David Shallow Wins WPT Ireland

While he didn’t quite go wire to wire, David Shallow put on an emphatically dominating performance in the first-ever World Poker Tour Ireland Main Event that resulted in his first WPT title and a $289,031 payday.

Shallow took the chip lead midway through Day 2 action and rarely relinquished it as he played his way o victory.  He began the five-handed final table on Sunday with a dominant chip lead, which he held on to despite doubling up both Patrick Vestlin and Ronan Gilligan.  Gilligan got off to a fast start at the final table, busting Steve Watts in fifth place and Vestlin in fourth place to take the chip lead.  Gilligan wouldn’t hold on to those chips for long.  Chaz Chattha took a chunk early in three-handed play, then Shallow knocked Gilligan out to once again amass a big chip lead.

Chattha rallied during heads-up play, at one point taking the chip lead away from Shallow, but Shallow would not be denied.  On the final hand of play, he picked up pocket queens against Chattha’s pocket nines to lock up the victory.  Shallow earns over a quarter million dollars for defeating the field of 338 runners in the €2,500 buy-in event, which includes a seat in the $25,500 WPT Championship at Bellagio in May.

The win is far and away Shallow’s largest live score, besting the $10,424 he earned for an 18th place finish in a WSOP event in 2006.  The Brit has had plenty of online success though, winning the $10,000 High Roller WCOOP Event for over $600,000 in 2010.

The WPT will next head back to Venice for the WPT Venice Grand Prix from February 6-10. Here are the final table results from the WPT Ireland Main Event:

1st: David Shallow – $289,031 (includes $25,000 WPT Championship seat)
2nd: Charles Chattha – $144,502
3rd: Ronan Gilligan – $96,339
4th: Patrik Vestlin – $68,396
5th: Steve Watts – $51,063
6th: Steven Moreau – $40,465


Article Source: News Bluff Magazine Website

Poker Scammer using Tim Tebow as Front

If you pay much attention to the NFL, you’ve no doubt heard American football quarterback Tim Tebow’s name mentioned a time or two. The golden boy took Denver from a dismal 1-4 record, to the top of the AFC West division and a playoff berth. Apparently, Tebow has become so popular that nefarious people are using his name to promote their alleged poker tournaments.

Our story begins with somebody under the twitter name “BigMoneyPoker” tweeting numerous poker pros with the following message:

BigMoneyPoker Amy Sandoval

@basebaldy Plz RT to show your support tebow playing poker for @AmericanCancer charity before the coloradopokerchampionship.com main event!

The first red flag about the Colorado Poker Championship is that, when you visit the website’s front page, you’re seeing the one and only page. Now I’m not saying this immediately means it’s a phony poker event, but definitely something to think about. Furthermore, the NFL is pretty leery about their players competing in charity poker tournaments, and devout religious fanatic Tim Tebow doesn’t exactly seem like the first person to go against the grain here.

In addition to this, it should be mentioned that the BigMoneyPoker twitter account is listed under Amy Sandoval, who’s supposedly a philanthropist, model, cheerleader, charity promoter and poker player – what a catch! Unfortunately, it’s questionable as to whether or not Sandoval really exists since she has never been on the poker radar in the past, and is spamming people like crazy. Plus her picture shows one of those slutty-girl-on-bed poses that people often use when they set up a fake Facebook or twitter account.

When you add it all together, I doubt you’ll see Tim Tebow showing up for the Colorado Poker Championship. Furthermore, it’s questionable what you really will find when you arrive at the supposed location of this mysterious poker event.

Article Source: Carbon Poker

Poker Bonus Codes

Each website gambling, and every poker site, offers a kind of bonus, and many times, more than one type. There are poker bonuses, which are geared towards new players, or at least that of new player's poker specific site. Most of poker, you will find the rewards offered, however, for all stakeholders. Each site of the bonus offer was a little different. Just like any other gimmick, the sites are in competition to get and keep a customer you, so their bonus programs are competitive as well, and it would be worthwhile to look around and do a little comparison.

Sometimes poker bonuses come in the form of free money to play with you in a real game of poker. This is the kind of gift of a new player could receive on his first time to play. Another type of bonus program poker, which is the most common, requires the reader to make a deposit of money, and then to play as many hands before being eligible for that amount, plus a certain percentage of this amount . They usually require a minimum deposit in cash. A player will discover that some sites offer Poker bonuses that provide 200% of the amount of deposit. Sometimes, there will be another bonus offered or if you play more games at the top of the required number of games to get the first premium. Sometimes you become eligible for the premium to receive a certain amount of point's player.

Poker premiums are particularly beneficial for frequent and / or dedicated players. They were created to assist readers to aid and earn money, and in the maintenance of cash to continue to play with. Premiums made for the first time, players are also there to help them by giving them something to start with, and build on something.

So, you have decided to play some poker on the Internet. I am sure you know there are a lot of first deposit bonuses to turn at different poker rooms online. Poker has several bonus codes poker attractive offers that are sure to draw you in.

What is the catch?

You usually play a few hundred hands to get your bonus. This goes for all sites poker. The bonus codes to be used to get that money, you must play hundreds of hands, in order to receive the bonus. Over the premium, plus the amount of hands. These poker rooms are really risking anything by giving you a bonus because the only way you get the bonus is playing enough hands to generate an amount equal to or higher profit for the poker room. Some poker rooms take the bonus money from the affiliate to verify that you have created the site. It is a win-win situation for poker sites.

What are raked hands?

Hands are out of the hands of poker in which the play takes a small portion of the pot. Some poker rooms does rakes in some dimensions of pots. Other pokers rooms can rely see the flop as a raked hand, the turn as a tilt, and the river as a raked hand. Not all the hands. Keep in mind that plays a few hundred hands with only $ 50 can be difficult, especially if you are getting bad cards.

Article Source: Ezine Articles

Four in Custody Charged With Assaulting, Robbing Duhamel

Last Wednesday Morning, two men rang the doorbell of Jonathan Duhamel's home in the suburbs of Montreal, Quebec. When the 2010 WSOP Main Event champion  answered, they forced their way inside, assaulted him, and stole his things. The champ was okay, escaping the incident with just few bruises that come with being bound and beaten repeatedly. Notable items that were stolen included an undisclosed amount of 500-euro bills, a black Rolex Submariner watch (which had been a gift from PokerStars), and the priceless diamond-laden WSOP Main Event bracelet.

After recovering from a brief stint in the hospital, Duhamel released a statement thanking those close to him for their support and urging anyone with information to contact the police. He also offered up a $10,000 reward for information leading to the recovery of his jewelry and the arrests of the perpetrators.

Justice seems to be in motion in Quebec. On Saturday night, a 20-year-old woman from Saint-Saveur named Bianca Rojas-Latraverse was arrested in connection with the caper. Police credited information from the public for her arrest, and she was charged with five offenses that included conspiracy.

The subsequent interrogation led to the captures of two more men, 22-year-old John Stephan Clark Lemay from Pointe-Claire and 26-year-old Andre Robert Perron from Pierrefonds. They've been charged with breaking and entering, robbery, assault, and forcible confinement. QMI Agency is also reporting that Perron was in possession of the Rolex at the time of his arrest, but the bracelet is still missing.

This morning, more news broke as CBC News reported the arrest of a fourth person in connection with the robbery. Charges have not yet been filed against the 20-year-old man from Longueuil as police continue their questioning.

Those are the facts as we have them so far, but accurate information regarding the arrests has been hard to come by. Longueuil police department spokesman Mark David told Bloomberg that the investigation was still on-going. Stay tuned for more updates on this story as they become available.

Source: Poker News Network

Wakeboarder Poker Pro?

What a ****ing ******* this guy is. I get to his table tonight and the mother****er starts berating me with questions about how much I'm down. I joke around with him saying an amount like 18k, then he asks me how old I am and playing around with my avatar persona I say "16" thinking none of it.

Well later I get an email saying my account is locked and that I need proof of ID and how they treat this like a bomb threat. I had no idea that a person would take the time do all this against a person. Say what you want about me but I would never stoop this low.

Well the reason Im posting this here is that I know this mother****er is a BBV toolbag that is trying to "prank me". Well job well done you ****ing *******. I also wanted to out him to the community to stay the hell away from his games.

Good thing you don't have a case against me because I'm 24 years old and this is easily solvable.

Point of this post is a Beat that I have to waste my time proving I'm legal but also the point of this post is that this guy is a ****ing scumbag that should be exiled from the community.

I will be challenging Stars to be banned from the site.

Second Round of US Poker Rooms

The big question in the US is, where are all the legal online poker rooms? The question of legal poker sites, especially in light of the online poker ban on playing poker online in the US, has dominated poker news in recent months, and raises the question – what is going to happen to existing poker rooms if the US does legalize and regulate online poker?

This is a serious question because many experts do believe that it is only a matter of time before this happens. While the US government seems to be hell bent on imprisoning owners of online poker rooms, it is because they did not comply with the 2006 poker law that said that processing online poker payments was against the law. The question of legal online poker rooms and legal poker sites is almost an academic one. Technically, the only place in the US where there is an actual online poker ban is Washington State. As far as general poker online in the US, there is no law that says playing it is illegal. Of course, as we can see in the poker news reports, the net affect of the current state of the online poker ban is the same – many US poker players are not playing because their favorite sites are now denying them access.

Those sites that are dubbing themselves legal online poker rooms and legal poker sites are the smaller sites that stayed away before in the poker online US market, and now have a chance to make a name for themselves once the legal issues are settled. The big poker news will be about the fall of the giant poker rooms, perhaps, dealing with payment issues and executives languishing in US jails, and the second level poker rooms that rise up and replace them, working with whatever new regulations come out of the US.

The rest of the poker world is watching what is happening with the big poker rooms closely, and even non US poker players are feeling the affects. While rooms like Full Tilt Poker deal with losing access to both the US market and a great deal of money seized by the US government, the non US poker players have to wonder how safe their poker dollars are sitting in Full Tilt's coffers. Should they stay, should they go? Should they move to one of the smaller rooms not dealing with these issues?

It is a big world out there for poker, and the US is just one country. It is, however, one of the largest populations of folks hoping to play on legal online poker rooms and legal poker sites, and with the current online poker ban (or whatever name you want to give it) those dollars from poker online US play are in limbo. But the clever poker rooms will act when the dust settles and the smoke clears, and will soon be heralded on the poker news as the new poker giants.

Grospellier and Cody Complete Poker's Triple Crown

To achieve what has been dubbed poker's Triple Crown requires a player to win a tournament on the European Poker Tour, World Poker Tour, and at the World Series of Poker. The list of players to accomplish this feat is short, as the WPT was launched in 2002 and the EPT was created in 2004.

Several players were one leg away from joining this list and over the course of the 2011 poker schedule, two of them made it happen.

Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier

Ever since Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier's 2008 eruption onto the live tournament scene, the poker world was waiting for his WSOP breakout party. Unfortunately, with only five combined cashes at the 2009 and 2010 WSOPs and WSOPEs, Grospellier was unable to shine on the world's biggest poker stage.

However, that all changed this summer.

“ElkY” finally hit it big this summer at the WSOP, and captured a WSOP bracelet to go along with his January 2008 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (EPT) victory and his October 2008 Festa Al Lago (WPT) win. He was already among the best players to have never won a bracelet and it was only a matter of time before he did so. However, it was in what event he won his bracelet that many find most impressive.

Prior to his win, Grospellier raised a few eyebrows in the event he played immediately before his bracelet win. It was the $10,000 No-Limit 2-7 Draw Lowball World Championship and with an 11th-place showing, Grospellier notched his first live non-hold'em cash on record. On the heels of that result, Grospellier entered the $10,000 Seven-Card Stud World Championship. What happened from there? He defeated a top-notch field of 126 players to earn his first bracelet. Here was his day-by-day path leading to the final table.

Although Grospellier scored only one elimination at the final table, it was the one that counted. To even be in position to do so was quite the achievement, one that he will no doubt always remember. He began heads-up play against Steve Landfish at a modest 1.5:1 chip disadvantage, but Landfish had the upper hand for the beginning portion of the heads-up duel and increased to a whopping 24:1 chip lead at one point. However, a resilient and determined Grospellier stormed back to join the short list of Triple Crown winners.

Lynn Gilmartin caught up with "ElkY" following his win:

Jake Cody

In January 2010, Jake Cody burst onto the live poker scene when he won the Main Event at EPT Deauville. For being an unknown at the time, Cody defeated a very skilled final table that included Mike "Timex" McDonald, Craig Bergeron, Peter Eastgate, and Grospellier (who bubbled in ninth place). Later that year, Cody won WPT London in his home country to quickly close in on claiming the Triple Crown. At the 2011 WSOP, he wasted little time doing so, winning the $25,000 No-Limit Hold'em Heads-Up Championship which began on the first day of the Series. Here was his path to capturing the bracelet: