Poker Headlines

Huge Player Interest in Titan Poker’s European Championship Tournament Series

Titan Poker, the largest online poker room on the iPoker Network, has seen unprecedented player interest in its 10-day European Championship of Online Poker (ECOOP) tournament series. The ECOOP series staged by Titan Poker guarantees $3,600,000 in prizes, but the large number of online poker players participating in the tournaments has driven up the prize pools even higher.
The ECOOP II series kicked off on May 23rd with a No Limit Hold’em event that drew 1,291 players. The following night was dedicated to Pot Limit Omaha Poker players, with a tournament that attracted 576 and awarded more than $100,000 in prizes.

The third ECOOP II tournament awarded $516,300 in prizes to the winning online poker players among the 1,721 who participated in the event. This was higher than the half a million dollars guaranteed in prizes.

The fourth ECOOP II tournament, once again devoted to Pot Limit Omaha players, awarded $165,000 in prizes.

The ECOOP II tournament series continues at Titan Poker until June 1st, when it culminates with a tournament finale with $1,500,000 in guaranteed prizes.

Titan Poker players are able to buy-in directly to each of the ECOOP II events or win their seats at online daily qualifying tournaments, which start at just $2 + $0.20.

This is the second European Championship of Online Poker staged by Titan Poker. The first ECOOP series was staged in December 2007 and exceeded expectations by awarding more than $2,500,000 in prizes.

Gamma Labs to Boost Testosterone At World Series of Poker In Las Vegas

A New York company says Testosterone
is just the lucky charm competitive poker players need at the card table. Casino giant Harrah’s Entertainment signed an agreement with West Babylon’s
Gamma Labs, maker of the boosting testosterone pill, to participate as a 2008 World Series of Poker sponsor in Las Vegas. The tournament takes place
at the Rio(R) All-Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas from May 30 through July 14.

Gamma Labs will highlight their newly released testosterone booster product, Gamma-O Plus Pomegranate, as an official sponsor of the WSOP. Gamma-O Plus Pomegranate contains Gamma-Oryzanol, an extract from rice bran oil which encourages the body to produce more testosterone, and pomegranate extract which has been shown to dramatically decrease the risk of prostate cancer. Gamma-O increases mental acuity, focus, and balance - precisely the skills that are needed to excel at the challenging game of poker.

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MansionPoker launches WSOP Mania poker tournaments

MansionPoker has announced the addition of WSOP Mania poker tournaments which provide members with further chances to win a coveted seat into the Mansion WSOP Mania Super Satellite tournament - worth $320 each.
The latest scheduled tournaments at MansionPoker.com to award guaranteed tickets into the Mansion WSOP Mania Super Satellite include the $1 + $0.10 Turbo Feeder tournaments
held daily at 18:30 and 21:30 BST, and the $10 + $1 Mansion WSOP Mania Daily Final; both of which award 3 Super Satellite tickets guaranteed. The daily Midnight Madness event
also provides another opportunity to win a seat into the Super Satellite of the year.

The Mansion WSOP Mania Super Satellite is one of the most exciting online poker tournaments of the year which takes place on Sunday June 15 2008 at 19:00 BST, with a
buy in of $300 + $20 and a guaranteed prize pool of 20 Packages - each worth an astounding $16,000.

Every package awards winning players at MansionPoker to take a seat at the world’s greatest Poker event: the World Series of Poker (WSOP). Based in Las Vegas, Nevada,
winners will be lucky enough to pit their poker wits against other enthusiasts and top professionals such as last year’s winner Jerry Yang and MansionPoker.com’s very own Marc Goodwin.

Unlike other online poker rooms, MansionPoker has ensured that their seats are guaranteed. The company looks forward to sending some of their quality players to join in the prestigious event and have a shot at the prize money as well as the kudos.

New Poker Game Introduced to Las Vegas

Royal Hold ‘em

A new type of Texas Hold’em poker has been given the green light by the Nevada Gaming Commission, and will soon be seen at the tables in Las Vegas.

Royal Hold’em puts a new spin on the classic game of poker. Following the same rules as Texas Hold’em, the main and significant difference is that Royal Hold’em is played with just 20 cards in the deck. Only cards of value 10 and above - the face cards - are used. WIth just 10, Jack, Queen, King and Ace in the game, all the hands dealt have potential.

The new structure of the game means that most hands are played to the flop and there’s a much higher chance of getting a Royal Flush. The game is fast-paced and action-packed.

Another game currently in the pipeline is No River Hold’em, played with up to 10 players. Each player is dealt three hole cards, instead of the usual two, and the other main difference is that there is no river card dealt. The flop contains just two community cards.

Poker has a huge following around the world, both online and offline, and the appearance of new variations shows that the poker world is booming. The addition of new poker games is a great development and only serves to highten the excitement of this popular game.

Seminole Hard Rock Casino To Hold $3,000 Charity Poker Tourney

Poker is growing in popularity. The bigger it gets, combined with its growth within an area, dictate how much casinos will be able to charge for high end tournaments. In Florida, the casino gambling expansion has brought out some of the biggest gamblers.

This weekend, the Seminole Hard Rock Casino in Hollywood, Florida, will be holding the biggest poker tournament ever in the state of Florida. The event is a $3,000 buy-in Texas Hold’em tourney.

First prize for the tournament could top the $125,000 mark. That will depend on the amount of interest the tournament sparks. The payouts will be based on the amount of entries.

$600 of each entry is going to the house. That is a particularly high number. In other ares where these types of tournaments are run, the house takes anywhere from three to eight percent. The $600 is twenty percent of the entry fee.

The tribe claims that this number is high due to the amount that must be paid to charity. Seventy percent has to go to charity when running a tournament such as this. There are 210 seats available for the tourney.

Proceeds from the event are going to the Miami Beach Health Foundation. The high fees are not a problem for most gamblers since the money is going to a good cause.

“I would mind if the casino was keeping all the money, but if it is going to charity, who cares. $125,000 is still a nice payout for a tournament win,” said Bill Triscol, a South Florida resident who is planning on playing in the tournament.

The Hard Rock is hoping this is just the beginning of the big time tournaments. They are planning on bringing a World Poker Tour event to the Hard Rock in the future.

Binion’s Gambling Hall to Host Second Annual Binions Poker Classic

Binion’s used to be the absolute center of the poker world back when poker wasn’t the international phenomenon that it is now, the Binion family actually ran Binion’s Horseshoe, as it was called back then, and the World Series of Poker was held there every year all the way through 2005. Nowadays, the WSOP is a multi-million dollar operation hosted at the Rio and Binion’s is left scrambling to grab some of the summer poker attention focused on Las Vegas.

To that effort, last year Binion’s introduced the Binion’s Poker Classic, a summer poker tournament series designed to attract players who don’t have quite the bankroll to play the WSOP. Unfortunately, they are also now competing in this space with the Venetian Deep Stack, The Grand Poker Series at the Golden Nugget, the 2008 Orleans Poker Classic and, to some extent, the Bellagio Cup and it’s WPT championship event. Needless to say, the summer poker schedule in Las Vegas is packed, but Binion’s distinguishes itself with history and the Poker Hall of Fame, giving players the chance to toss some cards under the watchful gaze of some of poker’s greatest legends.

Now in its second year, the Binion’s Poker Classic gets underway today with the $100 Casino Employees tournament and wraps up on July 7 when the $2,000 Championship Event kicks off. During this five-week span there will be 43 events covering a multitude of buy-ins and versions of poker. Satellites will be running regularly at Binion’s for the larger buy-in events.