Phil Ivey Rumors

MORE UPDATES HERE

Well another week goes by and there are some more poker professionals makin noise. The latest rumor floatin across the world of poker is that it looks like Phil Ivey has been workin hard on his golf game when he is away from the poker tables. Phil Ivey set out for a big time money game against fellow poker professionals Ram Vaswani, Marc Goodwin, and Eric Sagstrom. As the story goes the poker pro's were on the first tee and they were asking Phil Ivey how he has been playing of late and Ivey responds with "I haven't been able to play too much of late because I have been tied up at the poker tables". So the group sets up the handicaps and they begin the round. Seven holes into the round two of the three players (Marc Goodwin and Eric Sagstrom) take off as they were down $450 thousand dollars each. These guys apparently were extremely upset and felt that they have just been hustled. Quick question here: If these guys were so willing to play for that kind of money don't you think they should have looked into Phil Ivey's game a little bit before they put the stakes on the line? If I'm playing for that kind of money I'm not just going to take a guys word that he has only played a handful of times. Isn't there a driving range at the course, maybe you watch the guy hit a few balls first and see where he is at. Also, with these guys making a game out of bluffing and being able to read their opponents maybe they should look in the mirrors and improve on those skills.

Is it really Phil Ivey's fault that he goes out and works on his game as hard as he does at the poker tables? Ram Vaswani continued to play Phil Ivey on the course and when it was all said and done he owes Ivey $900 thousand dollars. These two have a pretty good relationship so they decided to work out a deal that would get Phil Ivey the money. Now, as far as Marc Goodwin and Eric Sagstrom are concerned they left infuriated and there will no doubt be some hard feelings towards one another the next time they run into each other at the poker tables.

I see no problems at all with Phil Ivey taking these guys down that's for sure and maybe those guys will think twice before they take on a bet of this magnitude again. Whats worse losing the money or losing the money and leaving with your tails between your legs?

MORE UPDATES HERE

Neteller officially unavailable to Americans for Gambling Sites

Well the news came down that Neteller is now no longer accepting transfers to and from online gambling sites. This is another big blow to the online poker industry and to those online poker players in the United States. There will still be some options for those to transfer funds but the high limit players are going to take the biggest hit from this because they will now have daily limits for transfers. Neteller was great for the high limit players because they were able to transfer significant amounts of cash. Now, the smaller companies will most likely place maximum amounts allowed for transferring and they will not be that high right now or in the near future.

Again, this is a significant blow to the online poker world and it will only be a matter of time before even more companies stop the transfer of funds to Americans.

Justin Bonomo Performing Well As A Professional Poker Player

Well Justin Bonomo aka ZeeJustin is making his name appear in the poker headlines again, but this time for his play at the live tables. He will always have the cheating scandals by his side, but if he can continue his dominance that he has shown of late he will start to attract much more positive press, and respect. Earning respect from your peers is definitely what you strive for and that is exactly what Justin is trying to do. Last month ZeeJustin made it to four final tables at the WPT Five-Star World Poker Classic, and he was being noticed by every top poker player in the joint.

This is just in as Justin Bonomo has been busted out of the Pokerstars Caribbean Adventure with an impressive 11th place finish. Justin called an All-in bet with his KK and Isaac Haxton turned over his pocket aces. A tremendous run for ZeeJustin and he is quickly climbing the ranks in the world of poker.

However, there are still those that think Justin should not be allowed to play poker at all and one of those big names is none other than Phil Gordon. Phil believes he should be banned for five years for playing live events and he also went on to say he will never have him on the show or even utter the words Justin Bonomo. Phil Gordon is a poker purist and he has absolutely no time for cheaters. Regardless of what you think of this young poker prodigy, everybody has to take notice at how good of a poker player he really is.

Mansion Poker World Pro-Am Challenge

Professional poker player Gavin Smith came out victorious in the inaugural Mansion Poker World Pro-Am Challenge. This was a unique event as their was a tremendous mix of talented professional poker players and online amateur poker players. Each amateur poker player was paired up with a professional poker player in their corner for help and tips. The format of the event was speed poker and all the poker players involved in this tournament thoroughly enjoyed the experience of playing in this televised event. The three professional coaches for the amateurs were Mike Gracz, Tony G, and Kenna James.

The Heads up battle to see who would win this event came down to Gavin Smith and an online poker qualifier from the UK, Scott Gardner. Scott Gardner had Mike Gracz in his corner and the two worked together for three days right before the start of the actual event. This obviously was a solid team effort as Scott Gardner was able to beat some well established poker professionals in his first live event experience.

This event was definitely a success and Mansion Poker continues to provide a tremendous influx of new events and ways to promote their brand. Mansion Poker will continue to adapt new strategies to continue their recent poker dominance.