Poker News

MiniFTOPS begins at Full Tilt Poker

With buy-ins one-tenth the size of FTOPS XV but $6,000,000 guaranteed across 27 events, the MiniFTOPS series at Full Tilt Poker kicked off last night with a $22 NLHE 6-max event boasting a $350,000 prize pool.

MiniFTOPS XV Kicks off Today on Full Tilt Poker

On Wednesday at 21:00 ET, the Mini version of the 15th Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS) will kick off. The schedule features 27 tournaments, culminating in a $55 No Limit Hold’em Main Event on March 21st.

The MiniFTOPS XV schedule mirrors the slate of events of FTOPS XV, but features tournaments with buy-ins that are one-tenth as pricey. The world’s second largest online poker site happily accepts customers from the United States and a flood of participants are expected. In the opening event of MiniFTOPS XIV, a parade of over 16,000 players turned out for a $22 No Limit Hold’em Six-Max tournament. Last time out, the Main Event field numbered 15,987.

The tournament series allows low-budget online poker players to compete in a wide variety of games including Hold’em, Omaha, HORSE, Seven-Game, Stud, and Razz. The priciest buy-in is $266 for the MiniFTOPS XV Two-Day Event, while several tournaments boast entry fees of less than $15. During MiniFTOPS XIV, a $13 No Limit Hold’em Knockout event generated a massive field of 22,240 players, the only tournament in FTOPS history to pass the 20,000-entrant mark.

Like FTOPS XV, MiniFTOPS XV tournaments will feature a Full Tilt guest host. Top female pro Jennifer Harman will serve as the face of the Main Event, while 2008 World Series of Poker (WSOP) November Nine member Scott Montgomery will host the Two-Day Event. Other hosts include CardRunners instructors Taylor Caby and Andrew Wiggins, Robert Williamson III, John “The Razor” Phan, and Portugal’s Joao Barbosa, who will take to the felts in Event #1.

All told, at least $6 million will be on the line. Let’s get down to business. Here’s the schedule for MiniFTOPS XV on Full Tilt Poker:

Wednesday, March 10th at 21:00 ET
Event 1: $22 No Limit Hold'em
$350,000 Guaranteed

Thursday, March 11th at 13:00 ET
Event 2: $26 Pot Limit Omaha High/Low Knockout
$75,000 Guaranteed

Thursday, March 11th at 21:00 ET
Event 3: $55 No Limit Hold'em 3X Shootout
$35,000 Guaranteed

Friday, March 12th at 13:00 ET
Event 4: $22 No Limit Hold'em Cubed
$300,000 Guaranteed

Friday, March 12th at 21:00 ET
Event 5: $22 Limit Hold'em Six-Max
$75,000 Guaranteed

Saturday, March 13th at 13:00 ET
Event 6: $55 Pot Limit Omaha Six-Max
$150,000 Guaranteed

Saturday, March 13th at 15:00 ET
Event 7: $11 No Limit Hold'em with Rebuys
$350,000 Guaranteed

Sunday, March 14th at 13:00 ET
Event 8: $13 No Limit Hold'em Knockout
$250,000 Guaranteed

Sunday, March 14th at 15:00 ET
Event 9: $55 No Limit Hold'em Heads-Up
$200,000 Guaranteed

Sunday, March 14th at 17:00 ET
Event 10: $33 No Limit Hold'em
$600,000 Guaranteed

Monday, March 15th at 13:00 ET
Event 11: $22 Omaha High/Low
$60,000 Guaranteed

Monday, March 15th at 21:00 ET
Event 12: $109 No Limit Hold'em
$400,000 Guaranteed

Tuesday, March 16th at 13:00 ET
Event 13: $33 No Limit Hold'em 4X Shootout Six-Max
$150,000 Guaranteed

Tuesday, March 16th at 21:00 ET
Event 14: $55 HORSE
$100,000 Guaranteed

Tuesday, March 16th at 21:00 ET
Event 15: $22 No Limit Hold'em Turbo
$200,000 Guaranteed

Wednesday, March 17th at 13:00 ET
Event 16: $22 Seven-Game
$50,000 Guaranteed

Wednesday, March 17th at 21:00 ET
Event 17: $33 No Limit Hold'em Six-Max with Rebuys
$350,000 Guaranteed

Thursday, March 18th at 13:00 ET
Event 18: $22 No Limit Hold'em Cashout
$60,000 Guaranteed

Thursday, March 18th at 21:00 ET
Event 19: $22 Stud
$40,000 Guaranteed

Friday, March 19th at 13:00 ET
Event 20: $22 No Limit Hold'em Six-Max
$200,000 Guaranteed

Friday, March 19th at 21:00 ET
Event 21: $33 Razz
$50,000 Guaranteed

Saturday, March 20th at 13:00 ET
Event 22: $266 No Limit Hold'em Ante from the Start Six-Max Two-Day Event
$600,000 Guaranteed

Saturday, March 20th at 15:00 ET
Event 23: $11 Pot Limit Omaha with Rebuys
$150,000 Guaranteed

Saturday, March 20th at 21:00 ET
Event 24: $53 No Limit Hold'em Super Turbo Six-Max
$75,000 Guaranteed

Sunday, March 21st at 13:00 ET
Event 25: $26 No Limit Hold'em Knockout Six-Max
$300,000 Guaranteed

Sunday, March 21st at 15:00 ET
Event 26: $22 Pot Limit Omaha Heads-Up
$40,000 Guaranteed

Sunday, March 21st at 17:00 ET
MiniFTOPS XV Main Event: $55 No Limit Hold'em
$800,000 Guaranteed

Visit Full Tilt Poker for details.

LAPT Chile Cancelled

The earthquake struck 175 miles south of Viña del Mar, killing almost 300 people.

PokerStars officials say the cancellation was forced by the effects of the earthquake and in light of current rescue and recovery efforts.

The event was scheduled to be held at the Enjoy Viña del Mar Casino and Resort from March 19-23.

Everyone at PokerStars.net and the LAPT offers their thoughts and condolences to all of those affected by the disaster.

All players who have qualified or bought-in to the event will be fully refunded their buy-ins and any out-of-pocket expenses.

Players should contact lapt@pokerstars.net with any questions.

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PokerStars SCOOP Schedule Revamped

The series runs May 2-16, with events across a range of poker games and buy-ins as all 38 will feature three buy-in levels.

"What I find most exciting about SCOOP is that players at all stake levels get an opportunity to play in a championship-level event," said PokerStars Tournaments Team Leader Bryan Slick.

SCOOP will guarantee $45 million in prize money, edging out last year's total prize pool of $39,372,270 with the main event guaranteeing prize pools of at $1 Million, $3 Million and $5 Million in the low, medium and high buy-in levels respectively.

The first event of the series is a No-Limit Hold'em Six-Max event, with buy-ins of $22, $215 and $2,100.

The series will offer several other events with buy-ins ranging from $109 to $10,300, plus a two-day Heads-Up Match Play tournament with a buy-in of $25,500.

The SCOOP schedule includes most of the games PokerStars offers, including Badugi, Omaha, Draw, Stud and Hold'em.

Highlights include Shootouts, 2X Chance Turbos, 8-game and HORSE.

For more on the 2010 SCOOP schedule click through to PokerStars.

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Youth and Experience Make Up NAPT Final Table Mix

And while it is hardly chock full of big names, the final eight is an interesting mix of youthful talent on the rise and at least one veteran player who seen it all before.

The event began four short days ago with a whopping 872 players and all the fanfare live PokerStars tournaments have built a reputation for.

But as a field of top pros, Internet qualifiers and Las Vegas rounders taking a shot at the big time fell by the wayside, 22-year-old Sam Stein pushed his way into the chip lead.

Stein, who made the final table at the World Poker Tour's Legends of Poker event this past August, will carry that chip lead into Wednesday's final eight.

Now he's hoping the experience of playing in front of the WPT cameras will pay dividends here at Venetian.

"I think there's only one player that's even been under the TV lights before and that's 'Miami' John Cernuto," said Stein.

"He's an older guy and he's been around the block, but he's a short stack, so that's good.

"The other guys are mostly online guys, they're all good players and everyone is playing really well, but the experience of playing under the lights and how they'll react to that, we'll have to see. It'll be a different game."

As Stein mentioned, Cernuto is the most venerable player to earn a spot on the NAPT's first final table.

Short stacked almost all day, Cernuto said the experience of an amazing 26 World Series of Poker final tables, three WSOP bracelet wins and a WPT final table certainly helped him stay patient.

"Experience has already paid off," he said. "I've watched players with way better shots to win the tournament just give their shot away. They just gamble, gamble, gamble. I don't know if it's an ego thing, a testosterone thing or a youth thing."

Regardless, Cernuto is the still the short stack going into the final and understands that these days, being the oldest player at the table doesn't necessarily make you the most experienced.

"Experience does give you an edge, but I'm not necessarily more experienced than these kids," he said.

"Every five years I've played poker they've done in three months on the Internet. So they may even have more experience than I do."

Thomas Fuller will come into the final table third in chips and with a fourth place finish at EPT Baden in 2007 and more than $600k in career tournament earnings over five years as a pro, he'll bring some experience with him as well.

Sitting third is law school grad and hedge fund employee turned cash game pro David Paredes, while Yunas Jamal, a Software engineer from nearby Henderson, Nevada with a few decent cashes on his part-time poker playing resume will come in fourth in chips.

Lurking dangerously under Jamal is 22-year-old Tom "Kingsofcards" Marchese, a regular at the $25/$50 cash games online who has played as high as $500/$1,000 with some the biggest names in the game.

Marchese, who hadn't had much success in live tournaments before making the final table of the Borgata Winter Open Championship earlier this month, believes his nosebleed cash game experience is key.

"I think it really plays to my advantage," he said. "A lot of people are concerned about the money. I don't even know what I'd get paid now. All I know is that first is like $870,000. I thinks that's a huge advantage when play tightens up."

Rounding out the final eight is Eric Blair, who just missed a WPT final table making eighth at Borgata in last year and 37-year-old live pro Dan Clemente, who has earned almost $200k from live tournaments with buy-ins $1k an under throughout his eight-year career.

The final table will play out beginning at 2 p.m. PST and PokerListings will have comprehensive coverage on our Live Updates page throughout.

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PokerStars 2010 SCOOP Schedule Announced

PokerStars announced the eagerly anticipated schedule for the 2010 Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) on Monday, revealing a tournament slate with $36 million in guaranteed prize money.  SCOOP is unique in that each event features three tournaments with three different buy-ins, so that players of all bankrolls can participate.  The 33 events in this year's SCOOP will run from May 3rd to May 16th, culminating with the two day No Limit Hold'em Main Event trio with guaranteed prize pools of $1 million, $3 million, and $5 million.

Event 1: No-Limit Hold'em with Re-buys Six-Max
May 3, 2010
Low: $5.50 buy-in, $250,000 guaranteed
Med: $55 buy-in, $500,000 guaranteed
High: $530 buy-in, $1,000,000 guaranteed

Event 2: Fixed-Limit Badugi
May 3, 2010
Low: $16.50 buy-in, $25,000 guaranteed
Med: $162 buy-in, $50,000 guaranteed
High: $1,575 buy-in, $75,000 guaranteed

Event 3: Pot-Limit Five-Card Draw
May 4, 2010
Low: $11 buy-in, $25,000 guaranteed
Med: $109 buy-in, $50,000 guaranteed
High: $1,050 buy-in, $75,000 guaranteed

Event 4: No-Limit Hold'em Heads-Up Match Play
May 4, 2010
Low: $16.50 buy-in, $100,000 guaranteed
Med: $162 buy-in, $250,000 guaranteed
High: $1,575 buy-in, $500,000 guaranteed

Event 5: No-Limit Hold'em
May 4, 2010
Low: $11 buy-in, $100,000 guaranteed
Med: $109 buy-in, $200,000 guaranteed
High: $1,050 buy-in, $500,000 guaranteed

Event 6: Mixed Hold'em Six-Max
May 5, 2010
Low: $22 buy-in, $100,000 guaranteed
Med: $215 buy-in, $200,000 guaranteed
High: $2,100 buy-in, $400,000 guaranteed

Event 7: Seven Card Stud
May 5, 2010
Low: $33 buy-in, $25,000 guaranteed
Med: $320 buy-in, $50,000 guaranteed
High: $3,150 buy-in, $100,000 guaranteed

Event 8: Pot-Limit Omaha Heads-Up Match Play
May 6, 2010
Low: $22 buy-in, $25,000 guaranteed
Med: $215 buy-in, $100,000 guaranteed
High: $2,100 buy-in, $200,000 guaranteed

Event 9: No-Limit Hold'em
May 6, 2010
Low: TBD buy-in, $100,000 guaranteed
Med: TBD buy-in, $200,000 guaranteed
High: TBD buy-in, $300,000 guaranteed

Event 10: No-Limit Hold'em Ante-Up
May 7, 2010
Low: $16.50 buy-in, $50,000 guaranteed
Med: $162 buy-in, $100,000 guaranteed
High: $1,575 buy-in, $200,000 guaranteed

Event 11: Fixed-Limit Omaha High-Low
May 7, 2010
Low: $55 buy-in, $50,000 guaranteed
Med: $530 buy-in, $150,000 guaranteed
High: $5,200 buy-in, $250,000 guaranteed

Event 12: No-Limit Hold'em 2x Chance Turbo
May 7, 2010
Low: $16.50 buy-in, $250,000 guaranteed
Med: $162 buy-in, $500,000 guaranteed
High: $1,575 buy-in, $750,000 guaranteed

Event 13: No-Limit Hold'em Shootout
May 8, 2010
Low: $22 buy-in, $15,000 guaranteed (Quadruple Shootout)
Med: $215 buy-in, $150,000 guaranteed (Triple Shootout)
High: $2,100 buy-in, $200,000 guaranteed (Double Shootout)

Event 14: Pot-Limit Omaha with Re-buys Six-Max
May 8, 2010
Low: $16.50 buy-in, $100,000 guaranteed
Med: $162 buy-in, $250,000 guaranteed
High: $1,575 buy-in, $500,000 guaranteed

Event 15: No-Limit Hold'em Big Antes
May 9, 2010
Low: $22 buy-in, $250,000 guaranteed
Med: $215 buy-in, $750,000 guaranteed
High: $2,100 buy-in, $750,000 guaranteed

Event 16: No-Limit Hold'em Two Day Event
May 9, 2010
Low: $22 buy-in, $500,000 guaranteed
Med: $215 buy-in, $1,500,000 guaranteed
High: $2,100 buy-in, $2,000,000 guaranteed

Event: 17: Pot-Limit Hold'em, Pot-Limit Omaha
May 10, 2010
Low: $16.50 buy-in, $100,000 guaranteed
Med: $162 buy-in, $200,000 guaranteed
High: $1,575 buy-in, $300,000 guaranteed

Event 18: No-Limit Hold'em Four-Max
May 10, 2010
Low: $33 buy-in, $150,000 guaranteed
Med: $320 buy-in, $300,000 guaranteed
High: $3,150 buy-in, $500,000 guaranteed

Event 19: Deuce-Seven Triple Draw
May 11, 2010
Low: $11 buy-in, $25,000 guaranteed
Med: $109 buy-in, $50,000 guaranteed
High: $1,050 buy-in, $75,000 guaranteed

Event 20: Seven Card Stud High-Low
May 11, 2010
Low: $22 buy-in, $50,000 guaranteed
Med: $215 buy-in, $100,000 guaranteed
High: $2,100 buy-in, $150,000 guaranteed

Event 21: No-Limit Hold'em
May 11, 2010
Low: $11 buy-in, $100,000 guaranteed
Med: $109 buy-in, $200,000 guaranteed
High: $1,050 buy-in, $500,000 guaranteed

Event 22: Razz
May 12, 2010
Low: $22 buy-in, $50,000 guaranteed
Med: $215 buy-in, $100,000 guaranteed
High: $2,100 buy-in, $150,000 guaranteed

Event 23: No-Limit Hold'em with Two Re-buys & One Add-on
May 12, 2010
Low: $22 buy-in, $100,000 guaranteed
Med: $215 buy-in, $300,000 guaranteed
High: $2,100 buy-in, $500,000 guaranteed

Event 24: Eight-Game
May 13, 2010
Low: $33 buy-in, $75,000 guaranteed
Med: $320 buy-in, $150,000 guaranteed
High: $3,150 buy-in, $250,000 guaranteed

Event 25: Pot-Limit Omaha High-Low
May 13, 2010
Low: $11 buy-in, $75,000 guaranteed
Med: $109 buy-in, $150,000 guaranteed
High: $1,050 buy-in, $300,000 guaranteed

Event 26: No-Limit Hold'em with One Re-buy & One Add-on
May 14, 2010
Low: $22 buy-in, $250,000 guaranteed
Med: $215 buy-in, $500,000 guaranteed
High: $2,100 buy-in, $1,000,000 guaranteed

Event 27: Fixed-Limit Hold'em Six-Max
May 14, 2010
Low: $55 buy-in, $100,000 guaranteed
Med: $530 buy-in, $200,000 guaranteed
High: $5,200 buy-in, $300,000 guaranteed

Event 28: No-Limit Omaha High-Low Turbo
May 14, 2010
Low: $22 buy-in, $50,000 guaranteed
Med: $215 buy-in, $100,000 guaranteed
High: $2,100 buy-in, $200,000 guaranteed

Event 29: Pot-Limit Omaha
May 15, 2010
Low: $55 buy-in, $100,000 guaranteed
Med: $530 buy-in, $250,000 guaranteed
High: $5,200 buy-in, $500,000 guaranteed

Event 30: HORSE
May 15, 2010
Low: $22 buy-in, $50,000 guaranteed
Med: $215 buy-in, $100,000 guaranteed
High: $2,100 buy-in, $200,000 guaranteed

Event 31: No-Limit Hold'em Six-Max
May 16, 2010
Low: $22 buy-in, $20,000 guaranteed
Med: $215 buy-in, $750,000 guaranteed
High: $2,100 buy-in, $750,000 guaranteed

Event 32: No-Limit Hold'em Heads-Up Match Play Two Day Event
May 16, 2010
Low: $270 buy-in, $250,000 guaranteed
Med: $2,600 buy-in, $500,000 guaranteed
High: $25,500 buy-in, $750,000 guaranteed

Event 33: No-Limit Hold'em Main Event Two Day Event
May 16, 2010
Low: $109 buy-in, $1.000,000 guaranteed
Med: $1,050 buy-in, $3,000,000 guaranteed
High: $10,300 buy-in, $5,000,000 guaranteed

FTOPS XV Main Event Ends in Seven-Way Chop

A total of 5,645 players entered the Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS) Main Event on Sunday. In the end, the $535 No Limit Hold’em tournament featured a seven-way chop, with JackQKA ultimately coming out on top for $237,000.

The FTOPS XIV Main Event attracted a field of 5,471 players, meaning that attendance in the quarterly tournament series’ finale was up by 3%. Additionally, the field marked the largest FTOPS Main Event in history and the second largest of FTOPS XV. A colossal seven-way chop ended matters, as each player ultimately took home at least $172,000. According to coverage found on Bluff, $72,000 was set aside for the tournament’s winner – still a substantial chunk of change – and the seven players pressed on with the gold jersey also at stake.

In the end, JackQKA defeated PageUpV for the title, earning $237,000. For PageUpV, second place was actually worth more, as his bankroll was boosted by $239,000. PageUpV, whose real name is Andrew Buechner, hails from Pennsylvania and previously has notched wins in the Full Tilt Poker $38,000 Guaranteed and $75,000 Guaranteed for a combined total of $42,000. Additionally, he won the PokerStars $3.30 rebuy in November for $13,000. In the FTOPS tournament’s final hand, PageUpV was all-in with K-6 against JackQKA’s pocket aces. No bad beat was delivered as the better hand held for the title.

Booted in third place was dfhijk, who collected $261,000, the largest payday at the FTOPS XV Main Event final table. dfhijk came out on the short end of a race with pocket eights against JackQKA’s K-10 in his final hand, as the flop of K-Q-10 gave JackQKA two pair. The turn and river both blanked for dfhijk, setting up a massive chip lead for JackQKA entering heads-up play.

The drop in prize money between seventh and eighth places was dramatic. The Fluke1200 finished in seventh place for $172,000, while vice67 grabbed eighth place and $42,000, or one-fourth as much money. Rounding out the nine-handed final table of the FTOPS XV Main Event was trojancountry, who cashed for $29,000. Here’s a look at the final table payouts reflecting the seven-handed deal:

1. JackQKA - $237,644
2. PageUpV - $239,485
3. dfhijk - $261,077
4. ReloadPlz - $186,531
5. SurferKel - $236,865
6. TheJunkie - $194,050
7. The Fluke1200 - $172,591
8. vice67 - $42,338
9. trojancountry - $29,636

A bevy of brand name players made it deep in Sunday’s FTOPS XV Main Event. Joe Cassidy, who took 13th in the $50,000 HORSE Championship during the 2006 World Series of Poker (WSOP), finished 12th yesterday for $20,000. Casey "bigdogpckt5s" Jarzabek, who sits at #7 worldwide in the prestigious PocketFives.com Online Poker Rankings, took 22nd for $7,600. Meanwhile, Full Tilt Poker sponsored pro Michael Tureniec finished in the 33rd spot on the leaderboard for $5,600.

Wrapping up on Sunday was the second day of the FTOPS XV Two-Day Event, which attracted a field of 794 players. The top 84 split the $2 million prize pool, with BadcardsAA taking down the gold jersey and $430,000 top prize, the largest payday awarded during the 15th FTOPS. Coming in second place was Ace18, who earned $282,000. High-stakes cash game player UgotaBanana, who has tangled with Swedish online poker sensation Isildur1, finished in third place and pocketed $202,000. The Two-Day Event had a price tag of $2,620, the most expensive of FTOPS XV.

Other notable names making it deep in the Two-Day Event included newly minted Full Tilt Poker pro Caio Pimenta, who landed in ninth place for $32,000. Steve Yea, a South Korean Full Tilt sponsored pro, took $24,000 for 11th place, just ahead of Steve “gboro780” Gross, whose 13th place effort was worth $18,000. Dan “Wretchy” Martin and Shawn “phat_cat1” Luhman each received $11,000 for taking 20th and 23rd, respectively.

Next on tap for Full Tilt Poker is the MiniFTOPS XV, which kicks off on March 10th. The tournament series will mirror the schedule of FTOPS XV, but feature buy-ins that are one-tenth as large.

Poker News in Brief: Feb. 15-21, 2010

Rumored to be Swede Victor Blom, Isildur1 disappeared from the high-stakes games after he went on a devastating multi-million dollar downswing in late 2009.

He returned with a vengeance this week with huge matches against Justin Bonomo and Brian Townsend.

With all the attention focused on Isildur1 there were a few poker stories that were nearly forgotten. Fortunately, as part of our ongoing Poker News in Brief feature we’ve compiled a list below.

This week we’ll look at another winner on the UKIPT, a notable player winning at the LAPC, the record-breaking sale of a poker domain and more.

Dutch Student Wins UKIPT Manchester

Twenty-one-year-old Dutch student Joeri Zandvliet outlasted 517 players to win the inaugural UK & Ireland Poker Tour Manchester event this week.

The final table was dominated by residents of the UK with only Zandvliet and Julian Hasse of Germany coming from Europe.

Zandvliet beat Newcastle native Jack Ellwood heads-up to claim the £63,200 first place prize.

“I feel very happy and lucky,” said Zandvliet after his big win. “There were five relatively strong players at the final table. Whatever I did today didn’t really work too well but I managed to get lucky a couple of times.”

The £550 buy-in event drew several big name players including John Duthie, Victoria Coren and Julian Thew.

To learn more about UKIPT qualifying visit the PokerStars website.

ChiliPoker Launches DeepStack Open

ChiliPoker released the schedule for a new French tournament this week.

The Chilipoker DeepStack Open will take place April 9-11, 2010, in the Partouche poker room in France.

The tournament will offer a deep structure of 50,000 starting chips, 50/100 starting blinds and 60 minute levels.

In contrast to large buy-in tours like the EPT and WPT, the Chilipoker DeepStack Open will offer a more affordable buy-in of €500+€50. There will be a maximum of 500 players allowed into the event.

Chilipoker will also introduce a couple unique elements to the tournament.

The first called “Extra Ball” which will see the online poker site throw in an extra 50% of the first place prize. Half of this will go the winner while the other half will go to all the players who qualified on Chilipoker.

The second feature is called “Knock-Out Insurance” and it rewards players who finished out of the money but managed to bust five opponents. Each player performs this feat will receive a free seat in the next Chilipoker DeepStack Open event.

To qualify for the ChiliPoker DeepStack Open visit the poker room’s website.

Jonathan “Fatal Error” Aguiar Wins LAPC 8-Game Event

You can add another well-known poker player to the list of players who have cashed in on the LAPC preliminary events.

Jonathan Aguiar, who plays online as Fatal Error, outlasted 106 players to win the $34,800 first place prize in the LAPC 8-Game Mix side event.

With the victory Aguiar is quickly approaching $1 million in lifetime live tournament winnings with $722,351.

Joe Tehan also made the final table of the Eight Game event but crashed out in fourth place for $9,460.

PokerListings’ blogger Jason Mercier came in 14th place and blogged about it here.

The LAPC has already seen some notable victories with Carlos Mortensen, “Miami” John Cernuto and Chino Rheem all taking down tournaments.

Betfair Poker to Sponsor Amateur Poker Association & Tour

Betfair Poker announced this week it will be the headline sponsor of one of the leading amateur poker tours.

The London-based online poker site will be the exclusive sponsor of Season 4 of the Amateur Poker Association & Tour (APAT).

“Our tie-up with APAT signals our commitment to grass roots poker,” said Matt Mowlam, head of U.K. poker for Betfair. “APAT are a professionally run, fun tour, and one that has been keenly contested by thousands of players in the three seasons to date."

Season 4 will see the APAT host 28 live tournaments in the U.K., Ireland and Europe with buy-ins ranging from £25 to £250.

The APAT has seen rapid growth over the last three seasons and is currently home to over 20,000 registered members.

The first event on the Season 4 APAT schedule will be the Welsh Amateur Championship in Aspers, Swansea on March 20. Check APAT website for the complete schedule.

Poker.org Sold for $1 Million

Poker.org became the most expensive .org domain ever sold this week when PokerCompany.com purchased it for $1 million.

PokerCompany.com, which already owns BlackJack.org, EveryPoker.com and Rakeback.org, did not announce their plans for the domain.

Previous .org sales pale in comparison with Engineering.org the closest, selling for $198,000.

The most expensive website ever sold was Sex.com, which went for $14 million in 2006.

Visit PokerListings.com

ESPN2 to Broadcast NAPT

ESPN2 will televise 16 original hours of the new poker tour, starting April 2010. All of the NAPT stops will be featured including Las Vegas, Connecticut and the Bahamas for the PCA.

“Having the North American Poker Tour on ESPN2 is going to take poker on this continent to a different level,” said Team PokerStars.net Pro Daniel Negreanu.

“With some of the most important gaming venues in the US on board and the reach of ESPN2, the NAPT is set to bring the excitement of world-class tournament poker to millions who love this game as much as I do.”

The NAPT, which was announced at the PCA in January, is set to offer numerous tournaments around North America with a variety of buy-ins and huge payouts.

The main event for the first season has been set at $5,000 with a variety of ways to qualify on PokerStars.

ESPN2’s coverage of the first event at the Venetian will include the unique $25,000 High Roller event, which will feature a number of the world’s biggest poker celebrities such as Daniel Negreanu, Phil Hellmuth, Antonio Esfandiari and Tony G.

The NAPT event at the Venetian in Las Vegas is set to take place Feb. 20-24, 2010. Visit PokerStars website for the complete NAPT schedule.

 

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Harrah’s to Purchase Planet Hollywood Casino

Recently, casino megalith Harrah’s received the green light from the Nevada Gaming Control Board to acquire the Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino. The move would boost the number of Harrah’s Las Vegas Strip area properties to nine.

In addition to its flagship property, Harrah’s already owns Caesars Palace, Paris, Flamingo, Imperial Palace, Bally’s, Bill’s Gambling Hall, and the Rio, home of the annual World Series of Poker (WSOP). Planet Hollywood towers high above the Las Vegas Strip and was formerly dubbed the Aladdin. For poker players, Planet Hollywood offers a 15-table room with cash games that include $2/$4, $4/$8, and $5/$10 Texas Hold’em, Omaha, and Pineapple. The poker mill also offers four daily tournaments with buy-ins ranging between $50 and $70. The poker room is located on the main level next to the Miracle Mile mall entrance.

Nevada Gaming Control Board Chairman Dennis Neilander commented in the Las Vegas Review-Journal newspaper, "The existing Planet Hollywood was headed for some type of restructuring, perhaps a bankruptcy. We have some 40 properties that are in our bankruptcy group right now. This will offer a smooth transition for employees that are there and operating the business." Next Thursday, February 18th, the Nevada Gaming Commission will formally approve or deny the Planet Hollywood sale to Harrah’s. If the Commission returns a positive result, ownership could change hands the next day.

According to the Review-Journal, Harrah’s acquired $306 million of Planet Hollywood’s debt for $70 million. In exchange, Planet Hollywood forked over 100% ownership of the Las Vegas Strip casino. The new ownership group will pump $30 million in working capital into the property and the news outlet expects that a $554 million mortgage loan “will remain leveraged against Planet Hollywood Resort after the deal is completed.” Planet Hollywood employs about 2,300 people, a staff that will allegedly be shaved by less than 5% as a result of the acquisition.

On January 16th, Harrah’s assumed the food and beverage operations of Planet Hollywood. Now, Harrah’s will be able to take the Planet Hollywood name and license it to other casinos around the world. Planet Hollywood - the restaurant - was formerly located in a multitude of cities across the United States including Atlanta, Nashville, and Reno. However, a series of bankruptcies and stiff competition led to only a handful of locations remaining in operation, including Honolulu, Myrtle Beach, New York City, and Las Vegas. Planet Hollywood also operates dining establishments in Cancun, Dubai, Jakarta, and Riyadh.

Harrah's Chief Financial Officer Jonathan Halkyard told the Review-Journal, "We began to [buy the debt] because we felt Planet Hollywood would be a very complementary addition to our portfolio in Las Vegas." In 2004, Harrah’s purchased the rights to the WSOP, ultimately moving the annual tournament series from the Horseshoe in Downtown Las Vegas to the Rio, just off the Strip. In 2005, the final days of the Main Event were held at the Horseshoe before the annual spectacle played out entirely at the Rio in 2006.

The WSOP Circuit brings the action of a major series to Harrah’s properties around the United States, including Harrah’s Tunica, Harvey’s Lake Tahoe, and Caesars Atlantic City.

Opening across the street from Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas in recent months was CityCenter, which consists of the Aria Casino, Mandalay Oriental, Veer Towers, and Crystals. The latter features upscale restaurants such as Eva Longoria Parker’s Beso, Mastro's Ocean Club, and Brasserie Puck. Its posh retailers include Tiffany and Company, Prada, and Porsche. A walkway connecting this bustling area to Planet Hollywood may be extended, according to the Review-Journal, which would allow the fledgling casino to capitalize on foot traffic across the street.

PokerStars Celebrates 40 Billionth Hand

The world’s largest online poker site, PokerStars, is celebrating the dealing of its 40 billionth hand in a big way. The festivities will feature the largest Sunday Million in the site’s history, a $4 million guaranteed tournament on February 21st.

A bevy of cash game prizes based on the number 40 will be up for grabs as part of the promotion, which began today on PokerStars. All players dealt to in every millionth hand will reap $40 for each VIP Player Point (VPP) earned during the previous 40 hands played at the same table. Text found on PokerStars’ website explains that everyone will go home richer: “Because PokerStars wants everyone to be a winner, an extra VPP will be awarded to all players dealt in - this means you’ll win a minimum of at least $40. The winner of the hand will also get their cash prize doubled!”

The cash game side of the promotion begins with hand number 39,601,000,000 and will continue until the 40 billion mark is hit. When the big hand rolls around, aside from a lot of hooting and hollering going on at PokerStars’ Isle of Man headquarters, players dealt to will grab $400 for every VPP earned in the previous 40 hands at the table. The winner of the hand will also see their cash prize doubled, adding even more money to their bankroll. If there’s a split pot in any scenario, each player involved in the chop will have their prizes doubled.

One of the highlights of the 40 billionth hand celebration is the mega-sized Sunday Million. Regularly sporting a $1.5 million guarantee, the purse of the event will grow to a ridiculous $4 million on Sunday, February 21st. Players in the United States may cancel their plans in droves to take advantage of this colossal guarantee, which means that a first place prize of at least $1 million will be up for grabs. The Sunday Million will begin at 16:30 ET and comes with a $215 price tag.

At 14:30 ET on Sunday, February 14th, look for a special $40 Micro Million on PokerStars. The poker tournament, which will take place on Valentine’s Day in the United States, has a $40 buy-in and features a high-stakes $1 million prize pool. Also playing out throughout the course of the 40 billionth hand celebration is a series of $40,000 prize pool tournaments with buy-ins of 40 Frequent Player Points (FPPs). The kickoff times of these events will alternate between 13:40 ET and 21:40 ET each day. All tournaments can be found in the PokerStars lobby under “Tourney” and “Special.”

Sit and go players aren’t left out in the cold, either. Instead, celebratory 40-man Super Sit and Gos will run around the clock from February 14th to 21st featuring a wide range of buy-ins: $1.10, $11, $22, and $55. On what makes these sit and gos special, other than their 40-man fields, PokerStars explains, “The winner of every tournament gets a slice of $40,000, shared between all the winners at each buy-in level.” Once PokerStars officials compute how much each player should take home, they’ll deposit the funds by February 23rd.

If you think PokerStars is done there, you’re gravely mistaken. Play money customers who make their first real money deposit with the code "F40" can compete in $1,000 freerolls running from February 14th to 21st. These events take place not once, not twice, not three times, not four times, but five times every single day – 08:40 ET, 12:40 ET, 15:40 ET, 19:40 ET, and 22:40 ET – giving players ample opportunities to kick-start their bankrolls. Finally, any player on the site can trade 2,500 FPPs for $40 in cash no matter what their VIP level is. Each player can only take advantage of one $40 bankroll boost.

PokerStars happily accepts players from the United States.

FTOPS XV Starts Today

The online poker series, promising more than $17 million in guaranteed prize money across 27 events, starts with a $1 million guaranteed $200+$16 No-Limit Hold 'em tournament tonight at 9 p.m. ET.

Throughout the series there are another five events that each guarantees at least $1 million in prize money.

These include a $1.5 million guaranteed $300+$22 No-Limit Hold 'em tournament Feb. 14 at 6 p.m. ET, a $1.5 million guaranteed $1,000+$60 No-Limit Hold 'em tournament Feb. 15 at 9 p.m. ET, a $1 million guaranteed $300+$22 No-Limit Hold 'em 6-Max Rebuy Feb. 17 at 9 p.m. ET, a $2 million guaranteed Two-Day Event starting Feb. 20 at 2 p.m. ET and the $2.5 million guaranteed FTOPS XV Main Event Feb. 24 at 6 p.m. ET.

Satellite tournaments for all FTOPS XV events are currently running on Full Tilt with buy-ins starting at $0.50 or 50 Full Tilt Points.

A special prize package is also available to the player that finishes at the top of the FTOPS Leaderboard. Worth approximately $8.5K in tournament entries, the prize package consists of a seat to every FTOPS XVI event except the Two-Day Event.

The winner will also receive a custom avatar for exclusive use at Full Tilt Poker.

To find out more about FTOPS XV and check the entire schedule, check out Full Tilt's FTOPS Gateway Page.

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PokerStars Celebrates 40 Billion Hands

There will be cash prizes across all PokerStars cash game tables in the days leading up to the 40 billionth hand.

Players dealt into every millionth hand will win $40 for every VPP they earned in the previous 40 hands played on that table. An extra VPP will be awarded to all players dealt in guaranteeing everyone is a winner. Plus, the winner of the hand will also see the pot doubled.

When the big 40 billionth hand is dealt, all players dealt in will be rewarded $400 for every VPP earned in the previous 40 hands and, once again, the pot will be doubled.

In addition to the cash game prizes, PokerStars will also be boosting the guaranteed prize pool of the Sunday Million on Feb. 21 to $4 million.

The date also marks the 4th anniversary of the Sunday Million and will guarantee its biggest ever prize pool with at least $1,000,000 for first place.

The tournament takes place at the usual 4:30 p.m. ET time slot and has a buy-in of $215.

There will also be a $1 million guaranteed tournament in honor of the 40 billionth hand this Sunday, Feb. 14 at 2:30 p.m. ET with a $40 buy-in.

Plus, PokerStars will be running a number 40 FPP tournaments with $40,000 prize pools and a series of 40-man Super Sit & Go tournaments featuring a range of buy-ins and the chance to grab a piece of $40,000 throughout the rest of the month.

Finally, the PokerStars VIP club is also getting in on the celebrations, offering players $40 cash credit for only 2,500 FPPs throughout February.

Visit PokerListings.com

Kara Scott Previews High Stakes Poker Season 6

Debuting on February 14th at 8:00pm ET on GSN is Season 6 of the popular cash game show “High Stakes Poker.” This time around, hostess Kara Scott will conduct interviews in the “High Stakes Poker” suite, replacing A.J. Benza. Scott sat down with Poker News Daily to preview the upcoming cycle.

Poker News Daily: Thanks for joining us. Talk a little bit about your experience filming the sixth season of “High Stakes Poker,” your first with the program.

Kara Scott: I was pretty nervous heading into it because it’s such an iconic show for poker. There are so many people who love it and my best friend even said not to ruin it. It’s all very exciting and getting to be on the set and talking to the players was just so much fun for me. It’s fun to pick their brains about strategy.

PND: What was the background to you joining the show?

Kara Scott: GSN wanted to bring someone in to work on the floor. That person wouldn’t just be asking general interview questions. Instead, they would be someone who knew poker more deeply in order to get into the heads of the players. Obviously, it’s a completely different role than what A.J. Benza did. What A.J. did was great and I certainly couldn’t replace what he did. I’m glad they brought me in, though. It was surprising, flattering, and exciting.

PND: Did the signing take you by surprise?

Kara Scott: Poker is a pretty small industry, so I knew some of the people involved. I worked on filming WSOP Europe with Poker PROductions and knew the people on the crew, but it definitely caught me off-guard.

PND: Talk about what you’re looking forward to the most when the action unfolds on GSN on Sunday, February 14th.

Kara Scott: I hope I asked the right questions because it’s all such a blur. There were three days of filming and they were long days. I can’t wait to watch it and hope I was coherent.

PND: What’s it like being the love interest of ESPN poker announcer Norman Chad?

Kara Scott: He came up to me during the WSOP Main Event last year and asked me why I never returned his calls. He was pretty funny. He’s a nice guy and has always been very kind to me.

PND: Tell us about your relationship with the Canadian Poker Tour (CPT).

Kara Scott: I’m going to be playing in some of their events. I’ve never played in Canada, so that should be a lot of fun. There are some tournaments in Vancouver and some on the east side of the country as well.

PND: Has the hectic lifestyle caught up with you yet? You have been quite busy!

Kara Scott: I’ve had so much time off lately, so I’m well rested. I’ve just been enjoying the sunshine in Southern California. I’ve been in America for a few months now and moved here back in November. I’m brand new and just got myself a car.

PND: You’re a sponsored pro of PartyPoker as well. Will we be seeing you in PartyPoker gear on the tournament trail?

Kara Scott: I have a lot of tournaments coming up in the States. PartyPoker has been great to me in terms of buy-ins and is giving me a chance to go out and play. I’m not a pro player; I’m a television hostess who gets to play a lot. This year, I get to play as though I’m a pro. I’m going to be working with coaches and figuring out how to improve my game.

PND: How did the opportunity to sign with PartyPoker come about?

Kara Scott: I’ve known the PartyPoker guys for years, since I started playing poker. I became friends with a lot of the guys who work behind the scenes at PartyPoker and they approached me, which was pretty surprising. I didn’t see it coming. They wanted me to do TV hosting and represent the brand as part of Team Party. I was blown away and it was great to be able to do. Standing alongside guys like Mike Sexton is an honor.

PND: Do you have a poker idol?

Kara Scott: I’ve been able to meet so many different players. During “High Stakes Poker,” watching people like Phil Ivey play was an amazing experience. He has to be arguably the best poker player in the world. Watching him play and talking with him about his decisions were quite intimidating.

DOUBLEDAVE22 Wins UBOC 4 Main Event

A total of 1,307 players took part in the $1,050 buy-in Main Event of the fourth Ultimate Bet Online Championship (UBOC). At the end of Sunday’s tournament, Dave "DOUBLEDAVE22" D'Alesandro took down the title and its corresponding $279,000 payday.

D'Alesandro is fresh off a win in the UB.com $150,000 Guaranteed Deep Stack for $46,000 in October and made his mark on the online poker community after registering a third place in a Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS) event back in August 2008. He recorded a fourth place showing during the 2009 running of the UBOC for $72,000 and has proven his prowess in high-dollar tournament series. D'Alesandro is a native of New Jersey and, over the last six weeks, has also recorded wins in the UB.com $50,000 Guaranteed and Full Tilt Poker $40,000 Guaranteed for a combined payday of $31,000.

Heads-up, D’Alesandro bested Lauren “SUPERMODL” Kling. The Las Vegas native finished ninth in August’s FTOPS Main Event for $28,000 and final tabled the Full Tilt Poker $1K Monday two weeks ago for $45,000. Last week, Kling was up to her winning ways once again, recording a third place showing in the Full Tilt $100 rebuy for $25,000. Her runner-up effort on Sunday in the UBOC 4 Main Event was worth $163,000.

Brett “BS0228” Switzer took third place in the UBOC 4 Main Event and earned $115,000. Switzer won the Full Tilt $100 rebuy back in August for $49,000 and took down the PokerStars $11 rebuy one month prior for $14,000. Earning $83,000 by virtue of his fourth place showing was WAWA711, who also hails from the great state of New Jersey. WAWA711 final tabled the PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up in October and banked $37,000. He’s also defeated the field of the Full Tilt Poker $24,000 Guaranteed twice.

Rounding out the final nine in the UBOC 4 Main Event were MICHAELBINGER (fifth place for $69,925), MUCKANDLOSE (sixth place for $56,855), DAHJINERAT (seventh place for $43,131), EBSCR00GE (eighth place for $30,715), and GSKI6986 (ninth place for $21,566). The top 135 players finished in the money and the tournament generated a total prize pool of $1.31 million, the second largest of UBOC 4 next to the $1.57 million up for grabs in the $2,600 buy-in $1 Million Guaranteed (Event #8). The latter tournament featured the richest purse in UB.com’s 10-year history.

Here’s how the final table of the UBOC Main Event shook out:

1. DOUBLEDAVE22 - $279,045
2. SUPERMODL - $163,244
3. BS0228 - $115,016
4. WAWA711 - $83,648
5. MICHAELBINGER - $69,925
6. MUCKANDLOSE - $56,855
7. DAHJINERAT - $43,131
8. EBSCR00GE - $30,715
9. GSKI6986 - $21,566

Also playing out over the weekend was a $109 No Limit Hold’em Turbo with Rebuys event as part of UBOC 4. The 17th event on the schedule attracted 514 players and, after taking into account buy-ins and rebuys, the prize pool swelled to $160,900. UB.com member I AM CLUTCH defeated one of the top names in the poker world heads-up, Mike “SOWERSS” Sowers, after a three-way deal was struck. Also part of the chop was NIKOBALAKHOF, who earned $23,000. Here’s how the rest of the table panned out:

1. I AM CLUTCH - $30,678
2. SOWERSS - $26,336
3. NIKOBALAKHOF - $23,033
4. MR_BIGQUESO - $11,263
5. GIT PAPER - $9,252
6. ALL_DAY_DHI3 - $7,643
7. KICE32 - $6,034
8. BULLD07 - $4,425
9. AWICE - $3,138

The UBOC tournament series will likely return in early 2011. By all accounts, this year’s running marked one of the most talked-about UBOC series to date. UB.com features a stable of top-tier pros, including Poker News Daily Guest Columnist Annie Duke, 11-time World Series of Poker bracelet holder Phil Hellmuth, and “Poker2Nite” host Joe Sebok.

PokerStars Offering Super Bowl XLIV Tickets

The world’s largest online poker site is giving away tickets to the world’s premier football game, Super Bowl XLIV. On Sunday, two pairs of tickets to the “Big Game” in Miami will be up for grabs on PokerStars.

Two Sunday Football Special tournaments will be held on PokerStars on Sunday, January 31st. One will begin at 19:00 ET, while the other will follow at 22:00 ET. Both events have buy-ins of $11 and their winners will be awarded with a pair of tickets to Super Bowl XLIV on top of the prize pool. In addition, each champion will take home $1,000 in spending money. The winners won’t have to wait long to use their prizes, as the 44th Super Bowl kicks off on Sunday, February 7th from Dolphin Stadium in Miami.

PokerStars isn’t stopping there, however. Players who opt to reload their online poker accounts using the code “FOOTBALL” before the events begin will be credited with a ticket to play in one of the $11 buy-in Sunday Football Special tournaments. For players who have not yet deposited on PokerStars, the site is offering seats into the Super Bowl XLIV giveaways as well. Just use the bonus code “SPECIAL” when you sign up and you could be jet-setting your way to sunny South Florida. Unlike the reload bonus, players who deposit for the first time will receive tickets into both Sunday Football Special events.

The tournaments can be found in the PokerStars lobby under “Tourney” and “Regional.” The promotion is only open to new and existing PokerStars members in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. The 2010 Super Bowl features the NFC Champion New Orleans Saints squaring off against the AFC Champion Indianapolis Colts. Super Bowl XLIV marks the first appearance in the championship game for the Saints, a club that was founded back in 1967. The Saints last made the playoffs in 2006, but fell to the Chicago Bears in the NFC Championship by a final score of 39-14.

The Colts won the Super Bowl in 2006, defeating the aforementioned Chicago Bears. The club has made the NFL playoffs ever year save one since 1999 and plays its home games at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. The teams feature two of the NFL’s elite quarterbacks, Peyton Manning and Drew Brees. The pair finished second and first in the NFL in touchdowns during the 2009 regular season with 33 and 34, respectively. Brees owned the second highest yards per game tally at 292 this season, while Manning had the second most completions in the NFL at 393, trailing only Houston’s Matt Schaub.

Online poker players who win their way to Super Bowl XLIV should be on-hand in Miami no later than 6:25pm ET on Sunday, February 7th, when the game will kick off. The contest will be carried by CBS and beamed into hundreds of millions of households around the world. The rock band The Who will perform at halftime in what will surely be a rowdy spectacle. As it currently stands, the online poker room and sports book Bodog has the Colts as a six point favorite to win, with an over/under of 56.5.

Visit PokerStars for more information on how to win your way to Miami.

Online Poker Community Donates $1.5 Million to Haiti Earthquake Survivors

The online poker community has raised $1.5 million for victims of the magnitude 7.0 earthquake that rocked Haiti earlier this month, according to a press release distributed by the Poker Players Alliance (PPA).

Full Tilt Poker saw 22,785 donations come in from concerned members of the industry for total donations of $293,211. In a gracious showing, the world’s second largest online poker site doubled contributions from its patrons for a total donation of $586,423, or over one-third of the figure cited by the PPA. Aid for Haiti play and no-play tournaments were held on Full Tilt Poker and a special user account was created to accept incoming transfers benefiting the relief efforts.

As expected, PPA Chairman Alfonse D’Amato, a former three-term Republican Senator from New York, was elated to see the giving mood of the online poker community. In a press release distributed by the lobbying organization this week, D’Amato commented, “Like the rest of the world, the poker community is eager to do anything it can to aid Haiti in the wake of the devastating earthquake. I applaud PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, and Cake Poker for providing poker players across the globe an easy way to make a contribution. The generosity online poker players are showing makes me even more proud to be part of this community.”

PPA Executive Director John Pappas echoed D’Amato’s sentiments in an interview with the online poker forum PocketFives.com, calling the massive effort “a tribute to the generosity of the poker community.” Pappas added that the seven-digit donation mark does not include private contributions made by poker pros and other members of the industry to organizations like the Red Cross and UNICEF, which hit the ground in Haiti shortly after the epic January 12th tremor.

The PPA revealed that 50,000 online poker players have donated a total of $760,000, an average of about $15 each. With online poker sites matching the funds dollar-for-dollar, the total amount generated surpasses $1.5 million. On PokerStars, donations are being accepted until January 31st at Noon ET. No-play Haiti Earthquake Relief tournaments have buy-ins ranging from $1 to $1,000. Text found on PokerStars’ website succinctly explains, “You will not need to play an actual tournament; instead, all of the 'entry fees' go straight to the fund.”

PokerStars, the world’s largest online poker site, also created a special player account called “Haiti Fund.” Users can transfer funds to the account and PokerStars will match all money raised for the relief effort. The website, which has campaigned for a variety of charitable causes like Ante Up for Africa over the years, reminded its clientele, “PokerStars has been quick to facilitate this after previous disasters, and once again it is giving you an easy way to donate cash.”

Meanwhile, Cake Poker, a USA-friendly site that features Lee Jones as its Poker Room Manager, is taking donations until Midnight ET on January 31st. Five “holding tanks” were created for players to donate to the cause in $5, $25, $100, $200, and $500 increments. Past charity efforts by Cake Poker include involvement in the Aces and Angels Celebrity Poker Tournament and Oregon’s West Side Poker Club.

Other sites, including RedKings, UB.com, Absolute Poker, and DoylesRoom held poker tournaments last week to raise money for the cause. On the CEREUS Network, 717 players turned out for a $5 rebuy benefiting earthquake victims. In addition, customers on the Network’s two sites, UB.com and Absolute Poker, can donate their player points in each room’s store. On DoylesRoom, a special Haiti Bounty saw Academy Award nominee Mickey Rourke hit the felts.

A magnitude 5.9 aftershock hit Haiti shortly after and the Red Cross noted that three million people may have been affected. We’d like to salute members of the poker community who donated.

Titan Steps Up with Haiti Event

Titan Poker will host the $10 buy-in event on Jan. 31 with all proceeds going to Red Cross relief efforts in Haiti.

Titan will match the total amount of buy-ins made in the event.

In addition, online poker players will be able to buy in directly to “no play” tournaments where their funds will be donated directly to the Red Cross without actually playing in the tournament.

On Jan. 12 a 7.0 magnitude earthquake hit Haiti and while the exact death toll is still not known, over 150,000 people have been reported dead. It's been estimated that over two million people have been made homeless by the earthquake.

The “no play” tournaments are already available in the Titan Poker lobby under the “Aid for Haiti” tab.

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T.J. Cloutier WSOP Bracelet Sells for $4,006 on eBay

After 10 days and a competitive auction featuring five separate bidders, T.J. Cloutier's World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet sold for $4,006 on the popular online auction site eBay. The Plano Pawn Shop put up the bracelet, which Cloutier won in a $5,000 No Limit Hold’em event in 2005.

With the starting price at $2,999, the following bidding history during the 10-day process was listed as on eBay's website:

Bid #1: Jan. 22 - $2,999
Bid #2: Jan. 22 - $3,200
Bid #3: Jan. 22 - $3,250
Bid #4: Jan. 22 - $3,500
Bid #5: Jan. 22 - $3,550
Bid #6: Jan. 23 - $3,700
Bid #7: Jan. 24 - $3,750
Bid #8: Jan. 24 - $3,800
Bid #9: Jan. 24 - $3,850
Bid #10: Jan. 24 - $3,900
Bid #11: Jan. 24 - $3,956
Bid #12: Jan. 24 - $4,006

The highest bid stood at $3,956 with just moments remaining in the auction, but in the final minute, another bidder made an offer of $4,006, which ultimately was enough to claim the item. The winning bidder is unknown at this time due to the privacy policies of eBay.

Meanwhile, the reasons behind Cloutier's willingness to pawn off his WSOP bracelet are under speculation. The 71-year-old pro is one of the most successful tournament players in the history of the game, collecting six WSOP bracelets, a total of 39 titles around the world, and career earnings of $9,413,236. However, some suggest that Cloutier has lost more money playing craps than he ever made from playing poker; this reputation seems to follow him where he travels.

Professional poker player Terrance “Unassigned” Chan wrote in his blog in 2006 about a losing craps session in which Cloutier was the shooter. Chan and his friends lost $3,000 on one Cloutier roll and, afterward, he wrote, "T.J. has lost more money at craps than possibly any human being alive. Obviously he's just a poor craps player and one should bet against him, not with him."

Since then, rumors circled that Cloutier's poker earnings have dried up, as he's been seen borrowing money for tournament buy-ins on multiple occasions. Online poker pro Grayson "the_dean22" Nichols recalled an occurrence involving Cloutier on the poker forum PocketFives.com: "I remember a couple years ago, going to play in a $100 rebuy at the Orleans Hotel with Steve ‘gboro780’ Gross and Ari Engel. We get registered for the maybe 60 person field and we see Cloutier just hanging around, bumming the free hot dogs asking for a stake in the tournament. (It) looks like this isn't a new development."

The monetary value of a WSOP bracelet has been a source of debate since Cloutier's bracelet went up on eBay. Following the conclusion of the auction, Poker News Daily caught up with Matt "mattg1983" Graham and asked the two-time WSOP bracelet winner the minimum amount he'd sell either of his bracelets for. "It totally depends on finances, but right now I'd take like $30,000," said Graham, who won the $1,500 Limit Hold'em Shootout in 2008 and the $10,000 Pot Limit Omaha World Championship in 2009. Asked if he were hypothetically broke and in need of money, Graham told us that he'd accept a $10,000 offer.

Dozens of others on the forums commented about the value of a bracelet, in particular one belonging to Cloutier. "I would definitely buy a WSOP bracelet if it belonged to Phil Ivey or Stu Ungar or Doyle Brunson," said TwoPlusTwo poster TexCortez. "They are just straight up legends. T.J. on the other hand... well, it kind of ranks up there with buying an old pair of Richard Simmons exercise shorts from eBay."

Ty Reiman Wins UBOC 4 Kickoff Tournament

The kickoff event of the fourth Ultimate Bet Online Championship (UBOC) saw recent PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) runner-up Ty “KEEFKING420” Reiman take down the $320 buy-in No Limit Hold’em Sniper contest for $65,000.

Reiman has been on a tear in recent months. His second place showing in the 2010 PCA Main Event 10 days ago was worth a colossal $1.75 million and Reiman outlasted all but Harrison Gimbel in the record-setting field of 1,529 players. In December, the Illinois native tasted victory in both the $150,000 Guaranteed on UB.com and the Full Tilt Poker $30K Super Turbo Knockout for a combined $50,000. Reiman’s breakthrough happened last July, when he won the $1K Monday on Full Tilt for $100,000.

Reiman told UB.com officials following the $320 buy-in kickoff event, “It was a great structured tournament and I really enjoyed playing it. I started off going into the final table in second and, with how deep we were, it allowed us a lot of play. I picked up a few hands and we got down to short-handed pretty quickly. Then, it took quite some time before it was over.” Heads-up, Reiman defeated PEENAR7, who banked $38,000.

On the battle against PEENAR7 for the title of UBOC Event #1 Champion, Reiman recalled, “The heads-up was back at forth, but by the end, luck must have been on my side. I really enjoyed UBOC and can't wait to play the rest of the events. I think they have a great structure and are a great series of tournaments.” Reiman and company will have 18 total UBOC events to compete in along with a MiniUBOC tournament series, which offers buy-ins that are one-tenth as large.

Also at the final table of UBOC Event #1 was Scott “stsitron” Siton, who earned $16,000 for his fifth place showing. Sitron has excelled in the live poker world, turning in a 32nd place showing in the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event for $253,000 in a tournament ultimately won by Team PokerStars Pro member Joe Cada. In 2008, he finished in second in a $1,500 buy-in No Limit Hold’em event at the WSOP for $385,000. Sitron has nearly $700,000 in career WSOP and Circuit Event cashes to his name.

So who else made the final table of the UBOC 4 kickoff event? Here were the results; 108 players finished in the money:

1. KEEFKING420 - $65,488
2. PEENAR7 - $38,626
3. SCHUEY995 - $26,654
4. AUTOBOT7 - $19,209
5. SCOTTYTHEFISH - $15,933
6. DOUBLEDAVE22 - $12,955
7. ANTONFS - $9,977
8. COOKIELULU2 - $7,147
9. DEGORD2 - $5,063

Event #2 of UBOC 4, a $162 buy-in Eight Game Mixed tournament, drew a crowd of 386 players. The event surpassed its $50,000 guarantee, with CYBERCOW defeating Justin Scott heads-up to earn $15,000. A total of 40 players walked away with cash, with notable online poker pros Dan “djk123” Kelly and James “croll103” Carroll reaching the talented final table. Both sit in the top 25 of the PocketFives.com Online Poker Rankings and are among the game’s elite. Here’s how the final table shook out:

1. CYBERCOW - $15,633
2. JUSTIN SCOTT - $9,814
3. CHETSTEADMAN - $6,369
4. WORTHLESNUTS - $4,632
5. JEFFGRESSARD - $3,474
6. CROLL103 - $2,461
7. TWOLIP69 - $1,882
8. ZESTFULYCLEAN - $1,303

The Main Event of UBOC 4 kicks off on Sunday, January 31st and is a $1,050 buy-in No Limit Hold’em Two-Day contest. At least $1 million will be on the line. Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest UBOC 4 coverage.

WSOP Denies Twittering at the Tables in 2010

Official tournament rules for the World Series of Poker 2010 that will be played at Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, contains eight pages of rules from information about tournament registration to regulations at the tables.

One of the new regulations is that all cell phones must be turned off during play. However, players who are not involved in a hand (their cards are in muck) are permitted to text or email at the table, but shall not be permitted to text or email any other player at the table.

Twittering about chip stacks and memorable hands at the tables were popular in 2009, but this year any players who wish to talk on their cell phones must be at least one table length away from their seats.

Here is what the rules say about late registration: “Registration for the tournaments are open until the end of the second level of any event. If there is a player break at the end of the second level, registration will remain upon until the Tournament resumes play. Any player registering for an event after all initial tables allocated for that tournament have been filled will begin play at the start of the subsequent level.”

If players miss the start of the tournament by a minute, for example, they still have to wait until the end of the first level before they can enter the tournament. In the WSOP Main Event that would mean two hours of sitting in sidelines.

One spesific rule that has risen the most conversation is the “no-show”-rule: “These players (who didn’t show up by the start of the third level) will have their chips removed from play and will not be eligible to participate in that event. The buy-ins for ‘no shows’ will be removed from the prize pool and placed on safekeeping in that player’s name at the main WSOP registration cage after the second level of play.”

This rule basically allows players to “unregister” from the event if they don’t feel like playing or find that their starting table is tough or whatever reason, by just not showing up at the tables and get their money back without any penalty.

The 2010 WSOP will begin on May 28th with the annual $500 buy-in Casino Employees No Limit Hold’em event. The Main Event will start on Monday, 5th of July, and the new champion will be crowned again in November.

Source

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WSOP Denies Twittering at the Tables in 2010

2010 WSOP Rules Permit Twittering at the Table

The official rules for the 2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP) were handed down this week, with tournament organizers adopting a cell phone rule that permits text messaging and Twittering at the table.

All cell phones must be turned off during play. However, as the WSOP regulations note, “Players not involved in a hand (cards in muck) shall be permitted to text/email at the table, but shall not be permitted to text/email any other player at the table.” Twittering of chip counts and memorable hands were staples of the 2009 WSOP, when the social media outlet exploded in popularity. Even poker legends like 10-time bracelet winner Doyle Brunson have become engulfed in Twitter, with “Texas Dolly” now able to spit out additional blonde jokes while seated at the table of any 2010 WSOP event.

Any players who wish to talk on their cell phones must be at least one table length away from their seats while gabbing. Meanwhile, the WSOP logo policy in 2010 will remain the same as it was in 2009. No logo will be permitted that promotes drugs, handguns, lotteries, obscene material, pornography, libel, or “advertises any online gaming site that conducts business with U.S. residents.” Nearly every logo shown on ESPN television cameras in 2009 featured the dot-net version of the site’s URL. Meanwhile, Everest Poker, which had sponsored pro Antoine Saout at the final table of the 2009 Main Event, served as the on-felt sponsor of the tournament series. Everest Poker does not accept players from the United States.

Posters on TwoPlusTwo were quick to critique the 2010 WSOP rules, which incorporated revisions made by the Tournament Directors Association. One point of contention concerned late registration. The rule reads, “Any player registering for an event after all initial tables allocated for that tournament have been filled will begin play at the start of the subsequent level.” In the WSOP Main Event, for example, that could mean a player sitting out as long as two hours, the length of one blind level.

Fans of UB.com poker bad boy Phil Hellmuth may see the 11-time bracelet winner show up on time in 2010 thanks to a rule that governs “no shows,” players who fail to show up by the start of the third level of play. The rule mandates, “These players will have their chips removed from play and will not be eligible to participate in that event. The buy-ins for ‘no shows’ will be removed from the prize pool and placed on safekeeping in that player’s name at the main WSOP registration cage after the second level of play.”

Some posters on TwoPlusTwo questioned whether the “no show” clause meant that if a player saw they had a tough table draw, they could simply un-register by not showing up. Member “pineapple888” explained the dilemma: “It seems like you can register, wander by your table an hour into the event, and if there are too many pros/tough players for your liking, or there aren't enough chips on the table, or whatever (no hot chicks at the table or railbirding), just wander away and claim your refund later without penalty.”

The action gets underway in the 2010 WSOP with the annual $500 buy-in Casino Employees No Limit Hold’em event on May 28th. Also to be held on that date is the brand new $50,000 buy-in Player’s Championship, an Eight-Game mix of Limit Hold'em, Omaha High-Low Split Eight or Better, Seven Card Razz, Seven Card Stud, Seven Card Stud High-Low Split Eight or Better, No Limit Hold'em, Pot Limit Omaha, and 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball. It takes the place of the $50,000 HORSE Championship, which drew a meager 95 players in 2009 after having 148 in 2008.

Also new on the docket in 2010 is a $25,000 buy-in No Limit Hold’em Six-Handed event that starts on June 30th. Many in the industry have questioned WSOP officials introducing a richer No Limit Hold’em tournament than the Main Event, whose buy-in is only $10,000. Nevertheless, the $25,000 Six-Handed contest is sure to attract some of the top names in the worlds of live and online poker.

Check out the official 2010 WSOP rules.

Full Tilt Poker Launches Double Guarantees Week

From January 25th to 31st, Full Tilt Poker, the world’s second largest site, is doubling the prize pools of its guaranteed tournaments. A total of $25 million will be on the line throughout the week, leading up to a special $1.5 million purse for the site’s marquee $750,000 Guaranteed on Sunday. Full Tilt happily accepts players from the United States.

The $750,000 Guaranteed, which will sport a seven-figure prize pool on the final day of January, is a $216 buy-in poker tournament that kicks off at 18:00 ET. The $256 buy-in Sunday Brawl, the industry’s largest bounty tournament, will see its guarantee boosted from $400,000 to $800,000. In the event, $200 of each player’s buy-in becomes part of the prize pool, $40 is placed on their head as a bounty, and the remaining $16 goes to Full Tilt Poker as juice. Last week, bounties totaling $109,000 were up for grabs.

The final chance for Full Tilt Poker members to get in on high-stakes action each weekend is the Sunday Mulligan, which issues its “Shuffle Up and Deal” command at 19:05 ET. On January 31st, a total of $400,000 will be up for grabs in it, an increase from the regular $200,000 prize pool. Overall, $2.7 million out of the $25.3 million in guarantees will be on the line in the three aforementioned Sunday majors.

A bevy of more affordable tournaments will also have their guarantees doubled between January 25th and 31st. The site’s $1K Monday, which drew 315 players last week in a tournament ultimately won by IStakeU.com poker coach Will “imahustla1” Givens, will sport a $600,000 purse on January 25th. Givens pocketed $78,000 and the top 36 players finished in the money in the $1,060 buy-in affair.

Full Tilt Poker’s Daily Dollar, a $1 buy-in tournament, will boast a $20,000 guaranteed prize pool. This tournament runs twice daily at 15:15 ET and 20:15 ET and offers unlimited rebuys during the first hour and one add-on. Its first place prize is regularly around $1,500. The daily $75,000 Guaranteed, which comes with a $163 buy-in, will see a purse of $150,000 up for grabs as part of Double Guarantees Week.

The $55 buy-in Fifty-Fifty will not sport a $50,000 guarantee during Full Tilt’s promotional week. Instead, the spoils will be bumped to $100,000. The Fifty-Fifty runs nightly at 21:30 ET and first place usually pays around $9,500. Other highlights of Double Guarantees Week include the Double Deuce, which will come complete with a $400,000 guaranteed prize pool. The affordable $22 buy-in tournament kicks off, appropriately, at 16:22 ET on Sundays.

Double Guarantees Week rounds out the month of January on Full Tilt Poker. Beginning on February 10th is the 15th Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS). The quarterly event makes its debut in the new decade with more than $17 million in guaranteed prize money. The kickoff event is a $216 buy-in No Limit Hold’em tournament with at least $1 million on the line. FTOPS XV culminates in a $535 buy-in Main Event with at least $2.5 million up for grabs. Last time out, The FTOPS XIV Main Event drew 5,471 players and surpassed its guarantee by $235,000.

Following February’s running of the FTOPS is the MiniFTOPS in March. The series features buy-ins that are one-tenth the size of their high-stakes counterparts and will take place between the 10th and 21st of the month. Full Tilt’s roster of pros include 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event November Nine member Phil Ivey, five-time bracelet winner Allen Cunningham, former MIT Blackjack Team member Andy Bloch, and high-stakes cash game specialist Tom “durrrr” Dwan, who is Team Full Tilt’s newest face.

Visit Full Tilt Poker for more information on Double Guarantees Week.

Poker Tournament Scene in 1980 by Linda Johnson

I hope you all are enjoying the new year! 2009 ended incredibly well for me at a party at the Spinetti house in Las Vegas. In addition to some top-notch entertainment, hanging out with great friends, and enjoying some delicious food, there was a poker tournament. I managed to hang in long enough to be part of a final table chop and still make it to the rooftop in time to watch the fireworks launched from many of the Strip hotels at the stroke of Midnight.

A post-Midnight conversation among some of the party attendees who are poker dinosaurs like I am had us reminiscing about the differences in poker tournaments from 1980 to 2010. I’m sure some of today’s young players would scoff at the conditions 30 years ago. First of all, we didn’t have all of the conveniences of modern technology such as a tournament clock. Instead of being able to look on a screen and see how much time was left in the round, time was kept on a small timer worn on the tournament director’s lapel. If you wanted to know when the limit was going to go up, you had to hunt down the tournament director and glance at his kitchen timer.

Another big difference in tournaments over the past 30 years is the specific poker game of choice. Many of the tournaments in 1980 were Seven Card Stud or Draw Poker events. Hold’em became popular in the early 1980s and quickly became the favorite tournament game, but of course I’m talking about Limit Hold’em. Other than at the World Series of Poker (WSOP), one could not find a No Limit Hold’em tournament. Around the mid-1980s, Omaha/8 was introduced to Las Vegas and became a popular form of tournament poker, but when I first started playing, Omaha was only known as a city in Nebraska.

In 1980, there weren’t nearly as many tournaments to choose from as there are today. Card rooms in Las Vegas usually spread one or two tournaments a week and the buy-ins were low - $22, $33, $44, or occasionally $55. There was only one $10,000 buy-in a year and it was the Main Event of the WSOP. There was no World Poker Tour (WPT). There were no such things as what I call “tournament mills” – card rooms that offer four or more tournaments in a day.

Today’s youngsters would laugh to learn how few chips we used to get in tournaments. There was no such thing as “deep-stack” events; if you paid $400 to enter a WSOP event, for example, you would start with $400 in tournament chips.

Tournament conditions have changed quite a bit in the past 30 years. If you couldn’t tolerate smoke, you couldn’t play, since every card room allowed smoking. I can remember how brutal it was to be stuck between two smokers for hours at a time. The atmosphere wasn’t nearly as pleasant 30 years ago as it is today. There was no penalty system for abuse, so you had to have thick skin to play. Some players didn’t respect dealers and they had to get used to bobbing and weaving as cards were thrown at them.

All of this contributed to having very few women play in the old days. Today, of course, almost every card room in the world is non-smoking, abuse has been greatly curtailed, and there are lots of women who enjoy a very non-threatening poker environment.

There was no such thing as the Tournament Director’s Association (TDA) in 1980. Tournament rules were far from standard, so every time you went to a different locale, you had to ask how many raises were permitted, whether they used a forward-moving or a dead button, etc. Players were allowed to expose cards to get a read on their opponents. They could even discuss the contents of their hands. You didn’t have to table your cards when you were all-in with no more action possible. Today’s players take for granted that TDA rules apply in almost every tournament venue in the country.

One of the rules that I was instrumental in changing through the power of the pen as publisher of CardPlayer was in regards to the chip race. In the 1980s, when it was time to color up, players received one card for each odd chip, just like they do today. However, instead of coloring up the odd chips into higher denomination chips and then giving a maximum of one chip per player, the player who ended up with the highest card at the table received all of the new higher value chips.

Getting the high card could affect the outcome of the event since it was such a huge win. For example, if they were coloring up 23 $100 chips, one player would get $2,500, which often was more than the starting chip stack. In today’s events, five players would each get one $500 chip instead of one player getting all five $500 chips.

In 1980, we played poker. There was no tweeting at the table, no iPods, and no cell phones. Sometimes I miss the good old days. Happy 2010!

Poker Industry Steps Up For Haiti

Tens of thousands of people are feared dead and up to three million affected by a massive 7.0-magnitude earthquake which struck the Caribbean island Tuesday.

Now, PokerStars is offering its players the chance to donate to humanitarian efforts there.

Players can donate by making a transfer to the "Haiti Fund" account through the Transfer Funds tool on PokerStars or by entering one of the dummy "Haiti Earthquake Relief" tournaments on the site.

Tournament amounts range from $1 to $1,000 and all donations will be matched by PokerStars and donated to the Red Cross.

As of press time, thousands have already donated.

Meanwhile, Full Tilt pro Mike McDonald says Full Tilt Poker is stepping up to do the same.

The site will immediately begin running “Aid For Haiti” tournaments through Sunday, featuring a range of buy-ins.

Plus, it is offering a number of “Aid For Haiti no-play” tournaments Sunday and setting up an “Aid For Haiti” user account to receive direct money transfers.

Like PokerStars, Full Tilt has pledged to match all donations and send the money to various charities working in Haiti.

Visit PokerListings.com

Vanessa Rousso Bests Tough Field in 2010 PCA $1,000 Ladies Event

Harrison "gibler123" Gimbel may have garnered the headlines at the 2010 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) by winning the Main Event and a $2.2 million paycheck, but he wasn't the only one having a good time at the Atlantis Resort and Casino in the Bahamas.  One of the biggest hits of the Caribbean poker festival was the $1,000 + $100 Ladies No Limit Hold'em tournament.

A total of 91 women competed in the event, 33 of whom won their seats online at PokerStars via satellites with buy-ins starting as low as $2.20.  They won more than just their entry and spending money; the online qualifiers were also pampered at the resort's Mandara Spa and received instruction at a High Heels Poker Tour Ladies Boot Camp session from Team PokerStars Pro Vanessa Rousso.

As it turned out, the Boot Camp attendees probably should have listened to their instructor more closely, as Rousso went on to win the event, scoring a $24,725 cash.  Rousso burst onto the poker scene in 2006 when she placed 7th in the $25,000 World Poker Tour (WPT) Championship and then won a $5,000 No Limit Hold'em event at the WPT Borgata Poker Open a few months later.  In 2007, she finished second in PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP), winning over $700,000, and became known to a broad television audience when she was the runner-up in the 2009 National Heads-Up Poker Championship.  The GoDaddy.com girl has also won two tournaments on NBC's "Poker After Dark."

Other members of Team PokerStars Pro in the tournament who were not as fortunate were Katja Thater, Veronica Dabul, Sandra Naujoks, and Maria "Maridu" Mayrinck.  Other known pros in attendance included J.J. Liu, 2007 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Europe Main Event champ Annette Obrestad, European Poker Tour (EPT) London Ladies champ Dagmara Aleksandrowicz, and Shirley Rosario, who placed fourth.

Another player of note was Elizabeth Bennett-Martin, who qualified for the Main Event via a PokerStars satellite for the second year in a row.  A portion of her winnings was earmarked for the charitable organization Cambodian Legal Education for Women (CLEW).  Created by her Toronto law firm, Bennett Gastle P.C., CLEW raises money to help impoverished women in Cambodia attend law school.  The goal of these women is to provide legal help to those who would not normally be able to access any in Cambodia, where the population of more than 14 million has only 538 lawyers.  Unfortunately, Bennett-Martin did not make the money in any event this year.

Sixteen women did cash, though, each getting a piece of the $88,270 prize pool.  Runner-up Halli Pinson was impressed with the field, telling PokerStars, "This event was a lot more serious than most ladies tournaments. I didn't recognize that many faces, but the field seemed a lot more experienced than usual. These women had come to play, and they had come to win! Vanessa Rousso dominated the event though – she had good cards and she's an experienced player: the combination was lethal."

Those who did not want to pony up $1,100, but still wanted to compete in a women-only tournament, or those who just wanted another shot at a title, had the chance to play in another Ladies Event the next day for just $300.  The field of 73 produced a prize pool of $19,119 and Diana Linke took home the top cash of $6,504.

PokerStars Caribbean Adventure $1,000 + $100 Ladies Event Final Standings

1. Vanessa Rousso - $24,275
2. Halli Pinson - $13,815
3. Ann-Margaret Johnston - $9,335
4. Shirley Rosario - $6,620
5. Jamie Kerstetter - $5,740
6. Pastora Sorenson - $4,635
7. Lisa Adams - $3,750
8. Vanessa Caldeira - $2,870
9. Irene Baroni - $2,425
10. Sarah Wasch - $2,425
11. Violetta Szczerba - $2,205
12. Nesrine Kourdourli - $2,205
13. Muriel Allard - $1,985
14. Anna Yamshchikova - $1,985
15. Alina Salnikova - $1,765
16. Hai Nguyen - $1,765

$17 Million On the Line in Upcoming FTOPS XV

Set to run Feb. 10-Feb. 21, the series will offer $17 million in guaranteed prize pools with events in a number of poker variants including No-Limit Hold’em, Pot-Limit Omaha, Omaha Hi-Lo, Razz, H.O.R.S.E., 7-Game and Seven-Card Stud.

Notable events include the two-day $2 million guaranteed No-Limit Hold’em tournament on Feb. 20 and the $2.5 million FTOPS XV main event on Feb. 21.

Full Tilt will also offer Knockout, Turbo, Rebuy, Heads-Up and Cashout events in No-Limit Hold’em.

Hosts for the events have yet to be announced.

Players who can’t afford the FTOPS buy-ins will have the opportunity to take part in MiniFTOPS XV, which takes place just one month later from March 10-March 21.

Every FTOPS event will have a MiniFTOPS equivalent at 1/10^th the buy-in. MiniFTOPS XV will offer a prize pool of $6 million.

Full Tilt started the FTOPS in 2006 with a combined prize pool of $1 million. Since then the online series has blossomed into one of the busiest in the world with hundreds of winners crowned and main events with multi-million dollar prize pools.

The last FTOPS proved to be a memorable one as David Pham, Greg “FBT” Mueller and Chris “Genius28” Lee all won titles while online player zhivago2 outlasted 5,470 players in the main event to win $418,839.

For more information or to sign up check out Full Tilt here.

Visit PokerListings.com

Euro Finals of Poker schedule confirmed

The schedule for this year’s Euro Finals of Poker in Paris has been announced with a total of 14 titles to be won. A variety of events are scheduled for the Aviation Club de France including Limit Hold’em, No Limit Hold’em, Pot Limit Omaha and H.O.R.S.E tournaments. Buy-ins range from €150 to €5,000 so there’s something to suit all bankrolls.

2010 WSOP Schedule Critiqued by Bernard Lee

The 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) concluded with the completion of the second November Nine.  The crowning of Joe Cada as the 2009 WSOP Main Event champion culminated 57 bracelet events this year.

However, the 2010 WSOP is now on the minds of every poker player with the recent release of the new schedule.  Beginning May 28th, the poker universe will once again center on the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.  To begin the next decade, the WSOP will have a 51-day schedule where players will compete for 57 WSOP bracelets.

As I looked over the schedule, I had the following comments, questions, and suggestions:

$1,000 events:  Last year during the opening weekend, Harrah’s held its first $1,000 buy-in No Limit event, nicknamed “The Stimulus Special.”  With 6,012 players participating, it was a rousing success.  With the state of the economy, Harrah’s promised more $1,000 buy-in events for 2010.  As seen in next summer’s schedule, Harrah’s definitely delivered with a $1,000 event every weekend and one right before the Main Event (six in total).  Players will each begin with triple the buy-in chips ($3,000) at level 25/25.  However, be forewarned!  The blinds increase quicker than you think and the eliminations are fast and furious once you get to the middle stages of the tournament.  Overall, these lower buy-in events will definitely increase the number of participants over the weekends, helping the Rio not only fill hotel rooms, but also improve their cash games.

Mid-level buy-in events ($2,000 to $5,000):  Although Harrah’s has catered to the casual player with numerous lower buy-in events such as the $1,000 and $1,500 versions, the reduction of the mid-level buy-in events hurts professional players like myself.  These events still have tremendous value (fewer players, but larger buy-ins), more starting chips (thus, more chance to play without a short stack) and fewer participants (thus, a better chance, albeit slight, to win).  Besides the $5,000 (June 8th) and $2,500 (July 2nd), all of the preliminary No Limit Hold’em events are $1,500 and under.  I understand that it is harder to get participants for the mid-level events; however, Harrah’s scheduled two $2,500 Six-Handed Hold’em events, a $2,500 Mixed event, and a $5,000 Six-Handed Hold’em event.  Instead of six $1,500 No Limit events, I believe they should have replaced a few of these with mid-level buy-in events, such as a $2,000, another $2,500, and a $3,000.

Players Championship:  This year, Harrah’s decided to replace the $50,000 HORSE event with this Eight-Game event.  The final table will be exclusively No Limit Hold’em, specifically so it can be television-friendly.  Although I do not agree that tournament officials should change the game just for the final table, at least one of the games played during the early levels will be No Limit Hold’em.  I always found it ridiculous that during the inaugural year in which Chip Reese won, the WSOP had the HORSE final table play only No Limit Hold’em when it was not even one of the five games (only Limit Hold’em is played in HORSE).  Nevertheless, with the return of this event to television, the Players Championship will most certainly have more players than last year’s disappointing 95 registrants.

$25,000 Six-Handed Event:  With the elimination of the $40,000 No Limit event and the moving of the Players Championship to the beginning of the series, the WSOP felt it needed another big event before the Main Event.  Thus, the $25,000 Six-Handed event was born.  Although this will attract some of the best players – live and online - I’m not sure why this is a $25,000 buy-in.  Why not make this event a $10,000 Championship event like the other ten $10,000 events?

No play on July 4th:  I believe that this was an excellent modification to the WSOP schedule.  Over the past couple of years, the day with the fewest number of participants was often July 4th.  This year, Harrah’s decided to begin the Main Event after the holiday so players can focus solely on it.

More room:  In 2010, Harrah’s will increase its capacity for each event, especially with the inclusion of the additional $1,000 events and to avoid the WSOP Main Event Day 1D debacle.  This year, almost all of the Rio convention rooms will be reserved for the WSOP.  You’ll need a map just to figure out where you are playing, especially during the first few days.  Therefore, if you are just coming in for a few events, make sure you know exactly where you are playing the night before so you aren’t wandering for the first 15 to 30 minutes of the event.

Avoid sell-outs:  Last year, the WSOP had a record 10.25 sellouts (the 0.25 is for Day 1D of the Main Event).  In an attempt to avoid sellouts, Harrah’s is increasing the space for additional tables.  However, there are ways to avoid being shut out, especially for the first $1,000 No Limit event being held on Saturday, May 29th.

1. Always register early.  Make sure you register not just hours, but days in advance, especially the low buy-in events.  Last year, the Stimulus Special sold out the night before, even though it had two starting days.

2. For events with higher buy-ins ($2,000 and greater), you often can wait until the morning it starts since they usually do not sell out.  However, my advice is to register the night before.  I usually go to the cage just before I go to bed and I have never waited more than a couple of minutes.  Additionally, I can sleep in or have a nice breakfast and not worry about having to get my seat.  I’m always amazed at the people waiting in the huge lines just before the event.

If you can’t arrive days early, make sure that you pre-register via WorldSeriesofPoker.com, which will ensure you a seat.  Unlike at some other tournaments across the country, you cannot have someone else register for you.

Well, after all this thinking about the biggest poker event of the year, I am already looking forward to the 2010 WSOP.  Good luck to everyone and I hope to see you there.

Chris Moorman (moorman1) Wins PocketFives.com Yearly PLB Title

DoylesRoom sponsored pro Chris "moorman1" Moorman stormed through the competition in 2009, capturing the Yearly PocketFives.com Leaderboard (PLB) title. In addition, he claimed the Monthly PLB for December, his second of 2009.

Moorman’s claim to fame during the year came in August, when the British online poker pro chopped a Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS) $322 No Limit Hold’em with Rebuys event for $204,000. His second largest cash to date on the virtual felts came in April, as Moorman made the final table of a PokerStars Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) event for $113,000. In February, Moorman was in the winner’s circle of the PokerStars $100 Rebuy for a cool $88,000.

Moorman was a beacon of consistency throughout 2009. In the first Online Poker Rankings update on PocketFives.com, which occurred on January 7th, Moorman sat at number two worldwide. Three weeks later, the youngster overtook Alex “AJKHoosier1” Kamberis for the Rankings’ top spot, a position that he held until February 25th. On that date, Steve “gboro780” Gross, CardPlayer’s Online Player of the Year winner for 2009, ascended to the top of the PocketFives.com Rankings, pushing Moorman back to second worldwide.

Gross had a stranglehold on the top spot in the Rankings until August 12th, when Shaun “shaundeeb” Deeb overtook him. Deeb, of course, announced in mid-November that he was retiring from tournaments due to burnout. On September 23rd, Moorman was back on top in the same month that he officially became a member of the Brunson 10, the group of online poker players handpicked by Doyle Brunson to represent DoylesRoom. Moorman held the top spot in September for a week until the 30th, when Gross once again led the way.

On November 25th, Dan “djk123” Kelly stole the top spot from Gross just in time for the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States. Moorman then ascended to the head of the class on December 30th, with the next Rankings update to be released on Wednesday, January 6th. The Rankings encompass tournaments with at least 100 entrants and prize pools of $1,000 or more. Each event must have a buy-in of at least $1 and only scheduled tournaments are tracked. Only non-satellite tournaments with real money buy-ins are counted across some of the world’s largest online poker sites like Absolute Poker, Betfair, Bodog, Cake Poker, Carbon Poker, Full Tilt, PartyPoker, PokerStars, Titan Poker, and UB.com.

On the PocketFives.com Yearly PLB for 2009, Moorman logged 20,850 points, comfortably edging out Kelly, who netted 18,606. Moorman’s largest score was 716 points, whereas Kelly’s single greatest PLB tally was double that. Gross took third on the Yearly PLB for 2009. Here were the final results:

1. Chris “moorman1” Moorman – 20,850.97
2. Dan “djk123” Kelly – 18,606.93
3. Steve “gboro780” Gross – 18,472.42
4. Shaun “shaundeeb” Deeb – 18,061.15
5. Tony “D1rtyR1v3r” Nardi – 17,616.29
6. Kevin “ImaLuckSac” MacPhee – 17,514.48
7. David “Doc Sands” Sands – 17,354.60
8. Jeremy “daisyxoxo” Fitzpatrick – 17,167.12
9. Felipe “improved” Montenegro – 17,134.04
10. Ben “NeverScaredB” Wilinofsky – 16,323.68

Moorman finished fourth on both CardPlayer’s and Bluff’s Online Player of the Year leaderboards for 2009. He joined the Brunson 10 in September, becoming the fourth member of a talented group of players that already included Amit “amak316” Makhija, Zachary “CrazyZachary” Clark, and Alec “traheho” Torelli. In November during final table play of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event, the Brunson 10 welcomed “2 Months, $2 Million” cast member Dani “ansky” Stern to its ranks. Stern was the youngest personality to appear on the G4 online poker reality show.

DoylesRoom happily accepts customers from the United States as a member of the Cake Poker Network. Other site pros include Todd Brunson, Hoyt Corkins, and “The Mad Genius of Poker” Mike Caro.