Weekly Roundup January 8 2016
Bovada Drops Stud Games
Bovada, the largest U.S.-facing online poker room, removed Seven Card Stud and Seven Card Stud High/Low from its software. This includes cash games, sit and gos and multi table tournaments. This move also applies to Bodog, Bovada’s network partner that primarily operates in Canada.
This move leaves U.S. players with no home for Seven Card Stud and Seven Card Stud High/Low. Players in Delaware and Nevada will find a game most nights at WSOP.com and the Delaware sites that network into it. Otherwise, mixed games at Merge Gaming are the best bet.
PokerStars Strike Part II
More than 2,000 players participated in a strike during the first week of January. This was about 500 fewer than the December strike. PokerStars publicly stated that the first strike only affirmed its theory that high stakes players angry at lower rakeback in 2016 were hurting the ecology.
Neither strike appears to have had any effect on traffic. The action also failed to convinced PokerStars to rethink its 2016 business plan. Another strike is planned in February.
California Online Poker Hearing Canceled
The California Governmental Organization Committee was scheduled to hear testimony about online poker, daily fantasy sports and sports betting on January 8. Online poker and sports betting were removed from the agenda. That left only daily fantasy sports. It was filed as AB 1437 and passed the committee. It became the first daily fantasy sports bill in the country to be approved through a committee vote.