One person who has stood out above the rest as someone who is completely against this is a current Member of the Parliament for Wells and Liberal Democratic political party in the United Kingdom, Tessa Munt. Munt stated that she was “outraged by this” and basically said that any profits that Williams brings in from this site should “go to addiction charities.” The main reason for this is because of the fact that it targets fans of his, and that it is considered an addiction by some people. Williams struggles with addiction are a part of her disapproval as well, since he struggled with drugs and alcohol when he was in the pop group Take That back in his twenties. His issues continued as time went on, and he even nearly overdosed in 1995 before the MTV Europe Music Awards.

Obviously people are nearly split down the middle with their feelings on this situation, as some people feel that Williams’ site should be a great offer for people who are just looking to play the game of poker with some play money, but others feel that it will cause an issue for the younger generation of his fans. Williams has given the fans some great opportunities to take in strong prizes, and this includes the chance to be able to meet him, and they are definitely not things to turn your nose up at for playing some free poker! The idea behind this site is mainly that it is to have fun with some friends and play with other players who enjoy Robbie Williams.

How the site works, is that players are given a specific number of play money chips daily, and players can use them in the games. Players win and get experience points and they can then move up levels to get more content. As far as these winnings go, they can allow you to upgrade your XP, and also to upgrade your avatars as well. Players can still spend money on the site if they choose to though, and this is where a few people have had an issue with things. The way that players can purchase is what is called “gold”, as players can use real money to purchase gold and can then play in special tournaments and get into areas where they can get special avatars and other items from the site. The most popular type of game on the site is the freerolls, which reward nice prizes, but the gold option is definitely one that players have taken advantage of.

The numbers between this years and last years total entrants into the event are nearly identical, as a total of 889 players bought in this year, while 891 bought in last year. The European Poker Tour’s Deauville event is one of the first events to not see a major decline, as 2012 has not been a great one in terms of having live poker tournaments with incredibly large numbers of players so far. This was the fifth day of the event, and while Pagano entered the day as the chip leader, he fell off a bit and entered the final day with 2,010,000 chips. What makes this run by Pagano even more impressive is the total stats that he’s put up at the European Poker Tour in his career. For starters, he has a total of 20 EPT Main Event cashes on his resume, and also has seven European Poker Tour final tables on the resume as well!

The player who started the day in first place was one of the five remaining french players, Paul Guichard with 5,955,000 chips. It’s a close race though, as Vadzim Kursevich was just behind him with 5,670,000 chips. The other players who made it to the final table for the last day of action on Monday were Olivier Rogez (4,415,000 chips), Bruno Jais (3,450,000 chips), Vuong Than Trong (2,570,000 chips), Yorane Kerignard (1,680,000 chips), and Mick Graydon (960k chips).

When all was said and done, Guichard was unable to hold on to that chip lead, as it was Vadzim Kursevich who got the job done. Graydon was the first player to be eliminated at just around the two hour mark, and it was none other than Pagano who was sent home just after that, and his A-J off suit was unable to improve against the pocket 9′s of Trong. When it came down to it, it was none other than Guichard and Kursevich for the championship though, and Kursevich simply held a huge 7 to 1 chip lead over his opponent. It didn’t hold though, as Guichard came all the way back and almost evened things up. They two were all in as Guichard had bottom set, and Kursevich had a straight draw and a flush draw, and the river gave him his straight.

Kursevich took home a nice payday of €875,000, while Guichard got a second place consolation prize of €557,000. It was a close one in the end, but it came down to a race that Kursevich was able to win.

What made this story about the money being recovered even more interesting, is where exactly the money was found. There was an anonymous tip given to the Canadian police that led them to a mailbox in town, which had around half of the money sitting in an envelope. Another question that many people asked is how the police knew that the money which was found belonged to Duhamel. The answer to this question comes in the fact that a good amount of the money that was stolen came in large denomination Euros, which typically isn’t found often in North America. It seems that the second half of the money and the gold bracelet are still missing, but the Rolex and now the remainder of the money have been given back to Duhamel.

All four people who were involved in the crime, Anthony Bourque, Andre-Robert Perron, John Clark, and Bianca Rojas-Latraverse have all been arrested and charged with a few different things. Rojas-Latraverse is actually Duhamel’s ex-girlfriend, which would explain a lot about the situation one could assume. Both Rojas-Latraverse and Clark didn’t do much to help themselves during their hearings, as Rojas-Latraverse stated that she didn’t actually have a home residence, and that she was a professional poker player. Clark on the other hand stated that he would not drink alcohol while awaiting trial if he “had to”, but “wouldn’t like to”. Both of them were denied any bail, and are to remain in jail until their court date comes up on the 21st of this month.

As we previously mentioned, Duhamel was making a killing on the poker tables while all of these trials were going on. He pulled in four final table finishes at the 2012 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in early January, and in total his winnings for the month would up being a little over $1.2 million. Duhamel is definitely a name to watch out for in 2012, as his play seems to be clicking on all cylinders right now.

We’ll keep you updated on both of the situations here, both the question of whether or not Duhamel will get his World Series of Poker gold bracelet back, and also if they will find the remainder of his money at any point. On top of that though, we are just as interested (if not more) in seeing how Duhamel does through the upcoming months of 2012, but if it is anything like the first one then he could be in for one excellent year!

Keeping Your Opponent Guessing

If you keep your opponent on their toes with your style of play, it will give you the edge in many different situations. So for example, if you change up the bet sizes, and continue to make your opponent have to make decisions throughout hands, you’ll find that it can frustrate them and even put them on tilt. Showing bluffs and showing strong hands after your opponent folds is another good way to keep them on their toes, because if you don’t bluff often, but you show a bluff, it could potentially result in your opponent chipping you up in a later situation. The key here is just to make sure that the other players at the table never REALLY get you. This is something that some of the professional poker players like Phil Ivey do incredibly well.

Big Calls

Sometimes you just have to go with your gut instinct. If your opponent has been throwing chips around left and right, and throws out a big bet that feels like it’s a bluff, and you are fairly strong, you really have to make a solid decision. Big calls can make or break your entire tournament, but at times they are also the calls that can help you win a poker tournament as well. Now, this doesn’t mean that you should be calling off your chips often, because it’s always better to be the one forcing the calls, then the one calling the opponents’ bets.

Big Folds

This is almost the complete opposite, as laying down a big hand like two pair or even three of a kind to a very ugly board can be tough, but it can also be the right move. This type of fold can save you a ton of chips, and let you see another day. If you make these calls and leave yourself with almost no chips, then it can make it so that all you are able to do is sit back and wait for a spot to push it all in. This isn’t the spot that you’re hoping to get for, as you always want to give yourself some chips to work with when all is said and done. It hurts to fold big hands, but sometimes it’s just the right thing to do.

Knowing Your Limit on Satellites

Think about the example above. If you are paying $100 to buy-in to a satellite, as long as you aren’t doing that satellite more than nine times, then you are coming out ahead over buying into the actual event. The problem is, if you end up going past that point, then you’ve officially gone in the complete opposite direction if you end up buying into the event, and instead of paying the $1k buy-in, you’ve basically paid $2k to buy-in to the one tournament! This is never a good thing, which is why you should set a limit on the number of satellites that you are willing to buy-in to before you actually start playing. Most people will stick with 2-4 satellites in most situations, but that’s completely up to you and your style of play!

Style of Play for Satellites

A lot of this will depend on the type of satellite that you are playing. More often than not a satellite is 9 or 10 total players, which gives the feel of being a sit-n-go essentially. Sit-n-go strategy is key, as you should be very tight throughout the beginning of play, and raise a bit more often as you gain a bigger stack. If you simply aren’t getting hands and your stack is slowly starting to deplete, then you should just look for a spot to be able to get it all in ahead, and potentially get a nice double up. Some satellites will give more than just one seat into the big event, and if this is ever the case then you should be sure to adjust your play if you get down to the final three or four people, because at this point it isn’t about WINNING, but simply about finishing in those top two or three spots!

Overall, satellites are an option that almost all poker players should look into. It can save you quite a bit of money in the long run, because if you can pay $100 to buy-in to a $1k tournament, and you only min-cash the payout is still excellent for you because you will be making a ton back on your original $100 investment.

The tournament will be raising money for Speediatrics, which is the pediatric unit at the Halifax Health Medical Center, and will feature over 200 total players and a buy-in of $500. It is an invitation only event, and one that should have quite a few big names in it. Betty Jane France (NASCAR Foundation Chairwoman) and Rusty Wallace (NASCAR Foundation Board Member) will both be large parts of hosting the poker tournament. Annie Duke will of course be one of the key hosts as previously mentioned, and she was also be the tournament director of the event as well.

There will be 22 tables set up for the event, and each table will feature at least one big named celebrity (either a poker player or a NASCAR driver). A few of the names who have already been confirmed are former NBA player Brad Daugherty, and former NASCAR Winston Cup champ Dale Jarrett. The winner of this charity event won’t go home empty handed of course, as they will win a seat into the Epic Poker League’s $1,500 Pro/Am Tournament. For those players who are simply wondering why they won’t get a chance to play with some big names, you actually do have an opportunity! One player will get to play in the event for free if their name is drawn from a drawing which will be held by the MG, and in order to qualify for this you must go online and register at eventsatmgonthehalifax.com.

The great news for fans of this charity out there is that if we reach the max number of entries allowed, there would be over $100k raised on the buy-ins alone! Speediatrics was founded in 1999 and helps more than $2,000 children each year. On top of just the buy-ins though, there were also be many different auctions and ways for people to help out the cause as well.

I’m quite interested to see what type of names end up showing up for the invitation only event, but I definitely expect there to be quite a few big names from NASCAR as the event is fairly close to the Dayton 500! If you are a fan of NASCAR, you could always turn this into a full weeks trip and just head straight to the race after the tournament comes to an end!

An interesting point to note about this years Main Event final table, will no longer be called the “November Nine”, because the final nine players will actually play the final action in October instead. The reason for this is because of the US Presidential Election which occurs in November. The Main Event is going to feature three starting days instead of four, because there were additional tables added into the poker room. As far as that final table goes, you’ll see that the action will go down to the final two on Sunday the 28th of October, and the heads up match will be played on the 30th. Overall, they have decided to make the Main Event three days shorter.

Some new and exciting gold bracelet events have been created for our poker fans to keep an eye out for and they start on event number three with the $3k Heads Up No Limit Hold’em/Pot Limit Omaha event. After that the next new one is at event number six, which will feature a $5k buy-in and is a No Limit Hold’em Mixed Max event that will feature nine handed play, six handed play, and heads up play as well. There is a four handed No Limit Hold’em event for event number 28, and a $1,500 Ante ONLY No Limit Hold’em event for event 49. On top of that, many people have been talking about the $1,000,000 event called the “Big One for BIG DROP”, which gives 11.1 percent of each buy-in to the charity ONE DROP.

The World Series of Poker has also decided to go a different route by creating “exhibition” events as well, which will give players the chance to partake in huge tournaments with real money, but there simply won’t be bracelets awarded. The first of these will run on the 30th of June and is a $560 Doubles No Limit Hold’em event that features teams of two players. The other one will be on the 6th of July and is a $560 Bracelet Bounty NLH Event. Any player who plays in this event that has won a bracelet in the past has a bounty on them for all of their other players to aim for.

The promotion is one of the more straight forward online poker promotions that is going on, as players simply have to be playing at a real money cash game table in order to have a chance to win. Everyone gets the same shot at winning, which means that even if you are playing at a $0.01/$0.02 table, you are just as likely to pull in the big pay day as someone who is playing at a $100/$200 limit table. In order to win, you have to be dealt into a millionth hand, and there are a few different potential ways to take home a win. For starters anyone who gets into one of the millionth hands takes home $20 instantly plus another $60 which is multiplied by the number of Player Points which you have brought in during the last 50 hands at that specific table. So you can win quite a bit of money, and are essentially guaranteed $80 right off the bat. The player that actually takes down the hand that is being played will get their total winnings doubled, so it’s important not to fold your hand!

The hand that everyone will REALLY be hoping to hit though is the 75 billionth one, in which there are some HUGE payouts for being a part of this hand. If you are dealt into this hand you’ll receive $10k right off the bat, and you get $1000 added times the amount of frequent player points that you have. So if you have 30 frequent player points during that session on that table, you are going to earn an additional $30k on top of the $10k that you were given originally. More importantly though, if you win the hand, the prize is once again doubled, so you could be taking home a huge prize for winning the 75 billionth hand. If by some chance it ends up as a split pot, then any player who earned a part of the main pot will get a double in their prize.

It’s all about the cash games here, so if you see that they are getting close to the 75 billionth hand, be sure to jump onto a cash game table in order to have a chance to pull in some of the big time prizes!

No matter what type of card that you get, there will always be some sort of a prize given for each one. There is a max number of cards that players can earn each day of 50, but if you don’t hit that number, you can carry over your additional Party Points from the day to the following day to help you earn some more cards as well. Prizes are broken down into a few different things, such as Party Points, Cash, Freeroll Entries, and Card Rush Race Points. As far as the Party Points go, you can earn 10, 20, 50, 100, 150, 250, 750, 5,000, or 25,000 points. Cash prizes vary from $1, $2, $3, $5, $10, $50, $250, and all the way up to $5k! There are also seven different freerolls ranging from $2k, $3k, $5k, $7.5k, $10k, $15k, and $20k. Last but not least is the Card Rush Race Points which are either 1, 3, 5, 10, or 20.

What those “Card Rush Race Points” are, is a way for players to be able to collect points to go towards the Card Rush Race leader board. This gives players the opportunity to win additional money, as the player who wins the most points at the end of the month will take home a nice pay day of $9k simply for bringing home the most! All players who wind up in the top ten of this promotion though will take home over $1k, and a $100 prize is given to all players from 151st to 200th place on the leader board. Last but not least though is the “hot spots” that Party Poker has created, which means that for every player between 220th place to 2000th place, which lands on every 20th place will win $50 as well!

Freerolls will run from March 2nd through March 5th, and will include between one and two freerolls per day. So after you earn your freeroll cards just be sure to get prepared to jump into the action early in March. One thing to note about the freerolls is that you cannot win multiple entries into one freeroll no matter what the situation is.

While you can win 50 cards per day, there is a max number of 1.8 million prize cards that Party Poker.net will be giving away, so this means that there is an outside shot that the promotion could wind down a bit before the end of the month.

Li lost a pretty huge hand to Mohamad Kowassarie and fell back a bit in the standings. This was when Speidel began to step his game up and work his way to the top of the leader board. He knocked out the first player at the final table, and by the time the action was down to five handed he held a three million chip lead over his closest opponent. He never lost his momentum from that point, and went on to take down the title. It took two more hours for him to eliminate the final four other players, and he had a nice chip lead of over three to one when the action began heads up. It took 20 minutes for the heads up match to come to an end, and Speidel to knock off Kenneth Wong for first place. Wong still got a nice payday of $1 million for taking down second place though.

This event wasn’t the only one going on at the Aussie Millions though, as there were 16 players who took part in the $250k Super High Roller event. The top three players were paid out, and when we made it down to four, it was probably four of the biggest poker names in the world who were competing to make it into the money. Daniel Negreanu, Phil Ivey, Patrik Antonius, and Gus Hansen were left, but it was Negreanu who ended up being the bubble boy. Hansen was then sent home in third place, leaving Ivey and Antonius to play heads up. It took a full hour before they could determine a winner, but the final hand featured an all-in from Antonius and a call from Ivey. Antonius turned over K-3, and Ivey showed A-Q. Ivey hit his queen on the turn after a three came on the flop, and he sent Antonius home in second place, with a pay day of $1.2 million. Ivey got a nice $2 million pay day for winning the event.

Obviously many people are glad to see Phil Ivey back on the live poker tournament circuit, and based on how he played in this event, he could be in for a big year in 2012 if he keeps moving forward and playing well. Speidel definitely started off 2012 right as well, and he could be a name to watch as the year rolls on as well.