Online Poker 2013: A Year in Review

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Wednesday, December 18th, 2013 | Written by Adam Brown

In just a couple of weeks the year 2013 will come to a close. It’s hard to believe how fast time flew by. Equally as surprising are all the events that took place in (online) poker over the last 12 months. A lot happened between state laws, intrastate poker, remissions from Black Friday and PokerStars reentering a legal US market.

With everything that happened, we thought it would be interesting to highlight the 10 biggest events of 2013.

In no particular order…

Intrastate Poker Goes Live in Nevada – Nevada became the first site to launch legal real money online poker. The first site to launch was Ultimate Poker on April 30^th, 2013, with Antonio Esfandiari as their spokesman. Their sites host about 400 players per day.

Legal Poker Goes Live in New Jersey – This was the launch people were waiting for, as many feel that the success of online poker in New Jersey will be indicative of the success of intrastate poker elsewhere. Their official launch was on November 26^th, and consisted of 6 sites/companies, none of which were PokerStars.

PokerStars Partners With Resorts Atlantic City – Following their fallout with the Atlantic Club, PokerStars partnered with Resorts so they could have a physical location within New Jersey. This was the first step in many towards PokerStars participating in a legal US market.

Lock Poker Pros Bail – Several pros left Lock Poker in 2013 due to reported money issues. Chris Moorman, Paul Volpe and Brett Jungblut left in May, and Michael ‘The Grinder’ Mizrachi left in October. Things continued to go downhill for Lock, as it was reported that they’re having troubles paying players, affiliates and even their network, Revolution Gaming.

Full Tilt’s Remission Process Begins – The Garden City Group was chosen by the DOJ to send out notices and payments to American players. The process started in September and had a deadline of November 16^th, 2013. This was more than 2 years after Full Tilt was accused/charged of a Ponzi Scheme, and for not having money on hand to pay players back.

PokerStars CEO Reaches $50mm Deal – Mark Scheinberg, son of Isai Scheinberg, made a deal with the DOJ for his alleged financial connection to Black Friday. This was separate from other settlements between PokerStars and the DOJ, and was reportedly not a confession to any wrongdoing by Scheinberg.

Bitar Pleads Guity – Ray Bitar, co-owner and board member of Full Tilt Poker, pleaded guilty to 2 charges stemming from Black Friday; violating the UIGEA and bank wire/fraud. He was charged 2 years after Black Friday, and was required to surrender $40mm in cash and assets. His guilty plea came with the request that he avoid serving jail time, due to needing a heart transplant because of a severe medical condition.

Phil Ivey Admits to Punto Blanco Advantage – In 2012 Ivey was in the news for winning more than $12 million playing punto blanco at Crockford’s in London. They withheld his winnings, stating that Ivey cheated. He maintained his innocence, stating that he never cheated. He even got a lawyer to fight the case.

This year (in court) he admitted to having an advantage, due to there being a defect in the playing cards. However, he claims that the casino is at fault for allowing the situation to occur in the first place, and that he should still be paid his winnings.

Player Commits Suicide Over $500k Loss – Italian poker player, Alessandro Bastianoni, was found dead in his apartment in July 2013. He committed suicide after losing a substantial amount over 2 poker events. When authorities found his body, there was a suitcase with $140k and a note requesting that the money be used for his cremation.

PokerStrategy Acquired by Playtech – PokerStrategy, an online site that focuses on poker coaching, strategy, bankrolls and VIP programs, was acquired by software provider, Playtech. PokerStrategy reportedly sold for 38mm Euros, with assets listed at 16.3mm Euros and profits of 19.5mm Euros in 2012.