Thank you for your patience on this matter.

That’s because Varna, which is located on the Black Sea, is considered to be one of Bulgaria’s most beautiful cities.  As soon as one takes a look at the sandy beaches and thick forests of Varna, they might never want to spend another hour playing online poker again…..well, the rakeback will probably draw them back eventually though.

Besides the beauty of Varna, players will also love the location of the Balkan Poker Festival because it’s held at the Grand Hotel Casino International.  The poker room here is the largest in the country, and you’ll get to see plenty more of those sandy beaches since the room offers some great sea views.  And for the holdem poker players who like to party, there are plenty of bars both in and out of the Grand Hotel Casino International.

If playing in the Balkan Poker Festival sounds like a dream, perhaps you should download the poker software from PokerStars and start playing for a Main Event prize package.  The prize packages cover the Main Event buy-in of €990, and the travel and hotel accommodations during your five-night stay in Varna.  Both satellites and qualifiers for the prize packages are being offered right now so all you have to do is play poker.

The updated software will take effect as of July 26th, and people will now be able to take advantage of the new 3D poker lobby.  What’s really cool about this 3D online poker lobby is that it’s split into a beginners and advanced user section.  The beginners section is perfect for people who just want to learn how to play poker because it’s not overcrowded with options and players can go straight to the poker tables.  People who visit the advanced section will be able to look for their poker table by stakes, game type, and table size just like at other internet poker rooms.

888Poker has also created a unique feature that’s very similar to the popular social networking site Facebook; people can create a profile at 888 just like on Facebook.  Once their profile is created, holdem poker players will be able to post photos, leave status updates, upload videos, and chat with friends online. 

Another popular aspect of the new 888 software is their late poker tournament registration.  Much like the big casino poker pros like Phil Ivey, you’ll be able to enter a tournament as much as an hour past the starting time and still compete for the prize pool.  So if you happen to see a great tournament a little too late, you can still jump in the action.

One more excellent thing about 888Poker’s revamped software is the brand new Rewards Store.  Here players will be able to buy everything from iPods and cars to t-shirts and poker chips with their bonus points.  It’s just one more thing to love about the new 888Poker!

There’s nothing funny about what happened here; it was a case of cold-blooded murder seemingly carried out by Mr. Bebb-Jones. But it is what he and his defense lawyers have subsequently claimed that is a complete farce!

Basically, he is fighting tooth and claw to avoid extradition to the United States, where they would give him the electric chair for his transgressions. While the District Judge presiding over the case has assured Mr. Bebb-Jones that the Secretary of State would not give him the boot if it meant the death sentence, the alternative is a life sentence in prison without the possibility of parole. And everybody knows what happens to idiots that kill their own wives in prison: “Why don’t you pick on somebody your own size?”

Feeling the heat of divine justice under his collar, Mr. Bebb-Jone’s barrister, Mr. Cooper bleated that the proposed punishment was “grossly disproportionate” and would breach his client’s human rights: grossly disproportionate to what, Mr. Cooper? To his crime? To the fact that your client murdered his wife, buried her in the wilderness and then rewarded himself with a weekend of poker in Las Vegas? Shame, shame, shame! How the integrity of the great American pastime has been soiled by this man and for that alone, he deserves the full wrath of the law. The case is ongoing and the outcome for the accused is greatly anticipated. Should he be found to be innocent; then I will eat my words, letter by letter.

The four internet poker rooms that Cake will be opening include WingsPoker, Unleashed Poker, PokerXRC, and Broadway Tables.  Each poker room has its own individual flair and they all bring something different to the table.

PokerXRC will offer its poker software to Greek players, and they’ve been busy signing some of the best poker players in Greece to represent them.  For the first time in history, Greece has poker TV commercials since PokerXRC is running them to advertise online poker deals.

PokerXRC isn’t the only Cake Poker Network room that will advertise its brand to a specific region because Broadway Tables is focusing on Latin American players.  US players can also get in on the poker games at Broadway Tables since they accept Americans.

Both WingsPoker and Unleashed Poker are meant to be more international poker sites with their services being available to lots of countries.  Both rooms are already advertising that they will be offering excellent free poker tournaments, satellites, and bonuses to their players.

And while it’s great that the Cake Poker Network is opening all of these new sites, some people might just choose to stick with the sites that are already running such as DoylesRoom, Juicy Stakes, Power Poker, and Red Star Poker.  After all, why would you want to leave for another room when you can take advantage of all the rakeback money offered at these sites?

Besides the Player’s Championship, you’ll also have an opportunity to watch the Tournament of Champions at 8pm on August 3rd.  This star-studded event featured many of the world’s best live and online poker players battling for a $500,000 top prize.  Ultimate Bet Poker player Phil Hellmuth, PokerStars player Daniel Negreanu, DoylesRoom star Doyle Brunson, and Full Tilt Poker rep Howard Lederer were just a few of the great players who took part in this tournament. 

After the Tournament of Champions and Player’s Championship is out of the way, you can catch the holdem poker championship in the Main Event every night from August 10th to August 24th at 8pm.  Here you’ll see the second largest Main Event field at 7,319 participants play poker until just 9 players are remaining (the November Nine).

Of course, you will also be able to see the Main Event’s conclusion on November 9th at 9pm as the November Nine play to see who wins the top prize of $8.94 million.  The players who will be competing for the world’s biggest texas poker prize include Jonathan Duhamel, John Dolan, Joseph Cheong, John Racener, Matthew Jarvis, Filippo Candio, Michael Mizrachi, Soi Nguyen, and Jason Senti

So if you find yourself longing for the canals of Venice, Italy or wanting to run with the bulls in the streets of Barcelona, Spain, perhaps you should be playing at Carbon Poker.  Not only does Carbon deliver 35% in rakeback money, but they also give players the opportunity to win a seat in a huge live poker tournament through their World Poker Tour and Asian Pacific Poker Tour satellites

Besides Venice and Barcelona, some of the other WPT and APPT locations that Carbon will be sending players to includes Melbourne, Las Vegas, Macau, the Philippines, and Los Angeles.  As soon as you’ve downloaded the poker software at Carbon, you can start playing in either sit and go’s or multi-table tournaments for a chance at one of the seats.  These poker games are really cheap too because players can buy into both SNG’s or MTT’s for as little as $2!

Of course you can start a little higher up in these satellites by paying more cash, which means there are levels for everybody.  If you know a lot of poker strategy and have a large bankroll, you might even consider buying directly into one of the main qualifiers where buy-ins range from $460 to $550.  This will help you skip all of the smaller satellites so you’ll be able to play poker for one of the big tournament seats right away.

The North Pole is essentially the northernmost – or topmost for those who failed high school mapwork – point on Earth. Because of the angle at which our planet lies to the sun, the North Pole lies in complete darkness for a considerable portion of the year, and for the rest, in weak sunlight. As such, it is a frozen wasteland with dunes of snow, jagged mountain peaks and glacial rivers that move a few centimeters per year. In other words, it is uninhabitable, unless you are an Eskimo or polar bear and have learned to adapt to and respect life at its harshest. Certainly it is uninhabitable for people with the soul intent of having a poker festival.

Now, one might support this notion if the organizers and players in question had to trek through miles of frozen tundra to reach the tournament and play poker wearing great fuzzy parkas on a block of ice. Now that would be a true North Pole poker experience! But this would go down about as well as an ace hidden up the sleeve. Poker players are creatures of comfort and so, one can be sure that they will either reach their destination by plane or by helicopter, and that upon arrival, they will find a nice big marquee tent complete with multiple generators making sure things are nice and toasty. 

I must admit that if I were a competitor in a poker tournament, I too, would like to find the latter! And just think, you wouldn’t even need to hail the waiter for more ice! Just walk outside. But let’s be serious about the very serious issues facing our planet, its ecosystems and our society. If reducing our carbon emission means that poker tournaments need to remain in major cities and casinos, then I personally consider that the better option. Flouting the stern suggestions of environmental specialists just so that you can play poker the North Pole is more than a little selfish and I think the NPPC should re-evaluate their key philosophies.

With Stevens gone, the WSOP Main Event final table is now set with the following players:

1. Jonathan Duhamel: 65,975,000 chips
2. John Dolan: 46,250,000
3. Joseph Cheong: 23,525,000
4. John Racener: 19,050,000
5. Matthew Jarvis: 16,700,000
6. Filippo Candio: 16,400,000
7. Michael Mizrachi: 14,450,000
8. Soi Nguyen: 9,650,000
9. Jason Senti: 7,625,000

With the final poker table now decided, many people are already making predictions on who will prevail.  Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi is the only big name player left, and he has already had an amazing year in 2010.  Mizrachi made poker news by winning the $50,000 Player’s Championship along with $1.559 million, and he also made the final poker tables in both the Seven Card Stud Championship and the Limit Hold’em Championship.  Unfortunately for Mizrachi, he is a bit low on poker chips as compared to the rest of the field.

Jonathan Duhamel certainly has the chips advantage, but he has only cashed in a couple of poker games prior to the Main Event (both of which came this year).  John Dolan is a semi-experienced casino poker player, and he is in a good position with 46,250,000 chips.  John Racener is another experienced holdem poker player among the November Nine group since he has cashed in quite a few poker tournaments. 

Whoever is the first player to bust out of the Main Event will receive a payout of $811,823 while the remaining players are all guaranteed over $1 million.  The person who plays their poker hands the best and wins the tournament will walk away with $8.94 million.

Another Full Tilt player in Justin “Boosted J” Smith had the good fortune of playing for the title against Moritz Kranich.  Smith was at a decided poker chip disadvantage going into heads-up play as a 2 to 1 underdog.  The disadvantage only grew as Kranich won the fist 9 poker hands of the matchup.  Eventually, the German-born Kranich would finish Smith off en route to the win.  After winning the poker tournament, Kranich cashed for $875,150 while Smith still earned a fair amount of money with $594,755.

Other notable holdem poker players who cashed in Bellagio Cup VI included Maria Ho (10th place, $40,783), Jeffrey Lisandro (15th place, $33,986), Joe Hachem (24th place, $20,392), Men Nguyen (34th place, $16,993), Annette Obrestad (35th place, $16,993), and Dave Ulliot (38th place, $16,993).

One very interesting thing about this year’s Bellagio Cup is that the buy-in was knocked down from $15,000 to $10,000 so that more people could play poker in this event.  Because of the lower buy-in, the Bellagio Cup attracted its highest number of participants ever at 353 players.  But even with the larger number of players, the prize pool was down including the first place prize, which dropped by $300,000. 

Even still, the WPT looks poised for yet another strong season as lots of people are trying to win seats to their events through online poker qualifiers.