The Inside Straight

Team Full Tilt Triumphs at World Series and Signs Patrik Antonius

Team Full Tilt poker pros had an extraordinary run at the recent World Series of Poker, collecting 10 bracelets - half of which ended up on European wrists.

Europeans won a record 11 bracelets (with the main event still to be decided) and five of these - Martin Kläser (Germany), David Benyamine (France), Rob Hollink (Netherlands), Max Pescatori (Italy), Jens Voertmann (Germany) - were Team Full Tilt pros.

See our WSOP features in this issue for a full round-up of how the Europeans successfully challenged the rest of the world in Las Vegas this summer.

In other news, the company has signed 27-year-old Finn Patrik Antonius. The European Poker Tour winner and high-stakes cash game expert has almost $2.7 million in tournament winnings and is widely considered to be one of the best all-round players in the world.

"As everyone knows, Team Full Tilt has all the top pros in the world and I'm honored to now be a member of such a legendary team," said Antonius of his new deal.

PokerStars Signs William Thorson; Announces WCOOP Dates

PokerStars.com has signed well-known Swedish pro William Thorson to Team PokerStars. Thorson finished 13th in the World Series of Poker main event in 2006 and has made final tables at the European Poker Tour San Remo and PokerStars Caribbean Adventure.

He joins the star-studded team, which includes fellow pros Daniel Negreanu, Greg Raymer, and Bertrand Grospellier.
A native of Varberg, Sweden, Thorson started playing poker in 2002 and has more than $1.8 million in career tournament winnings to date. He is thrilled with the latest development in his career.

"To be a member of Team PokerStars Pro is an honour for me," he said. "It's a great team with many of the world's greatest players and I'm honoured to be included in such company - as a player, I'm very proud to have my skills recognised in this way. It's a great opportunity for me and I hope to be able to achieve big results."

Join Thorson, who plays under the name "William", at PokerStars.com.

Elsewhere, the company announced the seventh annual PokerStars.com World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP). The online festival will begin on Sept. 5, and run across 16 days. This year's WCOOP will be the biggest online poker tournament series in the world, with a guaranteed prize pool of $30 million - double the total of last year.

The Championship will host a total of 33 different events, covering the usual games like hold'em, Omaha, and razz, but also including many new events such as the $10,300 high-roller no-limit hold'em, the $25,500 high-roller heads-up no-limit hold'em, and the six-max no-limit hold'em with rebuys.

Last year's main event champion, "Ka$ino", won more than $1.3 million for first place.

Players can qualify for events via satellites with buy-ins from as low as $2.20. These satellites are currently up and running.
As a bonus for loyal players, PokerStars.com will add $1.5 million toward free entries to the Championship.

European Poker Tour Season Five Dates Announced
By Kristy Arnett

The European Poker Tour is nearing its fifth season, and with the success of last year's installment that saw the biggest prize pool ever generated outside of Las Vegas in the Monte Carlo Grand Final, organisers look forward to even bigger turnouts and prize pools.

The first event of this year's EPT will take place in Barcelona at the beginning of September. The tour will stop in nine countries, and chief executive of the EPT, John Duthie, says that they are expecting to add new venues.



PokerStars will, of course, be running satellites for each of these events. Last year, of the 5,902 players who competed in events, 1,682 of them were PokerStars qualifiers. Satellites for the Barcelona event will begin July 7 and start as low as $2.20.

Blatchley Wins British Poker Tour Bristol

Neil Blatchley has won the Gala Casinos British Poker Tour Bristol event, topping the field of 249 runners in the £500+50 buy-in main event. He collected £40,750 plus a £2,000 package into the Tour's grand final being held at the same venue in the first week of December.

Blatchley beat Marcus Farthing heads up, which started with both players almost even in chips. It ended after just two hands, with Blatchley spiking a straight and a pair to overturn his hapless opponent.

The final payouts were:

First: Neil Blatchley, £40,750 + £2,000 grand final package
Second: Marcus Farthing, £24,000 + £500+50 GCBPT main event seat
Third: James Dempsey, £16,000 + £500+50 GCBPT main event seat
Fourth: Michael Punn, £10,000 + Galapoker.co.uk $320 online live qualifier ticket
Fifth: Rickie Vedhara, £6,500 + Galapoker.co.uk $320 online live qualifier ticket
Sixth: Rana Gurnam, £4,000
Seventh: Jamie Reeve, £3,200
Eighth: Dave Maudlin, £2,600
Ninth: Trevor Pearson, £2,400

One online qualifier - Jamie Reeve - made the final table, and the sponsor added £5,000 to the prize pool. Dave Maudlin, who finished eighth, was on his third GCBPT final table, having previously come fifth and third in Nottingham this year and last.

The next stop on the tour is Liverpool from Sept. 17 to 21.

Welshman Wins BlueSquarePoker APAT Event

Event six in season two of the APAT Poker Association and Tour was held mid-June in Dublin's Fitzwilliam Card Club.
The BlueSquarePoker.com-sponsored event was won by Darren Shallis from Newport, Wales. He collected £3,700 for his victory in the €75 buy-in event as well as a $3,000 package into a Grosvenor UK Poker Tour main event.

Shallis topped the field of 140 runners after beating Bobby Murphy heads-up. Shallis began with a 4-1 chip lead over Murphy and eventually took the tournament down when his A-7 remained ahead of his opponent's A-6.

BlueSquarePoker.com is also ramping up for the remaining legs of the Grosvenor UK Poker Tour, which has been on hiatus while the World Series has been in action.

The final five legs of the year tour are:

Luton G Casino: Aug. 2 to 10, 2008
Bolton Grosvenor Casino: Sept. 1 to 7, 2008
Thanet Grosvenor Casino: Oct. 13 to 19, 2008
Blackpool Grosvenor Casino: Nov. 8 to 11, 2008
London Grosvenor Casino: Nov. 20 to 30, 2008 (Grand Final)
Luton G Casino: Dec. 4 to 5, 2008 (Champion of Champions)

Visit BlueSquarePoker.com to qualify for these events.

APT Macau Sees Expanded Guarantee

The Asian Poker Tour has expanded the guarantee for the next stop on the tour in Macau. The event has a guaranteed prize pool of $1.5 million, and the winner will take home a minimum of $500,000, making it Asia's largest-ever guaranteed prize pool.

The recent winner of the Philippines leg of the tour, David Saab, who also finished 46th in the main event at this year's World Series, has confirmed that he will be playing the event.

Saab, who won $280,000 in the Philippines this year before collecting another $135,101 in Las Vegas will play at the Galaxy StarWorld, Macau tournament, which has a buy-in of US$5,300, from Aug. 27 to 31.

Satellites for the event are being held on PartyPoker.com. The APT moves on to South Korea and Singapore later in the year. Visit AsianPT.com for more details on how to play in this event.

$2.5 Million Guaranteed in Online Tournament at VCPoker.com

VCPoker.com has announced details of its largest ever tournament - a $2.5 million guaranteed GP Tournament on Sept. 7 with a minimum first-place payout of $500,000.
The Gibraltar-based online poker room is holding online satellites from as little as $3.30 for existing players, while new players will get a chance to play in the event via a "free buy-in to the main event" offer if they register from July 1.
Lee Ferris, poker marketing manager at the company, said, "From our recently concluded European Championship of Online Poker II to our highly popular World Series of Poker satellites to our newly announced $2.5 million GP event, VC Poker is ensuring that this will be a summer of poker to remember. In giving players around the world a free chance to play for a half-a-million dollar prize, we are offering an exceptional opportunity to win a life-changing amount of money for no money down. That's value."

Other routes for players to qualify include earning 2,500 action points between July 1 and 5, which will see them progress to a $2.5 million GP satellite on July 15, while players who accumulate 350,000 action points can play a heads-up qualifier with the winner progressing directly to the grand final.

Visit VCPoker.com for more details on how to play this event.

Dave "Devilfish" Ulliott Plays Weekly Bounty Tournament

Starting weekly on Thursday, Aug. 28 at 8 p.m. BST, poker players have the chance to play against - and knock out - one of the biggest names in world poker, Dave "Devilfish" Ulliott.

Ulliott will play the €10 freezeout bounty tournament on DevilfishPoker.com each week (when he's not trying to win a $1 million first prize in some of the world's biggest tournaments), and players will be able to chat with arguably the most recognised name in European poker.

"These tournaments are a lot of fun and a great opportunity for me to discuss strategy, life on the poker circuit, and generally catch up on what's happening in the world of DevilfishPoker.com. Everyone now has a chance to say they knocked out the Devilfish, but I can guarantee you I won't make it easy for them. I hate losing!"

There is €250 added to the prize pool by DevilfishPoker.com each week, and the player who knocks Ulliott out will win the weekly €250 bounty prize and bragging rights forever.