The annual World Series of Poker, which is held at the Rio Hotel & Casino in the American gambling capital of Las Vegas, has announced that it will launch a new All Star game at this year's festival.

The new All Star game is a reworking of the outgoing Tournament of Champions event, which saw specially invited previous WSOP bracelet winners compete for a winner takes all prize. The new tournament, officially called the $1m WSOP Tournament of Champions Freeroll, will feature a fixed field, more fan interaction and, most importantly for the players, more paying positions.

The 27 person field for the new All Star game will be made up of 5 specially invited guests and 22 WSOP bracelet holders that are voted for online by fans. Currently, there are 521 living bracelet holders that are eligible to play, however this list does not necessarily equate to the most popular players of today's game. For example, popular players such as Tom 'durrrr' Dwan would not be eligible for the tournament as they do not have a WSOP bracelet.

The five people who will automatically qualify for the tournament will be the last three winners of the old Tournament of Champions and the outgoing WSOP Champion and WSOP Europe Champion.

The All Star game will start on June 27th with the final table being competed on July 4th. The two dates were chosen as they do not clash with other high profile tournaments.

World Poker Tour’s Bay 101 unusual Shooting Star event came to an end over the weekend and will all eyes on Phil Hellmuth is was McLean Karr who avoided the radar and came through to take the event. In a gruelling eleven hour contest that finally finished at 3.00am Saturday morning Karr took the first place $878,500 prize.

Karr faced off against Andy “BkiCe” Seth seemed to drift away in the early hours as Karr holding pocket eights, three bet Seth who then went all-in holding nothing more than pocket fours. The table didn’t do him any favours either showing K-10-3-A-A and so he ended up having to be happy with second place and $521,200 in prize money.

Karr came out as the surprise package, especially when considering that on day he was bleeding chips and down to his last 30,000. In an interview after the final result he admitted that he had finally learnt to be patience and it seemed a lesson well learnt.

The biggest surprise of the day must surely have been Hellmuth’s exit and in spite of being the chip leader on day two he was the first finalist to leave the table and curl up in a ball for several minutes. Matt Keikoan was next to take the walk followed by Hasan Habib for the fourth slot Dan O’Brian, after a long interval of play was eventually eliminated into a respectable third place and $292,800 to the good.

There has been quite a buzz going around about the identity of the unknown Isildur1, but that is not the only thing keeping people talking about this unknown Swedish player. Isildur1 ran over the online tables like a heat wave, and people quickly began to take notice as he dominated some of the biggest games online. However, that was not meant to last forever.

Brian Hastings had a monster session over Isidur1 taking $4.2 million from him in a single session. After a string of subsequent losses, Isildur1 retreated from the tables for a short time. He has since returned, newly energized from his hiatus, to take control of the tables again. However, he faced a crushing blow earlier this week.

The day began with Isildur1 and Col South going head to head in a $200/$400 PLO match. South proceeded to dump $240,779 to Isildur1 before upping the stakes to $300/$600 PLO. This only proved to exasperate South’s losing streak, as he lost another $401,733 over the course of 566 hands.

Brian Hastings made a move to jump in on the $300/$600 PLO game and started with a $250,000 loss. The stakes got deeper as Hastings sought to recover his losses in the $500/$1,000 game. Hastings dropped another $581,954 before throwing in the towel.

Then Isildur1 brought his fury against Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo in $200/$400 NL Hold’em. Bonomo lost over $100,000 before looking for better options. It seemed as though Isildur1 couldn’t be stopped, but all good things must come to an end.

Isildur1’s upswing took a minor dive. It began when he lost $30k to skjervoy in $100/$200 PLO. Then he lost another $350k back to South, but he was able to retain a major profit for the day. In total, he ended up with over $1.5 million. That’s not bad for a day’s worth of work!

In one of the most surprising turn of events in recent poker history, legendary female poker player Annie Duke has won the 2010 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship. She bested an elite field that consisted of many of the biggest names in the poker community, including Erik Seidel, who she beat in the final round with a 2-1 win. For her victory, Duke scored a cool $500,000 prize purse, with Seidel taking home $250,000 with his runner-up finish.

Most viewers I imagined were surprised to see a female player make it through what is always a heavily male-dominated tournament, but Anne seemed to have the luck of the cards, and the schedule, on her side. Looking back on the opponents she faced, Duke definitely did not have the toughest draw in the tournament. Her toughest opponent was arguably Andy Bloch in round 1, but from there she then went on to play against numerous players that have just recently entered the spotlight due to their WSOP success including Jerry Yang, Darvin Moon and Dennis Phillips. While all of those players have proven they have talent, there’s no way they represented the same challenge that would’ve been provided by players the caliber of Phil Ivey, Daniel Negraneau or Barry Greenstein.

Seidel seemed to have a tougher draw of opponents overall, netting Peter Eastgate, Scotty Nguyen, Huck Seed and David Williams, which is why it was doubly impressive to see him progress all the way to the finals considering that in the previous five years of the NBC Heads-Up Championship he never progressed out of round 1.

Duke has now racked up a total of $2,247.824 in career winnings and can now add this marquee victory to her already impressive resume that includes a WSOP bracelet win in 2004 and first place honors at the inaugural WSOP Tournament of Champions.

Here are the final results from the event:

Final Results:
1: Annie Duke — $500,000
2: Erik Seidel — $250,000
3: Scotty Nguyen — $125,000
3: Dennis Phillips — $125,000
5: Jerry Yang — $75,000
5: Doyle Brunson — $75,000
5: Jason Mercier — $75,000
5: Peter Eastgate — $75,000
9: Paul Wasicka — $25,000
9: Eli Elezra — $25,000
9: Annette Obrestad — $25,000
9: Barry Greenstein — $25,000
9: Gabe Kaplan — $25,000
9: Phil Laak — $25,000
9: Chris Moneymaker — $25,000
9: Jamie Gold — $25,000

Armed Gunmen Rob European Poker Tour Berlin Event

You don’t often hear about too many dangerous things going on at poker tournaments these days, but a scary situation unfolded on day 4 at the European Poker Tour Belin €5,000 no-limit hold’em main event when four armed men burst into the tournament registration area of the Grand Hyatt Hotel. The tournament room was immediately evacuated until security deemed the situation safe enough to allow the players back in, only to find that tables, chairs and chips had been thrown all over the place.

The staff of the EPT, under the direction of Director Thomas Kremser, worked quickly to restore order to the tournament and eventually got the event back up and running with 20 players remaining in the tournament. The €1,000 no-limit hold’em event, which was also disturbed by the incident, was eventually canceled as a result. Cameras from EPT Live captured some of the commotion, but quickly went offline went they learned what was happening.

“An armed robbery by six men took place today at EPT Berlin,” said EPT spokesperson Kristy Thompson. “Nobody was seriously injured. We hope to re-start all events at 4pm local time. A police investigation is under way. If you have video footage or photographs that could help the police, please contact the EPT organizers as soon as possible.

The tournament resumed after a few hours and a police investigation is now under way. The tournament is taking place on the first floor of the Grand Hyatt Hotel at Marlene-Dietrich-Platz and is being held by SPIELBANK Berlin Casino.

The police are working closely with the EPT and SPIELBANK Berlin. Police are asking anyone who has information, video footage or photographs that might aid the investigation to contact them.”

The highly anticipated poker reality show that debuted on the G4 network has decided to cancel the show for a second season. The show debuted on August 16, 2009 and ran for ten episodes. The concept was intriguing and had the poker community talking about the four young poker stars.

Jay “Krantz” Rosenkrantz, Dani Stern, Emil Patel, and Brian Roberts were the four young online players who were chosen for the series. The concept was simple. They had two months to make $2 million collectively. Each week the one who made the least amount of money would have to do some embarrassing task.

Anticipation for the series was high among the poker community, but ratings fizzled. The first two weeks of the challenge was positive as the group made $200,000 towards their goal. However, week 3 marked the inevitable downswing that ultimately kept the group from reaching their $2 million dollar mark. In the end they only ended up making $676,000.

Aside from the fact that the group missed their mark by a mile, the group failed to be dynamic enough to keep viewers intrigued. Interest came from watching how young online poker players cope with winning and losing hundreds of thousands of dollars. However, it was difficult for the audience to connect with any members of the group and some of the non-poker sequences felt forced and cheesy.

Rosenkrantz said about his experience, “I learned a lot doing 2 Months, $2 Million…not the least of which was what people really liked about it and what didn’t work. Hopefully we’ll get a chance to let that experience work for us.”

In November 2009 Patrick Antonius won the biggest pot in online poker history against the unnamed Isidur1. In a $500/$1,000 Pot Limit Omaha game both players were sitting over $400,000 deep. Preflop action was fairly standard, but the turn brought fireworks.

When the ace of diamonds hit the turn both players raised and re-raised until they were all in. The total in the pot was an impressive $878,959. Antonius and Isildur1 both had aces up with a river draw. Antonius had a flush draw and gutshot straight draw, and Isildur1 had a gutshot and a chance at a higher two pair.

As it happened, the 8d came on the riving which gave Antonius his gutshot and a massive pot. The session continued with Antonius having a $2.5 million lead on Isildur1. Surely this will not be the last news worthy hand played between the two competitors.

Previous to this hand, the record breaking online pot was between Tom “durrrr” Dwan and Di “Urindanger” Dang. In October 2008 the two hot shots played an exploding eight hour session. It was a six handed game with “La Key U”, Di “Urindanger” Dang, Guy “elmariachimacho” Laliberte, Gus Hansen, Tom “durrrr” Dwan, and John Juanda.

Dang had opened for $3,000 with “La Key U” folding in front. Laliberte flat called, and Dwan raised to $16,300 in the cutoff. Juanda and Hansen folded leaving Dang to re-raise to $45,000. Laliberte folded and Dang called. On a 5c 9h 4h board the action exploded leaving Dang all in for his last $367,671. Dwan called with Kc Kd and Dang showed Ac Ad. The turn and river bricked for Dwan and Dang scooped a monster for a total of $723, 938.

For the last month or so, the topic of intrastate online poker regulation has become a real hot subject in the poker industry, with numerous states expressing interest in taking matters into their own hands and trying to legalize poker for their residents, instead of waiting for a country-wide federal decision to be made. Now, it has been confirmed that Florida introduced its own intrastate online poker bill, having filed it on Tuesday.

The bill, titled HB 1441, The Internet Poker Consumer Protection and Revenue Generation Act of 2010, is designed to “create a framework for the state to regulate Internet poker sites that can ensure consumer protections and additional revenue to the state by authorizing, implementing, and creating a licensing and regulatory structure and system of Internet poker.”

The bill was filed by Florida Rep. Joseph Abruzzo, with reports claming that approx. 900,000 Florida residents gamble online and that intrastate regulation could bring $200 million a year to Florida. Currently the state is facing a $3.2 billion deficit and plans on charging each online poker site a $500,000 fee plus 20% of its monthly gross receipts if the bill is passed. The bill states that all online players under this bill would have to be 21-years-old and physically inside Florida’s borders in order to play.

The bill states that “Internet poker hub operator must register players and establish player accounts prior to play” and that accounts “may be established in person, by mail or telephone, or by any electronic means.”

If approved, the bill would go into effect on July 1st, 2010. The poker community is still waiting for one state to be successful with its intrastate bill, as it would make it much easier for other states to feed off that success and get their own regulations pushed through. The question still remains, however, if poker players are going to be happened with the greatly diminished number of players that will be available for them to play against, since intrastate laws require that online players be forced to play against only others from within the same state.

Poker has just passed another milestone in proving that it is not just a gambling game. The International Mind Sports Association has just announced that they intend to accept the International Federation of Poker as a member at their next meeting. This is huge for poker because if the IOC accepts poker then the International Olympic Committee with automatically accepts poker on this list of skill games. Other games that have already been accepted are chess, bridge, checkers, and go.

This is an amazing accomplishment in the fight to bring some legitimacy to poker. Chess has long had the notoriety of being a skillful game that has gained the respect of many all over the world. While poker has risen substantially over the last several years in popularity, the game continues to face legal and social persecution. With poker being hailed on the game level as other skill games there is a chance that the face of poker will change in the near future.

"Poker is not like other casino games. It's a social game where people are playing against each other, not the house, and a game where skill plays a bigger role than luck. There are 120 to 150 million poker players in the world and we deserve this recognition," says IFP president Anthony Holden.

Although poker will probably never be seen at the Olympic Games, the decision has other implications. As many courts are evaluating poker as a gambling or skill based game, the IOC’s recognition might be used to further prove the case that poker is widely accepted as a skill based game.

A German man, named Michael Olaf Schuett has recently been arrested for allegedly transferring over $70 million in online poker winnings to 23,000 people. Schuett started processing these online transactions to over 23,000 people from his own home.

Authorities were alerted when large checks started coming in from an unknown company. MCM Capital Management, owned by Schuett, was the company issuing the checks. As checks continued to surface, banks began to question the origin.

FedEx employees also began to question Schuett as a high number of packages were being delivered from his home. According to a federal complaint, “Federal Express employees became suspicious of Schuett’s activity when Schuett began mailing over 150 parcels per week. FedEx employees opened several of the parcels and determined that each contained a check.”

It has been determined that Schuett had over 40 bank accounts that he was using to send and accept wire transfers for the purpose of facilitating his money transfer business. Some of the banks that he used were Bank of America, Wachovia, and Shamrock.

Schuett had multiple businesses which he used as fronts to carry out his money transferring operations. Some of the business names he used was MCM Capital Management Corp., MI Global Inc., South Naples Escrow Co., and Payment Services Group Inc. When asked what he did for a living, Schuett would say he was a real estate investor.

Schuett is now being held at Lee County jail without bond for money laundering, failing to register as a money transfer business, and other violations. Agents are executing search warrants to seize his computers, documents, and assets acquired through illegal online gambling activities.

Ever since online poker started getting hit with strict rules and policies in the United States, the Poker Players Alliance has been leading the charge to make these online card rooms legal again for US players. The PPA has always wanted to regulate poker across the entire country, but instead now finds that more than likely the process will happen one state at a time, with California, Florida, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Iowa all considering separate intrastate poker regulations.

“The idea is not something that the PPA opposes,” PPA Executive Director John Pappas said. “However, we are very concerned what intrastate poker means for the online poker player and the online poker market today.”

The major concern the PPA has with intrastate poker regulation is the fear that these new laws will force players within these states to play on online sites that only allow competition from that one particular state, removing the freedom to play against players from all over the world. A number of gaming corporations in California for example have already announced their intentions to form their own online card rooms in the instance that intrastate poker is approved.

Pappas believes that each individual state would make more money by allowing for an open market when it comes to regulation, allowing customers to play against players from other areas. If restricted purely to those that live within the state, Pappas fears that these new card rooms will not be able to reach critical mass, severely limiting the amount of gaming options presented to the card players and limiting the potential revenue for the state.

“Let me be clear: We support licensing and regulation. We think it’s achievable,” said Pappas in a February hearing in Florida. “Our preference is to do it at the federal level, but if we are going to go down to the state level like you guys are contemplating here (in Florida), and like they’re contemplating in California, competition has to be key.”

When traveling to play poker events, cash games, and tournaments there are a few things besides good play you need to bring in your bag of tricks. Below are some tips for preparing to travel for poker.

Make A Plan
If you are planning to play a series of tournaments, take a look at the tournament schedule and get an idea of what events you are planning to play. If time allows, try to schedule in a day to take a break and enjoy the sites or do something outside of the poker room. This will help you clear your mind after a few long days of tournament play.

Choose A Hotel
There are a few things to consider when choosing a hotel. To save on rooms, get a few buddies together and split the cost of the room. Booking in advance will also save a ton of money and allow you to lock in the best rate. Also consider the proximity of the hotel to the poker room. If you are playing tournaments you will have to consider how long it will take you get ready and get to the tournament before it starts. Sometimes convenience is worth the extra cost to stay closer to where you will be spending most of your time.

Load Up On Music
This is a great time to download all that music you’ve been putting off adding to your Ipod. New tunes are a great way to entertain yourself while you are grinding it out at the tables. Make sure you get all your music together before you leave so you don’t get stuck without it when you get to the hotel. Even though the hotel might say they have internet, sometimes it runs so slow it is difficult even surf the web.

Poker Attire
Bring your lucky hoodie, shoes, socks, underwear, etc. Part of playing good poker is being comfortable and having confidence. There is no way you can play your best poker if those new jeans that cute sales girl sold you are smothering you while you’re trying to bluff someone. Bring what is comfortable and warm enough to withstand the breezy poker room.

The online poker forums have been buzzing with rumors of just who is going to be invited to this year’s NBC Heads-Up Poker Championship, an event that has become one of the more prestigious in poker. There are some names that every year you know will be included, such as Phil Ivey, Doyle Brunson, Antonio Esfandiari and Phil Hellmuth, but NBC does have a tendency to mix things up and throw in a few players you wouldn’t expect to see. Finally, the company has released the official list for this year’s Heads-Up Championship, which as in 2009 is made up of 64 players.

Twenty two of the names on the list were automatically qualified and given an invite to the game due to accomplishments they racked up last season, including WSOP Champion Joe Cada. Two players who qualified but will not be playing are Jeffrey Lisandro (who was the WSOP Player of the Year) and Barry Shulman (who won the WSOP Europe main event).

Another high-profile dropout came from poker godfather Doyle Brunson, who was reserved a spot but decided not to participate. He spoke on the matter in one of his online blogs stated: “I’ve got an invitation to play in a big TV tournament and immediately afterwards is the NBC Heads Up Championship. I’ll have to bow out of all these tournaments because there is no use playing unless you are at your best. The competition has gotten so good you need to feel good physically as well as mentally to have a chance to win.”

Poker has been on the tips of everyone’s tongues these days, and the success of Lady Gaga’s biggest hit has inspired other to use poker as a new theme in their music. Lady Gaga’s song Poker Face was an international hit and sold over 8 million albums. Now, Marcel Luske and Jason Mershon are jumping on the bandwagon.

Marcel Luske has release an album of songs centered around poker. Apparently Luske is quite talented and exhibited his new songs during the Doyal Bruson Five Diamond event in December. A few well known poker professionals attended the concert and later twittered about Luskse’s talent.

Jason Mershon has recently released a song called Playing for a Livin. To promote his song Mershon is offering 50% of any final table winnings at this years WSOP to the first 15,000 people who download and buy his song. He is planning on playing the Main Event, so this might be a pretty fantastic investment for his listeners if he actually makes it.

Although it might be a pretty good return on investment, Mershon doesn’t have the most impressive tournament stats around. According to PokerPages player database Mershon only has four tournament cashes since 2004 and every one of them are under $900. But who knows, he could be the next Darvin Moon.

“I wrote the song to humorously tell what it's really like being a professional poker player; the sarcastic attitudes of many professional poker players; and the monotony of actually playing poker for a living and grinding out the long hours in a casino card room,” stated Mershon.

For more information on where to purchase the song visit www.playinpokerforalivin.com.

Last week, the California state director for the Poker Players Alliance (PPA) attended a informational hearing in the California Senate Governmental Organization Committee, and left the meeting confident that the state’s legislature will quickly move towards legalizing intrastate poker in the near future.

"I think it's clear after the hearing that, if not for the financial mess the state is in, these hearings wouldn't even be held," Steve Miller said. "It's such a mess, and they are trying so hard to close the budget gap, that it seems like something is going to happen for certain."

California’s financial woes have been well publicized over the last year, with state officials looking into every possible resource as a potential way of driving in revenue, with online poker being one of the more lucrative options. The meeting lasted more than eight hours, with Miller and PPA executive director John Pappas on hand to testified on the behalf of the poker rights for the 127,255 PPA members that hail from California.

"The PPA respects the due diligence of the committee to investigate 'if' online poker can be regulated, and we stand here to tell you that it unquestionably can be regulated and, in fact, already is being regulated, very effectively, across the globe in well-respected jurisdictions," Pappas said in his testimony.

One of the biggest roadblocks towards the regulation for California comes from the California Tribal Business Alliance, which overseas Indian-related gaming in the state. One of the alliance’s members, Leslie Lohse, says that regulating online poker in California would violate tribal gaming compacts and result in the stopping of payments from the tribes to the state’s general fund, amounts which total in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

The NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship is heading back to Caesars Palace in Las Vegas for its sixth season. The Championship will run March 4-7 and be presented by GoDaddy.com. This event is pretty impressive because 64 of the world’s greatest poker players will battle head to head in a game of wit and skill.

Some of the famous figures that will be there include Chris Ferguson, Phil Hellmuth, Phil Ivey, and Daniel Negreanu. Husck Seed, who is last years defending champion, will also be there to defend his title. Vanessa Rousso, a GoDaddy girl and last year’s runner up, will try her luck again at beating out the boys. Joe Cada will be one of the new fixtures at this year’s event.

"We're excited to bring this annual tradition back to Caesars Palace," said Jon Miller, executive vice president of NBC Sports. "The National Heads-Up Poker Championship's compelling poker action has become a must-see for the casual and hardcore poker fan alike."

The tournament is a single elimination tournament. The winner of each round progresses to the next bracket until they reach the final two for the championship round. The total prize pool will be 1.5 million with a first place prize of $500,000.

Players will be matched up with each other randomly for the first round. Selections will be made during the tournament’s Draw Party at Caesars’ PURE Nightclub on Thursday, March 4. Matches will begin the next day at 12 pm. Don’t worry if you are not able to make it to Las Vegas to watch the matches in person because the tournament will be broadcast on NBC on Sundays in April and May.

For the past couple of years the poker community has been following the lawsuit between Clonie Gowen and Full Tilt. The lawsuit was originally filed on November 14, 2008. Gowen filed the suit seeking $40 million claiming, among other things, breach of contract. Those named in the suit included Full Tilt Poker, Tiltware, Tiltware CEO Raymond Bitar, as well as a group of Team Full Tilt players.

One of Gowen’s main contentions with the lawsuit was that in 2004 she was offered a 1% stake in the Full Tilt site in exchange for her services as a celebrity poker endorser. However, she states that she was not given the 1% compensation.

Since hearing the case U.S district Court Judge Robert Jones determined that there was a fundamental flaw in the allegations put forth by Gowen. She was never held responsible for the site’s losses prior to become a profitable business, so it seemed unlikely that she had any legal partnership.

“Nowhere in the allegations does Plaintiff allege, consistent with a general partnership, that the agreement made her liable for 1% of Full Tilt Poker’s losses before it became profitable. Therefore, it is not plausible that a partnership, limited or general was offered,” states the decision.

The case had been previously dismissed in April 2009 to be heard again at a later date when changes were made to the complaint. Then in October 2009, Judge Jones denied Gowen’s appeal and dismissed the amended complaint. The judge asked for Gowen to change the complaint a third time to only include Tiltware as the sole defendant. However, the third time was not a charm as the case has been dismissed for the third and final time.

In case you missed it, High Stakes Poker aired its first new espisode of 2010 on Sunday, February 14th at 8pm EST on the Game Show Network. HSP has long been one of the favorite poker shows on TV, featuring well-known professional players competing at nose-bleed stakes using their own money. This will be the sixth season of High Stakes Poker, and while the show hasn’t changed its formula much since Season 1, this year they are looking to change things up a little bit more, namely by dumping AJ Benza in favor of poker babe Kara Scott.

True, the attempts at humorous interaction between Benza and co-host Gabe Kaplan did have their charming moments, much of the commentary fell flat in comparison to the high energy/informative dialogue that could be heard on other shows like the World Poker Tour. That’s what happens when you put two analysts together without a color commentary, a diasterous move especially when only one of the analysts knows anything about poker.

Kara Scott should be able to breath some new life into the party, as the former host of the European Poker Tour has plenty of time in front of the camera, plus she’s also proven herself a formidable poker player, having cashed in the WSOP main event both in 2009 and 2008. Their back and forth in the first episode was underwhelming, but that’s understandable considering that it takes time for any on-screen duo to find their chemistry.

The buy-in for this season of High Stakes Poker is set at a minimum of $200,000, with blinds at $300-$600 with a $100 ante. The entirety of season six will be filmed at the Golden Nugget Hotel and Casino in Downtown Las Vegas. Many veterans of the show will return this year including Patrik Antonious, Doyle Brunson, Tom Dwan, Phil Hellmuth, Daniel Negreanu and Antonio Esfandiari, along with a few new faces like Lex Veldhuis and Dennis Phillips.

When a city is selected to host the Olympic Games, it guarantees a rush of tourism in the area from the time of the opening ceremonies to the end of the closing ceremonies. Local businesses often reap huge benefits from this vast infusion of potential customers, and one casino in Vancouver underwent a dramatic poker room overhaul in order to be ready in time for the Winter Olympics, giving the crowds a place to play some poker.

The Edgewater Casino, which is located near BC Place in downtown Vancouver, the site of the opening ceremonies, finished a 15-table poker room in time to accommodate the influx of tourists that may be looking for get in some Hold’em while in the area. The add-on was officially announced on February 9th, where they’ve been open for business ever since.

“We’re committed to giving our guests what they want, and that’s exactly what we have unveiled for our poker players,” said Lorea Ytterberg, poker manager of Edgewater Casino. “Our new space is a natural fit for a poker room that gives our players a private retreat from the casino floor, a convenient bar and lounge, and a Las Vegas-style gaming experience.”

Just some of the features offered by the card room includes broadcasts of Pay-Per-View and other major sporting events, complimentary poker lessons, advance call-in wait list, and short wait times. The new room is already catching the attention of Canadian pros like Brad Booth, who has been found at the tables regularly since it opened.

“They have a $5-$5 PLO game that goes regularly and there is no cap on the buy-in, so it’s a good little game. It’s a good game while I’m home here in town,” said Booth. “The staff is great, Lorea does a great job. It’s a great place to play.”

Phil Hellmuth Jr. has earned the title for the world’s best No Limit Texas Hold’em tournament player in the world. Not only is he a great poker player, but he continues to break records and set standards for the industry. In 2007 he broke the world record for the most World Series of Poker Championships totaling 11 bracelets. It started in 1989 when 24 year old Hellmuth became the youngest poker player to win the Main Event. Then in 1993, he set the record for the most bracelets won in a single year.

Aside from being a dominating force at the table, Phil Hellmuth is famous for his big personality. Known as the “Poker Brat,” he doesn’t hold his tongue towards the other players at the table. His fits over other players’ “bad” plays have become an entertaining spectacle. He is one of the most colorful characters in the industry, and always keeps the viewing audience entertained. Love him or hate him, his talent at the table are known worldwide.

Hellmuth has over 9 million in tournament wins, and is sponsored by UltimateBet.com. His tournament success has also influenced best selling poker books including Play Poker Like the Pros, and multiple instructional DVDs. He is also a strong believer in giving back by supporting charities like Heifer International which benefits developing villages in the world’s poorest countries.

At the WPT Bellagio I had experienced all the highs and lows of poker, and by dinner break I was the top 1 or 2 in chips. I was downing Bailey’s and coffee due to lack of sleep, but my hot streak had given me the adrenaline I needed to stay focused. After coming back from dinner break that all seemed to change.

Shortly after dinner break my table broke when I took out the last short stack on our table. We were down to four tables. After knowing my opponents inside and out and being able to push them around with my stack, I was seated at a table with unknowns. I told myself that I wasn’t going to get stupid with my chips and to play smart. I went two orbits without playing a hand before being moved to another table.

The next table didn’t bode well for me. A young aggressive German pro raised almost every hand knowing that the blinds were high enough to convince some players to fold to his raises. A few times I would reraise him to take the pot down, but his aggressiveness was keeping me from being the initiator. My cards were cold, so I was only able to pick up chips in a few spots. Without being able to pick up more pots I was swiftly losing the chip lead.

When we got down to two tables, I was sitting at an average stack and the blinds and antes were high enough that any pot could make you or break you. The German was on my table and continued to be aggressive with his big stack. There was also an equally aggressive French kid on the table who was now sitting as a short stack after bluffing his chips away. With blinds at 6,000/12,000 the German raised to 27,000. The French kid smooth called behind leaving himself with 170,000. I looked down at KK. I knew the German didn’t have a hand, but if I made it cheap enough he would see a flop no matter what he had. I wanted to keep him in the pot and take my chances of getting some chips from him. I was worried that if I raised too much that the French guy would shove feeling that he was committed. While considering my options, I counted out the chips and slid them across the line.

This is one time I should have announced my bet. Instead of raising it to 80,000 as I intended I had miscounted my chips and minraised. The German got out of the way and the Frenchman smooth called leaving himself with ten bets. Of course the flop brought an ace to which the Frenchman immediately shoved, and after careful consideration I reluctantly folded. He showed AQ. It is hard to know what the outcome would have been if I had not miscalculated my raise. It would have put the Frenchman in a position to either go all in or fold with his hand. This misstep could have saved me some chips in the event that he did go all in and I called.

I was able to knock a player out and hang on in the tournament until we reached the final table with ten players. The plan was to get to the final nine and then recess for the night to resume play the next day. Allen Cunningham, the German, and the Frenchman were at the final table so I knew it would be tough, but I was ready for the challenge. The first hand I was dealt pocket jacks, and being one of the short stacks I knew I would have to go all the way with it. I raised 2.5x and got an immediate all in from the other female at the table. I had eleven bets left with the BB coming around in two hands. I called, and she flipped over QQ. I wasn’t able to get lucky, and went out in a crushing 10th place. It was a quick end to my final table.

I was pretty happy with the way I played, but there were definite lessons to be learned. After the dinner break I made the mistake of letting up on my opponents when I should have been more aggressive. There has to be a balance when acquiring the chip lead of not being overly aggressive while still maintaining your dominance over the table. It will be something I will have to work on in the future, but overall I was glad to play well and run good in the critical points of the tournament.

Earlier this week, the Quebec government approved the province’s lottery commission to create and establish online poker and sports betting sites in 2010. The poker site will be ran by gaming company Loto-Quebec, in conjunction with the BC and Atlantic Lottery Corporation. Only residents within the province’s borders will have access to the site, though those same players will be allowed to play against users from other participating jurisdictions.

“I believe this to be an efficient way of fighting the underground economy,” said Quebec’s finance minister, Raymond Bachand. “Our citizens are not (currently) protected, and the money goes to illegal channels.”

According to Loto-Quebec, the poker site will use age-verification methods to keep underage players from playing, as well as including deposit limits and self-exclusion limits aimed at deterring problem gamblers.

“(Many) online gambling sites obviously do not offer an assistance program for vulnerable players,” said Loto-Quebec president and CEO Alain Cousineau. “(This) leaves the state to pick up the costs of problem online gambling without reaping any benefits.”

The Quebec government hopes to pull in at least $50 million in the next three years through the new venture, stating that regulating online poker was more practical than attempting to ban all existing gaming sites. And as usual, anti-gambling advocates are already speaking out against the new site, claiming that it will generate a large amount of problem gamblers.

“Any new type of gambling always attracts new people, especially now when it’s a hidden one that you can do in the den in your pajamas while your spouse is fast asleep,” a local anti-gambling advocate, Sol Boxenbaum, told CTV Montreal, a Quebec television station.

A little while back I talked about how eBay had an auction going for what many figured had to be a hoax; an official WSOP bracelet owned by the legendary T.J. Cloutier. The item was put up for sale by a pawn shop that claimed it had acquired the bracelet directly from T.J., a statement that has recently been confirmed by the poker pro himself. Well, that auction has ended and Cake Poker has scooped up the bracelet for a total of $4,006.

The bracelet was awarded to T.J. for winning the WSOP $5,000 no-limit hold’em championship, a feat that also netted himself $657,100. It is made of 14 karat gold and is diamond-encrusted, just one of the reasons why many players would never be able to part with it if they managed to win one. Cloutier hasn’t released an official reason why he pawned the bracelet in the first place, although it has been reported that he talked about it briefly with the producer of the Hardcore Poker Show.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” he said. “Yeah, it’s mine. I was short. I pawned it. I tried to get it back with my ticket but I was too late.”

Those following the journey of the bracelet wondered what exactly Cake Poker would do with the coveted prize, though the online site has already confirmed that they will be returning the bracelet to Cloutier after working it into some promotions.

“Since winning the bid and celebrating wildly, we have taken some time to reflect on our glorious new prize. As much as we would love to have a WSOP bracelet, or even award it to one of our cherished poker players, we can’t, in good conscience keep it from the man who rightfully won it, which is why we’ve decided to return it to T.J. Cloutier…just as soon as we have some fun with it.”

The LAPC had a very successful Day 1 start for their $1 million guarantee event with almost 1,300 players. At the end of Day 1A, there were 117 players that got paid, and 18 players advanced to Day 2. This was turning out to be an interesting tournament being that a player could play all four start days and make the money every day.

The beginning of Day 1B was fairly successful for me. I went from 3,000 in starting chips to 8,000 in just the first level. The first hand I played, I had called a raise after limping in middle position with 10 9 off suit. I check called the initial raiser all the way down with just a pair of tens with over’s, a flush, and a straight possibility on the board. After putting in 2/3 of his stack in, the initial raiser announced he had king high. Coupled with good cards and great reads I continued to take down some decent size pots. My play throughout the day was consistent and determined. However, I managed to make two mistakes that really put a dent in my upward momentum.

One mistake was early in the tournament. I noticed that there was a gentleman to my right who was very tight. If he called on the flop, it generally meant that he had a good hand and he would see it until the river. I raised preflop with two suited face cards and he called my raised after everyone else folded. I flopped a flush draw and a gut shot, and since there was an ace on the flop I fired a bet after he checked to me. I was hoping to use the ace as a scare card and take it down there, but he made the call. The turn saw similar action, and I pretty much put him all in on the river. He called showing a pair of aces with a nine kicker.

Although this might have been a good play against another player, I should have known that he was the one person on the table who wouldn’t be able to lay down top pair marginal kicker. I definitely should have slowed down after he called me on the flop knowing what kind of player he was. The point is: It can’t be a good play if you don’t take the type of player into account.

In the middle stages of the tournament, I ran into another sticky situation. I had just been moved to a new table and raised in middle position with Ah Kh. The big blind called. The flop came K 6 3 rainbow. The big blind checked, I bet, he min-raised me. Since I had just sat down at the table, I didn’t have much information on this guy. I called the raise. The turn brought a 9 to which the big blind immediately over pushed all in. It seemed like he was representing a set here. I had him covered, but if I made the call and was wrong it would cripple me. I decided to lay my hand down in hopes of finding a better spot against him. Sure enough, he showed me A Q for no pair.

As it turned out, I never got another shot to take his chips. It was also the best situation I had to gain a big chip stack, and I had let it slip through my fingers.
The tournament fizzled out from there. My cards went dry, and I wasn’t able to steal any pots. I ended up pushing all in over the top of a raise with QQ and got called by KQ off. He hit a gut shot straight on the turn to knock me out 40 places from the money.

When it comes to players willing to give back to the global community, poker has always played host to some of the most generous professional in the world of sports. Some poker pros donate money outright, while others like Jamie Gold host a number of charity-driven tournaments/events. Jennifer Harman has always been one of the frontrunners when it comes to giving back, even more so now that she has agreed to donate 1% of her future poker earnings to the NephCure foundation, an organization that researches cures for kidney diseases.

“Kidney disease is extremely difficult,” said Harman, who has undergone two kidney transplants herself. “It is invisible, and it affects kids and adults alike. NephCure is trying to find an answer, and I’m here to help by joining ‘All-in for a Cure.’”

The charity program ‘All-in for Cure’ has been in existence for some time now, having been founded by Poker Players International. The foundation asks poker players to donate 1% of their winnings to NephCure, with dozens of other pros including Lee Childs, Matt Glantz and Frank Vizza also a part of the cause.

“It is great to have someone with the pedigree and reputation of Jennifer joining PPI’s pledge program,” said PPI’s market head Eric Siegel, who has a son with kidney disease. “Having her involved in this program is a tremendous benefit to everyone, and I expect it to lead to more players coming on board. She understands the responsibility to give back. By doing so, hopefully we can find a cure for this horrible disease that affects thousands of people.”

In addition to her new commitment with NephCure, Harman will continue to host a special charity tournament that benefits the Nevada Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

Model and poker player, Lacy Jones, has just become the new fact of the CPT. She will be featured prominently on the tour’s new online video network Canadian Poker Player Television.

In recent years the CPT has seen a decline in female participation, and they are hoping that their new host will help bring women back to the felt.

Jones seems to be very excited about her new career with the CPT. “I truly love Canadians and am so happy to be a part of the Canadian Poker Tour,” said Jones.

To cement Jones’ place as host of the CPT, she will be featured on an upcoming issues of Canadian Poker Player Magazine, and will be the fact of the upcoming Winter Freeze out to be held at Cash Casino from Feb. 24-28.

“Here is a girl that loves hockey, loves Canadian beer and is an amazing poker player to top it off,” said CPT President Kelly Kellner.

Lacy Jones was originally hired by a poker company to do modeling work. She then moved on to hosting for the WSOP and doing various poker spokes modeling. Over the years she has proven that she is not just a pretty face in the poker room, but can be a contender on the tables as well. She has had multiple cashes in the Borgata Open and has a WSOP cash as well. She even picked up a sponsorship deal from Bodog.

I can definitely appreciate the concept of the poker home game, as that is the way that innumerable players are introduced to poker for the first time. Personally however, I can barely tolerate them unless the conditions are absolutely perfect. The reason I play more online poker than I do live poker is because live poker moves too slow for my tastes. Players often take too long to make decisions and human dealers just can’t calculate things like side pots with the speed and accuracy of a computer. Now look at a home game, where dealing is normally handled in a community format where everyone takes a turn, including the people that don’t know to burn a card in-between each street. Ugh.

The next headache is the quality of players at these home games. I played in a few where some participants have needed to keep a hand ranking cheat sheet with them so that they can remember that a flush beats a straight. As a byproduct of their lack of information, you can count on them never making a smart call or betting the right amount depending on the situation. Sure it can be looked at as easy money as long as your patient, but I’m not patient, I need a certain amount of hands per hour and to have everyone at my table filled with at least a general understanding of how games like Texas Hold’em work.

So if you’re reading this and considering yourself a fairly informed poker player and are considering throwing a home game or helping a buddy throw one, take my advice. If you’re looking to keep the game competition and moving along, don’t invite beginners, you’ll be sitting there for 5min per hand while they’re deciding to make a call with third pair. Next, when it comes to dealing, always have two decks in play, unless everyone at the table is really adapt at shuffling quickly. The reason for two decks is that way you always have a deck shuffled and ready to go for the next hand, with one player shuffling the deck that’s not in use for that particular hand so that it’s prepared for the next round. Employ a card-shuffling machine if you like, just make sure there’s always a freshly shuffled deck ready to go.

The next suggestion is pretty hardcore and should only be used by those running a really strict home game, maybe even a home game tournament, and that’s to turn off any extrasensory devices like a television while the game is going. If you put a major boxing/UFC fight on the tube during your home game, the entire match is going to be slowed down due to everyone paying attention to the TV, which is fine as long as you don’t care about having a tightly run game.

Lastly, if you don’t already own some of the standard poker accessories like a dealer button, chip racks or nice cards, you may want to invest $50 to pick all that stuff up. It adds another level of professionalism to your games and will assist in speeding up things. Again, only take these tips to heart if want a home game to closely emulate the type of experience provided at a live card room. If you’re looking to just have a get together with friends, then play it as loosely as you want, just don’t invite me.

After some horrid downswings at the WPT Bellagio I had found some breathing room after getting lucky and winning an all in for a huge pot. My table was getting tougher with four pros now seated on my table. I had just accumulated chips when I looked down at pocket jacks. The guy on my right moved all-in in front of me. It should have been an immediate call from me because, despite his healthy chip stack, his only move for the last two hours had been all-in. I was sure it was a race, but after hours of fighting for a chip stack I didn’t want to throw it all away on a race. I had some chips to play with, and I wanted to play. I folded and he showed AQ. There is no telling if I would have won or not, but I felt good about the lay down.

My cards weren’t improving, but I was determined not to let that hinder my success. I tried to steal a few pots, but was forced to fold when someone came over the top of me. I was back down to being the short stack, so I was relieved when our table broke. I was elated when I saw towering chip stacks at the new table. This meant that if I came back I had a chance to really accumulate a bunch of chips. My first hand at the new table I shipped my chips in with 66 and busted the BB’s JJ. A few hands later I doubled up when I pushed a raised pot with five callers holding 99. In a matter of four hands, I was back in the game!

For the next few levels I went on a sick rush. When someone called me I always had a hand. When I was bluffing no one would call. When I called an all in behind, I would catch up to bust the player. I was sitting at about 70k, which was above average at the time, when I looked down at AhKh. The player to my right raised in front, I reraised, and he pushed all in. It was about 30k more for me to call. He had been showing aggression with mediocre hands, so it didn’t take me long to call when I found I would still have average stack if I lost. Since he was the most aggressive at the table besides me, I wanted to take the opportunity to knock him out. My opponent actually woke up with a hand and flipped over KK. Luckily, one of my three outs fell on the turn to knock out the young hopeful. I had taken control of my table, and I continued to dominate through calculated aggressiveness. At dinner break I found myself as one of the tournament chip leaders.

The Bellagio WPT event had started off well for me. I was playing strong, being aggressive, and dominating the table early. However, some players started to grow tired of a girl pushing them around and proceeded to put me in my place. By the third break the theme of the day was to double up the short stacks, so I was left with two moves: Ship it or fold.

I sat for a few levels not being able to pick up a good spot. Tables were starting to break down, and the two new guys to my right were raising a lot in front of me. Since I wasn’t picking anything up I was forced to fold. A young pro sat down to my left, and I could tell my the smell of tequila that it was going to be a long night if I had any plans on staying in the tournament. I was right, he was a nonstop talker and just loved the ring of his own voice. It didn’t matter if I was in a hand or not, he was talking and asking me questions about some kind of nonsense. At this point, coffee wasn’t helping my lack of sleep and this guy was swiftly wearing out his welcome.

Instead of letting him put me on tilt I muscled up a cordial face and pretended to be interested in what he was talking about. In actuality, I was so tired that it was taking all of my energy to stay focused on the table that everything he said went in one ear and out the other. It was time to start ordering the Bailey’s and coffee. Both myself and my chatty partner were in dire need of a double up. Everyone had folded to us in the blinds and I looked down at J 3 offsuit. “I’m all in.” He checked his cards and rambled something about him having a good hand to call with. “I don’t think you’d bluff me. I fold,” he said showing the ace of spades. My decision to deal with his incessant talking paid off. The blinds and antes were a significant addition to my chip stack.

With the blinds and antes going up to 400/800 I was left with eight bets. I wasn’t picking up any cards, so I was just looking for good spots to push in. There weren’t any good opportunities to push, but when I was in the small blind I picked up a good spot. The UTG+1 player raised to 2,600 with five callers behind. I looked down at K 4 off, and decided that with only 5,600 left it was time to get lucky. I went all in. The original raiser was the only caller with A J. The board came out A K 6 7 4. The pot was substantial and gave me enough to start playing again. This was the momentum I needed to stay in the game.

In December I was fortunate enough to have a final table finish at the $550 WPT Bellagio event, but the road to get there was full of ups and downs. There were moments in the tournament where I felt unstoppable, and then that was quickly washed away by a defeating blow to my chip stack where I would have to rebuild. When I got to the money I was chip leader for the tournament, and I was feeling pretty good about my chances of taking it down. Overall, I made some great plays, some bad plays, and got lucky when I needed to. In the end, the only thing standing in my way was nine other players including Allen Cunningham.

The day began with six hours of sleep, McDonalds breakfast, and lots of coffee. Two of my other poker buddies had convinced me to skip the review for my final exam and play the tournament instead. I’m sure they knew it wouldn’t be hard for me to turn down school for poker. When the tournament began, the room was filled and pros were scattered everywhere. I hit an early rush of cards and was playing really aggressively in the first few rounds. One of the young guys at my table was convinced that I was bluffing every time which allowed me to eventually trap him when I got pocket aces. I continued my aggressive style until other players started to play back at me. At this point it was time for me to switch gears.

In the first few levels of the antes I slowed down my play significantly. This was probably a mistake since this is a crucial time to pick up extra chips with the antes while still having a fair amount of fish on the table. However, I wasn’t getting cards and a few of the players were determined not to let me run them over anymore. Little by little I dwindled down until I started catching cards again.

When I started getting some breathing room with tightening my play and getting decent starting hands, this was about the time where the short stacks were making moves every chance they got. I lost a huge portion of my chip stack when I put a short stack in with my AK vs. AQ. Same guy doubled off of me again when he cracked my KK with his QQ. Then I tried to put pressure on the blinds (both short stacks) from the button by putting them both all in. The small blind called and the big blind folded. I turned over Js 7d thinking I was completely dominated. He showed 7c 3c. The runner runner clubs gave him the win he needed to double up.