Weekly Poker Roundup – January 25th 2012
Weekly Poker News Round-Up
January 25th, 2012 By Scott Jack
This week many of the world’s best poker players are down under in Melbourne, Australia. The 2012 Aussie Millions is running right now at the Crown Casino in Melbourne and therefore there hasn’t been much going on in the poker world. We’re going to take a quick look at the top stories from the past week to catch everyone up on the latest US poker news.
Dan Smith Wins the 2012 Aussie Millions $100K Challenge
Six of the events at the 2012 Aussie Millions in Melbourne are now in the bag and the main event is currently underway. The only American that has won a tournament thus far at the Aussie Millions is Dan Smith. Dan Smith picked up $1,012,000AUD for winning 1st place in the 2012 Aussie Millions $100K Challenge this week against a tough field of 22 players.
The final table was stacked with talent in this event, but only half (4 of 8 ) of the players were going to cash. Smith outlasted players such as Tony G (4th Place), Joe Hachem (3rd Place) and Mikhail Smirnov (2nd Place). If things continue going the way they are right now Smith may be the only American to win an Aussie Millions Gold Ring in 2012.
Dan Jungleman Cates Looking for Action
Many of the best American poker players are in Australia right now including Daniel Cates. Cates has done a lot of traveling on the live tournament circuit this year and is currently looking for heads-up challengers to play against. Tony G has made it his mission to try and find the Jungleman some action in Melbourne this week.
Cates and Tony G were interviewed after the $100K Challenge tournament at the 2012 Aussie Millions. Cates mentioned that he would enjoy playing Tony G heads-up for €100,000 because Tony G is known to “talk a lot of ****”. The two looked friendly during the interview, but with €100,000 on the line it would be a very interesting heads-up match that could have lots of trash talk.
Melanie Weisner Signs with Lock Poker
Melanie Weisner is the biggest up and coming woman poker player in the United States right now and Weisner just recently signed a sponsorship deal with Lock Poker. Weisner has been sporting her Lock Poker apparel this week in Australia at the Aussie Millions, and she is going to be a great ambassador for the US-friendly online poker brand.
Weisner is known on the live poker circuit and the online poker circuit, as she’s been successful playing both. Weisner has earned almost $400,000 in live poker tournaments and even more playing online poker. Weisner was just ranked #74 on the G.P.I. and in the next couple years I can see her being able to break the top 40.
Playtech Eyeing the US Market
Playtech released their fourth quarter financial results today. Playtech recently acquired Geneity, which will instantly bolster the Playtech software suite. Playtech has been busy in most markets that are becoming regulated and the company announced that they have several plans in place to enter the US poker sites market once online poker is legalized in more states.
According to the Playtech CEO Mor Weizer, Playtech has a list of customers that want to utilize the Playtech software suite in the USA already. The market is going to be huge if more states legalize online poker, but online gaming software giants like Playtech may have to compete against social network giants.
US Online Poker Market Worth $100+ Billion?
A recent report revealed that a Facebook insider stated that Facebook could earn $100 billion in revenues if online gambling was legalized across the entire United States. I don’t have any numbers to help make a comparison, but for Facebook to earn $100B+ in revenues from online poker there would need to be a lot of US poker players interested in playing real money online poker.
A couple months ago Facebook announced that they had plans to roll out real money gambling in the UK in 2012. No plans have been announced yet, but several companies have been in close talks with Facebook. The UK market is already regulated and would be a good gauge to determine how successful Facebook can be used as a platform for attracting online poker players.
This should be one of the most exciting years for online poker if you live in the United States in a long time. We’re not even through January yet and there has been a lot of talk about multiple US states looking at legalizing online poker this year. Stay tuned to find out about the latest US online poker news at American Poker Online.