REAL POKER MASTERY

On Wednesday, February 17th at 9:00pm ET, the USA-friendly online poker room UB.com is hosting an extra special freeroll in which the winner gets a once-in-a-lifetime skydiving experience with Joe Sebok. In total, $2,000 in cash and prizes will be up for grabs, with the winner plummeting to the ground with the PokerRoad personality.

The jump occurs over the Nevada desert and the top prize also includes quality time with one of the newest members of Team UB. The tournament’s password will be released through UB.com’s Twitter feed just before it begins. Poker News Daily sat down with Sebok to get the inside scoop on this buzz-worthy promotion.

Poker News Daily: Thanks for joining us. Where did the idea for the skydiving freeroll come from?

Joe Sebok: I had always wanted to do something like that. This was one of the reasons I wanted to get involved with UB.com in the first place, so I could do cool things. If you aren’t having fun, then what’s the point? Each UB.com pro will have a unique experience. I had about 50 things that I thought would be cool.

PND: What were some of the other ideas you had?

Joe Sebok: Jumping out of a plane is my style or maybe going down to San Felipe and racing dune buggies. It really comes down to how much stuff UB wants to do. Hopefully, this will be the first of many unique experiences. We got to do the Twitter tournament and now this. I want to get through the negative stuff with UB so we can get to the fun stuff.

PND: What’s your skydiving background?

Joe Sebok: I love it. I have been about four times now. Thomas Wahlroos is an incredible skydiver and I wanted to go with him. I’ve always gone tandem, but for this one, I’d like it to be a solo jump. It’s terrifying to think of. There’s a class and you have to sit down and go through the techniques. You can imagine how scary it is. When you’re on someone’s back, there’s nothing for you to do other than fall. Everything’s different when you’re responsible for pulling the chute.

PND: Tell us about how the process of distributing hand histories relating to the Russ Hamilton-led cheating scandal is going.

Joe Sebok: It’s going well. In my recent blog, I asked people to get in touch with me with any issues. I probably had around 15 to 20 people do so. The bigger hand history orders, which mainly belong pros, are still being compiled. The main thing for people to understand is that UB had to pick a formula. It was all of the money you won versus cheating accounts minus money lost versus cheating accounts and if it was negative, we gave it back. Some people are angry with that formula and some are grateful. You have to pick a way to go and be consistent. Some will be stoked to get a refund and some won’t be.

The main thing I try to get people to understand is that everyone thinks I’m lying to them or won’t help. It’s just not true. Ever since I signed, I’ve spent a ton of time on this. People need to understand that I’m on their side. I’m trying to make things better and make sure we get this information out.

PND: Give us a quick recap of the first season of the UB.com poker news show “Poker2Nite,” which airs on Fox Sports Net on Wednesdays at 11:00pm ET.

Joe Sebok: The transformation since the first show has been great. In a short amount of time, we’ve improved a lot. We like to think we do that with all of our projects. We just want to continue to improve it heading into Season 2.

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A recent decision by the European Union’s Court of Justice (ECJ) offered clarification as to how EU law affects online gaming regulations in individual states within the Union. The ruling in the Winner Wetten v. Mayor of Bergheim case earlier this month stipulated that any national gaming laws needed to be consistent with EU law and denied Germany an exception to preexisting EU regulations that allow for free trade and fair competition.

The case at the heart of the decision involves German company Winner Wetten, which was placing sports bets on behalf of the Maltese company Tipico. While Tipico retains a Maltese gambling license, Winner Wetten was ordered by the mayor of its hometown of Bergheim to cease betting operations because it lacked its own gaming license issued by the Land of North Rhine-Westphalia, one of the 16 states within Germany. Winner Wetten then took the matter to court, claiming, among other things, that it violated EU treaty law promising companies the freedom to establish a business and provide services.

The case was referred to the EJC and Advocate General Bot issued his opinion on the matter on January 26th. Bot ruled in favor of Winner Wetten, stating that the Land of North Rhine-Westphalia’s existing laws regarding sports betting were in violation of EU law. It is worth noting that North Rhine-Westphalia has only issued one gaming license in the territory, to the Westdeutsche Lotterie, one of a number of state run lottery ventures in Germany.

Bot also commented on the German government’s argument that the country should be granted an exception to EU treaty laws because the matter pertained to online gaming versus some other type of business. In Bot’s eyes, EU law does not allow for such exceptions and he went so far as to say that it would not be in the best interest of European consumers to make exceptions that do not allow for consistent rules and regulations, even in the online gaming sector. Ultimately, Bot ruled that state laws must be consistent with existing EU treaty laws without exception.

The European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA) was quick to comment on the landmark ruling. In a statement posted on its official website, EGBA Secretary General Sigrid Ligné offered the following insight on the case: “This opinion is crucial for developments in Germany. The AG has made clear that EU law prevails and that unjustified restrictions are not admissible even for a transitional period. Today’s opinion will further fuel the current political debate on online gaming in Germany.” Ligné went on to add that the EGBA agrees with Bot’s ruling and hopes it will lead to more consistent and systematic regulation of online gambling across the Union.

The ruling in the Winner Wetten case stands in stark contrast to another gambling-related EJC decision issued last fall. The case stemmed from online gaming group bwin sponsoring a Portuguese soccer team even though bwin did not have a license to offer gambling services within the country. Portugal, which has a statewide monopoly on online gaming, ordered the sponsorship deal to cease immediately. The EJC ruled in favor of Portugal, claiming the country’s gaming restrictions were reasonable and legal.

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One thing PartyPoker has done extremely well in its history is provide some of the best promotions for its customers. With its popular Cash Machine set to end on January 31st, PartyPoker had to come up with another promotion that would continue to capture the interest of its players. That new promotion, called Hit Or Run, will start on February 1st.

The Hit Or Run promotion gives players an opportunity to earn over $10,000 per day throughout the month of February. Players on PartyPoker already earn PartyPoker points that can be used to enter tournaments, buy items in the PartyPoker Store, and turn the points into cash. The Hit Or Run promotion is offered as another way that players can use their PartyPoker points.

For every 20 PartyPoker points a player earns on their real money tables, PartyPoker will give players $1 that they can take to play Hit Or Run. Once a player enters into the Hit Or Run arena, they are dealt two hole cards to play heads-up against the PartyPoker system. If a player wins the first hand, that $1 is doubled and the player is given the option of playing again, or taking another “Hit.” The game continues until the player is beaten in the game or the player decides to “Run” with what they have won.

Players can earn up to ten entries per day to play the PartyPoker Hit Or Run game. If a player is able to win ten straight heads-up hands, they will take away $1,024. If a player does this ten times per day and wins every hand, that player would walk away with $10,240. Of course, a player can, at any time, opt to take whatever money they have earned by hitting the “Run” button.

The new Hit Or Run promotion is simply the latest offering that PartyPoker has for its players. Currently, PartyPoker is also running satellites for entries into February’s World Poker Tour (WPT) L. A. Poker Classic and Celebrity Invitational. PartyPoker also offers its popular $1 million Guaranteed the first Sunday of each month and has a $300,000 Guaranteed every other Sunday when the Million Guaranteed isn’t running.

PartyPoker continues to reign among one of the leaders in the online poker industry. Up until 2006, it was the largest poker room in the industry, but the passage of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) in 2006 forced the parent company of PartyPoker, Party Gaming, to pull the plug on players from the United States. Since that time – and catering to players outside of the U. S. only – PartyPoker has slipped behind such sites as PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker, which still continue to accept American action. PartyPoker vies against the iPoker Network for third place in the online poker industry, according to PokerScout.com.

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