Caribbean Poker Classic

The 5th annual Caribbean Poker Classic which was held from the 16^th to the 23^rd of  November, 2008 was the most popular and certainly the most adventurous of 2008. Why, you ask? Well thats because it was held aboard one of the world’s largest cruise ships, the Freedom of the Seas which sailed across San Juan Puerto Rico, Charlotte Amalie St. Thomas and Philipsburg St. Maarten. This week long poker extravaganza kicked off once the ship set sail from Miami, Florida. The organizers of the Caribbean Poker Classic chalked out a detailed and informative schedule for players with details of game timings, cruise schedule, event schedule, excursion schedule, etc.

You must be asking yourself “How do I get into a Caribbean Poker Classic?” It’s simple there a two ways by which a person may get in and that is either by playing and winning a satellite (preliminaries starting in May), or by buying a seat in the main event But only people above the age of 18 yrs will be legible to play and will be required to a produce proof of their age.

Texas Hold’em isn’t the only option the Caribbean Poker Classic has to offer it also serves up action-packed side events, Satellites, a $2,500 main event and endless cash games. Besides poker the Caribbean Poker Cruise 2008 hosted a whole itinerary of events ranging right from dinners to rock climbing and ice skating, and yes it’s all available on board!! But ofcourse all this came at pricing options of $5K and $10K.

All-in-all the Caribbean Poker Classic 2008 was a mega success with 2 Super Satellites, 4 Categories of No Limit Hold’em ($300+$30, $400+$40, $500+$50, $1000+$100) and a Main Event spread over a span of 7 days, gave the poker stars plenty of action and doe, and the press people to talk about!! The Caribbean Poker Classic organizers spared no pennies when it came to spending as they looked after their guests like royalty.

Yes the Caribbean Poker Classic 2008 was one which will go down in the books as being one of the Special Tournaments of 2008 not only for its grandeur and pomp but also as one of the biggest poker tournaments of 2008.

European Poker Tour

The European Poker Tour (more commonly referred to as the EPT) began in 2004 as part of the worldwide explosion in Texas Hold 'em poker popularity. The EPT is a series of televised poker tournaments and is very similar to the World Poker Tour (WPT). It is branded and partially owned by Poker Stars.

In seasons 1-3 of the European Poker Tour, the most significant difference between itself and the World Poker Tour was the buy-in and its effect on the prize pool. The EPT featured buy-ins about half the size of the WPT and therefore the prize pool was somewhat smaller. This changed in season 4 when the buy-in for most of the EPT events was increased to €8,000. The increase was made due to its high popularity and lack of space in participating casinos. At the time (2007) after exchange rates, the buy-in was close to equal to US$10,000 which is the buy-in for most WPT events.

The final table of the European Poker Tour is made up of 8 players. This is again different to the 6 player final tables popularized by the World Poker Tour.The EPT is taped by Sunset + Vine for television broadcast across Europe.

The European Poker Tour was created by John Duthie, winner of the inaugural Poker Million tournament. John Duthie commentates for the show, alongside Colin Murray and James Hartigan. The show was first hosted by Caroline Flack, then joined by Natalie Pinkham. Season 4 of the show is hosted by Kara Scott.

There to date have been 6 seasons of the EPT. Although the location of the EPT changes frequently major locations such as London, Copenhagen and Monte Carlo remain the same each year; usually with Monte Carlo being the season finale location. The following locations are where the European Poker Tour have been held to date:

· Barcelona (Barcelona Open 2004)

· London (European Poker Classics)

· Dublin (The Irish Winter Tournament 2004)

· Copenhagen (Scandinavian Open 2005)

· Deauville (The French Open 2005)

· Vienna (11th Vienna Spring Poker Festival)

· Monte Carlo (European Poker Tour Grand Final)

· Baden (The Big Double 2006)

· Dortmund (EPT Dortmund)

· Warsaw (EPT Warsaw)

· Prague (EPT Prague)

· PokerStars Caribbean Adventure

· Sanremo (EPT Sanremo)

· Budapest (EPT Hungarian Open)

· Kyiv

· Vilamoura

· Salzburg

As the European Poker Tour has many events a Talley has been kept alike the Olympic Games showing each countries win score and Talley. This has no real meaning but may in years to come. Until now The United States is in the lead with a total score of 9 wins. Here is a chart showing countries who have taken down an EPT event:

1st United States 9

2nd England 7

3rd Germany 5; France 5

5th Netherlands 4; Sweden 4

7th Denmark 3; Canada 3

9th Finland 2; Norway 2; Portugal 2

12th Lebanon 1; Italy 1; Russia 1

The European Poker Tour Seasons 1 to 6 can be found on youtube and pokertube in bits and pieces with the final table of each event the easiest to find. This is brilliant viewing for all poker players across the globe.

Mansion Poker Card Room Review

Over the week end was able to write this Mansion Poker card room review. Mansion Poker is sure to please almost every online gamer.

The highlight of this Mansion Poker card room review is the fact that Mansion Poker has a good 100% first time deposit bonus of up to $500. If you make your first deposit using moneybookers, the deposit bonus increases to $150% up to $500 which makes moneybookers the place to deposit from for Mansion poker.

For every 1000 Mansion Poker Points earned, $10 of your bonus will be released as cash into your Mansion Poker account. It is easy to earn points with 20 points for every single dollar spent on a tournament and points are earned in ring games regardless of whether you play the hand or not, so long as you are dealt cards and rake is taken from the hand.

Another good thing found during this Mansion Poker card room review  is that the refer a friend bonus is also good. A $75 bonus for you and a $25 welcome gift for your friend is up for grabs. You will receive your bonus amount as soon as your invited friend makes a successful deposit. Your friends deposit must be $50 or more and they must earn 200 Mansion Poker Points before you receive your bonuses.

Mansion Poker offers happy hours where point earning doubles making all promotions easier to accomplish then a lot of sites. They seem to continually change, but are always offering fabulous promotions and bonuses with extraordinary pays. There really are too many promotional tournaments and challenges to list as part of this Mansion Poker card room review and i will leave it to you to explore further on the mansion poker site.

Deposit Methods 10/10
Mansion Poker offers a massive amount of deposit methods for its customers. With such a huge range everyone is sure to be happy no matter what location they are from in the world.

Tournaments and Sit N Go's 7/10
Mansion Poker offers a massive 1 million dollar guaranteed tournament every month, what's more, you can make your way into this massive prize pool for free. Satellites to the tournament run continually. Download Mansion Poker and search for them in the lobby for your chance to win your way to 1 million dollars cash. They also have on other other guaranteed tournaments including their massive (but not quite as big as 1mil) 20k GTD.
Mansion splits tournaments and Sit N Go's into 2 sections. What i saw during the Mansion Poker card room review is that there Sit N Gos cater for the biggest of online gamers down to the smallest with up to $5000 entries. Private Sit N Gos are available if organized.

Mansion Poker offers tournament satellites, major online qualifiers for live events and a regular tournament schedule also. Tournament buy ins range form the smallest of all being freerolls through to $500 entries.

Tournaments and Sit N Go's run around the clock on Mansion Poker. Depending on your stakes, you shouldn't have much of a wait time to get a game.

Withdrawal Methods 10/ 10
There is no hassle getting your winnings off Mansion Poker. Mansion has just about every part of globe happy with the withdrawal methods they have available at the time of this Mansion Poker card room review .

Traffic 7/10
There is never a shortage of traffic at mansion poker with as many as 20 thousand plus players online at any one time during peak hours. Players are primarily tournament players but you can find thousands in the ring games also.

Customer Service 8/10
Mansion Poker offers a great support system with email, chat and telephone support available 24/7. One bad thing about this Mansion Poker card room review is that it cost money to call Mansion Poker as phone calls are not toll free.

Game Selection 8/10
Mansion poker offers a good selection of the basic poker variants such as:

• NL Texas Holdem
• Pot Limit Texas Holdem
• Limit texas holdem
• Omaha hi
• Omahahi/lo
• 5 Card Stud
• 7 card stud

Unfortunately Mansion Poker doesn't offer games such as H.O.R.S.E in either ring or tournament play due to the unavailability of RAZZ. If RAZZ and H.O.R.S.E unavailable doesn't effect you, mansion may just be the right home for you.

Ring Games 6/ 10
Mansion offers ring games in all of its game selections:

• NL Holdem; 1c/2c through to $200/$400 blinds
• Limit Holdem Games available in 2c/4c through to $300/$600 limit blin
• Pot Limit Holdem 2c/4c through to $50/$100 blinds
• Limit Omaha is available in 2c/4c Blinds through to $50/$100 blinds
• Pot Limit Omaha has blinds to play from 1c/2c through to $100/$200
• Limit Omaha Hi/Lo has stakes from 2c/4c through to $200/$400
• Pot limit Omaha hi/lo available from 1c/2c to $50/$100
• 7 Card Stud you have the option of 5c/10c stakes through to $50/$100
• 5 Card Stud has blinds from 5c/10c through to $100/$200

However during the Mansion Poker card room review i noticed that Mansion Poker is missing some ring games other sites have but if you are not a big fan of them there is no great loss. As with most sites, most of Mansion Pokers traffic is on the lower limit ring games. There are few players in the stud ring games at most times.

Software 7/10
Mansion Poker although in Lime Green is a very attractive site and it looked quite good while doing my Mansion Poker card room review. The graphics are clean and smooth and the lobby is easy to maneuver around. The avatars are all pretty plain, but are human like. The software seems very stable and smooth running. Mansions software is nothing to be excited about other then you can be pretty sure it isn't going to crash on you.

Mansion offers a filter system that can be very handy, it can be reset unlike a lot of others leaving you stranded with an annoying lobby mess. Mansion sends newsletters to its customers on a regular basis so you are sure to know what's hot at any given time. They have a comprehensive section for club M where everything is finely detailed. There are really not too many extra features but the site itself is practical and simple to use which is what counts.

Overall while doing this Mansion Poker card room review i would say Mansion poker is known for weaker players, a moderate amount of traffic, but with unique software, large deposit bonuses and the cash-added tournaments. Unfortunately U.S. Players are Not Allowed.

Great Poker Hands

Great poker hands are something we all wish for. Whether we are new to poker or a veteran we all want the same thing a great starting hand and a great poker hand once the community cards have all flopped.

Many different people think differently on what a great poker hand is pre flop. Although commonly people will say pocket aces IS the best (the best starting hand) many differentiate. Some people say KK or even 7/8 suited. Great poker hands pre flop to each individual vary due to their own personal success rate.

Doyle Brunson’s favorite starting hand is 10 2 off suit (102 is the age he hopes to get to for the record) as he won the WSOP with it. Doyle Brunson is a good example of poker players who think that that a few great poker hands work best for them. Just so it is clear, poker mathematics and sense tells us that pockets aces are indeed the best hand to start with. This doesn't mean they will hold up and you will win with them though.

Post flop is a different story to pre flop when judging great poker hands. After the community cards are on the board a great poker hand is a new story. Pocket aces after the flop do not always as great poker hands. Poker Hands are ranked and in any Hold'em or Omaha hi poker variant the ranking is as follows from the best to the worst hand:

• Royal Flush - A, K, Q, J, 10 - all of the same suit
• Straight Flush - Any five card sequence in the same suit - 5, 6, 7, 8,9 of diamonds an example
• Four of a Kind (also called quads) – All 4 cards of the same denomination – AAAA as an example
• Full House (also called boat) - Three of a kind combined with a pair – K, K, K, Q, Q as an example
• Flush - Any five cards of the same suit – 5 diamonds as an example but not in a straight form.
• Straight - Five cards in sequence, but not in the same suit - 7,8,9,10,J, of varied suits
• Three of a Kind (also known as trips or a set) – Three cards of the same denomination - 999
• Two Pair – Two Separate Pairs – 88 99 as an example
• One Pair - 77 as an example
• High Card – The highest card wins the hand as no player has even made a pair.

So, out of the hand rankings the greatest of all great poker hands is A Royal Flush!

If we were however to think of great poker hands in the history of poker rather than which is the best, many come to mind and should never be forgotten. Historically speaking, the dead mans’s hand (A,8) is one of the best examples of great poker hands which have been remembered for ages. The dead man’s hand incidentally was named after Wild Bill Hickok as he was holding 2 pairs (Aces and Eights) at the time of his murder (August 2, 1876). Of more recent times we could think of the 2009 world series of poker win by Joe Cada who held pocket 9's (9,9) taking down the tournament against heads up opponent Darvin Moon. Joe Cada is now in the record books as the youngest ever World Series of Poker Winner!

Great poker hands that go into the history books are from great wins or headlining events. If there are none of these events behind them, then let's face the facts – nothing beats pocket Aces pre-flop or a Royal Flush once the hand is complete.

Poker Celebrities : Chevy Chase

Poker has its share of poker celebrities. Cornelius Crane Chase most commonly known as Chevy Chase is one of them. Chevy Chase is an American Emmy Award-winning comedian, writer, and television and film actor. Chevy Chase worked as a professional musician as well as quite a few other jobs before moving towards comedy and working with the National Lampoon.

Chase quickly became a key cast member of Saturday Night Live. His weekend update skit became more then popular on the show. Chevy Chase is well known for his role in four National Lampoon's Vacation films and his roles in other successful comedies such as the 1997 Vegas Vacation, 1980 film Caddyshack, Fletch in 1985, and The Three Amigos in 1986. Chevy Chase has also hosted the Academy Awards twice, he briefly hosted his own show (The Chevy Chase Show), and is a regular on the NBC comedy series Community. Off screen Chase is also finds his place amongst poker celebrities.Chase has extensive experience in playing poker, although he is not a professional poker player.

Chevy Chase has played with many other poker celebrities in celebrity poker showdowns in his poker career. He has also played in numerous charity events. Chevy Chase has a long history of playing high stakes poker against fellow Hollywood poker celebrities. He is a member of the exclusive Hollywood Gourmet Poker Club, founded by late night legend Johnny Carson. Other poker celebs whom are in the club include Steve Martin, Neil Simon, Carl Reiner, Martin Short, Barry Diller and producer David Chasman. They gather at the Hollywood Gourmet Poker Club once a month to eat and play.

Born into a well off family, Chevy Chase has not looked back. It seems this poker enthusiast plays for the fun, love, socialization and entertainment that poker brings along with his poker celebrities.  Chevy Chase has no major poker tournament cashing.

Poker Heaven Card Room Review

For a change thought of doing a card room review this time . While going thru this poker heaven card room review you will find multiple reasons why you should be playing here. I will let you be the judge :-) 

Bonuses and Promotions 7/10
A highlight of my poker heaven card room review was the 200% first deposit bonus up to €1000 for all new players. For every 150 FPPs you accumulate Poker Heaven automatically release €5 from your pending bonus account into your real money account. You have 30 days to earn the full bonus. In addition to this you receive a free entry to the €1000 New Player freeroll the following Saturday after deposit at 19:00 GMT.

There is €3 million in guaranteed tournaments every month. In addition they have €60,000.00 sit N go races. Poker Heaven has a bad beat jackpot which has lower requirements to most online sites. To qualify for a Bad Beat Jackpot at Poker Heaven you must have four of a kind sixes or better, beaten in a hand on one of the specifically marked Poker Heavens Bad Beat Jackpot tables. When the jackpot go's off, the jackpot is split in the following manor:

• 20% is used for the next jackpot
• 10% Administration fee
• 70% to the players who were dealt into the round

The 70% allocated to players who participated in the round is split as follows:

• 50% of the stake is awarded to the player who held the bad beat hand (the next highest-ranking hand).
• 25% is awarded to the player who held the winning hand (the highest-ranking hand).
• 25% is shared by the rest of the players who took part in the round. This includes players who went sit-out or retired from the round.

Poker Heaven has a new promotion Jackpot Sit N Go's; where you can win up to €10,000. All you have to do to win the €10,000 Jackpot is to win six jackpot tournaments in a row. There is also prizes for player’s that finish 1st or 2nd in 6 Jackpot Sit N Go's in a row.

Tournaments can be brought into using frequent player points costing you absolutely nothing and using your points to earn a potential big cash amount. There is a €500 facebook freeroll open to all poker heaven facebook group members, it is well worth joining their group to get into this great freeroll. This is something that i loved about this poker heaven card room review.

From time to time Poker Heaven promotions change, currently as an example there is a €60,000.00 race split into three categories. To win a cash prize all that you need to do is be on top of your rakeback or VIP bonus , simply by playing poker. There will be 50 winners in each race so this is your chance to boost your bankroll with some extra free cash. The more points you generate, the higher you will place on the leader board and the more cash you will win.

Ring Games 8/10
Ring games can be played in a variety of currencies and mini to HIGH stakes. The ring game selection includes all of the games most people would want to play. Have fun at the tables, there is always some action, although high stakes action is not as quickly found.

• Texas Hold'em - 2c/4c through to $1000/$2000 limits and 2 to 10 seaters.
• Seven Card Stud – 10c/20c through to $30/$60 with 5 and 8 seat tables available.
• 5 Card Draw – 5c/10c through to $20/$40 with 5 seater tables available.
• Omaha High – 5c/10c to $300/$600 stakes. Tables available in 2 to 10 seats.

Traffic 7/10
Poker Heaven has at least two thousand players online at any given time. While doing the poker heaven card room review i noticed that traffic increases at peak times, it doesn't often lower. A traffic meter is always available so you can see how many players are online at once. Action is generally available at all stakes with low to medium stakes being the most popular. There is plenty of available tables for high rollers wanting to join the site.

Other Features 6/10
Poker Heaven has a continual listing of tournaments available, scheduled daily. The amount of action available is always clear with a player clock on the site, indicating just how many are online. Poker Heaven has a poker info box for you to quick reference and see your Poker Heaven account status at any time including bonuses, points and of course your balance.

Customer Service 8/10
Poker Heaven support team can be reached 24/7 via email, and live chat. There is no telephone support available with this site, live chat is very handy though and gives you instant answers. Instant answers also available through the frequently asked questions help section.

Overall                                                                                                                                                                     Overall this poker heaven card room review gives me the confidence to say that Poker Heaven is good looking site on the easy to win Boss Poker Network. With a strong focus on games and qualifiers for European & UK poker players it has very weak passive players & easy to use software.

Omaha vs Texas Holdem

< 7DF5CNU6D7X2 > I have always been thinking which poker game would win if there was a competition between Omaha vs Texas Holdem. Can Omaha Beat Texas Holdem? My opinion is No. Limit Texas Hold'em has swept the globe and is booming in every corner of it. Every major poker championship sees a No Limit Texas Hold'em Main Event winner crowned. With each of these championships however come other events; smaller NL Texas Hold'em Buy-ins through to other variants such as the second most popular worldwide Omaha. 

Omaha events draw a lot smaller crowd with sometimes 4000 contestants in NL Hold'em compared to just a few hundred in Omaha. Is it possible that in a Omaha vs Texas Holdem tussle , Omaha can ever beat NL Texas Hold'em? Will we ever see an Omaha Main Event?

As I write this sentence I consider it unlikely for many reasons especially when i compare the two poker variants. The pub poker scene is one thing which will make a passing of NL Texas Hold’em by the game Omaha impossible. Pub poker draws new players to the world of poker and certainly they don't learn, play or teach Omaha at the pub poker venues. If we were to look at Australia's APL as an example; there are over 500,000 members – they all play Texas Hold'em. So when it comes to Omaha vs Texas Holdem with respect to pub poker , Omaha normally trails far behind.

Another reason I believe this to never be possible is the length of time it takes to play each game. If there were 4000 Omaha players racking up against each other on the felt it would take a month ( a little sarcasm) to complete. Omaha is a game where there ARE limits set. Pot Limits and Fixed Limits; No Limit does not apply to the game. With this time frame in mind players couldn't afford accommodation and the venues holding the tournaments wouldn't make money. The buy-ins have additional rake and this rake covers tournament staff, dealers and waitress wages (just to name a few). There are then the smaller costs such as power and bathrooms.

Omaha is as much a game of skill as NL Texas Hold'em, for a beginner it is much more difficult with many more choices and learning to deal with the draw concept of the game. It appears to take a lot longer to learn how to play Omaha; specifically Omaha Hi/Lo which is another argument on its own. Which Omaha Variant WOULD possibly beat NL Texas Hold'em? I would give an immediate “impossible” answer to Omaha Hi/Lo, I don't think it will ever happen and the Omaha vs Texas Holdem dilemma will continue for a very long time.

I would also give an immediate no to Omaha Fixed Limit, it simply moves too slow. It seems that players like a much faster moving game. This is not the case for all players though with many (specifically the older generation players) sticking to Omaha as their primary game of choice over Texas Holdem.

Omaha is becoming more and more popular; especially online. I see thousands of players each day registering for tournaments and playing cash games. As I say this however; the same applies to the already booming Texas Hold'em meaning Omaha isn't catching up. It is far from catching up.

Only time will tell who will win the Omaha vs Texas Holdem battle, for now though; I give it no hope!

Online Poker Rules

Online poker rules form the basis of all poker games online, where different games have specific rules that vary between different online casinos or website settings. The attraction of online poker game as the best-played game is that online poker rules can change slightly from one place to the next, and yet it still follows the basic guidelines that allow anyone familiar with the game and those guidelines to play.

However, there has to be one accepted set of online poker rules that all the players can refer to when confusion sets in. That is why there have been books about how to play online poker and free poker tutorials available online. What these rulebooks do is offer the player instruction on how to play poker, either in real life or online. These tutorials have poker strategy tips on how to play the hand, when to fold and when to risk you cards. 

Playing online poker game can develop your math skills, probability skills, promotes social interaction and teaches you to play smart. All this by simply following the online poker rules. The online poker game room security also run through checks to make sure that cheating and any other kind of malpractice is avoided. 

Aside from manipulating your opponent through physical behavior; there is nothing different with going online and sitting on the table for a round of poker game as, in both online and real poker game a player can bet real cash. One great advantage online is that online poker rules remain the same minus the fact that you don't feel intimidated by other players. Once you've learned the basics of poker online, you can sign-up and create your account in different poker rooms. The first online poker game can give you a head rush especially if you still do not fully grasp the online poker rules. But soon you will get how the game is played when there are other players and everything will fall into place.

One thing that doesn't change even for an online poker game is the addictive power of gambling. It is all about taking a risk, going with your gut, paying attention to your skill and winning a few lucky games in the end. But it is still the online version of poker that attracts more beginner players everyday as the Internet destroys the barriers of time, space and race in a safe online environment bound by online poker rules.

Poker Celebrities: Tobey Maguire

Tobias Vincent "Tobey" Maguire; better known as Tobey Maguire was born on June 27th 1975. He is an American actor. He began his career in the 1980s, and has since become best known for his role as Peter Parker/Spider-Man in the Spider-Man films. 

Tobey Maguire can also be included in the list of avid poker celebrities. It is known that he will occasionally come out and play a tournament or two but generally he plays cash. He has done quite well at tournaments ; cashing a number of times and actually winning a tournament with a cash prize of just a little less then $100,000. Tobey Maguire is a really strong poker player, and he is a more then a legitimate danger going deep in almost every poker tournament that he plays. 

Again, Tobey Maguire is a cash player in reality. The real money that he makes is in the private poker games that he holds in his Hollywood Hills mansion. This game is referred to as those that know of it as "Tobey's Game". Tobey Maguire's cash games involve some of the biggest poker celebrities in Hollywood. One actor once remarked "I looked around the table and everyone had a net worth of $50 million except for me." Indeed that is a huge amount of money being spread around.

At his home games is where Maguire shines. He is definitely known for playing his best game here; at his own game. It has been reported that Maguire has won millions of dollars in this game, with some estimating that Tobey Maguire has cleared as much as $10 million dollars playing “Tobey's Game”.

Tobey Maguire is one of the few poker celebrities who is often referred to by even the biggest poker pros as a "cash game specialist". From the information given above it's easy to see why. Tobey has played in the World Series of Poker multiple times, his best finish to date is 54th. He has been placed in the money at the WSOP 2 other times. It has been talked about that Tobey Maguire has received a few tips from Phil Hellmuth and Daniel Negreanu. He took down the Phil Helmuth Invitational in 2004.

If you are playing the World Series of Poker main event and Maguire gets seated at your table, watch out; you just might end up with no chips. Tobey Maguire is one of the very few Hollywood poker celebrities that indeed can play.

Poker Celebrities - Shannon Elizabeth

While goggling my way online I happened to come across some poker celebrities who have  made their name in the different fields such as Hollywood and also struck it big at the poker tables. Will be blogging about these poker celebrities over the week. Shannon Elizabeth better known as simply Shannon Elizabeth was born from a Syrian father and a mother of Irish, English, German and Cherokee ancestry. She was born in Houston, Texas and raised in Waco. In high school, she was very much interested in tennis and at one point even considered a professional tennis career. She worked as a model before she began a career in films.

Shannon Elizabeth's film career includes parts in the horror film Jack Frost, Dish Dogs and American Pie. American Pie was a major box office success. Shannon Elizabeth since the successor has appeared in several more Hollywood films, including Tomcats, Scary Movie, and lastly Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. Shannon Elizabeth starred in the UPN series Cuts, Elizabeth also appeared in That 70's Show for a number of episodes.Elizabeth was one of the poker celebrities on an episode of NBC's Thank God You're Here. Shannon Elizabeth was also among the cast of the sixth season of Dancing with the Stars, partnered with Derek Hough.

When it comes to becoming a poker celebrities , Shannon Elizabeth is certainly one well known lady; although described by her as her “second career”. Shannon Elizabeth is however known as one of the leading celebrity poker players. Shannon Elizabeth visits Las Vegas up to three times each month to participate in poker games with the elite players of the U.S.

Shannon Elizabeth played in the Main Event of the 2005 World Series of Poker. She has also won a special tournament celebrating the opening of a new poker room at Caesars Palace hotel in January 2006. Here she beat 83 poker celebrities and poker professionals to win $55,000. She has also cashed four times in the World Series of Poker in 2006 and 2007, but unfortunately busted out of the Main Event early. She advanced to the semi-finals of the NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship in 2007. The field consisting of the top poker professionals. Shannon Elizabeth lost to the champion of the event Paul Wasicka. Among the four opponents she defeated were three World Series of Poker multiple bracelet winners: Jeff Madsen, Humberto Brenes and Barry Greenstein (The Robin Hood of Poker).

Online Gaming Legislation

Though various Legal bodies around the world have tried to keep an open mind about online gaming legislation it will be a matter of time before it is fully and willingly accepted. The legality of online gaming is still debated upon with each country expressing their respective views on this sensitive topic.

On 28th June 2000 the Australian Government introduced its own online gaming legislation as the Interactive Gambling Bill which made it illegal for any foreign and interactive gambling service providers to offer their product to Australian residents. It also makes it illegal for any Australian based online casino to offer its product to Australian residents. However, it does allow Australian licensed online sports books, race betting and lottery sites to offer their product to Australian and international customers.

In the European Union views are different as all EU Member States are bound to observe the provisions set out in the European Communities Treaty. It therefore makes it illegal for a Member State to prohibit residents from accessing a service provided by operators from other Member State, where that same service is able to be provided by local operators. A Member State with accepts locally licensed online gambling operations (e.g. state lottery etc) in its online gaming legislation cannot try to block foreign providers of the same service.

In April 2009, 10 Member States, including France and Germany have been the subject of European Commission infringement proceedings.  The French Government had planned in March 2009 to enact proposed laws that will regulate and tax internet gambling. 

UK's position is set out in the enacted Gambling Act 2005, the directives of which came into effect on September 2007.  The new Act provides a single, all encompassing piece of law to cover all forms of gambling in the United Kingdom. Key provisions of the act relevant to internet gambling termed as "Remote Gambling" in the Act, include casinos, sports betting, poker rooms and any other form of real money wagering online. It states that any operator of a Remote Gambling Service who has any piece of Remote Gambling Equipment (e.g. servers) located in the UK must obtain a license from the UK Gambling Commission. Also operators of Remote gambling services from outside the UK are free to offer their product to UK residents provided they are complying with the licensing requirements of the jurisdiction in which the service is hosted. Nothing in the online gaming legislation makes it illegal, or seeks to prevent, British residents gambling on the internet in their own homes. Remote gambling operators from EEA (European Economic Area) countries and Gibraltar can advertise within Great Britain. In addition, operators from within jurisdictions granted white listing status can also advertise within the UK.

The SAFE Port act has online gaming legislation as part of its sections. Another significant act is the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 (UIGEA). The SAFE Port Act signed by George W. Bush in Oct 2006 primarily introduced to protect the Security of the United States’ Sea Ports contains a Title VIII - Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, Sections 802 and 803 which amends the federal criminal code to prohibit persons engaged in the business of betting or wagering from knowingly accepting credit, or the proceeds of credit, electronic fund transfers, checks, drafts, or similar financial instruments or the proceeds of any other financial transaction in connection with unlawful Internet gambling, this prohibition is defined by this Act as a "restricted transaction" and Imposes a fine and/ prison term of up to five years for violations. Section 803 Calls upon the U.S. government, in deliberations with foreign governments, to encourage cooperation by foreign governments in identifying whether internet gambling operations are being used for money laundering, corruption, or other crimes, advance policies that promote international cooperation in enforcing this Act, and encourages the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering to study the extent to which Internet gambling operations are being used for money laundering purposes.

Similarly numerous countries have either formulated their own online gaming legislation or adopted policies of other countries. Whichever way we choose to look at it online gaming is here to stay it’s just a mater of whether we choose to accept or reject it.