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PokerSchool Online
You can download the PokerPages and PSO software absolutely free and play in our freeroll tournaments. Play online with other players to compete for points and sponsorships!
PokerSchool membership is only $14.95 per month or $149.95 annually. With that membership, you get an amazing amount of content and advice from the top players in poker. Our supportive poker community is the best on the internet. Learn from them and compete with them for a chance to play in our upcoming major tournament, the Big One II with prizes in sponsorships worth over $100,000! Read more about PokerSchool Online and the Big One II!
The Pokerschool Online Tutorial Team
PSO Convention
We are delighted to announce the first ever PokerSchoolOnline Convention will take place during the World Poker Open at Tunica. There will be a $100 Buy-in No Limit Hold'em Tournament on the 9th January starting at 6pm, a day of golf also on the 9th (organised by the members) for the DJ Express Fund, and a day of eating and seminars on the 11th. We have catered for 100 members only and right now we have 65 committed to attending.
PokerSchool Tournaments for lower room rates at Convention
We will be giving away 20 special room rates for the 2 nights of the convention in Tunica - Here's how you can win one: If you are a school member that is going to the convention and you participate in one of the following events, you can win. Friday 6th December and Friday 13th December Friday at 1pm No Limit Hold'em $200 buy-in with $5000 added Friday at 7pm No Limit Hold'em $200 buy-in with $5000 added.
I will review the results after the events are finished, (which are open to all school member to participate in) and I will award the rooms to the top 5 members from each tournament that have registered to attend the convention.
This will be a wonderful gathering of the school members, and Mark and I are really looking forward to meeting everyone in person. If you are a school member you can submit your registration here. If you are not a school member, then join now. Don't delay, register today as limited places are available.
Poker In America
Tim Kopp of PokerPages writes about Poker in America
Hello again and welcome back to Poker In America. I hope everyone here in the States had a pleasant Thanksgiving holiday and had their fill of turkey, football and spirits. Hurry up and eat those leftovers, we'll be doing it all over again in a few weeks as Christmas and the New Year approaches. All of us here at PokerPages had a bit of a break, but it seems that poker players never rest, as it has been another busy couple of weeks on the Tournament circuit. Let's get to it.
With all the prize money won at the Foxwoods World Poker Finals there were plenty of players looking to get that money back into play and parlay it into even more. That brings us to The Commerce Casino in Los Angeles California.
Tournament Director Cheri Dokken and rest of the Poker room staff at the Commerce did another fine job in hosting their Holiday Bonus Tournament. 10 very affordable events ($100-$300 buy-ins) didn't keep the prize pools from inflating. Total prize pool for the entire 10-day event climbed over $645,000. To kick off the tournament, it was employees only. The Employees Limit Hold 'Em free roll, a favorite among the staff, featured 122 of the Commerce's finest. Raul Ruiz gets bragging rights for the rest of the year his win in that event.
The first "official" event, Event #1 Limit Hold 'Em saw the biggest prize pool of the event. With over $131,000 ready to be split up among the day's money finishers, you knew that it was going to take a few rebuys (310) to make the final table. Vinny Vinh, from my home state of Texas, took first place, and more importantly the $63,355 that went along with it. Good Job, Vinny.
Event #2 Omaha Hi/Lo went to a well-known California tournament player. Minh Nguyen elbowed his way through 208 other players and took home the trophy and a respectable $7,740 for first place.
Vinny Vinh was at it again taking another first place finish ahead of 146 other players in Event #3, 7 Card Stud. He added another $5,690 to his bankroll for his efforts. If he's not careful, he'll make a name for himself, if he hasn't done so already.
The only no limit Hold 'Em event was played in event #4. The number of players point out that this is still America's favorite game. With 222 players ready to duke it out, it was eventually California native Daniel Abrams who came out on top and took the $18,345 first place prize. Sorry, no picture was taken for this event.
In event #5, Limit H.O.E. Al Bahan not only had to make his way through a field of 144 players but also had to go heads up against Top Pro Tony Ma if he had any thoughts of taking first place. Well, David beat Goliath in a pitched battle as Al beat Tony took the $10,945 1st place prize money. Do you think he was happy?
Event 6, the second of the 7-Card Stud events, we saw Noel Castro and 7-card stud specialist Vinny Vinh go heads up for first place. Would Vinny get his third victory in a week? Noel Castro didn't think so as he defeated the intimidating Vinh and took first place ($22,600). Vinny had to settle for $4,520 and second. Well done, Noel!
They played my favorite game in event #7, Pot limit Hold 'Em. Only 83 players would make this event, making the fact that I couldn't be there all the more bitter. In my absence Hon Le, from Bell Gardens, would take first and $13,200. Pro, David Pham, also from Bell Gardens would take second.
The final 3 events would all be Limit Hold 'Em. The buy-in was $200 for each of the last three events. Ramzi Salem won a whopping $54,155 for first place in Event #8. Bau Le went cross country making to the Commerce all the way from New Jersey. Making the trip well worth it, he took first and $24,245 in Event #9. Finally, to wrap up the Tournament, Phil Nguyen worked his way to first place to collect $32,710 in Event #10. Good Job to everyone who placed in the money of this great new Tournament at the Commerce.
Next, we move a little to the north to the Oaks Card Club just outside San Francisco for their Low-Ball Turkey Shoot Tournament. In what has become a Thanksgiving tradition for many in the Bay Area area this 1 day tournament has been a favorite among the local poker community for 4 years running. 140 players that included many Casino Executives went to war. When the smoke cleared it was Jeremy Lewis sitting all alone. His first place finish gave him $5,000. I'm sure we'll see this event next year, as it's always a class act at The Oaks.
Two other Big tournaments recently started and are currently underway. It's a great time to be a poker player with some money to spare, as there are some great tournaments at two of poker's hottest spots in Atlantic City and Las Vegas.
In Atlantic City we look to the Trump Taj Mahal for the 2002 U.S. Poker Championship. Satellites have been running since the 1st of November for the 3 day main event on December 17th, the $7,500 buy-in No limit Hold 'Em Championships. Expect the game's top players to be in attendance. The first three days results have just come in as the newsletter is about to go out, and here they are: In Event #1 Limit Hold 'Em, Frank Kroll took First place and $36,741.
It's a good sign when 331 people show up for the first event and create a prize pool of almost $100,000. There was another large turnout for Event #2 7-Card Stud. Joseph Immordino was better than the other 248 players and took 1st place and $27,528. Event #3, the First of the no limit Hold 'Em events. Brian Giordano took first and collected $31,413. Stay Tuned to www.pokerpages.com for our continuing coverage of what's turning out to be a monster event. Thanks to Tom Gitto and the rest of the tournament staff for furnishing results.
Let's go to Vegas! Ready? Poof! We're at the country's premier card room, The Bellagio Hotel And Casino. It seems this is where the Vegas pro's prefer to play Looking over the results of the first few days events at the Bellagio Five Diamond World Poker Classic does nothing to change that assumption as many of the World Class Players are here and ready to move some chips. I hope you saved your pennies, because if you want to play in any of the reaming 6 events, you're going to need at least $1,000.
We're through the first three days and here's how the cards have fallen to this point: Event #1 saw Tom Cawley edge out Barry Shulman to take 1st place and cash in for $56,648 in Limit Hold 'Em. In Event #2 the prize pool busted $100,000 as 113 players played Stud. Mori Eskandani from Las Vegas went home happy with 1st place and $43,844. Event #3 results just made it in before the deadline. Brian Green made it all the way from Costa Rica to take 1st place in the Pot limit Hold 'Em event ($53,544).
In a tough Final table Brian had to beat out names Like Phil Hellmuth, Dennis Waterman, Dan Negreanu, Howard Lederer and Jeff Shulman. For Brian, it was a snap. I'd like to thank to Poker Room Manager Doug Dalton and Jim Sherwood for sending us these results on a daily basis. Stay with PokerPages throughout December as this event wraps up, it's going to be huge!
For this issues hot player, I'm going to have to go with fellow Texan Vinny Vinh. At the Commerce's Holliday bonus Tournament he had 2 first place finishes and 1 second place finish in the span of 4 days booking $73,565 in the 3 events.
Before I sign off I'd like to share some sad news in the world of poker. A close friend and familiar face to many at the Commerce casino, Ross Desimone, passed away last week in his sleep. Ross was the Day shift Manager at the Commerce since 1989 and had been a fixture in the poker scene since the 1960's. Fred McGarr, Commerce Shift manager, put it nicely when he recently spoke of Ross, "To say Ross was well liked by fellow employees doesn't seem to do justice to how much we all valued his friendship and cared about him,". Our thought and prayers go out to the commerce community and Ross's family. Ross was 61.
To see what events are coming up in your area, click here
That's it for this issue of Poker in America, I hope you enjoyed it and I look forward to seeing you again in a few weeks. If you have questions, comments, input or hate mail, please feel free to write me.
Be Lucky,
Tim Kopp
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The Big One II
You must be a member of PokerSchool Online in order to participate! PokerSchool membership is only $14.95 per month or $149.95 annually. Click here to join now!
Last Chance tournaments taking place now. It's the last month of the Big One II. It's is not too late to join the school for your chance to play for $100,000 of sponsorships!
The Big One II offers over $100,000 worth of Sponsorship points that can be redeemed for a sponsorship in a major poker tournament anywhere in the world. If you would like to read more about sponsorship points, click here.
If you don't know already, the Big One II is a simple concept with a million details. But here's the summary:
Play in a certain number of PokerSchool Tournaments and Satellites and be automatically placed in two different sets of leagues. One league set is for satellites and one for tournaments. Click here to read more about leagues. If you are a top ranking player in one or both leagues at the end of the month, you'll be qualified to play in a Round Two event. These events occur once a month. Top players in Round Two events are eligible to play in the Final Big One Event on Dec 21 2002. Of course, there is a lot more information you need to know than that. You can read more about the Big One II here.
Watch this space for more information about the Big One II!
Poker In Europe
Kevin Pratt of PokerPages writes about Poker in Europe
The Winter Tournament at the Aviation was in full flow during the last newsletter so I will start with the outstanding results.
The € 200 Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo was won by Angelo Besnainou € 9130 from 49 entries. This was Angelo's second win at the Winter Tournament following his success in the € 500 Omaha/Holdem. Chuc from France took the € 500 Pot Limit Omaha € 22,410
The Main Event saw 49 players put up € 2,000 for the No Limit Hold'em and it was left to Donat Bernard from France to take the first prize of €37,500 from Hendon Mobster Ram Vaswani in second. Ram Vaswani had previously been successful in the Hendon Mob Heads Up Challenge against the Aviation team with his compatriots Barny Boatman and Joe Beevers winning as well. The only loss from the Mob was when Patrick Bruel beat Ross Boatman.
Before finishing with the Aviation I would like to point out that in our last newsletter I asked Isabelle Mercier to respond about the number of entries at the ACF. Isabelle did respond and her answers can be found by clicking here Thanks for your prompt response and excellent points. I'm sure our readers will appreciate it.
The Gran Casino de Barcelona in Spain held its first ever poker festival the Barcelona Open. Finn Jenson from Denmark won the first event € 200 Limit Hold'em from a field of 71 picking up € 9,044. Pekki Salmi from Finland won the € 200 Pot Limit Omaha and €7,752, Van Kanpen Joop from Holland won the €100 No Limit Hold'em € 6,099 and the Main Event € 1,000 No Limit Hold'em was one by another Dane Kenneth Jenson € 14,000. The tournaments were well attended from players throughout Europe but it was the Scandinavians who took the main spoils.
Over in Austria the annual Poker Party at Seefeld was won by Mario Bentivedo from Italy. This was a Limit 7 Card Stud tournament with Mario winning € 4,935.
The last remaining European event of the year take place in Russia the Olympia Open Poker Festival, Austria Christmas Poker Championships, Finland Helsinki Freezout and new to the scene Estonia Christmas Tournament.
Good luck to all the players who attend these events and watch out for the results on the website
By Kevin Pratt
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FREEROLL
Win a $10,000 Seat at the World Poker Open
Last month of this promotion, don't delay! Download today and play in the WPO Warm Up. It could be you going to Tunica to play in the $10,000 event in the WPO.
PokerPages does it again with another exciting Warm Up opportunity - your chance to go and play at the main event at the World Poker Open in Tunica in January 2003, where there is a guarantee of $1,000,000.
Warm-Up Started September 23 - Don't delay download the software today !!!!
Even non-poker players have to agree, this is the experience of a lifetime! It costs you nothing to participate in this warm up and you could earn the chance to play against world class poker players, as well as take home part of a huge prize pool at the World Poker Open. The WPO is an internationally acclaimed poker event, famous for its players and action. Last January at the 2002 WPO main event, the prize pool was over $1,000,000! The big winner, Costa Rica's Humberto Brenes won $502,460!
So now it's your turn to get in on that action...for free! PokerPages is holding the first ever WPO Warm-Up on their exclusive software. Starting September 23rd, you will be able to play Round 1 WPO Warm-Up tournaments on the PokerPages Software. You can download it here. If you finish as one of the 15 top players of a Round 1 event tournament, then you will qualify to play in a Round 2. Be one of the top 20 to place in a Round 2 event, and you will qualify for the Final Event on Wed Jan. 1, 3pm CST. The 1st place prize is a $10,000 seat in the WPO 2003. See our schedules here.
Round 2 and Final Event Qualifications
Round Two Qualifiers List To get on this list, you must play in one of our WPO Round 1 Warm-Up Tournaments and be one of the top fifteen winners. These winners will be qualified to play in the coming weekend's Round 2 events. Each Round 2 event will have approximately 300 players. Be one of the top 20 to place in a Round 2 event, and you will qualify for the Final Event on Wed Jan. 1, 3pm CST. Go to the Round 2 qualifier list to see who has qualified so far, or click here to view the schedule.
The Final Event Qualifiers List To get on this list, you must place at least 20th in a Round 2 event. Final Event qualifiers are then qualified to play in the Final Event. The first place prize is a $10,000 seat at the World Poker Open! Go to the Final Event qualifier list to see who has qualified so far or click here to view the schedule.
Rules and conditions of Play
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Player Article: Who Is Training Whom?
By David Goodson
This is a column devoted to making money in low limit holdem, popularly referred to as No Foldem. This author does not claim to be an expert poker player. He is a legend only in his dog's mind.
When we lived in Virginia, my wife and I once kenneled a dog for the first time with an old dog trainer. Now this dog was like my wife's child. It had reached the age of five without every being kenneled. Like any mother, my wife expressed her concerns for the dog to the trainer. After listening politely for a few minutes, the trainer said in a gentle southern way, "Ma' am are you training the dog or is the dog training you?"
Anyone who has every played low limit holdem, has witness this scene. A player lecturing another player who just beat him...Read more
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Drawing Dead: A Poker Cop Mystery
By Robert Arabella
There has been a shoot-out in the Las Vegas Majestic's Poker Room. A player, who has just lost $250,000 in one badly-played hand, has shot two other players before being killed by the Chief of Poker Room Security, The Poker Cop. Based on clues left on the poker table, The Poker Cop and his counterpart, Red Penny, continue their investigation.
Part 5 - Sonny The Pimp
Every hotel has a Pimp. Someone not connected to the hotel who, for cash, can supply its guests with "special services." The Majestic's Pimp is named Sonny - a wretched little pervert who specializes in human weakness: Want drugs? Sonny. Want sex? Sonny. Want sex and drugs? Sonny. Want a room, falsely registered, to which all of the above will be delivered? Guess who?...
Read more
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Poker in the U.K.
Kevin Pratt of the PokerPages Team writes about poker in the UK.
The Midland Masters at the Grosvenor Casino Walsall has been the big event since the last newsletter as it contained both the Quarter Million and the Grand Prix Final.
The Grand Prix Final kicked things off and with 27 nationwide heats being held already this generated a prize pool of £193,600.142 players contested the final and this proved to be a major success as it kept the numbers who contested the remaining tournaments at a high level for the week. Well done to Grosvenor for planning things this way.
Although there were no deals allowed at the final table the final 2 players Willie Tann and G. Davidson did make a deal away from the table taking home £39,000 each. G Davidson however went down as the official winner. His prize was further added to as the Casino gave him a holiday for 2 to Las Vegas with £1,000 spending money.
So the week started with a big event and also ended with one in the form of the £2,500 entry Quarter Million. This was not very well attended compared to last year as only 61 participated producing a prize pool of £152,500 which was roughly the same as first prize the year before. However the winner Iqbal Butt was not complaining as he took a first prize of £49,560 in a deal with Charalambos Xanthos who got the same for second.
One player who always features in this newsletter is Lucy Rokach and she won another £20,800 by taking the £500 No Limit Hold'em. Lucy was a former school teacher and it would be great if she would give some lessons in Pokerschool Online. Her results this year have been truly amazing.
The £250 Pot Limit Hold'em went to Oz Mustanoglu £13,620, the £200 Pot Limit Omaha was won by M. Naserisfahny £15,610 and finally the £100 Pot Limit Holdem was won by Man Ip £11,140.
The final events of 2002 include the Christmas Cracker Festival at Brighton, the Poker Festival at Napoleons Sheffield and the Christmas Cracker at the Grosvenor Casino Luton and you can keep up to date with all the results on the website.
Finally don't forget to enter the World Poker Open Warm Up on our software if you want a chance to enter the main $10,000 event in Tunica, January 2003. It could be you walking away with a first prize of over half a million dollars.
You can e-mail me with any thoughts, views, or general information at kevin@pokerpages.com
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Poker Down Under
Reported by David Parlor
Crown's special weekend of poker has just concluded with two more 10 K seats won by local players, David Hatzis & David Gorr (it must be the name). Other entries were won over the weekend and several deposits were made to reserve seats in the Main Event at Crown in January.
The highlight of the tournament weekend for me was seeing Michael Baisman win an amazing 16 out of 26 terminator buttons as well as finishing in 1st place of Saturday's event. While Michael's play was unorthodox to many of the regular tournament players, he certainly kept them guessing and showed that being aggressive pays off in this kind of tournament.
Packages to The New Zealand Championships were won by Lou, Karim and Rainer, three of Crown's regular live game players. I am sure that these players will enjoy mixing it with the Kiwi's in March, as will many of the Aussie players planning to make the trip across the Tasman. This week of Poker has been enjoyed by staff from Crown for the past three years and will include a Casino Employee event next year for the first time.
As well as the weekend of poker at Crown another event was underway in Adelaide. The Inaugural South Australian Poker Association Major Tournament weekend. If you think the title was long, the Draw event attracted 22 players and went for around 11 hours. Many of Australia's best Draw players were there to see Bob Renshaw emerge as the eventual winner. Crown's Poker Operations Manager, John Parker, kindly donated 4 nights at the luxurious Crown Towers to South Australian players visiting Crown for the Australasian Championship. This was greatly appreciated by the players and ensured that a great weekend was had by all.
For any other questions about Poker in Australia please email me.
-David Parlor
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PokerDollars
Play for free on our PokerPages software and win a chance to join PokerSchool Online! Just download the PokerPages software here!
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. You must play in at least 20 freeroll tournaments during this month in order to win. To see our winners so far, click here!
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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Signing Off
We hope you enjoyed our twice-monthly newsletter. If you would like to contribute to this newsletter or have any suggestions, please email tina@pokerpages.com. So until next time, be lucky!
Sincerely,
The PokerPages Staff.
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