March 2011 Archives

Hundreds of thousands of you were online at PokerStars trying to hit the 60 billionth hand we'd ever dealt. With more than $100,000 in potential winnings, everyone wanted their chance to bag a fortune for free. Only one player could take it down, however, and the lucky man was Michael...more

When I started on the EPT during 2008, a Belgian player was hard to find in the poker world. I knew they were out there. Belgians are fine poker players. It just took us a while to get the recognition we deserve. Belgians are a shy people who are not...more

In a world of super powers, no one expects Belgium to come up and bite them in the tuchus. It's such a small, friendly little country of smiling, friendly people. Who would expect its poker players to engage in such a vicious campaign for EPT Best Country? Belgium? Yes, Belgium,...more

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There are regular champions, and there are EPT champions. Now, the EPT is set to crown its Champion of Champions. The special invitational tournament is scheduled for the final day of the EPT Grand Final festival in Madrid. On the invitation list? Everybody who has won an EPT main event...more

The last Super Tuesday of March brought out 394 entrants, creating a total prize pool of $394,000, once again topping the $1,050 buy-in tourney's $300K guarantee. The top 45 finishers would be dividing the cash, with first place due a handsome $76,239. After about three-and-a-half hours the field had been...more

"abra1304" came out on top of the smaller than usual field this week. 875 players turned out for this week's Twitter Poker League game, my guess is that everyone else was busy with the huge inaugural Sunday Storm. Besting nearly 900 players is no easy feat, so let's see how...more

Scratch the surface of any mere mortal poker player like me and you will probably find a fantasy such as this one. It's late in the game in a big tournament and you are at the table with a famous pro--Liv Boeree or Vanessa Selbst--someone famous and feared. You get...more

"I have absolutely no idea what to do with myself now," Pogo650 said. There he sat at a $5/$10 limit hold'em table known as Isa II. Based on the history of smallish stakes limit poker grinders, the chance of Pogo650's afternoon being in any way exciting were...well, slim. They were...more

I don't want to get over dramatic about these things, but today someone is going to be given a substantial amount of cash just for playing at PokerStars. And, well, that is quite dramatic. The lucky winner of the 60 billionth hand dealt at PokerStars, and it will hit a...more

Seven Greeks and one Swede began their ultimate battle on noon, this Sunday, to claim the title of the first ever poker tournament on Greek Soil : the inaugural Pokerstars.net Greek Poker Cup. Daniel Carlsson from Sweden had the clear advantage from the very beginning. He was the chip leader...more

This is a public service announcement. Friday is April Fools' Day. This is going to be a silly week. People are going to be doing their best to make you believe the most outlandish of things. Protect yourself. Believe no one. Except me, of course. I can be a reliable...more

Every Sunday is busy in the world of online poker, and PokerStars always offers plenty of tournament options. The last Sunday of every month offers extra opportunities to win with the Battle of the Planets and the Turbo Takedown. But this Sunday topped previous efforts by adding two more events...more

The inaugural Sunday Storm field could not fit into London's Wembley Arena. It couldn't fit into the Rose Bowl, the Cotton Bowl, or the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Even the largest football arena in the western world, Ann Arbor's Michigan Stadium, would leave over 3,800 players in the parking lot. Nothing...more

Today could become YOUR bankroll independence day. Yes, Sundays are always something different at PokerStars but as Brad "Otis" Willis pointed out things got cranked to 11 this weekend. 60 Billion hands promotion, $1 million Sunday Storm gathering 113,770 players to push its prize pool past that guaranteed mark. Viktor...more

Anyone else getting whiplash from all the action today? Yes, Sundays are usually a busy and exciting time here at PokerStars, but with several large promotions going on the usual buzz around the Sunday Majors was enough to give an action junkie a contact high without even playing. The road...more

Just call him KidComeback. Last week's SuperStar Showdown was nothing less than a disaster for Daniel Negreanu. A terrible run in all-in pots ended with all $150,000 of his challenge bankroll in Viktor "Isildur1" Blom's pockets after only 1,439 hands. What was supposed to be a two-part, 5,000-hand challenge...more

Today's Battle of the Planets $50,000 freeroll starts on the heels of several promotions that have all tables running into overdrive. As the first round of the triple shootout completed, over at the $1 million guarantee Sunday Storm which for the mere price of $11 the 100,000 player mark was...more

Springtime holds much excitement as the sun and warmth return to the days and the promise of new beginnings hangs in the air. It seemed like the perfect time to launch the Women's Sunday tournament, and the female players on PokerStars seemed happy to see it. The Women's Sunday was...more

When we started out this afternoon we got a feeling that there was a great story unfolding, with only the final chapters left to be written. Five locals, a few young guns, an Irishman and a PokerStars qualifier by the name of Grant Levy. The man known as "Grunter" entered...more

9:00pm: John Corr eliminated in 2nd place; Grant Levy crowned ANZPT Perth champion! It had taken almost three and a half levels of grinding for Grant Levy to work away at the stack of his gallant opponent in local John Corr, and after consecutive double ups, it looked like Corr...more

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7:10pm: Ten-minute break As the nearby band cranks up Bon Jovi's "You Give Love a Bad Name", the players are now taking a much-needed ten-minute break. 6:50pm: Corr fighting hard Not a lot of action to report as Grant Levy appears content to keep pots small and wait patiently for...more

4:50pm: Ten-minute break 4:40pm: Corr puts in a four-bet John Corr opened with a raise to 60,000 before Grant Levy popped it to 130,000 from the big blind. Corr hasn't got into too many preflop wars but he came back with a four-bet of an additional 210,000. Levy thought for...more

2:40pm: Ten-minute break 2:35pm: Han Luu eliminated in 6th place On the final hand of the level, Grant Levy opened with a raise to 32,000 from under the gun before Han Luu defiantly thumped 90,000 into the middle from late position. Action folded back to Levy who this time acted...more

The PokerStars.net ANZPT Perth Main Event attracted a field of 220 entrants, creating a prize pool of $506,000. After three days of play, our field has been reduced to a final table of eight players. Here's how they will line up: Seat 1: Han Luu (Perth, West Australia) - 639,000...more

Australians love nothing more than cheering their own team onto victory. It doesn't matter if it's the Olympic Games, the World Cup or the local Curling Division 2 championships - just attach some form of allegiance and we'll happily sit and cheer. The rule counts for double if the local...more

7:40pm: What an end to the day! Well, that got rather busy, rather quickly! After plenty of slow periods throughout the day, we've ended with an almighty rush with four eliminations in rapid succession. Only eight players will return tomorrow, and to be honest, it was so frantic there at...more

7:20pm: Level up - blog will continue on new page 7:15pm: Teddy crippled by Kearns Aaron Lim opened with a raise to 26,000 before Ted Nguyen moved all in from the button for 195,000. Patrick Kearns thought long and hard in the big blind before also declaring himself all in....more

5:10pm: Level up, blinds 5,000-10,000, ante 1,000 Due to the unscheduled break, we won't be taking this break right now, but our coverage will continue with the next level on a new page. 5:00pm: Corr claims another John Corr is unstoppable right now. He's just claimed another victim in Shane...more

2:40pm: Ten-minute break 2:35pm: Hachem doubles, Quon busts Just as the players were heading off for their break, two big all in pots were unfolding. One led to a double up, and the other was an elimination. The one to double was none other than Tony Hachem. He opened with...more

You might think the idea of staging a major poker tournament in an Alpine ski resort would detract somewhat from the real business at hand. With ski slopes just a short walk away, and with winter sports leaflets glossily presented to every hotel guest, you would be forgiven for...more

11.50pm: Vladimir Geshkenbein wins EPT Snowfest and €390,000 The next hand Geshkenbein folded from the button but it was all over one hand later. Kevin Vandersmissen raised to 250,000 only to face a three-bet up to 550,000 from Vladimir Geshkenbein. His response was to move all-in for just under...more

When we started out this morning we knew it was going to be a day that would sort out the best from the rest, and without a doubt the cream rose to the top as Day 2 of the PokerStars.net ANZPT Main Event was a day to remember. From the...more

7.56pm: Dinner break One and all are on a 60 minute dinner break. The chips have been updated on our chips count page here. -- MC 7.55pm: Taken to value town? Vladimir Geshkenbein has dropped further down the pecking order after paying off Kevin Vandersmissen in a hand. The...more

I woke this morning with a sense of urgency. It was as if David Caruso was urging me from slumber and to the keyboard. Though I've spent about 60 hours typing this week, Caruso and I could rest no more until the following important items appeared as one.* This final...more

Q. Jennifer, you have won two PokerStars Women Live packages in satellites on your first try--the most recent a package to the Grand Final in Madrid. You also did the same to win your seat to the PCA event. You must have a secret trick that you use to...more

"Better late than never" is a very well-known proverb that suits perfectly the beginning of the Greek Poker Cup , the very first poker tournament that takes, officially, place on Greek Soil. For years, all the Greek fans of poker have been eager to take part in a big poker...more

Table 15 Seat 1: David Gorr - 62,100 Seat 2: Peter Gilbert - 72,200 Seat 3: Alan Bustany - 86,200 Seat 4: Mile Krstanoski - 48,400 Seat 5: Tim Marsters (PokerStars Qualifier) - 219,400 Seat 6: Shane Rakich - 210,600 Seat 7: Taner Ates (PokerStars Qualifier) - 111,900 Seat 9:...more

4.52pm: End of the level Players are now on a 15 minute break. 4.51pm: Philip Meulyzer eliminated in sixth place, earning €65,000 Kevin Vandersmissen opened what would be a five-handed pot for 80,000, which Giacomo Maisto missing with three minutes to play in the level. Philip Meulyzer then moved...more

8:00pm: Day two is done We need a moment to catch our breath after a stunning end to the day when Aaron Lim captured a massive pot and a clear chip lead at the end of the day. He'll bag up close to 550,000 with Ricky Kroesen next best with...more

6:50pm: Ten-minute break 6:35pm: Two more down The rate of eliminations has been rather quick this afternoon as we're now down under 40 players remaining in the Main Event. In recent eliminations, we lost cult hero David Steicke when he pushed all in on a jack-high flop with king-jack, but...more

4:40pm: Ten-minute break 4:35pm: O'Rourke rockets ahead Liam O'Rourke is one of Australia's finest young talents with a super-impressive online poker resume and he's quickly accumulating a live resume to match. After a third place finish in the ANZPT Gold Coast event last year, O'Rourke is heading towards another ANZPT...more

2:30pm: Ten-minute break 2:15pm: Cohen finds a river Hugh Cohen is amongst the leaders in a classic suck-resuck hand that we all love. After a limp in front of him, Cohen popped it to 3,000 holding A♦A♣. His opponent made the call and the flop landed 5♠Q♥T♦. A check and...more

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After a tense and prolonged day at the European Poker Tour Snowfest, Kevin Vandersmissen takes the main event chip lead into the final day, the leader of eight players who will return tomorrow to play to a new mountain champion. With the strange combination of bright warm sunshine and...more

8.55pm: Iemina out in ninth, play ends for the day Manilo Iemina had less than 15 big blinds and all of those chips, some 412,000, went over the line with his 4♦4♥. The action passed to Philip Meulyzer who re-shoved from the button for 1.4 million. Both Denis Mirphy...more

Some days on the poker table can be a real grind. You take one step forward and two steps back, and struggle to gain any momentum. Other days it's the rollercoaster ride from hell, with huge swings that test the emotional limits of even the most composed player. Then of...more

Table 3 Seat 1: Shane Rakich - 40700 Seat 2: Joel Gaffney - 43500 Seat 3: Andrew Hinrichsen - 12400 Seat 4: Paul Spies (PokerStars Qualifier) - 68000 Seat 5: Stephen Ford - 12800 Seat 6: Evan Sylwestrzak - 28900 Seat 8: Kristian Lunardi - 11600 Seat 9: Rodney...more

There's this scene in a Hollywood disaster movie. I can't remember which one, but it doesn't matter, because seven out of ten of the films have fiery balls falling from the sky. So, picture those fiery balls screaming toward earth and your head. Now imagine actually wanting to get hit...more

5.05pm: Adeniya doubles at the end of the level Martins Adeniya's stack has just been slowly shrinking today but he'll be going to break a lot happier now as he's doubled up to 560,000. Philip Meulyzer raised to 35,000 and called when Adeniya three-bet all-in for 270,000. Adeniya tabled...more

8:10pm: Day 1b is in the books The final hands of the day drew no further incident as approximately 81 players survived the day. A quick run around the room to scout the big stacks has put Billy Jordanou in the lead with 92,200, narrowly ahead of Ferenc Riech (91,800)...more

7:00pm: Ten-minute break 6:50pm: Here come Billy! On our most recent pass into the main poker room area, we spotted a noticeable increase in the size of the stack of Billy Jordanou. He's now up to over 80,000 and threatening the chip lead. Billy Jordanou is amongst the chip leaders...more

4:50pm: Ten-minute break 4:50pm: It's good to be the Dong On a hand that extended into the break, Jonathan "xMONSTERxDONGx" Karamalikis has disposed of ANZPT Melbourne champ Martin Kozlov. Kozlov opened to 500 before Karamalikis three-bet to 1,200 in position. Kozlov came back with a small four-bet to 2,500 and...more

2:40pm: Ten-minute break 2:25pm: Rubie check-raises Barrett When two young online players collide there's always going to be fireworks. Sitting side-by-side Josh Barrett and Brendon Rubie have just tangled with Rubie getting the upper hand. It was four ways to a K♦J♠7♥ flop where Barrett's bet of 525 was check-called...more

As one now late screen goddess once said: "It's not the having, it's the getting," and today that proved a suitably apt quote to pin to the Day 3 action from the European Poker Tour Snowfest main event. Day 3 is when players scratch and scrape an advantage out...more

10.55pm: Gulyy goes to conclude play for the day Andrey Gulyy has been eliminated in 25th place and that brings play to an end for the day. Manilo Iemina raised to 23,000 from under-the-gun and snap called when Gulyy shoved for 84,000 from the cut-off. Gulyy: 3♣3♥ Iemina: K♥K♦...more

As the sun sets on a glorious Perth day, the opening flight of the PokerStars.net ANZPT Perth Main Event has also drawn to a close. We started out with a field of 81 players with several local hopes and plenty of talent flying in from the Eastern states for their...more

8.05pm: End of level It's dinner time for the remaining 31 players, even Pierre Neuville who gets to take a second dinner break. We'll be back in 90 minutes. -- RD 8.04pm: Monster Maisto Giacomo Maisto has a huge 1.4 million stack after picking off a massive bluff from...more

It could've happened after he won a WPT event. It could've happened after he won a WCOOP bracelet. It could've happened when he won the 2011 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure $100,000 High Roller event. Frankly, it could've happened at just about any time. Finally, that time has come. Eugene Katchalov is...more

At the PCA PokerStars party back in January, as we balanced plates of pasta in one hand and rum drinks in the other, Daniel Negreanu elaborated on the groundbreaking new PokerStars initiative, Home Games. With his typical boyish charm, Daniel explained the basics: create your own poker club, structure the...more

"RomkaNN" wins the third week of the Twitter Poker League, and claims the record for fastest heads up section ever. 1,067 players turned out for the tournament this week, 153 were paid and $184.82 was awarded to first place. We only had one bounty again, as last week's 3rd place...more

5pm: Break That's the end of the second level of the day. Join us in a fresh by clicking the 'next' button above in 15 minutes. -- RD 4.58pm: Fatima Moreira de busto Team PokerStars SportStar Fatima Moreira de Melo was eliminated as everyone else was leaving for break....more

8:20pm: That's a wrap The players are now revealing all their bluffs, check-raises and triple barrels as they bag, tag and head to the bar. We'll have approximately 47 players through to day two, with Queenslander Ricky Kroesen leading the way with 109,400, ahead of Mikael Rosen with 96,700. Others...more

The first Super Tuesday of the spring saw 424 players pony up the $1,000+$50 buy-in, creating a total prize pool of $424,000. The top 54 finishers would split those dollars, with $81,365.60 due the winner. During the first four hours of play the field was trimmed to 100 players, with...more

7:10pm: Ten-minute break 7:05pm: Kroesen straight to the top In the biggest pot of the tournament, Ricky Kroesen has shot to the top of the charts after a speculative preflop call paid dividends. After a raise and a couple of callers, Kroesen decided to call with 9♣6♣ and flopped a...more

5:00pm: Ten-minute break 4:40pm: Marsland's great escape When the players are so deep-stacked in the early levels of an ANZPT, it usually takes a pretty big cooler of a hand to eliminate a solid player. Then again, sometimes a really good player can even escape from a seemingly impossible position....more

2:50pm: Ten-minute break 2:40pm: Curly keeps it small Emanuel "Curly" Seal will be currently ruing a little lost value after he kept things small on a straightening board of 6 5 2 4 7 . Seal check-called 700 on the turn before both players checked the river. Seal's opponent tabled pocket jacks, as Curly gave...more

Exhausted of all the skiing analogies, of lone snowplough drivers and distant lights on the mountainous horizon, we're reduced to talking about the actual chip leader tonight, at the close of Day 2 at the PokerStars.net European Poker Tour Snowfest main event. Sometimes chip leaders can be anonymous beings,...more

12.12am: Play ends for the day The play has concluded for Day 2. The wrap of the day's play will be up shortly, followed by the official overnight chips counts. The player leading the way is Philip Meulyzer from Belgium on 623,500. -- MC 12.05am: Clock stopped, Calia cropped...more

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7.53pm: Din dins All the players are now on a 90 minute dinner break. -- MC 7.48pm: Cheeky Geshkenbein Vladimir Geshkenbein is back up to 250,000 after bluffing Herbert Kern off a hand. Kern raised to 4,200 from late position and called when the Russian three-bet to 11,500 from...more

An Italian player won €200,000 at the final table of IPT Nova Gorica. Mustapha Kanit beat a field of 395 players here in Nova Gorica, where the Italian Poker Tour generated a massive €768,240 prize pool. Kanit's heads up opponent was PokerStars Qualifier Marco Mancini who took second place for...more

The following blog post comes from Chris Moneymaker and was written in two parts: one before he started the NBC Heads-Up Championship, and one after he finished runner-up for $300,000. Before We had our draw last night. In the first round, I drew John Racener. This is probably the best...more

4.50pm: Level ends That's the end of level 10. Level 11 will begin after a 15 minute break. 4.45pm: Former champs falling like flies Hands aloft with fingers locked behind his head, things did not look good for former EPT champ Anton Wigg. From a few tables away I...more

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It's getting a little late here at PokerStars Blog HQ, but this is news that shouldn't have to wait for morning. We've just received word from Daniel Negreanu that he is 100% up for a SuperStar Showdown re-match with Viktor "Isildur1" Blom this coming Sunday. As you might have seen,...more

After six weeks of rest and relaxation, Season 3 of the PokerStars.net Australia New Zealand Poker Tour has once again started up the engine and sped away to another exciting poker destination. It's easy to forget how large this sunburnt country of Australia truly is. After a couple of aeroplane...more

As the light faded across Hinterglemm today a lone figure, dressed in red, with skis on his feet and poles in his hands, hurtled down the slopes opposite the Alpine Palace, overtaking the tourists, the beginners and the fallen; pulling up just short of the starting blocks of the...more

12.40am: Geshkenbein leads at close As we wait for the official count we're calling it for Vladimir Geshkenbein tonight. Full wrap and details of the day to follow shortly. -- SB 12.32am: Last three hands The final three hands have been annouced. Bagging and tagging to take place shortly....more

10.30pm: End of level Join us in a new post by clicking the next button just above these words. -- RD 10.23pm: Big hitters There are some big stacks emerging here and one of those belongs to Zoltan Szabo who has just over 130,000, which is quite some amount...more

6.35pm: Break time That's the end of level four. Those on tables one to 15 are now on a 90 minute dinner break, while the rest of the field takes a standard 15 minutes. -- SB 6.30pm: Battle of the Kevins As the end of level four nears Luca...more

Strap in, folks. This sucker is a fast-moving vehicle. There's so much happening around the land of the PokerStars Blog, we've hired an extra 100 monkeys to man the keyboards this week (and, darn it, one of them is going to turn out Hamlet before summer, I just know it)....more

After 11 hours of play, the field of 157 who started Day 2 is now down to 27 players who move forward to Day 3 and a have shot at cashing here at IPT Nova Gorica. Ciro Calabrese, from Italy, is the chip leader with 1,019,000 chips, followed by Mustapha...more

For poker players around the world, Sunday is the most exciting day of the week. After a quiet morning with family and friends (or maybe sleeping until noon) they are ready for some excitement before heading back to the trenches on Monday. By Sunday afternoon, thousands of players grab their...more

Do yourself a favor. Click onto PokerStars.com and look in the long rectangular box below the smiling visage of Daniel Negreanu. There you will find a running count of how many hands PokerStars has dealt in its history. If you don't want to go over there, just look on the...more

When the LAPT returned to Brazil for Season 4 it gave that country a chance to win its first-ever LAPT title in its home country. That nearly happened in Sao Paulo, but Chilean Alex Manzano took the title and denied Brazil its opportunity. Now, Brazil has exacted its revenge by...more

There have been few scenes in recent memory that have shocked the world as much as what's happened in Japan. The country has suffered one of the biggest earthquakes in recorded history, followed by a devastating tsunami that washed away whole towns and a nuclear power crisis that still has...more

4.22pm: Eames shows uptick as the break is rung in John Eames finished third at EPT Copenhagen last month for $257,011 and is attempting back to back cashes. The Brit is a threat at any table and is up to 36,000 after betting Sofi Lovgren off of a hand...more

Call it the Vernal Equinox. Call it the first day of spring. Or call it a Sunday that provided opportunities galore for big money and a title for one person to be dubbed this week's Sunday Million champion. Just don't call while I'm playing online poker. (Old joke. Apologies all...more

Talk about March Madness. For the third straight week -- and fifth in the last six -- the $750,000 guaranteed Sunday Warm-Up saw the total prize pool exceed one million dollars. Like a back-up guard coming off the bench to drain three after three, the Warm-Up has suddenly caught fire!...more

Keith Johnson has won the first ever Eureka Poker Tour event and bagged €58,400 for his troubles. He defeated Spanish PokerStars qualifier Antonio Dieguez Rodriguez in a short heads up battle with Johnson's K♣J♦ holding against Rodriguez's T♣6♣ on the final hand. Johnson winning the tournament with a hand...more

Daniel Negreanu knows that running bad is just a part of the game. Despite losing to quads in six-figure pots on three separate occasions on GSN's High Stakes Poker, a feat of sour luck that would lead a lesser player to swear off cards forever, he continues to play on...more

If you walk out of the Alpine Palace in Hinterglemm, walk across Dorfstrasse, up along Haidweg and look up, you'll see three lights on the hillside, each moving very slowly, either up or down in the darkness. These are the lights of the caterpillar-tracked vehicles, flattening the snow (again,...more

12am: Keith Johnson wins Eureka Poker Tour, Prague (€58,400) From the button Keith Johnson moved all-in for an effective 10 big blinds and Antonio Dieguez Rodriguez thought for a while before calling all-in for his tournament life: Johnson: K♣J♦ Rodriguez: T♣6♣ "Hold," shouted Johnson's rail as the flop came down...more

Day 1A ends The last four hands came and went without any blog worthy happening. Martins Adeniya is the overnight chip leader on 182,500 chips. Read about his day and the rest of the day's action in the upcoming wrap. Official overnight chips counts will appear here soon after that...more

10.30pm: End of the level Players are on a 10 minute break. Level 26 updates will appear in a new post. -- NW 10.20pm: Petr Kralicek eliminated in fourth place (4th €16,080) From the button Keith Johnson made it 90,000 to play, Antonio Dieguez Rodriguez folded the small blind before...more

8.45pm: End of level The level is just coming to an end and that's it for a 90-minute dinner break. The buffet here deserves that amount of time. It is glorious. -- RD 8.41pm: Finne four-bets up to 40,000 Tim Finne is back up to 40,000 after cold four-betting...more

6.35pm: Plucky Plauski ahead at the break Aleh Plauski is up into the chip lead after making a big shove on the final hand before the break. He raked in the pot to chip up to around 83,000. Just behind him are a few players; Johannes Holstege has 74,000...more

6.55pm: End of the level That's the end of level 22, updates for level 23 and beyond will appear in a new post shortly. -- NW 6.40pm: Back from the break The nine remaining players are back in their seats, here are their approximate chip counts: David Torok - 490,000...more

4.15pm: Break time The remaining 11 players are now on a 20 minute break. -- NW 4.10pm: Martin Svub eliminated in 12th place (€3,240) Down to just 106,000 Martin Svub moved all-in with Q♠T♠ and was called by Kim Eduardovich who had pocket jacks. The board of T♦7♠6♣5♦8♣ gave Svub...more

4.20pm: End of level It's the first break of the day and the wurstel* stand has been swamped. We'll be back in 15 minutes. -- RD * That's sausage to you. 4.18pm: Messing around in the blinds You'd think that playing a €5,000 tournament would make play serious and...more

For the 98 players who returned today the aim was simple - make the money. They knew they couldn't win the tournament on Day 2, but as 78 players found out, you could definitely lose it. To use a poker phrase play today had many gears. It took six...more

1.35am:Top five stacks Here are the top five chip stacks: David Torok, Hungary , 800500 Jaroslav Urban, Czech Republic, 629000 Antonio Dieguez Rodriguez, Spain, PokerStars quailfier, 522500 Pawel Burka, Czech Republic, 380500 Pawel Bartosz, Poland, 311000 The top three are someway clear of the two Pawel's, and those three traded...more

10.38pm: End of the level That's the end of level 16, updates for the last two levels of the night will appear in a new post soon. -- NW 10.30pm: Last woman sitting Veronika Kokoceva is the last woman in the event as Lieke van Wordragen has just been eliminated....more

8.15pm: End of the level That's the end of the level, you'll find level 15 updates in a new post which will be up very soon. -- NW 8.05pm: Jakub jilted by the ladies Jakub Ratulowski's hopes of making a deep run in this tournament are over. Shortly after losing...more

4.08pm: Break time The players have completed two levels and are on their first break of the day, see you in 20. -- NW 4.05pm: Steady from Urban Day 1A chip leader Jaroslav Urban seems to have had a steady couple of levels, he came into today with 114,000 and...more

Today a total of 169 players joined the 150 players from Day 1A to create a field of 319 for the inaugural PokerStars Eureka Poker Tour event. Whilst that number was important it was nothing compared to the figure announced midway through the day, €58,400 was the important figure....more

1.25am: Top five chip stacks Here by my reckoning are the top five chip stacks at the end of Day 1B. Marius Tripsa, Romania, 127,000 Cristian Murgoci, Romania, PokerStars player, 107,100 Jakub Ratulowski, Poland, PokerStars qualifier, 98,600 Martin Strban, Slovakia, PokerStars qualifier, 98,400 Pawel Bartosz, Poland, PokerStars qualifier, 97,900 Team...more

9.10pm: Break time Level six is in the books, players are on a 20 minute break. -- NW 9pm: Double elimination Vojtech Ruzicka just eliminated two players in the same hand. He three-bet to 2,500 after Nikolay Hadziev had open-raised and then a third player moved all-in for 3,100. Back...more

When the Latin American Poker Tour visited Viña del Mar for the first time in 2009, there was no doubt the tour would go back. The next visit was planned for this time last year. It didn't happen. The LAPT and its players watched with a heavy heart as Chile...more

The PokerStars.IT Italian Poker Tour event in Nova Gorica has kicked off in the beautiful Perla Casino. One player who is taking a serious bite of out of other people's chips is the Day 1a chip leader here at IPT Nova Gorica, Mustapha Kanit, who has got 174,400 chips.followed by...more

6.50pm: On a break With the end of level four, players are on a 20 minute break. -- NW 6.40pm: Nuts for Neofitov I only saw the river action but with the board reading K♥8♥3♥5♥4♠ and around 5,000 in the pot Alexey Neofitov asked his opponent (Jiri Jakubec) how much...more

4.05pm: Break time That's the end of level two, players are now on a 40 minute dinner break. -- NW 4pm: Got the keys A little update on James Keys (see 3.20pm post) upon realising he could still play EPT Snowfest Day1B even if he won this tournament he decided...more

An historic old city, a brand new poker tour, the Eureka Poker Tour to be exact and they'll be no geographical pigeon holing for PokerStars latest tour. The first stop is the Casino card club in Prague and despite sharing the same initials this is not the EPT and the...more

1.30am: Top five chip counts As the players were bagging their chips I scooted round the room and got the top five chip counts, full chip counts will be sent by the casino overnight. Jaroslav Urban, Czech Republic, 114,000 Kamil Koska, Poland, PokerStars qualifier, 104,900 Oldrich Siml, Czech Republic, 102,100...more

9.10pm: End of level six And with the sounding of the klaxon, players are on a 20 minute break. -- NW 9pm: One of the best Another player from the Czech Republic who's going well today is Ondrej Vinklarek. He's currently playing a stack of around 43,000 and is, according...more

6.50pm: Break time Players are now on a 20 minute break as level four has come to an end. 6.40pm: Pole position Ok so he's not chip leader but I couldn't resist the pun. However, Polish player Grzegorz Cichocki is going well on around 29,725. I saw him raise to...more

The 2011 Spring Championship of Online Poker schedule announced last week was an eye-popping announcement that set the intertubes alive with chatter about how much could be won. With 114 tournaments set to guarantee $45 million in prize money, poker players worldwide started blocking off time to play. After all,...more

Well, it was a crazy three weeks beginning February 22nd. I flew straight into Vegas for the Big Game. I played in the last session and it was one of the most fun times I have had playing poker. Both Tony G. and Phil Hellmuth should get medals or statues...more

4.10pm: Dinner break Level two is in the books and the players are on a 40 minute dinner break. During that time hopefully a seat draw will be forthcoming and I'll be able to bring you confirmation of how many entrants there are on Day 1A. -- NW 4.05pm: Hruby...more

Maridu Mayrinck is a member of PokerStars Team Pro and started out as a blogger for PokerStars before turning pro in 2007. She is one of the friendliest and most popular members of the team and never seems to be at a loss for things to talk about. In...more

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The Ides of March were upon the 401 players entered in this week's Super Tuesday on PokerStars, created a prize pool of $401,000 to be distributed among the final 45 players. Who would wind up with the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow? Some members of...more

"Erashovo" is the Twitter Poker League champion for this week, after beating the 1,191 strong field. Confusion was a big part of #tpoker this week, and not just the usual cases of not understanding at all why 'that guy' put 75BB in with a gutshot on the turn. Due to...more

I once knew a guy who was forced to grow up with the name Brock Lee. There was no particular malice on the part of his parents, I don't think, or none more than my parents who fitted me with a monogram that begins with the letters BS. The point...more

PokerStars qualifier Matthew McDerra has emerged victorious from a 615-strong field to pocket a first prize payday of £74,000. After a lightning-quick start to the final table, in which six players were eliminated within the first three hours, McDerra and fellow PokerStars qualifier Matuesz Warowiec fought out a six-hour heads...more

Boy, those folks behind the scenes at PokerStars work fast, huh? It's not been a week since they released the 2011 Spring Championship of Online Poker schedule. I just loaded up the PokerStars software to discover not only have the SCOOP satellites been deployed, but the first one just finished...more

11.05pm: Matthew McDerra wins UKIPT Manchester (£74,000) In the pivotal hand Matthew McDerra raised to 380,000 from the button and Matuesz Warowiec smooth called from the big blind. The flop was J♣5♣5♦ and Warowiec checked to McDerra who bet 200,000. After a brief dwell Warowiec made it 500,000 total, McDerra...more

I remember a time not too long ago when qualifying for the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure didn't begin until autumn was in the northern hemisphere's air. It was a time when people thought of mulled cider, Halloween, and how nice it would be to have a beach vacation. Contrast that recent...more

I spent the last month playing poker pretty close to where I live in the Los Angeles area. First there was the month-long tournament at the Commerce and I can't remember doing much of anything in the tournaments. I played the Chinese Poker Tournament and came in third out of...more

9pm: Dinner break The play has gone on so long that we have to take a dinner break. We'll be back in about 45 minutes. -- MC 8.55pm: 'No river bet then?' So said Matthew McDerra after he rivered a flush with A♦2♦ on a 3♦2♠T♥9♦K♦ board. He'd check called...more

So it turns out I can't get a little bit pregnant. I seem to be incapable of having a passing interest in anything. I'm binary. I'm bi-winning (by the way the Charlie Sheen melt down is the best news story of the last 10 years). If I like something I...more

While the Asia poker world anticipates the return of the Macau Millions and its 1.5 million guarantee, PokerStars Macau at Casino Grand Lisboa turns its focus to this weekend's MPC March Special which runs from March 18-20. The 3-day event features Saturday's $5,000 NLH main event which has a HKD...more

For the people of the northern hemisphere, it must be hard to be dedicated to anything this time of year. Oh, sure, it's easy when PokerStars is just handing out giant wads of cash, but we're coming into the warm season up here north of the equator, and sitting indoors...more

4.08pm: Mick Fletcher eliminated in 4th place(£20,300) Level 25 has come to and end with yet another bust out and this time it's Mick Fletcher. Matthew McDerra raised and tank-called when Fletcher shoved for around 900,000. Fletcher: K♣7♣ McDerra: 8♦8♣ The board ran 5♦9♠T♣6♥9♥ to send Fletcher on his way....more

This week's Sunday Million was played on the 13th day of the month. And it was played by many United States players who lost an hour of sleep the night before due to Daylight Savings Time. But who are poker players to be superstitious? That's just ridiculous. In fact, instead...more

Last week's massive 59,128 player Sunday Million crowd spilled over to the $750,000 guarantee Sunday Warm-up as this tournament also broke a record with over six thousand players. This week the crowd was not as big but marks the fourth time in five weeks that the Sunday Warm-up's prize pool...more

After four long days of poker action we have managed to whittle the record breaking 615-strong field down to our final table of eight players. We came back for the start of play at midday today with 52 players remaining and it took seven and a half levels to reach...more

10.50pm: Final table chip counts Mateusz Warowiec, Poland, PokerStars qualifier, 2,032,000 Owen Shiels, Ireland, PokerStars qualifier, 355,000 Michael Birt, United Kingdom, PokerStars player, 477,000 Matthew McDerra, United Kingdom, PokerStars qualifier, 792,000 JP Kelly, United Kingdom, Team PokerStars Pro, 1,751,000 Robert Angood, United Kingdom, 1,504,000 Paul Nash, United Kingdom, PokerStars qualifier,...more

3.56pm: Level over Level 19 has come to an end. Level 20 will be in a new post shortly. 3.55pm: Angood beats up on Fletcher Robert Angood is back on the up after winning two hands versus Michael Fletcher. There was an opening raise from late position before Angood three-bet...more

At 3pm today 177 players took their seats for Day 2 of UKIPT Manchester with one aim in mind - to make the money. A lot of them had never met before as the field was a mash-up of survivors from Day 1A, 1B and 1C. A total of 81...more

10:38pm: Top three stacks As the players were bagging and tagging their chips we peered over their shoulder and wrote down some chip counts. By our reckoning the top three in chips are: Robert Angood, United Kingdom, 578,500 Matthew McDerra, PokerStars Qualifier, United Kingdom, 512,500 JP Kelly, Team PokerStars Pro,...more

6.20pm: End of the level Level 14 will be up for you viewing pleasure in a new post very soon. 6.15pm: Wary big stack play David Rawnsley and Jon Spinks are the two big stacks on table two and just played out a pot. There was an under-the-gun raise with...more

For the first time ever on the UKIPT two separate Day1 flights were held on the same day. It was a mammoth undertaking that started at midday when 253 players took their seats for Day 1B, and ended a little after 4.15a.m when the remaining 34 players from the 114...more

4:11am: Day 1C is over! It's been another day of intrigue and a tough day has created heroes and villains aplenty with the fluctuating leaderboard constantly fascinating. Michael Oakes has plundered his way to the top of the leaderboard for Day 1C come the close of play and he...more

11.45pm: Break time We'll see you in 20 minutes Day 1C players. John Eames is on 50,000. -- MC 11.35pm: Coren canned Team PokerStars Pro Vicky Coreen is out. We're not sure how it happened but she was down to less than 5,000 the last time we looked. -- MC...more

12.09am: Day 1B is in the can It's been an eventful day today with the usual slew of busts, stories, shattered dreams and growing ambitions that the game of poker always produces. After ten hard-fought levels, the remaining 80 or so players have reached the close of play, bringing...more

8.25pm: Level over Level 3 has come to an end. The new post with level 4 stories will be up shortly. -- MC 8.15pm: Missed opportunity for Channing Neil Channing is on just below his starting stack with 14,600 but he's bemoaning his luck. He vented his frustration at not...more

6.48pm: Dinner break All Day 1B players are now on their own 60 minute dinner break. Let's hope the greedy Day 1C players have left some food at the buffet. One of the players not making it that far was our featured PokerStars qualifier Sam Acheampong. -- MC Jamie Burland...more

Say what you will about Joe Hachem's sauciness. Say what you will about Victor Ramdin's swingy-ness. Both men are fantastically nice guys, and both can play some poker. There was no greater evidence than what happened a few hours ago at The Big Event at The Bicycle Casino in California....more

It's nearly that time of year again; yes, the PokerStars SCOOP is fast approaching. This will be its third year, and judging by the previous two years, it's most definitely something worth getting excited about. What distinguishes SCOOP from any other online poker series is its appeal to every poker...more

3.26pm: Price of poker goes up That's the end of level three so we'll be starting a new post which can be found here. See you on the other side. -- NW 3.25pm: Maudlin gets four streets of value Dave Maudlin is a familiar face on the UK circuit and...more

The third leg of the UKIPT Season 2 came to the G-Casino in Manchester today. 248 players all paid £500 in the hope they can emulate the success experienced by Dutchman Joeri Zandvliet last season when he took home a cool £63,200 for 1st place. Before they could even dream...more

2.30am: Top five chip counts Here are the top five chip counts at the end of Day 1A, we've been promised full chip counts very soon and overnight the full list of the Day 1A survivors will be uploaded to the blog. For now check out the chip counts page...more

8.40pm: Dinner break Players are now on a one hour dinner break. During the break we'll whip round the card room and gather some chip counts. -- NW 8.35pm: Kalmar outkicks Fakinle Jon Kalmar is up to around 24,000 after doubling through Femi Fakinle. The aggressive Irishman had opened to...more

If you're the planning type, the fretting type, the type that simply can't bear to consider an eventuality without knowing in detail each of its particulars, you are not alone. There is help. And no, it has nothing to do with the pharmaceutical industry. We have a better soma to...more

Just around the corner is this year's instalment of one of the biggest online tournament series; The PokerStars Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP). With bigger and bigger prize pools every year, this year's series is shaping up to be a bang! With a plethora of game types and buy-in...more

5.20pm: Level up Please follow the action in a new post found here. -- MC 5.18pm: Gillan has a gallon now PokerStars qualifier Colin Gillon is up to 21,000 after doubling through fellow qualifier Ryan Lawless. Lawless opened the pot with a raise to 525 and was called in...more

They've been dropping hints for a while. They've whipped the playful banter into a meringue. They've flirted with the idea for so long, people are starting to sing that "Viktor and Daniel sitting in a tree" song. It's time to--if you will--get it on. In news breaking this very moment,...more

George is 21 years old and lives in the Czech Republic. He spends about seven hours a day playing poker. If he's not doing that, he's reading the poker forums, working out, or watching American TV sitcoms. When he's not doing that, he's trying to figure out how to stay...more

If you've been looking forward to another series of PokerStars SCOOP - the Spring Championship of Online Poker - then the good news is we've now got the schedule. As usual the list of SCOOP tournaments covers all the main poker formats, with small, medium and large buy-ins for each...more

Step 1: Find a calendar. If you don't have a printed version with pictures of cats on it, use something in digital form on your computer or phone (feel free to put pictures of cats on those, if they aren't already on there). Step 2: Take the aforementioned calendar and...more

When someone mentions the city of Madrid to you what comes to mind? Is it bullfights and flamenco or bar hopping and tapas? A modern city with great shopping or a European city steeped in history and classical architecture? Madrid is all those things, and now there's one more thing...more

Not every tournament on PokerStars is going to set records like this past Sunday's 5th anniversary edition of the Sunday Million. However, the weekly Super Tuesday draws out plenty of big names in the online poker community who fork over a grand in one of the toughest tournaments online....more

If you missed the announcement last week, PokerStars has announced its newest live tour. The Portugal Poker Series kicks off later this month with its first stop in Vilamoura. As part of the kickoff, the PokerStars Blog has been provided what appears to be some sort of transcription of a...more

There was never any question that Luke "Bdbeatslayer" Vrabel was going to play the biggest-ever PokerStars Sunday Million. The only question was whether his poker career was going to continue on the same road it had been for some time. It's not an easy thing for any poker player to...more

JjaXbax1 wins the inaugural week of Season 6 and takes the early lead over the Twitter Poker League. 1,048 players took part in the tournament on Sunday and three volunteered to have a bounty placed on their heads. "rivermenow" (@zelljrc), "Domenko" (@domenko) and "fly2lv" (@fly2lv) each were worth 400FPP if...more

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On any other day, we might have a decision about what would lead this regular Monday morning post. Would it be the fact a one-time WCOOP champion took down a Sunday tournament? Or that Team PokerStars Pro Alex Gomes placed second in the weekly HORSE event? Or maybe that Anders...more

Ever since turning his world upside down and becoming the every-man ambassador to the poker world, Chris Moneymaker has been something of a household name. Even some eight years after his jaw-dropping 2003 WSOP Main Event win, Moneymaker continues to surface in the highest profile of places. Now he's done...more

Looks like it's Free Money Time again at PokerStars. In celebration of the breakout PokerStars Home Game popularity, PokerStars is giving you a chance to get a 25% bonus up to $150 when you reload your account. If you're just waking up from a long winter's nap, PokerStars Home Games...more

The women of Poker Stars have shown up en masse through the month of February to battle their way to top monthly cash awards in the Poker Stars Women's Leagues. With their eyes on the final prize of additional cash and a Ladies Luxury Poker Club trip at the end...more

It was just about one year ago that PokerStars broke records and made history with a Sunday Million to celebrate 40 billion hands dealt on the site. That little event drew 36,169 players for the $4 million guarantee, came up with an actual prize pool of more than $7 million,...more

4,989, 5,175, 5,165, 4,710. Those are the attendance numbers for the last four $750,000.00 Guarantee Sunday Warm-ups. The previous attendance records for this tournament piggybacked last year's Sunday Million becoming the Sunday Two Million when 5,268 players signed up and was won by SHOGUN1000 and the 5,341 that showed up...more

Let's just stop and take a breath for a second, because that's the type of thing rational people should do before stepping into the realm of the irrational. If you're a yoga person, do a downward-facing dog or turn yourself into a tree or something. Okay. Relaxed? Good. Now, let's...more

In an era most young online grinders can only imagine, the status symbols of the hyper-elite came in the form of cars, designer clothes, and penthouses. It was an age when Gordon Gecko told us, "Greed is good," and the daily financial reports came on green and white lined dot...more

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Tuesday, March 8 marks the 100 year anniversary of International Women's Day and PokerStars is contributing to the effort to promote women around the world. Established in 1911, the event celebrates the global achievements of women and through contributions to various charities, supports their efforts to achieve economic and political...more

LAPT Sao Paulo was a great experience from beginning to end. With 536 players, the main event claimed the biggest ever field for an LAPT tournament. Sao Paulo the largest city in South America (not to mention the biggest city in the southern hemisphere). It's simply great. The city offers...more

How's that saying go? Something about March coming in like a lion? Well, the month's first Super Tuesday certainly roared its way through the night with 422 total entrants vying against one another, each with the goal of emerging as the evening's ruler of the online poker jungle. With a...more

Reaching Supernova Elite status is arguably the most difficult thing for an online poker player to achieve. It takes most of the Elites the better part of a year to nail the coveted status. Andrew "azntracker" Li has done it in two months, breaking the previous speed record by nearly...more

I have known many people who have traveled to Portugal, and not one of them has ever indicated that they wouldn't go back in a second. The coastal nation on the Iberian peninsula stands out as one of the world's truly distinctive countries and claims a culture and lifestyle all...more

This week was the final game of Season 5 of the Twitter Poker League, 1,024 players took part and "Sergeypcv" was the eventual winner. $177.47 and 20 last minute points for the leaderboard, was the prize for his efforts. As usual we had four players volunteer to have a bounty...more