Affleck: “In it to win it”

Early Wednesday morning in Denver, Ben Affleck won a charity poker tournament sponsored by Poker Players Alliance (PPA), a Washington lobbying organization that works to protect the right to play poker. The association’s motto is, “Poker is Not a Crime: Join the Fight.” The well-attended tournament was held at the Club Level section of Coors Field.

Before showing up for the tournament, Affleck said he was “in it to win it,” according to John Pappas the head of the Poker Players Alliance. And win it he did. Affleck outlasted more than 100 other players in a six-hour tournament that ended around 4 a.m. local time. Among those bested were Saturday Night Live star Seth Myers, Sarah Silverman, Richard Dreyfuss and Montel Williams.

Affleck also defeated two professional poker players, including Andy Bloch, who won more than $1 million with a second-place finish in the 2005 World Series of Poker (WSOP). The event raised about $60,000 for the Paralyzed Veterans of America.

Republicans Back Down on Dropping Anti-online Gaming Language from Platform

With the exaggerated claim that, “Millions of Americans suffer from problem or pathological gambling that can destroy families," the Republican Platform Committee rapidly reinstated language they had previously dumped from the official GOP platform after coming under fire from social conservatives. The Poker Players Alliance (PPA) had been celebrating the removal of the language, suggesting the elimination of anti-online gaming provisions from their platform suggested a shift in attitudes regarding online poker, however, it appears now that any celbration was entirely premature.

PokerStars Increases Tourney Guarantees

Even though it may appear that way, it's not actually each and every week that PokerStars gives its guarantees a shot in the arm, but it does seem like it's happening more often these days. Two weeks ago, Stars increased most of the Sunday Tournament guarantees, including bumping the Sunday Million from $1 million to $1.5 million. Now Stars has raised them yet again.

Below is a list of the new guarantees.

Tuesdays

19:55 -- Super Tuesday (Increasing from $300,000 to $400,000)

Sundays

14:00 -- $109+R NL Hold'em (Increasing from $70,000 to $300,000)

15:00 -- Daily Eighty Grand (Increasing from $80,000 to $125,000)

17:00 -- $55 NL Hold'em (Increasing from $50,000 to $80,000)

17:30 -- $530 NL Hold'em (Increasing from $250,000 to $500,000)

19:00 -- $109 NL Hold'em (Increasing from $50,000 to $100,000)

19:30 -- $109+R NL Hold'em (New guarantee--> $150,000)

21:00 -- $215+R NL Hold'em (Increasing from $200,000 to $250,000)

To get your piece of the action, head over to PokerStars.com for more info.

Chan Poker Shuts Down

Launched in 2006, Ongame Network site ChanPoker.com, named for back-to-back WSOP champ Johnny Chan, will be shutting down today for good. Chan Poker has stated all withdrawal requests will be honored and promptly processed, and to facilitate timely withdrawals, limits for certain withdrawal methods have been increased. Players are strongly advised to submit withdrawal requests as soon as possible. Arrivederci, Chan Poker.

Poker.com/Carbon Poker Portal of Confusion

Once upon a time, there was a site called Poker.com. Great name, but the poker site never took off and was subsequently auctioned off for 20 million dollars. After that, it was no longer an online poker site, but rather an online poker info portal. When players tried to sign up, they were directed to a new room called Carbon Poker. This week, Carbon poker/Poker.com, sent out an e-mail stating they were changing to something called PDCPoker.com. But, as it turns out, after much confusion among affiliates, Carbon Poker will remain the same and PDCPoker is just an additional skin of Carbon, and both of these entities have absolutely nothing to do with Poker.com. Got it? Not sure I do, but I’m not sure I care, either. Good PR job, guys.

Who’s the Boss

PokerTrillion C.E.O Andy Pyrah announced this week that PokerTrillion's case in the First Hall Court on Malta has resulted in a judgment authorizing seizure of the Boss Media Malta Limited and Boss Media AB servers, and that these servers must cease being used for any commercial activity as from 18th September 2008. The judgment denied Boss the right to appeal.

Boss Media fired back today stating, “Poker Trillion’s recent comments are a reckless attempt to support a legal action that is without merit and initiated as retribution for their dismissal from the Boss Media network. To be clear, player funds are not affected by the current proceedings. All players’ funds are held separately under the control of the Malta Lotteries and Gaming Authority and cannot be seized by any court.

“Poker Trillion is a former customer of Boss Media who was terminated because of rake back violations. They have since then repeatedly tried to disrupt the Boss Media business through the dissemination of groundless rumors. In April 2008 Poker Trillion alleged in a press release a claim that among other things, Boss Media player funds were frozen. The allegations were false but typical of the type of tactics employed by Poker Trillion.”

Boss Media went on to state they are currently exploring various legal options and that they have high-performance back-up systems in place to ensure continued service to all their customers and players.

Leicester Square Hosts Largest Poker Festival in UK

Just over a month before the 2008 WSOP Europe kicks off at Empire Casino in Leicester Square, the square will play host to the largest poker festival in the UK this weekend. Poker in the Park will host over 25,000 poker enthusiasts in Leicester Square for free hourly poker tournaments, lectures from the biggest stars of the game, photo opportunities and autographs with pro poker players, exhibitions from top name card rooms, and Las Vegas-style showgirl entertainment.

The poker pros in attendance will be a who's who of the UK poker scene, including Dave "Devilfish" Ulliott, Liv Boeree, Mark Goodwin, and Neil Channing. The event will also feature several live tournaments put on by a number of local London poker leagues and European Media and will include The Sky Poker Cup, The SubTV Student Poker League Cup, The LondonPubPoker.co.uk Trophy, The Royal Surrey Trophy, The Nuts Poker League Challenge, The LondonPokerMeetup.co.uk Cup, to name a few.

The festival is designed to show how popular and supportive the poker scene is in London as the city has become one of the premiere poker cities in the world and will continue to prove that as it hosts the 2008 WSOP Europe in mid-September.

If you want a chance to head to London and play against the best players the poker world has to offer, then check out Bodog's WSOP Europe online satellites. Qualifiers for the Two Seats Guaranteed World Series of Poker Europe Semifinal are running daily for as little as $1. The WSOP Europe package consists of a seat to the WSOP Europe Main Event, plus roundtrip airfare, high-end car service to and from the airport, luxury hotel accommodations, spending money and exclusive Team Bodog player gear and apparel, all valued at $24,000.

PPA Hosts Fundraiser for Paralyzed Vets at Democratic Convention

Actor Ben Affleck, Poker Pros Andy Bloch and Bary Greenstein to Attend; Sponsorships Available

Poker players from across the nation will team up at the Democratic National Convention in Denver, CO, to play poker and raise funds for paralyzed veterans. Hosted by the Poker Players Alliance (PPA), “Poker at the Ballpark,” a charity poker tournament, will take place Tuesday, August 26th on the club level of Coors Field. All proceeds will go directly to the Paralyzed Veterans of America.

“PPA is honored to host this charity poker tournament and looks forward to raising a lot of money for these American heroes,” said former Senator Alfonse D’Amato, chairman of the PPA. “This is a great opportunity to harness the popularity of the game of poker in order to raise much needed funds for those who have fought to protect our country and our individual freedoms – paralyzed vets.”

Confirmed to participate in the PPA charity tournament are Hollywood star and poker aficionado Ben Affleck as well as professional poker players Andy Bloch and Barry Greenstein. A VIP reception begins at 9:30pm, and tournament play begins at 10:00pm.

Corporate sponsorships are available and include access to a VIP reception as well as recognition on all event signage and collateral materials. Individual seats at a tournament table are also available. For additional details on sponsorship, etc. can be found here.

The tournament grand prize is a 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event buy-in, valued at $10,000.

Scamster Who Tried to Sue PokerStars Admits Fraud

Natalie Teltscher, who goes by the username TheVOid, withdrew her lawsuit against PokerStars when confronted by the evidence Stars had compiled in its investigation into the matter, and finally admitted she had not been the player on the account during the 2007 World Championship of Online Poker in which she won 1.7 million dollars. PokerStars.com disqualified her and ruled that the remaining finalists move up one place on the winning table, and as a result, Teltscher had launched litigation in court on the Isle of Man.