Fast-fold Poker is finally taking a-hold at more than one well-known website; PokerStars is now also attempting to stop its feverish spread on the World-Wide Web by pending patent rights. The game started more than a year ago at Full-tilt Poker, and with this websites’ downfall, copies have sprung up like mushrooms after a rain.

Players are getting the hang of the game, where the appeal is its difference to normal paced poker online. Because it is fast, it reduces waiting time – a player can fold, then simply be moved to another table, and take part in another game. The additional appeal is that the game is a natural fit for mobile, and opponents barely get to know the game of the people they play against, so, this makes it fabulously fair. It is an action-focussed game with an almost arcade game-type feel.

Full-tilt introduced fast-fold in 2010 – calling it "Rush Poker". At the time, no other poker product was interested in exploring the possibilities that this form of the game seemed to offer. This gave FTP almost a complete year with exclusivity on fast-fold poker. Whether or not this shows lack of competitive vision, or fear of patent infringement, on the part of other online poker software developers, we actually do not know. But what we do know is this, as soon as Full-tilt was out of the fold, there was a mad rush to develop software which emulated fast-fold.

PokerStars have their own version of the game, and now that they own FTP – lock, stock and their backs over a barrel, they also want their hands on any patent rights they may be entitled to. Their version is called Zoom Poker, but they were in fact not the first to offer real money fast-fold poker after FTP. InstaDeal was the first fast-fold poker competitor online.

This software provider soft- launched a flagship product called "Terminal Poker" back in late 2010. They were the first online network to exclusively host fast-fold style poker with low stakes Hold ‘em games. They expanded with white-label skins on PokerTube as well as at an online poker portal – Vegas365. This product still receives consistent players, even if only in very small numbers.
When it seemed as though Full-tilt would never rise from the ashes of their ruin, let alone ever be able to competitively defend a patent rights legal brougha; “Fast Poker” from Maltese developer – Relax Gaming was the next to hit the Net. This game can be found at Unibet and iGame.

Zoom Poker came from PokerStars in March 2012, and is still ostensibly wearing the "Beta" banner. However, it has hit the tables hard, there are various stakes and multiple game types available already, and now PokerStars has nothing to worry about, their lawyers have taken the problem of "Patent Pending" away from FTP lawyers, and are letting their lawyers handle the issue, as though they developed this product for themselves. Good on them, they paid enough money for FTP; might as well get it back one way or another!

It is that time of years again, the time when poker gets serious, and looks at the names of players and people who deserve recognition for the part they have played in poker. The WSOP Hall of Fame is the name of the game, and it is not only Players who are acclaimed, also non-players who underwrite the success and growth of poker have an opportunity of being inducted. The criteria are:

1. Must have played against accredited competitors
2. Minimum of forty (40) years old when nominated
3. Must have been a high-stakes player
4. Gained the respect of peers – played poker consistently well
5. Stood the test-of- time
6. Non-players, – contribution to the overall success of poker. Must have indelible and positive results.

There are ten finalists this year, and there are also only ever a maximum of two winners. Mostly only one person wins. The induction class takes place during the course of the World Series of Poker Main Event, and all nominations were gathered during a public nomination process. The finalists will be decided upon and approved by the Governing Council of the WSOP Hall of Fame.

The Finalists are:

1. Jennifer Harman
2. John Juanda
3. Tom McEvoy
4. Scotty Nguyen – these first four have all been nominated before
5. Six first-timers — Chris Bjorin a sixty-four-year-old Swedish-born player residing in London. Bjorin’s earnings are over $5 million, and he is a two-time WSOP gold bracelet winner – has seven WSOP Main Event cashes.
6. David Chiu – moved to the US as an eighteen year old exchange student from China. He started in poker as a dealer – was originally a Colorado restaurateur. Chiuin – now fifty-two years old – has transitioned into one of the most successful tournament players in recent poker history. He is a four-time WSOP gold-bracelet winner, with cashes in fifty-four events.
7. Eric Drache – a poker career which stands head and shoulders above many. He has made five WSOP final tables, ending in the top three each time, but also served as the tournament director at one stage. He is responsible for various innovations in the WSOP event, and has worn many hats in the Las Vegas poker industry. Our money is on this man receiving induction.
8. Thor Hansen – A Norwegian poker pro who has cashed in a mahoosive one-hundred and seventy- five tournaments and earned $2.9 million. Known as the “Godfather” of Norwegian poker in Europe, he has 2 WSOP gold bracelets and has contributed massively to the EU poker scene.
9. George Hardie – The only non-poker player, but has never-the-less left a lasting impression on the character of the game. He stood at the centre of the poker boom on the West Coast, and built-up the largest poker club in the world during the 1980’s.
10. Brian "Sailor" Roberts. Was nominated at the final hour, in writing, but another Hall of Fame inductee. He is well-known as one of the “good guys” of the game, and apparently there aren’t all that many.

Calvin Ayre will cover the top awards show in the British poker industry after a media agreement was signed between the tablog and British Poker Awards organizer Bluff Europe.

Under the terms of the agreement Calvin Ayre will bring the cameras and reporters along to cover an event that will honor the best the British poker circuit has to offer. The tablog will interview the winners, snoop around for any juicy gossip and of course provide warts and all coverage of any parties that take place.

New awards have been added this year including "Best Tournament Player", "Best Cash Player" and "Best Online Player". The special "Biggest Contribution to Growing and Promoting Poker" award has also been added and is likely to see someone take to the stage and leave in floods of tears.

Thousands have already cast their votes for the awards that take place aboard the HMS President on London’s River Thames on 17th September. Tickets are still available from www.thebritishpokerawards.eventbrite.co.uk and cost £20.

While there has never been a doubt that the online gambling industry has a massive interest in offering online poker games to the public; this game has also evolved to such a degree, that there is on-going growing interest from the public also. If there had not been so much interest from the paying public, this game would not have grown as it has.

There has been much ado about nothing happening, regarding playing online poker in the USA for a few years, where the department of Justice has insisted that playing this game was illegal. So much so, that they closed down the biggest online poker sites in the US last year in April 2011. In the process, the DoJ managed to put most of these sites out of business – the only survivor being PokerStars. But then again the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA enacted 2006), also put paid to plenty of poker potential.

What is so paradoxical about the online poker situation in the USA, is the fact that the game is as American as apple pie. However, that having been said, the Poker Players Alliance and many other protagonists for the game, have been trying to prove that it is okay to play online as it is a game of skill, not gambling.

Now all kinds of worms are coming out of the woodwork, the DoJ has had a change of heart, but are still prosecuting people who were indicted under UIGEA. They have also said that the only gambling game not allowed is online sports betting, so, we are in the dark about what’s real any more in the states.

A recent scientific research from the University of Rotterdam (Department of Economics), Holland, sees poker classified as a game of skill. And now a Judge in the USA – Federal District Court Judge Jack Weinstein – has agreed. Poker is a game of skill!

The fact of the matter is, that the lawyers defending a gentleman who was running a home poker game, put up such a good argument, that the judge simply had to agree. They argued that – "increased proficiency boosts a player’s chance of winning and affects the outcome of individual hands as well as a series of hands. Expert poker players draw on an array of talents, including facility with numbers, knowledge of human psychology, and powers of observation and deception." We already know this to be true.

John Pappas of the Poker Players Alliance – said they have waited very patiently for the right opportunity to arise to take the game of poker to a Federal Court. This was the right opportunity, where this association of poker players, played a major role in securing the “not guilty” verdict. They believe this federal court ruling is a most important victory for the game.

The judge noted that "poker has a long history in the United States, has been embraced by many political and other public figures. " Finally… perhaps something has now got to give?!

In the world of online poker – there has been so much drama taking place ever since April 15th last year. That is 15th April 2011 – now more infamously known as Black Friday. We have all heard of Black Friday, but the biggest impact this day probably had was for Full Tilt Poker (FTP). This brand unfortunately had made some huge mistakes in their management of the site, and despite the fact that they had grown into the second biggest online poker operator still doling out services to the USA marketplace; they also crashed the hardest. Sometimes it is true what they say – "the bigger they are, the harder they fall".

Anyway, not to harp on what was a huge misfortune for the FTP brand and thousands, and thousands of members who could not withdraw their funds from the site.PokerStars also took a knock on black Friday, and unsurprisingly bounced right back. This was chiefly because PokerStars was positioned properly to hit the European market hard after the loss of their USA fan-bases, and because they had their fiduciary responsibilities taken care of.

Now after eighteen months and a whole lot of heartache for FTP fans, and owners; their biggest rival in the online poker industry has taken the steps to save their collective bacon. What this also means is that 600 Irish employees, might not all lose their jobs completely.
How is this relevant to two online poker sites?

Well, despite what the rest of the world might think, the world of online poker is no longer a niche product. It has grown into a mainstream industry, together with most forms of online gambling over the past decade and a half. Today more people gamble online than (we would hazard a guess), than gamble in live casinos.

This knowledge tells us that because it is such a huge industry, there must be people employed to help run it. The World Wide Web might be clever, but at this point in time, people still need to be employed to make sure that the job gets done. The Company that provided IT handling and software development for FTP is situated in Cherrywood, Co Dublin, they are called Pocket Kings, and FTP was probably one of their biggest clients. With 600 Irish employees on the job, while we are not sure who will be re-hired, or fired, but at least these jobs are no longer so much at risk. Obviously some staff has already been let go.

The Irish Times, and other Irish-based newspapers have been spreading the news, so, we believe that it is good news.

In another aside, while criminal charges were filed against owners of both Full Tilt Poker, and PokerStars which caused Black Friday, and it is PokerStars that have done the deal with the DoJ, we would love to be privy to what the deal entails. However, we believe that it is highly unlikely that we will ever know what truly went on behind closed doors. PokerStars took a huge gamble, it’s bound to pay off, because gamble is what they do best.