Lawmakers in New Jersey have agreed a deal to send financial support to the U.S. state’s gambling resort of Atlantic City, following a pointy drop in casino revenue during recent years.

Total casino revenue within the resort for the 365 DAYS to December 31, 2015, came in at $2.2 billion (€2 billion), down from $5.2 billion in 2006, partially because of the closure of 4 of its 12 casinos in 2014.

With some analysts predicting that revenue will fall again this year, the state has agreed to step in by approving a measure to increase bridge loans and grants to Atlantic City, which now has to develop a five-year plan or risk being put under state control.

The gambling resort have been given 150 days to offer its budget proposals to the state.

The deal remains subject to approval from both state chambers and can should be ratified by New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who has previously voiced his support for the state to take over the running of Atlantic City.

More at iGaming Business

Similar Stories from This Week in Gambling:

Read More... [Source: Gambling Headlines – This Week in Gambling]

With 201 people still alive on this planet Series of Poker $1,500 HORSE event, a survivor may well be forgiven for not knowing everyone on the table. There have been nearly 800 people within the field, and things get blurry when one is cycling through five games. Just one day of play has passed so far, and there's a good distance to move before the cash bubble breaks. Regardless, in the event you or someone you recognize are still alive within the HORSE event, do yourself a favor and make yourself familiar with Naoya Kihara.

Kihara is quiet and unassuming, a gentleman from Japan with a grin that goes on for days. He's going to also happily eviscerate you and keep smiling while stacking your chips. The member of Team PokerStars Pro Online may look the a part of a very simple target, but he's anything but.

It's been four years since Kihara announced himself on the WSOP with a half-million-dollar win within the six-handed PLO event. While that may be his "only" bracelet, Kihara has 15 cashes in his WSOP career and in world-wide rankings is Japan's second-biggest earner in history. Don't let that smile fool you. 

Naoya Kihara

After someday of play within the HORSE event, Kihara leads the rest field of 201 players with 85,900. He'll be coming back to 1,200-2,400 blinds when play re-starts later today. He'll even have another member of the red spade brigade within the field with him. 

Andre Akkari currently sits in 29th place with a comfortable 50,300, besides the fact that children he discovered yesterday that his eyes could be getting somewhat old for stud games. (Having recently experience this phenomenon myself, I'VE nothing but sympathy for the person from Sao Paulo. Sorry, Andre.)

Andre Akkari

The HORSE event will re-start at noon PST today and is scheduled to hit the cash before finishing the day. 

Meanwhile, we have to offer our sincere congratudolences to Team PokerStars Pro Barry Greenstein who finished in ninth place last night within the $1,500 2-7 Lowball event. While good for a $5,781 cash, it came with the edge of being within a couple of places of winning his fourth WSOP bracelet. 

Barry Greenstein

Today need to be a fun one on the Rio. The $1,500 crowd gets a six-handed NLHE event, while the $10,000 rollers get the super-fun $10,000 Dealer's Choice Championship. 

In the meantime, good luck to Kihara and Akkari as they work on getting that $1,500 HORSE bracelet. 

Brad Willis is the PokerStars Head of Blogging. Follow him on Twitter: @BradWillis. WSOP photos by PokerPhotoArchive.com

Read More... [Source: PokerStarsBlog.com :: World Series of Poker]

Quick Hit Volcano from Scientific Games erupts with riches and players reap all of the rewards! Featuring as much as 20 free games that may be retriggered, and a fantastic five-level progressive jackpot, Quick Hit Volcano is an explosively good time with chances to win. The sport is offered at the new TwinStar cabinet, which delivers games with maximum impact, keeping player engagement high. This for-sale cabinet gives casino operators more beloved content and the facility to conform it for his or her players. Scientific Games' innovators have also developed exclusive new game titles for TwinStar to exploit the processing power of this trailblazing new platform.

Read More... [Source: Hot Games]

HomeStrategyOmaha Poker

• Just in time for today's mixed Omaha event on the WSOP, @jbeauprez offers "Big O" strategy advice.

• Five hole cards as opposed to four changes so much in "Big O," a brand new pot-limit Omaha hi-low variant.

A brand-new event at the 2016 World Series of Poker schedule is Event #53: Mixed Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Low/Omaha Hi-Low/Big O, set to start this afternoon at 3 p.m.

That last a part of the event's name is just a little a surprise, actually. Despite being a well-liked cash game variant on the Rio All-Suites Hotel and Casino the previous few summers, "Big O" hasn't ever been featured in any bracelet event until now.

Big O is a version of pot-limit Omaha Hi-Low wherein players are dealt five cards rather than four. As in PLO8 (and other Omaha games), players use two hole cards and 3 board cards to make a five-card hand.

With this type of niche game, there's little or no material out there, so it's possible there is a big edge available on this tournament.

One man with considerable PLO knowledge is John Beauprez, founder and head instructor of PLOQuickPro.com, a coaching site dedicated entirely to PLO coaching. Beauprez has also had various success on the WSOP, having won a bracelet in 2013 in a $1,500 NLHE six-handed event for $324,764.

He agreed to share some thoughts with us regarding Big O strategy ahead of the WSOP running an event with it for the primary time.

PokerNews: Let us know about your history playing Big O.

John Beauprez: Up until a few years ago, I DID NOT have any. I play a house game back in Colorado, and so they all give me a troublesome time because I DID NOT even know what a low was 18 months ago. But, it is a good home game and the large O action is nice out here within the summers.

It's important for individuals to be told find out how to play. You would be surprised the way it may also help your other games, whether you are a PLO player or NLHE. It's only a different method to have a look at poker and view board textures and analyze opponents.

So most of your Big O experience is playing cash?

It's all cash.

For a player used to regular PLO or PLO8, what is the #1. adjustment to special O?

It's super-important if you are going to play a large pot to have a draw to all sides. One of the vital common mistakes I see people play is drawing huge to at least one side of the pot. If individuals are deep-stacked and feature just the nut-low draw, they'll play it way too fast. They have got a fair draw but it's to simply half the pot. You actually need to have a hand that attracts both ways.

How can a player exploit a mistake like that?

I think the most efficient players are specialized at picking up when other folks are weak to 1 side. They are able to use their nuttiness on one side of the pot to semi-bluff [out players at the other side].

How does having five cards versus four change the calculus of starting hands? Do you want three wheel cards to begin (rather than two)?

Yeah, ace-deuce remains to be a very powerful combination, but you really need ace-deuce with another wheel card in case you installed some huge cash preflop. The fifth card adds much more combinations. You'll run into another ace-deuce hand pretty frequently, so it's really important to have ace-deuce with another low card. It's a must to play ace-deuce definitely so much slower in Big O than you do in PLO8.

And to be clear, you continue to need ace-deuce or ace-three on your hand a few of the time, especially in early position?

I would say so.

How important is it going to be that a player who enters that is competent in Big O?

It's huge. It'll be most of the tournament, so it's an additional edge. The man who just won the PLO/NLHE combo tournament is a superb friend of mine, Loren Klein. [In that event, it was] an enormous advantage for him because he's great at both games.

No matter how good you might be at one game... those tournaments where games are combined it is going to be an enormous edge should you can no less than hold your individual in the entire games. You do not have to be Phil Ivey in all the games, but when you'll be able to hold your personal in all of them, it'll go some distance for you.

And you can expect the massive O sections of the tournament to be the juiciest since it is the new game at the block, right?

Definitely. Big O and PLO8 games are legendary for being soft, so it's invaluable so that you can hold your personal in those games.

Want to stick atop all of the latest within the poker world? If so, be sure you get PokerNews updates for your social media outlets. Follow us on Twitter and find us on both Facebook and Google+!

PokerNews.com is the world's leading poker website. Among other things, visitors will discover a daily dose of articles with the most recent poker news, live reporting from tournaments, exclusive videos, podcasts and such a lot more.

PokerStars is the most important online poker room offering the most important amount of poker games and different game variations including Texas Hold'em, Omaha and other popular poker games. By joining PokerStars you'll be able to easily learn all of the poker rules and poker strategy by playing free poker games. Join PokerStars and revel in prime quality online poker.

Read More... [Source: PokerNews]

I have known many of us who've traveled to Portugal, and never considered one of them has ever indicated that they would not return in a second. The coastal nation at the Iberian peninsula stands proud as one of the vital world's truly distinctive countries and claims a culture and lifestyle all its own. Now, it has a poker tour to match.

Today, PokerStars announced its newest live tour, the Portugal Poker Series. The primary season of the PPS will contain three events, beginning in Vilamoura April 14-17. Event #1 will mark PokerStars returned to the famed Casino Vilamoura that plays home to the ecu Poker Tour's stop in Portugal. The PPS main event is an inexpensive €700 + €70 no-limit hold'em tournament capped at 400 players.

After pulling up stakes in Vilamoura, the series will travel to Figueira de Foz June 10-13 and Espinho October 13-16. Both cities will host €700 + €70 main events.

Like the UKIPT and lots of other PokerStars tours before it, the Portugal Poker Series will bring the texture of big big buy-in tournaments to players searching for a more cost-effective buy-in.

Team PokerStars Portugal Pro Nuno Coelho said, "Finally, PokerStars brings to Portugal a poker tour with a very good game structure and engaging prize pool as a way to make many international players need to visit the country."

For more information, visit the Portugal Poker Series home page.

Read More... [Source: PokerStarsBlog.com :: Portugal Poker Series]

International Game Technology PLC (“IGT”) announced the launch of The Ellen DeGeneres Show Have a little bit Fun Today Slots at the company’s DoubleDown Casino social gaming app. This marks the primary time a current television talk show host has extended her brand into the growing social casino world. The Ellen DeGeneres Show Have somewhat Fun Today Slots was developed by IGT and Ellen Digital Ventures, a business initiative created by Ellen DeGeneres and the Warner Bros. Television Group.

The game launched Friday, May 13, with Ellen introducing it in her show to positive results. 

Inspired by IGT’s popular namesake land-based casino game, The Ellen DeGeneres Show Have slightly Fun Today Slots captures the fun, humorous spirit of “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” in a free-to-play social game for desktop and mobile play.

“It’s no surprise that Ellen is the primary talk show host to get on board with the growing social casino phenomenon,” said Joe Sigrist, DoubleDown interactive senior vp and general manager. “With The Ellen DeGeneres Show Have a bit of Fun Today Slots, DoubleDown Casino is giving millions of ‘Ellen’ fans a brand new technique to engage together with her anytime, anywhere. Between the funny voiceovers and original clips, the sport offers the following neatest thing to having Ellen dancing right by your side.”

The Ellen DeGeneres Show Have a little bit Fun Today Slots game is full of original voiceovers, clips from the television show and stunning graphics. The game’s five reels are filled with iconic Ellen-related imagery including VIP passes, boxer shorts and the numerous faces of Ellen DeGeneres. The 75-payline social game plays similar to the land-based casino version of the sport including the 3 Ellen-inspired bonus events: the “What’s within the Box” bonus, the “Ellen’s Wheel of Riches” bonus and the thrilling “Dunk Tank” bonus. Lucky players can spontaneously trigger the “Have somewhat Fun Today” bonus, where entire reels can become wild and players have a possibility for enormous virtual chip wins.

Read More... [Source: eGaming]

It's taken two days to get down from a bumper 201 entries to the overall nine players within the first Russian Poker Tour event in chilly St Petersburg. Top of the pile sits a PokerStars qualifier:

1. Dumitru Gaina, Moldova, 501,000. The young player is decided to grab his chip lead and switch his PokerStars satellite win right into a bumper, $300,000 pay day.

2. Sergei Popyuk, Russia, 302,000. Sergei, a former military pilot from Arkhangelsk, could also be seen as a decent player, but his image obviously worked as he shot down his opponents to achieve the overall table comfortable in chips.

3. Sergei Solntsev, Russia, 256,000. Sergei is playing in his home city and looking out to maintain the trophy on home soil.

4. Vadim Markushevsky, Belarus, 256,000. Vadim plays like a web-based poker warrior - fearlessly entering many pots, and almost always because the aggressor. What's impressed many, however, was his ability to read his opponents.

5. Anatoly Ozhenilok, Russia, 203,000. Another player from St Petersburg, Ozhenilok is definitely a cash game specialist. But he's proved here he has quite a tournament game as well, and is asking to get his year off to a flyer.

6. Bulat Bikmetov, Russia, 181,000. Strong and aggressive, but he recognises he has his work cut out here if he's going to boost the trophy.

7. Evgeny Zaytsev, Russia, 178,000.

8. Alexander Pantyuhin, Russia, 76,000. Alex, from Kaliningrad, won a satellite to this event, but was not likely to play the principle event until his friends persuaded him. Now he's in for a shout at a $300,000 title! But he has a mountain to climb as one of the most shorter stacks.

9. Oleg Suntsov, Russia, 64,000. Oleg, who regularly plays tournaments in his home city of St Petersburg, was chip leader after day one, and has made all of it the way in which though to the overall table, albeit because the short stack.

There's blow-by-blow coverage of the overall presently over at our Russian PokerStars blog. Warning! Strange, unreadable language! Instead, you can also like to stay up for the English version of the tournament result in this page.

Read More... [Source: PokerStarsBlog.com :: Russian Poker Tour]