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PokerSchool Online
PSO Member Takes 2nd Place at the WSOP!
It is with great delight that we announce to the world
that a PokerSchool member reached 2nd position in a WSOP
event. Just missing out on that bracelet, but what an achievement
for Brian 'Shaggy' Plona, from Miller Place, NY. He entered
the Pot Limit Hold'em Event $2,500 and beat 213 other players
to take home 2nd place and a prize of $75,620.
Way to go Brian, we are all so very proud of you, and I
guess the drinks are on you in Tunica at the 2nd PSO Convention.
-Mark & Tina Napolitano
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
Who Wants to be a Millionaire?
Hello once again, and welcome back to poker in America.
It's May and that can only mean one thing. Local champs,
big time pros, and long shot hopefuls are headed to Binion's
Horse Shoe Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada for the 34th
World Series of Poker. Hold on to your hats because
we're just getting started. Be sure to stay wired to PokerPages.com
for all your tournament results, and exclusive 2003 WSOP
reports from noted columnist/poker pro, Nolan Dalla, and
photos of the winners all updated as each event concludes
every day at the Horseshoe.
2003
Photo Gallery
We're through the first 19 events already, so let's get
you up to date.
 Action
started off on April 15th with the Event
1 Employees only Limit Hold' Em event. 208 of the best
dealers, floor men, and staff from across the country dished
out the $500 dollars to kick off the 34th World Series.
David Lukaszewski, a Shift Manager at the Desert Diamond
Casino in Tucson, Arizona won the bracelet. Remarkably,
this is the first time David ever played a poker tournament
with a buy in larger than $50, not too bad for a rookie
at the biggest game in town! This just goes to show you,
while the experienced players certainly have an edge; it's
anybody's game
 Event
2 was the first day open to the public for play. Again
we had Limit Hold 'Em, but from here on out the buy-ins
would be dramatically increased. Today's event would cost
$2,000 for the whopping 422 players who would enter. Egyptian-born
Mohamed Ihrahim who now resides in Florida took home a crisp
$290,420. Not to bad for 2 days work. The teal prize pool
almost cracked 1 million at $784,920
 The
first of the 7-Card Stud games was on order for Event
3. The buy-in would be $1,500. A very strong field of
177 entered the arena to build a prize pool of $246,915,
a little less than what Mohamed Ihrahim won the previous
day for first place. On the 2nd day of the event, the prize
pool was hotly contested with the likes of World Class players
such as Jennifer Harman, Scotty Nguyen, Huck Seed, John
Juanda, and Daniel Negreanu. But it was a softer spoken,
pro that would be taking it all that day; Toto Leonidas
of Los Angeles, CA took first and $98,760. In what's been
my favorite quote so far from a WSOP winner, Leonidas remarked
after the win, "Fame and fortune is not really important
to me. Winning a poker tournament, even the World Series
of Poker, does not change who I am." Well put from
a class act.
 The
$2,000 Limit Omaha Hi/Lo was next in Event
4. With as popular as Omaha has been this year on the
tournament circuit, I was surprised to only see 175 players
enter the event. Chris "Jesus" Ferguson winner
of several WSOP Bracelets would overcome the other 174 players
and picked up $123,680 for his efforts. The very likeable
Ferguson had this to say after posing for the press, "Of
course the 2000 World Championship (in the main event) was
the best of all, but this one is really special to me because
I've won this event before and proved I could win it again."
My pick for the Main Event, Chip Jett came in 9th ($6,500).
 Event
5 was the first of the No limit Hold'em events. Here's
a riddle, what do you get when you have 407 entrants to
a 2K buy-in WSOP event? You get a prize pool of $757,020,
of course (after the Rake). The colorful Minneapolis Jim
Meehan, a Las Vegas attorney took the $280,100 1st place
prize and his first gold bracelet.
 Next
up to bat was my favorite event, the $1,500 Pot Limit Hold'em,
Event
6. The final table was comprised of three former gold
bracelet winners -- Mel Judah, Hans "Tuna" Lund,
and Brent Carter. Though it was to be a newcomer who would
claim the prize however. 24-year-old Prahlad Friedman of
California squeaked out the win for $109,400. Friedman,
a student at UC Berkley and was bold enough to criticize
President Bush's policies when handed the microphone after
the win. In a room full of cowboys and conservatives, it
caused quite a commotion. Though they say fortune favors
the brave and fortune was favoring Friedman this day.
 Event
7 7- Card Stud Hi/Lo followed the very next day. The
buy-in again was $1,500. Be honest, haven't we all thought
about saying this after winning a World Series event? "The
money is wonderful, but the bracelet is more important."
In true sports cliché fashion, that's exactly what
Minh Nguyen had to say for himself after running over the
other 190 players from this event Minh would take home $106,020
for his efforts.
 Moving
along to Event
8 we have Pot Limit Omaha. One of the few matches that
featured Re-buys during the first 2 hours. "Mr. 2nd
Place", also known as Erik Seidel, overcame the toughest
final table yet. Erik Seidel, Men 'the Master' Nguyen, Scotty
Warbucks, Chris Tsiprailidis, Jeff Shulman, all battled
it out tooth and nail on the 2nd day. But Seidel would prevail
in the end for a $146,100 prize. Oh, by the way, the so
called "Mr. 2nd place" already had victories in
Limit Hold'em (1992), Omaha High-Low (1993), Limit Hold'em
(1994), No-Limit Deuce-to-Seven Lowball (1998), No-Limit
Hold'em (2001), and now Pot-Limit Omaha (2003), making him
a WSOP champ 6 times over.
 On
to Event
9, the newly popular H.O.R.S.E.tournament and guess
who decided to show up? None other than Texas Dolly, Doyle
Brunson. The author of what many players consider the bible
of poker, and 8-time WSOP Bracelet winner wanted to go for
number 9. What Doyle wants, Doyle gets, as he made hasty
to collect the win ($84,080) and his 9th bracelet. Nolan
Dalla reported this way:
For poker fans and players of all ages, it was the equivalent
of seeing Jack Nicklaus win the Masters in the twilight
of his career, or watching Babe Ruth hit a home run in his
final at bat. Many years from now, those who witnessed this
historical milestone will be able to look back and say,
"I was there."
Event
10 featured 1/2 Limit Hold'em- 1/2 7- Card Stud for
a buy in of 2 grand. Chris Ferguson seems like he's on a
mission to surpass Doyle Brunson's gold bracelet count.
I think he might be trying to do it all in one year, as
he picked up his 2nd first place finish in as many weeks.
First place also got Chris $66,220. There were only 89 players
in this event and Diego Cordovez and Humberto Brenes finished
2nd and 3rd respectively.
 Event
11 featured the first of the $2,500 buy-ins. What better
way to kick it off than with some good old fashioned No
limit Hold 'Em. Phi Nguyen from Santa Ana, CA picked up
his 1st bracelet, overcoming a final table full of seasoned
pros. Phi won just under a quarter of a million dollars
for his effort. Read the report to what Nolan referred to
as the "most staggering upsets in World Series of Poker
history", by clicking here.
 On
to Event
12 and some Limit Hold'em. It would cost the 194 players
$2,500 to play. The Youngest Champ in poker history Phil
Hellmuth Jr. must have heard they were giving bracelets
out to former world champs. Surely he had heard that the
man he's been chasing for many years for the most WSOP victories
just won his 9th a few days earlier. Love him or hate him,
the controversial Hellmuth is a force to be reckoned with
when it comes to Hold'em tournaments. "I have cost
myself millions of dollars with my temper," Said Hellmuth
after the win as players were trying to flare up Phil's
temper. Phil had the last laugh however, to the tune of
$171,400
 Newcomer
Michael Saltzburg of Hollidaysburg, PA won lucky Event
13. Would you believe he was playing in his first ever
poker tournament away from the kitchen table? Believe it.
Out of the 103 players that entered the event the last 2,
TJ Cloutier and Mimi Tran, proved to be the most formidable.
Saltzburg however caught several key hands late to preserve
his chip lead and win the match. He would end the day $95,580
richer.
 Just
28 players turned out for Event
14 No Limit Deuce to Seven Draw. This event typically
has a low turn out, I think for 2 reasons. 1) Not many people
know how to play it well enough to invest in the $5,000
buy in, and 2) the pros who do know how to play it, are
normally very good at it. O'Neil Longson a Las Vegas resident
took the first place prize of $147,680. Chris Ferguson made
another final table but had to settle for 3rd and $32,820
 Onwards
to Event
15 and the $5,000 buy-in No Limit Hold'em. This is a
big boys game and the big boys (and girls) were out in force.
The Orient Express, Johnny Chan, who in his 20 years of
playing in the World Series had demonstrated many times
how he dominates at No Limit, needed to work overtime in
this event. It took 11 hours to break his other 9 opponents
at the final table, but he eventually collected the $224,400
1st place prize. As always, we'll have to keep an eye out
for Johnny in the Main Event.
 It
was back to some Omaha in Event
16, Limit Omaha. Reduced Buy-ins for this event at $1,500.
That's chump change, right? Not for this writer. The 1st
place prize of $63,600 would go to the returning champ of
the same event from 2 years earlier; Eddy Scharf of Cologne,
Germany. He worked his way through the other 199 players
to reclain the title he won in 2001.
 The
final event in our 2-part re-cap is Event
17 Limit Texas Hold'em. With another low buy-in you
figured there would be a big turn out. The players didn't
disappoint. 346 players hit the tables and it was Binion's
poker dealer, Johnny Arrage, who marched to victory to win
$178,600 and his first gold bracelet. My guess is someone
is going to be asking for some vacation time.
That's the main attraction, but be sure to turn to PokerPages.com
for the results of the other tournaments that are currently
running, like Ocean's 11s' Fun
in the Sun, The Bicycle Casino's Mini
Series of Poker, and much, much more.
Also, if you haven't heard, we've just gotten the schedule
for the 2003 Jack Binion World
Poker Open , and to celebrate BugsysClub.com is hosting
one heck of a freeroll tournament for a seat in the Main
Event, that guarantees the winner 1 million dollars. To
read more about this monumental freeroll click
here
Until next time, keep raising
Tim Kopp
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 The
Big One III
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*** The Winter Final on December 20th. ***
Watch this space for more information about the Big One III!
To see results of Big One III Spring Final,
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here, and to read the Big One III
wrap up report, click
here.
Poker In Europe
Kevin Pratt of PokerPages writes about Poker in Europe
With all of the action centered around Las Vegas and the
World Series it was left to the splendid Taleon Club in
St Petersburg, Russia to stage the only tournaments in Europe
since the last newsletter. The Taleon
Masters 2003 didn't attract the big names as it did
in 2002 but one player who wasn't complaining was Murray
Brown from England.
 Murray,
who captained England to 2nd place in the Nations Cup, came
5th in the $150 Pot Limit Hold'em and then proceeded to
win the next 3 consecutive events; $500 Pot Limit Omaha,
$300 Limit Hold'em and the $300 Pot Limit 7-Card Stud. This
is no mean feat at any festival and congratulations to Murray
for doing the hat trick.
The main event $1,000 No Limit Hold'em was won by Valery
Ilikian, ($11,200) with the $200 Omaha Hi/Lo going to Alexander
Kuzmin ($4,300).
The next festival in Europe is The Fortuna Cup, Third
Estonian Poker Championships in Talin, Estonia and I
will be bringing you the results from this in our next newsletter.
Until then good luck,
Kevin Pratt
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Player Articles
 That
Damn Poker School Online: A 2003 WSOP Report
By Dr. Mark Burtman
To say that I have been running bad is an understatement.
I have now seen how streaky tournament play can be. Coming
into the WSOP(World Series of Poker), I had only one final
table for the year. My personal life has also been turbulent
as well. I have become divorced and sold my practice in
Paducah. Thus I find myself presently homeless and unemployed.
I feel like a true road gambler. However, despite the immediate
disarray in my life, I have a job lined up in Mississippi,
and I look forward to putting many of my past problems behind
me. The sale of my clinic has given me a bit of a bankroll
to play on, while I wait for my Mississippi license to come
through. So here I am at the WSOP.
I don't have the money to play all the events here at the
WSOP, so I have been focusing mostly on Hi-Lo events and
some mixed games with a few Hold-em events mixed in, avoiding
all of the limit Hold-em events. I have also been playing
super-satellites. I came very close in the first super-satellite
I played. I finished third, when they gave away only two
seats. I moved in from the big blind with pocket 5's against
the small blind. He faded the bet with pocket Kings, which
he had also had, when we were heads up in the blinds last
round. Luckily I flopped my set, but for me excitement didn't
last long, as the King fell on the turn and I was done.
I still took in over $2000 for third, which paid for the
Omaha 8 tournament. Read
More.....
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Poker in the U.K.
Andrew Lacey of the PokerPages Team writes about poker in the UK.
Update on British and Irish players playing in Las Vegas
While many of the British and Irish players have not arrived
in Las Vegas yet (many fly out this week/coming weekend)
some have already participated in the "smaller"
buy-in events at the 34th
World Series of Poker . Here's an update on those who
have placed high in the money so far.
 In
Event
8, the 2 Day $1,500 buy-in (with re-buys) Pot Limit
Omaha event, two players from England made the final table,
from a field of 117. Jeff Duvall from London eventually
ended up taking 4th place and $23,060, with in form Dave
Colclough having to settle for 9th spot and $7,860. Quite
a few people expect Dave to do well in Vegas, and he certainly
seems to be on top of his game this year. He is currently
top of the European rankings for 2003.
 Event
13, the 2 Day $2,500 buy-in 7 Card Stud tournament,
saw Peter Costa from Leicester, England make it to the final
table. Many consider Peter to be a dark horse for the main
event later this month, but on this occasion he went out
in 9th position from a field of 103 entrants, picking up
$3,600.
 In
Event
15, the 2 Day $5,000 buy-in No Limit Hold'em event,
3 English players impressively made the tough final table,
which featured such legends as Johnny Chan (eventual winner),
Huck Seed, Amir Vahedi and Layne Flack. It was the man from
the Midlands, Surinder Sunar, who did battle heads-up with
Chan for this bracelet and title. Chan won this particular
battle and scooped $224,400. While no doubt disappointed
at missing out on the bracelet and title, Surinder pocketed
$112,200 for his runners-up spot. Also in the money at the
final table were Carlo Citrone who finished 7th winning
$17,700 and Jason Gray from London in 8th spot, winning
$14,800.
Dave
Colclough was back in the thick of things in Event
16, the 2 Day $1,500 buy-in Limit Omaha game. Dave did
battle with a formidable line-up of poker stars at the final
table, including Phil Hellmuth Jr., Men "The Master"
Nguyen, Steve Zolotow and the 2001 winner of this same event,
Eddy Scharf from Cologne, Germany. Scharf was well used
to making long trips, as he is a commercial airline pilot
with German airline Lufthansa. He was glad he made this
one as he winged his way to victory for the second time
in 3 years in this event, staging a dramatic comeback when
he only had a tiny stack of chips. He did heads-up battle
with Dave Colclough for his second bracelet and title, netting
$63,600 for first, while Dave won $31,900 for second.
 Ian
Dobson, from Aldridge, England, made the final table in
Event
19, the 2 Day $2,500 buy-in Pot Limit Hold'em tournament.
Ian wound up in 7th position in this one, winning $9,960
in the process. We expect to see Ian at a few more final
tables before the World Series of Poker concludes later
this month.
In Event
20, the Seniors' $1,000 No Limit Hold'em game, one English
player made the final table from a field of 378 players.
It was Ian McDonald who unfortunately was first to be eliminated
from the final table, going out in 10th place. Ian picked
up $4,220 for his efforts.
 This
week the skies will be busy, as many of the top poker professionals
(and some enthusiasts) make the trip west to Vegas. The
highly skilled Hendon Mob fly out later this week so expect
to see Barny Boatman, brother Ross Boatman, Ram Vaswani
and Joe Beevers in the news shortly. They are all capable
of winning the big one, as they have proven their talent
repeatedly at the tables worldwide, over the years. We wish
every success to all the British and Irish players in Vegas,
and I'll be rooting for one of our own to take the trophy
back to Europe.
If you login to the www.pokerpages.com Forum
(you need to register there separately, if you have not
done so already, and registration is free), we are running
a competition to predict who will be 2003's World Series
of Poker champion. Go to the Tournament section in the Forum,
and click WSOP 2003. It's free to enter and you can win
a year's membership to PokerSchoolOnline.com and a $40 real
money account at BugsysClub.com
In the event of more than one player naming the winner,
then there will be a tournament play off in BugsysClub,
to determine the winner of the prize. Remember to be registered
and logged into the forum, otherwise we will not be able
to identify you to award the prize.
 I
personally have predicted Lucy Rokach from Stoke, England
to not only emerge as champion, but to become the first
woman ever to claim the title in the history of the World
Series. I hear on good authority that Lucy will be entering,
so she is my choice.
The month of May is probably the most exciting month in
the poker year as the momentum gathers pace at the World
Series of Poker, culminating in the 5 Day $10,000 buy-in
No Limit Hold'em Main Event, starting May 19th. PokerPages
will bring you the fastest, most reliable results and reports
service on the 34th World Series of Poker from Las Vegas,
so be sure to check back daily with us. Here's wishing all
our players in Vegas every success.
Until next time, take care…
Andrew Lacey
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Poker Down Under
Reported by David Parlor
The Melbourne Championships have just reached their conclusion and already
some players are counting the sleeps until the Victorian
Championship at Crown in August. Many players travelled
from interstate and New Zealand to be a part of this event,
surprising the organisers with a bigger than expected attendance.
86 players entered the first event, building a prize pool
of over $15 000. The final table saw a good mix of local
and interstate players, with Melbourne local Wilson Huang
taking out first prize and over $5 000 in prize money.
The Limit Seven Card tournament saw two of Australia's
Poker heavyweights fight it out in a heads up battle for
over an hour. At one stage Billy "Croc" Argyros
had gained a 2 to chip lead over Gary Benson only to see
Gary chip away at Croc and eventually take the title hitting
his straight on the river to beat Croc's two pair.
The No Limit Holdem event is always a favourite and this
time proved no exception. With Overall Point's Champion
to be decided on this event, players had more at stake than
just finishing in the money. Fortunately for Milo Nadalin,
who finished third, this was enough to secure the title
of Overall Point's Championship. David Mahoney won the event
taking home close to $5 000.
Super satellites were held for next years Australasian
Championship Main Event with three seats given away throughout
the week, bringing the total entries to 10 and a prize pool
of $100 000. With over 120 entries in this year's event
I would not be surprised to see over 200 in next year's.
There are still plenty of opportunities to qualify through
satellites at Crown in the upcoming tournaments throughout
the year, which should see some locals get their chance
at some huge prize money.
For any other questions about Poker in Australia please
e-mail 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.
| 
The
2003 World Poker Open was won by Dave 'Devilfish' Ulliott from
England who totally dominated the final table and took home $589,990
and a seat in the $25,000 World Poker Tour Final.
The
Jack Binion 5th Annual 
