January 19th, 2009

Thousands of players packed into their virtual seats in this week’s edition of the PokerStars Sunday Million but it was online player LosChief who would walk away with the best of it, taking down a staggering $183,134.

When all the entries were tallied in poker’s biggest weekly online tournament there was a total of 8,260 players in the hunt for exorbitant amounts of cash. The players combined to create a prize pool of $1.6 million, which was just enough to eclipse the PokerStars guarantee of $1.5 million on the tournament.

The top 1,261 players would get paid and it would take roughly three and a half hours to get to that point. It took about five more hours to get down to the final table of nine and by that point LosChief had been established as one of the middle stacks.

After outlasting seven of his eight opponents, LosChief entered heads-up play against Birdstone44 with nearly the same amount of chips. The two players decided to do an almost even chop but leave $30,000 for the first-place finisher.

As you’ve probably ascertained, LosChief was able to crank the aggression and finally put Birdstone44 away for good. Second place was still good for $151,560 so it was hard to feel sorry for Birdstone44.

Meanwhile the PokerStars Warm-Up was played out on a cosmic level with Kenny “SpaceyFCB” Hallaert eventually taking top honors for $107,844.

Finally the $109+R Sunday tournament (which is typically one of the larger events of the day) went to Nick “FU_15″ Maimone, who beat arbianight in heads-up to take down the $71,058 first-place prize.

It looks to be a busy week for PokerStars fans, as the site is in the midst of hosting EPT Deauville in France and LAPT Vina del Mar in Chile.

January 16th, 2009

Every Sunday at 5:30 p.m. ET, UltimateBet kicks off its $200k guaranteed tournament. Thanks to this series of tournaments, Sundays have become the ultimate tournament day.

For years now, UltimateBet has been running a weekly $200k guarantee tourney. UltimateBet is proud to say that this player favorite is still going strong, with online satellites running daily for a discounted line into the action.

The $200k guarantee sports a $200+$15 buy-in, with first place winning around $80,000 – not too shabby for a lazy Sunday. If $200 is too much of an investment for you, or you just don’t feel like paying the full buy-in, UltimateBet offers multiple satellites to get your seat:

Multiple Daily Turbo Rebuys: For $5+$50?, you can enter into a daily turbo rebuy tourney, this being the cheapest way to win your seat into the $200k. If you’d like to play in a similar tourney with fewer players, the same tourney is also run with a $15+$1.50 buy-in.

Three Seats Guaranteed: For only $10+$1 to enter, the top three finishers receive their $200k tourney gold ticket, simple.

Special Saturday Satellites: On Saturdays you’ll find a $25+$2.50 short-stack tourney, and a $40+$4 deep stack tourney, with the winners being awarded $200k tickets.

There will also be three different sit-and-go satellite tables running on Saturdays:
$200k GTD Regular $35+$3.50 SnG
$200k GTD Turbo $50+$5 SnG
$200l GTD Regular $50+$5 SnG

With some of the world’s best online tournament structures, and some of the quickest game play, UltimateBet is a common player favorite for online tournaments. If you’re not a member, sign up now to get yourself into the action, and win your share of a guaranteed $200,000.

January 13th, 2009

The 2009 Aussie Millions in Melbourne, Australia, may not see its biggest events until this weekend, but the series is already making news with the winners of its first events.

Mel Judah, a former Aussie resident, picked up a win this week in Event 3 of the tournament series, an Omaha Hi-Lo event. According to the Aussie Millions Web site, the $1,100 Omaha Hi-Lo event is one of the smaller tournaments, but because it is one of the more specialized, it brings out many familiar pro faces.

This time around Judah was more than just a pro face in the crowd as he topped a field of 102 players that included Ivan Demidov and Alexander Kostritsyn to win $30,600.

Judah also picks up an Aussie Millions championship ring valued at $4,000 for the win.

That takes Judah up to more than $3.1 million in tournament winnings. His poker resume also includes two World Series of Poker bracelet wins and a World Poker Tour championship win.

Judah also cashed in the first event of the Aussie Millions. He picked up $2,337 in the $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em event, which had a $500,000 guaranteed prize pool.

The big winner in that event was German player Christian Heich. He topped a record field of 731 entrants to pocket the $106,555 top prize.

Some of the local favorites in the event included Eric Assadourian, David Saab and Jamie Pickering.

But after a couple days of play and about an hour of heads-up play, Heich came out ahead when he flopped a set of jacks to rival Steve Topakas’ straight draw.

Heich also picks up a championship ring.

The action continues this week with new events each day leading up to the start of the $100,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em Challenge starting on Saturday. The Aussie Millions main event will then start on Sunday.

As usual, the PokerListings live tournament reporting team will be on the scene for those two events to bring our dear readers the best live updates, reports, photos and interviews from Down Under.

January 10th, 2009

When Hollywood Poker makes a promise, it follows through. This time it’s with a newly upgraded ClubHollywoodPoker Rewards Program.

“As promised, our 2009 ClubHOLLYWOODPoker Rewards Program greets loyal members this New Year with one of the industry’s most competitive rewards plans ever!” said Vince Van Patten, Hollywood Poker spokesperson.

“This latest program upgrade is a clear indication that we have not changed our player-oriented focus, as we continuously find ways to give back to them in a big way. With this, members can now exchange points for cash with by simply clicking on a button!”

Some of the improvements include the “Points for Cash Exchange” plan, which gives members the option to exchange their player points for up to $1,000 in cash.

There are several additional point-exchange plans that club members can take advantage of including No Load Bonuses, Network-Wide Tournament Tickets and access to more than 400 items in the loyalty store.

Some of the more extravagant items in the loyalty store include vacation packages to places like Monte Carlo, Las Vegas and Macau. There are also the latest consumer electronics, gaming consoles and more available to purchase with points.

Along with the release of the 2009 ClubHollywoodPoker Rewards Program, Hollywood Poker is also introducing a Premium Player Club Program and the 2009 Walk of Fame Program exclusive to high-rolling VIP players.