Las Vegas – By pulling a six of hearts on the river card, Jerry Yang made a low straight — but high enough to beat Tuan Lam’s pair of queens and win the World Series of Poker in the wee hours of Wednesday morning. The two Asian-born immigrants went head to head for more than 30 hands before Yang finally prevailed.

Taking advantage of the poker room boom around the world, casinos in Quebec hope the province’s plan to legalize Texas hold ’em poker will bring in a full house. The new law will put Quebec casinos on a level playing field with some of the largest casinos in Ontario, and will also allow them to compete with a growing number of illegal gambling houses, two places where customers can already play the popular poker variant.

The State of Texas currently does not allow casino gambling, but if State Senators John Corona of Dallas and Rodney Ellis of Houston have their way, voters will be able to decide in December whether to allow casinos in the state. The new bill, which has been proposed by these two senators, would allow voters to decide the future of gambling in the state.

Austin – Big resorts with full casinos, shops and restaurants could be built in up to a dozen Texas cities under legislation proposed today by two high-profile senators and backed by major gambling interests. Voters ultimately would have the say on the proposed constitutional amendment legalizing casino gambling. A main selling point of the plan, the legislators contend, is a provision that would dedicate USD 1 billion per year to a fund to pay for eligible Texans to attend a community college or public university.