Software Upgrade
We are making some major changes to our software over the coming month. We hope that you like them and that these changes will make your playing experience with us more enjoyable.
VERSION 2.15 -- TUESDAY, JANUARY 7TH
- Completely revised dynamic lounge which includes: games divided into tabs, tournament times displayed in local time zone, payout structures, constantly updating server time, player stack sizes and chip leaders, and periodic updating of all game information
- Tournament Info screens with full player and table lists, bust order, current level in the game structure, and time remaining until the next level
- Up to two side pots will now be displayed on the table when needed, at 1024x768 or larger screen resolution only.
- Hand evaluation in the chat log for all shown hands, with full low hand evaluation
- When opening and closing many tables, memory usage is significantly decreased
- A progress bar is now displayed while waiting for tournament tables to rebalance
- The 'Show Fun Play Events' option was removed, and instead a new Default Tab setting was added allowing for defaulting to either the PokerPages or PokerSchool Online tab at startup
- Allows only bets in increments of the minimum chip size specified in the game structure
- When a player mucks their hand, a 'Mucks' message will now be displayed on the nameplate and their cards will be immediately moved to the muck
- Rake display on the table for raked ring games
If you have any problems please email support@PokerPages.com
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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! We have changed the look to the PokerSchoolOnline home page and you can now easily surf between both of our sites with the new easy to use tabs at the top.
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 current major tournament promotion, the Big One III with prizes in sponsorships worth over $100,000! Read more about PokerSchool Online and the Big One III!
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 now are proud to announce that we have 100 school members attending from around the world.
This will be a wonderful gathering of the school members, and Mark and I are really looking forward to meeting everyone in person.
Poker In America
Tim Kopp of PokerPages writes about Poker in America
Happy New Year, and welcome back to Poker In America. All of us here at PokerPages hope that everyone had a safe and enjoyable Holiday season as well as a productive and profitable 2002. As I finish up the leftovers, let's take a look at how December finished up in the world of Poker.
As per usual in the world of Tournament Poker, December finished up a little slow. Special Poker Events are seemingly always left on the back burner as local casinos are typically operating on skeleton crews while they try to fill all the holes left by employees taking time off for the holidays. This year was no different as only a handful of noteworthy tournaments were running as December closed.
The Flamingo Hilton Casino in Laughlin, Nevada celebrated their 12th year of operation on December 23rd with their 12th Anniversary $5,000 Free Roll. Two separate free roll events split a $5,000 guarantee. In the First event, 7-Card Stud, the final 7 players decided to make a deal and have a 7 way split of the $2,500 prize pool. 1st place (A.J. Foster) would get $500, while places 2-6 would each pay $333. The Second and final event, Limit Hold 'Em saw 24 qualifiers duke it out for the money. When all was said and done, Rod Upton took first place and $600. Not exactly a mountain of cash, but good enough to put a few more presents under the tree. Hopefully, The Flamingo Hilton will be bringing poker to the Laughlin community for another 12 years.
There were no major events scheduled for both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. So you know that with two days off players in Tucson, Arizona were ready to shuffle up and deal on the 26th at Desert Diamond Casino's $50,000 Arizona Poker Championships. The Arizona Poker Championships featured four very affordable events, all of which boasted big guarantees. In Event 1, the game was Limit Hold 'Em and 210 players filled the poker room to watch Joe Winchell, Mark Schnider, and Ray Ree make a deal and split the first place prize money ($1,103 each). Event 2 also saw a deal made, but it was Mark Bremen who went home with bragging rights for first place as well as $2,000. The next day was the event everyone was waiting for, as there was a guaranteed prize pool of $25,000 for Event 3, No Limit Hold 'Em. John Jennings would take first. Finally it was the final event, Event 4 Limit Hold 'Em. We saw yet another split of the prize money with $1,647 going to the first three places (Kendi Diah, Ralph Freund, Chin Hsieh.) For a list of the best overall players for the Arizona Poker Championships, click here.
To wrap up the 2002 tournament circuit our attention moves to Lake Elsinore, California for the New Years Eve Celebration at the Lake Elsinore Resort and Casino. Management's year-end gift to their patrons featured 3 affordable tournaments as well as two free rolls. To see who took home the money in these events, click here.
The New Year ahead brings back many of our favorite tournaments as well as a boatload of brand new ones. Even though we're still only in the first week of January, believe it or not, there are already a few events running as this issue makes it's way to all of you.
One of my favorite lesser-known poker rooms on the east coast, Rounders Club, in Middlesex New Jersey held their 2nd annual New Years Classic. The $300 dollar No Limit Hold 'Em event drew 28 players and manufactured a prize pool of over $14,000. Local Player, Carlos Santos took home the $5,500 first place prize. Thanks to poker room coordinator, Kenny Pearson for furnishing the results.
The only other event already underway is Hollywood Park's Poker Derby at Hollywood Park Casino in Los Angeles, California. The poker Derby runs until January 17th, so there's still time to head over there and get in the action. To date, we've played just three matches. Event 1, Limit Hold'em won by Steven Hong ($22,070). Event 2, No Limit Hold 'Em Won by Kenna James ($14,220). And finally event 3, Limit Hold'em went to Kurt Conrad ($12,240).
Looking ahead to the rest of the month of January we have many huge annual events on deck. Three of these events run almost the entire remainder of the month. The first of which is the Tunica Classic (Jan 4-21) in Tunica, Mississippi followed by Reno Hilton's 2nd World Poker Challenge (Jan 4-24). Of course, starting on the 5th and running to the 26th we have Jack Binion's World Poker Open at the Horseshoe Casino Hotel / Gold Strike Casino Resort in Tunica, Mississippi. Be sure to check PokerPages regularly throughout the WPO for exclusive audio and video coverage from PokerPages Founders, Mark and Tina Napolitano.
Other events of note for January are the Hustler Casino's The Hustler Open (Jan 18 - 30), Reno Hilton's Puttin' on the Ritz (Jan 19-20), and the always-popular L.A. Poker Classic at California's Commerce Casino.
Schedules for the remainder of 2003 are coming in daily. To see if your favorite event will be coming back this year, take a look at our searchable tournament database by clicking here. I invite poker room managers and staff to have a look to see if we're up to date with your casino's live games and tournaments. Please email me at tim@pokerpages.com with your updated card room information.
That's it for this, the first issue of poker in America for 2003. May the tables tilt in your direction all year long!
Be Lucky,
Tim Kopp
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The Big One III
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!
The Big One III begins January 1st 2003 with over $100,000 of Sponsorship Awards Available for Major Tournament buy-ins Worldwide.
If you enjoyed our World Poker Open Warm Up on PokerPages, why not participate in 3 times the excitement by entering The Big One III? You wanted to win a $10,000 seat at the Open so why not take a chance at winning your share of over 100,000 Sponsorship Points?, with a top prize in each of the 3 finals of 15,000 Sponsorship Points, that can be traded in, to enter any tournament of your choice worldwide. If you thought the World Poker Open Warm Up was tremendous value then take a closer look at The Big One III as the points are higher and there are 3 finals a year.
We are excited to announce our next 'Big One' promotion, aptly called The Big One III. There will be over $100,000 of Sponsorship Awards for major tournament buy-ins worldwide available. The difference this year, is instead of one final event, we will hold 3 Big One III Finals.
*** The Spring Final on April 26th ***
*** The Summer Final on August 23rd ***
*** The Winter Final on December 20th. ***
Watch this space for more information about the Big One III!
To see results of last month's Big One II, click here, and to read the Big One II wrap up report, click here.
Poker In Europe
Kevin Pratt of PokerPages writes about Poker in Europe
Happy New Year to everyone in Europe.
I hope you have all got over your festive hangovers and are ready for another year on the European poker circuit, as we are certainly ready to bring you the most up to date information on the Internet.
There hasn't been much action in Europe since the last newsletter so lets look forward to what the year has on offer. The major events are all planned to run at around the same time period as last year with The Aviation Club in Paris hosting the first ever European leg of the World Poker Tour during their Euro Finals of Poker February 1st to 16th. The WPT event is a 3 Day No Limit Hold'em tournament with a €10,000 buy-in. The final will be televised for showing in the U.S. later in the year. Super Satellites are held during the preceding weeks.
The 8th Vienna Spring Poker Festival takes place between the 5th to the 15th March and will once again feature the popular European World Series of Poker Trial, which follows the same format as the World Championship but at a fraction of the cost. The Concord Card Casino have also announced the dates for their other 2 festivals, The Austrian Masters 3rd to 14th June which will also include the World Heads Up Championship won last year by Kiril Gerasimov, and the Austrian Classics September 22nd to 30th.
One of the most popular festivals of last year The Masterclassics of Poker in Holland is scheduled for November 2nd to 8th this year and will once again feature the main event The Lido Tournament which paid a first prize of €235,000 to Angelo Yu Zuoping.
Casino Ray in Helsinki again hold their 2 annual events The Midnight Sun 8th to 14th July and the Helsinki Freeze out 9th to 15th December. Watch out if you come up against Jari Salonin as he has a fair record in Helsinki.
Finally I'm going to inform you about one of the best ways of paying for some of those major tournament entries for a relatively small outlay. You all enter satellites for the major events that cost you hundreds of Euros throughout the year. Why not sit at home and rack up some sponsorship points to enter the majors by competing in the Big One 3 on PokerSchool? The word School probably makes many of you skip the information, but the Big One 3 has 3 finals this year where over 100,000 of sponsorship points are available that you can use to enter major live events. The first one in April offers a top prize for a 'D' qualifier of 15,000 sponsorship points. That's enough points to enter plenty of live casino tournaments. There are also regular monthly points available and the competition is of quite a high standard with many top players realising that the school offers a great way to fund your poker tournament entries. Check out the Big One 3 details and see what a great opportunity there is.
Best of luck to all players in 2003.
By Kevin Pratt
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FREEROLL
Win a $10,000 Seat
To An Event Of Your Choice Worldwide.
PokerPages does it again with another exciting Warm Up opportunity -
your chance to go and play in any event worldwide with a $10,000 buy in.
The Warm Up Starts January 6th- Don't delay download
the software today!
Win a $10,000 Seat of Your
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Even non-poker players have to agree, this is the experience of a lifetime!
It costs you nothing to participate in the 10k 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. Just choose anywhere in the world with a $10,000
buy in, within 12 months of the final event, and you will be sponsored
by Pokerpages.
Warm Up Starts January 6th
So now it's your turn to get in on that action... for free! PokerPages
is holding the first ever, 10k Warm Up where you choose the seat on their
exclusive
software. Starting January 6th, you will be able to play Round 1 10k
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 May 10th,
3pm CST. The 1st place prize is a $10,000 seat of your choice worldwide. 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 10k 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 May 10th, 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 of your choice worldwide! Go to the Final
Event qualifier list to see who has qualified so far or click
here to view the schedule.
More Information
Find out who won the $10K seat in the 2002 WPO Warm-Up, here
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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 6 - Drawing Dead
"The murder investigation," I tell Red Penny, "is a dead end. But we have two crimes, murder and kidnapping. If we solve one maybe we can solve the other. We need to know who kidnapped Audrey."
"I can't tell you who," says Red Penny, "until you tell me why? and how? and where?"
"Why? That's easy. Kidnapping is theft. Whoever the kidnapper was knew that Scott had money and would, without hesitation, pay the ransom for the safe return of his wife...Read more
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Poker in the U.K.
Kevin Pratt of the PokerPages Team writes about poker in the UK.
Happy New Year to all UK and Irish players.
Poker Million the Masters took place at the end of last year in London and featured 6 heats where one player qualified from each heat for the final to be shown live on Sky TV in March. The 6 heats all featured a celebrity with 2 of the players winning their seats online. Steve Davis and Jimmy White represented the snooker world along with Barry Hearn of Matchroom Sports. Sam Torrance the successful European Ryder Cup Captain also competed. We were going to keep the results secret as the heats are to be shown on TV over the next few months but they have been already given out in the newspapers and talked about on other websites so if you want to know the results they are available on the website but don't ruin it for players who do not want to know.
January sees Grosvenor Casino Luton host the first festival of 2003 in England with the Grosvenor Grand Challenge
The main event is a £750 buy-in No Limit Hold'em with other supporting events being a bit cheaper than the Christmas Cracker Festival in December.
The Rendezvous Casino in Brighton holds their January Sales Festival
between the 20th to 26th and they have decided that there is no registration fees to any of their tournaments. It's also good to see that the Rendezvous have not priced their regulars out of the tournaments with buy-ins ranging from £10 to £250.
Looking further ahead I have just received the schedule for the British Open at the Grosvenor Victoria Casino in London. The dates have been changed from the original publication to, March 10th to March 16th, and will feature the British Open No Limit Hold'em Championship, which has a buy-in of £1,000.
Finally how do you afford all those £1000 plus entries all the time?
One way to do it is to be sponsored but surely its only the top professionals that get sponsored I hear you say. 'Wrong' you too can be sponsored by entering the Big One 3 at PokerSchool where over 100,00 sponsorship points are available that can be used to buy into live casino events anywhere in the world. 3 times a year the school holds a Big One 3 event where a 'D' qualifier can win a first prize of 15,000 sponsorship points. That's enough to enter every tournament at the Vic festival later in the year, it's also enough to enter the World Championship or any major tournament worldwide come to think about it. 3 shots at 15,000 sponsorship points per year plus monthly points available has got to be worth a second look hasn't it?
Many of you entered the World Poker Open Warm up and will enter our next promotion the 10k Warm up on PokerPages starting on the 6th January but surely the School is better value as there are less members, more to be won, and more places paid.
Check out the details of the Big One 3 as I have noticed some of the top players are now recognising this is a good way to fund those expensive tournament entries.
Best of luck to all players in 2003.
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
The Australasian Poker Championship is now in full swing, with many of the international visitors taking the honours in the early events (The Aussies must be holding off for the Main Event). Carlo Citrone (UK), Like Chezick (NZ), and Constantine Harrach (NZ) took the titles for the first three events, pocketing some handy prizemoney. All details of the tournament placing's are available by clicking here.
With the Crown Poker Room expanded for the tournament week, all tables are being filled with live action to suit all bankrolls. Many small limit games are available as well as many Pot Limit and High Limit Holdem and Omaha games. Most of the interstate and international players have arrived although a few are due within the next couple of days in preparation for the 10K event. It is anticipated that as the week progresses many higher limit games will be available.
To find up to date information on available games, call the Poker Room directly on 61-3-92925797.
An interesting event that originated from last year's tournament is The Poker Ashes. This tournament will involve eleven Heads-Up match-ups between Australian and English players, the team that wins the most match-ups will be declared the winner and will hold the title for the next twelve months. While the English may have taken the honours last year, the Aussies are hungry for revenge and are likely to offer some good competition. With the cricket series sewn up, the English will be looking to save some pride by proving again that they can play better Poker, if not cricket.
Spectators are welcome throughout the tournament and are encouraged to watch all the final table action in the Poker Stadium located in The Las Vegas Room at Crown Casino.
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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