First of the news roundups for the year

Daniel Negreanu didn't have a particularly good Christmas or New Year. His bank, Bank of America, closed his accounts because he "put too much money in them from poker". He posted the information on Twitter and later on also said "MasterCard just cancelled my credit card for no reason whatsoever... And I'm rich! How dumb are they? Haha." Other players have had the same thing happen to them and Negreanu believes it's part of the Department of Justice's "Operation Choke Point". Wikipedia have quoted on the subject "Operation Choke Point is an initiative of the United States Department of Justice that was announced in 2013, which is investigating banks in the United States and the business they do with payment processors, payday lenders, and other companies believed to be at higher risk for fraud and money laundering. This operation, disclosed in August 2013 Wall Street Journal story has been accused of bypassing due process.; the government is pressuring the financial industry to cut off the companies' access to banking services, without first having shown that the targeted companies are violating the law. As reported by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, critics believe "it's a thinly veiled ideological attack on industries the Obama administration doesn't like, such as gun sellers"." Poker Team pro Isaac "Ike" Haxton has not renewed his contract at PokerStars due to the new rewards programme which came into effect at Pokerstars. He posted on Twitter "There's a lot not to like about these most recent changes and the way they've been communicated, but there's one aspect that I just can't accept. Announcing in November that players who earned Supernova and Supernova Elite status in 2015 will not receive the benefits they had expected in 2016 strikes me as dishonest and unfair. As a four time SNE, I know what it takes to rake 1M VPP in a year. It's a tough grind. For most of the players who do it, it is an all-consuming commitment more intense than most full time jobs. Many of them have relocated far from their homes and families to pursue it. Finding out, just as you approach the finish line, that your efforts will not be rewarded as you expected them to be is brutal. I cannot in good conscience continue to endorse a poker site that treats its players this way." Super Nova and Super Nova Elite stand to lose from between 27%- 60% of their expected rewards. There wasn't too much happening during the first few days of January so I'll just wish you all a Happy and prosperous Poker Playing New Year.