James Mitchell Wins The 2010 Irish Poker Open! (€600,000)

James Mitchell  got a fair slice of luck on the final table today, but managed to complete an exhilarating victory to take the trophy back home to England, following in the footsteps of Neil Channing back in 2008. Much consolation must go to Paul Carr though, who put up a brave performance today and was incredibly unlucky to not win today after playing some exceptionally aggressive poker heads up.

 

Congratulations to all our other finalists including Rob Sherwood who manage to also take home an extra €100,000 for winning the PaddyPower Sole Survivor contest. This gave an enjoyable twist to the tournament and certainly increased the entertainment for those watching.

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Today: Winner Poker $1k Cash Freeroll

Qualification for today's $1,000 Cash Freeroll at Winner Poker is about to close. If you haven't heard yet, you can qualify for only one player point! The freeroll is set for April 6 at 19:35 GMT. Interested players will only need to sign up for a Winner Poker account through PokerNews, make a minimum deposit and earn one player point to use as 'buy-in' to the tournament. Just look for PokerNews $1k Freeroll under the Scheduled tab of the Winner Poker lobby. While you are there, you will notice we've got other exclusive promotions at Winner Poker. More details at PokerNews Freerolls.
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PartyPoker's Gladiator Promotion

Step into the arena for 30 days of exciting poker action from 3rd March to 1st April. Hit the minimum daily target of 10 points for just five days and you’ll claim a much-deserved entry into a $10,000 freeroll. The more days you earn points on, the bigger your prize will be so don’t rest on your laurels: there’s up to $7,500 in cash to be won.

Finally, we've added a massive incentive for the most dedicated players. Earn 2,000 points every day for the full 30 days and you’ll win an exclusive $12,500 WSOP® main event package which includes the $10,000 main event buy-in, hotel and hospitality and $1,000 spending money. You don’t even have to earn points on consecutive days to be in with a shot at our colossal prizes: we’ll just count up the number of days where you made the targets during the promotion.

 

You don’t even have to earn points on consecutive days to be in with a shot at our colossal prizes: we’ll just count up the number of days where you made the targets during the promotion. For example, if you earn 10 points every day for 10 days, take five days off and then earn 10 points on 10 more days of the promotion, you’ll get the prize for earning 10 points on 20 days. Keep tabs on how many points you’ve picked up so far in The Gladiator by checking your account. Only the bravest players will be rewarded so opt in from 3rd March and rise to the challenge of The Gladiator.

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The Nightly Turbo: Jerry Buss Going Pro

Is Jerry Buss giving up basketball? We'll answer that, tell you about the robbery of a poker game in Austin and more, all in tonight's Nightly Turbo.
PokerStars has announced plans for a cash-game television show called "The Big Game." We'd tell you all about it here, but we've written about it and we're not too keen on repeating ourselves. We've got Sunday Majors results today. It is Monday, after all. Check them out in the Sunday Briefing. PokerNostrum will be covering the 2010 World Series of Poker. We've been doing this for a while now, so you can expect extensive coverage of all the bracelet events.
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Tiger Woods is rich enough to refuse $75 Million Paddy Power Poker Sponsorship

Golfer Tiger Woods turned down a $75 million sponsorship offer from the online sports book, casino, and poker site Paddy Power. Paddy Power approached the 14-time major champion with an offer it thought Woods couldn’t refuse. TMZ recounted, “Tiger Woods just blew off a $75 million endorsement offer from an Irish gambling company – and that is how you know you’re rich.” The offer was reportedly for five years, but Woods snobbed the lucrative proposition despite its long-term potential. The news comes one day after five-time NBA champion Dennis Rodman became the official celebrity endorser of the Cake Poker Network site Only Poker. Despite being dumped on the first round of negotiations, Paddy Power will apparently return to the bargaining table with another offer, according to TMZ. Paddy Power is a member of the massive iPoker Network, which is the fourth largest worldwide according to the traffic ranking site PokerScout.com. The network does not accept members from the United States.

Despite not accepting action from the populated North American nation, Paddy Power Poker could have used Woods’ recognition around the world to attract customers to its site. Woods has won golf tournaments across Europe, Asia, and Australia in addition to his domination on the links in North America. He’s arguably the most recognizable name in the world of golf.”

 Woods spoke to the media in mid-February about the incident and may return to golf. The Masters, which Woods has won four times, will kick off from Augusta National Golf Course outside of Atlanta on April 6th. He last took down the high-profile tournament in 2005.

Paddy Power Poker has a bevy of promotions taking place, including Cashpoint, whose format is similar to PartyPoker’s Gladiator. Paddy Power Poker players who rack up 100 points for 10 days or more during the month of March are eligible to win cash prizes. The site will take a player’s 10 highest earning point days during the month and match $1 for every 20 points earned on the lowest day. The minimum payout is $5 and players can also qualify for a $2,000 Cashpoint freeroll.

 

Other sites on the massive iPoker Network include bet365, CelebPoker, Chili Poker, Mansion Poker, Noble Poker, Sun Poker, Titan Poker, and William Hill. The publicly traded company Playtech owns and operates the network. Playtech is traded on the London Stock Exchange under the symbol “PTEC.”

 

Stay with Pokernostrum to get more info

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EPT Berlin: Armed Robbery Suspends Play

The 2010 PokerStars.net EPT Berlin came to an abrupt halt in the action around 2:30 p.m. local time on Saturday when a group of armed men raided the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Berlin where the tournament is being held. The men were after money and no one was seriously injured in the incident.

People soon noticed that two masked men were fighting with security guards at the opposite end of the hallway. One of the men broke free and began running down the hallway toward the media members with what looked like some sort of weapon in his hand. He was wearing a black winter jacket and a black ski mask. Members of the media ran back to the media room where the group barricaded themselves and stayed until things calmed down.

 

On the other end of the hallway, next to where the men and security were wrestling near the tournament ballroom, mass hysteria ensued. Sam Chartier recalled Johannes Strassmann bursting through the doors back into the room leap frogging chairs and tables and yelling in German. Although Chartier said he couldn't understand what Strassmann was saying because of the language barrier, he noticed that everyone that did understand him was panicking. Tables were flipped so people could hunker behind them while chips flew all over the floor. Players, staff and media in the ballroom took cover and then began frantically making their way to the back corner of the room to an exit.

 

After about 15 minutes of mayhem in the tournament area, things began to settle down while the tournament room itself looked as though a tornado had whipped through it. Hundreds of players, staff and media were scattered in the lobby of the hotel and outside on the streets awaiting confirmation that things were safe. A few people had some minor bumps and bruises from the stampede that tried to exit the room, but no one was seriously injured.

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Carlos “El Matador” Mortensen

Carlos “El Matador” Mortensen has won almost $6 million on the World Poker Tour and dominated the early days of the tour before vanishing into relative obscurity. Over the past three years, Carlos has been quietly grinding out the hours in the poker wilderness, occasionally venturing into the spotlight for a brief cameo before fading into the background again. However, the man who once commanded centre stage in all the major tournaments around the world is back and riding high as he currently tops the chip counts at the WPT LA Poker Classic. A win would earn the Spaniard his third WPT title but the run down to the final won’t be easy as there are some quality players left in the field including Johnny Chan, Annie Duke and online player, Mark “newwhizzle” Newhouse. Indeed, Newhouse is currently poised in second place to clinch his second WPT title. The young player has already undergone a massive swing in fortunes losing his entire bankroll of over $1.5 million in 2007, only to bounce back in recent times with a win in the Pokerstars Sunday Million for $245K. A win here would put him firmly back in the game and allow another major tournament threat back onto the high stakes circuit.
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Poker Players Dream Job

Poker players will be excited to hear that top online poker room Poker Stars if offering their players a chance to become a pro poker player for one year. Poker Stars is offering a poker playing job on the Australia New Zealand Poker Tour for one year.
Poker Stars has stared the Dream Job Australia this month and players can play their choice of the stops on the ANZPT. The player will be sponsored by PokerStars on the tour and this offering is worth $100,000. $40,000 will be applied to tournament entry fees and a monthly salary of $5,000 will be given to the winning player.
Beginning on March 1st, daily free rolls will take place and run from Saturday through Thursday. The tournaments will continue until the 25th. On Fridays the site will be hosting weekly finals. The top eighteen players from the finals will earn a seat to the grand final which will take place on Saturday march 27th.
The grand final will determine the top ten finalists. The finalists of the Dream Job Australia competition will have to take a quiz of their knowledge of the game of poker. they will also be introduced to the Team Poker Stars Australia in Sydney during a tour stop. The players will then spend the next six weeks trying to get support from the poker community to earn votes. The top ten players can blog, tweet and post on facebook to earn votes.
Poker Stars members will then be voting on the winner of the Dream Job Australia contest. Players can vote for their favorite finalist and dedicated tournaments will be held for each finalist. Registration numbers count as a vote so the player who has the most registrations will win the twelve month Poker Stars contract
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World Poker Tour Los Angeles Poker Classic Day 2

Salvatore Deluca is the chip leader with 431,000, two Team PokerStars Pros are the ones stealing the spotlight. Daniel Negreanu ended the day in third position overall, with 316,500 and Vanessa Rousso finished the day in sixth with 221,000. Two hands in particular boosted Negreanu to a power spot. According to Negreanu's blog, the first saw him get tricky and raise it up in early position with .
He got called by two players and then they all saw a flop, turning Negreau's hand into a possible monster. Negreanu led out for 3,500, getting a fold from one opponent, and the player in the big blind raised it up about 6,000 more. Negreanu then bumped the action up even more, raising it another 15,000 before his opponent immediately announced he was all-in.
Negreanu called, and his opponent rolled over the , which was in the lead at the time. The four on the turn, however, was good to Negreanu, as was the on the river Negreanu scalped another player with the board reading and about 50,000 in the pot, and fired another 40,000. His opponent, Benjamin Zamani made the call only to see Negreanu show him for quads.
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World Poker Tour

Day 1 of the World Poker Tour LA Poker Classic main event got underway Friday afternoon, and although he is second to last in chips after the day, Gavin Smith was the day's biggest winner. Smith, along with Joe Sebok and Jeff Madsen had a prop bet riding on how the three finished.
The first player eliminated would have to get tattoos of the faces of the other two while the second player to bust would only need to get a tattoo of the face of the last man standing. Sebok was the first to go when his pocket aces were cracked during the third level. It was Madsen, who was still riding high after his win at Borgata earlier this month, who busted next. There were a few buy-out discussions, meaning Sebok and Madsen could pay their way out of the tattoos, but it seems as if both are ready to go though with the shenanigans. A very happy Smith mentioned on his Twitter page that he got cold-decked during the final level of play and will start tomorrow with only 4,350 chips. As for the tournament itself, it was Masa Kagawa and Mark Seif who finished the day one and two respectively, both with over 120,000.
They will lead the 463 remaining players into Saturday's day two. With a total field of 745 players, the LA Poker Classic will be paying 72 spots, with first place paying 1,788,001, and second place paying $1,002,710. With a majority of the poker community on the West Coast for the month-long series at the Commerce Casino, another slew of notables made the quick trip from Las Vegas following the PokerStars.net North American Poker Tour Venetian. Some of the bigger names who made it through day one were Shawn Buchanan, David Singer, Marco Johnson, Robert Mizrachi, Kimmy Fricke,Paul Wasicka and Team PokerStars Pros Darus Suharto and Vanessa Rousso. Joining Sebok and Madsen on the rail Friday were last year's LA Poker Classic winner Cornel Andrew Cimpan, Team PokerStars Pro Peter Eastgate, Andy Bloch, Scott Seiver and Jonathan LIttle.
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Merge Gaming will grow 6x by August

will be one of the world’s top 10 poker sites by early 2011. The company recently attracted Sportsbook.com-owner Jazette Enterprises to move its Sportsbook.com, PlayersOnly.com and Superbook.com brands to the Merge Gaming network from the Cake network. Liquidity will grow four-fold as a result of the deal, Taylor said, with further growth via new clients attracted to the network by its increased liquidity.
Taylor told EGRmagazine.com: “We aim to be among the top 10 poker sites in the world this time next year. Sportsbook.com and the other Jazette brands will give us a huge liquidity boost and we are confident that in combination with our leading software this will attract further clients to the network that will enable that growth to snowball.” Other poker brands on the Merge Gaming poker network including Aced, Bluff Room, Carbon Poker, Poker Nordica and Iron Duke; with PokerFantasy having joined the network last month. All this is going to be true? Speaking figures like Anthony Taylor doesn't make you one of the the top 10 automatically.
Having the liquidity to back up your plans means something for sure but is not the exclusive tool to be successful in online poker business.
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Full Tilt players raided by FBI

FBI agents turning up in Washington state, raiding homes and interviewing FTP players. Is the US government preparing the first use of the UIGEA by persecuting prosecuting the world’s second largest online gambling operator? Reports on the popular twoplustwo poker forum say that small-time players have received unannounced visits from FBI agents inquiring as to their transactions with Full Tilt.
The agents are saying that they are not looking to prosecute the players, but rather to gather information on Full Tilt, indicating the building of a federal case against the online poker operator. While the forum's reasoning based on the facts is purely speculative, the situation seems to lead to certain logical conclusions.
The setting of the investigation in Washington is a key, as the state is one of very few with a law against online poker. Courts have found that the UIGEA only penalizes violators of existing gambling laws, which means that online gambling operators accepting Washington residents would fall under the prohibition's purview. Further, Washington allows prosecution against patrons of Internet gaming as a felony, a legal leverage that may help investigators coerce cooperation from reluctant gamblers. Courts investigating Internet gambling operations in other jurisdictions have had trouble persuading participants to testify. The UIGEA is set to begin implementation on June 1st, unless
Congress acts before then to change or repeal the law. Barney Frank is leading an effort to regulate online gambling before the implementation date for the UIGEA comes to pass. However, if the US does implement the online gambling ban, a prosecution of Full Tilt could prove disastrous to the poker company. Even though the violations may be specific to Washington and that state's law, the Department of Justice could use that opening to create such financial and legal trouble as to force Full Tilt out of the US gaming market.
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Poker Player J.R. Celski Medals Olympic Short Track Event

We’re just two days into the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver and poker players have already made waves. Nineteen year old J.R. Celski, an avid poker fan who hails from the United States, took home a bronze medal in the Short Track speed skating event.

According to Audrey Magazine, in addition to being an avid outdoorsman and golf enthusiast, Celski is “a serious poker player.” He’ll attend college at the University of California at Berkeley and, according to the periodical, can often be found “camping, hiking, boating, surfing, and fishing.” He began training for the Short Track event in 2002 and was not old enough to qualify for the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy, missing the cutoff by a matter of days.

He departed Washington State for sunny California to train with Coach Wilma Boomstra. At age 14, he qualified for the Junior World Team, but the International Skating Union noted that Celski was not of age to compete. Then, he injured his back during a race in Romania, turning his skating career upside down. Text found on Celski’s official website explains, “It was shortly after his return from Italy when homesickness, back injury, balancing school workload, and ice training, combined with burnout, was taking over.”

Celski landed medals in the 2009 World Short Track Speed Skating Championships, taking the gold in the 3,000-meter event ahead of South Korea’s Lee Ho-Suk and Canada’s Charles Hamelin. Celski also skated his way to another gold medal in the 5,000-meter event, as the U.S. team’s time of 6:51 edged out China and Japan to take the top of the podium. In the 1,500-meter event at the same games, Celski finished third behind two South Korean skaters; he finished second overall in the Championships to land a fourth medal.

After a highly publicized collision on the Short Track in Vancouver, Celski earned his first Olympic medal, a bronze. Lee Jung-Su finished with a time of 2:17.611 in the event, just inching out the United States’ Apolo Anton Ohno. Celski finished with a time of 2:18.053, about a half-second behind Jung-Su. By virtue of capturing a silver medal, Ohno moved into a tie with skater Bonnie Blair for most Winter Olympics medals in U.S. history at six. He also took down Season 4 of the ABC reality franchise “Dancing with the Stars.” In 2008, fellow Olympian Shawn Johnston, a gymnast, broke through on the series to claim the title.

Thanks to Ohno and our favorite poker fanatic, the United States has already four medals in Vancouver entering Sunday’s action in the Canadian city. Behind the United States is South Korea, who has a pair of medals to the nation’s credit. A total of nine countries are tied at one medal each: the Netherlands, Slovakia, Switzerland, Canada, Germany, Poland, Austria, France, and Russia. According to NBC.com, Celski was injured last September “when he sliced his left leg with his skate blade,” but made a full recovery. He’s from the same hometown as Ohno, Federal Way, Washington, a suburb of Seattle.

Some in the poker community were checking out the Olympics over the weekend, while others focused on tournaments as part of the L.A. Poker Classic. Full Tilt Poker front man Howard Lederer Tweeted on Saturday, “The reason I watch Winter Games? To see if some guy who won the last 3 world titles in a sport I don't care about will choke Olympics.” Meanwhile, World Poker Tour (WPT) reporter B.J. Nemeth was allegedly on location in British Columbia: “Rhapsody & I are gonna try to check out the venues @ Whistler now (in the mountains), & we might return to the USA tonight. Wish us luck!”

The 2010 Winter Olympics continue for two more weeks and coverage can be found on NBC in the United States. On Saturday night, the Canadian women’s hockey team defeated Slovakia by a record-breaking score of 18-0.
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The leggend

oker legend, Brunson said; “I’m supposed to play in the Premier League tournament that is being filmed at the M Casino here in Vegas. It is the most widely watched TV show in Europe, with a $100,000 buy-in. That would be great exposure for DoylesRoom but there is no way I’ll be 100% recovered from all that dental surgery so I’ll have to cancel.”

Doyle Brunson, is to take a break from all poker activites following lengthy dental surgery it was announced earlier this week. Brunson spent 6 hours having dental problem corrected and is expected to make a full recovery. ‘Texas Dolly’ is giving himself plenty of time to recover, though, and has withdrawn from the forthcomig PartyPoker Premier League event in Las Vegas.Brunson also noted in his blog that; “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. My gut feeling is just chill out until the WSOP and try to have a big series.”
The 76 year old poker legend recently returned to the United States after attending the London Affiliates Conference (LAC) in late January. We were lucky enough to catch up with Doyle for a chat at that conference so stay tuned for our exclusive interview with the great man here at Poker News Headlines.

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California dream

WHILE-California is traditionally one of the more liberal states in the nation, there are those who oppose online poker regulations. Some lawmakers believe that Internet gambling could be dangerous and create many more problem gamblers.
THE STATE-of California has been one of the leaders when it comes to casino gambling expansion in the US. The Senate Governmental Organization Committee begins an informal hearing on Tuesday, and many members of land-based casinos will be present. Among those that are scheduled to be heard from are ISP's, tribal leaders, and problem gambling representatives.
CALIFORNIA-lawmakers began talking about regulated online poker in the last quarter of 2009, and the idea is gaining steam in the new legislative season. California is looking for ways to help balance the state budget, and online poker could be a tremendous asset to legislators.
CURRENTLY-online poker is one of the trendiest activities across the world. With the US currently having an unregulated Internet gambling industry, most of the action coming from US players is going to offshore gaming operators.
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The new channel

HEADSUP ENTERTAINMENT-decided to wait until March to launch the new channel so as not to take away the attention of the Winter Olympics from the public.
THE NEW CHANNEL- will be sponsored by leading online poker operators, the first one to jump on the bandwagon being 888 Holdings. This gambling operator will sponsor commercials and content among other things.
LIVE FEEDS-from top Canadian poker tournaments will be seen on the new poker site, while interesting shows on poker’s history – with an emphasis on the Canadian poker industry – will be screened. The idea of the new poker channel is simple – to track poker tournaments as they occur around Canada and report live on these events.
THESE EVENTS-will be complemented by regular shows that will bring a good balance to the channel. These will include clashes between poker greats during the Canadian Open Poker Championships. The new CanadianPokerPlayer.tv is one of the most exciting projects to launch in the North American poker industry in a long time, and is set to bring the history and action of the game to millions of players who will enjoy the local flavor.
SOME OF THE TOP-players in action to be seen on the channel will include Joe Hachem, Antonio Esfandiari, Phil Laak and Huck Seed. “We believe we will see changes in the way sponsors react to their customers and having the ability to reach large scale audiences with on-the-spot promotions,” said The Chief Executive Officer of HeadsUp Entertainment, Kelly Kellner. “I am excited to be able to deliver a medium for innovation of content delivery.”

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Top Ranked on the Money List

Who are the richest men in poker?  4Flush has released an updated list of the top 10 all time poker moneymakers and it bodes well for Phil Ivey, who has pocket $12.8 million (which doesn't include his shares in Full Tilt Poker or his wins online).

Below is a list of the top ranked players on the money list

Phil Ivey $ 12,813,990

Daniel Negreanu $ 12,432,367

Jamie Gold $ 12,201,061

Phil Hellmuth Jr $ 10,991,871

Scotty Nguyen $ 10,955,557

Joe Hachem $ 10,856,216

Peter Eastgate $ 10,630,471

Allen Cunningham $ 10,398,118

Erik Seidel $ 9,814,424

T.J. Cloutier $ 9,787,199

Frenchman Valentin Messina wins the 5th France Poker Tour

The Poker Mania that has spread all over Europe has attacked France too, and the France Poker Tour tournament, which ended January 28, just completed its 5th edition. Another indication of the popularity of the game among the French can be seen by looking at the number of players. In its first year, the number of participants at the tournament was three hundred; this year they reached 35,000!

Tournament organizers offered three ways for players to qualify for the final tournament which was held at the Aviation Club de France in Paris – the new French Pantheon of poker. The first option was to pay a 1,000 Euros buy-in, the second qualifying through online satellite tournaments and the third option was to qualify through one of the 13 live tournaments that were part of a national tour.

The winner of the tournament, Valentin Messina, is a Parisian engineer who plays poker at a semi-professional level. In the final heads-up, which lasted 5 hours, he managed to beat the American-Lebanese Kassem “Freddy” Deeb, a professional poker player and holder of 2 WSOP bracelets.

In third place came Frenchwoman Almira Skripchenko. A professional chess player who also enjoys poker, Almira discovered poker in 2003. She happened to be at the Aviation Club and joined in a few games, a few years later she now finishes third and is the French women’s champion of poker.
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LAC London 2010 the industry biggest networking bash

A personal report by Francesco Greco 
 The most important convention of the year, now in its ninth edition, has finished Saturday. It's 3AM of Sunday after C-Planet's party at Conventry. I'm drinking a beer with my fellas by 7am we need to be at Gatwick, South terminal. Common situation for igaming people after this LAC 2010.   
Business Raptors Ltd with 4 representatives, including myself, was there at all events. When there is a shaking hands or a dance at a party with
representatives of the fair sex of potential partners: Business Raptors will be there, always there tireless and operational at all levels.

Among the stands many friends and former colleagues. Vincenzo Dente and Domenico Gallotta of Betclick discussing where igaming business is going form an
Italian point of view, Uri Levi, and George and Kyprianos from Redkings, EGO actually, along with my mentor Michael Golembo. They are doing extremely well in Limassol
Cyprus. And then the legendary Pedro Calderon affiliate manager of
Chilipoker, a close friend of my Maltese period. I see the French friends of Gambling-Affiliation always present and highly efficient as ever.
A warm greeting to President Fabrice and CEO Antoine. And John Benjamin of ChanceRoom professional as usual. Briefly Lac in London is not just business but also a way, a spot where the daily contact friends on MSN or Skype, for once materialize and become what they are: friends. In front of a beer we talk business's and life and how the market has changed in recent years.

London Affiliate Conference in London is not just meet old friends but an opportunity to make new friends and drawing new business scenarios. I will make a few names Claire Letouzey, Affiliate Relationship Manager of Roxy Affiliates, Inbal Cohen Affclub.com, Itai Loewenstein, boss of Kamaya Holdings Ltd, Diego Di Giorno of Globet, Jonathan Lee of WnXwn.com, Meital Hillel of Affeurope, Sophia Lai of SEGA and many others. Let me thank you for your patience to read my this very personal report I need to come back on Skype and MSN to harvest what we have plant in these 3 days.

Business Raptors Ltd appointed Francesco Greco and Carlo Stumpo as Web Strategist and CEO to design and develop the company’s online presence adhering to the business development strategy. Busienss Raptors is an Igaming business solutions provider.
Carlo Stumpo, MSc Software Engineering, has been appointed CEO,  of Business Raptors Ltd, in 2009. He will be responsible for Corporation’s Marketing, External and Internal Communications as well as Investor Relations. Carlo Stumpo will report to President of Business Raptors Ltd
Francesco Greco,MA Philosophy and Cognitive Science, has been hired by Business Raptors as Web Stategy consultant to design and develop a company’s online presence adhering to the business development strategy.

EPT Deauville Day 1b: Pagano strikes again

339 RUNNERS- Today's Day 1b field at the Casino Barriere went and blew it out the water. Once all the late registrations and so on were over with, 429 players had paid their money and taken their Day 1b chances, bringing the total number of runners to an incredible 768 - smashing last year's record figure of 645 to smithereens. As is traditional for the second start day, the big names were rather heavier on the ground than they were on Day 1a. Team PokerStars Pros who ventured out of their hotel rooms included Dario Minieri, Vicky Coren, Greg Raymer, Luca Pagano, Alex Kravchenko, Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier, Jude Ainsworth, and - after around three hours, sparking concern that he would miss this start day as well after failing to show up as scheduled yesterday - Peter Eastgate. Also gracing the felt were the likes of Freddy Deeb, Isabelle Mercier, Rob Hollink, and Joe Beevers. It was an impressive turnout by any standards.
LUCA PAGANO AND DARIO MINIERI- The Italian Pro got off to an excellent start, almost doubling in the first level, and by level 8 he'd amassed over 200,000. He dipped a little towards the end of the day, but still managed to be top of the Day 1b pops come bedtime, on 198,500. Pagano's fellow countryman and Team PokerStars Pro Dario Minieri shot into a monstrous early lead after he turned a straight to bust Dutch bracelet winner Marc Naalden in the biggest pot of the tournament up to that point. Minieri couldn't hang on to his gigantic stack, though, and finished the day on 64,000.
CHIPLEADER CEZARESCU- Former poker press member turned PokerStars Sponsored Player Julien Brecard had an excellent start to the day. A pair of sneakily played aces early in the day set him up for a good run, although he dropped below his 65,000 high point later in the day. The winner of the People's Choice award at last night's French Poker Awards eventually went through to Day 2 with 58,900. Folks who failed to make it through included Brice Cournut, Vitaly Lunkin, Ricardo Sousa, Jeff Sarwer, and Joep van den Bijgaart. Happy folks who go through, on the other hand, included Peter Eastgate, Juha Helppi, Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier and Alex Kravchenko. Day 1a chip leader Robert Cezarescu remains the man to beat going into Day 2 on 216,900. Hot on his heels are Vladimir Geshkenbein, Luca Pagano and Ludovic Lacay, among others.

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THE IRISH POKER MARKET

The growth of online poker in Ireland over the past two years has been massive, with names like Marty Smyth and Eoghan O’Dea making waves on the international poker scene making the Irish market ripe for picking. Whether ChiliPoker can become one of the most popular sites in Ireland is uncertain but with the backing of Setanta their chances look good.

Chiligaming founder Alexandre Dreyfus made the announcement recently, stating: “I am very proud and ambitious about our new partnership with Setanta. We are going to deliver both Setanta’s and Chili’s spirit to our players. In addition to the online betting, we will jointly promote Chilipoker in Ireland and will become the new premium home for Irish poker players.” While the move will certainly increase the stock of ChiliPoker it could also help reinvigorate the troubled Setanta and boost their flailing profits. Co-founder of Setanta, Michael O’Rourke said recently: “This new partnership with Chiligaming showcases the potential for a media organisation to target its own audience with its own gaming product.”

While Boyle’s Poker and Paddy Power may be the current kings of poker in the emerald isles their crown could be under threat in the next few months as Chili Poker have made a bid to dominate the market. The Malta based Chiligaming, which run the popular Chilipoker.com, have teamed up with Irish broadcaster Setanta Sports to launch Setantabet.com, as well as a new poker site. The joint venture will be operational from the 1st of February 2010 and could well become Ireland’s biggest online poker room.http://www.pokernostrum.com/

Pokernostrum and Italian Carrier Cavour

Italy's newest aircraft carrier, the Cavour, will set sail Tuesday for Haiti to provide logistical and and operational support to relief efforts there, navy sources said on Monday. Pokernostrum.com supports the Italian effort in this Internation race of solidarity. Italy besides USA is the only nation who decided to take action sending an aircraft carrier to save the day in Haiti.

Captain Gianluigi Reversi will command the mission which will see the participation of the military corps of engineers who will be bringing some 100 vehicles, including earth-moving and construction equipment. The mission is a joint one with Brazil which will provide doctors and nurses for the ship's fully-equipped onboard hospital which has various operating rooms and wards for intensive care and first aid.

The hospital staff will be picked up when the Cavour makes a technical stop in Brazil after crossing the Atlantic. This will be the maiden mission for the Cavour which entered service in June of last year. The ship has a crew of 530, although it can host up to 1,200 people, and carries up to 20 helicopters and aircraft. Aside from its state-of-the-art medical facilities, the Cavour, which can cruise at 30 knots, can generate enough electricity for 6,000 homes. Italian government and his PM Silvio Berlusconi is showing once again an International commitment to bring peace and aid in the world.
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EPT Deauville: Pokernostrum report

Fifth season for the EPT sponsored by Pokerstars. The tournament will take place in Casino Barriere in Deauville, France, from 20th to 24th of January. A remarkable field of 339 runners was assembled for Day 1a of the EPT Deauville, putting the event easily on pace to eclipse last year's record-setting field once again. Some familiar faces in the crowd when the cards went flying shortly after noon. We recognize Luana Spataro from Italy, Team PokerStars Pros Katja Thater, Arnaud Mattern, and Vlad Zguba, along with a few other notables.

Mike "Timex" McDonald made the trip over from Canada, and even American Craig Bergeron came out to play. The action was fairly measured and calm to start the day, but things accelerated to a blistering pace by the time the clock hit zero. A few players had their hands on significant chip leads today, but only one of them can take that title into the overnight hours. Tonight, that honor appears to belong to the late-surging Robert Cezarescu. His count of 216,900 should put him ahead of the trailing pack that includes Vladimir Geshkenbein, Jamel Maistriaux, and Martin Kabrhel.

That's about all we have for you from Day 1a. We'll be right back here in the casino at noon tomorrow for the second flight of starters. We expect a full house, and we hope you'll join us right back here for Day 1b.
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YOUNG GUN TAKES THE P.C.A.

The Pokerstars Caribbean Adventure main event ended in fine style in the Bahamas Monday, providing railbirds with some thrilling action as the relatively unknown Harrison Gimbel - a 19-year-old Internet pro from Florida - triumphed to take the glory, the trophy and a $2.2 million pay day. In doing so Gimbel became the youngest PCA champion yet, besting a record entry field of 1 529 players, many of them at the top end of the international game, who competed over the 7 day spectacle. Monday's final table comprised chip leader Ryan D'Angelo who had 10 090 000 in chips, just ahead of nearest rival Ty Reiman on 9 350 000 after a dramatic surge to the top of the leaderboard. They are followed by Barry Schulman (6 805 000); Harrison Gimbel (6 000 000); Tom Koral (5 370 000); Benjamin Zamani (3 700 000); Zachary Goldberg (2 340 000) and low stack Aage Ravn (1 600 000). Only six hands into the action an exciting exchange between Gimbel and chip leader D'Angelo saw a pot of ten million chips up for grabs and a double up by Gimbel saw him take most of D'Angelos chips in a dramatic reversal of fortune, setting the scene for this thriller of a finale. Tom Koral was the first elimination after a clash with Benjamin Zamani over another multi-million chip pot left him headed to the exit and a $200 000 plus payday for an eighth placing. He was followed in seventh place for $300 000 by Zachary Goldberg, who ran afoul of Norwegian player Aage Ravn in another doubled up clash. Ravn was himself eliminated next, going down in a clash with Zamani and Gimbel to exit in sixth place and collecting a $450 000 prize. Following Ravn's departure play settled down and it was several hours before the next bust - one-time chip leader Ryan D'Angelo, who headed for the rail after being eliminated by Ty Reiman, collecting a $700 000 paycheck for his fifth placing. The first seven digit payday went to Benjamin Zamani, ousted in fourth place for a million dollars by Gimbel, who then went on to take out Barry 'All In' Shulman at the 134 hand mark; Shulman's third place finish was worth a useful $1 350 000 to the 2009 WSOP main event finalist. Heads up it was Harrison Gimbel vs. internet pro player Ty Reiman, with the latter holding a significant 11 million chip advantage as the duo entered a contest that would last for a further 45 hands. Going onto the offensive, Gimbel first evened and then reversed the stack situation within six hands, taking every key pot until he had built a 4:1 chip lead with which he continued to hammer away at Reiman until taking him down at hand 180. Reiman headed for the exit and a whopping take-home of $1 750 000, whilst the nineteen-year-old Gimbel basked in the respect (and $2.2 million main prize glow) that goes with becoming the youngest PCA champion ever. “It feels amazing,” said the new champ moments after the win. “This is what I’ve dreamed of. I’ve always wanted to win a big major tournament and luckily I accomplished it on one of my very first ones.” “I felt my opponents were really good,” Gimbel added, “...but I had a lot of confidence in myself coming into today and it really showed. “I used to wrestle in high school and my coach always said 'envision something and it’ll come true.' Not that it’ll come true, but it’ll happen.” Like most of today's young poker guns, Gimbel is adept at Internet action, and his previous poker career landmarks include a PokerStars Sunday Million final table appearance and in live tourneys a win in the 2009 Florida State Poker Championships.

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P.C.A. FINAL TABLE IS SET

The Pokerstars Caribbean Adventure will be decided Monday when eight survivors of an original field of 1 529 players sit down at midday Vegas time to decide who gets the really big money.

Sunday's day 5 action saw the last 24 players still in the running whittled down in only six hours to a final table that includes a healthy contingent of Internet aces.

Fighting it out for the top prize of $2.2 million will be chip leader Ryan D'Angelo who has 10 090 000 in chips, just ahead of nearest rival Ty Reiman on 9 350 000 after a dramatic surge to the top of the leaderboard. They are followed by Barry Schulman (6 805 000); Harrison Gimbel (6 000 000); Tom Koral (5 370 000); Benjamin Zamani (3 700 000); Zachary Goldberg (2 340 000) and low stack Aage Ravn (1 600 000).

Even the first player eliminated will do well on this table, leaving with an eighth place paycheck of $201 300 from a prizepool that has reached $14.8 million this year - the seventh biggest in poker history - in which 224 players have cashed.

Some of the more familiar names who exited Sunday were Robert Mizrachi (out at 22nd for $75 000); Jeff Madsen, who was aken out in 19th place for $87 500; Pras Banzi secured a paycheck of $87 500 for his 18th position, and John duthie headed home with $130 000 after finishing 12th.

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PLENTY PLAYERS FOR PCA

With Day 1B numbers in, Pokerstars has reported a large entry field for the $10 000 buy-in 2010 Pokerstars Caribbean Adventureonline poker tournament now playing out in the Bahamas.

In 2009 the event attracted 1 347 players and delivered a main prize of $3 million, making it one of the biggest poker tournaments outside the USA. This year the field is up to 1 529 - many of them top names in the game - although the first prize is smaller at $2.2 million as a result of an amended payout structure that gives more cash to more contestants.

224 players will cash this year, compared to 199 last time around, and the first payout level of $2 500 above the buy-in awarded last year has been boosted to $5 000.

“More players are getting paid and the players are getting paid better,” said PokerStars event host Neil Johnson. “It’s a much more significant return on your investment and it’s better for the poker economy as a whole.”

Johnson added that the bottom line is that 15 percent of the field is now getting paid rather than 10 percent.

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2010'S FIRST FTOPS

The first Full Tilt Online Series of Poker tournament for 2010 and the new decade has been announced, and will take place between February 10 and February 21.

FTOPS XV will provide 27 events featuring various gamestyles and over $17 million in guaranteed prizes.

Full Tilt has also confirmed that Mini FTOPS events for lower rollers will follow between March 10 and March 21, offering a further 27 events with lower buy-ins and a guaranteed prizepool of $6 million.

In related news, Full Tilt's major rival Pokerstars has also started the new year with a bang, attracting a massive entry field of 668 entrants on Day 1A alone of the Pokerstars Caribbean Adventure main event.

The event is currently running in the Bahamas and a record entry is anticipated.

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POKER STRATEGY CHANGE AT MICROGAMING?

oday (January 5th) will see the start of a new policy at the Microgaming Poker Network, according to several reliable sources. Observers say the policy is designed to encourage online poker sites on the network to bring in more "fish" (less experienced and therefore more likely to lose than win) players to ensure that the balance between deposits and withdrawals moves closer to the former.

Poker News, commenting on the move, reports that beginning January 5th, MPN will move from the contributed method of rake calculation, in which the operators’ rake is calculated by splitting pots between the total number of players, to the weighted method, whereby rake per room is generated proportionally according to the amount that individual players contribute to each pot.

"Although this may sound confusing to most people, it essentially means that it pays for Microgaming skins to attract players who are more likely to redeposit when they loose their cash playing. In other words, the sites recognize they won't make money from successful players who cash out winnings over the long run," is how the poker information site interprets the policy.

The Microgaming Poker Network is not the first to move in this controversial direction; the general strategy has been extensively and publicly debated by operators for some weeks and is already being implemented by major networks such as Boss Media'sInternational Poker Network, Playtech's iPoker network and the Bodog network, which penalise skins with higher withdrawal than deposit ratios (see previous InfoPowa reports). The Merge network is also reported to be pursuing a similar policy.

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POKER FOR CAMBODIA

Canadian player donates portion of winnings to charity
Not long ago InfoPowa highlighted the good works of American professional online poker pro Dusty 'Leatherass' Schmidt, who has riased subtantial funds playing poker for the Transition Project - a charity in Portland. Schmidt is one of a growing number of pokerheads with big hearts who raise money for the less fortunate; Don Cheadle and Annie Duke with their Ante Up for Africacampaign is another great example of what the game can achieve in helping others.

This week we focus on a talented woman player from Toronto who donates a portion of her winnings in major tournaments to charity.
Elizabeth Bennett-Martin's latest project is to play in the Pokerstars Caribbean Adventure, winning enough to donate a significant amount to the Cambodian Legal Education for Women project started by the Toronto law firm Bennett Gastle P.C in which she is a partner.

The focus of the charity is to provide educational assistance and living expenses to help young women in Cambodia attend law school, and escape a life of poverty. The charity helps women who live in extremely deprived, cramped conditions, sleeping on mats on a bare floor, and will assist in improving dormitory conditions - the accommodation has no furniture or cooking facilities, other than hot plates.

The project aims to improve the possibilities for these woman by helping them to become lawyers in a country where legal help is extremely rare (in 2009 there were only 538 lawyers for a population of over 14 million people).

Last year Bennett-Martin was one of only 14 women in the entire PCA tournament and one of a mere seven female online qualifiers. She won a $24 satellite to compete against a field of 1 347 players.... and picked up $40 000 for a 25th place finish. This year she plans to improve on her performance and raise more cash, and has again secured a place through an online satellite.

In addition to earmarking a portion of any winnings in the PCA main event for charity, Bennett-Martin intends to compete in the inaugural PCA Ladies Event, and will donate all winnings to the charity if she is successful.
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CONTROVERSY MARS ACHIEVEMENT OF iPOKER'S TWO BILLIONTH HAND OF ONLINE POKER

CONTROVERSY MARS ACHIEVEMENT OF iPOKER'S TWO BILLIONTH HAND OF ONLINE POKER
Speculation was rife on the popular twoplustwo poker forum this week after an online poker player claimed that $60 000 worth of cash and tournament seats he won in the iPoker network's two billionth poker hand celebrations remains unpaid.

Using the handle 'Derrickki', the player said he had been ten-tabling heads up No Limit Hold'em on the Betfold skin on the network in the hopes of winning some of the promotional prizes attached to the 2 000 000 000th poker hand on iPoker, an online poker network operated by Playtech.

The speculation seems to be centred on whether the Betfold skin had opted in to the network promotion, although in previous recent threads twoplustwo posters have complained that Betfold has been slow-paying, and the customer support response has been unsatisfactory.
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TOP POKER PLAYER AND WIFE PART COMPANY

Joint petition for an amicable divorce granted in a Nevada court
Top international online and live poker ace Phil Ivey and his wife Luciaetta were granted a divorce by a Nevada court this week after filing a joint petition on December 22nd, reports the entertainment site TMZ.

Ivey (34), who has reportedly earned over $12 million in a glittering professional poker career so far, married Luciaetta back in 2002. Ironically, Ivey was often referred to as the Tiger Woods of poker, a celebrity who has also encountered marital troubles in recent times.

The couple has no children together.
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