000 and Peter Jetten was the next player to go earning AUD $350,000 for his efforts.

The next player to go was Kosta Varoxis who earned AUD $450,000 for his fourth place.

Sorel “Imper 1um” Mizzi, another Betfair pro, was bounced in third place earning AUD $715,000 while Frederik Jensen picked up a whopping AUD $1.1 million for second place.

Chants of “Aussie – Aussie – Aussie” echoed through the venue in celebration of Tyron Krost winning AUD $2,000.000 in one of the toughest final tables assembled so far this year.

Party Poker to Host the OCGC

Party Poker has been getting their name out there quite a bit lately. First, they announced the creation of their own poker team and now they have announced that they will be in charge of hosting the Inaugural OCGC. The Online Cash Game Championship is a great opportunity for poker players and is expected to draw in quite a crowd. One of the most exciting aspects of this tournament is that anyone can win. It’s not geared for just the regulars and it affords everyone the chance to claim the crown. It is not going to be easy and it will be a hard journey which ends with some lucky player walking away with $250,000. This competition will be divided into seven levels. Players will find themselves needing to play 400 hands a day and the competition is expected to be grueling. Only the most profitable players will advance to the final table. The final table will be held on April 2nd. Cash prizes will be added as the player’s progress through those levels and the competition will become fiercer. The first stage of this exciting competition will take place March 1st through March 5th. It will be located on Party Pokers site at the $0.50/$1 NL Hold’em cash table area. A player will have to go to the website and choose to take part in the OCGC in order to get in on the action and the chance to win that money. This is a great chance for players who don’t usually get in on these types of games to give it a try.

Dragan Galic joins Team Party

Party Poker has come to an agreement with professional poker player Dragan Galic, he will join Team Party. Dragan Galic is a European poker player who as of this writing, rated as the number one poker player in all of Europe by the website pokerineurope.com. Galic was also invited recently to play poker in the Team Party heat. Even though he didn’t make it as far as he may have liked, he still made it far enough to impress Party Poker enough to cause them to bring him on board. Galic will find himself in good company. Also on Team Party are TonyG, Kara Scott, Mike Sexton, Felipe Ramos,Remy Biechel, and Bodo Sbrzesny. Galic will be a great addition to the team and certainly brings a good reputation and attitude to the table. He is 35 years of age, and comes from Schneverdingen which is located near Hamburg. He has more than $900,000 in live tournament winnings under his belt. There are a lot of notable things about his poker career which more than prove he will be a wonderful addition to Team Party. One interesting fact is that he used to work as a service engineer for BMW. This was before he became a professional poker player during 2006. Galic has said that playing for Team Party “feels like coming home”, this is due to the fact that Party Poker was the first poker site he ever played on. Party Poker also seems to be more than pleased with the decision and both parties appear to expect great things to follow.

Party Poker signs deal with Football Legend

There is even more news when it comes to Party Poker. The highly popular online bingo site has just signed its most notable celebrity to note. Party Poker has signed Francesco Totti, a very famous football legend in a landmark deal to be the ambassador who will be representing this highly respected site. He will also play solely at the Party Poker tables. Totti has become the famous “number 10” and he is without a doubt the most well known sports star to sign a contract with any online gaming site. The fact that Totti is not retired makes this deal even more so notable. Party Poker has quite a reputation for itself, as does Totti; this makes this deal even more impressive. Totti seems to be pleased with the deal and he has said that he has always applied himself “with skill, intelligence, loyalty, and passion.” He feels you need all of this for poker and therefore he looks forward to the challenges poker will bring. It is known that Totti is one of the greatest football players of his time and many people are eager to see if he will become a great poker player as well. Totti will be seen in television ads, as well as print ads in the Italian market. This is due to take place beginning February 25th. Party Poker is offering some exciting promotions as a way to celebrate this signing. Party Poker has been signing some impressive names lately and this is definitely one that makes the top of the list.

Party Poker is becoming Increasingly Popular

Most people who are familiar with online poker are also familiar with Party Poker and all of the recent happenings which have been occurring there. Party Poker has been signing some impressive names to its “Team Party” and with every new name added to the list, more people rush over to see what all of the hype is about. Party Poker is spreading across the Internet, as well as the land based poker scene like wildfire lately. Anyone new to the site will be attracted to the amount of bonuses and promotions this site has to offer. The recent promotions at Party Poker include such promotions as the Hit and Run promotion which provides players the chance to win as much as $10,000. Another impressive promotion is the Gladiator Challenge. This promotion has players playing for 30 days. Each day they will earn points which will allow them the chance to get in on a $10,000 freeroll. The prizes grow the higher you go and if a player is real lucky, they may find themselves winning a WSOP Main Event package. New players can receive as much as a $100 deposit bonus for themselves. This provides them with some extra cash to enjoy on the site. New players will want to learn all about Party Pokers “New Players Zone” this is an area where new players can read up on the game and be walked through nearly every part of the site so they can begin their poker experience on the right foot.

Party Poker has Aston Martin up for Grabs

Anyone who has played at online poker rooms already knows that they are known for offering some great promotions. However, some of these promotions can be much more exciting than others. Party Poker is a very popular online poker room that has made a great reputation for itself within the online gambling industry. This poker site has just added a spectacular promotion to its list which is expected to make quite a hit with the sites players. Party Poker is providing their players with the chance to win an Aston Martin and this should make quite a few online poker players in the mood for some competition. A player can win their way into this event for free. Party Poker is giving away five prize packages. Players can get in on the chance to receive one of these prize packages by joining in on the daily freerolls. Players will then have a chance to qualify through the satellites and may find themselves seated in the live final. The players who take part in the final will be guaranteed a prize. There will be cash prizes, vacations, and more. This is one promotion that any Party Poker player will want to try to get in on. With an Aston Martin DB9 Coupe up for grabs this promotion is expected to be a huge success and draw in quite a gathering of players. Poker players like to get in on good competition and when there is a prize like this on the table that can really get the competition going.

Million Dollar Promotion at Party Poker

Party Poker, a very popular online poker site is sure keeping its name in the headlines this week. The well respected poker site has just announced it will be having a promotion which offers players the chance to win an Aston Martin, but this isn’t the only excitement going on at Party Poker. They have also just announced that they are going to be offering their players another exciting opportunity. They will have as much as one million dollars up for grabs. This promotion can possibly change the course of a lucky player’s life. This is a very simple promotion with a huge amount of money on the table for a very lucky person to walk away with. Players will receive a random card for every 15 points they earn during May 4th through the 23rd. If players get a pair or better in their five card hand, then they will be guaranteed a prize. If a player happens to hit a Royal Flush, then they will win an absolutely amazing amount of money, one million dollars! There isn’t even a limit on the amount of Royal Flush hands a person can have. This will allow players to have even more chances to win. The first card is even free and all a player has to do to see their first card is to go log into their account. Any person who plays at Party Poker will want to make sure they log into their account and do what they can to try to get that one million dollar prize for themselves. This is one prize that can change a persons life!

Party Poker Sponsoring Poker Show

There is an exciting poker show which is going to be broadcast on June 30th that poker fans will want to make sure they tune in for. This show is called “The Poker Show with Jesse May” and it is being sponsored by Party Poker. This show will be one hour long and poker fans will be able to download it for the first time on the above date at 12 pm. After the original date, fans will be able to download the show every Wednesday and Sunday throughout the month of July. It can be downloaded at PartyPoker.com/blog and through ITunes. Anyone interested in poker will want to make sure they watch the first show. Making an appearance for that opening show will be Kara Scott, Mike Sexton, and Tony G. The players at Party Poker are going to be glad to know that there will be an exclusive $5+1 tournament held on Party Poker each Monday and Thursday in celebration of the show. Players can locate these tournaments under the specials tab at the online poker site. On Sunday, August 1st there will be a final freeroll where the winners of those tournaments will play for a chance to get a seat for the Main Event of the WPT London Poker Classic. Anyone interested in poker will want to make sure that they take advantage of the chance to see this show and join in the tournaments. This show has already run for three series and anyone who hasn’t yet heard it will want to make sure they tune in.