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We are back with another edition of our PokerGuru 3-Bet with two delightful reports and one not so much for a renowned pro. We start by reporting the new changes in PokerStars’ MTT schedule which got revamped recently and next we focus on Phil Ivey who lost his appeal in the long pending London edge sorting case which is being touted as a big win for casinos. Lastly, in a historic development for USA, Pennsylvania is set to become the fourth state to legalize online poker, DFS and online casinos.
Online giant PokerStars recently introduced major changes to its weekly tournament schedule for the first time since April 2016.
The new MTT schedule was announced by the tournaments team manager for PokerStars Luke Staudenmaier through an official PokerStars Blog titled, “Bigger, Better, Hotter Tournaments” and the changes were formed with the help of the Players Advisory Council (PAC).
These changes include introduction of new tournaments while existing tournaments were modified. However, there was no announcement for changes in the rake structure.
After feedback from PAC to introduce higher stakes tournaments, the newly added events a $2,100 High Roller event on Sundays at 1:30 p.m. ET and a daily $530 High Roller at 3:00 p.m. ET.
In addition, the buy-in of the Super-Sized Sunday has now been reduced from $700 to $530 and the event has now transformed into a bounty tournament hosted daily. It has been rebranded as $530 Bounty Builder High Roller.
New daily majors were also announced including a 3-Max Progressive KO Zoom tournament with buy-ins of $215/$22/$2.20 at 4:45 p.m. ET.
In another notable and important change for many, all tiered Majors will now share the start time, meaning that the Mini and Micro versions of the Majors will start earlier than they used to.
The start time of the daily themed Majors including the Monday 6-Max and the Fast Friday will now begin at 6 a.m., 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. ET.
That’s not all, as even the Omania schedule has undergone many changes. The Saturday Special Omania tournaments will henceforth take place on Sundays with the tournaments now renamed as Weekend Special Omania. The high-roller schedule has also been revamped as follows –
Monday – $215 PLO8
Tuesday – $530 PLO
Wednesday – $215 FLO8
Thursday – $530 5-Card PLO
Friday – $215 NLO8
Saturday – $215 PLO [4-Max, Progressive KO]
Sunday – $530 PLO
Other highlight changes include –
Phil Ivey Loses Appeal in London Edge Sorting Case
It’s all over for 10-time WSOP bracelet winner Phil Ivey’s long pending London edge sorting case after he lost his appeal against Crockfords Club that had withheld £7.7 million in winnings.
Ivey admitted detecting small irregularities on the backs of cards for his advantage during the £7.7 million win playing Punto Banco (similar to Baccarat) at Crockfords Club in Mayfair in central London, in 2012, along with fellow gambler Cheung Yin Sun. Ivey felt that his win should be upheld as he was merely exploiting the casino’s failure to protect itself against a gambler of his caliber.
This setback for Ivey, who boasts of career earnings amounting to more than $23 million came after Genting, the casino’s owner, refused to pay out his winnings arguing that the 40-year old American had used an unfair technique called “edge-sorting” that allows a sharp-eyed player to exploit the design of irregularities in the cards.
He explained his decision to take the case to the courts in a statement back in May 2013 stating, “At the time, I was given a receipt for my winnings but Crockfords subsequently withheld payment. I, therefore, feel I have no alternative but to take legal action.”
After the case was dismissed by the High Court in 2014, he took it to the Court of Appeal which in 2016 upheld the previous ruling saying that on the basis of the Gambling Act of 2005, edge-sorting fits in the definition of “cheating” even if Ivey did not have deceitful intentions.
The five-judge Supreme Court unanimously upheld the decision of the Court of Appeal, and dismissed the case on the grounds that the duo had cheated. According to Lady Justice Arden, Ivey and Sun interfered with the process of the game, and therefore, were not entitled to the winnings that came as a result.
But Ivey said the decision makes no sense and asked, “The trial judge said that I was not dishonest and the three appeal judges agreed, but somehow the decision has gone against me. Can someone tell me how you can have honest cheating?”
It was a double bow for Ivey as this decision comes less than a year after US District Court Judge Noel Hillman ordered Ivey and Sun to return the $10.1 million to Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa in Atlantic City for similar allegations of edge-sorting.
Ivey’s legal loss is a big win for casinos; more broadly, the judgment has far-reaching implications for fraud cases, where disputes often center on whether a defendant was dishonest.
President and COO of Genting UK Paul Willcock said, “This has been a landmark case in how the courts approach cheating in the modern day.”
In a major victory for poker and daily fantasy sports (DFS) players, Pennsylvania is set to become the fourth state in the US to legalize online poker after years of heated debates and dead ends.
On October 26, the Pennsylvania House of Representatives passed the landmark iGaming bill which allows online poker, online casino, and DFS within the borders of the state.
The House passed the amended iGaming bill H 271 by a majority vote of 109-72. Governor Tom Wolf now has 10 ten days to sign the bill before the bill automatically becomes the law!
According to the bill, online poker players won’t have to be residents of the state to play but will be required to be located within Pennsylvania’s boundaries at all times when playing just like in New Jersey and Nevada.
Other major provisions of the bill include:
Meanwhile, the tax revenues from online gaming are obviously one of the major advantages that states gain from passing such legislation. The bill has divided online gaming into three parts namely poker, table/casino games, and slots and imposes an insane 54% tax on internet slots gross gaming revenue (52% state tax and 2% local tax).
The tax rates for sports betting and DFS were passed at 36% and 15%, respectively.
The Pennsylvania bill offers three separate licenses for online slots, house-banked games and peer-to-peer games like poker.
According to Play Pennsylvania, operators can buy separate licenses for $4 million, while existing PA casino operators can purchase all three licenses for $10 million if they do so within 90 days of license availability. After 120 days, operators outside of the state will be allowed to apply for licenses.
The development also marks a momentous victory for the Poker Players Alliance (PPA), which was at the forefront of the fight for licensed and regulated online poker and iGaming across the US and particularly in Pennsylvania.
The passing of the bill was welcomed by the executive director of the PPA, John Pappas who said, “Pennsylvania made the right decision today. The iGaming law will also help create new growth opportunities for the Commonwealth’s brick and mortar casinos while providing needed revenue for the state budget.”
The new bill could provide a positive model for other states to follow as only four out of the 50 states have felt that legalized online poker is beneficial for the economy.