Poker News

Michael Rocco showed just how much a bracelet meant to the old timer who had paid his dues for years on the poker scene, as he could hardly control his emotion after winning the $1500 buy-in 7 Card Stud WSOP Event 35. He was certainly the most emotional champion of the Series so far and was not ashamed to shed a few tears of joy and then thanked players such as Cyndy Violette for their support. To read about his victory see our Event 35 Final Table Report.

It had been a while for Layne Flack, having not scored a WSOP bracelet since 2003 and having not made a final table since 2005, but finally tonight he showed he is still a force to be reckoned with on the tournament poker circuit as he grabbed his sixth career bracelet during Event #34, $1500 Omaha with rebuys. For full details read our Event 34 Final Table Report.

Sebastian Ruthenberg won his first career WSOP bracelet last night after an epic heads up battle with Chris Jesus Ferguson in the Event 33 - $5,000 buy-in Stud Hi/Lo World Championship. With his victory he became just the sixth German bracelet winner in history and the second German bracelet this Series. His reward in addition to the bracelet was the $328,756 top place prize money. For more details see our Event 33 Final Table Report

Jose Luis Velador was no stranger to tournament poker or the WSOP when he came into last nights final table with a dominating chip lead he already had a LA Poker Classic all around best player award and back to back cashes in the WSOP Main event under his belt. His previous accomplishment failed in comparison to his performance last night where he completed a wire-to-wire first place victory earning himself $573,734 top place prize money and the first WSOP bracelet of his career.

Dario Minieri won the first WSOP bracelet of his career last night while scoring Italy their second of the series. His victory came in Event #31 $2,500 No-Limit Hold’em Six-handed and he pocketed $528,418, the largest cash of his career though he’s won six figures on multiple occasions. Dario Minieri is a 23-year old poker professional from Rome, Italy; this is his third consecutive year playing in the World Series.

Day 19 of the 2008 WSOP is now in the books. Today we saw the year of the pro continue as John Phan and Rob Hollick both with their first bracelet. Phan won his bracelet when after a six hour long heads up match the players agreed to a flipament and Hollicks win made him the World Champion of limit Holdem and also gave the Dutch their first WSOP bracelet. Three other events were played today, two of which are down to tomorrows final table, while the other is just getting started. For more details read our 2008 WSOP Day 19 report.

The 2008 WSOP Event #30, $10K buy-in World Championship of Limit Holdem, ended last night with Rob Hollink doing something no one from Netherlands had ever done before. At the end of the night Hollink was $496,931 to throw on his pile of now $3 million in career winnings and also now has a WSOP Championship bracelet to go with his EPT Grand Finale Trophy. What he did last night though is much more significant as he became the first Dutchman to win a WSOP bracelet. Many others such as Marcel Luske have only been able to come close in the past. Event 30 Final Table Report

John Phan finally got the WSOP bracelet monkey off his back last night and he managed to do it in an interesting fashion. After a six hour long grueling heads up match a tired Phan convinced his opponent to agree to a flipament. This means each player went all in blind before the cards were even dealt. For full details and a full recap see our Event #29 Final Table report.

Bodog Poker has for years flown under the poker radar and most sharks never realized just how fish filled the waters are at this online poker rooms. The reasons they fell under the radar include: their marketing focus was first time poker players, their company made billions off sports and casino - poker was only an after thoughts. Also with not many promotions or a bonus that would attract average to break even players – Bodog was pretty much a fish vs fish online poker room for years.

Now Bodog is coming out in full force and they’re ready to attract the serious player. They continue to expand and offer more promotions and bonuses each month. To recap all these recent additions Bodog now offers a 110% to $550 sign up bonus, a monthly reload bonus, guaranteed tournaments with overlays, a points for cash program and much more.

This is where this news post comes in. Bodog is now discussing ways to make their software more compatible with the needs of online poker props. This is where this press release here comes in, but just in case you don’t click that link we’ll tell you two of the new features. #1 Resizeable tables are now here, #2 the restriction of only 3 tables at a time, will be removed in the comings weeks or will be greatly expanded.

PokerStars has announced the schedule for the European Poker Tour (EPT) Season five. The first event will be taped in Barcelona September 10th-14t. The show will be televised throughout Europe and might even make some appearances in North American this season. That teaser announcement comes only a few days after the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) was aired on GSN this past weekend. Anyways, see EPT Season 5 Schedule for more details