Inside Straight -- News

Black Belt Poker Pros Announced
In late May, eight poker enthusiasts waited by their phones for a call they had been working towards for months (some, for years). The voices at the other end of the line would be Neil Channing alongside presenters Padraig Parkinson, Jesse May, and Matt Broughton of The Poker Show. Channing was about to inform the poker world live on air of his eight selected Black Belt Poker sponsored pros.

Thirty-one of an original 50 had finished the grading process and were now anxiously waiting to find out whether they were part of a team of eight representing the site and receiving a World Series of Poker package worth $20,000 each.

The lucky eight who received the highly anticipated call were: Adam Latimer, David Tighe, James Keys, Jamie Roberts, Jerome Bradpiece, Kevin Allen, Richard Hawes, and Sida Yuen.

These new faces of Black Belt Poker began their journey on June 14 when they flew out to Las Vegas for the WSOP. For those other players who just missed out, and indeed anyone who is interested in having a go themselves, all is not lost, as another grading process is now being discussed for the near future.

Poker in the Sky
Have you ever imagined playing poker at a table raised almost 150 feet off the ground, enjoying a breath-taking view? A dream? No, this is Poker In The Sky!

In May the sky of Stockholm, Sweden, was the stage for Poker In The Sky, presented by BestPoker.com.

The tournament gathered some of the best Scandinavian players in a “live-online” final table. Laptops were adapted with a side protection, so players could not see each other’s screens, then, all the players had to do was enjoy the view, log in and play through the site´s client. The winner was Jimmy “El_Pescado” Jönsson, a 22-year old Norwegian player, who took home a Kawasaki motorcycle.

Going through turbulent times, an event like Poker In The Sky shows our game is capable of reinventing itself and being presented in unexpected ways, causing much fascination in the crowd. Power to BestPoker.com.

888.com Poker Ashes for TV in July
The upcoming 888.com Poker Ashes takes place at the same time as the cricket Ashes and will decide which country has the best poker know-how — England, led by former Yorkshire captain Darren Gough, or Australia, led by legendary bowler Shane Warne.

The televised tournament, produced by Ian Langstaff and Winmedia, will then be aired on Sky Sports 2 from July 15 to 19 at 10 p.m. in the U.K., and also in Australia, India, South Africa, and New Zealand.

Aussie captain Shane Warne said, “Aussies don’t like to be beaten by the Poms — whatever the sport. And I can tell you that Darren Gough and his English Poker Ashes team will face a stern test from our boys! We are taking this very seriously — I’m getting the very best poker players from the Aussie changing rooms, and you Poms are set for an absolute flogging!”

Sponsor of the event, 888.com, will donate $50,000 to the charity chosen by the winning team, which will either be the Shane Warne Foundation if Australia comes up trumps, or the Professional Cricket Association if England takes the title.

Aisling Collins Wins Women’s World Open
The third PartyPoker.com Women’s World Open played down from 36 to one in a battle which ended with a final table from hell. Aisling Collins, a 28-year-old television producer from the UK was the last player standing in a dangerous field which included Annette Obrestad, Sandra Naujoks, and Jennifer Tilly. Collins took the lion’s share from the $108,000 prize pool after battling it out heads up with Kim Wooka from Japan.

Collins said, “To win this tournament means absolutely everything to me. My previous biggest poker win was in the region of $8,000 so this is amazing. I’m in shock, it is fantastic to win $50,000 — I just don’t know what I am going to do with it yet!”

The final table was devastatingly tough, but so was the heads-up battle, and although Collins dominated Wooka in the beginning, Wooka forced her way back for an exciting finish. The ultimate hand came with the blinds at 10,000/20,0000. Collins raised to 70,000 with J 5 and Wooka called with Q 10. The K J 9 flop was checked by Wooka and Collins bet another 70,000. Wooka shoved all in and Collins made the call. The 6 turn gave Collins the flush, and also, the title, and top prize of $50,000.

Check Raise Management Signs Players
CheckRaiseManagement.com has announced the latest names to join its ranks. The first is Sammy George (see cover feature) — a high stakes cash specialist based in London who is thought to have won $3 million in live cash games. British pro, Roland de Wolfe had this to say about him, “He uses his style to great advantage; people will always pay him off as they think he is bluffing. I have a good feeling he is going to bring back plenty of money from Vegas.”

The second addition is Irishman Jude Ainsworth. The young man from Galway, who has a PhD in biochemistry, also appears to have skills elsewhere. He has more than $2.4 million in online and live winnings to his name including the recent PokerStars Spring Championship of Online Poker where he took down the massive first prize of $963,338.

Ainsworth, who is currently third in the CardPlayer Player of the Year race, said, “I am thrilled to have signed up with Check Raise Management; they have a great team of players and continue to work with the best in the business.” Check Raise Management also represents players such as Roberto Romanello, Richard Ashby, and the recently signed Full Tilt red pro, Andrew Feldman.

Become a Paddy Power Poker Pro
PaddyPowerPoker.com has announced its latest promotion which will see online players vie for a seat at a live grand final in October with the chance of picking off €100,000 worth of prizes in the form of packages to the world’s biggest poker tournaments.

The live final table which will be held at the Irish Winter Festival taking place at Citywest Hotel, Dublin over the October bank holiday weekend.

To qualify, players must move up the ranks to reach General VIP Level by October 1, 2009 by averaging 60,000 points per month. They will then be automatically entered into an online final to qualify for the live grand final consisting of the top eight players from the online qualifier.

Paddy Power, spokesman for the site, said, “Everyone dreams of jetting around the world, playing in the biggest tournaments against the biggest players, and we’re really excited to be able to make this dream a reality for one lucky player.”

Boylepoker Pro’s ECOOP Scoop
John “doesalrite” O’Shea has done it again. In just one week, the Boylepoker.com pro successfully defended his title in the European Championship of Online Poker (ECOOP) pot-limit Omaha high-low event, and then went on to take down the $400 + $30 buy-in ECOOP pot-limit Omaha event. His winnings of $25,000 and $40,500 respectively came just before he hit Las Vegas for the World Series of Poker.

O’Shea said, “What a week! To successfully defend my high-low title was something I never really thought could happen, it’s such a long shot. But to do that and kick on and win a second ECOOP event is just staggering. I’m really happy to be hitting such a fine seam of form ahead of the World Series.”

His $65,500 run of luck was shared with four Boylepoker.com players who together won a 15 percent share of his future ECOOP earnings before the series had even kicked off.

Tony Phillips Lifts GUKPT Newcastle Title
The fifth leg of the 2009 Grosvenor UK Poker Tour stopped in Newcastle in late May where it was won by Londoner, Tony Phillips. The 22-year-old bested 151 players to pick up the top prize of £47,200 and become the youngest player ever to win a GUKPT main event.

To final table is not unfamiliar to the young Brit however as last year he was pipped to the post by Ketul Nathwani in leg four of the Tour and could only take down second place. This time, it was Steve Jelinek who took second when, in the final hand, his pocket nines were beaten by the A-J of Phillips with a jack falling on the flop.

The final table was the fastest in the Tour’s history.

The results are as follows:

The main Tour will now take a break until August when it kicks off again with the sixth leg in Luton.