February 2012 Poker Events

Calendar of Poker Events for February 2012 brought to you by freetexasholdemonline.net

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VICTORY FOR URUGUAY IN LATIN AMERICAN POKER TOUR
2011-08-08

Alex Komaromi bests a field of 422
The 2011 PokerStars.net Latin American Poker Tour Punta del Este main event concluded over the weekend with an exciting and all-South American final table that lasted for four-and-a-half hours.
Facing off on the fourth day of the event, having bested a starter field of 422, were Alex Komaromi (Uruguay); Claudio Piedrabuena (Argentina); online qualifiers Engelberth Varela (Venezuela); Carlos Watanabe (Peru); Felipe Pasini (Brazil); Fernando Araujo (Brazil) and Rafael Monteiro (Brazil); and Nelson Trad Neto (Brazil).
Alex Komaromi gave an impressive performance, entering the final table as chip leader and holding onto his lead for much of the action to claim ultimate victory in a heads up against Argentina's Claudio Piedrabuena.
Komaromi collected the first place check for $244,720, leaving his opponent with the runner-up prize of $141,220.

Play Online Poker Games!
2011-02-08

One of the easiest ways to play limitless and free poker online is by joining a free online poker room. The best thing about these poker rooms are that they do not have any buy-ins which means that you can play for a sponsored prize play pool all for the cost of nothing.
More often than not, these absolutely free online poker games have a large crowd of people participating but with a less than abundant prize pool. The cash range offered by most casinos begins at 50 dollars and goes up to a maximum of 2000 dollars if you are extremely lucky. But even these odds are minimized thanks to a field of over 3000 or more people waiting to pounce upon this money.
This makes it better to play in online poker tournaments, which are held privately. Various free poker communities and websites offer them over the net. The free rolls offered by these online poker communities are exclusively open to the members who have registered with their sites. This means that there are lesser people competing for a prize pool, which ranges up to 2000 without having to pay any amount as entry fee.
Also, playing online poker games are for fun and entertainment purposes. Playing them provide you with a chance to relax your otherwise tired and stressed mind. Another important advantage of playing free online poker game is that they don’t risk your money at all. Without the risk of your finances getting affected, these poker games become a delight and you are able to play them for hours at a go.
A thing to be noted is that since the arrival of free online poker games in the online scenario, many people have been induced to play these games more than ever before. This is because of poker’s notoriety as a big time stress buster (if played without involving money!)
There are many poker sites that avail you with such opportunities and all you need is an internet connection to help you escape the stresses of everyday life. Also, one of the basic agenda of playing these poker games online is fulfilling that feeling of excitement that a game and if possible the win provides. We all know the rush of adrenaline and excitement when we are absolutely entwined in a game; it is that need that playing these games helps fulfill.
Also, poker is one game where the playing field is marked equal thanks to the surprising nature of this. An experienced player can fall victim to an amateur card player who just gets lucky with his winning hand. The whole outcome of the game is absolutely unexpected and therefore ultimately you just play for the sheer pleasure attached to it and not just for the win.
But like every game, poker is one game, which needs constant nurturing. It takes a humungous deal of patience to not only learn the manner of the game but also the game in itself. The game is not for people who are impatient because this game requires a person to develop the crucial strategies and skills to not only emerge as the winner in the end but to experience the ups and downs associated with the game. But for many players, this game has also been about experiencing some of the best poker bonuses when played online especially at the cost of nothing. These bonuses may not be in monetary terms but help the player in furthering his lead from his opponents.
One of the best options to play online poker game would be the Caribbean poker. Onlinegambling.co.uk offers this game for entertainment purposes where you get to play it without incurring any penalty of time and money.
Also many such sites for online poker gaming help you lessen your stint of bad luck by offering various bonuses such as match bonus, instant sign-up bonus and reload bonus. The fastst growing poker room in the USA today is www.playersonly.com where everybody plays.

ARJEL AWARDS LICENSE TO ONLINE POKER ROOM TITAN.FR
2010-11-24

Titan.fr and titanpartners.fr domains approved by French regulator
French company, The Nation Traffic SAS, has announced that the French Regulatory Authority of Online Games, ARJEL, have issued a license to operate online poker room titan.fr.
In addition the company will also be launching an affiliate programme dedicated to the online poker site, titanpartners.fr.
Titan.fr will compete in the French online poker market with the likes of pokerstars.fr, winamax.fr and everestpoker.fr and has indicated that it hopes to offer online sports-betting in the near future.
Issembert Benjamin, president of The Nation Traffic SAS commented: "Getting our license for poker marks a new stage in opening up competition in the French market for gambling and Internet gambling. I believe that the Titan brand will win the hearts of the French players and there is no doubt that we are in a position to compete seriously with the current online poker leaders in the French market".

NEW TV PROGRAM FOR POKER PLAYERS
2010-09-22

Dennis Publications and The Poker Channel team up in new venture
European poker fans can look forward to a television program dedicated to their pastime this week with the launch of The Poker Player Show, a thirty minute program created to reflect the content of Poker Player magazine, and hosted each month by Poker Channel presenter Anna Fowler.
Episode 1 features Neil Channing in the studio answering questions on strategy and talking about the UK poker scene, along with interviews with Norwegian pro Annette Obrestad and recent WPT London winner and UK pro Jake Cody.
Angus Gairdner, executive producer of The PokerPlayer Show, said, “With the eyes of the poker world firmly fixed on London this autumn, what better way to kick off this exciting new series than by taking our cameras along to such prestigious events as the first ever WPT London, the English Poker Open and the now well-established WSOP Europe. We’re delighted to have teamed up with Poker Player to bring this unique new show to poker fans.”
Matthew Balch, associate publisher for the magazine, noted that Poker Player attracts the world’s biggest names to its cover each issue.
"We thought the idea of a magazine show for TV could help us bring our content to life," he said this week. "In future we would like all of our feature interviews to be conducted using video so that we can bring readers closer to their heroes.
“Working with The Poker Channel with its extensive reach and experience in poker programming around the globe makes sense, as we already market Poker Player across Europe and to Australasia via the newsstand and by subscription. We are continually looking at ways to build the brand and hopefully a venture like this can achieve that both in the UK and overseas.”
The Poker Player Show premieres on Thursday 23rd September at 2230 CET across continental Europe and at 10.30pm BST in the UK and Eire.

ROYAL JOKER ONLINE CASINO CLOSING
2010-07-16

Players have a choice between All Slots and Intertops
A Microgaming-powered online gambling operation in the the Jackpot Factory Group, Royal Joker Casino.com has informed its players that effective July 21st 2010 its services will no longer be available.
The management has given players a choice of transferring to either All Slots Casino in the same parent group, or Intertops, an online casino firm that was once powered by Microgaming and launched Royal Joker in February 2009. It is understood that when Intertops left the Microgaming fold, Royal Joker was taken over by Jackpot Factory.
Both choices offer special incentive 'transfer offers', details of which are available on the Royal Joker website.
Licensed by the Kahnawake Gaming Commission and operated by a company branded Beresford Ltd, Royal Joker boasts that it is accredited by the independent player protection and standards body eCOGRA.

WORLD SERIES OF POKER LATEST (Update)
2010-06-11

Three more key events near completion
The big names in international poker were out in force for three of the events currently nearing completion at the Rio in Las Vegas.
In event 17, the $5 000 NLHE competition, 18 players kicked off Day 3 play after surviving an initial field of 792 players. Leading the chip counts was Jason DeWitt, chased by Jeff Williams and Amit Makhija.
By 9pm Vegas time Thursday there were six survivors left from a final table of nine formed when Perry Friedman was eliminated in the tenth spot earlier in the evening. The final table comprised Peter Gilmore, James Carroll, Jeff Williams, Jason DeWitt, David Benefield, Amit Makhija, Paul Foltyn, Samuel Trickett and Manny Minaya.
As InfoPowa went to press at Level 26, the blinds were at 25,000 / 50,000, the ante was at 5,000, and the chip counts looked like this:
1 Jeff Williams 3,700,000
2 Samuel Trickett 2,200,000
3 Peter Gilmore 2,100,000
4 David Benefield 1,680,000
5 Amit Makhija 1,100,000
6 Jason DeWitt 900,000
21 players were still battling it out at 9pm Vegas time Thursday as Day 2 neared completion in event 18, the $2 000 buy-in Limit Hold’Em contest.
476 entries were registered for the event, a field that included many top players. By the end of the first day this was down to 144, led by Joshua Honegger. Seen at the tables were Matt Glantz, Rep Porter, Ylon Schwartz, Shannon Shorr, Eric Buchman, Brock Parker, Sorel MIzzi, Bob Lauria, Maria Ho and Liz Lieu.
Tom Dwan was denied another bracelet opportunity in the event, crashing out early along with Terrence Chan, back-to-back LAPT champion Nacho Barbero, Joe Sebok, and this year’s Players Championship winner Michael Mizrachi
Approaching midnight Thursday only 15 survivors remained in contention, with Matt Grapenthien leading the field on 356,000, pursued closely by Matthew Matros and Hansu Chu at play entered level 18 with blinds at 3,000 / 6,000 and average chip stacks at 190 400.
Event 19, the $10,000 buy-in 2-7 Draw Lowball World Championship brought the best of the best back to the tables as 101 players registered for the competition.
By the end of Day 1 there were 74 players left to battle it out through Day 2 with Canadian ace Horman Houshiar holding the chip lead overnight, followed by Tommy Vedes and David Baker.
The start of Day 2 action saw Freddy Deeb, Erick Lindgren, Huck Seed, Jeffrey Lisandro, Greg Mueller, Daniel Negreanu all taking their seats, although Vanessa Rousso, Dario Minieri, Justin Smith and Phil Ivey were out of the competition, eliminated on Day 1.
Approaching midnight, there were 16 survivors at level 16 with blinds at 2 000/4 000 and the ante at $1 000. David Baker held the chip lead on 515,000, chased by Vincent Musso (300,000) and George Danzer (245,000).
Notable eliminations in this competition have been Phil Ivey, Steve Zolotow, Tom Dwan, Michael Mizrachi, Brandon Cantu and Barry Greenstein. Jason Mercier, Sirous Jamshidi, Doyle Brunson, Greg Raymer, Todd Brunson, earlier chip leader Homan Houshiar, Jeff Lisandro, Joe Cassidy
and Eli Elezra have also been eliminated.
Dwan’s failure to stay in the game has some expensive side bet repercussions for him. Notorious for outrageous side bets, he had taken large bets that he would win the event, and he will now owe Chris Ferguson and John Juanda big money.
As InfoPowa went to press the contestants were one elimination away from the next pay level, which will see the top 14 players get at least $19,272. First place money is $294,321 and one of those much respected WSOP bracelets.

WE DIDN'T BREACH ONLINE POKER CONTRACT, SAYS HARRAH'S (Update)
2010-04-20

Vegas giant denies breaching $22.5 million Everest Poker deal
Last week's news that Everest Poker owner Ultra Internet Media SA has charged the World Series of Poker of breaching a $22.5 million sponsorship contract has been followed by a denial from WSOP owner Harrah's Entertainment.
UIM launched the litigation earlier this (April) month in a Las Vegas federal court (see previous InfoPowa report), claiming that WSOP breached its logo display agreement when an ESPN affiliate in Europe, Luxembourg-based television network RTL9, broadcast the tournament in France and electronically replaced the Everest Poker image with competitor Full Tilt Poker's logo.
In a response filed this week, and reported by the Las Vegas Sun, Harrah's legal representatives said that UIM entered into the agreement primarily to gain exposure in the United States for its Everest Poker website, that France is not mentioned in the agreement, and that same does not require that the event be broadcast into any particular country.
"Nobody from Harrah's made any representation during any of the negotiations or in the promotional agreement concerning any ESPN distribution or WSOP programming in France," the Harrah's filing claims. "Indeed, at the time of the negotiations, UIM did not have an online gaming license recognized by French authorities. It was broadly observed that poker programming was not distributed by French television stations unless tournaments were sponsored by a French licensee.
"In 2008 and 2009 the WSOP was broadcast by ESPN and parties with whom it has contracts in over 170 countries, including the United States, collectively to over 250 million households, for over 6 000 hours. Thus, UIM has certainly gained all the exposure for the everestpoker.net website that it could have hoped for, and more," the filing points out.
Apparently Everest-UIM complained to Harrah's about the French broadcasts deleting its logo in 2009 and a conciliatory arrangement was agreed through which ESPN would find a broadcaster for the WSOP in Spain and Italy at no extra cost to UIM and Everest Poker. Spain and Italy combined have about the same number of potential viewers as France, the filing said. It was also agreed that Everest Poker would be acknowledged as the WSOP sponsor in broadcasts to European countries, not including France.
In addition, claims the Harrah's response, Harrah's agreed Everest Poker would be described as the presenting sponsor of the WSOP during the broadcasts in certain European countries, but not France.

FEAST OF POKER FOLLOWS CHALLENGE FAMINE (Update)
2010-02-01

Antonius and Dwan clash again

After a famine of 36 days in the Dwan 50 000 hand challenge against Patrik Antonius, the last two days have seen a feast as the duo clashed again not once, but twice in 48 hours. And on both occasions it was Tom Dwan who walked away the winner, bringing his supremacy in the series thus far to over a million dollars.

Following Thursday's clash (see previous InfoPowa report) the two came together online again Friday for around three-and-a-quarter hours of action over 4 virtual tables, completing another 892 hands of the Challenge and taking the total played to date to 31 912 hands.

Once again, Dwan emerged the winner of the session, leading almost the whole way and adding almost $200 000 to bring his overall lead to $ 1 077 932.

The challenge is almost a year old and is now 64 percent complete.