Poker News 2013 Highlights

A quick recap on the biggest poker news stories and highlights of 2013 which includes:

• Regulated online poker in three USA states
• Best poker operator of the Year
• WSOP & WSOPE
• Player of the Year
• Poker Hall of Fame 2013.

Certainly an interesting year for poker with a brighter outlook for 2014 especially for online poker in the USA.

Donkey of the Year award goes to Sheldon Adelson for his hypocritical anti-gambling campaign, the award is passed on from Howard Lederer who held the position for two consecutive years.

Player of the Year was none other than PokerStars legend Daniel Negreanu.

Poker News 2013

The top poker news stories of the year with a brief summary of 2013 highlights of poker, click on the headline links to read the full story.

USA Poker Legal

Legal regulated online poker was welcomed in three USA states this year: Nevada, Delaware and New Jersey. Land based casinos teamed up with software operators to offer US players the best online experience.

It was not glitch free to begin with as there are a few banking options which prevented players from depositing.

Stats are increasing with New Jersey poker leading the way with PartyPoker and 888poker as the software providers.

USA Poker Sites: Party Poker NJ, WSOP New Jersey, WSOP Nevada, Ultimate Poker Nevada, All American Poker Network (NJ), Ultimate Poker New Jersey and Delaware Poker.

New Jersey Poker Sites

New Jersey poker got off to a good start with more than 100,000 registered poker player accounts according to a December 2013 report by the NJ Division of Gaming Enforcement.

• Caesars Interactive Entertainment teamed up with 888Poker to provide players with WSOP New Jersey.
• Borgata Casino teamed up with PartyPoker for two poker sites: PartyPoker NJ & Borgata Poker
• Trump Taj Mahal teamed up with Ultimate Poker to offer legal NJ poker games to residents.

New Jersey will be a good example and aid to getting online poker regulated in the rest of the United States.

PokerStars NJ License Application Denied

PokerStars have not been able to get any piece of the action in the New Jersey market after having their license application has been suspended by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement.

There seems to be an issue with PokerStars CEO, Isai Scheinberg having a pending federal indictment against him for violating the UIGEA of 2006.

The biggest poker site PokerStars maybe suspended for up to two years while the accused executives are still affiliated with the company.

eGR Operator Awards 2013

888 Poker have won the Best Poker Operator for three consecutive years at the EGR awards.

The 888poker have jumped up to 2nd place for poker traffic this December and are just below PokerStars.

EGR awards: 888 won overall Operator of the year 2013, Best Poker Operator 2013 as well as Best Casino Operator 2013.

2013 WSOP Main Event Results

Ryan Riess defeated Jay Farber on the final table of the 2013 WSOP Main Event which also featured original chipleader JC Chan.

World Series of Poker coverage was shown by ESPN2 and WSOP Live Streaming was sponsored by 888Poker worldwide and Slotmania in US.

2013 WSOP Main Event winner Ryan Riess took home a 1st place prize of $8,361,570 and his first WSOP bracelet.

2013 WSOPE Main Event Winner

19 year old Spanish player Adrian Mateos won the 2013 World Series of Poker Europe Main Event for a €1,000,000 first place prize.

Adrian Mateos is added to Team 888 Poker to represent Spanish players on 888poker.es

Mateos defeated french player Fabrice Soulier heads-up, the 2013 WSOPE took place at the Casino Barriere in Enghien-les-Bains, France (11-25 October 2013).

2013 Poker Hall of Fame

Two new members were indicted into the 2013 Poker Hall of Fame: Scotty Nguyen and Tom McEvoy.

Both players are worthy additions for their accomplishments in poker. Other nominations included: Mike Matusow, Huck Seed and Jennifer Harman.

Scotty Nguyen and Tom McEvoy were inducted just before the 2013 World Series of Poker Main Event final table.

The Poker Hall of Fame consists of 40 members, only 18 of those members are living legends.

Daniel Negreanu Wins 6th WSOP Bracelet

Daniel Negreanu wins 6th WSOP Bracelet and the Player of the Year title in the final event of the WSOP Europe series, 2013 WSOPE High Roller Event.

Making the final table of the High roller event put Negreanu in first place on the 2013 WSOP POY leaderboard.

Daniel Negreanu 2013 earnings include $3.2 million in tournament cashes.

Full Tilt Poker Claims – Petition for Remission

The process for Full Tilt Poker players to be reimbursed took place with more than $184 million to be refunded to US players.

The process began two and a half years after Black Friday when players funds were seized.

USA players were able to submit their Petition for Remission on the Full Tilt Poker Claims Administration website.

27,000 claims were submitted online, eligible players will be paid out before 31 March 2013.