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Olympic Games and Poker?

Theoretically, why not? Sure, there is a great spirit of competition and a large amount of strategy in the poker game, but the lack of physical effort (does sitting down on a chair count? )together with the presence of a luck factor will for sure not permit to make poker an Olympic sport.
However, with all the craziness surrounding the Beijing Olympic Games nowadays, numerous discussions determined the rage on the most famous canvas forums, in order to determine which nation excels in the matter. As one can imagine, all of the discussions are somehow oriented towards the USA virtual team. This appears to be the undisputed team of TonyG Poker and which indisputable provides the best players in both online and live games. Is it the fact that it represents the largest poker community to be considered the big favourite?
There is a certainty that the United States are the home of some of the best players of the world, but the Olympics generate such a competitive spirit that no one could really place himself at the nationality of the great winner. However, among the favourite nations, one can bet on the competitive spirit of Great Britain, which has three victories in its records, during the last three editions of Party Poker Nations Cup. During their three appearances, GreaBritain has beaten such teams as the United States, Ireland, Germany and the Netherlands. Therefore, it has built a great record during these recent years.
To talk about the other side of the coin, in any Olympic competition there is always a participant who receives a wild card. It is the genre of the competitor with a special temperament, which will create a surprise against all odds. This is the case of a team of Scandinavian origins. The aggressive side and their unpredictable style would be enough to battle the American supremacy and against best players in the world. Behind the United States, there are first rank nations such like Australia, Canada, Russia. So, when we talk about the Olympics, we can discuss diversity.
One can imagine players who will participate in their own poker disciplines, such as No Limit Hold’em, Pot Limit Omaha, Seven Card Stud or Limit Hold’em. In the same manner as the shootout, heads up or short handed tournaments, other tests can be trained. Then, just like the image of the Decathlon, the nation to win the highest number of points could be offered a laurel wreath, a gold medal and the privilege of hearing the national anthem sound of their country in the poker room.
Perhaps this idea will spring in a broad daylight and that we will be happy to read the officials of the International Olpympic Comitee announcing the entrance of poker games among the Olympics official games.

World Series of Poker - Partial results of the Main Event 2008

The 39th edition of the Main Event 2008 ended with the elimination of Dean Hamrick on the 10th place. The WSOP passed on pause mode, the remaining players now have 117 days of break before the final table, scheduled on November 9, 2008. In stake, the title, the bracelet and 9.1 million dollars.

If 2008 was definitely the pros year, the Main Event himself gives birth to a final table made up by the majority of players almost unknown by the public nor the passionates. 5 Americans, 2 Canadians, 1 Russian and 1 Danish, this is the composition of the final table. Hard to find a favorite among the lucky ones, but the chip count is as follows:

Dennis Phillips - 26 295 000;

Ivan Demidov - 24 400 000;

Scott Montgomery - 19 690 000;

Peter Eastgate - 18 375 000;

Ylon Schwartz - 12 525 000;

Darus Suharto - 12 520 000;

Craig Marquis - 10 210 000;

Chino Rheem - 10 230 000;

Kim Kelly - 2 620 000.

The final table will begin on November 9 and will end on November 10 by the heads up between the last two contestants for the title. At that time a new champion will be crowned and the new star of poker will be entering the big league, or not…

It must be admitted that this final table is nothing exciting. The fact that it is postponed to November does not help either. The excitement of the Main Event risks to fall rapidly and will require some wholesale marketing means from the organizers in order to make the happy ending interesting.

While pending the outcome, the players still in competition can now enjoy a well-deserved break and take advantage of their free time to improve their game, to study their opponents or seek a sponsorship contract with a one of the big actors of poker on line…

The best French performance of the Main Event is given the credits to Stephane Hornet. Qualified Winamax Poker, he finishes on the 107th place and wins more than 41000 $. Stephane won his ticket to Vegas during a tournament on line with a buy-in of 30 $. This is what we may call a good return on the investment..

After 55 tournaments for 46 days, the surrender of 54 bracelets and over 180 million dollars in stake, the World Series of Poker rests for 117 days. The

Chip Leader Dennis Phillips, having more than 26 million chips, is in a very good position for winning this event, followed by Ivan Demidov with 24 million. The short stack Kelly Kim has not won more than 2.620.000.

The big surprise of this Main Event has been the presence of Tiffany Michelle among the chip leaders when no more than 27 players remained at the table. She could be the second woman to reach the final table of the Main Event after Barbara Enright in 1995, but eventually she will finish on the 17th position, collecting anyway 257.334 $. Thanks to this performance she would have signed the contract with Ultimate bet in spite her contract with Pokernews, but this could cause her serious problems.

Thus, meet everyone November 9 to attend the live final table of the 39th Main Event of World Series of Poker.

Daniel Negreanu (KidPoker) signs with I-play for mobile devices

The poker game has become extremely popular nowadays. If previously it was played only in personal game circles, casinos, or in private rooms being
clandestine or not, in the past few years, poker has invaded the canvas. Several sites of on line poker currently exist and are draining millions pf players.
Nowadays, the game fans can reunite as in the past they can play anywhere at anytime and no matter the location. Thus because the poker amateurs can train
according to their wish and capacity, I-play, the entertainment company for mobile devices, now offers the “Negreanu Pro Poker”. This game is made in
collaboration with the famous Daniel Negreanu, triple champion of the World Series of Poker. The game is dedicated to both beginners and pros and is
accompanied by video lessons. One can not dream of a better method of fast learning, efficient and easy. There are also 9 lessons included and a special
characteristic- the game reflects one’s progress and adapts to his evolution in order to change the levels of difficulty by challenging opponents more or
less hard to beat.
According to the explanations of Daniel Negreanu, poker is a game that should be accessible to everyone, everywhere and at any time. The launch of a
poker game on the mobile phone market is a dream that turns into reality for a great number of players, and hopes to communicate his passion to the world of
poker fans. The latter can benefit at their disposal of advises and good tricks with the help of the poker videos for mobile telephones and can also improve
considerably their technique in playing poker on their mobile phones.
For the General Manager of I-play, David Gosen, the association between playing poker on the mobile phones and video poker in its version for mobiles
constitutes a totally innovative offer. It is a real revolution in game industry. The passion for “Texas Hold’ em” can be satisfied by means of a new vector.
I-play was totally implied in this new generation of entertainment products relying on poker.
I-play editor of entertainment products on mobile telephones has therefore concluded with Daniel Negreanu an exclusive partnership agreement. This
contract provides I-play an exclusiveness of one of the brightest players in the history of poker over the totality of entertainments on mobile phones. It
will be the beginning not only of a game edition, but also of the video clips for learning where the experience and image of Negreanu will be used. The
market penetration of mobile videos offers to I-play the chance of climbing another crucial step in its strategic growth within the world of mobile
entertainment. I-play hopes to take advantage of the enormous opportunities that this new niche represents. It also relies on to their partnerships in
distribution and on the exclusive technological advantages.
A recent study conducted by Nielsen Research Institute on the poker game revealed that 44% of the players are aged 21 to 49 years old. This age group
coincides perfectly with that of followers of mobile entertainment. The survey also reveals an increase of 370% in participation at poker tournaments last
year and an increase in disputed poker parties of 60%. The game knows an incredible development, and I-play is about to start selling the most exciting and
captivating poker game available on mobiles.
I-play and Daniel Negreanu are currently working on developing these stream video clips destined specifically for portable phones. These videos should
reveal in each player the champion hiding inside. They were brought at the Venetian Hotel & Resort in Las Vegas, and Daniel Negreanu himself has presented
them. The videos review all the basic rules of poker, such techniques needed to be adopted at tournaments, or tells/bluffs and “no limit” strategies.
Having earned his first victory at 23 years old, Daniel Negreanu hasn’t stopped in his way to success. He won more than 35 international titles and ranks
and is one of the most publicized stars of poker. He appears frequently on USA television channels and has already signed several articles and books. He has
also in the “Card Player” magazine a regular column devoted to poker. Negreanu was the youngest player ever to win a title of WSOP in 1998. This record was
held for 6 years.
The company I-play meanwhile, offers the best video games for mobile devices to more that one billion consumers, not mentioning the various sites and
distributors. It has a network with more that 120 mobile operators across the world, including Vodafone, Cingular, Verizon, Sprint and Telefonica Mobiles.
Since 1998 it has been developing video games for mobile devices and remains the vanguard in creating them.

Charity Poker Tour for Bistrots du Coeur and Inde

     The International Swiss Youth Chambre from La Côte organizes for social causes,the Charity Poker Tour. The main prize will be up to 12,000 dollars. Saturday, 24 May 2008, at Cannes, six poker stars will participate at a special charity poker tournament. In stake: 1 million dollars given to the social help organizations. A week later, at Gland, the participants gather in a larger number (maximum 200), but less prestigious and with less impressive stakes. The principle yet remains the same: playing for a good cause.
     “Each player will give an entry fee of 300 dollars, explains Grégoire Villard-organizer of the main event. The third party is splited in gains for the tournament, the rest being shared between Bistrots du Coeur and a sustain project of micro credits in Inde, launched by Caritas organization.”
If the tournament announces to be complete, 15,000 dollars will be designated to Caritas and other 5,000 dollars to a local association initiated by the International Swiss Youth Chambre-organizer of the Charity Poker Tour.
     “We have given free snack breaks last December. The aim being to develop, to give more, we are always searching for new resources. This tournament takes part of our development plan.”, says the organizer.
As for the players, the first twenty-seven will be distributed at least with their stakes, as long as the limit of 150 participants will be overcast.” The computing depends evidently on the number of competitors. In the best case, the winner will leave with 12,000 dollars.” The others will , themselves, take advantage of the adrenaline rides that can cause the competition to launch “from 10 o’clock Saturday morning, to dawn.”
      Concerning the entrance fee, Grégoire Villard justifies the costs without any difficulty.” We must see this manifestation as a support dinner. As long as we take part at this kind of events, we can easily give 200 dollars for eating, without any gaining afterwards.” And the worst is that, one week later, another tournament is held at Chavannes-de-Bogis. For 100 dollars as stake, but without any humanitarian goals.

Tranchant Poker Tour enters the scene

      After Partouche and Barrière, the Tranchant Casinos have announced Tuesday, 4 March 2008 the opening of their own poker tournament in France, “Tranchant Poker Tour “. A series of tournaments drives the winners to the finals at Bâle in Switzerland on the 5th and 6th of July 2008.
     The six satellites for the Swiss finals, with a capacity of 200 players maximum, are held from April 12 until June 14 2008 for a buy-in of 250+50 €. Each “qualification stage” will be held in France and will have a prize pool of 48.000 € (200 participants) and 7 tickets for the final stage of Tranchant Poker Tour.
     The final tournament, for which the television rights are still negotiating, is scheduled for Saturday 5th and Sunday 6th of July 2008 at the “Swiss Las Vegas Resort” casino, in  Bâle. Located in Switzerland, on Rhin,  Bâle is one of the towns having German origins with 660.000 inhabitants, known for its carnival and contemporary art fair (Art Basel).
     The price of the cup final tickets will be around 800+100 €, for an endowment of 160.000€ (prize pool for 200 players), which  will be divided between the 18 best runners-up. Besides the announced prize, the first four finalists arriving at the cup final table will receive for the 1st position an entry to World Poker Tour, for the 2nd – an entry to European PokerStars Poker Tour, for the 3rd – an entry to World Series of Poker and for the 4th  - a ticket to a “Swiss Las Vegas Resort” tournament.
     Tranchant Group is the third big casinos group to propose poker Texas Hold’em tournaments after the game authorization in France casinos in May 2007. Between these three groups, Barrière- Accor suggests its series of tournaments since November 2007. The initial conditions for the players of high stakes tournaments, inside the 35 casinos of the group were not agreed at all. The entrance tickets for the main tournaments did not stop decreasing in value, passing progressively from 5.000€ to 1.500€  recently at Dinard casino.
     Barrière-Accor group apparently has over-estimated the number of high limits players in France. This is equally generated by the refund taxes of tickets obtained from the satellite qualification tournaments for the finals. The French rate-setting binds an effect towards the casinos over the possibility of refunding tickets money obtained from a satellite tournament.
     The Partouche group and its “Patrouche Poker Tour” has a certain success over the low budget players. It seems equally better to manage the rules touching the refunding of the qualification tickets or to take back the satellite torunaments.
     The “Partouche Poker Tour” proposes six tournaments “super satellites” of 1075€ until June 2008 and also twice a week satellites of 125€ (10 players) in 41 of their casinos. These qualifications lead to a final tournament predicted to have the opening in September 2008 at the Palm Beach casino in Cannes. This cup final will have a prize pool of 2 million €, from which 1 million € for the final winner.