Wall Street 2 - Money Never Sleeps

Oliver Stone's sequel to his '80s masterpiece (no, not Platoon) looks pretty good, at least after seeing the first trailer. Has it really been 23 years since Wall Street? Money doesn't sleep, but it sure goes into a hell of a hibernation.
Things to chuckle at: The whole Blues Brothers and '80s homage during Gordon Gekk...o's release from prison. And the way Michael Douglas effortlessly slips back into his signature role.
Things to wince at: That annoying musical score in the background. And I'm sorry, but am I only person on the planet who doesn't quite get the adoration of Shia LaBeouf? In the sense that he represents the current weasels on Wall Street, I guess he fits the part though. But he makes you yearn for the acting skills of Charlie Sheen, and that should say enough.
Money Never Sleeps is set for an April 23 release.

Look at Me Placing In The Money

Over two hours of play and I make a whole .08 cents… Time well spent?

PokerStars Tournament #235338683, No Limit Hold'em
Buy-In: $0.25 USD
2962 players
$100.00 USD added to the prize pool by PokerStars
Total Prize Pool: $840.50 USD
Tournament started 2010/01/27 21:00:00 CT [2010/01/27 22:00:00 ET]

Dear PokerDonkeys,

You finished the tournament in 557th place. A USD 0.33 award has been credited to your Real Money account.

Congratulations!

Thank you for participating.

Las Vegas Tourist Kidnapped and Robbed

Las Vegas Metro Police say a 40-year-old man visiting Las Vegas was kidnapped and robbed at gunpoint last Friday, January 15, on the Las Vegas strip. The abductors held the man captive at an unknown apartment for twenty-four hours before he managed to escape and call police from a convenience store.

The alleged crime happen at 5 AM when the victim was making his way back to Caesars Palace after a night of drinking and gambling. The man reported he was approached by a panhandler asking for change and while digging for coins he flashed a large wad of cash. The next thing he knew an unidentified woman with a gun ordered him into a waiting car.

Police say the man was robbed of his cash and beaten by the assailants, two men and two women, forcing him to give up his credit cards and passwords. The crooks also robbed his hotel room at Caesars while he was being held captive and fortunately both were recorded on video going into the room at Caesars.

We have great public security here in Las Vegas and the safety of tourists is paramount; but, visitors need to be aware of what's around them and where they are. Don't flash cash and don't wear expensive jewelry or watches when doing late night strolls of the strip. Safety in numbers is the best defense so share your Vegas visit with a friend or two.

Pennsylvania Casinos Pass Atlantic City For Revenue

If we were to ask you what are the two top casino markets in the country, you'd say Las Vegas and Atlantic City.

But now for the first time, Atlantic City has been edged out by Pennsylvania and their slot barns (just racing and slots, no table games).

This was writing on the wall for AC, whose customer base is primarily in surrounding areas of the New Jersey gambling boardwalk. And with the tribal casinos in Connecticut (Mohegan Sun, Foxwoods) also stealing revenue from AC, unless they do something to change, Pennsylvania could stay solidly in the number 2 slot.

Players visiting Pennsylvania's nine casinos wagered $2.12 billion ($189 million lost) in December 2009. Players in Atlantic City's 11 casinos wagered $2.03 billion ($179 million lost).

Las Vegas's revenue is approximately 4 times Pennsylvania.

Pennsylvania recently opened two new casinos (now even with Atlantic City) and will soon have table games installed.

19-year-old Wins PPC $2.2 Million

Harrison Gimble, 19-year-old poker player from Jupitor, Florida, pocketed $2.2 million in the Seventh PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA). The youngest player to win the PCA, Harrison "gibler321" Gimble, faced Tyler Reiman in the main event heads-up finale. Reimen takes $1.75 million back home to Morton, Illinois.

Barry Shulman, Card Player Magazine owner, keeps his multi-million dollar winning streak alive after taking third place and $1.35 million. Added to his WSOPE cash last October, the 63-year-old Las Vegas poker pro has banked over $2.6 million.

PCA Ladies Event won by Vanessa Rousso

PokerStars Caribbean Adventure finished up recently and one of the events during the series was the $1,000 Ladies Event. This event saw 91 ladies turn out to compete over two days to try and win the first place prize. In the end it was Team PokerStars Pro Vanessa Rousso who would claim the title.

Rousso would have to get past other PokerStars Pros as well as poker pros and PokerStars qualifiers. Rousso commented on the tournament by stating: “There were a couple of pros who played. J.J. Lui was in there, Annette Obrestad. There was a bunch of good players. Obviously you have to run well in any tournament you play in. but I didn’t make any mistakes that I know of, I played well and I’m happy with the way I played. Starting the year off with a victory is really cool.”

Out of the 91 players, 16 would cash out during the tournament. Each would earn a piece of the $88,270 prize pool. Halli Pinson was one of the prize winners, who went head to head with Rousso in the end of the tournament. Pinson commented to PokerStars on the field during the competition. She commented:

"This event was a lot more serious than most ladies tournaments. I didn't recognize that many faces, but the field seemed a lot more experienced than usual. These women had come to play, and they had come to win! Vanessa Rousso dominated the event though – she had good cards and she's an experienced player: the combination was lethal."

Final Standings of the Event:

1. Vanessa Rousso - $24,275
2. Halli Pinson - $13,815
3. Ann-Margaret Johnston - $9,335
4. Shirley Rosario - $6,620
5. Jamie Kerstetter - $5,740
6. Pastora Sorenson - $4,635
7. Lisa Adams - $3,750
8. Vanessa Caldeira - $2,870
9. Irene Baroni - $2,425
10. Sarah Wasch - $2,425
11. Violetta Szczerba - $2,205
12. Nesrine Kourdourli - $2,205
13. Muriel Allard - $1,985
14. Anna Yamshchikova - $1,985
15. Alina Salnikova - $1,765
16. Hai Nguyen - $1,765

Full Tilt Poker Launches Rush Poker

Full Tilt Poker has announced an addition to their online poker room that according to Full Tilt ‘is set to revolutionize the online poker industry’. The new addition is called Rush Poker and it is a new poker format available at the online poker room.

Rush Poker gives players a high speed poker experience. The game is designed to minimize the wait time between hands so players can continue to experience the poker action at all times. Players will be dealt up to four times more hands per hour during Rush Poker than in standard ring game play.

In standard ring games, a player will join a table and then face the same opponents at every hand. In Rush Poker, there is a large player pool which is spread across multiple tables. Once a player folds a hand they will be moved to another table with different players to begin playing the next hand. This will occur even if the current hand is still in play.

Rush Poker games also have a Quick Fold button at the table. This feature allows players to fold their hand before it is their turn to make a move and they will immediately be moved to another table for another hand.

Team Full Tilt Member Chris Ferguson commented in a press release about the new poker game by stating: “Rush Poker is the greatest innovation in online poker since poker started on the Internet. Rush Poker is an amazingly fast-paced game. You always have a decision to make; you’re never waiting for other players to finish the hand.”

2005 WSOP Bracelet on Auction at Ebay

Ever wanted your very own WSOP bracelet? Well here's your chance, according to an ad at eBay, where the seller claims to be selling an authentic, 2005 World Series of Poker $5k No Limit Bracelet, acquired directly from three-time WSOP champ T. J. Cloutier. The kicker is that the seller is a Pawn Shop in Plano, Tx, just about 6 miles from Cloutier's home town of Richardson, Tx.

It is true that Thomas James Cloutier did win the 2005 WSOP 5k No Limit Hold'em event, where he claimed one of his six WSOP bracelets, along with over $650k. Cloutier gained his first WSOP bracelet in 1987 in the WSOP $1,000 buy-in Limit Omaha event. He landed 2 more bracelets in 1994 playing $1.5 Limit Omaha Hi/Lo and $2.5k Pot Limit Hold'em at the 25th Annual WSOP, with a combined total prize of nearly $300k. WSOP Bracelet number four was obtained in the 1998 $2.5k Limit Omaha Hi/Lo WSOP event, and Cloutier's 5th bracelet came in 2004 playing $1.5k Seven Card Razz. If this is indeed Cloutier's 2005 WSOP $5k No Limit Hold'em bracelet, it would be the sixth - and last - that Cloutier has won.

The starting bid on the possibly-genuine WSOP bracelet is $2,999.00 USD, and so far there are 0 bids. While the seller has an excellent track record at eBay - 100% Positive feedback out of 314 comments – it may prove difficult to ascertain the authenticity of the Plano, Tx pawn shop's claim before the auction ending date of January 24th at 1:34:57 pm PST.

Obrestad Becomes First Woman Aussie Millions Champion

Event #4 of the 2010 Aussie Millions was a $1,100 Pot Limit Omaha tournament and one hundred and sixty players registered to compete. It was Annette ‘Annette_15’ Obrestad who would outlast the field of competitors to take down the title win. With the win Obrestad would become the first woman to become an Aussie Millions Champion.

Obrestad would begin final table play third in chips and she would continue to dominate until she claimed the $40,000 AUD first place prize. When final table play began Michael Sampieri would be the first to go when he faced Billy Seri. Just a few minutes later Tony Bloom would go out after going up against Obrestad.

Paul Taylor would be eliminated next and Emad Tahtouh would be next, knocked out by Obrestad. Con Angelakis would be eliminated in fifth place and then Obrestad would be at it again when she knocked out Oliver Gill in fourth place. Ryan Gutch would be the third place finisher after going up against Obrestad. Obrestad pretty much took out most of the competition at the final table to face Billy Seri in heads up play.

In the final hand Seri would hold K-8-J-9 against Obrestad K-J-J-2. Obrestad’s jacks would hold up on the A-9-A-2-10 board so Seri would be eliminated in second place. Obrestad would then become the winner of the Aussie Millions event solidifying her status in the poker community as she became the first woman to become an Aussie Millions Champion.

Pokerstars Launch New Daily Freeroll

PokerStars.com, the world’s largest online poker site, has announced a new daily freeroll tournament for UK and Ireland players where they will be adding £2,000 to the prize pool each day. The new £2,000 giveaway tournament will run for six weeks, starting on January 22, 2010. The daily freeroll tournament will take place at 9.30pm GMT every evening and players will be able to re-buy for $50c. If players miss the 9.30pm tournament then they can always take advantage of another freeroll for £250 at 10.30pm.

Kara Scott Sells Out To Party Poker

Party Poker, one of the worlds most renowned online poker sites has  recently announced that Kara Scott, a well-known television presenter and poker player, is their latest sponsored player. Team Party has welcomed Scott as their newest member and she will join the list of other poker players who are part of Party Poker.

Mike Sexton, Remy Biechel, Ian Frazer, Stewart Scott, Bodo Sbrzesny and Felipe ‘Mojave’ Ramos join Scott on Team Party and they all represent Party Poker at poker events. Scott’s new deal with Party Poker includes buy-ins for the top live tournaments all over the world as well as television presenting gigs. Scott will be at the fore front as the Premier League moves to Las Vegas this February.

Scott commented on joining Party Poker by stating: “It is fantastic to have signed a deal to join Team Party. It works perfectly for me as I get the opportunity to further improve my game on the live circuit as well as carrying on presenting. I’m so excited about the future.”

A spokesman for Party Poker commented on Scott joining Team Party by saying: “Kara is a great signing and we are really looking forward to working with her. She has historic links with PartyPoker after taking down the Sports Stars Challenge III and we have been super impressed by her progress since then. As well as being a great presenter, Kara is also a fantastic player with great results and the potential to go even further. We are excited about his new relationship.”

Party Poker Signs Kara Scott to Sponsorship Deal | Online Poker News

Playing Online Poker On The Bubble

The bubble is the stage in an online poker tournament where the last player that must leave the table will go home with nothing while the rest of the players is in the money. If you're playing a Sit'n'Go with 10 players the first three usually are getting paid while the fourth place gets nothing. In Double or Nothing Sit'n Gos half of the players is getting paid. The bubble at a 10 player Sit'n Go table takes place with four players.

Online Poker Strategy - The passive approach
On the bubble you want to avoid an elimination so badly because if you go broke you will go home with nothing. That's why it's reasonable not to play any hands, avoid any confrontations and wait until the next player has to leave the tournament. If other players do you this favor you can win money with folding.
But this sounds easier than it is. What if everybody else is also playing passively and you don't have a big chip stack? Then you're in trouble and the likelihood of getting eliminated due to increasing blinds is high.
Playing passively only makes sense when you either have a big stack so you can afford to wait, or your opponents are playing aggressively and wildly. Then it's just a matter of seconds when the next one quits the tournament.

Online Poker Strategy - The aggressive approach
Most of the time the aggressive approach is way better. Not only can you put pressure on your passive opponents and surviving the bubble but you can also increase your chip stack thus increasing your chance to win the tournament.
But be cautious! You must not play wildly just to be aggressive. You have to select your aggression properly and put the pressure on passive opponents. Pay attention to your risk. Don't risk your whole stack and make small attempts to steal pots. No matter how many chips you have: if you can't select your aggression properly you can always be the „bubble boy“ who goes home with nothing.

The bubble is one of the most interesting stages in a tournament. You need a lot of skills to survive the bubble more often than your opponents. It's important to select the right approach. If you do that properly only bad luck can beat you!

The Palms Offers Lady Gaga Multi-Year Deal

Fresh off sold-out New Year's Eve shows at The Pearl (at The Palms), Lady Gaga is the latest musician to be courted to a Las Vegas residency.

Usually stars that have already burned bright are the ones that shack up in Vegas (Prince, Donny & Marie, Bette Midler).

Lady Gaga is still up-and-coming but has a huge following and would be an easy lure to tourists.

George Maloof, owner of The Palms, is said to have made a substantial multi-year offer in the millions of dollars to Lady Gaga to perform every night at The Pearl, but so far she has yet to accept.

Season 6 of High Stakes Poker Debut February 14, 2010

It is undoubtedly one of the most popular poker-related shows on television among poker players themselves, as the play mimics that of a high-stakes cash game with competitors’ own money on the line. And the announcement was made on November 5 that taping has begun for Season 6 of High Stakes Poker with a season premiere date on GSN of February 14, 2010.
The biggest change that players will notice when tuning in to the cable network for High Stakes Poker in its latest season is a new co-host. Gabe Kaplan will remain as a staple of the show, but AJ Benza has been replaced with Kara Scott, who is well-known in poker circles as much for her tournament play as her previous role as TV host of the European Poker Tour and most recent assignment as on-camera interviewer at the WSOP Europe. Those who recognize her from the tables will know that she made deep runs in the 2008 and 2009 WSOP Main Event, but her best finish to date was second place at the main event of the 2009 Irish Open in Dublin. The new shows will begin airing on GSN on February 14, 2010 and continue each Sunday night thereafter at 8pm ET. Viewers can also catch repeat episodes on Sundays at 11pm and 2am

WPT Set to Premiere Season 8 on Fox January 24

When the eighth season of the World Poker Tour began in July of 2009, the previous season of the WPT was still airing on Fox Sports Net. Now that the new year of 2010 has begun and Season 8 is more than halfway finished, Fox is prepared to air the most current shows and will premiere its first one on January 24, 2010, at 11pm ET.
For the second season in a row, Fox Sports Net has agreed to air the shows, which again will be sponsored by FullTiltPoker.net. The 26 episodes will begin on January 24 and continue each Sunday until the season is complete, and each week will bring two one-hour episodes of the World Poker Tour. In total, the shows will consist of the 13 WPT final tables of Season 8 (two hours of air time per final table), beginning with the $15,000 buy-in Bellagio Cup that played out in July of 2009. That will be followed by Bay 101’s Shooting Stars, Bicycle Casino’s Legends of Poker, and continue on with the remainder of the stops on the tour in the same order of the live tournament schedule. And commentators Mike Sexton and Vince Van Patten will be hosting the shows as they have for all eight seasons of the WPT.

I Feel Sorry For Poker Channel Europe

European poker fans can tune in to the Poker Channel Europe to see the Poker2Nite show. The Poker2Nite show features current and relevant poker pros like Eric Baldwin. Baldwin has made more than one and a half million this year in tournament poker, including picking up his first World Series of Poker bracelet. Baldwin was also recently tapped to be the latest sponsored poker pro at online poker room UB.com, formerly Ultimate Bet Poker. The Poker Channel Europe will be showing episodes of Poker2Nite every week for the rest of the season.

Home Poker Players Roughed Up

At a home poker game in Portland, Oregon, the players were beaten, pepper sprayed and robbed. The incident took place in the garage of a home on Holgate Street. Three armed men burst in and held their guns to the victims and patted them down, taking anything of value. One man was struck with a shotgun repeatedly, and all the victims were doused with pepper spray before the masked and black clad assailants fled the scene. Police are currently investigating the crime and seeking information to apprehend the criminals.

Poker Player Murder

A man was shot recently when assailants burst into his home during a poker game, and later died. 35-year-old Vernon Foster was shot after responding to a knock on the door Mount around 11 p.m. Friday. Two men burst into the in Rocky Mount, North Carolina home and shot Foster during a poker game. The other player, 22-year-old Brian Edwards, ran for help and was pursued. He arrived at a home next door where he and the 61 year old resident of that home were also shot. The assailants are still at large and no motive for the assault on the poker players has yet been put forth.

Winning Players Penalized by Online Poker Room

Online poker room Victor Chandler Poker recently sent an email informing winning players they could not play. As part of a move to prevent their poker network, iPoker, from assessing penalties, VC Poker is penalizing their players. The email that was sent informed players that “The new policy will also impose penalties upon card rooms that in essence, have a high proportion of winning players in relation to losing players.” As a result those who are winning too much in the cash games are now not allowed to play.

Bodog Poker Dropped Justin Bonomo

Online poker room Bodog Poker will no longer have ZeeJustin as a sponsored pro. ZeeJustin, real name Justin Bonomo, is a top flight online and live poker player. Bonomo is no longer listed on the poker room website as a sponsored pro. This follows another pro, Jean Robert Bellande, who also was dropped from the online poker room’s pro roster. This leaves only two members of Team Bodog, Evelyn Ng and David Williams. They, along with Josh Arieh, were the original members of Team Bodog. Josh Arieh is also no longer a sponsored pro with the online poker room.

Ban, Poker Pros from Online Poker

One player thinks it would be a good idea to ban certain pro poker players from playing online poker. Bill’s Poker Blog has the question posted that asks if Phil Ivey and Patrick Antonius should be banned from playing online poker. The rationale behind the question comes from recent events where some poker networks are penalizing poker rooms for having too many winning players. As Ivey and Antonius are among the most winning players online, it puts the rooms they play on in danger of being penalized.

Tony G May Stake Isildur1

Poker pro Tony G may soon be funding the bankroll of Swedish online poker player Isildur1. The revelation, which appeared in a blog posted on TonyGPoker.com, comes at the same time as Isildur1 revealed that he may file a complaint concerning data mining on Full Tilt Poker.

Tony G explained in his blog that he had conversations with Isildur1 over the phone. In addition, he noted that the mystery Swedish player had only learned how to play Pot Limit Omaha eight months ago. The brash poker pro noted, “Anyway, it is likely I will stake him in some big cash games in the future, this is what I do after all. I like to give people a chance in life to do well.” Isildur1 stormed onto the high-stakes online poker scene on Full Tilt back in November, racking up as much as $5 million in earnings. However, he later crashed back down to Earth and currently stands with career losses of $2.6 million, according to PokerTableRatings.com.

2009 WSOP Europe Air Dates Announced

Fans of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Europe won’t have to wait long for the tournament series to air on ESPN. The first episode kicks off on Sunday, January 31st at 11:00pm ET and a total of 10 hours will air.

The opening episode will be one of two recapping the Caesars Cup, a made-for-television tournament that featured Team Europe taking on Team Americas. The former ultimately crushed the Americas squad four matches to one, with the stars of poker turning out to compete on behalf of their continents. Team PokerStars Pro member Daniel Negreanu captained the Americas squad, which also featured DoylesRoom namesake Doyle Brunson, 2009 WSOP Main Event November Nine member Phil Ivey, 11-time WSOP bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth, reigning National Heads-Up Poker Championship winner Huck Seed, 2008 WSOP Europe Main Event winner John Juanda, Big Game player Jennifer Harman, and Barry Greenstein, who was a last-minute replacement for Chris Ferguson.

The American squad held a total of 45 gold bracelets and more than $50 million in career earnings. Their foes: Team Europe, led by 2007 WSOP Europe Main Event Champion and Betfair pro Annette “Annette_15” Obrestad. Her group of young guns included 2008 WSOP Main Event winner Peter Eastgate, Italian poker sensation Dario Minieri, 2008 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure victor Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier, Power Poker front man Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies, Durrrr Challenge participant Patrik Antonius, Gus Hansen, and Betfair qualifier John Harvey, a 47 year-old pipe inspector from Scotland.

On March 1st, the second of two hours dedicated to the Caesars Cup will air on ESPN. The festivities kick off at Midnight ET and serve as the run-up to the WSOP Europe Main Event, which will begin on February 7th. The £10,000 buy-in tournament drew a crowd of 334 runners and featured one of the toughest final tables ever assembled in WSOP Europe history. Two members of the November Nine – James Akenhead and Antoine Saout – reached the feature table in London, a feat accomplished in 2008 by Ivan Demidov.

Also at the WSOP Europe Main Event final table was Negreanu, the face of the “PokerStars.net Million Dollar Challenge,” who took fifth in the same event in 2008. Joining Negreanu was Barry Shulman, whose son, Jeff Shulman, reached the final table of the Main Event in Las Vegas. The duo was seeking to make poker history as the first father/son team to win poker’s most coveted bracelets in the same year. The final table lasted 16 and a half hours and the entire WSOP Europe schedule panned out at the Casino at the Empire in London.

Here is the schedule for the 2009 WSOP Europe Caesars Cup and Main Event on ESPN. All times are Eastern and each episode runs for one hour:

Sunday, January 31st: 11:00pm (Caesars Cup)
Monday, February 1st: 12:00am (Caesars Cup)
Sunday, February 7th: 10:00pm (WSOP Europe Main Event)
Sunday, February 7th: 11:00pm (WSOP Europe Main Event)
Monday, February 8th: 12:00am (WSOP Europe Main Event)
Sunday, February 14th: 11:00pm (WSOP Europe Main Event)
Monday, February 15th: 12:00am (WSOP Europe Main Event)
Monday, February 15th: 1:00am (WSOP Europe Main Event)
Sunday, February 28th: 9:00pm (WSOP Europe Main Event)
Sunday, February 28th: 10:00pm (WSOP Europe Main Event)

Poker PROductions filmed WSOP Europe for ESPN. The same company also brings poker television staples like NBC’s “Poker After Dark” and GSN’s “High Stakes Poker” to life. Last August, ESPN and the WSOP reached an agreement to keep the tournament series on the cable station until April 2018. The WSOP attracts a total viewing audience of more than 80 million people each year and at least 32 hours of coverage will air annually.

WSOP Europe air dates outside of the United States will likely be announced soon.

PokerStars Wants More TV Time

Look out, North America! Long absent poker events sponsored by PokerStars, the continent will host the North American Poker Tour (NAPT) beginning on January 20th at the Venetian, with another stop planned for Mohegan Sun.

Model Joanna Krupa, who was introduced to the PokerStars family during the fourth installment of the “PokerStars.net Million Dollar Challenge,” will serve as the NAPT’s on-screen host. A television deal is in the works and PokerStars officials have employed 411, the same company that produces the World Series of Poker (WSOP) on ESPN, to create each episode. The identity of a television partner should be released in the next two weeks.

PokerStars players from the United States and Canada currently have to hop on an airplane and travel to far away lands for PokerStars-sponsored tournaments. PokerStars-backed series include the European Poker Tour (EPT), Latin American Poker Tour (LAPT), Russian Poker Tour (RPT), Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT), Italian Poker Tour (IPT) Czech-Slovak Poker Tour (CSPT), Australia New Zealand Poker Tour (ANZPT), and U.K. and Ireland Poker Tour (UKIPT).

At the Venetian in Las Vegas, the final tournament of the casino’s Deep Stack Extravaganza will be the $5,000 buy-in NAPT Main Event. The fun in Sin City will take place from February 20th to 24th and side events will also play out. From Las Vegas, PokerStars NAPT officials will travel 2,600 miles due east to Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Connecticut. The tournament series in the popular East Coast casino will see its Main Event held from April 7th to 11th as the kickoff of a brand new poker festival.

Negreanu commented in a press release furnished by the world’s largest online poker site, “I'm really looking forward to the launch of the NAPT. PokerStars.net has done an excellent job sponsoring meaningful tournaments around the world with the EPT, LAPT, APPT, and various other local tours – and it’s exciting to see them coming to my home town of Las Vegas! With the addition of the NAPT, I'll have a chance to play some tournaments on home soil and I'm very excited about that.” 2009 WSOP Main Event champion Joe Cada and Team PokerStars Pro member Vanessa Rousso are among the bevy of site pros who are expected to turn out.

Technically, the first tournament of the NAPT was the 2010 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, which is ongoing from the Atlantis Resort and Casino across the harbor from Nassau in the Bahamas. Satellites to the Venetian and Mohegan Sun tournaments will take place on PokerStars, which happily accepts players from the United States. Besides Cada, other WSOP Main Event champions to call the site home include Chris Moneymaker (2003), Greg Raymer (2004), Joe Hachem (2005), Peter Eastgate (2008), and Tom McEvoy (1983).

In North America, the NAPT will compete against several longstanding brands such as the World Poker Tour (WPT) and WSOP Circuit. The WPT is in the midst of filming its eighth season, the first with the backing of Party Gaming, which purchased the rights to the series in October. Poker Hall of Fame member Mike Sexton and actor Vince Van Patten continue to bring the WPT to life each week on Fox Sports Net. The WSOP Circuit has been crisscrossing the United States since 2004, stopping at various Harrah’s properties along the way. Circuit staffers are now camped out in Tunica, Mississippi for the fifth stop of the 2009-2010 season. The series gets underway in the Deep South on January 20th from Harrah’s Tunica.

Still In R&B Mood

Still in R&B mood here is a song by Anthony Hamilton he has been recording for about 14 years. I discovered his music in 2007 on the American Gangster soundtrack. I hope you enjoy this video “Can't Let Go”.

Isildur1 playing $5/$10

The hottest poker news of 2009 were mostly about one player, Isildur1 from Sweden. Isildur1 came from nowhere and won almost $6 millions in a couple of weeks and then lost it all + another $1.5 million in just a few days. After that, Isildur1 had another upswing and was plus for a day or two before he started losing again. Even though Isildur1 lost so much money, many of the world's best poker players praised the young Swede by saying that he is an outstanding poker player who just needs to avoid playing such long sessions and that he should stop playing PL Omaha and stick to NL Holdem instead.

The big scandal
Isildur1 made many poker players even richer when his game wasn't at its best. For example, he lost about $4 million dollars in one single session to Brian Hastings, and also a few more millions to Brian Townsend, Cole South, Illari Sahamies, Phil Ivey etc. Shortly after this, Isildur1 disappeared from the high stakes scene and it seemed like it could take long before we heard about the unknown Swede again. However, it didn't take long before Isildur1 once again was in the headlines as a big scandal was about to be revealed. It all started after that Brian Townsend got his red pro status removed by Full Tilt for a month because he had used a non-allowed poker program to collect data from the games against Isiludr1. And according to different rumors, Townsend had shared this information with Cole South and Hastings. However, neither of them got punished in any kind of way by Full Tilt. After that Isildur1 got to know about this, he said that he will ask Full Tilt to give back some of the money he had lost, and that he probably wouldn't play at Full Tilt anymore.

Isildur1 playing $5/$10
It didn't take long before Isildur1 started showing up at Full Tilt again. But this time, it was at much lower stakes than before as he played $5/$10 NL Holdem. So how did it go? Well, not so good. Isildur1 played 30 hands and lost about $400. It seemed like the unknown Swede didn't care about the money (who can blame him?) as he made some crazy plays with some really bad hands.

Music For Poker Tonight

Its time to play some poker my music for tonight is going to be some 80s R&B. Ready For The World (RFTW) albums "Ready For The World", "Long Time Coming", "Straight Down to Business" and "Ruff 'N Ready". Here is a “Love You Down” one of my favorite songs by Ready For The World.