Poker News

It’s Viva Espana with Paradise Poker

The Paradise Poker Tour is heading to Spain in May and the sponsors are giving you the chance to join them at the Casino Gran Madrid.

Full Tilt Poker Series – Espana

Full Tilt Poker Series – Espana – four live tournaments with over €1 million in guaranteed prize money – excellent!

Full Tilt Poker Series, Espana kicks off in April at Casino Castell de Peralada in Gerona, Spain giving Full Tilt players the chance to pit their wits against the best poker players that Europe has to offer. The Prize Packages are worth $3,200 including buy in to the Main Event plus spending money.

Here are the fixtures for Full Tilt Poker Series – Espana:- (more…)

WPT Announces Barcelona Dates

Casino Barcelona will once again welcome the WPT back to Spain as the tour returns to crown a fourth WPT Spanish Champion.

The 2010 WPT Spanish Championship main event will go off May 19 featuring a €3,200+€300 buy-in.

"Casino Barcelona has been an incredible partner-- from player and partner servicing to tournament staff, their dedication to every detail is second to none," said WPT CEO Rohin Malhotra. "They will continue to be a key partner as we expand our presence in Spain and we are looking forward to this wonderful event."

Since its addition to the World Poker Tour in 2007, the Spanish Championship has drawn a host of top pros including Gus Hansen, Erik Seidel, Barry Greenstein, Antonio Esfandiari, Annette Obrestad, Ludovic Lacay and Steve Sung.

Previous winners include Markus Lehmann of Austria, Denmark 's Casper Hansen, and reigning WPT Spanish Champion, American Mark Randal Flowers.

A number of online qualifiers and land-based satellites, including super satellites on May 17 and 18, are already lined-up.

The next stop on the World Poker Tour is the L.A. Poker Classic main event set to begin Feb. 26.

 

Visit PokerListings.com

Carlos Mortensen Rejoins Full Tilt Poker

Rumors were swirling last week that Full Tilt Poker had added Carlos Mortensen to its roster of pros and, despite the lack of any official announcement, it does appear that "The Matador" is officially the newest sponsored player of the second largest online poker room.

Mortensen had actually been one of the more prominent Full Tilt pros in the past, but during the last couple of years, he was not attached to any online poker room.  He has recently been spotted playing Mixed games on Full Tilt with his name in red.  For those who have not seen him online yet, but want to see his fun avatar in which he is dressed as a matador, navigate to the Full Tilt Poker installation directory on your hard drive and drill down to the Graphics > Table > Avatars > Pro folder.  Mortensen is in folder #10.

In addition to being out of the online poker spotlight, Mortensen has also pared down his live tournament schedule in the last few years.  Since winning the $25,000 World Poker Tour (WPT) Championship for $3,970,415 in 2007, he has only had a dozen recorded cashes, half of which were in the last two runnings of the World Series of Poker (WSOP).  He had two cashes in January, including a final table in the $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha event at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, so perhaps that and his reunion with Full Tilt indicate that he is starting to play more again.

The 38 year old Mortensen – whose real name is actually Juan Carlos – won the 2001 WSOP Main Event and is still the only player of Hispanic origin to win the cherished title.  He is also the only player to have won both the WSOP and WPT Championships, a distinction that will be very difficult for anyone to match.  All told, Mortensen has two WSOP bracelets and two WPT titles.  With $8,894,713 in career live tournament winnings, he ranks 13th on the all-time money list.

Mortensen was born in Ecuador to a Danish father and Spanish mother and moved to Spain when he was 15 years old.  He got his start in poker in 1997 when some people started playing at the club that he worked at.  He was invited to sit down and promptly lost $100.  Frustrated, he mulled over his mistakes all night, went back the next day, and doubled his money.  After winning for a few more days, he decided to play poker for a living.

He cashed in a WSOP event for the first time in 2000 and, in 2001, decided to to the United States.  It was that year that he finally established himself as a force to be reckoned with in the poker world, first winning $116,722 in the $300 Limit Hold'em event at the L.A. Poker Classic and following that up a few months later with his WSOP Main Event victory.

Represent your Country and Challenge the World with Titan

This is the biggest ever challenge Titan Poker has ever presented to its players. Titan Poker is giving YOU the opportunity to represent your Country at an international level as the 5 best players worldwide are awarded a $13,000 prize package to the World Series of Poker Main Event 2010 (WSOP 2010) in Las Vegas, USA!!

There are 2 rounds of weekly tournaments where there will be 1 Tournament per group

• Round 1 tournaments are running now until 7th March 2010 with the buy ins at $5.50
• Round 2 tournaments run from 14th March until 2nd May with the buy ins at $11

The top 200 players – as per players per group set out below – will qualify for the final 8 tournaments and the top 5 players on the final *leaderboard will win the $13,000 Main Event 2010 packages! Excellent work!

Group	Qualify
Americas (not USA)	10
Australia/NZ	10
France	25
Germany	25
Italy	20
Netherlands/Belgium	10
Romania	10
Russia	20
Scandinavia	20
Spain	20
United kingdom	20

This is an unmissable opportunity for Titan players to get on the road to WSOP 2010 – right now!

If you are new to Titan sign up NOW using the Titan Poker Bonus Code VIPTITAN to receive an unbeatable 1st time sign up package we have negotiated on your behalf. Take a look at our Titan Poker review for an up to date view of what’s occurring at Titan Poker including ECPT Barcelona 2010 and New Year promo $2010.

*It’s so easy to check where you stand on the leaderboard, just a click on the website will show you

Rush Poker Player Reactions

"Online poker on steroids." That's how one TwoPlusTwo poster described Rush Poker, the newest spectacle introduced by Full Tilt Poker that has action junkies drooling over a fast-paced format we've never seen before.

Full Tilt, the world's second largest online poker site, launched Rush Poker in its latest software update on Tuesday. The concept is this: Players join a large player pool in a ring game and face a different table of players every hand they play. As soon as they fold their hand, they'll be moved to another table for their next hand.

The player response thus far has been overwhelming.

"Hats off to Full Tilt, the update is awesome," said TwoPlusTwo forum poster Robusto1. "PokerStars should take notes. FTP has taken a risk deviating away from the norm and I'm sure it will pay off. Now that the two sites aren't as homogeneous they might start competing on price (rake)."

"I think it's amazing," added another TwoPlusTwo member. "It's like FTP found a way to turn what would be semi competent players and turn them into complete donkaholics. I played $25NL and it felt like I was playing on PartyPoker back in the day. I never got paid off more with my big hands. Villains were pushing all-in on complete bluffs when I had full houses, calling me down with mid pair. Plus I get rakeback so it's like a wet dream."

Rakeback seems to be a leading reason as to the popularity of the new concept. Both rakeback and Full Tilt Points (FTPs) are calculated the same as they would in a regular ring game, but players will play far more hands at a table of Rush Poker. On average, players will see around 300 hands per hour.

In a poll on TwoPlusTwo asking if members like FTP's Rush Poker, 72% of poll takers said "Yes" through 700 votes. While most agreed that the new concept is enjoyable, many questioned whether it is good for the game.

"It's more like video poker in my view than normal poker," said TheGaussBeast. "No reads, no table dynamic. Furthermore, playing you get into gambling mode. I am susceptible to this as I suppose many, but not all players are. You are clicking away getting that mental stimulation that is akin to slots. You can take your time, but will you?"

"I don't like it for these reasons. Moreover, I am concerned that this is exactly where the fish will go. To the rush tables to gamble it up, leaving a bunch of regulars to fight and grind it out at the normal tables."

TwoPlusTwo member StoneRoses agreed: "What good is finding a read on a player if you don't seem him for another 20 minutes? This, if anything, promotes ABC poker in my opinion, no player specific plays just standard lines non-stop."

Full Tilt Red Pro and CardRunners instructor Taylor "Green Plastic" Caby weighed in with his opinions, addressing both ends of the spectrum: "I actually think the Rush games will benefit thinking players. The 35 big blind buy-in makes short stacking harder, the lack of HUD (heads up display) might even more than make up for the fact that you can't get 'traditional' reads on players."

"Yeah, I don't know if a guy historically opens light on the cutoff or what his cold-four-betting range is," Caby continued, "but I do know he's from Spain, bought in for 41 big blinds, and his FTP name is FelipeIvey1948 -- I'd like to think I have a pretty good idea what he's all about."

"In sum, I don't think these games will become more popular than regular poker, but there are a lot of reasons why I think it's good for sites to experiment with stuff like this in order to offer a more options for their customers."

Rush Poker Player Reactions

"Online poker on steroids." That's how one TwoPlusTwo poster described Rush Poker, the newest spectacle introduced by Full Tilt Poker that has action junkies drooling over a fast-paced format we've never seen before.

Full Tilt, the world's second largest online poker site, launched Rush Poker in its latest software update on Tuesday. The concept is this: Players join a large player pool in a ring game and face a different table of players every hand they play. As soon as they fold their hand, they'll be moved to another table for their next hand.

The player response thus far has been overwhelming.

"Hats off to Full Tilt, the update is awesome," said TwoPlusTwo forum poster Robusto1. "PokerStars should take notes. FTP has taken a risk deviating away from the norm and I'm sure it will pay off. Now that the two sites aren't as homogeneous they might start competing on price (rake)."

"I think it's amazing," added another TwoPlusTwo member. "It's like FTP found a way to turn what would be semi competent players and turn them into complete donkaholics. I played $25NL and it felt like I was playing on PartyPoker back in the day. I never got paid off more with my big hands. Villains were pushing all-in on complete bluffs when I had full houses, calling me down with mid pair. Plus I get rakeback so it's like a wet dream."

Rakeback seems to be a leading reason as to the popularity of the new concept. Both rakeback and Full Tilt Points (FTPs) are calculated the same as they would in a regular ring game, but players will play far more hands at a table of Rush Poker. On average, players will see around 300 hands per hour.

In a poll on TwoPlusTwo asking if members like FTP's Rush Poker, 72% of poll takers said "Yes" through 700 votes. While most agreed that the new concept is enjoyable, many questioned whether it is good for the game.

"It's more like video poker in my view than normal poker," said TheGaussBeast. "No reads, no table dynamic. Furthermore, playing you get into gambling mode. I am susceptible to this as I suppose many, but not all players are. You are clicking away getting that mental stimulation that is akin to slots. You can take your time, but will you?"

"I don't like it for these reasons. Moreover, I am concerned that this is exactly where the fish will go. To the rush tables to gamble it up, leaving a bunch of regulars to fight and grind it out at the normal tables."

TwoPlusTwo member StoneRoses agreed: "What good is finding a read on a player if you don't seem him for another 20 minutes? This, if anything, promotes ABC poker in my opinion, no player specific plays just standard lines non-stop."

Full Tilt Red Pro and CardRunners instructor Taylor "Green Plastic" Caby weighed in with his opinions, addressing both ends of the spectrum: "I actually think the Rush games will benefit thinking players. The 35 big blind buy-in makes short stacking harder, the lack of HUD (heads up display) might even more than make up for the fact that you can't get 'traditional' reads on players."

"Yeah, I don't know if a guy historically opens light on the cutoff or what his cold-four-betting range is," Caby continued, "but I do know he's from Spain, bought in for 41 big blinds, and his FTP name is FelipeIvey1948 -- I'd like to think I have a pretty good idea what he's all about."

"In sum, I don't think these games will become more popular than regular poker, but there are a lot of reasons why I think it's good for sites to experiment with stuff like this in order to offer a more options for their customers."

Everest Poker Announces Live the Dream Team

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Everest’s Live The Dream Winners Announced

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

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

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

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

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

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

Visit PokerListings.com

2010 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Main Event Payouts, Nationalities Announced

Although attendance at the 2010 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) out-paced last year’s tally by 13.5%, this year’s champion will earn a whopping $800,000 less. In 2009, Canadian poker player Poorya Nazari earned $3 million after defeating American Anthony Gregg heads-up.

Gregg took home $1.7 million, while Benjamin Spindler boosted his bankroll by $1.1 million for third place. Nazari, Gregg, and Spindler were the only three players to cross the seven-figure threshold. This year, the top four finishers in the PCA Main Event will earn at least $1 million, with first place taking home $2.2 million, second place earning $1.75 million, third place grabbing $1.35 million, and fourth place realizing an even $1 million.

In 2010, the top 199 players out of the 1,347-player field, or 14.8%, finished in the money. This time around, 224 out of 1,529 players will take home a cash prize, or a similar 14.7%. The top four players will bank $6.3 million, or 42.6% of the total prize pool of $14.8 million this year. During the 2009 PCA Main Event, the top four earned $6.55 million, or nearly 52% of the prize pool. This year, the more even structure means that the top prize will shrink by 26.7% despite the larger turnout.

Here’s a look at what’s at stake in the 2010 PCA Main Event:

1st Place: $2,200,000
2nd Place: $1,750,000
3rd Place: $1,350,000
4th Place: $1,000,000
5th Place: $700,000
6th Place: $450,000
7th Place: $300,000
8th Place: $201,300
9th to 10th Places: $150,000
11th to 12th Places: $130,000
13th to 14th Places: $115,000
15th to 16th Places: $100,000
17th to 20th Places: $87,500
21st to 24th Places: $75,000
25th to 32nd Places: $66,000
33rd to 40th Places: $59,000
41st to 48th Places: $52,000
49th to 56th Places: $45,000
57th to 64th Places: $38,000
65th to 72nd Places: $33,000
73rd to 80th Places: $28,000
81st to 88th Places: $23,500
89th to 96th Places: $23,500
97th to 104th Places: $23,500
105th to 112th Places: $23,500
113th to 120th Places: $20,000
121st to 128th Places: $20,000
129th to 136th Places: $20,000
137th to 144th Places: $20,000
145th to 152nd Places: $17,500
153rd to 160th Places: $17,500
161st to 168th Places: $17,500
169th to 176th Places: $17,500
177th to 184th Places: $15,000
185th to 192nd Places: $15,000
193rd to 200th Places: $15,000
201st to 208th Places: $15,000
209th to 216th Places: $15,000
217th to 224th Places: $15,000

Also revealed by PokerStars officials were the nationalities of the 1,529 entrants, who hailed from 57 countries around the world. A total of 739 players hailed from the United States, or 48%, with Canada being the next most represented country at 164. Other nations that sent players to compete in the 2010 PCA Main Event included Germany (100 players), the Netherlands (60), United Kingdom (56), France (44), Brazil (37), Spain (27), Sweden (27), Argentina (21), and Italy (21).

Although six entrants were from unknown lands, curiously absent from the list of countries represented was the Bahamas, the host nation of the annual PCA, which pans out at the Atlantis Resort and Casino in Nassau. Nearby countries represented in the $10,000 buy-in poker tournament included the U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Turks and Caicos, and Bermuda.

The PCA Main Event field numbered 62 when it entered Day 4 play on Saturday, with the action continuing until 24 players remained. As of 6:45pm ET, online poker pro Ryan “g0lfa” D’Angelo led the way with a stack of six million chips, comfortably ahead of European Poker Tour (EPT) founder John Duthie’s 4.6 million.

An Online Qualifier Takes Down Day 1A of the PCA

Total of 668 players started the first part of the first day of the tournament, all with 30,000 chips. Wayne Bentley, a PokerStars qualifier from the UK, had a nice start, when after just ten minutes of play he found pocket aces and ran them into pocket kings for a doubled up.

At the end of the day Bentley (pictured) had managed to build a huge stack of 329,500 chips - almost 11 times the amount he started with. Bentley’s chip lead is quire significant as his nearest challenger, an accomplished tournament pro Amnon Filippi, ended the day with around 220,000 chips in his stack.

Kevin Saul, who made to the final table last year at the PCA, ended the day third in chips. Erich Froehlich, two-time bracelet winner, who once was the youngest bracelet winner of all time, and November Nine 2009 member Eric Buchman also had a good day, finishing 4th and 6th respectively.

Daniel Negreanu also fared well, as he just missed the top ten by ranking 12th, and he comments in his blog that he felt his table was “kind of juicy, with no real pros to speak of and no young online phenoms to deal with”. He felt like his table was very passive and because of that Negreanu was playing more aggressively than he normally does.

Here is the top top of the day 1A of PCA:

1. Wayne Bentley UK 329500
2. Amnon Filippi USA  220100
3. Kevin Saul USA 175500
4. Eric Froehlich USA 166000
5. Dustin Dorrance-Bowman USA 163700
6. Eric Buchman USA 159100
7. Gardar Geir Hauksson Iceland 138900
8. Jacob S Avital USA 137700
9. Christian Schwarz Spain 133200
10. Rafal Michalowski USA 129300

Source: pokerstarsblog, negreanublog

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An Online Qualifier Takes Down Day 1A of the PCA

Kevin Saul, Amnon Filippi Among PCA Day 1A Leaders

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Titan Poker to Award 2010 WSOP Main Event Seats in World Challenge

It may be over six months away, but Titan Poker is getting players warmed up to battle for their chance to participate in the 2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event.

In one of its biggest promotions ever, Titan Poker is offering the World Challenge 2010. The promotion is a series of tournaments broken down into 12 different regions of the world that will eventually award five players a $13,000 package to play in the 2010 WSOP Main Event. Only a certain number of qualifiers from each region will be eligible to participate in the final round of tournaments, where the five seats to the 2010 WSOP Main Event will be doled out.

With its start on Monday, Titan Poker is giving players the opportunity to “Represent Your Country and Challenge the World.” The second tournament of First Round qualification will be on January 10th, with the remainder of the First Round events held each week afterwards. The 12 regions are broken down as such and remember, Titan Poker does not accept players from the United States:

Americas: 10 qualifiers
Australia and New Zealand: 10 qualifiers
France: 25 qualifiers
Germany: 25 qualifiers
Italy: 25 qualifiers
Netherlands and Belgium: 10 qualifiers
Open Qualifiers: 10 qualifiers
Romania: 10 qualifiers
Russia: 20 qualifiers
Scandinavia: 20 qualifiers
Spain: 20 qualifiers
United Kingdom: 20 qualifiers

A series of 10 tournaments for each of the 12 regions, with a buy in of $5+$.50, will be held until March 7th for players to battle their way to the top of the regional leaderboards. Each tournament offers points for participation and finishing at the final table. The Second Round series of eight tournaments, with a buy in of $10+$1, begins on March 14th and lasts until May 2nd. The points for that segment of the series will be worth double the First Round set of tournaments.

After the completion of the Second Round series of tournaments, the regional leaderboards will be completed and the top players will be confirmed. The 200 qualifiers from the 12 regions will then embark on a set of eight tournaments from May 16th to May 30th, called the Final Round and with a buy in of $15+$1.50. Points once again will be awarded for participation and finishing at the final table. The top five finishers in points in the Final Round, regardless of regional affiliation, will earn their 2010 WSOP Main Event package.

The Titan Poker World Challenge 2010 kicked off yesterday, with over 400 players competing. Titan Poker is keeping close track of the action, with complete leaderboards for each region on the Titan Poker website and weekly newsletters sent to each Titan Poker member. While there has been a tournament completed in the First Round, there is still time for players to get in on the action without being too far behind.

The Titan Poker World Challenge 2010 is going to be the largest promotion on Titan Poker in the first half of 2010 and should draw some of the best competition from around the world. With the chance to be in Las Vegas for the 2010 WSOP Main Event for five skillful players, there should be tremendous action on the virtual tables at Titan Poker.

Everest Poker Offers Players a Chance to Live the Dream

Popular poker room Everest Poker is aiming to kick off 2010 in style with the second installment of its Live the Dream promotion.  The contest gives qualifiers the chance to compete for one of ten sponsorship deals worth over $100,000.

Players could qualify for the event in one of three ways: tournament leaderboard races, cash game loyalty points races, or by direct-entry tournaments open to various countries.  The qualifying process is now over, but more than 200 players advanced to the next round of the promotion’s process.

The qualifiers are now being reviewed by Everest Poker staff to assess their poker skills, viability as a sponsored representative of the site, and popularity among the users of Everest Poker.  Players set up profiles on Everest Poker’s official website and others are able to view and vote on their favorite players.  Of the 200 plus qualifying players, 58 hailed from France, while Germany posted the second largest number of players with 29.  Other countries represented in the contest include Hungary, Japan, Brazil, Italy, Portugal, Britain, and Sweden.

The next step for qualifiers is to meet the Everest Poker staff in person.  Qualifiers will travel to the Palais Auersberg in Vienna, Austria for the final step before the top ten winners are selected.  Players who travel to Austria will be divided into two groups.  Group A begins the first day with five-minute taped interviews.  While players wait to be interviewed, they will be playing each other in cash games.  Meanwhile, Group B will play in sit and go tournaments.  After a brief break for lunch, the two groups will switch tasks.  At the end of the day, most of the players will be dismissed, but the top 20 will be asked to come back Sunday for an even more intensive interview process.

The top 20 will take part in 20-minute long interviews that will be reviewed by both Everest Poker staff and a panel of industry judges.  The top ten winners will be announced after dinner and will commence their year-long affiliation with the site with an official press conference.  As part of their deal, players will receive more than $30,000 to cover travel expenses as they travel the international poker circuit.  All ten of the players are set to take part in a number of tournaments, including the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event.

The first Living the Dream contest took part in 2008.  Some of the promotional winners included Steven van Zadlehoff of the Netherlands, Voitto Rintala of Finland, and Pablo Ubierna of Spain.  Prior to winning the Living the Dream promotion, Van Zadlehoff was already beginning to establish himself as a skilled poker player with a seventh place finish at the World Poker Tour (WPT) Spanish Championship in 2007 and an 11th place finish at the first annual WSOP Europe.  He also has five WSOP cashes to his credit.

Van Zadlehoff commented on his Live the Dream experience on Everest Poker’s official site.  ”If you get sent to the rails, you just look ahead to the next tournament and your next win. Live The Dream built more than my bankroll. It built my career,” he extolled.  Ubierna and Rintala echoed the sentiments, with all three agreeing that Live the Dream was a life changing and career-making opportunity.

Poker News in Brief: Nov. 30-Dec. 6, 2009

With all that quality front page poker news there were a number of stories that almost fell through the cracks here at PL.com.

Fortunately, we publish our Poker News in Brief feature every Sunday and we’re going to recount some of the lesser-known stories below.

This week we’ll take a look at the original WSOP location shutting down its hotel, an Australian going back-to-back at the APPT High Roller’s event, a UB Poker pro winning a side event at Bellagio and more.

Binions Hotel Shuts Doors

Binions Gambling Hall & Hotel, the original location of the World Series of Poker, will be shutting down the hotel component of the business, according to a statement from owners this week.

Lisa Robinson, a spokesperson for Owners TLC Casino Enterprises, told the Associated Press the decision was made to keep the rest of the property operational.

She went on to say the facility was heavily affected by the economic downturn and the hotel rooms were no longer competitive.

The casino and legendary poker room will remain in business.

The property was originally known as Binion’s Horseshoe and it was there that Benny Binion conceived the WSOP.

The WSOP brand was sold to Harrah’s in 2004 and the next year the tournament was moved to the Rio All-Suites Hotel.

Graham goes back to back at APPT Sydney High Rollers Event

Jarred Graham pulled off an unlikely repeat performance as the APPT Sydney High Roller champion this week.

The young Australian outlasted 26 players including notables Jeff Lisandro, David Steicke and Terrence Chan to take down the $156,000 (AUD) first place prize.

This is the second year the $15,300 (AUD) buy-in event has been held and last year was actually more difficult for Graham, as he had to beat 36 players.

Graham now has life-time tournament earnings of $468,602, which puts him 21^st on the Australian all-time money list.

PartyGaming Wins Poker Operator of the Year

PartyPoker won Poker Operator of the Year honors at the eGaming Review Awards (EGR) in London this week.

An independent judging panel recognized that PartyPoker had made the most headway in the real-money poker sector over the last year. The judges were looking at originality, growth, scale, usability, payment processing and marketing.

Other notable poker winners included PKR for Best Online Marketing Campaign with special mentions to Betfair for Mobile Gaming Operator and ChiliPoker for Rising Star of the Year.

Russian Takes European Masters of Poker Slovenia

A Russian stole the show at the Slovenia leg of the second season of the European Masters of Poker this week.

Vladimir Mefodichev outlasted 252 opponents to take down the €58,190 first place prize in the three-day event.

The €1,000 buy-in event drew players from across the globe and the final table had players from Denmark, Russia, Israel, Sweden, France and Romania.

The European Masters of Poker now heads to Casino Las Canaria, Spain for the next tournament, which takes place Jan. 28-31.

Michael Binger Wins Five Diamond Side-Event

UB sponsored pro Michael Binger added yet another side event title at the 2009 Bellagio Five Diamond series this week.

Binger outlasted 127 players to win the $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em event for $124,160.

Since bursting onto the poker scene with a third place finish in the 2006 WSOP Main Event for $4.1 million, Binger has taken down the 2008 WSOPC Lake Tahoe title for $181,379 and side events at the L.A. Poker Classic and Five Star World Poker Classic.

Adding in numerous cashes from around the globe, Binger has slightly more than $6.2 million in lifetime tournament earnings.

Power Hours on UB, Absolute Poker

Absolute Poker and UB players now have opportunity to earn twice the frequent player points during certain times.

Starting this week both sites will offer Power Hours from Monday-Saturday between the hours of 1-4 a.m. ET and 1-4 p.m. PT where players will earn twice the UB or AP points. The promotion is open to both tournament and cash-game players.

On Sunday, all players can earn double points between the hours of 1-4 a.m. ET with a special 1-5 p.m. ET session just for cash game players.

Players do not need to sign up and the points will simply be added to their account balance.

Full Tilt Signs Jani Vilmunen

It appears that Full Tilt Poker has signed Jani “KObyTAPOUT” Vilmunen as their latest red pro.

At the start of the week, the Finnish PLO-expert was still playing by his KObyTAPOUT alias but by mid-week a red Jani Vilmunen showed up at the tables on Full Tilt.

Vilmunen is most well-known as a fierce high stakes online cash game player, but he’s also had success in tournaments. Vilmunen won the Pot-Limit Omaha event at the WSOPE this fall for $336,396 and he also won the $2,100 PLO Six-Max WCOOP event on PokerStars for $172,140.

Full Tilt has yet to publicly confirm it has signed Vilmunen.

UB, Poker Player Magazine Hold Tournament for Armed Forces

Poker Player Magazine and UB Poker will host a freeroll this January to benefit those serving in the United States armed services.

All members of the armed forces, including veterans, are encouraged to participate, but the event is open to all players who would like to show their appreciation for men and women in uniform.

“This is a great event for everyone,” said Poker Pro Media Vice President Will Jordan, a former Marine. “But it is especially gratifying because we will be getting our servicemen and women involved. They deserve our gratitude, and this is just one small way to show it.”

The grand prize will be a $10,000 seat in the 2010 WSOP Main Event, along with $2,000 in expense money.

To sign up for the freeroll simply go to UB.com by Dec. 27 and use the promotion code PKRPRO.

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Juha Helppi Interview with Poker News Daily

This week, poker pro Juha Helppi will take to the felts of the Poker Million VIII final, a made-for-television event that will also feature players like Luke “FullFlush1” Schwartz, James Akenhead, Taylor “Green Plastic” Caby, Dag Martin Mikkelsen, and Peter Vasiliou. Poker News Daily sat down with Helppi to get his take on the festivities.

Poker News Daily: Talk about going up against the likes of Schwartz, Akenhead, and Caby in the Poker Million VIII.

Helppi: I have no problem playing against any of them. We are playing short-stack poker and I’m better at that anyway. They might have an advantage with deeper stacks, but the chip leader only has 39 big blinds.

PND: Talk about being a bit older than the rest of your opponents, some of whom are accomplished internet pros. Does that give you an edge?

Helppi: I have played a lot of these made-for-television events, so I might have a small advantage in that I know what I am doing. They’re not getting the better of me because I’ve played a lot of these. I’ve also played a lot of sit and gos online and know the strategy you need to win. I know they’ll be aggressive, but I’m not afraid.

PND: Whose game out there do you respect the most?

Helppi: Probably Phil Ivey if he tries to win. If he really tries, he’s good. In most events, he gambles to get a big stack, but if he gets a stack, he tries hard. If it doesn’t work out, then he just signs up for another event. That’s the way many pros go about it because the fields are so big.

PND: You’ve been involved in a variety of unique tournaments over the course of your career, including an underwater event and a tournament on ice. Which one stands out to you the most and why?

Helppi: The underwater one because it was the first time I went diving. We went 30 feet underwater, which isn’t that far, but my mask started filling with water and I had to empty it many times. It’s simple to do, but when I did it for the first time, it wasn’t too easy. I know they’ve held a few of those extreme events. It’s a lot of fun and it’s nice to have different types of poker tournaments.

PND: How did you get started in poker?

Helppi: I was working as a dealer, although not in poker, in small clubs. My colleagues played poker and I was beating them a bit in live games. I started playing online, but that was back in 1998 and there weren’t many games to choose from. It was all Limit Hold’em since No Limit Hold’em hadn’t become popular yet.

PND: When did you decide to turn pro? How did your friends and family react?

Helppi: I decided to turn pro after I won the World Poker Tour Aruba Poker Classic in 2002. I took a year off from work and decided to try it. It went well, although my mom wasn’t happy. My dad was, but now they are both okay with it.

PND: Tell us about your paintball career. Do you still play?

Helppi: I still play. Last year, we finished third in the national league and the two previous years, we won. I have five national championships total. We mostly play during the summer because during the winter, it’s impossible to play outside. We have indoor places where you can play too, but they’re small.

PND: Are there any aspects of paintball that translate over to poker?

Helppi: It’s a lot about strategy. You have to build a strategy and guess how the other team plays. You have to somehow get into other people’s heads and know what they’re thinking.

PND: Are there still noticeable differences in player quality between tournaments held in the U.S. and Europe?

Helppi: There are. Tournaments held in France, Spain, and Italy are really soft. There are a lot of really aggressive players and a lot of really tight players. They play either too tight or too loose. In tournaments in Europe, the average level of play has been a lot better in the last two or three years. There are also a lot of U.S. players in these tournaments nowadays.

Juha Helppi Interview with Poker News Daily

This week, poker pro Juha Helppi will take to the felts of the Poker Million VIII final, a made-for-television event that will also feature players like Luke “FullFlush1” Schwartz, 2009 World Series of Poker November Nine member James Akenhead, Taylor “Green Plastic” Caby, Dag Martin Mikkelsen, and Peter Vasiliou. Poker News Daily sat down with Helppi to get his take on the festivities.

Poker News Daily: Talk about going up against the likes of Schwartz, Akenhead, and Caby in the Poker Million VIII.

Helppi: I have no problem playing against any of them. We are playing short-stack poker and I’m better at that anyway. They might have an advantage with deeper stacks, but the chip leader only has 39 big blinds.

PND: Talk about being a bit older than the rest of your opponents, some of whom are accomplished internet pros. Does that give you an edge?

Helppi: I have played a lot of these made-for-television events, so I might have a small advantage in that I know what I am doing. They’re not getting the better of me because I’ve played a lot of these. I’ve also played a lot of sit and gos online and know the strategy you need to win. I know they’ll be aggressive, but I’m not afraid.

PND: Whose game out there do you respect the most?

Helppi: Probably Phil Ivey if he tries to win. If he really tries, he’s good. In most events, he gambles to get a big stack, but if he gets a stack, he tries hard. If it doesn’t work out, then he just signs up for another event. That’s the way many pros go about it because the fields are so large.

PND: You’ve been involved in a variety of unique tournaments over the course of your poker career, including an underwater event and a tournament on ice. Which one stands out to you the most and why?

Helppi: The underwater one because it was the first time I went diving. We went 30 feet underwater, which isn’t that far, but my mask started filling with water and I had to empty it many times. It’s simple to do, but when I did it for the first time, it wasn’t too easy. I know they’ve held a few more of those extreme events. They are a lot of fun and it’s nice to have different types of poker tournaments.

PND: How did you get started in poker?

Helppi: I was working as a dealer, although not in poker, in small clubs. My colleagues played poker and I was beating them a bit in live games. I started playing online, but that was back in 1998 and there weren’t many games to choose from. It was all Limit Hold’em since No Limit Hold’em hadn’t become popular yet.

PND: When did you decide to turn pro? How did your friends and family react?

Helppi: I decided to turn pro after I won the World Poker Tour Aruba Poker Classic in 2002. I took a year off from work and decided to try it. It went well, although my mom wasn’t happy. My dad was, but now they are both okay with it.

PND: Tell us about your paintball career. Do you still play?

Helppi: I still play. Last year, we finished third in the national league and the two previous years, we won. I have five national championships total. We mostly play during the summer because during the winter, it’s impossible to play outside. We have indoor places where you can play too, but they’re small.

PND: Are there any aspects of paintball that translate over to poker?

Helppi: It’s all about strategy. You have to build a strategy and guess how the other team plays. You have to somehow get into other people’s heads and know what they’re thinking.

PND: Are there still noticeable differences in player quality between tournaments held in the U.S. and Europe?

Helppi: There are. Tournaments held in France, Spain, and Italy are really soft. There are a lot of really aggressive players and a lot of really tight players. They play either too tight or too loose. In tournaments in Europe, the average level of play has been a lot better in the last two or three years. There are also a lot of U.S. players in these tournaments nowadays.

An Inconvenient Truth of the Poker Industry

With the upcoming Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen next week, the topic of the environment has never been hotter.

The common assumption is poker players know how to protect a stack of chips and think of little else, let alone the environment.

In most cases, that may be not far from the truth, but should it be?

With the growing threat of global warming and climate change, poker players are not exempt from having to care about the environmental consequences of their actions.

And if you’ve ever been around a major poker tournament, you know the poker community has room to move when it comes to reducing its environmental impact.

The Big Picture

With hundreds of major tournaments around the world, the poker industry is a prominent offender when it comes to greenhouse gas emissions.

Perhaps no more than any other travel or sports industry, but between flights, rental cars and straight-up energy consumption in casinos around the world, it’s safe to say there’s a surprising volume of negative environmental issues involved with simply playing cards.

Poker tournaments generate a large amount of waste. Disposable plates, food wrappers, cigarette butts, soda and water bottles are just the beginning.

Combine this with a lack of proper recycling programs in Las Vegas and most casinos around the world, and the landfills get a little larger with every one.

Of course, bringing a few thousand people to one location for any big event will likely create a similar amount of waste.

But that’s no excuse for poker players, according to Kristen Ostling, Communications Specialist in Climate Change for the world-renowned David Suzuki Foundation.

“This is the way of the future and not just for individuals,” said Ostling. “Businesses, organizations and individuals should all be looking at ways to reduce their carbon output. It’s also good for the bottom line in terms of dollars in most cases.”

Airline flights are among the fastest growing sources of global warming gases and air travel is a necessary evil on the world’s poker tours.

EPT Prague drew 555 players in 2007, but fewer than 20 actually resided in the Czech Republic. 

Even if every player were to fly from relatively close Barcelona, Spain to the event, almost 150 tons of carbon dioxide would be created.

Long-haul flights are one of the worst violators in terms of carbon emissions and a trip to Melbourne, Australia from North America for the Aussie Millions could conceivably use up an entire year of sustainable per-person emissions in just one flight.

“From a green perspective it’s good to do things online, but obviously sometimes you can’t beat face-to-face interaction,” Ostling said.  “The first thing a business has to do is make an assessment of what kind of environmental impact they are having.”

One suggestion Ostling has for the jet setting poker player is to buy carbon offsets to lessen the impact.

A carbon offset is essentially a certificate that represents a reduction of carbon emissions. Concerned individuals can buy a wide-variety of carbon offsets ranging from solar-power generators in India to reforestation or tree-planting in Ecuador.

Organizations like the World Wildlife Fund and the David Suzuki Foundation offer comprehensive guides on buying carbon offsets and buying enough could make it possible for even a well-travelled poker pro to achieve carbon neutrality.

The View from the Poker Industry

It’s impossible to consider the environmental impact of the poker industry and not start with Las Vegas.

Vegas is the Mecca of the poker world and a flashy, 24-hour city in the desert is obviously a hard sell when it comes to environmental sustainability.

A number of studies have ranked Nevada near the bottom of environmentally conscious states, and water consumption always seems to be a hot topic.

In 2008, environmental blog Treehugger ran a story claiming the Las Vegas strip could run dry by 2021 citing a recent study by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography estimating there is a 50% chance the city will run out of water if no significant cutbacks are made.

Combine water consumption with the sheer amount of electricity it takes to run the Strip and you’re looking at a city that’s universally frowned upon by environmentalists.

Despite the bad reputation, there have been some efforts in Las Vegas to go greener.

In 2009, Harrah’s announced it was joining Dell, Starbucks and Wrigley as founding members of the Team Earth initiative aiming to unite businesses, non-profits, scientists, educators and individuals to address pressing environmental issues.

In 2008, Harrah’s also began offering carbon offsets to its customers to help reduce the environmental impact of taking a Las Vegas vacation.

Plus, the massive 16,797,000-square-foot CityCenter development, set to finally open its doors this winter, appears to be going green.

Despite the considerable environmental impact of such a large casino, hotel, retail and residential project, the development was recently given a gold rating by the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design rating system developed by the U.S. Green Building Council.

CityCenter will use reclaimed water, an onsite power plant and other green technologies that are estimated to save the equivalent of 7,700 homes worth of energy, making it one of the largest sustainable developments in history.

There are also a few businesses trying to carve out a niche in the poker world with eco-friendly poker products.

Eric Hansel runs EGM Green, which he jokingly refers to as the only “green” company in poker. His company produces a variety of environmentally-conscious gambling products including poker tables, craps tables and lounge furniture.

Each table is made with 96-97% naturally sustainable materials and 100% post-industry recycled synthetic fiber. Harrah’s allowed EGM Green display one of its tables at the 2008 WSOP to mixed reactions.

“I think the macro view is that poker players don’t care about the environment, but there are some that do,” he said.  “It’s steadily been getting better over the last two years. We keep letting players know they don’t have to give up luxury to buy a green poker table.”

Earlier this year, the company won an International Gaming Award for being the most eco-friendly in the industry.

“Sustainability will change the way casinos run,” Hansel said. “There’s no way the casinos of 10 years ago can operate 10 years from now.”

The View from the Players

Contrary to popular opinion, it’s not all $1,000-bottles-of-Cristal ballers and high-stakes prima donnas blowing through money in the poker world.

Several noted poker pros are personally involved in environmental work.

Full Tilt pro David Singer, a WSOP bracelet winner, had a brief career as a lawyer at a non-profit environmental organization before getting into poker.

“I sometimes joke that I was going to save the world, but now I take people’s money,” said Singer.

Considering the self-serving nature of the game, it’s easy to see why some players are naturally apathetic to causes like the environment. But Singer said the poker world isn’t that different from the general public.

“I think poker players run the gamut of being concerned about global warming to not really caring about it,” he said. “Yesterday I was in Bobby’s Room and I overheard Prahlad Friedman telling Daniel Negreanu that golf courses are generally bad for the environment. At least they were talking about it in a positive way and voicing their concerns.”

But the week before, Singer said there was also a guy in Bobby’s Room who didn’t understand why Al Gore had received the Nobel Peace Prize for his environmental work.

However, Singer believes poker players can help the environmental cause.

“Poker players bring a unique perspective because they are good at strategizing and environmental organizations can always use volunteers to help plan campaigns,” he said. “There are also some poker players who are lucky and have a decent amount of money and donating to these organizations is always helpful.”

Singer agreed carbon offsets can be a viable option for the jet set and that volunteering for environmental groups is almost always a good idea.

Fellow Full Tilt pro Amanda Baker is heavily involved with wildlife and environmental conservation while Team PokerStars pro Humberto Brenes works with the PRETOMA Shark Conversation program, an organization dedicated to protecting sharks in their natural habitat.

Singer reiterated the common ecological notion that everything starts with the individual – even in poker.

“What I would say to people is to just start something,” he said. “Even if you think it’s just a drop in the bucket. Personally I think the only way we’re going to get around global warming is if everyone’s attitude changes.

“If we keep going the way we’re going we’re headed for a disaster.”

This is a brief introduction to world of environmentalism, sustainability and the poker industry. For more information please check out the links presented below:

Links:

World Wildlife Foundation

http://www.worldwildlife.org/

David Suzuki Foundation

http://www.davidsuzuki.or

EGM Green

http://www.egmgreen.com/index.html

Treehugger

http://www.treehugger.com/

Guide to carbon offsets

http://www.davidsuzuki.org/Climate_Change/What_You_Can_Do/carbon_offsets.asp

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Spain’s Full Tilt Poker Series draws poker stars

The €550,000 guaranteed Full Tilt Poker Series big final will be held in the Casino Gran Madrid in Torrelodones just outside the Spanish capital from Dec. 3-6 and Team Full Tilt Pro Guys Hansen has confirmed he will attend.

The Great Dane, whose three World Poker Tour titles and $7.5 million in career earnings make him a legend in the game, will be also be joined by Hendon Mobster Barny Boatman and Full Tilt Pro Roberto Romanello.

Spanish Full Tilt Pro Raul Paez, who sits second on his country's all time leading money winner list to Carlos Mortensen, has also confirmed he will attend the €3,000+€200 event.

The Full Tilt Poker Series has already held successful events in Madrid, Malaga and Barcelona en route to the final this year, where almost €900,000 has been won.

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Isildur1 Runs Hot Against Durrrr, Patrik Antonius

Full Tilt Poker is home to some of the biggest online poker action in the world on its nosebleed-stakes tables.  The players who join these games include millionaire pros Patrik Antonius, Phil Ivey, and Tom “durrrr” Dwan, who have dominated the biggest games for years, with many top pros refusing to play any of them for fear of losing their bankrolls.  However, what happens when the hunter becomes the hunted?

A few months ago, a player from Sweden by the name of Isildur1 came onto the scene at the nosebleed-stakes tables and has rampaged through opponents.  This player, whose true identity remains anonymous to add to the intrigue, has played about 85,000 hands against top pros and showed a profit of over $3.6 million.  Of that, approximately $3.1 million has come directly from who we all thought was the best online player in Dwan.  Overall, according to Poker Table Ratings, Isildur1 is up $4.2 million over 90,600 hands with a best day of $1.44 million.

The consensus is that Isildur1 is a pretty decent player, but at the same time has enjoyed a string of good fortune.  Almost $700,000 was exchanged in one of the biggest pots in the history of online poker between these two.  In the hand, all the money got in after a series of raises, with Durrrr holding A-K suited to clubs against Ilidur1’s pocket aces.  The board missed Durrrr, shoving the massive pot to Isildur.  Dwan is now one of the very few people in the world to know what it’s like to lose $350,000 in a single hand of Texas Hold’em online.

Just in this month, Isildur1 has been playing mainly $200-$400 to $500-$1,000 games of Hold’em and Pot Limit Omaha.  His best session was on November 10th and lasted a little over 12 hours playing $500-$1,000 Hold’em against Dwan.

One hand from this session started with Isildur1 holding A-K offsuit in the big blind.  Dwan put in a raise and Isildur1 made a 3bet, which was called.  The flop came K-3-Q with two clubs and Isildur1 led out for $14,000 into the $22,000 pot, which was called.  The ace of spades came on the turn and Isildur1 cbet for $29,400 into a $50,000 pot, which was flatted again.  With a pot of $108,800 at the river and the nine of spades falling (giving three spades on the board), Isildur1 shoved all-in.  With $44,600 behind, durrrr made the call and saw that he couldn’t beat top two pair.  The hand cost Dwan $100,000.

Isildur1 isn’t just picking on Durrrr at the tables.  In a session against Antonius, he played $500-$1,000 heads-up No Limit Hold’em.  In one hand, Isildur1 was in the big blind with A-Q suited to clubs.  Antonius made a raise on the button, which was 3betted by Isildur1 to $12,000.  Antonius made a 4bet to $28,000, which was flatted.  The flop came K-6-8 with two clubs and Isildur1 checked to Antonius, who bet $26,000 into a $56,000 pot.  Isildur1 then came over the top to the tune of $134,000, which was met by an instant-shove from Antonius for $30,000 more.  Isildur1 made the call and Antonius flipped over K-6 of diamonds for two pair.  When the money went in, Antonius was a 64% to 36% favorite and Isildur1 managed to miss his flush draw.  However, in what had to floor Antonius, Isildur1 won the hand by hitting a runner-runner Q-A for a better two pair.  A $400,000 pot slid over to the game’s hottest player.

Dwan, a newly deputized member of the Full Tilt stable of sponsored players, has a new blog set up to publicly discuss his thoughts.  In the first few paragraphs, he discussed activities such as the beaches in Spain and his love for skydiving.  After nine paragraphs of reading how awesome it is to be Durrrr, he stated that he’s been playing Isildur1 a lot lately.  A quick note about how he’s an aggressive player was followed by a promise that he’ll be addressing the games in a more detailed entry in a month.

The various online poker forums are ablaze with posts related to Isildur1 and guesses at the identity behind the person crushing the players that normally crush them all.  As Dwan indicated, his grudge match against this newcomer is far from over.

Betfred Ladies Poker Tour heads to London this Saturday

After last month’s stop in Calahonda, Spain the Betfred Ladies Poker Tour heads to the slightly less glamorous surroundings of west London for its next leg. The Western Club in Acton is the venue for the eighth stop on the women only tour and it’s the last chance to win a seat in the grand final where a Betfred sponsorship package worth £20,000 is up for grabs.

New European Masters Of Poker schedule announced

The new EMOP season kicks off in the beautiful Slovenia capital Ljubliana on 25th November and will be followed by legs in Warsaw, Poland, from 3rd to 5th February, Lisbon, Portugal, 25th to 28th March, Campione, Italy, 27th to 30th May, Sunny Beach, Bulgaria, 28th July to 1st August, Barcelona, Spain, 23rd to 26th September. The grand final at the Casino di Venezia in Malta will take place from 17th to 20th November 2010.

New European Masters Of Poker schedule announced

The new EMOP season kicks off in the beautiful Slovenia capital Ljubliana on 25th November and will be followed by legs in Warsaw, Poland, from 3rd to 5th February, Lisbon, Portugal, 25th to 28th March, Campione, Italy, 27th to 30th May, Sunny Beach, Bulgaria, 28th July to 1st August, Barcelona, Spain, 23rd to 26th September. The grand final at the Casino di Venezia in Malta will take place from 17th to 20th November 2010.

European Masters of Poker schedule released

The EMOP's first season saw over 1,000 players take part in five events across Europe from February to September 2009 with a total prize pool in excess of €1.6 million.

Organizers anticipate more than 1,400 players will attend main events during this second season, starting with the Ljubljana, Slovenia leg of the tour at the Grand Casino Nov. 25-28, 2009.

"The players really love it," said EMOP product manager Christer Larsson. "EMOP season II is on its way and we are proud to present new great venues."

Following Slovenia, EMOP season II continues in the New Year with stops in Warsaw, Poland, Feb. 3-7, Lisboa, Portugal, Mar. 25-28, Campione, Italy, May 27-30, Sunny Beach, Bulgaria, July 28-Aug. 1, Barcelona, Spain, Sept. 23-26, and the grand final at the Casino di Venezia in Malta Nov. 17-20.

Plus, the top 16 players on the leader board after the grand final in Malta will be invited on a poker cruise from Los Angeles to the Mexican Riviera with a private tournament for cash prizes Dec. 5-12.

Partners in the Entraction poker network, including 24hPoker, will send at least 200 qualifiers to each event.

Online qualification for the first event in Slovenia is already underway.

For more details visit the European Masters of Poker website.

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American Carter Phillips Wins EPT Barcelona

It was a nearly wire to wire performance for 20-year old Carter Phillips at the final table of the European Poker Tour’s (EPT) recent tournament in Barcelona. Phillips came into the last day of play on Wednesday atop the chip counts and stayed there, briefly relinquishing his chip lead only once the entire day. Phillips capped off a remarkable poker performance with a memorable three hour-long heads-up match against popular British pro Marc Goodwin that pitted an online pro against a longtime brick and mortar grinder for the title of EPT Barcelona Season Six Champion.

For the first time in the EPT’s six-year history the Barcelona event did not open the season and that honor was bestowed on the newly added EPT Kiev spot instead. Perhaps because players were fresh off participating in that EPT event, the Barcelona stop saw a significant drop in participants this year, falling from a field of 619 last year to 478 players this year. The 23% decline can also be attributed to a number of major tournaments running in Europe at the same time. The World Poker Tour’s (WPT) newly added international stops at Slovakia and Cyprus both overlapped the Barcelona event and the Partouche Poker Tour is running as well. This is also the first indication that the EPT could potentially suffer the same kind of drop off in numbers that has been occurring Stateside for over a year.

Smaller field aside, the event was still packed with a wealth of talent from the online poker world like newly signed PokerStars Pro and EPT winner Jason Mercier, Lex “RasZi” Veldhuis, Faraz “The-Toliet” Jaka, Joe Serock and November Nine member Joe Cada. The live pros also turned out in full force with Full Tilt Pro Roland de Wolfe, Katja Thater, Freddy Deeb, Daniel Negreanu and “Miami” John Cernuto taking part as well.

As the field dwindled, there were five former EPT champions who all were making a run at another title. De Wolfe, Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier Jens Kyllonen, and Jan Boubli and Michael “Timex” McDonald all made it to the final three tables of the event. It was the youngest of the past winners, McDonald, who came the closest to the final table with an 11th place finish. It looked as though this year’s LA Poker Classic winner Cornell Andrew Cimpan was final table bound as well, but he was eliminated shortly after McDonald in 10th place.

While proven champions were falling left and right, Phillips was proving himself as a dangerous and talented young poker player. The American won three satellites into the event and chopped one of the smaller buy-in side events in Barcelona already and his hot streak carried over into the Main Event. His huge bluff with 6-8 against Goodwin’s A-K on an ace high board was the talk of the tournament room as play wound down and the final table was set.

The final table got off to a slow start as the mid-level stacks laid low waiting for the shortest-stacked players to bust. Gergios Kapalas was the first player eliminated, but the next one to fall actually started the day third in chips. Matt Lapossie developed a reputation for relentless aggression during his time in Spain and it was that aggression that led to his demise in 7th place when he shoved all-in holding J-4 to Toni Ojala’s pocket queens.

Local favorite Santiago Terrazas came into the final table with one of the shortest stacks, but he doubled up and picked up enough pots to end up in the final three. A Spanish EPT Barcelona was not in the cards though and his elimination set up the heads-up showdown between Goodwin and Phillips.

After battling back and forth for hours it would be a bluff that kept Goodwin from his first EPT title. Except this time it was Goodwin trying to pull off the semi-bluff while Phillips held top pair. With the board reading K-5-4-Q moved all-in for his last 4 million chips—nearly a million more than what was in the pot—and Phillips agonized over the decision before calling with K-J. Goodwin showed A-10 for a gutshot straight draw and when an ace or jack failed to materialize on the river, Phillips was the new EPT Barcelona Champion.

Here are the complete results from Wednesday’s final table:

1st: Carter Phillips - €850,000
2nd: Marc Goodwin - €530,000
3rd: Santiago Terrazas - €300,000
4th: Mihai Manole - €250,000
5th: Asa Smith - €200,000
6th: Toni Ojala - €160,000
7th: Matt Lapossie - €120,000
8th: Georgios Kapalas - €80,000

Chasing the EPT Barcelona crown

By the time play wrapped just 72 players remained, the money bubble had burst and Canadian PokerStars qualifier Matt Lapossie held the chip lead on over 700k.

However, 20-year-old Carter Phillips did hold that spot for most of the day and will return for Day 3 Monday amongst the leaders.

Instead of the standard series of coolers and set-ups a typical rise to EPT glory is usually littered with, Phillips' run has included a river call for his tournament life with just king high.

"I just had a really good read on the guy," he told PokerListings. "The way he was acting led me to believe he really had nothing at all. It just felt right."

Sick call aside, Phillips is hoping his experience on the PokerStars European Poker Tour last season will pay dividends here in Spain.

"I've had some big stacks and I lost pots for the chip lead in Monte Carlo and San Remo, both near the money bubble," he explained.

"So I've had experience with big stacks before and just kind of blew them and I'm hoping that past experience will help me with whatever comes my way here."

26-year-old Matt Woodward took the chip lead early on Day 2 before Phillips, Lapossie and a host of others began to make massive waves.

The Waterboro, Maine native, who finished second at the PokerStars EPT 5 Grand Final this past April, still sits within striking distance and is also hoping experience will help him along the way.

"I've been slowly gaining more and more tournament experience over the past couple of years," he told PokerListings. "The first four or five years of my poker career I was just focusing on Limit Hold'em cash games, so I wasn't giving myself all that many opportunities in tournaments and I was a bit out of my element when I played them.

"I feel like my tournament game has really improved over the last couple of years, as has my overall poker game. I've just kind of become more focused and tried to be as professional about my career as I can."

After following up his Monte Carlo performance with a final table appearance at the 2009 WSOP this summer, Woodward seems poised to take his tournament game to the next level.

"All the tournament experience that I've had and all the time I've spent talking with friends about hands has started to pay off," he explained. "I think I have really improved and I credit a lot of my success to my ability to focus, my desire to win and my competitiveness."

It won't be an easy road for Phillips and Woodward, however.

A host of top pros remain in contention, including Marc Goodwin, Mike "Timex" McDonald, Roland de Wolfe, and Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier.

To follow PokerListings' comprehensive coverage of EPT Barcelona, click through to our Live Tournaments page for Day 3 beginning at 12:30 p.m. CEST Monday when they will play down to the final 24.

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Margets targets EPT Barcelona

"I have to say that when I was in Vegas I thought it would be a nice prize and my life would be almost the same," Leo Margets told PokerListings during a break on Day 1a at the Casino Barcelona.

"It's not been like this at all. It has been good, but quite unexpected."

Bombarded with press requests, tournaments, cash game invites and more since her 27th-place finish this summer, Margets now finds herself living life in the spotlight.

"I was not so aware of it when I was in Vegas because I was so focused and not really influenced by what was happening in Spain," she said.

"When I came back here I realized it was huge. Not only the poker community, but most of the general media had an interest in what happened and that put poker closer to the general population.

"It's good for me, but also good for poker in Spain."

While Barcelona has always been one of the most popular stops on the PokerStars European Poker Tour, the interest in high-stakes tournaments amongst Spaniards has been traditionally low.

In fact, of the 207 players who jumped in the fray on Day 1a in Barcelona Friday, only 15 were Spanish.

Margets, who became the highest-grossing woman in WSOP Main Event history with her $352,832 cash this summer, attributes the low Spanish turnout to the €8,000 buy-in.

"It's expensive for a lot of Spanish players," she said. "Unless you qualify, it's not the kind of tournament a lot of Spanish players can play out of their bankroll."

But despite the lack of Spanish interest in the EPT, it appears the game is growing by leaps and bounds in the Western European country.

Casino Barcelona tournament coordinator Sylvie Belanger said its weekly €50 and €100 tournaments used to draw around 50 players. Now they consistently sell out, breaking a record for entrants just this past weekend at 190 players.

"Every year we see more and more Spanish players," Belanger said. "And it's still growing."

Casino Barcelona will continue to play host to large scale high-stakes tournaments to try and draw the International poker community to the banks of the Mediterranean Sea,  including the upcoming €1,500 Full Tilt Poker Series this October - the very same tournament series where Margets managed a sixth-place finish on the Malaga leg last month.

However, in Spain's current economic climate, Belanger said the casino has no plans to raise the buy-ins for its weekly tournaments, choosing instead to continue to grow the game organically using what amounts to introductory tournament pricing.

Margets agrees with the philosophy.

"It's important to give players tournaments that they can afford so that they can build confidence," she said. "No one is going to try an EPT for their first event."

Margets expects the interest in her historic Main Event run to continue to have a positive effect on poker in Spain, but here in Barcelona for her first-ever EPT, she is a little more focused on what the experience has done for her personally.

"Believing more in your reads is something that's very important and I needed to improve on that," she said. "The Vegas experience, not just the Main Event, but the whole month I spent there really helped.

"I think the Main Event was the culmination of a lot of training. As I always say, I went to Vegas to get a Masters in poker and it paid off."

To follow Margets' progress and PokerListings' comprehensive coverage of EPT Barcelona, check out our Live Tournaments page.

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Mercier hunts third EPT in Barcelona

Traditionally marking the beginning of the EPT season, the Spanish leg of the tour actually comes as the second stop here in season six, following August's EPT Kyiv.

Always one of the EPT's most popular tournaments, PokerStars is expecting as many as 700 players to descend upon the beachfront Casino Barcelona for the event.

Last year, Team PokerStars Germany's Sebastian Ruthenberg followed up his 2008 WSOP Stud Hi-Lo bracelet win by taking down the title and €1,361,000 first-place prize.

It was no easy feat, considering the final table featured fellow 2008 WSOP bracelet winner Davidi Kitai and EPT 4 San Remo champ Jason Mercier, who had a shot to become the EPT's first multiple title holder at the final.

"It became a personal goal when I found out going into Day 3 last year that no one had ever won two EPT titles," Mercier told PokerListings.

"I was very frustrated with my sixth-place finish last year, especially with how certain hands played out when we were nine-handed. Luckily I was able to ship the High Rollers in EPT London to become the first to ever win two.

"Obviously, Elky [Bertrand Grospellier] won the High Rollers at the PCA to become the second to do it, but that gives me some added motivation to become the first one to win three."

With Mercier out sixth and Kitai third, Ruthenberg took a 5:1 chip lead into heads-up and made quick work of Ireland's Fintan Gavin to book the win.

With a slew of poker's best players in Spain for the event, a repeat for Ruthenberg should prove difficult.

But, with a three way chop in a preliminary event already under his belt at Casino Barcelona, Mercier feels good about his own chances.

"I feel great coming into Barcelona this year," he said. "I hadn't played live in almost two months, which is the longest break I've had from live poker in 18 months.

"I'm really looking forward to the Main Event and hope I continue to play well and run good."

To follow all the action from Barcelona, check out PokerListings' Live Tournaments page.

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European Poker Tour — Barcelona Main Event Begins Friday

It has arrived. And we are there to give you news and live updates, as they happen. Day 1A at the PokerStars European Poker Tour Barcelona main event will begin at 12:30 p.m. CEST (4:30 a.m. PDT) in Spain on Friday, Sept. 4. The no-limit hold’em tournament features an €8,000 buy-in, and there will be two

Card Player Cruises Releases 2009-2010 Schedule

Starting in November, Card Player Cruises will return to the high seas aboard the 138,000 ton Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines’ Explorer of the Seas. Destinations over the next year for the cruising company include Alaska, the Mediterranean, and Mexico.

The nine-night Canada and New England Fall Foliage cruise will depart from Cape Liberty Cruise Port in New Jersey in November and steam up the eastern seaboard of the United States. Ports of call include Portland, Bar Harbor, Saint John, Halifax, and Boston and the cruise starts at $550 per person. Card Player Cruises partner and Poker News Daily Guest Columnist Linda Johnson commented in a press release distributed by the travel company, “This trip will feature some of the most spectacular scenery on the Eastern Seaboard. There’s no better time to visit this region than in the fall, when the foliage stands out in every imaginable color.”

Besides the fall foliage outside of the ship, the other main attraction on the November cruise will be its poker room. $100 to $200 buy-in poker tournaments will abound, with private seminars and free poker lessons also taking place. In addition, the press release notes, “Passengers can play as much or as little as they want during the week.” The Explorer of the Seas also features a rock-climbing wall, ice skating rink, miniature golf course, basketball court, disco, spa, fitness center, pools, Jacuzzis, and shops. In addition, what would a cruise be without a parade of food?

Here is the upcoming schedule for Card Player Cruises:

Canada and New England Fall Foliage nine-night cruise – October 15, 2009
Royal Caribbean’s Explorer of the Seas
Departs from Cape Liberty Cruise Port, Bayonne, New Jersey

Mexican Riviera seven-night cruise – November 15, 2009
Royal Caribbean’s Mariner
Departs from Los Angeles, California

Western Caribbean seven-night cruise – March 7, 2010
Royal Caribbean’s Voyager
Departs from Galveston, Texas

Mediterranean Venice 12-night cruise – May 15, 2010
Royal Caribbean’s Brilliance
Departs from Barcelona, Spain

Alaska seven-night cruise – August 27, 2010
Royal Caribbean’s Rhapsody
Departs from Seattle, Washington

Eastern Caribbean seven-night cruise – September 25, 2010
Royal Caribbean’s Oasis
Departs from Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Mexican Riviera seven-night cruise – December 5, 2010
Royal Caribbean’s Mariner
Departs from Los Angeles, California

The poker room closes while the ship is parked in port and opens while the vessel is out in the open water. Card Player Cruises customers make up between 25% and 40% of the total number of passengers onboard, so traditional cruising activities still occur day and night. In order to play poker, Card Player Cruises guests must be at least 18 years-old, while some special events, such as the PartyPoker Million, feature a different age requirement.

Besides tournaments, each ship’s poker room hosts a wide variety of cash games, ranging from limits of $1/$2 to $30/$60. Customers with children are more than welcome to participate as well. Card Player Cruises explains, “There are extensive programs for children that provide entertainment for the kids from morning until night. Some of the activities are scavenger hunts, arts and crafts, talent shows, pizza parties, disco parties, trips to the spa/gym, video games, etc. Children are able to sail at reduced rates on most cruise lines.”

Prices for the above schedule vary between $448 per person and $1,719 per person. The cost covers food, cabin, nightly entertainment, and use of the ship’s amenities. According to Johnson, the majority of players who board a Card Player Cruise are recreational and several are celebrating milestones like birthdays and anniversaries. Players can call 888-999-4880 for additional information and to book passage.