Poker Deposit Options News

MoneyGram Continues to Improve Service and Branding

Renee — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 01:07:25 +0000

MoneyGram is expanding more and more daily. MoneyGram has made a deal with Janata Bank Ltd which will help speed up payments between Italy and Bangladesh. For those players who hail from Bangladesh, this could mean that payments using MoneyGram would be processed more quickly as well, although this would be an unintended consequence of the deal, which was signed in the presence of Bangladesh’s ambassador to Italy Masud Ben Momen.

Meanwhile, MoneyGram has appointed a new senior vice president and chief marketing officer. Juan Agualimpia. Agualimpia’s role will be to oversee MoneyGram’s global branding and the company’s marketing strategy. According to MoneyGram’s chairman and CEO, Pamela H. Patsley, “Juan is an established veteran in the marketing arena and his experience in large, consumer-centric, international organizations will make him a valuable asset to MoneyGram’s leadership team. Juan brings an extensive background in global brand positioning, and marketing strategy and I look forward to leveraging his talents and expertise to help MoneyGram accelerate growth and increase market share.”

Agualimpia, whose MBA in marketing and finance is from F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business at Babson College, has previously served in both management and senior-level marketing positions for such heavy-hitters as The Clorox Company, Abbott Laboratories, and Reckitt Benckiser. Asked about his new position, he commented, “MoneyGram is a company with tremendous potential. I am very excited to work with the leadership and marketing teams to take our brand and consumer experience to the next levels. We are focused on delivering significant growth across channels, countries, communities and categories.”

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Is “Slumpuppy Millionaire” Story a Hoax?

Renee — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 23:55:52 +0000

Sometimes, when you hear about a poker news item, you’re just left scratching your head. Such is the curious case reported about 8-year-old Aashish Nanak from Chandigarh, India. The source that originated the story is a poker news site, and not an Indian one, so it leaves some doubt as to it’s veracity. Nanak, who some are dubbing “Slumpuppy Millionaire” is reported to have learned to use a computer at age three while his mother worked cleaning in a hotel. According to the article, he began playing online poker at age six.

Quotes from his mother state Nanak opened his own websites when he was just four years old. The boy reportedly played poker on his uncle’s poker account, winning a big prize of 22,912,500.38 Indian Rupees, or about half a million US Dollars. The poker site, which is not named in the article, claimed the the boy violated the terms of use by playing despite being underage, and is reportedly refusing to pay the winnings. Supposedly, a lawyer for the family claims that opening the account was done legally by an adult and therefore the win was legal.

So the head scratching begins. If you read the terms and conditions of any online poker site, they clearly state that only the registered player may make deposits and withdrawals, and only the registered player may play the game. Why would the mother and uncle report to the company that they had violated the terms and conditions before receiving the cash in their hands? Why is the online poker site not named? There seem to be more questions presented in the article than answers. It looks like a cute way for a news site to get some attention, but if it’s not a hoax, I’ll be surprised.

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Annie Duke Becomes First Woman to Win NBC Heads-Up

Renee — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 22:53:05 +0000

Good news, gentlemen. The felts are looking prettier than ever. At NBC’s National Heads-Up Championships for 2010, it’s true that we were forced to look at the usual ugly mugs of the likes of Doyle Brunson, but at the final table, anyone who didn’t want to look at Erik Seidel could look right across at Annie Duke. If you’re a woman, then you could take pride in knowing that the finer gender has its pride restored by one fine lady! Annie Duke may be Howard Lederer’s sister, but she’s certainly a poker player all of her own.

She beat out the likes of Chris Moneymaker, Phil Laak, Jason Mercier, Jerry Yang, Scotty Nguyen, and Eli Elezra for the title. Phil Helmuth and Chris “Jesus” Ferguson played in the tournament but did not place high enough for a cash prize.

The fact that it was an invite-only event and the $20,000 entry fee made for one incredibly exclusive event. Duke took home a cool half a million, while Seidel took home a quarter of a million, so his ego isn’t likely to be overly bruised. Annie Duke wasn’t the only lady to take home cash from the event. Annette Obrestad took home $25,000 for placing 11th.

In the winning hand, Duke held pocket nines against Seidel’s A-2 which didn’t end up panning out on the board. Duke is the first woman ever to win the NBC National Heads-Up Championship. Last year, Vanessa Rousso fell short of winning the top prize, placing second to Huck Seed.

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PKR.com Offers Satellites to WSOP Bracelet Event

Renee — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 19:50:43 +0000

For a truly 3D only poker experience, the place to go has always been PKR.com, but budding pros haven’t always considered PKR a serious option. That’s about to change. PKR is opening qualifiers for a $4000 package including a seat at the WSOP. Each day, you can play at one of PKR’s freeroll qualifiers. If you win that, you can advance to one of their $3 satellites or you can buy straight into that stage 1 satellite. Likewise you can win a place to a stage 2 satellite or buy one for $18, including tournament fees which can win you entry to a stage 3 satellite with a buy-in cost of $66. All of those are played daily. If you just want to play at the final stage, you can get in for just $360. One out of twelve will win a fantastic trip to Vegas to play in the WSOP.

The lucky winners will get round-trip airfare to Vegas, a buy-in to a WSOP bracelet event, five nights in a luxury hotel, entry to the PKR exclusive party, and entry to a 4th of July barbecue.

If you want to join PKR.com, it’s easy to make a deposit. PKR.com accepts debit cards like Delta, Maestro, Switch, Electron, and Solo. They accept credit cards like Visa, MasterCard, and pre-paid MasterCard. They also accept e-wallets like PayPal, Neteller, and Moneybookers. You can also use Paypoint Paycash, Wire transfers, Entropay, Click and Buy, Click2Pay, and Ukash to make your deposit at PKR.com. With the vast number of deposit options, it’s very easy to get into PKR.com to start playing and maybe win a seat at a WSOP bracelet event plus a dream vacation without spending a penny.

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Aruba Poker Classic Canceled – Big Plans For Ultimate Bet!

Renee — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 23:29:56 +0000

Ultimate Bet players take note. This year’s Aruba Poker Classic has been canceled. That’s the bad news. The good news is that Ultimate Bet plans to take the resources that had been slated to go into the live event and put a lot more into their online events. Ultimate Bet is looking at creating a monthly guaranteed half million dollar tournament and eventually turning it into a million dollar monthly tournament. They’re looking to add more pro-related competitions. They also hope to add more of a presence at existing live tournaments.

Another addition they plan on is to make their UBOC twice a year. This is an online poker championship which spanned 12 days and featured two $1 million guaranteed events last year. In fact, both events were wildly successful, with one prize pool exceeding $1.5 million due to the large number of players who signed up for the event.

Paul Leggett, Chief Operations Officer of Tokwiro, owner and operator of UB.com said “It is with great regret that we are announcing that the Aruba event will not run this year but 2010 is going to be an exciting year for UB and its players. Over the last year, we have been redefining the UB brand in every way. We love the Aruba Poker Classic event but we think we can do a lot more for our players by investing in new events and rewards.”

While details were not given, Leggett indicated that there would be more opportunities for players to win entries into live tournaments such as the WSOP and major WPT events.

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Realex Signs with 32Red

Renee — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 21:27:43 +0000

Realex Payments signed a deal with poker room provider 32Red. This comes less than a month after signing a similar deal with Cryptologic, the technology behind such poker rooms as InterPoker, Littlewoods Poker, and Caribbean Sun Poker. Realex Payments is primarily a credit card processor, so does not help those poker rooms that are looking to help US players find better solutions for their payments.

For those who are concerned about the security of their credit card transactions and the ease of transactions, Realex will certainly improve 32Red’s processing power. Realex CEO and founder Colm Lyon said “As we grow our gaming portfolio it is important that we secure partnerships with respected operators, such as 32Red. To be selected by 32Red ahead of others demonstrates our leadership and ability to deliver service led bespoke payment solutions.”

Pat Harrison, 32Red’s Operations Director, was enthusiastic about the deal, saying “Realex Payments came to us with something different. The level of support and proactive service they provide is what sets them apart. Realex Payments has delivered an impressive, cost effective solution that is both technologically superior and operationally advanced compared to anything else on the market. We see this partnership as long term and one that will add value to our customers through improved hygiene factors such as reliability, management information and service.”

It will be interesting to see if Realex signs as payment processor with more online poker rooms over the next few months, and if there is a real improvement in service for those rooms where they have signed deals.

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Poker Players Should Beware of Fake PayPal Emails

Renee — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 20:56:29 +0000

Whether you’re new to online poker or old hat at it, there’s more than one way to lose big, and one of those is something called phishing. Phishing is the term given for a specific means in which thieves try to steal financial and personal information. The thieves send an email asking you to confirm your password at a trusted site like an e-wallet, Facebook, or even an online banking site. When you click the link, it takes you to a site that looks like the right site, but actually belongs to the thief or thieves. When you put in your username and password, it creates some kind of error or says “thank you,” leaving you unaware that you have been on a fake site.

German security vendor Avira tracks phishing, and in the past three months, the largest number of phishing attacks were perpetrated on PayPal accounts. If you use PayPal to fund your online poker account, it’s critical to remember a few things. PayPal’s advice in these matters is clear “[A sample] email asks you to confirm/update/verify your account data at PayPal by visiting the given link…PayPal never send their users emails requesting personal details in this way.” Do not be rushed by threats to close your account. Instead, type the correct address for your e-wallet or online bank into your browser’s address bar. This helps make sure that you always enter your information on the correct website. Remember that anyone can copy PayPal’s seal. If you suspect that an email is a fake, send it to the company that it is pretending to be from. Send it to spoof @ the company’s domain. This will help them shut down the thief’s site before anyone can be scammed.

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Theft and Violence Interrupts EPT Game in Berlin

Renee — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 19:03:33 +0000

Poker is generally considered a non-contact sport, and these days, it’s not considered a dangerous game the way it was in the Wild West. But today’s European Poker Tour (EPT) game in Berlin proved that even poker can get dangerous. The presence of that much cash was obviously too much temptation for a team of thieves. The crew were shown in photographs with ski masks on, armed with knives. The men ran into the venue, frightening competitors and onlookers. Police reported that the crew was composed of four men, while the EPT statement said there were six men. A brave security guard managed to fight and temporarily subdue one of the the bandits, but another attacked the security guard, causing him a head injury. No other injuries were reported, and the security guard’s injury is said to be mild.

Reports vary, but photographs from the scene show that the men wielded large knives. Some reports claimed that the men held guns, and that the wife of the tournament director was held at gunpoint. Other reports claim that the bandits threatened that there was a bomb on the premises. Tables and chairs were overturned. Photos and video captured much of the havoc, but left much unclear. Police are declining statement about many details due to the ongoing investigation. Official statements from EPT spokespeople claim that the team of bandits managed to steal less than $1 million. This is unlikely since the jackpot for the day was €1 million. The event was slated to continue later on this afternoon, despite the mental states of the competitors.

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No Renewal for ‘Two Months Two Million’

Renee — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 00:05:40 +0000

In G4’s attempts to attract a slightly older crowd and to move away from their video-game only image, they tried the show Two Months, Two Million, which put four budding poker pros in a house together with the goal of making $2 million in just eight weeks. Not only were the four unsuccessful, but the show simply didn’t get the ratings that G4 had hoped for. While the online community loved the show, there weren’t enough people watching. Midway through the season, G4 moved the show to an easier mid-week timeslot when the show wouldn’t have to compete against NFL football games.

One reason the show may not have been as wild a success as the station’s executives had hoped is the fact that the team fell far short of their goal. In fact, they banked just $676,000, far less than half of the title goal. The team, comprised of Emil Patel, Dani Stern and Brian Roberts, and Jay “Krantz” Rosenkrantz, was off to a good start, banking $35,000 in the first week, hitting $200,000 in the second, and then hitting some rough times, so that at the time that the fifth episode aired, they were down to just $35,000 again.

The team played online poker at PokerStars and live poker games, lived in an incredible mansion, complete with a princess room, including pink walls, dolls, bears, and a placard stating “The princess sleeps here.” The mansion included indoor and outdoor pools and an on-staff chef, as well as a computer base where the team could watch each other’s action at online poker games. It looks like the team had a great time, but there just wasn’t enough action to get the fan base needed for G4 to renew them for another season.

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PokerStars: New Promos Let You Go Pro For Free

Renee — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 21:46:42 +0000

PokerStars has two new exciting promotions running now. One is for Australian players who have dreams of going pro and the other is for women only. The first, called Dream Job Australia is an amazing opportunity for a lucky Australian who’s dreamed of going pro and doesn’t have the bankroll to start with. The lucky winner will receive $5000 per month for a year, plus $40,000 in tournament entries to the Australia New Zealand Poker Tour. The second promotion, the PokerStars Luxury Ladies Poker Club, is an opportunity for seven lucky ladies to win an all-expense paid trip to Monte Carlo and the European Poker Tour.

To win entry to Dream Job Australia, you need only enter one of the daily tournaments, held Saturdays to Thursdays at 20:30 AEDT. Entry is free. The top 9 players each day win an entry in the weekly tournament held on Friday at 20:30 AEDT. Make it to the top third – that is, the top 18 positions of 54, and you have an entry in the final tournament. Place in the top 10 of those 72, and you get into the real competition. First, you’ll have to test your poker knowledge, then you’ll have to meet a PokerStars Australia representative. Then, for six weeks, whoever remains in the competition will tweet, blog, and Facebook their way into the hearts of PokerStars players, who will vote for their favorite newly-minted Australian pro!

The Luxury Ladies Poker Club prize is also available for those with no budget but great poker skills. Start with a Saturday freeroll at 13:30 ET, where the top 3 get a seat in the weekly final. The top winner each week for 7 weeks gets the trip to Monte Carlo plus a whole slew of PokerStars goodies. Join up and make your first deposit for a chance to make it to the top for free!

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