Poker News

The Nightly Turbo: A Look at the LAPC, Busted Poker Game, and More

In tonight's Nightly Turbo you'll find a look at the LAPC, learn about a poker game that got busted, and more. In Case You Missed It The PokerNews Team is in full force. One team is in France bringing you updates from the European Poker Tour...

ElkY Goes Home Again

In fact, with 61 % of the field coming from within the country, including one of the best tournament players on the planet, one might even say French poker is on the rise.

“Deauville is a very good tournament to play, so I'm happy to be here,” said Team PokerStars Pro Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier. “It's always very special to be back here in France. I rarely get the chance to play poker here, so it's important and means a lot to me.”

While tournament entry numbers are on a downswing in North America, the 768 entries in Deauville are better than 100 more than 2008, pushing the prize pool up to €3,686,400.

When the event is all said and done, a total of 104 spots will get paid, including €847,000 for first – the only number Grospellier seems focussed on.

“My motivation is very strong to do good here in Deauville,” he said. “I really want to win and play well here in France.”

Although it paled in comparison to the $3,686,476 in live tournament earnings he garnered in 2008, last year was still a banner one for Grospellier.

He followed up his 2008 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure main event win with a victory in the PCA’s $25k High Roller event.

Plus, adding a third-place finish at the $25k World Poker Tour Championship in Las Vegas to his 2008 WPT Festa Al Lago win helped him take home Season 7 WPT Player of the Year honors.

Now, returning to Deauville after a third-place finish in the €20,000 High Roller event in 2008, Grospellier has his sights set on some new goals.

“There are always reasons to get pumped,” Grospellier said. “I spoke with (fellow Team PokerStars France Pro) Arnaud Mattern about who will be the next one to win a second EPT or the first one to win a bracelet. I really want to win one.

“I also want to get my first place back in the EPT ranking since (Luca) Pagano has got it now. Even if he has deserved it, I really want to win it back. So that's a lot of challenges for this year.”

While he has both an EPT and WPT title, a World Series of Poker Bracelet still eludes Grospellier, however, pushing that to number one on his list of goals for 2010.

“Clearly the WSOP is the main thing missing now,” he said. “Of course, you can't control everything, but I'm certainly going to do my best to win one.”

For now though, Grospellier has a massive field on home soil to contend with, heading into Day 2 in Deauville among the 400-odd survivors from two day on heats.

"I want to have really good results here," he added.

- With files from Fred Guillemot

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Antanas “Tony G” Guoga Joins Team PartyPoker

Continuing to add to an already impressive lineup, it was announced early Thursday that top poker professional Antanas “Tony G” Guoga has signed a sponsorship deal with PartyPoker.

Guoga, who has been at the forefront of the international poker scene for the past decade, will make his first showing for Team PartyPoker at the Aussie Millions, which began today and is one of the top non-U.S. tournaments on the poker schedule. According to Guoga’s new blog at PartyPoker, he will be participating in the $100,000 Challenge tournament scheduled to start on January 23rd, which draws some of the toughest competition in the game today and features defending champion Howard Lederer. Tony G will also join fellow Team PartyPoker members Bodo Sbrzesny and defending Aussie Millions champion Stewart Scott along with 43 qualifiers from PartyPoker for the Aussie Millions Main Event. The AUD $10,000 tournament will feature three starting days that begin on January 24th and will be broadcasted on Fox Sports Net.

As a part of the new sponsorship deal, Guoga will also be part of one of PartyPoker’s upcoming special events, the PartyPoker.com Premier League IV. This invitation-only tournament is scheduled to take place in February in Las Vegas and includes a formidable lineup. Such players as former World Champion and 11-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth, current World Poker Tour (WPT) Championship winner Yevgeniy “Jovial Gent” Timoshenko, poker Triple Crown winner Roland De Wolfe, noted poker “bad boy” Luke ‘FullFlush’ Schwartz, and dangerous tournament pro J. C. Tran are scheduled to take to the felt, presenting Tony G with tremendously difficult opposition.

Guoga’s own online poker site, TonyGPoker.com, has been merged into the PartyPoker family. Those players who are a part of TonyGPoker.com will be moved to Noble Poker. Guoga will continue to be an integral part of his online promotions, such as the Sunday Bike Ride (moving to Noble Poker), and will play on PartyPoker under the name “TonyG.”

“We’re delighted to welcome Tony to Team PartyPoker,” a PartyGaming spokesman commented about the newest arrival to the organization. “Tony is undoubtedly one of poker’s biggest characters in the game and a personal deal for him made huge sense. We are also happy to have acquired the assets of TonyGPoker.com and look forward to welcoming his players on board.”

Guoga isn’t called “The Mouth From Down Under” for nothing. Known to dismiss his beaten opponents from the table with a curt “On Yer Bike!” Guoga has already issued a challenge for those PartyPoker members playing in the Aussie Millions. “If one of the Party qualifiers knocks me out of the Main Event, I will buy them a bike,” Guoga stated. “First of all, however, I will ride it out myself… I know when it is bike time!”

In his first blog entry on PartyPoker, Guoga also throws down the gauntlet against one of his Premier League IV foes. After speaking glowingly of Poker Hall of Fame member Mike Sexton and “High Stakes Poker” announcer Kara Scott, Tony G dropped the hammer on Luke “FullFlush” Schwartz: “He’s rude, obnoxious and I cannot wait to bust him up. This kid is not the kind of player you feel you can learn from – you just want to bust him.”

Guoga certainly has the ability to bust up many players at the table. His lifetime earnings at the tournament poker tables total nearly $4 million and include the WPT Bad Boys of Poker II championship in 2006. He was also the runner-up in the 2006 PartyPoker Intercontinental Poker Championship in Las Vegas and has cashed 15 times at the WSOP.

Famous for his mouth, it is Guoga’s philanthropic efforts that have earned him a great deal of respect from players and fans. After he won the first ever Asian Poker Tour (APT) event in Singapore in 2006, Tony G donated half the prize money to charity and, after taking down over $200,000 in a Moscow poker tournament in 2007, he turned over the entirety of his winnings to Russian orphanages.

With the addition of Guoga, Team PartyPoker is becoming a formidable challenge in the tournament poker world. After not sponsoring pros for much of its existence, PartyPoker has certainly drawn top talent to its roster. Along with Guoga, Sexton, Sbrzesny, and the two Scotts, other members of Team PartyPoker include France’s Remy Biechel, England’s Ian “The Raiser” Frazer, and Brazil’s Felipe "Mojave" Ramos.

The PokerNews Jet Set: Deauville

Northern France in January-- it isn’t exactly Aruba or the Bahamas but it is the home of one of the European Poker Tour’s softer and larger fields. While the summer months find Deauville’s beaches packed with well-to-do tourists and celebrities in..

Everest Poker Announces Live the Dream Team

The online poker site Everest Poker has awarded 10 of its most talented and active players with a $100,000 contract as part of its Live the Dream promotional event in Vienna, Austria. The winners outlasted 190 other hopefuls in a series of live tournaments, cash games, and interviews to lock up a one-year sponsorship contract.

Over 50,000 players participated in the Live the Dream online qualifications from September to December, with 200 making the cut to take part in the final live event on January 9th and 10th. Participants were judged on a series of tests evaluating their live and online poker skill levels and brand ambassador qualities. At the final event, a judging panel comprised of players, press, and poker professionals awarded each finalist points for online poker skills, live poker abilities, ambassador quality, and a newly added criteria of popular voting.

The 10 Live The Dream winners will represent Everest Poker at tournaments all over the world in 2010, including the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event in Las Vegas, and will receive over $30,000 in travel expenses as part of packages totaling $100,000.

Here are the 10 members of the Everest Poker Live the Dream team:

Fabien "SchumyFab" Perrot (France): A financial advisor who switched from cash games to No Limit Hold'em tournaments and had immediate success. Perrot has wins in Everest's largest-ever online guaranteed tournament – the $500,000 Guaranteed – and the $50,000 Guaranteed during Everest Poker’s Winterfest.

Leonard "leoledingo" Truche (France): A former physical education teacher for special needs and disabled children, Leo honed his tournament game and actually qualified for Live the Dream twice via the All-France Live the Dream direct entry. He recently finished third in the Everest Poker $100,000 Guaranteed and has also won the $30,000 and $25,000 Guaranteed tournaments.

Julien "Garrincho54" Claudepierre (France): After graduating with an engineering degree, Claudepierre took a shot at a poker career and can now be found playing as high as $25/$50 No Limit Hold'em cash games on Everest.

Ronny "Spadesman" Pickard (Germany): His dream is to play in the WSOP Main Event. Now, he'll get his chance. Pickard is a banker that spends a good part of his free time playing online poker. He qualified for the Live the Dream Team via the Summit Point Leaderboard.

Tobias "Tobestar11" Wagner (Germany): At 26-years old, Wagner began his poker career online with Everest just two years ago, grinding away at the lowest cash game levels, eventually graduating to higher-stakes ring games and the top of the VIP Summit Club. He is a student majoring in English and Physical Education.

Koen "koendb" de Bakker (Netherlands): Earned his spot on the Live the Dream Team by topping the sit and go leaderboards. Koen travels the poker circuit already and made trips to 10 different international events in 2009. He is also working on completing an Economics degree.

Javier "elflacokanu" Martinez (Spain):  A civil engineering student who put his academics on hold to pursue a poker career. He still plans on finishing his degree within the next few years. Martinez cashed in a WSOP event in 2008 and made the final table of multiple stops on the Spanish Poker Tour.

Sigurd "TheBigViking" Eskeland (Norway): A 23-year-old teacher, Eskeland got some press during the 2008 WSOP Main Event by holding the tournament chip lead on Day 3. He finished 241st for $35,383.

Thomas "DannyMcCoy" Froslev (Denmark): Will graduate with a Financial Economics degree next June, but spends a good majority of his time playing online at Everest Poker. Froslev is primary a cash game player, but looks forward to cutting his teeth on the tournament circuit in 2010.

Viktoria "SexyGirl" Szlasi (Hungary): The only female member of the group, Szlasi gained live poker experience by qualifying for a $1,000 WSOP event in 2009. She has spent two years sharpening her tournament skills on Everest Poker.

Everest’s Live The Dream Winners Announced

Over 50,000 players participated in the Live the Dream online qualifications from Sept. to Dec. 2009 with two hundred making the cut to take part in the final live event at the Palais Auersperg Jan 9-10.

The 200 finalists were then judged through a series of tests evaluating their live and online poker skills and brand ambassador qualities.

Points were awarded for online poker skills, live poker ability, ambassador quality and a popular vote.

The ten winners chosen include Fabien "SchumyFab" Perrot, Leonard "leoledingo" Truche and Julien "Garrincho54" Claudepierre from France, Ronny "Spadesman" Pickard and Tobias "Tobestar11" Wagner from Germany, Koen "koendb" de Bakker from The Netherlands, Javier "elflacokanu" Martinez from Spain, Sigurd "TheBigViking" Eskeland from Norway, Thomas "DannyMcCoy" Froslev from Denmark and Viktoria "SexyGirl" Szlasi from Hungary, the only female winner.

The ten Live The Dream winners will now represent Everest Poker at the biggest tournaments in the world over the next 12 months including the 2010 World Series of Poker Main Event.

Each will receive over $30,000 in travel expenses and buy-in packages totaling $100,000.

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2010 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Main Event Payouts, Nationalities Announced

Although attendance at the 2010 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) out-paced last year’s tally by 13.5%, this year’s champion will earn a whopping $800,000 less. In 2009, Canadian poker player Poorya Nazari earned $3 million after defeating American Anthony Gregg heads-up.

Gregg took home $1.7 million, while Benjamin Spindler boosted his bankroll by $1.1 million for third place. Nazari, Gregg, and Spindler were the only three players to cross the seven-figure threshold. This year, the top four finishers in the PCA Main Event will earn at least $1 million, with first place taking home $2.2 million, second place earning $1.75 million, third place grabbing $1.35 million, and fourth place realizing an even $1 million.

In 2010, the top 199 players out of the 1,347-player field, or 14.8%, finished in the money. This time around, 224 out of 1,529 players will take home a cash prize, or a similar 14.7%. The top four players will bank $6.3 million, or 42.6% of the total prize pool of $14.8 million this year. During the 2009 PCA Main Event, the top four earned $6.55 million, or nearly 52% of the prize pool. This year, the more even structure means that the top prize will shrink by 26.7% despite the larger turnout.

Here’s a look at what’s at stake in the 2010 PCA Main Event:

1st Place: $2,200,000
2nd Place: $1,750,000
3rd Place: $1,350,000
4th Place: $1,000,000
5th Place: $700,000
6th Place: $450,000
7th Place: $300,000
8th Place: $201,300
9th to 10th Places: $150,000
11th to 12th Places: $130,000
13th to 14th Places: $115,000
15th to 16th Places: $100,000
17th to 20th Places: $87,500
21st to 24th Places: $75,000
25th to 32nd Places: $66,000
33rd to 40th Places: $59,000
41st to 48th Places: $52,000
49th to 56th Places: $45,000
57th to 64th Places: $38,000
65th to 72nd Places: $33,000
73rd to 80th Places: $28,000
81st to 88th Places: $23,500
89th to 96th Places: $23,500
97th to 104th Places: $23,500
105th to 112th Places: $23,500
113th to 120th Places: $20,000
121st to 128th Places: $20,000
129th to 136th Places: $20,000
137th to 144th Places: $20,000
145th to 152nd Places: $17,500
153rd to 160th Places: $17,500
161st to 168th Places: $17,500
169th to 176th Places: $17,500
177th to 184th Places: $15,000
185th to 192nd Places: $15,000
193rd to 200th Places: $15,000
201st to 208th Places: $15,000
209th to 216th Places: $15,000
217th to 224th Places: $15,000

Also revealed by PokerStars officials were the nationalities of the 1,529 entrants, who hailed from 57 countries around the world. A total of 739 players hailed from the United States, or 48%, with Canada being the next most represented country at 164. Other nations that sent players to compete in the 2010 PCA Main Event included Germany (100 players), the Netherlands (60), United Kingdom (56), France (44), Brazil (37), Spain (27), Sweden (27), Argentina (21), and Italy (21).

Although six entrants were from unknown lands, curiously absent from the list of countries represented was the Bahamas, the host nation of the annual PCA, which pans out at the Atlantis Resort and Casino in Nassau. Nearby countries represented in the $10,000 buy-in poker tournament included the U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Turks and Caicos, and Bermuda.

The PCA Main Event field numbered 62 when it entered Day 4 play on Saturday, with the action continuing until 24 players remained. As of 6:45pm ET, online poker pro Ryan “g0lfa” D’Angelo led the way with a stack of six million chips, comfortably ahead of European Poker Tour (EPT) founder John Duthie’s 4.6 million.

Estonia Legalizes Online Gaming

Estonia, a small European country bordering with Russia, has recently legalized online gaming as a way to increase its tax income. The decision seems to have been aided by the success of the Baltic Poker Festival hosted by PokerStars.

For now, Estonian citizens will only be allowed to play on Estonian-based platforms such as Playtech's collaboration with the Olympic Casino Group, before opening up to international operators in 2011. This leaves the Playtech group in a very favorable position at the moment as the main provider of legal online gaming in the land. Playtech's Executive Manager, Mor Weizer, commented on this development: "We are truly glad of this opportunity to start our partnership with Olympic as the leading casino entertainment provider in Central and Eastern Europe."

Estonia is one of the smallest European Union (E.U.) countries, with only 1.33 million citizens. It borders north and west with the Gulf of Finland and Baltic Sea, respectively, as well as Latvia on the south and the Russian Federation on the east. Because of its bridging position between Europe and Russia, Estonia was invaded by the Soviet Union and Germany before regaining independence in 1991. At this point, Estonia started an aggressive and effective reform and growth program, which saw it become one of world's fastest-growing economies for several years. It joined the EU in May 2004 and was hoping to adopt the Euro as its currency by 2013. This is where online gambling comes in.

Estonia seemed a shoo-in for the Euro currency until the 2008-2009 economic crisis, which left it with the second most damaged economy of the EU, down by about 36%. A country must meet strict criteria to join the Eurozone and Estonia is taking pains to bounce back from the depression in time to join. The Estonian government hopes that taxing gaming operators will help revive its economy with the added income and influx of new jobs.

According to the Estonian Free Press, large international online gaming operators are currently showering Estonia with attention in the form of large advertising campaigns about upcoming services and there are rumors about millionaire investments planned for the country, which is seen as a gateway to the whole Baltic region's market.

Although online gambling remains a sore topic in the European Commission, where nations such as Germany and France block all online gaming in order to favor their state monopoly operators, more and more countries are opening up to its legalization and taxation. Estonia joins the likes of Belgium, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland and Sweden in creating legislation that allows online gambling, ensures it is taxed appropriately, and ensures its citizens are safeguarded against negative side effects like fraud, money laundering and underage gambling.

Kevin Saul, Amnon Filippi Among PCA Day 1A Leaders

Day 1A of the 2010 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) played out on Tuesday, with 668 players taking to the felts inside the Atlantis Resort and Casino in the Bahamas. Wayne Bentley, a PokerStars qualifier from Britain, leads the way with 329,500 chips.

Bentley nearly amassed 11 times the starting stack of 30,000 in the $10,000 buy-in poker tournament after eight levels of play. He held pocket aces and eliminated a player with pocket kings within the first few minutes of Day 1A, doubling his stack to 60,000, and he never looked back. Team PokerStars Pro member Daniel Negreanu issued the traditional “Shuffle up and deal” command moments earlier. At the end of Day 1A, 430 players remained in the hunt.

Bentley sits comfortably in front of the second place stack of Amnon Filippi, who held a pile of 220,100 chips at the end of Day 1A. The accomplished poker pro was nearly 50,000 chips ahead of online poker pro Kevin “BeL0WaB0Ve” Saul, the winner of the 2007 installment of the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) Bellagio Cup for $1.3 million. Last year, Saul finished eighth in the PCA Main Event for $234,000, outlasting all but seven of the 1,347 players who entered.

Team PokerStars Sports Stars will be out in full force on Wednesday for Day 1B, as German tennis legend Boris Becker, Swedish NHL star Mats Sundin, Dutch hockey pro Fatima De Melo, baseball commentator Orel Hershiser, and U.K. football legend Teddy Sheringham will all take to the felts. Also entering on Day 1B is Mike Kosowski, the winner of Season 1 of the “PokerStars.net Million Dollar Challenge.” Kosowski earned $1 million after defeating Negreanu heads-up in the finale of the poker game show last month.

2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event November Nine member Eric Buchman sits in sixth place after Day 1A with 159,100 chips. The PokerStars sponsored player finished fourth in the $10,000 buy-in feature tournament in Las Vegas in November, adding $2.5 million to his net worth. The event was ultimately won by Joe Cada, who will take to the felts for Day 1B today. Joining him will be pros like Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier, Humberto Brenes, and Victor Ramdin. Also playing is rapper Nelly, who has become somewhat of a staple on the poker circuit in recent months.

Here were the top ten chip stacks in the Bahamas after the smoke had cleared on Day 1A of the 2010 PCA Main Event:

1. Wayne Bentley - 329,500
2. Amnon Filippi - 220,100
3. Kevin Saul - 175,500
4. Eric Froehlich - 166,000
5. Dustin Dorrance-Bowman - 163,700
6. Eric Buchman - 159,100
7. Garðar Geir Hauksson - 138,900
8. Jacob Avital - 137,700
9. Christian Schwarz - 133,200
10. Rafal Michalowski - 129,300

The PCA is a stop on both the European Poker Tour (EPT) and Latin American Poker Tour (LAPT) and, as such, has attracted a global field. Still remaining after Day 1A are players from the United States, United Kingdom, Iceland, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Germany, Ukraine, Brazil, Canada, Sweden, Mexico, Turks and Caicos, Russia, Finland, Argentina, France, Norway, Switzerland, Slovakia, Poland, Denmark, Hungary, Czech Republic, Ireland, Belgium, New Zealand, Romania, Australia, Slovenia, Greece, Costa Rica, Austria, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Curiously absent is a representative from the host nation, the Bahamas.

Last year’s champion, Poorya Nazari, hails from Canada and nearly tripled his stack on Day 1A. Notable players who survived the first starting day, along with their chip counts, include:

Dennis Phillips – 113,000
Dario Minieri – 109,800
Vivek “Psyduck” Rajkumar – 106,400
Poorya Nazari – 89,300
Barry Greenstein – 89,200
Jeff Madsen – 79,400
John Duthie – 60,100
Marcel Luske – 55,600
Gavin Smith – 54,000
Jean-Robert Bellande – 53,900
Kevin Schaffel – 53,200
Bernard Lee – 46,800
Amit “amak316” Makhija – 42,000
Steven Paul-Ambrose – 37,900
“Miami” John Cernuto – 36,500
Chris “moorman1” Moorman – 34,700
Ivan Demidov – 27,600
Tom McEvoy – 19,900
Huck Seed – 16,000
Jeff “yellowsub” Williams – 13,100

Play wrapped up in Level 8, when blinds were 400-800 with a 100-chip ante. Day 1B will encompass the same eight levels before the field merges for Day 2 on Thursday.

Euro Finals of Poker schedule confirmed

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

Titan Poker to Award 2010 WSOP Main Event Seats in World Challenge

It may be over six months away, but Titan Poker is getting players warmed up to battle for their chance to participate in the 2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event.

In one of its biggest promotions ever, Titan Poker is offering the World Challenge 2010. The promotion is a series of tournaments broken down into 12 different regions of the world that will eventually award five players a $13,000 package to play in the 2010 WSOP Main Event. Only a certain number of qualifiers from each region will be eligible to participate in the final round of tournaments, where the five seats to the 2010 WSOP Main Event will be doled out.

With its start on Monday, Titan Poker is giving players the opportunity to “Represent Your Country and Challenge the World.” The second tournament of First Round qualification will be on January 10th, with the remainder of the First Round events held each week afterwards. The 12 regions are broken down as such and remember, Titan Poker does not accept players from the United States:

Americas: 10 qualifiers
Australia and New Zealand: 10 qualifiers
France: 25 qualifiers
Germany: 25 qualifiers
Italy: 25 qualifiers
Netherlands and Belgium: 10 qualifiers
Open Qualifiers: 10 qualifiers
Romania: 10 qualifiers
Russia: 20 qualifiers
Scandinavia: 20 qualifiers
Spain: 20 qualifiers
United Kingdom: 20 qualifiers

A series of 10 tournaments for each of the 12 regions, with a buy in of $5+$.50, will be held until March 7th for players to battle their way to the top of the regional leaderboards. Each tournament offers points for participation and finishing at the final table. The Second Round series of eight tournaments, with a buy in of $10+$1, begins on March 14th and lasts until May 2nd. The points for that segment of the series will be worth double the First Round set of tournaments.

After the completion of the Second Round series of tournaments, the regional leaderboards will be completed and the top players will be confirmed. The 200 qualifiers from the 12 regions will then embark on a set of eight tournaments from May 16th to May 30th, called the Final Round and with a buy in of $15+$1.50. Points once again will be awarded for participation and finishing at the final table. The top five finishers in points in the Final Round, regardless of regional affiliation, will earn their 2010 WSOP Main Event package.

The Titan Poker World Challenge 2010 kicked off yesterday, with over 400 players competing. Titan Poker is keeping close track of the action, with complete leaderboards for each region on the Titan Poker website and weekly newsletters sent to each Titan Poker member. While there has been a tournament completed in the First Round, there is still time for players to get in on the action without being too far behind.

The Titan Poker World Challenge 2010 is going to be the largest promotion on Titan Poker in the first half of 2010 and should draw some of the best competition from around the world. With the chance to be in Las Vegas for the 2010 WSOP Main Event for five skillful players, there should be tremendous action on the virtual tables at Titan Poker.

Belgium to Enact Laws Nationalizing Online Poker

Defying an order from the European Union (EU), Belgium has enacted laws that could have it become the next nation to nationalize online poker operations. It follows a similar stance towards online poker in Italy.

A recent article in De Standaard, one of Belgium’s newspapers, stated that the coming year would bring laws regarding the country’s stance towards online poker. The new regulations would purportedly nationalize the operations of online poker rooms by preventing outside companies, such as PartyPoker, PokerStars, and Full Tilt Poker, from being able to court Belgians. Online poker rooms would have to set up a separate operation that would be licensed by the Belgian government and located inside of the country, much like what Italy has done with its online poker operations.

This defies an order from the EU that was issued in June 2009. After receiving details on Belgium’s plans for online poker regulation from its government in March of last year, the EU decided that the plan violated several areas of the free trade treaty that all 27 member nations had signed. Some of the violations included requiring the operators of online gaming and poker sites to be based in Belgium, limitation of available licenses, criminal prosecution of customers who play on non-sanctioned sites, and restriction of services from outside nations. At the time, Belgium was also looking to use ISP blocking software to prohibit its citizens from playing on other licensed EU sites.

The EU has shown an inconsistency when it comes to nationalization plans. It allowed Italy to nationalize its online gaming operations, presumably for taxation and gaming regulatory purposes, but has disallowed other countries like Belgium and France. It also has been unable to come to an accord on the online gaming question among its own Member Nations, leading many countries to attempt to nationalize online poker for tax revenues in lean fiscal times. The government of Belgium also states that many of the online poker sites in existence have “ties to organized crime” and, as such, the need for the nationalization is necessary.

The online community is responding to this issue in many of the popular online forums. On TwoPlusTwo, a ten-page thread has developed with players are debating the issue. Part of the reason for its popularity is that one of the top online players in the game today, “Chiren80,” hails from Belgium and the proposed legislation would, in effect, remove him from international action with the threat of possible arrest.

Some of the discussion on TwoPlusTwo inaccurately says that the nationalized sites would still be part of the global network, much like different skins of poker rooms operate. This is not true; the nationalization of sites requires the online poker room to dedicate servers and operations to that nation alone, as PokerStars has done with its PokerStars.it site. With that operation, only Italians can play on the site and there are stringent rules that govern play.

The nationalization trend is, in some players’ minds, becoming a worrisome trend. “Nationalization of gambling environments and…the separation of player pools are real dangers for professional poker players in small European countries,” comments “Droschopf.” Another poster, “Sjors,” states, “I'm fine with regulating but don't cut off the world. Playing against people on the other side of the globe and having traffic around the clock is what makes online poker great.”

With the Belgian laws signed into effect, there is a great deal of pressure on the EU to formalize an agreement on online gaming and poker for the continent. Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest.

Kelly Rowland to Appear at PokerStars Caribbean Adventure

When players who have attended the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) in past years cite their favorite moments from the tournament series, at least one story tends to involve the opening night party hosted by the site.  This year, PokerStars is aiming to outdo itself by hosting not one, but two seaside shindigs.

As tradition dictates, the first fiesta will take place on Monday, January 4th, the night before the $10,000 buy-in Main Event gets underway.  The party will take place on the Royal Tower of the Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island at 7:00pm.  It is scheduled to last until 9:00pm and will feature free hors d’oeuvres and an open bar.  All players taking part in the Main Event are invited to attend and can bring one guest.  In past years, the party has included greetings from Team PokerStars Pro members as well as local entertainment.  Last year, party guests watched as a small parade of local dancers performed along with a band.

In addition to the open-invite party on the 4th, PokerStars will be hosting a second party on the 9th.  This invitation-only event will take place from 9:00pm to Midnight at Paradise Harbour.  Those in attendance will see R&B singer Kelly Rowland, formerly of Destiny’s Child, perform.  It will be one of Rowland’s only musical appearances in January, as her official website indicates her next performance date is not until the 23rd, when she will perform as part of the NRJ Music Awards in Cannes, France.

This is not the first time that PokerStars has teamed up with a musical star from the world of hip-hop and R&B.  At the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP), rap star and poker enthusiast Nelly performed at the Las Vegas PokerStars party.  In addition to being the musical guest for the site’s WSOP party, Nelly was also a mainstay at the Rio during the six-week tournament series, playing in a number of events and frequently taking part in the Amazon Room cash games.  He also took part in the European Poker Tour’s (EPT) Monte Carlo Grand Final.

Nelly is one of a number of celebrities expected to make an appearance at PCA.  As part of the tournament series, PokerStars is teaming up with amfAR, the Foundation for AIDS Research, to host a charity poker tournament as part of the PCA.  The event will feature a $5,250 buy-in and half of the prize pool will be given to amfAR to benefit global AIDS research.  Team PokerStars Sports pros Boris Becker, Mats Sundin, and Sebastian Chabal are all also expected to attend, according to a press release from PokerStars.

Rowland and Nelly are not the only musical acts with ties to PokerStars.  Team PokerStars pro Daniel Negreanu and the PokerStars logo were featured in Katy Perry’s “Waking Up In Vegas” video.  NBA star LeBron James also made an appearance in Drake’s “Forever” video and is prominently seen playing heads-up at the PokerStars virtual tables at the beginning of it.  Even R&B songstress Rihanna has ties with the online poker room, as she plays poker with PokerStars-branded chips in her new video for “Hard,” featuring Young Jeezy.

Rowland’s appearance at PCA is just the latest incident of a musical star taking up with PokerStars, but considering the recent influx of PokerStars appearances in music videos, it certainly does not appear to be the last.

World Poker Tour to expand into Europe

Rising from the ashes like a multi-million dollar phoenix, the World Poker Tour has come back from the brink of destruction under the new ownership of Party Gaming. Far from dying, the tour will now be expanding into Europe with new tournaments in France and Romania.

Grand Prix de Paris Returns to World Poker Tour

From May 8th to 13th, the World Poker Tour (WPT) will return to the Aviation Club for the Grand Prix de Paris. The €10,000 buy-in tournament will be filmed for television and beamed around the world.

The Aviation Club opened back in 1907 and makes its home on the Champs-Elysées in Paris, the city’s famous boulevard. The cozy club’s poker consultant, Bruno Fitoussi, commented in a press release distributed by the WPT, "The Aviation Club de France is delighted to welcome back a WPT event in Paris. The WPT Grand Prix de Paris is guaranteed to be a high-class tournament in the highlights of the international poker scene and will, for sure, attract players from all around the world."

The 2010 visit to the Aviation Club marks the first WPT event in Paris since 2006. That year, Christian Grundtvig defeated Finnish poker player Jani Sointula to take home the Grand Prix de Paris title and its corresponding €712,500 first place prize. Sointula earned a €356,250 consolation prize and others at the final table included Thomas Wahlroos (third place for €243,750), Henrik Witt (fourth place for €168,750), Phil Yeh (fifth place for €131,250), and Pat Schuhl (sixth place for €93,750). A total of 232 players entered and the top 27 finished in the money.

Land-based satellites for the 2010 WPT Grand Prix de Paris will kick off on May 1st at the Aviation Club. Adam Pliska, President of the WPT, told Poker News Daily, "France is an important part of WPT's world and will continue to be key for WPT as it expands across Europe and beyond. While WPT's television shows continue to expand their global reach, the introduction of non-televised events will also provide WPT and its partners with even more opportunities to connect with its consumers.” Earlier this year, the WPT was sold to Party Gaming, the parent company of the popular site PartyPoker.

In 2005, Roland de Wolfe bested Juha Helppi in the Grand Prix de Paris, outlasting a field of 160 players. That year, Alan Goehring also made the final table, taking sixth place for €74,950. The 2004 installment was perhaps the most memorable, as it featured runner-up Tony G lambasting eventual winner Surinder Sunar. The Club’s layout was unique in that the assembled audience watched the action from the final table in an adjacent area via television monitors.

Lyndsay Lagree, Senior Public Relations Manager for the WPT, added, “We're thrilled to be back in France for the WPT Grand Prix de Paris. WPT looks forward to building on its longstanding relationship with Aviation Club de France and to welcoming many poker fans through its doors.” The first WPT Grand Prix de Paris took place in 2003 and saw David Benyamine best Jan Boubli for the title. Also at the final table was Full Tilt Poker pro Erick Lindgren, then a relative unknown. Lindgren recorded his second WPT cash at the Paris poker tournament, earning €53,600 during the Season 2 stop.

The Grand Prix de Paris comes one month after the WPT Championship at the Bellagio, the $25,000 buy-in end-of-season event, and the French feature tournament includes two starting days. In March, WPT staff will head to Bucharest for an event at the Regent Casino. The WPT Bucharest Main Event boasts a €3,300 buy-in and begins on March 27th.

Also to be held during the Grand Prix de Paris is a €20,000 buy-in High Roller event that begins on May 15th and runs for three days. WPT representatives noted that French gaming regulations were to blame for the tournament series’ absence from the Aviation Club for the last three years.

Poker Community Celebrates the Holidays

Now that the Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic is over and the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure is still a couple of weeks away, the poker community now has a little time to sit back, relax, and enjoy the holiday season.  Several players are headed home for holidays, while others are trying to avoid getting too festive.

A quick glance at Twitter indicates that many players are logging hours in the airport en route to their Christmas destinations.  Beth Shak, Jonathan “FieryJustice” Little, Vanessa Rousso, Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo, and J.C. Alvarado all posted updates on their travels on the social networking site.  Most were venturing to their hometowns for the holidays.  Bonomo is back in his home state of Virginia, while Phil Hellmuth is in Wisconsin.  One of the players who did the most traveling was Fabrice Soulier, who spent 34 hours in transit in order to get from Las Vegas to his home in Paris, France.

Perhaps the most interesting holiday trip belongs to Full Tilt Poker pro Andy Bloch.  Rather than head home for the holidays, Bloch headed south for the winter and, according to his Twitter feed, is currently touring ruins in Tulum, Mexico.  Located on the Caribbean coast, Tulum is perhaps best known for its ancient Mayan ruins.

There is also a player who is keeping his mind on poker this holiday season.  Hanukkah wrapped up on December 18th and David “The Maven” Chicotsky took only a couple of days off before returning to the felt along with his new student, friend of Full Tilt Jonathan “Fatal1ty” Wendel.  Better known as a gamer than a card player, Wendel sought advice from Chicotsky, who recently suggested they play in the $120 nightly tournament at the Venetian in Las Vegas.  According to his Twitter feed, not only did Chicotsky play the tournament on Tuesday night, but he also won, pocketing a couple thousand dollars.

One player who really got into the spirit of the season was online cash game pro David “viffer” Peat.  Peat posted a thread on the TwoPlusTwo forums shortly after Thanksgiving informing the online poker community that he planned to adopt a family for the holidays and suggested others donate to the cause or adopt a family in their own hometowns.  Tom “durrrr” Dwan also got in on the charitable efforts and accepted donations from people on his online poker account.  Thanks to the goodwill of people like David “WhooooKid” Baker, Brian “$tinger88” Hastings, Ben Lamb, Bjorn “kleath” Kleathersson, the group managed to raise over $25,000 to buy toys and gifts for families in need in the Las Vegas area.

Pictures of several adventures to Wal-Mart and other local stores were posted in the thread, including images of poker players piling up shopping carts with toys.  Others, inspired by the efforts, adopted families of their own and also posted stories about how great it felt to help out someone this Christmas season.

WPT Sets Sights on Romania

After revealing its plans to head back to the Paris’ famed Aviation Club de France in May 2010 after a four-year absence last week, the WPT has now set its sights on Romania.

WPT Bucharest will run Mar. 27–Apr. 2, 2010 and will include a non-televised €3,000+€300 buy-in main event.

The Regent Casino in the Novotel Hotel at the center of Bucharest will play host to the tournament.

The casino features a gaming area with 25 table games, 88 slot machines, two VIP rooms, a luxury restaurant and other facilities.

“We are happy to be in partnership with WPT and to launch this special event together for the first time in Romania,” said Regent Casino CEO Sorin Constantinescu.

“It is already known that WPT always introduce new tournaments into prestigious locations. Regent Casino Bucharest is one of those special places, and with WPT Bucharest we believe it will become an excellent meeting point for the most talented poker players from all around the world.”

In addition to online qualifiers, land-based satellites will also be offered at Regent Casino.

When the WPT was bought by PartyGaming in the fourth quarter of 2009, officials promised to expand the tour, particularly in Europe. It appears now those plans are being put into action.

Visit PokerListings.com

WPT Heads Back To Paris

The WPT announced late Friday it will be returning to one of its premier European tour stops, the WPT Grand Prix de Paris at the Aviation Club de France  May 8-13, 2010.

The €10,000 main event will be filmed for worldwide television broadcast.

"The Aviation Club de France is delighted to welcome back a WPT event in Paris,” said Bruno Fitoussi, poker consultant for the club. “The WPT Grand Prix de Paris is guaranteed to be a high-class tournament in the highlights of the international poker scene and will, for sure, attract players from all around the world."

The Aviation Club de France is located in the heart of Paris on the Champs-Elysées and last hosted a WPT event in 2006. At the time, 232 players entered creating a €2,204,000  prize pool. Dane Christian Grundtvig won, taking home a €712,500 first-place prize.

The club itself was created in 1907 by a group of aviators whose achievements include some of the most remarkable moments in aviation history. It is famous for hosting some of the biggest and best cash games in Europe.

Satellites for the WPT Grand Prix de Paris main event will begin at Aviation Club on May 1. The schedule of events also includes €20,000  High Roller tournament following the main event.

When the WPT was bought by PartyGaming in the fourth quarter of 2009, officials promised to expand the tour, particularly in Europe.

The WPT has also commited to return to the Aviation Club de France in early 2011, although that event will not be televised.

Schedules and additional details are available on the WPT website.

Visit PokerListings.com

Party Gaming 2009 Revenue in Line with Management Expectations

In a trading update released to the London Stock Exchange on Friday, Party Gaming, the parent company of PartyPoker, announced that its revenue was in line with Board expectations, while Clean EBITDA would likely surpass estimates.

Party Gaming is now anxiously awaiting legislative developments in three key markets: France, Italy, and the United States. On the latter country, which has been effectively shut off for the publicly traded company since 2006, the statement released by Party Gaming concludes, “Combining the strength of the PartyPoker brand with the trade and assets of the World Poker Tour that we acquired in November 2009, we believe we are well-positioned should the U.S. government elect to regulate online poker.”

As it stands now in the United States, the primary hope for legalization and regulation of the game is Congressman Barney Frank’s (D-MA) Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection, and Enforcement Act, HR 2267. The measure outlines a framework whereby licensed online gaming companies can solicit real money action from U.S. customers. A companion bill introduced by Congressman Jim McDermott (D-WA), HR 2268, taxes companies 2% of deposits and could raise as much as $40 billion in revenue over a ten-year period. HR 2267 boasts 63 co-sponsors, while HR 2268 has four.

Party Gaming’s attention seems to be focused squarely on poker given its recent acquisition of the World Poker Tour (WPT), a longtime industry staple. Party Gaming CEO Jim Ryan commented, "Returning poker to growth has been a key focus for us. We are pleased to see that the initiatives introduced throughout the year are now feeding through into both operational and financial performance with increased player numbers and average net daily revenues versus the previous quarter, despite continued competition from illegal U.S.-facing sites and the difficult macroeconomic climate.”

PartyPoker introduced its Monthly Million poker tournament earlier this year, a $640 buy-in event held on the first Sunday of every month. In December, PartyPoker member “ireadursoul” took down the Monthly Million to the tune of $200,000.

Also announced in Friday’s trading update was that Party Gaming had taken out a £35 million three-year loan to be applied towards mergers and acquisitions. Discussion of a possible merger between Party Gaming and bwin has dominated poker news headlines this week, although the company has not confirmed that any deal is imminent. bwin is also a publicly traded company and can be found on the Vienna Stock Exchange.

Shares of Party Gaming closed the week trading at 254 pence in London, down 4.6 pence on the day, or 1.8%. In the beginning of November, shares of Party Gaming’s stock (PRTY) had sunk as low as 214 pence before rebounding. In January, amid the worldwide economic doom and gloom, Party Gaming was fetching a lowly 157 pence a share.

Also helping to keep revenues afloat in recent months has been Party Gaming’s Bingo and Casino arms. PartyBingo’s business was boosted by the acquisition of Cashcade back in July, while a $5 million jackpot payout in the casino earlier this month drew a considerable amount of attention.

Ryan remained optimistic that a strong 2010 would be in store for the company’s investors: "Despite the challenges presented by the prevailing macroeconomic environment, we have not been distracted from the execution of our strategic plan. With the prospect of a number of new and large regulated markets in front of us, an expanding portfolio of B2B customers, and a return to growth in our core business, we remain confident about the Group's prospects."

Read the entire Party Gaming Trading Statement to the London Stock Exchange.

Poker Leads Way to PartyGaming Profits

“Returning poker to growth has been a key focus for us,” PartyGaming CEO Jim Ryan said in a statement released Friday.

“We are pleased to see that initiatives released throughout the year are now feeding through into both operation and financial performance with increased player numbers and average net daily revenues versus the previous quarter, despite continued competition from illegal US-facing sites and the difficult macroeconomic climate.”

PartyPoker made headlines earlier this year when it acquired the World Poker Tour. The site also released a major software revamp to its poker client that added a variety of new features.

Ryan went on to say changes in licensing and regulation in both Italy and France could potentially lead to a new source of long-term revenue.

Poker wasn’t the only positive development for PartyGaming, which also saw its casino, bingo and sports book put up strong numbers in the last quarter of the year.

PartyGaming, a publicly traded company, was hit hard when the U.S. passed the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act in 2006. The site pulled out completely from the country and its player base subsequently dropped dramatically.

Visit PokerListings.com

Vanessa Rousso Discusses Big Slick Boot Camp, Televised Poker

It has been quite a year for Vanessa Rousso. From her stunning performance in the National Heads-Up Poker Championship in March, where she finished second to Huck Seed, to television and magazine gigs, to running her own poker training camp called the Big Slick Boot Camp, Rousso has been at the pinnacle of the poker world. Poker News Daily recently had a chance to catch up with the globe-trotting Rousso and learn about many of the current aspects of her life, both on and off the felt.

Poker News Daily: What does the Big Slick Boot Camp give its participants that other poker training camps don't provide?

Rousso: What we try to do with the Big Slick Boot Camp is tie in concepts from game theory and Sun Tzu’s book “The Art of War” to offer a way for students to combat the game of poker. I personally believe that we give our seminars a truly unique take on poker strategy.

PND: Do you learn from the camps?

Rousso: I absolutely learn from the students in the camp. I love seeing the light bulbs go off in my students' minds when they achieve new levels of understanding about poker.

I feel very passionate about teaching also. Teaching helps me remind myself of some of the poker strategy fundamentals from which I stray over time in an attempt to play creatively, you might say!

PND: What type of player would learn the most from instruction in your training camp?

Rousso: The intermediate player would be the best person to take on the Big Slick Boot Camp. These are players who understand the basic concepts like position and blind-stealing, but have yet to explore some more complex ideas, such the concept of “M” as defined by Dan Harrington in his books.

PND: You have also offered private individual training for players both in the Boot Camp and outside of the course. How valuable is the individual instruction that you offer?

Rousso: I am very proud of the fact that each of my students has expressed great satisfaction with their private coaching experience. I know that one-on-one attention is the most efficient way to improve someone else’s game because I am able to tailor a program to fit their individual needs.

PND: Does the private training go into further depth than what you have time for in the Big Slick Boot Camp?

Rousso: Yes, because then I can evaluate and customize a program to fit an individual’s needs. I encourage my students to shadow me while I play online to see how I execute different strategies. With some of my longer-term students, I have gone into very advanced concepts and moves that have helped them become some of the top players in the game today.

PND: How big for you and your poker career was finishing as the runner-up in the National Heads-Up Poker Championship?

Rousso: Monetarily, the $250,000 prize is only my fifth largest to date, but the sense of accomplishment that I gained after beating a lineup of players that included Doyle Brunson, Phil Ivey, Daniel Negreanu, Paul Wasicka, and Elky head-to-head has been unequaled.

PND: Do your sponsorships with PokerStars and GoDaddy.com put you as a player at ease for tournaments?

Rousso: Having sponsorship income is a bonus for sure, but it doesn’t mean that I no longer feel pressure to perform well in tournaments. In fact, I probably feel added pressure to meet my sponsors’ expectations!

PND: You’ve been on television quite a bit lately. What did you find exciting about participating in the PokerStars Million Dollar Challenge?

Rousso: It was exciting to be part of a poker “game show.” I liked seeing ordinary people being given the chance at the once-in-a-lifetime experience of playing heads-up with celebrities and top poker pros. Of course, the opportunity to win a huge prize is pretty important, too!

PND: You were rumored to be taking over a hosting gig on High Stakes Poker, which turned out to be false. What did you think of that?

Rousso: I was flattered by that, though!

PND: You have a couple of other poker and non-poker related television shows going on right now, correct?

Rousso: Correct. I am happy with the current hosting gig on my plate with Stars of Poker. I co-host on that program and it airs on the Canal+ network in France. The other program I am going to appear on, Bank of Hollywood, is set to air on December 14th at 10:00pm ET on the E! Network. I am part of a panel of judges that has the power to award money to people so that they can fulfill their dreams. It’s completely non-poker related, but still a special program.

PND: Finally, does having a happy personal life with Chad Brown help your poker game and how much?

Rousso: Part of being a successful poker player is realizing that you can’t perform at your best level on the felt unless you have overall balance in your life. Part of that is having healthy and fulfilling personal relationships. So being a part of a great relationship like the one that Chad and I share certainly helps me perform well at the poker table.

Everest Poker Offers Players a Chance to Live the Dream

Popular poker room Everest Poker is aiming to kick off 2010 in style with the second installment of its Live the Dream promotion.  The contest gives qualifiers the chance to compete for one of ten sponsorship deals worth over $100,000.

Players could qualify for the event in one of three ways: tournament leaderboard races, cash game loyalty points races, or by direct-entry tournaments open to various countries.  The qualifying process is now over, but more than 200 players advanced to the next round of the promotion’s process.

The qualifiers are now being reviewed by Everest Poker staff to assess their poker skills, viability as a sponsored representative of the site, and popularity among the users of Everest Poker.  Players set up profiles on Everest Poker’s official website and others are able to view and vote on their favorite players.  Of the 200 plus qualifying players, 58 hailed from France, while Germany posted the second largest number of players with 29.  Other countries represented in the contest include Hungary, Japan, Brazil, Italy, Portugal, Britain, and Sweden.

The next step for qualifiers is to meet the Everest Poker staff in person.  Qualifiers will travel to the Palais Auersberg in Vienna, Austria for the final step before the top ten winners are selected.  Players who travel to Austria will be divided into two groups.  Group A begins the first day with five-minute taped interviews.  While players wait to be interviewed, they will be playing each other in cash games.  Meanwhile, Group B will play in sit and go tournaments.  After a brief break for lunch, the two groups will switch tasks.  At the end of the day, most of the players will be dismissed, but the top 20 will be asked to come back Sunday for an even more intensive interview process.

The top 20 will take part in 20-minute long interviews that will be reviewed by both Everest Poker staff and a panel of industry judges.  The top ten winners will be announced after dinner and will commence their year-long affiliation with the site with an official press conference.  As part of their deal, players will receive more than $30,000 to cover travel expenses as they travel the international poker circuit.  All ten of the players are set to take part in a number of tournaments, including the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event.

The first Living the Dream contest took part in 2008.  Some of the promotional winners included Steven van Zadlehoff of the Netherlands, Voitto Rintala of Finland, and Pablo Ubierna of Spain.  Prior to winning the Living the Dream promotion, Van Zadlehoff was already beginning to establish himself as a skilled poker player with a seventh place finish at the World Poker Tour (WPT) Spanish Championship in 2007 and an 11th place finish at the first annual WSOP Europe.  He also has five WSOP cashes to his credit.

Van Zadlehoff commented on his Live the Dream experience on Everest Poker’s official site.  ”If you get sent to the rails, you just look ahead to the next tournament and your next win. Live The Dream built more than my bankroll. It built my career,” he extolled.  Ubierna and Rintala echoed the sentiments, with all three agreeing that Live the Dream was a life changing and career-making opportunity.

Jan Skampa Wins EPT Prague; Becomes First Czech EPT Champ

Hometown hero Jan Skampa took down the Main Event of the European Poker Tour (EPT) Prague stop, banking €682,000. Skampa is a 23 year-old economics student at St. Charles University in Prague and became the first Czech champion in EPT history.

A total of 584 players turned out for the EPT Prague Main Event, which came with a €5,250 price tag. The event’s central location attracted a truly diverse international field, as seven countries were represented at the eight-handed final table. Among those at the feature table was Team PokerStars Pro member Luca Pagano, who finished in sixth place for an even €100,000. In October, Pagano final tabled the EPT Warsaw Main Event to the tune of over $100,000, one of his four EPT feature table appearances in 2009. Pagano has 13 in the money showings in EPT events.

Following his monumental win, Skampa told PokerStars officials, “It feels great to win. It’s my fourth EPT and I won it in my home town – that must be one of the greatest accomplishments you can have in poker. It was tough when we were three-handed, but once Stefan Mattsson was out, I felt confident I could win.” Here were the final results from the 2009 running of EPT Prague:

1. Jan Skampa (Czech Republic) – €682,000
2. Eyal Avitan (Israel) – €454,000
3. Stefan Mattsson (France) – €255,000
4. Anthony Roux (Czech Republic) – €171,000
5. Larry Ryan (Ireland) – €135,000
6. Luca Pagano (Italy) – €100,000
7. Gustav Ekerot (Sweden) – €71,000
8. Sven Eichelbaum (Germany) – €55,500

This was the third running of EPT Prague, which debuted during the fourth season of the EPT with Arnaud Mattern emerging victorious from a field of 555 runners. Last year, Italian poker player Salvatore Bonavena took home the crown after besting a group of 570 poker players. Attendance at the Czech event has increased gradually each year, as this season’s crop of 584 players represented a 2% increase year over year.

In the defining hand of heads-up play, which ran for three hours, Eyal Avitan pushed all-in with J-9 and Skampa woke up with pocket jacks. The dominating hand held and Skampa was crowned the 2009 EPT Prague champion, sending the hometown fans into a frenzy. Avitan sent Stefan Mattsson packing after he flopped a straight with J-10 against Mattsson’s Q-10. The fourth place finisher at EPT Prague, Anthony Roux, hit the rails after coming out on the short end of a race with pocket tens against Avitan’s A-K.

Larry Ryan, a PokerStars qualifier, hit the skids in fifth after running pocket jacks into Mattsson’s pocket aces. Ryan, who also qualified via PokerStars for the upcoming Caribbean Adventure, could not overcome being a 4:1 underdog and earned €135,000. Pagano’s EPT Prague title hopes were dashed when his A-J could not draw out on Mattsson’s pocket queens.

Next up for Season 6 of the PokerStars-sponsored EPT is the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, which takes place from January 4th to 14th at the Atlantis Paradise Island Resort in the Bahamas. The tournament marks the EPT’s only trip to the Western Hemisphere in a joint event with the Latin American Poker Tour (LAPT). In 2009, Canadian Poorya Nazari took home a massive $3 million grand prize from the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, which attracted a record-setting 1,347 players. In side tournament action, Team PokerStars Pro member and former Main Event champion Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier took down the $25,000 High Roller contest.

The PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Main Event comes with a $10,300 price tag. Side festivities include battleship events, ladies only events, and tournaments in Omaha, Eight Game, and Badugi.

Bernard Lee Recaps the 2009 WSOP Main Event Final Table

It was certainly a memorable World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event final table.  From Doyle Brunson announcing “Shuffle up and deal” to Joe Cada putting on the coveted bracelet, I was present in the Penn and Teller Theater to cover all of the festivities for ESPN Inside Deal.

Sadly, I could not play in the World Poker Tour (WPT) World Poker Finals Main Event at Foxwoods Resort and Casino.  The event has had significant personal meaning.  Not only did I have consecutive runs in the Main Event dating back to 2004, I also entered the 2009 World Poker Finals with three preliminary titles in the last three years ($5,000 in 2006, $2,000 in 2007, and $600 shootout in 2008).  I gave myself an opportunity to make it four in a row by making the final table of the $1,500 event, but I came up a little short, finishing in eighth place.  Oh well, I guess I will try to start another streak next year.

Nevertheless, the 2009 November Nine definitely had its share of memorable moments.  Right after the final table, I shared my thoughts with my radio show audience during my WSOP final table wrap-up, which lasted about three hours.  Guests included 2009 November Niners Darvin Moon, Steven Begleiter, and Kevin Schaffel, as well as recent Poker Hall of Fame inductee Mike Sexton, PokerNewsDaily.com’s own Dan Cypra, and Heartland Poker Tour announcer Fred Bevill.

The week after, I also produced an audio blog of the WSOP Main Event final table from start to finish.  Some of the interviews even included talks with players during the breaks to hear how they felt they were playing at the time.  If you would like to hear these shows or any past interviews with any member of the November Nine, you can download the podcast of “The Bernard Lee Poker Show” via iTunes or visit RoundersRadio.com.

Of course, congratulations to Joe Cada.  A year after Peter Eastgate broke Phil Hellmuth’s 19 year-old record for youngest WSOP Main Event champion, the 21-year old online player from Shelby Township, Michigan rewrote history once again by winning the $8.5 million first prize and the 2009 WSOP Main Event bracelet.  Cada went on a media blitz after his victory that included a ringside seat at a WWE event, appearances on several ESPN shows, and topped off with an interview with David Letterman.  I hope he continues to be a true poker ambassador during his reign.  Congratulations once again to our new WSOP Main Event Champion, Joe Cada.

Looking back, here are some of my additional thoughts about the WSOP final table:

1) Slow Early Play:  Based on the prize structure, I was surprised at how slow the play was at the beginning.  With the money difference between ninth and eighth only being $37,000 and the next jump being only $104,000, many analysts expected the short stacks to push early.  With players needing to finish in fourth place or better to at least double their guaranteed $1.26 million, I was even amazed that it took 59 hands to eliminate our first player.  However, after James Akenhead (ninth) and Kevin Schaffel (eighth) were eliminated, it took over 100 hands to dismiss Ivey from the final table in seventh place.

2) Atmosphere:  Unable to attend the inaugural November Nine last year, I previously heard all of the stories about the crowd excitement and noise.  This year, I got to experience it first-hand and it definitely did not disappoint.  Inside the Rio’s Penn and Teller Theater, the packed house was truly deafening and involved from hand one.

3) The Best Fans:  Many of the players brought their own cheering sections:

a. Schaffel: His fans wore white shirts that read “Schaffel up and Deal”
b. Moon: His family and friends had cut out faces of Darvin and shirts that read “Bad Moon Rising”
c. Saout: His cheering section wore France’s home team colors and chanted like soccer (or football as they say in Europe) fans
d. Ivey: The entire audience was cheering for him

However, the best fans were, without a question, Joe Cada’s gang.  Although there was a fight among their group, the majority of Cada’s group never let their guy down.  They cheered with every hand, sometimes even when he lost a hand.  One time, his group reacted so loudly that I was confused, thinking that he might have actually won the hand.  They really kept his spirits up and never let him give up.

4) Worst Bad Beat:  This year’s final table may be known as the Year of the Bad Beat.  Amazingly, every player eliminated from eighth place to third had the lead pre-flop and lost.  Here are a couple of the worst ones:

a. Schaffel versus Buchman:  Schaffel’s Ah-Ac got cracked by Buchman’s Kh-Kc when Buchman flopped a king and turned quads to eliminate Schaffel in eighth place.

b. Ivey versus Moon:  Pre-flop Ivey (Ac-Ks) had Moon (Ad-Qs) dominated, but Moon flopped a Qd.  Ivey could not catch up and was eliminated in seventh place, deflating his fans and the room in general.

However, the worst beat had to be when Cada shoved all-in versus Antoine Saout on the very first hand of three-handed play.  Saout’s Qs-Qh was poised to eliminate Cada’s 2s-2c; however, a 9s-7s-2d flop destroyed Saout’s hopes of the WSOP Main Event title.

5) Emerging Poker Star: Besides Cada, the one player that surprised many people was Antoine Saout.  An unknown player before the 2009 WSOP, this online qualifier final tabled the WSOP Europe Main Event final table prior to the November Nine.  Then, the second short stack ended up finishing in third place and could have been playing heads-up versus Moon.  Had Cada not flopped a set (see #4 above), the Frenchman would have brought a 110:70 million chip lead to the mono-a-mono battle.

For a limited time only (until December 25th), all PokerNewsDaily.com readers are invited to a special pre-holiday sale.  Click Here to receive a 20% discount for ordering my books, The Final Table, Volume I and II.  Both books make perfect holiday gifts for all poker fans.

Finally, in the coming weeks, “The Bernard Lee Poker Show” will interview two champions: 2009 WSOP Europe Main Event champion Barry Shulman and the Godfather of Poker himself, two-time WSOP Main Event champion Doyle Brunson.

I hope that everyone has a wonderful holiday season.

Since finishing 13th in the 2005 WSOP Main Event, Bernard Lee has cashed in numerous tournaments, capturing three titles and earning over $1.35 million.  He is the host of ESPN’s poker show, ESPN Inside Deal.  He is a columnist for the Boston Herald and ESPN.com and the radio host of “The Bernard Lee Poker Show.”  Listen every Tuesday night from 7:00pm ET to 8:00pm ET on 1510 AM in Massachusetts and also on 1510thezone.com and RoundersRadio.com.  The show is replayed several times during the week and also available on podcast. Visit BernardLeePoker.com for the latest news regarding Lee.

Poker News in Brief: Nov. 30-Dec. 6, 2009

With all that quality front page poker news there were a number of stories that almost fell through the cracks here at PL.com.

Fortunately, we publish our Poker News in Brief feature every Sunday and we’re going to recount some of the lesser-known stories below.

This week we’ll take a look at the original WSOP location shutting down its hotel, an Australian going back-to-back at the APPT High Roller’s event, a UB Poker pro winning a side event at Bellagio and more.

Binions Hotel Shuts Doors

Binions Gambling Hall & Hotel, the original location of the World Series of Poker, will be shutting down the hotel component of the business, according to a statement from owners this week.

Lisa Robinson, a spokesperson for Owners TLC Casino Enterprises, told the Associated Press the decision was made to keep the rest of the property operational.

She went on to say the facility was heavily affected by the economic downturn and the hotel rooms were no longer competitive.

The casino and legendary poker room will remain in business.

The property was originally known as Binion’s Horseshoe and it was there that Benny Binion conceived the WSOP.

The WSOP brand was sold to Harrah’s in 2004 and the next year the tournament was moved to the Rio All-Suites Hotel.

Graham goes back to back at APPT Sydney High Rollers Event

Jarred Graham pulled off an unlikely repeat performance as the APPT Sydney High Roller champion this week.

The young Australian outlasted 26 players including notables Jeff Lisandro, David Steicke and Terrence Chan to take down the $156,000 (AUD) first place prize.

This is the second year the $15,300 (AUD) buy-in event has been held and last year was actually more difficult for Graham, as he had to beat 36 players.

Graham now has life-time tournament earnings of $468,602, which puts him 21^st on the Australian all-time money list.

PartyGaming Wins Poker Operator of the Year

PartyPoker won Poker Operator of the Year honors at the eGaming Review Awards (EGR) in London this week.

An independent judging panel recognized that PartyPoker had made the most headway in the real-money poker sector over the last year. The judges were looking at originality, growth, scale, usability, payment processing and marketing.

Other notable poker winners included PKR for Best Online Marketing Campaign with special mentions to Betfair for Mobile Gaming Operator and ChiliPoker for Rising Star of the Year.

Russian Takes European Masters of Poker Slovenia

A Russian stole the show at the Slovenia leg of the second season of the European Masters of Poker this week.

Vladimir Mefodichev outlasted 252 opponents to take down the €58,190 first place prize in the three-day event.

The €1,000 buy-in event drew players from across the globe and the final table had players from Denmark, Russia, Israel, Sweden, France and Romania.

The European Masters of Poker now heads to Casino Las Canaria, Spain for the next tournament, which takes place Jan. 28-31.

Michael Binger Wins Five Diamond Side-Event

UB sponsored pro Michael Binger added yet another side event title at the 2009 Bellagio Five Diamond series this week.

Binger outlasted 127 players to win the $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em event for $124,160.

Since bursting onto the poker scene with a third place finish in the 2006 WSOP Main Event for $4.1 million, Binger has taken down the 2008 WSOPC Lake Tahoe title for $181,379 and side events at the L.A. Poker Classic and Five Star World Poker Classic.

Adding in numerous cashes from around the globe, Binger has slightly more than $6.2 million in lifetime tournament earnings.

Power Hours on UB, Absolute Poker

Absolute Poker and UB players now have opportunity to earn twice the frequent player points during certain times.

Starting this week both sites will offer Power Hours from Monday-Saturday between the hours of 1-4 a.m. ET and 1-4 p.m. PT where players will earn twice the UB or AP points. The promotion is open to both tournament and cash-game players.

On Sunday, all players can earn double points between the hours of 1-4 a.m. ET with a special 1-5 p.m. ET session just for cash game players.

Players do not need to sign up and the points will simply be added to their account balance.

Full Tilt Signs Jani Vilmunen

It appears that Full Tilt Poker has signed Jani “KObyTAPOUT” Vilmunen as their latest red pro.

At the start of the week, the Finnish PLO-expert was still playing by his KObyTAPOUT alias but by mid-week a red Jani Vilmunen showed up at the tables on Full Tilt.

Vilmunen is most well-known as a fierce high stakes online cash game player, but he’s also had success in tournaments. Vilmunen won the Pot-Limit Omaha event at the WSOPE this fall for $336,396 and he also won the $2,100 PLO Six-Max WCOOP event on PokerStars for $172,140.

Full Tilt has yet to publicly confirm it has signed Vilmunen.

UB, Poker Player Magazine Hold Tournament for Armed Forces

Poker Player Magazine and UB Poker will host a freeroll this January to benefit those serving in the United States armed services.

All members of the armed forces, including veterans, are encouraged to participate, but the event is open to all players who would like to show their appreciation for men and women in uniform.

“This is a great event for everyone,” said Poker Pro Media Vice President Will Jordan, a former Marine. “But it is especially gratifying because we will be getting our servicemen and women involved. They deserve our gratitude, and this is just one small way to show it.”

The grand prize will be a $10,000 seat in the 2010 WSOP Main Event, along with $2,000 in expense money.

To sign up for the freeroll simply go to UB.com by Dec. 27 and use the promotion code PKRPRO.

Visit PokerListings.com

BetClic Signs Isabelle Mercier

Mercier will act as a consultant for the site, which is a part of the Mangas Gaming group, and will be involved with developing a strategy for BetClic Poker.

“I am delighted to be working with BetClic and the Mangas group,” Mercier said.

“I am super impressed by the energy and ambition of this young company which is really going places. As with poker I’ve always made decisions based on both analysis and instinct, and this project has a great feel to it. I know it will be really exciting.”

Mercier brings years of experience from the poker industry, where she originally started as a poker room manager at the Aviation Club de France.

She was also a successful player and her big break came in 2004 when she won the WPT Ladies Night Out II event. Since then she has won over $1 million on the tournament circuit including a final table in the 2006 WSOP where she finished fifth for $175,404.

 “We are proud to welcome Isabelle to our team as an ambassador and advisor,” said BetClic managing director Nicolas Béraud. “She will give us new vision and excitement in this fast growing sector.”

Although Mercier will be a consultant for the company she will also continue to play poker, joining the rest of the sporting ambassadors at BetClic including footballers Marcel Desailly, Deco, Arrigo Sacchi, Mateusz Borek and Stefan Effenberg.

BetClic was created in 2005 and has grown from a start-up to a major player in the online gaming world. The company operates across 15 countries with over 1.5 million customers.

Although the site is known primarily for sports betting it has started to push its poker offering. BetClic also recently acquired Bet-At-Home and Expekt, both of which offer online poker rooms.

Mercier was rumored to have joined BetClic back in September, but she denied the claims at the time.

Visit PokerListings.com

Juha Helppi Interview with Poker News Daily

This week, poker pro Juha Helppi will take to the felts of the Poker Million VIII final, a made-for-television event that will also feature players like Luke “FullFlush1” Schwartz, James Akenhead, Taylor “Green Plastic” Caby, Dag Martin Mikkelsen, and Peter Vasiliou. Poker News Daily sat down with Helppi to get his take on the festivities.

Poker News Daily: Talk about going up against the likes of Schwartz, Akenhead, and Caby in the Poker Million VIII.

Helppi: I have no problem playing against any of them. We are playing short-stack poker and I’m better at that anyway. They might have an advantage with deeper stacks, but the chip leader only has 39 big blinds.

PND: Talk about being a bit older than the rest of your opponents, some of whom are accomplished internet pros. Does that give you an edge?

Helppi: I have played a lot of these made-for-television events, so I might have a small advantage in that I know what I am doing. They’re not getting the better of me because I’ve played a lot of these. I’ve also played a lot of sit and gos online and know the strategy you need to win. I know they’ll be aggressive, but I’m not afraid.

PND: Whose game out there do you respect the most?

Helppi: Probably Phil Ivey if he tries to win. If he really tries, he’s good. In most events, he gambles to get a big stack, but if he gets a stack, he tries hard. If it doesn’t work out, then he just signs up for another event. That’s the way many pros go about it because the fields are so big.

PND: You’ve been involved in a variety of unique tournaments over the course of your career, including an underwater event and a tournament on ice. Which one stands out to you the most and why?

Helppi: The underwater one because it was the first time I went diving. We went 30 feet underwater, which isn’t that far, but my mask started filling with water and I had to empty it many times. It’s simple to do, but when I did it for the first time, it wasn’t too easy. I know they’ve held a few of those extreme events. It’s a lot of fun and it’s nice to have different types of poker tournaments.

PND: How did you get started in poker?

Helppi: I was working as a dealer, although not in poker, in small clubs. My colleagues played poker and I was beating them a bit in live games. I started playing online, but that was back in 1998 and there weren’t many games to choose from. It was all Limit Hold’em since No Limit Hold’em hadn’t become popular yet.

PND: When did you decide to turn pro? How did your friends and family react?

Helppi: I decided to turn pro after I won the World Poker Tour Aruba Poker Classic in 2002. I took a year off from work and decided to try it. It went well, although my mom wasn’t happy. My dad was, but now they are both okay with it.

PND: Tell us about your paintball career. Do you still play?

Helppi: I still play. Last year, we finished third in the national league and the two previous years, we won. I have five national championships total. We mostly play during the summer because during the winter, it’s impossible to play outside. We have indoor places where you can play too, but they’re small.

PND: Are there any aspects of paintball that translate over to poker?

Helppi: It’s a lot about strategy. You have to build a strategy and guess how the other team plays. You have to somehow get into other people’s heads and know what they’re thinking.

PND: Are there still noticeable differences in player quality between tournaments held in the U.S. and Europe?

Helppi: There are. Tournaments held in France, Spain, and Italy are really soft. There are a lot of really aggressive players and a lot of really tight players. They play either too tight or too loose. In tournaments in Europe, the average level of play has been a lot better in the last two or three years. There are also a lot of U.S. players in these tournaments nowadays.

Juha Helppi Interview with Poker News Daily

This week, poker pro Juha Helppi will take to the felts of the Poker Million VIII final, a made-for-television event that will also feature players like Luke “FullFlush1” Schwartz, 2009 World Series of Poker November Nine member James Akenhead, Taylor “Green Plastic” Caby, Dag Martin Mikkelsen, and Peter Vasiliou. Poker News Daily sat down with Helppi to get his take on the festivities.

Poker News Daily: Talk about going up against the likes of Schwartz, Akenhead, and Caby in the Poker Million VIII.

Helppi: I have no problem playing against any of them. We are playing short-stack poker and I’m better at that anyway. They might have an advantage with deeper stacks, but the chip leader only has 39 big blinds.

PND: Talk about being a bit older than the rest of your opponents, some of whom are accomplished internet pros. Does that give you an edge?

Helppi: I have played a lot of these made-for-television events, so I might have a small advantage in that I know what I am doing. They’re not getting the better of me because I’ve played a lot of these. I’ve also played a lot of sit and gos online and know the strategy you need to win. I know they’ll be aggressive, but I’m not afraid.

PND: Whose game out there do you respect the most?

Helppi: Probably Phil Ivey if he tries to win. If he really tries, he’s good. In most events, he gambles to get a big stack, but if he gets a stack, he tries hard. If it doesn’t work out, then he just signs up for another event. That’s the way many pros go about it because the fields are so large.

PND: You’ve been involved in a variety of unique tournaments over the course of your poker career, including an underwater event and a tournament on ice. Which one stands out to you the most and why?

Helppi: The underwater one because it was the first time I went diving. We went 30 feet underwater, which isn’t that far, but my mask started filling with water and I had to empty it many times. It’s simple to do, but when I did it for the first time, it wasn’t too easy. I know they’ve held a few more of those extreme events. They are a lot of fun and it’s nice to have different types of poker tournaments.

PND: How did you get started in poker?

Helppi: I was working as a dealer, although not in poker, in small clubs. My colleagues played poker and I was beating them a bit in live games. I started playing online, but that was back in 1998 and there weren’t many games to choose from. It was all Limit Hold’em since No Limit Hold’em hadn’t become popular yet.

PND: When did you decide to turn pro? How did your friends and family react?

Helppi: I decided to turn pro after I won the World Poker Tour Aruba Poker Classic in 2002. I took a year off from work and decided to try it. It went well, although my mom wasn’t happy. My dad was, but now they are both okay with it.

PND: Tell us about your paintball career. Do you still play?

Helppi: I still play. Last year, we finished third in the national league and the two previous years, we won. I have five national championships total. We mostly play during the summer because during the winter, it’s impossible to play outside. We have indoor places where you can play too, but they’re small.

PND: Are there any aspects of paintball that translate over to poker?

Helppi: It’s all about strategy. You have to build a strategy and guess how the other team plays. You have to somehow get into other people’s heads and know what they’re thinking.

PND: Are there still noticeable differences in player quality between tournaments held in the U.S. and Europe?

Helppi: There are. Tournaments held in France, Spain, and Italy are really soft. There are a lot of really aggressive players and a lot of really tight players. They play either too tight or too loose. In tournaments in Europe, the average level of play has been a lot better in the last two or three years. There are also a lot of U.S. players in these tournaments nowadays.

Frenchman Fabrice Soulier Signs with Everest Poker

Everest Poker, an independent online poker site, is continuing to build its influence in France by signing Fabrice Soulier. 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event third place finisher and fellow French player Antoine Saout is also a sponsored pro of the site.

A press release distributed by Everest Poker claimed that the move to sign Soulier was made in order to reinforce “its presence in the country in a continued effort to develop poker in France ahead of the opening of the market.” Soulier has a wealth of live poker cashes dating back to before Chris Moneymaker bested Sammy Farha in the 2003 WSOP Main Event. In 2001, he won the Grand Prix de Paris for over $50,000 and, the next year, finished as the runner-up in a $500 buy-in tournament during the Jack Binion World Poker Open in Tunica for $41,000.

In 2006, Soulier made his presence felt on television, taking fifth in the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) Bay 101 Shooting Star tournament for $240,000, an event ultimately won by Nam Le. Soulier won a €1,000 buy-in event as part of the Deauville Poker Festival in late 2007 and went on to win the Marrakech Poker Open’s Main Event for $135,000 two years later. During the recently-held 2009 WSOP, he took 49th in the Main Event for nearly $140,000 and recorded six other cashes.

A press release distributed by Everest Poker explained Soulier’s influence within France: “He is a regular at key French poker rendezvous throughout the year and has participated in a number of television shows and projects which have helped improve and develop the perception of the game in France and mold the poker scene into the mature and leading market that it is today.”

According to PokerScout.com, Everest Poker is the sixth largest site or network worldwide with a seven-day running average of 2,350 real money ring game players. During its peak hours, which occur in the evening throughout Europe, over 5,000 competitors can be found battling it out on Everest Poker’s virtual felts. At the time of writing, which is early afternoon in London, a total of 2,912 cash game players are logged in. Everest Poker does not accept players from the United States and its traffic is similar with that found on the CEREUS Network, which includes the newly-branded UB.com and Absolute Poker. It is the official on-felt sponsor of the WSOP.

A French news outlet in Las Vegas during the conclusion of the 2009 WSOP Main Event told Poker News Daily that Saout winning the $10,000 buy-in tournament would likely result in a poker renaissance in the European nation. Every hand won by the Frenchman led the site to blog with earnest. However, Saout ultimately finished third after his pocket queens could not withstand champion Joe Cada’s pocket deuces when the flop fell 7-2-9. Saout came out on the short end of a race shortly thereafter with pocket eights against Cada’s A-K when a king hit on the river. The two unfortunate hands ended Saout’s run at the Main Event title, but he earned $3.5 million for his efforts.

According to an update provided last Sunday on PokerScout.com, Everest Poker has seen its traffic slide 3% year over year. Contrastingly, traffic on Full Tilt Poker and the Entraction Network has grown by 110% and 65%, respectively.

Everest Poker signs Fabrice Soulier

He signed with Everest Poker to help reinforce the online poker room's presence in the French market and support the French playing community that already exists on the site.

Soulier is ninth all-time in French tournament winnings with $1.5 million and an active proponent of poker in his home country.

Some of his notable international results include a WPT final table at Bay 101, a win at the 2008 Marrakech Poker Open, four WSOP final tables and seven cashes at the 2009 WSOP.

Soulier is also a regular at key French poker events throughout the year and has participated in a number of TV shows and projects which helped improve the public opinion of poker in France.

This marks the second time this year a French poker pro has joined Everest Poker. During the summer the online room signed 2009 WSOP November Niner Antoine Saout to a sponsorship deal.

Soulier has certainly had his share of online poker room sponsors. He has been affiliated with Unibet Poker, Poker770, ChiliPoker and Full Tilt Poker at varying times in his poker career.

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