Archive for the ‘Speedyfold general poker’ Category

SCOOP Schedule and Dates

Friday, April 23rd, 2010

The long awaited Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) is now on the doorstep. There is a massive and very varied schedule of events, so it looks like it’s going to be a good one. The SCOOP series of events takes place on Pokerstars. Join Pokerstars to take part.

Each event is duplicated at 3 different buy-in levels to cater for all budgets. eg you can play the $22 event 1, the $215 event 1, or the $2100 event 1. Or all 3 if you feel that way inclined.

Event Date Time Game Buy-In Guarantee
1 May 2 13:00 NL Holdem
(6-max)
Low: $22
Med: $215
High: $2,100
Low: $250,000
Med: $1,000,000
High: $1,000,000
2 May 2 17:00 NL Holdem
(2-day event)
Low: $22
Med: $215
High: $2,100
Low: $500,000
Med: $2,000,000
High: $2,000,000
3 May 3 14:00 NL Holdem
6-Max
w/rebuys
Low: $5.50
Med: $55
High: $530
Low: $250,000
Med: $500,000
High: $1,000,000
4 May 3 17:00 FL Badugi Low: $16.50
Med: $162
High: $1,575
Low: $25,000
Med: $50,000
High: $75,000
5 May 3 20:00 PL Omaha
(Turbo, 1R1A)
Low: $11
Med: $109
High: $1,050
Low: $50,000
Med: $100,000
High: $150,000
6 May 4 14:00 PL 5-Card Draw Low: $11
Med: $109
High: $1,050
Low: $25,000
Med: $50,000
High: $75,000
7 May 4 17:00 NL Holdem
(Heads-Up)
Low: $16.50
Med: $162
High: $1,575
Low: $100,000
Med: $250,000
High: $500,000
8 May 4 20:00 NL Holdem Low: $11
Med: $109
High: $1,050
Low: $100,000
Med: $200,000
High: $500,000
9 May 5 14:00 Mixed Holdem
(6-Max)
Low: $22
Med: $215
High: $2,100
Low: $100,000
Med: $200,000
High: $400,000
10 May 5 17:00 7-Card Stud Low: $33
Med: $320
High: $3,150
Low: $25,000
Med: $50,000
High: $100,000
11 May 6 14:00 PL Omaha
(Heads-Up)
Low: $22
Med: $215
High: $2,100
Low: $25,000
Med: $100,000
High: $200,000
12 May 6 17:00 NL Hold’em Low: TBC
Med: TBC
High: $TBC
Low: $100,000
Med: $200,000
High: $300,000
13 May 7 14:00 NL Holdem
(Ante Up)
Low: $16.50
Med: $162
High: $1,575
Low: $50,000
Med: $100,000
High: $200,000
14 May 7 17:00 FL Omaha Hi-Lo Low: $55
Med: $530
High: $5,200
Low: $50,000
Med: $150,000
High: $250,000
15 May 7 20:00 NL Holdem
(2X Chance)
(Turbo)
Low: $16.50
Med: $162
High: $1,575
Low: $250,000
Med: $500,000
High: $750,000
16 May 8 14:00 NL Holdem
Shootout
Low: $22
Med: $215
High: $2,100
Low: $150,000
Med: $150,000
High: $200,000
17 May 8 17:00 PL Omaha
(6-Max w/rebuys)
Low: $16.50
Med: $162
High: $1,575
Low: $100,000
Med: $250,000
High: $500,000
18 May 8 20:00 FL Holdem Turbo Low: $22
Med: $215
High: $2,100
Low: $25,000
Med: $100,000
High: $150,000
19 May 9 13:00 NL Holdem
(Big Antes)
Low: $22
Med: $215
High: $2,100
Low: $250,000
Med: $750,000
High: $750,000
20 May 9 17:00 NL Holdem
(2 day event)
Low: $22
Med: $215
High: $2,100
Low: $500,000
Med: $2,000,000
High: $2,000,000
21 May 10 14:00 PL Holdem / PL Omaha Low: $16.50
Med: $162
High: $1,575
Low: $75,000
Med: $200,000
High: $300,000
22 May 10 17:00 NL Hold’em
(4-Max)
Low: $33
Med: $320
High: $3,150
Low: $150,000
Med: $300,000
High: $500,000
23 May 10 20:00 NL Holdem
Turbo
w/rebuys
Low: $11
Med: $109
High: $1,050
Low: $150,000
Med: $300,000
High: $500,000
24 May 11 14:00 2-7 Triple Draw Low: $11
Med: $109
High: $1,050
Low: $25,000
Med: $50,000
High: $75,000
25 May 11 17:00 7-Card Stud Hi-Lo Low: $22
Med: $215
High: $2,100
Low: $50,000
Med: $100,000
High: $150,000
26 May 11 20:00 NL Holdem Low: $11
Med: $109
High: $1,050
Low: $100,000
Med: $200,000
High: $500,000
27 May 12 14:00 Razz Low: $22
Med: $215
High: $2,100
Low: $50,000
Med: $100,000
High: $150,000
28 May 12 17:00 NL Holdem
w/rebuys
Low: $11
Med: $109
High: $1,050
Low: $200,000
Med: $400,000
High: $600,000
29 May 13 14:00 8-Game Low: $33
Med: $320
High: $3,150
Low: $75,000
Med: $150,000
High: $250,000
30 May 13 17:00 PL Omaha Hi-Lo Low: $11
Med: $109
High: $1,050
Low: $75,000
Med: $150,000
High: $300,000
31 May 14 14:00 NL Holdem (1R1A) Low: $22
Med: $215
High: $2,100
Low: $250,000
Med: $500,000
High: $1,000,000
32 May 14 17:00 FL Hold’em
(6-Max)
Low: $55
Med: $530
High: $5,200
Low: $100,000
Med: $200,000
High: $300,000
33 May 14 20:00 NL Omaha Hi-Lo Low: $22
Med: $215
High: $2,100
Low: $50,000
Med: $100,000
High: $200,000
34 May 15 14:00 PL Omaha
(6-Max)
Low: $55
Med: $530
High: $5,200
Low: $100,000
Med: $250,000
High: $500,000
35 May 15 15:30 NL Holdem
(Heads-Up)
(2-Day Event)
Low: $270
Med: $2,600
High: $25,500
Low: $250,000
Med: $500,000
High: $750,000
36 May 15 17:00 HORSE Low: $22
Med: $215
High: $2,100
Low: $50,000
Med: $100,000
High: $150,000
37 May 16 13:00 NL Holdem Low: $22
Med: $215
High: $2,100
Low: $200,000
Med: $750,000
High: $750,000
38 May 16 17:00 NL Holdem
Main Event
(2-Day event)
Low: $109
Med: $1,050
High: $10,300
Low: $1,000,000
Med: $3,000,000
High: $5,000,000
($1,000,000 to 1st!)

Mats Sundin revealed as Isildur1

Thursday, April 1st, 2010

The mysterious Isildur1 on Full Tilt has been revealed as retired Swedish ice hockey pro Mats Sundin. He played 11 seasons with the Torono Maple Leafs, the majority of them as team captain.

Since his retirement in Sept 2009 he has been playing a huge amount of online poker player with a view to it being a career post-hockey. Ironically he has already done endorsement work for Full Tilt’s bitter rivals Pokerstars in 2008, although that deal was only a temporary one whilst he was still a NHL player.

For a long time Viktor Blom was widely suspected as Isidur1 but always denied it. Sundin is perhaps a surprise to some but things do add up easy in retrospect. Ex-sportsmen like Benamine and Antonius often look for a new competitive persuit post-retirement. And with Sundin having very substantial amounts of cash and assets and a heavily competitive spirit, poker really fits the bill. At age 39 he is still relateively young in sense of careers vs retirement. With a bit more discipline he could quite easily turn his talents into long term success on the green felt.

Mats Sundin will be playing in the Party Poker Big Game in mid April following his friendly relationship and backing relationship with Tony G (who is heavily involved as a Party Poker Pro)

Kimberly Lansing

Sunday, March 28th, 2010

Kimberly Lansing is a journalist and WPT presenter. She was introduced to the game by her boyfriend Jim Davenport. Since that time she has become a bit of a regular online. She can also be seen playing some live WPT events, sponsored by the WPT themselves.

Kimberly Lansing

Pokerstars stranglehold on live poker tours?

Saturday, February 20th, 2010

Has Pokerstars got too much of a stranglehold of the poker tour world? It is certainly open to debate. Pokerstars owns and operates numerous live poker tours such as:

EPT - European Poker Tour
NAPT - North American Poker Tour (including the PCA)
LAPT - Latin America Poker Tour
APPT - Asia Pacific Poker Tour
ANZPT - Australia and New Zealand Poker Tour
IPT - Italian Poker Tour
UKIPT - UK and Ireland Poker Tour
RPT - Russian Poker Tour
CSPT - Czech-Slovak Poker Tour

It is an impressive portfolio for sure. But is it too much? We have seen recently the Full Tilt pros not being allowed to play in the NAPT because it is basically heavily promoting the Pokerstars brand.

I would tend to disagree though. It isnt like they’ve been buying up existing poker tours and taking them over. They are new tours, providing some great tournaments for poker players. Their immediate success is a product of the power and pockets of the Pokerstars brand. They have generated field sizes that any fledging tour could only dream of. If some of the major competing brands stop their players playing it is both unfortunate but also fully understandable. On the flip side I doubt Pokerstars will be allowing their main guys to play in any Full Tilt live tours either.

The saving grace to all this is that more well run and reliable live tournaments is a good thing for the average well-rolled poker player, and that the ultimate of all poker tours the WSOP remains unaffected, largely independant and the utlimate unifying tour for every player. In many sports and skill games such as Boxing, Darts, Chess etc there have been major splits at the top basically creating more than 1 world title. Thankfully with Poker this situation doesnt exist and long may that continue

If you are interested in qualifying for any of the above poker tours then signup with a $600 deposit bonus to Pokerstars who have plenty of online satellites available for all the tours

Ancillia Tilia from Holland

Monday, January 25th, 2010

Ancillia Tilia has been seen a bit on the poker scene recently, including at the Twente Classics poker event in Holland. She is a model particularly well known for the fetish scene, so dont be surpirsed to see her in leathers or even rubber!

Ancilla Tilia

Jeffrey Pollack waves goodbye

Friday, November 13th, 2009

WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack has just announced he is stepping down from his position. In some parting words he said “Thank you for allowing me to be part of the WSOP these last few years. I will always be a fan and friend to the poker community”.

It is unclear as to the reasons or motivations why, but I speculate he will have another high profile position lined up before long (if it isnt already). I think he just thought the time was right and he needed a change.

Pollack did good jobs for both the NBA, and Nascar before being recruited by Harrahs for the WSOP role. Generally speaking I think he was very successful at that also. Sure he had his knockers and doubters, but that is par for the course for any sort of role where you need to make tricky decisions. I met him a view times at one venue or another and always found him amiable and professional. Whatever the reasons for the departure I wish him well, and I am sure he’ll be successful with his next venture.

Full Tilt Ironman WTF

Friday, September 25th, 2009

Full Tilt’s ironman rewards scheme must be one of the worst explained I’ve ever seen. How difficult can it be to explain this things in plain English and make them appealing to it’s players. Most poker players are inherently a little lazy when it comes to reading large chunks of text. Lets remember we stare at images and click buttons for most of the day ; Most of us want to glance at something and understand the gist of it within the first paragraph.

Full Tilt’s Ironman explanation though is a long ramble that doesnt really tell you much. What the hell is an Ironman Chip for instance, and how about Ironman Medals? And they have these very vague tables which imply you need to accumulate a certain number of points every day. However it doesnt explicity state that. Then they add more layers like Ironman Plus levels, and the need to opt-in and decide in advance what you want to use the points towards.

Language such as “You could receive bonus medals at the end of the month if you reach at least Bronze status and earn at least 500 points in a day. ”

It is the sort of information page that has just been repeatedly amended over time, and no-one has actually taken the step of sitting back for 2 mins and considering how it looks to “fresh eyes” to the page. I say all this not even really in personal frustration or anything, just more the fact that it such a poor use of an incentive scheme and marketing tool.

Annette_15 banned from advertising

Friday, September 25th, 2009

There was an interesting thing in the news today. In the UK Annette_15 was being used by Betfair to advertise their site. However there was a complaint. Not only is Annette quite young looking, but it was suggested that her actual screenname “Annette_15″ suggested she is younger than she actually is (she is currently 20 btw).

Whilst reviewing this complaint it was declared that there was in fact a law banning persons below 25 from being used for gambling advertising. Betfair seemed unaware of this law. They have therefore subsequently stated that they wont use Annette_15 again in the UK in any advertising compaigns.

It seems a little harsh considering that Annette won the WSOPE main event in the UK, making her a prime advertising asset. I guess I can see both sides of the argument, and hopefully it wont mean that Annette’s Betfair sponsorship is not renewed.

Las Vegas Trips

Friday, August 21st, 2009

Every poker player on the planet must at some point in their career pay a visit to the gambling mecca of Las Vegas, Nevada

Las Vegas is truely unique. It is like no other city on earth. Out in the desert rises up some of the most fantastic and elaborate buildings you could ever imagine. A visual bombardment of extravagance and more entertainment than you can shake a stick at.

Here is a map of the strip to give you a general idea of getting around and where some of the most major hotels and resorts are located. Enjoy your trip ;)

Las Vegas Map

If you are looking for one particular time to go, then around June time each year is WSOP season. Although the action is very much 365 days a year, so you’ll always find plenty of games going on whenever you choose to go.

Synchronized Breaks

Friday, August 21st, 2009

Full Tilt first introduced synchronized breaks in tournaments, a great help for multi-tablers to actually get a proper break without having to sit out.

PokerStars followed suit in their tit-for-tat battle of feature development and enhancement, and they now have sychroniszed breaks fully operational too.

Gratefullly PokerStars did the right thing and married up their break time with Full Tilt’s much to the delight of cross-site multitablers, myself included.

Now at 55 mins past every hour, it’s all stop in MTT land of the 2 major sites, and those much needed trips to the fridge or WC can be looked forward to and completed without a sprint.