Poker Blog & Poker Forum

Bodog Poker has added another poker babe, its third, to Team Bodog. Bodog Poker is perhaps the only online poker room to have only three brand ambassadors all of whom are sexy women players. Leading the team is the veteran Evelyn Ng. Then there is Tatjana Pasalic, who was listed as the second most sexy player. Amanda Leatherman has just joined the illustrious team. Last year another Amanda had joined Team Bodog. She was Amanda “Manderbutt” Musumeci. Manderbutt did not last long, but we hope that Leatherman will have a fruitful innings at Bodog Poker.

On her profile page at Bodog Poker Amanda says, “I’m known as the girl who isn’t afraid to ask questions. Sometimes inappropriate, but I can guarantee you all my interviews are fun!” Her favorite poker moment is playing in the ladies event at the WSOP in 2008 and ending up in the 45th place. She describes her playing style as pretty aggressive and says, “I’ve learned to play small pots while being aggressive and think that’s the best strategy for tournaments.”

Amanda has spent more time reporting on poker than at the tables. She began her career in 2006 and was soon working for PokerNews as an online tournament reporter. She became famous as a hostess and interviewer for the World Poker Tour. Her crowning glory was the Bluff Magazine’s 2011 Reader’s Choice Award for “Best Poker Hostess”, which she won for The Big Game, outrunning poker babe Kara Scott. Amanda says, “I’ve worked in poker for many years. All the pros know me and treat me like a little sister.” Well not all. Amanda had a relationship with Joe Sebok. After breaking up with him there were rumors of something with Daniel Negreanu. Speaking of her assignment with Team Bodog, Amanda said that she is excited to get this chance to play live poker. “Due to constantly working in front of the camera covering poker tournaments, it’s been a while since I have been fully able to concentrate on playing myself – I’m definitely ready to hit the felt on my own.”

Amanda was born in North Carolina on August 7. She was a cheerleader whose grades were high and social circle was ever-expanding. But she chucked it all at the age of 19 and moved to Las Vegas. Amanda now lives in Los Angeles.

Sufficient time has elapsed since the events of Black Friday and the online poker world has settled down to a new steady state. The latest report from the online poker tracking site Poker Scout gives a clear picture of who is where.

Before Black Friday it was Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars on top with Absolute Poker following some way behind in third place. All these three were the target of Black Friday. Now Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker are out of the picture but PokerStars reigns supreme. According to the Poker Scout statistics the latest seven day average traffic at PokerStars was 23,800. This excludes the traffic of 2,050 at the PokerStars Italian domain and 1,740 at its French domain. This is six times the traffic at the number two player and roughly equal to the traffic at the next nine sites or networks.

Next among the stand alone sites are PartyPoker with traffic of 4,050 and 888 Poker with traffic of 2,100. PartyPoker left the United States online poker market in 2006 and cleared its slate with the Department of Justice last year. It is now waiting for legalization of online poker in America to happen. The only other stand alone online poker site in the Poker Scout top ten is the French domain Winamax.

In online poker networks are fairly common. These service a number of online poker rooms and increase player liquidity. The largest online poker network and number two on the Scout Poker list is the iPoker network with traffic of 4,150. iPoker is the network of the leading software provider Playtech. iPoker Italy is listed separately and draws traffic of 1,200. The next online poker network is Ongame, which without its Italian and French networks has traffic of 1,980. Microgaming again without Italian and French networks is number nine on the combined list with traffic of 1,380.

It does not come as any surprise today that in the top 25 players in the Scout Poker list only three still offer services to American online poker players. At number 12 is Merge network with traffic of 1,100; at number 13 is the stand alone Bodog poker site and at number 18 is the Cake Poker network.

Before the April Black Friday indictments, Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars were by far the leading online poker rooms globally. They were drawing fantastic traffic, they had the best poker professionals on board and they had just tied up with leading land casinos. What happened after the Department of Justice indictments was completely different for PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker.

PokerStars has paid back its American players, is operating the online poker room outside the United States and is all set to kick off its annual WCOOP event. Full Tilt Poker does not have the funds to pay back its American players and is unable to operate anywhere in the world. It is still struggling to take a step forward. Full Tilt Poker issued a statement last week that expressed its complete helplessness in the matter. Even before Black Friday happened the government had seized $115 million of player funds located in U.S. banks. A key payment processor had stolen $42 million. The statement also referred to “unprecedented issues with some of its third-party processors that greatly contributed to its financial problems.” And the swift and drastic action from the Department of Justice was never anticipated. Despite this, Full Tilt Poker has held discussions with several groups of outside investors, six of whom have visited Dublin to inspect the operations. One of these was backed by Phil Ivey who was a luminary at the online poker room when it was up and running. Nothing has materialized. Full Tilt Poker has now engaged an additional financial advisor through an investment banking group “to assist us in our search for an infusion of cash as well as a new management team to restore the site and repay players.”

From the way the PokerStars has been able to stabilize its operations and Full Tilt Poker has not, there are rumors of things not being in shape at Full Tilt Poker even before Black Friday. A payment processor, Bradley Franzen, has informed the U.S. government that Full Tilt Poker was dealing with a $60 million shortfall earlier in 2011 and this could be just the proverbial tip of the iceberg.

Epic Poker League (EPL) means business. EPL had made it clear that it put a high premium on personal conduct of its members and that violators would be dealt with. Within weeks of David Chino Rheem winning the first tournament to be hosted by EPL, he finds himself on probation.

The story begins during the 2010 EPT London and involves poker professional Will Molson. Rheem was by then well known as the 2008 WSOP Main Event finalist. A common friend brought Rheem to Molson’s room to play online. Rheem needed PokerStars money for Michael Mizrachi and himself. He said he would transfer the money to Molson’s Full Tilt Poker account where he had a balance. Accepting Rheem’s request in good faith Molson transferred $40,000 each to Rheem’s and Mizrachi’s PokerStars accounts. Mizrachi returned his $40,000 but said he had never agreed to stand guarantee for Rheem. Molson claims that Rheem began playing hard to get and began to make excuses for not repaying the amount. Ultimately Rheem sent a text to Molson, “I’m broke and I can’t get you the money”.

The Standards & Conduct Committee of the EPL had decided that that any personal (mis)conduct occurring prior to the League’s formation would not count, because that would open a Pandora’s Box. The Committee has interpreted Rheem’s case as one of current financial obligation that he is avoiding, even though it arose prior to the League’s formation. Rheem was the winner of the League’s first event. If the League failed to act then all its talk of enforcing personal conduct on and off the tables would come to zilch.

Therefore the Committee has voted to place David “Chino” Rheem on probation and will monitor his personal conduct as he works to meet his personal financial obligations. Under the integrity and honor principles of the Player’s Code, meeting “financial responsibilities on time and honoring contractual agreements” is required to maintain eligibility. Stricter action was not taken against Rheem because he used the proceeds from winning the EPL Main Event to partially pay his debt to Molson. However, the Committee noted that Rheem must continue to proactively repay his remaining debt using any and all proceeds he receives from poker winnings worldwide. The Committee has asked Rheem to provide updates and has warned him that failure to comply or any subsequent violations will result in immediate suspension.

Online poker rooms signing up poker babes as brand ambassadors in nothing new. The now disbanded Team UB.com had the likes of Maria Ho and Tiffany Michele. Sara Underwood is scoring points for Victory Poker. Lock Poker is the latest online poker room to join the bandwagon. It has announced that Spanish sensation Leo Margets is the new addition to the LockPRO ELITE team. Jennifer Larson CEO and owner of Lock Poker said, “Leo is a dream come true for Lock! She is brilliant, driven, incredibly talented and a represents the brand perfectly. Having Leo join the team is just another step towards truly becoming the best online poker brand in the world.”

Leo started playing poker only in 2008, when her boyfriend introduced her to the game. Already she has made a name for herself at the tournament tables. Every year a female player wins the title of being the “Last Woman Standing” at the WSOP Main Event. Leo achieved that in her first foray in this event. In the WSOP 2009 Main Event she placed 27th and took home $352,000 in cash as well. This was no flash in the pan success. Leo finished 3rd in the Aussie Millions No Limit Hold’em Six-Handed event in 2010 and aced the 2010 Full Tilt Masters Series No Limit Hold’em event. With over $640,000 in tournament winnings Leo is 26th on the Women’s all-time money list and rising. And even better she is 6th on Spain’s all-time money list for live poker events.

This is not Leo’s first stint at being brand ambassador. She has represented 888.com earlier. Speaking about this sponsorship Leo said, “I am incredibly happy and thrilled to join Lock! I am also super proud to be part of a family with so extraordinary players, this new era that now starts is a huge motivation for me!! I am looking forward representing Lock in all over the world!”

The following are some tidbits about Leo from her Facebook page. She is friends with the sexy Tatjana Pasalic, another poker babe. Her favorite music is The White Stripes, her favorite book is Veronika Decides to Die and her favorite movie is A Clockwork Orange.