Defending champion Mark Briggs was amongst the 165 competing players. He fell midway through day 1 and several past National Amateur Champions, including Lee Mulligan (2007 Welsh Amateur Champion), season one legends Daniel Phillips (2006 English Amateur Champion) and Mark Donnelly, who had finished runner up to both Mulligan and Phillips in those events. Players started the event with 15,000 chips on a generous 45-minute clock, for their £75.00 + £7.50 buy in.

13 levels were brought on day one. The field had been whittled down to 34 players. Both Donnelly and Mulligan had fought through an incredibly tough field to top and they tail the first day’s chip counts, although aforementioned Phillips had exited play late on day 1. Also through were past APAT Champions Tim Magnus, Paul McGuiness, Charles Mason, Warren Jones and Andy Kingan. the potential first of brothers making the Championship final table was amongst other developing stories, as Midland players Joey and Ant Williams had both made day two.

Donnelly led the affairs for long periods at the start of day two, as others fell by the wayside. In 17th went out 2011 Grosvenor Goliath runner up Helen Godfrey; in 12th Ant Williams went out to Martyn Sharp; in 11th 2010 WCOAP Stud Champion Ian Thompson went out to Mike Hudson, while the final table was bubbled by Rob Painter when Joe Williams hit his three outer on the river.

Mike Hudson became the 2012 William Hill English Amateur Poker Champion. Mike won an APAT National Gold Medal, £3,825 in prize money and a seat at a Genting Poker Series tournament in addition to the title. With eighteen points, Hudson also moves to the top of the APAT National Rankings.

On May 26th & 27th, APAT’s next event, the Welsh Amateur Poker Championship will take place the G Casino in Cardiff.

First of all, it’s important that you understand how the slot machine works. Take some time to check the rules which apply to the game, familiarize yourself with the symbols and bonus features and read the paytable. By getting to know the game instead of jumping right in, you’ll be increasing your chances of going into your gaming session more confident and you won’t make stupid mistakes.

Another online slot tip is to find slot machines with the highest payback percentage. Naturally, the higher the percentage, the higher your chances of winning, so checks out the paytables at the online casino before picking your game. Most machines have a percentage range of anything between 90 and 97%, so you want to stick with those in the high 90s for extra cash at the end of the day.

Another way to improve your chances of winning at slots is to play the games for free first, in order to see which you enjoy more and how they operate. This tip is connected to the idea of going into your gaming session familiar with the game. By playing the slot games for free, you’ll be able to zone in on your favorite types and practice on them well before moving onto real money slot games. Again, being familiar with the slot game will give you the confidence you need to make wise decisions regarding your game, and will also allow you to enjoy it to the maximum.

You can be playing fairly well with a few hours of practice as Texas Holdem can be learned in a few minutes. You must play and you must play fairly often in order to learn the game.

You can start playing the game online as online poker rooms offer a wide variety of play money tables where beginners may practice for free. Also online poker rooms handle many tedious details, like dealing, shuffling, and determining who has the best hand.

Players will place out blinds and antes so there is an initial amount to get things started, depending on the limit and betting structure and this is called posting. The dealer shuffles up a standard deck of 52 playing cards. Each player is dealt two private cards face down. These are called your hole cards or pocket cards.

Starting with the player to the left of the blinds then there is a round of betting. This is the preflop betting round. Players can call, rise, or fold like most games of poker. The dealer discards the top card of the deck after the betting round ends. This is called a burn card and this is done to prevent cheating.

Starting with the player to the left of the dealer, there is one final round of betting. We have the showdown after that. Players who have not folded reveal their hands, beginning with the player to the left of the last player to call. To form a five card poker hand, players use a combination of their pocket cards and the community cards. The player who shows the best hand wins, although sometimes players with the same hand split the pot.

The app offers a realistic game play and sleek design.  Allowing you to set the bet sizing, numbers of players, game speed, and even the type of currency used, the tables are customizable.   Into the bargain there are detailed rules on how to play poker and an introduction on starting hands and hand rankings.

Either from game center or from your Facebook account, the app is setup to allow you to login.  Also you can play with up to eight other players from all around the world with Wi-Fi connectivity.  You never know who might sit down at your table as the app is available in six different languages.

There are 150 achievements built into the program where you can try and prove your worth against the best players in the world.  The ability to search and chat with your friends on this app is one of the more appealing features.  You can setup your own poker tournaments or you can setup your own games and get the feel of a regular home game.

For both the iPhone and the iPad the application is now available and from the iPhone you can download it for free.

Team PokerStars Netherlands pro Ruben Visser starts day 2 Friday as the overall leader with 251,500 in chips, as play finished with 249 players surviving the day. With healthy stacks returned, fellow Team PokerStars pros Victor Ramdin (190,500), Vanessa Selbst (160,500), Joe Cada (135,500) and Max Lykov. EPT winners Nicholas Chouity, David Vamplew, Carter Phillips, and Roberto Romanello were included in the notables with six-figure stacks. Finishing the day with over 90,000 chips, Ted Forrest made an infrequent appearance on the EPT.

For the 460 returning players with a reduced schedule of play Friday, Day 2 recommences at 12pm local time, playing just five 75-minute levels after playing well past midnight in day 1 action. Play straight through five levels with no dinner break will be the plan, thereby giving all the remaining players an opportunity to take pleasure in some of the excellent restaurants that San Remo has to offer.

Double NAPT winner, Vanessa Selbst did not so much hit the ground running as squash the ground and the whole thing around it. She was fairing much better. She finished in the leading group, as opponents generally got out of the way of her aggression. Five-time WSOP bracelet winner Ted Forrest, Terrence Chan and former EPT winners, Carter Phillips, Roberto Romanello and David Vamplew all remain in the mix as well, while fellow Team Pros Victor Ramdin and Joe Cada had solid days, both concluding above the 100,000 mark.

The top five chip counts from day 1b of the PokerStars.it 5,000 Main Event from Casino San Remo are Ruben Visser – 251,500, Nicolas Chouity – 233,400, Stefano Servalli – 202,400, Jean Laurent Comparetto – 192,000 and Victor Ramdin – 190,500.

In 2010, there were 144 players but this year has attracted only 97 and the prize pool only peaked at $911,800 with which to pay the top 12 finishers. In a WPT Main Event since Season 1, it was the smallest number of players taking part.

Day 1 of WPT Hollywood Poker saw the field diminish to 57 players. As players like Luke Staudenmaier, Mike Sexton, Kyle Knecht and Jonathan Little exited; Day 2 reduced the field’s number even further. When only 27 players remained, action was stopped. With 334,400 chips, Andy Whetstone was the chip leader, followed by Shannon Shorr with 250,900. Day 3 played all the way down to the final nine players and it was Ben Tollerene out in 13th place, who toward the end of the night made the money bubble burst. Steve Barshak was in the lead with 601K. Day 4 left six for the televised final table. William Reynolds was the chip leader with 1,169,000.

Action resumed on April 13 for the final table. Scarborough entered the final table in second place. With the eliminations of Ali Eslami and Club WPT online qualifier Andy Whetstone, the six-handed final table was down to only four, after seven hands. In the final table, Scarborough emerged out as the winner and claimed his prize of $273,664.

The Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida will host the Seminole Hard Rock Showdown therefore the next up for the WPT is the tour’s first ever trip to the Sunshine State. On April 27th, the $10,000 buy-in tournament kicks off and will crown a winner on May 2nd.

Both players managed to go the full distance of 2,500 hands this time. However, on Negreanu, Blom took a governing early lead. Blom held a $100,000 lead, with just under 1,200 hands completed. Blom extended the lead to $120,000, after 1,300 hands in this week’s match. Whether Blom would continue his dominance over Negreanu was a question that was on many virtual railbirds.

Last week, after Isildur1 took the highest $150,000 off Negreanu in just four hours and 1,439 hands, the latter admitted that the former one was the better online player. This week, however, Negreanu ended with a $26,500 profit and won the second round in the second half of their match.

Last night, he promised to win back at least some of his stake and after again spending long periods behind, he did it in style. Isildur1 looked set to replicate last week’s white wash and he claimed an astounding 80% of Negreanu’s bankroll within 1,300 hands. The last 600 hands belonged to Kid Poker, in spite of losing the major pot of the session with trips against Isildur1’s full house.

Negreanu held a $26k lead over his opponent, when the dust had settled after the 2,500th hand. After the match was finished, both the players were amiable and Blom passed on his good wishes to Negreanu for his effort. Negreanu was astonished to win the event and he left one last accolade for the Swedish online poker prodigy. He said that Isildur1 is implausible and he hopes to do a training session with him one day. He added that Isildur1 is the best.

For Internet poker operators and companies that make related equipment, assembly members initiated a bill that calls on Nevada gambling regulators to form rules. A license to existing poker sites such as PokerStars can no more be disallowed by the Nevada Gaming Commission. After a federal law successfully outlawed online gambling in 2006, PokerStars has been working in a legal gray area.

For legalizing Internet gambling around ten years ago, Nevada passed a law that set the stage, but regulators never wrote rules permitting it. A bill was introduced by State Assembly man William Horne to permit poker for Nevada residents and others in states that authorize online poker.

For the operators of internet gaming within the state, the bill does not offer a tangible tax rate or license fee, but for “the purpose of computing the license fee required”, it does say that all gross revenue be counted.

In amendment to the provisions of the act, on or before Dec. 31, 2011, the bill gives the Nevada Gaming Commission the authority to adopt regulations. For Mar. 24, a hearing for the bill has been set. At the federal level, Caesars has been leading the charge to regulate online gaming and has gone up against efforts to license and regulate intrastate online gaming.

Last December, during the 2010 lame duck session of Congress, senate majority leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) attempted to pass a bill that would have licensed and regulated Internet poker.

His retirement only spanned eight months and he did not even last for a single year outside of the industry, which means he has not even missed a single WSOP. In changing his mind about that retirement, he sure did not waste a lot of time.

Eastgate said that he does not consider this as a comeback. He knew there was always a good chance that he would play poker again. He added that PokerStars have been supportive, during his hiatus from poker. He is pleased to start out with playing two events where PokerStars will sponsor him.

From having the WSOP Champion back at the tables, the poker industry will greatly benefit, without a doubt. Before and after his enormous $9,152,416 win, Eastgate enjoyed a lucrative playing career and from other live tournament winnings, he has accumulated an impressive $1,751,795.

He auctioned off his 2008 WSOP bracelet on EBay, donating the proceeds to UNICEF. Very few in the industry expected such high returns so soon. It appeared that he had closed all doors on poker but surprisingly he returned.

On February 21, EPT Copenhagen begins, with the final table set for February 26. Eastgate will have a quick turnaround from the event. From March 3 to 6, the National Heads-Up Poker Championship will take place. Eastgate has set a difficult path for his trek back to the green felt, with only ten days to prepare for his return.

There is something about poker that both elevates and burns out even the best players, although it could be easy to mock the man’s choice. Eastgate has proven that he is one of the classiest players out there, because with the sale of his bracelet and the large charity donation it netted, everyone is glad to see him back.

Phil Ivey told PokerListings that, “There are still games in Vegas, just not as many as there used to be. Four or five years ago you could count on there being a game four or five nights a week. Now there’s probably a game one or two nights.”

The big game Godfather said, in a blog post earlier this month that, Las Vegas has become an undesirable place for a poker pro to live, that there simply aren’t very many high-limit games around and that he was considering moving to California where there’s at least a few mid-level games played regularly.

At Bobby’s Room, the “Big Game” is the most famous of all Vegas’ high-stakes cash games. In this game players usually buy-in for around $200k or $300k and play at stakes as high as $4000/$8000. Though, Ivey believes the “Big Game” hasn’t really recovered since the premature death of Chip Reese.

Doyle Brunson, the poker legend, also looks disappointed with the amount of high-stakes action going on in his hometown. World-wide tournaments and internet poker are the factors which Brunson cites as main contributors to the “Big Games” downfall including the economy.

Both Ivey and Brunson said that they would consider moving out to California at some stage in the future. Doyle with a sigh acknowledges that at least a few mid-level games are still played regularly in the state, whereas the Californian born Ivey paints a far rosier picture of a possible move.