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[PokerNewsDaily]

A magistrate judge in New York has denied bail to one of the 11 men indicted by the U.S. Department of Justice on Black Friday. Judge James Cott refused bail to 53-year-old Ira Rubin, one of the alleged payment processors that assisted PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker in “tricking” banks by disguising payments as transactions with phony internet merchants.

Cott said there were “unlimited reasons” why he was not convinced Rubin could be granted bail, the foremost being the concern that Rubin is a flight risk. Prosecutor Devil Brown said that Rubin had lived in Central America for years to avoid a telemarketing fraud charge and was preparing to flee to Thailand before his arrest.

“I think I have no choice but to detain the defendant,” Cott said at Wednesday’s hearing. Rubin had asked that he be granted $300,000 bond and be allowed to live with his parents in Florida.

Rubin was arrested in 2006 for telemarketing fraud after his company, Global Marketing Group, assisted at least nine Canadian telemarketing firms that sold non-existent credit cards to U.S. consumers. Rubin failed to appear for a hearing to show cause why he shouldn’t be held in contempt of court for violating a temporary restraining order. On January 30, 2008, a judge issued a warrant for Ira N. Rubin’s arrest. He had been on the run since.

Devlin-Brown said that when the charges in the online poker case were announced on April 15, Rubin chartered a plane to Guatemala from Costa Rica that same day, and then intended to go to Thailand. Rubin was arrested in Guatemala and taken to the United States later that month.

The prosecutor also claimed Rubin told a fellow inmate in jail that he had wanted to obtain a fake passport in Guatemala. Rubin’s lawyer said the trip to Guatemala was previously planned.

For his involvement in the illegal online gambling activities, Rubin was charged with nine counts, including conspiracy to violate the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA); three counts of violation of the UIGEA, three counts of operation of an illegal gambling business, conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering conspiracy. Rubin could face as long as 30 years in prison if convicted.

Rubin’s lawyer, Stuart Meissner, claims that the evidence against his client is questionable and added that Rubin wanted to stay in the U.S. to face the charges.

“This entire case is a little bit of overkill,” Meissner told reporters after Rubin’s bail hearing Wednesday. “This is the U.S. war on gambling as opposed to the U.S. war on terrorism. I don’t think this is a good use of taxpayer resources.”

Devlin-Brown said Wednesday that Rubin helped recruit people to serve as payment processors and to set up fake websites for golf stores and electronic companies. Rubin himself “processed hundreds of millions of dollars” in payments, Devlin-Brown said.

Rubin’s criminal record dates back “to the 1970s,” according to prosecutors, and includes at least 24 different crimes. Devlin-Brown said Rubin has outstanding warrants and criminal cases in Nevada, Massachusetts, Missouri, Florida, New York and Virginia.

Stay tuned to Poker News Daily as more on this story develops.



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[PokerNews]

The WSOP has changed the format to the Player-of-the-Year Race, which has inspired a few early front runners like Yevgeniy Timoshenko to make a go at it.

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[BluffMagazine]

Klein has been practicing medicine for over 15 years During the final table of the $1,500 Six-Handed No Limit Hold’em event kept asking why the announcer was calling Geffrey Klein “Doc.” The explanation is really simple. Klein is a doctor. At a table full of pros, he was the amateur, who plays the [...]

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[WickedChopsPoker]

The 2011 WSOP has been short on big name final table buzz. Not so short on asses though.


No knock at all on anyone who has won a bracelet this year, but here are just a few small things we’d like to see happen to give the 2011 WSOP a jolt in the storyline department:

:: The man the myth, the legend, Black Phil Ivey, Big Sldick, the one and only Dwyte Pilgrim wins a bracelet – Pilgrim is one of the biggest, most entertaining personalities on the circuit. A deep Pilgrim run would get the Rio buzzing, and he makes for great TV/webstream.

:: A woman wins a bracelet - It’s been 27 years since a woman has won a bracelet at the WSOP in an open event*. Maria Ho, a woman, came close. It’s about time the fairer sex breaks through again.

:: Eugene Katchalov takes down another one - There’s been a multiple bracelet winner at the WSOP for the past 27 years*. Katchalov, arguably the best tournament player for the past two or so years, already took down his first bracelet this year. Another bracelet solidifies his status as “the” guy on the circuit today.

:: Phil Ivey plays the Main Event - This one will only happen if Tilt pays back its U.S. players by the Main Event, which means it probably won’t happen, and even if Tilt does pay back U.S. players, it still might not happen, but if it does happen, holy shit, it’ll cause a riot.

Here’s the latest…

:: Event #8 ($1,000 NLH) -SUCKINGHOBBITDICKSSean Getzwiller held on to the chip lead and took this down. For the win, Getzwiller banks $611,185. Jon “PearlJammer” Turner finished third for $274,005. Get full results here.

:: Event #10 ($1,500 NLH Six-Handed) – The big story here is thatSUCKINGHOBBITDICKSJeffreySUCKINGHOBBITDICKSPapola, who won this event last year and finished second the year before, finished third this year. Crazy. That slightly overshadowed Geffrey Klein‘s win. Klein, who hails from Houston, Texas, bankedSUCKINGHOBBITDICKS$544,388. Get full results here.

:: Event #11 ($10,000 Omaha Hi/Lo 8oB) – Play stopped with three remaining. George Lind holds a slim chip lead (2,860,000) over Steve Billirakis (2,465,000).SUCKINGHOBBITDICKSViacheslav Zhukov is third with 740,000.

:: Event #12 ($1,500 NLH Triple Chance) - Bill Chen (610,000) headlines a friends and family final table. Nicholas Rampone leads with 1,500,000. First pays outSUCKINGHOBBITDICKS$352,808. Get full final table chip counts here.

:: Event #13 ($1,500 NLH Shoot-Out) – A starting field of 1,440 played down to 160. Notable survivors include but are certainly not limited to Nam Le, Frank Kassela, Daniel Negreanu, Lex Veldhuis, Scott Seiver, and Jennifer Tilly. Get full survivors here.

:: Event #14 ($3,000 Limit Hold’em) – A total of 330 played down to 180. Marco Traniello ended Day 1 as chip leader, stacked at 54,000. Victor Ramdin follows in second with 44,000. The man the myth the legend, Black Phil Ivey, Big Sldick, the one and only Dwyte Pilgrim (22,500), Maria Ho (22,000), and Jason Mercier (19,500) are among the big stacks. Get full chip counts here.

* More or less. Ok less.

* More or less.

For more 2011 WSOP coverage, visit:SUCKINGHOBBITDICKSRISE Poker |SUCKINGHOBBITDICKSTao of Poker |SUCKINGHOBBITDICKSESPN Poker |SUCKINGHOBBITDICKSBluff Magazine|Pokerati |SUCKINGHOBBITDICKSWSOP


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[CardPlayer]

Geffrey Klein faced a serious 9-1 chip deficit when he entered heads-up play against Nicholas Blumenthal in Event No. 10 ($1,500 six-handed no-limit hold’em) at the 2011 World Series of …

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[Carl Culture]

If you are young, you probably can not appreciate just how cool this first hand-held portable phone was. Prior to this phone, portable phones were carried around in a bag, and a small handset was connected to talk on. It was a huge big deal to get to the point that the entire phone could be held in your hand. This phone was expensive, and minutes were prohibitively expensive, and we will not even talk about roaming charges.


Billing is getting much simpler for most cell phone companies, but many people have on occasion not understood the rules and have gotten huge phone bills. A guy I worked with got his son a phone, and the company advertised "Free Games". The games were free, but the airtime to play was not free, and he got his first month's bill, and it was $2,700. Have you ever gotten a nasty surprise on a cell phone bill?






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[Carl Culture]

Woman of Singhbhum ::: Saptarshi Sanyal ::: Benisagar falls in a troubled area in eastern India. It nevertheless is an abode to beautiful landscapes and people. This photograph shows a bemused Santhal woman.

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[Percy The Perv]

Mtv Movie Awards





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[Percy The Perv]

Cfda Fashion Awards June





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[Percy The Perv]

When I woke up this morning all I wanted to look at was a crappy Twitpic of some reality TV has-been and her never-was nobody friends taking a hike in the Hollywood hills. Thanks to Ashley Tisdale my wish has been granted. Here she is with some douche and Hilary Duff’s sister nobody cares about [...]

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