Poker Community Responds to Manipulative Newsweek Cover Article

Indignation and anger are sweeping the poker community after Newsweek came out with a highly manipulative and one-sided cover article about online poker entitled "How Washington Opened the Flood Gates to Online Poker, Dealing Parents a Bad Hand". Here are some of the best responses from around the web:

PokerNews @Donald Peters :

An Open Letter To Newsweek: There Are Questions To Be Answered

Who Is Really Behind This?
The first question we would have for the author, the editors, and Newsweek would be: Is Sheldon Adelson affiliated with Newsweek in anyway? Is he an investor, supporter, or contributor in any manner, and how much does he support those involved with contributions to the article?

All In Mag Editor-in-chief Eric Raskin:

How Newsweek failed readers by running a slanted opinion article in the guise of a reported feature

Congratulations, Newsweek. Good to see that the art of propaganda is alive and well in 21st-century America.

Online Poker Report, @Chris Grove:

11 Serious Problems With Newsweek’s Weird Tirade Against Regulated Online Gambling

Did Sheldon Adelson buy Newsweek and no one said anything?
I’m scratching my head for alternative explanations for how a mainstream news source could get so much wrong on the subject of regulated online gambling.
In the order that they appear, here are 11 misrepresentations, inaccuracies and things that border on outright falsehoods [read on]

Parry Aftab, Founder and Director, WiredSafety

Letter to the Editors: 

I cannot in a simple letter address all of the issues completely, but recommend that your readers visit wiredsafety.org and read the white paper in its entirety. Prohibition didn’t work to stop alcohol consumption, and new laws or reinstituted old ones will not address legitimate concerns with online gambling today.

Haley Hintze, Flushdraw:

Bad Journalism: The Newsweek Online Gambling Propaganda

The Newsweek online gambling piece is notable for being an exceptionally stylistic example of agenda-driven propaganda that masquerades as legitimate news reporting.

Steve Ruddock, Bluff Magazine

Newsweek Paints Online Gambling as Threat to American Family

The picture and the headline are intended to convey the message that online gambling is the next great threat to the American family, and if that’s what you’re hoping to hear the article doesn’t disappoint.

The Poker Hand that Started an Era

Hard to believe that the glorious Moneymaker era started with such an unassuming little #PokerHand:

Watch the 39-dollar WSOP qualifier @Chris Moneymaker and his  5♦ 4♠.as he takes down the Main Event in 2003 in heads-up with @Sammy Farha:

2003 34th Annual World Series of Poker

PokerNews: Where Are They Now?: The 2003 WSOP Main Event Final Table

EPTLive Show Comes Back on August 19 from Barcelona

Watching poker live streams is a lonely business without them and they have been missed greatly by all true poker fans. The wait is almost over - our favorite commentators James Hartigan and Joe Stapleton will be back in just four days with our 'favorite web-based poker show' - #EPTLive from Barcelona! As usual, along with James & Joe, we will be enjoying the company of Marc Convey, Matt Broughton, and many surprise guests in the booth.

Coverage:

EPTLive starts August 19 with the €50k Super High Roller, followed by the Estrellas Poker Tour final table on August 21. After August 22, the focus will be on EPT Main Event from Day 1B  until the final table on August 27. More details: http://www.pokerstars.tv/live

#ChallengeStapes :

As usual, viewers will be able to vote for their challenge of choice intended to inflict maximum public embarrassment upon Stapleton to the vocal delight of his fellow host James Hartigan  :)

In Season 10 Joe's magic touch may have helped create history as his chief 'victim' was none other than @Victoria Coren Mitchell.

After the massage she became the first two-time EPT Main Event champion ever! So we'd  better keep a close watch on the challenges in Season 11 :)

EPTLive League

A brand new promotion that will give tickets for online real money tournaments to successful players in the daily EPTLive freerolls.

#EPT100  quiz

Viewers will have the chance to win a pair of Scullcandy headphones.

Everyone Loves the Chop Pot Commentated by J&J

Finally, let's hope for loads of chop pots in EPT Season 10 for the pleasure of hearing the duo's signature jingle :) 

The EPT has teamed up with Estrellas Poker Tour for the third time this year. Find the schedule here.

EPT Main Event starts on August 21.

Around the Poker World in a Week

From Grosvenor to Macau, through Cyprus and Pennsylvania, here are some of the hottest poker events of the current week and some newly crowned champions:

Coming up: #GUKPTGoliath and #ParxBigStax 

Tension is building up in Grosvenor as the GUKPT Goliath Main Event approaches Day 2 on Saturday and has already exceeded the .£250,000 Guaranteed prize pool.

Another 250k Guaranteed Main Event is close to its culmination - Parx Big Stax VII at @Parx Casino, Pennsylvania where the organizers are hoping for another record field after the 925 entries in the Parx Big Stax 500 won by @Craig Bateman (runner-up @Jose Montes )

In Macau, China celebrated its Red Dragon  -.@Zhenru Xie was crowned Macau Poker Cup 21 Red Dragon Main Event champion at @City of Dreams, Macau after topping a field of 808 players!

Completed events in Europe:

The Live Events International Cyprus Main Event was taken down by @Ahmet Ucali from Turkey with his fellow countryman @Mustafa Biz finsihing as runner-up.

The German Championship of Poker Main Event at @Kings Casino, Rozvadov, ended with the victory of @Marek Fritz who bested a field of 204 players for $56,244 and the champion title.

Congratulations to all winners and good luck to all the hopefuls in the coming events!

Scott Seiver and One of the Most Memorable Hands in WSOP 2014

The intimidating $1,000,000 buy-in and unparalleled publicity associated with the Big One for #OneDrop put enormous pressure on the players and made risky play all the more dangerous.

Watch #MTGpoker hero @Scott Seiver  and what some have called 'the best WSOP hand ever' and 'one of the wildest moments in poker TV history':

@Tony Dunst: "Until I watched the Seiver and Tobias hand, I'd never seen someone disgusted with their opponent for letting them win the pot."

@Phil Ivey:"Never seen such a disgusted reaction to winning a pot as @scott_seiver bluff"

Seiver was later eliminated in 6th place by @Daniel Negreanu, and just four hands later @Tobias Reinkemeier finished 5th. He, too, was eliminated by Negreanu.

 #PokerHand 

Did Dan Bilzerian Just Start a War Against the Turkish People?..

We can only hope @Dan Bilzerian did not just set ablaze a major ethnic conflict... Here are the two tweets with which the playboy master of social media provocation incensed the entire Turkish twitter population:

The ensuing flood of outraged replies is too crude even for the not-easily-shocked poker players... Here is a small selection to give you an idea:

Celebrating SharkWeek: More Poker Shark Heroes

Our next #PokerShark nomination is Colombian player @Fredy Torres who famously jumped into a shark tank to win a $1,000 prop bet!

Watch the jump and check out Fredy's blog on "Why it pays to learn all the poker games" :)

Looking forward to your #sharkweek posts and suggestions for the Top 5 Poker Sharks ranking!

Celebrating Shark Week on RankingHero - Nominations Open

Every summer since 1988 Discovery Channel has dedicated a week to special shark programming and it's that time of the year again! Let's celebrate #sharkweek with our own #PokerShark ranking. The first nominee will be very hard to beat - WSOP 2014 hero @Humberto Brenes with his signature shark card protector and amazing 10 cashes in this summer series!

. 

Incidentally, Humberto goes by the nickname THE SHARK and has just made the poker headlines with the news that his Pokerstars Team Pro sponsorship contract will not be renewed with Amaya Gaming! (Remains to be seen if Amaya Gaming will be letting go of other PokerStars sponsored 'sharks' in the future...)

We will be looking forward to your Poker Shark Ranking suggestions and meanwhile, you might try the Shark Week Drinking Week idea - http://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/shark-week-drinking-game :)

Have a nice Shark Week, and enjoy some related poker reading:

Top 5 Skills That Separate Poker Sharks from Poker Fish

European Poker Community Rallies Behind Bruno Fitoussi to Poker Hall of Fame

@Bruno Fitoussi 'The King' is a living legend in France where he is honored as one of the 'founding fathers of poker' in the country and has been a role model and inspiration for players of all generations. But he is also among the first - and rare - Europeans to build a reputation for himself and gain the respect and admiration of American players, as well. 

In a recent interview, Daniel Negreanu urged for 'de-Americanization' of this institution of poker and named @Bruno Fitoussi as the worthy European HOF candidate: 

Question: If you could change just one thing about the Poker Hall of Fame, what would it be?

Negreanu: Well, it’s way too American-centric. The Hall of Fame should reflect the growth of the game and the influence of other players, like overseas. So many people have done so much.

Question: So give us a name or two of people from overseas who you think deserve to be in the Poker Hall of Fame?

Negreanu: Easy. Bruno Fitoussi is the first. He’s done so much in France and all over Europe for poker. Everyone loves Bruno and respects him. He was one of the first people to bring Americans over to Paris to see the poker scene there.

If you, too, think it's time to induct a European in the Poker Hall of Fame, you have until the end of this week to vote and nominate Bruno Fitoussi. 

After the 15th of August, "all submissions will be tabulated and the top 10 nominations will be reviewed by the Poker Hall of Fame Governing Council. The existing Poker Hall of Fame members and a blue ribbon media panel will then cast votes of the final list of nominees to determine the class of 2014".

You can now participate in the RankingHero #M4TheKing mission and give your own three reasons for nominating Fitoussi for #PokerHOF (switch your language settings to 'Francais' if you want to see the submissions by our French-speaking members :)

Meanwhile, watch Bruno move up to a runner-up finish (repeatedly enraging and eliminating Phil Hellmuth in the process :) at the WSOP 2007 H.O.R.S.E. Championship - arguably the toughest and most prestigious tournament in the world:

 WSOP 2007 H.O.R.S.E, Episodes 1-6

Public Nominations for Poker Hall of Fame Open Till August 15

VOTE for Bruno here

GL to Cyprus Poker Open Main Event Players!

Day 2 of the $200,000 Guaranteed Cyprus Poker Open Main Event is under way at @Noah's Ark Deluxe Hotel and Spa! 

Follow our updates and good luck to all surviving players! Ukraine's first ever EPT champion, @Alexey Khoroshenin is currently second in chips. Here are the chip leaders, as reported by PokerNews:

Ukraine With First Ever EPT Champion

Cyprus Poker Open