But every once in a while something interesting flashes across my screen that I think you might be interested in.

So here goes. Take it with a grain of salt. Remember…press releases are P.R. for the person putting out the release. They aren’t necessarily all TRUE. Or, at least totally true. OK?

The release says:

Canadian-poker.ca reports that Full Tilt Poker, the online poker room notoriously shut down in America and worldwide, has taken its first step toward repaying players by finally paying off a $250,000 debt to its licensors.

The source for this money is unknown, though Canadian-poker.ca spokesman Leon Daniels predicts that it may mean potential investors in Full Tilt, including 888 Poker, Bwin.Party and Playtech, could be closer than ever to reaching a deal.

“With Full Tilt Poker’s finances finally looking better, it doesn’t mean the site will be back online soon, and we at Canadian-poker.ca will continue to recommend our players choose 888 Poker as the preferred online poker room.”

“I’ve mentioned before why companies like 888 would be interested in purchasing Full Tilt Poker. 888 has one of the biggest online poker rooms in the world, and they lost many players to the illegally operated Full Tilt. Now that Full Tilt is no longer active in the Canadian market, it makes sense that 888, a stable and reliable company, would take the opportunity to win back players in Canada, even if it means having to take responsibility for Full Tilt’s infamous debts.

“This shows just how stable 888 is. It is yet to be confirmed if 888 will invest in Full Tilt, but I certainly hope so.”

”I don’t believe PokerStars, formerly a huge presence in the online poker world, is a potential investor. Black Friday and subsequent investigations seem to have PokerStars’ hands full at the moment,” Daniels explained. ”While they’re faring better than Full Tilt by far, they still have to deal with the authorities,” he said.

Daniels continued to say that Party Poker, another potential Full Tilt investor, is also in the same league in terms of appealing to Canadian online poker players. “However,” he said, “Party Poker, who recently merged with Bwin Poker, already has a substantial share of the Canadian market, so it might be of less interest to them.”

Daniels added, “With Full Tilt Poker’s finances finally looking better, it doesn’t mean the site will be back online soon, and we at Canadian-poker.ca will continue to recommend our players choose 888 Poker as the preferred online poker room.”

OK. That’s it.

My reading: They are fishing for investors. Mentioning a lot of names.

Whether anything at all will come of this is worth watching.

Stay tuned.

Hey, I hope the biz comes back online and pays back what it owes.

And I also hope the U.S. legalizes online gambling.

Don’t you?

From Vegas, our correspondent (I went to school with him), reports that more than 6,800 Main Event entries began their pursuit of first place cash totaling $8.71 million on July 12.

Worldwide, 75,672 entries in 58 different tournaments makes this year’s WSOP the biggest ever.

Sponsors are loving it.

One of three online poker companies named last month in a federal indictment will be forced to enter bankruptcy, leaving American card players with money on deposit with the Absolute and UB poker sites at least temporarily empty handed.

I’m not one of those with money on deposit, but I am pissed off on behalf of those  who do.

News from the poker websites’ parent company, Blanca Gaming of Antigua, said it planned to file for bankruptcy protection in Norway after being informed that the latter company had “no cash on hand and no prospects for any cash flow for the foreseeable future.”

“Most importantly, Blanca Gaming has provided notice … that it is currently unable to make any payments toward its debt obligations,” said officials in an email to shareholders.

“Additionally, Blanca has further advised that there will be no future payments.”

Meantime, a source in Costa Rica, where Absolute Poker and UB (formerly Ultimate Bet) have their operations centre says that more than 300 customer support and marketing employees – approximately 95 percent of the staff — had been laid off.

Judicial officials in Costa Rica have been on the heels of  Scott Tom and Brent Beckley, named in the April 15 U.S. indictment, raiding homes and offices in San José and Santa Ana.

On Monday judicial officials continued the raids, capturing several key figures associated with operations in Costa Rica.

The U.S. indictment alleges that the sites committed bank fraud, money laundering and illegal gambling offenses by “tricking” U.S. banks into processing online gambling transactions, a violation of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006.

The indictment seeks at least $3 billion in penalties and forfeiture.

The bankruptcy means that players will never receive the money they deposited with Absolute Poker and UB, said a well known player (who asked to remain nameless).

What a shame.

Don’t you think?

If you have ESPN, and who in America doesn’t?…. you know that this Tuesday, the 29th, will� see the return of the cabler’s poker coverage, with the cablecast of the 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event.

Having made the money, returning players will be looking to take their shots at becoming a member of the November Nine as 400 players start the action hoping to snag the millions of dollars at stake.

The first hour of play� on the 29th (Tuesday night) focuses on a particularly strong table that features two wily veterans who have gone deep in previous WSOP Main Events: Andrew Black and 2009 November Nine member Jeff Shulman.

Joining the fray is 2009�s hottest player, Bertrand �ElkY� Grospellier.

In the second hour of play more than 300 players continue their fight for main event gold.

Players featured in the second hour include Joe Hachem, Peter Eastgate, Dennis Phillips, Phil Ivey and Dan Harrington.

I’ll be tuning in.

Will you?

Send me your take on what happens.

Until now.

While millions of online poker players take part in the game throughout the world, my segment of the market  has been frequently overlooked when it comes to online gaming.

No more.

Those of us who run Apple computers (I love my Mac) are left out of many of the activities found online. Especially poker.

Ultimate Bet, the online poker room is changing all that.

Ultimate Bet, the home of 11-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth, among others, will be offering up a Mac version of its popular site called UB Mac, a completely compatible version of the full offerings of Ultimate Bet for the Mac OS, something that has been asked for repeatedly by many poker fans.

“Our company strives to make our poker room accessible to as many people as possible and we recognize that Apple computers have a growing market share in the personal computing industry. In response to this trend, we have developed an all-new download poker application specifically for the Mac Operating System,” said Tokwiro Chief Operating Officer Paul Leggett. “As a Mac user myself, the only real limitation I have found is that a lot of poker applications will not run on the Mac OS. With UB Mac, players will enjoy the same incredible user experience that PC users currently have, and we remain committed to ongoing development of our Mac online poker client to ensure it is the best in the business.”

The new software allows Mac players to have access to the most popular features and functionality that UB users playing on Windows-compatible computers have, including ring games, satellites, single and multi-table Hold’em tournaments, and single player blackjack.

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Besides both Mac and Windows options, Ultimate Bet also has a no-download option for players who don’t want to bog down their systems with programs. Its sister site, Absolute Poker also has Mac option.

Other Mac-compatible online poker sites include Poker Stars and Full Tilt, both of which boast fully-functional clients for the Mac which can easily be downloaded and installed.

Now, I gotta run. Excuse me while I start playing. See you next week. Or sooner.

Hey, all you Mac people…let me know how things are working. Okay? If it sucks, let me know that too. And I’ll print your letters.

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