(PRESS RELEASE) — Titan Poker, the largest online poker room on the iPoker Network, injects a dose of sunny Rio de Janeiro climes to the tables this winter with the announcement that its Rio Progressive Jackpot has soared to a record $125,000. A recent surge of competition has turned up the heat this week as players vie for a chance to take home the historic Jackpot prize at Titan Poker’s Rio Sit ‘N’ Go tournaments.

Rio Sit ‘N’ Go is among Titan Poker’s most popular daily Sit ‘N’ Go tournaments which run right around the clock all day every day. Rio Sit ‘N’ Go tournaments begin any time the required maximum of six players are seated at the table. In addition to regular tournament winnings, players also stand a chance at taking home the Rio Progressive Jackpot prize. The jackpot begins at $25,000 and increases by $10,000 each week until the accumulated grand prize is claimed. This week, the total in unclaimed Jackpot prizes has swollen to a record $125,000 with no end in sight.

Titan Poker players can lay claim to the sizeable Jackpot by winning six consecutive Rio Jackpot Sit ‘N’ Go tournaments within a fourteen day period. Not surprisingly, this considerable display of skill is difficult to achieve but the rewards speak for themselves. Those who fall short of six wins will not walk away empty handed. Players who place both first or second in six consecutive Rio Sit ‘N’ Go tournaments will be awarded a $300 cash prize.

The news has brought a fresh wave of activity to Titan Poker’s Sit ‘N’ Go tables. “As to be expected, the number of Sit ‘N’ Go tournament participants rises with the Jackpot size, but the number of tournaments we have run so far this week has already hit record levels. If the Rio Jackpot remains unclaimed, we can expect even more exciting times ahead as tournament numbers soar through the roof,” enthuses Titan Poker representative Robin Steele.

In addition to Rio Sit ‘N’ Go, Titan Poker offers other Progressive Jackpot Sit ‘N’Go’s, including Fort Knox $50,000 and Maui $15,000 Sit ‘N’Go tournaments. This week’s unclaimed Fort Knox Jackpot stands at $90,000, while the Maui Jackpot has reached $45,000.

Posted by Diana Sterling in Poker News, Press Releases | No Comments » November 30th, 2008

The Race Rake is back at both Absolute Poker and UltimateBet. However, They are putting up twice the amount for a whopping $200,000. The largest online Rake Race in history.

$220,000 is waiting to be won
From December 1, until New Years Eve, the race is on. You have 31 days to to earn as many STATUS points as possible playing at any ring game. STATUS points earned playing Blackjack do not count for this promotion.

Top 200 Players
The top 200 players will all enjoy a slice of our massive $200K prize pool, with $15K going to the player who takes the checkered flag.

The top ten players will win the lion’s share of the pot – worth $105,000 – but even the player finishing at #200 will pocket a tasty $200 prize.

In addition, every player who finishes in the final 1,000 will each receive an invitation to our Race Cards II $20,000 FreeRoll in January.

Posted by Diana Sterling in Poker News, Poker Promotions | No Comments » November 30th, 2008

WARSAW, Poland –- (PRESS RELEASE) — After four days of fast and furious poker action at the PokerStars.com EPT Polish Open, it was Portugal’s João Barbosa who celebrated his 26th birthday by winning the Warsaw champion title and €367,140 ($457,489) first prize.

Barbosa – the first EPT winner from Portugal – was playing against an exceptionally strong field in Warsaw including ten former EPT champions. The final table started with several established stars still in contention including Team PokerStars Pro Dario Minieri and Arnaud Mattern.

Minieri, from Rome, had been hoping to better his EPT Season 3 Baden and Season 4 San Remo finishes, but was beaten into third place yet again. Arnaud Mattern, who won EPT Prague last season, had been gunning to become the first ever player to win two EPT titles but his hopes were dashed when Barbosa knocked him out in fifth place.

Barbosa, a former computer engineering student, has only played four EPTs so far and cashed in three of them. His victory today came after a fiercely-contested, three-hour heads-up battle against the 23-year-old German Nico Behling.

Barbosa, from Porto, said: “Things worked perfectly for me. For three hours, I was trying not to think about anything but winning. It’s the best birthday present I’ve ever had. It was great to win.”

The 21,000 Zloty buy-in event (approximately €5,200) at Casinos Poland at the Hyatt Regency attracted 217 entrants, including 48 who won their seats online with PokerStars. Three qualifiers made it to the final table: Atanas Gueorguiev, from Bulgaria, who came fourth, Russian Sergey Shcherbatskiy (6th) and Michael Muheim from Switzerland (9th). Shcherbatskiy earned his trip to Warsaw for a mere $7.50 after working his way up the PokerStars’ steps satellites.

A wealth of stars were also competing in Poland including Team PokerStars Pros Isabelle Mercier – who came 16th for €10,557 – Gavin Griffin, Marcin Horecki, Bertrand “ElkY Grospellier, Luca Pagano, William Thorson, Alex Kravchenko and Katja Thater. The PokerStars sponsored players Juan Manuel Pastor from Spain and Julien Lang Van from France also cashed.

The EPT founder John Duthie said: “Warsaw has always been a popular stop on the EPT train and this has been no exception. It was a particularly high quality final table and another five days of excellent poker.”

Posted by Diana Sterling in Poker News, Press Releases | No Comments » November 25th, 2008

According to Nevada court records, Cycalona ‘Clonie’ Gowen has filed a lawsuit against Tiltware, LLC. Full Tilt Poker, and many of the famous faces you see on Full Tilt advertisements. Named in the suit personally are ‘Team Full Tilt’ members Howard Lederer, Andy Bloch, Phil Ivey, Chris Ferguson, John Juanda, Phil Gordon, Erick Lindgren, Erik Seidel, Jennifer Harman-Traniello, Mike Matusow, Allen Cunningham, Gus Hansen and Patrik Antonius.

Gowen alleges that she was given 1% ownership in the company in exchange for representing them by wearing Full Tilt Poker merchandise in live tournaments. Her lawsuit claims that in May 2007, all Team Full Tilt Poker members received a distribution check except for her. She says that in November 2007, Howard Lederer approached her and offered to give her $250,000 as compensation for representing the company. Gowen refused this offer claiming it was only a fraction of what she was owed.

The lawsuit claims that, despite not being paid, Gowen continued to represent the company until last week when she received word that Full Tilt would release a statement saying she is no longer a Team Pro.

She is suing the company for $40 million which is what she estimates her 1% share to be worth. When comparing the market capitalization of publicly traded online poker firms, it seems that Gowen’s estimate that Full Tilt is worth $4 billion is bullish to say the least.

Per her claim, Gowen was told she would no longer be working with the website, and her name and image would be removed from the promotional materials.

The lawsuit was filed , November 14th, in Nevada District Court, in the court of Judge Robert C. Jones. PokerNews will have more on this story as it develops.

Posted by Susan George in Poker News | No Comments » November 24th, 2008

Titan Poker has announced the launch of its online Super Satellite series, offering players twice weekly chances to enjoy a taste of Irish Luck and poker celebrity buzz at the party capital of Europe’s most prestigious poker tournament, the Irish Open 2009.

The most important tournament on the European poker calendar has announced its long-awaited return to Dublin this April 2009 and TitanPoker.com, the largest online poker room on the iPoker Network, is offering players of all skill levels the opportunity to play with the biggest names in professional poker at the exciting world-class event with the launch of its twice weekly online Irish Open 2009 Super Satellites series.

The longest running Hold’em tournament in Europe, the Irish Open is the continent’s answer to the World Series of Poker and is certainly no stranger to hosting scores of poker celebrities. Last year’s event was televised and the line-up read like a roll call of top professionals, including Doyle Brunson, Sorel Mizzi, Padraig Parkinson, and Ciaran O’Leary. Which is not surprising, considering the €3,001,400 prize pool attracted 667 of the game’s elite players. But it was an Englishman, Neil Channing, who stole the show with his first place win worth €801,400.

This year promises even bigger surprises on the felt when the Irish Open returns to the country’s vibrant capital from April 10th to 13th, 2009. No doubt the line-up of contenders will once again feature the seasoned best in poker, giving players a chance to test their skill set against the top of the league. This is in addition to playing for a share of a prize pool worth over €3,000,000 (the exact amount is to be announced later on in the year). 

Buy-in to the Irish Open 2009 has been set at €3,200 + €300, but players can win their seats to the exciting event for as little as $2 + $0.2 at one of Titan Poker’s Sit ‘N’ Go satellites and daily qualifying tournaments. Prize packages to Dublin are valued at $6500 and include Main Event buy-in, five nights’ accommodation (worth approximately $800) and a generous allowance of up to $1000 for flights and spending money. Players will delight in the atmosphere of Ireland’s party capital and the celebratory buzz surrounding poker’s highest profile celebrities at the tables, while playing for a share of millions.

Posted by Diana Sterling in Press Releases | No Comments » November 23rd, 2008

Peter Eastgate 21, became the youngest poker player to capture a bracelet in the final event of the 2008 WSOP. The 2008 World Series of Poker Main Event began on July 3rd. The last day of the tournament was played 11 days later on Monday, July 14th. Once the final nine players were finally determined, there was an unprecedented 117-day recess. Final table play officially started at 11:08 am. The first day ended 13 hours and 27 minutes later, at 12:35 am.

The runner up was Ivan Demidov, from Moscow, Russia. Demidov was hoping to become the first Russian poker world champion in history, but came up just short. Demidov had the chip lead a significant part of the first day of the final table. However, Eastgate proved to be a formidable foe, as Demidov was unable to establish any momentum during the final few hours which might have catapulted him to victory.

The final hand of the 2008 WSOP came when Eastgate was dealt Ad-5s against Demidov’s 4h-2h. The final board showed K-3-2-4-7 (suits were insignificant). Demidov called Eastgate’s all-in move and tabled two pair – fours and twos. Eastgate showed A-5, good for the straight, five-high.

Both players played well during heads up. Peter said he was very lucky on the last hand.

Posted by Diana Sterling in Poker Articles | No Comments » November 21st, 2008

DoylesRoom.com has been informed by its software provider that effective  Monday  November 10th, 2008; they will no longer be accepting any new players from the  United States of America. Existing players from the USA will not be affected by   this and will be able to continue playing; therefore, all affiliate revenue generated by these players will be honored.

Based on the above, DoylesRoom.com has decided to continue its marketing efforts in the USA and the rest of the world, and to this end we are quickly working towards migrating to a new software platform that will support their efforts to provide security and stability to all USA players.

Once they migrate to this new platform, the retention department will contact all those new players that tried to join during this transition and help them access the account they attempted.

Posted by Diana Sterling in Uncategorized | No Comments » November 14th, 2008