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Current Tournament Spotlight:
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WSOP Final Table Round Up:
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Robert Varkonyi
Starting Chips:
$640,000
Finished 1st for $2,000,000
NEW 2002 WSOP CHAMPION! |
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Julian Gardner
Starting Chips:
$394,000
Finished 2nd for $1,100,000 |
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Ralph Perry
Starting Chips:
$766,000
Finished 3rd for $550,000 |
Scott Gray
Starting Chips:
$545,000
Finished 4th for $281,400 |
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Harley Hall
Starting Chips:
$161,000
Finished 5th for $190,000 |
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Russell Rosenblum
Starting Chips:
$927,000
Finished 6th for $150,000 |
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John Shipley
Starting Chips:
$2,033,000
Finished 7th for $120,000 |
Tony D
Starting Chips:
$231,000
Finished 8th for $100,000 |
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Minh Ly
Starting Chips:
$614,000
Finished 9th for $85,000 |
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Don Barton
Out on the Bubble
$70,000
Finished 10th for $70,000 |
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2002 WSOP Winner
Robert Varkonyi
with his $2,000,000 Prize
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The Big One II
Click on banner to read how it could be you playing in one of the big Poker events with a Sponsorship from PokerSchoolOnline. $100,000 Sponsorship could be yours.
What's New at PokerPages/PokerSchool Online
The Pokerschool Online Tutorial Team
Promotions
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If you have registered and downloaded our software and play in the fun play cardroom of PokerPages you can Win Poker Dollars. The Top 3 players on the ranking system at the end of the month win, 3 months, 2 months and 1 month respectively in PokerSchool Online.
If you are an existing school member you can still play in the Fun Play cardroom and win Poker Dollars towards your existing school membership.
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POKERPAGES/POKERSCHOOL EXPAND INTO EUROPE
Mark and Tina are proud to announce that at the end of June they will be opening the European office for PokerPages and PokerSchool Online. This is a very exciting time and we will use our skills to strengthen and grow the European poker market to duplicate the success that we have had with the American poker market.
The great benefit from having both offices is that with the difference in time zones we will have an office open for 22 hours everyday, therefore giving us greater potential to deliver the information quicker to the player on the internet via PokerPages. We are currently setting up the team for the European office, so if anyone would like to make an application for any of the following employment opportunities please email me at Tina@pokerpages.com stating in the subject line the position that you would be interested in, along with a current resume/CV. It is of utmost importance that the members of our teams not only have the skill set we require to cover the tasks, but share the same passion and understanding for poker.
Webmaster (PokerPages.com) Must have a passion and understanding of poker along with all the relevant skills to run the busiest Poker Portal on the Internet. To work in conjunction with our USA based webmaster and ensure both PokerPages and PokerSchool are run maximizing the potential. Must be self-motivated and work from own initiative as well as being a team member. Skills required - HTML coding, graphics and design (Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash). Good organizational skills essential to manage schedules for content and articles etc. High attention to detail, bordering on perfection would be extremely useful. Great package available for the right person to be part of our new European team.
Java Programmer/s to work out of the Austin office, to assist in software development and ongoing maintenance of our proprietory Poker software.
Administrative assistant/Customer support - To work in European office with Tina and manage the database contacts for Europe and input relevant information. This person will need to be a multi-tasker as many different elements to cover, not only relating to poker but also to some technical computer understanding in relation to the customer support element of this position. Organizational skills and good telephone manners are also essential.
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This section features crosswords created by some of the best poker minds around. Have fun while developing your poker knowledge and skills by challenging yourself with this month's puzzle, "Lots of Poker Terms", constructed by Nicholas Nickleby.
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| Poker in America By Tina Napolitano |
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I will just mention on this newsletter how delighted and honored I was to be present at the final of the championship event for the 33rd WSOP of Poker at Binion's Horseshoe and what a great team they had running the events this year.
It was so refreshing to see so many new faces sitting at the final table and going into day 5. What a great encouragement for all of you players out there that think you have to be a true professional to walk away with that title. It just goes to show what I have said before, it is anyone's game. That's what makes Poker so appealing.
Although by now it is old news and you all know who won, I did not mention it in the last newsletter as that went out on the 21st and the champion was not crowned until the 24th. So many congratulations to Robert Varkonyi and I am sure by now he and his wife have done some serious shopping. I am hoping to interview him about his life now after the WSOP win and what it is like to be a champion.
The big event at The Bellagio took place and they attracted 146 entrants to their first ever $10,000 buy-in event. I am sure that there would have been many more attending, but after the grueling 5 weeks of the WSOP to go straight onto another big event proved just too much for most of the players. Gustav Hansen won the event and took home $556,480.
We all can't wait to see the recorded televised version of the final table with the new World Poker Tour concept, which will not only show the players cards via a camera during filming, but will also be putting the final players under a newly designed canopy and most wore suits. That should be shown January 2003 on USA Television and will be the first of many final tables to at last be shown on national television to a desperately eager Poker audience that have waited patiently for so long for this day to come.
The Reno Hilton's Pot of Gold tournaments is still going on as this newsletter goes out, and you can still make the big event on Sunday, which has a $330 buy-in for the main event and is No Limit Hold'em. The first event attracted over 100 players and for the $120 buy-in. Jim Hopperstead won it with $6,091. The Reno is a great place to play, and certainly makes the new players very welcome.
The American Poker Classic has just come to an end at The Bike in Los Angeles. They had 318 players in the first event which was a $50 buy-in, and Justin Westmoreland took home $5,960 for 1st position. Men The Master also gained another win for this year, and David Levi won event #13 which was the $200 buy-in Limit Hold'em. He beat 128 other players to take home $10,320.
From June 6th thru to June 9th there is the North West Iowa Championship, which offers $37,500 in guaranteed money for 3 $100 buy-in tournaments. The main event is a $200 buy in No Limit Hold'em event which will be held on the final day the 9th.
The big one to watch out for this month is The Commerce, where you can participate in the Californian State Poker Championship. There is a $50,000 Best All Around Player award to add to the 2 big events which offer $250,000 Guaranteed in each.
These take place on Friday June 7th at 3.00pm and it is a Limit Hold 'em tournament with a $300 buy in. The 2nd event takes place on June 21st and is the same format. The other very hospitable casino that is having a major guaranteed tournament is Lucky Chances and they start their Battle of the Bay on June 15th and have $200,000 Guaranteed.
Tina Napolitano
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| Poker in Europe By Tina Napolitano |
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The Torneo de Poker started on May 27th and finished on June 2nd. The biggest event was the No Limit Hold'em Freezeout which required a buy-in of 2000 Euros and produced a winner who took home the first place prize of 27,840. Mickey Finn from Germany was the lucky guy that beat the field to win this event.
There were many players representing different countries at this very popular annual Torneo De Poker -- Italy, Finland (of course), Austria, Great Britain, Germany, Russia, Holland and Slovenia.
Mark and I certainly hope to do a tour of all the European Poker rooms this year, and as we will now have a European office. This will give us the necessary reason to come and meet not only with the management teams that we have been communicating with for so long now by email and telephone, and finally put a face with the voice, but also get to meet some more of the players that might have not yet traveled to play poker in the USA. So therefore we would not have met them before, but certainly are known to us, as we are always entering their names into the results section of PokerPages.com.
So whats next on the European calender? Well, we have the Masters in Vienna currently taking place and the numbers of entrants are looking good. I am sure that their big event will draw even bigger numbers than last year. We have the 2nd World Heads Up Poker event that takes place during the Masters.
So far Risto Ponnio from Finland won the first event which was a Limit Hold'em with a buy in for 75 Euros + 15. I have to now get used to the Euros and not the dollars. Istvan Hamori from Hungary took home 9,040 Euros for winning the 2nd event which was a Pot Limit Omaha. I have emailed Thomas Kremser and hopefully we will be able to get some photos of the winning players to put into the results section as this tournament progresses.
All eyes will be on the players this year to see who will be crowned the World Heads up Poker Champion and also which one wins the main event of the masters. The 2 day No Limit Hold'em 1,500 buy in event is on Saturday June 15th.
Well until next time around, be lucky and take care and hope to see you in Europe.
Tina Napolitano
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| Poker in the UK and Ireland By Tina Napolitano
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The South of England Poker festival took place in Southampton, and we saw H King win the first event and beat 61 other entrants to take home the prize of 4,000 pounds sterling. The 2nd event was won by C Dunnington and the final event, which was a Pot Limit Hold'em, was won by Samir Jabak. He took home 7,100 pounds from this event that had 68 entrants.
Then onto the Merrion Square Club in Ireland for the Irish Open Poker Festival. It hosted its annual Irish Poker Festival from May 30th - June 2nd. Nick Bernie placed 1st and had a very nice prize of 19,800 Euros, and it was nice to see Noel Furlong, an ex World Champion of Poker, placing in 3rd. Alan Gallagher finished in 2nd.
The 2nd Quarter Million No Limit Hold'em Freezout at the Grovesnor in Walsall, produced A Mallu as the winning player. There were 57 entrants in total and he won a cool 40,700 pounds. Not quite the 250,000 prize pool that was expected, but I am sure that many of the players returned to England from the WSOP a little light in their wallets, as that event this year surely did produce some new players. In particular, Julian Gardner
(who finished 2nd and collected a massive 1.1 million dollars), who is from Manchester. I always get him and John Shipley confused as to which one lives where, but John is from Bermingham and put in a great performance and despite being the chip leader going into the final day, did not quite make it to take the championship title home.
I want to apologize to players in the UK as the BBC were chasing Mark for about 4 days to give a live telephone interview re what was happening at the WSOP. But if anyone of you have tried to use a cell phone in one of those large Vegas casinos, then you know the signal is always very bad. So consequentially, they took to phoning us at 4.00am in the morning Vegas time, for 4 mornings running. I was not too impressed. I don't know, some of these media people will do whatever they can to get the story first. Anyway, he did finally do something with BBC 5 Live, and hope that some of you tuned in to hear the interview.
Mark and I are really looking forward to having a more "hands on" approach to the Poker in the UK, and I am sure that with our European office opening in July we will be there in person at some of the UK events on a much more regular basis.
The next on the agenda is the Mini Hold'em Tournament in Ramsgate. So if the weather holds up and you actually get a summer in the UK this year, then you can take your family too and give them a great day at the seaside. Then in the evening you can take in your favorite pastime of Poker at the Grosvenor Casino. 3 events over 3 days, with the main event being a 2 day. It is a No Limit Hold'em with a 300 pound buy-in.
Well until we meet next time in the newsletter, take care and be lucky
Tina Napolitano
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| Poker Down Under By David Parlor |
The Crown San Pellegrino 2002 Melbourne Poker Championships has just commenced and has attracted players from interstate and across the Tasman. All of the characters from Australia's tournament scene are in Melbourne and most are focused on winning a seat in the Aussie Millions main event to be held in January.
There are two Super satellites scheduled on Saturday and Sunday that are sure to prove popular amongst the local and interstate players. Saturday's event will have a $330 entry fee with $200 rebuys and Sunday's entry fee will be $200 with rebuys of the same value. Sunday's tournament is expected to generate 3 or 4 seats as entries to this were given as prizes from the regular Sunday cash tournaments at Crown.
The team's event has also generated a lot of interest as I have heard many players talk of team uniforms and themes. It appears that four state teams and at least one entry from New Zealand are out to prove where the best poker players come from. Due to the absence of a Western Australian team my alliance will be with the Queenslanders who will be wearing the sacred maroon colours of their state. I only hope that they perform better than their State of Origin rugby team did in game one.
Casino Canberra will be running a Casino Employee No Limit Holdem Tournament on July 9 and I am sure this will prove popular with many of the staff from Crown. Dealers are frantically trying to organise swap shifts since the roster came out last Sunday and I am sure will be watching the professionals at Crown for any tips during the Melbourne Poker Championships.
For any questions about Poker in Australia please email me.
David Parlor
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Our Shopping Mall features a huge catalog of products, with you the poker enthusiast entirely in mind. Products by KEM Playing Cards, Kestall tables and Wilson Software are among the many items available. So be sure to visit the mall for all of your poker needs.
Our recommended product for June:
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The Biggest Game in Town
By A. Alvarez
A sought after classic that is finally back in print.. Delves into the world of high-stakes poker in Las Vegas and in particular the World Series of Poker, where "the next best thing to playing and winning is playing and losing." 192p (paper).
| | $15.95 + $5.00 US shipping |
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| $15.95 + $11.00 Outside US shipping |
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Please allow 2-3 weeks shipping time. Texas residents add 8.25% sales tax. |
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Poker Pages has produced this newsletter for you, the poker enthusiast.
We have a worldwide audience of Beginners, Intermediate and Professional
players and we try to accommodate all. With this in mind we would really
appreciate your feedback and ideas on how we can reach perfection in this newsletter and at www.PokerPages.com.
This Newsletter is being distributed to over 70 countries worldwide. I for one would be very interested in hearing about Poker in your part of the world. I would be delighted to hear from players from anywhere in the world that is not currently being covered at PokerPages.com.
Please contact me and we can discuss it. Tina Napolitano
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You may remove your address from our mailing list at
any time by visiting
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Please note that this will also remove you from all
PokerPages Tournaments.
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June 7th, 2002 
