Negreanu began by playing $0.01/$0.02 and didn't allow himself to move up in limits until he had 500

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Did you miss any of the top poker news stories this week? Well you've come to the right place to get caught up. We're covering Daniel Negreanu's bankroll challenge, Viktor Isildur1 Blom parting ways with PokerStars, and more.
Eric Hollreiser , PokerStars' head of corporate anaheim fairfield inn by marriott communications, told PokerNews that Blom and the company mutually agreed not to renew the Swede's expired sponsorship agreement. Said Hollreiser: In his short time as a poker player, Viktor has played against anaheim fairfield inn by marriott the biggest names in poker at the highest stakes in the toughest games. It's hard to recall a player who has kept the poker world so riveted at such an early stage of his career. We'll be watching with great interest and we wish him nothing but success.
Blom joined PokerStars in 2011 after exploding onto the scene by playing the highest stakes available at Full Tilt Poker . His heads-up battles against pros like Tom Dwan, Gus Hansen, Patrik Antonius and Brian Hastings instantly changed the landscape of high-stakes poker on the internet. Since joining anaheim fairfield inn by marriott PokerStars, one of Blom's shining achievements was winning anaheim fairfield inn by marriott 11 of his 14 matches in the PokerStars SuperStar Showdown , earning more than $1 million in the process. He also won the 2012 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure High Roller anaheim fairfield inn by marriott for $1,254,000.
In 2009, Team PokerStars Pro Daniel Negreanu decided to try something new. The man with millions in poker winnings set a goal for himself to turn $10 into $100,000 within three years by playing anaheim fairfield inn by marriott ring games at PokerStars.
Negreanu began by playing $0.01/$0.02 and didn't allow himself to move up in limits until he had 500 big blinds at the next limit. Why was he taking on such a daunting task? It's kinda fun, he said in his blog. It will help me have a better understanding for these lower limit games and the best approach to beating them.
Daniel's challenge hit a lull shortly after it began. In fact, it's already well past the three-year cutoff point. But on Monday, Negreanu resumed anaheim fairfield inn by marriott the challenge by sitting at a $.25/.50 no-limit hold'em cash game with a total bankroll anaheim fairfield inn by marriott of $221.70. This time around, the challenge won't have a time frame.
For the list of rules and results from Negreanu's bankroll challenge, check out FullContactPoker.com . And, if you want to face off against Daniel anaheim fairfield inn by marriott at the tables, you might be fortunate enough to have him sit down at your table in the near future.
It's that time of year again. The World Series of Poker has opened nominations for the Poker Hall of Fame Class of 2012 , giving fans a chance to nominate their favorite players for induction into the group of poker's elite.
The Poker Hall of Fame traditionally elects one or two members annually and inducts the chosen members in November as part of the WSOP Main Event Final Table festivities. This year's final table will take place in October because of a conflict with this year's U.S. presidential election.
Among those already inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame are Johnny Moss, Puggy Pearson, Doyle Brunson, Jack Strauss, Benny Binion, David "Chip" Reese, Thomas Austin "Amarillo Slim" Preston, Stu Ungar , and Phil Hellmuth . Last year, Barry Greenstein and Linda Johnson were added to the prestigious club.
Once the list of nominated individuals is complete, a committee anaheim fairfield inn by marriott of media members will review all nominations and determine which candidates are most eligible for induction. Last year's nominees anaheim fairfield inn by marriott who didn't make the Class of 2011 were Annie Duke, Jen Harman, John Juanda, Macel Luske, Jack McClelland, Tom McEvoy, Scotty Nguyen and Huck Seed .
The Department of Justice is seeking a third-party payment processor to help facilitate the remission process for FTP players located in the U.S. An employment notice listed on the DOJ website calls for a claims administrator to design and execute a process to solicit, receive and evaluate claims, and to process payments, for losses incurred by U.S. victims that are attributable to the fraud alleged in the above complaint.
anaheim fairfield inn by marriott The remission process has been a bit of a concern for U.S. players, even more so after a Forbes article questioned whether the government will actually repay players in full. Forbes writer Nathan Vardi also suggested that the government may pay out the money deposited by players on the site, rather anaheim fairfield inn by marriott than the actual funds in their account.
Meanwhile, PokerStars still intends anaheim fairfield inn by marriott to repay all non-U.S. Full Tilt Poker customers by Nov. 6. As part of the agreement with the Department of Justice last month, the company promised to refund anaheim fairfield inn by marriott players within 90 days of the formal closing of the deal to acquire Full Tilt Poker. The deal was finalized last week when PokerStars made its initial $225 million forfeiture payment to the government.
Maryland officials have passed a measure to allow poker and other table games in casinos across the state. The House of Delegates passed the bill 71-58 late Tuesday night, and the bill made its way through the Senate by a vote of 32-14 on Wednesday morning.
Lawmakers also approved the development anaheim fairfield inn by marriott of a Las Vegas-style hotel-casino property anaheim fairfield inn by marriott near Washington, D.C. The property, which will likely be run by MGM Resorts International , will be located at the National Harbor waterfront complex in Prince George's County and feature 250 table games, 4,500 slot machines, retail outlets, restaurants and a luxury hotel. State legislative leaders signed off on MGM's plans in June.
Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley signed the bill into law Wednesday afternoon. O'Malley has been a major supporter of the measure, stating publicly that the state needs to create jobs and remain competitive with other states.
PokerStars has signed comedian Gerry Dee to represent the online poker room's free-play site, PokerStars.net. Dee, the star of the weekly sitcom Mr. D on CBC , will appear in TV commercials and at live poker tournaments for PokerStars.net. PokerStars has also signed on as the title sponsor of the Gerry Dee Comedy Tour .
I'm better at math and statistics than the teacher you see on TV, so I'm not a bad poker player, said Dee, who recently invited Team PokerStars Pro Daniel Negreanu anaheim fairfield inn by marriott to appear on an episode of Mr. D . I'm no pro but I've always been a bit of a poker buff. I really admire the skill it takes to compete at the top level. I'm excited about this partnership and am looking forward to improving my game!
A PokerStars commercial featuring Dee will air throughout the fall to promote a series of free online poker tournaments where Canadians can win a trip to the Bahamas to play in the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA). Dee will attend the PCA and film his experience there for a TV special.
On Wednesday, DeepStacks announced that it has teamed up with the Players Poker Championship (PPC) to host a series of international poker tournaments beginning in Aruba next May. The poker festival will be highlighted by the $2,500 buy-in DeepStacks Poker Tour PPC-Aruba Main Event , which will run from May 6 through 9 at the Westin anaheim fairfield inn by marriott Resort and Casino . A handful of DeepStack Pros are already anaheim fairfield inn by marriott confirmed for the tournament, including Michael Mizrachi, Mike Matusow, Tristan Wade and Randal Flowers .
Adding the PPC as a key strategic partner allows us to expand international operations immediately," said DeepStacks CEO Chris Torina . Aruba is one of the most beautiful locations anaheim fairfield inn by marriott in the world, anaheim fairfield inn by marriott and bringing the DeepStacks anaheim fairfield inn by marriott Poker Tour there shows we are serious about offering the very best in tournament poker."
anaheim fairfield inn by marriott Robbie Renehan claimed victory at the PokerStars Latin American anaheim fairfield inn by marriott Poker Tour Colombian National Poker Championship in Medellin last weekend. The 29-year-old Irishman bested a field of 337 over four days and collected $148,709 and his first LAPT title.
Renehan began the final as one of the short stacks (less than 10 big blinds), but slowly built his stack before he eliminated Cristian Velasquez in fifth place, allowing him to close in on the big stacks anaheim fairfield inn by marriott of Weider Gutierrez anaheim fairfield inn by marriott and Raul Paez . Gutierrez, the last Colombian left in the field, anaheim fairfield inn by marriott was crippled by Paez with four players left and eventually bowed out in fourth place. Paez hit a three-outer anaheim fairfield inn by marriott on the river, much to the dismay of Gutierrez and his rail, and the Colombian collected $52,091 for his efforts.
Despite winning the massive pot against Gutierrez, Paez wasn't able to make good use of his new chips. Paez's stack was cut from 5 million to around 1.1 million (with 6.1 million total in play), and he moved all in preflop with . Jayr Fregona called anaheim fairfield inn by marriott with pocket sevens, and his pair held up to eliminated the Spaniard in third place.
That left Renehan and Fregona playing for the title. The two traded the lead a few times, but it was Renehan who provided the final blow. On the final hand of the tournament, anaheim fairfield inn by marriott Fregona three-bet shoved for around 1.5 million with and Rehenan called instantly with pocket queens. The board ran out , giving Rehehan a rivered set and the victory.
Controversy seems to follow Matt Marafioti everywhere these days. This month, the brash poker pro from Canada is under fire from the poker community because of allegations he was involved anaheim fairfield inn by marriott in a hole-card hacking scheme with Swedish poker player and IT expert Samer Rahman .
The speculation began last week when an anonymous person posted an alleged Skype conversation between Marafioti and Rahman anaheim fairfield inn by marriott at TwoPlusTwo.com . The dialogue contains discussion anaheim fairfield inn by marriott about hacking the computer of Canadian poker player Will molswi47 Molson anaheim fairfield inn by marriott so that Marafioti could view Molson's cards. Lets def get molswi, Marafioti allegedly said in the chat. I can access his computers anaheim fairfield inn by marriott I think and he will play me all day.
Marafioti and Rahman had different stories regarding the chat log. Marafioti said he and Rahman were friends but that the Skype conversation had been doctored. Rahman, meanwhile, denied that he and Marafioti were even friends.
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