Las Vegas Poker Tournaments

Date: Fri, Oct 10, 2008

photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

October 1 marked the start of almost full time tournament poker in Las Vegas that will continue through the holidays. Bellagio's Festa al Lago, Binion's Poker Open, 2nd Annual Caesars Palace Classic, The Venetian's Deep Stack Extravaganza, and the Poker Employees Championship at the Sahara fill the calendar from October through December.

We begin with the biggest tournament, the Bellagio's Festa al Lago. On the calendar from October 1- 26, the Festa al Lago is capped by a World Poker Tour sanctioned $15,000 buy-in final event guaranteed to create another WPT millionaire.

photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

Moving on to Binion's Poker Open scheduled for October 15 thru November 3. Take a nostalgic trip to the place where poker tournaments originated, Binion's Casino located in historic downtown Las Vegas. Binion's is currently building a new poker room centrally located in the recently remodeled downtown landmark.

photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

In 2007 the Caesars Palace Poker Classic set records for numbers of players and prize pools. Caesars has always been a favorite poker room among cash game and tournament players looking for a spacious, comfortable poker room with all the amenities expected from the world renowned casino. You too can enjoy playing major tournament poker at Caesars Palace during the October 16 - 30 Poker Classic.

photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

Next stop in the Venetian's Deep Stack Extravaganza. These very popular poker events are the results from the Venetian Poker Room asking poker players what they wanted in a tournament - bigger starting stacks, longer play levels, moderate buy-ins, and smooth blind increases - and then designing the Deep Stack series to provide exactly that. Stop by the Venetian during the November 1 - 25 run of final Deep Stack Extravaganza scheduled for 2008 and find out first hand why players prefer the Venetian.

photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

Finally, we have the Poker Employees Championship at the Sahara Resort in Las Vegas. Four days and four events December 1 - 4. Complete details are available at Poker Player Newspaper and you can register online to ensure you'll have a seat in this year's poker employee tournament. If you've ever been a part of the poker industry then you probably meet the prerequisites for entry.

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2008 WSOP Main Event Tonight on ESPN

Date: Tue, Oct 7, 2008

photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

Another Tuesday night means two hours of 2008 WSOP Main Event poker on ESPN Sports TV. Tune in tonight at 8:00 PM ET for the start of the big poker show on ESPN2. Be sure to check listings for exact times in your viewing area. As we count off the weeks leading to the November 9 final table of the Main Event check out a new group of Flipchip photos taken last summer on the tournament floor at the Rio Resort in Las Vegas.

All photos were taken on Day #4 of the 2008 Main Event. More after the jump.

photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

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Bodog Poker Open II Main Event Qualifiers

Date: Fri, Oct 3, 2008

photo courtesy BodogLife.com

This weekend Bodog will be running its richest guaranteed ever at $300,000. The buy-in for the Main Event is $500 so if you're looking to get in for less there are plenty of qualifiers running that can get you there for as little as 50 Bodog Poker Points.

Check out the BPO II's entire list of online poker satellites to find the one that's right for you. Or simply visit the Bodog Poker Software. All of the BPO II scheduled poker tournaments can be found by clicking on the "Scheduled Tournament" tab. To only see the BPO II Tournaments, select the "BPO" tab that is under the "Scheduled Tournament" tab.

And while you're working on earning your Main Event seat be sure to check out the other BPO II tournaments happening now and through to Sunday including:

• Event #6 NL Holdem with rebuys. $110 buy-in and $75,000 guaranteed. Starts Thursday, October 02 at 8 p.m. ET.
• Event #7 FL Holdem. $162 buy-in with $20,000 guaranteed. Starts Friday, October 3 at 8 p.m. ET.

And don't forget about their Bounty Events. There are 19 bounties in each tournament that payout T$109. Players with money on their heads include Evelyn Ng, David Williams, Justin Bonomo and Jean-Robert Bellande.

• 6-Handed Bounty NL Holdem. $36 buy-in with $15,000 guaranteed. Starts Thursday, October 2 at 9 p.m. ET.
• Bounty NL Holdem. $27.50 buy-in with $10,000 guaranteed. Starts Friday, October 3 at 9 p.m. ET.

Head over to Bodog for more information on their richest guaranteed online poker tournament ever.

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Bill to Legalize Online Poker Introduced in US Senate

Date: Thu, Oct 2, 2008

photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

A Senate bill has been introduced to allow and regulate online poker and other games of skill. Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) introduced this first ever Senate bill (Internet Skill Game Licensing and Control Act, S. 3616) to to eliminate the ban imposed by former Senate Majority Leader Frist's legislation (UIGEA) that essentially killed online poker by making bank and credit card money transfers with online casinos illegal.

A similar bill got a 30-16 Yea vote to move out of the House Financial Services Committee. The house version of the bill introduced by Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) and Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) requires federal agencies to define unlawful Internet gambling before writing banking regulations to enforce the UIGEA legislation.

Keep those cards, letters, telecons and emails coming to your Senators and Representatives offices. Apparently some of the are listening and reacting to once again return legal online poker to your computer screen. Playing games of skill is more than just fun and profit, it's one of your rights of freedom. If your one of the millions of Americans that once enjoyed playing poker online you should consider sending a note of support and thanks to Senator Menendez.

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Bodog Poker Open II Bounty Tournaments Abound

Date: Tue, Sep 30, 2008

photo courtesy BodogLife.com

The Bodog Poker Open II is underway with its eight Championship events and six Bounty Tournaments. Online poker players have already been enjoying the extra value that Bodog Poker has been infusing these tournaments with.

Last Sunday saw the start of the BPO II and along with it the first Bounty event.

There were 16 players with bounties on their heads with each one paying out T$109 (buy-in to a BPOII Main Event satellite). Bodog also juiced the prize pool by adding $5,000 giving the field of 242 players plenty to battle over.

By the time it got down to heads-up all the bounties had been collected but one. Online poker player iLLNuGWichee fought to keep his own bounty against bstu24. But it was not to be as bstu24 took down the first place prize worth $8,030 as well as the T$109 that came with knocking out iLLNuGWichee.

Here is a breakdown of the final tablists and their payouts:

1. bstu24 - $8,030
2. iLLNuGWichee - $5,110
3. snarlcakes - $3,387
4. Paz5050 - $2,336
5. WillyNilly - $1,752
6. THEBULL108 - $1,314
7. BuschInCans - $1,022
8. JanM - $759
9. L Rocketz - $496

Get complete details on the Bodog Poker Open II tournament schedule and get a seat in these high value poker tournaments.

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2008 WSOP Main Event Day 3 Poker Faces

Date: Mon, Sep 29, 2008

photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

Start the week with a dozen unpublished poker faces from the 2008 Main Event. All of today's Flipchip photos were taken on Day 3 at the Rio resort in Las Vegas. Player's chip stacks are becoming large as the checks are consolidated following the mass of player eliminations.

More photos after the jump.

photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

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PokerStars offers freerolls to win piece of WSOP final table

Date: Thu, Sep 25, 2008

PokerStars is offering a chance to win a piece of the November 9.

The November 9, of course, is the World Series of Poker's final table comprising the nine remaining players that will duke it out on Nov. 9.

Stars has invested in six of the players, and will be hosting a $100,000 freeroll (500 FPP required for entry) for each player every Sunday beginning Oct. 5 at 4 p.m. ET.

In addition, if you make it to the top 100, you'll receive 0.01% of that player's eventual winnings from the final table.

Freeroll schedule (all begin 4 p.m. ET):

Oct. 5: David "Chino" Rheem
Oct. 12: Darus Suharto
Oct. 19: Ylon Schwartz
Oct. 26: Peter Eastgate
Nov. 2: Ivan Demidov
Nov. 9: Dennis Phillips

Let's see... every player is guaranteed to take away $900,670. So if you make the top 100 in any of the six tournaments, you'll receive an extra $90.07.

First place to this year's WSOP winner is $9,119,517, so if you're in the top 100 for that player's tourney, you'll get $919.52 extra.

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Caesars Palace Classic Coming in October

Date: Thu, Sep 25, 2008

photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

October 16th is the first day of the 2nd Annual Caesars Palace Classic poker tournament. Satellites for the 17 events begin at 9 AM and Event #1, $500 + $50 No-Limit Hold'em is scheduled for Noon on October 17. The action continues daily through October 30 with avariety of events including Pot-Limit Omaha, Omaha 8/B, Limit Hold'em, 6-Handed Hold'em, and H.O.R.S.E. The Classic features a $10,000 Buy-in No-Limit Hold'em Championship three day event with a guaranteed $1,000,000 First Place Prize.

Daily Second Chance No-Limit Hold'em tournaments with a $175 + $25 Buy-in start at 7 PM. Last Chance No-Limit Hold'em tournaments with a $100 + $20 Buy-in are scheduled at 11 PM nightly. Both the Second Chance and the Last Chance events run October 16 through October 27.

Make plans now to be at the largest poker complex in Las Vegas, the Caesars Palace poker room, for the very popular Caesars Palace Classic. Event buy-ins range from $300 for the Ladies only event to $500, $1,000, $1,500, $2,000, and $10,000 for the championship. Mega-Satellites for the Main Event are scheduled for October 27 with two $500 + $50 and two $1,000 + $60 events.

Visit Caesars Palace Poker Room online or call (702) 731-7110 or (800) 634-6001 for complete details. A schedule of events for the Caesars Palace Classic after the jump.

photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

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PokerWorld.com to refund Bad Beat Jackpot share

Date: Tue, Sep 23, 2008

Awhile back, PokerWorld.com removed their Bad Beat Jackpot from all of their poker tables (even though their website still says "Coming soon!").

A reason was not given, but PokerWorld is no longer contributing a share on the Gold Chip Network.

Where does that money go?

If you're Harrah's Las Vegas (which this month got rid of their property-wide bad beat jackpot that essentially copied Station Casinos'), you put the money back into each property and let that casino hold their own promotions.

Online is still somewhat the Wild Wild West, with not much ramification if the money just ends up evaporating into someone's Swiss bank account.

As for PokerWorld, they're doing the right thing. Because they're able to track the exact jackpot drop players contributed, they will soon be giving refunds.

A nice little unexpected rakeback.

PokerWorld will email players individually once the refund has been deposited.

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Tonight WSOP Main Event Poker on ESPN

Date: Tue, Sep 23, 2008

photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

Another two hours of original programming from the ESPN crew from the Rio Resort in Las Vegas. The almost record field of 6,844 players is getting down to a manageable number as players bust out at a rapid pace. The growing chip stacks have become formidable weapons of mass elimination wielded by the lucky holders. Short stacked players are typically faced with an all-in when aggressively pursuing a pot. By the end of Day 2B 842 players will remain to join the 466 that survived Day 2A for a total of 1308 players returning to play Day 3.

Grab a seat, stack up the snacks, open a cool one and sit back for tonight's offering on ESPN2. The show starts at 8:00 pm EST but you'll want to check local listings for exact times in your area and of course, it's in ESPN Hi-Def so you'll have the best seat in the house.

More Flipchip photos captured during Day 2B of the 2008 WSOP Main Event after the jump.

photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

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South Point to expand poker room

Date: Mon, Sep 22, 2008

photo by flipchip/lasvegasvegas.com

With poker profits down (heck, with all casino profits down), we wouldn't be surprised if we began seeing more poker room closings in Las Vegas (such as Las Vegas Hilton's). Or conversions to e-tables (Excalibur, which if it's a success, will mean more at MGM Mirage casinos and elsewhere).

Fortunately, no more of that is in the near horizon.

So when we hear of new poker rooms (e.g., Hard Rock's Poker Lounge), our poker heart gets all a-flutter.

At long last, what was promised when they opened will soon be coming true, perhaps as soon as early 2010: South Point is getting a poker room!

'Course, they've always had one since they opened in December 2005 (under the name South Coast), if you count the empty area downstairs from the movie theater. Nothing much has been done with the 11 tables, other than moving the floor desk around, adding plasmas, cordoning off tables, and offering up new tournaments and freerolls that cater to locals.

The spot was good for people watching, but let us tell you, people watching locals isn't the most fun way to pass the time. We do enjoy playing there a couple times a month, particularly because the cocktail service is fast, and they don't blink an eye when we order back-to-back Patron shots.

Ever since launch, South Point had been promising an actual room, and with South Point's next phase of renovations will also be a brand new 25-table poker room.

Like the number of hotel rooms (2,163 to be exact), this will make the poker room the largest room catering to locals.

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2008 WSOP Main Event Poker Faces III

Date: Sun, Sep 21, 2008

photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

Another selection of Flipchip Poker Face photos from the 2008 WSOP Main Event. All of these poker players were captured on day 2A. All had survived their Day 1 and were back for the second go-around. Most of them are not household names and you'll probably never see them on the TV poker shows; but, they are all poker players and they are playing in the most famous poker tournament in the world, the World Series of Poker Main Event. The $10,000 buy-in grand daddy of all poker tournaments has grown from the few poker crazies that showed up in 1970 to the almost seven thousand that crowded the Rio Resort Pavilion this past summer.
Only one of today's poker faces survived all of the rounds to make the final table. David Rheems will return in November to play the coveted final table that offers the winner incredible riches, fame, immortality and the most important prize of all, the WSOP World Poker Championship Bracelet.

More photos after the jump.

photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

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More 2008 WSOP Main Event Photos

Date: Fri, Sep 19, 2008

photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

Another batch of Flipchip photos from the 2008 WSOP held at the Rio resort in Las Vegas this past summer. Today's offering features group photos from Day 2A. Some of the surviving players are beginning to amass large stacks of chips and many of the "poker faces" are starting to show the fatigue of long hours at the tables over the past five weeks.

Day two is a pivotal point that gives the survivors confidence and hope of making the money list. The fall out rate accelerates as the larger chip stacks come into play, especially late in the day when most of these photos were taken. Stop by over the weekend for more of Flipchip's poker faces from the 2008 WSOP Main Event.

More photos after the jump.

photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

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Free $10,000 seats to Caesars Palace Classic in Las Vegas

Date: Mon, Sep 15, 2008

photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

Caesars Palace is running daily drawings in their poker room, giving away completely free entries to their Caesars Palace Classic poker tournament. Each seat is worth $10,000.

From now through Sept. 30, just play in the Caesars poker room. Every time any player gets quads or better, they receive a ticket. One ticket will be drawn the following day at 7 p.m. and awarded a seat. If you don't live in town, no worries -- you don't even have to be present to win!

For the locals, however, there's an extra benefit. If you play every day trying for those tickets, you'll probably have accumulated enough hours to qualify for their freeroll. Play 40 hours of poker (live cash games only, tournaments excluded) between Oct. 1 and Oct. 26, and you'll get entered into a freeroll on Oct. 27 that awards 10 seats to the Caesars Palace Classic.

The total value of all seats being given away is $400,000.

The Caesars Palace Classic begins Oct. 28.

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