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The penultimate event of Season XI of the World Poker Tour – The Party Poker Canadian Spring Championship – is underway at the Playground Poker Club in Quebec.

The Canadian Spring Championship is split into three different starting flights and after the first two flights French Canadian Philippe Boucher is the leader with 278,100 in chips.

The first flight was not a successful day for recognised poker professionals with World Poker Tour Player of the Year leader Matt Salsberg, 1996 World Series of Poker Main Event winner Huck Seed and former World Poker Tour winner Will Failla the three biggest names who managed to progress to the second day of the event.

Not as lucky were last year’s winner Jonathan Roy, 2006 World Series of Poker player of the year Jeff Madsen or Poker Hall of Fame member Mike Sexton.

The rules of the WPT Canadian Spring Championship give players the opportunity to play in all three starting flights and a number of leading players who were eliminated on day one tried their luck again in the second flight.

Phil Laak was one of these players and was randomly seated at the exact same seat and table on both days.

Laak was confident that this quirky occurrence would be enough to see him advance to the second day of the event but he was sent to the rail early once again as were Roy, Madsen and Tony Dunst.

The chip leader at the end of the second flight was Matt Kay who won a massive pot at the end of the day and now has 270,400 in chips, almost 100,000 more than Mike Bartholomew who finished the flight in second place with 186,500 in chips.

The final flight of day 1 takes place today and we will keep you up to date with the results here at Poker.com.

If you want to join the pros at the Canadian Spring Championship sign-up and deposit at Party Poker.

2004 World Series of Poker Main Event Champion Greg Raymer was arrested in a prostitution sting at a Wake Forest hotel earlier this week.

The Wake Forest Police Department said that Raymer was one of six men arrested after responding to a message posted by an undercover policemen acting as a female prostitute.

Raymer is facing charges of prostitution and attempted crimes against nature.

Raymer released a statement through his attorney Wade M. Smith apologizing for the embarrassing arrest.

“Mr. Raymer is very sorry for this lapse in judgment,” Smith said.

“He regrets deeply the pain he has caused his family, friends and fans.

“Mr. Raymer is grateful for the many expressions of support he has received.”

Raymer burst onto the poker scene at the 2004 World Series of Poker when he won the $10,000 No Limit Texas Hold ‘em Main Event and took home the first place prize of $5,000,000.

The following year Raymer made another deep run in the World Series of Poker Main Event, finishing in 25^th, a feat that is considered one of the most impressive in the history of the World Series of Poker.

In recent years Raymer has been a strong advocate for the rights of poker players and is a member of the board of directors for the Poker Players Alliance.

Raymer had an extremely successful 2012 poker season claiming four separate tournament victories on the Heartland Poker Tour for a total score of $371,967.

The forty-eight- year old is currently placed 38^th on the All Time Poker Tournament Money list with $ 7,391,123 in career earnings.

It remains to be seen how his arrest will affect Raymer’s poker career or his work with the Poker Players Alliance.

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The World Series of Poker has released the schedule for the 2013 event that will be held from May 29^th to July 15^th at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino.

The schedule is not that different from the 2012 offerings but sixty-two gold bracelets will be offered – one up from 2012.

The World Series of Poker Main Event will begin on the 6^th of July while the first Saturday $1500 No Limit Hold’em event will award $1 million to the winner – a tournament WSOP Executive Director Ty Stewart is particularly excited for.

“Dreams are dealt each year at the World Series of Poker,” Stewart said.

“From the opening weekend, where we will make yet another millionaire, to the Main Event, which awards the largest single prize in the world, the WSOP is an annual affirmation about the strength and global appeal of the game.”

World Series of Poker Tournament Director Jack Effel is extremely excited for the event and said the schedule is one of the best in the history of the World Series.

“Bring your bankroll, whatever it is, and come have the time of your life,” Effel said.

“We think this is the most diverse schedule we’ve ever had and we’ll be ready for an all-time turn-out at the 44th annual WSOP.”

Highlights of the 2013 World Series of Poker Schedule Include:

• No Limit Hold’em weekends in June. Every weekend a $1500 buy-in large field event will be held for players that are only able to attend the World Series of Poker for a single weekend.
• The “Millionaire Maker’ scheduled for June 1^st is a $1,500 buy-in Single Re-Entry tournament that will guarantee the winner at least $1 million.
• The first Turbo event will be held on June 19 with levels of only thirty minutes.
• The One Drop High Roller with a $111,111 buy-in will award a World Series of Poker bracelet with three percent of the house fees being donated to the One Drop charity.
• The Little One For One Drop with a $1,111 buy-in is the only unlimited re-entry tournament of the event with players able to re-buy as many times as they like during the first four levels of play.
• The first ever Open Face Chinese Poker tournament in the history of the World Series will be held on July 13^th although an official World Series of Poker bracelet will not be awaraded.

You can stay up to date with all the latest World Series of Poker news and updates here at poker.com.

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Professional Poker Player Mike Sexton has thrown his support behind the structure of the World Poker Tour after the running of the World Poker Tour Montreal event was criticized by Allen Kessler.

Kessler was critical of the structure of the tournament arguing that the levels during the tournament were too short meaning that the second half of the tournament was decided by All-In bets that don’t favor the more skilled player.

Kessler believes that longer tournament with wider structures add positive expected value (EV) for professional poker players.

“If you don’t extend the level length as the event progresses, stacks become too short at the end, resulting in a series of all ins before it finally corrects itself,” Kessler said on Facebook.

Sexton, who is considered a leading poker ambassador, disagrees with Kessler and believes longer tournament aren’t good for the game.

“As for wider structures and longer live events, I’m against them because I don’t think they’re good for the game nor for the players who think they’re good for them,” Sexton said in a blog on Party Poker.

“Longer events make it less likely that businessmen (amateurs that add value) will play a tournament as recreational players can’t take a week off their job or away from their families to play poker tournaments.

“Second, if a recreational player wins a big-time event, it helps the growth of the game.

Sexton uses Chris Moneymaker, whose victory in the 2003 World Series of Poker Main Event is said to have been one of the main reasons for the Poker boom, as an example of an amateur player winning a tournament having a positive effect on the entire poker community.

“Does anyone think that a top pro – and fill in any name you want – winning a big-time tourney would benefit the game (meaning bring more players into poker) more than a newbie to poker who won a satellite to get in, or a prominent businessman or celebrity, or especially, an attractive young lady just getting started in poker,” Sexton said.

Sexton said that four days is the perfect length for World Poker Tour events as it gives recreational players the best possible opportunity to play in events without putting their jobs at risk.

Mike Sexton is sponsored by Party Poker – one of the best online poker rooms in the industry.

Sign-up at Party Poker to play with Sexton and a range of other leading players today!

Leading professional poker player Daniel Negreanu has led calls for a ‘shot clock’ to be added to live poker tournaments.

The calls come after the live stream of the 2012 World Series of Poker Main Event final table was plagued by players taking a long time to make their decisions.

The three-handed battle lasted over eleven hours with the majority of that time taken up by Jesse Sylvia, Greg Merson and Jake Balsiger tanking when thinking about even the most of decisions.

Negreanu was one of many professional poker players who took to twitter during the final table to express his boredom at the slow pace of the play.

“Poker needs a shot clock of some kind. It’s become silly at this point how long each hand takes, often in mundane situations,” Negreanu posted on Twitter.

“If there was any doubt about the need for a clock in poker this is exhibit A. This is painstakingly tilting for casual viewers.”

Negreanu even went as far to propose how he feels the shot clock rules should be implemented.

“Each subsequent tank will be clocked 15 seconds earlier. 1st offense= warning 2nd= clock at 2 min 3rd= clock at 1:45 and so on,” he said.

“As players we CAN police habitual tankers on our own as its in our rights to do so. I think 3 minutes for a decision is MORE than enough.”

Respected poker veteran Mike Sexton, known as the ambassador of poker, supports Negreanu and believes slow play is becoming a significant problem.

“Guys take too long to act on their hand now,” Sexton said.

“It’s just too slow; it’s too boring so we have to get a shot clock in poker.”

Some events, like the Aussie Millions, have experimented with shot clock tournaments but it appears unlikely that this issue will have a universal solution anytime soon.

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