After a succesful debut event in November Dream Team Poker is set to hold its second event, and the first one open to the public, at Caesars Palace in late March.

The event, which calls for players to compete in teams of three, runs from March 27 - 29. The $500 + $50 per player entry fee provides each player with tournament entry, custom jerseys, special room rates at Caesars Palace and access to the welcome party and winner’s ceremony.

The Dream Team Poker concept awards points to each team of players based on the finish of each player. Prize money is awarded for both the finish of each team and individual performance.

“The first event was such an incredible accomplishment for Dream Team Gaming and proved that the concept of team poker could be exciting, fun and profitable for all involved,” said Daniel Delshad, Dream Team Gaming CEO. “We are seeing a definite call for this game from the casinos and the players. We are honored to have Caesars Palace Las Vegas host our next tournament.”

For their part Caesars Palace is equally excited to be hosting the first public Dream Team event.

“The tournament’s innovative team concept will bring a new dimension to tournament play,” said Jim Pedulla, Director of Poker for Caesars Palace. “This new format will create more camaraderie among the players making this an exciting event.”

With 100 teams participating tournament organizers are expecting a complete sell-out and a prize pool of $150,000. To register or for more information visit DreamTeamPoker.com.

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Swedish poker pro Michael Tureniec

You’d think that the reach of online poker giant Full Tilt Poker and their ever-expanding team of pros was worldwide, but apparently they forgot about Sweden. Until now.

Swedish poker pro Michael Tureniec has signed to become the first Swedish-born player on Team Full Tilt. The 23-year-old is coming off of a 19th place finish at the Aussie Millions good for $31,800. He also finished as the runner-up at the London stop on the European Poker Tour in September. He banked $757,000 for that performance but joining the prestigous group of Full Tilt pros is a dream come true.

“It feels great to be the first Swede to sign with Full Tilt Poker. This is naturally a large step forward for me in my poker career,” said Tureniec.

The signing of Tureniec, who is represtented by the Poker Icons agency, comes only two weeks after Full Tilt Poker signed 21-year-old Danish poker sensation Soren Kongsgaard, another Poker Icons client. As part of his contract Tureniec will be featured as a red pro on the site complete with his own avatar and table.

steven-weinstein

Borgata Winter Open Champion Steven Weinstein

The 2009 Borgata Winter Open could just be one of the biggest tournaments in Atlantic City this year and nobody’s happier than Steven Weinstein.

The action started Thursday with 27 players including 2007 BLUFF Magazine Player-of-the-Year Bill Edler and ended with Weinstein eliminating Todd Terry after 13 hours of play to capture his first live title and the $658,405 first place prize.

Edler, who failed to record a single cash in 2008, finished 18th for $18,306 despite coming into the day with the second largest chip stack.

When heads-up play began Terry held a 4:1 chip advantage of Weinstein but the player known online as “thorladen” chipped away before scoring a key double-up to put himself in position to win the title. Terry walked away with $434,767.

The $3,000 + $200 buy-in championship event had a field of 1,017 and a total prize pool of over $3 million making it one of the largest independent tournaments of the year.

The 2009 Borgata Winter Open championship event is down to a final three tables and while Carl Pion is leading but the buzz is all about who’s in second place.

2007 BLUFF Magazine Player-of-the-Year Bill Edler has 3,894,000 chips while Pion has 4,720,000 after Day 3. After a remarkable 2007 that saw Edler win his first bracelet he failed to record a single cash in 2008. Edler now appears to be returning to form.

Just behind Edler is Robert Merulla who had a succesful Day 2 and managed to maintain his momentum through Day 3. With 3,006,000 chips Merulla is well within striking distance of Edler and Pion. Frank Flowers, who was leading when Day 3 began, failed to advance busting in 29th place for $11,594. Also seein their tournament end were Tom Franklin and Jason Young.

The final 27 players will play down Thursday to the final nine who will compete for the $658,405 first place prize on Friday.

Borgata Winter Open Final 27 Players

1. Carl Pion - 4,720,000
2. Bill Edler - 3,894,000
3. Robert Murella - 3,006,000
4. Todd Terry - 2,965,000
5. Ken Smaron - 2,785,000
6. Charles Marchese - 2,713,000
7. Ory Hen - 2,437,000
8. Shawn Paul Pilot - 2,394,000
9. Manelic Minaya - 2,361,000
10. George Medrano - 2,045,000

DoylesRoom.com is kicking things off right. To help celebrate their move to the Cake Poker Network DoylesRoom.com is hosting a $5,000 freeroll tournament.

The tournament is scheduled for this Saturday at 5pm ET and registration opens Thursday at 5 pm ET. The field will be capped at 4,000 players so register as early as you can.

All players need to do is visit DoylesRoom.com and download the new software to get registered. The tournament is listed in the tournament lobby as “$5,000 Launch Party FREEROLL”. Best of luck at the tables.

Sure, the entire world might seem to be focused on the Super Bowl in Tampa but online poker room BodogLife.com has come up with two special poker tournaments that will give poker players a much needed distraction during Super Bowl weekend.

The first is a $125 + $10 buy-in Flight Club Seminfinal that will award one seat to the LAPT Punta del Esta for every 48 players who register. The $6,000 prize package includes the $3,700 buy-in plus $2,300 for travel and accomodation costs. The tournament starts at 4 pm ET on Saturday afternoon.

Then, on Super Bowl Sunday, Bodog will host its Super Bowl Special tournament with $20,000 in added prize money. The $100 + $9 buy-in event starts a good two hours before the Pittsburgh Steelers and Arizona Cardinals kick-off in the actual game so you’ve got plenty of time to build up a monster stack and get some of that $20,000.

For more information or to sign-up visit BodogLife.com.

The Borgata Winter Open is through Day 2 and Frank Flowers is leading the way with 847,500 chips. Flowers is one of 172 players to survive the madness that saw 547 players sent packing.

Flowers was the only player to crest the 800,000 mark but there is a group of six players right behind him that have at least 700,000 in their starting stacks. Evan Kochov and David Baker are closest with 799,000 and 798,000 respectively. George Medrano, who started the day as the chip leader, was unable to follow through on the momentum he had from Day 1 and finished the second day with 387,000 which is just above the average stack of 298,763.

Bill Edler managed to nurse his stack through the day and wrapped up with 276,000. Some of the players who saw their run at the $658,405 first place prize come to an end include Atlantic City regular Joey “JoeytheB” Brooks, Robert and Olga Varkonyi, Cliff “JohnnyBax” Josephy, Young Phan and Mark Seif.

Action resumes Wednesday at 11 am ET.

Borgata Winter Open Top 10 Chip Counts

1. Frank Flowers - 847,500
2. Evan Kochav - 799,000
3. David Baker - 798,000
4. Anthony Villani - 770,500
5. Stephen Barbella - 727,000
6. Daniel Sparacino - 715,000
7. Logan Raskin - 704,500
8. Mohamed Elkerdawy - 648,500
9. Grant Coombs III - 644,500
10. Eric Siegel - 633,500

Cake Poker, one of the fastest growing poker networks post-UIGEA, has scooped another major partner. DoylesRoom.com, which was most recently part of the Microgaming Network, announced today they have begun moving their players to Cake so they can continue to service their American customers.

We wanted to offer our players a rewarding place to play and the liquidity and integrity associated with the Cake Poker Network made this an easy choice for our new partnership, said Doyle Brunson, the name behind the brand.

The move became necessary after Microgaming made it clear they planned on removing themselves from the U.S. market. For their part Cake Poker recognizes the value of having a 10-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner and the man many consider the godfather of poker join their group.

Having the legend of poker choose our network to call home means a lot to us. We look forward to welcoming all of the DoylesRoom players and are excited to be able to offer all of our network players a chance to rub elbows with Doyle Brunson through some industry exclusive promotions and contests we will be launching in the next few months, the company said in a statement.

The network switch should be a welcome change for DoylesRoom players. With greater network liquidity DoylesRoom players will now see larger guaranteed tournaments, better security and a strengthened customer service and operations team. The site is welcoming all players, new and existing, to join them in a $5,000 Launch Party Freeroll at 5 pm ET this Saturday. The next day players can play in the $100,000 Guaranteed Tournament with a $150 + $12 buy-in.

For more information or to sign-up visit DoylesRoom.com.

The Borgata Winter Open Main Event is no longer part of the World Poker Tour but that doesn’t mean the event, with a $2 million guaranteed prize pool, isn’t considered a major by the games best players.

A total of 1,017 players paid the $3,200 buy-in to push the total prize pool to $3,050,000 and included amongst the two startind day fields were Ted Forrest, Cliff “JohnnyBax” Josephy, Tiffany Michelle, Lacey Jones, Kathy Liebert, Hevad Khan, defending World Series of Poker Ladies champion Svetlana Gremenkova, Maria Ho, Ari Engel, Bill Edler, Eric Lynch and Amnon Fillipi.

The chip leader after all the dust settled through the two Day 1’s is George Medrano with 242,900. A total of 710 players survived and will return to the felt at the Borgata Hotel & Casino in Atlantic City to chase down the $658,405 first place prize. The most well recognizable face in the top ten is Mark Seif who will unbag 197,000 chips on Tuesday afternoon, good enough for tenth.

Even with nearly 70% of the field returning on Day 2 thanks to one of the best tournament structures going there were a few big names who didn’t survive. Tiffany Michelle, Shaun Deeb, Eric Lynch, Matt Matros, Ari Engel and Maria Ho were all sent to the rail.

Action resumes Tuesday with players starting the action at Level 9 (500/1,000 - 100 ante). 

Borgata Winter Open Top 10 Day 2 Chip Counts 

1. George Medrano - 242,900
2. Hamid Kashvari - 237,100
3. Jerry Maher - 226,000
4. Jason Cossifos - 222,700
5. Joel Shulruf - 221,700
6. Michael Contessa - 221,400
7. Alex Kuchik - 215,100
8. Philip Gurian - 213,100
9. Kyle Burnside - 202,400
10. Mark Seif - 197,000

The biggest tournament of the weekend, the PokerStars Sunday Million, featured a $1.7 million prize pool and as play wound down the final three players decided to chop up the remaining money and play for $30,000. The biggest beneficiary was “marmotte21” who walked away with $132,696.59 for finishing in third place. Had the players not agreed to the chop based on chip counts he would have scored only $94,350. The eventual winner, “jnic00“, ended up pocketing $178,788.86.

In other Sunday Majors action some of online poker’s biggest names walked away with good results. In the Sunday Mulligan on Full Tilt Poker, Chris “MoormanI” Moorman, who finished third in the race for Online Player-of-the-Year in 2008, posted a runner-up finish worth $33,880. Over at PokerStars online poker legend Cliff “JohnnyBax” Josephy posted a seventh place finish for $13,073 in the Sunday Second Chance. Here are the final table results from all of the Sunday Majors:

Full Tilt Poker: The Sunday Mulligan ($200 + $16)
Entrants: 1,210
Prizepool: $242,000

1. boykee - $53,240
2. MoormanI - $33,880
3. CampCommando - $24,926
4. jomama7769 - $19,662.50
5. inf3rnal - $15,125
6. Christian Kruel - $10,890
7. meaneye - $7,260
8. carpman42 - $5,445
9. th_IN_kB4urail - $3,872

Full Tilt Poker: The Sunday Brawl ($240 + $16)
Entrants: 2,287
Prizepool: $457,400

1. Viktor - $93,286.73
2. philbort – 60,376.80
3. soudara - $44,825.20
4. giorango - $33,847.60
5. SeijiStar - $23,784.80
6. StakAtax - $15,551.60
7. Squirrely1 - $10,520.20
8. The Omaholic - $7,318.40
9. dsindy - $5,488.80

Full Tilt Poker: $750,000 Guarantee ($200 + $16)
Entrants: 3,866
Prizepool: $773,200

1. dusnguyen - $136,895.06
2. NeverScaredB - $82,732.40
3. Jordan Morgan - $54,124
4. farid1221x – 42,680.64
5. hattrick8810 - $32,010.48
6. nickdawgg - $23,737.24
7. TigBitties2 - $17,783.60
8. cashqueen88 – 13,917.60
9. Bluedog428 - $10,360.88

PokerStars: The Sunday Warm-Up ($200 + $15)
Entrants: 4,366
Prizepool: $873,200

1. Snookerfun - $112,642.80
2. emyjim - $78,588
3. SexSeen - $52,392
4. J0hnny_Dr@m@ - $43,660
5. spiderfrank - $34,928
6. 21aek21 - $26,196
7. lteopepe88 – 17,464
8. ToBeTheMan - $10,915
9. harima - $7,072.92

PokerStars: The Sunday Million ($200 + $15)
Entrants: 8,500
Prizepool: $1,700,000

1. jnic00 - $178,788.86
2. i_lv_beer - $127,284.55
3. marmotte21 - $132,696.59
4. Kris Merlot - $76,500
5. calytry - $59,500
6. PaperLamp - $42,500
7. LastChance11 - $29,750
8. Flamarion - $19,550
9. rebel1100- $11,900

PokerStars: The Sunday Second Chance ($200 + $15)
Entrants: 1,538
Prizepool: $307,600

1. AAqueens22 - $55,491.04
2. actionDJ - $40,141
3. PeachyMer - $30,760
4. badbeatninja - $23,070
5. ael1979 - $16,149
6. JohnnyBax - $13,073
7. alarmo17 - $9,997
8. ragsonly1 - $6,921
9. rckhound - $4,306.40

Harrah’s Entertainment released the schedule for the 40th Annual World Series of Poker Monday morning and if there’s a theme to it, it’s a very Obama-like “change”. Poker players are bound to spend the next weeks and months discussing whether the changes are for the better or not.

The 2009 WSOP will take its usual summer slot and run from May 27 until July 15 when the final nine players left in the Main Event will go on a 118-day hiatus and return as the November Nine. The final table is currently scheduled to take place November 7 – 10. The first event this year will also include a return to tradition after a one-year hiatus. The opening event will be the annual $500 buy-in Casino Employees event, a two-day No Limit Hold’em tournament. Last year the event was held in the middle of the Series.

One thing that won’t be returning this year is any of the five rebuy events that dotted the 2008 schedule. Many of the game’s top pros, including some of those who are part of the WSOP Player Advisory Council, have voiced displeasure with the rebuy events in the past as they believe it allows heavily bankrolled players to buy their way to a bracelet.
A total of 57 events will award gold bracelets in 2009, up from 55 last year. Harrah’s also increased the number of $10,000 buy-in World Championship events from 8 to 10 with the addition of a 2-7 Draw Lowball event and a Seven-card Stud Hi-Lo Split-8 or Better tournament.

To commemorate the 40th anniversary of poker’s most prestigious event a special one-time only $40,000 buy-in No Limit Hold’em event will be held in the opening days of the WSOP. And while that tournament might only be for the high-rollers Harrah’s management also showed they’re aware of the current economic climate. A special $1,000 buy-in “stimulus special” will be held on opening weekend and a field of over 5,000 players is expected.

“Whether you play poker around the kitchen table or consider yourself a professional, you will find a comfortable seat at the 2009 World Series of Poker,” said Jeffrey Pollack, commissioner of the World Series of Poker. “This year’s schedule offers more variety than ever before and we look forward to welcoming players from around the world to the Rio for our 40th annual extravaganza this summer.”

If a player were to play every single event the total cost would be $295,500. To view the complete schedule visit www.WorldSeriesofPoker.com.

For the first time in seven years the Aussie Millions Main Event title is staying within the country. Stewart Scott outlasted a field of 680 players to take home the $2,000,000 AU first place prize and the status of hero amongst his countrymen.

Scott entered the final table with a considerable chip lead and only eliminated the final player and second place finisher Peter Rho to capture the title. The final hand gives an indication as to how hot the Australian Scott ran during the tournament.

After Scott opened with a raise to 250,000 Rho moved all-in for 2.175 million and Scott called instantly. While Rho had A-J the local was in prime position for the title with pocket aces. The board didn’t deliver a bad beat and Scott had the title. Rho walked away with $1 million AU for his runner-up finish.

The last Australian-born player to win the Aussie Millions, also known as the Australian Poker Championships, was John Maver in 2002. Russia’s Alexander Kostritsyn and Denmark’s Gus Hansen won the last two Aussie Millions Main Event’s respectively.

2009 Aussie Millions Main Event Final Table Payouts

1. Stewart Scott $2,000,000 AU
2. Peter Rho $1,000,000 AU
3. Elliot Smith $700,000 AU
4. Rajkumar Ramakrishnan $400,000 AU
5. Sam Capra $300,000 AU
6. Zach Gruneberg $210,000 AU
7. Richard Ashby $1500,000 AU
8. Barny Boatman $100,000 AU

For the second consecutive time on the European Poker Tour a PokerStars.com satellite winner has walked away with the title. Germany’s Moritz Kranich won €851,400 ($1.1 million US) and the EPT Deauville title after eliminating France’s Arnaud Esquevin heads-up.
“It’s amazing to win this event. I never imagined when I got here on Tuesday that this would happen. I’m very, very happy,” said Kranich, who qualified online just like recent PokerStars Caribbean Adventure winner Poorya Nazari.
The €5,350 buy-in tournament, hosted by Barrière Poker at Casino de Deauville, had 645 players including 120 who won their way in via satellite tournaments on PokerStars. The event marked the return of the EPT to France after a three-year hiatus as French gaming laws prevented the tournament from taking place. The total prize pool was €3,096,000 ($4.02 million US).”Two years in exile seems to have strengthened the resolve of French poker players to support and celebrate this popular event. The EPT’s return to Deauville – with record field and prize pool – has been an extraordinary success,” said EPT founder John Duthie.
Finishing in third place was another French player, Tristan Clemencon, who walked away with €284,800 ($370,240). Italian Andrea Benelli finished in fourth place for his third EPT cash and second final table appearance. He earned €219,800 ($285,740 US).
The next stop on the European Poker Tour is EPT Copenhagen in Denmark. The €5,300 event takes place February 17-21, 2009 at Casino Copenhagen in the Radisson SAS Scandinavia Hotel.

The biggest tournament Down Under now has a final table and when the eight players return to the felt at 8:30 pm ET the boisterous locals will have one of their own to cheer on. Stewart Scott has 4.52 million in chips in the 2009 Aussie Millions Main Event more than the second and third place players have combined.

Scott’s rise to the chip lead is one story, but maybe the bigger story Friday was Barney Boatman. When play began the oldest member of the Hendon Mob was one of the shortest stacks and his elimination seemed inevitable. Boatman had other ideas and kept on surviving to finish the day with 349,000 chips and a seat at the final table.

The players who are closest to ruining Scott’s run to the title are Peter Rho (2.42 million) and Rajkumar Ramakrishnan (2.05 million). For Rho this is his second final table of the Aussie Millions having posted an eighth place finish in Event #6 ($1,000 AU No Limit Hold’em). First place pays $2 million AU.

Friday’s action saw the end of the run for two of the women who had stolen most of the headlines over the past four days. Annica Ivert who actually held the chip lead after Day 3 just missed the final table with an 11th place finish. But the elimination of Annette Obrestad in 21st place meant that the 20-year-old former World Series of Poker Europe champion would be denied a shot at a second major title. Also eliminated from the tournament was Sorel Mizzi (16th - $65,000 AU) and November Niner Kelly Kim (22nd - $50,000 AU).

2009 Aussie Millions Final Table Chip Counts

1. Stewart Scott - 4,520,000
2. Peter Rho - 2,420,000
3. Rajkumar Ramakrishnan - 2,050,000
4. Zach Gruneberg - 1,355,000
5. Sam Capra - 1,161,00
6. Elliot Smith - 1,120,000
7. Richard Ashby - 658,000
8. Barney Boatman - 349,000

2009 Aussie Millions Results (places 9 – 28)

9. Zach Fellows $100,000 AU … 10. Tino Lechich $100,000 AUD … 11. Annica Ivert   $80,000 AU … 12. Dixon Ruecker   $80,000 AU … 13. Grant Levy $65,000 AU … 14. Christian Heich $65,000 AU … 15. Chris Chronis $65,000 AU … 16. Sorel Mizzi $65,000 AU … 17. Frank Ellis $65,000 AU … 18. Chris Fullwood $65,000 AU … 19. Michael Tureniec $50,000 AU … 20. Joe Cassidy $50,000 AU … 21. Annette Obrestad $50,000 AU … 22. Kelly Kim $50,000 AU … 23. Jonathan Plens $50,000 AU … 24. Hoi Cheung $50,000 AU … 25. Antonio Casale $40,000 AU … 26. Andrew Chen $40,000 AU … 27. Tom Pongrass $40,000 AU … 28. Natan Meylakh $40,000 AU

As of Friday morning Argentia’s Fabian Ortiz has become two things; first, he’s $141,426 richer and second, he’s the first ever Latin American poker player to win a Latin American Poker Tour title event after he bested a field of 216 poker players to win the LAPT Vina Del Mar in Chile at the EnjoyVina del Mar Casino and Resort.

Ortiz eliminated Vincenzo Gianelli of Venuzuela to win the title. Gianelli took home $78,570 for finishing as the runner-up. The final table at actually had all nine players from Latin America with local favourite Jyries Saba finishing seventh for $18,330. Saba was one of 50 players from Chile to play in the event.

“Fabian Ortiz’s win demonstrates the growth of poker as a Latin American sport”, said LAPT President Glenn Cademartori. “This is our first event where the majority of the field was made up of Latin American players. We expect many more local champions as this sport continues to grow in popularity in the region.”

The next LAPT stop is the Punta del Este scheduled for the Mantra Resort Spa Casino in Uruguay this March.

LAPT Vina Del Mar Final Table Payouts

1. Fabian Ortiz - $141,426
2. Vincenzo Gianelli - $78,570
3. Damian Salas - $52,380
4. Leandro Balotin - $39,285
5. Hernan Villa - $28,809
6. Fabio Escobar - $23,571
7. Jyries Saba - $18,330
8. Eduardo Camia - $13,095
9. Jaime Ateneloff - $10,476