by Alex Kravchenko One of the most important strategies in MTTs is varying your game. That means that in similar situations with similar hands you must occasionally play a different way. For example, when you have a big hand pre-flop and there's a raise in front of you, sometimes you...more

Omaha hi-lo split is a kind of poker game where you can see more action than in any other kind of poker and this final table was a good example of this statement - chips were changing hands fast, players stacks were going up and down. For example "PieOhMy" started...more

Vamooooooooooooooooooooo! If railbirds and players were feeling any post-WCOOP hangover they certainly didn't show it at tonight's $750,000 Guarantee Sunday Warm-up. With 4,417 players signed up for the $215 buy-in NLHE tourney it smashed the guarantee and created a $883,400.00 prize pool that paid out 630 places with $138,587.80 of...more

The World Series of Poker can be discouraging. You can play all month long and barely have anything to show for it. Look at Team PokerStars Pro Alex Gomes. The best win he came away with in the 2009 Series was a $5,300 cash for an 80th place finish in...more

It's been quite a year for Team PokerStars Pro Alexandre Gomes. He's had online success, won a WSOP bracelet ($770,000), final tabled at LAPT Punta Del Este ($68,000) - and earlier this month grabbed fourth place at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure ($750,000). Here, he tells the PokerStars Blog about that...more

Team PokerStars Pro Andre Akkari has been hanging out in Barcelona for the European Poker Tour and playing WCOOP at the same time. This is a road dispatch from the Brazilian bomber himself. By Andre Akkari EPT started in the best way possible to me, and in the city I...more

Beneath the stage of the $50K HORSE final yesterday was the $2K no limit hold’em event, smaller in stature perhaps but no less significant in terms of there being a bracelet at stake. It featured among others PokerStars sponsored player Kirill Gerasimov but also Alexandre Gomes, the first ever...more

It's a week full of congratulations. First biggest congrats go to Kongsgaard for winning this week's Sunday Million and more than $158,000 (Sunday Million final table wrap-up). We should also congratulate last year's PokerStars TLB winner, shaundeeb, for his final table finish in the $215 rebuy event, a finish that...more

I have a really nice job. It's part of my job to wear a PokerStars patch whenever I play in a live tournament. To give you an idea of how many events PokerStars is sponsoring, I heard that they are planning to introduce their tenth poker tour, the JPT, on...more

How do you define a top poker pro? What are the skills you need? Of course, most commentators will differ on the nitty gritty, happily spending hours discussing the multiple facets of the all-round player, placing their emphasis on the various skills in the multiple variations, adjusting their opinions based...more

Just a few hours ago, Barry Greenstein was sitting at one of the most elite poker tables in the world, and certainly the most important of the day. Piles of money sat just feet away. As the tournament director read Greenstein's resume over the PA system, the crowd erupted in...more

As we arrived at the Amazon Room this afternoon the pot limit Omaha event, which started yesterday, was getting underway. In it played three Team PokerStars hopefuls in Humberto Brenes, Noah Boeken and Bill Chen. As reported earlier, in a period of carnage lasting about 15 minutes, the landscape...more

The name of this tournament -- $50,000 HORSE -- is something like a reporter's dream. Equine puns abound on media row: saddle up, giddy up, go. But if we think about it for a moment, the horse-race analogy is not especially appropriate. Far from being a grunting, thunderous sprint to...more

by Chad Brown I really enjoy Christmas. It is the time of the year I get to spend with my family, and after traveling all over the world, it's great to have a couple of weeks to just chill. Now, after having two weeks of relaxing, I'm really looking forward...more

It's a question for the ages: If a poker tournament happens in the middle of Mississippi and a television camera isn't there to cover it, did it really happen? The short answer is yes, it's happening right now, and two of the world's best known poker pros are leading the...more

Now that we've temporarily taken a break from the 2009 WSOP, it's time to look back on a couple of stories that fell by the wayside during the month of coverage. Team PokerStars Pro Chad Brown had a pretty darned good Series, but it was not without its hurdles. Below,...more

by Chris Moneymaker As part of Team Pokerstars Pro I get the opportunity to travel the world and play poker. I have been to many countries as an ambassador to PokerStars, but never to Romania. I was first asked to go to Romania instead of going to my original destination...more

Our spies in the Palms poker room sent over this story this morning... Day 2 of the World Series is always a tough day. Regardless of age, nationality or gender, most people find it pretty gruelling to sit at a poker table, for ten hours at a stretch, with more...more

By our count, five former World Series champions remain in the field of the 2008 World Series of Poker. Among these players are Team PokerStars Pros Joe Hachem and Chris Moneymaker. Hachem, as mentioned here, is sitting in a quiet dark corner, quietly plotting to chip up before day’s end....more

The PCA was not just about poker. There was plenty of other stuff going on, including a golf match between Team PokerStars Pro Daniel Negreanu and some lucky freeroll qualifiers. One of them, Michael Jensen, tells the story here... by Michael Jensen I'm the type of golfer that'll drive the...more

Daniel Negreanu is the type of guy who enjoys a challenge. Whether it's on the poker felt, the links, or at a pool table, Negreanu will battle just about anybody. Now, he's out to battle himself. Kid Poker has decided to take on a challenge that seems almost unthinkable for...more

This past weekend, Daniel Negreanu won the BC Poker Championship for more than $370,000. Today, he sent us his thoughts on the event. He takes us through the final table and all the big hands. by Daniel Negreanu I won! It might have been a relatively inexperienced final table, but...more

The first couple of days of the $50,000 HORSE event were played out in some of the most spacious conditions ever seen at the World Series. Recognising the fact that players coughing up $50,000 for a single tournament deserve, and have paid for, their space, the 148 connoisseurs who anted...more

ESPN 360 commentator Nick Geber called him the "baby-faced assassin." PokerStars blogger Howard Swains dubbed him "Super Dario." Noted poker writer Paul McGuire called him "Scarf Boy." Now, Dario Minieri has a new title: World Series bracelet winner. Tonight, Team PokerStars Pro Dario Minieri won the $2,500 No-Limit Hold'em Six-Handed...more

It only cost him $80. Darus Suharto qualified on PokerStars for the World Series Main Event. His $80 win got him into a bigger qualifier and there he won his prize package to Las Vegas. Now, Suharto is one of the November Nine, the final table players of the 2008...more

Tuesday has pretty much become Poker Day in America. Once the WSOP passed and ESPN started running its original programming around the Series, people have started scheduling their days and nights around the news from Las Vegas. If you are like a lot of people and can't survive until after...more

For one guy playing today the World Series main event is just the next stop on a worldwide poker playing adventure. Thanks to his win in the PokerStars Passport competition, 23-year-old Dustin Mele gets to play ten tournaments of his choosing and in any destination he wants. Not a...more

PokerStars Passport winner Dustin Mele is back from another trip to Europe. Not only has he suffered the ugly side of variance, he's done so with a smile. As he also is responsible for waking me up from an airport nap just in time for me to get on the...more

The mission as I devised it was to peek in on PokerStars Passport holder Dustin Mele. I didn't know what I was getting into. Immediately upon my arrival, I was accosted by two security guards. They spoke in rapid-fire French, using the words, "Non, non, non!" as often as they...more

It's not easy to beat Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier heads-up. Just ask the people who faced him at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, the WPT Festa el Lago, or any other of the countless tournaments ElkY has won. There is one man, however, who has done it and won more than half...more

Surviving the World Series of Poker takes more than nursing your bankroll. It takes more than running well and popping antidepressants like they were Pez. It takes a surprising amount of physical strength and discipline. Team PokerStars Pro Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier knows about getting in shape. Five years ago he...more

If you've been keeping an eye on the PokerStars tournament lobby, you know the World Series satellites have been rocking and rolling over the past couple of weeks. Once again, you have countless ways to get into the world's biggest poker event. PokerStars continues to offers one of the most...more

"It's been a long time since I rock and rolled. It's been a long time since I did the stroll. Oh baby, let me get back, let me get back, Let me get back, Baby where I come from" -Led Zeppelin Two years. Seriously, two years! It's been that long...more

Gavin Griffin was sick. Literally. His nose sniffled, his eyes were red, and his every breath seemed to be full of real effort. Even the frivolousness of his pink hair couldn't offset the clarity of Griffin's head cold. Yet, there was a determination in his eye that no one could...more

The skies were cloudy in Monte Carlo this morning, but by the middle of the afternoon, the sun broke through and cast the spotlight on Team PokerStars Pro's newest members. PokerStars announced this morning it has added Gavin Griffin and Chad Brown to its stable of elite poker players. Both...more

Many of our PokerStars players coming over to Las Vegas for the WSOP will be playing live tournaments for the first time. While the rules of the game are the same, playing online and live are two very different animals. So who better to ask for some sound advice on...more

Team PokerStars Pro Greg Raymer is preparing to help Team USA defend its title in the PokerStars World Cup of Poker. In just a couple of weeks, Raymer and the team will be in the Bahamas for the World Cup live finals. Greg was part of Team USA when it...more

by Greg Raymer So far the 2008 WCOOP has been a huge success, and I'm sure that won't change now that we're in the home stretch with only a few days to go. I can't wait for the 10K HORSE event Saturday, nor the $10M guaranteed Main Event on Sunday...more

Hevad Khan is not the same Khan we met in 2007 and that's just fine with him. In fact, Khan is not the same Khan we knew this time yesterday. The difference: Khan is a million bucks richer today. Last night, Team PokerStars Pro Hevad "RaiNKhaN" Khan took down the...more

by Hevad Khan I have positive thoughts on the 2008 WCOOP. I was never much of a mixed game player, but at the end of this entire series I have gone from a complete newbie to a knowledgable player in all mixed games to the point of being able...more

There’s a lot of stuff going on in the Amazon Room, between the remaining tables. The most notable is a player wandering around, getting well known around the room as the player who went on break with chips and came back to find his table broken and his chips...more

The Shark was feeling a bit peckish. Then again, Team PokerStars Pro Humberto Brenes is always feeling a little hungry for chips. Put him in water full of players who match his life experience and Brenes' stomach growls even more. Such was the scene at Event #11 of the Bellagio...more

Twenty-one years, one month and 15 days ago, a 37-year-old poker player from Costa Rica visited the cashout cage of Binions Horseshoe Casino, Las Vegas, to collect his first winner's cheque from the World Series of Poker. It was worth $12,500 and represented 14th place in the main event of...more

For some of us, the road to the Rio this year has taken some unlikely turns. Thanks to the advent and success of the PokerStars Latin America Poker Tour (LAPT), we've had the chance to visit the Rio of "de Janeiro" fame, that small place on the south coast of...more

While it was a day of great glamour, drama and sportsmanship, and a day that Isabelle Mercier will remember for a long, long time having secured victory, PokerStars' Ante Up for Africa tournament will go down in the history books for another very good reason - raising more than 250,000...more

by Isabelle Mercier I'm so excited about the upcoming WCOOP, I cannot wait for this to start! I was amazed when I saw the 2008 schedule, mostly because of the 25K heads-up event, but also for my favorite one, the HORSE that is now 10K buy-in! I did really good...more

It's rare to see Isabelle Mercier disappear from the World Series. If it happens, it's generally her time to catch some R&R at the Bellagio. She generally reappears within a couple of days, tanned and clutching a cup of coffee. When she vanished a couple of weeks ago, though, she...more

24,400,000 chips Ivan Demidov is the form player coming into the final table, having used his break from the World Series to play in, well, the World Series. Demidov returned to Europe after his heroics in Las Vegas and made the final table of the World Series Europe Main Event...more

In minutes that followed PokerStars player Ivan Demodov's making it to the 2008 World Series final table, he was still in shock. After coming all the way from Moscow to compete in his first major live tournament, Demidov could barely find the words to explain what had just happened to...more

It's only been a couple of months since we saw Mexican poker superstar Juan Carlos Alvarado stand front and center with Team Mexico at the PokerStars World Cup of Poker V. He's the type of player who always seems to be smiling and he is the kind of guy you...more

What more can we say about Team PokerStars Pro Jason Mercier? Well we've done 'Mercier wins this', we followed up with 'Mercier wins that', and now we can top it with 'Mercier wins the other'. The young player from Florida has just added the £2,500 No Limit side event here...more

So much has happened since the WSOP Main Event, it's a little hard to remember it all. There hasn't been as much poker as I would like. But how can I complain? Immediately after the main event, I went with my agent, Dan, to spend a few days in New...more

Like us, you might be wondering what Joe Cada's life has been like since he made an improbable comeback at the World Series of Poker final table, won the Main Event, and subsequently joined the elite ranks of Team PokerStars Pro. Frankly, that should be enough for one year, no?...more

by Joe Hachem Summer truly is the sporting tournament season for Aussies and poker is no exception. Just days after a hugely successful Aussie Millions, we looked forward to the very first tournament in the PokerStars.net Australia New Zealand Poker Tournament (ANZPT). This is the second year of the tour...more

by Joe Hachem The courage of a sportsman takes him through some of the most difficult moments a person can face, and he needs to face them again and again. The courage to get back out on the field or the floor after you've taken a hard knock. The courage...more

As you have probably heard once or twice before, the Team PokerStars Pro Joe Hachem won the World Series Main Event in 2005, the first Australian to do so and the last player to win it at Binion's Horseshoe in downtown Las Vegas. As you possibly haven't heard, because it's...more

by John Duthie I've had a fairly hectic couple of weeks traveling around the globe; part pleasure, part business. I arrived back on Wednesday last week from a family holiday to India having flown London-Delhi, Delhi-Calcutta, Calcutta-Bagdogra, Bagdogra-Delhi then Delhi-London. It was an amazing trip and if you've never been...more

Having bubbled in the $5,000 Omaha tournament the previous night, I was pretty determined to do well in either the SCOOP $25,000 heads up or $10,000 main event. The HU field looked pretty grim being full of some of the best HU players in the world, but I knew that...more

There are many significant steps on poker’s modern evolutionary road. The obvious one to most people is Chris Moneymaker’s rise from Tennessee accountant to poker World Champion thanks to a $39 online satellite. Further back still there was Team PokerStars Pro Tom McEvoy’s main event win 25 years ago,...more

The second leg of the UKIPT took place at the G Casino in Manchester a few weeks ago. The event had sold out at 360 a fortnight earlier and luckily for another 160 players or so, the cap was increased. The most apparent difference between the PokerStars UKIPT tour and...more

As players prepare for the SCOOP Razz event (event #13 on April 8), some may be a little inexperienced and unsure of how best to play the game. Who better to ask how to play successfully than a WSOP bracelet winner? Handy, then, that on Team PokerStars Pro we have...more

by Katja Thater Horses are not a new love to me. I spend my entire life in wellington boots on a ranch. No wonder that I prefer H.O.R.S.E games at the poker table. You think that doesn't add up? If you want to train a horse. it´s all about knowing...more

Normally, during a break between levels, I’ll catch up players for updates from a primary source. With Team PokerStars Pro Katja Thater I take a different approach. Few players are as focused as Katja during a tournament and prefer not to be disturbed. Just ask her husband Jan von...more

by Lee Nelson The final table of the $25,500 buy-in heads-up tournament was like none I've ever observed. Bertrand "Elky" Grospellier, a Team PokerStars pro, battled it out with Steven "stevesbets" Jacobs at such a furious rate that at times I thought I was watching a ping pong championship instead...more

Luca Pagano is a man of trademarks. He has a trademark Italia jacket, a trademark wink, and a trademark smile. Emotional yet composed, friendly yet fierce, and confident yet humble--Pagano defines them all. In an age when many parents have been forced to come to grips with having poker players...more

Team PokerStars Pro is welcoming two new members into the fold. Both William Thorson and Marcin Horecki are joining the Team this week. Thorson has cashed four times at the World Series, with his most notable success in the 2006 WSOP, coming in 13th place in the Main Event. He...more

PokerStars has gone and done it again. It has created a promotion that gives its players something they would never have a chance to do otherwise. What is it this time? How about a chance to play some poker, go to New York CIty, and hang out with Mats Sundin?...more

Go to Sweden. Go to Toronto. Go anywhere where people know about hockey. You'll be hard-pressed to find anyone who doesn't know the name Mats Sundin. Soon, that reputation will carry over from the ice to the PokerStars tables. Hockey icon and former Toronto Maple Leaf captain Mats Sundin has...more

by Noah Boeken Poker started for me a few years after I found out that there was a Master Classics of Poker. I saw an ad once on TV; it was for one of Europe's biggest poker tournaments held in the Amsterdam Holland Casino each year. At the time I...more

by Noah Boeken Winning WCOOP Heads-up tournaments has always been a huge goal of mine. Having watched fellow Dutchman Rob Hollink win the Heads-up in the first WCOOP ever, I was eager to follow in his footsteps and take this tournament down. Unluckily for me I was met with my...more

Updates below Noah "Exclusive" BoekenNoah "Exclusive" Boeken, EPT Scandinavian Open Champion and PokerStars standout, is in the final nine players of the World Series of Poker $2500 Limit Hold'em event.Noah doubled up on the last hand before the dinner break after turning an ace with AK versus his opponent who...more

There wasn't much clamoring in the poker world for Team PokerStars Pro Peter Eastgate to prove himself after his WSOP win. That said, if anybody still needed some proof that the man from Denmark had some pretty serious poker chops, they only needed to be tracking Eastgate's progress last week...more

With our satellites for this summer's World Series of Poker in full swing (see here for details), those already bagging one of PokerStars' brilliant main event packages might be looking for a little advice on how to play the "Big One". Handy, then, that on Team PokerStars Pro we have...more

by Alex Villegas With great power comes great responsibility. With the WSOP main event bracelet comes 9.1 million dollars and the title of ambassador of poker. Aside from fame, glory, parties and public relation events, the World Champion is expected to do one thing: play poker. Today Peter Eastgate proved...more

So we’re underway - several hundred people, just one flight of four to play their ‘day 1’ - in the outer reaches of the Rio hotel. This is all in stark contrast to the landscape flying into Las Vegas. Whether from Europe or the States; over Canada’s lakes, the...more

After Raymond Rahme became the first person ever from the continent of Africa to make the final table of the World Series Main Event, there was no doubt he would be a star at home. That, indeed, happened. Now, his star has risen even higher. Rahme is the newest champion...more

There's exclusive and then there is really exclusive. Getting to Monte Carlo to play in the PokerStars EPT Grand Final is an accomplishment in itself. The buy-in alone is enough to make this tournament among the most exclusive in the world. Here, though, among the elite players in the field,...more

by Steve Paul-Ambrose One of the first things you learn playing poker is to avoid being results oriented. This is a pretty hard lesson for most; after losing a bunch of flips, shoving into aces or busting on the bubble it's hard not to second guess yourself and let the...more

by Steve Paul-Ambrose Often when playing poker you'll instinctively know that a given raise, call or fold is right and make it. That's an important skill, but often not knowing why can get you in trouble. A good example of this: in the ante stage of a tournament, it folds...more

Silly us. We feel sort of bad about this. See, we like to hear from more voices than our own during WCOOP, so we always look to our friends over on Team PokerStars Pro. They're usually playing every event, winning scads of money, and even winning bracelets, (see Danzer, George)....more

PokerStars has always been among the fastest on the online track, but now it's trying on some new wheels. PokerStars is once again dipping its toes in the waters of big time racing. The annual Kart race International Stars Challenge in Florianopolis, Brazil, put some of the best drivers together...more

by Tom McEvoy In 2006 the World Series of Poker electrified the poker world by introducing a $50,000 HORSE tournament. This was the biggest buy-in in poker history. HORSE, stands for Limit Hold'em, Limit Omaha Hi-Low Split, Razz, 7 Card Stud, and Stud 8 or Better. This tournament was televised...more

Tom McEvoy is the first person person to ever win the WSOP Main Event after winning a satellite entry. Tom McEvoy is one of the longest-running members of Team PokerStars Pro. Tom McEvoy has in the neighborhood of $3 million in lifetime live tournament winnings. Tom McEvoy is a candidate...more

The World Series of Poker at the Rio in Las Vegas decided to celebrate the 40th year of the WSOP with a special tournament. The 25 living main event champions were all invited to compete for the title of 'Champion of Champions', with the winner receiving a vintage 1971 bright,...more

Team PokerStars Pro Vanessa Rousso recently made the final table of the Southern Poker Championship at the Beau Rivage in Biloxi, Mississippi. Since she's getting off to a sweet start in 2009, we asked Rousso to give us a few of her thoughts on her finish. Here's what she had...more

by Vanessa Rousso As the inaugural PokerStars WCOOP $10k buy-in event looms large, I feel like I did as a kid in the days leading up to Christmas. On September 7th at 2:30 p.m ET, Poker Stars will launch WCOOP Event 5, a $10,300 buy-in with a whopping $2 million...more

The forthcoming Manchester UKIPT event will be the first tournament I play on this exciting new British and Irish tour, and I'll be very interested to look at the style of play. The buy-in (£500) is sized to make it possible for recreational players to try a significant tournament -...more

by Vicky Coren The new UKIPT (UK and Irish poker tour) was announced the same week I made a very grown-up decision. I wanted to go and play the Master Classics of Poker in Amsterdam, but I decided not to because the buy-in was too big. I'm moving house soon,...more

The world of Twitter belongs to Vicky Coren and it's best not to cross its borders unless you plan to behave. Today, the Team PokerStars Pro sits across this vast room with a look on her face that makes it appear we can approach. Then, just as well do, she's...more

They say we can tell how many weeks of winter we have left by whether or not a groundhog sees his shadow. Well, I can always tell how well my poker year is going to go based on how well I do at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure. Things went pretty...more

Say anything you want about Team PokerStars Pro Victor Ramdin, but don't question his ability to be bold or dedication to PokerStars players. Ramdin was playing in the Bellagio Five Diamond World Poker Classic this weekend and found himself in a tough spot. It had nothing to do with his...more

Victor Ramdin has a genie, but he looks nothing the lovely Jeannie from your TV set (or, for that matter, a semi-popular slot machine here in town). “It’s my lucky genie,” he told his table. “I’m very superstitious.” How lucky? Midway through the first level of the day he saw...more

by William Thorson This years PCA looks fantastic, I'm really looking forward to it. Two years ago I was at the final table in the Main Event; unfortunately I busted in 9th. But it was still a very nice finish out of 900 players, although it is always very frustrating...more

Team PokerStars Pro players are continuing to take the EPT London side events by storm. First Joe Hachem won the £2,000 European 8 Game Championships, then Jason Mercier took down the £2,500 No Limit, and now Team PokerStars Pro: Nordics William Thorson has bagged the £2,000 PLO. Despite being the...more

It's a marriage a lot of people have seen coming for quite a long time. William Thorson became a Team PokerStars Pro earlier this week, putting the icing on a long-lived relationship with his favorite online poker site. Thorson has been a part of the PokerStars community nearly as long...more

I do not pretend to understand what makes Ylon Schwartz tick, and anyone who claims to get him can just take a spot over in line #3 at the Liar Store. Some people have called him "spooky." Others say "peculiar." I think it's safe to just call him "good" and...more

Just a few days ago, we stood in a very long line at the Santiago, Chile airport. It snaked back and forth between the stanchions for 45 minutes. About five minutes behind us in line was 2008 WSOP third place finisher Dennis Phillips on his way home from the LAPT...more

12,525,000 chips Ylon Schwartz has been playing competitive table games for most of his life, having started playing chess in Washington Square Park in Manhattan ever since he was 13-years-old. Now 38, the Brooklyn native reverted to the more profitable world of poker after 12 years of competitive chess and...more