On this page we've listed summaries of the most important news events of November 2005
Phil Ivey wins Monte Carlo Millions
November 27, 2005 - Phil Ivey won the Monte Carlo Millions tournament this week at the famous Casino de Monte Carlo. The Monte Carlo Millions had a $3 million prize pool this year, fully covered by the Prima Poker Network. Five-time WSoP bracelet winner Phil Ivey took home the $1 million dollar first prize after beating Paul "Action" Jackson from Great Britain.
Virgin Poker re-launches after complete redesign
November 27, 2005 - Virgin Gaming has re-launched it's poker room, Virgin Poker, this week with a massive marketing campaign. Virgin Poker is powered by Boss Media software. The site was introduced earlier this year, but has now been re-launched after a complete redesign.
Nick Schulman is youngest ever WPT Champion
November 27, 2005 - Nick Schulman is the latest World Poker Tour champion after winning the World Poker Finals at Foxwoods Casino last week. At an age of 21, Nick Shulman is the youngest player ever to win a World Poker Tour event. Schulman won the $2.1 million dollar first prize in little more than three and a half hour of play at the final table.
Tribeca Tables introduces Badugi Poker
November 20, 2005 - Tribeca Tables launched a new poker game this week called Badugi Poker. The game originates from South Korea where it was know as "Paduki". It's a triple draw lowball poker variant where A-2-3-4 of all different suits is the best hand. The Tribeca Tables platform is the first poker network that will offer this interesting poker variant.
OnGame expands into Russia and Poland
November 20, 2005 - Swedish poker giant OnGame expanded it's operations into Russia and Poland this week with the launch of a real money pokerroom in the Russian language, and plans for a Polish language site well on their way. OnGame is the first big poker network to target Poland and Russia poker players in their own language.
Prima Poker welcomes 46th card room
November 20, 2005 - The Prima Poker Network welcomed six new card rooms this week to its growing poker network, bringing to 46 the number of card rooms using this platform. The new rooms include AllInPoker.com, betEd.com, DreamPoker.com, PokerTime.com, PokerArena.com and 5DogsPoker.com.
Hollywood Poker raises $50,000 for charity
November 20, 2005 - Kudos to Hollywood Poker.com, which this week showed that poker players have plenty of heart in a celebrity tournament that raised US $ 50 000 for charity.
HSBC upgrades rating for PartyGaming
November 20, 2005 - Analysts at HSBC this week took a brighter view of poker giant Party Gaming, lifting the share price target to 122p and revealing that there is a strong potential upside of 30 percent on the share price at the 94p level.
WPT adds Borgata Poker Classic to it's 4th season
November 13, 2005 - The World Poker Tour announced this week the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa in Atlantic City will host a second WPT event this season, the Borgata Poker Classic . The new tournament is scheduled from January 29 to February 1, 2006. The event brings the total number of WPT stops to 17 in it's 4th season.
All charges dropped in 'biggest gambling raid since Prohibition'
November 13, 2005 - Last week the Baltimore police charged 80 poker players with illegal gambling in "the biggest gambling raid in the city since the Prohibition" as a police spokesman described the event. This week prosecutors dropped all charges, because the police quoted the wrong statute when charging them.
PartyGaming buys MultiPoker and IntertopsPoker skins
November 13, 2005 - Last week we reported PartyGaming is negotiating a possible take-over with Empire Online. This week the news surfaced that PartyGaming has bought MultiPoker and IntertopsPoker, both former so-called 'skins' of PartyPoker. A third skin, Coral Eurobet, has decided to go it's own way and is preparing to migrate it's player base to another platform, which is rumored to be the OnGame poker network.
2006 Canadian Open Championship hosted by Stampede Casino
November 13, 2005 - The 2006 Canadian Open Championship of Poker will take place at the Stampede Casino on the Stampede Grounds in Calgary, Alberta from March 8 to March 12. The championship is a no-limit Texas Hold'em heads-up event and is limited to 128 players who each have to buy in for 5,000 Canadian dollars.
PokerShare closes down completely on Monday Nov 14th
November 13, 2005 - PokerShare will be closing it's doors at 9AM ET on November 14. PokerShare, an online poker site running on the Excapsa platform, offered their clients a 40 percent share of it's profits. Apparently the closure was triggered by complaints from other skins, including UltimateBet, that PokerShare's innovative business model resulted in unfair competition.
Hollywood celebrities honor Doyle Brunson
November 6, 2005 - Las Vegas hottest new nightclub, Light - situated at the plush Bellagio Hotel & Casino - played host to the first ever player appreciation party, honoring the legendary poker great: Doyle Brunson .
Bluff Magazine to deliver content to ESPN Network
November 6, 2005 - Eric Morris's Bluff Media scored a honey of a deal this week with the announcement that it is to provide a wide range of poker content and information to the ESPN Poker Club section of this leading sports site that boasts tens of thousands of unique visitors daily.
PartyGaming and Empire Online enter takeover negotiations
November 6, 2005 - For months now - since Party Gaming's IPO in June - there has been industry speculation that the world's biggest online poker site will make acquisition moves on what was at one time one of it's greatest player magnets - Empire Poker. This week Empire revitalized the conversation by confirming that PG had made a "preliminary approach".
Joe Hachem joins PokerStars
November 6, 2005 - Joe Hachem, the 2005 World Series of Poker champion, has signed an agreement with PokerStars.com, the world's largest tournament poker site. Hachem, who won the record $7.5 million top prize at the World Series of Poker (WSOP) in Las Vegas in July, will represent PokerStars.com as a sponsored player and ambassador.
Betfair acquires Danish Poker Champs
November 6, 2005 - Hard on the heels of its announcement that it is to continue using Cryptologic poker software for the next few months at least, come reports that Betfair has just closed a deal it has been working on for months - the acquisition of Danish online poker site Poker Champs, and their software company Aglet.