On May 23, 2003, I was a television news reporter. I played online poker on the side. I'd already fallen in love with the movie Rounders. I played local home games regularly. I'd been to Vegas the year before and cut my teeth at the Bellagio. Two weeks earlier, a co-worker introduced me to Positively Fifth Street by Jim McManus. I spent nearly every rare moment of free time I had that spring playing poker, reading about poker, or thinking about poker. But on the morning of May 23, I...more
Latest Post
European Poker Tour
EPT9 Grand Final: Max Altergott brings festival to a close with victory in Super High Roller
The finale of the European Poker Tour's ninth season is over with Max Altergott triumphing in the last major event of the PokerStars and Monte-Carlo® Casino EPT Grand Final, the €100,000 buy-in Super High Roller event, earning a first prize of €1,746,400, and a Shamballa Jewels bracelet worth €10,000, courtesy...more
EPT9 Grand Final: Schemion makes it three! Wins €100,000
News just in as the PokerStars Blog was wrapping up for the night: Ole Schemion has just won the €10,000 six-handed NLHE turbo to complete a hat trick of side event wins here in Monaco. First place paid out more than €100,000 but until results reach us - which will...more
EPT9 Grand Final: The Bafta winners behind the cameras bringing the EPT to your living room
Television coverage of the European Poker Tour is so slick that we take it all for granted. You probably don't notice the camera operators, floor managers and producers busying themselves in the background of the pictures you watch -- you're not meant to; they're all dressed in black after all....more
Latin American Poker Tour
Ready for Medellin
Within the poker community in my country the only thing anybody talks about is the Colombian LAPT in the city of Medellin, and it's just around the corner. This tournament was voted the best stop of the LAPT Tour in 2011. It also broke records with nearly 700 players playing...more
LAPT6 Brazil: Sbrissa gives his fans what they want
Imagine the crowd rushing a college football field after a huge win and taking down the goalposts. Then apply that image to the final table set of a poker tournament and you'll have a good idea what we witnessed in São Paulo moments after Victor Sbrissa won the 2013 PokerStars.net...more
LAPT6 Brazil: Death by a thousand cuts for Murta
When heads-up play began, Daniel Murta was the chip underdog to Victor Sbrissa. Slowly, small pot by small pot, Sbrissa began to increase his lead. He liberally raised his button against Murta's big blind. He played many pots out of position against Murta, often using the check-raise to induce folds....more
Asia Pacific Poker Tour
APPT Macau releases schedule for Season 7
The PokerStars.net Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT) has released its APPT Macau* - Season 7 schedule which takes place at 'PokerStars LIVE at the City of Dreams' from June 7-16. The ten-day schedule includes eleven Official Asia Player of the Year Events (APOY) featuring the HKD $25,000 (US $3,200) Main...more
APPT7 Cebu: Jae Kyung "Simba" Sim reigns supreme
Each day seemed to belong to one player. Daniel Spence finished atop the leader board in Day 2 and then Jim Collopy knocked out player after player and ended Day 3 with a massive chip lead. Today belonged to Jae Kyung "Simba" Sim, who ran through the final table and...more
APPT7 Cebu: More in Macau
As we've mentioned before, poker is expanding throughout Asia. The fields, prize pools, buy-ins and even amount of tours have steadily been growing over the years. A few weeks ago, PokerStars announced that they were going to start sponsoring the China Series of Poker (CSOP). Now, the people over at...more
UKIPT
UKIPT Series: Team PokerStars Pro Jake Cody wins UKIPT Series 1 and £19,400
The inaugural UKIPT Series is going to be tough to top as Team PokerStars Pro Jake Cody defeated a field of 343 to claim the first prize of £19,400 and his first tournament victory since he completed his Triple Crown in May 2011. Your champion - Jake Cody He's had...more
UKIPT Series 1: Day 2 Level 25-30 updates (blinds 60,000 - 120,000 ante 20,000)
11.30pm: Team PokerStars Pro Jake Cody wins UKIPT Series 1 It doesn't take a rocket scientist to work out that with the stacks as they were and the blinds high that the next all-in would decide this tournament. And so it proved. From the button Jake Cody raised to 240,000,...more
UKIPT Series 1: Day 2 Level 19-24 updates (blinds 15,000 - 30,000 ante 4,000)
8.10pm: Break time The players are now on a 15 minute break whilst tournament staff colour up and race off the 1k chips. You'll find level 25 updates in a new post. 8pm: Jake Cody wins a million chip pot I joined the action to see a sizeable amount of...more
PokerStars Caribbean Adventure
PCA 2013 in review: Selbst tops off a fantastic PCA as six bank more than a million
There aren't many festivals about where you can find six players banking more than a million dollars each. The PokerStars Caribbean is one of them. Scott Seiver and David 'Doc' Sands kicked off the festival with a first and second place in the $100,000 Super High Roller for $2,003,480 and...more
PCA 2013: Shannon Shorr takes down the $10,000 turbo for $160,610
Every EPT and PCA festival ends up with a popular high stakes turbo. The PCA 2013 offering came in the shape of a $10,000 six-max turbo which pulled in 88 entries, including many that had played the $25,000 over the two days previous. Those high stakes guys, they don't like...more
PCA 2013: Affif Prado wins the PCA (mini) Main Event for $16,090
Affif Prado is the PCA Main Event champion. No, scratch that, he's the mini Main Event champion. The Brazilian finished off his PCA with a solid $16,090 win in the $300 buy-in event that follows the same structure but plays with much shorter blind levels. Prado beat Englishman Ian Simpson...more
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