It’s now time to look at India where poker is still in its infancy but seems to be finding devoted converts quicker than anywhere else in Asia. Although there is land-based casino poker in Sikkim, most of the action is centred in Goa, where floating casinos hold a steady stream of tournaments and mid to high-stakes cash games.

A total of 320 players are listed as coming from India in the Poker Portal Asia Player Database and it’s likely we will see many of them turn out for APT Asian Series Goa when it hits Casino Royale on May 21-27, 2012.

Top 3 Players

1. Abhishek Goindi USD $215,646

Abhishek Goindi deservedly sits atop the India player cash list. Not only has he earned the highest amount of prize money but, with a total of 20 cashes in Asia Pacific tournaments since 2008 to his name, he has also made it in the money the most amount of times. Goindi’s scorecard is littered with local tournament wins but his epic payday came when he placed second in the Macau Poker Cup: Red Dragon Main Event earlier this year and picked up USD $136,219.

2. Rahul Byrraju USD $121,325 (pictured)

Admittedly we haven’t covered a lot of Rahul Byrraju on the tournament tables around Asia but we’ll definitely be keeping a watchful eye out for him in the future now that we’ve noticed he’s coming second in our India cash list. Byrraju’s poker resume was kicked off with a bang when he took out the 2011 Macau Poker Cup High Rollers event for USD $79,932. In January 2012, he also tasted success at home, winning USD $28,705 in first place prize money at the India Poker Legend Main Event.

3. Sangeeth Mohan USD $113,443

PokerStars Macau 2012 Schedule (HKD$)

Jun 9-18: MPC: Red Dragon – $11,000 Red Dragon Main Event ($3,000,000 Guarantee)
Aug 11-20: MPC: Red Dragon – $11,000 Red Dragon Main Event ($3,000,000 Guarantee)
Sep7-16: Macau Poker Cup Championship 2012 – $20,000 Main Event ($4,500,000 Guarantee)
Oct 26-Nov 11: APPT: Asia Championship of Poker (ACOP) – $100,000 Main Event ($10,000,000 Guarantee)

For more information head to the PokerStars Macau website.

Negreanu does, however, have a lot of good things to say about the new rule changes for the World Series of Poker 2012, in particular the relaxation of the ‘Hevad Khan Rule’ that limits a player’s celebrations. Catch it all below:

With a total of seven SCOOP 2012 final table appearances and 19 cashes, Deeb is now well ahead in points of his rivals on the Player of the Series leaderboard. His remarkable efforts now seem to have outshone Viktor “Isildur1” Blom’s crushing of two titles early on in SCOOP 2012.

Deeb’s latest victory in the USD $2100 Stud event came in a 74-player field that included some tough opponents such as Eugene “E. Katchalov” Katchalov (4^th place, USD $14,060), Sorel “zangbezan24” Mizzi (9^th place, USD $4070) and Theo “Theo J” Jorgensen (11^th place, $4,070).

For the full rundown, check out PokerStarsBlog.com.

According to World Gaming Magazine sources, as of 6am yesterday Macau’s table cap in relation to poker rose so that 20 poker tables would count as just one gaming table in the limit imposed by Macau’s gaming regulatory body of the DICJ. This new situation will likely have hugely positive repercussions across the gaming island for poker.

While on the surface poker in Macau has appeared to be thriving in recent times, the reality has been that casinos there have come under increasing pressure to get rid of poker tables and replace them with higher earning gaming tables such as baccarat. Last year we already saw the closure of the Hard Rock Poker Lounge at City of Dreams, which was likely the victim of table cap pressures. The fallout of this spilled over to tournament poker, forcing the cancellation of last year’s Asian Poker Tour Macau leg.

There have also been persistent rumours of senior management at Wynn Macau lobbying for the closure of its highly-successful poker room; and PokerStars Macau has only now just been able to find a home at the Grand Waldo after departing Casino Grand Lisboa back in March 2012.

But all those trials and tribulations might be a thing of the past with this latest welcome move by the DICJ. At StarWorld Hotel, the Poker King Club’s Marketing Manager, Roberto Wong, confirmed that the table cap change for poker was in effect yesterday. “Currently we are running eight cash tables and before there were six tables,” said Wong.

Poker Portal Asia has also previously reported on the successful return of the Venetian’s poker room after temporarily closing last month. At the time, Poker Room Manager Matt Reece commented, “Yes, we did go down for two days only and, yes, it was connected with table cap issues and the opening of Sands Cotai Central. However, all those issues are resolved, we are back and we are not going anywhere.”

While unconfirmed, it’s likely that the relaxation of the table cap in relation to poker at the Venetian was a factor in being able to re-open Macau’s currently largest poker room. With a total of 14 cash poker tables at the Venetian, such a number would be very difficult to justify amidst the 1:1 poker and gaming table cap ratio previously instated.

Currently the casinos with functioning poker rooms in Macau are StarWorld, Wynn Macau, Casino Grand Lisboa, The Venetian and, from June 9, PokerStars Macau at Grand Waldo. However, it’s highly possible that the new table cap solution will see other casinos opening their own poker rooms as well. One industry source has already told Poker Portal Asia that Galaxy Macau has plans to launch their own poker room in the near future, but this remains unconfirmed.

As always, we’ll closely monitor this story and keep you updated on any important developments.

You can now play Texas Hold’em, Omaha, Omaha Hi/Lo and Five Card Draw and various No-Limit, Fixed Limit and Pot Limit variations of Zoom Poker. Stakes range from $0.01/$0.02 to $2.50/$5.

Multi-tabling options allow players to enter the same pool up to four tables at a time or sit down on a maximum eight tables across multiple pools. There’s also a feature where users hold down the CTRL key to be able to quickly see the outcome of a hand.

Team PokerStars Pro Daniel Negreanu commented, “Zoom Poker offers people a different way to play poker. Recreational players, who want more constant action, will be able to fold instantly and wait for better hands, while pro grinders will be able to get in hundreds of more hands an hour and win more. On top of all that, it’s just so much fun to play!”

Along with the Zoom desktop version, PokerStars have announced Zoom for Mobile on the Android platform this week for PokerStars.com, PokerStars.eu and PokerStars.net users. It features improved graphics for Android tablets, scrollable lobby menus to ease navigation and a new auto-rebuy function.

Download PokerStars for free to try out Zoom Poker.

The 5000-plus word post is filled with interesting anecdotes of his time in college when he first discovered poker. From his early of days of playing $10 sit-n-go’s to moving up in stakes and the joy he felt the first time he sat in a live tournament with pros such as Daniel Negreanu, Galfond scribes his story with an honest, often amusing and entertaining flair…

“Poker was like a video game, an awesome video game, and I was focused on building my bankroll, my ROI, and the stakes that I could beat.”

“My heaven was part of a three bedroom apartment.  I shared it with two girls, one of whom was sure I was gay for the majority of that year.  I think it was because I had a small poster on the outside of my door of a cat with a tiara that read “I’m a Princess” (I thought it was funny), and because she never saw me with a girl.”

Along the way he met and became friends with other now-famous pros such as Peter Jetten and Andrew Robl. Throw in a little bankroll management advice, memorable early hands and some of his own deep insights into the game and you have one entertaining read.

Check it out at PhilGalfond.com.

The pair moved from London to Thailand six months ago, setting up their “grindhouse” on the island of Phuket and have been living the good life ever since: “The weather just gives everyone a positive feel good factor. There’s no aggravation. When you’re out here, on any afternoon you’ll see hundreds of people outside exercising – women, children, old people playing tennis, everything. In England that doesn’t really happen. Kids are just getting fat on their Xboxes indoors while it pisses it down outside.”

But they still have to watch out for the usual traps that expats can fall into: “There are scams about and you’ve just got to get your head straight. Once you’re wise and not a completely green tourist, it’s an awesome place to live. We can go down the road and eat a four course meal with drinks for about £2.”

You can read more, ping pong show tales and all, at PokerPlayer.uk.

The ISPT concept combines live and online tournament play that will allow up to 30,000 players to compete on digital tablets before the top 3000 will advance to play on live tournament tables on the Wembley Stadium field. The tournament will feature a €600 buy-in and is open to everyone, with organisers expecting a prize pool of around €20 million.

For more information, head to the ISPT website.