Former Mayor Jailed for Stealing £60,000 to feed Online Poker addiction

Jayne Armstrong-Yeomans, 49, has been jailed after being found guilty of stealing £60,000 to feed her online poker habit. Yeomans resorted to robbing from a social club to pay off debts racked up by her online poker addiction.

At one stage the former Labour party councillor, who was mayor of Carlisle from 1993 until 1994, resorted to forging her husband’s signature for a £25,000 loan.

Carlisle Crown Court, in the UK, heard how Yeomans, now living in Falkirk, Scotland, stole £38,000 from the South End Constitutional Club, in Carlisle and then lied to club officials in a last-ditch attempt to hide her double life. She became so desperate to clear her debts she resorted in remortgaging the family home.

Yeomans’ addicted took a strangle hold on her life as, at her lowest point, she attempted suicide. Before her botched attempt at killing herself she left a suicide note confessing to stealing the money from the club, which totalled £38,726.97.

Speaking before the trial Yeomans said; “At first it was fun, but it made no sense at all because I was useless at it.”

She will serve 12 months in prison for theft and 6 months for forging her husband’s signature.

Casey Reese – Son of Chip – dies aged just 20.

It is with great sadness that pokernewsheadlines reports that Casey Reese – the only son of the legendary poker player, Chip Reese who died in December 2007 – passed away at his apartment in the past 48 hours. He was just 20 years old.

Phil Hellmuth broke the story to the poker community via his twitter account and the news was subsequently confirmed by Daniel Negreanu and Doyle Brunson in their Blogs. Brunson wrote today on facebook claiming the tragic death may have come as a result of an overdose.

“It seems like yesterday when my nephew called and gave me a message that made my blood run cold, “I think Chip just died” he told me.

It happened again yesterday, only this time it was Chip’s only son, Casey Reese. Casey was found in his apartment from an apparent overdose of prescription drugs. I had seen Casey a few days ago and he looked great. He was very handsome and extremely personable. I will always remember the closeness between Chip and Casey.

My deepest condolences to the Reese family. I feel like I’ve let Chip down but I don’t know what I could have done to help Casey.”

Casey was a very talented high-school baseball pitcher – pictured above – and was offered a scholarship to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in 2008, but apparently never played for the college.

At the WSOP 2008 a memorial trophy was unveiled for his father prior to the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E event. Casey was noticeably absent from the ceremony, understandably having a difficult time dealing with his father’s death.

Condolences go out to Casey’s family and friends.

Jennifer Harman Charity Poker Tournament heads to The Venetian

The third annual Jennifer Harman Charity Poker Tournament benefiting the Nevada Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) no-kill animal shelter and sanctuary will be held at The Venetian Poker Room on Friday, April 17.

The first place prize is a $10,000 World Series of Poker Main Event Seat, and a Curtis & Co. watch.

Celebrity tournament director and Tournament Directors Association (TDA) founder Matt Savage will emcee the event. The knowledgeable and friendly Venetian poker room staff will run the tournament.

In addition to the first place prize and top ten finisher prizes, participants will be eligible to win random seat prizes, collectible pot sweeteners, and each player will receive a generous gift bag courtesy of the Nevada SPCA and its sponsors. Silent auction items will feature autographed sports and poker memorabilia.

The red carpet walk begins at 4 p.m. The $300 + $30 no-limit Texas hold’em poker tournament starts at 5 p.m. and is open to the public. Registration opens on Thursday, April 16 at 12 p.m. Registration will close at 6 p.m. on Friday, April 17. Participants may purchase an unlimited number of $100 re-buys during the first hour, and a one-time $100 add-on following the re-buy period.

PartyGaming in LandMark US Settlement

PartyGaming have agreed to pay a landmark settlement to US authorities as part of a non-prosecution agreement according to the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York (USAO).

PartyGaming has agreed to what is described as a “statement of facts” in which it admits for the first time that, prior to October 2006, it targeted US citizens, resulting in the processing of transactions that were “contrary to certain US laws”.

The total settlement is reported to be $105 million. The money will be paid in eight half yearly installments.

Jim Ryan, PartyGaming’s chief executive, said; “The resolution of our position with the US authorities marks an important day for PartyGaming.

“It has been a long and complex process but we have reached an amicable solution with the USAO that makes commercial sense for our business and is in the best interests of shareholders. We are now well-placed to seize organic as well as strategic opportunities that previously were beyond our reach.”

Shares in PartyGaming rose by 23p, or 10.5 per cent, to 238.35p in early morning trading.

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Eastgate and Demidov join Team PokerStars Pro

PokerStars has welcomed the youngest ever WSOP Main Event Champion Peter Eastgate and runner-up Ivan Demidov into the fold of professional poker players and world champions that make up Team PokerStars Pro. The 2008 WSOP main event made history as the first time the final table was delayed by four months and it also became the first ever European player heads up final.

Peter Eastgate of Denmark entered the record books as the youngest ever WSOP Main Event Champion winning the prestigious bracelet and $9,152,416 at just 22 years old. This record had previously been held by Phil Hellmuth for 19 years after he took down the main event in 1989 at the age of 24. Peter Eastgate began playing online at PokerStars after graduating from high school and has been playing professionally ever since. He had already pulled off several impressive results on the live tournament scene before the 2008 World Series and has more recently taken down the 5K NL Hold’em side event at the 2009 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure scooping $ 343,000.

“I won’t be splashing out on expensive things or living a crazy life now that I’ve won. I’m thinking carefully about how to invest the money so that I make the right decision” says Eastgate. Peter plays online at PokerStars.com using the screen name ‘PeteEastgate’.

After four hours of heads-up action in the WSOP Main Event final 27-year old Ivan Demidov from Russia, finished runner up, earning himself $ 5,809,595. This triumph came only weeks after he also made history by becoming the first ever player to make two World Series of Poker main event final tables – he finished in 3rd place at the World Series of Poker Europe main event in October and took home $608,995.

Ivan has very successful live tournaments making several cashes at tournaments around Europe and finishing 11th in this year’s $1,000 No Limit Hold’em event cashing $39,854.
Mathematics graduate Demidov says “I was inspired to do well at this year’s WSOP after watching the success of fellow countryman and Team PokerStars Pro Alex Kravchenko – so to join the team and play alongside him is a real honour.” Ivan plays online using the screen name ‘Ivan Demidov’.

Team PokerStars Pro, Daniel Negreanu commented on the two final tablists at the WSOP event; “I’ve played against Ivan at the WSOPE and also watched them both closely throughout the WSOP final table – both players represent the young new rising poker talent emerging in Europe and they’re a great addition to the team.”

Peter and Ivan join the ever expanding roster of Team PokerStars Pro, which includes previous WSOP Champs; Chris Moneymaker, Greg Raymer and Joe Hachem as well as Daniel Negreanu and many other top pros from around the world. To play against him or any of the Team PokerStars Pro members, simply visit PokerStars.

Poker Regulation in Denmark?

The Danish government is apparently mulling over legislation proposed by an official committee for land based poker tournaments to be held legally outside of regulated casinos.

The government-mandated Danish Poker Committee’s report into the feasibility of regulated poker tournaments in Denmark has suggested that the government should introduce new legislation to allow for the issuance of licences to operators of terrestrial poker tournaments outside of casinos operated by state-controlled Danske Spil. The study points to the increasing popularity of the activity in Denmark, but excludes internet poker games from its remit.

Morten Ronde, a legal advisor to the Danish Gaming Board and one of the members of the 14-man poker committee said that the Danish government is due to decide whether or not to introduce a formal legislative proposal following a public hearing on the poker issue, which is expected in the next few weeks.

The committee’s report states that; “The Committee has noted that poker has achieved a very high level of popularity over the past few years… the Committee finds it very important that gaming legislation does not become so restrictive that the possibilities of playing legal games are limited so much that players have an incentive to participate in illegal games or games abroad without any certainty of safeguards like those provided by Danish gaming legislation.”

More on this story, as it breaks, here at PokerNewsHeadlines.com

Casino revenues up but Poker down for 888

888 Holdings, the company behind Pacific Poker posted impressed revenue figures for their casino division today. 888 reported a pre-tax profit of $48.6 million (£34.2 million) for 2008 as revenues jumped by 20 per cent to $256.8 million.

The disappointing news was a decline in poker revenues but new deals with the Racing Post and various other online businesses are expected to help 888 recover in that area.

Gigi Levy, CEO, said; “Despite the difficult economic circumstances during the last few months of 2008, our underlying business remained strong … current trading to date in the first quarter has been stronger than in December. While we are encouraged by this positive trend, the broader economic climate remains challenging and overall revenue in Q1 is expected to be slightly lower than the fourth quarter.”

Poker sales declined by 4 per cent to £80.8 million with the current global recession cited as the reason for the slow down.