Further details have emerged about the criminal past of poker pervert Shahram Sheikhan, courtesy of a website that tracks sex crimes.

Sheikhan, a professional poker player from Las Vegas, evoked controversy earlier this month when he appeared on NBC’s late-night poker show, “Poker After Dark.” PokerHelper.com broke the story that the 38-year-old Iranian native had been the effort of a failed deportation effort by the U.S. government last year, because Sheikhan had served time in prison for a sex crime against a minor 10 years ago and the Feds were now trying to deport him and other foreigners who are convicted sex offenders. Specific details of the crime, though, had been unavailable, until now. (more…)

Poker dealers at casinos in the Canadian province of Quebec are red hot about new devices at the casinos that make the dealers expendable.

According to a report in the Montreal Gazette, a Canadian newspaper, three unions representing croupiers at Quebec casinos have filed a formal complaint against electronic poker machines that were recently installed at the casinos, saying the machines are illegal. =A0 Loto-Quebec, the Canadian agency that operates the casinos, says the new electronic poker machines are classified as slot machines and don’t need dealers, but the unions say while a slot machine is a game of chance, poker is a game of strategy and chance, which gives poker a different legal classification, the Gazette reported. =A0 The unions are angry about 43 electronic, dealer-free Texas hold ‘em machines that were installed on January 18 at three provincial casinos: 25 at the Montreal Casino, 13 at the Lac Leamy Casino and five at the Manoir Richelieu Casino, the Gazette reported. (more…)

Women poker players have their own event at the annual World Series of Poker (WSOP), so why not their own Hall of Fame?

Despite the existence already of a Poker Hall of Fame in Las Vegas, which includes both male and female poker players,=A0 a new institution called the Women in Poker Hall of Fame is set to debut, also in Las Vegas, next month. (more…)

A British gambler, who lost $100,000 playing poker, has been sentenced to prison for stealing a dead man’s identity in an effort to avoid paying off the gambling losses.

According to a report by the British Broadcasting Company (BBC), Norman Kay, 63, of Devon, England, planned to disappear and secretly meet up with his wife under a new name, but the plan failed. (more…)

Poker pervert Shahram “Sean” Sheikhan got his just desserts last week–he lost the “Hecklers Week” competition telecast on “Poker After Dark” on NBC.

Sheikhan did make it to the final two in the contest–a game of no-limit Texas hold ‘em poker that started with six players–but was outplayed by veteran Phil “Poker Brat” Hellmuth Jr., who won it all. (more…)

The World Series of Poker (WSOP) is getting its own radio show.

Harrah’s Entertainment, Inc., owner of the WSOP, announced Tuesday the launch of WSOP Radio, the official weekly radio show of the WSOP. (more…)

PokerHelper.com’s characterization of professional poker player Shahram Sheikhan as a “convicted rapist” is incorrect, Sheikhan’s attorney tells PokerHelper.com.

“I am the attorney for Shahram Sheikhan and am writing to you to immediately put you on notice that your previously published allegation about my client is defamatory and untrue,” wrote Las Vegas attorney David Chesnoff in an e-mail. “We are requesting that you immediately print a retraction that he is not a convicted rapist.” (more…)

An American poker pro, who won $30,000 in cash at a poker tournament at an Austalian casino Sunday, lost the money shortly afterwards in a mugging.

According to Australian media reports, Jason Potter, 22, of Tulsa, Okahoma, USA, had just finished in 31st place in the Aussie Millions, a poker tourney held at the Crown Casino in Melbourne, Australia, and collected $30,000 in cash. (more…)

A retired judge is under fire in Arizona for operating a poker club of questionable legality.

According to media reports, former Maricopa County justice of the peace Harold S. Lee runs Judge Lee’s Arizona Card Room & Social Club, a poker club in Sierra Vista, Arizona, USA. (more…)

A 23-year-old no-name is the top Canadian player at online poker room Titan Poker (www.titanpoker.com.) James Galvin, of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, won the online poker room’s recent Top Canadian Titan Tournament, Titan Poker announced.

The tourney was held last Sunday. Galvin beat 28 other top Canadian online poker players to win the tournament, Titan Poker said. (more…)

Online poker may soon be banned in Finland.

According to Helsingin Sanomat, a Finnish newspaper, the Finnish government’s Ministry of Social Affairs and Health is planning to introduce an amendment to the local gamblings laws that would enable Internet poker players to claim back their losses. =A0=A0=A0=A0=A0 The payer would be either the firm providing the online poker services, a credit card company or the winning player in the poker game, the newspaper reported. (more…)

In response to the announcement that the Kahnawake Gaming Commission (KGC) has fined online poker room Absolute Poker $500,000 for its role in an online cheating scandal, Absolute Poker released the following statement:

“When Absolute Poker notified the KGC of the security breach in our system, we had every expectation that the commission would undertake a comprehensive and fair investigation. After reviewing the published report, we recognize the completeness and accuracy of the KGC conclusions, and we accept without reservation the KGC’s findings and sanctions. Most importantly, we are pleased, after these many months, that Absolute Poker can finally put behind it a most distressing and regrettable experience for the company, its employees, and its customers. (more…)

Professional poker player Gus “The Great Dane” Hansen, who has earned almost $4 million in poker tournament winnings in his career, has launched a website to teach the art of poker.

The website, The Playr (no e), at www.theplayr.com, features articles about poker strategy, as well as a posting forum, personal tips from Hansen and other features. (more…)

Two people were arrested and a youth was referred to child protective services after authorities in San Mateo, California, USA, raided a house where illegal poker games were taking place.

According to media reports, Cutberto Cardenas, 42, of San Mateo, was arrested and charged with two misdemeanor counts of fraudulently obtaining money under false pretenses and contributing to the delinquency of a minor, while Patricia McCoy, 47, of Hillsborough, California, USA, was arrested and charged with one misdemeanor count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. (more…)

Online poker room Absolute Poker (www.absolutepoker.com) has been fined a half-million dollars by the Kahnawake Gaming Commission (KGC) for the cheating scandal that rocked the online gambling world last year.

During a six-week period in August and September of 2007, a group of cheaters playing poker at Absolute Poker used rigged software to see opponents’ hole cards. After winning hundreds of thousands of dollars, the cheaters were eventually caught when they continued to make seemingly-risky bets which indicated to observers that hidden cards were known. Hand histories were checked and the suspicions were verified. (more…)

A professional poker player who won almost $40,000 at last year’s World Series of Poker (WSOP) has been sentenced to five months in prison for evading taxes on his poker earnings.

John Doucet, 37, of Quaker Hill, Connecticut, USA, who finished in 349th place at the 2007 WSOP main event in Las Vegas and won $39,445, will spend the next five months in a Federal prison, followed by five more months of home confinement, as punishment for his felony conviction of filing a false tax return, media reports said. (more…)

Online poker room Ultimate Bet is going international.

Its poker tables are already available to poker players worldwide and have been for some time, but now Ultimate Bet will be speaking everyone’s language. (more…)

There’s more proof that more and more women are getting into poker–the World Poker Tour (WPT) has announced that it is starting an official WPT ladies league and no-limit Texas hold ‘em tournament circuit.

With buy-ins ranging from $300 to $1,500, the tournament circuit will provide multiple opportunities for amateur, semi-pro, and professional female players to test their skills in a tournament environment at prestigious gambling destinations, without having to pay costly five-figure buy-ins, the WPT announced in a news release. (more…)

Bail was set at half a million dollars Tuesday for a Pennsylvania woman who embezzled $574,000 to feed an addiction to video poker.

According to media reports, Carol Ackley, 57, who was the payroll coordinator for the Ridley School District in suburban Philadelphia, used a complicated financial scheme to steal almost $100,000 a year for the past six years from the school district. (more…)

Heads Up Entertainment, Inc. has announced that the 2008 Canadian Open Poker Championships are to take place March 5-9, 2008, at the Deerfoot Inn and Casino in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

The extravaganza is to feature five separate events, with an estimated total prize pool in excess of $1.3 million Canadian dollars, which is roughly equal to the same amount in U.S. dollars. (more…)

Lightning Poker, a subsidiary of Lightning Gaming, announced that the United States Patent and Trademark Office has awarded the company a U.S. patent called “Electronic Game Table.”

According to a news release from Lightning Poker, a Philadelphia, Pa.-area company, the patent is for “automated poker tables having a center screen continuously displaying multiple community cards and betting information for each player to all the players.” (more…)