Online phenomenon Justin “BoostedJ” Smith has a new item to add to his list of accomplishments. After placing third in the 2009 Bellagio Cup and earning five cashes plus two final table appearances at the 2009 World Series of Poker, Smith is now a Full Tilt pro.

Smith was a well known online player but cemented himself as a live player to keep an eye on after his live tournament debut at the 2008 World Series of Poker Europe. Since then Smith has made close to $700,000 in live tournament winnings.  

At the conclusion of the 2009 WSOP Smith had proven himself to be a well rounded player, capable of playing with the best live players in the world. Smith’s five WSOP cashes ranged in games from Pot Limit Omaha, heads-up No Limit Texas Hold ‘em to Seven Card Stud Lowball.

Smith made his first WSOP final table appearance in the $10,000 World Championship No Limit 2-7 Lowball (Event 23) on June 10, finishing in ninth. Eight days later Smith was seated at his second WSOP final table, this time the $10,000 World Championship Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo Eight or Better (Event 37). Smith finished that event in eighth.  

As a Full Tilt pro Smith joins the ranks of Chris Ferguson, Phil Ivey, John Juanda, Gavin Smith, Chip and Karina Jett and Svetlana Gromenkova.

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Steve Schirripa of “The Sopranos” will host NBC’s first ever poker-themed game show “Face the Ace.”

The show that gives qualifiers the chance to play heads up against some of poker’s best players will debut with back to back Saturday showings on August 1, at 9 p.m. ET. The remaining seven episodes will air Saturday afternoons.

“Face the Ace” contestants have been selected from a group of qualifiers at facetheace.net and fulltiltpoker.net. Each contestant will get the chance to battle against three professional players for top prize of $1 million.

Contestants will select a pro from behind smoked-glass doors to play an initial heads-up No Limit Hold ‘em match with a prize of $40,000. If the contestant wins that match they will go on to another match with a different pro to play for $200,000. If the second match is won the contestant can play a third match against a third pro for $1 million. The contestants can choose to walk away with the money after each match. If they lose at any point, they walk away with nothing.

The pros will secure $10,000 for their charity of choice for each match they win.

The “Aces” will consist of Patrik Antonius, Andy Bloch, Allen Cunningham, Chris Ferguson, Phil Gordon, Gus Hansen, Jennifer Harman, Phil Ivey, John Juanda, Howard Lederer, Erick Lindgren, Mike Matusow, Huck Seed, Erik Seidel and Gavin Smith.

As a group the “Aces” have won 41 World Series of Poker bracelets, 11 World Poker Tour titles and amassed nearly $100 million in tournament winnings.

“Most people don’t get to compete against their favorite athletes in sports like football or basketball,” Schirripa said. “This show gives contestants and incomparable opportunity to test their skills against some of the best poker players in the world. The same people they’ve read about or watched on TV are the ones they have to defeat for a chance at life changing money.”

In addition to Schirripa, Ali Nejad of “Poker After Dark” will serve as tournament director and Megan Abrigo, Breifcase Model Number 6 on “Deal or No Deal” will be the hostess.

ESPN will give poker fans the chance to get an inside glimpse at the lifestyles of some of their favorite pro poker players with the debut of “ESPN Inside Deal”, a web-only poker show at ESPN.com.

The three month series will begin on August 4 and will be hosted by ESPN The Magazine contributor Laura Lane, poker player and ESPN.com columnist Bernard Lee and ESPN.com poker editor Andrew Feldman.

Viewers will be able to see never before seen hands and features from the World Series of Poker broadcast and have access to the latest poker news of the week. Viewers can also submit questions to their favorite players via e-mail, Twitter and Facebook. The show will also feature a sweepstakes for fans to win a chance to witness the November Nine.

The show will conclude with the WSOP Main Event Final Table after analysis of and interviews with the  November Nine along the way.

The man often credited for the poker boom, 2003 Main Event winner Chris Moneymakerwill be the shows feature guest. 2005 Main Event winner Joe Hachem and 2004 Player of the Year Daniel Negreanu will also make appearances.

Sports and poker fans will have the chance to compete for $10 million in prize money with the launch of the Sports Legends Challenge September 14 through 17 at the Atlantis Paradise Resort and Casino in the Bahamas.

Participants will compete with 25 top professional athletes and 25 top professional poker players in No Limit Hold ‘em, Blackjack, golf and slots over four days.

The event will culminate with the No Limit Hold ‘em Sports Legends All-Star Poker Challenge, matching up  the professional athletes with the top 25 players and poker pros as their coaches.

Athletes set to participate include Troy Aikman, Mike Ditka, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Richard Petty, Sugar Ray Leonard, Emmitt Smith, Reggie Jackson, Tony Hawk, Randy Couture, Joe Namath and Gale Sayers.

Johnny Chan, Kathy Liebert, Mike Sexton, TJ Cloutier, David Singer, Gavin Smith, Layne Flack, Chip Jett, Karina Jett, Robert Willliamson III, Marco Traniello, Barbara Enright, Jamie Gold, Cyndy Violette and Antonio Esfandiari will represent professional poker players for the event.

“For most sports fans, the opportunity to meet just one of these athletes is something they would remember and talk about for the rest of their lives,” said Bruce Bibbero, founder and chief executive officer of Sports Legends Challenge. “We are creating an opportunity for participants to not only meet all of these athletes, but to spend significant amount of time with them playing poker, golf and hanging out for four fantastic days.”

Interested participants can find more information at sportslegendschallenge.com.

The addition of cosponsors to any legislation is important, as it shows broad support for a bill and its initial sponsor. When Rep. Barney Frank introduced the Internet Gambling Regulation Consumer Protection & Enforcement Act of 2009 (H.R. 2267) in early May, his primary co-sponsor, Rep. Ron Paul, signed on as its primary co-sponsor. Since that time, it has gained the support of a number of sponsors in the House of Representatives, and since National Poker Week began on July 19, three more have signed on to put the current number at 51.

As Frank explained during a press conference at the 2009 World Series of Poker, the initial support of Paul was important because it “puts the Republicans in a bind between their ardent social conservatives and another strong group of people that say to keep the government out of [personal] business, don’t overregulate business, and allow freedom on the internet. The UIGEA bill was the worst example of a violation of all three of those.” H.R. 2267 was proposed to essentially repeal the UIGEA, and its support has quickly grown with cosponsors. “The number of cosponsors indicates the kind of support you’ll have,” added Frank.

Others who initially signed on to sponsor the bill were Jim McDermott (D-WA), who himself introduced companion legislation to Frank’s bill that would provide for taxation of online gaming, Shelley Berkley (D-NV), Gary Ackerman (D-NY), Peter King (R-NY), and Robert Wexler (D-FL).

It was just since the lobbying push in Washington, D.C. during National Poker Week that began on July 19 that three more members of Congress have officially attached their names to Frank’s legislation. Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-CA) was the first to do so on July 21 in conjunction with a meeting with California PPA state director Steve Miller, lobbyist Edward Ayoob, Dan Goldman, and Annie Duke, during which time she and her staffers expressed their ardent support of Frank and his bill. John Conyers (D-MI) agreed to cosponsor the legislation the following day, and the addition of Mike Thompson (D-CA) on July 27 made for 51 cosponsors in total thus far.

All in all, there are four Republicans, one Independent, and 46 Democrats attached to H.R. 2267, in addition to Frank. If positive reports from many who lobbied on Capitol Hill during National Poker Week come to fruition, there will be even more support for the legislation in the coming weeks.

To view all of the cosponsors of the bill, as well as find contact information for members of Congress, visit the Safe and Secure Internet Gambling Initiative website or that of the Poker Players Alliance.

PokerStars has announced the inaugural 2009 Americas Cup of Poker, a battle between 16 nations broken up into four teams.

Players from the countries of the United States, Canada, Argentina, Columbia, Venezuela, Costa Rica, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Ecuador, Peru, Uruguay and Paraguay can play in any of PokerStars ACP daily freerolls, $.20 or $5.50 online qualifiers to earn points for their countries. Players from other nations can play for the three Wildcard spots.

The countries are broken up into four groups:

• Group A - United States, Mexico, Ecuardor, Wildcard 1
• Group B - Canada, Columbia, Uruguay, Wildcard 2
• Group C - Chile, Venezuela, Peru, Costa Rica
• Group D - Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina, Wildcard 3

The two Nations with the most wins in each group will compete in the live final in the Argentine ski resort of Cerro Catedral in Bariloche set against the Andes mountains.

The five players with the most wins will make up the roster for the final tables and battle for $250,000 in prize money. The winning team’s players will split top prize of $100,000.

To add to the excitement a PokerStars Team Pro will be join the members of each team during the live final.

Tuesday July, 28 will mark the beginning of ESPN’s weekly coverage of the 2009 World Series of Poker. The action will get underway at 8 p.m. ET with the broadcast of the $40,000 No Limit Hold ‘em, an event special to the 2009 WSOP.

The 201 player field made up the biggest non-Main Event prize pool in WSOP history with a total of $7,700,000. The winner walked away with $1,900,000 after three days of play.

Coverage will begin with commentators Norman Chad and Lon McEachern walking viewers through the final table that featured 2004 Main Event winner Greg Raymer and five-time bracelet winner Ted Forrest.

ESPN will air coverage of the 2009 WSOP every Tuesday until the Main Event live final table on November 10.

The G4 Network will air the first episode of “2 Months, $2 Million,” August 16th at 9 p.m. The show followed online pros Dani “Ansky” Stern, Jay “Krantz” Rosenkrantz, Emil “Whitelime” Patel and Brian “Flawless_Victory” Roberts for two months as they attempted to earn $2 million.

The four players used their own money to finance their buy-ins and resided in a 10,000 square foot mansion equpied with a “War Room” and “Tilt Room.”

The “War Room” was a converted home theater holding four 50 inch plasma monitors connected to each players computer through hi-definition converters. The “Tilt Room” was stocked with hockey sticks, baseball bats, watermelon and heads of lettuce, at the ready when the players needed to blow off steam.

The premier episode will show the four players moving in and getting acquaintedwith their new place of residence. The remaining nine half hour episodes will follow the players as they rack up $5,000 bar tabs and look for ladies at the hottest pools on the strip.

The four will also play a live cash game with Erica Shoenberg, play high stakes online games with David Benyamine and have dinner with Tom “Durrr” Dwan.

The show will be full of poker player antics as well. Each week the player who loses the most will find himself on the wrong end of a prop-bet, each bet getting more extreme as the weeks go on. One player will end up wearing a tu-tu to an expensive restaurant while another will be forced to play a harp on the Strip in exchange for tips from tourists.

The four young guns, Patel, 25, Rosenkrantz, 25, Stern, 22 all from New York and Roberts, 26 from Texas will give viewers an inside look at the lives of online professional poker players.

Sunday was a big day for some of online poker’s pros during the PokerStars and Full Tilt Sunday Majors. Aguskb, Danneville and GAkingChaser each rounded out their weekends as winners in the PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up ($200 + $15), the sunday Million ($200 + $15) and the PokerStars Sunday Second Chance ($200 + $15).

All three players made their largest career cashes with their respective wins.

KtownCicero, Liinda14 and 21boo21ended the weekend on high notes as the victors in the Full Tilt Poker $750,000 guarunteed ($200 + $16), the Full Tilt Poker Sunday Mulligan ($200 + $16) and the Full Tilt Poker Sunday Brawl ($240 + $16)

The results from the final tables of the Sunday Majors are:

PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up ($200 + $15)
Entrants: 4,303
Prize Pool: $750,000

1. Aguskb - $135,010.93
2. Daddddymufff - $100,259.91
3. HEMIpowerSWT - $70,999.51
4. Jane Smith - $48,623.91
5. UNCGuy - $36,575.51
6. Wackworm - $27,969.51
7. dippedydawg - $19,363.51
8. ILAN17 - $10,757.51
9. blend84 - $6,884.81

PokerStars Sunday Million ($200 + $15)
Entrants: 8,342
Prize Pool: $1,500,000

1. Danneville - $245,421.65
2. Skammes - $179,353.01
3. domino16 - $125,130.01
4. ThePokerBody - $83,420.01
5. KingGorn - $66,736.01
6. BREAKURFACE - $50,052.01
7. asbo22 - $33,368.01
8. FreeLancerZZ - $18,352.41
9. buttonsAAAA - $12,930.11

PokerStars Sunday Second Chance ($200 + $15)
Entrants: 1,440
Prize Pool: $200,000

1. GAkingChaser - $52,070.40
2. LuKeYnOey - $37,728
3. jakehekejnr - $28,800
4. zakooza - $21,600
5. BleedBlue33 - $15,120
6. jovo-kk21 - $12,240
7. tnetter - $9,360
8. Anbessa9 - $6,480
9. Fiskin1 - $4, 032

Full Tilt Poker $750,000 guarunteed ($200 + $16)
Entrants: 4,401
Prize Pool: $880,200

1. KtownCicero - $155,342.52
2. HITTHEPANDA - $94,093.38
3. Crazyz987 - $61,614
4. feltingfools - $48,411
5. wvumaniac2 - $36,352.26
6. jba1986 - $26,934.12
7. Kishotti - $20,244.60
8. 00s - $15,843.60
9. chkrazethedevil - $11,794.68

Full Tilt Poker Sunday Mulligan ($200 + $16)
Entrants: 1,348
Prize Pool: $269,600

1. Liinda14 - $59,312
2. robert07 - $37,744
3. CzGLoRy - $27,634
4. TheGuerreiro - $21,905
5. Mike McDonald - $16,850
6. theAlternate - $12,132
7. Anguz - $7,818.40
8. matthew66 - $5,661.60
9. MrQuist - $4,151.84

Full Tilt Poker Sunday Brawl ($240 + $16)
Entrants: 2,600
Prize Pool: $520,000

1. 21boo21 - $105,560
2. Vincent1204 - $68,120
3. bullrotx313 - $50,440
4. lakenut42 - $37,960
5. artbrancusi - $26,520
6. s33dsnb33r - $17,680
7. qasem2000 - $11,960
8. JohnnyM77 - $ 8,320
9. Edelweys - $6,240

After Russia’s announcement that the designation of “sport” had been removed from the game of pokermany players were left wondering what would become of the European Poker Tour event scheduled in Moscow August 17 through 23.

PokerStars has announced the late August stop on the tour has been moved to Kiev, Ukraine. The event will run from August 18 through August 23 and take place at the Kiev Sports Palace. The event will be under the authority of the Ukrainian Ministry of Youth, Family and Sport in partnership with the Ukrainian Poker Federation.

With the closing of all poker clubs in Russia, PokerStars decided to move the tournament due to doubts about the ability to run a successful event.

PokerStars is now encouraging players who were planning on attending the Moscow event to consider attending the alternate event in Kiev.

Players who qualified through satellite tournaments for the Moscow event will have their tournament packages converted, including buy-in and hotel, to EPT Kiev packages. If satellite qualifiers do not wish to attend the new event they can chose to be given a credit to a future event or receive a cash equivalent.

Unlike Russia the Ukraine does not require players from the United States, the European Union and Canada to obtain a visa before entering the country for less than 90 days.

The buy- in for the EPT Kiev Sports Poker Championship Main Event will be 5,000 Euros. The event is expected to be the largest poker tournament ever held in the Ukraine.

National Poker Week continued Wednesday with poker pros like Annie Duke, Andy Bloch, and Greg Raymer in Washington, D.C., as well as about 35 Poker Players Alliance state directors. What better time or place to join forces with the USO to raise money for wounded soldiers through a star-studded charity poker tournament?

After the first full day of lobbying on Capitol Hill for the pro-online poker legislation, members of the PPA gathered with some of the most well-known poker pros in the business, various members of Congress and their staffers, and approximately 30 wounded soldiers to play a poker tournament at the Hyatt Regency on Capitol Hill to benefit the USO of Metropolitan Washington. The evening began with an offering of food and drinks, along with a presentation by PPA Executive Director John Pappas of a $25,000 donation to the USO, followed by the singing of the national anthem by PPA member Ivan Neville.

The amount given to the USO was supplemented when the poker tournament began, as $100 rebuys were in effect for the first several levels. Pro poker players like Dennis Phillips and talk show host Montel Williams immediately put bounties on their own heads as well as purchased rebuys for wounded soldiers who were eliminated at their tables. Duke and Howard Lederer launched into good-natured sibling rivalry as they each attempted to purchase more rebuys than the other. The rebuy madness eventually raised another $10,000 for the USO by the time the evening had concluded.

All in all, the PPA and the 150 players in attendance for the night raised $35,000 for the USO (United Services Organizations) that provide assistance and programs for soldiers recovering in military hospitals from service-related injuries. In addition to the 30 wounded soldiers who participated in the tournament, the poker pros in the tournament included Duke, Lederer, Phillips, Bloch, Raymer, Linda Johnson, Jan Fisher, and Jordan Morgan. Also taking part in the evening’s festivities were numerous members of Congress, including Xavier Becerra (CA), Shelley Berkley (NV), Pete King (NY), Rom Perriello (VA), Lynn Westmoreland (GA), Martin Heinrich (NM), and Ed Perlmutter (CO).

When the madness and excitement of the tournament concluded, Army Sergeant Bret Chevalier claimed victory in the event, which came along with a donated prize of a paid trip to Las Vegas. Coming in second was Donna Lawton, representing Utah for the PPA, who won a World Series of Poker Academy package.

USO-Metro President Elaine Rogers commented, “The Poker Players Alliance provided our wounded warriors with a fantastic evening and the opportunity to play poker alongside several pros. We are thankful to the PPA for their generous donation and a great event.”

Added Pappas, “The Poker Players Alliance is proud to support USO-Metro and all they do for recovering servicemen and women and their families. It was our honor to host the wounded warriors, and we are grateful to the members of Congress and professional players who came out to the tournament to show their support.”

The PokerStars-sponsored Asia-Pacific Poker Tour is back for a third a season beginning with the 2009 Macau Summer Festival of Poker at the Grand Lisboa Casino in late August the company announced Tuesday.

With 20 scheduled events, anchored by the $5,200 US buy-in Main Event and the $11,500 US buy-in High Rollers event, the Festival promises to ensure the APPT season starts off in fine fashion. Last season Eddie Sabat bested a field of 538 players to win $460,000 in the APPT Macau event.

“I’m pleased to see the sport of tournament poker continue to grow in Asia” said Joe Hachem, Team PokerStars Pro. ”I played in the first APPT Macau in 2007 when PokerStars planted the seeds of No-Limit Texas Hold’em poker culture in Macau, and it’s been incredible watching that legacy take root and bloom.”

The other four cities on the APPT schedule are Seoul, Korea, Auckland, New Zealand, Cebu, Phillipines and the Grand Final in Sydney, Australia and with increased capacities at all venues tournament organizers are excited for an even bigger year than Season 2 provided.

“This season’s APPT is set to be even bigger than Season 2 in terms of both number of participants and prize pools. This has been made possible by continued enthusiasm for the tour right across the region, with amazing levels of participation,” said Jeffrey Haas, President of the APPT. ”As poker culture continues to grow in Asia Pacific and more extraordinary players emerge on the scene, they tell us how excited they are to match their skills against players from around the world to win the prestigious poker title of APPT Champion.”

Los Angeles. Las Vegas. Atlantic City. No, it’s not the tour dates for Holly Madison but rather the cities that the World Series of Poker Academy has been to and now poker players in Chicago can start to get excited as well.

Annie Duke, Bernard Lee, two-time bracelet winner Matt “mattg1983″ Graham will join poker tells expert Joe Navarro at the Horseshoe Casino just outside of Chicago August 29 - 30 for two days of top flight poker instruction.

“From live hand demonstrations with Annie Duke to our groundbreaking seminar with poker tells expert Joe Navarro, our event at the  Horseshoe Casino will give players the confidence and skills they need to be a threat at the table, whether they’re playing in a home game with friends or at the World Series of Poker against the best in the game,” said Brandon Rosen of Post Oak Productions, the company that produces the WSOP Academy. 

Included in the coursework is video analysis of World Series of Poker hands, question and answer sessions and live hand demonstrations focusing on playing position, calculating pot odds, post-flop strategy, concealing tells, identifying types of players, the importance of aggression and changing gears.

Along with two days of intense poker instruction the Academy will wrap up with a private multi-table tournament where the winner will advance to the 2010 WSOP Academy Tournament of Champions which will award one $10,000 seat to the 2010 WSOP Main Event.

The cost of the camp is $1,899. For more information visit www.wsopacademy.com.

It had been some time since the last Washington, D.C. fly-in, and with the designation of National Poker Week, the process was scheduled to include two days of meetings with members of Congress with the purpose of lobbying for current and upcoming pro-online poker legislation. For many who chose to participate in the process, namely more than 35 Poker Players Alliance state directors who were making their first trek to D.C. in a professional capacity, the experience of lobbying was an entirely new one, but there was a reason the PPA hired actual career lobbyists to lead the way.

PPA state directors are comprised of a wide variety of poker enthusiasts, from poker pros like Jordan Morgan to recreational players like Steve Miller, the vast majority of whom had little to no political experience, especially in the halls of Congress, prior to this week. But that did not diminish their eagerness to do what they came to D.C. for. They attended a meeting on Monday night, where they received talking points, instructional packets, and words of direction and encouragement from PPA Executive Director John Pappas, former Senator Alfonse D’Amato, and Rep. Robert Wexler.

The main set of instructions included the idea that each person would be paired with a professional lobbyist who was well-versed in the issue of online poker and the legislative interests of the PPA. But each person was asked to bring their enthusiasm for the issue and be prepared to tell their own poker stories in order to let the Congressperson or their staffers know the reasons for their passion. And no matter the outcome of each meeting, everyone was encouraged to follow-up with their representatives or senators at a later date, especially when they would be in their respective home states during the August recess.

Armed with knowledge and enthusiasm about online poker, the PPA state directors, poker pros, and lobbyists set out toward the Senate and House buildings on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, July 21, to attend short but hopefully productive meetings with members of Congress or their staffers.

People reported back with mostly positive results at the end of the day. While there were a few offices visited that contained Congresspeople who were clearly against the issue and would likely not change their minds, most told stories of open-mindedness and enlightenment. For the most part, there were three kinds of encounters.

First, there were the Senators and Representatives already on board, some of whom even previously signed on to Barney Frank’s H.R. 2267 as cosponsors of the bill. Meetings with those individuals primarily consisted of relaying the most current updates to them, thanking them for their support, and asking them to recruit more of their colleagues to our side of the issue.

Second, some members of Congress clearly had no opinion - or no strong feelings either way - on the issue. Most of these meetings were interesting, as when talking points and statistics were presented, especially the number of PPA members in their state/district and how many Americans support online poker, ears were perked and questions were asked. Staffers took notes, House members asked for time to take the information under advisement, and positive impressions were left with many who had not given much thought to the legislation.

Third, there were individuals in Congress who opposed online gaming. The meetings with them were tough, but some of them quickly became less tense when certain talking points were raised, primarily that the upcoming Menendez bill in the Senate will focus specifically on online poker and eliminate other forms of gaming, and that many of the nation’s large casinos were beginning to sign on to the idea, mainly Harrah’s, as they saw the benefit to the entire gaming industry. In addition, the facts that more than 370,000 Americans signed the Poker Petition, more than 10 million Americans have online poker accounts, and more than 1 million Americans are dues-paying members of the PPA were strong talking points that raised eyebrows. Many who visited Senators and Representatives who were opposed to the issue seemed to be intrigued by the arguments and the personal faces on the subject, and a reasonable number of them seemed willing to reconsider their stances.

The effects of the lobbying will likely not be known for weeks or months to come, especially with the heavy Congressional focus on the financial state of the U.S. and the strong Obama administration push for immediate health care reform. However, more lobbying appointments were set for Wednesday, July 22, before the week would begin to wrap, and the push from the American online poker community continued to be strong.

While American poker players are busy following the activity from National Poker Week in Washington, DC, poker players in Russia are in mourning after their government removed the “sport” designation from the game.

The move means that most poker clubs in Russia will be forced to close and leaves the status of the European Poker Tour stop in Moscow in question. Poker, and gaming halls offering any form of poker, are now under the designation of gambling.

“We have made a change in the Russian list of sports, approved by the order of the Russian Physical Training and Sport Committee on January 1, 2004. We have stricken poker off the list,” said Vitaly Mutko, Russian Youth, Sport and Tourism Minister.

The Russian Gambling Bill, signed in November 2006, forced the closure of gaming halls that did not meet certain regulations including square footage and financial liquidity. Those restrictions make it unlikely that any of the poker clubs which have popped up in Russia’s poker boom of the last 18 months will be able to survive.

“We are in mourning,” said Dmitry Lesnoi, founder of the Russian Federation of Sport Poker, the group largely responsible for the government’s original decision. It was Lesnoi’s work that paved the way for the creation of the PokerStars-backed Russian Poker Tour and the upcoming EPT event.

The EPT event in Moscow is scheduled to begin August 17 and run through August 23. The removal of poker as a sport will also make it more difficult for international players to acquire the necessary visas to travel to Russia to play in the event.

Russians have seen an increased presence at the top of international events over the past two years beginning with Alex Kravchenko’s final table appearance at the 2007 World Series of Poker. In 2008 Ivan Demidov made the final table of both WSOP Main Events in Las Vegas and London and just weeks ago Vitaly Lunkin won a bracelet in the $40,000 No Limit Hold’em tournament.