A site that promised to revolutionize modern poker shut down today when Duplicate Poker announced that they were closing their doors. In a statement sent to affiliates and members, Duplicate Poker stated,

“Duplicate Poker is sadly bidding farewell to its players and affiliates. Caught in the middle of the global financial situation the company is not able to continue to provide service.

Regretfully as of the today, October 5, 2008 we are closing our service. We thank our affiliates and players for being with us. Hopefully at later time and in a better economic climate Duplicate Poker will reappear.”

This same notice now appears on the website www.duplicatepoker.com. Players that wish to withdraw their funds may put in a request on the website.

Today’s announcement of Duplicate Poker’s closing comes as not big surprise to many as the concept was viewed as flawed from the beginning. The concept of duplicate poker was to give players at a table the same hole cards as a player in the same seat at another table. The player that won the most or lost the least with their cards were declared the winner.

The concept was to try and make poker a game of skill in an attempt to legalize the game for United States markets. Massive amounts of money were spent on advertising and marketing trying to generate interest in this product. A marketing ploy that was used to try and draw in more customers was to offer $100 per player who made a minimum deposit of $50 and earned 100 player points. One thing to note is that 100 player points would not generate but $10 in rake at the tables. The company was paying $100 to get $10. Such marketing practices usually do not result in long term profit.

In addition there were problems with traffic to the site. It seemed that many of the cash games were fairly empty and that the use of bots by the site was very prevalent. There were some complaints that the bots style of play caused losses. The games also took a long time to seat, and when the games did seat, many were at the lowest levels. Also, the speed of the software seemed to cause issues with many players. Players complained of the software running too slow.

Not all complaints were bad about the site. Many players mentioned that they were able to win money without deposits due to the freerolls the site regularly ran. Also, players reported that they were paid with very few problems overall.

The announcement of Duplicate Poker’s closing comes on the heels of Lassiters Casino shutting down. On September 9th, Lasseters Corporation Limited suspended trading due to poor performance. They then ceased operation of their online casinos immediately.

Recently it was reported that there are more online poker players today than there were even a year ago. However, when a new site enters the market, they must do something to make themselves stand out from the others. Hopefully the demise of Duplicate Poker will teach new potential gaming site owners things not to do when running their new business.

Reports said that Eighty one Poker players took part in the first charity Holdem tournament to be held under New Brunswick’s new gaming laws – including the province’s justice minister.

Avid Poker fan, Justice Minister T.J. Burke, said New Brunswick’s gaming laws have developed to provide charitable groups access to a new source of revenue.

“Today’s craze is Texas Hold’em, Omaha Hi/Lo… and these are types of tournaments that players are coming out to participate in, so that we help and assist with charitable organizations that need to off-set some of their overhead by generating revenue,” he told CTV Atlantic.

Under New Brunswick’s laws, players will pay to play in the tournament and at least 45 per cent of the pot must go to a charitable organization. Only 35 per cent of the pot can be given out as prize money.

Paul Wentzell’s group of United Commercial Travelers, a service club, last held a poker tournament almost four years ago and during that time they were told it was illegal and they have since rallied for changes.

“We’ve been patiently waiting and things have finally worked their way through the government process,” he said. “The regulations came out early last month and we’re pleased to be hosting the first charity tournament in the province.”

The tournament was said to be under close watch by the government, although that was as much about learning how it works as it was about enforcement of the rules.

The Canadian Cancer Society and the Canadian Paraplegic Association are among the charities benefiting from the tournament, and they say they are pleased with the new laws.

“I think they took their time and did a good job in terms of investigating and making sure that when they did make the announcement and come out with the regulations that they had covered everything,” John O’Toole of the Canadian Paraplegic Association said.

Note: Though there are numerous Poker Reviews written about the legality of playing poker whether online or not, none of them had really mentioned or suggested that it should be legalized for a good cause. I really like this new agreement between the government of Canada and the poker industry. The law will not only work for both concerned parties but it will also work for the advantage of the less privileged and the sick. Since the poker Industry generates huge amount of profit, it is just right that they shift their attention from making money to a commitment of helping. After all what they are donating or giving out is just a small amount of money compared to what the poker earn. But this small amount of money from them may mean the biggest thing to the less privileged people.

In a podcast discussion, a man said that the correct attitude in playing poker – the one you should always strive to have – is that you are always even when the hand begins. No matter what has happened previously – play your hand for what it’s worth now.

He made sure to make a mental note to follow his own advice. It is sound advice – one of those things that’s easy to grasp intellectually, but damned hard to put into practice as players unconsciously and constantly struggle with the concept.

It’s never easy to see your play as one long poker game. Engaging in some deep poker pondering this week the speaker put all his efforts to understand game theory,

He said that he was re-reading a discussion of applications of game theory and ended up pondering Emmanuel Kant’s categorical imperative which states:

“Act only on such a maxim through which you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law”

While the intention behind the imperative is aimed at the principles of morality, it got him to wondering what would happen if it was applied to the decisions we are faced with when playing poker. Was it even applicable? The following example of Kant’s imperative he mentioned further intrigued me.

“Always borrow money when in need and promise to pay it back without any intention of keeping the promise”

If you try to follow this maxim logically, you will discover that, whereas this maxim is beneficial to the individual, it cannot be regarded as a universal law – everyone would then be insincere that people would break promises, making them irrelevant, therefore they’d cease to exist. This maxim is nothing but a contradiction since, ultimately, it’s not in an individual’s best interest to break the promise. If you can keep a promise, why will you break it?

But is there a dictum for a poker player to act on that given that he is willed, could become a universal poker law? For the poker player it’s naturally his individual interest to try to make the correct decision on each hand. It is not in his vested interest for his opponents to do the same. Success in poker is dependent upon making wise +EV decisions while your opponents make -EV mistakes. If everyone is making the “correct” play all the time then, theoretically, at best you will break even over the long term. Right?

Poker, then, i assume, would seem to require a little chaos and unpredictability in order for the individual to achieve ongoing gain. Therefore, Kant’s categorical imperative isn’t applicable.

Even so, if you think about how far you have reached when it comes to playing poker, philosophizing the events and strategy you employed will really help since thinking deep about it will not only motivate you more to do well in a game, it will also help you understand your who or what you are in relation to poker.

Full Tilt’s David Singer, who has been
playing poker for a living since 1996,
won the most challenging poker game
ever assembled and collected $560K for
winning the prestigious title.

Singer captures $25,000 heads-up
championship on Full Tilt and claimed
his sweet victory after he took down
Emil “whitelime” Patel to win the
$560,000 first-place prize.

Before becoming the famous and
wealthy Poker player he is now, Singer
had a brief career working as an
environmental lawyer– yes he was a
lawyer– who specialized in cleaning up
Long Island Sound for a non-profit organization.

Although Singer used to be a lawyer, he was earning less than the secretaries he worked with. He studied to become a lawyer purely so that he could work on environmental issues and his main focus when he gained employment was with water issues, especially concerning the Long Island Sound.

When his hours at work began to be cut back he looked for another job and that is when he came across the reality of playing apoker game.

Remembering his youthful days, playing poker had been a big part of Singer’s life as he played with friends and family from a school age. Aside from playing poker Singer worked on sport-fishing and commercial boats and amazingly, at one time, he even managed to hold two fishing world records which shows that even during his younger days, he was already a record setter who continues to bring in more success up to the present day.

For the first five years venturing into the poker community, Singer focused on his favorite cash game7 card stud exclusively, studying and honing his poker skills at Foxwoods and at a private club in New York.

What really attracted Singer to play poker even more seriously in the last few years, was the big prize pools for No-Limit tournaments.

He knew poker is really for him when he finished ninth at the World Series of Poker Main Event in 2003, and has had numerous large cashes and high finishes since then.

In 2006, this Brooklyn born guy won $435,000 as a third-place finisher at the Word Poker Tournament Caribbean Adventure. After which, he then went on to win the Mirage Heads-Up Poker Showdown for $232,000, and took the sixth place in the $50K HORSE event at the 2006 World Series Online Poker Tourney, where he won another $411,000.

Yes, i know what you are thinking. Money will never be an issue to this guy especially when you found out that he collected $1 million, his biggest ever payday, for winning the Caesars Palace Classic in Las Vegas, added to the $337K for another sixth-place finish when he returned to the $50K HORSE final table in 2007. His career tournament winnings is reportedly in excess of $3.83 million. Whew.

In mid 2005, some revealing (but not x-rated)
photo’s of Jennifer Leigh “Jennicide” were leaked
and caused her internet popularity to go up
10-fold; now after placing 42nd out of 724 players
in a 2006 World Poker Tour tournament, Jennicide
has been unstoppable that she even bagged
her very own Playboy Spread.

After realizing that her leaked web-cam
photo’s were actually a blessing in disguise,
Jennicide went into self promotion overload
and caught the attention of Hefner’s company.
Jennicide gave SheKnows exclusive insight to her
Playboy sizzling shots.

SheKnows (SK): How did you get into poker?

Jennifer Leigh (JL): I’m a nerd. I’m one of the nerdiest girls I’ve ever met. Early on at a very young age, I was always playing on the computer. So I had this computer literacy behind me and I eventually ventured into areas like hacking, gaming, Everquest, World of Warcraft, and hardcore Raiding Guild. I’m a hardcore raider, always trying to get into the Black Temple, and the Wrath of Lich Kings. Nobody ever believes I’m a poker player and a gamer on World of Warcraft.

I was a pre-law major at the University of Delaware and wanted to be the star of the courtroom. But then I found my new obsession. Robert Boyd, poker champion Dutch Boyd’s brother, was a good friend. He said I should try out this online tournament. It was only a $5 pay in. This was the worst move for an adrenaline junky. I was soon the new female player on the scene dominating online tournaments. I was soon entering larger and larger tournaments.

SK: Strategy-based online games like Magic the Gathering have turned out some of the new breed of poker player. Do you think your online gaming background influenced your poker career?

JL: Oh yea. Tons of great players have come from Magic the Gathering. David Williams, Ali Eslami, The Keller Brothers, MadCaddy, Jon Murphy, and Scott Dove, to name a few, are all great players. In online gaming, you have to learn how to personalize the experience and realize that the chip desensitizes you from thinking about being real money. Overall though, games like Magic have contributed greatly. It’s sick.

SK: You are not only a successful tourney player, but you’re also a successful cash game player. Which do you prefer to play and why?

JL: Demographically, you have your random players who get very lucky and they win their big tournaments with very large buy ins, like the World Series of poker The field consists of 7,000 to 10,000 players and it’s like buying a $10,000 lottery ticket, it’s a crap shoot generally.

Tournaments are the gratification, the glory. You win a tournament and you feel like you conquered. You just beat a field of however many players and you played your “A” game, your best game. A lot of different elements of the game come into play like luck, variation and changing your pace. Like a video game, it’s your final boss and you’re preparing to down the boss.

Cash games are more consistent. As a professional cash game player, you set yourself on a very meticulous budget, more management of yourself and your money. I prefer cash games — they made me my living. Heads Up play is personal gratification because I’m so aggressive, like a warrior you could say. Having an opponent heads up with you and beating them is something that feels really good when you’re done.

SK: What do you consider your greatest moment?

JL: I did Playboy last year. This is going to be real big. It’ll be a six-page pictorial coming out beginning of April. Coming from a small town in Delaware, it’s HUGE. It’s very hard to grasp coming from one end of the spectrum to the other — from a $5 tournament to this!

SK: Did you enjoy posing for Playboy?

JL: I liked working with the cast and crew the best. I never thought I’d do it. It took a lot of confidence and talking to my parents. They weren’t too sure of it. They looked at it as an issue of moral. But a woman is beautiful on the inside and out. To tell you the truth, the more you can become one with your body the better. I have hips and breasts and don’t try to use it — but I can and that’s OK. Posing in Playboy allowed a platform for me to show women that it’s possible to be a staple in poker and we’re not going anywhere.

SK: How did your parents react to your posing in Playboy?

JL: Believe it or not, my dad was prouder than my mom, although, my mom came on the shoot with me. The shoot was very professional but it was a very long process. But it was an eye-opener for me. You walk into the Playboy studio, you see Marilyn Monroe, and you think to yourself, “I’m here and they’re photographing me … this is amazing!” I think the human body is beautiful. Posing made me feel more confident about myself as well.

SK: Who would you say is your role model?

JL: Jennifer Harman is one of my biggest role models just because she has been through so many health issues and life struggles and is still noticed as not only one of the best female players, but one of the BEST players in the world. That’s hard to do in the poker industry. “It’s a man’s world,” they say. I think of Harman when I’m at my low and running bad. I’m reminded that I’ll come out of it with a positive experience and survive.

SK: Do you consider yourself a role model for women?

JL: I won’t say I’ve been to Hell and back, but a lot of younger women have been through what I’ve been through. In general, you have to watch your back. In a perfect world, it’d be a very simple peaceful world, but they are very cruel people who can take advantage of you. So having your own self-awareness is important. Being someone with a positive outlook is a good role model for women and that’s what I try to do.

SK: Do you have any advice for players wanting to try their hand at poker ?

JL: It really depends on you and what attracts you to the game. For me, it’s competitiveness. When you’re completely known as a world-class poker player, there’s always room to find improvements. I tell women who are interested in poker to take anything you have done and been passionate about and take that energy and consume it into what you love and work with it. Do the best you can by using knowledge — which is power. Never be intimidated because of a specific gender.

SK: Does it ever get old having people adding “woman” to the term poker
player?

JL: I wish we’d get rid of that term. When talking about a female post deliverer, we don’t use the term “post woman.” We’re not aliens, we’re women. It’s very sensitive for some people. Tournaments are never classified by race or sexual preference, but it is classified by gender. All poker players are the same, although women are more intuitive then men.

SK: Who would you select to play at your “dream” table?
Ted Forrest
Phil Ivey
Jennifer Harman
Doyle Bruson
Phill Hellmuth
Vanessa Rouseau
Dan Harrington
Miami John Cernuto
Annie Duke
Daniel Negraneau
Mark Seif

SK: Any last word for your fans?

JL: I just want to thank everyone for their support. It’s going to be an amazing year!

If you still haven’t seen the pics of this poker player, just click on these links and it will take you directly to her. Take notice of how Playboy airbrushed her frontal area to look like she has the anatomy of a barbie doll.