Poker News
Poker News

$100k TOURNAMENT - December 22

Monday, November 28, 2005

Poker.com will be holding a free entry $100k tournament on December 22 for our regular players and anyone else lucky enough to score an entry coupon.

It's our way of wishing our players a happy holiday season. The tournament is being held on December 22, so that anyone who makes it past the bubble and wins a prize has enough time to withdraw some of their winnings using their NETeller.com or Click2Pay.com debit cards to instantly help fund their holiday season celebrations.

More details of the tournament and how you can earn an entry will be posted on the Poker.com Forum, on the Poker.com website and in your player admin on December 1st.

Kris @ Poker.com


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Retro Johnny Chan

Saturday, November 26, 2005

I came across a great old article about poker pro Johnny Chan today. It doesn't say when it was written, but my guess is the very early 1990s.

It was back when apparently Chan, Doyle Brunson & Chip Reese were the only three regular big cash game players in Vegas. Before the Bellagio & the Wynn poker rooms were around and the Mirage was the only super casino on the strip.

One quote from the article sums up how poker has changed since then - "These days the tournament's main event is a free-for-all with more than 200 competitors willing to pony up the $10,000 entry fee."

200 players is the lineup for a cubicle in the mens room during a break at todays WSOP....

You can read the whole article here.

Kris @ Poker.com


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Aussie Millions on Fox Sports Net

Friday, November 25, 2005

Press Release:

The Aussie Millions poker tournament will be televised across the United States in a deal with Fox Sports Net.

The 2006 Aussie Millions be filmed at Crown from January 15 to 19 and aired as a 10 part series, to debut at 11pm local US time in March.

Crown Limited and Fox Sports Net (FSN), a division of the FOX Broadcasting Company and News Corp announced the partnership.

The Aussie Millions, held annually at Crown, has a purse of $5 million, and the 2006 Aussie Millions champion will pocket $US1 million.

That's great news for poker fans. Now everyone will be able to stay up late to catch a glimpse of their fellow Poker.com players battle it out down under.


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Another win to Ivey

Thursday, November 24, 2005

Phil Ivey took out the Monte Carlo Millions yesterday and pocketed a cool $1 million check as well as that funky championship vase. (pictured)

I can't think of a pro poker player I have more respect for than Phil Ivey. He plays both cash games and tournaments equally as well, with that icey stare and calm demeanour.

We have a friend that everyone is scared to play against in our home games simply because he looks like Phil! He certainly is an intimidating and consistent player that always remains a nice guy at the same time, deserving of every win that comes his way.

Congratulations Phil.

Kris @ Poker.com


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Aussie Millions Confirmed Players

Wednesday, November 23, 2005

The 2006 Aussie Millions looks like being an even more star studded event than it was last year. Nearly every Poker site on the internet has followed Poker.com's lead and are offering some sort of satellites to the Southern Hemisphere's biggest ever tournament.

Confirmed starters include Joe Hachem, Marcel Luske, Scott Fischman, Tony Bloom, Tony G and Scotty Nguyen along with last year's winner Jamil Dia and the best players from Australia & New Zealand. Traditionally there are always many more late entries from recognised pros who wait until the new year to announce their intentions to play. Danieal Negreanu has been in contact with the event organisers and in years past Phil Hellmuth, Mike Sexton, Erik Seidel, Mad Marty Wilson, and the Hendon Mob have all played in the event.

Poker.com's next main event is on December 18. We gave away another two seats on Sunday to Tstreet21 from the USA and Gidde2 from Sweden who will be joining our other winners and the Poker.com team for a fun filled time and a shot at over $1 million in Melbourne.

We're still running two freerolls into the main event every day at Poker.com, along with other satellite tournaments with buy ins from $1 up to $55. Don't miss your last chance to win a seat to the Aussie Millions and party like a rock star!

Kris @ Poker.com


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Kido Pham wins @ Ballys-Paris

Kido Pham has won the WSOP Circuit Championship Las Vegas at Bally's Casino, winning $453,456 and a gold-and-diamond ring. J.C. Tran finished in second place, earning $251,920.

Joe Hachem was eliminated in 5th place, holding at least one King, but there seems to be some conjecture amongst bloggers as to what his other card was. Some say he had KK, others say he had K8. Either way, he moved all in from the small blind, and was called from the big blind with pocket nines by Lee Watkinson. The flop was Js-9h-6h, Watkinson flopping a set to eliminate Joe in fifth place, earning him $88,172.

Lee Watkinson ended up third and Scotty 'The Prince' Nguyen was fourth.

Kris @ Poker.com


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Some Tournament Updates

Tuesday, November 22, 2005

Two Poker tournaments, The Monte Carlo Millions and a WSOP circuit event at Ballys-Paris in Las Vegas, wrap up this week and here are some updates from each.

At the decadent Casino de Monte-Carlo (pictured) they are down to the final table of the Monte Carlo Millions. Phil Ivey has a massive chip lead and as this is the first time that poker has been played in the Casino de Monte-Carlo he is set to be the history making first champion to emerge from the grand palace that just happens to also be a casino.

Chip Counts
1 Phil Ivey $ 2,317,000
2 Richard Herbert $ 908,000
3 Paul Jackson $ 809,000
4 Marc Goodwin $ 681,000
5 Bengt Sonnert $ 582,000
6 Kenna James $ 310,000
7 Monte Carlo Gold Winner $ 160,000

In Vegas, Aussie Joe Hachem has made the final table of the WSOP circuit event at Ballys-Paris and is chip leader going into the final day of play.

Seat / Name / Chip Count
1. John Smith $144,000
2. Thang 'Kido' Pham $254,500
3. Joeseph Hachem $285,000
4. Lee Watkinson $128,500
5. Steven Hudak $145,000
6. Scotty Nguyen $96,500
7. Doug Lee $189,000
8. J.C. Tran $97,500

Joe seems to be proving that his WSOP 2005 main event win was no fluke and he has consistently increased his chip position in this tournament to arrive at the final table with the chip lead.

Hachem’s trademark phrase is “pass the sugar!” - so hopefully Joe can get Scotty Nguyen and the others to 'pass the sugar baby' and take down another first place finish.
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And I said I'd let you know how I went at the Jupiter's Casino poker tables - well I didn't even get to play. I went to the casino for the second time at 8pm after showing up in the afternoon to learn that they only decide to open the poker tables at 7pm. There were two tables playing 10 handed and a waiting list of only 8, so I put my name down and waited around. I lost a little playing blackjack, sicbo and slots even though I was determined to only play poker..... I finally got sick of waiting (and losing), so a little after 11pm so I went back to my hotel. And as is always the case, as I walked in the door to my hotel room I received the SMS to say a seat was available at the poker table...

Sorry Jupiters, but your poker operation is ordinary. As if you wouldn't have games going on a Sunday afternoon! And why only two poker tables, when half the casino is filled with inactive blackjack tables? You may have suckered me in this time with promises of poker action, but I won't be back there again anytime soon - it's just about worth worth flying to Melbourne and the Crown Casino to get a game!

Kris @ Poker.com


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Shulman wins WPT World Poker Finals

Sunday, November 20, 2005

Nick Shulman, from NYC, has taken out the $2.14 million World Poker Finals first prize at Foxwoods casino.

Nick Schulman started the day with nearly 45% of the chips in play, and he made the most of them. After Licastro eliminated Cortellino in sixth place, Schulman took over the final table and consumed everyone else, busting Berman, Cunningham, and Gazes before going heads-up with Licastro for the title.

Schulman’s aggressive style and instinctual play served him well all tournament. He seemed to push at all the right times, while slowing down to release a hand if he thought he was beat.

This weekend I've been staying somewhere I think would be a great spot for a WPT event - The Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. If Australia does get a sanctioned WPT or WSOP circuit event there is no real doubt that it would go to Melbourne and the Crown Casino due to their superior facilities and poker community support, but the world's best beaches and the party atmosphere here on the Coast could be a much bigger attraction to international players.

I'm going to head to Jupiter's Casino tonight to check out their new poker tables. Poker is slowly coming on in Australian casinos outside of Melbourne, but they have some wierd rules and don't always have the poker tables open which is affecting the uptake of the game, especially amongst more experienced players.

Casinos here are largely run by bigger companies that don't really have a feel for the best way to run a casino to ensure it's popularity and loyal patronage. They seem to ignore providing some of the things that people like about playing poker in favouring of guaranteeing profits. They could all learn a thing or two by spending some time in some Las Vegas poker rooms and seeing how they use poker to attract people to a casino, not necessarily to make big profits. But hopefully I'll be able beat the crazy house antes and bust some tourists in the 5/10 limit game. I'll let you know how I go.

Kris @ Poker.com


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Wednesday, November 16, 2005

The $10k buy in World Poker Finals are currently being played at Foxwoods Casino, Connecticut.

They are down to the TV final table with the following players having made the grade.

Seat 1: Lyle Berman $659K
Seat 2: Nick Schulman $3.502M
Seat 3: Anthony Licastro $1.412M
Seat 4: Lenny Cortellino $773K
Seat 5: Allen Cunningham $795K
Seat 6: Bill Gazes $693K

It's good to see Lyle Berman, creator and founder of the WPT make it to a final table. They'll all have their work cut out for them though if they are going to catch the commanding chip leader, Nick Schulman, who is looking good for the $2.17 million first place prize.

At Poker.com, we decided to reward the players that use our preferred payment method - Click2Pay.com. Deposit using Click2Pay.com in November and you will get a free entry to our $2500 Click2Pay tournament on Sunday December 4.

Kris @ Poker.com


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I love Click2Pay

Thursday, November 10, 2005

Most frequent online poker players have an e-wallet account of some sort. You need one these days in order to withdraw your winnings easily and also to avoid some of the issues that often come with using your credit card online, such as the need to verfy your identity and worrying about security.

I had always used NETeller in the past, but recently started using Click2Pay.com and I like it a lot more. The best thing about Click2Pay is that there is no need to pre-fund your account before you deposit to your online poker account. You just enter your Click2Pay account info into the cashier along with the amount you would like to deposit and Click2Pay does the rest.

Your card or bank account is automatically debited the funds without you having to log into your Click2Pay account first. It's awesome!

And withdrawing is also a breeze. If you sign up for the Click2Pay debit card, you can have your poker winnings in your hand as cold hard cash from an ATM within minutes of taking down a big pot.

One drawback is that not every Poker room has Click2Pay available yet, but about half the rooms I play at do. It seems to be that the Poker rooms that are newer or more 'up with the times' do have Click2Pay available and the older more established rooms don't yet as they prefer to dictate to their players how they transact rather than always provide the best options.

I'm going to start recommending Click2Pay.com as Poker.com's preferred method for all deposits and withdrawals. It's so much better & easier than using a credit card or other e-wallets!

Click here to get your Click2Pay.com account now. And if you email us I'll give you a special bonus at Poker.com if you deposit with your new Click2Pay account.

Kris @ Poker.com


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Who cares about third place?

Wednesday, November 09, 2005

"Who cares about third place? I play to win. Nobody remembers third place." - Phil Hellmuth Jr after being eliminated in third place at the tournament of champions and winning $250,000.

He was pleased with his play, but very displeased with the results. He also said the general public won't even be able to comprehend how unlucky he got at this final table as he pointed out that Hoyt Corkins must have won 70-80% of their blind vs. blind situations. Maybe Hoyt (pictured) is just better than you Phil? :P

Mike Matusow ($825,000) is now heads up with Hoyt ($315,000) for the title and $1 million prize.
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Poker.com updated our software yesterday and although it is a great update there were a couple of hiccups. I won't bore you with technicalities, but I will aplogise to anyone that was affected by the intermmitant outages we had and encourage you all to check out the software's new features. There is some cool stuff in there.

Kris @ Poker.com


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Poker Night is not a Poker movie...

Tuesday, November 08, 2005

A few sites seem to be reporting that an upcoming movie production from Mel Gibson's icon entertainment entitled 'Poker Night', is a movie about poker... But it's not.

"Hayden Christensen and Samuel L. Jackson have been signed up to star in Poker Night. The movie will be directed by Nick Gillard (the stunt co-ordinator from Star Wars) and written by Greg Francis. The movie will follow a rookie detective (Christensen) who wakes to find himself strapped to a chair in a dim and filthy basement. The cop's faceless abductor is a vicious serial killer who is mercilessly torturing his captive both physically and mentally."

Phil Ivey has been known to mercilessly tortue people heads up, but this movie definitely does not sound like it is about poker

Kris @ Poker.com


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Tournament of Champions

After day 2 of the tournament of champions at Caeser's Palace, Phil Hellmuth - elected by himself as the world's best poker player - is proving himself right by leading the chip count with an impressive $281k stack. I couldn't bring myself to post two pictures of Phil in the same week, so pictured is WSOP 2005 champ, 'Aussie' Joe Hachem who busted out relatively early with a set of 3s that was flushed.

The tournament of champions includes the top players from each of the Harrahs WSOP circuit events as well as the final table participants from the WSOP 2005 Main Event and three invited 'champions' - Phil Hellmuth, Johhny Chan & Doyle Brunson. (Which Mr Negreanu was not very pleased about - read more)

Doyle was the people's favorite in this event and did well with some huge hands along the way to finish 10th.

It's down to the final table and the chip counts look like this;

1. Phil Hellmuth - $281,500 (Seat 4)
2. Mike Matusow - $179,000 (Seat 9)
3. Brandon Adams - $135,500 (Seat 7)
4. Tony Bloom - $130,000 (Seat 8)
5. Steve Dannenmann - $122,000 (Seat 1)
6. Keith Sexton - $95,500 (Seat 6)
7. Hoyt Corkins - $95,000 (Seat 5)
8. Grant Lang - $61,500 (Seat 2)
9. David Levi - $41,000 (Seat 3)

Phil & Hoyt Corkins had a memorable clash at a WPT final table a few seasons back when Hoyt continually out drew the brat to bust him out. Hopefully there will be some fireworks between these two again to keep things interesting.

If you're lucky enough to be in Vegas, get along to Caesers Palace to check out the action. If your stuck thousands of miles away like me, watch this blog and I'll let you know who wins.

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In other Poker.com news, the development team is busy completing the final stages of our Version 2.6 software update. The servers will be back up in a few minutes, so download the new client and tease your opponents with our new 'expose one card' gamesmanship feature. It's so much fun being able to hide your ordinary kicker and just show top pair when you force someone to make a laydown. The Poker.com office was loving it during testing!

Kris @ Poker.com


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Phil Hellmuth hijinx

Sunday, November 06, 2005

Danieal Negreanu has been keeping poker fans updated with some great stories from his high stakes play recently. There's no peer amongst the poker pros when it comes to interacting with his fans and giving insight into his game and the world of big game poker.

In his latest set of updates, he describes the play of Phil Hellmuth in a made for TV tournament called 'High Stakes Poker' that is to be shown on GSN in January.

Phil Hellmuth showed up to play and it sounds like the other guys had some fun with him.

"Phil sat down with $100,000 and dusted it off within the first hour. He was obviously steaming and the rest of the table was ready to "get em."

Every time he raised I'd re-raise him and show him 10-5 when he folded. Then Antonio, did the same thing when I didn't. If it got by me and Antonio, Freddie would pound him. It was pretty ugly."

You can read the full story and some great hand recaps on Daniel's blog at FullContactPoker.com.

Kris @ Poker.com


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Blogger Poker Tour is on the way

Thursday, November 03, 2005

The logo is nearly finalised and we have started work on developing the website for the Blogger Poker Tour, brought to you by Poker.com.

We had this idea a long time ago, then another site beat us to the punch with a once off event, which was well run and great for the blogging community and poker. Their event confirmed our belief that poker rooms should do more for the very active blogger community, so we are moving ahead with the Blogger Poker Tour.

How will it work?
  • If you own an active blog you will be eligible to play upon registration for the tour.

  • There will be fortnightly tournaments at Poker.com, with each event 'hosted' by a different blog website.

  • As host of a Blogger Poker Tour event, your blog is featured & linked on the Blogger Poker Tour Website, players you refer that fortnight compete for free and there will be a bounty placed on your head during the tournament.

  • At least one Poker.com staff member/blogger will also play in each event with a bounty on their knockout also.

  • The winner from each event will go through to the end of season Main Event, where there will be a great prizes waiting. I'm hoping to offer a WSOP 2006 seat as the grand prize.

  • The top 20 leaderboard players that did not win a regular season event will also be invited to the main event.

  • The top fortnightly referrer, and the top ten referring blogs for the season will also be given seats in the Main Event. (as in the number of new bpt players you refer)

  • A Poker.com player box accolade will be awarded to the winners of each event.

  • Events will be held on Sunday afternoons.

  • I'm still deciding on the buy in structure. Would $5 + 0.50 be good with one rebuy and an add-on available? I'm not sure yet.... We will also be adding to each event prize pool. Would love some feedback on what people think the fortnightly tournament structure should be. I thought about making them freerolls, but I think a buy-in tournament will make for better games and will also give the hosts something cool to give their referred players (a free entry).
That's where we are at so far. It may change a little before we launch, but I'm hoping to start the tour in December and there'll be a special New Years Day event also.

Get back to me if any of you bloggers out there have any other ideas you think we should incorporate. It's your tour!

Kris @ Poker.com


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Bluff Poker Tour

The Bluff Magazine Poker Tour made a stop at Poker.com tonight. (well today our time)

Gman0417 took down the prize after a tough final table. Pictured is the hand when 4th place finisher, Alsplace1970 bowed out to 3rd place Quackpot's 4 flush on the river.

Here are the top ten finishers.

gman0417
bigmackpt
Quackpot
Alsplace1970
omenic
Gambitwd
Cartman123
intomini
navajo51
zenmaster2

Congratulationsto all players, we look forward to welcoming you back when Poker.com holds the season finale in January.

Kris @ Poker.com


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Bullitpete 5th at the EPT

Tuesday, November 01, 2005

Congratulations to Poker.com player, Bullitpete, who finished in 5th position at the recent European Poker Tour main event in Dublin. He took home over $US 100,000 for his efforts. Well done Pete!

In other Poker.com news...
  • we have all been busy preparing for our next update which is looking good for early next week
  • the aussie millions main event tournaments are to be changed to monthly events from now on, the first one scheduled for November 18
  • we're working out the schedule for WSOP 2006 satellites to start later this year
  • there'll be a Blogger Poker Tour launching at Poker.com very soon
I'll post again soon.

Kris @ Poker.com


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