As far as how long the actual event took, Nestola had all of the chips sitting in front of him in only four hours, and he personally sent four of his other seven final tablers to the rail as well to make his win even more impressive. While the previously mentioned Negreanu was the most talked about player at the table, he was sent home in sixth place, leaving Nestola in a great spot to be able to dominate through to take down the title. He did just this, and it ended up coming down to him and Gasperino Nicolas from Venezuela for the heads up match. The heads up match was set to pay out $324,600 to the eventual winner, but the two decided to make a deal and each take $250k, but still play the heads up match for the remaining $39,300 that was in play. Nestola actually had quite a chip lead at that point, which made this deal a bit strange, as he was up about 4.4 million to 2.78 million chips when the action started.

The match between the two players didn’t last long though, as the final hand featured the flop coming out 9-6-4, the turn was a 3, and both players ended up getting it all in at this point. Nestola turned over a dominate hand with 7-5 off suit for a seven high straight, while Nicolas has two pair with 9-2 suited, but was far behind his opponent. The river didn’t help him, which led to Nestola taking down the title and also getting the additional $39,300 worth of prize money.

Nestola’s win at the LAPT Grand Final was definitely the biggest of his career, as before this his biggest cash was worth just over $20k at the North American Poker Tour back in 2010. Overall to this point in his career, Nestola has won just over $122k in his career before this huge score, and has to be ecstatic to pull in such a large win after going a bit of a long stretch without pulling in anything big. The other players who made it to the final table were Carlos Ibarra (3rd place), Felipe Morbiducci (4th place), Jonathan Markovits (5th place), Negreanu (6th place), Vitor Torres (7th place), and Juan Gonzalez (8th place). This was the final event of the Latin American Poker Tour for this year as well.

The Ongame Network has been on the market as a potential sale for just about a year now. After bwin ended up merging with Party Gaming in March, they were one of the networks who was a definite potential sale for the company. Ongame was bought by this company in 2005 for an incredible £474 million. It’s important to remember that the sale behind this all happened before anything with Black Friday or the United States government occurred on April 15th, and this has taken a major hit on the value behind the Ongame Network (just like almost all online poker networks of course). The deal that is being reported isn’t a small amount by any means, but in comparison to that number listed above, it’s not anywhere near it. It was reported that it will be a $20 million (or £13 million) deal, which obviously leaves many people shocked after seeing that massive number above.

Ongame is no slouch in the online poker world though, as they are currently the 6th largest poker network in the game today when it comes to their cash tables. While the site does have an average of 2,150 cash game players over a week’s span, they are dominated by the likes of Party Poker, which currently has an average of 4,750 players on their cash game tables. So why is the sale for such a small amount you ask? That has something to do with the fact of which room is the current largest room on the network. This is bwin.com, and those players on that site will most likely be staying with what they know at the bwin.party side of things. The second most well-known room on the site is Betfair, which still could draw some interest from all over the online poker world.

Personally, I was just surprised it was the company Shuffle Master who stepped up and made this move. They mainly focus their business on installing poker tables and other gambling tables in casinos, and also create automated card shufflers as well. They also own the company Shuffle Interactive, which means that they offer casino games on all different types of different things such as Facebook, Android phones, iOS, Mac’s, and PC’s as well.

Playing as the Big Stack

This is a point that is constantly overlooked by poker players, because if you are the big stack when the bubble comes, you should actually step up the pressure behind your play. The reason for this is because you should be the one putting pressure on the shorter stacks, and making them have to make the decisions for their tournament life. Also, if you are raising and get re-raised in one of your semi-bluff situations, you’ll find that you can simply fold because you still have plenty behind and won’t have to worry about making those big tough decisions as often as other players will. Just remember to never get TOO crazy with a big stack, but try to consistently build up your chip stack if you can.

Sitting Tight Around the Average

What this means is that if you are sitting around the average stack size for the tournament, and the bubble is fast approaching, then you should really sit back and just watch. Hopefully someone will get eliminated quickly, but you should only be playing prime hands like the top pocket pairs and Ace-King. Playing anything less than this will really result in you putting yourself in tough spots, and potentially being sent home before you get into the money. The best tournament poker players in the game are able to outlast the bubble without making much noise, and then do their damage when they are in the money and want to build up their stack from there. Patience is key in this spot, because if you start trying to play too much or even attempt bluffs at the wrong times, it can simply turn things bad pretty quickly.

Scary Boards vs. Dry Boards

This is the biggest part of knowing when to slow down your bluff, or when to keep going. If the turn card on the board shows a straight or a flush opportunity that hits, that means it’s time to slow down. This doesn’t mean to instantly fold a semi-bluff, but it does mean that you don’t want to continue firing bets at your opponent who could very well be sitting on the nuts or even more. Dry boards on the other hand are much nicer when you are bluffing, as you can keep your the pressure on your opponent, and force them to make those tough decisions that no one ever really wants to make.

Size of Bets

If you continue to bet small throughout the hand on your bluff, it won’t get your opponent to fold 99% of the time if they have a hand like top hand. You need to increase your bet sizing, and really tell your opponent that you are holding a strong hand. If you bet $10 on the flop, $10 on the turn, and $10 on the river, there is almost no chance they are going to lay it down. On the other hand though if you bet $10 on the flop, $22 on the turn, and $38 on the river, it makes your opponents decision much tougher. You are trying to bet like you have the NUTS, so if you decide you have a read that you want to go with, then go hard with it!

Overall, one of the most important things is that confidence is key. If you look like you are up in the air about your bluff, your opponent will sense it and just continue to call, or even potentially re-raise you on the turn to see how strong you really are.

The opening tournament will start at 7:30pm Central European Time, and is going to be hosted by the popular online poker site PokerStars. The opening tournament features a $20 buy-in, and is the smaller of the two tournaments that are on the board. The second tournament is a $100 buy-in, and of course $50 of the buy-in’s will go towards the Thor Hansen Charity Fund, while the other $50 will go into the prize pool.

There have been some different reports that have been coming out about Thor’s fight with cancer, and the current one has to do with the fact that a doctor has decided to see Hansen and help him out with what to do in his future moving forward. Hansen could either go back home to Norway and get the free health care, or stay in the United States and try some new medicines and such to see what types of affects they have on it. According to Andreas Hoivold (another poker pro), Thor feels that he has “met a doctor that he feels he can trust 100%.” He obviously still has quite a bit to do moving forward, and he has been ill for quite a bit of time.

Hansen’s career has been going since way back in 1987 when he played his first event, the Grand Prix of Poker in Vegas. During his first schedule h made it to three final tables, and also had a 4th place finish in a $10k event as well. He is currently 64 years old, and he won his first gold bracelet at the World Series of Poker the next year, when he took down a Seven Card Stud event that featured a $5k buy-in. He also won another gold bracelet a bit more recent, back in 2002, when he took down the $1,500 Deuce to Seven Lowball event. His total of 45 cashes at the WSOP are quite impressive as well, and leave him as one of the most respected players in the game still. His strong play extends past just the WSOP though, as he has pulled in over $2.9 million in his career with 18 wins and an incredible 180 cashes during poker tournaments!

Now, the thing that is so interesting is the fact that Somerville pointed out that there are no openly gay male professional poker players, as the only player who has ever stated that they were gay was Vanessa Selbst. In Somerville’s blog post he wrote that while the poker world features all types of “diversity and variety”, that there is actually a “noticeable lack of openly gay poker professionals”. This led to me actually taking a hard look at it, and realizing that he is indeed 100% correct, that no other male poker player has come out. Selbst on the other hand is one of the most well-known players in the world, and is definitely one of the best female players in the game as well. The best part about this is the fact that even though she is openly gay, her popularity and her incredible amount of sponsorship’s have never once suffered.

Actually when you look at Selbst’s career, she is actually one of the more liked poker players in the world, and is definitely one of the most respected players as well. Like when Selbst came out, Somerville received an incredible amount of positive reactions from the poker community, as many players were proud of Somerville for coming out as the first openly gay poker player in the game. Somerville’s post summed it up very well when he stated that it doesn’t matter what you are at the poker table (“white, black, Christian, Jewish, a woman, physically disabled, a foreigner, a felon, or smell terrible”), that “we’ll make room for you at the not-necessarily-proverbial table and let you play.” The fact is, the game of poker isn’t one that discriminates in any way, and essentially Somerville is stating that he doesn’t feel that he should have to worry about it happening in this situation either, which he absolutely shouldn’t.

Somerville boasts an impressive resume for a player who is only 24 years old, as he has already taken down over $1.7 million on the live poker tournament circuit in his career. He has also won a gold bracelet at last year’s World Series of Poker in a $1k No Limit Hold’em event, and mixes that with a total of five top 5 finishes at the WSOP in his career as well. Somerville does more than just play, as he also works at the site PokerVT, as a teacher to help players learn the game of poker and better their game overall.

The tournament had some big names in it, but the story behind Juttelstad is one that’s definitely interesting. He was in the process of taking a year off from playing poker, but was in Miami for a graduate school interview. Things just added up as he was attending the interview at Florida Atlantic University, and decided to use his extra time to play in the event. This event gave players who were knocked out of Day 1A, the option to re-buy in for Day 1B. Juttelstad was knocked out on Day 1A, and actually wasn’t going to re-buy in, but his interview ran shorter than he anticipated, so he decided to give it another run.

While Juttelstad and Gagne went back and forth as being the two most talked about players in the event, it made sense that they would end up going heads up for the championship. Gagne actually dipped a bit in terms of her chip stack size by taking a bad beat and then making some tough decisions after that, but she managed to work her way back up. While that was happening, Juttelstad just kept building his stack. The hot streak didn’t last forever though, as he then started going up and down, but eventually made a huge knockout to get into the final two against Gagne.

Heads up play began with Juttelstad holding a nice chip lead of around 3.5 to 1, and the two only played about 30 hands before the champion was crowned. The last hand featured both players holding almost exactly their same starting stacks, but when they went all in, both turned over a straight. The issue for Gagne was, that Juttelstad was holding the nut straight, which was simply higher than hers. This sent her home in second place with a pay day of $158,194, and gave Juttelstad the championship and the $268,444 for taking it down. Gagne may not have made history, but a second place finish is nothing to turn your nose up at!

Things are done a bit differently in these countries than in most countries that allow online poker, as Sweden will take in a 30 percent tax on gross winnings for any poker sites that are based outside of the European Union. Finland works in a similar way though, as it will require their players to pay income tax on any winnings outside of the European Economic Area. This area includes all EU members and Norway, Iceland, and Lichtenstein. Before this new site for Stars was created, players from Sweden and Finland could still play, but they were playing on the main PokerStars site. The issue here is that the license there (Isle of Man) isn’t a member of the European Union, so players were getting hit with taxes left and right that were putting quite the damper on their bankroll. By moving to the new PokerStars.eu, players in these two countries aren’t hit with these incredible taxes.

One thing that is important to point out about the new PokerStars.eu, is that while it is a different site, the players will still be playing with every other player on the PokerStars’ main site PokerStars.com. The tables and games are all the same, which means that you’ll still be able to take part in the high stakes cash games and the big time guaranteed poker tournaments that the site constantly runs. Stars has remained a juggernaut in the online poker world, even after they lost their United States based players due to Black Friday. The site is currently the largest online poker site in the game today, and averages around 26,600 cash game players over a seven day span, which is over five times more than their next closest competitor. Even sites like PokerStars.it and PokerStars.fr (Italian and French) rank in the top 10 for their cash game players as well, which is quite impressive.

With the new PokerStars.eu being created, players from Sweden and Finland will see all of their information begin updating and moving over to the new site from the old option. This will include things like their cash balance and account information, Frequent Player Points, and many other things that are included in this. It will be interesting to see how this new PokerStars.eu site will do against some of the other sites in the game, and if it picks up popularity as quickly as anything else with the name “PokerStars” has in recent years!

A few of the other additions that the site has made include Chris Moorman, who is one of the most well-known poker players in the game today, Nicky Evans, Leo Margets, Kevin Vandersmissen, and Melanie Weisner. Those are just the NEW additions, as the site already has Eric Lynch, Matt Stout, Brett Jungblut, and Casey Jarzabek along with quite a few other names as well.

While Maia isn’t quite as well-known as a player like Moorman is, he has been incredibly consistent. He’s been a strong tournament player in his home country of Portugal, and only began his career just about five years ago. It took him two years (in 2009) before he decided to make playing poker a full time job, and quit his regular nine to five job. He multi-tables quite often, and you’ll find that his name seems to consistently end up at the top in terms of rakeback brought in each month. The addition of Maia shows that Lock Poker is looking to expand their site all around the world and pick up big names from many different countries and locations, and they’ve definitely got a strong one in their most recent player.

Maia won’t be the only well-known player in Portugal to be featured as a Lock Pro on this site, as a good friend of his Francisco “yuranpt” Santos is also a part of the roster there as well. Santos had quite a few nice things to say about Maia, including stating that he “sets his goals and he goes after that with passion and determination.” He also said that Pedro is a “close friend of mine, and I feel honored to have him with us.” Both of these two players could definitely become one of the first Portugese players to win a gold bracelet, and they are both names to keep an eye out for in 2012 as well.

For those players who haven’t heard too much about Lock Poker, they are one of the largest online sites on the Merge Gaming Network. Merge is huge in the United States, and Lock Poker is paired with Carbon Poker as two of the sites that have become a go-to site for United States poker players. Merge is currently ranked number one in the United States for online poker, and they are showing no signs of slowing down because of their strong software and the fact that they are excellent with customer service as well.

Bankroll Size

Obviously this is one of the biggest things to consider, as watching your bankroll size can play a huge role in the limits that you should be playing in. If you keep building up your bankroll through the small stakes, and not only feel comfortable and confident, but have a large enough roll to be able to move up, then it can be a great time to test the waters in the higher levels. Your jump should only be a small one (typically to the next limit level), but if you can make a profit there then you can continue to work your way up until you find a level where you are consistently making money and feeling confident about your play at the same time.

Multi-Tabling

Multi-tabling at the smaller limits is a great way to earn some additional rakeback and pick up some extra frequent player points as well. Multi-tabling can be a bit tough if you aren’t used to it, which is why you should start with a low number of tables and work your way up as you go. It’s all about playing at a good comfort level and being able to keep up with the action, but still remaining profitable at the same time as well. If you are multi-tabling a large number of tables but aren’t bringing in a consistent profit, then you need to lower the number of tables and focus once again on building that bankroll back up.

Overall, it’s not always an easy thing for players to stay at those low stakes for long, but think of it this way. If you can’t consistently bring in a profit (outside of running bad) at these stakes, then you definitely shouldn’t look into moving up until you are completely ready to do so. Take your time and perfect your game before jumping up the size of the game that you are playing in.