Preview: 2012 Aussie Millions Poker Championship

January 24th, 2012 by Christian Cornish

Just one week from now marks the beginning of one of the years biggest tournaments, the 2012 Aussie Millions. Based at Crown Casino in Melbourne Aussie Millions features not only a prestigious $10,000 buy-in Main Event, but a multitude of compelling side events. Action kicks off on Thursday the 12th, with opening event offering a $1,100 deep stack tournament, with three available flights on separate days.

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Life’s Good at 888poker With the LG Massive Giveaway Campaign

January 22nd, 2012 by Brianna Cassell

All it takes is a $10 deposit to qualify. New players will also receive 888poker’s renowned free $8/5 offer upon registration – no deposit required.. 888poker is always striving to live up to its “We Play Different” motto and this winter is no exception. To give their 888poker players what they really want this holiday season they have aligned with the brand leader in electronics, LG, to bring cutting edge 3D electronics to 888poker prize pools. In partnership with LG, 888poker is giving out $50,000 worth of LG 3D TVs and other LG home entertainment products every week from December 11th to February 2nd. Full post…

A Bit of Mainstream Press for UB/Excapsa Lawsuit

January 20th, 2012 by Xavier Traeger

Michael Brunker gives a bit of press for UB issues. Image from msnbc.msn.com

One part of what I gave Mike that he couldnt find space for is how much I support Alan Engles and the aggrieved players discovery efforts I can only stress that Id have done something like this myself if I thought I had proper legal standing as a UB player, but I played on UB and AP only for a brief period at smaller stakes, and probably wasnt directly cheated.  Im not sure what they can uncover, but I applaud the effort and will help them where I can.

WPT Adds New Main Event to Season X

January 17th, 2012 by Brianna Cassell

The World Poker Tour (WPT) announced Tuesday that it was adding a new Main Event to the current Season X schedule, the WPT Lucky Hearts Poker Open at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel in Hollywood, Florida.  The $3,500 buy-in tournament is scheduled for February 10th through February 14th.

While the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel is a new venue on the World Poker Tour, this will not be the first time a WPT event has been held there.  The debut WPT event at the casino, the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Showdown, was just this past April during Season IX.  Taylor Von Kriegenbergh prevailed in the $10,000 touranment, besting 422 opponents to win over $1.1 million.  The WPT Regional Series was also held at the casino in both November and December.

Unlike many World Poker Tour final tables, the WPT Lucky Hearts final table will not be televised, but it can still be seen via live streaming on the World Poker Tour website.

This new Main Event is now the fourth in WPT Season X in the state of Florida, joining WPT Jacksonville (November 2011), the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown (April 2012), and the second running of WPT Jacksonville (April-May 2012).  Since the state lifted its harsh restrictions on live poker games in 2010, Florida has seen more and more action from tournament organizers and cash game players alike.  While the southeastern United States still has a ways to go to be considered truly poker friendly, players in the region now have a number of viable options.

The World Poker Tour just completed a string of tournaments in December.  Prague was the stop during the first week of the month as 571 players ponied up €3,500 for their shot at the €450,000.  Russias Andrey Pateychuk took it down, using one heck of a run of luck to win his second major title of the year.  Immediately following WPT Prague, James Dempsey won the WPT Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic at the Bellagio in Las Vegas, beating 412 opponents and winning $821,612.  Finally, this weekend saw the conclusion of the €3000 + €300 WPT Venice, held at the Casino di Venezia.  Edoardo Alescio made his first live tournament cash a big one, as he won the event and took the first prize of €194,000.

The World Poker Tour is taking a short break for the holidays and will resume on January 5th with WPT Ireland at the Citywest Hotel in Dublin.  The Tour will then head back to Venice in February for the WPT Venice Grand Prix before going back to the States for the WPT Lucky Hearts Poker Open.

Attendance down but PokerStars PCA finishes on high note

January 14th, 2012 by Xavier Traeger

Despite a 30% decrease in attendance for the 2012 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) Main Event the tournament series as a whole was quite a success, with Viktor Isildur1 Blom capturing his first major tournament title, 2010 WSOP Main Event Champion Jonathan Duhamel overcoming some personal hardships to book over $1 million in prize-money over the course of the PCA, and a tough final table for the Main Event, eventually won by amateur poker player John Dibella.

PCA Super-High-Roller

The 2012 PCA began with the $100k buy-in Super-High-Roller event which drew 29 players (down just three players from last years tournament).

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