The best cash game of no-limit Texas Hold ‘em on television, HIGH STAKES POKER (HSP), will tape its fourth season in Las Vegas in May it was announced today by Rich Cronin, President and CEO of GSN. HIGH STAKES POKER continues to grow every season making it GSN’s #1 rated program for men and adults 18-34.
“We are very pleased with the success of HIGH STAKES POKER and the tremendous buzz it has generated,” said Cronin. “It is far and away the most talked about poker show. We plan on making HSP 4 the richest season yet with players bringing up to a million dollars of their own money to play in the biggest cash game on TV.”
In May, HSP will be returning to the South Point Hotel, Casino and Spa in Las Vegas to tape its fourth season that will be premiering in the fall. Henry Orenstein, Executive Producer and Event Organizers/Consultants Mori Eskandani and Eric Drache are lining up the richest cash game ever on television. On the third season Brad Booth brought a million dollars and at times there was over four million dollars on the table.
The third season of HIGH STAKES POKER has featured a star-studded line-up that began with the 2006 World Series of Poker champion Jamie Gold and is concluding with Phil Ivey, perhaps the best high-stakes cash game poker player, appearing on the show. The final episode of the third season is on Monday, April 9 at 9 PM ET. Encore showings of the entire third season will begin the following Monday, April 16 at 9 PM.
HIGH STAKES POKER continues to be among the most downloaded podcasts on GSN.com and iTunes with over 350,000 views. The podcasts continue to feature additional highlights, interviews and outtakes of season three.
The World Poker Association (WPA) announced today the formation of its board of trustees. In an election that took place February 25 to March 10, nine members were selected to serve terms from one to three years. The initial board members include: Annie Van Bebber, Chris Bigler, Wendeen Eolis, Jesse Jones, Mary Jones, Warren Karp, Lou Krieger, Marcel Luske and Harry Thomas.
The WPA is the only non-profit organization that unites all entities of tournament poker into a single, member-based sporting association. Understanding the concerns and needs of both individuals and organizations within the industry, the WPA, will reconcile tournament issues among all entities to establish uniform standards. The organization has already attracted top names in the international poker community to its membership roster including: Joe Beevers of the Hendon Mob, poker philanthropist Barry Greenstein, Casey Kastle, Kenna “Cowboy” James, “Kill Phil” Author Blair Rodman and world renowned Tournament Director, Matt.Savage.
“The WPA is designed to become the “PGA of Poker,” said Founder Jesse Jones. “Professional standards will position the WPA and tournament poker among the other great professional sports organizations of the world. We invite all members of the poker community to join us in the creation of the World Poker Association.”
2004 WSOP Main Event champion Greg Raymer was temporarily victimized by an account hacker who used brute force and repeated attempts to guess Raymer’s Poker Stars password and gain access to his account on Sunday. The hacker than opened up several heads-up sit-’n'-go tournaments in larger amounts and began dumping the contents of the account into that of someone screen-named “Ikeyrson,” apparently oblivious to the fact that Raymer’s play is typically watched dozens of onlookers every time he logs on to the Stars site. Raymer admitted in followups on a popular poker forum that he had not chosen the strongest possible password.
How can you avoid Raymer’s fate. The following guidelines will guard against someone finding out your password and using your account illegally:
1. Make your password as long as possible. The longer it is, the more difficult it will be to attack the password with a brute-force search. Always use at least 6 characters in your password, at least two of which are numeric.
2. Use as many different characters as possible when forming your password. Use numbers, punctuation characters and, when possible, mixed upper and lower-case letters. Choosing characters from the largest possible alphabet will make your password more secure.
3. Do not use personal information in your password that someone else is likely to be able to figure out. Obviously, things like your name, phone number, and address are to be avoided. Even names of acquaintances and the like should not be used.
4. Do not use words, geographical names, or biographical names that are listed in standard dictionaries.
5. Never use a password that is the same as your account number.
6. Do not use passwords that are easy to spot while you’re typing them in. Passwords like 12345, qwerty (i.e., all keys right next to each other), or nnnnnn should be avoided.
Try This If You’re Having Difficulty Selecting a Good Password
If you are having difficulty picking a good password, one good method is to use the first letter of each word in a phrase you can easily remember. For example, “Alta is my kind of place” would be Aimkop. Another method is to intentionally use misspelled words, or words with a number or punctuation mark suffixed. Examples include: braekfast, kite276, and weather. (the period at the end is part of the password). Also, many hackers use numbers or punctuation instead of letters to do a basic encrypt of text, as in: h3llo is hello or he!!o is also hello. Don’t copy any of these examples, but y0u g3t the d4ift! The more creative you are the better.
Have you ever wondered if you are being cheated when a bad beat happens online? The guys over at Reliable Software Technologies wondered the same thing. As avid poker players and top notch software programmers they set out to determine how secure their internet cardroom really was. Their findings are quite troubling. Read all about it here.
You can play for fun but not for profit appears to be the rule in Sweden.
Hard on the heels of a similar police action in Ireland last week the Swedish police broke up a major poker tournament this week in Grebbestad.
Some 700 poker fans had gathered over the weekend to play in a major tournament billed the European Poker Challenge 2007, but like the Irish event the Challenge evaporated as the police closed everything down. Two as yet unidentified men thought to be the organisers will face charges, according to Swedish authorities, who claim that hosting unauthorised poker tournaments for profit is considered illegal in Sweden.
Prosecutor Linn Scholander was taking a hard line on the arrested men, demanding that they should be detained in custody pending criminal trial, where they could face up to four years in a Swedish jail.
Entrants for the tournament, which was widely publicised had each paid a Euro 250 buy-in, making the EPC 2007 one of the biggest poker tournaments in Europe when it comes to the number of entrants. As we went to press it was unclear what would happen to the deposited cash.
From the Planet Poker website:
Planet Poker Suspends Real Money Operations 31 March 2007
Planet Poker, the longest running and most trusted Internet cardroom, will be suspending real money operations effective 31 March 2007. Management sincerely regrets making this decision but it has become impossible for a small cardroom to properly service their customers due to the changes caused by the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act in the U.S.
Planet Poker, as part of the United Poker Network, will continue to support “play for fun” poker for existing Planet Poker players with the other participants in the United Poker Network.
Planet Poker customers can rest assured that their funds are safe and secure as they have been for the past 9 years. Customers will receive a variety of emails, announcements and transfer offers providing information on how to cashout.
Customers should note the following:
a. Effective 23 March 2007, Planet Poker will cease accepting real money deposits. Players may continue to play at the real money games through to 31 March.
b. We have made arrangements with another cardroom to enable players to transfer their balance and continue playing online poker. Details can be found by clicking the TRANSFER NOW button in the Planet Poker Lobby. We will manage the transfer of your funds at no charge.
c. Should players choose to cashout, the regular cashout options remain available through P$e-Cash. Please note that we will endeavor to cashout funds as quickly as possible but due to restrictions imposed by processors, it may take up to four weeks for players to receive their funds through their preferred method. We highly encourage players who wish to continue to play online poker for real money to choose the option to transfer funds to another cardroom. Given the difficulties getting funds into an online cardroom, we strongly advise players to transfer funds in order to avoid cashout delays and the inevitable hurdles of re-depositing at a new online site.
d. Players that wish to convert their funds to free play token chips to continue playing at the free play whales tables and tournaments may do so by clicking here.
e. On the 31st of March, Planet Poker will take down all real money games. Players using the Planet Poker game client will be able to continue to play free games and free tournaments. Players will be still be able transfer their funds to another cardroom until 10 April 2007 and to access P$e Cash to request a cashout until 30 April 2007. However, all players are encouraged to complete their requests by 3 April 2007 to avoid further delays.
f. After 30 April 2007, access to P$e-Cash will be removed and players will be required to contact us via email to initiate a cashout on their behalf.
g. Starting on 1 May 2007, on the first of each month, a $10 per month account service fee will be applied to accounts that still contain real money. It is noted that this service fee can be avoided completely if players take action by 30 April 2007 to transfer their funds to another cardoom, convert their real money to free play chips or initiate a cashout.
For all the fun play players out there, Planet Poker will be expanding the fun play game and tournament structures and encourage you to come back often.
We would like to extend our sincere thanks to all our players for their patronage and loyalty over the past nine years of operations. As on-line poker enters a new era, we wish you all the best of luck. We hope to return to real money operations when the U.S. government declares online poker legal and players from around the planet can play the game they love in the comfort of their own home without fear of financial or legal challenge.
Planet Poker Management
Peter Willers Jepsen, 24, a former soldier who took up poker after being injured in Iraq, won €325,633 at the EPT Polish Open in Warsaw on Saturday (March 17). The 24-year-old from Copenhagen beat off competition from 283 players in the four-day No Limit Texas Hold’em event held at Casinos Poland in the Hyatt Regency Hotel from March 14-17, 2007.
Among the entrants were 30 players from Poland, four members of Team PokerStars: Katja Thater (who came 5th), Noah Boeken, Luca Pagano and Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, as well as 61 players who won their seats online with PokerStars.
The final table in Warsaw this weekend was as follows:
Seat 1. Fredrik Hostrup (Denmark) - 288,000
Seat 2. Peter Jepsen (Denmark) - 498,000
Seat 3. Marius Torbergsen (Norway) - 434,000
Seat 4. Andrew O’Flaherty (UK) - 168,000
Seat 5. Farid Meraghni (France) - 971,000
Seat 6. Katja Thater (Germany) - 105,000
Seat 7. Patric Martensson (Sweden) - 305,000
Seat 8. John Conroy (UK) - 73,000
They finished as follows:
1 Peter Willers Jepsen (Pln 1,266,711)
2 Farid Meranghi (Pln 708,225)
3 John Conroy (Pln 424,935)
4 Marius Skoglund Torbergsen (Pln 303,525)
5 Katja Thater (Pln 250,914)
6 Andrew O’Flaherty (Pln 198,303)
7 Patric Martensson (Pln 157,833)
8 Fredrik Hostrup (Pln 113,316)
Note PLN=Polish Zloty
1 Polish Zloty = approximately .34 US Dollars
The Stardust Casino was once considered the center of poker in Las Vegas. The Stardust’s Poker Room was voted Vegas’ best in 2002 and 2003. The Stardust officially closed on November 1, 2006. It was imploded on March 13, 2007, around 2:33 A.M. Later this year, construction will begin on Echelon Place, which will replace The Stardust.
The Stardust opened on July 2, 1958. The attendees of the opening included governors, senators, city and county officials and Hollywood celebrities.
The entertainment registry started with the spectacular French production show Lido de Paris. Lido was conceived by Pierre-Louis Guerin and Rene Fraday, and staged by Donn Arden.
The opening night lounge lineup offered, from dusk to dawn, Billy Daniels, The Happy Jesters, The Vera Cruz Boys and the Jack Martin Quartet. Daniels became the first entertainer to sign a long-term residency contract in Las Vegas when he agreed to appear for 40 weeks per year for three years.
Tony Cornero’s dream became a $10 million 1,065 room reality, charging just $6.00 a day. The resort featured the 105-foot long Big Dipper swimming pool, a 13,500 square foot lobby, a 16,500 square foot casino, and a decor featuring rich red and deep brown colors and indirect lighting.
The famed Stardust sign also became a symbol of Las Vegas. Young Electric Sign Company was hired to fabricate the sign. Kermit Wayne’s design was selected for both the façade and the roadside signs. Although Dalitz said it was from his original plans, the sign was really part of Cornero’s original concept.
The Stardust sign gave visitors a panoramic view of the solar system. At the sign’s center sat a 16-foot diameter plastic model of the Earth, taken from the Sputnik. Cosmic rays of neon and electric light bulbs beamed from behind the model earth in all direction. Three-dimensional acrylic glass planets spun alongside 20 scintillating neon starbursts. Across the universe was a jagged galaxy of electric lettering spelling out “Stardust”. The sign utilized 7,100 feet of neon tubing with over 11,000 bulbs along its 216 foot front. The “S” alone contained 975 lamps. At night the neon constellation was reportedly visible 60 miles away.
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The poker world is full of dynamic nicknames including “Devilfish”, “Fossilman”, “The Mouth”, “Flying Dutchman”, and even “Jesus”. Need one for yourself? Check out PokerNickname.com. The site has fun animations and I like the nickname they gave me, “cash cow”. Beats the silly one my poker buddies currently use: “fish”.
PartyPoker.com held its first ever Premier League Poker event, a new televised poker spectacle filmed at Maidstone Studios in Kent, UK.
The groundbreaking series featured 12 of the world’s best players playing in a unique league format for a $500,000 pot. With a system developed especially to showcase the legendary poker prowess of each player, they will play six times in the preliminary stages. The leading four players will then progress to the final table with the next four battling it out in heads-up matches for the final two seats. Each player will buy-in for $20,000, with PartyPoker.com adding $260,000 to the final table prize pool.
Ten-time WSOP bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth lead a top field that included: Dave ‘The Devilfish’ Ulliott, Tony G, Andy Black, Kiril Gerasimov, Liz Lieu, Ian Fraser, Roland De Wolfe, Vicky Coren, Juha Helppi, Kenna James and Eddy Scharf.
Juha Helppi took top honors at Party Poker’s first Premier League event. Helppi has grossed almost $2 million in tournament play including a World Poker Tour victory and numerous World Series of Poker final table appearances. Helppi bested eleven of the toughest international poker professionals.
Phil Hellmuth, Eddy Scharf, Juha Helppi and Ian Fraser prevailed to lock up their final table appearances in preliminary rounds. The next four players had to battle it out heads-up to try and score the remaining two spots. In the heads-up battles, the women prevailed; EPT London champ Vicky Coren took down Andy Black while Poker Diva Liz Lieu bested Kenna James.
The starting chip counts for the final table were based on a multiple of player points scored during the preliminary events. Phil Hellmuth started the final table as chip leader with 350K and Vicky Coren was the relative short stack with 200,000. But the structure definitely gave them some play as the first bustout, Ian Fraser, occurred almost five hours into final table play.
Phil Hellmuth lost his chip advantage early and never seemed to find his groove; finishing in 3rd place. When Juha Helppi and Eddy Scharf started heads-up, Helppi held a 4-to-1 chip advantage and was able to secure his title within 10 minutes of play.
Entering the 2007 NBC National Heads Up Poker Championship, Paul Wasicka was still searching for respect despite his second place finish in the 2006 World Series of Poker Main Event. His fourth place finish just a week ago in Commerce’s Los Angeles Poker Classic final event — good for more than $450,000 was just the beginning.
On his way to the finals, Wasicka defeated Eli Elezra, Joe Hachem, T.J. Cloutier, Nam Le, and Shannon Elizabeth. Against Elizabeth, Wasicka was down 5-to-1 in chips and was all-in with pocket tens to Elizabeth’s A-Q. Elizabeth hit a Queen on the flop, but Wasicka rivered a straight to stay alive and eventually move on. Elizabeth definitely earned her way into the final four and earned respect for her performance.
In the finals, Wasicka matched up against Chad Brown, the 2006 BLUFF Magazine Player of the Year. Brown couldn’t hold off Wasicka. On the final hand, Brown moved all in after flopping top pair, but busted because Wasicka flopped the nut straight.
For the win, Wasicka banked $500k and finally some of the respect he has been seeking after an amazing run over the past year. The victory, combined with a fourth-place finish at the 2007 L.A. Poker Classic, put Wasicka’s March winnings alone over the $900,000 mark.
The final TV table is set for The World Poker Tour’s LA Poker Classic. JC Tran is the chip leader with nearly 3.5 million in chips. Trailing Tran by less than 100k is World Series of Poker Main Event Runner Up Paul Wasicka. Little known Floridian Jacobo Fernandez is in third just behind Wasicka. Eric Hershler is in fourth with a little over 2 million followed closely by David Bach. The short stack at the final table is the ever dangerous Chau Tu Giang.
Will Tran or Wasicka finally get a first place finish? The cards start flying at 5pm Pacific Time on Thursday March 1.
JC Tran $3,470,000
Paul Wasicka $3,390,000
Jacobo Fernandez $3,370,000
Eric Hershler $2,160,000
David Bach $2,070,000
Chau Tu Giang $1,370,000
Harrah’s Entertainment announced Monday it was bringing the World Series of Poker to Europe, launching an inaugural 10-day, three-event tournament in September at the company’s recently acquired London Clubs International casinos.
The competition will take place following the 38th World Series of Poker, which is scheduled for June and July at Rio. The European tournament will include its own version of the world championship main event.
“This is not a substitute for the World Series of Poker and it’s an expansion on a global footprint in order to breathe continued life into the brand,” World Series of Poker Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack said. “This new tournament has been designed with European players in mind, but registrants from every country are welcome. It will have a style and a flair that is all its own.”
In December, Harrah’s completed a $570 million purchase of London Clubs, which operates seven casinos in the United Kingdom and has four others under development. Pollack said he had always intended to expand the World Series of Poker internationally and the London Clubs deal speeded up the process.
World Series of Poker Europe is scheduled Sept. 6-16 at three of London Clubs’ British casinos: Fifty, Leicester Square and the Sportsman. The championship event, a no-limit Texas hold’em game with a buy-in of approximately $19,600 dollars, will start Sept. 10 and last six days at the Leicester Square casino. The buy-in is almost double the $10,000 buy-in in the traditional world championship event.
The 55-event 2007 World Series of Poker schedule compares with 46 events in 2006, when more than 42,000 entrants from 56 countries generated a total prize pool exceeding $171 million.
The World Series of Poker now operates 11 circuit events that take place throughout the year at Harrah’s-operated casinos in the United States.
After four days of play in the LA Poker Classic poker pro JC Tran has emerged as the leading contender to take home the 2.5 million dollar first prize. Tran took over $700,000 in eliminating Hans “Tuna” Lund in 20th place and proceeded to run his table over as they waited for the 18th place bubble. It finally came when David Bach took out Can Kim Hua in 19th.
Tran has over $3,400,000 in chips, almost twice as much as anyone else who’s left. The names that fill out the remaining seventeen slots, though, mean that this thing is far from decided. The top ten are:
1. J.C. Tran $ 3,461,000
2. Jacobo Fernandez $ 1,334,000
3. Jason Strasser $ 1,196,000
4. William “Bill” Edler$ 1,160,000
5. Tad Jurgens $ 1,059,000
6. Ben Johnson$ 1,055,000
7. David Bach $ 985,000
8. Chau Giang $ 813,000
9. Paul Wasicka $ 806,000
10. Eric Hershler$ 745,000
Wednesday at 3:30 PM pacific time, they’ll start working their way down from eighteen to six to determine who’ll make it to television.
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