Thomas Bakker

E-mail: thomas@subjectpoker.com
Skype: tm.bakker

Thomas will graduate from Leiden University in the Netherlands in 2011 with a BSc in Mathematics and a BSc in Computer Science. He wrote a book on poker strategy titled "Analytical No-Limit Hold 'em" that was published by Two Plus Two Publishing in December 2010.

Between August and December 2010, Thomas and Noah Stephens-Davidowitz worked with Cake Poker as an independent team to determine if anyone had exploited a security vulnerability in their poker software. They did this by developing, testing and applying statistical methods that analyzed the way players played to detect if anyone had more information than they were supposed to have.

Thomas co-founded Subject: Poker and was responsible for various things, including the technical side of running Subject: Poker. He has a blog at http://bakker.cc/blog/.




AGCC Suspends FTP Licenses

June 29, 2011 - 10:03 AM EDT
AGCC Suspends FTP Licenses

The Alderney Gaming Control Commission, which supplies FTP's licenses to offer poker games, has announced the suspension of Full Tilt Poker's licenses. This means that FTP can no longer legally offer poker games through their Alderney licenses, nor can they process any deposits or withdrawals. In a press release, the AGCC issues a Hearing Notice and a Suspension Notice to Full Tilt Poker. The hearing about the matters contained in the Hearing Notice will take place on July 26th in London. The Suspension Notice means that FTP must cease to: Register new customers. Accept deposits from existing customers. Allow existing customers to withdraw funds that are held in their accounts. Permit customers to participate in...

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S:P Has a New Logo!

June 2, 2011 - 7:43 PM EDT
S:P Has a New Logo!

Subject: Poker is quite proud to announce that we've finally got ourselves a new logo! Our logo contest was unquestionably a huge success. We received a lot of really awesome logos with a wide variety of design ideas, and almost all of the entries would have made a great logo for this site. Though we were absolutely terrified to have to choose (especially considering that we don't have good eyes for this sort of thing),...

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Victory Poker to Move All Players to Cake Poker

May 31, 2011 - 2:20 PM EDT
Victory Poker to Move All Players to Cake Poker

Victory Poker players received an email from Cake Poker this morning saying their account would be upgraded to a Cake Poker account on June 1st. All rewards, gold cards, gold chips and tournament tickets will be transferred over to players' new Cake Poker accounts. Considering that Cake was already handling the software, cashier and customer support, it is unlikely that much will change for Victory Poker players. We asked the CEO, Dan Fleyshman, for comment....

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BREAKING: More Gambling Domains Seized Upd. 9

May 23, 2011 - 5:38 PM EDT
BREAKING: More Gambling Domains Seized Upd. 9

Most recent update: 5/23 11:45 PM EST. A Maryland federal grand jury indicted two more online gambling businesses today. Subject: Poker has not yet received the full indictment, but an affidavit from a Maryland Homeland Security special agent reveals many of the details of the case. Charged in the affidavit are two companies and their owners: ThrillX Systems Ltd., owned by Darren Wright and David Parchomchuk and K23 Financial Services (BMX Entertainment), run by Ann ...

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Payment Processor Pleads Guilty

May 23, 2011 - 4:56 PM EDT
Payment Processor Pleads Guilty

American citizen Bradley Franzen pleaded guilty this afternoon to charges of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, accepting funds in connection with unlawful internet gambling and conspiracy to commit money laundering. The April 15th indictment describes Franzen as a middleman between poker sites and payment processors: 10. From at least in or about 2007, up to and including on or about March 2011, BRADLEY FRANZEN, the defendant, worked with internet gambling companies including the Poker Companies, to identify Poker...

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Hero Poker to Stop US Sign-Ups

May 22, 2011 - 1:21 AM EDT
Hero Poker to Stop US Sign-Ups

The CEO of Hero Poker announced early Saturday that Hero Poker, a Merge Gaming skin, will no longer be accepting new players from the United States after May 25th. Existing players will continue being able to play. Hero Poker claims to have made this decision in order for them to keep providing their players with high levels of personal support. To quote the CEO's response to a player : "This is not a set back ,...

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Subject: Poker Launches

May 20, 2011 - 10:00 AM EDT
subjectpoker

The current poker news landscape is dominated by sites and magazines whose bottom lines depend directly on the news makers, which naturally leads to bias. There are some smaller independent outfits, but these tend to be driven mostly by opinion, gossip, and rumors, and they have their own biases.

Many people simply bypass the poker media completely and instead wade through the Two Plus Two Forums. While 2+2 provides a wonderful...

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Subject: Poker Logo Contest

May 20, 2011 - 9:58 AM EDT
logoo

You may have noticed that there's a hideous void at the top of this page. Indeed, we're a site without a logo. And frankly, it's a bit embarrassing. We're reporters, analysts, poker players, and many other things, but unfortunately, we are not artists.

So, we're reaching out to the community for help on this one and holding a contest to see who can design us the best logo. We know that...

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