The latest limit holdem event of the 2011 WSOP has come and gone. Event 14 was won by Tyler Bonkowski. Bonkowski outlasted 337 poker players to win the World Series of Poker event, pocketing $220,817 and his first WSOP bracelet. He was down as much as 12 to 1 in chips during heads up play, so his final victory over Brandon Demes was a dramatic one. Demes took $136,419 for second place while Andrew Brongo took third and $100,198, and Shawn Keller won $74,171 for fourth place.

In the face of the US's apparent war against online poker a world away some are moving to make the past time legal. In Australia an online sports betting operator is pushing for legalizing poker. Andrew Twaits says the current legislation is not working in regards to online poker. Twaits is the owner of Betfair, which also owns a poker room. He would like to see poker players in Australia be able to visit is poker site without any fear of repercussion from the government.

Poker players are looking for their online poker money, and wondering if it was part of the money given to law enforcement officials in the US state of Maryland. The news was released last week that the Anne Arundel County Police Department in Maryland got online poker money. The poker law crackdown resulted in funds siezed, and $470K of those funds were given to the cops. Poker players are upset that the money is not being given back to them, especially considering that the actual playing of online poker is not considered illegal in the US.

The latest WSOP poker champ is the latest poker players from Russia to hit the big time. In the last few years  it seems at least one Russian poker player turns poker pro at the WSOP. This time it was Viacheslav Zhukov, the winner the $10,000 buy-in Omaha high-low split eight-or-better world championship of Event 10 at the WSOP 2011.The 22-year-old earned $465,216 after outlasting the 202 players. This is the first WSOP win for this player, who now joins the ranks of Russian WSOP champs like  Vladimir Shchemelev and Vitaly Lunkin

Ira Rubin has been denied bail by the US Government. Rubin is one of those detained by the US Department of Justice for breaking anti online poker laws. Rubin, who was arrested just before leaving the country, had his lawyer point out that he is willing to stay in the US. The US war on online poker rooms could mean decades of jail time for folks like Rubin, who stands accused of funneling payments to and from poker rooms despite the poker law clearly showing that has been illegal since 2006.

On the ninth day of the 2011 WSOP one of the cheaper events has found its winner. Most WSOP events have a buy in greater than a thousand dollars, but there are plenty of those as well. In the $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em event, final table poker players were eliminated until just Sadan Turker and Sean Getzwiller were left in a heads up battle. In the end it was Getzwiller who won the World Series of Poker bracelet and $611,185 in prize money, his first such victory in his poker career.

An online poker room network has announced that they will be implementing a pricy upgrade. The International Poker Network is home to Virgin Poker and other poker sites. The poker network will be putting a €2 million investment into the company by way of a network upgrade. The upshot to poker players, according to a recent announcement by the company, would be more tournaments and better promotions. To go along with the upgdrages the poker software development team will double it's staff. In addition to Virgin Poker the International Poker Network is home to Mermaid Poker.

The latest offering in the iTunes App Store for poker games is one Push it Poker Free. The game is advertised as a fast paced Texas Holdem poker game. The game is based on the idea of playing poker socially with fellow poker players who happen to be your friends on the iPhone and iPod touch. Push it Poker Free is a poker app from Tripwave, Inc. The game is part poker and part chess, in that the game can hold while the other player makes their move. A 24 hour clock is in effect for each and every play, with push notifications keeping players abreast of their turn to play.

With all the attention on the US vs online poker some are surprised to find that the WSOP attendance numbers are up this year. With players not able to win seats at online poker rooms experts thought it would signify a downturn in WSOP numbers. Compared to 2010, however, the 2011 World Series of Poker has so far drawn in more poker players than last year. Six out of the nine events so far have shown higher numbers, while three have shown lower.

In a bid to push the poker envelope even higher next year's WSOP will boast a $1 Million Buy-in Event. The event will be called The Big One for One Drop. This will be a partnered event with One Drop, which is a charity from Montreal that works on granting access to water in 3rd World countries. The event will play starting next year on July 1. This $1 million entry fee will be one of the biggest, if not the biggest buy in of its kind, and certainly the biggest every held as part of the World Series of Poker.