Main Event Action

The schedule for the 2012 World Series of Poker has yet to be announced but already one important detail about the Main Event has been leaked to the media.

“A few hints on WSOP schedule coming tomorrow…you won’t find the November Nine returning.”

This was the tweet sent out by @WSOP, the official source for World Series of Poker updates and news.

The November Nine was a term that referred to the Main Event’s Final Table being staged in November, a few months after the Main Event had played and its field narrowed down to just nine players.

The original intention of staging the Final Table in November was to increase the suspense for the television audience. Critics claimed, however, that the November event did not increase public interest in the event. The extended break also crushed hopes of players “on a run” to continue all the way through the early stages of the tournament to the coveted WSOP bracelet.

@WSOP also tweeted:

“The WSOP Main Event this year will be 3 days shorter without compromising structure at all.”

And:

“Another good change coming to WSOP in 2012…no off day during Main Event.”

And:

“The 43rd Annual WSOP will take place from May 27 to July 16, 2012.”

The full schedule of the 2012 World Series of Poker is due to be released later today.

IMPORTANT UPDATE: The Final Table will be held in two stages. Because of the American elections in November, the action has been moved up to October. Nine players will play down to two on October 28th, and the heads-up battle will take place on October 30th.

Sam Trickett

In response to being selected as Poker Player of the Year at the 11^th annual European Poker Awards ceremony in Paris last week, Team Titan’s Sam Trickett commented, “Extremely proud to be European Player of the Year. Thanks everyone for voting for me! ”.

Sam had been nominated in two European Poker Award categories – Player of the Year and Best Tournament Performance. The European Poker Awards were established to recognize the best Europeans poker pros and newcomers. The jury is composed of some of the top names in European poker and avid poker fans participated in the online voting.

Sam’s competition in the Player of the Year category included some very talented poker players: Jake Cody (England); Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier (France); Pius Heinz (Germany); Eugene Katchalov (Ukraine); and Andrey Pateychuk (Russia).

Sam did not win the Best Tournament Performance award, as that honor went to Pius Heinz for winning the 2011 WSOP Main Event.

Sam was not present at the European Poker Awards ceremony, held at the Aviation Club de France in Paris last week. According to media reports, Sam sent his friend, PokerStrategy blogger Barry Carter to collect his award.

Sam has been playing poker at the Aussie Millions events in Melbourne, Australia, however he was unable to repeat his huge successes from last year. He was eliminated from the Aussie Millions Main Event, as well as from the $100,000 Challenge and the $250,000 Super High Roller events.

Sam did comment that he “ran pretty good” in the $1,000,000 cash game staged as part of the Aussie Millions. As for his lack of success in the other events, Sam commented, “Ran like 2009 Sam Trickett in the high rollers this time! Kind of annoying to lose 4/5 flips in these comps! Next stop is probably Macau.”

Yann Brosolo

French player Yann Brosolo, sponsored by Titan.fr, yesterday won the Euro Finals of Poker (EFOP) Gold Championship for a first prize of €70,000. After three days of poker action at the Aviation Club de France in Paris, Brosolo defeated Samir Choubani in heads-up play when his pair of sixes bettered Choubani’s K 8 on an unmatched board.

Choubani had been chipleader going into the final day of play but had to settle for second place, worth €62,500. Brosolo’s win was the biggest cashout of his career.

In December, Brosolo finished in 5^th place at the EPT Prague €5,000 No Limit Hold’em Main Event for a €35,000 prize.

Every year the Aviation Club hosts the EFOP tournaments, a series of events that in addition to the €2,000 buy-in Gold Championship also includes a flagship €5,000 buy-in Diamond Championship tournament and a €10,000 high roller event.

The winners of the European Poker Awards will be announced at the Aviation Club as part of the festivities. Team Titan’s Sam Trickett is nominated for two awards, both Player of the Year and Best Tournament Performance.

The image is from the Poker 52 magazine website.

Aussie Millions

The 2012 Aussie Millions Poker Championship, currently celebrating its 10th anniversary, is taking place at the Crown Casino in Melbourne, Australia. The series encompasses 26 separate events, including the prestigious AUD$10,600 No Limit Holdem Main Event. Team Titan’s Sam Trickett and Marvin Rettenmaier are in Australia ready to take their seats.

Last year, Sam enjoyed huge success at the Aussie Millions. He won the AUD$100,000 Challenge for a prize of AUD$1,525,000 and followed that up days later with a second place finish in the AUD$250,000 Super High Roller for a prize of AUD$1,400,000. Will he be able to repeat his success this year?

Each year Titan Poker stages satellite tournaments awarding winning players with seats to the Aussie Millions Main Event. In addition, the professional poker players of Team Titan make annual appearances at the Australian tournaments. In 2010, Canadian Sorel Mizzi finished in 3^rd place in the Main Event, and he went on to become Team Titan’s captain. In 2011, Sorel again made the Main Event final table and finished in 9^th place.

The 2012 Australian poker championship series kicked off on January 12^th with a $1,000 + $100 No Limit Hold’em event that was won by Australian Brendon Rubie. A total of 946 players participated in the event and Rubie took home the first prize of AUD$200,000 as well as an Aussie Millions gold ring.

In celebration of the Aussie Millions’ 10th anniversary, a special Tournament of Champions will be held on January 21^st, the day before the Main Event begins. Eight previous Main Event winners will compete for a lifetime of buy-ins to the Aussie Millions Main Event, a so-called “golden ticket.” The eight previous champions who will compete will be Peter Costa (2003), Tony Bloom (2004), Jamil Dia (2005), Lee Nelson (2006), Gus Hansen (2007), Stewart Scott (2009), Tyron Krost (2010), and David Gorr (2011).

Irish Open

The launch of a third weekly Super Satellite series starting tonight makes it easier than ever for Titan Poker players to qualify for their seats at the upcoming Irish Open 2012. A freezeout event is staged on Sunday nights; a re-buy event now takes place on Tuesday nights; and a ticket-only Super Satellite is played every Thursday night.

The Irish Open is without a doubt the most exciting tournament on the European poker circuit. It has been running since 1980 and is traditionally held over Easter weekend. This year’s event will be staged with a €3,200 + €300 buy-in at Dublin’s Burlington Hotel from April 6th – April 9th, 2012. Titan Poker’s qualifiers have taken their seats at the Dublin tables in previous years alongside some of the most exciting European players, as well as poker players from around the world.

What does a player who qualifies at Titan Poker get, beside possibly the most exciting land based poker experience of his life? Winning players at the Super Satellite tournaments each receive a winner’s package valued at €4,600. This includes the buy-in to the Irish Open Main Event, as well as 5 nights’ accommodation and breakfast at the Burlington Hotel in Dublin, April 5th – April 10th, 2012; €655 for flights and spending; and €50 for handling fees.

Players can buy-in directly to the Super Satellite tournaments at Titan Poker, or win their seats at one of the many sit ‘n’ go or scheduled satellites being staged around the clock. Entries to Stage 3 qualifiers start at the incredibly low price of €0.33 + €0.03.

Twenty skillful players constituted the Titan Poker delegation at the Irish Open 2011 and veteran player Lorna Lancaster was the last lady standing left in the Irish Open Main Event, finishing in 12th place and taking home €19,400 for her outstanding performance.

Who will play the Irish Open 2012 on Titan Poker’s behalf?

Bluff Magazine

Team Titan’s players both ranked high on the final Bluff Magazine’s 2011 Poker Player of the Year leaderboard, with Sam Trickett listed in 6^th place and Marvin Rettenmaier right behind him in 7^th place.

In August, Marvin had been in third place on the rankings, and at the time the magazine cited his “cashes left and right” and his 6th place finish in the Merit Cyprus $5,500 buy-in Main Event as attributing to his high ranking.

Bluff Magazine ranks players according to a formula that “takes into consideration alternate scoring methodologies for shootouts, re-buys, short-handed and heads-up tournaments. Players receive points if they cash in any open tournament which meets the field size criteria. Only a player’s top ten finishes through the calendar year will count towards the Player of the Year standings.”

Finishing 2011 as Bluff Magazine’s Poker Player of the Year was American Eugene Katchalov. In 2011, Katchalov earned $2.5 million, made final table appearances at the EPT, NAPT, and at the WSOP, and earned his first WSOP gold bracelet.

“We congratulate Eugene on reaching the pinnacle of success that every poker player is striving for -Player of the Year,” said Bluff’s Editor-in-Chief Lance Bradely.

Finishing just behind Katchalov in the rankings was Bertrand Grospellier. 2011 WSOP Main Event winner Pius Heinz was listed in 10^th place, followed by Erik Seidel.

Department of Justice

Legalization of online poker in the United States came one step closer when the U.S. Department of Justice announced on Friday that “interstate transmissions of wire communications that do not relate to a sporting event or contest fall outside of the reach of the Wire Act.” The Wire Act, legislation enacted in 1961, barred wagering via telecommunications that cross state lines or international borders, a ruling that some claimed also related to online poker and gambling.

Advocates of legalized online poker see the new opinion from the Justice Department as a significant boost which will open the door for states to allow the game for their residents. The District of Columbia and Nevada have already moved to legalize intra-state poker and other states, including California, Iowa, and New Jersey, are expected to follow suit in 2012.

The Justice Department’s opinion would eliminate “almost every federal anti-gambling law that could apply to gaming that is legal under state laws,” wrote I. Nelson Rose, a gaming law expert at Whittier Law School as quoted in the Wall Street Journal. “There is simply no federal law that could apply” against state operators, he wrote on his blog.

Although individual states may legalize online poker for their residents, most of the big casinos are pushing for legalization of the game on a federal level. The Poker Players Alliance says the Justice Department ruling “makes it even more important that Congress act now to clarify federal law, and to create a licensing and regulation regime for Internet poker, coupled with clear laws and strong enforcement against other forms of gambling deemed to be illegal.”

On his blog, Rose is pessimistic for the chance of Congress acting to legalize online poker. “My bet is that … Congress will continue to do nothing, while Internet gambling explodes across the nation, made legal under state laws,” he wrote.

Previous articles on this subject:

Online Poker, Just Legalize It!

The State(s) of Online Poker Legislation

Efforts to Legalize Online Poker in the U.S. May Fold

Facebook Freeroll

Russian online poker players dominated Titan Poker’s $1,000 Facebook Freeroll last night, taking five out of the top seven places. The tournament attracted 3,085 starters and the player finishing in first place was Russian “denvernio”, who captured the first prize of $240.

Titan Poker stages frequent freeroll tournaments exclusively for its community of nearly 20,000 Facebook followers. Recent events have awarded, in addition to cash prizes, tickets to the iPOPS Live Main Event tournament that was staged in Prague.

The $1,000 Facebook Freeroll was a fast-paced tournament that lasted 3 ½ hours.

When final table action began, “denvernio” already had a commanding lead over his final seven opponents with a stack of 1,724,000 chips. Eliminations came quickly until only two Russians were left for eight hands of heads-up play. “denvernio” had a 3-1 advantage in chips over “Timarik1988”, and he was able to maintain his lead.

On the final hand, “denvernio” had K Q offsuit to the A 5 held by “Timarik1988”, who went all-in pre-flop. A queen on the river was enough to secure the tournament win for “denvernio”.

The final results of the tournament were:

 Another freeroll tournament will be staged for Titan Poker’s Facebook followers to celebrate the New Year. Details for all of Titan Poker’s Facebook freerolls are provided on the Titan Poker Facebook page.

Team Titan

Team Titan’s two professional players are recognized throughout the poker world as being the rising stars of the sport. German poker newssite PokerOlymp has nominated both of them for its prestigious 2011 readers’ choice awards. Register your votes for Sam Trickett and Marvin Rettenmaier today.

Vote for Marvin Rettenmaier as Best German Poker Player of the Year!

Vote for Sam Trickett as Best International Poker Player of the Year!

Hurry up because the voting closes on December 26, 2011.

Last year, PokerOlymp selected Marvin as its Poker Newcomer of the Year.

Sam was recognized in September as the Best Cash Player at the second annual British Poker Awards.

iPOPS

Tournament action was paused at the iPOPS #4 $500,000 Guaranteed when only 27 players remained in the action. This tournament, part of Titan Poker’s online iPOPS events with $1,000,000 in total guaranteed prizes, was staged as a $125+$10 freezeout and attracted 3,383 starters. The final 27 players received a €1,000 travel package to Prague where the tournament continued at the Ambassador Casino on December 10th.

The final table of the iPOPS #4 $500,000 Guaranteed is being streamed live as iPOPS live poker truly lives up to its name. Don’t miss this on Sunday, December 11^th, starting at 13:30 Central European Time (CET). (This accounts for live coverage plus a thirty minute delay in the broadcast.)

Join us to see the final table action of iPOPS #4 $500,000 Guaranteed.