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Last night UB.com (aka the cheating poker site formerly known as Ultimate Bet) launched a new TV show called Poker2Nite.  The show is hosted by Joe Sebok and Scott Huff and is supposed to be some kind of poker talk show.  For the very first episode they brought on former real-world hot tub three-way specialist (according to her wikipedia page), Trishelle Cannatella.

The interview started off with the 3 chatting about Trishelle’s last name, then Sebok asks why she is dressed so modest.  Trishelle gets extremely “upset” and storms off the set.  While on her way out, Huff says to her, “Maybe you’d be more comfortable if we did this in a hot tub”.

After watching this video, it looks like this is purely a marketing ploy for the show considering all 3 of these characters have ties to Ultimate Bet.  As Trishelle is walking off the set the look in her face is more of a smirk then actual anger, and Sebok himself seems to have a smile on his fase as well.  Here is the video here:

Cannatanella also seems to be the latest AP/UB “hot chick” poker player as she was seen playing the WPT Celebrity Invatational sporting an AbsolutePoker.com patch seen here.  To her credit she did end up coming 3rd in the tournament winning $20,000.

Ah well, I guess everyone has their price.

Ranger’s keeper Allan McGregor was recently interrogated by the police about an incident where he was left black and blue in an alleged assault.  When the police showed up at McGregor’s door he happened to be in the middle of a “serious” poker session and didn’t that get in the way of his interrogation.

The police questioned McGregor for a total of 2 hours, while all the while he continued to play at his favourite online poker site.  Which site he was playing on, and whether he cashed big has yet to be confirmed.

The fight was also rumoured to begin after another poker related incident.  Rumours state that McGregor was pestering Kellyann Heffernan (a babe at his local poker club) for a date.  He bombarded her with texts and x-rated images all in an attempt to whoo her over.  Unfortunately for him, Heffernan told media: “There’s more chance of him playing for Barcelona than hooking up with me, but he doesn’t know how to take no for an answer.”

McGregor’s interest in poker began after dating Canadian poker player, Bronwyn Campbell (shown in the picture above in Las Vegas).  McGregor isn’t the first sports celebrity to make the news around poker.  Poker Stars boasts several big name sports stars in their list of pros including Boris Becker and Mats Sundin.

Chalk this one up as an “only in America” kind of story.  Just the other day, Idaho police raided a poker game being held by a bunch of pensioners with a $20 buy-in and asked them to stop holding their game as it was “illegal” for them to do so.

The seniors, who were living at The Twin Falls Home, regularily held a poker game with about 20 people in it and a $20 buy-in for fun once a week.  The pots could reach as high as $500 which was split amongst the top 2 players.  The winners regularily donated this money to the senior center instead of blowing it on booze and drugs diapers and medication and didn’t think there was anything illegal about the game.  Unfortunately Idaho police disagreed.

According to police the seniors were violating the Idaho law that states: “risking any money, credit, deposit or other thing of value for gain contingent in whole or in part upon lot, chance, the operation of a gambling device or the happening or outcome of an event, including a sporting event, the operation of casino gambling including, but not limited to, blackjack, craps, roulette, poker, baccarat or keno.”

For many of the seniors this game was the highlight of their week, but now it must all be stopped as police warned them to put an end to the game.

“I don’t have many things that I can do,” noted the wheelchair-bound Norman Pohl. “I met so many people… I would look forward to it every week.”

It’s too bad that the US is now turned to threatening to lock up those who have made the country what it is today over a game that they are willing participants in.  The government really needs to take it easy and let people do what they want with their hard earned money!

According to a recent study performed by a group of Canadian scientists and this site, poker is apparently considered to be a stress reliever.

Apparently these scientists found during their study that the more poker players become involved in a game the less signs of cortisol they have in their blood stream.  Cortisol is the stress hormone created naturally by the body.  Too much of it can be deadly!

During the study with the poker players they found that on average the amount of cortisol in their blood decreased by 17% throughout a prolonged session.  They believe the reasoning for this reduction is because while the players are playing they become so focussed that the stresses of their everyday life simply slip out of their mind.

Sure, this makes sense, but obviously the players involved in this study didn’t receive any brutal suckouts during their play or were good poker players to begin with.  I know that when I play I can get extremely stressed after my aces get cracked by some douchebags 98 offsuit.  Also, I find it stressful that I seem to lose a lot of money playing poker.  Good thing I wasn’t in that study!

Every year Pokerstars runs the biggest series of online poker tournaments called the Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP), and 2010 is no exception!  As always these tournaments seem to get bigger and bigger every year, with more cash up for grabs.  Just like last year they will continue to have the 3 levels of buyins for the games, making them affordable to everyone.  There will be a low, medium and high variety of each of the games with buyins as low as $5.50 and as high as $25,500 (for the High Roller heads-up tournament).

The tournament, which will consist of 33 events with 3 versions (99 total), is set to begin on May 3rd and will run for just under 2 weeks until May 16th.  All of the tournaments have HUGE guaranteed prizepools, so do not miss out on the chance to win some great money!  Without further adieu, here is the schedule for the 2010 Spring Championship of Online Poker:

Pokerstars 2010 SCOOP Schedule

Event 1: No-Limit Hold’em with Re-buys Six-Max
May 3, 2010
Low: $5.50 buy-in, $250,000 guaranteed
Med: $55 buy-in, $500,000 guaranteed
High: $530 buy-in, $1,000,000 guaranteed

Event 2: Fixed-Limit Badugi
May 3, 2010
Low: $16.50 buy-in, $25,000 guaranteed
Med: $162 buy-in, $50,000 guaranteed
High: $1,575 buy-in, $75,000 guaranteed

Event 3: Pot-Limit Five-Card Draw
May 4, 2010
Low: $11 buy-in, $25,000 guaranteed
Med: $109 buy-in, $50,000 guaranteed
High: $1,050 buy-in, $75,000 guaranteed

Event 4: No-Limit Hold’em Heads-Up Match Play
May 4, 2010
Low: $16.50 buy-in, $100,000 guaranteed
Med: $162 buy-in, $250,000 guaranteed
High: $1,575 buy-in, $500,000 guaranteed

Event 5: No-Limit Hold’em
May 4, 2010
Low: $11 buy-in, $100,000 guaranteed
Med: $109 buy-in, $200,000 guaranteed
High: $1,050 buy-in, $500,000 guaranteed

Event 6: Mixed Hold’em Six-Max
May 5, 2010
Low: $22 buy-in, $100,000 guaranteed
Med: $215 buy-in, $200,000 guaranteed
High: $2,100 buy-in, $400,000 guaranteed

Event 7: Seven Card Stud
May 5, 2010
Low: $33 buy-in, $25,000 guaranteed
Med: $320 buy-in, $50,000 guaranteed
High: $3,150 buy-in, $100,000 guaranteed

Event 8: Pot-Limit Omaha Heads-Up Match Play
May 6, 2010
Low: $22 buy-in, $25,000 guaranteed
Med: $215 buy-in, $100,000 guaranteed
High: $2,100 buy-in, $200,000 guaranteed

Event 9: No-Limit Hold’em
May 6, 2010
Low: TBD buy-in, $100,000 guaranteed
Med: TBD buy-in, $200,000 guaranteed
High: TBD buy-in, $300,000 guaranteed

Event 10: No-Limit Hold’em Ante-Up
May 7, 2010
Low: $16.50 buy-in, $50,000 guaranteed
Med: $162 buy-in, $100,000 guaranteed
High: $1,575 buy-in, $200,000 guaranteed

Event 11: Fixed-Limit Omaha High-Low
May 7, 2010
Low: $55 buy-in, $50,000 guaranteed
Med: $530 buy-in, $150,000 guaranteed
High: $5,200 buy-in, $250,000 guaranteed

Event 12: No-Limit Hold’em 2x Chance Turbo
May 7, 2010
Low: $16.50 buy-in, $250,000 guaranteed
Med: $162 buy-in, $500,000 guaranteed
High: $1,575 buy-in, $750,000 guaranteed

Event 13: No-Limit Hold’em Shootout
May 8, 2010
Low: $22 buy-in, $15,000 guaranteed (Quadruple Shootout)
Med: $215 buy-in, $150,000 guaranteed (Triple Shootout)
High: $2,100 buy-in, $200,000 guaranteed (Double Shootout)

Event 14: Pot-Limit Omaha with Re-buys Six-Max
May 8, 2010
Low: $16.50 buy-in, $100,000 guaranteed
Med: $162 buy-in, $250,000 guaranteed
High: $1,575 buy-in, $500,000 guaranteed

Event 15: No-Limit Hold’em Big Antes
May 9, 2010
Low: $22 buy-in, $250,000 guaranteed
Med: $215 buy-in, $750,000 guaranteed
High: $2,100 buy-in, $750,000 guaranteed

Event 16: No-Limit Hold’em Two Day Event
May 9, 2010
Low: $22 buy-in, $500,000 guaranteed
Med: $215 buy-in, $1,500,000 guaranteed
High: $2,100 buy-in, $2,000,000 guaranteed

Event: 17: Pot-Limit Hold’em, Pot-Limit Omaha
May 10, 2010
Low: $16.50 buy-in, $100,000 guaranteed
Med: $162 buy-in, $200,000 guaranteed
High: $1,575 buy-in, $300,000 guaranteed

Event 18: No-Limit Hold’em Four-Max
May 10, 2010
Low: $33 buy-in, $150,000 guaranteed
Med: $320 buy-in, $300,000 guaranteed
High: $3,150 buy-in, $500,000 guaranteed

Event 19: Deuce-Seven Triple Draw
May 11, 2010
Low: $11 buy-in, $25,000 guaranteed
Med: $109 buy-in, $50,000 guaranteed
High: $1,050 buy-in, $75,000 guaranteed

Event 20: Seven Card Stud High-Low
May 11, 2010
Low: $22 buy-in, $50,000 guaranteed
Med: $215 buy-in, $100,000 guaranteed
High: $2,100 buy-in, $150,000 guaranteed

Event 21: No-Limit Hold’em
May 11, 2010
Low: $11 buy-in, $100,000 guaranteed
Med: $109 buy-in, $200,000 guaranteed
High: $1,050 buy-in, $500,000 guaranteed

Event 22: Razz
May 12, 2010
Low: $22 buy-in, $50,000 guaranteed
Med: $215 buy-in, $100,000 guaranteed
High: $2,100 buy-in, $150,000 guaranteed

Event 23: No-Limit Hold’em with Two Re-buys & One Add-on
May 12, 2010
Low: $22 buy-in, $100,000 guaranteed
Med: $215 buy-in, $300,000 guaranteed
High: $2,100 buy-in, $500,000 guaranteed

Event 24: Eight-Game
May 13, 2010
Low: $33 buy-in, $75,000 guaranteed
Med: $320 buy-in, $150,000 guaranteed
High: $3,150 buy-in, $250,000 guaranteed

Event 25: Pot-Limit Omaha High-Low
May 13, 2010
Low: $11 buy-in, $75,000 guaranteed
Med: $109 buy-in, $150,000 guaranteed
High: $1,050 buy-in, $300,000 guaranteed

Event 26: No-Limit Hold’em with One Re-buy & One Add-on
May 14, 2010
Low: $22 buy-in, $250,000 guaranteed
Med: $215 buy-in, $500,000 guaranteed
High: $2,100 buy-in, $1,000,000 guaranteed

Event 27: Fixed-Limit Hold’em Six-Max
May 14, 2010
Low: $55 buy-in, $100,000 guaranteed
Med: $530 buy-in, $200,000 guaranteed
High: $5,200 buy-in, $300,000 guaranteed

Event 28: No-Limit Omaha High-Low Turbo
May 14, 2010
Low: $22 buy-in, $50,000 guaranteed
Med: $215 buy-in, $100,000 guaranteed
High: $2,100 buy-in, $200,000 guaranteed

Event 29: Pot-Limit Omaha
May 15, 2010
Low: $55 buy-in, $100,000 guaranteed
Med: $530 buy-in, $250,000 guaranteed
High: $5,200 buy-in, $500,000 guaranteed

Event 30: HORSE
May 15, 2010
Low: $22 buy-in, $50,000 guaranteed
Med: $215 buy-in, $100,000 guaranteed
High: $2,100 buy-in, $200,000 guaranteed

Event 31: No-Limit Hold’em Six-Max
May 16, 2010
Low: $22 buy-in, $20,000 guaranteed
Med: $215 buy-in, $750,000 guaranteed
High: $2,100 buy-in, $750,000 guaranteed

Event 32: No-Limit Hold’em Heads-Up Match Play Two Day Event
May 16, 2010
Low: $270 buy-in, $250,000 guaranteed
Med: $2,600 buy-in, $500,000 guaranteed
High: $25,500 buy-in, $750,000 guaranteed

Event 33: No-Limit Hold’em Main Event Two Day Event
May 16, 2010
Low: $109 buy-in, $1.000,000 guaranteed
Med: $1,050 buy-in, $3,000,000 guaranteed
High: $10,300 buy-in, $5,000,000 guaranteed

To take part in the events, visit Pokerstars.com and use Pokerstars Marketing Code FUZIONPOKER for a 100% up to $600 bonus on your first deposit!