THE POKER GOSPEL

U.S. House to Hold Online Poker Hearing

admin — Thu, 10 May 2012 20:54:05 +0000

U.S. House to Hold Online Poker Hearing
Submitted on Tue, 2010-05-18 00:00 The U.S. House Ways and Means Committee will meet on May 19, 2010 at 9:30 am in the Longworth House Office Building. The focus of the hearing is to consider the fate of online poker in the U.S. in connection with “The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act” (UIGEA) that is scheduled to go into effect on June 1, 2010. Invited Testimony The U.S. House committee press release has said that the point is to “hear witnesses, oral testimony at this hearing will be from invited witnesses only.” The release also notes, “However, any individual or organization not scheduled for an oral appearance may submit a written statement for consideration by the Committee and for inclusion in the printed record of the hearing.” What is the UIGEA? This law prohibits anyone from accepting payments from someone if they know those payments are connected to illegal Internet gambling. However numerous Representative and Senators have been involved in excluding poker, which is considered to be a game of skill, from the law. Importance of this Meeting The meeting could be the start of the a movement in the U.S. House and Senate that would legalize online poker. There are numerous bills on tap that are designed to protect online poker in the U.S.

Strategy with Kristy: Aaron Jones Part One

admin — Fri, 04 May 2012 10:00:37 +0000

Strategy with Kristy: Aaron Jones Part One
April 05 2012, Kristy Arnett Related Articles Strategy with Kristy: Reid Young Discusses Showdown Value Strategy with Kristy: Tax Time Strategy with Kristy: Quinn Sivage Discusses Min-Raising Button Share It Tags Aaron Jones, PokerNews Podcast, Poker Strategy, Online Poker, Black Friday Print Aaron Jones is one of the most respected high-stakes cash-games players in the industry. He plays under the moniker “aejones” and consistently beats $25/$50 no-limit hold’em and higher. A video instructor for LeggoPoker, Jones is more than proficient at discussing poker concepts and answering tough strategy questions. In the first of this two-part interview for the Strategy with Kristy podcast, Jones takes on poker theory questions sent in by listeners. Here is a snippet from the interview: What is an underrated or unused stat in HEM that you use a lot or think is important? For me, I think the biggest stat is “Won when saw flop.” I think a lot of people would agree with me. I don’t think this is something revolutionary, but if you combine the “Won when saw flop” stat with the VPIP stat, you can sort of tell how hard someone is trying to win pots. For instance, in six-max, if someone’s number is near or above 50, it’s particularly high, especially if they’re playing like 25 percent of hands. Whereas, if they are only play like 20 percent of hands, and their number is in the low 40s or below 40, that guy is basically just trying to flop three-of-a-kind. [Laughs] That’s an exaggeration but it’s someone who’s playing quite a bit tighter. It’s important because if you get check-raised on the turn by that player, you might want to just fold an overpair. Whereas, if someone’s number is high, over 50 or whatever, look for him to put in multiple barrels, look for him to be more aggressive postflop when he puts money in preflop. Basically, the guy is just trying to win pots more. That’s probably the stat I default to if I want to decide if a guy is bluffing or not. Whenever someone talks about online poker, six-max, or even using HUDs, it makes me miss online poker so much. Yeah, the funny thing is that before Black Friday, I wasn’t super ambitious when it came to playing poker. But man, once they took it away from me, it was just terrible that I couldn’t just fire it up. It’s similar to when a girl likes you, you don’t really care, but when she doesn’t like you, you start liking her. Exactly. I was actually thinking of making that reference myself, but I thought I’d just wind up making a bad analogy. I agree with you. Podcast Powered By Podbean Tune in every week for new episodes of Strategy with Kristy. Feel free to send in questions, ideas or suggestions for the podcast to kristy@pokernews.com. Also remember to follow PokerNews on Twitter for up-to-the-minute news. Follow Kristy Arnett on Comments No comments yet. Be the first to post one!

Microgamingâ€™s Bad Beat Jackpot Reaches 500,000 Euro

admin — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 14:36:09 +0000

Microgamings Bad Beat Jackpot Reaches 500,000 Euro
The Microgaming online poker networks Bad Beat Jackpot has reached a value of 500,000. This is the first time that the Microgaming Poker Network (MPN) has reached an amount as high as this, and the largest online gaming software provider in the world has been very excited to share this news on its website and in a press release. A Bad Beat Jackpot is an online poker jackpot promotion that was set up to reward players who hold a specific good poker hand, and yet lose the game that they are playing. This makes the likelihood of winning the jackpot fairly unlikely, however, even though the odds are against winning the Bad Beat Jackpot, it will happen one day, and the winner will have a great prize when it does happen. The criteria to qualify as the Bad Beat Jackpot winner are as follows. The player needs to have played in a hand with four or more players, and the hand played needs to be a raked hand. The player needs to lose the hand, while holding a Four of a Kind that is made up of 8s. Both the hole cards need to have been in play, and the hand played needs to have gone to a showdown. The player also needs to be playing at a participating Bad Beat poker table. The Microgaming Poker Network Bad Beat Jackpot is now way ahead of many of the other Bad Beat Jackpot prize pools that are found on similar online poker networks. The excitement is certainly growing as the online casino software company, and those who play on the Microgaming Poker Network, wait to see who will hit this incredible Bad Beat Jackpot prize. The Microgaming Poker Network Bad Beat Jackpot will continue to grow until it is hit by a lucky Microgaming poker player. Related Posts Win a WSOP Main Event Seat at Cake Poker Launch of Circle Line Poker Last Chance Saloon at Paddy Power Poker Bodog Poker to Move into Asian Market PokerStars Sunday Million 6th Anniversary Share on Facebook, Twitter, MySpace…

The Asian Poker Tour 2009- online poker

admin — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 14:36:09 +0000

The Asian Poker Tour 2009- online poker
1 February 2009 Online Titan Poker is supporting the 2009 Asian Poker Tour Philippines Main Event that is currently underway and runs until the 1st of February. It takes place as the Dusit Thani Hotel in Manila. It started on the 27th of January and is a six day festival of poker with extremely lively action.It was announced by Tournament Director Matt Savage that the $2500+$200 Main Event has 262 runners with a total prize pool of US$635,500. First place will take home US$185,000 with 27 places being paid 27th will get more than double their buy-in back.Nam Le, Quinn Do, David ‘Chino’ Rheem, Steve Sung and Kwang Soo Lee are all members of the Asian Poker Tour’s elite team of ambassadors in the hunt for the title.They join a field that also includes 2008 Asian Poker Tour Philippines winner David Saab, Liz Lieu, Kasey Castle, 2009 Aussie Millions Highroller event winner David Streicke, Michael Pedley, 2009 PartyPoker.com Irish Poker Championship winner Rory Rees Brennan, Brian Huang, Ivan Tan , Andrew Scott and 1990 WSOP Main event winner Mansour Matloubi.The Philippines is strongly represented in the field and are led by WSOP bracelet winner Toto Leonidas with William Te Jr and Ramil Tandoc fancied to run well before the Filipino poker community.There are big contingents from South Korea and Japan, with 2008 Asian Poker Tour Philippines runner up Chris Roh and 2008 Asian Poker Tour Macau runner-up Joon Hee Yeah leading the charge for South Korea and representative from JBetPoker, Team J3PT and the Japan Poker League making up a formidable Japanese contingent that includes Yasuhiro Waki and Yoshei Watanabe.CEA of the Asian Poker Tour, Chris parker stated”Were very pleased with the field and turnout which features players from all over the world. There are so many that are returning to play again after experiencing last years event. Wed like to thank all the players for coming to Manila and hope they all enjoy the famous Asian Poker Tour hospitality.”Amongst the side event winners so far are Henrik Eklund of Sweden who took down the PKR Headhunter tournament and Francis Uy of Manila who emerged victorious in the Ray Ban Invitational. A special Filipino Celebrity Charity Event has also taken place and was won by The Playgirls who won 100,000 pesos for charity. Over 200,000 pesos in total went to various local charities.Taking place on Saturday at 19:30 is the FHM/DafaPoker Player’s Party which promises to be ”tastefully wild”, with FHM cover models as hostesses. After the party, the Asian Poker Tour and FHM have hired party buses to take players around Manila’s hotspots.DafnaPoker is the official partner of the Asian Poker Tour in presenting the Pot-Limit Omaha Hi tournament- a first for a major Asian Tour. The game is scheduled to take place at 14:00 on the 31st January. The buy-in for this tournament will be $185 + $15. On the same day at 19.00 there will also be a hugely anticipated 13 card tournament featuring a $460 +$40 buy-in. Other highlights include the worlds first GREED tournament.Coverage of this years Main Event will be televised and distributed internationally later in the year. OPN Staff All trademarks and copyrighted information contained herein are the property of their respective owners.

Top 5 Poker TV Shows

admin — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 20:18:07 +0000

Top 5 Poker TV Shows
published on 03/04/11 at 9:00 am Looking to catch some great poker action on your television set this week? Then, this is the article that clues you in about where all the poker action is. So, read on to find out which TV channels you have to set your dial to for watching shows packed with poker glitz!! #1 Poker TV Show: GSNs High Stakes PokerThis show was launched in 2006 and was one-of-a-kind among all existing poker shows because one could sit alongside the top poker professionals from all corners of the globe, such as Barry Greenstein, Daniel Negreanu of PokerStars, and Jen Harman as opposed to the tournament format of other shows. Thus, this show allowed viewers to watch the poker biggies gamble with their personal cash (tons of it, really considering each player had to buy-in using USD 100,000 with variations of deals one doesnt normally get to see anywhere else. #2 Poker TV show: ESPNs World Series of PokerThis show has got to be the biggest ever in televised poker event history since nowhere else can viewers tune in to such a tremendous variety of poker games. You have Texas Holdem, 7-card Stud andOmaha played high with the Main Event being the real crowd puller because it is here that the nail-biting finish table action has everyone betting on who will walk away with the No Limit Holdem tournaments multi-million dollar first prize! #3 Poker TV show: World Poker TourThis show definitely has all the poker nuts tuning in to the WPT and also dragging along family and friends to watch the action after it launched with much fanfare in 2003. It rapidly climbed up the TRP charts and became the Travel Channels top rated program because of great poker tournament coverage from across the countrys best casinos. Each hand that is relayed on the TV screen causes hearts of poker fans to beat faster with the pace of the action speeding up across all the different channels the show airs on: from Fox Sports to Travel Channel to GSN, which is sponsored by PokerStars.net, viewers have a choice of which channel they want to change the dial for in order to be part of the poker claim to fame just like the pros featured on this show! #4 Poker TV show: Bravos Celebrity Poker ShowdownThis show really built up the games popularity, much like the shows listed above because it brought in a niche audience to watch their favorite stars vying for great poker prize pools amid light-hearted bantering and some fabulous on-screen chemistry between the hosts: Phil Gordon of FullTilt and Dave Foley who came across as naturals when it came to informative commentary of the shows action. Lots of poker fun, cool prizes, celebrity flavors and the rumors of poker veteran Phil Hellmuth taking to the hosting keep this TV show on the hot list of many card game enthusiasts. #5 Poker TV show: GSNs Poker RoyaleThis TV show about poker is unique because it combines two opposing groups that come together to duke it out at the poker table, across different segments like Girls versus Boys or Celebrities versus Professionals. Three players from each group face each other at the No Limit Holdem tournament and compete for the host of prizes and of course, fan favor! Related posts: Online Poker Affiliate Shows Us How Its Done! The Most Undeserving Player Wins Twitter Poker Tour Europe Event

Pius Heinz wins 2011 WSOP

admin — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 13:00:09 +0000

Pius Heinz wins 2011 WSOP
The 2011 World Series of Poker Main Event title has finally been claimed. Pius Heinz, a 22-year-old professional poker player from Cologne, Germany, took the title holding Ace-King against Martin Staszko’s Ten-Seven. Neither hand improved and Heinz took home $8.7 million with ace-high. Not only was Heinz the first German to win the Main, he was the first to sit at the final table. Over 6800 players from 85 different nations started the event over 13 days, with a prize pool of $64,540,858. The top 693 cashed and the tournament broke, as usual, over a period of five months between the body of the event and the final table, the “November Nine.” Notably, third-place finisher Ben Lamb was looking to culminate a sick, sick run at the WSOP. He place in five consecutive tournaments, making the final table of four of them, and winning one of them. This unheard-of streak locked him up solidly for the WSOP Player of the Year title. For the first time, the Main Event was broadcast (almost) live. There was a delay of several minutes to limit the ability of players to exploit the private pocket card cameras. Although this could potentially allow players to learn about very recent hands during breaks, creating a unique angle on the most important final table of the year. The continuing high turnout of the WSOP is taken as proof that the allure of poker continues throughout the world despite a federal crackdown against online poker. # Player Earnings Country 1 Pius Heinz $8,715,638 Germany 2 Martin Staszko $5,433,086 Czech Republic 3 Ben Lamb $4,021,138 United States 4 Matt Giannetti $3,012,700 United States 5 Phil Collins $2,269,599 United States 6 Eoghan O’Dea $1,720,831 Ireland 7 Bob Bounahra $1,314,097 Belize 8 Anton Makiieveskyi $1,010,015 Ukraine 9 Sam Holden $782,115 United Kingdom Copyright 2012 Ace Nine, LLC Legal | Contact Us | Site Map

First Timer’s Guide to Playing Live

admin — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 02:54:33 +0000

First Timer’s Guide to Playing Live
1. PartyPoker Download Read Review 2. 888Poker Download Read Review Heinz wins 2011 WSOP Pius Heinz wins the 2011 World Series of Poker Main Event over Martin Staszko. Blue Monday The second wave of U.S. indictments against online poker rooms fires out from Maryland. Player Migration Begins PartyPoker’s attempts to woo poker players away from US-facing rivals. Feds Indict Online Poker Operators News about the April 15, 2011 federal online poker indictments. Three Poker Book Gift Ideas Three Poker Book Gift Ideas for the Holidays See all Poker Articles >>

Rinat Bogdanov Wins 2012 World Poker Tour Venice Grand Prix

admin — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 03:00:16 +0000

Rinat Bogdanov Wins 2012 World Poker Tour Venice Grand Prix
February 10 2012, Brett Collson Related Articles Oliver Busquet Wins WPT Borgata Poker Open Championship Borgata Poker Open: The Final Six Players Set for Action The Borgata Poker Open Is Underway Related Tournaments Share It Tags Televised Poker, WPT, Poker Players Print The World Poker Tour crowned a new champion Friday when Rinat Bogdanov won the 2012 WPT Venice Grand Prix. Bogdonov, a financial trader from Russia, outlasted a field of 155 players to claim the $302,065 top prize, which includes a seat to the WPT World Championship at the Bellagio in May. Bogdonov entered the “unofficial” nine-handed final table as one of the short stacks, but dug out of a hole and was near the top of the leaderboard as the final table was reached Thursday night. The man he was chasing, Andrea Dato, secured his second straight seat at a WPT Venice final table and was the chip leader with nearly 1.6 million. Simon Ravnsbaek was second with 922,000, and Bodgonov was lurking with 907,000. The televised final table kicked off at 1400 CET (0500 PST) on Friday as the final six prepared to play down to a winner. Andrea Carini began the day fifth in chips with 343,000 and wasn’t able to gain any momentum during his first appearance on the big stage. His run ended less than two levels into the day when his was unable to catch up to Dato’s after all the chips went in preflop. Carini earned $42,319 for his five days of work. The next player to hit the rail was Gianlucca Trebbi. After moving all-in several times and not getting any action, Trebbi pushed his chips in preflop again with . This time, though, he found a caller in Alessandro Longobardi, who turned over . The board spelled doom for Trebbi, who collected $56,134 for fifth place. Bogdanov was quiet during the early stages of the final table, but he gained some steam with a timely double-up courtesy of Dato. According to the WPT Live Updates team, Dato raised to 60,000 on the button (blinds 15,000/30,000) and Bogdanov moved all-in for 515,000 from the big blind. Dato thought for less than a minute before deciding on a call, and the cards were revealed: Bogdanov: Dato: Bogdanov was at risk of elimination, but the board gave him the win on the river, increasing his stack to just over 1 million. Dato, meanwhile, had his stack carved down to 1,470,000, but he still had a slight lead over Longobardi for the chip lead. Moments later, Ravnsbaek found himself at risk and in trouble against Bogdanov. Ravnsbaek moved all-in for about 15 big blinds with and Bogdanov called instantly with pocket tens. The board came up empty for Ravnsbaek, and he began his trek to the cashier to pick up a $69,095 paycheck. Dato’s reign over the table ended after a few ill-timed three-bets, which shifted the chip lead over to Longobardi. Then, after passing more chips back and forth with Longobardi, Dato shoved his short stack all-in preflop with . Bogdanov called with , and the board sent Dato out the door in third place with $95,003. The result is a slight improvement over Dato’s previous finish at WPT Venice in December, where he took fourth place for $56,822. Dato’s exit left Bogdanov and Longobardi dueling for the title, and it didn’t last long. After scooping a small pot on the first hand, Bogdonov got the rest of his opponent’s chips on the second hand. With the blinds at 40,000/80,000, Longobardi raised to 200,000 with and Bogdanov called with . The dealer revealed a flop of and Bogdanov check-called a bet of 60,000. The fell on the turn and Bogdanov check-called again, this time a bet worth 240,000. The river gave Bogdanov a full house and he slyly checked again, which prompted Longobardi to fire 300,000 into the pot. Bogdanov moved all-in, and Longobardi checked his cards one last time before making the call with his two pair. Bogdanov revealed his monster hand and Longobardi stood up from his seat to shake hands with the new WPT champ. Longobardi earned $146,826 for his runner-up finish, while Bogdanov collected $302,065, the largest score of his career. WPT Venice Grand Prix Final Table Results Place Player Prize 1 Rinat Bogdanov $302,065 2 Alessandro Longobardi $146,826 3 Andrea Dato $95,003 4 Simon Ravnsbaek $69,095 5 Gianluca Trebbi $56,134 6 Andrea Carini $42,319 For more on the WPT Venice Grand Prix, be sure to visit the PartyPoker Blog to see what Tony G and Mike Sexton have to say from the Casino Di Venezia. Get all the latest PokerNews updates on your social media outlets. Follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook today! *Photo courtesy of the World Poker Tour. Follow Brett Collson on Recent Articles The Nightly Turbo: Everleaf Quits U.S. and France, PokerStars Expands Again, and More Why is Fictional Poker so Hard to Watch? A Look at an Episode of HBO’s “Luck” The Online Railbird Report: Blom Squares Off Against Sahamies & Berndsen Everleaf Gaming Network Bans Players from United States and France FTP, PokerStars, & Absolute Receive Extensions to Respond to Amended Complaint Most Popular This Week The Nightly Turbo: Gus Hansen Loses $1.89 Million Pot, Tapie Comments on FTP, and more Sam Trickett Discusses High Stakes Cash Game at Aussie Millions Laurent Tapie Confirms 19 Players Owe a Total of $16.5 Million to Full Tilt Poker 2012 World Poker Tour Venice Grand Prix Day 4: Dato Makes Back-to-Back Final Tables PokerNews Jet Set: Sao Paulo, Brazil Comments

Interview with Mike Matusow

admin — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 04:36:13 +0000

Interview with Mike Matusow
by Steve Marzolf Mike Matusow, a card-carrying member of team Full Tilt, has been around the pro poker circuit long enough to earn his nickname as “The Mouth” a few times over. Most recently, he took third in the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star Main Event, pulling in just under $370k…and talking some serious smack in the process. But when we caught up with him, he had an ironic message for players out there: “Calm down.” You almost took it all at Bay 101 – what was that like? I’ve only played three WPTs in two years – one last year and two this year. I went down there and played really hard. I went down there hungry and wanting to win, and I played really well. But I wish I would have caught some cards against the lunatics, the ones who were raising and re-raising every hand. Tell us about that three-bet that took you out. I mean, he was just raising at every button, and I thought I had a pretty good read on him. I’d been re-raising and shoving on him left and right. I shoved on him with 2-9. He didn’t have to call me with K-Q. It was still 25 percent of his stack, even if he’s ahead. Most of the time, I’m going to have a pair or an ace there. I didn’t really mind the call, cause once it got down to three-handed, they were playing really carefully against me. They knew that if they opened too much, I’d just keep shipping on them. So they started folding a little bit and limping, and it looked like there was going to be no way I could get chips – especially as card-dead as I was. So I didn’t mind just shipping on him every time he opened the button. I was looking at his face and how he reacted to his cards. I shipped on him six times before, and he insta-folded all six. So I thought I had a tell on him. Maybe that time I just rushed it. You’ve consistently had good showings at WPT games. Yeah. I don’t play many. I don’t chase the tournament circuit anymore. As far as I’m concerned, it’s a losing proposition. It’s $750,000 a year to play on the tournament circuit, and you’ve gotta finish at least second in one tournament to make any money. You’ve been in the game a long time – what are the biggest changes you’ve seen? I mean, these kids play pretty good, but when it’s a deep-stack tournament, they’ve gotta know when to slow down. We were playing 100 big blinds deep, and they’re going raise, re-raise, re-raise, trying to outplay each other, playing four-handed. I was just hoping to pick up 8-8 or anything, but I didn’t even see a playable hand. I think the best hand I saw was K-10 offsuit. If I’d picked up any hand behind them, I’d have gotten all the chips. It was the greatest spot in the world – I was like in heaven – but then I was looking at 2-7 offsuit for like eight hours. What spurs that aggressive play? They’re all used to playing online where you have to 3-bet and 4-bet all the time to stay alive when the blinds get up there. When you’re playing deep-stacked, you’re supposed to just play solid and pick your spots. But these guys were ridiculous. They were so hyper-aggressive it was a joke. It fit perfect into my style. I had two playable hands in 154 hands, and I finished 3rd. If I’d won the hand I went out on, then I’d have 30 percent of the chips and who knows what happens? Where do you think the game is going long-term? I don’t know – there’s just so many good players. I think if they just want to keep running $100,000 buy-in tournaments, they’ll have everybody broke within a year. I’m not a big fan of those tournaments. Then, I was saying the same thing four years ago about the $10,000 buy-in tournaments. Everybody would have gone broke on those too, if they hadn’t been satelliting so many people in. You’ve been at this a long time – what are the biggest lessons you’ve learned? Everybody glorifies these people who play heads-up and win millions of dollars, but they’re going to lose it, too. Ain’t nobody who’s better than anybody else playing heads-up poker. Poker’s about playing and beating bad players. There’s definitely less bad players now – and there’s a lot of good players. It’s tough to win now; it’s a lot harder to make a living. Lucky for me, I don’t have to depend on it anymore. I wouldn’t be happy if I had to grind and make a living online or even live nowadays. It sure wouldn’t be easy. Have cash games in Vegas gotten tougher, too? The mixed games are still good, but the no-limit games are all dried up, unless you get invited to a house game. Poker has become a showdown contest. That’s all it is. It’s just because everybody tries to outplay each other. When I came up, it wasn’t like that. It was about making correct decisions, playing solid, attacking blinds and weakness…just playing good and solid. Now it’s all about three-betting, four-betting, five…Come on man. Tell me about your nickname – how often do you hit your opponents with the trash talk? Not much anymore. Though I did it down in Bay 101. Because I just got hot and started making hands. When people play bad against me, I talk a lot of shit. I catch some cards, I’ll rub it in their face. At the WPT, I had a hand where the guy raises under the gun, and three people call so I call in the big blind with Qd-4d. Flop comes 2-4-Q. I lead out the pot, and the guy who raised under the gun calls. The two who came in behind fold. The turn card is 7d, and I have queens and fours on the flush draw. I bet $4800, he makes it $11,000 so I move all in. He calls and shows me three sevens. And I said, “You gotta be kidding me.” Then it’s a 3d on the river, and I start screaming: “That’ll teach you to play bad against me, motherfucker. You get what you deserve. You’re an idiot.” Then I start berating him something fierce. I lead out into four people with a Q-4-2 rainbow. What do you think I’m leading out with, complete air? Like two sevens are any good there. What have you been playing lately? I don’t play. I went to Australia and won about a quarter million. Then I went to L.A. and played the cash games there for a couple weeks and won another $250,000 there. Then I went down to Bay 101 and cashed $370k there. So it’s been a good year.

The Russian online poker community

admin — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 13:18:23 +0000

The Russian online poker community
1 February 2009 Betfair announced in a Wednesday press release that it has opened its online client to the Russian poker community.On Wednesday Betfair, which boasts of the world’s biggest sports betting exchange, opened it doors to the Russian online poker community. With the emergence of a myriad of Russian pros on tour, the Eurasian nation has become a hotbed for new poker talent.”Up until now, the clients could only view information on the poker client and promotions in English, Spanish, German, and Italian, ” said Bruce Stubbs Head of Betfair Poker. ”However, we are delighted to start offering updated information to our Russian clients.”As of yet Team Betfair doesn’t boast of any Russians, Team PokerStars Pro already had a couple from the Russian Federation in the stable; 2008 Aussie Millions winner Alex Kostritsyn and WSOP bracelet winner and 2007 final tabler Alex Kravchenko.This year, PokerStars added powerhouse Ivan Demidov, who became the first player to make both the WSOP and WSOPE Main Event final tables, finishing in 2nd and 3rd, respectively. Fellow Russian Stanislav Alekhin joined Demidov at the WSOPE final table, finishing as runner-up. The WSOPE was sponsored by Betfair.Full Tilt also has a couple red pros from Russia. Nikolay Evdakov burst onto the scene in 2008, setting a record at the WSOP with 10 cashes for the series. Breaking Humberto Brenes and Phil Hellmuth’s cashing record earned him a deal with Full Tilt.The WSOP women’s champ also plays on Full Tilt. Svetlana Gromenkova moved from Moscow to the U.S in 2002, went pro in 2005 and claimed her first bracelet in 2008, when she captured the Ladies Event title.”The Russian market is a fascinating one and one that continues to produced very talented individuals,” continued Stubbs. ”We saw a very strong showing from this region at this year’s WSOP Europe event which we currently sponsor. We hope that the new Russian client shows our commitment to developing and producing new offerings and hope to announce more in the coming year.”The Betfair announcement comes less than two months after PokerStars announced the formation of the Russian Poker Tour (RPT) The RPT just kicked off their inaugural event in St. Petersburg, a $5,000 that will wrap on Feb 1st. After St. Petersburg, it’s off to the $10K event in Moscow Feb.22-28. OPN Staff All trademarks and copyrighted information contained herein are the property of their respective owners.