PokerStars Hall of Fame, bwin’s New Sponsorship, and More

It’s been another week of non-stop action at the online poker tables and there has been no shortage of news coming out of the major online poker sites, allowing a number of stories to go mostly unreported and unseen.

As always, our focus in this column will be on the news you may have missed while you were busy grinding the online games or browsing the NVG section of 2+2, so this week we’ll take a look at the following stories: First up will be the new addition to the PokerStars VIP Club Hall of Fame; next we’ll fill you in on the latest football sponsorship inked by bwin.party; followed by an examination of how Bet365 and the iPoker Network are faring in the online traffic wars; and we’ll finish up with some news about Terminal Poker’s mobile offerings.

PokerStars VIP Club Hall of Fame

The PokerStars VIP Club Hall of Fame saw a new addition to the very exclusive list of players that have attained the unbelievable goal of having five million lifetime VPP’s, Anthony “TPirahna” Pirone. Pirone is the 22nd player to reach this milestone on PokerStars, and is the first to do so playing mainly limit games, making this milestone an amazing accomplishment indeed.

Here is a look at the 21 other players already in the five million VPP club at PokerStars:  

• George “jorj95” Lind (10 million VPP’s)

• Matt ‘showtime’ Johnson

• ‘IntenseDawg’

• Yueliang ‘MILANTTII’ Gong

• Bertrand ‘ElkY’ Grospellier

• Alexander ‘k345’ Morozov

• Randy ‘nanonoko’ Lew

• Grayson ‘spacegravy’ Physioc

• William ‘wpr101’ Ross

• Max ‘Chisness’ Chiswick

• ‘Fishenzon’

• Juan José ‘JC-TheGuide’ Chavez

• Sergey ‘AironVega’ Oleynik

• Rodrigo ‘caprioli’ dos Santos Caprioli

• Jorge ‘twin-caracas’ Arias

• Jason ‘Prairie Hawk’ Grad

• Spencer ‘scossett’ Cossette

• Ryan ‘knifefish8’ Garitta

• Ryan ‘king10clubs’ Madsen

• Darin ‘darinvg’ Van Gammeren

• Tian ‘wobbly_au’ Shou

If you’re interested in learning more about TPirahna, Pirone authors a blog of his online exploits, and unlike a lot of high-stakes players, he is pretty good with updating and maintaining the site.

bWin Reinventing the Football Sponsorship Game

Real Madrid, Manchester United, Juventus, Bayern Munich, RSC Anderlecht, and now Olympique de Marseille: These are the not just the crème de la crème in European football, these are the European football teams that will sport the bwin.party logo during their upcoming seasons. With the latest deal with Olympique de Marseille bwin.party now has one of the top teams in five of the biggest leagues in Europe:

• Manchester United of the English Premier League

• Bayern Munich of the German Bundesliga

• RSC Anderlecht of the Belgian Pro League

• Olympique de Marseille of the French Ligue 1

• Juventus of the Italian Serie A

In a press release announcing their new sponsorship deal (which makes bwin.party the official online betting and gaming partner of the club) Norbert Teufelberger, the CEO of bwin had this to say:

“We are proud to establish this partnership with Olympique de Marseille, one of the oldest and most successful clubs in France and Europe. Today’s announcement means that we are now partnered with six of the greatest clubs in European football, enabling us to offer our customers an unparalleled range of online and real world offers.”

Bet365

Once again the iPoker Network has managed to hold-off Full Tilt Poker to maintain the #2 spot on PokerScout.com’s online traffic rankings, making them the second largest online poker outfit this side of PokerStars. The margin between iPoker and Full Tilt Poker is slim (2,400 to 2,350 when comparing the two online poker provider’s seven-day rolling average), but iPoker’s lead has been fairly steady over the past few weeks.

PokerStars continues to be the pacesetter, with a seven-day rolling average of 21,000 players according to PokerScout.com, but the chase pack has been tightening up in recent months.

The numbers and rankings could continue to change considering that a surging 888 Poker has jumped over Party Poker, and is now just a couple hundred players away from iPoker and Full Tilt Poker. Here is a look at the current rankings for the top five online poker providers according to PokerScout.com:

1. PokerStars: 7-Day Average of 21,000

2. iPoker Network: 7-Day Average of 2,400

3. Full Tilt Poker: 7-Day Average of 2,350

4. 888Poker: 7-Day Average of 2,050

5. Party Poker: 7-Day Average of 1,940

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What’s Happening at Terminal Poker

If you’re looking for a quality poker client for your mobile device –Smartphone or tablet– Terminal Poker may be just what you’re looking for. The site offers a downloadable version and an instant play version, and is compatible with iPhones, iPads, and Android devices. Furthermore, Terminal Poker also offers a very good 200% deposit bonus up to a maximum of €400 for all first-time players at the site.