It took a few weeks and thousands of players but the 2010 WSOP has finally been narrowed down to a elite group of nine. The nine will play the final round of poker in November on television. Apparently, even today with the popularity of poker, main stream media still doesn’t get why anyone would want to watch all 57 events of the WSOP on TV; but hey, at least we get this final table.
Here’s the lineup:
Filippo Candio
Joseph Cheong
John Dolan
Jonathan Duhamel
Matthew Jarvis
Michael Mizrachi
Soi Nguyen
John Racener
Jason Senti
The final event of the WSOP consisted of good old fashioned No Limit Texas Holdem which, despite the numerous variations that exist in poker, remains the most popular way to play our favorite game of skill. Perhaps the popularity of Holdem was why there were over seven thousand entrants into this year’s events and 1,125 folks who handed over their $10,000 buy in for one last chance at gold.
The week long [...]

The Poker Olympics is drawing to a close! This is my final chance to recap the poker wins by nation as I pretend we are enjoying the Olympics. Only these Olympics aren’t boring. What will the final count reveal?
Well, here are the results and rankings as research by me and based on the actual; resu;ts from this year’s tournaments and don’t include any ranking system. I’m taking in the results of this tournament only.

COUNTRY
BRACELETS
PRIZE MONEY
(for bracelet winners only)

America
40
$19,652,046

United Kingdom
5
$1,681,160

Canada
4
$1,991,917

Hungary
2
$797,944

New Zealand
1
$614,248

Norway
1
$260,497

Russia
1
$256,820

France
1
$192,132

Vietnam
1
$71,424

Like the world cup there are some unexpected results. Perhaps the Americans thought they would get them all. Maybe the French thought one of their up and coming male players would represent their nation and perhaps Vietnam is stunned to be on the board. It’s been quite a race. There’s still one more bracelet and one more pot to go.
How will the final hours go? We’ll have to wait and see.

The $10,000 No Limit Hold ‘Em Championship is the final event of this year’s WSOP in Las Vegas and it’s been a great, controversial year. There were 7319 entrants and at the time of this writing almost half way through the final there is a “mere” 1980 entrants still in play. It’s been quite a roller coaster for many of the players from the amateurs to the pros. Here’s the high chip count as of July 12 in the evening.
1 Johnny Chan 580,000
2 Kevin Gates 515,000
3 Frank Kassela 450,000
4 Nicholas Rainey 440,000
5 Mikhail Shamalov 440,000
6 David Assouline 420,000
7 Alexander Kostritsyn 415,000
8 Joshua Appleby 408,000
9 Nikolay Losev 406,000
10 Matt Affleck 375,000
SOURCE: Poker News.net
So Johnny Chan huh? Most of us young poker enthusiasts remember him best for the scene including in that cult Poker classic “Rounders” when Matt Damon explains the perfection of his moves in a former 1988 WSOP heads up event. It’s nice to see [...]

Every time I turn around, or at least refresh my page, someone else has a poker pro sponsorship deal. Here are just the latest poker players to get that contract.
Shannon Elizabeth (the cute actress who is one awesome poker player) signed up with Carbon Poker this week. The deal includes her playing online exclusively at their casino, writing a blog for the company and represent them in tournaments.  When she isn’t appearing in cult classic like “American Pie” and “That 70s Show,” Elizabeth is playing her favorite game. She has a number of cash wins under her belt and came third at the NBC National Heads Up Event. Shannon Elizabeth is a coy player, great at bluffing and entertaining to watch.
PokerStars.net now has Vanessa Selbst (seven money finishes and one bracelet to her name) as a professional on their site. Selbst has been making her name lately winning the Main Event at Mohegan Sun earlier [...]

Coming up this July 3rd is the fourth annual charity event at the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas.  Organized by poker professional Annie Duke and actor Don Cheadle, the event will help support relief efforts in Africa’s most hard hit regions such as the much talked about Darfur. The charity organizers work with the WSOP I marketing and coordinating the event.
The event is not officially a part of the 2010 WSOP Main Event, it is housed in the same hotel at the same time to help ensure maximum attendance. The combination of poker professional and Hollywood faces should encourage all large bankrollers to participate in the hope of both helping those less fortunate and enjoying some big payouts. The rumor is the winner of the tournament could walk away with six figures in earnings.
Online reports indicate that Annie Duke and Don Cheadle will definitely attend along with Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Ray Romano, [...]

Yes people the poker tournament of the year is still going. Starting back in late may, it’s been over a month since the 2010 WSOP Main Event began and it’s been an interesting year to say the least. We’ve had some expected winners and some major surprises; not to mention the record breakers. Here are the results of the last twelve games.

No.
Event Title and Type
Winner
Earnings,

36
No-Limit Holdem
Scott Montgomery
$481,760

37
HORSE
Phil Ivey
$329,840

38
Pot Limit Holdem Championship
Valdemar Kwaysser
$617,214

39
No Limit Holdem Shootout
Steven Kelly
$381,922

40
Seven Card Razz
Frank Kassela
$214,085

41
Pot Limit Omaha Hi-Low Split 8 or Better
Steve Jelinek
$245,871

42
No Limit Holdem
Dean Hamrick
$604,222

43
HORSE Championship
Ian Gordon
$611,666

44
Mixed Holdem
Gavin Smith
$268,238

45
No Limit Holdem
Jesse Rockowitz
$721,373

46
Pot Limit Omaha Hi-Low Split 8 or Better
Chris Bell
$327,040

47
Results Not in

$

48
Mixed Event
Sigurd Eskeland
$260,497

There are only a few events to go and many of them are already in progress as I write this blog. A few folks have the holiday off but some will be playing through. Here’s a list of the events still in progress as the [...]

Event 25: Omaha Hi-Low Split 8 or Better Championship. This one went to Sam Farha of Houston, Texas and gave him not only a bracelet but $488,237. This was a three day tournament with 212 entrants and a $10,000 buy in.
Event 26: Six Handed No Limit Holdem. William Haydon from the United States won this event against Jeffrey Papola of New York. Both men held aces but Haydon’s Jack beat Papola’s six of hearts and brought him a whopping $630,031 in prize money. There were 1,245 entrants with a buy in of $2,500.
Event 27: Seven Card Stud H-Low-8 or Better.  There was a $1,500 buy in and winner David Warga of Tempe who took home $208,682 as the last one standing of 208 competitors.
Event 28: Pot Limit Omaha. It was Miquel Proulx of Canada with a pair of Queens who took this victory back to his hometown of Quebec. He earned over $315,000 in prize [...]

The number of online casinos continues to grow. Every time I browse the web I find another potential online gaming site. With so much choice it can be difficult for a newbee poker player to know where to start. All the sites seem to have celebrities. All the sites seem to have bonus codes. All the sites seem to offer freerolls. So how can you narrow down your search and what should you look for in an online casino?
Start with the basic s and only choose sites that accept American players and American credit cards or bank cards. I’m not being funny here; a lot of sites don’t accept American players, especially those based in Europe operating under different banking and monetary systems. If you want to down the line you could set up a foreign account but to start out stick close to home.
Look at sites that offer the type of poker you want [...]

When you sign up for an online poker site, you are always asked to pick a screen name and an avatar. An avatar is an image or character meant to represent you in the online casino. When you look at the screen it is your chosen avatar that plays your hand. Some days I get sick of playing poker with cartoon sharks, fluffy white puppies and 1930s spy movie characters. But are these annoying images meant to be just that? Annoying?
I guess I’m boring. My avatar kinda looks like me. You know in Yahoo or Facebook where you can create a digital version of yourself by picking hair and eye color, clothing and skin color? Well I try and make the digital me look as much like the real me as possible. I’m all for truth online and don’t see any reason to hide. So I choose “boring” avatars that look like real people.  Am [...]

If you are reading this expecting a ton of tips and tricks on how to beat your opponents at online gaming you are about to be disappointed. This is a survival guide. You know, how to beat the fatigue of online poker play, stay focused and on your game? This advice is based solely on my own online casino experiences and I’d love to hear other suggestions.

Pick a name and avatar you really really like because you are stuck with it. Staring for hours at an animated shark or psychic princess that is supposed to be a virtual version of yourself gets old really quick. If you picked a goofy gaming name, you are pretty much stuck with it unless you change casinos. Take time with these two aspects of gaming as bad decisions will haunt you every time you deal in.

Learn to use the bathroom in ninety seconds or less. Most sites give you [...]