BankrollMob News: Poker, Casino, Crypto & Betting

The poker phenomenon Viktor "Isildur1" Blom was involved in some really thrilling games this weekend. For example: Blom played some shorthanded $100/$200 Pot Limit Omaha against Theo "TheoJ" Jorgensen, Jeans89, Ben "Sauce123" Sulsky and other regulars at PokerStars nosebleed tables. There were plenty of pots where more than $100k was up for grabs, and one 3-way-pot even exceeded $200,000 (below you can see how this hand was played out).

Read more » High Stakes: $700,000 swing for Isildur1

More and more American poker pros decide to leave US for countries where online poker is accepted. For example, Phil "OMGClayAikebn" Galfond is now located in Vancouver, Canada. Also Vanessa Selbst and Oliveier Busquet have emigrated to other countries, and Brian Hasting and Daniel "Junglman12" Cates, two of the biggest names in the high stakes scene online, are also about to move. One of the latest pros to announce a move is Justin "ZeeJustin" Bonomo. His new destination will be Malta in Europe and he hopes to be there for the WPT tournament on September 20th.

Read more » Black Friday: "ZeeJustin" leaves US for Malta

José "Girah" Macedo, who used to be called the Portuguese poker prodigy, can't be having the time of his life at the moment. In June he was caught cheating in a leaderboard competition in which a sponsorship was up for grabs, and about 2 week ago he was caught cheating once again. This time, however, it was worse as he had tricked people into playing against "the extremely bad player sauron1989", his own account, at the same time as he "gave advice" to the players in question on Skype while he got to see their hands.

Read more » José "Girah" Macedo to face legal action

The 8th season of European Poker Tour has already kicked off, and now it has been announced that Edgar Stuchly has taken over as the new EPT president. Stuchly will be a familiar face for many people on the EPT. He has 20 years of experience in the industry and recently he worked as Head of Poker for Casinos in Austria while he managed poker rooms at 12 casinos.

Read more » EPT gets a new president

About 2 months ago we wrote about Tobey Maguire, best known from the Spider-Man movies, and that he was sued for $300,000 for taking part in illegal poker games where Bradley Ruderman, a Beverly Hills hedge fund manager, played for his clients money. Maguire was not the only one who took part in these illegal games. Gabe Kaplan, Leonardo di Caprio, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck are also said to have taken part in these exclusive home games.

Read more » Ex-High Stakes Poker host pays back money won from illegal home game

In a video interview with the Financial Times that was released a few days ago, Caesars Entertainment Chief Executive Officer Gary Loveman spoke about online poker's future in the US. Lovemen believes that online poker in the US will be back soon and that it will create thousands of jobs.

"I do believe there's a will in Congress to correct this," he said.  "There's a sense of inevitability that this ought to be something people should do and that we ought to clean up the regulatory and policing environment for it and that ‘s what we're seeking."

Read more » Caesars CEO thinks that online poker in US will be back soon

Viktor "Isildur1" Blom had a tough time at the poker tables last week. This week, however, has been extremely good and he has already eliminated the losses from last week. During the 2 last days Blom has played about 2000 hands of PLO at the limits $25/$50 and $50/$100 at PokerStars. In total, he has won $383,000 against players like Ben "Sauce123" Sulsky, Rui "PepperoniF" Cao and Ilari Sahamies, who he won $130k against in only 200 hands of $50/$100 PLO.

Read more » High Stakes: Isildur1 up almost $400,000 - in only two days!

Join us on August 28th at 22:00 GMT for a $75 freeroll at RummyRoyal where the game to be played is Kalooki 51.

There's a password which will be released 1 hour before the freeroll starts, check the freeroll-listings page for the password, click here: $75 Kalooki51 freeroll at RummyRoyal.

If you're not yet a member at RummyRoyal, BankrollMob can offer you a free $5 no deposit bonus at RummyRoyal - just by signing up!!

Last week we could read about the "poker prodigy" José "Girah" Macedo, 18, and how he tricked people into playing poker against "the extremely bad player sauron1989", at the same time he "gave advice" to the players in question on Skype while he got to see their hands.

It didn't take long before people found out that is was in fact José Macedo who used the account and as a consequence of this Macedo lost his sponsorship deal. This was the second time Macedo was involved in a cheating scandal. However, first time he only let another player use his account in order to win a ranking competition.

Read more » Daniel "jungleman12" Cates admits to cheating: "I lied"

During PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in January the 8th edition of Wold Cup of Poker will be played. Seven nations will battle for the team title of poker, and it's Italy that will return to Bahamas as reigning champions. The great thing about Wold Cup of Poker is that anyone can represent their own country. Yes, that's right!

If you got what it takes, you can become one of the players who will represent your country in Bahamas in January with the chance to walk away with a share of a $290,000 prize pool! There are already freerolls and satellites for as little as $1 up running at PokerStars. You'll find more information on World Cup of Poker on PokerStars website. 

Sign up at PokerStars today and we'll give you a 100% up to $600 deposit bonus.

Lots of interesting rumors are circulating on the web right now. However, one of the most interesting ones is that Daniel "jungleman12" Cates has outstanding six million dollars stuck on his Full Tilt Poker account, and that he sold all of it to Tom "durrrr" Dwan after Black Friday. Danny "d2themfi" Isaacson was the one who reveled the information last Friday on one of the biggest poker forums online.

"When we had dinner with Daniel 'jungleman12' Cates and Haseeb 'INTERNETPOKERS' Qureshi in Austin in late April right after Black Friday, Cates said that he had sold his Full Tilt Poker account balance (I believe for 85% but i can't remember). We then asked him if he sold it to Tom 'durrrr' Dwan, and his response was (paraphrasing) 'Someone like that', and we left it at that." Isaacson tells.

It was an epic final table of the first ever Epic Poker League Main Event. But it wasn't one of the big names who took home the tournament. Hasan Habib, Chino Rheem and Jason Mercier were the 3 players who made it to the final table with the largest stacks (about 1.5 million each).

Of these 3, Chino Rheem, the 2008 WSOP Main Event finalist, impressed the most on the final table by taking down pot after pot. Not even the almighty Erik Seidel could stop him from taking down the $1,000,000 first prize. In total, Rheem now has impressive $5,370,875 in tournament earnings.

Final table results:
1) David Rheem, $1 000 000
2) Erik Seidel, $604 330
3) Jason Mercier, $360 970

4) Hasan Habib, $237 560
5) Gavin Smith, $154 260

6) Huck Seed, $107 980

Day 3 of the EPL Main Event is over and the final table is now set! Hasan Habib, who had the second biggest stack at the beginning of Day 3, is the one who will bring the biggest stack to the final table, which will be played 2pm local time at The Palms Casino in Las Vegas. It's an extremely good final table we will get to watch today. Just have a look at the final table seating and chip count below and you understand what I mean.

Read more » Epic Poker League: It will be an epic final table!

A few days ago the Epic Poker League Main Event with a $20,000 buy-in started in Las Vegas. The tournament attracted a field of 137 players, and after 3 days of play, 6 players will return today and continue the battle for the first prize of amazing 1 million dollars!

But even though EPL has attracted many of the biggest names of poker - many of them Americans - many big names still decided not to take part as they didn't believe in the concept. Daniel Negreanu is one of the these players and he has also written a blog on it. It's some very interesting reading. Below you can read Daniel's blog "Why I dind't Play The EPT" in its full version. Don't miss out!

Read more » Why Daniel Negreanu didn't play Epic Poker League

In case you missed it: The Epic Poker League Main Event ($20,000 buy-in) is being played in Las Vegas at the moment. Two days are already in the books and 18 of 137 players will return tomorrow and play Day 3. All of these players are guaranteed at least $43,190 each, and the winner will get just about $1 million. The big favorite to take home the first prize at the moment is Sam Trickett, from UK, who has taken a huge lead!

Read more » Epic Poker League: 18 remaining players in the Main Event

Finally some good news from London as the EPT London schedule was released yesterday. The London Poker Festival will run September 30-October 6 at the Hilton Metropole in London and the Grosvenor Victoria Casino, EPT London will host not less than 31 events! As always, the highlight of EPT London will be the £5,000 + £250 Main Event, and the £20,500 High Roller tournament.

Read more » EPT London schedule released

7 countries took part in Americas Cup of Poker at LAPT (Latin American Poker Tour) Punta del Este in Uruguay. After many hours of play, the Canadian team, led by returning team captain Greg DeBora - a well-known PokerStars Pro, took home the title after crushing Mexico in the final with 5-0. This is the second time Canada wins Americas Cup of Poker, and this year's title was worth $25,000.

Read more » Canada took home Americas Cup of Poker

It's very good times for PokerStars players at the moment as the site has made a 90% reduction on VIP levels until the end of the month. Apart from that thousands of products in the VIP shop are at half the normal prize. The VIP status players achieve during August they will keep until the end of September. And the higher VIP status you have - the easier it will be to earn more VPP, and more items will be available in the VIP shop.

To participate in this fantastic promotion you need, of course, a PokerStars account. Click here to create one straight away! We will give you 100% up to $600 on your first deposit!

Once again the Portoguese poker prodigy José Maria Macedo, better known as Girah, has been caught cheating. This time he has told people to play poker against "sauron1989" on Ipoker's highest stakes and claimed that he's extremely bad and that he will give anyone who play him strategic advice. Anyhow, it didn't take long before people found out that it was in fact José Macedo who used that account and therefore had a huge advantage against the players he "helped".

Macedo has written an official apologize in one of the biggest poker forums online. He has also promised to pay back everything he has won with a great interest rate. However, according to the forum thread, it doesn't seam like Macedo had any regret whatsoever until he was caught cheating.

After 5 days and four and half hours of play on the final table, Ronny Kaiser, 21, from Switzerland, had all the chips and was crowned emperor of Estonia and EPT. For the win of the EPT Tallinn Main Event, Kaiser received the biggest paycheck in his poker career, €275,000. But that's not all! He also became the first champion of European Poker Tour's season 8!

Read more » EPT Tallinn: Ronny Kaiser became the first champ of EPT's 8 season (€275k)

A big congratulations to the 3 new The Women in Poker Hall of Fame inductees - Kristy Gazes, Margie Heintz and Phyllis Caro. Caro is the director of poker operation at Hollywood Park and is married to poker pro and author Mike Caro. Gazes has over $1 million in tournament earnings. Heintz is credited as the first women to ever deal at the World Series of Poker and even dealt at the 1977 WSOP Main Event final table that was televised on CBS.

The official induction of these 3 players will take place on September 2nd at the Golden Nugget in Las Vegas. At the event will also be already inducted players like jennifer Harman, Linda Johnson and Marsha Waggoner - 3 players who have contributed a lot to the game for many years.

Read more » The Women in Poker Hall of Fame: 2011 inductees announced!

The Main Event' player-field was narrowed down to only 63 players during Day 2 and we're now, most probably, only a day away from the final table where some nice cash prizes are up for grabs - more about that further down. Now, the one who will bring the largest stack (460,200) to Day 3, which starts in few hours, is Nikolas Liakos from Sweden, followed by Lari Sihvo, from Finland, with just about 400,000 chips.

Read more » EPT Tallinn: 63 remaining players with the chance of winning €275,000!

In Sweden it's getting more and more common that thieves hijack/steal mobile phones and use it, for example, to play poker for money online. One of the latest victims for this was a girl from Sweden who had her mobile stolen whilst she visited a nightclub with some friends. Half an hour after the mobile had been stolen, the thief (or thieves) had lost 5 000 sek (about 550 euro) on poker and paid it with her mobile.

"I noticed that someone had unzipped my bag and though that mobile, wallet and everything else of value would be gone. But only the mobile was stolen," the girl said in an interview with a local newspaper.

Read more » Sweden: Thieves hijack mobiles to play poker online with your money!

We're happy to announce another batch of weekly $200 Party Poker freerolls. For now they have been scheduled for every Sunday until and including September 25th. There's currently no freeroll for this next Sunday (August 7th) but if Party Poker manages to get it set up in time, then we will announce it in the poker freerolls section - so keep an eye on it.

As usuall, you will need a Party Poker account created through BankrollMob in order to qualify, as well as having earned 50 PartyPoints prior to the freeroll. So, if the freeroll is Sunday September 25th, you'll need to earn 50 PartyPoints between August 1st and Wednesday September 21st (Party Poker needs a few days to upload the list of eligible players, which is why the cut-off day is the Wednesday before each freeroll).

If you do not already have a Party Poker account, you can apply for our free $150 Party Poker no deposit bonus or our 5,000 MobPoints ($50) gift offer. 

Good luck!

The EPT Tallinn Main Event has a new leader, Oscar Lima, as Day 1b and both starting days are in the books. Oscar Lima, 23, from Spain, is playing his first ever EPT  - and his first major tournament - and he will return today with 132,200 chips and play Day 2 of the tournament. Jani Sointula is Lima's closest opponent with a 123,950 stack.

Examples on big names that will return today are Ville Wahlbeck, JP Kelly and Dario Minieri. However, not so many notables will return to Day 2 with lots of chips to work with. We will return with an update as soon as Day 2 is over. Stay tuned!