Team UB pro Brandon Cantu is in the driver seat heading into Day 3 at PokerStars EPT Vilamoura Tuesday.

The 29-year-old pro from Vancouver, Washington has taken the chip lead in Portugal with 70 players remaining and will be looking for more than just his first EPT cash when play resumes just 14 spots off the money.

Cantu’s last big score was a win in the 2010 Wynn Classic this past March where he added $363,844 to his more than $3 million in career tournament earnings.

PokerStars Team Online’s Andre Coimbra, originally from Portugal, is the closest player to Cantu.

Also among the leaders is Team PokerStars Pro JP Kelly and Friend of PokerStars and England football legend Teddy Sheringham, looking for his third EPT cash.

The €5,300 EPT Vilamoura Main Event drew 384 players to the Porteguese resort area, making it the largest poker tournament ever held in Portugal.

A total of 56 players will earn pieces of a €1,862,400 prize pool with €467,835 reserved for first.

The tournament will run through Sept.

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Tom “durrrr” Dwan has begun his second Durrrr Challenge.

Even though his match with Patrik Antonius is still more than 10,000 hands away from completion, Dwan started dueling against Daniel “jungleman12” Cates early Friday morning.

Cates, a University of Maryland student, about a month ago expressed interest in Dwan’s offer to be the next participant in the contest.

When the two online pros sat down for their first session, it looked like the second installment of the Durrrr Challenge also would be all Dwan’s. (He currently is up more than $2 million versus Antonius.)

At $200-$400 no-limit hold’em on Full Tilt Poker, Cates, who is up significantly lifetime versus Dwan, had the small blind and the button.

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This year, December will sizzle in Las Vegas with the World Poker Tour Five Diamond World Poker Classic to take place at the luxurious Bellagio and you can be there! Picture yourself taking your seat to play alongside some of the biggest names in the game of poker in one of the most prestigious events of the year and you got there FREE thanks to Play Aces Poker!

This elite event rivals the WSOP Main Event with the a buy-in of $10,000 + $300, but when you play your way there through the qualifiers at Play Aces Poker, it won’t cost you a cent to be a part of this fantastic event! The goal is to win the Play Aces World Poker Tour Five Diamond World Poker Classic Grand Final Freezeout where the winner will be rewarded with a guaranteed $12,500 Five Diamond Classic package. T Read the full post …

The 2010 WPT Legends of Poker final table was set in Los Angeles Tuesday.

And while the names are not the most recognizable in the game, it’s filled with veteran players looking to take the next step in their career.

Headlining the final is Canadian Kyle Wilson, who will be looking to better the sixth place finish he managed at Legends two years ago with a win here.

“I really feel like last time I was ready to take that next step and make a major final table,” he told PokerListings.

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Commerce Casino kicked of its exclusive $335 buy-in $1 Million Guaranteed Tournament in L.A. yesterday.

A total of 529 players bought into the unusually structured No-Limit Hold’em tournament which will see five starting days from July 20-July 24.

Each starting day will see the field reduced to 27 players before calling it a night.

If a player busts early they are allowed to re-enter on any of the following starting days. With the format a player could potentially cash five times in the tournament.

Once all the starting days are complete the remaining 135 players will reconvene on Sunday, July 25, at 2 p.m. to play down to a winner.

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Do you happen to be feeling lucky lately?  Then why not test your luck and try to win your way to The Irish Winter Festival? This big annual fall event has been attracting the luckiest players on the planet to Dublin, Ireland since 2001 and this year, thanks to Mansion Poker, you can be there too!!

Right now at Mansion Poker you can win a trip to the Irish Winter Festival 2010 in Dublin, at the stylish Burlington Hotel between October 22nd and 25th! And you don’t even have to be a lucky Irishman, or an Irishman at all to win, because Mansion Poker is offering you a $2,700 package to attend this great live event in the Emerald Isle! Ge Read the full post …

The World Series of Poker Circuit will begin the 2010-11 season at the Horseshoe Casino in Council Bluffs, Iowa on Thursday, August 19. The tournament stop will feature a total of 33 events, which all lead up to the $1,500 no-limit hold’em championship event that will have a WSOP Circuit gold ring up for grabs. The tournament stop will conclude on August 31 when a winner is crowned in the championship event.

Games spread during the tournament series will include no-limit hold’em, Omaha eight-or-better, H.O.R.S.E., six-handed no-limit hold’em, and pot-limit Omaha. There will be a seniors no-limit hold’em event on Aug. 22 and

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There was big money on the line all over the web making for another massive Sunday online.

FTOPS XVII’s final day made things interesting over on Full Tilt with three events and a total of $4.75 million guaranteed.

The Michael Craig hosted $240+$16 Knockout Six-Max saw 5,055 entrants with DrunkSpirit grabbing the title and $193,121.22 first prize. BgsaPnaples lost heads-up, but still walked away with $118k.

The final Rush Poker event on the schedule also went off, with 1,589 entrants, 3,810 rebuys and 964 add-ons in the $150+$13 Rush Rebuy.

In the end, Dalbaiyob booked the win, hauling in $202,206.75 and an FTOPS Jersey while Davidp18 had to settle for second and $129,805.20.

Finally, the $600+$40 FTOPS XVII main event drew 4,805 leaving Full Tilt on the hook for a bit of an overlay to make up the rest of a $3 million guarantee.

TyboVegas outlasted the entire field to grab the amazing $513k first prize.

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Poker News Nuggets are presented on PokerWorks each week to give readers a glance at some of the big news stories in and around the poker industry. From international poker tournaments to player prop bets, from political happenings to sponsorship deals, game enthusiasts can stay informed with these weekly tidbits of information.

What They’re Playing

Russian Poker Series:  It is not one of the most talked-about poker series on the live tournament circuit, but Russian players are happy to have the PokerStars-sponsored RPS in their own backyard. The first season of the Russian Poker Series started many months ago, but it wasn’t until August that the second stop on the tour finally took place in Riga. The Read the full post …

SportsBook Poker has embarked on a quest. They aren’t seeking a secret to eternal life, a lost homeland, or the Holy Grail. Neither are they searching for the next ‘Star’ or ‘American Idol.’ They are hunting for two new Tourney Kings and they plan to look high and low in locations around the world to find them!

To show you just how serious they are about their quest, SportsBook Poker is putting up over $20,000 in cash and prizes, along with a new accolade that the KING can proudly display at the tables. To be in the running for Tourney King, simply play in as many multi-table tournaments (MTTs) as you can from now to August 31 at 23:59 (poker lobby time). For every Read the full post …