It’s getting close again to that time of year when online poker players get ready for the biggest virtual event of the season, the World Championships of Online Poker (WCOOP). Now the WCOOP schedule has been announced with tentative dates and outlines for the events and timeline players and fans can expect for this year.

The current schedule will see the WCOOP adding twelve brand new events to the line-up, bringing the prize money guarantee to a formidable $40 million. A total of 45 events will kick off with the $215 Buy-in No Limit Hold ‘Em Six-Max event ($1.25 guarantee) on September 3rd at 2.30pm EST. Later that day the schedule continues with a $215 Razz tournament ($200,000 guarantee) before September 4th hosts a $215 Pot-Limit Omaha Six-Max game ($500,000 guarantee), a No-Limit Single Draw 2-7 tournament and a $109 Buy-in Eight Game competition ($50,000 guarantee).

With the 2009 World Championships of Online Poker bringing in over 20,000 players, the added events (and prize money) should help to guarantee an even greater showing for PokerStars and co.. The decision for PokerStars to accept fan suggestions and comments before the September 16th, 19th and 20th final events will also play a large part in keeping the monumental Championship viable for years to come, showing a commitment to improvement and player interaction not yet demonstrated in other tournaments.

Tags: PokerStars

As the fifth anniversary celebrations going on at Full Tilt Poker began to wrap up members were given one last chance to help commemorate their favourite site with a massive game. The $1.5 Million Guarantee assisted in winding down the FIVE party by awarding an enormous prize to skilled players who were able to take on fierce competition in order to reach the top of the challenge.  

Some 3,315 player registered to take part in the $1.5M Guarantee game, providing a tough road for all of those hoping to make a name for themselves as the champion of the event. Ultimately it was one Full Tilt Poker member with the username PAhrPK that took home the glory after a vicious fight for the top spot leading up to the end of the game. Although the heads-up finale occurred between two gifted players it was a relatively brief affair, PAhrPK holding K10 against second place winner blarkin’s A9 and winning with two pair against a board that ran K-3-4-10-9.

The final results saw PAhrPK leave the tables with $296,775.38 in winnings, dwarfing the second place finalist blarkin’s (still considerable) amount of $180,667.50. Third place was relatively close behind with Charles “HellaStacks” Lee netting $117,682.50. Although the rest of the placing contestants couldn’t rise above the $100K mark at the tournament Full Tilt Poker definitely aided in providing a memorable and exciting conclusion to the blowout of the FIVE anniversary celebrations for every challenger entered in the $1.5 Million Guarantee.

Tags: Full Tilt Poker

PokerStars Super Tuesday is one of the biggest recurring tournaments in online poker and is consistently filled with talented and ambitious players. The second last week of July saw one of these determined contestants rise to the top of the pack, winning plenty of cash (and bragging rights) thanks to some excellent playing and a few spots of good fortune.

Justin Bonomo (who goes by the handle, “ZeeJustin&rdquo went up against a number of other PokerStars members in order to secure a stunning victory at the tables. Of the 389 entrants to the Super Tuesday event Bonomo managed to emerge triumphant, making his way to the final table as chip leader (with 344,256 to the second highest player’s 256,900 chips) and holding the position through until the end of the game. With a 3-1 chip lead, Bonomo went heads up against contender, Mumtum23 and clinched a win with a bit of luck and a decent helping of bravado. Bonomo held a K and 7 of hearts while Mumtum23 was facing a jack of spades and 4 and 9 of hearts with a K of clubs and 4 of diamonds.

Bonomo finished the game with a total of $75,855.00, a considerable lead over second place winner “Mumtum23” (with $57,377.50) and third place entrant, “Opperstoof69” (with $42,790.00). The cash winnings are sure to help finance the PokerStars member as he continues to advance in the game both in online and real-world tournaments.

Tags: PokerStars, Justin Bonomo

Never far behind the latest and greatest events in the gambling world, PartyPoker has now announced the availability of satellite games aimed at sending players to the 2009 PokerNews Cup Australia. Skilled players need to set up an account and enter the $380 or $535 buy-in games in time to take part in the exciting satellites.

PartyPoker is set to challenge competitors with a number of events aimed at getting the best members of the site on their way to global recognition (and maybe a tidy cash sum) via the upcoming PokerNews Cup in Melbourne, Australia.

One of two prize packages are available to winners in the satellite games — the $5,000 or $3,500 Package. The $5,000 Package provides the winner with entry to the Main Event, accommodation at the Crown Promenade Hotel and $1,500 in traveling money. The winner of the $3,500 Package will receive Main Event entry and accommodations at the Crown Promenade as well. Alongside these satellites, PartyPoker has also set up a $6,000 PokerNews Cup Australia Freeroll scheduled for 30th August.

The 2009 PokerNews Cup Australia is orchestrated by the well known gaming portal/news service, PokerNews and is set to take place from 27th September to 5th October 2009.  Events at the Cup (including a packed schedule of celebrity games, No-Limit Hold ‘Em tournaments and more) will be held at the famous Crown Casino Melbourne in Australia.

Tags: partypoker

PokerStars Holds on to Guinness World Record for another Year

After battling it out with another of the world’s most notable internet poker platforms, fan favourite, PokerStars managed to hold on to its Guinness World Record title for yet another year. The record in question was previously awarded to PokerStars for the site’s ability to hold the largest-ever online poker tournament in 2008, and now, they have been confirmed as the winner of the position for 2009 as well.

PokerStars had to hold off attempts at the record by another enormously popular online poker network, Full Tilt Poker in the weeks leading up to the award. Earlier in the year PokerStars held an $11 buy-in tournament that attracted a total of 35,000 players to the game.

While this was certainly a difficult milestone to top, Full Tilt Poker recently announced their plans to top the record as part of their fifth birthday celebrations. Full Tilt’s “The Record Breaker” hosted a 50,000 player cap and a $5 buy-in, all but ensuring the win until PokerStars retaliated with a 60,000 player cap, $1 buy-in event that managed to draw in the full number of players, securing the record for another year.

The site’s ability to provide such an enormous series of games is sure to help drum up publicity for poker fans and Guinness readers alike. Although Full Tilt Poker failed to wrest the title from PokerStars this year it would still not come as much of a surprise if yet another attempt was made at the record in the time leading up to the Guinness World Records for 2010.

Tags: poker, PokerStars

bet365 Add $25,000 Guaranteed Tournament Series

The folks at bet365 have just unveiled a surprise addition to their line-up of summer promotions with the rapidly approaching $250,000 Guaranteed Tournament Series. The set of events will host a great cash prize for competitors and are set to run from last Monday (July 6th) straight through until the end of the summer.

bet365 members will be able to grab a seat at the tournaments through an extremely low buy-in of only $1.10 USD and then compete for bragging rights (and a large cash prize). The Monday night tournaments are sure to rack up a lot of interest as bet365 throw in their hat against the already crowded line-up of poker events being carried out across the online industry during the summer season. A low buy-in coupled with a great cash guarantee should help to set bet365’s entry apart from the pack however, the extremely minimal risk joining with a massive reward to bring out all levels of players. The $250,000 Guaranteed Tournament series will be set up with $1 re-buy opportunities as well, meaning that those poker fans with deep pockets will have a great chance at fighting their way to the top of the heap.

Although the first tournament has already passed there are still a few more chances for bet365 Poker players to get in on the action. The following dates of the $250,000 Guaranteed Tournament series are set to play out on Monday, July 20th, August 3rd, August 17th and August 31st at 7.35pm GMT.

Tags: Bet365, poker

Full Tilt Poker Become Poker Million Sponsors

An unexpected turn of events has seen one of online poker’s most high profile events, the Poker Million, switch sponsorship and fall under the wing of internet gaming network, Full Tilt Poker. The company will now be in charge of promoting and backing the prestigious television tournament when it kicks off this summer.

The Poker Million was formerly sponsored by UK gaming giants, Ladbrokes but is now moving forward into 2009 with a brand new face. Matchroom Sport’s TV poker tournament entered into partnership with Full Tilt Poker as part of a multi-year contract that should ensure some stability with the event for the foreseeable future. As proof of a well-functioning relationship, the two companies have already released details regarding the launch of the 2009 Poker Million, a tournament slated to take place on July 15th at London’s Sky Sports Studios.  

British poker players are apparently delighted to host American professionals in England this summer. Most notably, Roland de Wolfe has compared the Full Tilt/Poker Million union to his “. . . best mate marrying his sister . . .” and gone on record to make boasts about “knocking out” his professional pals from across the pond (specifically, Phil Ivey, Chris Ferguson and edog) before showing them around his hometown.

Tags: Full Tilt Poker, poker

Party Poker Advertisement Banned

Yet another online gambling advertisement has been removed from broadcasting schedules as the ASA targeted Party Poker’s newest campaign spot. After an evaluation by the regulatory ASA committee the magazine ad was declared as misleading and was thus decided as worthy of banning from future use.

The massively popular UK poker site recently launched an advertisement campaign in promotion of its $2 million prize pool game. After the filing of a single public complaint, ASA investigators examined the ad’s questionable content, a phrase reading “Players win more at Party Poker” and a small piece of text stating the reference of “Poker Players Research Ltd. Opinion Poll, May 08, Sample size 10,000”. The ASA released a statement regarding their final verdict that explained the rationale behind the removal of Party Poker’s spot, citing the possibility that many readers would misinterpret the advertisement as concrete proof that Party Poker has the largest number of winners amongst competing sites while this ‘fact‘ is unsubstantiated.

The ASA is notoriously critical of even remotely questionable advertisement campaigns from the online gambling industry, hoping to combat addiction through rigorous screening and censoring programs. While many of the removed ads’ offensiveness may be fairly debatable the motive behind the work is often in the interest of gamers themselves, a fact made clear by the censure of Party Poker’s aforementioned ad.

Tags: partypoker, poker

Mansion Poker Expands Service to Russia

Premier internet poker service, Mansion Poker, has announced an expansion of their network intended to capture the interest of Russian players. The popular gaming site spoke to press regarding their release of additional platform programming that will offer a skin of every familiar feature and site bonus for Russian poker fans access.

The language options at Mansion Poker are already fairly robust but translation services have been geared primarily toward the European market until now. Mansion currently offers linguistic support for speakers of Dutch, Swedish, Spanish, French, German and English. While these options do cover a large portion of Europe, most areas further east in the continent have been left out of inclusion. Now the site will feature a Russian skin as well, allowing access to an enormous number of would-be registrants and players. Mansion Poker management hopes that Russia’s gambling enthusiasts will respond positively to their wealth of special rewards, tournaments and 100 percent sign-up bonus in the same manner as their other demographics, allowing the network to grow even more in the coming months.

Mansion Poker are one of the few European-centred poker sites aiming to take advantage of the Russian market, a population that has been mostly ignored despite the massive financial potential that can be gained by an intelligent approach to the business sector.

Tags: poker, Mansion Poker

Jesper Hougaard Wins PokerStars Sunday Million

Jesper Hougaard has been making quite a splash throughout the poker world during the last few years, racking up high-profile wins and quite a reputation in the process. Now the Danish pro has done it again at the recent PokerStars Sunday Million event, taking home a massive cash prize and yet another title to add to his constantly improving reputation.

Hougaard is no stranger to the Sunday Million having won the title of tournament champion once before in April of last year. Although his recent win in this Sunday Million came at one of the few PokerStars events that failed to reach the $1.5 million prize pool, Hougaard did manage to take home a considerable reward for his stellar performance. He finished ahead of users with the handles “philipoo” and “praetoriancz”, ending up at the final table without having actually eliminated any other players throughout the rest of the game. Despite his cautious play, Hougaard entered into the final hands as the chip leader and beat philipoo after forcing his competitor into an all-in push for the victory.

For his troubles Hougaard walked away with $206,834.57 from the overall pot provided by PokerStars for the venerable tournament event. philipoo finished second with $174,580.93 and praetoriancz came in third with a still impressive $129,139.50. Hougaard made his mark against some 7,177 opponents registered at the Sunday Million, emerging as the champion after coming up through the daunting task of fighting off six other players with higher chip counts.

Tags: poker, PokerStars

Full Tilt Pros Make Waves at 2009 WSOP

Of all the high-profile poker teams in attendance at the event perhaps the most impact at this year’s World Series of Poker has been felt through the combined efforts of the Full Tilt Poker professionals. Known for attracting some of the best players in the game, Full Tilt Poker Pros have already managed to pick up six bracelets at just over the halfway point of the 2009 WSOP.

Russian member, Vitaly Lunkin came first in Event #2, marking Full Tilt’s team at the first open event of the series just as Phil Ivey went on to capture his sixth WSOP bracelet and further represent the Full Tilt Poker Pros at the prestigious poker event. Full Tilt also made waves with three days that saw three different team professionals winning bracelets across a trio of tournaments. Greg Mueller and Roland de Wolfe have also helped to contribute winnings to the Full Tilt scoreboard, capturing their first WSOP bracelets at the Triple Crown and $10K World Championship Limit Hold ‘Em respectively.

Full Tilt Poker Pros have definitely proven themselves as the sponsored team to keep an eye on for the remainder of the 2009 World Series of Poker. Considering that there are still roughly fifteen games to be decided in the annual poker event Full Tilt Poker professionals should still be able to make a bit more news by taking even more victories for their sponsors.   

Tags: poker, Full Tilt Poker

Full Tilt’s FTOPS XIII comes to a Close

After several weeks of intense competition the 2009 edition of Full Tilt Poker’s FTOPS has come to a close, unveiling bright new stars in the poker world and marking a record for the site’s venerable tournament series. Immense traffic and enormous cash prizes combined to make for a spectacular finale, all of which lead to the promise of an even larger showing for next summer’s edition.

With over 5,300 entrants to the FTOPS XIII Main Event the tournament quickly became the largest season of the series to date. The $500+$35 buy-in Main Event ended up hosting a $2,653,000 prize pool, a massive jackpot that lead to fierce competition. “Poligraph” emerged triumphant over the event, earning $453,663 for his troubles.

Close behind was “Inoriisss” with a $315,707 finish and Kameron “Kamdini” McRay with a still impressive $225,505 in winnings. The staggering prize pools were also present in the previously mentioned NL Hold ‘Em games as top competitors took home sums as high as $102,465 (in the Knockout) and $453,687 (in the 6-Max).

Big winners were also declared in the other lead-up events as well, making rich players out of almost every competitor that managed to make their mark on the proceedings. With each year making the Full Tilt Poker FTOPS into a bigger and bigger part of the summer gaming season, fans should be excited to see the fourteenth edition play out when it is announced next year.

Tags: Full Tilt Poker, poker

Poker in the Park Returns for Third YearQuickly becoming an annual tradition for British poker enthusiasts, the Poker in the Park festival has been announced as scheduled for its third consecutive year. Set to take place this August, Poker in the Park III will bring back the same festivities and gaming events that have helped to make the event such a success in the past.

Poker in the Park will again be sponsored by Bluff Europe and a host of eleven leading pub leagues including Red Tooth Poker, Big Time Poker League, Masters Poker League, LondonPubPoker.co.uk and LondonPokerMeetUp.co.uk. These sponsors will band together to offer two days full of traditional poker play and an enormous turbo sit-and-go game. The massive SNG will allow up to 80 players at a time to compete every hour in events sponsored directly by each of the participating pub leagues. Spectators will be able to watch the action from Leicester Square where a giant television screen will broadcast the sit-and-go gameplay.

The events will play out over two days at and around London’s Leicester Square. The first day, Thursday August 13th will run from five o’clock in the afternoon until nine thirty at night before picking up again on Friday August 14th from noon until nine thirty. Thousands of poker fans are expected to be in attendance again late this summer and the return of pub league sponsors should ensure that Poker in the Park III is no less of a hit than its proven itself in its previous two years. 

This is a link to the official Poker in the Park Website

This is a link to the Bluff Website

Tags: poker in the park, poker

Bodog Provide Details for July’s ‘Mini Poker Series’

Poker fans can be forgiven if they passed over Bodog’s big announcement, dwarfed as it was by plenty of news from the continuing Las Vegas events of the 2009 World Series of Poker. While it may have been a case of bad timing however, the Bodog Mini Poker Series is certainly an event that shouldn’t be overlooked.

The upcoming Bodog Mini Poker Series will be made up of a set of No Limit Texas Hold ‘Em games designed to capture the interest of aspiring poker players currently studying the techniques of professionals competing in the WSOP. The thirteen individual events host a low buy-in ($10+1 each) stretched out across almost two weeks of play. Top players (within the highest thirty percent) will gain entrance to a July 21st semi-final where they will then be whittled down to the top eighteen contestants eligible to battle it out in the July 23rd final event.

Bodog Poker will be awarding a seat package to the 2010 World Series of Poker for the Mini Poker Series’ champion, a prize worth approximately $12,000 USD. Interested players without a Bodog account owe it to themselves to sign up soon so they can take part in the action-packed events. The Bodog Mini Poker Series non-final and semi-final games run from Friday, July 3rd to Wednesday, July 15th beginning at 8.35pm EST.

Tags: poker, Wsop, bodog

Titan Hosts $1K PokerNews Qualifier for the WSOP

Online gaming site, Titan Poker, has announced plans to partner up with PokerNews in a series of events aimed at sending players to the upcoming 2009 World Series of Poker. While even qualifying buy-in spots can be far too expensive for the average player to afford, proving your skill in Titan Poker weekly tournaments may be just the right way to show how worthy you are to compete in the WSOP, regardless of bankroll size.

The partnered sites are hosting a $1000 WSOP Qualifier Freeroll through a sponsorship with affiliate/news site, PokerNews that will reward a first place prize of free access to the Titan Poker $535 WSOP online qualifying rounds. The remaining $465 will be distributed in cash to all other players to make up the rest of the pot but it can be easily predicted that the most action will centre on competition for the WSOP entry spot. Winning the Titan online qualifying will be no easy feat for the tournament champions but, if they’re able to do so, they’ll be heading to Las Vegas with one of the site’s rather hefty $13K prize package.

Users that have registered at Titan Poker through PokerNews are eligible to take part in the freeroll (and a chance to play in this year’s World Series of Poker). The $1000 WSOP Qualifier Freeroll will be hosted at Titan Poker weekly on Tuesdays at 6.45pm GMT throughout the entirety of the month of June.

Tags: Titan Poker, poker, Wsop

Full Tilt Online Poker Series Wraps Up

After an exciting series of games the eleventh edition of the Full Tilt Online Poker Series has finished up for this year. The tournament came to a close with Sunday’s Main Event, a $500+35 No Limit Hold ’Em game that saw one skilled player walk away with a new title under his belt.

The big winner of the 2009 Full Tilt Online Poker Series is Adam “csimmsux” Geyer who managed to come out on top of the tournament’s tough opponents, triumphing and receiving the grand prize.

Geyer played against a body of 5,287 registered players, making it all the way to a climatic showdown against “KAISERfknSOZE”. The two entered the Main Event’s final hands with a substantial chip-lead over the third place competitor while their own amounts were more evenly matched.

Geyer finished the showdown with $456,056.62 while KAISERfknSOZE took home $276,245.75. Third place at the Main Event went to “PartyPimp” who received $177,643.20, a considerable sum that still falls a long way short of the showdown pool.

The game finished after nearly thirteen hours of continuous play, proving that Geyer is a player who is able to hold his own in exhausting games of attrition. While Full Tilt had set a guaranteed prize pool of $2,500,000 for the FTOPS, the massive number of registrants eclipsed the amount to a substantial $2,643,500 by the series’ kick-off. Adam “csimmsux” Geyer’s victory is his third overall win at a Full Tilt Online Poker Series event.

Tags: Full Tilt Poker, poker

Full Tilt Poker Ramps up Late Night Poker and Poker Million Qualifiers

It’s only been a short time since Full Tilt Poker officially signed on as the new sponsors of the Poker Million and Late Night Poker but the successful poker site has evidently been hard at work setting up tie-in games for its members.

Full Tilt Poker is hosting a number of great, upcoming events to give their users brand new competition incentives in an already packed season of high-profile brick-and-mortar tournaments. Among the imminent events are the June 15th Full Tilt Poker Late Night Poker satellite, a $300+$22 cash satellite on June 7th and the May 31st Full Tilt Poker Million satellite. Fans will also have a chance to compete in another Poker Million tournament with the $500+$35 satellite on August 2nd. Tough competition and the shot at plenty of UK exposure should mean plenty of excitement at the Full Tilt Poker rooms for this summer’s duration.

Not only will members of Full Tilt Poker reap the benefits of the site’s new sponsorship deals but viewers should be able to as well. The wider range of expected players (qualified via satellite) at both the Poker Million and Late Night Poker should yield some truly exciting competition and possibly even a few new bright stars making their name in the game throughout the months ahead.

Tags: Full Tilt Poker, poker, poker event

World Poker Tour Scheduled in Venice

The constantly expanding World Poker Tour is set to make its next stop in a beautiful (if rather unlikely) location — Venice, Italy. The newest instalment in the popular series will mark the first time that the nation has hosted a WPT event and will ultimately end with the premier crowning of the World Poker Tour Venice Champion.

World Poker Tour Venice is only a few short weeks away and is set to play out at the famous Casino di Venezia on the east banks of the Grand Canal. The main event will consist of a €4,000+400 buy-in although Venice will also be hosting a wide variety of cash games throughout the rest of the tournament series. The first World Poker Tour Venice Champion will receive a bracelet marking their accomplishment along with a seat in the 2010 World Poker Tour Championship, a prize worth $25,000. World Poker Tour founder and CEO Steve Lipscomb told press that the company is excited to branch out with pioneering events in Italy and the rest of Europe, Venice being only the first part of future plans.

World Poker Tour is assisted by bwin in their efforts to carry out their first ever Italian WPT stop. The latter company’s support should be beneficial to fans as well considering that bwin plans to broadcast World Poker Tour Venice through their website at the same time the action itself is occurring. World Poker Tour Venice is scheduled to take place from May 6th to the 10th.

Tags: poker, poker competition

PokerStars Launches the UK and Irish Poker League

PokerStars has provided some good news for British Isles poker fans with the announcement of the brand new UK and Irish Poker League. The league has been set up to provide incentive and reward for frequent play at the site, giving members the goal of reaching for the top of the heap and becoming part of a select group of winners.

The UK and Irish Poker League will be determined based on a leaderboard now active on the PokerStars client. Members of the popular PokerStars site will have their table time recorded for entry into the competition ladder, tracking accumulated points and exactly how they stack up against other British and Irish players. The more events that members enter, the higher their win and the larger their point earnings, the better they will fare on the leaderboard which rewards $300 to the top one hundred players on a monthly basis.

PokerStars players can choose to compete within all or any one of the three league divisions. Division One requires a $1 buy-in while Division Two allows free play (2,000 play money chips equal one buy-in). Division Three (or the FPP Division) allows the exchange of 25 Frequent Player Points for one buy-in. There are new opportunities for substantial rewards every month, a system that should help encourage stiff competition and busy tables at the PokerStars network.

Tags: poker, poker competition, poker event, PokerStars