The Nightly Turbo: Maria Ho Signs with UB, Washington Residents No Longer Able to Play on Full Tilt Poker, and More

5 min read
Maria Ho

It's the weekend! We've all made it through the madness that was the 2010 World Series of Poker Main Event Final Table and now it's time to take a break - unless of course you're at one of the many tournaments that are running at the moment. Whether you're taking a break or taking down tournaments this weekend, you're going to need something to talk about - this is where we come in. Tonight, we're going to tell you about Maria Ho and the site that has patched her up, why Washington state residents have another thing to be unhappy about, and more.

In Case You Missed It

Matt and Matt are back this week with a new podcast. PokerNews' Editor-in-Chief Matthew Parvis and HeavyMMA's Editor-in-Chief Matt Brown recap the 2010 WSOP Main Event Final Table, talk to Lauren Kling about poker and Pilates, and more. Check out the Best Second Episode Ever.

Over the past few weeks, Kristy Arnett has been pretty busy, what with the 2010 November Nine, hitting up the television set of Poker After Dark, and final-tabling a Venetian Deepstack event. She tells you all about it in the latest Las Vegas Life.

The high-stakes tables on Full Tilt Poker have seen quite a bit of action over the week. Phil Ivey made an appearance and took a huge pot from Ilari "Ziigmund" Sahamies. Read the Online Railbird Report for more.

There's always "that guy" at the poker table who celebrates a victory in one fashion or another. Instead of calling him "that guy," check out Rich Ryan's PokerNews Op-Ed: It's a Celebration to give him a name.

Patched Up

Maria Ho has become the latest "patchless" pro to lose that title. She has just signed on as the latest member of Team UB, joining Annie Duke, Phil Hellmuth, Joe Sebok, and her best friend, Tiffany Michelle, among others. Her first foray on the felt as a UB Pro will be this weekend at the PokerStars North American Poker Tour LA.

"I am very happy and excited about being a part of Team UB and being included in a list of Team pros that have done a lot for and in the game such as Phil Hellmuth and Annie Duke, as well as the newer and highly successful members of the Team such as Eric Baldwin and Adam Levy," Ho said.

"This is an exciting time to be a part of Team UB since I know their plans to move their brand forward and their vision for the future especially with the guidance of Joe Sebok who has such an insightful perspective. I believe I can bring a unique and fresh point of view to the Team and I hope people will see that."

Along with playing at UB.com, Maria will be blogging, writing articles, and posting videos in both English and Mandarin Chinese.

If you want to take Maria on at the tables, you'll need a UB account, so sign up for one today!

Hittin the Road - For Now

Full Tilt Poker has announced that it will no longer be allowing Washington state residents to play for real money on its site. This comes just over one month since PokerStars also banned Washington state residents from playing on the real-money section of the site.

According to FullTiltPoker.com, Washington state residents will be able to leave their money in their accounts to use when they are outside the state and wish to play. Visitors to the state won't be able to play, even though they aren't residents of Washington. Residents will be able to play on the play money site, though.

Not in Washington and want to play on Full Tilt? You're going to need to sign up for an account.

The Las Vegas of Asia

Phil Ivey, Tom Dwan, John Juanda, and Chau Giang are all in Macau for the Asian Poker Tour and not only is tournament poker on their minds, but so are the high-stakes cash games. Matt Savage posted on TwoPlusTwo that the quartet were taking part of some of the biggest cash games in history, playing HK$5,000/HK$10,000 with Chinese businessmen.

Savage said in his post, that at one point there was about HK$40 million on the table. For those of you interested, $1 is equal to HK$7.8 meaning that $5,160,721 was on the table.

"Juanda is the biggest winner in the game so far. Durrrr, Ivey, and Chau are stuck a combined few million HK$. When I asked Dwan when he was moving here he said, 'very soon.' "

Check out the entire thread at TwoPlusTwo.com.

Where in the World is....

...Team PokerNews?

There are plenty of poker tournaments taking place around the world, and Team PokerNews is going to be there, bringing you the best tournament reporting coverage and videos to keep you up-to-date. So where is the Team headed?

  • APPT Cebu: November 12 - 16
  • NAPT Los Angeles: November 12 - 17
  • WSOP-C Harveys Lake Tahoe: November 21 - 24
  • EPT Barcelona: November 22 - 27
  • WPT Marrakech: November 27 - 30

If you're headed out to one of these stops, don't forget to stop by the PokerNews desk and say "hi." If you're not, don't forget to keep it locked to the Live Reporting page for all the action, straight from the felt.

Welcome to Paradise

For those of us stuck in the cold, we're a little jealous of the video that Lynn Gilmartin has bestowed upon us from sunny Cebu, Philippines, where the PokerStars Asia Pacific Poker Tour is taking place. If you're wondering whether or not you should add APPT Cebu to your tournament schedule next year, the answer is easy - yes! And we're going to start campaigning now to be sent there to bring you the best tournament coverage around.

Following us on Twitter is a really good idea. Another good idea? Facebook.

We have a $750 AND a $1,000 freeroll running simultaneously on Lock Poker this Sunday at 18:35 GMT. The best thing about them is they are sign up only so you don't even have to deposit to play in them, just download Lock Poker via our links and you are in.

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