Party Poker Den
Some people call it the toughest cash game in the world. Others say it is the most fun. Whatever it is, great poker television comes out of the Party Poker-Poker Den. The Den involves handful of the most-seasoned professional poker players fighting it out in a marathon high-stakes cash game in front of television cameras. Poker TV doesn’t get any better than this.
The poker pros set to make an appearance are some of the most colorful personalities in the game. Scheduled to play are Phil Hellmuth, Dave "Devilfish" Ulliot, Tony G, Jamie Gold, Brian Townsend, Mike “The Mouth†Matusow, Jennifer Tilly, Andrew Feldman, Sammy “Any Two†George, Robert Williamson III, Phil Laak, and Antonio Esfandiari.
This year the Den is going to be even more interesting for the players and the audience. While the first two Den Games were 24 hour events, this year, the Big Game will run for 36 hours straight.
Eddie Hearn, head of online gaming at Matchroom Sport said:
“The Poker Den has come a long way since we started back in the summer of 2005, the Big Game has been such a huge success, and the two series so far have attracted the best players in the world.â€
Players will sit down with a minimum of $10,000 but no more than $20,000 and play with $25-$50 blinds. As usual, there will be a lot of straddling, guaranteeing a lot of action. Players are free to leave the table at any time; up, down or busted.
The show will be filmed September 30 and October 1; and will be shown on Channel 5 in the U.K. next year. Commenter Jesse May will be present during the entire duration of the event. To learn more about the cash game, go to Match Room Poker.
Bodog Poker Open II Announced
photo courtesy BodogLife.com
Bodog poker tournaments just keep getting bigger
With their biggest poker tournament ever, the $250,000 Guaranteed, having just finished, Bodog is keeping the steam up with the announcement of the Bodog Poker Open II and it's even bigger guaranteed prize pool of $300,000.
The BPO II Main Event will have a $470 + $30 buy-in and happens October 5 at 4 p.m. ET.
BPO II qualifiers are now running daily with buy-ins starting at as low as 50 Bodog Poker Points.
Last March saw the inaugural BPO won by phatcat who walked away with the main event's first place prize of $76,280 and an Omega Speed Master watch valued at $4,400. The 596 player field got a great value as Bodog added $25,000 to the prize pool.
Similarly to last year there will also be a week of preliminary events preceding the Main Event with buy-ins ranging from $44 - $350. Preliminary event can be expected in early September.
You won't want to miss this tournament series as it's shaping up to be a classic. Get more information on the BPO II to find out how to win your seat to it.
The Lure of the Bad Beat Jackpot
Poker purists hate jackpots and high hand gimmicks in any poker room. Because these bonuses are funded from a "bonus drop" at the tables, the "real" poker players feel their advantage over the weaker players is reduced because the jackpots not something you win with skill. The extra drop reduces each and every pot, won by skill, and funds one or more jackpot pools won randomly.
I think the big change in jackpots rooms is that players actually play the game differently when there are jackpots to be won. Let me cite two current examples. I was playing some limit hold'em last weekend in one of the Station casinos in Las Vegas. When an experienced player offered to "chop" the blinds with a new player, someone had to explain the concept to the rookie. The interesting part for me was the explanation contained the words: "First you check to see if you might have a jackpot hand and then you chop." None of the regulars "always chop" in a bonus room; they "chop if not jackpot eligible". Now to be fair the Station bad beat was over $225,000 last weekend, so there is some motivation to pay attention to the existence of the jackpot.
Then we have the online jackpots. Tell me that you aren't tempted to play a bit differently and a bit more, when outrageously monster jackpots are available. Right now, well at least while I am typing this, the Bad Beat Jackpot at Party Poker is approaching $1,000,000. No, that is not a typo. The BBJ at Party is currently Nine Hundred and Ninety-Two Thousand Dollars. The "loser" of the bad beat would win roughly one-third of a million dollars. Makes you a lot more willing to play those small pocket pairs in early position!
Venetian Poker Room Announces Deep Stack Extravaganza IV
courtesy of venetian las vegas
Venetian resort's wildly popular Deep Stack Extravaganza poker tournament series has announced the fourth and final tournament for 2008. Scheduled for November 1 - 25, the Deep Stack Extravaganza IV (DSE) will feature 25 No-Limit Hold'em events with Buy-ins from $330 up to $2,500 for the Championship final.
The best part of these events is the very reason they named them "Deep Stack." Its all about the number of starting chips and the extended time of play levels. Even the $330 buy-in events start players with $10,000 in play money, plus an optional staff bonus add-on will get you even more bullets. Players in the $1,060 and $2,500 final event begin with $12, 500. Playing in the DSE is no different than entering one of the big major poker tournaments, with one big major exception, you don't need to take out a second mortgage to cover the buy-ins.
photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Kathy Raymond, director of Venetian poker operations
Kathy Raymond, director of poker operations for The Venetian, best sums up the Deep Stack Series.
"We are thrilled with the amount of excitement our Deep Stack Extravaganza series creates on the casino floor and throughout the poker community. The quality and experience of our staff along with the high starting chip counts and structure of the tournaments continues to draw players from different skill levels and from all over the world."
photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Take a gondola ride at the Venetian Las Vegas
Make your plans now to become a part of poker history as a player and champion of the the Deep Stack Extravaganza IV. The poker world will be focused on the luxurious Venetian poker room during the 25 days of big time Deep Stack poker. The final table of the championship event will take place 2 days before Thanksgiving, so what better way to start your holidays than a trip to the most copied poker tournament format anywhere, the Venetian's Deep Stack Extravaganza.
photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Venetian Las Vegas
Bodog Poker Software Update Officially Released
photo courtesy BodogLife.com
Bodog's latest poker software comes after months of tweaking based on user feedback
There has been a lot of time and lot of love poured into the latest incarnation of the Bodog Poker Software. And now, after months of beta-testing, the software is officially live and ready for download.
The main feature that they worked on for this latest poker software upgrade is the resizable tables.
You can also resize and remove features like the chat window, statistics, notes, profiles, game details, etc. which opens up the view of the table.
There are rumored to be more updates in the works so expect to see the limit to the number of tables that can be played at once increase.
You can download the Bodog Poker client yourself and tell us what you think.
Indian Summer in the Poker World
Now that the World Series is over; oh, sorry it really isn't over...
After the World Series of Poker is put on hold, there is a pause in the poker world. We had a Latin American Poker Tour event and a Asian Poker Tour event and several regional tournaments, one in London and another in East Orangegrove; but basically it has been quiet in the poker world. Which means that poker writers have been pulling out all those old ideas they came up with one drunken night during the WSOP. Here are some fairly good examples of what late nights, alcohol, sleep deprivation and the need for content will produce:
-A two part series by Short Stack Shamus on how Rolling Stone magazine has or has not covered poker over the last 40 years.
-B.J. Nemeth somehow links poker and the Olympics, which one has to guess is simply a way of admitting that since there is nothing going on in poker right now, B.J. is trapped in front of his TV watching team handball at 3 A.M. But the conversation in the comments section are usually interesting at Pokerati where B.J. is writing these days.
-It would seem the Doctor of Poker Darkness has also had some time to decompress from the long, hot summer in Las Vegas. But pitch black or only shades of grey... Dr. Pauly is always interesting to read on poker and life in general.
-If you have rumbling around in the back of your brain that coming to Las Vegas to play poker for a living might be a good idea... Well there are lots of books and articles I could point you to or you could just google: "I lost my ass in a Las Vegas poker room" but for truthful look at poker in the desert from a knowledgeable player... try reading the Poker Grump.
-If you have been watching the ESPN telecasts of the 2008 WSOP then you definitely want to read an August 7th post on Up for Poker by Otis. He talks about how ESPN has looked at their televised commentary and might actually be improving the depth of their coverage.
WSOP Europe Online Qualifiers
photo courtesy BodogLife.com
London's calling and Bodog's running daily WSOP Europe online qualifiers
With all the talk about the WSOP final table and the November Nine it's easy to forget that there will be four other bracelets awarded before the nine even sit down.
The WSOP Europe is happening in London in September and October with the Main Event running September 27 - October 2.
Bodog is currently running daily WSOP Europe online qualifiers that can get you a seat in their Two Seats Guaranteed WSOPE Semifinal running September 7.
Bodog WSOP Europe prize packages include the buy-in (worth over $20,000 USD), plus roundtrip airfare, high-end car service to and from the airport, luxury hotel accommodations and £500 spending money. Plus, Bodog has been known to show it's players a pretty good time so who knows if they've got anything else up their sleeves.
Last year saw a Bodog player, Matt McCullough, take third place and claim the title of Last American Standing. His finish was good for $760,000.
Get the complete details on Bodog's WSOP Europe online qualifiers.
Electric Poker Creating Static
Two major new electronic dealer-less poker rooms are about to test the viability concept in the U.S. market. The delay in gaming commission approval has made the introduction of electronic tables to some jurisdictions a much anticipated happening. Now both Atlantic City and Las Vegas will take the plunge with an entire poker room going electric.
In Las Vegas, the Excalibur Casino poker room will close next week and re-open a few days later, completely converted to electronic tables. In Atlantic City, the new poker room at Trump Plaza is to be electronic from day one. The reaction to both announcements has been very different. The new East Tower poker room at Trump does not replace an existing room, nor lay-off a group of already working dealers. In addition, the small number of poker rooms in Atlantic City means more tables, of any kind, could be used to meet the poker demand.
The Excalibur, on the other hand, has been a well known and successful room on the Las Vegas Strip for many years. The early talk about the "conversion" to electric has been very negative. Dealers and floor staff are losing their jobs, players used to the action are not easily persuaded of the wisdom of going electric. But Las Vegas has over 50 live poker rooms and the "test" of electronic was going to happen somewhere. MGM decided the Excalibur would be that test.
Three MGM properties (Mandalay Bay, Luxor, Excalibur) are side by side at the south end of the Las Vegas Strip; they all have poker rooms, they are all connected with indoor walkways to avoid the summer desert heat. It makes sense that one of those rooms would be selected to go electric. The management of MGM and Excalibur are not using words like "experiment" or "test" or "trial balloon" but everyone believes the first electric room is exactly that. Will poker players with dozens of options, decided to play in an all electric room? We will soon find out. I will be at the Grand Opening of the Electric Excalibur Poker Room and will keep you up to date with the acceptance of the new room by Las Vegas poker players.
Tuesday Night Poker Coming Your Way on ESPN
photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Michael Banducci wins event #5, $1K Buy-In NLHE w/Rebuys
Tuesday night is poker night on ESPN. Even when the world's attention is turned into synchronized swimming, badminton, saber dueling and BB gun shooting some of you would rather be watching a few card players doing battle for a large pile of money. This week's, Tuesday August 12th, 2 hour installment, episodes 7 & 8, of exclusive coverage of the 2008 WSOP offers WSOP Event #5, $1,000 Buy-In No-Limit Hold'em with rebuys.
With a prize pool of $2,894,094 at stake the 766 starting players did a total of 2,258 rebuys. The top 72 players get paid at least $8,103. The winner takes home $636,736 and a gold bracelet. The Day 1 crowd included many well known pros including a number of past WSOP Main Event champions. By the end of the second day the crowd had been reduced to the final table nine, a final table without a single WSOP ME Champion.
The action begins Tuesday at 8:00 PM EST on ESPN; but, be sure to check local TV listings for exact times in your area. Take a break from the "other" sporting event happening in China and enjoy some high stakes poker. Another dozen Flipchip photos from the three days of the event after the jump...
photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Jeff Williams finished second
Michael Banducci and a few of his friends
photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Scotty Nguyen, 1998 WSOP World Champion playing on Day 1
photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Phil Hellmuth, 1989 WSOP World Champion playing on Day 1
photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Greg Raymer, 2004 WSOP World Champion playing on Day 1
photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Daniel Negreanu playing on Day 2
photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Kristy Gazes plays on Day 1
photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Phil Ivey playing on Day 1
photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Clonie Gowan playing on Day 1
photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Men 'The Master' Nguyen, playing on Day 1
photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Michael Binger playing on Day 2
photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
2008 WSOP Event #1 winner Nevad Medic playing on Day 2
photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Peter Gould shows the agony of defeat
Bodog Releases $250K Poker Props
photo courtesy BodogLife.com
Matt Larsh (thatsNice) is no stranger to poker prop bets. Hence the toga
Bodog loves those poker props. They had dozens up during the WSOP and now they're keeping the ball rolling with their big upcoming $250K tournament and its own set of props.
They have put odds on how well the players will do pitting the top 10 from their current yearly poker tournament leader board against each other as well as the top 10 from last year's leader board.
A few names should jump out at you immediately on there, especially the ones who appear on both yearly TLB's like "thatsNice", "daisyxoxo", "Killa_Tyven"
Head over to the Bodog Sportsbook for all their poker props including their odds on the WSOP Final Table.
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WSOP Info is your source to online poker news and information regarding the WSOP 2008. The World Series Of Poker is the largest Poker event in the world.
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