POKER NEWS
OnlinePokerDog is at its best in providing latest updates from all over the Poker world :
All around the world live poker events are cropping up in countries that never held them before, and in those nations where poker was already popular, the guaranteed prize pools keep going up and up. In the Southern Hemisphere the Aussie Millions has reigned supreme, but soon the neighboring New Zealand may give them a run for their money.
News 1# :
GSN Declines WPT Season VII Option
It appears as if the World Poker Tour will be one-and-done on the Game Show Network (GSN). The WPT's parent company, World Poker Tour Enterprises, Inc. (WPTE), announced Monday that GSN will not be picking it up for another season, after only one WPT Season VI on the network. The Travel Channel was the home of the WPT for its first five seasons.
Nobody is exactly sure why this decision was made. A Reuters article says two possibilities are that poker shows are too expensive to produces and that CEO David Goldhill wants to steer the network more towards traditional game shows.
Goldhill did say that WPTE and GSN are in talks about continuing to work together, even if it's only to broadcast a partial slate of WPT Season VII events. The WPTE is currently speaking with other networks about partnering for the coming WPT season, which begins July 11.
In the meantime, WPT fans can still catch new episodes of Season VI on GSN through August 25 and old episodes on the Travel Channel.
News 2# :
Democratic Party Poker May Madness
Barack Obama has the better hand. He has more chips, he's won more hands and the blinds are getting big. At this point in the pot, we're past the flop and there is absolutely no doubt about who has the better hand. But Hillary is still in the pot in fact, she just bet out.
While most people find her actions and speech on Tuesday June 3 misguided at best, a part of me kind of respects what she is doing; after all, it's a classic tournament poker move. At this point, she knows she has the small stack not to mention the worst hand and the only real way for her to win is to force her opponent into a bad decision. I don't think anyone sees Sen. Obama bungling the first prize now; he is the Democratic Presidential Nominee for 2008. But she's still got a lot of support and no super-delegate has technically cast a ballot yet she may be outchipped but she's not dead to rights.
Although I don't think that's exactly what she's doing. Rather than hope to force him into a bad decision, I think she is following a different motus operandi. I see shades of the Party Poker May Madness Million tournament in the former First Lady's actions. I see her jockeying for a deal just like the players at the Final Table of the Party Poker May Million Madness tournament
News 3# :
Absolute Poker Hosts World Series Light
It has not been as publicized as Full Tilt Poker's Mini Series of Poker, but Absolute Poker has also been running its own miniaturized version of this year's WSOP. This one, called the World Series of Absolute Poker (WSAP), is not nearly as big as Full Tilt's because of the basic fact that Absolute's player base is much smaller but there are still prizes to be won.
For each event of the WSOP, Absolute will run a tournament of the same game type, only with a significantly smaller buy-in. Whereas the largest buy-in at the WSOP is $50,000, the largest buy-in at the WSAP is only $200, for both the No-Limit Hold'em Main Event and the HORSE championship.
The WSAP is even mirroring the Ante up for Africa charity tournament. The buy-in is $25, with $2.50 re-buys. The entire prize pool, plus a 100% match by Absolute, will be donated to Ante up for Africa . The top ten finishers will win seats into the WSAP Main Event.
Additional bonus prizes include:
Free entry into the Aruba Classic for the overall WSAP cash winner and anyone who wins three WSAP events in a row.
Four week pass to Absolute's weekly $150K guaranteed (includes the $325k Super Saturday) for the person who reaches the most final tables.
