News, Reviews And Interviews From Around The Poker World

Kevin Stani Wins European Poker Tour Tallinn

The PokerStars European Poker Tour Tallinn stood out for many reasons; it was the first stop of season 7, the first time an EPT was held in the Baltic States, a field of 420 ensured it broke the record for the biggest poker event ever to be held in Estonia, and Luca Pagano set a record of his own with 15 EPT cashes including his finish in this €4,250 buy-in main event.

Last but not least was something many poker fans were holding their breath over — would Team PokerStars Pro member Arnaud Mattern become the first ever double EPT champion?

Unfortunately the answer soon became apparent when Norwegian Kevin “KevBoyStar” Stani took over the chip lead from the Frenchman at the final table, and never looked back. The 27-year-old PokerStars qualifier received €400,000 for first place, and a seat to the EPT Grand Final next year. Mattern had to settle for third place and €160,000.

The final results and payouts were:

Betfair Poker Gives Card Player Readers $10

BetfairPoker.com is giving Card Player readers who sign up for an account a $10 cash bonus to celebrate the company’s recent move to the Ongame Network.

All players need to do is sign up for an account through Card Player using the code BF104U and their account will be credited with $10 once their details have been verified.

Players can then use their $10 to play a wide variety of games in Betfair’s $500,000 cash giveaway over the coming weeks.

FullTiltPoker.com Poker Million IX Takes Shape

The first three heats of the FullTiltPoker.com Poker Million IX have taken place in London with Howard Lederer, Barny Boatman, and Tony Bloom making the final table set to take place in December 2010.

The tournament, being filmed by Matchroom Sports for broadcast on SKY Sports, will have a $1 million first prize this year.

Bloom, whose appearance at this year’s Poker Million final will be his third, beat Erik Seidel heads up, saying, “It was a real quality field and Erik is a world class act so I’m delighted.

“I hope its third time lucky though — it’s bound to be a tough heat because of the quality players in the line up but I hope to do well and I don’t think it can be as strong as this field though.”

Boatman beat fellow Hendon Mobster Ram Vaswani in his qualifier, noting, “I played OK and got lucky which is an unbeatable combo in this game. I think that the structure is great, we all like to think that deep stacked we can play the game better and today I could carry on without cards and just hang in there.

“I was in the very first final and missed out three times since then so it’s been a long time coming to get another shot and I’m delighted.”

Lederer beat Richard Ashby heads up and “Chufty” will join Seidel and Vaswani in a runners-up qualifier in October.

Blind Man’s Bluff at Irish Winter Festival

Ever the innovator, PaddyPowerPoker.com has come up with a novel twist on no-limit hold’em at its forthcoming Irish Winter Festival — the Blind Man’s Bluff World Championship.

The €100 + €10 buy-in event will play just like no-limit hold’em except players will not be permitted to look at their own hole cards, instead they will have full view of all of their opponents cards around the table.

After a hand has been dealt players will not be allowed to touch their cards, they will be placed in a special hat for them to wear leaving the cards visible to other players, and betting continues until the final round of betting when players reveal their hands and a winner is pronounced.

Communications manager for the site, Paddy Power, said, “This is a complex game with a lot more skill involved than one might initially think. Poker players like to think they can read their opponents — let’s see how good they really are at judging a situation without knowing what cards they hold in their hat. This World Championship event promises to be totally crazy, probably a bit chaotic and definitely great craic!”

The full schedule for the Irish Winter Festival, taking place at the Burlington Hotel, Dublin from October 22 to 25, 2010 is:

PKR Sponsors London’s First Licensed Poker Club

London’s first fully licensed poker club, the Fox Poker Club, will be sponsored by online poker site PKR.com.

Named after the 18th century politician Charles Fox it will host daily tournaments and cash games with free afternoon tutorials available for novice players.

PKR marketing director Simon Prodger said, “This is a great opportunity for PKR. To have a fully licensed poker room in central London is fantastic for the poker community, and we look forward to seeing it flourish as we host events at the venue.”

To celebrate the opening of the venue PKR will be hosting a 57-event, 28 day poker festival from October 11 to November 7 named London Calling.

The majority of buy-ins range from £20 to £100 and will cover no-limit hold’em, pot-limit Omaha, pot-limit Omaha eight-or-better, heads up, and H.O.R.S.E..

The festival will conclude with a £300 buy-in main event.

Players can sign up for pre-registration membership at FoxPokerClub.com.

PokerTime.eu Offers MyPokerLab Scorecard

Every poker player has leaks in their game and identifying them is an important step on the path to success.

Now players can register with MyPokerLab at PokerTime.eu and receive a free personalised scorecard with details of their playing patterns.

The scorecard allows players to improve their game and increase work towards increasing their bankroll.

Players need simply login to their MyPokerLab account and click on the ‘Reports’ icon in the top right-hand corner of the page where they can view their scorecard.

Here players can also drill down into their scorecard to find a list of Grades, Hand Requirements and Scores relevant to their poker play.

Then, depending on their results, MyPokerLab will recommend specific videos for them to watch in order to improve their game.

MyPokerLab.com also features comprehensive sections on poker training, fundamentals of the game, a poker clinic, and community forum.

To get started just Register now PokerTime.eu, login to MyPokerLab, start playing and let the software do the rest.

Löser Victorious in European Masters of Poker Bulgaria

German Manig Löser is the season II European Masters of Poker Bulgaria champion having taken down the €1,100 buy-in event at the Crystal Crown Casino, Sunny Beach in August.

After the 260-strong field was reduced to a final table of nine, Löser was third in chips, eventually getting to threehanded play and busting Romanian George Draghici and beating Israeli Shai Vahnun heads up after 45 minutes play with K-6 against 9-8.

The final table payouts were:

The next stop on the tour is European Masters of Poker Barcelona at the Gran Casino Barcelona, Spain from September 23 to 26, 2010. The buy-in is €1,100.

UB.com Sends German Players to Czech Republic

UB.com is now running a new weekly online poker satellite for German players each Sunday at 8 p.m. with three tickets worth €365 to a live tournament in the Czech Republic for the winners.

The Sunday King’s Casino Super Satellite has a $20 + $2 buy-in and players can qualify for as little as $3.30 each week on the site.

The live tournament takes place every Saturday at 4 p.m. at King’s Casino, Rozvadov, Czech Republic, just over the border with Germany.

The tournament is a no-limit hold’em deep stack freezeout with a buy-in of €330+35 and has a guaranteed prize pool of €50,000.

PokerStars Players Win Big in Venice and Madrid

Tamas Lendvai from Hungary has won the PokerStars.com Italian Poker Tour Venice topping the 505-strong field to take down €235,000 prize money.

Lendvai was the short stack going into the final table in early August, having previously been as low as seven big blinds on day three.

He beat Davide Cerrato from Italy heads up after moving all in with K-T and getting called by Cerrato’s A-5. A king on the turn was enough to see him emerge victorious while Ceratto had to be content with runner-up status and €147,000.

The win saw Lendvai, who has had a successful year so far, more than double his career earnings.

Across the Mediterranean, Marc Colomé, 22-years-old from Barcelona, won the €1,000 buy-in PokerStars.com Estrellas Poker Tour in Madrid.

The Spanish dominated the final table and Colomé lifted €67,519 for topping the field of 291 players beating Romanian Adrian Veghinas heads up with A-K against 4-4.

The final table payouts were:

The Estrellas Poker Tour next stops in Barcelona from November 22 to 27, 2010.