Internet poker bills are circulating on both federal and state levels, and tribes operating Indian casinos are divided as to their position on regulating this online gambling.

Indian tribes operating regional casinos are divided to whether to support or oppose legislation brewing to control Internet poker. Bills both before Congress and in numerous state legislatures propose rules for online poker regulation, causing debate among tribal leaders.

Both Barney Frank's bill trying to regulate online gambling on a countrywide level and measures in states including California, Florida, Iowa, and New Jersey are designed to ascertain regulated intrastate online poker. Frank's bill would essentially render the UIGEA moot, while the local proposals would act under its guidance, keeping play and operation within state borders.

In California, the Morongo Band of Mission Indians was a pace-setter in advocating intrastate Internet poker. The tribe is pushing a bill that may partner tribal casinos with state-licensed card rooms as online gaming operators.

Morongo representatives say online poker players are a brand new market, break free the purchasers patronizing the land-based casinos, and would increase the gambling revenue of tribes. But other tribes disagree, saying Internet poker would simply divert customers from one type of gaming to another, and that online poker regulations could open the door to loopholes allowing states to cancel gambling compacts.

“Card game gambling on the net would take business clear of brick-and-mortar casinos,” Robert Smith, chairman of the Pala Band of Mission Indians said in a letter he wrote to the California legislature.

While many California tribes, possessing one of the crucial nation's strongest gaming compacts, are wary of cannibalization in their slot players by online poker, tribes in other states are less worried. Tribes located in less populous states see online gambling operations as their key to successfully using the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act.

“The Internet gives remote operations a possibility to generate incremental revenue they otherwise do not need gotten," said legal gaming expert Anthony Cabot to Indian Country Today. " It becomes a separate form of industry versus a complimentary type of industry.”

Published on March 10, 2010 by TomWeston

Read More... [Source: California Gambling News]

Crystal Lagoons achieved a super international milestone with the brand new project it signed in Las Vegas, USA. The world's capital of entertainment has all thinkable infrastructure. However, it lacks beach lifestyle, a topic with a view to be addressed by Crystal Lagoons' technology and concept.

Crystal Lagoons has partnered with Steve Wynn, tycoon responsible of the creation of Las Vegas, because the world's capital of adult entertainment. Crystal Lagoons will bring a big crystalline lagoon to the enduring "Strip", the city's main road. 

This represents world acknowledgment of Crystal Lagoons' success within the US market, where only one year after its arrival it already has 11 signed projects and it's evaluating other 44 projects in numerous States, with a complete investment of US$53.4 billion.  

Crystal Lagoons' Las Vegas project involves a complete investment of US$4 billion and has a selected feature: It is going to be located on the site of the one golf process the city's downtown. The positioning might be develop into a 12.1-hectare crystalline lagoon. That is another global success sign of the world's top amenity, that's gaining land even in countries dedicated to golf.

The announcement made by Steve Wynn, regarding with a purpose to develop a crystal clear lagoon at the project, triggered "Wynn Resorts" stock price -it trades in Nasdaq- to get up to 12%, increasing the company's value in US$1.05 billion.

With a space of 12.1-hectares, it is going to be the company's largest crystalline lagoon within the US, and it'll have an state-of-the-art design with a central island, gondolas, daily firework shows and life water sports events, hotels, shopping and a large gastronomical axis. 

Uri Man, CEO of Crystal Lagoons USA, said "the projection of this alliance is huge, for the reason that Steve Wynn is curious about Las Vegas, Macau (China) and the world's most vital resorts. His success formula was to conceive a city especially dedicated to entertainment for adults from everywhere in the world, integrating luxurious hotels, casinos, retail stores, and world class theatres". 

Finally, Uri Man stated that "the Crystal Lagoons project in Las Vegas will make real the company's founder dream. At his beginnings, Fernando Fischmann dreamt about bringing large bodies of crystalline water to the world's entertainment and comfort capitals, corresponding to Dubai and Las Vegas". 

Read More... [Source: Gaming Industry News]

It was an enormous weekend in PokerStars-land, with the EPT Deauville reaching a last table just hours before the Sunday Majors kicked into high gear, with both the Warm-Up and Sunday Million blowing through their guarantees effortlessly another time. After better than ten hours of high-octane tournament poker ROHR came from behind to assert the victory and $119,548.05 payday. His final payout was the results of a three-way deal and the additional $10,000 he won as a result.

It took nine hours to get there, but only some minutes to play out hand-for-hand play as derek8 busted in 10th place to establish the overall table. Gretko came into the general table because the chip leader, with the stacks looking like this because the final nine settled in to duke it out for the large money.

gretko (LA) - $11,052,372ROHR (Wurzburg) - $8,641,187Chaesi (Aetingen) - $7,155,428donnylon346 (skivarp) - $6,298,870delegator (Bergen) - $5,435,468risiko13 (Basel) - $3,741,696toetagU (WWI) - $2,532,407Joe Hahn (Doorwerth) - $2,053,096Negriin (Punta Alta) - $1,269,476

It only took a couple of hands into the general table for the primary big confrontation to happen. Action started out reasonably, with a preflop raise from Chaesi and a decision from ROHR, however the fireworks kicked off when the flop came down Q♠-9♠-A♥. Chaesi led out with a bet, and ROHR flat-called to bring the J♦ at the turn. Chaesi quickly moved all in with A♦-J♠ for 2 pair, and ROHR made the straightforward call with A♠-Q♥ for the larger two pair. Just a jack at the river would save Chaesi, however it was to not be when the A♣ rolled off to send him packing in 9th place ($7,708.80).

Joe Hahn came into the general table probably the most shortest stacks, and when action folded around to his small blind, Q♦-6♣ looked adequate to shove with, so that's exactly what he did. ToetagU thought for a moment before calling, but tabled the dominating A♥-6♦ to position Joe in a global of hurt. Life got no better for Joe Hahn because the board ran out A♣-8♠-K♠-Q♥-K♥ to bust him in 8th place ($12,045).

Negriin played the short-stack ninja role well, ducking and weaving his tiny stack to a 7th-place finish and a $21,681 payday. His run came to an end by the hands of the deep-stacked gretko, who moved all in excessive of Negriin's preflop raise. The pot-committed Negriin called with A♣-3♦, only to search out himself crushed by gretko's A♦-4♥. The flop of 4♠-9♣-7♣ left Negriin searching for running clubs to stick alive, and for a moment it seemed like the poker gods would obey once they dropped the T♣ at the turn. However the river was a less-than-helpful 6♥, and Negriin was headed to the virtual rail.

Gretko claimed another victim and the chip lead when he busted toetagU in 6th place ($31,317). The entire money went in preflop when toetagU defended his small blind against gretko's button raise by moving all in excessive with A♥-2♦. Unfortunately for toetagU, gretko wasn't on a bluff, but had pocket queens. Gretko made the most obvious call, however the 4♦-2♥-4♠ flop gave toetagU a pair more outs. The T♦ at the turn wasn't one in every of them, and neither was the 5♠ that hit the river as gretko's queens held up, after which there have been five.

They say that fortune favors the bold, and it's certainly easier to be bold if you have got a large chip lead. That is what the sector seemed like when gretko open-raised from the small blind with K♣-3♠, then called delegator's all-in move. Delegator showed A♥-K♥, and gave the impression to be more healthy to double in the course of the chip lead at the J♣-8♠-T♣ flop, but disaster within the type of the 3♥ came at the turn. The 7♦ at the river was no help, and delegator was relegated to a 5th-place finish, good for $40,953.

Donnylon346 made all of it how you can 4th place mostly by staying out of the way, but eventually he too, succumbed to the gretko steamroller. Gretko opened with a raise from the button, and donnylon moved all in excessive with A♣-5♥. Gretko made the decision with A♥-8♣, and was significantly sooner than his opponent. The flop was no big help to either player, coming down 4♠-J♣-7♣, and the Q♦ at the turn was equally meaningless. The Q♥ at the river brought no reprieve for donnylon, and he was done in 4th place ($54,443.40).

With donnylon's elimination, the 3 remaining players took a moment to speak about a chop, and after some brief discussion, they agreed on a chip count chop that locked up $128,188.59 for gretko, $109,548.05 for ROHR and $94,758.03 for risiko13. With $10,000 left at the table for the eventual winner, the 3 survivors retook their seats and the tournament was re-started.

All the cash went in on a coin flip at the first actual hand back, as gretko opened from the button with A♥-J♥, and risiko13 moved all in excessive with 6♥-6♣. The flop swung the pendulum firmly to gretko's side when it came down T♣-A♦-Q♥, and risiko was in serious trouble. The 5♠ at the turn was no help for anyone, and when the river brought the 9♥, risiko was done in 3rd place and heads up poker ensued.

For the entire fevered pace of the remainder of the overall table, the heads up match between ROHR and gretko was a study in patience. Gretko took a large lead into heads up play, and quickly established a 2:1 chip advantage, but was unable to advance his cause for the longest time as ROHR proved adept at picking his spots and timing his moves.

And finally, after a lengthy heads-up duel, ROHR's patience was rewarded. He took a dominant chip lead when his pocket eights held up against gretko's flush attract the next-to-last hand of the tournament, after which this all happened. With an enormous chip lead, ROHR opened for a raise from the button with 3♣-3♥. Gretko called for the last of his chips with J♦-4♣. The flop of Q♦-7♠-6♥ was no help to either player, but gretko picked up an inside straight draw with the 5♣ turn. No two-outer for greto, though, because the A♦ at the river sent him packing in 2nd place, but with $128,188.59 for his troubles.

ROHR proved that good stuff come to those that wait, and his slow-but-steady option to the heads up match garnered him a Sunday Warm-Up title and $119,548.05 for a fair day's work. Congratulations to ROHR and all our final table players on a task well done!

Read More... [Source: PokerStarsBlog.com :: PokerStars Sunday Tournaments]

Since Stephen Curry was ruled out with a knee injury, the NBA futures odds was shaken up with sharp money grabbing some value long shots.

Patrick Everson is throughout the sportsbook talking NBA Playoffs with Jeff Stoneback, sportsbook manager on the Mirage Las Vegas. Learn how much Stephen Curry’s knee injury impacts the Warriors' odds and why sharp bettors are striking the NBA futures while the iron is hot.

Please enable Javascript to look at this video

Read More... [Source: Covers.com: NBA News and Stories]

We knew once we saw 349 pop out for yesterday's Day 1A -- the primary of 2 Day 1 flights on this €1,100 buy-in France Poker Series Monaco Main Event -- that today was going to be grand (bilingual pun intended). That was well over last year's Day 1A turnout, and at last 993 players took part in that FPS Monaco Main. So we knew this year's total was all but assured to be more.

As anticipated, today's Day 1B was massive, with 907 entrants making for a complete of 1,256 altogether for this year's event. Players filled the massive main tournament room, much of the adjacent cash room, and the Americas Room located a promenade away. After 12 fast-paced 45-minute levels just 248 of these players remained, with the boisterous Brazilian Leonardo Silveira de Castro Pires the biggest-stacked among them after bagging 339,400 to conclude the night.

Leonardo the leader again

Leonardo some may remember from the 2016 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (where he was commonly known as Pires, though he goes by Silveira). There he similarly raced out to a large chip lead, then held it well into the money until the general two tables before busting in 13th. And he'll be the pace-setter again here when 339 players return for Day 2 tomorrow, as his count exceeds that of Day 1A leader Andrey Andreev.

Others doing well for themselves on Day 1B included the following:

Andrei Boghean - 313,000Gleb Tremzin - 284,700Olivier Puche - 251,600Massimiliano Patroncini - 237,200Pedro Oliveira - 235,400Philipp Wenzelburger - 227,500Tarik Kerbouci - 224,600Thomas Djefaflia - 223,000Julian Fernandez - 200,200Romain Matteoli - 200,000

And taking a look at some of those also making it through to tomorrow:

Abraham Serrano - 196,200Maxence Benoulha - 192,200Vicente Delgado - 179,500Niall Farrell - 153,000Steven van Zadelhoff - 135,000Arnaud Mattern - 125,900Faraz Jaka - 123,300Liv Boeree - 118,000Dzmitry Urbanovich - 116,000Gabriel Nassif - 91,300Joseph Carlino - 90,400Joao Vieira - 63,100Yaxi Zhu - 59,200Ivan Soshnikov - 53,400Simon Deadman - 40,100

Meanwhile hundreds of Day 1B were less fortunate today, failing to outlive the night. That group included Max Greenwood, Andrey Zaichenko, Antoine Saout, Joao Simao, Dermot Blain, Sergio Aido, Mayu Roca, William Foxen, Martin Finger, James Akenhead, and Team PokerStars Pros Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier, Chen-An Lin, Jake Cody, and Eugene Katchalov.

Tomorrow they get going at 12 noon once again, with the plan being to play 10 one-hour levels. The cash bubble is because of burst tomorrow as well, at which point we'll start to see how the massive prize pool will begin to be divided.

Thanks for following the tale so far, and spot you back here tomorrow for the following chapter as we find together who would be the next France Poker Series Main Event champion. Until we reconvene, bon soir. --MH

FULL DAY 1B COVERAGE:

11:40pm: That's your lot!Level 12 - Blinds 1,000/2,000 (ante 300)

It's been a mad day of poker with 907 players in total taking their seats at the second starting flight of the FPS main event. Roughly 280 survived. A wrap of the day's play will appear above shortly. Also keep your eye at the @PokerStarsBlog twitter account and the widget to the correct for the overnight seat draw and chip counts.

11:22pm: Four more, says the floorLevel 12 - Blinds 1,000/2,000 (ante 300)

They've paused the tournament clock and announced there'll be four more hands before play stops tonight. And leader Leonardo Silveira de Castro Pires seems like he's nearing the 400,000-chip mark. --MH

11:15pm: Buzzer bad beatsLevel 12 - Blinds 1,000/2,000 (ante 300)

It's tough lines at the following players, who've grinded all day only to fall on the last as: Roman Korenev, Georgics Zisimopoulos, Luc Greenwood, Jelcides Monteiro, Rocco Palumbo, Shola Akindele-Deadman, Louis Salter and Bart Lybaert.

300 of 907 players remain and the common stack is 75,900. --NW

11:05pm: Chip leaders and notablesLevel 12 - Blinds 1,000/2,000 (ante 300)

With not up to 20 minutes to move here is a list of a few of the large stacks and massive names still in. --NW

Leonardo Silveira de Castro Pires - 338,000Julian Fernandez - 210,000Maxence Benoulha - 199,000Tarik Kerbouci - 194,000Faraz Jaka - 150,000Niall Farrell - 145,000Liv Boeree - 125,000Joseph Carlino - 90,000Vicente Delgado - 85,000Ami Barer - 62,000Ivan Soshnikov - 46,000Joao Vieira - 39,000Rocco Palumbo - 18,000

10:47pm: One level to goLevel 12 - Blinds 1,000/2,000 (ante 300)

They've moved into Level 12 which means that there'll be approximately 45 minutes' worth of poker left, then the bagging and tagging will commence. We'll be spending much of that point scouting for giant stacks. Currently no person appears yet on this field to have moved prior to Andrey Andreev's Day 1A total of 281,300, but several are becoming close.

Incidentally, besides bragging rights and a pleasing spot heading into Day 2, tonight's chip leader -- like Andreev and prefer the player ending tomorrow atop the counts -- will win a couple of tickets to Saturday's football match between French Ligue 1 sides AS Monaco and EA Guingamp. --MH

  LEVEL SMALL BLIND BIG BLIND ANTE

12	1,000	2,000	300

10:45pm: Sweet relief for ElkYLevel 11 - Blinds 800/1,600 (ante 200)

Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier was eliminated from this tournament during level 10 and he's indulged in some food therapy to assist ease the pain.

10:30pm: Mansouri gets angry, tilts chips to GordilloLevel 11 - Blinds 800/1,600 (ante 200)

Ouassini Mansouri isn't a cheerful man and as it has been TWENTY YEARS since I studied French I AM NOT sure exactly what it's he's got in any such fuss about. What I WILL inform you is that over 22,000 of his chips now belong to Pablo Gordillo.

I joined the action to peer a gamble of 3,200 in front of Gordillo, a decision of that bet in front of Erick Guedj and Mansouri, who was within the big blind arguing with the dealer. The small blind still had cards in front of him but it surely looked as if it would matter to not Mansouri. After the small blind folded the from side to side between Mansouri - who's French - and the dealer who's also French but speaks perfect English - continued.

What I did pick up was the dealer telling Mansouri that it was English only on the table and Mansouri replying that he didn't speak English. Fair enough. Eventually after some backward and forward Mansouri threw out the decision but wasn't happy. My best guess (and it is only a guess) is that he desired to raise but he'd done it out of turn and in consequence were forced to only call.

The flop fell Q♥4♦Q♣ and action checked to Guedj, who bet 5,000, Mansouri check-raised to 16,000 total and Gordillo then shoved for 20,800. Guedj folded and Mansouri called the extra.

Gordillo: Q♦9♣Mansouri: K♥J♣

The Spaniard had flopped Mansouri all but dead and the running cards Mansouri needed didn't arrive at the J♥ turn or 7♣ river. Mansouri stormed off, but he's got numerous chips should he need a longer break. He's right down to 145,000 after that hand whilst Gordillo is as much as around 59,000. --NW

10:18pm: Matias meets endLevel 11 - Blinds 800/1,600 (ante 200)

Allberto Meran Matias was all-in and in danger with 7♣7♦ versus Slaven Popov's A♣8♣, hoping the medium pair would hold. However the flop brought an ace -- coming A♦K♦K♠ -- and after the 3♣ turn and 6♣ river it was the tip for Matias.

He joins a crowded rail, as now there are not up to 370 players still with chips with a few levels left to move on Day 1B. --MH

10:15pm: Not more chips for Chen-AnLevel 11 - Blinds 800/1,600 (ante 200)

We just spied Team PokerStars Pro Chen-An Lin gathering his belongings to go, yet one more of the knockouts here late on Day 1B. --MH

Chen-An Lin down

10:05pm: Level 10 fallersLevel 11 - Blinds 800/1,600 (ante 200)

Lots of departures in level 10 including: Nicolas Le Floch, David Pourraz, Adrien Delmas, Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier, Gregor Abmayr, Laurent Reboul, Alexander Nemchin, Andrew Hulme, Sandrine Wilhelm, Max Greenwood, and Andrey Zaichenko. -- NW

  LEVEL SMALL BLIND BIG BLIND ANTE

11	800	1,600	200

10pm: Set bests two pairLevel 10 - Blinds 600/1,200 (ante 200)

What a crazy hand!

Cherif Zermiche opened to 2,000, a player then moved all-in for just 500 and two more players called the 2,000 and the four players saw a J♥K♠8♥ flop hit the felt.

Zermiche c-bet 4,000, Yan Portal then moved all-in for 26,700 and Maxim Panyak then re-raised all-in to 48,000 total. Zermiche shook his head once or twice and folded. The all-in player knew the jig was up and meekly turned over T♠6♣. Portal showed 8♠8♣ for the flopped set and Panyak showed J♦8♦ for two-pair!

The K♣ turn and 9♠ board rounded out the board and Portal moved as much as over 60,000 whilst Panyak dropped to 48,000. --NW

9:53pm: Half the sphere they used to beLevel 10 - Blinds 600/1,200 (ante 200)

The rate of attrition is high, as a post-dinner level stuffed with tournament casualties has brought the full selection of Day 1B entrants right down to about 440 -- lower than half the 906 who began the day. --MH

9:46pm: Guess Boeree's stackLevel 10 - Blinds 600/1,200 (ante 200)

So what number of chips do you think that Team PokerStars Pro Liv Boeree has on this picture? The blue chips on the front are worth 5,000 a piece.

9:33pm: Leonardo back within the leadLevel 10 - Blinds 600/1,200 (ante 200)

A familiar-sounding laugh came from the far side of the room. Investigation ended in the sight of a well-recognized face, Leonardo Silveira de Castro Pires, he of the deep run on the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Main Event in January where he finished 13th.

Laughing and smiling, Silveira over again appears to have built a decent-sized stack again. Attracted to the table, we watched as his neighbor to the fitting opened, and he tossed out chips appearing to mean a call, but it surely was a raise. It came back around and the raiser four-bet, Silveira shrugged and called, then folded to a small flop continuation bet.

Silveira appears to have about 220,000 now. We'll continue to concentrate on him because the night develops, not that you may easily avoid doing so. --MH

9:30pm: Mad Turk still truckingLevel 10 - Blinds 600/1,200 (ante 200)

Despite telling the PokerStars Blog a couple of hours ago that he'd probably double his 100K-plus stack or lose it Yucel "The Mad Turk" Eminoglu remains to be going strong, he's lost a couple of chips but still has around 105,000. --NW

They're buyin' what Yucel-in'

9:20pm: Play resumes

Cards are back within the air and play has resumed primarily Event. --MH

  LEVEL SMALL BLIND BIG BLIND ANTE

10	600	1,200	200

8:00pm: Dinner break

The level has ended and the remainder players at the moment are taking a 75-minute dinner break. --MH

7:57pm: Sol takes a strollLevel 9 - Blinds 500/1,000 (ante 100)

Sander Sol thought he'd been eliminated. It were an all-in situation at the turn between himself and Ibrahim Al Bishri. The board showed 3♣9♠9♣K♣ and Sol had K♠Q♣, but he was drawing all but dead as Bishri had Q♥9♦. The deuce at the river didn't change anything, but once the chips were counted Sol was surprised to be told he had 400 left -- just four brown chips worth 100 each.

"Okay that is the last hand," said the tournament director, suddenly appearing over the dealer's shoulder. The table was breaking. Sol needed to laugh. Handed a tray he set his four chips in it, then traveled from one corner of the large tournament room the entire approach to the other, a large grin on his face all the way,

As he took his seat on the new table, he slowly turned the tray over and let the four chips fall. The table chuckled in response.

"Bring it!" he said.

Sol needed to wait through another hand to play, and now the dinner break is approaching. He would possibly not last that long, but he'll have a narrative either way. --MH

7:50pm: Akkari plodding onLevel 9 - Blinds 500/1,000 (ante 100)

Team PokerStars Pro André Akkari is on probably the most few tables still in use within the cash game area and he's still just about got starting stack, with 23,000 from his starting stack of 25,000.

He watched on as Fred Weiss opened to 2,100 and received two calls. Danut Chisu then squeezed to 8,500 and separately his opponent's folded. --NW

7:35pm: FeltedLevel 9 - Blinds 500/1,000 (ante 100)

The rate of bustouts on this tournament has noticeably ramped up a notch or two for the reason that last break. Those who've recently departed include: Mayu Roca, Walter Treccarichi, Usman Siddique, Sergio Aido, Nikolaus Teichert, Antoine Saout, Joao Simao, Dermot Blain, Ross Loggie, Andrew King, Dean Hutchison and Padraig O'Neill. --NW

7:30pm: Boeree busting a move, Cody sadly bustLevel 9 - Blinds 500/1,000 (ante 100)

If you are a fan of the united kingdom Team PokerStars Pros then I'm afraid now we have some excellent news and bad news. First the nice stuff, Liv Boeree has run her starting stack of 25,000 all of the way as much as 88,000. That's greater than double the common stack, that is 39,000 on the moment.

Jake Cody though is out, no details I'm afraid but he's one among over 300 players who've busted up to now on Day 1B. 580 of 906 players remain. --NW

So long, Jake

  LEVEL SMALL BLIND BIG BLIND ANTE

9	500	1,000	100

7:13pm: Dzmitry with designs on a unique titleLevel 8 - Blinds 400/800 (ante 100)

Those folks within the media room had spotted Dzmitry Urbanovich a little bit earlier, wondering if perhaps he were about to go into the €100K Super High Roller -- i.e., the development during which he finished runner-up a year ago here in Monaco to earn a prize of €1,446,600.

Mais non, not this actual soir. No, tonight the young Polish phenom has opted to sign up for the FPS Monaco Main Event, a tournament he could enter about 1,315 times over with those winnings from last year's SHR.

We just spotted him watch the player two to his right raise the button and the small blind call, then Urbanovich three-bet big to force folds from both. We've no immediate context or cards to assist explain what happened, however the contrast between the proficiency of the reraiser and the unease of the folders was nonetheless discernable.

Having only settled behind his 25,000-chip starting stack late within the afternoon, Urbanovich is now up around 60,000. --MH

7:10pm: Fanego has to goLevel 8 - Blinds 400/800 (ante 100)

With a Q♣6♣4♠ flop on display Ludovic Heude (under the gun) bet 2,600, he was called in a single spot, just for Stephane Fanego (big unaware of) check-raise to 7,500 total. After about 20 seconds Heude smooth called and it was heads-up to the 3♣ turn.

Fanego moved all-in for 12,800 and Heude paused a beat before calling. "YOU MAY HAVE the flush?" asked Fanego and indeed Heude did, K♣8♣. Fanego showed 7♥5♥ for the straight, an exceptional hand, but one who was drawing dead on this instance. --NW

7:04pm: News from the AmericasLevel 8 - Blinds 400/800 (ante 100)

The choice of tables in use within the Americas Room continues to dwindle but there's still a number of action occurring down there.

Joao Vieira is an EPT regular but he's struggling today. He three-bet all-in for 14,400 excessive of a 2,000 open and waited for his opponent to make his decision. He got it through though and is as much as the relative safety of 20 big blinds now.

Maria Lampropulos is another in action down there. Since her deep run within the EPT Dublin main event she's had two more big cashes. She came second within the WPT National event in Brussels for € 68,200 after which followed that up with another runner-up finish at Eureka Rozvadov. The person who beat her, was none rather than her boyfriend Ivan Luca.

We saw here get entangled in a hand against Ramin Hajiyev, who opened to 1,800 from the hijack, there has been a flat call and Lampropoulos then raised to 6,000 from the button. Both players called and the flop fell A♥7♥2♠. A c-bet of just 5,000 from the Argentinian was enough to earn her the pot.

Elsewhere Arnaud Mattern has a stack of 82,000 but that is not up to Marc Manzo Bodrone who's as much as 105,000. --NW

6:59pm: It's late... loosen up!Level 8 - Blinds 400/800 (ante 100)

Hand ranges widen from late position. Even so, sometimes if those hands get to showdown, eyes widen, too.

Andre Akkari (cutoff) and Fred Weiss (button) were just taken with a hand that saw Akkari leading postflop with increasingly-sized bets at the flop and turn, then decelerate with a check at the river. Weiss called the primary two streets, then taking a look at the finished board of 6♦J♦Q♥3♦T♠ decided to test behind.

Akkari turned over 7♠3♣ for treys, while Weiss showed his Q♠9♥ for prime pair of queens to say the pot. The pair shared a chuckle afterwards because the next hand was dealt.

Weiss is as much as about 75,000 now while Akkari is right down to 25,000. --MH

6:48pm: Eights deliver for SahihLevel 8 - Blinds 400/800 (ante 100)

After an Ahmed Sahih raise to 2,000 from middle position, it folded to Giancula Speranza who three-bet all-in together with his last 7,200 from the cutoff. Then Daniele Cuomo reraise-pushed himself from the button for roughly 10,000. The blinds got out, Sahih confirmed the counts, and decided to head for the double-knockout.

Speranza: K♣Q♠Cuomo: K♥Q♥Sahih: 8♠8♥

The A♦3♣J♥ brought some added hope to the all-in players, providing Broadway outs. However the turn was the 2♠ and river the 4♦, and both Speranza and Cuomo were eliminated. Sahih is as much as about 60,000 now. --MH

  LEVEL SMALL BLIND BIG BLIND ANTE

8	400	800	100

6:12pm: Break it down

Let's regroup, lets? The players are taking 20 minutes to assemble their thoughts, and so we could. They'll return for 2 more 45-minute levels, then will come the 75-dinner break. Perhaps it is time to make that reservation. --MH

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6:10pm: Huet flushed awayLevel 7 - Blinds 300/600 (ante 75)

With the board showing T♥3♣3♥Q♥ Gilles Huet moved in for his remaining 9,000 with K♠K♣ and got snap called by Alexandre Vanadia. The cause of that soon became clear as he turned over K♥5♥ for the turned flush. The meaningless 9♣ completed the board and Huet was on his way.

Roughly 680 of 906 players remain. --NW

6pm: Mooney risingLevel 7 - Blinds 300/600 (ante 75)

Down to simply 8,025 Geoffrey Mooney moved all-in with A♦Q♦ and Mehdi Tafer gave him a spin with A♥9♠. It was a great place for Mooney and his dominating ace held up at the 7♥J♣2♦A♠6♦ board. He's as much as around 17,700 whilst Tafer drops to 39,000. -NW

5:55pm: Don't blame the messengersLevel 7 - Blinds 300/600 (ante 75)

If you have been in search of Xia Lin, Jose Pascal Godfroy, Laurent Guyon De Montlivault, Mohamed Fayad, Cedric Massaro, Thierry Navarro, Julien Mariani, Karim Benkhelouf, Thys Vincent, Enrico Mosca, Guillaume Roiron, Marcel Vadella, Thierry Mangot, Sigoli Michele, Ozgur Arda, Tony Jean Rose, Mikael Guenni, Jason Barton, Chris Dowling, Antonio Scalzi, Daniel Tudorie, Leonardo Parmiggiani, David Urban, Yusuke Okada, Maximiliano Gavilan, Emil Lukac, or William Foxen, well, we hate to wreck it to you, and really, we had nothing to do with it personally, we're just passing along the news, but they've all busted. --MH

5:45pm: Gordillo getting alongLevel 7 - Blinds 300/600 (ante 75)

After another quick tour of the Americas Room, we bring back two pieces of knowledge worth passing along.

For one, Pablo Gordillo has amassed a pleasing stack down there of about 80,000. The Spaniard who finished fourth out of 993 on this same event a year ago is off to a different strong start this time around.

Gordillo at the go

Also worth sharing -- a few the tables have emptied down there, signaling the beginning of what is going to be a lengthy technique of breaking tables back into the principle tournament room. It is going to still be some time, though, before the sector becomes manageable to deal with under a single roof. --MH

5:37pm: ElkY and KatchLevel 7 - Blinds 300/600 (ante 75)

A couple of alternative Team PokerStars Pros are here and playing. Both Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier and Eugene Katchalov are helping to make up the huge FPS Monaco field, with both hovering around 30,000 on the moment.

ElkY and Katch... seems like a '70s television cop-buddy drama series, oui? --MH

Katch me in case you can

5:30pm: The poker hokey cokeyLevel 7 - Blinds 300/600 (ante 75)

Up until level five of this tournament players were doing their level best to get into it, with a slew of alternates lining the tournament room. Now they're all doing their best not to get knocked out it. Unfortunately for Huidong Gu, Danis Budovskis, Mark Baxter, Ivan Deyra, Gregory Vivat, Raymond Santucci, Oliver Weis, Alex Goulder, Sylvain Naets, Sacha Israel, Erwann Pecheux, Herve Regis, Julien Renard, Erich Tedeschi, Alexandra Laudicina, Peter Akery, Mark James, Raffaele Castro, Igor Yaroshevskyy, Mikalai Pobal, Irina Petrova, Damien Luis, Neil Strike, David Even, Mike Hill, David Stocker, Richard Pearsona, and Nick Crozer, they're all out. --NW

  LEVEL SMALL BLIND BIG BLIND ANTE

7	300	600	75

5:18pm: More on Farrell, who's not foldingLevel 6 - Blinds 250/500 (50 ante)

"I knew you did not have a king," said Giulio Spampinato with a grim-looking grin. It was a Pyrrhic victory he'd earned, having correctly read Niall Farrell's holding, but incorrectly anticipated how the EPT12 Malta Main Event champion would react to his all-in push.

With the board showing 5♥8♣K♥7♦7♣, Farrell had get a hold of a choice against Spampinato. The latter showed but 9♦2♥ for total air, and while Farrell did not have a king, he had an eight with Q♣8♠ to make two pair and score the knockout. "REALLY NICE hand," said Spampinato, tapping the table as he departed.

Farrell is up around 80,000 now. --MH

5:18pm: Farrell off to a flyerLevel 6 - Blinds 250/500 (ante 50)

A couple of hours ago we saw Niall Farrell wandering clear of the tournament room with a ticket in his hand. We asked if he was playing the FPS Main Event and he said: "I'M but I'm alternate a million so I WILL get a drink first."

He's got his seat now and is sat to the suitable of Team PokerStars Pro Chen-An Lin. The Scotsman has wasted little time in running up a stack as he's got about 70,000. The last time he got off to this kind of start he won EPT12 Malta. You have been warned. --NW

5:12pm: Mad manLevel 6 - Blinds 250/500 (ante 50)

He might've been born Yucel Eminoglu, but to everyone within the poker world he's known simply as "Mad Turk." If truth be told you'll be able to type just that right into a popular poker database and his profile will pop up. He's got 118,000 at the present time and we have not seen a larger stack.

"Come back in an hour and they will either all be gone, or I'll have doubled it," he told the PokerStars Blog. He isn't lying, we have seen him play! --NW

5:05pm: Playing Fitoussi or foldoussiLevel 6 - Blinds 250/500 (50 ante)

The famous Frenchmen Bruno Fitoussi is in action here today, although found himself in a difficult spot today in a hand versus Tsveterina Pavlova.

Following a Pavlova open, Fitoussi three-bet from the button, then obliged by showing his remaining stack of about 10,000 when Pavlova asked how much he had behind. At that she reraised all-in, and after a pause Fitoussi thought it best to his hand go. --MH

4:55pm: Some counts from the Americas roomLevel 6 - Blinds 250/500 (50 ante)

Below are the counts of a few of the names and notables who're plying their trade within the Americas Room. There are about 200 players down there spread over 21 tables.

Name Chips

Keith Johnson	72,000
Yves Kupfermunz	63,000
Oluwashola Akindele	55,000
Pablo Gordillo	39,000
Oliver Price	39,000
Manig Loeser	37,000
Marvin Rettenmaier	35,325
Simon Deadman	27,800
Chris Dowling	24,600
Jason Barton	19,300
Faraz Jaka	18,200
Andrew Hulme	18,200
Joao Vieira	12,300
Maria Lampropulos	8,000

4:44pm: Akkari and Boeree join inLevel 6 - Blinds 250/500 (50 ante)

We noted earlier how the tournament had spilled over into the money game area. A FEW people who rode the wave into that a part of the Sporting Club were Team PokerStars Pros Andre Akkari and Liv Boeree, either one of whom were a number of the relatively late entrants for the event.

Boeree joins the battle

Akkari we forgive for arriving late, as he first needed to check out the Sports Simulator out within the lobby.

It's important to have goals

Both Akkari and Boeree are continuing stacks of around 15,000 at the present. --MH

4:40pm: Leaving the AmericasLevel 6 - Blinds 250/500 (ante 50)

A plethora of departures from the Americas tournament room because the following players have all seen their stack of 25,000 reduced to zero: Remondino Massimo, Paul Hoefer, Aouini Said, Alexandre Pouzet, Christophe Reynaud, Arunas Sapitavicius, Martin Finger, Alexandre Pacharel, William Alvernhes, Maksim Shulga, Jose Jimenez, Jerome Buruil, Richard Dromzee, Jon Garde, Bartholomeus Sol, Laurent Polito, Adrien Casanova and Maxim Colom. --NW

  LEVEL SMALL BLIND BIG BLIND ANTE

6	250	500	50

4:27pm: A COUPLE OF for ZhuLevel 5 - Blinds 200/400 (50 ante)

With the board showing 5♦A♦5♠A♠7♣ and about 10,000 within the middle, Yaxi Zhu checked to Oliver Weis on her left who thought an excellent while before checking behind. He was glad he did, as Zhu showed A♥8♥ for aces full.

The Team PokerStars Pro is up around 45,000 at the moment. --MH

Here's Zhu

4:14pm: 904!Level 5 - Blinds 200/400 (50 ante)

With late registration closed, the massive board shows 904 players having entered just today, which added to the 349 who played yesterday's initial starting flight adds as much as greater than 1,250 FPS Monaco players. We'll await the official word of just what number of took part -- in addition to prize pool information -- and pass along that news when it arrives. --MH

4:05pm: Big stacks from the primary roomLevel 5 - Blinds 200/400 (50 ante)

Two players have managed to quadruple their stack throughout the opening four levels, whilst plenty more have gotten a treble or a double-up.

Name Chips

Fabio Freitas	107,000
Nicolaj D Antoni	104,000
Erick Levy Guedj	94,000
Abdelkrim El Kandoussi	84,000
Patrick Muleta	79,000
Leonardo Silveira	77,250
Mike Said	68,500
Pierre Merlin	66,800
Stephane Dossetto	65,000
Gregory Caubet	63,000
Francisco Rodrigues	57,500
Giuseppe Zarbo	56,600
Makram Saber	55,500
Raphael Parisi	53,200

3:55pm: Play resumesLevel 5 - Blinds 200/400 (50 ante)

They're back and at it again, with late registration now closed. We'll inform you soon just how énorme this FPS Monaco Main Event field has turned out to be. --MH

  LEVEL SMALL BLIND BIG BLIND ANTE

5	200	400	50

3:32pm: Break it up

They've reached the tip of Level 4 and the second one 20-minute break of the day. This marks the last chance for late entries, as that door will close firstly of the following level. --MH

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3:29pm: Gone, but not forgottenLevel 4 - Blinds 150/300 (25 ante)

Forgive us if we do not inform you about every player who busts Day 1B today, as there'll like be something like 500-600 of them who do. But we feel we owe it to you to inform you Tiberiu Zanfirache, Igor Salomasov, Peter Jaksland, Valerii Lubenets, Xavier Detournel, Alexandre Moreau, Franck Putinier, Laurent Villard, Riccardo D'Urso, Ronald Tasse, Ismail Tas, Hicham Zebidi, Srdjan Patkovic, Nils Maibaum, Nadim Hage Ali, Samuele Grassi, Oleksii Liashenko, Raffaele L'abate, Mehdi Bidi, and Fabrice Maltez have all been eliminated previous to the day's second break.

Vlad Darie also lost his stack within the early going, as did James Akenhead. --MH

Akenhead out

3:27pm: Hey, I see an open table at the deck over thereLevel 4 - Blinds 150/300 (25 ante)

With about QUARTER-HOUR left to move in Level 4, they've seated some FPS Monaco Main Event players within the cash room in addition now, meaning the tournament is taking over with regards to every available area within the Sporting Club. Greater than 850 players have pop out for Day 1B thus far.

No word yet whether they'll attempt to get permission to establish any tables at the luxury yachts parked within the Mediterranean nearby. --MH

3:25pm: Chip countsLevel 4 - Blinds 150/300 (25 ante)

Below are some counts of a few of the names and notables primarily tournament room. Nicolaj D'Antoni has accumulated a six-figure stack over the primary four levels, whilst Jake Cody has arrived (see 3pm post) in truth Cody almost missed his flight as it left on time! "I'd been told it was delayed by 90 minutes after which HALF-HOUR before the scheduled take-off time I checked out the board and it said 'boarding now'."

Cody's one in every of 852 players who're playing today and there is still a listing of alternates waiting to get in, EPT12 Malta champion Niall Farrell is amongst them.

Name Chips

Nicolaj D'Antoni	100,500
Andrey Zaichenko	33,200
Vicente Delgado	29,000
Naoya Kihara	28,800
Dimitar Danchev	28,075
Rocco Palumbo	27,000
Ami Barer	23,800
Benjamin Winsor	23,700
Steven van Zadelhoff	22,800
Jake Cody	21,100
Jelcides Monteiro	21,000
Chen-An Lin	19,900
Padraig O`Neill	19,800
Anatoly Filatov	17,800
Mike HIll	8,900

3:21pm: The garden of forking paths a dead end for BorgesLevel 4 - Blinds 150/300 (25 ante)

With about 10,000 within the middle and 4 players still in, Manuel Leal Borges fired all in from the small blind along with his last 15,000 following a 9♣4♥3♥ and only Alexandre Vanadia, sitting to his left within the BB, chose to seem him up. Borges had 9♦2♠ for nines but Vanadia had K♠K♣, and after the turn and river brought a few sevens Borges was done.

Vanadia chips up around 60,000 with that pot. --MH

3:09pm: Over and outLevel 4 - Blinds 150/300 (25 ante)

More knockouts to share, among them Yeray Mesa De Armas, Damien Combe, Chaoiki Raaisat, Vebjorn Monstad, Steve Roedsens, Shakhabiddin Muradov, Charlo Azzopardi, Axel Colin, Olivier Boyer, Alfie Adam, Francois Lafleur, Yunhsiang Fan, and Jullian Feriolo. --MH

3pm: Now that's a nasty beatLevel 4 - Blinds 150/300 (25 ante)

Jake Cody's not had the most productive begin to the day...

  LEVEL SMALL BLIND BIG BLIND ANTE

4	150	300	25

2:45pm: Villard's day takes a nasty turnLevel 3 - Blinds 100/200 (25 ante)

They started with 25,000. But after just over two hours of poker Laurent Villard's stack had dwindled right down to just 3,450. Picking up A♦Q♠ in middle position, the Frenchmen decided it was time to show things around and put his stack within the middle. The table folded to Alessandro De Iaco of Italy within the big blind who after you have a count called with A♥T♥, and after a flop of 8♥8♠2♦ it seemed like Villard was in decent shape to maintain his seat.

Alas for Villard the turn brought the T♦, earning a weary exhalation from him. The K♦ sealed it and he moves on, opening up a seat for one of the crucial alternates in line to take his place. De Iaco meanwhile chips as much as around 45,000. --MH

Plenty are able to fill seats after they empty

2:38pm: It's getting historic in hereLevel 3 - Blinds 100/200 (25 ante)

More than 800 have joined the Day 1B fun now, which carries the total total selection of entrants above 1,150. Our amis from the France Poker Series have begun to appear back over the FPS's six-season history, finding only one other FPS Main Event with a larger field.

There were 1,355 jouers at FPS Deauville during Season 4 to set the best-ever high for the tour. Late registration this is open until the beginning of Level 5, remember, so there's still time for this FPS Monaco event to near the distance much more. --MH

2:36pm: Castro cannot be movedLevel 3 - Blinds 100/200 (ante 25)

I joined the action at the turn of a 4♠J♣4♦Q♥ board to peer Raffaele Castro firing out of venture of 3,800. Action was on Jonathan Sironval and he check-raised to 9,100 total. Castro gave it a think after which called.

The 3♠ completed the board and Sironval continued his aggressive line, firing out a corpulent river bet totaling 11,600. Castro, who's every inch the trendy poker player with heavily tattooed arms, three blingy rings and big headphones leaned forward and did his best Daniel Negreanu impression by running in the course of the hand out loud.

Eventually he decided that because the flop had checked through that he likely had the most productive hand and so he called. Sironval showed 8♥8♠ and Castro showed A♠Q♣ to take the pot. --NW

2:23pm: Call the ground!Level 3 - Blinds 100/200 (ante 25)

Usually when the floor is named to a table to rule on a call a minimum of one player argues/kicks up a fuss. However, in a hand I just witnessed between Mehdi Tafer and Alex Goulder there has been none of that, actually its probably the smoothest acceptance of a floor decision I've ever seen.

In the hand in question Goulder and Tafer were heads-up to a 5♠2♦4♦ flop. Goulder had the betting lead and fired out a 2,000 chip bet. Call from Tafer. At the A♥ turn Goulder checked the action to Tafer and the Frenchman threw out a single blue 5K chip and said: "Three," as he did so. Goulder asked the dealer if this was of venture of 300 or 3,000 and the ground was called. The floorman ruled that as 300 was still legal bet that Tafer's bet was for 300. There has been no histrionics on Tafer's part and Goulder made the call.

The K♥ fell at the river and Goulder check-folded to a chance of 5,000. "IN CASE YOU bet 2,000 I call," he said to Tafer after the hand. With that dent Goulder drops to 19,000. --NW

2:16pm: Rockets surviveLevel 3 - Blinds 100/200 (25 ante)

That post title obviously doesn't allude to the Houston Rockets, bounced as they were from the primary round of this year's NBA playoffs. We're talking cards, here, natch.

"Five players," said the dealer. Not necessarily what preflop raiser Josy Laurent Benhayoun would have preferred. See, he had A♦A♣, but a preflop raise had didn't encourage exactly half his eight opponents from coming along.

The flop came 3♣J♥4♥. "Check, bet, fold, fold," said the dealer. That sounded just a little better to Benhayoun, who raised Gordon Nord's thousand-chip bet to 2,500. Nord called. The turn was the K♠, and Nord checked, Benhayoun bet 3,000, and Nord called another time. Both then checked the 4♠ river, and when Nord showed J♠T♠, Benhayoun knew his aces were good. --MH

2:09pm: Tough tableLevel 3 - Blinds 100/200 (25 ante)

It's an enormous field with a comparatively)( low buy-in, but that does not mean there aren't some tough tables, dependent on your seat draw.

Let's say you landed at Table 14 usually tournament room. You'd find the Italian Rocco Palumbo there, winner of over $1.7 million in tournament earnings and both a WSOP bracelet and a WPT title. Ami Barer of Canada is there as well, who has won greater than $3.2 million in tournaments with an Aussie Millions his crowning achievement. That is not even counting the $7.5 million or so Barer has won online, most of which while playing as "UhhMee" on PokerStars.

Oh, and the German Adrian Apmann is at Table 14, too. He only has a WSOP bracelet to boot. --MH

  LEVEL SMALL BLIND BIG BLIND ANTE

3	100	200	25

1:40pm: And relaxLevel 2 - Blinds 75/150

Well that was a whirlwind begin to the second one of the 2 opening flights of the FPS Main Event. Time to take a 20-minute break. --NW

Next year, it usually is you. Click here to get a PokerStars account.

1:35pm: Over a thousandLevel 2 - Blinds 75/150

Last year this tournament attracted a complete of 993 runners, well that figure is being well and actually obliterated in 2016. Already there are 1,029 players on this tournament and that number will rise significantly. There's still a queue of players waiting to get in and late registration is open until the beginning of level five. The question now's could the Day 1B figure eclipse the overall choice of runners from last season. There is a chance.

The ever-expanding field

Another whip around the tournament unearthed a number of the players who've taken this tournament over the 1,000 runner mark. Anatoly Filatov, wearing trademark braces, was busy chatting away to his table in his usual jovial manner.

Spanish sensation Vicente Delgado is playing too, he's on the same table as Jelcides Monteiro, who finished seventh within the UKIPT5 Dublin main event. And Antoine Saout is another famous person we've spotted. --NW

1:28pm: Exits before the antes' entranceLevel 2 - Blinds 75/150

You wouldn't guess it by the appearance of things, but because the field grows it is usually being reduced... well, technically. That may be to say, before we've even gotten through two 45-minute levels, a handful of parents have managed already to be separated entirely from their 25,000-chip starting stacks.

Evgenii Sboev, Jacques Der Megreditchian, Drice Hamza, Jean Napiot, Mustafa Biz, Antoine Contreras, Bernd Vogelhuber, Samir Chriraa, Morad Ahabbad, and Sardor Shagulyamov are all a part of the unlucky group sent railward before even the antes came in today. --MH

1:10pm: How high are you able to go?Level 2 - Blinds 75/150

There are somewhere within the region of 670 players now with bums on seats here on Day 1B. It's impossible to understand needless to say because the players keep it up coming.

We've been furnished with a player list and will inform you that in addition to the large names we've already spotted, that: Dimitar Danchev, James Akenhead, John Gale, Quan Zhou, Salvatore Bonavena, Slaven Popov, Nicolas Cardyn, David Susigan, Bart Lybaert, Andrew Hulme, David Urban and Padraig O'Neill are prepared to make an appearance today. We've yet to set eyes on them, but with any such large field spread over two areas that isn't a surprise! --NW

12:59pm: Figuring out the tightnessLevel 2 - Blinds 75/150

There are such a lot of enjoying today's Day 1B of the FPS Monaco Main Event, every available inch of space is taken up with players. We just told you in regards to the Americas Room having been called into service. Back over normally tournament area, several tables was arrange within the upper tier (near the continuing high rollers), and the gap in between them is comparatively tight.

Massimo Mauri is seated in a single of these tables, and he at present called one of the most massage therapists over to assist him relax here within the early going. Finding himself in Seat 3 at his table and back-to-back with Seats 7 and eight on the neighboring one, space needed to be negotiated for the massage so that you can occur. All were accommodating, though, and Mauri is now on two clocks -- the tournament one and the only for his massage.

Much like a tense player's muscles, the tightness throughout need to be relieved as we go today. But not for a while, as players continue to stream in to fill every empty seat. --MH

  LEVEL SMALL BLIND BIG BLIND ANTE

2	75	150	0

12:45pm: Meanwhile within the Americas room...Level 1 - Blinds 50/100

This tournament is bursting on the seams and there is still a protracted line of players waiting to get into this behemoth of an afternoon 1B. There is a ton of players currently playing in a tournament area called the Americas Room, that's a brief walk from the Sporting Club. The likes of Pablo Gordillo, Simon Deadman, Shola Akindele Deadman, Eureka champion Keith Johnson, former Aussie Roller Hockey player Nick Galtos, ex-snooker pro Jason Barton, Joao Vieira and Chris Dowling are all seeking to building up a stack down there. --NW

The FPS conquers the Americas Room

12:26pm: The day's first face cardsLevel 1 - Blinds 50/100

Players continue to reach here in the course of the first couple of orbits of Day 1B. Upon arrival, each player shows a registration ticket to the dealer together with an image ID -- the primary "face card" everyone must play before beginning.

Among the faces within the crowd up to now are three red-spade sporters, including two relatively new members of Team PokerStars Pro, Chen-An Lin of Taiwan and Yaxi Zhu of China. Also here's WSOP bracelet holder Naoya "nkeyno" Kihara of Team PokerStars Pro Online who hails from Japan. --MH

Chen-An Lin has checked in

12:17pm: SpottedLevel 1 - Blinds 50/100

As mentioned below, there are lots of players here already -- over 500 of them now, including quite a few notables.

On a primary pass we've spotted the likes of WSOP bracelet winner Adrian Apmann, APPT champion Dermot Blain, and UK pros Alex Goulder, Neil Strike, Mike Hill, and Ben Winsor. --NW

12:08pm: Shuffle up and dealLevel 1 - Blinds 50/100

The first hands of Day 1B are being dealt, and there are already more players of their seats than played Day 1A.

There were 349 entrants yesterday all told. Here the number is already nearing 500, and with late registration lasting until the beginning of Level 5, it's certain to increase significantly. --MH

  LEVEL SMALL BLIND BIG BLIND ANTE

1	50	100	0

11:45am: B is for bigger

Let's cut to the chase today goes to be big. It will be gros, grande and большой all rolled into one. Within the language of poker that suggests play might be spread across three rooms to begin with. The primary tournament room, the money game area and the Americas room will all be pressed into service today.

Yesterday 349 players entered the fray, up from 265 in 2015. If we get the similar percentage increase year on year today we're 953 players today alone! Play is because of start at noon and they're going to be a dozen 45-minute levels today. Add within the various break and play should wrap around 23:30 CET. Stay here for exclusive live coverage. --NW

Key FPS Monaco Facts:

- 25,000 starting stack- Blinds starting at 50/100 for 250 big blinds- Levels are 45 minutes on Day 1 and they're going to be 12 of them. From Day 2 onwards levels increase to 60 minutes. - Late registration remains open until the beginning of Level 5- Day 1B is today, the sphere will then combine for the primary time on Friday. We'll reach the cash through the 10 levels of play on Day 2 (approximately 15% of the sector can be paid) after which play right down to a last table on Saturday. On Sunday the overall table will play out at the TV table on EPTLive with cards-up coverage. Cue mad celebrations and swigging of champagne from the trophy (possibly). - Full FPS Monaco schedule here.- There is a boat load of different events today including the €100,000 super high roller. You'll be able to follow live updates of that event here.- It is not all in regards to the poker here in Moncao. There are plenty of #StarsFun activities including the player party at Jimmy'z Nightclub on April 29 a Sports Simulator Challenge and Live Spin and Gos. Full details on that available here.

PokerStars Blog Reporting Team at FPS Monaco: Martin Harris and Nick Wright. Photos by Jules Pochy. Follow the PokerStars Blog on Twitter: @PokerStarsBlog

Read More... [Source: PokerStarsBlog.com :: France Poker Series]

With $1.1 million in guaranteed prize money, the first-ever PokerStars New Jersey Spring Championship of Online Poker (NJSCOOP) would be the richest online series ever held within the region. The primary NJSCOOP will happen from May 15-29 featuring 27 events across two stakes (Low and High), meaning a complete of 54 tournaments can be on offer.

The 15-day schedule includes a wide variety of tournaments at a lot of different buy-ins to fit players of all bankrolls. The distinguished two-day NL Hold'em Main Event will feature buy-ins of $50 (Low) and $500 (High) with guaranteed prize pools of $30,000 and $200,000 respectively. Daily online qualifiers to all of the events are running now at PokerStarsNJ.com, with satellites ranging from just $1.

"The global PokerStars Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) is likely one of the must-play poker events of the year," said Chris Moneymaker, a legendary figure in poker and a member of Team PokerStars Pro. "It's awesome that it's coming to New Jersey in order that players within the region can experience the exciting tournament structures and the joys that includes chasing an immense tournament title and large prize money. I CANNOT wait to play within the first NJSCOOP and that i plan to stream most of my play survive Twitch. I'D like to win a title in its debut year."

PLAYER OF THE SERIES LEADERBOARDPokerStars NJSCOOP players too can compete for Leader Board prizes and the Player of the Series award, with points awarded on a sliding scale for cashing in events. Probably the most successful and consistent players across both stakes may also be rewarded for his or her achievements with greater than $10,000 in prizes to take delivery of away. The whole leaderboard winner will receive a trophy, a distinct live event ticket and $2,000 cash. The live event ticket might be for an exhilarating to-be-announced live event. Other cash prizes can be found for players who make the leaderboard.

Read More... [Source: PokerStarsBlog.com]

Chance Kornuth: Continues a spectacular run

There are a few how one can end a poker tournament, over and above the normal approach of 1 player winning the entire chips. Late this evening on the PokerStars and Monte-Carlo®Casino EPT Grand Final, the €10,000 single re-entry high roller found a type of alternative ways.

With three players left--Chance Kornuth, Philipp Gruissem and Sergey Lebedev--they decided to take a look at the numbers and broker a deal. We do not know specifically how the conversation went, but if they emerged from the conclave, that they had a perfect idea: Let's just end it now, split the prize money consistent with Independent Chip Model (ICM) calculations and hand the trophy to Kornuth, who had about twice the collection of chips as either of the opposite two.

It wasn't all that dramatic, lacking the cuff-chewing anticipation of a slowly peeled flop, turn and river. However it was certainly quick. Kornuth is the official champion, taking €351,108 and the primary big trophy of this EPT Grand Final festival.

"This is great," Kornuth, who beat a field of 164 players to the title, said. "I got my first a type of beautiful trophies, so I'm pretty excited. It's only a dream year."

Kornuth have been on a remarkable run of late, winning a high roller event in Australia, finishing runner up in Dublin, and before that reaching the overall table of the high roller on the PCA a year after finishing third basically event. This pay-check nestles in amongst those and makes him some of the standout performers in world poker in 2016. There have been also 50 re-entries, swelling the prize pool some more.

Kornuth added: "Almost each stop have been somewhat like this and poker doesn't get any better when times are like how they're now. It's pretty spectacular."

Chance Kornuth celebrates along with his wife, Emily

To get to the title, Kornuth needed to beat a stacked field, including every other players in red-hot form. Gruissem, the official runner up taking €292,750, is a beast in events with this sort of buy-in; Anthony Zinno also made the overall table, translating his sensational U.S.-based form to Monaco; and Fedor Holz, who finished fourth, can not seem to put a foot wrong.

Actually, in terms of Holz, he did finally end up having to serve a one-round penalty on this one after Gruissem flopped a flush to higher his pocket pair of kings. Nevertheless it didn't actually hurt Holz a great deal in any respect. He ended up doubling up in that hand--the true touch of a poker Midas. Have a look at the 5:20pm update within the live coverage post to peer how that one went down.

Philipp Gruissem and Fedor Holz, in quiet times

Holz thought he was out and showed his displeasure

But back to the start of just today: They resumed this afternoon with 23 players still involved, which represented some distance to move by anyone's standards. But with with reference to half one million euros up for grabs, it made sense to settle in for the long haul.

The pace of eliminations fluctuated wildly within the early passage of play: Ozgur Arda, Diego Ventura, Dan Shak, Ognyan Dimov, Alexandru Papazian and Alexandre Rivero were out before anybody could even blink. But there then came a protracted slowdown before Adrian Mateos and Imad Derwiche went out simultaneously to chop the sector to its final two tables.

The quality of the remainder field was still exceptionally high, but Jean-Noel Thorel, Isaac Haxton and Sam Panzica, who won a €10,000 high roller in Dublin earlier this year, were sacrificed in a bid to get to the last nine.

Jean-Noel Thorel: Dream another day

Then Tom Hall couldn't beat Kornuth and saw his tournament go up in smoke, which took them to the last table. But only after Christian Christner perished at Kornuth's hands did we reach a last table at which only eight chairs are ever positioned.

Got that? Well, here is what happened within the actual final.

Dmitry Yurasov was last night's leader, but he found the going tough with Mateos sitting on his left for a lot of the early stages. However after the reigning Grand Final champion was sent packing by Pavel Plesuv, Yurasev got most of his chips back...only to lose them to Holz shortly after final-table play began.

Yurasov flopped top pair along with his K♠Q♠, and watched it improve to trips with the Q♥ turn and a flush with the 5♠ river. But if the last of the chips went in, Yurasov was in trouble. Holz had A♠J♠ for the larger flush. Yurasov took €54,180 for eighth.

Felipe Ramos was the following to go away. He were grinding a below average stack for many of the past two days, but always appeared to get it in on the right time to secure a double up when things got desperate.

Andre Akkari drops by to test on fellow Brazilian Felipe Ramos

Eventually, however, he lost a 60-40 to Gruissem, followed by losing a flip for the rest of his stack to the similar player and needed to accept seventh. "I'VE no complaints," he said. "2016 was great for me." He took €74,100.

The final six headed to dinner, with Holz and Kornuth ahead. At that point, two of the tournament's biggest names--Gruissem and Zinno--were the shortest stacks, but they experienced divergent fortunes within the postprandial action.

Gruissem went on an upward charge, taking significant pots from Murad Akhundov (himself a former chip-leader) after which Holz. But Zinno didn't get anything going and was next to perish when his A♣T♥ couldn't beat Sergey Lebedev's pocket sixes.

Zinno was on an outstanding run, just about ever since he burst directly to the scene with a flurry of enormous scores at the WPT. He's been an ordinary in Europe for the past year and this €101,500 represents his biggest cash in this side of the Atlantic.

Anthony Zinno seals six figures in Europe for the primary time

Akhundov was likely happy to peer Zinno bust, mainly because he had a micro-stack himself. He got it in at the very next hand, with Q♥4♥, but was knocked out by Kornuth's T♣8♣ when Kornuth rivered a straight.

That left them with four, and the small matter of Holz. The person referred to as CrownUpGuy is rapidly becoming the player almost everyone names once they discuss the most efficient of the brand new crop in world poker. When you think about one of the competition, you realise what an accolade that is.

The former WCOOP Main Event champion has already racked up greater than $7.6 million in live cashes to compare his online talent and was again irresistible on this tournament. It's why the incident with Gruissem, which cost him a round of action, seemed so out of character.

But he got himself together again and built up a stack to challenge, before he bumped into Kornuth. On an especially fascinating hand -- take a look at the 10pm update -- Holz called all-in on a double paired board with a queen. But Kornuth, within the big blind, had made a whole house and Holz was sent home in fourth.

Kornuth consoles Fedor Holz after knocking him out

This tournament may need gone on rather a lot longer. Kornuth had 5,625,000, Gruissem had 2,830,000 and Lebedev 2,605,000, with blinds at 30,000-60,000, after they checked out the numbers. Or even though Lebedev might be not to boot referred to as the opposite two, it is a measure of ways highly they regard him that Gruissem nor Kornuth desired to play on.

Sergey Lebedev: Third for almost €300,000

Lebedev officially took €291,162 for his third place after that remarkably swift technique to finish things three handed. "Everyone that I USED TO BE up against on the end was just incredibly good," Kornuth said. "Just fantastic people usually and fantastic card players. It was really fun."

That was a great method to kick off this festival. And with Day 2 of the super high roller getting under way tomorrow, perhaps with all of Kornuth, Gruissem, Holz and Zinno involved, things are just just warming up.

EPT Grand Final single re-entry high rollerDates: April 26-28, 2016Buy in: €10,300Players: 214 (164 unique players plus 50 re-entries)Prize pool: €2,075,800

1 - Chance Kornuth (UNITED STATES OF AMERICA) €351,1082 - Philip Gruissem (Germany) €299,1623 - Sergey Lebedev (Russia) €292,7504 - Fedor Holz (Germany) €169,0005 - Murad Akhundov (Azerbaijan) €133,6806 - Anthony Zinno (U.S.) €101,5007 - Filipe Ramos (Brazil) €74,1008 - Dmitry Yurasov (Russia) €54,180

Click through for full payouts.

Read More... [Source: PokerStarsBlog.com]

Casino Journal is pleased to announce the winners of its Top 20 Most Innovative Gaming Technology Products Awards for 2015. These companies and their products could be profiled within the June issue of Casino Journal.

There were actually 21 winners on this year’s contest as there has been a tie for 20th. The winners (in alphabetical order) are:

AGS—The TornadoApogee Gaming—APEX Gaming iDrop-E-Table SystemAristocrat Technologies—Lightning LinkCasino Cash Trac—Casino InsightEveri—Everi BetGenesis Gaming Solutions—Bravo Pit - Chip and Card Detection SystemHarvest Trends—PowerHostIGT—IGT OnPremiseIGT—IGT Spin-FernoIncredible Technologies—Infinity SkyboxInterblock —Pulse ArenaInterblock —Star Bariovation—iovation Customer AuthenticationKonami Gaming—ConcertoNRT Technology—QuickJack NEOScientific Games—Beverage Ordering Service SystemScientific Games—i-Deal PlusScientific Games—Space Invaders EvolutionScientific Games—TwinStarSocial Media Gateways—SSNAP CasinoTangam Gaming—Tangam Academy

A panel of expert judges evaluated greater than 50 entries from industry vendors showcasing their newest, most innovative services to make your mind up the awards. Judging this year's contest were Claudia Winkler, president, GHI Solutions; Donne Grable, vice president, gaming operations, VCAT LLC; and Warren Davidson, slot director, Coushatta Resort.

Top 20 winners could be honored and plaques can be awarded on Thursday, July 14, 2016 on the afternoon keynote address at Casino Marketing & Technology Conference, Paris Las Vegas, where the winners of the Platinum, Gold and Silver Awards will also be announced  

The top three award winners may be featured within the August issue of Casino Journal.

Congratulations to the highest 20 winners and thanks to all of our entrants and our judges for his or her valuable time and the diligence in their analysis.

Register for Casino Marketing & Technology Conference at www.casinomarketingconf.com. Casino Marketing & Technology Conference is gifted by BNP Media Gaming Group, publishers of Casino Journal.

Read More... [Source: Gaming Industry News]

While the Hollywood stars were walking the red carpet in Hollywood, the one fabric anyone was fascinated with within the poker world was the overall table felt on the PokerStars Sunday majors. This week's Sunday Warm-Up had 4,980 players, with a prize pool of $996,000. It was a quick and furious final table, with a six-way deal after a racecar start, but if everything was settled and the last cards were dealt, Ramux walked away with the win and the $139,163.73 first place prize money. Not just did he win the event, he held the chip lead when the deal was made, so he ended up with the lion's share of the money as well!The final table kicked off within the most tumultuous action I've ever seen, with an elimination on all of the first three hands! At the first actual hand of the general table, the short-stacked Shaaarrrp moved all in from early position with A♠-Q♣. Juda10 moved all in excessive to isolate, and when the remainder of the table folded, juda10 showed 8♣-8♥ for the slight edge within the race. A slight edge was all juda10 needed, because the board came down K♠-5♦-J♥-4♣-9♦, and Shaaarrrp was done in 9th place ($7,968).

Before the remainder of the table could catch their breath, all of the chips were within the middle again as L C P open-shoved with K♦-Q♦. His only opponent was Ansgar2000, holding the charmed hand du jour - pocket eights. Ansgar's 8♣-8♦ was adequate to send another competitor to the rail, however, because the board ran out 6♥-9♠-5♠-J♠-3♦. After two hands, and two coin flips, there have been two fewer players on the table as LCP collected $12,450 for 8th place.

But the push wasn't over yet, as Ramux and gaffel tangled in a single last huge pot to kick off the overall table. Ramux opened for a raise with K♥-Q♥, and made the decision when gaffel moved all in excessive with A♣-J♠. The flop brought an enormous draw to Ramux, because it came down 3♥-3♠-7♥, giving Ramux the flush draw to compliment his live cards. The flush hit the activate the shape of the T♥, leaving gaffel drawing dead. The river was the irrelevant J♣, and gaffel headed to bed with an additional $22,410 for 7th place in his bankroll.

With the breathtaking pace of the primary few eliminations, the rest six players decided to speak a couple of deal. The large chip lead the Ramux had accumulated made the deal process difficult, but after some lengthy debate, a deal was reached that left $10,000 for the winner and locked up comfortable guarantees for everyone.

The deal locked up $129,163.73 for chip leader Ramux, while the second-place Ansgar2000 picked up $86,163.71. Hismoon nabbed $77,163.71 for his third-place stack, Method999 locked in $68,163.71, juda10 took down a guaranteed $66,163.71 and Feez0 grabbed $48,163.71 for his 6th-place stack. That left $10,000 for the eventual winner of the tournament, and play resumed.

After some jockeying for position on the final table and some double-ups, the primary big confrontation sent two players to the rail without delay. Feez0 found himself at the extreme short stack and put his previous couple of chips in the course of the table because the big blind. Method999 raised from the button, and Ramux made the decision from the small blind. The flop came down 9♦-K♠-7♥, and the remainder of the chips went within the middle. Feez0 showed Q♠-4♠, Method999 opened K♥-6♦, and Ramux held the lead with K♣-T♦. The K♦ at the turn did nothing to modify that, and when the river brought the T♠, it was in all places for Feez0 and Method999.

Ansgar2000 was the following to fall, busting in 4th place by the hands of juda10. Action folded around to juda, who moved all in preflop with 6♥-9♥. Ansgar thought for a moment but finally called with A♣-8♣. Juda10 picked up a couple of nines on a flop of T♥-K♠-9♣, and that was enough to carry up and send Ansgar packing because the turn and river came down 7♦-Q♦ and skinny the sector to three.

It took a short while to whittle it down, and there have been several double-throughs along methods to heads-up play, but finally juda10's run on the final table came to an end. After Ramux folded from the button, juda10 moved all in from the small blind with A♣-6♣. Hismoon made the decision with A♦-9♣, and his lead extended with the flop of 4♦-A♠-9♠. Needing running sixes to stick alive, juda was drawing dead after the T♣ hit the turn. The river was a meaningless Q♦, and the tournament was heads up for $10,000.

Heads up play was an actual battle, with multiple lead change and double ups at the start was finally settled. But within the end, it came all the way down to who could catch cards when it counted most, and that was Ramux at the last hand. After crippling Hismoon, then doubling him up on back-to-back hands, all of the money went within the middle preflop once again, but this time Ramux had the suitable ammo - pocket aces. His A♣-A♦ was firmly within the driver's seat against Hismoon's K♣-J♥. The flop brought more suspense because it came down T♣-7♣-Q♠, giving Hismoon the up and down straight draw, however the 5♥ at the turn was no help. Ramux just had to fade an ace or nine at the river to win the tournament and the additional $10k, and when the river brought the Q♦, that's exactly what he did. Hismoon played a super final table, even taking up Ramux's seemingly insurmountable chip lead a few time, but in spite of everything he could only come away with second place.

Congrats to Ramux, who picked up $139,163.73 when all was said and done, and congratulations in addition to all our final table players!

Read More... [Source: PokerStarsBlog.com :: PokerStars Sunday Tournaments]