Poker Blog & Poker Forum

The European Poker Tour (EPT) Season 6, which kicked off with the event at Kyiv in August 2009, ended fittingly at Monte Carlo.

The last event was the ETP Grand Final High Roller Event with a top prize of almost a million euros. This was won by the 22 year old German pro Tobias Reinkemeier who beat luminaries like Jason Mercier, Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, Barry Greenstein, Vanessa Rousso and Daniel Negreanu. Boris Becker provided the non poker celebrity value. This win was all the sweeter for Reinkemeier because it was the only Season 6 event to be won by a German. He said, “It’s an overwhelming feeling. The field was definitely tough but what do you expect for a €25,000 event?” Reinkemeier will be donating 2% of his winnings to the All4Kids charity.
Earlier Nicolas “niccc” Chouity of Lebanon won the EPT Grand Final with the €1.7 million top prize. Chouity had won his seat for this event in a $22 rebuy tournament on PokerStars. After winning the prize, Chouity said, “It’s a dream come true. I feel great. I had confidence coming into the final and I had the chip lead but you never know with poker and I was going for first, only first.” However those who were hoping for a repeat performance by a female poker player after Liv’s win at San Remo must have been disappointed.
There was the customary end of the season ETP awards announced. 22 year old Max Lykov from Russia won the Player of the Year. At the other end of the spectrum 68 year old Pierre Neuville won Online Qualifier of the Year. Neuville qualified for 10 of the 13 Season 6 events with the best performance of being runner-up at EPT Vilamoura. Exhibiting the exuberance of a teenager he said, “I’m simply the happiest poker player in the world. It couldn’t be better. It’s my best poker day in my life. With this award, I don’t mind if I have a bad beat forever.”

This year the Tournament of Champions will be held during the WSOP events. 27 players will be competing for a $1 million prize pool with the winner getting half of it. 25 of these players will be the world’s top poker professionals and two will be nominated by the sponsors. The WSOP announcement reads, “Poker has never seen an All-Star Event such as this, as 25 of the players are among the exclusive club of WSOP bracelet-holders and some of the most notable and decorated players in the game.”

Five of the players have been given direct entry. Annie Duke, Mike Matusow and Mike Sexton are past winners of this event. Joe Cada is the reigning WSOP champion and Barry Shulman is the reigning WSPOE champion. The remaining twenty will be selected on the basis of a vote of poker players from around the world. One month of voting has been completed on the basis of which WSOP has released the names of those currently in the top twenty spots.

Some of the big names in that list are Doyle Brunson, Johnny Chan, Chris Ferguson, Phil Hellmuth, Phil Ivey, Daniel Negreanu and Scotty Nguyen. The lone representative of womankind is Jennifer Harman. The list contains enough explosive ingredients to make sure that the Tournament of Champions will have its moments of drama.

There are still two months of voting to go and beyond doubt some of the names from the current list will disappear. Some from the current top 50 will break into the top 20. The most likely candidates are Chris Moneymaker, Annette Obrestad, Peter Eastgate and Jamie Gold. There is one man in the present top 50 who has had a torrid time in the recent past and deserves a break in life. He is Amarillo Slim Preston. If you think so as well you can vote for him here.

The Canadian Poker Tour (CPT) has struggled the last few years, but with the recent aquisition by Headsup Entertainment, it appears the tour is returning to its former glory, and with any luck at all, even set new goals for itself in the future.

Not only is the CPT starting to regain ground in the western provinces, where it truly has gained in popularity, but its now looking at expanding into the online world with its very own online TV network, set to begin broadcasting in the last quarter of 2009 (meaning VERY soon hopefully).  The network will primarily cover the major Canadian poker events from across the country, as well as provide behind the scenes peak at life on the Canadian poker tour circuit in documentary format.  Headsup Entertainment president Kelly Kellner stated “Players and fans alike will have an innovative and effective means to pursue their interest in the sport and we couldn’t be more excited.”

And neither can the ambitious players who have come to play these events.  Albeit currently smaller than other national leagues, the attendance at various events across the country continues to grow, and the prize pools and p0int structure of the events make them very popular.  There are now more events available in Ontario, a market that hasn’t been saturated nearly enough, and prospects look good to include more eastern province events as well.  The biggest tournament on the CPT – the Canadian Open Championship – continues to build a solid reputation with a number of elite poker players attending.  Past events have included such big names as Phil Hellmuth, Jeff Madsen, Brad Booth, and Huck Seed, who won the event in 2008.

Kellner also mentioned that the launching of the new video site will be a key step  in their plans to expand to international markes and build on an exisiting partnership with the World Poker Showdown.  This along with the relauching of Canadian Poker Player magazine are just the first key steps in an aggressive strategy for Headsup Entertainment to capture the very soul of the Canadian poker player and bring it into the international spotlight again.

Its an exciting time to be a Canadian poker player again.  With the expansion plans of Headsup Entertainment, and the availability of a truely national tour such as this, the oppurtunities for Canadian players continues to grow rapidly.  Its a well known fact that the best players in the game are Canadians, but up until now, its only been a national secret.  With this new format for the CPT, and the partnership with the World Poker Showdown, the tour is ready is prove to the world that we are the number one players on the globe.

Monday Aug 3 2009 was a sad day for the online poker world.

Andreas Oscarsson, found of PokerListings.com, a popular online website offering information, news, and training materials, was found shot to death while on vacation in his hometown in Sweden.  Not a lot of details are available yet, however there is speculation that the killer somehow gained access to his boyhood home and committed the murder as retribution for a past event.  However, this is mere speculation at this time.

Although no longer active in the operational aspects of PokerListings, Andreas used his vast knowledge and experience in an advisory role in building the current team.

FuzionPoker wishes to extend our deepest sympathies to his family and friends.

For the original announcement, please click this link

http://www.pokerlistings.com/pokerlistings-founder-passes-away-43083

PokerStars, the premier online poker site, has announced this week a new battle of international proportions called AMERICAS CUP OF POKER. This event brings together 16 teams from different North and South American countries, as well as three ‘wildcard’ entries from other countries around the world, to battle it out to determine who is the BEST in the Americas. It all comes together in a live final to be held in Cerro Catedral Ski Resort in Argentia in the near future.

The 16 teams are split into four groups to start with

• Group A – USA, Mexico, Ecuador, and Wildcard1
• Group B – Canada, Columbia, Uruguay, and Wildcard2
• Group C – Chile, Venezula, Peru, and Costa Rica
• Group D – Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina, and Wildcard3

What makes this challenge even more exciting is the buyin levels for each round. Daily freerolls are being offered, as well as $0.20 and $5.50 tournaments every day. Check out the PokerStars lobby under Tournaments/Regional to find which countries play against each other in the first round.

Group play will take about three weeks to complete in a round robin format. Players score points for their country by making the top 100 in the daily tournaments, and the two countries with the most points after all the matches are complete move on to a live final in Argentina. Each country for the live event will be made of five players who earned the most points during the group stage for their country as well as a PokerStars Pro to lead them in the final battle. First prize at the live event is $100,000!!

For more information, go to www.pokerstars.com/poker/promotions/americas-cup/

Good luck to all who participate…but GO CANADA GO!!