WSOP Update:Bonomo at Final Table, WSOP Champions Invitational

Here are some quick updates from the 2009 WSOP as Day 673 wraps up … Wait, what? We're only been here for four days? Crap. Well, anyway, here you go:

Event No. 2 - $40,000 40th Anniversary Special: The final table of this event is still grinding away over in the televised featured table area. Two more players have been shown to the door, Lex 'RaSZi' Veldhuis (7th - $277,940) and Alec Torelli (6th - $329,730), leaving five left to fight it out for the $1.89 million first-place prize. Current chip leader is Vitaly Lunkin after Greg Raymer doubled up Dani Stern to keep him in the tournament. Bodog poker pro Justun Bonomo is now the short-stack at the table, but that doesn't really mean much as he quite capable of making a comeback.

Event No. 3 - $1,500 Omaha Hi/Lo 8-or-Better: The final table for this event has now been set and features poker pro Feddy Deeb and online poker pro Jordan "Octavian_C" Rich. There are seven other players at the table but only their mother's know who they are. Play gets underway tomorrow at 2pm and will award $263,135 as the top prize.

Event No. 4 - $1,000 No Limit Holdem: There are still A LOT of players left in this event. The official numbers were just released and the final tally for entrants stands at 6,012, making it officially the largest non-Main Event ever, officially. The top 621 places will get paid for their troubles with 621st receiving $1,893 all the way up to $771,338 for first-place.

Stay tuned for more 2009 WSOP updates, especially as the $40k event wraps up.

The Poker Vaults: Jimmy Chagra — The Second Biggest Fish of All Time, Part 1

The first time Jimmy Chagra entered a Las Vegas casino he brought with him several suitcases stuffed with cash and not the least bit of sense. The man gambled as if the money he wagered had simply fallen from the sky one day, and in a way it had — during the 1970s Jimmy Chagra was one of the most notorious drug dealers in the world, responsible for importing even more narcotics into the country than his rival Rex Cauble.



How does one rise to such a position? Growing up in El Paso, Texas, a rough-and-tumble border town where drug smugglers were practically considered heroes, certainly helped. Chagra’s inherent waywardness also contributed — he was the black sheep of his family. While his two brothers, Lee and Joe, chose to study law, Jimmy dropped out of high school and took to the streets. By the time he was 20, he’d become accomplished at smuggling contraband back and forth across the border. He favored marijuana because the penalties for smuggling it weren’t as stiff as those involving other drugs, but eventually he began importing large shipments of cocaine as well.

"Ramux" Wins Bodog Sunday $100k Guaranteed Online Poker Tourney

Smack in the middle of Memorial Day weekend in the US, 558 online poker players took a break from their grill outs and drinking games to pony up $100 + $9 to play in Bodog's Sunday $100k Guaranteed online poker tournament. Getting almost double the value for his buy-in due to Bodog's generous overlay, Bodog regular Bolivar "ramux" Palacios walked away with the $23,600 first-place prize.

A fixture at the top of leaderboards across the Bodog Poker room, Palacios has now racked up more than $250,000 in career tournament winnings on Bodog.com. As well as success in online tournaments, he has had success in live tournaments as well, like the LAPT Mexico and will most likely be roaming the halls of the Rio this Summer for the 2009 WSOP.

1. Ramux - $23,600
2. ionlyplayAA - $13,600
3. illcallyou - $9,100
4. soul ripper - $7,000
5. hotmax9 - $5,700
6. amaru34 - $4,500
7. chinaman9 - $3,300
8. bigbman29 - $2,200
9. jasdell - $1,300

Qualifiers for the Sunday $100k Guaranteed online poker tournament start for as little as $1, and there is an incredible selection of Online poker tournaments available for your daily fix of action and many different Poker Promotions to make your money work harder for you.

Will Florida be the First State to Legalize Online Poker?

While extensive focus was on the legislative ratification of the gaming compact with the Seminole Tribe and an omnibus gaming reform bill to help Florida's ailing pari-mutuel industry, Florida lawmakers quietly tucked a measure into an unrelated regulatory bill which could pave the way for Florida to become the first state to embrace internet poker for its citizens.


House bill 425, which passed the Florida Legislature by overwhelming margins, contains a provision which requires the legislature's policy research arm to complete a study into the effects of internet poker on Florida's bricks and mortar poker rooms. The measure pushed by lobbyists representing American Poker Ventures, LLC. requires the policy arm to report by December 1 "regarding the enactment of laws to provide for protection and remedies from existing and unregulated online poker activities."

How to get the best from online poker

Poker game is no longer limited to casino houses these days, because even if you are in your home, it is possible to play the game, too. With online poker, you do not only have the chance in playing the game but there is also an offer to take advantage of like the poker bonus. Poker is probably the most popular casino game that can be both played in an actual casino and with the help of the Internet.

Playing online poker is similar to playing it in an actual casino. There is still the usual betting and high hands but it is only the online poker rooms that offer poker bonus, a sign up giveaway usually offered by most poker websites to first time players. The poker bonus may be initially used by the players for betting but it is only given once for each player who visits the poker room for the first time.

Poker websites have assigned bonus codes in order to ensure that these bonuses are only given once and not fool them by using another name to sign up in the same chat room. Giving out bonuses like this is a way for the website to encourage players to visit their site and to try out playing with them.

The best way to get a full advantage of online poker rooms is to choose the best website before joining one and getting the first poker bonus. You do not want to lose the chance of getting free cash once you have made the first deposit.

Although there is still another poker bonus to expect from a website after getting the first one, it can only be used the moment you decide to be a member of the poker room. The free cash will be taken after the next real money deposit and after a required number of raked hands. But with the fun and entertainment you get from online poker, you would not even notice that you have reached the specified number of games to be played.

Taking the poker bonus is like taking in some free money. An online poker site wants the first time players or even the regular players to join the poker room and play with them for as long as they like. The different websites are continuously competing with one another so that the only way they can stay ahead is by offering tempting poker bonuses from time to time. And this is legitimate and acceptable, it is up to the players to grab and take advantage of them. Choosing a reputable website can be beneficial, especially when each one of them can have different bonuses to give and limits to consider. Take advantage of whatever these websites offer. As long as you are not in the losing end, then grab everything. These sites want poker players to enjoy playing with them to make them come back for more. On the other hand, these players would only want to have fun and be entertained.

Marc Naalden Wins PNC Alpine Main Event

After three days of poker and a grueling three-hour, heads-up match, Marc Naalden finally put away his last opponent to take down the Main Event of the PokerNews Cup Alpine at the Alpine Palace Hotel and Card Casino in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria. Naalden defeated Runnar Lindepuu heads-up for the trophy and the €46,474 top prize. While it was Naalden triumphant at the end of the day, it was Australian pro Mark Vos who went into the final table with the chip lead, as the seating assignments and chip stacks looked like this:

Seat 1: Marc Naalden (Belgium) -- 251,200
Seat 2: Fedor Los (Netherlands) -- 286,700
Seat 3: Simon Borg (Denmark) -- 75,800
Seat 4: Salvatore Cundari (Italy) -- 116,800

Seat 5: Mark Vos (Australia) -- 548,800

Seat 6: Runnar Lindepuu (Estonia) -- 391,300
Seat 7: Joseph Buhmann (USA) -- 126,300
Seat 8: Jan Hlobil (Netherlands) -- 84,400
Seat 9: Farhad Kia (UK) -- 74,100

Poker - Which are the Easiest to Play

Here is a guide to the best online games. Find yourself winning, or at least not necessary losing in the long run. The best casino games are games that have a low house edge or games where by practicing your skill you can have an advantage over the casino.
Those with the lowest house edge are blackjack and video poker. By improving the skill with which you play poker and blackjack, you gain an advantage over the other player or over the casino. This is an exceptional casino game. It is the only casino game where you play against the other players instead of competing against the casino. There is not a house edge in poker. Instead, most casinos ensure their profits by collecting a rake, which is a certain percentage of the pot used to cover expenses. Other casinos charge each player by the hour.