Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie isn’t done talking about the NJ sports betting case yet, as he addressed the issue on Friday morning.
The post Christie Talks NJ Sports Betting Case: ‘We’ll Win It In Either May Or June’ appeared first on Play NJ.
The online poker industry is in a state of flux.
PokerStars has radically shifted the way it sells the game to the masses and its new recreational-focus has left professionals and aspiring professionals feeling shunned.
But into that vacuum stepped partypoker and its new vision. The new partypoker sees professionals and aspiring professionals as a key cog in the poker machine, the bridge that will give them a direct path to the coveted recreational player.
As partypoker liaison Patrick Leonard put it:
There is a huge knock on effect and getting as many of these reg-recs that Fedor once was is huge. The “dream” of being a pro player over last 5-6 years has been killed. Its very important to get that back. I quit my job to try and be supernova elite because i wanted to tell fam.
— Patrick Leonard (@plenopads) March 28, 2018
And it’s this player, Leonard’s rec-reg, that is at the center of the current debate within the poker industry.
How many of these rec-regs are out there? What value do they have? And how do you best attract them?
PokerStars seems to be of the opinion that the number of aspiring pros is shrinking along with their value.
Conversely, partypoker thinks it’s the proverbial sleeping giant, with each one having a huge knock-on effect.
So who’s right?
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When you are a successful poker player, and your circle of friends are largely poker players, and the “recs” you talk to are playing in events at a major tournament series, it’s easy to miscalculate just how many rec-regs there are.
Quite frankly, most professional players are not just living in a bubble, they’re living in an alternate reality where they project their dreams and goals onto the rest of the society.
Some understand this:
To clarify: Talk to recs and ask them why they play poker. The answer is never “to make money”. They enjoy the game and want to spend the afternoon playing the tournament. Do they want to fold for 3 hours? No! They want to play pots and have a chance to feel like part of the game
— Gags30 (@Gags30poker) March 28, 2018
But most don’t, and think that every person who sees a flop immediately dreams of becoming a pro.
Just like not everyone who buys a video game does so because they want to be part of a professional esports team. Yet professional gamers can’t imagine why anyone wouldn’t want to live that life.
Nor does every person that walks into a gym do so because they aspire to be a bodybuilder or fitness competitor. Yet most bodybuilders and fitness competitors think the average gym member envies their physique.
Sure, lots of people would love to snap their fingers and have huge muscles or make a million dollars a year playing video games or cards, but nobody is under any illusions that’s actually how it works.
The new poker dream is one of hard work, endless study, and dedication. And the idea that more than a few people have the chance of becoming a poker millionaire died with the poker boom.
Poker is no longer a job for people who don’t want to work a typical job. A modicum of knowledge could make you some money in 2005, now you’re just another fish.
In 2018, poker is a lot like a typical job, only it requires longer days, a deeper commitment, and no guarantee of an income.
no doubt it can be a career, but do you think the average person would rather put in the effort to make $100k playing cards or the effort to become a nurse/police officer/business owner/whatever and make close to that?
— Steve Ruddock (@SteveRuddock) March 28, 2018
There are certainly people who would like to be professional poker players, and their number tends to wax and wane based on the current opportunities to make money playing poker.
Almost every pro was this player once (me for sure losing many many deposits) and for every pro that went from reg-rec to reg-reg there is still 100x as many reg-recs still out there either who have quit (need to be reactivated) or still working towards the dream
— Patrick Leonard (@plenopads) March 28, 2018
Agreed but it’s a shrinking pool because of the conditions we as an industry created (plus external factors like economy, regulation, etc) . If you can reverse that then more power to you
— David Pomroy (@UnibetDavid) March 28, 2018
But the idea that poker is universally seen as a glamorous profession, and that every other job is so bad, and every working stiff is so miserable, that the moment they find out there are people who play poker professionally they will instantly yearn to play cards for a living is absurd.
A lot of people find professional poker players fascinating, in the same way they find the alligator hunters on Swamp People or a helicopter pilot fascinating. That doesn’t mean they want to be one.
Viewing piqued interest in a non-traditional job as a desire to have that job is looking at poker through the rose-colored glasses of a successful player.
I like my job, and I make enough money to lead a comfortable enough life. The last thing I want to do is play poker for a living – something I used to do.
That’s how a lot of people feel.
Electricians.
Engineers.
Para-legals.
Nurses.
Real estate agents.
Police officers.
The guy who owns the local deli.
Even if they occasionally play poker or watch it on TV, a life as a professional poker player isn’t on their radar. And if you explained the chances of succeeding in poker; what it takes to become a professional; and what it takes to remain a winning player, they’d laugh in your face.
Poker is a great job for some people, and if you love the game I say go for it. It was an ideal job for me during my early- and mid-20’s. It’s just not an ideal job for me now, nor is it for most people. It’s not even a job most people would want.
Believe it or not, the vast majority of people with decent jobs wouldn’t trade places with a professional poker player, even if it meant a slight bump in pay and freedom.
And can you blame them? The dream poker players are selling people sounds more like a nightmare for most people, particularly anyone who has a family or financial responsibilities.
Imagine someone with a stable job hearing this sales pitch:
First, Poker isn’t easy. You’re going to need to put in countless hours of study and work to get the basic strategies down while you try to grind out a bankroll at low stakes tables. We’re talking 10-plus hour days.
You’ll most likely lose money early on while you’re learning, but that’s normal, and you can speed up your education by spending hundreds of dollars on this or that software, a few hundred more to join this or that training site, and you might want to consider hiring a coach for a couple hundred dollars an hour.
But once you get a handle on game theory, probability and combanatronics you’ll start making some money.
That said, the learning never stops. The games will get harder as you move up in stakes, and poker is constantly getting harder and harder to beat. You’ll probably need to hire more expensive coaches as you move up in stakes because the game dynamics are going to change.
But once you start winning you might be able to find a backer that can help reduce your variance and get you in bigger games earlier on.
So, yeah, if you do all that you’ll have a chance of actually becoming a winning player.
Where do I sign up!
The post The Dream Professional Poker Players Are Selling Sounds A Bit Like A Nightmare appeared first on .
Thanks to significant growth in the US and the potential for more in the future, online gambling technology company GAN turned its strongest performance to date.
The post US Online Gambling Growth Leads GAN To Strong 2017 Financials; Eyes PA Expansion appeared first on Online Poker Report.
Canadian poker pro Kristen “krissyb24” Bicknell has been on a roll in tournaments in the short amount of time since she transitioned away from online cash games. The poker world …
Derek Stevens, owner of The D and Golden Gate casinos in downtown Las Vegas, has a March Madness wager pending that could return $1 million!
The Nevada casino owner wagered $25,000 on the University of Michigan to win the NCAA basketball tournament at 40-1 at the Golden Nugget sportsbook on March 3. He placed that wager before the Wolverines won the Big 10 basketball tournament. It was also made before the brackets for March Madness were selected.
#OneStepCloser for @umichbball Thanks to @GoldenNuggetLV and my friend @TilmanJFertitta for taking the action. We’re going to have a lot of fun in Downtown #LasVegas #MarchMadness @theDlasvegas @GoldenGateVegas @FSELV #DTLV #40-1 pic.twitter.com/QbUUEN3KeJ
— Derek Stevens (@DerekJStevens) March 18, 2018
In celebration of this wager, Stevens is hosting a Final Four viewing party at The Longbar inside The D. The man with the million-dollar wager will be watching and rooting for his beloved Michigan Wolverines at the bar right on the casino floor. It’s not often you get a chance to watch a basketball game with a casino operator.
This $25,000 bet on the University of Michigan isn’t the first time Derek Stevens has made a large sports bet. He always seems to be looking for a big score from the NCAA basketball tournament. In 2015, he wagered $20,000 on Michigan State University. Unfortunately, his hopes for a million dollar win were dashed when the Spartans lost to Duke.
In 2017, he wagered on the University of Michigan. The $12,500 bet had long odds at 80-1. Again this was a losing wager. The University of Michigan lost to the University of Oregon in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA basketball tournament.
In addition to the big bets on teams from his home state, he placed $11,000 wagers on every first-round game of the NCAA basketball tournament this year.
This was the second-straight year that Stevens appeared live on the air Vegas Stats & Information Network (VSiN) with Brent Musburger while South Point bookmakers set point spreads live on the air as the brackets were announced. According to the Las Vegas Sun, he netted $16,000 from the first round wagers.
Earlier this week Stevens asked his Twitter followers if he should hedge his bet to guarantee he walks away with some money. Stevens has been mum on whether or not he hedged the bet. The hotel’s PR team did not respond when asked for comment. VSiN’s Gill Alexander offered some advice.
A Numbers Game: Imagine you are 2 games away from winning $1 Million – would you hedge your bet? Would you let it ride? @DerekJStevens is in exactly that situation … and @beatingthebook has a suggestion to offer the friend of @VSiNLive and owner of @theDlasvegas pic.twitter.com/ah4ReiLUsV
— VSiN (@VSiNLive) March 26, 2018
The first weekend of March Madness gets all the hype and draws a larger crowd to Las Vegas than the Final Four. The potential to see a million-dollar payout happen brings some sizzle to downtown Las Vegas for the semi-final of the NCAA basketball tournament.
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The post Casino Owner’s Michigan Basketball Bet Could Net $1 Million appeared first on Play Nevada.
Arseniy Karmatskiy has won the 2018 European Poker Tour Sochi 192,000₽ no-limit hold’em main event. The Russian poker pro defeated a field of 861 total entries to win 27,300,000₽ ($464,100 …
The American Gaming Association (AGA) recently welcomed six new Board-level members:
“Adding these six industry leaders will help our ability to serve as an effective advocate for the industry as a whole, and we’re excited to add their expertise to our Board,” said Geoff Freeman, president, and CEO of AGA in a March 15 press release.
The AGA counts itself as the “single most effective champion of the industry.”
In Freeman’s statement above, he references the “industry as a whole.” And while not an advocate for online gaming per se, AGA is an advocate for the legal expansion of the gaming industry in the U.S.
The AGA website doesn’t list an official policy position for online gaming. However, three of its six new members have ties to the online gaming and are currently offering online gaming products in New Jersey.
The additions of these members into the organization that represents the $240 billion U.S. casino industry is notable. It is an important signal of support as Pennsylvania gets ready to enter both the brick and mortar and online gambling markets this year.
GVC Holdings PLC, Paddy Power Betfair, and The Stars Group currently operate in New Jersey. As Pennsylvania begins accepting applications for PA online casino licenses, it is likely these three companies will be in the mix.
Expect Pennsylvania to join the U.S. shared liquidity pool for online poker when it comes online later this year. Sharing liquidity between states originated with Nevada and Delaware. New Jersey agreed to join the liquidity pool in late 2017, but it has yet to be implemented.
Sharing liquidity is important because Pennsylvania has a population of 12.8 million residents. That figure is approximately the same population as Nevada, Delaware, and New Jersey combined. So it makes sense that an online gaming operator in New Jersey will want to secure a position in the Pennsylvania market.
GVC, as the parent company to partypoker, is currently partnered with Borgata and PlayMGM in New Jersey. Borgata Poker and partypoker already share a player pool in the state. There is speculation that GVC will partner with Valley Forge, located in King of Prussia, PA, just outside of Philadelphia, to bring the partypoker platform to Pennsylvania.
The Stars Group, the parent company of PokerStars and PokerStars Casino partnered with Resorts AC in New Jersey. Mohegan Sun managers Resorts and also owns the Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs in Pennsylvania. The existing relationship between the Stars Group and Mohegan Sun make a partnership in Pennsylvania highly likely.
In a Q3 earnings call, Stars Group CEO Rafi Ashkenazi confirmed his interest in entering the Pennsylvania market.
“We are poised to take advantage of the positive momentum in the growth of online gaming globally and the continued march towards regulation, including in the United States where we aim to be among the first operators to launch in Pennsylvania when that state opens its door to online poker and casino.”
Paddy Power Betfair also has ties to the New Jersey market. Betfair is one of the most popular skins and operates under Golden Nugget in the Garden State. While no potential partnerships have hit the rumor mill just yet, it would be surprising to see Paddy Power Betfair sit this one out.
The “industry as a whole,” as Freeman put it, benefits when the regulation and legalization of online gaming spread throughout the U.S. in the U.S. Pennsylvania makes a case for that much stronger.
It was no surprise when Nevada and New Jersey embraced online gaming because of their long history within the gaming industry.
Pennsylvania doesn’t have that history. Pennsylvania is also the first state to take a comprehensive approach to online gaming with legislation that addresses casino, poker, online lottery, and potentially sports betting.
With online gaming revenues in New Jersey hovering in record territory, states will be looking at Pennsylvania’s performance as they enter the market.
With companies invested in online gaming in the boardroom, AGA is setting the stage for taking an official position on online gaming and furthering its mission of advocating for the entire gaming industry.
The post Which New AGA Board Members Are Most Likely To Pop Up In PA? appeared first on Play Pennsylvania.
It was late February, and the team at PlayUSA was about to flip the switch on their very first Twitch stream. Little did the team know at the time that a new livestream star was about to be born.
Vinny Goombatz took to the airwaves that evening and immediately set the tone for the channel. And the minute he went live, Vinny knew he found a home.
“When I saw the ad, I was like, ‘I could do that.’ I had done a little streaming in the past, and I wanted to get into it more. I love slot machines and games. I’ve always been very entertained by that. I like people, I like to have fun, and I like a challenge.
“So here I am, now I get to play Roulette and Blackjack and have a ball. I get to play with all these great people watching and enjoy the great company of everybody. It’s a rush; it’s so much fun. I’m a very animated person; I’m a very loud person. I’m a Leo, so we love to be the center of attention. It’s perfect for me.”
The natural ease and charm that Vinny exudes on camera is something that takes most people months, if not years to master. Vinny, on the other hand, seemed to slip into the role of party host effortlessly.
“That’s who I am,” Vinny answered when asked if his stream persona is the same guy in real life. “I’m the guy in my group of friends that will just go up to anybody and start talking to them. I don’t have stage fright, and I don’t care what people think. I just go with the flow and enjoy myself while I’m doing it.”
“I’m a guy that was born and raised in New Jersey,” Vinny begins. “I’m born and raised in northwestern New Jersey. I’m from a small farm town, believe it or not – Long Valley, New Jersey. There are three stop lights in the whole town. Now, I live in Hoboken right across the river from New York City.”
It’s been four years since Vinny moved out of his small town and he looks forward to going back someday. For now, though, the big-city vibe fits nicely into his life.
Vinny’s New Jersey upbringing is evident when he’s streaming. He’s boisterous, humorous, engaging and he talks with his hands, like every good Italian.
“I’ve got the Italian family, and that comes out a little bit in the stream. I’ve got a little bit of bravado, and that’s certainly an extension of me. You know, I like to have fun with it. Who you see is the real me. ”
Vinny might love online slots and live dealer games, but he doesn’t consider himself an expert. When he first started streaming, he lost quite a bit of money on Blackjack.
Of course, losing money took some of the fun out of it and gave Vinny pause. He asked himself, “Why am I just doing so poorly?”
It was upon a friend’s recommendation that he started studying the games.
“I started reading up on blackjack. I have better knowledge now of the moves I should be taking. I’m not an expert whatsoever. But I do I want to put the time into the game to where it becomes second nature – especially in blackjack. Roulette, well, you can’t do too much. I did try to strategize with that, but there’s only so much you can do with roulette.”
In fact, he sees learning how to play better, specifically blackjack, as much as a perk as a necessity. In fact, blackjack is one of his favorite games.
“As much as I lose at it, I love blackjack. I’ve loved it since I turned 21. There was this one time, me and some friends, went down to Atlantic City with a friend. We were having a ball, a little too much fun. It’s all a little blurry now, but I reached into my pocket, and I had a fake mustache and $700 in chips.”
And he’s been hooked ever since. In full disclosure, Vinny is paid to play online live dealer games for PlayUSA. But the money he plays with is his money. If he wins, he wins. That also means he feels it when he loses.
“Some of the big ups and downs I had, you get the worst of it. Oh my God, let me tell you, some of the rushes … I love gambling, but I don’t love the stress of a big losing night. I tend to question everything. Did I put too much on this or that?”
We wanted to know if Vinny spent time gambling outside of the stream? Vinny’s live-stream persona showed up to answer that question, “Only on the girls I date.” Ba-da-dum.
The job might seem like a piece of cake. You log on, you play some live dealer games, and you collect the winnings. The real job is much more challenging, and the ultimate goal of someone who livestreams is to engage the audience.
“Every time I get on, I’m so excited to try and see who the new people are gonna be, how many followers I can get, what new questions I can ask the dealers. It’s a game within a game.”
And even though this is a job, Vinny is not immune to the emotions that go along with the unavoidable swings. Even so, Vinny tries to keep a healthy perspective on it all.
“I do wear my heart on my sleeve, so if you watch my streams, sometimes I’ll have several losses in a row, and I’ll start getting a little salty. I try not to let that affect the attitude of me streaming. I might be not happy with the table, but I just deal with it, because that’s my job. You know … you win some, you lose some.”
Vinny looks at live streaming as an opportunity to meet interesting people from around the country and the world. He is pleasantly surprised when people show up from Germany, Finland, and other European countries.
“I love hanging out with people, and that is the vibe I’m trying create. Come and watch me lose money, come and have a laugh. Come shoot the breeze with me, tell a joke or two and try and win some fake money because you might be able to earn some prizes at the end of the day.”
Besides the fun factor, believe it or not, there are other reasons to tune in. For someone who is uncomfortable going to a casino, this is a perfect way to learn about the different types of games in the midst of good company.
Vinny adds, “It’s easier to watch and ask questions from the comfort of home. It also helps someone learn how to play responsibly. It’s a great way to ease into it rather than just jumping in without knowing.”
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PlayUSA is streaming slot play and live dealer games with one of our livestreaming team every day through the end of March. April’s schedule will be available soon.
Specifically, you can tune in to watch and chat with Vinny on:
While you do need to be a resident of New Jersey to play, you do not need to be a resident to watch, have fun and make new friends. Click here for the complete Twitch livestream schedule. Viewers are treated to more than just Vinny’s charm and personality and the vicarious thrill of watching someone play the games too. There are frequent games with prizes up for grabs, such as free Amazon gift cards.
As much as Vinny loves streaming, interacting with people and playing the games, that isn’t what he loves the most about his job.
“I like being in on the ground level of something. I love that all my hard work is going to go into something awesome. I like the challenge of turning this into something big.”
And you can play your part by tuning in to Twitch and saying hi!
The post Meet The Man, The Streamer, The Charmer: Vinny Goombatz appeared first on Play USA.
The Garden State Super Series wrapped up at the weekend and paid out over $446,000 in prize money with just a few events having overlays.
The Garden State Super Series (GSSS) returned for the eighth time this month for its Spring 2018 outing. The series as a whole easily surpassed its total guaranteed prize pool of $365,000 by paying out players a total of $446,900.
The iconic New Jersey online poker tournament series had a mix of 17 events spread over eight days with buy-ins starting at $55, topping out at $1060 for the High Roller event.
Pennsylvania is on the brink of opening up the application process for legal online gambling in the state. And that creates a new set of questions.
The post How Many PA Online Casino Licenses Might Be Leftover? And Who Might Try To Get Them? appeared first on Online Poker Report.