Online Poker News

Great news for the fans of Phil Ivey, who is widely considered poker’s best player, has returned to the live tournament scene, months after the online poker site he represented was accused of financial crimes. He entered the Asian Pacific Poker Tour Macaumain event on Wednesday.

Phil who is an eight-time bracelet winner has been off the poker radar since April 15’s indictments against operators of the major offshore poker companies. In May he decided to sit out the entire 2011 World Series of Poker in response to the specific allegations against Full Tilt Poker. Ivey also took out a lawsuit against the online poker site in which he cited disappointment and embarrassment that players were not paid their account balances. Ivey was also seeking more than $150 million for “injunctive relief, declaratory relief and damages.

The lawsuit was later withdrawn by him following rumours which began circulating in June that European investors were seeking to purchase the site. Full Tilt Poker owes about $150 million to U.S. players and about the same to its foreign base, after allegedly becoming insolvent in the operation of a Ponzi scheme.

Team 888poker is part of the 888.com group and has taken part in many world events with great success. These include WSOP events and include stars such as the cricketer Shane Warne, as a poker player would be an understatement as he is much more. He is the captain of Team 888poker, but he is also a former professional cricketer, a businessman, a philanthropist, and a loving father. With all of his roles and responsibilities he enjoys finding the time to escape and play poker.

Team 888poker has confirmed it’ll be taking part in the inaugural International Federation of Poker Nations Cup. Tonight, Shane Warne, Padraig Parkinson and Sam Holden will take part in the unique contest that takes place at the London Eye. The format of the competition is Duplicate Poker, where players are given identical sets of cards at different tables and the winner is the player that plays his cards best. It apparently removes the element of luck meaning it won’t be long before it’s latched onto by the “poker as skill” stable.

Online poker players have dominated the 2011 World Series of Poker Europe, with stars from 888Poker, PokerStars and even the embattled Full Tilt Poker taking plenty of the prize money.

The main event was dominated by American poker professional Elio Fox, who overcame a big chip deficit to defeat fellow online player Chris “Moorman1″ Moorman to claim the $1.928 million first prize. Fox who is known as smokyrokbyflock on FullTilt and PokerStars sites, took up the game full-time after graduating from Bard College and found that he was making big profits. The rise of online poker is evident by the final results table of the of the 3000 Euro shootout, which was an all internet affair. Just to show how much the new generation has taken over, the oldest player on that table was 32. We wonder which site will produce the next great poker champion.

There are some celebrity poker players who have made almost as much cash on the felt as they have from their box office takings. 

Here are just a few of the biggest celebrities who have made a name for themselves in the world of poker, whether on the professional circuit or in the exclusive invitation-only arena. 

Spider-Man star actor Tobey Maguire is rumoured to have won more than $10 million in secret Hollywood invitation-only events.  Such a huge sum may be exaggerated, but he is known on the circuit as a fearless player who likes to win and knows how to do it. 

However, he is not alone.  Fellow Hollywood actor Ben Affleck has already in a short poker career managed what many professionals would kill for.  Much to his credit, and gaining the respect of many pro players, he has a $10,000 buy-in major no-limit title in the bag.  That would be accolade enough, but when the accompanying $356,000 purse is taken into account, the win becomes truly significant. 

With American Pie actress Shannon Elizabeth also hitting the tables, it is not just an all-boys affair.  The beauty managed to rack up a $125,000 win in 2007 but has so far yet to improve on that big win.

Not only actors favour the felt.  Olympic swimming sensation Michael Phelps is a keen player and has vowed to improve his skills once he has stopped competing.

It’s been an incredible United Kingdom and Ireland Poker Tour (UKIPT) this year as poker ace Joeri Zandvliet wins the tour for the second year running. The up and coming Dutch poker star has put on a spectacular display in one of the pre-eminent poker tours to be held in either the UK or Ireland. Zandvliet qualified for the tournament via a satellite and was able to take down the opposition to win himself the cheque for €83,500. The tournament ended with Zandvliet heads up against the renowned Chuck Fabien whom he took down after an hour of heads up play.

The UKIPT is going from strength to strength and now regularly attracts its share of top class poker player from both here and in Europe, so great credit has to go the Netherlands player although it has to be admitted that the Dutchman had a couple of lucky hands along the way but that’s all part and parcel of the game of poker, without a bit of luck you would get nowhere and most good players make their own luck anyway.