As the clock ticks down to the starting time of the 2008 World Series of Poker Main Event, controversy continues to grow over the changes that have been made to this years tournament.

As I posted in the WSOP Friend Feed room, this year sees a break of almost four months between players reaching the final table and actually playing it. The major reason for this change is to suit the ESPN Prime Time TV Schedule and take the tournament to a whole new level, gaining exposure and (presumably) many $$$ to the organizers. Such a large break does cause some problems though and that’s what’s getting people upset.

Four months break is a long time, here are a few of the arguments (for and against) doing the rounds:

• Any professionals at the table will likely use that time to study the habits and playing style of the people they are up against and make changes to their games accordingly.
• Players who have a read on one of the other players may lose that advantage over the four months break.
• Amateur players can use that time to secure valuable sponsorship before playing out the final table on prime time tv.
• What if one (or more) player(s) can’t make the new date… they could be hospitalised - or worse…

What do you think? Any other reasons for or against you think are vitally important? Do you think there is any chance of collusion (two players forming a partnership and dumping all chips to the one in the best position?) or what about intimidation… four months is a long time to play mind games with your opponents.

Personally I think it’s a bit odd for their to be such a long break in the one tournament, but overall I think the positives may outweigh the negatives… I guess we’ll see soon enough, hopefully it will all go smoothly and the prime time, live tv schedule will turn it into a truly great event.

Red Flush Casino has launched this month using the popular Microgaming software, is licensed in Kahnawake and accepts USA players

With over 300 casino games that you can download or play using the no-download flash version, there is sure to be something here to interest everyone, and because they are using the industry leading Microgaming software, you can’t go wrong as far as a quality [...] Continue Reading…

Yep, I’ve talked about Twitter before, in fact I talk about it quite a lot… why? Because it is one of the best ways I know to stay in the loop and be part of the conversation.

For those not up to speed, Twitter is a bit like an instant messenger, although instead of sending a message to one person, it’s broadcast to every person [...] Continue Reading…

Ok, I know this has nothing to do with online gambling, but being a tragic fan of 80’s TV this is one gadget that’s right at the top of my wish list… take a look at this little beauty:

Yep, in a couple of months time we can all have our own personal KITT navigating for us as we drive around the city… anyone who [...] Continue Reading…

Sebastian Ruthenberg, playing his first year at the World Series of Poker has absorbed plenty of pressure by taking out event 33, $5,000 seven card stud hi-low at the 2008 WSOP.

Ruthenberg had to hold off names of the calibre of Chris (Jesus) Ferguson (2nd), Marcel Luske (4th), Annie Duke (5th) and Howard Lederer (9th) to take out his maiden WSOP Bracelet and $328,756 in [...] Continue Reading…

Slots lovers rejoice, as two new games are on the way from both Microgaming and Playtech.

Casino Beacon is reporting Microgaming will release their two new slot games on the 8th of July, along with ‘French Roulette Gold’, a new high tech version of the popular table game.

The two new Microgaming Slots are Big Kahuna Snakes and Ladders, a five-reel online slot game in the [...] Continue Reading…

A few days ago Mozilla released the long anticipated FireFox 3 web browser.

I’ve been using the beta version for months and I can assure you that FireFox 3 is a good upgrade with heaps of handy new features. If you’re still using Internet Explorer then now really is the time to download FireFox and experience surfing the net as it should be (if you [...] Continue Reading…

Are you a big Tennis fan? Are you excited that Wimbledon is less than a week away?

I know I am!

For many, the grass court championships at Wimbledon is the pinnacle of Tennis entertainment.. it has that elusive quality that makes even non-tennis fans want to watch and follow the progress of players they take little interest in for the other 11 and a half [...] Continue Reading…

It’s been a few days since I last updated the 2008 World Series of Poker, and in that time we’ve seen another 10 winners crowned (too much time playing Full Tilt Poker, and not enough writing!).

Here are the events that have wrapped up over the past few days and all the WSOP Bracelet winners that earned their stripes:

2008 WSOP Event 19: $1,500 Pot Limit [...] Continue Reading…

Since we’ve had a heap of new visitors lately, I thought it would be a good idea to go back and highlight some of the more important posts on Gamblz from the past few weeks - if you’ve missed some of these posts, now would be a good time to catch up with them.
Social Networking
One of our aims at Gamblz is to promote social [...] Continue Reading…