andrew, Author at Max Poker Bonus

Poker And Easter Cocktails For Glasgow’s Biggest Casino

Posted on 03/24/2013 by andrew

Alea Casino Glasgow Glasgow is a city that loves its vices and good times. The city has a reputation for being a place that loves a drink and when it comes to football, it is host to two massive clubs. Celtic and Partick Thistle provide the entertainment and excitement for the vast majority of Glaswegian men and women at the weekend but if that’s not enough, there is always gaming excitement to look forward to. The bookies and bingo halls are an integral part of Glasgow life but the city has a great number of casinos in and around the city centre too.

The largest casino in Glasgow, the Alea Casino which is found on the River Clyde at Springfield Quay, a short walk from the city centre, is making plans for the upcoming Easter Weekend. A good few days off work means that Glasgow folk won’t just enjoy a Good Friday, they’ll have an excellent Saturday, Sunday and Monday too. In order to make sure that the local residents have plenty to keep themselves occupied during their extended weekend, the casino is rolling out a couple of special elements.

Daily poker tournaments keep players coming back

Poker plays a big part at the Alea Casino and there are daily tournaments taking place. With the casino operating at all hours, you can pop in at day or night and give yourself a great chance of picking up some much needed funds from playing poker. This is the home of cash poker games in Glasgow and there will be plenty of additional poker games taking place over the long weekend. Even if you are not too fussed about celebrating the true meaning of Easter, you can make the most of the 16 gaming tables that the casino provides and the big Easter Saturday poker game that has been lined up.

The casino has also worked hard to ensure that there is a lot of fun to be had over the weekend and they have conjured up two special cocktails for the Easter weekend. There is a chocolate bonnet drink which contains Mozart dark chocolate, Cointreau or Crème de Menthe, Liqor 43, cream, milk, white chocolate syrup and it is all topped with chocolate powder. Some people have the impression that Glaswegians have a slightly less than healthy lifestyle when it comes to food and alcohol but surely the ingredients of that cocktail will put those concerns to rest!

The other Easter cocktail is the Easter Sweetie Box which is (only) slightly healthier as it contains Disaronno Amaretto, Blue Curacao, Raspberry Stoli, cranberry juice and fresh lemon.
Whether you try out the new cokctails or not, poker players are sure to have a sweet time when it comes to the Easter weekend in Glasgow.

Freeroll Your Way To Wembley

Posted on 03/24/2013 by andrew

ISPT Logo Following their exits in the Champions League, Arsenal certainly won’t be making it to Wembley in May and if Manchester United are going to be visited the hallowed turf before the height of summer, they are going to have to overcome Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in the FA Cup quarter final replay. Even if they do that, their Wembley trip is only guaranteed for the semi-final and local neighbours Manchester City are lying in wait to prevent United from making it back to Wembley in the month of May.

On the basis of this, it seems rather difficult to get to Wembley in May and when you think about the vast sums of money that have been spent by these clubs, it seems rather expensive too. Perhaps Arsene Wenger and Sir Alex Ferguson have been barking up the wrong tree. There is a way to get yourself to Wembley in May and if you play your poker cards right, it won’t cost a penny. Some of Arsenal’s defenders play as though they have no value and should have been bought for nothing but you get very little for free in modern football.

Social network sites providing poker opportunities

This is not the case with poker in the present day though and if the launch party for the ISPT got you dreaming of being a big Wembley winner, listen up. Dusk Till Dawn Poker are official backers of the ISPT Wembley event and as you would expect, they are getting a little bit hands on with the lead-up. In the latter half of April, social media players will get the chance to join in the freeroll events that will see two lots of 10 300 Euro Day 1 seats being up for grabs. Getting involved with the ISPT on Facebook or Twitter could give you the chance to play your way to playing poker in the world famous stadium for no cost at all (ignoring travel cost and your expenses).

If luck is on your side, you could go all the way and the 22nd and 29th of April are the dates when the freeroll events are taking place. It may seem like a tall order but with Millwall or Wigan definitely making a return trip to Wembley in May and Bradford having already reached there this year, is it too much of a stretch to think that you may make it too?

UK Poker Player Has Her Relationship Detailed Online

Posted on 03/22/2013 by andrew

Liv Boeree It would be fair to say that there is a massive celebrity culture these days and there is a massive desire to know everything that is going in the lives of the rich and the famous. While there has been a level of adulation given over to big stars, the level of insight that people can get these days is scary. The media thrives on this and with Twitter; it even seems that some celebrities are keen to tell all about their life. As poker fans and players, we may be a bit more refined than that but many of us still love to hear the gossip about a big celebrity poker player.

The love life of Victoria Coren is well-known but much of this is down to the fact that she is a TV presenter and star in the UK and of course, she is married to David Mitchell, a familiar face to many. The couple who have done very well in keeping some semblance of a private life but anyone who witnessed their interaction on the recent BBC4 ‘Only Connect’ quiz for Comic Relief would know that they are a great double act.

It seems as though we know a lot more about the private lives of the female poker players and if you are a Twitter user, you will likely have learned a bit more about Liv Boeree than you did this time last week. It would be fair to say that Liv is a great looking woman but it is more important to acknowledge the fact that she is an excellent poker player and deserves all the praise and acclaim that she has rightly picked up in recent years.

Trouble occurs when famous people fall out

However, it turns out that her ex-boyfriend Kevin MacPhee was more than happy to spill the beans on their relationship now that they had split up again. Their first split took place during the summer and MacPhee pointed out that “the summer I had at the WSOP was the worst of my life” which he attributed to the fact that Liv broke up with him to hook up with US poker player Galen Hall.

This didn’t stop the couple getting back together but it seems as though MacPhee has been dumped again. This story was also told on Twitter with Liv supposedly enjoying a St Patrick’s Day break in Ireland and then coming back to dump Kevin once again. MacPhee has voiced his concerns about who Liv has been seeing which led to him being dumped but if he was expecting any sympathy from the online poker community it wasn’t quick in coming.

In fact, the general mood was one of delight that Liv appeared to be single again! MacPhee has since deleted the tweets moaning about her but he has posted a tweet asking of anyone wants to buy a WSOP-APAC package that he won from 888 Poker. Perhaps he feels giving Liv a wide berth for now is for the best.

Reece Lewis Triumphs In London

Posted on 03/21/2013 by andrew

WPT Nationals Series UK The Aspers Casino Westfield has already witnessed some great poker moments in its time but another one arrived on Tuesday afternoon. This was because Reece Lewis held his nerve and triumphed in the WPT National London Main Event.

There were a total of 218 players taking part in the tournament which carried a £1,650 buy-in but with only eight getting through to the final table, it had been a long slot to get to that point. The players who had triumphed in this regard were well rewarded with the fact that they knew they would all be receiving a minimum of £10,000 to carry home with them but with a much bigger prize up for grabs, no one was too keen to rest on their laurels and settle for the easy money.

The unfortunate player who was first to leave the final table was knocked out by the eventual winner. Emma Tolley will no doubt be annoyed at the fact that she exited so soon at the final hurdle but the £10,000 prize money she received will no doubt help to soften the blow. The money rose in small incremental steps with 7th placed Carlo Citrone taking away £12,500. Carlo entered the final table with the smallest amount of chips, 66,000 when the highest chip count was 1,731,000 so it was not unexpected that he was to duck out early on.

Slow and steady prize money rises for poker players

Wang Weikang was 6th and he received £15,000 while 5th placed Ramus Larsen received £19,000. The money on offer was now starting to get a little bit exciting with fourth placed finisher Kevin Williams receiving £25,000. Robin Fisher in third place took away £34,000 and Elior Sion, who was the chip leader coming into the final table was the runner up, receiving £54,159. Elior was close to having three times as many chips at the final table as eventual winner Reece Lewis but yet again, there was a stark reminder that chip counts count for nothing until the games have all been played.

Going into the head to head battle, Lewis had completely turned the situation around and held a massive chip lead over Sion. Lewis held 4,325,000 chips while Elior Sion was in possession of 1,085,000. This was close to being a four times advantage and in the end, it required less than half an hour for Reece Lewis to make this advantage count and be hailed as the winner of the WPT National London Main Event champion.

Increased Interest In Being Southampton Poker Venue

Posted on 03/21/2013 by andrew

The Royal Pier Southampton Even though there may not be an answer within the next 18 months, the battle to be given the rights to run the super casino in Southampton looks to be warming up. Whoever gets the licence to operate the super casino will find that they have a great opportunity to bring some needed poker excitement to the area too. The licence makes reference to the fact that there be up to 30 poker tables included in the casino, which will definitely be something that will get the poker players of Southampton out in force. In addition to the poker possibilities, the casino would be able to host 150 slots and provide jackpots of up to £4,000.

The super casino will form part of a massive redevelopment of the Royal Pier area of the city with hotels, flats an indoor arena and a number of restaurants also lined up for the area.

Plenty of hopefuls wanting to bring poker to the masses

Aspers was the first company that said they would be interested in applying for the licence but if the company felt that they were going to get things all their own way, they would be sadly mistaken. The Rank Group, which is responsible for the running of the Grosvenor Casinos have stated that they have an interest in running this casino. So far, the Gentings Group have only indicated that they are considering placing a bid but have refused to commit themselves to anything more concrete than that at the moment.

Aspers have a level of experience due to the fact that they are the company behind the first ever super casino to have opened in the UK. This took place in London last year and the local council was delighted to welcome the intention from Aspers. However, with Rank and Gentings having considerable experience in the casino field, there is no such thing as a cut and dried tendering process for any of the applicants.

A spokesperson for the Rank Group would only say, when questioned by local press in Southampton; “I can confirm that we are interested, but as it is early days it would be premature for us to talk further about it at this stage.”

A similar non-statement statement was issued by the press office of the Genting Group to local press in Southampton; “At this stage we are reviewing the opportunity of a new licence in Southampton, but cannot currently comment further as to whether we will progress any interest.”

Main Event Poker Fun In Newcastle

Posted on 03/20/2013 by andrew

Genting Poker Series 2013 You can have a great night out in Newcastle but for the next few days, the poker players in the city will be fully focusing on the action that takes place on the poker table. There may be plenty of other delights to grab your attention in the city but with the Genting Poker Series, or the 2013 GPS, having its second leg on Tyneside, this is going to be the main attraction. Anyone looking to get involved with the action or even just capture some of the excitement that takes place when top class poker players get together, the Genting Casino that is located on Forth Street is the place to be.

This is the first time that the GPS will have arrived in Newcastle but there is sure to be a warm welcome from the Geordies, who love the idea of a night-out on any day of the week.

The Main Event of the Newcastle leg of the GPS is scheduled to being at 1pm on Wednesday and the other starting flights will follow on at the same time on Thursday and Friday of this week. Going into Wednesday morning, there are already more than 100 players registered for the event already and the organisers are expecting a figure that is at least double of that to be involved by the time the action starts to heat up.

A quick chance to bounce back with a poker win

Given that the GPS Newcastle event carries a guarantee of £100,000 there is sure to be some interest from poker players from across the country and beyond. Any poker player that missed out on the money at the London EPT event may see the Newcastle tournament a great way to bounce back quickly. With the end of the financial year looming, there may be a need for some people to crack on and make sure that they have a few more wins behind them!

The official Day 2 of the Main Event starts at 1pm on Saturday and on Sunday at 1 o’clock in the afternoon, the Main Event Final Day begins. There are other poker events to look out for around this week and weekend so this could be something to focus on. Players that get knocked out of the Main Event may be looking to bounce back quickly and these side events can provide the excellent platform to be a winner. This was the route that Victoria Coren took in London and her strong finish in the High Roller event at the EPT saw her take home a great sum of cash, one she would have struggled to reach in the Main Event, even if she brought her A game to the table.

There are PLO and NLHE games to look out for with a special Bounty NLHE game taking place on Sunday at 3pm. There is never any requirement to wear a jacket in Newcastle but if you want success, you better bring your main poker skills.

Celebrations At London Poker Event

Posted on 03/19/2013 by andrew

Barry Greenstein The final few days of the EPT event in London had so much exciting poker action taking place it would have been easy to miss out on so many of the big moments and exciting finishes to some of the individual events. It was only right that Ruben Visser got his due for winning the EPT London event and taking home £595,500 but plenty of other poker players enjoyed success in London. The British weather may have felt more like the middle of January as opposed to the middle of March but with St Patricks Day celebrations gearing up across the capital of England, it was not just the Irish that were celebrating.

The Greeks have had their financial problems of late but there was good financial news for one Greek poker player during the big London event. The celebrating player was Miltiadis Kyriakides who overcame Barry Greenstein in the final of event J at the EPT9 London event. Considering that Greenstein was won 3 bracelets from the WSOP and has amassed over $7m in live tournament wins, this was a big achieve for the Greek. The Team PokerStars Pro was beaten out in the heads-up during the Pot Limit Omaha which carried a prize pool of £91,180.

Good to see a Greek poker success

Miltiadis Kyriakides was fortunate enough to take home £32,820 for coming first in the event while Greenstein took home just over £20,000. In addition to the kudos and congratulations, Kyriakides also got a signed copy of Greenstein’s book, ‘Ace On The River’. The final 7 at the table saw representatives from Finland, two from the UK, one from Belgium and in third place was Eoghan O’Dea from Ireland. Picking up over £12,000 is going to a little extra celebration to the St Patrick’s Day weekend for any Irishman so hopefully Eoghan made it home safely with some of his winnings left!

Another big winner during the event was the Team PokerStars Pro Matthias De Meulder from Belgium. He managed to triumph in the No Limits Texas Hold Em event that was event number 15 at EPT9. De Meulder just fell short of clinching a trophy at the EPT Deauville in February so the trophy in London represents good progress and of course, another fine payday! De Meulder earned £22,580 for his win while second placed Rameev Sergey from Russian earned £20,000. There was then a big drop off in money with third placed Eddie Tasbas picking up £9,710 while fourth placed finisher Georges Tohme from the UK received £7,100.

Who Else Triumphed At The London EPT Event?

Posted on 03/19/2013 by andrew

Not only is London coming back down to Earth after an exciting St Patrick’s Day weekend, the climax of the EPT London event has left many people needing to take some time to calm down. Having so many poker events in a short space of time is a thrilling time for poker players but once the action has stopped and the adrenaline has left your body, it is only natural that you will feel a bit worn down. While the players take a much needed break and the EPT event starts to think about hitting Berlin next month, why not have a look at some of the other winners from some of the big tournaments during the EPT event.

There was a British winner in the High Roller event with Talal Shakerchi coming home in first place. He went into the final day as the chip leader but as we all know, that can count for very little. However, Shakerchi is on a great run of form at the moment. He had a final table finish in the Super High Roller event from Barcelona earlier in the campaign and he had a triumph in grand final of the previous EPT season. The £436,330 prize was gratefully accepted and Talal now has over $1.5m in overall earnings from tournaments which is not a bad return at all. The action from the High Roller table was being shared across the country thanks to the involvement of media star and professional poker player, Victoria Coren. In the end, Victoria finished in sixth place, earning more than £67,000 for her involvement in the High Roller event.

A good few UK players had great times in London

Another UK success came with Gioi Train winning the No Limit Hold Em (NLHE) Spring Turbo Event and taking home £6,700 for his efforts. Of the final 9 players, 6 hailed from the UK so this was a poker event where home players had a lot to enjoy. There wasn’t a lot of money on offer but Philip Lee, Jean Issa, Andrew Richards, Hylton Goss and David Garvin got to make some money and take some adulation for some fine poker.

Bigger money was on offer at the NLHE Turbo event and this time, there was only one UK player in the top 8, with Adnan Charnaa coming home in third place, receiving £15,460. The top prize of £42,100 was clinched by Portuguese poker player Joao Viera while Sergio Aido from Spain came in second, clinching £26,460. It won’t be long until the next poker action and excitement starts to build but for now, a lot of players can look back on some time well spent in London.

Ladbrokes Moving Their Poker Network

Posted on 03/18/2013 by andrew

Ladbrokes Logo Ladbrokes may be one of the most popular names when it comes to British bookmakers but the company provides a whole wealth of online gaming opportunities. You may first have come across Ladbrokes through their bright red stores on the High Street in your local city or town but nowadays, people are more used to logging on to their Ladbrokes account and enjoying some gaming fun without leaving the house. Poker has been at the heart of the online gaming entertainment provided by Ladbrokes but the company has announced that there will be a change to the poker provision it provides.

In a press release, Ladbrokes announced that they would be switching from the MPN (previously known as the Micrograming) poker platform and would be switching to the iPoker Network, which is part of Playtech. This is a big transition, moving from one major player in the online poker industry to another and there will be some players who will be unsure about this move. There will have been poker players that selected the Ladbrokes site because of the fact that it was on the poker network that it was and wasn’t part of the iPoker Network. Whether these poker players will decide to stick with Ladbrokes or switch to another poker provider remains to be seen.

A bigger poker network awaits for Ladbrokes

Of course, online poker players that are fans of the iPoker Network may now look more favourably on the Ladbrokes poker offering and could decide to create an account with the company. One of the first changes that will come in the partnership between the two will be the creation of a Vegas tab for the Ladbrokes site and rang of games.

There is yet to be a date announced for when the transfer of the Ladbrokes poker element will take place but it is expected to take place sooner rather than later. Given that Ladbrokes signed up to be part of the Microgaming Network back in 2009, this represents a major change for the company. Microgaming, or MPN as it is now known, has been ranked at around the 10th largest network for online poker traffic but with Ladbrokes being one of the major skins of the network, this may result in a drop-off. With iPoker currently ranking in fourth position, only behind serious names like PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and the partypoker network, it is easy to see why Ladbrokes have been happy to make the switch.

Ladbrokes will be joining with a number of their online betting rivals including William Hill, Paddy Power and the highly recommended bet365 Poker. The immediate news for Ladbrokes was positive as when the news broke, their share price leapt to its highest point in the past five years.

Phil Powers To A Double Win

Posted on 03/18/2013 by andrew

Phil Taylor Hearing that Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor was victorious is nothing new, he has been winning darts tournaments for more times than he would care to remember. The 16 time world champion knows what it takes to be a winner and even in a friendly event, he doesn’t want to come second best to anyone. This is especially the case when he is up against a fierce rival like Raymond van Barneveld who he has a lot of history with. The special night took place at the Bradford Gala Casino in Vicar Lane and while darts was high on the agenda, there was also a poker element to the evening too.

Phil and Raymond were locked together in battle at the poker table and perhaps unsurprisingly, the born winner managed to play his way to victory over his opponent. He didn’t manage to win the tournament, which is definitely a rare occurrence when it comes to Phil and his competitive edge but the fact that he managed to outlast his Dutch opponent was no doubt a big thrill to him. If you believe in psychology, staying one step ahead of your regular rivals is always a good thing and Phil remained at the top of the pile.

Poker is a game plenty of players love

In the more conventional battle between the two of them, the best of 21 was a closely fought affair. The two players were locked at 9-9 with everything to play for but The Power managed to hold his nerve and clinched an 11-9 victory.

Raymond van Barneveld Also on the bill for the evening was a darts match between legend Eric Bristow and Andy Fordham, with Fordham clinching a 6-2 victory.

There was a big crowd at the event so there is undoubtedly an audience for this sort of event. Getting to see sporting heroes in a slightly different environment is always a big thrill for sports fans and the players seem to love it too. There is no doubt that poker is an activity that many sports stars like to enjoy as a break from their normal routine but it also lets them latch on to their competitive edge. With Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor talking more openly about retiring from the darts circuit, it won’t be long before he steps away from the oche but he may find that it is difficult to move completely away from the limelight and competition. It may well be that Taylor considers the draw of poker as being a possible replacement for the excitement and drama of darts.