Poker News

Poker in Twitter: Deauville, Football, Kat von D and Victoria Coren’s duck.

Poker News Daily scours the Twitter feeds of hundreds of poker players to bring you the funniest, most interesting, weirdest Tweets of the last few days. This weekend saw many players tweeting about the tournaments they were in, which included the UBOC, the LAPC and the EPT Deauville. Other popular topics this week were football (the poker world seems to support the Saints almost unanimously) and other sports, as well as new houses, tattoos by Kat von D, and a river card made to measure for Eric Mizrachi.
The online cards were good for some and cruel to others: while Dave “Hollywood_Dave” Stann challenged players to face him at Ultimate Bet: “Rockin UBOC on UB right now...come join so I can felt you, too ”, Liv Boeree was not having such a great day: “finished 42nd in UBOC 8 for $6300. Set of 33s get it all in on turn... he rivers 9 for higher set. Laptop across the room time.” Eric Mizrachi could have shared some of his luck with her, as he boasted a screenshot from a spectacular river card in Poker Stars:  “Deliver the nice river, Ty @pokerstars_com http://twitpic.com/zmlrd”

Tournament manager supreme Matt Savage kept the world informed of the progress of the LAPC, starting with a comment on his famously grueling schedules: “We have completed days 1A/1B or .5 of the 51 events at this years @LAPokerClassic! Not sure what I was thinking when I made this schedule?” Apparently Mr. Savage is superstitious, since he made Dave Stann back off from certain comments that might bring the tournament ill luck: “@Hollywood_Dave please do NOT mention LAPC = Going Well and Obama Presidency = F'ing Up Country in same tweet! You may jinx us here in LA.” No jinx was apparent to Rob Perelman, who tweeted in delight: “Heads up pot. Final board A4444. Check check. Then 2nd guy tries to muck. This is why I love the @LAPokerClassic!” Some of poker’s hottest ladies were in attendance after trotting the globe in The Amazing Race last year; Tiffany Michelle posted a picture of her view from the table: “http://twitpic.com/z4bfu - Playin the 1st LAPC event, nice view - this girl follows me everywhere ”

The poker world followed the NFC very closely last weekend, and the general feeling seemed to favor the Saints, although Doyle Brunson voiced his admiration for the Vikings’ legendary quarterback: “Brett Favre has balls the size of basketballs.” Favre was the man of the day, with praise and heckles piled on him via Twitter. Gene Bromberg tried to be fair: “I gleefully join in on Favrebashing, but that should've been a flag. Low, late hit, gotta call that”, Justin “BoostedJ” Smith blamed it on the team: “@shannonelizab The vikings aren't even giving Favre a chance to win”, and Joe Sebok cheered and booed: “yes, saints! boo favre & vikings. city of new orleans deserves this... ” Shannon Elizabeth, who tweeted throughout the game, was a happy fan when the fat lady sang: “Congrats Saints! GREAT GAME!!”

The EPT Deauville had two excellent commentators in Vicky Coren and Isabelle Mercier, both of whom tweeted frequently with updates on their own performance and those of friends and team members. Coren had never been able to survive Deauville’s Day 1, and was hoping this year would be it: “It's Day 1 of the Deauville EPT. I've played this three times before and never survived Day One. Let's see if I can break my duck” (“Breaking one’s duck” is a British expression, originally from cricket, that means doing something for the first time.) Coren tried hard, and kept updating on her status to add to the suspense: “We started with 30k in chips. I went down to 4k, now up to 20k, tiptoeing between the outdraws. Two more levels and the duck gets it...” The duck, however, remains unbroken, as she got busted out in Day 1 once more. Fellow Brit Matthew Grant commiserated with some historic consolation: “@VictoriaCoren Nevermind, the only victory that matters near Deauville happened in 1944 ” Coren marveled at Mercier’s youthful looks when they sat together: “Ex Team Pro Isabelle Mercier is on my table, looking incredible. She just doesn't age, that woman. Is it a French thing?” It may have been Mercier’s joy at playing in Deauville, which she tweeted happily about: “Deauville Deauville! Always loved this French little piece of paradise... Especially when it's GAME DAY !!!! ... http://bit.ly/5V41EV” Mercier’s joie de vivre did not last very long, however, as she tweeted from her Facebook account: “Busted out few hours ago holding pocket 10's against poker Jacks and pocket Aces!!! Turned blue and slowly getting... http://bit.ly/4sN0Rb”

Celebrity tattoo artist Kat von D, from the TV show LA Ink, has been leaving her mark on the poker world. First she tattooed Tiffany Michelle, who shared a photo of her tattoo: “Pics of my tatt that Kat did on her show are on my website www.tiffanymichelle.com under the 'Film, TV, Shows' Gallery ” and more recently on Pearl Aday, as tweeted by heavy metal poker star Scott Ian: “Kat Von D shooting Pearl right now.” If he does not shape up to his crazy prop bet, Joe Sebok could be next.

Sebok got some unflattering tweets regarding his stunning new LA home – @DougLeePoker remarked acidly: “@JoeSebok Wow, sick place! and all you had to do was align yourself with a company that has stolen millions from their customers. Well Done!” Sebok’s affiliation with Ultimate Bet is evidently not well accepted by the poker world.

There were many random tweets on off topics that seemed too interesting to pass by, so here is a brief overview of the weird and wonderful tweets of this weekend. There is the cheerful but always cryptic Marcel Luske: “Just an other day,,, more news ,, more twitters , more closely 2 Our goalls & destiny,so enjoin the day & feel great & help others . {;”, a very happy tweet from Eric Mizrachi: “Got some GREAT NEWS today, my friend Myrielle "Meeyu" Pierre survived the earthquake. C U tomm Meeyu! http://twitpic.com/y267b”, some naughtiness from Gavin Griffin: “We just backed into someone's driver's side door and left an 8 square inch dent. Gave em 100 bucks. Win”, and a recognition of friendship from Daniel Negreanu: “I just counted. The number of good friends of mine that are unabashed media whores: zero! All my friends are so normal”, while Doyle Brunson experienced new things: “Got back from a recording session. I'm just a West Texas hillbilly, all that chit amazes me.”

The Tweet of the day is a tie between Jeff Madsen and Howard Lederer. Madsen quipped: “Tiger woods supposedly in Mississippi for sex Rehab. I'll b in Biloxi soon, maybe I need to check myself in?”, while Lederer pointed out: “Went to see Nadal tonight at Aussie Open and saw the best homemade fan sign ever at the match. It read "Go Nad." LOL”
If you are as addicted to Twitter as we are, be sure to follow us @PokerNewsDaily so you can stay up to date on all the breaking news in the poker world and be a part of some PND Twitter exclusives in the coming weeks.

Everest Poker Acquired by Mangas Gaming

While rumors are flying left and right about potential buyouts and mergers in the European online gaming market, news broke that Everest Poker and Mangas Gaming will join forces.  Mangas plans to buy out Everest in early 2010 as part of a deal worth in excess of $100 million.

The deal will be finalized in the first quarter of 2010.  Mangas Gaming will pay $100 million to Everest’s parent company, GigaMedia, in exchange for 60% of the shares of the company.  A Dow Jones article also stated that the final portion of the deal would be paid out after the company’s fair market value is reassessed in 2012.  There is also an option that allows GigaMedia to buy back Everest Gaming in 2013 should it see fit to do so.  GigaMedia is a publicly traded company on NASDAQ Stock Exchange, where it can be found under the symbol “GIGM.”

While the name Mangas may not sound familiar, the sites it owns and operates are well-known within the online gaming market: BetClic, Expekt Poker, and Bet-At-Home.  The French-based company appears to be taking more interest in poker as of late.  In addition to brokering the Everest deal, the company also signed World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner Scotty Nguyen as an Expekt spokesman earlier this year and debuted former Team PokerStars Pro Isabelle Mercier as a BetClic spokeswoman at the Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic at the Bellagio.

The increased efforts of Everest Poker to heighten its profile in the French marketplace make even more sense in light of this deal.  The company, which is the official on-felt sponsor of the WSOP, signed a deal with November Nine member Antoine Saout after he made the Main Event final table and added Fabrice Soulier to its roster of pros last month.

Mangas Gamings Chief Executive Officer Isabelle Parize commented on the deal in an official press release announcing the acquisition: “We are very proud that Everest is joining our group.  It is a great company; it is a brand with an outstanding awareness in the world of poker, well-known for its know-how, its platform reliability, and its strict policies. Mangas Gaming is reinforcing its position as a major European player in both the online poker and sports betting markets.”

GigaMedia’s CEO, Arthur Wang, expressed similar sentiments in his statement.  “We were looking for a reference partner with complementary activities to ours,” Wang explained.  “Our strategy is to participate in the growth of this innovative and dynamic industry in Europe. We are glad to do it alongside the French leading sports betting and online gaming group.”

Poker News Daily has learned that once the deal is complete, players on Mangas’ other online poker rooms will be shifted towards Everest.  Expekt is expected to disappear entirely before the end of 2010 and all of the company’s customers will be shifted over to Everest.

Since the announcement of the deal, shares of GigaMedia saw a spike in trading value.  After trading as low as $3.53 on December 11th, stock prices shot up as high as $4.24, an increase of 20%.

Mangas Gaming Acquires Everest Poker

Mangas Gaming, which also owns BetClic, Expekt and Bet-at-Home, will hold 60% of Everest Gaming stock with the remaining 40% held by current shareholder GigaMedia.

 “We are very proud that Everest is joining our group,” said Isabelle Parize, CEO of Mangas Gaming.

“It is a great company; it is a brand with an outstanding awareness in the world of poker, well known for its know how, its platform reliability and its strict policies. Mangas Gaming is reinforcing its position as a major European player in both online poker and sports betting.”

Established over 10 years ago, Everest Poker has a strong presence in Europe and Asia and is consistently one of the biggest online poker rooms in the world.

Everest Poker is also one of the few rooms that runs its own proprietary poker software and is the exclusive poker table sponsor for the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas.

“We were looking for a reference partner with complementary activities to ours,” said Arthur Wang, CEO of GigaMedia. “Our strategy is to participate in the growth of this innovative and dynamic industry in Europe. We are glad to do it alongside the French leading sports betting and online gaming group.”

Mangas Gaming has a presence in more than 25 countries and over four million customers. Earlier this year the Mangas-owned BetClic announced it had signed famous poker pro Isabelle Mercier as a consultant and sponsored player.

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Isabelle Mercier inked the deal with BetClic

The former PokerStars player Isabelle Mercier and BetClick inked their deal in the end of the week.

Their deal was already announced in September, but it was only now when they signed the deal.

Mercier was a concult for BetClic and is one of the people who are working on BetClick’s “poker strategy”. BetClic is part of the Mangas Gaming Group which is very big part of online gambling industry these days.

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

BetClic was founded in 2005 and has been managed to grow very big quite fast. The company works on 15 different countries and has over 1,5 million customers. Just recently BetClic acquired Expekt Poker.

Source: Pokerlisting

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Isabelle Mercier inked the deal with BetClic

BetClic Signs Isabelle Mercier

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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PokerStars Ante Up for Africa Airs on CBS Sports

On Saturday afternoon, CBS Sports aired the second of two episodes of the PokerStars.net Ante Up for Africa tournament that played out during the European Poker Tour (EPT) Monte Carlo festivities.

Kara Scott served as the host of the event as it played out on the CBS Sports Spectacular broadcast. The nine-handed final table began with Daniel Negreanu holding a commanding chip lead with 151,100, well ahead of the 49,000 stack of EPT founder John Duthie. Alexander Armstrong and David Tuckman had the call of the event, which featured on-screen card backs with Ante Up for Africa logos and player names shown alongside their native country’s flag.

In the night’s first elimination, Teddy Sheringham raised with K-Q of clubs and rugby player Sebastien Chabal shoved with A-9. Team PokerStars Pro member Luca Pagano pushed over the top and Sheringham quickly folded. The flop came 4-J-2 and a running 10-8 gave Pagano a flush in the hand. Chabal was out in ninth and told Scott, “I’m disappointed because I wanted to win the whole thing. I’m happy, had a great time, and made some great friends.”

Meanwhile, Duthie hit the rails in eighth place after shoving pre-flop with A-K. Poker pro Tony G made the call with pocket jacks and turned a third jack. Duthie was drawing dead to the river and hit the exits. French journalist, writer, and presenter Patrick Chene was eliminated in seventh place at the hands of Dario Minieri’s A-J. Despite having a new arsenal of chips, Minieri folded to a re-raise by new Betclick pro Isabelle Mercier holding pocket eights. Minieri was getting 2:1 to call and Mercier held A-J for what would have been a coin flip situation.

Pagano was ousted after pushing pre-flop for 23,000 chips. Minieri called from the big blind at a discount holding J-3. The board ran out 2-A-3-J-J, giving Minieri a boat. The hand moved Minieri to second on the PokerStars.net Ante Up for Africa leaderboard, with Negreanu now the tournament’s short stack. Negreanu was sent to the rails at the hands of Mercier, who won a coin flip with pocket eights against K-Q. Negreanu told CBS cameras, “I was the chip leader and I seemed to be dominating and all of a sudden, the blinds went up and I folded and folded like a little wimp.”

Tony G was ousted in fourth place holding Q-6 against A-8 after an eight-high flop. Observing the action was “Heroes” star James Kyson Lee, who told Scott, “There are a lot of people here from all different fields. It’s great that we’re able to come together, do something fun, and raise awareness for Ante Up for Africa.” Norman Epstein, Full Tilt Poker pro Don Cheadle, and Poker News Daily Guest Columnist Annie Duke founded the charity in 2006. It is the centerpiece of an annual $5,000 buy-in gala during the World Series of Poker (WSOP), which aired in 2009 on ESPN.

Mercier and Sheringham both doubled up at the expense of Minieri, who was ultimately eliminated after running pocket tens into Mercier’s pocket queens. Mercier promptly doubled up with K-4 against Sheringham’s A-5 after the flop came 4-J-J. Then, the former member of Team PokerStars Pro called Sheringham’s all-in with A-2. Sheringham turned over 10-4 and the board ran out 6-8-Q-J-10 with four diamonds. Mercier’s deuce of diamonds was the only card of the suit held by either player and Mercier took down the inaugural Ante Up for Africa event in Monte Carlo.

Over €250,000 was raised for the Ante Up for Africa charity in Monte Carlo and no prize money was doled out to players. Instead, Mercier, who battled through a field of 43 runners, claimed a crystal trophy in the shape of a PokerStars logo.

PokerStars Loses Isabelle Mercier, Gains Field Hockey Star Fatima Moreira De Melo

The roster of sponsored pros at the online poker room PokerStars continues to change, as the company both parted ways with players and signed on new faces during the month of September.  Longtime PokerStars representative Isabelle Mercier of Canada ended her relationship with the site a few weeks ago, but another woman has already been added to the roster.  PokerStars recently announced the signing of Fatima Moreira de Melo, an Olympic gold medal winning field hockey player from Denmark, to its Team PokerStars SportsStars.

News first broke of Mercier’s departure during the European Poker Tour (EPT) Barcelona stop.  The live reporting team and television commentators reported that Mercier, who worked with the online site for five years, was moving on to pursue other projects.  At the time, it was not clear what those projects would entail, but the mystery would be revealed in just a matter of days following the announcement that she was moving on.

On September 18th, the European gambling site Betclick announced Mercier would be serving as its new spokeswoman.  The site, which is primarily known for its sports betting, is aiming to expand its online poker brand and turned to the well-known Mercier to help them do so.  “We are very strong on betting, but poker is not the strongest part of our offering,” said a spokesman in Betclick’s official press release. “The signing of Isabelle Mercier means we will be putting in place a strategy to develop and improve our offering, but this will not be put into action for a few months yet. It is part of our overall project to enhance our poker platform.”

Mercier first rose to poker notoriety when she won Ladies Night II of the World Poker Tour (WPT) in 2004.  On her road to victory, WPT commentator Mike Sexton first referred to her as “No Mercy,” a nickname that has stuck with her to this day.  Prior to her WPT victory, Mercier got her start in poker on the other side of the table.  The French-Canadian law school graduate began as a poker dealer before working her way up to poker room manager and eventually giving it a shot at being a pro herself.  She found success as a pro and, in addition to her Ladies Night win, she has also more recently made an appearance at the EPT London High Roller final table and won the Ante Up for Africa charity event held in conjunction with the EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo.

Team PokerStars’ newest face did not start out as a poker player either.  The field hockey star made her claim to fame serving as a striker on the Dutch national team in the 2000, 2004, and 2008 Olympic Games.  She helped lead her team to a gold medal in Beijing, adding to her bronze medal in 2000 and silver medal in 2004.  In addition to her athletic ability, De Melo is known in Denmark for her singing and has performed at several athletic events around Europe.

De Melo will be a part of Team PokerStars SportsStars, an elite group of five athletes who have a passion for card playing.  She is the first female to join the team, which already consists of tennis star Boris Becker, hockey player Mats Sundin, rugby player Sebastien Chabal, and powerboat racer Sami Selio.  In addition to representing PokerStars at live tournaments around the world, De Melo will also play on the online site under the screen name “FatimaDeMelo.”

The room’s official Twitter account recently revealed that it is looking for a group of strictly online players to serve as Team PokerStars Online Pros.  PokerStars will be accepting online applications through October 31st.

CBS to air Ante Up For Africa Monte Carlo

Two one-hour shows featuring action from the star-studded event to benefit Darfur are set to air on the US network Today [Sept. 19] at 1:30 p.m. EST and Saturday, Sept. 26 at 2 p.m. EST, leading into its popular college football coverage.

Modelled on the World Series of Poker's Ante Up For Africa event created by Don Cheadle, Annie Duke and Norman Epstein, the $6,000 buy-in event saw stars from the worlds of television, sports and music take on a host top poker professionals.

Celebrities including Christina Milian, Nelly, Joel Madden, Jason Lewis, James Lee, and Boris Becker were joined by Team PokerStars Pros Daniel Negreanu, Joe Hachem and Vanessa Rousso on the felt.

Former Team PokerStars Pro Isabelle Mercier actually won the tournament defeating English football legend Teddy Sheringham heads-up.

All of the prize money was donated to help fund the work of charities that provide aid and assistance to the humanitarian efforts in Darfur.

"Each year at the World Series of Poker, I make a point to play in Ante Up for Africa," said Rousso.

"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."

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Betclick poker signs Isabelle Mercier

The former Team PokerStars Pro announced today she would be working as an ambassador for Betclick's upstart poker room.

"We are very strong on betting, but poker is not the strongest part of our offering," said a Betclick spokesman.

"The signing of Isabelle Mercier means we will be putting in place a strategy to develop and improve our offering, but this will not be put into action for a few months yet. It is part of our overall project to enhance our poker platform."

It's unknown exactly what will be required of Mercier as a Betclick ambassador or if she will return full-time to the international poker tournament circuit.

The announcement also mentioned Betclick's intentions to launch regionally oriented poker sites for players in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Belgium, Romania and the Netherlands. The sites are scheduled to go live by the end of October 2009.

Although Mercier could not be reached for comment she did mention to PokerListings she wanted to "take on new projects" in an email on Monday.

Mercier rose to poker notoriety when she won the WPT Ladies Night tournament in 2004.

She spent the last five years as a member of Team PokerStars Pro playing in numerous events and representing the brand around the world.

Betclick is mostly known as a sports betting site but has been rapidly expanding its poker operations in the last year. Signing Mercier is the site's biggest poker talent acquisition to date.

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Isabelle Mercier Signs With BetClick

Last week we told that Isabelle Mercier got booted from PokerStars. Well, it was a hasty assumption as we now know that Mercier just signed to BetClick, which is part of Mangas Gaming.

Isabelle Mercier is now a BetClick Lady

BetClick is better known from its sporting bet side, but now they’re trying to expand to Poker and they’re opening new sites in Belgium, Hungary, Netherlands, Czech Republic and Romania until the end of October.

BetClick’s mother company, Mangas Gaming, is quite big in Scandinavia, Germany and Austria. Mangas has been expanding largely lately as they just bought expekt.com.

BetClick isn’t even trying to grow as big as PokerStars, but are just trying to expand their Poker resources a bit. With Isabelle Mercier, BetClick will get a famous Poker face to promote their fresh activities.

Source: Egrmagazine

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Isabelle Mercier Signs With BetClick

Isabelle Mercier Leaves Team PokerStars

The EPT Barcelona live broadcast had more interesting things than Roland de Wolfe’s controversial muck/don’t muck hand – apparently, Canadian Isabelle Mercier is no longer a member of Team PokerStars.

Isabelle Mercier quits Team PokerStars

After five years as a member of Team PokerStars Pro, the French-Canadian poker superstar said she is saying goodbye to one of the most lucrative sponsorship deals in the poker industry to "take on new projects."

Following a series of emails back and forth with PokerListings, Mercier sent out a press release claiming she "currently has extensive projects, both nationally and internationally, in the world of poker," and, "is not about to give up her life's passion."

No specific details regarding the projects were included.

However, after the French-language release of her autobiography Profession: Bluffer in 2008, Mercier did tell PokerListings she was seeking an English publisher and interested in selling the film rights.

A law school graduate from the University of Montréal, Mercier's first foray into the poker world was a night shift job at the Aviation Club de France where she quickly ascended to the position of poker room manager.

Eventually, Mercier sold everything she owned to bankroll herself as a professional player, stepping into the spotlight when she won the World Poker Tour Ladies Night II event in 2004.

Since then, Mercier has amassed more than $1 million in career live tournament earnings, most recently following up a final table appearance at last year's EPT London High Roller tournament with a win at the EPT Monte Carlo Ante Up for Africa event to benefit Darfur, where she donated the entire €250,000 first-place prize to the cause.

Her biggest online score is a third place finish in the PokerStars Sunday Million this past July for $115k.

Mercier had lived out of a suitcase the past four years before finally buying homes in both Monaco and Montreal this past year. She remained absent from most of the 2009 WSOP turning up only to play in the Ante Up For Africa charity tournament and the Main Event.

A representative from PokerStars said it was Mercier's decision not to renew her sponsorship contract with the site and the organization wishes her the best.

Team PokerStars Pro Vicky Coren said she would wager this isn't the last the poker world will see of Mercier.

"I'm sad that Isabelle has left Team Pro, but I do understand it," Coren said. "The International tournament circuit is pretty relentless, but Isabelle has embraced the full-on romantic poker life, always on the road, living out of a suitcase for months at a time.

"In that same romantic spirit, she's now jumping off to try new things and have fresh adventures. Having said that, I would bet good money that we'll still see Isabelle cropping up in the bigger tournaments, like Monte Carlo and the PCA. I hope so, because she's one of my favorite people in poker."

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Isabelle Mercier Got Booted from PokerStars? Michelle Continues With Ultimate Bet

European Poker Tour Barcelona live reporting team revealed that Isabelle Mercier is no longer PokerStars sponsored player.

An EPT live commentator slipped that Mercier is not part of PokerStars anymore. Since the Poker sites are not giving any information about what happens with the deals we can only speculate why she left or got booted. PokerNews reporter did give some information:

“Incidentally, owing to the folks on the live feed and their tendency towards verbal incontinence, it has just now become public knowledge that Isabelle Mercier is leaving Team Pokerstars. The very best of luck to Ms. Mercier in all her future poker endeavors.”

On a sidenote, Tiffany Michelle renewed her contract with Ultimate Bet. No coincidende there that this was revealed after the announcement that she is taking part of Amazing Race with a fellow poker beauty Maria Ho.

Maria Ho and Tiffany Michelle

“I’m happy to be signing on for another year with UltimateBet and I’m eager to get back to playing in live tournaments and exclusively at their online tables,” said Tiffany Michelle. “The corporate team at UB has been so welcoming and supportive and I’m thrilled to be working with them. I can’t wait for the exciting things in store for us.”

Source: Pokerati

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Isabelle Mercier Got Booted from PokerStars? Michelle Continues With Ultimate Bet

PokerStars.com APPT returns with Macau festival

The APPT Macau Summer Festival of Poker will run from Aug. 25-30 with millions of dollars up for grabs.

The festival will feature a total of 20 events including the $5,200 Main Event and a PokerStars-style $11,500 High Roller Event all taking place in the official PokerStars Macau Poker Room at the Grand Lisboa - the largest poker room in continental Asia.

"I'm pleased to see the sport of tournament poker continue to grow in Asia," said Team PokerStars Pro and Poker World Champion Joe Hachem.

"I played in the first APPT Macau in 2007 when PokerStars planted the seeds of No-Limit Texas Hold'em poker culture in Macau and it's been incredible watching that legacy take root and bloom.

"There are now hundreds of local players, cash games running 24/7 and tournaments available every week at the PokerStars Macau Poker Room. I wouldn't be surprised if the next World Champion comes from Macau or elsewhere in China."

During its second season, APPT Macau generated the biggest prize pool ever recorded for a poker event in China with more than $1.5 million awarded. Noted American pro Edward Sabat outlasted a field of 538 players to take down a first place prize of $453,851 while Nam Le won the High Roller Event for $473,915.

This year the APPT expects to break their own records in Macau by drawing more players and creating a prize pool over $2 million.

"This season's APPT is set to be even bigger than Season 2 in terms of both number of participants and prize pools," said APPT President Jeffrey Haas. "This has been made possible by continued enthusiasm for the tour right across the region with amazing levels of participation."

The third season of the APPT is also scheduled to make stops in Seoul, Auckland and Cebu in the Philippines before culminating in Sydney for the Grand Final in December.

Last year some of most elite poker players in the world played APPT events including Team PokerStars Pros Joe Hachem, Lee Nelson, Isabelle Mercier, Lee Nelson, Barry Greenstein, Hevad Khan, Chad Brown, Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier as well as John Juanda, Johnny Chan, Scotty Nguyen, Grant Levy, Men "The Master" Nguyen, Eric Assadourian and Liz Lieu.

For the complete Macau Summer Poker Festival schedule visit the official APPT website here.

Below is the APPT Season 3 schedule:

EVENT	VENUE	CITY	DATES	BUY-IN	CAP
APPT Macau	Grand Lisboa Casino	Macau	August 25-30	40,000 HKD (5,160 USD)	700
APPT Seoul	7-Luck Casino	Seoul	September 17-20	3,000 USD	250
APPT Auckland	Skycity Casino	Auckland	October 12-15	3,250 NZD (2,050 USD)	350
APPT Philippines	Shangri-la Mactan Resort	Cebu	October 14-19	100,000 PHP (2,150 USD)	300
APPT Sydney	Star City Casino	Sydney	December 1-6	6,300 AUD (4,920 USD)	750

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Poker Stars adds Marcel Luske and Jason Mercier to Team PokerStars Pro

The largest online poker site around keeps adding to its all-star stable of pros, and they seem to be shopping both ends of the poker world this time, as they add beloved veteran Marcel Luske and hot discovery Jason Mercier.

“The Flying Dutchman” is easily recognized at the tables for his sharp suits and upside-down sunglasses, but looks are not everything when it comes to this Dutch poker professional, who was recognized as the top poker player in Europe at the European Poker Awards in 2001 and 2003, and honoured with the European Poker Awards ‘Life Time Achievement Award’ in 2008 at the Aviation Club in Paris.

Like many old-school pros, Luske started out playing poker informally in Amsterdam while hanging on to several day jobs, until he eventually opened his own poker club and decided to enter the European tournament scene. He made his first big splash in 2001, winning 3 tournaments in a two-week span. The $85,000 he collected over those two weeks were a good motivation to quit the day job and focus on poker.

His 2001 run was so successful it earned him his first “Player of the Year” title at the European Poker Awards. Two years later, Luske made an even bigger splash internationally in the 2003 WSOP, where he finished 14th at the Main Event and caught the public’s imagination with his classy outfits, outgoing personality and penchant for singing at the poker tables.

Luske’s career has seen him score big in many international events, most notably winning at the Five-Star World Poker Classic for $212,000 in April 2005; taking down the Hall of Fame Poker Classic in Paris for $143,000 in July 2005 and winning at the Five-Star World Poker Classic in April 2006 for $316,000.

A human dynamo, Luske finds time for plenty more besides his successful poker playing: he has famously mentored WSOP bracelet holder David Williams (who was runner-up for the Main Event in 2004,) as well as noted pros Noah Boeken and Kirill Gerasimov. Luske also founded the Federation Internationale de Poker Association (FIDPA), which aims to even the field by implementing standard rules all over the tournament trail; he is a valued member of the World Poker Federation Advisory Board; he support several charity projects and he is even considering a singing career, a long time ambition of his.

Next to Luske’s extended career, Mercier may seem a mere shooting star, but make no mistake: this 22-year-old is here to stay as one of the top players of his generation. In his short time in the poker spotlight, Mercier has already accrued over $3.2 million in live cashes since his first major tournament, the 2008 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure.

Mercier was already a top VIP at PokerStars, having earned the status of SuperNova Elite for his level of play, and he is naturally enthusiastic about becoming a sponsored pro: “Becoming a member of Team PokerStars Pro means a lot to me. I’m so excited to be playing for the site I first started playing on. I feel like this solidifies my standing as one of the top poker players’ around.”

In spite of his relatively short career span, Mercier already has a number of major scores to his name, such as winning the Season Four PokerStars EPT San Remo (a $1,372,893 prize;) finishing sixth at the PokerStars EPT Season Five event in Barcelona, earning $324,946; and shortly afterwards taking down the PokerStars EPT London £1 Million Showdown High Roller tournament for £516,000 ($944,847). In this last one he faced a terrifying final table, squaring himself against notables such as John Juanda, Scotty Nguyen, David Benyamine and namesake Team PokerStars Pro Isabelle Mercier.

For the cherry on top, Mercier has already cashed four times at this year’s WSOP and he won his first bracelet on June 1st after besting 808 players in the $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha event for $237,415.

PokerStars Announces EPT Season 6 Schedule

Thirteen countries will host tournaments as part of the sixth season of the PokerStars-sponsored European Poker Tour (EPT). The festivities kick off on August 17th from Moscow, a brand new addition to the EPT schedule of events.

PokerStars unveiled a total of seven events on Monday. The number of countries visited increases to 13 during Season Six, including new stops in Portugal and Russia. John Duthie, Chief Executive of the world’s most popular online poker room, commented in a press release, “The new EPT season includes many events which have made the past five seasons such a triumph with record breaking fields and prize pools across Europe. We have set very high standards and we aim to improve on this still further in Season Six - with new additions to the schedule as well as a richer mix of games and buy-ins to cater to more players.”

The total prize pool of the Season Five EPT Monte Carlo Grand Final exceeded €9.3 million, which, according to PokerStars, was the largest European tournament prize pool ever. Pieter De Korver emerged as its champion, pocketing €2.3 million and besting a final table that also included professional poker player Dag Martin Mikkelsen. The 935 players who turned out to the storied Monaco casino comprised the largest field ever for the event, which serves as the finale of each EPT season. The Season Five PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, Monte Carlo Grand Final, San Remo, and Barcelona tournaments were “the four richest prize pools available in poker tournaments outside the United States” over the past year.

Here’s a look at the first six tournaments to be held as part of EPT Season Six. The remainder of the schedule has not yet been released:

EPT Moscow: August 18th to August 23rd
Buy-in: 200,000 + 12,000 RUB
Host Venue: Radisson SAS
Host Country: Russia

EPT Barcelona: September 4th to September 9th
Buy-in: €8,000 + €300
Host Venue: Casino Barcelona
Host Country: Spain

EPT London: October 1st to October 7th
Buy-in: ?5,000 + ?250
Host Venue: Hilton Metropole
Host Country: England

EPT Warsaw: October 20th to October 25th
Buy-in: 20,000 + 1,000 PLN
Host Venue: Hyatt Regency
Host Country: Poland

EPT Vilamoura: November 17th to November 22nd
Buy-in: €5,000 + €300
Host Venue: Casino Vilamoura
Host Country: Portugal

EPT Prague: December 1st to December 6th
Buy-in: €5,000 + €250
Host Venue: Hilton Prague
Host Country: Czech Republic

PokerStars Caribbean Adventure: January 4th to January 14th
Buy-in: $10,000 + $600
Host Venue: Atlantis Hotel and Casino
Host Country: Bahamas

Players will need to secure their spots before each tournament reaches its predetermined capacity. The Poland stop has the smallest cap at 400 players, while Moscow, Vilamoura, and Prague can each accommodate 600 runners. The EPT’s Barcelona stop has a capacity of 700 players and the London tournament reaches its maximum when 800 poker hopefuls sign up. The largest field will undoubtedly occur in the Bahamas, where the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure can accommodate 1,600 players. Last year, the EPT’s lone Western Hemisphere sojourn attracted 1,347 entrants and was won by Canadian poker player Poorya Nazari, who took home $3 million.

Satellites for the Moscow stop began today on PokerStars and start at $2.20. Packages up for grabs on the USA-friendly site include hotel, tournament entry, and spending money. The poker world will anxiously await the London festivities, which will once again feature High Roller and Omaha events. Last year, American Michael Martin won the EPT London Main Event, while newly minted World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet holder Jason Mercier took down the High Roller event for nearly $1 million, besting 2008 WSOP Europe Main Event Champion and Full Tilt Poker pro John Juanda heads-up. Others at the final table of the High Roller spectacle were Isaac Haxton, Scotty Nguyen, David Benyamine, Isabelle Mercier, and Mike “SirWatts” Watson.

Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest EPT news and results.

Poker Pro Jason Mercier Wins FTOPS Event 23

The Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS) is drawing to a close. Sunday marks the start of the FTOPS and MiniFTOPS Main Events, which boast at least $3 million in total prize money on the line. Leading up to the event, Jason “treysfull21” Mercier won Event #23.

The $109 Pot Limit Omaha with Rebuys tournament drew just over 1,000 runners and, in the end, the professional poker player from Florida emerged as its champion, adding $86,000 to his already healthy bankroll. Mercier stormed onto the live poker scene one year ago, winning the European Poker Tour’s (EPT) San Remo tournament for $1.3 million. In that event, he bested France’s Anthony Lellouche heads-up, with Dario Minieri also making an appearance at the final table. In October, he was up to his winning ways once again, taking down the EPT High Roller event in London for $944,000. The final nine included a “who’s who” of the world’s top players, as 2008 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Europe Main Event Champion John Juanda, 2008 WSOP HORSE Championship victor Scotty Nguyen, high-stakes player David Benyamine, and Isabelle Mercier all made the money.

Mercier is fresh off wins in a $1,000 buy-in tournament during the Wynn Classic and a $1,500 buy-in Pot Limit Omaha contest held during the L.A. Poker Classic. The two titles were good for $116,000 total. In FTOPS Event #23, Mercier beat Full Tilt member RMFG heads-up, with the runner up receiving a $54,000 consolation prize. Others at the final table included mozgoved82 (third place for $40,607), Bill Gazes (fourth place for $31,754), dayxlm (fifth place for $24,056), Sapster (sixth place for $17,321), Stuart “thedonator” Paterson (seventh place for $11,547), Rightcurver (eighth place for $8,660), and DragonDrake (ninth place for $6,158). A total of 108 players finished in the money.

The FTOPS and MiniFTOPS Main Events kick off today. The former is a $55 buy-in No Limit Hold’em tournament with at least $500,000 up for grabs, while the latter comes with a $535 buy-in and at least $2.5 million in prize money. The Main Event of FTOPS XI was won by Alan “csimmsux” Geyer, who barreled through a field of 5,287 players en route to a $456,000 first place payday. It was one of the largest sums of money ever taken away from an FTOPS event, as Geyer defeated KA1SERfknS0ZE heads-up; KA1SERfknS0ZE earned $276,000 for his efforts. Others who reached the final table last time around included PartyPimp (third place for $177,643), clubflush5 (fourth place for $138,783), CHOOK2120 (fifth place for $104,418), dump22 (sixth place for $77,983), 23bigd23 (seventh place for $60,800), supermanpunch (eighth place for $46,261), and Luie Sojo (ninth place for $34,365).

The FTOPS XII high-stakes schedule has seen a bevy of overlays. However, the series’ MiniFTOPS counterparts have experienced overflowing crowds ranging between 729 and 14,059 entrants. In fact, seven of the first 15 events attracted more than 3,000 players, with three of those reaching a field size of over 6,000. On a potential tendency by players to sign up for a MiniFTOPS event in lieu of a traditional FTOPS tournament, Full Tilt Poker pro Howard Lederer told Poker News Daily, “We had never run a MiniFTOPS alongside a regular FTOPS before. We simply underestimated how many players would opt for the MiniFTOPS events over the regular FTOPS. The overall participation is up, so I don’t think the overall economy is having much of an effect on FTOPS XII.”

Also playing out on Sunday is the second day of play in the MiniFTOPS and FTOPS Two-Day Events and a No Limit Hold’em Knockout tournament (Event #24). The latter’s MiniFTOPS version carries a $13 buy-in and $100,000 guarantee, while the FTOPS edition comes with a $129 price tag and $1 million in the kitty.

Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest from FTOPS XII.

Pieter de Korver Wins EPT Monte Carlo Grand Final

The 2009 installment of the European Poker Tour’s (EPT) Monte Carlo Grand Final wrapped up over the weekend. In the end, Team PokerStars Netherlands Pro Pieter de Korver triumphed over the 935 player field en route to a €2.3 million payday.

De Korver was nearly bumped from the final table when he was down to just three big blinds remaining. However, the old adage “All you need is a chip and a chair” held true and the Netherlands native mounted a comeback of epic proportions to take down the finale of the fifth EPT season. On the final hand, de Korver knocked out Matthew Woodward. After a flop of 5-10-6, all hearts, de Korver checked and Woodward bet out 700,000. De Korver promptly put his opponent all-in and Woodward called, flipping over 6d-4h for middle pair and a baby flush draw. De Korver turned over 6-9 of spades for middle pair with a better kicker. The turn and river came the queen of spades and seven of spades, respectively, handing the 26 year-old the win in the EPT Monte Carlo Grand Final.

De Korver was down to his final 400,000 chips when blinds were a healthy 80,000-160,000. However, he tripled his stack holding Q-4 through Woodward and poker pro Dag Martin Mikkelsen and never looked back. Here were the results from the eight-handed final table:

1st Place: Pieter de Korver (Holland) - €2,300,000
2nd Place: Matthew Woodward (United States) - €1,300,000
3rd Place: Mikhail Tulchinskiy (Russia) - €800,000
4th Place: Dag Martin Mikkelsen (Norway) - €600,000
5th Place: Eric Qu (France) - €470,000
6th Place: Alem Shah (Germany) - €350,000
7th Place: Daniel Zink (Germany) - €250,000
8th Place: Peter Traply (Hungary) - €170,000

Mikkelsen was the aggressor early on, bumping Traply from the final table in eighth place after the Hungarian entered play with the chip lead. He also sent Zink packing in seventh place, leading many to believe that Mikkelsen would walk away from Monaco as the EPT Season 5 champ. De Korver then flopped a boat with pocket sixes and stole a massive pot off of the Norwegian, who was ultimately sent packing by Woodward in fourth place. Mikkelsen took 42nd in the 2007 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event for $237,000 in a tournament eventually won by Jerry Yang. Woodward also ousted Tulchinskiy, this time coming out on the winning end of a race with pocket threes against the Russian’s Q-10.

The Monte Carlo Grand Final marked the end of the fifth season of the EPT. The tournament series traversed more than 13,000 miles across two continents. Its Main Event winners over the course of the nine month-long season included Sebastian Ruthenburg (Barcelona), Michael Martin (London), Will Fry (Hungary), Joao Barbosa (Warsaw), Salvatore Bonavena (Prague), Poorya Nazari (PokerStars Caribbean Adventure), Moritz Kranich (Deauville), Jens Kyllönen (Copenhagen), Sandra Naujoks (Dortmund), and Jason Mercier (San Remo). A special £1 Million Showdown held during the EPT festivities in London was also won by Mercier, who defeated a final table that included 2008 WSOP Europe Main Event victor John Juanda, World Poker Tour Bellagio Cup IV winner Michael “SirWatts” Watson, reigning WSOP HORSE Champion Scotty Nguyen, 2007 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure runner up Isaac Haxton, Full Tilt Poker pro David Benyamine, and Isabelle Mercier.

The 2008 installment of the EPT Monte Carlo Grand Final attracted a field of 842 entrants. This year, that number grew by 11%. The very first end of season EPT event generated 211 runners in 2005 and was won by Rob Hollink. At the time of writing, no schedule for Season 6 has been posted on the EPT’s website, although the Barcelona tournament has traditionally kicked off the schedule each September.

Star-studded line up raises €250,000 at the PokerStars charity event

Isabelle Mercier has won the PokerStars Ante Up For Africa event at the EPT final in Monte Carlo. The €4,000 buy in event attracted a star-studded line up of 39 runners with around €250,000 raised for the relief effort in war torn Darfur in Sudan.

PokerStars pro Lee Nelson took down day 1a of EPT Monte Carlo

First part of the first day of the EPT season finale at Monte Carlo attracted already more players than the WPT Championship main event last week. Total of 396 started the day, that is around sixty player more what participated in the whole WPT tournament in Bellagio.

Nelson played a solid day.

Lee Nelson, the winner of the Aussie Millions Main Eventin 2006, leads the group after day 1a with a huge margin. Nelson built a stack of 253,600 chips, which is over 80k chips more than his nearest rival Pagano has.

Full Tilt pro Michael Tureniec made also into the top ten. Tureniec gathered 6th biggest stack, 146,600 chips. Also, high stakes cash game specialist Sami “LarsLuzak” Kelopuro continued where he left off last week at EPT San Remo and proved his tournament game has improved by leaps and bounds. Kelopuro built a 133,500 chip stack and ended the day in 8th place. First ever WSOP Europe champion Annette Obrestad is also in good position with 112,000 chips.

Same time with the tournament action Bertrand ‘ElkY’ Grospellier had an event of his own when he made a world record attempt of playing Sit and Go tournaments. Elky started 62 $6.50 Sit and Goes in an hour and made some money, that is a new world record.

Today Elky will be one of the many notable players who will start the main event. The current world champion Peter Eastgate, WSOP finalists Ylon Schwartz and Ivan Demidov, former world champion Joe Hachem, Isabelle Mercier, Noah Boeken and Hevad Khan will join with Elky at the tournament tables.

Source: ept

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PokerStars pro Lee Nelson took down day 1a of EPT Monte Carlo

Poker stars ante up for Africa again, this time in Monte Carlo

This was first time when Ante Up for Africa tournament was arranged in Europe. The event, that was put together by PokerStars.net, raised more than €260,000 for people in Darfur.

Show no mercy, Isabelle!

PokerStars was well presented in actual game play of the tournament, as Team PokerStars pro Isabelle Mercier took home the win. A star-studded field of total 40 poker players and celebrities started the tournament and paid €4,000 that was donated fully for Ante Up for Africa organization. PokerStars made an additional €100,000 donation for the organization.

Many PokerStars’ team members participated in the tournament, including Daniel Negreanu, Victor Ramdin, Joe Hachem, Peter Eastgate, Dario Minieri, Vanessa Rousso and Greg Raymer alongside victorious teammate Mercier.

Most of the celebrities was eliminated before the final table that looked like this:

* Seat 1: Dario Minieri, 43,400
* Seat 2: John Duthie, 39,000
* Seat 3: Patrick Chene, 20,100
* Seat 4: Sebastian Chabal, 20,300
* Seat 5: Luca Pagano, 41,500
* Seat 6: Tony G, 18,200
* Seat 7: Daniel Negreanu, 151,000
* Seat 8: Teddy Sheringham, 44,900
* Seat 9: Isabelle Mercier 42,700

Negreanu started the final table with a huge chiplead, but could only finish in fifth place. Teddy Sheringham, a former England football star, suprised his more experienced opponents and managed to get into the top three.

Sheringham came close to winning the whole thing when he took out Italian Dario Minieri and started the heads-up against Mercier with 3 to 1 chiplead. But Isabelle gave no mercy for the amateur and battled back to lead and eventually to win.

Sheringham wouldn’t need to go home emptyhanded though, as he won the tournament prize, a trip to the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in the Bahamas in January, because he was the best of the rest, people who were not sponsored by PokerStars.

EPT season finale also started today, more news about that event tomorrow in Highstakesnews.com.

Source: pokerlisting.com

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Poker stars ante up for Africa again, this time in Monte Carlo

Ante Up for Africa cashes in at Monte Carlo

The big winner from the event is Ante Up for Africa and its efforts in Darfur, but it was PokerStars pro Isabelle Mercier who actually won the tournament.

She defeated a final-table full of poker pros and a tough set of celebrities as well to end up facing England footballer Teddy Sheringham for the title.

"It was great fun to play, but overall I am very proud to have helped raise so much money," Mercier told PokerStars after her win.

Hosted by PokerStars.net, the tournament attracted 40 players and celebrities such as Nelly, Christina Milian, The Dream, James Kyson Lee, Jason Lewis and Joel Madden.

There were plenty representing from the international sports and entertainment realm as well with U.K. TV presenter Kirsty Gallacher, French rapper Bruno "Kool Shen" Lopes, F1 racing driver Nico Rosberg, Liverpool goalkeeper Pepe Reina and rugby stars Sebastien Chabal and Mike Tindall playing the event.

Some of the pro poker players in the event included PokerStars' own team members Daniel Negreanu, Victor Ramdin, Joe Hachem, Peter Eastgate, Dario Minieri, Vanessa Rousso and Greg Raymer .

They all anted up €4,000 for the buy-in for a total donation of €160,000, to which PokerStars added another €100,000.

While many of the stars and some of the pro poker players fell by the wayside, the final table ended up being a tough mix of poker players and a few of the celebrities. They were:

• Seat 1: Dario Minieri, 43,400
• Seat 2: John Duthie, 39,000
• Seat 3: Patrick Chene, 20,100
• Seat 4: Sebastian Chabal, 20,300
• Seat 5: Luca Pagano, 41,500
• Seat 6: Tony G, 18,200
• Seat 7: Daniel Negreanu, 151,000
• Seat 8: Teddy Sheringham, 44,900
• Seat 9: Isabelle Mercier 42,700

Negreanu had a sizeable chip lead going into the final table, but he would see his chips whittled away and finally disappear as he ended up out in fifth place.

Chabal, Duthie, Chene and Pagano were out before him, and Tony G didn't last long after him. Finally Minieri was taken out by Sheringham who faced Mercier heads-up with a 3-1 chip advantage.

Mercier didn't get the nickname "No Mercy" for no reason though. She battled back, finally gaining the lead and then the win.

As runner-up to a Team PokerStars Pro winner, Sheringham won the tournament prize, a trip to the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in the Bahamas in January.

The Ante Up for Africa charity tournament helped kick off the PokerStars European Poker Tour Grand Final this week as well. The tournament started today in Monte Carlo, and you can get the latest updates in the Live Tournaments section.

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PokerStars Ante Up for Africa Tournament Raises €260,000

The first ever PokerStars Ante Up for Africa charity poker tournament was held last night in Monaco on the eve of the European Poker Tour (EPT) Monte Carlo Grand Final. The live event raised €260,000 for the Darfur charities.

A total of 40 runners put up €4,000 each to play in the massive fundraiser, creating a €160,000 prize pool that was donated to charity. PokerStars, which sponsored the Monaco tournament, donated another €100,000. In the end, Team PokerStars Pro member Isabelle Mercier emerged as its champion, defeating Teddy Sheringham. However, the grand prize package, a trip to the 2010 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, went to Sheringham, a British soccer player who was a member of the Manchester United in the late 1990s.

Rapper Nelly, whose songs “Hot in Herre” and “Dilemma,” among others, hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the United States, was in attendance in Monaco to raise money for charity. He was flanked by fellow singer Christina Milian, who hit number two on the same chart with “Dip it Low” in 2004. Another musical act to showcase its poker skills was The Dream, who won BET’s Best New Artist in 2008. The band Good Charlotte was represented by its lead singer, Joel Madden, and Bruno "Kool Shen" Lopes, a rapper from France, also joined in the festivities. Other celebrity attendees included “Heroes” star James Kyson Lee, “Sex in the City” actor Jason Lewis, U.K. television personality Kirsty Gallacher, Formula 1 driver Nico Rosberg, Liverpool goaltender Pepe Reina, and two members of the rugby community, Sebastien Chabal and Mike Tindall.

Team PokerStars Pro member Daniel Negreanu was on-hand for the event in Monaco. He’s fresh off a win in a CAN $2,500 buy-in tournament held during the British Columbia Poker Championships in November for CAN $370,000. “Kid Poker” also took fifth in the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Europe Main Event for nearly $400,000. That tournament was won by Full Tilt Poker pro John Juanda and represented the first bracelet win for an American in WSOP Europe history. Three former WSOP Main Event champions were on hand in the Principality as well, as Greg Raymer (2004), Joe Hachem (2005), and Peter Eastgate (2008) hit the felts for charity. All three are card-carrying members of Team PokerStars Pro. Eastgate holds the record as the youngest Main Event winner ever, taking down last year’s edition at the tender age of 22.

Victor Ramdin, who won the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) Foxwoods Poker Classic in 2006, was also in attendance. His WPT win was worth $1.3 million and saw the Team PokerStars Pro member race through a final table that included Alex Jacob and Edward Jordan. Also in the field on Monday was the runner up in the 2009 National Heads-Up Poker Championship, Vanessa Rousso. One of the top female poker pros in the game, Rousso fell to Huck Seed heads-up. The tournament airs on Sundays on NBC through May 17th and the action starts at Noon ET each week. Dario Minieri, who won his first WSOP bracelet last year in a $2,500 buy-in No Limit Hold’em tournament, also turned out.

The first day of play in the €10,600 buy-in EPT Monte Carlo Grand Final takes places today with Day 1A. Tomorrow, contestants participating in Day 1B will hit the felts. The survivors will merge together on Thursday for Day 2 and play down to a winner on Sunday. Last year’s champion, Glen Chorny, pocketed €2 million for the win and defeated a record field of 842 players. The final table included Isaac “westmenloAA” Baron, Antonio Esfandiari, and Team PokerStars Pro member Luca Pagano.

Annie Duke, Don Cheadle, and Norman Epstein founded Ante Up for Africa three years ago. To date, it has helped raise over $2 million for the cause, including $245,000 generated from NBC’s “Celebrity Apprentice.”

Stars invade Monaco for EPT finale

On the eve of the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour Grand Final, the Fossilman talked to PokerListings.com about the draw of the Tour's most glamorous stop.

"The [Grand Final] is second only to the WSOP Main Event," said Raymer, who actually won the WSOP Main Event in 2004.

"For as long as there has been poker and probably forever, the Main Event will be the most prestigious tournament, but the Grand Final is clearly the nearest rival.

"That's because of the money first, the structure second, and everything else - locale, hotels, players - third."

Last year, 22-year-old Canadian wunderkind Glen Chorny beat out 841 rivals to claim his first EPT title and the €2 million first prize.

This year, EPT founder John Duthie has capped the field at 1,000, making for a potential prize pool of €10 million.

Team PokerStars Pro pros Daniel Negreanu, Joe Hachem, Vanessa Rousso, Dario Minieri, and Isabelle Mercier are slated to take part, as is Phil Ivey, who reportedly chartered a Global Express private jet to fly him to Monaco.

Rap star Nelly headlines a star-studded roster of celebrity guests, including football stars, Formula 1 drivers, musicians and even a hint of royalty.

"Prestige is what matters in the poker world," said Raymer. "It used to be people would make deals at the Main Event of the World Series of Poker, giving up equity for cash because they only cared about making money, not winning the bracelet.

"That doesn't happen anymore. Nowadays, people play to win the title and the prestige. And what makes the tournament prestigious is the money."

Surely, the Grand Final's location in Monte Carlo, famous as a playground for the obscenely wealthy, has something to do with the appeal?

Not so for the Fossilman.

"Personally, I find Monaco overpriced and boring," he said. "That said, the Grand Final is a fabulous series of events - the Main Event, the High-Rollers event, the battleship event - and I'm thrilled to be here for the tournament."

One of his counterparts on Team PokerStars Pro is lucky to be here at all.

Daniel Negreanu nearly missed his trans-Atlantic flight due to a security shutdown at Los Angeles World Airports.

"They made us stand in one place for two hours," he said. "We couldn't even sit down. I watched them bring out this one guy in handcuffs, un-cuff him and talk to him. But they wouldn't tell us what was going on.

"The worst part was, I was on my way to the first-class lounge and I'd stopped momentarily when it happened. If I'd have kept going I could have been lying on a couch for two hours."

Eventually, however, the shutdown was lifted and Negreanu made his flight. He made it to Monaco in time to join the rest of Team PokerStars Pro in Monday's €4,000 Ante Up for Africa charity event.

Action in Monte Carlo begins in earnest with Tuesday's Day 1a and will continue until the final table on Sunday.

You can follow along with all the action in the PokerListings.com Live Tournaments section, and don't forget to check out PokerListings TV for featurettes and interviews with all of the big stars.

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PokerStars Signs Peter Eastgate, Ivan Demidov

On Thursday, PokerStars, the world's largest online poker site, announced that 2008 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event Champion Peter Eastgate and runner up Ivan Demidov have become the newest members of Team PokerStars Pro. The move bolsters the non-U.S. presence of the site, as Eastgate hails from Denmark and Demidov makes his home in Russia.

A few weeks prior to the start of the 2008 WSOP festivities, Harrah's officials announced that the final table of the Main Event would be pushed back until November. In essence, the move created a lull of 100 days and the first ever “November Nine,” the final players standing. The nine final table contestants would have ample time to pursue sponsorships, seek training, and even review hands as the WSOP played out on ESPN. Eastgate and Demidov join fellow November Nine members Dennis Phillips and Ylon Schwartz on Team PokerStars Pro. The group represents the top four finishers in the tournament.

The PokerStars blog revealed that the signings have been in the works for awhile: “Ever since you saw the two sit down face-to-face for the epic World Series battle, you somehow knew they would end up in the elite Team Pro stable. It was just a matter of when it would happen.” Eastgate banked $9.1 million from the 2008 WSOP Main Event, his lone World Series cash to date. He showed his performance at the Rio was no fluke by taking down a $4,800 buy-in preliminary tournament held during the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure for $343,000, defeating German player Florian Langmann heads-up.

Demidov became the first player ever to reach the final tables of both the WSOP and WSOP Europe Main Events, taking third in the latter tournament for £334,850. His runner up performance in the Main Event in Las Vegas was worth a healthy $5.8 million. He also finished 11th in a $1,000 rebuy tournament during the 2008 WSOP for $39,000. Demidov is a former StarCraft player and math whiz, which explains his success at the poker felts. You can catch the Russian playing on PokerStars under the name "Ivan Demidov."

Team PokerStars Pro recently welcomed Norwegian player Johnny Lodden to its ranks. The squad, which represents PokerStars at major live events and is intricately involved in its online promotions, is headlined by a trio of recent WSOP Main Event Champions: Chris Moneymaker (2003), Greg Raymer (2004), and Joe Hachem (2005). At the end of February, Team PokerStars Pro also welcomed J.C. Alvarado, who originally hails from Mexico and now lives in Las Vegas.

Other members of Team PokerStars Pro include Barry Greenstein, Isabelle Mercier, Daniel Negreanu, John Duthie, Steven Paul-Ambrose, Luca Pagano, Victor Ramdin, Lee Nelson, Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier, and Humberto Brenes. The site plays host to some of the top women in poker, headlined by Go Daddy Girl Vanessa Rousso, who took second to Huck Seed in the 2009 National Heads-Up Poker Championship, which will unfold beginning on April 12th on NBC. Other top female players who are members of Team PokerStars Pro include Katja Thater, Victoria Coren, and Maridu Mayrinck.

PokerStars is in the midst of Day 2 of its inaugural Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP). The tournament series features events with low-stakes, mid-stakes, and high-stakes buy-ins. The very first event was a No Limit Hold'em Six-Max with Rebuys tournament. The low-stakes contest featured a $500,000 guaranteed prize pool and attracted over 27,000 players, making it one of the largest online poker tournaments ever held. The mid-stakes $55 buy-in version attracted 4,057 players and the $550 buy-in high-stakes edition saw a field of 672 players compete. In Event 2, a Pot Limit Omaha High-Low tournament, 7,622 players showed up for the low-stakes, 2,104 for the mid-stakes, and 327 for the high-stakes. SCOOP culminates with its Main Event on April 12th.

Bodog Unveils 2009 WSOP Prop Bets

If you've ever wanted to rail your favorite poker stars without having to be at the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) in Las Vegas, head to Bodog. The online poker site and sports book recently opened up betting on the WSOP. The festivities at the Rio begin on May 27th.

Among the wagers available on Bodog is what poker pro will win the most money during the 2009 WSOP. The leader in the clubhouse is 11-time bracelet holder Phil Hellmuth, who is currently going off at 5:2. Other players that are available to bet on include Doyle Brunson (7:2), David Sklansky (12:1), Barry Greenstein (5:1), Mike Caro (12:1), Phil Gordon (10:1), T.J. Cloutier (6:1), and Team PokerStars Pro member Daniel Negreanu, who is fetching 3:1 odds.

The question of “Will Phil Hellmuth win his 12th bracelet at the 2009 WSOP occurring in Las Vegas beginning May 27th?” is paying +300 for Yes and -500 for No. Hellmuth made three final tables last year, taking third in the $1,500 buy-in HORSE event for $93,000. You can also bet on whether Brunson or Johnny Chan will score their 11th bracelets. The +300 figure means that a player must bet $100 to get back a total of $400. The -500 figure means that a player must bet $500 to get back a total of $600.

A special last longer wager is also available on the prestigious $50,000 buy-in HORSE Championship, which was infamously won last year by Scotty Nguyen. He has 5:1 odds in the bet, the favorite among the pros available. Others include Brunson (6:1), Hellmuth (7:1), Chan (7:1), Freddy Deeb (11:2), Phil Ivey (6:1), David Williams (11:2), Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo (11:2), and Negreanu (6:1). Deeb won the event in 2007 and the late Chip Reese took down the inaugural HORSE Championship in 2006. The trophy given to the winner of the event is named in his honor.

Another unique bet asks wagerers to select what pair will rack up the most winnings in the 2009 WSOP. Patrik Antonius and Kathy Liebert are the current favorites, going off at 4:1. Other pairings available include Doyle and Todd Brunson (6:1), the husband and wife team of Marco Traniello and Jennifer Harman (6:1), father and son Barry Greenstein and Joe Sebok (9:2), brother and sister Annie Duke and Howard Lederer (15:2), Bodog pros Evelyn Ng and Justin Bonomo (15:2), Phil Laak and Jennifer Tilly (6:1), mother and son David and Shirley Williams (6:1), engaged couple Chad Brown and Vanessa Rousso (10:1), and Tom “durrrr” Dwan and Tiffany Michelle (9:2).

Players can even bet on what game will be played when the final hand is dealt during the HORSE Championship. Hold'em, Razz, and Seven Card Stud are all paying 5:2, while Omaha High-Low and Seven Card Stud High-Low are both going off at 15:4.

Bettors will also be keeping their eyes on the female contingent in the Main Event, as a special women's-only last longer bet is available on Bodog. Jennifer Harman and Kathy Liebert are the current favorites; both are 5:1 to remain in contention in the Main Event the longest. Others include Duke (7:1), Tilly (10:1), Cyndy Violette (7:1), Isabelle Mercier (7:1), Clonie Gowen (7:1), Ng (7:1), Liz Lieu (7:1), Mimi Tran (7:1), Katja Thater (7:1), Rousso (7:1), and the last woman standing in the 2007 WSOP Main Event, Maria Ho (10:1).

One prop bet on Bodog centers wholly on Bodog pro Jean-Robert Bellande's finish in the Main Event. Bellande was a contestant on CBS' “Survivor: China,” one of the 18 seasons of the show that have aired. “No Money” is paying 1:20; finishing in the money, but no better than 10th place is paying 8:1; making the final table is paying 150:1; and winning the 2009 WSOP Main Event is fetching 1,000:1 odds. Bellande took 442nd in the Main Event last year.

The first wager listed in Bodog's poker section is, “Will Scotty Nguyen reach his stated promise that he will earn $4,000,000 or more in combined winnings at this year’s WSOP?” Yes is paying out +2,400. The bet stems from an interview Nguyen had with PokerListings that he would retire from poker if he does not amass $4 million in winnings at the 2009 WSOP. Whether he will follow through on his promise is anyone's guess.