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

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

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

Tags: PokerStars

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

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

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

Tags: PokerStars, Justin Bonomo

PokerStars Holds on to Guinness World Record for another Year

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

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

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

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

Tags: poker, PokerStars

Jesper Hougaard Wins PokerStars Sunday Million

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

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

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

Tags: poker, PokerStars

PokerStars Launches the UK and Irish Poker League

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

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

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

Tags: poker, poker competition, poker event, PokerStars

After the success enjoyed by PokerStars with its UK and Irish Poker League leaderboards the site has continued to branch out with the announcement of an upcoming tournament series. The UK Poker Open is set to kick off soon in order to provide a little more excitement for the spring before tournament season starts off in earnest this summer.

The Open is a No-Limit Texas Hold ‘Em tournament that gives players from all across the United Kingdom and Ireland the opportunity to win out against stiff competition and take home the guaranteed $50,000 prize pool. The tournament begins on Sunday, March 24th at 7.30pm GMT (3.30pm EST) with the chance to take home the considerable pot.

PokerStars has made the UK Poker Open available for essentially any poker player with the determination to enter and compete in the games regardless of the size of their bankroll. Even without much money to their name, would-be competitors can still prove their worthiness by testing their skills against others in qualifying satellites leading up to the event.

Interested players can buy-in or register to the UK Poker Open through a few different methods. The most up-front manner of gaining Open entrance is via the $111 direct buy-in but poker fans can also get into the tournament by qualifying through the daily cash ($2.20 required) or Frequent Player Point (10 FPP required) satellites.

Tags: PokerStars, poker event

This week sees the launch of the first leg of PokerStars’ latest event offering, the Australia New Zealand Poker Tour (ANZPT). The series kicks off in Adelaide, Australia on February 4th and ushers in a new geographical location for established and hopeful professional players alike to compete for recognition.

The ANZPT has its first stop in Adelaide, Australia from February 4th to the 7th and is set to continue on throughout five further locations from now through to the planned conclusion in July of this summer. Adelaide events are hosting a AUD $3,000 buy-in Main Event alongside several other, smaller buy-in No-Limit Hold ‘Em tournaments and some Omaha games. The series will take place at the Adelaide Sky Casino and is meant to serve as a testing ground for the potential of an interested, Australian and New Zealand market for large-scale gaming series.

PokerStars has seen success with the relatively recent Asian Pacific Poker Tour, a series that saw entries into Sydney, Australia and Auckland, New Zealand. The finish of the 2009 Aussie Millions should guarantee the presence of many noted poker professionals eager to try their hand at the fresh tournament offerings while still within the region. Familiar names already rumoured for attendance include Australian pros, Grant Levy, Eric Assadourian and Emad Tahtouh.

This post is brought to you from the Findabet.co.uk Gambling Blog. If you are reading this on a blog other than Findabet.co.uk then the content has been stolen from Findabet.co.uk

Tags: ANZPT, poker

PokerStars has made industry history with their recent offering of the largest ever online poker tournament to date. Last year’s colossal game saw the internet gaming service garner the unofficial title but now the site is able to boast their status after having verified the unbelievable figures achieved by there immensely popular games.

The main event saw PokerStars offering up a massive, $500,000 prize pool and a low, $11 buy-in which attracted an enormous number of players to the record-breaking tournament. From the 35,000 competitors, French player, Stan34powa emerged triumphant after ten hours of tough play with a $30K reward and a place guaranteed to forever cement his name in online poker history. PokerStars’ also broke previous attendance records through their Sunday Million (16,260 players) and Sunday Warm-Up (5,836 players) games alongside the additional titles of largest sit-and-go (10,000 players) and largest simultaneous cash games (at an incredible 240,540 players).

Team PokerStars Pro, Dan Negreanu told press that he was delighted to be affiliated with such a massive event. No word has been given yet as to whether PokerStars will attempt to beat their own records with an even larger Sunday night tournament series but it’s safe to say that the publicity from the notable $500K event will highlight the company’s place within the industry for some time to come.

Tags: poker

The British Advertising Standards Authority has banned yet another gambling ad which they deem irresponsible. This time the removed ad was the product of Isle of Man based company, PokerStars and featured only the picture of a player and a quote regarding his stance on how to succeed in the game.

PokerStars launched their ‘Play Mind Games’ advertising campaign a short while before having one of the posters removed. The material in question may seem tame but the ASA’s verdict found it inappropriate enough to level the charges set against it. The PokerStars poster features card playing professional, Daniel Negreanu holding a hockey stick with the quote, “Poker is a sport of courage, conviction and confidence” placed underneath his image. The ASA argued that the advertisement likened poker to sexual conquest and self-improvement, traits that the committee decided shouldn’t be seen by impressionable children and young adults. PokerStar’s spot was criticized as offering a path to personal growth through gambling even though the company replied that this was not, in any manner their intention.

The popular poker business maintained that the quote on Negreanu’s poster referred only to the game itself and aspects of it that players view as valuable characteristics. Despite PokerStar’s seemingly appropriate rebuttal the ASA still managed to ban the poster so it will not be available for public use again.

Tags: poker

As the WSOP begins to disappear from fan’s memories a new event is set to take place just in time through PokerStar’s 2008 World Championships of Online Poker. Beginning with a set of July 1st satellites on the popular website the tournaments have also been fully revealed in order to entice competitors with enormous jackpots and lots of excitement.

The WCOOP schedule was released through PokerStars recently and unveiled some extremely high-stakes action for serious players to get into. Among the listed events are a $25,000 Heads Up game, $10,300 HORSE and No-Limit Hold ‘Em tournaments and a $5,200 Main Event. The attached guarantees are seriously impressive with PokerStars promoting money pools up to $30 million for the entire WCOOP events. Although some smaller fare has been made available to appeal to all demographics, the large buy-ins and tournament guarantees should mean that a lot of attention gets focused on the events.

Players interested in the substantial listings should be polishing their skills now as satellite events are already underway. PokerStars has promised two events a day for the entire duration of their games, ensuring that their online version of the WSOP should get the publicity it deserves The 2008 WCOOP kicks into full swing on September 5th with a one million dollar guaranteed tournament and will continue through to the 21st.

Tags: poker

The 2007 World Championship of Online Poker saw industry giant, Pokerstars enter into a high-stakes lawsuit with alleged winner, Natalie Teltscher over the $1.2 million reward. Natalie, sister of poker professional, Mark Teltscher recently decided to drop the case in light of mounting evidence which would make her win impossible to legally ratify.

Teltscher’s lawsuit claim was spurred by Pokerstars refusal to issue the million dollar prize money due to her having won the tournament through someone else playing the series under her account. Pokerstars considered this a breach of agreement as Teltscher herself didn’t win the prize but rather another player who did not match the identity registered to her account name, “TheV0id”. After this information was discovered, the company moved the 2007 WCOOP second-place finalist up one position as the rightful winner of the enormous standing jackpot. Teltscher planned to contest the decision by entering into a legal dispute which would assert that she had actually played the entire tournament and was owed the sum.

Natalie Teltscher withdrew her lawsuit when faced with the investigative reports prepared by Pokerstars for the trial. The court at the Isle of Man was prepared to judge proceedings in the case but Teltscher’s removal from the dispute has dropped the issue and effectively ended the scandal with no damage done to Pokerstars reputation before the beginning of their 2008 World Championships of Online Poker.

Tags: poker

Natalie Teltscher, one of the winners of PokerStars 2007 World Championships of Online Poker (WCOOP) has filed a lawsuit against the company which has refused to issue a $1.2 million prize over an alleged breach of tournament conditions. The case is currently proceeding at the Isle of Man between the enormous company and the angry plaintiff.

The basis of PokerStar’s case against Teltscher stems from her decision to have a third-party play the entire tournament through her account. The company claims that this alone constitutes a failure to abide by the terms and conditions of the event thereby forcing a forfeit of the prize money. Teltscher plays under the screen name “the VOid” and this account was one of two left at the end of the 2008 WCOOP’s No Limits Hold ‘Em Main Event. The final contestants agreed to split the jackpot and ceased play which would have left the money in Teltscher’s hands had she actually been the one at the computer all along.

PokerStars lawyers contest that Teltscher never actually legally entered or played in the tournament and sees this as suitable grounds for dismissing the monetary reward outright. The most recent development in the lawsuit saw Deemster David Doyle adjourn the case stating that the matter needed to be fully addressed via contractual evidence before any verdict could be leveled.

Tags: poker

We have just released our review of the PokerStars Poker Room here at Findabet.co.uk.

PokerStars is billed as the worlds largest online Poker Site so as you would imagine, the quality of the client and gameplay are second to none. The tournaments as well as the sit and go's at PokerStars draw huge crowds and also huge payouts.

Go straight to and play at PokerStars.com or read our review on PokerStars here at Findabet.co.uk.

Tags: poker