By Brett Collson for POKER NEWS DAILY Posted on June 30, 2009
Professional poker player Carsten Joh gave Germany its first World Series of Poker champion since Sebastian Ruthenberg’s 2008 win, when he won the $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em Event (#51) Monday evening. Joh outlasted a field of 2,781 to earn his first gold bracelet and $664,426.
Much like many of the previous $1,500 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em tournaments at the 2009 WSOP, this final table included no former WSOP gold bracelet winners. Joh claimed his first when he defeated Canadian Andrew Chen for the title.
An accomplished backgammon player, Joh competed in international backgammon tournaments and played in various clubs for many years. One of Joh’s friends from the backgammon tournaments was Danish poker player Gus Hansen. With Monday’s victory he now has one more WSOP bracelet than the prominent poker superstar.
“The bracelet means a lot because you have it for the rest of your life”, Joh said afterward. “Whatever you’ve got later on, you can always say you won a bracelet. Even if you stop playing poker – you just have it. If you come second, you really have nothing. You have the money. But nobody talks about that. It is just like that in sports. Everyone remembers the winner.”
At 45 years of age, Joh was the oldest player at the final table. Six of the nine players were age 27 and younger, and the youngest was 21-year-old Chen. Joh sent him home as the runner-up when Chen moved his remaining chips into the middle with after Joh raised from the button. Joh quickly called and flipped over pocket sixes. The flop didn’t give much hope to Chen but the on the turn gave him a flush draw. Joh then ended things when the fell on the river, giving him a set to eliminate Chen in 2nd place for $412,426.
On winning the tournament as the oldest player, Joh said: “Normally, the older players like me do not win the bracelet. You see every final table with six, seven, or eight players in their 20s. It is more difficult for an older player to win it. I have a lot of respect for the older players because you have to play ten levels and you might be here 13 or 14 hours each day.”

Online casino players will soon have one more site to try their luck at following an agreement announced by industry giant 888 Holdings with the Racing Post, Great Britain’s largest horseracing newspaper.The white-label agreement will see the Racing Post launch an online casino and poker offering over the next few months and use its own brand to market the new service to its readership.'This partnership is a crucial part of our overall online strategy giving customers the best content available while simultaneously growing revenues,” said Mark Renshaw, Head of Commercial Online for the Racing Post.“We believe that 888's online gaming expertise combined with our trusted brand and loyal customer base will create a major opportunity for both parties.”888 stated that it would be providing the Racing Post with its market-leading gaming and back-end software along with customer support and payment processing services. It will also assist the Racing Post in maximising the potential of its online database through the use of its advanced marketing capabilities, both on and offline.'888's unique position as a leading gaming operator offering total gaming services in the business-to-business field is a compelling proposition as many operators need a lot more than just good software in order to maximise their online gaming potential,” said Gabi Campos, Managing Director for 888's Dragonfish business-to-business division.“This agreement continues 888's development as a leading business-to-business provider and follows on the back of a number of successful partnerships established over the past year. We look forward to working with a brand of the stature of the Racing Post to maximise their potential in the online gaming field and together achieve new revenues.'

Everest Gaming Obtains Euro Gaming License Everest Gaming, operators of online site Everest Poker, announced today it had obtained a remote gaming licensed issued by European nation Malta. Everest is one of the oldest of all online sites, dating to 1997, and the company expects the official Maltese recognition to open the doors to more opportunities in the European market. PokerStars Gets Italian Real-money Go-ahead Leading online PokerStars was also in the news this week, with the announcement that it had received official approval to begin offering real-money online poker tournaments to Italian residents. PokerStars is among the first wave of online
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poker sites to receive official regulatory approval from the Italian government. Under the terms of the new certification from the Italian Monopolies of State (AAMS), real-money tourneys for Italian players became available on February 25th, with buy-ins currently ranging from €0.50 to €100. According to PokerStars Italian Country Manager Angeli Bufalini, "The online poker phenomenon has seen a huge growth recently and with the launch of PokerStars.it we aim to recreate in Italy the success that PokerStars has achieved worldwide. This is thanks to our industry renowned software and security which guarantees players a high level poker experience and support 24 hours a day." The special Italian events will be offered in a multi-phase expansion over the next several weeks. International Poker Network Announces International Championship of Poker (iCoP) The Euro-facing International Poker Network (also known as Boss Media) has announced its International Championship of Poker (iCoP), which will run March 9-15, 2009. The iCoP includes seven events with several different poker variants in the mix, with the buy-ins ranging from €60+6 to the €280+20 March 15th main event. Skins on the IPN network included CelebPoker, PokerHeaven, Virgin Poker and others.

Gibraltar, January 26, 2009 - Ongame Network Ltd, a leading provider of online gaming entertainment, will showcase their newly released P5 Poker Engine at the International Gaming Expo (IGE) in London from January 27-29. This will be Ongame Network’s first official appearance after the deployment of their standalone network for the Italian market, which is fully integrated with the P5 Poker Engine technology.“The Italian network is powered by the new P5 technology which offers unrivalled performance, reliability and speed – coupled with great graphics and usability. The P5 Poker Engine represents a shift in mentality as much as it represents a shift in technology: it is completely modular and provides scalability without risking stability. P5 is paving the way for change”, says Kevin O’Neal, Press Officer at bwin.The P5 Poker Engine has been a great success since its release in Italy, and Ongame Network is looking forward to presenting all the latest P5 opportunities at IGE. The next step is to implement the P5 Poker Engine with its brand new technology and enhanced features to all Ongame Network partners.