Two of the most popular brands in online gaming are making big news today as word of their successful move from the Cake Poker Network over to the Merge Poker Network gets out.  Both PlayersOnly Poker and Sportsbook.com Poker are in the spotlight.  While rumors of the move have been circulating for months, in this industry, most people have the ‘I’ll believe it when I see it’ approach to such things.  Knowing that negotiations can always take on a new twist at the ninth hour, everyone was waiting on the edge of their seats to see if it actually would happen.  And folks, it did.  The landscape of the online poker industry has been changed over night.

One of the most highly anticipated events of the year, the Full Tilt Online Poker Series XVI is rapidly approaching, and you can already feel the excitement building throughout the online poker community.  All events combined in the exciting FTOPS XVI will see a total of $25 Million in guaranteed prize money.  Now that’s some serious payout potential!!  The renowned online poker tournament kicks off on April 23rd, and goes through May 2nd, 2010.  There will then be a mini FTOPS XVI tournament that runs May 7th through May 16th, 2010.

Maybe representing your country in the Olympics was not a possibility, but representing your nation in the game of poker is!!  The Americas Cup Of Poker gives poker enthusiasts the chance to proudly play for the glory of your homeland.  Not only are you playing for your country, but you’re also playing for you with a $150,000 prize pool on the line.  This spectacular event has online qualifiers and PokerStars Pros compete for their nation at an extraordinary live event in South America.  There will be over four weeks of online qualifications in which you can win a place on your country’s team, and the eight countries that will move on to the live final event will be determined.

PokerStars is the largest online poker room in the industry, which is a testament in and of itself to how much they are simply adored by online poker enthusiasts.  PokerStars was able to achieve this high ranking status due to their tenacity in demonstrating to the online poker community their commitment to providing the absolute highest quality online gaming experience possible.  Part of this commitment has been to remain on the cutting edge technologically, and to provide the best promotions and events.  PokerStars’ latest exciting promotion is no exception.

After being on the market for just a few weeks, and free of viable tracking and analysis programs, Full Tilt Poker’s ‘Rush Poker’ has some new accompaniments.  The Full Tilt Poker team was originally pleased with the prospect of leveling the playing field by eliminating the edge provided by poker tracking software programs.  However, I’m sure they fully expected this to be short lived and for the poker tracking software industry to eventually catch up with the new technology.   In regards to poker tracking software, PokerTracker and Holdem Manager are the industry leaders.  Both have released usable patches to allow players to use their software solutions when playing with the Rush Poker at Full Tilt, but it is PokerTracker’s solution that has come out on top.