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 2.16 -- THURSDAY, JANUARY 16TH
- Many updated graphics throughout the software, matching the new lounge and tournament information screens.
- Menu bar added to the lounge, with "Lobby", "Options", and "Help" menus. The About button has been moved to the Help/About menu item, and similarly for the FAQ button.
- Reduced the base memory used by the lounge significantly.
- When losing connection to the server, all tables and windows will be shut down and the login screen will be shown again along with the error that occurred. This should greatly reduce the amount of time needed to get back into games after an ISP disconnect. A 'Log off this user' option was also added to the Lobby menu, allowing for logging out to the login screen instead of exiting completely.
- In limit 7-card stud (including HiLo), the first player to raise after the bring-in is now said to 'Complete' rather than 'Raise' the bet.
- At showdowns, the Play chat log message for when a player shows their hand has been modified to include their downcards.
- Revised "Get Chips" screen for ring games, with more error checking and reporting as well as information about minimum chips and maximum buy-ins when appropriate.
- The ring games tabs in the lobby now include a Stakes column, which is the default sort column.
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
The first PokerSchool Convention was a huge success. We are delighted at the results of the School members that participated in the Satellites and tournaments -- at the WPO at The Goldstrike, the Horseshoe in Tunica and at The Tunica Classic at The Grand. Many members finished in the money and one made a final table and finished 5th in WPO Event #4, No Limit Hold 'Em.
A female member, Spiegel, beat 87 other School members in the $100 No Limit Hold'em School Invitational Tournament to become the first ever PokerSchool Online Champion. I would like to thank The Horseshoe and the Goldstrike for their help and support with putting on such a great convention, and Gary Phillips and Travis Jonas for making the tournament run smoothly for all of us. I would also like to thank all of the teachers that participated in the full day of seminars, as well as TJ for taking his own Q and A session. Finally, I would like to thank Linda Johnson, Jan Fisher and Wendeen Eolis for participating on the panel which took members questions on open topics at the end of the seminar.
The whole event was amazing, the members were truly wonderful, and I am sure they have now sealed real world friendships with other members who until now were only screen names. We are sure that with the success of the convention and the win rate of the members that PokerSchool Online will continue to grow, and this convention will be the just the first of many.
Poker School Online Tournament and Convention
January 9th-12th, 2003
By Randy Glover (rrgator)
PSO TOURNAMENT:
I pull my rental car into the parking lot of the Gold Strike Casino in Tunica Mississippi at 5:46 p.m. The PokerSchoolOnline No Limit Holdem tournament is at 6 pm. I dash to the lobby, which is empty except for a lone PSO player. I call out to BigBo that I am on my way to the tournament. He's says he'll buy me in if no one has yet. After checking in and splashing cold water on my face, I race back downstairs. It is 5:55 pm when I walk in the grand ballroom of the Gold Strike, where all the tournaments are dealt.
Debonair from PSO has bought me in. I find my seat and find I have one of the worst table draws possible. I am in seat 3 between TW41 and JBH5000, two of the best young players at PSO. Hey, toss out the young part: Two of the best players at PSO. Across from me in seats 7 and 8 are Thehazyone and Jmuzzey. Thehazyone is a seemingly tight player who I know is not as tight as he lets on. When the conditions a ripe, he will push a bluff with the same confidence as he plays a pair of pocket Aces. When Jmuzzey is on his game, he can read players like their cards are face up.
This could be a short night...Read more
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Poker In America
Tim Kopp of PokerPages writes about Poker in America
Hello again and welcome back to Poker in America. Although the calendar for January isn't necessarily jammed with events, that's not to say it hasn't been a busy couple of weeks on the poker scene. So, lets not waste any time and jump right in.
Tunica, Mississippi is the place to be for poker this month as the little town near the river plays host to two huge, month long events that have become a favorite way for many players to start their year. Of course, I'm talking about the 4th Annual Jack Binion's World Poker Open at the Horseshoe/Gold Strike Casino and the Grand Casino's 5th annual Tunica Classic.
Our office here at PokerPages has been abuzz with the start of the World Poker Open so let us start there. If you haven't been following PokerPages.com since this terrific event started, let me tell you, you've missed a ton. Founder Mark Napolitano has been on location since the satellites started up and had provided us with daily Audio and Video of each event as well as some great pictures of the final 10 of each event.
To start things off at the WPO, an unofficial event had all of us in the office tuning in to get the scoop. It was the first ever PokerSchoolOnline Invite. The event marked the first time ever members from the famed PokerSchool organized and had an exclusive live action tournament all to themselves. Class was in session as this group of 88 "beginners" each put up $100 to see who was the best that day. Lessons that were learned in school would certainly come into play, as 17 players would make the money. But it ultimately came down to, Ruth "Spiegel" Spiegel, who would secure first place and a $3,520 prize leaving no doubt that PokerSchoolOnline pays for itself. Noted columnist and PokerSchool instructor, Nolan Dalla wrote a wonderful in-depth report on the day's events, to read it, click here.
The WPO runs through the remainder of January with the three day $10,000 main event wrapping up on January 31st. Poker in America will be bringing you an in-depth wrap up of the entire event in next month's issue. For results up to this point, click here and stay tuned to PokerPages throughout the remainder of the event for exclusive daily video that you won't find anywhere else. A special thank you goes out to Mr. Jack Binion and his excellent crew for hosting yet another fine Tournament.
Moving across town we find ourselves at the Grand Casino Tunica for the 5th annual Tunica Classic. We're about half way through the tournament, so lets take a look at how the action has gone down to this point. Event 1 saw Troy Shropshire take 1st in a field of 118 to collect a respectable $4,720 in Limit Hold 'Em. In Event 2 Richie Bahr took 1st ($4,400) at the Omaha Hi/lo final table that featured two PokerSchool Online members (Mike Smith- 7th, and Marion Busch- 10th). Event 3 we saw Terry "doc" Jennings take the $5,360 first place prize and made me wonder how many "doc's" there are in the poker world (I think I know at least 10 personally).
Moving along to the second Limit Hold'em event, Event 4, the always-impressive John Tolbert took 1st place and a $5,760 prize. The game was 7-Card Stud for Event 5 and Doug Green waltzed through a field of 80 to collect $3,200 and first place. With a slightly bigger buy in than the previous two Limit Hold'em events, Event 6 drew 110 players and it was Cecil Massengill who flushed away the competition to the tune of $6,600.
On to Event 7 Pot limit Omaha, it was Jim Sears who beat out the other 72 players to pick up just over $8,000. It was Omaha again in event 8, this time however it was the Limit Hi/Lo variety. Larry Etter would take first and the $8,200 prize. Stay tuned to PokerPages as this exciting event concludes this month. Results are coming in daily, so check back often.
Elsewhere in the world of poker we look to Hollywood Park Casino in California for the Poker Derby. Action is just wrapping up in Inglewood, so if you missed out on any of the results, click here to see if anyone you know made the money. Also, just getting started is the Hustler Casino's Hustler Open. The first few events just in as this letter gets ready to go out, so click here to see who won.
Looking ahead to the rest of the month and into the beginning of February we have many fine events lined up. We have Lucky Chances' Super Bowl of Omaha (Jan 20 -21), a very popular tournament at the Commerce Casino running in its second year, The LA Poker Classic (Jan 31 - Feb 23), and running through February Hollywood Park Casino's Front 9 starts back up for 2003.
For those of you not at the WPO, stay warm and I'll see you next time you're playing Poker In America
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
Well the start of the New Year has been very quiet on the European circuit with many players taking the opportunity to go to either Australia for the National Championships, or the World Poker Open in Tunica. In fact the first event of the year in Europe doesn't start until the 30th January and that is the Poker Winter Challenge which is a small event at Seefeld in Austria. Although it is a small event it does form the first leg of the Casinos Austria Poker Champion 2003, which takes in all of the Casinos Austria tournaments this year.
To qualify to become champion you have to take part in 5 of the 7 stated festivals and buy into at least one tournament from the 5. The prize money for the champion is €6,000 with €4,000 for second and €2,000 for 3rd. The other venues are Bregenz, Salzburg, Veldon and Baden. Please e-mail me if you want full details of the Championship.
Things really kick off in Europe with the Euro Finals of Poker at The Aviation Club in Paris. This is the only European stop of the World Poker Tour and if you want to enter the Main Event it will cost €10,000 and takes place 12th-15th February.
I have had some information in from some Casinos regarding their schedules for this year. Casino Ray in Finland have decided that the Midnight Sun Tournament this year is not to be held and they have put the Finnish Open Championship in place. This is a shortened event that has only 3 tournaments and I hope this isn't a sign that Casino Ray are cutting back on Poker. They have also changed the dates of the Helsinki Freezout from December to November but will still be hosting the European Poker Awards.
The Concord Card Casino have announced the schedule for the Vienna Spring Festival and there is a date change there as well. It runs from the 17th to 27th March with the Main Event the European World Series of Poker Trial starting on the 24th.
Well with not much action and nothing else to report I will just wish you luck wherever you choose to play. If your hungry for Poker action then why not take part in our current promotions the Big One 3 and the 10k Warm Up.
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 Started January 6th- Don't delay download
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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
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Warm Up Information
So now it's your turn to get in on that action...for free! PokerPages
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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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The World Poker Tour Debuts on Travel Channel March 30th -- Poker is coming to Prime Time TV!
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA (January 7, 2003) - Today, Travel Channel will announce at the Television Critics Association conference in Los Angeles that it will include World Poker Tour in its prime time line-up beginning with a "Sneak Preview Premiere Night" on Sunday, March 30 and continuing as a weekly series on Wednesday nights at 9 - 11 PM ET/PT beginning April 2, 2003. Final terms of the deal are in negotiations.
The WORLD POKER TOUR season consists of 13 poker tournaments filmed in casinos around the world, which will be nationally televised, and will feature the best poker players in the world as they vie for multi-million dollar prize pools. The WORLD POKER TOUR will reach its exciting conclusion with the season's grand finale, "The World Poker Tour Championship." The finale, hosted by Bellagio, Las Vegas, will feature winners from all the poker competitions throughout the 13- tournament season and anyone willing to pay the $25,000 buy-in to become the world's best poker player in what might be the biggest tournament in poker history... Read more
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Poker in the U.K.
Kevin Pratt of the PokerPages Team writes about poker in the UK.
The first 2 months are pretty quiet in the UK and Ireland for tournaments with some of the corresponding events that were on last year not taking place this year. Some of the professionals have used this period to go to places such as Australia and Tunica in America to contest some large tournaments and you can read about those under other sections of the newsletter.
The New Year kicked off in the UK with the Grosvenor Grand Challenge at Luton and the first event saw a great turnout of 140 for the £100 Pot Limit Hold'em. F Gtesdal took the honours and a first prize of £13,560. The £100 7 Card Stud is always popular at Luton and was won by D Decruz who picked up £8,000. The management at Luton decided to put in a second No Limit Hold'em into the schedule, which had a £200 buy in and was won Mick Cook £12,450. The £200 Pot Limit Omaha was won by local player Samir Jabak £5,460 with the Khajuria brothers Lally and Chandra taking second and third in a 3 way split for the money. The £250 Pot Limit Hold'em saw 96 enter and T Clarke took the spoils with a first prize of £13,560.
Finally the Main Event £750 No Limit Hold'em drew a reasonable entry of 82 with many of the familiar names making it into the money. Bambos Xanthos showed the class of the Vic players and took £17,150 back down the M1 to London by taking first spot.
Just before Christmas I was commenting that the numbers at the Christmas Cracker at Luton last year suffered because the tournament clashed with the Helsinki Freezout in Finland. Grosvenor will be glad to hear the Casino Ray have moved the Freezout into November along with the European Poker awards.
Next up in the UK is the January Sales Festival in Brighton held at the Rendezvous Casino. The great thing about this festival is there is no registration fee to any of the tournaments. Buy-ins will suit all the smaller players as they range from £10 up to £250 for the Main Event. I think the Rendezvous have pitched their levels exactly right and I hope they get a good turnout during the week. The locals haven't been left out in the early events and the London players can make the trip later in the week for the bigger tournaments.
Recent additions to our tournament schedule for 2003 include the British Open
at the Victoria Casino in London and the North of England Open at the Grosvenor Casino in Salford. If anyone has any information about any proposed tournaments at the Gala Casino Teeside can you please e-mail me.
Over In Ireland at Dublin's Merrion Square Club they are running satellites for a $10,000 seat at the World Series in Las Vegas. If you don't live in Ireland then why not try and win your own $10,000 seat by playing on the Pokerpages software in either the 10k Warm Up or the Big One 3. The Big One 3 actually has a potential first prize of $15,000 with many other places paid, and can be used for any tournaments with a buy in over $500 worldwide.
Good luck at the tables until next time,
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 has just concluded with the $10 000 No Limit Holdem event that saw some of Australia's best competing against some of Poker's best known tournament players from around the world. A full list of tournament results are available by clicking here.
The main event proved to be an epic battle that was fought out over two days. The first day saw the 122 player field reduced to 18 and guaranteed at least a return of the entry fee to each player that had made it that far. One of the most excited players about this was Melbourne local, Dan Farid, who had won his seat through a satellite that had cost him only $200. With his finish in 12th, it was a good payday.
After many hours play on day two, only two players remained. Leo Boxell (Australia) had gained much support from the local crowd throughout the day and was looking forward to silencing some critics. At one stage when three handed, Leo stole 14 consecutive blinds and managed to amass a decent chip stack from almost nothing. Paradise Poker sponsored, Peter Costa (UK) had other ideas on who would be the No Limit Holdem Champion for 2003. He waited patiently for opportunities to strike throughout the day and after surviving the Heads Up battle with Leo he finally took the title of Australasian No Limit Holdem Champion.
The next poker event in Australia is The National Poker Championships to be held in Canberra in February. Events will vary in entry fee from $240 to the $2200 Texas Holdem Main Event. Two rebuy tournaments have been included as well as a Super Satellite for the main event. With a large variety of tournaments this is sure to appeal to many of the local and interstate players. For further details and accommodation packages contact Casino Canberra directly on (02) 6257 7074.
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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