The British Poker Awards are back!

There are many ways to cast your votes again this year but there are two categories you are not allowed to have your say in unless you are Jesse May - the much loved American poker commentator and player or one of the five other members of this year's Judging panel. which include Bluff Europe, Poker Channel Europe, Poker Listings, Poker News or PokerStrategy.com.  These categories are Player of the Year and Best International Player.  While the three other awards you have to leave to 'Pro's Choice' are Best Card Room, Best Card Room Manager and Best Tournament Director.

But there are eleven other opportunites to have your voice heard as voting is going on.  The first thing you'll probably notice when you check in to cast your votes is Neil Channing's face - not a bad way to go really as he was voted the Best Cash Player in the inaugural British Poker Awards.  Neil is part of a video clip highlighting the 2010 event.  James Akenhead is there as the Best Tournament Player as well, while Sam Trickett was voted Best New Player.  The online side of the game saw awards go to Chris Moorman as Best Online Player while Best UK Poker Forum went to the Hendon Mob.  Best Contribution to Poker went to Vicky Coren and The Player of the Year honours went to Praz Bansi.
 
The 2011 awards saw some some players receiving second awards.  Vicky Coren was awarded Best Social Media User, Neil Channing got Best Blogger, Chris Moorman repeated as Best Online Player and Sam Trickett took Best Cash Player.  The faces changed for the other big categories with Jason Mercier awarded Best International Player, Kara Scott was recognized as Poker Personality of the Year and Jake Cody scooped as Best Tournament Player AND Player of the Year.

This year Sam Trickett is up for Best Cash Player again as well as Best Tournament Player, Chris Moorman is back as a Best Online Player nominee (can he three-peat?) and Neil, Kara and Vicky are also on one nominee list or another for their contributions to the game.

The awards ceremony takes place on 17th September aboard the Yacht H.M.S. President - for a very reasonable £21.85 including fees you can buy a general admission ticket which gives you an invite to the VIP player's cocktail party with live music and entertainment as well as your seat at the ceremony.  The historic yacht is docked on the Embankment in the City of London, so no anti-nausea medication required unless your favorite player loses.

Carl "The Dean" Sampson plays poker at www.pokerstars.co.uk

Latest Poker News

Starting in July of this year, after the news that Shuffle Master cancelled its agreement to purchase the online poker company Ongame Network, mutters and whispers began to emerge regarding a Zynga/Ongame deal.  At the time the Shuffle Master/Ongame Network deal fell through, bwin.party issued a statement that Ongame Network was "re-engaging with other third parties that have expressed an interest in acquiring Ongame" after both itself and Shuffle Master "mutually agreed not to proceed with the proposed transaction".  Zynga's name came to the forefront of the rumours when Chief Executive Officer and founder of Zynga Mark Pincus stated that Zynga was actively exploring the real money gambling market internationally.

Having recently been beat to the Facebook real money gaming punch by Gamesys, it seems that if these current rumours are true and Zynga is no longer one of the companies touted to be in negotiations with the Ongame Network, they've lost out on another real-money gaming plum. Ongame is the second largest online poker network, with 30 faces including Hollywoodpoker, bwin, FullDeckPoker, Gala Casinos, Coral and Betfair.  Of course, the Ongame Network skins base their online gaming on more than poker, offering casino games, slot machines and sportsbetting among other real-money action.  They have skins aimed at Denmark (Scandic Bookmakers), Greece (Poker.gr), Russia (Fonbet) and almost every inch of the rest of Europe, and are heavily supported in the UK by multiple outlets.

However, the plum has been pruning a bit in the harsh climate created for online real-money gaming by the events surrounding the shutdowns of several major sites such as PokerStars and FullTilt poker by the U.S. Department of Justice which began in April 2011, just one month after Ongame went on the market.  Like many if not all of the other competing networks, Ongame has seen its player traffic down a hefty chunk over this last year and is surely hoping that the recent news of the PokerStars settlement with the U.S. authorities for itself and FullTilt signals a change in the weather for the better.

Come and play poker with Carl at www.pokerstars.co.uk