European Masters of Poker 2011 schedule released

Poker News in Brief: Dec. 27, 2010- Jan. 2, 2011

That meant a few of poker's smaller stories may have slipped through the cracks.

Fortunately, we caught them and compiled them in our weekly Poker News in Brief feature below.

This week, Poker After Dark returns, the World Cup captains are named, UB goes back to Montreal and more.

Poker After Dark Returns

The new season of POKER PROductions' Poker After Dark returns to NBC this week.

POKER PROductions inked an agreement with NBC Universal extending the late-night poker show through 2014 in 2010 and the seventh season, filmed at the new Aria Resort and Casino at the City Center complex in Las Vegas, begins airing Jan. 3.

This season will feature more cash games than ever before. Most will be no-limit hold'em, but two weeks will also be devoted to Pot-Limit Omaha with a lineup that should impress fans.

Names like Mike Matusow, Chris Ferguson, Michael Mizrachi, Phil Hellmuth, Antonio Esfandiari, Annette Obrestad, Eli Elezra, Phil Galfond, Phil Ivey, Tom Dwan, Patrik Antonius, and David Oppenheim will all appear this season.

There will only be three weeks following the traditional Freezout format this season, including this week's "Big Heat," a $100,000 buy-in event featuring John Juanda, Erick Lindgren, Huckleberry Seed, Ivey, Dwan, and Galfond.

Leeann Tweeden will once again serve as the show's host with Ali Nejad providing commentary.

Fifty50 Sit & Go's

PokerStars has launched a new online poker Sit & Go format called Fifty50.

Although the tournaments end when half of the entrants have been eliminated, Fifty50's differ from the Double or Nothing format in that half of the prize pool gets split between the winning players equally and the other half is awarded based on chip counts.

Fifty50 events are currently running at the $10 level, but will soon be available at many different stakes.

World Cup of Poker Captains Named

The identities of the team captains for the seventh annual World Cup of Poker have been announced.

Last year, Chinese Taipei took the title. This year it will be Argentina, the Philippines, the United Kingdom, Spain, Slovakia, Italy, France, Ukraine and the United States battling it out for a $100,000 first prize at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure.

Slovakia’s team will be led by Team PokerStars Pro’s newest member Dag Palovic. EPT San Remo winner Liv Boeree will lead the UK team while Argentina’s captain is back-to-back LAPT champ Nacho Barbero.

2009 APT champion Neil Arce will lead the team from the Philippines while the Spain squad will be headed up by Team PokerStars Pro Juan Manuel Pastor.

Luca Pagano leads Italy and Arnaud Mattern will captain the team from France.

And Finally, Vanessa Selbst will lead the USA while EPT Kiev runner-up Alexander Dovzhenko captains the Ukrainian side.

The action gets underway in the Bahamas Jan 14.

UB Returns to Poker Pro Canada Classic

For the second straight year, UB will be sending over twenty players to compete in the running of Montreal's biggest poker event, the Poker Pro Canada Classic.

The $1500+150 buy-in No Limit Hold 'em event runs Jan. 27-30, 2011 at the Four Aces Poker Club.

UB is running a series of super satellites and freerolls Jan. 2-16 giving players a chance to win a $2500 prize package that includes a seat plus $850 for travel expenses.

300-plus players and prize pool of $500,000 is expected in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

Gibraltar Raises Taxes on Online Gambling Companies

The British territory of Gibraltar has announced that it will be drastically inflating its taxes on all online gambling firms starting in January, a decision that could prove costly for several online poker sites. Online gambling companies are currently paying just a 1% tax in Gibraltar, with a ceiling of £425,000, but starting next month, they’ll be forced into the same 10% tax rate as other Gibraltar businesses pay.

Gibraltar has been an ideal location for many online gambling sites due to the low tax rate and has become something of an “online gambling capital” as a result. Poker rooms such as PartyPoker and 888poker currently hold their headquarters in the territory and the online bookmakers Ladbrokes and William Hill made the move to Gibraltar in 2009 – a decision that was expected to cost the Treasury of the United Kingdom about £12 million per year.

Gibraltar’s first minister, Peter Caruana, said the tax increase has been called for by Gibraltar government’s decision to conform to European law. “To comply with EU law, we must phase out the tax exempt company in 2010,” Caruana said. “However, in order to sustain our successful economic model, we must retain a commitment to a very competitive corporate tax model.”

Party Gaming, which owns and operates PartyPoker from Gibraltar, recently released details concerning its long-awaited merger with online gambling giant bwin. Party Gaming said in a statement that it would keep its headquarters in Gibraltar while bwin continues to operate in Austria. Whether the news of the tax increase changes those plans remains to be seen. “We’ve known about this for some time and we’ve factored it in,” said Party Gaming spokesman John Shepherd. “The tax is still going to be very low.”

According to a report in The Guardian, while online companies will now pay the standard 10% tax rate paid by other businesses, they will still not be subjected to any Value Added Tax (VAT), meaning that Gibraltar will remain an attractive setting for gambling companies. VAT is a consumption tax only on the “value added” to a product, material or service – similar to the state sales tax that most U.S. residents pay.

Many experts seem confident that the tax increase won’t cause companies like Party Gaming to flee to other locations. Victor Chandler, Chairman of independent bookmaker Victor Chandler International, expressed his assurance in an interview with regional newspaper El Pais: “Nobody will leave, although we’ll all complain about the tax going up.” Chandler began his U.K.-based company in 1946 that does much of its business online, including sports betting, casino games, and poker.

The decision will likely add up to big things for Gibraltar in the near future. Under the current 1% tax rate, Gibraltar collected £10.5 million in revenue from online gambling taxes in 2009. So long as online gambling firms decide to stay put, the government can expect to see that number magnify in the coming years.

Online gambling has proven to be an extremely important source of revenue for Gibraltar and it is believed that 2,000 people currently work in the sector, which is around 12% of the island’s workforce. The industry has also helped to protect the local economy against neighboring Spain’s harsh economic conditions. Of Gibraltar’s 30,000 residents, only 600 (2%) are unemployed. The bordering Spanish city of La Línea de la Concepción is estimated to have 10,000 of its 65,000 inhabitants (15%) out of work.

Margets Makes Good at Full Tilt Poker Masters Series

An 888 Poker ambassador and the last woman standing in the 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event, Margets collected the €100,000 first prize outlasting 31 of Spain's best players, all of whom had all pre-qualified for the invitation-only event.

The three-day tournament series featured a varitey of poker challenges, including deepstack, shootout and turbo tournaments.

The title completed what was a remarkable year for Margets, beginning with a third-place finish in the Aussie Millions Six-Max side event and ending now with victories in two invitation-only events on the Spanish Poker Tour and Full Tilt Poker Series.

Margets now has well over half a million dollars in career tournament earnings.

EPT Barcelona Incident Leaves Poker Players Shaken

The most recent stop on the European Poker Tour (EPT) was in Barcelona, Spain, one of the more picturesque locales on the tournament schedule. Apparently, it was not so serene for some of the game’s top players.

According to the gossip among members of the TwoPlusTwo forum, two poker players, World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner Carter Phillips and 2010 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure High-Roller winner William Reynolds, were in Barcelona on Wednesday evening for the start of the EPT tournament. While traveling around the city, the duo apparently ran into a criminal element and a robbery occurred, with a machete used in the process. The incident left both players shaken.

On his Facebook page, Phillips updated his status to say, “I’d like to make this announcement that I am 95% sure that I am officially done with poker. More details to come. In the process of writing out a lengthy explanation to release to the poker community shortly.” Reynolds responded to the status update by saying, “For all of you that want to make bets and ridicule this post, now is not the time – none of this has to do with anything card related – people got robbed tonight and almost injured. I am thankful the 18-inch machete that was being swung at me last night didn’t kill me – the end.”

This sent the forums into a buzz as posters tried to ascertain what had happened. Many remembered last year’s robbery during EPT Berlin in which four men attempted to rob the casino of the prize pool built from the tournament’s participants. This event, however, seems to have occurred completely outside of the walls of the Casino de Barcelona and had nothing to do with the tournament itself.

A few days after the original post had exploded into a 15-page thread, Phillips started his own thread to explain what had happened that night. “Some of the details of the actual night are very skewed,” Phillips admitted. “I was not involved in knocking on the metal door. I also was not next to [Kayvan Payman] when he was robbed. I was probably about 50 yards away from the robbery and the knocking on the door.”

“I started going back to the scene as I realized that Kayvan had been robbed,” Phillips continued. “I was essentially just a bystander from a few feet away because, by the time I got back, the McDs owners had realized that William and Kayvan were not trying to hurt them or rob the store.”

As to his “quitting poker” statement on Facebook, Phillips cleared up the matter by explaining, “Everyone should understand there were several drinks involved in the night and the quitting poker thing was obviously right when I got back. I can honestly say that I have never been to any places in the U.S. where any of this stuff could have happened to me the way it did. Not to say there aren’t, because clearly people are bad all over the world. But I do think Europe is less safe and, therefore, when I mentioned quitting poker, I was more talking about the traveling abroad. I am tired of being in situations where my safety is at risk or where it is unfamiliar because of being in a new place.”

When poker pros travel, either from the U.S. to Europe or vice-versa, it is commonly known that many will wire their tournament buy-ins to the location where they are playing. In addition to that bankroll, however, players will normally carry money for miscellaneous expenditures that can sometimes run close to $10,000, which is the amount of money that can be carried without declaring it through customs. For those in any location, a poker player would be a prime mark for a robbery attempt.

Further details of the robbery are unknown, but apparently Phillips, Reynolds, and Payman are in good health, albeit unnerved by the incident. The former reflected, “This was a scary situation but, looking back, part of the night was definitely self-inflicted on ourselves and could have been avoided.”

Stars Burn Out as EPT Barcelona Reaches Final 24

With overnight chip leader Bryn Kenney and big names like 2010 WSOP bracelet winner Pascal LeFrancois, Full Tilt pro Roberto Romanello, 2009 WSOP bracelet winner Marc Naalden, 2009 WSOP main event last woman standing Leo Margets, and EPT and WPT title holder Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier all hitting the rail on Day 3, much of the final 24 is made up of players looking for their first big score.

Just 2009 Amsterdam Master Classics champ Kristoffer Thorsson and 2010 WSOP bracelet winner Konstantin Puchkov are recognizable amongst the group.

A total of 758 players entered the EPT Barcelona main event creating a €3,790,000 prize pool and making it the biggest tournament ever held in Spain.

First is worth €825,000.

The final table of eight will be set Friday and a winner crowned Saturday.

Margets, Renaut Dominate SPT Grande Final

It was Germany’s Marvin Rettenmaier who took down the SPT Grand Finale outlasting a field of 120.

But he first had to get past 888Poker player and French model and poker media personality Claire Renaut heads-up to collect the €111,000 first-place prize.

Renaut added €60,000 to the more than $170,000 she's won in 2010 through three wins and 15 different cashes.

The €3,200 Grand Finale's €360,000 prize pool marked the biggest in tour history.

A total of 52 players qualified for the event on Everest Poker and the tour sponsor had two of it's players in the final, including Live the Dream winner Koen de Bakker (3rd) and defending 2009 SPT Champion Steven van Zadelhoff (4th).

Spain’s Leo Margets, the last woman standing at the 2009 WSOP Main Event, took the title and €15,500 first prize there.

Now in its third season, the SPT is fast becoming one of Europe’s most popular poker tours with events this year in Aranjuez, Valencia, Sevilla, Castellón and Ibiza.

PokerStars USA, Canadian Championships of Online Poker Begin Sunday

Continuing with its series of regional Championships of Online Poker (COOP) that began at the end of October, PokerStars is readying for the beginning of the United States and Canadian COOPs this Sunday.

Beginning November 21st and stretching through November 28th, players in Canada and the USA will be competing for bragging rights in their respective countries. PokerStars has 11 events scheduled for each series and each slate will test players in several different disciplines of poker.

The USA COOP starts off on Sunday with what should be one of the richer events on the schedule. A $55 Six-Handed No Limit Hold’em with Rebuys tournament will begin at 5:00pm ET and feature a guaranteed prize pool of $150,000. No Limit tournaments are a main fixture of the schedule, with buy-ins ranging from the $55 rebuy to the $530 Main Event, which has a guaranteed $1 million prize pool, but other poker fixtures such as Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo, HORSE, and Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo will also be featured.

The Canadian COOP will follow the same format as the USA COOP, albeit with smaller guaranteed prize pools. On Sunday, a $55 Six-Handed No Limit Hold’em with Rebuys tournament will start at 5:00pm ET, with a guaranteed prize pool of $25,000. The Canadian COOP will also play the same variations as the USA COOP, with the $530 Main Event on November 28th featuring a $200,000 prize pool.

Of special interest to Canadians playing in the event will be the opportunity to hit the virtual felt against the current World Series of Poker Main Event champion Jonathan Duhamel. This will give poker fans in the “Great White North” the opportunity to take on Duhamel and possibly lay claim to having beaten the reigning Main Event winner.

American players will be taking on everyone from the 50 states and Virgin Islands, while all of the provinces of Canada will take part in that country’s national championship.

The Russian COOP was the first series to be held. In total, 3,515 players took part in the 11-event schedule, easily passing the guaranteed prize pool in every event. For the $320 Main Event, “JustMyUnluck” claimed the title and a $21,358.47 first place prize.

Just after the RCOOP kicked off, the Nordic COOP began on November 4th. Over 2,500 players from such countries as Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, and Greenland stepped up to battle it out for their regional championships. In the $530 Main Event, players “Blimschen” and “TEIT91” agree to chop the prize pool and the latter emerged as the victor, earning $43,750 and giving “Blimschen” a $38,750 payday.

On the same day that the Nordic Championship started, the Baltics COOP began. 2,368 players came out from such countries as Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia, with the $215 Main Event drawing out 131 players and cracking the $10,000 guaranteed prize pool. Vilnius’ “sekme” defeated Tallinn’s “m0nit” to take home the Baltics Main Event title and the $6,026 first place bounty.

Running concurrently with the USA and Canadian Championships are the Germanic Championships, Asia Pacific Championships, and the Mediterranean Championships. Following the completion of the current round of COOPs, keep an eye out for the following regional series:

United Kingdom and Ireland – December 5th to 12th
Central and Eastern Europe – December 9th to 19th
Latin America – December 5th to 12th
Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg – December 9th to 19th
Spain, Portugal, and Andorra – February 13th to 20th

Full details on the completed, running, and upcoming championships can be found at Poker Stars.

Around the World with Lynn Gilmartin: Barcelona

UB.com, Global Poker League Join Forces

Recently, it was announced that UB.com will join forces with the Global Poker League (GPL). The GPL and UB.com have established the “three C’s” of poker – camaraderie, competition, and cash. Through special GPL tables on UB.com, the organizations are looking to build on these premises with a range of sit and gos. The cost for these varies from $1 to $11 and feature six-handed, nine-handed, and 18-handed sit and gos.

Players can sign up for one or both of the GPL Singles Masters or GPL Team Masters and earn points for playing on special UB.com GPL tables. These points will be important over the span of the six-month competition.

When a player enters one of the special sit and gos at the GPL tables, they will not only be earning leaderboard points for themselves. but UB will also donate $0.10 of their rake to the end-of-season Masters Prize Pool, so the more players involved, the higher the prize pool will grow.

The six-month season is divided into three periods of 50 days, with prizes to be won at the end of each in both league categories. At the completion of every 50-day period, the top ten points-earners on the singles and teams ladders can receive some killer UB merchandise.

The top 50% of points-earners for each period make it to the playoffs at the end of the six-month season where they will compete for a sizeable prize pool in the Masters tournament. UB will award the top three in the Single Masters and each member of the winning team in the Team Masters a $3,000 ticket to a 2011 World Series of Poker (WSOP) side event. In addition, 70% of the cash built over the previous six months in the  Masters Prize Pool will be allocated to the Players Masters and 30% will go to the Team Masters.

Although the program was set to begin today, there has already been a great deal of interest. There are 43 teams that have been created prior to the November 15th start of the GPL from such nations as Afghanistan, Spain, Germany, Canada, Russia, and the United States. Although only nine teams have been fully completed, it’s expected that all teams will be filled as competition continues.

Almost 9,200 players have signed up for the Singles competition. The GPL breaks down the numbers by gender (men heavily outnumber women), age (over one-third of the players are 21 to 29), and country. These numbers also should only grow as the competition heats up.

Another key feature of the GPL is a special forum for players. This forum allows GPL participants to talk smack against other players or teams, discuss the competition on the leaderboards, or just talk about poker. The forums are available in five different languages: English, German, Russian, Spanish, and Croatian.

Visit UB.com for more details.

Big Changes on the World Poker Tour by Mike Sexton

It's an exciting time on the World Poker Tour this season.  We are currently in our ninth season, meaning we've done more TV shows than legendary franchises like “Seinfield” and “I Love Lucy."  Just look at the history of television and you will discover that a very small percentage of TV shows last nine years.  In addition to its longevity, and what is incredible to me, is that the WPT airs in over 150 countries around the world! Vince Van Patten and I are back again for our ninth season to do commentary.  A number of additions have been made to improve the TV show, our tour stops, and our player relationships.  And players around the world should be excited because the WPT has added about a half-dozen international tournaments to the schedule.  They now have the opportunity to play WPT events in their own country!  It's great to see the WPT expanding the brand and truly going global.  We have reinstated our Paris WPT event and have added events in England, Spain, Austria, Italy, and elsewhere.  Go to worldpokertour.com for a complete schedule.  What could be better than traveling the world and playing poker? We're also excited about a new stop ...

Thang Does His Thing at Unibet Open Valencia

The €1,500 tournament drew 361 players to the Casino CIRSA Valencia on Spain's East Coast over two starting days.

But in the end, Thomas Thang outlasted them all to take the title and €138,080 first-place prize.

"I'm feeling great," Thang told Unibet staff. "There's always a bit of luck involved, but in the end the best players win."

Thang took control four-handed when his big slick held up against Belgian Atanas Gueorguiev's weaker ace to drag a massive pot.

In fact, his lead was so large after the hand, the tournament ended within one level.

Andreas Hofmann made things interesting when he busted Spain's Jose Diez third to get heads-up within reach of Thang.

However, the German had to settle for second when his ace-ten did not connect against Thang's eights.

Thang's previous best live result was a €5,631 win in a €300 Turbo event at EPT Vilamoura last month.

He is currently working with the Danish Poker Federation and the International Poker Federation to get poker declared a mind sport.

The next Unibet Open event will run in London, England Dec. 4-7.

Here's how the final table wrapped up in Valencia:

1 Thomas Thang €138,080

2 Andreas Hofmann €89,350

3 Jose Diez €59,560

4 Atanas Gueorguiev €43,320

5 Andrei Grigoras €33,840

6 Yoni Houri €23,010

7 Michael Schuerpf €17,060

8 Tim Van De Riet €12,180

9 Jose Luis Melia €9,750

10 Andre Joranger €7,310

The Sunday Scoop: Jaka, Josephy Take a Mulligan

The $216 event drew a healthy crowd of 1,142 players creating a $228,400 prize pool and while WISHIGOTFPPS secured the victory and $51,390.00 first prize, he had to beat World Poker Tour Player of the Year Faraz “The- Toilet 0" Jaka to do it.

Add in online legend and notable backer Cliff “JohnnyBax” Josephy doing a little of his own work by picking up $14,275.00 for fifth and this final table may have had more star appeal than any other on the net Sunday.

In the meantime, Mark "dipthrong" Herm, an online pro with over $3 million in web-based earnings who plays under the name "shipp itt" on PokerStars, took down the day's biggest score.

He managed to outlast a field of 7,661 to book a $229,833.60 win in the PokerStars Sunday Million.

And while fellow online star Jon "apestyles" Van Fleet came close to victory in the $215 Sunday 2nd Chance on PokerStars, he had to settle for a runner-up finish to Setherson2, who took the title and $48,668.80.

A three-way deal left close to three six-figure scores on the table in PokerStars' $215 Sunday Warm-Up.

Spain's el_rage took $120,194.97 and the honor of victory there while upay4mytreez and diphazz both earned over $90k.

Meanwhile, back on Full Tilt Poker, the $750,000 Guarantee had a near six-figure overlay as just 3,272 got in on the action.

In the end, -FrederickJame- walked away with the win and $132,787.50.

Finally, the UB $200K Guaranteed drew just 880, creating a $24,000 overlay. When all was said and done, LIFE_DONK proved perhaps he isn't one, booking the win and $45,700 score.

Carlos Mortensen to Captain Spanish World Team Poker Squad

Inside sources at World Team Poker tell Poker News Daily that Team Spain, which did not participate in the first tournament back in May, has filed its roster. The captain of the squad will be former World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event champ Carlos Mortensen, who has banded together a team that brings great skills in all aspects of poker. Joining Mortensen on the roster will be the highly underrated Raul Paez, Santiago Terrazas, Oscar Blanco, Cayetano Garcia, and Leo Margets.

Mortensen has spent the last decade at the forefront of the poker world. Since his first cash in a tournament back in 1999, Mortensen has traveled the world as a player, with results that any top pro would be proud to own. At the WSOP in 2000, Mortensen cashed in his first event and, one year later, would become (at the time) only the sixth foreign-born player to win the Main Event. He has added a second bracelet by winning a $5,000 Limit Hold’em event in 2003.

Mortensen’s success hasn’t been limited to just his 21 cashes at the WSOP. He has won three tournaments on the World Poker Tour (WPT), including the 2007 WPT Championship. This win was a significant achievement, as it made Mortensen the only man to win both the WSOP Main Event and the WPT Championship. His victory at the Hollywood Poker Open earlier this year pushed Mortensen to the top of the heap in all-time money winnings on the WPT, passing Daniel Negreanu. For his career, Mortensen has almost $10 million in earnings with his wealth of championships.

Raul Paez has battled on poker tables around the world while establishing himself as one of the most underrated players in the game. His first tournament cash was in 2003 and, since that point, he has cashed in tournaments in the United States, Spain, France, Germany, Poland, England, and the Bahamas. While he hasn’t won on the major tours, Paez has been able to garner six WSOP cashes, two cashes on the European Poker Tour (EPT), and a final table finish in 2006 on the WPT.

Santiago Tarrazas has been in the game just as long as Mortensen and Paez, with a great deal of success in his own right. Although he lacks a major title, Tarrazas has earned a cash in the WSOP Main Event in 2007 and, just last year, finished in third place at the EPT Barcelona Championship Event. Tarrazas has over $650,000 in career tournament earnings from his travels across Europe.

Oscar Blanco has been a terror on the Spanish poker circuit since coming to the felt in 2006. He was the best All-Around Player during the 2006 Campeonato de Espana and, later that year, took a title during the L.A. Poker Classic’s preliminary schedule. Most recently, Blanco was the runner-up at the Partouche Poker Tour’s stop in Madrid, earning slightly over $65,000 for that cash in July. Blanco’s career earnings pass the $400,000 mark and signify that he may be the “wild card” of the Spanish team, as opponents may not have any prior history with him.

Cayetano Garcia is the oldest player on the squad, but his years on the tables have provided him with excellent skills. Although his tournament results only date back to 2007, Garcia has made the most of his time with a championship on the Spanish Poker Tour in 2008 and a seventh place finish in 2009 at the WPT Spanish Championship. 2010 has been the best year of Cayetano’s short tournament poker career, with roughly $82,000 in cashes as a part of his $250,000-plus career earnings.

Since making her mark as the “Last Woman Standing” in the 2009 WSOP Main Event, 888 Poker’s Leo Margets has continued to impress fans and opponents with her success on the tables. She made the final table of this year’s Aussie Millions $2,000 Six-Handed No Limit Hold’em tournament and earned another cash in a similar tournament at the WSOP. Margets has over $476,000 in tournament earnings and continues to be in the hunt for her first major title.

In December, the latest World Team Poker event is expected to run, although a location and date have yet to be determined. Team Spain will face an uphill battle against teams from the United States, Australia, and Canada. In the inaugural World Team Poker event, Team China, led by captains Johnny Chan and David Chiu, took down the title.

Matias Knaapinen Captures European Masters of Poker Barcelona Championship

While most of the poker world’s attention is on the action in London, the European Masters of Poker (EMOP) Circuit crowned its latest champion at its stop in Barcelona, Spain, on Sunday.

The €1,000 (plus €100 juice) tournament took place over the weekend at the Gran Casino Barcelona, drawing the largest field in the history of the EMOP circuit. 431 runners showed up between the two Day Ones of the tournament, building an impressive prize pool that hit €431,000, or slightly more than USD $580,000.

Through the EMOP’s partnership with the Entraction Network, many in the field had made their way to Barcelona for less than the €1,000 buy-in. For every event of the EMOP, such rooms as 24hPoker.com, C4A.com, NoIQPoker.com, Pokerihuone.com, and Pokerdassi.com offer opportunities for their players to enter the championship tournaments. These online qualifiers start for as low as €2 or 200 VIP points. Unfortunately, no American action is allowed on the Entraction Network.

Sunday evening saw the 431 player field whittled down to the final table, which held the traditional nine players. Holding the chip lead was Denmark’s Damir Horozic, with both the Ukraine’s Oleksandr Sharov and Finland’s Matias Knaapinen in close pursuit. The players didn’t waste any time in getting to the game on Sunday night, with a competitor eliminated on the very first hand of play.

On that first hand, Sharov opened the action, only to see Horozic move his stack to the center of the table. Sharov called of the remainder of his stack and tabled pocket Jacks, which were racing against Horozic’s A-Q. Sharov faded the flop (K-10-5) and turn (7), but was cruelly beaten by a river Queen. After coming to the Gran Casino Barcelona at the start of play on Sunday as the chip leader, Sharov had to settle for a ninth place finish in the tournament.

With his newfound chips, Horozic kept the pressure on his opponents. On the very next hand after beating Sharov, Horozic made another bet that allowed the Dane to show his pocket tens. He bumped Sweden’s Viktor Olsson from the table in seventh to maintain his presence as the chip leader, but Horozic would soon face a challenge from Holland’s Lennart Konst.

Over a span of a couple of hours, Konst was able to wrench the chip lead from Horozic, leading to an inevitable clash between the two. With five players remaining, Konst made a move from the big blind, moving his leading stack to the center of the table. Horozic made an immediate call, tabling Big Slick. Konst somewhat sheepishly showed only a 10-8 to go to war with. The 9-8-6 rainbow flop brought salvation to Konst and, once the remainder of the board ran dry, eliminated Horozic in fifth place via the bad beat.

After five hours of play, Konst still held a healthy lead. Even after doubling up Knaapinen on the 71st hand of play, he still held a 1.5 million chip lead over Knaapinen and Ireland’s Sean Prendiville. When Prendiville found himself sitting with pocket eights three-handed, he moved all-in and was looked up by Knaapinen, who held the higher pair with pocket tens. Since no eight came, Prendiville was out in the third slot.

When heads-up play commenced, Konst and Knaapinen were nearly even in chips. After 20 minutes of play, Knaapinen was able to establish some space in a key hand that saw Konst put a great deal of his chips in on the flop and turn. Konst originally re-raised Knaapinen’s pre-flop bet of 160,000 to 480,000 and, after checking the Q-7-2 flop, fired a 1.88 million chip bet. Instead of just calling, Knaapinen moved all-in and put Konst to a decision. After agonizing over the call, Konst released his hand and, with only 1.11 million left, was now at a nearly 7-1 disadvantage to Knaapinen.

The duo danced around for the next 30 hands as Knaapinen looked for the right moment to vanquish his worthy foe. On Hand 109, Knaapinen moved all-in with pocket threes, with Konst making the call with a hearts-suited Q-J. Two hearts came on the flop, leaving Konst drawing twice to 15 outs to get back in the tournament. Once Konst fanned on both the turn and the river, Mattias Knaapinen became the latest champion of the EMOP.

1st – Matias Knaapinen (Finland) €93,000
2nd – Lennart Konst (Holland) €56,200
3rd – Sean Prendiville (Ireland) €37,150
4th – Matti Konttinen (Finland) €23,320
5th – Damir Horozic (Denmark) €18,570
6th – Carlos Egea (Spain) €14,250
7th – Viktor Olsson (Sweden) €12,520
8th – Dermot Blain (Ireland) €10,800
9th – Oleksandr Sharov (Ukraine) €9,070

Knaapinen joins Vladimir Mefodichev, Maciej Lipny, Timothy Timotheuo, Giovanni Suetra, and Manig Loser as the champions during the second season of the EMOP. The tour will be moving on to its seventh and final stop, the €1,500 (plus €150) buy-in EMOP Main Event at the Casino de Venezia, Malta, which will take place from November 17th to 20th. Online qualifications though the Entraction Network are currently running for the Malta tournament.

Lorraine Firth wins Betfred Ladies Leeds

Richard “CHUFTY” Ashby Wins WCOOP Event #54, Main Event Begins Sunday

Continuing what has been the best year of his poker career, British poker pro Richard “CHUFTY” Ashby is one of the latest winners during the run of the 2010 PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) schedule.

Event #54, the $2,000 Six-Handed Pot Limit Omaha tournament, proved just how popular the discipline of Omaha is becoming. Set with a $800,000 guarantee (400 players), the tournament drew an outstanding 480 combatants, with many top online and live pros stepping up to the virtual felt. At stake was the $960,000 prize pool and, in particular, the first place awards of $185,760 and the coveted WCOOP bracelet.

As the two-day tournament played out, 60 runners took away a minimum payday of $3,840 for their efforts. For some of the top players, however, this wasn’t enough; Jon “PearlJammer” Turner left the event in 48th place ($4,800), 2003 World Series of Poker Main Event winner and Team PokerStars pro Chris “Money800” Moneymaker finished in 34th ($5,760), WSOP bracelet holder Steve “MrSmokey1” Bilirakis departed in 17th ($9,120), and online pro Kevin “BeL0WaB0Ve” Saul exited in 12th ($12,960).

Although he led much of the Day One action, Ashby came to the final table of the six-handed tournament on Friday in the third slot on the leaderboard. Taking hold of the top slot was “Shatkhi,” holding a stack of roughly 1.335 million; PokerStars Supernova “Gorrioncillo” was stacked with almost 711,000. Ashby would quickly go to work on the field during final table play, taking over the chip lead after taking a large pot off “Gorrioncillo” and crippling “< x|||||><“ moments later.

After only 45 minutes of play at the final table, heads-up action was determined. Former chip leader “Shatkhi” began to assert himself on the tables, eliminating three players in a row. He finished off “< x|||||><“ after his defeat at the hands of Ashby before taking out “Gorrioncillo” and “LukeFromB13” to determine heads-up play. When “Shatkhi” and Ashby came to their mano a mano fight, “Shatkhi” held the chip lead by a 2.2 million/1.3 million edge.

On several occasions, “Shatkhi” had Ashby on the ropes, but the 2010 WSOP bracelet winner would not fall in what he considers his specialty. “CHUFTY” won several hands to squeak into the lead, but “Shatkhi” continued to attempt to derail the Ashby Express. After getting very lucky by nailing a nut flush on the flop to draw even, Ashby seemed destined to win the title. He did so in the span of three hands, taking the final pot by hitting a set of aces on the flop, which “Shatkhi” could not defeat. The final table finished as such:

1st – Richard “CHUFTY” Ashby (United Kingdom) $185,760
2nd – Shatkhi (Russia) $137,760
3rd – LukeFromB13 (United States) $103,200
4th – Gorrioncillo (Spain) $71,040
5th – < x|||||>< (United States) $50,880
6th – shinbones (Canada) $32,640

The 2010 poker season has been a memorable one for Richard Ashby. Along with taking down his first WSOP bracelet, Ashby had two cashes in Las Vegas and a third place finish at the Aussie Millions $10,000 HORSE tournament. Roughly two weeks ago, the budding British poker star was also named the “Best All-Around Player” at the inaugural British Poker Awards.

As the WCOOP winds through its 62-event schedule, the battle on the leaderboard for the WCOOP “Player of the Series” has heated up. While Russia’s “Kroko-dill” is still atop the mountain at this point with 310 points, challengers have emerged that have an opportunity to take him down. Jamie “Xaston” Kaplan has moved into the second place slot with 265 points and both “Andy McLeod” and Norway’s “Donald” sit tied for third at 245 points. Turner rounds out the top five on the WCOOP leaderboard with 230 points.

Although the close of the 2010 WCOOP is near, there will still be plenty of action over the weekend. Two tournaments – a $530 Heads Up Pot Limit Omaha and a $2100 HORSE, both two day events – will start on Saturday, while Sunday marks the conclusion of the WCOOP. Two tournaments – a $215 No Limit Hold’em and a $10,300 Eight-Game High Roller – will join the Sunday action, but the focus of much of the online poker world will be on the WCOOP Main Event, a $5,200 buy-in tournament that has a $10 million guaranteed prize pool. As of Saturday morning, 564 players have been registered, including almost two dozen pros from the Team PokerStars stable.

World Team Poker Adds New Countries

In preparation for its forthcoming Championship Event, World Team Poker has added 19 countries to its lineup, including Canada, Pakistan, and Spain. World Team Poker will even receive face time on Fox Sports Net when its tournaments begin debuting in January on Sunday nights for 13 weeks.

Team Canada promises to be among the fiercest in the 30-team field. Shawn Buchanan, Kyle Wilson, Eric Cloutier, Owen “ocrowe” Crowe, Daniel Idema, and Terrence “Unassigned” Chan will comprise the group, which features two-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) Greg “FBT” Mueller as its captain. Buchanan finished as the runner-up to new DoylesRoom Brunson 10 member Dan “djk123” Kelly in the $25,000 No Limit Hold’em Six-Max event at the 2010 WSOP, banking $813,000.

Hasan Habib and Faraz “The-Toilet” Jaka will co-captain Team Pakistan. A press release distributed by World Team Poker delicately explains, “Pakistan, which is known more for its cricket than poker players, has formed a formidable team of excellent poker talent.” Jaka is the reigning World Poker Tour (WPT) Player of the Year after recording two final tables and four top 20 finishes last season. Also on Team Pakistan are Ayaz Mahmood, Ozzy Sheikh, Owais Ahmed, Mohsin “chicagocards1” Charania, and former Ultimate Bet Online Championship (UBOC) Main Event winner Hafiz Khan.

Carlos Mortensen, the WPT’s all-time money leader, will captain Team Spain. Mortensen was the only announced player for the Spanish World Team Poker contingent, but the former WSOP Main Event champ has four WPT final tables to his credit along with three titles. Mortensen has $5.7 million in career WPT earnings along with $2.4 million from the WSOP felts, where he’s a two-time bracelet winner.

Team Caribbean Islands is also taking form, with three players having signed up to be part of the fun. Jean-Robert Bellande, a former Bodog pro and “Survivor: China” castaway, will compete for the island nation team alongside Jean “Prince” Gaspard and Amnon Filippi. Among their competition will be Team Germany, which consists of Dan Heimiller, John Galbraith, Kathy Liebert, Jennifer “Jennicide” Leigh, and Cyndy Violette. Liebert is being inducted into the Women in Poker Hall of Fame this evening, while Violette is already a member.

Victory Poker pro Antonio Esfandiari will captain Team Iran. Backing him up is an eclectic group of players that includes Reza Golestani, Mojgan Stringham, Shawn “Sheiky” Sheikhan, and Soheil Shamseddin.

Team USA has largely already been determined, with Doyle Brunson, Phil Hellmuth, Mike Matusow, Allen Cunningham, Annie Duke, Jennifer Harman, Chris Ferguson, Howard Lederer, and Erik Seidel taking the floor for the North American nation. Three online poker sites – DoylesRoom, UB.com, and Full Tilt Poker – will be represented.

The 30-team Championship Event will likely occur next month from Las Vegas, although the dates, times, and a location have not yet been announced. The inaugural World Team Poker tournament took place at the Golden Nugget in Downtown Las Vegas earlier this year and was won by Team China, whose impressive roster of pros includes former WPT Championship winner David Chiu, 10-time bracelet winner Johnny Chan, Winfred Yu, former “Amazing Race” contestant Maria Ho, Chau Giang, Rich Zhu, and Derek Cheung.

Here are the new team captains along with the countries they represent as announced by World Team Poker on Friday:

Greg Mueller: Canada
Hasan Habib and Faraz “The-Toilet” Jaka: Pakistan
Jean-Robert Bellande: Caribbean Islands
Peter Costa: Cyprus
Max Stern: Costa Rica
Chris Bjorin: Sweden
Martin Pollak: Austria
Dan Heimiller: Germany
Bruno Fitoussi: France
Vivek “Psyduck” Rajkumar: India
Toto Leonidas: Philippines
Antonio Esfandiari: Iran
Kevin Song: Korea
Marco Traniello: Italy
Lenny Martin: Russia
Carlos Mortensen: Spain
Roberto Rominelli: Wales
Padraig Parkinson and Donnacha O’Dea: Ireland
Vladimir Shchemelev: Ukraine

Visit WorldTeamPoker.com for more details.

FTOPS XVII: Mike Chappus (chapmoney) Wins Second Jersey

Mike “chapmoney” Chappus was the first player to win two tournaments during the 17th installment of the Full Tilt Poker Online Poker Series (FTOPS) this week. Chappus, who won Event #3 ($300 Six-Handed Turbo No Limit Hold’em Shootout), followed it up with a victory in Event #24, a $200 No Limit Hold’em Cashout on August 12th. Chappus banked nearly $50,000 and claimed his second FTOPS XVII title.

Full Tilt Poker pros Brandon Adams, Chris Ferguson, and Eddy Scharf represented the Red Pros this week by making final tables of their own. Adams took down the $200 Limit Omaha High-Low Event #14 for $39,790, becoming the sixth Red Pro ever to win an FTOPS event. Ferguson made a deep run in the $300 No Limit Hold’em Event #13, taking fifth place for $68,855. Scharf reached the final table of Event #24, but bowed out in ninth place.

Among those joining Chappus and Adams in the winner’s circle last week were Mark “xqsays” Radoja, Jeremy “JBurleson” Burleson, Kyle “KJulius10” Julius, and Shaun “DE KID” Johnston. The biggest earner was “yahoo33,” who collected $301,400 for his victory in Event #16, a $1,060 No Limit Hold’em Event. “yahoo33” defeated online superstar Bjorn “kleath” Kleathersson to win the jersey.

FTOPS XVII wraps up Sunday with a $640 buy-in, $3 million guaranteed Main Event. Mike Matusow, who recently won the 2010 Florida State Poker Championship for $103,000, will host the featured tournament. Here’s a look at the results from Events #11 to #25:

FTOPS XVII Event #11: No Limit Hold’em Knockout
Buy-in: $120+9
Entrants: 8,861
Prize Pool: $886,100

1. FM2T – $141,776
2. UWOkid87 – $97,471
3. iuliani – $69,116
4. wonderdog78 – $50,508
5. I Visor I – $37,216
6. NASCAR_1949 – $26,583
7. LuzagoSpain – $18,608
8. Daniloks – $12,848
9. H33bzzz – $9,038

FTOPS XVII Event #12: Heads-Up No Limit Hold’em
Buy-in: $500+35
Entrants: 1,024
Prize Pool: $512,000

1. Mark “xqsays” Radoja – $89,088
2. Jared “Smokinokun” Okun – $53,248

FTOPS XVII Event #13: No Limit Hold’em
Buy-in: $300+22
Entrants: 4,684
Prize Pool: $1,405,200

1. andinista – $209,607*
2. 93Tillnfinity – $187,217*
3. maseandlou – $153,733*
4. shipthemula – $92,743
5. Chris Ferguson – $68,855
6. Brent “Bhanks11″ Hanks – $47,777
7. suckoutgenius – $32,320
8. Paul Merson – $22,483
9. hahahaha-yehaaw – $15,457
*Denotes three-way deal

FTOPS XVII Event #14: Limit Omaha High-Low
Buy-in: $200+16
Entrants: 865
Prize Pool: $173,000

1. Brandon Adams – $39,790
2. gypsyblack – $25,085
3. WWallace – $18,597
4. Kirchart – $14,272
5. FED105 – $10,812
6. Andrew “Browndog19” Brown – $7,785
7. Chessmanrus – $5,190
8. DallasRounder – $4,048
9. pokerlogic1- 2,941

FTOPS XVII Event #15: Rush Pot Limit Omaha
Buy-in: $300+22
Entrants: 875
Prize Pool: $262,500

1. chessazhole1 – $60,375
2. 0vash0rk – $38,063
3. Mojomoj1 — $28,219
4. clcktower – $21,656
5. Donkzilla – $16,406
6. Ed Longshanks – $11,813
7. Steve “StevoL_7″ Leonard – $7,875
8. Tabalaba – $6,143
9. MuckCMuckC – $4,463

FTOPS XVII Event #16: No Limit Hold’em
Buy-in: $1,000+60
Entrants: 1,370
Prize Pool: $1,370,000

1. yahoo33 – $301,400
2. Bjorn “kleath” Kleathersson – $191,800
3. xtubax – $138,713
4. ArielBahia – $111,313
5. PsychoAB1 – $83,981
6. pwnosaurus – $61,650
7. Andrew “STJEAN81″ St. John – $39,730
8. CSTEP02 – $28,770
9. Bttech86 – $20,550

FTOPS XVII Event #17: Six-Handed Pot Limit HA
Buy-in: $200+16
Entrants: 1,106
Prize Pool: $221,000

1. KILOHAILI – $46,120
2. Craig “MrsESPN” Gray – $30,746
3. Marton “noirduck” Czuczor – $21,898
4. nikky1968 – $16,368
5. Jason “jdpc27” Wheeler – $11,723
6. Shannon “BLUFFforRENT” Shorr – $7,520

FTOPS XVII Event #18: No Limit Hold’em Turbo
Buy-in: $200+16
Entrants: 2,329
Prize Pool: $465,800

1. gettym – $95,000
2. LarryBertleman – $61,486
3. INCRIVEL – $45,648
4. Umca – $34,469
5. MagikStep – $24,222
6. Kolter – $15,837
7. thed3ntist – $10,713
8. LuckySpecial – $7,453
9. TeamPro brASIL – $5,890

FTOPS XVII Event #19: No Limit Hold’em Triple Shootout
Buy-in: $500+35
Entrants: 729
Prize Pool: $364,500

1. Jeremy “JBurleson” Burleson – $76,545
2. The1st2BTheLast – $51,030
3. JayJay1 – $36,450
4. Joe “Cappuccio816” Cappuccio – $27,338
5. Lauren “locoenlacabeza” Kling – $20,048
6. Mind Yo Bidn3ss – $14,580
7. Paul Merson – $10,206
8. Andras Nemeth – $6,926
9. Shawn “phat_cat1” Luhman – $4,921

FTOPS XVII Event #20: Seven-Game Mixed
Buy-in: $200+16
Entrants: 789
Prize Pool:  $157,800

1. crazyjim – $33,296
2. Joao “joaoMATHIAS” Mathias Baumgarten – $22,723
3. Steve “superowl99” Jelinek – $15,780
4. dyeti – $9,784
5. Dylan “PokerDevL” Hortin – $6,312
6. Zilioner – $4,418
7. Thayer “THAY3R” Rasmussen – $3,156
8. crasey1702 – $2,051

FTOPS XVII Event #21: Rush No Limit Hold’em Super Turbo
Buy-in: $207+9
Entrants: 1,782
Prize Pool: $368,874

1. Dk4884 – $75,988
2. bruc-lee – $50,167
3. akia – $37,256
4. Jonnyrose – $29,141
5. gpokerg – $21,764
6. E Tyme – $15,124
7. KKHoldem – $9,222
8. britneygirl121 – $6,271
9. P-HALT100 – $4,426

FTOPS XVII Event #22: Six-Handed No Limit Hold’em w/ Rebuys
Buy-in: $300+22
Entrants: 913
Prize Pool: $1,001,100

1. Kyle “KJulius10” Julius – $159,243*
2. BLUEberLEEZ – $147,826*
3. elanor – $146,929*
4. Bourbonftw – $76,084
5. Maxine Waters – $54,059
6, Aneris – $34,538
*Denotes three-way deal

FTOPS XVII Event #23: Heads-Up Pot Limit Omaha
Buy-in: $300+22
Entrants: 512
Prize Pool: $200,000

1. Shaun “DE KID” Johnston – $40,000
2. Grillat – $23,400

FTOPS XVII Event #24: No Limit Hold’em Cashout
Buy-in: $200+16
Entrants: 1,248
Prize Pool: $150,000 plus $124,800 in Cashout prize pool

1. Mike “chapmoney” Chappus – $28,800
2. Vestvik7 – $17,850
3. Arnz18 – $12,375
4. PattyyBlouin – $9,525
5. CigarroBR – $7,275
6. 458854 – $5,325
7. Thayer “THAY3R” Rasmussen – 3,900
8. CeJeH – $3,150
9. Eddy Scharf- $2,400

FTOPS XVII Event #25: Stud
Buy-in: $200+16
Entrants: 446
Prize Pool: $100,000

1. bugstud – $23,700
2. Peelfresh – $15,700
3. Jonah – $11,000
4. Bukovel75 – $6,800
5. Akromax – $4,200
6. _7_Kings_ – $2,900
7. pool_shark_10 – $2,200
8. WWallace – $1,500

August 13th – Daily Deal

Welcome to a Friday the thirteenth edition of the Daily Deal by Poker News Daily. It’s always been my lucky day! Today, Kentucky attorneys call out Party Gaming, EPT Tallinn breaks attendance records, and CryptoLogic’s CEO steps down amid fledgling financial figures. Try saying that three times fast. It’s all coming up… RIGHT AFTER THIS!

Hello, I’m Sean Gibson and welcome to the Daily Deal by Poker News Daily.

This week, Kentucky attorneys amended an existing lawsuit against Pocket Kings – the owners of Full Tilt Poker – to include Party Gaming. The amended complaint states that Party Gaming serviced Kentucky residents prior to two-thousand six, when it vacated the U.S. market after the passage of the UIGEA. Party Gaming is a publicly traded company on the London Stock Exchange and signed a non-prosecution agreement with the U.S. Government last year. One of its owners, Anurag Dikshit, pled guilty to violating the Wire Act in 2008 and will be sentenced later this year.

Interactive Media Entertainment and Gaming Association Chairman Joe Brennan called out Kentucky’s attorneys for amending the lawsuit right after Party Gaming announced intentions to merge with bwin: “This is a last minute ploy by the Commonwealth to try to force a settlement. I think they named Party because the company is engaged in a merger and they’re trying to use that to get money out of them. They’re probably trying to get Party to pay out some cash settlement. Party has been around for a while and nothing has changed other than they’re trying to undergo a merger.”

The European Poker Tour’s stop in Tallinn, Estonia drew four-hundred twenty players for the largest tournament in the history of the country. This is the first stop for the seventh season of the EPT, which will also head to Portugal, the United Kingdom, Austria, Spain, and the Czech Republic by year’s end. PokerStars sponsors the annual European tour, which saw pros like Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, Katja Thater, and Dario Minieri show up for the Tallinn Main Event.

Finally, online poker and casino software developer CryptoLogic announced on Thursday that CEO Bryan Hadfield has stepped down following a poor second quarter that resulted in record losses for the company. Hadfield, who took over the position in 2008, will be replaced by Chairman David Gavagan on an interim basis.

CryptoLogic posted a loss of twelve point seven million dollars in the second quarter after dropping three point two million in the prior quarter. Total revenue dove nearly 35% in part due to the collapse of its poker network, which was dissolved last year. Boss Media absorbed CryptoLogic’s sites, ending the company’s participation in the online poker market.

Well, that does is for this Friday edition of the daily deal and be sure to come back during the weekend for updates to our site as news breaks in the poker industry. I’ll be back Monday with an all new episode of The Daily Deal, and until then, have a GREAT poker weekend!

EPT Prague Champ Skampa Falls Short in Unibet Open Bid

Skampa strolled into the final table as the chip leader and Ojala one of the short stacks in the very same room Skampa won the PokerStars EPT Prague title this past December.

But following a massive three-way all-in that saw Ojala's ace-queen beat Michal Maryska's nines and Skampa's ace-king to send the Finn into heads up with a 3:1 chip lead over Nino Ryschawy, the title was soon his.

Once the dust settled, Ojala's sixes held against Ryschawy's ace-jack and the €157,000 first-place prize suddenly belonged to Finland.

The Unibet Open Prague drew 424 players to the Golden Prague Poker Room at the Hilton Hotel.

A total of 350 qualified on Unibet.

Next up for the Unibet Open is a stop in Valencia, Spain Oct. 7-10.

Mads Wissing – Poker Player Profile

Denmark has given the world a Main Event winner already, when young Peter Eastgate won it in 2008; and a highly entertaining poker powerhouse in Gus Hansen, poker bad boy and favourite guest of televised poker shows. 2010 Main Event deep runner Mads Wissing could turn out to be a bit of both: an entertaining personality with an interesting life story and a good chance at the highest honor in poker.

The Danish player – who has been living in Spain for a few years now – plays mainly online poker, but breaks his routine a few times a year for live events, mainly those in the European Poker Tour.

Wissing started playing poker when he was in high school, and by the age of 17 he was joining “juicy” (his description) Five Card Draw games with restaurant and business owners. He got into Hold’em when his cousin won the Danish Championship in the most popular form of poker. Like most of his fellow Danes, Wissing was inspired to play more poker by Gus “The Great Dane” Hansen’s repeated World Poker Tour wins

2007 was a good year for Wissing, who won the Party Poker $300,000 tournament twice, along with the Scandinavian Open in Copenhagen. He started 2010 in style with a nice finish and cash at the EPT Copenhagen, and then Wissing decided to take his hot streak to the largest game in the world, where he made a deep run into the 2010 World Series of Poker Main Event.

At the time of writing, Wissing stands to win a minimum of $255,000 from the 2010 Main Event, eclipsing his current live winnings of $110,000. It remains to be seen if Mads Wissing will repeat Peter Eastgate’s 2008 feat, and become the second Dane to win the World Series of Poker’s most prestigious event. What is a fact is that Scandinavian players are no longer a running joke in the poker world.

PKR.com crowns its World Cup Champions

€2,750 Unibet Open Promo Starts Wednesday!

Carlos Mortensen, Marcel Luske to Play World Cup Heads-Up Match

Following the World Poker Tour (WPT) press conference on Saturday, two of poker’s biggest names will take part in a World Cup prop bet that will end with the loser hanging his head in shame for a day.

Spain’s Carlos Mortensen will play a heads-up match against Marcel Luske of the Netherlands in the Bellagio’s Monet Ballroom one day before the World Cup final game between each player’s home country. The loser will wear the jersey of the winning player’s country as they watch the World Cup final together on Sunday morning prior to the start of Bellagio Cup VI. Then, they’ll keep the winner’s jersey on throughout Day 1 of the tournament. Sunday’s World Cup final between the Netherlands and Spain kicks off at 2:30pm ET, with the Bellagio Cup starting later in the day.

The heads-up event is open to the public and can be seen live via Ustream through a dedicated link that will be posted on WorldPokerTour.com. Updates will be on Twitter throughout the contest and video highlights will be available on YouTube.com and on WPT’s website at the conclusion of the match.

Mortensen and Luske were both eliminated from the World Series of Poker Main Event and will shift their focus fully toward the Bellagio Cup following Sunday’s game. Mortensen had three cashes at the WSOP this year, including a sixth place finish in the $10,000 HORSE Championship for $102,237. Luske, meanwhile, played only a handful of events at the Rio and had one cash, a 22nd place finish in the $1,500 Limit Hold’em Shootout.

Luske, who updates his Twitter account frequently, expressed his disappointment following his elimination from the Main Event: “there is always a reason 4things, busted from the main, back in the bellagio, like being home earlier than expected… lol gl 2 the survivors.”

The Bellagio Cup is the fourth stop on Season 9 of the WPT and will run from July 11th to the 15th. The final table will take place Thursday, July 15th, one day earlier than the initially scheduled, inside the Bellagio Fontana Lounge beginning at 4:00pm PT. Last year, Brazil’s Alex Gomes bested a field of 268 players to collect $1.1 million. The final table was one of the best the WPT has ever seen, consisting of pros Erik Seidel, Justin “Boosted J” Smith, Alec Torelli, Faraz Jaka, and Christopher Sonessen. The other two winners of the Bellagio Cup were Kevin “BeL0WaB0Ve” Saul (2008) and Mike “SirWatts” Watson (2009).

Among the topics discussed at Saturday’s WPT press conference will be the addition of a new female on-air talent, added tour attractions, and new additions to the television production.

PokerStars Licensed by ARJEL to Operate in France

After not being included on the original list of operators, PokerStars has earned a license to be able to operate an online poker site in France.

It was announced on Tuesday that ARJEL (Autorité de Régulation des Jeux En Ligne, or the Authority of Regulation of Online Games), the French organization that is in charge of the country’s new online gaming operations, delivered License Number 0006-PO-2010-06-25 to the owners of PokerStars. This license grants the world’s largest online poker site the ability to begin offering poker to French residents, which started yesterday at PokerStars.fr.

PokerStars did not jump into the licensing frenzy from the start, deciding to wait to see what the process entailed. Once it was comfortable with the procedures, PokerStars submitted its application on May 19th and was able to meet all of the stringent ARJEL license requirements. Although PokerStars is now available for French customers, there are some restrictions on online poker in France.

As of now, PokerStars.fr will enable French players initially to play free money tournaments and sit and gos. PokerStars.fr will begin running cash games once the regulations of the French government for online poker have been published, which is expected to happen at any time.

“PokerStars.fr aims to be one of the leading online poker operators from the day the French market opens,” PokerStars French Country Manager Alexandre Balkany stated during the announcement. “We plan on offering players the best tournaments, promotions, and opportunities to win seats at PokerStars’ world renowned international tournaments.”

PokerStars will also benefit from having some of the biggest names in French poker as a part of its pro squad. Led by Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier, PokerStars also has top French players Arnaud Mattern and Thomas Bichon on the roster. French rugby star Sebastian Chabal and tennis pro Gaels Monfils are also ambassadors for the online poker site.

“Players on PokerStars.fr will have fantastic new opportunities, not only to play online, but to win seats to famous international poker events like the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour and the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas,” Grospellier said. “These tournaments require players to have the right mix of skill, training, and concentration, and PokerStars.fr will be the perfect place for players to work on that.”

The new PokerStars.fr should only add to the European Poker Tour (EPT) fields, including the popular stop in Deauville, France. The EPT recently announced its 12-stop 2010-2011 schedule, which includes the French tournament as well as events in Spain, Portugal, and Germany, all of which count France as a border country. The EPT begins its seventh season in August with a tournament in Talinn, Estonia.

It has been a tumultuous 2010 for French customers looking for action online, be it sports betting, horse racing, or poker. After operating a state run monopoly on online gaming for almost three years, France made the decision in April to pass a law through the French Parliament to allow regulated online gaming. It created ARJEL to regulate the industry and opened its doors to operators, with the proviso that they adhere to the stringent guidelines of ARJEL.

Prior to the start of the 2010 World Cup, ARJEL released several licenses to the ownership groups behind such top online poker outlets as Everest Poker, bwin, and BetClic. With the most recent release of licenses, PokerStars is one of the first major companies to have been granted one. Other lucky license holders include Gaming Iliad SAS (Chilipoker.fr), Partouche Gaming France SAS (Partouche.fr), and Electraworks SAS (PartyPoker.fr). Sportingbet, Betfair, and William Hill have not applied for licenses and have restricted access to French customers. Microgaming’s application has not yet been approved.

ESPN: No Decision Made Whether to Broadcast NAPT Los Angeles

In 146 days, the fourth stop on the PokerStars North American Poker Tour (NAPT) will pan out from the Bicycle Casino in Los Angeles. The tournament, which kicks off on November 12th, will crown a champ five days later. Still undecided is whether ESPN, which aired NAPT action from the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, Venetian, and Mohegan Sun, will also broadcast the Bicycle Casino event.

An ESPN representative told Poker News Daily, “There is nothing in the works yet, but our programming team expects to meet with PokerStars on possibilities.” At the time of writing, no decision has been passed down as to whether NAPT Los Angeles will air on the cable giant, which carries related programming like the World Series of Poker (WSOP) and WSOP Europe every year.

The five-day Main Event in Los Angeles will carry a $5,000 buy-in, the same price tag as other U.S.-based NAPT stops. Despite potentially not having television coverage, a representative of The Bike commented in a press release distributed by PokerStars, “We are very enthusiastic to secure the West Coast tour stop. We clearly recognize the NAPT as the next major happening in the evolution of poker and we have no doubt this tour will entice and attract players from all over the world.”

Three months prior to the NAPT’s arrival at The Bike, the storied card room will host the annual World Poker Tour (WPT) Legends of Poker. The 2010 running of the WPT Legends of Poker is slated for August 20th to 25th, but in a new twist, the event will come with a $5,200 buy-in, one of the cheapest on the WPT schedule. Meanwhile, NAPT officials are expecting a sellout at The Bike, which drew 279 players for its 2009 Legends of Poker event.

In April and May, ESPN aired action from the NAPT Venetian High Roller Bounty Shootout and Main Event, Mohegan Sun High Roller Bounty Shootout and Main Event, and PokerStars Caribbean Adventure High Roller tournament. A total of 10 hours of NAPT coverage aired, hosted by longtime ESPN poker faces Lon McEachern and Norman Chad.

Harrison Gimbel won a record-setting PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Main Event in the Bahamas, collecting $2.2 million. Back on U.S. soil, the inaugural NAPT Venetian Main Event drew 872 players and Tom “kingsofcards” Marchese emerged victorious and banked $827,000. Then, 21 year-old Ashton Griffin landed in the top spot in the High Roller Event at the Las Vegas Strip casino for $560,000.

The NAPT then traveled to Mohegan Sun in Connecticut in April, where Yale law student Vanessa Selbst defeated over 700 players for the title. In addition, more than 20 countries were represented. Finally, Team PokerStars Pro member Jason Mercier brought home the High Roller title at Mohegan Sun for $475,000. The victory marked Mercier’s second High Roller title at a PokerStars sponsored event in two years.

In addition to the NAPT, PokerStars, the world’s largest online poker site, also manages the European Poker Tour (EPT), Latin American Poker Tour (LAPT), Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT), Australia New Zealand Poker Tour (ANZPT), U.K. and Ireland Poker Tour (UKIPT), Czech-Slovak Poker Tour (CSPT), Italian Poker Tour (IPT), and poker series in Russia, Spain, and France. Its “Big Game” cash game franchise can be seen nightly during the week on Fox.

According to Pokerati, the future of NAPT stops in Las Vegas appears to be in doubt due to the involvement of PokerStars. Other alternative landing spots for the NAPT include Chicago, Tunica, Biloxi, Atlantic City, and St. Louis. The latter is home to PokerStars pro Dennis Phillips and features Harrah’s, Isle of Capri, and Lumiere Place. Also potentially on tap is an NAPT stop in Canada.

OnGame Network launches new live tour

Beach Volleyball Champions Jennifer Kessy and April Ross Sign with Bodog.net

In last weekend’s running of the Huntington Beach Open beach volleyball extravaganza, Jennifer Kessy and April Ross defeated Misty May-Treanor and Nicole Branagh for the title. May-Treanor is an Olympic gold medalist, while Kessy and Ross are the newest sponsored sports icons of Bodog.net.

The pair was actually signed to Bodog.net before the Huntington Beach Open in California began, adding an extra dose of exposure for the popular play money online poker site. The duo has been wildly successful, winning seven gold Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) medals, five silver medals, and three bronze medals. In Norway, Kessy and Ross took down the FIVB World Championship title, going 8-0 down the stretch en route to victory.

Kessy received the honor of the Association of Volleyball Professionals (AVP) Best of the Beach in 2008 and 2009 and both players are graduates of the University of Southern California, home of the Trojans. Kessy was an All-Pac 10 pick from 1995 to 1998 and Ross was a first team All-American in back-to-back years. Kessy and Ross have had success in the United States and around the world, taking down five AVP tour championships and winning events in France and Thailand, among other locales.

Text found on Bodog’s website details where the team stands in the 2010 season: “The 2010 professional beach volleyball season is still young, but two FIVB gold medals and one bronze – earned at last weekend’s US $190,000 Crown Seoul Open for women in a come-from-behind victory over Brazil’s Maria Antonelli and Talita Antunes, 15-21, 22-20, 15-8 – have catapulted Kessy and Ross into the top spot.”

According to FIVB, Kessy and Ross are #1 in the World Tour rankings and have nearly $100,000 in earnings this season. Their competition near the top of the pack includes Brazil’s Juliana Silva and Larissa Franca and Germany’s Sara Goller and Laura Ludwig. The pair is now camped out in Moscow for an FIVB beach volleyball event.

Beach volleyball has exploded in popularity in recent years, even becoming an Olympic sport in 1996 in Atlanta. It’s been predominantly Brazil and the United States atop the medal stand, as of the 24 medals awarded in beach volleyball at the Olympics, the two nations have claimed 16. Other countries that have captured titles in the sand-based sport include Canada, Germany, Spain, Switzerland, Australia, and China. The latter took the silver and bronze in women’s beach volleyball in Beijing.

Bodog.net is the play money arm of Bodog, which happily accepts players from the United States. The online poker site recently underwent a major overhaul in its sponsored pros, parting ways with Jean-Robert Bellande, Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo, and World Poker Tour (WPT) Championship winner David Williams only to add Amanda Musumeci, who won her way in through a site promotion.

If you think watching beach volleyball means four women in bikinis romping around in the sand for an hour, you’re not far from the truth. However, Bodog cautions, “Watching professional female athletes play beach volleyball is not at all like watching a pillow fight between four nearly naked girls, so you can wipe that image from your dirty mind. AVP and FIVB tournaments are hot, but in a physically grueling kind of way.” FIVB is the governing body of Olympic beach volleyball.

The Huntington Beach Open final aired on June 6th on ESPN2, the same network that carried coverage of the PokerStars North American Poker Tour (NAPT) and World Series of Poker (WSOP) Europe. Visit Bodog.net for more details.

WPT Spanish Championship Begins

A total of 134 players took their seats at Casino Barcelona for the first of two Day 1 flights after paying the €3,200+€300 buy-in.

Amongst the most notable participants were 2010's hottest player, Sorel Mizzi, the last woman standing at the 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event Leo Margets, and 2009 WSOP Main Event finalist Antoine Saout.

PartyPoker also sent more than 40 online qualifiers, 24 of whom are entitled to part of an extra $1 million promotional payout should one go on to win - $500,000 goes to the winner and $500,000 goes to the rest of the qualifiers in the field, no matter where they finísh.

Play wrapped Wednesday with 50 of the 134 Day 1a players still in the hunt.

Although Spain's Roberto Garcia Santiago holds the chip lead, Saout finds himself in the top ten in chips and Mizzi is in the middle of the pack.

The WPT Spanish Championship continues through May 23.