Ok-Poker!

Golden Gaming, local operator of 33 PT's taverns, has formed a unique partnership with professional poker champion Daniel Negreanu for their new commercial campaign launch and Golden Rewards program in May.

This week in our UK Legends of Poker series we celebrate one of the true nice guys of the game. "Gentleman" Ben Roberts is considered by many to be the best cash game player in the UK and is a specialist in the big no limit and pot limit games. Despite his nice guy image, he is feared by every table he sits down at, whether it's a cash game or tournament.

PKR Poker, an enormously popular online poker room established in 2006, has proved its innovative success by ranking number-one in a recent poll by Hitwise, an Internet competitive intelligence service, having received the most hits in the online poker category. The poll covers the first quarter of 2008, calculating web site hits coming from the UK.

PKR Poker has been one of the most rapidly expanding online poker rooms in the world, dues to its ground-breaking three-dimensional environment and pioneering features, like its unique ‘Emote Control System’. PKR beat out the UK’s most prevalent online poker rooms, including Ladbrokes, William Hill and VC Poker.

Is the popular poker TV show High Stakes Poker on the way out?

That's what numerous poker blogs including WickedChops and Pokerati are reporting. Apparently GSN has yet to renew the program at a time when it is usually filming new episodes.

Pokerati quoted co-host AJ Benza as saying:

"Far as Gabe and I know... the show isn't coming back. Apparently... the network is going to go in a different direction and that aint good news for our show, especially since we skew a higher-aged audience.

Professional poker players Roy Winston and Michael Binger have more than $7.9 million in tournament earning between the two of them, and they have both proven themselves as widely respected tournament professionals. Now, the two are bringing their collective poker talents to the masses with a poker consulting and training company.

SAN MANUEL RESERVATION - There may be no better example that gambling continues to grow as a leading recreation for adults than the poker boot camp on Wednesday at the San Manuel Indian Bingo & Casino.

That's right, a camp for adults to spend $500 for a day of learning from esteemed poker pro Annie Duke.

It was a bill to pay for Josh Woods, a 25-year-old San Bernardino man who has been playing poker in casinos for about a year.

"I was losing a lot of money at poker so I thought, `Why not spend some money to learn that I'd just lose instead,"' Woods said.

GigaMedia Limited, parent company of Everest Poker, announced strong first-quarter results which were driven by continued strong growth in its poker software business in continental Europe and sharply increased contributions from its online games business in Asia.

THE FIGURES

Revenues climbed 51 percent to a record $54.6 million, and operating income rose 49 percent to a record $12.9 million, both compared to figures from first quarter 2007. Net income was a record US$12.1 million, up 43 percent year-over-year and up 13 percent sequentially over the last quarter of 2007.

The World Series of Poker has become increasingly popular. Several factors play into the popularity. Television exposure is way up, with poker tournaments being aired on many stations. Local laws allowing legalized poker gambling has also spread the marketability of the game.

Within the WSOP is the main event, likely the most popular poker tournament in the world. All of the big professionals play in the event, and they are usually joined by thousands of amateurs. This is where the tournament has changed over the past few years.

Poker pros who could not reach the final table at the main event, used to just move on to another tournament. Now, with television exposure being so high for the event, they have gone another route.

Manila, Philippines - The top professional poker players with Asian heritage are aiming for nothing less than the top prize at the upcoming Asian Poker Tour Philippine leg this coming May 27 to June 1.

Korean-born Steve Sung, Vietnam-native Quinn Do and Vietnamese-American Nam Le are all hoping to be the last man standing at the finals table of the 2008 Asian Poker Tour's first leg to be held at the Dusit Thani Manila Hotel. The three poker pros of Asian-descent will duke it out with over 400 other pros for a chance to win the first prize chunk of the guaranteed prize pool of US$ 1 million.

A plumber from Toronto has won 888’s prestigious poker title, the World Poker Crown, after beating a tough field of over 2,000 online and then dominating a live final table in Spain.

Fellow Canadian Michael Lawson finished second, with another finalist also hailing from the North American country.

The final hand played out dramatically after Lawson had worked away at Hinchley’s chip lead. Lawson held a pair of tens in the hole and Hinchley an offsuit KQ. The flop was K-J-6, all hearts, and Lawson went all in with his pair which included a ten-high flush draw. Hinchley called with top pair and hit another king on the river after a blank turn to take down the prize.

After five months of worrying about the future of Danish poker, the game's enthusiasts finally have received some good news. The Supreme Court in Denmark has decided to bring up the case where the question is: Should tournament poker in private clubs be legal in Denmark or not? The second highest legal body in Denmark, its Landsretten, decided to vote against legalisation, and after an appeal put together by Frederik Hostrup and the Danish Poker Federation, the Supreme Court is ready to handle the case.

"I am certain that we will reach another result than the one we received in Landsretten. This is a good day for Danish poker. It can make a big difference for everyone who loves poker," says a very Ladbrokes Poker pleased Hostrup, according to a Danish report.

The World Poker Association is launching their first educational event for their members. It will be held at the Rio All Suites Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas, on May 28 -May 29, 2008, prior to the launch of the World Series of Poker tournament that takes place in Las Vegas in July. The conference will be moderated by Mike ‘The Mad Genius of Poker’ Caro, and is titled ‘63 Money Making Tips To Win A Bundle At The WSOP’.

Today in court: poker player Lee Rousso will take the side of legal online gambling, backed by supporters from the PPA and elsewhere around the world.

The second annual World Series of Poker Academy for Ladies will be held June 6 and 7 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, with experienced poker instructors Annie Duke and Alex "The Insider" Outhred grooming participants to dominate Event#15- $1,000 WSOP Ladies - No Limit Hold'em World Championship event being held the next day, Sunday June 8.

Also, FBI "tells expert" Joe Navarro, insightful author of Read 'Em and Reap, will be unveiling a brand new seminar focusing on female specific non verbal behavior, to give participants an extra ammunition in their arsenal at the table.

The Academy is limited to 100 players, and promises to teach poker skills, strategies and applications through live hand demonstrations, seminars with Q and A, and tournaments.

NBC's popular late-night poker series, "Poker After Dark," has excelled at late in creating unique themes and interesting matchups in the series' weekly six-player sit-'n'-go tourneys. The latest twist in the "Poker After Dark" theme is this week's "Love at First Raise," which features three well-known poker couples vying against each other – and their romantic mates – for the week's winner-take-all prize.

Competing in this week's "Poker After Dark" (Episode 29) matchup are these famed poker couples:

Jennifer Harman and Marco Traniello David Benyamine and Erica Schoenberg Phil Laak and Jennifer Tilly.

I recently returned from a glorious and profitable seven-day poker cruise with my sister, Barbara and several of my best friends. The entire group had a great time, sightseeing, shopping, tanning, and playing poker. The poker room offered three poker tournaments throughout the seven-day trip, though I was unable to attend the first event. I made the money in the second and third events, finishing in fifth place, which paid $540 and then I chopped first and second place money with fellow cruiser David Garrison, in the final event for $1,590 each.

2006 World Series of Poker main event winner Jamie Gold and Khloe Kardashian from E!'s show 'Keeping Up with the Kardashians' will host the third-annual Celebrity Poker Tournament and Casino Night fundraiser for the Urban Health Institute, at the Playboy Mansion in Beverly Hills California on 6pm Saturday, May 17. Over $50,000 worth of prizes will be awarded to top finishers in the tournament.

The Urban Health Institute (UHI) provides direct care, medicine and medical equipment in response to natural and man-made disasters. 

Exciting final table aboard cruise liner
 
The cruise liner MSC Poesia proved a pleasant venue this week for the final table of the Party Poker Million VI tournament and its winner, Alexander Jung. The German player beat an initial field of 171 to enter the final nine, and then outplayed them all to take the $358 000 main prize and the beautifully crafted glass trophy.
 

Can you believe it’s been five years since Chris Moneymaker, an accountant from Tennessee playing in his first live tournament, arrived in Las Vegas as an unknown and left as a poker icon?

Qualifying online at Pokerstars for only $39, Moneymaker participated in the 2003 World Series of Poker (WSOP) main event, outlasted 838 other players and inspired generations of poker enthusiasts. This aptly named young gentleman fulfilled the dream of every aspiring poker player to become WSOP world champion.

Now, thousands of amateur poker players make the pilgrimage to Las Vegas each summer to compete in the WSOP main event.

Let’s travel back in the time capsule to remember the hand that changed poker forever.

Support for World Series of Poker decision to move final table to November

The Ada Youth Shelter hosted their First Annual Biker's Poker Run Saturday. KTEN's Meredith Saldana reports.

Everyone from the organizers to the bikers agreed that the poker run was more than successful and they are already planning on having another one next year.

The Ada Youth Shelter is a a non-profit organization that provides 24 hour emergency care for kids, who don't have another option for living arrangements.

This was the first poker run for the organization that has been serving Pontotoc and Coal counties since 1971.

Executive Director of the youth center, Jim Begin says, "Well this is the first time we ever had a poker run. Essentially what it's doing is raising funds and allows us to provide services beyond what we normally would."

One of the reasons online poker remains classified as illegal is because of the luck factor in the game. It's a small factor, but still there to keep poker from being purely a skill game. Duplicate Poker is changing all that to give players a purely skill-based online poker option.

Duplicate Poker is based on a concept with its roots in tournament bridge. Players in corresponding seats at different tables are dealt identical poker hands and prove their skill not by how lucky they are but by how well they play each hand in comparison with other players who have the same cards.

Major investment in special WSOP bonuses by Brit online poker website

The online poker division of major British gambling group Ladbrokes has made a significant investment in World Series of Poker special bonuses as an incentive for its sponsored players to achieve high finishing spots in the main event of the poker spectacular organised by Harrah's Entertainment.

In addition to a number of WSOP seat sponsorships, the UK company has announced Main Event finishing position packages that include a million dollars for any Team Ladbrokes sponsored player who wins this year's main event; $500 000 for a second or third placing in the main event and $250 000 for finishers in 4th to 9th positions.

KENT, WASHINGTON -- A case in which plaintiffs will try to eliminate felony penalties against playing online poker in the state of Washington will be heard May 15th. Lee Rousso, an attorney in Washington state, has sued to challenge the law.

Rousso had a short-lived gubernatorial campaign earlier this year. He sais he ran only to draw attention to the absurdity of poker laws and penalties.

Rousso withdrew from the race for governor when it became likely he could get a hearing in court on the law. He is challenging the constitutionality of the law, which was passed in 2006.

Eighteen is old enough to play poker, according to Iowa's Meskwaki tribe.

Continuing a long tradition of relative independence from government dictates, the Meskwaki Tribal Council recently approved a plan that would allow players aged 18-21 to play card games such as No-Limit Hold'em.

HAMPSTEAD — He's already the New Hampshire state poker champion and now Richard Hewett is looking for sponsors willing to bet on him succeeding in even higher-stakes play.

He would like to represent the Granite State at the U.S. Championships in October in Atlantic City.

Hewett has been playing poker for fun ever since he was a youngster, but just started competing seriously in the last couple of years. He credits his move to competitive poker to a change in the state's gaming laws — and his job as technology manager at Seabrook Greyhound Park.

"New Hampshire now has the biggest poker rooms — with the exception of Foxwoods Casino in Connecticut — at Rockingham and Seabrook," he said.

Guide Dogs of the Desert will jump start its first Desert Dog Run on Saturday when motorcycle riders will travel a multi-city route to raise cash for the organization that trains guide dogs for the blind.

The ride will take form as a poker run where cyclists - and participants riding in cars - will make pit stops to draw one card from each venue in hopes of flashing the best hand at the end.

Winner takes all: $150.

Raising the ante will come easy at the final stop at Pappy & Harriet's Pioneertown Palace in Pioneertown.

The riders are expected to reach the facade of saloons, stables and jails at about 6 p.m., the ride's finishing time.

Despite the protests against and March defeat of his bill to build three casinos in Massachusetts and ban online poker and Internet gambling, Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick said that his casino proposal to shore up ailing state coffers may yet make a comeback.

"There's a lot of interest in it, and issues that die in one session don't die a permanent death," the Boston Globe reported Patrick saying. "They tend to come back over time."

CryptoLogic Limited, a leading software developer to the global Internet gaming market, through its wholly owned subsidiary WagerLogic, today announced an exclusive three-year licensing agreement with OPoker.com, a new online poker site launched by a group of Scandinavia's leading Internet poker executives.

Under the agreement, CryptoLogic will be OPoker.com's sole provider of gaming software designed for the Scandinavian market, as well as customer support services, e-cash management and business service support.

When the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) was passed in late 2006 by the US government, online poker operators located in the United States went running for the hills, relocating their offices to legal jurisdictions. Most cut off US players as well, resulting in what was supposed to be a dead US market.

What really happened was that online poker players in the US found other online poker rooms that would continue to accept their deposits. While these are steadily dwindling in numbers - ePassporte just cut off their payment processing services between US residents and online gambling operators - one online poker room remained behind.

The top professional poker players with Asian heritage are aiming for nothing less than the top prize at the upcoming Asian Poker Tour Philippines leg this coming May 27th to June 1st.

Korean-born Steve Sung, Vietnam-native Quinn Do and Vietnamese-American Nam Le are all hoping to be the last man standing at the finals table of the first leg of the 2008 Asian Poker Tour to be held at the Dusit Thani Manila Hotel. The three poker pros of Asian-descent will duke it out with over 400 other pros for a chance to win the first prize chunk of the guaranteed prize pool of US$ 1 million.

Liv Boeree bested 51 of Europe's top female tournament players, including WSOPE winner Annette Obrestad, Bev Pace, Louise Duffy, Michelle Orpe, and Katherine Hartree, last year's winner Jackie Meecham, poker journalist Shelley Rubenstein and Abi Titmuss, to become the new Ladbrokes Poker European Ladies Champion. In addition to the title, the Absolute Poker-sponsored pro is taking home the $30,000 first prize and a seat in the WSOP Main Event.

Last week Caesars Palace hosted the latest WSOP Circuit series of events. I attended and played the ladies event for a buy-in of $330. 169 players, including name pros such as J.J. Liu and Barbara Enright, participated. Barbara made an astounding comeback and won the event in the wee hours. Congrats, Barbara!

While at this event, as I often do, I take the opportunity to speak to many of the lady players to find out what is going on with their games and poker in general. Some are happy with their games, some are disenchanted with the changes poker is undergoing, and some were flat-out bursting at the seams to speak up on current poker issues.

QUESTION: Is there any point when the player actually has an edge over the house in video poker? -- Vic D.

ANSWER: Yes. Play on a full-pay machine, use an optimal playing strategy against that select machine, play progressives over a certain amount and take full advantage of the goodies casinos give away.

iDeal - poker dealer

ideal is the new automatic poker dealer. Uses infrared sensors, looking for bike reflectors mounted on stands, to determine how many players are at a table and ultrasonic detection to know how far to throw a card to them.

iDeal is programmed with a variety of poker variants from Texas Hold 'em, to Gin rummy and Omaha. With iDeal you can get rid of all your suspicions that the house is trying to cheat you.

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- (PRESS RELEASE) -- Quarterfinal action in NBC's 2008 National Heads-Up Poker Championship takes place this Sunday, May 11, as the remaining eight players each try to win their bracket and advance to the semifinal round. This is a 2-hour segment, with the first hour devoted to the Hearts and Diamonds brackets, and the second to the Clubs and Spades brackets. Each player is now assured of a $75,000 payday, and those who advance to the semifinals next week will be guaranteed $125,000 in their quest for the title.

19 year old Hollander Julien Nuijten prevails in inaugural Latin American contest

The inaugural Latin American Poker Tour organised by online poker giant Poker Stars.com ended in victory for the nineteen year old Dutch player Julien Nuijten this week. The Hollander prevailed over an entry field of 314 poker fans who travelled to Rio for the event, either stumping up the $2 500 buy-in, or winning entry packages online through Poker Stars satellites.

Sit and Go Satellite Bounty Challenge awards 32 players per week with free entries into major online poker events

Miami, FL (PRWEB) May 7, 2008 -- Just days after launching a bold new poker tournament schedule created by Annie Duke and following up that announcement with two major online poker promos, UltimateBet has enhanced its poker offering yet again. The online poker site today announced the addition of the Sit and Go Satellite Bounty Challenge promotion, an enticing weekly contest featuring 32 separate leader board competitions.

Cheryl Hines curb her enthusiasm for poker? Not likely.

Hines, who co-stars as Larry David's wife on his HBO comedy series "Curb Your Enthusiasm," is such a devotee of Texas Hold 'em that she left a Connecticut film shoot she has been on to participate in a poker tournament that concludes today at Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa in Atlantic City.

"I heard about this tournament and, since I've never been to Atlantic City before, I decided to come here," said Hines Sunday as she sat at a poker table waiting for the tournament, which boasted a guaranteed $500,000 prize pool, to commence.

Ten lucky players are battling it out for the 888.com World Poker Crown on Thursday, May 8 at Perlada Castle in Barcelona, Spain.

The 888.com World Poker Crown final table is all set to take place at Peralada Castle in Spain on Thursday, May 8. The $3 million guaranteed tournament, 888.com's biggest poker event to date, will be broadcasted live at http://www.worldpokercrown.com/.

During the live webcast, Pacific Poker members will have the chance to play in special restricted tournaments to win one of four World Series of Poker* packages, worth $17,000 each. To be eligible to win one of these great prizes, players need to visit the 888.com World Poker Crown website before the web cast starts and guess who will take it!

POKER is more than just a gambler’s game. Or so, the poker players say.

The 1 million peso guaranteed poker tournament in Bravio, the first real deep stack tournament in the Visayas according to the organizers, has taken the “luck factor” out of the competition to focus on player’s skill.

Bravio’s Vice President for Marketing, Richard Sharpe said that since the tournament is a “freeze-out,” players with more skill will have a better edge in winning rather than those who have more money.

“Once all chips are gone, your game is done,” he said.

Some of the poker players present in the tournament also explained the major misconceptions of their chosen game.

Bodog, the online gaming giant, has signed 22-year-old professional poker player Justin Bonomo to its roster of Team Bodog professionals.

The accomplished young card player from Los Angeles, US, who is known around the poker world simply as ZeeJustin, will join Team Bodog pros David Williams, Evelyn Ng and Jean-Robert Bellande at the Bodog online poker tables and at major televised tournaments, including this summer's World Series of Poker in Las Vegas.

"Justin is one of the most feared and skilled players in poker today and we're thrilled to officially have him join our team of world-class poker pros," said Morris Mohawk Gaming Group CEO, Alwyn Morris.

The first stop of the Latin American Poker Tour began May 3rd with 314 players, then 113 players started Day 2, and after a long grueling day of play the final nine players have emerged (listed below). They will return Monday May 5 at 2pm to determine who goes home with the LAPT Champion title and the $222,940 top prize money.

The $2,500 buy-in No-Limit Hold'em poker tournament event, sponsored by PokerStars.net, is being held at the Intercontinental Hotel in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Bodog Poker will announce Monday the signing of Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo to their roster of Team Bodog pros that represent the online poker company at poker tournaments and in marketing campaigns.

Bonomo joins David Williams, Evelyn Ng and Jean-Robert Bellande on Team Bodog. Meanwhile two-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner Josh Arieh is no longer a member of Team Bodog having been informed last week that the company wished to go in a different direction. That direction appears have Bodog's North American management expecting bigger and better things.

SpadeClub will award its Exclusive members four seats to poker's most
prestigious tournaments this summer.

LAS VEGAS -- SpadeClub announces the WSOP 40K Giveaway which will award four World Series of Poker* main event seats to its Exclusive members between June and July. SpadeClub members can compete during the June and July $40,000 mega monthly events, on June 1 and June 29 respectively, for a World Series of Poker Main Event prize package consisting of a $10,000 buy- in and $2,000 in travel expenses.

Matthew Hilger, poker author, poker publisher, and poker pro, won the Full Tilt Poker $750,000 Guaranteed Poker Tournament this past Sunday evening giving him over $132K for first place.

Matthew Hilger, poker author, poker publisher, and poker pro, won the Full Tilt Poker $750,000 Guaranteed Poker Tournament this past Sunday evening giving him over $132K for first place. When asked about playing at Full Tilt, Hilger admitted “I've actually done very well in this particular tournament. In 9 or 10 tries this year, I have 3 top 100's, 2 final tables, and now the big win”.

A bill designed to take a 10% slice of monies raised through charitable gambling events including poker continues to work its way through that state's legislature, despite opposition from charitable groups. Though New Hampshire has no large-scale casinos, a 2007 law allows parimutuel and other selected facilities to offer low-limit poker ($2 max bet) as long as 35% of net proceeds are given to charity.

A Poker game ended with the arrest of the organizer due to an undercover police operation this past Sunday in Long Island, NY. While officials recently seem to be focusing on illegal gambling slot machines, this arrest sends out a strong reminder to poker players in America that they have not been forgotten.

The arrest of the 29 year old organizer occurred after a police investigation of local illegal poker games. The police followed the trail of "breadcrumbs" all the way to the location of the game, the William Paca Lodge.

Police Reports
The operation succeeded in discovering and seizing poker tables, chips, a surveillance system, records of gambling activity and $10,000 in cash.

The Latin American Poker Tour (LAPT) kicks off today in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro, making it a pretty ideal location for anything, much less a poker tournament.

Trade the green in your mint julep for the green of the felt with the innaugural Kentucky Derby Poker Championship. The event, to be held Saturday, May 3rd at Caesars Indiana, will be hosted by Phil Hellmuth and Robert Williamson III. Both players will try their hands at the tournament, with Hellmuth pulling double duty, as he will be serving as the emcee.

Entry to the tournament will require a $2,500 buy-in, with rebuys available until the first break, during which you'll be offered an add-on. The tournament begins at 8:30 p.m. EDT, after the 134th running of the Kentucky Derby has come to a close. The event will be preceded by Red Carpet Welcome Reception at 7:00 p.m.

DARBY - A poker run on Sunday will benefit a Tampa man battling cancer.

The poker run will kick off 9:30 a.m. at the Neon Cowboy on State Road 52 at Bellamy Brothers Boulevard. The event will benefit Kerry Thompson, who was diagnosed Jan. 21 with squamous cell carcinoma in his head and neck. His condition has been complicated by blood clots in his lungs, and he has had five surgeries, three days in an intensive care unit and 10 days in critical care.

"It's been a nightmare," said friend Deb Grande, organizer of the poker run. "Kerry is the most generous, caring person I've met. He never met a stranger."

GULFPORT (WLOX) -- Even before the announced high noon grand opening, the new poker tables at Island View Casino were filling up. Poker Room Manager William Vineyard calls it a good, but not entirely unexpected turnout.

"The Gulfport market has always been very strong for poker," says Vineyard. "The Island View made the decision to go ahead and add a poker room with the other offerings they have here at the casino. I opened with seven tables. So, so far, so good."

Vineyard says while the gamblers may not look and act like the poker players you see on TV, winning big is always the number one goal.

"That's what everybody wants to do," says Vineyard. "They want to be the next Chris Moneymaker. Go from a $45 buy in to a $2.5 million first prize."

JOHNSTON CITY -- The family of a Benton girl recently diagnosed with Leukemia is struggling to make ends meet. Five year old Gabriella Smith has to go to St. Louis for chemotherapy treatments, but local lawmakers and businesses are banding together to raise money for the family.

Senator Gary Forby and Steve's Customs in Johnston City are among those supporting Gabriella. The Bikers for Kids Poker Run benefits one child with special medical needs each year, and Gabriella's parents say it's the answer to their prayers.

"She's never met a stranger in her whole life-- everybody's her friend," says Bobbi Jo Smith.

Gabriella has the same interests as many five-year-olds, but after undergoing treatments for leukemia since January, she speaks a different language than most kids her age.

Over Kentucky Derby weekend, poker pros and celebrities are gong all in for climate change at Caesars Indiana this Saturday at 8:30 p.m. The charity poker tournament will benefit the international Red Cross/Red Crescent Climate Centre, the Health and Climate Foundation, and the Robby Albarado Foundation.

Phil Hellmuth and Robert Williamson III are headlining the event and are expecting friends Layne Flack, Kevin O’Donnell, and Montel Williams to participate, as well. The buy-in is $2,500, which gets players 5,000 in starting chips. Rebuys for $1,000 will be available through the first hour to receive another 2,500 in chips.

LAS VEGAS: The final table of the 2008 World Series of Poker will be played in November, four months after the nine players in the no-limit Texas Hold 'em game win their spots.

Organizers also said Thursday that they plan to televise final table play the same day the winner is crowned. The changes are intended to heighten suspense and promotional hype of the world's best known and richest poker tournament.

In past years, the final table was played at the end of a two-week, $10,000 buy-in main event held in July at the Rio hotel-casino in Las Vegas.

The winner was reported immediately, but the tournament's TV partner, ESPN, did not air the final table until the fall.

Professional poker must be considered a sport because there are millions of players all over the world playing various forms. Professional players actually earn a living by playing poker, much like other athletes.

Although it can be debated that the game may be played by anyone in almost any situation, one could argue that given the materials, any sport could be played by anyone at any place and time. There is also the argument that sports require an athletic activity such as running or jumping, and in most cases this is true. However, there are exceptions. The length of poker matches, which can last for days, is comparable to the length of most sporting events.

The final table of the World Series of Poker's main event shows, once again, that poker tournaments are games of skill.

Courts have developed tests over the last couple of hundred years to determine whether a particular game is predominantly chance or skill. If courts and prosecutors were honest in applying these tests, at least No Limit Texas Hold'em tournaments would have to be considered skill contests and not gambling.

Let's take a look at the most common tests and what happened on in the last WSOP:

1) A skillful player will win more than an unskillful one. The tournament started 12 days earlier, with 6,358 paying $10,000 each to enter. All the chips that were lost by players went to other players, not the house.

When it comes to charities and poker, few can hold a candle to Ms. Annie Duke, one of the world's most recognizable players.

Some run for their lives. Annie Duke is running for the lives of an entire nation.

There’s a misconception about tournament poker that goes like this: Players need to try frequent sophisticated bluffs and make lots of risky moves to maintain an unpredictable image and to win. Well, there might be some truth to that in small buy-in tournaments, or even online poker tournaments where the blinds and antes escalate quickly. But on poker’s biggest stage, the World Series of Poker, nothing could be further from the truth.

The best tournament players actually try to avoid risky plays altogether. They prefer to wait for their opponents to make the risky moves. They’ll wait patiently until they catch a strong hand. When they do, they’ll take down their overly aggressive foes.

Titan Poker, the largest poker room on the iPoker Network, awarded three players with prize packages worth a combined total of $60,000 to the European Poker Tour Monte Carlo (EPT Monte Carlo) earlier this month. The players traveled from France, Italy and Germany to compete in this elite tournament, which marked the end of the EPT's fourth season and eight months of intensive poker across Europe's top cities.

All players won their seats at Super Satellites staged online at Titan Poker. For French player Vincent Marlard, 29, an investment of just $21 turned into a $20,000 prize package to the EPT Grand Final.

In an effort to bolster diminishing state coffers, New Hampshire legislators propose to take a piece of the state's poker action by adding a 10 percent tax on Texas Hold'em tournaments, which opponents claim will hurt charities that hold tournaments for fund raising purposes.

For several years it has been legal for only nonprofit organizations in NH to raise funds through gambling events. In April 2007, a bill passed permitting NH pari-mutuel commission to license space to charitable gaming operators, ranging from bingo to Texas Hold'em poker.

Sen. Robert Odell (R-Lempster) proposed the 10 percent tax, and incumbent governor John Lynch says he supports the bill.

$5-$10 MILLION ESTIMATED FOR STATE

For the fourth consecutive year, the ESPN Poker Club is offering a trip to the World Series of Poker Main Event. The winner will receive airfare to Las Vegas, hotel accommodations during the tournament and the chance to sit down and play against the poker world's best in poker’s most prestigious event.

Playing on the ESPN Poker Club free-play online poker software players will need to qualify for the Final Tournament in order to have a shot at WSOP glory. To qualify for the Final Tournament, held Sunday, June 15th, players will need to be one of the top 25 players one of three Sunday Qualifiers, held each Sunday until June 15th at 12, 5 and 9 pm EST. Players can earn their entry for the Sunday Qualifier in the following ways:

-playing 1500 hands in a single week.

Kahnawake-licensed TitanPoker.com has announced that Frenchman Thierry Barou has won a seat worth $3,000 to the upcoming EuroCity Poker Tour (ECPT) Madrid Open after triumphing during one of its satellite competitions.

This is the fourth time Thierry has walked away a winner thanks to TitanPoker.com, the largest virtual room on the iPoker Network, after previously winning a seat to the European Poker Tour in Prague last year. He also took home the $80,000 first-place prize during the site’s $500,000 Refer a Friend Freeroll in 2006 along with $75,000 for finishing in third spot at the Tournament Titan late last year, a one million dollar freeroll open to only 20 players.

Never underestimate the importance of preparation for any single poker session or tournament. Similarly, never dismiss certain scientific facts regarding the human brain's ability to function optimally. I've learned plenty of valuable lessons as a 15-year professional poker veteran and none is more critical than the importance of preparation. It's a lesson I call: The Rules of Eight.

SAN FRANCISCO--blinkx, the world’s largest video search engine, today announced a partnership with The Poker Channel (www.pokerchanneleurope.com), the world’s first television channel dedicated to poker and gaming entertainment. Hundreds of clips from Europe’s largest library of poker programming are now easily accessible at www.blinkx.com. Leveraging its unique AdHoc platform, blinkx will also place contextually relevant advertising against the footage and share the resulting revenue with The Poker Channel.

Baseball has always had its colorfully nicknamed players, from Enos “Country” Slaughter and Stan “The Man” Musial to Willie “The Say Hey Kid” Mays and Roger “The Rocket” Clemens.

Football has had its share of colorful nicknames, too, including William “The Refrigerator” Perry, O.J. “Juice” Simpson and Adam “Pac-Man” Jones.

FSU Daily Grind Writer — "Shuffle up and deal!”

We’ve heard this slogan cross the nation, while watching the World Series of Poker tour. Texas hold ’em has taken over the entertainment business with a bang. How does one person begin to challenge himself and become a professional poker player?

Steven Merrifield a 23 year old from Fairmont, has begun his own journey for poker fame.

“The first time I played poker was during my freshman year of college when some friends invited me to play in a $10 Texas hold ’em tournament,” he said.

With the World Poker Tour Championship winding up on Saturday, most of the high stakes cash games in Vegas likely dried up as well. This led to the return of multiple high stakes cash game players on Full Tilt Poker, including Phil Ivey.

Ivey wasted no time on Sunday, putting the boots to some of the best online cash game players in the world including Tom "durrrr" Dwan, Hac "Trex313" Dang and Phil "OMGClayAiken" Galfond.

The Poker Players Alliance has been in full force, working to reach their goal of legalization of online poker. The group has been working toward this goal with the hope that online poker will become legal or at least see an exception to the current laws. This week the group is expected to announce that they have reached the one million member mark. The group is based in Washington DC and is a pro-online poker group.

With the announcement the group will also be releasing the information of their new political action committee and a voter registration drive as well. The Poker Player’s Alliance has a campaign titled “If You Play, Have a Say campaign.” The group has invested largely in lobbying on Capitol Hill.

David Chiu overcame a massive chip deficit in heads-up play to come back and shock Gus Hansen, denying the "Great Dane" of his fourth major World Poker Tour title. Chiu took home $3.39 million dollars for his first place finish, while Hansen took home a respectable $1.7 million dollars.

Campus recreations recently held the first Texas Hold’em Poker tournament on January 31st to encourage student participation in campus events. The event holders were predicting to have between 40 to 50 players but fell quite short of the mark. As the tournament started only half of the tables were filled.

With only 24 active players that participated in the event, the total turn out definitely fell short of what organizers had hoped for, but their hopes for successful tournaments are still high as there are many poker fans on campus who will help spread the word around and fill seats at future tournaments.

With the 2008 World Series of Poker only months away, there has been a marked increase in seat sponsorship promotions...and not just at the top independents like Poker Stars and Full Tilt who as usual are offering a slew of WSOP entries as tournament prizes.

This week Ultimatebet was offering tournament activity leading to $12,000 Main Event prize packages featuring the $10 000 WSOP buy-in and $2 000 for travel accommodations. One promo alone this week had 25 WSOP seat sponsorships in the prize pool.

Authorities running the 2008 Poker World Series (PWS) have announced that all games are to be played with an additional card, known as the 'race card' which will give instant victory to any player that chooses to play it.

"We heard a lot during the presidential elections about the race card being played so it was only natural that it found a way into our game here.' said PWS spokesman Doyle Negraneau. 'It's a game-changing technology'.

Players are outraged and claim any element of skill that the game had, has now been eliminated. ' I could get a straight flush but some guy plays the race card and I lose, go home empty handed and look like the bad guy' said Gus Gusstavssen last years champion.

Rumours the additional card is to be a spade are yet to be confirmed.

A Ventura man planned to be in Temecula today to compete in a poker tournament leading up to the card game's world championship.

Jeffrey Murray won a seat at Pechanga Resort & Casino's monthly Big Showdown tournament by coming out on top at a recent Conejo Valley fundraiser. The Kiwanis of Thousand Oaks' Charitable Foundation held its first Texas Hold 'em benefit at the local Borderline Bar and Grill.

More than 250 people watched the tournament and participated in other casino games as well as live and silent auctions, said Dave Klein of Westlake Village, Kiwanis co-chairman.

Jared Hamby’s life sounds like a dream. Sleep in, then play poker all day.

But the former Baylor University and McLennan Community College student says the professional tournament circuit — where the turn of a card can cause hundreds of thousands of dollars to change hands — can test the resolve of the strongest players.

“Poker is a brutal game, especially when you are dealing with the variance of tournaments,” Hamby, 26, said in an e-mail interview. “$10,000 buy-ins can add up quick if you are losing.”

Thankfully, Hamby says, he has seen many more ups than downs so far. The Midway High School graduate has amassed more than $1.3 million in tournament winnings.

Looking for an online poker room that takes the Euro? Look no further than ChiliPoker. ChiliPoker not only accepts the Euro but a whole host of other currencies from around the world.

Finding an online poker room that takes the Euro is especially significant these days as rankings now show ChiliPoker's network (iPoker) sitting in second place among the most popular Internet poker rooms in the world. iPoker does not accept US poker players, nor does Chili Poker for that matter.

Europe has become a hotbed for online poker activity over the past year.

All Japan Poker Championship (AJPC), the largest poker tournament in Japan, will be held from April 27th to May 18th, 2008. The inaugural event last year attracted hundreds of Japanese poker players, so this second year is much anticipated.

Although casinos are not yet allowed to operate in Japan, the government is considering their legalization. As it is currently prohibited to bet money on games or hold events such as a poker tournament which requires an entry fee, participants will not bet any money or pay the entry fee.

The AJPC is to be held in order to provide poker fans in Japan with an opportunity to enjoy Texas Hold'em poker, the most popular form of poker in the world today.

Hard poker rule: You must be able to put an opponent on a hand or a range of hands to know how to bet, even if it's the wrong read.

At the World Series of Poker $10,000-buy-in main event at Las Vegas' Rio Hotel in 2007, Gavin Griffin drew ace-7 suited in late position. With blinds at $100-$200, Griffin saw the player under the gun raise to $600 and decided to call.

"I don't always call with that hand," said Griffin, who won the $3,000-buy-in pot-limit hold 'em event at the 2004 WSOP, becoming at 22 the youngest bracelet winner at the time.

"It depends who I'm playing against. The guy who made the raise seemed like he was steaming and didn't seem like he was in the best state mentally.

Macau Sporting Club hosts €150,000 guaranteed game main event as part of popular week long summer festival.

Dublin, Ireland (PRWEB) April 25, 2008 -- Cork's Macau Sporting Club will host the sixth annual Irish Poker Classic Festival from Aug. 11 - 17, 2008. The main event is a €150,000 guaranteed €1500 + €100 no limit hold'em tournament taking place over three days from Aug. 15.

The main event has a 15,000 chip starting stack with 75 minute blinds and the Macau is guaranteeing eight tickets at the mega bonus satellite on Thursday Aug. 14th. Already confirmed for the event are Annette Obrestad, Roy "The Boy" Brindley, Mick McCloskey, Sylvester Geoghegan, Marty Smyth, Paul Lecky, Nicky Power, and John Keown.

The full line up for the festival is:

Gus Hansen is in position for his first World Poker Tour title since January 2004 as he holds the chip lead at the final table of the WPT World Championship at Bellagio. Hansen will begin the TV final table with 8,570,000, roughly 32 percent of the chips in the play.

Right behind Hansen is Cory Carroll. Known in the online poker world as “ugotpzd”, Carroll holds 6,670,000. His final table appearance comes nearly one year after his first live win at the World Series of Poker Circuit event at Caesars last May.

David Chiu, making his second appearance at a WPT final table, is in third with 6,050,000. Hansen was the first player to win three WPT titles and can set a new record by winning his fourth. He has made seven WPT final tables.

Thirty-three year old Thierry Barou prepares to compete in Madrid this May after winning fourth huge online tournament at Titan Poker.

Thierry Barou, from France, will represent Titan Poker, the largest poker room on the iPoker Network, at the Eurocity Poker Tour (ECPT) Madrid Open this spring. Thierry was awarded a $3,000 seat to the ECPT Madrid Open after winning one o