US Feds allege Full Tilt Poker stakeholder and professional poker player Chris “Jesus” Ferguson was embroiled in an elaborate ponzi scheme. Now it is being reported he funneled $45 million of his $60 million in Full Tilt distribution payments into bank accounts held for him in the name of Pocket Kings Ltd. [more]

Hawaii, one of two states that does not even offer a lottery, is in the process of considering three different bills that would allow for both land-based and online gambling including Internet poker.

Last month, the US Justice Department opened the doors for states to begin allowing both poker and casino games on the Web. [more]

Australian firm Aristocrat Leisure Limited – who provide electronic gaming machines all the way up to complete gaming solutions, including ancillary equipment, electronic tables, services and systems – were the previous firm to officially apply to the Gaming Control Board for a licence back in late December as they look to expand their overseas concerns in countries such as the USA, the UK, New Zealand, Sweden, South Africa, Japan, Macau and Argentina. [more]

2005 World Series of Poker Main Event winner, Joe Hachem, will now serve as Ambassador for the Asian Poker Tour. Hachem recently parted ways with the world’s largest online poker room, PokerStars. At the time of his departure, Hachem claimed he wanted to spend more time with his family. [more]

A new winner was crowned on Friday at the 2012 Aussie Millions Poker Championship. Seasoned pro Tom Middleton captured the Event #5: $1,100 No-Limit Hold’em Six Handed title. Also, an absolutely stacked final table was set in Event #6: $1,100 No-Limit Hold’em w/ Rebuys. It includes 2010 Aussie Millions Main Event winner Tyron Krost, Dan “djk123” Kelly, Jim “Mr_BigQueso” Collopy, Jonathan Karamalikis; and Marvin Rettenmaier.

Another Black Friday defendant has admitted guilt in processing payments for online poker sites as Ira Rubin, among the 11 individuals indicted last year by the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ), pled guilty to three counts and is expected to serve from 18 to 24 months behind bars. [more]

Iowa lawmakers were discussing the possibility of legalizing online poker as part of a multi-state platform that would tap into the populations of other states considering the option such as Nevada and the District of Columbia. [more]

Some of the biggest names in poker will be battling it out to be crowned the Player of the Year at the upcoming European Poker Awards to be held at the Aviation Club de France in Paris.

English stars Jake Cody – a one-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner – and Titan Poker-sponsored Sam Trickett, a high stakes cash games specialist, will face challenges from French Triple Crown winner Bertrand ‘ElkY’ Grospellier, last year’s WSOP main event winner Pius Heinz, from Germany, Russian Andrey Pateychuck – who picked up $937,530 for winning the European Poker Tour (EPT) San Remo main event last October – and Ukrainian Team PokerStars Pro Eugene Katchalov, who last year collected $1.5 million for taking down the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure $100,000 buy-in Super High Roller tournament. [more]

On his way to the upcoming Aussie Millions, Gus Hansen stopped off in Macau to play cash poker in Macau’s Big Game, finishing his third 24-hour marathon session with a huge profit of $3.8 million.

The famed Big Game at StarWorld Macau’s Poker King Club has been running for a few weeks and features blinds of $1,300/$2,600 in U.S. dollars. In addition to wealthy Asian businessmen, other players recently found seated at the Big Game table include top pros such as Phil Ivey, Sam Trickett, John Juanda and Andrew Robl. [more]

The Merge Bad Beat Jackpot has once again gone off. It had been building for a while and we had finally cracked the $1 million mark again before it was hit. Here is the hand ID for reference – #47082389-318

Player ‘Eulson’ was dealt pocket 7′s while player ’123maryc’ was dealt pocket Q’s. ’123maryc’ raised pre-flop and was re-raised by ‘Eulson’. Not to be outdone, ’123maryc’ re-raised again and was called by ‘Eulson’. All other players folded and the flop was dealt. [more]