May 2008 Archives

A first Belarussian winner in the Saturday WR2 event last weekend with “Miensk” taking $293 for first place ahead of “*Katrin*20” of Germany. Of thousands of entrants 648 places were paid with “lor144144” of Canada checking out in 648th for $0.80. It was back to American domination though on Sunday when “OHtucky” took first place and $276, some 800 places ahead of the last player to cash in 801st place, “jshooter420”.

Weekly Round 2 results (Saturday 24 May)

1. Miensk (Belarus) -- $293.00
2. *Katrin*20 (Germany) -- $166.00
3. matan_09 (Sweden) -- $100.00
4. x meins x (Austria) -- $80.00
5. wevil123 (Australia) -- $62.00
6. Ang's Bloke (New Zealand) -- $50.00
7. shawnee1q (United States) -- $39.00
8. poco toro (Canada) -- $30.00
9. techk57 (United States) -- $22.20

648th Ior144144 (Canada) -- $0.80

Weekly Round 2 results (Sunday 25 May)

1. OHtucky (United States) -- $276.00
2. GLC250 (United States) -- $164.00
3. Napfsuelze (Germany) -- $100.00
4. Altakraz (Germany) -- $80.00
5. Kagarie (United States) -- $62.00
6. Doic88 (Germany) -- $50.00
7. AintNoDaisy (United States) -- $39.00
8. cleanr (United States) -- $30.00
9. itsmej (United States) -- $22.20

801st jshooter420 (United States) -- $0.60

To have a go yourself simply play in one of the astronomer freerolls in the PokerStars.net lobby and take it from there. The freerolls run several times a day and you can enter as many times as you want. And for any other info drop me a line at the email address at the top right of this page.

As detailed in the blog a few days ago Macau has become the home of the first live PokerStars card room and what better place to kick off the Asia Pacific Poker Tour which announced the dates of its second season this week.

The first stop will be 1 September 2008 at the Grand Waldo Hotel and Casino in the People’s Republic of China and will feature two big events. The $3,200 main event will host up to 1,000 players and will have a guaranteed $1.3 million prize pool. Then, the APPT will host its second High Rollers event. The $19,250 event will be open to 300 players and guarantee $1.3 million for the prize pool.

Macau is just one of five stops on Season 2 of the APPT, which will be followed by:

Seoul, Korea -- September 26-28, 2008
Auckland, New Zealand -- October 9-12, 2008
Manila, Philippines -- TBC
Sydney, Australia -- December 2-7, 2008

Today, in a first of its kind event, PokerStars cut the ribbon on the brand new and first live poker room in Macau.

Players from all over China walked into the Grand Waldo Casino today to see the opening of PokerStars Macau. Surrounded by hordes of local press, APPT President Jeffrey Hass, Grand Waldo Casino General Manager Gary Woolard, Team PokerStars Pro Lee Nelson, and Hong Kong actor Kevin Cheng cut the ribbon and opened the doors of the live poker room.

This weekend will see the first ever tournaments played in the new room. The Macau Poker Cup China Earthquake Relief Charity Tournament kicked off the big weekend. PokerStars donated more than $150,000 HKD to help the Red Cross Society of China aid the stricken regions of mainland China. Among the prizes for the inaugural event:

Three $25,000 HKD entries to APPT Macau Main Event (Sep 1-6, 2008)

Four $10,000 HKD entries to tomorrow's Macau Poker Cup Red Dragon Tournament

Five $4,000 HKD entries to Sunday's Macau Poker Cup Blue Dragon Event

Fifteen seats to tomorrow's Macau Poker Cup $1,000 HKD Deep Stack Event

Entries for the 54 players who chose to buy-in amounted to $117,000 HKD that PokerStars then matched, making it a $234,000 HKD donation (not including the 150,000 HKD in donated prizes for the event). Another $4,000 HKD was donated by three players who placed in the money after they chose to turn the tournament seats for which they qualified into cash donations to the Red Cross.

Celebrities from all over China and the poker world came for the first big day at PokerStars Macau.

Team PokerStars Pro Lee Nelson Team PokerStars Pro Lee Nelson and a table full of eager players Eydie Tai, photographer and model Michael Tong, actor

The winners of the kickoff charity tournament are all familiar faces on the APPT. The top three places went to Fabio Kim, Bob Hwang, and Jeppe Drivsholm (who has the distinction of being the first person to ever be knocked out of an APPT event after suffering his elimination at the APPT Manila event last year).

The opening weekend at PokerStars Macau continues with some big tournaments and cash games over the course of the next couple of days.

By Brad “Otis” Willis

A couple of years back, somebody in Las Vegas whispered to me, "Why do you think PokerStars hasn't opened a live poker room yet? Just imagine..."

I spent the next couple of years imagining just that. Of course, there are a lot of logistics to deal with and such. Still, just imagine.

Today we learned that it's no longer just a flight of fancy. This week, PokerStars is opening PokerStars Macau, Macau's first live poker room. The Grand Waldo Hotel and Casino room will have seats for 160 players, offer cash games, and boast of a pretty nice weekly tournament schedule.

The new poker room opens this Friday with a charity tournament to raise money for the victims of the recent earthquake in Western China. Players will be fighting for $150,000 HKD in prizes, including entries to the $25,000 HKD buy-in APPT Macau event in September.

The charity event will be the first event of the “Macau Poker Cup” – a series of poker tournaments scheduled during the May 23-25 weekend, including a $1,000 HKD buy-in Deep-Stack event and the $10,000 buy-in Red Dragon event.

The Asia Pacific Poker Tour’s is still working out the full schedule for its second season. One thing is for sure, though. It will kick-off at the Grand Waldo Casino with the September 1-6 APPT Macau Main Event, a $25,000 HKD buy-in No-Limit Hold’em poker tournament with a guarantee of $10,000,000 HKD.

Just as Brazil held its first PokerStars Latin American Poker Tour event earlier this month a Brazilian by the name of “ferpetrucci” took the spoils in last weekend’s WR2, ahead of a pack of Americans on the way to $287.60. And as this is the WR2 that all came for free. It was a situation reversed in the Sunday event where North America overcame South America this time when “RNDR4LYF” from the USA beat “fedecamper” of Argentina heads up to a $276 first prize.

Weekly Rounds 2 results (Saturday 17 May)

1. ferpetrucci (Brazil) -- $287.60
2. DIRTY_ANN (United States) -- $166.00
3. metro98 (United States) -- $100.00
4. SteelCertain (United States) -- $80.00
5. chiefbrody83 (Germany) -- $62.00
6. Konosdakilla (Republic of Korea) -- $50.00
7. cottonflower (United Kingdom) -- $39.00
8. jgates12 (United States) -- $30.00
9. chineserydaz (United States) -- $22.20

702nd jaykay24 (United States) -- $0.80

Weekly Round 2 results (Sunday 18 May)

1. RNDR4LYF (United States) -- $276.00
2. fedecamper (Argentina) -- $164.00
3. showing up (Canada) -- $100.00
4. JUNIOR_TOUCH (Brazil) -- $80.00
5. fat moon (United States) -- $62.00
6. popsicle36 (United States) -- $50.00
7. JDFks (United States) -- $39.00
8. blak75 (Canada) -- $30.00
9. Kevboy112 (Germany) -- $22.20

801st kalakitty17 (United States) -- $0.60

To have a go yourself simply play in one of the astronomer freerolls in the PokerStars.net lobby and take it from there. The freerolls run several times a day and you can enter as many times as you want. And for any other info drop me a line at the email address at the top right of this page. As you can see, 702 places were paid on Saturday and 801 on Sunday, and all for free.

By Brad "Otis" Willis

From an outsider's perspective, it might appears as though poker players do nothing but take, take, take. Recently, PokerStars players have shown they can give just as well.

Over the past several weeks, PokerStars and its players gave their hard-earned money to Life Ball 2008 to the tune of more than €150,000. Life Ball is Europe's largest annual charity event and is dedicated to the fight against AIDS. It took place at the historic Vienna City Hall on May 17 2008. More than 40,000 people attended the opening ceremony, one which included an appearance from Sharon Stone and a fashion show from Agent Provocateur.

Sharon Stone at the Life Ball opening ceremony

PokerStars' Life Ball freerolls saw more than 190,000 entries and thousands of dollars in donations. All of the money and PokerStars' donations will now go toward the fight against AIDS.

With PokerStars as a sponsor, there was little doubt what would happen at this year's event. After the opening ceremony around 4000 ticket holders moved into the Vienna City Hall to celebrate life under this year's Life Ball theme "Love is infinite. Life is universal." As one of the main sponsors, PokerStars hosted a poker lounge in the Vienna City Hall. Life Ball guests and local celebrities played charity poker until the early morning hours.

PokerStars Lounge in the Vienna City Hall

Life Ball founder Gery Keszler with local celebrities in the PokerStars Lounge

Since the first Life Ball in 1993, AIDS Life has raised millions of dollars for AIDS charities and has helped educate the world about those suffering from the disease.

Ah, the weekend. Two days free from the day job, cleaning the house, mowing the lawn, taking the kids to various sporting events. Or, a few hours of Weekly Round 2 poker action, as “Whatruplayin” and “Lacky1111” did this weekend, winning themselves $293 and $276 respectively on Saturday and Sunday and all for free, not one penny.

As many of you may already be aware the Weekly Round 2 events are open to the final eleven tables of the daily astronomer freeroll tournaments on PokerStars.net. They then give you the opportunity to win real cash prizes whilst being free to enter – details of which can be found in the PokerStars.net lobby.

You might also be aware that several hundred players in both the Saturday and Sunday events leave the table with a little something to show for their efforts. On Saturday it was "mikenesmith" way back in 648th place who was first to cash, a reward of $0.80, whilst on Sunday "janneman12" did the same, finishing in 801st for $0.60.

Weekly Round 2 results (Saturday 10 May)

1. Whatruplayin (United States) -- $293.00
2. jerkyjay (United States) -- $166.00
3. bigfatdork (United States) -- $100.00
4. gerri1 (United States) -- $80.00
5. morticia5 (United States) -- $62.00
6. boy12390 (United States) -- $50.00
7. danamon (United States) -- $39.00
8. jacma71 (Germany) -- $30.00
9. gwstmnstr (United States) -- $22.20

648th mikenesmith (United States) -- $0.80

Weekly Round 2 results (Sunday 11 May)

1. Lacky11111 (Germany) -- $276.00
2. gotnth'n (United States) -- $164.00
3. nyynyr-fan (United States) -- $100.00
4. venezolano22 (Venezuela) -- $80.00
5. JoeAce47 (United States) -- $62.00
6. PleaseFoldU (United States) -- $50.00
7. Todorovic (Germany) -- $39.00
8. kayanahai (United States) -- $30.00
9. NutDraw16 (United States) -- $22.20

801st Janneman12 (Netherlands) -- $0.60

To have a go yourself simply play in one of the astronomer freerolls in the PokerStars.net lobby and take it from there. The freerolls run several times a day and you can enter as many times as you want. If you want any more information you can drop me a line at the email address at the top right of this page.

The PokerStars European Poker Tour recently finished its fourth season in Monte Carlo, a glitzy place of razzmatazz and glamour and some of the best poker Europe has ever seen. But Europe isn’t the only place that poker increases in popularity year on year. As the Asia Pacific Poker Tour proved last year (and will do so again later this year) poker in South East Asia is rapidly expanding into all corners.

Now poker has reached another corner of the world where the poker boom is still ringing loud, the shores of South America, where the inaugural PokerStars Latin America Poker Tour event in beautiful Rio de Janeiro, played out last weekend and was won by 22 year old Dutchman Julian Nuijten, who took $222,940 back to Holland.

LAPT Rio winner Julian Nuijten

The event attracted 314 players from all over the world, including Team PokerStars Pros Andre Akkari from Brazil, Humberto Brenes, Vanessa Rousso, former world champions Chris Moneymaker and Greg Raymer, Victor Ramdin, Isabelle Mercier and new team members Chad Brown and Gavin Griffin. They no doubt experienced some great poker but also the stunning views from the mountains, the shores of Copacabana beach and some welcome Brazilian hospitality.

Team PokerStars Pro Andre Akkari from Brazil

"This first Latin American Poker Tour event in Rio has been a phenomenal success", said LAPT President Glenn Cademartori. "I have already seen how passionate Latin Americans are about poker, but even I was surprised by the jubilant atmosphere here at the Rio tournament and the tremendous enthusiasm of both the players and their supporters. Latin America is one of the fastest-growing poker regions in the world and, thanks to the PokerStars.net LAPT, the region now has a high-stakes championship poker tour of its own."

The next two stop on Season 1 LAPT are in San Jose in Costa Rica from May 22-24 and then Punta del Este in Uruguay from August 7-9.

Cheers to the 1,503 players who took away a cash prize after last weekend’s Weekly Round 2 events, a toast particularly appropriate to “cheers99,9” who won $287.60 on Saturday and to “SWITZY3” who took $276 on Sunday.

On Saturday 702nd saw “smokeeD” made a modest score of $0.80 whilst “alaina83” did the same on Sunday with $0.60 for a few hours of fun at the tables and an 801st place finish.

The Weekly Round 2 events are open to the final eleven tables of the daily astronomer freeroll tournaments on PokerStars.net. They gives you the opportunity to win real cash prizes whilst being free to enter.

Weekly Round 2 results (Saturday 3 May)

1. cheers99,9 (Switzerland) -- $287.60
2. susie68 (United States) -- $166.00
3. Mnoc-D-Rok (United States) -- $100.00
4. gbrave (United States) -- $80.00
5. serg7777(Germany) -- $62.00
6. Titten1000 (Germany) -- $50.00
7. Muck_Beavey (United States) -- $39.00
8. tony1883 (Spain) -- $30.00
9. greatgrammy (United States) -- $22.20

702nd – smokeeD (United States) -- $0.80


Weekly Round 2 results (Sunday 4 May)

1. SWITZY3 (Canada) -- $276.00
2. bigbom420 (United States) -- $164.00
3. Cousbak (France) -- $100.00
4. bcbomb (Canada) -- $80.00
5. rjpen (United States) -- $62.00
6. JANUSV (Netherlands) -- $50.00
7. Sicilian (United States) -- $39.00
8. billpausedon (United States) -- $30.00
9. Schwelly (United States) -- $22.20

801st – alaina83 (Canada) -- $0.60

To have a go yourself simply play in one of the astronomer freerolls in the PokerStars.net lobby and take it from there. The freerolls run several times a day and you can enter as many times as you want. If you want any more information you can drop me a line at the email address at the top right of this page.

PokerStars is gearing up to send some of its players to Life Ball 2008. The largest annual charity event and fundraiser for AIDS research has been running since 1993. Life Ball has since become a gigantic and surreal celebration of life attended by celebrities and wealthy philanthropists from around the world. Now you have a chance to donate to the cause. In return, PokerStars will give you a chance to compete for a Life Ball 2008 prize package and real cash.


Concert at Life Ball 2007

PokerStars is launching a series of freerolls today that will give players a chance to win a PokerStars Life Ball 2008 package.

Winners of this year's competition will receive:

• Flights for two to Vienna
• Two nights luxury hotel accommodation
• A pair of Life Ball tickets
• $250 for expenses


Poker game at Life Ball 2007

What's more, PokerStars will host a freeroll for all of its players who donate at least $1 to the Life Ball 2008 fund. To find out an easy way to do this email via the link at the top of the page for details.

PokerStars has worked very hard in the past several years to make a difference in the world off the felt. From raising money for tsunami and Hurricane Katrina victims to donating big money to the Darfur effort, PokerStars and its players have proven themselves able to look above the game and toward something greater.

To see how you can make a difference and have some fun in the process, check out the PokerStars Life Ball 2008 page.

Here are last weekend’s results of the Weekly Round 2 freeroll - open to the final eleven tables of the daily astronomer freeroll tournaments on PokerStars.net. They gives you the opportunity to win real cash prizes whilst being free to enter.

On Saturday it was ‘Saiman40’ from the United States taking first place and $293. Whilst back in a gallant 648th place was ‘slingshot000’, making a quick $0.80 for enjoying a few hours of poker.

Weekly Round 2 result (Saturday 26 April)

1. Saiman40 (United States) -- $293.00
2. Square15 (Spain) -- $166.00
3. Almostfather (United States) -- $100.00
4. LONEWOLF262 (United States) -- $80.00
5. i8u4sups (United Kingdom) -- $62.00
6. GameAuto (United States) -- $50.00
7. steadyhand2 (United States) -- $39.00
8. Sira_Ulo666 (Netherlands) -- $30.00
9. Q2=Gitano (Italy) -- $22.20

648th slingshot000 (United States) -- $0.80

A similiar affair for Sunday, albeit with the now standard field of thousands. ‘sturgeon1864’ was the winner, taking $276 on a multi-national final table. ‘gianfrycas’ of Italy came in for $060 back in 801st. Well done to everyone.


Weekly Round2 result (Sunday 27 April)

1. sturgeon1964 (United States) -- $276.00
2. chiri00 (Hungary) -- $164.00
3. mmtulli (United States) -- $100.00
4. TIJUANA7 (France) -- $80.00
5. sin103 (United States) -- $62.00
6. rde5000 (Canada) -- $50.00
7. Zotig (Canada) -- $39.00
8. huawen (Germany) -- $30.00
9. SAM/MAT1930 (United States) --$22.20

801st gianfrycas – Italy -- $0.60

To have a go yourself simply play in one of the astronomer freerolls in the PokerStars.net lobby and take it from there. The freerolls run several times a day and you can enter as many times as you want. If you want any more information you can drop me a line at the email address at the top right of this page.