In regards to Holden, the 22-year-old from Sussex is fresh off of a 9th place finish in the 2011 WSOP Main Event. And the big final table appearance has done more for Holden than just deliver him a $782,115 cash; it has also earned him plenty of fame through poker news. As the BBC put it, “Although he has now been a professional player for about four years, this year was his first entry into the WSOP tournament. His arrival at the final nine players at his first attempt has caused ripples in the global poker community.”

Interestingly enough, Holden doesn’t think that he’s alone in his outstanding accomplishments because there are plenty of other Brits who are playing well in the poker world. He told the BBC, “British poker is doing incredibly well at the moment. Over the last two years we’ve had brilliant results in the biggest tournaments in the world, both in live tournaments and online. Considering our population, and population of players, it’s quite incredible really.”

Moving along, those who follow poker need no introduction to Liv Boeree. She began playing in 2005, and catapulted herself onto poker’s main stage after winning the 2010 EPT San Remo Main Event ($1,698,300). Since that time, she has also experienced a great deal of success in online poker while playing at PokerStars. Currently, the 27-year-old beauty thinks that UK poker is definitely in a prosperous period as she said, “The UK has exploded onto the international poker scene. The boom started with the spread of online poker sites, and that’s trickled down into the nation’s subconscious. It was always popular in the US, but now we’re having our boom.”

She also spoke about how poker has risen from the underground clubs and high stakes casinos to become available for everybody. Her exact words were, “Twenty years ago people maybe imagined poker being played in underground rooms or in casinos with big high rollers. This is not the case…it’s so accessible now.”

One person from the BBC article who has benefited from the increased accessibility is 33-year-old Ian Taylor, who has made online poker a full-time job. But it hasn’t been glamorous for Taylor as he commented on the typical British poker grinder by saying, “If you took all the professional poker players in the country, you’d find there are a lot more like me than the Liv Boeree’s, and the big live tournament players that you’ve heard of.”

Despite the fact that not everybody can be Sam Holden or Liv Boeree, you can still bet that more Brits will be trying to emulate these poker stars based on all of the success that they’re having.

Robl announced the challenge through his poker blog at CoinFlip, and started out talking about his training experiences by writing, “I’ve been training MMA (mostly jiu justi) 3-4X times a week. I train at Sergio Penha’s, and I recommend it to anyone who wants to train Jiu Justi in Vegas. Sergio is the Man!”

Getting to the actual challenge, Robl wrote, “I was planning on doing a $50,000 cage fight with Sorel Mizzi come WSOP * time – but Sorel backed out of the bet. He’s had enough problems recently without having to worry about my fists breaking his face. Sorel has always been a great guy in my experience – and I certainly hope the rumors about him aren’t true.”

Besides the MMA fight challenge, Robl also made poker news after a great run in the NBC Heads-UP Poker Championship. Robl was a last minute substitute, but showed that he was certainly no substitute after making it to the final four of this poker tournament; he was beaten by eventual champion Erik Seidel.

Apparently the cameras must like Robl because he was also on High Stakes Poker this past week. Robl got onto the show when poker amateur and Silly Bandz founder Robert Croak vacated his seat after losing a $268,000 pot to Phil Ruffin.

And Robl must seriously be working on becoming a TV star since he also showed up on PokerStars Big Game show, where he caused a small controversy when Party Poker pro Tony G and Daniel Negreanu claimed he was being a “nit.” Fortunately, everything seems to be good between the trio now.

Not only will Mini FTOPS XIX offer $8 million in guaranteed money across 45 poker games, but the buy-ins are extremely cheap since most of them range from $11-$55. Considering that you’d be playing for 6-figure tournament prize pools in most of these tournaments, the buy-ins are insanely low!

Want evidence of this fact? Then take a look at Sunday’s Event #1 holdem poker tournament, which offers a $300,00 prize pool, yet costs just $22 to enter. If you were to play in a similar-sized tournament at another online poker room, your buy-in would be 10 times this amount – if not much higher.

If you’re looking for another cheap tournament that’s really huge, Event #10’s NL holdem 6-max tourney on March 9th only costs $11 to enter, and the prize pool is going to be $250,000. When you add in the fact that this is a rebuy poker tournament and its also multi-entry, the prize pool should be much bigger. The Event #18 rebuy holdem tournament on March 12th also promises to be big since its prize pool is worth $300k, and the buy-in is a mere $11.

There are plenty of tournaments like this across the board in Mini FTOPS, so it’s a low limit player’s dream! Of course, anybody who wants to break out of the low limits, and take a crack at the big-time should consider the Mini FTOPS XIX Main Event. It costs $75 to enter, and the prize pool will be huge at $1.25 million. Even if you can’t afford the $75 buy-in, there will be satellites and qualifiers for the Main Event running throughout March. The same goes for all of the other Mini FTOPS tournaments too.

It’s not surprising that all three players play at Full Tilt Poker because this site has one of the highest rakeback offers at 27%. And you can only imagine the massive amount of rakeback that Hansen has made with almost $2.5 million in ‘11 profits. As we reported before in our poker news section, Hansen is in the midst of a huge upswing that began in October of 2010; he’s earned around $5.5 million since then.

Patrik Antonius has also enjoyed a nice start to 2011 as he’s made $1.1 million in profits. And Antonius has proven to be a master of two games since he’s made over $356k in Limit Holdem poker, and an additional $446k by playing Omaha Hi/Lo. Besides the Hi/Lo and Limit games, Antonius has went on to earn plenty of profits in PL Omaha and NL Hold’em too.

Dang has hauled in the second most money this year behind Hansen with $1.5 million in profits. Dang’s best variation has been PL Omaha, where he’s made over $652k in these poker games. The earnings uphold Dang’s reputation as one of the top internet poker players in the world.

And while you may not rank up there with Dang, you can still make quite a bit of money by signing up at Full Tilt, and taking advantage of the aforementioned rakeback deal. Who knows…..maybe one day you’ll also be mentioned with the likes of Hansen, Antonius and Dang.

But who would give you a free shot at a €1,000,000 prize pool? Well if you read the title of this poker news, then you’ve probably guessed that Everest Poker is who since they’re currently giving away $9,000 prize packages for their own Everest Poker One tournament.

If you haven’t heard anything about this poker tournament, here’s the deal: Everest Poker One is going to be held at Monaco’s luxurious Sporting Monte-Carlo from April 21st to April 24th. And in case you didn’t catch it the first (or second) time, there will be €1,000,000 in guaranteed money up for grabs.

Those who are interesting in winning a $9k Everest Poker One prize package should download the poker software for Everest, and start playing in these satellites:

- Wednesday through Monday freerolls (times varies); the top 50 players move on to the 1,000 points freerolls.

- Wednesday through Monday 1,000 Summit Points satellites at 20:30 GMT; the winner receives a seat in the $360 prize package finals, while second and third place get a Sunday satellite ticket.

- $33 Monday satellite at 20:30 GMT; top three players earn $360 prize package finals seats.

- $33 Tuesday satellite (time varies); one $360 prize package finals seat is given away.

- $33 Sunday satellite at 20:30 GMT; five $360 prize package finals seats are offered.

- $360 prize package finals on Tuesday at 20:30; one $9,000 Everest Poker One prize package guaranteed, while one prize package will be given out for 27 players in this satellite.

If you win a $9,000 prize package, it will cover your $6,900 Main Event buy-in, and leave $2,100 left over for plane tickets and hotel accommodations. And of course the big prize is that you’ll be playing for the aforementioned €1 million prize pool free!

The poker community has been buzzing about the identity of “Isildur1” ever since he stormed onto the high stakes scene in 2009. “Isildur1” was involved in some of the biggest poker hands in history, and earned millions of dollars over the past two years. Everybody from Sammy Farha to Phil Hellmuth was pegged as the man behind this poker screen name. But it ended up being the person who most people had tabbed as “Isildur1” in Blom.

Blom’s unveiling happened at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure when he played Bertrand “ElkY” Grosspellier in $50/$100 holdem poker. As soon as the matchup began at 7pm ET, the poker world knew for sure who “Isildur1” was. After the theatrics were over, Blom went on to defeat Grospellier in the 100-hand poker game.

It’s no surprise that Blom chose a PokerStars event to unveil his secret identity seeing as how the world’s biggest online poker room recently signed him. In just his first day as a Team PokerStars member, Blom earned $287,000 in a 14-hour session. Blom followed up this marathon session with two PokerStars SuperStar Challenges as he faced both Isaac Haxton and Tony G; Blom was defeated by Haxton and managed to beat Tony G.

One thing to look forward to with Blom as a PokerStars member is that he’ll now be competing in all of the major poker tournaments. PokerStars said as much by releasing the following statement:

“Although he’s yet to make a real impact on the live tournament circuit – his biggest cash so far being a 16th place finish at the World Series of Poker* Europe Main Event in 2010 – Viktor will be playing all the major events in the months to come, looking to take down his first title.”

And you’ll definitely want to be watching when the anonymous online poker star from Sweden takes on Isaac Haxton in the PokerStars SuperStar Showdown. The Showdown starts on Sunday, December 19th when Haxton will risk $150,000 to play poker with Isildur1 in $50/$100 holdem poker games. And there’s a twist to this contest where the players will multi-table on four poker tables.

As you may have guessed, the PokerStars SuperStar Showdown is much like what Tom Dwan is doing with Patrik Antonius and Dan “jungleman12” Cates at Full Tilt Poker. The main differences are that this challenge is actually being advertised by PokerStars, and the money at stake isn’t as high. Even still, $150,000 is a lot of money!

Poker rules for the SuperStar Showdown dictate that the winner will be crowned when either 2,500 poker hands are reached or when one of the players busts out.

If you’re unfamiliar with the contestants in the PokerStars SuperStar Showdown, both Haxton and Isildur1 are pretty well known throughout the internet poker world. Haxton burst onto the casino poker scene when he finished second in the 2007 WPT PokerStars Caribbean Adventure ($861,789). In 2009, Haxton made poker news headlines again when he took second place at the $40,000 WSOP 40th Anniversary No-Limit Hold’em tournament ($1,168,565). In all, Haxton has cashed 13 times in the WSOP and earned over $2.8 million in live tournament winnings; this doesn’t even account for all the money he’s made in cash games.

Isildur1 is a little more known than Haxton despite never revealing his true identity. Isildur1 is famous for taking an initial bankroll of $1,000 and turning into a $1 million in just a year. The Swede has also been involved in some of the biggest poker pots in history, and was the first person to lose a $1 million pot. Most people would probably favor Isildur1 in this match up, but Haxton is certainly a good player who will make the SuperStar Showdown exciting to watch.

Since signing a deal with Ultimate Bet, it’s become customary for Hellmuth to be decked out in UB logos.  However, the absence of poker logos at the NAPT Los Angeles poker tournament started the rumors that Hellmuth could be signing elsewhere.  In addition to this, several poker news outlets have reported that Hellmuth is going to be signing a richer deal elsewhere.

One such site was Gambling911.com, which said an insider told them, “He is signing with PokerStars and was offered an amount he could not refuse.  This will be the biggest news in poker in the coming months.”

Full Tilt Poker is yet another poker room that is rumored to be Hellmuth’s new home.  But as of now, everything is pure speculation since Ultimate Bet still has pictures of him all over their website.  In fact, the front page of Ultimate Bet’s site still displays Hellmuth advertising their online poker deals.

Speaking of online poker deals at Ultimate Bet, they are currently running a promotion called “SnG Races to 3,” which offers players the chance to play in a free poker tournament worth $10,000.  The $10k freeroll gives players the opportunity to win $200 seats for the Sunday $200,000 Guaranteed event; just win three sit and go’s in the $5/$6, $10/$11, or $20/$22 groups and you’ll earn a spot in the freeroll.

In addition to this, UB has the always-popular 30% rakeback deals that players can take advantage of.  You can also sign up for this deal at UB’s sister site Absolute Poker.

As you may have guessed, Eastgate didn’t put the bracelet on eBay because he is hurting for money; after all, Eastgate did win over $9.15 million in the 2008 Main Event.  Instead, Eastgate put his bracelet up for sale to help the charity organization UNICEF.  Eastgate’s poker tournament bracelet was listed on eBay earlier this week for $16,000 (the price it was appraised at).

But you can guarantee that the bidding will go even higher since famous poker pro Tony G said that he’ll be bidding for the bracelet too.  The popular Party Poker player released a statement in regards to the bracelet that read, “I have decided that I am going to buy Peter Eastgate’s WSOP Main Event winner’s bracelet.  It is currently trading at $16,500 on eBay, and I am going to lead the bidding at $17,500. I don’t expect any further bids and, as I know, there are very few people with the heart and courage to challenge a determined Tony G.”

And while it’s definitely interesting that a noted live/online poker player like Tony G wants to buy the bracelet, his planned use for the bracelet is even more interesting.  He said, “The plan is to get it adapted into a special collar for my trusted German shepherd, Zasko.  The ultimate dog bling, as my gladiator and protector, he deserves to be kitted out in such style.”

Whether Tony meant for his comment to spark a bidding war or not, 40 bids were put in after his comments causing the price to rise from $16,500 to over $45,000!  Looks like he has some more bidding to do……

Popular speculation is that FoxSports.com made this deal so that they could compete with ESPN.com, which leads all mainstream online sports sites in poker content.  Now Fox Sports has the benefit of having the world’s largest online poker room providing content for them.  

The obvious benefit to PokerStars is that they get to advertise their brand name on a mainstream sports website.  This should lead a lot of sports fans towards PokerStars’ fantastic online poker deals!

Joe Versaci, who is the North America Regional Marketing Director for PokerStars, reflected on the importance of the deal by saying, “Foxsports.com is one of the most popular online destinations in the world, with thriving sports, gaming, and poker arenas that host the best live and editorial content on thousands of sporting and gaming events every week.  This tie-in will see FoxSports.com and PokerStars combine the best live and editorial content with the web’s best online poker games.”

This is not the first time that PokerStars and Fox Sports have worked together.  Last year, the two sides created the “Million Dollar Challenge” TV show, which gives contestants a chance to play poker heads-up against both celebrities and PokerStars’ players.  When a contestant wins, they can choose to go home with their money, or risk the money to play Daniel Negreanu for $100,000; if they win against Negreanu, they get to come back and compete for $1,000,000.

If you’d like to appear on the Million Dollar Challenge, you should sign up for PokerStars and look for qualifiers.  As long as you’ve downloaded their poker software, you’ll be ready to win your way onto TV.