Every week we try to bring you some of the stories you may have missed in the poker world, and this week there is enough fodder for two columns (so keep an eye peeled for another Hidden Headlines column in the coming days) with rumors, updates, and news coming in from all corners of the poker world.

Merge Gaming Network eliminates Bad Beat Jackpot tables

Last week the Merge Gaming Network decided to end their Bad Beat Jackpot, closing down all of the network’s BBJ tables after the final jackpot hits. Considering the frequency the Merge jackpot is hit, it could be quite some time before the tables are eliminated. The BBJ at Merge stands at about $300k.

Bad Beat Jackpots are a double edged sword in the poker world, as the exclusive BBJ tables tend to attract recreational players, but at the same time are abhorred by serious poker players who find it hard to beat the extra $1 collection from each pot. The elimination of these tables will send some of the more casual players into the general pool, but it might also cause them to join a different room that still offers BBJ tables.

Isai Scheinberg settles criminal complaint?

According to an article at CalvinAyre.com, Isai Scheinberg and the US Department of Justice are finalizing a deal that would see the PokerStars founder settle the criminal charges against him for some $500 million. When added to the $730 million PokerStars paid for Full Tilt Poker and to settle their civil case, the final toll on Scheinberg is roughly $1.25 Billion!

You can read the article here: http://calvinayre.com/2012/08/22/poker/pokerstars-isai-scheinberg-criminal-charges-to-be-dropped/

Scuffle at WPT Legends of Poker

You would be hard pressed to find a poker player more loathed at the current time than Matt Marafioti, who outside of anyone with the surname Lederer or a WSOP Champion from 1994 or 2000 could very well be the most hated person in poker at the moment.

The most recent addition to Marafioti’s resume, which includes charges of multi-accounting, colluding with another player in a three player game, not paying his debts, and most recently possibly being involved in a multi-million dollar online poker hacking ring, Marafioti can now add assault to this list if the reports at the WPT website and across Twitter are to be believed.

Basically, Marafioti (who was playing the WPT Legends of Poker Main Event under the watch of a bodyguard) shoved Jonathan Aguiar after verbally confronting him on a break in the action. For the details of what happened you can read the WPT version of the incident (and then I recommend a quick jump to the twitter account of Jon Aguiar @JonAguiar): http://www.worldpokertour.com/Live_Updates/Live.aspx?q={A8447DF1-DBC4-4F4B-9A12-3E116BE5A8CE}&blogId={339F2839-5077-446A-BAE1-DEF8CF272468}

PokerStars adds Run-it-Twice feature

Last week PokerStars announced that the much anticipated Run-it-Twice feature will soon be available at the site. Several sites, including Merge Gaming Network rooms offer this feature (which pro players use to cut down on variance). Players will have to opt-in to the Run-it-Twice feature beforehand, and if they and their opponent(s) both have it checked then the software will run all-in situations twice, if even one player involved does not opt-in to the Run-it-Twice feature it will not be used during the hand.

Tags: Civil Case, Criminal Charges, Criminal Complaint, Department Of Justice, Double Edged Sword, Fodder, Full tilt Poker, Gaming Network, Hated Person, Jackpots, Lederer, Legends Of Poker, Poker Player, poker players, Poker World, PokerStars, Resum, Scheinberg, Serious Poker, Us Department Of Justice

This entry was posted on Monday, August 27th, 2012 at 9:44 am and is filed under Poker News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.