Latest 2009 Post

Mixed hold'em events haven't been prominent for a very long time, but since they first appeared they've proven to be popular with tournament poker players. They demand a more varied skill set than a straight limit or no-limit hold'em event, as the proper strategy for a situation can differ if...more

With ten events behind us and two happening as I type, PokerStars.tv had just released another of its signature highlight shows. In this episode, Nick Wealthall takes us through the final table of the the big buy NLHE hold'em contest in Event #8. We won't spoil the ending for you....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

The forgiving thing about most forms of poker is the ability to rest whenever you want, whenever the cards don't look right, whenever you feel like somebody at the table might be a little better. The right to take a moment to sit back and assess the table is what...more

It's just you and me, buddy! Okay, the poker players who came out for the medium stakes heads-up tournament probably didn't speak those words to each other as they came face to face for their matches, but it's all I had tonight. Work with me. The Event 10 $162 buy-in...more

Heads-up no-limit hold'em is one of the purest forms of poker available, perhaps only behind no-limit deuce-to-seven draw. Success in match play comes from being able to quickly identify and exploit an opponent's weaknesses while adapting to their strengths. If your opponent adapts to you before you adapt to your...more

A field of 439 players showed up ready to draw their way to the top of SCOOP's medium tier Event #9, 2-7 Triple Draw. That was short of the 500 needed to surpass the guarantee, so the event had a $100,000 prize pool with $19,000 going to first place. Several...more

When you see Duece-to-Seven Triple Draw Lowball being played it's usually for serious coin. The 2-7 event at the World Series of Poker is considered one of the toughest in the field. The game is popular in some of the biggest mixed games in Las Vegas. And on Monday,...more

Triple draw lowball, a favored game among top poker pros that often turns up in the rotation in the big mixed games, actually hasn't been around for that long. Indeed, by most accounts the game was first introduced in the late 1990s -- right around the time of internet poker's...more

Late last night - early morning for most in the U.S. - the high stakes Event 8 tournament stopped at the end of Level 22 with 12 hours of play in the books. But there were 34 players left... Who would win? Would Daniel Negreanu pull off a stunning comeback...more

43 players rubbed the sleep out of their eyes this afternoon returning to the virtual felt twelve hours after they left it to play down to a champion in SCOOP's marathon, two-day Event #8-Medium. 6,274 players bought into this deep-stacked $320 NLHE event creating a massive prize pool of $1,882,200...more

20,353 players entered, and only one survived. The massiveness of SCOOP Event #8's $33 NLHE caused a spill over to second day for this event. 4,500 players walked away with some money for their troubles. But, it was the final nine that took home the lion's share of the $610,590.00...more

Typically, in these early hours of Monday morning, we've just finished crowning a new Sunday Million champion, one lucky PokerStars player having turned the proverbial matchstick into a lumberyard after weaving through a thousands-deep field. The Million is beloved by online players the world over for its generous structure and...more

Online poker tournaments can be so rewarding, but they can certainly be long and exhausting as well. To go deep in a tournament, like one of the SCOOP events, is exciting but made tough to appreciate when going on 15 or 20 hours at the laptop. PokerStars is well aware...more

This tournament was a poker tournament player's dream come true. First of all, Event 8 was a straight up, no frills NLHE event. Second, it was a $30 + $3 buy-in with a $250,000 guarantee. And third, it was a two-day event, which meant that those going deep in the...more