2008's Best Online Gambling Sites

With 2008 coming to an end, the gambling world was sitting on the edge of its seats to find out who would win the Online Gambling Insider Best of 2008 awards. But before we get to all the recent online gambling news its important to know a little about Online Gambling Insider and they have the ultimate say on who has the best online gambling.

Online Gambling Insiders is a portal that offers online gambling players $1,000 deposit guarantee which protects player deposits at all online gambling sites promoted by the portal. They also offer a online casino bonus guide and regularly review online gambling venues. As a result of their expertise, every year they dish out the best of the best when it comes to online gambling; here are the winners of the coveted Online Gambling Insider Awards for 2008.

• Best Overall Online Casino 2008 - VIP Slots Casino
• Best New Casino 2008 - Online Vegas Casino
• Best US Casino 2008 - Paradise 8 Casino
• Best UK Online Casino 2008 - Ladbrokes Casino
• Best Sportsbook 2008 - BetUS.com
• Best Overall Gambling Suite 2008 - Playersonly.com
• Best Online Casino Promotion 2008 - The Jackpot Factory Group
• Best Slots Casino 2008 - All Slots Casino
• Best Online Casino Bonus 2008 - English Harbour Casino
• Best Online Casino Games 2008 - Microgaming
• Best Customer Service 2008 - Club USA Casino
• Best Online Poker Room 2008 - Poker Stars

According to Online Gambling Insider Founder and Editor in Chief Ryan D:

“Despite some setbacks for the industry in the US, the industry is getting stronger with the entry of some new operators and the continued performance of well known brands...Choosing our Online Casino Award winners is a daunting task each year, but we take into account player feedback and our own interactions with each gambling site we promote over the course of the year to come up with our list of top performers."

Excuse us while we check out the winners for ourselves...especially The Best Online Poker Room; but while you wait visit www.pokerchest.com for an incredible selection of chips, tables, cards and other must-have poker accessories.

Why Online Poker is way too dangerous to play right now

Currently the state of the online poker world could best be described as fragile. To be more specific, the climate is murky for online poker players from the United States(the rest of the world seems to have no problem with regulating the activity). Right now, you’d have to say that it has never been a worse time to play poker online.

Consider the following:

* You can’t use your credit card.
The passage of the Kyl Bill made it illegal for credit card companies to process ANY transactions involving online gaming.That means if you want to play, you will have to fund your account using wire transfers to unknown individuals (NEVER a good idea), or potentially sketchy money transfer firms.


* There are cheaters afoot.
As a recent story on 60 Minutes found, several online poker sites have been overrun by cheaters – advanced mathand hacking gurus who have stacked the deck against online players.

* The whole thing could come down at any moment. President Bush is on his way out of the Oval Office, but it has been rumored that one of the things he is trying to pass into law before he leaves is an outright ban on gaming online for Americans. If that happens, getting your money in your online accounts back into the U.S could be next to impossible.

So what’s an honest poker player to do? Obviously, he or she can travel to one of the many legal poker rooms throughout the country, or visit Atlantic City or Las Vegas. We recommend calling up your friends and re-igniting your home game. After all, before online poker, that was how you enjoyed your game, right? Online poker is an entertaining pursuit, but you lose the deliberate pace of play and the social interaction that make the game so great.

So steer clear of online poker until further notice – but keep you love of the greatest card game ever invented burning bright!

This holiday season, the place to go for all your gambling gifts is www.pokerchest.com. Poker chest offers an incredible selection of chips, tables, cards and other must-have poker accessories for everyone on your list.

Jamie Gold: Not your average WSOP winner

When Jamie Gold took home the biggest prize in World Series of Poker history, an estimated $12 million dollars in 2006, there were a few things that made him a little bit different than past winners. For one thing, he was a high-powered talent agent living in Malibu, California with a roster of A-List clients like James Gandolfini, Jimmy Fallon and Lucy Liu.

Also, Gold may or not have been the inspiration for the character Ari Gold on the hit HBO show Entourage.

That debate is on-going, but it is 100% clear that Gold played the main event at the WSOP like nobody who has ever won the tournament. He aggressively pressed hard on his opponents, challenging them to go all-in whenever he held the positional advantage. And while the style annoyed many seasoned pros, it did the job, allowing Gold to walk away with a HUGE prize that fueled by the online poker boom and the high number of entrants it generated.

And speaking of online poker, Gold also became involved in a dispute over his winning with his quasi-sponsor Bodog.com. Bodog claimed that Gold had agreed to provide sponsored talent for the WSOP to play under their name. When he himself won, they claimed their cut. The two parties would eventually settle out of court, but not before the Hollywood media had plenty of fun at Gold’s expense.

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The Five Worst Things We Got From The Poker Boom

After golf peaked in the general American consciousness, poker was there to fill in the gap. But the rise in mainstream poker popularity was short-lived. Those who loved the game are still there, but now have to deal with some of the residual effects of that crazy time.

The five worst things we got from the poker boom:

1. Online players who thought they knew the game. While it is fun to take their money, guys who constantly chase cards and require a little plastic index card to remember “what beats what” are just plain no fun to play with. The online poker boom created an army of these folks and released them on the world.

2. Gambling addicts. In all seriousness, online poker was way too accessible for many individuals who had trouble controlling their gambling habits. With hands moving many times faster than live poker, this was the crack cocaine of poker.

3. Too much poker on TV. We all love the World Series of Poker. Heck, the WPT tournaments are nice, slick productions as well. But do we really celebrity tournaments, ladies-only events and hour after hour of televised heads up play? Thanks to the sudden rise of the sport, like it or not, that’s what we got.

4. The Kyl Bill. Arizona Senator Jon Kyl was the author of this bill that essentially put an end to internet poker as we know it the United States. The bill, which made it illegal for banks to allow their credit cards to be used for gaming transactions, was a good thing for compulsive gamblers (see above), but a downer for anyone who wanted to pick up and play without having to put on pants.

5. Celebrity players. Unless we’re talking about Jennifer Tilly (whose movie career was a little suspect before her poker career anyway), the celebs who came out and start playing poker during the boom period were lame at best. Ben Affleck, Tobey McGuire, Matt Damon, Jennifer Garner and others all looked like folks who had too much money and/or time on their hands, and were stealing seats from guys trying to make a legitimate living at the game.

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