2011 April 20 Poker News, Events and Happenings

Two of the three online poker companies that had their domain names seized have been granted access to them. PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker were given permission to use their domain names to help poker player withdrawal money. The poker sites were blocked by the US Department of Justice on April 15th. Visiting the sites today shows that they will be working to swiftly allow poker players to pull their money from the online poker rooms. The domain names of Absloute Poker and UB.com remain blocked.

One of the eleven men arrested in conjunction with a crackdown on online poker in the US has been released. Monday a federal magistrate judge ordered the release of John Campos. John Campos is the co owner of SunFirst Bank, one of the organizations charged with breakign US law regarding payment processing and online poker rooms. Four poker rooms were directly targeted as trying to circumvent US online poker law, which focuses more on poker payments than poker players. Campos, a St. George resident, had to forfeit his passport as a condition of the release.

As online poker players reel from recent events one online poker room is positioning itself to acquire more players. Online poker room Paddy Power seeks to draw in the disaffected with promotions. Some promotions they offer include a $600 first deposit bonus match, but in light of recent events they have bumped their normal rate up to $1,000. There will also be a freeroll for new players, a $1,000 First Depositors Freeroll. For thoe players who are already members of the poker site there are two big freerolls they can play in, each with a $5,000 prize pool, running on April 22 and April 23.

Once a number of online poker rooms blocked access to US poker players they became concerned with what will happen to their money. When domain names were blocked some US players could still access their accounts in the various poker rooms. Sites like Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars moved to block US players in the wake of US arrests of poker principles, but it is uncertain if the funds in those poker players accounts were still liquid. CEREUS network's UB.com and Absolute Poker were also affected.

The first Belgian Poker Series is over and was won by a Belgian poker pro. The young poker player Glenn de Backer won €100,000. He outlasted 576 players in the event, including second place finisher George Harutunian, who won €65,000 for his efforts. The Belgian Poker Series was sponsored by online poker room PokerStars. The other top five finishers were Alexandru Cincu for €37,000, Frederic Van Der Mersch for €24,600 and Daniel Furnival for €19,500. The €730 + €70 buy-in main event took place at the Casino de Namur