Negreanu was in a good position to win

Whether you’re playing in a cash game or a no-limit hold ‘em tournament, a lot of poker advice suggests an automatic raise pre-flop in a blind-vs.-blind situation.

“They’ve only got it half right,” pro Daniel Negreanu said. “When you’re in the small blind, you’re supposed to minimize your loss because you’re out of position. But when you’re in the big blind, you’re supposed to maximize your win. That’s true of any situation with position, especially in tournament poker.”

The power of position also requires some careful play, as Negreanu showed in this hand from the $15,000-buy-in Doyle Brunson World Poker Classic at Las Vegas’ Bellagio in 2007.

With blinds at $400-$800 plus a $100 ante, action folded to the small blind, who just called the extra $400.

“I have quuen-9 of clubs in the big blind,” Negreanu said. “Some players might raise with it, but I don’t mind seeing a flop with that.”

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Titan Poker Players Sweep the Tables at $250,000 Sunday Specials

Titan Poker players were celebrating on Sunday as the popular poker room awarded $250,000 in cash in an exciting weekly tournament. Titan Poker, the largest online poker room on the iPoker Network, stages a $250,000 Guaranteed Prize tournament every Sunday evening. Players from across the globe join the tables at the internationally renowned poker room to compete for their share of the prize money.

On Sunday June 15, Carsten Wolf from Germany finished in first place to take home the top prize of $52,500. Closely behind him, French player Jean Louis Fromenton played throughout the night to claim second place and $27,500 in cash.

Jean said: “I started playing at 20:00 and finished at around 4:00 in the morning - and it was worth every minute of gameplay. I am so happy that I won this fantastic prize! I don’t have a special strategy when it comes to poker, I am very easy going and I just really enjoy playing!”

Players can buy-in directly to the $250,000 Guaranteed for $200 + $15 or they can win their seat at ongoing satellite tournaments. The $250,000 Guaranteed is just one of the many guaranteed prize tournaments regularly staged at Titan Poker. In the past few months alone, Titan Poker has doubled the amount of its monthly guaranteed prizes from $8 million to $16 million.

The popular poker room also hosts huge guaranteed prize tournaments, and is set to stage its biggest ever tournament in September with an unprecedented $2.5 million Guaranteed Prize Pool. It also frequently awards its players with seats at the world’s most well-known poker tournaments, such as the Aussie Millions and the European Poker Tour. Titan Poker will send a delegation of players to participate in the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas next month and to the Asian Poker Tour in Macau this August.

Could Hypnosis Help You Win the World Series of Poker? Free Poker Perfection Self Hypnosis Mp3 Released For All Poker Players To Try

To celebrate the launch of their brand new poker mind power system, Think Like A Poker Pro have released a free self hypnosis mp3 called Poker Perfection.

The word hypnosis is derived from the Greek word hypnos, meaning sleep. Hypnotism is often presumed to make someone go under a state of reduced consciousness while the person remains awake. The general behavior of those under hypnosis are being extremely positive to suggestions, and achieving a high level of relaxation.

Hypnosis has already helped millions of people around the world lose weight, quit smoking and overcome many other challenges. To quote Matt Damon, poker playing star of the movie ‘Rounders’, “I should have done it years ago. It’s amazing I didn’t even want cigarettes anymore.” describing his hypnosis experience to Jay Leno on The Tonight Show in 2004.

As far back as 1956, many European and Eastern Bloc Olympic teams travelled with hypnotherapists, and after the L. A. Lakers winning game against the Sacramento Kings in 2002, Coach Phil Jackson credited their morning practice of self-hypnosis, meditation, and visualization with giving the Lakers the belief that they could win.

Hypnosis is also now widely accepted in golf with many of the top professionals using it to improve their game. Golf Digest magazine says Tiger Woods undergoes extensive mental training including hypnosis.

In fact thousands of sports stars have successfully used hypnosis to become champions in their field and there is no reason why poker players should not benefit from these techniques to improve their game too. As so much of poker is about strength of mind, it could be said it is the perfect arena for hypnosis.

So is it really possible for some people to use hypnosis to become a better poker player automatically? Think Like A Poker Pro.com believe so and have just launched their Think Like A Poker Pro challenge. Everyone who plays poker is invited to visit their website ThinkLikePokerPro.com to download their free poker self hypnosis mp3 called Poker Perfection.

“Learning poker strategy is vital” said Iain Legg from Think Like A Poker Pro, “but we believe improving your mental game could give you the edge over opponents. Poker requires being able to focus for long periods of time, and winning at any sport requires you have belief and confidence in yourself and your abilities. Hypnosis can help with this and it’s so easy to get started. Self hypnosis simply requires relaxing and listening to the professional hypnotherapist’s words on the Poker Perfection mp3, and as a wonderful side effect, it should help you feel totally refreshed”.

The team at Think Like A Poker Pro have also been experimenting with other subconscious programming techniques such as brain entrainment, subliminal messaging, visualization and using unique research on luck and intuition and say early results have been impressive. Visitors who download the free mp3 will get details of the full poker system which includes all the techniques used by the team.

To take part in their challenge simply visit their website and as well as getting the free Poker Perfection self hypnosis mp3, visitors will also be given a free 7 part multimedia ecourse. This explains the science behind hypnosis and the other mind power techniques used in the system.

The Think Like A Poker Pro team have already helped hundreds of thousands of visitors explore the power of their minds at their other website RealMindPowerSecrets.com since the launch in June 2007. Now it’s the time for poker players to discover their full potential.

Poker math isn’t all that difficult

Take a deep breath and relax. You don’t need a PhD in mathematics to be a successful poker player. All you need to do is learn a few simple math tricks that will enable you to play fundamentally sound poker.

For example, in No Limit Texas Hold’em, you need to learn how to calculate pot odds.

Pot odds is a term that defines the odds being laid for you to call a bet. For example, if there’s $400 in the pot and your opponent bets $100, your pot odds are 5-to-1 since it will cost you $100 to win $500 (the $400 already in the pot plus the $100 bet made by your opponent). That’s pretty easy, right?

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Comments (0) Jun 20 2008

World Series of Poker Daily Summary for June 17th, 2008

A couple of well-known poker pros added missing pieces to their respective poker résumés on Tuesday at the 2008 World Series of Poker. Both John “The Razor” Phan and Dutch star Rob Hollink claimed their first gold bracelets during the day.

Phan’s first bracelet came in Event #29, $3,000 No-Limit Hold’em, where he came from behind to take down the win after negotiating a large starting field. Phan pulled past Day 2 leader Matt Vengrin and survived a lengthy heads-up duel against Johnny Neckar to secure the victory, finally taking down the $434,789 winner’s share. Neckar’s second-place finish brought him $277,452.

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Titan Poker VIP Players Prepare for $30,000 Freeroll Challenge

Titan Poker, the largest poker room on the iPoker Network, will award $30,000 in prizes to players as part of its June Challenge promotion, which will take place between June 16 and June 25, 2008. This exclusive event is open to Titan Poker’s elite VIP players who are Silver level and higher.

Online poker players have two possible courses this month to qualify for Titan Poker’s $30,000 Challenge Freeroll, which will be staged on June 27. Players can receive free entry into this thrilling tournament either by accumulating at least 1,000 Titan Poker Points on any six days during the June Challenge or by earning at least 7,000 Points in total over the entire ten days of the promotion.

This is the second consecutive month that Titan Poker has offered a promotion of this magnitude to its ever-expanding VIP club. Last month, VIP Silver players and higher were able to race for a share of a $30,000 prize pool, distributed in daily races over ten days. “Our VIP players are extremely important to us and we are constantly searching for new ways to offer unrivaled benefits to the loyal members of our VIP program,” declared a spokesman for Titan Poker.

Titan Poker recently announced its unprecedented $2,500,000 Guaranteed Prize tournament. This is the most abundant prize pool Titan Poker has offered to date. Players have until September 7th to qualify for the main event where this generous cash prize will be doled out to Titan Poker’s top players.

Bodog Poker testing resizable tables

Bodog Poker announced this week that it has released a new version of its software, with several player-requested features, for testing.

Bodog players can test the new, resizable beta client by going to poker.bodoglife.com. There they will find that the new software includes full-screen mode, resizable tables, embedded chat and game details, and on-demand player tools.

The ability to resize tables is one of the most requested features, according to Bodog Poker.

“Offering players the most secure and enjoyable online gaming experience possible is paramount to Bodog,” says Morris Mohawk Gaming Group CEO Alwyn Morris.

“When Bodog Poker players asked for new features like resizable game play windows and full-screen mode, we listened, integrating those features into the new beta client. These new features are just another step in Bodog’s ongoing evolution and players can look forward to much more in the future.”

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Betting on a World Series of Poker Bracelet

“Negreanu, one — Ivey, zero,” Daniel Negreanu shouted just moments after winning his fourth World Series of Poker bracelet in a $2,000 limit hold’em event. He added almost $205,000 to his lifetime tournament winnings, but also added an extra $200,000 to his bankroll thanks to a bracelet-bet that he had with Phil Ivey.

Whether it’s for added excitement or the love of gambling, some pros believe that their edge to win a bracelet is so great at the WSOP that they figure, “Why not bet on it?” This year, there is a wide range of bets between some of poker’s biggest names, all with different stipulations, odds, and prices. Some bets are so lucrative, in fact, that they can eclipse even an event’s first-place prize.

“I have a standing bet with Ivey that anytime we both play in the same tournament, we have $200,000 bet on it,” explained Negreanu. “It’s interestinPhil Iveyg, though, because we also have a rule that if you show up late and the other guy is short, it doesn’t count. Well, I showed up with a fresh stack, and he had lost half of his stack already, so we were off. Then, he got up to 3,200, and I had 3,600. He said, ‘OK, we’re back on.’ Ha!”

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UltimateBet to Send Record Number of Online Poker Players to Aruba through Giveaway Contest

If your local drugstore runs out of sunblock this weekend, blame UltimateBet. The online poker site today announced a promotion that promises to give away a record number of seats to the 2008 Aruba Poker Classic, UltimateBet’s signature island poker tournament.

“In an effort to make this year’s Aruba Poker Classic the best one yet, we’re sending a huge number of UltimateBet players to the island tournament for free,” stated Annie Duke, UltimateBet’s Cardroom Consultant. “Best of all, winning an $8,500 Aruba Poker Classic prize package is as easy as relaxing on the beach under a palm tree.”

The Ultimate Aruba Givaway promotion hits the site on the heels of two back-to-back WSOP* leader board contests where online poker players battled it out for spots in the Main Event just by playing the game they love. The new Ultimate Aruba Giveaway promotion works the same way as the two World Series of Poker* contests, only instead of Vegas seats, Texas Hold’em fans will be competing for $8,500 Aruba Poker Classic prize packages.

To qualify for the online poker promotion, online poker players must simply play in any real-money poker Sit ‘n Go, ring game or multi-table tournament at UltimateBet.com between June 20th and July 17th and climb their way up the Aruba Giveaway leader board.

At the end of the qualifying period, the poker player who has earned the most RAI$E status points will automatically secure an $8,500 Aruba Poker Classic prize package featuring the $5,500 Main Event buy-in and $3,000 for travel accommodations.

Players ranking 2nd through 70th on the leader board will play in an exclusive freeroll that features a prize pool of seven additional $8,500 Aruba Poker Classic packages.

Those eight prize packages are just the beginning. On Saturday, July 19th, the online poker site is holding a 50-seat Guaranteed Tournament where at least 50 Aruba Poker Classic prize packages will be won. Players ranking 71st through 225th on the leader board will win their spot in the $500+30 tournament. Those ranking 226th through 1025th will play in a freeroll where hundreds of seats in the 50-seat Guaranteed Tournament are on the line.

The 2008 Aruba Poker Classic takes place from September 27th through October 4th at the Radisson Aruba Resort & Casino. With more than 750 players expected to play in the tournament, UltimateBet is estimating a prize pool of over $4 million and the online poker site is guaranteeing a first place prize of $1 million.

More information on UltimateBet’s Aruba Giveaway can be found at www.ultimatebet.com.

Daniel Negreanu’s new poker book ‘Power Hold’em Strategy’

Power Hold’em Strategy is expected to be right up there with Super System 2 and Daniel “Kid Poker” Negreanu will then be placed alongside some of the most popular authors in poker including Doyle Brunson, Mike Caro, Bobby Baldwin and T.J Cloutier.

The book will be launched by Cardoza Publishing, which has been serving in the business for over 25 years, and is believed to be as important as any other Cardoza has released.

“The tons of excellent information in this book will help your no-limit hold’em game improve immensely, whether you are an online grinder, a low-limit tournament player, or even an aspiring pro looking to play on the big-time poker circuit,” Negreanu said. “We tried to fit in as many helpful hand examples as we could without creating a 1,000-page monster! When you apply the advice we’ve given you to your own game, I have no doubt that you will improve rapidly. Equally important, this book should help you understand the mindset of small-ball players so that when you face off against one, you won’t be confused by his approach. Instead, you will be able to exploit him.”

Contributing to this masterpiece of poker strategy are some of the “Hottest” players in poker today, including Todd Brunson, David Williams, Erick Lindgren, Evelyn Ng and Paul Wasick.

These professionals share the moves and secrets that keep them winning. The book covers short-handed and heads-up play, high-limit cash games, a beginner’s strategy to neutralize professional players, how to mix up your play, bluff, and win big pots.

“It has always been our philosophy to publish books by the world’s top poker authorities and champions,” said Avery Cardoza, owner of Cardoza Publishing. “Power Hold’em ticks all the appropriate boxes and I am sure will provide the perfect platform for all levels of player’s to improve their game.”

Comments (0) Jun 19 2008

Titan Poker Players Prepare For Record-Breaking $2,500,000 Prize Tournament

Leading online poker room Titan Poker will stage its biggest ever tournament this September with an unprecedented $2,500,000 Guaranteed Prize Pool.

Titan Poker, the largest online poker room on the iPoker Network, is set to stage its biggest ever guaranteed prize tournament on the 7th of September 2008, a $2,500,000 Guaranteed Prize tournament. For nearly four months, skilled Titan Poker players will compete in Sit ‘N Go and Multi-Table Satellite tournaments to qualify for a seat in this monumental event.

Qualifying satellites to the $2,500,000 Guaranteed started this week at Titan Poker. These qualifiers start from as low as $2.75 + $0.20 to enter, so players can potentially win a share of $2,500,000 for an investment of less than three dollars. Players that wish to skip the satellites can also buy-in directly to the Main Event and compete for the chance to win an opulent lifestyle in just one day of exhilarating game play.

The upcoming $2,500,000 Guaranteed tournament is just the latest in a series of record-breaking tournaments. In March, nearly 1,400 players competed for a share of $2 Million in Titan Poker’s $2,000,000 Guaranteed tournament, and in May, Titan Poker gave away $3,600,000 over 11 days in its second European Championship of Online Poker (ECOOP II).

Robin Steele, Manager of Titan Poker, commented by saying, “Titan Poker keeps on upping the ante. In addition to these huge tournaments with unprecedented prize pools, the value of our guaranteed monthly prizes continues to increase. In just a few months, we doubled the amount of our monthly guaranteed prizes from $8,000,000 to $16,000,000 and this number will rise further as we hold more record-breaking tournaments like the $2,500,000 Guaranteed.”

In addition to staging tournaments with huge guaranteed prize pools, Titan Poker also regularly awards its players with seats at the world’s most well-known poker tournaments, such as the Aussie Millions and the European Poker Tour. Titan Poker will send a delegation of players to participate in the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas next month and to the Asian Poker Tour in Macau this August.

Top-10 stories at the 2008 World Series of Poker

We’re at the midway point for this year’s World Series of Poker, and what a Series it’s been so far. From stars reasserting themselves to brothers winning bracelets, this Series has had a little bit of everything. Here’s a look at the top-10 stories from the WSOP so far:

10. Nikolay Evdakov
Entering the World Series of Poker, very few people had heard of Nikolay Evdakov. Now, midway through the series, the Russian pro is a marked man. He’s cashed in six events and is chasing the record for most WSOP cashes in a year, which stands at eight. Michael Binger (2007), Chad Brown (2007), Phil Hellmuth (2006), and Humberto Brenes (2006) share the mark. So far, Evdakov has cashed in the $5,000 Pot Limit Hold’em with rebuys (Event #28), the $5,000 No-Limit 2-7 Draw with rebuys (Event #18), the $10,000 World Championship Mixed Event (Event #8), the $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em with rebuys (Event #5), the $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em (Event #2) and the $10,000 World Championship Pot-Limit Hold’em (Event #1).

9. Video blogs
Blogs are a nice way for poker pros to let us into their world. But a good blog takes time to produce. It’s not easy sitting in front of blank screen and putting thoughts on paper. And time is one thing players don’t have at the World Series of Poker. By contrast, video blogs don’t take very long (for the player) to produce. And it’s much easier to spill your guts on camera (This is what reality TV is based on, isn’t it?) than it is to blog. And the video blogs do a great job of providing a window into parts of the WSOP most people don’t get a chance to see. Some of the best video blogs from the WSOP can be found at rawvegas.tv, which boasts a lineup that includes Vanessa Rousso, Patrik Antonious, Gavin Griffin and Daniel Negreanu. Negreanu is a natural for the medium. He’s at ease in front of a camera and comfortable with sharing “insider tidbits” from prop bets (with Phil Ivey and Antonius) to funny stories about dealers and the need to get eight hours of sleep. Antonius does his video blogs in both English and Finnish (though I don’t know if they’re different — I suspect they are — or the same). Right now, he’s not too happy with his golf game. And Rousso’s mathematics background shines through in her video blogs. She effortlessly breaks down the odds on almost every action she describes at the poker table. And to make it a little more interesting, she adds in a few details on her personal life. She’s also revealed that she’s now a Wii Rock Band addict (she likes the drums).

8. Increased participation
Almost every event has seen an increase in the number players participating. This year’s Razz tournament (Event #26) saw a 33% increase from last year. The second event of the Series, a $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em event, set a new non-Main Event record with a field of 3,929 entries and is the fourth-largest tournament in poker history. And the the $3,000 H.O.R.S.E. event saw an 8% increase in players from last year even though the buy-in had increased by $500.

7. Women
Last year, outside of Katja Thater who won the Razz event, it was pretty hard to find a women at a final table. Nothing could be further from the truth this year. Vanessa Selbst has already won a bracelet in $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha (Event #19) and cashed in two other events (finishing third and and 34th). She’s also third in the WSOP Player of the Year rankings. Kathy Liebert finished third in the $10,000 Wolrd Championship Pot-Limit Hold’em tournament (Event #1) and has cashed in three other events. And Jennifer Harman-Traniello finished eighth in the $3,000 H.O.R.S.E. tournament (Event #22).

6. Erick Lindgren
Lindgren won his first bracelet this year in the $5,000 Mixed Hold’em tournament (Event #4). He’s also final tabled the No-Limit 2-7 Draw with rebuys (Event #18), finished 10th in $1,500 Limit Hold’em (Event # 12) and 18th in the $10,000 Heads-Up tournament (Event 25). It doesn’t get much better than that in the poker world, and it’s why he’s currently sitting atop the lead for the WSOP Player of the Year.

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PokerStars Sunday Million and Full Tilt $750,000 Guarantee Put On Hold for Huge WSOP Qualifiers

The two biggest weekly online poker tournaments, the Sunday Million at PokerStars and the $750,000 guarantee at Full Tilt, were put on hiatus for one week when the events were replaced by huge World Series of Poker main-event qualifiers on both sites last night.

At PokerStars, a $350 buy-in main-event qualifier guaranteed 200 $12,000 prize packages. The qualifier had 8,076 entrants, which meant 226 players would win a coveted main-event seat and $2,000 for travel and expenses (with the rest of the money going to places 227th-231st). That entry number for the event is astounding considering the qualifier took the place of the normally scheduled Sunday Million, which sports a buy-in of only $200 and usually lures around 7,000 entrants. Some of the big-name players to earn a package in the qualifier inclJames ‘jcamby33′ Campbelluded Peter “Apathy123” Jetten (pictured above), Jim “jcamby33” Campbell (pictured at right), J.P. “JP 5-time” Kelly, and Sasha “bikocruz” Rosewood.

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eChecks Provide Options to Online Players

After the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) was signed into law, several of the biggest names in offshore financial institutions withdrew their services from US customers. Neteller was the most famous of them, and most recently, ePassporte has been added to that list.

In April of 2008, ePassporte, with no official notice to customers, abandoned US customers in the wake of an investigation into internet gambling by the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Southern New York. The virtual debit card company reportedly told poker sites catering to US customers-like Full Tilt Poker and Cake Poker-that it no longer wished to be, “associated with anything that might be considered illegal by the United States governnment.” Unlike the Neteller case, ePassporte customers were luckily able to withdraw their funds immediately using the service. But the exit of another company from the US market left players with even fewer choices to assist in financial transactions with online poker sites.

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Comments (1) Jun 17 2008

The “Ladies” Event at the World Series of Poker

Many people know about the World Series of Poker from the television coverage on ESPN. Mostly they just show the “Main Event” on TV.
Ladies PokerHoa Nguyen from worldseriesofpoker.com.

The main event has a $10,000 buy-in and lasts for two weeks. Leading up to the main event, there are dozens of other tournaments, some of which are going on right now.

Last year my wife Jeannette played in the ladies event at the World Series of Poker. As I wandered around the poker room, I noticed a few of the contestants sported very un-ladylike goatees. On closer inspection, they were definitely men.

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World Series of Poker Daily Summary for June 8th, 2008

A jam-packed second Sunday of play at the 2008 WSOP saw a pair of bracelets awarded while one of the series’ long-running traditions began amid much early-day pomp and circumstance. The music blared early and the celebs were out in force for the start of Event #16, the $1,000 Ladies World Championship, which began with 1,190 players and narrowed all the way to 61 by night’s end, with several big names still alive.

The battles for bracelets came hours later, with final tables in both Event #11, $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em Shootout, and Event #12, $1,500 Limit Hold’em. These events both produced first-time bracelet winners. Phil Tom continued his strong showing early in this year’s series with by far his largest title to date, capturing the final of the $5,000 shootout by finishing off Greg “FBT” Mueller for the win. Tom’s victory was worth $477,900 while Mueller took home $298,638.

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Titan Poker players aim for golden bracelet

The largest poker room on the iPoker Network, Titan Poker, will be sending players to the World Series of Poker (WSOP) this June and July in Las Vegas, Nevada. As players continue to qualify through Super Satellites, the anticipation to see who will take home the coveted golden WSOP bracelet increases.

Twenty-nine year old Dennis Jacobs, from the Netherlands had been playing at Titan Poker for a mere six months before winning a trip to Las Vegas to represent the popular online poker room. He already has visions of the ‘golden bracelet.’ “It took only three hours and ten minutes for my dream to come true. Thank you Titan Poker for this opportunity. My next dream is to win the WSOP Bracelet,” shared Mr. Jacobs.

Dominique Tremblay, 33, has also qualified to attend this massive poker event in Las Vegas. Yet, Dominique has been playing poker for quite some time and is employed by a land-based casino. “Until recently, my biggest win was at my local casino, so attending the WSOP this July is now my biggest achievement to date!”

Titan Poker is offering three different promotions to attend the WSOP this summer. These groundbreaking offers will continue through the middle of June as Titan Poker extends opportunities to qualify for the poker event of the year. Although the WSOP is considered an elite tournament, players of all levels and backgrounds have the opportunity to qualify.

Comments (0) Jun 10 2008

Two World Series of Poker Tickets Up For Grabs in Titan Poker VIP Race

Leading online poker room, Titan Poker, will stage a week-long competition for its top players with a $50,000 prize pool, including two top prizes of $14,000 packages to the World Series of Poker Main Event 2008.

Titan Poker is opening up yet another opportunity this June for its elite, VIP players to partake extra benefits. By participating in Titan Poker’s $50,000 VIP Race, which runs from 5th to the 11th of June, the players aren’t only competing for a share of an enormous prize pool, but also for seats at the World Series of Poker (WSOP), this July in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Two “all-exclusive” WSOP packages will be awarded to the top two players in this extraordinary race. The $14,000 packages include a $10,000 buy-in to the Main Event, hotel accommodations and travel expenses. The next 98 top finishers in the $50,000 VIP Race take their share of a lavish cash prize pool of $22,000.

The winners of the Titan Poker VIP Race will join other Titan Poker players who have already won their Las Vegas trips at Titan Poker’s WSOP 2008 Main Event Super Satellite Series, Side Event Super Satellite Series and the elite Executive Satellite Series.

All of Titan Poker’s VIP players are positioned on an equal playing field with a chance to win part of the huge prize pool in the race. Players will be ranked according to a unique Race Points system which will calculate an average of a player’s activity at cash games. Players can regularly check Titan Poker’s leaderboard (which is automatically updated every thirty minutes) to see their position in the standings.

KC man wins $830,000 pot at regional poker tourney

A Kansas City businessman sits atop the leaderboard at the World Series of Poker.

Early Wednesday morning at the Rio in Las Vegas, Grant Hinkle, who will turn 28 on Saturday, caught a full house and parlayed his $1,500 seat in the tournament to $831,462 in prize money in a regional World Series tournament.

“My wife and I had been looking at buying a new house the last couple of years,” he said. “This will definitely help.”

The self-described “marketing guy” at Archer Technologies in Kansas City now sits at the top of the World Series money-winnings leaderboard for 2008 and ranks 277th in the series’ all-time Power Ranking.

And he’s not the only family member with World Series credentials. Brother Blair Hinkle is ranked 439th.

Grant Hinkle, a Topeka native, graduated from the University of Kansas with a business degree.

He said this was his second entry in a World Series of Poker event, but the first time he made it to a final table.

Grant Hinkle said the grueling three-day game that wrapped up Wednesday morning is scheduled to be televised July 29 by ESPN.

By then, he said, he plans to have invested $10,000 of his winnings in a seat at the World Series finals, which are to be played in July and televised later this year.

Blair Hinkle earlier this year finished 11th at the Los Angeles Poker Classic and brought home $62,000 for that. He finished 520th in the WSOP main event last year.

Grant said his regular poker game is with a few friends in the Kansas City area or at area casino poker rooms. He said most of his home poker games are for buy-ins of $40 or $50.

Grant said his brother offered some pretty good advice for his winning play in Wednesday’s last hand.

Holding a 10 and a 4, he went all in on a bluff. The cards that turned up: 10-10-4-4-5.

Game over.

US Friendly Poker Rooms- US Legal Poker

Many US poker players have found it difficult to play online poker since the UIGEA(Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act) was passed in 2006. There are still misconceptions about the legality and access to online poker. According to legal experts who have reviewed and interpreted the law, playing online poker is in fact legal in the US. The UIGEA was designed to make depositing onto US online poker rooms extremely difficult, it does not make any act of the playing poker or depositing illegal. It should be stressed that this law does not address players or prohibit any form of online poker. The main target of this law was aimed at financial institutions, where it makes specific regulations against banks knowingly facilitating transactions onto gambling sites of any kind. It also prohibits any site that is under the jurisdiction of US law from accepting deposits from US players. This is why all of these sites are located and operated offshore.

This law has no doubt made deposing more difficult, but not impossible. There are plenty of us poker deposit options for online poker available today. The easiest of which are Poker Echecks, which are similar to paper check and carry many of the same protections of paper checks, the main difference is they are electronic. According to reviews they are easy, fast and safe to use. You simply need your account information, including your account and routing number, which can be found on your check. Once this information is entered and submitted along with the amount you wish to deposit, your funds will immediately be available for play.

Absolute Poker Introduces Instant Deal Making at Final Tables

Absolute Poker has announced a new final table feature that promises to expedite the deal making process at select online poker games.

“We’re making it easier for players to facilitate deals so that everyone can walk away from a big tournament with a healthy win,” stated David Clainer, Senior Vice President for Absolute Poker.

The new Deal Making button will automatically appear once a game reaches the final poker table. The process will begin only once all remaining poker players have agreed to make a deal. The game will then pause and the tournament manager will join the chat to monitor the players as a deal is discussed and provide helpful information on chip equity.

If an agreement is reached, the pot will be divided in accordance with the agreed terms. If no agreement is reached, the game will continue.

Clainer notes that by the time a poker tournament gets to the final table, the game often turns into a coin toss as players go all-in for a shot at winning the pot. Deal making enables the players to split the pot and avoid leaving a potential big win or loss to chance.

The Deal Making feature is available at select poker tournaments as indicated in the lobby of the Absolute Poker software. Full details can be found at www.absolutepoker.com.

Full Tilt Poker Pro Erick Lindgren Captures His First Ever World Series of Poker Title

Erick Lindgren overcame an extremely stacked 332 player field to capture his first World Series of Poker bracelet on early Thursday morning in the $5k Mixed Hold’em event. Lindgren overcame Justin “Zeejustin” Bonomo in heads-up play to take down the first place prize of $374,505, plus the coveted World Series of Poker bracelet. This was Lindgren’s first ever World Series of Poker bracelet.

The final table of the event was a great mix of experience and youth. As mentioned, Lindgren and Bonomo finished first and second. The final table also included the following names: Roland de Wolfe, Howard Lederer, David Williams and Isaac Haxton. This was an extremely strong final table (and event, for that matter), and Lindgren’s victory was well-earned.

Lindgren’s lack of a World Series of Poker bracelet must have been frustrating to him, especially given his ultra-competitive nature. He has come agonizingly close before (second place finish in the 2006 $5k Short-Handed No Limit Hold’em event), but was never able to seal the deal. Prior to this event, Lindgren had already had a phenomenal career which included $5.96 million in total lifetime cashes and two WPT titles, but no WSOP bracelet.

For Justin “Zeejustin” Bonomo, this was yet another deep run in a major tournament without a win. As we’ve said before, you have to figure that it is just a matter of time before he takes one down.

The final hand of the tournament came when Lindgren raised pre-flop and Bonomo called. They saw a flop of 10-5-3 with two clubs. Both players checked, and the turn card was the 4 of hearts. “Zeejustin” bet 80,000, and Lindgren called. The river was the eight of hearts. Bonomo bet again, Lindgren raised, and Bonomo called, putting himself all-in.

Lindgren turned up A-2 for a straight, while Bonomo showed 5-4 for two pair.

“Zeejustin” received $230,159 for his second place finish. This was Bonomo’s second trip to a WSOP final table - he finished in fourth place in a $2k No Limit Hold’em event in 2007 for $156k.

With this victory, Erick Lindgren will move up to 20th on the all-time money list, one behind Johnny Chan.

WSOP debuts ‘green’ poker table

This year’s World Series of Poker - the highlight of the poker calendar - will feature green tables of a different kind.

Executive Gaming Monthly (EGM) will be presenting their eco-friendly poker table, made of 98% sustainable products.

In an effort to introduce recycled and sustainable products into the gaming world, EGM aims to reduce waste and impact on ecosystems. Their specially designed green tables are made of wood certified by the Forestry stewardship Council and use only water-based adhesive.

As well as displaying their wares in the WSOP exhibition, the winner of the WSOP will take home their own ‘EGM green’ poker table.

EGM also makes environmentally friendly tables for roulette and baccarat, and green yet comfortable lounge furniture.

The WSOP will run throughout June and July, until the competition is whittled down to the last 9 players. These 9 will have to wait till November when they will sit down at the final table to compete for the top prize in poker.

Britain has gone Poker Crazy

Britain has gone poker crazy with one in four adults playing in the last year, a study revealed. One in 14 join a game every day and one in seven play at least once a week.

Experts say poker is seen as “cool” and gets 40 times the TV coverage it did five years ago. Consumer analyst Mintel which quizzed 4,000 Brits, found that live games between friends are as popular as online poker. Senior analyst Matt King said .. “The extra excitement and social side are important .. “ Talking about gambling .. Air travellers will soon be able to gamble during flights as airlines introduce on-board casinos. ? Passengers on long-haul journeys will be able to log on to the internet and stake cash on games including poker, blackjack and roulette.

But the decision has been widely criticised by the anti-gambling lobby. A spokesman for the charity Gamcare, which provides help to people suffering addictions, said: “Clearly these games will attract people sitting on a flight for hours on end who don’t normally bother with betting online. There is a real danger that people who don’t normally take an interest in gambling will be attracted to betting”

The casinos will be provided by the world’s biggest online gambling company 888.com which already rakes in £1.2 billion a year from Britons. Passengers will be able to use their in-flight TV screen to access the online casinos.

Team Full Tilt Announces newest member

Over the weekend Full Tilt Poker announced that cash game specialist Patrik Antonius signed on as the newest team member.

Comments (1) Jun 05 2008

Virgin Poker Festival hits Nottingham on 28 June

Following the success of the previous Virgin Poker Festivals in Birmingham and Newcastle, Virgin Poker yesterday announced that the next poker extravaganza will take place at the Dusk Till Dawn Poker Room, in Nottingham, on Saturday 28th and Sunday 29th June 2008.

With Dusk Till Dawn being the first poker-only venue in the UK and the largest poker room in Europe, the Nottingham festival is tipped to be bigger and better than its predecessors. Over 270 Virgin Poker players will be given the opportunity to compete in a two-day live poker tournament- and the chance to win a share of its impressive GBP 32,000 prize pot.

The Main Event at the Festival will be a EUR 150 Texas Hold’em No Limit Freezeout tournament for up to 270 players, with 10,000 starting stacks, 40 minute levels and GBP 5,000 added to the prize pool. There will be no direct buy-ins to the event- all online players will qualify via online satellites and freerolls at www.virginpoker.com

Other players can compete for the chance to win a seat at the Virgin Poker Festival on Sunday 22nd June, when Dusk Till Dawn Poker Club will be holding a special live satellite tournament with 20 seats up for grabs.

Joe Legge, poker manager for Virgin Poker, said: “Having found a recipe for success in Birmingham and Newcastle, we’re excited to announce that the next Virgin Poker Festival will be taking place in the premier poker club in Europe. Whilst some will be up to their ears in mud at the Glastonbury Festival over the weekend we’ll be getting competitive and enjoying the thrill of a live tourney with the chance to win a share of our great prizepool.”

Fun is definitely the name of the game at the Virgin Poker Festival, with a variety of side events taking place alongside the main tournament to give everyone an opportunity to get involved- regardless of their poker playing abilities. Practice tables will offer ‘live play classes’ for less experienced players, whilst Wii bowling- back by popular demand- will be taking place over the weekend in search of a player worthy of the Wii bowling crown.

To add a further Virgin twist to the Virgin Poker Festival, players will be able to knock-out key opponents whose heads carry bounties of fantastic Virgin giveaways, whilst STTs and Heads-Up challenges with the Virgin Poker team will ensure every opportunity for players to have a winning weekend.

And, for those not lucky enough to win a seat at the main tournament table- or those players suffering an early exit- there are three side events running over the weekend. With Virgin adding 50,000 Virgin Atlantic Flying Club Miles for the winner of each side event, a dash to Vegas for the WSOP may be on the cards for a lucky few the following week!

For more information on the Virgin Poker Festival, and how to qualify, please visit www.virginpoker.com.

Digital poker table makes dealers obsolete

If inventors of high-tech gaming tables would only apply their formidable skills in other areas, the world would surely be a better place. Recently there have been some ingenious creations to automate parlor games, whether they deal cards or shuffle mahjong tiles.

Now there’s a fully digital poker table that makes the deck of cards (as well as their dealers) obsolete. The “X10 Ten Player Automated Table” can accommodate up to 10 players in the tournament staple of Texas Hold ‘Em, each with his or her own 12-inch touch screen and a 27-inch LCD in the center where the flops, turns, and rivers will show as community cards alongside the chip totals. The hands are kept private, BornRich explains, because players can “peel” the corners of their cards to take a peek.

It’s a much broader version of the two-person “Heads-Up Challenge” we cited a few weeks back, combined with the concept of other multiple-player systems except they’re all at the same table. If you’re hosting the game, however, you’d better win some monster hands because you’ll need them to pay the $29,950 price.

Titan Poker Players Will Up the Ante in China this August

Titan Poker, the largest online poker room on the iPoker Network, has launched a series of qualifying satellites to determine which of its players will participate in the exciting Asian Poker Tour (APT) tournament in Macau from August 26th until August 31st.

This second stop on the Asian Poker Tour will take avid poker players from around the globe to the southeast coast of China on the western bank of the Pearl River Delta. Titan Poker is offering its players many chances to qualify for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to play poker in an exotic Asian location.

Players have two chances each week to qualify for the APT - Macau. Every Sunday and Wednesday Titan Poker is hosting Super Satellites that award top players a $9,000 prize package. Qualifying players will receive entrance to the APT Macau Main Event poker tournament, luxurious accommodations for six nights at the StarWorld Hotel, and $3,000 for travel and spending.

The inaugural Asian Poker Tour tournament, staged in Manila at the end of May, was a tremendous success with its unprecedented One Million Dollar guaranteed prize pool, the largest ever offered in Asia. Hopes are high that Macau can deliver even greater rewards to participants.

Titan Poker regularly rewards its players with huge cash prizes. At the end of this month, the poker room will give away $3,600,000 in its second European Championship of Online Poker (ECOOP II). It also frequently awards its players with seats at the world’s most well-known poker tournaments. Titan Poker will be sending players to the World Series of Poker 2008 in Las Vegas. Earlier this month, it sponsored the Eurocity Poker Tour Madrid Open - an exclusive poker tournament open to an elite 200 players.

Annie Duke Readies Absolute Poker’s Liv Boeree for First Bracelet Win

What happens when the world’s best female poker player takes an astrophysics-student-turned-poker-pro under her wings? That’s what everyone in Las Vegas is waiting to find out as Annie Duke guides Liv Boeree towards her first World Series of Poker* bracelet.

“It’s a huge confidence boost knowing I have the world’s best poker teacher and player mentoring me,” stated Liv Boeree. “Since starting tuition with Annie in March my game has improved more than I thought possible.”

While Boeree only recently began her pro education, she first connected with Annie Duke on the UltimatePoker.com Showdown television series in August 2005. It was the wealth of insight gained from Duke that effectively launched Boeree’s poker career.

In a little over two years, Liv has amassed several top 10 finishes in Texas Hold’em tournaments across London including multiple first place wins. In February 2008, Liv caught the attention of Absolute Poker and was quickly signed by the online poker site.

The talented poker player has already proven her worth. On May 4th, Boeree finished first among a field of 53 players in the Ladbrokes European Ladies Championship, securing a coveted trophy and $30,000.

“Liv is a fantastic student to work with,” says Annie Duke. “The speed with which she grasped the concepts was astonishing and, obviously, with her two recent tournament wins she has put the lessons to good use. I am eager to coach her during the series and see how far we can take this talented lady.”

Live Boeree can be found playing at Absolute Poker’s online poker tables. The free poker software can be downloaded from www.absolutepoker.com.

Ted Forrest

Ted Forrest (born September 24, 1964 in Syracuse, New York) is an American professional poker player, currently residing in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Forrest won three bracelets at the 1993 World Series of Poker (WSOP). After the mid-1990s, Forrest turned his attention full time to cash games. He made a triumphant return to the WSOP by winning 2 bracelets at the 2004 WSOP. Since then he has moved his focus from seven card stud to hold ‘em with some success, including reaching 4 final tables on the World Poker Tour and winning a championship on the Professional Poker Tour.

Forrest is well known as a competitive high stakes gambler. He has been a key part of a consortium of poker players who pooled their money together to play Texas billionaire Andy Beal in a series of very high limit, heads-up, Texas Holdem games, with limits ranging anywhere from $20,000/$40,000 to $100,000/$200,000.

Forrest also participates in many proposition bets, such as betting John Hennigan $10,000 that Huck Seed’s brother Leif could not run to L.A. from Las Vegas while only sleeping twice. His ‘healthy disregard for money’ that is so beneficial to his poker game also leads to reports that he has bankrolled losing players and invested imprudently in the past.

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Comments (0) Jun 04 2008

German Player Wins European Championship Tournament at Titan Poker

Player “Heins77″ from Germany was the winner on Wednesday of the sixth tournament staged as part of Titan Poker’s ten-day European Championship of Online Poker (ECOOP) tournament series.

The ECOOP series is currently attracting unprecedented player interest at Titan Poker, the largest online poker room on the iPoker Network. A total of $3,600,000 is guaranteed in prizes at the ten tournaments, but the large number of online poker players participating in the tournaments has driven up the prize pools even higher.

Player “Heins77″ took home a first prize of $45,570 as he beat off 1,084 other players in the Texas Hold’em No Limit, 6-Player table tournament with a buy-in of $200+$15. A total of $217,000 was distributed to the winning players, more than the event’s guaranteed prize pool of $200,000.

The previous night, the fifth ECOOP II tournament saw 505 players compete at a Texas Hold’em No Limit Freezeout tournament with a stiff $750 + $50 Buy-in. The prize pool, at $378,750, again surpassed the promised amount.

The ECOOP II tournament series continues at Titan Poker until June 1st, when it culminates with a tournament finale with $1,500,000 in guaranteed prizes.

Titan Poker players are able to buy-in directly to each of the ECOOP II events or win their seats at online daily qualifying tournaments, which start at just $2 + $0.20.

This is the second European Championship of Online Poker staged by Titan Poker. The first ECOOP series was staged in December 2007 and exceeded expectations by awarding more than $2,500,000 in prizes.

Bettors go all-in on 2008 World Series of Poker

Poker betting is one thing but wagering on poker betting is quite another. And yet that’s the challenge gamblers will face when they match cash to conviction on the 39th World Series of Poker in Las Vegas, beginning May 30.

Although some books have prices for which poker players will win each of the 53 preliminary card games, it is Event #54, the $10,000 buy-in World Championship of No-Limit Texas Hold ‘em, known as the Main Event, that not only attracts the most poker players but the most action from bettors, as well.

That competition gets underway July 3 at the Rio All-Suite Hotel with the Final Table determined on July 14. The nine players who advance to the Final Table will return to the Rio on November 9 where the outcome will be decided on the evening of November 10.

Poker exploded as a TV and gambling essential a half-decade ago when new technology allowed viewers watching at home to see each player’s hole cards. Bookmakers, who tried to keep pace with the phenomena, have been swamped of late as the number of entries to the Main Event swelled to a record 8,773 in 2006. Try making a future book involving that many names!

So, given the huge fields and the fact that an established professional poker player has not won the Main Event since 2001, books have taken to offering prices on players merely making it to the Final Table. (Odds on winning the top prize will follow after that).

The lowest odds on any individual reaching the Final Table is 100/1, a price afforded to 1987 and 1988 Main Event champion Johnny Chan, 1989 winner Phil Hellmuth and 2001 champ Carlos Mortensen, as well as such highly regarded poker players a Gus Hansen, Daniel Negreanu and Allen Cunningham.

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More than $4,500 in monthly leaderboard prizes. Play Texas Hold’em DuplicatePoker.com

Saab wins RP leg of Asian Poker Tour

Australian national David Saab emerged as the top winner of the 2008 Asian Poker Tour as he bested more than 300 players in the finals of the six-day event Sunday at the Dusit Thani Manila Hotel in Makati City.

The 35-year-old became the last man standing at the “no limit Texas hold’em” after beating South Korea’s Chris Roh in six hours at the gambling table.

Saab already had 2.2 million worth of chips against Roh’s 800,000 before the winning the tour’s Philippine leg.

Saab, who started Sunday’s game as the chip leader, pocketed the $280,000 top prize. He was a former chief executive officer of a public company before turning pro full time.

Second placer Roh, who owns an online gaming room, took home $150,000.

Roh and Saab eliminated Japanese player Satoru Ishii to arrange their one-on-one match.

The 29-year-old Japanese, who works as a magazine writer, pocketed $100,000.

Filipinos reach the finals

Two Filipinos, meanwhile, made it into the finals before eventually bowing out of contention.

Terry Gonzaga and Don Carmona were eliminated from the competition after running out of chips to play.

Gonzaga, who works as a business manager of a semi-conductor outsource assembly plant, was the third to be eliminated among the top nine players who made it into the finals.

“Talagang matindi ang pressure,” said Gonzaga. He said that this was his first major tournament.

Carmona, who was cheered on by Filipino spectators, was the next to be eliminated.

“Magaling… magaling sila,” said Carmona, who is engaged in the customs brokerage business.

Other players who made it into the finals were Michele Ferrari (Italy), Yun Man (South Korea), Kwang Soo Lee (South Korea) and Gerasimos Deres (Sweden).

More than 300 players battled it out at the APT leg in Manila for a share of the guaranteed $1-million prize pot.

Meanwhile, APT CEO Chris Parker announced announced a US$1,500,000 guaranteed prize pool for its next event in Macau.

The Asian Poker Tour Macau will be held at the StarWorld Hotel and Casino from the 27th to 31st of August 2008 with the buy-in at $5,000+$300.

Another scandal rocks online poker

The Absolute Poker scandal mostly flew under the mainstream media’s radar last year, but as the old saying goes, “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.” Maybe George W. Bush can’t get that cliche correct, but if he played online poker he would definitely understand it’s meaning right around now.

The news is now official as UltimateBet has admitted that it has suffered its own cheating scandal.

And this time, the mainstream press is noticing. Canada’s National Post newspaper is already on top of the story.

A media organization with an already conservative bent, on Saturday the Post published a stark story about the state of security inside the poker world, with an article titled Native policing of gambling in doubt after online cheating.

And while I’m generally loathe to agree with conservative views of online gambling, I’m having a hard time disagreeing with the premise of the article, which questions whether the Kahnawake reserve has the balls to properly regulate the gaming companies under its watch.

Right now, it looks like it doesn’t.

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World Series of Poker shows Vegas at its best

Las Vegas has been beset by weird, bad news this year. There’s the mortgage foreclosure crisis, plus a hepatitis outbreak. And you could drown away such troubles with a night on the town, but then you might deal with long lines at expensive, celebrity-owned nightclubs that are, alas, under investigation by the feds.

So it was a relief this weekend to see the focus of Vegas rooting into what it does best: poker. Specifically, taking people’s money away from them for their own good, or at least Las Vegas’ good.

The World Series of Poker was a magnet for many hundreds of action junkies from around the world. They chipped in up to $10,000 each to play the tables. A swarm of international media buzzed around them.

And some poker players and spectators did their part to help alleviate our housing crisis. Quite a few told me they just moved to Las Vegas within the past month, either to get closer to tournaments here, or to prey as poker pros on tourists in hotels.

The most prominent gaming duo was actress Jennifer Tilly and her poker champ boyfriend Phil Laak. They just moved here a few weeks ago. And they were hard to miss at the Rio, since he’s known as “The Unabomber” for hiding his poker face behind dark glasses and a hoodie. And she’s appropriately called “The Unabombshell.”

Tilly thinks “Unabombshell” is a cute alias, but she prefers another nickname she hears: J-Tilla the Killa.

“I think that strikes fear in the hearts of men,” she says. “‘Unabombshell’ sort of implies ‘decorative:’ someone you can have at the table so you can stare at her boobs.”

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Comments (0) Jun 02 2008

Player Receives $55,000 as Titan Poker Deals Its Billionth Hand

Titan Poker, the largest online poker room on the iPoker Network, dealt its Billionth Hand on May 27 and player “wootrigged” from Finland went home with a prize of $55,000. The other five players playing at the same table received $5,000 each, just for participating in hand number 1,000,000,000.

Titan Poker’s Billionth Hand promotion, which launched a number of weeks ago, awarded more than $420,000 in prizes. A countdown started when the 950,000,000th hand was dealt. Hundreds of dollars in cash were awarded to players every day as Titan Poker neared its monumental billionth hand.

Players were able to track the progress of the countdown to the Billionth Hand by logging into the Titan Poker software, or onto the Titan Poker website. Titan Poker players also received regular updates of the countdown progress and were immediately informed when they started to play on a winning hand.

Titan Poker regularly rewards its players with huge cash prizes. The popular online poker room is currently giving away $3,600,000 in its second European Championship of Online Poker (ECOOP II). It also frequently awards its players with seats at the world’s most well-known poker tournaments, including the 2008 World Series of Poker in Las Vegas, the Irish Open, the European Poker Tour and the Asian Poker Tour. In May, Titan Poker sponsored the Eurocity Poker Tour Madrid Open, a highly successful tournament event staged at the Casino Gran outside the Spanish capital.

For World Series of Poker players, brain trumps hand

The real action at the World Series of Poker won’t be visible to the eye or even the hole-card cameras under the tables. It will take place inside the heads of the players.

They will mess with each other’s minds, watch for clues that might tip off another’s hand or a nervous bluff and calculate the risks and rewards of each hand. And before they move all-in with their chips, they will decide whether they have not only the cards but the nerve.

“A lot of time, it’s just a game of chicken. You don’t have very much. You think they don’t have very much. Each of you is just trying to make the other one fold,” says pro Barry Greenstein, who rates psychological toughness the No. 1 trait of a poker player.

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Poker: Picking the right time to gamble is important

Ideally, you want to get your money in the pot in a no-limit Texas hold ‘em tournament when you have an opponent dominated, but that isn’t always possible.

Sometimes your stack will be below average, you will draw a nice hand, even if it isn’t the best, and you will see a big pot brewing. You have to gamble.

It happens to the top players all the time. They don’t always like it, but one part of their strategy is to pick a smaller stack to gamble with so they can’t bust out, as Josh Arieh showed at the $15,000-buy-in Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic at Las Vegas’ Bellagio in 2007.

With blinds at $500-$1,000 plus a $100 ante, the player under the gun limped, as did pro Marcel Luske and two other players.

Arieh, who finished third in the 2004 World Series of Poker main event, found ace-queen offsuit on the button. He also found a chance to make a move to improve his below-average stack of about $24,000.

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Ultimate Poker Challenge

Ultimate Poker Challenge is a syndicated show that televises a series of weekly poker tournaments where players accumulate points instead of money in order to play in the semi-finals. Eight players then go on to play in the finals. The playing field for ultimate poker challenge is comprised of both professional poker players and top amateurs.

Chad Brown, an actor most recognized for his work on the soap opera “Another World” hosted the show with Brandi Williams as field correspondent who often interviewed the players. Matt Savage was the tournament director. In the first season of Ultimate Poker Challenge, James Van Alstyne won the top prize of $100,000. In season 2, Andy Bloch, who is best known for being a member of the MIT blackjack team that was featured in the book, “Bringin Down The House,” which is also the subject of the 2008 movie, “21″ won the top prize of $167,500. The winner of the show’s season 3 was Amir Vahedi, who took home $181,390.

Seasons 1 and 2 of the exciting series are available on DVD for fans of the show to purchase. In season 4, the show was actually renamed to The Ultimate Poker Challenge Presents Cash Poker: The Ultimate Challenge. In 2007 ultimate poker challenge teamed up with Woman Poker Player magazine to create the Ultimate Women’s Poker Challenge. This event was held at Binions in Las Vegas and was televised for the show. Shows like these have really helped to popularize poker, especially when people at home see the “average Joe” take home the money. It gives the ordinary amateur hope that he or she has a chance at winning the big one someday. Also, by utilizing Henry Orenstein’s invention of the pocket camera, now that the home audience can see the player’s hole cards, it makes watching poker more exciting than ever!

Checkout the UltimateBet Weekly Online Poker Tournament Schedule:

Monday - Saturday: 8:00PM - Buy In $120+9 - $20K Nightly Bounty No Limit Tournaments
Sundays: 5:00PM - Buy In $120+9 or Qualify for your seat for as little as $5.50 - $200K Guaranteed No Limit Tournament.

Designed with the assistance of the best poker players in the world - Phil Hellmuth and Annie Duke – UltimateBet provides the best poker betting games available on the net. Players can download the free poker software, play in free ring games and tournaments and get tips from these pros to learn the sport or to enhance their playing strategy. UltimateBet currently has over 2 million registered players.

World Series of Poker kicks off with $10K event

It seems it was yesterday that Jerry Yang was celebrating his 2007 World Series of Poker main event title. It feels like it was last night that I was busting out of the 2006 WSOP main event. Sorry, some of those hands just haunt me in my sleep.

But it is time for poker’s main attraction — the WSOP — again. And while the number of main event entrants is anybody’s guess, this year’s World Series already is guaranteed to be the longest in history.

It starts today with the $10,000 buy-in pot-limit hold’em world championship and ends in November with the final stages of the main event final table.

Usually, it’s the casino employees event that kicks off the WSOP, so it’s refreshing see the World Series starting in style this year with one of the 12 world championship events. In all, Caesar’s Entertainment will be handing out 55 WSOP bracelets again this year at the Rio All-Suites Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.

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Comments (0) May 30 2008

Huge Player Interest in Titan Poker’s European Championship Tournament Series

Titan Poker, the largest online poker room on the iPoker Network, has seen unprecedented player interest in its 10-day European Championship of Online Poker (ECOOP) tournament series. The ECOOP series staged by Titan Poker guarantees $3,600,000 in prizes, but the large number of online poker players participating in the tournaments has driven up the prize pools even higher.
The ECOOP II series kicked off on May 23rd with a No Limit Hold’em event that drew 1,291 players. The following night was dedicated to Pot Limit Omaha Poker players, with a tournament that attracted 576 and awarded more than $100,000 in prizes.

The third ECOOP II tournament awarded $516,300 in prizes to the winning online poker players among the 1,721 who participated in the event. This was higher than the half a million dollars guaranteed in prizes.

The fourth ECOOP II tournament, once again devoted to Pot Limit Omaha players, awarded $165,000 in prizes.

The ECOOP II tournament series continues at Titan Poker until June 1st, when it culminates with a tournament finale with $1,500,000 in guaranteed prizes.

Titan Poker players are able to buy-in directly to each of the ECOOP II events or win their seats at online daily qualifying tournaments, which start at just $2 + $0.20.

This is the second European Championship of Online Poker staged by Titan Poker. The first ECOOP series was staged in December 2007 and exceeded expectations by awarding more than $2,500,000 in prizes.

Gamma Labs to Boost Testosterone At World Series of Poker In Las Vegas

A New York company says Testosterone
is just the lucky charm competitive poker players need at the card table. Casino giant Harrah’s Entertainment signed an agreement with West Babylon’s
Gamma Labs, maker of the boosting testosterone pill, to participate as a 2008 World Series of Poker sponsor in Las Vegas. The tournament takes place
at the Rio(R) All-Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas from May 30 through July 14.

Gamma Labs will highlight their newly released testosterone booster product, Gamma-O Plus Pomegranate, as an official sponsor of the WSOP. Gamma-O Plus Pomegranate contains Gamma-Oryzanol, an extract from rice bran oil which encourages the body to produce more testosterone, and pomegranate extract which has been shown to dramatically decrease the risk of prostate cancer. Gamma-O increases mental acuity, focus, and balance - precisely the skills that are needed to excel at the challenging game of poker.

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MansionPoker launches WSOP Mania poker tournaments

MansionPoker has announced the addition of WSOP Mania poker tournaments which provide members with further chances to win a coveted seat into the Mansion WSOP Mania Super Satellite tournament - worth $320 each.
The latest scheduled tournaments at MansionPoker.com to award guaranteed tickets into the Mansion WSOP Mania Super Satellite include the $1 + $0.10 Turbo Feeder tournaments
held daily at 18:30 and 21:30 BST, and the $10 + $1 Mansion WSOP Mania Daily Final; both of which award 3 Super Satellite tickets guaranteed. The daily Midnight Madness event
also provides another opportunity to win a seat into the Super Satellite of the year.

The Mansion WSOP Mania Super Satellite is one of the most exciting online poker tournaments of the year which takes place on Sunday June 15 2008 at 19:00 BST, with a
buy in of $300 + $20 and a guaranteed prize pool of 20 Packages - each worth an astounding $16,000.

Every package awards winning players at MansionPoker to take a seat at the world’s greatest Poker event: the World Series of Poker (WSOP). Based in Las Vegas, Nevada,
winners will be lucky enough to pit their poker wits against other enthusiasts and top professionals such as last year’s winner Jerry Yang and MansionPoker.com’s very own Marc Goodwin.

Unlike other online poker rooms, MansionPoker has ensured that their seats are guaranteed. The company looks forward to sending some of their quality players to join in the prestigious event and have a shot at the prize money as well as the kudos.

New Poker Game Introduced to Las Vegas

Royal Hold ‘em

A new type of Texas Hold’em poker has been given the green light by the Nevada Gaming Commission, and will soon be seen at the tables in Las Vegas.

Royal Hold’em puts a new spin on the classic game of poker. Following the same rules as Texas Hold’em, the main and significant difference is that Royal Hold’em is played with just 20 cards in the deck. Only cards of value 10 and above - the face cards - are used. WIth just 10, Jack, Queen, King and Ace in the game, all the hands dealt have potential.

The new structure of the game means that most hands are played to the flop and there’s a much higher chance of getting a Royal Flush. The game is fast-paced and action-packed.

Another game currently in the pipeline is No River Hold’em, played with up to 10 players. Each player is dealt three hole cards, instead of the usual two, and the other main difference is that there is no river card dealt. The flop contains just two community cards.

Poker has a huge following around the world, both online and offline, and the appearance of new variations shows that the poker world is booming. The addition of new poker games is a great development and only serves to highten the excitement of this popular game.

Seminole Hard Rock Casino To Hold $3,000 Charity Poker Tourney

Poker is growing in popularity. The bigger it gets, combined with its growth within an area, dictate how much casinos will be able to charge for high end tournaments. In Florida, the casino gambling expansion has brought out some of the biggest gamblers.

This weekend, the Seminole Hard Rock Casino in Hollywood, Florida, will be holding the biggest poker tournament ever in the state of Florida. The event is a $3,000 buy-in Texas Hold’em tourney.

First prize for the tournament could top the $125,000 mark. That will depend on the amount of interest the tournament sparks. The payouts will be based on the amount of entries.

$600 of each entry is going to the house. That is a particularly high number. In other ares where these types of tournaments are run, the house takes anywhere from three to eight percent. The $600 is twenty percent of the entry fee.

The tribe claims that this number is high due to the amount that must be paid to charity. Seventy percent has to go to charity when running a tournament such as this. There are 210 seats available for the tourney.

Proceeds from the event are going to the Miami Beach Health Foundation. The high fees are not a problem for most gamblers since the money is going to a good cause.

“I would mind if the casino was keeping all the money, but if it is going to charity, who cares. $125,000 is still a nice payout for a tournament win,” said Bill Triscol, a South Florida resident who is planning on playing in the tournament.

The Hard Rock is hoping this is just the beginning of the big time tournaments. They are planning on bringing a World Poker Tour event to the Hard Rock in the future.

Binion’s Gambling Hall to Host Second Annual Binions Poker Classic

Binion’s used to be the absolute center of the poker world back when poker wasn’t the international phenomenon that it is now, the Binion family actually ran Binion’s Horseshoe, as it was called back then, and the World Series of Poker was held there every year all the way through 2005. Nowadays, the WSOP is a multi-million dollar operation hosted at the Rio and Binion’s is left scrambling to grab some of the summer poker attention focused on Las Vegas.

To that effort, last year Binion’s introduced the Binion’s Poker Classic, a summer poker tournament series designed to attract players who don’t have quite the bankroll to play the WSOP. Unfortunately, they are also now competing in this space with the Venetian Deep Stack, The Grand Poker Series at the Golden Nugget, the 2008 Orleans Poker Classic and, to some extent, the Bellagio Cup and it’s WPT championship event. Needless to say, the summer poker schedule in Las Vegas is packed, but Binion’s distinguishes itself with history and the Poker Hall of Fame, giving players the chance to toss some cards under the watchful gaze of some of poker’s greatest legends.

Now in its second year, the Binion’s Poker Classic gets underway today with the $100 Casino Employees tournament and wraps up on July 7 when the $2,000 Championship Event kicks off. During this five-week span there will be 43 events covering a multitude of buy-ins and versions of poker. Satellites will be running regularly at Binion’s for the larger buy-in events.

Comments (0) May 28 2008

After 46 years, poker club folds its hand

When Grant Erwin started his poker club in 1962, there was no such thing as a personal computer, an online accounting tool or an Excel worksheet. The eight or nine men who met monthly around kitchen tables in Seattle and Bellevue to play low-stakes poker kept track of their winnings with tokens in old baby-food jars, labeled with their names.

Over the last 46 years, the “Puget Sound Probability and Chowder Society,” as it was called, has seen many of its members come and go. Some have moved to other cities. Some have passed away. Some have been divorced, had grandkids or retired. On Friday, after nearly half a century of monthly poker games, the remaining seven men of the society played their last hand.

“I’m really going to miss seeing all these guys,” said Bob Gillespie, 75, who moved to Portland several years ago but traveled to Frank Davenport’s Bellevue home last weekend to participate in the finale.

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888.com Upgrades its Poker Experience with New Software

888.com’s Pacific Poker releases a new and enhanced version of its poker software, offering many more features, options and 3D graphics.

888.com, one of the world’s leading gaming and entertainment companies, charges at the poker world with the new version of its poker software in Pacific Poker. New players can now enjoy the new software with a massive $400 Welcome Bonus.

Pacific Poker’s enhanced software version presents a new poker experience to players, with three great Table Views: Classic View, Avatar View, a 3D round table with avatars, first person view options, a variety of table backgrounds and more features and the Clear View, a 3D table without avatars that features a clear background.

An All-In move is the most effective way to shake your opponents, but it can be very costly if it is made by mistake. This is why one of the most important new features of the new poker software is the Hide/Verify All-In Action option.

The new option allows players to hide the All-In button to avoid clicking it by mistake while still being able to go All-In by moving the bet slider to the maximum bet. Players can instead choose to use the “Approve all-in action” which requires confirmation on this move.

888.com’s Marketing Director, Matt Robinson, said that Pacific Poker modelled the new version of its poker software according to the players’ requirements.

“Our new software is the next step in Pacific Poker’s evolution,” said Robinson. “It is inspired by the way our players like to play the game and we made it our priority to provide them with a gaming platform that would upgrade their poker experience.”

For further information, please contact Gill Carter at +00-350-49800 or newscom @ 888.com

Notes to editors:
About 888.com
888.com is one of the World’s leading gaming and entertainment companies. It has millions of members worldwide who enjoy its casino, bingo and poker rooms and receive an online gaming experience like no other.

Founded in 1997 - 888.com this year celebrates its 10th anniversary - by pioneers of the online gaming industry, 888.com has developed a strong brand grown by cutting-edge marketing through offline sponsorships, poker events, online collaborations and continual upgrading of its flagship online products; 888.com Casino, Bingo and Poker.

PokerStars Macau Poker Room

PokerStars opened its first live poker room. But if you thought they did so in Las Vegas, you’re wrong. PokerStars picked the Grand Waldo Hotel and Casino in Macau for the location of their card room.

160 tables are waiting to be filled by poker enthusiasts. The most diverse tournaments and cash games will be offered on a weekly basis. The kick-off was a charity tourney a few days ago in which the proceeds were donated to the victims of the devastating earthquake.

The buy-ins of the weekly tournaments range from HKD $500 up to HKD $10,000 (HKD = Hong Kong Dollar, pegged to the US Dollar with 1:8). PokerStars also offers a whole bout of satellites for the PokerStars.net Asian Pacific Poker Tour which will make its stop in the PokerStars Macau Poker Room early September. More detailed information can be found on the internet site:PokerStars Macau

Titan Poker Players Compete at $1,000,000 Manila Tournament

Leading online poker room, Titan Poker, sends eight of its best players to compete in the Asian Poker Tour event in Manila.

Titan Poker, the largest poker room on the iPoker Network, has sent a delegation of eight talented poker players to the Asian Poker Tour (APT) - Manila. Beginning on May 26th until June 2nd, players will test their poker skills with at least 400 poker players, amateurs and top professionals, from around the world.

By winning an APT Manila Super Satellite tournament at Titan Poker, each of the eight players was subsequently rewarded with a $6,000 prize package to the Asian Poker Tour. In addition to receiving a $2,500 buy-in to the Main Event, $2,600 is also included for flights and spending, along with a seven night accommodation at the Dusit Hotel in Manila, worth $840.

Participants in the Manila tournament will compete for an unprecedented One Million Dollar prize pool, the largest ever offered in Asia.

Winner Frank De Vries, from The Netherlands is very excited for his upcoming trip. He says he is “looking forward to playing in the poker thrilla of Manila.”

The popularity of poker in Asia is growing rapidly and APT tournament officials expect a lot of excitement with Manila being the first stop of the 2008 Asian Poker Tour. The tour continues in South Korea, Macau, and Singapore.

Titan Poker regularly rewards its players with huge cash prizes. At the end of this month, the poker room will give away $3,600,000 in its second European Championship of Online Poker (ECOOP II). It also frequently awards its players with seats at the world’s most well-known poker tournaments. Titan Poker will be sending players to the World Series of Poker 2008 in Las Vegas. Earlier this month, it sponsored the Eurocity Poker Tour Madrid Open - an elite poker tournament open to just 200 players.

Comments (1) May 26 2008