Tag: poker

America’s Cardroom to Host Double Guarantees Weekend

Last Updated on

America’s Cardroom has announced the weekend of January 5 – 8, 2012 will be a Double Guarantees Weekend. That means that all the prize pools to all the guaranteed tournaments America’s Cardroom has scheduled for that weekend will be doubled.

So instead of $5,000 in the $5k Guaranteed Tournament, the prize pool will be $10,000. Instead of $7,500 in the $7.5k Guaranteed Tournament, it will jump to $15,000. And instead of $15,000 in the $15k Guaranteed Tournament, players will vie for $30,000.

This is a four-day weekend spectacular, lasting Thursday through Sunday and comprising some hundred or so tournaments, including deepstack events, short-handed events, turbos, bounties, rebuy/add-on events, freezeouts, even guaranteed tournaments in Pot Limit Omaha.

In the meantime, players can whet their appetite with a feast of holiday promotions already in full swing, including the Secret Santa, $45k worth of Holiday Freeroll Tournaments, December’s $65K Points Race and FPPs Gone Wild, in which players can now buy in to any America’s Cardroom Sit and Go with Frequent Player Points. For more information on all of these, browse back to earlier posts here of the last couple weeks.

America’s Cardroom is the new face and name of the online poker room formerly known as Doyle’s Room Poker. New players at America’s Cardroom can currently claim a 100% first deposit bonus up to a maximum of $1,000 as well as a free seat in a New Depositor Freeroll with a $250 prize pool.

Chris Klodnicki Wins EPLs Mix-Max Main Event

Last Updated on

Epic Poker LeagueThe Epic Poker League’s Mix-Max Main Event drew in some big names in poker, and also paid out a very nice first place prize to the eventual winner.  It took a bit longer than many people expected to get to that winner though, as the fifth and final day of play took an incredible 15 hours for a winner to be crowned.  Even more surprising is the fact that the first two eliminations came in a pretty timely manner, leaving three players to duke it out for longer than you could imagine.

The first player sent home was the shortest stack of them all to start the day, Scott Clements, who found himself with only about 130k to start the day, and his Kc-9c ran into the K-10 off suit of Andrew Lichtenberger.  A 9 did come down on the flop, but the ship was righted when a 10 came on the turn and sent Clements home in 5th place.  The second elimination was quite a bit more shocking though, as it was Michael ‘The Grinder” Mizrachi, who started the day in 2nd place, eventually finding himself going home in 4th place.  Mizrachi lost two big pots, and then was forced to go all in, but was outdone by Joe Tehan in the end.

Play then completely took a 180, and the next three players went at it for longer than you could imagine.  It took 100 more hands before another player went home, and that was Tehan, who shoved his pocket nines in, but they could not hold on against the A-7 off suite of Klodnicki.  He went home in 3rd place, and now we were set on our heads up match for the Championship.

It was Klodnicki against Lichtenberger, and it was a best of three series to decide the winner.  The layout of the best of three featured the first two matches with the players starting with their chip stacks that they had at the end of three handed play.  This left Klodnicki with 3.47 million and Lichtenberger with 1.526 million.  If there was a third match, then the two players would go to even chip stacks for the last match.

It never got to a third match though, as Klodnicki held off a push by Lichtenberger in match one to get the win, and match two featured Klodnicki being ahead throughout and getting the job done.  This gave Klodnicki the Championship ring, and also the first place prize of $801,680 for his incredible run.

Bodog Poker Revamped Into Bovada Poker

Last Updated on


The operators of Bodog Poker have given the site a complete revamping and the extreme Bodog makeover reveal has occured. The new site is called Bovada and it promises to help you “Raise Your Game”.

Existing Bodog Poker players can log in to Bovada Poker using their same account info. New Bovada Poker players can earn themselves a welcome bonus of up to $1,000 for signing up now. New members also get free entry into a $100K New Player Qualifier.

Part of Bovada Poker’s regular promotional schedule is the weekly King of the Felt contest. All you have to do is place in at least three Sit and Go tournaments in a given week (that’s come in first or second) and you qualify for a chance a $1,000 heads-up grand prize. Here’s how it works: everyone whol places in three Bovada Poker SNGs gets a ticket in a drawing, the winner of which goes up one-on-one against the reigning King of the Felt from the week prior for a $1K winner-takes-all prize. That player then becomes the King of the Felt for the following week’s raffle winner to beat and so on. Each time the reigning King of the Felt wins the crown for another week, he or she gets another $1K prize. Any player who remains King for 10 weeks in a row will receive a free seat in the 2012 WSOP main event. Place in more than 3 SNGs and you also become eligible to compete in $2,500 worth of weekly freeroll guarantees.

Bovada Poker Holiday Countdown

Last Updated on

bovada pokerBovada Poker, the new brand name of Bodog Poker in the USA has an exciting Holiday promotion for all you United States players.  Bovada poker will host weeday freerolls December 19-23, and again December 26-30.  the top 25 players in each of these freerolls will win entry to the $100k Guaranteed the following Sunday.  So, if you win a ticket December 19-23 you MUST play the December 25, 2011 $100K Guaranteed tournament.  The next week’s winners must play the January 01, 2012 $100k guaranteed.  You can only win one ticket per week, and they must be used that week.  Players not able to play the corresponding tournament are encouraged to not play.  There will be no cash value and the tickets are not transferable.

For those who do have time on Christmas Day and New Years Day, these freerolls are a great chance at playing a big tournament with no real bankroll impact.

The Holiday Countdown continues.  Bovada Poker is giving their loyal players cash bonuses for playing on a couple of the historically slow weeks of the year.

Earn Poker Points during the week of Dec. 19 – 25 and Dec. 26 – Jan. 1, and qualify for one of two different bonuses each week.

Level 1: Earn 50 Poker points within a week and get $15 cash

Level 2: Earn 100 Poker points within a week and get $30 cash

You get the highest bonus you reach for each week so no double dipping.  But it is cash not a 20x rollover bonus like some sites.

The last Bovada Holiday Poker Countdown event is a drawing for free entry to every $100K Guaranteed tournament of 2012.  That is fifty-three $162 entry fees paid by Bovada.

To get entries to the drawing just earn 5 poker points on December 24 and again on December 25.  Earn more points both days and gain more entries.  the more you play, the better your odds of winning.

Happy Holidays to all and Good Luck

Party Poker Launches WPT Venice Satellites

Last Updated on

Party Poker, home of satellite series’ all year long for various World Poker Tour main events, has now launched its satellite series for the tour’s next stop: WPT Venice.

The Party Poker WPT Venice satellite series runs from December 19, 2011 to January 22, 2012. It features five weekly satellites where $10,000 prize packages will be awarded. Prize packages include the $6,700 buy-in for the WPT Venice main event, 6 nights of accommodations at the Casino di Venezia, the site of the tournament, and $1,100 cash for expenses. Weekly WPT Venice satellites take place on Sundays at 15:20 ET for a direct buy-in of $530. One prize package is guaranteed to be awarded at each, with one package going out for every $1,100 collected in the prize pool.

You can skirt the direct buy-in by winning a daily $58 satellite qualifier. They take place at 13:45 and on Sundays are Turbo events. WPT Venice sub qualifiers for $2 and $6.50 will be held daily to seed players into the satellite qualifier. Both sub qualifiers are speed events and the $2 event includes a rebuy.

You can even get into the WPT Venice main event for free, with daily freeroll tournaments awarded entry into the $2 sub qualifier to the 25 top finishers of each freeroll.

The 2012 World Poker Tour Venice main event takes place from February 6 to 11 in Venice, Italy. By participating in this satellite series you are affirming that you can accept the award and attend the tournament if you win. Prize packages are not transferrable nor can they be redeemed for cash.

PokerStars and Well-Known Poker Pro Joe Hachem Part Ways

Last Updated on

Joe HachemPokerStars is one of the most well-known online poker sites today, and it is definitely the largest out there currently.  Those are two of the key reasons that make this bit of news so shocking to many people.  Joe Hachem, who is one of the most popular and well-known poker players in the world, was one of the biggest Team PokerStars Pros on their site.  This was until we found out today that Hachem has decided not to resign any sponsorship deal with the massive online poker site.

Hachem had some incredible results in his career, but none was bigger than his win at the 2005 World Series of Poker Championship Event, which was one of the largest fields in WSOP history.  The news was not negative for either side involved, as Hachem simply said that he was excited to “spend some downtime with my family”, and also to pursue “other career opportunities”.  PokerStars on the other hand stated that they appreciated his time and that he was  “terrific endorser” for the site.

What makes this news even more interesting is that PokerStars is fresh off of their decision to make a few other cuts to their roster, including well-known names like Tom McEvoy (World Championship winner in 1983), Dennis Phillips (2008 November Niner), and Bill Chen (two time gold bracelet winner).  The site also failed to work out a deal with Greg “The Fossilman” Raymer not too long before that.

Simply put, Hachem’s results spoke for themselves.  After winning the World Championship in 2005, he went on to pull in four cashes at the 2006 WSOP, including two final tables and a runner up finish in a No Limit Hold’em event that year.  That wasn’t the end of the run for Hachem though, as he also won a World Poker Tour event before the year came to an end.  As far as his total career numbers go, no one can shake their head at his top 10 total lifetime earnings of $11.4 million, and also the fact that he has won over six figures in every year since 2005.

Of course Hachem will be missed by the PokerStars community, but we assume that we’ll still be seeing quite a bit of him at the big time poker tournaments, and also hopefully still pulling out impressive results in the online poker world as well.

Randy Lew to Attempt to Break World Record at PCA

Last Updated on

2012 Pokerstars Caribbean AdventureMany people in both the online poker world and the live poker world know the popular name Randy “nanonoko” Lew.  He is an online juggernaut and has brought in some incredibly impressive results in recent years.  In a bit of interesting news, Lew will attempt to become a Guinness World Record holder, by breaking a poker record at the 2012 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure tournament.  As far as the world record goes, no one, not even Lew knows exactly what world record that he will be looking to break.  The reason for this is that both PokerStars and Lew have decided to let the poker world make the decision for them.

The decision will be made on the popular online poker forum, Two Plus Two.  PokerStars VIP Manager “PokerStarsCaleb” posted that they were looking for a world record for Lew to break this upcoming January.  It can be a wide range of things, but the general idea behind the record has to be something simple and straight forward that even someone who doesn’t play poker could understand.  They also are hoping that it can have something to do with online poker in some way, which will be interesting as it is a live poker tournament.

While there have been many different ideas coming out for the world record, PokerStars and Lew are looking for something that stands out above the rest.  PokerStars has offered to give the person who comes up with the best suggestion a free entry into the $215 Sunday Million on their site this upcoming weekend.  When all of the world record options are up, both PokerStars and Lew will make the decision in the end.

Lew is incredibly popular in the game of poker, and has hit Supernova Elite status four years straight up until 2011.  His streak came to an end when Black Friday hit unfortunately, but he is back in action after he moved to Vancouver to continue playing on PokerStars.  Now, the action at PCA will kick off at the Atlantis Resort and Casino in the Bahamas on January 5th.  This event is a part of the always popular European Poker Tour, so keep your eye out for Lew in it!

Cake Poker’s Final Aussie Millions Qualifier December 18

Last Updated on

This Sunday, December 18, 2011, will be Cake Poker’s final Aussie Millions 2012 qualifier. This is the December Aussie Millions $16,000 Final for a $16K prize package that includes the $10,600 AUD main event buy-in, a ticket to the Aussie Millions 10th Anniversary VIP Player Party and some spending cash to help out with travel and accommodation expenses.

The event starts at 5 pm EST and has a $250 + $18 direct buy-in. Players can still win seats in this event through satellites if they hurry. There are still Aussie Millions $16K Super Satellites running for as little as $0.20, as well as $2.20 and $6.50 semi-qualifiers, $11 satellites and $40 semi-finals. Many of these events have rebuys and add-ons.

The next Aussie Millions takes place in Melbourne, Australia from January 12 to 30, 2012 and features an estimated $2 million AUD grand prize for the first place finisher. The estimated total prize pool for this upcoming event is $20 million AUD.

Also taking place now at Cake Poker is a similar satellite series to qualify players for the 2012 Super Poker Event of Europe, taking place at Citywest Hotel in Dublin, Ireland between February 25 and 26, 2012. Also happening in Dublin next year is the 2012 Irish Open, happening April 5 to 9. And as it happens, Cake Poker satellites for the Irish Open 2012 start on December 18, 2011; yes, the same date as the last chance to get in on a 2012 Aussie Millions Final Qualifier.

US Players Now Have Bovada Instead of Bodog

Last Updated on

bovada pokerThe talks about Bodog leaving the US market come January were flying all over the internet, but the real story isn’t so much that Bodog will be leaving the US market; but that the NAME Bodog will be leaving the US market.  Bovada is the new option for United States based gamblers, and what’s interesting about the new site, is that it’s actually almost the EXACT same as Bodog, just with a new name.  This new site is up and running for US players, and even if an online gambler from the United States attempts to go to Bodog, they will be re-routed to Bovada, and have a message explaining why this happened.

The site is under Bovada.lv, and the .lv stands for Latvia.  No one is exactly sure as to why they didn’t choose to go with the popular .co or .ag that US players have found themselves used to seeing after Black Friday occurred.  Possibly the best part about Bovada is something that we’ve already mentioned, that they will still have the exact same promotions and games available for their players.  What this means is that players can still do all of their sports betting, play online poker, and play at the casino tables the same way that they did on Bodog.  The feel of the site is the exact same, but overall players will feel incredible comfortable and confident playing at this new site.

So for any United States based players who are looking to continue their action or simply looking for a new online gambling site that offers it all, head over to Bovada (or just go to Bodog and they’ll re-direct you automatically) to get in on the action.  Overall, Bovada is simply a new name, but is the same excellent gambling options for players out there.

The real question that many people are asking is why Bodog decided to make this move.  The easiest answer to that is the answer that many other online gambling sites used for making changes, and it’s simply because they want to avoid run-in’s with the US government, or find themselves involved in any issues such as Black Friday.

888 Poker Holds LG-2012-Giveaway

Last Updated on

According to their own slogan: “Life’s Good at 888 Poker” but now, just in time for the holidays, 888 Poker is making life even better if you’re a new player to the site, with its LG-2012-Giveaway promotion. In this promotion, 888 Poker is giving new players an added incentive to join the site now with $5,000 worth of LG home electronics, including 3D cinema televisions, smartphones and tablets, up for grabs. They’ll also be giving away some cool cash for the winter holidays. What’s more, this LG-2012-Giveaway will be taking place each and every week.

For a limited time, new players at 888 Poker will now receive, in addition to a $400 welcome bonus, a free entry into the LG-2012-Giveaway. You must use the deposit code LG2012 when making your deposit in order to be credited the free LG-2012-Giveaway ticket.

The welcome deposit bonus at 888 Poker is a 100% match, up to $400. So to earn the maximum $400 bonus you must deposit $400 into your new 888 Poker account. In addition to this bonus and the free LG-2012-Giveaway ticket, you’ll also gain entry into a free ticket as well into a $50K First Depositors’ Challenge, a $1,000 Depositors Freeroll and seven $500 First Depositors’ Freerolls, plus a chance to win a $100K First Depositors’ Freeroll entry if you join 888 Poker and make your first deposit between Thursday, any Thursday, at 23:00 GMT and the following Wednesday at 22:59 GMT.

And now don’t forget to use the bonus LG2012 to get that free LG-2012-Giveaway ticket.