Hit by the deck

Struggling Zynga Inc. can take some solace in its “social” poker application being the highest-grossing game in the U.S. and U.K. for Apple’s iPhone in 2012, the Guardian reported.

Roderick Wright reintroduces online poker legislation, but it faces an uphill battle.

Bernard Lee looks at the biggest moments in the poker world from 2012

Little progress has been made by the Department of Justice in refunding US players their Full Tilt money, the Poker Players Alliance has reported.

John Pappas, Executive Director of the PPA, met with officials of the Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering division of the DOJ on Tuesday.

According to a PPA press release distributed yesterday, little has apparently changed in the last three months, when US Department of Justice and PokerStars reached the agreement.

As part of the deal, PokerStars agreed to refund non-US players within 90 days—a promise they managed to keep—and the Department of Justice would repay US players.

But Pappas learned yesterday that the DOJ has yet to even select a payment processor to handle the remission process.

“This is certainly not good news for those poker players still awaiting the return of their money,” Pappas commented in the press release summarizing the meeting.

The World Poker Tour bestbet Jacksonville Fall Poker Scramble came to a close on Tuesday in Florida and Noah Schwartz emerged from a field of 477 players to take home the top prize worth $402,970. It is his first major title and the win takes him to $2,718,258 in career earnings. This was his fourth WPT final-table appearance and first WPT victory. Schwartz has now cashed 37 times in his live career and this win comes on the heels of his appearance at the $1 million buy-in Big One for One Drop event at the World Series of Poker this summer. He eliminated three of his opponents at the final table after entering with a large chip lead, and despite being even in chips with Byron Kaverman at the start of heads-up play, he quickly pulled away to lock up the largest cash of his live tournament career.

A 24-year-old Maryland poker professional won the World Series of Poker main event Wednesday, outlasting his final opponents in a marathon card session of nearly 12 hours for the $8.53 million title.

Greg Merson emerged with the title before dawn in Las Vegas after a session that proved to be a showcase for his skills amid the unpredictability of tournament no-limit Texas Hold 'em. On the last hand, Merson put Las Vegas card pro Jesse Sylvia all-in with a king high. Sylvia thought hard, then called with a suited queen-jack.

Merson's hand held through the community cards -- two sixes, a three, a nine and a seven -- to give him the title and put his name alongside former champions including Doyle Brunson, Phil Hellmuth and Johnny Chan.

The PokerListings Daily 3-Bet is the last man standing when the lights are switched off and the blood cleaned up after the afternoon poker news title bout.
Any suggestions for a future 3-Bet, feel free to drop a note in the comments.
Today in the 3-Bet we find Greg Merson already proving he’s a worthy WSOP Main Event title winner, Phil Hellmuth showing class in defeat and the US government putting a serious dent in the final nine’s WSOP payouts.

As of around 10 p.m. local time in Las Vegas, about 90 hands had been played on the final day of action in the 2012 World Series of Poker main event. With millions on the line, some of the hands featured lengthy decision making.

We talk with the UFC's exuberant ring announcer about his love of fighting, his talent for cards, and the father who taught him both.

Caesar/888 partnership moves a step closer to reality.

Former Full Tilt Poker owner Howard Lederer settled the Black Friday civil suit, agreeing to penalties and asset forfeitures totaling more than $2.5 million.

The Heartland Poker Tour’s stop in Las Vegas was bound to attract a number of local pros, but they couldn’t have asked for a much better final table that the one that they got. There was a 2012 bracelet winner in Randy Ohel, two players with major final table experience in Michael Ryan (2011 Aussie Millions) and Trevor Pope (2012 WPT Championship) and a local pro in Dan Alspach with over $1 million in lifetime tournament earnings.

When the final card hit the felt, however, it was James Carroll claiming victory at HPT Nevada, winning over $104,000 for his victory at the Palms. He defeated Ryan heads-up and claimed three of the five eliminations at the final table, putting on a fairly dominant showing to record the biggest cash of his career and push his own lifetime winnings to over $1 million.

Phil Ivey has launched a website that he hopes will change the landscape of social media poker.

He has enlisted Greg Merson, who started the 2012 WSOP Main Event final table third in chips, and will return as chipleader when play resumes three-handed. Jennifer Harman and Patrik Antonious have also signed on as Team Ivey coaches.

Currently, iveypoker.com offeres little more than a subscription to a mailing list and a link to Merson’s personal site.

But Ivey told ESPN that he wants to “teach the world how to play better poker.”

The sites slogan: “It’s more fun when you win.”

There is a teaser for “free bonus points for the Phil Ivey poker game” for those who join the mailing list.

The site will offer video instruction with interaction through online games, which Ivey said will be free.

“People aren’t learning how to play,” he told ESPN. “You see people just going on there and playing, but not really learning how to play the right way. What we’re doing here is teaching people how to become a winning poker player. I think a lot of people really don’t know how to play poker, and I think this is going to be an opportunity to play with the best players in the world.”