Mr. Etienne Marique, Chairman of the Belgian Gaming Commission, said: "This is an important step forward for the regulation of online gambling. Not only is the legal framework offering the possibility for operators to offer their online games of chance, but from an economical point of view gambling operators are given opportunities in Belgium. And all this in an environment that protects players more than illegal websites do - for example, excluded players cannot play at licensed websites and an average hourly loss is applicable to each player."

Jean Christophe Choffray, Head of Online Gaming at Circus Groupe, said: "We are delighted that with the great efforts and co-operation of the Gaming Board we have been able to become fully regulated in the Belgium market."

The Belgian Gaming Commission has indicated that beginning this year only fully-licensed operators will be permitted to offer online gaming services in the country and the Commission will actively seek to prevent unlicensed operators from accessing Belgian players.

PokerStars.be is jointly operated with Casino de Namur and is the largest site to be authorised and operational in Belgium. Belgian players are able to play in all PokerStars international tournaments, including the Sunday Million, World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) and Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP), as well as cash games.

"PokerStars is proud to be among the first fully-licensed operators in Belgium," said Guy Templer, PokerStars' Head of Business Development. "We are delighted to be able to offer a locally licensed product to Belgian players through our partnership with Circus Groupe. This furthers our goal to obtain licences in all newly-regulated markets and we look forward to working with the Circus Groupe and Gaming Board."

PokerStars' latest operational license in Belgium follows other successful approvals in Italy, France, Estonia and Denmark. PokerStars.it launched in October 2008, offering Italian citizens the chance to participate in games organised by the world's leading poker operator in compliance with Italian law. PokerStars.fr, which was granted a license in June 2010, permits similar access for French players. PokerStars.ee brought the same privileges to Estonian players in October 2010, as did PokerStars.dk to Danish players in January 2012.

The elasticated crisscross thing (ECT) came with no instructions. The cap went on your head. The earphones went on your ears. The ECT? It was simply "The Thing." Who knew? In a bag full of intuitive items, the ECT was more than a curiosity. It was a mystery. In the three weeks since I got home from the PCA, I have looked at my ECT countless times and wondered, "Why great purpose do you have? What does it all mean?"

It's a great burden, friends, to spend your evening hours awake in bed wondering if the secret to the universe might be sitting on the shelf in your closet. More than a few times, I hurt myself trying to attach the ECT to my body in hopes that through some sort of mystical osmosis I might learn the great secret. You must understand, I don't sleep in pajamas. Actually, forget I mentioned it.

In the daylight hours, however, I found myself coming up with many uses for the ECT. Too many, in fact. So many that it's become a bit of an obsession. On any given day, I wanted to find new ways to use the ECT. Cooking! Cleaning! Home repair! I envisioned myself on after-midnight television explaining how I had found the real meaning of life and how it begins with elastic.

To wit:

Obviously, this went on for some time before my wife--tired of my attempts to get her to wear the ECT to bed--finally said, "You know, genius, you could Google it."

And so I did.

It's not nearly exciting as I might have hoped. However, if you are one of those utilitarian types who wants the things in his backpack to actually serve some meaningful purpose, you might actually like the ECT, which is apparently also known as the Tech Trap. You know, for holding your tech stuff.

Alas, it's not the secret to the universe. There will be no further meditating on its mystical properties. Still, I suspect it might come in very handy when I go to Brazil next week (as long as the security agents don't mind me bringing my dog along--she's grown attached to it).

Last week, in Melbourne, Australia, a few of the members of the media, myself included, ventured out to dinner with two Team PokerStars Pros, Daniel Negreanu and Jason Mercier. The venue of choice was Ichi Ni Izakaya, a Japanese restaurant down by the water in St. Kilda. The conversation was lively, the sake was flowing and everyone was feeling good -- maybe too good.

One of the members of the PokerNews team, Remko Rinkema, brought up the idea of challenging someone to a best-of-seven sports competition. Maybe it was the ego, maybe it was the sake or the vodka cranberries, maybe it was just something in the air; whatever it was, Rinkema decided to challenge Mercier.

Now, before we get into more specifics of the bet, let me give a little background on where the bet stemmed from. Rinkema made a bet last year against former Team PokerStars Pro Noah Boeken while at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure. It was a weight-loss bet and at the time Rinkema weighed in at 128.5 kilograms. The details of the bet were that for every kilogram over 100, Rinkema had to pay $500 and for every kilogram under 100, Boeken owed him $500. Rinkema had just under one year before the final weigh-in took place during the 2012 PCA. When it was all said and done, Rinkema weighed 95.2 kilograms. Partial kilograms didn't count, which meant Rinkema lost four kilograms total and earned a payment of $2,000 from Boeken. That's quite the effort given that he had to drop 28.5 kilograms just to break even. Not too mention, Rinkema earned a nice little payday.

Given that background story, Rinkema would like to keep up his healthy, weight-losing ways and though this would be another reason for him to keep on the right track in getting in the best shape he's been in since his teenage years. Both he and Mercier discussed the terms of the bet and settled on a wager of $5,000. Yes, this was a little high for Rinkema's liking, but it was decided that it would ultimately give him the most drive to win. The amount also had to be enough that Mercier would actually want to try and win. After all, the guy has earned over $7.6 million in live tournament earnings and probably several million more in cash games.

After some debating and banter back and forth, it was decided that I would arbitrate the bet with Rinkema selecting four sports to Mercier's three. For each sport picked, I would decide the competition within that sport that the two would engage in. For example, if one of them selected basketball, I could decide that the competition would be a game of one-on-one with the first player to seven winning.

For the rest of the night, the two went back and forth a little bit about the bet. They even sought out the opinions of others in the party before taking to Twitter to get even more views. Right away, Mercier seemed pretty confident about the bet and tweeted the following.

@JasonMercier: "Booked a 5k prop bet last night against @happyfreaked we play best of 7 sports and he chooses 4 I choose 3 ... Think I'm -260 to win #mash"

Rinkema, though, didn't seem as confident in Mercier, even though he had the edge in sports to be picked, four to three. Here's what he first tweeted about the bet.

@happyfreaked: "So I made this silly prop bet with @JasonMercier tonight. Gotta think of 4 sports I can beat him at in 24 hours. Time to get some sleep now."

Mercier then went on to add even more words of confidence in the following tweet.

@JasonMercier: "@DWBenefield @happyfreaked pretty sure he's drawing dead in the 3 I'll pick, so I just gotta beat him in one of his 4"

In the details of the bet, Rinkema was supposed to pick his four sports first, but he seemed to have a bit of a hard time doing so.

@happyfreaked: "Having a hard time figuring out which 4 sports I will pick. Leaning towards tennis, cycling time trial, speed skating on ice and kickboxing."

After some back and forth banter on Twitter that included Mercier asking for my ruling on Rinkema's time frame for choosing his sports and plenty of players, fans and media members voicing their thoughts, Rinkema decided on his four sports as tug of war, cycling, snowboarding and speed skating on ice. But Mercier wasn't buying those and argued against a couple of them.

@JasonMercier: "@happyfreaked tug of war a sport? Also, assumed since we are supposed to do this in Vegas in the SUMMER snowboarding? @Donnie_Peters Plz"

I have to agree, tug of war was a bit of a stretch by Rinkema and I disallowed it. I also agreed with Mercier on the idea of snowboarding. This bet is supposed to take place during the summer and the World Series of Poker, preferably at the beginning. It's also supposed to be able to be completed within 24 hours. Having to trek up to a mountain and compete in snowboarding more than likely wouldn't be doable. I also disallowed speed skating on ice for the same reason as snowboarding. Speed skating in the summer in Las Vegas? Good luck with that. I also don't think it's overly fair to include a sport that each person much go out and buy some unique equipment for. Finding a basketball or some tennis racquets is one thing, but speed skates? Don't think that's going to happen.

Given all of that, the only sport that actually stood was cycling, leaving Rinkema to have to pick three more. Cue the Jeopardy theme song because this took some time for him to finally decide. Eventually, he chose shot put as another one of his four. Although Mercier tried to argue against shot put, as you can read in his following tweets, it's part of the Olympics, a sport involved in track and field competitions, so I allowed it.

@JasonMercier: "Shotput is just an event in track and field. If u can't make a living at it specifically... It's not a sport!! @happyfreaked @Donnie_Peters"

@JasonMercier: "That's like me picking half court basketball shots. Basketball is the sport. Donnie would choose what we do in the sport"

Sorry, Mercier, there are specific athletes who specialize in shot put and shot put only. It is a sport, although one more unique one, but it's still a qualifying sport.

Another day or so passed before Rinkema added his final two sports. It took him a lot of deliberating, Wikipedia research and consultation from friends, but he finally picked rowing and inline skating. He still wasn't that impressed about a couple of his first selections getting turned down, though.

@happyfreaked: "After long deliberation I pick Cycling, Shot pot, Rowing and inline speed skating. @JasonMercier @Donnie_Peters"

@happyfreaked: "Still not happy about getting turned down on the initial sports, but these are as legit as they get imo."

Then, it was Mercier's turn and he had to select the final three events of the competition. Shortly after Rinkema finalized his four picks, Mercier responded with his three to close out the drafting.

@JasonMercier: ".@Donnie_Peters @happyfreaked I choose basketball, racquetball, baseball guess I just gotta figure out which of Remko's sports I can win at"

With all seven sports now picked, it's up to me, as the arbitrator to decide what these two will compete at for the sports. After a little bit of thought, it's been decided.

For cycling, the two will compete in a 10-kilometer time trial. The person who competes the 10 kilometers the fastest wins this competition. For shot put, it was very simple -- distance. For rowing, I chose to have the two row for 15 minutes of elapsed time and whoever completes the most distance wins. For inline speed skating, the two will have a one-on-one race with the distance yet to be determined.

For the three sports that Mercier selected -- basketball, baseball and racquetball -- the following was chosen. For basketball, the two will play a one-on-one format with the first player to score 15 points winning. You must win by two in this event and all baskets will be worth one point. For racquetball, the two will play another one-on-one format and it will be best-of-three games. The first person to score 15 points wins each game. For baseball, the two will play home run derby with 10 outs allotted per side. A neutral pitcher will be used.

Those are the seven sports and the competitions that will be completed for each. With the event set to take place at the beginning of the WSOP, it's going to be something great to come out and watch if you're in the area. We'll be sure to keep everyone posted about the happenings of the bet and competition, so as always, stay tuned.

As the day kicked off with some big Sunday majors, more than 3,600 people showed up for the Sunday Warm-Up. When it was done, MarinaBalbes was rolling in some new cash. You can check out that final table report here: MarinaBalbes makes nearly $100K for Sunday Warm-Up victory.

A little bit later in the night, the Sunday Million final table popped up with a bunch of people looking to lock up some big cash. The final result was a six-way deal and a champion named MatejK992SLO. You can read the whole story right here: MatejK992SLO slowly but surely won $177K for Sunday Million success.

For a full rundown of all the big winners from the weekend, check out the 2-5-12 PokerStars Sunday major results.

Good luck in the coming week.

I ran really well in this tournament. I tried to pick my spots more in this one that I had in the past. I was lucky to win the big all in pots. The end of Day 2 felt good for me, because we were playing short-handed, which I am more comfortable with. This allowed me to play my game a bit more, and as the money approached, I was very comfortable.

The key hand for me was against Jonathan Duhamel: I called his opening raise with [Ah][Qh] from the small blind. The flop was J-5-7 with two hearts, and we got it all in on the flop after a series of raises. I knew he wouldn't make the last raise as quickly as he did with any kind of really big hand, so I felt I was in okay shape. I hit the heart on the turn, and it was the key hand that really helped me get the win.

I needed those chips because, of course, on the very next hand, I pick up [Kh][3h] on the button and face a three-bet from Galen Hall. I called, the flop came J-7-2 with 2 clubs and one heart. He lead out, I raised, and he quickly shoved. At that point, I thought "What the hell am I doing in this pot?"

I folded. Sometimes I can't hold on to my chips for very long.

I was so happy won, but I was so tired, and I had a feeling like I was ill. My whole body was aching. I really wanted to go out that night and celebrate. Maybe you saw my interview. I was so tired, during that interview. I don't even remember half the questions. I went back to my room and slept. I saved the celebration for later in the week.

When I woke up the next day, I started to feel really good, and the win started to sink in. The win feels great.

I hope it isn't my last.

Follow Viktor on Facebook
Follow Viktor on Twitter: @RealIsildur1

Speaking of excitement, the Women's Poker League just wrapped up its first month of 2012 for its three divisions, and we want to congratulate all of the players who won cash prizes from the leaderboard finishes, especially horsewoman72, Yurchenkova, and Izzuska88 who won their divisions. Participation is open to all female players on PokerStars, and information about the WPL can be found by clicking this link.

And back to today's Women's Sunday, here were the final registration numbers:

Total players: 257
Prize pool: $12,850.00
Paid finishers: 45

Of the two players bearing the PokerStars logo and offering $50 bounties, Fatima Moreira de Melo was the first to be eliminated in the first hour of play, and Celina Lin followed a short time after.

That left the rest of the field to pursue the money, but that bubble didn't happen until well past the two-hour mark. Lili LaFae was the unfortunate bubble player in 46th place, and OPOP_66 became the first to cash today, as she was awarded $77.10 for 45th place.

Play edged closer to the final table only about 30 minutes later, but action slowed after the 12th place elimination of axel child. Lisyonok was then ousted exactly at the three-hour mark, and hand-for-hand play began. And it took only moments for bezgarantiy to push all-in with [Ah][Qc] from the small blind. Luckyno75 called from the big blind with [Js][9h] and hit the flop of [Jc][3h][3s]. The [Ks] and [5h] completed the hand and sent bezgarantiy out in tenth place with $192.75.

Tribeca1999 takes substantial lead-

Level 17 kicked off the final table action with blinds of 1,500/3,000 and a 300 ante. Players' stacks were listed as follows:

Seat 1: lulu.pk70 (57,808 in chips)
Seat 2: stodderkonen (33,911 in chips)
Seat 3: luckyno75 (49,205 in chips)
Seat 4: katemila (54,262 in chips)
Seat 5: infopukevip (19,356 in chips)
Seat 6: eslosme (94,888 in chips)
Seat 7: Tribeca1999 (278,216 in chips)
Seat 8: hmhmyeah (79,592 in chips)
Seat 9: BARDELLMAN (103,762 in chips)

Katemila doubled through BARDELLMAN on the very first hand, and the latter then got involved with Tribeca1999 and stodderkonen on the second hand of the final table. The flop of [Qh][9s][7h] prompted an all-in bet of 41,400 chips from BARDELLMAN, and stodderkonen folded. Tribeca1999 called with [Qd][Qc] for the flopped set, and BARDELLMAN was on a draw with [Kh][Jh]. The [5d] on the turn and [6d] on the river changed nothing, and BARDELLMAN had to leave in ninth place with $224.87.

Short-stacked infopukevip doubled through hmhmyeah, and stodderkonen did the same through Tribeca1999 but did it twice.

Lulu.pk70 took her shot with only 16,558 chips and [Ac][7c], and original raiser Tribeca1999 called with [Ad][Qc]. The board ran out [6h][4h][9s][6s][Ts], and lulu.pk70 was gone in eighth place with $308.40.

Infopukevip doubled through Tribeca1999, and eslosme doubled through katemila. That left katemila quite short, and she moved all-in right after the break. Holding [6d][2c], katemila was all-in from the small blind. Eslosme was the only other player in the hand and showed [Ah][Jh]. That hand then turned into a flush on the [Ks][Qh][6h][3h][Kc] board, and katemila was eliminated in seventh place with $436.90.

Tribeca1999 held the lead but took another hit when infopukevip doubled through her, and stodderkonen did the same.

Luckyno75 then moved all-in UTG, and stodderkonen called from the big blind with [Ah][9c]. Luckyno75 showed [Ks][Qs], but the board blanked as it came [7s][2h][8d][4h][3c] to leave the ace high as the winning hand. Sixth place money of $565.40 went to luckyno75.

Stodderkonen stakes claim to first place

If it seemed like stodderkonen was on a roll, that was true. When infopukevip moved all-in with [Ac][7c], stodderkonen called with [Qs][Qh]. The flop came [3c][Qc][Jc] to give infopukevip the flush, and the [4s] on the turn didn't change that. But the [3d] on the river gave stodderkonen the full house and eliminated infopukevip in fifth place with $732.45.

Eslosme moved all-in again, this time with [4c][4h], but stodderkonen had [9h][9d] with which to battle. The the nines held up to the [3d][Ks][3c][Jc][7s] board. that left eslosme out in fourth place with $1,060.12.

Hmhmyeah doubled through Tribeca1999 once, but the second time put hmhmyeah in a strong position three-handed:

Three-handed play slowed down for a few rounds, but Tribeca1999 finally made her all-in push preflop with [Th][6s]. Hmhmyeah called with [Ah][Ks], and that hit two pair on the [Ad][8c][Kd] flop. The [Qc] on the turn and [2d] on the river ended the hand, and Tribeca1999 finished in third place with $1,413.50.

Stodderkonen tries to fend off hmhmyeah

The two remaining players began their heads-up match with these chip counts:

Seat 2: stodderkonen (457,703 in chips)
Seat 8: hmhmyeah (313,297 in chips)

On the ninth hand of the battle, hmhmyeah risked it all with [Ah][Kd] against the [9h][9d] of stodderkonen. The flop of [Jh][2d][Td] brought straight possibilities for hmhmyeah, but nothing else came from the [4d] turn or [8c] river. That left hmhmyeah of Germany out in second place with $1,863.25.

Denmark's stodderkonen won this week's Women's Sunday and $2,486.59. Congratulations!

Women's Sunday Results for 02/05/12:

1st place: stodderkonen ($2,486.59)
2nd place: hmhmyeah ($1,863.25)
3rd place: Tribeca1999 ($1,413.50)
4th place: eslosme ($1,060.12)
5th place: infopukevip ($732.45)
6th place: luckyno75 ($565.40)
7th place: katemila ($436.90)
8th place: lulu.pk70 ($308.40)
9th place: BARDELLMAN ($224.87)

There are many ways to get in on the Women's Sunday action. Take a look at the home page for information on daily satellites. And join us on Facebook for news and monthly freerolls, and Twitter for the latest information. See you next week!

As Season 8 of the EPT draws to a close, the EPT will pack its bags April 23-May 1 for the shores of Monaco. Like all EPT events, the festival will include a wide range of tournaments for all buy-in levels from the recreational player to the big-bankrolled professionals. Highlighting it all will be the €10,000 main event.

The PokerStars and Monte-Carlo®Casino EPT Grand Final, to be staged at the Monte Carlo Bay Hotel & Casino, will cap off another successful season of the EPT. Season 8 has already taken players all over Europe, from London, to Barcelona, to Prague, to San Remo, and to Loutraki, Greece. As players enter the second half of the season, they now know where they'll be ending up for season-ending final.

EPT President Edgar Stuchly said, "This will be the biggest and best EPT festival ever held, and we're putting together an incredible tournament."

For the first time in history, the EPT will host a €100,000 buy-in Super High Roller event on European soil. Running April 23-25, the Super High Roller event should attract the cream of the world's poker crop. It's only been a few weeks since Team PokerStars Pro Viktor Blom took down the Super High Roller at the PCA for more than a million bucks. He's already made plans to show up in Monaco for the High Roller there.

If you happen to be heading in that direction for the tournaments, you can make a full month of it in Monaco. In the weeks before and after the poker festival, Monaco is hosting the Monte Carlo Rolex Masters ATP Tennis (April 13-22), the Monaco Historic Grand Prix (May 11-13) and the famous Grand Prix of Monaco (May 24-27) Formula 1 race.

For now, however, we'll focus our attention on the poker. The full schedule of events is coming soon. Keep your eye on www.europeanpokertour.com for all the information you'll need between now and the big event.

See you in Monaco!

Sometimes, it's as simple as just give money away. Lots of it.

The Road to 100 Billion is a case in point. As you'll probably know by now, as that landmark approaches, we hand over significant piles of cash along the way. As every 5 billionth hand ticks around on the servers, hundreds of our players get free money in their accounts. One player, the one who wins the actual milestone 5 billionth hand dealt at PokerStars, wins an awful lot of free money.

Just now we dealt our 75 billionth hand. Two players split the pot with a seven-high straight. edroqui07, who started the hand with $35.92, ended it with $42,810 more, while acer2831, who started the hand with just $22.36 at the table, finished up with $34,600. Everyone else at the six-handed $1-$2 limit hold'em table won at least $16,970.

"A nice morning's work, and not bad for a 1-2 limit table," remarked HostBob.

As usual, the excitement leading up to the 75 Billionth hand had been enormous. By now most of your know the score: when a Mega Milestone Hand approaches, you simply have to be playing on PokerStars for a chance to win it. When offered free money, it's probably best to take it, right? It's why, on a Saturday lunchtime, European time, just under 200,000 people were playing on PokerStars across nearly 30,000 tables.

But although so many of you were playing, only one table could have the 75 Billionth hand dealt. The PokerStars lobby sprung to life. "The milestone hand 75,000,000,000 is being at table Stroobantia V," a banner read. There, the game had been halted while the rail gathered and HostBob explained to the players at the table what was about to happen. It was a moment of pure excitement, an adrenaline rush for the players.

"That is shock," said i-268, before adding, "OK, guys. I have A-A so just fold."

ant_poker was a little slower on the uptake. "This is a milestone hand?" he asked.
"This is THE milestone hand," explained HostBob

"Vamos Colombiaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa," added edroqui07, a man from Colombia who was clearly a little pleased.

Then Team PokerStars Pro Johnny Lodden popped up in the chat box. "GL boys," he said. "Must be nice."

Once HostBob was sure everyone understood what was about to happen, and once the rail had gathered, play re-started and the cards were dealt.

Now, as most of you know, to be in with a chance of winning a milestone hand, you have to win the hand. Folding is no option. This is why players will abandon normal sensible strategy and shove all-in pre-flop in no-limit or cap out in limit, regardless of what cards they hold.

Here's what happened:

As expected, all players raised merry hell out of the [5s][3s][7s] flop, and the [6h] turn and [10c] river. In fact, it was pretty much capped out down every street. At the end of it, acer2831 showed [3h][4h] for a straight, while edroqui07 had [5d][4d] for the same straight.

And then they all waited with baited breath to find out what they had won. Each were already guaranteed $10,000 just for being in the 75 Billionth hand, then they got an extra $1,000 for every VPP they had earmed at the table in the previous 50 hands. The hand winners would get their prize doubled.

HostBob asked everyone to wait while he got out his famous calculator. After a few moments, he came back with these numbers, getting some nice reactions:

edroqui07: $42,810... "yeeeaaaaaaaaaa"
acer2831: $34,600
i-268: $19,450... "awesome, ty"
ant_poker: $19,010... "ooooh"
Sebastfrz: $16,970
pavl007: $16,970... "enough for a sandwich" (but presumably a very big one)

And then, as is the tradition, play was allowed to continue and the rail allowed to comment in the chat box at last. It exploded in the usual fashion, with messages of congratulations flooding in.

Congratulations to all our 75 Billionth hand winners, and to all who won on the previous hands leading up to the milestone.

If you'd like to learn more about our current promotions and offers, please visit the PokerStars promotions page.

So, this is it.

The person on whom I count to give me the warning just checked in to say that the big hand is coming. When? Well, I can't tell you exactly when, because that would just ruin all the fun. But suffice it to say, you won't sleep twice between the time you read this and the time someone wins at least $20,000 for taking down the 75 billionth hand (unless you suffer from narcolepsy, and in that case, your results may vary).

If you have no idea what this is about, you obviously don't spend much time reading this blog. Here. This is the PokerStars Road to 100 Billion page. It explains how people getting dealt into big milestone hands are winning lots of extra cash (around $750,000 so far). It also explains how you'll want to be around for the 75 billionth.

Now, if you're like me, you always see these sweepstakes things and think, "Nobody ever wins any of those things." In this case, however, they do. I have some proof.

Check out this list of PokerStars 75 billionth milestone hand winners. Go ask the people on the list. They'll tell you. It's for real.

So, this is your last warning. The next time we write on this subject, we'll be telling you who won all the money.

Will it be you?

(Oh, and your mother-in-law is on her way to your house. Heads up.)

In addition to cash prizes for the top 100 players in each division, there were tickets awarded to those at the top of each leaderboard for the end-of-year $10K Grand Final. The winner of the $.10 division received a ticket, as well as the top five players in the $1.10 division and the top 10 of the $5.50 division. That Grand Final event, scheduled for January 2013, is going to be filled with amazing players!

Now, it's time to celebrate January's amazing players.

$.10 League

After players started the action on January 3, it didn't take long for last year's overall winner, SARITA15350, to take the lead. By January 17, she was leading the group with 86 points. Il biccia held a strong second with 83 points, and MCathy68, A.captain.T, and horsewoman72 were in close contention for third. Ten days later, horsewoman72 had taken over first place with 135 points, while il biccia held on to second and SARITA15350 tied with her, both boasting of 130 points.

The final numbers after the month closed showed that horsewoman72 couldn't be beat. With 28 tournaments, she accumulated 143 points and won the $100. MCathy68 climbed in the last few days and grabbed second place with 137 points for 28 tournaments, and SARITA15350 held third place with 29 tournaments and 134 points. Il biccia was a close fourth with 133 points.

January Top 10:

1st place: horsewoman72 (Canada) - 28 tournaments, 143 points = $100
2nd place: MCathy68 (Mauritius) - 28 tournaments, 137 points = $90
3rd place: SARITA15350 (Spain) - 29 tournaments, 134 points = $80
4th place: il biccia (Moldova) - 29 tournaments, 133 points = $70
5th place: 7amlao7 (Portugal) - 29 tournaments, 127 points = $60
6th place: pointful92 (Canada) - 26 tournaments, 124 points = $45 (TIE)
6th place: Stellanna (Canada) - 29 tournaments, 124 points = $45 (TIE)
8th place: Fun Seppi (Germany) - 29 tournaments, 123 points = $25 (TIE)
8th place: Zagro (Sweden) - 29 tournaments, 123 points = $25 (TIE)
10th place: dnepr-oksi (Ukraine) - 29 tournaments, 120 points = $15

$1.10 League

The midway point of January saw three players take a significant lead over the other players in this division. Blanckaa17 sat with 105 points and Popular Girl with 103, while Kyp777 wasn't far behind with 93. The closest competitors were Yurchenkova and zemlyanikasw, each with 77 points and tying for fourth place. Fast forward 10 days, and Yurchenkova had taken over first place with an impressive 179 points. Blanckaa17 was in second with 162, and Popular Girl was in third but fell back with 136 points. GrowlingFrog jumped up from ninth to fourth, and SARITA15350 secured a top spot in yet another division.

When the month was over, Yurchenkova was officially the winner, with 182 points for 28 tournaments. Second and third places remained the same as well, with blanckaa17 in second with 166 points and Popular Girl in third with 163. Zemlyanikasw secured fourth place with 157 points, and GrowlingFrog took fifth with 146 points. Notably, SARITA15350 did finish in sixth place.

January Top 10:

1st place: Yurchenkova (Russia) - 28 tournaments, 182 points = $250
2nd place: blanckaa17 (Mexiso) - 28 tournaments, 166 points = $170
3rd place: Popular Girl (Peru) - 27 tournaments, 163 points = $140
4th place: zemlyanikasw (Russia) - 28 tournaments, 157 points = $120
5th place: GrowlingFrog (Australia) - 27 tournaments, 146 points = $100
6th place: SARITA15350 (Spain) - 29 tournaments, 137 points = $90
7th place: Kyp777 (Hungary) - 28 tournaments, 135 points = $80
8th place: storczyk (Poland) - 29 tournaments, 132 points = $65
9th place: hania22 (Spain) - 27 tournaments, 129 points = $50
10th place: Ariella 72 (Ukraine) - 29 tournaments, 128 points = $32.50 (TIE)
10th place: Meryl X (Chile) - 25 tournaments, 128 points = $32.50 (TIE)
10th place: Olgamihl (Russia) - 29 tournaments, 128 points = $32.50 (TIE)
10th place: Secret5180 (Germany) - 23 tournaments, 128 points = $32.50 (TIE)

$5.50 League

The new division in the WPL found a solid group of players vying for points. By the 17th of January, Izzuska88 was out in front of them all with 125 points, and Aussteiger13 and Prospero2 were tied for second with 113 each. The only other player over 100 points was rozdaly, and coming up in fifth place was laimee, a name familiar to those following the other two divisions last year. Looking at the list 10 days later, Izzuska88 had 160 points, but so did Prospero2, and the two would fight it out for first place in the last days of the month. Rozdaly moved up to third place, while Aussteiger13 fell to fourth and laimee fell out of the top 10 altogether.

When the month came to an end, it was Izzuska88 who scored the victory with 177 points for 29 tournaments. Rozdaly made it up to second place and finished with 171 points for 27 tournaments, and Prospero2 was relegated to third with 163 points. Pirru200 came from out of nowhere to secure a fourth place finish, while Aussteiger13 held on for fifth place. Of significance was the sixth place finish for Zagro, who also made the top 10 of the $.10 division.

January Top 10:

1st place: Izzuska88 (Poland) - 29 tournaments, 177 points = $500
2nd place: rozdaly (United Kingdom) - 27 tournaments, 171 points = $300
3rd place: Prospero2 (Finland) - 28 tournaments, 163 points = $220
4th place: pirru200 (Estonia) - 28 tournaments, 156 points = $170
5th place: Aussteiger13 (Germany) - 29 tournaments, 155 points = $150
6th place: Alice4win (Peru) - 28 tournaments, 145 points = $135 (TIE)
6th place: Zagro (Sweden) - 29 tournaments, 145 points = $135 (TIE)
8th place: demonic83 (Finland) - 28 tournaments, 140 points = $110
9th place: rubille (Spain) - 28 tournaments, 138 points = $90
10th place: sommerkind19 (Germany) - 27 tournaments, 137 points = $50

Information about the PokerStars Women's Poker League is provided on the home page, and current league standings are listed on the rankings page.

On Sunday February 12th, some of your favorite Sunday majors are going to run not just once but twice in the same day.

Double Vision Sunday will feature the following double events.

Sunday Million: 14:30 ET and 15:00 ET

So, rub the sleep out of your eyes, make sure you have your eyeglasses nearby, and get ready for Double Vision Sunday.

For full details, visit the PokerStars Sunday Tournaments page.

]]> http://www.pokerstarsblog.com/2012/double-vision-sunday-returns-090634.html http://www.pokerstarsblog.com/2012/double-vision-sunday-returns-090634.html PokerStars news Sunday majors Thu, 02 Feb 2012 08:55:39 -0800 Do yourself a favor and just look at this list. Take some time. Enjoy yourself. Roll around in the excitement that comes with PokerStars giving away a bunch of money in a short period of time.

As you're probably aware, the PokerStars 75 billionth hand is coming soon. How soon? Well, figure 48-hours-ish, depending on how many of you decide to start going crazy with 24-tabe action in an effort to hit the big hand. Why would you do such a thing? Well, that big hand is worth a minimum of $20,000 to the winner.

Leading up to that point, PokerStars is awarding hundreds of thousands of dollars to people for getting dealt into special milestone hands. Yeah, click that link above to get a feel for it. The total amount right now is right around a quarter-million and climbing. It's the kind of experience that makes one want to just get the big red spade tattooed on their chest.

It's all part of the Road to 100 Billion promotion as PokerStars prepares to hit triple-digit-blllions of hands dealt.

In the meantime, our focus must remain on that 75 billionth hand. It will be here sooner than you think.

Want to see that list one more time? Yeah, me too. Hereyago: PokerStars 75 Billionth hand milestone winners.

Just sexy isn't it?

If that doesn't get you itching to 24-table for the next few days, I don't know what will.

]]> http://www.pokerstarsblog.com/2012/pokerstars-75-billionth-hand-approaching-090592.html http://www.pokerstarsblog.com/2012/pokerstars-75-billionth-hand-approaching-090592.html PokerStars news Road to 100 Billion Wed, 01 Feb 2012 07:14:10 -0800 The last Super Tuesday of January drew a large group of 378 to play the weekly $1,050 no-limit hold'em tournament. That meant a prize pool of $378,000 -- again, as usual, crushing the $150K guarantee -- with the top 45 finishers dividing the cash and $73,143 due the winner barring any final table deals.

It would take almost four hours for the group to be whittled down to 100. The elimination of Mickey "mement_mori" Petersen in 101st place marked the occasion, with Petersen joining fellow Team Online member Björn 'Bjoerni89' Schneider (246th) and Pat Pezzin of Team PokerStars Canada (238th) on the rail.

With 100 players left, the Swede Stefan "Mattssons" Mattsson led the way with almost 75,000, Jose Raul "head27" Severino was next with just under 64,000, and Alex "Schildy1984" Debus third with a little more than 54,000.

Martin Staszko of Team PokerStars Czech Republic was the lone PS representative remaining, although he was sitting near the bottom of the counts with less than 10,000 chips (about 15 big blinds). He'd double soon after, though, using [Qc][Qs] to overcome Jose Raul "head27" Severino's [Ah][Qd].

That hand bought Staszko an extension on his tourney life, though he'd become short-stacked again as the field shrunk below 60. That's when Staszko once more picked up [Qh][Qc] and reraise-shoved a stack of about 16 big blinds, getting a call from Deputado1414 who held [Ah][Ks]. A king flopped, and Staszko couldn't catch up, meaning he'd fallen shy of the cash in 59th place.

By the five-hour mark they were down to 50 players with Mattssons still in front with better than 111,000, giumas987 hovering just above 100k, and Tom "tollgate" Grigg just below the six-figure mark.

Ninety minutes later the cash bubble had long since burst and they were down to 18 players gathered around two tables. By then giumas987 had pushed way out in front with more than 354,000, well ahead of nearest challenger Jamie "TheCronic420" Rosen in second with about 252,000. SiiliSuhonen was third with just over 226,000, while ELPESIMISTA, Dani "supernova9" Stern, and Gambit360 were next in line, all three with between 100k-120k.

An hour later they were down to 10, with giumas987 still the leader and closing in on 400,000 chips, TheCronic420 still second with about 360,000, and Gambit360 third with a little over 336,000.

The final table bubble would last for quite a while, during which stretch kinkel99 appeared destined to fall in 10th after shoving with [Ad][Jc], getting called by Thiago "XTheDecanoX" Nishijima with [9h][9d], then watching the flop come [5h][7s][7c] and turn the [4c]. But the [Ah] fell on the river, and kinkel99 survived.

A little while after that came a big hand between Jamie "TheCronic420" Rosen and leader giumas987 in which giumas987 led with a small river bet with the board showing [8h][4c][Qd][Jh][Kc] and Rosen raised all in for his last 122,048. There were nearly half a million chips in the middle, and giumas987 thought for some time before calling Rosen's raise. TheCronic420 showed [Jc][Jd] for a set of jacks, better than guimas987's [Td][Th], and Rosen had seized the chip lead.

The ten players would continue right up until the last hand before the eight-hour break, with the blinds moving to 2,400/4,800 (Level 29). Finally Jose Raul "head27" Severino open-pushed his short stack of less than 20,000 with [Ks][8s] and was called by Thiago "XTheDecanoX" Nishijima in the big blind with [Th][2c]. The board ran out [Tc][Qs][6h][2h][Ac], giving XTheDecanoX two pair and sending Severino out in tenth place ($5,670).

After a five-minute break, the final table was underway.

Seat 1: supernova9 -- 126,074
Seat 2: Gambit360 -- 287,150
Seat 3: giumas987 -- 175,559
Seat 4: kinkel99 -- 242,762
Seat 5: CASINOICE -- 31,760
Seat 6: XTheDecanoX -- 114,406
Seat 7: TheCronic420 -- 564,956
Seat 8: tollgate -- 260,021
Seat 9: Poker Own U -- 87,312

The final nine played about 15 minutes before a big hand occurred between CASINOICE and Jonathan "Poker Own U" Bardier that resulted in a significant exchange of chips. After an opening raise from UTG by CASINOICE, Poker Own U shoved all in from late position for 125,802 and CASINOICE nearly matched the raise with an all-in call.

Poker Own U held [Ad][Kh] and CASINOICE [Qc][Qd]. A queen flopped, then the case queen came as well to give CASINOICE quads and leave Poker Own U with less than 2,000 chips.

Bardier would double up on the next hand, then would survive a little bit longer so as to move up a spot in the money.

In the interim, the blinds were 2,800/5,600 when Dani "supernova9" Stern open-raised all in for 114,974 from middle position, then Gambit360 reraised over the top from one seat over to scatter the others. It was a similar-looking confrontation as Stern held [Ad][Kc] and Gambit360 a pair of queens. This time the board came [6c][9s][5c][Qd][Tc] to give Gambit360 a set of queens and send supernova9 out in ninth.

Soon after that hand Poker Own U was all in for 6,586 with [Qd][Th] against Gambit360's [Ah][2h], and after the five community cards came [9c][6d][3d][7d][4h] Bardier had been eliminated in eighth.

A few minutes later the blinds were still 2,800/5,600 when Thiago "XTheDecanoX" Nishijima raised to 11,555 from middle position and got two callers -- Gambit360 (small blind) and giumas987 (big blind). The flop came [4c][Tc][Kh] and it checked to the raiser who continued for 15,888. Gambit360 called the bet, then after a pause giumas987 raised all in for 208,114.

Nishijima tanked for a short while, then called with the 118,673 he had left, and Gambit360 quickly folded. XTheDecanoX had [4d][4s] for a set of fours while giumas987 was drawing with [Jc][7c]. The turn brought the [8c] and a club flush for giumas987, and after the [Ah] came on the river Nishijima was ousted in seventh.

RSS readers click through to see replay

It would take another half-hour before the next elimination occurred. By then the blinds had moved to 3,600/7,200 (Level 32). Jamie "TheCronic420" Rosen min-raised to 14,400 from early position, then Gambit360 made it 33,680 from the button. It folded to kinkel99 who reraised all in for 162,202 from the big blind, TheCronic420 folded, and Gambit360 called.

kinkel99: [Jd][Jh]
Gambit360: [Ah][Kd]

The flop came [Kc][8c][4d], pairing Gambit360, and after the [6d] turn and [8h] river they were down to five.

They reached the nine-hour break, with Gambit360 now leading with 584,902, followed by giumas987 (541,901), Jamie "TheCronic420" Rosen (428,942), CASINOICE (170,694), and Tom "tollgate" Grigg (163,561)

It was only a couple of minutes after they'd returned that Gambit360 was min-raising to 14,400 from the cutoff, then TheCronic420 reraised to 36,790 from the big blind. Gambit360 called, and the pair watched the flop come [2d][4d][7c]. Rosen led for 45,760 and Gambit360 called the bet. The turn was the [3c], and again TheCronic420 was betting, this time 81,990. Gambit360 called once more.

The river brought the [4s] and an all-in push by TheCronic420 for 256,302. Gambit320 quickly called yet again, turning over [Ac][5c] for a straight. Rosen showed [Jh][Js] before his avatar vanished from the table as he'd been eliminated in fifth.

With that one Gambit360 was sitting at 999,444, his stack now bigger than the other three players' combined.

A little while later the blinds were 4,000/8,000 (Level 33). Gambit360 had inched over the 1 million-chip mark when he raised to 16,000 from UTG and got two callers in giumas987 from the button and Tom "tollgate" Grigg from the big blind.

The flop came [3s][Th][2s], and it checked to Gambit360 who bet 14,800. giumas987 raised to 40,000, then Grigg reraised all in for 76,945 total, forcing a fold from Gambit360. giumas987 called, however, showing [9s][8s] for a flush draw. tollgate, meanwhile, had top pair with [Tc][9c]. The turn was the [Jd] and Grigg was still head, but the [7s] on the river completed giumas987's flush and tollgate was knocked out in fourth.

Gambit360 continued to add to his stack, moving up over 1.46 million while giumas987 and CASINOICE both fell back below 250,000. Then with the blinds 5,000/10,000, Gambit opened for 25,000 from the small blind and giumas987 called.

The flop came all fours -- [4s][4c][4d] -- and Gambit360 bet 14,800. giumas987 responded by shoving all in for 168,033, and Gambit360 couldn't have called more quickly, turning over [Jh][4h] for flopped quads! giumas987 had [Jc][9d], and no turn or river cards could help him to avoid going out in third.

RSS readers click through to see replay

Heads-up play began with Gambit360 well in front with 1,659,113 to CASINOICE's 230,887. They'd play but a dozen hands, with the stacks having changed little by the time the final hand was played.

With the blinds still 5,000/10,000, CASINOICE raised to 20,750 from the small blind/button, then Gambit360 reraised to 47,000. CASINOICE responded by shoving all in for 240,887 total, and Gambit360 called.

CASINOICE held [5s][5c] and was hoping his small pair would hold versus Gambit360's [As][Qh]. The flop brought an ace, coming [8c][2c][Ac], putting Gambit360 in front but leaving CASINOICE with hopes for a flush. But the turn was the [Ks] and river the [Ah], and after nine hours and 41 minutes the Super Tuesday had a winner.

RSS readers click through to see replay

Congratulations to Gambit360 for topping a tough field of 378 and knocking out six of his eight final table opponents to win the $73K-plus first prize!

Super Tuesday results for 1/31/12:
1st: Gambit360 ($73,143)
2nd: CASINOICE ($54,810)
3rd: giumas987 ($41,580)
4th: tollgate ($31,185)
5th: TheCronic420 ($21,546)
6th: kinkel99 ($16,632)
7th: XTheDecanoX ($12,852)
8th: Poker Own U ($9,072)
9th: supernova9 ($6,615)

The buzz from the recently-completed Turbo Championship of Online Poker is only just starting to die down. Check the TCOOP site for results and stats from all 50 events.

]]> http://www.pokerstarsblog.com/super_tuesday/2012/gambit360-runs-circles-around-field-capt-090574.html http://www.pokerstarsblog.com/super_tuesday/2012/gambit360-runs-circles-around-field-capt-090574.html PokerStars news Super Tuesday Tue, 31 Jan 2012 23:54:21 -0800 Over the course of the past few years, we have come to wonder when Danny McDonagh slept. When we arrived at any tournament venue, he was there and looked like he'd just come in from a week's rest at a luxury spa. When we left 14 hours later, McDonagh was still running full steam. And if we managed to find a watering hole at the end of the night, McDonagh seemed to always arrive just as we were ready to go to sleep. Again, he looked as fresh as a daisy. What's more, if we're to believe the rumors, McDonagh also finds time to get in regular workouts and runs. It's amazing, but it simply doesn't seem to leave time for sleep.

Though we've not fully solved the mystery, we're happy to report that the Australia Poker Hall of Fame has finally given McDonagh his due. The current Regional Director for Asia and head of PokerStars Macau recently accepted his induction to the Hall of Fame. It's the first time an inductee received the honor for efforts outside of normal poker play.

Danny McDonagh (right) accepts Australia Poker Hall of Fame award

McDonagh is synonymous with poker in the region. From the very moment the Crown Casino Poker Room opened, McDonagh was there running events and growing the game. He did it there until 2007 when he started branching out across the region as APPT tournament director, and now in his role with PokerStars.

Congratulations, Danny. The honor is much-deserved. Now, if you'd just be kind enough to let us know when you sleep...

]]> http://www.pokerstarsblog.com/2012/mcdonagh-accepts-australia-hall-of-fame-090553.html http://www.pokerstarsblog.com/2012/mcdonagh-accepts-australia-hall-of-fame-090553.html PokerStars news APPT Tue, 31 Jan 2012 07:36:07 -0800 Just before the PCA, we unveiled the all-new PokerStars television campaign, We Are Poker. Featuring highly-charged, atmospheric scenes, these ads went down well and will be coming to a television screen near you some time soon.

Now PokerStars has released a third advert in the series. Watch out for appearances from Team PokerStars Pros including ElkY, Sandra Naujoks, Sebastian Ruthenburg and Liv Boeree.

Although we've been brought up to believe Boeree is an angel, see if you can spot her inner demon coming out in the ad. Enjoy...

]]> http://www.pokerstarsblog.com/2012/new-pokerstars-we-are-poker-television-a-090539.html http://www.pokerstarsblog.com/2012/new-pokerstars-we-are-poker-television-a-090539.html PokerStars news We Are Poker Tue, 31 Jan 2012 02:07:47 -0800