Poker Insider

Heads-up play at the WPT Legends of Poker Main Event lasted about three and a half hours and about 64 hands. Amit "AMak" Makhija held the chip lead until an hour into heads-up action, when John "the Razor" Phan got all in with AK against Makhija's pocket 2s. Phan's hand would have to improve or it was all over. Makhija's pair held up until the river, when a King fell to send the pot and to "the Razor" and double him up. That also gave Phan the chip lead for the first time in this tournament.

During the heads-up battle, the chip lead changed a few times, but in the end, "the Razor" prevailed, picking off a key bluff and catching cards when he needed to. The final hand had "AMak" all in with K7 suited against Phan's pocket 3s. This time the little pair held up, giving Phan his first WPT title, $1,091,428, and a $25,000 seat in the Season 7 WPT Championship. "AMak" settled for second place and $563,320.

Phan is running exceptionally well right now, with a WPT final table in March at Bay 101, (finishing 6th) two WSOP bracelets in June, and the WPT Bellagio Cup IV final table (finishing 5th) in July...

To read a WPT Legends of Poker final table summary, click here.

The complete live coverage blog can be found by clicking here.

For its next stop, the World Poker Tour will make its way north for the Borgata Poker Open at the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa in Atlantic City. This is the first of two stops at Borgata during WPT’s Season VII. This month, in addition to the Main Event, the Borgata will host 12 preliminary tournaments with buy-ins ranging from $300 to $5,000.

The $9,600 + $400 main event kicks off Sunday, September 14th at 11 a.m. and runs for five days until a new champion is crowned on Thursday, September 18th. Poker Pages will be there, providing complete live coverage from the Borgata.

Last September, Roy 'The Oracle' Winston of Rancho Mirage, California, made his mark on the poker scene when he bested the field of 560 players to take the first place prize of over $1.5 million...

The complete WPT Borgata Poker Open preview blog can be found here.

For more live WPT coverage from the Poker Pages reporting team, click here.

By Aaron Angerman

While the whole world seems to be focused on Beijing and the Olympic Games, Macau is quietly laying the groundwork for a poker boom to the south.

On Saturday, August 3rd, runners carried the Olympic torch away from protests in Hong Kong and down the Las Vegas-style drag in the city of Macau. Flags were waved by all in attendance and calls of "Go China!" could be heard from each side of the street as the torch took a tour of the former Portuguese settlement, which was finally returned to the Chinese in 1999. Macau remains the only place in the country where you can find a casino.

Forget Vegas and its family themes. Macau is for gamblers. Slot machines are sparse in Macau casinos, leaving room for more table games, such as Baccarat, Pai Gow and Fan-tan. With players lined up at least five deep behind blackjack tables, casinos didn't see the need for poker tables. Fast-forward past the poker boom: Even Macau wants to get cards in the air.

In late May, PokerStars opened China's first live poker room in the Grand Waldo Casino. On September 1st, the Asian Pacific Poker Tour will make another stop in Macau...

For the full text of the article, click here.

Those of us who have spent years on the tournament trail are, unfortunately, very familiar with the Scotty Nguyen you saw on ESPN’s ‘Poker Night’ Tuesday night. And that disgraceful act was when he was WINNING! You can imagine how bad it can get when he is losing.

Needling opponents at a poker table is an accepted tactic when used in moderation. It works. You saw young and inexperienced Michael DeMichele nearly fall apart. He was made desperate to beat Scotty Nguyen in a hand, if not for the title. That’s how successfully the ‘Prince of Poker’ had gotten under the newbie’s skin. If it were only a tactic, then congratulations to Scotty for an Oscar-worthy performance. But it wasn’t just an act...

More of Mike Paulle's blog can be found by clicking here.

If you think it's hard to steal a few blinds here and there during a poker tournament, try doing it when everybody at the table is either a cop or a fire fighter! This year's annual Nevada Police & Fire Games had some tough competition, believe me. This week I'm paying tribute to these guardians of our safety, particularly those who participated in the poker tournament that recently concluded in Las Vegas.

Nothing in the world has ever piqued our interest as much as 911 did. That tragic event made everybody realize what a service firemen and policemen and women perform for us, and how necessary they are to our safety and wellbeing. Before 911 it seemed like too many of us took them for granted unless it was our house burning, or somebody in our family who got caught in gangland crossfire. I pay great credit to the brave men and women police and fire fighters across our nation for making our everyday lives a lot easier and a whole lot safer.

Each summer they travel from across the United States to play in the annual Nevada Police & Fire Games...

More of poker legend TJ Cloutier's blog can be found by clicking here.

Another Tough Journey

As I said in my last blog, I had no intention of playing in the WPT Bike Main event in LA because of how I’ve been running and the effect it has had on my play and psyche of late. However, after attending a charity event at the Bike last Friday night they had a mega super satellite and I decided to play. With 205 runners they awarded 19 main event entries. I got lucky on a couple of hands which allowed me to survive and win a seat.

I was faced with a very tough decision early on in the satellite and that hand played out like this...

To read more of "Cowboy" Kenna James' look at the Legends of Poker Main Event, click here.

On July 16, 2008, Rep. Jim McDermott, who previously introduced a bill which would tax legalized Internet gambling in the United States, introduced legislation that directs a potential $40 billion over the next 10 years to be spent on job training for those in the declining sectors of the economy and educational assistance for foster care youth. The legislation, Investing in our Human Resources Act of 2008 (H.R. 6501), would be funded through new revenue generated by regulated Internet gambling activities.

“We have an ideal opportunity to invest billions of dollars in American workers and our struggling economy without increasing the federal deficit,” said Rep. McDermott...

Read more of the Catania Consulting Group's Newsletter by clicking here.

The 2007 GoldStrike World Poker Open WPT Championship event attracted 294 players for a total prize pool of $2,856,200. After four days of play, the six remaining players were evenly split between well-known poker pros and relative unknowns. Daniel Negreanu, JC Tran, and Thang 'Kido' Pham joined Young Cho, Gary Kainer, and Brian Sumner on the WPT set to vie for the $913,986 first prize.

The 2008 Main Event begins on Sunday the 20th at noon CST and runs for 5 days. This year, there will be two starting flights, so Sunday will be day 1A and Monday will be day 1B, with the survivors returning for day 2 on Tuesday, January 22nd. The final table and filming for the WPT Season 6 which will air on the Game Show Network (GSN) will take place on Thursday, January 24th.

Live Coverage of this Event can be found by clicking here.

by Justin West



Currently in the top ten most searched for players on Poker Pages, Beth Shak is not your average poker player. Beth has come to be defined by her class, style, and grace at the table, just as she has for being a ruthlessly good player.

Read More.

The 2007 Winter Borgata Poker Classic drew 571 players willing to pony up $10,000 for a shot at glory. Five days later, John Hennigan found himself $1.6 million richer. The final hand of the tournament shocked everyone as his opponent, Charles Kelley, turned his cards up after betting was completed on the turn, believing action was over. After seeing the river card, John moved in and Charles still made the call, suspecting a bluff, but John held the goods and the tournament was over. Charles still walked away with a tidy sum -- $849,082 -- for his second place finish.

This year, the Borgata Poker Classic’s Main Event is a $9,700 + $300 NLHE event and it begins on Sunday, January, 27th at 11am and runs for five days. The final table will be filmed by the WPT on Thursday, January 21st beginning at 5pm.

Find out all the action-packed details by clicking here for live coverage.

TJ Cloutier, Hall of Famer, 6 WSOP bracelet holder and one of the world's greatest tournament players will be there to spend the week with the 10 lucky finalists and their guests.

TJ Cloutier will be conducting a seminar, playing some poker and giving one on one advice to the players before the main final $500,000 Sit n Go event on June 4th, 2008. US Players Welcome! Ways to Qualify

Find Out More by Clicking Here.

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