Yevgeniy Timoshenko Wins the 2009 WPT World Championship. At Only 21
years this young play dominated the final table. He sat down as the chip
leader, and never looked back. This wasn’t his first win, but in fact it
was third win.

The tournament started out with several poker pros as well as a mixture
of amateurs. Timoshenko was confident as his chip stack grew, and he took out players. His journey to the top took a staggering eight days to play, and several thousand hands and chips to make it to the top. His final table journey was not an easy feat. He had to stay alive against some
great poker players and monster stacks. At the final table was poker favorite Scotty Nguyen, Shannon Shorr, Christian Harder, Bertrand Grospellier, and Ran Azor and of course tournament winner, Yevgeniy Timoshenko.

Yevgeniy Timoshenko had a very short heads up against Ran Azor. After the break, when both players were dealt their cards Ran quickly raised to 80,000 chips, and he was quickly called by Timoshenko who pushed all in.
Ran didn’t hesitate and he called the all in.

Both players turned over their cards Azor quickly called with Q 10, and Timoshenko showed a superior A 3. Azor was hoping his Q 10 would be strong enough to take a monster pot away from Timoshenko. Likewise Timoshenko was hoping his hand would be strong enough to take out Ran.
The Flop came Q J 7, and it looked like Ran was going to take down the pot. Things quickly changed when an K fell on the turn. This gave Timoshenko a chance at hitting a straight. Everyone waited while the dealer turned over the final card, a 10, and Timoshenko hit his straight
and ended up winning the tournament.

Posted by Susan George in Poker Articles | No Comments » April 30th, 2009

Gus Hansen needs to familiarize himself with the song free falling as apparently that is what he is current experiencing. Not content with losing against the Dang Brothers Hansen decided to feel over confident playing against the notorious Ziigmund Sahamies last night at Finnish cash game but Alas! He got what was coming to him another defeat.

A Danish player Hansen was reported to have been involved in all 10 of the biggest and most sought after 10 pots last night and he lost more than half of the pots to Ziigmund alone. Considered to be one of the biggest hands witnessed in the Finnish cash games Ziigmund held As, Qd, 6d and 5h while his opponent which at that time was the great Danish player Gus Hansen looked down upon his destiny which held Ac, 2c, Jd, Ts.

Soon after Ziigmund bet Hansen decided to call and the flop was displayed showing a Qc, 5d and 3c. After a long and tedious round of back to back betting both players came to a conclusion that it was better to go all in and after that happened they showed their cards. The board showed the 3s and then finally the Qs .Ziigmund pocketed a staggering amount of $130,995 with his epic full house.

Hansen’s play money on another front was rumored to have been downsized to a small amount reaching over $300,000 after the session. Things aren’t looking too bright for the Great Dane Gus Hansen and he needs to pull his act together to fulfill his dreams of winning or at least earning a good sum of money in this tournament. It was also reported that Gus Hansen who after winning a solid amount over 2 million dollars in profits in early 2009 immediately distributed it back within the last few weeks of running bad.

Posted by Diana Sterling in Poker Articles, Poker News, Poker Pro Players, Poker Tournaments | No Comments » April 24th, 2009

Initiating with style in the Bellagio’s Fontana Lounge on Tuesday the 2009 World Poker Tour Championship witnesses the dismissal of a hundred players from the staggering number of 162. With only 62 players left standing the show was destined to go on, therefore at exactly 12:00 p.m. Wednesday Steve Billirakis who holds the title for being the youngest World Series of Poker bracelet winner in history made his way in with the chip lead.

An introvert Billirakis was refraining himself from letting out the secret to his success at the World Poker Tour Championship and stated that there is no undisclosed enigma behind his achievement at the poker industry’s most renowned tournament other than him trying to play it like a cash game. Apart from trying his luck at solid games Billirakis has very few big designs regarding Day 4’s .He also stated that he wont be taking any big chances and letting his chips loose till the last two tables are in sight and the coast is clear. Billirakis also commented that there is no wisdom behind letting his chips out of the pocket before their time because by the end of the play you need to have a good number of chips to play with.

With the murderous few seated only inches away Billirakis has to face some of the most deathly faces of the poker world such as Freddy Deeb, Mark Seif, David Singer, Nick Binger and Phil Ivey.

However the biggest shocker ever that is bound to take the wind out of your sail is the participation of Boris Becker who is highly popularized for being the youngest Wimbledon champion in history. A legend in the world of tennis Becker is all set out to prove that he has the guts to play hard ball especially when it comes to poker.

A PokerStars Ambassador Becker jump-started his transition into the poker world at the European Poker Tour Grand Finale almost a year ago and though it is said that he is falling behind on chips in Las Vegas it seems that things are going quite smooth.

Becker recently stated that the experience of playing with the pros certainly brings out astounding feelings and with time he has started to feel more comfortable with his surroundings. He also commented that this is his first time making it to the fourth day of a big tournament and he is just trying to claw his way into the spot where the money starts to roll in. With more than $2 million hanging in the balance the World Poker Tour Championship is expected to reach the 50 player money spot early Wednesday.

Posted by Diana Sterling in Poker Articles, Poker News, Poker Pro Players, Poker Tournaments, WPT | No Comments » April 24th, 2009

PKR.com a renowned online poker room has officially announced, the first six members of its introductory team, which will be their professional sponsored players. These players are few of the brightest and rising stars of poker game.  Online poker PKR.com will be representing itself as a brand ambassador at various important events and will also grant a series of content for its official website and PKR television. The team will also be participating in cash games at PKR.com that also include some of special bounty tournaments.

The team named as PKR Pro consists of television celebrity like Ashley ‘ashleyhames1’ Hames, 2008 Irish open finalist Kai Danilo ‘kingkai84’, Paulsen alongside PKR Live runner-up Henrik ‘pokey85’, and EklundHames—a television anchor who is renowned for Sin Cities series still ranks as one of the top rated shows in UK.
Hames has been playing poker since a decade (2000) while Londoner was engaged in a World Series Of Poker (WSOP) Main Event where he reached the Celebrity Poker Club finals.

The 25 years old Norwegian Trondheim native Paulsen holds the finest record at PRK.com regular. He has grabbed $322,000 in offline earnings with 2 cashes at the WSOP. This record also includes finishing 18th among 3000 competitors with a 5th placed finish at Irish Open in 2008 and was able to won $250,000 there.

Eklund, 24 resident of Stockholm Sweden finished 2nd at PKR Live tournament inauguration in November. This event took place before he won the APT Manila Headhunter side event. According to Eklund he has an ambition to make a final table at the major game despite the fact that he is engaged in this game since he was 4 years.

Raymond ‘callmebabe’ O’Mahoney, James ‘James666’ Sudworth and Andrew ‘golfpro699’ make the rest of the team at PRK.com, they are also considered the finest players. Simon Prodger, Marketing Director for PKR.com said, “We’ve been following our initial Team PKR Pro members for some time and are convinced that they all have the game and personality required to be genuinely world-class poker players.” He added, “They are also among the most recognized and respected players within the PKR community so it is guaranteed to have over two and a half million people cheering them on every time they play.

Posted by Diana Sterling in Poker Articles, Poker News, Poker Pro Players, Poker Tournaments | No Comments » April 22nd, 2009

With ten years of successful track record in the online poker gaming, one of the first poker room has shut down its doors. Bwin.com has just got a little bigger with this development as all the players’ balances have been moved over to Bwin.

Players with outstanding funds on PokerRoom.com can either cash out, or simply transfer bankrolls over to the Bwin Poker website. As both poker sites are quite reputable, so the security and safety of the transfer is ensured. Lately PokerRoom players have been offered incentives by Bwin on their accounts transfer or simply cash out.

Bwin interactive Entertainments, an Austrian based company is a renowned brand and recognized worldwide, which is operating under regional and international licenses. Bwin interactive also owns the software platform that runs the Ongame Network.

PokerRoom was a trendsetter as well as an innovator in the online poker gaming. A completely real time online poker gaming experience to players was provided by it, realistic avatars is also one of their innovation something that was very rare before. The credit of introducing multi language support in online poker gaming goes to the PokerRoom, and recently it was catering to Danish, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Russian and Swedish speakers through its regional websites. By winning awards such as Poker Site of the Year at the UK Gambling Awards in 2006 and Top Poker Software from the Online Gambling Magazine Awards in 2005, it was one of the highly trusted and favorite destinations for poker players from all over the world.

PokerRoom.com has provided no official reason for the closure, but overall Bwin Poker take over is never the less a good move, it will help Bwin to concentrate more efforts on promotion and marketing activities in order to attract more players. After all PokerRoom reputation is in safe hands and without doubt it cannot be damaged, as Bwin itself is the world leader and a well-respected brand.

Posted by Diana Sterling in Poker Articles, Poker News | No Comments » April 21st, 2009

Bodog Poker Open III will get underway in a couple of days, the 2009 edition is featuring some new wrinkles. By giving players more choice this year Bodog Poker Open III comprises of 26 tournaments, which are divided into three series, each with a different buy-in tier.

With these three different types of tournament series to select from – bounty, guaranteed, and money added – It is yet another challenging poker event to accommodate every type of poker player

Below are three different types of tournament series with varying levels of buy ins.

1: Bodog Poker Open III ‘Championship Series’ which is intended for the higher-limit tournament player willing to go all the way to the Main Event and grab shares in the huge prize pools that is on offer.

2: ‘Mid-Stakes Tournament Series’, it is intended for the experienced player interested to take their game to the next level

3: ‘Mini-Bounty Tournament Series’ it is intended for the lower-limit players who are eager and interested to learn more about tournament poker

The schedule for Bodog poker open 111 is featuring ten elite, eight mid-stakes tourneys, high-stakes championship events, eight low buy-in mini-bounty tourneys specially designed to facilitate modest bankroll players. Bodog will be donating $75,000 to the championship prize pool with another $30,000 for the BPO III main event.

The series is getting underway on April 26th and will go through the championship main event on May 3rd. Last year Bodog Poker open attracted upto 539 runners in 14 events, by overall awarding a total sum of well over $700,000 in prize money, with the winner of the main event grabbed up $75,000.

The current event schedule is wall to wall as it includes no pot-limit, fixed-limit, no-limit, turbo, and short-handed. The qualifiers round for the event are currently taking place on the Bodog Poker website.

Posted by Diana Sterling in Poker Articles, Poker News, Poker Tournaments | No Comments » April 21st, 2009

Ultimatebet.com  (”UB”) and Absolutepoker.com (”AP”), which are both powered by CEREUS Poker Network and are taking the famous public concept ‘bigger and better’ to a next level has announced a  $530,000 Point Race. Online poker players should gear up their engines to enjoy the high octane poker action on both of the websites for a $ 53,000 contest which has got underway from April 15th.

If you love to lock your poker into overdrive, all you do need to do is to play in any of UltimateBet or Absolute Poker’s ring games i-e Multi Table tournaments or Sit and Gos between April 15th and June 15th. You can be on track to victory by playing in any real money raked ring grame by racking up as many RAI$E STATUS Points at ultimatebet.com  or fame status points at absolutepoker.com.

There is a serious cash at stake,  and every point earned will move the player close to the winners podium. Once the qualifying period is over, the top 500 points earners on the CEREUS rake race leaderboard will share prizes upto $500,000, which includes $25,000 for the finisher on the first place, $220000 for the runner up, and 200000 for the player on third spot. The player who earns  top 1,000 STATUS Point will have a seat reserved in the $30,000 Rackrace free roll that is taking place on june 28th at 2:00 pm ET.

Both leading poker sites ultimate bet.com  (”UB”) and absolute poker.com (”AP”)are committed to turn online poker tables into a race track, the present offer show their commitment to the promise of a bigger and better online experience for poker players on both websites. Player should settle in on the drivers seat and start earning status points in order to grab their share out of the $530,000 huge amount.

Full details on the CEREUS Rake Race promotion can be found at ultimatebet.com and Absolute Poker.com.

Posted by Diana Sterling in Poker Articles, Poker News, Poker Promotions | No Comments » April 20th, 2009

The third annual World Series of Poker Europe presented by Betfair has solidified its tournament schedule, Harrah’s Entertainment, Inc., owner and operator of the world’s most prestigious poker tournaments announced today.

The 2009 World Series of Poker Europe Presented by Betfair (the WSOPE) will feature four bracelet tournaments, including a new addition, the £2,500 Pot Limit Hold’em/Pot Limit Omaha mixed event that begins on September 21st.

“The World Series of Poker Europe has quickly established itself as the most prestigious tournament outside the United States,” said World Series of Poker Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack. “Winning a gold bracelet is recognized globally as the top prize in the sport and we look forward to awarding four more bracelets in 2009 at the Casino at the Empire in London.”

The WSOPE will be held from September 17th to October 1st, 2009 in the heart of Leicester Square at the Casino at the Empire in London, England. The Casino at the Empire has been a hotbed of poker activity since hosting the WSOPE, with regular cash games and tournaments running around the clock. The casino now stays open 24-hours a day and has begun offering satellite tournaments for the WSOPE. Visit http://www.thecasinolsq.com/pages/casino-events.php for more details.

“The Casino at the Empire has quickly become the destination for poker in the UK, “said Michael Silberling, COO, London Clubs International. “”We look forward to hosting the best players in the game for the WSOPE this fall and will continue to offer the finest poker action daily for those in Leicester Square.”

Players can pre-register for the WSOPE at any London Clubs International (LCI) venue in the UK or at the Rio All-Suites Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. Alternatively they can try and qualify online exclusively at Betfair Poker via www.betfairpoker.com.

“We are delighted to be working alongside Harrah’s again for a successful third year of our sponsorship of the World Series of Poker Europe,” said Betfair CEO David Yu. “We will remain the only place to qualify online for the WSOPE tournament and we are also very excited about the new $1 million promotion which with free entry will give the WSOPE a wider appeal and add more value than ever before.”

The complete bracelet event schedule is as follows:

Friday, Sept. 18, 2009

Event #1 – £1,000 + £60 – No-Limit Hold’em Day 1A (3-day event/2 start days)

Saturday, Sept. 19, 2009

Event #1 – £1,000 + £60 – No-Limit Hold’em Day 1B

Monday, Sept. 21, 2009

Event #2 – £2,500 + £150 – Pot Limit Hold’em/Pot-Limit Omaha (3-day event)

Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2009

Event #3 – £5,000 + £250 – Pot Limit Omaha (3-day event)

Saturday, Sept. 26, 2009

Event #4 – £10,000 + £350 – World Championship No-Limit Hold’em Day 1A (5-day event/2 start days) “Main Event”

Sunday, Sept. 27, 2009

Event #4 – £10,000 + £350 – World Championship No-Limit Hold’em Day 1B “Main Event”

All the above tournaments will be sanctioned gold bracelet events. Non-stop cash games will also be scheduled during the tournament, as well as a bevy of satellite tournaments in the weeks leading up to each event. The Casino at the Empire does not require membership for admission.

Betfair Poker is also proud to present a brand new WSOPE event exclusively free for Betfair poker players to enter. The FREE MILLION DOLLAR GAME is only available at www.betfairpoker.com. Qualification begins 13th April with the top 18 players traveling to London to play live at WSOPE for a first place prize of U.S. $1 million. The event will kick off the WSOPE on Thursday, September 17.

ESPN, the exclusive World Series of Poker telecaster, is scheduled to air ten original hours of coverage of the World Series of Poker Europe in the United States and distribute the tournament globally. ESPN360.com, ESPN’s signature broadband sports network, is scheduled to provide live coverage in the U.S., Europe, Mexico and Brazil.

Harrah’s Entertainment will distribute World Series of Poker Europe programming in non-ESPN markets, which totaled 170 million households in 2008 including U.K. host broadcaster Channel 4.

During the WSOP in Las Vegas (May 26-July 15), players can pre-register for WSOP Europe at the tournament cage as well as lock in poker player hotel rates via www.worldseriesofpoker.com. In addition, $1,570 Mega Satellites for the WSOP Europe Main Event will be held July 9th, 10th and 11th at 5:00 PM at the Rio® All-Suite Hotel and Casino.

WSOPE in London complements the WSOP held annually in Las Vegas. During the first two years of the WSOPE, seven gold bracelets have been awarded along with £9,997,500 in prize money.

The biggest names in poker have participated in WSOPE including: Doyle Brunson, Johnny Chan, Annie Duke, Phil Hellmuth, Dave “Devilfish” Ulliott, Daniel Negreanu, John Juanda, Gus Hansen, Eric Seidel, Mike Matusow, Joe Hachem, Vanessa Rousso, Andy Bloch, David Benefield, Ivan Demidov, Sorel Mizzi, Jennifer Tilly, Layne Flack, Andrew Black, Barry Greenstein, Tom Dwan, Chris Ferguson, Scotty Nguyen, Max Pescatori, Chris Bjorin, Allen Cunningham, Phil Ivey, Howard Lederer, Patrik Antonius, John Phan and Annette Obrestad.

Obrestad won the largest amount ever for a female, £1 million – or U.S. $2,013,102 when she won the inaugural WSOPE Main Event in 2007. John Juanda, the winner of the 2008 event, won in an epic battle. The final table lasted 21 hours and Juanda took home a cool £868,800 in prize money and a coveted WSOP bracelet for his remarkable efforts.

The host country is still looking to win its first bracelet on home soil, while six different nations have captured a WSOPE bracelet: Denmark (2), Afghanistan, Germany, Italy, Norway and USA.

Posted by Diana Sterling in Poker Pro Players, Poker Tournaments, WSOPE | No Comments » April 20th, 2009

Harrah’s Entertainment has announced the dates for World Series of Poker Europe that is presented by Betfair. Casino Empire in London is hosting the event for the year 2009, which will run from 17th of September to October Ist, the series is featuring a total of four bracelet events.

World series of poker Europe 2009 will be kicking off with several events. The Schedule for 2009 World Series of Poker Europe is as follow

- September 18 – 21 – £1,000 + £60 – No-Limit Hold’em (two starting days)
- September 21 – 23 – £2,500 + £150 – Pot Limit Hold’em/Pot-Limit Omaha
- September 23 – 25 – £5,000 + £250 – Pot Limit Omaha
-September 26 – October 1 – £10,000 + £350 – World Championship No-Limit Hold’em
(two starting days)

In past all World Series of poker Europe events are officially designated as Gold bracelets events.

Commenting on the occasion world series poker commissioner Jeffrey Pollack mentioned “The World Series of Poker Europe has quickly established itself as the most prestigious tournament outside the United States”.

Staging of the World Series of poker Europe in September and October makes it similar to 2008, as the WSOPE and main event will be tacking place during the conclusion of play in the main event of WSOP at Las Vegas in July and the completion of the WSOP’s Main Event, or the “9th November.”

Players can pre register for the event at London Clubs International venue in the United Kingdom; also players participating in the Las Vegas world series of poker can pre register at the Rio Hotel and Casino. Players can also qualify for the WSOPE via Betfair poker site.

ESPN will be broadcasting the WSOPE event this year; they have plans to air 10 hours of coverage in the United States. ESPN360 will broadcast the event live in the U.S., Europe, Mexico, and Brazil.

Posted by Diana Sterling in Poker Articles, Poker News, Poker Pro Players, WSOP | No Comments » April 17th, 2009

Everest poker is returning as the presenting sponsor of the world series of poker (WSOP) within few weeks of time. The online poker tournament series is kicking off on May 26th from Rio in Las Vegas. In the main event, Everest poker qualifiers will see their earnings matched up to $1 million, which can later be distributed amongst qualifiers.

At first Everest poker will match main event winner through its members up to a combine sum of $1 million, then the sum can be divided equally amongst all of its online qualifiers irrespective of weather they cashed or not.

The unique promotion strategy will enable players who are unable to cash in WSOP main event to enhance their bankrolls. Although Everest poker is still qualifying its member players for both the main event of WSOP as well as the final $1,500 buy-in No Limit Hold’em tournament. Everest poker main bonus currently only applies to the prestigious $10,000 contest.

Ed Pownall, the key spokesperson for Everest Poker stated in a press release, which was distributed by an online poker room, “Our aim last year, our first as sponsor, was to encourage more European players than ever before to go to the WSOP, which we did. This year, we want to reward that loyalty by offering a knock-out reason to qualify with us. This bonus gives everybody hope of winning something even of they are out early on and it will also give an added sense of camaraderie to all those qualified with us.”

Step poker Sit and Go Tournaments are offered to members by their online poker site to gain entry into the main event. According to PokerScout.com, which rank traffics to poker sites, Everest Poker is the sixth largest site worldwide in terms of traffic. This site is also the fourth largest website that does not accept players from the United States. Everest Poker is licensed by GigaMedia, which is traded on the NASDAQ Stock Exchange.

Posted by Diana Sterling in Poker Articles, Poker News, Poker Tournaments, WSOP | No Comments » April 16th, 2009