WPT London Confirmed

Last month’s controversial rumour about the WPT coming to London has been confirmed.

The WPT London Classic will take place at the Palm Beach Casino at The Mayfair Casino between 29th August and 5th September. The main event will be a £5,000 +£300 NLH, with a two day ones and a cap of 400 entrants. The event will be filmed for television broadcast, sponsored by PartyPoker.

The announcement from the WPT has ended a month of online speculation, following a post by Simon Tomsett on the Hendon Mob forum.

WPT’s President, Adam Pliska commented, ““London is a great poker destination and has always been a major target in our ongoing expansion.”

Tony Cascarino wins GUKPT Grand Final

Football legend, Tony Cascarino, has won the 2009 Grosvenor UK Poker Tour Grand Final at the Grosvenor Victoria Casino in London taking away £168,800 prize money. This is the retired footballer’s second GUKPT title, last year he won the GUKPT main event in Bolton.

Cascarino outlasted a field of 183 players in the 4-day £3,000 NL Hold’em main event. History repeated itself when Cascarino was joined on the final table by Stuart Rutter, both players were making their second appearance at the final table of this event. World Heads Up Champion Bambos Xanthos and high stakes cash pro Albert Iversen also made it to the final.

Kara Scott confirmed as new presenter on High Stakes Poker

We recently reported that Kara Scott was rumoured to be joining High Stakes Poker as Gabe Kaplan’s new co-host. The UK/Canadian poker player and TV presenter has now been confirmed as AJ Benza’s replacement on the show.

Scott, who hosted the EPT in 2007 and 2008, will be acting as an on-screen hostess conducting interviews about strategy and table dynamics leaving Gabe Kaplan to commentate on his own. The sixth season of High Stakes Poker will follow the same format as Poker After Dark, which is produced by the same company.

GSN’s High Stakes Poker will feature a minimum cash buy-in of $200,000. It will showcase some of the best poker players in the world including Patrik Antonius, David Benyamine, Doyle Brunson, Tom Dwan, Eli Elezra, Antonio Esfandiari, Sammy George, Barry Greenstein, Phil Hellmuth, Andreas Hoivold, Phil Ivey, Mike Matusow, Allan Meltzer, Daniel Negreanu, Dennis Phillips, Lex Veldhuis and Yevgeniy Timoshenko.

The show is due to air in February 2010.

Andrew Feldman to play Season Six of High Stakes Poker

Full Tilt Poker Pro, Andrew Feldman, has confirmed that he will be playing on season six of GSN’s poker cash game, High Stakes Poker. The show, which is considered to be the best televised poker show ever, will be filmed in November and aired on GSN in February next year. Gabe Kaplan will be joined by a mystery co-host rumoured to be Kara Scott. Previous co-host AJ Benza worked on the show for the first five seasons before being axed.

Feldman, the first UK player to ever appear on the show said, “Apparently I was recommended to the producer by none other than Tom ‘Durrrr’ Dwan. Maybe he thinks I’m good value, maybe he thinks I’ll give action…I hope it’s the latter. Last month I played the Full Tilt Million Dollar cash game, but this is going to be just as tough if not tougher!”

Phil Hellmuth, Tom ‘Durrrr’ Dwan and Dennis Phillips have also confirmed that they will be playing on High Stakes Poker.

During season five of High Stakes Poker, Tom Dwan and Barry Greenstein played out the biggest ever televised pot worth a staggering $919,000. No doubt Andrew Feldman is looking forward to getting involved in the action this season!

Kara Scott to replace AJ Benza on High Stakes Poker?

Despite Kara Scott’s work with Matchroom Poker, there are rumours that she is going to replace AJ Benza for season six of the highly popular cash game program, High Stakes Poker. PokerStars have confirmed that they will be sponsoring the show. GSN announced that Benza, who hosted the show for the first five seasons, would not be returning to co-host the show alongside Gabe Kaplan.

The new presenter of the show should have been announced by now but GSN are a couple of weeks away from confirming a replacement host. We know that the replacement will be female after Benza revealed that he was being replaced by a ‘chick’ on his blog.

Building a Poker Bankroll – 3% per day

Building a bankroll in poker, or any of form of gambling, can be a daunting task. Just how did these super high stakes players make their millions? Have they been incredibly lucky? Is it all down to skill or playing 16 tables at once? Well, the answer might be “yes” to some of the questions. However, some players are “grinders” who have built their bankroll up slowly and steadily each day over a long period of time.

Variance plays a huge part in poker. We’ll all suffer losing days no matter how well we play. However, things do average out over time and if we assume we can increase our poker bankroll by just 3% each day then things will be looking pretty impressive after only a year!

Phil Black Belt and Boots

He may be renowned for his eccentric personality and impromptu press-ups, but this May, Phil ‘Unabomber’ Laak will be deadly serious as he swaps hoodie and sunglasses for camouflage attire and braces himself for a weekend of hardcore poker drills.

Taking place on Saturday May 16 and Sunday, May 17, 2009 at the Loose Cannon Sports Club in London, Black Belt Poker are proud to announce their  first ever live boot camp in  which US superstar Phil Laak will be sharing his pearls of poker wisdom and revealing some of those secrets that have helped him become a titan of the green baize.

With almost $1.5 million in tournament winnings including a WPT invitational title, multiple WSOP final tables and a £150,000 win in the 2005 William Hill Grand Prix, Laak is regarded as one of the game’s most talented players, and has even enjoyed a spell on the highly acclaimed cash game show, High Stakes Poker.

Joining Laak at the Boot Camp will be Black Belt Poker founders and established poker pros Neil Channing and Nik Persaud, as well as Nick Wealthall who will be on hand to deal out his trademark witty banter as prestigious host of the weekend.

Tickets for the Boot Camp are selling at £700 and will include food, drink and two night’s accommodation. What’s more, a tournament will be staged on the Saturday evening in which participating players will fight it out for a $5,000 Vegas package including flight, accommodation and entry into a $1,500 WSOP event of their choosing.

There will be limited space on the Boot Camp, so for your chance to work closely with some of the game’s leading pros, be sure to register your interest at bootcamp@blackbeltpoker.com.

For more information regarding Black Belt Poker, please visit the review page at blackbeltpoker.com and be sure to check out the site when it launches on Monday, April 27,