27 June, 2009
Ville Wahlbeck is having quite a year. Such a year, in fact, that he’s decided it’s his last, as far as professional poker is concerned, at least. In a clear case of knowing when to hold ‘em, when to fold ‘em, when to walk away, and when to run, this Finnish wunderkind is quitting while he’s ahead. And ahead big, at that.
Wahlbeck became the first Finn ever to win a World Series of Poker bracelet when he won the $10,000 Mixed Game World Championship and this year’s 2009 WSOP. Then he managed to come in runner-up in the $10,000 2-7 Draw Lowball World Championship and third place in the $10,000 7-Card Stud World Championship.
What’s more, he placed twelfth in a $2,500 Razz event and thirteenth in the $10,000 Omaha 8 or Better World Championship.
With of $900,000 in 2009 WSOP winnings, this is hands-down Ville’s best year in 6 years of “grinding” in the cutthroat poker world. And he’s a contender for the Card Player Magazine Player of the Year Award (POY). So this is the perfect time to cash in his chips. He admits that he may still play a tournament or two now and again, but as for cash games, he’s out.
I guess this means that he will be missing out ont his years EMOP and wont be a contender for the Euro Poker player of the year award.
9 June, 2009
Former Magic card game champion Brock Parker has taken the 2009 WSOP bracelet for Event #14, $2,500 6-handed Limit Holdem, snagging it from favorite Daniel “Kid Poker” Negreanu who was hoping to make this his third WSOP Limit Holdem bracelet, tying the record Phil Hellmuth holds for the most WSOP bracelets held in Limit Holdem. But it wasn’t to be for Negreanu, this being the third time in his World Series of Poker Career that he was runner-up in a WSOP Limit Holdem event.
Parker, meanwhile, a 27-year-old from Silver Springs, Maryland, is now $223,697 richer, making his total live poker career winnings $417,583. Parker is better known in poker circles for his online game, going by the menacing username “t_soprano”. This marks his second appearance in a WSOP final table and his fifth time cashing-in in a WSOP event. No doubt we’ll be seeing a lot of more of Brock Parker’s Magic ahead, and in the meantime, Kid Poker’s quest for that all-elusive third Limit Holdem bracelet continues.
25 May, 2009
According to the odds placers, the man to beat at the WSOP Champions Invitational, a special 2009 World Series of Poker event open solely to previous Main Event winners, is Phil Hellmuth, representative of Ultimate Bet Poker, renowned bad attitude poker brat, and the youngest player to have ever won a WSOP Main Event (this back in 1989).
The 2009 WSOP Champions Invitational is a non-braceleted event taking place on May 31. Not only will the winner receive a special Binions Trophy and a new car, but legend Jack Binion himself will be on hand to congratulate the “champion of champions”.
Over the course of 39 years worth of WSOP Main events, there have been 33 or 34 winners (depending on who you ask), 25 of whom are still alive to be eligible for the competition. The event will air on ESPN on August 4 at 8 pm ET, making it one of only 4 2009 WSOP events to be televised.
11 May, 2009
Sunday, May 3, Bodog Poker finished up another weeklong Bodog Poker Open, and this time around (the event’s third incarnation now) the big winner was one “Biffsworld”. The Bodog Poker Open II Main Event had a player pool of 279, a buy-in of $500, and a $161,130 prize pool that included an added $30,000 from Bodog.
For winning the Bodog Poker Open III Main Event, “Biffsworld” is now $40,282.50 richer. This is his biggest takedown so far, but not his first. This 23-year-old from Pennsylvania has been playing on the site since October 2007 and has won his share of events, showing that this win was indeed no fluke.
Second place went to ShuMoneyTonite, who won $26,989 for his (or her?) efforts. Mr Walcott took third, and its $17,885 prize.
Throughout the course of the week’s events, Bodog gave away $606,741 along with bonus bounties worth T$12,150. 4,800 players turned out to compete for these winnings.
Some people in order to gain access to these prestigous poker tournaments build their bankrolls by becoming a video poker baller. To find out how to be a baller like these players, you can visit video poker forums to learn strategies and techniques to take you to the big time.
25 April, 2009
Poker Stars has introduced a new event into its famed European Poker Tour Grand Final Week, and it’s a charity tournament no less. The charity is the current crisis in Darfur, and the event is the Ante Up For Africa Europe Celebrity Charity Poker Tournament. The event, a EUR 4,000 buy-in, No Limit Texas Holdem shootout tournament is scheduled for April 27th at 6 pm ET, the day before the Season Five PokerStars EPT Grand Final Main Event takes place.
Poker pros from Team PokerStars will be in attendance, including “Kid Poker” Daniel Negreanu, WSOP Main Event Champion Joe Hachem, and GoDaddy spokesmodel/up-and-coming poker sensation Vanessa Rousso.
The winner of this Ante Up For Africa Europe charity tournament will receive prize package centered around free entry into the January 2010 Season 6 EPT Bahamas event.
So far, the Ante Up For Africa organization has raised more than $2 million to provide aid to the survivors of the violence in the Sudan.
All PokerStars EPT Season Five Grand Final events will be held in Monte Carlo, Monaco.
10 April, 2009
Thanks to two great poker sites–Full Tilt Poker and Poker Stars–Mac users can now get in on all the best poker action, including satellites and qualifiers into the Full Tilt Online Poker Series, the PokerStars Spring Championship of Online Poker, and the World Series of Poker.
Both Poker Stars and Full Tilt Poker have downloadable poker software clients, making them stand out from all the rest of their peers whose best offering for online poker players using a Mac is a cheaper, uglier, slower, pared-down, web-based No Download version of the software written in either Flash or Java. This lack of support elsewhere precludes Mac players from participating in many of these other sites biggest promotions, not least of which are those satellites and qualifiers for free entry into some of the biggest-money live land-based and online tournaments.
But on Poker Stars and Full Tilt Poker, Mac poker players can now sit in at the felt with their PC-owning online poker peers. And players on a Mac can win their way into the FTOPS, the PokerStars Spring Championships Of Online Poker, the 2009 WSOP, and many other exciting live events just like everybody else.
25 March, 2009
Now that the 2009 WSOP (World Series of Poker) is nearing, most of the top poker sites are holding some sort of satellites and/or qualifiers awarding players free entry into the Main Event. But most poker sites stop there. Not Full Tilt Poker, though.
As you surely already know, each year’s is made up of many events–more than 50 “preliminary events” at last count. And Full Tilt Poker is awarding players free entry into all of them (or at least any of the players’ choice).
The promotion is called the Race for Bracelets, since in addition to the prize money, winners of all WSOP events (including the main event) also win a coveted bracelet. Win an event in the Race for Bracelets and choose which of the 50+ preliminary events you want free entry into–and that will be your prize.
Daily Race for Bracelets tournaments are running daily, with buy-ins ranging from $26 to $75, at least one player from each tournament winning a $2,000 WSOP 2009 prize package.
However, not everyone can make it to the WSOP even with these great opportunities at Full Tilt Poker taking place this year. So, many people have been coming up with their own Poker Party Theme Ideas. These poker parties do require Poker and Casino Party Hire dealers to make the night run smoothly, but this is a great way to poker dream if you can’t make it to Vegas.
20 March, 2009
Titan Poker has just released a version of its software in Dutch, exapnding its reach to our global neighbors in Belgium, Suriname, and let’s not forget the Netherlands. A little Amsterdam action, anyone? This makes 15 languages now that TitanPoker supports–allowing players from all over those regions to compete against others across the world in their own native languages.
Full Tilt Poker, meanwhile, may be about to open up its own brick-and-mortar casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. This after years of speculation that it would be the Las Vegas casinos buying up online poker rooms and not, as its rapidly and increasingly appearing to be, the other way around. But with all the overhead involved in a land-based casino and hardly any overhead for an online poker room, it’s business models like Full Tilt Poker’s (the reputed “Walmart” of poker sites) that are surviving and in some cases even thriving in this tanking economy, while land-based casino (like Trump’s) go under. So is FullTilt going to “bail out” a Vegas casino and get into that business? They’re not saying yet. But one thing seems certain. If any poker site is poised to do it–it’s Full Tilt Poker.
13 March, 2009
Until now, poker lovers who only owned Mac computers were out of luck when it came to experiencing the fully featured downloadable poker software their Windows PC using peers enjoyed.
All a Mac user wanting to join in the online poker fun could hope for from a poker site was a No Download Instant Play version of the site’s poker software, a pared-down browser-based alternative with severe and noticeable limitations as they were written in either Java or Flash, neither programming language capable of providing them the same sort of versatile and fully immersive poker playing experience they could have if only they’d bought a PC instead of a Mac.
But Mac users are loyal to their Macs, and at least one poker site has noticed. Full Tilt Poker now offers Mac users a downloadable version of their poker software on par with the downloadable poker software for Windows computers that PC owners have been appreciating for years.
Read more on the new Full Tilt Poker Deposit Bonus now available to new players.
5 March, 2009
Titan Poker is revving up to be the poker site of the year–at least if this month is any indication.
First there was the announcement of a March Madness inspired (or at leat that’s my guess) Spring Poker Madness in which players can earn double the rewards points throughout the entire month. What’s more, it appears that these rewards points can be redeemed for instant cash (though between you, me, and the Dealer–you’ll get much more for your money…or rather, your points…if you hold onto them and redeem them for other stuff, like free poker tournament entries.
But the other big news out of Titan Poker this week is that they just opened a whole new site. Feel like taking a break from poker but don’t want to stop trying to have fun and win money at the same time? No problem–because now you can just hop on over to Titan Casino and play Blackjack, Roulette, Craps, and all the other usual suspects. I’m surprised more poker sites don’t do this. But regardless, Titan Poker is–and good for them.
Good for us too.