Poker News

Kunkles27, Superprop123 Win UBOC Events

The fourth Ultimate Bet Online Championship (UBOC) rolled on after kicking off on Wednesday. Four online poker tournaments have been played so far, with two more set to pan out on Saturday on the virtual felts of UB.com.

Event #3 of UBOC 4 was a $320 buy-in No Limit Hold’em Four-Max tournament. A field of 476 players turned out, creating a total prize pool of $142,800. The top 52 players finished in the money, led by KUNKLES27, who earned $37,000. KUNKLES27 is a seasoned veteran of the poker scene, having already made two final table appearances in the high-stakes PokerStars Sunday Million. According to PocketFives.com, the Michigan native was a force to be reckoned with on PartyPoker before the popular site departed the U.S. market.

Heads-up in Event #3 of the fourth UBOC series, KUNKLES27 defeated PURPLEPILS99; the runner-up earned $22,000. PURPLEPILS99’s past claims to fame include a fifth place showing in the flagship Full Tilt Poker $1 Million Guaranteed for $55,000 and a final table appearance in the PokerStars Super Tuesday in December for $33,000. He also finished 14th in the Two-Day event of November’s Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS). In the final hand, KUNKLES27’s A-7 outlasted PURPLEPILS99’s Q-9 after the two got it in pre-flop. The board ran out 5-J-8-K-2 and that was all she wrote for PURPLEPILS99.

Also appearing at the No Limit Hold’em Four-Max final table were BRBLONDE2020 and DONKMAGNET55, who took third and fourth place, respectively. Here were the final table results:

1. KUNKLES27 - $37,485
2. PURPLEPILS99 - $22,491
3. BRBLONDE2020 - $14,637
4. DONKMAGNET55 - $11,067

The fourth event of the ongoing UBOC was a $130 buy-in Sniper tournament with a $30,000 guaranteed purse. 721 players tossed their hats into the ring, which meant that the actual prize pool of $86,000 nearly tripled the guarantee. When the smoke cleared, the top 72 players finished in the money, led by SUPERPROP123, who scooped a $16,000 first place prize.

Heads-up, he defeated ILUVBECKYARF, who earned a $10,000 consolation prize. On the final hand of the tournament, ILUVBECKYARF committed his chips with K-8 on a board of 3-8-9-3 for two pair, eights and threes. SUPERPROP123 flipped up 8-9 for top two pair, which held for the win. Coming in sixth place for $3,200 was THISTLE66, who in the last three months has won the PokerStars $11 rebuy, Full Tilt Poker $75,000 Super Turbo Guaranteed, and the Full Tilt $34,000 Guaranteed for a combined $42,000. Here is how the final table shook out in UBOC Event #4:

1. SUPERPROP123 - $16,763
2. ILUVBECKYARF - $10,274
3. LOLA2425 - $6,850
4. HOYAZO - $4,759
5. BEATDOWNCOMIN - $3,966
6. THISTLE66 - $3,245
7. JOEUGLY - $2,524
8. DONKIMAN - $1,803
9. J_HASTHENUTS - $1,262

UBOC 4 continues with two more events on Saturday afternoon for players to compete for a combined $228,000 in guaranteed prize money. A $1,050 buy-in No Limit Hold’em Heads-Up tournament kicks off at 1:00pm ET, with $128,000 guaranteed. CardPlayer Player of the Year Eric "basebaldy" Baldwin, a member of Team UB, will serve as the tournament’s host.

One hour later on the felts of the CEREUS Network site is Event #6, a $162 buy-in No Limit Hold’em Triple Chance tournament with at least $100,000 up for grabs. On January 31st, look for the start of the UBOC 4 Championship Event, which is a $1,050 buy-in tournament with at least $1 million on the line.

Visit UB.com for more details.

Additional Haiti Earthquake Relief Online Poker Tournaments Announced

This week, members of the online poker community wishing to donate to victims of the magnitude 7.0 earthquake that struck Haiti last week can take advantage of several tournaments being held across cyberspace.

Today, a magnitude 6.1 earthquake shook Haiti, the strongest aftershock to date according to the Associated Press. Roughly 200,000 people may have died due to the original quake last week and 1.5 million people, or nearly 20% of the country’s population, are now homeless. The Associated Press reported that 40 aftershocks have rumbled through the island nation. On the magnitude 6.1 tremor that hit on Wednesday, a geophysicist told the American news service, "Aftershocks sometimes die out very quickly. In other cases they can go on for weeks, or if we're really unlucky it could go on for months."

On Wednesday, UB.com, which makes its home on the CEREUS Network, will host a $5 rebuy online poker tournament to raise funds for the victims. The event gets underway at 20:30 ET and the field is capped at 750 players. In a generous gesture, UB.com officials will match the entirety of the prize pool and then donate the sum to the Red Cross Haiti Disaster Relief Fund. In addition, $10,000 in prizes will be on the line, consisting of entries to Ultimate Bet Online Championship (UBOC) tournaments and satellites. The charity poker tournament is dubbed “Play for Haiti” and can be found in the UB.com lobby. The site happily accepts players from the United States.

Also hosting a charity event on Wednesday night is DoylesRoom, which resides on the USA-facing Cake Poker Network. DoylesRoom is running the “Haiti Relief Celebrity Bounty,” taking the place of its regularly scheduled Bounty tournament. Those in the field will include site namesake Doyle Brunson, “The Wrestler” actor Mickey Rourke, Brunson 10 member Zachary “CrazyZachary” Clark, and “The Mad Genius of Poker” Mike Caro. The tournament kicks off at 9:30pm ET and DoylesRoom is matching all bounty money won and donating the total to relief efforts. In addition, DoylesRoom will ship any first-time player’s $27.50 buy-in to charity.

Ongame Network site Betsafe is offering a $5 tournament called “Help Haiti” on Wednesday at 20:45 CET. Unlimited rebuys will be permitted during the first hour and Betsafe will donate the funds to charity. A press release distributed by the site explains, “Betsafe will match the fee generated and we guarantee to give a minimum of $1,000. There is no maximum of the amount that we will match, so make sure to register for the tournament and help the victims of Haiti!” To sweeten the pot, Betsafe officials have added three $200 Grand Series of Poker (GSOP) event tickets to the prize pool, or $600 total. Other online poker rooms on the mammoth Ongame Network include Hollywood Poker, PokerLoco, and RedKings.

Finally, the Microgaming Network, which has recently tried to curb datamining by not allowing observed hand histories to be stored on a player’s computer, is holding a €10 + €10 buy-in tournament on Friday, January 22nd. The €10 juice will be donated to the Haitian Health Foundation and players can sign up for the event by visiting any Microgaming Network site like Betway, GNUF, Ladbrokes, Nordic Bet, PokerTime, and Unibet. The event issues its virtual “Shuffle up and deal” command at 6:30pm GMT. A press release distributed by Microgaming notes, “Over 92 percent of funds collected by Haitian Health Foundation go directly towards services for the poor, so players can be assured that donations generated from the tournament will be used to maximum benefit.” Neither the Microgaming nor Ongame Networks accept players from the United States.

These tournaments have complimented efforts at other major online poker sites like Full Tilt, PokerStars, and Cake Poker, each of which has reached into its database of players to give to the cause. Play in the Haiti relief tournaments taking place this week across some of the world’s largest sites.

Titan Poker Launches World Challenge

Starting this month players on Titan Poker will compete in a series of country-specific and regional online poker tournament leagues in an effort to represent their country and challenge the world.

Players will be ranked based on their results over an 18-week span and the top poker players in each league will advance to a final round of eight scheduled tournaments.

The culmination of the promotion will see five players selected to represent Titan Poker in Vegas with $13,000 packages to the 2010 WSOP Main Event, which cover travel and accommodations.

Titan Poker is gearing the competition to both novices and poker regulars alike as each have a chance to scoop a coveted WSOP seat.

To learn more about the promotion or check the latest results on the World Challenge leaderboard go to Titan Poker’s website.

Visit PokerListings.com

Titan Poker Launches World Challenge

Starting this month players on Titan Poker will compete in a series of country-specific and regional online poker tournament leagues in an effort to represent their country and challenge the world.

Players will be ranked based on their results over an 18-week span and the top poker players in each league will advance to a final round of eight scheduled tournaments.

The culmination of the promotion will see five players selected to represent Titan Poker in Vegas with $13,000 packages to the 2010 WSOP Main Event, which cover travel and accommodations.

Titan Poker is gearing the competition to both novices and poker regulars alike as each have a chance to scoop a coveted WSOP seat.

To learn more about the promotion or check the latest results on the World Challenge leaderboard go to Titan Poker’s website.

Visit PokerListings.com

Doyle Brunson’s Elite Team Struck Gold in 2009

Doyle Brunson is the Godfather of Poker and one of the greatest living legends in the game, but to represent his poker site, he is carefully choosing a team of 10 poker pros under the age of 25, which will be known as the Brunson 10. So far, only five have been headhunted: Chris "moorman1" Moorman, Alec "traheho" Torelli, Dani "ansky" Stern, Zachary "CrazyZachary" Clark and Amit "amak316" Makhija.

The first three players picked were Makhija, Torelli, and Clark. Twenty-two year-old Torelli, known as a consistent cash game winner and dedicated triathlete, held his ground in 2009 with nearly $800,000 in live tournament winnings. Makhija, a University of Minnesota graduate, was chosen for the Brunson 10 for his multi-table tournament (MTT) skills and he did not disappoint. Besides finishing in 26th place in the Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic for a cool $28,569, he also made the top 10 in several other important poker tournaments.

Clark is the nephew of the late Chip Reese and he certainly has poker in his blood. At the young age of 24, he has nearly $2 million in career earnings and shows no signs of slowing down. In 2009, he cashed in nearly 50 online poker tournaments and made the top 10 in 15 of them, exceptionally consistent results for such a young player.

Next to be recruited for the Brunson 10 was Moorman, a young British player to be reckoned with on the online felts. Moorman had a spectacular 2009, ranking fourth in both CardPlayer’s and Bluff’s Online Player of the Year rankings for consistent five-figure wins. Moorman was also honored with the number spot in the PocketFives.com Yearly leaderboard for 2009. Brunson was spot on when he said about recruiting Moorman: “Moorman reminds me a lot of me, except for the British accent. He’s a poker natural, a legend in the making, and that’s why I’ve handpicked him to be the next member of the Brunson 10.”

The last member recruited for the half-complete Brunson 10 was Stern. One of the stars of the G4 online poker reality series “Two Months, Two Million," Stern was showered with praise by Brunson when he entered the elite team: “I’ve seen Ansky play on TV, I’ve seen him play online, and I’ve seen him talk poker like someone who’s been playing for decades. Dani ‘Ansky’ Stern is the future of this game and I’m proud to have him on my team.” Doyle will be even prouder now that Stern brought in the single largest cash of the team, when his final table skills in the World Series of Poker (WSOP) $40,000 buy-in commemorative event in 2009 netted him $548,315.

Brunson is still searching for the remaining five members of the Brunson 10 and will choose two more players after those. He explains: “We are going to find the remaining five spots that are open sometime in 2010. Then, we will choose two women to make it the Brunson 10/2 in honor of my name hand.” Judging by last year’s results, the Brunson 10-2 is set to be the crème de la crème of poker in 2010.

PokerStars Guinness World Record Attempt Attracts 149,196 Players

On a night when Full Tilt Poker’s software went down much to the dismay of players everywhere, PokerStars set the Guinness World Record for largest online poker tournament ever held. The event weighed in at 149,196 entrants.

The mark to beat was 65,000 players, set by PokerStars back in July, meaning that the site trumped the standing record by nearly 85,000. PokerStars was quick to put its record-shattering attendance into perspective, saying, “It would fill the Rose Bowl or Wembley stadiums and still have another 60,000 people with tickets waiting outside in the tailgating parking lot.” In addition, the attendance represented well over 20 times the field of the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event and 30 times the number of rooms at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

The Guinness World Record attempt was a $1 buy-in tournament that guaranteed $300,000 in the prize pool. It played out in less than six hours in a Turbo format and oskar69 earned an amazing $50,000 for first place, or 50,000 times his buy-in. Text found on PokerStars’ website admits, “We're sure oskar69 is happy about the ROI from the win today, as no deal was reached and the entire $50,000.00 was awarded for besting this massive field.” Second place went to Bommel222, who earned a not-so-paltry $30,000. A total of 30,000 players finished in the money.

Others who made the final table in the historic poker tournament included TLWPB (third place for $20,000), willis59 (fourth place for $10,000), kruglay (fifth place for $8,000), madmick62 (sixth place for $6,500), DS1982 (seventh place for $5,250), denmil53 (eighth place for $4,000), and bigsnapper7 (ninth place for $3,000). The top 16 players grabbed at least $1,000 for their 100-penny contribution to the pot.

The PokerStars Sunday Million, the site’s hallmark $215 buy-in weekly high-stakes poker tournament, drew 9,344 entrants yesterday, creating a prize pool of $1.8 million. In the end, PokerStars member coach6999 banked $266,000 for the win, defeating BBOY3110 heads-up. The second place finisher claimed a $196,000 consolation prize and the top 1,350 spots paid out. Others who reached the feature table in the Sunday Million included tsakalias (third place for $139,132), schnaggels19 (fourth place for $93,440), mystinen60 (fifth place for $74,752), OBVAMENTS (sixth place for $56,064), robvleugel (seventh place for $37,376), plusmillion (eighth place for $20,557), and Mr Puckey (ninth place for $13,082).

The Sunday Warm-Up, another $215 buy-in online poker tournament that played out on PokerStars yesterday, generated a field of 4,605 entrants, shattering its $750,000 guaranteed prize pool. In the end, NinjasTyle87 banked $144,000 for first place, while .dmmarquez finished with a $107,000 bankroll boost for second place. The top 675 players finished in the money and others who could be found jumping for joy on Sunday afternoon included JBlaze20 (third place for $75,983), montjeu8 (fourth place for $52,037), Comeback2008 (fifth place for $39,143), Steinapride (sixth place for $29,933), haneferd (seventh place for $20,723), ReadOnYou (eighth place for $11,513), and pokerwille (ninth place for $7,368).

Appropriately, PokerStars is the industry’s largest online poker site, according to PokerScout.com, boasting a seven-day running average of 27,800 real money ring game players. During its peak hours, nearly 50,000 call the site home. PokerScout.com claims that PokerStars’ traffic has grown by 37% year over year and, at the time of writing, which is late morning Eastern Time on Monday, 36,000 cash game players are seated. That figure represents more than double the number of players currently found on Full Tilt Poker, the world’s second largest site.

Full Tilt Poker’s $750,000 Guaranteed, Sunday Mulligan, and Sunday Brawl, among other events, did not play out on Sunday due to a software malfunction. Players were refunded based on their chip counts at the time of the crash.

The Sunday Briefing: PokerStars Breaks New World Record

It was anything but a typical Sunday on the virtual felt as the last weekend of 2009 came to a close in unusual fashion. PokerStars broke the Guinness Book of World Records for holding the biggest online poker tournament in history. To be exact...

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.

PokerStars aiming for a record-breaking weekend

PokerStars is attempting to host the world’s Largest Online Poker Tournament this Sunday. The potentially record-breaking event starts at 7.45pm UK time and even though the buy in is just $1 there are some hefty prizes to be won.

Truly Free Poker Training Catching Fire as 2009 Comes to a Close

As 2009 comes to a close, the online poker tournament fields around the Web continue to become tougher with Truly Free Poker Training from CardRunners and StoxPoker. The program was launched earlier this year in conjunction with Full Tilt Poker.

After players enroll in Truly Free Poker Training, their Full Tilt Points (FTPs) will be tallied at the end of every month. A total of 5,500 FTPs are required for a one-month membership to CardRunners and 3,000 are needed to receive a one-month subscription to StoxPoker. For 8,500 FTPs, Full Tilt Poker customers can receive one month of poker training on each site. FTPs aren’t deducted from a player’s account; they are merely a way to ensure that customers keep coming back to the world’s second largest online poker site.

Free poker training from CardRunners and StoxPoker is actually doled out in weekly increments, with 750 FTPs required for one week of StoxPoker and 1,375 needed for a week of CardRunners. The latter’s Director of Marketing, Lana Maier, told Poker News Daily, “There are no diplomas in poker and you might as well light a bonfire with your money if you stop improving. Members of CardRunners and StoxPoker understand this and thousands of them enjoy complimentary poker training simply by playing at Full Tilt Poker. It costs no points and takes two minutes to sign up. There is no easier or more cost-effective way to stay on top of the games running today.”

Truly Free Poker Training does not affect rakeback on Full Tilt in any way and players can begin receiving their education the month after they’ve earned the requisite number of points. The total number of points a player has is displayed when customers of the site log into CardRunners or StoxPoker. Full Tilt Poker happily accepts players from the United States.

A dozen CardRunners instructors are members of Team Full Tilt, including Taylor “Green Plastic” Caby, Brian Hastings, and Brian Townsend. Hastings was the recent winner of more than $4 million at the expense of Swedish online poker player Isildur1. All told, according to Poker Table Ratings, Hastings has amassed $3.8 million from the mystery Swede in just 8,400 hands, an average of $450 per pot. Hastings has quickly emerged as one of the top high-stakes pros after his domination of Isildur1. In addition to Hastings, CardRunners instructors Townsend, Cole "CTS" South, and Haseeb "INTERNETPOKERS" Qureshi have all battled against the Swede on Full Tilt.

Other CardRunners instructors include Isaac “westmenloAA” Baron and Ryan “Daut44” Daut. Baron has taken down the Full Tilt $750,000 Guaranteed and PokerStars $100 rebuy during his poker career. In April, he emerged victorious from the field in a $55 rebuy held during the PokerStars Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) for $97,000. Daut won the 2007 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure for $1.5 million, defeating Isaac Haxton heads-up. He also final tabled that year’s Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic, a stop on the World Poker Tour (WPT).

In September of 2008, CardRunners and StoxPoker merged, creating one of the largest poker training conglomerates in the industry. Six months earlier, CardRunners instructors officially joined Team Full Tilt. In January of this year, Truly Free Poker Training was launched, with a CardRunners representative telling Poker News Daily at the time, “We’re always looking to give something back to our community. Our relationship with Full Tilt Poker made this possible. We approached Full Tilt Poker and said we should try to structure an arrangement whereby if a player is high-volume, then we can give them something for free like a CardRunners membership.”

Full Tilt Poker is the second largest site in the world, boasting a seven-day running average of 19,200 real money ring game players, according to PokerScout.com. During its peak hours, around 30,000 cash game players call the site home, giving Truly Free Poker Training customers ample ways to accrue FTPs.

Justin Shronk Memorial Poker Tournament Draws 359 Players

The online charity tournament in honor of late poker media member Justin Shronk went off without a hitch last weekend and drew more than 350 players who wanted to pay memory to the PokerRoad family member.

The $5 + $5 tournament donated on Full Tilt Poker the entirety of the registration fee to the Justin Shronk Memorial Fund at Shronk’s alma mater, Temple University in Philadelphia.  Shronk earned his degree from the university’s School of Communications and Theater (SCT) and a scholarship has been established in his name to support other students majoring in Broadcasting, Telecommunications, and Mass Media.  According to a statement from SCT, the scholarship aims to help students who need financial aid and preference is given to candidates who have lost a parent.  Shronk lost his own father while in school.

The scholarship also pays honor to the spirit of the much-loved poker writer and producer.  “The recipient of the scholarship should also exemplify some of the same characteristics that Justin exhibited during his life - an absolute passion for everything media, a great wit and sense of humor, loyalty in his friendships, and someone who would take a job for less money to be able to do the work that he loved,” the scholarship description stipulates.

The fund at Temple was established over the summer when Shronk’s cousin, Brian Lemke, won a World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet and $692,690.  He donated $20,000 of that prize money to set up the endowment at Temple and PokerRoad friends and fans have contributed as well.

Sunday’s online tournament drew a slew of fans, fellow media members, and top poker pros who wanted to pay homage to their fallen friend.  Kevin “GetPWN3D” Saul, Amit “amak316” Makhija, Eugene Todd, Lee Childs, and Red Pros Andy Bloch, Michael Craig, Mandy Baker, Aaron Bartley, and Kristy Gazes played. So did PokerRoad founder Joe Sebok and site contributors Amanda Leatherman, Scott Huff, Joe Stapleton, Bryan Devonshire, and B.J. Nemeth.  Many of the pros shoved all-in early to give PokerRoad fans a chance to double up, while several others registered and simply blinded out in order to make a donation to the scholarship fund and prize pool.

The top 36 finishers made the money and several of them expressed an interest in donating their winnings to the cause.  The final table featured Leatherman, Matt Waldron of Life’s a Bluff, PocketFivesLive.com Tournament Reporter Rachel Crader, and several others, with Waldron and Leatherman taking first and second place, respectively.

"I had a blast playing and I'm so happy that so many people showed up in honor of Shronk,” Leatherman said on PokerRoad after her second place finish.  “I'm sure he would have wanted me to win, but congrats to Matt Waldron (laughs). Thanks to all the PokerRoadies for rooting me on the entire time! We miss you ShronkDaddy!"  Leatherman also told Poker News Daily she planned to donate her winnings to the Shronk scholarship.

On the site’s forums, Shronk’s mother, Kim, expressed her gratitude for the large tournament turnout. “This whole tournament and the great turnout helped me realize that Justin lives on in the hearts of the many that he brought laughter to.”

The online poker tournament is not the only fundraising effort for the scholarship fund lately.  Lemke recently final tabled the U.S. Poker Championships at the Taj Mahal Casino in Atlantic City.  He sported a UB.com patch for the televised event and donated all of the money he earned from the patch deal to the scholarship fund and the Patrick Cunnane Kids Education Foundation.

Those interested in making a donation to the Justin Shronk Scholarship can do so via Temple’s official website.  Donators must specify the SCT and the Justin Shronk Memorial Scholarship in order to direct the donation to the specific scholarship.

FBI Issues Online Poker Findings; PPA Responds

Online poker players tuned into last week’s House Financial Services Committee on internet gambling can recall a letter cited by Congressman Spencer Bachus (R-AL) that claimed online poker games could be compromised.

The memo, dated November 13th and written by FBI Cyber Division Assistant Director Shawn Henry, addresses six questions put forth by Bachus regarding the current state of affairs in the online poker world. The report states, “The technology exists to manipulate online poker games in that it would only take two or three players working in unison to defeat the other players who are not part of the team.” Henry’s analysis speculates as to whether online poker sites would spend the time and money needed to combat these tag team maneuvers: “It really comes down to a cost analysis for the vendor. How much money will I make or lose by detecting cheating and implementing safeguards?”

The letter from Henry then addresses money laundering possibilities in private online poker tournaments before Bachus asked if “qualified personnel” existed to regulate the game should it be legalized. Henry responded, “FBI investigative resources are focused on our highest priorities, that being counterterrirosm, counterintelligence, and cyber threats to critical infrastructure.” No mention of online poker or internet gambling is given in Henry’s response to this question.

Henry questions the age and location verification mechanisms that online poker sites currently have in place. Henry responds, “For age verification, the possession of a credit card is usually the only validation these sites require. Credit card numbers are easily compromised and can be bought by the hundreds on several ‘underground’ websites.” On the question of location verification, Henry asserts, “While geolocation can be accurate when used to determine the physical country of residence, it becomes exponentially less accurate when determining the city or zip code.”

Also discussed in the letter from the FBI Cyber Division official are bots, programs against the Terms of Service of most major sites. In addition, Bachus asks whether U.S. law enforcement officials have had any conversations with their counterparts overseas where internet gambling is regulated about “potential vulnerabilities.” Henry emphatically claims, “The FBI has not engaged in this discussion with our foreign partners.” On casino bot programs manipulating online games, Henry admits, “While casino software could very easily be employed to manipulate games, the FBI has no data in this area.”

The Poker Players Alliance (PPA) was quick to point out the pitfalls of Henry’s letter. Its Executive Director, John Pappas, charged, “Every concern the letter raises is better addressed by licensing and regulation than by prohibition. The letter misconstrues much about the current state of online poker, but it does so in a way that clearly makes the case for why federal oversight is necessary. Licensing and regulation is the most protective measure we can take to ensure the online community can be properly monitored while maintaining our internet freedom.”

The PPA added that Congressman Peter King (R-NY), the current Ranking Member and former Chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security, conveyed that money laundering and terrorism financing were not taking place through internet gambling. The PPA explains that online poker sites use credit databases to address age and location and that the Department of Justice has never found evidence that organized crime benefited from internet gambling. In total, the lobbying group notes, “In defense of Mr. Henry’s letter, it is intended to address the status quo, not the internet poker landscape under HR 2267.”

Age verification was one of the many issues discussed at last week’s hearing, which focused on HR 2267. The bill, proposed by Congressman Barney Frank (D-MA) crafts a complete licensing and regulatory framework for the internet gambling industry in the United States.

Online Poker Tournament Recap for November 30th

Brazilian online poker pro Caio Cesar “caio_pimenta” Pimenta was the big winner on the virtual felts Sunday with his victory in the PokerStars Sunday Million, the site’s weekly flagship event. Pimenta outlasted a field of 9,077 players to claim a prize of $259,243.98, the 19-year-old’s largest online score to date.

PokerStars trumped every other site on Sunday with its $1,815,400 prize pool in the Sunday Million. Joining Pimenta at the final table was Team PokerStars Pro member Johnny Lodden, who ultimately took fifth for $72,616.00 after his A-K couldn’t catch up to the pocket kings of Pimenta. The Brazilian pro began the final table with the chip lead and went wire-to-wire, scooping the final pot of the tournament when he made a full house against runner-up KillerMendez.

Several other online pros had success on PokerStars on Sunday. Anthony “holdplz” Spinella took down the Sunday Second Chance after besting a loaded final table that included Michael “anakinso” Goodman, Bryan “Squirrely1″ Sapp, Adam “akat11″ Katz, and Walter “JLizard” Wright. Spinella earned $49,613.12 for his efforts. Laurence “rivermanl” Houghton headlined the final table of the Sunday Warm-Up and took fourth place for $52,296.40. Joe “floes” Serock also made that final table, collecting $11,570 for his eighth place finish.

On Full Tilt Poker, “WooohSaaah” was the winner of the $750,000 Guaranteed, earning $154,233.71. Michael “Pot Odds 3” McNeil took eighth in the event for $15,721.20. In the Sunday Brawl, mikkelstrack walked away with $96,010.22 after defeating a field of 2,794 players and a final table that included Carder “SpazIsPlusEV” England (fourth place for $40,792.40) and Andy “BKiCe” Seth (sixth place for $18,999.20).

Here’s a look at the results from Sunday’s major online tournaments:

PokerStars Sunday Million
$215 buy-in, 9,077 entrants

1st: Caio Cesar “caio_pimenta” Pimenta – $259,243.98
2nd: KillerMendez – $164,562.50
3rd: floriverboy – $135,156.53
4th: joaoMathias – $90,770.00
5th: Johnny “johnnylodden” Lodden – $72,616.00
6th: buddahead9 – $54,462.00
7th: LAPINKY – $36,308.00
8th: BRzRoll – $19,969.40
9th: bo0ort – $12,707.80

Full Tilt Poker $750,000 Guaranteed
$216 buy-in, 4,367 entrants

1st: WooohSaaah – $154,233.71
2nd: Hand Banana7 – $93,366.46
3rd: Beat Man – $61,138.00
4th: jesseja77 – $48,037.00
5th: city17 – $36,071.42
6th: sweepybreedy – $26,726.04
7th: based – $20,088.20
8th: Michael “Pot Odds 3” McNeil – $15,721.20
9th: I use 5cards – $11,703.56

PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up
$215 buy-in, 4,628 entrants

1st: Mr. Shanish – $116,468.22
2nd: angevert – $106,468.22
3rd: $saxo$ – $106,468.22
4th: Laurence “rivermanl” Houghton – $52,296.40
5th: cspdealer – $39,338.00
6th: CruSader1981 – $30,082.00
7th: Bahneyyy – $20,826.00
8th: Joe “floes” Serock – $11,570.00
9th: melano26 – $7,404.80

Full Tilt Poker Sunday Brawl
$256 buy-in, 2,794 entrants

1st: mikkelstrack – $96,010.22
2nd: YrrsiNN – $72,201.87
3rd: Snusarn1 – $72,630.71
4th: Carder “SpazIsPlusEV” England – $40,792.40
5th: Jotagran49 – $28,498.80
6th: Andy “BKiCe” Seth – $18,999.20
7th: PrishChips31 – $12,852.40
8th: uzzyking – $8,940.80
9th: dadoudinet – $6,705.60

PokerStars Sunday 500
$530 buy-in, 1,033 entrants

1st: liutas.a – $89,147.90
2nd: Blue Knight1 – $64,562.50
3rd: SENORSEXY – $49,067.50
4th: Jeremy “JBurleson” Burleson – $35,948.40
5th: Jason “Taknapotin” Somerville – $25,566.75
6th: Jason “JERRRY” Glass – $20,401.75
7th: aylinka18 – $15,236.75
8th: EMakers9186 – $10,071.75
9th: hitthehole – $5,681.50

Cake Poker $250,000 Guaranteed
$268 buy-in, 1,286 entrants

1st: PIIIGEEEOOON – $63,607
2nd: thepokerkinq – $44,654
3rd: LawyerDad – $29,812
4th: IL LAUREATO – $22,038
5th: paulgees822 – $14,906
6th: xfaithlessx – $11,276
7th: SomeDumGuy – $8,256
8th: Kakakahahaha – $6,168
9th: iamchainsaw – $5,204

PokerStars Sunday Second Chance
$215 buy-in, 1,366 entrants

1st: Anthony “holdplz” Spinella – $49,613.12
2nd: Bryan “Squirrely1” Sapp – $36,062.40
3rd: Adam “akat11” Katz – $27,320.00
4th: parksy1066 – $20,490.00
5th: bbs99 – $14,343.00
6th: Michael “anakinso” Goodman – $11,611.00
7th: The Mooks – $8,879.00
8th: SPOTLIGHT19 – $6,147.00
9th: Walter “JLizard” Wright – $3,824.80

UB.com $200,000 Guaranteed
$215 buy-in, 1,054 entrants

1st: Ben “XTHESTEINX” Zamani – $39,267.00
2nd: 99NVRLOSEZ – $35,945.00
3rd: Adam “AKAT11” Katz – $19,077.40
4th: CHIPMICK09 – $13,596.60
5th: JMEWNIE – $11,488.60
6th: ILIKEPONIES – $9,380.60
7th: BAZOOKA87 – $7,272.60
8th: ANIMAL5050 – $5,164.60
9th: Nick “SHIPKINS” Grippo – $3,583.60

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Bodog Poker Open IV Dates Announced

In the world of online poker tournament series, there are a few that are “must play” events for online professionals. The annual PokerStars’ World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) and the quarterly Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS) normally come to mind first, but Bodog has built its own franchise that has done very well, the Bodog Poker Open. Recently, the dates were announced for the fourth version of Bodog’s preeminent online tournament series and some special prizes have been added for the eventual champion.

The Bodog Poker Open IV is scheduled to start on November 1st and will wrap up one week later on November 8th. The weeklong schedule features several tournaments that will test the skills of the players involved in Limit, Pot Limit, and No Limit Texas Hold’em. It also has been split into two divisions that will enable anyone to get into the game.

The Bodog Championship Series features the seven main tournaments that run from a $50 rebuy to the $500 Championship Event. These tournaments should draw the cream of the internet poker world to battle it out on the virtual felt. The second division, called the Bodog Contender Series, features eight tournaments that cost 10% of the buy-ins of the main schedule, but will still be profitable for their eventual champions.

There are other additions that should make the Bodog Poker Open IV a schedule that will be well-attended. Each tournament in the Championship Series has money added to the prize pool, ranging from $2,500 for Event #6 ($150 Limit Hold’em) to the $25,000 that will be added to the Championship Event’s prize pool. In the Contender Series, two tournaments, the $10 No Limit Hold’em event (#1) and the Contender Championship Event, have money added to them.

Each player who wins one of the preliminary tournaments on the Championship Schedule will also earn a seat into the Championship Event along with a chunk of the prize pool. For those playing on the Contender Schedule, the winners of preliminary events will take home a seat into the Championship Series Main Event, while their final tablemates will earn a seat into the Contender Series Main Event. Finally, the eventual champions of both divisions’ Main Events will be featured in CardPlayer Magazine and Bodog’s online outlets, including the “Bodog Beat.”

For those who don’t want to pony up the full buy-in for either the Championship or the Contender Schedule, there are ways to qualify for the tournaments on the cheap through a very extensive satellite schedule. For as little as $0.50, players can work their way into the mix for playing in any of the Bodog Poker Open scheduled events on either side of the ledger. Players can even use Bodog Poker Points to enter into special satellite tournaments that can get them into a tournament for no monetary outlay.

Back on May 3rd, the Bodog Poker Open III wrapped up its Championship Event by crowning “biffsworld” as the victor. “biffsworld” vanquished the 279-player field, which included Bodog poker professionals Jean-Robert Bellande and Justin Bonomo, and took home the $40,283 first prize. “biffsworld” is expected back to defend his title, joining “scarface0928” (Mid-Main Event champion) and “winjack” (Mini-Main Event champion), who also earned titles during the Bodog Poker Open III. With the Bodog Poker Open IV less than two weeks away, the action should be picking up significantly as players attempt to win their way into the weeklong tournament series.

Win a Subscription to Bluff Europe Magazine

This week, we’re playing a series of online poker tournaments – admittedly, we can’t quite compete with Full Tilt’s FTOPS or PokerStars’s WCoOP, but a free magazine subscription is the next best thing if we can’t guarantee $40m, right?

PokerStars Enters Guinness Book of World Records for Most Online Poker Players

While the “brick and mortar” casino world continues to suffer double-figure drops in win rates and declines in attendance, September proved to be a lucrative month for PokerStars with the completion of its eighth annual World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP). In addition to another highly successful run of the preeminent online poker series for PokerStars, the WCOOP also helped to provide another world record for the number one site worldwide.

According to the Guinness Book of World Records, which verified the results, September 6th saw PokerStars defeat its own world record for most players hosted by an online poker room. On that day, during which the WCOOP was in full swing, PokerStars recorded 307,016 players taking part in tournament, cash game, and free poker games on the site. Players were arranged around 42,814 tables and, once verified by Guinness record-keepers, smashed the previous mark by over 100,000.

PokerStars, which has held the record since its inception in 2008, and its major competitor, Full Tilt Poker, went at each other only two months ago to set the previous mark for most players online at once. Back in July, both Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars ran tournaments in an attempt to set the record for the largest online poker tournament ever held. PokerStars brought in a total of 65,000 players for its version of the record-breaking attempt, while Full Tilt attracted only 50,000. PokerStars was close to 200,000 total players once the tournament and other action was counted.

The most recent world record for PokerStars was more than likely due to the massive outpouring of players during the WCOOP and its various satellite events. On September 5th, WCOOP Event #6, the $109 No Limit Texas Hold’em tournament, drew an astounding 15,675 players. This didn’t take into count the number of players who were participating in Event #7, the $215 Pot Limit Five Card Draw, satellite tournaments, or play money games on the site.

On September 6th, a Sunday and the traditional “big day” for online tournament players around the world, the WCOOP featured three huge events that drew traffic. In addition to Event #9, a $215 No Limit Hold’em tournament that attracted 11,131 runners and was won by Slovakia’s “ternoplayer,” Event #10, the $10,300 High Roller tournament (299 players and won by Sweden’s “Sumpas”) and the first day of Event #11, the two day $530 No Limit Hold’em event (drawing 6219 players and won by the United States’ “hustla16”) were also in action. Once the numbers were counted up, it cracked the previous record set by PokerStars back in July.

While their physical counterparts battle through the recession, it is apparent that the online poker world is quite healthy. Congratulations to PokerStars for its most recent record, which should stand for quite some time.

Olivier Busquet Leads WPT Borgata Poker Open Entering Day 3

A total of 167 players remain in the World Poker Tour (WPT) Borgata Poker Open. However, many of the tournament’s big names, including Gavin Smith and 2007 Borgata Poker Open Champion Roy Winston, were sent packing.

The story of the day was Jason “TheMasterJ33″ Dewitt, who was also in the final day of play of the 2009 PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) and, according to WPT coverage, “took an extended two-level break before dinner and returned to a still-healthy stack that was well above average.” Dewitt was the chip leader late in the day at the Atlantic City Casino and ended play with the 15th largest tally at 357,500.

Dewitt told WPT Live Updates Hostess Amanda Leatherman after play had concluded for the evening, “I basically had to build a big stack or bust. I got my big stack, so I could afford to sit out and miss my two hours of blinds. I came back and got the chip lead, although I did lose it at the end. I guess I can’t be too sad about it.” Dewitt battled in the WCOOP Main Event during the two hour period. WPT Championship winner Yevgeniy “atimos” Timoshenko ultimately took down the high-stakes online poker tournament and earned $1.7 million.

Many of poker’s greats were in London for the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Europe festivities. However, among those remaining in the United States for the Borgata Poker Open were Smith and Winston. The former tangoed with Bill Gazes late yesterday, losing his final hand with pocket aces against pocket sixes when a six hit the flop. The hand boosted Gazes to 140,000 in chips and he ended with 298,000, good for 26th place overall. Gazes has made a pair of WPT final tables during his career, including a fourth place effort during the Season II L.A. Poker Classic and a third place showing in the Foxwoods World Poker Finals during Season IV. All told, the poker pro has $1.2 million in career WPT earnings.

Earlier in the day, Ultimate Bet’s Michael Binger boosted his chip stack to 308,000 by flopping a set of deuces. Binger called his opponent’s all-in with A-J on a board of A-9-2-Q, securing the win in the hand. Binger’s stack dwindled from that point and he finished the day with 74,000 chips, good for 146th. Binger has never registered better than 10th place in a WPT event. His claim to fame is taking third in the 2006 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event for $4.1 million in a tournament ultimately won by Jamie Gold.

Poker News Daily Guest Columnist Bernard Lee was sent packing on Monday. The host of ESPN.com’s “Inside Deal” also had aces cracked for his tournament life, this time by pocket fives. Lee’s opponent flopped a five and, despite picking up a flush draw on the turn, he was ousted from the WPT Borgata Poker Open. Also hitting the skids yesterday were Theo Tran and 2002 WSOP Main Event Champion Robert Varkonyi. Here’s a look at the Top 10 survivors who will take to the felts today for Day 3:

1. Olivier Busquet - 524,600
2. Tony Moussa - 488,300
3. Danny Illingworth - 480,600
4. Ofir Mor - 452,800
5. Mike Summers - 450,500
6. Bartholomew Mikulski - 441,100
7. Mike Leah - 431,600
8. Barry Tremebetzky - 412,000
9. Allen Bari - 401,500
10. Ben Lin - 385,700

Other notable names remaining in the WPT Borgata Poker Open include:

15. Jason Dewitt – 357,500
26. Bill Gazes – 298,000
36. Kathy Liebert – 260,700
38. Gabriel Aminov – 258,700
50. Jonathan Little – 229,800
58. Steve Brecher – 220,300
72. David Chicotsky – 187,800
75. Chris Reslock – 179,400
146. Michael Binger – 74,000

ElkY, David Williams and Terrence Chan take WCoOP Titles.

The PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker tournament series has been a good one for the pros recently – not only did Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier and David “Lost to Raymer at the 2004 WSOP” Williams take down separate events over the weekend, but so did Terrence “Unassigned” Chan.

Team PokerStars PRO George Danzer Wins WCoOP Bracelet

Yesterday was the first and only day of the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker tournament series that featured not a single hand of No-Limit Hold ‘em. Instead, the action was even faster and more furious – not only was it Pot-Limit Omaha, not only was it six-max, but it was a rebuy tournament.

Online Poker Tournament Recap: Monday, August 31

PokerStars, the world’s leading online poker site, once again generated the largest turnouts Sunday, as its major events extended well beyond their guarantees. The site, which is preparing for its World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) this week, drew nearly 9,000 players to its flagship Sunday Million tournament. Five players struck a deal and each received a six-figure payday.

PokerStars Sunday Million

A massive field of 8,993 turned out for the Sunday Million on August 30, creating a prize pool of $1,798,600, the largest in months. Last week saw 7,431 participants in the weekend’s largest tournament on the internet, but the site added $300 bounties on each of its sponsored players this week to add some flavor.

Daniel “KidPoker” Negreanu, J.C. Alvarado, Jason Mercier, and Victor Ramdin were among the Team PokerStars Pro players in attendance. Railbirds flooded the chat boxes late into the night as online stars Steve “gboro780″ Gross and David “BodogMaven” Chicotsky made deep runs, but Chicotsky was eliminated in 10th place when he moved his short stack in with 7-4 and found himself up against an opponent’s pocket tens. Gross was taken out in sixth place when his A-K couldn’t hold up against BigBradley’s A-Q and the remaining five players agreed to a deal. The big winner was CesarSPA, who added $208,845.93 to his account, while Georgia’s angiebug4 went on to win the tournament and $126,921.72.

1. angiebug4 - $126,921.72
2. CesarSPA - $208,845.93
3. BigBradley - $173,454.74
4. siggen001 - $131,719.96
5. suckabig1 - $100,530.55
6. Steve “gboro780” Gross - $53,958.01
7. SebiXXXX - $35,972.01
8. Whitfield74 - $19,784.61
9. Spoli4tor - $12,590.21

Full Tilt Poker $750,000 Guaranteed

The Full Tilt $750,000 Guarantee attracted 4,144 entrants to build a prize pool of $828,800. Costa Rican pro Felipe “clotilda” Montenegro was the biggest name at the final table and settled on a four-way chop to walk away with $72,000. Montenegro ultimately took fourth place in the tournament, while ADCampbell collected $104,929.51 after earning the win.

1. ADCampbell - $104,929.51
2. ypma - $62,660
3. mich_alumni - $98,967
4. Felipe “clotilda” Montenegro - $72,000
5. zsunset - $34,229.44
6. kenneoin - $25,361.28
7. quivan96 - $19,062.40
8. shhhant - $14,918.40
9. PatrickJ89 - $11,105.92

PokerStars Sunday 500

A handful of online professionals reached the final table of PokerStars Sunday 500, which drew 1,029 entrants this week. Nick “CPT CRUX” Stowell took seventh place for just over $15,000, while Thayer “THAY3R” Rasmussen finished sixth for $20,322.75. In the end, Laurence “rivermanl” Houghton of the United Kingdom got the best of long-time online tournament specialist faithless to take home a prize of $88,802.70.

1. Laurence “rivermanl” Houghton - $88,802.70
2. faithless - $64,312.50
3. omgfml - $48,877.50
4. WARN-YOU - $35,809.20
5. DeuceBuster - $25,467.75
6. Thayer “THAY3R” Rasmussen - $20,322.75
7. Nick “CPT CRUX” Stowell - $15,177.75
8. sharam_nuts - $10,032.75
9. MisterJJW - $5,659.50

Full Tilt Poker Sunday Brawl

New Jersey’s Jims619, who took fifth in the Full Tilt $750,000 Guarantee last week, one-upped himself on Sunday with a runner-up effort in the Sunday Brawl for $63,201.60. PoutsoKefalos bested 2,393 competitors to win the tournament for $97,651.26. Full-time pros kennl and Bryn “OneUponAStar” Kenney also reached the final table.

1. PoutsoKefalos - $97,651.26
2. Jims619 - $63,201.60
3. HellaStacks_ - $46,922.40
4. white_chocko - $35,431.20
5. Javatinii - $24,897.60
6. kennl - $16,279.20
7. mightyscv - $11,012.40
8. blackjustin77 - $7,660.80
9. Bryn “OneUponAStar” Kenney - $5,745.60

Ultimate Bet $200,000 Guaranteed

Ultimate Bet’s Sunday major didn’t quite make its guarantee, as 994 runners played for a prize pool of $200,000. When it was all said and done, MAKE_IT_RAIN and BELANDATOR forged a two-way deal, although the final figures are unknown. They split up the remaining $71,300. Up-and-coming online whiz kid Michael “ROCK3656” Rocco finished third for $18,100 and Eric “SHEETSWORLD” Haber made $4,900 for his eighth-place result.

1. MAKE_IT_RAIN
1. BELANDATOR
3. Michael “ROCK3656” Rocco - $18,100
4. YOD0UG623 - $12,900
5. ANALPROBE - $10,900
6. MSUJENNY - $8,900
7. C00KEMONSTER - $6,900
8. Eric “SHEETSWORLD” Haber - $4,900
9. MAHI-MAHI - $3,400

Peter Traply (Belabacsi) Interview with Poker News Daily

The first Hungarian World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner ever, Peter “Belabacsi” Traply took home the gold in the $5,000 No Limit Hold’em Shootout, Event #41. Traply steamrolled a field of 280 players en route to a $348,000 payday, only his second in the money finish in a WSOP event. If there’s an online poker tournament, then chances are he’s final tabled it. The acclaimed player finished second in a PokerStars Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) event for $77,000 in April and won the $100 rebuy on Full Tilt Poker in May. He’s a former winner of the Stars $100 and $200 rebuys and, in early April, Traply emerged victorious from the pack in a Friday Night Fight tournament on Full Tilt.

As part of Poker News Daily’s exclusive coverage of the 2009 WSOP, we caught up with Traply after his bracelet win to get his reaction.

Poker News Daily: Congratulations on taking home a bracelet during the 2009 WSOP. You’ve posted an impressive run lately and became the first Hungarian WSOP bracelet winner ever. Is there something about your game that you’re doing better now?

Traply: I don’t think so. I wasn’t able to play in the United States until I turned 21. I didn’t play in Europe, either. I only have two and a half years of experience in live play. My live play is definitely better than it was a year ago, but I can’t really say that I’m doing anything differently.

PND: You’re a well-known online poker pro and can be found playing under the name “Belabacsi” on the virtual felts. Do you try to hide your identity when you play live?

Traply: Not really, but I don’t think my opponents knew who I was until now, so it wasn’t a problem. Maybe a few more players will know my name now. I just try to deal with it, but it’s a good problem to have.

PND: You were at the final table of the $5,000 buy-in No Limit Hold’em Shootout with another stellar online poker player, Andrew “luckychewy” Lichtenberger, whom you defeated heads-up. Did you guys know each other going into the final day?

Traply: I knew who he was and I think he knew the same. I played against him a little bit online, but we don’t have a history or anything, so I don’t think it affected our play.

PND: How did you adjust going from ten-handed to six-handed to five-handed play over the course of the high-stakes Shootout?

Traply: It almost comes naturally to me now because I play so much online. When I make a final table, it starts nine- or ten-handed and goes down to short-handed and heads-up, so I can deal with it.

Prepare for the WCOOP With a Free Entry

It’s that time of year again – the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker; the world’s largest online poker tournament series, is launching this year with 45 events taking place across 18 days.

Billy Kopp (Patrolman35) Signs with Ultimate Bet

Ultimate Bet, one of the top online poker rooms in the business today, has an impressive roster of players. Monday brought the announcement that it had landed one of the rising young professionals in the game to a sponsorship deal.

Billy “Patrolman35” Kopp, who has an impressive track record of success, signed on for an exclusive deal with the site and will immediately begin representing Ultimate Bet at tournaments around the world. In addition to Kopp’s duties to “patrol” the virtual felts at Ultimate Bet, he will also be an integral part of its live poker team at UB’s signature event, the Aruba Poker Classic. Kopp earned his sponsorship through his play in some of the most difficult tournaments in the world today.

Known for his hyperactive, loose-aggressive style at the tables, Kopp was a juggernaut at this year’s World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event. He was able to conquer two of the top players in the game today, 2008 World Champion Peter Eastgate and 2005 World Champion Joe Hachem, when all three were at the feature table. Kopp was also a part of one of the toughest beats at this year’s WSOP Main Event on the final day of action.

In what was a stunning turn of events, “Patrolman35” was one of the chip leaders on the final day of action and seemed to be a shoo-in for the 2009 November Nine before he cracked heads with Darvin Moon late in the action. On an all-diamond flop, Kopp bet out 750,000 and was called by Moon. The turn brought a deuce, pairing the board, and Kopp fired out a two million chip bet. Moon responded with a raise to six million and Kopp moved all-in for his remaining 20 million in chips. To “Patrolman35’s” surprise, Moon called the all-in and tabled his Q-J of diamonds to crush Kopp’s 5-3 of diamonds and eliminate the youngster from the World Series. The University of Kentucky business major finished in 12th place and earning $896,730 for his efforts.

Kopp’s success isn’t limited to this year’s WSOP Main Event alone. “Patrolman35” also garnered an eighth place finish during the WSOP in Event #15, a $5,000 No Limit Hold’em tournament, for a payout of $71,115 and also picked up a second place finish in the WSOP Circuit stop at Harrah’s New Orleans for $127,832. Kopp has also been active in the online world, amassing nine Top 10 finishes in a variety of online poker tournaments this year at Ultimate Bet, Absolute Poker, and other popular sites. He recently took down an event held as part of the quarterly Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS).

Unfortunately, Kopp will have to drop the “Patrolman35” moniker on Ultimate Bet in favor of “billy_kopp.” Kopp is now a part of Team UB alongside such players as 11-time bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth, top female player and Poker News Daily Guest Columnist Annie Duke, recent UB Army enlistee Liv Boeree, Adam “Roothlus” Levy, Brandon Cantu, “Hollywood” Dave Stann, Matt “mattg1983” Graham, Michael Binger, “Amazing Race” contestant Tiffany Michelle, and Anthrax guitarist Scott Ian.

Full Tilt and PokerStars - $6.1m Sunday Prize Pool

This Sunday was an especially monstrous one for online poker tournaments. Due to the fact that Full Tilt Poker’s flagship tournament series, the FTOPS, is in full swing, the action on Sunday was huge.

PokerStars And Full Tilt Poker Battle For Guinness Record

Over the past weekend, poker players had a difficult decision to make, with the ability to say that they were a part of a Guinness World Record on the line.

Both Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars ran tournaments on Sunday in an attempt to set the record for the largest online poker tournament ever. At stake was the opportunity to submit their claim to the official statistician of world records, Guinness World Records (formerly known as the Guinness Book of World Records) for the largest online poker tournament ever. Unofficially that claim was already held by PokerStars with a tournament from December 2008 that drew in 35,000 players.

Each tournament featured extra money added to the prize pool by each respective site. PokerStars doubled the prize pool from whatever amount of players signed up to take part of the $1 buy in tournament. Full Tilt Poker, on the other hand, put a guaranteed $500,000 on the line for its $5 buy in tournament. With each tournament starting at nearly the same time, players had some difficult decisions to make as to whether to multi-event or to take a shot at one or the other.

PokerStars was the first to take their shot and they set a high bar for Full Tilt Poker to overcome. By Saturday, pre-registrations passed the 35K mark that would be required to set the new record and the numbers continued to climb as the tournament drew near. By the time the tournament started slightly past 2PM (Eastern Time), 65,000 players were on the virtual felt for the event and PokerStars doubled the prize pool to offer $130,000 to the 16,250 players who could survive to cash out of the tournament.

Surprisingly, the tournament only lasted ten hours as PokerStars preferred to stick with its traditional ten minute levels and starting stacks of 2000 chips. In the end, it was “004 license” who was able to outlast “I_SCORPIO_I” to take the championship of the Guinness World Record Attempt Tournament. For his efforts, “004 license” took home $13,000 and “I_SCORPIO_I” had to settle for $11K.

Although the bar was set pretty high by PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker proved to be up to the task of challenging for the Guinness record. Players turned out in force for “The Record Breaker” – which was featured as a part of Full Tilt Poker’s fifth anniversary celebration “FIVE” – and either put up the $5 buy in or were able to satellite in for less. With the guaranteed prize pool of $500,000, it made the ROI on that entry fee more than tempting for many on the site.

The stable of Full Tilt professionals left the tournament alone, preferring to see one of the site’s dedicated amateurs take the title. By the time the tournament started at a little past 3:30PM (Eastern Time) on Sunday, 50,000 players took part in “The Record Breaker,” not quite beating PokerStars’ field but still a tremendous achievement. Overall, players may have liked this tournament better when it comes to that all important issue:  payouts. 7500 took some money away from this event, with “breo40” taking home $45,000 after defeating “gustavincho2,” who earned $31,450.

Now the debate can begin as to who truly took down the title of “Largest Online Poker Tournament” for Guinness World Records. The two tournaments featured different buy ins, different prize pools and different payout structures. It is unknown if this will play into the decision of the personnel of Guinness World Records, but congratulations to both PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker on their successful attempts at shattering the old record.

Join in the Largest Online Poker Tournament EVER with PokerStars

PokerStars invite you to join them in breaking all world records for the biggest ever online poker tournament.

Back in December 2008 PokerStars players played their way into the Guinness Book of Records by playing in the largest online Poker Game with a mind boggling 35,000 players all playing at once.

Now you get the chance to join the illustrious band of record breakers, this is what you need to know:-

• This potential record breaking tournament will take place tomorrow, Sunday July 19th at 7.10pm UK (2.10pm new York)
• The buy in is just $1
• The prize pool is a guaranteed $100,000
• Register NOW

As I write this there are 39,600 (and the counter is spinning with registrations!) loyal PokerStars players already signed up, join them and just show the world that we all love online poker, by playing it! This is such an exciting event for online poker players, be part of it!

Register now by going through the PokerStars lobby - All – Special and there it is ‘Guinness World Record’ in pink, get your name down for this awesome event!

If you’ve not gotten around to signing up with PokerStars yet, now has got to be the time to grab yourself an account in time to play for the record. Use PokerStars Marketing Code DIRPOKER and PokerStars Bonus code STARS50 to double your initial deposit up to $50, if you have any doubts about the best online poker site on the planet just take a look at our unbiased review to see what a great site you will become a part of.

Big call to all poker players to get registered and play tomorrow in the PokerStars Largest Online Poker Tournament EVER!!!!!!!!

Full Tilt to host record breaking tournament

As the final piece of the site's five-year anniversary promotion, Full Tilt plans to seat 35,000 players for a $5 buy-in event beginning July 19th at 3:05 p.m. ET. Seats can also be purchased for 1,000 FPPs.

Some of the biggest names in poker are expected to take part, including Phil Ivey, Chris Ferguson and Howard Lederer.

"By extending the limits of what is possible in online poker tournaments, Full Tilt Poker will allow players to compete for a big payout without the big buy-in," said Lederer.

Not only will the tournament be record-breaking in size, but Full Tilt has matched the guarantee, adding an additional $250k to the total prize pool, making this a chance to play for a $500,000 minimum prize pool for as little as $5.

With this many players, staging such an event in the live poker world would be next to impossible.

To date, the largest-ever live tournament was the 2006 WSOP Main Event with 8,772 players, just one quarter of the expected field size Sunday.

To be part of this world-record attempt, and have a chance at winning a piece of the half-million prize pool, log in or sign up to Full Tilt Poker and find the world record tournament in the tournaments section.

Visit PokerListings.com

$40.000.000 Prizepool for WCOOP

The PokerStars.com World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) returns on September 3, 2009 for its eighth year. The $40 million guaranteed prize pool - $10 million more than last year’s tournament series – makes it the biggest online poker tournament series in the world.

PokerStars have taken into account feedback from the poker player community when creating the schedule, with each WCOOP event promising a huge guaranteed prize pool, with many exceeding $1 million. There will be a total of 45 events covering a wide range of poker variants including Hold’em, Omaha, Stud, Razz, HORSE and 2-7 Draw. There are eight brand new events this year including the $320 FL Badugi, $530 Heads Up PL Omaha and big ante NL Hold’em events.

Last year a total of 22,873 unique players from 119 countries competed in the 33 event tournament series, and PokerStars awarded a grand total of $39,958,000 in prize money. The Main Event World Champion ‘ckingusc’ won more than $1.2million. Poker player ‘liberace’ was the biggest overall cash winner, taking home $1,377,179, while ‘thedonator’ made the most cashes - making the money in 10 of the 33 events.

Team PokerStars Pro Daniel Negreanu said “There are hundreds of exciting tournaments all year round but nothing compares to the [PokerStars.com] WCOOP – it’s the ‘must play’ event of the year for any poker player. Last year over 20,000 players came together from across the world to compete in the largest ever online poker event - for their chance to become a World Champion.”

The WCOOP is hosted exclusively by the world’s largest poker room, PokerStars.com, and will run across 18 days from September 3 – 21, 2009 starting with the $215 buy-in NL Hold’em tournament. The series will conclude with the two day, $10k guaranteed NL Hold’em Main Event on September 20, 2009.

Team PokerStars Pro had a great overall team success at last year’s PokerStars.com WCOOP - winning a combined total of over $1.5m. Team PokerStars Pro Bertrand ‘ElkY’ Grospellier netted a total of $407,285 with cashes in the NL Hold’em Triple Shootout, 6-max Re-buy events, Main Event and a second place finish in the NL Hold’em High Roller - Gavin Griffin came fourth and Vanessa Rousso fifth in the same event. Chris Moneymaker made two final tables, in the High-Roller NL Hold’em and the PL Omaha [1R1A], while André Akkari was also on form with a second place finish in the $10,300 HORSE Event for $200,000.

“The [PokerStars.com] WCOOP is my favourite event - anyone can play at anytime, anywhere, with tournaments running throughout the day. For millions of players, it’s the ultimate poker championship and everyone has the chance to become a World Champion!” said Team PokerStars Pro and runner up in the 2007 WCOOP Main Event, Vanessa ‘LadyMaverick’ Rousso.

Players can qualify for WCOOP events via PokerStars satellites which will be available in a range of low-stake buy-in’s that mean everyone has a chance to qualify, and win an event!

To create an account at PokerStars: PokerStars VIP-account

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$40.000.000 Prizepool for WCOOP

Poker Stars WCOOP Schedule Released

The schedule for the biggest online poker tournament series of the year has been announced, and a minimum of $40 million will be won by those who participate. It’s all …