Doyle Brunson, the legendary Poker Player

07 October 2008

Very few men can put the fear of God into a person while sitting in a chair, wearing a cowboy hat with a smile on their face. A throwback to the Wild West, gun slinging legends, Doyle "Texas Dolly" Brunson commands respect at a poker table. At 72 years of age, Doyle has been playing poker for over 50 years, and is showing no signs of slowing down.

Born in Longworth, Texas in 1933, Doyle Brunson grew up a gifted athlete. He played baseball and ran track for his school, but it was basketball at which he excelled. He was a member of the All-State Texas basketball team, and was actually drafted by the Minneapolis Lakers of the NBA.

But after suffering a severe accident at work, Doyle’s basketball career was cut short. After the sporting days were over, Doyle turned the focus on his education. He earned a Master’s degree in Administrative Education. It was in college where Doyle started gambling to support himself and pay tuition. After realizing he could make good money gambling, he made it a full-time job.

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World Series of Poker History

09 August 2008

There isn’t a poker player alive who isn’t glued to his or her seat when the World Series of Poker (WSOP) is on. In fact, there seems to be very few alive who don’t go to Las Vegas to enter in the main event. Almost 9,000 poker players entered the main event, making this more of a donkey-fest than an actual testament to one’s skill-set.

But nevertheless, professional players such as Chris "Jesus" Ferguson, Phil Hellmuth, Johnny Chan, and many more pros will test their grit and determination against a field of over 8,000 players who seemingly stay in hands just to catch a river card. Not taking anything away from an amateur player, but percentages can be extremely cruel. The last time a "pro" won the WSOP was in 2001 when Carlos Mortensen took down the prize.

The game of poker wasn’t played above the table with yelling and flailing limbs in the beginning of WSOP history. In fact, one of the great players at time, such as Johnny Moss, would have quickly put a stop to any insurrection or untimely outbursts. Poker has been played for centuries now, and has ended in injury or death for many cheaters, big-talkers, and owners of outlandish personalities. Texas Hold �Em hasn’t been around quite as long. But once upon a time, it was a highly respected game.

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Titan Poker Players in Final Race for $100,000 Porsche

08 December 2007

Titan Poker (http://www.titanpoker.com), the largest online poker room on the iPoker Network, is currently staging the final week of its World Challenge Tournament series, culminating in a Main Event with a top prize of a Porsche Cayman S sports car and $55,000 in guaranteed cash prizes.

To qualify for the World Challenge Tournament, players had to first compete against their countrymen in Country Qualifier Leagues before playing against the world’s best online poker players in Regional Qualifiers. The top 55 players will soon advance to the World Challenge Main Event Tournament, to be staged on December 16.

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Titan Poker Player Turns Free Token into $65,000 Online Tournament Win

18 July 2007

Jose Manuel Gomez Rebenaque, from Spain, finished first place in Titan Poker’s $250,000 Guaranteed Prize tournament staged at the beginning of July 2007. Rebenaque, 44, received a free token during a Titan Poker promotion in June, allowing him to enter a special satellite tournament to the $250,000 Guaranteed. Through skillful and calculated gameplay, he was able to claim his seat at the Main Event and ultimately collect the $65,000 top prize.

Following his massive tournament win, Rebenaque, said: "I have never won this much money in my life. Until now, $5,000 was my biggest prize ever!! I just sat staring at the screen, looking at all the money in my account and thought - ’I need to play every tournament as well as this one’."

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Online Poker Tournament Takes NBC'S Heads-Up Challenge to the Next Level

22 March 2007

On the heels of NBC’s National Heads-Up Poker Challenge, UltimateBet, http://www.ultimatebet.com, one of the world’s largest internet poker sites, is bringing a new head-to-head online poker tournament to the table. It’s called the Ultimate Heads Up Challenge. It features a $128,000 prize pool. It features some of poker’s biggest names. And if you play your cards right, it will feature you.

Phil Hellmuth, a past champion of NBC’s National Heads-Up Poker Challenge, will take a seat in UltimateBet’s online poker tournament. Also seated in the event will be poker celebrities Annie Duke, **Another Pro**, and **Another Pro**. UltimateBet is opening up 60 spots for online qualifying players and players can win their $2,000 seat in the tournament online. The Ultimate Heads Up Challenge is broken into brackets with a single elimination basketball style format. If the online poker player wins a match they will advance with the best of six to be named champion.

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Team Full Tilt's Gus Hansen Wins AU$1.5 Million and the Aussie Millions Championship

20 January 2007

Team Full Tilt Member Gus Hansen took down the final pot of the 2007 Aussie Millions in style when his pocket Aces held up against the straight and flush draws of second-place finisher Jimmy Fricke.

Hansen’s Aces earned him an AU$1.5 million payday and the Aussie Millions Main Event title. Hansen’s pay out, which totalled nearly $1.2 million U.S., marks the second time he has won more than $1 million in a single tournament.

"I was behind 3 to 1 when it was heads up, so I felt that I could gamble a little," Hansen was quoted as saying in his post-match interview with fellow Team Full Tilt member Howard Lederer. That attitude has helped earn Hansen one of his trademark nicknames -- "Gambling Gus" -- along with three World Poker Tour titles and more than $4.5 million in career tournament earnings.

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Titan Poker Seeks 10 More Players for Million Dollar Tournament

22 December 2006

Titan Poker, (http://www.titanpoker.com), one of the fastest growing online poker rooms, is searching for 10 additional poker players to compete in its upcoming $1,000,000 tournament -- The Tournament Titan.

The Tournament Titan is the richest Sit & Go tournament ever played online, with a massive $1,000,000 guaranteed prize pool. Only 20 players in total will be able to qualify for this exciting tournament, making each seat worth an impressive $50,000.

This competition was launched to find the world’s best and most consistent poker player, and Titan Poker is already halfway towards realizing this goal. Ten skilled players have already qualified for this exclusive final table, leaving just 10 remaining seats.

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VIP.com Poker Sending Winner to Aussie Millions

07 December 2006

It takes real talent to take advantage of a winning opportunity. VIP.com Poker customer Nuno S. has a chance to use his poker talents to turn opportunity into a million dollars when he heads to the Aussie Millions, thanks to VIP.com Poker (www.VIP.com).

Nuno was the big winner in VIP.com’s $12,000 Aussie Millions Freeroll, which was held last Friday in the VIP.com pokeroom. Nuno gained entrance to the big-money tournament by signing up to VIP.com Poker through the online site PokerNews. By winning the freeroll tourney, Nuno will join the rest of the PokerNews team at the Aussie Millions to be held at the Crown Casino in Melbourne in January 2007.

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Titan Poker Adds Polish and Turkish to its Multi-Lingual Software

04 December 2006

Titan Poker (http://www.titanpoker.com), one of the fastest growing online poker rooms, has now launched its popular poker software in Polish and Turkish, and plans to introduce more languages in the coming weeks. These additions are part of continuous expansions to the software, which is already available in English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish.

New players are given the option to choose the language of their software when downloading the Titan Poker program. Players can then play poker with players from all over the world, while viewing menus and information in their native language. In addition, Titan Poker will provide support services, including email responses and online chat support, in all seven languages -- English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Polish and Turkish.

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Swedish Student Wins Seat at Titan Poker's $1,000,000 Sit & Go Special

05 November 2006

Titan Poker, (http://www.titanpoker.com), one of the fastest growing online poker rooms, announced that Simon Leetsaar, 28, from Sweden, is the third player to have qualified for The Tournament Titan. The Tournament Titan is a Sit & Go tournament with a massive $1,000,000 guaranteed prize pool and is the richest Sit & Go tournament ever played online. Only 20 players will qualify for this exciting tournament, making each seat worth an impressive $50,000.

With a Million Dollars on the line, The Tournament Titan competition is drawing some of the best tournament players online. Titan Poker has launched this competition in order to find the world’s best and most consistent poker tournament player.

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Betting on Barcelona European Poker Tour at Paddy Power

05 September 2006

Paddy Power today launches �outright betting’ and �to make final table’ markets for the European Poker Tour’s first outing of the 2006/7 season in Barcelona.

The Irish bookie is the first company to offer betting on this year’s event and is pricing up markets for each stop of the European Poker Tour which includes stopovers in London, Dublin, Copenhagen, Baden, Deauville and Monte Carlo.

The Barcelona EPT event, held in Casino Barcelona from 13-16 September, is one of the most popular on the tour, selling out last year and increasing its capacity to 480 this year.

Paddy Power, head of communications for the bookmakers said, �If Gaudi were still around he’d build a monument to poker. This isone of the coolest tournaments on the circuit, the one everyone wants to play and punters can keep their hand in by having a flutter on who’ll be the king of the felt in this beautiful city.’

To make the final table of eight Paddy Power is offering:

Gus Hansen 11-2
Dave �Devilfish’ Ulliot 8-1
Joe Hachem 10-1
Chris Moneymaker 10-1
Jan Boubli 12-1
Roy �The Boy’ Brindley 16-1
Donnacha O’Dea 16-1
Isabelle Mercier 20-1
Tony Cascarino 28-1

Last year’s winner, Frenchman Jan Boubli, took down the first prize of €416,000. Other notable names who made the final table in Barcelona last year include Gus Hansen and Patrik Antonius.

Paddy Power will announce further markets for the Barcelona EPT, including match bets, over the coming days. Other prices are available on request.

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German Student Wins $25,000 Jackpot Prize at Titan Poker

13 August 2006

Poker newcomer Christian Todte from a small town in western Germany was stunned when he won five straight $5 + $1 Maui "Jackpot Sit ’N Go" tournaments to claim a $25,000 Jackpot Prize at popular online poker room Titan Poker. Christian started the tournament at midday on July 19, 200, and hardly dared to take a break during his five and a half hour winning streak.

Speaking after the tournament, Christian said, "I started to play at noon and only stopped in the evening after winning five consecutive tournaments. After succeeding on the 4th tournament, I felt special and I knew that I was very close to getting the jackpot. I was so excited at this point that I had to take a break of 15 minutes before I was able to start the last one.

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Titan Poker Player Wins $35,000 Jackpot Prize at Tournament

03 August 2006

Titan Poker player Mark Walgora from Pennsylvania received a $30 VIP Loyalty Bonus at the beginning of July, and turned that small gift into a winning streak that culminated with a $35,000 Rio Jackpot Prize win.

"I always thought these things were rigged, but I guess I was wrong," Mark said after winning his sixth straight $20 + $3.50 Rio "Jackpot Sit ’n’ Go" tournament, to claim the jackpot prize.

"The last game was a war and was really hard because I didn’t want to be over aggressive, yet didn’t want to be weak," Mark recalled. "I finally got more aggressive to steal blinds and regain my lead." He was pleased to see a flop which completed his straight, and the hand, as well as the Rio Jackpot Prize, was his.

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