Neil Armstrong’s departure got me thinking. What’s the over/under on the number of years until there’s a tournament in space? Perhaps it’s a moot question. Maybe astronauts on the International Space Station have already gambled for rights to powdered space rations. At any rate we, sadly, aren’t able to leave the Earth during these week’s roundup of poker news, unless you count exploring the depths of a Frenchman’s imagination.

Gallic Theatre

If you’ve not been following the Cirque de Partouche over the last few days, here’s a quick summary: A smaller than expected crowd turned up to what they thought was a €5 million guarantee, expecting their hosts to fill in the missing €750,000. Then, the silver-haired Monsieur Partouche himself appeared on stage to tell everyone that, not only were they not going to honour the guarantee (that he denied even existed), but that this would be the last ever Partouche event.

Cut to a few hours later and the company are announcing that they will in fact bump the prize pool up to €5 million, but that this is still definitely the last ever Partouche Poker Tour. At some point during all this a poker tournament happened and Ole Schemion from Germany won it. [Card Player]

ISPT Adds Spokespeople

Speaking of a French-led spectacle, the much-trailed International Stadiums Poker Tour just added a few more pros to its list of representatives. The ISPT squad now includes David Beyamine, Patrick Antonius, Liz Lieu, Michael Mizrachi, and Sam Trickett. Expect to see them all in London for the first event in May 2013. [Poker News Daily]

Bwin.Party Poker on a Downswing

Sometimes I worry about a terrifying dystopian future where Daniel Negreanu is president and we need to use our PokerStars bankroll to buy bus tickets. You’d be worried too, if you’d taken a look at bwin.party’s financial results from the first half of 2012. Overall, their revenues where up, but poker took a big hit. Thankfully, dishevelled underworld hero bwin.party co-CEO Jim Ryan has vowed to fight on, “against a backdrop of an ever strengthening PokerStars.” [The Guardian]

Blacklisting in Belgium

After Black Friday I think you’d be hard pressed to argue against nationwide regulation for online gambling. Although I’m sure that Betfred and William Hill could put forward a case, after the Belgian government blacklisted their domain names and made it illegal for anyone to play there. That leaves only a handful of approved online poker operators for Belgians to enjoy. [Poker News Daily]

Excuse me while I unscrew my head and place it back among the stars. It’s lovely up here, but while the asteroids whizz between my ears I’ll remember to keep an eye on terra firma and keep track of all its poker doings. Until next time, pokernauts.

Let me tell you, a party isn’t a party unless the night ends with two male revellers waxing intimate parts of their bodies. At least, that’s what I am forced to conclude after an initially civil gathering at my place devolved into a test of hairless endurance. Consider this column my rehabilitation.

Catalan Poker

London might have a poker festival just around the corner, but right now Barcelona is the place to be if you’re the sort of person who likes levels and prize pools. A few days ago a man known as the “Ox of Rome” avoided being murdered by Hercules to take down the Estrallas Poker Tour for €200,000. [OnlinePoker.net]

And with barely time to draw breath, we’re straight into EPT Barcelona, with the €50,000 Super High Roller event already completed. The victor was rising star Dan Smith, who cut a deal at the final table to walk away with €962,925. [PokerStars Blog]

High Rollers en Cannes

Speaking of High Roller events, the World Series of Poker Europe – which kicks off at the end of next month – has announced its own big buy-in tournament. A €50,000 Re-Entry tournament starts on October 2nd and, while it will have a large prize pool, it sadly won’t award any of those shiny bracelets everyone seems to be so keen on. [PokerNews]

Lock Poker Accused of Misleading Users

What with government intervention, bank fraud, and trojan viruses to worry about, people don’t seem to complain about rigged shufflers anymore. That said, having an independently certified random number generator is a vital part of any reputable operation. Which is why organizations like eCOGRA give out special badges to companies they deem to have fair and balanced software. It’s also why 2+2 users are in an uproar over Lock Poker neglecting to remove their old certification, despite having left the Merge Network 6 months ago. [4Flush]

Bwin Fails in South America

Continuing their crusade to make more money fight for the rights of online gambling, Bwin have been going mano-a-government in Argentina. In a frankly un-shocking result, the courts decided to uphold the rights of the country’s gambling monopoly. [Online-Casinos.com]

Nokia Calls on Zynga

I feel a bit weird reporting on non-gambling Zynga news, but I guess they’re a relevant force in our industry these days. Plus, we all know that Dan is one of the biggest Facebook sharks of all time. Maybe he’ll be buying a Nokia Asha Touch, now that Zynga Poker has been announced as launch software. [Card Player]

I feel like I should have made it clear up there that I am not one of the unfortunate souls now in possession of a streamlined undercarriage. Not nearly enough alcohol had passed my lips to make that seem like a good idea. Which means I’ll be fighting fit for next week’s column, provided I don’t accidentally throw any more parties in the next seven days. Wish me luck.

Today the world reels from the shocking news that I will be getting my $20 back from Full Tilt. For too long I have lived under the tyranny of not having $20 and it comes as a great relief to me and my family to know that this money will soon be returned. All hail PokerStars, unimpeachable bastions of justice and buying your way out of trouble.

Bwin’s Woes

Not everyone is super-stoked about PokerStars riding in on their white horse. Specifically Bwin’s stock holders, who expect the company’s already shaky online poker numbers to become even more shook-up by the return of Full Tilt. Many shareholders had also been uncharitably hoping that Stars’ legal troubles would also see European legislators bringing down the hammer, but a clean bill of health from the U.S. has seen that possibility swept firmly off the table. [Proactive Investors]

A Whole New World

Look out guys, the universe is about to be turned on its head by “a whole new way to play poker.” Ladbrokes have unveiled Blaze Poker, which is pretty much the same as PokerStars’ Zoom Poker, which is in turn almost identical to Full Tilt’s Rush Poker. Look for the groundbreaking ‘Going Really Fast Poker’ announcement to hit next week. [Poker News]

Asian Victory

With the WSOP on pause, the high-profile tournament lens has switched its focus to Asia-Pacific. Two big events to slalomed to the finish line this week, the first of which was the (deep breath) Australia New Zealand Poker Tour Queenstown Snowfest. Aussie David Allan took home the NZD$110,600 ($89,697) first place prize. [PokerNews]

If you had travelled north from that point you might have bumped into the Carlos Chang, who would have looked quite pleased with himself, having just won the Asian Pacific Poker Tour in Macau. The title was worth HKD1,913,100 ($246,692), or just about enough to buy your way into Tom Dwan’s Macau cash game. [Card Player]

Zynga Makes it Official

It’s seemed likely for a long time, but it wasn’t until last week that Zynga CEO Mark Pincus came out and confirmed his company are preparing to launch a suite of online gambling games. Following the runaway success of their play money Texas Holdem Game on Facebook – and a brief dalliance with live poker – Zynga have plans to, “release [their online gambling games] in markets that are regulated and open, subject to our getting licensing.” [Games.com]

Bond Heading Stateside

Very much an “…and finally” story, but also an excellent catch from Brian Pempus at CardPlayer. A cute TV ad featuring former James Bond actor Pierce Brosnan has been airing in Italy for the VegasClub casino. The group that owns the site are looking to get involved with Nevada’s new online poker market and one wonders if the Irish smoothy might not make an appearance in Las Vegas in the near future. [Card Player]

I’m off to celebrate my returned $20 by purchasing $400 worth of tickets to Olympic handball matches. Join me next week for more news-based celebration and a countdown of my top 100 handball goalkeepers.

Here in London, I’ve been doing warm-up stretches for over a month just in case I’m called up to the Olympic poker team at the last minute. People keep telling me that poker isn’t in the Olympics, but I know they’re only testing my bluffing reflexes. I’ve got their number, let me tell you. Just for now, however, I’ve suspended my gruelling training regime in order to put together this collection of worldwide pokery news. I hope you appreciate my sacrifice.

Bwin United

Taking pride of place this week are my beloved Manchester United, who I have supported through thick and slightly less thick since I arbitrarily picked them as my team at the age of 7. They’ve sidled their way into the column by virtue of new shirt sponsor, Bwin. The Austrian half of Bwin.Party already have a big name sponsorship on their books, as the primary sponsors of Spanish giants Real Madrid. Although that contract expires at the end of the 12/13 season. Forbes recently rated United the world’s most valuable sports team, so it should generate Bwin, and online gambling in general, a lot of of exposure. [Online Casino Reports]

Norway’s Maiden Fair

For a few days we all held our breath, hoping that at least one of the two (extremely marketable) women would make it to the final table of the World Series of Poker. Alas, it wasn’t to be, but that hasn’t prevented 11th place finished Elizabeth Hille from reportedly picking up a sponsorship deal with Betfair. Hille is expected to join former champ Peter Eastgate and former WSOPE runner-up John Tabatabai on the Betfair squad. [WPT Magazine]

The Irish Omission

The details of new online gambling bills are always big news, but it’s what’s missing from proposed tax laws in Ireland that’s most interesting. The mooted legislation makes no mention of poker, which is particularly strange for a country that formerly cradled the headquarters of Full Tilt Poker in its Guinness soaked arms. [PokerNews]

‘Abandon hope all ye who enter here’

Disgruntled users have taken to the internet to report serious poker troubles at BetOnline. There have been frequent server outages and, most worryingly, players have been told that they will be unable to cash out any money before September at the earliest. [4Flush]

Meanwhile Poker 5050 are delisting themselves from the Swedish Stock Exchange after being dumped by software provider Microgaming. The company are on their way into liquidation, with a paltry 15% of player funds the best they can offer their shafted user-base. [Compatible Poker]

Party Poker Lower the Stakes

There are no more nosebleeds at Party Poker following the closure of their highest high-stakes tables. Party chiefs claims it has to do with improving their “poker ecology” which roughly translates as: Forcing the fish with big bankrolls to dump their cash at lower limit tables. [Card Player]

Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to fine tune my soul-staring muscle in time for the opening ceremony. I’ll see you again next week when we call admire my shiny gold medal.

It’s time for the Spanish online gambling market to open up, so it’s also time for all the would-be license candidates to pay up. Plus, Bwin pays out $50 million… but none of it is earmarked for the affiliates they shafted.

It’s been a busy week of online gambling news, including trouble in New Jersey, new deals in California, and buy outs in Poker.

Today my mum phoned to explain how important it was that I go outside to get some sunshine. I had to tell her: So committed am I to gathering up the choicest morsels of news-meat that I will heedlessly flout my body’s basic Vitamin D requirements. Noble reader, if you find me sprawled in bed with my skin turned to dust (or whatever happens to people who don’t get enough sunlight), lay me on a poker table, set it alight and push it through the Rio. It’s what the Vikings would have wanted.

Aussie ‘Supergrass’ To Testify

The catalyst for Black Friday, Daniel Tzvetkoff, is to testify on April 9th at the trials of Chad Elie and John Campos. The Australian millionaire made his fortune as the head of Instabill, a payment processor frequently used by online poker players. After being arrested in April 2010 he become an informant, providing U.S. federal authorities with the evidence they needed to bring down PokerStars and Full Tilt. [The Australian]

UK Market No Longer Tax Free 

On Wednesday, a pasty-faced man with a red briefcase came before the people of Britain with a special list of things for the nation to complain about. The Budget, as it is more commonly known, contained information about big changes to the UK gaming sector. From now on operators will be required to pay tax on all profits generated by British players. [Poker Fuse]

Ups and Downs for Bwin

Bwin, the Austrian half of bwin.party, have had a mixed week. On the positive side, they released a new app for real-money poker on the iPad. Their network is now smushed together with Party Poker, so there should be plenty of action to keep you busy on the train or the toilet. Or the toilet on the train.

More negatively, Spanish lawmakers have decreed that football teams may not carry sponsorship logos belonging to companies not locally domiciled. Bwin operate from a zeppelin above the mountains of Mars Gibraltar and are therefore required to end their lucrative deal with league-topping Real Madrid. [Gaming Intelligence] & [The Olive Press]

All Alderney All the Time

The Alderney Gambling Control Commission added their 100th licensee this week in the form of the Relax Gaming network. Head of e-Commerce at Alderney, Robin LePrevost, was bullish about the island’s reputation after Black Friday, claiming that they have seen no slowdown in applications. Their questionable regulation of Full Tilt may not have stemmed the flow, but the addition of nearby Jersey to the license-providing market may have a more profound impact. [Card Player]

iSeriesLIVE to Debut in Ireland

The iSeriesLIVE is a brand new venture which allows viewers to wager on poker as it plays out live. The inaugural event takes place in Dublin on April 5th and features the likes of Daniel Negreanu, Phil Hellmuth, and Faraz Jaka. As it unfolds, PaddyPower will be taking bets on the next elimination, how red or black the next flop will turn out, and all manner of ridiculous wagers. It’s all the fun of poker degeneracy without the inconvenience of actually having to actually play poker. [iSeriesLIVE]

I shall bid you adieu in the form of a congratulation. Noted wit-merchant David Mitchell is to tie the knot with poker player and journalist Victoria Coren. I’m happy for the couple, of course, but I’d mainly like to congratulate the universe for being a place in which two such interesting people can come together in the pursuit companionship and mysterious bedroom activities. A quick word to David, you might want to read up a little before the wedding night.

Not everyone is unhappy about the elimination of PokerStars and Full Tilt from the American online poker marketplace. Shares of Bwin/Party soared today on the London Stock Exchange, closing up nearly 35 percent on rather high trading volume.

And while in some ways this graph looks like the inverse of Party Gaming’s graph in ’06 come the UIGEA and their subsequent, calculated US pullout. But zoom out and you’ll see today’s rise for Party (now officially Bwin.Party Digital Entertainment) is merely a token blip in their long-term efforts to get back atop the online gaming world.

In fact, they had plummeted rather hard just this month as US legislative efforts began making it seem as if Stars and Tilt would be white-list operators in any future, regulated American online gaming economy.

Meanwhile, Scarlet got her hands on some detailed equity research from the venerable banking institution Barclay’s … assessing the impact of of the US DOJ’s actions on the European gaming market. Good in some spots, not as promising as some might think in others.

Click here to see for yourself.

The “bull case” they make, interestingly, is a scenario where both Stars and Tilt end up in full collapse.

The World Poker Tour seems to have gone from the leader in the industry to a company with teetering stock prices and an unknown future/direction. It’s no surprise that the past few years of declining tournaments on the schedule, players in the events, and television channels willing to pay for the shows, rumors will fly about a possible sale of the company.

And thus, we bring you the latest whisper, thanks to Bill Rini. Gaming Intelligence is suggesting that the WPT has been in talks with a company like bwin, which is the company that sponsored the WPT’s recent venture to Venice, Italy.

It’s been discussed for some time that PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker are interested in a purchase as well, both companies of which are sponsors of the WPT. Since numerous entities have good relationships with the World Poker Tour, it might simply be a matter of $$$.

It appears that the WPT Europe that was announced in February 2008 may finally get off the ground this year in its attempt to compete with the mighty European Poker Tour. A criticism of the WPT as its tournament schedule has decreased has been its focus on staying in North America. However, at least 4 tournaments are scheduled to take place in Europe and Africa in the coming months.

Besides the already announced WPT Venice in May and WPT Marrakech in October, two more WPT tournaments have been announced this week. The WPT Spanish Championship returns to Barcelona in late June, while in September the WPT-Merit Cyprus Classic Poker Tournament makes its debut. None of these tournaments are scheduled to air in the US, but the action can be followed online or broadcast on European television.

Also noteworthy are the various online poker sites that don’t allow US customers that are getting on the WPT bandwagon to hold satellites for these WPT tournaments like bwin in Venice and Chili Poker in Marrakech. The season VIII schedule for the rest of the tour has yet to be announced, and will be interesting to see what other changes will appear.

Another one bites the dust. It was in late March that Bugsy’s Club closed and sent its players to PokerStars, but another shut its online poker operations yesterday. PokerRoom.com posted a message on its site, including a note suggesting that players are switching to bwin, where special bonuses await the fleeing players. Here is the note from PokerRoom:

End of an Era
Apr 14, 2009

Well folks, after almost ten years of fun and games, it is with a heavy heart and a tear in my eye that I have to announce that this is it; as of 11:00 CET today, Tuesday the 14th of April 2009, PokerRoom.com will no longer be open for online poker.

More…

The World Poker Tour recently announced its first Italian tournament in partnership with bwin poker. WPT Venice will be held in early May at Casino di Venezia, which sounds strangely familiar… Oh yes, I was there in October! While I was barely able to enter the lobby without a paid casino membership and almost had my camera confiscated by security guards for taking pictures of the entry courtyard, it did look like an amazing European casino tucked away between cobblestone streets and the Grand Canal.

Shockingly, WPT Venice organizers have yet to extend a personal invitation to me. I’m predominantly Italian and I do speak about five words of the language, people! C’mon…

Anyway, here’s the pertinent info:

World Poker Tour Offers First Italian Event: WPT Venice, Powered by bwin

Vienna, March 9 — Bringing the coveted World Poker Tour® to the beautiful city of Venice, WPT Enterprises and bwin have partnered to create the first ever WPT tournament in Italy: WPT Veniceâ„¢, Powered by bwin. The tournament will combine the legacy and fierce competitiveness of the World Poker Tour and the stunning Casino di Venezia, situated right on the east bank of the Grand Canal. The main event is scheduled to take place May 6 through May 10. The event, final table and crowning of the first WPT Venice Champion will be filmed for broadcast via Web-TV on www.bwin.com.

“We’re thrilled to launch our first ever brick-and-mortar WPT tournament offering in Italy,” said WPT Founder, President and CEO, Steve Lipscomb. “bwin is a strong partner with the right market position in the region. We look forward to working with them to bring this event and the WPT brand to poker players in Italy and Europe.”

“Partnering with the World Poker Tour illustrates our dedication to establishing bwin as the premier gaming destination for poker players eager to live the dream of participating in multi-million brick and mortar poker tournaments. Location was also very important to us, and Casino di Venezia is truly a location worthy of the players, the poker media as well as the bwin and WPT brands.”

“We are delighted to be working with WPT on this spectacular tournament. This event will bring together the excitement and interactivity that only bwin can offer – people will be able to bet on the players of the final table while watching the action on their screen.” added Manfred Bodner, Co-CEO of bwin.

The main event will feature a buy-in of €4,000+400. In addition to world-class player hospitality, there will be cash games and side events available throughout the tournament. The winner will receive an official WPT Venice™ bracelet as well and a $25,000 seat in the 2010 World Poker Tour Championship.

Not long after it was announced that the Italian government legalized online poker for its citizens, major poker websites are beginning to receive licenses and launch the Italian versions of their sites. The Amministrazione Autonoma dei Monopoli di Stato has been busy granting requests as quickly as possible so the revenue can start rolling in. (Take note, U.S. gov… It’s not a complicated idea.)

PokerStars was the first major site to announce its foray into the Italian market – legally, that is – with an Italian-only version of PS. The press release came on October 17th that PokerStars.it was up and running, and the site anticipates 500,000 accounts will be opened during its first year. As I write this post, there are more than 60,000 players at the virtual Italian tables.

Online poker betting site bwin just announced this week that it has launched its Italian-only site as well – bwin.it – that offers online poker. Most likely, many other poker sites have their applications in to the Italian authorities and are simply waiting for their licenses to be approved.

(Note to readers who are tired of hearing about Italy: Seriously? *shrug* Fine.)

I think I had you at the first five letters…

Evidently, the Pussycat Dolls are being paid enough to like to play poker, and they are willing to do it with the winner(s) of this contest on bwin poker. The first two winners will fly to a mysterious place called PokerIsland to spend the weekend at a luxurious villa with the Pussycat Dolls from August 16-19. It seems that every week, two more freeroll winners will make the trip, all leading up to a grand finale of some sort in October, the winner of which will be a year-long sponsored player of the bwin team.

1. Has anyone had any experience with bwin?
2. Did anyone read anything I wrote after Pussycat Dolls?

Sounds like a fun contest. And if you can take a guest, consider Dan, who just might need a vacation from his vacation per his CSR posts.

UPDATE: PokerIsland seems to be in Ibiza, Spain.