Poker News

Tony G joins Team PartyPoker

Earlier this week we brought you the news that Luke Schwartz and Phil Hellmuth would be taking part in the Party Poker Premier League IV. If the other players in the field thought that getting a word in edgeways would be difficult then they may as well forget it altogether now after the news that Tony G will be joining them.

Antanas “Tony G” Guoga Joins Team PartyPoker

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Vladimir Geshkenbein joins Team PKR

Vladimir Geshkenbein is the latest big name (both literally and metaphorically) to join the professional team at PKR.com.

Jude Ainsworth joins Team PokerStars Pro

Ainsworth will represent PokerStars in the new UK & Ireland Poker Tour (UKIPT), which will see him play a tournament on his home turf of Galway from Dec. 11-14, 2009.

"I'm really looking forward to competing in the UKIPT and being part of such an exciting tour," said Ainsworth. "Undoubtedly the event I'm looking forward to is the return to my hometown Galway."

Ainsworth catapulted to poker fame ilast year when he won the Irish Poker Championship in Galway for €145,000.

This year Ainsworth, who plays as j.thaddeus online, went on to win the 2009 PokerStars Spring Championship of Online Poker $10,300 main event for $963,338, outlasting 501 players and a final table that included Jon "PearlJammer" Turner and Chris "Moorman1" Moorman.

After its launch in Galway, the UKIPT will move on to stops in Manchester, Nottingham, Killarney, Brighton, Scotland and Dublin with a grand final scheduled to take place in London.

Other notable players to take part in the UKIPT include Team PokerStars Pro Vicky Coren and former English soccer player Teddy Sheringham.

Visit the UKIPT website for the complete schedule.

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Tom Dwan (durrrr) Joins Team Full Tilt

The elite group of 13 poker pros that comprise Team Full Tilt Poker has a new member joining its ranks.  The online poker room just announced that its 14th member of the team will be 23-year old high-stakes online poker pro Tom “durrrr” Dwan.

Full Tilt Poker recently added Dwan to its roster, but Dwan has been a noticeable presence on the site for quite some time prior to the new sponsorship deal.  Full Tilt has been hosting Dwan’s “Durrrr Challenge” cash game tables since the epic bet first came to light in February and the youngster is a mainstay on all of the highest stakes cash game tables on the site as well.

Prior to Dwan, the last addition to the squad was Patrik Antonius, who joined Team Full Tilt in the summer of 2008.  The other members of the exclusive group are Howard Lederer, Jennifer Harman, Allen Cunningham, Chris “Jesus” Ferguson, Gus Hansen, Mike Matusow, Andy Bloch, Erik Seidel, Phil Ivey, John Juanda, Phil Gordon, and Erick Lindgren.  The group has a collective 37 World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelets and is widely considered to represent some of the best tournament and cash game players in the world.  Dwan is now the youngest member of the group, but in his brief career, he has made an indelible impression on both the online and live poker communities.

In a press release announcing the news, Lederer spoke about the young pro and why they decided to include him on the team: “Team Full Tilt doesn’t take adding a team member lightly, but Tom Dwan has proven, through skill and dynamic play, that he will be a force to be reckoned with for many years to come. We are proud to count Tom as one of our own.”

Dwan’s list of accomplishments include over $1 million in tournament poker winnings, three WSOP final tables, a World Poker Tour final table, and several successful appearances on poker television shows like “Poker After Dark” and “High Stakes Poker.”  Dwan holds the record for both the largest pot in “High Stakes Poker” history as well as the largest pot in televised poker history, which he recently won off of Ivey during the filming of the “Full Tilt Poker’s Million Dollar Cash Game.”  Dwan won the $1.1 million pot when he turned a seven-high straight against Ivey’s five-high straight and the two players got it all-in.  The big hand is scheduled to air as part of the show on U.K.’s Sky Sports in January of 2010.

Now that Dwan is a member of Team Full Tilt, he will be facing off against his fellow team members as action continues in his “Durrrr Challenge” bet.  Dwan and Antonius have played a little over 27,000 hands of the 50,000 required.  Dwan currently holds a $779,248 lead over Antonius.  Once Antonius finishes his 50,000 hands against Dwan, fellow Team Full Tilt member and recent seventh place finisher in the 2009 WSOP Main Event, Ivey, will step up, as will David Benyamine.

Dwan is set to take part in the upcoming season of “High Stakes Poker,” which will be filming at the Golden Nugget in Las Vegas from November 11th to 13th and will likely be sporting a Full Tilt Poker patch as part of his duties.

Jude Ainsworth joins Team PokerStars

Jude Ainsworth is the latest big name to join the professional ranks with Team PokerStars. The Irishman, known online as J.Thaddeus, will make his debut on home soil at the opening leg of the new PokerStars UK and Ireland Poker Tour in Galway next month.

Joe Sebok Joins Ultimate Bet in Consulting, Sponsorship Role

Long considered to be one of the top poker professionals without a major sponsorship deal, it was announced late Monday evening that Joe Sebok will be joining Ultimate Bet’s roster of poker pros. Sebok will also take a prominent position inside of the Ultimate Bet organization in a deal orchestrated by 11Management.

While he joins Team UB and will be wearing the site’s signature black and gold colors at tournaments around the world, Sebok will also undertake a major consulting role with the company. Because of his abilities in the world of internet radio and podcasting, Sebok will accept a position as the site’s Media and Operations Consultant. In this capacity, Sebok will help bridge the gap between the Ultimate Bet brand and poker players. His in-depth knowledge of the online poker world will likely raise the bar and make Ultimate Bet the only place players will want to visit.

Sebok had previously gained the industry’s respect for his founding of PokerRoad.com, an online media outlet that provides poker fans with fresh, innovative, and often irreverent content from an insider’s perspective. Online poker fans around the world continue to look to Sebok and PokerRoad.com, where he serves as the company’s CEO, for a unique perspective on everything related to land-based and online poker.

“We are ecstatic to bring Joe onto Team UB,” said Paul Leggett, the COO of Tokwiro Enterprises. “He will not only serve as a pro player representing the brand, but more importantly will be instrumental in helping us create a poker site for and by poker players. His commitment to the brand was invaluable, as he worked closely with me to help begin to bring closure on the details surrounding the cheating investigation from last year. I’ll continue to work with him to ensure that we always do everything possible to satisfy the poker community’s concerns and will continue to work together to make Ultimate Bet the premier poker site. I couldn’t be happier to welcome Joe to the team today.”

“UB and I first started talking about a possible relationship almost four months ago and I made it very clear that I couldn’t commit until that point in time when the names associated with the scandal began to be released,” Sebok stated during the announcement. “Paul Leggett has been instrumental in this process and I now feel comfortable and excited about joining the team as we are heading in such a positive direction. While this process isn’t entirely complete, I consider this to be one of my new responsibilities moving forward and intend to continue working very closely with Paul to ensure it happens. I am very happy to be joining Ultimate Bet today and look forward to our future.”

While he has not captured a major title as of yet, Sebok is one of the best young poker players in the game today. Learning from a master of the game in his father Barry Greenstein, Sebok has earned over $1.85 million from live tournament poker over the last five years. He can count preliminary tournament victories at the 2006 Mirage Poker Showdown for $150,165, the 2006 Heavenly Hold’em Championship for $209,060, a 2006 Festa Al Logo Classic event for $267,295, and a 2007 L.A. Poker Classic event for over $96,000 as some of his most notable cashes. More recently, Sebok made a deep run at the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event, where he eventually finished in 56th place for $108,000. In joining fellow poker professionals Phil Hellmuth and Annie Duke as members of Team UB, Sebok will bring further credibility to Ultimate Bet’s championship lineup of poker talent.

Bodo Sbrzesny joins team Party Poker

Team Party Poker has added a new name to its ranks in the form of German online ace Bobo Sbrzesny. The 29-year-old’s best live showing was his performance on TV show The Poker Den where he put up an excellent showing against the likes of Roland de Wolfe and Barny Boatman.

Liv Boeree Joins Team UB

Liv Boeree, formerly an ambassador of Absolute Poker, has become a card-carrying member of Team Ultimate Bet (Team UB), officials of the Tokwiro-owned online poker rooms announced this week.

In a press release distributed by Ultimate Bet, Boeree noted that she was looking forward to joining “Celebrity Apprentice” runner-up Annie Duke and 11-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth, among others, on the Team UB roster: “It’s an honor to play with the two people who helped launch my poker career. Annie and Phil are two of my favorite players, so to sit on the same team as them is a bit of a surreal experience, but one I’m definitely proud of.” While on the show “UltimatePoker.com Showdown” in 2005, Boeree received poker coaching from Duke. The same press release explains, “It was [also] on UltimatePoker.com Showdown that Liv also earned the respect of 11-time WSOP bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth.”

Boeree has worked for various media outlets throughout her career, including Gutshot TV, the Daily Express, and Challenge TV. Her reporting career has led her to become successful on the felts of live poker tournaments around the world. In January, she finished seventh in an AUD $1,100 buy-in No Limit Hold’em tournament held during the Aussie Millions for AUD $19,000. In April, she caught fire at the World Poker Tour (WPT) Championship, winning a preliminary tournament, taking third in another, and finishing 37th in the $25,000 buy-in televised Main Event for over $80,000 total. In May of 2008, Boeree won the $2,000 buy-in Ladbrokes Poker European Ladies Championship for $42,000. The event drew 52 runners and culminated with Boeree besting Lenna Martyak heads-up.

In an August 8th blog on Ultimate Bet, Boeree noted that she had just returned from Sonisphere, a music festival near London. Among those who took to the stage was the band Anthrax, which features fellow Team UB member Scott Ian. On Anthrax’s set, Boeree recalled, “These guys are as hard and heavy as ever and it was a real treat to watch them play with their old singer, John Bush.”

Besides Ian and Boeree, other members of Team UB include Adam “Roothlus” Levy, who made a deep run in last year’s WSOP Main Event, ultimately finishing 48th for $135,000. He made the final table of the WPT Festa al Lago in October of 2008, banking $266,000 in a tournament won by Team PokerStars Pro member Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier. Online, Levy has been a stud. He finished as the runner-up in an event held during the quarterly Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS) in February for $387,000. One week later, he took third in the marquee PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up for another $53,000. He’s ranked 95th in the world according to PocketFives.com.

Brandon Cantu joined Team UB in June. That month, he won a $1,500 buy-in Pot Limit Omaha High-Low Split tournament for $228,000 during the 2009 WSOP, besting Lee Watkinson heads-up for his first bracelet. Nine events prior, Cantu was the runner-up to Ray Foley in a $1,500 buy-in No Limit Hold’em tournament, where he cashed for $403,000.

Fellow bracelet winner Matt “mattg1983” Graham also calls Team UB home. Graham won his second piece of hardware in 2009 by taking down the $10,000 buy-in World Championship of Pot Limit Omaha for a rousing $679,000. He’s defeated two of the game’s best in his bracelet wins, outlasting Vitaly Lunkin in the Pot Limit Omaha event and beating “Survivor: China” castaway and Bodog pro Jean-Robert Bellande in a $1,500 buy-in Limit Shootout last year.

Other members of Team UB include “Hollywood” Dave Stann, Michael Binger, Gary “Debo34” Debernardi, Mark “P0ker H0” Kroon, Shawn “westtexasman” Rice, and Tiffany Michelle, who will compete on the upcoming season of the CBS reality series “Amazing Race.”

Liv Boeree joins Team Ultimate Bet

Liv Boeree, astrophysics graduate, boxing champion, TV presenter, Poker in the Park lecturer and oh yes, a very fine poker player has penned a new sponsorship deal.

Boeree joins Team UB

An astrophysics grad from the University of Manchester, Boeree got her start on a UK based poker reality game show where she was schooled by Team UB stars Phil Hellmuth and Annie Duke.

She went on to become a brand ambassador for Absolute Poker and has now moved over to Team UB.

"It's an honor to play with the two people who helped launch my poker career," Boeree said.

"Annie and Phil are two of my favorite players so to sit on the same team as them is a bit of a surreal experience, but one I'm definitely proud of."

Boeree took down the Ladbrokes European Ladies Championship in May 2008, and recently made two side-event final tables at Bellagio in Las Vegas before finishing 37th in the 2009 WPT Championship.

She has also worked as a TV presenter, writer and interviewer on several poker broadcasts including UltimatePoker.com Showdown, Gutshot TV, Daily Express, Challenge TV, Gala ((UK Poker)) Tour, Sky Poker TV, Poker Verdict, Ladies' World Poker Open and the WSOPE.

Other members of Team UB include Adam "Roothlus" Levy, Brandon Cantu, Hollywood Dave Stann, Matt Graham, Michael Binger, Scott Ian and Tiffany Michelle.

In related news, Ultimate Bet is celebrating its 10th Anniversary by offering a $10 Million cash bonus to any player who qualifies online for the Aruba Poker Classic starting with a 10 cent Step 1 satellite and goes on to win the event.

The 8th annual Aruba Poker Classic is set for October 3-10 at the Radisson Aruba Resort, Casino & Spa, and Boeree is expected to play.

PokerListings also made Boeree one of the site's Best Bets at the 2009 ((WSOP)).

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Antoine Saout joins Team Everest Poker

Frenchman Antoine Saout will return to the final table of this year’s WSOP Main Event in Everest Poker colours after signing a deal with the online site. The 25-year-old from Saint Martin de Champs in Brittany qualified for the Main Event via Everest Poker and has cemented his relationship by becoming a member of Team Everest.

November Niner joins Team Everest

The 25 year-old Frenchman, who qualified for the 2009 WSOP Main Event on Everest Poker, will now be playing with an Everest patch at high-stakes tournaments all over the world.

From Saint Martin des Champs, Brittany, France, Saout dropped out of university after first year to play poker full time.

He will come into the final table of the 2009 WSOP Main Event on Nov. 7 sitting eighth in chips.

"France is where Everest Poker first launched and to have a French player on the final table who qualified with us is very exciting," said Everest Poker Director Sandrine Mangia-Park.

"He joins an increasingly well respected team of real poker players who all support each other in the biggest tournaments around the world."

Everest Poker claims it does not sponsor big-name professional players, choosing instead to invest in talented young players it can nurture within its own academies.

Saout joins Italy's Cristiano Blanco, Finn Voitto Rintala, Spain's Maria Maceiras, Steven van Zadelhoff of The Netherlands and Japan's Wooka Kim on the team.

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Jason Mercier joins Team PokerStars Pro

The 22-year-old Floridian has torn up the live tournament circuit since his victory last year at EPT4 San Remo, amassing $3.3 million in winnings in a little over a year.

Mercier picked up his first World Series of Poker bracelet earlier this summer and now continues his meteoric rise to success by joining forces with one of the biggest names in poker.

"It feels great," Mercier told PokerListings.com. "It feels like it's been a long time coming.

"Over the last fifteen months it's just like each thing I've done I've gotten one step closer. Winning the bracelet I guess was the last thing I needed to do."

As a Team Pro, Mercier will wear the PokerStars logo at many of the world's most prestigious tournaments, including European Poker Tour and WSOP events.

"I'm looking forward to going to Barcelona and London this year," Mercier said. "Before the deal I wasn't sure if I was going to go."

He'll also play online at PokerStars.com, where fans will be able to test their skills against the young hotshot.

"I have to play a certain amount of online hours whereas I wasn't playing online as much over the last six months," he said. "I'm going to have to get back to the online grind."

Mercier told PokerListings the partnership with PokerStars was a natural fit.

"I'm friends with a decent amount of the team pros already and I'm friends with a bunch of people who work for PokerStars, so I'm really looking forward to developing those friendships more as well as travelling and making new friends," he said.

The EPT London High-Roller champ also said he looks forward to the security he gains from the deal, but that he doesn't think it will change much at the tables.

"Maybe more people will know who I am, but as a player I don't think it changes anything about the way that I play or the respect that I get," he said.

PokerStars also announced it has signed Dutch pro Marcel Luske as another new member of Team PokerStars Pro.

You can join Mercier and Luske at PokerStars by signing up for an account via PokerListings.com. Do so here.

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Brandon Cantu joins Team UB

Since scoring that first bracelet, he's gone on to 14 top-10 finishes live or online, including a dominating performance at the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star Championship in March 2008 that booked him his first WPT title and a $1 million payday.

All that success has caught the attention of UltimateBet and its Cardroom Consultant Annie Duke, as the poker room announced on Tuesday that Cantu would be joining Duke and Phil Hellmuth as a member of Team UB.

"We're constantly on the lookout for poker players who have real integrity, unquestionable talent and an incredible passion for the game," Duke said in a release detailing the signing, "and we've found it all in Brandon Cantu."

Cantu will be representing UltimateBet at this year's World Series of Poker, and in particular in the high-profile Main Event. Last year, he finished in 20th place, securing $257,334 and making him a top prospect for this year's tournament.

Players at UltimateBet who want to take a shot at taking some of Cantu's chips when he's playing online can search for him under the username brandon_cantu.

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Brandon Cantu Joins Team UB

Ultimate Bet, one-half of the CEREUS Network, has signed World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner Brandon Cantu to become the newest member of Team UB. He can be found playing under the screen name “brandon_cantu” on the USA-friendly site.

Cantu burst onto the live poker scene by winning a $1,500 buy-in No Limit Hold’em tournament during the 2006 WSOP for $757,000. He stormed through the 2,776 player field and a final table that also included Carlos Mortensen. He finished 20th in the 2008 WSOP Main Event for $257,000 and has a total of eight in the money finishes in the Las Vegas tournament series. Cantu is also a World Poker Tour (WPT) event winner, having taken down the Season VI Bay 101 Shooting Star tournament for $1 million. In that event, Cantu defeated WSOP Stimulus Special winner Steve Sung heads-up and squeaked by John “The Razor” Phan and Jennifer Harman at the final table. He’s one of only a handful of players to have won WSOP and WPT events.

Ultimate Bet Card Room Consultant and “Celebrity Apprentice” runner-up Annie Duke commented in a press release, “This is an exhilarating time for Team UB. We’re constantly on the lookout for poker players who have real integrity, unquestionable talent, and an incredible passion for the game and we’ve found it all in Brandon Cantu.” Cantu’s poker resume also includes a victory in a $300 buy-in tournament held as part of the 2006 Ultimate Poker Challenge for $9,000 and a runner-up showing in the Scotty Nguyen Poker Classic $1,000 buy-in No Limit Hold’em event in 2007.

Cantu will be donning Ultimate Bet gear in this year’s tournament series, including the Main Event, which kicks off on July 3rd with the first of four starting days. In a trend that began last year, the 2009 WSOP Main Event’s final table will once again be pushed back until November in order to coincide with television coverage on ESPN. Among those in the field also sporting Ultimate Bet gear will be Duke and Phil Hellmuth. The former finished as the runner-up to comedian Joan Rivers in the finale of NBC’s second season of “Celebrity Apprentice.” The reality show helped raise $730,000 for Refugees International, Duke’s chosen charity. Hellmuth is an 11-time WSOP bracelet winner, the most all-time.

Team UB also includes online poker aficionado Adam “Roothlus” Levy, blackjack expert “Hollywood” Dave Stann, Gary “Debo34″ DeBernardi, Mark “P0ker H0” Kroon, Anthrax’s Scott Ian, Tracy “Fatcats” Scala, and Tiffany Michelle. The latter was the last woman standing in the 2008 WSOP Main Event, where she earned $334,000 for her 17th place showing. Scala won the first season of Ultimate Bet’s “Best Damn Poker Show,” which airs on Fox Sports Net and recently completed its second season. Patrick Karst won the series’ newest installment.

Ultimate Bet is fiercely qualifying its members to head to the 2009 WSOP Main Event. To date, it has stamped the entry forms of 113 players to the $10,000 buy-in tournament. A 50 Package Guaranteed event will take place this Sunday, June 21st, at 5:30pm ET. The tournament boasts a $530 buy-in and a bevy of satellites are available.

Players who qualify through Ultimate Bet and win the WSOP Main Event by wearing the site’s gear at the final table will qualify for an extra $10 million prize. Online qualifiers will also receive 15% off their stay at the MGM Grand and free shuttle service to and from the Rio; as well as be included in the exclusive guest list for the Ultimate Bet party at Studio 54 on Monday, June 29th. Finally, players will receive access to the Phil Hellmuth Suite at the Rio to unwind during breaks during the Main Event.

Ocean’s Eleven stars joins team Full Tilt

Actor Don Cheadle has joined team Full Tilt Poker. He can be seen in celebrated movies like Oceans Eleven, Hotel Rwanda and Crash, but from now on he can also be seen on Full Tilt wearing the red colors, as a “Friend of Full Tilt”

Aside from being an actor, he is also active as an activist gathering money for charity funds. Although he has not yet made a big tournament cash, he is not an unknown in the poker world. He played in the Celebrity Poker Shoot-out and in the NBC National Heads-up championship 2007, where he became instantaneously famous after beating Phil Ivey in the first round, leaving his mark on the world of poker. His success in the tournament did not last for long, since Scott Fischman beat him in the second round.

The two subsequent years he also entered into the NBC HU championship, being beaten by Gus Hansen in the first round in 2008 and being beaten by Paul Wasicka in the second round in 2009, after first winning against David Pham. “I’ve done alright in the televised tourneys I’ve participated in, and I’ve won several tournaments around town,” says Cheadle. “I have yet to play in the WSOP events, but I hope my schedule will permit me to do so in the future.”

As a member of Full Tilt, he now joins the ranks among other celebrity poker players such as UFC fighter Matt Hughes and author Michael Craig.

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Ocean’s Eleven stars joins team Full Tilt

Andrew Feldman Joins Team FullTilt

Andrew Feldman, a 21 year old paperboy from Watford has just signed a contract to join Team FullTilt Poker. Feldman have won over $4 million playing online poker at Full Tilt Poker.

About two weeks ago the British newspaper “The Sun” ran an article about Andrew Feldman who used to work as a paperboy in Watford but quit his job to pursue his carrier as a professional poker player. During the last 3 years he has gone from sitting at his parents house playing $1 Sit and Go’s to buying a flat worth $500.000 and a brand new sports car.

On top of all this he has now become a member of the ever growing Team FullTilt where he will team up with the likes of Phil Ivey, Howard Lederer, Phil Gordon and many others. With these other pro’s he will travel the world and play in the biggest poker tournaments wearing FullTilt Poker clothing.

Brazilian Poker Queen Joins Team PokerStars

The most successful Latin American woman is awarded with a prestigious contract with the world’s biggest online poker room, PokerStars.com. Maria Mayrink is going to become a full time poker professional and will form a part of the Team Pokerstars.

Her face is well known on the international poker scene and she was recently on the cover of CardPlayer in Brazil where she was also interviewed and told the story of how she got started playing poker. Maria is very ambitious and popular, her blog gets over 200.000 visitors every month. During the 2008 WSOP she became the second most successful Brazilian player. In the world of online poker she is more known under her poker alias and nickname which is “Maridu”.

In an interview Maria said, “I really feel that joining Team PokerStars will improve my chances of making it in the poker world. Since poker is my true passion it is very important that I take this opportunity to evolve as a poker player. This contract with PokerStars.com gives me a chance to prove to the entire world that I am a good poker player and that I can make it on the tour and I hope that I will get the chance to play the major poker tournaments in Europe”.

Maria is not only a poker player but also a producer at a large TV Network in South America but recently she signed a contract with the leading poker agency Poker Icons who played a big role when it came to getting a good deal when joining Team PokerStars.

Maria is spending all of her spare time playing poker and you would think that this might cause some problems in the household but since her boyfriend is also a poker professional (Jon “Apestyles” Fleet) this is not causing any problems at all.

We are looking forward to seeing Maria Mayrinck in all the big poker tournaments the coming years and we wish her the best of luck.

If you are looking to challange Maria for a game of poker we advice you to use the PokerStars marketing code PAWSUB465 when you create your account for a nice $50 free bonus.