European Poker Tour Season 7 Dates Announced

The seventh season of the PokerStars European Poker Tour (EPT) was announced on Wednesday. The roving tournament series will kick off on August 11th in Tallinn, the capital of Estonia. Qualifiers for the opening stop of Season 7 will begin in mid-June on the world’s largest online poker site.

Twelve stops currently make up the seventh season of the EPT. On the slate of events, EPT founder and PokerStars sponsored pro John Duthie commented in Wednesday’s press release, “The EPT just gets bigger and better every season and it shows the passion and enthusiasm players feel for our events. Season 6 had a thousand more players than in Season 5 and we expect the numbers to keep on growing. The prize pool last season was well over €56 million, a €4 million increase on the previous year.” Duthie added that he expects attendance in the EPT’s side events to increase in the coming season.

Despite being a stop on the North American Poker Tour (NAPT) and Latin American Poker Tour (LAPT), the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure will once again grace the EPT schedule. The 2011 running of the Bahamian tournament begins on January 8th and ends six days later. The $10,300 buy-in Main Event is capped at 1,600 players. American Harrison Gimbel took down this year’s running for $2.2 million after outlasting a field of 974 at the Atlantis Resort and Casino on Paradise Island in the Bahamas.

Also returning to the Season 7 schedule is EPT Snowfest, which debuted during Season 6. EPT Snowfest will once again take place in March, this time running from the 20th to 25th. A field of 274 showed up for its inaugural running this year, with Allan Baekke coming out on top for €445,000 over Russell “rdcrsn” Carson. The tournament emanates from the quaint ski resort of Saalbach-Hinterglemm in Austria, nestled in the Alps.

Break our your calendars. Here are the dates for Season 7 of the EPT:

EPT Tallinn (Estonia): August 11th to 16th
Swissotel
€4,000 + 250 buy-in

EPT Vilamoura (Portugal): August 28th to September 2nd
Solverde
€5,000 + 300 buy-in

EPT London (United Kingdom): September 29th to October 4th
Metropole
£5,000 + 250 buy-in

EPT Barcelona (Spain): November 22nd to 27th
The Arts
€5,000 + 300 buy-in

EPT Prague (Czech Republic): December 13th to 18th
Hilton
€5,000 + 300 buy-in

PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (Bahamas): January 8th to 14th
Atlantis
$10,000 + 300 buy-in

EPT Deauville (France): January 26th to 31st
Casino Barriere
€5,000 + 300 buy-in

EPT Copenhagen (Denmark): February 17th to 22nd
Casino Copenhagen
DKK 35,000 + 2,250 buy-in

EPT Snowfest (Austria): March 20th to 25th
Alpine Palace
€3,500 + 250 buy-in

EPT Berlin (Germany): April 5th to 10th
Grand Hyatt
€5,000 + 300 buy-in

EPT San Remo (Italy): Dates and Location TBD
€5,000 + 300 buy-in

EPT Grand Final: Dates and Location TBD
€10,000 + 600 buy-in

The EPT Grand Final is traditionally held in the storied Monte Carlo casino in Monaco. Whether the finale will be held in the same location during Season 7 remains to be seen. The press release distributed by PokerStars simply notes, “EPT Grand Final details will be released shortly.” Earlier this month, Lebanese poker player Nicolas Chouity took down the EPT Monte Carlo Grand Final to the tune of €1.7 million.

Season 7 also marks the return of the EPT to the Grand Hyatt in Berlin, site of the now-infamous armed robbery in March. The tournament moves to April in Season 7, but we’d expect to see increased security measures after this year’s incident. It took all of a few weeks for the suspects to be rounded up.

Full Tilt Poker Sponsors Virgin Racing Team

Extending its reach outside of the poker world, Full Tilt Poker announced a new sponsorship deal that should expose the room to millions around the world.

In a statement on the team’s website on Thursday, Formula One racing team Virgin Racing announced that it had reached a sponsorship deal with the second largest online poker room in the industry. The “poker school” arm of the company, FullTiltPoker.net, will be a major sponsor of the team, with its logo prominently featured on the driving suits, team apparel, and cars of Virgin Racing’s two drivers, Germany’s Timo Glock and Brazil’s Lucas di Grassi. No financial details were reported in the announcement, although principal sponsorship of an F1 team goes in the neighborhood of $15 million.

“We are absolutely delighted to welcome FullTiltPoker.net to Virgin Racing,” stated Graeme Lowdon, Virgin Racing’s Chief Executive Officer. “We are proud to add an industry-leading brand to our healthy partnership portfolio and I am particularly pleased that we have worked hard together with a partner who has seen the team develop from its birth through to our first competitive steps. We look forward to going racing together with effect from this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix, where FullTiltPoker.net will have a significant presence, and to helping the brand to achieve its marketing and business objectives in the longer term.”

Former World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event winner Chris Ferguson spoke on behalf of Full Tilt Poker during the announcement: “FullTiltPoker.net partnering with Virgin Racing is a brilliant culmination of a great deal of thought and effort on behalf of both brands. With two leaders in their respective fields coming together, this is sure to be a groundbreaking partnership on the global canvas, providing yet another level of excitement for all fans. We are very excited to be associated with such a stellar brand as Virgin Racing and look forward to launching this partnership in Spain.”

Virgin Racing is in its inaugural season as a part of the Formula One series. Other top companies such as tire supplier Bridgestone, information technology company UST Global, environmental technology firm Carbon Green, shampoo brand Clear, information technology firm CSC, foreign exchange traders FxPro, clothing company Kappa, the Oxigen investment group, and Russian sports car manufacturer Marussia are also team sponsors. Although the team seems to have solid sponsorship, its performance on the track has been less than stellar to this point in the Formula One season.

After four races of the F1 season in Bahrain, Australia, Malaysia, and China, the team’s two drivers have not been able to crack the top ten in any race. Glock has been knocked out of the first three races and failed to qualify for the event in China, while di Grassi has a 14th place finish in Malaysia on his record as his best effort. To this mark in the F1 season, neither has earned any points towards the Formula One Driver’s Championship, currently led by England’s Jenson Button. Glock will start 21st in this Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona and di Grassi will start 22nd.

Full Tilt Poker has been one of the most aggressive online poker sites when it comes to sponsorship of sporting events. The Full Tilt logo has graced the apparel of many mixed martial arts (MMA) fighters and has also been emblazoned on the ring apron of many MMA fights. In April, Full Tilt Poker also used its “dot-net” arm to enter into a sponsorship deal with Australia’s National Rugby League. The Full Tilt logo is not new to racing, as it appeared on the Mazda RX8 of Bergenholtz Racing’s Joon Maeng in February during the 2010 Formula Drift season’s stop in Long Beach.

While these sponsorship deals may seem odd, the goal for Full Tilt Poker is just like any other company that sponsors events or teams – get its name in front of as many eyes as possible. By teaming up with Formula One and Virgin Racing, Full Tilt Poker will be exposed to approximately 500 million fans per race, which includes the worldwide television audience and fans in attendance at the respective tracks.

Aussie Millions winner and F1 driver signed to PartyPoker

The PartyPoker team is growing again. The newest members are Aussie Millions winner Tyron Krost and the youngest F1 driver ever, the Spaniard Jaime Algersuari.

“Krost joins the PartyPoker team”

Krost started playing poker about five years ago by making a $50 deposit. Little by little the success in limit games lead him to crown his career so far by winning the Aussie Millions main tournament.

Krost told that a sponsor deal is every player’s dream and said that he couldn’t have imagined a better sponsorship and partner than PartyPoker. “The site is clearly going to the right direction, and I am very happy to be a part of Team PartyPoker and to be able to personally make the site even better.”

F1 driver Algersuari considers himself as a poker rookie. “Some people say I am a freshman in F1 circles, and I would say the same about poker. Poker has always fascinated me, but my driving duties have prevented me from really learning the game. In Spain Poker is becoming more and more popular all the time, and I can’t wait to refine my online playing skills.”

This duo will be joining Team PartyPoker’s big names. Tony G, Mike Sexton, Kara Scott, Dragan Galic, Bodo Sbrzesny, Ian Frazer and Felipe Ramos already play for PartyPoker.

Create an account to PartyPoker and start enjoying the benefits: PartyPoker Rakeback

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Aussie Millions winner and F1 driver signed to PartyPoker

The tour dates for EPT Season 7 are here!

The European Poker Tour attracts players from all over the world. Great tournament arrangements and comfortable playing targets guarantee the tour’s continuity from year to year. As EPT Season 6 is approaching its end, it is time to announce the EPT Season 7 schedule.

The latest addition to the EPT is Tallinn. A close geographical location and constant ferry traffic across the Finnish Gulf will surely mean a bigger share of Finnish players. Also the hugely popular EPT Snowfest will continue in the tour program.

The confirmed EPT schedule so far goes as follows:

11.-16.8. Tallinn, Estonia
28.8.-2.9. Vilamoura, Portugal
29.9.-4.10. London, England
22.-27.11. Barcelona, Spain
13.-18.12. Praha, Czech
7.-16.1. PCA, Bahama
25.-31.1. Deauville, France
17.-22.2. Copenhagen, Denmark
20.-25.3. Snowfest, Austria
5.-10.4. Berlin, Germany
San Remo, Italy WILL BE ANNOUNCED LATER

Source: Pokernews

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The tour dates for EPT Season 7 are here!

Youngest F1 Driver Ever Joins PartyPoker

Spaniard Jaime Alguersuari will join fellow F1 driver Giancarlo Fisichella in representing the online poker room as an ambassador.

Now 20, the Barcelona native became the youngest driver in F1 history when he took part in the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix at 19.

Alguersuari has always had a passion for poker and will be taking part in exclusive tournaments and promotions at PartyPoker.

"Some say that I am a novice in F1 and I would say the same about poker," he said. "I have loved the game from afar but with all my driving commitments, I have a lot to learn.

"The popularity of poker in Spain is on the rise and I cannot wait to be part of it and improve my skills at the table by playing online. Poker is so popular amongst the F1 drivers at the moment, by becoming an ambassador for PartyPoker.com I aim to be the best of them all."

PartyPoker will be offering its players the chance to meet Alguersuari at both F1 and poker events in the coming months, including WPT Barcelona, which runs May 17-23.

"If Jaime has a natural flair for poker like he does for driving, he can come and join the poker elite in F1," added Fisichella.

Alguersuari began his racing in 2005. He won the Italian Formula Renault Winter Series a year later. He moved up to the British Formula Three Championship in 2008 and won the final three races of the season there to clinch the championship, becoming the youngest title winner in series history at 18.

He moved to F1 in 2009 scoring his first points in Malaysia this year.

In his most recent race he finished 13th at the Grand Prix in China.

David Williams Wins WPT Championship

Bodog pro David Williams took down the World Poker Tour (WPT) Championship on Saturday night at the Bellagio in Las Vegas, banking $1.5 million. He entered the tournament’s final table nearly tied for the chip lead.

It took 136 hands of play for Williams, a World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner, to best the star-studded final table. He outlasted UB.com pro Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin heads-up. In the final hand, Baldwin shoved his 20 big blind stack with A-5 of hearts and Williams tanked before calling with pocket deuces. The flop came A-7-6, giving Baldwin top pair and leaving him in a prime position to double up. Then, disaster struck. A deuce hit on the turn, improving Williams to a set, and Baldwin was drawing dead.

Williams told Poker News Daily following the tournament, “It’s been a long time coming. There’s a core group of us – Nenad Medic, Michael Mizrachi, Tuan Le, Joe Cassidy, and I. Nenad, Grinder, Tuan, and Phil Ivey all had one and it feels good to get one.” On how the WPT Championship title compares to his WSOP bracelet, Williams conceded, “My bracelet? That’s nothing compared to this. That was a $1,500 buy-in Stud event. It was cool to have a bracelet, but this is a WPT Championship.” Williams’ bracelet win came in 2006 and earned him $163,000. Check out our full David Williams interview from the Bellagio.

John O’Shea, the short stack entering the WPT Championship’s final table, was eliminated in sixth place for $199,000. O’Shea committed his last 11 big blinds with 6-3 offsuit and found a call from seven-time WSOP bracelet winner Billy Baxter, who picked up A-10. The board ran out J-8-4-4-7 and O’Shea hit the rails. The hand boosted Baxter to second in chips.

After dropping a 4.4 million-chip against Williams, Baxter was ousted in fifth place. He open-shoved all-in with A-J of spades and Williams, looking to polish off the poker veteran, called with K-10 of hearts. Amazingly, the flop came A-Q-J, giving Williams the nuts and Baxter top and bottom pair, but no saving grace came on the turn or river. Baxter earned a $246,000 consolation prize and Williams suddenly owned half of the chips in play entering four-handed action.

High-stakes cash game pro David Benyamine was the next player to depart. Benyamine open-shoved for 16 big blinds with Q-J of hearts. Shawn Buchanan tanked before calling with A-5 and the better hand held. Buchanan ultimately took down the pot with two pair and nearly caught up to Williams in chips.

Buchanan scooped a 2.2 million-chip pot to claim the chip lead after shoving all-in on a board reading Q-8-5-J against Baldwin. However, on his final hand, Buchanan’s pocket queens could not withstand the pocket nines of Williams. In the battle of the chip leaders, the flop came J-9-2, giving Williams middle set, and no queen came on the turn or river. Buchanan picked up $587,000 as the third place finisher in the 2010 WPT Championship. Williams held a 7:2 chip lead entering heads-up play against Baldwin.

Williams never let up and Baldwin was sent packing in second. Here were the final results from the WPT Championship:

1st Place: David Williams – $1,530,537
2nd Place: Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin – $1,034,715
3rd Place: Shawn Buchanan – $587,906
4th Place: David Benyamine – $329,228
5th Place: Billy Baxter – $246,921
6th Place: John O’Shea – $199,888

Buchanan was the lone player at the table who could catch Faraz “The-Toilet” Jaka in the WPT Player of the Year race. However, Buchanan had to win the tournament in order to do so. Consequently, Jaka was crowned the Season 8 Player of the Year.

Despite not announcing the full 2010-2011 schedule, WPT officials have released the dates of three upcoming European stops:

WPT Grand Prix de Paris: May 8th to 15th
Aviation Club de France
Paris, France

WPT Spanish Championship: May 19th to 23rd
Casino Barcelona
Barcelona, Spain

WPT Amneville: October 30th to November 1st
Casino Municipal D Amneville
Amneville, France

Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest WPT headlines.

Leo Margets – Poker Player Profile

Hailing from Barcelona, Spain, Leo Margets first picked up poker four years ago when her boyfriend introduced her to the game. She began developing her skills in local clubs and actually won the first live event she played – The University Championships – held in her hometown of Barcelona. Following the victory, 888.com approached her with a sponsorship opportunity that would allow her to travel the world playing in international tournaments, and she happily accepted.

The highlight of Leo’s career thus far came in 2009 when she finished 27th in the World Series of Poker Main Event. Along with $352K in cash, Margets received the Last Woman Standing Cup, an award given to the last woman left in the Main Event field. Margets’ next biggest cash was a third in the $2K No Limit Hold’em Six-Max event at the 2010 Aussie Millions, which was good for $54K.

Being a woman in a relatively undeveloped poker nation is an interesting position for Margets, and given her success in 2009, she could find herself carrying the poker flag for her country in years to come.

Harrah’s Denies Breach of Contract Allegations

Harrah’s Entertainment Inc. is denying claims that it breached a $22.5 million sponsorship contract with Ultra Internet Media (UIM), the owners of online poker site Everest Poker. Harrah’s, which purchased the World Series of Poker (WSOP) brand in 2004, filed a response to the suit on Friday that detailed its side of the heated dispute.

Earlier this month, UIM filed suit in a Las Vegas federal court claiming that the WSOP breached its on-felt logo agreement, which assigned Everest Poker sole privileges at the event, including prominent logo positions on the table felt. According to UIM, ESPN affiliate network RTL9 in Luxembourg aired the tournament in France and digitally replaced the Everest Poker logo with that of Full Tilt Poker, a competing online poker site.

Everest Poker paid $6.2 million for the 2008 WSOP sponsorship and $7.9 million for the 2009 tournament, but has cancelled the remaining $8.4 million of the deal for this year’s tournament, which gets underway on May 28th. UIM is also holding Harrah’s responsible for any loss of profits and harm done to its business reputation.

The Las Vegas Sun reported highlighted filings made by Harrah’s on Friday that denied any breach of contract with UIM. Harrah’s claimed that Everest Poker was to be the presenting sponsor of the WSOP during the broadcasts in certain European countries, excluding France. Harrah’s also said it went above and beyond in living up to its end of the three-year deal.

“Nobody from Harrah’s made any representation during any of the negotiations or in the promotional agreement concerning any ESPN distribution or WSOP programming in France,” Harrah’s attorneys said in the filing. “Indeed, at the time of the negotiations, UIM did not have an online gaming license recognized by French authorities. It was broadly observed that poker programming was not distributed by French television stations unless tournaments were sponsored by a French licensee.”

The filing continued, “In 2008 and 2009 the WSOP was broadcast by ESPN and parties with whom it has contracted in over 170 countries, including the United States, collectively to over 250 million households, for over 6,000 hours. Thus, UIM has certainly gained all the exposure for the everestpoker.net website that it could have hoped for, and more.”

Apparently, after UIM and Everest Poker complained about the French broadcasts in 2009, an arrangement was agreed to in which ESPN would find a broadcaster for the WSOP in Spain and Italy at no extra cost to UIM. Spain and Italy combined have about the same number of potential viewers as France, according to the filing.

Harrah’s declined to comment on the issue, telling Poker News Daily, “We let the filing speak for itself.” The controversy leaves Harrah’s and the WSOP without an on-felt poker sponsor for the rapidly-approaching 2010 WSOP, which leaves inquiring minds wondering who will step up to the plate. PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker both have ties to the ESPN WSOP broadcast. Other WSOP partners include Jack Link’s Beef Jerky and Milwaukee’s Best Light.

Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for ongoing coverage of the 2010 WSOP.

Win a Date with Poker Pro Tiffany Michelle

On April 28th, the USA-friendly online poker site UB.com is offering members an opportunity to win a once-in-a-lifetime date with sponsored pro Tiffany Michelle through a unique freeroll. The tournament also features a $2,000 prize pool.

Michelle is a former contestant on the CBS reality series “Amazing Race,” which she competed in alongside Maria Ho. The winner of the freeroll will head to Hollywood and partake in a day of romance, baseball, drinks, and poker. What more could you ask for? The date begins at an L.A. Dodgers baseball game before the lucky bachelor will dine with Michelle at what UB.com refers to as a “swanky L.A. hotspot.” Then, the freeroll’s winner will attend a celebrity poker event before returning home. UB.com is including airfare to and from Los Angeles and hotel accommodation as part of the prize package.

Michelle was looking forward to her date, to be given out to a random online poker player. She told Poker News Daily, “I enjoy getting to meet the people I’m always playing with online, so I’m excited about this tournament. I think it’s a cool prize that’s never been done before. Even my friends and family are talking about taking a shot at this tournament and they don’t even play poker! I’m totally a guy’s kind of girl, so baseball, food, and poker is the perfect date. I’m just crossing my fingers that I get some good company!” Heading into Tuesday’s baseball action, the Dodgers sat at the bottom of their division with a lowly 2-4 record.

The freeroll kicks off on April 28th at 8:30pm ET. The password to the event will be Tweeted just before it begins, so interested players are encouraged to follow @ultimate_bet for more details. The tournament is only open to residents of the 48 contiguous United States. UB.com makes its home on the CEREUS Network alongside sister site Absolute Poker.

The promotion offering a date with Michelle is part of an ongoing tournament series featuring UB.com sponsored pros. In March, “Poker2Nite” host Joe Sebok gave away a memorable skydiving experience. At the end of 2010, whichever pro generates the largest player pool in his or her freeroll will take home $2,500 for a night on the town. Contrastingly, whichever pro held the smallest freeroll will serve as the concierge for the winning player. The UB.com pro tournaments are slated to take place every other month.

Michelle and Maria Ho ran the 15th season of “Amazing Race,” journeying to destinations like Vietnam, Cambodia, the United Arab Emirates, and the Netherlands. In the latter country, the pair struggled to hit a high striker, a popular carnival game in which contestants slam an oversized mallet in an attempt to ring a bell. Michelle and Ho, the only all-female team in the mix, fell short and were sent home in sixth place. Michelle and Ho were the last women standing in the 2008 and 2007 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Events, respectively. In 2009, that honor went to Spain’s Leo Margets, who finished in 27th place.

Michelle made waves during the 2008 WSOP Main Event by calling the clock in a hand she wasn’t involved in and professing her love for French fries. Nevertheless, she scored a 17th place finish in the prestigious $10,000 buy-in tournament and raked in $334,000. After a well-publicized battle with PokerNews, Michelle signed with UB.com in July 2008. PokerNews’ Tony G and Jeffrey Lisandro purportedly bought Michelle into the 2008 WSOP Main Event. However, on Day 5, she turned out in UB.com gear, resulting in the rift.

According to a press release distributed by UB.com, Michelle appears to be open to men or women winning the freeroll: “May the best man… or woman win.” Visit UB.com for more details.

Paradise Poker Tour Madrid qualifiers

PokerStars launches Spanish and French Tours

Poker News in Brief: March 29-April 4, 2010

Danish pro Allan Baekke won EPT Snowfest, Isildur1 confirmed he would play the PartyPoker Big Game, numerous poker rooms launched 2010 WSOP qualifiers and Tom "durrrr" Dwan continued to dominate online.

There were still some lesser-known poker stories, however, and as part of our Poker News in Brief feature we've compiled them below.

This week we'll take a look at a new Full Tilt TV show, the UB Poker Perfect 10 Challenge and a new proposal for online gambling legislation.

UB Poker Introduces Perfect 10 Challenge

Online poker site UB Poker launched a new promotion this week that gives players the opportunity to win big by playing in a series of $10 tournaments every day.

The Perfect 10 Challenge will run from now until April 30 with 10 special $10 buy-in tournaments hosted every day.

UB Poker will award over $100,000 in bonus cash to players who top the Perfect 10 Leaderboard with $20,000 going to the player who wins the most cash in the $10 tournaments.

"The launch of the Perfect 10 and the $100K Leaderboard Challenge are the first of many new and innovative promotions set to be introduced at UB," said Team UB member Joe Sebok.

"UB has a completely revamped approach to 2010 and will be working to keep its entire community in the know about all new promotions and events. The offers will be more exciting, more unique, and each one geared towards rewarding our players for playing with us like never before."

To learn more about the promo check out our UB room review.

First Female on Team PKR

Online poker site PKR introduced the first female member of its Team PKR this week.

Twenty-year-old Sofia "welllbet" Lövgren of Gothenburg, Sweden, will now carry the PKR flag where ever she plays poker.

"It's a pleasure to be the first female on the Team," says Sofia.

"It's a very good opportunity for me to get to play big live tournaments and take my online game to the live scene. Playing poker and travelling are my favorite things, so this will be a great experience."

Lövgren had been a regular on the PKR tables since 2008 and emerged as one of the biggest earners on the site.

Full Tilt Launches Poker Lounge

Hot on the heels of PokerStars new cash game TV show, Full Tilt Poker has launched a high stakes Sit and Go show.

The Poker Lounge will pit one qualifier against five seasoned pros in a $20,000 buy-in freezeout. It will follow a winner-takes-all format with $120,000 dedicated to the ultimate victor.

Gus Hansen and Phil Ivey have already been confirmed to appear on the show, which will be filmed in London and broadcast on Channel 4 in the U.K.

Qualifiers to appear on the show will run from now until July 4. There will be eight $22,000 packages up for grabs. Each satellite will carry a $640 buy-in and run every Sunday at 19:30 GMT.

To learn more visit our Full Tilt Poker review.

McDermott Updates Online Gambling Legislation

Rep. Jim McDermott wants the proceeds from taxing online gambling to go towards foster care in U.S.

McDermott, who introduced a bill that would regulate and tax the online gambling industry last year, updated his legislation this Thursday so that a percentage of the potential revenue generated from online gambling would go towards foster care programs.

The bill would see a 6% state tax and a 2% federal tax on all online poker deposits. McDermott proposed that foster care programs receive 25% of the revenue from the federal tax.

McDermott cited the recession and the subsequent lack of funding for social services as a reason to funnel revenue from online gambling to those programs.

PokerStars Announces France Poker Series

This week PokerStars moved one step closer to sponsoring a poker tour in every country.

The online poker giant announced the France Poker Series, which will include stops in Beaulieu-sur-Mer, Divonne-les-Bains, Saint-Amand-les-Eaux, Lyon, Forges-les-Eaux, Paris and Morocco.

Buy-ins will range from €1,200 to €2,500 with the cash satellites only available to players from France, Belgium, Germany, Holland, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland and the UK

It's likely that members of Team PokerStars France, which includes Vanessa Rousso, Arnauld Mattern, Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier, Sebastien Chabal and Thomas Bichon, will make appearances on the new tour.

PokerStars Announces France Poker Series

PokerStars, the world’s largest online poker site, announced a new live tour dubbed the France Poker Series.  There will be seven stops as part of the series, each with €1,200 buy-in events and culminating in the Grand Final in Paris, which will be a €2,500 buy-in tournament.  Players can log onto PokerStars to qualify for a France Poker Series event through freerolls and cash satellites.

The first season of the France Poker Series is being touted as the most exciting live poker events ever to hit the European country.  Tournaments will take place all over France with a buy-in of €1,200 and each boasts a guaranteed prize pool of €300,000.  The person who wins the Main Event at each stop on the France Poker Series also receives a package for the Grand Final in Paris.

The opportunity to play in France promises to be a once-in-a-lifetime experience for recreational players, who can play poker in some of the most beautiful cities in the world.  The Morocco event, which takes place outside of France in the North African country, also promises to be a destination not to miss.  The details surrounding the Morocco event have yet to be announced.

The France Poker Series will feature a leaderboard to qualify players for the Grand Final in Paris.  Players will win points by registering for events and recording in the money finishes.  The players ranked first through fifth on the leaderboard will win entry to the Grand Final.

Satellite qualifiers are already running on PokerStars, allowing players to win a prize package that consists of the buy-in, hotel accommodations, and other expenses.  Cash satellites are only available to players in Belgium, France, Germany, Holland, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.  The freeroll qualifiers are only open to players in mainland France.  This means that players in the United States are not eligible to participate in the freerolls or satellite qualifiers.

Freerolls and cash satellites for the Beaulieu-sur-Mer stop are running now and start at €5.50.  Players can find the satellites from within the PokerStars lobby by clicking on “Tourney” and then “Regional.”

Beaulieu-ser-Mer is the first event of the series and will kick off on May 1st from Casino Partouche.  The next event is Divonne-les-Bains, which will take place from September 25th to 26th at Casino Partouche.  The third event scheduled is Saint-Amand-les-Eaux, which begins on October 17th and wraps up the next day at Casino Partouche.  The fourth event, Lyon, will run from November 13th to 14th at Casino Partouche Lyon Vert.  The fifth stop is Forges-les-Eaux, which runs from December 18th to 19th at the Casino Partouche.  The Grand Final of the France Poker Series will take place at the Cercle Haussmann in Paris next February.

Members of Team PokerStars France include GoDaddy spokesperson Vanessa Rousso, Arnaud Mattern, World Poker Tour (WPT) Cyprus winner Thomas Bichon, and sports hero Sebastien Chabal.  Rousso is a French-American dual citizen who was born in New York, attended Duke University, and graduated with honors.  Arguably the most accomplished member of Team PokerStars France is Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier, who has won millions of dollars playing online and live.  Most of these players appear on the France Poker Series landing page on the PokerStars website, building hype that they might be in attendance on the circuit of events.

The France Poker Series is the latest in live tour for PokerStars, following such successful ventures as the Latin American Poker Tour (LAPT), European Poker Tour (EPT), and the recently launched North American Poker Tour (NAPT).  The next stop on the NAPT is Mohegan Sun, whose Main Event will start on April 7th and air on ESPN2.

Poker News in Brief: March 15-21, 2010

Poker fans had to be content with watching a new High Stakes Poker and waiting for the next WPT and EPT events to start.

As usual, however, there is always news that doesn’t make the front page of PokerListings.com and we’ve compiled it below as part of our ongoing Poker News in Brief feature.

This week we’re going to take a look at Phil Ivey’s love for cigars, unusual sit and goes at bwin and a new tournament in Portugal.

Phil Ivey Makes Cover of Cigar Aficionado

Team Full Tilt Pro Phil Ivey joined the likes of Jay-Z, Tiger Woods and Alec Baldwin by hitting the cover of Cigar Aficionado this week.

Ivey was featured in a story titled, “America’s Poker King: Phil Ivey has parlayed his poker fame into business success.”

The article chronicles Ivey’s journey from small poker games in Atlantic City to the biggest games in the world and the lifestyle perks that come with being one of the world’s best poker players.

New Sit & Go's at bwin Poker

bwin Poker introduced yet another spin on the popular Sit and Go format this week.

The room launched “Nitro Boost” Sit and Go's which gives every player at the table a single 2,500 chip rebuy.

The rebuy can take place at any time but the tournaments are winner takes all. The room is emphasizing the strategy involved with rebuying at the best time.

The Nitro Sit and Go's are available in the bwin Poker lobby with a choice of $1.10, $5.50, $11 and $22 buy-ins.

You can get more information about Nitro Sit and Go's on the bwin site.

Chilipoker DeepStack Open Expands to Portugal

Chilipoker’s new DeepStack Open will venture into Portugal this fall.

Taking place in Vilamoura the event will take place Sept. 23-26. As with all DeepStack Open events, the Portugal stop will offer a reasonable buy-in of €550 combined with a deep stack structure.

“We are glad to launch one more stage of our international Chilipoker DeepStack Open,” said Chilipoker CEO Alexandre Dreyfus.

“The Casino of Vilamoura is an attractive destination for all Iberian players from Spain and Portugal but also for players from the rest of Europe.”

The next DeepStack Open is scheduled to take place in the Partouche Pasino of Aix-en-Provence in France from April 9-11.

Visit the Chilipoker website to learn more or sign up for a DeepStack Open satellite.

Playtech Receives Healthy Boost in Profits

Poker software company Playtech posted an impressive 71% rise in net profit for 2009 according to a recent financial statement.

Playtech, which designs and licenses software for the sites on the iPoker network, credited a joint venture with William Hill as one of the main factors that led to increased profits.

“This has been a significant year of growth for Playtech,” said Roger Withers, Playtech Non-executive chairman.

You can find more information on the Winner Poker website.

Full Tilt Poker Announces Second Season of España Series

The latest trend for online poker companies is to have their own live tournament schedules so that customers can participate in the game away from the internet. Full Tilt Poker recently announced that its own sponsored poker tour would be back for the second year.

The Full Tilt Poker Series España will once again consist of four events that start next month. First up is a stop in Gerona at the Casino Castell de Peralada from April 25th to 27th. From that stop, players will move on to Casino Torrequebrada in Malaga from June 4th to 6th and the third stop - after a pause for the World Series of Poker (WSOP) - will take place from August 27th to 29th in Madrid at the Casino Gran. The Full Tilt Poker Series España will wrap up from December 2nd to 5th with the Grand Final, to be held in Barcelona at the Gran Casino de Barcelona.

The first three tournaments of the schedule will have a very respectable buy-in of €1,500 and the Grand Final will be a €3,000 event. Full Tilt Poker is also ensuring that these tournaments will be among the most lucrative in Europe through a guaranteed prize pool for each stop. Full Tilt is guaranteeing €150,000 for the first three stops and a sizeable €550,000 for the Grand Final.

There are plenty of opportunities for players around the world to earn entries into any stop on the Full Tilt Poker Series España. Each week, there are three satellites that run on Full Tilt for players to win their way into the Gerona event. These satellites break down as such during the week:

Tuesdays at 3:45 EDT, $200+$16 buy-in with three guaranteed seats to Gerona
Thursdays at 3:45 EDT, $200+$16 buy-in with three guaranteed seats to Gerona
Sundays at 3:45 EDT, $500 + $35 buy-in with five guaranteed seats to Gerona

Players can buy in directly to these tournaments or they can play their way in through sub-satellites that start as low as $5. These sub-satellites run constantly throughout the day on Full Tilt Poker and guarantee one seat into the Tuesday, Thursday, or Sunday satellite tournaments. For those who aren’t able to win through the satellite route, Full Tilt Poker is giving its players the option of registering for any of the events online.

In 2009, the Full Tilt Poker Series España drew over 800 competitors in the four-event tour. Full Tilt Poker pros such as Raul Paez, Roberto Romanello, Eddy Scharf, Richard Ashby, and Gus Hansen stepped to the felt to battle it out. A total of 226 players came out for the Grand Final, eclipsing the guarantee of €500,000. In the end, Miguel Angel Lorenzo defeated the United States’ Joshua Goldstein to walk away with the first place prize of €200,000.

Full Tilt Poker stands besides some of the other combatants in the online poker wars in having its own live tournament schedule. PokerStars started it all approximately six years ago when it created the European Poker Tour (EPT) and, last fall, Party Gaming added to its already impressive slate of live tournament events by upping the ante with the purchase of the World Poker Tour (WPT). With its own schedule in Spain, Full Tilt is adding another aspect to the online poker wars.

It’s Viva Espana with Paradise Poker

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…)

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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.

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!

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

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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.

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.