Poker News

Bernard Lee Gives the Inside Scoop on Inside Deal

Every true sports fan has watched ESPN’s “SportsCenter,” which recently celebrated its 30th anniversary on the air.  On September 6th, Chris Berman (30 years), Bob Levy (30 years), and John Saunders (23 years), the elder statesmen of ESPN, hosted a trip down memory lane for this iconic sports recap show.  The 90 minute special showed how the franchise had evolved over the past three decades from the set design to the daily anchors to the multitude of highlights.

I am one of the millions of sports fans who religiously watches “SportsCenter,” so you can understand how thrilled I was to be asked to co-host ESPN.com’s weekly poker show, “Inside Deal.”  When we rehearsed for our initial show on one of the ESPN sets (Studio G), I could not have been more awestruck.  It looked like the set I grew up watching and now I was sitting behind the desk as one of the hosts.  Half-heartedly, I expected Stuart Scott or Scott Van Pelt (current “SportsCenter” anchors) to tap me on the shoulder and ask me to get out of their seats.  During the entire taping, I kept humming the “SportsCenter” theme: Da-da-da… da-da-da.

After watching so many hundreds, if not thousands of shows, I was so honored to be part of the family of broadcasters who are privileged to be in the ESPN studios.  Over the past several weeks, I have received numerous e-mails from not only family and friends (many of whom are insanely jealous), but also the readers of my columns and listeners of my radio show.  Thank you for your kind words and please keep watching.

With “Inside Deal” running online for over three months, there definitely have been some key revelations about hosting the show:

ESPN

Could there be a more professional sports production?  From our producer (Eric Pierce, who is truly the master behind the scenes) to my co-hosts, ESPN: The Magazine contributor Laura Lane and ESPN.com Poker Editor Andrew Feldman, the show is done so professionally.  I am proud to be part of this team!

Teleprompter

When you use one, you read more vertically as opposed to when you read from a piece of paper horizontally.  It is not as easy as you might think.  From the beginning, I have been very impressed by my co-host Laura Lane’s ability to read from the teleprompter so smoothly.  During lunch one day, Laura shared her secret on how she became so proficient.  She explained that when she was in college at USC, she would watch the nightly news and hit the mute button.  When the closed caption words would come across the screen, she would read text as if it was from a teleprompter.  What a great idea!

Makeup

I never thought I would wear makeup.  Before each show, we go to get our faces done.  Ugh!  I’m so glad I don’t have to do that every morning.  After each taping is complete, I immediately head straight to the bathroom to wash my face thoroughly.

Earpiece

Somewhat undetectable on camera, each of us wears an earpiece that allows the producer and director to give us instructions during the show’s taping.  The earpiece takes getting used to at the beginning, as you don’t want to react to the directions you are receiving in your ear.  Additionally, when the director is speaking to my co-host and she answers, I used to think she was talking to me.  It’s the small things that you have to get used to.

Opening Segment

I have thoroughly enjoyed helping create the opening segments of the shows.  Back in my working days in marketing, I often created videos to inspire the sales force to learn the features and benefits of my specific product.  I was known among my colleagues as the video marketing guy.  Funny how that became preparation for my current job.

During the run of the show, our guests have included a “who’s who” in poker.  The following are some interesting highlights from our first shows:

Episode #1: Chris Moneymaker tells the poker world that he lost his WSOP Main Event bracelet during a move.

Episode #2: Dennis Phillips discusses his near back-to-back November Nines and World Series of Poker (WSOP) Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack discusses the Day 1D sellout.

Episode #3: Barry Greenstein describes his charity work and shows his paternal side, while the cast of “2 Months, $2 Million” describe the Tilt Room.

Episode #4: Howard Lederer discusses his sister in “Celebrity Apprentice” and Eric Buchman (2009 November Niner) shows his “passionate” side.

Episode #5: Victor Ramdin breaks down East Coast versus West Coast poker debate.

Episode #6: Mark Seif discusses the Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet scandals.

Episode #7: Michael Binger duels with Daniel Negreanu in a Twitter Battle Royale.

Episode #8: Joe Sebok announces his Ultimate Bet signing (also look out for Joel Mchale of E!’s “The Soup”).

If you haven’t seen the show, hopefully this will give you an incentive to tune in each week.  A new episode is posted every Tuesday on ESPN.com/InsideDeal.  After watching each episode, please tell me which opening you liked the best.

And as always, don’t forget to listen to my radio show, “The Bernard Lee Poker Show,” on RoundersRadio.com on Tuesday nights from 7:00pm to 8:00pm ET and repeated throughout the week.

Poker Community Reacts to Festa al Lago Extended Registration

It seems that the poker world never tires of debating tournament structures and the most recent World Poker Tour (WPT) event at the Bellagio in Las Vegas is no exception.  In a unique experiment, the tournament staff decided to forgo multiple starting days for the Festa al Lago and instead allowed players to register any time during the first eight levels.

The Bellagio traditionally plays five levels each day during the early goings of its numerous WPT events, so the eight level registration period meant that players could show up on Day 2 and buy in.  The WPT’s chief tournament reporter, B.J. Nemeth, told Poker News Daily he was not aware of any major tournament, WPT or otherwise, that allowed players to register on the second day of play

The unprecedented registration process resulted in several big name players like Phil Hellmuth, Howard Lederer, Kenny Tran, Chris “Jesus” Ferguson, and Freddy Deeb skipping Day 1 altogether and showing up midway through the second day of play.  Thanks to the deep stack structure with very small antes, players who showed up at the start of Day 2 still began play with 75 big blinds.

Nemeth broke down the progress of the Day 2 starters as part of the coverage on the WPT’s official website.  While most players would agree that a 75 big blind stack is plenty of chips to work with, most of the late arrivals had trouble catching up with the rest of the field.  Nemeth reported that 20 of the 30 Day 2 entrants did not survive to the end of the day.  Of the ten players who advanced to Day 3, only Danny Fuhs and Gary Gibbs finished with an above average stack and neither of them would make the money.  While most of the late arrivals were eliminated on Days 2 and 3, Ferguson and Deeb were part of the top 27 and Deeb is currently second in chips with 11 players remaining.

Andy Bloch has been a vocal critic of the growing trend of tripling and quadrupling starting stacks in an attempt to offer more play to the players, but he appreciated the decision to extend registration into Day 2.  In a recent appearance on the PokerRoad podcast “The Poker Beat,” Bloch suggested there is no need to start a tournament with more than 100 big blinds.  The Festa al Lago structure gave players 600 big blinds and Bloch credited the late registration option as one of the reasons why he decided to play.  He explained that he values his free time and with such deep starting stacks, the early play in the event was too insignificant to merit him taking the time to play on Day 1.

Ultimate Bet sponsored pro Bryan “badbeatninja” Devonshire was less fond of the extended registration period.  While he did not play in this WPT event, Devonshire is a regular on the circuit.  “I think the experimental registration procedure at this year’s Festa al Lago event is silly,” Devonshire told Poker News Daily.  “When numbers are challenged, many players use the field [size] to decide whether or not to play.”

The numbers Devonshire is referring to are the small turnouts for the preliminary events and the overall decline in attendance for WPT events across the board.  While tournament staff believed the move could help increase the number of participants in the event, Devonshire disagrees.  “A smaller field discourages registrants and I don’t think it can be made up by allowing people to register after 12 hours of play,” he argued.  Although the extended registration brought in 30 extra players, upping the total field size to 275, the numbers for this year’s event are still down 25% compared to last year.

Devonshire also spoke on the strategic ramifications of the policy, suggesting it could potentially give someone an edge since they could register late with a chip stack that is slightly below average with $1 million of dead money in the prize pool.  Bloch agreed with Devonshire’s point, telling WPT Live Updates Hostess Amanda Leatherman that, even though you may miss out on the opportunity to win chips off the less experienced players, it is probably easier to make the money starting on Day 2 since so many players already busted out.

The debate rages on. What do you think? Post a comment below and let us know your reaction to the WPT Festa al Lago’s extended registration policy.

Gowen lawsuit tilts again

The lawsuit, filed Nov. 14, 2008, sought $40 million in damages from Full Tilt Poker, Tiltware, a series of related companies, Tiltware CEO Raymond Bitar and a group of Team Full Tilt players, claiming, among other things, breach of contract.

Gowen alleged that in 2004 she was offered a 1% stake in the site in exchange for her services as a celebrity endorser, but never received compensation.

She was dropped from the Team Full Tilt roster just days before the suit was filed.

Federal Judge Robert Jones granted a motion to dismiss the case back in April of this year, but the lawsuit was not thrown out in its entirety.

Gowen was given leave to amend the complaint to include just Full Tilt Poker, Tiltware, the related companies, Bitar and Howard Lederer as defendants and appeal the decision to dismiss the case.

However, in a decision released this week, Judge Jones both denied Gowen's appeal and granted Full Tilt's latest motion to dismiss the newly amended complaint.

Although, it appears the suit is not dead yet.

Judge Jones has granted Gowen leave to amend the complaint a third time to include only Tiltware.

Gowen and her lawyers have 15 days from the Oct. 14 decision date to file the amended complaint.

A former Oklahoma teen beauty queen, Gowen has over $1.6 million in career tournament earnings.

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Full Tilt Poker Victorious in Clonie Gowen and Domain Name Cases

The phrases “Full Tilt Poker” and “lawsuit” seem to go hand in hand these days, but the online poker room’s latest legal news is wholly positive for the site.  Two recent court decisions, one out of England and the other out of Nevada, both ruled in Full Tilt’s favor and, though the site received no monetary compensation, it brought some of its ongoing legal matters to a conclusion.

The suit brought against Full Tilt by former sponsored pro Clonie Gowen was dismissed for a second time last week.  The decision issued by U.S. District Court Judge Robert C Jones said that Gowen’s claim of unjust enrichment was an “indistinct cause of action” and denied Gowen’s motion to reconsider the order.  Jones granted Gowen’s motion to amend her claim a third and final time and submit it to the court within the next 15 days.

Gowen filed suit against Full Tilt almost a year ago alleging that the company failed to compensate her adequately for her work promoting the site at live and televised events since 2004.  According to Gowen, Full Tilt bigwigs told her that she would receive a 1% stake in the company, which her attorneys estimated to be worth $40 million.  The suit was brought against numerous companies affiliated with the site, including Tiltware Inc. and Pocket Kings Ltd., and also named each of the members of Team Full Tilt.

The suit was originally dismissed in May, but Gowen was allowed to re-file her claim against Raymond Bitar, Howard Lederer, and Tiltware.  This week’s dismissal was a response to that re-filing and, although Gowen is allowed to argue her case one more time, it seems unlikely that the suit will go her way.

Full Tilt received a ruling in another piece of pending litigation as well.  Pocket Kings, a software company that works closely with Full Tilt, filed a motion in a British court against the Commonwealth of Kentucky following the State’s attempt to seize a number of domain names connected with online gambling companies.  Pocket Kings filed the claim because the company that controls its domain name, SafeNames, was instructed by the Commonwealth to relinquish control of the URL fulltiltpoker.com, which would violate its contractual agreement with Pocket Kings.

Michael Furness, Deputy Judge of the High Court who heard the case, ruled in Pocket Kings’ favor, saying that Kentucky could not act as its own sovereign state and, as such, the seizure was unenforceable on British soil. According to Furness’ written decision on the case, Kentucky has made no attempt to seize Full Tilt’s domain name other than issuing SafeNames its initial seizure order.

The aforementioned domain name seizures were debated on the floor of the Kentucky Supreme Court on Thursday and the panel of seven judges is expected to issue a decision within four months.  The Interactive Media Entertainment and Gaming Association (iMEGA) fought Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear’s attempt to seize the domain names and argued on behalf of online gaming companies.

The Commonwealth failed to send anyone to represent their interest in the case, but a series of e-mails between the law firm Hurt Crosbie and May and Pocket Kings discussing the possible adjournment of the hearings confirmed that the State was aware of the proceedings, but chose not to attend.

In the end, Furness ruled in favor of Pocket Kings and declared that the Kentucky seizure was unenforceable.  In turn, SafeNames agreed to refrain from enforcing the order and Full Tilt will retain its domain name for the foreseeable future.

Jason Somerville Leads WPT Festa al Lago Entering Day 3

Two days are in the books at the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) Festa al Lago event. A total of 275 players registered, a drop of 25% compared to 2008, and entering Day 3 on Friday, Jason “JCarver” Somerville leads the way with a stack of 557,000.

A total of $1.2 million is up for grabs for the winner of the $15,000 buy-in tournament being held at the Bellagio. One person who won’t have the opportunity to vie for the seven-figure payday is Barry Shulman, the reigning champion of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Europe Main Event and father of November Nine member Jeff Shulman. The elder Shulman, founder of CardPlayer Magazine, was knocked out to close play on Thursday after pushing pre-flop with A-4 and running into the A-10 of Poorya Nazari. The winner of the 2009 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, Nazari saw his hand hold to knock out Shulman.

Also eliminated late in the day was Full Tilt Poker pro Howard Lederer, who pushed over the top of a raise by Mark Seif for 60 big blinds holding pocket jacks. However, Seif called and turned over pocket kings. The board ran out Q-10-10-6-A to send Lederer home just a few hours after he bought into the tournament during the extended registration period on Day 2.

2008 WSOP Europe Main Event Champion John Juanda was sent packing shortly after registration closed at 5:00pm Pacific Time on Thursday. Juanda called all-in for his tournament life on a board of K-Q-5-9 with three spades holding 6-7 of the suit. His opponent, Somerville, held Q-10 of spades for a higher flush and Juanda was eliminated. The hand pushed Somerville’s stack to 240,000.

2009 Poker Hall of Fame nominee Erik Seidel, an eight-time WSOP bracelet holder, took a bad beat at the hands of Phil Laak to end his run in the WPT Festa al Lago. Seidel pushed pre-flop with A-K and Laak made the call with K-5 of diamonds. Sure enough, a five hit the turn to give Laak the win in the hand. Laak’s stack grew to 120,000, but he did not survive play on Thursday. Others who were ousted included Beth Shak, Phil Hellmuth, Kenny Tran, Paul Wasicka, Erik Cajelais, David Grey, Carlos Mortensen, Eli Elezra, Jason Mercier, and Mike Sowers.

Here are the top 10 chip stacks remaining in the Festa al Lago entering Day 3 on Friday:

1. Jason “JCarver” Somerville – 557,000
2. Mark Seif – 473,200
3. Dutch Boyd – 453,800
4. Chad “lilholdem954” Batista – 425,000
5. Corwin Cole – 405,600
6. Richard Sciuto – 403,100
7. David “The Dragon” Pham – 365,000
8. Mike “goleafsgoeh” Leah – 348,400
9. Steven McKoy – 325,500
10. Jonas Entin – 317,600

Ninety-eight players remain, with the top 27 spots paying out. Other notable names still in the hunt for the WPT title include:

11. Steve “gboro780” Gross – 301,900
13. Lee Markholt – 273,800
21. David “Chino” Rheem – 233,000
27. Poorya Nazari – 221,600
30. Chau Giang – 210,700
34. Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo – 197,500
38. Mike Matusow – 183,800
48. Freddy Deeb – 144,800
49. Steve Brecher – 137,600
59. Andy Bloch – 112,200
60. Cliff “JohnnyBax” Josephy – 111,600
61. Glen Chorny – 111,100
63. Vivek “Psyduck” Rajkumar – 106,200
64. Todd Brunson – 105,900
72. Jonathan “FieryJustice” Little – 88,300
75. Brandon Cantu – 84,000
78. Josh Arieh – 77,800
80. Prahlad Friedman – 75,900
83. Barry Greenstein – 68,900
89. Kathy Liebert – 55,000
92. Phil Ivey – 51,700

When play halted for the evening in Las Vegas, blinds were at 1,000/2,000 with a 200 chip ante. The Festa al Lago will crown a winner on Monday. Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest from the marquee WPT event.

WPT Festa al Lago Attendance Drops 25%

Despite players having an unprecedented eight levels to register for the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) Festa al Lago, attendance dropped 25% year over year. In 2008, 368 players took to the felt, while this time around, the field numbered 275.

Registration ended five hours into play on Day 2 at the Bellagio in Las Vegas, the host venue for the annual Festa al Lago. A total of 30 players bought in on Thursday, including Andy Bloch, Todd Brunson, Freddy Deeb, Chris Ferguson, Hasan Habib, Isaac Haxton, Phil Hellmuth, John Juanda, Howard Lederer, Kenny Tran, and Bodog pro David Williams. Players who entered the Festa al Lago Main Event late received 60,000 chips, the same number as players who began yesterday received. However, the average stack at 5:00pm Pacific Time when registration shuttered was 114,000, nearly double that total.

Tran’s day was quite abbreviated. After arriving at the last minute and not taking a seat at the table until his stack had shrunk to 48,000, he quickly found himself all-in pre-flop with K-Q of diamonds against top online poker pro Steve “gboro780” Gross’ pocket sevens. Tran hit a king on the turn to take the lead in the hand, but Gross spiked a two-outer on the river to send the poker pro home. WPT coverage candidly summed up Tran’s outing: “Kenny Tran paid $15,000 to play for about ten minutes, but he still outlasted more than half the field.”

The feature table began with a star-studded lineup headlined by Full Tilt Poker pro and World Series of Poker (WSOP) November Nine member Phil Ivey. Flanking him were fellow Poker Hall of Fame nominee Barry Greenstein, “Big Game” regular Eli Elezra, Marco “CrazyMarco” Johnson, and Steve “MrTimCaum” O’Dwyer. Elezra was ultimately sent packing from the table after running pocket tens into pocket aces.

Phil Hellmuth headed to Table 55 upon arriving at the Bellagio about two-and-a-half hours into play on Thursday. Joining him were 2001 WSOP Main Event Champion Carlos Mortensen, Mike “goleafsgoeh” Leah, and Daniel Alaei. After coming up short in a race with A-K against pocket queens to drop his stack down to 23,000, Hellmuth raced again, this time for his tournament life. Hellmuth once again held A-K and was up against the pocket jacks of Dee Luong. However, he could not improve and was sent packing from the Las Vegas casino.

Twenty-seven places will pay out at the marquee WPT event, with a $1.2 million first place prize up for grabs. Here’s how the field will be paid out in the $15,0000 buy-in contest:

1st Place:  $1,218,225
2nd Place:  $795,150
3rd Place:  $477,090
4th Place:  $278,300
5th Place:  $208,725
6th Place:  $168,970
7th Place:  $129,210
8th Place:  $89,450
9th Place:  $63,610
10th Place – 12th Place:  $47,710
13th Place – 15th Place:  $39,760
16th Place – 18th Place:  $31,805
19th Place – 27th Place:  $23,855

At the time of writing, which is 8:30pm local time in Las Vegas, here were the top 10 chip stacks as play continued in the Festa al Lago. The action was in Level 10, where blinds were 1,000/2,000 with a 200 chip ante:

1. Chad Batista – 425,000
2. Jason Somerville – 404,000
3. Corwin Cole – 390,000
4. Mark Seif – 370,000
5. Chau Giang – 350,000
6. Steve Gross – 345,000
7. Mike Leah – 340,000
8. Markus Gonsalves – 320,000
9. Dutch Boyd – 260,000
10. Eugene Katchalov – 255,000

Last year, Team PokerStars Pro member Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier defeated Nam Le heads-up to take home $1.4 million in the Festa al Lago Main Event. Others making the final table included WSOP bracelet winner Nenad Medic and Ultimate Bet pro Adam “Roothlus” Levy.

Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest WPT Festa al Lago coverage.

Mike Matusow, Mark Seif atop WPT Festa al Lago Leaderboard

The World Poker Tour (WPT) kicked into action once again on Wednesday with the first five rounds of play in the 2009 Festa al Lago Championship Event, a $15,000 buy-in tournament at the Bellagio in Las Vegas.

The Festa al Lago, the fourth stop on the Season 8 schedule for the WPT, was in danger of being one of the lowest attended events since the inception of the tour. During much of Festa al Lago schedule at the Bellagio, tournaments were significantly smaller than in past years due to the continuing strains of the economy on the bankrolls of some of the biggest players in the game. For example, Full Tilt Poker’s head man Howard Lederer was able to capture the $5,000 Festa al Lago HORSE Championship, but the field only contained 19 players and paid the top three. Thus, there was a great deal of concern when the cards hit the air at Noon local time on Wednesday.

As play began, the original registration list only contained 179 entrants after the first half-level of play. It was decided at this point by Bellagio and WPT officials to introduce a radical remedy to accommodate for the largest field possible: late registrations would be extended until the end of the eighth level of play, meaning that the true field size would not be known until around 5:00pm on Thursday. Therefore, the players in the field on Wednesday, set to play five levels in the Fontana Lounge at the Bellagio, wouldn’t truly know the field size until the next day.

This extension of the registration, the latest it has ever gone in a major poker tournament, introduced some new challenges to the players who were already in the event. Instead of chipping down players who register late, anyone who buys in prior to the end of Level 8 will receive a full complement of chips (60,000, or four times the buy-in).

With the announcement of late registration, many players decided to wait until Thursday to step into the fray at the Festa al Lago. Ultimate Bet’s Phil Hellmuth, after hearing of the late registration rules, decided not to show up to the first day of action at the Bellagio and will wait until Thursday to mount his assault on the WPT title. Even without “The Poker Brat” on the felt, 244 players were accounted for by the end of the day and every table was a minefield of top professionals.

Top pros who started the day on Wednesday, but were unable to stick around for its entirety, included the Mizrachi brothers (Michael and Robert), David Benyamine, Joe Sebok, and PokerStars’ Daniel Negreanu. Making his first appearance at a poker tournament since he made the WSOP “November Nine,” Phil Ivey patiently played through the day and will start on Thursday with slightly over 83,000 in chips. He will be a part of the 195 survivors of the first five levels who will be chasing top players Mike Matusow (224,000) and Mark Seif (222,000).

Satellites continued to run through the early morning hours at the Bellagio to create the largest field possible and will probably be in action right up to the final gun. Poker News Daily will have all the information, including the final count on Thursday, as the WPT’s Festa al Lago plays down to a champion on October 26th.

Celebrity Apprentice 3 Cast May Not Feature Poker Players

In 2010, the third installment of the NBC reality franchise “Celebrity Apprentice” will hit television airwaves. The show, which featured comedian Joan Rivers best poker pro Annie Duke in the finale last time out, will likely not include a poker player this time around.

Ever since Duke finished as the runner-up to Rivers in May, the poker community has been abuzz that one of its own may appear in the third edition of the popular series. However, according to Huliq.com and the New York Post, the ensemble cast, which will likely once again pit men against women, does not appear to include a poker player. No official cast list has been released by NBC. The show is hosted by real estate mogul Donald Trump and raises money for charity.

Last season, Duke played for Refugees International, an organization that she worked closely with as part of her own charity, Ante Up for Africa. In the process, the poker community was instrumental in raising $730,000 for the charity. Poker players who made cameos throughout the season included Ultimate Bet front man Phil Hellmuth, Andy Bloch, Howard Lederer, 2009 Poker Hall of Fame nominee Erik Seidel, and Perry Friedman.

Embattled politician Rod Blagojevich headlines the “Celebrity Apprentice” cast in Season 3. His wife, Patty Blagojevich, appeared on NBC’s “I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here” when Rod was unable to attend due to ongoing legal action. Blagojevich is the former Governor of Illinois and was impeached in January for, among other misgivings, allegedly trying to sell the Senate seat vacated by current U.S. President Barack Obama.

Joining Blagojevich on the men’s team will be another controversial celebrity, former baseball great Darryl Strawberry, a member of the New York Mets, Los Angeles Dodgers, San Francisco Giants, and New York Yankees. Strawberry exited the league in 1999 and was the National League Rookie of the Year 16 years earlier. Chef Curtis Stone will join the “Celebrity Apprentice” cast, as will popular comedian Sinbad, whose credits include “A Different World” and “The Sinbad Show.” He has also appeared in movies such as “First Kid” and “Jingle All the Way.”

Former professional wrestler Bill Goldberg, who stormed onto World Championship Wrestling (WCW) scene with an undefeated streak in the late 1990s, will be a part of the new “Celebrity Apprentice” cast. Rounding out the men’s team is “Rock of Love” star Bret Michaels, who is also known for his work with the band Poison.

The women’s team features “America’s Got Talent” judge Sharon Osborne, whose fellow judge on the show, Piers Morgan, was the winner of Season 1 of “Celebrity Apprentice.” “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” and “Time After Time” signer Cyndi Lauper will join the squad. Olympic gold medalist Summer Sanders, who took down hardware in swimming in 1992, will also make her way to New York City to film “Celebrity Apprentice.” There, actress Holly Robinson Peete, wife of former NFL great Rodney Peete, will join her.

World Wrestling Entertainment’s (WWE) Maria Kanellis will also be a part of “Celebrity Apprentice,” as will comedian Carol Leifer, who has written scripts for hits like “Seinfeld” and “The Larry Sanders Show.” Finally, Selita Ebanks, a model, will round out the new cast.

The names of more cast members may be released, but for the meantime, it appears that the poker community will not be a part of the upcoming season of “Celebrity Apprentice.” Over on CBS, Tiffany Michelle and Maria Ho, the last women standing in the 2008 and 2007 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Events, respectively, are competing as part of the Emmy Award winning reality series “Amazing Race.” The show airs at 8:00pm ET on Sundays and viewers will see the poker playing duo race around Dubai, United Arab Emirates on this week’s edition.

The Post reported that the “Celebrity Apprentice” cast was seen recording the opening credits in the Meatpacking District of New York City and that the show would begin airing in March.

Howard Lederer Wins The WPT H.O.R.S.E. Tournament

Howard “The Professor” Lederer won the WPT Festa al Lago $10k H.O.R.S.E. event last Thursday. There was only 19 participants, but the field was quite tough featuring players like Eli Elezra, Andy Bloch and Scott Clements.

After the field was cleared, Ralph Perry made it against Lederer and they battled against each other in heads up. Ultimately Lederer was able to win and get the first prize of $92.150. Lederer’s latest big win was the 2008 Aussie Millions $100k event.

After the Aussie Millions Lederer could have won in some other major tournaments as well, e.g. two final tables at the WSOP this year. Howard Lederer, one of the founders of Full Tilt Poker, has won over 5 million dollars from tournaments in his career.

Source: Pokerlistings

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Howard Lederer Wins The WPT H.O.R.S.E. Tournament

Poker News in Brief: Oct. 12-18, 2009

With both the World Series of Poker Europe and the PokerStars European Poker Tour London completed, it was up to smaller events like the Aruba Poker Classic and the PartyPoker World Open V to provide poker headlines.

The relatively unknown Brandon Hall became the champion in Aruba while the very well-known Phil Laak took down the World Open V.

But there were several stories that didn't make it to the front page of PokerListings.com and as part of our ongoing Poker News in Brief feature, we've presented them below.

This week we'll take a look at the Poker Professor holding class, Doyle Brunson getting some recognition and Vladimir Geshkenbein becoming a heads-up champion.

Lederer wins $10k H.O.R.S.E. prelim at Bellagio

Howard Lederer added another poker title to his resume this week and he only had to beat 19 players to do it.

The $10,000 H.O.R.S.E. WPT Festa al Lago preliminary event wrapped up on Thursday after drawing a small but skilled field that included Eli Elezra, Michael Binger, Andy Bloch, Scott Clements, David Singer and several other established pros.

Lederer beat Russian pro Ralph Perry in heads-up play to secure a first place prize of $92,150. Despite two final tables at the WSOPE this year, Lederer hadn't won a major tournament since taking down the $100,000 buy-in event at the 2008 Aussie Millions.

Lederer, who is sometimes known as the "Poker Professor", now has over $5 million in career tournament earnings.

Doyle Brunson inducted into Athletics Hall of Fame

Doyle "Texas Dolly" Brunson is perhaps the most famous player in poker, but this week he was recognized for his athletic achievements.

After years of waiting patiently, Brunson was finally inducted into the Athletics Hall of Fame at his alma mater, Hardin Simmons University.

Before he started playing poker for a living Brunson competed in track and played basketball at HSU.

Brunson was a key member of an HSU basketball team that won its conference championship for a spot in the NCAA Division 1 playoffs. Brunson scored 412 points and was the only HSU athlete in any sport to be named the MVP of the Division 1 Border Conference.

Brunson was initially passed over for Hall of Fame recognition because of his involvement in the poker world.

The Texas Dolly is still one of the most popular poker players in the world and his twitter account "TexDolly" recently hit over 41,000 followers.

PKR Heads-Up Grand Slam for Vladimir Geshkenbein

Vladimir Geshkenbein outlasted some of the biggest names in poker to win the PKR Heads-Up Grand Slam this week.

The Russian beat Juha Helppi in the final heads-up match to take down a first place prize of $120,000.

The field was comprised of 32 players including Tony G, Tom Dwan, Luke Schwartz, Annette Obrestad, Peter Eastgate, Sammy George, J.C. Tran and numerous other high profile poker players.

Fans were hoping for a live resurrection of the online rivalry between Dwan and the trash-talking Schwartz, but were disappointed when Dwan busted out in his first match. Schwartz didn't make it much further, busting in his second match.

No one could figure out a way to beat the lesser-known Geshkenbein, who did win the high roller event at APPT Macau earlier this year. Geshkenbein has now earned nearly $400,000 playing poker in the last few months.

Forum tournament winner to play Ziigmund

A series of Online Forum Challenges are set to take place on Power Poker over the next few months with the ultimate winner getting a shot at celebrated high-stakes player Ilari "Ziigmund" Sahamies.

Power Poker will be hosting a series of tournaments over the next three months as part of the Online Forum Challenge and any player that takes part in every event will be entered into the Heads Up with Ziigmund freeroll.

The freeroll will offer a prize pool and a bounty in addition to the winner getting a chance to play Sahamies heads-up for $1,000.

All poker forum members are welcome to take part in the challenge and you can learn more by going to the Online Forum Challenge website here.

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Full Tilt Responds to Poker Bot Lawsuit

Online poker room Full Tilt Poker is known for keeping mum when it comes to its legal and business matters, but the company broke its silence to comment on a recent lawsuit by former customers Lary Kennedy and Greg Omotov.  Full Tilt issued a statement to the media regarding the case in which the company asserts that the plaintiffs’ accusations are false and there was just cause behind the closure of the two players’ accounts.

News of Kennedy and Omotov’s suit broke earlier this month when their lawyer, Cyrus Sanai, filed in a California court.  Within the claim, the two individuals allege that Full Tilt Poker unjustly confiscated their accounts following false accusations that they were using poker bots to play on the site’s cash game tables.  They then went on to suggest that Full Tilt used bots of its own and also leveled several other claims ranging from fraud to violations of the Racketeer-Influenced Corrupt Organization (RICO) Act.

Full Tilt addressed some, but not all, of Kennedy and Omotov’s accusations in a statement which refers to the suit as “baseless” and “frivolous.”  The statement, which was posted in full on Gambling911, went on to explain, “Both of these player accounts were appropriately terminated for multiple violations of the express terms and conditions governing fair and lawful play in the Full Tilt Poker online virtual cardroom, including their own admissions of using multiple accounts.”

Kennedy admitted to multi-accounting in a lengthy thread on the TwoPlusTwo online poker forum.  She said she sometimes used Omotov’s idle Full Tilt account to get action at the heads-up cash game tables after many regulars stopped playing with her when she was logged in on her personal account under her own username.

The statement from Full Tilt also addressed the claims that the site operates its own bots on the cash game tables: “Full Tilt Poker has never knowingly allowed ‘bots’ to play on its site… When fraud, collusion, and cheating of any kind is uncovered, Full Tilt Poker investigates extensively and then acts accordingly and appropriately, as was the case involving these claimants.”  Full Tilt not only affirmed its belief that the two players were cheating, but the company also suggested the two individuals will “be obliged to compensate the aggrieved defendants for any harm that may arise out of their false allegations and for the wrongful institution of these bad faith legal proceedings.”

While Full Tilt’s statement addressed the issue of bot use, the site did not comment on some of the suit’s claims about racketeering, unfair competition, and operating an illegal online casino in the state of California.  The statement also failed to confirm or deny any assertions about Howard Lederer, Raymond Bitar, and Chris Ferguson’s role within the company.  The lawsuit suggests that these three individuals serve as top executives for both Tiltware and Vert Enterprises.  These two companies are supposedly different entities run out of California and St. Kitts and Nevis, respectively, but the suit claims they are one in the same and controlled by Bitar, Lederer, and Ferguson.

The company has yet to issue a statement on its pending lawsuits involving former sponsored pro Clonie Gowen and former employee Jason “JDN” Newitt.

Mike Sexton Elected to Poker Hall of Fame

The 38th person elected into the Poker Hall of Fame is none other than PartyPoker Ambassador and Poker News Daily Guest Columnist Mike Sexton. He will be enshrined as part of ceremonies to be held on November 7th.

2009 marks the 30th anniversary of the Poker Hall of Fame. This year, nine finalists were up for nomination to the Hall, with a panel of 15 living Hall of Fame members and 15 media representatives (including this author) determining the fate of the 2009 class. Sexton was the only one that I felt was a shoe-in for election, as 75% of the 30-member vote was required in order to capture one of poker’s most prestigious accolades. A press release distributed by World Series of Poker (WSOP) officials properly labeled Sexton “a true gentleman who has constantly enhanced the game of poker both with his play at the tables and his promotion of the game off of it.”

Ballots were due on October 2nd, with each person able to vote for up to three candidates for the 2009 class. This author selected Sexton, Tom McEvoy, and Dan Harrington, the three elder statesmen on the 2009 ballot. Other nominees included November Nine member Phil Ivey, “The Robin Hood of Poker” Barry Greenstein, “PokerStars.net Million Dollar Challenge” lead man Daniel Negreanu, Men “The Master” Nguyen, WSOP Main Event and HORSE Championship winner Scotty Nguyen, and eight-time bracelet holder Erik Seidel.

The list of Poker Hall of Fame members reads like a roll call of poker legends: Doyle Brunson (inducted in 1988), Johnny Chan (2002), Phil Hellmuth (2007), Stu Ungar (2001), Chip Reese (1991), and Barbara Enright (2007), just to name a few. Now, Sexton’s name will be added to this illustrious list. In a press release distributed by PartyPoker, Sexton commented, “I am deeply honored to be inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame and it is particularly special because for the first time it was a process that involved the fans, the media, and the living members of the Hall of Fame. To me, the most meaningful aspect of this process was the acceptance by the living Hall of Famers, who welcomed me into their exclusive club.”

One of Sexton’s most impressive feats was taking down the 2006 WSOP Tournament of Champions, which saw the new Poker Hall of Fame member best a final table that included Daniel Negreanu, Mike Matusow, Andy Black, and Chris Ferguson. Sexton earned $1 million for the victory and, according to WSOP officials, donated half of his prize money to charity. His lone WSOP bracelet came in 1989, when the World Poker Tour (WPT) host outlasted a field of 174 players to win a $1,500 buy-in Limit Seven Card Stud High-Low event. He has reached the final table in 20 of the 47 WSOP events he’s entered, a 43% success rate.

Sexton is the voice that many in the industry “grew up to” following the poker boom in 2003 and was instrumental in bringing the WPT to life. Sexton sat, and continues to sit, alongside Vince Van Patten on WPT broadcasts, popularizing the notion that Texas Hold’em takes “a minute to learn and a lifetime to master.” He represents one of the few constants in an industry constantly in flux and had the backing of a bevy of influential industry veterans in his push for the Poker Hall of Fame, including Howard Lederer, Annie Duke, Steve Lipscomb, Linda Johnson, Jan Fisher, Padraig Parkinson, Matt Savage, Roland de Wolfe, and an army of public relations staffers at PartyPoker.

To me, one of the most defining acts for Sexton was when he took on a lead role to campaign on behalf of players shut out of the 2009 WSOP Main Event after Day 1D had reached capacity. Sexton joined forces with “Captain” Tom Franklin to present WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack options to accommodate players. Sexton, curiously, had little to gain from taking an active role in the situation, as he had already played on Day 1A and survived with an average chip stack. The situation manifested Sexton’s stature within the industry and is one of the many reasons we will look forward to welcoming him into the Poker Hall of Fame in November.

Full Tilt Poker Sued Over Bot Use

The legal woes keep piling up for Full Tilt Poker, as the site now has a third lawsuit on its hands to go along with pending legal action from former pro Clonie Gowen and former employee Jason “JDN” Newitt.  Unlike the previous two cases, this suit comes from a customer rather than someone with inside knowledge of how the company works.

Heads-up online poker player Lary “pokergirl z” Kennedy and former Full Tilt customer Greg Omotoy filed their complaint on October 1st and levied accusations of fraud, libel, slander, false advertising, and racketeering against the popular online poker room.

Kennedy and Omotoy sought legal action after Full Tilt Poker confiscated more than $80,000 spread across the two players’ accounts because the site believed they were using bots, which is against its Terms of Service.  Shortly after her account was frozen in 2007, Kennedy posted her story on the popular TwoPlusTwo online poker forum seeking advice.  As the thread developed, news broke that Kennedy was multi-accounting, logging into Full Tilt on Omotoy’s account in an attempt to elicit more action at the heads-up tables.

The official complaint against Full Tilt alleges that a player known on the site as “TheComplainer” accused Kennedy of being a bot and suggests that his good standing with Full Tilt resulted in her being booted off the site.  TheComplainer, known among the TwoPlusTwo community as “Crazy Mike” and “Gatorade,” had a reputation as an anti-bot poker crusader and accused several other players of being bots as well.

In addition to seeking restitution and damages in relation to the confiscated funds, the lawsuit accuses the site of a number of other crimes and makes insinuations about the inner workings of its management team.  The suit is filed against the companies Full Tilt Poker and Tiltware as well as several individual members of Team Full Tilt.  The list of individuals named in the claim includes Howard Lederer, Raymond Bitar, Phil Gordon, Chris Ferguson, Andy Bloch, Perry Friedman, Erick Lindgren, Erik Seidel, Phil Ivey, Patrik Antonius, John Juanda, Gus Hansen, Mike “The Mouth” Matusow, and Allen Cunningham.

Within the claim, Kennedy and Otomy’s representation explains that Full Tilt originally consisted of two separate companies, Tiltware and Vert Enterprises.  It suggests that, despite Full Tilt’s assertion that they are separate entities operating out of California and St. Kitts and Nevis, respectively, the two companies are one in the same and even suggests that Vert Enterprises actually ran an office out of Los Angeles for over two years.  When describing the roles of the individuals named in the suit, the claim also argues that Bitar, Lederer, and Ferguson all play major executive positions in the company.

The suit accuses Ferguson and Bloch of creating bots to populate slow cash game tables on the site and increase the profits of the company.  The bot accusation and the contention that Team Full Tilt and Full Tilt Red Pros are playing with “house money” are used in the claim to depict Full Tilt as an online casino rather than cardroom and, as such, in violation of California state law as well as online gaming laws in several other states.

These illegal online gambling charges are joined by accusations of fraud, unfair competition, and false advertising.  The complaint also invokes the Racketeer-Influenced Corrupt Organization Act (RICO), which has historically been used to levy criminal charges against organized crime syndicates, but is used in private suits as well in part because it enables plaintiffs to receive triple the amount of damages.  Kennedy and Otomy’s claim suggests that Full Tilt has willfully committed hundreds of illegal gambling transactions that fall under RICO’s definition of racketeering.

Full Tilt has yet to issue a response to any of the charges issued in this most recent suit or in the pending litigation involving Newitt and Gowen.  While the latter two are remaining mum about their cases against the company, Kennedy has taken her story to the Web and posting the complaint against Full Tilt on her official pokergirl website.

World Series of Poker Europe comes to an end

We’ve had a home winner (take a bow JP Kelly), a European victory in the Caesars Cup, a classic old school new school battle between Howard Lederer and Jani Vilmunen in the PLO event, the biggest ever televised pot in a TV game, Phil Ivey’s helicopter and Phil Hellmuth making a fool of himself (this time as Caesar) - and of course one of the greatest final tables ever.

Commerce hosting Annie Duke celebrity tournament

The Annie Duke Celebrity Poker Tournament will take place during the Commerce Casino's L.A. Poker Open with celebrities Scott Ian, Shannon Elizabeth, Brande Roderick and Joe Reitman all taking to the felt.

Joining the stars will be poker players Dan Harrington, Howard Lederer, Rafe Furst, Adam Levy, Andy Bloch, Dave "Hollywood" Stann and WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack.

The event is sponsored by the WSOP Academy and presented by Rockwell Time. Globe-trotting Matt Savage will be handling the tournament directing duties.

Anyone willing to put down the $330 buy-in can take a seat at the tables. Re-buys and a one-time add-on are both available for $100.

Organizers are promising a "home style" poker game with fans being given the chance to mix it up with their favorite celebrity/poker players.

More than $30,000 in prizes and giveaways will be awarded throughout the event. The red carpet begins at 7 p.m. with the cards getting in the air at 8 p.m.

DEF was established in 2001 by educators, decision scientists and business people who had an interest in providing decision education to today's youth.

The organization already has several connections to poker world.

In 2008, Eric Brooks shocked the poker world by winning the $10,000 World Championship Stud event at the WSOP and donating 100% of the $415,856 he earned to the organization. Duke also sits on the board of directors.

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Steve Zolotow Tops WSOP Europe Main Event Day 1B Field

Two-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner Steve Zolotow paced the field in London on Day 1B of the 2009 WSOP Europe Main Event. A total of 178 players entered on Sunday for a combined starting grid of 334.

A total of 363 players turned out for the 2008 WSOP Europe Main Event, meaning that this year’s field represented a drop of 8% in attendance. Nevertheless, the action was fast and furious at the Casino at the Empire in London, where Zolotow prevailed over the pack on Day 1B. When the action ceased for the evening, Zolotow held 166,825 chips, trailing the top three stacks from Day 1A – Brian Powell (194,600), Jason Mercier (189,725), and Sami Kelopuro (168,925) – to claim fourth place on the leaderboard entering Day 2 on Monday. According to PokerNews, Zolotow doubled up late in the day after flopping a set of threes against an opponent with bottom two pair.

A familiar face was third in chips after Day 1B, 2009 WSOP November Nine member Antoine Saout. A sponsored pro of Everest Poker, Saout holds the ninth largest stack overall after Days 1A and 1B in London at 144,400. Saout will hold the eighth largest tally when play resumes in Las Vegas, where the entire field is looking up at Darvin Moon. Action in the 2009 WSOP Main Event resumes on November 7th.

Here are the Top 10 chip stacks in the 2009 WSOP Europe Main Event entering play on Monday:

1. Brian Powell – 194,600
2. Jason Mercier – 189,725
3. Sami Kelopuro – 168,925
4. Steve Zolotow – 166,825
5. Viktor Blom – 163,175
6. Jonathan Aguiar – 160,100
7. Praz Bassi – 155,450
8. Martin Hansen – 152,775
9. Antoine Saout – 144,400
10. Christian Harder – 134,125

Among those who were sent packing on Day 1B was WSOP bracelet winner Nenad Medic, who was all-in holding just Q-J on a board of 8-3-3. His opponent showed A-9, which held up to send the Canadian home. Vitaly Lunkin, the champion of the $40,000 buy-in tournament commemorating the 40th running of the WSOP, was also eliminated from the WSOP Europe Main Event. Lunkin held Q-10 on a board of 7-3-2-Q-A, but ran into pocket queens. J.C. Tran semi-bluffed all-in with A-8 on a board of 10-4-J-9, but ran into K-10. An eight on the river missed Tran’s straight and secured his elimination.

Others remaining in contention include:

17. Ram Vaswarni – 113,625
23. Doyle Brunson – 92,900
27. Brandon Cantu – 89,000
28. Daniel Negreanu – 88,925
29. Noah Boeken – 87,500
35. Barry Shulman – 80,250
36. Juha Helppi – 79,200
41. James Akenhead – 77,675
46. Antonio Esfadiari – 73,550
70. Freddy Deeb – 56,900
77. Annette Obrestad – 52,400
81. Dave “Devilfish” Ulliott – 49,800
88. Todd Brunson – 46,050
94. Terrence “Unassigned” Chan – 44,175
96. Men “The Master” Nguyen – 43,200
105. Sandra Naujoks – 40,225
112. Shaun Deeb – 37,500
125. Teddy Sheringham – 33,350
128. Marco Traniello – 33,000
134. David Oppenheim – 31,525
137. Alex Kravchenko – 31,100
141. Yevgeniy Timoshenko – 29,675
142. Mike Matusow – 28,900
144. Dennis Phillips – 28,800
145. John Juanda – 28,525
149. David Williams – 25,850
163. Phil Hellmuth – 18,450
164. Scott Montgomery – 18,225
171. Michael Binger – 10,000
172. Erik Seidel – 9,925
174. Howard Lederer – 7,675
176. Barry Greenstein – 6,925

One of the toughest tables to convene on Monday contains 2007 WSOP Europe Main Event Champion Annette Obrestad, online poker pro Jason “JCarver” Somerville, Ultimate Bet pro Brandon Cantu, and bracelet winner Philip Tom. The quartet will headline Table 8.

Play will get underway at 5:30pm local time on Monday in observance of the Yom Kippur holiday, one of the holiest days of the Jewish calendar. The observance runs from sundown on Sunday to sundown on Monday. Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest from WSOP Europe.

Steve Zolotow Tops WSOP Europe Main Event Day 1B Field

Two-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner Steve Zolotow paced the field in London on Day 1B of the 2009 WSOP Europe Main Event. A total of 178 players entered on Sunday for a combined starting grid of 334.

A total of 363 players turned out for the 2008 WSOP Europe Main Event, meaning that this year’s field represented a drop of 8% in attendance. Nevertheless, the action was fast and furious at the Casino at the Empire in London, where Zolotow prevailed over the pack on Day 1B. When the action ceased for the evening, Zolotow held 166,825 chips, trailing the top three stacks from Day 1A – Brian Powell (194,600), Jason Mercier (189,725), and Sami Kelopuro (168,925) – to claim fourth place on the leaderboard entering Day 2 on Monday. According to PokerNews, Zolotow doubled up late in the day after flopping a set of threes against an opponent with bottom two pair.

A familiar face was third in chips after Day 1B, 2009 WSOP November Nine member Antoine Saout. A sponsored pro of Everest Poker, Saout holds the ninth largest stack overall after Days 1A and 1B in London at 144,400. Saout will hold the eighth largest tally when play resumes in Las Vegas, where the entire field is looking up at Darvin Moon. Action in the 2009 WSOP Main Event resumes on November 7th.

Here are the Top 10 chip stacks in the 2009 WSOP Europe Main Event entering play on Monday:

1. Brian Powell – 194,600
2. Jason Mercier – 189,725
3. Sami Kelopuro – 168,925
4. Steve Zolotow – 166,825
5. Viktor Blom – 163,175
6. Jonathan Aguiar – 160,100
7. Praz Bassi – 155,450
8. Martin Hansen – 152,775
9. Antoine Saout – 144,400
10. Christian Harder – 134,125

Among those who were sent packing on Day 1B was WSOP bracelet winner Nenad Medic, who was all-in holding just Q-J on a board of 8-3-3. His opponent showed A-9, which held up to send the Canadian home. Vitaly Lunkin, the champion of the $40,000 buy-in tournament commemorating the 40th running of the WSOP, was also eliminated from the WSOP Europe Main Event. Lunkin held Q-10 on a board of 7-3-2-Q-A, but ran into pocket queens. J.C. Tran semi-bluffed all-in with A-8 on a board of 10-4-J-9, but ran into K-10. An eight on the river missed Tran’s straight and secured his elimination.

Others remaining in contention include:

17. Ram Vaswarni – 113,625
23. Doyle Brunson – 92,900
27. Brandon Cantu – 89,000
28. Daniel Negreanu – 88,925
29. Noah Boeken – 87,500
35. Barry Shulman – 80,250
36. Juha Helppi – 79,200
41. James Akenhead – 77,675
46. Antonio Esfadiari – 73,550
70. Freddy Deeb – 56,900
77. Annette Obrestad – 52,400
81. Dave “Devilfish” Ulliott – 49,800
88. Todd Brunson – 46,050
94. Terrence “Unassigned” Chan – 44,175
96. Men “The Master” Nguyen – 43,200
105. Sandra Naujoks – 40,225
112. Shaun Deeb – 37,500
125. Teddy Sheringham – 33,350
128. Marco Traniello – 33,000
134. David Oppenheim – 31,525
137. Alex Kravchenko – 31,100
141. Yevgeniy Timoshenko – 29,675
142. Mike Matusow – 28,900
144. Dennis Phillips – 28,800
145. John Juanda – 28,525
149. David Williams – 25,850
163. Phil Hellmuth – 18,450
164. Scott Montgomery – 18,225
171. Michael Binger – 10,000
172. Erik Seidel – 9,925
174. Howard Lederer – 7,675
176. Barry Greenstein – 6,925

One of the toughest tables to convene on Monday contains 2007 WSOP Europe Main Event Champion Annette Obrestad, online poker pro Jason “JCarver” Somerville, Ultimate Bet pro Brandon Cantu, and bracelet winner Philip Tom. The quartet will headline Table 8.

Play will get underway at 5:30pm local time on Monday in observance of the Yom Kippur holiday, one of the holiest days of the Jewish calendar. The observance runs from sundown on Sunday to sundown on Monday. Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest from WSOP Europe.

Finn Vilmunen takes WSOPE PLO title

The 36-year-old PLO cash game pro defeated the legendary Howard Lederer heads-up inside London's Casino at the Empire Friday to win the WSOP Europe's £5,000 PLO event and its £204,048 first-place prize.

"I would think that it would be an even greater feeling, but I just felt I was going to win," he said. "When I was playing I felt the whole time that it was going to happen, so when it came the last card I felt like I would be celebrating a lot, but no."

Vilmunen, who also won the €1,000 PLO event at the Finnish Open Championships in 2008, said his recent success in PLO tournaments is mostly due to patience.

"I always play aggressively, but I had to keep my aggression level quite low," he explained. "That helped my game so much, because I was over-aggressive and that's why I didn't win tournaments before.

"Now I give my opponents the chance to make mistakes and before I didn't. I just tried to run over the table all the time."

Fellow Finns Ilari "ziigmund" Sahamies, Patrik Antonius and Sami "LarsLuzak" Kelopuro have dominated the biggest online PLO games in recent years and Vilmunen's recent success would appear to put Finland at the top of the world rankings when it comes to this variant of poker.

Vilmunen, who goes by KObyTAPOUT on Full Tilt Poker, said he really isn't sure what the Finnish secret to PLO success is, but he has a few ideas.

"Maybe we are a little bit crazy," he said. "The new generation is playing Texas Hold'em, of course, because of the Internet. But when I did start to play we played only PLO cash games.

"There are great rally drivers and formula one race car drivers from Finland and maybe the fact that this is a fast game as well excites us, I don't know."

PokerListings' comprehensive coverage of the World Series of Poker Europe presented by Betfair will continue with Day 1a of the Main Event beginning at 12 p.m. BST Saturday.

You can catch that and all the action from Vilmunen's win on our Live Tournaments page.

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Cajelais finally catches WSOP gold

On a rainy afternoon in London's Leicester Square Wednesday, he finally enjoyed the sweet taste of victory at the WSOP Europe.

"I felt like I really, really wanted to win it and I would do everything I could to do it," Cajelais told PokerListings moments after taking down the $2,500 Pot-Limit Hold'em/Pot-Limit Omaha event, winning his first WSOP bracelet and £104,677.

"That's what I did today, I played great poker and the cards came out my way."

The tournament drew just 158 players, but among them were some of the best poker players on the planet.

In fact, Cajelais defeated a final table that included four multiple WSOP bracelet winners in Men "The Master" Nguyen (6), Chris Bjorin (2), Howard Lederer (2), and Hoyt Corkins (2).

Strong field or a weak one, Cajelais said he just wanted the win.

"I would be happy to win a bracelet with a big field with all the worst players or a small field with all the best," he said. "I just wanted to win."

Cajelais grabbed the chip lead on day one busting 2007 WSOPE main event champ Annette Obrestad when he flopped Broadway against her top-two pair.

The second day of the event played down to the final five and Cajelais actually came in Wednesday as one of the shorter stacks.

Hedging his bets, the 27-year-old former bartender from Montreal, Quebec registered for the WSOPE's £5k Pot-Limit Omaha event beginning two hours before the final five restart.

"My main goal was to win this one," he said. "I said if I register for the £5k and I bust early, I can go and play the £5k. If I get heads-up I don't really mind losing the £5k."

Cajelais clawed back to the top of the chip counts busting Brits Richard Gryko, Robert Keston, and the aforementioned Nguyen taking a 10:1 chip lead into heads up with Swede Mats Gavatin.

He made short work of Gavatin to win the bracelet and despite busting out of the £5k PLO event, the first Canadian to win a WSOP bracelet on this side of the Atlantic sounded more than satisfied with his day.

"My main focus was really to win this one," he said. "And that's what I did."

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Erik Cajelais wins Event #2 of WSOPE

Erik Cajelais or 'Mr Tattoo' as i like to call him (he is smothered in them) has defeated a tough final table to take down Event #2 of the WSOPE. Coming into the final table, Erik was up against some well respected players in the form of Howard Lederer, Men Nguyen, Chris Bjorin and Ian Frazer - but the young Canadian out-muscled his opponents to win the £104,677 first prize and his first World Series bracelet.

Five Left in WSOPE Event #2 - £2,500 PLHE/PLO

A field of 158 has been whittled down to just 5, with play resuming in but a few hours. Mats Gavatin leads the final five in the mixed Hold ‘em/Omaha event after Howard Lederer, Hoyt Corkins and Ian Frazer all hit the rail early.

Chris Ferguson is amongst the chip leaders as Day 1b wraps

Over 300 players started Day 1b of the £1,000 NL hold’em Event #1 of the World Series of Poker Europe, meaning a combined total of 608 players took to the felt over the 2 days to pull a share of the £608,000 prize-pool. Amongst the 300 Spartans were some big name pros including Phil Ivey, John Juanda, Chris Ferguson, Men Nguyen, Howard Lederer, Andy Black, Annette Obrestad, Alen Cunningham, Jeff Lisandro, Antonio Esfandiari, James Akenhead and, yes, the list goes on.

Ante Up for Africa Monte Carlo Event to Air on CBS Sports

For the next two weekends, CBS will air the PokerStars Ante Up for Africa Monte Carlo tournament. The show will air on Saturday, September 19th from 1:30pm to 2:30pm ET and on Saturday, September 26th from 2:00pm to 3:00pm ET.

Both shows will air prior to college football. Vanessa Rousso, a member of Team PokerStars Pro, commented in a press release distributed by the online poker site on Friday, “Each year at the World Series of Poker, I make it a point to play in Ante Up for Africa. It’s amazing that PokerStars hosted the event in Monte Carlo to help a worthy cause and bring some fun to the table during one of their biggest events of the year.” In this author’s home market, the show does not air on September 19th, but rather only the 26th. Viewers are encouraged to check their local listings for details, as college football dates, times, and channels vary by market.

The tournament took place in April in the storied European principality during the Monte Carlo Grand Final festivities. The casino is the host venue for the end-of-season European Poker Tour (EPT) event and attracted a star-studded lineup of celebrities and poker players for the Ante Up for Africa contest. Among those in attendance were St. Louis rapper Nelly, singer Christina Milian, The Dream, “Heroes” actor James Kyson Lee, “Sex in the City” actor Jason Lewis, Good Charlotte band member Joel Madden, U.K. presenter Kirsty Gallacher, rapper Bruno “Kool Shen” Lopes, F1 racer Nico Rosberg, Liverpool goalkeeper Pepe Reina, and rugby players Sebastien Chabal and Mike Tindall.

Representing Team PokerStars Pro were Rousso, 2004 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event Champion Greg Raymer, 2005 Champion Joe Hachem, 2008 Champion Peter Eastgate, Italian poker pro Dario Minieri, Victor Ramdin, and Caesars Cup Captain Daniel Negreanu. The €4,000 buy-in tournament generated more than €260,000 for the Ante Up for Africa charity, which raises money and awareness for victims of the crisis in Darfur. A total of €160,000 was raised through tournament buy-ins, while PokerStars generously kicked in an additional €100,000.

Among those prizes awarded were a trip to the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in 2010. The tournament, which is held annually in the Bahamas, serves as the lone Western Hemisphere stop on the EPT circuit. A tournament summary distributed by the world’s largest online poker site offered the following insight into the ongoing Darfur crisis: “More than 400,000 people have died and more than four million have lost their homes in Darfur since the conflict began. To date, Ante Up For Africa has raised close to $2 million for the cause.”

Ante Up for Africa was founded in 2006 by “Celebrity Apprentice” runner-up Annie Duke, Full Tilt Poker pro Don Cheadle, and Norman Epstein. An annual $5,000 buy-in tournament is held to benefit the charity during the WSOP in Las Vegas. This year, the spectacle came to life on cable station ESPN and featured Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Sarah Silverman, Charles Barkley, and Jason Alexander. Representing the poker world were the likes of Chris Ferguson, Howard Lederer, and Phil Hellmuth, who served as the event’s emcee. This year’s gala raised more than $600,000.

In August, the Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS) featured a fundraiser for Ante Up for Africa in the form of a $120 buy-in tournament. A total of 2,367 players bought into the event, which was won by “warren_ace1.” Full Tilt donated the entire $20 entry fee to Ante Up for Africa.

Former Full Tilt Employee Jason Newitt Files Suit

The list of people and organizations that have a bone to pick with Full Tilt Poker keeps growing.  Two new lawsuits involving Full Tilt have brought the online poker room into the legal spotlight.

First, news broke that Brandon McSmith is suing Poker PROductions, the production company behind “High Stakes Poker,” “Poker After Dark,” and NBC’s “Face the Ace,” the latter of which features a roster of Full Tilt Pros facing off against contestants trying to win $1 million.  McSmith alleges he came up with a similar idea for a poker-themed game show called “The All Star Poker Challenge” and is suing Poker PROductions for $85 million.  No legal action is being taken by Smith towards Full Tilt directly, but the company’s close ties to the show mean they will have a vested interest in the matter should it go any further.

The other lawsuit that came to light this week involves Full Tilt Poker in a much more direct capacity.  Pokerati.com broke the news that former Full Tilt employee Jason “JDN” Newitt is filing suit against Full Tilt Poker, Tiltware, Pocket Kings Consulting, and both Howard Lederer and Raymond Bitar.  According to the case filing in the Nevada court system, Newitt is claiming that “he was unfairly fired and that his distribution payments were unfairly ceased.  Defendants then took control of his ownership.”  In other words, Newitt allegedly owned a percentage of Full Tilt Poker and is no longer receiving payments that stem from that percentage.

Prior to filing suit, Newitt was best known in the poker world for accidentally leaking internal correspondence between himself and Howard Lederer regarding potential sponsorship of 2007 Aussie Millions runner-up Jimmy “gobboboy” Fricke.  Newitt inadvertently forwarded an e-mail to Fricke in which Lederer referred to Fricke as a “freak” and a “kind of a weird dude.”  Fricke then posted it on the TwoPlusTwo poker forum.  In addition to simply revealing Lederer’s candid thoughts on the young online pro, the e-mail, which was copied to Bitar and Robert Wolf, shed some light on exactly how big of a role Lederer and Bitar play in the day-to-day dealings of the popular online poker site.

Newitt was let go in the wake of the Fricke faux pas and just recently filed suit for wrongful termination.  Newitt is being represented by the law firm Howard & Howard, the same firm that represented Clonie Gowen in her lawsuit against Full Tilt.  The two cases bear some resemblance to each other, as both individuals claim their distribution payments were ceased without just cause.  A U.S. District Court dismissed the bulk of Gowen’s lawsuit back in May, but Bitar, Lederer, and Tiltware LLC were dismissed without prejudice, meaning that Gowen can re-file against them in the future.  Her claims against several other individuals, including members of Team Full Tilt, were dismissed with prejudice, meaning Gowen can no longer pursue legal action against them in the matter.

At the time Gowen’s case was dismissed, Howard & Howard announced they disagreed with the court’s decision and were considering filing an appeal on Gowen’s behalf.  So far, there has been no announcement from Newitt, Gowen, or Howard & Howard on whether or not Newitt’s case will prompt Gowen to re-file against Lederer, Bitar, or Tiltware.

Crown releases 2010 Aussie Millions schedule

The schedule includes a total of 20 events running Jan. 14-31, 2010, at the Crown Casino in Melbourne with the $10,500 Main Event taking place Jan. 24-30.

In releasing the schedule, tournament organizers took the time to set some lofty goals in terms of prize pool and attendance.

"Crown is also announcing an expected first prize of $2.5 million for the No-Limit Hold'em main event which will further entrench Crown's Aussie Millions Poker Championship as one of the most prestigious poker tournaments in the world," said Crown CEO David Courtney.

Courtney went on to estimate the two-week series would draw more than 2,500 players with 1,000 for the main event alone. Courtney cited the growing popularity of poker in Australia as the main reason for expected growth.

Last year participation in the main event dropped by 99 players, but organizers still awarded the largest payout in Aussie Millions history with winner Stewart Scott taking home $2 million.

In the past, the Aussie Millions has had one of the most diverse tournament tournament schedules in the world and this year is no exception.

The series will offer Pot-Limit Omaha, H.O.R.S.E., Heads-Up, Seven-Card Stud, Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo and team-based events in addition to numerous No-Limit Hold'em tournaments.

Perhaps the most notable tournament on the schedule, outside of the main event, is the elite $100,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold'em event on Jan. 23. Former winners include Erick Lindgren, Howard Lederer, John Juanda and most recently David Steicke.

The Aussie Millions is always a magnet for high profile celebrity players and Jennifer Tilly, Shannon Elizabeth, Michael Vartan, Shane Warne, Brian McFadden, Ruby Rose and Brendan Fevola have all made appearances at the event in the past.

The Aussie Millions will be filmed and developed into a TV show on Fox Sports Network for an international audience of over 100 million.

For a complete look at the 2010 Aussie Millions schedule visit the Crown Casino website.

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Players For Million Dollar Cash Game 2009 Has Been Revealed

The Full Tilt Poker sponsored show, Million Dollar Cash Game, has revealed their convincing player list for this year.

Patrik Antonius, Phil Ivey, Chris “Jesus” Ferguson, Gus Hansen, Mike “The Mouth” Matusow, Allen Cunningham, Howard Lederer and the internet phenomenon Justin “BoostedJ” Smith are all going to play in the show. Also Tom Dwan, Doyle “Texas Dolly” Drunson and David Benyamine will pay a visit to the table.

Naturally Phil Ivey hopes to renew his 2007 trick when he won the record-breaking $807.400 pot. It was the biggest recorded pot then. If that year was crazy, think about last year, there was about $3.5 million dollars in the play.

Million Dollar Cash Game will be played and filmed today and tomorrow and it will be aired in early 2010.

Source: Bluff Europe

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Players For Million Dollar Cash Game 2009 Has Been Revealed

High Stakes Poker to Return for Season 6

Fans of televised poker will be relieved to hear that the popular program “High Stakes Poker” will be returning to GSN in early 2010.  While there has yet to be an official announcement from the network, Poker News Daily has learned that the show will be filming new episodes in November that will begin airing in February of next year.

Barry Greenstein first let the cat out of the bag during an interview on the ESPN poker show “Inside Deal” back in August, saying that “High Stakes Poker’s” production company, Poker PROductions, was planning to assemble players for filming in October and November.  Eric Drache said much of the same in an interview on the TwoPlusTwo Pokercast, saying they would convene players after filming concludes on another PokerPROductions vehicle, “Poker After Dark.”  With most of the players spending the next couple of weeks at the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Europe and European Poker Tour (EPT) London stop, it will be a little while before players will return to Las Vegas, where filming will once again take place.

Poker News Daily can independently confirm that “High Stakes Poker” will return for Season 6 in February, 2010.  The quick announcement of “High Stakes Poker’s” newest season stands out in stark contrast to the long delay between Season 4 and Season 5 in which the future of the show looked uncertain.  Rumors swirled that a change in management at GSN meant the show, which performs well in male demographics, but fares worse with the female audience that watches other GSN shows, was not going to return.  The cancellation of the World Poker Tour (WPT) on GSN cemented the belief that “High Stakes Poker” was done, but a last minute announcement in September of last year revealed the show would be back for a fifth season.

That fifth season aired earlier this year and was best known for numerous pots involving online poker pro Tom “durrrr” Dwan.  Greenstein discussed two of the most memorable hands from the season during his “Inside Deal” interview.  The first was a three-way pot involving Dwan, 2008 WSOP Main Event Champion Peter Eastgate, and Greenstein.  Dwan flopped the worst hand, but his aggressive play managed to get Greenstein to fold pocket aces and Eastgate to fold trips in order to take down the pot.  The other big pot also involved Dwan, Greenstein, and pocket aces.  Greenstein and Dwan got it all-in on the flop, with Greenstein holding pocket aces to Dwan’s top pair of queens with a flush draw.  Dwan hit trip queens to take down the biggest pot in “High Stakes Poker” history, worth almost $920,000.

Despite Greenstein’s rough go of it last season, he is up for the challenge once again and is already plotting his signature charity catchphrase.  Previously, Greenstein has uttered phrases like “lol donkaments” on the show in order to raise money for his charity of choice, Children’s Incorporated.  Greenstein told “Inside Deal” hosts Laura Lane and Bernard Lee that he is aiming to use one of the latest online poker catchphrases, “Bing, Blang, Blaow” at some point during Season Six.  The phrase comes from a comical poker rap that is circulating the web via viral video and Greenstein aims to capitalize on its popularity to raise even more money for a good cause.

It will be a few months before we will see exactly how Greenstein will work “Bing, Blang, Blaow” into the upcoming season and which other top-of-the-line poker pros will be around, but in the meantime, those hankering for a televised cash game fix can tune into this week’s episodes of “Poker After Dark.”  As mentioned previously, the show is also produced by Poker PROductions and this week’s game features a line-up of some prior “High Stakes Poker” favorites like Phil Ivey, Patrik Antonius, Dwan, Eli Elezra, Howard Lederer, and Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies.

Joe Hachem, Jeffrey Lisandro Featured on WSOP on ESPN Coverage

Day 3 of the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event hit television airwaves on ESPN on Tuesday night, with two hours of coverage dedicated to the festivities. Seated at the feature table were two Aussies, Joe Hachem and Jeffrey Lisandro.

Lisandro became the fifth player in WSOP history to take home three bracelets in a year and has logged 29 cashes since 2004. Hachem took down the 2005 Main Event and ignited a poker boom of his own in Australia. Joining the duo from Down Under was George Hardie, the former owner of the Bicycle Casino in Los Angeles. On the first hand, Lisandro raised to 3,600 with pocket eights and, after peeking down at pocket queens, Hachem made it 9,600. Lisandro called to see a flop of 10-4-2. Lisandro checked, Hachem bet 16,000, and Lisandro quickly released his hand, igniting chants of “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie!”

ESPN announcer Norman Chad commented that, while Phil Ivey remains his perennial pick to win the WSOP Main Event, Lisandro’s heroics in 2009 make him a close second: “Let’s assume that aliens come down and lure Phil Ivey away to a cash game mother ship, then I must turn to Jeffrey Lisandro.” Ville Wahlbeck was the only player remaining in the field that could catch Lisandro for WSOP Player of the Year honors. However, he’d need a seventh place finish or better in order to do so. Wahlbeck was seated at Table Two during the 8:00pm ET episode alongside Kenny Tran.

Also found in the field were Ivey and Phil Hellmuth. “The Poker Brat” found that one of his tablemates, Lauchlin McKinnon, did not want to shake his hand. Instead, his opponent told Hellmuth, “I don’t respect anything you do. I think you’re a complete prick.” Hellmuth joked, “I think this is going to be a good day.” Elsewhere in the Amazon Room, Bodog pro Jean-Robert Bellande pushed with A-10 of diamonds for 20 big blinds and rivered a flush to double up. Chad labeled him a “survivor,” a reference to his appearance on the China installment of the CBS reality franchise.

Kent Senter, who is undergoing stem cell treatment for an incurable form of cancer, was all-in with pocket tens against Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier’s pocket jacks. The board ran out K-5-3-3-5, giving Grospellier the win and sending Senter home. He was met with a herd of television cameras upon his departure. Grospellier is a PokerStars pro; his site began sponsoring chip count leaderboard graphics on Tuesday night on ESPN.

The “Straight from the Pros” segment featured Daniel Negreanu battling against Sammy Farha in a hand during the 2005 WSOP Main Event. Negreanu folded a straight after a third spade hit the river to give Farha a flush. Negreanu, the captain of the Team Americas squad that will compete in the Caesars Cup, told ESPN cameras, “He’s either bluffing here or I’m dead.”

Negreanu’s comrade on Team PokerStars Pro, Hachem, was featured in the Jack Link’s Beef Jerky Wild Card Hand, in which the cards of one player are not shown so the audience can play along at home. Hachem raised to 4,100 pre-flop with the Wild Card hand and Claus Nielsen called with pocket threes. The flop came 8-2-5 and Nielsen checked. Hachem fired out a bet of 6,200 and Nielsen made the call. The turn was a deuce and Nielsen put in a check-raise to 32,000, causing Hachem to relinquish K-Q.

Also in the field was former November Nine member Dennis Phillips, who relived tossing out the first pitch at a St. Louis Cardinals baseball game. However, he wound up throwing the ball directly at the ground. Wahlbeck then hit the skids after running pocket queens into pocket kings, leading to an announcement from WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack that Lisandro had claimed Player of the Year honors. Ivey then moved to Grospellier’s table, leaving Chad to remark, “Poker’s superpowers clash.”

The second episode of Tuesday night kicked off at 9:00pm ET and continued coverage of Day 3 of the 2009 WSOP Main Event. David “Devilfish” Ulliott joined the cast at Table Two, while Hellmuth found himself flanking Josh Arieh. Former Main Event winners Peter Eastgate (2008), Greg Raymer (2004), Dan Harrington (1995), Hachem (2005), and Hellmuth (1989) all remained alive to begin the episode, but Raymer quickly found himself on the sidelines after running pocket tens into pocket aces.

Lunkin doubled up after rivering a straight, causing Chad to lament, “I know Lunkin has played good, but I can’t tell you how ridiculously good he’s run. He should be halfway back to Moscow on an Aeroflot flight in coach.” Meanwhile, Nielsen bet out on an ace-high board after raising pre-flop with just 8-4. However, Hachem laid down pocket queens and Lisandro released pocket kings, giving the pot to Nielsen.

The Full Tilt Poker sponsored segment “Deal Me In” featured Howard Lederer taking on Hellmuth in a hand from the 2004 WSOP Tournament of Champions, which was ultimately won by Poker News Daily Guest Columnist Annie Duke.

Hevad Khan cheerily smiled at ESPN cameras, leading to the following comment from announcer Lon McEachern: “That’s the first real sign of life from him we’ve seen in two years.” Khan finished sixth in the 2007 WSOP Main Event. His lively antics resulted in the “Hevad Khan rule” against excessive player celebrations. Elsewhere in the dwindling field, J.C. Tran and Joe Sebok doubled up, while L.A. Lakers Guard Jordan Farmar was eliminated. Also hitting the exits was “Seinfeld” actor Jason Alexander, whose opponent made trips on the river.

Finally, “The Nuts” featured Chad and Hellmuth taking turns in a dunk tank. After Chad, a southpaw, finally sent Hellmuth to a watery demise, he commented, “I took more pleasure out of dunking you than anything in my whole life. That was two honeymoons rolled into one.”

New episodes of the 2009 WSOP Main Event on ESPN air on Tuesdays at 8:00pm ET and are repeated throughout the week on ESPN’s family of networks.

Line up announced for 2009 Million Dollar Cash Game

The line up has been announced for Full Tilt’s Million Dollar Cash Game and what a line up it is. Phil Ivey tops the bill followed by WSOP Main Event winner Chris ‘Jesus’ Ferguson, high stakes cash game legends Gus Hansen and Patrik Antonius, multiple bracelet winners Mike ‘The Mouth’ Matusow, Allen Cunningham and Howard Lederer and online phenomenon Justin ‘BoostedJ’ Smith.

Cash games take London by storm

Eleven players from 10 countries sat down to play the second edition of the PokerHeaven European Cash Game over 12 hours Monday night at the Hospital Studios in Central London.

The line-up included Ricardo Sousa, Bruno Fitoussi, Andy Black, Leo Margets, Eric Liu, Francois Balmigere, Andrew Feldman, Sammy "any two" George, Simon Munz, Andreas Hoivold and Jens Kyllonen.

And although George has been tagged as a fish by other players on more than one ocassion, he managed to win more than anyone else.

George arrived late but was able to outplay the others, taking a total profit of €24,075 out of the game.

Early on Black and Liu dominated, but as soon as George entered the game he started raking pots. By the time it was all over, Liu had lost €17,425 while Black held on to post a €11,275 profit.

Margets, the last woman standing at the 2009 Main Event, also left with a small profit.

Seven one-hour episodes of the game will now be edited for television and will air on The Poker Channel every Friday at 22:00 CET from Oct. 9.

In the meantime, George is scheduled to play heads-up with Tom "durrrr" Dwan in London later this month.

As a part of a live durrrr Challenge event presented by Matchroom Sport, the two are expected to play a total of 500 hands of Pot-Limit Omaha or No-Limit Hold'em heads-up with $500,000 at stake.

A firm date has yet to be announced, but it clearly won't be Sept. 16 and 17 when Dwan will be joining a stellar line-up of Full Tilt Pros for yet another high-stakes cash game in the British capital.

Full Tilt Poker is playing host to the 2009 Million Dollar Cash Game event and pros Phil Ivey, Chris Ferguson, Justin "Boosted J" Smith, Patrik Antonius, Gus Hansen, Mike Matusow, Allen Cunningham and Howard Lederer are all confirmed to play.

In addition to Dwan, David Benyamine and Doyle Brunson are likely to appear.

Phil Ivey raked an $807,400 pot during the 2007 edition of the Million Dollar Cash game and it was considered the largest amount ever won in a single hand of a televised cash game at the time.

There have since been several pots on GSN's High Stakes Poker that cracked the $900,000 mark.

Episodes of the 2009 Million Dollar Cash Game will begin broadcasting on Sky Sports in January 2010.

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