Ivey did not manage in a single tournament cash all last year, largely due to his admittedly cut down schedule for 2011. On the top of that of course he boycotted the World Series of Poker (WSOP) in Las Vegas last summer in support of angry Full Tilt customers, who have still not been allowed access to funds in their accounts with the poker room.

Jeff Fielder is the overall leader heading into Day 2 after building a stack of 437,500 chips on Saturday. Fielder ascended to the top of the leader board when he won a massive pot late in the day against Mark “P0ker H0″ Kroon, who at the time was second in chips. Some of the notables that registered only on Day 1b and failed to advance to Day 2 were Jamie Gold, Steve Billirakis, Frank Kassela, Eli Elezra, Gavin Smith and Bryan Devonshire. The 134 players will return Sunday at 4 p.m. local time, and they will play down to either a final table or through 12 hours of play, whichever comes first.

The story really begins for us around 2006 when a private members club called the Cavendish Club was raided by police during a major monthly poker tournament. Police seized both club’s poker equipment and members’ cash. The club’s representatives attended a Magistrates Court to challenge the seizures and to also attempt to have poker recognised as a game of skill so that it would be an illegal activity in Northern Ireland under the Betting, Gaming and Lotteries Act. However, their pleas fell on deaf ears as the Resident Magistrate deemed that poker was not a game of skill and is therefore illegal to play, commercially, in Northern Ireland.

It seems that it perfectly ok to play games of chance such as the lottery, or betting at the bookmakers, but they do not permit the playing of poker, which we all know has a large element of skill, psychology and mathematics involved. Some laws are very strange!

Of the six nominations for the Player of the year award two Brits, Jake Cody and Sam Trickett. They are up against Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, Eugene Katchalov, Andrey Pateychuk and World Series of Poker Main Event champion Pius Heinz. Cody and Trickett are also nominated for the Best Tournament Performance category, and the rookie of the year award see Sam Holden nominated. Victoria Coren and Liv Boeree are up for the Leading Lady award. Come the 25th January and we will find out who has been successful.

However, it was not just Rosenbach to win their third WSOP Circuit gold ring at The Bike. La Sengphet took down event no. 5, a $345 no-limit Hold’em event, to become the very first female player to join that illustrious group, which includes 2010 player of the Year runner-up Dwyte Pilgrim, Kyle Cartwright and Mark Smith. Sengphet topped a field of 377 to earn the $25,242 first-place prize.

If poker players are willing to pay a fee and pay taxes on their winnings, to take part in a game or two of online poker, you will be hard pressed to find an elected official who will say no. In a time where education budget cuts and city services budget cuts are the focus of so many press conferences, finding willing tax payers is a jackpot for state and local governments. Legalising online poker is surely one way forward.

That being said it is interesting to see the actual amounts the poker professionals are earning from their winnings on top of the huge fees paid to them by their sponsoring operators. A pro poker player who recently had to come to a divorce settlement with his ex wife and it was revealed that many thousands of dollars was paid to the pro every month. The numbers seem staggering by any ordinary standard!

He started the day having no cashes in major live events, in fact we do not believe this may have been his first major lie event so his Return on Investment is now immense! At times throughout the tournament he made some quite questionable plays but he always did so with a big smile on his face and with a little celebratory dance, his earphones seemingly glued to the insides of his ears all day every day. Along with €175,000 in cash, he takes with him a replica of the Champions Cup, a solid silver card protector and a seat to the $25,500 WPT World Championship to be held in Las Vegas during 2012.

The Chandler festive promotion has been a huge success so far this year and has given away Harrods Christmas hampers, cash prizes via several freerolls, and free entries to a variety of guaranteed tournaments at the site including pot-limit Omaha.  Victor Chandler Poker is one of the UK and Europe’s biggest online poker rooms, and is powered by leading independent gaming company and bookmaker Victor Chandler.

You will not want to pass up the opportunity to take advantage of the chance to participate in those great Christmas promotions which will offer them both fun and chances to win money and other prizes. Christmas time can also be a lot of fun and top online casinos get into the spirit of Christmas and often can change the look of the site to bring the holiday spirit to the players. If you have not yet joined do so now and reap all of the benefits the holiday season brings to online poker.