Tag: poker

Bwin Releases New Poker App for iPads

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Bwin.Party has done a great job in recent months and years of continuing to grow their poker site, and they’ve now made one additional way to grow their site, and it’s one that should gain the interest of quite a few people.  If you remember back, Bwin launched applications for both Android phones and iPhone’s that allow players to play for real money from anywhere.  These new iPad Poker application were a hit, and now the site has decided to create a real money poker application for any players who have an iPad as well.

The idea behind the application is that it will include an interface that was the same as the one that came out on the iPhone back in January, and also the one that was released on the Android back in July.  The resolution will be a full res for the iPad that is 1042×768, and should draw quite a bit of interest as well in the upcoming months here.  Not only is there the option for players to play real money poker games, but you can also look at your hand histories from the table that you are currently on if you choose to as well.

The application can be downloaded for any current Bwin players either through the iTunes store on their iPad, or through Bwin’s site.  If you don’t have an account though you just have to go through and sign up and then download the application one of the two ways listed above.

If you are looking to play through your mobile phone, it is currently available in quite a few countries (19 total) including Germany, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Cyprus, Austria, Estonia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Greece, Poland, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Romania, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Poland, Switzerland, and Sweden as well.

Currently the idea behind mobile poker is one that is growing rapidly, and before long it should be one of the more “go to” options for online poker moving forward.  The reason for this is because poker players love to able to play the game that they love from wherever they can, especially if they are on the go and don’t have their computer!

Frederik Jensen Wins PokerStars EPT Madrid

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The Poker Stars European Poker Tour Madrid 2012 finished up last week and the big winner was Frederik Jensen of Denmark. Topping a field of 477 players participating in the PokerStars.com EPT Madrid main event, Jensen outlasted a final table that covered the gamut of poker players: from pro, to online amateur qualifier, to recreational. At the end of it, he found himself €495,000 richer for the effort.

This is not Jensen’s first moment in the poker spotlight, although it is certainly his brightest to date. He also came in second in a running of the Aussie Millions and made it to the EPT Vilamoura final table just last season. This EPT Madrid 2012 win, however, marks Jensen’s first major title.

The final table took 9 hours to complete, 6 of which alone constituted heads-up play between the Jensen and top contender MacIntyre.

Following on Jensen’s heels was Fraser MacIntyre, who claimed the €290k runners-up prize. Third, and its prize of €330k, went to Andrei Stoenescu. The €140k fourth prize went to Bruno Lopes, and Ricardo Ibanez took fifth and its €115k prize.

Rounding out the final table (in order of finish, best to worst), were: Ilan Boujenah, Nicolas Levi and Jason Duval.

The poker press is calling Jensen’s triumph a Dane Double, being that Jensen’s compatriot Mickey Peterson claimed victory in the EPT Copenhagen main event that just took place last week.

Next up on the season 8 schedule of Poker Stars European Poker Tour is EPT Campione, taking place March 26 – 31 in Campione, Italy.

Bovada Poker Black Diamond Poker Open Transitions To High-Stakes Championship Series

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Since early March, 2012, Bovada Poker has been running its Black Diamond Poker Open (BDPO), with the low-to-mid stakes Contender Series which gave away more than $100,000 before it ended last Sunday, March 18 with a $25,000 guaranteed main event. Now the series switches into high gear, with the mid-to-high stakes Championship Series, at which more than $600,000 will be awarded and which includes a $250,000 guaranteed main event.

The Championship Series of the Bovada Poker BDPO runs Monday, March 19 to Sunday, April 1, 2012. In addition to the $250,000 GTD main event, it also features a $50,000 guaranteed event and a $5,000 engraved ChampionshipWatch to the winner of the main event.

BDPO Event #1 of the Championship Series starts tonight at 8 pm with a $50k GTD event for a $150 + $12 buy-in and at 10 pm with a $10k GTD for a $69 + $6 buy-in. BDPO Events will continue, twice daily, at 8 pm and 10 pm each night, Monday through Friday. The BDPO weekend schedules are different, with events at 2 and 5 on Saturdays and 5 and 7 on Sundays.

Interested players can download the full BDPO schedule from the Bovada Poker site.

Buy-ins for Bovada Poker Black Diamond Poker Open Championship Series events range from $30 + $3 to $200 + $15. Lower cost satellites into the BDPO Championship Series events are no longer running, having finished out on March 4, but you can still qualify for the BDPO Championship Series Main Event and avoid paying that direct buy-in through a special satellite tournament taking place on Saturday, March 31.

EPT Madrid Main Event Features Interesting Final Table

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The Main Event for the 2012 European Poker Tour’s Madrid Main Event was an interesting stretch of poker, and one that had an even more interesting final stretch to the final eight players, or the final table.  When the day started on Friday there were 24 players left in the action, but these 24 would be playing down to eight before the end of the day.  There were a few big names eliminated before the final table bubble, including Taylor Paur, who finished in 13th place, and Tristan Clemencon who was sent home in 11th place.  But the biggest story of the day came from the player who was eventually the bubble boy of the event.  This was Mike “Timex” McDonald.

McDonald was the unfortunately bubble boy of the final table, and was sent home in 9th place receiving a prize of €35,000 for his efforts.  It’s unfortunate still though, as his loss came when he had pocket tens, the flop came out with 10-J-Q.  Unfortunately though, the player that he was up against was holding the A-K of hearts, putting McDonald way behind.  Andrei Stoenesu had flopped the nut straight, and McDonald needed the board to pair in order to remain alive in the event.  Unfortunately nothing hit, and McDonald’s run ended there.

Now to look towards the final table, you’ll see that there are many unknown players remaining, but the most well-known is Nicolas Levi who has a total of $1.6 million in live tournament winnings in his career.  Levi actually has yet to win a major live tournament in his career though, and he’ll have a tough task here as he is the short stack to start the day.  Levi has a few more than 20 big blinds remaining in his stack, so he’ll absolutely have his work cut out for him.  The current leader is Ricardo Ibanez, who is holding 3,216,000 chips, but it is still very close for many of the remaining players.  Below is the list of the remaining players in order of their chip stacks.

  • Ricardo Ibanez- 3,216,000
  • Fraser Macintyre- 2,473,000
  • Frederik Jensen- 2,144,000
  • Andrei Stoenesu- 1,974,000
  • Bruno Lopes- 1,452,000
  • Ilan Boujenah- 1,382,000
  • Jason Duval- 963,000
  • Nicolas Levin- 709,000

The final table kicks off on Saturday at noon local time.  We’ll keep you updated when all is said and done about who takes down this event.

Day 1B of EPT Madrid Draws in Big Field

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Day 1a of the European Poker Tour’s Madrid event didn’t quite live up to the hype, but it was Day 1b that really boosted the overall numbers, and left many players shocked at the number of entrants that came on the second day.  Day 1b drew in so many players, that the heads of the tournament had to create a second area in the Casino Gran Madrid to make room for all of the players.  In total, Day 1b featured 352 total entrants, which pushed the total number of players in the event up to 477.

When Day 1b came to an end, there were 197 of the original 352 players left in the field, which set up an interesting field of 264 total players who would be back on Day 2 (which occurred today).  There were quite a few big named players who were left at the end of Day 1b, which was quite the opposite of how Day 1a ended.  Some of the players who found themselves at the top of the standings were David Benyamine, Nicholas Levi, Angel Guillen, and Taylor Paur.  As far as other players that you may know who made it through to Day 2, it included Mike McDonald, Faraz Jaka, Olivier Busquet, Kevin MacPhee, Melanie Weisner, Todd Terry, Johnny Lodden, Jake Cody, and many other players.

Day 2’s chip leader was Juan-Navarette Azon, who is a player from Spain, and he started Day 2 with 173,200 chips, which was only 2,200 more than Ilan Boujenah.  A large number of his chips came in a massive hand against another well-known poker pro in Steve O’Dwyer.  O’Dwyer was holding pocket Queens, but was up against the Kings of Azon.  Azon’s Kings held and he picked up the massive pot to build his stack.

With the final numbers locked up, the top 72 players will be bringing home some cash.  The final table will be played Saturday, and first place is scheduled to take home €545,000 for their efforts when all is said and done.  Anyone who makes it into the top five will take home more than €100,000, as second place will receive €365,000, third place will receive €205,000, fourth place gets €140,000, and fifth place gets €115,000.

Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day With 888 Poker’s Happy Hangover

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Players at 888 Poker this month can look forward to a shot at a free instant bonus, a free trip to Dublin, Ireland and a piece of $5k, all in celebration of St. Patrick’s Day. They’re calling it the Happy Hangover and it’s easy to see why.

First prize is a $3,000 trip to the 2012 Irish Poker Open on April 8th to 9th. It includes the buy-in to the No Limit Hold’em Freezeout main event, worth €1,000, along with $1.5k for travel and hotel expenses and an 888Poker “live event merchandise kit”.

The runners up in the $5,000 St Patrick’s Day Hangover Freeroll will share $2,000 cash.

To win a seat in the $5,000 St Patrick’s Day Hangover Freeroll where all these prizes will be given away, on March 18th, 2012 at 7 pm GMT, just make a deposit of any amount into your 888 Poker real money account before March 18 using the promo code IRISH2012.

Also when you make your deposit using this promo code, you’ll receive an Instant $10 bonus free.

Registration for the $5,000 St Patrick’s Day Hangover Freeroll starts 6 hours prior to the shuffle up and deal. The Irish Open of Poker is Europe’s longest standing live tournament of poker.

In other 888 Poker news, the site’s annual satellite series for the World Series of Poker Main Event has begun. Running every other Sunday, these qualifiers cost $525 to buy-in directly, although you can win seats through much cheaper satellites now at the site.

World Series of Poker Europe Schedule Released

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The 2011 World Series of Poker Europe was one of the more interesting ones out there, and one that should be incredibly interesting in 2012 as well.  Last year’s event was the first time that the WSOP Europe was held in Cannes, France, and the reviews were so good that they have decided to bring it back there for a second straight year.  As a matter of fact, the reviews of the series in Cannes were so good, that the Barriere casino (where it was held), and also the World Series of Poker Europe took down the award for the Best European Poker Tournament at the European Poker Awards.

The event will once again be held at the Casino Barriere de Cannes Croisette and the Hotel Majestic Barriere.  While it is over a half of a year away, the WSOP Europe wanted to make sure that the players could prepare, so that they could get some huge prize pools and crowds for the event.  The official dates of the series will be from September 21st to October 4th.  As previously mentioned, this is the second year that the series has been in Cannes, as the first four years were held in London.

As far as the layout of the series will go, it is going to look very similar to last year, because there will be the same seven bracelet events offered.  On top of that though, you’ll find that there are a large number of different non-bracelet tournaments offered, as well as a ton of satellites into the big time events that will be running.  Last but not least, is the fact that there will be different levels of cash games offered consistently throughout the days as well.

Below is the schedule for the bracelet events at the World Series of Poker Europe, and listed afterwards is the player who took down that event last year:

  • €2500 Six Handed No Limit Hold’em- September 21st (Guillaume Humbert)
  • €1000 No limit Hold’em- September 22nd (Andrew Hinrichsen)
  • €5000 Pot Limit Omaha- September 24th (Steve Billirakis)
  • €3000 No Limit Hold’em Shootout- September 25th (Tristan Wade)
  • €10,000 Mix-Max No Limit Hold’em- September 26th (Michael Mizrachi)
  • €1500 Six Handed Pot Limit Omaha- September 27th (Philippe Boucher)
  • €10,000 Main Event- September 29th (Elio Fox)

Party Poker Comes Through For Montreal Open Winners

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The U.S. Department of Justice’s closing of Full Tilt Poker (and other poker sites) didn’t just affect the United States. And it didn’t even just affect online poker players. It also affected, for one, the recipients of the good work and services of the Miriam Foundation in Canada, which receive substantial support from Canada’s annual Montreal Open of poker. That event looked to be in jeopardy when Full Tilt Poker, the event’s sponsor, proved unable to pay out the prize money to the 30 winners of the last incarnation of that event. Thankfully, rescue assistance came in to save the day, courtesy of Party Poker.

In 2011, the 6th running of the Montreal Open occured just weeks prior to the D.O.J.’s shutting down of FullTilt and fellow poker sites serving U.S. players. Since then, it’s been up in the air whether that year’s winners would ever see their prize money.

Players have remained mostly quiet and, if not patient then at least subdued on the subject, mostly because they don’t want the Mirian Foundation to have to suffer any in order for them to receive their poker payouts.

The Miriam Foundation provides “rehabilitative, vocational and residential services” to promote greater socializing and increased community for kdis and adults with intellectual disabilities or Autism Spectrum Disorders.

But the questions about the future of the event, at least, have been laid to rest as, thanks to Party Poker’s stepping in, the Montreal Open has been restaged The Montreal Party Poker Classic. This year, the event will support the Jodi Lazarus Fund for Hereditary Breast Cancer Research also in Montreal.

New Poker Documentary “All In” Hits Theaters This Month

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A new documentary on the rise and fall and rise again of poker is hitting theaters this month. It’s called “All In – The Poker Movie” and it opens in theaters nationwide on March 23rd, 2012. It will also be made available on iTunes as of April 24th.

The movie features narration by Matt Damon and a star-studded cavalcade of celebrity poker players, many of whom are subjects of the documentary’s storyline, such as Chris Moneymaker, the first amateur online poker player to win the WSOP championship, and the first in a long line of them to follow.

But Moneymaker is far from the only or first trendsetter in poker, and movie watchers can enjoy a trip back to poker’s early days when legendary players Stu Unger and Amarillo Slim looked spry and baby-faced and had no clue their little high stakes tournament experiment would one day transform into that very same World Series of Poker where thousands of players from around the world converge on Las Vegas to vie to split tens of millions of dollars in cash rewards and a place in poker’s history books (or perhaps the next poker documentary.)

The story of the U.S. D.O.J.’s seizure and closure of the 3 biggest poker sites in the world at the time: Absolute Poker, Full Tilt Poker and Poker Stars also plays a central role in this film, including the aftermath of that blow to the poker world.

As the star of “Rounders” considered a classic of poker moviemaking, Matt Damon seems a fitting choice to put a Hollywood profile on this Las Vegas story.

20 Players Remain at WPT Bay 101 Shooting Stars Event

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The World Poker Tour’s Bay 101 Shooting Stars event is down to it’s final 20 players, and the play to this point has been incredibly exciting all around.  When the day began there were 149 players remaining, and 19 Shooting Stars left in the event as well.  The 19 Shooting Stars all had $5k bounties on them, so whoever sent them home would pick up a nice bonus.  To start the action Bryce Yockey was atop the leader board, but he was unable to make it through as one of the final 20 players remaining.

Pretty early in the day we had two of the Shooting Stars going heads up against each other as Jonathan Duhamel sent Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier home to pick up his own $5k prize.  Grospellier shoved over the top of Duhamel’s pre-flop raised for 12k, and Duhamel made the call.  Duhamel held pocket treys, while ElkY had A-Q, but the pocket threes held and sent ElkY home early on.  Another interesting match-up that we had was when Jonathan Little sent Mike Matusow home, and Mike McClain knocked off Scott Seiver.

When the action was down to the final 37 players it took about an hour for the money bubble to burst.  When it happened, it was actually two Shooting Stars who went head to head in Men Nguyen and Kathy Liebert.  Liebert shoved over top of Nguyen, who said that if it was for less than 100k, that he would call.  It was 92k and Nguyen called and turned over the A-10 of clubs.  Liebert had A-K, but the flop came down with 10-9-8 with two clubs as well.  The turn hit another club sending Liebert home on the bubble, and sent a $5k bounty to Nguyen.

A few other players who were knocked out before the end of the day included Allen Cunningham, Men Nguyen, Jason Mercier (by Jason Duhamel), Linda Johnson, and Fabrice Soulier.

Duhamel found himself sitting in 6th place at the end of the day with 751k, only about 600k behind the overall leader.  He is also playing this event for free now, after knocking out two of the Shooting Stars and taking home $10k in bounties.  There is only one other Shooting Star remaining in the event outside of Duhamel, and that is J.C. Tran.