August 2005 Archives

From the comfort of my dry home, I sat and watched the storm of the century roll through the Gulf of Mexico. I hoped, like everyone else, the hell storm would fall apart or drift back into the ocean. I thought of my friends on the coast, the good times...more

It's been about six months since I met Abdulaziz Abdulaziz. He'd qualified online for the EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo. I watched him throughout the week and couldn't have been happier when the smiling, hard working young man made the final table.After the tournament was over, I went out...more

For the tournament-minded, Sunday marked the one week-point until the biggest online poker event in the world begins. With the World Championship of Online Poker seven days away, more than 3000 people showed up for the warm up, PokerStars Sunday $500,000 Guaranteed.When the tournament reached the final nine players, this...more

If you've already started trying to qualify for the European Poker Tour, you'll be interested to know that PokerStars.com will be rolling out satellites for two more EPT events this weekend.Satellites for the EPT event in Baden, Austria will start Saturday August 27 and satellites for the EPT event in...more

It's not going to be too many weeks until we'll pull up stakes and move this blog back on the road for the European Poker Tour. I noticed last night that there are already hundreds of people trying to qualify for the first event of Season 2 in Barcelona. Last...more

Every tournament has its own texture, its own climate that only the players can understand. Some final tables are complete in minutes. Some take hours. This week, we watched a final table that took longer than any I'd seen online in months.This week, the final table also featured a couple...more

If you've noticed it's been a little quiet around here for the past few days, you should know that there's a good reason for it. We've been working hard behind the scenes to launch the second season of the most exciting and fun poker event in Europe.Today begins the second...more

Surely, I thought, my eyes must be deceiving me. Perhaps, the screen name brainwash had been burned into my corneas and I was simply having flashbacks to the three other times in the past three four months that the same man had made the final table in the big Sunday...more

The final table of this week's $500,000 Guaranteed tournament was one that you didn't want to miss. With more than $637,000 in the prize pool, the players refused to give up any ground. When a four-way deal was offered, one player turned it down, despite the fact he was last...more

While I hope you check in here regularly for news from the world of PokerStars, I would be remiss if I didn't point out a few things I've noticed recently on the web. Here's a quick overview.Isabelle Mercier of Team PokerStars has been doing some good work on her own...more

With less than a month until PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker begins, I decided to take a little look at how signups were going. It only takes a quick glance at the sign-up list to determine a few things. First, the 15 days of WCOOP are going to be...more

The action at the $500,000 Guaranteed final table was fast, furious and sometimes moved so quickly that it was hard to follow. More than 3400 people signed up for the event and built a prize pool of more than $680,000. When the smoke cleared, this is how it looked:PokerStars Sunday...more

I suppose it's now time to put the World Series of Poker to bed. Although it was quite a ride and a fantastic time, there are several things on the horizon that will be filling this space. Keep your eyes here for breaking news on the World Championship of Online...more

Note: One of the greatest PokerStars stories to come from the World Series of Poker was that of Bernard "Dogger9" Lee, a Frequent Player Point qualifier who caught everybody's eye as the real deal. Lee has agreed to chronicle his journey for the Official PokerStars Blog. His trip report will...more

Note: One of the greatest PokerStars stories to come from the World Series of Poker was that of Bernard "Dogger9" Lee, a Frequent Player Point qualifier who caught everybody's eye as the real deal. Lee has agreed to chronicle his journey for the Official PokerStars Blog. His trip report will...more

As a frequent reader of Cardplayer, I came across an article recently in which two longtime tournament reporters were debating the merits of building tension in a tournament report and not revealing the winner until the end versus stating outright at the beginning who won the contest. My opinion changes...more