The Nightly Turbo: WSOP Rematches, Pros Deployed, and More
We're bringing you the top poker news stories of the day so you can keep up to date with the goings on and not feel left out. Today, we'll tell you about the WSOP rematches that will take place this summer, which poker pros are headed overseas, and more.
In Case You Missed It
There's plenty going on in the gaming world outside of poker. Check out Inside Gaming to find out more on the Sands drama, Station Casinos, and the Cosmopolitan.
Thinking about going pro? Kristy Arnett sat down with Taylor Caby to find out what it takes to become a professional poker player.
Chilipoker
announced an innovation to its online poker client on Tuesday. It has become the first online poker site to connect players with social media platforms.WSOP Rematches
We all love a good rematch, Ali vs. Frazier, Liddell vs. Couture, and - Chris Moneymaker vs. Sammy Farha? No, Moneymaker and Farha didn't end up heads-up in some tournament you missed, but the World Series of Poker is pitting the two against each other in a rematch. In fact, at this summer's WSOP, there will be three one-of-a-kind rematches. Two have already been picked and the third will be chosen by the fans.
Moneymaker and Farha will play a best two-out-of-three format, one with the exact number of starting chips as they had in 2003, one with reverse starting stacks, and a third, if needed, with even chip stacks. The second match-up is a rematch from the 1989 WSOP Main Event between Johnny Chan and Phil Hellmuth. The two will play one match and begin with even chip stacks.
For the third match, fans will vote for their favorite out of a list of four.
- 1988 WSOP Main Event: Johnny Chan vs. Erik Seidel
- 2004 WSOP Main Event: Greg Raymer vs. David Williams
- 2006 WSOP Main Event: Jamie Gold vs. Paul Wasicka
- 2010 WSOP Main Event: Jonathan Duhamel vs. John Racener
To vote, you need to like the WSOP fan page on Facebook. The matches will be filmed on June 2 and will air in a two-hour special on ESPN on July 26.
Head on over to WSOP.com for more.
Shipping Out
According to the USO's Twitter account, Howard Lederer, Annie Duke, Tom Dwan, Phil Hellmuth and Huck Seed are all being deployed to the Middle East to take part in the USO's first-ever poker tour. Hellmuth, the ever active tweeter, tweeted a photo recently showing off his USO gear.
The USO is a nonprofit organization that provides morale and activities to American troops and their families. The organization puts together tours that send celebrities to military bases overseas and in the U.S. Stephen Colbert, Carrie Underwood, Craig Ferguson, Gary Sinise, and Dane Cook are among the entertainers who have taken part in the USO tours.
You can find out more at USO.org.
Let Me Upgrade You
Full Tilt Poker has just released a software update with a handful of new features.
There is now a Request Private Tournament feature that allows players the ability to create their own tournaments. With this feature, players decide the tournament format, when it starts, and who is allowed to enter.
Also new to the software are Ring Game Tickets, an alternative way to buy into ring games. We'd get into the intricacies of how to use Ring Game Tickets, but Full Tilt did it for us.
For those of you who don't like change, we've warned you ahead of time - the Game Lobby Menu Bar has been reorganized.
Find out more about the new client features and then sign up for a Full Tilt Poker account and check them out in real time.
Team Canada To Pl(eh) World Team Poker Event
The World Team Poker Championship event is being held in Las Vegas May 24-26 at the South Point Hotel in Las Vegas. It was recently announced that Team Canada will be participating.
The team, captained by Greg Mueller, also includes Shawn Buchanan, Erik Cajelais, Terrence Chan, Eric Cloutier, Owen Crowe, Steven Goosen, Peter Jetten, Daniel Peter Idema, Nenad Medic, and Gavin Smith.
So far, Australia, Brazil, China, Cyprus, England, Germany, Greece, Iran, Israel, Italy, Korea, Lebanon, New Zealand, Pakistan, Russia, Spain, Ukraine, Vietnam, USA, and a Wild Card are the teams that are scheduled to play the three-day event.
Check out the teams at WorldTeamPoker.com.
PokerStars Belgian Poker Series
PokerStars has added another tour to its roster. The Belgian Poker Series kicks off this month in Namur at the Casino de Namur, the country's biggest poker room. The Main Event features a €730+€70 buy-in. So far there are only two confirmed stops on the tour, the aforementioned stop in Namur, and a stop in Blankenberge at Casino Blankenberge in September. There is a BPS Final on the docket but the venue and dates are yet to be confirmed.
There are satellites running on PokerStars now, so sign up for a PokerStars account and win your way there! For more on the BPS, check out the PokerStars Blog.
Partyin Partyin Yeah
As always the European Poker Tour throws a Welcome Party at each of its stops and they're always full of excitement, drinks, and poker pros. Laura Cornelius was at the Berlin party to work (of course) and bring us a look at what we're missing.
Are you following us on Twitter? Go follow us now. While you're at it, there's no reason why you shouldn't like us on Facebook.
We have 264 SCOOP tickets to be given away across five PokerStars SCOOP Freerolls in May, all you need to do is earn 75 VPPs this month to qualify.
