Only days after telling an industry publication that he would remain as Commissioner for the the Harrah's World Series of Poker if this suited his superiors, Jeffrey Pollack has resigned to 'explore new business challenges."

After an 87 hand heads up starting late Monday night, 21-year-old Joe Cada, a poker pro originally from Michigan and a community college drop-out, is worth $8,547,042 today (Tuesday) after winning the World Series of Poker main event. The victory came when he went all in with pocket nines versus heads up opponent Darvin Moon's queen and jack of diamonds.

Having overcome it's last-minute rival bidder Mandalay Media, the Gibraltar-based online gambling group Party Gaming plc this week announced the completion of its deal to acquire World Poker Tour Enterprises.

The 2009 World Series of Poker main event heads up on Monday will be between Darvin Moon and Joe Cada. Sometime before 5am Sunday morning local time the audacious Frenchman Antoine Saout ended his remarkable and at times wildly exciting main event bid when he was taken out in third place for a take-home of $3,479,670 by Cada. It ended a long day of 17.5 hours on the final table and at hand #276 it overtook last year's final hands played including the heads up.

Three months and 23 days after the composition of the final table of the World Series of Poker main event was decided, the much-anticipated grand finale kicked off at the Rio in Vegas Saturday.

November 7th is a date many pokerheads have outlined in red on their calendars; after weeks of anticipation it marks the start - or re-start - of the World Series of Poker action, specifically the final table climax in which nine finalists battle it out.

In an interesting parallel story to the Kentucky hearings, LexisNexis Butterworths reported on a legal preemptive strike through its domain name registrar but clearly aimed at the state of Kentucky - before a British court!

The Poker Players Alliance has issued a statement applauding the latest developments in a case in which five South Carolina poker players appear to have won the skill vs. luck argument, ultimately defeating charges of unlawful gambling.

The respected Wall Street Journal reports that political and legislative moves are afoot in Hungary to legalise and tax online and land poker, with plans to initially raise some €1 million in tax revenues from live poker alone.

The rumours flying around the online gambling industry recently that Party Gaming plc was about to make an offer for World Poker Tour Enterprises have been confirmed by a company announcement that a deal is in progress.