Poker News

Irish Winter Festival seats up for grabs with William Hill Poker

William Hill Poker is giving players the opportunity to win a fantastic package to one of Ireland’s premier events. Packages worth $4,000 are up for grabs in Sunday’s Irish Winter Festival Super Satellite. Winners will earn a €1,500 + €150 buy-in to the Main Event, €360 for 4 nights’ accommodation (Oct 23rd – Oct 27th, 2009) for qualifiers and their guest, at the City west Hotel in Dublin, up to $1,025 for travel and €100 for a special Irish Winter Festival Party.

Lock Poker Signs 12 Non-US Online Poker Pros

Lock Poker, a site on the popular Cake Poker Network, has inked 12 non-U.S. online poker pros to grow its player base worldwide. Poker Players International’s Randy Kasper orchestrated the signings.

The new fleet of Lock Poker pros includes Stephen “allinstevie” Devlin (Ireland, United Kingdom), Bjorn Andre “bjolla” Hovden (Norway), Dan “danloulou” Smyth (Ireland, United Kingdom), Vincent “Diamond8” Gabel (Belgium), Elmar “EmmiV” Masson (Iceland), Joe “Conno!!y” Connolly (United Kingdom), Francisco Costa (Portugal), Robert Jan Hoogendoorn (Netherlands), Brendon “brendoor” Rubie (Australia), Maximilian Bassil (Norway), Bolivar Palacios (Latin America), and Jose Raul Severino (Latin America). Last month, Lock Poker signed Poker News Daily Guest Columnist Eric “Rizen” Lynch to be its Director of Product Development. Lynch hails from the United States.

On the impetus behind growing the Lock Poker brand around the globe, Kasper told Poker News Daily, “Ever since Lock Poker and I started talking about signing Eric, they’ve picked my brain about what I thought would be our next move. They said that international signings were the next step and I agreed. You see a good cross-section here. Most of those players are pretty good online. There are also a couple of guys who have more business-related contacts.” Lock Poker burst onto the online poker scene in March, when the USA-friendly site hosted the Bluff Online Poker Challenge, a one month-long promotion won by Brian “SNo0oWMAN” Hawkins.

Lock Poker is now charged with utilizing its one-dozen non-U.S. pros to the most profitable extent possible. On what the online poker site has planned, Kasper speculated, “Lock is going to come up with something creative. They have different ideas with what will work in each area. Lock is focused on making sure they can cater to each player’s experience, which means different things in each region. They’re not afraid to strike out boldly and create workable relationships with these fantastic players.”

In addition to its non-U.S. signings, Lock Poker has also brought onboard three more American players, headlined by Brett “gank” Jungblut, a World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner. Jungblut was in the winner’s circle in the $5,000 buy-in World Championship of Omaha High-Low Eight or Better during the 2004 WSOP for $187,000, besting a competitive final table that also included “Miami” John Cernuto, Huck Seed, and Erick Lindgren.

Also new to Lock Poker is Vinny Pahuja, who finished as the runner-up in a $2,000 buy-in tournament held during a WSOP Circuit stop in Las Vegas in April. Pahuja banked $41,000 for his efforts in that event, about the same amount as he earned for recording a fifth place finish during last July’s Venetian Deep Stack Extravaganza. Pahuja took 28th in the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) Borgata Poker Open last September for $21,000.

The third and final American to hop onboard the Lock Poker bandwagon is David Zeitlin, who won a deep stack event at Mohegan Sun for $136,000 in July. He also made a deep run in the 2009 WSOP Main Event, earning $32,000 for his 262nd place finish out of 6,494 entrants. In 2007, he was the runner-up to Jason Warner in a $1,500 buy-in No Limit Hold’em Six-Handed event during the WSOP for $269,000. On the trio of Americans, Kasper commented in a press release distributed by Lock Poker, “Lock is fortunate to add such great players of great character to their ranks. These three are truly top-notch, both on and off the felt. These players are also fortunate to find a truly innovative room to partner with.”

The Cake Poker Network is the 10th largest worldwide according to the traffic ranking site PokerScout.com, boasting a seven-day running average of 1,820 real money ring game players. Joining Lock Poker on the Network are sites such as Cake Poker, Doyle’s Room, Players Only, and PokerHost.

Mercier hunts third EPT in Barcelona

Traditionally marking the beginning of the EPT season, the Spanish leg of the tour actually comes as the second stop here in season six, following August's EPT Kyiv.

Always one of the EPT's most popular tournaments, PokerStars is expecting as many as 700 players to descend upon the beachfront Casino Barcelona for the event.

Last year, Team PokerStars Germany's Sebastian Ruthenberg followed up his 2008 WSOP Stud Hi-Lo bracelet win by taking down the title and €1,361,000 first-place prize.

It was no easy feat, considering the final table featured fellow 2008 WSOP bracelet winner Davidi Kitai and EPT 4 San Remo champ Jason Mercier, who had a shot to become the EPT's first multiple title holder at the final.

"It became a personal goal when I found out going into Day 3 last year that no one had ever won two EPT titles," Mercier told PokerListings.

"I was very frustrated with my sixth-place finish last year, especially with how certain hands played out when we were nine-handed. Luckily I was able to ship the High Rollers in EPT London to become the first to ever win two.

"Obviously, Elky [Bertrand Grospellier] won the High Rollers at the PCA to become the second to do it, but that gives me some added motivation to become the first one to win three."

With Mercier out sixth and Kitai third, Ruthenberg took a 5:1 chip lead into heads-up and made quick work of Ireland's Fintan Gavin to book the win.

With a slew of poker's best players in Spain for the event, a repeat for Ruthenberg should prove difficult.

But, with a three way chop in a preliminary event already under his belt at Casino Barcelona, Mercier feels good about his own chances.

"I feel great coming into Barcelona this year," he said. "I hadn't played live in almost two months, which is the longest break I've had from live poker in 18 months.

"I'm really looking forward to the Main Event and hope I continue to play well and run good."

To follow all the action from Barcelona, check out PokerListings' Live Tournaments page.

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Ireland’s Dermot Blain Wins APPT Macau

After battling through four days of action at the Grand Lisboa Hotel and Casino, Ireland’s Dermot Blain emerged as the champion of the Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT) Macau event on Saturday night.

The first stop of the third season of the APPT, Macau was truly a celebration of poker throughout the hotel and the casino. Many of the professionals who make up Team PokerStars, including former World Champions Joe Hachem and Chris Moneymaker along with Raymond Rahme and Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, were a part of the 429 player field who put up the $5,160 buy-in to build a prize pool of over $2 million. Also making an appearance at the APPT Macau was the last man to win the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event in back-to-back years, Johnny “The Orient Express” Chan. All of the former Main Event champions were unable to cash in the tournament, but top pro David Chiu lasted until the next to last day of action, finishing in 16th place for slightly over $16,000.

Three days of play led to the final table and, once the United States’ Dane Lomas was eliminated in 10th place on Friday evening, the final table was set. It was an international cast that made up the nine player table, with China’s Daoxing Chen the chip leader at roughly 1.7 million in chips. Other countries such as the United States, Canada, Sweden, Kazakhstan, and South Korea were represented at the final table. In addition to the multinational makeup of the final table, there were several combatants who came to the felt having played for less than two years, a comment on the explosion of the game in Asia.

The two Swedes at the final table, Stefan Hjorthall and Pontus Kers, provided the first fireworks of the evening. After Hjorthall moved all-in for his tournament life, Kers moved all-in over the top from his position on the button. When neither blind decided to take Kers up on his bet, the two PokerStars qualifiers turned up their hands: Hjorthall’s pocket nines held the lead against Kers’ A-Q. That lead was short-lived, however, as an ace hit the flop and, once no nine came to the rescue on the turn or river, Hjorthall took the ninth place position.

Blain began to make his move in the tournament when he eliminated Arizona’s Brandon Demes in eighth place for a $41,619 payday. Blain then continued the onslaught when his Big Slick outdrew Dbinder Singh’s pocket queens, eliminating the Canadian in seventh place. Blain took the lead at the final table for good when he captured a big pot off of Darkhan Botabayev after approximately four hours of play.

After Kers was eliminated in fifth place, the tournament came to a grinding halt. It reached a point that tournament director Danny McDonagh threatened to clock players without a request from the table to speed up play. Mindful of the warning, the four players then commenced to finish the tournament within the next hour and a half.

Chen took care of Botabayev before departing himself in third place at the hands of Blain. With the Chen elimination, it was simply a matter of time before Blain, with nearly an 8:1 lead over South Korea’s Michael Kim, captured the championship. After four hands of heads-up action, Kim moved all-in with a 10-9 and was dismayed to see Blain call and table K-10. A ten came on the flop, but no nine was to be found and Blain was crowned the champion of the APPT Macau. The final table payouts were as such:

1. Dermot Blain (Ireland) - $541,072
2. Michael Kim (South Korea) - $384,982
3. Daoxing Chen (China) - $239,315
4. Darkhan Botabayev (Kazakhstan) - $166,489
5. Pontus Kers (Sweden) - $114,459
6. Jichen Su (China) - $74,917
7. Dbinder Singh (Canada) - $52,030
8. Brandon Demes (United States) - $41,619
9. Stefan Shortfall (Sweden) - $31,221

What was to be the next stop on the APPT schedule, the APPT Seoul, has been postponed due to casino renovations at the Seven Luck Casino. The next stop will now be APPT Auckland for the Skycity Festival of Poker from October 14th through the 18th.

APPT Macau smashes records

After qualifying through a live satellite at the Grand Lisboa's PokerStars Macau Poker Room, Ireland's Dermot Blain booked the win in the main event, besting a final table that included 2009 WSOP Main Event Day 1b chip leader Brandon Demes.

Blain, 25, who recently left his job as a sales manager to play poker full time, took home approximately $538,700 for the win Sunday, marking the largest prize ever paid out in a poker tournament on Asian soil.

A total of 429 players from 46 countries created a more than $2 million prize pool for the main event, beating the previous record of $1.6 million set at last year's APPT Macau main event.

The APPT Macau High Roller event also finished Sunday with Switzerland's Vladimir Geshkenbein taking the $266,735 first-place prize.

Geshkenbein actually beat the legendary Johnny Chan heads-up, who managed to best his seventh-place finish in the very same event last year, coming second for $154,426.

The entire PokerStars.net APPT Macau Summer Festival of Poker actually featured 38 events with nearly 3,000 players and a total prize pool of $3,596,341.

"It's a wonderful experience to see the always-hospitable people of Macau and watch the sport of poker continue to grow," Team PokerStars Pro Joe Hachem said.

"It's truly amazing how passionate the local players at PokerStars Macau are about poker and it's abundantly obvious by not only the number of participants from Macau, Hong Kong and China, but also the great results they are having in all the events.

"I'm looking forward to coming back to the Grand Lisboa next year."

The next stop on the APPT will be in Auckland, New Zealand from October 14-18.

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PokerStars EPT London Freerolls - UK / Irish only

PokerStars are offering their UK and Irish players the chance to play in EPT London Special tournaments leading to one of five EPT London packages, worth $12,350, for nothing, zilch, nada!! This established Event, dating back to series 1 in 2004, is to be held in the Hilton Metropole, London this October 2nd to 7th. This very generous prize package includes:

• Buy in to the Main Event worth $5,250
• Hotel Accommodation
• Expenses
• Exclusive PokerStars kit to wear whilst playing and to take home and treasure

If you qualify online with PokerStars you will be competing for millions of dollars as well as the title and kudos of being an EPT Champion.

Are you interested in getting to EPT London? Then don’t forget, this opportunity for greatness is only open to PokerStars players from UK and Ireland so the field will be small and that means your chances of winning a prize package are greater. Thank you PokerStars!

Your road to EPT London is as follows

Tournament	Buy in	Date	Time
EPT London Special Freeroll Qualifier	Free	Daily until 19 Sept	7.00pm UK 2.00pm New York
EPT London Special 10 FPP Qualifier	10FPP	Daily until 19 Sept	7.30pm UK 2.30pm New York
EPT London Special $1 Qualifier	$1	Daily until 19 Sept	7.15pm UK 2.15pm New York
EPT London Special $10 Qualifier	$10	Daily until 19 Sept	8.15pm UK 3.15pm New York
EPT London Special Weekly Final	N/A	Sundays 23 Aug until Sept 20	7.30pm UK 2.30pm New York

In the weekly finals the top 100 finishers will be in the money, the 1st place prize is a EPT London Prize Package plus $1,000 – fantastic days work!

PokerStars are the biggest and best online poker site, if you think size doesn’t matter take a look at our unbiased, factual review to see what an excellent site you have been missing.

To further tempt you PokerStars are offering their most generous sign up bonus ever of 100% up to $600, use the PokerStars Marketing Code DIRPOKER and the PokerStars Bonus Code STARS600 to ensure you receive your full 1st time depositors incentive.

Devilfish Poker launches weekly live tournament

Ireland’s newest poker venue, the Voodoo Card Club in Arran Quay, Dublin will be the venue for a weekly event hosted by Devilfish Poker. The so-called Devilfish Night takes place every Thursday at 8.30pm and will feature a €25+5 buy-in Second Life tournament with starting stacks of 3,000 chips, a 3,000 chip re-buy and a 20 minute clock.

Ladbrokes, PaddyPower offering Irish Classic seats

Both rooms will be joining Betfair Poker as the official place for satellites into the €1,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold'em Main Event that features a €100,000 guarantee.

The tournament takes place from Aug. 10-16 at the Macau Sporting Club in Cork, Ireland.

PaddyPowerPoker will host a satellite tournament on Aug. 5 with at least one seat into the Irish Classic guaranteed. Entry is $100+$10 with a rebuy and add-on.

Ladbrokes will be hosting its first satellite for the Irish Classic on Aug. 3. The buy-in will be slightly lower at $88+$8.

Meanwhile, online qualifiers continue at Betfair Poker every Wednesday with $80+$8 satellites, but it's also possible to qualify for as little as $2+$.20 in daily feeders.

Every player that registers for the Irish Poker Classic will automatically be entered into the free Million Dollar Game freeroll where the winner will go to London to play against 17 others for a $1 million first place prize at the Betfair-sponsored World Series of Poker Europe.

Live satellites are also available at the Macau Sporting Club as well as Dubin's Sporting Emporium, Fitzwilliam Club, Emerald Casino, Clondalkin, JP Poker, Fortune Rooms, Goldclub, Atlantis Casino, Eglington Casino, Fitzpatricks Limerick, Olympus Waterford and Cue Club Killarney.

Last year Irishman Rob Taylor outlasted a record field of 169 to win the event, including Annette Obrestad, Michael Greco, Marty Smyth, Ian Woodley and Mick McCloskey.

Although there was a chop with two players remaining, Taylor still took down $69,003 for his efforts.

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James Akenhead - Poker Player Profile

Akenhead, a British poker pro, has just two World Series of Poker (WSOP) cashes to his name, both of which came after deep runs on poker’s biggest stage. Akenhead finished as the runner-up to Grant Hinkle in a $1,500 buy-in No Limit Hold’em tournament during the 2008 WSOP for $520,000. He also took 39^th in a £1,500 buy-in No Limit Hold’em event as part of the WSOP Europe festivities in London that year for just over £3,000. Akenhead is a former railroad conductor who now competes on the green felts for a living.

Akenhead is a regular on the Grosvenor U.K. Poker Tour and finished fourth in the 888.com U.K. Open in 2008 after winning two preliminary heats. Akenhead is one of Britain’s top players, coming from a long line of pros from the country including David “Devilfish” Ulliott, Roland de Wolfe, John Gale, and Liv Boeree. In July of 2007, Akenhead made his mark on U.S. soil by winning a $1,000 buy-in tournament during the Bellagio Cup for $41,000. He’s since cashed in tournaments around the world, including the United States, Bahamas, Germany, Ireland, and France.

Akenhead is a Full Tilt Poker pro, joining fellow member and seven-time WSOP bracelet winner Phil Ivey at the final table of the 2009 Main Event. Also reaching the feature table of the tournament are two sponsored Full Tilt Poker players, Steven Begleiter and Eric Buchman. Ivey, Howard Lederer, Andy Bloch, and Gus Hansen, among others, headline team Full Tilt. The site’s slogan encourages poker hopefuls to “play with the pros” and is the second largest room worldwide in terms of cash game traffic. Its acceptance of U.S. players and fully-downloadable Mac client have made the online poker site an industry staple.

Akenhead is one of two non-U.S. players at the 2009 Main Event final table, joining Frenchman Antoine Saout. He’s just 26 years-old and is the tournament’s short stack. He’ll likely have the support of poker’s established pros during the finale, who are looking to buck an ongoing trend of amateurs winning in the Main Event.

Together with Praz Bansi, Chaz Chattha, Sunny Chattha, and Karl Mahrenholz, Akenhead is a member of the Hit Squad. After Akenhead reached the final table to become a member of the newest November Nine, Chattha commented on the Hit Sqaud’s website, “All going out to celebrate now, gonna be crazy.” In an interview that appeared on Bluff Europe’s website, rumors of profit sharing among the Hit Squad were addressed: “We help each other now and again, but we’re not a business; we’re just a group of friends that travels together and supports each other. You always want someone on the rail cheering for you and they’re always there.”

The Gutshot’s Derek Kelly to Speak and Sign Books at Poker in the Park.

Derek Kelly, the founder of the infamous Gutshot Club in London and the man behind Ireland’s new Voodoo Card Club, is the newest addition to the speaker line-up at Poker in the Park – August 13 & 14, 2009 in Leicester Square, London.

PaddyPower Holding Qualifiers to Irish Winter Festival.

Today at lunchtime PaddyPower will be hosting a satellite to enter the prestigious Irish Winter Festival, to be held in Ireland this October. This tournament is stage one, a low-rake $35+$3 entry that awards one seat to the main satellite for every $215 in the prize pool.

Play Poker on TV with Full Tilt

You can join the cool dudes on the TV playing poker on the iconic programmes, the Full Tilt Poker Million and Late Night Poker. That’s two fantastic shows, $2million up for grabs at just one place, Full Tilt Poker. We’ve all watched these two, not to be missed, programmes dedicated to Poker but have you ever wondered how you get to join in? Well, I’ve found out how, read on…

Poker Million

The only way to join the poker professionals on televisions’ Poker Million is to play on Full Tilt Poker, duh! Go through the lobby / special / live events to find the following routes to get on the box.

Poker Programme	When	Stage	Buy In Direct
Poker Million	Daily 6.15pm and 8.15pm UK	Round 1	Freeroll
Poker Million	Saturdays 6.35pm UK	Round 2	200 FTPs
Poker Million	Next June 28th	Final	5000 FTPs
Poker Million	Next August 2nd	Cash Final	$535

Late Night Poker

Many people, including me, stay up past their bedtime to watch these ace players at the table. To join them go through lobby / special / live events for the Late Night Poker qualifiers

Poker Programme	When	Stage	Buy in Direct
Late Night Poker	Daily 4.15pm and 7.15pm UK	Round 1	Freeroll
Late Night Poker	Saturdays 8.35pm UK	Round 2	100 FTPs
Late Night Poker	July 12th and August 19th	Final	2500 FTPs

So, get ready for your TV poker debut, sharpen up those skills and get your hair cut, you’re on next! Not only will you get to show off your poker skills, you are in with a chance of taking home your share of $2million, cool.

So, if you haven’t yet gotten round to getting yourself a Full Tilt Account do it today and start playing your way onto our TV sets, you won’t regret it! Full Tilt will match your first deposit up to $600, use the Full Tilt Referral Code FTPGOLD and you can play in exclusive $500 weekly freerolls. Full Tilt Poker is a great site to play on, take a look at our unbiased review to see what’s in store for you playing on Full Tilt Poker.

NB. Only players from the UK and the Republic of Ireland are eligible to take part in the above promotion.

Tomas Alenius Wins WSOP $1,500 Limit Holdem; Johnny Chan Eyes Bracelet #11

There was no rest for players on Sunday in the Amazon Room at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, as the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) drives into its third week of competition.

One final table on Sunday featured the survivors of the $1,500 Limit Hold’em tournament, Event #26 on this year’s WSOP schedule. After fighting through the original field of 643 players, 15 players came back to the felt to divvy up the lion’s share of the $844,000 prize pool and determine the latest bracelet winner in Sin City. The players went to work immediately and, with the high blinds, determined the final table within the first hour of play when Full Tilt Poker’s Richard “Quiet Lion” Brodie was the final table bubble boy in 10th place.

Leading the pack into the final table was veteran poker professional Al “Sugar Bear” Barbieri, who started the day’s play with the chip lead and added to it by eliminating three of the six players who left prior to the final table. He was followed on the leader board by Glenn Englebert and Tomas Alenius, who were within striking distance of Barbieri.

From the start, play was frenetic, as the field was cut to five players within the first hour of final table action. Barbieri maintained his lead, but was now being chased by Jason Tam and the aforementioned Alenius. After “Sugar Bear” dropped a few hands in a row, Alenius seized the lead and put more distance between himself and the remaining players by eliminating Englebert in fourth place. Down to three-handed action, the remaining players - Tam, Alenius and Barbieri - were separated by a mere 120,000 chips.

After the dinner break, Barbieri was eliminated in third place. Tam held nearly a 3:1 lead over Alenius as heads-up play began, but the Swede began to chip into that lead almost immediately. Thirty minutes into heads-up play, Alenius took the chip lead, only to see Tam seize it back on the very next hand. The two would swap the lead between each other until, after nearly an hour of play, Alenius rivered a full house against Tam that crippled him and gave Alenius a 3:1 advantage.

On the last hand, Tam got his chips into the center pre-flop when he capped the betting and showed . Alenius was more than willing to gamble with and, once the board blanked for both players, Alenius won the $1,500 Limit Hold’em title. For his efforts, the Swede banked a payday of $197,488 and his first WSOP bracelet.

Two tournaments will play down to their champions on Monday with Day Three action in Event #28, a $1,500 No Limit Hold’em contest, and Event #29, the $10,000 World Championship Heads-Up No Limit Hold’em. In Event #28, 27 players remain from the 2,638 who started the tournament on Saturday. Joe Simmons, who has six cashes in his WSOP career, has the chip lead and is the only player over a million in chips. His closest competitor is Jason “JP_OSU” Potter, who is stacked with 929,000 chips.

While this tournament is battling to its final table, much of the attention of the fans in the Amazon Room may be taken by Event #29. After 12 hours of play, eight players remain from the original 256 player field and WSOP history could possibly be in the making. Legendary professional Johnny Chan is one of those remaining in the Elite Eight, looking to earn his record-tying 11th WSOP bracelet. The field will be tough, however, as the brackets match up as such when play continues this afternoon:

Leo Wolpert versus Dustin “Neverwin” Woolf
Jamin Stokes versus Johnny Chan
Nathan Doudney versus Bryan Pellegrino
John Duthie versus Steve O’Dwyer

Of the remaining players in Event #29, Duthie and Woolf have the most professional experience other than Chan. Duthie is a legendary European pro with a lengthy track record and Woolf brings 15 cashes in his WSOP career to the battle. The action will kick off at 2:00pm Pacific Time.

Two tournaments pick up this afternoon after finishing their Day One proceedings early Monday morning. In Event #30, a $2,500 Pot Limit Omaha tournament, 63 players remain from the original starting grid of 436. Such pros as Barry Greenstein, 2008 WSOP Player of the Year Erick Lindgren, Katja Thater, and Daniel Negreanu will not be around for Day Two play, but 2008 WSOP Europe champion John Juanda, Hendon Mobster Ross Boatman, and 2009 WSOP double bracelet winner Phil Ivey are still in the hunt. The field will crack the 45 player money bubble this afternoon and may be down to the final table before the 3:00am WSOP curfew.

Event #31, the $1,500 HORSE tournament, drew a surprising 770 players for its Day One action. Per the nature of the game that is said to be the test of a poker player’s abilities, approximately 240 survived to play down to the final table.  At this point, Ireland’s Andy Black is the chip leader.

Two more tournaments are scheduled for their Day One premieres on the WSOP stage. Event #32, the $2,000 No Limit Hold’em tournament, and the $10,000 World Championship Limit Hold’em (Event #33) will both kick off today in the Amazon Room. Play begins in these tournaments at Noon Pacific Time.

The WSOP is ready for the potential for history to be made once again. Can Chan tie Phil Hellmuth for the all-time WSOP bracelet lead? Poker News Daily will have reports on not just Chan’s pursuit, but all of the WSOP action as it happens.

40 years of the WSOP: The new millenium

Back in 1991, Jack Binion was asked to look into the future and see where the WSOP might go.

Jack had no way of knowing how the WSOP would explode in popularity, bringing thousands to his casino in search of fame and fortune and said he expected a slow, steady 10 to 15 percent growth rate.

The last winner of the twentieth century was Jesus himself, Chris Ferguson.

He took home $1.5 million after outlasting 512 other players in the 2000 Main Event.

Poker author and fifth place finisher Jim McManus chronicled the final table in his book Positively Fifth Street.

The final battle between Ferguson and T.J. Cloutier was epic, with T.J. overcoming Ferguson's huge chip lead only to lose when his A-Q was out-flopped by Fergusons' A-9.

In the preliminary events, Jennifer Harman, Phil Ivey and Howard Lederer each won their first bracelet and Ferguson won another in 7-card stud.

Carlos Mortenson won the title in 2001 playing at the first final table with nine players, including poker standouts Mike Matusow, Phil Gordon, Phil Hellmuth and Dewey Tomko.

An unknown patent attorney Greg "Fossilman" Raymer came in 12th in the $1,500 Omaha Hi/Lo event that year.

2002 saw a whopping 39 preliminary events, three of which were won by Phil Ivey.

Robert Varkonyi was the Main Event champion, besting 631 hopefuls on his way to winning a then-record $2 million in his first ever WSOP event.

"I won my buy-in in my first ever single-table satellite," Varkonyi told PokerListings.

"I was extremely surprised to make the final table, it was completely unexpected. I was totally pumped with adrenaline, not nervous, just totally out of control excited to be there."

The fact that Varkonyi was a recreational - not professional - poker player caused some to doubt his chances, including Phil Hellmuth, who Varkonyi had doubled through earlier with Q-10 against his A-K.

During the televised final table, Hellmuth memorably promised to shave his head if Varkonyi were to pull out a win.

Eventually Hellmuth was forced to get a trim, but the name Robert Varkonyi was really lost in the shuffle with what happened next.

There is no poker aficionado who does not remember every moment of the 2003 Main Event.

The final nine, outlasting the record 839 who started, included Sammy Farha, Dan Harrington, Jason Lester, Amir Vahedi, David Grey, and David Singer.

But in their midst was a mild-mannered accountant who had dreamed of playing the Main Event since he saw the movie Rounders years earlier.

When Chris Moneymaker turned his online-qualifying win into $2.5 million, poker would never be the same.

Somewhat forgotten was the fact that Layne Flack had his second consecutive two-bracelet WSOP that year or that Ferguson, Hellmuth, Johnny Chan, Men "the Master" Nguyen and John Juanda each won two bracelets as well.

Women poker players did well in 2004 with Kathy Liebert, Cyndy Violette and Annie Duke each winning bracelets in open-field events.

But the story that year was the phenomenal increase in Main Event participants due in no small part to Moneymaker's historic win.

A total of 2,576 played and of course Greg Raymer won the $5 million dollar prize. Just like Moneymaker, Raymer had won his seat through an online satellite at PokerStars.

The 2005 WSOP was held outside of Binions for the first time, though the final two days of the Main Event took place in the old haunt.

Aussie Joe Hachem came out on top of the 5,619 person field, taking home $7.5 million.

His supporters' cheers are now legendary as was the final table that had a wide array of talent from the recently paroled Mike Matusow to the loveable everyman Steve Dannenmann.

The final table was also the site of the memorable meltdown from Ireland's Andy Black.

Raymer made a believer of everyone by coming close to repeating, finishing 25th in the big show.

Jennifer Tilly became the first celebrity player to win a bracelet and Doyle and Todd Brunson became the first father/son combo to win bracelets the same year.

If it were not for Jamie Gold, the 2006 WSOP would be remembered for its Player of the Year, Jeff Madsen.

Madsen became the youngest bracelet winner in history taking down the $2,000 NLHE, then won his second bracelet in Short-Handed NLHE six days later.

He also had two third place finishes - one in Omaha 8 and another in Stud Hi/Lo, an astounding feat at any age.

But Gold's $12 million win, outlasting the largest Main Event field ever at 8,773, is the story of 2006 as much for Gold's brash and controversial style as for the legal dustup that his win caused when another player claimed Gold had promised him half.

As if preordained, 2007 Main Event winner Jerry Yang was the anti-Gold. Quiet, pious, unassuming, Yang won $8.25 million with an aggressive, steam-roller approach to the final table that his co-finalists could not match.

With 6,358 players entering, there were 2,415 fewer than the previous year, only the second time in WSOP history that the number of entrants to the Main Event decreased.

Steve Billirakis was crowned the new-youngest bracelet winner in history, breaking Madsen's record from the previous year. Hellmuth won his record 11th bracelet and had a then-record 63 WSOP cashes.

Last year's WSOP set records for attendance (58,720), countries represented (118), and prize pool ($180,676,248).

It also saw the introduction of the November Nine, which ratcheted up the interest in and attention to the final table.

For poker purists who had been decrying the lack of "professional" winners of the Main Event, this final table had many players for whom poker was not just a hobby.

Runner-up Ivan Demidov went on to place third at the WSOP-Europe, David "Chino" Rheem is a respected pro, and eventual $9.1 million winner, the taciturn Dane Peter Eastgate, has proved himself a worthy title-holder.

2008 had a rash of memorable bracelet winners in preliminary events from the brothers Hinkle (Grant and Blair) to first-time bracelet-winners Erick Lindgren, David Singer, Kenny Tran, Nenad Medic, David Benyamine, JC Tran, and John Phan all breaking their "one of the best to never win a bracelet" record - now currently held by Andy Bloch.

So what is in store for 2009?  What records will be set, which will be broken?  Who will be the big story, the one talked about another forty years from now?

Will a big name take the big title, or will another "relative" unknown take poker's biggest prize?

For those answers and a whole lot more, follow PokerListings' Live Reporting from the Rio throughout the 2009 WSOP.

Related Articles:

• 40 years of the WSOP: The beginning
• 40 years of the WSOP: The 70s
• 40 years of the WSOP: The 80s
• 40 years of the WSOP: The 90's

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Bluff Poker Academy heads to Ireland

After successful stops in Manchester and Birmingham the third leg of Bluff Europe’s Poker Academy events heads over the water to Ireland. The Sporting Emporium in Dublin plays host to the event, which takes place on Saturday 16th May starting at 1pm.

Party Poker Releases Dates for Sports Stars Challenge IV

Party Poker has released the dates for its PartyPoker.com Sports Stars Challenge IV, one of the most popular televised poker tournaments in Europe. The event will run from May 29-June 1 and will feature some of the world’s biggest sports stars, both past and present, taking their seats at the table in hopes of becoming a poker champion.

The Sports Stars Challenge IV will include some of the world’s best in motorsports, golf, boxing, rugby and darts. There will also be an online qualifier added to the field for the first time ever. The number of heats will increase from six to seven, with the winner of each of the seven heats advancing to the final table to battle it out until one of them walks away with the title. The overall winner receives £20,000 with second getting £10,000 and third receiving £5,000.

The motorsport table will feature Italian F1 driver Giancarlo Fisichella, while the golf heat will include both 2008 European Ryder Cup team member Graeme McDowell and Jean Van Der Velde. European football’s list of legends includes former Holland captain Frank De Boer, French World Cup winner Frank Leboeuf, Germany’s European Championship winner Thomas Helmer, Romania’s Florin Radiciou and Denmark and Liverpool legend Jan Molby.

Germany’s former unbeaten World Champion Sven Ottke will headline the boxing heat. He will be joined by Northern Ireland’s Commonwealth heavyweight and Prizefighter champion Martin Rogan and Poland’s female boxing champ Agnieska Rylik. The rugby heat will feature union’s former France and Wasps captain Raphael Ibanez and Australian league star Brad Drew, while the darts heat will pit legend Phil Taylor against Russia’s ladies champ Anastasia Dobromyslova.

PartyPoker.com players also had the chance to win a seat through a freeroll in the sports heat of their choice. The sports are European football (two heats), rugby (union and league combined), motorsport, boxing, darts and golf. Two online qualifiers will join each heat.

“We offered freerolls to win a seat in the event on the site”, a spokesperson for Party Poker said, “but the places were snapped up so quickly that we were loath to promote it too much to save the disappointment of players. This is a once in a lifetime experience for a select group to take to the felt with their sporting heroes. The overall lineup is the most diverse and international in the event’s history and more star participant names will be released in the near future.”

For the fourth consecutive year the event will be run by Matchroom Sport, a promotions company founded by English entrepreneur Barry Hearn. Matchroom Sport is typically involved in snooker and boxing events for the most part, but Hearn is thrilled to be involved in the Sports Stars challenge again.

“This is the poker event that the sporting world looks forward to and we have some great international names and great poker players competing for the trophy, big prize money and the ultimate bragging rights”, Hearn said. “We’re particularly excited to introduce the online element and the motorsport and golf heats this year.”

Past winners of Sports Stars Challenge are rugby union star Austin Healey, Irish snooker champion Ken Doherty, and television presenter Kara Scott, who won £20,000 last year after defeating Manchester United football legend Norman Whiteside heads-up. There is no presenter heat in the new format this year.

Coverage of the event will be aired in the UK later this year on Sky Sports and then distributed internationally.

Jamie Gold Gets Back to His Roots at the Irish Poker Open

Poker News Daily: You took sixth in a €1,500 buy-in preliminary tournament held during the Irish Poker Open. Talk about the poker scene in Ireland and connecting with your roots.

Gold: I went because PaddyPower invited me. I’m Irish and was actually born Jamie Usher, so it’s in my blood. It’s why I don’t tan very well. They invited me to come trace my roots. When I got there, they said that I could say anything I wanted to during the tournament. I could actually say my hole cards out loud. The people are so into it and the speech play is amazing. There has to be a limit to it, like if you scream at people, but I believe in the psychology of gamesmanship. I got some people to make unbelievably bad calls and lay down hands. It absolutely gave me an advantage, but Ireland has become one of my favorite places to play. However, I will always love the World Series of Poker because it afforded me the opportunity to do what I do today. It’s the most important tournament series because it has the best players in the world.

PND: Tell us about PaddyPower’s hospitality.

Gold: The day I got there, Liam Flood, who is a very successful longtime European player from Ireland, greeted me. Right away, they made me feel at home. The people at PaddyPower are so much fun and happy to be alive. Some sites are so overworked, but these people were having a blast. They do a really great job.

PND: Talk about the play of those in the tournament.

Gold: They are very loose and love to gamble. They are not really concerned with whether they’re ahead or not. There were a lot of people who bought in that, chances are, wouldn’t win the tournament because they wouldn’t make enough proper choices when it counted. However, they didn’t care.

The only place I can remember with more gamble was the Master Classics of Poker in Amsterdam. In that event, I didn’t think there was any chance that I wouldn’t make the final table. The people there are also so generous, kind, and friendly; Marcel Luske is the best host. Ireland reminded me a lot of Amsterdam. They’ve had poker there forever, but they don’t take it as competitively and seriously.

PND: Talk about your team’s win in the Dream Team Poker event at Caesars Palace in March.

Gold: It was a blast to play, but it was a very tough field. You had people like Mike Matusow and Phil Hellmuth on the same team. People were smart about picking the best players. I was doing it more just to have fun, so I picked a friend and my ex-girlfriend. It was so cool to be rooting for someone else and it made me play much better. I played carefully at certain points and also caught a couple of lucky breaks. When I was about blinded out, I waited and got aces on the big blind. That was pretty fortunate. There were moments when I would have normally pushed, but didn’t. Team poker makes you play really carefully. It’s also a great thing that, if you bust out first, you can still win.

PND: Can you see the concept of team poker catching on in the United States and around the world?

Gold: In this economy, it would make a lot of sense. In general, I can’t believe no one has thought of it. I think it should be a WSOP event. To me, poker in and of itself can get a little mundane. That’s why I’m starting to get into Omaha and other games. Omaha is such a bluffer’s game and as a bluffer, it’s a blast. In three or four years, I think it will overtake Hold’em.

PND: You are in the process of organizing a charity poker tournament featuring Edward Norton in Cannes prior to the annual Film Festival. What can you tell us about it?

Gold: We’re putting together the ultimate celebrity poker charity event at the Cannes Film Festival. I’m hosting it along with Edward Norton. The list of people is unbelievable and I’m going to host and emcee it.

PND: Explain why charity is so important to you.

Gold: I try to do as many as 30 events per year. When I started my Foundation, I figured out that I have to pick the organizations that are closest to my heart. Playing poker is such a selfish endeavor and charity makes you feel like you’re giving something back. If I can help affect change in a positive way, I feel like my life is worth something.

Free Million Dollar Game to kick off WSOPE

The Free Million Dollar Game will include players from 15 regions around the world battling for a $1 million top prize.

There is also the potential to win a £10,000 WSOPE Main Event seat, a £5,000 WSOPE Pot-Limit Omaha seat and a £1,000 WSOPE No-Limit Hold'em seat.

The first step to getting in the game is finding your daily regional freeroll to play. The freerolls started April 13 and will run for 18 weeks.

The regions that will be included in the promotion are:

• United Kingdom: England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
• Ireland
• Greece/Cyprus
• DE/AUT/CH: Germany, Austria, Switzerland
• Spain/Portugal
• Italy
• Eastern Europe: Bulgaria, Czech. Rep., Romania, Poland, Hungary, Ukraine, Slovakia, Croatia, Slovenia
• Denmark
• Sweden
• Norway
• Finland
• France/Belgium
• Russia
• Rest of World (ROW)
• Canada

The top 18 players from each daily regional freeroll will advance to the weekly regional freeroll.

There will be 18 weekly regional freerolls, and the winner of each one will win a seat in the live regional final. The prize includes travel and accommodation for the live regional final.

The winner from each of the 15 live regional finals will be sent to London to play in the Free Million Dollar Game final.

Each live regional final will also award cash prizes to second through fifth place:

• 2nd - $1,500
• 3rd - $750
• 4th - $500
• 5th - $250

There are currently unlimited entrees into the daily regional freerolls. Starting May 4, all players will only have one entirely free entry but can earn more entries into the freerolls by earning Betfair Poker points.

For more information about this and other promotions, visit Betfair Poker.

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PKR Announces Pro Team

Joining the likes of the other major online poker rooms, next generation poker site PKR.com today announced the roster of its new “Team PKR Pro.” The six new members will represent PKR.com and act as brand ambassadors for the website.

“Team PKR Pro” will be exclusively sponsored by PKR and act as brand representatives at live events, as well as offering a variety of content for the PKR.com website and PKR TV. They will also be available to play on the PKR.com site in both cash games and specially organized bounty tournaments.

The inaugural members of the team include TV celebrity Ashley Hames (ashleyhames1), GUKPT winner Andrew Teng (PKR username “golfpro699”) and 2008 Irish Open finalist Kai Danilo Paulsen (kingkai84), along with PKR community members Raymond O’Mahoney (callmebabe), James Sudworth (James666) and PKR Live runner-up Henrik Eklund (pokey85).

“We’ve been following our initial ‘Team PKR Pro’ members for some time and are convinced that they all have the game and personality required to be genuinely world class poker players”, said PKR Marketing Director Simon Prodger. “They are also among the most recognized and respected players within the PKR community so are guaranteed to have over two and a half million people cheering them on every time they play.”

Here’s a closer look at each of the new members of “Team PKR Pro”:

Henrik “Pokey85” Eklund (Stockholm, Sweden) -- Eklund, 24, has been playing poker for four years. The Swede has been a regular at PKR’s nosebleed cash game tables since April 2007 and began to make a name for himself on the live tournament scene by taking second place at the inaugural PKR Live in November 2008 followed by a victory in the APT Manila Headhunter side event. Henrik’s ambition for 2009 (beyond winning the WSOP) is to make a final table of a major event.

Ashley “ashleyhames1” Hames (London, UK) -- Ashley Hames is a popular TV presenter and writer who is known for his series Sin Cities -- still Bravo’s highest rating show ever in the UK. Hames is also the PKR TV commentator. He began playing poker in 2008 and rates his poker highs as playing in the WSOP main event, reaching the final of Celebrity Poker Club and playing on the TV table at this year’s Irish Open.

Raymond “callmebabe” O’Mahoney (Dublin, Republic of Ireland) -- Like Eklund, O’Mahoney has been cutting his teeth at the highest cash games and tournaments since April 2007. His first major live cash came courtesy of the inaugural PKR Live $500 Main Event, where he finished fourth for $6,500. Ray’s goal is to win his home major, the Irish Open.

Kai “KingKai” Paulsen (Trondheim, Norway) -- The 25-year-old Norwegian has the finest live tournament record of any PKR regular with more than $322,000 in earnings. This includes two cashes at the WSOP (including an 18th place finish in Event #49 in 2007) and a fifth place finish at the 2008 Irish Open, where he earned $229,358. Kai’s aspirations include winning one of poker’s majors -- and preferably bring home a bracelet.

James “James666” Sudworth (Kent, UK) -- This 22 year old has been a familiar face at the PKR tables since November of 2006, playing some of the biggest cash games the site has to offer. Sudworth’s top poker accomplishment was a runner-up finish at the GUKPT in January 2009 for more than £40,000.

Andrew “golfpro699” Teng (London, UK) -- Teng has been a high-stakes pro across many online sites for the past two years. He made an impact on the live scene in 2008, first making a deep run in the WSOP Main Event (126th place) and then winning the Thanet leg of the GUKPT in October 2008 for £70,000.

PRK, founded in 2005, is an innovative online poker site that features real-time video game-like 3D graphics that has changed the way online poker is played.

Ireland’s j.thaddeus wins the $10,000 SCOOPS ME

Players from 162 countries competed in the 66 event Spring Championship Of Online Poker (SCOOP) 2009. The winner in the Main Event was Ireland’s j.thaddeus who saw off a field of 502 runners to claim the first prize of $963,338.00 in the $10,000 high buy in event.

j.thaddeus Wins High-Stakes SCOOP Main Event

Three versions of the inaugural PokerStars Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) Main Event played out on Monday, with j.thaddeus taking down the high-stakes $10,300 buy-in tournament for nearly $1 million.

A total of 502 players turned out for the five-figure buy-in Main Event. j.thaddeus’ victory was worth $963,000, the largest payday given out during the two week tournament series. The event broke its $5 million guarantee, with the top 54 players finishing in the money. The winner hails from Ireland and edged out German PokerStars member ragen70 heads-up; the runner up brought home a $715,000 consolation prize. Well-known live and online poker pro Jon “PearlJammer” Turner grabbed third place in the high-stakes Main Event, pocketing $527,000 for his efforts. Others who reached the final table included MazeOrBowie (fourth place for $401,600), $teveyMoney (fifth place for $281,120), Chowdahhead4 (sixth place for $213,350), actionDJ (seventh place for $163,150), Moorman1 (eighth place for $112,950), and teacuppoker (ninth place for $83,332). Chris “Moorman1” Moorman is one of the top U.K. poker players.

The mid-stakes Main Event, which featured a buy-in of $1,050, attracted a field of 3,198 entrants, over six times the size of the high-stakes installment. In the end, Team PokerStars Pro member J.C. Alvarado, who is better known by the name “PrtyPsux” online, emerged as its champion, $502,000 richer for his wear. He defeated ErikXP heads-up and proved that his runner up finish in the 2007 World Poker Tour’s World Poker Challenge was no fluke. Also seeing significant paydays were Crisper (third place for $263,835), Ericb09 (fourth place for $183,885), weeminer (fifth place for $135,915), phinomenon (sixth place for $103,935), fan4mizzou (seventh place for $71,955), hasuace (eighth place for $39,975), and Teejmeister1 (ninth place for $25,584). A total of six countries were represented at the final table.

The $109 buy-in didn’t deter a whopping 18,747 players from entering the low-stakes SCOOP Main Event. It was the second largest SCOOP tournament held, trailing only the 27,134 players who turned out for the low-stakes version of Event 1. French PokerStars player JannotLapin took home $151,000 for the win in one of the rare opportunities to turn $100 into life-changing money in a matter of a few hours. The tournament was chopped when four players remained, with Sador1983 (second place for $113,000), Tiktok23 (third place for $120,000), and Naxer (fourth place for $110,000) also amassing large paydays. Neither the mid-stakes nor high-stakes Main Events were chopped.

In stats released by PokerStars, pusteblume and teacuppoker led the way with 15 cashes each, the most among any player in the SCOOP series. The country with the most number of cashes, as expected, was the United States with 13,418. Players from the U.S. earned over $20 million from SCOOP tournaments.

One of the most impressive performances of the SCOOP series was a dual win by Terrence "Unassigned" Chan, who took down both the mid-stakes and high-stakes versions of Event 20, a Limit Hold’em Six-Max tournament, on the same night for a combined $185,000. A total of 99 players turned out for the high-stakes tournament, while Chan had to battle 539 other competitors in the mid-stakes installment. Chan hails from Hong Kong and defeated jasjas11 in the mid-stakes tournament, while besting one of the world’s top online poker players, Shaun Deeb, heads-up in the high-stakes edition.

PokerStars member thehoffa also took down two events. He won the low-stakes version of Event 2 for $10,000 and then promptly emerged victorious in the low-stakes Eight Game Mixed tournament (Event 15) for another $13,000. A total of 21 events awarded first place prizes of $100,000 or more.

The online poker world now awaits the start of the 12th Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS), which will kick off on May 6th. The tournament series consists of 25 events and will also include a MiniFTOPS schedule. The Main Event of the high-stakes FTOPS is a $535 buy-in tournament with $2.5 million in guaranteed prize money. It will be hosted by Full Tilt pro Jennifer Harman and occurs on Sunday, May 17th, just 10 days before the start of the 2009 World Series of Poker in Las Vegas.

Irish Open Days 1-2

Nowhere in the world do poker and the 'craic' combine to such entertaining effect than in Ireland. Whether it's being hugged by random locals, drinking more Guinness than is humanly possible, or listening to the endless tales of Scott, Jesse, and Padraig as they prop up the bar, Dublin is by far the most enjoyable stop on the European circuit

PaddyPower Irish Open Day 1: Verburg Tops Opening Session

The Citywest Hotel in Dublin, Ireland played host to Day 1 of the PaddyPower.com Irish Open yesterday, with a whopping 700 players posting the €3,500 buy-in for a shot at Irish poker history. The players...

PaddyPowerPoker.com Irish Poker Open Begins Friday

One of the largest European Poker Tournaments of the year begins today in Dublin, Ireland at the Citywest Hotel when cards get into the air at the 2009 PaddyPowerPoker.com Irish Open. Many players are expected at this €3,500 buy-in no-limit hold'em tournament, and the field is expected...

Action Dan heads to Ireland

Former World Series Of Poker Main Event winner Dan Harrington is the latest top pro to confirm he’ll be playing at the 2009 PaddyPowerPoker.com Irish Poker Open. Harrington, who won the big one in 1995 will join fellow WSOP Main Event winners Noel Furlong and Jamie Gold in Dublin over the Easter weekend.

Dublin Named European Poker Capital of the Year.

Bluff Magazine Awards Poker Award to Ireland's Capital. In an announcement made earlier today by Bluff Magazine, it looks as if Dublin, Ireland, can add a little more to its country's namesake besides green beer and St. Patrick's Day. The capital city of Ireland was honored by the famed poker media publication ...

New Northern Ireland Poker Tour announced

The newly announced Northern Ireland Poker Tour will feature a series of 4 one day tournaments culminating in a 2 day grand final in Belfast on the weekend of 13th and 14th June 2009.