|
Personal Invitation from Mark
Mark will be playing in the $2-$4 limit Holdem ring games at BugsysClub on Wednesday Night, April 9th at 10.00pm CDT, and also on Friday night, April 11th at 10.00pm CDT and would like to meet any of the PokerPages players that wish to join him there for a game of poker. Download BugsysClub.
Job Vacancy
If you would like a job with computers and poker, then send in your resume to Tina@pokerpages.com and she will contact you if and when a position becomes available. Currently looking for a Systems Administrator to work in Europe. Will consider a candidate from the USA... Read more
Return to Top
PokerSchool Online
Daniel Negreanu joins PokerSchoolOnline.com
It is with great pleasure that Mark and Tina Napolitano make the announcement that Daniel Negreanu has agreed to join the faculty of PokerSchoolOnline. Daniel will be a fantastic resource for the members to communicate with on a regular basis, and although I am sure he will not share all of his trade secrets with us, I am certain that the members of PokerSchool will learn much from his remarkable history and talent in the Poker World.
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
Poker In America
Tim Kopp of PokerPages writes about Poker in America
WSOP Cometh
Hello again everybody and welcome back once again to Poker in America. As the weather begins to warm up across the country, so has the poker action. The 2003 tournament circuit is in full swing and it only gets better from here. Currently we have several annual favorites wrapping up and many others that are just getting underway. Just about wherever you're at, chances are there's a major tournament not too far away. But of course, even with all the great events that are currently running, one thing is in the back of most every poker players mind. Of course I'm talking about the Biggest Game in Town, the 2003 World Series of Poker in Las Vegas.
But first, lets take a look at how play wrapped up at our featured tournaments from last month.
Action just concluded at The Reno Hilton's World Poker Challenge 2003. There wasn't much doubt that this event would be a success yet again. Management and players alike made sure that was exactly the case. 18 events led the way to what would be one of the biggest prize pools of the year for the Reno Hilton. Expecting a big turn out for the Main No limit hold 'em event, the final was played over three days. 87 players ponyed up the 5K for the buy in and succeeded in swelling the prize pool to over $420,000. The winner of this event would not only net $168,298, but they would also get $25,000 to the World Poker Tour Finals. Crowd favorite Ron Rose would endure the three day battle of wits and walk away the champ. My guess is that Ron feels pretty good about playing poker these days. If you missed any of the results of the previous events, please look over our full run down of events by clicking here.
Another tournament is just wrapping up that may have slipped under the radar if you weren't looking hard enough. The WSOP "Warm Up' IV at the Garden City Casino in San Jose, CA offered great incentives to the winners of each of their 10 events. Every winner would win a buy-in to the WSOP. If that doesn't get people out to the card room, I don't know what would. We're about half way through the action at Garden City, so click here to catch up.
When people think poker in Vegas, one card room tops many peoples' lists, and that would be The Bellagio. The Bellagio doesn't hold many of these big events throughout the year, but when they do, they do it right. Just getting underway is the Bellagio's Five-Star World Poker Classic. To play in any of the 13 events you'll have to have at least $1,500 dollars to buy in; and those are the cheap buy ins. To play in the main event on April 14th you'll have to of taken 1st in any one of this year's WPT events or cart in the 25 G's for the buy in. We'll be watching this one closely this month and give you a full update on how it concluded.
Finally, back for it's 2nd year and just getting underway as I write this is Bay 101's Shooting Star Tournament. In the main event on Sunday, April 6th, 14 celebrity players (stars) and one "Bay 101 star" will have $1,500 bounties on their heads. Each star will be at a different table. Stars include former world Champs like Scotty Nguyen, TJ Cloutier, and 2002 WSOP champ Robert Varkonyi. This tournament sounds like great fun for people wanting to get their feet wet in the tournament ring as well as a perfect chance to meet some of your poker heros. Newly appointed tournament director, Matt Savage (formerly of Lucky Chances) will be there to make sure play is clean and fun is had by all.
Looking ahead to the rest of the month the schedule clears out to make way for the mother of all events, the 2003 World Series of Poker at Binion's Horseshoe Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. This year looks again to shatter prize pool and attendance records alike. I can hear your lips smacking already, so don't delay: head on out and try to take your shot at becoming a world champ. Of course, there are other events that will be running if the big buy ins for the WSOP aren't your style. There are games for all budgets. There's the Bicycle Casino's Mini Series of Poker, back again, as well as Ocean's 11's Hat & Jacket Tournament. Also, many of your local card rooms are probably running WSOP promotions, so give your poker room a call and see what's coming up.
Until then, see ya at the final table,
Tim Kopp
Return to Top
The Big One III
The Big One lll, Last Chance tournaments taking place now as the spring Big
One lll final is on April 26th, 2003.
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 began 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 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 it's been a busy time in Europe since our last newsletter with both Austria and France holding major festivals. The Concord Card Casino started things off with the Vienna Spring Festival, and as usual this attracted some of Europe's best players and some good fields.
The Main Event was The European World Series of Poker Trial that attracted 108 entries and a prize pool of over 200,000. Top Austrian Pepe Klinger, who previously won the same event in 1999, proved that the long format was to his liking as he stormed to victory again picking up a handsome 80,000 in the process. German plastic surgeon Michael Keiner, a regular tour player, finished second with 41,206 so if you are waiting for a nose job you might have to wait a bit longer.
If you plan on playing any Omaha tournaments make sure that European Omaha Champion Rob Hollink from Holland is not in the field otherwise you are playing for second place. The 200 Omaha gave Rob yet another Omaha victory, 15,256, and surely proves he is the best Pot Limit Omaha player in the world.
The 1,000 No Limit Hold'em was won by relative newcomer Foris Atilla from Hungary and with a name like that I just wonder how log it will be before he gets a poker nickname. Foris outplayed some of Europe's finest and picked up 32,509 in defeating a field of 74. I doubt we've heard the last of Atilla 'the Hun.'
A player I know little about Kurt Yusuf won back to back tournaments namely the 100 Pot Limit Omaha, and the 150 No Limit Hold'em for a combined pay day of nearly 30,000. Well-played Kurt on this rare occurrence.
Specialist Stud player Peter Karall from Austria, won the 400 Limit 7-Card Stud, 10,293, with the 300 Pot Limit Omaha going to another Austrian Harry Casagrande 14,041. Rob Hollink must have had the day off !!!
Following on straight after Austria was the Spring Tournament at the Aviation in Paris, France with the Main Event being the 1,000 No Limit Hold'em, which was won by Dan Uzan from France, 21,300.
Englishman Dave Tarbet took the 300 Pot Limit Omaha and 8,000; Giles Haddad won the 300 Pot Limit Hold'em, 7,080 with namesake Bruno Hadaad winning the 500 No Limit Hold'em. You could say they Hadaad a good day! The rest of the results can be found on the website.
Having just had a hugely successful World Poker Tour Event, the Aviation has announced that they have been chosen to kick of the second season of the W.P.T during their Summer Tournament July 1st to 13th.
The Grand Prix de Paris will be a four day No Limit Hold'em event with the final being broadcast for T.V. Buy in will be 10,000 with a projected first prize of over 500,000, and The Aviation will be holding plenty of super satellites for qualification. Other featured events at the Summer Tournament are the 2,000 Pot Limit Omaha Cup and a 1,000 Limit Omaha Hi/Lo. European tournament players should really give the Aviation their support during this Summer Tournament as they are currently the only European card room to have committed themselves to the W.P.T., and these types of events can only be good for European Poker.
With the World Series of Poker starting on the 15th April I will be reviewing the chances of Europe's best to capture a bracelet in our next newsletter.
Until then Good Luck to all players and remember it's better to be revered than rivered!!!
Kevin Pratt
Return to Top
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
the software today!
Win a $10,000 Seat of Your
Choice
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 Information
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. You will be able to play Round 1 10k Warm Up tournaments on the PokerPages
Software. 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
Return to Top
Poisonous Poker: A Poker Cop Mystery
By Robert Arabella
Part 3 - Suspect
There have been three poisoning deaths at the Las Vegas Majestic's Poker Room. The Chief of Poker Room Security, Talbot, The Poker Cop, continues the investigation.
Detective Rook, Chief of the Las Vegas Strip Police, ignores Donny the Dealer's story of the strange goings-on at the Sinners Table and to Red Penny and me he says, "This was not a total waste of my time. While you two were watching the betting and raising, I was watching, and taking notes, on the drinks. Before I see the bartenders and the waitresses I want an explanation of how poker room bar service works."
Red Penny calls the Food and Beverage Manager, who sends down Ann Gilhooley, the Department's Beverage Services Supervisor.
Ann Gilhooley, "Ancient Annie," is a sour-faced curmudgeonly old lady who, according to Joey Rosenberg, was the waitress at the Last Supper. Annie, charming as ever, walks in and asks Rook, "Who the hell are you?". . . Read more
Return to Top
Bay 101's Shooting Star Event
By Erik Seidel
When spring rolls around, professional tournament players begin to focus their energies on the most important tournaments of the year, the WSOP & now the Bellagio Five-Star World Poker Classic events. These tournaments are where reputations & bankrolls are made. Spring also brings with it Bay 101's Shooting Star tournament & for pure fun there is no better event to play all
year.
The concept is that each of the 15 tables has a poker star who also serves as a bounty. Knock the "Star" at your table out & you win back your $1500.00 entry fee, along with a t-shirt that reads "I Busted Phil or Juanda or whoever". This turns the "Star" players into human targets, & the other players into "Bounty Hunters". Once the tournament starts the bounty hunters
play the tournament to win, but at the same time batter the "Star" players like piρatas, leaving them feeling like they are under constant attack.
One things for sure, the Pentagon really ought to set up a recruiting table at Bay 101. They won't need to offer 25 million for Osama Bin Laden's capture. I guarantee that the best bounty hunters in the world are hanging out in San Jose and right now they are in relentless pursuit for a mere 1,500 dollars. Sign up a few of these Bay 101 bounty hunters & send them overseas & I've no doubt Bin Laden will be history before you can say "Phil Ivey wins another one".
The Bounty aspect keeps the room buzzing because every few minutes another "Star" is all in and all the locals want to see the "Star" go bust to one of the regulars. Local players everywhere secretly believe they have the moxie & skills to take out the world's top players and this tournament gives them the chance to prove it. I'm surprised other casino's haven't borrowed the concept of this event because it really is enjoyable for everyone involved & it's a way to bring some of the top players to the local cardroom.
Bay 101 does have a special atmosphere which may make the Shooting Star tournament hard to duplicate elsewhere. I don't know how they find their employees, but someone in human resources deserves a raise because they are the most personable and competent staff I've come across anywhere. Competing casino exec's ought to take a tour of Bay 101 in order to experience a cardroom that is the friendliest & best run casino on the planet.
Return to Top
Poker in the U.K.
Andrew Lacey of the PokerPages Team writes about poker in the UK.
Could the 2003 World Series of Poker title be coming to Britain or Ireland?
With the World Series of Poker looming in the not too distant future I thought I'd take a few moments to write about some of British and Irish players I feel are in with a real shot of claiming the big one, should they make the trip to Vegas. There are so many top tournament players in Britain and Ireland that I cannot list them all here and I know I run the risk of offending some players by omitting some names.
Amongst all of the top female players, many here believe Lucy Rokach has it what it takes to win the World Series $10,000 buy-in main event, and make history as the first woman to ever achieve this. Her performances worldwide to date in 2003 have been nothing short of remarkable. She is the toughest, most aggressive female player I have ever seen (I watched her win the big one live in Dublin last October and it was breathtaking to watch). We wish Lucy the best in her endeavours.
You cannot rule out any of the affable Hendon Mob players either. They have shown their class time and time again on the tournament circuit. Barny has done really well in Vegas in the past and this year I am sure he will be planning on climbing a few more notches up the ladder. Ross, Ram and Joe have it in them too to do very well in Vegas.
Dave "The Devilfish" Ulliott should be in the thick of the action too. A formidable tournament player Dave is fearless and unpredictable, and after taking first place at the World Poker Open in Tunica earlier this year, Dave's got to be feeling confident about his play in big tournaments.
And Julian Gardener, who finished runner-up last year, is also a strong contender. Recognized as one of the best up-and-coming natural poker players, Julian netted a cool $1.1 million last year for his 2nd place finish. Definitely one to be watched.
The in form Peter Costa has been playing excellently this year, and if he can continue his winning streak, he could well be a dark horse for the World Series.
Of my fellow Irish countrymen there are also a few who could be strong contenders, should they decide to make the journey. Noel Furlong, who won the title in 1999, should be vying to win it a second time. If Noel's aggressive and fearless style of play can amass a stack of chips for him to play with, I think he's in with a real shout to claim his second title.
Alan Betson is another tough player who has notched up some very impressive wins over the years, including claiming the 2001 European Hold'em Championship at the Euro Finals of Poker. Well, he beat me in Dublin last year so he must be good! And not only is Alan a lethal card player but he's also a very nice guy to boot. I wish him every success.
Padraig Parkinson, who came 3rd at the final table in 1999, is always a contender. Even if he cannot outplay his opponents on the day, Padraig has enough bad jokes to drive the opposition away from his table, leaving him with all the chips! Only joking Padraig, and best of luck if you travel over.
And of course it's not only the British and Irish players who'll be taking part. A strong line-up of Europe's best will also be there in numbers. It's always a great contest, and even though the main event is still weeks away, the sense of anticipation and expectation amongst our finest players is already strong in the minds and hearts of many.
Upcoming Events
Since our last newsletter in March, there have been no major tournaments in the UK or Ireland to report on. The only events taking place have been the regular, weekly, small buy-in events. But April 7th sees the start of the action again, beginning in Luton where the Grosvenor kicks off their Spring festival.
The Grosvenor Casino in Luton will hold their Spring Festival from- April 7-13. The Grosvenor kindly let me watch the final of the Poker Million live last month. I had a chance to see the cardroom there and I can attest to their dedication to poker. The weekly Friday and Saturday night programs always draw a lively, mixed bunch of players. If you are in the London area or can make the trip to Luton, please come play and help the very capable and committed team at the Grosvenor fill up the various events.
The Rendezvous in Brighton, now with increased seating capacity (up from 70 seats to 120) will host their Sussex Masters Easter Festival from April 14-21. We wish Deborah Rogers and the team at the Rendezvous every success with their enlarged festival. Deborah has also asked me to mention that Sporting Options, a new company in the UK, have agreed to sponsor their main event; the £250 No Limit Hold'em Event and have added £1,000 extra to the prize pool. At a time when a number of cardrooms around the world are scaling back the size of their poker rooms, the Rendezvous is taking the bold step of increasing the size of theirs. The onus is now on the poker players to voice their approval by taking part in the Easter festival. Everyone complains when a cardroom closes or scales back. When one is brave enough to expand, please show your approval by making the trip to Brighton and filling the events.
Back in my own home country the Merrion Club will host the Irish Open in Dublin from April 17-20. Under the directorship of Gentleman Liam Flood it promises to be a great success once again and we expect many of the UK's top players to make the short trip over. Having played there myself last October in the Winter festival (and coming a respectable 3rd place in the 300+30 No Limit event) I hope to make the trip myself and take part. Liam and the team in Dublin always run great tournaments and deserve a full field. I hope to see you there if you are going.
Until next time, take care
andrew@pokerpages.com
Return to Top
Poker Down Under
Reported by David Parlor
The New Zealand Poker Championships have reached their conclusion with the Kiwi's showing their great poker skills, taking out eight of the final ten placings in the main event. Jamil "The Real Deal" Dia proved too good for the other competitors adding the trophy and bracelet to his collection. The best Australian performer was Danny "Taibo" Thai who showed that his win in the Dealers Tournament was no one off, finishing a credible fourth. The other international to make the final table was Greg 'Axeman' Winters from the UK who is no stranger to poker tournaments in that part of the world.
The event was enjoyed by all who attended and I am sure will lead to an even better tournament next year. I know that many of the Crown staff that made the trip are already talking about it. I guess that is what happens when you only get to play twice a year.
For everyone else, there are the Crown weekly tournaments every Thursday in the Crown Poker Room. This week's event was Omaha Hi-Low and saw 60 entrants take their seats with many players having never played the game before. This resulted in many players seeing the flop and some great bad beat stories. Phil "Noodle" Cannon insisted on telling me how many times he got one sixth of the pot, while others were collecting half with one pair. Paul Ramondetta emerged as the eventual winner after gaining a sizeable chip stack on the final table with quad 6's.
Next week's event is Limit Holdem and is likely to sell out. For those that intend entering I suggest that you get there early or prepay your seat the day before.
I have had some interest from a player that would like to play small games in Perth. If you currently run a game in this city or would like to start one please email Oliver at: nysoly@iinet.net.au
For any other questions about Poker in Australia please email me.
-David Parlor
Return to Top
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.
Return to Top
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.
| 
