Here in the season of giving, Liv Boeree's new charitable effort Raising for Effective Giving (REG) grabs the attention of National Public Radio and their Planet Money team takes a few minutes to talk with Boeree about REG and the Swiss philosopher who started the idea of “effective giving.”

On-screen poker personality Kara Scott has announced that the end of 2014 also marks the end of her sponsored tenure with online poker company partypoker.

An ambassador since 2010, ESPN Poker's sideline reporter was a patch wearing mainstay for the company but, according to Kara’s blog over on Cardrunners, as the company shifted focus her favorite part of the job, her on-camera work, had a diminishing role.

PartyPoker has gone through many changes and unfortunately as their focus shifted, there were fewer and fewer TV projects. As those shows disappeared, so did one of my favourite parts of the job and now my association with Party is ending. However, I’m not going anywhere. I still love playing poker and have made a lot of great friends in the industry.

Even though the sponsorship is coming to an end, Kara claims her time in poker is not. She says she still plans to be heavily involved in the poker industry both on TV, as well as on-the-felt.

Read Kara’s farewell statement in full: New Year, Big Changes

Party, party, party: “Mad” Marvin Rettenmaier Parts Ways With partypoker, Still Plans On Partying Hard

Just when you thought there was no good poker news left in 2014, officials for the WSOP announced the dates for the 46th Annual World Series of Poker.

Mark your calendars and clear your schedule as this summer the WSOP returns on Wednesday May 27 and extends through the establishing of the 2015 November 9 on July 14th. Not only did the WSOP unveil the dates, they also pinpointed a few must-play highlights including the inaugural running of “The Colossus” – a $565 buy-in with a $5,000,000 guarantee that is going to make the opening weekend huge!

Here’s a few of the other announced dates for you to check out:

Friday May 29/ Saturday May 30 – “The Colossus” – Two starting days with two starting flights each day (re-entry format as well) for only a $565 buy-in and carries a $5M guarantee. Also, while being the lowest buy-in event in 35 years, it brings a $5K starting stack!

Friday June 6/ Saturday June 7 – “Millionaire Maker” – The Milly Maker is back and better than ever. One million guaranteed for first place for a $1500 buy-in, but this year players will get a stack increase to 7500 starting chips. There are two flights and if you brick the first, you can re-enter into the second. The new value should make this bigger and better than ever.

Friday June 12/ Saturday June 13 – “Monster Stack” – Easily the highlight of the 2014 schedule, the Monster Stack is back with two starting flights, a $1500 buy-in and a most superior 15K chipstack. With the new starting days on the weekend – this tournament will be crazy.

Friday June 19 – Seniors Championship – Grandpa’s got more chips as the WSOP is realizing what players, even oldies, want and that’s value. With a $1K buy-in and 5k in chips, one of the friendliest tournaments of the summer just got even friendlier. Sorry Daniel, this is one club you’re not old enough to be in yet as you gotta be 50. A 2nd Super Senior’s tournament will be added where the age limit is 65 and up! More details on that soon.

Thursday June 25 – Ladies Championship – Hey Ladies! The ever growing demographic also gets an ever growing stack enjoying the new 5K starter stack as well. Officials moved the starting day to allow the women to play both this event as well as one of the open events slated to start at a nearby time. No dudes allowed, unless you want to pay 10x the buy-in – which would be a waste and a pretty big dbag move.

Sunday June 28 – One Drop High Roller – The railbirds will be excited to see that all the Super High Rollers will be plunking down $111,111 to help benefit the clean water efforts of Guy Laliberte's One Drop.

Tuesday June 30 – Little One for One Drop – Sick of watching the high rollers get all that charitable glory? The Little One gives you a chance to give back as well. Here’s the deal this year: 5K starting stack, but you can get an additional 5K if you pony up the charitable donation of $111. Easy call. This one has unlimited re-entries so go busto all you want and buy back for more.

July 5/6/7 – The Main Event – It’s back of course with its $10k price tag and a $10M guarantee for first!

In addition to all these great tournaments there will again be the thrice a day Daily Deepstacks and 60+ bracelets to be given away 49 days.

WSOP 2015: Book it.

For those lucky enough to catch it, the holiday season has brought one of the greatest gifts of the year.

He goes by the name StickyRice1.

The young, energetic, manic Twitch livestreamer went on a sick heater while taking a shot on Bovada this week and in the process entertained the masses and made a name for himself with his hilariously brash commentary, his music picks and his sick sick dance moves.

The above video is destined to be one of the greats, joining online legend Jim Moran, as StickyRice1 finds himself in the enviable position of holding a monster and being bet in to.

Merry Xmas indeed.

Bookmark: StickyRice1’s Twitch Feed (not always poker being played)

Read: Official StickyRice1 Twitch Takeover Thread

Just when you though you were going to have to wait for Season 2 of the made-for-tv cash game antics of Poker Night In America, the crew heads to the Rivers Casino in Pittsburgh for some end-of-the-year action.

World Series of Poker Champions Joe Cada and Greg Raymer join WSOP runner-ups Steve Danneman and Darvin Moon on the felt for a little game of 25/50. If those names don’t appeal to you, maybe the online antics of Dan O’Brien are more your style.

Looking for more PNIA? Check out episode 22 right here.

Bonus: Check out the trailer for Season 2 of Poker Night In America.

Filmmaker Greg Francis is stoked to have finally released his new action/horror (with a touch of poker) flick “Poker Night” in which tales told by veteran around the poker table are used by the protagonist to help him escape the clutches of a psycho.

He recently took to Reddit to open up about, well, everything. If it was asked, it was answered including who, on-set, was the best poker player and the in’s and out’s of getting an independent film made.

He even answered this one:

I read that Kim Jong-Un doesn’t like poker. Are you worried about North Korea hacking your studio and making a bunch of threats to shut down the release of your movie?

Looking for a good read? Check it out. If you missed the trailer, you can also watch that here: Dark Thriller “Poker Night” Looks To Horrify Poker Fans

Dan Goldman's blog is treasure trove of amazing marketing stories from online giant PokerStars' growth spurt in the heyday of online poker. In his latest posting, Goldman talks about a chance encounter with another high level marketing guy from Eon Productions, the company being James Bond (aka 007).

Gene was one of the savviest marketing guys I’d ever met. He started by telling me that, unlike the original Casino Royale, the new film’s climactic gambling scene would be poker, not baccarat. Within just a few minutes, Gene and I were discussing with increasing excitement the possibilities that this presented for a partnership between PokerStars and Eon.

Of course, this led to unprecedented excitement from Dan and then owner Isai Scheinberg but just like all spy movies – nothing was as it seemed and someone was going to get double crossed!

Great read (as are most of his posts) about another near marketing miss from the yesteryears of PokerStars.

For Your Eyes Only: My Name Is Bond. My word, not so much.

Watch the iconic Bond poker scene:

If you are a poker media enthusiast with an insatiable thirst for the conversation around poker then you’re going to like Joe “ChicagoJoey” Ingram.

For a while he’s been hosting his own bedroom videocast focused on all things PLO and now he’s launching his latest offering: “Monday Night High Stakes Poker.”

ChicagoJoey’s high energy style of hosting is bringing you everything in the world of high stakes ONLINE poker from the News, Views and Gossip of the Two Plus Two forums to the massive swings reported by HighStakesDB. Ingram wants you to tune in to go over strategy, look at sick graphs, rail the nosebleed action and talk a little shit. He’s into it. So, give it a quick watch and maybe you’ll have found a new weekly way to waste a little time.

Nothing gets by the internet sleuths on Two Plus Two. Nothing.

Especially not when one of the original American Idol “bad singers”, William Hung – who became a nationwide sensation for his rough version of Ricky Martin's “She Bangs” – crushes the Aria daily tournament in Las Vegas.

William Hung, who has since put his pop ambitions to rest in liu of a job with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, defeated 70 runners – including commentator and poker televised personality Robert Williamson III – to drag a first place prize of $2,264 in the Aria nightly $125.

Winning a poker tournament is a little like getting featured on American Idol: both take a little bit of luck and a little bit of skill. Here goes the Hung one again – showing the everyman that you too, can succeed if you try.

Good on you William Hung!

Read the thread: New career for William Hung?

It’s the ultimate shootout as the 8 heat winners return to face the cage and take their shot at the $1,000,000 winner-take-all first place mega-prize.

The 8-handed final table is packed full of poker’s best and brightest including Ole Schemion, Philip Gruissem, Griffin Benger, Bill “The Businessman” Perkins, partypoker’s Kara Scott and former PokerStars Pro and two-time EPT winner Victoria Coren Mitchell.

So, if you are stuck in your cubicle this week leading up to the Christmas holiday, take a break and relax for an hour while watching some PokerStars made-for-tv action.

Miss the last episode? No worries – Check out Episode 8 right here.

Charity and poker are nothing new. In fact, they often times go hand in hand.

Those within the industry know that, throughout the year, poker players can be counted on to ante up for any number of different causes that need money and assistance to impact the lives of those less fortunate or who have hit on hard times.

Earlier this holiday season we posted about Billy Vogel’s Toys For Kids and Marco Valerio’s Poker Kindness initiative. Now here’s two more stories that continue to showcase the generosity that can accompany the game we all love.

First, Team PokerStars Online member “Andre Coimbra“ grinded a $100 bankroll into $70,000 and then donated that money to help APPACDM, a charity that assists people of all ages with special needs and intellectual disabilities, to purchase a much needed new multi-use van which can now readily assist those with mobility problems in any type of weather.

Read: 'My’ New Van!

Then, poker pro and columnist Bernard Lee once again raised money and presents for kids through his Full House Charity Program which brings a minimum of $10,000 to organizations that assist children in need. According to Card Player, more than 30 families and 75 kids were treated to a very happy holiday thanks to the effort of Lee and his partners.

“There are few greater joys in life than seeing children smile during the holiday season. This special celebration has become one of my family’s favorite holiday events,” Lee said.

Read: Poker Pro Bernard Lee’s Full House CHarity Program Provides Holiday Packages To Kids

The World Poker Tour handed out three over $1,000,000 prizes this weekend as the tour made it annual December stop to the Bellagio for the Five Diamond World Poker Classic.

First up, in the Five Diamond Main Event it was Mohsin “chicagocards1” Charania who defeated the absolutely stacked final table to win his 2nd WPT title and $1,477,890 in cash. Sitting at the final table with Charania was a murderers row of pros including Tobias Reinkemeier, Ryan Julius, Ryan Fee, Brett Shaffer and eventual runner-up Garrett Greer, who took home a healthy $868,683 for his efforts.

While Mohsin was crushing the Main Event, the elite super-high rollers were mixing it up for massive money in the World Poker Tour Alpha8 Las Vegas.

Fifty-five runners posted the $100K buy-in, a record for the Alpha8 series, with only 6 seeing a return on investment. When it was all said an done, a disheveled, unshaved and incredibly talented Andrew “luckychewey” Lichtenberger walked away with the filthy first place money of $2,104,245. Right behind him was the third millionaire of the weekend as Tom Marchese takes home 7-figures as a runner-up banking $1,240,965. Brian Rast, Noah Schwartz, Jason Les and Bryn Kenney will all have incredibly happy holidays as they finished inside the massive money bubble.

Want the grizzly details of how it all went down? For the Main Event wrap-up check out the WPT Blog and for Alpha8 action let’s give Bluff Magazine a little love.