Pokler Online - Frank, Paul Advise Federal Agencies Not to Implement UIGEA Regs

Frank, Paul Advise Federal Agencies Not to Implement UIGEA Regs
US Congressmen Barney Frank and Ron Paul, who made news last month by leading a Financial Services Committee hearing looking at the regulation of online gambling, have written a letter to the heads of the US Treasury and Federal...

Women's Poker Spotlight: Vanessa Selbst at the Bellagio Five Star
I first met Vanessa Selbst a few years ago at a ladies tournament in California. She was sitting across the table from me, and at first glance you could see she was all about the "business" of poker. While her intense concentration...

Frank, Paul Advise Federal Agencies Not to Implement UIGEA Regs
US Congressmen Barney Frank and Ron Paul, who made news last month by leading a Financial Services Committee hearing looking at the regulation of online gambling, have written a letter to the heads of the US Treasury and Federal...

Women's Poker Spotlight: Vanessa Selbst at the Bellagio Five Star
I first met Vanessa Selbst a few years ago at a ladies tournament in California. She was sitting across the table from me, and at first glance you could see she was all about the "business" of poker. While her intense concentration...

Pokler Online - Full Tilt finds PL.com winners across the globe

Full Tilt finds PL.com winners across the globe

Abbott, who lives in Leeds, England, picked up his win April 12, while Indiana native Joel Mohr picked up a win in the freeroll April 19.

Abbott is an IT Project manager and has been playing poker for about five years. He said he plays probably four or five days a week at Full Tilt Poker.

"[Full Tilt Poker is an]excellent site with good user interface and some pretty loose action," Abbott said.

His play at the poker site resulted in qualifying for the weekly $3,000 freeroll for PokerListings.com players. Any player who signed up at Full Tilt Poker through a PokerListings' link is eligible for the freeroll if they earn 150 player points during the seven-day qualification period leading up to the weekly freeroll.

The April 12 and April 19 freerolls both had good turnouts with 90 qualifiers showing up to play.

"I had some pretty good cards early and mid tournament and took the lead toward the end without endangering my stack with sub-premium hands," Abbott said of his freeroll.

"I used my lead to pressure the small stacks late in the tournament and was the aggressor heads-up, eventually winning despite a couple of all-in outdraws by the second place finisher."

The April 12 freeroll final-table results were:

Place	Name	Prize
1st	Revielation	$960
2nd	Chucker10	$585
3rd	GrandDonkey	$420
4th	laapins	$330
5th	mdk23	$240
6th	Lhirsute	$180
7th	RiverDog24	$120
8th	Masterplan 89	$90
9th	Kobbers	$75

Abbott, who is married and has a daughter and another child on the way, didn't waste any time putting his freeroll winnings to use either.

"I have already bought a new mattress for my pregnant wife!" he said.

Mohr, a 21-year-old college student, isn't sure yet what he'll be doing with his $960 win. He was really happy to have the win because his bankroll was almost gone, and he said he's sure glad to have the extra cash now.

"I've been playing poker for about five years, I would say," Mohr said. "What got me attracted to poker was watching the '03 WSOP on TV. I just thought it was the coolest game and I've watched pretty much every WSOP episode since."

His interest in the game led him to playing online at Full Tilt Poker as well, where he plays almost every day.

"Full Tilt is a great site; they have the best pro players," He said. "I love to watch them play high stakes."

Mohr, who plays as JOELPOKERGOD at Full Tilt Poker, isn't much of a high-stakes player himself. This freeroll win is his biggest win so far.

"The freeroll playing field was interesting. I pretty much got off to a nice start early in the game had like 4500 chips and I pretty much stayed in the top 10," Mohr said. "From there, when we got down to two tables, I became the chip leader."

Mohr didn't play a lot of hands as the playing field was getting closer to the final table, and he said play ended up being 10-handed for a grueling 30 minutes.

"When I got to the final table, I had about an average stack," he said. "People seemed to just be blowing up left and right, so I just let them take each other out and really didn't play many hands while for or five people got KOd moving up the money ladder."

Mohr got more involved when play was down to the final four.

"I just played my game and tried not to make any mistakes," he said. "There were some ups and downs, but I eventually got the win."

The April 19 freeroll final-table results were:

Place	Name	Prize
1st	JOELPOKERGOD	$960
2nd	egasMoniz	$585
3rd	reyecatcher	$420
4th	bloumi	$330
5th	Raisey_Daisy3	$240
6th	1972md	$180
7th	zejuan86	$120
8th	hiz61	$90
9th	DevilsBankroll	$75

Full Tilt Poker also hosted a World Series of Poker* freeroll exclusively for PokerListings.com players on Sunday. Out of 78 entrants, FreakshowGE1904 came out on top to pick up a $12,500 prize package for the 2008 WSOP Main Event.

The prize package includes the buy-in for the WSOP Main Event plus money for travel and accommodations.

There are seven exclusive WSOP freerolls left for PokerListings players at Full Tilt Poker. The next one is May 4 at 1 p.m. EDT, and players have from April 19 to May 3 to accumulate the 300 player points to qualify. There will also be WSOP freerolls May 18, May 25, June 1 and June 8 with a WSOP seat up for grabs.

Full Tilt Poker is upping the ante for PokerListings players in the June 15 and June 22 freerolls by offering two prize packages for each freeroll. That makes it double the chance to get to go to the World Series of Poker on the Full Tilt Poker dime and still only having to earn 300 player points to qualify.

*World Series of Poker and WSOP are trademarks of Harrah's License Company, LLC ("Harrah's"). Harrah's does not sponsor or endorse, and is not associated or affiliated with PokerListings.com or its products, services, promotions or tournaments.

Related Articles:

• German Man Has Full Tilt Win on His Mind
• Full Tilt Poker Reloads for FTOPS VIII
• Canuck Wins WSOP Seat at Full Tilt

Visit PokerListings.com

Finn gets free shot at million dollar prize

Soininen won his spot in the World Poker Crown through a freeroll at Pacific Poker hosted exclusively for PokerListings.com players. All he had to do was collect five player points during the seven-day qualification period before the freeroll.

The qualification was no sweat for Soininen, who is a full-time poker player specializing in cash games. He plays poker online for a few hours a day and visits Pacific Poker on a weekly basis.

"I really like the site and the software," Soininen said about Pacific Poker. "Games there are very good. The only thing that bothers me is that I can't play more than four tables at a time."

The 29-year-old only needed to be able to play one table at a time to win his ticket to the World Poker Crown. He took down the very first PokerListings.com freeroll for the event at Pacific Poker back in February.

"There were about a hundred players, and the play was rather tight," Soininen said. "I tried to start with tight, solid poker. I had some setbacks but stayed alive."

Soininen, who plays as Mahve78 on the poker site, changed up his play to play more aggressively as the blinds increased.

"During the play, I got lucky a few times, and I managed to double up," Soininen said. "Overall, I achieved my win with a combination of good cards, good timing and aggressive play."

Soininen has been playing poker for about two years and he said he would consider this freeroll win his biggest tournament win so far.

His ticket to the World Poker Crown is worth $1,050, and gives him a chance to win part of a $3 million guaranteed prize pool. Better yet, it's a shot at the $1 million guaranteed first-place prize.

"I am very excited about playing," Soininen said. "For sure, it's life-changing money. I've tried not to think about it too much."

Going deep in the World Poker Crown could also mean a trip to Barcelona, Spain. When play gets down to the final table online, the game will be stopped so that the final players can finish the game live in Spain.

Soininen and five other PokerListings.com players won seats in the World Poker Crown through exclusive freerolls at Pacific Poker. The poker site opened up a few more freerolls for seats this week for PokerListings.com players in Italy, France, Germany and Spain as well.

Now there's one more chance for PokerListings.com players to get into the WPC without having to shell out the full $1,050 buy-in from their own pockets.

On Friday, April 25, Pacific Poker will offer a $25+$2.50 tournament open only to PokerListings players that will guarantee one seat per 10 players. The tournament will be open to all PokerListings players who have an account at Pacific Poker.

The World Poker Crown begins April 26 at 10 a.m. Pacific Poker Time. The final table will take place May 6-10.

Related Articles:

• 888 Offers 1¢ Qualifiers for WPC
• Pacific Poker Adds WPC Seats for PL.com Players
• Pacific Poker Gives WPC Seats to PL.com Players

Visit PokerListings.com

Full Tilt finds PL.com winners across the globe

Abbott, who lives in Leeds, England, picked up his win April 12, while Indiana native Joel Mohr picked up a win in the freeroll April 19.

Abbott is an IT Project manager and has been playing poker for about five years. He said he plays probably four or five days a week at Full Tilt Poker.

"[Full Tilt Poker is an]excellent site with good user interface and some pretty loose action," Abbott said.

His play at the poker site resulted in qualifying for the weekly $3,000 freeroll for PokerListings.com players. Any player who signed up at Full Tilt Poker through a PokerListings' link is eligible for the freeroll if they earn 150 player points during the seven-day qualification period leading up to the weekly freeroll.

The April 12 and April 19 freerolls both had good turnouts with 90 qualifiers showing up to play.

"I had some pretty good cards early and mid tournament and took the lead toward the end without endangering my stack with sub-premium hands," Abbott said of his freeroll.

"I used my lead to pressure the small stacks late in the tournament and was the aggressor heads-up, eventually winning despite a couple of all-in outdraws by the second place finisher."

The April 12 freeroll final-table results were:

Place	Name	Prize
1st	Revielation	$960
2nd	Chucker10	$585
3rd	GrandDonkey	$420
4th	laapins	$330
5th	mdk23	$240
6th	Lhirsute	$180
7th	RiverDog24	$120
8th	Masterplan 89	$90
9th	Kobbers	$75

Abbott, who is married and has a daughter and another child on the way, didn't waste any time putting his freeroll winnings to use either.

"I have already bought a new mattress for my pregnant wife!" he said.

Mohr, a 21-year-old college student, isn't sure yet what he'll be doing with his $960 win. He was really happy to have the win because his bankroll was almost gone, and he said he's sure glad to have the extra cash now.

"I've been playing poker for about five years, I would say," Mohr said. "What got me attracted to poker was watching the '03 WSOP on TV. I just thought it was the coolest game and I've watched pretty much every WSOP episode since."

His interest in the game led him to playing online at Full Tilt Poker as well, where he plays almost every day.

"Full Tilt is a great site; they have the best pro players," He said. "I love to watch them play high stakes."

Mohr, who plays as JOELPOKERGOD at Full Tilt Poker, isn't much of a high-stakes player himself. This freeroll win is his biggest win so far.

"The freeroll playing field was interesting. I pretty much got off to a nice start early in the game had like 4500 chips and I pretty much stayed in the top 10," Mohr said. "From there, when we got down to two tables, I became the chip leader."

Mohr didn't play a lot of hands as the playing field was getting closer to the final table, and he said play ended up being 10-handed for a grueling 30 minutes.

"When I got to the final table, I had about an average stack," he said. "People seemed to just be blowing up left and right, so I just let them take each other out and really didn't play many hands while for or five people got KOd moving up the money ladder."

Mohr got more involved when play was down to the final four.

"I just played my game and tried not to make any mistakes," he said. "There were some ups and downs, but I eventually got the win."

The April 19 freeroll final-table results were:

Place	Name	Prize
1st	JOELPOKERGOD	$960
2nd	egasMoniz	$585
3rd	reyecatcher	$420
4th	bloumi	$330
5th	Raisey_Daisy3	$240
6th	1972md	$180
7th	zejuan86	$120
8th	hiz61	$90
9th	DevilsBankroll	$75

Full Tilt Poker also hosted a World Series of Poker* freeroll exclusively for PokerListings.com players on Sunday. Out of 78 entrants, FreakshowGE1904 came out on top to pick up a $12,500 prize package for the 2008 WSOP Main Event.

The prize package includes the buy-in for the WSOP Main Event plus money for travel and accommodations.

There are seven exclusive WSOP freerolls left for PokerListings players at Full Tilt Poker. The next one is May 4 at 1 p.m. EDT, and players have from April 19 to May 3 to accumulate the 300 player points to qualify. There will also be WSOP freerolls May 18, May 25, June 1 and June 8 with a WSOP seat up for grabs.

Full Tilt Poker is upping the ante for PokerListings players in the June 15 and June 22 freerolls by offering two prize packages for each freeroll. That makes it double the chance to get to go to the World Series of Poker on the Full Tilt Poker dime and still only having to earn 300 player points to qualify.

*World Series of Poker and WSOP are trademarks of Harrah's License Company, LLC ("Harrah's"). Harrah's does not sponsor or endorse, and is not associated or affiliated with PokerListings.com or its products, services, promotions or tournaments.

Related Articles:

• German Man Has Full Tilt Win on His Mind
• Full Tilt Poker Reloads for FTOPS VIII
• Canuck Wins WSOP Seat at Full Tilt

Visit PokerListings.com

Finn gets free shot at million dollar prize

Soininen won his spot in the World Poker Crown through a freeroll at Pacific Poker hosted exclusively for PokerListings.com players. All he had to do was collect five player points during the seven-day qualification period before the freeroll.

The qualification was no sweat for Soininen, who is a full-time poker player specializing in cash games. He plays poker online for a few hours a day and visits Pacific Poker on a weekly basis.

"I really like the site and the software," Soininen said about Pacific Poker. "Games there are very good. The only thing that bothers me is that I can't play more than four tables at a time."

The 29-year-old only needed to be able to play one table at a time to win his ticket to the World Poker Crown. He took down the very first PokerListings.com freeroll for the event at Pacific Poker back in February.

"There were about a hundred players, and the play was rather tight," Soininen said. "I tried to start with tight, solid poker. I had some setbacks but stayed alive."

Soininen, who plays as Mahve78 on the poker site, changed up his play to play more aggressively as the blinds increased.

"During the play, I got lucky a few times, and I managed to double up," Soininen said. "Overall, I achieved my win with a combination of good cards, good timing and aggressive play."

Soininen has been playing poker for about two years and he said he would consider this freeroll win his biggest tournament win so far.

His ticket to the World Poker Crown is worth $1,050, and gives him a chance to win part of a $3 million guaranteed prize pool. Better yet, it's a shot at the $1 million guaranteed first-place prize.

"I am very excited about playing," Soininen said. "For sure, it's life-changing money. I've tried not to think about it too much."

Going deep in the World Poker Crown could also mean a trip to Barcelona, Spain. When play gets down to the final table online, the game will be stopped so that the final players can finish the game live in Spain.

Soininen and five other PokerListings.com players won seats in the World Poker Crown through exclusive freerolls at Pacific Poker. The poker site opened up a few more freerolls for seats this week for PokerListings.com players in Italy, France, Germany and Spain as well.

Now there's one more chance for PokerListings.com players to get into the WPC without having to shell out the full $1,050 buy-in from their own pockets.

On Friday, April 25, Pacific Poker will offer a $25+$2.50 tournament open only to PokerListings players that will guarantee one seat per 10 players. The tournament will be open to all PokerListings players who have an account at Pacific Poker.

The World Poker Crown begins April 26 at 10 a.m. Pacific Poker Time. The final table will take place May 6-10.

Related Articles:

• 888 Offers 1¢ Qualifiers for WPC
• Pacific Poker Adds WPC Seats for PL.com Players
• Pacific Poker Gives WPC Seats to PL.com Players

Visit PokerListings.com

Pokler Online - College Poker Life: University of Chicago, Chicago, IL

College Poker Life: University of Chicago, Chicago, IL
The school year is almost over for University of Chicago students, bringing the end of many regular campus poker games. Student poker players enrolled in the small, private school have seen a reasonable amount of poker action...

'Poker After Dark' Releases Season Four Preview
Fresh off the April 18th wrap of filming for the upcoming season's episodes, the popular program "Poker After Dark" has released the highlights for the fourth season of the series, which will consist of ten new episodes...

College Poker Life: University of Chicago, Chicago, IL
The school year is almost over for University of Chicago students, bringing the end of many regular campus poker games. Student poker players enrolled in the small, private school have seen a reasonable amount of poker action...

'Poker After Dark' Releases Season Four Preview
Fresh off the April 18th wrap of filming for the upcoming season's episodes, the popular program "Poker After Dark" has released the highlights for the fourth season of the series, which will consist of ten new episodes...

Pokler Online - No requirements for PokerStars June WSOP freeroll

No requirements for PokerStars June WSOP freeroll

PokerStars has been dishing out seats in exclusive freerolls for PokerListings.com players who earn certain amounts of player points during the qualification period for each freeroll, but come June, there will be a freeroll with absolutely no qualification required.

The freeroll will be open to all real- and play-money players who signed up at PokerStars through PokerListings.com. It takes place June 7 at 3 p.m. EDT.

Up for grabs will be a $12,500 World Series of Poker* prize package. That includes the $10,000 buy-in for the Main Event as well as money for travel and accommodation.

There are six other exclusive freerolls for PokerListings.com players, too. They are scheduled for:

Date	Time	Points Needed	Qualification Period
May 10	3 p.m.	100	April 1-30
May 17	3 p.m.	250	April 1-30
May 24	3 p.m.	500	April 1-30
June 8	3 p.m.	100	May 1-31
June 14	3 p.m.	500	May 1-31
June 15	3 p.m.	1,000	May 1-31

All times listed are in Eastern Daylight Time.

*World Series of Poker and WSOP are trademarks of Harrah's License Company, LLC ("Harrah's"). Harrah's does not sponsor or endorse, and is not associated or affiliated with PokerListings.com or its products, services, promotions or tournaments.

Related Articles:

• PokerStars Pulls Off Another Big Sunday
• PokerStars.net Offers Free Seats to WSOP

Visit PokerListings.com

E-mail containing virus falsely claims to be from Doyle’s Room
An e-mail circulating that claims to be from Doyle’s Room, an online poker site, actually contains a malicious virus and has no relation to the site. According to cardplayer.com: A malicious e-mail made to look like a customer service message from DoylesRoom.com warning that the player’s account ��...full article

An e-mail circulating that claims to be from Doyle’s Room, an online poker site, actually contains a malicious virus and has no relation to the site.

According to cardplayer.com:

A malicious e-mail made to look like a customer service message from DoylesRoom.com warning that the player’s account has been suspended has been hitting inboxes recently. Players should not open this message, as it contains a virus.

The message contains a DoylesRoom.com banner, the words “Your account will be blocked. Please click on the link and read the document, report its decision,” several links to download software, and several phone numbers. The subject line reads “account temporarily blocked.”

Whole thing here.

PPA reaches one million member mark

"Reaching one million members puts the PPA on par with such political powerhouses as AARP and the National Association of Realtors, and will allow us to advocate even more effectively on behalf of our members," said PPA Chairman Former Senator Alfonse D'Amato.

Taking advantage of that growth, the Poker Players Alliance has launched a comprehensive voter registration campaign.

The "If You Play, Have a Say" campaign will include onsite voter registration drives in key battleground states as well as during the 2008 World Series of Poker beginning May 30. The campaigns goal is to register 100,000 or more poker players as new voters.

In order to reach as many PPA members as possible who aren't currently registered to vote, the campaign will also include a simple online form in order to register to vote. The online registration can be found at Poker2008.org.

Another goal of the "If You Play, Have a Say" campaign is to increase awareness as to why being active in the political process is important to the future of poker.

The PPA takes that idea to the next level as well with the launch of PokerPAC, its political action committee.

The PokerPAC is open to dues paying members of the PPA as well as PPA Board Members and Employees. D'Amato will serve as the PAC chairman as the PokerPAC helps strengthen the group's efforts on Capitol Hill.

Annie Duke will serve as an honorary PokerPAC board member, and former Congressman Toby Moffett will also lend his support as the PAC's vice chairman.

"The formation of PokerPAC and the 'If You Play, Have a Say' campaign sends a clear message to elected officials in Congress and the state capitals that poker players are paying attention to the laws they enact that impact an individual's right to play poker. Our one million members' voices will be heard," D'Amato said.

Related Articles:

• PPA Launches Litigation Support Network
• PPA Names State Directors
• Organizations Stage Pro-Poker Rally

Visit PokerListings.com

Another exclusive Pacific tournament with overlay
Pacific has set us up with another great tournament with excellent added value. Note that this tournament is open to both new registrations and those that registered for the event held last Sunday: Time: Friday April 25th at 3pm EST Name: PTP & RBN WPC Qualifier Buy ��...full article

Pacific has set us up with another great tournament with excellent added value. Note that this tournament is open to both new registrations and those that registered for the event held last Sunday:

Time: Friday April 25th at 3pm EST
Name: PTP & RBN WPC Qualifier
Buy in: 27.50

Prize Pool:
-1 WPC seat ($1050 value) for every 10 entrants. If less than 10 players enter, 1 WPC seat will still be awared to the winner.

-The next 10 places will receive a free entry into Pacific’s WSOP sub-satellite ($110 value). This is true no matter how few people register.

To register for the tournament:
You must not already have a Pacific Poker account
You need to create one with this link:

http://www.pacificpoker.com/PokerInstaller?lang=en&sr=391864

Only by registering with the above link will you be able to join in the event.

The WPC event is a $1050 $3million guaranteed event on April 26th at 10am est. The $110 WSOP sub-satellite will is the one on May 2nd at 4pm eastern. The registration process is done manually; winners won’t be automatically registered when the tourney ends.

The WPC looks like it will overlay, so the value of that entry may actually be much more than $1050. The value here is great for those of you that can take advantage of it.

Pacific offers a 100% deposit bonus up to $400; 25% of it is released instantly. The rest needs to be cleared

No US Players, issue your complaints directly to congress.

U.S. Representatives send letter to Treasury Dept. regarding UIGEA
U.S. Representative Barney Frank (D-Mass.) and others sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Treasury regarding the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act on Monday. The letter comes soon after Frank introduced a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives that would stop the UIGEA from ��...full article

U.S. Representative Barney Frank (D-Mass.) and others sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Treasury regarding the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act on Monday.

The letter comes soon after Frank introduced a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives that would stop the UIGEA from being implemented.

Here’s some of the letter:

Your agency and the Federal Reserve have been struggling to issue these (UIGEA) regulations, but as the hearing made clear, the underlying statute makes your job extremely difficult, if not impossible. Given the many other priorities that are pending at your agencies, including the mortgage crisis, HOEPA, and UDAP rulewriting and many other issues, we believe it would be imprudent for you to devote additional agency resources to this Sisyphean task, especially as we intend to vigorously pursue legislation to prevent the implementation of these regulations.

Whole thing here on a 2+2 thread.

More on the Frank legislation as it makes its way though Congress.

Poker Players Alliance reaches 1 million members
Poker Players Alliance (PPA), a poker advocacy group in the United States, said in a press release today that it has surpassed 1 million members. The PPA also announced that it has launched a political action committee in advance of this November’s elections.

Poker Players Alliance (PPA), a poker advocacy group in the United States, said in a press release today that it has surpassed 1 million members.

The PPA also announced that it has launched a political action committee in advance of this November’s elections.

(more…)

Two states look at expanding poker

According to the Palm Beach Post, the Florida Senate has approved allowing around-the-clock poker play on weekends and 18-hour days during the week in the state.

The Senate approved the change in hours last week as part of a larger pari-mutuel measure, but it has yet to be approved by the House.

The Senate will soon be considering expanding what poker rooms can offer in the way of tournaments as well. Poker rooms may be permitted to host two high-stakes, televised poker tournaments each year, like those put on by the World Poker Tour. They could also be able to host six celebrity charity tournaments each year.

Senate members pointed out that the changes are necessary for the casinos to compete with gaming run on the Indian reservations.

The reservations were recently allowed to expand their poker operations, while the non-reservation cardrooms are restricted to a 12-hour day.

In Colorado, Sen. Ron Tupa has proposed a constitutional amendment that will eliminate the $5 bet limit on table games in Colorado casinos.

According to local media, the senator said changing the bet limits is one easy area to find additional revenue for the state.

His proposal doesn't suggest a new limit for the bets on table games such as poker and blackjack. Instead Tupa is waiting to see what his fellow lawmakers have to say about the limits and what they could potentially use the extra money for.

Tupa's proposal will need to be approved by two-thirds of the members of the state House and Senate to make it onto the November ballot.

Even just doubling the wager limit to $10 for blackjack, poker and slot machines could bring in an additional $13.7 million in state taxes in the first year, according to the legislature's chief economist, Mike Mauer.

Changing the betting limits could also help offset the dip in revenues that casinos saw in March. Some people in the gaming community are pointing to the smoking ban as the cause of a 15% drop in revenue during the month.

Visit PokerListings.com

No requirements for PokerStars June WSOP freeroll

PokerStars has been dishing out seats in exclusive freerolls for PokerListings.com players who earn certain amounts of player points during the qualification period for each freeroll, but come June, there will be a freeroll with absolutely no qualification required.

The freeroll will be open to all real- and play-money players who signed up at PokerStars through PokerListings.com. It takes place June 7 at 3 p.m. EDT.

Up for grabs will be a $12,500 World Series of Poker* prize package. That includes the $10,000 buy-in for the Main Event as well as money for travel and accommodation.

There are six other exclusive freerolls for PokerListings.com players, too. They are scheduled for:

Date	Time	Points Needed	Qualification Period
May 10	3 p.m.	100	April 1-30
May 17	3 p.m.	250	April 1-30
May 24	3 p.m.	500	April 1-30
June 8	3 p.m.	100	May 1-31
June 14	3 p.m.	500	May 1-31
June 15	3 p.m.	1,000	May 1-31

All times listed are in Eastern Daylight Time.

*World Series of Poker and WSOP are trademarks of Harrah's License Company, LLC ("Harrah's"). Harrah's does not sponsor or endorse, and is not associated or affiliated with PokerListings.com or its products, services, promotions or tournaments.

Related Articles:

• PokerStars Pulls Off Another Big Sunday
• PokerStars.net Offers Free Seats to WSOP

Visit PokerListings.com

E-mail containing virus falsely claims to be from Doyle’s Room
An e-mail circulating that claims to be from Doyle’s Room, an online poker site, actually contains a malicious virus and has no relation to the site. According to cardplayer.com: A malicious e-mail made to look like a customer service message from DoylesRoom.com warning that the player’s account ��...full article

An e-mail circulating that claims to be from Doyle’s Room, an online poker site, actually contains a malicious virus and has no relation to the site.

According to cardplayer.com:

A malicious e-mail made to look like a customer service message from DoylesRoom.com warning that the player’s account has been suspended has been hitting inboxes recently. Players should not open this message, as it contains a virus.

The message contains a DoylesRoom.com banner, the words “Your account will be blocked. Please click on the link and read the document, report its decision,” several links to download software, and several phone numbers. The subject line reads “account temporarily blocked.”

Whole thing here.

PPA reaches one million member mark

"Reaching one million members puts the PPA on par with such political powerhouses as AARP and the National Association of Realtors, and will allow us to advocate even more effectively on behalf of our members," said PPA Chairman Former Senator Alfonse D'Amato.

Taking advantage of that growth, the Poker Players Alliance has launched a comprehensive voter registration campaign.

The "If You Play, Have a Say" campaign will include onsite voter registration drives in key battleground states as well as during the 2008 World Series of Poker beginning May 30. The campaigns goal is to register 100,000 or more poker players as new voters.

In order to reach as many PPA members as possible who aren't currently registered to vote, the campaign will also include a simple online form in order to register to vote. The online registration can be found at Poker2008.org.

Another goal of the "If You Play, Have a Say" campaign is to increase awareness as to why being active in the political process is important to the future of poker.

The PPA takes that idea to the next level as well with the launch of PokerPAC, its political action committee.

The PokerPAC is open to dues paying members of the PPA as well as PPA Board Members and Employees. D'Amato will serve as the PAC chairman as the PokerPAC helps strengthen the group's efforts on Capitol Hill.

Annie Duke will serve as an honorary PokerPAC board member, and former Congressman Toby Moffett will also lend his support as the PAC's vice chairman.

"The formation of PokerPAC and the 'If You Play, Have a Say' campaign sends a clear message to elected officials in Congress and the state capitals that poker players are paying attention to the laws they enact that impact an individual's right to play poker. Our one million members' voices will be heard," D'Amato said.

Related Articles:

• PPA Launches Litigation Support Network
• PPA Names State Directors
• Organizations Stage Pro-Poker Rally

Visit PokerListings.com

Another exclusive Pacific tournament with overlay
Pacific has set us up with another great tournament with excellent added value. Note that this tournament is open to both new registrations and those that registered for the event held last Sunday: Time: Friday April 25th at 3pm EST Name: PTP & RBN WPC Qualifier Buy ��...full article

Pacific has set us up with another great tournament with excellent added value. Note that this tournament is open to both new registrations and those that registered for the event held last Sunday:

Time: Friday April 25th at 3pm EST
Name: PTP & RBN WPC Qualifier
Buy in: 27.50

Prize Pool:
-1 WPC seat ($1050 value) for every 10 entrants. If less than 10 players enter, 1 WPC seat will still be awared to the winner.

-The next 10 places will receive a free entry into Pacific’s WSOP sub-satellite ($110 value). This is true no matter how few people register.

To register for the tournament:
You must not already have a Pacific Poker account
You need to create one with this link:

http://www.pacificpoker.com/PokerInstaller?lang=en&sr=391864

Only by registering with the above link will you be able to join in the event.

The WPC event is a $1050 $3million guaranteed event on April 26th at 10am est. The $110 WSOP sub-satellite will is the one on May 2nd at 4pm eastern. The registration process is done manually; winners won’t be automatically registered when the tourney ends.

The WPC looks like it will overlay, so the value of that entry may actually be much more than $1050. The value here is great for those of you that can take advantage of it.

Pacific offers a 100% deposit bonus up to $400; 25% of it is released instantly. The rest needs to be cleared

No US Players, issue your complaints directly to congress.

U.S. Representatives send letter to Treasury Dept. regarding UIGEA
U.S. Representative Barney Frank (D-Mass.) and others sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Treasury regarding the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act on Monday. The letter comes soon after Frank introduced a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives that would stop the UIGEA from ��...full article

U.S. Representative Barney Frank (D-Mass.) and others sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Treasury regarding the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act on Monday.

The letter comes soon after Frank introduced a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives that would stop the UIGEA from being implemented.

Here’s some of the letter:

Your agency and the Federal Reserve have been struggling to issue these (UIGEA) regulations, but as the hearing made clear, the underlying statute makes your job extremely difficult, if not impossible. Given the many other priorities that are pending at your agencies, including the mortgage crisis, HOEPA, and UDAP rulewriting and many other issues, we believe it would be imprudent for you to devote additional agency resources to this Sisyphean task, especially as we intend to vigorously pursue legislation to prevent the implementation of these regulations.

Whole thing here on a 2+2 thread.

More on the Frank legislation as it makes its way though Congress.

Poker Players Alliance reaches 1 million members
Poker Players Alliance (PPA), a poker advocacy group in the United States, said in a press release today that it has surpassed 1 million members. The PPA also announced that it has launched a political action committee in advance of this November’s elections.

Poker Players Alliance (PPA), a poker advocacy group in the United States, said in a press release today that it has surpassed 1 million members.

The PPA also announced that it has launched a political action committee in advance of this November’s elections.

(more…)

Two states look at expanding poker

According to the Palm Beach Post, the Florida Senate has approved allowing around-the-clock poker play on weekends and 18-hour days during the week in the state.

The Senate approved the change in hours last week as part of a larger pari-mutuel measure, but it has yet to be approved by the House.

The Senate will soon be considering expanding what poker rooms can offer in the way of tournaments as well. Poker rooms may be permitted to host two high-stakes, televised poker tournaments each year, like those put on by the World Poker Tour. They could also be able to host six celebrity charity tournaments each year.

Senate members pointed out that the changes are necessary for the casinos to compete with gaming run on the Indian reservations.

The reservations were recently allowed to expand their poker operations, while the non-reservation cardrooms are restricted to a 12-hour day.

In Colorado, Sen. Ron Tupa has proposed a constitutional amendment that will eliminate the $5 bet limit on table games in Colorado casinos.

According to local media, the senator said changing the bet limits is one easy area to find additional revenue for the state.

His proposal doesn't suggest a new limit for the bets on table games such as poker and blackjack. Instead Tupa is waiting to see what his fellow lawmakers have to say about the limits and what they could potentially use the extra money for.

Tupa's proposal will need to be approved by two-thirds of the members of the state House and Senate to make it onto the November ballot.

Even just doubling the wager limit to $10 for blackjack, poker and slot machines could bring in an additional $13.7 million in state taxes in the first year, according to the legislature's chief economist, Mike Mauer.

Changing the betting limits could also help offset the dip in revenues that casinos saw in March. Some people in the gaming community are pointing to the smoking ban as the cause of a 15% drop in revenue during the month.

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Pokler Online - The Other Side of the Felt, Vol. 9: 2002 WSOP, Before the Boom, Part 1

The Other Side of the Felt, Vol. 9: 2002 WSOP, Before the Boom, Part 1
Way back in 2002, before Moneymaker, the internet explosion, and the World Poker Tour, I was offered the Tournament Director's job at the World Series of Poker at a time that the world's most prestigious tournament was in trouble...

Bodog CEO Calvin Ayre Announces Retirement
Calvin Ayre, the highly visible founder and CEO of Bodog, announced his planned retirement yesterday in a statement issued by the company. According to the statement, found at bodoglife.com, Ayre will also give up operational control...

The Other Side of the Felt, Vol. 9: 2002 WSOP, Before the Boom, Part 1
Way back in 2002, before Moneymaker, the internet explosion, and the World Poker Tour, I was offered the Tournament Director's job at the World Series of Poker at a time that the world's most prestigious tournament was in trouble...

Bodog CEO Calvin Ayre Announces Retirement
Calvin Ayre, the highly visible founder and CEO of Bodog, announced his planned retirement yesterday in a statement issued by the company. According to the statement, found at bodoglife.com, Ayre will also give up operational control...

Pokler Online - Sexton's Corner, Vol. 41: Mirage Serves Up 'Texas Hold'em Plus'

Sexton's Corner, Vol. 41: Mirage Serves Up 'Texas Hold'em Plus'
If you like action, big pots, and a chance to buy one extra card for a dollar at the beginning of a hand, you need to check out two special $3/6 tables at the Mirage in Las Vegas, Nevada, right away! As you walk into the poker room...

Sexton's Corner, Vol. 41: Mirage Serves Up 'Texas Hold'em Plus'
If you like action, big pots, and a chance to buy one extra card for a dollar at the beginning of a hand, you need to check out two special $3/6 tables at the Mirage in Las Vegas, Nevada, right away! As you walk into the poker room...

Pokler Online - Finns lose millions to foreign online poker sites

Finns lose millions to foreign online poker sites

The first option, suggested by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, was to introduce an amendment to the law on gambling that could give Internet gamblers the ability to claim back their losses. 

The law would probably cause poker sites to not allow Finnish players for fear that they'd be constantly refunding losses to players. 

The Minister of Culture and Sports suggested that a better option would be to allow one of the two Finnish gambling companies to take responsibility for organizing online gaming in the nation. 

The Culture and Sports Minister's plan may have more weight behind it after the newspaper Keski-Uusimaa reported last week that Finns spend as much as €50 million on foreign online poker games. 

According to the newspaper, domestic online poker could bring in several million euros in additional income for Finnland. 

One of the Finnish lottery companies that could potentially operate a state-run online gambling monopoly, Veikkus, told the Keski-Uusimaa that up to two-thirds of the money spent on foreign online poker could be redirected to Finns if online gambling is approved.  

A bill to reform the Finnish betting laws is expected to be presenting in December. 

Related Articles: 

• Finland Minister Favors State-Run Online Poker
• Possible Finnish Bill Would Hinder Online Poker

Visit PokerListings.com

Titan Poker players enjoy EPT event

The poker site sent a delegation of seven players to compete in Italy's first EPT event, with its delegation including players from Austria, Denmark, France, Italy, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.

 

The seven players won their seats to the EPT San Remo event at Titan Poker. Their prize packages were worth $10,000, which included the €5,000 buy-in to the main event as well as money for flights and accommodations.

 

While none of the players turned their seats into a win, a couple of them said they came away with the experience of a lifetime.

 

"The player that busted my pocket jacks with his Q-6 was Anthony Lellouche, who played extremely well and went on to finish in second place," said Daniel Walker, a prize package winner from the United Kingdom.

 

"He definitely put my chips to good use. Thanks again for organizing a great week - I had a spectacular time!"

 

Kenneth Tomming, from Denmark, turned his seat at the EPT into a chance to play against Daniel Negreanu. Tomming will also be taking on players in Madrid in May with the seat he won at Titan Poker for the EuroCity Madrid tournament sponsored by the poker site.

 

Titan Poker has already sent players to the Aussie Millions this year as well as various EPT Events. Upcoming events that players can try to win seats to are the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas and the World Poker Showdown taking place in the Dominican Republic later this year.

 

For players looking for more online actions rather than seats in a live tournament, the poker site will host the European Championship of Online Poker II in May with $3.6 million in guaranteed prize pools spread through the events.

 

Related Articles:

• Madrid Open Seats Still Available at Titan Poker
• Titan Launches Countdown to Billionth Hand
• Omaholics Promo Awards $100k to Players
• Titan Takes on Land-Based Tourneys

Visit PokerListings.com

Stars return for DoylesRoom bounty tournament

The pair of stars will join the April 23 Celebrity Bounty Poker Tournament, which starts at 9:30 p.m. ET.

The bounty tournament takes place every Wednesday at DoylesRoom, giving online poker players a chance to play against some of poker's best as well as against celebrities. Often Doyle Brunson himself will take on the tournament, as will Mike Caro, "The Mad Genius of Poker."

Hilton, who is the younger sister of Paris Hilton and heiress to the Hilton Hotel Empire, has participated in DoylesRoom events in the past. According to a press release from DoylesRoom, she is also a successful model with a fledgling fashion line and is quickly gaining recognition as a "skillful and sexy poker hostess."

Best known for her role as Tony Soprano's daughter, Meadow, on The Sopranos, Sigler has been spotted at the poker tables on occasion as well.

Aside from the chance to play against some stars and perhaps some pros, the Celebrity Bounty Tournament offers up a chance at some big money. The celebrities will have a bounty on their heads of $500.

The bounty is awarded to the person who knocks that celebrity out of the tournament. If a single player knocks out two of the bounties, he will be awarded $5,000.

The big money, however, is reserved for a player who manages to knock out all three bounties. That's worth $25,000 at DoylesRoom.

On top of that, there is the prize pool built from the $27.50 buy-in, giving players all sorts of opportunities to walk away a winner.

First-time Bounty Tournament players can also play the tournament for free. They'll need to pay for the tournament up front, but the buy-in will be refunded to them once it's over.

Registration for the April 23 tournament at DoylesRoom is currently open.

Related Articles:

• More Bounties at DoylesRoom
• Celebs to Play DoylesRoom Bounty Tourney

Visit PokerListings.com

Poker Room Review: Aviation Club, Paris, France
I found the ideal way to make a Parisian vacation seem cheap: Start out by playing pot-limit poker at the Aviation Club. The Aviation Club is a fine private club located in the most prestigious part of Paris, on the Champs Elysees...

Second Annual Jennifer Harman Nevada SPCA Fundraiser a Huge Success
There are many charity poker tournaments these days, but only a few of them would qualify as <i>events</i>. Friday at the Venetian, about 275 generous poker players saddled up to play some poker and help a great cause at the second...

WPT settles lawsuit with players

The pro poker players questioned the World Poker Tour's standard player's release and contracts with casinos in their lawsuit. They claimed that the releases and contracts violate federal and state antitrust laws.

According to the players' lawsuit, they had to waive rights to use their images and names to promote products and video games before they were allowed to enter a WPT tournament.

In one example, video clips of Howard Lederer playing in a WPT tournament were used in a WPT video game that directly competes with another video game, "World Championship Poker" that he and his sister Annie Duke appear in.

The WPTE has denied that its casino contracts, releases or other activities violate any laws, and continues to maintain that it didn't have any liability or wrongdoing in the matter.

However, it wanted to settle its differences with the players so that the WPT can focus on its continued growth rather than litigation.

No monetary compensation was awarded in the settlement, but the WPTE and the poker players agreed to implement a new standard form release that will be provided to all players at all WPT tournaments and events going forward.

"We are glad to put this dispute behind us, and we look forward to working with all players to grow the sport of poker," said Steve Lipscomb, WPTE founder and CEO.

"We are happy to have come to an agreement that is fair to all players, and to have put in place a new release that clears up ambiguities in how players' images may be used," said Chris Ferguson.

"We are especially happy that this new release will apply to all poker players who wish to participate in WPT tournaments and events. WPTE has created some of the best poker events in the world, and we are excited to participate in them once again."

Greg Raymer and Joe Hachem had also been a part of the original lawsuit, but were no longer participating in the action.

Related Articles:

• Judge Rejects Pros' Motion in WPT Lawsuit
• WPTE Responds to Pros' Complaint
• Poker Pros To Sue WPT

Visit PokerListings.com

Finns lose millions to foreign online poker sites

The first option, suggested by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, was to introduce an amendment to the law on gambling that could give Internet gamblers the ability to claim back their losses. 

The law would probably cause poker sites to not allow Finnish players for fear that they'd be constantly refunding losses to players. 

The Minister of Culture and Sports suggested that a better option would be to allow one of the two Finnish gambling companies to take responsibility for organizing online gaming in the nation. 

The Culture and Sports Minister's plan may have more weight behind it after the newspaper Keski-Uusimaa reported last week that Finns spend as much as €50 million on foreign online poker games. 

According to the newspaper, domestic online poker could bring in several million euros in additional income for Finnland. 

One of the Finnish lottery companies that could potentially operate a state-run online gambling monopoly, Veikkus, told the Keski-Uusimaa that up to two-thirds of the money spent on foreign online poker could be redirected to Finns if online gambling is approved.  

A bill to reform the Finnish betting laws is expected to be presenting in December. 

Related Articles: 

• Finland Minister Favors State-Run Online Poker
• Possible Finnish Bill Would Hinder Online Poker

Visit PokerListings.com

Titan Poker players enjoy EPT event

The poker site sent a delegation of seven players to compete in Italy's first EPT event, with its delegation including players from Austria, Denmark, France, Italy, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.

 

The seven players won their seats to the EPT San Remo event at Titan Poker. Their prize packages were worth $10,000, which included the €5,000 buy-in to the main event as well as money for flights and accommodations.

 

While none of the players turned their seats into a win, a couple of them said they came away with the experience of a lifetime.

 

"The player that busted my pocket jacks with his Q-6 was Anthony Lellouche, who played extremely well and went on to finish in second place," said Daniel Walker, a prize package winner from the United Kingdom.

 

"He definitely put my chips to good use. Thanks again for organizing a great week - I had a spectacular time!"

 

Kenneth Tomming, from Denmark, turned his seat at the EPT into a chance to play against Daniel Negreanu. Tomming will also be taking on players in Madrid in May with the seat he won at Titan Poker for the EuroCity Madrid tournament sponsored by the poker site.

 

Titan Poker has already sent players to the Aussie Millions this year as well as various EPT Events. Upcoming events that players can try to win seats to are the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas and the World Poker Showdown taking place in the Dominican Republic later this year.

 

For players looking for more online actions rather than seats in a live tournament, the poker site will host the European Championship of Online Poker II in May with $3.6 million in guaranteed prize pools spread through the events.

 

Related Articles:

• Madrid Open Seats Still Available at Titan Poker
• Titan Launches Countdown to Billionth Hand
• Omaholics Promo Awards $100k to Players
• Titan Takes on Land-Based Tourneys

Visit PokerListings.com

Stars return for DoylesRoom bounty tournament

The pair of stars will join the April 23 Celebrity Bounty Poker Tournament, which starts at 9:30 p.m. ET.

The bounty tournament takes place every Wednesday at DoylesRoom, giving online poker players a chance to play against some of poker's best as well as against celebrities. Often Doyle Brunson himself will take on the tournament, as will Mike Caro, "The Mad Genius of Poker."

Hilton, who is the younger sister of Paris Hilton and heiress to the Hilton Hotel Empire, has participated in DoylesRoom events in the past. According to a press release from DoylesRoom, she is also a successful model with a fledgling fashion line and is quickly gaining recognition as a "skillful and sexy poker hostess."

Best known for her role as Tony Soprano's daughter, Meadow, on The Sopranos, Sigler has been spotted at the poker tables on occasion as well.

Aside from the chance to play against some stars and perhaps some pros, the Celebrity Bounty Tournament offers up a chance at some big money. The celebrities will have a bounty on their heads of $500.

The bounty is awarded to the person who knocks that celebrity out of the tournament. If a single player knocks out two of the bounties, he will be awarded $5,000.

The big money, however, is reserved for a player who manages to knock out all three bounties. That's worth $25,000 at DoylesRoom.

On top of that, there is the prize pool built from the $27.50 buy-in, giving players all sorts of opportunities to walk away a winner.

First-time Bounty Tournament players can also play the tournament for free. They'll need to pay for the tournament up front, but the buy-in will be refunded to them once it's over.

Registration for the April 23 tournament at DoylesRoom is currently open.

Related Articles:

• More Bounties at DoylesRoom
• Celebs to Play DoylesRoom Bounty Tourney

Visit PokerListings.com

Poker Room Review: Aviation Club, Paris, France
I found the ideal way to make a Parisian vacation seem cheap: Start out by playing pot-limit poker at the Aviation Club. The Aviation Club is a fine private club located in the most prestigious part of Paris, on the Champs Elysees...

Second Annual Jennifer Harman Nevada SPCA Fundraiser a Huge Success
There are many charity poker tournaments these days, but only a few of them would qualify as <i>events</i>. Friday at the Venetian, about 275 generous poker players saddled up to play some poker and help a great cause at the second...

WPT settles lawsuit with players

The pro poker players questioned the World Poker Tour's standard player's release and contracts with casinos in their lawsuit. They claimed that the releases and contracts violate federal and state antitrust laws.

According to the players' lawsuit, they had to waive rights to use their images and names to promote products and video games before they were allowed to enter a WPT tournament.

In one example, video clips of Howard Lederer playing in a WPT tournament were used in a WPT video game that directly competes with another video game, "World Championship Poker" that he and his sister Annie Duke appear in.

The WPTE has denied that its casino contracts, releases or other activities violate any laws, and continues to maintain that it didn't have any liability or wrongdoing in the matter.

However, it wanted to settle its differences with the players so that the WPT can focus on its continued growth rather than litigation.

No monetary compensation was awarded in the settlement, but the WPTE and the poker players agreed to implement a new standard form release that will be provided to all players at all WPT tournaments and events going forward.

"We are glad to put this dispute behind us, and we look forward to working with all players to grow the sport of poker," said Steve Lipscomb, WPTE founder and CEO.

"We are happy to have come to an agreement that is fair to all players, and to have put in place a new release that clears up ambiguities in how players' images may be used," said Chris Ferguson.

"We are especially happy that this new release will apply to all poker players who wish to participate in WPT tournaments and events. WPTE has created some of the best poker events in the world, and we are excited to participate in them once again."

Greg Raymer and Joe Hachem had also been a part of the original lawsuit, but were no longer participating in the action.

Related Articles:

• Judge Rejects Pros' Motion in WPT Lawsuit
• WPTE Responds to Pros' Complaint
• Poker Pros To Sue WPT

Visit PokerListings.com

Pokler Online - PoolStars Announces WSOP Seat Promotion

PoolStars Announces WSOP Seat Promotion
PoolStars is giving poker players a chance to walk away with a seat in the World Series of Poker Main Event in their side pocket. The online billiards Web site, which offers a virtual version of the popular recreational game...

PoolStars Announces WSOP Seat Promotion
PoolStars is giving poker players a chance to walk away with a seat in the World Series of Poker Main Event in their side pocket. The online billiards Web site, which offers a virtual version of the popular recreational game...

Pokler Online - PoolStars Announces WSOP Seat Promotion

PoolStars Announces WSOP Seat Promotion
PoolStars is giving poker players a chance to walk away with a seat in the World Series of Poker Main Event in their side pocket. The online billiards Web site, which offers a virtual version of the popular recreational game...

PoolStars Announces WSOP Seat Promotion
PoolStars is giving poker players a chance to walk away with a seat in the World Series of Poker Main Event in their side pocket. The online billiards Web site, which offers a virtual version of the popular recreational game...

Pokler Online - Forum chatter reports Hawbaker death

Forum chatter reports Hawbaker death

The first news of her death was posted at NeverWinPoker, where Bryan Micon wrote on Thursday:

"It is with great sadness that I write this story. Brandi Hawbaker to some, Naami Dea to others, took her own life on Sunday. This news has been confirmed through Brandon and Brandi's family.

"Brandon, Brandi's family, and friends have asked the poker world to respect their privacy while they grieve. When the time is right we will have Brandon's statement on NWP. This truly is a tragedy, as the whole poker world loved to watch this eccentric young lady on and off the felt. Brandi will be missed and I hope she has found some peace."

Since that posting, poker forums across the Web have been talking about the news and speculating on whether it is just a hoax.

The 26-year-old Hawbaker rose to attention in the poker world not so much for her poker skills but instead because of her eccentricities at the poker felt, as well as due to the scandals she's been a part of in the poker community.

All a person has to do is troll the 2+2 forums to see the impact she's had on the poker community - good or bad - and the many ways she's found to keep herself in the spotlight.

The person who broke the news, Micon, was one of Hawbaker's biggest nemeses, often raking her through the coals with his stories on NWP and YouTube videos.

"She did some bad stuff, we all watched. She did some crazy stuff, we all watched. She died, we all watch... She is our Marylin Monroe," Micon wrote.

Her flamboyant reputation may have been what kept her in the public eye, but Hawbaker did have moderate success in the game as well. In October 2006, the poker community first took notice of her when she cashed in a Festa al Lago V event at the Bellagio and went on to also cash in 35th place in the World Poker Tour Festa al Lago V main event.

Her most recent success was at the 2007 World Series of Poker where she cashed in the $2,000 No-Limit Hold'em event.

Visit PokerListings.com

Canadian wins EPT Grand Final
Twenty-two-year-old Glen Chorny of Ontario, Canada, won the PokerStars European Poker Tour Grand Final on Thursday, outlasting a field of 842 other players to take the season-ending event. Chorny pocketed just over 2 million Euros ($3.2 million) for the first-place finish, which is believed to be ��...full article

Twenty-two-year-old Glen Chorny of Ontario, Canada, won the PokerStars European Poker Tour Grand Final on Thursday, outlasting a field of 842 other players to take the season-ending event.

Chorny pocketed just over 2 million Euros ($3.2 million) for the first-place finish, which is believed to be he most money ever awarded at a poker tournament held in Europe.
(more…)

Brandi Hawbaker dead at 26
In news that spread quickly over the internet poker forums, Brandi Hawbaker, famous mostly for her role in the drama on those same internet poker forums and in the live poker world, committed suicide on Sunday, according to varying reports. According to bluffmagazine.com: Word of the 26-year ��...full article

In news that spread quickly over the internet poker forums, Brandi Hawbaker, famous mostly for her role in the drama on those same internet poker forums and in the live poker world, committed suicide on Sunday, according to varying reports.

According to bluffmagazine.com:

Word of the 26-year old’s death first surfaced on WickedChopsPoker.com after a poster using the nom de plume “Bob. B. Bobson” posted the following comment on a post that was 16 months old:

“You may want to know that Brandi Hawbaker (of semi-recent poker drama) died earlier this week. She was 26 years old. I do not know any more than that, including how she died or any circumstances of her death, or even if there is a funeral planned. Even if I did know, it’s nobody’s business but her family and friends.”

Whole thing here.

The news was confirmed at neverwinpoker.com by Bryan Micon, who knew Hawbaker personally.

Winds of change blow on WSOP

Purists decried the supposed move and fans of change raised their voices in support, only to be let down when the official word came down from WSOP headquarters that no such policy would be enacted this year.

Even though Harrah's says the rumored change won't take place, it's worth noting that change is nothing new at the WSOP.

In fact, other than cards and chips, change has been one of the constants at the series since its inception. Here's a look back at a few of the more important changes that have taken place at the WSOP since it first began.

Champion determined by freezeout (1971)

#img: bionion_2390.jpg:left: Home of the World Series of Poker.#

The first iteration of the WSOP was held at Benny Binion's Horseshoe on Fremont Street in May 1970 as a "gambler's convention." At that time there was no tournament poker to speak of in the world; the convention was simply a continuous series of cash poker, with the title of "World Champion" going to the man voted top player by his peers. That title, of course, went to the legendary Johnny Moss.

When the world's greatest gamblers returned to the Horseshoe in 1971, Binion decided to change the format in order to generate more interest in the event. Rather than having a vote at the end of the convention, he decided to use the now-familiar freezeout format, in which the last man standing is declared the winner. Johnny Moss backed up his title from the previous year by defeating five other entrants in the $5,000.

The introduction of the freezeout at the WSOP gave birth to modern tournament poker, and was the first major change of many that would follow at the Horseshoe.

New event added (1972)

As mentioned above, the 1971 WSOP was the first to feature a freezeout. In 1972, a second event was added to the schedule: a $10,000 Five-Card Stud tournament. That it drew only two competitors is insignificant from a historical standpoint; what matters is that it set the precedent for the practice of adding new events that has persisted throughout the WSOP's history.

The WSOP's schedule has become so crowded with events in recent years that it now takes nearly two full months to play them all. Some who would style themselves poker purists have decried the dilution of a bracelet's value because of the additional events, but they miss the essential point that the WSOP's structure and schedule has been in flux almost since its inception. Change is the rule at the WSOP, not the exception.

Satellites (1981)

It is hard to imagine today, with all the readily available WSOP satellites both live and online, that there was a time when you couldn't win your way into the world's biggest tournament on the cheap. But for the first decade of the WSOP, that's exactly how things worked. The situation changed for good in 1981 on the eve of the big event.

As poker historian Gary Wise relates the story, Eric Drache, who had become the first tournament director of the WSOP back in 1973, was desperately trying to get signups for the Main Event the day before it began.

He began asking players on the floor at the Horseshoe to sign up, and eventually came to a table of 10 men who had $10,000 between them. Drache suggested to the men that they should play freezeout-style for all the money on the table, with the winner entering the Main Event. The men agreed, and Drache realized he had a winning idea on his hands.

#img: tom-mcevoy_15884.jpg: right: The first satellite winner to win the Main Event.#

The name of the original satellite winner is now lost to history. Just two years later, however, a different name would enter poker history when Tom McEvoy became the first satellite winner to claim the Main Event crown.

Outdoor final table (1997)

The first WSOP was designed to draw traffic to the Horseshoe by giving the people passing by on Fremont Street something to watch. The only problem was that they actually had to come inside to see the tournament being played. In 1997, Jack Binion and his staff tackled that problem by moving the Main Event's final table outside onto the street.

The idea proved to be ill-conceived. By the time May rolls around, Las Vegas positively swelters; holding the final table outdoors meant subjecting its participants to intense heat. To make matters even worse, the notorious gusty Las Vegas winds meant that the dealers had to slide hole cards to the players and deal the flop under a sheet of plexiglass in the middle of the table.

In addition to the problems the environment presented for players and staff, the fans in attendance found the game hard to follow. Tom Sims, reporting on the event for ConJelCo, the gambling book and software publisher, described the scene:

"From a spectator's point of view, it was very difficult to follow the action. The overhead television monitors were almost useless because of the glare and outdoor brightness, and the television crews and photographers completely obstructed my view about 75 % of the time. They did have much larger bleachers outdoors than they have had indoors, but if you can't see, more seats aren't a plus factor."

The outdoor experiment was never officially declared a failure, but the fact that it never returned was proof enough that it simply didn't work.

Hole cams (2002)

No single innovation in poker has made the game more accessible to a wide audience than the hole cam. Early television broadcasts of the WSOP, aired without any indication of the players' hole cards until they were turned up, were curiosities at best compared to today's numerous poker programs.

Often they featured a poker-playing actor such as Gabe Kaplan or Dick Van Patten, assisted by the tournament director and sometimes a professional player in the commentary booth attempting to read the action as if he were at the table; Phil Hellmuth, ever the self-promoter, often helped with this aspect of the production.

In 2002, ESPN produced the first WSOP coverage that featured hole cards. While the graphic presentation was somewhat primitive in comparison with today's TV coverage, the new information changed televised poker immediately. Rather than feeling like a documentary film about a poker tournament, the new breed of coverage had the feel of a sporting event. That sporting allure would prove instrumental in drawing hundreds of thousands of new players to the game in the next few years.

Move to the Rio (2005)

#img: rio-casino_8698.jpg: left: The new home of the WSOP.#

Since its beginning, the WSOP had always been played at the Horseshoe in downtown Las Vegas, a natural fit for the Binion family's annual poker extravaganza. When the Horseshoe was forced to close in January 2003, it looked for a time as if the WSOP might cease to exist. Luckily for poker players, Harrah's Entertainment stepped in to purchase the casino and the now-storied WSOP.

With the event's burgeoning popularity fueled by the so-called "Moneymaker effect," and its new owners also the holders of several large casino properties in Vegas, it was only a matter of time before the event moved away from the only home it had ever known. That time came in 2005, when the event moved to the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino on Flamingo Road.

The new venue was cavernous compared to the tiny Horseshoe, easily able to hold the entire 2,576-strong starting field of the 2004 WSOP Main Event. That the move was a smart one for Harrah's was underscored when the 2005 Main Event smashed the previous year's record by drawing a field of 5,619 runners and created the largest prize in tournament poker's history. In a nod to WSOP history, the Main Event final table was played out at Binion's one last time, but every hand dealt at the WSOP since then has been dealt at the Rio.

So, when purists decry real or rumored alterations to the WSOP format and schedule, it's worth remembering that the tournament series has been in flux more or less since its birth. But come what may, it's a pretty safe bet nothing will alter poker players' burning desire to snag one of its coveted bracelets.

Visit PokerListings.com

Forum chatter reports Hawbaker death

The first news of her death was posted at NeverWinPoker, where Bryan Micon wrote on Thursday:

"It is with great sadness that I write this story. Brandi Hawbaker to some, Naami Dea to others, took her own life on Sunday. This news has been confirmed through Brandon and Brandi's family.

"Brandon, Brandi's family, and friends have asked the poker world to respect their privacy while they grieve. When the time is right we will have Brandon's statement on NWP. This truly is a tragedy, as the whole poker world loved to watch this eccentric young lady on and off the felt. Brandi will be missed and I hope she has found some peace."

Since that posting, poker forums across the Web have been talking about the news and speculating on whether it is just a hoax.

The 26-year-old Hawbaker rose to attention in the poker world not so much for her poker skills but instead because of her eccentricities at the poker felt, as well as due to the scandals she's been a part of in the poker community.

All a person has to do is troll the 2+2 forums to see the impact she's had on the poker community - good or bad - and the many ways she's found to keep herself in the spotlight.

The person who broke the news, Micon, was one of Hawbaker's biggest nemeses, often raking her through the coals with his stories on NWP and YouTube videos.

"She did some bad stuff, we all watched. She did some crazy stuff, we all watched. She died, we all watch... She is our Marylin Monroe," Micon wrote.

Her flamboyant reputation may have been what kept her in the public eye, but Hawbaker did have moderate success in the game as well. In October 2006, the poker community first took notice of her when she cashed in a Festa al Lago V event at the Bellagio and went on to also cash in 35th place in the World Poker Tour Festa al Lago V main event.

Her most recent success was at the 2007 World Series of Poker where she cashed in the $2,000 No-Limit Hold'em event.

Visit PokerListings.com

Canadian wins EPT Grand Final
Twenty-two-year-old Glen Chorny of Ontario, Canada, won the PokerStars European Poker Tour Grand Final on Thursday, outlasting a field of 842 other players to take the season-ending event. Chorny pocketed just over 2 million Euros ($3.2 million) for the first-place finish, which is believed to be ��...full article

Twenty-two-year-old Glen Chorny of Ontario, Canada, won the PokerStars European Poker Tour Grand Final on Thursday, outlasting a field of 842 other players to take the season-ending event.

Chorny pocketed just over 2 million Euros ($3.2 million) for the first-place finish, which is believed to be he most money ever awarded at a poker tournament held in Europe.
(more…)

Brandi Hawbaker dead at 26
In news that spread quickly over the internet poker forums, Brandi Hawbaker, famous mostly for her role in the drama on those same internet poker forums and in the live poker world, committed suicide on Sunday, according to varying reports. According to bluffmagazine.com: Word of the 26-year ��...full article

In news that spread quickly over the internet poker forums, Brandi Hawbaker, famous mostly for her role in the drama on those same internet poker forums and in the live poker world, committed suicide on Sunday, according to varying reports.

According to bluffmagazine.com:

Word of the 26-year old’s death first surfaced on WickedChopsPoker.com after a poster using the nom de plume “Bob. B. Bobson” posted the following comment on a post that was 16 months old:

“You may want to know that Brandi Hawbaker (of semi-recent poker drama) died earlier this week. She was 26 years old. I do not know any more than that, including how she died or any circumstances of her death, or even if there is a funeral planned. Even if I did know, it’s nobody’s business but her family and friends.”

Whole thing here.

The news was confirmed at neverwinpoker.com by Bryan Micon, who knew Hawbaker personally.

Winds of change blow on WSOP

Purists decried the supposed move and fans of change raised their voices in support, only to be let down when the official word came down from WSOP headquarters that no such policy would be enacted this year.

Even though Harrah's says the rumored change won't take place, it's worth noting that change is nothing new at the WSOP.

In fact, other than cards and chips, change has been one of the constants at the series since its inception. Here's a look back at a few of the more important changes that have taken place at the WSOP since it first began.

Champion determined by freezeout (1971)

#img: bionion_2390.jpg:left: Home of the World Series of Poker.#

The first iteration of the WSOP was held at Benny Binion's Horseshoe on Fremont Street in May 1970 as a "gambler's convention." At that time there was no tournament poker to speak of in the world; the convention was simply a continuous series of cash poker, with the title of "World Champion" going to the man voted top player by his peers. That title, of course, went to the legendary Johnny Moss.

When the world's greatest gamblers returned to the Horseshoe in 1971, Binion decided to change the format in order to generate more interest in the event. Rather than having a vote at the end of the convention, he decided to use the now-familiar freezeout format, in which the last man standing is declared the winner. Johnny Moss backed up his title from the previous year by defeating five other entrants in the $5,000.

The introduction of the freezeout at the WSOP gave birth to modern tournament poker, and was the first major change of many that would follow at the Horseshoe.

New event added (1972)

As mentioned above, the 1971 WSOP was the first to feature a freezeout. In 1972, a second event was added to the schedule: a $10,000 Five-Card Stud tournament. That it drew only two competitors is insignificant from a historical standpoint; what matters is that it set the precedent for the practice of adding new events that has persisted throughout the WSOP's history.

The WSOP's schedule has become so crowded with events in recent years that it now takes nearly two full months to play them all. Some who would style themselves poker purists have decried the dilution of a bracelet's value because of the additional events, but they miss the essential point that the WSOP's structure and schedule has been in flux almost since its inception. Change is the rule at the WSOP, not the exception.

Satellites (1981)

It is hard to imagine today, with all the readily available WSOP satellites both live and online, that there was a time when you couldn't win your way into the world's biggest tournament on the cheap. But for the first decade of the WSOP, that's exactly how things worked. The situation changed for good in 1981 on the eve of the big event.

As poker historian Gary Wise relates the story, Eric Drache, who had become the first tournament director of the WSOP back in 1973, was desperately trying to get signups for the Main Event the day before it began.

He began asking players on the floor at the Horseshoe to sign up, and eventually came to a table of 10 men who had $10,000 between them. Drache suggested to the men that they should play freezeout-style for all the money on the table, with the winner entering the Main Event. The men agreed, and Drache realized he had a winning idea on his hands.

#img: tom-mcevoy_15884.jpg: right: The first satellite winner to win the Main Event.#

The name of the original satellite winner is now lost to history. Just two years later, however, a different name would enter poker history when Tom McEvoy became the first satellite winner to claim the Main Event crown.

Outdoor final table (1997)

The first WSOP was designed to draw traffic to the Horseshoe by giving the people passing by on Fremont Street something to watch. The only problem was that they actually had to come inside to see the tournament being played. In 1997, Jack Binion and his staff tackled that problem by moving the Main Event's final table outside onto the street.

The idea proved to be ill-conceived. By the time May rolls around, Las Vegas positively swelters; holding the final table outdoors meant subjecting its participants to intense heat. To make matters even worse, the notorious gusty Las Vegas winds meant that the dealers had to slide hole cards to the players and deal the flop under a sheet of plexiglass in the middle of the table.

In addition to the problems the environment presented for players and staff, the fans in attendance found the game hard to follow. Tom Sims, reporting on the event for ConJelCo, the gambling book and software publisher, described the scene:

"From a spectator's point of view, it was very difficult to follow the action. The overhead television monitors were almost useless because of the glare and outdoor brightness, and the television crews and photographers completely obstructed my view about 75 % of the time. They did have much larger bleachers outdoors than they have had indoors, but if you can't see, more seats aren't a plus factor."

The outdoor experiment was never officially declared a failure, but the fact that it never returned was proof enough that it simply didn't work.

Hole cams (2002)

No single innovation in poker has made the game more accessible to a wide audience than the hole cam. Early television broadcasts of the WSOP, aired without any indication of the players' hole cards until they were turned up, were curiosities at best compared to today's numerous poker programs.

Often they featured a poker-playing actor such as Gabe Kaplan or Dick Van Patten, assisted by the tournament director and sometimes a professional player in the commentary booth attempting to read the action as if he were at the table; Phil Hellmuth, ever the self-promoter, often helped with this aspect of the production.

In 2002, ESPN produced the first WSOP coverage that featured hole cards. While the graphic presentation was somewhat primitive in comparison with today's TV coverage, the new information changed televised poker immediately. Rather than feeling like a documentary film about a poker tournament, the new breed of coverage had the feel of a sporting event. That sporting allure would prove instrumental in drawing hundreds of thousands of new players to the game in the next few years.

Move to the Rio (2005)

#img: rio-casino_8698.jpg: left: The new home of the WSOP.#

Since its beginning, the WSOP had always been played at the Horseshoe in downtown Las Vegas, a natural fit for the Binion family's annual poker extravaganza. When the Horseshoe was forced to close in January 2003, it looked for a time as if the WSOP might cease to exist. Luckily for poker players, Harrah's Entertainment stepped in to purchase the casino and the now-storied WSOP.

With the event's burgeoning popularity fueled by the so-called "Moneymaker effect," and its new owners also the holders of several large casino properties in Vegas, it was only a matter of time before the event moved away from the only home it had ever known. That time came in 2005, when the event moved to the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino on Flamingo Road.

The new venue was cavernous compared to the tiny Horseshoe, easily able to hold the entire 2,576-strong starting field of the 2004 WSOP Main Event. That the move was a smart one for Harrah's was underscored when the 2005 Main Event smashed the previous year's record by drawing a field of 5,619 runners and created the largest prize in tournament poker's history. In a nod to WSOP history, the Main Event final table was played out at Binion's one last time, but every hand dealt at the WSOP since then has been dealt at the Rio.

So, when purists decry real or rumored alterations to the WSOP format and schedule, it's worth remembering that the tournament series has been in flux more or less since its birth. But come what may, it's a pretty safe bet nothing will alter poker players' burning desire to snag one of its coveted bracelets.

Visit PokerListings.com

Pokler Online - Brandi Hawbaker dead at 26

Brandi Hawbaker dead at 26
In news that spread quickly over the internet poker forums, Brandi Hawbaker, famous mostly for her role in the drama on those same internet poker forums and in the live poker world, committed suicide on Sunday, according to varying reports. According to bluffmagazine.com: Word of the 26-year ��...full article

In news that spread quickly over the internet poker forums, Brandi Hawbaker, famous mostly for her role in the drama on those same internet poker forums and in the live poker world, committed suicide on Sunday, according to varying reports.

According to bluffmagazine.com:

Word of the 26-year old’s death first surfaced on WickedChopsPoker.com after a poster using the nom de plume “Bob. B. Bobson” posted the following comment on a post that was 16 months old:

“You may want to know that Brandi Hawbaker (of semi-recent poker drama) died earlier this week. She was 26 years old. I do not know any more than that, including how she died or any circumstances of her death, or even if there is a funeral planned. Even if I did know, it’s nobody’s business but her family and friends.”

Whole thing here.

The news was confirmed at neverwinpoker.com by Bryan Micon, who knew Hawbaker personally.

Exclusive Pacific Poker Tournament
PTP and RNB were approached by Pacific Poker with the opportunity to run a private tournament this Sunday at 2pm eastern with an absolutely insane value. Pacific does not accept US players. Here are the details:

PTP and RNB were approached by Pacific Poker with the opportunity to run a private tournament this Sunday at 2pm eastern with an absolutely insane value. Pacific does not accept US players. Here are the details:

(more…)

Book Review: Elkan Allan and Hannah Mackay's 'The Poker Encyclopedia'
Good poker books don't have to be about strategy, despite the fact that strategy books are by far the largest segment of poker literature. Among the newer non-strategy book examples of this is the late Elkan Allan and Hannah Mackay's...

PokerStars.com EPT Monte Carlo: Glen Chorny Wins
Canadian Glen Chorny was the chip leader going in to and coming out of the final day of play at the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour Grand Final in Monte Carlo. Chorny won an astounding $3,198,500 after eliminating Denes Kalo...

Online poker bill in California clears hurdle
A California bill designed to fund a study on online poker within the state got through a key committee on its way to a potential vote by the legislature. California Bill AB 2026 received unanimous approval by the Assembly Governmental Organization Committee (AGOC), according to a ��...full article

A California bill designed to fund a study on online poker within the state got through a key committee on its way to a potential vote by the legislature.

California Bill AB 2026 received unanimous approval by the Assembly Governmental Organization Committee (AGOC), according to a story at pokerpages.com:

The Bill, titled “The Gambling Control / California Intrastate Online Poker Act”, was introduced Feb 15, 2008 by Assemblyman Lloyd Levine (D-Van Nuys), Chairman of the Assembly Utilities and Commerce Committee.

According to Capitol Weekly, the newspaper of California government and politics, Bill AB 2026 directs the California State Gambling Control Commission, in conjunction with the state Department of Justice, to perform a study regarding authorization of Internet poker for California residents, in accordance with the federal Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 (UIGEA), which stipulates that individual states have the right to legalize and regulate intrastate online gambling.

Whole thing here.

The study, if approved, could pave the way for a future bill that would legalize online poker in the state as soon as next year.

Canadian wins EPT Grand Final
Twenty-two-year-old Glen Chorny of Ontario, Canada, won the PokerStars European Poker Tour Grand Final on Thursday, outlasting a field of 842 other players to take the season-ending event. Chorny pocketed just over 2 million Euros ($3.2 million) for the first-place finish, which is believed to be ��...full article

Twenty-two-year-old Glen Chorny of Ontario, Canada, won the PokerStars European Poker Tour Grand Final on Thursday, outlasting a field of 842 other players to take the season-ending event.

Chorny pocketed just over 2 million Euros ($3.2 million) for the first-place finish, which is believed to be he most money ever awarded at a poker tournament held in Europe.
(more…)

Brandi Hawbaker dead at 26
In news that spread quickly over the internet poker forums, Brandi Hawbaker, famous mostly for her role in the drama on those same internet poker forums and in the live poker world, committed suicide on Sunday, according to varying reports. According to bluffmagazine.com: Word of the 26-year ��...full article

In news that spread quickly over the internet poker forums, Brandi Hawbaker, famous mostly for her role in the drama on those same internet poker forums and in the live poker world, committed suicide on Sunday, according to varying reports.

According to bluffmagazine.com:

Word of the 26-year old’s death first surfaced on WickedChopsPoker.com after a poster using the nom de plume “Bob. B. Bobson” posted the following comment on a post that was 16 months old:

“You may want to know that Brandi Hawbaker (of semi-recent poker drama) died earlier this week. She was 26 years old. I do not know any more than that, including how she died or any circumstances of her death, or even if there is a funeral planned. Even if I did know, it’s nobody’s business but her family and friends.”

Whole thing here.

The news was confirmed at neverwinpoker.com by Bryan Micon, who knew Hawbaker personally.

Exclusive Pacific Poker Tournament
PTP and RNB were approached by Pacific Poker with the opportunity to run a private tournament this Sunday at 2pm eastern with an absolutely insane value. Pacific does not accept US players. Here are the details:

PTP and RNB were approached by Pacific Poker with the opportunity to run a private tournament this Sunday at 2pm eastern with an absolutely insane value. Pacific does not accept US players. Here are the details:

(more…)

Book Review: Elkan Allan and Hannah Mackay's 'The Poker Encyclopedia'
Good poker books don't have to be about strategy, despite the fact that strategy books are by far the largest segment of poker literature. Among the newer non-strategy book examples of this is the late Elkan Allan and Hannah Mackay's...

PokerStars.com EPT Monte Carlo: Glen Chorny Wins
Canadian Glen Chorny was the chip leader going in to and coming out of the final day of play at the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour Grand Final in Monte Carlo. Chorny won an astounding $3,198,500 after eliminating Denes Kalo...

Online poker bill in California clears hurdle
A California bill designed to fund a study on online poker within the state got through a key committee on its way to a potential vote by the legislature. California Bill AB 2026 received unanimous approval by the Assembly Governmental Organization Committee (AGOC), according to a ��...full article

A California bill designed to fund a study on online poker within the state got through a key committee on its way to a potential vote by the legislature.

California Bill AB 2026 received unanimous approval by the Assembly Governmental Organization Committee (AGOC), according to a story at pokerpages.com:

The Bill, titled “The Gambling Control / California Intrastate Online Poker Act”, was introduced Feb 15, 2008 by Assemblyman Lloyd Levine (D-Van Nuys), Chairman of the Assembly Utilities and Commerce Committee.

According to Capitol Weekly, the newspaper of California government and politics, Bill AB 2026 directs the California State Gambling Control Commission, in conjunction with the state Department of Justice, to perform a study regarding authorization of Internet poker for California residents, in accordance with the federal Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 (UIGEA), which stipulates that individual states have the right to legalize and regulate intrastate online gambling.

Whole thing here.

The study, if approved, could pave the way for a future bill that would legalize online poker in the state as soon as next year.

Canadian wins EPT Grand Final
Twenty-two-year-old Glen Chorny of Ontario, Canada, won the PokerStars European Poker Tour Grand Final on Thursday, outlasting a field of 842 other players to take the season-ending event. Chorny pocketed just over 2 million Euros ($3.2 million) for the first-place finish, which is believed to be ��...full article

Twenty-two-year-old Glen Chorny of Ontario, Canada, won the PokerStars European Poker Tour Grand Final on Thursday, outlasting a field of 842 other players to take the season-ending event.

Chorny pocketed just over 2 million Euros ($3.2 million) for the first-place finish, which is believed to be he most money ever awarded at a poker tournament held in Europe.
(more…)

Pokler Online - Women's Poker Spotlight: History Made at WPT Bellagio

Women's Poker Spotlight: History Made at WPT Bellagio
On Sunday, April 13th, the WPT Bellagio Five Star World Poker Classic made poker history by offering a ladies' tournament with a record buy-in of $1,500. In the past, the WSOP Ladies Event buy-in of $1,000 was the highest ever offered...

Women's Poker Spotlight: History Made at WPT Bellagio
On Sunday, April 13th, the WPT Bellagio Five Star World Poker Classic made poker history by offering a ladies' tournament with a record buy-in of $1,500. In the past, the WSOP Ladies Event buy-in of $1,000 was the highest ever offered...

Pokler Online - Benyamine and ICallSoWhat coin-flip for $169,000

Benyamine and ICallSoWhat coin-flip for $169,000

But first, let's investigate the nature of Omaha and compare it with Texas Hold'em.

In Hold'em, two pair on the flop is usually a straightforward hand to play unless the board consists of three suited/consecutive cards. There aren't many situations where you can possibly lay it down. If your opponent has an unfortunate set, it's just bad luck.

In Omaha, on the other hand, two pair is one of the toughest hands to play. If the pot is raised, re-raised, and you push all-in on the flop, one of two following situations is likely to occur.

1. Your opponent has a draw, and depending on the strength of it, you'll be somewhere between 10% ahead and a slight underdog.
2. Your opponent has a set and you're a big underdog.

Consequently, you rarely want to push all-in on the flop with a bare two pair - at least when the stacks are deep and you know that your opponent wouldn't risk his stack with a speculative holding.

But in Omaha, you can have additional outs to your two pair, which makes the hand a lot more valuable. The closer to the nut draw your extra outs are, the better your hand becomes. And even if your opponent has a better draw, your hand might block a few of his outs, which improves the chance of the two pair holding up.

This is exactly what happened in a hand between ICallSoWhat and David Benyamine at Full Tilt yesterday.

On the flop, ICallSoWhat held top two plus a flush draw and David Benyamine had only king high, combined with a truckload of outs though. And since Benyamine had the better flush draw, he was actually ahead when the money went in.

Full Tilt Poker Game #6059198672 TABLE : Eginton (6 max) $200/$400 - Pot Limit Omaha Hi - Wed Apr 16th 2008 - 3:26pm ET

Table Setup

Seat 2: ICallSoWhat ($84,396.50)
Seat 6: David Benyamine ($129,168)
David Benyamine posts the small blind of $200
ICallSoWhat posts the big blind of $400
The button is in seat #6

Preflop

David Benyamine raises to $1,200
ICallSoWhat calls $800

Flop #Ac-#3c-#Ts

ICallSoWhat checks
David Benyamine bets $1,200
ICallSoWhat raises to $4,800
David Benyamine raises to $16,800
ICallSoWhat raises to $52,800
David Benyamine raises to $127,968, and is all in
ICallSoWhat calls $30,396.50, and is all in

David Benyamine shows #Qd-#9c-#Kc-#Jd
ICallSoWhat shows #9d-#As-#Tc-#7c
Uncalled bet of $44,771.50 returned to David Benyamine

Turn #Ac-#3c-#Ts-#5h

River #Ac-#3c-#Ts-#5h-#3h

David Benyamine shows a pair of Threes
ICallSoWhat shows two pair, Aces and Tens
ICallSoWhat wins the pot ($168,792.50) with two pair, Aces and Tens

Summary

Total pot $168,793 | Rake $0.50
Board: #Ac-#3c-#Ts-#5h-#3h
Seat 2: ICallSoWhat (big blind) showed #9d-#As-#Tc-#7c and won ($168,792.50) with two pair, Aces and Tens
Seat 6: David Benyamine (small blind) showed #Qd-#9c-#Kc-#Jd and lost with a pair of Threes

For more big hands from this session, and more of the biggest pots won over the last day, week, month and year, jump to the MarketPulse section.

Visit PokerListings.com

Benyamine and ICallSoWhat coin-flip for $169,000

But first, let's investigate the nature of Omaha and compare it with Texas Hold'em.

In Hold'em, two pair on the flop is usually a straightforward hand to play unless the board consists of three suited/consecutive cards. There aren't many situations where you can possibly lay it down. If your opponent has an unfortunate set, it's just bad luck.

In Omaha, on the other hand, two pair is one of the toughest hands to play. If the pot is raised, re-raised, and you push all-in on the flop, one of two following situations is likely to occur.

1. Your opponent has a draw, and depending on the strength of it, you'll be somewhere between 10% ahead and a slight underdog.
2. Your opponent has a set and you're a big underdog.

Consequently, you rarely want to push all-in on the flop with a bare two pair - at least when the stacks are deep and you know that your opponent wouldn't risk his stack with a speculative holding.

But in Omaha, you can have additional outs to your two pair, which makes the hand a lot more valuable. The closer to the nut draw your extra outs are, the better your hand becomes. And even if your opponent has a better draw, your hand might block a few of his outs, which improves the chance of the two pair holding up.

This is exactly what happened in a hand between ICallSoWhat and David Benyamine at Full Tilt yesterday.

On the flop, ICallSoWhat held top two plus a flush draw and David Benyamine had only king high, combined with a truckload of outs though. And since Benyamine had the better flush draw, he was actually ahead when the money went in.

Full Tilt Poker Game #6059198672 TABLE : Eginton (6 max) $200/$400 - Pot Limit Omaha Hi - Wed Apr 16th 2008 - 3:26pm ET

Table Setup

Seat 2: ICallSoWhat ($84,396.50)
Seat 6: David Benyamine ($129,168)
David Benyamine posts the small blind of $200
ICallSoWhat posts the big blind of $400
The button is in seat #6

Preflop

David Benyamine raises to $1,200
ICallSoWhat calls $800

Flop #Ac-#3c-#Ts

ICallSoWhat checks
David Benyamine bets $1,200
ICallSoWhat raises to $4,800
David Benyamine raises to $16,800
ICallSoWhat raises to $52,800
David Benyamine raises to $127,968, and is all in
ICallSoWhat calls $30,396.50, and is all in

David Benyamine shows #Qd-#9c-#Kc-#Jd
ICallSoWhat shows #9d-#As-#Tc-#7c
Uncalled bet of $44,771.50 returned to David Benyamine

Turn #Ac-#3c-#Ts-#5h

River #Ac-#3c-#Ts-#5h-#3h

David Benyamine shows a pair of Threes
ICallSoWhat shows two pair, Aces and Tens
ICallSoWhat wins the pot ($168,792.50) with two pair, Aces and Tens

Summary

Total pot $168,793 | Rake $0.50
Board: #Ac-#3c-#Ts-#5h-#3h
Seat 2: ICallSoWhat (big blind) showed #9d-#As-#Tc-#7c and won ($168,792.50) with two pair, Aces and Tens
Seat 6: David Benyamine (small blind) showed #Qd-#9c-#Kc-#Jd and lost with a pair of Threes

For more big hands from this session, and more of the biggest pots won over the last day, week, month and year, jump to the MarketPulse section.

Visit PokerListings.com

Pokler Online - Golser thrills railbirds; re-buys for $1 million

Golser thrills railbirds; re-buys for $1 million

But it certainly does get the railbirds all jacked up.

Such was the case yesterday when, after dropping ten consecutive $20k buy-ins in a session with another of the world's best Limit players, Matt "Hoss_TBF" Hawrilenko, Austrian poker pro Markus Golser soiled some railbird shorts - and possibly Hawrilenko's - with a $1 million re-buy.

A pre-emptive strike on the "Golser is busto" thread? A pure showtime move for the rail? A statement to Hawrilenko about his bottomless bankroll?

We'll never know for sure. What we do know however: He still ended the session $200+ in the hole - although it seemed to be not much of a sweat for him, as he was more than a gracious loser in the chat with Hawrilenko after.

His only suggestion? Hawrilenko buy him a few drinks at this year's WSOP in Vegas.

Ironically, the biggest pot of the session as tracked by the PokerListings.com MarketPulse section, went to Golser, shortly after his million-dollar buy-in.

The details:

Full Tilt Poker Game #6053776422 TABLE : Mirasol (6 max) $1000/$2000 - Limit Hold'em - Wed Apr 16th 2008 - 1:45am ET

Table Setup

Seat 3: Hoss_TBF ($246,216.50)
Seat 6: Markus Golser ($996,494.50)
Hoss_TBF posts the small blind of $500
Markus Golser posts the big blind of $1,000
The button is in seat #3

Pre-flop

Hoss_TBF raises to $2,000
Markus Golser calls $1,000

Flop: #Kd-#3d-#Qh

Markus Golser bets $1,000
Hoss_TBF raises to $2,000
Markus Golser raises to $3,000
Hoss_TBF raises to $4,000
Markus Golser calls $1,000

Turn: #Kd-#3d-#Qh-#Ks

Markus Golser bets $2,000
Hoss_TBF raises to $4,000
Markus Golser raises to $6,000
Hoss_TBF raises to $8,000
Markus Golser calls $2,000

River: #Kd-#3d-#Qh-#Ks-#8d

Markus Golser checks
Hoss_TBF bets $2,000
Markus Golser raises to $4,000
Hoss_TBF calls $2,000

Showdown:

Markus Golser shows #Kh-#Qc for a full house, Kings full of Queens
Hoss_TBF mucks
Markus Golser wins the pot ($35,999.50) with a full house, Kings full of Queens

Summary:

Total pot $36,000 | Rake $0.50
Board: #Kd-#3d-#Qh-#Ks-#8d
Seat 3: Hoss_TBF (small blind) mucked
Seat 6: Markus Golser (big blind) collected ($35,999.50)

For more big hands from their session, and more of the top 100 biggest pots won online over the last day, week, month and year, jump to the MarketPulse section.

Visit PokerListings.com

Barry Greenstein shines at Stars of Poker

The event, which was organized by PokerStars at the EPT4 Grand Final, featured a number of Team PokerStars pros including Daniel Negreanu, Katja Thater, Dario Minieri, John Duthie, Vicky Coren, Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier, Noah Boeken, Barry Greenstein and one PokerStars Supernova Elite Joe "bigjoe2003" Michael, who won a Supernova Elite satellite into the event.

The event, which was by invitation only, took place over the course of seven hours and with $100,000 in prize money up for grabs, no one wanted to go out first. That dubious honor would surprisingly go to "Kid Poker" Negreanu. The Canadian pro was knocked out by EPT creator John Duthie in one of those set-over-set debacles you always hear about.

Negreanu quickly had some company on the rail in the form of Noeh Boeken and Dario Minieri, who finished eighth and seventh respectively.

Coren finished sixth but got one heck of a bad beat story out of the experience. Coren went out when she got A-K against A-K and her opponent hit a flush.

Michael did well to survive that long against the sheer number of talented poker pros but eventually went out fifth when he ran JJ into AA.

French pro Grospellier didn't last much longer than Michael and ended up going out in fourth when his A-K failed him against A-J. ElkY was the unfortunate bubble boy and all three remaining players were in the money.

It was clear that Katja Thater was gunning for first place but after a long, hard-fought battle she eventually went out on a blind steal that went awry. She earned $20,000 as a consolation prize for finishing third.

The heads-up battle saw Duthie and Greenstein feeling each other out for the first bit but eventually Greenstein managed a pivotal double-up. In the final hand Duthie got all-in with #9h-#8h versus Greenstein's #As-#Ks. The big slick prevailed and Duthie had to settle for third and $30,000.

Meanwhile Greenstein took home a stunning $50,000 for seven hours of work. It's very likely Greenstein's been killing the cash games lately but his last big score came in October at the WPT North American Championships, where he won $316,638 for coming in fourth.

Visit PokerListings.com

Pacific Poker adds to WPC seats for PL.com players

But don't panic if you didn't get your shot at a free seat in the WPC. Pacific Poker has decided to add a few more chances for PokerListings.com players to win seats.

Players from Italy, France, Germany and Spain will get another shot at seats in freerolls specifically for their country.

The freerolls will take place at 4 p.m. Pacific Poker Time on the following dates:

• April 21: Italy
• April 22: France
• April 23: Germany
• April 24: Spain

As an added bonus, poker players don't have to do anything to qualify. In the initial freerolls that were open to all PokerListings.com players, players had to earn five points during a seven-day qualifying period to get into each freeroll.

All it takes now is to have signed up at Pacific Poker through PokerListings.com and be from one of the four countries listed.

What online rounders will be playing for is a seat in the WPC, which is worth $1,000+$50, but has the potential to be worth much more since the tournament has a guaranteed $3 million prize pool. Plus, the winner will take home $1 million.

The WPC is a newly created tournament from 888.com that will start out online, bringing together players from all over the world to compete. When it gets down to the final table, play will be stopped and the remaining players will be flown to Barcelona, Spain, to finish the game live.

They will be given free transportation from anywhere in the world to Barcelona, as well as five-star hotel accommodation for the duration of the final event.

The WPC online tournament will take place April 26 at 10 a.m. Pacific Poker Time. The final table will take place May 6-10.

The final table will also be filmed to air on Sky Sports 2 on May 12.

The WPC freerolls aren't the only benefit for PokerListings.com players at Pacific Poker. The poker site also hosts monthly $5,000 freerolls for PokerListings.com players and is running World Series of Poker freerolls for them as well.

Pacific Poker has also upped the ante on its bonuses for PokerListings.com players. All players who sign up at the poker site via a PokerListings link are eligible for an exclusive 125% match bonus up to $475.

Players don't need to clear the entire bonus beforehand, either. Instead they will receive 50% up to $175 as an instant bonus that will be immediately credited to their account. The additional 75% up to $300 is a pending bonus released in a lump sum once cleared.

Head to Pacific Poker to take advantage of these and many other features the poker site has to offer.

Related Articles:

• Pacific Poker Gives WPC Seats to PL.com Players
• Here Comes the 888.com World Poker Crown
• 888 signs Shane Warne to play poker

Visit PokerListings.com

Hachem nearly gets in fight at EPT Grand Final
Former World Series of Poker main event champion Joe Hachem is nicknamed “Salty” for a reason, apparently. With 82 players left in the European Poker Tour’s Grand Final, Hachem nearly got into fisticuffs with a player named Woody Deck. At the time, players were two away ��...full article

Former World Series of Poker main event champion Joe Hachem is nicknamed “Salty” for a reason, apparently.

With 82 players left in the European Poker Tour’s Grand Final, Hachem nearly got into fisticuffs with a player named Woody Deck. At the time, players were two away from the money bubble.

Here’s what happened, according to pokerkingblog.com:

Joe Hachem was involved in a hand with Peter Traply. On a board of A-6-J-A-3, Hachem bet out 80,000 and Traply called, showing A-10. Hachem tapped the table, said “nice call”, and mucked his hand. This is where things got heated.

Woody Deck, who was not involved in the hand, asked if he could see Hachem’s cards. Hachem objected, saying that he didn’t have to show because the winning hand had already been shown. The dealer agreed, and mucked Hachem’s cards. Deck, according to Pokernews, then asked Hachem if he was trying to angle shoot, and said “Don’t be an asshole.”

Whole thing here.

A war of words ensued and things escalated. Play even stopped at other tables to watch the goings-on. But no punches were thrown and order was restored.

We’ll have results of the EPT when the event concludes.

2007 WSOP Europe Broadcast Schedule Announced
World Series of Poker Europe title sponsor Betfair has announced its upcoming schedule of 2007 WSOP-E broadcasts, anchored on the United Kingdom's Sky Sports channel and scheduled to air across much of Europe. Betfair's sponsorship...

Stock prices tumble for Vegas casinos
Tuesday was a bad day for the major Las Vegas casinos, as many of their stock prices took big hits. The stock losses came a day after MGM Mirage said it was going to be laying off more than 400 workers. According to a story at majorwager.com, ��...full article

Tuesday was a bad day for the major Las Vegas casinos, as many of their stock prices took big hits.

The stock losses came a day after MGM Mirage said it was going to be laying off more than 400 workers.

According to a story at majorwager.com, printed in the Las Vegas Review-Journal:

Shares of MGM Mirage, traded on the New York Stock Exchange, closed at $49.58, down $2.24, or 4.32 percent. MGM Mirage was trading at $100.50 in October. Other casino operators also fell in value during trading Tuesday.

Shares of Las Vegas Sands Corp. fell $4.97 to close at $69.05 on the New York Stock Exchange, off 6.71 percent. In October, Las Vegas Sands hit a 52-week high of $148.76. Shares of Wynn Resorts Ltd., traded on the Nasdaq National Market, fell $2.63 to close at $98.06, down 2.61 percent. Wynn reached a high of $176.13 in October.

Whole thing here.

Revenues have been down in the last quarter across the Las Vegas Strip.

PokerStars.com EPT Monte Carlo, Day 3: Esfandiari Moves to Front
With four hours left to Day 3 of the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour Grand Final in Monte Carlo, Antonio Esfandiari pulled ahead of the field by dragging the biggest pot of the day. Mark Keightley opened for 14,000, Esfandiari...

Massive Overlay Awaits PokerNews Players at an Exclusive WPC Satellite!
Pacific Poker continues to give PokerNews players sensational value through exclusive tournaments. On Tuesday April 22 at 19:00 GMT, a $27.50 WPC Satellite will commence that will award over $10,000 in prizes...

Shannon Elizabeth Report: Week 5

It turns out that being a hot tamale on the big screen and in the poker world doesn't necessarily translate to sexiness on the dance floor, and this week's Latin dances were all about the sexiness.

Shannon Elizabeth delivered what Len Goodman called a "competent" performance, but she didn't look comfortable with the dance at all.

In contrast to her graceful Viennese waltz from last week that put her in the top three for scores, she looked awkward with the samba and returned to the problem of not really having complete control of her limbs.

What was most notably lacking from her performance was the hip action. The samba is all about the rolling hips, and Elizabeth admittedly doesn't have much for hips and couldn't find a way to make them roll and swivel, at least not that anyone could notice.

Her saving grace is that even when the dance is getting the best of her, Elizabeth still gives it her all. Even Carrie Ann Inaba commented that she goes for it 100% whether she looks awkward or not. So she needs to keep up that attitude but work on some of her "shapes" for the dances.

Her resulting score from the judges was a 23, putting her just above Priscilla Presley and Marlee Matlin and tied with Cristian de la Funte for fifth place.

It was enough to keep her out of the bottom two once the viewer votes were tallied as well. Tuesday night's elimination came down to Presley and de la Fuente, but Presley didn't get enough support to move on for another week on Dancing with the Stars.

Here's how Presley and the others made out during Monday's performance night:

Priscilla Presley

After a rule violation last week, Presley needed to find a way to bring her scores back up again. At least with the rumba there was no danger of accidently doing a lift, but the slow Latin dance did nothing but leave Presley's dancing flaws wide open for even the layperson viewer to see. Len Goodman called the performance a disappointment, and it certainly wasn't a wow of a performance this week.

Score: 21

Marlee Matlin

For the first time in the competition it was obvious Matlin couldn't hear the music. She may have a good sense of rhythm, but the samba has much more complicated movements to go with that rhythm, and Matlin had a couple stumbles and a few times where her timing was off the music. Each judge brought up how amazing it she does so well despite her deafness, but that probably wasn't much consolation for Matlin.

Score: 22

Cristian de la Funte

Even though de la Funte continues to improve this week, the judges still had criticism for his rumba. It was one of the better performances of the rumba for the evening, and de la Funte has gone from mechanically performing the steps to a dance to really getting into the flow and movement. However, Carrie Ann Inaba thought he lacked chemistry with his partner this week and Len labeled the dance as merely "competent."

Score: 23

Marissa Jaret Winoker

Winoker may have been the biggest surprise of the evening. Compared to the other female celebrities in the competition, she's probably the contestant you'd least expect to pull off a sexy Latin dance like the samba. However, this was the first time Winoker looked like she actually felt confident and sexy on the dance floor, and it showed in her dance. Inaba called it her best routine yet, and she was right.

Score: 24

Mario

Mario managed to put himself back in the good graces of the judges this week with his samba. He still needs to brush up his footwork some, but Goodman called it his best performance so far. This week Mario looked more controlled and polished on the dance floor in contrast to what Goodman called his "wildness" in weeks past. It also helps that the samba seems made for Mario, giving him a chance to be smoldering and sexy and to take advantage of the hip movements and freedom of the dance.

Score: 27

Jason Taylor

It's becoming less and less of a surprise each week that Taylor has moves on the dance floor to match what he can do on the football field. His was probably the sexiest rumba of the night, and the nitpicky judges couldn't even fault him for poor footwork and heel leads. Bruno Tonioli said the football player had the look of a "love god" during the rumba, while Goodman complimented him on his naturalness. Yet his scores dipped a little from the 29 he earned last week.

Score: 27

Kristi Yamaguchi

Once again, Yamaguchi really had nothing to worry about going into Tuesday's elimination night. Her rumba had much more expression than her previous dances, though it didn't quite have the heat and passion you'd expect for a rumba. Inaba told her she made the right choice sacrificing a tiny bit on technique to achieve more emotionally with the dance, and Len gave her a "fab-u-lous."

Score: 29

The remaining seven celebrities will be back on the dance floor Monday on Dancing with the Stars and the next elimination will take place on Tuesday. Come back Wednesday, April 23, to see if Shannon Elizabeth continues in the competition or if she'll be sent back to the poker tables.

Related Articles:

• Shannon Elizabeth Report: Week 4
• Shannon Elizabeth Report: Week 3
• Shannon Elizabeth Report: Week 2
• Shannon Elizabeth Report: Week 1

Visit PokerListings.com

Golser thrills railbirds; re-buys for $1 million

But it certainly does get the railbirds all jacked up.

Such was the case yesterday when, after dropping ten consecutive $20k buy-ins in a session with another of the world's best Limit players, Matt "Hoss_TBF" Hawrilenko, Austrian poker pro Markus Golser soiled some railbird shorts - and possibly Hawrilenko's - with a $1 million re-buy.

A pre-emptive strike on the "Golser is busto" thread? A pure showtime move for the rail? A statement to Hawrilenko about his bottomless bankroll?

We'll never know for sure. What we do know however: He still ended the session $200+ in the hole - although it seemed to be not much of a sweat for him, as he was more than a gracious loser in the chat with Hawrilenko after.

His only suggestion? Hawrilenko buy him a few drinks at this year's WSOP in Vegas.

Ironically, the biggest pot of the session as tracked by the PokerListings.com MarketPulse section, went to Golser, shortly after his million-dollar buy-in.

The details:

Full Tilt Poker Game #6053776422 TABLE : Mirasol (6 max) $1000/$2000 - Limit Hold'em - Wed Apr 16th 2008 - 1:45am ET

Table Setup

Seat 3: Hoss_TBF ($246,216.50)
Seat 6: Markus Golser ($996,494.50)
Hoss_TBF posts the small blind of $500
Markus Golser posts the big blind of $1,000
The button is in seat #3

Pre-flop

Hoss_TBF raises to $2,000
Markus Golser calls $1,000

Flop: #Kd-#3d-#Qh

Markus Golser bets $1,000
Hoss_TBF raises to $2,000
Markus Golser raises to $3,000
Hoss_TBF raises to $4,000
Markus Golser calls $1,000

Turn: #Kd-#3d-#Qh-#Ks

Markus Golser bets $2,000
Hoss_TBF raises to $4,000
Markus Golser raises to $6,000
Hoss_TBF raises to $8,000
Markus Golser calls $2,000

River: #Kd-#3d-#Qh-#Ks-#8d

Markus Golser checks
Hoss_TBF bets $2,000
Markus Golser raises to $4,000
Hoss_TBF calls $2,000

Showdown:

Markus Golser shows #Kh-#Qc for a full house, Kings full of Queens
Hoss_TBF mucks
Markus Golser wins the pot ($35,999.50) with a full house, Kings full of Queens

Summary:

Total pot $36,000 | Rake $0.50
Board: #Kd-#3d-#Qh-#Ks-#8d
Seat 3: Hoss_TBF (small blind) mucked
Seat 6: Markus Golser (big blind) collected ($35,999.50)

For more big hands from their session, and more of the top 100 biggest pots won online over the last day, week, month and year, jump to the MarketPulse section.

Visit PokerListings.com

Barry Greenstein shines at Stars of Poker

The event, which was organized by PokerStars at the EPT4 Grand Final, featured a number of Team PokerStars pros including Daniel Negreanu, Katja Thater, Dario Minieri, John Duthie, Vicky Coren, Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier, Noah Boeken, Barry Greenstein and one PokerStars Supernova Elite Joe "bigjoe2003" Michael, who won a Supernova Elite satellite into the event.

The event, which was by invitation only, took place over the course of seven hours and with $100,000 in prize money up for grabs, no one wanted to go out first. That dubious honor would surprisingly go to "Kid Poker" Negreanu. The Canadian pro was knocked out by EPT creator John Duthie in one of those set-over-set debacles you always hear about.

Negreanu quickly had some company on the rail in the form of Noeh Boeken and Dario Minieri, who finished eighth and seventh respectively.

Coren finished sixth but got one heck of a bad beat story out of the experience. Coren went out when she got A-K against A-K and her opponent hit a flush.

Michael did well to survive that long against the sheer number of talented poker pros but eventually went out fifth when he ran JJ into AA.

French pro Grospellier didn't last much longer than Michael and ended up going out in fourth when his A-K failed him against A-J. ElkY was the unfortunate bubble boy and all three remaining players were in the money.

It was clear that Katja Thater was gunning for first place but after a long, hard-fought battle she eventually went out on a blind steal that went awry. She earned $20,000 as a consolation prize for finishing third.

The heads-up battle saw Duthie and Greenstein feeling each other out for the first bit but eventually Greenstein managed a pivotal double-up. In the final hand Duthie got all-in with #9h-#8h versus Greenstein's #As-#Ks. The big slick prevailed and Duthie had to settle for third and $30,000.

Meanwhile Greenstein took home a stunning $50,000 for seven hours of work. It's very likely Greenstein's been killing the cash games lately but his last big score came in October at the WPT North American Championships, where he won $316,638 for coming in fourth.

Visit PokerListings.com

Pacific Poker adds to WPC seats for PL.com players

But don't panic if you didn't get your shot at a free seat in the WPC. Pacific Poker has decided to add a few more chances for PokerListings.com players to win seats.

Players from Italy, France, Germany and Spain will get another shot at seats in freerolls specifically for their country.

The freerolls will take place at 4 p.m. Pacific Poker Time on the following dates:

• April 21: Italy
• April 22: France
• April 23: Germany
• April 24: Spain

As an added bonus, poker players don't have to do anything to qualify. In the initial freerolls that were open to all PokerListings.com players, players had to earn five points during a seven-day qualifying period to get into each freeroll.

All it takes now is to have signed up at Pacific Poker through PokerListings.com and be from one of the four countries listed.

What online rounders will be playing for is a seat in the WPC, which is worth $1,000+$50, but has the potential to be worth much more since the tournament has a guaranteed $3 million prize pool. Plus, the winner will take home $1 million.

The WPC is a newly created tournament from 888.com that will start out online, bringing together players from all over the world to compete. When it gets down to the final table, play will be stopped and the remaining players will be flown to Barcelona, Spain, to finish the game live.

They will be given free transportation from anywhere in the world to Barcelona, as well as five-star hotel accommodation for the duration of the final event.

The WPC online tournament will take place April 26 at 10 a.m. Pacific Poker Time. The final table will take place May 6-10.

The final table will also be filmed to air on Sky Sports 2 on May 12.

The WPC freerolls aren't the only benefit for PokerListings.com players at Pacific Poker. The poker site also hosts monthly $5,000 freerolls for PokerListings.com players and is running World Series of Poker freerolls for them as well.

Pacific Poker has also upped the ante on its bonuses for PokerListings.com players. All players who sign up at the poker site via a PokerListings link are eligible for an exclusive 125% match bonus up to $475.

Players don't need to clear the entire bonus beforehand, either. Instead they will receive 50% up to $175 as an instant bonus that will be immediately credited to their account. The additional 75% up to $300 is a pending bonus released in a lump sum once cleared.

Head to Pacific Poker to take advantage of these and many other features the poker site has to offer.

Related Articles:

• Pacific Poker Gives WPC Seats to PL.com Players
• Here Comes the 888.com World Poker Crown
• 888 signs Shane Warne to play poker

Visit PokerListings.com

Hachem nearly gets in fight at EPT Grand Final
Former World Series of Poker main event champion Joe Hachem is nicknamed “Salty” for a reason, apparently. With 82 players left in the European Poker Tour’s Grand Final, Hachem nearly got into fisticuffs with a player named Woody Deck. At the time, players were two away ��...full article

Former World Series of Poker main event champion Joe Hachem is nicknamed “Salty” for a reason, apparently.

With 82 players left in the European Poker Tour’s Grand Final, Hachem nearly got into fisticuffs with a player named Woody Deck. At the time, players were two away from the money bubble.

Here’s what happened, according to pokerkingblog.com:

Joe Hachem was involved in a hand with Peter Traply. On a board of A-6-J-A-3, Hachem bet out 80,000 and Traply called, showing A-10. Hachem tapped the table, said “nice call”, and mucked his hand. This is where things got heated.

Woody Deck, who was not involved in the hand, asked if he could see Hachem’s cards. Hachem objected, saying that he didn’t have to show because the winning hand had already been shown. The dealer agreed, and mucked Hachem’s cards. Deck, according to Pokernews, then asked Hachem if he was trying to angle shoot, and said “Don’t be an asshole.”

Whole thing here.

A war of words ensued and things escalated. Play even stopped at other tables to watch the goings-on. But no punches were thrown and order was restored.

We’ll have results of the EPT when the event concludes.

2007 WSOP Europe Broadcast Schedule Announced
World Series of Poker Europe title sponsor Betfair has announced its upcoming schedule of 2007 WSOP-E broadcasts, anchored on the United Kingdom's Sky Sports channel and scheduled to air across much of Europe. Betfair's sponsorship...

Stock prices tumble for Vegas casinos
Tuesday was a bad day for the major Las Vegas casinos, as many of their stock prices took big hits. The stock losses came a day after MGM Mirage said it was going to be laying off more than 400 workers. According to a story at majorwager.com, ��...full article

Tuesday was a bad day for the major Las Vegas casinos, as many of their stock prices took big hits.

The stock losses came a day after MGM Mirage said it was going to be laying off more than 400 workers.

According to a story at majorwager.com, printed in the Las Vegas Review-Journal:

Shares of MGM Mirage, traded on the New York Stock Exchange, closed at $49.58, down $2.24, or 4.32 percent. MGM Mirage was trading at $100.50 in October. Other casino operators also fell in value during trading Tuesday.

Shares of Las Vegas Sands Corp. fell $4.97 to close at $69.05 on the New York Stock Exchange, off 6.71 percent. In October, Las Vegas Sands hit a 52-week high of $148.76. Shares of Wynn Resorts Ltd., traded on the Nasdaq National Market, fell $2.63 to close at $98.06, down 2.61 percent. Wynn reached a high of $176.13 in October.

Whole thing here.

Revenues have been down in the last quarter across the Las Vegas Strip.

PokerStars.com EPT Monte Carlo, Day 3: Esfandiari Moves to Front
With four hours left to Day 3 of the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour Grand Final in Monte Carlo, Antonio Esfandiari pulled ahead of the field by dragging the biggest pot of the day. Mark Keightley opened for 14,000, Esfandiari...

Massive Overlay Awaits PokerNews Players at an Exclusive WPC Satellite!
Pacific Poker continues to give PokerNews players sensational value through exclusive tournaments. On Tuesday April 22 at 19:00 GMT, a $27.50 WPC Satellite will commence that will award over $10,000 in prizes...

Shannon Elizabeth Report: Week 5

It turns out that being a hot tamale on the big screen and in the poker world doesn't necessarily translate to sexiness on the dance floor, and this week's Latin dances were all about the sexiness.

Shannon Elizabeth delivered what Len Goodman called a "competent" performance, but she didn't look comfortable with the dance at all.

In contrast to her graceful Viennese waltz from last week that put her in the top three for scores, she looked awkward with the samba and returned to the problem of not really having complete control of her limbs.

What was most notably lacking from her performance was the hip action. The samba is all about the rolling hips, and Elizabeth admittedly doesn't have much for hips and couldn't find a way to make them roll and swivel, at least not that anyone could notice.

Her saving grace is that even when the dance is getting the best of her, Elizabeth still gives it her all. Even Carrie Ann Inaba commented that she goes for it 100% whether she looks awkward or not. So she needs to keep up that attitude but work on some of her "shapes" for the dances.

Her resulting score from the judges was a 23, putting her just above Priscilla Presley and Marlee Matlin and tied with Cristian de la Funte for fifth place.

It was enough to keep her out of the bottom two once the viewer votes were tallied as well. Tuesday night's elimination came down to Presley and de la Fuente, but Presley didn't get enough support to move on for another week on Dancing with the Stars.

Here's how Presley and the others made out during Monday's performance night:

Priscilla Presley

After a rule violation last week, Presley needed to find a way to bring her scores back up again. At least with the rumba there was no danger of accidently doing a lift, but the slow Latin dance did nothing but leave Presley's dancing flaws wide open for even the layperson viewer to see. Len Goodman called the performance a disappointment, and it certainly wasn't a wow of a performance this week.

Score: 21

Marlee Matlin

For the first time in the competition it was obvious Matlin couldn't hear the music. She may have a good sense of rhythm, but the samba has much more complicated movements to go with that rhythm, and Matlin had a couple stumbles and a few times where her timing was off the music. Each judge brought up how amazing it she does so well despite her deafness, but that probably wasn't much consolation for Matlin.

Score: 22

Cristian de la Funte

Even though de la Funte continues to improve this week, the judges still had criticism for his rumba. It was one of the better performances of the rumba for the evening, and de la Funte has gone from mechanically performing the steps to a dance to really getting into the flow and movement. However, Carrie Ann Inaba thought he lacked chemistry with his partner this week and Len labeled the dance as merely "competent."

Score: 23

Marissa Jaret Winoker

Winoker may have been the biggest surprise of the evening. Compared to the other female celebrities in the competition, she's probably the contestant you'd least expect to pull off a sexy Latin dance like the samba. However, this was the first time Winoker looked like she actually felt confident and sexy on the dance floor, and it showed in her dance. Inaba called it her best routine yet, and she was right.

Score: 24

Mario

Mario managed to put himself back in the good graces of the judges this week with his samba. He still needs to brush up his footwork some, but Goodman called it his best performance so far. This week Mario looked more controlled and polished on the dance floor in contrast to what Goodman called his "wildness" in weeks past. It also helps that the samba seems made for Mario, giving him a chance to be smoldering and sexy and to take advantage of the hip movements and freedom of the dance.

Score: 27

Jason Taylor

It's becoming less and less of a surprise each week that Taylor has moves on the dance floor to match what he can do on the football field. His was probably the sexiest rumba of the night, and the nitpicky judges couldn't even fault him for poor footwork and heel leads. Bruno Tonioli said the football player had the look of a "love god" during the rumba, while Goodman complimented him on his naturalness. Yet his scores dipped a little from the 29 he earned last week.

Score: 27

Kristi Yamaguchi

Once again, Yamaguchi really had nothing to worry about going into Tuesday's elimination night. Her rumba had much more expression than her previous dances, though it didn't quite have the heat and passion you'd expect for a rumba. Inaba told her she made the right choice sacrificing a tiny bit on technique to achieve more emotionally with the dance, and Len gave her a "fab-u-lous."

Score: 29

The remaining seven celebrities will be back on the dance floor Monday on Dancing with the Stars and the next elimination will take place on Tuesday. Come back Wednesday, April 23, to see if Shannon Elizabeth continues in the competition or if she'll be sent back to the poker tables.

Related Articles:

• Shannon Elizabeth Report: Week 4
• Shannon Elizabeth Report: Week 3
• Shannon Elizabeth Report: Week 2
• Shannon Elizabeth Report: Week 1

Visit PokerListings.com

Pokler Online - Stock prices tumble for Vegas casinos

Stock prices tumble for Vegas casinos
Tuesday was a bad day for the major Las Vegas casinos, as many of their stock prices took big hits. The stock losses came a day after MGM Mirage said it was going to be laying off more than 400 workers. According to a story at majorwager.com, ��...full article

Tuesday was a bad day for the major Las Vegas casinos, as many of their stock prices took big hits.

The stock losses came a day after MGM Mirage said it was going to be laying off more than 400 workers.

According to a story at majorwager.com, printed in the Las Vegas Review-Journal:

Shares of MGM Mirage, traded on the New York Stock Exchange, closed at $49.58, down $2.24, or 4.32 percent. MGM Mirage was trading at $100.50 in October. Other casino operators also fell in value during trading Tuesday.

Shares of Las Vegas Sands Corp. fell $4.97 to close at $69.05 on the New York Stock Exchange, off 6.71 percent. In October, Las Vegas Sands hit a 52-week high of $148.76. Shares of Wynn Resorts Ltd., traded on the Nasdaq National Market, fell $2.63 to close at $98.06, down 2.61 percent. Wynn reached a high of $176.13 in October.

Whole thing here.

Revenues have been down in the last quarter across the Las Vegas Strip.

PokerStars.com EPT Monte Carlo, Day 3: Esfandiari Moves to Front
With four hours left to Day 3 of the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour Grand Final in Monte Carlo, Antonio Esfandiari pulled ahead of the field by dragging the biggest pot of the day. Mark Keightley opened for 14,000, Esfandiari...

Massive Overlay Awaits PokerNews Players at an Exclusive WPC Satellite!
Pacific Poker continues to give PokerNews players sensational value through exclusive tournaments. On Tuesday April 22 at 19:00 GMT, a $27.50 WPC Satellite will commence that will award over $10,000 in prizes...

Stock prices tumble for Vegas casinos
Tuesday was a bad day for the major Las Vegas casinos, as many of their stock prices took big hits. The stock losses came a day after MGM Mirage said it was going to be laying off more than 400 workers. According to a story at majorwager.com, ��...full article

Tuesday was a bad day for the major Las Vegas casinos, as many of their stock prices took big hits.

The stock losses came a day after MGM Mirage said it was going to be laying off more than 400 workers.

According to a story at majorwager.com, printed in the Las Vegas Review-Journal:

Shares of MGM Mirage, traded on the New York Stock Exchange, closed at $49.58, down $2.24, or 4.32 percent. MGM Mirage was trading at $100.50 in October. Other casino operators also fell in value during trading Tuesday.

Shares of Las Vegas Sands Corp. fell $4.97 to close at $69.05 on the New York Stock Exchange, off 6.71 percent. In October, Las Vegas Sands hit a 52-week high of $148.76. Shares of Wynn Resorts Ltd., traded on the Nasdaq National Market, fell $2.63 to close at $98.06, down 2.61 percent. Wynn reached a high of $176.13 in October.

Whole thing here.

Revenues have been down in the last quarter across the Las Vegas Strip.

PokerStars.com EPT Monte Carlo, Day 3: Esfandiari Moves to Front
With four hours left to Day 3 of the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour Grand Final in Monte Carlo, Antonio Esfandiari pulled ahead of the field by dragging the biggest pot of the day. Mark Keightley opened for 14,000, Esfandiari...

Massive Overlay Awaits PokerNews Players at an Exclusive WPC Satellite!
Pacific Poker continues to give PokerNews players sensational value through exclusive tournaments. On Tuesday April 22 at 19:00 GMT, a $27.50 WPC Satellite will commence that will award over $10,000 in prizes...

Pokler Online - Catch the WSOPE on Sky next week

Catch the WSOPE on Sky next week

The World Series of Poker Europe took place in London in September 2007. The series included three events: £2,500 H.O.R.S.E., £5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha, and the £10,000 No-Limit Texas Hold'em Main Event.

Next week viewers can see what it took for Thomas Bihl to become the very first WSOPE bracelet winner, along with Dario Alioto's win in the second event. What viewers may be most interested in, however, is watching Annette Obrestad win the WSOPE Main Event.

At just 18 years of age, Obrestad became the youngest winner of a WSOP bracelet and she also became the first woman to win a $10,000 Main Event of the World Series.

In an advertisement for the upcoming TV premier of the series, Obrestad said, "To find out how I did it, watch the 2007 WSOPE on Sky Sports. I look forward to seeing you at this year's WSOPE event in London on Sept. 19."

The broadcast schedule for the WSOPE is:

Date	Time (GMT)	Channel
April 21	9 p.m.	Sky Sports 3
April 22	9 p.m.	Sky Sports 3
April 23	9 p.m.	Sky Sports 3
April 24	9 p.m.	Sky Sports 2
April 25	9 p.m.	Sky Sports 3
April 26	11 p.m.	Sky Sports 2
April 27	9 p.m.	Sky Sports Xtra
April 28	9:30 p.m.	Sky Sports 2

The 2008 WSOPE, which will once again be presented by Betfair, will take place at three casinos across London from Sept. 19 to Oct. 1 with the final table taking place at the The Casino at the Empire in Leicester Square.

Related Articles:

• 2007 WSOPE Coming to a TV Near You
• Officials Announce Dates for 2008 WSOPE

Visit PokerListings.com

CD Poker revs up another WSOP freeroll

The freeroll is open to players who signed up at CD Poker through PokerListings.com and then accumulated 200 player points during the qualification period.

The qualification period for Wednesday's WSOP freeroll ends today, but the poker site will have one more freeroll for PokerListings.com players in May.

The qualifying window for the May 14 freeroll begins today and ends on May 13.

Each freeroll will offer participants a shot at a $12,500 WSOP Main Event prize package. It includes the $10,000 buy-in to the 2008 Main Event plus money for travel and accommodation.

A free trip to play in the World Series is certainly nothing poker players are going to want to pass up. The WSOP Main Event has rocketed many players to millionaire status.

Jerry Yang picked up $8.25 million for his win last year, and Jamie Gold won a record-breaking $12 million in 2006.

Along with the cash has come quite a bit of fame for many of the Main Event winners. The CD Poker freeroll winners have the potential to join the ranks of Doyle Brunson, Phil Hellmuth, Johnny Chan, Greg Raymer and others who have attained world champion status.

CD Poker isn't letting the other players in the freeroll leave completely empty handed either. The poker site is putting up $2,500 to spread deep into the freeroll standings.

*World Series of Poker and WSOP are trademarks of Harrah's License Company, LLC ("Harrah's"). Harrah's does not sponsor or endorse, and is not associated or affiliated with PokerListings.com or its products, services, promotions or tournaments.

Related Articles:

• CD Poker Hands Out WSOP Seats to PL.com Players
• PokerListings Players Cash in at CD Poker
• Six PL.com Players Win ECOOP Seats at CD Poker

Visit PokerListings.com

Bottom pair might be good heads-up

Case in point: an interesting No-Limit Hold'em clash yesterday between high-stakes regulars Zebryck and DaEvils on Full Tilt Poker.

In particular the following hand, tracked by the PokerListings.com MarketPulse section, which we'll look at from DaEvils' point of view.

Full Tilt Poker Game #6033079553 TABLE: Vasari (heads-up) $200/$400 - No-Limit Hold'em - Mon Apr 14 2008 - 2:38pm (ET)

Table Setup

Seat 1: DaEvils ($40,400)
Seat 2: Zebryck ($44,598.50)
Zebryck posts the small blind of $200
DaEvils posts the big blind of $400
The button is in seat #2

Pre-flop

Zebryck raises to $1,200

DaEvils looks down at #8h-#4h; not a particularly great starting hand but at least it's suited. Maybe Zebryck has raised a lot previously in the game and DaEvils wants to put his foot down. Anyway, DaEvils decides to take command.

DaEvils raises to $4,000
Zebryck calls $2,800

Flop #4s-#7c-#5c

The flop could definitely be worse. DaEvils has bottom pair and a gut-shot straight draw and chances are good his opponent missed the flop. And if he didn't, DaEveils probably has nine good outs: four 6s, three 8s and two 4s. He decides the hand is worth a bet.

DaEvils bets $5,000
zebryck calls $5,000

Turn #4s-#7c-#5c-#Jh

Why did Zebryck call? He could have a flush or straight draw, but most high-stakes players would raise with that sort of hand, so probably not.

Zebryck could also have a pair not good enough for a raise but not bad enough to throw away. Or maybe he got lucky and caught a straight or a set on the flop.

DaEvils checks
zebryck bets $9,600

Zebruck makes a half-pot bet. What does that mean? Zebryck might value bet with a pair or maybe he has a draw, senses weakness and tries to take a stab at the pot. Or is he bluffing?

It's tough to say what DaEvils thinks in this tough situation, but obviously he only beats a total bluff and he can't be sure of what to do.

DaEvils raises to $31,400, and is all-in

DaEvils makes a bold raise. It could shake off a pair or a draw and whatever Zebryck holds besides a straight or a set, it must be a tough call to make.

Zebryck calls $21,800

Showdown

DaEvils shows #8h-#4h
Zebryck shows #Ac-#Ad

River #4s-#7c-#5c-#Jh-#8d

DaEvils shows two pair, eights and fours
zebryck shows a pair of aces
DaEvils wins the pot ($80,799.50) with two pair, eights and fours

Summary

Zebryck played this hand quite deceptively and it was hard to put him on two aces. Maybe DaEvils overplayed his #4h-#8h, but the last raise was good in my opinion.

If Zebryck had a pair on the flop, he could be forced to lay down the best hand. And even if he called with a pair, DaEvils would still have nine outs. Nine good outs, as it turned out.

To see more hand histories from their session, and more of the biggest Hold'em pots won online over the last day, week and month, jump over to the PokerListings.com MarketPulse section.

Visit PokerListings.com

Catch the WSOPE on Sky next week

The World Series of Poker Europe took place in London in September 2007. The series included three events: £2,500 H.O.R.S.E., £5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha, and the £10,000 No-Limit Texas Hold'em Main Event.

Next week viewers can see what it took for Thomas Bihl to become the very first WSOPE bracelet winner, along with Dario Alioto's win in the second event. What viewers may be most interested in, however, is watching Annette Obrestad win the WSOPE Main Event.

At just 18 years of age, Obrestad became the youngest winner of a WSOP bracelet and she also became the first woman to win a $10,000 Main Event of the World Series.

In an advertisement for the upcoming TV premier of the series, Obrestad said, "To find out how I did it, watch the 2007 WSOPE on Sky Sports. I look forward to seeing you at this year's WSOPE event in London on Sept. 19."

The broadcast schedule for the WSOPE is:

Date	Time (GMT)	Channel
April 21	9 p.m.	Sky Sports 3
April 22	9 p.m.	Sky Sports 3
April 23	9 p.m.	Sky Sports 3
April 24	9 p.m.	Sky Sports 2
April 25	9 p.m.	Sky Sports 3
April 26	11 p.m.	Sky Sports 2
April 27	9 p.m.	Sky Sports Xtra
April 28	9:30 p.m.	Sky Sports 2

The 2008 WSOPE, which will once again be presented by Betfair, will take place at three casinos across London from Sept. 19 to Oct. 1 with the final table taking place at the The Casino at the Empire in Leicester Square.

Related Articles:

• 2007 WSOPE Coming to a TV Near You
• Officials Announce Dates for 2008 WSOPE

Visit PokerListings.com

CD Poker revs up another WSOP freeroll

The freeroll is open to players who signed up at CD Poker through PokerListings.com and then accumulated 200 player points during the qualification period.

The qualification period for Wednesday's WSOP freeroll ends today, but the poker site will have one more freeroll for PokerListings.com players in May.

The qualifying window for the May 14 freeroll begins today and ends on May 13.

Each freeroll will offer participants a shot at a $12,500 WSOP Main Event prize package. It includes the $10,000 buy-in to the 2008 Main Event plus money for travel and accommodation.

A free trip to play in the World Series is certainly nothing poker players are going to want to pass up. The WSOP Main Event has rocketed many players to millionaire status.

Jerry Yang picked up $8.25 million for his win last year, and Jamie Gold won a record-breaking $12 million in 2006.

Along with the cash has come quite a bit of fame for many of the Main Event winners. The CD Poker freeroll winners have the potential to join the ranks of Doyle Brunson, Phil Hellmuth, Johnny Chan, Greg Raymer and others who have attained world champion status.

CD Poker isn't letting the other players in the freeroll leave completely empty handed either. The poker site is putting up $2,500 to spread deep into the freeroll standings.

*World Series of Poker and WSOP are trademarks of Harrah's License Company, LLC ("Harrah's"). Harrah's does not sponsor or endorse, and is not associated or affiliated with PokerListings.com or its products, services, promotions or tournaments.

Related Articles:

• CD Poker Hands Out WSOP Seats to PL.com Players
• PokerListings Players Cash in at CD Poker
• Six PL.com Players Win ECOOP Seats at CD Poker

Visit PokerListings.com

Bottom pair might be good heads-up

Case in point: an interesting No-Limit Hold'em clash yesterday between high-stakes regulars Zebryck and DaEvils on Full Tilt Poker.

In particular the following hand, tracked by the PokerListings.com MarketPulse section, which we'll look at from DaEvils' point of view.

Full Tilt Poker Game #6033079553 TABLE: Vasari (heads-up) $200/$400 - No-Limit Hold'em - Mon Apr 14 2008 - 2:38pm (ET)

Table Setup

Seat 1: DaEvils ($40,400)
Seat 2: Zebryck ($44,598.50)
Zebryck posts the small blind of $200
DaEvils posts the big blind of $400
The button is in seat #2

Pre-flop

Zebryck raises to $1,200

DaEvils looks down at #8h-#4h; not a particularly great starting hand but at least it's suited. Maybe Zebryck has raised a lot previously in the game and DaEvils wants to put his foot down. Anyway, DaEvils decides to take command.

DaEvils raises to $4,000
Zebryck calls $2,800

Flop #4s-#7c-#5c

The flop could definitely be worse. DaEvils has bottom pair and a gut-shot straight draw and chances are good his opponent missed the flop. And if he didn't, DaEveils probably has nine good outs: four 6s, three 8s and two 4s. He decides the hand is worth a bet.

DaEvils bets $5,000
zebryck calls $5,000

Turn #4s-#7c-#5c-#Jh

Why did Zebryck call? He could have a flush or straight draw, but most high-stakes players would raise with that sort of hand, so probably not.

Zebryck could also have a pair not good enough for a raise but not bad enough to throw away. Or maybe he got lucky and caught a straight or a set on the flop.

DaEvils checks
zebryck bets $9,600

Zebruck makes a half-pot bet. What does that mean? Zebryck might value bet with a pair or maybe he has a draw, senses weakness and tries to take a stab at the pot. Or is he bluffing?

It's tough to say what DaEvils thinks in this tough situation, but obviously he only beats a total bluff and he can't be sure of what to do.

DaEvils raises to $31,400, and is all-in

DaEvils makes a bold raise. It could shake off a pair or a draw and whatever Zebryck holds besides a straight or a set, it must be a tough call to make.

Zebryck calls $21,800

Showdown

DaEvils shows #8h-#4h
Zebryck shows #Ac-#Ad

River #4s-#7c-#5c-#Jh-#8d

DaEvils shows two pair, eights and fours
zebryck shows a pair of aces
DaEvils wins the pot ($80,799.50) with two pair, eights and fours

Summary

Zebryck played this hand quite deceptively and it was hard to put him on two aces. Maybe DaEvils overplayed his #4h-#8h, but the last raise was good in my opinion.

If Zebryck had a pair on the flop, he could be forced to lay down the best hand. And even if he called with a pair, DaEvils would still have nine outs. Nine good outs, as it turned out.

To see more hand histories from their session, and more of the biggest Hold'em pots won online over the last day, week and month, jump over to the PokerListings.com MarketPulse section.

Visit PokerListings.com

Pokler Online - PokerStars.com EPT Monte Carlo, Day 2: Riisem, Lodden Lead

PokerStars.com EPT Monte Carlo, Day 2: Riisem, Lodden Lead
Norway's Oyvind Riisem, fourth-place finisher in the WSOP Europe Main Event, ended Day 2 of the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour Grand Final in Monte Carlo as chip leader with 441,400 chips. Fellow Norwegian Johnny Lodden finished...

Bottom pair might be good heads-up

It's hard to know what the best online poker players think when they make thousand-dollar decisions. We can only guess what goes on in their minds.

Full Tilt Poker Game #6033079553 TABLE : Vasari (heads up) $200/$400 - No Limit Hold'em - Mon Apr 14th 2008 - 2:38pm ET

Table Setup

Seat 1: DaEvils ($40,400)
Seat 2: Zebryck ($44,598.50)
Zebryck posts the small blind of $200
DaEvils posts the big blind of $400
The button is in seat #2

Pre-flop

Zebryck raises to $1,200

DaEvils looks down at #8h-#4h, not a particularly great starting hand but at least it's suited. Maybe Zebryck has raised a lot previously in the game and DaEvils wants to put his foot down. Anyway, DaEvils decides to take command in this pot.

DaEvils raises to $4,000
Zebryck calls $2,800

Flop #4s-#7c-#5c

The flop could definitely be worse. DaEvils has bottom pair and a gut-shot straight draw and chances are good his opponent missed the flop. And if he didn't, DaEveils probably has nine good outs: four 6s, three 8s and two 4s. He decides the hand is worth a bet.

DaEvils bets $5,000
zebryck calls $5,000

Turn #4s-#7c-#5c-#Jh

Why did Zebryck call? He could have a flush or straight draw, but most high-stakes players would raise with that sort of hand, so probably not.

Zebryck could also have a pair not good enough for a raise but not bad enough to throw away. Or maybe he got lucky and caught a straight or a set on the flop but that would just be "so rigged, typically Full Tilt and so on."

DaEvils checks
zebryck bets $9,600

Zebruck makes a half-pot bet. What does that mean? Zebryck might value bet with a pair or maybe he has a draw, senses weakness, and tries to stab at the pot. Or is he's bluffing?

Personally I don't know what DaEvils thinks in this tough situation, but obviously he only beats a total bluff and he can't be sure of what to do.

DaEvils raises to $31,400, and is all in

DaEvils makes a bold raise. It could shake off a pair or a draw and whatever Zebryck holds besides a straight or a set it must be a tough call to make.

Zebryck calls $21,800

Showdown

DaEvils shows #8h-#4h
Zebryck shows #Ac-#Ad

River #4s-#7c-#5c-#Jh-#8d

DaEvils shows two pair, Eights and Fours
zebryck shows a pair of Aces
DaEvils wins the pot ($80,799.50) with two pair, Eights and Fours

Summary

Zebryck played this hand quite deceiving and it was hard to put him on two aces. Maybe DaEvils overplayed his #4h-#8h, but the last raise was good in my opinion. If Zebryck had a pair on the flop, he could be forced to lay down the best hand. And even if he called with a pair, DaEvils would still have nine outs. Nine good outs as it turned out.

To see more hand histories, and more of the biggest Hold'em pots won online over the last day, week and month, jump over to the PokerListings.com MarketPulse section.

Visit PokerListings.com

Inside the Tour, #88: More on Bluffing
Bluffing. What does it mean? How important is it? Can one be successful without bluffing? Unnnh… well, no. According to Dennis, you have no chance to be a winner in no-limit hold'em without bluffing. When people talk about...

PokerStars.com EPT Monte Carlo, Day 2: Riisem, Lodden Lead
Norway's Oyvind Riisem, fourth-place finisher in the WSOP Europe Main Event, ended Day 2 of the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour Grand Final in Monte Carlo as chip leader with 441,400 chips. Fellow Norwegian Johnny Lodden finished...

Bottom pair might be good heads-up

It's hard to know what the best online poker players think when they make thousand-dollar decisions. We can only guess what goes on in their minds.

Full Tilt Poker Game #6033079553 TABLE : Vasari (heads up) $200/$400 - No Limit Hold'em - Mon Apr 14th 2008 - 2:38pm ET

Table Setup

Seat 1: DaEvils ($40,400)
Seat 2: Zebryck ($44,598.50)
Zebryck posts the small blind of $200
DaEvils posts the big blind of $400
The button is in seat #2

Pre-flop

Zebryck raises to $1,200

DaEvils looks down at #8h-#4h, not a particularly great starting hand but at least it's suited. Maybe Zebryck has raised a lot previously in the game and DaEvils wants to put his foot down. Anyway, DaEvils decides to take command in this pot.

DaEvils raises to $4,000
Zebryck calls $2,800

Flop #4s-#7c-#5c

The flop could definitely be worse. DaEvils has bottom pair and a gut-shot straight draw and chances are good his opponent missed the flop. And if he didn't, DaEveils probably has nine good outs: four 6s, three 8s and two 4s. He decides the hand is worth a bet.

DaEvils bets $5,000
zebryck calls $5,000

Turn #4s-#7c-#5c-#Jh

Why did Zebryck call? He could have a flush or straight draw, but most high-stakes players would raise with that sort of hand, so probably not.

Zebryck could also have a pair not good enough for a raise but not bad enough to throw away. Or maybe he got lucky and caught a straight or a set on the flop but that would just be "so rigged, typically Full Tilt and so on."

DaEvils checks
zebryck bets $9,600

Zebruck makes a half-pot bet. What does that mean? Zebryck might value bet with a pair or maybe he has a draw, senses weakness, and tries to stab at the pot. Or is he's bluffing?

Personally I don't know what DaEvils thinks in this tough situation, but obviously he only beats a total bluff and he can't be sure of what to do.

DaEvils raises to $31,400, and is all in

DaEvils makes a bold raise. It could shake off a pair or a draw and whatever Zebryck holds besides a straight or a set it must be a tough call to make.

Zebryck calls $21,800

Showdown

DaEvils shows #8h-#4h
Zebryck shows #Ac-#Ad

River #4s-#7c-#5c-#Jh-#8d

DaEvils shows two pair, Eights and Fours
zebryck shows a pair of Aces
DaEvils wins the pot ($80,799.50) with two pair, Eights and Fours

Summary

Zebryck played this hand quite deceiving and it was hard to put him on two aces. Maybe DaEvils overplayed his #4h-#8h, but the last raise was good in my opinion. If Zebryck had a pair on the flop, he could be forced to lay down the best hand. And even if he called with a pair, DaEvils would still have nine outs. Nine good outs as it turned out.

To see more hand histories, and more of the biggest Hold'em pots won online over the last day, week and month, jump over to the PokerListings.com MarketPulse section.

Visit PokerListings.com

Inside the Tour, #88: More on Bluffing
Bluffing. What does it mean? How important is it? Can one be successful without bluffing? Unnnh… well, no. According to Dennis, you have no chance to be a winner in no-limit hold'em without bluffing. When people talk about...

Pokler Online - ePassporte officially out of online poker in U.S.

ePassporte officially out of online poker in U.S.
After a weekend of uncertainty and speculation, the online money transfer service ePassporte has officially said it will no longer provide transactions for Americans using the service for online poker. The news is bad for United States citizens, who lose another option to easily get money ��...full article

After a weekend of uncertainty and speculation, the online money transfer service ePassporte has officially said it will no longer provide transactions for Americans using the service for online poker.

The news is bad for United States citizens, who lose another option to easily get money on and off the sites that still serve the U.S.
(more…)

PPA lawyer gets online poker case on docket in Washington state
A Washington court is scheduled to hear a case challenging the criminalization of online poker in the state. On May 15, a case brought by Poker Players Alliance regional director Lee Rousso will bring into question the constitutionality of a 2006 law that made playing online ��...full article

A Washington court is scheduled to hear a case challenging the criminalization of online poker in the state.

On May 15, a case brought by Poker Players Alliance regional director Lee Rousso will bring into question the constitutionality of a 2006 law that made playing online poker a felony in the state.

According to pokerpages.com:

When state legal representatives for months delayed the hearing, asking for Rousso’s personal online poker information as part of their discovery process, Rousso lodged an appeal, saying the requests “were propounded to harass, oppress, intimidate and threaten” him.

After an initial defeat, many of his Fifth Amendment rights to protect his personal and confidential information were upheld on appeal by Judge Mary E. Roberts earlier in April.

Whole thing here.

More on this case as it develops.

Sexton's Corner, Vol. 40: Archie Karas, Part 10 -- The Comeback
Forty years after Archie Karas arrived in America and won, then lost, a $40 million fortune, will it be possible for him to make a genuine comeback? We are all a product of our experiences, and his ups and downs over the past 40 years...

ePassporte officially out of online poker in U.S.
After a weekend of uncertainty and speculation, the online money transfer service ePassporte has officially said it will no longer provide transactions for Americans using the service for online poker. The news is bad for United States citizens, who lose another option to easily get money ��...full article

After a weekend of uncertainty and speculation, the online money transfer service ePassporte has officially said it will no longer provide transactions for Americans using the service for online poker.

The news is bad for United States citizens, who lose another option to easily get money on and off the sites that still serve the U.S.
(more…)

PPA lawyer gets online poker case on docket in Washington state
A Washington court is scheduled to hear a case challenging the criminalization of online poker in the state. On May 15, a case brought by Poker Players Alliance regional director Lee Rousso will bring into question the constitutionality of a 2006 law that made playing online ��...full article

A Washington court is scheduled to hear a case challenging the criminalization of online poker in the state.

On May 15, a case brought by Poker Players Alliance regional director Lee Rousso will bring into question the constitutionality of a 2006 law that made playing online poker a felony in the state.

According to pokerpages.com:

When state legal representatives for months delayed the hearing, asking for Rousso’s personal online poker information as part of their discovery process, Rousso lodged an appeal, saying the requests “were propounded to harass, oppress, intimidate and threaten” him.

After an initial defeat, many of his Fifth Amendment rights to protect his personal and confidential information were upheld on appeal by Judge Mary E. Roberts earlier in April.

Whole thing here.

More on this case as it develops.

Sexton's Corner, Vol. 40: Archie Karas, Part 10 -- The Comeback
Forty years after Archie Karas arrived in America and won, then lost, a $40 million fortune, will it be possible for him to make a genuine comeback? We are all a product of our experiences, and his ups and downs over the past 40 years...

Pokler Online - PokerStars.com EPT Monte Carlo Grand Final: Day 1b

PokerStars.com EPT Monte Carlo Grand Final: Day 1b
Sunday's second flight of the PokerStars.com EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo began play with 450 players. This puts the total starting field for the €10,000 buy-in event at 842 players, 136 more than last year, when Gavin Griffin took...

PokerStars.com EPT Monte Carlo Grand Final: Day 1b
Sunday's second flight of the PokerStars.com EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo began play with 450 players. This puts the total starting field for the €10,000 buy-in event at 842 players, 136 more than last year, when Gavin Griffin took...

Pokler Online - PokerStars.com EPT Monte Carlo Grand Final: Day 1a

PokerStars.com EPT Monte Carlo Grand Final: Day 1a
The fourth annual PokerStars.com European Poker Tour Grand Final got underway in Monte Carlo on Saturday. Nestled between the Mediterranean Sea and the Southern Alps, 392 players took the field Day 1a, with an even larger field...

Poker Room Review: The River, Milford, NH
The River is a new, beautifully appointed and bright mid-sized poker room in Milford, New Hampshire. They have 25 tables with new, crisp, clean felt, with spanking new chips and cards. The room is ringed with TVs, floored with fresh...

ePassporte Discontinues US Poker Deposit Services
According to reports emanating from numerous sources, online payment processor ePassporte has discontinued its deposit services to online poker sites for US residents. A statement announcing ePassporte's decision to withdraw...

PokerStars.com EPT Monte Carlo Grand Final: Day 1a
The fourth annual PokerStars.com European Poker Tour Grand Final got underway in Monte Carlo on Saturday. Nestled between the Mediterranean Sea and the Southern Alps, 392 players took the field Day 1a, with an even larger field...

Poker Room Review: The River, Milford, NH
The River is a new, beautifully appointed and bright mid-sized poker room in Milford, New Hampshire. They have 25 tables with new, crisp, clean felt, with spanking new chips and cards. The room is ringed with TVs, floored with fresh...

ePassporte Discontinues US Poker Deposit Services
According to reports emanating from numerous sources, online payment processor ePassporte has discontinued its deposit services to online poker sites for US residents. A statement announcing ePassporte's decision to withdraw...

Pokler Online - PokerStars.com EPT Monte Carlo Grand Final: Day 1a

PokerStars.com EPT Monte Carlo Grand Final: Day 1a
The fourth annual PokerStars.com European Poker Tour Grand Final got underway in Monte Carlo on Saturday. Nestled between the Mediterranean Sea and the Southern Alps, 392 players took the field Day 1a, with an even larger field...

ePassporte Discontinues US Poker Deposit Services
According to reports emanating from numerous sources, online payment processor ePassporte has discontinued its deposit services to online poker sites for US residents. A statement announcing ePassporte's decision to withdraw...

Poker Room Review: The River, Milford, NH
The River is a new, beautifully appointed and bright mid-sized poker room in Milford, New Hampshire. They have 25 tables with new, crisp, clean felt, with spanking new chips and cards. The room is ringed with TVs, floored with fresh...

PokerStars.com EPT Monte Carlo Grand Final: Day 1a
The fourth annual PokerStars.com European Poker Tour Grand Final got underway in Monte Carlo on Saturday. Nestled between the Mediterranean Sea and the Southern Alps, 392 players took the field Day 1a, with an even larger field...

ePassporte Discontinues US Poker Deposit Services
According to reports emanating from numerous sources, online payment processor ePassporte has discontinued its deposit services to online poker sites for US residents. A statement announcing ePassporte's decision to withdraw...

Poker Room Review: The River, Milford, NH
The River is a new, beautifully appointed and bright mid-sized poker room in Milford, New Hampshire. They have 25 tables with new, crisp, clean felt, with spanking new chips and cards. The room is ringed with TVs, floored with fresh...

Pokler Online - 'A Weekend with Daniel Negreanu' Announced

'A Weekend with Daniel Negreanu' Announced
Daniel Negreanu has announced a special treat for well-heeled players looking for some high-end, personal poker instruction. Negreanu's 'A Weekend with Daniel Negreanu' seminar has been set for August 8-10, 2008, and bills itself...

Frank, Paul Introduce Bill to Prohibit UIGEA Enforcement
On April 10th, Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee Representative Barney Frank and senior Financial Services Committee member Representative Ron Paul introduced a bill that would block the enforcement of the UIGEA...

'A Weekend with Daniel Negreanu' Announced
Daniel Negreanu has announced a special treat for well-heeled players looking for some high-end, personal poker instruction. Negreanu's 'A Weekend with Daniel Negreanu' seminar has been set for August 8-10, 2008, and bills itself...

Frank, Paul Introduce Bill to Prohibit UIGEA Enforcement
On April 10th, Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee Representative Barney Frank and senior Financial Services Committee member Representative Ron Paul introduced a bill that would block the enforcement of the UIGEA...

Pokler Online - 'A Weekend with Daniel Negreanu' Announced

'A Weekend with Daniel Negreanu' Announced
Daniel Negreanu has announced a special treat for well-heeled players looking for some high-end, personal poker instruction. Negreanu's 'A Weekend with Daniel Negreanu' seminar has been set for August 8-10, 2008, and bills itself...

'A Weekend with Daniel Negreanu' Announced
Daniel Negreanu has announced a special treat for well-heeled players looking for some high-end, personal poker instruction. Negreanu's 'A Weekend with Daniel Negreanu' seminar has been set for August 8-10, 2008, and bills itself...

Pokler Online - Griffin, Brown Join Team PokerStars Lineup

Griffin, Brown Join Team PokerStars Lineup
PokerStars.net has added two more big-name players to its lineup of pro endorsers with the signing of Gavin Griffin and Chad Brown. These latest additions to Team PokerStars swell the site's endorser lineup to 25 players, including...

Leeann Tweeden Named as 'Poker After Dark' Season Four Host
Leeann Tweeden, a popular model and show hostess with previous poker credits on her resume, has been named as the host for the fourth season of the NBC late-night hit 'Poker After Dark', replacing Marianela Pereyra in the role...

Indictments Handed Down in Borgata Poker Room Sportsbetting Ring Case
A major sportsbetting ring allegedly being run out of the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa poker room has now seen indictments issued against two dozen participants. The ring, which was broken up last November after a 20-month investigation...

Griffin, Brown Join Team PokerStars Lineup
PokerStars.net has added two more big-name players to its lineup of pro endorsers with the signing of Gavin Griffin and Chad Brown. These latest additions to Team PokerStars swell the site's endorser lineup to 25 players, including...

Leeann Tweeden Named as 'Poker After Dark' Season Four Host
Leeann Tweeden, a popular model and show hostess with previous poker credits on her resume, has been named as the host for the fourth season of the NBC late-night hit 'Poker After Dark', replacing Marianela Pereyra in the role...

Indictments Handed Down in Borgata Poker Room Sportsbetting Ring Case
A major sportsbetting ring allegedly being run out of the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa poker room has now seen indictments issued against two dozen participants. The ring, which was broken up last November after a 20-month investigation...

Pokler Online - Antigua to reject U.S. proposal on online gambling dispute

Antigua to reject U.S. proposal on online gambling dispute
In the ongoing trade dispute between the United States and Antigua regarding online gambling, the Caribbean nation is set to reject the Americans’ latest proposal to settle the issue. Antigua and the United States are at odds because the U.S. will not allow foreign online gambling ��...full article

In the ongoing trade dispute between the United States and Antigua regarding online gambling, the Caribbean nation is set to reject the Americans’ latest proposal to settle the issue.

Antigua and the United States are at odds because the U.S. will not allow foreign online gambling providers to have access to the U.S. market. Previously, the World Trade Organization sided with Antigua, awarding the island nation compensation because of the United States’ unwillingness to honor trade pacts on the issue.

According to pokerpages.com:

Antigua and Barbuda agreed to hold off on arbitration proceedings at the World Trade Organisation until the end of March, allowing time for the proposal to be considered and a counterproposal made. Antigua did not receive a settlement proposal back from the United States until after the end of March deadline passed.

“Cabinet has deliberated on the matter and decided on a particular course of action.” Dr. Court told the SUN. A statement is expected to be issued from the government of Antigua and Barbuda shortly concerning their decision.

Whole thing here.

With this latest round of international wrangling, the dispute appears to be no closer to a resolution.

Georgia man has Full Tilt win on his mind

Vickers, who owns and operates a pawnshop and jewelry store in Douglas, Ga., spends a big portion of his days playing online poker and honing his poker skills.

"I am on Full Tilt seven days a week all day long," he said.

"I think it is the best online site to play poker that there is out there - bar none. I have my Full Tilt custom jersey with my nickname on back, and I am waiting for the day that I will wear it in a WSOP or WPT event. Until then it will hang in my closet new and never worn."

He plans to use his freeroll winnings to continue to improve his poker game and work his way toward a major event.

"I told my fiancée about a year ago that I was going to be good enough to compete in the WSOP and WPT one day, and she laughed," Vicker said. "Now after seeing the rapid progression my game is making she is starting to be a believer and is behind me 110%."

Vickers got his start in poker playing Five-Card Draw and luck games such as Three and Five-Card Knock when he was a teenager. Now 35, he started playing Texas Hold'em about two years ago.

"When I started to realize that real poker was more luck than skill and a game that could be mastered is when I got really interested," he said.

He gives some credit for his interest in Hold'em to it being shown on television, but it's also his competitive nature and mainly the lure of the quest to be the best that propels him to continue to improve his game.

In that quest, Vickers, who plays as mikey11773, plays online poker seven to nine hours each day.

"If I miss a day, I feel like I've lost ground and play more the next day to catch up," he said.

Vickers has seen quite a bit of improvement since he began to focus on Hold'em. He gives some of the credit for his most recent improvement to Justin Rollo and his coaching videos.

"I started watching them about a month ago, regularly, and since then have started to go deeper and deeper in the tournaments I play, winning several 90-handed sit-and-gos and numerous final tables in the last month," Vickers said.

Those final tables include a previous stint in the weekly $3k freeroll at Full Tilt Poker as well. Two weeks ago he came in second, and his previous play made him a little familiar with the playing field of the weekly event going into the April 5 tournament.

"There are some good players that play that tourney every week, but there are a lot of the guys that play in it that are pretty inexperienced and don't have the patience to get deep in a tournament," Vickers said, "and they rush their play and play bad hands and don't know when to lay them down."

His strategy this time around involved playing tight and just waiting for premium hands after he saw most of the players he went deep with the time before get knocked out early.

"I can remember one hand a little over halfway through where I got lucky and the momentum I got from that hand pretty much rolled me into the final table," Vickers said.

"A lot of the guys also didn't seem to know how to play deep-stacked with the blinds and antes so high, and I just took advantage of that and kept getting chips."

At the final table he maintained that same strategy and said he was never in danger of busting out.

"I know it sounds vain, but after the last one, I told my fiancée I was going to win this one," Vickers said. "I was way ahead in the last one and feel like I should have won it, so I had my mind made up to take it down, and I did."

The final-table results of the tournament were:

Place	Name	Prize
1st	mikey117733	$810
2nd	chockaz	$510
3rd	nutstrut	$382.50
4th	soarsoar	$300
5th	No Outs 1	$225
6th	mike24778	$165
7th	stormin618	$112.50
8th	AAnKK	$90
9th	ror666	$67.50

Vickers qualified for the Full Tilt Poker weekly $3,000 freeroll by first signing up at the poker site through PokerListings.com.

"I visit [PokerListings.com] a couple times a month to look through the blogs and see what's happening in the poker world," Vickers said. "I think it is a very good site, and I enjoy reading the articles and info on it."

After signing up at Full Tilt Poker through pokerListings.com, all Vickers had to do was earn 150 playing points during the seven-day qualification period for the freeroll and he was in.

Get your shot at the Full Tilt Poker freeroll exclusive to PokerListings.com players by clicking on any link from our site to get to Full Tilt Poker and sign up today.

Related Articles:

• Full Tilt Poker Reloads for FTOPS VIII
• Canuck Wins WSOP Seat at Full Tilt
• Teacher Gains WSOP Seat at Full Tilt

Visit PokerListings.com

Harrah's to Become Caesars Entertainment
Harrah's Entertainment, rights holder to the WSOP, announced that its Board of Directors had approved changing the company's name to Caesars Entertainment Corporation. CEO Gary Loveman said, "Adoption of the name Caesars Entertainment...

Conflicting Reports in Taj Poker Stabbing
Reports on the poker stabbing on Saturday at the trump Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City that left one player dead continue to offer varying and sometimes inconsistent reports on the incident. What is known is that an argument between...

Antigua to reject U.S. proposal on online gambling dispute
In the ongoing trade dispute between the United States and Antigua regarding online gambling, the Caribbean nation is set to reject the Americans’ latest proposal to settle the issue. Antigua and the United States are at odds because the U.S. will not allow foreign online gambling ��...full article

In the ongoing trade dispute between the United States and Antigua regarding online gambling, the Caribbean nation is set to reject the Americans’ latest proposal to settle the issue.

Antigua and the United States are at odds because the U.S. will not allow foreign online gambling providers to have access to the U.S. market. Previously, the World Trade Organization sided with Antigua, awarding the island nation compensation because of the United States’ unwillingness to honor trade pacts on the issue.

According to pokerpages.com:

Antigua and Barbuda agreed to hold off on arbitration proceedings at the World Trade Organisation until the end of March, allowing time for the proposal to be considered and a counterproposal made. Antigua did not receive a settlement proposal back from the United States until after the end of March deadline passed.

“Cabinet has deliberated on the matter and decided on a particular course of action.” Dr. Court told the SUN. A statement is expected to be issued from the government of Antigua and Barbuda shortly concerning their decision.

Whole thing here.

With this latest round of international wrangling, the dispute appears to be no closer to a resolution.

Georgia man has Full Tilt win on his mind

Vickers, who owns and operates a pawnshop and jewelry store in Douglas, Ga., spends a big portion of his days playing online poker and honing his poker skills.

"I am on Full Tilt seven days a week all day long," he said.

"I think it is the best online site to play poker that there is out there - bar none. I have my Full Tilt custom jersey with my nickname on back, and I am waiting for the day that I will wear it in a WSOP or WPT event. Until then it will hang in my closet new and never worn."

He plans to use his freeroll winnings to continue to improve his poker game and work his way toward a major event.

"I told my fiancée about a year ago that I was going to be good enough to compete in the WSOP and WPT one day, and she laughed," Vicker said. "Now after seeing the rapid progression my game is making she is starting to be a believer and is behind me 110%."

Vickers got his start in poker playing Five-Card Draw and luck games such as Three and Five-Card Knock when he was a teenager. Now 35, he started playing Texas Hold'em about two years ago.

"When I started to realize that real poker was more luck than skill and a game that could be mastered is when I got really interested," he said.

He gives some credit for his interest in Hold'em to it being shown on television, but it's also his competitive nature and mainly the lure of the quest to be the best that propels him to continue to improve his game.

In that quest, Vickers, who plays as mikey11773, plays online poker seven to nine hours each day.

"If I miss a day, I feel like I've lost ground and play more the next day to catch up," he said.

Vickers has seen quite a bit of improvement since he began to focus on Hold'em. He gives some of the credit for his most recent improvement to Justin Rollo and his coaching videos.

"I started watching them about a month ago, regularly, and since then have started to go deeper and deeper in the tournaments I play, winning several 90-handed sit-and-gos and numerous final tables in the last month," Vickers said.

Those final tables include a previous stint in the weekly $3k freeroll at Full Tilt Poker as well. Two weeks ago he came in second, and his previous play made him a little familiar with the playing field of the weekly event going into the April 5 tournament.

"There are some good players that play that tourney every week, but there are a lot of the guys that play in it that are pretty inexperienced and don't have the patience to get deep in a tournament," Vickers said, "and they rush their play and play bad hands and don't know when to lay them down."

His strategy this time around involved playing tight and just waiting for premium hands after he saw most of the players he went deep with the time before get knocked out early.

"I can remember one hand a little over halfway through where I got lucky and the momentum I got from that hand pretty much rolled me into the final table," Vickers said.

"A lot of the guys also didn't seem to know how to play deep-stacked with the blinds and antes so high, and I just took advantage of that and kept getting chips."

At the final table he maintained that same strategy and said he was never in danger of busting out.

"I know it sounds vain, but after the last one, I told my fiancée I was going to win this one," Vickers said. "I was way ahead in the last one and feel like I should have won it, so I had my mind made up to take it down, and I did."

The final-table results of the tournament were:

Place	Name	Prize
1st	mikey117733	$810
2nd	chockaz	$510
3rd	nutstrut	$382.50
4th	soarsoar	$300
5th	No Outs 1	$225
6th	mike24778	$165
7th	stormin618	$112.50
8th	AAnKK	$90
9th	ror666	$67.50

Vickers qualified for the Full Tilt Poker weekly $3,000 freeroll by first signing up at the poker site through PokerListings.com.

"I visit [PokerListings.com] a couple times a month to look through the blogs and see what's happening in the poker world," Vickers said. "I think it is a very good site, and I enjoy reading the articles and info on it."

After signing up at Full Tilt Poker through pokerListings.com, all Vickers had to do was earn 150 playing points during the seven-day qualification period for the freeroll and he was in.

Get your shot at the Full Tilt Poker freeroll exclusive to PokerListings.com players by clicking on any link from our site to get to Full Tilt Poker and sign up today.

Related Articles:

• Full Tilt Poker Reloads for FTOPS VIII
• Canuck Wins WSOP Seat at Full Tilt
• Teacher Gains WSOP Seat at Full Tilt

Visit PokerListings.com

Harrah's to Become Caesars Entertainment
Harrah's Entertainment, rights holder to the WSOP, announced that its Board of Directors had approved changing the company's name to Caesars Entertainment Corporation. CEO Gary Loveman said, "Adoption of the name Caesars Entertainment...

Conflicting Reports in Taj Poker Stabbing
Reports on the poker stabbing on Saturday at the trump Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City that left one player dead continue to offer varying and sometimes inconsistent reports on the incident. What is known is that an argument between...

Pokler Online - WPT to honor past champs, hand out bracelets

WPT to honor past champs, hand out bracelets
World Poker Tour champions will now get a bracelet — just like World Series of Poker event winners do — at an event honoring all its past champions later this month. The “Ceremony of Champions” will be held at Bellagio’s “O” Theatre on April 21, where ��...full article

World Poker Tour champions will now get a bracelet — just like World Series of Poker event winners do — at an event honoring all its past champions later this month.

The “Ceremony of Champions” will be held at Bellagio’s “O” Theatre on April 21, where all 96 winners from the first six seasons of the televised poker tour will be recognized and given a titanium and diamond bracelet designed by Tiffany & Co.

According to cardplayer.com:

“There are so many incredible stories to celebrate from the six World Poker Tour seasons, and we are thrilled to pay tribute to each of our WPT champions,” said WPT Founder, President, and CEO Steve Lipscomb in a press release. “The championship bracelet has become synonymous with poker as a symbol of achievement and respect, and we are honored to continue the tradition that Benny Binion began over 30 years ago.”

Whole thing here.

The event will take place during WPT’s season championship.

The move to hold a big party and give out a lot of hardware is a bit at odds with this story — WPT claimed a $10M loss in 2007.

Detroit casinos feeling the pinch
Revenues in two of Detroit’s three casinos are down when compared with the same time period last year, according to a report Tuesday to the Michigan Gaming Control Board. MGM Grand Detroit posted increased revenues from March 2007 vs. March 2008, but both MotorCity and Greektown ��...full article

Revenues in two of Detroit’s three casinos are down when compared with the same time period last year, according to a report Tuesday to the Michigan Gaming Control Board.

MGM Grand Detroit posted increased revenues from March 2007 vs. March 2008, but both MotorCity and Greektown casinos saw revenues drop more than three percent.

According to a story by The Detroit News:

Eugene Christensen, CEO of gaming-analysis firm Christensen Capital Advisors in New York, said the paltry overall gain and downturns at MotorCity and Greektown were expected given Michigan’s high jobless and foreclosure rates and consumers’ worries about their financial futures.

“What you’re seeing in Michigan is in line with other markets across the country,” Christensen said. “Given the state of the economy, they’re surviving pretty well.”

Whole thing here.

MGM Grand Detroit began layoffs last week that are expected to impact 100 workers.

NBC Releases Heads-Up Broadcast Details
NBC has released more information on its upcoming series of broadcasts of the fourth annual NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship, which was contested at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas early last month. The latest release includes...

WPT to honor past champs, hand out bracelets
World Poker Tour champions will now get a bracelet — just like World Series of Poker event winners do — at an event honoring all its past champions later this month. The “Ceremony of Champions” will be held at Bellagio’s “O” Theatre on April 21, where ��...full article

World Poker Tour champions will now get a bracelet — just like World Series of Poker event winners do — at an event honoring all its past champions later this month.

The “Ceremony of Champions” will be held at Bellagio’s “O” Theatre on April 21, where all 96 winners from the first six seasons of the televised poker tour will be recognized and given a titanium and diamond bracelet designed by Tiffany & Co.

According to cardplayer.com:

“There are so many incredible stories to celebrate from the six World Poker Tour seasons, and we are thrilled to pay tribute to each of our WPT champions,” said WPT Founder, President, and CEO Steve Lipscomb in a press release. “The championship bracelet has become synonymous with poker as a symbol of achievement and respect, and we are honored to continue the tradition that Benny Binion began over 30 years ago.”

Whole thing here.

The event will take place during WPT’s season championship.

The move to hold a big party and give out a lot of hardware is a bit at odds with this story — WPT claimed a $10M loss in 2007.

Detroit casinos feeling the pinch
Revenues in two of Detroit’s three casinos are down when compared with the same time period last year, according to a report Tuesday to the Michigan Gaming Control Board. MGM Grand Detroit posted increased revenues from March 2007 vs. March 2008, but both MotorCity and Greektown ��...full article

Revenues in two of Detroit’s three casinos are down when compared with the same time period last year, according to a report Tuesday to the Michigan Gaming Control Board.

MGM Grand Detroit posted increased revenues from March 2007 vs. March 2008, but both MotorCity and Greektown casinos saw revenues drop more than three percent.

According to a story by The Detroit News:

Eugene Christensen, CEO of gaming-analysis firm Christensen Capital Advisors in New York, said the paltry overall gain and downturns at MotorCity and Greektown were expected given Michigan’s high jobless and foreclosure rates and consumers’ worries about their financial futures.

“What you’re seeing in Michigan is in line with other markets across the country,” Christensen said. “Given the state of the economy, they’re surviving pretty well.”

Whole thing here.

MGM Grand Detroit began layoffs last week that are expected to impact 100 workers.

NBC Releases Heads-Up Broadcast Details
NBC has released more information on its upcoming series of broadcasts of the fourth annual NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship, which was contested at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas early last month. The latest release includes...

Pokler Online - Full Tilt Poker Announces FTOPS VIII

Full Tilt Poker Announces FTOPS VIII
More than $10 million in guaranteed prize money will be up for grabs when the Full Tilt Online Poker Series makes its eighth appearance from May 7-18, 2008. FTOPS VIII will feature 24 individual tournaments – each hosted by a Full Tilt...

College Poker Life: Virginia Tech University, Blacksburg,VA
Though there isn't a single licensed poker room in the state of Virginia, students attending the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, otherwise known as Virginia Tech, still have plenty of different ways to enjoy...

Full Tilt Poker Announces FTOPS VIII
More than $10 million in guaranteed prize money will be up for grabs when the Full Tilt Online Poker Series makes its eighth appearance from May 7-18, 2008. FTOPS VIII will feature 24 individual tournaments – each hosted by a Full Tilt...

College Poker Life: Virginia Tech University, Blacksburg,VA
Though there isn't a single licensed poker room in the state of Virginia, students attending the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, otherwise known as Virginia Tech, still have plenty of different ways to enjoy...

Pokler Online - PokerStars Announces 'Battle of the Planets'

PokerStars Announces 'Battle of the Planets'
Leading online poker site PokerStars has just announced a new sit-and-go (SNG) tournament leader board concept, launching its 'Battle of the Planets' promotion that will pay out over $3,000,000 per year to its participants.

PokerStars Announces 'Battle of the Planets'
Leading online poker site PokerStars has just announced a new sit-and-go (SNG) tournament leader board concept, launching its 'Battle of the Planets' promotion that will pay out over $3,000,000 per year to its participants.

Pokler Online - PokerStars Announces 'Battle of the Planets'

PokerStars Announces 'Battle of the Planets'
Leading online poker site PokerStars has just announced a new sit-and-go (SNG) tournament leader board concept, launching its 'Battle of the Planets' promotion that will pay out over $3,000,000 per year to its participants.

PokerStars Announces 'Battle of the Planets'
Leading online poker site PokerStars has just announced a new sit-and-go (SNG) tournament leader board concept, launching its 'Battle of the Planets' promotion that will pay out over $3,000,000 per year to its participants.

Pokler Online - Taj Poker Argument Results in Stabbing Death

Taj Poker Argument Results in Stabbing Death
An argument between two players in the Atlantic City Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort poker room continued after the players left the game, escalating into violence in the nearby valet area outside the casino that left one...

South Carolinian will fight charges related to home poker game
South Carolina resident Martin Reyes said Sunday that he will fight the gambling charges that have been brought against him after police raided his home poker game this past weekend. A total of 27 people have been charged in connection with the weekly game, which authorities ��...full article

South Carolina resident Martin Reyes said Sunday that he will fight the gambling charges that have been brought against him after police raided his home poker game this past weekend.

A total of 27 people have been charged in connection with the weekly game, which authorities said took on an air of a professional gambling establishment with “pit bosses and dealers,” according to a story at www.charleston.net.
(more…)

Jennifer Harman continues charity poker event for Nevada pets
With a first place prize of a seat at the Main Event in the 2008 World Series of Poker, over 100 professional poker players including Doyle Brunson, Phil Ivey, Jennifer “Jennicide” Leigh, Joe Hachem, and, of course, Jennifer Harman herself, the Second Annual Jennifer Harman ��...full article

With a first place prize of a seat at the Main Event in the 2008 World Series of Poker, over 100 professional poker players including Doyle Brunson, Phil Ivey, Jennifer “Jennicide” Leigh, Joe Hachem, and, of course, Jennifer Harman herself, the Second Annual Jennifer Harman Charity Poker Tournament, which will be held at the Venetian poker room Apr. 18, looks like it’s shaping up to be at least as much of a success as last year’s inaugural event.

At the 2007 event, over $130,000 was raised for the designated charity, the Nevada SPCA, a no-kill animal shelter that was able to build two new wings with that money. “It’s amazing what a difference even the smallest donation can make, let alone $130,000,” said Nevada SPCA Executive Director Doug Duke. “The new section will allow us to rescue and shelter about 1,000 animals.”

“This is a chance for all of us to give something back,” said Harman, who is featured snuggling a bunny on the front page of the Nevada SPCA’s Web site.

A press release for the event states:

The recommended donation to participate in the tournament is $300 + $30. There will be optional $200 re-donations for additional tournament chips throughout three 20-minute rounds, and a $200 last chance add-on. The first place prize is a $10,000 seat into the 2008 World Series of Poker Main Event. The tournament is open to the public. Seating is limited. Please visit www.nevadaspca.org to reserve a seat in the tournament, or call Lisa Wheeler at (702) 327-7250.

Photos courtesy Rob Gracie/GreasieWheels

Sexton's Corner, Vol. 39: Archie Karas, Part 9 – According to Jack
Archie 'The Greek' Karas has a story that will be etched into Las Vegas gambling lore forever. As time goes by, the historical significance of him hitting town in December of 1992 with $50 in his pocket and running it up...

Taj Poker Argument Results in Stabbing Death
An argument between two players in the Atlantic City Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort poker room continued after the players left the game, escalating into violence in the nearby valet area outside the casino that left one...

South Carolinian will fight charges related to home poker game
South Carolina resident Martin Reyes said Sunday that he will fight the gambling charges that have been brought against him after police raided his home poker game this past weekend. A total of 27 people have been charged in connection with the weekly game, which authorities ��...full article

South Carolina resident Martin Reyes said Sunday that he will fight the gambling charges that have been brought against him after police raided his home poker game this past weekend.

A total of 27 people have been charged in connection with the weekly game, which authorities said took on an air of a professional gambling establishment with “pit bosses and dealers,” according to a story at www.charleston.net.
(more…)

Jennifer Harman continues charity poker event for Nevada pets
With a first place prize of a seat at the Main Event in the 2008 World Series of Poker, over 100 professional poker players including Doyle Brunson, Phil Ivey, Jennifer “Jennicide” Leigh, Joe Hachem, and, of course, Jennifer Harman herself, the Second Annual Jennifer Harman ��...full article

With a first place prize of a seat at the Main Event in the 2008 World Series of Poker, over 100 professional poker players including Doyle Brunson, Phil Ivey, Jennifer “Jennicide” Leigh, Joe Hachem, and, of course, Jennifer Harman herself, the Second Annual Jennifer Harman Charity Poker Tournament, which will be held at the Venetian poker room Apr. 18, looks like it’s shaping up to be at least as much of a success as last year’s inaugural event.

At the 2007 event, over $130,000 was raised for the designated charity, the Nevada SPCA, a no-kill animal shelter that was able to build two new wings with that money. “It’s amazing what a difference even the smallest donation can make, let alone $130,000,” said Nevada SPCA Executive Director Doug Duke. “The new section will allow us to rescue and shelter about 1,000 animals.”

“This is a chance for all of us to give something back,” said Harman, who is featured snuggling a bunny on the front page of the Nevada SPCA’s Web site.

A press release for the event states:

The recommended donation to participate in the tournament is $300 + $30. There will be optional $200 re-donations for additional tournament chips throughout three 20-minute rounds, and a $200 last chance add-on. The first place prize is a $10,000 seat into the 2008 World Series of Poker Main Event. The tournament is open to the public. Seating is limited. Please visit www.nevadaspca.org to reserve a seat in the tournament, or call Lisa Wheeler at (702) 327-7250.

Photos courtesy Rob Gracie/GreasieWheels

Sexton's Corner, Vol. 39: Archie Karas, Part 9 – According to Jack
Archie 'The Greek' Karas has a story that will be etched into Las Vegas gambling lore forever. As time goes by, the historical significance of him hitting town in December of 1992 with $50 in his pocket and running it up...

Pokler Online - Brian Hastings Makes a Bold Semi-Bluff

Brian Hastings Makes a Bold Semi-Bluff

Sometimes, however, players get together for a game of high-stakes No Limit Hold'em - the only true game left (?). And yesterday, Full Tilt Poker offered some great Hold'em action with several pots in the range of $100,000 and a few pots close to $150,000.

Before we take a look at a hand from yesterday's game, let's just ponder for a second what Hold'em has become.

When the game was invented, it was supposed to make it easier for superior players to outplay inferior ones. Betting on several streets and at least 60 % of each player's hand exposed on the river were supposed to give the good players a clear advantage.

But back in the days, most players played fixed-limit - a game where you grind for the long run rather than take down a couple of huge pots. Today, on the other hand, No-Limit is the most common betting structure; and instead of getting an advantage due to many betting rounds, it's all about being most aggressive.

This might be a reason why players turn to pot-limit Omaha, where draws aren't out-priced all the time.

Now to the hand: This might seem like a pretty straightforward pot and a type of play we see almost daily. But think about it for a while. What did Sklansky say about pre-flop hand-selection and semi-bluffs? Is this the same game he described in Theory of Poker?

 

Full Tilt Poker Game #5931626773 TABLE : Ringer (heads up) $300/$600 - No Limit Hold'em - Sun Apr 6th 2008 - 7:12pm ET

Table Setup

Seat 1: Brian Hastings ($60,000)
Seat 2: guaranteed376 ($135,887.50)
Brian Hastings posts the small blind of $300
guaranteed376 posts the big blind of $600
The button is in seat #1

Pre-flop

Brian Hastings raises to $1,800
guaranteed376 calls $1,200

Flop #4s-#9s-#Ac

guaranteed376 bets $3,000
Brian Hastings calls $3,000

Turn #4s-#9s-#Ac-#Kd

guaranteed376 bets $7,200
Brian Hastings has 15 seconds left to act
Brian Hastings raises to $19,200
guaranteed376 has 15 seconds left to act
guaranteed376 has requested TIME
guaranteed376 calls $12,000

River #4s-#9s-#Ac-#Kd-#2s

guaranteed376 checks
Brian Hastings has 15 seconds left to act
Brian Hastings bets $36,000, and is all in
guaranteed376 has 15 seconds left to act
guaranteed376 calls $36,000

Showdown

Brian Hastings shows #7s-#3s a flush, Nine high
guaranteed376 mucks
Brian Hastings wins the pot ($119,999.50) with a flush, Nine high

Summary

Total pot $120,000 | Rake $0.50
Board: #4s-#9s-#Ac-#Kd-#2s
Seat 1: Brian Hastings (small blind) collected ($119,999.50)
Seat 2: guaranteed376 (big blind) mucked

To find out more about yesterday's games - hand histories and the biggest Hold'em pots - please visit the Pokerlistings.com MarketPulse section.

Visit PokerListings.com

Brian Hastings Makes a Bold Semi-Bluff

Sometimes, however, players get together for a game of high-stakes No Limit Hold'em - the only true game left (?). And yesterday, Full Tilt Poker offered some great Hold'em action with several pots in the range of $100,000 and a few pots close to $150,000.

Before we take a look at a hand from yesterday's game, let's just ponder for a second what Hold'em has become.

When the game was invented, it was supposed to make it easier for superior players to outplay inferior ones. Betting on several streets and at least 60 % of each player's hand exposed on the river were supposed to give the good players a clear advantage.

But back in the days, most players played fixed-limit - a game where you grind for the long run rather than take down a couple of huge pots. Today, on the other hand, No-Limit is the most common betting structure; and instead of getting an advantage due to many betting rounds, it's all about being most aggressive.

This might be a reason why players turn to pot-limit Omaha, where draws aren't out-priced all the time.

Now to the hand: This might seem like a pretty straightforward pot and a type of play we see almost daily. But think about it for a while. What did Sklansky say about pre-flop hand-selection and semi-bluffs? Is this the same game he described in Theory of Poker?

 

Full Tilt Poker Game #5931626773 TABLE : Ringer (heads up) $300/$600 - No Limit Hold'em - Sun Apr 6th 2008 - 7:12pm ET

Table Setup

Seat 1: Brian Hastings ($60,000)
Seat 2: guaranteed376 ($135,887.50)
Brian Hastings posts the small blind of $300
guaranteed376 posts the big blind of $600
The button is in seat #1

Pre-flop

Brian Hastings raises to $1,800
guaranteed376 calls $1,200

Flop #4s-#9s-#Ac

guaranteed376 bets $3,000
Brian Hastings calls $3,000

Turn #4s-#9s-#Ac-#Kd

guaranteed376 bets $7,200
Brian Hastings has 15 seconds left to act
Brian Hastings raises to $19,200
guaranteed376 has 15 seconds left to act
guaranteed376 has requested TIME
guaranteed376 calls $12,000

River #4s-#9s-#Ac-#Kd-#2s

guaranteed376 checks
Brian Hastings has 15 seconds left to act
Brian Hastings bets $36,000, and is all in
guaranteed376 has 15 seconds left to act
guaranteed376 calls $36,000

Showdown

Brian Hastings shows #7s-#3s a flush, Nine high
guaranteed376 mucks
Brian Hastings wins the pot ($119,999.50) with a flush, Nine high

Summary

Total pot $120,000 | Rake $0.50
Board: #4s-#9s-#Ac-#Kd-#2s
Seat 1: Brian Hastings (small blind) collected ($119,999.50)
Seat 2: guaranteed376 (big blind) mucked

To find out more about yesterday's games - hand histories and the biggest Hold'em pots - please visit the Pokerlistings.com MarketPulse section.

Visit PokerListings.com

Pokler Online - Industry Reaction to UIGEA Hearing Generally Positive

Industry Reaction to UIGEA Hearing Generally Positive
Reactions to Wednesday's Congressional hearing on the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act were generally positive, with near unanimous media commentary noting that the US government is becoming aware that the UIGEA is all...

PokerStars.com EPT San Remo, Final Table: Qualifier Mercier Takes Title
Jason Mercier, a PokerStars qualifier from the US, picked up $1,340,867 for his victory in the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour San Remo Championship on Saturday. Mercier, who moved to the top of the leader board on Day 2...

Titan Poker to send players to Austria

The Salzburg Poker Cup is anticipated to attract 400 players for its Main Event as well as hundreds more to the two side events scheduled.

Not only will winners at Titan Poker get a shot at the main event, they'll also get to play in Event 2 of the Poker Cup. The $4,000 prize packages being given out at Titan Poker include the buy-ins for both events.

The prize package also includes accommodation, flights and spending money as well as the opportunity to enjoy what the city has to offer. Titan Poker will take its players on a private beer tour, provide an exclusive iPoker lunch, and give players a chance to explore the city.

The first super-satellite at Titan Poker for the Salzburg Poker cup took place April 3, and players will get their final chance to win a prize package April 10.

The super satellite has a $100+$9 buy-in and will start at 8:05 p.m. (CET). There are also ongoing and daily qualifiers for players to win their way into the super-satellite for much less of an out-of-pocket investment.

The schedule of qualifiers is as follows:

Date	Time	Event	Details
Ongoing	Ongoing	$10.90+$1 Stage 1 SNG	One seat in super-satellite for every 10 players
Daily	5:30 p.m.	$15+$1.50 Stage 1 Freezeout	One seat in super-satellite for every $109 collected
Daily	8:50 p.m.	$10+$1 Stage 1 R/A	One seat in super-satellite for every $109 collected
Ongoing	Ongoing	$1.10+20¢ Stage 2 SNG	Seats awarded to next daily Stage 1 at 8:50 p.m. (CET)
Daily	12:10 p.m.	$2+20¢ Stage 2 Freezeout	One seat for every $16.50 awarded for daily Stage 1 Freezeout
Daily	1:45 p.m.	2+20¢ Stage 2 Turbo R/A	One seat for every $11 awarded for daily Stage 1 R/A

Titan Poker hands out plenty of seats and other prizes to its players. Along with the EPT San Remo seats, the site has dished out Aussie Million, World Series of Poker, World Poker Showdown, Irish Open and other EPT event seats.

The poker site also recently signed on as the main sponsor of the Eurocity Poker Tour, which is hosting its inaugural event, the Madrid Open, in May.

The European Championship of Online Poker II will also take place on Titan Poker this May with $3.5 million in guaranteed cash spread through 10 days of events.

Related Articles:

• Titan Poker Sending Players East
• Titan Poker to stage $2 million tournament
• Titan player wins seats in two European events
• Titan Poker sending players to San Remo

Visit PokerListings.com

PokerStars launches Battle of the Planets

The new competition is expected to pay out more than $3 million a year to SNG players as they battle their way through their favorite levels of sit-and-go tournaments.

Whether players prefer $2 games or $500 tournaments, there is a competition level on the Battle of the Planets for them.

The Battle divisions are:

Division	SNG Buy-in	Low Orbit Prize Pool	High Orbit Prize Pool
Mercury	$1-$2.99	$1,500	$1,500
Mars	$3-$4.99	$2,000	$2,000
Venus	$5-$9.99	$2,500	$2,500
Earth	$10-$19.99	$3,000	$3,000
Neptune	$20-$49.99	$3,500	$3,500
Uranus	$50-$99.99	$4,000	$4,000
Saturn	$100-$299.99	$4,500	$4,500
Jupiter	$300+	$5,000	$5,000

"One of the greatest things about the new SNG TLB is that it gives both casual and high-volume players a shot at winning," said Brad Willis in his PokerStars blog about the new feature. "PokerStars has devised Low Orbit and High Orbit competitions. Low Orbit competitors will compete in blocks of 20 SNGs at a time, while High Orbit players will fight it out in 100-game blocks. The monthly prize pools are divided equally between the two Orbits."

For the Low Orbit Leaderboard, the player's points total is recorded in blocks of 20 tournaments, with a player allowed to play up to five 20-tournament blocks per division in any given week. Only the player's best block score will count toward the Leaderboard, and only completed blocks of games will be eligible for the leaderboard.

For example, say a player takes on 42 nine-handed $5 tournaments in one week. That player will have completed two, 20-tournament blocks for the Mars Division: Low Orbit Leaderboard.

That player's first 20 games are recorded as the first block and the next 20 as the second block, while the extra two won't count because they're not part of a completed block. Of the two completed blocks, the one with the highest points will be the one that gets ranked on the leaderboard.

The High Orbit Leaderboard works much the same way as the Low Orbit, except that players are recording points in blocks of 100 tournaments instead of 20. Their highest block will count toward the High Orbit Leaderboard.

For the Low Orbit, players are limited to 20 blocks filled per week. There is no limit to the amount of blocks filled for High Orbit players and no limit on the number of division players can participate in.

Cash isn't the only thing the top players in each division and orbit will receive. Every player who finishes in the top 10 of the divisions each week will receive an exclusive ticket to a monthly tournament.

The highest-ranking players from each division will come together to fight in the Battle of the Planets, a triple shootout, for a monthly prize pool of $50,000.

Related Articles:

• PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up Gets RaiN'ed Out
• PokerStars to Launch Latin American Poker Tour

Visit PokerListings.com

Industry Reaction to UIGEA Hearing Generally Positive
Reactions to Wednesday's Congressional hearing on the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act were generally positive, with near unanimous media commentary noting that the US government is becoming aware that the UIGEA is all...

PokerStars.com EPT San Remo, Final Table: Qualifier Mercier Takes Title
Jason Mercier, a PokerStars qualifier from the US, picked up $1,340,867 for his victory in the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour San Remo Championship on Saturday. Mercier, who moved to the top of the leader board on Day 2...

Titan Poker to send players to Austria

The Salzburg Poker Cup is anticipated to attract 400 players for its Main Event as well as hundreds more to the two side events scheduled.

Not only will winners at Titan Poker get a shot at the main event, they'll also get to play in Event 2 of the Poker Cup. The $4,000 prize packages being given out at Titan Poker include the buy-ins for both events.

The prize package also includes accommodation, flights and spending money as well as the opportunity to enjoy what the city has to offer. Titan Poker will take its players on a private beer tour, provide an exclusive iPoker lunch, and give players a chance to explore the city.

The first super-satellite at Titan Poker for the Salzburg Poker cup took place April 3, and players will get their final chance to win a prize package April 10.

The super satellite has a $100+$9 buy-in and will start at 8:05 p.m. (CET). There are also ongoing and daily qualifiers for players to win their way into the super-satellite for much less of an out-of-pocket investment.

The schedule of qualifiers is as follows:

Date	Time	Event	Details
Ongoing	Ongoing	$10.90+$1 Stage 1 SNG	One seat in super-satellite for every 10 players
Daily	5:30 p.m.	$15+$1.50 Stage 1 Freezeout	One seat in super-satellite for every $109 collected
Daily	8:50 p.m.	$10+$1 Stage 1 R/A	One seat in super-satellite for every $109 collected
Ongoing	Ongoing	$1.10+20¢ Stage 2 SNG	Seats awarded to next daily Stage 1 at 8:50 p.m. (CET)
Daily	12:10 p.m.	$2+20¢ Stage 2 Freezeout	One seat for every $16.50 awarded for daily Stage 1 Freezeout
Daily	1:45 p.m.	2+20¢ Stage 2 Turbo R/A	One seat for every $11 awarded for daily Stage 1 R/A

Titan Poker hands out plenty of seats and other prizes to its players. Along with the EPT San Remo seats, the site has dished out Aussie Million, World Series of Poker, World Poker Showdown, Irish Open and other EPT event seats.

The poker site also recently signed on as the main sponsor of the Eurocity Poker Tour, which is hosting its inaugural event, the Madrid Open, in May.

The European Championship of Online Poker II will also take place on Titan Poker this May with $3.5 million in guaranteed cash spread through 10 days of events.

Related Articles:

• Titan Poker Sending Players East
• Titan Poker to stage $2 million tournament
• Titan player wins seats in two European events
• Titan Poker sending players to San Remo

Visit PokerListings.com

PokerStars launches Battle of the Planets

The new competition is expected to pay out more than $3 million a year to SNG players as they battle their way through their favorite levels of sit-and-go tournaments.

Whether players prefer $2 games or $500 tournaments, there is a competition level on the Battle of the Planets for them.

The Battle divisions are:

Division	SNG Buy-in	Low Orbit Prize Pool	High Orbit Prize Pool
Mercury	$1-$2.99	$1,500	$1,500
Mars	$3-$4.99	$2,000	$2,000
Venus	$5-$9.99	$2,500	$2,500
Earth	$10-$19.99	$3,000	$3,000
Neptune	$20-$49.99	$3,500	$3,500
Uranus	$50-$99.99	$4,000	$4,000
Saturn	$100-$299.99	$4,500	$4,500
Jupiter	$300+	$5,000	$5,000

"One of the greatest things about the new SNG TLB is that it gives both casual and high-volume players a shot at winning," said Brad Willis in his PokerStars blog about the new feature. "PokerStars has devised Low Orbit and High Orbit competitions. Low Orbit competitors will compete in blocks of 20 SNGs at a time, while High Orbit players will fight it out in 100-game blocks. The monthly prize pools are divided equally between the two Orbits."

For the Low Orbit Leaderboard, the player's points total is recorded in blocks of 20 tournaments, with a player allowed to play up to five 20-tournament blocks per division in any given week. Only the player's best block score will count toward the Leaderboard, and only completed blocks of games will be eligible for the leaderboard.

For example, say a player takes on 42 nine-handed $5 tournaments in one week. That player will have completed two, 20-tournament blocks for the Mars Division: Low Orbit Leaderboard.

That player's first 20 games are recorded as the first block and the next 20 as the second block, while the extra two won't count because they're not part of a completed block. Of the two completed blocks, the one with the highest points will be the one that gets ranked on the leaderboard.

The High Orbit Leaderboard works much the same way as the Low Orbit, except that players are recording points in blocks of 100 tournaments instead of 20. Their highest block will count toward the High Orbit Leaderboard.

For the Low Orbit, players are limited to 20 blocks filled per week. There is no limit to the amount of blocks filled for High Orbit players and no limit on the number of division players can participate in.

Cash isn't the only thing the top players in each division and orbit will receive. Every player who finishes in the top 10 of the divisions each week will receive an exclusive ticket to a monthly tournament.

The highest-ranking players from each division will come together to fight in the Battle of the Planets, a triple shootout, for a monthly prize pool of $50,000.

Related Articles:

• PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up Gets RaiN'ed Out
• PokerStars to Launch Latin American Poker Tour

Visit PokerListings.com

Pokler Online - Titan Poker to send players to Austria

Titan Poker to send players to Austria

The Salzburg Poker Cup is anticipated to attract 400 players for its Main Event as well as hundreds more to the two side events scheduled.

Not only will winners at Titan Poker get a shot at the main event, they'll also get to play in Event 2 of the Poker Cup. The $4,000 prize packages being given out at Titan Poker include the buy-ins for both events.

The prize package also includes accommodation, flights and spending money as well as the opportunity to enjoy what the city has to offer. Titan Poker will take its players on a private beer tour, provide an exclusive iPoker lunch, and give players a chance to explore the city.

The first super-satellite at Titan Poker for the Salzburg Poker cup took place April 3, and players will get their final chance to win a prize package April 10.

The super satellite has a $100+$9 buy-in and will start at 8:05 p.m. (CET). There are also ongoing and daily qualifiers for players to win their way into the super-satellite for much less of an out-of-pocket investment.

The schedule of qualifiers is as follows:

Date	Time	Event	Details
Ongoing	Ongoing	$10.90+$1 Stage 1 SNG	One seat in super-satellite for every 10 players
Daily	5:30 p.m.	$15+$1.50 Stage 1 Freezeout	One seat in super-satellite for every $109 collected
Daily	8:50 p.m.	$10+$1 Stage 1 R/A	One seat in super-satellite for every $109 collected
Ongoing	Ongoing	$1.10+20¢ Stage 2 SNG	Seats awarded to next daily Stage 1 at 8:50 p.m. (CET)
Daily	12:10 p.m.	$2+20¢ Stage 2 Freezeout	One seat for every $16.50 awarded for daily Stage 1 Freezeout
Daily	1:45 p.m.	2+20¢ Stage 2 Turbo R/A	One seat for every $11 awarded for daily Stage 1 R/A

Titan Poker hands out plenty of seats and other prizes to its players. Along with the EPT San Remo seats, the site has dished out Aussie Million, World Series of Poker, World Poker Showdown, Irish Open and other EPT event seats.

The poker site also recently signed on as the main sponsor of the Eurocity Poker Tour, which is hosting its inaugural event, the Madrid Open, in May.

The European Championship of Online Poker II will also take place on Titan Poker this May with $3.5 million in guaranteed cash spread through 10 days of events.

Related Articles:

• Titan Poker Sending Players East
• Titan Poker to stage $2 million tournament
• Titan player wins seats in two European events
• Titan Poker sending players to San Remo

Visit PokerListings.com

PokerStars.com EPT San Remo, Final Table: Qualifier Mercier Takes Title
Jason Mercier, a PokerStars qualifier from the US, picked up $1,340,867 for his victory in the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour San Remo Championship on Saturday. Mercier, who moved to the top of the leader board on Day 2...

Jason Mercier wins inaugural EPT San Remo event

It all could have gone so much different had Jason Mercier decided to cancel the trip after his friend backed out of coming along with him a few weeks ago.

"But luckily two of my online friends told me they were coming and I could meet up with them so I decided to do it," Mercier told PokerListings.com in an interview.

Mercier is a professional online poker player, and this was only his second major live tournament. His first was the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, where he didn't last through the first day.

After winning a seat in the EPT San Remo event at PokerStars, it wouldn't have been surprising if Mercier cashed out the prize instead of taking the trip after his PCA experience. However, he's now €869,000 richer for having the guts to try another live event.

Of course, Dario Minieri might be wishing the American from Florida had stayed home. Minieri was the favorite to win the event going into the final table as he was buoyed by the hometown crowd.

It certainly helped that Minieri had the chip lead as well, starting with $1,832,000. The starting chip counts at the final table were:

• Dario Minieri $1,832,000
• Jason Mercier $1,591,000
• Antony Lellouche $1,192,000
• Gregory Genovese $694,000
• Dag Palovic $585,000
• Eric Koskas $449,000
• William Thorson $418,000
• Marcus Bower $278,000

In what was the fastest final table in EPT history so far, it didn't take long see the first casualty of the day, and it took about two and half hours for the whole thing to be decided.

First out was Marcus Bower, taken out by Antony Lellouche. Lellouche had opened the pot to $70,000 and it folded around to Bower who decided it was time to make a move, going all-in for his remaining $155,000.

Lellouche made a quick call and showed #Ad-#Jc against Bower's pocket fours. A board of #Ks-#9h-#8h-#7s-#Ah gave Lellouche the higher pair and Bower the boot.

As the end of the first level of the day neared, a second player was eliminated. Dag Palovic raised to $96,000 after Minieri had limped into the pot. Minieri called and they saw a flop of #6d-#3d-#2s.

Palovic ended up all-in with pocket queens and Minieri made the call with pocket threes. The board finished with runner eights and Minieri send Palovic packing in seventh place.

Mercier picked up some more chips to stay on the heals of Minieri with the elimination of William Thorson in sixth place. Thorson was all-in preflop with #Ah-#Qh, and Mercier called with #Ad-#Kh.

The flop dropped #Kd-#6c-#5c, giving Mercier the lead. The board finished out #Ac-#4d to seal the deal for Mercier.

Mercier took out the next player as well in a hand that started out as a three-way between him, Minieri and Gregory Genovese. After they all saw a flop of #Ad-#7s-#5d, Mercier bet out $120,000, and Minieri folded to leave an all-in Genovese to duke it out with Mercier.

Mercier showed an #Ah-#3c to Genovese's #Th-#9c. Genovese couldn't make up any ground when the rest of the board played out with #Qs-#2h, leaving him with a fifth-place finish.

There was just no stopping Mercier as he steamrolled through the remaining players to claim the win. Next he took out Eric Koskas with an amazing call that is best told in the PokerListings.com Live Tournaments section where better details of all the final-table play can be read.

#img: dario-minieri_18947.jpg: left: Oh so close, and yet so far away once again for Minieri.#

In a surprise blow for all the Italian fans present, Mercier then took out Minieri in third place. Minieri had pocket queens up against Mercier's #Ac-#4d. When the flop brought two more diamonds and then the turn brought a #4h, Minieri and his fans were hoping to see anything but another four or diamond on the river.

No such luck for the Italian Harry Potter look alike as the river brought a #3d, giving him another third-place finish in an EPT event and waiting for another chance to get his first win in a major live event.

Two more hands later, Mercier had the win. Lellouche had built a reputation during the game as an aggressive player and it got him in trouble on just the second hand of heads-up play.

After a raise and a re-raise, Mercier shoved all-in and got an insta-call from Lellouche. Lellouche showed pocket sevens to Mercier's #Ks-#Qd. The board came #As-#Qs-#4c-#8c-#2c, giving Mercier a higher pair and an EPT crown.

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PokerStars launches Battle of the Planets

The new competition is expected to pay out more than $3 million a year to SNG players as they battle their way through their favorite levels of sit-and-go tournaments.

Whether players prefer $2 games or $500 tournaments, there is a competition level on the Battle of the Planets for them.

The Battle divisions are:

Division	SNG Buy-in	Low Orbit Prize Pool	High Orbit Prize Pool
Mercury	$1-$2.99	$1,500	$1,500
Mars	$3-$4.99	$2,000	$2,000
Venus	$5-$9.99	$2,500	$2,500
Earth	$10-$19.99	$3,000	$3,000
Neptune	$20-$49.99	$3,500	$3,500
Uranus	$50-$99.99	$4,000	$4,000
Saturn	$100-$299.99	$4,500	$4,500
Jupiter	$300+	$5,000	$5,000

"One of the greatest things about the new SNG TLB is that it gives both casual and high-volume players a shot at winning," said Brad Willis in his PokerStars blog about the new feature. "PokerStars has devised Low Orbit and High Orbit competitions. Low Orbit competitors will compete in blocks of 20 SNGs at a time, while High Orbit players will fight it out in 100-game blocks. The monthly prize pools are divided equally between the two Orbits."

For the Low Orbit Leaderboard, the player's points total is recorded in blocks of 20 tournaments, with a player allowed to play up to five 20-tournament blocks per division in any given week. Only the player's best block score will count toward the Leaderboard, and only completed blocks of games will be eligible for the leaderboard.

For example, say a player takes on 42 nine-handed $5 tournaments in one week. That player will have completed two, 20-tournament blocks for the Mars Division: Low Orbit Leaderboard.

That player's first 20 games are recorded as the first block and the next 20 as the second block, while the extra two won't count because they're not part of a completed block. Of the two completed blocks, the one with the highest points will be the one that gets ranked on the leaderboard.

The High Orbit Leaderboard works much the same way as the Low Orbit, except that players are recording points in blocks of 100 tournaments instead of 20. Their highest block will count toward the High Orbit Leaderboard.

For the Low Orbit, players are limited to 20 blocks filled per week. There is no limit to the amount of blocks filled for High Orbit players and no limit on the number of division players can participate in.

Cash isn't the only thing the top players in each division and orbit will receive. Every player who finishes in the top 10 of the divisions each week will receive an exclusive ticket to a monthly tournament.

The highest-ranking players from each division will come together to fight in the Battle of the Planets, a triple shootout, for a monthly prize pool of $50,000.

Related Articles:

• PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up Gets RaiN'ed Out
• PokerStars to Launch Latin American Poker Tour

Visit PokerListings.com

American qualifier wins EPT San Remo
The European Poker Tour San Remo final table featured four players who had made it to EPT final tables before. But an American who qualified online beat them all. Jason “treysfull21″ Mercier won the event, cashing for $1.34 million in winning his first live poker tournament ��...full article

The European Poker Tour San Remo final table featured four players who had made it to EPT final tables before. But an American who qualified online beat them all.

Jason “treysfull21″ Mercier won the event, cashing for $1.34 million in winning his first live poker tournament win.

The final table took just three hours from first hand to last.

Here’s how heads-up play went, according to wickedchopspoker.com:

Anthony Lellouche finished in second place for $779,215. Mercier had a big chip lead entering heads-up play, and the heads-up battle only lasted two hands. The two players got all of their chips in the middle with Lellouche holding a pair of sevens and Mercier holding K-Q offsuit. The flop was a great one for Mercier as it came A-Q-4 with two spades, giving him middle pair and the highest spade in case running spades came on the turn and river. The turn and river ended up being the harmless 8 and 2 of clubs, and Mercier secured the victory.

Whole thing here.

Dario Minieri, who gained fame at last year’s World Series of Poker main event, entered the final table as the chip leader but finished in third place for $443,767. He was eliminated by Mercier.

Titan Poker to send players to Austria

The Salzburg Poker Cup is anticipated to attract 400 players for its Main Event as well as hundreds more to the two side events scheduled.

Not only will winners at Titan Poker get a shot at the main event, they'll also get to play in Event 2 of the Poker Cup. The $4,000 prize packages being given out at Titan Poker include the buy-ins for both events.

The prize package also includes accommodation, flights and spending money as well as the opportunity to enjoy what the city has to offer. Titan Poker will take its players on a private beer tour, provide an exclusive iPoker lunch, and give players a chance to explore the city.

The first super-satellite at Titan Poker for the Salzburg Poker cup took place April 3, and players will get their final chance to win a prize package April 10.

The super satellite has a $100+$9 buy-in and will start at 8:05 p.m. (CET). There are also ongoing and daily qualifiers for players to win their way into the super-satellite for much less of an out-of-pocket investment.

The schedule of qualifiers is as follows:

Date	Time	Event	Details
Ongoing	Ongoing	$10.90+$1 Stage 1 SNG	One seat in super-satellite for every 10 players
Daily	5:30 p.m.	$15+$1.50 Stage 1 Freezeout	One seat in super-satellite for every $109 collected
Daily	8:50 p.m.	$10+$1 Stage 1 R/A	One seat in super-satellite for every $109 collected
Ongoing	Ongoing	$1.10+20¢ Stage 2 SNG	Seats awarded to next daily Stage 1 at 8:50 p.m. (CET)
Daily	12:10 p.m.	$2+20¢ Stage 2 Freezeout	One seat for every $16.50 awarded for daily Stage 1 Freezeout
Daily	1:45 p.m.	2+20¢ Stage 2 Turbo R/A	One seat for every $11 awarded for daily Stage 1 R/A

Titan Poker hands out plenty of seats and other prizes to its players. Along with the EPT San Remo seats, the site has dished out Aussie Million, World Series of Poker, World Poker Showdown, Irish Open and other EPT event seats.

The poker site also recently signed on as the main sponsor of the Eurocity Poker Tour, which is hosting its inaugural event, the Madrid Open, in May.

The European Championship of Online Poker II will also take place on Titan Poker this May with $3.5 million in guaranteed cash spread through 10 days of events.

Related Articles:

• Titan Poker Sending Players East
• Titan Poker to stage $2 million tournament
• Titan player wins seats in two European events
• Titan Poker sending players to San Remo

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PokerStars.com EPT San Remo, Final Table: Qualifier Mercier Takes Title
Jason Mercier, a PokerStars qualifier from the US, picked up $1,340,867 for his victory in the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour San Remo Championship on Saturday. Mercier, who moved to the top of the leader board on Day 2...

Jason Mercier wins inaugural EPT San Remo event

It all could have gone so much different had Jason Mercier decided to cancel the trip after his friend backed out of coming along with him a few weeks ago.

"But luckily two of my online friends told me they were coming and I could meet up with them so I decided to do it," Mercier told PokerListings.com in an interview.

Mercier is a professional online poker player, and this was only his second major live tournament. His first was the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, where he didn't last through the first day.

After winning a seat in the EPT San Remo event at PokerStars, it wouldn't have been surprising if Mercier cashed out the prize instead of taking the trip after his PCA experience. However, he's now €869,000 richer for having the guts to try another live event.

Of course, Dario Minieri might be wishing the American from Florida had stayed home. Minieri was the favorite to win the event going into the final table as he was buoyed by the hometown crowd.

It certainly helped that Minieri had the chip lead as well, starting with $1,832,000. The starting chip counts at the final table were:

• Dario Minieri $1,832,000
• Jason Mercier $1,591,000
• Antony Lellouche $1,192,000
• Gregory Genovese $694,000
• Dag Palovic $585,000
• Eric Koskas $449,000
• William Thorson $418,000
• Marcus Bower $278,000

In what was the fastest final table in EPT history so far, it didn't take long see the first casualty of the day, and it took about two and half hours for the whole thing to be decided.

First out was Marcus Bower, taken out by Antony Lellouche. Lellouche had opened the pot to $70,000 and it folded around to Bower who decided it was time to make a move, going all-in for his remaining $155,000.

Lellouche made a quick call and showed #Ad-#Jc against Bower's pocket fours. A board of #Ks-#9h-#8h-#7s-#Ah gave Lellouche the higher pair and Bower the boot.

As the end of the first level of the day neared, a second player was eliminated. Dag Palovic raised to $96,000 after Minieri had limped into the pot. Minieri called and they saw a flop of #6d-#3d-#2s.

Palovic ended up all-in with pocket queens and Minieri made the call with pocket threes. The board finished with runner eights and Minieri send Palovic packing in seventh place.

Mercier picked up some more chips to stay on the heals of Minieri with the elimination of William Thorson in sixth place. Thorson was all-in preflop with #Ah-#Qh, and Mercier called with #Ad-#Kh.

The flop dropped #Kd-#6c-#5c, giving Mercier the lead. The board finished out #Ac-#4d to seal the deal for Mercier.

Mercier took out the next player as well in a hand that started out as a three-way between him, Minieri and Gregory Genovese. After they all saw a flop of #Ad-#7s-#5d, Mercier bet out $120,000, and Minieri folded to leave an all-in Genovese to duke it out with Mercier.

Mercier showed an #Ah-#3c to Genovese's #Th-#9c. Genovese couldn't make up any ground when the rest of the board played out with #Qs-#2h, leaving him with a fifth-place finish.

There was just no stopping Mercier as he steamrolled through the remaining players to claim the win. Next he took out Eric Koskas with an amazing call that is best told in the PokerListings.com Live Tournaments section where better details of all the final-table play can be read.

#img: dario-minieri_18947.jpg: left: Oh so close, and yet so far away once again for Minieri.#

In a surprise blow for all the Italian fans present, Mercier then took out Minieri in third place. Minieri had pocket queens up against Mercier's #Ac-#4d. When the flop brought two more diamonds and then the turn brought a #4h, Minieri and his fans were hoping to see anything but another four or diamond on the river.

No such luck for the Italian Harry Potter look alike as the river brought a #3d, giving him another third-place finish in an EPT event and waiting for another chance to get his first win in a major live event.

Two more hands later, Mercier had the win. Lellouche had built a reputation during the game as an aggressive player and it got him in trouble on just the second hand of heads-up play.

After a raise and a re-raise, Mercier shoved all-in and got an insta-call from Lellouche. Lellouche showed pocket sevens to Mercier's #Ks-#Qd. The board came #As-#Qs-#4c-#8c-#2c, giving Mercier a higher pair and an EPT crown.

Visit PokerListings.com

PokerStars launches Battle of the Planets

The new competition is expected to pay out more than $3 million a year to SNG players as they battle their way through their favorite levels of sit-and-go tournaments.

Whether players prefer $2 games or $500 tournaments, there is a competition level on the Battle of the Planets for them.

The Battle divisions are:

Division	SNG Buy-in	Low Orbit Prize Pool	High Orbit Prize Pool
Mercury	$1-$2.99	$1,500	$1,500
Mars	$3-$4.99	$2,000	$2,000
Venus	$5-$9.99	$2,500	$2,500
Earth	$10-$19.99	$3,000	$3,000
Neptune	$20-$49.99	$3,500	$3,500
Uranus	$50-$99.99	$4,000	$4,000
Saturn	$100-$299.99	$4,500	$4,500
Jupiter	$300+	$5,000	$5,000

"One of the greatest things about the new SNG TLB is that it gives both casual and high-volume players a shot at winning," said Brad Willis in his PokerStars blog about the new feature. "PokerStars has devised Low Orbit and High Orbit competitions. Low Orbit competitors will compete in blocks of 20 SNGs at a time, while High Orbit players will fight it out in 100-game blocks. The monthly prize pools are divided equally between the two Orbits."

For the Low Orbit Leaderboard, the player's points total is recorded in blocks of 20 tournaments, with a player allowed to play up to five 20-tournament blocks per division in any given week. Only the player's best block score will count toward the Leaderboard, and only completed blocks of games will be eligible for the leaderboard.

For example, say a player takes on 42 nine-handed $5 tournaments in one week. That player will have completed two, 20-tournament blocks for the Mars Division: Low Orbit Leaderboard.

That player's first 20 games are recorded as the first block and the next 20 as the second block, while the extra two won't count because they're not part of a completed block. Of the two completed blocks, the one with the highest points will be the one that gets ranked on the leaderboard.

The High Orbit Leaderboard works much the same way as the Low Orbit, except that players are recording points in blocks of 100 tournaments instead of 20. Their highest block will count toward the High Orbit Leaderboard.

For the Low Orbit, players are limited to 20 blocks filled per week. There is no limit to the amount of blocks filled for High Orbit players and no limit on the number of division players can participate in.

Cash isn't the only thing the top players in each division and orbit will receive. Every player who finishes in the top 10 of the divisions each week will receive an exclusive ticket to a monthly tournament.

The highest-ranking players from each division will come together to fight in the Battle of the Planets, a triple shootout, for a monthly prize pool of $50,000.

Related Articles:

• PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up Gets RaiN'ed Out
• PokerStars to Launch Latin American Poker Tour

Visit PokerListings.com

American qualifier wins EPT San Remo
The European Poker Tour San Remo final table featured four players who had made it to EPT final tables before. But an American who qualified online beat them all. Jason “treysfull21″ Mercier won the event, cashing for $1.34 million in winning his first live poker tournament ��...full article

The European Poker Tour San Remo final table featured four players who had made it to EPT final tables before. But an American who qualified online beat them all.

Jason “treysfull21″ Mercier won the event, cashing for $1.34 million in winning his first live poker tournament win.

The final table took just three hours from first hand to last.

Here’s how heads-up play went, according to wickedchopspoker.com:

Anthony Lellouche finished in second place for $779,215. Mercier had a big chip lead entering heads-up play, and the heads-up battle only lasted two hands. The two players got all of their chips in the middle with Lellouche holding a pair of sevens and Mercier holding K-Q offsuit. The flop was a great one for Mercier as it came A-Q-4 with two spades, giving him middle pair and the highest spade in case running spades came on the turn and river. The turn and river ended up being the harmless 8 and 2 of clubs, and Mercier secured the victory.

Whole thing here.

Dario Minieri, who gained fame at last year’s World Series of Poker main event, entered the final table as the chip leader but finished in third place for $443,767. He was eliminated by Mercier.

Pokler Online - LAPT = Poker Tour of the Americas

LAPT = Poker Tour of the Americas

Vega's Latin American Poker Tour Expands to 'Poker Tour of the Americas'

The Latin American Poker Tour has decided to break new ground for itself, and take the tour in a new direction according Vega's CEO Michael Herron.

The PTA was contemplating the idea of starting a second tour to focus on North America, but decided to merge the idea into their existing LAPT tour. PokerStars has recently began its own LAPT, and in the spirit of avoiding confusion, Vega re-branded their tour the PTA - Poker Tour of the Americas.

The Company is currently negotiating with venues in several Latin American countries, including Puerto Rico, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela, Dominican Republic, and Costa Rica. New potential Tour stops include venues in the United States and Canada, with a season ending Tournament of Champions to crown the champion of the "Poker Tour of the Americas."

With all the new venues on board, the PTA will become one of the world's largest poker tours, and should draw the attention of many, if not all of the biggest names in the game. All PTA tournaments will be structured as invitational events with players able to win seats though satellites online or live.

The tournaments are planned to be aired throughout North and South America with Vega acting as the executive producer for the programming.

Visit PokerListings.com

LAPT = Poker Tour of the Americas

Vega's Latin American Poker Tour Expands to 'Poker Tour of the Americas'

The Latin American Poker Tour has decided to break new ground for itself, and take the tour in a new direction according Vega's CEO Michael Herron.

The PTA was contemplating the idea of starting a second tour to focus on North America, but decided to merge the idea into their existing LAPT tour. PokerStars has recently began its own LAPT, and in the spirit of avoiding confusion, Vega re-branded their tour the PTA - Poker Tour of the Americas.

The Company is currently negotiating with venues in several Latin American countries, including Puerto Rico, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela, Dominican Republic, and Costa Rica. New potential Tour stops include venues in the United States and Canada, with a season ending Tournament of Champions to crown the champion of the "Poker Tour of the Americas."

With all the new venues on board, the PTA will become one of the world's largest poker tours, and should draw the attention of many, if not all of the biggest names in the game. All PTA tournaments will be structured as invitational events with players able to win seats though satellites online or live.

The tournaments are planned to be aired throughout North and South America with Vega acting as the executive producer for the programming.

Visit PokerListings.com

Pokler Online - PokerStars.com EPT San Remo, Day 3: Minieri to Head Final

PokerStars.com EPT San Remo, Day 3: Minieri to Head Final
31 players returned to Casino San Remo for Day 3 of the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour San Remo championship, including WSOP bracelet holder Todd Brunson, Italian superstar Dario Minieri, and chip leader Jason Mercier, an American...

PokerStars.com EPT San Remo, Day 3: Minieri to Head Final
31 players returned to Casino San Remo for Day 3 of the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour San Remo championship, including WSOP bracelet holder Todd Brunson, Italian superstar Dario Minieri, and chip leader Jason Mercier, an American...

Pokler Online - The PokerNews Interview: Jennifer 'Jennicide' Leigh

The PokerNews Interview: Jennifer 'Jennicide' Leigh
This week, online poker player Jennifer 'Jennicide' Leigh made her appearance in the current issue of Playboy Magazine. PokerNews caught up with Jennifer for an interview just before she hit the stands...

Future of the poker industry: Part 3

The first two parts of the series discussed how an overall organizing body and standard for rules could help the game of poker in general and the various casinos and tours involved in the game. For the businesses involved, the biggest incentive is probably the potential profit increase.

That's a pretty big incentive to become more organized, though. The Professional Golfers' Association was started for just that reason in 1916.

Department store magnate Rodman Wanamaker invited a number of golf professionals and leading amateurs of the era for lunch at the Taplow Club in New York City in January 1916. His belief was that golf professionals could enhance equipment sales if they formed an association.

His idea was quickly realized, as the players came together in the PGA, started a tour and found a myriad of ways to promote the game of golf. Along the way the PGA found ways to benefit the players of the game as well.

Scheduling

From a look at the PGA Tour schedule, it's obvious golf enthusiasts don't have to worry about major events overlapping on the schedule. Usually there are a few days in between events as well. For example, the PGA Tour schedule for January was:

• Jan. 3-6: Mercedes-Benz Championship, Hawaii
• Jan. 10-13: Sony Open, Hawaii
• Jan. 16-20: Bob Hope Chrysler Classic, California
• Jan. 24-27: Buick Invitational, California
• Jan. 31-Feb. 3: FBR Open, Arizona

It's important to note the locations of the tournaments as well. The PGA has scheduled tournaments in a way that makes it easier to travel from one to the next as well. As discussed in Part 2 of this series, this allows the players to take part in as many of the events as they want to.

In contrast, part of the schedule for poker players in January started with the Aussie Millions in Melbourne, Australia, then took players all over the world with a World Series of Poker Circuit event starting in the United States before the Aussie Millions was even finished, and then a World Poker Tour event.

It wasn't long after that that another WPT event got under way, and it overlapped with the start of the European Poker Tour German Open.

Poker players would have had to bounce all over the world to be able to take in all the events in January. Even if they did give it a shot, doing well in one event would mean missing out on whatever other major event happened to overlap it.

Cash in hand

Working out a better schedule for the various tournaments among the major tours and the casinos leads to a benefit anybody can get behind: more money.

It's not necessarily about the possible increased cash flow from tournament winnings either. Yes, players will have a better shot at winning more money if they can actually play in more of the events, but there are more surefire ways players will see their profits go up.

The first is from lower travel expenses. Let's say the PGA tournament schedule above is actually a list of poker tournaments.

Players will spend the money to fly to Hawaii, where they can then participate in two different tournaments. Then they're off to California where there are two more tournaments to play in, followed by a short trip over to Arizona for the next.

Even if the actual poker events that took place in January weren't overlapping, poker players would still have had to fly to Australia for one event, then to Tunica, Miss., where they could take in two events, followed by a trip to Atlantic City and on to Germany.

It would cut down tremendously on travel costs if the different, competing poker tours would schedule geographically close events in succession.

Fewer travel costs equals more profit when a player actually does make the money or win a tournament.

The other guaranteed cash benefit comes from the increased exposure poker players will get if they can participate in more major tournaments. Just as it pays to be a popular athlete in just about any sports league, it pays to be a well-known player on the circuit.

The only way to get there is to build a name on the major circuits. If a player does well at major events, he gets more TV time and more media coverage. That leads to recognition from the general public and the more popular a player is, the more likely he's going to get endorsement deals.

Increased legitimacy

Even if players are getting more exposure, the game of poker is still working to shake off its shady past. The game has come quite a way in the eyes of the public, going from shady, illegal backroom games to a worldwide phenomenon, but it's not like General Mills is beating down the door of any poker players to endorse Wheaties.

The World Poker Association hopes to bring the game to that last level where it is considered a completely legitimate pastime. It has drafted an ethical code that all its members are asked to adhere to.

The code includes general provisions relating to following the rules and the laws vis-à-vis poker, as well as provisions for relationships among players, the relationship between players and dealers, player and tournament or game management relationships, and how players should behave away from the table.

"The Ethics Committee devoted many hours to the development of language that integrates standards of sportsmanship as well as integrity into the WPA's Code of Ethics," said Wendeen Eolis, now Chairman and CEO of the WPA Board of Directors, when the Code of Ethics was released.

It is the WPA's mission to promote professionalism in poker worldwide and support the highest standards of ethical conduct in tournament poker activities. Members of the organization believe they need to unite to affect the future of tournament poker to protect the players, promote the game and unite all related tournament poker entities.

The idea is that by having players dedicate themselves to following a high set of ethical standards, it will elevate the game of poker as well. The general public will see how the game and the players have transformed.

Golf doesn't have quite the same sordid past that poker does. There aren't a whole lot of stories of golfers being killed during a game like there are for poker, but the two have a similar disorganized past.

Golf started out as just a fun hobby, a simple activity to pass the time. It became a "sport" after the PGA was formed and the players banded together to bring more attention to the game. Their organized tournaments, and a code of ethics created in the 1930s, helped lend more legitimacy to the game and helped build a fan base for the game to make it the spectator sport it is today.

Learning just one set of rules

One of the other goals the WPA has it to create a uniform set of rules for all tournaments. As has been discussed previously, different casinos and different poker tours have different sets of rules.

There are differences in tournament structures, differences in payout structures, differences in etiquette and more. It's amazing that players don't have crib sheets just to keep track of these vagaries when they travel from tournament to tournament.

A unified set of rules would eliminate that problem. Players would always know what's expected of them and what they're getting into.

"Tournament organizers and casinos are sitting up and taking notice as the WPA makes headway in its mission to become the guiding force in setting standards, rules and procedures that reflect professionalism and promote poker as a respected sport," said the WPA in a press release.

The WPA worked with the World Series of Poker this year to set up a mega-satellite to the WSOP Main Event that conforms to the rules they're trying to promote. The poker operations director at the Venetian also expressed interest in hosting a WPA mega-satellite during its Deep Stack Tournament this summer.

This is just the beginning for the game of poker, however. The game is still growing and there are new markets opening up for the game all over the world both online and live, but an overall organizing structure for the game and its players can take it even further.

Related Articles:

• Future of the poker industry: Part 2
• Future of the poker industry: Part 1

Visit PokerListings.com

Poker Network Player Wins T6 Poker €250K Guaranteed Event
When the alarm clock rang at 6:55am on Monday March 24th, Jarrad Dale awoke from his peaceful slumber, unaware that the emerging day would change his life completely. Jarrad was born and raised in Canberra...

PokerStars.com EPT San Remo, Day 2: Mercier Leads, Minieri Makes Charge
Of the 207 players who started Day 2 of the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour San Remo Championship, only 32 remained at the end of the day. As the day began, some of poker's biggest celebrities were in the field, including Liz Lieu...

Gavin Griffin signs with Poker Royalty

"I am delighted to move forward with Poker Royalty in my corner," Gavin Griffin said. "Their extensive resources, expertise, leadership and relationships in the gaming industry will help me achieve my long-term career goals."

Griffin, 26, is a professional poker player who has been skyrocketing to the top of the poker ranks in the last few years.

He first gained some attention in 2004 when he won a World Series of Poker bracelet in the $3,000 Pot-Limit Hold'em event. Since then, Griffin also added a European Poker Tour win and a World Poker Tour win to make him the first and only player so far to have a win in all three major tours.

His tournament career has also lead to more than $4 million in tournament cashes. He finished eighth overall on the 2007 Money List, and he currently tops the All-Time Money List of the European Poker Tour where he has $2.4 million in winnings.

"Gavin has been a consistently strong player during his short career, and it's great that he is finally getting recognized for his accomplishments," said Chris Porter, Poker Royalty director of sales and marketing.

"Anytime somebody has a WPT title, EPT title, and a WSOP bracelet by the age of 26, that player deserves some serious recognition. We are delighted to work with Gavin and support his ambitions as he begins an exciting new phase of his professional career."
Griffin joins a list of Poker Royalty clients that includes Patrik Antonius, Bill Edler, Greg Raymer, Gus Hansen, Phil Hellmuth, Gavin Smith, Antonio Esfandiari, Johnny Chan, Cyndy Violette, Scotty Nguyen and more.

Related Articles:

• Patrik Antonius Signs with Poker Agency
• Bill Edler Signs with Poker Royalty

Visit PokerListings.com

The PokerNews Interview: Jennifer 'Jennicide' Leigh
This week, online poker player Jennifer 'Jennicide' Leigh made her appearance in the current issue of Playboy Magazine. PokerNews caught up with Jennifer for an interview just before she hit the stands...

Future of the poker industry: Part 3

The first two parts of the series discussed how an overall organizing body and standard for rules could help the game of poker in general and the various casinos and tours involved in the game. For the businesses involved, the biggest incentive is probably the potential profit increase.

That's a pretty big incentive to become more organized, though. The Professional Golfers' Association was started for just that reason in 1916.

Department store magnate Rodman Wanamaker invited a number of golf professionals and leading amateurs of the era for lunch at the Taplow Club in New York City in January 1916. His belief was that golf professionals could enhance equipment sales if they formed an association.

His idea was quickly realized, as the players came together in the PGA, started a tour and found a myriad of ways to promote the game of golf. Along the way the PGA found ways to benefit the players of the game as well.

Scheduling

From a look at the PGA Tour schedule, it's obvious golf enthusiasts don't have to worry about major events overlapping on the schedule. Usually there are a few days in between events as well. For example, the PGA Tour schedule for January was:

• Jan. 3-6: Mercedes-Benz Championship, Hawaii
• Jan. 10-13: Sony Open, Hawaii
• Jan. 16-20: Bob Hope Chrysler Classic, California
• Jan. 24-27: Buick Invitational, California
• Jan. 31-Feb. 3: FBR Open, Arizona

It's important to note the locations of the tournaments as well. The PGA has scheduled tournaments in a way that makes it easier to travel from one to the next as well. As discussed in Part 2 of this series, this allows the players to take part in as many of the events as they want to.

In contrast, part of the schedule for poker players in January started with the Aussie Millions in Melbourne, Australia, then took players all over the world with a World Series of Poker Circuit event starting in the United States before the Aussie Millions was even finished, and then a World Poker Tour event.

It wasn't long after that that another WPT event got under way, and it overlapped with the start of the European Poker Tour German Open.

Poker players would have had to bounce all over the world to be able to take in all the events in January. Even if they did give it a shot, doing well in one event would mean missing out on whatever other major event happened to overlap it.

Cash in hand

Working out a better schedule for the various tournaments among the major tours and the casinos leads to a benefit anybody can get behind: more money.

It's not necessarily about the possible increased cash flow from tournament winnings either. Yes, players will have a better shot at winning more money if they can actually play in more of the events, but there are more surefire ways players will see their profits go up.

The first is from lower travel expenses. Let's say the PGA tournament schedule above is actually a list of poker tournaments.

Players will spend the money to fly to Hawaii, where they can then participate in two different tournaments. Then they're off to California where there are two more tournaments to play in, followed by a short trip over to Arizona for the next.

Even if the actual poker events that took place in January weren't overlapping, poker players would still have had to fly to Australia for one event, then to Tunica, Miss., where they could take in two events, followed by a trip to Atlantic City and on to Germany.

It would cut down tremendously on travel costs if the different, competing poker tours would schedule geographically close events in succession.

Fewer travel costs equals more profit when a player actually does make the money or win a tournament.

The other guaranteed cash benefit comes from the increased exposure poker players will get if they can participate in more major tournaments. Just as it pays to be a popular athlete in just about any sports league, it pays to be a well-known player on the circuit.

The only way to get there is to build a name on the major circuits. If a player does well at major events, he gets more TV time and more media coverage. That leads to recognition from the general public and the more popular a player is, the more likely he's going to get endorsement deals.

Increased legitimacy

Even if players are getting more exposure, the game of poker is still working to shake off its shady past. The game has come quite a way in the eyes of the public, going from shady, illegal backroom games to a worldwide phenomenon, but it's not like General Mills is beating down the door of any poker players to endorse Wheaties.

The World Poker Association hopes to bring the game to that last level where it is considered a completely legitimate pastime. It has drafted an ethical code that all its members are asked to adhere to.

The code includes general provisions relating to following the rules and the laws vis-à-vis poker, as well as provisions for relationships among players, the relationship between players and dealers, player and tournament or game management relationships, and how players should behave away from the table.

"The Ethics Committee devoted many hours to the development of language that integrates standards of sportsmanship as well as integrity into the WPA's Code of Ethics," said Wendeen Eolis, now Chairman and CEO of the WPA Board of Directors, when the Code of Ethics was released.

It is the WPA's mission to promote professionalism in poker worldwide and support the highest standards of ethical conduct in tournament poker activities. Members of the organization believe they need to unite to affect the future of tournament poker to protect the players, promote the game and unite all related tournament poker entities.

The idea is that by having players dedicate themselves to following a high set of ethical standards, it will elevate the game of poker as well. The general public will see how the game and the players have transformed.

Golf doesn't have quite the same sordid past that poker does. There aren't a whole lot of stories of golfers being killed during a game like there are for poker, but the two have a similar disorganized past.

Golf started out as just a fun hobby, a simple activity to pass the time. It became a "sport" after the PGA was formed and the players banded together to bring more attention to the game. Their organized tournaments, and a code of ethics created in the 1930s, helped lend more legitimacy to the game and helped build a fan base for the game to make it the spectator sport it is today.

Learning just one set of rules

One of the other goals the WPA has it to create a uniform set of rules for all tournaments. As has been discussed previously, different casinos and different poker tours have different sets of rules.

There are differences in tournament structures, differences in payout structures, differences in etiquette and more. It's amazing that players don't have crib sheets just to keep track of these vagaries when they travel from tournament to tournament.

A unified set of rules would eliminate that problem. Players would always know what's expected of them and what they're getting into.

"Tournament organizers and casinos are sitting up and taking notice as the WPA makes headway in its mission to become the guiding force in setting standards, rules and procedures that reflect professionalism and promote poker as a respected sport," said the WPA in a press release.

The WPA worked with the World Series of Poker this year to set up a mega-satellite to the WSOP Main Event that conforms to the rules they're trying to promote. The poker operations director at the Venetian also expressed interest in hosting a WPA mega-satellite during its Deep Stack Tournament this summer.

This is just the beginning for the game of poker, however. The game is still growing and there are new markets opening up for the game all over the world both online and live, but an overall organizing structure for the game and its players can take it even further.

Related Articles:

• Future of the poker industry: Part 2
• Future of the poker industry: Part 1

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Poker Network Player Wins T6 Poker €250K Guaranteed Event
When the alarm clock rang at 6:55am on Monday March 24th, Jarrad Dale awoke from his peaceful slumber, unaware that the emerging day would change his life completely. Jarrad was born and raised in Canberra...

PokerStars.com EPT San Remo, Day 2: Mercier Leads, Minieri Makes Charge
Of the 207 players who started Day 2 of the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour San Remo Championship, only 32 remained at the end of the day. As the day began, some of poker's biggest celebrities were in the field, including Liz Lieu...

Gavin Griffin signs with Poker Royalty

"I am delighted to move forward with Poker Royalty in my corner," Gavin Griffin said. "Their extensive resources, expertise, leadership and relationships in the gaming industry will help me achieve my long-term career goals."

Griffin, 26, is a professional poker player who has been skyrocketing to the top of the poker ranks in the last few years.

He first gained some attention in 2004 when he won a World Series of Poker bracelet in the $3,000 Pot-Limit Hold'em event. Since then, Griffin also added a European Poker Tour win and a World Poker Tour win to make him the first and only player so far to have a win in all three major tours.

His tournament career has also lead to more than $4 million in tournament cashes. He finished eighth overall on the 2007 Money List, and he currently tops the All-Time Money List of the European Poker Tour where he has $2.4 million in winnings.

"Gavin has been a consistently strong player during his short career, and it's great that he is finally getting recognized for his accomplishments," said Chris Porter, Poker Royalty director of sales and marketing.

"Anytime somebody has a WPT title, EPT title, and a WSOP bracelet by the age of 26, that player deserves some serious recognition. We are delighted to work with Gavin and support his ambitions as he begins an exciting new phase of his professional career."
Griffin joins a list of Poker Royalty clients that includes Patrik Antonius, Bill Edler, Greg Raymer, Gus Hansen, Phil Hellmuth, Gavin Smith, Antonio Esfandiari, Johnny Chan, Cyndy Violette, Scotty Nguyen and more.

Related Articles:

• Patrik Antonius Signs with Poker Agency
• Bill Edler Signs with Poker Royalty

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Pokler Online - PokerStars.com EPT San Remo, Day 2: Mercier Leads, Minieri Makes Charge

PokerStars.com EPT San Remo, Day 2: Mercier Leads, Minieri Makes Charge
Of the 207 players who started Day 2 of the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour San Remo Championship, only 32 remained at the end of the day. As the day began, some of poker's biggest celebrities were in the field, including Liz Lieu...

PokerStars.com EPT San Remo, Day 2: Mercier Leads, Minieri Makes Charge
Of the 207 players who started Day 2 of the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour San Remo Championship, only 32 remained at the end of the day. As the day began, some of poker's biggest celebrities were in the field, including Liz Lieu...

Pokler Online - House Hearing Examines Burdensome UIGEA Regulations

House Hearing Examines Burdensome UIGEA Regulations
On Wednesday morning, a subcommittee of the House Financial Services Committee convened to discuss 'Proposed UIGEA Regulations: Burden without Benefit? The hearing came as federal regulators continue to consider comments made...

Don't cross the 'lime

Several pots were close to $100,000 in size, with the largest being a $120,000 pot won by xSt0n3rx holding pocket fours against whitelime's big slick. The combatants were all-in pre-flop and the fours held up when whitelime failed to improve his hand.

One of the most interesting hands was an $83,196 pot where whitelime cold-called with the nuts on the flop, hoping xSt0n3rx would keep betting.

xSt0n3rx swallowed the bait and pot-commited himself with a $10,000 bet on the turn. And when whitelime went all-in, he called with an open-ended straight draw and a low pair, not knowing he was drawing to only three outs for a split.

Here's the full hand history:

Full Tilt Poker Game #5888732283 TABLE : Colleen (heads-up) $200/$400 - No-Limit Hold'em - Thu Apr 3 2008 - 1:38am (ET)

Table Setup

Seat 1: whitelime ($54,397)
Seat 2: xSt0n3rx ($41,598)
whitelime posts the small blind of $200
xSt0n3rx posts the big blind of $400
The button is in seat #1

Pre-flop

whitelime raises to $1,200
xSt0n3rx raises to $3,600
whitelime calls $2,400

Flop #8d-#7c-#5s

xSt0n3rx bets $4,400
whitelime calls $4,400

Turn #8d-#7c-#5s-#2c

xSt0n3rx has 15 seconds left to act
xSt0n3rx bets $10,000
whitelime has 15 seconds left to act
whitelime raises to $46,397, and is all-in
xSt0n3rx calls $23,598, and is all-in
whitelime shows #9c-#6c
xSt0n3rx shows #6d-#5d
Uncalled bet of $12,799 returned to whitelime

River #8d-#7c-#5s-#2c-#Js

whitelime shows a straight, nine-high
xSt0n3rx shows a pair of fives
whitelime wins the pot ($83,195.50) with a straight, nine-high
xSt0n3rx is sitting out

Summary

Total pot $83,196 | Rake $0.50
Board: #8d-#7c-#5s-#2c-#Js
Seat 1: whitelime (small blind) showed #9c-#6c and won ($83,195.50) with a straight, nine-high
Seat 2: xSt0n3rx (big blind) showed #6d-#5d and lost with a pair of fives

To see more hand histories from the session, and more of the biggest Hold'em pots won online over the last day, week and month, jump over to the PokerListings.com MarketPulse section.

Visit PokerListings.com

House Hearing Examines Burdensome UIGEA Regulations
On Wednesday morning, a subcommittee of the House Financial Services Committee convened to discuss 'Proposed UIGEA Regulations: Burden without Benefit? The hearing came as federal regulators continue to consider comments made...

Don't cross the 'lime

Several pots were close to $100,000 in size, with the largest being a $120,000 pot won by xSt0n3rx holding pocket fours against whitelime's big slick. The combatants were all-in pre-flop and the fours held up when whitelime failed to improve his hand.

One of the most interesting hands was an $83,196 pot where whitelime cold-called with the nuts on the flop, hoping xSt0n3rx would keep betting.

xSt0n3rx swallowed the bait and pot-commited himself with a $10,000 bet on the turn. And when whitelime went all-in, he called with an open-ended straight draw and a low pair, not knowing he was drawing to only three outs for a split.

Here's the full hand history:

Full Tilt Poker Game #5888732283 TABLE : Colleen (heads-up) $200/$400 - No-Limit Hold'em - Thu Apr 3 2008 - 1:38am (ET)

Table Setup

Seat 1: whitelime ($54,397)
Seat 2: xSt0n3rx ($41,598)
whitelime posts the small blind of $200
xSt0n3rx posts the big blind of $400
The button is in seat #1

Pre-flop

whitelime raises to $1,200
xSt0n3rx raises to $3,600
whitelime calls $2,400

Flop #8d-#7c-#5s

xSt0n3rx bets $4,400
whitelime calls $4,400

Turn #8d-#7c-#5s-#2c

xSt0n3rx has 15 seconds left to act
xSt0n3rx bets $10,000
whitelime has 15 seconds left to act
whitelime raises to $46,397, and is all-in
xSt0n3rx calls $23,598, and is all-in
whitelime shows #9c-#6c
xSt0n3rx shows #6d-#5d
Uncalled bet of $12,799 returned to whitelime

River #8d-#7c-#5s-#2c-#Js

whitelime shows a straight, nine-high
xSt0n3rx shows a pair of fives
whitelime wins the pot ($83,195.50) with a straight, nine-high
xSt0n3rx is sitting out

Summary

Total pot $83,196 | Rake $0.50
Board: #8d-#7c-#5s-#2c-#Js
Seat 1: whitelime (small blind) showed #9c-#6c and won ($83,195.50) with a straight, nine-high
Seat 2: xSt0n3rx (big blind) showed #6d-#5d and lost with a pair of fives

To see more hand histories from the session, and more of the biggest Hold'em pots won online over the last day, week and month, jump over to the PokerListings.com MarketPulse section.

Visit PokerListings.com

Pokler Online - Women's Poker Spotlight: Linda Johnson and Jan Fisher on Poker in Singapore

Women's Poker Spotlight: Linda Johnson and Jan Fisher on Poker in Singapore
When one hears the names Linda Johnson and Jan Fisher, they're almost as common as water and ice. The two names are so synonymous with poker one expects them to be in attendance at any major poker event. Linda and Jan are currently trying...

Rousso Abandons Washington State Gubernatorial Bid
Washington attorney Lee Rousso has decided to give up his long-shot hopes of becoming governor of that state, based on changes to an election law affecting that state's primary process. Rousso, the Renton, WA attorney...

Don't cross the lime

Several pots were close to $100,000 in size. The largest being a $120,000 pot won by xSt0n3rx holding pocket fours against Whitelime's big slick. The combatants were all-in pre-flop and the fours held up when Whitelime failed to improve his hand.

One of the most interesting hands was an $83,196 pot, it went down as follows:

Full Tilt Poker Game #5888732283 TABLE : Colleen (heads up) $200/$400 - No Limit Hold'em - Thu Apr 3rd 2008 - 1:38am ET

Table Setup

Seat 1: whitelime ($54,397)
Seat 2: xSt0n3rx ($41,598)
whitelime posts the small blind of $200
xSt0n3rx posts the big blind of $400
The button is in seat #1

Preflop

whitelime raises to $1,200
xSt0n3rx raises to $3,600
whitelime calls $2,400

Flop #8d-#7c-#5s

xSt0n3rx bets $4,400
whitelime calls $4,400

Turn #8d-#7c-#5s-#2c

xSt0n3rx has 15 seconds left to act
xSt0n3rx bets $10,000
whitelime has 15 seconds left to act
whitelime raises to $46,397, and is all in
xSt0n3rx calls $23,598, and is all in
whitelime shows #9c-#6c
xSt0n3rx shows #6d-#5d
Uncalled bet of $12,799 returned to whitelime

River #8d-#7c-#5s-#2c-#Js

whitelime shows a straight, Nine high
xSt0n3rx shows a pair of Fives
whitelime wins the pot ($83,195.50) with a straight, Nine high
xSt0n3rx is sitting out

Summary

Total pot $83,196 | Rake $0.50
Board: #8d-#7c-#5s-#2c-#Js
Seat 1: whitelime (small blind) showed #9c-#6c and won ($83,195.50) with a straight, Nine high
Seat 2: xSt0n3rx (big blind) showed #6d-#5d and lost with a pair of Fives

Whitelime cold calls with the nuts on the flop hoping that xSt0n3rx will keep betting.

xSt0n3rx swallows the bait and pot commits himself with $10,000 bet on turn. When whitelime goes all-in he calls with an open ended straight draw and a low pair, not knowing that he was drawing to only three outs for a split.

To see more hand histories from the session, and more of the biggest Hold'em pots won online over the last day, week and month, jump over to the PokerListings.com MarketPulse section.

Visit PokerListings.com

Women's Poker Spotlight: Linda Johnson and Jan Fisher on Poker in Singapore
When one hears the names Linda Johnson and Jan Fisher, they're almost as common as water and ice. The two names are so synonymous with poker one expects them to be in attendance at any major poker event. Linda and Jan are currently trying...

Rousso Abandons Washington State Gubernatorial Bid
Washington attorney Lee Rousso has decided to give up his long-shot hopes of becoming governor of that state, based on changes to an election law affecting that state's primary process. Rousso, the Renton, WA attorney...

Don't cross the lime

Several pots were close to $100,000 in size. The largest being a $120,000 pot won by xSt0n3rx holding pocket fours against Whitelime's big slick. The combatants were all-in pre-flop and the fours held up when Whitelime failed to improve his hand.

One of the most interesting hands was an $83,196 pot, it went down as follows:

Full Tilt Poker Game #5888732283 TABLE : Colleen (heads up) $200/$400 - No Limit Hold'em - Thu Apr 3rd 2008 - 1:38am ET

Table Setup

Seat 1: whitelime ($54,397)
Seat 2: xSt0n3rx ($41,598)
whitelime posts the small blind of $200
xSt0n3rx posts the big blind of $400
The button is in seat #1

Preflop

whitelime raises to $1,200
xSt0n3rx raises to $3,600
whitelime calls $2,400

Flop #8d-#7c-#5s

xSt0n3rx bets $4,400
whitelime calls $4,400

Turn #8d-#7c-#5s-#2c

xSt0n3rx has 15 seconds left to act
xSt0n3rx bets $10,000
whitelime has 15 seconds left to act
whitelime raises to $46,397, and is all in
xSt0n3rx calls $23,598, and is all in
whitelime shows #9c-#6c
xSt0n3rx shows #6d-#5d
Uncalled bet of $12,799 returned to whitelime

River #8d-#7c-#5s-#2c-#Js

whitelime shows a straight, Nine high
xSt0n3rx shows a pair of Fives
whitelime wins the pot ($83,195.50) with a straight, Nine high
xSt0n3rx is sitting out

Summary

Total pot $83,196 | Rake $0.50
Board: #8d-#7c-#5s-#2c-#Js
Seat 1: whitelime (small blind) showed #9c-#6c and won ($83,195.50) with a straight, Nine high
Seat 2: xSt0n3rx (big blind) showed #6d-#5d and lost with a pair of Fives

Whitelime cold calls with the nuts on the flop hoping that xSt0n3rx will keep betting.

xSt0n3rx swallows the bait and pot commits himself with $10,000 bet on turn. When whitelime goes all-in he calls with an open ended straight draw and a low pair, not knowing that he was drawing to only three outs for a split.

To see more hand histories from the session, and more of the biggest Hold'em pots won online over the last day, week and month, jump over to the PokerListings.com MarketPulse section.

Visit PokerListings.com

Pokler Online - College Poker Life: New York University System

College Poker Life: New York University System
With just a few weeks left in the school year for students attending New York University, those students have enjoyed a healthy year of poker options, ranging from many campus-sponsored events to local home and dorm tournaments...

Florida Poker Expansion Bill Passes State Senate Committee
A bill designed to liberalize poker offerings in Florida successfully passed through a state Senate committee earlier today. The bill, designed to improve the selection and availability of poker at Florida parimutuels, was sponsored...

PokerStars.com EPT San Remo Day 1: Stars Qualifier Nyman Leads Way
337 players descended upon Italy's Casino San Remo for Day 1a of the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour San Remo Championship, including a plethora of former EPT champions and poker superstars from over 20 nations. Among the champions...

College Poker Life: New York University System
With just a few weeks left in the school year for students attending New York University, those students have enjoyed a healthy year of poker options, ranging from many campus-sponsored events to local home and dorm tournaments...

Florida Poker Expansion Bill Passes State Senate Committee
A bill designed to liberalize poker offerings in Florida successfully passed through a state Senate committee earlier today. The bill, designed to improve the selection and availability of poker at Florida parimutuels, was sponsored...

PokerStars.com EPT San Remo Day 1: Stars Qualifier Nyman Leads Way
337 players descended upon Italy's Casino San Remo for Day 1a of the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour San Remo Championship, including a plethora of former EPT champions and poker superstars from over 20 nations. Among the champions...

Pokler Online - Florida Poker Expansion Bill Passes State Senate Committee

Florida Poker Expansion Bill Passes State Senate Committee
A bill designed to liberalize poker offerings in Florida successfully passed through a state Senate committee earlier today. The bill, designed to improve the selection and availability of poker at Florida parimutuels, was sponsored...

PokerStars.com EPT San Remo Day 1: Stars Qualifier Nyman Leads Way
337 players descended upon Italy's Casino San Remo for Day 1a of the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour San Remo Championship, including a plethora of former EPT champions and poker superstars from over 20 nations. Among the champions...

College Poker Life: New York University System
With just a few weeks left in the school year for students attending New York University, those students have enjoyed a healthy year of poker options, ranging from many campus-sponsored events to local home and dorm tournaments...

Florida Poker Expansion Bill Passes State Senate Committee
A bill designed to liberalize poker offerings in Florida successfully passed through a state Senate committee earlier today. The bill, designed to improve the selection and availability of poker at Florida parimutuels, was sponsored...

PokerStars.com EPT San Remo Day 1: Stars Qualifier Nyman Leads Way
337 players descended upon Italy's Casino San Remo for Day 1a of the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour San Remo Championship, including a plethora of former EPT champions and poker superstars from over 20 nations. Among the champions...

College Poker Life: New York University System
With just a few weeks left in the school year for students attending New York University, those students have enjoyed a healthy year of poker options, ranging from many campus-sponsored events to local home and dorm tournaments...

Pokler Online - Asian Poker Tour announces 2008 schedule

Asian Poker Tour announces 2008 schedule
The Asian Poker Tour released its 2008 calendar and has guaranteed a prize pool of $1 million at each of its four events. The Tour will begin on May 27 in the Philippines and will wrap up on June 1 in Singapore. The APT will also ��...full article

The Asian Poker Tour released its 2008 calendar and has guaranteed a prize pool of $1 million at each of its four events.

The Tour will begin on May 27 in the Philippines and will wrap up on June 1 in Singapore. The APT will also make stops in Macau and South Korea.

According to pokerpages.com:

The opening APT leg in Manila will be a poker tournament of world class standards. More than 400 players will battle it out during six days of thrilling poker for a share of the guaranteed $1 million prize pool. The buy-in is $2,500, but there is the chance of winning one of the online satellites, which includes an all-expenses paid trip as well as the buy-in.

Whole thing here.

You can visit www.asianpt.com for more information on the tour.

Playboy issue featuring Jennicide is on newsstands
The poker community has known for some time now about Jennifer “Jennicide” Leigh’s appearance in the May issue of Playboy, and the wait is now officially over. The May issue has hit newsstands, according to neverwinpoker.com:

The poker community has known for some time now about Jennifer “Jennicide” Leigh’s appearance in the May issue of Playboy, and the wait is now officially over.

The May issue has hit newsstands, according to neverwinpoker.com:
(more…)

Norwegian Poker Championships moved to England
Norwegians won’t be able to play their country’s poker championship in their own country. Because poker’s legal status is uncertain in the Scandinavian country, officials for the Norwegian Poker Championships have decided to move the event, scheduled for April 28 to May 5, to Nottingham, England According ��...full article

Norwegians won’t be able to play their country’s poker championship in their own country.

Because poker’s legal status is uncertain in the Scandinavian country, officials for the Norwegian Poker Championships have decided to move the event, scheduled for April 28 to May 5, to Nottingham, England

According to pokerpages.com:

Several police raids on live poker events last year and Norwegian authorities declaring poker to be ‘illegal’ under current Norwegian lottery law have prompted the move. Widespread media coverage of Norwegian success stories such as the meteoric rise of Annette Obrestad who at 18 won the 2007 WSOP Europe, also served to put poker in the spotlight, making it a clearer target for poker foes as well as increasing its popularity.

Whole thing here.

The event still expects to draw about 500 players, according to the story.

Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony Highlights Upcoming Jennifer Harman Nevada SPCA Fundraiser
Jennifer Harman and friends, both human and canine, met on the grounds of the Nevada Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) no-kill animal sanctuary Monday afternoon for a ribbon cutting ceremony and press conference...

More Congressmen call for details on U.S. gambling settlements
Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, and Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) have requested more information from the United States Trade Representative on U.S. concessions regarding foreign online gambling and poker operators. The two high-ranking Congressmen want to learn more about ��...full article

Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, and Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) have requested more information from the United States Trade Representative on U.S. concessions regarding foreign online gambling and poker operators.

The two high-ranking Congressmen want to learn more about a deal brokered with the EU, Japan and Canada to award compensation for the United States’ lockout of gambling interests, which went against the country’s trade agreements.
(more…)

The Other Side of the Felt, Vol. #7: Dewey Tomko, Part 2
I always enjoy spending time with Dewey as we have the same interests for the most part -- poker, golf, and as it turns out we are equally picky about food, although it doesn't look that way. He has some of the greatest stories...

Asian Poker Tour announces 2008 schedule
The Asian Poker Tour released its 2008 calendar and has guaranteed a prize pool of $1 million at each of its four events. The Tour will begin on May 27 in the Philippines and will wrap up on June 1 in Singapore. The APT will also ��...full article

The Asian Poker Tour released its 2008 calendar and has guaranteed a prize pool of $1 million at each of its four events.

The Tour will begin on May 27 in the Philippines and will wrap up on June 1 in Singapore. The APT will also make stops in Macau and South Korea.

According to pokerpages.com:

The opening APT leg in Manila will be a poker tournament of world class standards. More than 400 players will battle it out during six days of thrilling poker for a share of the guaranteed $1 million prize pool. The buy-in is $2,500, but there is the chance of winning one of the online satellites, which includes an all-expenses paid trip as well as the buy-in.

Whole thing here.

You can visit www.asianpt.com for more information on the tour.

Playboy issue featuring Jennicide is on newsstands
The poker community has known for some time now about Jennifer “Jennicide” Leigh’s appearance in the May issue of Playboy, and the wait is now officially over. The May issue has hit newsstands, according to neverwinpoker.com:

The poker community has known for some time now about Jennifer “Jennicide” Leigh’s appearance in the May issue of Playboy, and the wait is now officially over.

The May issue has hit newsstands, according to neverwinpoker.com:
(more…)

Norwegian Poker Championships moved to England
Norwegians won’t be able to play their country’s poker championship in their own country. Because poker’s legal status is uncertain in the Scandinavian country, officials for the Norwegian Poker Championships have decided to move the event, scheduled for April 28 to May 5, to Nottingham, England According ��...full article

Norwegians won’t be able to play their country’s poker championship in their own country.

Because poker’s legal status is uncertain in the Scandinavian country, officials for the Norwegian Poker Championships have decided to move the event, scheduled for April 28 to May 5, to Nottingham, England

According to pokerpages.com:

Several police raids on live poker events last year and Norwegian authorities declaring poker to be ‘illegal’ under current Norwegian lottery law have prompted the move. Widespread media coverage of Norwegian success stories such as the meteoric rise of Annette Obrestad who at 18 won the 2007 WSOP Europe, also served to put poker in the spotlight, making it a clearer target for poker foes as well as increasing its popularity.

Whole thing here.

The event still expects to draw about 500 players, according to the story.

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Pokler Online - Asian Poker Tour releases 2008 schedule

Asian Poker Tour releases 2008 schedule

There will be events in Macau, South Korea and Singapore after that. The venues and dates for those legs of the tour haven't been announced yet.

Each tournament on the APT will offer a $1 million guaranteed prize pool this year, which the APT says is sure to attract poker players from all over the world. There will also be online qualifiers to each event to ensure online poker players will get a shot to play against some of the game's top pros in a live setting.

During the 2007 APT, pros such as Liz Lieu and Johnny Chan made their way to some events. Tony G even won the Singapore event in 2007.

"The Asian Poker Tour will definitely be a top-class brand. This is such an exciting time for poker players in Asia and we feel that with our expertise and skills, we can make the APT a bigger and better series of events each year," said Chris Parker, AsianLogic CEO.

"From the four events that will take place this year, the APT plans to expand to a total of six events in 2009. We are continually working to set up some of the world's most exciting and prestigious poker tournaments."

Online gaming company ESL-Asia, a subsidiary of AsianLogic, took over the APT and will organize all the online and land-based tournaments associated with the tour, as well as handling brand management for it.

The opening leg of the APT is slated to be a poker tournament of world-class standards, according to an APT press release. More than 400 players are expected to battle it out at the felt during six days of poker in Manila, Philippines.

The buy-in for the event is $2,500, and the other three events are expected to have the same buy-in and same $1 million guaranteed prize pool.

Related Articles:

• Tony G Wins APT Singapore Event
• ((Betfair)) To Host Asian Poker Tour In Singapore

Visit PokerListings.com

Asian Poker Tour releases 2008 schedule

There will be events in Macau, South Korea and Singapore after that. The venues and dates for those legs of the tour haven't been announced yet.

Each tournament on the APT will offer a $1 million guaranteed prize pool this year, which the APT says is sure to attract poker players from all over the world. There will also be online qualifiers to each event to ensure online poker players will get a shot to play against some of the game's top pros in a live setting.

During the 2007 APT, pros such as Liz Lieu and Johnny Chan made their way to some events. Tony G even won the Singapore event in 2007.

"The Asian Poker Tour will definitely be a top-class brand. This is such an exciting time for poker players in Asia and we feel that with our expertise and skills, we can make the APT a bigger and better series of events each year," said Chris Parker, AsianLogic CEO.

"From the four events that will take place this year, the APT plans to expand to a total of six events in 2009. We are continually working to set up some of the world's most exciting and prestigious poker tournaments."

Online gaming company ESL-Asia, a subsidiary of AsianLogic, took over the APT and will organize all the online and land-based tournaments associated with the tour, as well as handling brand management for it.

The opening leg of the APT is slated to be a poker tournament of world-class standards, according to an APT press release. More than 400 players are expected to battle it out at the felt during six days of poker in Manila, Philippines.

The buy-in for the event is $2,500, and the other three events are expected to have the same buy-in and same $1 million guaranteed prize pool.

Related Articles:

• Tony G Wins APT Singapore Event
• ((Betfair)) To Host Asian Poker Tour In Singapore

Visit PokerListings.com