When you enter a poker tournament, do you ever look around to see how many women are playing? Do you wonder if there will be a “pro” at your table to cause you stress and grief? The truth is, both are a good probability with women’s success on the rise in the poker industry. Still, women make up less than 5 percent of most playing fields in tournaments.

The most untapped market today in poker is women. The online sites want them and are patiently waiting to scoop up the next winner to add to their promotable stable of professional players. One very possible venue for these ladies on the rise to emerge from is ladies-only poker tours. New women’s poker tours are popping up on an average of two a year, promoting events for women and providing environments for women to learn how to build their game and move into open events.

One of the most successful women poker tours traveling around the United States is the High Heels Poker Tour (HHPT). With founder Lauren Failla at the wheel, she plans to make the tour international and increase women’s interest in poker. “The only tour that existed prior to 2007 when the HHPT began was on the West Coast. With research in hand and realizing that women’s poker was virtually non-existent on the East Coast, I decided to create an outlet where women could make their mark,” she says. “Understanding the market is paramount as I continue through this journey to bring women’s poker to the next level. The High Heels Poker Tour now has events all over the United States and abroad. In looking toward the future, my efforts will continue to focus on this demographic while creating new and exciting opportunities for the HHPT and HHPT Academy for Women.” (more…)

The field for the WSOP Tournament of Champions has been announced and contains 20 of the worlds most prominent poker all stars. With $1 million dollars in prize money up for grabs, the play is sure to  of the highest caliber.

Poker’s very first fan-voted Tournament of Champions will feature 20 of the game’s most notable players, as 355,081 votes were cast to determine who will compete for $1 million in prize money in the 2010 World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions on Sunday, June 27 at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.
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The 2010 World Series of Poker starts this Friday with the $500 Casino Employees No Limit Hold’em event, and the much anticipated $50,000 Poker Player’s Championship.

The first four days of the $50,000 event will be played in an eight-game format (Limit Hold’em, Omaha Hi-Low, Razz, Seven Card Stud, Stud Hi-Low, No Limit Hold’em, Pot Limit Omaha, and 2-7 Triple Draw), and on the fifth day for the final table, the format will switch to just No Limit Hold’em. (more…)

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The structure and initial setup are almost exactly the same in Omaha as in Texas Hold ’em (the strategy, as you will see, is very, very different). The differences are outlined below. If you’re skipping around among the chapters and are new to poker, I strongly suggest that you read Chapter 2 before reading this one, or else some of the commentary here won’t make sense.

The two big differences between Hold ’em and Omaha are, first, that in Omaha you receive four facedown (or “hole”) cards, instead of two, and second, that in Omaha you must use two and exactly two of the four cards in your hand, along with three and exactly three of the five board (community) cards. This distinction makes switching from Hold ’em to Omaha very difficult for some players, because in Hold ’em, you’re allowed to use one, both or neither of your hole cars in putting together your final hand.

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Do we sense a feud between two of the biggest poker pros in the world, Daniel Negreanu and Phil Hellmuth?

It sure looks that way.

This week on Negreanu’s blog, the Canadian player called UB.com spokesperson “delusional”.

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One day after I was eliminated from a limit Hold ’em event, I sought out Jack Keller, who at the time was really hot in limit Hold ’em tournaments, and I watched him play for a couple of hours. It was obvious to me that Jack was doing a number of things I hadn’t been doing. He simply tried to win every pot that he played. Jack never just called someone else’s raise before the flop: He always either threw his hand away or three-bet it.

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Thought you knew everything there is to know about your favorite poker players? Here are ten, fun facts about this month’s top poker players including: Darvin Moon, Steve Begleiter, Antoine Saout, Eric Buchman, James Akenhead, Jeff Shulman, Joe Cada, Kevin Schaffel and Phil Ivey.

10. Darvin Moon is a Luddite
Main Event chip leader Darvin Moon, who holds nearly a third of chips in play, isn’t part of the online poker generation. In fact, he’s not really party of the technology generation.

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(Press Release) Phil Hellmuth slated to host November’s Hold’em for Heroes charity poker tournament to benefit the TASER Foundation for Fallen Officers. The UltimateBet pro has also been invited to sit on the CEO Advisory Council of the organization.

UltimateBet today announced that poker legend and Team UB pro Phil Hellmuth will be hosting Hold’em for Heroes this November, a charity Texas Hold’em tournament to benefit the TASER Foundation for Fallen Officers. The organization is dedicated to providing financial support to the families of local, state/provincial, and federal law enforcement officials in the US and Canada who were lost in the line of duty.

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In “Play Poker Like the Pros,” poker master Phil Hellmuth Jr. demonstrates exactly how to play and win — even if you have never picked up a deck of cards. The following is an excerpt from the book’s “Limit Hold ’em: Intermediate Strategy” chapter.

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A new season of NBC’s Poker After Dark debuts late night on July 20 with the “Hellmuth Bash.” In this two week series of games, Phil Hellmuth goes head-to-head with some of professional pokers most notable players.  This list includes Tom Dwan, Kenny Tran, Phil Laak, and Antonio Esfandiari, along with amateur player Bob Safai. This week will mark the debut of Kenny “Sick Call” Tran and Bob Safai to the show.  Both are well-known for their cash game skills, especially in the Los Angeles area where they both reside.

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From celebrities to top-flight poker players, the World Series of Poker Main Event has traditionally been filled with weird characters, and the 2009 Main Event was no different. Some were dressed in weird costumes, while others were just weird. But the ten characters on this list don’t fall into the weird category. They were just plain interesting. And they were what made this year’s Main Event so much fun.

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1989 world champion and 11-time WSOP gold bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth made another grand entrance into the Main Event. 

Last year, Hellmuth came adorned as WW2 General George S. Patton.  He rolled into the Rio parking lot atop an army tank.  This year, the media-shy “Poker Brat” was carted into the Rio while sprawled out across a special platform carried by several centurions. 

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The down economy and tight regulations on Internet poker have certainly made it harder for poker players to make a living over the past few years, but players are speaking out about other factors that are contributing to their dwindling earnings.

Many amateurs flooded the felt and Internet poker sites when poker’s popularity boomed.  These amateurs were prey that wheted the appitite of the professional poker players and increases their bankrolls.  Poker professionals are having a tougher time winning because fewer players are surfacing, leaving the remaining players smarter than ever. 

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Matt Damon, Ben Affleck and Charles Barkley, will be among the many celebrities to join poker greats for the 2009 World Series of Poker H.O.R.S.E event.  This high-stakes $50,000 World Championship is considered to be the most challenging event, a title sought out by pokers most notable players.  The H.O.R.S.E World Champiionship will kick off on July 2.

Beginning the same date as the Poker Palooza, this event is will engage players in a 5 hour rotation of five forms of poker including Omaha High-Low, Hold’em and Seven Card Stud Eight or Better.

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The world’s most accomplished poker players will hit Las Vegas this summer to instruct participants for the 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event tournaments.  Annie Duke, Phil Hellmuth, and Joe Navarro will be among the many to teach WSOP Academy’s Main Event Primer’s most advanced and challenging cirriculum.  

 Amateur poker players from all skill levels will participate in 3-day instructional sessions that focus on topics like Texas Hold’em, or special sessions like the Cash Academy.

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It seems there’s nothing that poker pro Brandon Cantu can’t do. After a series of impressive wins and strong finishes in the world’s biggest events, the rising star in poker has joined UltimateBet’s Team UB, finding himself in the company of Phil Hellmuth, Annie Duke and the world’s most respected online poker players.

“This is an exhilarating time for Team UB,” stated Annie Duke, UltimateBet’s Cardroom Consultant. “We’re constantly on the lookout for poker players who have real integrity, unquestionable talent and an incredible passion for the game, and we’ve found it all in Brandon Cantu.”

Cantu quickly made his way onto the radars of the top online poker : sites immediately after winning a $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em event at the 2006 World Series of Poker.

Later that year, the rising star in poker took first place in an Ultimate Poker Challenge event, peaking the interest of the major card rooms even further.
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(As reported by LookToTheStars)  On Saturday, July 11, the Playboy Mansion and the Kardashians will host the ‘Aces & Angels Celebrity Poker Tournament’ to benefit Aces and Angels, an organization which raises money for families of Southern California firefighters who were either injured or killed in the line of duty.

Kim Kardashian will host the event alongside sisters Khloe and Kourtney, and their mother Kris, as dozens of Playboy bunnies, playmates, top models, Hollywood celebrities, and the poker stars attend the highly anticipated event being held at the Playboy Mansion.

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Southern Gaming Magazine has been hosting the world’s best poker players at the Kentucky Derby for years. The World Series of Poker is relevant to the Olympics for poker players and there are 57 events of which each a coveted bracelet is awarded along with a pile of cash!

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  (As reported by WeDoItAllInVegas)  UltimateBet has come to an arrangement to sponsor the first annual Tony and Eva Parker Celebrity Casino Night in benefit of “Eva’s Heroes”, a charity organization created by the actress with the intention to enrich the lives of kids with learning and developmental challenges and young adults with special needs and to help them with the social integration process.

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