It’s been another great morning for the British contingent in Las Vegas as Sam Trickett finished the runner-up in event #17, $5,000 No Limit Hold’em – just missing out on his first WSOP bracelet to American pro Jason DeWitt.

Trickett had to contend with a very tough final table that featured online stars including Jeff ‘yellowsub86′ Williams, Amit Makhija, Paul Foltyn and David Benefield to make it to heads-up with DeWitt. The Nottingham pro came in as the short stack and – despite having the best of it preflop – his A-7 was cruelly outdrawn by the T-8 of DeWitt to deny him a brilliant victory.

Read the full post …

Nothing against limit holdem, but the game sure knows how to slow things down in a tournament setting. Most welcomed the slower pace, though, as thirteen days in to the 2010 World Series of Poker finds many in the poker media already showing signs of fatigue. Many players are always looking for action, but even they like to rest up and take advantage of slower days sometimes.

Event 18 was limit hold’em with a $2K buy-in, and the slower pace than no-limit or PLO presents the opportunity for LHE enthusiasts and others to work through the field, employ a different strategy, and try to run a steady race. A Read the full post …

Frank Kassela held off stiff competition in the $10k 7-Stud/8 Championship to pick up his first World Series Of Poker bracelet and $447,446 early Wednesday at the Rio.

“I feel terrific,” said Kassela following his win. “I couldn’t feel better.”

A final table rich in talent had gathered to play to the winner and Player of the Year candidate Vladimir Schmelev was joined by Dario Minieri, John Juanda, Steve Zolotow, Jennifer Harman and Allen “The Chainsaw” Kessler creating a formidable line-up.

Amongst these marquee names, Kassela was not strongly fancied to collect the WSOP bracelet, but he defied the odds to hold off the challenge from Allen Kessler heads-up.

High-stakes cash player Jennifer Harman is often mooted as the best female player in the world, playing the biggest stakes cash games with great success over the years.

Harman has two bracelets in her trophy cabinet but the last was in 2002 and she will have had high hopes of adding a third to her collection here.

Read the full post …

The 2010 WSOP has opened in stunning style for Mike “The Grinder” Mizrachi.

His photo is already sitting in the spot where the $50k Players Championship bracelet once sat, right in the center of the enormous WSOP bracelet display in the Pavilion Room.

The winner of the Players Championship gets the center spot in the display, and it’s a fitting spot for Mizrachi, who’s at the center of the poker universe right now.

With the Players Championship bracelet and Chip Reese Trophy already in the bag for the 2010 WSOP, Mizrachi is at it again in the $10k Seven-Card Stud Championship.

After staying near the top of the chip leaderboard throughout the day Friday, Mizrachi will enter the final 12 Saturday third in chips.

There’s no question that Mizrachi, who says he’s more focused than ever, is on a roll.

“I just took such a long break that I felt like I was prepared for the World Series,” Mizrachi said.

“I only played a few tournaments over the year and I just prepared for this month and a half.

Read the full post …

A recent study showed that coffee and energy drinks were the drug of choice among poker players looking for an edge. The study was conducted by the College of Pharmacy at Nova Southeastern University in Florida. The study shows that 80% of poker players around the world admit to using drugs during tournament and cash play. While coffee and energy drinks numbered in the majority some said they used other drugs like marijuana, cocaine or Valium. Most used the drugs to get an edge in clarity while some used them to relax during play.

Be a Winner NOW! Start Here

The UK came close to its second WSOP bracelet in the early hours of this morning when Neil Channing finished as the runner-up to Joshua Tieman in event #6, $5,000 No Limit Hold’em Shootout. Channing collected $273,153 for the finish but missed out on what would have been his first WSOP bracelet, a prize that he has been chasing for years. Event champion Tieman collected $441,692.

Channing remained upbeat after the tournament had ended, stating on his Facebook page, ‘second is not so bad really. I was basically card dead and just sat there. Every now and then I shook someone’s hand and told them they played great, until I played heads-up with 2/3rds of my starting stack.

Read the full post …

You can’t win a five-day tournament on day 2, but you sure can lose. The finish line was nowhere in sight for the competitors in the World Series of Poker $50,000 Players Championship, but many were guilty of playing themselves right out of the tournament despite the relatively deep stacks in front of them.

Day 1 saw slow, methodical and patient play which resulted in only six casualties, but many returned on day 2 with the itch to gamble. After another full day of play, a total of 56 players were eliminated, leaving just 54 to battle it out.

Notables who hit the rail included Gus Hansen, Daniel Negreanu, Carlos Mortensen, Jason Mercier, Patrik Antonius, Freddy Deeb, Mike Matusow, Hoyt Corkins, David Benyamine, Phil Galfond, Greg Raymer and Phil Hellmuth, just to name a few.

Of the 116 players who entered, only one was female.

Read the full post …

It’s not the Main Event but to many poker pros the $50k Player’s Championship is an even bigger deal.

Since it began in 2006, the tournament has only had 650 entrants but with elite fields and winners like the late Chip Reese, Freddy Deeb, Scotty Nguyen and David Bach the poker world has taken notice.

“Of course you get all the crazy money and prestige with winning the Main Event but to me winning this tournament is actually more important and I think there are other players who feel the same way,” said last year’s winner Bach.

Although tournaments tend to take the lion’s share of publicity in the poker world, there are many players who believe that cash games are the true test of poker skill and the $50k Player’s Championship, with its use of Mix-Games, is perhaps the closest thing to a cash game at the WSOP.

Last year the number of players dropped to its lowest ever (95) but to the general public it’s simply astounding that anyone plays the tournament at all.

“I’m always blown away there are even 50 players who have $50,000 cash to plop down for an event,” said WSOP communications director Seth Palansky

This year 116 players paid the $50,000 to play including big-name players Phil Ivey, Daniel Negreanu, Phil Hellmuth and Doyle Brunson.

It’s not just the old-school cash game players who are keen on the format either as Jason Mercier, David Benefield, Phil Galfond, Tom “durrrr” Dwan, Cole South and several other up-and-comers decided to play this year’s $50k Championship.

South has been spending a large amount of time playing the high-stakes Mix-Games on Full Tilt Poker over the last year and enjoys the change of pace.

“I like that it tests a lot of elements of being a poker player like Pot-Limit Omaha and Deuce-to-Seven Triple Draw, Seven-Card Stud Eight-or-Better,” he said. “Th

Read the full post …

With the 2010 World Series of Poker just around the corner, the spotlight is already on some of the more exciting events on the schedule. The Rio in Las Vegas will be buzzing each day with poker tournaments, but only one will raise money for some very worthy charity, and that one is the fourth annual Ante Up for Africa Celebrity Charity Poker Tournament.

Saturday, July 3 will be the day of the event, and the lineup of celebrities and poker pros confirmed to play is consistently growing. All will be playing the $5,000 buy-in Ante Up for Africa no-limit holdem poker tournament at 2:00pm that afternoon at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino, just down the Convention Center hallway in the Pavilion Ballroom. Read the full post …

How does a brand new sizzling hot set of summer wheels that won’t leave you cooling your heels in the heat sound? That is what you could be in for when you take advantage of the Poker Stars Summer Celebration Drive in Style reload offer!

This is your big chance to ride with the sun on your face and the wind in your hair, while you breathe the fresh air after winning a cool new Harley Davidson motorcycle and a flashy new Mustang! No other online poker site is kicking off summer quite like Poker Stars is – with this fantastic promotion which will have your engine revving and your blood pumping!

For all players who call the United States and Canada home, Poker Stars is giving you the chance of a lifetime to win a Harley Davidson Sportster and a Mustang Convertible! And Read the full post …