Poker-Bug Poker News

This week Barry Carter looks at what it means to be a poker player in the eyes of modern society. Are we regarded as martini drinking Bond characters or are we a bunch of computer geeks?

May the 3rd, 2008. Make a note of that date on your calendar. That is the day the PartyPoker Million VI Cruise sets sail from Venice, Italy. What could be better than taking part in an 8 day cruise and playing quality tournament poker

Qualifiers for Bodog Poker's VIP packages to the WSOP Europe finish this Sunday, Aug. 19, with two Main Event Semifinals being held at 3:05 p.m. EST and 3:05 p.m. GMT. (Bodog Beat Image)

 

Last chance, final warning. Bodog Poker's qualifiers for the six guaranteed VIP WSOP Europe packages end with two Semifinals being held at 3:05 p.m. EST and 3:05 p.m. GMT this Sunday, but there are still plenty of opportunities to win your way into these tournaments.

For as little as a dollar you can start on your way to the $540 buy-in. So, don't miss out on this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be part of poker history and to do it in true Bodog style. The VIP package consists of not only the £10,000 Main Event buy-in but also round trip airfare on British Airways or Virgin Atlantic (if you're going, this is the way to go), a 10-night stay at a five-star luxury hotel, spending money, a car service to whisk qualifiers around London, spending money, a suit from Savile Row and plenty of Bodog gear.

Here is a full schedule of qualifiers for Saturday and Sunday (all times are US Eastern):Saturday (Tomorrow):

Euro Main Event Qualifier Euro Main Event Cheap Seat Euro Main Event Qualifier Euro Main Event Quarterfinal Euro Main Event Qualifier Euro Main Event Cheap Seat (rebuy) Euro Main Event Quarterfinal Euro Main Event Qualifier Euro Main Event Quarterfinal (Rebuy)

$5.50 or 300 PTS $2.00 $5.50 or 300 PTS $40.00 $5.50 or 300 PTS $1.00 $40.00 $5.50 or 300 PTS $16.00

1:30am 5:30am 11:45am 2:15pm 3:00pm 4:15pm 5:15pm 7:15pm 11:15pm

Sunday, Aug. 19:

Euro Main Event Qualifier Euro Main Event Cheap Seat Euro Main Event Semifinal

$5.50 or 300 PTS $2.00

1:30am 5:30am

Euro Main Event Semifinal Euro Main Event Semifinal

$540.00 $540.00

10:05am 3:05pm

So, start playing now and imagine yourself going up against some of the biggest names in poker and living the Bodog lifestyle.

Whether you're going to play in the EPT next week or not, you can still make money from it. Paddy Power have announced the latest odds for the increasingly popular tournament betting markets.

Now you can play 12 tables at once with William Hill Poker and Sun Poker, as the Cryptologic Network have added a Pro View feature.

With the WSOP Europe only weeks away, Andy Pyrah, consultant to London Clubs International, sent me an invite to the WSOP press lunch with Betfair and Harrah's Entertainments Inc.

Ireland have made it to the PokerStars World Cup Finals in Barcelona. More than 75,000 players have played in freeroll tournaments to try and represent their countries in the live team competition and we are now down to our finalists.

Pokers global reach is extending to more parts of the world than ever before. News has reached UK PokerNews' offices today that the World Poker Tour has agreed a deal with China Leisure Sports Administrative Centre (CLSAC)

Now for a new feature here at UK PokerNews; a round-up of all the major action found at the online felt of the Sunday Majors. In the most cases this is just a collection of online nicknames

Phil Laak and Antonio Esfandiari demonstrate an automated poker heads-up machine at the 2007 World Series of Poker. (Bodog Beat Image)

If you were at the World Series of Poker this year, which we were, then you may have seen a demonstration by Phil Laak and Antonio Esfandiari of the new automated heads-up poker table. The table was then on display in the hallway outside for regular joes to give it a shot.

Inside the Gaming Life Expo, you may also have seen the full 10-seater electronic poker tables. Each seat with a screen in front and a center screen for the community cards.

Well, with a combination of these two types of machines, the world's first poker room to feature all electronic tables has opened at Four Winds Casino Resort in New Buffalo, Michigan. The room features fifteen PokerPro 10-seat tables and four heads-up tables, all exclusively provided by North Carolina-based software provider PokerTek.

The automated room will offer Limit and No-Limit Texas Hold'em cash games, Limit and Pot-Limit Omaha Hi and Hi-Lo cash games, and single and multi-table tournaments with a variety of buy-ins.

The advantages of the tables are to limit dealer error and supposedly increase the number of hands seen per hour by 50%. Yay, even more chances to bet sucked-out on by some donkey who just thinks that playing poker on a machine is, like, the coolest thing ever.

Ominous ending note: The machines are taking over the world.