A relatively young online poker multi-platform cashier enterprise Muchos Poker has already seen a lot of success.

Namely, according to the LGA Malta-licensed company, its major advantage is that it can be used across as many as ten different online poker network software platforms, and that its simple integration into the systems enables financial transactions through a single centralized cashier facility.

At the moment, Muchos Poker is available on iPoker1, iPoker2, Merge, Enet, Ongame, 888 Poker, Boss Media, Revolution, and Casino di Venezia networks, and the negotiations are still ongoing the Microgaming Poker Network.

It was added by the company CEO Tim Heath that the multi-platform business model provides players with more flexibility without requiring them to register to several different cashiers. He also pointed out that Muchos Poker’s business model is not based on rakeback or deals but that they rather focus on player comfort and innovation.

“For the past three or four years affiliates and skins had a very simple business model. Their only selling point was to offer higher and higher rakeback, which squeezed margins and ensured there was no budget left to reinvest in innovation to improve the user experience,” he says, adding:

“Muchos Poker does not give the best deals, nor the best bonuses. And never will. We do not compete on price; we compete by providing our players with an innovative solution.”

Finally, Heath said that Muchos Poker is trying to change the fact that the typical online poker lobby may be intimidating for new players, by adding a more appropriate and easy-to-use interface for beginners. At the same time, he said, the system is flexible enough to comply with the requirements of individual national regulators.

A report arrived over the weekend that Antigua and Barbuda, the Caribbean island that has been fighting the United States position on internet gambling through the World Trade Organization which ruled in its favor, once again expressed opposition to the federal online poker legalization bill proposed by Senators Harry Reid and Jon Kyl.

This time, the island&s government opines that the proposed US legislation is made to favor US companies and thereby hurt offshore online gambling operators, including Antigua’s online gaming industry.

According to Antigua’s high profile legal representative, Mark Mendel, this online poker legalization bill would make already strained trade relations with the United States even worse.

He assessed that “If they pass this legislation, we can go back to the World Trade Organization (WTO) and embarrass them even further,” cautioning the US that they should “Work with us before this thing becomes law and figure this out and reach a settlement. … We want to work with you, we want to have a fair and reasonable settlement, and this is the perfect time to get it done.”

It has been estimated by Antigua that it is owed $3.4 billion per year in damages for being denied access to the U.S. market for Internet gaming services, and it was authorized by the WTO to violate $21 million-worth per year in U.S. intellectual property in order to retaliate; still, both parties decided to give negotiations a shot so as to reach a fair settlement.

However, it is now claimed in the draft legislation that “The United States never intended to include Internet gaming of any kind within the scope of its commitments under the General Agreement for Trade in Services, and therefore, no World Trade Organization Member had any competitive expectation of access to the United States Internet gaming market.”

On the other side, Harold Lovell, Antigua&s Minister of Finance and the Economy, expressed disagreement with this position in a statement, in which he says: “The wording of Sen. Kyl’s legislation misrepresents the facts. Given that the U.S. has been immersed in a trade dispute for the last decade with Antigua and Barbuda, the evidence is there for all to see that remote gaming was always at issue. This is nothing short of legislating historical fiction.”

In a statement of her own, a spokeswoman for Senator Reid said the legislation is still being worked on, so the version discussed hereby is not the final one. “The bill that has been leaked is just a draft and is a premature version of the online poker legislation. We continue to work with all stakeholders, including states, to address concerns,” she said.

However, this does not seem to pacify Mendel, who said: “The way that they designed the bill is to get a licence, you have to be a land-based casino operator already. There’s no way the Antiguans would be able to get a licence under this bill. What the bill says is that your servers and whatever else you need to physically run the business, it has to be located in the United States.”

He also pointed out another provision in the proposed bill, which would require the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to find a settlement with Antigua within 180 days after the bill passes or the U.S. would move into arbitration with the WTO.

In addition, and in order to reinforce its campaign against the bill, Antigua has hired a public relations firm, Levick Strategic Communications, to a six-month, $240,000 contract.

A report arrived over the weekend that Antigua and Barbuda, the Caribbean island that has been fighting the United States position on internet gambling through the World Trade Organization which ruled in its favor, once again expressed opposition to the federal online poker legalization bill proposed by Senators Harry Reid and Jon Kyl.

This time, the island&s government opines that the proposed US legislation is made to favor US companies and thereby hurt offshore online gambling operators, including Antigua’s online gaming industry.

According to Antigua’s high profile legal representative, Mark Mendel, this online poker legalization bill would make already strained trade relations with the United States even worse.

He assessed that “If they pass this legislation, we can go back to the World Trade Organization (WTO) and embarrass them even further,” cautioning the US that they should “Work with us before this thing becomes law and figure this out and reach a settlement. … We want to work with you, we want to have a fair and reasonable settlement, and this is the perfect time to get it done.”

It has been estimated by Antigua that it is owed $3.4 billion per year in damages for being denied access to the U.S. market for Internet gaming services, and it was authorized by the WTO to violate $21 million-worth per year in U.S. intellectual property in order to retaliate; still, both parties decided to give negotiations a shot so as to reach a fair settlement.

However, it is now claimed in the draft legislation that “The United States never intended to include Internet gaming of any kind within the scope of its commitments under the General Agreement for Trade in Services, and therefore, no World Trade Organization Member had any competitive expectation of access to the United States Internet gaming market.”

On the other side, Harold Lovell, Antigua&s Minister of Finance and the Economy, expressed disagreement with this position in a statement, in which he says: “The wording of Sen. Kyl’s legislation misrepresents the facts. Given that the U.S. has been immersed in a trade dispute for the last decade with Antigua and Barbuda, the evidence is there for all to see that remote gaming was always at issue. This is nothing short of legislating historical fiction.”

In a statement of her own, a spokeswoman for Senator Reid said the legislation is still being worked on, so the version discussed hereby is not the final one. “The bill that has been leaked is just a draft and is a premature version of the online poker legislation. We continue to work with all stakeholders, including states, to address concerns,” she said.

However, this does not seem to pacify Mendel, who said: “The way that they designed the bill is to get a licence, you have to be a land-based casino operator already. There’s no way the Antiguans would be able to get a licence under this bill. What the bill says is that your servers and whatever else you need to physically run the business, it has to be located in the United States.”

He also pointed out another provision in the proposed bill, which would require the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to find a settlement with Antigua within 180 days after the bill passes or the U.S. would move into arbitration with the WTO.

In addition, and in order to reinforce its campaign against the bill, Antigua has hired a public relations firm, Levick Strategic Communications, to a six-month, $240,000 contract.

Rio Las Vegas has been all buzz this weekend, making final preparations for this year&s World Series of Poker main event final table, which will take off on Oct. 29 at 4.30 p.m. Vegas time.

The 43rd edition of the series& main event saw 6,598 players from 83 nations, whose average age was 37.

The final nine look to a minimum pay-out of over $750,000 each, while the winner will take home $8,531,853, along with honors and a $150,000 gold winner’s bracelet.

The finalists& chip counts at the start of the action are the following:

Jesse Sylvia (26) from Martha’s Vineyard, USA – 43,875,000

Andras Koroknai (30) of Hungary – 29,375,000

Greg Merson (24) hails from Maryland, USA – 28,725,000

Russell Thomas (24) Connecticut, USA – 24,800,000

Steven Gee (57) California USA – 16,860,000


Michael Esposito (44) New York USA – 16,260,000


Robert Salaburu (27) Texas USA – 15,155,000


Jacob Balsiger (21) Arizona USA – 13,115,000


Jeremy Ausmus (32) Nevada USA – 9,805,000

Each of the nine will get one of the following prizes:

* 1st receives $8,531,853 and the $150,000 bracelet

* 2nd — $5,295,149

* 3rd — $3,799,073

* 4th — $2,851,537

* 5th — $2,155,313

* 6th — $1,640,902

* 7th — $1,258,040

* 8th — $971,360

* 9th — $754,798

A confirmation of wide rumors arrived this week from the US-friendly Merge poker network that it is banning player-to-player financial transactions from November 1 2012.

Of course, this move is very likely to be unpopular among US players who use the option to get money from non-US players. But unexpectedly, some Merge operators also seem to hold grudge against the measure as they claim it was made without consulting them first.

One as yet unidentified operator therefore commented: “…as of November 1, Merge will be removing all players& ability to send p2p transfers from the poker client … this is a decision taken by Merge, and one we were not consulted on.”

Commenting on its own decision, Merge just said it was not taken lightly and has involved detailed consideration of a ‘number of factors’, adding that it is in the best interests of both Merge and its operators.

Top earners this week on the Pokerstars high stakes virtual tables have been Finnish ace Ilari Sahamies, who profited by over $803 000; Ben Sulsky, who despite losing big to Sahamies still ended the week up $576,000; and the UK young gun Sam Trickett, who added almost $434,000 to the millions he earned recently in the Big One for One Drop.

Sulsky has been the most successful high stakes player on Pokerstars so far this year – he has prospered by $3.31 million. Ben Tollerene is about a million behind on $2.25 million, with Phil Galfond further back on $2.11 million and Jens Kyllonen on $1.92 million.

The biggest bankroll hits this week however were on player ‘fakelove888’ who lost around $563,000; Finnish pro Jens Kyllonen was down $425,000 and Terje Augdal dropped over $392,000.

Some respected names like Ben Tollerene, Phil Galfond and player ‘patpatman’ have also suffered major losses exceeding $200,000 this week.

As for the biggest Pokerstars losers this year the top three include: ‘zypherin’ with $3.2 million so far, ‘patpatman’ following with of $2.72 million, and Viktor Blom down on the year by $2.47 million. Perhaps it is worth mentioning Gus Hansen and Benny Spindler as well who are down by about a million dollars each.

This has been a lucrative week for German poker pro Dominik Nitsche who took down the inaugural World Poker Tour South Africa main event at the Emperors Palace in Johannesburg, South Africa.

As a prize, he boosted his bankroll with a $206,153 paycheck and received an additional prize – a $25,000 seat in the WPT Championships.

The young German encountered some formidable opposition on his way to the victory – he had to outplay all 230 players, including the likes of Liv Boeree, Melanie Weisner, McLean Karr, Felipe Ramos and two former World Series of Poker champions, Chris Moneymaker and Joe Cada.

The final table seated him and William Ross, Jason Strauss, Jerome Bradpiece, Wesley Weigand and Andrew Anthony, but in the heads up he faced his biggest opponent at the tourney, Jerome Bradpiece, with a 3 to 1 advantage in chips.

After a while, they agreed on a chop, after which Nitsche first dropped the ball but then made a splendid come-back and took the game.

Thanks to the chop, his heads up opponent took home a nice prize of $145,477.

This has been a lucrative week for German poker pro Dominik Nitsche who took down the inaugural World Poker Tour South Africa main event at the Emperors Palace in Johannesburg, South Africa.

As a prize, he boosted his bankroll with a $206,153 paycheck and received an additional prize – a $25,000 seat in the WPT Championships.

The young German encountered some formidable opposition on his way to the victory – he had to outplay all 230 players, including the likes of Liv Boeree, Melanie Weisner, McLean Karr, Felipe Ramos and two former World Series of Poker champions, Chris Moneymaker and Joe Cada.

The final table seated him and William Ross, Jason Strauss, Jerome Bradpiece, Wesley Weigand and Andrew Anthony, but in the heads up he faced his biggest opponent at the tourney, Jerome Bradpiece, with a 3 to 1 advantage in chips.

After a while, they agreed on a chop, after which Nitsche first dropped the ball but then made a splendid come-back and took the game.

Thanks to the chop, his heads up opponent took home a nice prize of $145,477.

In anticipation of the re-launch of Full Tilt Poker on Nov. 6, players can catch a glimpse of what will be offered to them in the new promotion TV ad that has been launched by the company&s new owners Pokerstars in Europe.

The commercials take a look back at the successful style previously used by FTP, and involve big time online players and professional presentation.

In anticipation of the re-launch of Full Tilt Poker on Nov. 6, players can catch a glimpse of what will be offered to them in the new promotion TV ad that has been launched by the company&s new owners Pokerstars in Europe.

The commercials take a look back at the successful style previously used by FTP, and involve big time online players and professional presentation.