Making the Leap in Poker

Last weekend, I was at a holiday party and, as expected, was forced to make conversation with a bevy of strangers.  Most people don’t know anything about poker, but one guy I met was actually a “serious casual” player; he doesn’t live off his winnings, but still wants to make a little money playing rather than just playing for entertainment.

He presented me with an issue he has been having, one that most of us have experienced.  He recently moved up in stakes and has been having trouble with the psychological effects of the jump.  He has been feeling intimidated and thinks it has been affecting his play.  He, thinking I’m a poker expert, asked me for advice.

The first thing I asked him was if he was sure he was properly bankrolled for the new stakes.  A “proper” bankroll is open to interpretation and everyone has their own comfort level, but generally speaking, 25 to 30 buy-ins for No Limit or 300 to 400 big bets for Limit should work out just fine.  When in doubt, always err on the side of having too large of a bankroll.  Too small of a bankroll and a couple of downswings could easily wipe you out.  My new poker conversation partner assured me that this wasn’t a problem.

He reiterated that even though he knew his bankroll was sizeable enough, he just couldn’t shake the feeling that all of his opponents were better than him – they knew something he didn’t know.  He tended to overcompensate – either too loose or too tight – and was getting killed as a result.  I told him not to assume anything about the other players; just play your style.  You may win and you may lose, but if you stay in your comfort zone, it will be easier to learn about your opponents.  Then, when you have a read on how they play, you can start making adjustments.

And you know what?  If you have some failures at first, then you have some failures.  There is no shame in moving back down.  Unless you’re a famous player, nobody cares if you have to take it down a notch.

Better yet, don’t worry about moving up all at once.  Obviously, single-tablers will have no choice, but people like the guy at the party who are “serious casual” players are almost always multi-tablers, which presents more than one option.  I told him if it makes him feel more comfortable, he could gradually break into the higher stakes by keeping the majority of his play at the lower stakes tables at first.

Investigate the tables at the higher stakes, pick one that looks juicy, and take a seat.  When you feel good about things, add another table at your new stakes and continue from there until you have moved up completely.  All the while, though, feel free to hop back down if you see some attractive tables at the lower stakes or you simply need to rein it in a little.  The point of the endeavor is to make money, and if you can make money at a particular table, who cares what the blinds are?

Even though this guy said that his bankroll is sufficient for the higher stakes, I still sensed that the money intimidated him more than the players did.  Thus, if he can, he should try to mentally convert the dollar amounts to big blinds or big bets.  It will allow him to keep his emotions more level, as it will take some of the sting out of losing and some of the exhilaration out of winning.

Think about the genius of a brick and mortar casino.  You don’t use cash at the tables; you use chips.  There are multiple reasons why chips are used, but one of them is because people tend to forget they are playing with real money when they are just moving plastic chips around.  You didn’t lose a hundred bucks at a blackjack table; you just lost 20 chips.  Additionally, counting with big blinds instead of dollar amounts makes it easier for some to evaluate their winning or losing pace, as for many, a win rate of one big blind per hundred hands is more descriptive than, say, four dollars per hundred hands.

No matter what strategy you use when making the jump to the next level, the most important thing is to be just as comfortable at your new stakes as you were with your old stakes.  You can’t afford to make decisions based on the fear of losing money; you need to make decisions based on the poker being played.

Prahlad Friedman Joins Team UB.com

Following last week’s overhaul at Team UB.com that saw Annie Duke and Phil Hellmuth depart on the same day, the USA-friendly CEREUS Network site has picked up its newest pro. On Thursday, site officials announced that Prahlad Friedman had joined Team UB.com.

Friedman seemingly hinted at joining an online poker site back in November. The 32 year old California native Tweeted, “I said I would never sign with a poker site. Should I ever reconsider? What y’all think? I would have to get over the fact that I’m ‘selling out.’ I’m the only player in the world that hasn’t wanted a deal that I know of.” UB.com promoted Friedman as “one of the world’s greatest cash game players, online and off, with millions in winnings earned since 1999.”

Friedman’s first major live cash came eight years ago in the Main Event of the Five Diamond World Poker Classic at the Bellagio, where he booked $101,000 for his runner-up finish to Full Tilt Poker’s Erick Lindgren. One year later, he notched his first (and so far only) World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet in a $1,500 Pot Limit Hold’em tournament and banked $109,000 in the process.

In 2005, Friedman played second fiddle to Chris Ferguson in the WSOP Circuit Championship at Harrah’s Rincon to earn another $363,000. One year later, this author remembers being at the Rio in Las Vegas and following Friedman through the WSOP Main Event. There, he turned in a 20th place finish for nearly a half-million dollars and fell just short of the coveted Main Event bracelet.

He’d make amends in August 2009, when Friedman took down the Legends of Poker, a stop on the World Poker Tour (WPT). His victory in the California poker tournament was worth a colossal $1 million and saw Friedman outlast a final table that included November Niner Kevin Schaffel, Todd Terry, Toto Leonidas, and Sam Stein.

Friedman was a victim of the superuser scandal that rocked UB.com and drew the ire of PokerStars pro Daniel Negreanu for signing with the site that had wronged him. “Kid Poker” responded to a variety of Tweets last weekend, among them one sent to fellow poker player Alex Outhred that read, “Like you, I’ve known him for years, which makes it all the more shocking. I’ve defended Prahlad on many occasions. Can’t here.”

Negreanu added to Outhred, “UB will always have to offer more than face value [for a sponsorship] because given a choice that’s close, no one would choose UB. Or shouldn’t… UB has to offer more money obv. He used to say it wasn’t about the money. I don’t believe that anymore… He used to speak out against all corporations, claiming he stood for something. Then, the money was right and his tune changed… I get it happens. I’m disappointed it did happen. I’ve always liked Prahlad and still do despite his decision. Just shocking.”

Nevertheless, Friedman will join UB.com just in time for the sixth UB.com Online Championship, or UBOC, which gets underway on January 16th. The 29-event series will stretch all the way until January 30th, when a $1,050 buy-in Main Event will kick off. The $1 million guaranteed feature tournament will deal No Limit Hold’em and be played as a Monster Stack.

Running alongside the sixth UBOC schedule is a MiniUBOC series, which features the same 29 tournaments, but with buy-ins that are generally one-tenth as large. The MiniUBOC slate ends with a $55 buy-in Monster Stack Championship Event that comes with a $50,000 guaranteed purse.

Following the departures of Hellmuth and Duke, UB.com’s stock of pros now includes Friedman, Joe Sebok, Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin, Brandon Cantu, Tiffany Michelle, and Maria Ho. The site happily accepts players from the United States and joins Absolute Poker on the CEREUS Network.

Play with Prahlad Friedman today only by visiting UB.com.

UB.com and Absolute Poker Add More Money, More Winners to 2011 TLB

For many, the New Year means a fresh start and an opportunity to make positive changes.  Online poker rooms are no exception.  The CEREUS Network, comprised of UB.com and Absolute Poker, has revamped its Tournament Leaderboard (TLB) for 2011 and will award more money to more players.

The biggest change has been made to the Multi-Table TLB, where CEREUS will be dishing out $116,000 in prizes to the year-end leaders along with $15,000 in total to the top 20 players each month.  For the yearly TLB, the overall winner will receive $10,000 plus a $10,000 seat in the 2011 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event.  The runner-up will receive $5,000 and a WSOP seat.  The rest of the top ten at the end of the year will also receive cash prizes and the top 100 will have the opportunity to play in an exclusive $50,000 freeroll.

At the end of each month, the player atop the multi-table TLB (for that month only) will win $5,000, second place will get $2,500, and third place will receive $1,000.  Fourth through tenth places will bank $500 and the remainder of the top 20 on the monthly TLB will get $300.

St. Louis resident “C_SWEENZ” finished 2010 atop the multi-table TLB and won $10,000 plus a seat at the 2011 WSOP Main Event.  “Winning the 2010 leaderboard was a huge rush and great accomplishment! I’ve played a lot of hands and learned a lot,” said “C_SWEENZ” in a CEREUS Network press release.  “I’m looking forward to improving my all-around game by continuing to play all of the great tournaments on UB and making another run for 2011. Good luck at the tables everyone!”

“FUTUREPROQQ,” from Lincoln, Nebraska finished second in the TLB and will also play in the WSOP Main Event on the poker network’s dime; he also collected $5,500.

The Sit and Go TLB is divided into three groups: Diamond, Heart, and Spade.  Diamond is for players competing in sit and gos with buy-ins of $6.50 or lower, Heart is for $6.51 to $25 buy-ins, and Spade is for $26 buy-ins and higher.  For each division, a player’s highest total score for 20 consecutive tournaments is what counts, which means that you aren’t rewarded for simply playing around-the-clock.

There are only weekly TLB prizes for sit and gos.  A total of $1,000 will be split among the top 50 players every week in the Diamond group, $3,000 will be spread among the top 40 in the Heart group, and $5,000 will be chopped among the top 20 in the Spade group.  All monetary prizes are awarded in Tournament Dollars.

At first blush, the TLB formula seems complicated, but it’s really not.  For multi-table tournaments and sit and gos, points are calculated by taking the square root of the total prize pool and dividing by the player’s final position taken to the power of two-fifths.  Got that?  In other words, the two inputs that matter are the total prize pool and the final standings.

The formula was devised not to take into account the buy-in directly so that the TLB field will be level for users of all bankrolls.  The buy-ins come into play when determining the prize pool, but since more players will typically register for lower buy-in tournaments, the prize pools will tend to even out.  Higher buy-in events have tougher fields and lower buy-ins have larger fields, both presenting their own challenges.

Taylor Paur (ambiguosity) Wins 2010 CardPlayer Online Player of the Year

Earlier this week, Taylor “ambiguosity” Paur was named the 2010 CardPlayer Online Player of the Year after edging out defending titleholder Steve “gboro780″ Gross in the final days of December. Paur stockpiled an all-time record of 11,030 points for the year, besting previous winners Gross (2009), Alex “AJKHoosier1″ Kamberis (2008), and Isaac “westmenloAA” Baron (2007) in that department.

Paur, 22, won the Full Tilt Poker $75,000 Guaranteed on December 27th for nearly $25,000 to help put a stranglehold on the crown. In total, he amassed more than $1 million in online poker earnings for the year, making up more than two-thirds of his lifetime winnings. He won 13 tournaments in 2010, six of them for scores of $80,000 or more. His biggest payday came in May when he took down the Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS) $150 Rebuy for $192,228.90.

Paur’s biggest feat, though, may have been fending off Gross, whose accomplishments in online tournaments are simply unparalleled. Gross, who has more than $5 million in earnings since 2005, finished as the runner-up to Kamberis in the 2008 CardPlayer Online Player of the Year race before earning the honor in 2009 and finishing runner-up again in 2010. His consistency and dedication to the game have landed him among the elite players in the industry.

Rounding out the top five in the 2010 Online Player of the Year standings were Casey “bigdogpckt5s” Jarzabek, Chris “Gettin Daize” Oliver, and Jon “apestyles” Van Fleet. Jarzabek, who helped open the online training site Tournament Poker Edge this year, totaled $782,355 in winnings to claim a spot in the Top 10 for the second straight year. Oliver, meanwhile, burst onto the scene in 2010 and spent several weeks as the #1 ranked player on PocketFives.com.

There’s a certain set of criteria for tournaments that count toward Card Player’s Online Player of the Year standings. Sites included in the rankings include PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, UB.com, Cake Poker, Absolute Poker, and Bodog and only tournaments with a buy-in of $100 or more qualify. The prize pool of a tournament must be at least $100,000 and prize packages such as trips or live tournament buy-ins do not count.

Here’s a look at the Top 20 in the 2010 Card Player Online Player of the Year Standings:

1. Taylor “ambiguosity” Paur – 11,030 points ($1,099,435 in earnings)
2. Steve “gboro780″ Gross – 10,320 points ($1,023,658 in earnings)
3. Casey “bigdogpckt5s” Jarzabek – 9,932 points ($782,355 in earnings)
4. Chris “Gettin Daize” Oliver – 9,268 points ($854,769 in earnings)
5. Jon “apestyles” Van Fleet – 9,164 ($859,489 in earnings)
6. Zach “HustlerGrune” Gruneberg – 8,984 points ($776,347 in earnings)
7. “kirbynator” – 8,878 points ($1,143,749 in earnings)
8. Cliff “JohnnyBax” Josephy – 8,874 points ($837,089 in earnings)
9. Raj “BadcardsAA” Vohra – 8,688 points ($1,319,012 in earnings)
10. Aditya “Intervention” Agarwal – 8,432 points ($739,105 in earnings)
11. Mark “dipthrong” Herm – 8,250 points ($811,208 in earnings)
12. Jamie “TheCronic420″ Rosen – 8,126 points ($664,588 in earnings)
13. Jordan “Jymaster11″ Young – 8,088 points ($751,593 in earnings)
14. Nick “Grippolio” Grippo – 8,044 points ($688,878 in earnings)
15. Ross “zestfullyclean” Myers – 7,960 points ($618,388 in earnings)
16. James “croll103″ Carroll – 7,898 points ($712,167 in earnings)
17. Mickey “mement_mori” Petersen – 7,792 points ($737,838 in earnings)
18. Ryan “ryanbluf” Karp – 7,712 points ($648,334 in earnings)
19. “mralan2950 – 7,710 points ($777,994 in earnings)
20. Chris “cdbr3799″ Dombrowski – 7,704 ($817,196 in earnings)

The Showdown with Jon Friedberg Debuts on Poker News Daily

The very first episode of “The Showdown” with Jon Friedberg debuted today on Poker News Daily. The weekly web-based series welcomed former “Survivor: China” castaway Jean-Robert Bellande to discuss a variety of topics ranging from bankroll management to the Spearmint Rhino in Las Vegas.

Friedberg is a former World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner who was an original ranked player on PocketFives.com. His former ventures include a radio show and television show on CardPlayer and he brings a considerable amount of media experience to Poker News Daily. The USA-friendly site UB.com sponsors “The Showdown” and new episodes will be released every Tuesday.

In a recent Guest Column here on Poker News Daily, World Poker Tour (WPT) front man Mike Sexton gave several suggestions to improve attendance on the live tournament circuit, among them lowering buy-ins and shortening each tournament’s length. Friedberg responded, “I absolutely agree with Mike on this. It would be really great if we could lower the buy-ins a little bit and maybe shorten the time period of a tournament. $10,000 is a lot of money.” What do you think? Give us your take on how to increase tournament turnout by posting a Tweet at @JonFriedberg.

Also making news in recent days was WSOP Tournament Director Jack Effel asking for suggestions for the 2011 Series, which kicks off on the last day of May. Friedberg gave his take on the responses that poured in via Twitter: “I saw a lot of great suggestions on Twitter, but I have to say the best suggestion I saw… is changing the structures to where the $1,000 No Limit Hold’em events and the $1,500 No Limit Hold’em events have the exact same structure… I don’t think you should ever have a smaller buy-in event in the World Series have a better starting structure than a bigger buy-in event.”

Then, Friedberg welcomed Bellande to the Las Vegas set. Bellande has opened up his life via Twitter, discussing his bankroll’s wild swings, among other topics. Bellande noted, “I just am not mindful of bankroll management. I just get on the table, am not afraid to put it all on the line, and I go for it. There is an appreciation in the poker community because a lot of us have the desire to do that, but after you’ve gone broke a couple of times and can’t stand being broke, nobody wants to do it.”

Bellande revealed that he has a wealth of backers to help him get back on his feet should his fortunes at the tables turn sour. On whether he prefers playing with the help of backers, Bellande told “The Showdown” viewers, “I’d much prefer to play on my own money. I’ve built up some credit with some people and always pay back… but I’d much rather be playing on my own stakes. Tournaments are different because the buy-ins are so enormous. A tournament player can spend $250,000 or $350,000 a year on buy-ins.”

Bellande serves as an ambassador of Aria Las Vegas and commented to Friedberg that the idea of Re-Tweeting insults came after seeing a popular porn star do the same: “My idea of Re-Tweeting the hater stuff – I actually got it from Jenna Jameson. She Re-Tweeted all of her hater stuff and I thought that was hilarious. People are going to think what they’re going to think anyway.”

If you follow Bellande’s Twitter feed, then you’ll also hear about his exploits at the Spearmint Rhino, a renowned strip club in Sin City. “I’ve spent $1,000 or $1,200 in there, but it’s never more,” Bellande admitted. “It’s usually around a couple hundred or $400. They actually don’t make me buy the bottle because I’m more of a local, regular guy. I have not gone into the Rhino very often recently.” Bellande added that visiting the Rhino serves as a way to help him wind down from a day at the tables.

With many poker players making resolutions, Bellande vowed not to go broke in 2011: “I really don’t want to go broke. My goal is not to go broke in 2011… You’ll see me go from $100,000 to $200,000 in the next month or two and then I’ll try to shoot it up so I have a decent bankroll going into the World Series.” The former Bodog pro added that he wants to hit the $1 million mark by the end of the year.

Check out the inaugural episode of “The Showdown” with Jon Friedberg, brought to you by UB.com. Use bonus code UBPND when signing up!

The Showdown – Episode 1

Pro poker player Jon Friedberg debuts his new show The Showdown. Jean-Robert Bellande is the guest in this first episode.

Friedberg is a successful business entrepreneur who moved to Las Vegas in 2004 but gained fame in the world of poker online under the names PokerTrip and Reactrix. During his peak, Friedberg was ranked as one of the top tournament players in the world according to PocketFives.com. In 2006 he won a World Series of Poker Bracelet by besting 2,890 players to win the 2006 WSOP Event #17 bracelet, in No Limit Hold’em. Since then he has placed at several other final tables and has accumulated over $2 million in live and online winnings.

In his debut episode of “The Showdown” Friedberg talks about what he will bring to the Poker News Daily audience. “I’m very happy to be here on Poker News Daily … and I’m really looking forward to a really fun run here. My goals and intentions for the show are to entertain, to inform and to educate. I plan to do that by having a really good group of guests on my show. I’m really not kidding when I say that my guests will vary anywhere from poker players to porn stars. There’s going to be a lot of interesting topics and a lot of fun discussions we’re going to have on this show.”

Friedberg’s first guest in The Showdown history is none other than reality TV star and pro poker player Jean-Robert Bellande, who has gained fame for wild bankroll swings and for his Twitter banter. However, before Bellande came out to talk the Vegas lifestyle and poker, Friedberg gives an interesting take on the current state of live tournament buy-ins and getting fish back into the player pools.

“If you think about it,” Friedberg explains, “If we could lower the buy-ins to maybe $3,500 or $5,000 or something, maybe shorten the structures a little bit, I think that would really bring a lot more amateurs back into the poker world.”

Topics that Friedberg and Bellande discuss include his sponsorship deal with the Aria poker room, improper bankroll management and getting a backer, which Bellande candidly speaks about. It’s a rare look into a player that likes to play big cash games with his entire roll on the line while at the same time tries to pay off his backers immediately and play with his own roll. By Bellande’s own admission he’s already gone bust a few times in just the last six months. In addition to that subject, Bellande also talks about the Vegas lifestyle and how he likes to party, but not too much, at the most famous Las Vegas Strip Club, Spearmint Rhino.

The interview with Bellande ends with a discussion of how he plans to build his bankroll and move into 2011 with enough to play through the entire World Series of Poker slate of events.

The Showdown with Jon Friedberg is exclusively seen on Poker News Daily with new episodes airing every Tuesday. For those of you that want to give feedback, Friedberg welcomes all tweets on Twitter on his account @JonFriedberg.

The Showdown is sponsored by UB.com, and is offering a 111% deposit bonus for first time depositors.

iPoker Network Cut Price Buy ins!

These, not to be missed, excellent promotions are about to be launched on our favourite ipoker sites but they will only run for a short time, January 7th to January 16th, so don’t miss out!

There are going to be $750,000 in guaranteed prize tournaments held at discount prices. The following sites are participating in this huge promotion with up to 80% off the buy in of scheduled tournaments under the following promotion names:-

• Titan Poker = New Year Super Sale
• Mansion Poker = Buy in Bargains
• Winner Poker = Ultimate Sale

See the table below for all that is on offer.. (more…)

Tom Marchese Recaps 2010 CardPlayer Player of the Year Title

This week, Tom Marchese officially claimed the 2010 CardPlayer Player of the Year title after an epic run that saw him make 11 final tables in major live poker tournaments according to the Hendon Mob for over $2 million. Marchese, who recently signed with the management firm Poker Icons, sat down with Poker News Daily to discuss the year that was.

Poker News Daily: Congratulations on capturing the CardPlayer Player of the Year honors. How does it feel?

Tom Marchese: It’s pretty awesome. It’s one of those things where it wasn’t on my mind to start the year and I found myself in the race. As it got closer, it was something I wanted to win and put effort into.

PND: What was the highlight of 2010 for you?

Tom Marchese: It has to be the NAPT Venetian Main Event win. Going into that, no one knew me on the live scene, so it put me on the map. I had just final tabled a tournament in Atlantic City and had all the confidence in the world.

PND: When did you start gunning for the award?

Tom Marchese: After the WSOP. Before that, I just played main events and don’t think I played any buy-ins below $5,000. After the WSOP, in the race for the Player of the Year title, I decided to grind smaller tournaments and make a run. I don’t know if I could grind them all the time, but I enjoyed it.

PND: You recorded 11 final tables in major tournaments according to Hendon Mob this year. Tell us about bursting onto the poker scene in 2010.

Tom Marchese: I’m sure a lot of people thought my previous online success was just me getting lucky, but people have to realize that some of the best players in the game come from an online background and don’t have a lot of live experience. People realized that my game is as good as anyone else’s. I wanted to play a bunch live and get in some travel in 2010. I was hoping to freeroll a year of traveling, so I didn’t have super high expectations.

PND: Speaking of traveling, what is your favorite tournament location?

Tom Marchese: My favorite poker trip was to Aruba, which was actually canceled this year. It’s one of the nicest beaches I’ve been to and has a very relaxed atmosphere. When you go to the Bahamas, the weather’s good, but it’s really obvious that you’re at a poker tournament. I also went to Portugal for EPT Vilamoura and played in the Partouche Poker Tour. Those were both on the beach and really fun. I’m looking for a beach and nice weather when I travel.

PND: What has it been like watching yourself on ESPN as part of the network’s NAPT coverage?

Tom Marchese: I enjoy watching, although I prefer watching the NAPT I won. At first, it was pretty weird to watch myself on TV with a bunch of friends where you can see your physical tendencies, but it’s very cool to be on ESPN2.

PND: We understand that you conducted a few coaching sessions with WSOP November Niner Matt Jarvis.

Tom Marchese: I helped him leading up to the Main Event final table. I just did a session or two right before it and went over some strategies. We were talking about good opening positions based on what stack sizes were difficult to 3bet you and what players to stay away from. It was a general, common sense approach to having 30 big blinds. When you have that stack, it’s important to be looking for the best opening spots and not just every opening spot. You’re only going to have so many opportunities to raise/fold.

PND: You seem to be quite humble both in this interview and at the table. Is that how you are in real life?

Tom Marchese: That’s how I am. Many of my friends don’t play poker or play and have less success. If you don’t stay down to Earth, what friends are you really going to have? I’m just fortunate to have the success I’ve had this year. It’s important to keep working hard.

PND: How are your friends and family taking it?

Tom Marchese: They all think it’s awesome. Whenever I’m playing live, my Dad texts me for updates, which is cool because he was against poker when I started. Up until this year, my friends thought I was just getting by. Now, they think it’s awesome that I’m on TV. Everyone is really happy about it.

PND: How did you convince your Dad that poker could be a viable career?

Tom Marchese: I did my best to show him cash game graphs and explain that the game wasn’t luck. When I was in college and my grades weren’t the best, it’s understandable that my parents thought I was just gambling.

PND: What goals do you have for 2011? Will we be seeing a repeat Player of the Year performance?

Tom Marchese: The repeat is on my mind. At least for the start of the year, I’ll play a pretty heavy schedule and see what happens. If I enter the WSOP and I’m in the race, I’ll try to defend. I’ll definitely be playing all of the good U.S. main events and will probably make it to Europe a few times for London. San Remo, Vilamoura, and Partouche. No matter what, I plan to play a lot.

PND: We wanted you to dish out a few awards of your own. First, who is the Most Improved Tournament Player of 2010?

Tom Marchese: Dwyte Pilgrim. It seems like his game came together pretty well this year. You can expect him to continue improving in 2011.

PND: Who will be the Breakout Tournament Player of 2011?

Tom Marchese: Andrew “luckychewy” Lichtenberger or Bryn Kenney. Both of them have gone deep in the WSOP Main Event and always have good stacks. They have both run bad deep.

PND: Who is the Best Female Tournament Player?

Tom Marchese: Vanessa Selbst. She is far and away the best.

PND: Who is the Best Online Tournament Player?

Tom Marchese: It’s still Steve “gboro780” Gross. His online results lifetime are pretty much in a class above everyone else.

PND: Finally, what was the best Christmas gift you received?

Tom Marchese: Spending time with my family. These days, I’m fortunate enough to be able to afford anything I want, so I’m a difficult person to buy for. I got clothes and I appreciate them, but having seen my family so little this year, it has been great to spend time with them.

UB.com Returns as Sponsor of Poker Pro Canada Classic

UB.com has announced that it will once again be the title sponsor of the second annual Poker Pro Canada Classic.  The tournament, which will be held at the Four Aces Poker Club in Montreal, Quebec, is scheduled to run from January 27th to January 30th.

Co-sponsored by the leading poker magazine Poker Pro Canada, the Classic will feature a $1,500 + $150 buy-in and, like most major tournaments, will be a No Limit Hold’em event.  With more than 300 players expected to register, the prize pool could get up to $500,000 or more.

Poker Pro Canada Editor-In-Chief John “Johnny Quads” Wenzel is understandably excited about the upcoming tournament and commented in a press release, “The first Poker Pro Canada Classic back in April was a huge success, so we couldn’t wait to hold the second edition.  Four Aces was a terrific venue and I can’t wait to get back there.”

While the Poker Pro Canada Classic is a freezeout, it is not a freezeout in the traditional sense.  There will be three Day 1s and, while there are no intra-day rebuys allowed, anyone who busts out will be permitted to plunk down another buy-in and try again on a subsequent starting day.  Play will be stopped each day once the field gets down to 25 players.  Seventy-five total players across Days 1A, 1B, and 1C will return on Sunday, January 30th to compete for the championship.  Players will start with 20,000 chips and blinds will increase every hour.

As one might expect in a live tournament sponsored by an online poker room, UB.com will be running super satellites to the event during the month of January.  Here is the super satellite schedule:

· Sunday, January 2nd at 4:05pm ET: $200 + $15, Three packages guaranteed
· Wednesday, January 5th at 9:00pm ET: $200 + $15, Three packages guaranteed
· Sunday, January 9th at 4:05pm ET: $200 + $15, Three packages guaranteed
· Wednesday, January 12th at 9:00pm ET: $200 + $15, Three packages guaranteed
· Thursday, January 13th at 8:30pm ET: $300 + $20, One package guaranteed
· Sunday, January 16th at 8:30pm ET: $300 + $20, One package guaranteed

Players who find the super satellite buy-ins too rich for their blood will have the opportunity to qualify via lower buy-in satellites on UB.com.  More of these qualifiers, which will go as low as $10 + $1, will likely be added as the Poker Pro Canada Classic gets closer.

UB.com will also be holding six special Regional Freerolls open to residents of the Quebec and Ontario provinces of Canada and the states of New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine.  The freerolls will take place on January 2nd, 9th, and 16th at 4:05pm ET and on January 5th, 12th, and 19th at 8:05pm ET.  Each freeroll will award a single prize package to the winner.

The 20 total prize packages are valued at $2,500 apiece and include the $1,650 buy-in for the Poker Pro Canada Classic as well $850 for travel expenses.

The inaugural Poker Pro Canada Classic saw 246 players duke it out for a share of the $370,000 prize pool.  Team UB.com members Mark “Poker H0″ Kroon and “Hollywood” Dave Stann were in attendance, but the title went to local Montreal resident Oliver Baksic, who took home $118,000.  Also of note was Canadian Heads-Up champ Benjamin Lablond, who placed third.

The Four Aces Poker Club is located in the Kahnawake Mohawk Territory, just a few minutes south of Downtown Montreal across the Mercier Bridge.  In addition to tournaments, the Club spreads low-stakes cash games every day of the week.  Free food and beverage are provided to all cash game players.

Full Tilt Poker Super Sit and Go Madness Returns January 7th

Start 2011 off on the right foot by heading to Full Tilt Poker, the site of Super Sit and Go Madness. This popular promotion returns once again to Full Tilt and is offering over $150,000 in cash and prizes. Full Tilt Poker happily accepts players from the United States and is the second largest online poker room in the business.

Super Sit and Go Madness begins on Friday, January 7th at 16:00 ET and will run for 48 hours until Sunday, January 9th at 16:00 ET. The sit and gos you can take advantage of are highlighted in green in the Full Tilt Poker lobby and divided into four groups. The first, dubbed Group A, consists of sit and gos with buy-ins ranging from $1 to $2. Group B consists of sit and gos with buy-ins ranging from $5 to $11 and Group C contains single-table tournaments with $20 to $35 price tags. The final Super Sit and Go Madness group is Group D, which contains high roller $50 to $110 buy-in sit and gos.

The Full Tilt promotion is divided into 24 two-hour time blocks. Points will be awarded to players based on their performances during those periods and at the end of every 120 minutes, cash prizes will be awarded to the top seven players on each Group’s leaderboard, ranging from $1 to $500. A total of 28 players will walk away with money every two hours, giving Full Tilt faithful plenty of opportunities to boost their bankrolls.

In addition to the two-hour leaderboards, an Overall Leaderboard will be kept for every Group; each will contain the best performances of every two-hour time block. Text found on Full Tilt’s website details how the Overall Leaderboards work: “So, if a player in Group A earns 100 points for the 22:00 ET to 00:00 ET period on Friday and then 150 points for the 00:00 ET to 02:00 ET period on Saturday, it’s only the 150 points that will be reflected on the Overall Leaderboard.” The top two players on each Overall Leaderboard will stamp their tickets into a $5,000 freeroll to be held on January 15th at 15:05 ET.

Action junkies can check out Super Turbo Sit and Gos that dole out starting stacks equal to just 10 times the big blind. A typical Super Turbo Sit and Go lasts about 15 minutes and any points you earn in them for Super Sit and Go Madness leaderboards count for two-fifths as many points.

Full Tilt Poker players who are fortunate enough to capture victories in three separate Super Sit and Go Madness tournaments will earn entry into a $75,000 Freeroll. The freebie takes place on January 15th at 16:50 ET and any players who receive a tournament ticket are eligible to vie for a $75,000 prize pool.

Finally, the Madness Raffle returns and offers up more than 1,000 prizes. When you cash in a Super Sit and Go Madness tournament, you’ll receive a ticket for the Madness Raffle, a drawing for a grand prize of a Full Tilt Poker Deluxe Home Game package that includes a tricked-out standalone poker table, a 500-piece poker chipset, and two poker deck cases.

In addition, a total of 210 Steps tickets and 900 pieces of Full Tilt gear will be given out through the Madness Raffle. Remember, only tournaments that appear in green in the Full Tilt Poker lobby are tracked for Super Sit and Go Madness, so choose wisely.

Visit Full Tilt Poker for more details.

It’s Time for a Change by Mike Sexton

I think it’s time for casinos that host big buy-in tournaments, such as WPT events, and the players in them to take a look at what’s happening out there today.  Due to “player demand,” events have gotten longer since players are starting with deep stacks and friendlier structures.  The result is that fields are getting tougher and smaller.  And due to the large number of big buy-in tournaments these days, if something isn’t done about it, I see that trend continuing.

This will certainly be the case until online poker gets regulated – and when that happens, we’ll see another poker boom.  Big buy-in live events will expand their numbers substantially because so many people will be able to qualify online for $50 or $100.  But that’s “if and when,” and we need to worry about right now.

On a side note, one of the biggest myths in poker is about deep stack tournaments.  It doesn’t matter how many chips you start with; what matters is the size of the blinds in proportion to the size of your chip stack.  But this article is not about deep stack tournaments; it’s about why event attendance is declining in big buy-in events, what to do to about it, and why it will benefit both players and casinos to change the current trend.

You lose value when you shut out the players you want in the tournaments, such as the businessman who cannot take a week off work and amateurs who can’t be away from their families for a week.  And cutting down the buy-ins at some events may actually increase the prize pool because of the larger number of entrants.  Just look at the recent WPT events at Borgata and Foxwoods.  Borgata had a $3,500 buy-in and was the largest field in WPT history with 1,042 players, creating a $3.5 million prize pool.

Foxwoods had a $10,000 buy-in with 240 players, creating a $2.4 million prize pool.  Generally speaking, larger fields provide more value for players and, obviously, more people in the casino can only be better for the casino.  An additional value of lesser buy-in tournaments is that you can run a lot more satellites, providing more people an opportunity to play and increasing value in the tournament.

How can we increase fields and create more value for the player?  The first step that needs to be taken is to shorten the events.  With the exception of the $25,000 buy-in WPT Championship, I’d suggest cutting every event on the WPT back to four days – and just as importantly, start them on a Saturday (with the final table on Tuesday).

In my opinion, this would be a win-win situation for everybody.  Amateurs can play on the weekend and would only miss one day of work (two if they make the final table, but that would be an extremely beneficial day off for them).  The casinos will get more players in their events, which would have much more value.  And you don’t have to play ungodly hours the first three days.  You do have to cut back starting chips from 30,000 to 20,000, cut levels back to 45 minutes, or eliminate five or six levels along the way.  By doing this, pro players will actually earn more in the long-run, as value in the tournaments would increase substantially.

I’ve been to every event in the history of the WPT.  At least 80% to 90% of the time, the top players get eliminated in a race or a bad beat – and it doesn’t matter if it’s a three-day tournament or a week-long tournament.  As a player, if you knew you were going to race for your money near the end of a tournament, wouldn’t you rather have that race at the end of three days rather than at the end of six days?  Wouldn’t you like to have an extra few days to enjoy life?

The argument some players will make is, “Because of the long structure, I was able to survive and put myself in a position to have a race at the end of six days.”  That argument has some merit, but I don’t believe it outweighs the added value in tournaments of allowing more amateurs to play.

Players and casino management must recognize that shortening the days of play will benefit everyone.  Decreasing buy-ins at some venues would be beneficial as well.  For this plan to succeed, however, it’s going to take a strong recommendation by the WPT, the vision of casino management (which shouldn’t be hard since they’ll make more juice and get more people in their casino), and the support of top players with leadership that see the light, especially those in the youth brigade who will help lead the charge.

Where’s Nike when you need them?  “Let’s Do It!”

December 23rd – Weekly News Update

Welcome to your weekly fix for this week’s poker news, I’m Sean Gibson and in our PND weekly update, I’ll be recapping the hottest headlines for this week.

We start out with maybe the biggest name in poker… and MORE exposure of UB.com’s Phil Hellmuth is just what the poker world needs. In recent days, Hellmuth potentially dropped a bombshell by Tweeting:

“OMG! Phil Hellmuth (me!) on ‘Dancing with the Stars!’ Outrageous! Might make a fool out of myself on worldwide television one more time.”

ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars” is entering its twelfth season, which is set to hit television airwaves in the beginning of Two Thousand Eleven.

Despite multiple media outlets asserting that Hellmuth is a lock for “Dancing with the Stars,” let’s not get ahead of ourselves just yet. The cast for the new cycle has not yet been announced, but is apparently due out in January.

According to Politco, Senator Jon Kyl is keeping his Two Thousand Twelve reelection plans close to the vest, which is creating uncertainty about the future hierarchy of his party’s leadership. Kyl is the Senate Minority Whip, the second ranking position in the Republican Party.

Poker players know Kyl as Capitol Hill’s current public enemy number one to online poker. He was one of the key players behind the UIGEA four years ago. The bill, which aimed to stop the flow of funds to offshore internet gambling sites, was attached to the must-pass SAFE Port Act in the middle of the night just before Congress adjourned for the year.

Since Two Thousand Six, Kyl has continued to fight against online poker. Earlier this year, he blocked the appointment of several of President Barack Obama‘s nominees to the United States Treasury because he was upset that the UIGEA implementation deadline had been pushed back six months. This month, he was the most vocal opponent of Senator Harry Reid’s failed attempts to legalize and regulate online poker.

The sixth UB.com Online Championship, or UBOC, will kick off on Sunday, January Sixteenth. A record-setting twenty nine events will comprise the new series, culminating in a one thousand fifty dollar buy-in No Limit Hold’em Monster Stack Championship on January Thirtieth. All told, at least five million bucks will be shelled out to UB.com faithful during UBOC Six.

Running concurrently with UBOC Six is Mini UBOC Six, which offers the same slate of events, but with buy-ins that are one-tenth as large. This allows players of all bankrolls to compete in the wide range of tournaments on the docket. In addition, the entire UBOC Six schedule is open to players from UB.com’s CEREUS Network sister site Absolute Poker.

The very first PokerStars SuperStar Showdown took place on Sunday and featured Isaac Haxton squaring off against Isildur1. In the end, Haxton boosted his bankroll by forty-one thousand dollars over the twenty five hundred hand match and was declared the winner. Both Haxton and Isildur1 bought in for one hundred fifty thousand dollars.

According to the PokerStars Blog, the lively rail for the very first SuperStar Showdown match featured high-stakes pros like Kevin [MICK-FEE] MacPhee and Chad Batista. The group watched one of their own battle against an unknown Swedish online pro who many believe to be Viktor Blom. Four No Limit Hold’em tables at fifty/one-hundred blinds served as the battleground for the Showdown.

The next SuperStar Showdown opponent for Isildur1 has not yet been announced and interested players are encouraged to e-mail showdown@pokerstars.com. On its blog, PokerStars claims that a match may take place at the upcoming PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, although whether Isildur1’s true identity would be revealed at that time remains to be seen.

Looking to expand its brand further into the global marketplace, Caesars Interactive Entertainment has entered into a joint venture with one of Italy’s top online poker companies, Microgame.

In an announcement last Friday, Caesars Interactive and Microgame revealed a long-term agreement to co-brand Microgame’s online poker outlet, PeoplesNetwork.it, with the World Series of Poker name and logo. Through the agreement, Caesars Interactive and Microgame will offer online and live events to the Italian market prominently featuring the WSOP brand. Additionally, Microgame will become the official satellite outlet for Italian players entering the WSOP.

The movie that helped spark the poker boom is returning to fire a second barrel. Miramax Films announced this week that it will be teaming up with the Weinstein Company to produce “Rounders Two,” a sequel to the cult favorite that was released more than a decade ago.
According to IMDB, “Rounders Two” is currently in development and scheduled to hit theaters in Two Thousand Twelve. The cast and crew have not been announced, but Matt Damon and Edward Norton have supposedly signed on for the project, as has original director John Dahl. It’s unknown whether John Malkovich or John Turturro will return for the sequel, leaving fans to speculate where the story will take the lead characters this time around. Miramax broke the exciting news in press release late last week.

That does it for this week’s top headlines in the world of poker. We thank you for watching our Weekly News Update and encourage you to visit our site every day for the latest in poker news. I’m Sean Gibson, wishing you a very happy holiday season and of course … for you to crush the games for a late year heater. See you next time!

2011 WSOP Dates Released, Schedule Coming

The 2011 WSOP will begin Tuesday, May 31, 2011, just one day after the Memorial Day holiday in the United States, and run 50 days straight through Tuesday, July 19.

As it has since 2005, the Convention Center of the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada will play host to all the action.

The WSOP Main Event itself will begin Thursday, July 7 with the first of four starting days and conclude July 19 after reaching a final table of nine players.

This year, the WSOP is implimenting a hard stop time policy for all bracelet events.

Players will play a maximum of 10 levels per day and have their chips bagged and tagged to return the following day regardless of how many players remain in a tournament.

The entire WSOP schedule, with individual tournaments, dates, times and buy-ins will be released in January.

2011 WSOP Dates Released, Schedule Coming

The 2011 WSOP will begin Tuesday, May 31, 2011, just one day after the Memorial Day holiday in the United States, and run 50 days straight through Tuesday, July 19.

As it has since 2005, the Convention Center of the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada will play host to all the action.

The WSOP Main Event itself will begin Thursday, July 7 with the first of four starting days and conclude July 19 after reaching a final table of nine players.

This year, the WSOP is implimenting a hard stop time policy for all bracelet events.

Players will play a maximum of 10 levels per day and have their chips bagged and tagged to return the following day regardless of how many players remain in a tournament.

The entire WSOP schedule, with individual tournaments, dates, times and buy-ins will be released in January.

UBOC6 Set to Rock The New Year

UBOC6 is set to go off Jan. 6-30, 2011 with $5 Million in prize money over 29 online poker events, each hosted by a Team UB Pro.

"Not too long after those New Year's hangovers wear off, get back on UB because it's time for UBOC6," said Team UB's Joe Sebok.

"The UBOC's are my favorite online tournament series because they just keep getting bigger and bigger every time out. Now, if I can just figure out how to win an event, the excitement will be complete."

UBOC6 features a $2,000+$100 buy-in High Roller $750K Guaranteed event Jan. 23, and of course, the UBOC Championship Monster Stack $1,000+$50 buy-in Jan. 30.

Team UB Pro and Anthrax guitarist Scott Ian and a few rocker buddies will also return to host the Rock Star Bounty event Jan. 17.

Plus, an all-new Centerfold Bounty event with a bevy of bootylicious centerfold models has been added Jan. 27.

Once again, there will also be a Mini-UBOC series mirroring all 29 UBOC events at a fraction of the buy-ins, including a $50 buy-in $50K Guaranteed event.

Online satellites began Dec. 19. Check the "SATELLITES" tab in the UB tournament lobby for the full UBOC Satellite schedule.

Further details on the series and the full schedule can be found here.

UB.com Announces UBOC 6 Schedule

The sixth UB.com Online Championship, or UBOC, will kick off on Sunday, January 16th. A record-setting 29 events will comprise the new series, culminating in a $1,050 buy-in No Limit Hold’em Monster Stack Championship Event on January 30th. All told, at least $5 million will be shelled out to UB.com faithful during UBOC 6.

Among those looking forward to watching UBOC 6 play out on the virtual felts of the USA-friendly online poker site was Joe Sebok. The former “Poker2Nite” host and current UB.com pro commented in a press release distributed last week, “Not too long after those New Year’s hangovers wear off, get back on UB.com because it’s time for UBOC 6. The UBOCs are my favorite online tournament series because they just keep getting bigger and bigger every time out. Now, if I can just figure out how to win an event, the excitement will be complete.”

Despite primarily catering to U.S. players, UB.com has added several tournaments to the UBOC 6 slate on Wednesdays that cater to its European clientele. These Euro-facing events kick off at 16:05 ET and include a $162 No Limit Hold’em event (#8) and a $209 No Limit Hold’em with Rebuys tournament (#22). Returning in UBOC 6 is the popular Rock Star Bounty event, which is in the books for January 17th and features Anthrax guitarist Scott Ian, who is also a UB.com pro.

We’re done keeping you in suspense. Here are the 29 tournaments that comprise the UBOC 6 schedule:

January 16th at 14:00 ET
Event #1: No Limit Hold’em Deep Stack
$500+30 buy-in, $250,000 Guarantee

January 16th at 16:00 ET
Event #2: Sniper No Limit Hold’em Deep Stack
$300+20 buy-in, $200,000 Guarantee

January 16th at 18:30 ET
Event #3: No Limit Hold’em Deep Stack Ultra Turbo
$300+20 buy-in, $100,000 Guarantee

January 17th at 20:05 ET
Event #4: No Limit Hold’em Four-Max
$300+20 buy-in, $100,000 Guarantee

January 17th at 20:05 ET
Event #5: No Limit Hold’em Rock Star Bounty
$200+15 buy-in, $100,000 Guarantee

January 18th at 20:05 ET
Event #6: Pot Limit Omaha Six-Max
$200+15 buy-in, $50,000 Guarantee

January 18th at 20:05 ET
Event #7: No Limit Hold’em Deep Stack
$300+20 buy-in, $100,000 Guarantee

January 19th at 16:05 ET
Event #8: No Limit Hold’em
$150+12 buy-in, $50,000 Guarantee

January 19th at 20:05 ET
Event #9: Pot Limit Omaha Cubed
$200+15 buy-in, $100,000 Guarantee

January 19th at 20:05 ET
Event #10: No Limit Hold’em Deep Stack Six-Max
$500+30 buy-in, $250,000 Guarantee

January 20th at 20:05 ET
Event #11: No Limit Hold’em Deep Stack
$150+12 buy-in, $75,000 Guarantee

January 21st at 20:05 ET
Event #12: Sniper No Limit Hold’em Deep Stack
$150+12 buy-in, $75,000 Guarantee

January 22nd at 15:00 ET
Event #13: No Limit Hold’em Heads-Up
$1,000+50 buy-in, $128,000 Guarantee

January 22nd at 16:00 ET
Event #14: No Limit Hold’em Turbo Triple Chance
$200+15 buy-in, $100,000 Guarantee

January 23rd at 14:00 ET
Event #15: No Limit Hold’em Deep Stack
$300+20 buy-in, $150,000 Guarantee

January 23rd at 17:00 ET
Event #16: No Limit Hold’em Deep Stack High Roller
$2,000+100 buy-in, $750,000 Guarantee

January 23rd at 18:30 ET
Event #17: No Limit Hold’em Deep Stack Ultra Turbo Six-Max
$300+20 buy-in, $100,000 Guarantee

January 24th at 20:05 ET
Event #18: No Limit Hold’em Cubed
$200+15 buy-in, $150,000 Guarantee

January 24th at 20:05 ET
Event #19: Eight-Game Mix
$200+15 buy-in, $50,000 Guarantee

January 25th at 20:05 ET
Event #20: Sniper No Limit Hold’em Deep Stack
$200+15 buy-in, $100,000 Guarantee

January 25th at 20:05 ET
Event #21: No Limit Hold’em/Pot Limit Omaha Mix
$200+15 buy-in, $50,000 Guarantee

January 26th at 16:05 ET
Event #22: No Limit Hold’em with Rebuys
$200+9 buy-in, $50,000 Guarantee

January 26th at 20:05 ET
Event #23: Pot Limit Omaha Eight or Better
$200+15 buy-in, $75,000 Guarantee

January 26th at 20:05 ET
Event #24: No Limit Hold’em Deep Stack Ante from Start
$300+20 buy-in, $100,000 Guarantee

January 27th at 20:05 ET
Event #25: No Limit Hold’em Centerfold Bounty
$150+12 buy-in, $75,000 Guarantee

January 28th at 20:05 ET
Event #26: No Limit Hold’em Deep Stack
$150+12 buy-in, $75,000 Guarantee

January 29th at 16:00 ET
Event #27: No Limit Hold’em Turbo with Rebuys
$200+9 buy-in, $100,000 Guarantee

January 30th at 16:00 ET
UBOC Championship: No Limit Hold’em Monster Stack
$1,000+50 buy-in, $1 Million Guarantee

January 30th at 18:30 ET
Event #29: No Limit Hold’em Deep Stack Ultra Turbo
$300+20 buy-in, $100,000 Guarantee

Running concurrently with UBOC 6 is Mini UBOC 6, which offers the same slate of events, but with buy-ins that are one-tenth as large. This allows players of all bankrolls to compete in the wide range of tournaments on the docket. In addition, the entire UBOC 6 schedule is open to players from UB.com’s CEREUS Network sister site Absolute Poker.

Visit UB.com for full details.

Ryan D’Angelo Leads WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic After Day 1

One day of play is in the books in the Five Diamond World Poker Classic, a stop on the World Poker Tour (WPT). Ryan “g0lfa” D’Angelo, who took fifth in the 2010 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Main Event, leads the pack after Day 1 in Las Vegas with a chip stack of 192,500. The field numbered 391 when all $10,000 buy-ins were accepted on Day 1, with registration remaining open until 5:00pm local time on Saturday for Day 2. Last year, 329 players coughed up $15,000 apiece.

We really can’t believe we’re writing this, but Joseph “subiime” Cheong was bounced from the WPT Five Diamond after 6betting all-in before the flop with A-J and running into D’Angelo’s pocket jacks. If this seems eerily familiar to a hand that occurred at the 2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event final table, it is. In that tournament, Cheong crippled his stack after 6betting all-in pre-flop with A-7 three-handed and running into eventual winner Jonathan Duhamel’s pocket queens. The wired pair held each time.

North American Poker Tour (NAPT) Mohegan Sun champ Vanessa Selbst, a PokerStars pro, also met her demise on Friday at the Bellagio. Selbst got her money in good, holding pocket nines on a board of 8-6-6-3 for nines-up. Her opponent tabled 10-8 for eights-up and watched with glee as the river came another eight, giving him a full house and the win. On dropping the massive pot, Selbst proclaimed to the world via Twitter, “Oh yeah, now I’m busto instead of being the chip leader.”

Trending in the right direction on the first day of play was former Bodog pro and “Survivor: China” castaway Jean-Robert Bellande, who committed his stack with J-8 on a flop of 8-8-6 for trips. His opponent showed pocket nines, which added an open-ended straight draw when a seven hit on the turn. However, Bellande faded his opponent’s outs on the river and doubled through to 48,000. He finished the day at 65,050, good for 88th overall out of the 287 survivors.

2010 WSOP November Nine Bubble Boy Brandon Steven made his presence felt at the WPT Five Diamond on Friday. Steven sent formidable pro Scott Seiver packing during Level 3 to move to 52,000 in chips. Steven, however, failed to survive to Day 2.

Also finding the rail was Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo, who Tweeted the details of his untimely exit: “Bluffed every hand to get to 60k Level 1. Level 2 I made real hands and got sucked out on to get to 40k. Lost rest KK vs AA. Not fun.” Others joining Bonomo on the rail on Day 1 included Chino Rheem, UB.com pro Joe Sebok, and Shawn Cunix.

In case you’re wondering, Sebok was ousted in particularly brutal fashion. His chips found the middle with pocket queens on a flop of 10-5-2. However, his opponent had spiked a set with pocket deuces and Sebok’s WPT woes continued. Sebok has a pair of seventh place finishes on the WPT, which runs its final tables six-handed.

Here are the top 10 chip stacks entering Day 2 at the WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic:

1. Ryan “g0lfa” D’Angelo – 192,500
2. Amirouddine Alibay – 185,200
3. Albert Kim – 157,100
4. Antonio Esfandiari – 149,550
5. Niema Mostafavi – 145,800
6. Phil Ivey – 143,225
7. Maciek Gracz – 138,850
8. Matt Keikoan – 133,775
9. Justin Young – 131,200
10. Kirk Morrison – 130,075

Other brand name pros remaining in the top 50 include:

12. John Hennigan – 120,500
16. Chau Giang – 115,000
22. Peter Jetten – 104,175
41. Faraz “The-Toilet” Jaka – 84,050
42. Yevgeniy “Jovial Gent” Timoshenko – 83,750
45. David Chiu – 82,950

Registration will close at 5:00pm local time at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. Among those rumored to be buying into the $10,000 tournament on Day 2 is Kathy Liebert. Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest WPT coverage.

Big Time Poker is Back in the Big Easy

The two-week tournament series runs Dec. 2-12 including 14 events with buy-ins ranging from $150 up to the $2,500 main event beginning Dec. 10.

2010 marks the fifth year of the Bayou Poker Challenge.

In 2009, Allen “Chainsaw” Kessler won the main event and $70,976, defeating a field of 80 players.

This year’s Bayou Poker Challenge main event champ will also win a seat into the 2011 World Series of Poker Main Event in Las Vegas.

Cash games are also expected to be busy in the Crescent City throughout the series.

The 23-table Harrah’s New Orleans poker room has a reputation for hosting some of the top action in the country with games running around the clock.

WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic Begins Friday

The World Poker Tour (WPT) is wrapping up the 2010 calendar year with the annual Five Diamond World Poker Classic at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. The $10,000 buy-in event kicks off on Friday.

One of the most prestigious tournaments on the WPT schedule, the Five Diamond will draw some of the biggest names in the game. There will be one change that should draw a larger field for this year’s version of the tournament, however. In the past, the WPT Five Diamond event had a $15,000 buy-in. Perhaps reflecting tighter bankrolls, this year’s Five Diamond event is a $10,000 buy-in tournament.

The Five Diamond started on November 28th with an abbreviated schedule in comparison to past years. This year’s schedule featured 12 tournaments, whereas in 2009 there were 16 on the schedule. Preliminary events completed on this year’s tournament roster have been sparsely attended, even with the buy-ins reduced.

To this point, six events have been completed: three No Limit Hold’em tournaments, a Pot Limit Omaha with rebuys tournament, an Omaha High/Low tournament, and the Seniors’ Event. Of these tournaments, none has cracked 250 players.

“Miami” John Cernuto made the final table of the first $500 No Limit Hold’em tournament, which was won by Zeferino Hernandez. James Van Alstyne and Mark Gregorich made the money in the Omaha High/Low tournament, which was won by poker veteran Ken Lennaard.

Earning more points towards his run at the CardPlayer Player of the Year title was North American Poker Tour (NAPT) Venetian champion Tom Marchese, who won the $1,000 No Limit Hold’em with rebuys tournament. Finally, in a tournament that featured three female combatants at the final table, Karen Munro took the title in the second $500 No Limit Hold’em event.

One of the final preliminary events on the Five Diamond schedule, a $5,000 No Limit Hold’em tournament, will take place today, with the remainder of Thursday dedicated to satellites. Ready to go for today’s $5,000 event is WPT “Raw Deal” host Tony “Bond_18” Dunst, who Tweeted to his followers, “Off to the Bellagio to the play the 5k today, let us go go go!”

The WPT Five Diamond has been a crowning achievement for several of poker’s most notable players. “The Great Dane” Gus Hansen won the first ever cycle back in 2002 and such notable poker pros as Paul Phillips, PokerStars front man Daniel Negreanu, Joe Hachem, Eugene Katchalov, and November Niner David “Chino” Rheem have captured the title in the past.

Last year’s tournament was won by Daniel Alaei, who is expected to be on hand at the Bellagio to defend his WPT title. In 2009, Alaei outlasted a field of 329 players who built a prize pool of over $4.7 million. Daniel defeated a stacked final table that included former World Champion Scotty Nguyen, Shawn Buchanan, Faraz “The-Toilet” Jaka, and eventual runner-up Josh Arieh to take home a $1.4 million first prize.

Poker News Daily will keep you up to date on all of the action at the Bellagio as the WPT wraps up 2010 in style.

George “Jorj95? Lind Video Interview

George Lind, better known as Jorj95 online, is one of the sickest long-term grinders in online poker history. His exploits have earned him the top honor of the PokerStars VIP system in SuperNova Elite status every single year it has been available. We caught up with Jorj95 at the NAPT Los Angeles stop at the Bicycle Casino.

Known more for his online exploits, he was asked about transitioning into the world of high stakes tournaments. Lind responded, “Well, I was a live player first and I started in 1999 playing live. It wasn’t until 2005 that I started playing on the internet. So, I did play live for a few years… It’s a lot slower obviously, playing live, but it’s a lot more interesting in a way too because there’s a lot more to think about.”

Lind was the very first member of the 2010 class of SuperNova Elite players, as covered in this article – Jorj95 Becomes First PokerStars SuperNova Elite. To earn this level, Lind accumulated one million VIP Player Points (VPPs) on March 30th of this year. Lind estimated that he played approximately 80,000 Sit & Go tournaments during that time span, which averages out to about 50 hours per week playing hyper-turbo Sit & Gos. On October 21st he made it to 2 million VIP points, meaning he’s still “just” a SuperNova Elite but continues to rack in the reward bonuses that go with hitting additional milestones. Upon hitting SuperNova Elite, it’s estimated that the rewards equal out to about $115,000.

With the status level comes automatic buy-ins to major tournaments (or a cashout prize payout), which Jorj95 uses to travel and play in some of the most exotic destinations, as well as participate in some of the biggest online tournaments. He finished in 8th place in the prestigious $10,300 HORSE High Roller event during he 2008 PokerStars WCOOP which grossed him $30,900. In 2010 he finished second in the SCOOP Stud event for a $44,400 payday. At the WSOP he finished in tenth place at the $10,000 Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo Championship for $43,833. He has played in such destinations as the European Poker Tour (EPT), Asian Pacific Poker Tour (APPT) and the North American Poker Tour (NAPT).

It’s estimated that George Lind has over $750,000 in lifetime earnings just by playing online Sit & Gos at PokerStars. He is a member of their Team Online Pro stable.

EPT Barcelona Incident Leaves Poker Players Shaken

The most recent stop on the European Poker Tour (EPT) was in Barcelona, Spain, one of the more picturesque locales on the tournament schedule. Apparently, it was not so serene for some of the game’s top players.

According to the gossip among members of the TwoPlusTwo forum, two poker players, World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner Carter Phillips and 2010 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure High-Roller winner William Reynolds, were in Barcelona on Wednesday evening for the start of the EPT tournament. While traveling around the city, the duo apparently ran into a criminal element and a robbery occurred, with a machete used in the process. The incident left both players shaken.

On his Facebook page, Phillips updated his status to say, “I’d like to make this announcement that I am 95% sure that I am officially done with poker. More details to come. In the process of writing out a lengthy explanation to release to the poker community shortly.” Reynolds responded to the status update by saying, “For all of you that want to make bets and ridicule this post, now is not the time – none of this has to do with anything card related – people got robbed tonight and almost injured. I am thankful the 18-inch machete that was being swung at me last night didn’t kill me – the end.”

This sent the forums into a buzz as posters tried to ascertain what had happened. Many remembered last year’s robbery during EPT Berlin in which four men attempted to rob the casino of the prize pool built from the tournament’s participants. This event, however, seems to have occurred completely outside of the walls of the Casino de Barcelona and had nothing to do with the tournament itself.

A few days after the original post had exploded into a 15-page thread, Phillips started his own thread to explain what had happened that night. “Some of the details of the actual night are very skewed,” Phillips admitted. “I was not involved in knocking on the metal door. I also was not next to [Kayvan Payman] when he was robbed. I was probably about 50 yards away from the robbery and the knocking on the door.”

“I started going back to the scene as I realized that Kayvan had been robbed,” Phillips continued. “I was essentially just a bystander from a few feet away because, by the time I got back, the McDs owners had realized that William and Kayvan were not trying to hurt them or rob the store.”

As to his “quitting poker” statement on Facebook, Phillips cleared up the matter by explaining, “Everyone should understand there were several drinks involved in the night and the quitting poker thing was obviously right when I got back. I can honestly say that I have never been to any places in the U.S. where any of this stuff could have happened to me the way it did. Not to say there aren’t, because clearly people are bad all over the world. But I do think Europe is less safe and, therefore, when I mentioned quitting poker, I was more talking about the traveling abroad. I am tired of being in situations where my safety is at risk or where it is unfamiliar because of being in a new place.”

When poker pros travel, either from the U.S. to Europe or vice-versa, it is commonly known that many will wire their tournament buy-ins to the location where they are playing. In addition to that bankroll, however, players will normally carry money for miscellaneous expenditures that can sometimes run close to $10,000, which is the amount of money that can be carried without declaring it through customs. For those in any location, a poker player would be a prime mark for a robbery attempt.

Further details of the robbery are unknown, but apparently Phillips, Reynolds, and Payman are in good health, albeit unnerved by the incident. The former reflected, “This was a scary situation but, looking back, part of the night was definitely self-inflicted on ourselves and could have been avoided.”

PokerStars USA, Canadian Championships of Online Poker Begin Sunday

Continuing with its series of regional Championships of Online Poker (COOP) that began at the end of October, PokerStars is readying for the beginning of the United States and Canadian COOPs this Sunday.

Beginning November 21st and stretching through November 28th, players in Canada and the USA will be competing for bragging rights in their respective countries. PokerStars has 11 events scheduled for each series and each slate will test players in several different disciplines of poker.

The USA COOP starts off on Sunday with what should be one of the richer events on the schedule. A $55 Six-Handed No Limit Hold’em with Rebuys tournament will begin at 5:00pm ET and feature a guaranteed prize pool of $150,000. No Limit tournaments are a main fixture of the schedule, with buy-ins ranging from the $55 rebuy to the $530 Main Event, which has a guaranteed $1 million prize pool, but other poker fixtures such as Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo, HORSE, and Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo will also be featured.

The Canadian COOP will follow the same format as the USA COOP, albeit with smaller guaranteed prize pools. On Sunday, a $55 Six-Handed No Limit Hold’em with Rebuys tournament will start at 5:00pm ET, with a guaranteed prize pool of $25,000. The Canadian COOP will also play the same variations as the USA COOP, with the $530 Main Event on November 28th featuring a $200,000 prize pool.

Of special interest to Canadians playing in the event will be the opportunity to hit the virtual felt against the current World Series of Poker Main Event champion Jonathan Duhamel. This will give poker fans in the “Great White North” the opportunity to take on Duhamel and possibly lay claim to having beaten the reigning Main Event winner.

American players will be taking on everyone from the 50 states and Virgin Islands, while all of the provinces of Canada will take part in that country’s national championship.

The Russian COOP was the first series to be held. In total, 3,515 players took part in the 11-event schedule, easily passing the guaranteed prize pool in every event. For the $320 Main Event, “JustMyUnluck” claimed the title and a $21,358.47 first place prize.

Just after the RCOOP kicked off, the Nordic COOP began on November 4th. Over 2,500 players from such countries as Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, and Greenland stepped up to battle it out for their regional championships. In the $530 Main Event, players “Blimschen” and “TEIT91” agree to chop the prize pool and the latter emerged as the victor, earning $43,750 and giving “Blimschen” a $38,750 payday.

On the same day that the Nordic Championship started, the Baltics COOP began. 2,368 players came out from such countries as Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia, with the $215 Main Event drawing out 131 players and cracking the $10,000 guaranteed prize pool. Vilnius’ “sekme” defeated Tallinn’s “m0nit” to take home the Baltics Main Event title and the $6,026 first place bounty.

Running concurrently with the USA and Canadian Championships are the Germanic Championships, Asia Pacific Championships, and the Mediterranean Championships. Following the completion of the current round of COOPs, keep an eye out for the following regional series:

United Kingdom and Ireland – December 5th to 12th
Central and Eastern Europe – December 9th to 19th
Latin America – December 5th to 12th
Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg – December 9th to 19th
Spain, Portugal, and Andorra – February 13th to 20th

Full details on the completed, running, and upcoming championships can be found at Poker Stars.

“Luckexpress10? wins $80k from “Ziigmund” in just six hands

It looked like Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies beat his bad downswing, but it didn’t last long. “Ziigmund” got in a $200/$400 Pot-Limit Omaha heads up match against Marcello “luckexpress10″ Marigliano earlier today - and it lasted for six hands only.

Marcello “luckexpress10″ Marigliano

Even though the session was quick, Sahamies managed to lose 80,000 dollars, two buy-ins, in just six hands.

Ziigmund goes all-in on turn. Marigliano isn’t afraid to pay with the nut straight against Ziigmund’s possible flush:

All-in on flop, Marigliano’s trips are good:

Marigliano has been spotted on Betfair and Entraction high stakes tables as well, but there hasn’t been decent action for him. Marigliano is known as “sansonne” on Betfair and “Luckex” on Entraction.

Source: Pokerista.net

You just read Poker News from HighStakesNews.com

“Luckexpress10″ wins $80k from “Ziigmund” in just six hands

Lutes Lands WSOPC Biloxi Title

Lutes, whose previous biggest win was $367, took down $95,253 for winning the $1,600 buy-in tournament.

The final table was made up of relatively unknown players and it seemed from beginning it would come down to Lutes, who entered as the chip leader, and fellow big stack Farid Nasserazad.

By the time heads-up play came around it was indeed Nasserazad and Lutes for the title. Nasserazad started with a massive 6-1 chip lead over Lutes but the Californian was able to battle back and eventually win the WSOPC ring.

Although the majority of the poker world was focused on the 2010 WSOP Main Event, the Biloxi event still managed to attract 270 players.

Among the well-known players to take part were Circuit legend Doug “Rico” Carli, “Captain” Tom Franklin, Gabe Costner and Chris Tryba.

Six-time WSOP bracelet winner T.J. Cloutier made it farther than any of his fellow pros, eventually coming in 18th place to record a small cash of $4,891.

The WSOPC, which has been getting consistently bigger fields since lowering main event buy-ins this summer, will now head to the popular Tahoe stop where the next main event is scheduled to take place Nov. 21-23.

Here’s a look at the WSOPC Biloxi final table payouts:

1. Travis Lutes - $95,253 2. Farid Nasserazad - $58,857 3. Bobbie Talbot - $42,523 4. Jason Cluxton - $31,295 5. Yair Alon - $23,445 6. Robert Gunter - $17,865 7. Jerry Monroe - $13,841 8. Steven Marshall - $10,898 9. John Holley - $8,717

Poker News in Brief: Nov. 1-7

But as the November Nine played down to heads-up in Las Vegas this weekend, there were a few other stories happening in the poker world.

Since we didn't have the time or space to put many of them on the front page, we've compiled them below in our weekly Poker News in Brief feature.

This week the PCA sets a date for its Ladies Event, the USPC kicks off, a German wins in Macau and more.

PKR Reaches 4 Million

Four-year-old poker site PKR reached the 4 million customer milestone this week.

"This is a great accomplishment for us and a real achievement considering we don't take players from America," Marketing Director Simon Prodger said. "2010 has been a great year for PKR and we look forward to many more milestones in the future."

PokerStars Women's Caribbean Adventure

PokerStars is hosting another $1,100 Women's event at the 2011 PokerStars Carinbbean Adventure Jan. 14-15.

Team PokerStars Pro Vanessa Rousso won the event in January 2010 for $25,000, besting a field of 91 players that created an $88,270 prize pool.

Online satellite buy-ins start from as little as $2 or 500 Frequent Player Points on PokerStars.

German Wins Macau Poker Cup

Germany's Julian Hasse took down the Macau Poker Cup Championship at Casino Grand Lisboa this weekend.

Hasse bested a record field of 254 players to book the win and HKD $1,064,000 first prize.

"I still can't believe it, I'm speechless!" Hasse said.

Here's how the final table finished up:

1 Julian Hasse HKD $1,064,000

2 Kelly Flynn HKD $729,000

3 Wee Yee Tan HKD $440,000

4 Chi Chen HKD $347,000

5 Takashi Ogura HKD $278,000

6 Nathanael Seet HKD $231,000

7 Kristian Lunardi HKD $185,000

8 Renyong "Richard" Hu HKD $139,000

9 William Pastout HKD $116,000

Jack Links Inks WSOP Sponsor Deal

Jack Link’s Beef Jerky and the WSOP have signed a new multi-year sponsorship agreement that will keep the jerky king as presenting sponsor of the event.

The tournament will continue to be known as the World Series of Poker Presented by Jack Link’s Beef Jerky.

The deal begins at the 42nd Annual World Series of Poker Presented by Jack Link’s slated to get underway at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas May 30, 2011.

“This remains a great fit between two category-leading brands,” said WSOP Vice President Ty Stewart. “We couldn’t ask for a better organization to be our lead sponsor. We love being with a market dominator that shares our sense of fun and irreverence.”

U.S. Poker Championship Kicks Off

The 2010 United States Poker Championship began at the Trump Taj Mahal Casino and Resort in Atlantic City Nov. 1.

The tournament series runs through Nov. 22 and the USPC main event will be filmed for television.

Betfair Goes Canadian

Beginning Monday Betfair Poker will be localized for all Canadians.

Customers visiting the site from Canada will see global promotions but also have exclusive visibility to Canadian specific poker promotions.

To celebrate the launch of the Canadian poker website, Betfair Poker has planned a week of promotions, featuring freerolls, guaranteed tournaments, U.S Sports merchandise giveaways, and sports events packages.

The O Canada Series will consist of 16 freerolls and small buy-in tournaments.

PokerHeaven launches International Championship of Poker

A Complete Poker Whirlwind by Bernard Lee

Since the World Series of Poker (WSOP) this summer, my life has been a complete whirlwind.  After I witnessed the entire five-hour Main Event final table bubble (which went well into the wee hours of July 18th), we taped the ESPN Inside Deal WSOP wrap-up show at about 8:00am with no sleep.  Fortunately, right after we wrapped filming of the show, I was able to take a nap until my flight and headed straight back to Boston.

Once I landed in the Bay State, I took about a month off from poker.  This breather allowed me to reacquaint myself with my wife and kids.  Immediately, I got back into the role of Mr. Mom, taking them to and from summer camp, going to playgrounds and parks, and, in general, having fun with my kids.  It was a blast.

However, the month seemed to fly by and poker came calling once again.  In mid-August, I helped promote Foxwoods Resort Casino’s summer MegaStack series.  For this, I was able to secure three poker superstars as hosts: Chris Moneymaker (2003 WSOP Main Event Champion), Darvin Moon (second place in 2009), and Jonathan Duhamel (2010 November Nine chip leader).

In fact, since Dennis Phillips attended the May MegaStack, Foxwoods has had all three November Nine chip leaders as hosts of these events along with another WSOP final table chip leader, Chris Moneymaker. Overall, the August MegaStack was a huge success, setting records for all three events.  In total, there were over 2,200 registrants and more than $1.1 million in prize money.

Shortly thereafter, I was off to the WSOP Circuit Event in Council Bluffs, Iowa.  After a couple of preliminary events, I prepared to play in the Main Event.  Strangely, I feel very comfortable in Council Bluffs.  This time, I proceeded to make my third Main Event final table in Council Bluffs in the past three years, making it almost my second poker home outside of Foxwoods.  Unfortunately, I came up a little short of the ultimate prize, finishing in 10th place among 251 players.

After a couple of weeks at home with the family, I headed down to Borgata in Atlantic City with my co-host Andy Kaplan for the Eastern Poker Tour television show (a New England-based pub tour that has been shown on Comcast Sports Net for the past three years).  Although I played a solid Day 1 and 2, I was agonizingly eliminated in about 140th place when my A-Q was bested by a set of 10s (with a flop of As-10s-4s).  With 100 players making the money, my demise did not sit well with me.  Fortunately, Kaplan carried the torch for both of us, finishing a very respectable 33rd place out of 1,042 registrants.  Nice job buddy!

Right after my elimination from the Borgata Main Event, I headed back home to pack for my first trip over “The Pond” to play in the WSOP Europe Main Event.  Having seen the event on television and having spoken with several players about it, I was very excited to play in this prestigious, yet tough, field of players.  Unfortunately, I never really got on track during Day 1 and was eliminated.  In back-to-back events, I was eliminated when my two high cards (this time A-K) ran into a set (this time 2s); now, the board was K-4-2.  Nevertheless, my wife joined me the day after I was knocked out of the WSOP Europe Main Event.  Soothing the pain of my elimination, my wife and I toured around London – our first trip without the kids in over five years.

Although I was very busy playing numerous events during the past few months, I never relinquished my hosting duties for my weekly radio show (which can be heard on RoundersRadio.com and via iTunes) or ESPN’s Inside Deal (which can be seen at ESPN.com/InsideDeal).  During both programs, I have been interviewing members of the 2010 November Nine.

For my radio show, I introduced a contest consisting of a prize pool of $1,000 in which nine lucky listeners are linked up with a member of the 2010 November Nine.  If a listener’s corresponding player wins the 2010 WSOP Main Event, he or she will win $500 in cash and prizes just for listening.  Remember, it’s not too late to become one of the Bernard Lee Poker Nine.  Just listen to my radio show every Tuesday night from 6:00pm to 7:00pm ET.

Now, one of the events that I look forward to the entire year has begun.  The Foxwoods World Poker Finals started on Monday, October 11th with a $600 No Limit Hold’em event and culminates with the $10,000 six-day Main Event that begins on October 28th.  This tournament was one of the charter members of the World Poker Tour nine years ago.  Overall, the World Poker Finals, which is rich in history, is still affordable to the masses, as 22 of the 27 events (over 80%) have buy-ins ranging from $300 to $600.  So, come and try your poker skill at the World Poker Finals.

In the end, some people have dubbed me the “Busiest man in poker.”  Whether I am or not is irrelevant.  What I can honestly say is that I am truly living a dream and absolutely love what I do.  The only major drawback is that I am away from the family so much.  However, in a couple of months, I’m taking everyone to the 2011 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure at the Atlantis.  This event is one of my favorite stops of the year and the only one in which I bring my entire family.

However, there is still a lot of poker left in 2010.  Good luck to everyone at the tables.

Bernard Lee is the official spokesperson of Foxwoods Resort Casino. Lee is the co-host of ESPN Inside Deal, a columnist for the ESPN.com, a Sunday columnist for the Boston Herald, and author of “The Final Table, Volume I” and “Volume II.”  Visit BernardLeePoker.com.  Listen to “The Bernard Lee Poker Show” presented by Foxwoods Resort Casino every Tuesday from 6:00pm to 7:00pm on 1120 AM in Boston or RoundersRadio.com. For questions or comments, e-mail him at BernardLeePoker@hotmail.com.

Poker News in Brief: Oct. 11-17, 2010

As a result, there were a few stories that didn't get the attention they deserved. Thankfully, we had a little space in our weekly Poker News in Brief feature and have thrown them in below.

This week Full Tilt signs a tennis star, an MMA legend hosts a charity tournament, poker might be Bad for Your Wealth and more.

Tilt Signs Blake

Full Tilt Poker signed US tennis star James Blake as a Friend of Full Tilt this week.

Since turning pro in 1999, Blake has consistently been ranked amongst tennis' elite and has led the US Davis Cup team since being selected in 2001.

He was also named the world's "sexiest athlete" in People Magazine's 2002 Sexiest Man Alive Issue.

Blake is an avid poker player.

London Calling

PKR's London Calling poker festival kicked off this week at the The Fox Poker Club in London's West End.

The PKR sponsored 28-day tournament series runs through Nov. 7 with 57 tournaments, the majority of which range in buy-ins from £20 to £100.

The festival will conclude with a £300 buy-in main event.

Nicolak Joins Cardrunners

John "Nicolak" Kim joined the poker training site CardRunners as a mid to high stakes cash instructor this week.

A winning pro since 1998, his first video for the site features Kim four-tabling $5-$10 six-max No-Limit Hold'em. 

Kim was already co-host of the site's bi-weekly strategy podcast Cash Plays, along with Jeremiah Smith.

Bad For Your Wealth

A new book claiming to provide scientific evidence that tournament poker is a losing proposition was released this week.

Bad for Your Wealth: A Scientific, Evidence-Based Study of Why You Should Avoid Playing Poker Tournaments, written by Ramy C. Tadros, includes calculations verified by Minimax Statistical Consulting, LLC.

Publishers claim the book is a must read for struggling players trying to understand why they cannot beat the game,

MMA Star Hosts Charity Event

Mixed Martial Arts legend Randy "The Natural" Couture will host the third annual "Operation All In" charity poker tournament and auction fundraiser benefiting the Xtreme Couture G.I. Foundation Oct. 30.

Held at the Golden Nugget in Las Vegas, the event is open to the public and will include a celebrity charity poker tournament featuring pro players, MMA and Hollywood celebrities; live and silent auctions; autograph sessions with photo opportunities; raffle prizes; and a Halloween after party inside the Nugget's Gold Diggers club.

Already confirmed are Tyson Griffin, Ryan Couture, Martin Kampmann, Gray Maynard, Jason Ron, Ray Sefo, Mike Pyle and John Alessio, David Zayas of "Dexter" and "The Expendables," and poker pros Howard Lederer, Andy Bloch, Layne Flack, Gavin Smith, Perry Friedman, Antonio Esfandiari, Todd Brunson, Nick and Michael Binger, Dutch Boyd and Lacey Jones.

The buy-in for the tournament is $225 with $100 multi re-buys. The winner will receive a $10,000 prize. Proceeds will benefit injured US soldiers.

Double Up October

Titan Poker is offering players a chance to increase their bankrolls at its popular Double Up Sit 'n' Go tournaments through its $150,000 Double Up October promotion.

$30,000 in weekly prizes will be awarded to the site's leading Double Up Sit 'n' Go players all this month.

Plus there will be an additional $30,000 in prizes awarded to players on top of the monthly leaderboard.

Dwyte Pilgrim: Quieting the Critics

When he took the World Series of Poker Circuit by storm in 2009, recording 12 cashes, seven final tables and a win in the championship event at Rincon, pundits said the fields were weak and the buy-ins small.

The 2009 WSOPC Player of the Year started 2010 with another WSOPC championship event final table appearance at Robinsonville and more than a few decent side-event scores heading into the 2010 WSOP.

But Dwyte Pilgrim's doubters were still there.

An eighth place finish at the $2,500 Mixed Hold'em event at the World Series didn't quiet the critics and even his win in the largest tournament in World Poker Tour history at Borgata in Atlantic City last month couldn't shut them up.

The Brooklyn, New York native's detractors claimed the $3,300 buy-in was low and any time 1,042 players enter a poker tournament, it's bound to be filled with a ton of dead money.

But no matter what they say, it seems Pilgrim's doubters are just adding fuel to his ever-growing fire.

“Somebody is always trying to tear you down and take away from your accomplishments,” he said. “But if you look at what I've done in my first 18 months (as a pro), there's not that many people that can match it.”

The $700k-plus win at Borgata pushed his career earnings up and over the $1.5 million mark, the overwhelming majority of which was collected in the past year and a half.

But as he pushed his way through Day 1 at the WPT Festa al Lago main event in Las Vegas Friday, Pilgrim, who says he picked up the game online, saw an opportunity to make some quick cash playing a game and ran with it, also says he's trying to give those doubters something to think about.

“I always feel like I've got something to prove,” he said. “That's why I'm here at Bellagio. That's why I'm playing these WPTs, to prove to all the doubters about my game.

“I'm just going to keep working hard on my game, keep playing these WPTs and I may even start playing a few EPTs just to show them my game over there. To prove to everyone I can hang with the big boys.”

Pilgrim is the first to admit the WSOPC doesn't draw the same caliber of players the World Poker Tour does.

But that's not going to stop him from trying to dominate there and every other tournament he plays as well.

“The circuit is kind of like the minor leagues and I've already proved myself there,” he said. “But I'm going to keep playing the circuit and these WPTs, just to keep showing everybody what I got.”

The night before the final table at Borgata, Pilgrim told WPT executive tour director Matt Savage he was going to "shock the world" the next day and that people would be asking themselves questions about the game of poker when they see him play.

Brash, confident and bursting with poker talent he certainly accomplished his goal.

“I said it and I did it and I'm going to keep on doing it,” he said.

The only question Pilgrim's doubters can ask now is: What's next?

Charles “Woody” Moore Captures WSOPC Southern Indiana Championship

The World Series of Poker Circuit (WSOPC) continued its resurgence this week, crowning veteran poker pr Charles “Woody” Moore as the champion of the stop at the Horseshoe Southern Indiana on Tuesday.

Players flocked to the WSOPC Southern Indiana championship event. The 2009 version of the tournament, a $5,000 buy-in event, drew a dismal 55 runners. This, along with other low turnout events on the WSOPC last season, resulted in a revamping of the its schedule, with lower buy-ins ($1,500) for several of the tournaments on the schedule. The WSOPC Southern Indiana was one of those tournaments that saw the buy-in lowered and, as a result, 289 players showed up for action, the largest field thus far on the 2010-11 WSOPC schedule.

The field was whittled down through three days of play, with 30 players walking off with something for their efforts. Moore came to the final table with over 1.2 million chips in play, with Mike Foster (850,000) and John Holder (825,000) ready to strike if the veteran rounder from Las Vegas faltered. Moore, however, extended his lead in the early going when, after Joel Merwick flopped a set of nines against Moore’s pocket jacks, he would re-suck on the river with a jack for a better set and eliminate Merwick in ninth place.

Holder attempted to keep pace with Moore, eliminating John Alfera in seventh place after Alfera had dispatched Jorge Solorzano in eighth. The duo would continue to joust as the final table played out, with Moore continuing to rule the table after knocking out Brian McKain in sixth place with pocket queens against A-10.

As the tournament worked its way to three-handed action with Holder, Moore, and Kevin Calenzo, the dinner bell rang. During that break, the survivors had a chance to work out a deal. Each player would take $62,000 from the remaining prize pool, setting aside the approximately $20,000 remaining, the WSOPC championship ring, and the seat at the 2011 WSOPC National Championship for the victor. Although each player was assured of a nice payday, the desire by all three to walk away with the title drove play on for several hours.

Holder and Moore had been the dominating forces at the final table and it was inevitable that the two would clash. After a raise from the small blind by Moore, Holder committed his entire stack (about one million in chips) from the big blind and Moore called. Moore could only table pocket deuces, but he had caught Holder in a steal attempt with K-10 of spades and was ahead. When the board ran dry for Holder, he was eliminated in third place.

Calenzo, who had come to the final table as the second shortest stack, bedeviled Moore for over three hours. Moore held the upper hand throughout their heads-up play, but could never find a way to administer the knockout blow. It would come down to both players holding solid hands to determine the champion.

On the final hand, Moore limped in from the button only to see Calenzo pop it up from the big blind to 285,000. Moore responded with a three bet to 400,000 and Calenzo pushed the issue further by moving all-in. After an immediate call by Moore, the cards were shown: pocket jacks for Moore and an offsuit A-K for Calenzo. The duo, after deciding to give whoever finished second another $5,000 from the remaining prize pool, then saw the board. No ace or king came for Calenzo, earning the victory for Moore and the seat at the National Championship come May 2011.

1st – Charles Moore (Las Vegas, NV) $98,878*
2nd – Kevin Calenzo (New Hartford, NY) $61,724*
3rd – John Holder (Scottsville, KY) $44,787*
4th – Michael Foster (Chicago, IL) $33,043
5th – Kristopher Bradshaw (Scottville, MI) $24,782
6th – Brian McKain (Scottsburg, IN) $18,885
7th – John Alfera (Arnold, PA) $14,615
8th – Jorge Solorzano-Reyes (Louisville, KY) $11,486
9th – Joel Merwick (Lincoln, NE) $9,163
* – Does not reflect final table deal.

Moore, through the victory at the WSOPC Southern Indiana, joins Kevin Manley (Casino Champion, Southern Indiana), Blair Hinkle (WSOPC Council Bluffs Champion), and Robert Georato (Council Bluffs Casino Champion) as automatic qualifiers to the 100-player National Championship tournament to be held at Caesars Palace prior to the start of the 2011 WSOP. With his second place finish, Calenzo (115 points) moves into second place on the National Leaderboard behind Shiva Dudani (145 points).

The battle for the WSOPC National Championship continues today with a stop just outside of Chicago at the Horseshoe Hammond for the first of the four WSOPC Regional Championship events. The tournament schedule, which features a televised $10,000 Regional Championship Event from October 25th to 28th, will also offer 10 other WSOPC ring events for players.