Victor Chandler, one of the most recognizable names in the gaming industry, is set to celebrate the 25th anniversary of its Chase events with a special promotion. The company’s poker site, Victor Chandler Poker, will be hosting a series of freerolls that give lucky winners the opportunity to attend a day at the Ascot Racecourse.

Fans of Victor Chandler Poker will soon be able to compete for their chance to win one of the Ascot Racecourse Premier Admission badges on offer from the site. The badges will be made available as prizes for the winners of the upcoming poker freerolls. Victor Chandler has detailed that the freerolls will take place each evening — ending on Monday, 16th January — and provide a total of two hundred Premier Admission badges to the top five finishers of every one of its events. Each freeroll can be registered for one hour in advance and gives free entry to every player until all available slots have been filled.

Victor Chandler’s Andy Horne told press that his company was hoping to “brighten up a dreary January [with] a day at the races” for its members while also celebrating the long history of its Chase series. Premier Admission badges are available only to Victor Chandler members living in the United Kingdom and Ireland and will allow the lucky, 200 winners to attend the Ascot Racecourse on Saturday, 21st January.

Tags: vc poker

Online poker network PokerStars has just announced the return of its prestigious Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT). Now in its fifth year, the APPT has become a massive success, well-regarded by professionals as a worthwhile showcase and by amateurs one of the most exciting series to watch.

PokerStars has produced one of the poker world’s biggest events with their yearly Asia Pacific Poker Tour and the upcoming edition looks to continue the series’ trend of attracting talented players, eager to make their name in the industry. The details released for the 2012 APPT thus far have revealed that it will consist of five events (taking place from 7th to 11th March) across Asia, with Seoul, South Korea confirmed as one of the stops. The APPT will feature a $2,600 buy-in main event and the return of 2008’s winner, Yoshihiro Tasaka of Japan — a player who has helped to build poker’s popularity in his home country and Korea..

A PokerStars statement detailed how “poker in Korea and Asia overall has grown immensely since Tasaka’s victory” and forecasted a “record field” for this year’s events. The press release also promised the launch of APPT prize packages and satellite games set to come to PokerStars in the near future. The 2012 Asia Pacific Poker Tour will be held at international locations including Seoul, South Korea’s Paradise Walkerhill Casino and will run from 7th to 11th March, 2012.

Tags: PokerStars

The iPoker Network — which includes popular online poker sites like William Hill, Titan Poker and more — has just concluded the first edition of its iPoker Online Poker Series (iPOPS). iPOPS was deemed a massive success by its organizers, making it likely that a sequel could be in the works for sometime in the future.

More than 60,000 international poker players flocked to iPoker Network sites to compete in the new series and helped to contribute to just how well the events came off. Over one million dollars was handed out over four events. These included iPOPS kick-off no-limit hold’em six-maximum tournament (which came with a $200,000 prize pool) and its follow-up, a $150,000 pot no-limit hold’em turbo series. The other iPOPS tournament handed out $500,000 to 3,000 no-limit competitors and then assembled the highest ranking players into a top 27. These winners will soon officially end iPOPS (and take home the remaining prize pool) at a live event taking place at Prague’s Ambassador Casino on 12th December.

With the first iPOPS drawing such an enormous crowd — and paying out such impressive amounts — it seems extremely likely that we’ll be hearing about a second edition from iPoker Network soon enough. A statement detailed how the iPoker Online Poker Series was “a huge success for the network”, attributing some of this popularity to it giving “players the chance to win massive cash prizes [for] exceptionally low buy-ins.”

Tags: ipoker

This winter Titan Poker is looking to add some extra cheer to an otherwise dreary season by hosting two entire months of special games. Winter Edition, as the promotional period has been dubbed, will offer up more than $50,000 in prizes and is set to take place over the coming weeks.

Titan Poker’s Winter Edition will include a number of exciting games that look to appeal to nearly every kind of online poker player. Titan Time Cash Games are set to award some $24,000 in cash to ranked cash game competitors through an ongoing leaderboard race while another $24,000 will be made available through the Sit ‘Win’ Go leaderboards. Just as Titan Time Cash Games will pay out to the most active players across the entire site, the latter prizes will be made available to the players who perform best in sit and go tournaments taking place over six-day periods. Sit ‘Win’ Go will take place each Monday (throughout December and January) and will pay out based on weekly finishing positions. Winter Edition will also include a New Year $10,000 freeroll (available to all players who have banked at least 250 points during December) and Happy Hours, where extra loyalty points will be awarded during special weekend cash games.

Titan Poker released a statement regarding Winter Edition, detailing its aim to “appeal to all poker players no matter their playing preferences.” Furthering this egalitarian approach, the release went on to encourage “poker novices and veteran poker players alike [to] win their share of more than $50,000 in prizes.”

Tags: Titan Poker

With December now upon us, Victor Chandler Poker has decided to embrace the holiday season with a month full of Christmas-themed promotional events. Special games are set to run from now until 25th December and aim at giving every fan of the site a number of reasons for competing in daily games.

Victor Chandler Poker’s Advent Calendar promo looks to give members of its site an entire month of festive gaming, packed with great rewards. With a total of more than €40,000 in prizes up for grabs throughout the following weeks, Victor Chandler has designed a promotional period that encourages fans of the poker network to log onto their site of choice every day of December. Advent Calendar has already begun and, while full details on the coming special events has yet to be revealed, Victor Chandler has begun unveiling new, daily promotions each morning. Though specific promo details will only be shown on a day-by-day basis, Victor Chandler has also announced the return of Flop Stars competitions and a low stakes VIP points race set to run alongside the mystery events and prizes that make up Advent Calendar.

Andy Horne, Victor Chandler’s Head of Poker, told press that “it’s been an exciting year for [Victor Chandler]” with much more to come soon. Horne went on to describe how, “ahead of our next big announcement” the Advent Calendar promo will give “lots of players [a] little helping hand towards making this Christmas a memorable one.”

Tags: vc poker

Team BetFair Poker is one of the most well known collection of sponsored poker players in the industry. Now it has grown to include yet another talented professional with the recent signing of Germany’s Hans Martin Vogl.

Hans Martin Vogl has made a name for himself throughout the last several years, developing an extremely impressive career full of large earnings and exceptional live and online performances. Vogl is best known for his multi-table and sit-and-go play, specializations that first put him on the map back when he started playing full time in 2004. The German player was previously interested in sports wagering but, after using €5,000 of his winnings as a poker bankroll, he discovered that he was talented at the game. Vogl was snapped up by Team Full Tilt soon after and began to compete online and at live events like the 2006 BetFair Asian Poker Tour (where he placed seventh) and the 2007 Aussie Millions (where he took fifth place at the main event). His live earnings to date stand at an impressive $501, 497 and Vogl only looks to improve as he spends time studying poker to better his game.

Vogl looks to be a great addition to Team BetFair Poker and should help to boost the already impressive team’s profile in the coming years. BetFair’s Global Poker Manager, Asko Heiskanen, speaking on behalf of his company, said that “Hans has demonstrated time and time again that he is a player of extraordinary skills [and] we are delighted he has joined Team BetFair Poker.”

Tags: BetFair

Poker fans looking forward to the iPoker Network’s iPoker Online Poker Series (iPOPS) will be excited to learn that a series of satellite qualifiers has just launched through the Network’s gaming websites. The iPOPS, a collection of four internet events set to run from 28th November to 4th December, is one of the season’s most anticipated series and iPoker has found a way to get talented players involved for buy-in amounts as low as ten cents.

The iPoker Network includes a number of popular gaming platforms like Titan Poker and William Hill. These sites, and others, are kicking off satellite qualifiers meant to help promote the quickly approaching iPOPS. iPoker members will be able to take part in satellites running three times a week with main event packages as rewards along with weekly mega satellites that grant entrance to iPOPS events one and four. Some winners will be able to bypass the usual iPOPS tournament ladders and use their performance in the qualifiers to receive packages to the series’ finale in Prague. That prize package, just like the one awarded to the highest ranked iPOPS finishers, will provide satellite champions with their €770 iPOPS main event buy-in, accommodations and extra cash.

The iPoker Online Poker Series will take a small break from its internet tournaments after its top 27 competitors have been decided. These players will receive luxury accommodations and spending money before resuming the iPOPS less than a week later for a final showdown at Prague’s Corinthia Hotel.

Tags: ipoker

Last week saw the first edition of Sky Poker’s UK Online Poker Series come to a climatic end with the conclusion of its eighth and final event. The tournament series was a major success, not just for its creators but for some of its most talented participants as well.

The UK Online Poker Series ended up handing out more than £200,000 in cash prizes (well above its £140,000 guaranteed prize pool) to the competitors playing in its line-up of eight events. One of the biggest wins was awarded to Julian Thew, one of Sky Poker’s sponsored professionals and one who has been making waves through his performance at poker tournaments in recent months. Thew finished seventh in the UK Online Poker Series’ main event and first place at the series’ leaderboard competition. The other major winner was James ‘LIAMESL’ Williams won the main event and earned a staggering £15,714. In all, the UK Online Poker Series paid out £218,170 across its participants.

Sky Poker was thrilled by the popularity of its first UK Online Poker Series and announced plans for a second edition in 2012 as well as a miniature version scheduled to take place sometime in December of this year. Sky Poker’s Dave Bland told press that the UK Online Poker Series’ success “was really heart-warming for all of the people involved, both business and customer alike”, adding that the company “would like to pass on our congratulations to all of the players who cashed.”

Tags: Sky poker

Team PKR Pro has just announced the addition of another member to its squad of professional players/brand ambassadors. The newly sponsored player, Britain’s Jake Cody, brings even more talent to an already stacked line-up of fantastic competitiors.

Jake Cody is already well known to poker followers, the young pro having made his mark throughout a number of tournaments in recent years. At only 22 years old, Cody has already banked more than three million dollars and won the title of the youngest “Triple Crown” player (one who has taken home titles at the World Poker Tour, European Poker Tour and World Series of Poker) in the industry. Cody’s career began when he first tried online poker, taking a tiny $10 investment and playing with it until it grew to his current bankroll. He diversified over time by competing not just in online games but in live tournaments as well. Cody has gone on to win at many major live events and continues to attract attention for his performance on the web as well.

Cody told press that he’s “very excited about joining Team PKR Pro” and that his decision to sign with the company comes after being very “patient with sponsorship, waiting for the right deal to come along.” Jake Cody is now Team PKR Pro’s seventh member and will be celebrating his signing to the team by participating in two Bounty Day tournaments this Sunday (27th November).

Tags: PKR

Sky Poker has recently revealed a number of exciting freeroll competitions as part of an upcoming promotional series meant to entice new poker players to the service. The site’s New Player Freeroll gives the site’s latest members the chance to start off their online poker career with great cash prizes.

New Player Freerolls are set to take place every Tuesday night and each competition will come with a fantastic £1,000 guaranteed prize pool. While the Freeroll events host the same features and cash rewards as traditional competitions, Sky Poker has tailored the promo to appeal to the newest members of its online poker network. Entry to New Player Freeroll is as simple as signing up for an account and competing in any real money competition during the week before the Freeroll is held. Eligible competitors are able to sit in on up to two freerolls each week, duking it out for a portion of the £2,000 of total weekly prize money. Sky handles entry to these events automatically — any newly registered member is allowed to compete if they have taken advantage of their welcome bonus or played staked poker during the appropriate timeframe.

Sky’s Dave Bland explained that the New Player Freeroll exists as a way to “[reflect] gratitude to all our new account holders” and that the site “[values] every new player who joins the family.” Sky Poker’s New Player Freeroll is available now for all new members.

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PokerStars, not content with its current status as one of the best known names in the online poker industry, is looking to drum up a little extra publicity by attempting a new world record. It’s currently preparing to host a massive set of tournaments that will surpass the scale of anything yet carried out by a virtual poker provider.

The company has already set impressive records in the past: in 2009 PokerStars made its mark by holding the world’s largest online poker tournament. This event attracted 149,196 players through a $1 buy-in and rewarded a German competitor with $50,000 for taking first place. Now PokerStars wants to one-up its previous best with an enormous no-limit hold’em tournament meant to help celebrate its tenth anniversary as a digital poker network. In order to attract as many players as possible, PokerStars is offering up a $250,000 guaranteed prize pool and an additional $50,000 in reserve for the event’s first place winner.

PokerStars’ no-limit hold’em tournament is scheduled to take place on Sunday, 4th December, starting in the late afternoon and featuring another $1 buy-in. Team PokerStars Pro member, Bertrand ‘ElkY’ Grospellier told press that he was excited to take place in the site’s previous record breaking tournament and is “looking forward to doing it again on December 4 . . . and [seeing] so many players come together to make history once again.”

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This year has been full of difficulties for online poker network, Full Tilt Poker but, for now at least, a silver lining has appeared on the company’s horizon. The good news comes in the form of the US Department of Justice approving the business’ sale, a move that may allow it to repay members and start the poker website anew.

Full Tilt Poker is set to sell its site to Groupe Bernard Tapie, a French company specializing in business recovery. The two organizations have penned an exclusive agreement that would allow Full Tilt to pay its customers the outstanding funds owed to them following the onset of the site’s legal problems. The US Department of Justice has now signed off on the deal, allowing Full Tilt Poker and Groupe Bernard Tapie to begin moving forward with the hard work of getting the gaming site back on its feet. Though the Department of Justice approval is an important first step, Full Tilt’s shareholders still have to approve of the move in order to finalize this action. Full Tilt Poker’s Chief Executive Officer, Ray Bitar released a statement to shareholders explaining how, with their agreement, “Groupe Bernard Tapie may now proceed to finalize an agreement to acquire the companies or assets that comprise FullTiltPoker.com.”

After enduring seemingly endless trouble following the Black Friday legal indictments, receiving the go-ahead to sell Full Tilt Poker to Groupe Bernard Tapie is one of the first positive news items regarding the site in some time.

Tags: Full Tilt Poker

Victor Chandler, well known as the operator of one of the web’s largest gaming networks, has just announced the renewal of a valuable licensing deal. The agreement was signed between Victor Chandler and Passoker.com, the developer of a popular and innovative betting game.

Passoker, the name of the game and developer both, is a kind of poker spinoff that provides chance-based rewards in place of the game’s traditional focus on skill. Players sit at virtual tables and receive points when sports events (like football goals, tennis double faults, etc.) occur. It was created over two years by a team of professionals including English footballer Viv Anderson and made its debut last fall. Victor Chandler currently hosts slot and real-money iterations of Passoker at its websites, allowing its members to play versions of the game that can be altered to include various brand and sports themes. Passoker’s developers released a statement detailing their excitement toward “reaping the benefits of the time invested in reaching this significant milestone”, hinting that the relationship between both companies looks to continue over the coming years.

Karl Riley, Victor Chandler’s Marketing Director, told press that the gaming network is “very pleased to have launched Passoker on VictorChandler.com” and that the company is “delighted to be able to offer it first.” Victor Chandler members can expect to see Passoker become a mainstay of the business’ poker, casino and sportsbetting clients, altered to include new themes and features long into the website’s future.

Tags: vc poker

The iPoker Online Poker Series (iPOPS) is fast approaching and, as a member of the iPoker network, Titan Poker is looking to drum up some excitement for the event. To help celebrate the series Titan is now offering chances for its members to gain entry to the iPOPS, awarding seats through to the massive tournament series through affordable buy-ins.

Titan Poker has revealed a number of satellite events, providing recurring opportunities for winning a spot at the iPOPS. Buy-ins to these qualifiers start from only eleven cents and give players a shot at competing in some of the biggest events of the series, like the massive $500,000 guaranteed prize freezout games running on 28th November and 4th December. Titan is hosting nearly constant satellite qualifiers with varied buy-ins from now until late November. The iPoker Online Poker Series will feature four online events before finishing off with a live finale at Prague’s Corinthia Hotel several days after the virtual play wraps up. The Prague event, scheduled to take place from 10th to 11th December, will give iPOPS’ top 27 competitors the chance to duke it out for top place while enjoying a prize package that includes complementary buy-in (valued at €770), three nights of accommodations, invitation to an exclusive welcome party and more.

Players interested in winning a seat at one of the fall’s biggest poker series should head over to Titan now.

Tags: Titan Poker

With October wrapping up, PKR.com is bringing the month to an end with the launch of its Oktoberfest tournament series. The promotional event, now celebrating its fifth edition, has already begun and will provide players with the ability to compete in a wide range of different poker styles, all guaranteeing massive cash rewards and challenging play.

PKR.com’s Oktoberfest series is made up of ten tournaments and comes with a total projected prize pool of $115,000. According to an official press release, the company has designed its tournament offerings with player versatility in mind, tailoring the line-up “to appeal to everyone.” Oktoberfest kicked off with a $22 buy-in, six-seat tournament (with a projected $14,000 prize pool) and will continue to provide exciting gameplay through to Sunday October 30th. PKR.com’s Oktoberfest finale will be a $33 buy-in event with an $18,000 prize pool, bringing ten days of events (including Omaha, Turbo Triple Chance, Terminator and other styles of play) to an end. Those more interested in watching the last event play out than actually competing will be interested to know that the finale is scheduled for broadcast on YouTube, The Poker Channel and the site’s own PKR.tv video service.

Now that it’s entering its fifth year the Oktoberfest festival looks to have become a mainstay of PKR.com’s autumn line-up. Players interested in getting in on the Oktoberfest action should head to PKR.com now to buy their tickets or compete in special, entry-awarding satellite tournaments.

Tags: PKR

It’s always great to see a well known online poker network work to innovate its line-up of play styles and PokerStars, with its new tournament style, is looking to do just that. Time Tourneys, a line-up of multi-table tournament offerings, brings members of the site a new range of options for every level of bankroll.

Fans of multi-table play will be excited to find the new tournament style, only just launched through PokerStars. Time Tourneys are set up much like standard multi-table tournaments but feature a crucial difference: a set time period. PokerStars hopes to encourage faster play by limiting the time available in the tournament style, splitting the available prize pool at the end of a session (with amounts being paid out in proportion to stack size). Game lengths currently range from 15 to 180 minutes in order to give players as brief or as lengthy of an experience as they desire. In the press release detailing Time Tourneys, PokerStars described their aim to let “players [fit] in a Time Tourney over breakfast, in a lunch over or over the course of an evening.” The new format is also meant to be inclusive for every level of player, buy-ins starting from as low as one dollar.

To help promote its new tournament style, PokerStars has also announced the addition of Time Tourney to its Saturday Line-Up. The Saturday edition of the multi-tables have a $10,000 prize guarantee, $22 buy-in and a 120 minute time limit. Time Tourneys are available now and can be found through PokerStars’ lobby.

Tags: PokerStars

As shown in 888 Holdings’ new total payout record, there’s good reason for the immense popularity of the company’s network of online poker, casino and sportbooking services. 888, demonstrating just how much it’s been able to pay out to its members, has just announced record-breaking cash prize figures awarded to its players throughout September.

888 Holdings currently owns the 888Casino.com, 888Sport.com and 888Poker.com domains, all well-received by the company’s legions of fans. In providing press with last month’s prize payout figures, 888 has revealed that, through only 30 days, it rewarded 43,000 fans with some $356 million in cash. This staggering amount was the largest yet awarded by 888 Holdings (and is the company’s highest monthly record since 2008) and sets a new record that competing online casinos, poker networks and sportsbooking services will have a hard time matching anytime soon.

With such a large amount of cash being paid out now looks like a good time to register an account at any of the 888 websites. 888.com’s Senior Vice-President, Itai Pazner, told press that the company considered their $356 million month a demonstration of “the real life-changing potential of 888.com’s games” and congratulated “all [888’s] September winners on their good fortune.”

Tags: 888

Titan Poker, one of the internet’s most popular online gaming destinations, has just announced software upgrades that will enrich its members’ playing experience. The newly updated software client brings fresh features and a new style of play to its tables alongside the BackBet side game

Players are sure to appreciate the new additions to the online poker service. Titan Poker’s software upgrade includes handy features like a (video) hand history replay option, a quick deposit button (added to virtual tables in order to facilitate quicker player account funding), an automatic re-buy option for tournament play and the ability to enter playing commands through both keyboard and mouse input. The upgrade has also optimized Titan’s tournament time banks, chat messages, stake filters and general client operation. All of this comes alongside the addition of seven card stud hi-lo cash games and the previously mentioned side game, BackBet. BackBet, ensuring that there’s never a dull moment at the tables, allows players to bet on options (like colour, suit and more) related to currently dealt cards and the hand to come. Texas Hold ‘Em games (the only style of play currently supporting the side game) with BackBet included will be specially marked.

The new features and playing options look to make Titan Poker an even better online poker option than before. Curious players can check out Titan’s software client (through a free download) for themselves to see the upgraded service first hand.

Visit PokerStars For the best online Poker experience now

Tags: Titan Poker

PokerStars has just bulked up its roster of sponsored poker professionals by signing a new player to its PokerStars Team Online line-up. The latest addition to the team, Mickey Petersen, adds some serious talent to the company and should help PokerStars to grab some more notoriety in the future.

Mickey Petersen (who plays as ‘mement_mori’ on PokerStars) is well known by Denmark’s poker community — the nation he calls home — due to the fact that he currently holds the title of “top-ranked multi-table tournament player” in the nation. The sponsored competitor, who first became interested in card-based games through a love for playing Magic: The Gathering, has banked an enormous sum of money throughout his career (reportedly an amount in excess of four million dollars) and is best known for his proficiency at online-based poker. One of his most noteworthy accomplishments has been Petersen’s performance at the 2010 Spring Championship of Online Poker, a series wherein he netted roughly $300,000 over 16 cashes.

It isn’t surprising that Petersen was signed by PokerStars, given how impressive his career to date has been. Mickey “mement_mori” Petersen’s incredible talent at online poker play should help to boost the reputation of PokerStars Team Online throughout the length of his sponsorship. As Petersen himself says, “hopefully I’ll be able to build on my resume and promote both PokerStars.com and the game in a positive light.”

Visit PokerStars For the best online Poker experience now

Tags: PokerStars

Some hopeful news for amateur poker players has just been provided by leading online gaming network PKR.com after the close of its $100,000 PKR Masters last Saturday night. With entry into the huge event gained with a display of talent in a PKR satellite qualifier the event’s champion managed to grab an enormous cash sum through nothing more than skill and perseverance.

The winner of PKR Masters, playing under the handle ‘Vizdy’, took home a bit more than $26,000 after toughing it out against waves of competitors. Vizdy, hailing from Gateshead, was able to compete throughout almost two and a half hours of the tournament, defeating more than 400 other PKR.com members and winning a huge cash reward. The player bought his way into the PKR Masters with only $1.81 (the fee for entering into the stage-one satellite that got him into the event) and made his way to the final table with a chip deficit. Despite this disadvantage Vizdy took down ‘ratmanloco’ (who held the highest number of chips going into the final), ‘Barkieboy’ (who would win the next day’s High Roller tournament) and last year’s PKR Masters’ winner, ‘Kusken777’. The stunning conclusion of the event saw Vizdy eventually triumph after 21 hands of heads-up play.

PKR.com’s $100,000 PKR Masters was deemed a success by the poker network. The website’s Community Manager, Dan Grant, told press that the company was delighted with Vizdy’s win and described how it was “absolutely fantastic [to] see somebody come from nowhere to put their name up in lights.”

Visit PokerStars For the best online Poker experience now

Tags: PKR

The European section of Bodog’s extremely popular online poker site has been plagued with data mining in the past but now the company has found a solution to this issue. Bodog has just announced that it will be taking drastic action toward blocking data miners now and throughout the rest of the year.

Data mining takes a negative toll on online poker players, amassing information on their play style in order to help give others gain an unfair advantage at the tables. While historically it has been difficult for poker networks to stamp out data miners, Bodog has revealed a novel approach that should give its players peace of mind as they compete. Bodog.eu will now be removing full tables from its lobbies, making it impossible for potential miners to record information on players sitting in an ongoing, completely populated game.

Bodog’s spokespeople commented on data mining, alluding to the fact that the information is routinely bought by serious players in order to take advantage of others and stating that it’s a practice that “only benefits ‘professional players’ to the detriment of ‘recreational players’”. Bodog hopes that, by removing unnecessary table information, miners will avoid attempts at recording information and play at its site will remain fair.

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Ladbrokes, operator of leading poker and casino gaming sites, has announced the conclusion of a deal that will see the addition of several new games to its service. As part of its deal Ladbrokes players are now going to be able to enjoy play that features some of the most beloved brands in the industry.

The deal in question saw Ladbrokes and its previous software provider, Microgaming renew their contract earlier this summer. This move has also given the former company access to titles from developers, Ash Gaming and Blueprint Gaming as part of its supply agreement. Members of the Ladbrokes network will now be able to play branded games that include Ash Gaming’s “Alice’s Wonderland”, “Midas Millions”, “Amazon” and “Pharaoh’s Treasure” along with Blueprint Gaming’s “Casper”, “Bejeweled 2”, “Zuma”, “Chuzzle” and “Viz.” These titles come from two of the best regarded developers working in the industry and should add some extra, quality fun to an already impressive selection of games.

It’s always exciting to see new titles added to gaming sites and fans of Ladbrokes are sure to be pleased with the newly expanded line-up. Ladbrokes’ Chief Executive Officer, Richard Glynn, told press that he believes the new additions “will complement our current and growing games portfolio” while Blueprint Gaming’s Matt Cole said that his company was “delighted to supply Ladbrokes.com with leading slot-based content.”

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Party Poker is looking to give its legions of fans yet another reason to log onto the online poker site with its upcoming Pokerfest. The festival, which runs for two weeks, will pack in 47 different events and offer up a guaranteed prize pool that comes in at an impressive $3 million.

This year’s Pokerfest marks the first edition of what Party Poker hopes will become an annual tradition. Each day of the online festival is set to include a minimum of three different events that aim to include every level of player. Styles of play will be varied, Party Poker members getting a chance to compete in no-limit hold ‘em (with and without re-buys), pot-limit Omaha (also with or without re-buys) and no-limit hold ‘em six-maximum deep-stack fixed limit. Alongside the regular events will be supplementary promotional prizes, side events, leaderboards and a number of qualifiers. All of these will lead up to the Pokerfest main event. The main event features a $640 buy-in and a guaranteed prize pool of $1 million and will take place at 1.30pm EST on 6th November.

Party Poker’s Pokerfest will kick off on Sunday, 23rd October and run through to Sunday, 6th November. Buy-ins will range wildly, starting at only $1, Party Poker stating that it wants “everyone to be a part of Pokerfest.” Interested site members with accumulated Party Poker loyalty points will also be able to use these to gain entrance to certain events.

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Paddy Power Poker has always sought to celebrate Ireland, its base of operations, through special promotions and the recognition of noted Irish players. The internet poker company looks to continue this trend now by giving its players the opportunity to show their support for one of the country’s young, rising stars: Eoghan O’Dea.

O’Dea is fast becoming a poker player worth watching and, of course, he hasn’t escaped Paddy Power Poker’s notice. Having recently signed a sponsorship deal with Paddy Power, O’Dea is now getting ready to prove himself at the 2011 World Series of Poker (WSOP) finals in Las Vegas, Nevada and the site wants to help send nine of its members to the event to cheer him on. The promotion, called November 9ers, will run for seven consecutive weeks of $215 buy-in no-limit hold’em freeze out super satellites, beginning this week and awarding every one of the winners with a fantastic prize package. Paddy Power members can get into one of the satellites by competing in daily competitions or holding out for a (not yet dated) sit and go race or “casino challenge” that will reward two more packages. The nine winners will be provided with a full week of accommodations at Las Vegas’ Palazzo Resort Hotel Casino, $1,000 in cash, entry to the WSOP main event and free airfare.

Paddy Power Poker described November 9ers as “[the] trip of a lifetime” and a great way to congratulate Eoghan O’Dea, “an inspirational young Irish player . . . who has done us all proud.”

Tags: poker, paddy power

Titan Poker is gearing up to celebrate its sixth birthday, a landmark event that will see the renowned online poker site sharing the festivities by giving its members access to a number of exciting promotional events, including the Heads-Up Championship, weekly giveaways and more.

The sixth birthday celebrations began last weekend with the launch of Titan Poker’s Heads-Up Championship, a promotion that is set to run until the beginning of October. The Heads-Up Championship has been set up to reward talented members with a share of a massive $25,000 prize pool and the ability to gain recognition across the Titan poker network. Players will be able to compete in (Sunday and Tuesday scheduled) 24 hour races and try for their chance to finish out as one of the Championship’s top 32 competitors. These members will then be entered into the final elimination brackets (which play out on 28th, 29th September and 2nd October) where they can duke it out for $7,500 in cash held back for the top eight finishers.

The entire month of September looks to be full of great reasons for Titan members to log onto their site of choice. Surprise events and further promotions have been hinted at by the online giant with details already revealed for special bonuses like the $6,000 Anniversary Freeroll on 6th October (for all players that accumulate more than 60 poker points during September). Players can also look forward to weekly giveaways throughout the birthday celebration.

Tags: Titan Poker

Full Tilt Poker has had a rough couple of months, struggling to maintain its business after the world of online gaming was rocked by the Black Friday legal indictments. The situation doesn’t look to be improving for the poker company as it now faces further troubles related to securing investors.

Full Tilt Poker’s Secondary Client Provider Authorization license was recently renewed, giving industry observers hope for the business — something that was furthered after the company was able to repay a $410,000 debt. Even with these promising signs the future of Full Tilt Poker still depends greatly on its ability to obtain investment from backers, however, and this week saw a potential deal fall through. After lengthy negotiations Full Tilt Poker must now begin to scramble for new financiers, leaving its many customers uncertain of whether or not their site of choice will ever return to normal business. In a statement issued from Full Tilt’s spokespeople the poker platform apologized for “its lack of communication with its customers over the last month and a half”, citing “unexpected and complex legal and financial issues” that have kept it from repaying its site members’ debts and properly informing them of its current status.

Despite being wracked with seemingly endless difficulties, Full Tilt Poker may be able to reclaim its place as a leading poker company after its legal future is decided at its 15th September hearing with the Alderney Gambling Control Commission. If the hearing goes well, securing investors should prove much easier than it currently is.

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The upcoming, fifth instalment of England’s Poker in the Park celebration is fast approaching and, now, a new sponsorship deal has been announced by online poker network, PokerStars. The UK arm of the popular company has told press that it will be acting as a key sponsor to the early autumn event.

Poker in the Park V has signed on as the official sponsor behind the festival’s main stage event, perhaps the most highly anticipated part of the gathering. The main stage line-up plans to have a little something for everyone, from a swing band performance to exhibition matches from renowned chess players (like the current Master and Grand Master, Malcolm Pein and Simon Williams respectively) and the chance for audience members to take on celebrities in games of heads-up poker. PokerStars will also be sponsoring the British Poker Awards, a ceremony set to be awarded through online ballot taking. Aside from the main stage, Poker in the Park V will also see the return of numerous heads-up and sit and go tournaments for attendees to compete in. The event it also expected to be filled with brand new electronic tables to play on and great deals on branded poker merchandise.

Poker in the Park V will take place at Hanover Square (in London) on Friday, 2nd and Saturday, 3rd September. The event, organized and promoted by Lyceum Events, is currently predicted to pull in roughly 20,000 poker enthusiasts, all ready to celebrate their favourite game.

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Tags: PokerStars

Germany, the home of Oktoberfest, is always a great vacation destination for autumn holidays. Nobody knows this better than the folks at PartyPoker, the hugely popular online poker company now announcing its plans to send lucky members of its site to the festivities this October.

PartyPoker’s VIP Oktoberfest promotion is set to begin soon and will award VIP vacation packages to this year’s Oktoberfest. The promo will take the form of leaderboard races and a freeroll tournament that gives PartyPoker players a chance to test their skills against competitors in order to win a great vacation. A total of 16 Oktoberfest packages are available to the top seven finishers in two sets of leaderboards and will use the number of accumulated PartyPoints in order to determine rankings. These winners will receive two nights of accommodations at Munich, Germany’s Le Meridien hotel (for themselves and a guest), dinner and poker at the Olympic Tower, VIP access to the Hippodrom Oktoberfest event, $600 in cash and much, much more.

The first VIP Oktoberfest promotion leaderboard race kicked off last Friday (12th August) and is set to run until Sunday, 21st August. The second leaderboard race begins on 22nd August and will last for ten days. Those that play well but don’t quite reach the top spots are still eligible for a shot at grabbing an iPad2, iPod Touch or entry to a freeroll (that awards even more Oktoberfest packages) scheduled for 4th September.

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Eager to persist in capitalizing on the goodwill its gaining from a fantastic series of current promotions, Titan Poker has announced that it will continue offering rewards and special games throughout the rest of the summer. The extended promotions apply to both Titan’s Summer Jackpots series, its current first deposit bonuses and more.

Summer Jackpots will continue to give Titan Poker members the ability to compete for cash prizes during certain, entire days of the week, providing a great opportunity for determined players to increase their bankrolls. The first deposit bonus will also continue to be offered through until the end of the month, providing 200% matching on initial deposits (up to $2,000). New players, aside from being able to receive free playing money with their first transactions, are also eligible for entry into New Depositor Freerolls (where $10,000 is available to win). Alongside these extended offers, Titan is hosting daily Happy Hour games and a series of $50,000 Craze Jackpot sit-and-go tournaments as well.

Research into the effects of the Black Friday online poker shake-ups have shown that a large percentage of player traffic has shifted to Titan Poker from recently closed sites. Titan is obviously seeking to garner further attention by providing incentives for new players that are testing the network out while looking for a site worth their poker playing time and money.

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PKR.com is ready to give its members a shot at taking their poker skills to the next level at one of next year’s biggest real-world tournaments through a new series of online qualifiers from the massive site. These upcoming games are aimed at rewarding talented players with a shot at competing in the World Poker Tour (WPT) stop in Dublin, Ireland.

While a firm date for the beginning of the promotion has yet to be set, PKR.com has already started to provide details regarding its WPT Ireland qualifiers. The World Poker Tour has joined with PKR.com as a promotional sponsor and now PKR is able to pass on several great prizes to its members as a result of the deal. Awards for the WPT Ireland qualifiers will include invitations to special parties and games at the event, free buy-in (a fee that is currently set at €2,500) and more. Once skilled PKR.com members have made it to Ireland, they’ll also enjoy the opportunity to compete for a seat at the WPT World Championships (valued at $25,500!).

World Poker Tour Ireland will take place from 5th to 8th January, 2011 at Dublin, Ireland’s City West Hotel and mark the first time that the WPT has visited the region. Because of its close proximity to the larger event, the Irish Poker Championships have been made a part of the larger WPT festivities and will now be held in Dublin rather than their former, Galway home.

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Despite a troublesome summer, massive online poker network, PokerStars, has just given its staff and fans something positive to celebrate. The good news comes in the form of the company just achieving a milestone business record — more than 65 billion hands dealt.

The landmark, 65 billionth hand was dealt on Sunday, 24th July and provided a lucky player with an unexpected reward. 24-year old New Zealander, Christopher “yllams” Small is just another PokerStars member that was fortunate enough to be sitting down to play at the game wherein the 65 billionth hand was dealt. Small received $68,420 while competing in a six-maximum, no limit game (with $0.10/$0.25 stakes) and winning the landmark hand. He had begun playing earlier in the day, hoping that his timing would pay off when, after several hours, Small received a message explaining that he was currently sitting at the 65 billionth hand table. The good luck continued as Small currently held an ace/king and the flop revealed two more aces, giving him the chance he needed to come out triumphant at the five person table.

PokerStars has been in business for close to ten years and has always sought to give back to its players when history-making landmarks have been reached. Last March, when the network achieved 60 billion hands, it rewarded the winning hand’s player with more than $102,000 in cash.

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Paddy Power Poker has embraced the excitement of the summer poker season with a brand new promotion aimed at giving back to its most loyal fans. The forthcoming Green Card promotion will start at the beginning of next month and carry on into the fall, giving site members plenty of reasons to compete at Paddy’s virtual tables.

Green Card comes packed with a number of excellent prizes for players to compete for. The promotion takes the form of a loyalty points race, Paddy Power Poker members automatically becoming a “Green Card player” after accumulating at least 40,000 points within the space of a single month (current Black Card holders can receive Green Card status by emailing photographic proof of their membership and maintaining a minimum points balance for the following week). Once players have grabbed their Green Card they will receive twenty percent off at the site’s store and Paddy swag that includes a branded hoodie and personalized card. Better yet, Green Card members are provided with a complementary, £50 wager, entry to weekly $1000 freerolls and a token for a $50 satellite game as well.

As if that wasn’t enough, Green Card players that maintain their status for the entire three months of the promotion will receive an iPad2. The iPad2 will also be given to players that average 120,000 (or more) Paddy Points for 90 days after gaining Green Card status. Paddy Power Poker’s Green Card promo is set to kick off on 1st August and will continue for three full months following its launch.

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Party Poker, one of the sites hit hardest by the Black Friday legal indictments, is bouncing back and proving itself to its fans through an unprecedented business move — the removal of all rake charges from its multi-table tournaments. Members of the popular online poker platform will now be able to compete in the same games they’ve come to love with the added potential for extra cash rewards.

The decision to forgo the rake fee traditionally charged at all multi-table tournaments is a substantial one and will see Party Poker players competing for larger sums during the period that the special deal is on offer. Party Poker has detailed how the rake fee removal will work, explaining that the money usually collected by the hosting company will now go directly into prize pools, bulking up winnings across a wide number of small and large scale games. As a result of the move, events like the Summer Million and qualifiers for tournaments such as the GSOP Manchester will have their structuring reconfigured to accommodate the change.

Considering the bad press and legal difficulties that have resulted in the wake of the Black Friday indictments, Party Poker’s move seems like a smart one, sure to help drum up new business and win back wary fans. While the company has yet to outline exactly how long it plans to offer the rake fee removal, a Party Poker spokesperson released a statement that the site “ . . . will continue this outstanding value promotion for as long as we can.”

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The summer poker season, always an exciting time of year, is continuing to heat up with Titan Poker’s recent decision to add further promotional games to the coming months’ schedule. Summer Jackpots III, the series of events in question, provides poker fans with a wide variety of different playstyles and the promise of some exceptional rewards.

Titan Poker’s Summer Jackpots III has been designed for players of all types, bringing together buy-ins and a level of game variety that is meant to appeal to everyone, from amateurs to professionals. Among the most interesting of Summer Jackpots III’s line-up are events like reduced entry (for several guaranteed prize tournaments, $50,000 jackpot sit and go games and Double Challenges), happy hours and daily races (with special editions planned for Tuesdays and Sundays). Even members of the site that choose not to partake in the festivities will be able to claim something from Jackpots III as well, Titan rewarding a 50% bonus on loyalty points during special time periods during the promotion. In total Titan Poker is offering up a massive $500,000 in jackpot prizes alongside plenty of other non-cash prizes.

Summer Jackpots III has just begun and will continue to run throughout the remainder of the summer months. Cheaper tournament buy-ins will remain at the site until 24th September and weekly guaranteed prize games will continue until the same date.

Tags: poker

The summer gives poker players a fantastic number of opportunities to enjoy watching and participating in great games, both through live venues and online events. Not to be outdone by its competition, Victor Chandler has just launched a special, seasonal promotion that will provide members of its site with entry into a wide array of lucrative freeroll competitions meant to celebrate the most exciting time of the poker year.

Throughout the rest of July Victor Chandler players will enjoy access to a series of freerolls that promise to reward more than €75,000 in prizes. One of the first freerolls saw competitors battling it out for their share of a €1,500 pool (divided out amongst the top 400 players). The tournaments continue onward with more fantastic cash games, capped at 3,000 participants. The month’s freerolls are available to standard members with larger prize pool events being offered to those willing to part with VIP points.

Aside from cash rewards, Victor Chandler is also offering prize packages that will send winners to live poker events. Upcoming travel freerolls include trips to the European Masters of Poker (EMOP) and can be won through the EMOP Dublin Iron Man freeroll. Winners of these competitions will receive €1,100 buy-in to the EMOP main event, four nights of accommodation at Clontarf Castle and €350 in spending money. Victor Chandler’s July freeroll tournaments have already begun and will be offered at daily intervals through to the end of the month.

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Fans of Titan Poker, worried about the online poker company’s recent legal troubles, are finally being given some good news as the site has now announced that it plans to stay open for business. Since April the future of Titan has looked uncertain, its ability to remain a viable choice for internet gamers in jeopardy as its affiliate corporations were unable to assure customers that they would continue ongoing operations.

April’s legal indictments (now referred to as “Black Friday&rdquo marked the first part of many online poker platform’s troubles. A month later the “Blue Monday” prosecutions continued to plague affected sites, Titan Poker being one of the most prominent among them. The iPoker Network, a group of affiliates that Titan belongs to, was forced to withdraw from the United States market and its backing site, Full Tilt Poker, also had its license suspended. Titan Poker has now released details regarding its future, however, and is guaranteeing that it will continue to function, regardless of external problems. Although the rest of iPoker (and Full Tilt Poker itself) may not be able to continue business, Titan’s news is one of the first positive signs to come since the beginning of the spring season.

Titan Poker’s spokespeople have been quick to reassure players of their security and financial safety at their site as well. Aside from its ongoing services, Titan will also launch an improved, 200% first deposit bonus (up to $1,000) that should bring in some new members and help set the network back on track.

Tags: poker

PKR.com has always enjoyed critical and popular acclaim, not least of all because of its highly sophisticated software. Now the online poker giant has announced yet another comprehensive upgrade that looks to make its service an even more popular choice for internet gamers.

The recent PKR.com software upgrade (which went live as V2.04.07) includes a number of new features and revisions. Most notable is the inclusion of auto top-up and default buy-in options, something that has often been requested by players that frequent ring games (where table bankroll customization and management is extremely important). PKR has also added in-depth player statistics that allow users to view essential data on their friends and competitors. These statistics can be conveniently accessed (as text or graphics) through the in-game chat box, giving players the ability to more accurately gauge tournament foes while still concentrating on their game. Last but not least is the addition of a set of new avatar “emotes” that let players act out a wider range of feelings through their digital counterparts. These five new actions look to breathe even more life into the already impressive range of virtual emotions that PKR avatars can display during games.

PKR Lite, a minimalist version of the site’s robust, traditional software (intended for less powerful computers), has also been provided through the upgrade. Never content to rest on its laurels, PKR.com has provided hints toward an end-of-year update as well, demonstrating that the company’s devotion toward offering unparalleled software won’t be stopping anytime soon.

Tags: Poker, PKR

PKR.com, one of the most popular online poker platforms on the market, is giving back to its many fans with new opportunities to compete in massive physical tournament events. The World Series Experience is the network’s accompaniment to the 2011 World Series of Poker and gives lucky players the chance to take part in the poker season’s biggest tournament series in style.

Members of PKR.com are currently able to compete to win the site’s World Series Experience, an extravagant prize package that provides accommodations and travel to Las Vegas during this year’s WSOP. Recently PKR.com has announced that these prize winners will be able to attend a number of extra events (including welcome drinks at the Bellagio Las Vegas’ Caramel Lounge, a meal from Emeril Lagasse’s Table 10 restaurant, entry to the PKR Party at the Mirage Resort and Casino’s Revolution Lounge and a tour of Las Vegas). Aside from the fun and relaxation on offer, courtesy of PKR.com, winners of the World Series Experience will also enjoy free entry to event 54 of the WSOP on 2nd July.

The World Series Experience is an unbeatable way to experience the 2011 World Series of Poker and PKR.com is continuing to award the prize package to talented and lucky members of its site. Buy-ins to the World Series Experience satellites range in price and allow every type of poker player to try their hand at competing in the most prestigious event of the year.

Tags: Poker, PKR

The legal indictments that first rocked the online poker world this April continue to have an impact on players, especially American ones. Full Tilt Poker, one of the websites most highly effected by the crackdown, is now, finally, revealing details of how it plans to recover from its setbacks.

Full Tilt Poker immediately responded to legal troubles in April by signing a deal that would allow it to give back any existing bankroll balances to its American players. Despite this agreement with U.S. authorities Full Tilt players still have not been able to access their accounts and withdraw their money. The online poker company, in response to numerous complaints regarding this problem, has revealed new details on how it plans to rectify the situation. Full Tilt Poker released a statement that apologized for its lack of communication in recent months, declaring that its many shortcomings are the result of being “ . . . too optimistic in estimating how long it would take to sort through the issues we have faced since ‘Black Friday’.” The poker company says that it has been working constantly at finding the right method for refunding the money owed to its players even though it doesn’t have a definite timeline for when this will be finished.

In the same statement, Full Tilt Poker described its efforts to raise the money necessary for paying its American members and told press that it has been forced to keep silent regarding this work because of “legal constraints”.

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Sit and go players should pay attention to Titan Poker in the coming weeks as the renowned online poker site has announced an upcoming promotion centering on the play style. The special games are beginning soon and will take place until the end of June, providing a great start to the summer season.

Titan Poker’s Sit ‘N’ Go Heat will hand out more than $105,000 in prizes during the coming weeks. The promotion will be scheduled to take place bi-weekly, being made up of two leaderboard races during each play period. Players will be ranked on their performance in order to determine their placement in the promo and the winnings they take home as the games play out. These leaderboards will be divided into four different categories, determined by buy-in tiers, with a fifth board being offered for heads-up sit and go players. Titan Poker decided to segment players in this way in order to ensure that every type of competitor is able to compete within their skill level and bankroll limitations. Sit ‘N’ Go Heat will also reward players that finish just short of winning a cash prize in the boards with entry to a $2,000 freeroll tournament.

Online poker players that enjoy sit and go play have a great reason to head over to Titan Poker throughout this month. Press releases detailing Titan’s Sit ‘N’ Go Heat have stated that the tournament series is meant to appeal to both poker newcomers and serious players, providing the right kind of leaderboard divisions for all types of competitors.

Tags: poker

Bad news has hit for fans of Absolute Poker and UB.com as the two companies have just announced the termination of some of its most popular professional poker players’ contracts. The move to immediately dump some eleven pros has come as a surprise to many.

Both networks are part of Blanca Games Incorporated and Cereus Poker Network, corporations that were greatly affected by the recent American federal indictments (dubbed Black Friday) leveled at online poker sites PokerStars, Absolute Poker and Full Tilt Poker. The indictments charged individuals associated with these poker companies with various illegal gambling activities and have resulted in massive repercussions for the involved businesses. Due to the legal fallout, Absolute Poker and UB.com have dismissed eleven of their professionals (Maria Ho, Eric Baldwin, Joe Sebok, Brandon Cantu, Prahlad Friedman, Scott Ian, Adam Levy, Dave Stann, Tiffany Michelle, Trishelle Cannatella and Bryan Devonshire). Absolute Poker and UB spokespeople attributed the firings as part of both businesses’ focus on efficiency measures. The companies, now faced with losing income from the United States, are being forced to take drastic measures in order to ensure their survival.

Absolute Poker and UB.com’s decision is a major one that is sure to send shockwaves throughout the industry. The loss of the entirety of Team UB along with one of Absolute’s top brand representatives is a sure sign of further financial difficulties to come. Statements from the Blanca Games companies were issued that expressed regrets for the sudden terminations and best wishes for the players’ futures.

Tags: poker

Online poker network, Full Tilt Poker, is planning to give players a great way to get into the World Series of Poker (WSOP) spirit through a special promotion. The Fantasy WSOP, beginning this week alongside the real WSOP’s 31st May kickoff, gives site members the opportunity to compete online and, potentially, take home some fantastic prizes.

Full Tilt fans are now able to try their skills against other members for their chance to win big at the Fantasy WSOP. The promotion is organized so that competitors are able to create their very own team of 15 players for inclusion in a fantasy group. Full Tilt Poker has built up a registry of more than 450 poker professionals to pick from, allowing participants to select a dream team that will either win or lose based on the actual results of the World Series of Poker’s 58 events.

Full Tilt Poker has planned a number of great rewards for those that are able to make accurate predictions in their Fantasy WSOP competition. Prizes include custom clothing and other poker gear emblazoned with the Full Tilt brand and will be rewarded to the top finisher in each of the massive tournament’s events. With the 2011 World Series of Poker looming on the horizon there are sure to be plenty of Full Tilt players that are excited to take advantage of any promotion related to the games.

Tags: Full Tilt Poker

PKR.com’s ongoing venture into live gaming events has most recently brought the company to Germany for the PKR Social Dusseldorf. The company, banking on the continued rise in popularity of poker in German-speaking Europe, gambled on exploring a new market and, luckily enough, has now reported that its foray was a success.

The Social was held over the weekend of 7th May and brought a large number of players and PKR staffers together for a series of poker games, sports and more. PKR Social Dusseldorf is notable for being the first time that PKR has hosted one of its Socials outside of the United Kingdom, a European region that is known for enthusiastic attendance at poker-based events. The company’s decision to try their luck in Germany paid off, however, some 45 players and PKR.com team members coming to Dusseldorf to play paintball at the Kaarst Paintball Arena then return to the event’s hotel venue for poker. The attendees shared dinner then sat down to a freeroll (with prizes furnished by PKR) until late into the night.

With the success of Dusseldorf likely to bolster the company’s comfort in bringing its Socials to other European markets, PKR.com fans can look forward to more events to come throughout the continent. Speaking to press, PKR.com spokespeople remarked that the Dusseldorf weekend was “ . . . the perfect start for many European PKR Socials to come.”

Tags: Poker, PKR

The legal scandals that rocked the online poker world over the previous months continue to bring vast ramifications to both affected players and businesses. Most recently PokerStars, one of the industry’s most popular gaming networks, has begun to release details of its plans to reimburse members of its site impacted by its decision to halt American operations.

PokerStars’ most notable action to come is in refunding more than $100 million to United States-based players. After the scandal first hit the company, PokerStars abruptly pulled out of its American operations on 20th April, leaving a vast number of site members to wonder what would become of any money bankrolled at the site during this time. Although many of PokerStars’ non-American sites are still in operation, the company was forced to stop service after the United States FBI indicted founder Isai Scheinberg on money laundering, gambling and bank fraud charges. These legal actions lead to a domain name seizure and, ultimately, a corporate decision to shut down American servers. Now PokerStars is working to navigate the legal red tape that previously made player refunds possible, all in an effort to get its business back on track.

PokerStars isn’t the only American poker site reeling from legal troubles either. Full Tilt Poker has also been greatly affected and is working to address customers in a similar manner to PokerStars, recently announcing its ongoing work toward refunding player funds. While Full Tilt has been unable to offer money back to its customers yet, it has released statements detailing its work at doing so.

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Tags: PokerStars

Victor Chandler, a major online poker offering, is gearing up to celebrate a massive landmark in its history as a gaming business. This month Victor Chandler is expecting to deal its 2,222,222,222nd hand, a milestone that will see players at the site being able to take advantage of a fantastic promotion.

The 2,222,222,222nd hand is going to be accompanied by a series of contests and prize awards that will see Victor Chandler providing a total €22,222 in cash. Once hand number 2,222,000,000 is reached the website will kick off its special promotion. That hand will give the winner €1,000 in cash while every other participant in the hand will take away €100. When Victor Chandler deals its 2,222,111,111st hand that hand’s winner will receive €2,000 and participants will get €200. The promotion will continue until hand number 2,222,222,222 is reached. The winner of that landmark point will leave the table with an exceptional €10,000 while others get €1,000 each. Players can check Victor Chandler’s hand identifications to try to time their play along with the promotional awards.

The Victor Chandler celebration is a great reason to play often at the website throughout this entire month. Enormous prizes and the ability to be a part of a leading poker network’s history should provide ample incentive for packed rooms straight across Victor Chandler in the weeks to come.

Tags: vc poker

Titan Poker, never willing to fall behind in promotional offerings, has just released details for member bonuses that tie into the site’s May and June tournaments. Fans of the site will be able to take advantage of numerous benefits as part of its Super Sale, stretching their bankrolls while still being able to vie for a piece of the one million dollars in guaranteed cash prizes on offer throughout the next two months.

Titan’s Super Sale has been designed with boosting player activity firmly in mind. Discounts for the time period have been set at rates of between 50 to 80 percent off from normal buy-ins — making getting into competitions more affordable — while prize pools have stayed the same. Titan Poker will be kicking off the promotional period on Monday, 30th May with High Roller Monday (a $35,000 Guaranteed tournament with $190 buy-ins) before continuing forward with nine more tournaments that will run throughout June. Starting on Sunday, 29th May, Titan’s Sunday night freezeouts will also become $250,000 guaranteed prize tournaments (with buy-ins staying at the previous, $215 mark) with qualifiers (like Saturday Mega Satellites) also being offered alongside the low-entry, high-reward events.

Titan Poker’s Super Sale promotion begins on 30th May and carries on across the month of June. There are plenty of great opportunities for talented players with limited bankrolls to take home a life-changing prize during the offering, something that is sure to make the tournaments a hit among the Titan community.

Tags: Titan Poker

PKR.com, aside from a great selection of player bonuses and regular promotions, has always received accolades for the technology that goes into its online poker software. Now, bringing even more attention to this feature of the site, PKR has launched a highly original and unique new update to its offering.

The latest reveal from PKR.com is a full, virtual replica of The Fox Poker Club, a venue well known to London, England based poker players. The Fox Poker Club, situated on Shaftesbury Avenue, has been a venerable institution in the city for years and is a great choice for recreation in a digital poker setting. All 6,500 square feet of the Poker Club are represented in the PKR.com version of the club, the site including 20 tables, licensed poker chips and many other fantastic details painstakingly brought to every user’s screen. PKR’s Managing Director for the Fox Poker Club, Chris North, told press that the company is excited about its latest update and hopes that playing in the virtual rooms will encourage site members to drop by the real world venue.

Since its launch in August, 2006, PKR.com has been devoted to raising the bar on online poker software, achieving massive success and critical acclaim for their efforts. With the release of the Fox Poker Club, PKR doesn’t look to be slowing down in this department.

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Tags: PKR

PokerStars, now getting close to the launch of its massive Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) tournament series, has just announced a few new details regarding the upcoming event. Due to the legal indictments currently being handled by the website’s American operations, some substantial changes have been planned.

The biggest news surrounding PokerStars throughout the last several weeks has been its United States legal troubles, something that is having a bearing on the company’s upcoming SCOOP. While British and Irish players will still be able to compete in SCOOP, the loss of American competitors has forced PokerStars to drop the previous $45 million guaranteed prize pool to $25 million. In another move meant to shift the focus of the SCOOP to European players event times have also been moved back by three hours. Aside from these changes, SCOOP will still be running as previously planned. PokerStars’ SCOOP Leaderboard is going to be available, as detailed before, and will award top competitors with 2011 World Championship of Online Poker, 2010 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure or Grand Final of the European Poker Tour prize packages.

PokerStars’ 2011 Spring Championship of Online Poker is scheduled to take place beginning Sunday, 8th May at 3pm and ending on Sunday, 22nd May through a $10,300 high level buy-in no-limit hold ‘em main event (with $5 million prize pool). The tournament series’ $25 million will be awarded throughout a total of 38, three-set events throughout this month.

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Tags: PokerStars

PKR.com, always eager to maintain its positive reputation, isn’t going to lag behind its competitors as online poker networks are flooded with 2011 World Series of Poker (WSOP) prize packages. The site has recently announced that it will be offering members the chance to win its WSOP Experience package, a generous prize that awards entry to the series along with a number of fantastic extras.

The PKR.com WSOP Experience Package was also made available last year, launching just before the massively popular tournament series was set to begin. Now the popular promotion is returning again, giving talented winners free entry to the WSOP as well as a six-night stay at Las Vegas’ prestigious hotel, The Cosmopolitan. WSOP Experience satellites are scheduled to run every Wednesday evening until 15th June. Satellite winners receive entry to the WSOP’s Event 54 (for buy-ins between $2.30 to $215), $1000 in travel money, $500 for spending, a WSOP prize bag, access to VIP events and free accommodations at The Cosmopolitan.

The Cosmopolitan is one of the most famous and luxurious hotels on the Las Vegas strip and has already been embraced by some of the biggest celebrities visiting the city. WSOP Experience Package winners will be able to compete and kick back like real professionals, taking part in the poker season’s highlight games and also relaxing in suites that come with private balconies, flat-screen televisions and much more.

Visit PKR.com For the best online Poker experience now

Tags: PKR

Titan Poker is looking to make its service even more appealing to online poker players by edging ahead of the competition with extra deposit and prize rewards. A full suite of promotional features have been given a boost recently, a move that is meant to maintain Titan’s current player base while also grabbing new members.

The improved rewards on offer from Titan Poker have already gone live and provide fantastic incentives to players unsure of where to make their internet gaming home. First-time players will now be able to enjoy an initial deposit bonus that matches their money by 200% (up to a total of $1000) in order to give them a little extra cash to add to their bankroll. To spread the bonus to existing members, Titan Poker will also offer a reload bonus, beginning next month, on a deposit made during that period of time. Aside from deposit matching and reload bonuses, Titan has also announced that they will be increasing the cash prize pools for the majority of their regular tournaments and more.

Titan Poker’s improved rewards system does more than just give back to site members — it also demonstrates a level of financial stability that many of its competitors are unable to match during a difficult time for the online poker industry. As many of the United States’ biggest sites have shut down recently after a federal government crackdown — a move that affected many poker networks — Titan Poker is going out of its way to demonstrate its continued success.

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Ireland’s foremost online poker network, Paddy Power Poker, has announced that it will be giving the Irish Open 2011 extensive coverage through its website when the event kicks off at the end of April. The influential gaming platform has plans to stream almost all of the competition, complete with professional hosting and commentary.

Paddy Power Poker is one of the Irish Open’s top supporters and is going to help boost the coverage of the series by kicking off live, streaming video beginning at the Friday night premiere. Jessie May, working from a studio located in the centre of the Open’s Dublin venue, will be conducting interviews and acting as host while an entire team of reporters work to canvas the rest of the action occurring at the Burlington Hotel. Paddy Power has also detailed its inclusion of social media interactions being a part of the event, enabling both players and spectators to discuss each game as it’s actually being played out.

Along with great televised coverage, Paddy Power players will also be able to take advantage of several promotions — like daily iPad-based freerolls, reload bonuses and more — that are planned to be launched throughout the Irish Open’s schedule. This year’s Irish Open will be held at downtown Dublin’s Burlington Hotel, taking place from Friday, 22nd to Monday, 25th April.

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A brand new freeroll has just been launched at PokerStars, giving talented players an ideal avenue for bulking up their bankroll without dropping a penny for entry. Game of Your Life has already started and will go on for most of the spring with regular daily and weekly freerolls up for offer.

Game of Your Life is set to run throughout the majority of April and May and has promised to provide a total of one million dollars in cash prizes. Aside from fantastic monetary rewards, the promo will also award its final two winners with prize packages that send them to a sports event of their choice anywhere in the world (a trip valued at roughly $100,000). Talented competitors will be able to enter daily tournaments and freeroll finals every Sunday evening (with the first taking place on 17th April) and battle it out for the chance at their share of $100,000. The final promo events will be held on 22nd May and, in order to bring the entire series to an appropriate conclusion, winners are set to receive $10,000 along with further sports event packages.

Those players that are lucky enough to win a sports package will receive seats to their event of choice along with free accommodations, travel expenses and the ability to invite as many of their friends as they wish. PokerStars’ Game of Your Life is divided by region but the massive cash rewards and sports event trips are all up for grabs by skilled players from any of the nations supported by the website.

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Sportsbooker and online gaming network, BetFair, has just launched a number of promotional offers that aim to give members of its poker site a chance to win their entry to the fast-approaching World Series of Poker (WSOP) 2011. Talented, amateur players now have the opportunity they need to compete in the massive tournament series and try their hand at breaking into the professional ranks.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly promotion has already begun and will run through until near the end of May while offering up a staggering $150,000 in seats. BetFair Poker fans can compete in a $70,000 points race that will ultimately see the top three players winning seats to the poker season’s most prestigious tournament series — the WSOP. Competitors that place between the 150th and fourth position will also be able to claim a partial share in $40,000 of cash prizes. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly will be run alongside the 6-Shooter promo. 6-Shooter allows BetFair members to compete for seats in an early July tournament series that will ultimately award winners with $5,700 WSOP side event prize packages.

BetFair’s The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is available now and will run until Friday, 27th May 2011 while 6-Shooter preliminaries take place throughout April and May before final tournaments run from 1st to 6th July, 2011. The BetFair $2,500 Welcome Freeroll will also change during the WSOP 2011 lead-up, occurring less often but rewarding winners with WSOP side event packages and satellite tickets.

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PKR.com, one of the industry’s most popular online poker networks, has just announced that its live event, PKR Social, will be coming to Germany in the near future. Since its success in the United Kingdom in the past, PKR has decided to expand its get-togethers in order to cater to a wider market, branching out further into Europe this spring.

The upcoming PKR Social Dusseldorf is scheduled to take place over two full days, giving PKR.com players a great opportunity for meeting their online friends and competitors in a series of games and social events. PKR.com last held a PKR Social in London at the end of March, 2011 to great acclaim and has sought to expand the event by bringing it to German-speaking audiences. Germany was chosen as the next European location after the last London event saw German players traveling west to finish strong in the 26th March poker tournament held there. PKR has announced that PKR Social Dusseldorf will feature the usual line-up of community poker games along with a paintball competition and dinner party.

The poker network’s decision to plan events in the rest of Europe follows PKR’s recent launch of German language forums and a business-wide embrace of providing international support. PKR Social Dusseldorf will be held on the weekend of 7th and 8th May in Dusseldorf, Germany with accommodations being made available at an as-of-yet unspecified hotel as part of the entry package.

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Ireland’s favourite online poker service, Paddy Power Poker, is helping its fans to join in with the nation’s biggest live poker tournament — the Irish Open 2011. Paddy Power is setting up a great set of opportunities for talented members of its site to win their way into the Open, offering 30 seats to the upcoming tournament series.

The Irish Open 2011 Mega Satellite promotion will be open for entry beginning on the evening of 3rd April, 2011 and will offer up 30 prize packages (each valued at €4,600) aimed at giving amateur talent a shot at proving themselves against the pros. Paddy Power members can buy into the Mega Satellite for €320 and try their skills against other competitors for a chance at winning one of the available prizes. Winners will receive five nights of accommodations at Dublin’s Burlington Hotel, travel expenses and buy-in to the games. Paddy Power Poker is also giving each of its Mega Satellite victors another opportunity through its €100,000 Sole Survivor promotion. Sole Survivor will award a lavish cash prize to the qualifier that’s able to outlast all of his or her fellow competitors once they’ve arrived at the Irish Open itself.

Considering that regular buy-ins to the open stand at €3,500, the Mega Satellite represents a great avenue for dedicated players to bankroll their way to the upcoming tournament series. Paddy Power Poker is one of the key backers of the Irish Open 2011, set to take place from 22nd-25th April at downtown Dublin’s The Burlington Hotel.

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The immensely popular online poker network, PokerStars, is almost about to make internet history as it gears up to mark a landmark 60 billion hands dealt. A huge number of active members have made PokerStars the web’s biggest online gaming success and now it’s just about to reach an incredible achievement that will set a new record for its industry.

All of the poker site’s players will be able to share in the celebration as the 60 billionth hand looms on the horizon. PokerStars is giving back to the community that has made its accomplishment possible through the Road to 60 Billion promotion, set to begin once hand number 59.7 billion is hit. The Road to 60 Billion will award $50 in cash to each player that participates in every 100 millionth Milestone Hand after the 59.7 billion mark is reached. PokerStars will also be giving an additional $50 for every VIP point that members have earned over their previous 50 hands. Even better yet, the player that wins the cash hand will have their awarded prize money doubled.

PokerStars marked its 50 billionth hands dealt roughly half a year ago and is expected to go on to hit 60 billion in the near future. Fans of the online poker network that want to help their favourite site celebrate — and try their luck at winning some great cash prizes — should log on immediately for their chance to win at the Road to 60 Billion promo.

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Full Tilt Poker has just announced a surprising new addition to its line-up of upcoming events by unveiling the Matrix Tournaments. Promoted as a new take on classic sit-and-go games, the Matrix Tournaments are meant to give serious poker players a more personal version of the beloved play style.

The Matrix Tournaments are, at their core, sit-and-go tournaments. The primary innovation of the games, however, is that Matrix will see players dividing their attention across four simultaneous tables while in competition with eight, recurring opponents. The tournaments offer an interesting, “grudge match” take on the usual sit-and-go formula, making competitors continuously battle against one another until only one, lone entrant is left standing. The final three positions at the table will receive standard sit-and-go pay-outs and bonuses based on performance from a Matrix jackpot set at $90. Aside from the cash on hand, Full Tilt will also award a single “Survival Point” for each of the opponents they’re able to outlast and “Knockout Points” for competitors they’re able to eliminate from play. The player that is able to collect the highest number of points, triumphing over all four tables, will be dubbed the “Dominatrix” and receive prize money from the entire Matrix pool and individual table earnings.

Full Tilt Poker’s decision to create a brand new style of tournament play will definitely please poker fans with a taste for experimentation. The Matrix Tournament promises a fresh spin on a proven style of play and should give site members a great new venue for plying their skills against others.

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PKR.com, the 3D online poker service, is set to increase the popularity of its already impressive software with the announcement of a brand new update. The successful internet gaming site has streamlined its existing services while adding in essential new features in order to give its players an even better venue for their gaming.

The new PKR.com software update, version 2.04, adds a host of new tools and options that are designed to make the site the ideal choice for poker fans of all types. Star among the new additions is a drastic increase in PKR’s hands-per-hour rate. PKR’s website designers have worked hard to eliminate any unnecessary pauses in gameplay by removing redundant hand animations and allowing more of the site’s visuals to run simultaneously. PKR.com told press that this increased speed will be most noticeable in heads-up and short-handed tables and that site tournaments look to feature a faster and more action-packed pace. The update also sees PKR adding in some 16 new player voices and 8 new dealer voices for a sum total of more than 25,000 lines of fresh dialogue.

Not content to settle for all of the improvements listed above, the 2.04 update will also add in an entirely new blackjack game that is meant to fit in alongside PKR.com’s previous addition of roulette to their service. The greater diversity of game styles and update to PKR’s existing poker options is sure to garner further acclaim for the multiple award-winning gaming platform.

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One of the web’s most popular online gaming networks, Bodog.com, has just made world history by dealing out its billionth blackjack hand. The setting of a new record was duly noted by Bodog Casino, which has offered a fantastic pair of prize options to the lucky, billionth hand player.

To celebrate its achievement, Bodog.com has sought out the site member that played the historic hand and given the fortunate man or woman an opportunity to share in the festivities. It’s online casino site is now offering the player their choice of two massive awards, provided entirely by Bodog. The prizes consist of either a trip to the upcoming Monaco Grand Prix (along with trackside accommodations and access to a private boat) or an all-inclusive vacation to luxurious Turtle Island, Fiji. Mark Leighton, Casino Manager for Bodog, told press that his company was delighted to have reached this landmark and wanted to thank its loyal fan base for making it possible.

Bodog is now the first gaming site to have achieved such a high number of dealt blackjack hands. While other networks have reached one billion poker hands throughout their operations (including, of course, Bodog Poker), blackjack is a less popular game and hitting the same mark is a difficult task that demonstrates Bodog Casino’s massive success in its industry. The billionth blackjack hand was dealt on the evening of Friday, 4th March.

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The Party Poker bad beat jackpot, a progressive cash prize that has been increasing in value over time, has just been awarded to one lucky member of the popular online poker network. More than $479,000 was paid out to the winner last week, marking the end of the jackpot’s steady growth since its last cash-out.

The massive bad beat jackpot at Party Poker was awarded to a German player using ‘Praetorianer’ as his online handle. Praetorianer was playing for a $609 pot against seven other players at a standard, $2/$4 Party Poker table when his bad luck suddenly turned into surprisingly good fortune. After going all in with quad tens he was beaten out by opponent, ‘rol007’, who put down a royal flush to take home the pot and defeat Praetorianer’s fantastic hand. Although initially upset by his misfortune, Praetorianer was soon delighted to learn that his loss qualified him for entry into the bad beat jackpot where he was eventually awarded the $479,101 prize. Rol007 earned an additional $239,550 and the remaining members of the table were each provided with $34,221.

Party Poker’s bad beat jackpot is a regular feature on the site that gives players the opportunity to strike it rich off of their best stories of defeat. Praetorianer’s recent win is only one example of the fantastic prizes that have been awarded in the past and serves as a great example of just how quickly bad luck can turn to good through the help of the internet gaming site.

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Leading online poker network, PKR.com, is now offering buy-ins and registrations for the upcoming PKR Social London event. PKR’s celebration of the game is set to take place at the end of March at London’s Fox Poker Club and will feature plenty of action — both for spectators and players — as it gathers together an assembly of devoted poker fans.

Poker players have plenty of reasons for getting excited about PKR Social London. Registered players will enjoy access to two nights of tournaments and fun with fellow enthusiasts and stars from PKR’s team of professionals. Friday evening will feature Sit-and-Go Madness, a line-up of sit-and-go competitions and free drinks while Saturday hosts the $130 buy-in no-limit hold’em tournament. Players can opt to compete in PKR Social London’s most exciting feature by taking advantage of a newly opened direct buy-in to the gathering’s main event. Top prizes are available in amounts as high as $4,000 and additional cash rewards are on offer through Team PKR Pro player bounties and more.

The two-day affair promises great times for poker fans that wish to show off their skills and meet fellow competitors in an exciting setting. PKR Social London has been scheduled to take place on Friday and Saturday, 25th-26th March at the Fox Poker Club. Friday’s Sit-and-Go Madness begins in the evening while Saturday’s main event kicks off at 1pm.

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PokerStars intends to give its members a great opportunity to compete in the upcoming Greek Poker Cup (GPC) through a series of online qualifiers. The free qualifiers, now on offer at PokerStars, are open for registered players at the site and provide the chance to win seats into the GPC’s main event.

The Greek Poker Cup’s historic venue and PokerStars have recently become business partners and members of the popular poker platform will benefit, most noticeably, with the chance to compete at the GPC for free. PokerStars has announced that it penned a deal with Club Hotel Casino Loutraki that sees both parties organizing the Greek Poker Cup, the largest live tournament series ever to take place in Greece, for this spring.

The GPC is a no-limit Texas hold’em event that will give some 200 players the opportunity to duke it out for fantastic prizes and a greater level of exposure in the international poker community. The series will feature a €1,100 buy-in and is expected to draw the Greek poker world’s top players, giving them the leverage they need to become better known outside of the nation.

The Greek Poker Cup is scheduled to take place from 24th March through to 27th March at the Club Hotel Casino Loutraki and has been developed in partnership between the casino and PokerStars. Club Hotel Casino Loutraki, located just outside of Athens, is equipped with 14 tables and is one of the most influential (and scenic) gaming hubs in Greece, being the first Greek casino to offer Texas hold’em to its visitors.

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Online poker network, Bodog, has announced its plans to begin blocking data gathering services from accessing its network. The decision is meant to put more of the site’s focus toward casual poker players by stopping the kind of data logging that mainly serves to enhance the game of professional, money-driven players.

Bodog’s move to block data gatherers was decided upon as part of a plan to bring the fun back into internet games for recreational poker players. Data gatherers like PokerDB, Shark Scope and Poker Site Scout will, now, no longer be able to create records of player activity, meaning that professional “sharks” cannot easily predict the playing style or behaviour of their opponents. The blocking systems have been implemented alongside a new lobby system with a revised interface and a more user-friendly layout. Bodog next plans to halt operator information sites from accessing its members’ play history as part of a continued effort to ensure that new and recreational players feel safe in sitting down at online tables in their spare time.

Bodog’s effort to stamp out data gatherers is likely to help the site appeal to a broader demographic in the future. Bodog Europe’s Chief Executive Officer, Patrik Selin, told press that he believes data gatherer portals are a threat to the continued existence of online poker and stand only to stop prospective players from trying out internet gaming services.

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Poker fans on the fence about bringing their time and money to Mansion Poker will now have a few new opportunities to take the site out for a spin before fully committing themselves. Mansion Poker has revealed a number of new free-to-play options that help to give newcomers a chance to see the merits of their service without spending anything to do so.

In order to get started, players only need to sign up for an account and download the Mansion Poker client software. They’re then provided with full access to the new, free play games recently added to the site. These include a number of new freeroll tournaments and deposit bonuses like in its $25 Bankroll Builder Freeroll (which is made available twice daily) and a full first deposit matching bonus (up to $500). Mansion Poker also gives new members (that have made a cash deposit) two complementary entries into its New Depositors $2,500 Freeroll (which is scheduled twice monthly) and access to its weekly Depositors $250 Freeroll. All of these great freerolls are offered alongside Mansion Poker’s regular $200,000 Guaranteed Prize tournaments, satellites, progressive jackpot sit-and-go games and double point weekend Happy Hour games.

New free play options should help to boost Mansion Poker’s popularity as more poker fans are given an opportunity to enjoy a trial of its impressive Playtech software and player loyalty rewards (through the Club Mansion Loyalty Programme and Club Mansion Shop).

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PokerStars has enjoyed incredible success with its sponsorship and creation of live and online poker events and now, with its announcement of a brand new tour — the Eureka Poker Tour (EPT — it looks to continue this focus of its business.

The Eureka Poker Tour will begin in Prague, Czech Republic on 16 March. The EPT Prague stop will take place over four days of tournaments and feature a main prize pool that is estimated at roughly €250,000. Further stops of the EPT will include locations in countries including Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania and Slovenia, demonstrating a focus on Eastern Europe that should help to provide popularity in a region of the continent that lacks similar events. Buy-ins to the EPT will start from as low as €800 and fields for each of the tour’s events will be limited to roughly 500 players. PokerStars has confirmed that each leg will be comprised of several tournaments that include a full range of side events.

Online qualifiers (with buy-ins from as low as €2) have also been announced that will give PokerStars members a chance to gain access to any of the EPT’s stops. The Eureka Poker Tour begins at the Card Casino in Prague before moving on to Nova Gorica in Slovenia (11 May), Varna’s Golden Sands in Bulgaria (22 June), an unspecified venue in Croatia (7 September) and a leg in Romania at an as-of-yet unscheduled time and place.

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Doyle’s Room is one of the most successful online poker sites currently operating and its position as a member of the Cake Network is important to the latter company. Now Doyle’s Room has decided to move its business to one of Cake’s major rivals, the Yahatay Poker Network, giving a boost to Yahatay’s reputation.

The decision to move from Cake Network to Yatahay Poker Network was made by Doyle’s Room in order to offer the poker site’s members a better experience with deeper levels of customization. Doyle’s Room has already started to give its players new features that has been made possible by taking advantage of Yahatay’s exclusive software. Site members only need to launch their game client as usual and download an automatically prompted update to migrate their accounts to Yahatay Poker Network. They will then be able to experience Doyle’s Room’s new direction and begin enjoying a more robust software offering as they play.

Cake Network has been struck a serious blow as Doyle’s Room leaves the network for Yahatay but the move is sure to improve the playing experience for members of the site. Doyle Brunson, the legendary poker player and website namesake, spoke to press of his excitement to be the newest member of Yahatay and give members the ability to enjoy better promotions, customer service (like the return of chat and telephone support options) and software features.

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PKR.com has always been a popular choice for online poker players due to its bustling player activity, regular promotions and excellent software and now, for the second consecutive year, it has been awarded the title of Online Poker Operator of the Year. The 2011 Online Poker Operator of the Year award is responsible for providing acclaim for sites that have demonstrated excellence in their operations throughout the year, celebrating platforms that provide optimal customer experiences.

The International Gaming Awards (IGA), managed by Clever Duck Ltd, hosts an annual award ceremony that selects the best online gaming platforms. The award for Online Poker Operator of the Year was given to PKR.com, the renowned 3D poker site, for PKR’s second time. It received recognition from the IGA on the basis of its consistently “engaging and immersive poker experience”. The global economic downturn has made it difficult for many online poker operators and such recognition is sure to help keep PKR profitable.

The IGA’s also provided awards for some of 2011’s other most notable online gaming companies. Foxy Bingo picked up the title of Best Online Bingo Operator while awards were also provided in categories that include Best Casino Operator (divided by region), Customer Experience of the Year, Eco Friendly Company, Socially Responsible Casino Operator of the Year and more.

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PKR.com is giving its players yet another reason to anticipate the upcoming 2011 Asian Poker Tour (APT) through a set of recently revealed satellites. The PKR satellites are designed to give online hopefuls an opportunity to try their luck at winning free seats to the APT’s Philippines leg — and maybe even jumpstart a career in the competitive field of professional level poker.

PKR.com will be offering its 2011 APT satellites (beginning on Monday, 17th January) as a weekly site feature. Each Monday evening, PKR members will be able to log onto the site to compete in satellite tournaments that give the winners the opportunity to test their skills against some of the best known professionals in the world. The Philippines stop of the 2011 APT (that the satellite provides a seat for) will run for five days beginning on 30th March. Satellite buy-ins range from as inexpensive as $2.28 or as much as £215.

In previous years PKR.com gave one of its members the chance of a lifetime by awarding him with seats that would go on to establish him as a major force in the world of professional poker. Last year Adrien ‘Zlatan35’ Allain entered into a $6 satellite, managed to beat out all of his competitors and eventually take home a $390,000 prize and the honour of becoming a member of Team PKR Pro.

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For some time now, ‘Isildur1’ has been a mysterious presence in the professional poker world, winning events and defeating major competitors in heads-up games without ever revealing his real identity. After he signed to Team PokerStars Pro last month and played a recent, live game, however, PokerStars finally lifted the veil and published his true name along with news of its most recent Team acquisitions.

PokerStars, in an announcement of its newest signings, revealed that ‘Isildur1’ is actually a 20 year-old Swedish man named Viktor Blom. As Blom arrived to play at the recent PokerStars.com Caribbean Adventure $10,000 Buy-In Main Event he was immediately identified as the mysterious ‘Isildur1’. PokerStars later confirmed. Not to be overshadowed by Blom’s big reveal, PokerStars also announced that recent World Series of Poker (WSOP) main event winner, Jonathan Duhamel, has been added to the Team PokerStars Pro roster. 23 year-old Duhamel hails from Quebec, Canada and joined the Team alongside Blom after his incredible WSOP performance caught the site’s eye. Duhamel took home roughly $8.9 million after beating out America’s John Racener, becoming the first Canadian to win the event in WSOP history.

Both Jonathan Duhamel and Viktor Blom are serious forces to be reckoned with and their signing is sure to add to the success of Team PokerStars Pro as the season continues. It’s been a big week for PokerStars and the excitement looks to continue as Blom and Duhamel, two of the most promising young players in poker, begin to play games under the website’s sponsorship.

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Team PokerStars Pro is the home of some of the poker world’s finest players but now, with the departure of Greg ‘Fossilman’ Raymer, the site’s collection of professionals has lost one of its best.

Raymer, a 46 year-old American, recently announced his decision to leave PokerStars’ sponsorship on a poker forum, surprising many industry observers and fans. He was one of the founding members of the popular website’s team of pros and has achieved more than $6.8 million in live earnings throughout his career. One of his most recent victories saw Raymer finishing third out of 201 competitors at the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) and finishing the series with $774,927 in earnings. Trouble became apparent when Greg Raymer’s profile was found missing from the PokerStars team site. He later made a forum thread announcing his departure and went on to confirm his split through a Twitter post. Fellow poker pro, Kathy Liebert, has alleged that Raymer’s decision came about after PokerStars offered to renew his existing contract but with a lower rate (as part of an overall move to reduce spending on sponsorship deals for Team PokerStars Pro).

Greg Raymer is a former lawyer that became a successful poker player after he competed in the 2001 WSOP’s $1,500 Omaha Hi-Lo Split event. Three years later he attended the World Series of Poker again, taking down David Williams in the main event and bringing home approximately five million dollars.

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Everest Poker is looking to give poker players another shot at making their name and taking home some serious money through a brand new tournament series. The upcoming, land-based event has been named “The One” and will kick off this spring at one of Europe’s most beautiful and prestigious venues.

The One will take place in Monte Carlo over three days in late April, providing a number of fantastic tournaments for players to try their hand at. Everest Poker will feature a guaranteed one million euro prize pool and a €5,300 buy-in Main Event that is sure to draw the attention of dedicated competitors. Side events currently scheduled include a €25,000 No-Limit Hold’Em, €500 No-Limit Hold’Em Turbo and €1,000 Buy-In No-Limit Hold’em tournament. Everest has opened up direct buy-ins and has also launched online qualifiers (including a number of satellite freerolls) through its website. Plenty of talented amateurs will be able to attend The One through these qualifiers and Everest Poker is working hard to bring even more into the fold through prize packages (valued at €6,600) that will give lucky winners a trip to Monte Carlo along with accommodation, Main Event buy-in and airfare.

Everest Poker plans to instate The One as an annual event and hopes that it will go on to become an integral part of the yearly poker season. The tournament series takes place at Monte Carlo’s Salle Des Palmiers casino from 21st to 24th April, 2011.

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With the Irish Open coming up in only a few short months Paddy Power Poker is looking to give its members a few more chances to get in on the action. Ireland’s foremost online gaming network has just announced additional satellites that offer poker players a shot at winning a seat to the Open and a chance at making a name for themselves at the venerable series.

Paddy Power Poker has opened up a new set of games that give even the smallest bankroll holders a chance at competing at the 2011 Irish Open Main Event. Entry to the online satellites starts at only €2.20 and is available through the recently launched daily events (with re-buys set at €4.40). Each of these online tournaments guarantees spots into the upcoming Cheap Seats Grand Final, an event that will take place at the end of January and provide the lucky winners with Irish Open seats valued at €3,500. Paddy Power has also scheduled further Cheap Seats events to take place every Wednesday until 6 April.

Serious players have never had a better opportunity to take a shot at breaking into the competitive world of poker than with the full range of satellite games currently on offer at Paddy Power Poker. The Irish Open is scheduled for 22-25 April and will be held at Dublin’s Burlington Hotel.

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Team UltimateBet sponsors some of the poker world’s finest players to represent their brand and compete in both online and offline events. Now, with their decision to sign Prahlad Friedman, a professional competitor with serious talent, they’ve managed to add yet another asset to their world renowned team.

Friedman has long been considered an impossible player to sign, refusing to accept sponsorship from any of the major teams throughout his career to date. Now, however, the 32 year old pro has been locked down by UltimateBet and agreed to act as one of the popular website’s representatives. Prahlad Friedman is certainly no rookie and has been active in the professional poker scene for many years. His most notable accomplishments include a WPT Legends of Poker title, a WSOP bracelet and millions of dollars in collected winnings. Friedman is also well known for his aggressiveness at high-stakes tables and apparent fearlessness in playing even the most expensive hands.

Considering that Team UltimateBet recently lost two of their most recognizable (and successful) members — Annie Duke and Phil Hellmuth —their signing of Prahlad Friedman comes just in time. They plan to celebrate their good fortune by running several (currently unannounced) promotions that feature Friedman in some manner. UltimateBet members that want to try their luck against Friedman now can make use of the site’s UltimateBuddy feature to track him down while he’s active at the tables.

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Two of the online poker industry’s most popular sites, AbsolutePoker.com and UltimateBet.com, have just launched new and improved versions of their tournament leaderboard systems. The redesigned leaderboards have been overhauled in order to make payout and reward scales distribute more evenly over the entire year, giving all types of poker players more chances at taking home substantial prizes.

Both Absolute Poker and UltimateBet, sites belonging to the Cereus Network, have launched their new leaderboards in an effort to draw players in for an exciting 2011. Weekly, monthly and yearly competitions have been revamped so that payout structuring is more frequent and evenly distributed. The Multi-Table Tournament (MTT) Leaderboard competition found at both sites is the beneficiary of some of the most substantial changes. Monthly MTT leaders will now compete over a $15,000 prize pool each month with the top spot earning $5,000. The best overall player of the year at both Absolute Poker and UltimateBet will receive entry to the World Series of Poker and $10,000 in cash while the runner-up also earns a seat and $5,000. Aside from these differences, Absolute and UltimateBet have bulked up their leaderboard-based freeroll offerings and added additional cash prizes as well.

The new leaderboard system provides online poker players with a great excuse to sign up and log onto Absolute Poker or UltimateBet and should help to keep both sites viable in a crowded, highly competitive industry. The new tournament leaderboards are live now.

Tags: Absolute Poker, UltimateBet

PKR.com has just announced the latest winners in its 2010 Player of the Year awards, bringing recognition and noteriety to some of the most appreciated members of its bustling community. Nominations had been coming in to contest organizers throughout the entirety of 2010 and now, with the year at a close, the list of winners has been released.

The PKR.com 2010 Player of the Year awards are divided into a number of different categories that see players winning titles such as Cash Game Player of the Year, Tournament Player of the Year and Forumite of the Year. 2010’s Cash Game Player of the Year went to Vladimir ‘Beyne’ Geshkenbein on the strength of the player’s aggressive play style (particularly in high-stakes, heads-up games) and his record as the first PKR.com member of last year to cash out one million dollars. Tournament Player of the Year was awarded to Norway’s ‘Ovnis’, a well-regarded member of the PKR.com community, winner of 12 major titles and recipient of roughly $80,000 in 2010 earnings. Ireland’s ‘Pkr1princess’ was the winner of the Forumite of the Year title because of her “positive presence in the forums” and work toward orchestrating Leeds-based community meetings.

PKR.com is one of the industry’s most popular online poker networks and its decision to recognize some of the fans that help keep it successful is a welcome one. Site spokespeople issued statements that congratulated the winners and encouraged future entries for 2011 Player of the Year nominations.

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Pokerstars, one of the online poker industry’s leading gaming platforms, has just announced preliminary details that outline its forthcoming Latin American Poker Tour (LAPT). The fourth edition of its much-anticipated tournament series is also accompanied by the third season of the Australia and New Zealand Poker Tour (ANZPT).

The latest LAPT is set to kick-off on 16th February, 2011 with its first leg being scheduled to take place in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The series will continue on through Peru, Chile and Argentina before coming to a conclusion in Bogota on 7th August, marking the first time that the tournament has made a stop in Columbia’s capital city. Each of these legs features $1,000 buy-ins and will be joined by the LAPT Awards (which recognizes the best player performances).

Alongside the first look at the upcoming Latin American Poker Tour, PokerStars also accompanied its announcement by providing details for the third season of its Australia and New Zealand Poker Tour (ANZPT). ANZPT will get started from 2nd-6th February in Adelaide and then move through locations that include Perth, Canberra, Queenstown, Gold Coast, Melbourne and Sydney. The ANZPT will also feature a Player of the Year competition that rewards PokerStars players with the highest-points scored throughout the tournament period with sponsorship packages for games at the Asia Pacific Poker Tour and either the PokerStars.com Caribbean Adventure or Aussie Millions Main Event.

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Tags: PokerStars

This Christmas PKR.com is looking to share a gift with its members by hosting a special tournament series that celebrates the holidays with great reward opportunities and exciting competition. The Christmas Cracker tournament series, a hit during previous holiday seasons, is returning to PKR.com with a large prize pool.

Beginning on 23rd December, Christmas Cracker will be lighting up the PKR.com tournament rooms. The series will be made up of 13 events with an estimated total prize pool of $238,000 and a few extra bonus features. Coming alongside the tournament series is PKR’s Santa’s Grotto freeroll, an event that also begins on the 23rd and features impressive, consumer technology giveaways to winners. Entry for Christmas Cracker events requires PKR.com members to buy-in directly whereas Santa’s Grotto will see players receiving 500 chips in their account for each Christmas Cracker tournament they participate in. The two promotional events are linked in this way, encouraging site members to get busy at the tables if they want to rack up courtesy chips for later use.

PKR’s Christmas Cracker tournament series is bound to brighten up the holidays for poker players with the skill to triumph against other competitors. Combined with Santa’s Grotto, a freeroll with an assortment of generous prizes, holiday poker aficionados owe it to themselves to make the time to stop by PKR.com during its two weeks of special events.

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With winter beginning in earnest Titan Poker has decided to bring a little warmth into the season with two months of exciting promotional games. All-In Winter, Titan’s latest special offering, is already setting players up with a wide range of competitions and a prize pool that totals out at an impressive $220,000.

Titan Poker has a little something for everyone with its All-In Winter. The promotion covers a wide variety of play preferences, including sit-and-go and multi-table tournaments, cash games and more. All throughout December and January, Titan members are able to compete for a weekly prize pot of $10,000 through the All-In Winter Raked Hands Races. High and low-stake competitors divide the money between them based on their performance. Weekly sit-and-go tournaments will also be available through the All-In Winter Sit-and-Go Races alongside multi-table fare with the All-In Winter MT3 Poker Promotion. Cash payouts will be awarded via leaderboard tracking, giving even talented players with smaller bankrolls the opportunity to win big at the various events.

Aside from the main fare of Titan’s All-in Winter, a pair of freeroll competitions have also been scheduled for the coming months. Two freerolls, both with a $10,000 prize pool, will be held for players with at least 100 Titan Poker Points (earned throughout December for entry in January’s freeroll and earned in January for February’s).

Tags: poker competition, Titan Poker

Players want to know that their bankroll is secure and most online gambling networks work hard to let their members play with confidence in their protection. Absolute Poker and UB.com are two of the latest sites to increase their security by adding extra layers of privacy maintenance and user authentication measures to their platforms.

Absolute Poker and UB.com are now giving their users access to Security Token, an electronic device that can be activated and linked to an account for greater security. The Security Token makes it necessary for players to login with their password and also have the device itself on hand before being able to access their accounts. Even if a password is compromised, the Token is able to safeguard funds while a solution is enacted. With this extra layer of security in place, private information and bankrolls are as safe as currently possible: the Security Token utilizes the same technology that banks and similar institutions rely on.

The Security Token is an essential item for serious poker players with large amounts of cash kept in their online bankrolls and Absolute Poker and UB.com’s decisions to implement this protection measure is a great way to ease the minds of their high rollers. Interested online gamers can purchase the Security Token through both of these site’s reward stores and activate them in conjunction with the newly available SecureID PIN system.

Tags: Security, UltimateBet

PokerStars, being one of the world’s most successful online poker networks, has had to deal with its share of cheaters over the years. Now, with its recent move to restrict the activity of Chinese players at its tables, it has taken some of its most drastic steps to date to protect its players — and itself.

The new restriction at PokerStars has put a limit on tables, allowing only one player from China to compete at any single ring game table. This step, a fairly drastic one that is sure to draw criticism, was come to by PokerStars due to their fear of the site being the victim of collusion — a term that refers to the creation of secret fraudulent conspiracies. PokerStars is not acting entirely without warrant; in late August of this year illegal activity was being conducted at double or nothing games by several China-based players and, in response to this, PokerStars paid out $2.1 million in damages to affected players. This discovery (and financial hit) lead to PokerStars placing a similar player restriction on sit and go tournaments.

PokerStars has been steadfast about its decision to restrict the number of Chinese players at tables thus far but public criticism could sway the new policy in time. Spokespeople from PokerStars have stated that the new policy is the most effective method for maintaining the site’s integrity.
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Tags: poker, PokerStars

PokerStars’ sixth World Cup of Poker (WCOP) was a massive success, bringing in poker competitors from across the globe and drumming up plenty of publicity for the organizing company. Now PokerStars has enjoyed yet another highly profitable event with the conclusion of last weekend’s seventh annual WCOP preliminaries.

The latest edition of the WCOP saw participation from players in 56 different nations and tough competition fuelled by a $290,000 cash prize pool. Each region was given the opportunity to advance in teams of four to the top spots in the tournament series. The best seven teams played a divisional qualifying round then were chosen for advancement to an upcoming live finale. Along with being financially rewarded for their success, these lucky seven teams were invited to the Atlantis Resort and Casino in the Bahamas with PokerStars handling their expenses and accommodation costs. This last step will establish the winner of the 2010 WCOP, providing them with $100,000 and, of course, serious bragging rights.

With PokerStars’ World Cup of Poker continuing to gain steam with each and every instalment, we can look forward to yet another grand tournament next year. For now, the live finale events in the Bahamas is exciting enough; the winners of the 9th to 16th January’s World Cup of Poker VII Main Event will take home $100,000, glory for their nation and the Champion title.

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Tags: poker, PokerStars

Online poker fans have another reason to sign up at Full Tilt Poker now that the popular website has added even more modes of play to its software. The platform’s most recent update has improved more than just functionality and aesthetics at Full Tilt — it has also added new real-money play options that bring the draw poker format to website fans.

Full Tilt’s new freeplay draw poker options gives site members a great new set of ways to play at their favourite network. 2-7 Triple Draw (both fixed limit and no limit) has been developed for Full Tilt Poker along with Five Card Draw (in pot, fixed and no limit options), fixed-limit A5 Triple Draw, fixed limit 2-7 Single Draw and fixed limit Badugi styles. Each of these new play formats will feature the same high level of quality that Full Tilt Poker has become known for and some of the styles will be included in upcoming mixed game series and tournaments. Draw fans can look forward to seeing 2-7 Triple Draw, 2-7 Single Draw and Badugi in new seven game mixes and traditionalists can avoid playing draw by sticking to Full Tilt’s original mixed options.

This software update brings a major set of new formats to Full Tilt Poker, providing a great reason for players to try their hand at the varied skill set that draw requires.

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Tags: poker, Full Tilt Poker

PokerStars’ Regional Championships of Online Poker (RCOOP) continues to heat up around the world with the announcement of the international tournament series’ upcoming UK and Ireland leg. Details of the British and Irish RCOOP edition have been released from PokerStars and they’re sure to impress prospective players.

The upcoming RCOOP stop has been scheduled for early December and will come with a minimum $512,500 guaranteed prize pool. PokerStars has set up a total of eleven events that begin on 5th December via a $55 buy-in no-limit re-buy six max tournament (with a $40,000 guaranteed prize pool). The kick-off day will also feature a $215 buy-in pot-limit Omaha hi-lo event (with a $10,000 guaranteed prize pool) and continue on with a 6th December no-limit double chance set (with a $25,000 prize pool). PokerStars’ RCOOP stays in Britain and Ireland through until 12th December’s main events: a massive, $320 buy-in pot-limit Omaha tournament ($25,000 guaranteed) and $520 buy-in no-limit event ($150,000). Every one of the days, from kick-off to finale, also comes packed with great tournament games and enormous prize pools.

As with all other legs of the event, the UK and Ireland RCOOP will be open only to legal residents of the host nations. British and Irish players should be sure to enter now for a chance at taking home some of the prize money on offer from PokerStars’ Regional Championships of Online Poker.

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Tags: poker, PokerStars

Massively popular online poker network, Full Tilt Poker, is launching a comprehensive crackdown on users that make use of automated bots at site tables. The move looks to keep Full Tilt users safe from cheating and ensure that all members can enjoy wagered online poker games without worrying about unfair play practices.

Full Tilt sent a mass email message to a large number of its registered players recently. Attached was an announcement that website users found running bot programs in the past and future would have (and had) their accounts permanently closed. Bots are software programs that are capable of handling automated tasks without user input. The kind of bots that sometimes show up on online poker servers are capable of running complex algorithms at fast speeds — an application that allows some users to cheat other players out of their stakes. Full Tilt Poker (and many other online poker sites) maintain anti-bot rules that puts their users in violation of website guidelines.

Full Tilt Poker also refunded funds to players that were able to prove that they had been victimized by cheating. Those that had lost money against bots had their accounts credited and any player that had witnessed unfair play were urged to contact Full Tilt’s security team. Although it’s difficult for major online poker platforms to completely safeguard their members from cheaters, Full Tilt Poker has made a positive step with their recent actions.

Tags: poker, Full Tilt Poker

Internet privacy is an important issue that continues to gain interest as more and more web-users become aware of the dangers associated with sharing their information online. Ladbrokes Poker seeks to increase security and encourage innovative play-styles across its gaming network by giving site members new ways to protect themselves at the tables.

Ladbrokes Poker has announced a new software upgrade that will allow players to compete in matches anonymously, hiding their avatars and aliases if they choose to. The technology behind the upgrade is still patent-pending but, once launched, will become the online poker community’s first anonymity option. As part of the system’s implementation, Ladbrokes will be adding a selection of “anonymous tables” wherein all players will be able to compete without seeing any of their opponent’s notes, tags or other personal information. Playing as an anonymous member will give competitors the ability to try out new tactics and strategies without tarnishing their reputations or providing their opponents with information about their style. Even aside from its security benefits, Ladbrokes Poker’s update should help to keep play dramatic and unpredictable for serious and novice members alike.

The innovative software is a great step forward that should help to keep security-cautious online poker players feeling safe as they enjoy the game. Beyond its benefits to site members, Ladbrokes Poker new feature is also a precedent-setting tool that could become a regular component of all major online poker platforms if it is well received.

Tags: ladbrokes, Ladbrokes Poker

Full Tilt Poker has found its newest brand ambassador in American tennis professional, James Blake. As the online poker company’s latest Friend of Full Tilt signing, Blake will act as sponsor to the site and help drive up business through participation in appearances, wearing branded apparel and more.

Yonkers, New York’s Blake has enjoyed a successful career in tennis that has seen him lead the US Davis Cup since 2001, only two years after his start as a professional athlete in 1999. During this time, Blake has maintained a record that shows 20 wins and only nine losses. He’s perhaps best known for his part in the US’s landmark competition against Russia in 2007 wherein he helped in taking the tournament four games to one by winning both of his matches. Only 32 years old, Blake has struggled to maintain his career as a tennis pro since a viral infection affected him with blurred vision and partial paralysis. Despite his ailments, he most recently appeared at this year’s US Open and made it to the third round of play.

Aside from tennis, Blake has also founded the Thomas Blake Senior Memorial Cancer Research Fund in memory of his father. He hopes to raise one million dollars for the Fund through merchandising efforts and his new position as a Friend of Full Tilt Poker will contribute.

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Inspired by the success of its recent World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP), PokerStars is at it again with another massive event that looks to get the whole world playing online. The Regional Championships of Online Poker has just been announced by PokerStars and it features a grand scope that is sure to drum up excitement for the international online poker community.

PokerStars’ Regional Championships of Online Poker (RCOOP) will consist of 13 tournaments that will play out across the globe (with full multi-lingual chat room support) and an enormous guaranteed prize pool of seven million dollars total. Each of the tournaments will consist of eleven events that are open to players within set international regions. The first leg of the RCOOP will kick off on 31st October and be available to residents of nations such as Georgia, Armenia, Ukraine, Russia, Belarus and more. Events continue in Nordic and Baltic countries on 4th November and will move to Germany, Spain, the UK and North America throughout the rest of the year.

Buy-ins will be set to accommodate a wide variety of bankrolls and PokerStars has also announced that a satellite series will accompany the tournament series. With such a large cash guarantee and comprehensive entry guidelines the RCOOP looks to be a great way to bring lucrative online poker play to audiences that are often overlooked in virtual series.

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Tags: poker, PokerStars

Team PKR Pro has always been renowned as one of the finest collections of professional players in the game and now, with their most recent signing, their positive reputation is set to continue. London, England’s Scott Shelley has become the newest member of PKR.com’s group of brand representatives and looks to bring substantial talent and future potential to the line-up.

Shelley, a 24 year old player and previous employee of PKR.com, has garnered attention recently for his outstanding performance at live tournaments like the World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE). Most recently, Shelley outlasted 581 competitors at the WSOPE’s £1,075 buy-in no-limit hold’em event, cashing £133,857, earning a WSOPE bracelet and, perhaps most importantly, catching the attention of Team PKR Pro. Now he has been promoted from his old position as PKR.com customer service representative to that of a full-time poker professional. A regular competitor in both online and live games, Shelley has established an impressive reputation, even taking down notable pros like Phil Ivey, JP Kelly and Phil Hellmuth thus far in his career.

Shelley is set to make his debut as a sponsored player at PKR.com’s upcoming London Calling festival and will continue his sponsorship with Team PKR Pro at November’s PKR Live V. PKR.com site members will be able to share in the celebrations as the online poker platform prepares to launch a week of special promotional events tied in with Shelley’s acquisition.

Tags: poker, PKR

One of the fastest growing stars in the professional poker world, Liv Boeree, is now the newest member of Team PokerStars Pro. PokerStars has just announced the addition of Boeree to their roster of professional players, taking her on as a team member fresh off her latest victory at the European Poker Tour’s San Remo leg.

Throughout the last several years Liv “The Iron Maiden” Boeree has become one of the most recognizable faces in the poker world. A 26 year old former model and actress, Boeree was previously working under the sponsorship of Ultimate Bet and has enjoyed the bulk of her success during her affiliation with the online casino and poker network. Now Boeree belongs to Team PokerStars Pro and will make her first appearance as a member of the team at the upcoming £5,000 buy-in European Poker Tour London stop. Boeree is a graduate of the University of Manchester, a heavy metal guitarist and a noted player with over €2.3 million in career earnings and cashes over 26 major tournaments.

PokerStars has likely made a great decision by signing Liv Boeree as one of its players and brand representatives. Last April, Boeree emerged triumphant at the European Poker Tour’s San Remo tournament, cashing €1.25 million and furthering her reputation as one of the most watched young female players in the game.

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High stakes Full Tilt Poker players are in for a real treat as the popular online gaming platform has now introduced a new range of VIP features aimed at amply rewarding points collectors with cash bonuses and more. The recently launched program is designed with the site’s higher end fan base in mind and should work as a draw for those poker players with the bankroll and skill to support more expensive tables.

Full Tilt Poker’s new feature, The Black Card, has just gone live and gives serious competitors a number of great reasons to play their very best at every game. The Black Card is aimed at a distinct demographic — those that wager higher amounts frequently — and allows these competitors to enjoy special privileges through a private store that exchanges points for cash, luxury items and branded merchandise. Full Tilt Poker requires The Black Card participants to maintain a minimum 500 points average throughout a hundred day rolling period. In order to stay enrolled in the program site members must ensure that their points balance stays at the given average and can easily monitor this through a new personal page and The Black Card status widget now found in the Full Tilt lobby.

The majority of major online poker networks seek to appeal to all types of players and Full Tilt’s decision to provide incentive for high rollers is a great step toward making their platform an attractive choice for serious competitors.

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PokerStars , one of the internet’s most successful poker networks, recently dealt its 50,000,000,000th hand and celebrated the occasion by rewarding a number of players with cash prizes. One lucky member, the winner of the 50 billionth hand, stands out from the rest, taking home over $56,000 in cash and a place in PokerStars history.

The celebrations at PokerStars gave online poker players a great incentive to log onto the popular website and vie for their chance at hitting the jackpot. As part of its 50 billionth hand promotion, PokerStars had detailed plans to provide the winner of the benchmark turn with an enormous cash prize. The lucky winner, ‘tbvle’, played at a micro-stakes no-limit hold’em table against five competitors and ultimately won with pocket queens. tbvle was only playing in a $0.02/$0.05 hand but ended up ending the game with a $50,500 reward last Wednesday, 22nd September. Aside from the preliminary prize, tbvle was also awarded with an additional $5,640 (an amount based on the points he had earned throughout his previous 50 hands) to make for a total of more than $56,186.

PokerStars spread the love to the rest of the site members at tbvle’s table as well, providing $500 in cash and an extra $500/points gained in their last 50 hands to each. All winners were also gifted free entry to PokerStars’ upcoming World Championship of Online Poker (a $5,200 value).

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Online poker site UltimateBet recently wrapped up the fifth edition of its UltimateBet Online Championship (UBOC), the second UBOC of 2010, and is now providing details of just how successful its most recent series was. With millions of dollars in prizes awarded and an enormous swell in site traffic noted, UBOC5 is being regarded by the poker network as a great payoff to its risky decision to host two series in a single year.

UBOC5 saw UltimateBet members playing for generous cash prizes across twelve days of fierce competition. UltimateBet has revealed that, throughout the series, over four million dollars in prize money was awarded to event winners and that the series saw some 8,712 members entered into the series. UBOC5 consisted of 20 guaranteed events in which 911 participants took home a portion of the $3,912,260.00 prize pool. 416 other entrants cashed on the $100,000 of extra, promotional prize money available through single event satellites and pro bounties.

The UltimateBet Online Championship 5 kicked off on 18th August and finished eleven days later with a climatic, one million dollar prize pool main event ($1,050 buy-in no-limit hold ‘em) hosted by celebrity pro, Phil Hellmuth. UltimateBet told press that it was delighted to see such enthusiasm displayed for the trial run of what could very well become a bi-annual series.

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With winter fast approaching there’s never been a better time to escape to the Caribbean. Now, with the announcement of their latest promotion, Doyle’s Room is looking to help send a few lucky players to the Dominican Republic for this November’s $100,000 Punta Cana Poker Classic.

Weekly tournaments have already opened for Doyle’s Room players to enter. Each of these Texas hold ‘em tournaments allows competitors to vie for one of the many Punta Cana Poker Classic prize packages recently made available. Each Sunday Doyle’s Room has $162 buy-in tournaments (beginning at 4pm EST) that award winners with the aforementioned prize. The Punta Cana entry package is valued at $3,100 and includes a $1,100 buy-in, $1,000 for travel expenses and four nights of accommodations at the all-inclusive Moon Palace Casino, Golf and Spa Resort. Daily satellites that provide winners with access to the weekly Punta Cana tournaments have also begun and feature $11 buy-ins.

Competition is sure to be tough as Doyle’s Room members battle it out for access to a fantastic vacation and poker event but, if you’re unable to win a spot for this year don’t despair: Doyle Brunson told press that this year’s tournament promotion may be a precursor to Doyle’s Room taking on the role of official sponsor to future Punta Cana Poker Classic events. The 2010 Punta Cana Poker Classic takes place from 10th to 14th November and will see Brunson and DoylesRoom.com pro players in attendance.

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PokerStars ’ 2010 World Championships of Online Poker (WCOOP) is looking even more lucrative for skilled competitors as the online poker site recently announced a fantastic main event guarantee that will see the series champion take home at least two million dollars. Already a great tournament series with plenty of excitement, this year’s WCOOP looks to be an even bigger and better event now that the main event will encourage fierce and intense play with one of the largest online poker tournament payouts ever offered.

Since it kicked off last week the WCOOP has been thrilling spectators and participants alike with a line of tournaments that feature world-class players and great prizes. The series’ debut tournament began with a $215 buy-in no-limit hold ‘em six-maximum battle and is currently continuing on with a total prize pool guaranteed at over $50 million. The 2010 WCOOP will spread the $50M minimum across over 62 events. PokerStars has released details of buy-ins that range from $215 to $25,500 (for 18th-19th September’s no-limit hold ‘em high-roller two-day tournament).  
   
Thus far, eight competitors have already won over eleven million dollars with the bulk of the prize money yet to be awarded. The PokerStars 2010 WCOOP main event is scheduled for 26th September. It will consist of a two-day $5,200 buy-in no-limit hold ‘em tournament with a $2M guarantee that should easily overtake the already impressive $1,715,200 sum won by (last year’s WCOOP main event champ) Yevgeniy Timoshenko.

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PKR.Com and London’s The Fox Poker Club have teamed up to bring poker fans a fantastic month of live dealer tournaments with buy-in amounts appropriate for any level of player. Throughout October and early November the two poker giants will host London Calling, a festival dedicated to the beloved game, sharing fantastic prizes and the chance to compete for bragging rights at a massive series of events.

Beginning on 11th October and running for 28 days, London Calling will give poker players the opportunity to enjoy a total of 57 tournaments. The games are staked to suit any bankroll with buy-ins set at amounts as low as £20 and as high as £100. Various playing styles will also be represented, London Calling featuring no-limit hold ‘em, heads-up, pot-limit Omaha, pot-limit Omaha eight games and a two-day HORSE series. The festival will wrap up on 7th November with a £300 buy-in main event and a PKR.Com leaderboard will see online participants being able to covert finishing position points into stacks that can be used at a future PKR freeroll tourney.  

The Fox Poker Club and PKR.Com told press that London Calling was designed in order to give all levels of players the ability to compete in a high quality tournament without the intimidating stakes of professional series. PKR.Com is celebrating more than four years of success in the online poker industry and has recently revealed that it holds 3.75 million registered members and has provided almost three million dollars in freeroll tournaments.

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William Hill poker players are in for an improved experience at their site of choice as the online poker platform has announced an update that seeks to boost performance and provide fans with great new features. The site revision will see the addition of fantastic tools and software functions that are designed with ease of use and flexibility in mind.

William Hill Poker and Playtech have been working hard to make their site an even bigger hit with existing members and prospective registrants by creating new features and redesigns that make play simpler than ever before. Changes include a complete poker table redesign that allows for cascading multiple tables, multi-monitor support and table resizing. Player status updates have also been revamped(with improved graphics and flashing avatars) in order to make it easier to identify an active hand or remaining time. Lastly, William Hill has also improved chat functionality by adding a side toolbar that can list statistics, hand histories, settings, commentary and notes. All of these features are customizable and allow members to tailor the platform to their specific needs.  
   
Each of the new features should help to further William Hill Poker’s position as one of the online poker industry’s most successful businesses. The redesign goes a long way toward making William Hill’s software amoung the most flexible currently available and should hold appeal for both serious and casual online poker players.  

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Titan Poker’s newest bounty tournament is giving the site’s fans a chance to get closer than ever to Team Titan’s professionals. Team Titan Bounty has been revised and improved, turning a favourite site feature into a reoccurring event that gives Titan Poker members the chance to win big while testing their skills against some of the poker world’s most talented professionals.

The new Team Titan Bounty tournaments have already begun and are set to take place every week. Buy-ins are set at six dollars and, if a competitor is able to take down one of the Team Titan Pro players, they’ll be awarded with $100. Each week the top Bounty players will join a list that provides access to a heads-up qualifier (with the next qualifier scheduled for 1st November) that sees Titan Poker champions battling for the chance to win additional (but still unspecified) prizes.

A number of Team Titan Pro players have already confirmed their participation in the event. Thus far Team Titan has announced the inclusion of seven pros: Sam Trickett, Jonas Klausen, Yann Brosolo, Joel Benzinou, Sorel Mizzi, Marvin Rettenmaie and Florian Desgouettes. Titan Poker members that have watched these pros triumph at the 2010 World Series of Poker are sure to be excited about a chance to test themselves against them in upcoming Team Titan Bounty tournaments.

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Most of us are trying to keep winter out of our minds as we enjoy the last days of summer but not Party Poker. The company’s upcoming promotion, The Snowball, anticipates the arrival of colder weather as it kicks off early September, demonstrating that there may be more reason to look forward to the end of the summer than we think.

Online poker players will enjoy the chance to compete for hundreds of thousands of dollars throughout participant prizes ($5,000) and freeroll tournaments ($100,000) both up for grabs during September at Party Poker. Players are able to win 15 prizes and the entry terms set for The Snowball couldn’t be easier to satisfy. Party Poker members need only play at real money tables from 1st to 30th September to gain points that allow them to move up through levels. The greater a player’s level, the larger the amount of prizes they are eligible for. Points accumulate from level to level, allowing poker fans to snowball their chance at exceptional cash prizes.

Party Poker will be hosting The Snowball throughout the entire month of September with finals ($5,000-$50,000 freerolls) taking place at 2.30PM EST from 4th October through until 8th October. The promotion was designed for players of all skill levels and points can be earned by playing at any real money table, regardless of entry stakes.

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Popular online gambling network, PKR.com, launched back in August of 2006 and, after four years of success in its industry, has decided to revamp its image with a software overhaul that will revitalize and improve its interface. The update looks to give site members an easier platform for their gaming by streamlining current features and adding others.

To celebrate its fourth anniversary, PKR.com has announced its Version 2.0 update, a facelift that seeks to improve both the aesthetics and functionality of its website. PKR.com’s Version 2.0 will include a brand new user interface that has been designed in accordance with collected user feedback. Players can expect to find a fresh-looking lobby that now comes equipped with helpful features like the “game finder wizard” — technology that makes it simple for users to locate their desired tournaments, titles and more. Other changes, included in the Version 2.0 update, include a new multi-tabling system that allows players to simultaneously run up to nine different tables at one time.

Leon Walters, PKR.com’s Chief Operating Officer, told press that Version 2.0 has been in the works for almost an entire year and that the company plans to launch the update as only the first step in an ongoing website improvement plan. PKR.com also revealed that it’s member roster now clocks in at an impressive 3.75 million registered players and that, since it’s 2006 launch, the site has provided nearly $3 million in freerolls.

Tags: PKR

Doyle’s Room online poker players are being given the opportunity to take their game to the next level as the website launches a special promotion set on sending talented players to the Todd Brunson Montana Challenge. The Challenge, set to take place at the end of this month, is one of the biggest events of the season and Doyle’s Room is doing its best to help ensure that as many of its site’s members as possible are able to attend.

Seats at the Todd Brunson Montana Challenge will be awarded to Doyle’s Room members through three different methods. The first, direct method allows players to buy into the promo’s 22nd August grand final event (for $226.60). One of every ten players at the tournament will be given a prize package that includes a seat at the Montana Challenge. Doyle’s Room will also be hosting a weekly satellite (with a $22.70 buy-in) that will provide one of every ten players with a spot in the grand final. Finally, site members can also take part in daily satellites (beginning at 4.00pm EST at a buy-in of $2.22). The player that progresses to the end of the satellites will also receive entry to the Montana Challenge.

Doyle’s Room will sponsor the Todd Brunson Montana Challenge as it gears up to take place this 31st August through to 6th September, 2010 at Big Fork, Montana. The $226.60 buy-in grand final kicks off at 3.00pm EST on 22nd August.

Tags: Doyles Room

PokerStars has partnered with other leading industry corporations to bring Mexico its first ever nation-wide poker tournament. Along with equipment manufacturer, PokerTek Incorporated and Spanish gaming company, Cirsa Gaming Corporation SA, PokerStars has organized a fantastic event that will bring plenty of excitement to the nation when the tournament launches late this summer.

The Life Poker Championship is set to take place at the end of the month at Cirsa’s CasinoLife Del Valle in Mexico City and it will feature a celebrity charity event (hosted by Mexican TV star, Monika Sanchez) and a number of great cash tables and enormous prizes. The tournament will make use of ten PokerPro tables (donated by PokerTek), feature software from PokerTek and will be lead up to by a series of PokerStars.net qualifier tournaments. PokerStars currently projects that the tournament will draw over 300 players and provide exceptional exposure for PokerTek, PokerStars and Cirsa. It is planned for live television broadcast throughout Mexico and will see Mexican Team PokerStars Pro player, Angel Guillen making a presence at the tables and around the casino.

Aside from great poker play, the aforementioned celebrity charity event at Life Poker also aims to raise $8,000 for the Mayan Sanchez Foundation, a group that provides assistance for special needs children. PokerStars, Cirsa and PokerTek will host the Life Poker Championship from Mexico City from 18 August to 22 August, 2010.

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Tags: poker, PokerStars

Female poker players make up a large presence in the sport— taking titles at some of the industry’s biggest events and acting as important sponsors for various  websites, teams and competitions. With the launch of PokerStars Women’s Poker League female players are being given another great venue for enjoying competition against their colleagues in the game.

The PokerStars Women’s Poker League gives amateur and professional female players the ability to enter into ladies-only competitions that provide great rewards. The renowned poker website has already begun to announce some of the prizes that will be available through the Women’s Poker League schedule, detailing the launch of new daily tournaments and a lucrative points system. PokerStars will feature twice-daily tournaments (at 1.10pm and 9.10pm) with low buy-ins (starting at $5.50) and regular cash and point prize pools. All League entrants receive one point just for playing, an additional five points for cashing and upwards of 20 points for reaching the final table. The woman with the most points at the end of each month will receive either $300 or €200 and the top 50 players will also receive an unspecified monetary reward.

PokerStars has made the Women’s Poker League available to both North American and European players by breaking the new league into US dollar and Euro divisions. The PokerStars Women’s Poker League also gives members access to a yearly competition and satellite tournaments that grant entry to PokerStars numerous live events.

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Tags: poker, PokerStars

Poker fans can look forward to the last week of August when the 2010 Asian Poker Tour (APT) returns to Manila, Phillipines for an upcoming leg of the series. The event will see competitors duking it out throughout seven days from within the Resorts World Manila building for the title of 2010 APT champion and, of course, a generous cash prize furnished by sponsors such as PartyPoker and PKR.

The Manila stop of this year’s APT will include a Main Event buy-in set at approximately $2,700 as well as eight side events that include a pot-limit Omaha event, a high roller tournament and the Greed competition, an APT original. For those that aren’t content just to watch the exciting competition play out remotely, leading online poker sites (such as PartyPoker, PKR and the iPoker Network) are set to offer qualifiers and satellite games that give members the chance to travel to the event and try their hand against the pros.

The previous APT Main Event was won by the Phillipines’ own Neil Arce, awarding the player $185,000 and marking him as the first Filipino to win an international poker tournament in his native country.  Arce has already confirmed that he will be defending his title when the 2010 Asian Poker Tour Manila leg begins on 23rd August and runs until 30th August.  

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Tags: Asian Poker Tour

It’s fairly common to see online gambling companies merging and partnering with other corporations but it’s quite rare that such an event actually leads to rewards for members of the sites in question. BetFair Poker, one of the industry’s most successful online poker websites, is breaking the mold however by joining Ongame Network Limited and sharing an increase in liquidity with site members.

Ongame Network Limited (a subsidiary of Bwin Interactive Entertainment AG) is the owner of the P5 Poker Engine and will be adding BetFair to its global network by the end of this month. This deal will see a number of changes to the poker site such as an increase in revenue, a greater number of available players and rooms at any time and the implementation of the P5 Poker Engine. Perhaps most exciting, BetFair will celebrate the move by offering up $500,000 in new promotions. These will kick off on 27th July and carry on through until 20th August.  

Registered members of BetFair Poker can expect to see big changes toward the end of July and ongoing promotions and site improvements into the future. The most exciting events to watch out for include twice daily $500 freerolls (with no entry requirements), a $60,000 rake race (that promises cash rewards to the top 100 competitors) and leaderboard competitions with $30,000 in cash available to winners.

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Poker fans were amazed by 22 year old Peter Eastgate’s performance at the 2008 World Series of Poker when he took not only the title of Main Event champion but also became the youngest player to do so. Now, less than two years after setting the record, Eastgate is shocking industry spectators again by announcing that he’s retiring from professional poker.

Eastgate hails from Denmark and became an instant star after defeating Russia’s Ivan Demidov at the 2008 WSOP and cashing over nine million dollars. His win broke the previous record for youngest WSOP champion held by Phil Hellmuth (who triumphed in 1989 when he was only 24 years old) and also gave Eastgate access to the lucrative sponsorship opportunities that led to his signing with Team PokerStars Pro. Despite a career that continued to demonstrate a profound level of talent, Eastgate recently announced that he has lost his motivation for playing professional poker. Stating that his goal was always just to become financially independent, Eastgate now feels that the poker world has little left for him.

Neither PokerStars nor Eastgate have spoken to press as to the young player’s future plans but, for better or worse, they won’t include the world of professional poker. Peter Eastgate has only commented that he wants to “. . . try to focus on Peter Eastgate the person” rather than on his career in cards.

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One of the poker world’s favourite annual events, theFull Tilt Poker’s Online Poker Series (FTOPS), has been confirmed for 2010 by organizer and sponsor Full Tilt Poker. FTOPS XVII will return this August with a massive guaranteed prize pool, a packed event schedule and plenty of action for competitors and spectators alike to enjoy.
Since August 2006 the Full Tilt Poker’s Online Poker Series has given poker professionals and fans an annual series worth anticipating. This year’s FTOPS XVII continues the trend by offering up a guaranteed $19 million in prizes over a total of 34 events. Leading up to the climatic ($640 buy-in, $3 million minimum guaranteed prize pool) Main Event itself, FTOPS XVII will feature tournaments that include Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo games, No-Limit Hold ‘Em Six Maximum Turbo and HORSE events and a two-day series that will run alongside the Main Event knockout competitions.
Amateur players looking for a chance to enter the series can begin competing in satellite tournaments at Full Tilt Poker’s now. Lucky members will be able to secure a seat while others can still vie for cash prizes and more. The website will also be hosting special freerolls and other tournaments that conincide with August’s FTOPS celebrations. FTOPS XVII kicks off on 4th August, 2010 with a $216 buy-in, $750,000 No-Limit Hold ‘Em tournament.
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Team PokerStars Pro has added two new members to its prestigious line-up of players. David Williams and Vanessa Selbst mark the two most recent professionals to sign on with PokerStars , both players bringing years of experience and talent to the team.  

Selbst, a Brooklyn, New York native and current Yale Law School student, is only 25 years old and comes to the PokerStars line-up with an impressive resume. Her credentials include roughly $1.5 million in live tournament wins, a World Series of Poker bracelet and impressive showings at various other international events.

Williams, 30 years old and a Texas native, entered the poker world in earnest in 2004 when he made a splash at that year’s World Series of Poker by fighting his way all the way through PokerStars online satellites and to the main event where he nearly won against Greg Raymer. Williams has raked millions of dollars, a bracelet at the 2006 WSOP and titles from high profile events including the World Championship of Online Poker and the 2010 World Poker Tour’s $25,000 Championship.

The roster of professionals at Team PokerStars Pro is sure to benefit from the addition of Williams and Selbst’s combined skill. The website has revealed that David Williams will play under the handle “Dwilliams” and that Vanessa Selbst will use “V.Selbst” for her online sessions.

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Amateur poker players looking to break into a professional event will be happy to learn that PokerStars has just revealed its newest satellite series— and a great prize package for its winners. By providing entry to the upcoming EPT Tallinn premier, PokerStars are giving many hopefuls the chance to compete in one of the largest (and most lucrative) poker events to hit the Baltic region.

The satellite qualifying tournaments for EPT Tallinn have already kicked off with PokerStars recently accepting new entries (at as little as €5.45/250 Frequent Player Points) and outlining prize packages. Just under 50 players have already won their way to EPT Tallinn through PokerStars ’ satellites and the recent PokerStars Baltic Adventure but there are still spots for determined players. Those that are able to triumph in the EPT Tallinn satellite will win a €6,000 value prize package that includes Main Event buy-in, a full week of accommodations and a further €770 in spending cash.

Those that win the satellite will still have to face some tough opponents if they want to make a mark in Estonia however. Team PokerStars Pro members and notable professionals (including Katja Thater, Carter Phillips, Max Lykov, Kevin MacPhee and more) have already signed up to take part in the event.

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Everest Poker is giving back to their fans and celebrating this summer’s Everest Spanish Poker Tour at the same time with a series of fantastic freerolls. Serious competitors can hope for the break they need to enter the world of professional poker play by taking part in the many freerolls and satellite games that act as qualifiers at the renowned poker site.

The Everest Spanish Poker Tour’s Castellón leg is kicking off in just a few short months and, to celebrate, Everest Poker has been offering its site members a chance to get in on the action. Sunday, 20 June saw the poker platform giving players the opportunity to qualify for a private tournament, the $2,100 Everest Spanish Poker Tour Freeroll. The Freeroll’s winner will receive a €1,100 buy-in and $1,000 USD for travel and hotel expenses during the 20-22 August, 2010 SPT Castellón stop. It’s not too late to get onto Everest Poker and begin honing your skills in time for the SPT’s other upcoming dates. Already started, Everest is offering another $2,100 Freeroll (scheduled for 19 September, 2010) that also gives its winner a great prize package and a spot at an upcoming SPT date.

The Everest Spanish Poker Tour began on 9 April, 2010 and will continue throughout the summer and fall (with events in August, October and early November) before culminating in a Grand Finale on 23-27 November at the Gran Casino in Costa Brava.

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The PokerStars North American Poker Tour (NAPT) has already made waves throughout the continent with its massive prize pools and fierce competition. Now the next event in the series has been announced, bringing the tournament to California and giving PokerStars site members another chance to gain entry.

PokerStars has started to reveal details of the next stop scheduled in its NAPT series, outlining information for this fall’s Los Angeles tour leg. The industry giant has announced that Southern California’s The Bicycle Casino will act as the venue for the fourth event in the NAPT. From 12 November through to 17 November, 2010, poker players will flock to the city to compete in either the $5,000 Buy-In Main Event or a wide variety of side events that have been designed to accommodate any size of bankroll. Team PokerStars Pro, Daniel Negreanu told press of his excitement to compete against California’s local players and the thrill that comes with being part of an event that draws in undiscovered talent from the LA poker community.

As always, PokerStars will be giving its fans the chance to get in on the NAPT excitement through a series of qualifiers and other site-hosted events. The PokerStars North American Poker Tour has previously enjoyed successful events this year as tournaments took place during January (at the Atlantis in Bahamas), February (at Las Vegas’ The Venetian) and, most recently, in April (at the Mohegan Sun in Connecticut).

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Tags: PokerStars

The prestigious Team PokerStars Pro has just gained its newest member with the signing of Finnish player, Ville Wahlbeck. PokerStars, one of the most popular online poker websites in the gaming industry, officially announced the addition of Wahlbeck to the team recently and will be promoting him at the upcoming PokerStars.com Baltic Festival.

Wahlbeck is thirty-four years old and has become the first Finnish poker player to join PokerStars’ famous team of professional competitors. Hailing from Helsinki, Wahlbeck has made a name for himself through six outstanding years of professional level play. He finally caught the notice of PokerStars when he took down 193 competitors to win a World Series of Poker bracelet, becoming Finland’s first player to do so, and earning a $492,384 cash prize. His performance at the WSOP also saw Wahlbeck cashing six times, receiving over a million dollars, and becoming the runner-up for the title of WSOP Player of the Year.

Team PokerStars Pro is composed of some of the biggest names in the poker world and Wahlbeck now stands alongside celebrities such as Joe Cada, Daniel Negreanu and Vanessa Rousso. Ville Wahlbeck’s first appearance under PokerStars’ sponsorship will be at upcoming the PokerStars.com Baltic Festival in Tallinn, Estonia. In the 2009 edition of the same event, Wahlbeck won $52,000 at the high roller event.

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William Hill Poker is giving online poker players a great reason to spend a little time away from their TV sets and a little more on their computers throughout this month’s Fifa World Cup. With a fantastic $1,000,000 prize up for grabs and other promotions running alongside this opportunity, William Hill is looking like the best choice for World Cup related poker playing this June and July.

Members of the William Hill Poker site are able to compete in two of the site’s biggest promotions to date through either The $1,000,000 Challenge or an updated version of the World Cup Super Series. The $1,000,000 Challenge gives William Hill members the chance to bet on the outcome of World Cup matches, earning points through poker games and receiving cash or prizes for every accurate football game prediction. Correctly choosing 25 games awards lucky (and skilled) competitors a million dollars. The World Cup Super Series will feature added prizes that are awarded daily to players of the World Cup poker tournaments hosted on the site.

William Hill Poker’s latest promotion promises plenty of exciting competition and incentive for ambitious players with dreams of taking home the million dollar prize. The $1,000,000 Challenge is currently open and accepting players so register or log on today to get started on making your million.

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Tags: World Cup Betting

Annette Obrestad, one of Full Tilt Poker’s most recognizable names, recently commented on the poker world in a manner that is sure to bait controversy. Speaking out on female poker players and internet poker in general, Obrestad has put herself into the spotlight by criticizing aspects of the game through an ESPN interview.

Obrestad, only 21 years old, hails from Norway and has made a name for herself by becoming one of the youngest female players to reach such a massive level of success in the poker world.

Currently standing as the career leader in live winnings throughout Norway, Obrestad is perhaps most famous for winning a tournament without looking at her hole cards at just 18 years old but, due to her ESPN comments, the Norwegian pro may become better known for her outspoken remarks.

Obrestad covered a few topics in the poker world, criticizing live poker players (including Doyle Brunson) and stating that “… girls suck at poker” because they “…just aren’t as competitive and don’t try to learn from their mistakes.”

No public response has yet been given from either Doyle Brunson or any of the many female poker professionals that are sure to take umbrage with Obrestad’s opinion. Annette Obrestad, an enormously talented player, has still yet to clarify her remarks.

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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

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