This Week in Poker -- Poker Tournament News Aug. 1-7

Check out CardPlayer.com every Friday for a weekly wrap-up of the news from the live poker tournament trail.

Card Player Player of the Year Update

1: Vitaly Lunkin — 4,337
2: Eric Baldwin — 4,300
3: Angel Guillen — 3,492
4: Cornel Cimpan — 3,450
5: Brock Parker — 3,132
6: Mike Leah — 3,120
7: Jeffrey Lisandro — 3,018
8: Poorya Nazari — 3,000
9: Alexandre Gomes — 2,850
10: Jude Ainsworth — 2,840

This Week in Poker

Legends of Poker Underway

The Legends of Poker tournament series hosted at the Bicycle Casino in Bell Gardens, California, has always been the first major poker tournament following the conclusion of the World Series of Poker each summer in recent years. 2009 is no different, as the Bike has opened its doors to host 27 poker tournaments during the month of August that will culminate with the $10,000 World Poker Tour no-limit hold’em championship Aug. 22-26.

The Bike will spread tournaments featuring limit, pot-limit, and no-limit hold’em, pot-limit Omaha, Omaha eight-or-better, seven-card stud eight-or-better, and H.O.R.S.E. $1,100 mega-super-satellites for the championship event will take place on Tuesday, Aug. 18, Wednesday, Aug. 19, and Friday, Aug. 21. The $1,000 Buss/Mariani Laker’s Youth Foundation Charity no-limit hold’em event will take place at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 20. Click here for the full schedule for the 2009 Legends of Poker.

$10,000 WPT no-limit hold’em championship event schedule:

NOTE: All tournament days begin at 3 p.m. in the championship event, except for the final day, which begins taping at 4 p.m. Players will begin with 30,000 in tournament chips and blinds will begin at 50-100 for the first 90-minute level.

Saturday, Aug. 22: Day 1A (Play five levels)
Sunday, Aug. 23: Day 2 (Play five levels)
Monday, Aug. 24: Day 3 (Play down to money)
Tuesday, Aug. 25: Day 4 (Play down to final table of six)
Wednesday, Aug. 26: Final table

PokerStars Americas Cup of Poker Advances toward Finals

PokerStars is currently running the preliminary groups for the 2009 Americas Cup of Poker. The online and live tournament pits players from 16 countries against each other to compete for the title of Americas Cup of Poker champion. The countries include USA, Mexico, Ecuador, Canada, Colombia, Uruguay, Chile, Venezuela, Peru, Costa Rica, Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Guatemala, Panama, and Honduras. The final eight countries left standing after the preliminaries will send competitors to the Bariloche ski resort that resides in the beautiful Patagonia region of Argentina. There will be a total prize pool of $250,000 on the line. The Americas Cup of Poker has attracted 35,000 contestants so far.

Any player from the countries mentioned above can compete in any of the Americas Cup of Poker daily tournaments on PokerStars during weekly rounds, wherein players can play in various tournaments for their country. Players will be playing to score as many points as possible for their country in these events. The players who finish in the top 100 of in each group tournament will be awarded points for their country. Participating countries have been divided into groups, and the countries will face off with one another each week.

The eight countries that have the most wins (the top two countries from each group) make the finals. Each country that makes the final will send the five players who won the most points for their country during the preliminary rounds to Argentina to play for the final prize in a team tournament. Each of the final eight teams will also be given a sixth member, which will be a Team PokerStars Pro. The Pros who will accompany each country have yet to be announced.

Here is a look at the updated results through Aug. 6:

NOTE: Results are listed as Wins-Losses.

Group A:

USA: 10-0
Mexico: 10-0
Guatemala: 0-10
Ecuador: 0-10

Group B:

Canada: 10-0
Colombia: 10-0
Panama: 0-10
Uruguay: 0-10

Group C:

Costa Rica: 8-2
Venezuela: 6-4
Chile: 4-6
Peru: 2-8

Group D:

Argentina: 10-0
Brazil: 10-0
Honduras: 0-10
Paraguay: 0-10

Looking Ahead

Legends of Poker

Event Schedule

Asian Poker Tour – Macau

Event Schedule

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