Poker News

Sydney PartyPoker Qualifier Wins Aussie Millions

23-year-old Tyron Krost won a $640 online satellite to get into the main event at the Crown Casino and walked away AUD$2 million richer after besting a field of 746 this week.

"It feels like a dream and I don't want to wake up," he said moments after the win. "$2 million, it's amazing."

After a fairly lengthy feeling-out process, fellow Aussie Steven Shelley was the first player to get his walking papers from the final eight Saturday, running sevens into Krost's jacks.

But it wasn't long before he was joined on the rail by online superstar and 2007 World Series of Poker Europe champ Annette Obrestad.

The Betfair pro got into a flip for her stack with ace-jack against the PartyPoker qualifier's sevens and would have liked the straight draw she picked up on the flop if that same flop didn't give Krost a set.

The turn and river bricked out and Obrestad was sent back to Norway seventh.

Strangely, pocket sevens were involved in the next elimination as well, with Reno, Nevada's Steve Friedlander running them into Aussie Kostas Varoxis' big slick.

A king on the flop and another on the turn did the lone American at the final table in and play went five handed.

It stayed five-handed for quite a while until Canadian Peter Jetten appeared to implode, shipping it in with K♦ 5♦ against Krost's tens on a move and failing to improve.

Once the massive chip leader, Sorel Mizzi's downfall began soon after when he doubled up Frederik Jensen and before the Betfair Poker pro knew what had hit him, Krost had suddenly moved into the lead.

A few desperations shoves from Varoxis were next on the agenda, and although the first couple worked, his luck eventually ran out when he couldn't beat Jensen's deuces with A♥ 6♣.

Mizzi's downfall ended three-handed when he ran pocket sevens into Krost's ace-king and could not hold, leaving the two PartyPoker qualifiers to battle it out heads up.

Krost began heads up with better than 2:1 chip lead over Jensen and the Aussie began applying pressure on the Dane right from the outset, pounding him into submission before getting him all in dominated to book the win.

A humble Krost seemed to have the all big hands when he needed them throughout the final, beating some of the best young players in the game while following up Stewart Scott's 2009 win to become only the second Aussie to keep the title on home soil in Aussie Millions history.

"I just ran really well and got really lucky," he said. "I had a lot of big hands."

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Sydney PartyPoker Qualifier Wins Aussie Millions

23-year-old Tyron Krost won a $640 online satellite to get into the main event at the Crown Casino and walked away AUD$2 million richer after besting a field of 746 this week.

"It feels like a dream and I don't want to wake up," he said moments after the win. "$2 million, it's amazing."

After a fairly lengthy feeling-out process, fellow Aussie Steven Shelley was the first player to get his walking papers from the final eight Saturday, running sevens into Krost's jacks.

But it wasn't long before he was joined on the rail by online superstar and 2007 World Series of Poker Europe champ Annette Obrestad.

The Betfair pro got into a flip for her stack with ace-jack against the PartyPoker qualifier's sevens and would have liked the straight draw she picked up on the flop if that same flop didn't give Krost a set.

The turn and river bricked out and Obrestad was sent back to Norway seventh.

Strangely, pocket sevens were involved in the next elimination as well, with Reno, Nevada's Steve Friedlander running them into Aussie Kostas Varoxis' big slick.

A king on the flop and another on the turn did the lone American at the final table in and play went five handed.

It stayed five-handed for quite a while until Canadian Peter Jetten appeared to implode, shipping it in with K♦ 5♦ against Krost's tens on a move and failing to improve.

Once the massive chip leader, Sorel Mizzi's downfall began soon after when he doubled up Frederik Jensen and before the Betfair Poker pro knew what had hit him, Krost had suddenly moved into the lead.

A few desperations shoves from Varoxis were next on the agenda, and although the first couple worked, his luck eventually ran out when he couldn't beat Jensen's deuces with A♥ 6♣.

Mizzi's downfall ended three-handed when he ran pocket sevens into Krost's ace-king and could not hold, leaving the two PartyPoker qualifiers to battle it out heads up.

Krost began heads up with better than 2:1 chip lead over Jensen and the Aussie began applying pressure on the Dane right from the outset, pounding him into submission before getting him all in dominated to book the win.

A humble Krost seemed to have the all big hands when he needed them throughout the final, beating some of the best young players in the game while following up Stewart Scott's 2009 win to become only the second Aussie to keep the title on home soil in Aussie Millions history.

"I just ran really well and got really lucky," he said. "I had a lot of big hands."

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PokerStars Announces 2010 Nordic Poker Awards

The Nordic Poker Awards, previously the Scandinavian Poker Awards, will celebrate the best players from Finland, Norway, Denmark and Sweden on Feb. 15 – the day before EPT Copenhagen begins.

This year there are 30 nominees from across the four Nordic countries.

Some of the notable players to be nominated include Peter Eastgate, Patrik Antonius, Ville Wahlbeck, Dag Martin Mikkelsen, Ilari Sahamies, Jens Kyllonen and Erik Sagstrom.

The categories for 2010 include Best Live Tournament Player, Best Performance, Best Online Player and Rookie of the Year.

Award winners will be chosen by a public vote.

All EPT players are invited to the awards ceremony, which will be held at Park Café in Copenhagen at 8 p.m.

Check the PokerStars website for the complete list of nominees.

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Everest Poker Announces Live the Dream Team

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Everest’s Live The Dream Winners Announced

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Online Rounders Dominate PCA Final

The chip leader going in will be the same man who led the final 24, Ryan “g0lfa” D’Angelo.

An online pro for the past six years, D’Angelo has two PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker titles on his resume, but his live experience also includes a third-place finish at a World Series of Poker $2k event in 2008.

Considering the more than 750 online qualifiers at the event and the wealth of online players in the field, D’Angelo said the 2010 PCA has played a lot more like an online MTT than your typical live tournament.

“In a lot of other tournaments you can’t get away with raise sizes like you would online,” he said. “Here it plays pretty much like an online tournament. A lot of three-betting and cold four-betting. I really haven’t taken part in that though. I guess I’m not as crazy as some of these younger Internet kids here who just spit fire and get in there with nothing.”

Thanks to the flopped queen he used to crack EPT Founder John Duthie’s aces and rake a ten-million-chip pot, another online pro will come into Monday’s final eight second in chips.

Morton, Illinois’ Ty Reiman has almost $1 million in online earnings and actually won the first live tournament he ever played at the Heartland Poker Tour’s Turning Stone $1k in 2007.

Like D’Angelo, he feels the PCA has played much like an online tournament so far.

“I really don’t feel like it’s that different from any other online tournament,” he said. “Maybe it’s just because that queen hasn’t really set in yet.”

Fellow U.S. online regulars Tom Koral, Harrison Gimbel, Benjamin Zamani and Zachary Goldberg join PokerStars qualifier Aage Floenes Ravn from Norway in rounding out the final eight.

But it’s 2009 WSOPE champ and CardPlayer publisher Barry Shulman who will come into the final table third in chips and on the hottest streak of his poker career.

The suddenly resurgent Shulman won a WSOP bracelet in 2001 before most of these players had even heard of poker.

Now, despite being the least experienced player when it comes to the online style, he appears to have adapted.

“Historically I play better against better players,” he explained. “(The WSOPE) was the toughest field I’ve ever played with. It was impossible to find people just dumping off chips. Here is a whole different story, because it’s such an aggressive situation.

“My own play was actually the same, but this was different because they just play so differently. There is so much action versus what I saw in London.”

The action could slow down when the final table begins, however, as the online players adapt a strategy similar to playing Sit & Go’s.

“I tend to play final tables like a Sit & Go,” said D’Angelo. “I just like to see what everyone is doing, try and feel everybody out and play a solid game. Once the blinds get higher that’s when we start moving chips.”

“The table is really good,” added Reiman. “There are a lot of online players who I’ve played with. I’m just going to try and play my game, not get into too many big pots and let the smaller stacks dwindle out. Then, once we’re four-handed or five handed, we go to battle.”

To follow all the action and see who takes down the 2010 PCA and its $2.2 million first-place prize, tune in to PokerListings’ Live Updates beginning at 12 p.m ET Monday.

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Kevin Saul, Amnon Filippi Among PCA Day 1A Leaders

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

PokerStars Launches Online Team

The company spent two months examining over 2,000 applications to decide who would be featured on the team – which is an offshoot of Team PokerStars Pro.

The online team consists of players from 18 different countries, 20 of whom are men and three are women.

PokerStars picked the team from a unique cross-section of stakes and games meaning players might see a few more PokerStars pros in the lower-stakes games.

Although the majority of the picked players are relatively unknown, avid poker fans might recognize Thomas “Boku87” Boekhoff, who has been doing a $5 to $100,000 challenge on the PokerStars blog.

Meanwhile Steve “stevesbets” Jacobs is celebrated in online circles for beating ElkY at the 2008 WCOOP $25,000 Heads-Up Championship for $560,000.

Finally Anders “Donald” Berg has served on Norway’s World Cup of Poker Team at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in the Bahamas.

PokerStars isn’t finished yet as the company announced it would be adding more players to online team throughout 2010.

Below is the complete list of all 23 players that will serve as founding members of Team PokerStars Online.

 

Real Name:	Screen Name:
Andres Alisievicz	lobojiji
Jorge Arias	JorgeArias
Boumaaza Bachir	Chiren80
Anders Berg	Donald
Alvaro Blanco	VARICO
Thomas Boekhoff	Boku87
Diego Brunelli	vgreen22
Andre Coimbra	acoimbra
Mathew Didlick	chipstar1
Ta-Chih Geeng	socutuiesf
Andrew Goetsch	Kid Nebraska
Martha Gonzalez	marene
Keiran Harris	K_Man2307
Steve Jacobs	stevesbets
Randy Lew	nanonoko
Karlo Lopez	elmagopr
Alexey Makarov	LuckyGump
Kristian Martin	CharismaA3
Grzegorz Mikielwicz	DaWarsaw
Nichoel Peppe	NicP
Grayson Physioc	spacegravy
Sebastien Sabic	Seb86
Amanda Thomas	ROXY24

 

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Team PokerStars Online Announced

After 2,000 online poker players sent in applications to become members of Team PokerStars Online, the group’s 23 inaugural players were announced on Wednesday, just in time for the holidays.

Eighteen countries are represented among the 23 founding members of Team PokerStars Online. Those on the list include Steve Jacobs, known in online poker circles simply as “stevesbets.” The poker player is perhaps best known for winning the 2008 PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) $25,000 buy-in Heads-Up event for a staggering $560,000. Also in the mix is Thomas “Boku87” Boekhoff, who was involved in a challenge of his own on the world’s largest online poker site to turn a $5 bankroll into $100,000. Boekhoff is one of the world’s premier grinders, but he’s also had success in the brick-and-mortar poker scene, including a 14th place at the European Poker Tour’s (EPT) Monte Carlo Grand Final in 2008.

Grayson “spacegravy” Physioc is another member of Team PokerStars Online. He’s a former winner of the site’s high-stakes $200 rebuy and recently finished as the runner-up in the PokerStars $10,000 Guaranteed for $11,000. Many will remember Nichoel Peppe from her deep run in the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event, where she took 75th place for $69,000. Known in the online world as “NicP,” the favorite of ESPN’s Main Event coverage now takes per place among the team of PokerStars-backed online poker pros.

Anders “Donald” Berg finished 37th in the 2008 EPT Monte Carlo Grand Final and took down an event held as part of the Irish Winter Festival of Poker in 2005. In November, he won the PokerStars $100 rebuy for $26,000 and, one month prior, took down the site’s $50,000 Guaranteed for $15,000. Berg hails from Norway and is a veteran of the poker industry. You can find him roving the virtual felts of PokerStars as an online team member.

To say that Team PokerStars Online constitutes an eclectic group would be an understatement. Here are its inaugural members, listed alphabetically: Andres Alisievicz (lobojiji), Jorge Arias (JorgeArias), Boumaaza Bachir (Chiren80), Anders Berg (Donald), Alvaro Blanco (VARICO), Thomas Boekhoff (Boku87), Diego Brunelli (vgreen22), Andre Coimbra (acoimbra), Mathew Didlick (chipstar1), Ta-Chih Geeng (socutiesf), Andrew Goetsch (Kid Nebraska), Martha Gonzalez (marene), Keiran Harris (K_Man2307), Steve Jacobs (stevesbets), Randy Lew (nanonoko), Karlo Lopez (elmagopr), Alexey Makarov (LuckyGump), Kristian Martin (CharismA3), Grzegorz Mikielewicz (DaWarsaw), Nichoel Peppe (NicP), Grayson Physioc (spacegravy), Sebastien Sabic (Seb86), and Amanda Thomas (ROXY24).

A press release distributed by PokerStars on Wednesday reveals that Team PokerStars Online will receive new members in 2010. In addition, modifications to the software client’s lobby will allow easier location of PokerStars-sponsored pros when they hop online. A range of games and stakes are represented in the Team PokerStars Online roster.

This weekend, just two days after Christmas, PokerStars is hosting a Guinness World Record attempt for the largest online poker tournament in history. The standing mark is 65,000, set by PokerStars in July, and the site has upped the ante this time around. The record-setting $1 buy-in tournament will kick off at 14:45 ET on Sunday and feature $300,000 in the prize pool. The event will take on a turbo format and first place may see as much as $50,000 come their way for their $1 investment.

PokerStars is the world’s largest online poker site, with a seven-day running average of 28,400 real money ring game players, according to PokerScout.com. During its peak hours, which occur in the evening throughout North America, nearly 50,000 cash game players call the site home. PokerStars happily accepts real money wagers from the United States and is based in the Isle of Man.

Malta Police Investigate Eurolinx and BetOnBet Closures

The ongoing Eurolinx and BetOnBet sagas continues, as the investigation of the now-defunct online poker rooms has left the jurisdiction of Malta’s Lotteries and Gaming Authority (LGA) and is now in the hands of the Malta Police Department.

The LGA first became involved in the case following the sudden announcement that former Microgaming sites BetOnBet, Eurolinx, and Linx Casino were shutting their doors in the wake of the liquidation of the parent company, Linx Media Company. Shortly after Linx Media announced its intentions to liquidate, the Microgaming Network terminated its relationship with the company and instructed customers with money on the site to contact “the relevant liquidator” once that information became available.

In the wake of this announcement, a number of forum threads on the popular poker forum TwoPlusTwo cropped up discussing the avenues of recourse available to the players affected by the sudden shutdown. As Poker News Daily reported previously, the tone of these threads were pessimistic regarding the chances that players would be able to recoup their losses. One suggested course of action was to sue former Eurolinx manager and owner Jo Remme of Norway, but one poster, “ditou26,” warned that a private investigator told them that Remme was broke and would be financially incapable of reimbursing players even if successfully prosecuted.

There is still a chance that those behind the Eurolinx debacle will be caught and punished. Government officials in Malta are currently investigating the company, which was based in the small European Republic. The LGA posted an update on the pending investigation on its official website, informing interested parties that “the company Eurolinks Ltd is not and has never been a licensed operator with the LGA. The LGA also notifies that the sportsbooks of Alpine Malta Ltd (BetonBet and Eurolinx) are not and never were licensed by the LGA.” While those entities were not properly licensed, Alpine Malta Ltd possessed Class 1/4 and Class 3/4 licenses for BetOnBet, but the LGA posted reports that those licenses have since been suspended.

As part of the LGA investigation, it accepted complaints via e-mail from those whose money on BetOnBet was never returned. More information about how to contact the LGA to file a complaint can be found on its official website. However, when Poker News Daily sought an update on the investigation, sources said the investigation is no longer an LGA-run matter and has instead been passed on to the Malta police.

The source informed Poker News Daily that the LGA’s portion of the investigation has come to a close and it is waiting to hear the results of the police department’s inquiry before proceeding any further in the matter. The source also stated that the results of the police investigation will be made public and those who have inquired about the case will be filled in on the situation as soon as possible.

No details about either the LGA or police investigations were available at this time, but it appears that the Maltese government does not intend to drop the issue any time soon. Poker News Daily will continue to keep tabs on the investigation as it develops.

Eurolinx Poker Liquidation Update

This year, we’ve seen two major stories break on Poker News Daily involving small poker sites shutting down and player funds disappearing in the midst of scandals involving shady ownership groups.  Pitbull Poker was shut down amid dwindling player numbers and a superuser scandal, with many players out tens of thousands of dollars.  Perhaps the bigger story was the surprising shutdown and liquidation of Eurolinx Poker.

On September 17th, Poker News Daily interviewed sponsored pro and official affiliate Marc Karam.  His affiliation with Eurolinx went back to 2006 and he not only was a sponsored pro, but he also referred hundreds of players to the poker site.  Karam was made a lot of promises by Eurolinx manager and owner Jo Remme.  In mid-2008, Remme asked Karam to borrow $200,000 and in return, Eurolinx was supposed to cover all expenses related to launching a new poker skin just for Karam.  In the end, Karam lost hundreds of thousands of dollars and stated that he’s trying to put the situation behind him and get a fresh start in the world of poker.

On the TwoPlusTwo forums, there are two main threads dedicated to the Eurolinx scandal. The first was started by Karam, who recapped his Eurolinx story.  In September, several players made posts in this thread to the effect that they wanted to pool their resources together to help in the recovery of their funds.  This particular thread died in the end of September with most transitioning to the one entitled “Eurolinx w/d problems > UPDATE: Eurolinx seeks to put business into liquidation.”

This new thread, posted around the same time the previous one died, is where a lot of the actual discussion about bringing up charges against Remme in his native Norway takes place.  In the middle of September, a post was made allegedly posting a comment from MicroGaming itself.  The statement read that they were shocked and saddened that “this has happened to one of our licensees” and they were awaiting further information.

On September 23rd, a post was made by “ditou26” that came from a private investigator from Norway.  The message from the investigator said that it would cost someone €2,000 to hire him to find Remme and make a claim on the client’s behalf.  The investigator did warn that Remme has no more assets and is broke, in which case there would be nothing to take back from him.

On October 5th, an interesting post was made by “jdredd,” who claimed to be ‘Negativity’ on Eurolinx and had over $75,000 on the site.  On behalf of himself and an associate, they hired a lawyer in Malta, but moved the investigation to Curacao.  They moved an order of liquidation from the court, which was never responded to by Eurolinx.  Eventually, they moved the court so that they had to be paid if Eurolinx wished to keep its license.  Only a few days later, Microgaming wound up shutting them down.  For all of his international legal efforts, jdredd and his associate were out over $125,000.

In the most recent weeks on the same thread at TwoPlusTwo, it seems the steam has been taken out of this case and the cold reality of the situation has set in.  If a high-stakes player like jdredd, who searched all avenues and used his legal expertise couldn’t get a dime, chances are nobody else would either.  For the most part, it seems that nothing has changed with the Eurolinx scandal.

It goes without saying that the two major shutdown stories of 2009 involving Eurolinx and Pitbull Poker are tales of warning to internet poker players.  All players really have to assure them that their funds are safe are the historical reputations of the poker sites.  For now though, the players that are out funds on Eurolinx continue to search for any way to recover just a fraction of their lost funds.

Poker News in Brief: Oct. 19-25, 2009

As usual, there were several stories that didn't quite make the front page of PokerListings.com and as part of our ongoing Poker News in Brief feature, we've posted them below.

This week, Kentucky's attempt to seize 141 online gaming domain names went to the State's Supreme Court, Full Tilt took Kentucky to court in the UK, Zynga's popular Facebook poker found a competitor and the Scandinavian poker world continued to square off on Titan Poker.

Supreme Court hears online gaming domain name seizure appeal

Kentucky's Supreme Court heard arguments this week in the State's appeal of a decision by the Kentucky Court of Appeals blocking the seizure of 141 domain names belonging to online gambling sites.

In a 2-to-1 decision, the Appeals Court rejected Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear's claim that Kentucky players and the Internet gambling sites were acting in violation of state law. The decision held that a lower court had wrongly applied the state's "gambling devices" statute to justify the seizure of the domain names.

Interactive Media Entertainment & Gaming Association attorney Jon L. Fleischaker, along with attorneys representing Sportsbook.com and the Interactive Gaming Council, asked the Supreme Court to uphold the decision, calling Gov. Beshear's efforts "intellectually dishonest."

"They made up a process that is totally lacking in due process," Fleischaker said.

A decision is not expected before the end of the year.

The Scandinavian Titan Championship

Titan Poker continues to gear up for the 2009 Scandinavian Titan Championship final set for December.

The Championship is a league that runs exclusively for Titan Poker players from Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland and Iceland including weekly battles leading up to the finals in December.

The winner of each weekly tournament receives a seat in the Dec. 20 final featuring a $2,500 guaranteed prize.

Twelve players have already qualified for the final and Sweden leads the overall standings.

For more information check out Titan's Scandinavian Titan Championship page.

((Full Tilt Poker)) defeats Kentucky in UK court

In a case directly related to the Kentucky Supreme Court online gaming domain name seizure appeal, Full Tilt poker has defeated the State of Kentucky.

Despite the Kentucky Court of Appeals decision blocking the seizure of 141 domain names belonging to online gambling sites, Full Tilt took Kentucky to court in the United Kingdom, claiming the State did not have the jurisdiction to block its domain.

This week, the UK High Court issued a judgment in favor of the site, claiming Kentucky cannot enforce its seizure order against the Full Tilt Poker domain names throughout the UK.

Play poker for prizes on Facebook

Zynga's Texas Hold'em Facebook application, one of the most popular games on the social networking site with more than 15 million monthly users, now has a little competition.

Poker 4 Prizes is a brand new Facebook poker application with a twist.

Instead of players competing merely for points, Poker 4 Prizes players can exchange the points for real prizes, ranging from Apple IPods to GPS systems and even an all-expenses paid cruise.

The application is also running a number of promotions including giving away a flash drive to players who submit screenshots of certain poker hands and IPod Shuffles to anyone spotted playing 3 days in a row.

For more information check out the Facebook application page.

Visit PokerListings.com

Aaron Gustavson Defeats Peter Eastgate in EPT London

As the great wrestler Ric Flair said, “To be the man, you gotta beat the man!” In this week’s finale of the European Poker Tour’s (EPT) London stop, Aaron Gustavson did just that, besting reigning World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event Champion Peter Eastgate heads-up.

Gustavson, an American who qualified for the event through the popular online poker room PokerStars, took home £850,000 for his efforts. All was not lost for Eastgate, however, as the Dane and member of Team PokerStars Pro earned a £530,000 consolation prize. The two emerged as the survivors of the largest poker tournament ever held in the United Kingdom, weighing in at 730 runners. Gustavson was one of 149 players, or 20% of the field, who qualified online through PokerStars.

In a press release distributed by EPT officials following Gustavson’s monumental win, the champion noted, “I’m speechless, totally overwhelmed. I don’t think it’s going to hit me for a quite a while. Having this title is amazing – a dream come true.” Gustavson’s battle against Eastgate was anything but prolonged, as the defeat took all of seven hands and 15 minutes to deliver. In the final hand, Gustavson’s A-Q held up against Eatsgate’s A-9 when the board ran out 3-5-6-K-J. Eastgate commented, “It’s been an amazing ride. I made it to second place, which is far more than you hope for going into a final table. Big applause for Aaron – he deserved it. I’m pleased I made it to heads-up.”

Nikolai Senninger hit the skids in third place after calling all-in for his tournament life against Gustavson on a board of 3-7-Q-9 with two hearts. Senniger showed pocket eights, while Gustavson flipped up Q-10 for top pair. The river came a 10, improving Gustavson to two pair and eliminating Senniger in third place, £285,000 richer for his wear. Taking fourth was Martin Gudvangen, who fell by the wayside with A-3 against Senniger’s A-Q. The best hand held and Gudvangen walked away from the EPT London Main Event with £227,000 in tow.

Dominic Cullen was sent packing in fifth place, earning £173,000. Cullen pushed pre-flop holding A-10, but ran into Gustavson’s pocket eights. The two were off to the races, with an eight spiking the flop to propel Gustavson to the win in the hand. Cullen edged out Rui Milhomens, who took sixth place for £124,000. Milhomens found himself all-in holding pocket eights against Eastgate’s A-10. This time, a 10 hit the river to send the player with the wired pair to the rails.

Gustavson sent Raymond Wu into the London night in seventh place for £87,000, a healthy return on his £5,000 buy-in. A short-stacked Wu pushed with Q-10, but Gustavson made the call from the big blind for a discount with K-6. The flop came king-high, keeping Gustavson in the lead in the hand for good. Karim Benanni finished in eighth place after running K-3 into Milhomens’ K-10.

The final table was played eight-handed and appeared live on PokerStars.tv from the Hilton Metropole. Here were the final results from the 2009 EPT London Main Event:

1. Aaron Gustavson (United States) - 850,000
2. Peter Eastgate (Denmark) - 530,000
3. Nikolai Senninger (Germany) - 285,000
4. Martin Gudvangen (Norway) - 227,000
5. Dominic Cullen (United Kingdom) - 173,000
6. Rui Milhomens (Portugal) - 124,000
7. Raymond Wu (Taipei) - 87,000
8. Karim Bennani Smires (France/Morocco) - 50,100

Next up for the EPT is Warsaw. The event takes place from October 20th to 25th at Casinos Poland and boasts a 25,000 PLN buy-in, the equivalent of $8,700 at current exchange rates. Last year, Portuguese poker player Joao Barbosa celebrated his 26th birthday in style by winning the EPT Warsaw event.

World Champ Eastgate headlines EPT London final

In fact, the reigning world champion told PokerListings he was actually more nervous playing for a spot in the final eight at PokerStars EPT London Tuesday than this past November when he sat down with the 2008 World Series of Poker Main Event title at stake.

"It sounds strange, but I actually kind of felt more nervous at this table than at the Main Event," said Eastgate, who eventually booked his seat in the London final and will come into Wednesday's playdown to a champion sitting second in chips.

"I've lost quite a bit since I won the World Series and I think that's the reason why. I think the losses have had an effect on my demeanor and my confidence."

Poker's world title appears to bring more than fame and fortune. It often invites criticism and Eastgate has had more than his share of people questioning his game over the past year.

But ultimately he plays to win, not to silence his critics.

"I don't feel like I need to prove anything," he said. "But should I win this, that would certainly solidify my victory at the World Series and quiet all the doubters.

"It's not something I think about, though. I don't take that much prestige in what others think of my poker talents. I love the game, I'm very passionate about the game, and I'm not necessarily giving that much thought to other people's respect."

Born and raised in Odense, Denmark, Eastgate moved to London after winning the Main Event and said he has particularly enjoyed playing at home this week.

"That's one of the things I don't like about playing poker tournaments all around the world," the Team PokerStars Pro said. "Staying in hotel rooms, you can't get decent food or sleep all the time.

"At home you can get a decent, healthy meal and sleep in your own bed."

When he awakes tomorrow after a night in his own bed and heads into the final with a legitimate shot at EPT London's £850,000 first-place prize, Eastgate plans on feeling awake, refreshed and as confident as he can be.

"I am feeling confident, but the players I'll be up against tomorrow, they are all very fierce and competent players," he said. "It's going to be very tough. The average player nowadays is so much better than even a year ago."

23-year-old Las Vegas pro Aaron Gustavson will come into the final with a massive chip lead holding twice as many chips as Eastgate and the almost-equally stacked Martin Gudvangen from Bergen, Norway.

The middle of the pack includes 19-year-old German Nikolai Senninger, Nottingham's Dominic Cullen and PokerStars Team Asia pro Raymond Wu.

Portugal's Rui Milhomens and Morocco's Karim Bennani are the shortest stacks.

For all the action from Wednesday's final at PokerStars EPT London, including chip counts, photos and live updates, click through to PokerListings' Live Tournaments page beginning at 12 p.m. BST.

Visit PokerListings.com

Barry Shulman Wins WSOP Europe Main Event

After over 16 hours, CardPlayer CEO Barry Shulman defeated Team PokerStars Pro member and crowd favorite Daniel Negreanu to win the Main Event of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Europe. Shulman earned £801,603.

The win marked Shulman’s second WSOP bracelet. The first came in 2001, when the media mogul won a $1,500 buy-in Limit Seven Card Stud High-Low event for $123,000. The London Main Event marked his eighth WSOP final table and 14th in the money finish. His win gave the United States its second WSOP Europe bracelet; both have come by virtue of taking down the Main Event, as John Juanda emerged victorious from the pack in 2008. Other countries that have grabbed WSOP Europe bracelets include Denmark (2), Finland (1), Afghanistan (1), Germany (1), England (1), Canada (1), Italy (1), and Norway (1).

The £10,000 buy-in feature tournament was nearly decided one hour into heads-up play. Negreanu held a 5:3 chip lead and his adversary called all-in after flopping a flush draw with A-5 of hearts. Negreanu turned over pocket aces on the Kd-8h-6h board, but watched as the turn filled Shulman’s flush. The hand propelled the CardPlayer CEO to a 3:1 chip edge.

Later on, Negreanu peeked down at Q-J and Shulman, this time, was dealt aces. The flop came jack-high and Negreanu led out. Shulman pushed all-in over the top and Negreanu tanked, before finally calling once again with a chance to win the tournament. The turn came another jack, giving Negreanu one card to victory in London and his fifth WSOP bracelet. However, Shulman spiked one of two remaining aces on the river to take down the hand with aces full of jacks. In the final hand in London, Negreanu ran his pocket fours into Shulman’s pocket tens. A ten hit the flop and running fours failed to hit, giving Shulman the WSOP Europe Main Event title.

In an interview with WSOP officials, Negreanu discussed playing with Shulman heads-up: “Playing against Barry is dangerous. There is no pressure on him. That makes him very difficult to play against because I can’t be sure where I am at. I’ve played a lot of hours with Barry and think I have him somewhat figured out. But he’s got at least one advantage against me, which is having no pressure.” Shulman’s son, CardPlayer Editor Jeff Shulman, is a member of the WSOP November Nine and will hold the third largest chip stack when play resumes in Las Vegas.

Besides Shulman and Negreanu, four other former bracelet winners took to the felts at the Casino at the Empire for the WSOP Europe Main Event final table. Chris Bjorin, a two-time bracelet winner, was sent packing in sixth place after running A-J into Negreanu’s A-Q. Shulman busted Matt Hawrilenko, who has taken down one WSOP event, in eighth place for £87,074.

Team PokerStars Pro member Jason Mercier, who grabbed his first bracelet during the 2009 WSOP in Las Vegas, was eliminated in fourth place after entering as a dominant chip leader. In his final hand, Mercier’s wired pair of sevens could not draw out on Negreanu’s pocket nines. The last decorated player to take to the WSOP Europe televised table was Praz Bansi, who won a bracelet in a $1,000 buy-in No Limit Hold’em event in 2006. Bansi was the hometown hero and was eliminated in third place.

Incredibly, two members of the November Nine reached the WSOP Europe Main Event final table. Everest Poker pro Antoine Saout was ousted in seventh place after coming out on the short end of a coin flip holding pocket fives against Negreanu’s A-Q of spades. Negreanu made a flush on the river to send Saout home in dramatic fashion. Eliminated shortly before Saout was James Akenhead, who hit the skids in ninth place. Negreanu’s pocket kings staved off disaster against Akenhead’s A-Q and the London native was sent home.

Here were the results from the 2009 WSOP Europe Main Event:

1. Barry Shulman - £801,603
2. Daniel Negreanu - £495,589
3. Praz Bansi - £360,887
4. Jason Mercier - £267,267
5. Markus Ristola - £200,367
6. Chris Bjorin - £150,267
7. Antoine Saout - £114,228
8. Matt Hawrilenko - £87,074
9. James Akenhead - £66,533

PokerStars World Cup of Poker VI Reaches Live Finals

After weeks of gruelling online tournaments, the final nine teams are ready to jet off to the Bahamas for a live poker final at the sixth PokerStars World Cup of Poker. The United States, Chile, Canada, Italy, Finland, Norway, Croatia, Taiwan and defending champions Germany will be battling it out in the luxury resort in January.

Annette_15 turns 21 as WSOPE kicks off

Norway's Annette Obrestad, the online poker phenom who started playing poker at 15-years-old and won the very first WSOPE Main Event in 2007 at just 18, turned 21 Friday.

"I am so excited you have no idea," she told PokerListings at a party marking the occasion upstairs at the Casino at the Empire in London, while play on Day 1a of the 2009 WSOPE's first event continued downstairs.

"This is the biggest birthday for me by far, because I have so many more opportunities now."

The opportunities waiting for Obrestad lie largely in the United States, where, until now, the Betfair Poker sponsored pro has been unable to ply her trade.

In fact, despite being a World Series of Poker bracelet holder and a legend in the online poker world, she has yet to play in the Las Vegas edition of poker's most storied event.

"Basically I've been waiting for six years for this," she said. "After I turned 18 it was like "God, still another three years," but finally, today is the day."

Obrestad says she will definitely play a full schedule of events at the 2010 WSOP, but that is still more than nine months away.

The World Poker Tour's Festa al Lago at Bellagio in Las Vegas Oct. 20-26 will most likely be her major tournament debut in on American soil.

In the meantime, she plans on playing all four bracelet events at the WSOPE and the inaugural Caesars Cup event, as captain of the European squad taking on a team from the Americas.

"I love London, it's one of my favorite places," she said. "There are so many memories here and all of them are awesome. I can't think of any other place that means as much to me as London does."

PokerListings' comprehensive coverage of the World Series of Poker Europe continues daily from London on our Live Tournaments page.

Visit PokerListings.com

Lock Poker Signs 12 Non-US Online Poker Pros

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Nordic Gaming Chooses Income Access

Nordic Gaming Group Ltd. (NGG), one of Europe’s fastest growing online gaming companies, announced Tuesday that it has chosen Income Access affiliate marketing software to power its soon-to-be-launched affiliate programs.

NGG, which was founded in 2002, is anticipating the start of an aggressive campaign to attract affiliate partners to all three of its brands, NordicBet, Triobet and Tobet. Each offer a competitive gaming and betting service that attracts customers from all over the world, but their main focus is on European sports, including a wide range of local sports in their target countries.

Income Access has worked with operators and affiliate marketers since 2002 to help them succeed in the online gaming space. The company offers four types of services to cater to different marketing objectives: an affiliate network, affiliate software, affiliate management, and a search engine marketing agency. Income Access has more than 17,000 gaming affiliates and its product has become synonymous with affiliate program management.

Through its cooperation with Income Access, NGG is expecting to have the industry’s most advanced tracking and campaign management system, while affiliates promoting NordicBet, Triobet and Tobet gaming services will have the advantages of in-depth tracking reports and a wide selection of enhanced marketing tools.

“We went with Income Access because it’s easily the best in the industry”, said Shaun O’Neill, NGG’s Affiliate Manager. “We’re sure that their system, combined with the top-notch program we’ve put together, will pull in a huge number of partners and put us right at the head of the affiliate pack.”

“We feel that after being in business for over seven years we have very strong brand name within the gaming community and now feel that the time is right to transfer the brands in the affiliate industry”, O’Neill added in a statement to Poker News Daily.

Nicky Senyard, the CEO of Income Access, is also enthused by the union. “This software agreement between Income Access and NGG gives gaming affiliates a great opportunity to boost their earning potential”, Senyard said in a press release. “The chance to promote a network of sites that cater to a variety of language markets means that affiliates will be able to diversify their player-base and revenue stream.”

The NGG NordicBet brand focuses on Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland. Triobet is NGG’s Baltic brand, covering Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Tobet, meanwhile, is geared toward the Polish, Hungarian and Romanian markets.

All three of the NGG brands have a poker room that allows players to compete in a wide variety of cash games and tournaments. The site is currently offering a “SNG Cash League” promotion in which players will be competing for €24,000 in prizes during the summer. The site is also running satellites to EPT Barcelona and Master Classics 2009.

Pieter De Korver makes epic comeback, wins EPT Monte Carlo!

Final table started with Dag Martin Mikkelsen leading the group and after only one player out of the game it seemed like game was all over. Mikkelsen knocked out Peter Traply, who started the final second in chips, and Daniel Zink. At that point Mikkelsen looked like too much to handle for other players.

Then Russian Mikhail Tulchinskiy took the centre stage. He knocked shortstacks Alem Shah and Eric Qu, but Mikkelsen still had a huge lead. Meanwhile, Pieter De Korver (pictured) had only 400,000 left and with blinds at 80,000-160,000 it looked like his tournament was going to end soon.

However, De Korver used his remaining chips well and tripled up with Q-4 and he was back in the game. De Korver started to shove repeatedly and repeatedly won. He completed his remarkable comeback in a hand against Mikkelsen, where the Dane moved all-in against De Korver, but the Dutch was not laying down his full house.

That hand vaulted De Korver to the lead and Mikkelsen was soon eliminated by Matthew Woodward, a PokerStars qualifier from USA. Woodward ousted Tulchinskiy and the heads-up started with De Korver leading only with a slight margin.

The pair battled close to an hour until both player flopped a middle pair and De Korver moved all-in. Woodward made the call only to see that De Korver had better kicker and the victory in his sight, but Woodward had a flush draw to go with his pair. Needless to say that Woodward missed his outs and De Korver was crowned the new EPT Monte Carlo Champion.

Final table payouts of EPT Monte Carlo:

1. Pieter de Korver, Holland, €2,300,000
2. Matthew Woodward, USA, €1,300,000
3. Mikhail Tulchinskiy, Russia, €800,000
4. Dag Martin Mikkelsen, Norway, €600,000
5. Eric Qu, France, €470,000
6. Alem Shah, Germany, €350,000
7. Daniel Zink, Germany, €250,000
8. Peter Traply, Hungary, €170,000

Source: pokerstarsblog

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Pieter De Korver makes epic comeback, wins EPT Monte Carlo!

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.

Hungary’s Peter Traply Leads EPT Monte Carlo with 14 Players Remaining

A record-breaking 935 players made the trek to Monaco for the European Poker Tour’s (EPT) Monte Carlo Grand Final, which began last week. Now, the field has been trimmed to just 14, with Hungarian poker player Peter Traply leading the pack.

The Monte Carlo Grand Final in the luxurious city marks the conclusion of the fifth EPT season. Last year in this event, Traply finished in 26th place and banked €42,000 from the €10,000 buy-in tournament. At the time of writing, the Hungarian sits with a commanding chip lead over the rest of the field. In fact, he is the only player with over four million chips. The next closest combatant, Russian poker player Mikhail Tulchinskiy, has 3.2 million.

Holding the fifth largest stack in the EPT finale with 14 players to go is Dag Martin Mikkelsen, who hails from Norway. He made a deep run in the 2007 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event in Las Vegas, banking $237,000 for his efforts. Mikkelsen finished fourth in the EPT’s Barcelona stop during Season 4 for $27,000. Also in the hunt and representing Norway is Annette “Annette_15” Obrestad, the winner of the 2007 WSOP Europe Main Event. In that tournament, she won $2 million and became the youngest bracelet winner ever. During the EPT Dublin stop during Season 4, Obrestad finished as the runner up, banking another $416,000 for her efforts. Obrestad will turn 21 years old in September and consequently will not be able to compete in the 2009 WSOP festivities, which kick off on May 27th from the Rio.

Here are the chip counts as they stand with 14 players remaining, according to numbers reported by PokerStars. Blinds are 30,000-60,000 with an ante of 5,000:

1. Peter Traply (Hungary) – 4,175,000
2. Mikhail Tulchinskiy (Russia) – 3,245,000
3. Marc Naalden (Holland) – 2,980,000
4. Daniel Zink (Germany) – 2,225,000
5. Dag Martin Mikkelsen (Norway) – 2,210,000
6. Matthew Woodward (United States) – 2,195,000
7. Christopher Rossiter (United Kingdom) – 1,850,000
8. Pieter De Korver (Holland) – 1,835,000
9. Eric Qu (France) – 1,720,000
10. Alem Shah (Germany) – 1,650,000
11. Annette Obrestad (Norway) – 1,625,000
12. Steven Silverman (United States) – 1,320,000
13. Grayson Physioc (United States) – 1,125,000
14. Johannes Strassmann (Germany) – 520,000

Naalden has four WSOP cashes to his name for over $100,000 in total and took third in the Season 2 EPT Copenhagen event for $116,000. Woodward finished 95th in the 2006 WSOP Main Event, which was ultimately won by Jamie Gold. Rossiter grabbed 20th in the EPT German Open in 2008 for $25,000. Strassmann, who sits as the tournament’s short stack, has made three EPT final table appearances, recording two sixth place finishes during Season 4 events in San Remo and Dortmound for a combined payday of $300,000.

A total of 88 players finished in the money. Among those who took home cash from the prestigious EPT tournament were:
19th Place: Jason “Taknapotin” Somerville (United States) - $67,000
31st Place: “Miami” John Cernuto (United States) - $58,500
33rd Place: Sebastian Ruthenberg (Germany) - $52,000
38th Place: Alexander Kravchenko (Russia) - $52,000
41st Place: Steve Sung (United States) -  $45,500
43rd Place: Joe “ender555” Ebanks (United States) - $45,500
53rd Place: Luca Pagano (Italy) - $40,300
58th Place: Garrett “GBecks” Beckman (United States) - $36,400
64th Place: Samuel Chartier (France) - $36,400
69th Place: Phil Laak (United States) - $32,500
76th Place: Andreas Hoivold (Norway) - $28,600

The tournament will crown a winner on Sunday. Last year’s champion, Glen Chorny, barreled through a field of 842 players en route to a $3.1 million payday. Heads-up, Chorny defeated Hungarian poker player Denes Kalo, with American Isaac “westmenloAA” Baron taking fourth for $901,000. Also at the final table were Antonio Esfandiari and Luca Pagano. First place this year will take home €2.3 million, also the equivalent of $3.1 million at current exchange rates.

Free Million Dollar Game to kick off WSOPE

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

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

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

The regions that will be included in the promotion are:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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PKR Announces Pro Team

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

2009 WSOP Europe Dates Announced

The 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Europe dates were announced on Monday. The tournament series returns to the Casino at the Empire in London on September 17th and runs through October 1st. A total of four bracelet events will be awarded.

The announcement of the 2009 WSOP Europe schedule comes just one month away from the start of the tournament series in Las Vegas at the Rio on May 26th. In London, the action will return to the Casino at the Empire in historic Leicester Square. The gambling establishment now opens its doors around the clock and has ballooned in popularity thanks in part to serving as the host of the prestigious event. Michael Silberling, COO of London Clubs International, commented in a press release distributed by Harrah’s, "The Casino at the Empire has quickly become the destination for poker in the U.K. We look forward to hosting the best players in the game for the WSOPE this fall and will continue to offer the finest poker action daily for those in Leicester Square.”

Pre-registration is already open in London at any London Clubs International venue. In addition, interested poker players can register in person at the Rio for the four bracelet events. Betfair, WSOP Europe’s presenting sponsor, will also qualify its members in droves. Last year, the site even reached out to U.S. Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps, who sparked interest from the poker community after telling his hometown newspaper, the Baltimore Sun, that he wanted to play in the WSOP. The Las Vegas tournaments are sponsored by Everest Poker, which, like Betfair, does not accept players from the United States.

WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack is already looking forward to the action unfolding in September from the British city: “The World Series of Poker Europe has quickly established itself as the most prestigious tournament outside the United States. Winning a gold bracelet is recognized globally as the top prize in the sport and we look forward to awarding four more bracelets in 2009 at the Casino at the Empire in London.” The four pieces of hardware up for grabs in London will be in addition to the 57 at stake in Las Vegas. The final table of the Main Event at the Rio will once again be pushed back until November and is slated to take place sometime between the 7th and 10th of the month.

Here is the schedule of events that will unfold at the Casino at the Empire:

Friday, Sept. 18, 2009
Event #1: £1,060 No Limit Hold’em Day 1A

Saturday, Sept. 19, 2009:
Event #1: £1,060 No Limit Hold’em Day 1B

Monday, Sept. 21, 2009
Event #2: £2,650 – Pot Limit Hold’em/Pot Limit Omaha

Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2009
Event #3: £5,250 Pot Limit Omaha

Saturday, Sept. 26, 2009
Event #4: £10,350 Main Event Day 1A

Sunday, Sept. 27, 2009
Event #4: £10,350 Main Event Day 1B

The winner of the third WSOP Europe Main Event will be crowned on October 1st. In 2007, Annette “Annette_15” Obrestad, who was playing in one of her first major live tournaments, won the inaugural Main Event for £1 million. The tournament featured a battle of current Betfair pros heads-up, as Obrestad squared off against John “Kunkuwap” Tabatabai. Last year’s WSOP Europe Main Event final table concluded with John Juanda pocketing £868,800. He barreled through a talented final nine that included Team PokerStars Pro member Daniel Negreanu, Scott Fischman, and the runner up in the Las Vegas Main Event, Ivan Demidov.

Satellites with a $1,570 price tag to the WSOP Europe Main Event will take place at the Rio on July 9th through 11th. The action kicks off at 5:00pm each day. The WSOP Europe events attract players from around the world. In fact, six different nations have claimed the seven bracelets that have been given away over the past two years: Denmark (twice), Afghanistan, Germany, Italy, Norway, and the United States.

The Casino at the Empire does not mandate membership in order to enter. In addition to the four bracelet events, cash games and satellites will also be held, although specific details were not released on Thursday. ESPN will return as the television partner of the 2009 WSOP Europe festivities and will air 10 hours of coverage. ESPN 360 will also provide action to poker enthusiasts in the United States, Europe, Mexico, and Brazil.

‘Poker Face’ does more than top the charts

Lady Gaga's song "Poker Face," in which the 23-year-old pop starlet lays claim to just that sort of trickery, is now the No. 1 single in the United Kingdom and No. 2 in the United States.

The song features a dog's breakfast of gambling metaphors and sexual innuendo, with Gaga (born Stefani Germanotta) going for broke with such lyrics as:

"I wanna hold'em like they do in Texas please // Fold 'em let 'em hit me raise it baby stay with me."

"Luck and intuition play the cards with spades to start // And after he's been hooked I'll play the one that's on his heart."

And, of course,

"I won't tell you that I love you, kiss or hug you // 'Cause I'm bluffin' with my muffin, I'm not lying I'm just stunning with my love glue-gunning."

The song's insidiously catchy chorus has propelled it to No. 1 on pop charts in such diverse markets as Canada, Belgium, Norway and Switzerland, and features Gaga proclaiming that her would-be lover "Can't read [her], can't read [her], no he can't read [her] poker face."

So is the song an attempt to cash in on the poker craze? Or will it further contribute to poker's mainstream appeal?

"I'd say it won't make any more fish play, but it definitely aids poker in being a bit more mainstream," said poker pro Adam "Roothlus" Levy, one of the few posters on the 2+2 forums to come out in favor of the song.

"With the growing popularity of Lady Gaga, it can only enhance the public's image of poker," he said.

"Is Lady Gaga good for poker?" said poker pro Bryan "The Icon" Micon. "Yes. Anything that gets poker out over the mainstream and makes it look cool and glamorous is definitely good for poker."

As for whether the song will bring more new money to the tables, Micon claims to have firsthand proof of the song's effectiveness as bait.

"Actually, I was sitting here, drunk, outside of [Las Vegas nightclub] Pure last night, and they were blasting 'Poker Face,'" he told PokerListings.com.

"Pure is right next to the poker room, and there were actually people coming out of the club and banging their heads to the song like, 'Ahhh, Poker Face!' and then looking over at the poker room and being like 'Ahhh, poker!' That actually happened."

The video, which features Gaga hitting runner-runner quad aces in a rubber-suited strip poker party, was filmed at the luxury villa on bwin's ((PokerIsland)) and features bwin logos prominently throughout.

The 2+2 community, at least, has taken note.

"Nice bwin adverts in there," wrote poster DaExMan. "All the fish are going to [the] Ongame [Network] imo."

"When this hits MTV I might have to change to bwin," poster youcanhaveitall agreed.

Time will tell whether bwin poker - and the poker community at large - will reap the benefits of Lady Gaga's rise up the pop charts.

But until Tiesto remixes "The Gambler," it appears the YouTube generation has found its de facto poker anthem.

 

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Johnny Lodden becomes a Team PokerStars Pro

The latest name to join the illustrious band of Team PokerStars professionals is Norway’s Johnny Lodden.

Karl Hevroy Wins LAPT Punta del Este

A total of 327 players signed up for the 2009 edition of the PokerStars LAPT Punta del Este. After 2 days of play there were only nine players remaining and amongst these players was Karl Hevroy, a 20 year old poker player from Norway.

Hevroy was the only European player left in the tournament when it came down to the final table and he found himself surrounded by players from South- and North America. Hevroy had over $1 Million in chips when the final table started and he had a healthy lead and was the favorite to take down the first price.

Later in the tournament it would also become apparent that he was meant to win this tournament and he got some much needed help from the poker gods in certain hands. More than once he found himself going all in with the worst hand but every time he managed to either out flop his opponents our draw out on them on the turn and river. When it came down to heads-up play he found himself holding a 6 to 1 chiplead over Alejandro De Arruabarrena who was the only remaining player to beat.

After only one hand of heads-up play the players found themselves all-in and when Karl Hevoy flipped over his cards showing a Full House for the nuts his opponent was drawing dead on the river.

Karl Hevroy from Norway ended up winning the tournament and took down the first prize of $283.500.