Local police and prosecutors are warning poker aficionados and the establishments that accommodate poker tournaments to hold their cards or pay up.
In a letter dated Dec. 7 to Peoria County Sheriff Mike McCoy and Peoria Police Chief Gary Poynter, Peoria County State's Attorney Kevin Lyons said local card playing tournaments may be illegal, and those that are will not be tolerated.
In Illinois, "a person commits gambling when he ... plays a game of chance or skill for money or other thing of value ... or makes a wager upon the result of any game," according to state statues.

47 runners assembled at the Rendezvous Casino in Southend. Celebrity poker players mingled with professional poker players and the poker-loving public to see who would win the inaugural CelebPoker Classic.

There was a strong footballing contingent with Teddy Sheringham and Matthew Etherington of West Ham and Simon Davies of Spurs all putting up their £1000 buy-in to pit their skill and luck against the likes of Channel 4 and At The Races pundit John McCririck, Rogue-Trader Nick Leeson and former Eastender Michael Grecco.

The games count as gambling and are illegal, Cheyenne Police Chief Bob Fecht said. Both the city attorney and the state's attorney general agree with the decision, he said.

Bar poker games are also being shut down in Laramie and Casper, Fecht said.

The games are a statewide problem, said Tom Montoya, chief of enforcement for the Wyoming Liquor Division. But he said there isn't a statewide consensus about what constitutes gambling under the criminal code.

WPT and Foxwoods Set New Record with Fourth Largest Tournament in the History of $10K No Limit Texas Hold'Em Poker

Foxwoods Resort Casino kicked off the seventh stop on the acclaimed WORLD POKER TOUR(TM) (WPT) Saturday, setting new records for the sport of poker and the WPT (NASDAQ:WPTE). The largest poker room on the East Coast at the largest casino in the world attracted 674 players to this year's World Poker Finals. This marks the biggest turnout ever for a WPT event and a dramatic increase over the tournament's first-year attendance of 80 players just three years ago. Since joining the WPT, Foxwoods' prize pool for the World Poker Finals has more than doubled every year. This year's $6,765,000 prize pool ranks fourth in the history of $10K No Limit Texas Hold'Em tournament poker, a testament to the growing popularity of the WORLD POKER TOUR. Sixty players at Foxwoods will claim a piece of the prize money, with the winner earning $1,530,243 and a $25,500 seat at the season-ending WPT Championship in April 2005. The WORLD POKER TOUR is the highest rated series in the history of the Travel Channel, airing Wednesday nights at 9 p.m. ET/PT.

I had pocket snowmen and was thinking about raising the big blind, but I needed a favorable flop and some encouraging tells before I risked going all in.

A few months ago the only snowmen in my vernacular were the frozen kind; a flop was a movie starring Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck; and a big blind was something for a whole bunch of duck hunters. But not anymore. Some friends and I periodically gather around a dining-room table, divvy up chips, shuffle a deck or two, and join in the latest pop-culture rage, Texas hold 'em poker.

Pagulayan will play in London on Nov. 5 in the semifinals of a televised poker tournament among sports celebrities, with the 26-year-old Filipino-Canadian gunning for the $500,000 (roughly P28 million) first prize.

Representing billiards, Pagulayan won his qualifying table of six celebrities to make it through the first round of the Europe's richest televised poker tournament promoted by Matchroom Sport on Challenge TV, a major cable station in the United Kingdom. The other celebrities included snooker champion Steve Davis, a top darts player and TV personalities.

AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands, October 27 /PRNewswire/ -- From November 6 until 13, 2004, the Holland Casino Amsterdam will host the biggest poker tournament in Europe - The Master Classics of Europe - for the thirteenth time. Over eight days, the best poker players from all over the world (including the US, France, Great Britain, Austria, and Germany) will try to outplay each other at the tournament. Compared to previous years, this year's tournament is even bigger. For one, 270 players will compete compared to 220. Also, the final rounds will be held the next day at 5 p.m., except on Tuesday. The prize money has increased as well: Last year's prize fund was already more than EUR 1.4 million and this year another EUR 63,000 has been added.

Poker isn't allowed in school, so eighth-grade would-be card sharks ditch telltale chips, gather at lunch and use push-ups as currency: "I see your five push-ups and raise you 15."

Faced with the same problem, high schoolers bet bags of potato chips and cookies from their lunches, or toothpicks that they can quickly stuff into their pockets if the principal happens along.

The Women’s Poker Club is hosting a new league, launching this month. Named the Fresh Poker Faces league, this is a new tournament-based way for women to play poker, or for them to simply develop their skills and to learn the rudiments of poker. There will be bi-weekly tournaments, designed to aid players in learning strategies to employ in a game.

CryptoLogic have announced they have made a new staffing arrangement- Steve Morrow of Paradigm Poker Consultants, is being enlisted as a consultant to the company. The software development company who distributes their products throughout the global online gambling industry, is turning to the poker consultant to aid the progress and development of their poker products. Morrow’s role will be to advise and assist CryptoLogic in the design and development stages of producing new online poker software.