Satellites for the $16,000 Main Event package will take place on Tuesdays and Sundays at 20:00 (CET) from Tuesday March 25 2008 until Sunday June 15 2008 with satellites for the $13,000 Side Events package taking place on Saturdays at 20:00 (CET) and running from Thursday March 27 2008 to Saturday May 31 2008.
Each package includes first class accommodation with $2,500 spending money, and entry for the WSOP. Last year's WSOP Main Event prize pool was a massive $63.5 million.
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Two top pros host successful fundraisers
On March 13 in San Francisco, Todd Brunson hosted a charity poker tournament that benefited the Leo Brien Foundation. The organization's main cause is Camp Okizu, which is a retreat for children who have cancer. Both professional poker players and online sites came out in force to support the Leo Brien Foundation.
World Poker Tour champions Roy "The Oracle" Winston and Hoyt Corkins were part of the proceedings, and they were joined by Kathy Liebert, Layne Flack and Allen Kessler. Online poker rooms such as Doyle's Room, Full Tilt and Ultimate Bet provided gift bags for all the participants, who enjoyed not only the poker tournament but also a silent auction that raised a good deal of funds for the organization.
As much as to benefit an excellent organization, what attendees were eager for was the chance to play poker against some of the best in the game. The final table came down to Kathy Liebert and amateur Doug Fowler.
Liebert took the second-place prize, a WSOP Academy package and a 1,500-piece Full Tilt Poker chip set, and joked about how the Academy will help her game. Fowler, for winning the tournament, will fly to Las Vegas to spend a weekend with Todd Brunson, complete with travel and accommodation.
Overall, the tournament and the silent auction raised nearly $20,000 for the Leo Brien Foundation. For more information on the work of the Foundation or to make a contribution, visit LeoBrienFoundation.com.
Last Sunday night (March 16) saw thousands come together online to support another charitable organization and one of its strongest voices, Jennifer Harman.
#img: jennifer-harman_16104.jpg: left: Jennifer Harman#
The Jennifer Harman Animal Lovers Poker Tournament was an online event sponsored by Full Tilt for the Nevada Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
The $10 tournament, with half of the entry fee going to the organization, was expected to draw around 1,000 to 1,500 players for the event. By the time registration had ended on Sunday, an astounding 3,009 people showed up to support a cause that Harman holds in high regard.
Perhaps the star power of the tournament is what drew the large crowd. Professionals such as Harman, her husband Marco Traniello, Erik Seidel, Clonie Gowen, Andy Bloch and many other professionals on the Full Tilt roster were at the tables and they were joined by several stars from the extreme sports world, including two-time X Games champion Ross Powers and wakeboarder Parks Bonifay.
While online player "Jzeeee" was the eventual champion of the tournament, taking a nice payday of $2,235, the real winner was the animals at the no-kill shelter of the Nevada SPCA. The 3,009 players provided a $15,000 donation to the group and Full Tilt matched that amount, making the total haul for the Nevada SPCA over $30,000.
Harman will be hosting another poker tournament to benefit the Nevada SPCA on April 18, following the inaugural tournament she sponsored last year. Last year's live tournament raised $130,000 for the Nevada SPCA and it is expected to have many of the same players donating their time and funds for a worthy cause. Visit NevadASPCA.org to learn more about the group or to make a private donation.
These two events demonstrate that poker can be a force for the good. Top professionals in the world of poker will no doubt continue the positive trend.
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Playboy Mansion a hotbed for charity poker
Hugh Hefner and his Girls Next Door are set to open the Mansion grounds up for the tournament Saturday, May 18, with the event running from 6 p.m. to 12 a.m.
General admission for the night is $500, complete with access to hors d'oeuvres, an open bar, casino night table games and the "infamous Grotto." (The tournament Web site suggests you bring your own swimwear.) There will also be a silent auction on the grounds throughout the night.
For those who want to have a little poker with their Playboy Mansion experience, a seat in the tournament will cost $1,500. All proceeds from the tournament will benefit the Urban Health Institute, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization "founded to provide direct care, medicine and medical equipment in response to natural and man-made disasters."
Early registration is available until March 31. To register, or to get more information about the Celebrity Poker Tournament, contact Yvette McNally at yvette_mcnally@sbcglobal.net or visit the event Web site.
As has been the case in the past, first prize for the tournament is a $10,000 seat in the WSOP Main Event. Second prize this year is a Bermuda vacation for two with travel and four-star hotel accommodation, while third prize is a set of Giovanna Wheels and a Koko Kuture Bezel System.
The past two years have both seen celebrity poker players crowned champion at the charity event. Long before his involvement with Ante Up For Africa at the WSOP, actor Don Cheadle won the UHI Playboy Mansion tournament in 2006.
Last year it was actress and 2007 National Heads-Up Poker Championship semifinalist Shannon Elizabeth who took down the title while helping UHI raise money for its charity programs.
Confirmed to attend so far are Doyle Brunson, Todd Brunson, Pam Brunson, and Hoyt Corkins. If the past two years are any indication, the list of confirmations will blossom as the event grows nearer.
According to the UHI Web site,"the organization enlists pro-bono participation from local health care professionals to provide public health education and information about the availability of health-related and specialty care resources within disadvantaged communities around the globe."
Some of UHI's past activities have included administering medical relief to victims of the 2004 tsunami in Thailand, tending to New Orleans residents evacuated from their homes to the Astrodome in Houston, participating in local health fairs and sponsoring youth sports programs, and providing medical exams, medications, and supplies to communities in Nigeria and Belize.
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World Series of Golf 2008
For almost as long as people have been playing golf, people have been betting on it. Golf had the image of a somewhat seedy gamblers game until a few bright minds put together the PGA. After a couple seasons of the PGA, golf was no longer considered seedy, or even a means to gamble to most. It was a professional sport, a skill game.
Poker is on the same route as golf. Poker was a seedy game, for seedy people to be played in the back rooms of seedy pubs. In the last decade, the game has grown into itself, and has come a considerably long way along the road to being accepted along with professional sports.
The Word Series of Golf is an annual golf tournament held in Las Vegas Nevada. Like the World Series of Poker, the entrance fee for this event sets each player back $10,000. Each player is given a set amount of chips for their buy-in, and is paired up with a player of similar skill for their first round on their way to the $250,000 first prize.
Unlike the standard forms of golf, where winning the round is 100% dependant on your skill with a club, The WSG allows for players to use poker strategy on the course.
Each pair of players tee off on a hole as per normal. After the tee off, the players are now able to check, bet, raise, call or fold on winning the hole. Same as poker, once you fold or lose the hole the opponent wins all the chips in the pot.
Once you lose all your chips, you're out of the tourney. Unlike in real golf where you can always make up strokes on later holes, there is no way to get back your chips once you go bust. What was a simple putt on the practice green can becomes a battle with nerves once your opponent puts all their chips across the line.
A few of the poker players to enter in last year's WSG include: Phil Ivey, Phil Gordon and Rhett Butler. With the interest other poker players have shown for the event on high stakes poker tables, this year should have the largest count of professional poker players in attendance.
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