Online Poker Press

August is a month that always starts slow with a post-World Series of Poker haze that is devoid of major tournament action, but 2010 picks up steam more quickly than years past. The first major tour event is the €5,000 no-limit hold’em main event that will take place in the beautiful medieval town of Tallinn in Estonia Aug. 11-16 for the PokerStars European Poker Tour. The other big-time event that will crown a champion in August is the World Poker Tour Legends of Poker $5,000 main event. The Bicycle Casino will host the final table on Aug. 25,

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The 2010 World Series of Poker Season will start on ESPN. ESPN returns as the broadcaster of the world’s largest poker tournament. The start off event will be the $50,000 Players Championship, featured in a two hour episode. There were 116 players in that event, with a $5.6 million prize pool. First place took $1.5 million. The event was an eight-game mixed format in with Pot-limit Omaha, deuce-to-seven lowball, and no-limit hold’em along with the standard H.O.R.S.E., which is hold’em, Omaha eight-or-better, razz, seven-card stud, and seven-card stud eight-or-better.

After Day 2A kicked off with a simple list of instructions and launch into action, Day 2B took a different path. It was the annual welcoming of Bruce Buffer, famed ring announcer and friend of Full Tilt Poker . The WSOP was kicked into gear by the booming voice of Buffer that made it feel as if players were getting in the ring for the match of their lives, and in a way, they were. And with the “shuffle up and deal” command, cards were dealt.

There were 2,734 players who started Saturday, July 11 with chips, which was officially Day 2B of the 2010 World Series of Poker $10,000 NLHE Championship Main Event; or so that was the number reported by an unofficial outlet, as the official reports did not report an actual number of starting players. Wha Read full

Oh, how times have changed!  There was a day when a “best of” compilation on television would have shown the highlights from a years-long run of a series, or at the very least the top moments of an entire year’s worth of shows.  But in the age of hyperbole, short attention spans and hundreds of channels vying for viewers, PokerStars. Net The Read full

The numbers are in and it’s official, the 2010 World Series of Poker Main Event has attracted the second largest field in poker tournament history.  The juicy first prize of $8,944,138 is what the 7,319 runners are in the running to capture.  The run has been cut short for a few of the Aussies as the fourth and final day one flight concluded. Two big names failing to make it through to day two were 2005 Champion Joe Hachem and reigning ANZPT Player of the Year Tony Hachem.

The crippling hand for Joe was during the third level of play when he bet 5,725 into a board only to go into the tank after his opponent raised all in for a total of 16,100. “I’m not Hollywooding, boys. Either you got a full house or you’re bluffing,” Hachem was reported to state on the PokerNews blog, before eventually making the call. Unfortunately for Hachem, the bluff was not there as he dropped down to 9,000 when his opponent tabled . Only moments later, Joe himself was holding the pocket eights, and a coin flip away from survival when his final chips were in the middle up against . The river spiked the ace and Joe was sent to the rail.

On the other side of the fence was Joe’s protege, Amanda De Cesare who is playing the Main Event as part of her prize for winning the poker-based reality series, The Poker Star. De Cesare had her tournament life on the line early in day’s play, but spiked a two-outer to double up to over 60,000. It was a case of the student outlasting the master, as De Cesare bagged up 53,850 for her day on the felt.

Notables who were not so fortunate to bag up chips at the end of the day with their Main Event quest over were John Juanda, Phil Gordon, Allen Kessler and Sorel Mizzi. Juanda’s exit meant that Frank Kassella has wrapped up WSOP Player of the Year honours.

Survivors from Day 1d who are still in the hunt to grab their share of the $68,798,600 prize pool include Tim Marsters (67,700), Matt Pearson (59,175), David Allan (57,975), David Saab (56,450), Yann Pauchon (39,350), and Eric Assadourian (14,275).

Also making it through the day were several Team APL qualifiers including Jade Tornquist (107,000), Kerry Allen (62,000), Toby Hart (52,000) and George Apat (51,625).

Tomorrow the survivors of Day 1a and 1c will come together for the first time as four more levels will be played on Day 2a as the 2010 World Series of Poker Main Event continues.

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Even players in the USA can enjoy the plentiful FreeRolls and low buy-in games, to get your poker action fix while still maintaining your budget at RPM Poker. And for those online poker players who are looking for some guaranteed cash action, there is a full schedule of guaranteed poker tournaments to keep you on the edge of your seat.

At RPM Poker, you’ll find FreeRolls running around the clock with something for every players taste. A Read full

Sunday was a holiday for most people in the United States, as July 4 was Independence Day and a long weekend for many U.S. residents. Though there were celebrations happening all over Las Vegas, the Rio Convention Center was still brimming with poker players and fans, all looking to catch the last of the 2010 World Series of Poker preliminary action before the start of the Main Event on Monday.

The biggest attraction at the Rio was the Tournament of Champions playdown to the final table. After a snafu on Saturday that left Joe Hachem out of the festivities, play was unable to move forward without him, and that left the 17 finalists to return on Sunday to play to and possibly through the final table. Read full

Ex-chef Brendan Taylor managed to win himself a WSOP bracelet in the $1.5k Limit Shootout – though he had to crush his housemate’s dreams to do so.

Taylor is in Vegas sharing a house with Benjamin Yu and when the pair of them made the final table, they joked about what they would do if they ended up heads-up.

“We worked out the odds would be about 28-1,” said Taylor.

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