An effort to legitimize the game of poker as one based on skill, has been undertaken by Charles Nesson, Harvard Law School.

The lawyer has formed the Global Poker Strategic Thinking Society “to lobby the government to ease the rules shackling playing the game of poker”.

Nesson considers poker to be an excellent educational instrument and claims that it is great “to learn and practice the skills of seeing what things look like from another person’s point of view”.

Charles Nesson thinks that poker is the game where you learn to be smart and win using your brain. He claims that poker can be used for teaching children. So, he is planning on running seminars of the art of poker for children.

Its aim is to help homeless. Now, it is on target to reach the €100,000 mark next Saturday, Nov. 3.

A seat to the €2,000 Irish Poker Championship that will take place in Galway in the west of Ireland form Jan. 3 to 6, 2008 has just been donated by PartyPoker. Reigning World Snooker Champion John Higgins and Littlewoods-sponsored former Premiership and international footballer Tony Cascarino join already-confirmed former snooker world champions Steve Davis and Dublin native Ken Doherty to play in the event.

PokerStars, Paddy Power Poker, 888, Ladbrokes, Green Joker Poker, Merrion Casino Club, and Card Player Magazine have been very quick making their decision in favor of the annual event. All of them pitch in with satellites into the event, donations or organizational help.

Of the €300 (+€30) buy-in, €100 goes directly to Simon Dublin with the remaining €200 going into the prize pool.

Last year the event proved to be very popular. Over 200 players participated in it. And such players as Donnacha O’Dea, Jesse May, Scott Gray, Julian Gardner, ‘Mad’ Marty Wilson, Dave Colclough, Kevin O’Connell, Nick Leeson, Matthew Stevens, and Stephen Hendry took part in it. They managed to raise just under €50,000 for homeless charity Simon Dublin. Then, Noel Furlong turned out to be a winner.

Crandell Addington is reported to have participated in a forum, “Poker: A Game of Truth in Life and Law,” by Harvard Law Professor Charles Nesson. Nesson, an advocate of poker as a means of teaching valuable entrepreneurship and life skills such as strategic thinking, geopolitical analysis, risk assessment and money management. Professor has recently founded the Global Poker Strategic Thinking Society.

Addington founded an oil and gas exploration company and ran it for more than 30 years and is currently chairman of Gold Reef International, Inc., a Canadian public company, which he co-founded, focused on precious metals exploration. He is also CEO and chairman of Phoenix Biotechnology, Inc., another company he co-founded, which is developing a novel and promising cancer drug. As for poker, he has been a finalist of the WSOP’s main event seven times. He is a member of the Poker Hall of Fame.

In Addington’s opinion, he is a successful businessman thanks to his experience as a high-stakes poker player. He is sure that rapid strategic shifts and tactical implementations are common for both business and poker. He thinks that “successful players in poker and business must identify their preferred outcome and use their skills to affect that outcome. That’s why poker is a game of skill, not chance as many people mistakenly believe”.

“Crandell Addington had a simple message for Harvard University law students, faculty and others: Poker is a microcosm of life, and good players make their own luck in both arenas”.

The Party Poker Late Night Poker is back and is to be filmed in Cardiff from October 23rd. The tournament will be broadcast on Channel 4 in the UK and Ireland in 2008. Later on it will be internationally distributed. The event is promised to be very popular with the public.

49 players will take part in seven heats that are followed by semi-finals and the final. The buy-in is $5,000. Party poker adds $90,000 to the prize pool.

The winner will take home as much as $125,000.

Andy Black, Roland De Wolfe, Annette Obrestad, and Pascal Perrault all at 20/1 are early favorites.

The launch of a new game has been recently announced by the WSOP. Battle for the Bracelets is being launched on the PlayStation 3 right in time for the Christmas rush. The game is promised to be very popular with players this year.

Not only poker pros will be able to take part in it. Poker fans will also have a chance to pit their wits against other poker fans as well as top names in the game.

Lots of blogs that have been helping US-based players carry on gambling answer “no”, as millions of Americans are continuing to gamble online. All the major sites are still accepting US players. No one has changed the policy. “It is still legal for US citizens to gamble online, as long as they can fund their account”.

USCasino.blogspot.com and UnitedStatesOfPoker.blogspot.com are known to be instructing American players on how to play online “in the form of help with understanding the law and providing lists on all poker and casino sites still accepting US players”. The two blogs state that it is still possible to have an account up, though it is not so easy.

However, it must be noted, lots of Americans are not sure “whether or not they are liable to be prosecuted”.

282 of the best players in the world such as Ram Vaswani, Barry Greenstein, 2005 EPT Baden Champion Patrik Antonius, Marcel Luske, Internet mavan Hevad “RainKhan” Khan and WSOP Europe Main Event Champion and rising star Annette Obrestad took part in the Poker Stars European Poker Tour – Baden Euro 8000 Main Event last week. The prize pool was 2,143,200 Euro, while the main winner’s prize was 670,800 Euro.

Anton Alleman was the 8th to finish, and he picked up 60,000 Euro. He was followed by Ted Lawson with Euro 83,600 in prize money. Manfred Hammer was the 6th place winner for Euro 105,000. Thierry van den Berg was busted out in the 5th position with a payday of Euro 132,900. Thomas Fuller was the 5th to leave the table with the paycheck worth Euro 160,820. Vladimir Poleshchuk was the third to finish with a Euro 225,000 payout. Denes Kalo became a runner-up and his payout amounted to Euro 375,000.

Julian Thew picked up the first-place trophy, an entry into the EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo, and Euro 670 800.

The 39th annual World Series of Poker Presented by Milwaukee’s Best Light will take place at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas from May 30 through July 17, 2008.

In fact, the WSOP tournament room will be open the week of May 26th for two special events. Thus, players will be able to register early and avoid the lines.

The WSOP brand is owned by Harrah’s License Company, LLC an affiliate of Harrah’s Entertainment, the world’s largest provider of branded casino entertainment through its operating subsidiaries. The company owns and manages casinos on four continents.

Microgaming is reported to have launched its new online poker lobby at the European Interactive Gaming Congress and Expo (EIG) in Barcelona. The goal of the lobby is to get players to the right tables faster and easier.

Both experienced and new poker players will be attracted by a set of flexible options. The Quick Lobby is said to provide a speedy solution for single table tournaments. As for the Advanced Lobby, experienced players there will be able to see all games in the same view and spend more time at the table. Rabbit Cam and Keep Folded Cards Visible have been created to help intermediate players understand the odds better. Fold and Show allows players to show the great lay-downs.

The new lobby is believed to provide extra value and enhanced playing experience.

The Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT) has got a winner – Ziv Bacher, a 25-year-old Israeli. The young man scooped $139,872 and a glass trophy having staked all of his 130,000 chips at the Head’s Up stage. It’s his biggest poker prize so far. To say more, from the very beginning of the tournament Ziv looked a likely champion. Australian Jozef Berec, another young player, claimed second place. Sid Kim became third and pocketed $48,081.

More talented players from the Asia Pacific region are expected to participate in the tournament’s Grand Finale in Sydney in December. Asian players are considered to be very good and skillful.