Online poker room company Playtech is ready to take advantage once US poker laws change. The gaming company has signed deals to provide online poker to players in California. A poker site for California poker players has long been on the table for discussion, and renewed attempts to bring it to pass have come along since the US federal government has started shutting down poker rooms. While online poker is legal in the US in most states, many poker rooms have been shut down because they were not in compliance with the US UIGEA law passed in 2006.

One online poker room has signed on a soccer playing legend. Poker site 888Poker now has Santiago Cañizares as part of their crew. The football legend will be a brand ambassador for 888.com, which owns 888poker. The arrangement will last at least a year, and the online poker room hopes that it will “ bolster the 888 brand presence in Spain and beyond”. Cañizares is a former Spanish national goalkeeper and has a Champions League title as well as two La Liga medals and a UEFA Cup.

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.

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.

Online poker room PKR has announced it will host at Summer of Music. The PKR Summer of Music will allow players to attend music events in London and elswhere. The online poker room will host events in Hyde Park in London as well as events in Sweden, Germany and France. Players can visit the online poker site for more details on how they can attend such events as the Berlin Festival for just €24, where they might find music from The Killers, Arcade Fire and Moby among others.

One poker network has decided to be proactive and block US players, at least temporarily. With major online poker rooms getting shut down by the US, Merge Network has decided better safe than sorry. As of June 3 the poker site will not allow US players to sign up, although current players from the US can still play for real money. Merge Network has poker rooms like Iron Duke, Hero Poker, Carbon Poker, Poker Nordica, PDC Poker, and Lock Poker, all of which will be affected by their decision.

The home of 888 poker has secured a gaming license in Italy. 888 Holdings, the parent company of one of the first online poker rooms, has expanded to allow Italian players. This move comes as good news for poker players in Italy, who will be able to play on the popular online poker room now that the required licenses have been secured. 888 Holdings may offer an online casino in addition to an online poker room, both of which would be open for play for players from Italy.

Online poker room Full Tilt Poker is not yet paying back its customers. The poker room had announced that some funds had been unfrozen but are not yet available. The poker site was one of many targeted by the US federal government when they seized poker sites and shut them down temporarily. US players are not allowed on these sites and are looking for their money back, and till now the funds at Full Tilt Poker were frozen. Just recently at least one major account was unfrozen, but the site said in an official statement “We still do not have a specific timeframe for this.”

Online poker room Full Tilt Poker may soon start their promised refunds. US players who have been blocked from the online poker site have been waiting to get their money out. The accounts that the poker site stores their money in have been frozen by the US Government, but at least one of the accounts was recently unfrozen. The US Government locked down the site on April 15th as part of their crackdown on illegal online poker activities, as well as other online poker sites like Poker Stars, UB.com and Absolute Poker.

With the pressure from the US government against online poker rooms one subscription based site could provide the solution. A new online poker room has launched called RISE Poker. The poker site was created by RISE clothing and ZEN Entertainment. It will provide free poker to poker players as well as offer a subscription at $19.95 a month with added benefits. Members will be able to compete for prizes such as seats to the 2011 World Series of Poker, cash prizes and presumably other prizes.