Online Poker

SCOOP: djk123 Nabs Sixth COOP Title, RandAllin Wins First

Thu, 23 May 2013 07:20:58 -0700

The U.S. pro outlasted 97 players in Event 30-H to win $45,377. It was his second PokerStars SCOOP title but he already has a record four WCOOP wins.

As a sharp contrast fellow MTT grinder Randal “RandAllin” Flowers finally got his due by winning his first SCOOP in the $2,100 PLO ZOOM tournament.

Some of the other notable players to make decent scores last night included Justin Bonomo and upstart online high-stakes player jama-dharma.

Jude Ainsworth also final tabled the $1,050 NLHE event that also included Giuseppe “Ansgar2000” Pantaleo.

Here’s a look at two of the most significant tables last night:

Kelly Outlasts Bonomo to Win $2,100 Razz

Dan Kelly busted ZeeJustin in sixth.

Dan Kelly proved his diversity by picking up a win in Event 30-H $2,100 Razz yesterday.

It was Kelly’s second SCOOP but once you add his four WCOOP titles he’s up to six overall COOP victories. That’s second only to Shaun Deeb who has a total of seven COOP titles, with five in SCOOP.

The final table in Event 30-H was no cakewalk, as Kelly had to deal with noted high-stakes pro Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo. Kelly came to play, however, and he eventually busted Bonomo in sixth.

Here’s a look at the final-table results:

1. Daniel "djk123" Kelly (Australia) - $45,377.50* 2. SebbyGl (Germany) - $43,377.50* 3. ShellyCalls (Australia) - $27,160.00 4. redeste (Russia) - $18,430.00 5. AceQuad (Mexico) - $13,580.00 6. Justin "ZeeJustin" Bonomo (Canada) - $10,185.00 7. villepn (Finland) - $8,245.00 8. blanconegro (Mexico) - $6,305.00

RandAllin Makes High and Medium PLO Zoom Final Tables

Randal "RandALLin" Flowers

Randal “RandAllin” Flowers actually made two final tables yesterday as he finished ninth in Event 32-M $215 PLO Zoom for $3,061.

Flowers improved his result substantially in the high-version of the same event as he won it outright for $127,608.

The North Carolina native outlasted 312 players and a final table that included recent high-stakes upstart jama-dharma.

Flowers then out-dueled heads-up opponent zwacke to claim the title. The German zwacke picked up $93,600 for his second-place finish.

Here’s a complete look at the final table:

1. Randal "RandALLin" Flowers (Mexico) $127,608.00 2. zwacke (Germany) $93,600.00 3. mahripeluri (Finland) $70,512.00 4. Bandano (Netherlands) $53,040.00 5. jama-dharma (Russia) $36,192.00 6. vindog03 (United Kingdom) $28,080.00 7. vegaspolotsk (Belarus) $21,840.00 8. kartt (Brazil) $15,600.00 9. greeno99 (United Kingdom) $11,856.00

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SCOOP: Bach, Chidwick Score Titles

Wed, 22 May 2013 08:13:43 -0700

Bach took down Event 28-H for $51,775 while Chidwick earned $52,320 for topping the Event 27-H field.

The big names have been doing just fine at SCOOP this year and yesterday Jordan Morgan, Thor Hansen, Calvin Anderson and Rory “Mafews” Mathews all made final tables.

At this point it doesn’t even seem to be a surprise that Shaun Deeb is first on the SCOOP leaderboard with 84 events played and a staggering 465 points.

Here’s a look at a couple of the highlight-reel final tables:

Chidwick Outlasts cal42688, Mafews to Win $52k

Stephen "Stevie444" Chidwick

Stephen “stevie444” Chidwick came out on top of a field of 96 players to win Event 27-H $2,100 FL Triple Draw 2-7 for $52,320.

Chidwick, who once won over 100 WSOP Main Event packages before he was even old enough to play the series in Las Vegas, beat a final table that included Cal “cal42688” Anderson and Rory Mathews.

Anderson, who won his fourth SCOOP title earlier this week, made a serious run at the title but was finally derailed in third place for $26,880.

Chidwick went on to beat Dutch pro Bryan “Brryan” Ruiter heads-up to officially take down his second SCOOP title.

Here are the complete final-table results:

1. Stephen "stevie444" Chidwick (United Kingdom) $52,320 2. Bryan "Brryann" Ruiter (Netherlands) $35,040 3. Calvin "cal42688" Anderson (Mexico) $26,880 4. 7Be/\eC7 (Belarus) $18,240 5. Unkn0wn123 (Uruguay) $13,440 6. Rory "Mafews" Mathews (United Kingdom) $10,080

David “Gunslinger” Bach Smokes Competition to Earn $51k

Thor Hansen made another final table.

David Bach once again proved his Stud dominance by outlasting 95 players to win $51,775 in Event 28-H $2,100 Stud Hi-Lo.

Bach actually won this same event in the 2010 SCOOP. Of course Bach’s most memorable win is the $50k H.O.R.S.E. event at the WSOP in 2009.

The Gunslinger had some competition at the final table from another very good Stud player – Thor “Osten” Hansen.

Hansen already has a SCOOP title this year as he beat Shawn Buchanan heads-up to win Event 11-H $2,100 Stud.

It wasn’t to be for Hansen in this event as he soon found his way to the rail in seventh place for $8,075.

It eventually came down to Bach vs. Scott "gunning4you" Seiver for the title and it was Bach who got the last shot in.

Here are the results of the final table:

1. David "Gunslinger3" Bach (Panama) $51,775.00 2. Scott "gunning4you" Seiver (Canada) $35,150.00 3. WhooooKidd (Mexico) $26,600.00 4. buzzard1881 (Canada) $18,050.00 5. BUMM73 (Russia) $13,300.00 6. RZA4444 (Canada) $9,975.00 7. Thor "Osten" Hansen (Norway) $8,075.00 8. jakz101 (Canada) $6,175.00

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Dwan Among Biggest Winners on FTP in May

Tue, 21 May 2013 14:42:28 -0700

Dwan has already rattled off over 20,000 hands in the high-stakes games in May and is still going strong.

The aggressive pro went into full beast mode this weekend and picked up $793,616, according to highstakesdb.com.

Formerly known as a No-Limit specialist, Dwan has been particularly effective in the big FLO8 games that have been running and most of his profit this weekend came exclusively from the format.

Although Dwan came down to earth a bit yesterday, losing close to $500k, he’s still showing a massive profit of over $600k on the year.

Fans Still Waiting for Big Dwan vs. Cates Showdown

Dan Cates is ready.

Interestingly Dwan has also put together a few victories against archrival Dan “jungleman12” Cates in the durrrr Challenge this year, albeit small ones.

This weekend Dwan and Cates recommenced the challenge for a short session. Dwan only won about $30k but he’s actually won every match since they re-started the challenge in 2013.

Railbirds have been desperate for a huge durrrr Challenge session and while that hasn’t transpired yet this year Dwan has steadily grinded $270,000 from Cates, which is significant considering he was facing a $1.5 million deficit at the start of the year.

A massive session could be imminent considering Dwan is feeling some confidence from other big wins and jungleman12 has been chomping at the bit for some action.

Cal42688 Wins Fourth SCOOP, Deeb Falls Short

Tue, 21 May 2013 10:00:00 -0700

Anderson, generally regarded as one of the best poker players on the Internet, defeated Nick Abou Risk to win the $215 6-Max Limit Hold'em event.

Deeb, meanwhile, settled for a fifth-place finish in the $1,050 Mixed NL/PLO event ultimately won by decorated Canadian pro Dylan “ImaLucSac” Linde.

Keep reading for all the details.

Calvin Anderson Closing in on Shaun Deeb's Record

Last year Shaun Deeb rocketed to the all-time SCOOP win lead, winning four events and bringing his total title count to five, but Calvin "cal42688" Anderson is steadily catching up.

Anderson defeated a field of 639 last night to win over $23,000 and his fourth SCOOP watch.

Anderson has earned over $4.5 million playing online tournaments, and had to defeat a tough heads-up opponent in Nick Abou Risk to close out his most recent victory.

Abou Risk, a poker pro from Dublin who plays as tanglewizard on Full Tilt Poker, took down almost $18k for the runner-up finish.

Also cashing in this event were Australian James “Andy McLEOD” Obst (14th), Chad “lilholdem954” Batista (18th) and Sorel “zangbezan24” Mizzi (20th).

Here are the full final-table results for #25-M ($215 FL Hold'em 6-Max):

1. Calvin "cal42688" Anderson (Mexico) $23,643.00 2. Nick "nabourisk" Abou Risk (Ireland) $17,636.40 3. b8chatz (United Kingdom) $13,099.50 4. jonstarz (United Kingdom) $8,946.00 5. nimzon (Finland) $6,390.00 6. Truelove13 (Russia) $3,834.00

Linde Denies Deeb Sixth Career SCOOP

Canadian Dylan “ImaLucSac” Linde has almost $3.5 million in lifetime online cashes and last night he picked up his first SCOOP title.

Shaun Deeb

Linde won the $1,050 Mixed No-Limit Hold'em and PLO event, prevailing over 362 players to pocket over $70,000.

Linde defeated Danish player fuddebuf heads-up, while leading all-time SCOOP winner Shaun Deeb finished fifth.

Narrowly missing out on the final table was Linde's fellow Canadian Griffin “Flush_Entity” Benger, who is still hunting his first SCOOP victory.

Also cashing in this event were former WCOOP main event winner Thomas “Kallllle” Pedersen (19th), Steve “gboro780” Gross (26th), Mickey “mement_mori” Petersen (37th) and Theo Jorgensen (44th).

Here are the full final-table results for #24-H ($1,050 Mixed NL/PLO):

1. Dylan "ImaLucSac" Linde (Canada) - $70,047.00 2. fuddebuf (Denmark) - $52,490.00 3. Markush13 (Belarus) - $39,820.00 4. ILYAK1717 (Finland) - $29,865.00 5. Shaun Deeb (Mexico) - $20,634.00 6. pokerkluka (Netherlands) - $15,928.00 7. shtirlitz_ (Russia) - $12,308.00 8. Schinken777 (Germany) - $8,688.00 9. ihaveAAdream (Germany) - $6,335.00

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SCOOP: Danzer, Buchanan, Berg Claim Titles

Mon, 20 May 2013 09:12:06 -0700

Over the last seven days we’ve seen George Danzer, Shawn Buchanan, Anders “Donald” Berg, Steve Gross, Noah Boeken and even up-and-coming Belarusian online crusher Leqenden win titles.

There have also been some big second place finishes, notably from SCOOP master Shaun Deeb for $63k in Event 23-M and Dan Smith for $164k in Event 24-H.

The overall points leaderboard is an all-out war between Deeb (2nd), George “Jorj95” Lind (3rd) and George Danzer (4th) although the current leader is Brazilian ninototoroko.

Suffice to say this SCOOP is turning into one of the most compelling editions ever.

Here’s a look at the biggest SCOOP stories over the weekend:

Danzer Wins Second SCOOP Title in Event 12-H

George Danzer

PokerStars Pro George Danzer outlasted 46 players to win Event 12-H $2,100 No-Limit 2-7 Single Draw for $34,040 this week.

You might remember that Danzer was on fire during PokerStars' last big series, WCOOP, last fall when he won a bracelet and dominated the points leaderboard for much of the series.

He’s right back at it in this year’s SCOOP. He’s already cashed eight times and thanks to winning his second SCOOP title he briefly snagged top spot on this year’s leaderboard.

The scarf-touting Danzer had to beat a tough final table that included Dan Smith, Shawn Buchanan and Dan O’Brien.

Here are the complete final-table payouts:

1. Team PokerStars Pro George Danzer (Austria) $34,040 2. tehopo1 (Bosnia and Herzegovina) $23,000 3. Shawn "buck21" Buchanan (Canada) $13,800 4. Dan "HundoFight" O'Brien (Canada) $9,200 5. Toby "810ofclubs" Lewis (United Kingdom) $6,900 6. Alexander "joiso" Kostritsyn (Russia) $5,060

Anders “Donald” Berg Adds More Hardware, Wins Event 16-H

PokerStars legend Anders “Donald” Berg also added his second SCOOP bracelet this week by winning Event 16-H $2,100 FL Omaha Hi-Lo for $64,500.

Berg outlasted a skilled field of 129 players and then beat Pthelegend heads-up to claim the title.

The final table also featured Richard “CHUFTY” Ashby and Billy “The Crock” Argyros, although they both fell out of contention early.

The SCOOP title should go well with Berg’s three WCOOP titles, which is the second only to Dan Kelly’s four.

Here are the final-table results:

1. Anders "Donald" Berg (Norway ) $64,500.00 2. Pthelegend (Canada) $43,860.00 3. highland (Canada) $33,540.00 4. chico134 (Russia) $23,865.00 5. saphire1 (United Kingdom) $16,770.00 6. T-Macha (Norway) $13,545.00 7. villepn (Finland) $10,965.00 8. Richard "CHUFTY" Ashby (United Kingdom) $9,030.00 9. Billy "crocky" Argyros (Australia) $7,095.00

Canadian Buchanan Wins Event 18-H for $118k

Shawn Buchanan

It seemed to be the week to win your second SCOOP bracelet as Shawn Buchanan did just that by taking down Event 18-H $2,100 NLHE 10-Max Shootout for $118k.

After beating his first table, Buchanan faced a formidable lineup in the Shootout final table with Dan Smith, Dani Stern, Leqenden and SCOOP-master Shaun Deeb.

Buchanan was likely relieved when Deeb busted in 8th place, missing a shot at the serious money.

Instead Buchanan ended up facing JIZOINT heads-up. Incredibly JIZOINT won Event 15-H $700 NLHE Ante Up earlier and a victory in Event 18-H would have been his second bracelet of the day.

It was not to be as Buchanan, who always seems to fly under the radar somehow, laid the hammer down and snatched victory away from JIZOINT.

Here are the final-table payouts:

1st: Shawn "buck21" Buchanan ($118,800.00) 2nd: JIZOINT ($79,200.00) 3rd: Rednaxela747 ($53,460.00) 4th: Dan "Danny98765" Smith ($39,204.00) 5th: LaurisL91 ($27,720.00) 6th: hneves182 ($21,780.00) 7th: Leqenden ($17,424.00) 8th: Shaun "shaundeeb" Deeb ($14,850.00) 9th: FOO-92 ($12,672.00) 10th: Dani "supernova9" Stern ($10,890.00)

Noah Boeken Returns, Wins Event 13-H

Noah Boeken

Noah “Exclusive” Boeken returned to the spotlight this week by winning Event 13-H $2,100 PLO Heads-Up for $85,520.

The Dutch pro was one of the bigger poker stars in the mid 2000s but has been fairly inactive over the last couple years

Boeken stormed back in this one and even took out noted SCOOP pro George Danzer in one of his earlier heads-up matches.

In the end Boeken faced noted grinder Ankush “pistons87” Mandavia in his final match.

Boeken battled back from a nearly 8-1 chip disadvantage to finally bust Mandivia and claim the SCOOP title.

Here are the final-four payouts:

1. Noah "Exclusive" Boeken (Netherlands) $85,520* 2. Ankush "pistons87" Mandavia (Canada) $70,000* 3-tie. tracyer (Hungary) $30,240 3-tie. ringosnuff (Canada) $30,240

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10 BOM Packages Up for Grabs on LotosPoker

Sat, 18 May 2013 07:21:28 -0700

LotosPoker is awarding the first six packages in a series of steps tournaments running now.

Each package up for grabs is worth €1,400 and includes the €550 buy-in to the Battle of Malta as well as accommodation, meals, VIP party tickets and more.

LotosPoker is running daily freerolls where you can win Step 1 seats. The rest of the steps format works as follows:

Step 1 runs weekly and you can buy-in directly for $.33. Step 2 also runs weekly and you can buy in directly for $3.30. Finally LotosPoker runs monthly BOM qualifiers that you can buy into directly for $33. The monthly qualifiers award the €1,400 packages.

Of course you could potentially win a Step 1 seat in one of the daily freerolls and move all the way to the final without ever paying a cent.

Kara Scott Back to Host

The €200,000 PokerListings Battle of Malta is set to take place Sept. 26-29 at the Portomaso Casino in St. Julian’s, Malta, with Kara Scott returning to host. The Battle of Malta is a low buy-in tournament with the feel of a $10k event. To learn more visit our Battle of Malta home page.

You can find the tournaments in the LotosPoker lobby. LotosPoker BOM packages include:

PL fave Kara Scott back to host.

4 nights at the Five-Star Corinthia Hotel (breakfast included) Opening VIP party (exclusive for package customers) €550 Main Event buy-in (same cost as last year but with bigger gtd prize pool) Access to side events, off-site activities and merchandise giveaways Daily meals at the Portomaso Casino Round-trip transportation from airport to hotel

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Unstoppable: Isildur1 Wins $1 Million Again on Full Tilt

Fri, 17 May 2013 07:26:19 -0700

The relentless Swede fired off another 3,435 hands in the high-stakes games on Full Tilt Poker and burned his opponents for nearly $1 million.

The victory comes a little over one week from his last $1 million day on the site.

Blom split his time between PLO and FLO8 and played in games that included Patrik Antonius, KPR16, Sam Trickett, Ben “Bttech86” Tollerene and Jens “Ingenious89” Kyllonen, according to highstakesdb.com.

Isildur1 Runs Over Phil Galfond for $741k

Isildur1 dominated Phil Galfond.

The real action, however, came against Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond in a series of heads-up $500/$1,000 PLO CAP matches.

Galfond, who penned a blog last year that expressed his admiration for the young Scandinavian, played a swingy session that saw him rake a few huge pots but never quite catch up to Blom.

In the final hour of their session Blom started to pull away and in a little over 300 hands he went from a $170k winner to an $814k winner.

Galfond finally had his fill and decided to call it quits, down a total of $741k.

Blom was far and away the biggest winner last night and ended with a total of $991,700 in profit. Outside of Galfond, Sam Trickett was actually the biggest loser dropping a total of $220k.

With last night’s session Blom further cemented his status as the biggest winner this year with $5.5 million earned on FTP in 2013.

Thor Hansen Snags First SCOOP, Close Call for Chidwick

Thu, 16 May 2013 08:45:00 -0700

Hansen, who was diagnosed with cancer last year, stormed to victory in the $2,100 Stud event and had to defeat an absolutely stacked final table to do it.

He adds this SCOOP bracelet to a growing online résumé that already includes a WCOOP win.

Chidwick, meanwhile, narrowly missed a SCOOP title of his own, finishing second in the $215 Stud event.

Keep reading for the details:

Hansen Crushes Elite Final Table, Hastings Asleep at the Switch

Thor Hansen isn't called the Godfather of Norwegian poker for nothing.

He's been playing for as long as many of today's pros have been alive, and that experience paid off last night when Hansen squared off against some of online poker's very best.

After the 66-strong starting field was cut down to the final four, Hansen found himself up against Shawn ‘buck21’ Buchanan, Bryn ‘BrynKenney’ Kenney and Brian ‘$tinger 88’ Hastings.

Kenney already has a SCOOP title under his belt while Buchanan has won both SCOOP and WCOOP events.

Brian Hastings was lulled to sleep by the slow pace of Stud Poker.

Four-handed it was Brian Hastings with the chip lead but as play got going Hastings mysteriously disappeared.

He eventually blinded out, finishing fourth.

After the tournament ended Shawn Buchanan tweeted official confirmation that Hastings had in fact fallen asleep at his computer.

Hansen ultimately defeated Buchanan heads-up to pocket $42,900.

Here are the full final-table results for SCOOP-11-H: $2,100 Stud:

1. Thor ‘osten’ Hansen (Norway) - $42,900 2. Shawn ‘buck21’ Buchanan (Canada) - $27,720 3. BrynKenney (Canada) - $19,800 4. Brian ‘$tinger 88’ Hastings (Canada) - $13,200 5. blony_tair (Germany) - $9,900 6. angrymoron (Belarus) - $7,260 7. generdir (Russia) - $5,940 8. FONBET_RULIT (Russia) - $5,280

Chidwick Can't Close on First SCOOP Victory

Stephen “stevie444” Chidwick has won over $3.4 million playing online poker, and when he was still too young to play live poker in Las Vegas he qualified for the WSOP Main Event over 100 times.

What he doesn't have is a SCOOP bracelet from PokerStars.

Chidwick almost gets there.

Last night he had a chance in the $215 Stud event but couldn't eke out a win against Norwegian player UwouldntKnow.

Chidwick started the final table with the chip lead and after roughly 11 hours he found himself heads-up.

But from there things went downhill for the Brit. After a long series of lost pots Chidwick found himself all-in on third street with K♥ 9♥ 8♣ against 3♦ 8♠ 8♦.

UwouldntKnow managed to make two-pair on fifth street to win the tournament and over $12.5k.

Here are the full final-table results for SCOOP-11-M: $215 Stud:

1. UwouldntKnow (Norway) - $12,551 2. Stephen ‘stevie444’ Chidwick (UK) - $9,291 3. spanishfish91 (Lithuania) - $7,009 4. Visionary129 (UK) - $5,053 5. Lenze123 (Denmark) - $3,423 6. Stroynowski (Poland) - $2,445 7. TaoJ (Cyprus) - $1,793 8. ptruben (Portugal) - $1,467

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SCOOP: Levy, Kelopuro Score, Schleger and Lind Snag Seconds

Wed, 15 May 2013 08:55:00 -0700

Levy's victory was significant not only because it was his first win in the Spring Championship of Online Poker, but also because he did most of the work while at the final table of a live tournament in Monte Carlo.

Kelopuro was able to secure his second SCOOP win in a tough match against fellow high-stakes player Sander Berndsen.

Schleger and Lind, meanwhile, were both forced to settle for runner-up finishes in two other SCOOP events.

Keep reading for the details.

Roothlus Bags First SCOOP while Live Final-Tabling

Adam “Roothlus” Levy nearly pulled off the impossible, winning live and online tournaments literally simultaneously.

While Levy was sitting at the final table of the Monaco Cup at the EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo he was also the big stack with a shot at his first SCOOP title on PokerStars.

Adam Levy playing live and virtual final tables (Photo credit: Joe Giron)

Neither final table was easy but his SCOOP opponents were especially experienced.

Levy defeated a lineup that included last year's EPT Grand Final champion Mohsin 'sms9231' Charania, Chris 'NigDawG' Brammer and Steve 'gboro780' Gross.

Together those latter three players have earned over $10 million in online poker tournaments.

After ultimately bowing out of the Monaco Cup in third place for €47,700, Levy went on to defeat Charania heads-up for his first SCOOP bracelet and over $67k.

Before winning, Levy agreed to a chop with Charania. Here are the final-table payouts bearing that in mind:

1. Adam ‘Roothlus’ Levy (Canada) - $67,484.64* 2. Mohsin ‘sms9231’ Charania (Canada) - $61,000* 3. Steve ‘gboro780’ Gross (Canada) - $40,077.50 4. Tommy ‘TMoney0209’ Miller (Canada) - $25,932.50 5. Chris ‘NigDawG’ Brammer (UK) - $16,502.50 6. miami1984 (Germany) - $8,425.70

Sami Kelopuro Wins Second SCOOP Title

Kelopuro takes his SCOOP bracelet-count to two.

Two years ago Finnish high-stakes legend Sami “Lrslzk” Kelopuro won the SCOOP main event for over $500,000 and last night he added a second SCOOP bracelet to his wrist.

The Finn won the high version of Event 3, a $530 6-Max event that attracted 432 players.

Kelopuro pocketed $143k for the win, defeating noted Dutch high-stakes player Sander ‘Berndsen12’ Berndsen heads-up.

Also making the final table was UK MTT superstar Chris “Moorman1” Moorman. The Brit bowed out in sixth place.

Here are the final-table results for SCOOP-03-H:

1. Sami ‘Lrslzk’ Kelopuro (Finland) - $143,295 2. Sander ‘Berndesen12’ Berndesen (Netherlands) - $104,850 3. Roman ‘RomeOpro’ Romanovskyi (Ukraine) - $78,637.50 4. abeainy (Lebanon) - $54,172.50 5. nizmo jiz (Australia) - $40,192.50 6. Chris ‘Moorman1’ Moorman (UK) - $26,212.50

Seconds for Team Online Pros Schleger and Lind

It was a frustrating day for PokerStars' Team Online Pro as two of its members fell just short of SCOOP titles.

Shane "Shaniac" Schleger and George "jorj95" Lind both came within spitting distance of victories but had the door shut in their faces.

Schleger, an American currently playing online poker from Mexico, earned just $8,162 for his finish while Lind fared better with a $15,200 payday.

Schleger and Lind took runner-ups in SCOOP-06-M: $109 Draw [2x Chance] and SCOOP-06-H: $1,050 NL Draw [2x Chance], respectively.

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Marquez, Volpe, Spindler Book Early SCOOP Wins

Tue, 14 May 2013 13:45:14 -0700

Perhaps unsurprisingly last year’s SCOOP player of the year, Shaun Deeb, has already played 12 events and in the top five on the overall leaderboard with 115 points.

In fact Deeb nearly won his sixth SCOOP title in Event 4-H but lost heads-up against Paul Volpe.

Some of the other notable players that look good through the first three days of this year’s SCOOP include Christian Harder (3rd in Event 4-M), JC Alvarado (4th in 1-H) and Calvin “cal42688” Anderson.

Interestingly Norwegian cross country superstar Petter "Northugjr" Northug finished 7th in Event 2-H for $60,617.

Here’s a look at a few of the highlight reel moments:

Spindler Takes Event 1-H for $301k

German Benny Spindler certainly got his 2013 SCOOP off to the right start by outlasting 848 players to win Event 1-H $2,100 No-Limit Hold’em 6-Max for $301,040.

It was no easy feat for Spindler as he had to beat a final table that included JC Alvarado and noted Finnish grinder €urop€an.

It was the former EPT London winner who came out on top, however, adding another considerable score to his already sparkling poker resume.

Here are the complete final table results for Event 1-H:

1. Benny 'toweliestar' Spindler (Austria) - $301,040 2. €urop€an (Finland) - $223,024 3. bbbbb33 (Canada) - $169,600 4. JC 'PrtyPsux' Alvarado (Mexico) - $118,720 5. Amadi_017 (UK) - $84,800 6. akut (UK) - $50,880

Volpe Outlasts Deeb to win Event 4-H for $34k

Paul Volpe

A great 2013 got even better for Paul Volpe when he beat Shaun Deeb heads-up to win Event 4-H $2,100 Badugi for $34,780.

Volpe, who plays on PokerStars as paulgees81, has already had an amazing 2013 with back-to-back WPT final tables and an EPT Grand Final satellite win for over $1 million in live tournament earnings.

It appeared Deeb was destined for his sixth title as he battled back from a heads-up deficit to grab the chip lead. Volpe went into beast mode at that point, however, and eventually busted Deeb to grab the title.

Be sure to check out our recent interview with Volpe here.

Here are the complete final-table results:

1. Paul "paulgees81" Volpe (Canada) $34,780 2. Shaun "shaundeeb" Deeb (Mexico) $23,500 3. Stroynowski (Poland) $14,100 4. Fresh_oO_D (Germany) $9,400 5. Chris "d0r1t0s" McClung (Canada) $7,050 6. Phil "Jackal69" Shaw (United Kingdom) $5,170

Marquez Puts on Dynamic Performance to win Event 5-H for $255k

Ana Marquez

Ana Marquez has been wowing the poker community for a few years now with some very deep runs and a runner-up finish at the WSOPE last fall.

She got some serious bragging rights with her outright victory in Event 5-H $1,050+R No-Limit Hold’em Turbo for $255,035.

Marquez beat a final table that included Brendon “brendon1717” Rubie and recent hot-hand Amadi_017.

With the win Marquez becomes one of the few known female poker pros with a SCOOP title.

Here’s a look at the final-table results:

1. ana marquez (UK) $255,035.10 2. TIPCHIK321 (Russia) $189,382.50 3. Amadi_017 (UK) $139,545.00 4. shinbunshi (Japan) $106,320.00 5. blakjak19 (Greece) $74,424.00 6. aliasbissen (Sweden) $56,482.50 7. treezer (Sweden) $43,192.50 8. brendon1717 (Australia) $29,902.50 9. China_White1 (Belgium) $22,061.40

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

$40 Million Gtd PokerStars SCOOP Begins Sunday

Sat, 11 May 2013 07:53:16 -0700

The massive 44-event online series begins tomorrow at 11:00 ET with a 6-Max No-Limit Hold’em event.

Like every event in SCOOP, the opening event will offer three different buy-in levels at $27, $215 and $2,100 with a $1 million guarantee in the biggest event.

If you don’t like 6-Max, Event 2 is a straight No-Limit Hold’em affair that starts at 14:30 ET.

Of course there’s something for everyone as the series that runs from May 12-26 with a staggering 132 individual tournaments.

Some of the new events this year include Zoom Poker, Five-Card Omaha and Courchevel.

Click here to see the complete schedule.

Millions Up for Grabs in 2013 SCOOP Main Event

The biggest event will undoubtedly be the SCOOP Main Event on May 26 that offers $109, $1,050 and $10,300 buy-in levels with millions guaranteed.

In 2012 Nick “GripDsNutz” outlasted everyone in the high buy-in version of the SCOOP Main Event to win $789,675.

Last year also provided one of the greatest storylines in SCOOP history with Shaun Deeb winning Player of the Series by winning four SCOOP titles.

Who will be this year’s Deeb? Only time will tell.

PokerListings players also get an exclusive freeroll into this year’s $109 buy-in SCOOP Main Event. To learn more check our PokerStars review.

$5m Still Up for Grabs in PokerStars Road to 100 Billion

Thu, 09 May 2013 07:38:07 -0700

For over two years now PokerStars has been running the Road to 100 Billion with the first mega milestone awarded when 60 million hands had been played on the site.

Well the massive 100 billionth hand is rapidly approaching and PokerStars estimates it’s going to hit sometime in June. To celebrate the site has added another $3 million to the various prizes that can be won.

PokerStars has yet to announce exactly how the added money will be given away but keep checking the PokerStars blog to see how you might have a chance at winning it.

In the meantime it’s a good time to play cash games on PokerStars as the site is expecting to award $2 million to cash players as part of Road to 100 Billion in June.

The 100 billionth hand itself could potentially award $1 million to the table where it is played. Like every Mega Milestone in the promotion the exact payout depends on how many VPPs players have earned in their previous 50 hands.

To sign up for a PokerStars account go here.

Isildur1 Goes Berserk, Wins $1 Million on Full Tilt

Wed, 08 May 2013 07:53:16 -0700

Blom started the day on the tail end of yet another heads-up $500/$1,000 CAP PLO session against Ben “Bttech86” Tollerene.

Once again Blom thrashed Tollerene, this time to the tune of nearly $400k, according highstakesdb.com.

From there Blom went on to play German No-Limit Hold’em specialist Saniker in some ridiculously big NLHE games.

Blom and Saniker played $500/$1,000 NLHE Cap, a rarity in the nosebleeds these days, and Blom spanked the German for $314k in just 400 hands.

At this point the big 2-7 Triple Draw game was going with Phil Ivey, Kagome Kagome and Alex “Alexonmoon” Luneau.

Once again Blom joined the action and made life miserable for his opponents and ended up beating all three players for a total of $300k.

The Swede then opened a heads-up table of $500/$1,000 PLO against Ivey but after trading stacks for a couple hours, the pair finished even.

Blom finally decided to call it a night with $1 million in profit.

With the victory Blom moved passed Alex “PostflopAction” Kostritsyn as the biggest winner on FTP this year with $4.5 million in profit.

Durrrr Challenge Resumes, Bttech86/Isildur1 Rages On

Mon, 06 May 2013 08:27:11 -0700

Viktor “Isildur1” Blom and Ben “Bttech86” Tollerene played several long heads-up matches, which shouldn’t really come as a surprise considering how frequently they’ve been playing, but Tom “durrrr” Dwan and Dan “jungleman12” Cates also chipped in another 900 hands in the never-ending durrrr Challenge II.

Tollerene was coming of a big $700k loss to Isildur1 earlier in the week so he played a furious game on Saturday that eventually saw him smoke the young Swede for nearly $400k at $500/$1,000 CAP PLO on Full Tilt.

Interestingly Tollerene also played a little $500/$1,000 CAP PLO against durrrr on Saturday but ended up losing $140k.

Isildur1 and Tollerene resumed play on Sunday and ripped through over 1,000 hands of PLO.

This time it was Isildur1 with the hammer and he ended up crushing Tollerene for $880k, according to highstakesdb.com. That put Tollerene down approximately $480k against Isildur1 over the weekend.

Dwan Wins $92k From Cates in durrrr Challenge

Tom Dwan

Tom Dwan and Dan Cates also resumed their challenge after another extended break.

For the second straight session it was Dwan who finished with a victory, this time for $92k.

Dwan picked up $158k in the only other session they’ve played since Full Tilt Poker re-launched last fall.

durrrr hasn’t been posting huge wins but he is slowly chipping away at the $1.1 million lead Cates had, prior to last night’s session.

Even better news for Dwan is that he seems to be finding his online game, after struggling since Black Friday. He won over $300k this weekend.

Also of note is that Phil “Polarizing” Ivey picked up $280,400 in the high-stakes games on Full Tilt this weekend.

PokerStars SCOOP Hits Next Week, Qualify Now

Sat, 04 May 2013 07:49:43 -0700

Starting May 12, PokerStars will offer 44 events with three different buy-in levels each for a total of 132 tournaments.

There is truly something for everyone with tons of No-Limit Hold’em events as well as brand new variants like Courchevel, 5-Card Omaha and Zoom Poker.

Of course the tournament you want to win is the main event, which is set to go down on May 26 with buy-ins of $109, $1,040 and $10,300 with six million guaranteed for all three events combined.

Last year Nick “GripDsNutz” Grippo outlasted 517 players to win the high version of the Main Event for $798,675 after a three-way deal.

If you want a shot at the estimated $40 million prizepool in the 2013 SCOOP the time to qualify is now.

10 Tickets Exclusive to PokerListings Players

PokerStars is running plenty of qualifiers that start at $1 or less but PokerListings also has an exclusive offer for our loyal readers.

On May 25 PokerStars will run a qualifier for the $109 main event, just for PL.com players.

The event, which is titled PokerListings Monthly Special, is absolutely free for any player who signed up for a PokerStars account through PokerListings. It will award a total of 10 tickets into the $109 main event.

If you don’t have an account you can sign up any time before May 25 to qualify. To sign up now go to PokerStars.

To see the complete PokerStars 2013 SCOOP schedule go here.

Breaking: Ultimate Poker to Deal First Licensed US Poker Hand at 9 am

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 06:16:12 -0700

Limited to within Nevada borders, players can download the UltimatePoker client, make a deposit and play real-money poker against fellow Nevada residents or state visitors.

"We are proud to be the first company to deliver legal and secure real money online gaming to poker players,” said Ultimate Poker Chairman Tom Breitling.

“We have worked closely with state gaming regulators to demonstrate our unique and compelling poker platform that, above all, players know they can trust.”

Players must be 21 years of age and their location inside Nevada borders will be verified through their cell phone. As of now Sprint, Virgin and T-Mobile customers can be verified but Verizon has yet to participate in the verification system. A Mac client is also unavailable as of yet.

Options available to players as of this morning:

Bring on the fish.

Limit and No-Limit Texas hold’em cash games from 1c/2c to $10/$20 SNGs, Daily $100 freerolls, Nightly $1,000 tournaments and a Sunday $10k Guarantee Players can deposit funds via  MasterCard, checking accounts, mailed checks, bank wire transfer, or via the cage at 16 different Station Casinos Deposit and registration in advance is available from around the world to play on arrival in Nevada

The first scheduled MTT is a $10k guaranteed this Sunday, May 5 at 6 pm PT. Buy-in is $100 ($91+9) and the field is capped at 200 players to ensure server capacity.

A subsidiary of Station Casinos and Fertitta Interactive, Ultimate Poker is also the official online poker arm of the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

Poker pro Antonio Esfandiari, who signed as the official ambassador just last month, said it's about time for legal online poker in the US:

“This day has been a long time coming. Online poker in the United States is finally here and totally legit.

“I signed on to be the ambassador for Ultimate Poker because I knew the people behind this company would do it right.

"I signed on because UltimatePoker.com is where I would come to play. Now we all can."

For more information check out UltimatePoker.com.

Upcoming 2013 SCOOP to Offer 132 Tournaments, $40m GTD

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 09:04:54 -0700

Starting May 12 and running until May 26, the 2013 PokerStars SCOOP will stick to tradition and offer a low, medium and high buy-in version of every tournament on the schedule.

The numbers behind the upcoming online series are simply staggering:

44 events 132 tournaments, once you’ve factored in low, medium and high buy-ins $40,000,000 overall prizepool 15 days of poker

As usual SCOOP will offer numerous poker variants with 5-Card Omaha and Courchevel making their debut this year. Zoom tournaments will also be returning to the schedule.

The entire series culminates with the Main Event on May 26 that includes low ($109), medium ($1,050) and high ($10,300) buy-in events.

Last year Nick “GripDsNuts” Grippo outlasted 517 players to win the high buy-in version of the SCOOP Main Event for $798,675 after a three-way chop.

Here’s a complete look at the 2013 SCOOP Schedule:

Sunday, May 12th

Event #1: 11:00 ET

Low: $27 No Limit Hold’em Six-Max

Mid: $215 No Limit Hold’em Six-Max

High: $2,100 No Limit Hold’em Six-Max

Event #2: 14:30 ET

Low: $27 No Limit Hold’em

Mid: $215 No Limit Hold’em

High: $2,100 No Limit Hold’em

Monday, May 13th

Event #3: 11:00 ET

Low: $5.50 No Limit Hold’em Six-Max Rebuy Action Hour

Mid: $55 No Limit Hold’em Six-Max Rebuy Action Hour

High: $530 No Limit Hold’em Six-Max Rebuy Action Hour

Event #4: 14:00 ET

Low: $27 Badugi

Mid: $215 Badugi

High: $2,100 Badugi

Event #5: 17:00 ET

Low: $11 No Limit Hold’em Turbo Rebuy

Mid: $109 No Limit Hold’em Turbo Rebuy

High: $1,050 No Limit Hold’em Turbo Rebuy

Tuesday, May 14th

Event #6: 11:00 ET

Low: $11 No Limit Five Card Draw 2x Chance

Mid: $109 No Limit Five Card Draw 2x Chance

High: $1,050 No Limit Five Card Draw 2x Chance

Event #7: 14:00 ET

Low: $7.50 No Limit Hold’em Heads-Up

Mid: $82 No Limit Hold’em Heads-Up

High: $700 No Limit Hold’em Heads-Up

Event #8: 17:00 ET

Low: $11 No Limit Hold’em

Mid: $109 No Limit Hold’em

High: $1,050 No Limit Hold’em

Wednesday, May 15th

Event #9: 11:00 ET

Low: $7.50 Pot Limit 5-Card Omaha High/Low Six-Max

Mid: $82 Pot Limit 5-Card Omaha High/Low Six-Max

High: $700 Pot Limit 5-Card Omaha High/Low Six-Max

Event #10: 14:00 ET

Low: $27 No Limit Hold’em SuperKnockout

Mid: $215 No Limit Hold’em SuperKnockout

High: $2,100 No Limit Hold’em SuperKnockout

Event #11: 11:00 ET

Low: $27 Seven Card Stud High

Mid: $215 Seven Card Stud High

High: $2,100 Seven Card Stud High

Thursday, May 16th

Event #12: 11:00 ET

Low: $27 No Limit Single Draw 2-7

Mid: $215 No Limit Single Draw 2-7

High $2,100 No Limit Single Draw 2-7

Event #13: 14:00 ET

Low: $27 Pot Limit Omaha Heads-Up

Mid: $215 Pot Limit Omaha Heads-Up

High: $2,100 Pot Limit Omaha Heads-Up

Event #14: 17:00 ET

Low: $11 No Limit Hold’em Big Antes, Re-buys

Mid: $109 No Limit Hold’em Big Antes, Re-buys

High: $1,050 No Limit Hold’em Big Antes, Re-buys

Friday, May 17th

Event #15: 11:00 ET

Low: $7.50 No Limit Hold’em Ante Up

Mid: $82 No Limit Hold’em Ante Up

High: $700 No Limit Hold’em Ante Up

Event #16: 14:00 ET

Low: $27 Omaha High/Low

Mid: $215 Omaha High/Low

High: $2,100 Omaha High/Low

Event #17: 17:00 ET

Low: $27 No Limit Hold’em Six-Max, Turbo, Super-Knockout

Mid: $215 No Limit Hold’em Six-Max, Turbo, Super-Knockout

High: $2,100 No Limit Hold’em Six-Max, Turbo, Super-Knockout

Saturday, May 18th

Event #18: 11:00 ET

Low: $27 No Limit Hold’em 10-Max Shootout

Mid: $215 No Limit Hold’em 10-Max Shootout

High: $2,100 No Limit Hold’em 10-Max Shootout

Event #19: 14:00 ET

Low: $11 Pot Limit 5-Card Omaha Six-Max Rebuy

Mid: $109 Pot Limit 5-Card Omaha Six-Max Rebuy

High: $1,050 Pot Limit 5-Card Omaha Six-Max Rebuy

Event #20: 17:00 ET

Low: $27 No Limit Hold’em Turbo, Zoom

Mid: $215 No Limit Hold’em Turbo, Zoom

High: $2,100 No Limit Hold’em Turbo, Zoom

Sunday, May 19th

Event #21: 11:00 ET

Low: $27 No Limit Hold’em

Mid: $215 No Limit Hold’em

High: $2,100 No Limit Hold’em

Event #22: 14:30 ET

Low: $27 No Limit Hold’em

Mid: $215 No Limit Hold’em

High: $2,100 No Limit Hold’em

Event #23:

Low: $11 Pot Limit Omaha Six-Max, Turbo, Rebuy

Mid: $109 Pot Limit Omaha Six-Max, Turbo, Rebuy

High: $1,050 Pot Limit Omaha Six-Max, Turbo, Rebuy

Monday, May 20th

Event #24: 11:00 ET

Low: $11 Mixed No Limit Hold’em/Pot Limit Omaha

Mid: $109 Mixed No Limit Hold’em/Pot Limit Omaha

High: $1,050 Mixed No Limit Hold’em/Pot Limit Omaha

Event #25: 14:00 ET

Low: $27 Fixed-Limit Hold’em Six-Max

Mid: $215 Fixed-Limit Hold’em Six-Max

High: $2,100 Fixed-Limit Hold’em Six-Max

Event #26: 17:00 ET

Low: $11 Pot Limit Courchevel 1 Rebuy, 1 Add-on Turbo

Mid: $109 Pot Limit Courchevel 1 Rebuy, 1 Add-on Turbo

High: $1,050 Pot Limit Courchevel 1 Rebuy, 1 Add-on Turbo

Tuesday, May 21st

Event #27: 11:00 ET

Low: $11 Triple Draw 2-7

Mid: $109 Triple Draw 2-7

High: $1,050 Triple Draw 2-7

Event #28: 14:00 ET

Low: $27 Seven Card Stud High/Low

Mid: $215 Seven Card Stud High/Low

High: $2,100 Seven Card Stud High/Low

Event #29: 17:00 ET

Low: $11 No Limit Hold’em

Mid: $109 No Limit Hold’em

High: $1,050 No Limit Hold’em

Wednesday, May 22nd

Event #30: 11:00 ET

Low: $27 Razz

Mid: $215 Razz

High: $2,100 Razz

Event #31: 14:00 ET

Low: $11 No Limit Hold’em Knockout

Mid: $109 No Limit Hold’em Knockout

High: $1,050 No Limit Hold’em Knockout

Event #32: 17:00 ET

Low: $27 Pot Limit Omaha Turbo, Zoom

Mid: $215 Pot Limit Omaha Turbo, Zoom

High: $2,100 Pot Limit Omaha Turbo, Zoom

Thursday, May 23rd

Event #33: 11:00 ET

Low: $27 Eight Game

Mid: $215 Eight Game

High: $2,100 Eight Game

Event #34: 14:00 ET

Low: $27 Pot Limit Omaha High/Low

Mid: $215 Pot Limit Omaha High/Low

High: $2,100 Pot Limit Omaha High/Low

Event #35: 17:00 ET

Low: $27 No Limit Hold’em Turbo, 2x Chance

Mid: $215 No Limit Hold’em Turbo, 2x Chance

High: $2,100 No Limit Hold’em Turbo, 2x Chance

Friday, May 24th

Event #36: 11:00 ET

Low: $27 No Limit Hold’em 1 Rebuy, 1 Add-on

Mid: $215 No Limit Hold’em 1 Rebuy, 1 Add-on

High: $2,100 No Limit Hold’em 1 Rebuy, 1 Add-on

Event #37: 14:00 ET

Low: $27 HORSE

Mid: $215 HORSE

High: $2,100 HORSE

Event #38: 17:00 ET

Low: $27 No Limit Omaha High/Low

Mid: $215 No Limit Omaha High/Low

High: $2,100 No Limit Omaha High/Low

Saturday, May 25th

Event #39: 11:00 ET

Low: $55 Pot Limit Omaha Six-Max

Mid: $530 Pot Limit Omaha Six-Max

High: $5,200 Pot Limit Omaha Six-Max

Event #40: 12:30 ET

Low: $215 No Limit Hold’em Heads-Up High Roller

Mid: $2,100 No Limit Hold’em Heads-Up High Roller

High: $21,000 No Limit Hold’em Heads-Up High Roller

Event #41: 14:00 ET

Low: $27 No Limit Hold’em Four-Max

Mid: $215 No Limit Hold’em Four-Max

High: $2,100 No Limit Hold’em Four-Max

Sunday, May 26th

Event #42: 11:00 ET

Low: $27 No Limit Hold’em Eight-Max

Mid: $215 No Limit Hold’em Eight-Max

High: $2,100 No Limit Hold’em Eight-Max

SCOOP Main Event: 14:30 ET

Low: $109 No Limit Hold’em

Mid: $1,050 No Limit Hold’em

High: $10,300 No Limit Hold’em

SCOOP Wrap-Up: 17:00 ET

Low: $11: No Limit Hold’em 3x Chance Turbo

Mid: $109: No Limit Hold’em 3x Chance Turbo

High: $1,050: No Limit Hold’em 3x Chance Turbo

Isildur1 Goes on $500k Tear Against Bttech86, Sauce1234

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 08:02:46 -0700

Earlier this month Blom won an astounding $1.7 million from Tollerene in a single day but the U.S.-born pro would later perform an incredible comeback and win it all back.

According to highstakesdb.com, Blom started his day by utterly destroying a $2,000/$4,000 Omaha-8 game against Ziigmund and mTw-DaviN for a profit of $270k.

From there Blom went on a blistering session that included over 4,000 hands in a variety of games including 2-7 Triple Draw, PLO and more Omaha-8.

It’s somewhat surprising that Tollerene will still play Blom but the two resumed their ongoing battle on several $200/$400 PLO tables.

Blom once again smashed Bttech86 in the early stages but Tollerene made a bit of a comeback towards the latter part of their heads-up match. Unfortunately it wasn’t enough as Tollerene still lost $177,678.

Isildur1 Smashes Sauce1234 for $100k in Short Session

Tollerene wasn’t the only player named Ben to feel the wrath of Blom last night. Ben “Sauce1234” Sulsky and Blom played a rather large $150/$300 session that saw Isildur1 win just over $100k.

From there Isildur1 picked up a few sizable victories in the 2-7 Triple Draw games that were running to finally finish with $493,488 in profit.

Isildur1 is now up $2.8 million on Full Tilt Poker in 2013 and is second only to Russian Alex “PostflopAction” Kostritsyn who has won $3.5 million this year.

Full Tilt Poker Launches 'New to the Game' Tables for Beginners

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 09:51:28 -0700

What's the difference from the regular tables?

Most importantly, play moves much slower than a standard table with more time to think over each decision and understand the action.

In-game "tool tips" are also available to offer help in game situations and let you know what your options are at the table.

Your current hand strength is also always displayed so you can see where you stand as the hand progresses.

How The Tables Work

Eligibility to play at New to the Game cash-game tables and tournaments is simply based on the number of hands or tournaments you’ve played.

For cash games, the limit is 2,000 hands and for tournaments and sit-and-go's the limit is 75 events.

No pros allowed at new tables.

Once you've played that amount in any game you can no longer access the "New Player" tables.

Note: Even if you reach the limit in Hold’em you can still access New to the Game tables in other variants like Omaha. If you hit the limit in cash games you can also still access New to the Game tournaments and vice-versa.

How to Find the Tables

To find the New to the Game table tables in the Full Tilt client, first download the software here if you have yet to create a Full Tilt account.

Once you have an account, access the "Basic View" of the lobby which will give you step-by-step instructions. To find it, open the Options menu and select Lobby View > Basic View.

If you're eligible for the New to the Game tables in the game you're looking for, you'll be automatically directed.

For more on Full Tilt poker and to sign-up for a new account, check our Full Tilt Poker review.

Durrrr, Jungleman Finally Resume Challenge on FTP

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 03:20:07 -0700

The two celebrated online players finally reconvened on Full Tilt Poker last night. Last month Cates publically criticized Dwan on Twitter for not resuming the challenge earlier.

The pair played a relatively tiny session of 383 hands that saw Tom Dwan win a miniscule $158k. The pair four-tabled $200/$400 No-Limit Hold’em for last night's session.

Both players were cordial throughout the action and made plans to play a long session in the near future.

Dwan and Cates have now played just under 20,000 hands in the challenge with Cates still holding a massive $1.1 million lead.

As with the previous durrrr Challenge against Antonius, Dwan laid 3-1 odds on $500k he would win. If Cates ends up ahead after 50,000 hands Dwan will have to pay him $1.5 million in addition to whatever losses he’s incurred.

The Challenge hit a serious roadblock in the spring of 2011 when Black Friday made it impossible for Dwan or Cates to play in the United States, which is where they both hail from.

Things went from bad to worse when the DOJ alleged Full Tilt Poker was a Ponzi scheme because it didn’t have enough money to cover player balances. It was questionable if Full Tilt would ever run again.

Finally PokerStars settled with the DOJ by taking over the Full Tilt Poker assets in a multi-million dollar deal. The site relaunched in November but it took until last night for Cates and Dwan to start playing the challenge again.

Isildur1 Smokes Tollerene for $1.7 Million in Cap PLO

Thu, 04 Apr 2013 10:28:40 -0700

The victim this time, according to highstaksdb.com, was Ben "Bttech86" Tollerene, who burned off $1.7 million to Blom in a six-hour session of Cap PLO.

Starting out one-tabling $500/$1k the two gradually bumped things up to four tables with Isildur running way over EV and racking up over $1m in profit.

Tollerence clawed a bit of it it back but in the last hour dropped another $700k to end the session down a phenomenal $1,703,125.

Thankfully for Tollerene he'd beaten up on Blom a little bit over the last few days to the tune of $900k or so to offset some of the loss.

Blom, meanwhile, put his name right back at the top of the online money winners for 2013 at over $4 million.

For more on yesterday's session check the report here.

Kelopuro Final Tables Sunday Million, 2nd in FTOPS Six-Max

Mon, 01 Apr 2013 06:56:57 -0700

The high-stakes cash-game regular went deep in both of the marquee events this weekend - the PokerStars Sunday Million and the $2,100 FTOPS NL Six-Max - to lock down his biggest payday to date in 2013.

Kelopuro's deepest run came in the FTOPS Six-Max where he navigated an extremely tough 776-player field all the way to a runner-up finish to Kevin "-1sickdisease" Eyster.

Kelopuro pocketed $218,832 for his effort while Eyster scored $333,680.

Fifth-Place Finish in Massive Sunday Million

As if that wasn't a solid enough weekend, Kelopuro carried his momentum into the massive 9,498-player Sunday Million - the biggest of 2013 so far outside of the Anniversary event - and ran it all the way to fifth place and another $75,984.

Former EPT London winner Aaron "Aguskb" Gustavson also made the final table in that one, finishing eighth for $20,895.60. Results for each event below:

Aaron Gustavson.

FTOPS XXII - Event #34 - NL Hold'em, 6-Max, Re-Entry

1. -1SickDisease- $333,680.00 2. LarsLuzak $218,832.00 3. kytra $157,217.60 4. VeniVidiKlonki $119,504.00 5. ScarJo $85,360.00 6. treezer $54,320.00

Sunday Million final-table results (* three-way deal):

1st: cecko80 (Switzerland) -- $205,462.63* 2nd: ollie_p (United Kingdom) -- $184,688.33* 3rd: chili197027 (Russia) -- $222,000.00* 4th: bits10 (United Kingdom) -- $94,980.00 5th: Sami "Lrslzk" Kelopuro (Finland) -- $75,984.00 6th: AndTheCircus (Germany) -- $56,988.00 7th: misterious78 (Turkey) -- $37,992.00 8th: Aaron "Aguskb" Gustavson (Macao) -- $20,895.60 9th: EEE27 (Finland) -- $13,297.20

Jaka Wins Sunday 500, feel fine FTOPS Main Event

The notable results poured in this weekend as one of poker's most respected players scooped a nice Sunday win and the FTOPS Main Event came to a head with a massive first-place prize.

Faraz "The_Toilet 0" Jaka won the Sunday 500 on PokerStars for a tidy $84,865.40 while unknown "feel fine" took home the marquee prize of the weekend of $392,332 for scooping the $600 buy-in FTOPS main event.

The Toilet chows down.

Pro Jordan "Jymaster11" Young and Team PokerStars pro Angel Guillen also had nice scores in the Sunday 500.

Final-table results of both events below:

$530 Sunday 500, $300K Gtd

1. The-Toilet 0 (Poland) $84,865.40 2. huhc (Russian Federation) $61,658.50 3. Jymaster11 (Mexico) $46,122.50 4. lilachaa (Bosnia and Herzegovina) $34,470.50 5. Leanod (Belarus) $24,275.00 6. donki4 (Finland) $19,420.00 7. $trateGema (Germany) $14,565.00 8. angelguillen (Mexico) $9,710.00 9. 41g3r (Russian Federation) $5,583.25

FTOPS XXII Main Event: No-Limit Hold'em Re-Entry

1. feel fine $392,332 2. Javier "anguila" Etayo $271,783 3. RLOG $194,631 4. ydere $144,658 5. mrwhatFISH $107,398 6. Creachadoir $74,521 7. kmichael14 $50,411 8. argos94 $35,068 9. bv4ever $24,109

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

October Niner Thomas Wins Sunday Million, Lykov Takes Warm-Up

Mon, 25 Mar 2013 12:08:04 -0700

It appears recent October Niner Russell Thomas is not going to be one of those players.

Thomas, who plays on PokerStars as into2ndWind, outlasted 8,407 players to win the Sunday Million for $219,184 yesterday.

Interestingly Thomas actually outlasted more players in the Sunday Million than when he finished fourth in the 2012 WSOP Main Event for $2.8 million. The 2012 Main Event drew 6,598 players.

Apparently Thomas could have won even more if he’d booked a bet with Mike “Timex” McDonald. Thomas Tweeted this after winning the Sunday Million:

Just won the sunday million for 220k.Shoulda bet on myself with timex earlier today.

— Russell Thomas (@RunGoodRussell) March 25, 2013

Thomas is still awaiting his first live cash since finishing fourth in the Main Event but there’s a good chance he will break through soon.

The Pennsylvania-native underwent an intense three-month training schedule leading up the Main Event final table with Jason Somerville. You can see some of his training in the YouTube series The Final Table.

Here are the Sunday Million final-table payouts (*Reflects a three-way deal):

1. Russell “into2ndWind” Thomas - $219,184* 2. Ahhh Is It? - $174,095* 3. aakis1990 - $160,913* 4. briemaus - $84,070 5. KARNA1983 - $67,256 6. Dimka19881 - $50,442 7. BEGIMOTS - $33,628 8. purplflowerz - $18,495 9. VinceVegaMFR - $13,030

Max Lykov Takes PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up for $110k

Max Lykov

Thomas wasn’t the only player to take down a Sunday major yesterday.

Team PokerStars Pro Maxim Lykov beat out 3,528-player field in the Sunday Warm-Up to earn an $110k payday.

There were numerous Team PokerStars Pros who entered the event but Lykov and Martin “AABenjaminAA” Hruby were the only ones who made the money.

Hruby went out 99th to leave Lykov as the only surviving Team Pro. Lykov didn’t waste the opportunity, however, as he went on to win the tournament outright.

Earlier this year Lykov stated one of his goals was to win a Sunday major in 2013.

Lykov can rest easy as the Sunday Warm-Up certainly counts as a major tournament.

The Sunday Warm-Up is yet another significant achievement for a player with a WSOP bracelet and an EPT title.

Here’s a look at the final-table payouts:

1. Max Lykov - $110,780 2. Xx-Luxury-xX - $85,555 3. szwindel - $58,212 4. suarez_BG - $40,572 5. rnb333 - $29,988 6. makarios007 - $22,932 7. pupon - $15,876 8. johnxfleming - $8,820 9. dede65 - $5,644

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

PokerStars Adds Four New Types of Omaha

Thu, 21 Mar 2013 06:45:57 -0700

Players on the site will see 5-Card Omaha, 5-Card Omaha Hi-Lo, Courchevel and Courchevel Hi-Lo popping up in the lobby over the next few days.

Five-Card Omaha is probably the most well-known of the four games as it’s simply Omaha with one more card. Just like normal Omaha, players must use two cards from their hand.

Thanks to the extra card, 5-Card Omaha is even more action-heavy than regular Omaha.

“Hopefully these games will be a great success and more people around the world will find them fascinating,” explained Team PokerStars Pro Johnny Lodden.

“A good tip for beginners in 5 Card Omaha is to fold low cards as it can turn out to be an expensive mistake – you will often flop a part of the board but very often will not draw to the nuts.”

Players will be able to find 5-Card Omaha in both Limit and Pot-Limit variants across a wide variety of stakes.

Courchevel Gives Players a Preview of the Flop

The other game, Courchevel, is popular in dealer’s choice games and is somewhat similar to 5-Card Omaha.

The biggest difference between Courchevel and other community card-based games is that in Courchevel the first card of the flop is dealt face up before the first round of betting.

With so many cards visible, the standard strategy is to play to the nuts.

Like 5-Card Omaha, Courchevel is played as both a Limit and Pot-Limit game.

To try out the two new games on PokerStars just click here.

Nick “FU_15” Maimone Takes 2nd in FTOPS Event

Wed, 20 Mar 2013 07:36:33 -0700

Online player Vampyboy won the tournament outright for $41,400 while Maimone earned $26,100 for his runner-up finish.

The tournament drew 900 players to Full Tilt Poker, which helped create an $180,000 prizepool, which easily eclipsed the $150,000 guarantee.

The runner-up finish for Maimone is just another big score in an online career that has seen the New Yorker win over $4.1 million.

Maimone wasn’t the only notable pro at the table as Thayer “THAY3R” Rasmussen finished third for $19,350.

Jon “Pearljammed” Turner, Athanasios “Athanasios 9” Polychronopoulos and Jude “j_thaddeus” Ainsworth also made the money in Event 8.

Both FTOPS 6 $216 PLO Hi-Lo 6-Max and FTOPS 7 $322 Razz also played out yesterday but had relatively modest field sizes thanks to being lesser-known games.

FTOPS XXII still has 28 events to go so be sure to check the schedule here.

Here are the complete final table payouts for all FTOPS events yesterday:

FTOPS Event 8 $216 NLHE Rush Turbo

Entrants: 900Prizepool: $180,000

1. Vampyboy - $41,400 2. Nick “FU_15” Maimone - $26,100 3. Thayer “THAY3R” Rasmussen - $19,350 4. Beton - $14,850 5. mendiata19 - $11,250 6. habalasvegas - $8,100 7. Avril Sharapova - $5,400 8. AdrianoElBrudo - $4,212 9. gotUbeaten - $3,060

FTOPS Event 7 $322 Razz

Entrants: 236Prizepool: $70,000

1. motion713 - $19,470 2. galinka02 - $13,027 3. lyngming - $8,850 4. wadzon - $5,664 5. djan62 - $3,752 6. pylusha - $2,619 7. FONBET_RULIT - $2,017 8. Megaheiner - $1,522

FTOPS Event 6 PLO Hi-Lo 6-Max

Entrants: 427Prizepool: $85,400

1. PimpDaddyDolla - $14,686 2. MarcelezaBH - $13,408 3. 7ralf7 - $12,042 4. cliff47 - $6,661 5. elabuga - $4,697 6. kuhns89 - $3,074 7. T4eburashka - $1,964 8. isinm2006 - $1,964

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

Moorman Binks First FTOPS Victory

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 15:00:39 -0700

Moorman outlasted a field of 399 players to win Event 3 $216 PLO Rush for $21,250 in FTOPS XXII.

Despite Moorman’s considerable online accolades -- he has over $9 million in lifetime online MTT winnings and has an online Triple Crown -- this was his first FTOPS victory.

After winning Moorman credited Phil Galfond’s series of PLO videos for giving him an edge in the tournament.

Full Tilt Poker actually provided a slight overlay as the 399 entrants only brought the overall prizepool up to $79,800. There was an $85,000 guarantee in the tournament.

Fellow online grinders Mike “Timex” McDonald and Chris “Getting Daize” Oliver both made the money in the tournament.

Here’s a complete look at the final table payouts for Event 3 (plus a look at the first two events of FTOPS XXII):

FTOPS Event 3 $216 PLO Rush

Entrants: 399Prizepool: $85,000

1. MoormanI - $21,250 2. Hudzzzzzz - $13,175 3. Daniel levi1 - $9,775 4. Effi101 - $7,650 5. Casminco - $5,737 6. aDrENalin17 - $4,420 7. Numpter - $2,762 8. jambeyang - $2,125

FTOPS Event 2 $216 No-Limit Hold’em

Entrants: 3,624Prizepool: $850,000

1. DMaradona - $104,223 2. Bard_Aces - $102,782 3. KostasZ - $100,480 4. Player_017 - $81,644 5. El Viejo lobo - $41,650 6. floppin_ell - $28,900 7. PinkPanther05 - $19,550 8. dotilda - $13,600 9. Motionless Me - $9,350

FTOPS Event 1 $256 No-Limit Hold’em Irish Knockout Re-Entry

Entrants: 1,522Prizepool: $304,400

1. hitthehole - $60,880 2. tiltass33 - $40,485 3. Jymaster11 – 28,918 4. USoGotPwned - $21,612 5. isinm2006 - $16,133 6. strimbeqq - $11,871 7. Gambling9to5 - $11,871 8. boludo2010 - $6,392 9. Flush_Entity - $4,535

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

Full Tilt Adds 5-Card Stud, Irish, Escalator Tournaments

Tue, 12 Mar 2013 09:40:00 -0700

FTP, which has been back up and running for just over four months, has already retaken its pre-Black Friday position of the second-biggest online poker room in the world, according to PokerScout.com.

Now its players will have an even wider selection of games to choose from.

While most players are familiar with 5-Card Stud, the two other additions are far less common.

Irish is a variant of Hold'em, where instead of players receiving two hole cards they get four and must discard two after the flop round of betting.

Before tackling Irish, however, we recommend trying out Crazy Pineapple, a variant where players receive three hole cards and must discard one after the flop.

Escalators Give You More Play When it Counts

The most interesting of FTP's three new games is the Escalator Tournament.

This new format gives players a deeper structure when it counts by making the blind levels gradually longer as the event plays out.

A common complaint about traditional deepstack structures is that there's plenty of play at the beginning when the blinds are low, but not enough when play reaches the money and the final table.

Full Tilt hopes to solve that by speeding up the early stages while adding more room to play once you're in the money.

Check out PokerListings.com's comprehensive Full Tilt Poker review for info on everything they have to offer.

Isildur1 Keeps Rolling, Wins $1.3 Million on FTP

Mon, 11 Mar 2013 09:19:41 -0700

According to highstakesdb.com, Blom fired off 2,476 hands in the last 24 hours to win a total of $1,308,481.

It didn’t matter what game Blom was playing as he crushed 2-7 Triple Draw, Omaha-8 and PLO.

The real highlight of the day, however, was when Blom took on American high-stakes pro Ben Tollerene in an epic $400/$800 PLO match.

They actually started by playing $250/$500 but Blom convinced Tollerene to immediately raise the stakes. It was a decision Tollerene likely regreted as Blom ended up smashing him for nearly $700k.

The only losing Blom did yesterday was when he took a quick break from the normal high-stakes tables to take part in Team PokerStars vs. The Professionals.

Unperturbed, Blom went right back to the nosebleeds and continued to crush.

Isildur1 Passes PostFlopAction for Top Spot on Full Tilt

Blom is now in the midst of a serious heater with over $2.5 million earned in the last seven days. He’ll attempt to avoid donating it all back like he did earlier this year when he picked up $5 million but then lost all but $1 million of it.

The young Scandinavian finally passed Alexander "PostFlopAction" Kostritsyn for top place in the overall 2013 profit leaderboard on Full Tilt. It was by a slim margin as Blom only leads PostFlopAction by about $30,000.

Blom is currently playing the European Poker Tour stop in London. He’ll be on one of the featured tables on the livestream today if you want to check it out.

Isildur1 Tops $1 Million on FTP in Two Days

Wed, 06 Mar 2013 09:12:58 -0800

Prior to the last couple days Blom was in the midst of a large downswing (which came up in an interview we did with him last Friday).

Blom actually started the year with an astounding heater than saw him win nearly $5 million but he eventually donated about $4 million back.

Blom flipped the switch over the last couple days, however, and absolutely slayed the massive $250/$500 Pot-Limit Omaha game that was running yesterday to the tune of $791,600.

Hac “trex313” Dang, Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies, Ben “Sauce1234” Sulsky and Tom “durrrr” Dwan were among Isildur1’s many victims.

The young Scandi also had some huge wins on Monday against Alex Luneau in Triple Draw and Kyle “KPR16” Ray in Omaha-8.

According to highstakesdb.com Blom is up a total of $1.2 million in roughly 5,000 hands over the last 48 hours.

Blom is now up $2 million in 2013 and remains the second biggest winner on Full Tilt Poker 2.0 with $2.4 million all-time. PostflopAction is first with $3.3 million.

Ben “Bttech86” Tollerene Crushes $250/$500 PLO Game

Viktor Blom wasn’t the only player to profit from the huge $250/$500 PLO games yesterday, in fact he wasn’t even the biggest winner.

That honor went to U.S.-born Ben “Bttech96” Tollerene who amassed $905k in the nosebleed games.

The former Texas Tech student won three pots worth over $200k each, including a $290k monster against trex313 where he rivered a boat.

Tollerene is off to a fantastic start in 2013 with $2 million in profit. Check out our Ben Tollerene interview for more information on the up-and-coming online powerhouse.

Gus Hansen: “It's So Much Fun to Beat Daniel”

Tue, 05 Mar 2013 13:08:00 -0800

Dubbed “The Professionals vs Team PokerStars” this new challenge will pit the top players from the world's two biggest online poker sites against one another for a total prize of $300,000.

Negreanu will lead team members Isaac “Ike” Haxton and Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier into battle against Hansen, Viktor “Isildur1” Blom and Tom “durrrr” Dwan.

“I think I would take the $50k slightly ahead of the bragging rights but it's so much fun to beat Daniel it's a close call,” said Hansen about the upcoming match.

Negreanu felt much the same way, continuing the friendly rivalry that sparked this challenge in the first place.

“I don't hate Gus,” laughed Negreanu. “I think he's a good guy but needling him is a lot of fun and there's a lot of material there.”

According to Negreanu, a match putting Team PokerStars up against Full Tilt Poker is always something he's wanted to organize.

And now that PokerStars.com's parent company Rational Group owns FTP as well, Negreanu's dream has become a reality.

Negreanu has his finger pointed squarely at Gus Hansen and Full Tilt Poker.

Negreanu and Hansen both fielded questions in a press call with the poker media today, revealing a few new details about the challenge.

The matches will be: Negreanu vs Hansen, Haxton vs Blom and Grospellier vs Dwan. Each match will be decided by three simultaneous Sit and Gos played on Full Tilt Poker. Whomever wins two or more SNGs wins the match The SNGs will start with 3,000 chips, 15-minute blind levels and could run as long as two hours. Use of live tracking software and/or heads-up displays (HUDS) will be prohibited. Negreanu and Grospellier will play under the FTP screennames KidPoker and ElkY, respectively. Haxton will play as luvtheWNBA

Mercier Narrowly Misses Second Pick

As this challenge was gaining momentum last week Daniel Negreanu picked his team and as it turns out Jason Mercier just missed the second spot.

To make his decision Negreanu first polled Twitter to see which two Team PokerStars Pros people wanted to see help him take on Full Tilt Poker.

Negreanu narrowed his choices down to Haxton and Grospellier, who ultimately made it, as well as Vanessa Selbst, Jason Mercier and Eugene Katchalov.

Mercier just missed out on the last spot.

He then asked each of those players to make their top two picks, not picking themselves, to find out who would play.

“I weighted the number one vote as two points and the number two votes as one point and so it came down to a vote by the group to decide who would play,” explained Negreanu.

Everyone used one of their picks to choose Isaac Haxton, but the second slot was much more closely decided.

“Elky got the next most votes but I know the number was close,” said Negreanu.

“Jason Mercier got the next most votes after that.”

The Professionals vs Team PokerStars challenge is set to play out March 10 at EPT London. Keep an eye on PokerListings.com's news section for updates and results.

$11 MTT Grinder Wins $850k in Anniversary Sunday Million

Mon, 04 Mar 2013 05:22:38 -0800

Usually found playing $11 MTTs, according to the PokerStars blog, benislovas worked his way up to the chip lead with 16 players left and managed to find himself there again as they hit the final table of nine.

By the time they were three-handed, though, benislovas found himself on the bottom with former SCOOP champion David "sexygee" Gent from the UK and German Kasra84 -- a usual $3.50 Turbo SNG grinder -- before the three struck a deal ensuring each player over $700k.

Leaving $140k on the table to play for, they ran it out quickly with benislovas defeating Gent for the official title to take home $848,589. Gent earned $836,321 while Kasra84 took home $813,370 as per the deal, making it an extremely successful Sunday for all three.

Nearly $10m in Prize Pool, 50,000 in Field

With $7 million guaranteed for this anniversary edition of the Sunday Million the grinders came out in force from all stake levels and all corners of the globe.

With the normal $215 buy-in, the value was off the charts and 49,287 players came for a piece of it.

The prize pool ballooned to almost $10 million with 6,309 players paid and $1.2 million originally scheduled for first place before the deal was cut.

Guillen: Best of the Reds.

Given the substantial pay jumps a lot of pressure was put on the final nine to make a deal but nothing could be settled on until the final three.

PokerStars pro Angel Guillen was the top Red Spade finisher in 754th place.

The official results and payouts below:

1. benislovas (Lithuania) $848,589.33* 2. sexygee (United Kingdom) $836,321.83* 3. Kasra84 (Germany) $813,370.28* 4. n0rflip (Norway) $358,809.36 5. pellompogos (Cyprus) $254,320.92 6. stradale430 (Austria) $181,376.16 7. 2outs4cake (United Kingdom) $117,303.06 8. rewgr343 (Russia) $85,759.38 9. Heminsley (United Kingdom) $62,101.62 *from three-way deal that left $140,000 in play for the winner

For a full recap of the final-table action, check the PokerStars blog.

Table Preview, Upgraded Lobby Coming to PokerStars

Fri, 01 Mar 2013 07:37:16 -0800

The update, which is one of the biggest in more than a year, was announced by the company in the TwoPlusTwo poker forum earlier this week. It’s expected to go live within the next couple days.

The new PokerStars software takes a number of cues from the massive PokerStars 7 overhaul that was previewed last year.

It’s unknown if PokerStars 7 is still scheduled to be released in full.

Here are the highlights from the update:

Ring Game 'Groups' in Lobby

A feature that is currently in beta, the new ring game lobby presents all the tables of the same type in one group. That means every $.50/$1 table would be listed in the same group.

The groups view also streamlines the game finding process with a “Find Me a Seat Button” that will automatically find you a game in the group you are searching. It will keep searching until it finds you a game. You can also utilize a combo view to see both the group and the games in the group at the same time.

Preview table on PokerStars

Graphical Preview for Ring Games

This long-awaited feature gives players a real-time preview of a table that’s currently being played complete with position and stack sizes.

The preview will also indicate which players are sitting out and which ones are actually playing.

Players will also be able to take a seat directly from the lobby thanks to quick-seat functionality.

Progressive Bounty Tournaments

These work like normal bounty tournaments but when you bust a player half of the bounty is credited to your account while the other half goes towards your own bounty. These will make certain players particularly attractive to bust. It’s currently in beta.

PKR Poker Hits Five Million Members

Tue, 26 Feb 2013 07:42:34 -0800

PKR, known for its signature 3D graphics and detailed avatars, was launched in 2004, right in the midst of the original online poker boom.

Since then PKR has built a devoted following by offering an alternative experience to what the other major online poker sites provide. The site has averaged over half a million new sign-ups every year since it launched.

"Every element of PKR's success in the UK and across the world is down to our members - they are the ones that spread the word, tell us what we're doing right and tell us what we're doing wrong,” said a PKR spokesperson.

“To reach five-million before the end of last year was crazy and we've got plenty of online ideas to keep the recruitment drive going in 2013.”

PKR Software Upgraded in Late 2012

PKR’s software is always evolving and the site added several significant enhancements in late 2012 with in-game chip protectors, snacks and drinks at the table.

The company also launched an iPad app in January and the site is planning on releasing an iPhone app later this month.

PKR Live will also return later this month at the Aspers mega-casino in Stratford, London. More than 300 entrants are expected to compete for a six-figure prizepool.

To learn more about the site check out our PKR review.

Anderson Wins PokerStars 2nd Chance, Eighth in Sunday 500

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 12:48:18 -0800

First off Anderson outlasted over 700 players to get to the final table of the elite PokerStars Sunday 500.

Unfortunately for Anderson he ran out of steam just after making the final table and ended up finishing in eighth place for a relatively modest $8,169.

Anderson missed out on the really big cash as online player boahgerding went on to win the tournament for $64,768.

Unperturbed Anderson played the $175k GTD PokerStars Sunday 2nd Chance and proceeded to get by over 1,300 players to make his second final table of the day.

This time around Anderson made no mistake and ran over the table, eventually beating Joshk1981 heads-up to take the $47,120 first-place prize.

cal42688 Aims for First in Worldwide Rankings

Anderson is currently second to Matt “ch0ppy” Kay on the PocketFives Worldwide Rankings and the two final tables bring him within 300 points of Kay. Not familiar with Anderson? Check out this eye-opening story we did with him at the PCA.

It was a busy day all around in the Sunday Majors as Brazilian Team PokerStars Pro Andre Akkari made the final table of the Sunday Million.

As usual the prizepool was enormous – this time tipping the scales at $1.56 million – and just by making the final table Akkari was guaranteed over $10k.

Eventually Akkari fell in sixth place to pick up $46,830. Tonaldinho11 went on to win the tournament for $234,150.

PokerStars Approaching 95 Billionth Hand

Sat, 23 Feb 2013 08:02:46 -0800

The 95 billionth hand will be the last mega milestone before the big 100 billionth, so the rewards will be big. The winner of the 95 billionth hand will receive at least $20,000.

Eligibility is simple. Just play on any regular non-Zoom tables and you have a shot at potentially being dealt into the massive prize. Players can obviously increase their chances by multi-tabling.

Even players using the iPad and iPhone PokerStars apps are eligible to dealt into the 95 billionth hand.

The last big Mega Milestone – the 90 billionth hand – saw $229,630 spread across a lucky table of $1/$2 No-Limit Hold’em.

Online player m1sspiggy took down $66,360 for winning the historic hand.

Players receive bonuses based on the number of VPPs they’ve generated while sitting at the table.

There will also be smaller bonuses paid out from 94,700,000 to 95,000,000 so it’s worth getting in on the action early.

Don’t have a PokerStars account? It’s not too late. Players who sign up through PokerListings currently receive a 100% deposit match up to $600.

Full Tilt to Offer a Guarantee on Every Tournament

Fri, 22 Feb 2013 07:25:34 -0800

The revamped tournament schedule, which starts Feb. 25, will offer a comprehensive list of daily tournaments including 28-30 Rush tournaments, 15-20 multi-entry events and 6-8 multi-chance tournaments.

Full Tilt Poker says that from now on at least one guaranteed tournament will begin every 10 minutes. During the month of March over $25 million will be guaranteed in prizes.

"Full Tilt Poker’s scheduled tournaments already offer round-the-clock action every day of the week with a wide range of buy-ins and guaranteed prize pools to choose from," Lightman continued.

"The new schedule is another market first offering our players the only fully guaranteed schedule of any online site."

There will be up to 225 guaranteed tournaments every day with numerous satellites into each event.

Full Tilt Poker will also be launching a new tournament lobby in March that will make it easier for players to find specific tournaments.

FTOPS XXII also begins March 17 with 38 events spread across two weeks of action.

Players who sign up for Full Tilt through PokerListings currently get a 100% deposit match up to $600.

Galfond Dominates FTP, Hits $1.5m Profit

Wed, 20 Feb 2013 07:54:29 -0800

Galfond fired off 2,514 hands on the site and beat almost every table he played, according to highstakesdb.com.

The games weren’t exactly soft with Patrik “FinddaGrind” Antonius, Phil “Polarizing” Ivey, Scott “mastrblastr” Seiver and Hac "trex313" Dang among the willing combatants.

It didn’t matter to the red-hot Galfond, who pretty much beat everyone to win $389k. Ivey, Seiver and Antonius all lost over $100k each.

With the victory Galfond hit a total profit of $1.5 million on Full Tilt Poker in 2013.

The Maryland native initially went on a $300k downswing after resurrecting his OMGClayAiken account in early January but since then he’s been lights out. Galfond is currently the third biggest winner on the site this year.

Galfond’s good friend Tom “durrrr” Dwan stands on top of the leaderboard with $1.7 million, thanks to a recent hot streak.

Meanwhile Viktor “Isildur1” Blom is in third place with $1.3 million but that may not be for long.

At the time this article was published Blom was in the midst of crushing $200/$400 PLO and $1,500/$3,000 Triple Draw.

The swingy Scandinavian was up over $600k and could very well top a million before the day is over. You can follow live on Full Tilt Poker.

FTOPS XXII Schedule Released Featuring $2m GTD Main Event

Tue, 19 Feb 2013 07:55:18 -0800

Buy-ins will range from $109 to $2,100 with a variety of poker games including Hold’em, PLO, Razz, HORSE and Seven-Card Stud on tap.

Interestingly Full Tilt listed all 38 events except the first tournament of FTOPS XXII and Event 25, which the site will apparently announce at a later date.

The $2-million guaranteed FTOPS XXII Main Event is schedule to take place on March 31.

Online player yadio1111 outlasted 4,766 entrants to win the last FTOPS Main Event for $453,229.

Some of the highlights of the FTOPS XXII schedule include:

March 17, Event 2 $200+$16 No-Limit Hold’em Re-entry - $850,000 GTD March 19, Event 8 $200+$16 No-Limit Hold’em Rush Turbo - $150,000 GTD March 24, Event 20 $300+$22 No-Limit Hold’em Re-entry - $850,000 GTD March 30 (Two-day), Event 34 $2000+$100 NLHE 6-Max Ante RET - $1m GTD March 31, Main Event $640 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em - $2m GTD

Competition for player of the series will likely be fierce as Full Tilt is offering some huge incentives to the player that finishes on top of the FTOPS XXII leaderboard, including a buy-in to every event of FTOPS XXIII except the two-day.

Satellites have already begun on Full Tilt and it’s possible for players to qualify for various FTOPS XXII events for a few dollars or event frequent player points.

Here's the compete FTOPS XXII schedule:

March 17, Event 2 $200+$16 No-Limit Hold’em Re-entry - $850,000 GTDMarch 18, Event 3 $200+$16 Pot-Limit Omaha Rush - $85,000 GTDMarch 18, Event 4 $1,000+$60 No-Limit Hold’em 6-Max RET - $500,000 GTD March 19, Event 6 $200+$16 Pot-Limit Hi-Lo 6-Max - $75,000 GTD March 19, Event 7 $300+$22 Razz - $50,000 GTD March 19, Event 8 $200+$16 No-Limit Hold’em Rush Turbo - $150,000 GTD March 20, Event 9 $240+$16 Pot-Limit Omaha Knockout - $75,000 GTD March 20, Event 10 $300+$22 No-Limit Hold’em 6-Max Rebuy - $250,000 GTD March 20, Event 11 $207+$9 No-Limit Hold’em Rush - $100,000 GTD March 21, Event 12 $100+$9 No-Limit Hold’em - $100,000 GTD March 21, Event 13 $200+$16 Seven-Card Stud Hi-Lo - $35,000 GTD March 22, Event 14 $200+$16 No-Limit Hold’em 6-Max - $150,000 GTD March 22, Event 15 $500+$35 10-Game 6-Max Multi-Entry - $100,000 GTD March 23, Event 16 $500+$35 No-Limit Hold’em Heads-Up - $100,000 GTD March 23, Event 17 $300+$22 Pot-Limit Omaha 6-Max Triple Chance - $100,000 GTD March 23, Event 18 $200+$16 Hold’em Limit Rush - $50,000 GTD March 24, Event 19 $120+$9 No-Limit Hold’em Knockout RET - $500,000 GTD March 24, Event 20 $300+$22 No-Limit Hold’em RET - $850,000 GTD March 25, Event 21 $100+$9 Pot-Limit Omaha Rebuy - $100,000 GTD March 25, Event 22 $1,000+$60 No-Limit Hold’em Double Chance - $250,000 GTD March 25, Event 23 $100+$9 No-Limit Hold’em Turbo Multi-Entry - $150,000 GTD March 26, Event 24 $200+$16 Pot-Limit HA 6-Max - $75,000 GTD March 26, Event 26 $100+$9 No-Limit Hold’em Turbo 1 Rebuy, 1 Add-on - $60,000 GTD March 27, Event 27 $300+$22 Pot-Limit Omaha Heads-Up - $50,000 GTD March 27, Event 28 $100+$9 No-Limit Hold’em 6-Max Rebuy - $200,000 GTD March 27, Event 29 $310+$12 NLHE Super Turbo Knockout Re-Entry - $250,000 GTD March 28, Event 31 $200+$16 HORSE - $60,000 GTD March 29, Event 32 $100+$9 No-Limit Hold’em Rush - $75,000 GTD March 29, Event 33 $300+$22 2-7 Triple Draw Limit 6-Max - $50,000 GTD March 30 (Two-day), Event 34 $2000+$100 NLHE 6-Max Ante from Start RET - $1m GTD March 30, Event 35, $200+$16 Omaha Hi-Lo Limit - $35,000 GTD March 30, Event 36 $100+$9 No-Limit Hold’em Rush Rebuy - $250,000 GTD March 31, Event 37 $240+$16 No-Limit Hold’em 6-Max Knockout RET - $750,000 March 31, Main Event $640 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em - $2m GTD

Sunday Scoop: Boeree Goes Deep, ‘Mafews’ Victory

Mon, 18 Feb 2013 08:01:16 -0800

Boeree fell just shy of a Sunday Million final table while Mathews claimed outright victory in the biggest tournament on Full Tilt Poker.

It was a busy weekend for online poker as the Sunday Million, Full Tilt $350k GTD and iPoker $200k all smashed their respective guarantees.

Check below to see highlights from some of the bigger events over the weekend.

PokerStars Sunday Million

Team PokerStars Pro Liv Boeree put on an inspired performance in this week’s Sunday Million outlasting nearly 8,000 players to make the final three tables of the tournament.

Boeree wasn’t the only Team PokerStars Pro to play the event as Jodden Lodden, Eugene Katchalov and Marcel Luske all made the money. Boeree ultimately got last-player standing bragging rights over her teammates, however.

A total of 8,024 players in the tournament created a rather sizable $1.6 million prizepool, easily smashing the $1 million guarantee.

Apparently Boeree had some Internet problems while playing the Sunday Million from Cork but that didn't hold her back.

Internet in Cork is NOT WORKING. Therefore am onetabling the million on the @pokerstars mobile app like a hero (on rollerskates)

— Liv Boeree (@Liv_Boeree) February 17, 2013

Boeree finally hit the rail in 27th place when she made her final play by shoving all-in with A♣ T♣. She was up against K♣ Q♣ and looked primed for a double up but her opponent spiked a straight on the turn.

She still received a good return on her $215 investment by picking up $3,530 for her efforts.

The Czech Republic’s Zábry would go on to win the tournament for $151,644 after a six-way deal.

Here’s a complete look at the final-table results:

1. Zábry - $151,644 2. t6dur - $103,062 3. whitey714 - $71,436 4. timmybwee - $115,710 5. Carsandi - $195,810 6. BabyGrand - $93,166 7. DieselBossen - $32,096 8. amtheboss12 - $18,455 9. saken75 - $12,437

Full Tilt Poker $350,000 Guaranteed

Kevin "kice32" Iocofan finished fourth.

Scottish pro Rory “Mafews” Mathews vanquished a field of 1,955 players to win the $350k GTD for $74,290 on Full Tilt Poker this week.

Mathews, a former PokerStars Sunday Million winner, is one of the top 10 biggest winners all-time in Scottish poker. He also beat up Phil Ivey in the $200/$400 PLO games on Full Tilt back in 2006.

The Scot beat online player Dezar heads-up to claim the title in Full Tilt’s biggest weekly tournament.

Meanwhile Kevin "kice32" Icofano, who has a couple of EPT final tables and a WSOP final table on his record, finished fourth in the event to cash in for $27,370.

Matt Frankland, Bryan “enterthewu19” Piciolli, jochee, Joey Weissman, Kevin “GetPWN3D” Saul, Sorel “Imper1um” Mizzi and Jeff “YoungSupremacy” Hakim were also among the notable pros who made the money.

Since dropping down to $350k GTD instead of $500k, Full Tilt’s big weekly tournament has consistently been beating its guarantee and this week there was $391,000 up for grabs.

Here are the complete final-table results:

1. Rory “Mafews” Mathews - $74,290 2. Dezar - $51,494 3. asforr - $36,363 4. kice32 - $27,370 5. Muckemagain - $20,332 6. katelin - $14,858 7. Obvamentz_IMO - $10,557 8. Olafos - $7,429 9. gnadud - $5,083

iPoker $200,000 Guaranteed

Skilled Belarusian Aleh “oleg12345” Plauski went on a rampage in iPoker’s biggest tournament this week. Plauski outlasted over 1,000 players before falling just short of the final table, finishing in 13th place for $1,452.

Fra220623 went on to beat 24Caliber heads-up to pick up a $36,312 first-place score.

Rayan “rkchipmeup” Nathan, Brenden “Brendooor” Rubie and Jeff “YoungSupremacy” Hakim were also among the notables to make the money.

The $200k GTD is available on most iPoker network sites including Titan Poker, Winner.com Poker and William Hill Poker.

Here’s a complete look at the final-table results:

1. Fra220623 - $36,312 2. 24Caliber - $26,700 3. Brightside81 - $20,270 4. sponspob - $14,524 5. Frosty7777 - $10,573 6. exodusbg - $8,437 7. UsAgainsTeWorl - $6,301 8. Denisqa2910 - $4,165 9. JohnTabby - $2,306

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

Freeroll Spotlight: PokerStars Offering $3k in Exclusive Freerolls

Sat, 16 Feb 2013 07:45:44 -0800

Players who sign up for PokerStars through PokerListings currently get a shot at over $3,000 in exclusive tournaments in addition to regular bonus offers.

First up there’s a massive $1,000 monthly freeroll that awards two Sunday Million tickets and $570 in cash.

There are no requirements as long as you are already a PokerListings player or signed up for an account in the previous month. Use the marketing code: pl.com.

Meanwhile the weekly PokerListings tournaments cost $2.20 to buy into but PokerStars kicks in an extra $500 to fatten the prizepool.

Both offers are played out in No-Limit Hold’em with a turbo structure.

This is in addition to the numerous promotions PokerStars already runs for new players including the massive $100k Privilege Freerolls promo where new players receive access to four $1,000 freerolls per day for 31 days.

PokerStars also offers a 100% deposit match up to $600 to PokerListings players. To learn more check out our PokerStars review.

PokerStars to Run $7 Million GTD Sunday Million

Fri, 15 Feb 2013 08:22:33 -0800

The online tournament will rival some of the biggest live tournaments in the world with a minimum of $1 million guaranteed for the first-place finisher alone.

"I'm going to stock up on food and drink so I'm ready to grind this one!" said Team PokerStars Pro Lex Veldhuis.

"It's so big that it's like playing an EPT online."

Since being introduced in 2006 the Sunday Million has become the richest weekly online tournament in the world with first-place prizes that regularly exceed $200,000.

The biggest Sunday Million ever took place during PokerStars’ 10th anniversary when the tournament attracted 62,116 players and created a prizepool of $12.4 million

Eventual winner Kyle "First-Eagle" Weir ended up taking down $1.1 million for first place.

As usual it will cost $215 to buy into the Sunday Million but PokerStars is running several satellites for the big event including a 1,000-seat tournament for $11. Players can also freeroll their way in on FPPs.

What’s more, players who sign up through PokerListings currently receive a 100% deposit match up to $600 and have access to a number of freerolls including a monthly one that awards two Sunday Million tickets and $570 in cash.

To learn more check out our PokerStars review.

Durrrr Rebounds, Up Nearly $2m on Full Tilt in Three Days

Tue, 12 Feb 2013 08:11:54 -0800

Dwan went on an 11,114-hand rampage on Full Tilt over the weekend that saw him eventually finish with $1.9 in profit, according to highstakesdb.com.

Durrrr spread his victories over a variety of games including $300/$600 PLO against Ben “Bttech86” Tollerene and 2-7 Triple Draw against Sauce1234, Rui Cao, patpatpanda, Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond and others.

Tollerene, one of durrrr’s biggest victims, made a small comeback on Monday when he beat Dwan for $246k.

Regardless of the setback, it was a remarkable three days for Dwan.

Dwan Bucks Losing Streak That Dates Back to 2011

Ziigmund is also back on FTP.

Even before Black Friday, Dwan was on a terrible run on Full Tilt Poker that saw him down $2.4 million, including some huge losses to Dan "jungleman12" Cates in the durrrr Challenge.

Since play was suspended on Full Tilt Dwan was content to play the high-stakes live games in Macau, although he was rumored to be several players on PokerStars.

It appeared Dwan’s online game was a bit rusty when Full Tilt returned in November as he quickly accumulated $987,000 in losses.

Dwan’s success wasn’t the only blast from the past on Full Tilt Poker this week.

Ilari Sahamies finally restored his iconic “Ziigmund” account and returned to the high-stakes games on the site.

Ziigmund stuck primarily to the $10/$20 and $25/$50 PLO games, small by his standards, but it’s difficult to imagine he’ll stay away from the nosebleeds for long.

Sahamies has traditionally performed better on PokerStars, where he's up over $1.6 million all-time, and is better known on Full Tilt Poker for insane swings.

Kyle Julius Narrowly Misses Second Sunday Million Win

Mon, 11 Feb 2013 09:45:00 -0800

Julius, who famously finished second at the 2012 PCA main event for $1.5 million, locked up the biggest prize in the Million yesterday thanks to a three-way deal but officially finished second to Estonian player parmupill.

All told over $2.72 million was awarded across the three biggest online poker tournaments this weekend with Stephen “stevie444” Chidwick, Amit “Amak316” Makhija, Ashley “DYBYDX” Mason and many more name-pros getting a piece of the cash.

Keep reading for highlights from the weekend's biggest online tournaments.

Julius Runner-Up in Sunday Million

Rewind almost exactly one year to February 13, 2012 and Kyle “Kjulius10” Julius was busy running through a field of 5,671 to take down his first Sunday Million and over $177,000.

It was barely a month after his seven-figure score in the Bahamas but this time Julius didn't have to settle for second place.

This weekend Julius came painfully close to repeating the feat, but despite not finishing first on paper he was able to secure the biggest prize thanks to a three-way deal.

7,848 players bought in to this week's Sunday Million and it got all the way down to the final three before a deal was discussed.

Julius took just under $200k while Estonian player parmupill took $170k and went on to become the event's official champion.

Finishing third and taking $156k was Romanian ragAAAila19.

Also cashing in the Million this week were Nick “FU_15” Maimone (73rd) and James “Andy McLEOD” Obst (83rd).

Stephen Chidwick

Here are the full final-table results for this weekend's Sunday Million on PokerStars.com:

1. parmupill (Estonia) - $170,000.00* 2. Kyle "KJulius10" Julius (Canada) - $199,000.00* 3. ragAAAila19 (Romania) - $156,819.87* 4. 42oscar (Canada) - $79,107.84 5. cristi888 (Romania) - $62,784.00 6. pistecaloze (Netherlands) - $47,088.00 7. IdolIvey (Germany) - $31,392.00 8. Donig (Germany) - $18,050.40 9. akzack (Norway) - $12,164.40

Chidwick Takes Second in Sunday 500

Steven “stevie444” Chidwick narrowly missed another major online title yesterday, finishing second out of 843 players in the Sunday 500 on PokerStars.

Chidwick, a top-ranked online pro who once won 101 seats to the WSOP Main Event in the same year, took down over $54,000 for his runner-up finish last night.

No deal was reached as Chidwick squared off heads-up, and ultimately lost, against Russian player Fofan10.

Also making deep runs in this week's Sunday 500 were Amit “AMAK316” Makhija (12th), Matthew Frankland (13th) and Johan “busto_soon” Van Til (16th).

Here are the full final-table results:

1. Fofan10 (Russia) - $75,870 2. stevie444 (United Kingdom) - $54,795 3. m8675309a (Turks and Caicos) - $40,885 4. FyiWin (Malta) - $30,558 5. plasticard (Sweden) - $21,243 6. sheeter200 (Canada) - $16,860 7. Skipper-dawn (Denmark) - $12,645 8. F.Briatore (Germany) - $8,430 9. NhFy (Sweden) - $5,058

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

Near Misses for Benger, Kay in Sunday Online Majors

Mon, 04 Feb 2013 11:30:00 -0800

Over $2.5 million was awarded across the three biggest online tournaments this weekend on PokerStars.com with three players walking away more than six figures richer.

The biggest score went to Australia's petesgotaces who eschewed a deal in the Sunday Million to claim $227,524.

Keep reading for highlights from the weekend's biggest biggest online poker tournaments.

Matt "ch0ppy" Kay Comes Third in Sunday Million

Canadian live and online pro Matt “ch0ppy” Kay won the Sunday Million in 2007 for over $200k but was forced to settle for third and $121k yesterday.

Kay is currently ranked number three in the world for online tournaments.

7,584 players battled it out in the Million this week, fighting for part of the $1,516,800 prize pool.

There was no talk of a deal with Australian petesgotaces defeating Finland's gypsymagi820 to close out the tournament.

Other notables to finish in the money include Chris “Moorman1” Moorman (296th) and Naoya “nkeyno” Kihara who posted the deepest run from a member of Team PokerStars Online.

Japan's only WSOP bracelet winner Kaoya Kihara also cashed in this weekend.

Here are the final-table results for this week's Sunday Million:

1st. petesgotaces (Australia) - $227,524 2nd. gypsymagi820 (Finland) - $167,409 3rd. ch0ppy (Canada) - $121,344 4th. henne205 (Germany) - $80,390 5th. Lukie99 (Germany) - $62,188 6th. ohulahan1 (Germany) - $47,020 7th. LoredanKK (Romania) - $32,611 8th. levan-geo (Latvia) - $18,201 9th. Kaymanys (Denmark) - $11,755

Griffin "Flush_Entity" Benger Final-Tables Sunday 500

Continuing a lucrative day for Canadians on the online felt was Griffin “Flush_Entity” Benger with a final-table appearance in the Sunday 500.

Benger, who was featured in the PokerListings.com short documentary series Easy Game finished seventh for just over $11,000.

Busting right before him was legendary online player Thayer “THAY3R” Rassmussen.

Brazil's theNERDguy was able to outlast them all to win the tournament and collect the $69k first-place prize.

Also cashing were Andrey “Kroko-dill” Zaichenko (23rd), Chris “ImDaNuts” Oliver (27th), Shyam “G's zee” Srinivasan (28th), Rupert “ElRupert” Elder (42nd) and Chris “Moorman1” Moorman.

Here are the final-table results from this week's Sunday 500.

1st. TheNERDguy (Brazil) - $69,480 2nd. eliorak (Israel) - $50,180 3rd. XtheDecanoX (Brazil) - $37,442 4th. fish2013 (Belarus) - $27,985 5th. nadalon (Mexico) - $19,454 6th. Garrin4e (Ukraine) - $15,594 7th. Flush_Entity (Canada) - $11,734 8th. THAY3R (Mexico) - $7,913 9th. Pampa27 (Argentina) - $4,825

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

PKR.com Offers Free Buy-Ins to TV Cash Game

Sat, 02 Feb 2013 12:00:00 -0800

The Poker Channel will be filming this all-day $5/$10 No-Limit Hold'em cash game March 27th at their studios in London, and PKR.com is putting up three seats, complete with buy-in and expenses, in a series of online qualifiers.

All you have to do is hit your PKR Points target in the month of February and you'll be entered into a special freeroll where you can win a package to the live cash game.

Each package is valued at $3,000 and includes a $2,000 buy-in, two nights accommodation and $600 in travel and spending money.

And since the qualifiers only get to keep the profit they earn on top of the $2,000 buy-in, action is going to be breakneck.

The live game will see all three qualifiers go up against Team PKR Pro plus a selection of the strongest players on the site.

Sofia 'welllbet' Lövgren is the only female PKR pro. She'll be joining teammates like EPT champion Vladamir Geshkenbein, WSOP bracelet winner Scott Shelley in London this March.

For more information check out the details on PKR.com.

Read PokerListings.com's comprehensive PKR.com online poker room review and sign up to participate in this promotion.

PokerStars TCOOP Smashes Records, $24m Awarded

Mon, 28 Jan 2013 12:00:00 -0800

That number is up significantly from the $19.7 million handed out at the TCOOP in 2012.

The 2013 TCOOP main event saw 5,060 entrants and a total prize pool of over $3.3 million. In the end it was a multi-way chop with the final seven players all taking home six-figure scores.

frma1103 from Sweden took the biggest prize and the official TCOOP main event title, pocketing $326,880 after defeating Slovenia's kekim1 heads-up.

Canadian online-MTT crusher TJ “1BigAceHole” Ulmer finished in third, snagging $232k and bringing his total online tournament earnings to over $4.8 million.

Theo Jørgensen fared best from Team PokerStars Pro, notching a 174th-place finish for $2,335.

Theo Jorgensen posted the deepest main event run from Team PokerStars Pro.

Here are the full final-table results for the 2013 TCOOP main event:

1. frma1103 (Sweden) - $326,880.00* 2. kekim1 (Slovenia) - $289,509.06* 3. T.J. "1BigAceHole" Ulmer (Canada) - $232,224.42* 4. GadMO (Israel) - $251,844.09* 5. thinkfast9 (Greece) - $160,816.59* 6. pistecaloze (Netherlands) - $261,354.00* 7. SennaBoris79 (Russia) - $193,069.50* 8. elmiami21 (Mexico) - $42,061.25 9. Xereles (Norway) - $26,919.20

* Adjusted to reflect seven-way chop.

Stefan “mindgamer” Jedlicka Second in TCOOP High Roller

Playing out alongside the TCOOP main event was the $2,100 High Roller tournament which awarded five more six-figure prizes this weekend.

1,095 players bought in, putting $2.19 million in the pot with German player Jeremiade taking the title and over $382k.

Finishing second was Austrian poker pro Stefan “mindgamer” Jedlicka who took down $278,130. Jedlicka is a regular on the Austrian live circuit with a win at the 2009 Montesino Grand Slam main event on his poker résumé.

Finishing fifth was Team PokerStars Online's George “jorj95” Lind who grabbed $109k. American pro Nick “FU_15” Maimone also made the final table, finishing seventh.

Team PokerStars Online's George Lind finished fifth in the TCOOP High Roller.

Here are the full final-table results for the 2013 TCOOP High Roller event:

1. Jeremiade (Germany) - $382,812.00 2. Stefan "mindgamer" Jedlicka (Austria) - $278,130.00 3. TheMuppet (United Kingdom) - $208,050.00 4. softcored (Sweden) - $155,490.00 5. George "Jorj95" Lind III - (Canada) $109,500.00 6. MrSmits (Denmark) - $87,600.00 7. Nick "FU_15" Maimone (Honduras) - $65,700.00 8. SUNDAYKING (Sweden) - $43,800.00 9. calvin7v (Finland) - $25,185.00

Denmark's Tjepan Snags TCOOP POY and 2014 PCA Package

Danish player Tjepan won the 2013 TCOOP Player of the Year race, narrowly edging out Tinas21 from Norway and Canada's Faith#1Virtue.

Tjepan received the TCOOP POY trophy as well as a 2014 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure package worth $16,500.

Tjepan played an incredible 46 out of the 50 TCOOP events to win the POY.

Runner-up Tinas21 played just 28 events and took a 2013 SCOOP ticket worth $5,300. Third-place finisher Faith#1Virtue snagged a SCOOP ticket worth $2,100.

Tjepan will be looking to follow in 2012 WCOOP POY Mikal Blomlie's footsteps by turning that PCA freeroll into even more money in the Bahamas.

Elder Wins First 2013 Aussie Millions Event

Mon, 21 Jan 2013 13:26:35 -0800

Elder took down AUD$250,000 for winning the $1,100 No-Limit Hold’em event at the Crown Casino in Melbourne.

It was a dynamic final table with last year’s winner Brendon Rubie as well as former EPT champs Finger and Elder all gunning for the top prize.

Rubie put in an impressive performance in defense of his title but eventually lost a coin flip with his Q-J losing to pocket sixes to bust in fifth place.

Elder Meets Finger Heads-Up in European Showdown

That would eventually set the stage for a high-profile battle between European poker stars Elder and Finger.

Unfortunately for Finger, Elder had a massive 10-1 chip lead at that point and it proved to be insurmountable for the German.

In the final hand Finger got all-in with top-pair on a queen-jack-deuce flop but Elder had a straight draw that hit on the river to end the tournament.

Elder has been a regular on the poker circuit since 2009 but finally took down his first major poker tournament in 2011 when he won EPT San Remo for $1.3 million.

It was also in 2011 that Elder made a deep run in the WSOP Main Event, getting a fair amount of TV coverage before finally busting in 132nd place for $54k.

The 2013 Aussie Millions runs from now until Feb. 3 with the $10k Main Event scheduled to go Jan. 27-Feb. 2. PokerListings will be out out in full force so expect exclusive features from the biggest tournament in the southern hemisphere.

Sunday Scoop: Jarzabek Nails 3rd in Sunday Million

Mon, 21 Jan 2013 07:53:54 -0800

Jarzabek incredibly finished fourth in last week’s Sunday Million for $137k. The former FTOPS winner also won PokerStars Super Tuesday for $78k earlier this month, which means he’s up well over $300k in 2013 from online tournaments.

The Sunday Million was hardly the only massive tournament running yesterday as the MiniFTOPS Main Event drew over 17,000 players and showcased a final table that included Mike “goleafsgoeh” Leah.

Here are all the highlights from three of the biggest tournaments on Sunday:

PokerStars Sunday Million

Liv Boeree was the last PokerStars pro standing.

Sweden’s stackarn outlasted a field of 7,324 and beat a final table that included Casey “bigdogpckt5s” Jarzabek and skilled MTTer Somme to win the Sunday Million yesterday.

Stackarn took down $164k for his impressive performance.

The large field meant a large prizepool and the Sunday Million’s $1-million guarantee was easily surpassed with $1.4 million up for grabs.

Lex Veldhuis, Maxim Lykov, Johnny Lodden and Matthias de Meulder were among the many PokerStars pros who took a stab at the massive tournament.

Liv Boeree earned bragging rights over her teammates by finishing 438th to earn $483 and become the last Team Pro standing.

By the time the final table rolled around stackarn was sitting on a tournament-leading 15 million-chip stack.

Stackarn continued to dominate but actually opted to make a deal with five players left. Thanks to a chip-based chop, every player remaining, except for murballz66 received over $100,000.

Surprisingly it was murballz66 who ended up being stackarn’s heads-up competition after Jarzabek bowed out in third.

Unfortunately for murballz66, he couldn’t stop the stackarn train and it only took the Swede a few hands to win with pocket kings against pocket fours.

Here are the complete final-table payouts from this week’s Sunday Million (*reflects a five-way deal):

1st place: stackarn (Sweden) - $164,701.22* 2nd place: murballz66 (Canada) - $95,992.58* 3rd place: bigdogpckt5s (Canada) - $118,154.40* 4th place: francispoker (Canada) - $134,793.79* 5th place: RovoDice (Latvia) - $122,628.10* 6th place: Vzsolt800 (Hungary) - $45,408.80 7th place: dionus77 (Netherlands) - $31,493.20 8th place: Daddddymufff (UK) - $17,577.60 9th place: Somme (Canada) - $11,352.20

Full Tilt Poker MiniFTOPS Main Event

Mike "goleafsgoeh" Leah

Four players received over $100k in the $70 buy-in MiniFTOPS Main Event and noted pro Mike “GoLeafsGoEh” Leah finished sixth for $31k.

The popular conclusion to the latest MiniFTOPS on Full Tilt Poker attracted a total of 17,578 runners to create a prizepool of $1.2 million.

Thayer “THAY3R” Rasmussen, Mike “Timex” McDonald and Joao Barbosa were among the many notable pros who played the tournament.

Online player Pessagno would go onto win the tournament but thanks to a four-way deal he didn’t go home with the most cash.

Pessagno took down $120k for winning but heads-up opponent MacMoneySack actually locked up $130 for coming in second.

Tripmen and baqr, who finished third and fourth respectively, both earned just $100k. Not a bad return on a $70 investment.

Meanwhile Canadian Mike Leah, perhaps inspired by the return of his beloved Toronto Maple Leafs, added yet another notch on his impressive tournament resume by coming in sixth for $31k.

Here’s a complete look at the final-table payouts for the MiniFTOPS Main Event (*reflects a four-way deal):

1st place: Pessagno - $120,270* 2nd place: MacMoneysack - $130,000* 3rd place: Tripmen - $103,000* 4th place: baqr - $102,000 5th place: DecanoBR - $43,066 6th place: GoLeafsGoEh - $31,991 7th place: Andrzejus - $23,144 8th place: dDeoxyribo - $16,980 9th place: dcldcl - $12,058

Party Poker $300k GTD

Party Poker upgraded its popular weekly $200k-guaranteed tournament to $300k in 2013 and the event has been drawing some impressive numbers.

This week the $300k GTD attracted 1,432 players, which meant a very slight overlay was up for grabs.

Some of the pros in the event included unidentified but dangerous zugzwang16 and Russell “rdcrsn” Carson.

Belarusian AAleshkAA would eventually beat Wisiniewski heads-up to win the tournament for a $40k payday. Wisiniewski had to settle for the $33k attached to second place.

Here’s a complete look at the final-table payouts:

1st place: AAleshkAA - $40,000 2nd place: Wisiniewski - $33,569 3rd place: LFC2013 - $29,031 4th place: akaPman - $14,250 5th place: Liper - $11,250 6th place: Snotneus - $8,250 7th place: timeeeBOMB - $5,550 8th place: GrinderXXX - $4,050 9th place: howdouplay - $3,000

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

Party Poker Goes Big with $15m GTD Every Month

Sat, 19 Jan 2013 07:26:53 -0800

The online gaming giant added another $5 million to its guaranteed tournaments every month, which means a total of $15 million will be up for grabs each month in MTTs.

It also means a guaranteed tournament starts every 15 minutes on the site, 24/7, 365 days a year.

The site also added $100k to its biggest weekly tournament, which means players will now be able to play a $300k GTD Sunday tournament.

To celebrate bigger and better tournaments Party Poker is giving away $10,000 in freerolls every day in January. All real-money players have access to the following free tournaments every day of the month:

$1,000 Daily Giveaway 11:00 ET$1,000 Daily Giveaway 12:00 ET$5,000 Daily Giveaway 13:45 ET$1,000 Daily Giveaway 15:00 ET$1,000 Daily Giveaway 17:00 ET$1,000 Daily Giveaway 19:45 ET

In addition Party Poker is also still running VIP races for its elite players over the next few weeks with up to $4,000 in cash available every week.

As usual the more you play, the more cash-back rewards you’ll get at the end of the week.

Players who sign up for Party Poker through PokerListings currently receive a 100% deposit match up to $500.

To learn more be sure to check out our Party Poker review.

FTP Giving Away 100 MiniFTOPS Seats to PokerListings Players

Thu, 17 Jan 2013 08:12:29 -0800

FTP is awarding 100 tickets to the Main Event in an exclusive freeroll tomorrow (Jan. 18, 2013) at 13:00 ET.

The prizepool is $7,500 if you take into account the fact it normally costs $75 to buy into the MiniFTOPS Main Event.

The MiniFTOPS PokerListings Freeroll will be a standard No-Limit Hold’em freezeout tournament.

Meanwhile the actual MiniFTOPS Main Event is scheduled to take place this Sunday at 13:00 ET.

Want to become a PokerListings’ player on Full Tilt Poker? It’s pretty simple. All you have to do is follow this link and make a deposit of at least $10.

Players who sign up for Full Tilt Poker through PokerListings currently receive a 100% deposit match up to $600.

Here are all the details for the upcoming MiniFTOPS PokerListings freeroll:

MiniFTOPS PokerListings FR

Password: miniroyal123Tournament ID: 247387930Time: 13:00Date: 01/18/13Game type: HoldemBetting Structure: No LimitTourney type: FreezeoutPlayers per table: 9 handed tableStarting chips: StandardBlinds: StandardBuy in: Freeroll

Galfond Cools Rampaging Isildur1 with $1 Million Rout

Mon, 14 Jan 2013 07:49:46 -0800

It was a wild weekend on Full Tilt Poker as Isildur1 began by beating Ben “Sauce1234” for $619k in $400/$800 PLO on Friday.

On Saturday Isildur1 continued to roll with a massive $500,000+ victory over Alex “Kanu7” Millar in $300/$600 No-Limit Hold’em. Isildur1 also renewed acquaintances with Sauce1234 later that day and beat him for another $300,000+.

Sulsky, the biggest high-stakes winner in 2012, is down nearly $2 million on Full Tilt Poker this year.

It wasn’t all good for Isildur1 on Saturday, however, as he dumped over $500k to Galfond near the end of the day. It ended up being a sign of things to come.

Galfond Up Nearly $1.3 Million on Full Tilt in 2013

Phil Galfond

On Sunday Isildur1 finally hit the huge downswing that many in the community had been expecting.

Isildur1 played a manic 1,973-hand $300/$600 PLO session against Galfond that saw him continually quit, win at other games, but then return to get stomped by Galfond.

By the time Isildur1 finally slinked off into the night for good he was down $1.07 million.

With the victory Gafond became the second biggest winner on FTP this year with $1.3 million in profit.

According to hsdb.com Isildur1 was up over $5 million on Full Tilt Poker in 2013 before his disastrous session against Galfond yesterday.

Isildur1 remains the biggest winner on Full Tilt with about $4 million in profit on the site but if the young Scandinavian is known for anything it’s not taking losses very well.

Blom famously lost $4.2 million to Brian Hastings on Full Tilt in a single day.

Titan Poker Starts 2013 with $130k Grand Battle

Sat, 12 Jan 2013 07:20:14 -0800

The Grand Battle started Jan. 1, 2013 and runs all the way to March 31, 2013 with three different points races.

Players just have to opt-in to the promotion on the Titan Poker website and start playing cash games and real-money tournaments. The more you play, the more points you’ll earn.

Here’s how the three separate points races break down:

13 weekly races with $52,000 in total prizes 3 monthly races (Gladiator Race) with $15,000 in total prizes 1 quarterly race (Master Leaderboard) with $57,000 in total prizes

The top six players in each weekly race will compete in an Ultimate Battle jackpot tournament with $500 guaranteed and a jackpot of up to $6,000.

To earn points on the Master Leaderboard players simply have to finish in the top 100 of the weekly races.

In addition to the Grand Battle, Titan Poker is currently running its Super Sale promotion with up to 70% off the buy-in on popular tournaments. There are also "Buy One Get One Free" tournaments.

The Titan Super Sale runs until Jan. 20, 2013.

Players who sign up for Titan Poker through PokerListings also receive an exclusive 200% deposit bonus up to $2,000.

Red-Hot Isildur1 Crushes Sauce1234, Tops $4m in Profit

Wed, 09 Jan 2013 08:59:44 -0800

The majority of Blom’s profit came from a huge PLO session against the ultra-tough Ben “Sauce1234” Sulsky.

With the victory Blom is officially up $4.1 million in 2013 according to hsdb.com.

It’s taken less than two weeks for Blom to win more money in 2013 than anyone managed to win online in the entirety of 2012. Whether he can hold on to the profit is another question, however.

Blom is getting very close to hitting the legendary numbers he recorded in 2009 before he took a $4.2 beating from Brian Hastings in one day.

Even Galfond has been Blomed.

Sulsky, Galfond Just Two of Victims

Sulsky was arguably the best choice to slow Blom down. Sulsky was unstoppable in 2012 and ended the year as the biggest winner with $3.5 million in profit.

Instead Blom massacred Sulsky for $743k over 411 hands of $400/$800 Pot-Limit Omaha.

Blom wasn’t finished, however, as he went on to win several hundred thousand dollars more in the 2-7 Triple Draw games against Alex “Alexonmoon” Luneau to top $1 million in profit on the night.

It's not like Blom has had any easy opponents during his run. Yesterday he took online crusher Phil Galfond for more than $425k.

At this point you wonder if Blom’s opponents will continue to give him action considering the roll that he’s on right now.

Blom is also the biggest all-time winner on the New Full Tilt Poker with $4.5 million in profit since the site re-launched.

Streaking Isildur1 Hits $2.4 Million in Profit

Mon, 07 Jan 2013 07:50:35 -0800

According to hsdb.com Blom is up $2,443,311 in 7,903 hands over the last seven days.

It’s the biggest hot streak Blom has recorded since his record-setting run in the fall of 2009.

To put things in perspective it took Ben “Sauce123” Sulsky about 365 days to win $3.5 million in 2012. Isildur1 could potentially top that number in two weeks.

Blom started 2013 with a massive $564k win against Alex “PostflopAction” Kostritsyn but then out-did himself by recording two $700k-winning sessions in the following days.

Hastings debt, erased.

Formerly known as a No-Limit Hold’em specialist, Blom has been crushing the 2-7 Triple Draw tables this year with huge wins against Scott “mastrblastr” Seiver and Alex “Alexonmoon” Luneau.

Blom has also been dominating the Omaha-8 tables with numerous victories against the still-unidentified SallyWoo.

Yesterday Blom ran over Alex Luneau, taking him for over $360k in a heads-up match.

Isildur1 Finally Even on Full Tilt Poker

Blom is now the undisputed biggest winner on Full Tilt 2.0 with nearly $3 million in profit since the site re-launched.

Interestingly if you include Blom’s all-time numbers on Full Tilt, he’s now officially even on the site for the first time since his 2009, when he collapsed against Brian Hastings for $4.2 million.

Yesterday was a good day all around for members of Full Tilt’s Professionals as Gus Hansen, who is down millions since FTP re-launched, finally recorded a $100k victory on the site.

Full Tilt Offering 100% Reload Bonus this Weekend

Sat, 05 Jan 2013 07:39:55 -0800

Every player who re-deposits before 23:59 ET on Sunday, Jan. 6, will qualify for the reload bonus.

The bonus is then unlocked at the rate of $1 for every 25 Full Tilt Points earned.

Small-stakes grinders will also be happy to know that MiniFTOPS XXI begins on Sunday with 35 events running until Jan. 20.

As usual MiniFTOPS XXI will feature buy-ins approximately 1/10 of the regular FTOPS that preceded it. This time around buy-ins will range from $11 to $216.

In addition Full Tilt is also running promotional multi-entry 1UP tournaments where players get bonus $5.50 tournament tickets if at least two of their entries make the money.

There are also some extremely lucrative bonuses for players who make the final table having merged several entries. Any player makes a final table with four merged entries will receive a bonus $5,000.

Of course if you’re depositing on Full Tilt Poker for the first time you can sign up through PokerListings to get a 100% bonus match up to $600 and receive the full FTP First Deposit Welcome Package.

To learn more check our Full Tilt Poker review.

Isildur1 Starts 2013 with Huge $564k Score

Wed, 02 Jan 2013 08:04:54 -0800

The young Swede burned through 1,536 hands on Full Tilt Poker yesterday and crushed his opponents for $564,546 according to hsdb.com.

Blom is hardly a one-trick Hold’em pony these days and split his action between FLO8 and 2-7 Triple Draw, playing up to $1,500/$3,000 stakes.

Isildur1’s key victim was Russian Alexander “PostflopAction” Kostritsyn. The former Aussie Millions winner dumped over $500k to his Swedish rival.

With his victory Isildur1 instantly becomes the biggest winner of 2013 and is now the third-biggest winner on Full Tilt Poker since the site re-launched in November.

Of course Blom wouldn’t be Isildur1 without the swings and he could potentially lose it all back today.

Erik Sagström, Ben Sulsky Also Record Big Sessions

Erik "1223" Sagstrom

The high-stakes games on Full Tilt Poker have been firing for the first couple days of 2013 and Alexonmoon and Blom’s countryman Erik “Erik1223” Sagström both won over $100k yesterday.

Ben Sulsky, who was 2012’s biggest winner with $3.5 million in profit on PokerStars, used his Full Tilt Poker account (Sauce1234) to win $61,271 yesterday.

Meanwhile Scott “mastrblastr” Seiver (-$97k) and Seb86 (-$92k) were among the big losers on FTP yesterday.

Gus Hansen, who lost a staggering $3 million on Full Tilt in 2012, has yet to play on the site in 2013.

Top 10 Online Poker Winners & Losers of 2012

Mon, 31 Dec 2012 11:05:23 -0800

Sulsky has long been one of the most underrated players in high-stakes poker but in 2012 everything seemed to click for the young American.

Sulsky exploded for over $3.5 million in profit on PokerStars to lead all high-stakes charts.

Meanwhile Gus Hansen, the first player to sign a deal with the new Full Tilt Poker, suffered a complete collapse on the re-launched site.

The Great Dane, who was up nearly $4 million on Full Tilt prior to Black Friday, went on a stunning losing streak that saw him lose $3 million in less than two months.

Check below for a complete breakdown of the noteworthy stories in high-stakes poker this year.

Jens "Jeans89" Kyllonen killed it.

Top 10 Online Winners in 2012

Ben Sulsky has always been good but was simply unstoppable in 2012 with $3.5 million in profit.

To put things in perspective, Sulsky made 10 times his total lifetime earnings on PokerStars this year alone.

It’s unlikely Sulsky’s profile will raise that much in 2013 as he doesn’t play that many live events but he’s certainly someone to watch for in the online games.

Finnish pro Jens “Jeans89” Kyllonen was second in profit this year with $2.4 million. It’s a good thing considering Kyllonen allegedly bought in for 100% to the $1 million buy-in Big One for One Drop not to mention buying a trip into space.

EireAbu, rumored to be a Dutch poker pro playing in Ireland, also had a momentous year winning $2.1 million.

Displaced American pro Phil Galfond had a nice bounce-back year after losing over $600k in 2011.

Galfond, who played primarily from Vancouver, Canada, finished with $1.4 million in profit over 177,674 hands.

Some of the other notable players to make big scores in 2012 included Ben “Ben86” Tollerene, Alexander “Kanu7” Millar and bernard-bb.

Here are the top 10 online winners of 2012 according to hsdb.com:

1. Ben “Sauce123” Sulsky (PokerStars): +$3,581,763 2. Jens “Jeans89” Kyllonen (PokerStars): +$2,492,278 3. EireAbu (PokerStars): +$2,176,527 4. Ben86 (PokerStars): +$2,136,109 5. Kanu7 (PokerStars): +$1,635,244 6. ragen70 (PokerStars): +$1,618,381 7. bernard-bb (PokerStars): +$1,488,484 8. MrSweets28 (PokerStars): +$1,417,998 9. longerpig (PokerStars): +$1,403,455 10. Chung ho (PokerStars): +$1,229,812

Viktor Blom had an interesting year.

Top 10 Online Losers of 2012

Gus Hansen had the most memorable collapse of 2012 as he dumped $3.1 million in the late stages of the year but it was the unidentified Zypherin on PokerStars who actually lost the most.

Zypherin, who some have pegged as Guy Laliberte, dropped an astounding $3.58 million over 60,697 hands. It wasn’t a complete surprise as the Canadian-based account also lost $1 million in 2011.

Unfortunately for Gus Hansen if you add the $1 million lost on his broksi account on PokerStars than he’s the biggest loser of the year with $4.1 million in damage.

The third-biggest loser of the year was Viktor “Isildur1” Blom with $2.6 million in losses. Keep in mind that was Blom’s PokerStars account. He was actually up $413,544 on the new Full Tilt Poker.

Blom also won $1 million at the $100k buy-in Super High Roller at the PCA in 2012 so it wasn’t all bad for the young Swedish star.

The unidentified patpatman had some ups and downs on PokerStars but finished down $1.7 million. If the patpatpanda account on FTP also belongs to the same player than he is down over $3 million.

In general it was a pretty bad year for some of the biggest online poker stars as Patrik “Fake Love888” Antonius and Tom “durrrr” Dwan both lost nearly $1 million.

Here are the top 10 online poker losers of 2012 according to hsdb.com:

1. Zypherin (PokerStars): -$3,552,742 2. Gus Hansen (Full Tilt Poker): -$3,109,619 3. Isildur1 (PokerStars): -$2,673,899 4. patpatman (PokerStars): -$1,791,000 5. PepperoniF (PokerStars): -$1,377,402 6. patpatpanda (Full Tilt Poker): -$1,277,896 7. broksi (PokerStars): -$1,093,446 8. toweliestar (PokerStars): -$1,015,679 9. Fake Love888 (PokerStars): -$991,295 10. Tom “durrrr” Dwan (Full Tilt Poker): -$987,189

Party Poker Adds Android App, $15m in Guarantees

Thu, 20 Dec 2012 08:07:03 -0800

Already in the news for upping its monthly tournament guarantee to $15 million and completing its player pool merge with bwin, the real-money app is Party's first entry in the mobile market.

Still just in beta mode, the app is now available to existing players with a Party account and an Android 2.1 and higher device.

Available in multiple languages, players can now access both real-money and play-money games including Texas Hold’em cash-game tables and FastForward poker tables.

No deposit or withdrawal option is available through the App as of yet and it's only available to existing players at this point.

Tony G. gives Party changes thumbs up.

An iOS app is in the works but is also not yet available.

To access the new mobile app on your Android device, go to settings >> applications and check off the “unknown sources” box. Then simply visit PartyPoker.com on your phone and start the download.

Tournament Guarantees Up to $15 Million

Along with the player-pool merge that bumped traffic up past Full Tilt Poker into second-place in the overall market, Party has also added $5 million to its monthly tourney guarantees in a massive upgrade.

Among the tourney additions to look for are:

An extra $100k for the big Guaranteed Sunday event pushing the total to $300k Tournaments now starting every 15 minutes, 365 days a year $10,000 in daily giveaways starting on Jan. 1, 2013.

To sign up for a Party Poker account and be eligible for our exclusive sign-up bonus, $5 free plus weekly/monthly freerolls, download the software from our review page here.

bwin, Party Poker Finish Player Pool, Software Merge

Wed, 19 Dec 2012 07:20:12 -0800

While the wheels of the transition went in motion back in 2010 when the two companies merged, the last hurdle was finally cleared yesterday and poker players on bwin.com are now part of the Party Poker player pool.

They've also completed the transition from the Ongame Network software platform to the Party platform.

The immediate benefits to bwin.com players are notable. Players will now find:

A bigger player pool including all Party Poker skins Wider and better game selection/volume A software system upgrade to the Party Poker client Access to Party Poker’s popular FastForward Poker Late registration for tournaments Custom avatars

With the merged player pool, bwin/Party pushed passed Full Tilt Poker for second in overall traffic volume.

Fans of the Ongame Network software can still access the platform via the Betfair and Red Kings poker rooms.

$15 Million Guaranteed for 2013 PokerStars TCOOP

Tue, 18 Dec 2012 07:59:07 -0800

Gaining on the SCOOP and WCOOP for most popular series on the calendar, the fast-paced TCOOP will run for 10 days from Jan. 17-27, 2013, and guarantee $5 million more than it did last year.

Buy-ins run from $7.50 up to $700 for the Main Event. Gariations include Hold'em, Omaha and HORSE plus hyper and 3x turbo events for even faster play. A $2,100 TCOOP High Roller is also on the slate.

Last year David Emmons outlasted 3,667 players to win over $382k in the TCOOP Main Event.

Satellites are already running on PokerStars with dozens of ways to earn seats in TCOOP events.

Check below for the full TCOOP schedule; check our PokerStars review and open a new account via PokerListings for a $600 sign-up bonus and access to exclusive monthly freerolls.

17-Jan -- 12:00 -- 01 -- NL Hold'em (6-Max) -- $27.00

17-Jan -- 14:00 -- 02 -- NL Omaha Hi/Lo -- $55.00

17-Jan -- 16:00 -- 03 -- NL Hold'em (Knockout) $215.00

17-Jan -- 18:00 -- 04 -- NL Hold'em -- $55.00

18-Jan -- 8:00 -- 05 -- NL Draw (was PL Draw) -- $27.00

18-Jan -- 10:00 -- 06 -- NL Hold'em (6-Max, Shootout) -- $55.00

18-Jan -- 12:00 -- 07 -- NL Hold'em (Rebuys) -- $27.00

18-Jan -- 14:00 -- 08 -- NL Hold'em (Big Antes, 2x Chance) -- $82.00

19-Jan -- 10:00 -- 09 -- PL Omaha (Knockout) -- $82.00

19-Jan -- 12:00 -- 10 -- NL Hold'em (Rebuys, 3x-Turbo) -- $11.00

19-Jan -- 14:00 -- 11 -- NL Hold'em (Heads-Up) -- $109.00

19-Jan -- 16:00 -- 12 -- Triple Stud -- $27.00

19-Jan -- 19:00 -- 13 -- Saturday Speedway - TCOOP Special -- $33.00

20-Jan -- 8:30 -- 14 -- NL Omaha Hi/Lo (6-Max, 2R1A) -- $82.00

20-Jan -- 11:30 -- 15 -- NL Hold'em (6-Max, Hyper-Turbo) -- $82.00

20-Jan -- 12:30 -- 16 -- NL Hold'em (Knockout) -- $241.00 -- $320.00

20-Jan -- 13:30 -- 17 -- NL Hold'em (1R1A) -- $109.00

20-Jan -- 15:30 -- 18 -- PL Omaha (6-Max, Rebuys, 2x-Turbo) -- $27.00

20-Jan -- 18:30 -- 19 -- Sunday Supersonic - TCOOP Special (Hyper-Turbo) -- $215.00

21-Jan -- 8:00 -- 20 -- PL Omaha (6-Max, 1R1A) -- $82.00

21-Jan -- 10:00 -- 21 -- NL Hold'em (4-Max) -- $24.60 -- 27.00

21-Jan -- 12:00 -- 22 -- FL Omaha Hi/Lo -- $82.00

21-Jan -- 14:00 -- 23 -- NL Hold'em (6-Max, Hyper-Turbo) -- $215.00

22-Jan -- 12:00 -- 24 -- PL Omaha Hi/Lo (6-Max) -- $109.00

22-Jan -- 14:00 -- 25 -- NL Hold'em -- $200.00 -- $215.00

22-Jan -- 16:00 -- 26 -- Stud -- $27.00

22-Jan -- 18:00 -- 27 -- NL Hold'em (Rebuys, 2x-Turbo) -- $27.00

23-Jan -- 8:00 -- 28 -- NL Hold'em (2x Chance) -- $82.00

23-Jan -- 10:00 -- 29 -- NL Hold'em (Shootout, Super-Knockout) -- $215.00

23-Jan -- 12:00 -- 30 -- PL Omaha (6-Max, Rebuys, 3x-Turbo) -- $11.00

23-Jan -- 14:00 -- 31 -- Stud Hi/Lo -- $27.00

24-Jan -- 12:00 -- 32 -- NL Hold'em (Rebuys, 3x-Turbo) -- $7.50

24-Jan -- 14:00 -- 33 -- Razz -- $27.00

24-Jan -- 16:00 -- 34 -- NL Hold'em (2x Chance) -- $215.00

24-Jan -- 18:00 -- 35 -- PL Omaha (4-Max) -- $82.00

25-Jan -- 8:00 -- 36 -- NL Hold'em (6-Max) -- $82.00

25-Jan -- 10:00 -- 37 -- PL Omaha (6-Max, 2R1A) -- $27.00

25-Jan -- 12:00 -- 38 -- NL Hold'em (Ante Up) -- $215.00

25-Jan -- 14:00 -- 39 -- FL Hold'em (6-Max) -- $82.00

26-Jan -- 10:00 -- 40 -- HORSE -- $215.00

26-Jan -- 12:00 -- 41 -- PL Omaha (Heads-Up, Super-Knockout) -- $215.00

26-Jan -- 14:00 -- 42 -- NL Hold'em (Rebuys, 2x-Turbo) -- $27.00

26-Jan -- 16:00 -- 43 -- NL Omaha Hi/Lo (6-Max, Hyper-Turbo) -- $109.00

26-Jan -- 19:00 -- 44 -- Saturday Speedway - TCOOP Special --$33.00

27-Jan -- 6:00 -- 45 -- NL Hold'em -- $109.00

27-Jan -- 11:00 -- 46 -- NL Hold'em (replaces Sunday Warm-Up) -- $215.00

27-Jan -- 12:00 -- 47 -- NL Hold'em (High Roller) -- $2,100.00

27-Jan -- 13:30 -- 48 -- 8-Game -- $300.00 -- $320.00

27-Jan -- 15:30 -- 49 -- NL Hold'em Main Event -- $700.00

27-Jan -- 18:30 -- 50 -- Sunday Supersonic - TCOOP Wrap Party (Hyper-Turbo) -- $215.00

Dion Scores, Mizzi Misses in FTOPS Main Event

Mon, 17 Dec 2012 09:57:00 -0800

Dion prevailed over a massive field of 4,766 in the two-day finale, beating out a tough final table that included the likes of Sorel "Imper1um" Mizzi who finished sixth.

But Dion was by no means the only big winner on Full Tilt Poker this weekend.

No less than ten six-figure scores were awarded on FTP and we've got the full rundown below.

Dion Denies Mizzi Second FTOPS Title

The FTOPS main event concluded just after 5am PST with French-Canadian pro Yann “yadio1111” Dion winning his first FTOPS title.

Dion, who came close to FTOPS glory with a 5th place finish in February of 2011 worth over $132,000, made a deal heads-up this morning with eventual runner-up CSWAMI.

Yann Dion at the 2012 Aussie Millions.

The final hand saw the money go in preflop with Dion's A-7 holding up against CSWAMI's A-4.

Finishing third was Russian player AmplifiedSample who took down two WCOOP titles this year under his PokerStars screenname Ti0.

The Russian was able to edge out American professional Scott “iRockhoes” Augustine who finished fourth.

Augustine, originally from Pittsburgh but now playing and living in Prague, cashed to the tune of $188k this morning.

Finishing fifth was UK pro Gerald “Aberdonian85” Cochlan. The young gun from Aberdeen has had success online but nothing close to the $140k he pocketed today.

Online and live superstar Sorel “Imper1um” Mizzi was out one spot before Cochlan, adding $97k to the $2.5 million in online earnings he's racked up to date.

Squeaking into the final table and finishing ninth was another North American pro, Steven “Zugwat” Silverman.

Here are the full final-table results for the FTOPS XXI main event:

1. yadio1111 - $453,229 2. CSWAMI - $413,229 3. AmplifiedSample - $253,932 4. iRockhoes - $188,733 5. Aberdonian85 - $140,120 6. Imper1um - $97,226 7. MAMOHT_T - $65,770 8. betrthanphil - $45,753 9. Zugwat - $31,455

Schulz Defeats Hall in High-Stakes FTOPS #31

FTOPS #31 was a $2,100 buy-in two-day super-stack event and thanks to allowing multiple entries it was able to record 699 buy-ins.

Matt "NoBadBeatsPlz" Kay

After two days of play it was American pro Kevin “A_theKevlar_2” Schulz standing alone in the winners circle with $255k and an FTOPS title.

Schulz agreed to a three-way chop with Scott “stpauli111” Hall with Nicky “nickyluvshu” Tao Jin who took $254k and $192k, respectively.

Finishing sixth was Candian pro Matt "NoBadBeatsPlz" Kay, better known as his alias on PokerStars: ch0ppy.

Here are full final-table results for FTOPS #31:

1. A_theKevlar_2 - $255,780* 2. stpauli111 - $254,659* 3. nickyluvshu - $192,054* 4. KTPOKP - $118,830 5. Seldoon - $90,870 6. ducaticvcc - $62,910 7. NoBadBeatsPlz - $43,338 8. keinebeine - $33,552 9. sonajero - $25,164

*Adjusted to reflect deal.

Ronny “ronnyr37617” Kaiser Wins FTOPS #34

Swiss high-stakes pro Ronny “ronnyr37617” Kaiser beat out a massive field to win his second FTOPS title.

FTOPS #34 was a $256 six-max multi-entry No-Limit Hold'em event that recorded a massive 4,280 buy-ins to create a prize pool that tipped the scales at $856,000.

Kaiser defeated NhFy heads-up to take the title and the $142,609 first-place prize. In total 600 places were paid in this event.

Here are the full final-table results for FTOPS #34:

1. ronnyr37617 - $142,609 2. NhFy - $94,160 3. FETTSTUHL - $68,480 4. RuDyBoY X - $48,792 5. nollus - $31,672 6. kylejf - $19,688

Return of the King: Isildur1 Up Nearly $649k on Full Tilt

Sat, 15 Dec 2012 07:22:22 -0800

After a swingy November, Blom has been on fire in December and after peaking at $1.1 million is still holding strong with a profit of $722k.

Blom has played 39,721 hands since Full Tilt re-launched and has won huge sessions against Eugene “fishosaurusREX” Yanayt, DrugsOrMe and teammate Hansen.

The young Scandinavian also found time to win that $200k challenge against Dwan last weekend.

Yanayt is currently the biggest winner on Full Tilt Poker with $894k in profit since the site returned but Isildur1 has to be considered the hottest player at the moment.

Here’s a look at the top 10 biggest winners on Full Tilt Poker according to hsdb.com:

1. fishosaurusREX: +$894,339 2. davin77: +$838,550 3. Viktor “Isildur1” Blom: +$649,634 4. Rui Cao: +$532,762 5. Alex Luneau: +$475,370 6. cottonseed1: +$457,550 7. no_Ola: +$449,861 8. KPR16: +$401,843 9. Seb86: +$381,585 10. Sauce1234: +367,981

Hansen Reeling From $2.2 Million Downswing, Dwan Down $987k

Tom "durrrr" Dwan

The other two members of Full Tilt Poker’s Professionals haven’t been nearly as successful as Blom.

Hansen is down an astounding $2.2 million since FTP re-launched while Dwan, who returned to the site later than Hansen and Blom, is feeling $987,189 worth of pain.

Regardless of how the Professionals have been faring, the high-stakes games on Full Tilt Poker are certainly alive and well.

The majority of the massive winners and losers in online poker can be found on the site.

Isildur1 even played a little $300/$600 No-Limit Hold’em this week, which hasn’t run online for ages.

Dwan and Hansen aren’t the only well-known players who have stumbled out of the gates as former cash game killers Andreas “skjervoy” Torbergsen and Ben “Bttech86” Tollerene have both lost hundreds of thousands.

Here’s a look at the top 10 biggest losers on Full Tilt Poker according to hsdb.com:

1. Gus Hansen: -$2,266,859 2. durrrr: -$987,189 3. patpatpanda: -$618,671 4. skjervoy: -$546,504 5. SallyWoo: -$527,020 6. Alexonmoon: -$409,976 7. Poker_KaMI: -$301,212 8. Bttech86: -$274,453 9. SetoKaiba1: -$274,372 10. howisitfeellike: -$201,747

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Mike “GoLeafsGoEh” Leah Wins Second FTOPS Title

Fri, 14 Dec 2012 09:13:00 -0800

Leah was the headliner but it was Spanish poker player Willy “Willmy_x” Aranzadi who took down the biggest FTOPS prize of the day.

Across the board almost $220,000 was handed out by Full Tilt Poker on Day 12 of FTOPS XXI.

Read on for the highlights.

Mike “GoLeafsGoEh” Leah Wins $322 Razz

Decorated online and live pro Mike Leah snagged his second FTOPS title last night, outlasting a field of 245 in FTOPS #28, $322 Razz.

Leah turned pro in 2008, leaving what he described as a “cushy” job with magazine-subscription group Canadian Community Reading Plan to take a shot at playing cards for a living.

In the last four years he's won roughly $2.3 million playing online tournaments, including a $560k piece of last year's WCOOP main event. Now he has two FTOPS titles.

Leah defeated online player gieras heads-up to win $19,477 and his second gold jersey.

Also making the final table in this event was recent FTOPS winner Sebastian "p00cket00" Sikorski, who finished seventh.

Here are the full final-table results for FTOPS XXI #28:

Bryan "enterthewu19" Piccioli

1. GoLeafsGoEh - $19,477 2. gieras - $12,936 3. lemberg1715 - $8,820 4. Lidius - $5,586 5. sharkusmanly - $3,675 6. bakku-shan - $2,535 7. p00cket00 - $1,911 8. esp979 - $1,359

Willy “Willmy_x” Aranzadi Wins FTOPS #27

The second FTOPS event to play out yesterday was a $109 No-Limit Hold'em Super-Stack tournament which drew 1,464 players.

Willy “Willmy_x” Aranzadi, a poker pro from Pamplona, Spain went the distance, taking down $22,659 and his first FTOPS gold jersey.

Aranzadi agreed to a three-way deal with Mefestofel and BustToRobust who both took $20,000.

Also making the final table was American pro Bryan “enterthewu19” Piccioli who finished eighth.

Former Full Tilt red pro Scott Clements continued an impressive run of FTOPS results, cashing again in 11th place.

Recent Sunday Million winner Kevin “kice32” Iacofano also recorded another cash, busting in 27th.

Here are the full final-table results for FTOPS XXI #27:

1. Willmy_x - $22,659* 2. Mefestofel - $20,000* 3. BustToRobust - $20,000* 4. ThijsRemie - $10,394 5. ZedBranigan - $7,759 6. Jom123 - $5,709 7. benderbei2 - $4,245 8. enterthewu19 - $3,074 9. veg777 - $2,181

*Adjusted to reflect three-way deal.

US Ex-Pat Kevin Eyster Snags First FTOPS Title

Thu, 13 Dec 2012 08:00:00 -0800

Eyster came out on top in the $322 Heads-Up Pot-Limit Omaha event while the second tournament of the day, a $322 rebuy event, was won by Costa Rican player Grayson "swish3113" Ramage.

All told $342,000 in FTOPS-cash was handed out yesterday on Full Tilt Poker and we've got the full details below.

Eyster Headlines Big Day for US Players

After Black Friday American poker pro Kevin "1SickDisease" Eyster was forced to relocate north of the border and yesterday it paid off by way of his first FTOPS title.

Eyster smashed his way to victory in the competitive heads-up PLO event, eventually closing out the final match against fellow American ex-pat Joey “Mtstackin88” Spanne to win $17,272.

Spanne, originally from California, is now playing online poker from Spain.

Kevin “kice32” Iacofano finished fourth, narrowly missing his first FTOPS title. Iacofano had a runner-up finish in an FTOPS event in 2007, a WCOOP win in 2009 and a victory in the Sunday Million earlier this month.

32 players in total cashed in this event including recent FTOPS winner João Paulo Simão (12th) and Chance “Chances Cards” Kornuth (31st).

Out on the bubble was Sebastian "p00cket00" Sikorski, who defeated Chris Moorman to win FTOPS #5 just last week.

Here are the top eight results for FTOPS XXI #25:

1. 1SickDisease - $17,272 2. MTstackin88 - $9,870 3. crystal2k - $5,111 4. kice32 - $5,111 5.goodfellko - $2,643 6. 50cm - $2,643 7. Mefisto6661 - $2,643 8. bernontherock - $2,643

Grayson "swish3113" Ramage Scores in FTOPS #26

Costa Rican Grayson "swish3113" Ramage was the day's biggest winner, prevailing against a field of 294 to win the $322 Six-Max rebuy event.

gray31 on PokerStars, Ramage has earned more than $3.1 million playing online tournaments.

Brandon Meyers at the LA Poker Classic.

Canadian SCOOP winner Mutha Flushaa came second, adding to his roughly $1.6 million in online earnings.

Brandon "norajean" Meyers came frustratingly close to winning his second FTOPS in less than a week, finishing fourth. Meyers took down FTOPS #12 on Saturday for $40k.

Also cashing in this event were Andrey “Kroko-dill” Zaichenko (10th), Thayer “THAY3R” Rasmussen (14th), Jason “jdpc27” Wheeler (24th) and Scott Clements (34th).

Here are the full final-table results for FTOPS XXI #26:

1. swish3113 - $65,160 2. Mutha Flushaa - $42,082 3. IKillU2012 - $30,408 4. norajean - $22,263 5. groengras - $15,747 6. neoforastero - $10,588

Luke 'FullFlush1' Schwartz Denied First FTOPS Title

Wed, 12 Dec 2012 09:15:00 -0800

Schwartz lost heads-up to successful American online pro Dylan “InvisibleEnigma” Linde in the $535 10-Game event.

Linde was joined in the winners circle by fellow high-stakes online pro Josh “Buttsauce33” Weizer who came out on top in the $109 PLO event.

And finally, winning the smallest FTOPS first-place prize of the day, was BombOfLuck who notched a victory in the $216 Rush Turbo event.

Read on for highlights from the three most recent FTOPS XXI tournaments.

Josh Weizer Over Amit Makhija in FTOPS XXI #22

Decorated online pro Josh “Buttsauce33” Weizer scored his first outright win in Full Tilt Poker's biggest tournament series, and he did it against tough final-table competition like Amit “Amak316” Makhija.

Weizer pocketed $37,725 for the win which he adds to the more than $3.6 million in earnings he's racked up over the course of his career.

Makhija bowed out in third place for over $17k, and eventual runner-up BetTheePot took over $23k for second.

Weizer, who won a WCOOP title in 2010 playing as bbbbb33 on PokerStars, is from Pittsburgh but has been playing online from Toronto, Canada.

Amit Makhija finished third.

Here are the full final-table results for FTOPS XXI #22:

1. Buttsauce33 - $37,725 2. BetTheePot - $23,389 3. Amak316 - $17,353 4. PhilRoyal888 - $13,581 5. michaelsc - $10,185 6. SpeedUp2 - $7,545 7. Lemberg1715 - $4,904 8. lundzki - $3,772 9. EvaDong - $3,018

Linde Over Schwartz in FTOPS XXI #23

FTOPS #23 was a $535 10-Game tournament and after the starting field of 364 was cut down to two it was Dylan “InvisibleEnigma” Linde going heads-up against Luke “_FullFlush1_” Schwartz.

Despite a record that boasts more than $2.8 million in earnings, Linde had never closed out a major online tournament before last night.

Schwartz, meanwhile, was denied his first FTOPS title, forced to settle for the $27k consolation prize.

Also cashing in this tournament were Richard "CHUFTY" Ashby (10th), Calvin “Cal42688” Anderson (13th), Chance “Chances Cards” Kornuth (22nd) and Scott Clements (35th).

Here are the full final-table results for FTOPS XX1 #23:

Richard Ashby narrowly missed the final table.

1. InvisibleEnigma - $43,316 2. _FullFlush1_ - $27,664 3. IceView_ - $20,202 4. PavelZheglov - $14,742 5. cyberkanguru - $10,374 6. wizfromoz - $6,916

BombOfLuck Explodes in FTOPS XXI #24

Winner BombOfLuck's name was appropriate since players in FTOPS #24 started this Super Turbo Rush tournament with just 300 chips.

BombOfLuck all-in'd his way to a $29,146 victory after agreeing to a deal three-handed with potta_x_potta and Gambler 1989.

In total $167,877 was awarded with the lion's share going to the final-table finishers:

1. BombOfLuck - $29,146* 2. potta_x_potta - $26,546* 3. Gambler 1989 - $25,307* 4. jimmie23 - $13,849 5. Kekim1 - $10,492 6. Uvelir888 - $7,554 7. AdaDLW - $5,036 8. LuckyDuy - $3,928 9. karolis666 - $2,853

*Adjusted to reflect three-way deal.

Gazes, Paur Score on FTOPS XXI Day 10

Tue, 11 Dec 2012 09:00:00 -0800

Three FTOPS events have played out since we recapped the weekend's action with more than $644,000 doled out to online poker players from around the world.

The Americans were joined in the winners circle by UK player hteraaj2001 who scored a victory in the $216 Turbo No-Limit Hold'em event for $28,564.

Keep reading for highlights from the latest events in Full Tilt Poker's FTOPS series.

Former FTP Pro Bill Gazes Wins FTOPS #19

Before Black Friday Bill Gazes was sponsored by Full Tilt Poker and despite that deal long since lapsing he was able to cash in on FTP again last night.

Gazes took down the $246 Omaha Hi/Lo event for $19,157. Gazes made a deal with second-place finisher BredaBreda who took $18,102.

A total of 460 players took part in this split-pot event with 45 of them getting paid.

Bill Gazes

Here are the full final-table results for FTOPS XXI #19:

1. Bill Gazes - $19,157* 2. BredaBreda - $18,102* 3. DoktorGre - $10,580 4. Giffordonian - $8,280 5. PREDATOR-88 - $6,210 6. Upeshka - $4,600 7. tmi2891 - $2,990 8. THE_WIZARD49 - $2,300 9. eckrem - $1,840

*Adjusted to reflect deal.

Taylor “ambiguosity” Paur Scores Second FTOPS Win

American pro Taylor Paur picked up his second FTOPS title last night, defeating a field of 387 players to win $73,559.

Paur agreed to a deal three-handed, going on to close out the tournament to add another title to his already decorated record.

Paur has over $3.8 million in online tournament earnings, including an FTOPS title from 2010 and a second-place FTOPS finish in '09. He also went on a very deep run in Las Vegas this summer, finishing 33rd in the WSOP Main Event.

Paur plays as tramp$d0pray on PokerStars and as TAZED1SPURR on the now defunct CEREUS network.

Other notables to cash in this tournament include Thayer “THAY3R” Rasmussen (35th), Jonathan “therookieqq9” Plens (39th), Jon “apestyles” Van Fleet (40th) and Jack “JackQKA” Ellwood (41st).

Paur at the 2011 World Series of Poker Europe.

Here are the full final-table results for FTOPS XXI #20:

1. ambigousity - $73,559* 2. Ramux - $64,510* 3. IITTII - $55,817* 4. vvirtue - $31,347.00 5. T3G3S - $22,059.00 6. blony_tair - $14,706

*Adjusted to reflect deal.

British Player 'hteraaj2001' Wins FTOPS #21

UK poker player hteraaj2001 took down his first FTOPS title last night, coming out on top in the $216 Turbo No-Limit Hold'em event.

He overcame a field of 827 to win more than $28k and ultimately agreed to a deal with heads-up opponent Tiltn_Mafks.

Jon “apestyles” Van Fleet recorded his second FTOPS cash of the day, finishing 34th.

Here are the full final-table results for FTOPS XXI #22:

1. hteraaj2001 - $28,564 2. Tiltn_Mafks - $28,498 3. jervis333 - $17,383 4. 9 to Five - $13,232 5. madalain - $9,593 6. Stacy99 - $6,781 7. Romeopro33 - $4,962 8. SoFrischSoGut - $3,804 9. charly3005 - $2,811

*Adjusted to reflect deal.

Nick Petrangelo Astounds with $209k Sunday Million Win

Mon, 10 Dec 2012 10:28:32 -0800

On Saturday Petrangelo, who plays on Full Tilt Poker as canofcorn22, out-dueled his opponents in the Heads-Up FTOPS event to win $36,872.

Yesterday the Montreal-native performed an even more impressive feat as caecilius on PokerStars beating a monstrous 6,882-player field to win over $200k.

A respected online player, Petrangelo has over $3 million in lifetime earnings but yesterday marked his biggest online score. He's up nearly $250k over the last few days.

Petrangelo actually entered the Sunday Million final table as one of the shortest stacks with only 4 million chips but went on an incredible run that saw him take the chip lead by the time there were four players left.

Heads-up featured Petrangelo vs. Str8$$$Homey but Petrangelo had a massive 54 million-chip lead to Str8$$$Homey’s 13 million. The match only lasted four hands with Petrangelo landing the knockout blow with pocket queens.

Here are the complete Sunday Million final-table results:

1. caecilius (Canada) $209,354.49 2. Str8$$$Homey (Canada) $154,845.00 3. le bison (Canada) $110,112.00 4. Borso888 (Hungary) $75,702.00 5. R&O--UL (Canada) $57,808.80 6. muratfb (Turkey) $44,044.80 7. 23noraB (Austria) $30,280.80 8. nipe1955 (Brazil) $16,516.80 9. Pasiu (Poland) $10,667.10

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Isildur1 Crushes durrrr in $200k High-Stakes Challenge

Mon, 10 Dec 2012 08:00:00 -0800

Blom issued the challenge last Tuesday and less than a week later the two titans were going toe-to-toe on the virtual felt.

What started as a winner-take-all match for $100k quickly ballooned to include a $200,000 buy-in and six tables of $100/$200 heads-up No-Limit Hold’em.

The rules were simple: Battle until one player was left with nothing.

It took only two and a half hours and 1,381 hands for that to happen with Blom dominating the action from start to finish. The biggest pot of the session was a $104k behemoth won by Blom.

Tom Dwan hasn't figured out how to beat Viktor Blom.

The match officially ended when Tom Dwan shoved all-in for his last $3,500 with pocket tens and got called by Blom’s A♣ 3♣.

An ace on the turn put the final nail in Dwan’s coffin and added another win to Blom’s very successful record in high-stakes heads-up challenges.

Blom, Dwan Reprise Legendary Heads-Up Grudge Match

In November of 2009 Isildur1’s identity was still unknown but it didn’t stop him from winning roughly $5 million from Tom Dwan in less than a week.

The loss was devastating for Dwan, representing the majority of the almost $6 million in profits he had racked up on Full Tilt since 2007.

For Isildur1, however, it was an express ticket to prominence in the high-stakes online community.

Since then both Dwan and Blom have won and lost high-stakes heads-up challenges of their own against many of the best players in the world, but it wasn’t until this weekend that poker fans got to see Dwan take another shot against his old rival.

Dwan and Blom, along with Gus Hansen, make up the new team of sponsored pros at Full Tilt Poker, known collectively as The Professionals.

Ansky451, Stamdogg Dominate FTOPS XXI Over Weekend

Mon, 10 Dec 2012 07:54:52 -0800

In total there were seven FTOPS XXI events that took place this weekend with over $2 million awarded to grinders from around the globe.

Stern and Stammen made the biggest scores but Brandon “norajean” Meyers, Russell “rdcrsn” Carson and Joey Weissman also made a respectable amount of cash in their own rights.

Check below for highlights from Full Tilt Poker over the weekend.

FTOPS XXI Event #12: Meyers Smashes Field

Griffin "Flush_Entity" Benger

Brandon “norajean” Meyers outlasted 981 players to win Event 12 $216 No-Limit Hold’em 6-Max for $40,907 this weekend.

Luke “IWEARGOGGLES” Staudenmaier, Griffin “Flush_Entity” Benger and Faraz “The-Toilet 0” Jaka also made the money in Event 12 but fell well short of the final table.

Meyers beat ydere heads-up to claim the top prize in Event 12 while ydere had to settle for $27k.

Here are the complete final-table payouts for Event 12:

1. norajean - $40,907 2. ydere - $27,271 3. eh90tcm - $19,423 4. Klompie - $14,518 5. r1mf1sh - $10,398 6. Funkytwisted - $6,670

FTOPS XXI Event #13: Gennadiy Dethrones Kingkai

Norwegian Kai “kingkai” Danilo Paulsen finished runner-up to online player Gennadiy As in Event 13 $322 2-7 Triple Draw Limit 6-Max event.

Gennadiy As earned $13,590 for taking first place but thanks to a heads-up deal kingkai wasn’t that far behind with $12,274.

Despite being a more obscure poker variant, Event 13 drew 208 players to create a $62k prizepool, which easily cracked the guarantee of $20k.

Here are the complete final-table results:

1. Gennadiy As - $13,590 2. kingkai - $12,274 3. KKHoldem - $7,550 4. cladarth - $5,491 5. Budnikov - $3,931 6. MrTightass - $2,620

Robert "Treadin Dank" Salaburu

FTOPS XXI Event #14: Petrangelo Takes Heads-Up Crown

Nick "canofcorn22" Petrangelo proved to be the ultimate heads-up warrior in Event 14 of FTOPS XXI.

After winning numerous previous rounds, Petrangelo finally dusted naimad in the tournament-clinching heads-up match to take the first-place prize of $36,872.

In total Event 14 $535 Heads-Up No-Limit Hold’em drew 301 runners to create a prizepool of $150,500.

Kingkai, runner-up in Event 13, made a nice run in the tournament, eventually finishing just three matches short of the title.

Here are the final eight results from Event 14:

1. canofcorn22 - $36,872 2. naimad89 - $21,070 3. InspectorPo - $10,911 4. BustedWadZ - $10,911 5. busteddout - $5,643 6. kingkai - $5,643 7. IkillU2012 - $5,643 8. Treadin Dank - $5,643

FTOPS XXI Event #15: Veeea Wins Second Final Table of Series

Mohsin "chicagocards1" Charania

Online player veeea beat a 534-player field to take top honors in Event 15 $322 Pot-Limit Omaha 6-Max Triple Chance for $28k.

It wasn’t veeea’s first taste of glory in FTOPS XXI as he already made the final table of Event 10 and now finds himself in the top 10 on the FTOPS leaderboard.

One of the more popular FTOPS XXI events, Event 15’s 500+ runners created a prizepool of $160,200.

Mohsin "chicagocards1" Charania made a deep run in the tournament but eventually busted in 32nd place for a $736 cash.

Here are the complete final-table payouts:

1. veeea - $28,041 2. The_Real_Kid83 - $30,431 3. blony_tair - $16,821 4. callyoudownn - $12,335 5. michaelsc - $8,811 6. Zumy - $5,607

Russell Carson

FTOPS XXI Event #16: Branko07 Outlasts Russell Carson

Online master Russell “rdcrsn” Carson recorded his first final table of FTOPS XXI but fell short of the ultimate prize in Event 16.

Instead Branko07 beat all 905 entrants in the $216 No-Limit Hold’em Rush event to claim the $41,630 first-place prize.

Carson finished in sixth place to earn $8,145 for his efforts.

Here are the complete final-table results for Event 16:

1. Branko07 - $41,630 2. Brainbuster777 - $26,245 3. KENTRAPU2 - $19,457 4. player107 - $14,932 5. rightdurrr - $11,312 6. rdcrsn - $8,145 7. Klausen - $5,430 8. brikks66 - $4,425 9. VladPr - $3,077

Third place finisher Joey Weissman

FTOPS XXI Event #17: Weissman, Stammen Final Table

Canada’s DrewAce34 overcame an enormous field and beat a tough final table that included Keven “Stamdogg” Stammen and Joey “JWeiSS31” Weissman to win Event 17 for $104k.

Event 17 $120 No-Limit Hold’em Knockout Multi-Entry attracted a total of 6,106 players to create a massive prizepool of $610,600.

Weissman, a recent WSOP bracelet winner, made a sick run but ended up finishing in third place for $51,901.

Weissman’s elimination cleared the way for a heads-up battle between Stammen and DrewAce34.

Stammen has had an impressive FTOPS but couldn’t get past DrewAce34 and eventually had to settle for second place in this tournament.

Stammen did get $72,611 for his efforts however.

Here are the complete final-table results:

1. DrewAce34 - $104,412 2. Stamdogg - $72,611 3. JWeiSS31 - $51,901 4. tilt thisAA - $39,078 5. asforr - $29,278 6. SheMustSayYes - $20,149 7. Helli_Hansen - $13,127 8. PinkPanther05 - $9,159 9. callyoudownn - $6,411

Bryn "OneUponAStar" Kenney

FTOPS XXI Event #18: Stern Hits $193k Payday

Dani “Ansky451” Stern outlasted 3,487 players to win the second biggest tournament yet in FTOPS XXI for $193,528.

Event 18 $322 No-Limit Hold’em Multi-Entry offered a huge prizepool of $1,046,100.

Nick “FU_15” Maimone, Griffin “Flush_Entity” Benger, and Jonathan “Pearljammed” Turner were among the 360 players who made the money in the event.

Noted poker pro Bryn “OneUponAStar” Kenney made the final table but eventually finished third for $93k.

Stern went on to beat Just Speechless heads-up to close out the tournament.

Here are the complete final-table results:

1. Ansky451 - $193,528 2. Just Speechless - $135,993 3. OneUponAStar - $93,102 4. luckylucano10 - $69,042 5. kakagun - $52,305 6. m_hawk_1 - $38,810 7. jables20 - $27,721 8. PureProfitFour - $19,666 9. xiexz - $13,285

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Freeroll Spotlight: 888poker Starts Daily $10k Xmas Giveaway

Sat, 08 Dec 2012 13:24:02 -0800

Anyone that signs up for an 888poker account this month gets two free tickets to $10,000 Xmas tourney.

After burning through your two tickets you’re not out of the GR888 Xmas Giveaway completely. Anytime you get dealt pocket eights and reach showdown, even if you lose the hand, you’ll get another $10,000 ticket.

The $10,000 tournaments run every day but you can also win iPads, iPhones and more presents in the Xmas Shop Freeroll.

888poker is also making a huge push Down Under this year with a variety of satellites to both the Aussie Millions and WSOP Asia-Pacific. It’s possible to get a free Step 1 ticket to qualifiers if you deposit $10 or more on 888poker.

Players who sign up through PokerListings receive a 100% bonus match up to $888. In addition 888poker is one of the only sites that gives away instant cash and tournament tickets just for signing up.

p00cket00 Scores, Moorman Misses in FTOPS XXI

Fri, 07 Dec 2012 07:35:01 -0800

The two respected grinders faced off at the final table of the 3xShootout event, the biggest FTOPS event on Full Tilt Poker yesterday.

The other event yesterday, a 6-Max Limit Hold’em Rush event, nearly saw mrcall912 claim his second FTOPS title in this year’s series.

Here’s a complete look at the highlights from yesterday’s FTOPS action.

FTOPS #10: mrcall912 Nearly Makes it Two FTOPS Titles

Online player mrcall912 came close to becoming the first player to snag two titles in FTOPS XXI yesterday.

Mrcall912 made the final table of FTOPS $216 Limit Hold’em 6-Max Rush Multi-Entry tournament, which drew 363 players to create a prizepool of $75,000.

The final table nearly featured unidentified Swedish high stakes superstar DIN_FRU but DIN_FRU ended up falling in 13th place for a relatively minor $825 cash.

Mrcall912 made an incredibly deep run but eventually finished fifth to earn $6,075. Add in his other victory for $18,699 in the HORSE event earlier in FTOPS XXI and Mrcall912 is up to nearly $25k in profit over the series.

Netherlands online player bullyingpros would go on to win the tournament outright for $17,850.

Here’s a complete look at the final table results:

1. bullyingpros - $17,850 2. TheFatFISH - $11,400 3. saldory - $8,325 4. mrcall912 - $6,075 5. keeskontje - $4,275 6. veeea - $2,850

Online beast Calvin "Cal42688" Anderson also made it deep.

FTOPS #11: Moorman Denied by p0cket00

Online MTT masters Sebastian “p0cket00” Sikorski and Chris “MoormanI” Moorman finished first and second in FTOPS #11 last night.

The $322 No-Limit Hold’em 3xShootout event drew 425 players who created a prizepool of $127,500.

Adam “Roothlus” Levi, Adam Junglen, and Calvin “Cal42688” Anderson all made the cash in the event but fell short of the final table.

Moorman is one of the most well-known players in the online MTT community. The Brighton-native has been focusing on the live tournament circuit lately but still found time to win a PocketFives Triple Crown.

Sikorski isn’t as established as Moorman but that could change soon as the Canadian has over $5.4 million in online winnings.

This time around it was Sikorski who got the better of Moorman to claim the $27,412 first-place prize and FTOPS jersey. Moorman settled for $18,487.

Here’s a complete look at the final-table payouts:

1. Sebastian “p00cket00” Sikorski - $27,412 2. Chris “MoormanI” Moorman - $18,487 3. PatGarrett01 - $13,387 4. Tenkamusou - $9,817 5. The_SeS - $7,140 6. maximani91 - $5,100 7. Assad91 - $3,570 8. Phil Ivey 18 - $2,422 9. bigt439 - $1,721

Dwan vs. Isildur in New $100k Heads-Up Challenge

Thu, 06 Dec 2012 08:42:58 -0800

Set for 3 pm ET Sunday (Dec. 9), the two will each put up $100k across four heads-up NLHE tables and battle until one of them is broke.

The challenge will be reminiscent of their epic battles back in November 2009, where Isildur ran over Durrrr over the course of a week at the $500/$1,000 tables to the tune of $5 million in profit.

This wil be their first official match as members of The Professionals, the relaunched Full Tilt Poker's new pro team that also includes Gus Hansen.

Players looking to rail the action can log in to the Full Tilt Poker client on Sunday and search for "durrrr" or "Isildur1."

Blom initiated the challenge with a series of Tweets this week:

I see you @tomdwan playing a lot of 2-7and other games on @fulltiltpoker. What about NLHE? I know I want to play with you :)

— Viktor Blom (@RealIsildur1) December 4, 2012

the poker gods and @fulltiltpoker have answered my tweets. @tomdwan has accepted my challenge and wants to play this Sunday :)

— Viktor Blom (@RealIsildur1) December 6, 2012

Now that Dwan's accepted, Blom is looking forward to the challenge:

me and @tomdwan will play @fulltiltpoker for $100k a side to start, 4 tables, nlhe. this is yrs in the making and will be so fun!

— Viktor Blom (@RealIsildur1) December 6, 2012

Check the tale of the tape below:

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

Pavlikova Nearly Strikes for Females in FTOPS XXI

Thu, 06 Dec 2012 07:44:44 -0800

There were only two FTOPS XXI events running yesterday but there was still over $300k in guaranteed prizepools up for grabs.

Pavilikova came very close to becoming the first female FTOPS XXI winner this year but fell just short in Event 9.

Meanwhile ottoman09 added a FTOPS jersey to go along with the WCOOP bracelet he won earlier this year. Check below for highlights from yesterday’s FTOPS XXI action:

Chris "maxxscam" Back

FTOPS #8: Garbally Takes RUSH PLO Title

A total of 487 players signed up for the rapid-fire Event #8 Pot-Limit Omaha Rush tournament on Full Tilt easily doubling the guarantee from $50,000 to $97,400.

Online player Garbally took the title for $19,973 but thanks to a heads-up deal, second place finisher arhimides earned a similar $19,473 for his efforts.

It wasn’t the most name-heavy final table but there were several experienced online grinders on hand including Canadian Chris “maxxscam” Back who finished fifth, former FTOPS winner Clairv0yant1 (Sixth) and Norwegian MTT crusher Thylacine09 (Seventh).

Chris Back, a PocketFives Triple Crown winner, has over $1.5 million in online winnings including several huge scores on Full Tilt Poker. He picked up $6,574 for coming fifth in this event.

Jesse “shakentucan” Johnston is having a great FTOPS and added another cash by coming in 27th place in this event.

Here are the complete final-table payouts:

1. Garbally - $19,973 2. arhimides - $19,473 3. 83oneblood86 - $11,201 4. Revenge4Dodo - $8,766 5. maxxscam - $6,574 6. Clairv0yant1 - $4,870 7. Thylacine09 - $3,165 8. TLD2006 - $2,435 9. jbrow8777 - $1,948

FTOPS #9: Ottoman09 Crushes, Near Miss for Pavlikova

The Czech Republic’s Veronika “xbet_kiddi” Pavlikova nearly became the first female winner of this FTOPS but had to settle for fourth place for $19,311.

FTOPS #9 $109 No-Limit Hold’em 6-Max Rebuy attracted 806 players to create a prizepool of $254,100.

The final table didn’t have a lot of star power although WSOP bracelet winner Athanasios Polychronopoulas was a strong contender to make the final six before finally falling out of contention in 10th place. He picked up $3,938 for his efforts.

Pavlikova certainly brought out a few poker fans in her bid for a FTOPS title, however.

Pavlikova gained notoriety last spring when she outlasted 296 players to win the main event of the France Poker Series Snowfest in the Alps for $92,567.

It wasn’t to be for Pavlikova in this event, however, as Romanian ottoman09 would go on to win the tournament outright for $54,250.

It’s not the first time ottoman09 has made a huge online score as he won a WCOOP title earlier this year for $86,771.

Here’s a complete look at the final-table payouts:

1. ottoman09 - $54,250 2. voehahn - $35,574 3. IPukeRainbows - $25,410 4. xbet_kiddi - $19,311 5. aihhfr - $13,721 6. IkillU2012 - $8,766

Emmons, Cazals Make FTOPS XXI Final Tables

Wed, 05 Dec 2012 07:32:57 -0800

Jacob “bazeman” Bazeley, David “betudont” Emmons, Bryan “enterthewu19” Piccioli and Aubin “K-zouls” Cazals were among the numerous noted online players who made sizable scores.

Day 3 of FTOPS XXI included a little bit of everything with 6-Max HA, HORSE and Knockout NLHE events.

Check below for highlights from FTOPS XXI Day 3:

FTOPS #5: Mikleler Cashes In

Don’t let it be said there’s no value in FTOPS tournaments.

FTOPS #5 $216 Pot-Limit HA 6-Max actually provided a slight overlay as the 495 entrants fell just short of the $100k guarantee.

It was no matter as Full Tilt Poker threw in a little extra cash, giving everyone even more incentive.

The final nine included respected grinders Jesse “shakentoucan” Johnston and Jacob “bazeman” Bazeley. Bazeley just missed out on the final table coming in seventh place for $2,300 while Johnston ended up in fifth for $5,500.

Mikleler went on to beat TheKoalabear heads-up to claim the FTOPS title and $18,000 in cash. Thanks to a heads-up deal, TheKoalabear actually made more money for his second-place finish as he earned $18,500.

Here’s a complete look at the final-table results:

1. Mikleler - $18,000 2. TheKoalabear - $18,500 3. CocazeroPlz - $10,500 4. ITrashYou - $7,800 5. shakentucan - $5,500 6. karfaton - $3,600

Aubin Cazals also went deep in Event 6.

FTOPS #6: mrcall912 Rides HORSE to Victory

Online player mrcall912 smashed his way to $18k in the first HORSE event of FTOPS XXI.

FTOPS #6 $216 HORSE drew a total of 377 runners to create a prizepool of $75,400, which was triple the guarantee of $25,000.

The final table featured several notable names with David “betudont” Emmons and Russian high-stakes cash game player knluiy.

Interestingly, Aubin "K-zouls" Cazals also finished 36th for $550 before final-tabling Event 7 later in the day.

Emmons has had a pretty great online year considering he won the PokerStars TCOOP Main Event for $382k back in January.

He was denied an FTOPS title in this event, however, as he finished in seventh place for $1,885.

Meanwhile knuiy made it all the way to heads-up play before falling to mrcall912. The Russian earned $12,516 for his efforts. Mrcall912 earned $18,699 for winning it all.

Here’s a complete look at the final-table payouts:

1. mrcall912 - $18,699 2. knluiy - $12,516 3. Manechka - $8,746 4. nilsef - $5,428 5. tron34 - $3,468 6. Alxbanana - $2,488 7. betudontbet - $1,885 8. Tueff123 - $1,357

Bryan “enterthewu19” Piccioli

FTOPS #7: Online Player errr_rick Makes No Mistake in $80k Win

Finnish online player errr_rick took down the biggest FTOPS event yesterday for a total of $79,565.

FTOPS #7 $322 NLHE Super Turbo Knockout Multi-Entry had a long name and an even bigger field with a total of 1,391 getting in on the action to create a $361,660 prizepool, which easily surpassed the $150k guarantee.

The international final table included New York-native Bryan “enterthewu19” Piccioli, Hugarian Andras Nemeth and French pro Aubin “K-zouls” Cazals.

Cazals won a bracelet for $480k at the WSOP this summer but busted from yesterday’s final table relatively quickly in eighth place for $7,594.

Nemeth made it to fifth place where he earned $22k while Piccioli did one better by coming in fourth for $29k.

Finland’s errr_rick would eventually beat TOM1211HH heads-up to claim an FTOPS jersey and nearly $80k in cash.

Here’s a look at the complete final-table payouts:

1. errr_rick - $79,565 2. Tom1211HH - $50,632 3. thelumeister - $36,618 4. enterthewu19 - $29,384 5. Andras Nemeth - $22,169 6. Paul Merson - $16,274 7. jochee - $10,488 8. K-zouls - $7,594 9. Kotik-Narkotiks - $5,424

João Paulo Simão Adds FTOPS Title to WCOOP Win

Tue, 04 Dec 2012 09:15:00 -0800

The latest Full Tilt Online Poker Series is picking up speed with more than $1 million awarded over the second, third and fourth events.

FTOPS Day 2 saw a Rush Poker tournament, a six-max Omaha Hi/Lo event and a $1,000 multi-entry for the higher rollers.

And while Simão won over $23,000 he was by no means the day’s biggest winner with two players snagging six-figure scores and a total of 246 global grinders getting paid.

Read on for highlights and results from FTOPS XXI #2-4.

FTOPS #2: Brazil Bags Omaha Hi/Lo Title

The first non-Hold’em event of this FTOPS attracted 527 players, tipping the pay scales with $105,400 in the pot. That was well ahead of the $75k guarantee originally slapped on the tournament.

Professional poker player João Paulo “joaosimaobh “ Simão from Brazil battled his way to heads-up and closed the door on Russian BuratinBilTupoy.

Simão has earned more than $1.2 million playing online under screennames joaosimaobh on Full Tilt and INeedMassari on PokerStars.

Also making the final table was Jeremiah "Believer8219" Vinsant who now leads the FTOPS Leaderboard competition.

Jeremiah "Believer8219" Vinsant.

Here are the full final-table results for FTOPS XXI #4:

1. joaosimaobh - $23,188 2. BuratinBilTupoy - $15,283 3. Anelps - $11,067 4. Slonik555 - $8,115 5. ntyara - $5,797 6. Believer8219 - $3,689

FTOPS #3: First High Buy-In Event Doubles Guarantee

If there were lingering doubts about how customers would react to Full Tilt Poker reopening its doors they were laid to rest when registration closed on FTOPS #3.

705 buy-ins were paid in this $1,060 Multi-Entry No-Limit Hold’em tournament, putting more than $700k up for grabs with a pair of six-figure paydays waiting for the final two players.

After roughly ten hours of poker only fowirls from Canada and o daskalos from Cyprus remained.

The two players made a deal heads-up with the Canadian going on to take $149k and the title, while his European opponent walked with $125k for second.

Here are the full final-table results for FTOPS XXI #4:

1. fowirls - $149,950 2. o daskalos - $125,000 3. KnighTT 00 - $79,312 4. rh300487 - $59,925 5. EMSBas - $45,825 6. nickyluvshu - $31,725 7. HenrikX - $21,855 8. C Darwin2 - $16,920 9. Oxotaments - $12,690

FTOPS #4: WSOP Winner Chance Kornuth Final-Tables

Chance Kornuth at the 2012 LA Poker Classic.

Over 1,000 players bought into this Rush Poker tournament but it took barely two hours for Polish player gorskow to come out on top and pocket the $45,810 first-place prize.

In the end Poland edged out Brazil with GaussPoker taking second and $29,013.

Finishing sixth and narrowly missing his first major online title was American poker pro Chance “Chances Cards” Kornuth.

Kornuth won a WSOP bracelet in 2010 and has more than $1.3 million in online tournament earnings. He took down just over $9,100 for his finish yesterday.

Here are the full final-table results for FTOPS XXI #4:

1. gorskow - $45,810 2. GaussPoker - $29,013 3. TyRusT - $21,479 4. bond25459 - $16,797 5. Velmuzhov - $12,725 6. Chances Cards - $9,162 7. ACov24 - $6,108 8. PAVL1K - $4,581 9. husaberg - $3,257

Dan “KingDan23” Smith Final-Tables FTOPS Event 1

Mon, 03 Dec 2012 09:55:00 -0800

FTOPS XXI #1 was a $200 + $16 multi-entry No-Limit Hold’em tournament that recorded 5,482 buy-ins.

That put just under $1.1 million in the pot with $187,484 going to eventual winner doneNdusted84.

But headlining the final table in terms of star-power was Dan “KingDan23” Smith. The Las Vegas pro has over $4.2 million in live cashes, including wins in tournaments with buy-ins as big as $100,000, and he’s made over $1.6 million playing MTTs online.

Smith finished in fifth place for $52,572, shoving A-T for ten big blinds from the cut-off only to run into pocket aces from the big blind.

Finishing right behind Smith was two-time FTOPS champion JackQKA who won the FTOPS Main Event in 2010.

Also cashing in this event was the UK’s Praz Bansi (20th), Keven “Stamdogg” Stammen (79th), Mike “GoLeafsGoEh” Leah (157th) and James Akenhead (191st).

Former Full Tilt pro Praz Bansi nearly made the final table.

Here are the full final table results for FTOPS XXI #1:

1. doneNdusted84 - $187,484 2. Sgoup - $130,471 3. BGMozak - $93,194 4. chewonchewy - $70,169 5. KingDan23 - $52,572 6. JackQKA - $36,181 7. Romeopro33 - $23,572 8. MuchInTheClutch - $16,446 9. sicklol - $11,512

Three More Events Begin Today

The 21st Full Tilt Online Poker Series continues today with three more events:

- Event #2: $200 + $16 Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo 6-Max - $75,000 Guarantee - 11:00 ET

- Event #3: $1,000 + $60 No Limit Hold’em Multi-Entry - $300,000 Guaranteed - 14:00 ET

- Event #4: $200 + $16 No Limit Hold’em Rush Turbo - $100,000 Guaranteed - 17:00 ET

Stay tuned for continuing news coverage of Full Tilt Poker's latest online tournament series.

Sunday Scoop: Iacofano Closes Out Sunday Million

Mon, 03 Dec 2012 08:16:03 -0800

There was plenty of action to be had on Sunday as major tournaments like the Million, Warm-Up and 500 drew over 10,000 players combined.

Toni Judet nearly made the final table of the Sunday Warm-Up while Swede Emil Ohlsson took down the 500 for $69k.

Here’s a closer look at the big notable tournaments yesterday:

PokerStars Sunday Million

Kevin “iaco4” Iacofano dusted off a field of 7,184 players to take $197,000 in this week’s Sunday Million.

It was sweet redemption for Iacofano who finished runner-up in the Sunday Million after mounting an improbable comeback with just 10 big blinds left in the final five tables back in April.

There were plenty of Team PokerStars Pros on hand for this week’s contest including Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, Jonathan Duhamel, Liv Boeree, Ike Haxton, Ana Marquez, Nacho Barbero and Shane “Shaniac” Schleger.

Johnny Lodden got bragging rights over his teammates by making the deepest run, which eventually saw him finish 68th.

Iacofano entered the final table as one of the middle stacks with 8.8 million but had some serious work cut out for him as chip-leader dulek_jason was on a rampage with 15.7 million.

By the time heads-up rolled around Iacofano had nearly closed the gap on dulek_jason with 33 million to dulek_jason’s 37 million.

After making a two-way deal, Iacofano quickly took control of the match and finally busted dulek_jason when he made two-pair against dulek_jason’s second-pair.

Here are the complete final-table results:

1. Kevin "iacog4" Iacofano (United Kingdom) $197,052.26* 2. dulek_jason (Poland) $177,052.27* 3. 19VICTOR89 (Sweden) $114,944.00 4. WATnlos (Germany) $76,150.40 5. Franzimoore (Czech Republic) $58,908.80 6. tomc1s (Sweden) $44,540.80 7. Mellow-Peach (Lithuania) $30,891.20 8. austin.xd (Peru) $17,241.60 9. Taffyfella (United Kingdom) $11,135.20

Toni Judet

PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up

Romanian Team PokerStars Pro Toni Judet narrowly missed out on the final table of the Sunday Warm-Up on Sunday.

The Sunday Warm-Up was firing yesterday with 3,552 players creating a $710,400 prizepool.

Team PokerStars Pros Mickey “mement_mori” Petersen, Maxim Lykov, Fatima Moreira de Melo, George Danzer and Liv Boeree all made the cash in this week’s Sunday Million.

Judet outlasted all of them, however, and appeared to be a good bet to make the final table before finally falling in 13th place for $3,196.

Online player $kill Game, who has been popping up in online results a lot lately, also made a deep run that eventually saw him finish in 49th place for $1,349.

Meanwhile the United Kingdom’s salfshb powered his way to first place for a total score of $111,533.

Here’s a look at final-table payouts:

1. salfshb (United Kingdom) $111,533 2. Butros (United Kingdom) $83,116 3. zamyak (Australia) $58,608 4. jurata_PL (Poland) $40,848 5. Stjemeskud (Denmark) $30,192 6. jdimindtrix (Romania) $23,088 7. gmcrafter (Chile) $15,984 8. DuduPoker-BR (Brazil) $8,880 9. PPP-30NA (Iran) $5,683

PokerStars Sunday 500

Emil Ohlsson

Life just gets better and better for recent WPT Copenhagen winner Emil Ohlsson.

The Swedish poker pro outlasted 826 players to win this week’s elite Sunday 500 for $69,809.

As usual the Sunday 500 was populated heavily with pros including Andrey Pateychuk, George Danzer, Mickey Petersen, Angel Guillen, Mike “Timex” McDonald, Calvin Anderson and $kill Game all looking to cash in on the contest.

Ohlsson beat Canadian Jeremiah “Believer82” Vinsant heads-up to claim this week’s title. Vinsant had to settle for the $49k that came attached to second place.

It’s been a very solid year for Ohlsson as he took down $230k for winning WPT Copenhagen so he’s now up well over $300k on the year.

Here are the complete final-table payouts:

1. Emilohlsson (Sweden) $69,809 2. Believer82 (Canada) $49,480 3. icntplypkr (United Kingdom) $48,801 4. Infiniti312 (Russia) $29,942 5. stepan666666 (Russia) $20,815 6. Ansgar2000 (Germany) $16,520 7. AverageGreg (Canada) $12,390 8. ItsMyReality (Russia) $8,260 9. asdf78 (Germany) $4,956

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

Freeroll Spotlight: Free PCA Package Quiz

Sat, 01 Dec 2012 09:24:55 -0800

The PCA 10th Anniversary Quiz is a series of 10 questions about PokerStars premier tropical tournament.

The quicker you answer, and the fewer hints you use, the higher your score will be. Expect to answer various trivia about the history of the massive event including some of the most famous winners.

Players who make it into the top 100 scores will be entered into a draw for a number of prizes including the grand prize of a $16,000 PCA package.

The quiz is available on almost every device you can access Facebook on and is supported in English, French, Spanish, Portugese, Russian, Dutch, Danish and Italian.

The contest is open now and will run until midnight ET on Wednesday, Dec. 5.

Contestants can only enter once and you must have a valid PokerStars ID to have a chance of winning.

You can create a valid PokerStars ID by signing up through PokerListings here. Players who sign up through PokerListings receive special bonuses and exclusive offers.

Hansen Takes $2 Million Beating on Full Tilt in Nov.

Thu, 29 Nov 2012 14:29:20 -0800

The first member of The Professionals recorded one of the worst months in the history of online poker by losing over $2 million since Full Tilt re-launched on Nov. 6.

The majority of Hansen’s losses came in the $2,000/$4,000 Omaha-8 games, which he normally dominates.

Upstart accounts KPR16, Sally Woo and cottonseed1 all won considerable amounts from the Great Dane.

There was plenty of action in the high-stakes online games this month as Ben “Sauce123” Sulsky, Ilari Sahamies and Viktor “Isildur1” Blom made headlines for very different reasons.

Rui Cao won on FTP... but lost on PokerStars.

Top 10 Online Winners in November

Ben “Sauce123” Sulsky is simply crushing the high-stakes online scene this year and showed no signs of slowing down in November.

Sulsky cruised through 15,435 hands and racked up $804,816 on PokerStars this month.

Sulsky was already the biggest online winner in 2012 but he’s now up a staggering $3.8 million.

The other big winner on PokerStars during the month of November was the Macau-based account patpatman, who picked up $756,005 over 19,211 hands.

Meanwhile on Full Tilt Poker players no_Ola, Alex Luneau and Rui Cao benefited greatly from the site's return by making huge scores.

no_Ola was the biggest winner on the site as he won $510k, while Alex Luneau won $475k and Rui Cao $469k.

Here’s a look at the other top 10 online winners in November according to hsdb.com:

1. Sauce123 (PokerStars): +$804,816 2. Patpatman (PokerStars): +$756,005 3. No_Ola (Full Tilt Poker): +$510,134 4. Alex Luneau (Full Tilt Poker): +$475,370 5. Rui Cao (Full Tilt Poker): +$469,357 6. Mastrblastr (Full Tilt Poker): +$451,609 7. KPR16 (Full Tilt Poker): +$401,843 8. O Fortuna PLS (Full Tilt Poker): +$347,868 9. Cottonseed1 (Full Tilt Poker): +$319,956 10. Longerpig (PokerStars): +$317,150

Viktor "Isildur1" Blom also didn't fare well on FTP.

Top 10 Online Losers in November

About the only silver lining for Gus Hansen’s dramatic $2 million downswing in November is that he’s one of the few players who has a bankroll that can take it.

Before Black Friday in 2011, Hansen was up nearly $4 million on Full Tilt Poker, so he still has some ammunition to win it all back.

Hansen wasn’t the only player who didn’t exactly benefit from the New Full Tilt Poker.

Andreas “Skjervoy” Torbergsen lost a staggering $485k on PokerStars but also lost $358k on Full Tilt. In total Torbergsen recorded $843k in losses during the month of November.

Even Hansen’s fellow Professional teammate Viktor “Isildur1” Blom couldn’t turn a profit on the new Full Tilt and ended up dropping $303,455 in November.

Meanwhile Ilari “Ilari FIN” Sahamies continued to have problems on PokerStars, losing a total of $433k this month.

Here are the top 10 online losers in November according to hsdb.com:

1. Gus Hansen (Full Tilt Poker): -$2,070,064 2. SallyWoo (Full Tilt Poker): -$594,166 3. Skjervoy (PokerStars): -$485,593 4. Odd_Oddsen (PokerStars): -$454,887 5. PepperoniF (PokerStars): -$436,280 6. Ilari FIN (PokerStars): -$433,261 7. Tr1cky7 (PokerStars): -$402,045 8. Skjervoy (Full Tilt Poker): -$358,349 9. GVOZDIKA55 (PokerStars): -$313,755 10. Isildur1 (Full Tilt Poker): -$303,455

PokerListings Players Get Free Shot at 2013 PCA

Tue, 27 Nov 2012 08:13:05 -0800

PokerStars is running a special freeroll this Sunday, Dec. 2, at 12:30 ET with the top 100 finishers all getting a seat in the $10 buy-in Saturday qualifier with a guarantee of at least 10 packages, each worth $14,901, to the 2013 PCA.

The freeroll will actually end after the $10 Saturday PCA qualifier begins, so the top 100 players will instantly be shuffled into the 10-seat-GTD tournament.

Anyone who signed up for PokerStars through PokerListings is eligible to play the tournament. You just have to use the password provided below.

If you don’t already have a PokerStars account, just use the marketing code pl.com during the sign-up process and you’ll have access to all our exclusive offers. Click here to sign up for PokerStars.

The PCA is always the premier live tournament for online poker players amateur poker player John Dibella outlasted 1,072 players to win $1.7 million at the 2012 PCA.

Here are all the details on this week’s exclusive freeroll:

Name: PokerListings PCA SatelliteDate: Dec 2Time: 12:30 ETStructure: TurboBuy-in: FreerollTourney ID: 647963840Target Tournament: 645284779Guarantee (seats in target): 100Password: dog

Sunday Scoop: Maimone Wins FTP $500k GTD, MicroMillions Finale

Mon, 26 Nov 2012 08:08:49 -0800

While Maimone was busy cleaning up on Full Tilt, PokerStars was running the Main Event of another successful MicroMillions.

An astounding 60,072 players paid $22 to play the last event of MicroMillions III to create a prizepool of over $1 million.

Here’s a look at some of bigger tournaments that played out yesterday including a couple notable ones on Full Tilt.

Full Tilt Poker $500k Guaranteed

The Full Tilt $500k GTD was no cakewalk for Nick “FU_15” Maimone as the final table also included celebrated online grinders Ben “kidcardiff” Warrington and TJ “darkhorse19” Ulmer.

Warrington ended up finishing in fourth place for $36,907 while Ulmer made it all the way to heads-up but lost to Maimone and had to settle for a $72,696 consolation prize.

In total the event drew 2,796 to easily break the guarantee with close to $600k in the pot.

Prior to Black Friday the $500k GTD was actually a $750k-guaranteed event but if the site continues to succeed it would seem likely it will switch back to the bigger guarantee.

Maimone has been on a good run lately and nearly made his first WSOP final table this summer, coming in ninth place in the 6-Max $10k event that Greg Merson eventually won.

Chris Moorman, Peter Jetten and Ryan Daut all made the money in this week’s $500k guaranteed.

Here are the complete final-table payouts:

1. Nick “FU_15” Maimone - $103,452 2. TJ “darkhorse19” Ulmer - $72,696 3. PREDADOR-88 - $49,768 4. Kidcardiff - $36,907 5. BrazyCrain - $27,960 6. Obvamentz_IMO - $20,746 7. Vincent1204 - $14,818 8. CSWAMI - $10,512 9. newPOKface - $7,101

Fabian Quoss

Full Tilt Poker Brawl

German poker pro Fabian Quoss beat a 1,091-player field to win the knockout FTP Sunday Brawl yesterday for $43,640.

Quoss has over $1 million in lifetime live tournament earnings including a runner-up finish in the WSOP $5k NLHE event in 2009 for $427,911 and winning the 2010 English Poker Open for $340,409.

He’s also part of a collection of skilled German players who currently reside in London including Sebastian Ruthenberg, Tobias Reinkemeier and EPT London winner Benny Spindler.

Interestingly Spindler, who plays on Full Tilt as psychobenny, finished in 30th place in this week’s Sunday Brawl for $720 meaning Quoss got some serious bragging rights over his friend.

Noted pros Keven “Stammdogg” Stammen, Chris “Getting Daize” Oliver and Tyler “TheBrain” Cornell also all made the money in the Brawl.

Here are the complete final-table payouts for this week’s Sunday Brawl on Full Tilt:

1. Fabian Quoss - $43,640 2. Wirtue - $29,064 3. ANIMAL5050 - $20,729 4. Freddiewalli - $15,492 5. DAC48 - $11,564 6. JIM_BALLAS1980 - $8,509 7. MILF ISLAND - $6,327 8. Cheesies - $4,582 9. Globbaz82 - $273,273

MicroMillions III $22 Main Event

Russian axel397 navigated his way through a gargantuan 61,072-player field to turn his $22 buy-in into $140,062 in the PokerStars MicroMillions III Main Event.

Thanks to a three-way deal there were three players who earned over $100k in the tournament including second-place finisher Senter268 who picked up $105k and third-place finisher numeromis who got a very good deal to earn $125k.

Despite the low buy-in there were plenty of Team PokerStars Pros on hand for the massive event as Andre Akkari, Jan Heitmann, Toni Judet and Naoya Kihara were all in on the action.

Thanks to the tremendous size of the field, the top 7,920 players got paid. To put that in perspective, that’s bigger than the average Sunday Million’s total field size.

Here are the complete final-table payouts for the MicroMillions III Main Event:

1. axel396 - $140,062 2. Senter268 - $105,000 3. Numeromis - $125,000 4. Supersimu - $55,233 5. Keiruja - $35,898 6. Royal-Pusher - $22,083 7. Davaman - $13,802 8. IvanLiberman - $8,293 9. PSG96 - $5,520

Up to $1 Million Offered in PokerStars’ 90-Billionth Hand Promo

Sat, 24 Nov 2012 00:03:23 -0800

As part of its Road to 100 Billion promo, PokerStars will award cash prizes every one million hands from 89,700,000 to 90,000,000 at regular real money ring game tables.

The first Milestone is expected to take place on Saturday, Nov. 24, with the final Mega Milestone likely to be awarded six days later.

The player who wins the 90-billionth hand on PokerStars will receive at least $20,00 in addition to other cash prizes accrued at the table.

Players can win considerably more depending on how many VPPs they’ve generated in the previous 50 hands. The winner of the Mega Milestone could potentially win over $100,000. To learn more about how prizes are calculated check the PokerStars website.

The biggest prize so far was awarded to edroqui07, from Columbia, who took home $42k for winning the 75-billionth hand.

Interestingly 27 players who signed up for PokerStars through PokerListings received a cash reward from the last 85-billionth hand giveaway.

Click here to sign up for PokerStars and get access to our massive sign-up bonus and exclusive promos.

Sunday Scoop: Jason Koon Smashes Sunday Warm-Up

Mon, 19 Nov 2012 03:00:00 -0800

Koon’s victory headlined a day that saw no less than five six-figure scores on PokerStars with both Melanie “Callisto 5” Weisner and Amit “AMAK316” Makhija making big final tables.

While multi-way chops decided both the Sunday Warm-Up and Sunday 500, Koon politely turned down his heads-up opponent’s offer of a deal and went on to win the whole shebang.

Keep reading for highlights from the weekend’s three biggest Sunday majors.

Koon Snags $110k in Sunday Warm-Up Win

American Jason “jakoon1985” Koon prevailed over a field of 3,499 yesterday to take down the $215 Sunday Warm-Up, pocketing $109,869.

This online win comes on the heels of a massive 2012 for Koon, one that included over half a million dollars in live tournament wins.

This week’s Warm-Up featured a $699,800 prize pool and had room in the money for the top 540 players.

Koon entered the final table third in chips but by the time the field was whittled down to three, Koon had built a commanding lead with 22.9 million to jurata_PL’s 8.8 million and sneker’s 3.3 million.

Koon briefly lost that lead, however, before knocking out sneker by winning a preflop all-in with Q♥ J♥ against pocket sevens.

Koon held a roughly 2.4 to 1 chip lead going into the heads-up match and managed to close out the tournament in short order.

Jurata_PL flopped top and bottom pair with 9-2 but was run down on fourth street when Koon turned aces up.

Also cashing in this tournament was Ana Marquez (44th), Richard Toth (47th), Alex Kravchenko (65th) and Laurence “rivermanl” Houghton (119th).

Melanie "Callisto 5" Weisner

Here are the full final table results for this week’s Sunday Warm-Up:

1. Jason "jakoon1985" Koon (Canada) - $109,869.77 2. jurata_PL (Poland) - $81,876.60 3. sneker (Denmark) - $57,733.50 4. hasuzlasu (Poland) - $40,238.50 5. TryToExploit (Poland) - $29,741.50 6. Veritas0086 (Germany) - $22,743.50 7. pasty71 (United Kingdom) - $15,745.50 8. papafast1 (United Kingdom) - $8,747.50 9. buckguy2200 (Mexico) - $5,598.40

Weisner, Makhija Final-Table Sunday 500

This week’s Sunday 500 drew 795 players with big-name pros Melanie Weisner and Amit Makhija both securing spots at the final table.

But both Weisner and Makhija missed out on the four-way deal that doled out the lion’s share of the almost $400k prize pool, with Portuguese player AtnirTPT going the distance to take the title and $44,777.

The biggest prize, however, went to Sebastian “p0cket00” Sikorski, who took down $59,121.

Sikorski, a Bwin Poker pro, has amassed over $5.4 million in online career earnings, including more than $2.6 million on PokerStars alone.

Here are the full final-table results for this week’s Sunday 500, adjusted to reflect the four-way deal:

1. AtnirTPT (Portugal) - $44,777.93* 2. 140Tank a/a (Australia) - $47,441.62* 3. boytakas (Philippines) - $39,260,41* 4. p0cket00 (Canada) - $59,121.29* 5. Callisto 5 (Canada) - $20,034.00 6. Olya2Ace (Russia) - $16,059.00 7. head07 (Germany) - $12,084 8. AMAK316 (Canada) - $8,148.75 9. noirduck (Hungary) - $4,968.75

Amit "AMAK316" Makhija also made a final table this Sunday.

Ireland’s sexylady409 Wins Sunday Million

6,783 players from around the world took a shot at the biggest weekly tournament on the web, but it was Ireland’s sexylady409 that took home the title and $132,928.

In the end it was a four-way deal that decided this tournament, with Swiss player luizsanchez4 pocketing the day’s biggest prize: $155,104.

When this event reached the final four players a deal was agreed upon, at which time sexylady409 went on an absolute rampage. He knocked out WushuTM in fourth with A-Q vs. K-Q all-in preflop, then sent Paulkopopo packing with A-T against A-7.

The heads-up match lasted just two hands, not surprising since sexylady409 had a roughly 26 to 1 chip lead.

The final hand saw the money go in with sexylady409’s 4-2 outflopping his opponent’s J-7.

Here are the full final table results, adjusted to reflect the four-way deal:

1. sexylady409 (Ireland) - $132,928.76* 2. luizsanchez4 (Switzerland) - $155,104.05* 3. Paulkopopo (Germany) - $125,763.48* 4. WushuTM (Austria) - $128,305.21* 5. FellipeNunes (Brazil) - $56,977.20 6. Jengleleg (Netherlands) - $43,411.20 7. gladius_85 (Germany) - $29,845.20 8. PikkuHUMPPA (Finland) - $16,279.20 9. dijana123 (Slovenia) - $10,513.65

$5m-GTD MicroMillions III Kicks Off on PokerStars Tomorrow

Wed, 14 Nov 2012 07:48:26 -0800

The series will run from Nov. 15-25 and offer 100 events of low-buy-in tournaments ranging from 11¢ to $22, with guaranteed prizepools of up to $1 million for the Main Event (with a minimum of $150,000 for first place).

MicroMillions III starts at 10 a.m. ET tomorrow with an action-packed 11¢ rebuy tournament with a $10,000 guarantee.

Here’s a look at some of the highlight events over the course of the series:

Nov. 15: Event 2 $1+R No-Limit Hold’em with $150k guarantee Nov. 17: Event 20 $2.22+R No-Limit with $150k guarantee Nov. 17: Event 22 $11 SuperKnockout with $75k guarantee Nov. 18: Event 32 $11 No-Limit Hold’em with $300k guarantee Nov. 24: Event 85 $2.22+R No-Limit with $150k guarantee Nov. 25: Event 98 $22 No-Limit Hold’em Main Event with $1m guarantee

PokerStars will also offer a 2013 PCA package to the player who finishes on top of the MicroMillions III leaderboard.

Players who make 2-10 will get tickets into the TCOOP Main Event and players 11-100 get TCOOP $109 tickets.

If you really want to hedge your bets, PokerStars also offers a complete schedule of satellites into the MicroMillions III for even less than the already low buy-ins.

Players who sign up for PokerStars through PokerListings receive a 100% deposit match up to $600.

In addition PL.com players on PokerStars currently have access to an exclusive PCA promo where the winner walks away with a $700 ticket into a PCA satellite. For more information check the PokerStars review.

Sunday Scoop: SpaceyFCB Wins Big, Marquez Goes Deep

Mon, 12 Nov 2012 08:14:35 -0800

It was a busy day of action on PokerStars as Mickey “mement_mori” Petersen also nearly made the final table of the Sunday Warm-Up.

Here’s a closer look at how the three biggest online tournaments played out yesterday:

PokerStars Sunday 500

Belgian Kenny “SpaceyFCB” Hallaert outlasted 815 players to win the elite PokerStars Sunday 500 for $63,528 yesterday.

Hallaert already had an impressive tournament resume that included a win in the Sunday Warm-Up for $107k. Hallaert also has final-table appearances on the European Poker Tour and the Masters Classic in Amsterdam.

The Sunday 500 was a challenge in its own right with displaced American pro Amit Makhija trying to make some noise. Makhija ended up going out in fifth place for $20k.

Some of the other notables to go deep included Tim “blumenkind53” Ulrich (17th), Grayson “gray31” Ramage (26th) and Sami “Lrslzk” Kelopuro (28th).

Hallaert beat Canadian pistons87 heads-up to claim the Sunday 500 title.

Here’s a complete look at the final-table payouts:

1. Kenny “SpaceyFCB” Hallaert (Belgium) $63,528.75 2. Pistons87 (Canada) $45,088.24 3. G-man/obell (Argentina) $46,419.96 4. soydelmillo (Argentina) $40,359.30 5. AMAK316 (Canada) $20,538.00 6. Kora Fett (Canada) $16,463.00 7. Lord$tyln (Canada) $12,388.00 8. Dsnka (Czech Republic) $8,353.75 9. Kakalala (Denmark) $5,093.75

Ana Marquez

PokerStars Sunday Million

Team PokerStars Pro Ana Marquez made a deep run in this week’s Sunday Million before finally hitting the rail in 15th place for $5,855.

Marquez was one of 7,055 players to play this week’s Sunday Million including fellow Team PokerStars Pros Johnny Lodden, Liv Boeree, George Danzer, Lex Veldhuis and Andre Akkari.

It appeared Marquez was headed for a final table but was derailed when she got short-stacked with 15 players left. Marquez finally made her move with ace-five only to have an opponent call with pocket queens.

The board offered no help to the Spanish poker pro and she finished painfully short of the final table.

Instead online player Royal Jiks took a massive 19,908,121-chip lead into the final table. Royal Jiks got coolered mid-way through the final table and left with only 2.5 big blinds.

Royal Jiks performed a miraculous comeback, however, and eventually beat AleksHNL heads-up to claim the $180,504 first-place prize.

Here are the complete payouts for the final table (*reflects five-way deal):

1. Royal Jiks (Switzerland) $180,504.30* 2. AleksHNL (Russia) $116,633.58* 3. danmark2000 (Denmark) $91,335.09* 4. bbeat77 (Estonia) $93,179.77* 5. intbild (Romania) $131,243.33* 6. DuduPoker-Br (Brazil) $43,741.00 7. SundayLights (Portugal) $30,336.50 8. Anderbruegge (Germany) $16,932.00 9. -shameLi- (Switzerland) $10,935.25

Mickey "mement_mori" Petersen

PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up

Irish online player allintrev23 mowed down a 3,512-player field to take top honors in this week’s Sunday Warm-Up for $110,277.

There were plenty of PokerStars pros on hand for the event including Max Lykov, Vicky Coren, Pius Heinz, Nacho Barbero, George Lind and Martin Hruby but the majority were eliminated well before the cash.

Mickey “mement_mori” Petersen didn’t fall so easily, however. The Danish pro went on impressive run that saw him make the final two tables.

Petersen finally finished in 14th place to take down $3,160. Petersen has had a number of close calls over the last few months but is still gunning for that big online title this year.

Meanwhile allintrev23 entered the final table as one of the middle stacks but played well enough to secure a spot heads-up against moumaife84.

Allintrev23 was at a slight chip advantage going into heads-up play but it didn’t end up mattering as he won a massive coin flip with pocket fives against moumaife84’s ace-seven. With just three big blinds left, moumaife84 was eliminated shortly thereafter.

Here’s a complete look at the final-table payouts:

1. allintrev23 (Ireland) - $110,277.97 2. moumaife84 (Denmark) - $82,180.80 3. Elmagico19A1 (Netherlands) - $57,948.00 4. wodka88 (Germany) - $40,388.00 5. XuTpbIu_Tun (Russia) - $29,852.00 6. Jengleleg (Netherlands) - $22,828.00 7. MegaDes777 (Ukraine) - $15,804.00 8. marlin5555 (Canada) - $8,780.00 9. SheikhMar (Lebanon) - $5,619.20

Isildur1 Rising on Full Tilt, Sahamies Loses $672k

Sat, 10 Nov 2012 12:01:10 -0800

Blom, and fellow member of The Professionals, Gus Hansen, were among the first players on Full Tilt Poker after the site re-launched on Tuesday.

It didn’t take long for former FTP regulars Rui Cao, Alex “IReadYrSoul” Miller, Alex Luneau and Ronny “ronny37617” Kaiser to join in the action.

It was shades of Isildur1 in 2009 as Blom quickly jumped out to nearly $300k in profit, becoming the biggest winner on the site.

Unfortunately for Blom, he started losing towards the end of the week and by the time Friday rolled around his profit had been diminished to $87k.

He’s still faring better than Hansen, who is currently the biggest loser on Full Tilt since the re-launch with $387k in damage.

Ilari "Ilari FIN" Sahamies

Sahamies Goes on Catastrophic $672k Losing Streak

It’s been a wild few weeks for Ilari Sahamies and this week was no exception as the Finnish cash-game pro lost $672k in the high-stakes games on PokerStars.

It was a stark contrast for Sahamies as he won $1.1 million in the previous week.

This week Sahamies recorded close to 3,000 hands, many against upstart account patpatman.

Patpatman is rumored to belong to one of the Malaysian businessman famous for their high-stakes games in Macau. The account was the biggest winner in online poker this week taking down a total of $680k.

Initially down $1 million earlier in the week, Sahamies recovered somewhat in the last few days and managed to win back $328k.

Knowing Sahamies he could very well win another $1 million this coming week and if he's looking for a big game, he knows where to find it:

anyone looking for action?

— Viktor Blom (@RealIsildur1) November 10, 2012

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

Party Poker Starts Aussie Millions 2013 Qualifying

Thu, 08 Nov 2012 07:47:10 -0800

Starting Nov. 12, Party Poker will be awarding $16,000 packages to the 2013 Aussie Millions every week in a special $640+$40 buy-in tournament. The site will award one package for every 25 players in each event.

It’s possible to satellite into the 2013 Aussie Millions for absolutely nothing thanks to a diverse qualifying schedule on Party Poker that starts with daily freerolls.

Beyond freerolls, Party Poker offers daily feeder satellites at $2, $8 and $74 buy-in levels.

Every Party Poker $16,000 package to the 2013 Aussie Millions includes:

$11,000 main event buy-in Eight nights’ accommodation $2,500 spending money

The Aussie Millions is one of the most prestigious tournaments in the world and the biggest tournament in the Southern Hemisphere.

Last year local Oliver Speidel outlasted a field of 659 players to win a first-place prize of $1.6 million.

Party Poker is also currently running its Accelerator promo all of November, which awards prizes based on the amount of Party Points a player generates. It takes just five Party Points to be entered into an iPad giveaway.

You can sign up for Party Poker and gain access to exclusive PokerListings freerolls by clicking here.

888poker to Run $2-million GTD Super XL Series

Wed, 07 Nov 2012 08:04:47 -0800

Running from Nov. 17-25, 2012, the Super XL series will include nearly 100 events culminating with a $500,000-guaranteed Main Event on Nov. 25.

The Super XL event represents the biggest tournament series that 888poker has ever run.

Buy-ins in the series range from $35 to $1,050 for high roller tournaments. There will also be a number of poker variants including 6-Max, Turbo, Deep Stack and Pot-Limit Omaha.

Check the 888poker website to see the complete Super XL schedule.

888poker has a comprehensive satellite schedule where players can qualify for Super XL events for as little as 8¢.

In addition the site is currently running a Super Welcome Bonus where each player’s first deposit is quadrupled up to $300. That means players who deposit $20 will play with $80 on the site.

The Super Welcome Bonus is valid in most countries from now until Dec. 5.

To sign-up for 888poker and be eligible for our exclusive freerolls on the site click here.

Full Tilt Returns with Real-Money Games Outside U.S.

Tue, 06 Nov 2012 07:44:02 -0800

The site officially re-launched with real-money games at 7 a.m. ET Tuesday morning and at the time this article was published there were over 40,000 players on the site.

The site is available to most countries outside the U.S. (although Italy, France and Spain are notable exceptions) and players can now withdraw funds if they choose to.

Among the 40,000 players on the site at launch were Full Tilt Professionals Gus Hansen and Viktor "Isildur1" Blom.

"The return of Full Tilt Poker fills a hole in the community that's been felt by millions of players," said Hansen. "A lot of people have been waiting for this day to come and now that it's here we can all look towards a brighter future."

It’s been a bizarre journey for the former second-biggest poker site in the world.

Since Black Friday, Full Tilt had its license pulled by the Alderney Gaming Commission, was accused of being a Ponzi scheme by the DOJ and failed to complete a deal with the Bernard Tapie group.

Finally PokerStars officially announced it had settled with the DOJ and would take over the Full Tilt Poker assets as part of the deal this summer.

Gus Hansen is back on Full Tilt.

$250,000 in Freerolls Available to Players on Full Tilt

"Full Tilt Poker is back and better than ever," said Sarne Lightman, Head of Marketing for FTP.

"We are bringing back to the players everything they loved about the site and we invite them to help us celebrate by joining our 'Deal Me In' launch promotions."

As part of the Deal Me In promos Full Tilt Poker is offering $200 in bonus cash to each player and $250,000 in freerolls.

Although players in Italy, Spain, Denmark, Estonia and Belgium cannot currently play on Full Tilt Poker, they can withdraw their funds on the site.

U.S. players, on the other hand, will have to wait a bit longer as the U.S. Department of Justice is handling their account balances and have been essentially silent since the PokerStars deal was announced this summer.

Sunday Scoop: Joao M., $kill Game Win Big on Double Vision Weekend

Mon, 05 Nov 2012 08:16:08 -0800

As part of Double Vision Sunday both the Sunday Million and Sunday Warm-Up ran twice meaning grinders had access to over $4 million in prizepools in just those four tournaments.

Here’s a complete breakdown of the biggest tournaments that were held online yesterday:

Ana Marquez

PokerStars Sunday Million

The first Sunday Million held on Sunday was also the biggest with 8,027 players creating a massive $1.6-million prizepool.

A total of 1,170 players were paid in the tournament including Team PokerStars Pros Jose Barbero, Pius Heinz, Fatima de Melo and Victor Ramdin.

Ana Marquez, who recently finished second in a WSOP event, was the last Team Pro standing as she finished 125th for $1,204.

Russian Akademnuk entered the final table as one of the shortest stacks but wasted no time immediately doubling up through the chip leader.

Akademnuk would eventually take the chip lead into heads-up play against German opponent Kabira. The pair quickly settled on a two-way deal before the heads-up match began.

In the end Akademnuk won a tournament-deciding coinflip with Ace-Jack over Kabira’s pocket fives.

Here are the complete final-table payouts (*reflects two-way deal):

1st place: Akademnuk (Russia) - $219,425.24* 2nd place: Kabira (Germany) - $197,982.81* 3rd place: sebbau (Germany) - $120,405.00 4th place: birdyfcn (Germany) - $80,912.16 5th place: Slagteren (Denmark) - $64,216.00 6th place: OBigO (UK) - $48,162.00 7th place: Flamboyantz (Netherlands) - $32,108.00 8th place: Brankerr (Netherlands) - $18,462.10 9th place: ROFLshove (Australia) - $12,441.85

Dag Palovic

PokerStars Sunday Million II

Brazilian Joao M. outlasted 5,957 players to win the Sunday Million II for $147,233 yesterday.

The second Sunday Million of the day attracted Team PokerStars Pros Liv Boeree, Ana Marquez, Bryan Huang, Fatima De Melo, Martin Staszko and Dag Palovic.

Joao M. entered the final table as the chip leader and dominated all the way to heads-up play where he was tied with wesko78.

The deadlock didn’t last long as Joao M. won the very first hand they played for 14.5 million chips.

In the final hand of the tournament Joao M. flopped trips with Jack-Eight and then rivered quads to easily win both the pot and the tournament.

Here’s a complete look at the final-table payouts (*reflects six-way deal):

1. Joao M. (Brazil) $147,233.14* 2. wesko78 (Ireland) $126,468.36* 3. hkbben (Australia) $60,563.10* 4. Racus (Netherlands) $74,096.13* 5. Code Red 666 (Canada) $80,014.59* 6. guth888 (Germany) $84,869.58* 7. Versace777 (Germany) $26,210.80 8. ciulbuonelis (Lithuania) $14,892.50 9. RichieRichZH (Switzerland) $9,292,92

PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up

East Coast grinder Chris “Run dat Game” Lovett smashed his way through a 3,284-player field to win $95k in the Sunday Warm-Up.

Shane Schleger

The first Sunday Warm-Up of the day drew numerous Team PokerStars Pros including Lex Veldhuis, Humberto Brenes, Vicky Coren, Angel Guillen, Jose Barbero and Shane Schleger.

Lovett entered the final table as the chip leader with 9 million chips and true to his online name he ran the game.

Lovett was still leading the final table but decided to make deal with three players left. Lovett got the most but there was still $10,000 for the eventual winner.

In the final hand of the tournament Lovett flopped middle-set to bust Elmagico19A1 in second place.

Here’s a look at the final-table payouts (*reflects three-way deal):

1. Chris "Run dat Game" Lovett (Mexico) $95,661.42* 2. Elmagico19A1 (Netherlands) $65,111.67* 3. TMMPOKPOK (Germany) $73,377.19* 4. nezamr (United Kingdom) $37,766.00 5. dekat15 (Netherlands) $27,914.00 6. elpipsi87 (Belgium) $21,346.00 7. schmette (Germany) $14,778.00 8. GeoManousos (Greece) $8,210.00 9. HEMIpowerSWT (Costa Rica) $5,254,40

Martin Staszko

PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up II

The second Sunday Warm-Up of the day actually proved to be bigger than the first with 3,871 players creating a $774,200 prizepool.

Online player $kill Game, who made some notable scores during the last WCOOP, would win the tournament for $114k.

Jonathan Duhamel, Andre Akkari, Maxim Lykov, Johnny Lodden and Mickey Petersen all played the tournament but 2011 WSOP Main Event runner-up Martin Staszko was the last Team PokerStars Pro standing when he finished 30th.

$kill game entered the final table second-to-last in chips but it didn’t matter as he put on a clinic on his way to the first place finish.

Here’s a complete look at the final-table payouts (*reflects two-way deal):

1st $kill Game (Canada) - $114,191.11* 2nd ElEvil (Canada) - $97,941.04* 3rd leopeluca (Argentina) - $63,871.50 4th Olorionek (Poland) - $44,516.50 5th Ramux (Panama) - $32,903.50 6th reanimatorY (Serbia) - $25,161.50 7th TOYOT111 (Russia) - $17,419.50 8th vogia88 (Greece) - $9,677.50 9th 4betUr3bet (Austria) - $6,193.60

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

Cates Runs By Sulsky to Claim All Star Showdown

Sun, 04 Nov 2012 17:14:15 -0800

Known as one of the best heads-up No-Limit Hold’em players in the world, Cates did little to dissuade that notion as he bullied the talented Sulsky over four tables for most of the match.

Taking roughly 10 hours and just over 3,000 hands, it wasn't quite a walkover but the final didn’t end up being quite as closely contested as some of the other matches in the eight-man series.

Cates was up almost $200,000 after about 1,000 hands and never let up, keeping the aggression on and taking creative lines that kept Sulsky on the back foot.

Sulsky made a brief comeback around the end of the eighth hour to keep it interesting, but Cates kept his foot on the gas and pulled away again shortly after.

As the inaugural All Star Showdown winner, Cates earns heads-up bragging rights over seven of the best players in the game.

He also takes home $550,000 – although a chunk of that will return to the hands of backer Tony G.

Sulsky earned $250,000 for his runner-up finish plus the undying respect of countless railbirds for his impressive play over his three matches.

Almost two full days of poker but no money to show for it.

Sulsky Outlasts Haxton, Cates Rolls Galfond

Also played over the weekend were the semi-final matches with Sulsky and Cates taking diametrically opposite routes to the final.

Sulsky matched up with Isaac Haxton in his semi-final and the two evenly matched pros played like it, battling back and forth over an epic 19 hours and 4,200 hands before Sulsky prevailed.

Cates on the other hand got himself into a $100k hole against Phil Galfond early in his match but stormed back over the last 1,500 hands to win fairly handily.

Galfond and Haxton, perhaps the two most marquee names in the event, wetn home empty-handed despite their performances in reaching the semi-final round.

For full recaps of all the matches in the eight-player challenge, check the PokerStars blog.

For an outline of the Challenge set-up and recaps of the quarter-finals, click here.

Grab a seat with Cates at his next live event - the PokerListings.com Battle of Malta.

PokerStars Running $.10 PCA Satellite for PL.com Players

Sat, 03 Nov 2012 08:43:52 -0700

The PokerListings Turbo PCA Satellite takes place at 12:30 ET on Nov. 4 with a $1,000 guaranteed prizepool.

For every $10 in the prizepool, PokerStars will chip in a ticket to the bigger $10 satellite where 10 packages to the 2013 PCA are guaranteed, each one worth $16k.

Last year 43-year-old poker amateur John Dibella outlasted a field of 1,072 players and beat a tough final table that included online stars Kyle Julius and Faraz Jaka to win the 2012 PCA for $1.7 million.

The 2013 PCA is set to once again take place at the glamorous Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas from Jan. 5-14, 2013.

It’s the 10th anniversary of the massive poker tournament series so PokerStars will be running a variety of special events to celebrate.

The 10-cent satellite is open to any players who signed up to PokerStars.com through PokerListings. The promo is not open to players in regulated markets such as Italy or Spain.

Here’s all the information on the PokerListings PCA satellite:

Name: PokerListings PCA satellite

Date: 04/11/2012

Time: 12:30 ET

Structure: Turbo

Buy-in: $0.09+0.01

Guarantee (seats in target): 100

Password: pl3q7pca

Max players: 1,000

For more information check our PokerStars review.

Sahamies Posts Scorching $1.6m Run in October

Fri, 02 Nov 2012 07:40:36 -0700

Prior to October, Sahamies had been mired in a losing streak that had him down nearly $1 million since this summer.

Suffice to say that losing streak is no more and Sahamies is looking to finish the year with at least a $764k profit.

Some of the other big winners in October included 1II|1II|1iI|, Ben “Ben86” Tollerene and RaiseOnce while patpatman, Kanu7 and Fake Love888 all went into the red on PokerStars.

Here’s a closer look at the biggest high stakes action from the past month.

RaiseOnce?

Top 10 Biggest Online Winners in October

Ilari Sahamies was the biggest winner in October but that didn’t stop 1II|1II|1iI|, commonly referred to as Barcode, from winning $1.1 million.

Barcode’s impressive month included winning $500k in a single day. Poker fans have yet to discover the identity of Barcode although the account is registered in Canada.

Meanwhile Ben “Ben86” Tollerene posted another successful month that included $616k in profit. Tollerene is now the second biggest winner of the year $2.4 million in profit.

The other Ben – Ben “Sauce123” Sulsky – is the biggest winner of the year with just over $3 million in profit.

RaiseOnce, the rumored account of Phil Ivey, also had a solid month, winning a total of $430k.

Here’s a complete look at the top 10 biggest winners this month according to hsdb.com:

1. Ilari FIN: +$1,603,0832. 1II|1II|1iI|: +$1,191,239 3. LewisFriend: +$763,615 4. Ben86: +$616,330 5. GVOZDIKA55: +$595,352 6. RaiseOnce: +$430,112 7. KTPOKP: +$406,722 8. Skjervoy: +$342,977 9. mikki696: +$340,828 10. Harrington10: +$327,896

Phil Galfond

Top 10 Biggest Online Losers in October

No one felt the wrath of Ilari Sahamies in the month of October quite like patpatman.

Patpatman, who is rumored to be one of the famous Malaysian businessmen, lost over $1 million in the last 30 days.

It’s been a disastrous year for the patpatman account. Patpatman started by winning nearly $1 million in the early stages of 2012 but then nosedived to -$2.4 million.

At this point it’s going to be very tough for patpatman to salvage anything from 2012 on PokerStars.

On the flip side, at least patpatman wasn’t alone in the loser’s column this month as skilled players Kanu7, Fake Love888 and Phil “MrSweets28” Galfond all lost hundreds of thousands.

Kanu7 was the second-biggest loser as he dropped $559k while Fake Love888, allegedly Patrik Antonius, dumped $465k.

Finally Galfond lost a total of $397k in October. Despite the loss, Galfond remains one of the biggest winners this year with $1.5k in profit. He's also in the semi-finals of the All-Star Showdown against Dan "jungleman12" Cates.

Here’s a complete look at the top 10 biggest losers this month according to hsdb.com:

1. patpatman: -$1,113,321 2. Kanu7: -$559,149 3. Zypherin: -$530,689 4. Capoch: -$472,255 5. Terken89: -$469,490 6. Fake Love888: -$465,781 7. Joiso: -$458,748 8. MrSweets28: -$397,084 9. JoeIngram1: -$289,184 10. PepperoniF: -$272,861

Galfond Joins Cates in All-Star Semis After Epic Win

Thu, 01 Nov 2012 09:32:57 -0700

The two Vancouver-based pros had a friendly-but-swingy battle over 4,341 hands -- the longest quarterfinal yet -- that saw both players pushed to the brink.

Tollerene, one of the best heads-up players online, stormed out to the early lead and had Galfond down to just $20k of his original $100k buy-in in the first 1,000 hands.

A break for lunch shortly after – where the two actually met at a local restaurant along with fellow pro Jason Koon – seemed to settle Galfond down.

When play resumed, Galfond slowly began his climb back out of the hole he built. By hand 3,158 Galfond had the lead back and expanded it to $75k by the time they hit 4,000.

Galfond grinded out a win over the next two hours but attributed it as much to running good as his own effort:

gg @bttech86.I think I was outplayed at the end but managed to run good in the big pots.#AllStarShowdown

— Phil Galfond (@PhilGalfond) November 1, 2012

Final Four Begins Friday w/ Haxton vs. Sulsky

Haxton: Carrying the PStars flag.

Galfond will now face Dan “w00ki3z.” Cates in the semi-finals this Saturday.

Cates, who most know from his Jungleman12 days on Full Tilt Poker, advanced on Tuesday with a quarterfinal win against Alexander “Sussie Smith” Roumeliotis.

Team PokerStars Online pro Isaac Haxton and Ben “sauce123” Sulsky will meet up in the other semi-final on Friday.

Semi-finals:

2 November: Haxton vs. Sulsky 3 November: Cates vs. Galfond

Finals

4 November: All Star Showdown final

For a full recap of all the action yesterday, check the PokerStars blog.

The specially designed heads-up tournament showcasin Haxton has a $100k buy-in with players battling over four tables at once.

Winner takes home over $500k. More info on the structure of the challenge here.

Full Tilt Poker Re-Opens for Play-Money, Balance Viewing

Wed, 31 Oct 2012 09:52:53 -0700

The new Full Tilt Poker has relaunched its slightly revamped website and is officially open for play-money play - a week ahead of its scheduled real-money relaunch.

Players outside of the United States can now log-in to check balances, player points and dabble in the play-money games as well as change their password.

Deposits and withdrawals are still unavailable until Nov. 6, as are player-to-player transfers.

US players are also still unable to access their accounts and will be until at least that date.

A note in the client informs US players to access FullTiltPoker.net at that point, although they will still be unable to withdraw funds until a process has been established with the US Department of Justice.

Players in regulated markets such as France and Spain can log-in and use the play-money tables but real-money play will not be available until a proper license has been arranged in each country.

UPDATE: Players in regulated markets (except for Italy) can now access and withdraw balances via the account-pairing function with their PokerStars accounts. See FullTiltPoker.com for details.

Gus: Now the main man.

Hansen Front and Center, Promotions Plentiful

Among the more notable change players will see is the push for Gus Hansen as the new face of FTP along with Tom "durrrr" Dwan and Viktor "Isildur1" Blom.

Also prominent is the new Deal Me in promotion set for Nov. 6-11 with $250k in added freerolls.

Full Tilt Poker Room Manager Shyam Markus has also started a thread on 2+2 with answers to several FAQs and a list of new features to look out for.

Among the more notable are:

Account linking and transfers to PokerStars New double and triple chance tournaments Auto post on all tables Preferred seat selection New "add table" features that match your current table Faster shorthanded Rush Poker play

More info on the impending Full Tilt relaunch here.

$2m Guaranteed in New Super XL Series on 888poker

Wed, 31 Oct 2012 06:11:12 -0700

The Super XL Series will be played November 17-25 and consists of 88 No-Limit Holdem tournaments (and one Omaha event) with buy-ins ranging from $11 up to $1,050 in the Highroller Event.

A total of $2 million in prize money will be guaranteed in the series.

Some of the highlights on the Super XL Series of Tournaments schedule:

November 17 - $109 Opening Event, $100 000 guaranteed November 18 - $1,050 Highroller Event, $100 000 guaranteed November 19 - $55 Webcam Event, $10 000 guaranteed November 20 - $109 Tuesday Challenge, $50 000 guaranteed November 21 - $55 4 Max Event, $25 000 guaranteed November 22 - $11 (with re-buys and add-ons) Roller Coaster Event, $10 000 guaranteed November 23 - $109 Omaha Event, $20 000 guaranteed November 24 - $215 Six Max Event, $30 000 guaranteed November 25 - $215 Mega Deep, $150 000 guaranteed November 25 - $525 Main Event, $500 000 guaranteed

Daily satellites to the Super XL Series tournaments, with buy-ins starting at only 8¢, are already available in the 888poker lobby.

Haxton, Sulsky Advance in $100k All Star Showdown

Mon, 29 Oct 2012 07:17:22 -0700

Battling Alex "Kanu7" Millar in an epic quarterfinal that took up most of the day yesterday, Haxton had to come back from a major deficit to move forward in his debut event as a Team PokerStars Online pro.

Haxton said in advance of the match he expected a long one and he was right as Millar matched him move for move for most of the day.

Haxton surged to an early $60k lead by around hand 1,000 but by hand 2,000 Millar had taken a similar lead.

When they reached 3,000 hands the blinds were doubled, as per Showdown rules, and Haxton had whittled Kanu7's lead down to about $40k.

Bigger and bigger pots changed hands over the next couple of hours as Haxton cut into Millar's lead before taking control late and surging to the victory in hand 3,881.

All told the two battled for over 17 hours and agreed the match could have gone either way:

Kanu7: congrats gg Ike Haxton: thanks Ike Haxton: gg Ike Haxton: crazy match Kanu7: yeah Kanu7: win the QQ vs AK 1 time ffs Ike Haxton: lol Ike Haxton: indeed Kanu7: can't remember the last time i was more card dead than the last couple of hours as well :( Kanu7: ah well, shame someone has to lose such an epic match but best of luck for the rest of the tourney Ike Haxton: yeah, i believe it Ike Haxton: it really felt that way Ike Haxton: thanks, you played really well

Haxton Meets Sulsky in Semis; Cates, Galfond On Deck

Now that Haxton has advanced he'll have to switch his attention to Ben "Sauce123" Sulsky, his opponent in the next round.

Mr. Sweets.

Sulsky had a much quicker go of it in his quarterfinal on Saturday, leading Tobias "KTPOKP" Kuder wire to wire and busting him in less than six hours.

Four more heavy hitters are still to hit the tables this week on the other side of the bracket including high-stakes heroes Dan Cates and Phil Galfond.

Action picks up again on Tuesday with the remainder of the schedule as follows:

30 October: Alexander 'Sussie Smith' Roumeliotis vs Dan 'w00ki3z.' Cates 31 October: Phil 'mrsweets28' Galfond vs Ben 'ben86' Tollerene

Semi-finals

2 November: Haxton vs. Sulsky 3 November: Semi-final 2

Finals

4 November: The All Star Showdown final

For a full recap of all the action over the weekend, check the PokerStars blog.

The eight-person heads-up event has a $100k buy-in with action over four tables at once.

The ultimate winner will take home over $500k. More info on the structure of the challenge here.