Internet Texas Holdem

Mike Sexton’s has the best possible excuse for being absent during the TV coverage of the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star. The legendary poker ambassador has made the final table, leaving Vince Van Patton all on his lonesome in the commentary box.

Mike’s run is all the more impressive when you consider that he has had a $10,000 bounty on his head the whole way down. As one of the many ‘Shooting Stars’ in the tournament, anyone who busts him gets a chunk of cash and signed T-shirt. Mike surely will have had hundreds of money poker sites qualifiers gunning for him.

Another player at the table, chip leader Steven Kelly, will be bidding to become the player with the most pro scalps. Layne Flack, a Star himself, currently ties Steven for the title, but he exited the tournament on the bubble a couple of days ago. If Steven eliminates Sexton he’ll be a happy man, but there’s another bounty Mike at the table who he might have more trouble gunning for

Mike Matusow is currently third in chips, with 2.1 million to Sexton’s 363,000. The Mouth was visibly thrilled to make it into the final six and thus…

So which version of the Big Game do you know about? If you have had the opportunity to download PokerStars recently, you probably know all about their TV show called the Big Game. Something that might surprise you to discover is that there is also a Big Game show sponsored by PartyPoker. Since PartyPoker isn’t open to Americans, it is not so prevalent in North America. The site is open to Canadians, however, so let’s show them all that they have been missing by not knowing about the Big Game show from overseas.

The PartyPoker version of the Big Game runs in Nottingham, and it consists of a 48-hour ring game marathon. It is safe to say that you haven’t ever played in a cash game quite like this one, though. A strange twist dictates that players must be voted off the table every few hours! The goal is to make as much money as possible in this game, but the catch 22 is that making too much might get you removed from the table!

PartyPoker, one of the best Euro poker sites around, obviously created this TV show to give their players a chance to sit with…

PokerStars has sponsored a huge number of poker series all around the world, and there is no doubt that the Full Tilt Poker download has been hunting down a chance to host a live series of their own. The site has finally done just that with the announcement of the Onyx Cup Series. If you love live poker, you have good reason to be excited about this new series!

The Onyx Cup Series showcases six tournaments hosted in different parts of the world. You will find that the 6 tournaments in this series are very unique, however. You will need a big bankroll since they start at $100,000 buy-ins, and they give points for the Onyx Cup Series Leaderboard. You must earn Leaderboard points in the first five events of the series to make it into the $250k Grand Finale tourney at the end of the series.

Tournaments in the Onyx Cup Series feature eight-handed tables and a “shot clock”. The best US poker sites require their players to act within a certain amount of time, and this is what the shot clock does in the Onyx Cup Series. Players must act within 30 seconds once it…

UB is one of the best Mac poker sites on the Internet for a variety of reasons. They are still available to those living in the States, therefore they have an excellent player base to work with. They are also home to new promotions all the time so that there is always something new to try. Whether you play cash or tournaments, there is always something extra to enjoy or shoot for at the tables.

If you have played live cash games, there is a possibility that you have watched the “seven deuce” game take place. Basically it’s a game that encourages people to play the “worst hand in poker” in order to win a side pot. Everyone has to pay into a side pot if another player wins a pot with 7-2. Hands in which everyone folds and hands that go to showdown all qualify.

Ultimate Bet for Mac has brought this side game to the new Seven Deuce tables. When you take a seat at such tables, you place a bit of money into a side pot. The bonus pot is given when someone at the table wins with 7-2 as their hole cards. If you…

As part of their PokerStars rakeback, Supernova Elite players receive tournament packages for live events. This is one way to participate in the EPT, a series of prestigious events hosted by PokerStars in Europe. The EPT Grand Final usually takes place in Monte Carlo, but this year it has been moved to Madrid.

Madrid is the capital of Spain. When people questioned the move from Monte Carlo, John Duthie (EPT chief executive) said that they were searching for something “new, dynamic and inspiring.” He thinks that Madrid not only produces several of its own poker players, it is additionally a great place to visit for tourists and traveling poker players. He also thinks that Madrid has a lot to offer to players of all ages.

You can start playing events in the Grand Final series on the 5th of May with the €25,000 + €500 High Roller event. The Main Event gets started on the 7th, although Day 1B is on May 8th. This means that those making the High Roller final table will have to play Day 1B since Day 3 of the High Roller is on the 7th. If you lack experience on money poker sites…

This year’s WSOP schedule was just revealed and now the best online poker sites are trying to decide what to include in their promotions. Incentives are important because if they can convince a large number of skilled poker players to wear their patch, they have a better chance of having one of their players make the final table. Almost every Main Event champion in recent years has signed with PokerStars. This year UB hopes to score a Main Event champion of its own.

It starts with a bunch of satellites. Main Event packages can be won though the usual tournaments including Steps and freeze-outs, but your best bets will be in the tournaments with 25 seats guaranteed. The 25 Seats Guaranteed tournaments run June 12th and June 26th. You can buy-in directly for $500+$30 or satellite in with smaller buy-ins.

Ultimate Bet for Mac is eager for you to win as many seats as possible. If you can win an additional Main Event seat, you receive $12k cash and a point on the King of Satellites leaderboard. The top five places on this leaderboard when the Main Event satellites are over receive Tournament Dollars. First place receives $5,000!…

In the run up to the 2009 November Nine everyone was talking about Darvin Moon. The ‘Mountain Man’ was the furthest from a pro poker player you could possibly imagine. Unaccustomed to the bright lights of Vegas he rocked up to the Main Event final table with a big chip lead and, noticeably, no patches.

In fact he was, and continues to be, the only player in the short history of the November Nine not to wear sponsorship at the final table. He was reportedly offered more than $500,000 to fly the colors of various big online poker sites like the Full Tilt Poker Download, but declined each and every one of them. Although he did not go on to win the tournament, he did finish in 2nd place behind Joe Cada and went home with $5.1 million.

Pokerati are reporting that he has finally accepted backing from a poker organization, but no one of the big us poker sites. Darvin will wear patches advertising the Heartland Poker Tour at all tournaments. The HPT is a televised series designed to cater to amateur players. Organizers provide a huge number of satellites into the main events, so that poker…

This past Sunday the PokerStars download set a record in their tournament that usually guarantees $1.5 million. As a celebration of the event’s five year anniversary, the guarantee was increased to $5 million, which meant that first place was guaranteed $1 million. To make it even more incredible, the site decided to also award a Lamborghini to 1st place!

Most expected the prize pool to surpass $5 million, but no one could have guessed that the prize pool would end up at almost $12 million. A staggering 59,128 people bought in for $200+$15, and those lucky enough to go deep battled into the wee hours of the morning for paydays in the 6 and 7 figures.

Plenty of PokerStars pros made the money, including Liv Boeree and Jason Mercier. Gualter Salles was the highest finishing PokerStars Pro.

Given the huge amounts of money on the line, it made sense that a final table deal was drawn up so that all players could secure a 6-figure payday. Luke “Bdbeatslayer” Vrabel took the top payout of $671,093 in this chop, and he also ended up winning the Lamborghini Gallardo. Sheppyshape from the UK was the second place winner, receiving $465,647 for…

If you dream of making a living playing live tournaments, it should be a no-brainer for you to play the Irish Open, one of the most prestigious poker events in Europe. This year’s event takes place from April 22nd to April 25th in Dublin, and you’ll need €3,500 for a seat.

The Titan Poker download wants to send as many of their players as possible to Ireland, so they are offering €4,600 packages in a number of satellites. This package includes money for traveling expenses, accommodations at the hotel hosting the event, breakfast, and the seat for the event.

Qualifiers have been running since few months ago, and they continue until April 3rd. The schedule includes regular freeze-outs as well as rebuy events. You can win full packages in Super Satellites that run every week. The super satellites run Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday. Two of them are €200+€20 buy-ins, and two of them offer €30 rebuys.

Titanpoker really shows that they are one of the best Euro poker sites around, however, with their April 3rd Mega Satellite. At least 30 packages will be won this day! It will cost €320 to enter the Mega Satellite, but there…

We are just hours away from the start of the 2011 NBC Heads-Up Poker Championship. Last night, at the swanky Pure nightclub in Las Vegas, brackets for the competition were drawn up. Poker’s elite gathered together to see who would be paired against who for the world’s premiere one-on-one poker contest.

The resulting bracket has thrown up a host of exciting matchups, but perhaps the biggest story of the Championship is that defending Annie Duke will has withdrawn from the running. To date, there has been no official word on her departure.

She is replaced by Olivier Busquet, known as “livb112” on Full Tilt and adonis112 on the PokerStars Download. Poker fans may recognize him from a dodgy outing on Poker After Dark or as the winner of the Borgota WPT Winter Poker Open. Online he is known primarily as a heads-up specialist, which should stand him in good stead in this high profile event.

The other unexpected absentee is Gabe Kaplan. The recently ousted host of High Stakes Poker has his spot filled by Carlos Mortensen. The Spanish legend is one of the best tournament players in the world and could rightly have complained about not being included…