Daily Mail – Sixty minutes later Daniel Tzvetkoff and a cohort of high rollers and hangers-on were partying in the Palm Hotel’s Playboy Mansion Suite. Tzvetkoff swigged Cristal champagne straight from the bottle and lounged in the infinity pool. Naked girls snorted cocaine off each other’s breasts and invited him to do the same. Tzvetkoff was 25 years old. He could have anyone he wanted at the click of his fingers.  He flew by private jet, drove Lamborghinis, Rolls Royces, Bentleys, Ferraris and more and his property portfolio was worth millions. And on that September night in Vegas, 2008, he…

Poker News – Another online poker bill has been introduced in New York. Five weeks after Republican State Sen. John Bonacic introduced S 6913, a bill that would allow certain interactive poker games, to the New York Senate, State Assemblyman J. Gary Pretlow (D-Mt. Vernon) has introduced A09509 in the state assembly. The purpose of the bill, which is strikingly similar to its Senate counterpart, is “to authorize the New York State Gaming Commission to license certain entities to offer for play to the public certain variants of internet poker which require a significant degree of skill, specifically ‘Omaha Hold’em’…

Cards Chat – Charles Coppolani, the new president of ARJEL, the French online gambling regulator, has declared that online poker in France is a “fad” that is “over”. Speaking to Les Échos in his first interview since taking up the post, Coppolani stated bluntly: “The fad is over. Basically, the online poker market may be mature.” It’s a worrying attitude from the man in control of an online poker market that desperately needs to adopt liquidity sharing with other European nations in order to thrive. France chose to regulate and ring-fence online poker and online casino gambling in 2010, closing…

Forbes – In America there is a war going on for the hearts and minds of thousands of online poker players, many of whom have been frozen out of the game they love.  In one corner stand the lobbyists pushing for a federal ban on online poker.  In the other, individual state lawmakers who are forging ahead with plans of regulated online poker for their residents. Three states – Nevada, New Jersey and Delaware – have thus far pushed on with legalized online poker, and New York could be up next. However, with disappointing returns reported to date and tax…

North Jersey – On any given Sunday, Mike Azzaro — or mikeycasino, as he’s known online — will travel from his home in Yonkers, N.Y., to a Ramsey hotel room for the night. The reason is not glamorous, but it is profitable: Azzaro, 27, is a professional poker player. Of the online players who have signed up to play in New Jersey at PartyPoker.com, 15 percent don’t live in the state. You must be within New Jersey’s borders to play, but residency isn’t required. That so many out-of-state players are traveling to New Jersey — call it “poker tourism” —…

Poker News – According to a new report released by France’s online gaming regulator ARJEL, the country’s online poker regulated market has continued to decline despite tournament poker showing positive results. The negative trend that France’s online poker industry began experiencing in 2011 isn’t showing signs of recovery in 2014, as the number of active accounts in the first quarter of the year is 12% smaller than 2013. The decline in numbers is estimated to cost operators a 10% of their turnover. According to ARJEL’s report, bets at cash game tables fell by 19% during the first three months of…