A brand new Facebook Poker app seems to be hot in the news – driven by actor Kevin Pollak and his apparent love for this game. For those of you who don’t know who Kevin Pollak is don’t feel alone, neither did we. However, after conducting a little research we found that he certainly has a very well-known face; claims to fame roles in A Few Good Men, The Whole Nine Yards, The Wedding Planner and more. He hosted the first season of Celebrity Poker Showdown, and regularly invites friends over to his house for poker nights.

Anyway it seems he is also the host for the brand new Facebook poker app, which has been aptly named – Hollywood Poker. The app debuts on the 8th October, 2012, and basically offers players a chance to win into star-studded poker games. This is not a “play for real money” game, but apparently does offer great prizes.

So far the names being dropped include: James Woods, Dennis Quaid, Peter Facinelli of Twilight fame (he plays Dr. Carlisle Cullen), John O’Hurley from Seinfeld, Scott Baio, Tim Busfield of The West Wing, Dean Cain of Las Vegas, Rob Riggle of 21 Jump Street, and of course plenty more. While we did not see Ben Affleck or Matt Damon on the list, and they are well-known for their celebrity poker antics, there is still a whole load of shining stars who seem keen to participate in this game, and have also committed themselves to playing Hollywood Poker.

While Hollywood Poker launches on Facebook on the 8th October, the tournament won’t start right away. Members will be playing their best game of poker to win entry into the first tournament which takes place on the 20thOctober. It offers a "rare and exciting chance to play Texas Hold’Em Poker" with Kevin Pollak and his chosen celebrity friends. Three lucky winners will get to play in this single table event. What a rush?!

This is one of the first poker games to be launched by Facebook themselves, and no poker player worth their salt is going to want to miss out on the chance. It is their first ever celebrity games, and over 160 stars of movies, TV, Sports and Media have pledged to play Hollywood Poker. Films and shows such as Too Big to Fail, Saturday Night Live, Vegas, Vampire Diaries, Revolution, News Radio, Charles in Charge, 7th Heaven, Melrose Place, 30 Rock and more to be confirmed will be represented.

Hollywood Poker is easy to use – its designed this way – and fun for everyone. Fans get to interact directly with stars, rub virtual shoulders and chat with them, while playing poker. Visitors can follow the action, as well as become a member, and prizes include trips to star-studded events. This game is playable on most devices which includes mobile for iPad, with support for iPhone and Android being well on their way.

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!

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.

Over £1,000,0000 in prize money up for grabs during September’s poker festival

With over 50 events and over £1,000,000 in prize money, the London Poker Festival will position the UK capital at the centre of the poker universe this September. Bluff Europe Magazine has brought together eight different card rooms to create a special calendar of events that includes tournaments and cash games to suit all pockets, parties, comedy nights, a Black Belt Poker Academy and the British Poker Awards. The calendar will be dominated, however, by eight exciting main events.

First up is the LCI UK Poker Tour, which makes it’s first ever stop in London, at the Casino at the Empire from 12 to 16 September. This main event is a £200+£20 tournament with a whopping £50k guaranteed that kicks off on 14th.

On 13th, the Unibet Open flies into town and sets up camp at Aspers in Stratford, bringing with it all the parties and fun events that have become the signature of this unique tour. The main event is a €1,500+15 NLH freezeout.

That’s followed by the Big Bluff Club’s “Big Five-O” tournament, also a £200 freezeout with a massive £50,000 guaranteed. It’s a deepstack, too – with a 50k starting stack and a 50-minute clock.

On 17th, we have the British Poker Awards, a ceremony to honour the movers and shakers on the UK poker scene, at the HMS President on the Thames. Voting is now live at www.thebritishpokerawards.com and tickets are available at www.thebritishpokerawards.eventbrite.co.uk for £20 each.

Next, the GUKPT Main Event comes to the Vic on 20th for a £1,000 + £70 NLH Main Event freezeout with a 20,000 starting stack and a one-hour clock. It’s a three-day event supported by a host of mid-level side events and satellites to the main.

Then, after a year’s hiatus, the English Poker Open comes to the Fox Poker Club from the 18th to 21st September. This year, the English Poker Open is a £2,000+£180 entry event with a £250,000 guaranteed prize pool and is sponsored by RakeTheRake.

If that’s too rich for your blood, low stakes fun abounds at the Western September Festival in W3, with a £150 + 3 NLH tournament with a £17,500 guarantee. Finally, leg 12 of the Superstack Tour hits the Bluff @ The Mint card room. Low entries and good structures are what this series is all about, and this event is a pleasingly affordable £150 + £15.

Whether or not it was a huge bluff that PokerStars was buying out what was left of Full Tilt Poker (FTP) remains to be seen. There was massive excitement surrounding this topic just before the World Series Of Poker took place, but now the fuss seems to have died down. Popular opinion has it that the PokerStars/FTP Deal was only pie in the sky, and nothing much more. But of course, just as the possibility of the deal was conjecture, so, too is this opinion; but stranger things have been known to happen.

Discussions do however appear to have faded into the background. Rumour had it that PokerStars had been working with the U. S. DoJ to see if they could realize what Group Bernard Tapie could not. According to certain poker professionals who are in-the-know – these talks have ‘fizzled out’ – were "only hope and nothing more."(Matt Glantz).

Obviously it is wishful thinking for the online poker community to want this matter to be resolved. Any deal that any poker company might make with the US DoJ would have a vested interest for former poker players at FTP. It is no secret that the website was grossly mismanaged, and that millions of dollars worth of player funds were not been paid back to its members. The chances that these members will ever get their money back are indeed incredibly slim, despite the fact that there are half a dozen class action lawsuits still pending against FTP. We know that this deal would have brought some hope to FTP former-members, but there are huge problems involved for any online gambling or other company to attempt to rescue FTP from the morass.

First off we know that FTP’s Ray Bitar has faced the charges for Black Friday indictments, and plead not guilty; but PokerStars founder – Isai Scheinberg has not faced up to any charges, and does not intend to plead. This would probably be a pre-requisite for any DoJ deal, and PokerStars wants to avoid any leadership prosecutions. The Department of Justice (DoJ) is unlikely to decide not to pursue their criminal case against both Scheinberg and executive Paul Tate.

Even more telling with regards any discussion deal is the fact that there is no Federal landscape for online poker in the USA – so there is no ‘nationwide’ environment for PokerStars to get back into. Currently state-by-state individual changing of online poker laws is taking place, but the wheels of power are turning slowly, and there is not a great deal of incentive for PokerStars (a massive online poker offering in Europe) to offer ’íntrastate’ online gambling to the USA. Although to get a foot in the door; the efforts may be worthwhile. But then again, it would be smart business for big USA brands such as Caesars to keep this brand out of the USA, and Caesars as well as other big gambling brands have a lot of political influence.