Full Tilt Poker and PKR have granted the license to operate in France. The nations approved 9 gaming licenses to:

- CanalWin (canalwin.fr, canal-win.fr)
- sports betting Jeux 365 (paris365.fr, jeux365.fr, poker365.fr, football365.fr)
- sports betting Geny Infos (genbet.fr)
- pari-mutuel horse betting Zeturf France (zeturf.fr)
- pari-mutuel horse betting FullFun (pokerxtrem.fr)
- poker LB Poker (barrierepoker.fr)
- poker AD Astra (pokersubito.fr)
- poker PKR France SAS (pkr.fr)
- poker Rekop (fulltiltpoker.fr)

Diligent online poker players and twoplustwo.com posters have uncovered a troubling event at PokerStars, the world’s largest online
poker site. A contributor to the popular online poker forum posted his suspicions of possible bot usage due to very peculiar playing tendencies by a number of screennames. The names is question are as follows:

7emenov

Bakabar

Crazier

Mvra

Nakseon

Kozzin

Demidou

Koldan

Daergy

feidmanis

In his original post of his suspicions, “mallic” cited numerous things that 3 of the players on the list had in common. When beginning a session, all three sat down at the same table stakes, each moved down after a set number of hands in a short time period regardless of results, and they made the same downward move shortly thereafter, at almost the exact same time. This was a very diligent bit of sleuthing done on his part.

The investigation grew as more and more players began noticing the same characteristics. A website that tracks millions of online players, PokerTableRatings.com (PTR) were called in to independently look at the players. A second poster, “Gugel” did his research on PTR and found astounding similarities between the players. PTR went ahead and published its own damning finding late last week that all but confirmed everyone’s suspicions. They pulled data on 10 different PokerStars account and found that all 10 showed remarkably similar statistics. Each of the accounts changed table stakes at exactly the same time, and all had identical betting patterns. The evidence uncovered by PTR is rather impressive and thorough, as they research 28 different measurable metrics such as pre-flop raise, 3-bet percentages, “saw flop” percentage, and flop aggression. Using advanced statistical formulas, the researches found that the players styles differed by no more than 2.39. As a comparison, the bot number compared to any other online player was 32.94 which was more than just a statistical coincidence.

In addition, there were other betting pattern pieces of evidence which pointed to the bot usage as well. With the overwhelming evidence backing them, PokerStars swiftly removed all the users from the site. It is not believed that any cheated players will be receiving any form of payment.

I am sure you know who is he. The young man aged 22, 10 months and 28 days won 9 millions in the 2008 WSOP. Yes, it's him. He as a professional poker player is going to stop playing poker.

The $9,152,416 he won two years back was the 2nd largest poker tournament win in the history, with only Jamie Gold's $12,000,000 beating it.

Since his winning in 2008, East Gate had been fulfilling his obligation to his sponsor to travel around the world playing poker in major tournaments running.

His sponsor Pokerstars reveals that Eastgate had never planned to play professional poker for his life, instead he play to achieve financial freedom and which he did it by winning the WSOP 2008.

Lacking of determination and drive to win are among the reasons of his leaving. In respond, Pokerstars said "Poker is about determination and excitement, and if Peter lacks this in his game, the right decision is to take a break," before adding, "Peter has played amongst world champions and he has carried his title in the most admirable fashion."

Whether Eastgate will completely quit poker for good remains to be seen although it seems for the time being he is going to take a back seat and enjoy some of the $10,904,211 live tournament winnings he accumulated in his short but sparkling career.

It doesn't matter what is the economy situation but poker will still go strong across the continents.

Having proven over the recent recessions for past years, poker gaming has not stopped growing. With just 4 days of WSOP main event this year, it draws 7,319 entries. An amazing umber which records the 2nd most in the 41 years of tournament history.

The more players, the higher the prize pool. The $10,000 buy-ins has accumulated over $8.9 million.

"It's certainly the high water mark for the poker industry, but it's become more of a pop culture happening," says Ty Stewart, WSOP vice president. "I've heard it said that it's like a bucket list item (things to do before I die). It's a bucket list badge of honor. People say they want to run with the bulls in Pamplona and swim with the poker sharks in Vegas."

"It's a $10,000 buy-in, and they have (more than 7,000) people here," says poker pro Phil Hellmuth.

"Celebrities love to play. Athletes love to play. And the American public, the worldwide public, loves to play. ... I'm kind of proud of where the World Series has gone, and I'm kind of proud of the fact that people really want to even play in the event."

The World Cup causes a slump in online poker players, according to The Independent.

The Independent reported that PartyGaming expects revenues to be 13 per cent lower this quarter due to impact of football's big contest.

The early departure of France and Italy seemingly provided something of a respite, the Independent report noted.