With the World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE) slated for next month in London, England, and the playing out of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event final table scheduled for November, now is a good time to look at just who has been pulling in the big bucks in the world of poker.

Who are the top 25 money-earners in the history of tournament poker, not including online tourneys? (more…)

The death of U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy last week recalled memories of the 1988 Democratic National Convention in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.

At that convention, Kennedy famously led the attendees in a chant mocking sitting Vice-President and ‘88 Republican presidential candidate George H. W. Bush’s role in the Iran-Contra political scandal. (more…)

Argentina.

Mention the rugged South American country and various images come to mind: gauchos, tango-dancers and cheap steaks. (more…)

When the World Series of Poker (WSOP) decided last year to initiate a four-month break between the time the WSOP Main Event final table is set and the time it is played off, part of the reason was to give the event four months of publicity.

The other part of the reason was to give the nine final table members the chance to ink endorsement deals with online poker rooms–in exchange for wearing a room’s logo during televised final table play, the final table member earns a fee. (more…)

Phil “Poker Brat” Hellmuth Jr. is drowning his poker sorrows in alcohol.

The 45-year-old poker superstar, who owns a record 11 World Series of Poker (WSOP) championship gold bracelets, didn’t win any gold at the most recent WSOP. (more…)

Is poker a sport or entertainment?

Or both? (more…)

Prahlad Friedman has won the 2009 World Poker Tour (WPT) Legends of Poker Championship.

It is his first WPT title. (more…)

A professional poker player from Long Island has confessed in court to running a nationwide multi-million-dollar gambling operation in the USA from his home.

According to media reports, Anthony Argila, 52, of North Bellmore, New York, USA, pleaded guilty Wednesday to 17 counts of promoting gambling and possession of gambling records and two counts of conspiracy. (more…)

Online poker room Ultimate Bet (www.ultimatebet.com) announced this week that it has signed professional poker player Billy “Patrolman 35″ Kopp to be a paid spokesman for the room.

Kopp, of Erlanger, Kentucky, USA, was a virtual unknown on the world poker scene until he finished in 12th place at the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event in Las Vegas, earning almost $900,000. (more…)

Golf has the Ryder Cup and now poker has the Caesars Cup.

Golf fans know the Ryder Cup is a biennial tournament between a team of America’s top golf pros and a team of European counterparts. (more…)

It’s not quite Las Vegas yet, but Macau is getting close.

The Chinese city, formerly run by the Portugese and now officially a capitalistic “Special Administrative Region” of communist China, has some of the glitziest casinos in the world and some of the highest rollers. (more…)

A city best known for its signature dish–chicken Kiev–is fast becoming a hot spot for poker.

Kiev, the Ukraine, this month for the first time ever was the site of a major poker event–a stop on the European Poker Tour (EPT). (more…)

WPT Enterprises Inc., which produces the World Poker Tour and the World Poker Tour television series, has agreed to sell its assets.

According to media reports, the company said Monday it will sell its operating assets to Peerless Media Ltd. (more…)

As if there wasn’t enough poker on television already, the FOX Network announced last week that it will air a new poker show beginning in October.

The show will be called “The Poker Stars Million Dollar Challenge” and will be sponsored by online poker room Poker Stars (www.pokerstars.com). (more…)

A professional poker player is to stand trial on charges he murdered his parents.

According to media reports, a judge in Alameda County, California, USA, ruled Friday that there is enough evidence to try 31-year-old Ernest Scherer III in the stabbing and beating deaths of his father, Ernest Scherer Jr., 60, also a poker pro, and his mother, Charlene Abendroth, 57. (more…)

America’s top poker event and America’s top sports network have entered into a long-term marriage.

Spokesmen for the World Series of Poker (WSOP) and television’s Entertainment and Sports Programming Network (ESPN) announced this week that the WSOP and ESPN have inked a new deal under which ESPN will televise the WSOP through the year 2017. (more…)

Mixed martial arts fighter Randy “The Natural” Couture, two-time winner of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), is to hold a charity poker tournament later this week in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, event organizers announced.

The event, the second annual Operation All-In tournament, is to benefit the Xtreme Couture G.I. Foundation, which raises funds for injured and wounded American military personnel. (more…)

ABC News commentator George Will is the latest pontificator to put in his two cents about the state of online poker in the USA.

Writing last week in his syndicated newspaper column, Will, a conservative former college professor who appears Sunday mornings on the American TV news program “This Week With George Stephanopolous,” broke ranks with the majority of conservatives who think all online gambling is bad and should be illegal. (more…)

Police in Detroit, Michigan, USA, are investigating an incident in which five poker players were robbed.

According to media reports, a police officer making a traffic stop at about 2:30 a.m. on August 7 was informed by two men in another vehicle that they had just been robbed. (more…)

A jury in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, on Thursday found a man who organized Texas hold ‘em poker tournaments guilty of illegal gambling, rejecting his arguments that the game isn’t gambling because it requires a high degree of skill.

According to media reports, Lawrence R. Burns, 65, of Pittsburgh, ran the tournaments several times a week in the nearby towns of Seward and Adamsburg. (more…)

Card rooms and Indian casinos in California, longtime rivals for the state’s gambling dollars, are working together in an unprecedented partnership to legalize Internet poker in the state.

According to media reports, the two groups have created an “Internet poker consortium” to build political clout and lobby lawmakers. (more…)

Chris Moneymaker looked like a real up-and-comer when he won the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event in 2003, sparking a worldwide poker boom in the process.

But instead of becoming a major force in the world of poker, he’s been more like a flash in the pan whose sizzle has fizzled. (more…)

A television station in Utah owned by the Mormon Church is refusing to air the new NBC TV show about poker, “Face the Ace,” because the church objects to gambling.

The Salt Lake Tribune, a newspaper in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA, reported that Salt Lake City TV station KSL, an NBC affiliate that airs locally on Channel 5, is not airing the program because it does not meet “community standards.” (more…)

The founder of a popular poker-themed website has been murdered.

According to media reports, Andreas Oscarsson, who founded the Swedish poker portal Poker Listings (www.pokerlistings.com), was found shot to death in his homeland of Sweden on August 3. (more…)

British poker pro Liv Boeree has signed on as a paid flack for online poker room Ultimate Bet (www.ultimatebet.com), the room announced.

Boeree formerly served as a paid flack for online poker room Absolute Poker (www.absolutepoker.com), where her official title was brand ambassador. (more…)

Former World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event champions Jamie Gold and Peter Eastgate are co-hosting a charity poker tournament that is to be held in England later this week, event organizers announced.

The event will be a no-limit Texas hold ‘em tournament with a buy-in of 500 British pounds, equal to about $824. (more…)

Professional online poker player Dusty Schmidt has dropped a lawsuit against the United States Golf Association (USGA) to have his amateur golfer status reinstated.

According to media reports, Schmidt, 28,? said last week that after consulting with several legal experts, he wasn’t able to come up with anything that he thought would be strong enough to win his case. (more…)

A lobbying group that has been trying for years to get online poker legalized and regulated in the USA is rejoicing at the prospect of good news on the horizon.

The group, the Washington, D.C.-based Poker Players Alliance (PPA), issued a press release Thursday after U.S. Senator Robert Menendez earlier in the day introduced legislation into the U.S. Senate that would legalize, license, tax and regulate Internet poker. (more…)

A U.S. senator has introduced legislation to specifically regulate online poker.

According to media reports, Senator Robert Menendez, a Democrat from New Jersey, on Thursday introduced a bill into the U.S. Senate that would regulate, license and tax online poker operations. (more…)

Professional poker players Marcel “The Flying Dutchman” Luske and Jason Mercier are the latest poker pros to sign on as paid flacks for online poker room Poker Stars (www.pokerstars.com), the room announced.

Officially, the new shills will be part of Poker Star’s so-called Team Poker Stars Pro (formerly Team Poker Stars), a collection of well-known poker pros who flack for the room by playing online at the room and in offline tournaments around the world that promote the room. (more…)