Preorder Stacked, Get Stuff
Reserve your copy of Myelin's poker product and get an extra DVD.

by Ivan Sulic

Myelin Media's Stacked with Daniel Negreanu should be out for PC, Xbox and PS2 by the end of October (PSP in November). To entice gamers into preordering the title, Myelin is offering a free behind the scenes DVD.

According to Myelin, "Consumers can now reserve their copy of the game at EB Games, GameStop, GameCrazy, CompUSA Online, Toys'R Us, and Barnes & Noble Online to receive 'Inside STACKED,' a free making-of DVD with exclusive behind the scenes footage, tips and interviews with the seven professional poker players in the game."

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Down to Six At the World Poker Tour Main Event At Borgata

ATLANTIC CITY, NJ -- (MARKET WIRE) -- The third day of action at the Borgata Poker Open, part of the World Poker Tour, saw another round of intense battling as the field tried to make moves and secure their position in one of the top six final spots. Sixty-two players began the action at 11 a.m., but it wasn't long before players began to drop like flies.

The drama of the event was heightened throughout the day by the looming fact that only 45 players would make the money. Unfortunately for 17 players, their three day efforts became all for naught as they watched their dreams of a World Poker Tour title slip away.

With a $1.5 million first-place prize awaiting the winner, players adjusted their game performance and did their best to capitalize on the opportunities to advance as they presented themselves. Several players lost big hands on questionable calls, which only intensified the action as players focused on playing both their opponents and the random cards they were being dealt.

As players were eliminated, the action became more of a chess match than a wild all-in blowout. The poker faces of some of the best players in the game eventually cracked as the night wore on and several prominent pros made exits that clearly left them unsatisfied.

The action continued until 4:54 a.m., when J.C. Tran was eliminated in a three-way pot. His queens were not enough to take down Al Ardabelli's aces, giving him the seventh place spot and almost $200,000.

The crowd cheered as the final six players of the WPT main event were announced. Leading the pack is David Singer, best known for his ninth-place finish in the 2003 World Series of Poker main event, with $3,200,000 in chips. Close on his heels is pro John D'Agostino with $2,295,000.

Robert "Action Bob" Hwang of Clark, N.J., who earlier in the week won the 2005 Borgata Poker Open $1500 buy-in event collecting $129,600, is sitting pretty with $1,795,000 in chips.

Al Ardebili, who finally ended the almost 18-hour marathon, has $1,425,000 in chips while Kathy Leibert, currently ranked second on the women's all-time money list, is set for another huge cash win as she hopes to carry over her stellar play to the final table. She will start with $1,045,000 in chips and poses a serious threat to the bigger stacks.

The short stack at the table is Richard Festejo with $540,000. Festejo is best known for finishing in the top ten in a number of lower buy-in events across the country.

The final table begins today at 5 p.m. and will air on the Travel Channel in the coming months.

About Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa

Borgata is a joint venture development of Boyd Gaming Corporation (NYSE: BYD) and MGM MIRAGE (NYSE: MGM). Located at Renaissance Pointe in Atlantic City, it features 2,000 guest rooms and suites, 125,000 square-feet of gaming, 11 destination restaurants, 11 retail boutiques, a 50,000 square foot spa, 70,000 square-feet of event space, and parking for 7,100 cars.

About WPT Enterprises, Inc.

WPT Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ: WPTE) is a company engaged in the creation of internationally branded entertainment and consumer products driven by the development, production, and marketing of televised programming based on gaming themes. WPTE is the creator of the World Poker Tour®, a television show based on a series of high-stakes poker tournaments that airs on the Travel Channel in the United States and more than 100 markets globally.

Contact:
Noel Stevenson
Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa
609.317.7380
noelstevenson@theborgata.com

SOURCE: Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa

September 20, 2005 01:23 PM US Eastern Timezone PokerStars' World Championship of Online Poker Now the Third Largest Poker Tournament in the World; Poker Players from 82 Countries Compete for Nearly $13 Million in Prize Money

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Fifteen new poker champions were crowned in the fourth annual World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) held at PokerStars.com. The 15-day competition attracted 19,727 players worldwide representing 82 different countries. The enormous turnout made the WCOOP poker's most international competition. Winners were awarded a whopping $12,783,900 in total prize money in 15 tournament events.

The WCOOP main event, a $2,500 buy-in No-Limit Texas Hold'em tournament, attracted 1,494 entrants. After nearly 14 hours of bluffing, raising and folding the three finalists in the championship event (one American and two Swedish players) agreed on a deal. The prize money was divided and each player collected more than $500,000 from the largest prize pool in online poker history.

"I was overwhelmed by this year's World Championship of Online Poker," said Lee Jones, WCOOP Tournament Director and PokerStars' Poker Room Manager. "We exceeded our $8 million guarantee by nearly 60 percent, making the WCOOP the third largest poker tournament series of any kind so far this year. As always, it's the players who made this event into such a colossal success. This was a poker tournament to remember."

All events were broadcast live over the Internet. In addition to being easily accessible for viewing at PokerStars.com, poker fans everywhere tuned in to radio broadcasts of final tables featuring commentary from such popular poker celebrities as Greg Raymer, Chris Moneymaker and Barry Greenstein. "No other tournament in history has provided such easy public access to the excitement of high-stakes tournament poker as the WCOOP," added Jones.

The 2005 WCOOP started out in spectacular fashion. Event #1, a $500 buy-in No-Limit Hold'em tournament, attracted a staggering 3,062 players. This ranks as one of the largest poker events in history, exceeded only by the WCOOP 2004 main event (and eventually by the WCOOP 2005 main event). Many players won their entry way into WCOOP events through satellite tournaments, costing as little as $5.50. Other players earned free seats into satellites using "Frequent Player Points," accumulated by playing at PokerStars.com. In all, PokerStars.com awarded over $1 million in free entries to this landmark event.

Overall, prize money was paid out to 1,972 winners. While the overwhelming majority of winners were amateur players, many famous names were among the competitors. The 2003 and 2004 World Series of Poker winners, Chris Moneymaker and Greg Raymer respectively, both logged on to play, along with many other top professional players. Winners of each event were tagged with the "world champion" title, and received a coveted WCOOP Championship gold bracelet, which has become a tradition at PokerStars.com.

For complete results, visit the 2005 WCOOP information page at: http://www.pokerstars.com/2005wcoop/main.html

About PokerStars

PokerStars (www.pokerstars.com) is the world's most innovative online poker site. PokerStars was the first site to introduce features that became industry standard such as sophisticated multi-table tournaments, integrated game statistics, players' notes, personalized images, time bank for tournaments and big bet ring games, satellite tournaments, multi-table sit and go tournaments, and much more.

To date, PokerStars has dealt over 2.5 billion hands and run more than twelve million poker tournaments, awarding over $1 billion in prize money. PokerStars' support team is truly unique, with help and assistance available around the clock from people who know and understand the game of poker and the importance of impeccable customer service.

The PokerStars.com site sets new standards in security for its players. PokerStars uses industry-leading security software to ensure the integrity of the system, including encryption, card shuffle randomness and preventative measures against cheating and collusion. Money covering player's balances is held in segregated accounts managed by the Royal Bank of Scotland, ensuring that PokerStars can fulfill its obligations to players at all times.

PokerStars is an official member of the World Poker Tour, and the title sponsor of the European Poker Tour (EPT) and the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure. PokerStars is the site where the 2003 and 2004 World Champions of Poker won entries into the World Series of Poker, thus earning the trademark, "Where Poker Players Become World Champions."

Contacts:
for PokerStars.com
The Bohle Company
Craig Sinel or Sibel Sunar, 310.785.0515 Ext. 211/271
craig@bohle.com
sibel@bohle.com

CORRECTING and REPLACING Bounty Tournament at DoylesRoom.com Gains Popularity with a $25,000 Prize up for Grabs!

Press Release

CORRECTION...by DoylesRoom.com

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Headline of release should read: ... with a $25,000 Prize up for Grabs! (sted ... with $25,000 in Prizes up for Grabs!).

The release reads:

BOUNTY TOURNAMENT AT DOYLESROOM.COM GAINS POPULARITY WITH A $25,000 PRIZE UP FOR GRABS!

The $10,000 bounty tournament at DoylesRoom.com was such a great success that Doyle Brunson has decided to increase the top prize to $25,000. This generous prize will be awarded to the player that can knock out all three bounties; Doyle Brunson, Mike Caro and Todd Brunson. Don't miss this unprecedented event, scheduled to start September 21st at 9:00PM ETD (1:00am GMT Thursday morning) at DoylesRoom.com.

DoylesRoom.com PR Manager, Alejandro Collins was quoted saying, "Last week's tournament was action packed, and drew well over 400 players. This week we anticipate an even greater turn out. A participant in last week's tournament knocked Doyle out and ended up sitting to left of Mike Caro, where he tried his best to eliminate the "Mad Genius of Poker" - Mike prevailed and was not eliminated - added Mr. Collins."

A $5,000 consolation prize was added to this week's Bounty Tournament - awarded to player that can knock out any two of the bounty players. The Bounty Tournament has become a weekly happening event at DoylesRoom.com. This will be the second time that all three poker legends will be playing in the same online event.

Register early for this unprecedented event at http://www.doylesroom.com/pr and take your best shot at one of the bounty's; Doyle Brunson $200, Mike Caro $100, Todd Brunson $100 and if one player knocks out all three, he or she could walk away with the $ 25,000 prize.

About DoylesRoom.com:

DoylesRoom.com is powered by DBPN (Doyle Brunson Poker Network), a company incorporated and licensed in Curacao, Netherlands Antilles. http://www.doylesroom.com/pr

Contacts:
DoylesRoom.com, San Jose
Alejandro Collins, 1-888-762-4192

Five Unconventional Tips To Poker Success

By Charles Mousseau

There's a reason that conventional advice is called "conventional," and it's related to the same reason that obvious plans are considered "obvious" - they are ultimately effective.

I, ever the contrarian, always have looked off the beaten path to find ways to improve my poker success. Not just those that are different for their own sake, but those that I feel are effective, ones I can integrate into my own play, and they just haven't been talked about by big-name authors.

I'll leave the mainstream advice to the mainstream authors, but if you are curious, here are the best five things I do to help my tournament success that no one, to the best of my knowledge, has discussed.

No. 1: Watch a few hands unfold at your table from a different physical location.

You hear athletes and poker players alike talk about a situation known as "being in the groove." You're almost seeing things before they happen, letting intuition take over the micromanaging so you can start absorbing things in the big picture.

It can be very effective, but the danger is this: It isn't a big step from being "in the groove" to being "in a rut."

To combat this, I have developed a little trick which I first used back in my chess-playing days, where for a few of my opponent's turns, I would stand behind him and observe the game "from a distance," in an effort to force myself to see the game not just as my game, but simply, a game.

The next time you are at the poker table, and you're going to get up and go for a stretch, or to get a soda, stand back from the table and watch the action. Pretend you aren't even involved. When they're about to deal, sit down and get your cards, play the hand if it is worthy. When you're out of the hand, stand back up. Walk around and watch.

World Championship of Online Poker - Final Report

Press Release

The Fourth Annual World Championship of Online Poker concluded last night with the $2,500 No-Limit Hold 'Em championship event. 1,494 players won their entry or paid the full fee to have their shot at the $859,050 first prize. This was a record for the WCOOP, and the $3,735,000 prize pool was a record for online poker.

Many big names in the poker world entered this event. The top names at Team PokerStars didn't fare as well as they would have liked, as most of their front-runners were out fairly early. Evelyn Ng (evybabee) went out 604th, Chris Moneymaker (money800) fell out in 1,355th, and Greg Raymer (Fossilman) busted in 402nd. Isabelle Mercier (NoMercy) did manage a very solid performance, finishing in 63rd and winning $9,337.

Other notables who entered but did not cash were Scott Fischman (emptyseat88), Noah Boeken (Exclusive), Barry Greenstein (crazyplayer), Joe Sebok (fidallio), John D'Agostino (jdags21), Layne Flack (reloadthis), and Brett Jungblut (gank).

135 players were paid money for their efforts, the worst a player who cashed could do was $3,735. All final table participants were guaranteed at least $56,025—which alone is more than 90% of online tournaments pay out altogether!

The final nine were assembled and ready to go to war for the monstrous prize money around 3:45 a.m. eastern. Top player Tony G (wraptduck) busted out on the bubble for the final table, but did manage to pocket $29,880.

Buster Love was the first to get felted, as his ace-four didn't connect against aaaaaaaa's pocket nines. Ninth was worth $56,025.

tralala became the terminator in the next few pots, eliminating lollylu with pocket aces and salas777 with ace-jack. lollylu took eighth for $85,905, and salas777 placed in seventh for $123,255.

JERRRY made a call for the last of his chips with pocket sevens, but saw Panella86 turn over pocket jacks. JERRRY didn't hit anything, obviously, as he exited the final table in sixth. For his long day of poker, JERRRY has $160,605 to ease his pain.

aaaaaaaa took the plunge next, in a mysterious all-in bluff with eight-three. Vendetta made the call with ace-jack, and eliminated aaaaaaaaa in fifth. He earned $197,955 for the finish.

Panella86 picked off PICKLED EGG with kings for fourth place. After that, they cut a deal three-handed to give Panella86 $527,342, tralala $573,735, and Vendetta $540,877. They would play for $50,000 and the gold WCOOP bracelet.

Fresh off of some interesting trash talk (as well as openly admitting he was 18 and drinking about a dozen-plus beers), Panella86 cracked tralala's pocket kings by check-raising all-in on the turn with a big draw. He made his runner-runner flush on the river and was heads-up for the title, and he isn't even old enough to buy the alcohol he was celebrating with.

It took only three hands for the young partier to eliminate Vendetta, who had held out for a while in deal negotiations. Vendetta called all-in on a six-high flop with ace-six, after he was check-raised by Pandella86. He was a huge favorite against jack-ten for no pair no draw, but the ten of spade on the turn gave Pandella86 a pair plus a flush draw. It was enough, and he became the fourth WCOOP Main Event champion.

Pros are prepared to make the most of a bad hand

By Steve Rosenbloom

Chicago Tribune

Ask any pro, and they'll say you need a lot of heart to play poker. The courage to bluff with bad cards. The guts to fold with good ones.

When it comes to bluffing, most players take one shot, and that's it. Many pros, however, frequently take two. Or they're at least prepared to. That's where heart is measured.

That's where you sell it.

And the best spot to make a move that no one can read is from a spot on the table where no one expects it.

"Early position is often a better spot to bluff, even though there are more hands behind you," said young, talented pro Erick Lindgren, whose moxie gives you an idea of how he became an all-league high school quarterback.

"When you're playing against the best players in the world and you raise in late position, they know most often you don't have a hand, and they know you're using your position to your advantage."

Lindgren makes his point with a hand from a World Series of Poker event when he drew 3-4 of hearts in early position and came out raising.

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Walking Back to Houston With Anna or Waingro

By James McManus

As hole cards in no-limit hold'em, an ace with a king is one of the thorniest hands to play without bleeding your stack or draining it down to the felt. You may be fingering the two highest unpaired cards, but your hand is an underdog to even a lowly pair of deuces - an underdog, in fact, to every pocket pair. Kings, for example, are a 70 percent favorite over A-K, aces a whopping 92.6 percent, while aces beat deuces only 80 percent of the time. Yet players routinely fold deuces before the flop but raise with A-K.

With good reason. When holding A-K, at least six cards - the other three aces and kings - will strikingly improve your hand, not to mention the Q-J-10 and one-suited flops that give you the nuts or big draws. But only two cards improve the 2-2. Because every nondeuce that appears on the board will be an overcard to your pair, it becomes increasingly difficult to call bets if you don't flop a deuce.

Yet the fact remains that, heads-up with one player all-in, 2-2 will outrace A-K 53 percent of the time. Even more surprising, perhaps, is that A-K is only a 62 percent favorite against a raggedy hand like 8-6. In a four-way pot, deuces are about a 4-1 underdog, A-K only a 2-1 dog. These odds are more relevant in limit hold'em, however; no-limit pots are more likely to be contested heads-up.

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