PTP News Hit and Run: December 9th, 2009

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Isildur1 is the best online poker player of the year? A new spot for live poker on the East Coast? And the legalization of online poker will cause the end of the world? Answers to these questions and more in today’s PTPN Hit and Run.

BLUFF Magazine came out with its “readers’ choice” award nominees. Check it out here. You can vote for “Isildur1″ as “Best Online Poker Player,” but he probably won’t get many votes after he dropped $4 million to Brian Hastings recently. Check out our story here. Related to “Isildur1″ — interesting blog post by Bill Rini about the nosebleed action at Full Tilt, and whether it even makes sense for the regulars to play it, without new players joining the high-stakes games. Check it out here.

There’s a new option for live poker in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States — Charles Town in West Virginia will now have table games at the horse track, in addition to slots. The County where the track resides voted to allow the games at Charles Town. It’s not set in stone when table games will make their first appearance there, but it appears that it will be next summer, or sooner. Meanwhile, efforts to get table games up and running in Pennsylvania seem to be stuck in the mud.

Online poker will be the end of the civilized world, if you believe this University of Illinois professor. If online poker is legalized in the United States, John W. Kindt says it will trigger a worldwide economic collapse. We lol’d. “Money that should be spent on cars, refrigerators and other goods that build the economy and create jobs would instead be wasted on Internet gambling in every living room, at every work desk and at every school desk,” Kindt said for the story. Here’s some video of Kindt’s doom and gloom forecast on gambling here (more on all gambling than just online gambling).

On the other end of the spectrum, a recent study says that online gambling is good for your health. Story here. Apparently gambling can be good for reducing stress. Anyway, we’re pretty sure that the truth about online gambling and poker is probably somewhere between armageddon and panacea.

It seems to us that there are more and more mainstream news outlets writing stories about poker, and even online poker. The usually stodgy Wall Street Journal did a long-form piece here on the intersection of Wall Street and poker, as some traders have found success in poker. And a column by Victoria Coren in “The Guardian” newspaper makes the argument that online poker has “come of age.” Check it out here. She notes how the online games have some aspects of live/home poker games that it used to lack.

Television personality Montel Williams is getting in some trouble for his poker dealings. Story here. Williams was allegedly involved with a breach of contract regarding the “International Team Poker League” according to the Chicago area blog, and the legal filing you can see there.

Online poker won’t be the downfall of society. As long as you sign up for rakeback, that is. Get rakeback at Full Tilt today with a new account.

Get your daily dose of poker news with the PTP Hit and Run.

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