Poker Blog & Poker Forum

The Ultimate Bet (UB.com) Super User scandal refuses to fade away. Just when good things have happened in the online poker space, the scandal has resurfaced. Travis Makar, Russ Hamilton’s personal assistant, released audio tapes of secretly recorded meetings between Ultimate Bet founders and lawyers. The reveal a frank and free admission of wrong doings. The scandal revolved around a feature in the software known as AuditMonster that allowed those in possession of a code to see the pocket cards of the players.
The tapes have Russ Hamilton admitting that he took the money. Hamilton tries to exonerate himself by saying he used a part of that money to prop up Ultimate Bet, which otherwise would have to close down. He however refused to provide any funds to pay back the victims.
The most shocking revelations concern well known and reputed poker professionals Annie Duke and Phil Hellmuth. Both were long standing brand ambassadors at Ultimate Bet, who quit just before the scandal broke, giving rise to some rumors about their involvement. These tapes reveal that both these poker players were actually part owners of the online poker room. Though they do not appear as participants, they were discussed by Hamilton and his coterie.
Annie Duke had gone on record claiming that she had no knowledge of the AuditMonster feature. However, in the tapes Hamilton says that on multiple occasions Annie had actually used the tool on a “15 minute delay”. He stated that she had her own copy of the tool, implying that she was in the know and had the opportunity to use the tool. Annie has responded to these allegations through Twitter. She claims that she had access to the delayed viewing of cards only for a few Ultimate Bet tournament events where she was a radio commentator. She added that this is standard practice for WSOP commentators for live events also. Her final Tweet was, “Sad a few folks making accusations and assumptions without fully appreciating this.” The interesting part is that during one of the tournaments in which Annie used the tool her then boyfriend, a novice player, won over $200,000.
Hellmuth comes out almost unscathed. The coterie discussed him and concluded that he was not suitable to be brought into the loop. Attorney Daniel Friedberg said, “Phil is the absolute worst possible person on the planet to ever be even remotely close to this. He can be controlled”. Hellmuth has expressed his disgust after listening to the tapes.

The PokerStars and Monte-Carlo Casino EPT Grand Final is one of the most reputed events in the live tournament poker circuit. The final table for this season’s event was set late last week and was billed as the best final table ever. This is heartening news for the poker fraternity, because of late final tables have often been devoid of star power. This final table included Jake Cody, Jason Mercier, Andrew Pantling, Grant Levy, Steve O’Dwyer, Daniel Negreanu, Noah Schwartz and Johhny Lodden.
O’Dwyer defeated Pantling in the heads up to win the €1,224,000 first prize from the €5,310,000 prize pool. O’Dwyer also won a stunning watch worth €9,000 from luxury Swiss brand Slyde, the Official Watch Sponsor for the event. This was O’Dwyer’s fourth EPT final table in 18 months, which include two at the ETP London. O’Dwyer said that he is still in shock at winning such a tough final table. “At the start of the final, I knew I needed to get lucky to win because these guys are so good.” Dwyer’s live tournament winnings now exceed $4 million.
Pantling won €842,000 for coming second. The biggest name on the final table was Team PokerStars Pro Daniel Negreanu. [...] Continue Reading…

It must be a great feeling to be the only legal online gambling site from within the United States. UltimatePoker has that distinction since 9 AM PST April 30, 2013. It was the first online poker room licensed by the state of Nevada to get its act together and go live. Two important conditions that players aspiring to sign up at UltimatePoker have to meet are that they must be over 21 and that they must access the site from within Nevada.
Over the first few days it was reported that the average daily traffic was about 100 players, with the peak real money players just crossing 200. There is no benchmark to assess whether this is good or bad. One cannot obviously compare the fledgling online poker room with PokerStars or Full Tilt at their peak. Obviously the condition of being physically present in Nevada will be a constraint. The liquidity will increase when online poker rooms in New Jersey and Delaware go live and link up with UltimatePoker.
Collectors of trivia can note that on May 5 poker player Daniel Healey won $4,173 in UltimatePoker’s first $10,000 Sunday Tournament, which was the first legal, real money online poker tournament [...] Continue Reading…

Any list of the sexiest poker players is always welcome, and if the list is of the sexiest poker babes then the delight is even greater. Bleacher Report has just released a list of the 25 hottest female poker players of 2012. The list took four months in the making because the competition was tough and the choices were difficult. Many of the women on that list feature regularly in the columns of Fuzion Poker. Here is a look at some of them.

Clonie Gowen is number 25 on the list. Clonie has been in the poker world for more than 30 years but is still as fresh as a daisy. Unfortunately she was the last in the news in 2011 when a federal Appeals court accepted her plea against the owners of full tilt poker. Today the owners are in big trouble for a different reason, but Clonie and her lawsuit have disappeared from the news. Hopefully she will make a comeback now that this list is out.

Tiffany Michelle is number 22 on the list. Over the years Tiffany has worn many different hats. Apart from being a poker player, she has been a tournament hostess, brand ambassador for [...] Continue Reading…

Molly Bloom is a well-known name in private poker circles of the rich and famous. She was one of those indicted when the FBI busted two gambling rings allegedly run by Russian mob bosses for the purposes of laundering hundreds of millions of dollars. It was alleged that the poker games that Molly Bloom, nicknamed the poker princess, organized for Hollywood and sports celebrities was connected with these gambling rings. The poker princess has pleaded not guilty to the charges. However, her indictment has opened up a Pandora’s Box of big names and has rerun her life story, which is equivalent to a Hollywood blockbuster.

Molly’s first brush with the law came when she was at Colorado State University. She was arrested for serving liquor to minors. Over the next two years she faced several speeding charges that led to time in prison and revoking of her license. Molly moved to Hollywood in 2003 where she assisted a real-estate mogul, who ran high-stakes poker games on the side. She was soon running her own games with her former boss’s clients at her table. The names are rumored to include Leonardo Di Caprio, Alex Rodriguez, Tobey Maguire, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, [...] Continue Reading…