By Sarah Polson

For the fourth consecutive year, the ESPN Poker Club is offering a trip to the World Series of Poker Main Event. The winner will receive airfare to Las Vegas, hotel accommodations during the tournament and the chance to sit down and play against the poker world's best in poker's most prestigious event.

Playing on the ESPN Poker Club free-play online poker software players will need to qualify for the Final Tournament in order to have a shot at WSOP glory. To qualify for the Final Tournament, held Sunday, June 15th, players will need to be one of the top 25 players one of three Sunday Qualifiers, held each Sunday until June 15th at 12, 5 and 9 pm EST. Players can earn their entry for the Sunday Qualifier in the following ways:

• playing 1500 hands in a single week
• winning 10 Single Table Tournaments
• winning 1 Multi-Table Tournament
• finish in the Top 20 in any Daily Big Play tournament

By Sarah Polson
There are plenty of poker sites offering ways for players to get into the 2008 World Series of Poker Main Event, but Titan Poker has taken it to another level with its "Executive Package."

Along with the usual $10,000 buy-in for the Main Event, the Executive Package will include 14 nights' accommodations for two in a luxury suite along with money for flights and spending.

On top of that, the packages also have two tickets to the Blue Man Group show at the Venetian Resort, dinner for two at the exclusive SW Steakhouse at the Wynn Hotel and a limousine pick-up to and from the airport in Las Vegas.

In all, the Executive Package is worth $20,000.

"We are thrilled to offer a prize package of this magnitude," said a Titan Poker spokesperson. "We want our players to have the experience of a lifetime while being a part of poker's most premier yearly event."

For a player to get her hands on one of these exclusive package deals, she must win four consecutive $20+$4 WSOP Executive sit-and-gos at Titan Poker. The Executive sit-and-go poker tournaments will be offered around the clock at the poker site, giving players plenty of chances to win a package before the promotion ends June 19.

Titan Poker also has $14,000 WSOP prize packages available to win at the poker site as well as $6,500 side-event packages.

The $14,000 prize packages will be awarded during satellite tournaments today, May 4, 11, 18, 25 and June 1, 8 and 15 at 8 p.m. GMT+1. The tournaments have a $500+$35 buy-in, but there are plenty of ways for players to win their way into the satellite for as low as $5.50+50¢.

The $14,000 prize packages include the $10,000 buy-in for the Main Event, 10 nights' accommodations, flights and spending money.

The $6,500 side-event prize packages include the $1,500 buy-ins for WSOP events 27 and 32 plus seven nights' accommodations and money for travel and spending.

The remaining tournaments for the $6,500 prize packages will take place May 3, 10, 17, 24 and 31 at 8 p.m. GMT+1.

By Sean Lind
After surviving a final table with such accomplished players as Vanessa Selbst and Van Nguyen, Nancy Todd Tyner defeated Vanessa heads up for the WPT win.

The heads up match was a great show of patience for Nancy, as she took her time, and picked her spots wisely to take down Vanessa Selsbst. Nancy won her seat into the WPT event by winning a ladies only satellite at the Commerce Casino in LA.

In a post win interview Nancy explains her feeling heads up and the respect she has for previous WPT winner Selbst. Although Nancy's rather new to the game compared to lots of the tour pro's, she played like an old pro, without getting overwhelmed by the final table aggression.

Nancy attributes her ability to deal with the pressure of a WPT final table with her background in Political Campaigning. She's been part of 196 political campaigns in 6 countries, winning 98% of all of them, the majority of which while backing the underdog.

With her massive jewels clearly on display, Nancy proved that anyone with the ability to keep their cool, and play their best game in a stressful situation against the odds, can end up on top. I have a feeling this will not be the last time we see Nancy Todd Tyner at a final table.

The World Poker Tour Championship poker players see green as the money bubble bursts.

Day 3 of the World Poker Tour Championship saw the bubble burst as many of the remaining poker players found themselves with a little extra cash in their pockets. At the beginning of the day, 188 players showed up at the Fontana Lounge, but it would only be the top 100 that would cash in. Jordan Rich had the unfortunate distinction of busting the bubble this year, going all in with pocket aces against Amir Vahedi's pocket eights, but an eight on the flop sent Rich home with no money.

Among others missing the money were Poker Road's Barry Greenstein and Doyle Brunson, 2005 World Series of Poker Pot Limit Omaha winner Josh Arieh, Humberto "The Shark" Brenes, the 'Tiger Woods of Poker' Phil Ivey, three time World Series of Poker winner John Juanda, poker legend Scotty Nguyen, Erik Seidel (an eight-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner who is currently in first place for Card Player Player of the Year honors), and Mike "The Mouth" Matusow.

The poker buzz of yesterday was tournament Jack McClelland announcing a change to the rule of "show one, show both," which meant if a player only showed one card when they mucked a hand, the dealer automatically turned the other card over. Daniel Negreanu has been very vocal against the rule, including writing about it in his poker blog. The rule was originally enforced to prevent needling by the poker players. Negreanu stood by McClelland as he asked the poker players to vote yesterday. The vote to drop the rule was almost overwhelming, although Kenny Tran was among those who wanted it to stand. The new rule, which McClelland admitted might take the dealers a while to get used to, still does not allow players to flash their cards in the middle of a hand. Despite his ruling win, Negreanu was sent home with $39,570 after finishing in 76th place.

Day 2 chip leader Robert Mizrachi found himself holding in 10th place at the end of Day 3, with 701,000 in chips. Day 2 second place leader Jayde Tran was close to the bottom with only 179,000 left in chips. Carlos Mortensen, who was in seventh yesterday, kept his hopes of winning back to back World Poker Tour Championships alive by holding in 40th place with 256,000.

The leader at the end of day three was "The Great Dane" Gus Hansen, who seemingly came from nowhere after crippling Tim Phan. Hansen was holding an ace and king with an ace, four, three flop. Phan was holding an ace and a queen. The turn and river showed an eight and a jack, giving Hansen the pot, worth over 2.4 million chips. Today, 55 players return to be whittled down to the final 27.

Player release dispute resolved amicably.
Five determined professional poker players have seen their resolve rewarded by the settlement of their long-running legal dispute with World Poker Tour Enterprises Inc. over the use of player release forms. Although the settlement includes no pecuniary damages, it does involve a change in the contested WPT player release.

Top pros Chris Ferguson, Andrew Bloch, Annie Duke, Phil Gordon, and Howard Lederer, accompanied by Greg Raymer and Joe Hachem originally launched the dispute with WPT some two years ago. The latter two players subsequently relinquished their involvement in the action.

In 2007, the players applied for a summary judgement on the issue, which was denied.

The dispute revolved around the player release form demanded by WPT when players enter one of its tournaments. The litigants were concerned that by signing the forms, which controlled the use of their images at the events, they could violate or prejudice other activities and agreements in different endorsement deals conditional on their celebrity. By refusing to sign the release forms, the players were excluded from WPT events, and the players claimed that the situation amounted to a violation of their rights in terms of anti-trust law.

In a statement commenting on the settlement, WPT Enterprises emphasised that whilst it did not constitute any admission of wrongdoing, the company wished to resolve the matter.

"WPTE continues to deny any liability or wrongdoing, but wants to settle its differences with the players so that the tour can focus on its continued growth rather than litigation." WPTE founder and CEO Steve Lipscomb commented. "We are glad to put this dispute behind us, and we look forward to working with all players to grow the sport of poker."

The settlement was described by Chris Ferguson as fair for all poker players: "We are happy to have come to an agreement that is fair to all players, and to have put in place a new release that clears up ambiguities in how players' images may be used. We are especially happy that this new release will apply to all poker players who wish to participate in WPT tournaments and events. WPTE has created some of the best poker events in the world, and we are excited to participate in them once again."

Haley Hintze
WPT Enterprises, Inc., operators of the World Poker Tour, announced today the settlement of a lawsuit brought against it by several big-name poker players. The action, which focused on the player release form used by the World Poker Tour, was originally filed by seven players who announced the suit at a press conference at the Rio in Las Vegas during the 2006 WSOP. The resolution of the suit involves a modificiation of the WPT's player release, with no money damages involved.

Five of the seven players - Chris Ferguson, Andrew Bloch, Annie Duke, Phil Gordon, and Howard Lederer - were listed as being party to the final settlement of the suit; two others, Greg Raymer and Joe Hachem, were originally parties to the action but dropped their involvement before the settlement. The lawsuit also saw a 2007 motion for summary judgment by the players, which was denied.

In their original lawsuit, the players claimed that the terms of the WPTE player release would force them to violate other endorsement agreements and rights to images that the players and their sponsors had otherwise contracted for, and as a result, the players were forced to forego participating in WPT events. The action was framed in antitrust terms, alleging that WPTE and its partner casinos unlawfully conspired to eliminate competition and violated the intellectual property rights of these players. WPTE strictly denied that its standard player release was in any way "in violation of antitrust or other laws." The modified player release, while not detailed by WPTE, likely addresses related concerns.

As the WPTE release on the settlement noted, "WPTE continues to deny any liability or wrongdoing, but wants to settle its differences with the players so that the tour can focus on its continued growth rather than litigation." WPTE founder and CEO Steve Lipscomb said, "We are glad to put this dispute behind us, and we look forward to working with all players to grow the sport of poker."

Chris Ferguson, one of the five remaining players in the action, said, "We are happy to have come to an agreement that is fair to all players, and to have put in place a new release that clears up ambiguities in how players' images may be used. We are especially happy that this new release will apply to all poker players who wish to participate in WPT tournaments and events. WPTE has created some of the best poker events in the world, and we are excited to participate in them once again."

MONTE CARLO - Canadian Glen Chorny scored a huge payday with his first European Poker Tour victory since becoming a full-time poker professional four months ago.

The 22-year-old native of Timmins, Ont., earned 2.02 million euros (C$3.21 million) for winning the EPT's Grand Final on Thursday. Chorny defeated Denes Kalo of Hungary in the final at the Monte Carlo Bay Hotel & Resort. Kalo took home 1.18 million euros (C$1.87 million) for finishing second.

Chorny, who studies business and history at Wilfrid Laurier University, was dealt ace-five on the winning hand and had his ace paired on the flop. Kalo had a king and a queen.

Chorny said he was thrilled with the victory, which came three months after a 13th-place finish in his only other EPT appearance, the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure.

"It was tough out there, like a hard day at the office," Chorny said. "Only the rewards are a lot better."

Maxime Villemure, a 19-year-old from Montreal, finished third for a payday of 715,000 euros (C$1.13 million)

by Jonathan Raab
As regular readers will know, my day job involves managing the UK's largest poker tour on behalf of sponsor Blue Square. The Grosvenor UK Poker Tour (GUKPT) is a modestly priced tour, consisting of ten weeklong festivals of poker throughout the year featuring 1,000 ($2,000) main events that attract fields of 300-400 players.

At the end of the year the stakes are increased to £3,000 ($6,000) for the tour's grand final. The sponsors generously add lots of prize money to the tour, which brings together the best players in the UK and forms the backbone of the vibrant UK poker circuit. Now in its second season, the tour's latest leg took place in London at "The Vic" casino, considered by many to be the spiritual home of British poker.

Card games have taken place at the casino ever since it first opened its doors back in 1965. The ownership of the club has changed times several times in its 43-year history, including bearing the name Playboy for a short period of time. It is now part of the Grosvenor casino chain, owned by Rank Group, the former owners of the Hard Rock chain, before it was sold to the Seminoles. The festival was well attended, with all bar the Omaha events selling out. In addition to the homegrown tour regulars; there were noticeably more European players present. The capacity for the main event was set at 400, but alternates bumped this up to 424.

Alternates are a relatively new feature in British poker, but most of the big casino operators now allow them in all their tournaments. Previously forbidden by the Gaming Board, they were used for the first time last year when new UK gaming laws disbanded that ruling organization and replaced it with the Gaming Commission.

The new organization has greater reaching powers, but seems to be less concerned with the minutiae of how poker tournaments are run, as long as they are fair. Last year the same event had 433 runners, but that was over three starting days, compared to this year's two. By half way through the penultimate day of the tournament, defending champion Leo Kam (see Poker Player Newspaper issue 11-10) was the chip leader. The Canadian chef worked in Nobu, one of London's top restaurants before tasting success on last year's GUKPT. He followed up his win in London with another final table in Blackpool and went deep in the EPT in Prague later in the year. He has now given up his day job to concentrate more on poker, but his reign as champ was cut short when he was taken out in a very respectable twenty-third place. At the end of four long and hard fought days of poker, 23-year old Internet pro Ketul Nathwani won the tournament- results appeared in the previous issue of Poker Player Newspaper-and the £120,000 first prize, equivalent to $240,000. He claimed the victory after fending off 20-year old Tony Phillips in the shortest possible heads up encounter, which lasted just one hand.

The Indian born Londoner entered the final as a big chip leader, with nearly a quarter of the chips in play and held onto this lead throughout. He played a strong, aggressive and very fast game, resulting in the quickest final table in GUKPT history.

Ketul's previous best live result was his 269 place finish in the WSOP main event last year, but he usually prefers cash games to tournaments. However, this victory has fuelled his ambition and he now has his sights set on a WSOP bracelet... or two.

Pacific Poker is celebrating the start of the World Championships with a host of Snooker promotions for poker players.

Snooker and Poker go hand in hand like Fish and Chips or Beer and Curry. Famous poker playing snooker players include Steve Davis, Jimmy White, Mark Williams, Stephen Hendry and Ken Doherty. Now Pacific Poker are the sponsors of the World Championships in Sheffield, and they want to send you there.

On April 12th, 19th and 26th Pacific Poker will be hosting a $1,470 guaranteed tournament with a buy in of just $1.47. There are tickets to the final, semi final and preliminary heats are on offer to the players who come first and second in these events. A Riley's snooker club membership to the 3rd place and a seat in the $147,000 guaranteed tournament to those that finish 4th.

The $147,000 guaranteed on May 11th is a $147 buy in event with a massive first prize on offer. Not only that, but the winner gets a snooker cue signed by John Higgins, as does the player that busts the World Champ from the tournament. There are also consolation prizes for anyone who finishes on the bubble and 147th place.

There is even a chance to present the World Champion 2008 with their trophy this year, all courtesy of Pacific Poker. So whether it's sinking reds or scooping pots, Pacific Poker looks like the place to play.

The European Poker Tour rolls back into beautiful Monte Carlo on the Cote d'Azure for the 2008 EPT Grand Final on Saturday.

Some of the most well-known poker pros will be on hand to battle for what has become one of the biggest prizepools in the poker world.

This €10,000 ($15,700) buy-in tour championship event drew 706 players last year and is expected to exceed that number this year.

The total amount generated was a staggering €6,636,400 ($10.5 million) awarding €1,825,010 ($2.4 million) to the champion, pink-haired American poker pro Gavin Griffin, who also went on to become the only poker player to win the coveted triple-crown of poker with a WSOP bracelet, a WPT title and an EPT victory.

Cashing in last year's event were poker pros Andy Black, Ram Vaswani, Carlos Mortensen, Phillip Hilm, Team Bodog's Josh Arieh, Chad Brown, Thomas Wahlroos, Team Bodog WSOP Europe qualifier Atanas Gueorguiev, Thomas Bihl and Jonathan "FieryJustice" Little.

They were joined by a whole host of other recognizable faces and names too numerous to mention right here, especially on a Friday afternoon.

For this year's event, Team Bodog will once again be represented by WSOP bracelet winners Arieh and David Williams.

Arieh is coming off a preliminary event win at the 2008 Wynn Classic and a second-place finish at the WSOP Circuit event in New Orleans.

Williams final tabled a $5,000 buy-in preliminary at the Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic in Las Vegas and just won the latest week of the NBC television show Poker After Dark.

According to EPT.com, there are already 320 online qualifiers registered for the event, which is almost half of last year's field already.

So, expectations are high, which is as it should be for one of poker's premier events. Stay tuned for wrap-ups of the action in Monte Carlo.

The marathon that was the WPT Foxwoods Poker Classic started out with Seidel as the chip leader, Ted Forrest second in chips, an online pro, a semi-experienced tournament player, and two relative amateurs.

After nearly 12 hours of play, it was Seidel as the last player standing. He claimed his first WPT title to add to his already impressive resume that includes 8 WSOP bracelets and numerous prestigious accomplishments.

The final payouts were as follows:

1. Erik Seidel - $992,890
2. Robert Richardson - $558,792
3. Andrew Barta - $281,011
4. Frank Cieri - $200,261
5. Adam Katz - $151,811
6. Ted Forrest - $103,360

All of the details of the final table action - and hours of inaction - were chronicled by the WPT Live Updates team.

Barry Carter
Betfair Poker have announced that they are once again presenting the World Series of Poker Europe in London this year. Between September 19th to October 1st the biggest names in global poker will descend on London for the richest and toughest poker tournament in Europe.

Just like last year, the event will be held across three locations, St. James (Fifty), Leicester Square (The Casino at the Empire) and Marble Arch (Sportsman). Presumably all regrouping for the final furlong again at the Empire, although that is yet to be confirmed.

"It was a clean sweep for the Europeans last year," said World Series of Poker Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack. "There are many, many talented players in the European poker community and I think it caught some of the world's best known poker players by surprise. It's safe to say the pros haven't forgotten about last year and the young guns should expect a tougher fight in 2008."

It was also a great year for Betfair Poker last time round. Not only did several Betfair qualifiers make it to the final table but two of their roster of sponsored pros, Annette Obrestad and Thomas Bihl, went on to claim the bracelets. No doubt all eyes will be on Annette this time round and on their new signing, Sorel Mizzi.

"Last year produced a fantastic tournament which exceeded all expectations," said David Yu, CEO, Betfair. "Online qualification for the 2008 event is already underway so we're expecting an even better contest this time around.

The schedule has not been confirmed as yet; however the time frame is very similar to last year, which would suggest that we are looking at potentially another £10,000 Hold'em Main Event, with a £5000 PLO and £2,500 HORSE event. It will be very interesting to see if that schedule is added to or tinkered with in any way shape or form. We will of course bring you news of the schedule as soon as it is released.

Click here for more information on how to qualify for WSOP

BY: RYAN LUCCHESI
$10,000 Championship Event Serves as the Grand Finale in Connecticut

The $10,000 World Poker Tour championship event of the 2008 Foxwoods Poker Classic will begin today at noon EDT. The event will last six days, and there is just one day 1 on the schedule. Here is a look at the full schedule for the event.

Days 1-3: Five levels of play (all begin at noon EDT)
Day 4: Play down to 18 players (noon EDT)
Day 5: Play down to six players (noon EDT)
Day 6: Final table (5 p.m. EDT)

This perennial stop on the WPT schedule attracted 415 players last year, which generated a prize pool of $3,898,635. The winner of the $1,298,405 first-place prize was Raj Patel, who beat out a final table consisting of Paul Matteo (second), Antonio Cavezza (third), Fred Goldberg (fourth), Seth Berger (fifth), and Allen Kessler (sixth).

Two of the preliminary events were won by professional players last year, as Will Failla took down the $5,000 no-limit hold'em event ($207,968), and Darrell Dicken won the $3,000 no-limit hold'em event ($169,917). That trend has continued this year, as well; Hevad "RaiNKhAN" Khan beat Michael Binger to take down the $2,000 no-limit hold'em event, and $108,187 in prize money (click here to read more). Preliminary events have been running since Monday, March 24, and a $600 no-limit hold'em event attracted 938 players on Wednesday, March 26. We will see if the championship event can attract more players than last year today (click here to read more about the preliminary events).