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Poker News: Delaware; Foxwoods; Isildur1; Hullmuth out of HSP
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DELAWARE TO ADD POKER IN STATE CASINOS
Poker’s expansion in East Coast casinos is expected to continue this summer when Delaware’s three casinos add table games, including an option for poker, to their gambling offerings. The change comes after a bill legalizing table games was passed in late January and quickly signed into law by Delaware Governor Jack Markell. Delaware will join neighboring state Pennsylvania in offering poker and other table games, which is expected to put even more stress on the economically beleaguered stalwart of East Coast gambling, New Jersey’s Atlantic City. Another mid-Atlantic state, Maryland, is considering a similar expansion.
FOXWOODS TABS BERNARD LEE AS SPOKESMAN
Connecticut’s Foxwoods Casino joined the ranks of poker outlets with celebrity endorsers by naming Bernard Lee as its spokesman. Lee rose to prominence with a run to the final two tables in the 2005 WSOP main event and has been a fixture at Foxwoods e… Continue reading Poker News: Delaware; Foxwoods; Isildur1; Hullmuth out of HSP
Poker News in Brief: March 8-14, 2010
Опубликовал | КомментарииPhil Hellmuth made his fourth WPT final table at the 2010 Bay 101 Shooting Star with a chance to win his first WPT title.
You can read more about the stunning conclusion of Bay 101 in our news section.
It wasn’t all Hellmuth during the week, however, and as usual, PokerListings compiled some of the lesser-known poker stories in our ongoing Poker News in Brief feature.
This week we’ll take a look at UB sponsoring a major Canadian tournament, PokerStars hosting the world’s largest poker game and the upcoming Wynn Poker Classic main event.
UB Poker to Sponsor Poker Pro Canada Classic
UB Poker said no to the Caribbean and yes to Canada this week.
The online poker site cancelled its signature tournament in Aruba, but announced it is becoming one of the key sponsors of the Four Aces Poker Pro Canada Classic in Montreal.
Taking place April 15-18, the $1,650 buy-in tournament will now feature UB Poker pros Phil Hellmuth and Annie Duke.
UB will be sending over 50 players from its site to the tournament in satellites that start at just $11.
To learn more or qualify for the tournament check out the UB site here.
Wynn Classic Main Event Kicks Off Tomorrow
The Wynn Classic poker series, which began Feb. 25, is scheduled to culminate with the $5,000 main event this Monday at noon PT.
The series has already seen a couple of notable pros take down side events including Justin Young winning the $500 H.O.R.S.E. event and Chris Bjorn taking down the $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em event.
Scott Clements and Bryan Devonshire also finished runner-up in two events.
Now in its fourth year of existence the Wynn Classic has crowned Chris Moore, Zachary Hyman and Keith Ferrara as champions in previous years.
This year’s Main Event will run three days with the final table playing out on Wednesday.
$1 million in Prizes as Gladiator Continues
The Gladiator promotion on PartyPoker is off to a hot start and organizers are estimating players could potentially earn over $1 million by taking part.
“The Gladiator is off to a mightily powerful start and we forecast over $1 million in prizes based on the first week’s activity,” said a PartyPoker spokesman.
“It still isn’t too late to get involved though – there is still plenty of time to win some great cash rewards. If a customer earns 2,000 points a day for the remaining 20 days of the promotion they will pick up a cool $5,000.”
The Gladiator runs from March 3 to April 1 on PartyPoker and any player that earns a minimum of 10 PartyPoints each day will gain entry into $10,000 freeroll.
To learn more about the Gladiator promo visit the PartyPoker website.
PokerStars Hosts World’s Biggest Poker Game
PokerStars held one of the more unusual events related to poker this week.
The online poker room hosted what site representatives are calling, “The world’s largest poker game.”
The title doesn’t refer to number of players or the prizepool – it refers to the size of the chips and cards being played with.
The event featured English rugby stars James Haskell, Ben Foden and Delon Armitage pushing massive shoulder-high chips around a field.
PokerStars is the official gaming and casino partner of the English Rugby team and the entire event was filmed as a promo for the site.
You can check out the clip here.
International Poker Network Upgrades Software
The International Poker Network, which includes poker room’s bwin, BetClic and Paradise Poker, released an improved poker client this week.
The software update allows players to pick their own seats and the ability to use the same wallet for poker and casino.
“Being able to choose your own seat at the table may seem like a small thing to some,” said Wendy Lawrence of GTECH G2, the software provider for IPN, “But we design everything from the player’s perspective, so when players told us this is a feature they’d like to see, we built it in.
IPN recently celebrated its three millionth member and its two billionth hand. The network also awarded a €601,370 bad beat jackpot last fall.
Poker News in Brief: March 1-7, 2010
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Between the LAPC and WPT Invitational winners, Isildur1 getting busy online and the start of the NBC National Heads-Up Championship there was nary a dull moment for poker fans.
As usual, we’re going to list some of the poker stories you might have missed as part of our ongoing Poker News in Brief feature.
This week we’re going to take a look at online gambling in Iowa, a WSOP all-star game, Roland de Wolfe winning a London tournament and more.
Legal Online Gambling in Iowa?
Iowa is the latest U.S. state apparently looking at legalizing online gambling.
Rep. Doug Struyk of Council Bluffs told the Quad City Times that 50,000 people in Iowa already participate in online gambling and the government could provide better protection for them if the industry was legalized and regulated.
Struyk’s proposal would regulate the practice through the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission.
If the proposal was to go through Iowa would become the first state in the country to allow online gambling.
Tiger Woods Turns Down Paddy Poker Deal
Many of Tiger Woods major sponsors have dropped him since his sex scandal broke, but at least one online poker room seem to have no problem with the golfer.
Ireland-based Paddy Power Poker reportedly offered the disgraced sports star a five-year deal worth $75 million to represent the site.
Although Woods has already turned the offer down, Paddy Power Poker has claimed it is planning on coming back with an even better offer in the future.
It’s not the first time a poker organization has offered a deal to a fallen sports star. Last summer the Asian Poker Tour invited Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps to its Macau event.
A picture of Phelps holding a bong surfaced on the internet in early 2009, which led to several sponsors dropping the multiple gold-medalist.
Check Paddy Power Poker for more.
Rolande de Wolfe Wins London Open
Full Tilt pro Roland de Wolfe outlasted 110 players to win the 2010 Mansion Poker Les A London Open last week.
De Wolfe overcame a final table of mostly unknown players to win the £77,000 first place prize. The Hendon Mob’s Ross Boatman came in eighth place for £6,600.
The inaugural £2,000+£200 buy-in Mansion Poker Les A London Open ran February 23-24.
WSOP to Introduce All-Star Tournament?
It appears Harrah’s is interested in hosting some form of an all-star tournament at the 2010 WSOP.
Harrah’s released a cryptic message via the WSOP Twitter account this week that read:
“Which 20 WSOP Bracelet-Holders would you like to see compete in an All-Star game? Stay tuned…”
Last summer the WSOP held the 40th Anniversary Champions Invitational, which was open to every player that had won the Main Event. The tournament was won by 1983 World Champion Tom McEvoy.
In previous years, Harrah’s held a Tournament of Champions that featured a large number of notable pros. Annie Duke, Mike Matusow, and Mike Sexton were all winners of that event.
More Gold for Cake Poker Players in March
Cake Poker is giving its players two exclusive promotions during the month of March.
The first is the Cake Poker Turbo Gold Cards March Madness event that features Gold Cards dropping four times more often.
Gold Cards randomly appear in your account when you are playing ring games on Cake Poker. The cards are redeemable for cash or tournament entries depending on what card you receive.
Cake Poker will also be offering more satellites to the 2010 Irish Open, starting March 14.
“Dublin is a wonderful town and when you bring a major tournament there with the accompanying insane side action, it’s hard to beat,” said Cake Poker room manager Lee Jones.
To learn more visit the Cake Poker website.
Breaking News: Armed Robbery at EPT Berlin (Video & Pictures)
Опубликовал | КомментарииPress release from PokerStars:An armed robbery by six men took place today at EPT Berlin. Nobody was seriously injured. We hope to re-start all events at 4pm local time. A police investigation is under way. If you have video footage or photographs that could help the police, please contact the EPT organizers as soon as possible.According to German media, the robbers managed to get away with at least 800,000 euro. An amount not yet confirmed. Nobody was physical hurt during the heist. The EPT tou[...]
EPT Berlin – Day 2 News
Опубликовал | Комментарии124 players are returning for Day 3 of the EPT Berlin. The chip leader is Swiss player Stefan Huber who has more than a million in chips (1,087,500) and is nearly 300,000 clear of his nearest rival.
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Upcoming Tournament News
Опубликовал | КомментарииChicago-Horseshoe Hammond. Win a 2010 Porsche Cayman S Playing Heads-up. I’m not sure it gets much better than this! Chicagoland’s legendary poker event, the Chicago Poker Classic scheduled for February 26-March 7, is adding $350,000 plus a Porsche to the prize pool. They added $10,000 to three $240 buy-in no-limit events, $15,000 to three $350 buy-in no-limit events, and $20,000 to the $560 buy-in half no-limit hold ‘em/half pot-limit Omaha. The Porsche, valued at more than $70,000 will go to the winner of the $1,100 buy-in no-limit heads-up event (may be limited to 64 players) and $60,000 was added to the $3,125 buy-in no-limit Championship event. There’s more … all mega and super satellites will have three main event seats added to each prize pool, and one CPC main event seat will be added to all 7 p.m. second chance tournaments leading up to the main event. All CPC events will be two day events with the exception the one-day Event No. 9, and the main event, which runs three days…. Continue reading Upcoming Tournament News
Antonio Esfandiari Interview with Poker News Daily
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Poker News Daily: You’ve had a couple of sponsorship deals in the past, but you are generally known as one of the top unsigned players. What prompted you to settle down with Victory Poker?
Antonio Esfandiari: Well, there was no right fit for me. I was with Ultimate Bet many years ago. That was cool, but I’m glad that I wasn’t with them when the whole [cheating scandal] went down. I had nothing to do with that.
Then I was with World Poker Tour (WPT) because I was their one and only main guy. I didn’t want to be on a team with a bunch of other pros. Like Full Tilt has a gazillion pros and I didn’t want to be just another guy. So I was kind of holding out for another opportunity and then Victory came along and it was a perfect fit. It’s all my buddies. Dan [Fleyshman] and I have known each other for years and he is a great businessman; when he told me about it I was super interested and here we are. We’ll see where it goes.
PND: What do you think sets Victory Poker apart from the other online poker rooms out there?
Esfandiari: Our software is really good, our artwork is great. The guys in operations who are behind it know what they’re doing, so I think we’re going to stand out on that front. We’re not trying to be Full Tilt or Poker Stars. We’re just trying to get in there and make some sort of a splash. I think we have a certain draw to us that other sites don’t.
PND: The site is really big on the lifestyle of pro poker players. Do you think that is part of the draw?
Esfandiari: Sure. My lifestyle is basically living in Vegas, going out, being social. Now they want to just film all that and create traffic to the site and I’m okay with that. If you want to put a camera on my life, go ahead.
PND: What kind of stuff have they filmed so far?
Esfandiari: Us going out, us betting on everything. A lot of random stuff. The other day I put on a bulletproof vest and got shot with a real gun. We blew up an RV.
PND: Let’s go back to you getting shot. How did that end up happening?
Esfandiari: My friend Dan “Blitz” Bilzerian, a sponsored pro as well, is a sicko. At his house, he had a bulletproof vest on the ground and he took a gun and shot it. I was like “I can’t believe you just shot that thing in your house.” He’s like, “it’s bulletproof.” I said, “So, if I wear it, it’s ok right?” He’s like, “Absolutely!” He’s a former Navy SEAL so he’d love to shoot me. I’m like, “Alright.” So I put on the bulletproof vest and he shot me.
PND: Was this part of a bet or just curiosity on your part?
Esfandiari: It was just curiosity. I didn’t always want to get shot, but I was like, “Hey, may as well get shot.”
PND: You took part in Victory’s high stakes cash game at the Hard Rock Casino. How did that go for you?
Esfandiari: Not so well. I got punished.
PND: Who were the big winners?
Esfandiari: Alan Meltzer and Bob Wright.
PND: We’ve been asking the other Victory Poker Pros what kind of car they’re going to buy off Craig’s List for your upcoming demolition derby in the desert. Have you picked out a car yet?
Esfandiari: No, I’ve actually never been on Craig’s List, so I don’t even know where to start. I’m not very internet-friendly. I did do a demolition derby before with Phil Laak for “I Bet You” though.
PND: Do you think that you’ll have the advantage come derby-time then?
Esfandiari: I think I’m going to win anything I do. Always positive thinking.
Poker News in Brief: Feb. 22-28, 2010
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The NAPT held its first exclusive event at the Venetian and more than 800 players paid the $5,000 buy-in.
Meanwhile the stars were indeed shining bright at the WPT Invitational with Tia Carrera, Trishelle Cannatella, and Marlon Wayans coming out to play.
With all the excitement over the competing poker tours there were several poker stories that were almost forgotten.
Fortunately as part of our ongoing Poker News in Brief we’ve compiled a list of the lesser-known stories below.
This week we’ll take a look at PartyPoker running an endurance promo, new schedules for two PokerStars tournaments, a training seminar by Mike “The Mouth” Matusow and more.
Class in Session for Mike “The Mouth” Matusow
When The Mouth talks you’d better listen.
That’s what organizers are hoping participants will take out of the upcoming Mike “The Mouth” Matusow poker training session in California.
Matusow, who is the dean of DeepStacks University, will teach a special five-hour session that covers winning strategies for tournament and cash game poker in addition to giving one-on-one poker analysis at the tables.
The training session will cost $495 to attend and every contestant will receive a copy of the Team Full Tilt Pro’s new book Check Raising the Devil.
The event will take place March 12 at the Palo Casino Spa and Resort.
Big Names Headline The Poker Show Live
One of the poker’s most popular radio shows is returning with Phil Hellmuth, Daniel Negreanu, Phil Galfond, Tony G, David Benyamine and Luke “FullFlush” Schwartz all coming along for the ride.
The Poker Show Live, sponsored by Boylepoker, will feature all the aforementioned poker players in new episodes for the show’s third season beginning March 2.
Hosted by Jesse May, The Poker Show Live has interviewed almost every well-known poker player over the span of its first two seasons.
Tom Dwan, Vicky Coren, Andrew Feldman, Huck Seed, Neil Channing, Erik Seidel have all taken their turn on The Poker Show Live microphone.
The show is available on ThePokerShowLive.com, BoylePoker.com and iTunes.
Ontario Considers Online Gaming
The Canadian province of Ontario is taking a serious look at running its own official online gambling service that could potentially include poker.
Ontario Lottery and Gambling chairman Paul Godfrey and Premier Dalton McGuinty want the province to provide Internet gambling instead of letting potential revenue go to offshore gambling sites.
In Canada, British Columbia and Atlantic Lottery Corporations already officially allow online gambling. The BC Lottery Corporation offers a limited poker game called Pacific Hold’em Poker, which is played against the house.
Loto-Quebec’s poker site is set to launch this fall and analysts are estimating it could potentially net $50 million in revenue for the government over the next three years.
Gladiator Promo Returns to PartyPoker
One of the most popular promotions on PartyPoker is returning this March.
The Gladiator promo rewards players who generate at least 10 PartyPoints every day for a minimum of five days. There are potentially bigger rewards available for players who earn up to 2,000 PartyPoints.
“The Gladiator is back and the rewards are greater than ever before,” said a PartyPoker spokesman.
“This promotion is about spreading play over a period of time for maximus rewards! It is simple and offers great value and we encourage players to challenge themselves and take a closer look.”
If a player manages to earn 2,000 PartyPoints a day from March 3 to April 1 they will instantly earn a $12,500 package to the 2010 WSOP Main Event.
To learn more about The Gladiator check the PartyPoker website
PokerStars Releases SCOOP, NAPT Mohegan Sun Schedules
PokerStars announced the dates for one of its biggest online series and its burgeoning North American tour this week.
The PokerStars Spring Championship of Online Poker will take place over 14 days from May 3-16 with 33 events. Like last year, each event will have a low, medium and high buy-in variant.
The series will culminate with the Main Event on May 16, with guarantees of $1 million, $3 million and $5 million for each buy-in level.
Meanwhile the PokerStars.net North American Poker Tour’s next stop, at the Mohegan Sun in Connecticut, will take place April 7-11. The main event carries a $5,000 buy-in and there will be a $10k High Roller Bounty Shootout.
To see the complete schedules for the upcoming SCOOP or NAPT check the PokerStars website.
Versus Picks Up Season 2 of Poker2Nite
Poker news show Poker2Nite is returning for another season, but leaving Fox Sports Net behind for Versus.
Poker2Nite follows an informal news format with UB Poker pro Joe Sebok and poker personality Scott Huff acting as hosts. Dana Workman also produces the satirical Weekly Misdeal for the program.
All 13 episodes of the first season were shown on Fox Sports Net. The second season will kick off this Wednesday at 11 p.m. ET on Versus, which was formerly OLN.
Splashing the Pot captures the foam created by the disturbance and turbulence of action, action, action, and is filled with tidbits above and beyond the victories and beats and adds a little spice to the game of poker.RichieRichZH Gets RichJust three weeks after setting records in their premier Sunday Millions Tournament, PokerStars obliterated the record this past Sunday.
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