Event 54 featured a buy-in of $1,000 and a huge field of 3,844 players – one of the largest events hosted at the WSOP this year. The tournament’s large field of players contributed to a mammoth prize pool of $3,459,600, the largest share of which – $570,960 – was won by Marcel Vonk of the Netherlands. David Peters of the USA finished a close second for $350,803, whilst Kerr earned a respectable $255,076 for his efforts. Kerr crashed out of Event 54 when his suited J-6 (clubs) fished out a flush on the river – only for the 9 of clubs to earn Peters a full house with Q-Q-9-9-9.

UK online poker players will be all too aware of unfortunate river cards, but for Kerr it meant the end of a truly impressive run in Event 54. Meanwhile, whilst the WSOP slowly draws to a close in Vegas, a number of major UK poker tournaments have been in operation. Among them, the Dusk Till Dawn in Nottingham was won by Fraser Bellamy, who also happened to win the event in August last year. Bellamy overcame a field of 243 to win the £300 buy-in event.

James Akenhead, Barny Boatman and Neil Channing played superb poker to reach day 2 of Event 55, which is still in progress, whilst Martins Adeniya finished a strong thirteenth in Event 52 for $58,699. Event 52, a no-limit Hold’em six-handed tournament with a buy-in of $25,000 featured a prize pool of $4,536,250 and received 191 entries. Whilst Adeniya’s exploits were hugely impressive, it was fellow Brit, Sam Trickett, who finished within sight of a bracelet win. Trickett, of Retford Nottingham, enjoyed an impressive run of form from day one of event 52 to finish in seventh position for $141,168.

En route to seventh place, Trickett finished above poker legends Daniel Negreanu, Carlos Mortensen and Justin Bonomo but came up short to Dan Kelly, Shawn Buchanan, Frank Kassela, Jason Somerville, Mikael Thuritz and Eugene Katchalov, all of North America. Trickett is a respected player at many UK poker tournaments, which have experienced a surge in UK online poker players during the WSOP. Many professional online players have sought to take advantage of a weakened field this summer as Britain’s top tournament players have embarked on their crusades in Las Vegas. Tournament fields have been further diluted by the football World Cup, which is also thought to have reduced the number of people playing online.

The £500 main event in Walsall, which featured a top prize of £7,220, was won by Leamington Spa’s Stephen Thompson, whilst the £300 main event in Newcastle was taken down by the curiously named Hugh Frew, who threw everything at his heads-up opponent, Boris Mutch, to win £6,340. Another round of GUKPT Summer Series events is due to take place in Sheffield (21st – 25th July) and Dundee (22nd – 25th July) later this month, before which time the GUKPT Club Championship events are scheduled to occur. UK poker’s team in Las Vegas, however, ought to have returned by then.

The WSOP 2010 has marked a record-breaking time for British players; having won five WSOP bracelets to date, no other nationality besides the US has won so many events at the tournament. Steve Jelinek, Mike Ellis, Richard Ashby, Praz Bansi and James Dempsey have all won bracelets at this year’s WSOP, making it a truly remarkable period for British players.

Over the weekend, in Event 43, the $10,000 buy-in HORSE World Championship, Richard Ashby almost made it six for British players. A field of 241 players battled hard to make the 24 paid positions, which is perhaps unsurprising considering that the prize pool was worth $2,265,400. Ashby managed to finish a close second to Ian Gordon ($611,666) and, although he did not win another coveted bracelet, he secured $378,027 for his troubles.

Jelinek, from Birmingham, was reportedly down on his luck before flying out to Las Vegas, so his success in Event 41 came at just the right moment. Indeed, according to Jelinek himself, the $245,871 win has enabled him to continue as a poker professional. Jelinek said: “My bankroll was down a bit. I decided to come to the WSOP this year and try and get a gold bracelet to try and continue my poker career – and that’s what it means to me. Not only to win the biggest prize in poker, in the best setting, in the best tournaments, against the best players, but to be able to continue my poker career as a winner”.

By securing Britain’s fifth bracelet in Las Vegas this year, Jelinek has helped to set a new tournament record: before his win, no nationality other than the host (US) had enjoyed so many wins at the WSOP in a single year. Jelinek’s victory was also notable for the inclusion of Phil Hellmuth at the final table; however, not even the 11-bracelet legend that is Hellmuth, who finished seventh for £30,633, could stop another Briton claiming success at the WSOP 2010.

When a heads-up battle emerged between Wilson and eventual runner-up, Kevin Wallace, the young champion from Edinburgh quickly carved out a 3-to-1 chip lead. In fact, Wilson overcame Dundee’s Wallace with relative ease to win a superb £3,000 in prize money and a GUKPT seat courtesy of event sponsors, Betfair. The £10,300 prize pool was distributed among the final table finishers as follows: Scott Wilson (1st, £3,000); Kevin Wallace (2nd, £1,800); Jack Prime (3rd, £1,000); Shug Cairnie (4th, £550); David Blacklaw (5th, £500); Kris Buckley (6th, £550); Timothy Boyle (7th, £550); Omeed Farzin (8th, £500); and William Hanratty (9th, £550).

Many UK online poker players are well-acquainted with the amateur ranks and APAT league tournaments provide the perfect surroundings in which young players can learn to play poker competitively and safely. Amateur poker leagues help to encourage players’ confidence as they develop their skills at the table. However, neither league should be seen as a forum for lesser players. In truth, many top poker professionals started out in amateur leagues as a means of gaining experience whilst earning a bankroll for professional events. An APAT Professional League event also took place last week, with James Edwards emerging as victor over a competitive field. Edwards also received £3,000 and a GUKPT seat for his troubles, as standard in APAT events.

In fact, Ellis has proved his worth in a number of major UK poker tournaments and is a former GUKPT Grand Final Champion, which is in itself an impressive achievement. Furthermore, as with so many British players, Ellis is a proven winner abroad and, prior to his bracelet win last week, the poker pro has enjoyed five cash finishes in the WSOP, which is held annually in Las Vegas. By claiming victory in Event 30, Ellis scooped the largest payday of his poker career to date, with the £197,600 he won for the GUKPT Grand Final crown coming a close second.

As might be expected of a prestigious WSOP event comprising a large field of players, Ellis was required to work hard for his bracelet. Following a long and cagey heads-up battle with Christopher Gonzales, who finished second, the Englishman finally prevailed against one of the strongest hands seen on the final day. Re-raising on the button with pocket aces, Gonzales appeared to be in full control when J(D)-7(S)-6(D) emerged on the flop. After careful consideration, Ellis called Gonzales’ bet of 1,255,000 to reveal a five of diamonds on the turn. Gonzales moved all-in and Ellis, with A-10 suited, called to take the victory with the nut flush.

Although Dempsey could count himself unlucky to miss out on a second bracelet at this year’s WSOP, the second-place finish in Event 25 bagged him an impressive $301,790, which happens to be his highest-ever cash finish. Dempsey, an immensely talented UK online poker player who has enjoyed numerous wins recently in live UK poker tournaments, is leading the way for fellow Brits in Las Vegas this year. In fact, Dempsey is leading the way for all WSOP players, as his second-place finish has installed him – at least for the time being – as the Player of the Series leader, on one win, one second-place and one other cash finish.

It is more than likely that Dempsey will continue his impressive run of good form in Las Vegas and there is every chance that he might win another bracelet this year. Dempsey’s first WSOP bracelet came earlier this month after he won Event 9, a $1,500 Pot Limit Hold’em tournament that earned him $197,470. Dempsey has plenty of opportunities left to ensure that he holds on to the coveted Player of the Series award as this year’s WSOP has not even reached the half way point. WSOP events are scheduled to end on the 17th July, by which time Dempsey will hope to have consolidated his position.

The only criterion for nominating players to the TOC is that they are former bracelet winners, so UK players such as JP Kelly, Roland De Wolfe, Praz Bansi and John Kabbaj could all qualify. The TOC’s wild card entrants, however, need not be bracelet winners and a 9-player single table satellite tournament kicks off today with the winner earning a seat at the main event. EPT San Remo Champion, Liv Boeree, is flying the flag for the UK as she competes in the satellite alongside top names such as Tom Dwan, Gus Hansen and Bertrand Grospellier.

UK online poker players will be familiar with the satellite format of the single table tournament from which Boeree aims to emerge victorious, as thousands of similar events are hosted online every day that offer seats in top international and UK poker tournaments. As Boeree puts her satellite skills to the test once again, a selection of British players including James Dempsey, Paul Folytyn, James Akenhead, Sam Trickett and Stuart Rutter have made their way to day two of event 17 at the WSOP, which has a buy-in of $5,000 and a top prize in excess of $800,000.

Such is the wide appeal of the WSOP, thousands of UK online poker players have been competing for seats at WSOP events in satellites on websites such as Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars. British players have an added incentive to make it to Las Vegas this year as the Brits are performing brilliantly in Nevada’s most populous city.

Over the weekend, veteran WSOP player, 38-year-old Richard Ashby of London, took down event number 21 to earn Britain’s third WSOP bracelet of the year. Claiming his first ever bracelet, Ashby already had eight WSOP cash finishes to his name, so his success at this year’s series ought not to surprise those who follow the game closely. Having won $140,467 in the $1,500 buy-in Seven Card Stud tournament, Ashby has now taken his WSOP career earnings to a respectable $219,748.

Ashby had to defeat a field of 408 players to claim victory in event 21, which produced Britain’s 3rd bracelet winner after Praz Bansi and James Dempsey prospered in earlier events. In true patriotic style, British onlookers were out in force to help Ashby over the finish line – even Bansi and Dempsey were present to cheer on their countryman.

Speaking after his bracelet success, Ashby said: “Yeah I feel good, but it hasn’t sunk in yet so I’m sort of pretty shocked because I’ve been trying so long to win a tournament out here, maybe four or five years. I’m really pleased”.

One of the top UK online poker players, Moorman is arguably well-equipped to deal with the tricky event 5, which boasted a field of 2,092 players from the outset. At the end of day 1, the field had been reduced to just 219 players, with Moorman in third place on 120,000 chips behind Stephen Foutty (207,000) and Jesse Fulmer (149,000). Another UK poker star, Pramesh Bansai, remained in contention with 110,000 chips. By the middle of day 2, Moorman was leading the pack with more than 225,000 chips, whilst Bansi had fallen behind. Moorman is now widely tipped to win event 5, which offers a first prize of $515,501.

UK online poker players can gain valuable experience playing on sites such as PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, Ultimate Bet and iPoker. Although the online game is quite a bit different to real world events, the online arena offers an exceptional opportunity for players to learn the game in the comfort of their own home and at minimal cost. Once players can play for profit online, it is worth their finding real world, low buy-in UK poker tournaments in order to experience the live game. After this has been achieved, larger tournaments such as the GUKPT can be entered before a trip to Las Vegas for the WSOP is contemplated. Players such as Moorman have proved that online UK players can succeed on poker’s biggest stage.

Although the World Cup is virtually guaranteed to affect the activity of players on many UK online poker sites, 888 Holdings’ weak performance on the London Stock Exchange could also be explained by the relative weakness of the euro and sterling against the US dollar, which is the currency of choice for most poker sites in the UK. New gambling regulations set to be implemented in France are also expected to test the strength of gambling sites on the continent, as operators will be required to spend heavily on marketing costs in order to move to the revised regulated platform.

With the World Cup clearly visible on the horizon, UK online poker sites have opted for contrasting strategies in order to survive the inevitable downturn. 888 Holdings has chosen to ride the storm without introducing any special offers above and beyond its normal service. In contrast, PartyPoker is firing all guns to ensure that its losses are kept to a minimum during the World Cup. In addition to a selection of ongoing tournaments, including the superb Monthly Million and $1.5K freeroll, PartyPoker is hosting a number of specials that can help players overcome football fever. PartyPoker members can even play to win a brand new Aston Martin DB9 Coupe or a WSOP (World Series of Poker) seat for life among other top prizes.

Rutter explained: “This win is absolutely perfect timing coming just one week before I set off for Vegas and the WSOP. It gives me a great confidence boost, which I always struggle for on the GUKPT having made three previous final tables and seeing them go wrong each time”. Making it to three GUKPT final tables is in itself no minor accomplishment and many UK online poker players who qualify for GUKPT events would no doubt wish to achieve similar results; however, the difference between finishing 10th and 1st is considerable in terms of financial reward.

Having claimed his first GUKPT title, Rutter banked a cool £41,910, compared to 10th place Leon Campbell, who scooped £2,480. After an impressive run of form, Rutter’s victory was arguably never in doubt when he made it heads-up with Danny Toffel, who finished second for £29,460. Toffel and Rutter played a tight heads-up game for the most part, with Rutter managing to carve out a substantial lead over his rival; on the final hand, Toffel’s pocket fours ran into Rutter’s pocket nines all-in. The aptly named Darren Grosvenor finished third for £18,460, whilst positions four to nine were taken by Hassan Mohammed (£11,360), Tom Mannion (£8,880), Jeff Kimber (£6,740), Roberto Romanello (£5,320), Rupert Elder (£3,900) and Nick Wealthall (£2,840).

Rabbi Nissim contends that Mr Feldman had given him licence to place spread bets with losses up to but not exceeding £200,000 and that each loss was immediately reported to Feldman. In contrast, the 22-year-old poker professional argues that Nissim had been afforded the freedom to place only four or five bets initially – not the 77 bets he actually placed in a four-hour period. As such, there is a question as to whether all or only some of the bets were placed on Mr Feldman’s behalf as in accordance with the original agreement.

Andrew Feldman has experienced a mixed run of form this year, with enormous winnings followed by huge losses followed by enormous winnings and so on. The agreement made between Feldman and Nissim affected spread bets on the Dow Jones index during October 2008 – shortly after Feldman had lost £700,000 playing poker. Peaks and troughs are not uncommon to UK online poker players, who often spend many hours every day on a variety of poker sites. UK poker tournaments are also favourites among poker professionals looking to balance the books. However, spread betting is clearly a risky proposition. Perhaps somebody should explained that to Mr. Feldman.

The UKIPT Nottingham’s Main Event winner was Andrew Couldridge of the UK. Couldridge’s victory did not come easily, as his Q-4 suited (spades) were up against Oliver Schaffmann’s pocket nines for the final hand of the event. Fate did not appear to be on Couldridge’s side after the flop failed to produce a queen, but lady luck intervened soon after, with queens appearing on both the turn and the river to secure an unlikely result for Couldridge. Germany’s Schaffmann would no doubt have been happy with his second place finish, however, as he took home £46,700. Couldridge banked £80,000 and a £5,300 package to the prestigious EPT (European Poker Tour) London.

UK online poker players can take heart from the success of online qualifiers who made it to the final table; the UK’s Graham Giles qualified for the event via the PokerStars website and managed to finish in fifth place for £16,500. Poland’s Piotr Majewski also qualified online and finished just behind Giles in sixth position for £13,200. Aside from Schaffmann and Majewski, the final nine players at the event were all from the UK with the exception of Ireland’s Owen Robinson, who finished in fourth for £21,400.

This week, Tom ‘durrrr’ Dwan suffered a $2.5 million loss whilst playing poker online. To most players, $2.5 million would represent substantial career earnings; to Dwan, the figure is just a number that can be won back next week. In fact, despite his recent failure at the tables, Dwan’s balance for the year remains $3.8 million in the black. Dwan had begun to hit form since a poor start to the year cost him $5.5 million to Isildur1, with $1m, $3.25m and $2.38m returns between February and April. Unfortunately for Dwan, this form came to an abrupt end when he played jungleman12 and Phil Ivey in a series of heads-up matches. On Saturday alone, Dwan had played almost 8,000 hands against jungleman12 and was $584,000 the poorer for it.

To illustrate the point that one player gains as another fails, Dwan’s long-term rival, Patrik Antonius, finally managed to overcome his recent poor form to emerge with £50,000 profit for the year after a week of success. Online big money tables attract the biggest names in poker, but those with big blinds of $50 or less tend to be favoured by low-profile players. Additionally, many players enjoy success in low buy-in online UK poker tournaments, the prize pools for which range from $1,000 to $5m.

Whereas emotional outbursts can be permitted to an extent when playing online, in a real world tournament they are unacceptable if only because they reveal a player’s vulnerabilities; indeed, sweaty palms, greasy foreheads and armpits floating on the Caspian Sea are no greater giveaways than the emotional outbursts of otherwise cool customers.

At the European Poker Tour (EPT) Monte Carlo last week, a good-spirited high rollers event turned sour when UK pro Luke ‘Fullflush’ Schwartz moved all-in on his big blind with pocket tens against Dori Yacoub’s king-queen suited (clubs). King-queen suited is not, contrary to what many poker novices might believe, generally a hand worth going all-in for; unless the blinds are such that a player has no choice but to risk their short stack. Pocket tens, by contrast, is a hand worth playing. However, as with any hand in poker, there is no guarantee that such a hand will prevail over any other. Unfortunately, it would seem that nobody told Schwartz.

According to sources at the event, Schwartz sniped, “what a donk call”, after Yacoub revealed his hand. On the flop, much to Schwartz’s dismay, a king appeared and suddenly Yacoub held the advantage. Much to the surprise of other players, Schwartz failed to keep his head upon catching sight of the king and instead chose to hurl his stack of chips across the table. After failing to catch a ten on the river, a visibly angry Schwartz was ushered away by security guards – a situation UK online poker players need never deal with over the internet.

After Day 3 of the EPT San Remo, Jakob Karlsson was leading the field on 1.8 million chips but failed to maintain the initiative on day 4, after which Allan Baekke had stormed into the lead with almost 3.5 million chips. At this stage of the tournament, Boeree had an average stack of around 1 million chips, which could easily have been lost to a competitive field and the ever-increasing blinds. However, Boeree managed to climb the field at San Remo to go heads-up with Karlsson, who had also pulled off an impressive comeback.

In securing the EPT San Remo, Boeree, who holds a degree in Astrophysics with Manchester University, becomes only the third woman to win an EPT event. Even more impressively, Boeree is the second British woman after Vicky Coren to have won an EPT title. Many UK online poker players compete in satellites to EPT events, as these offer exceptionally good value entries to one of the most highly regarded competitions in the game. Boeree’s success is an inspiration not only to other female poker professionals but also to the thousands of amateur UK online poker players who wish to succeed in the game. Boeree won €1,250,000 at the EPT San Remo, which was contested by a record field of 1,239 players.

Although Karlsson was clearly in the driving seat ahead of day 4, it was his countryman, Allan Baekke, who had made the headlines back in Sweden. Baekke finished day 3 with the third highest stack (1,485,000 chips) behind Karlsson and Kadir Karabulut (1,577,000 chips). With one eye on making history (and perhaps the other on UK pro Liv Boeree, who remains in the hunt but outside of the top ten), Baekke aims to become the only ever person to have secured back-to-back EPT titles. Having won the EPT Snowfest last month, Baekke has hit more good form in San Remo and stands a reasonably good chance of making it to the final table with only 66 players remaining after day 3. Whether Baekke can make history by winning the event, however, remains to be seen.

After Karlsson, Karabulut and Baekke, a number of other players shared the top positions after day 3. These players comprised: Dmitry Stelmak (1,443,000); Jens Thorson (1,300,000); Per Albin Linde (1,193,000); Michael Piper (1,182,000); Dermot Blain (1,032,000); Alexander Roumeliotis (887,000); and Thang Duc Nguyen (870,900). Access to EPT events is available to many UK online poker players through satellites. After San Remo, players can head to the EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo – the richest poker tournament held outside of Las Vegas.

No stranger to attention, Michelle said: “I enjoy getting to meet the people I’m always playing with online, so I’m excited about this tournament. I think it’s a cool prize that’s never been done before. Even my friends and family are talking about taking a shot at this tournament and they don’t even play poker! I’m totally a guy’s kind of girl, so baseball, food and poker is the perfect date”. The lucky winner of the tournament, which is scheduled to begin at 8:30pm ET on the 28th April and features a prize pool of $2,000, will watch an L.A. Dodgers baseball game with Michelle before dining at a popular L.A. restaurant. Michelle added: “I’m just crossing my fingers that I get some good company!”.

Ultimate Bet’s decision to promote one of its sponsored professionals in this manner may raise the prospect of similar events for international and UK online poker players in the future; indeed, Tiffany Michelle is not the only ace held by Ultimate Bet. One of its English sponsored professionals, Liv Boeree, also has the power to turn heads at the table – if Ultimate Bet were to invite UK players to compete for an evening with Boeree, chances are the servers would take a hit.

Having disappeared some 12 years ago, Sabrina’s case was largely forgotten by US police until a skull was discovered in 2004 by a rancher near Douglas Pass in Colorado. Forensic experts later established that the skull belonged to Sabrina, at which point a warrant for Bebb-Jones’ arrest was issued and, as the champion of numerous UK poker tournaments had returned to the UK with his son in 1998, extradition procedures were initiated. Under the US-UK extradition treaty, Bebb-Jones will not face the death penalty if convicted in the US, but he would serve a life sentence without the possibility of parole.

The probable extradition of Bebb-Jones has sent shockwaves through the international poker community, who regarded the player as a gentle, friendly and polite character. Although Bebb-Jones is yet to stand trial in the US, the odds of his securing a verdict of innocence are deeply stacked against him. Eye witness reports suggest that Bebb-Jones had argued with his wife shortly before her disappearance and was soon after spotted cleaning out the interior and exterior of his minivan at a car wash. Bebb-Jones also failed in a subsequent suicide attempt.

Winner of the 2010 Irish Open, James Mitchell, is expected to take a seat at the PartyPoker Big Game IV – and other players will be keen to claim his scalp; indeed, Mitchell has enjoyed an impressive run of form in his relatively short poker career to date. Mitchell’s success at this year’s Irish Open was tempered, however, by news that he had been substantially staked by other players, which meant that his €600,000 purse was whittled down to just over €150,000. Another high profile name to take part in the PartyPoker Big Game IV is Neil Channing, who has secured over $2 million in career prize money.

Hollywood-star-turned-poker-pro, Jennifer Tilly, will also descend on the Ambassadeurs Club to add a little glamour to the proceedings. Tilly is expected to enter the arena to the sound of ‘Man Eater’ by Hall and Oates. Other poker professionals who will most likely adopt a boxing-style entrance for the PartyPoker Big Game IV include Dusty Schmidt (‘Flashing Lights’ by Kanye West); Roland de Wolfe (‘Hungry Like a Wolf’ by Duran Duran); and Andrew Feldman (‘Mamma Said Knock You Out’ by LL Cool J). UK poker professional, Tony G, will also open to a popular soundtrack – ‘Bicycle Race’ by Queen.

The real success story at the Irish Open 2010 was that of London’s James Mitchell, who secured the top spot to win a cool €600,000 ahead of Paul Carr (€312,600). The road to success was not easy for Mitchell, who wins his first major tournament at just 20 years of age. Mitchell entered the final table with the third highest stack, only to lose half of his chips to Declan Connolly’s pocket jacks; however, whilst Connolly finished the tournament in 7th place for €75,000, Mitchell made a remarkable recovery.

Leading the chips for a considerable period of time, Carr was favourite to take the coveted Irish Open title, but luck deserted him when it mattered most. After Mitchell found an ace on the river when he was all-in with A-6 against Carr’s pocket queens, it soon became apparent that it was Mitchell’s name – and not Carr’s – that was destined to be etched on the Irish Open 2010 trophy. Carr’s fate was sealed when he bluffed all-in with Q-5 after a J-J-8 flop against Mitchell’s A-8. Finishing in 3rd place at this year’s Irish Open, Santeri Valikoski also impressed to take home €205,200.

Timothy Timotheau is not yet a household name, yet he is relatively well-known on the UK professional poker circuit. Timotheau took down the EMOP Lisbon after being reduced to a dangerously short stack on day one of the tournament. However, Timotheau showed that in poker tournaments, day one performance is by no means everything. Going head-to-head with Povilas Purtokas on the final table, the UK player managed to defeat his Lithuanian opponent in just six hands; as Purtokas moved all-in with pocket tens, Timotheau struck gold with K-9 in hand and a king on the flop. The defeat left Purtokas in second position on €53,190, which is by no means a meagre sum.

Finishing third at the EMOP Lisbon, Henrik Torsteenson picked up €34,672. The final table also consisted of: Diogo Borges (4th, €22,064); Paul Lucey (5th, €17,336); Joao Candeias (6th, €13,396); Mikael Tholander (7th, €11,820); Mariusz Beranden (8th, €10,244); and Pyry Oksanen (9th, €8,668).

Other UK poker stars who wish to repeat Timotheau’s European success will eagerly await the next leg of the EMOP, which is scheduled to take place in Campione, Italy, between the 27th and 30th May. The EMOP will then move on to Bulgaria, Barcelona and Malta before the infamous EMOP Master Cruise, which sets sail from Los Angeles and heads to the Mexican Riviera.

Channing has won more than $2 million in prize money during his professional poker career; however, his record includes only 5 first place finishes – a statistic he is no doubt eager to improve upon. Notwithstanding this, Channing’s efforts to take the GUKPT London over the weekend resulted in relative disappointment.

After Channing knocking out third-place Leon Bui, who also happens to be a former Vietnamese beautician, the Irish Open Champion was favourite to take the GUKPT London when he was heads up with Tran on the final table. Holding a 2:1 chip lead, Channing pushed hard with his three-of-a-kind eights but Tran punished his aggressive play with a straight. Then, on the final hand, Tran moved all-in before the flop with 10-7. Channing had pocket nines. Amazingly, Tran hit a 10 on the flop and neither player improved, which consigned Channing to second place.

The top ten paid money positions at the GUKPT London comprised: 1st Cuong Tran (£127,800); 2nd Neil Channing (£84,700); 3rd Leon Bui (£56,000); 4th Rumit Somaiya (£33,400); 5th Steven Ducharme (£25,300); 6th Salman Behbhani (£20,500); 7th Michael McCool (£15,700); 8th Darren Annis (£11,900); 9th Victoria Coren (£9,100); and, in 10th, Laurence Houghton (£6,700). The 4th leg of the GUKPT tour now heads to Manchester in the G Casino from the 17th – 25th April.

The WPT Hollywood Poker Open is similar in size and prestige to many UK poker tournaments, which are also played regularly by both UK online poker players and live event stars. Generally speaking, online poker play has become every bit as competitive and accepted as live event tournaments, so players frequently switch between the two forms of the game. Calo’s impressive day 3 success proves how online poker players can enjoy good form in live events against many of the world’s top professionals; although, Calo himself is fast becoming a superb live event player, with career earnings now standing at more than $215,000.

Taking 649,000 chips into day 4 of the Hollywood Poker Open, Calo has a 133,000 chip lead over second-placed Todd Terry (516,000), who earlier folded pocket queens on the flop to survive Carlos Mortensen’s trip-fives. Mike Miller (449,000) and Len Ashby (386,500) filled the third and fourth positions respectively, while day 2 leader, Dwyte Pilgram, held on to fifth place with 328,500 chips – 6,000 more than sixth-placed Mortensen. Calo is expected to increase his advantage on day 4 of the tournament; however, Pilgram will be hoping to force a return to the top while Mortensen is an outside favourite to progress.

Mallu’s side event success featured a steady yet hard-fought campaign against a number of top UK players, including none other than the legendary Willie Tann, who finished a respectable 4th for £5,000. Tann’s career earnings stand at over $1.5m and he has the notable honour of being one of the few UK players to have won a WSOP bracelet. Nevertheless, not even Tann could stop Mallu on his route to success, which follows a third place finish for $25,250 in leg 3 of the GUKPT at the end of February.

Having edged ahead of Andrew Purser in the race to become the overall GUKPT champion, Mallu also picked up a seat in the Champion of Champions event, which in itself is one of the top UK poker tournaments around today. Finishing second in the £500 side event, Adam Vinson collected £12,800, while third-placed Jonathan Wong won £8,000. After Tann crashed out in fourth, Likka Kaasalainen (£3,900), Daniel Stanway (£3,000), Chaz Chattha (£2,400), David Lloyd (£1,800) and David Clark (£1,400) filled out the remaining final table positions.

Day one of the WPT Hollywood Open saw Eric Froehlich and Faraz ‘The Toilet’ Jaka dominate the relatively tiny field of 143 players, ending up with 149,400 and 144,225 chips respectively. Mike Mustafa finished in third place with 114,050 chips – over 20,000 more than Gevork Kasabyan in fourth. Day two, however, was all about change. Dwyte Pilgrim managed to jump into the lead with more than 310,000 chips to his name, which is quite a remarkable feat considering that he finished day one in 63rd position on a little over 29,000 chips. Eric Froehlich and Faraz Jaka were missing in the top ten at the end of day two; although, Gevork Kasabyan (182,100) and Mike Mustafa (179,300) were hanging on in 7th and 8th respectively.

The WPT Hollywood Poker Open features a relatively small top prize of $393,000, which puts it on a par with some of the more lucrative UK poker tournaments. In fact, many high profile UK poker tournaments boast smaller top prizes, so the WPT Hollywood Poker Open is by no means an insignificant event; nevertheless, by the WPT’s lofty standards, it remains small fish in a pool of riches.

Defeating veteran poker professional, Jared Jaffee, heads-up, Cantu enjoyed an incredible run of good form and good luck throughout the tournament; by his own admission, Jaffee did not stand a chance against some of the hands dealt to Cantu as the main event drew to a close. Speaking of his heads-up encounter with Jaffee, Cantu said: “It was pretty short. When we got down to heads-up, he was down 5:1 in chips and I had a hand the first 10 hands. He didn’t have much of a chance. For some reason, I knew I was going to win. It had nothing to do with the player, but I had been catching lots of cards and cold decking people the whole tournament. It all worked out really well”.

The Wynn Classic Main Event lacked the exposure and television coverage enjoyed by higher profile tournaments. Nevertheless, the Wynn Classic continues to attract interest from some of the game’s most talented players. Jared Jaffee finished second in the tournament for $246,477 and Melik Bagdasaryan scooped $129,107 for finishing third. UK poker tournaments such as the UKIPT and GUKPT are similar to the Wynn Classic in that they do not carry the same weight as the WSOP but continue to gain the attention of the very best poker players in the country.

In fact, the sell-out $200+$20 main event at London’s prestigious Victoria Casino was conquered by the relatively unknown Paul Pham – a seasoned UK online poker player who tends to shy away from live events. Despite his comparative lack of experience in live UK poker tournaments, Pham managed to triumph above big name stars such as Akenhead, Channing and Marty Smyth to win the $15,000 top prize.

Speaking about his success, Pham said: “I play pretty much all of my poker online and am mainly a cash game player. I don’t play live very often and have only played three tournaments so far. I only played this one because the structure was deep and it suited my game”.

Pham beat Karim Louis ($10,000) and Hugo Martin ($6,000) on the final table to take the coveted inaugural Black Belt Poker Live event title, which was by all accounts a resounding success for Channing and company. Other notable players to finish in the game include: Jack McDermott (4th, $4,500); Dean Aldred (5th, $3,500); Warren Woolridge (6th, $2,500); Nicholas Aly (7th, $2,000); Daniel Laming (8th, $1,500); and Roy Farranat (9th, $1,000).

According to a number of sources, Lynch has become something of a ‘drifter’ since Boyzone took a break from singing; however, this does not mean that the former pop music star has spent his free time coasting aimlessly from one point to another. On the contrary, Lynch has become a huge star in drifting, which is fast becoming one of the UK’s most popular motor sports. In swapping the steering wheel for a deck of cards, Lynch will enjoy a year long sponsorship deal with Ladbrokes Poker that will take him to the WSOP in Las Vegas and Irish Poker Festival in Dublin.

Ladbrokes Poker will also sponsor Lynch to play the game online, as he is seen as a person with whom many amateur players could identify. Talking about the deal, Lynch said: “I’d always been a bit intimidated by the poker scene; I’d seen it on TV and found the whole thing a bit baffling. But having spent time with the Ladbrokes players at a few events last year, I’ve seen that you don’t need to be an expert to give it a go”. Head of Ladbrokes Poker, Kate McLennan, said: “Shane is the perfect ambassador… he’s a great guy”.

Boylepoker has been running a book on the entrants in the run-up to the event and, predictably, it contains few surprises. Indeed, one of the finest young players of international and UK poker tournaments, James Akenhead, has been named as the favourite to take the BlackBelt Poker Live Event title. At 33/1, Akenhead is will perhaps fancy his own chances of success in the forthcoming tournament, not least because he has entered 2010 off the back of a truly spectacular year. In 2009, Akenhead secured two WSOP final tables and won television’s most prestigious event, The Poker Million.

Looking to build on his success of last year, Akenhead is kept in relatively close company on Boylepoker’s book. Praz Bansi and Julian Thew, the latter of whom won the EPT Baden, are nearby on 40/1, whilst BlackBelt Poker’s aforementioned co-founder, Neil Channing, has been given odds of 50/1. Another top poker professional, Nik Persaud, has been offered odds of 66/1, which may be worth a punt as an outside bet. The 300 available seats for the BlackBelt Poker Live Event sold out ahead of schedule, such is the interest in the site’s inaugural real world event.

Emerging as winner in the tournament was Jono Beck, who took the £25K first prize after defeating Ramazanali Abbassi. James Saunders finished in third position, following by Paul Wimbledon, Daniel Ward, George Geary, Mohammed Shoahebe, Michael Crook and Matt Russell. The DTD Deepstack Main Event has a relatively small turn-out despite being one of the leading UK poker tournaments. 317 players took their seats at this month’s event, which was played out over the weekend. The DTD Deepstack Main Event regularly turns out around 300 players, which pushes the event beyond its guaranteed £80,000.

As with so many international and UK online poker players, not much is known of Jono Beck’s poker career prior to the DTD Deepstack Main Event. In fact, many online poker players choose not to enter live tournaments as they fear their games may be exposed or they are simply having too much fun online to trouble themselves with an event that requires leaving the house once in a while. The DTD Deepstack Main Event paid down to the 36th position, which happened to be occupied by Brian Goddard, who won a respectable £450.

The celebrity line up for the forthcoming Sky Poker Tour Luton, which is one of the top UK poker tournaments, has attracted a diverse crowd this year. Scheduled to commence on Saturday, those who are keen to watch celebrities flex their poker muscles will be able to enjoy the eccentric antics of horse racing pundit, John McCririck, who is arguably every bit as outspoken and controversial as poker great Phil Hellmuth. McCririck will be hoping to summon a small proportion of Hellmuth’s talent on the tables as he squares up to former WBO Cruiserweight World Champion Johnny Nelson and former midfielder for Tottenham, Chelsea and Portsmouth, Micky Hazard.

Fans attending the Luton leg of the Sky Poker Tour will also enjoy the appearance of model, actress and DJ, Kitty Lea, who was recently voted one of Front Magazine’s fittest ever women – an accolade that is bound to cause a stir. Visual distractions aside, John McCririck is hoping to enjoy significantly greater success at Luton’s G Casino this weekend than he has experienced in other UK poker tournaments. Surprisingly, the horse racing pundit has also revealed his philosophical side in the run-up to the event, having astutely pointed out that it is “your fault whether you win or not”.

However, John Paul Kelly is best known in the poker community as a double bracelet winner (WSOP). Indeed; the young champion won the 40th World Series of Poker 2009 (Pot Limit Hold’em) for $194,434 and the 2009 World Series of Poker Europe (No Limit Hold’em) for $222,806.

It was announced yesterday that John Paul Kelly will now be making an appearance in the popular televised tournament, the NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship 2010. The NBC event is an annual poker tournament that features a series of one-on-one no limit Texas hold’em games.

The $20,000 buy-in invitation-only tournament is one of the highlights of the poker calendar, as it tends to feature the biggest names in the game. This year, John Paul Kelly will be flying the flag for England against a host of top international poker stars, including Patrik Antonius, Daniel Negreanu, Phil Hellmuth, Phil Ivey and Tom Dwan.

Having secured career earnings of just over $900,000, John Paul Kelly hopes to maintain his current good form against the poker elite, who will also be joined by the television hostess, Kara Scott. Phil Ivey is odds-on favourite to win the tournament; although, at 50/1, many people will fancy John Paul Kelly’s chances.

This year, McTaggart won a seat at the GUKPT Walsall by winning the corresponding freeroll event organised by AWOP and BlueSquare. With 206 entrants taking part in the GUKPT Walsall, McTaggart was hardly a favourite. However, the 30-year-old from Ormskirk managed to play a strong game and ride his luck to take home the top prize of £57,700 and book a seat in the £150,000 Champion of Champions Freeroll.

The GUKPT features the very best in UK poker tournaments and McTaggart’s success shows that players of all abilities can perform well on live tables. UK online poker players are becoming a stronger force in both online and offline tournaments, so perhaps McTaggart’s recent success will spur him to reach even greater heights. After winning the GUKPT Walsall, McTaggart said: “It had been my goal to play in a GUKPT main event this year and I was delighted to have won my way in via the AWOP Players’ Club. It is a dream to have gone on to claim the win. All it has cost me is £30 in petrol money”.

McTaggart fended off stiff opposition in the form of Champion of Champions winner Haitao Wu and GUKPT champion, Mike Ellis, who finished fourth overall. Consecutive GUKPT champion, Priyan de Mel, found that his luck had run out when he bubbled the final table, whilst Anthony Crotty finished second (£39,150) and Alli Mallu finished third (£25,250).

Leg 3 of the GUKPT will be staged at the Grosvenor Victoria Casino in London from the 18th March.

Secondly, players who have qualified for the Irish Open through Paddy Power Poker will be invited to an exclusive player party; although, the obvious disadvantage to this is that bona fide guests cannot gatecrash their own party.

Other top reasons suggested by the Irish based poker site include the opportunity to relax in the Paddy Power Poker player lounge and that players would be “219% cooler than the qualifiers from any other online poker room” (clearly, this one is debatable). It has also been argued that there are more Irish Open super satellite options at Paddy Power Poker than anywhere else online.

Many UK online poker sites have already begun hosting satellites to the Irish Poker Open 2010, including the popular iPoker website. Apart from plugging its own satellites to the tournament, Paddy Power Poker makes a good case in general for attending the Irish Open this year.

Some of the more generalised reasons include the chance to become a true poker legend, an honorary Irish person for a weekend or to simply enjoy the most profitable Easter ever. The quality of the live bands that will play at the tournament have also been put forward as a reason to attend the Irish Open, whilst falling in love with Guinness for the weekend is one that many people would be happy to experience. Likewise, players at the Irish Open will be able to enjoy the many treats on offer at the Burlington Hotel, which resides in the heart of the popular Dublin city centre.

The double win highlights how multiple international and UK online poker tournaments from rival sites can be managed to good effect simultaneously. Playing on multiple ‘cross-site’ tables can increase a player’s chances of securing a top prize finish in tournaments, whilst it also improves the excitement factor as games must be managed carefully and in good time.

Ellwood’s Ultimate Bet $200,000 Guaranteed win saw him bank a healthy $51,016.80, whilst his Full Tilt Poker FTOPS Main Event top finish resulted in him scooping an impressive $237,643.69! The double win ranks as one of the finest results by a UK player on sites that are dominated by international players. Furthermore, Ellwood’s double joy comes off the back of a 2nd place finish in the recent PokerStars UKIPT Manchester, from which he went home with the sum of £37,500.

However, Ellwood’s recent successes have come amid controversy after he was apparently accused by another player at Full Tilt Poker of reneging on a deal. According to the user ‘JMaverick’, he had staked Ellwood to take part in the FTOPS Main Event but had not been paid the 50 per cent prize money owed to him. Further claims were made that the FTOPS Main Event had been won by a 16-year-old, which if true would have resulted in a confiscation of the prize money by Full Tilt Poker. Perhaps the somewhat ridiculous nature of the accusations could be put down to envy, as Ellwood’s double win on Sunday is a feat that is unlikely to be repeated any time soon.

The North American Poker Tour (NAPT) Venetian has thus far proved how successful land-based tournaments can be when they are set up and managed by online poker sites. The NAPT Venetian had been a long time in the making for PokerStars, so its arrival last week was warmly welcomed throughout the poker community, especially amongst players who prefer live tournament action. On Tuesday, the NAPT Venetian $25,000 High-Roller Bounty Shoot-out kicked off with 49 of the biggest names in modern poker putting their skills to the test.

The tournament was unique in that each player who took part in it had a $5,000 bounty on his or her head. In order for a player to progress in the tournament, he or she would need to beat all other players on their particular table. Top names who took part in the NAPT Venetian $25,000 High-Roller Bounty Shoot-out included Phil Hellmuth, Daniel Negreanu, JC Tran, Jason Mercier and Vanessa Rousso; however, none of these poker greats achieved success in the tournament. In fact, it was Scott Seiver who earned the most kudos (and prize money) en route to the final table, after the New York based player secured a total of six bounties.

Seiver achieved all six available bounties at his table and even managed a double knockout when Chau Giang and Brain Rast lost out to him in the same hand. Seiver’s success equates to $30,000 in bounty money and $75,000 for winning his table. Other players who reached the tournament’s final table event, which concludes today, include Hoyt Corkins, Faraz Jaka, Joe Cassidy, Brett Richey, Peter Eastgate and Ashton Griffin. The success of the NAPT Venetian is likely to inspire other international and UK online poker sites to launch more of their own live tournaments. Land-based UK poker tournaments are already popular but there is certainly room for more – especially where exciting bounty shoot-outs are concerned.

Occasionally, the PokerStars Sunday Million jackpot will inflate well above $1.5 million. On Sunday, PokerStars saw its biggest ever Sunday Million prize pool of $7.2 million, which was contested by an enormous field of 36,169 players. According to PokerStars, the previous biggest ever Sunday Million comprised 16,260 players on December 28th 2008 and generated a prize pool of $3,252,000, so last Sunday’s tournament was more than twice the size of anything before.

RichieRichZH of Switzerland won the PokerStars Sunday Million with pocket threes against lankeshwar’s A-4. Taking home a staggering top prize of $1,141,510, RichieRichZH adds to his recent success on several other international and UK online poker sites. In finishing second, lankeshwar ought to be happy with $754,775, whilst petinvest7 scooped $506,366 after finishing third overall. The enlarged guaranteed pot available in last week’s PokerStars Sunday Million was due to the tournament celebrating its fourth anniversary, so players were obviously keen to compete for the huge cash sums available.

PokerStars is not the only international and UK online poker site to offer regular top tournaments, with sites such as iPoker hosting top UK poker tournaments every so often. Online poker players tend not to confine themselves to just one site, which is why the biggest winners can be found in various different places. To illustrate the point, RichieRichZH won the Full Tilt Poker $100 Cubed in December last year for a cool $9,200.

The London Poker Masters Festival begins on Friday the 26th February at 7pm with a £20 rebuy satellite to the £300 Monthly Freezeout on Saturday the 27th February at 3pm. On the Sunday, £100 HORSE will be available, whilst 1st to 7th March will predominantly feature no-limit Texas Hold’em. The festival’s £500 + £50 main event will begin at 3pm on Saturday 6th March, with various satellites available on the 2nd, 4th, 5th and 6th (at 12pm) March.

Many UK online poker players regularly enjoy live tournaments such as the London Poker Masters Festival. One of the more popular UK poker tournaments is the nine day Grosvenor UK Poker Tour (GUKPT), which is currently underway in Walsall. The £1,000 main event of the Walsall leg began on Thursday and has attracted plenty of professional poker stars from all over the country.

GUKPT main events have always been hugely popular, which is in no small measure due to the substantial prize pools available. This year, an £88,150 first place prize is up for grabs, so the UK’s brightest stars will be out in force to push for victory. Last year’s corresponding GUKPT event in Walsall was won by Sunny Chattha, who banked a top prize of £88,150 against 301 other players. Meanwhile, Priyan de Mel won this year’s previous GUKPT event in Bolton for a cool £44,600 first prize.

Poker stars and legends such as Phil Hellmuth, David Benyamine, Theo Tran, Chino Rheem, Justin Bonomo, Shaun Deeb and Chad Brown were all in attendance on day 1 of the tournament; however, all were eliminated early on along with 390 other players. The bad beat would have especially displeased the vocal Phil Hellmuth after it was announced last week that the NAPT had secured a lucrative television deal with ESPN2. Nevertheless, not all top name poker stars failed to make it beyond day 1, with 2003 WSOP Champion Chris Moneymaker finishing in the top five.

Leading the way on day 1 of the NAPT Venetian was Andy Seth – a Las Vegas local with high ambitions to do well in the tournament. Finishing the day with an impressive stack of 245,600 chips, Seth was followed closely by Philip Collins and Mark Ketteringham. Thus far, the NAPT has further demonstrated how an online poker provider can do well on the crowded land-based scene, which is perhaps why a number of top UK online poker sites have adopted the same strategy with various UK poker tournaments.

As such, it is hoped that Clark will be able to tutor Thew on how to break even online, after which time Thew will no doubt aim to turn a profit. By joining PokerStars, Thew, who is a multiple GUKPT and EPT Baden trophy winner, joins a number of all-time poker greats such as Daniel Negreanu. Thew will also follow in the footsteps of many other UK poker professionals to have signed up with PokerStars, with recent names including Jude Ainsworth, J.P. Kelly, James Akenhead and Chris Moorman. Speaking about his move away from William Hill, Thew said: “I’m thrilled to have been offered a spot on Team PokerStars Pro roster and I look forward to promoting the brand on my travels throughout the year”. Aside from online poker, Thew’s attention will now be turning to the next WSOP event in Las Vegas.

Madsen has been a professional poker player for just 4 years, which makes his relatively phenomenal success all the more impressive; indeed, the Las Vegas star is already a two-time WSOP bracelet winner, which is by no means an easy feat. Aside from experiencing the prestige of winning the popular Borgata Open, Madsen also takes home the first place prize money of $625,006, which takes his career earnings to more than $3.1 million. In many ways, Madsen could be viewed as the perfect example of how a talented poker player can make the difficult transition from amateur to professional with relative ease.

Madsen’s win will, therefore, give hope to the thousands of international and UK online poker players who wish to improve their game in pursuit of turning professional, which can lead to a profitable and highly enjoyable career in many cases. Sirous Jamshidi finished second to Madsen at the Borgata Open after going all-in with suited queen deuce (Madsen won with a pair of kings on the turn), which earned him a cool $367,794, whilst Thomas Marchese finished third on $190,027.

The challenge takes place across various formats of Omaha and Texas Hold’em poker, with much of the play carried out on Full Tilt Poker’s infamous nosebleed tables. Currently, almost 33,000 hands have been played, so the challenge is certainly heading towards its final stretch. Durrrr and Antonius have been locked in combat since the start of the new year, with the latter cutting into Durrrr’s lead by almost $60,000 towards the end of January.

However, Durrrr has been enjoying considerable success over Patrik Antonius recently and extended his lead by a further $21,000 on Sunday after playing 79 hands with the EPT champion – Durrrr’s overall lead now stands at an amazing $1.4 million. Whilst the Durrrr Challenge is certainly an elitist event, many professional poker stars can enjoy similar success on the nosebleed tables, together with various UK poker tournaments.

In fact, Joeri Zandvliet’s main rival on the final table was 24-year-old Newcastle contender, Jack Ellwood, whose 1,467,000 chips put him in the enviable position of chip leader ahead of Brammar (1,196,000 chips). A major UK online poker player, Jack Ellwood clearly fancied his chances against the unproven Zandvliet and threatened to spoil the Dutchman’s party when he moved all-in with Ace-Queen pre-flop. Calling Ellwood, Zandvliet’s pocket nines looked in trouble when a queen appeared on the flop, only to be saved with a nine on the river. Despite winning several tournaments in the Netherlands, Zandvliet’s UKIPT success in Manchester can be seen as his first major title. Zandvliet will no doubt hope to build on his UKIPT win, which secured him the top prize of £63,200, as the tournament itself moves on to Coventry between April 8th-11th.

Last year, the Devilfish won the European Finals of Poker title in Paris after defeating no less than 151 opponents in the €5,000 buy-in no-limit Texas Hold’em Diamond Championship at the Aviation Club de Paris. The title saw Ulliot secure the top prize of €152,000, which may constitute a small drop in the ocean so far as career earnings are concerned but is sufficient to attract his attention once more in 2010. The Devilfish plans to take a break from writing his much-anticipated autobiography, which he is writing in Gran Canaria, to attend the tournament in Paris.

Although completing his autobiography is a top priority for Ulliot, online the poker star has also enjoyed a successful run in the EMOP Gran Canaria (European Masters of Poker). Speaking about his upcoming defence of the European Finals of Poker tournament in Paris, Ulliot said: “I’m really looking forward to defending my title there after a nice break in the sun and going deep at EMOP Gran Canaria. Like last year my poker is just getting warmed up and if I get the chance to steamroll the field like I did in 2009 you can be sure I’ll take it down”. Needless to say, UK online poker fans will see Ulliot starting the tournament in Paris as one of the favourites.

Having earned more than $43 million during his career as a professional tennis player, Pete Sampras can easily finance his route to some of the most lucrative tables on the poker circuit. In fact, it is reported that the tables most recently frequented by Sampras have been subject to a $30,000 buy-in, which is hardly a small sum by anybody’s standards. Speaking to the San Jose Mercury News, Sampras is alleged to have joked that his opponents have “more money than sense”.

Sampras’ decision to embark on a professional poker career mirrors the choice made by a host of former sports stars who now play with a deck of cards rather than a tennis racket, football or whatever else. Former sports stars who are now professional poker players include legendary Australian spin-bowler, Shane Warne, England football international, Teddy Sheringham, Boris Becker, Doyle Brunson and Tomas Brolin – even Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps is rumoured to have joined the poker elite. Former sports stars regularly enjoy high-stake international and UK poker tournaments, whilst some also play UK online poker on the leading sites.

Nevertheless, Twitter does not merely exist to spew meaningless tweets into the social vacuum; indeed, there has long been a concern amongst online poker tournament organisers that social networking tools of its kind could be used to a player’s advantage, which is why WSOP players had previously been banned from using Twitter during the tournament. However, in a recent tweaking of its rules, the WSOP has softened its stance on Twitter and the use of mobile phones during a tournament.

Introduced last week, the WSOP’s rule number 55 states: “All cell phones and other voice-enabled and ‘ringing’ electronic devices must be turned off during tournament play. Players not involved in a hand (cards in muck) shall be permitted to text/email at the table, but shall not be permitted to text/email any other player at the table”. Although the WSOP reserves the discretionary right to impose penalties on any player it feels has breached the new rule, it may be difficult to effectively prevent players communicating with each other in this way – especially where third parties are involved. Many UK poker tournaments have banned the use of such devices in order to ensure a fairer game, so it will be interesting to see how the WSOP fares after this rule change.

Nevertheless, keeping an online poker star of Antonius’ quality down is certainly no easy task, which was evidenced in style on Full Tilt Poker’s infamous Nosebleed tables on ‘Super Bowl’ Sunday. With several major defeats behind him and having reportedly just recovered from an illness, Antonius played aggressively to secure a profit of around $577,000. Starting on his $500/$1,000 Pot-Limit Omaha table, Antonius won consistently throughout his 16 hands with ‘World1969′, who would have been more than a little disappointed to have retired almost $200,000 down. Antonius continued his comeback against several other top players, who proved no match for the Finnish professional on a night that saw the perceived underdogs win the Super Bowl. Although Antonius’ massive win paled in comparison to the world record pot of £1,356,946 that he won last year against ‘Isildur1′, he will no doubt hope that it signals a return to form that he will be able to sustain throughout the year.