26 May, 2008
Bodog Poker just announced the creation of a new online poker tournament series called the Mini-SOP, mirroring all 25 Texas Holdem events of the World Series of Poker online, except for just a fraction of the revered land-based events’ buy-ins.
The Bodog Poker Mini-SOP runs concurrently with the real WSOP, event-for-event, from May 30 to July 3 with buy-ins equivalent to 1% of that of their Vegas-hosted counterparts. In fact, to enter all 25 events, it will only cost home players a total of $821.
What’s more, on July 10, Bodog Poker will host its equivalent of the Main Event, with the top 3 prizes being seats at the 2009 WSOP (worth $12,000 each). The event’s 27 players will be determined by the Tournament Leader Board posted on the Bodog site throughout the tournament series. This makes Bodog the first online poker site to give away seats to next year’s main event.
21 May, 2008
No, not “chumps” – that’s no typo – it really is a charity event for chimps, as in chimpanzees.
Full Tilt Poker, in cooperation with FullTilt team member, poker pro Lee Watkinson, is hosting a $5 + $5 No-Limit Texas Holdem Tournament to benefit chimpanzee rescue organization, the Cortland Brandenberg Foundation.
Half of the money raised at the event will go to Cortland Brandenberg, in part to help fund a new wildlife sanctuary slated to open in Washington state in June. The other half will comprise the prize pool for those players who finish the event in-the-money. The first place winner, in addition to the largest chunk of the prize pool, will also win a Curtis & Co. watch.
The “Save Captive Chimps” fundraising event will take place on Sunday, May 25th at 9 pm Eastern Daylight Time.
What’s more, new players can sign up now at FullTilt using promotional code “ANIMALLOVERS” and help ensure that future funding continues for animal shelters.
14 May, 2008
The organization that runs the World Series of Poker announced last month that it is rescheduling the final table of the WSOP main event, normally held in mid-July of each year, to November instead. While the rest of the WSOP – all other events including all of the main event leading up to the final table – remains scheduled for the summer as it always is. The final table alone received the 4-month delay in order to fall in line with ESPN’s broadcasting of the competition.
You see, before now ESPN broadcast the entire WSOP after it had already occurred. So everyone knew the winner before they were able to view it themselves on TV (’cause, come on, word does get around). Now, no one but the 9 players at the final table themselves and those there to watch it live and in person, won’t know the results until it’s broadcast just 2 days later, immediately following ESPN’s broadcasting of every last hand leading up to it. This means, with one fell swoop, ESPN and the WSOP both obliterated the spoiler phenomenon from the WSOP main event and added true nail-biting suspense, just like any poker game – whether you’re watching it or playing it – is supposed to be.
So, the new schedule for the final table of the WSOP main event is as follows:
- Played November 9
- Televised November 11
7 May, 2008
Today, May 7, 2008, the seventh installation of the Full Tilt online poker series gets underway. FTOPS VIII is a 24-part series tournament with a guaranteed $10 million dollar plus prize pool, with each event in the series being hosted by a poker celebrities from around the planet.
The first to host an FTOPS VIII tournament is a new poker star in the sky, David Chiu, who just recently beat out the invulnerable Gus Hansen for the World Poker Tour (WPT) title.
The Great Dane himself will be hosting one of the other FTOPS VIII events as will fellow poker stars: Jennifer Harman, Phil Gordon, Phil Ivey, and Nick Schulman.
Some of the thrilling competitions players can look forward to include:
- a $2 million guaranteed main event
- a 2-day $2,500 tournament
- 3 surprise mystery events
The celebrity providing commentary at each final table will be joined by the esteemed announcer of Poker After Dark, Ali Nejad.
In addition to the cash prizes, every player making the final table will receive a slick FullTilt FTOPS jacket. The winner of each event will also get a gold FTOPS jersey, a gold jersey avatar anytime they play at Full Tilt Poker online, and an entry into this seasons Tournament of Champions.