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PartyPoker.com Monthly Million - January 2009

Brennan Starts off 2009 in Style - 6th January 2009

Party Gaming CEO Discusses Future of Online Poker, by Earl Burton - 6th January 2009

Media Man Inks Deal With PartyPoker.com - 11th December 2008

PartyPoker To Give Away Asian Poker - December 2008

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PartyGaming Expands in Italy, Introduces Online Poker Changes, by Earl Burton - 6th December 2009

It was recently announced that Party Gaming had entered into a three-year agreement with Fueps, one of the leading casual games operators in Italy. This agreement stated that Party Gaming would provide the online poker services for the company. The move makes Fueps, via 4A – The Poker Suite, a part of the Party Gaming conglomerate that now contains PartyPoker and INTRALOT. PartyPoker, per Italian gaming laws, provides its popular online poker outlet as well as an online casino service that block those outside of Italy from playing, while allowing those inside the European country to play legally.

With the addition of Fueps to the Party Gaming portfolio, CEO Jim Ryan seemed to be pleased with the recent acquisition: “Fueps is our fifth business-to-business deal this year. It is an excellent addition to our Italian poker network. This agreement is consistent with our aim to establish a strong presence in the Italian poker market and to be well-placed to take advantage of the further deregulation of online gaming that is already planned to take place in Italy over the next few months.”

In addition to welcoming new players from Italy to the Party Gaming fold, last week saw an update to its popular online poker platform. Probably the most thrilling change for PartyPoker players is the introduction of a table stacking console. This new feature, which is currently in Beta testing by players on the site, allows users to navigate through tables that are stacked on top of each other via a special console. PartyPoker will be garnering feedback from players as to whether to make it a permanent part of its software.

Much like the other top networks in the online poker world, PartyPoker has also introduced the synchronized break system. Tournaments will break for five minutes at 55 minutes past every hour. This will help players who play in multiple tournaments simultaneously by providing that valuable break every hour across all tournaments not only on PartyPoker, but also on other online poker networks.

PartyPoker has reworked its player statistics to make them more comprehensive and provide more information across a wider range of games. Statistics will now be offered in all game types, including High-Low variations, and will also be gathered across multiple client sessions. Finally, some tournaments now have a late registration period that can be as deep as six levels and there is a more visible “un-register time.”

PartyPoker has been keeping its product in prime shape since its departure from the American market in 2006. This departure has caused the once dominant fixture in online poker to slide down to fourth place in the industry behind PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, and the iPoker Network, according to PokerScout.com. (Credit: Poker News Daily)

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Paris Hilton Versus Mike Sexton on Party Poker, by Tom Jenkins - 15th May 2009
(Credit: Poker News Daily)

PartyPoker, the world’s second largest online poker site or network that does not accept U.S. players, may host a heads-up match between heiress Paris Hilton and World Poker Tour (WPT) Host Mike Sexton. The winner will take home a brand new Bentley.

In 2006, PartyPoker, which is owned and operated by the publicly traded firm Party Gaming, offered Hilton a chance to recoup a Bentley that she allegedly lost in a game of poker. The luxury car in question was a Continental GT, but Hilton failed to take the then-world’s largest online poker room up on its offer. Hilton quickly became the centerpiece of the poker world, albeit for a brief time period. A statement released by PartyPoker this week recalled, “We challenge her to take us up on the offer. Three years is a long time in show business and we’re sure she’d jump at it now - it is a simple offer for the former ‘Simple Life’ star. Following the original offer in 2006, the likes of Clonie Gowen also made public challenges to the heiress, but so far Paris has resisted.”

Apparently, it’s déjà vu all over again for the hotel heiress. She reportedly had her new Bentley vandalized; PartyPoker stated that egg throwing was to blame. Now, the online poker site has quickly jumped back into the spotlight, with the longtime WPT Host challenging the reality star to a heads-up game with a Bentley on the line. We’d like to think that Hilton’s reaction was, “That’s hot.” PartyPoker’s Warren Lush told Poker News Daily what format the heads-up match may take: “The Paris Hilton challenge nearly happened last time and with what happened to her recently, we thought it was right to reiterate our offer. If she decides to accept, the format will be a heads-up tournament, but we are open to discussion about a definitive structure.” The name of the game would be No Limit Texas Hold’em and no deadline has been given for Hilton to respond.

Hilton played in the 2009 WPT Celebrity Invitational at the Commerce Casino in Los Angeles. The tournament, which played out in February, raised money for The Vine Group. The beneficiary organization’s ambassador at the event was none other than actor Mekhi Phifer, who welcomed Hollywood’s elite including Vince Vaughn, Jason Alexander, Ben Affleck, Mena Suvari, Don Cheadle, Jon Favreau, Ricki Lake, Ray Romano, and Brad Garrett. The tournament was ultimately won by poker pro Freddy Deeb and raised $77,000 for The Vine Group.

Hilton may be best remembered for her leading role on “The Simple Life,” a reality series that also starred Nicole Richie, daughter of music legend Lionel Richie. The show aired on Fox and E! before vanishing from television airwaves two years ago. Season 1 of the show sent the duo to rural Arkansas, far away from their regular celebrity lifestyles. During Season 2, Hilton and Richie hit the road across the United States and found themselves as interns for Season 3. The fourth season of “The Simple Life” featured the subtitle “Til Death Do Us Part.” The fifth and final season sent the pair to summer camp.

Sexton, the voice of the WPT alongside Vince Van Patten, re-signed with PartyPoker as its ambassador at the end of April. A World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner, Sexton also took down the first $10,000 buy-in poker tournament ever held at Foxwoods (which occurred in 1992) and was the first American to win the Euro Finals of Poker. Sexton will represent the popular online poker site at live tournaments around the world and serve as the host of PartyPoker’s suite at the Rio for the 2009 WSOP, which starts in two weeks. He’ll also be regularly contributing to PartyPoker’s blog. Sexton is a monthly Guest Columnist right here on Poker News Daily. His most recent entry reviews the Season VII WPT Championship.

PartyGaming to Launch Online Poker Service in Italy

Joint venture with Intralot announced

April 8, 2009 (CAP Newswire) -- Apparently unrelated to yesterday’s story that PartyGaming has agreed to settle with the U.S. Department of Justice comes the news that the company also has plans to expand into the currently red-hot Italian market in the very near future.

The expansion will be in partnership with Intralot, a Greek lottery systems provider. The two companies are hinting that, if the Italian venture proves successful, they will attempt to enter into more overseas deals in the coming months, as well.

“Intralot is the first member of PartyGaming's poker network in Italy and will promote the new service through its retail network, which includes 600 betting outlets,” reported Reuters news service this week.

"This is our third business-to-business deal in 2009 and we are confident of continuing to build our portfolio over the coming months," PartyGaming Chief Executive Jim Ryan commented in the Reuters article.

Million Dollar Poker Hand

New promo from Party Poker is a big investment for the company

March 11, 2009 (InfoPowa News) -- Gibraltar-based Party Poker.com launches its audacious Million Dollar Hand promotion today, which will run through to 22nd March. The promotion offers the chance to win a cool $1 million or more through action at the website's real money tables.

Players will get a playing card for every 15 PartyPoints they earn during this period and will receive a prize when they’ve built a five-card hand. There’s a guaranteed cash prize if the hand features a pair or better ... and a Royal Flush will pay $1 million!

There's no limit on the number of royal flushes that can be hit and the promotion starts with players getting their first card for free. This card will be available in a player’s PartyAccount on the 11th March. Points are not removed from player accounts following the promotion -- they all count towards Palladium Lounge targets.

A PartyPoker.com spokesman said: “This is an all encompassing promotion that pays $5 for a pair - right up to $1 million for a royal flush. We have had to insure ourselves against the possibility of multiple royal flushes. All a player has to do is collect points and cards throughout the period.”

Other prizes available include $5,000 for a straight flush, $1,000 for four-of-a-kind and $250 for a full house.

Cash prizes will be paid to players within an hour after they reveal their hand. Full terms and conditions can be found at PartyPoker.com.

Europe's First Major Poker Tournament Of 2009 – The PartyPoker Irish Poker Championship

The first major European tournament of 2009 will take place from January 2-5. The €2,000 buy-in PartyPoker Irish Poker Championship will be hosted at the Radisson SAS Hotel in Galway, Ireland. Coverage of the main event will be televised and distributed internationally.

A wealth of big Irish poker names have already signed up for the event including Noel Furlong, Donnacha O'Dea, Marty Smyth, Padraig Parkinson, Ciaran O'Leary, Premier League II winner Andy Black, Liam Flood and last year's champion Jude Ainsworth. From overseas expect to see Mike Sexton, Kenna James, Dave "Devilfish" Ulliott, Surinder Sunar and 2008 Irish Open Champion Neil Channing.

Ian Langstaff of Winmedia Ireland Ltd, an industry leader in poker tournament coverage, said: "We are delighted to be producing and transmitting coverage of the PartyPoker.com Irish Poker Championship on RTÉ again this year. The fact that RTÉ are transmitting eight episodes of coverage rather than the six they did last year shows the popularity of the IPC."

Media Man Australia Inks Deal With PartyPoker.com - 11th December 2008

Adding to its already strong line up of poker brands such as PKR.com, Virgin Poker and Pacific Poker, Media Man Australia has come to terms with PartyGaming's PartyPoker.com.

PartyGaming and PartyPoker.com were not featured at Australia's CAP Down Under, of which Media Man Australia chaired day one; however PartyPartners.com & Affclub.com will be the platinum sponsor of CAP Euro, London 2008.

Media Man Australia and Casino News Media director, Greg Tingle said, "We are absolutely delighted to be now doing business with yet another of the world's leading gaming brands. PartyGaming and PartyPoker.com are right at the top of the online gaming and casino world and we are excited to be doing business with them, already reaping the benefits of the association".

Press Release

December 2008

PartyPoker To Give Away Asian Poker

Throughout the month of December, PartyPoker are helping their players to kick off 2009 in a big way by offering them the chance to qualify for three major live events.

Qualifiers are online now for the Philippines leg of the successful Asian Poker Tour; the PartyPoker Irish Poker Championships and the PartyPoker World Poker Showdown, to be hosted in the Dominican Republic.

The PartyPoker.com Irish Poker Championship is the first major tournament in Europe in 2009 and is held at the Radisson SAS Hotel overlooking the glorious Galway Bay from the 2nd - 4th January 2009. Expect to see pros such as Mike Sexton or Neil Channing if you win the $5,000 package including $2,800 buy-in.

The Asian Poker Tour is only in it's second run but going very strong – attending players last year had no qualms with giving it five-star reviews. The recent Macau leg was attended by WSOPE champion John Juanda as well as 10-time bracelet-winners Doyle Brunson and Johnny Chan. This package is worth $6,000 including a $2,700 buy-in.

The PartyPoker.com World Poker Showdown takes place on the 23rd January 2009 at a luxury resort in the Dominican Republic. The $6,500 package includes the $2,650 buy-in to the main event, $1,500 spending money and seven days' accommodation at the all-inclusive Sun Village Resort.

PARTYPOKER.COM REVAMPS REWARD SCHEME AND INTRODUCES PALLADIUM LOUNGE

RESIZABLE PLO TABLES NOW AVAILABLE AND HEADS-UP CASH GAMES NEXT WEEK

10th December 2008 -- http://www.PartyPoker.com believes the very best poker players deserve the very best treatment. That’s why they’ve just introduced a simple, straightforward and generous reward program and launched Palladium Lounge http://www.palladiumlounge.com for top players. In addition, the latest product upgrade has introduced resizable Pot Limit Omaha tables and selected stakes heads-up no-limit cash game tables will be available from next week.

The new reward program is simple - earn points and that’s it. No more weekly goals, no more vesting of points - the number of points you earn is the number of points you have. You can redeem these points in the online shop for an array of prizes including cash, satellite entries and land-based tournament packages. The new program allows you to redeem your points for cash at much lower levels than before and PartyPoker.com has also introduced the ability to buy bonuses with points. PartyPoker.com has made sure that every player gets the same, if not better, value from the new plan. See https://secure.partyaccount.com/pc/rewardsplan.do for more details.

Key elements to new reward program:

You'll earn PartyPoints for all your real money play
PartyPoints are the only type of point under the new scheme
Your points will be issued and credited to your account right away
Your balance will be updated whenever you leave a game
You'll be able spend your PartyPoints in our PartyPoints Store, where we've reduced our prices to give you better value than ever
There are no restrictions, penalties, multipliers, or loyalty levels

PartyPoker.com has also introduced Palladium Lounge http://www.palladiumlounge.com for top players. Collect more than 5,000 reward points in a month, and you’ll immediately become a member of this exclusive club, where you’ll enjoy exceptional service with the personal touch.

Kristen Makin, Head of VIP at PartyPoker.com, said: “The Palladium Lounge is easy to understand and makes PartyPoker.com the most rewarding and exciting online poker room around. We’ve spent months listening to customers and are now giving them the great program that they want.”

The Palladium Lounge features:

More than 30% in rewards and bonuses for your play, guaranteed – that’s PartyPoker.com’s biggest-ever offer
Rewards that best suit you, such as special leader boards, rake races, and non-deposit reloads
Exclusive events
VIP service around the clock

There’s also an even more exclusive level of membership: The Palladium Lounge Elite is for members who earn over 300,000 points within a year and maintain a minimum of 75,000 points per quarter. As well as enjoying all our excellent regular benefits, Elite members will receive:

· Additional rewards offered only to our most valued players

· Exclusive events every quarter

· Opportunities to play in live televised events

If you demand this kind of service, join the most rewarding VIP club around. You won’t be disappointed by what it has to offer. Find out more about Palladium Lounge at www.palladiumlounge.com

Background

PartyGaming Plc is an online gambling company, best known for its online poker room PartyPoker.com. It is headquartered in Gibraltar and quoted on the London Stock Exchange. PartyGaming Plc was founded in 1997 with the launch of Starluck Casino. Prior to passage of anti-online gambling legislation by the U.S. Congress, PartyGaming Plc was the world's largest online poker brand (based on ring game revenue and number of players); though its total number of active players has diminished with the loss of its U.S. customers, the company continues to grow with a solid European presence.

History

PartyGaming was founded in 1997 as a network of gambling sites operated by Ruth Parasol in the Caribbean. The network eventually operated under an umbrella company called iGlobalMedia, which then changed its name to PartyGaming. PartyGaming's flagship site, PartyPoker.com, was launched in 2001. Its primary shareholders are Parasol, Group Operations Director Anurag Dikshit, Marketing Director Vikrant Bhargava (who joined the company in 1998 and 1999, respectively), and Russ DeLeon (Parasol's husband, Harvard attorney and serial entrepreneur). The foursome sold over 23% of their combined shares to take the company public on the London Stock Exchange in 2005. Dikshit and Bhargava stepped down from the company's board in May 2006. Dikshit announced that he will remain with the company as COO; Bhargava will continue as an advisor and shareholder of the company while pursuing other business interests.

PartyGaming's holdings include the PartyPoker.com poker site, PartyCasino.com, PartyBingo.com, and Starluck and Planet Luck Casinos. In February 2006 PartyGaming introduced a new integrated platform, enabling multiple games to be played without requiring customers to log in each time and deposit funds in separate accounts. An online backgammon site, PartyGammon.com, was launched in mid-2006. In August 2006 PartyGaming acquired Antigua and Barbuda registered sports betting operator Gamebookers which focuses on the European market.

Due to concerns about the legality of online gambling in various jurisdictions around the world, the company is incorporated in Gibraltar. At one point, U.S. consumers represented around 75% of PartyGaming's revenues. In October 2006, PartyGaming pulled out of the US market following the passing of anti-gambling measures in the Safe Port Act, and the company's share price dropped 60% as a result.

In 2007 the Company bought Empire Online's Gaming business and all off Intercontinental Online Gaming.

PartyPoker.com

PartyPoker.com was launched in 2001 and has since grown to be one of the largest online poker card rooms. At peak times, tens of thousands of players can be found playing on the site's virtual poker tables. The site is endorsed by Mike Sexton, the host of the World Poker Tour television show. The domain partypoker.com attracted at least 3.6 million visitors annually by 2008 according to a Compete.com study.

Games include Texas Hold 'em (No Limit and Fixed Limit), Omaha and Omaha Hi-Lo, Seven-card Stud and Seven-card Stud Hi-Lo. Stakes range from 0.05/0.10 to 100/200 for limit games, and 0.02/0.04 to 25/50 for No-Limit/Pot-Limit games.
Players can play for either real money or play money. All poker variants offered at real money tables are offered at play money tables. Party Poker offers a bad beat jackpot, which has at times grown to over $700,000 USD.

Party Poker makes money by taking a percentage of each ring game pot (this is known as the rake) and approximately 10% of entry fees for each real-money tournament. The site has dealt over six billion real money hands and over fifty-five billion play money hands, including tournaments.

Party Poker is the official kit sponsor of Leyton Orient football club, of the English Football League One.

Party Poker offers hand history files for analysis, discussion and conversion using a poker hand converter.

Tournaments
The site offers a variety of tournaments, ranging from two to thousands of participants with some very lucrative prize pools.

Single-table and multi-table tournaments are offered. Furthermore, there are both scheduled tournaments (which begin at a specified date and time) and tournaments which are offered 24 hours a day and begin as soon as the table is full. The latter type of tournament is commonly called a "Sit 'n Go" or "SNG" tournament.

The flagship tournament is the PartyPoker.com Million Tournament, a Limit Texas Hold'em Tournament. The second, third and fourth Party Poker Million tournaments were World Poker Tour events. The tournament begins with online qualifiers but the final stages are held at actual poker tables aboard a cruise ship. The winners of previous Party Poker Million events were Kathy Liebert, Howard Lederer, Erick Lindgren, Michael Gracz, and Mike Schneider.

Additionally, there are play money tournaments, but the offerings are not nearly as extensive as the real money tournaments and mostly consist of single table events.
Every player is limited to playing up to twelve tables simultaneously.

Hellkat

Hellkat is a form of Texas Hold 'Em poker developed by PartyPoker.com. The games are played in the same way as a normal Texas Hold 'Em tournament, except that there is a time limit of 5 to 15 minutes when the tournament will end. At the end the prize money is paid to the three players with the most chips. Because of the time limit, the players with the lower stacks play fast and furiously going all-in often as the time runs out.

Split with "skin" partners

In its early days, PartyGaming entered into several marketing partnerships that allowed companies such as Empire Online, who ran Empire Poker, to share in a common pool of poker players. Players could access the PartyGaming network either through the PartyPoker.com software itself or through the software of one of PartyGaming's "skin" partners.

In mid-2005, PartyGaming made various moves to ringfence its own players from those of the "skin" partners. The company began to explore mergers, buyouts, and other options. In October of that year, PartyGaming launched an upgraded PartyPoker.com software system that cut off the "skin" partners from the main pool of players, and left the "skin" players on the old system.

In November 2005, offer discussions with Empire Online were terminated, and on 6 December 2005, Empire Online confirmed that it had started legal proceedings against PartyGaming in the High Court of Gibraltar. On 14 February 2006, the two companies announced a US$250 million settlement deal; PartyGaming agreed to acquire Empire's "skin" operations, and Empire dropped the suit. In December 2006, PartyGaming announced the acquisition of the remaining assets of Empire Online.

PartyGaming also acquired the operations of former "skin" partners IntertopsPoker and MultiPoker, in separate private transactions for undisclosed amounts.

PartyPoker.net

PartyGaming operates PartyPoker.net, a free site that, when PartyGaming offered real money gaming in the United States, was advertised on United States television as "the world's largest poker school" due to restrictions of directly advertising gambling sites. Prizes are offered for winning tournaments on the site. Although no money is exchanged, an age limit of 18 (or 21 in some states) is still enforced. Players on the .net site play the same games as players playing the free games from within the PartyPoker.com software client.

]iGlobalMedia software

In the 1990s, Las Vegas consultant and actuary Michael Shackleford ran a computer trial of the first blackjack and roulette games offered by iGlobalMedia. Shackleford stated that the "results clearly showed they (the games) weren't fair. Ruth Parasol's spokesman Jon Mendelsohn acknowledged that the chances had "tipped too much toward the house", but attributed the problems to "software flaws", not rigging. It led to the development of their own proprietary software rather than using external platforms. There was no reimbursement to the players iGlobalMedia allowed to play the unfair games.

PartyPoker.com preview

Main Lobby

When you first log in to your PartyPoker.com software, you’ll arrive in the main Lobby. This is where you can select a real money or play money game and join a tournament. If you like, you can watch the action while others play.

In the center of the window, you'll see a list of all our tables and tournaments. Simply use your mouse to scroll through the list.

The ‘Browse’ and ‘List’ lobby views give you two great ways to find the table or tournament that’s right for you. Here’s what they do:

The ‘List’ view uses a traditional ‘tree’ navigation structure which is simple, easy to use, and instantly recognizable to anyone who’s searched for a file on their PC
The ‘Browse’ view gives you access to a range of filtering options which you can use to refine the list of tables you’re browsing; you can even use multiple filters to make your search as precise as possible
You can toggle between the two Lobby views using the icons at the top-right of the main tab navigation area.

You can also choose to apply a 'filter' to your view of the tables or tournaments.

For more details about all the great features our Lobby has to offer, take our guided Game Lobby QuickTour.

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