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Chris Bell won the 2010 World Series of Poker Circuit (WSOPC) Northeast Regional Championship, winning $358,295 and his second major tournament victory of the year.

Bell is not one of the poker’s biggest names, but he has had a big year in 2010. In June, he won his first World Series of Poker bracelet by taking down the $5,000 buy-in pot limit Omaha H/L event, winning $327,040. His previous accomplishments include making a World Poker Tour final table earlier this year, making three WSOP final tables in previous years, and finishing in the top six at three WPT events in his career. Bell’s career winnings are now over $2.7 million.

At the WSOPC Northeast Regional, Bell faced a very tough final table for a circuit event. Others at the table included Todd Terry (finished 5th), Andy Frankenberger (6th) and Micah Raskin (4th). In fact, it took seven hours before the first player – Seth Fischer – was eliminated from the final table, making it a true marathon session.

But Bell’s final opponent would be Chris Klodnicki, a two-time World Series of Poker final table finisher who was looking to win the WSOPC Main Event at Harrah’s Atlantic City for the second consecutive year. With the two players approximately equal in chips, both players got their money into the pot on a 653 rainbow flop. Klodnicki had 64 for top pair and an open-ended straight draw, but he was behind, as Bell showed 33 for bottom set. The turn and river failed to improve either player, giving Bell a monster pot.

But after a few minutes of counting and double-checking, it became clear that Bell slightly outchipped Klodnicki, meaning that the tournament was official over. For his second place finish, Klodnicki took home $221,452.

The full results of the final table were as follows:

1st: Chris Bell — $358,295

2nd: Chris Klodnicki — $221,452

3rd: Ketan Pandya — $159,851

4th: Micah Raskin — $117,457

5th: Todd Terry — $87,808

6th: Andy Frankenberger — $66,758

7th: Jason Burt — $51,607

8th: Nick Mitchell — $40,538

9th: Seth Fischer — $32,362

And now, here are 20 poker stories of note from 2010. Since we aren't trying to rank these -- i.e., they are presented here in no particular order -- let's turn this list right-side-up...

1. In January, the much liked and respected Amir Vahedi passed away at the age of 49 after a career in which he earned more than $3 million in tournaments, including a WSOP bracelet and Main Event final table in 2003.

2. Phil Ivey won his eighth WSOP bracelet, taking the $3,000 buy-in H.O.R.S.E. event.

3. Several British poker players enjoyed remarkable success in 2010, among them Sam Trickett (six WSOP cashes; won Party Poker World Open VI), Jake Cody (won WPT London and EPT Deauville; earned more than $1.7 million for year), Toby Lewis (won EPT Vilamoura), and James Bord (won WSOPE Main Event and WPT Marrakech High Roller).

4. The two biggest U.S.-facing online poker sites, PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker, closed their doors to players from Washington thanks to that state's Supreme Court upholding a ruling making online poker a felony.

5. The North American Poker Tour debuted, with stops in Las Vegas, Connecticut, and Los Angeles (plus a nominal one in the Caribbean).

6. In June, Phil "the Unabomber" Laak set a new world's record for playing the longest ever poker session, putting in 115 consecutive hours at the Bellagio.

7. After enjoying much success and high-profile careers, Gavin Smith, Phil Laak, and Gus Hansen all won their first WSOP bracelets in 2010, together joining Michael Mizrachi in their leaving behind the "best without a bracelet" club.

8. The mysterious Swede, Isildur1, returned to the online tables in the spring, then again this month after being signed as a Team Pro by PokerStars. Adding further intrigue, Viktor Blom -- thought by many to be Isildur1 -- made a deep run at the WSOP Europe Main Event, finishing 16th after spending some time atop the leaderboard with Phil Ivey.

9. An incident of cheating was discovered at the Partouche Poker Tour Grand Final, resulting in the disqualification of German player Ali Tekintamgac just prior to the final table.

10. Frank Kassela won the WSOP Player of the Year after winning two preliminary events and cashing six times overall, including in the Main Event. He was nearly caught by Michael Mizrachi, who would've tied Kassela had he won the ME.

11. A new form of online-only poker, Rush Poker made its debut on Full Tilt Poker in January

12. Two-time WSOP Main Event winner Johnny Chan was still among the chip leaders on Day 6 of this year's ME before finishing 156th.

13. There were record turnouts at the 2010 WSOP, with 72,966 total entries (besting last year's record of 60,875) playing for a whopping $187,109,850 (also a record).

14. Several U.S. states contemplated their own online gambling legislation -- most particularly California and New Jersey -- with varying degrees of progress.

15. Annette "Annette_15" Obrestad made her WSOP debut, cashing in four events and just missing a final table in the $1,500 no-limit hold'em shootout.

16. Matt Affleck made a second straight deep run in the WSOP Main Event before being eliminated by eventual winner Jonathan Duhamel -- in most dramatic fashion -- in 15th place.

17. The World Series of Poker made a stop in South Africa in October.

18. The first "Durrrr challenge" between Tom Dwan and Patrik Antonius continued while a second one between Dwan and Daniel "Jungleman" Cates was begun.

19. A few relatively small online cheating scandals cropped up during the year, though none were on the massive scale of the Absolute Poker-UltimateBet scandals of the past.

20. Tom Marchese won Card Player's player of the year, while Sorel Mizzi has the Bluff Magazine POY locked up.

The 42nd Annual World Series of Poker has announced the dates that it will run in 2011. Beginning on Tuesday, May 31, the WSOP returns to the familiar Rio All Suite Hotel and Casino for 50 days of poker, concluding on Tuesday, July 19.

One change in 2011 will be the inclusion of hard stop times for all bracelet events. Players will participate in a maximum of 10 levels per day, at which point hard stop times will be enforced no matter how many players are left. Tournament directors will not be allowed to extend play on a given day to narrow the field further. As a result, it’s likely that some events will last longer than scheduled.

The WSOP main event will once again conclude the Series. It will feature four starting days, with Day 1A beginning on Thursday, July 7. The November Nine players will be decided on July 19.

The full WSOP events schedule will be released in January.

The game of poker has grown into such a phenomenon over the past decade, that it is common to find home games being played by friends all across the world on a nightly basis. With the popularity has also come a major spike in poker related sales.

Websites have popped up all across the Internet that sell poker accessories. From custom made tables to poker chips and cards, the business of poker has never been higher. With the growth has also come competition, and that competition will be shown in the coming days.

The day after Christmas sales are typically some of the biggest sales of the year, and in 2010, that trend should continue. For those looking to take advantage of the after Christmas sales, today will be the day to strike. Gamblers will have the opportunity to get some of their favorite accessories at discount prices.

Poker tables can be a pricey proposition if a player decides to have their table custom made. Any of these gamblers, however, that can deal with a mass produced table, the after Christmas sales may be the perfect time to purchase new tables. The cards can be found in the range of $20 a deck during the year, and those prices drop the day after Christmas sometimes by fifty percent.

"My friends and I play for fun once a month, and we have been doing so for several years," said Mark Bronin. "I always stock up on cards and usually buy a new set of chips every year the day after Christmas. I'm already looking for deals online for tomorrow."

Online poker has become almost as popular as poker in a casino in recent years. While the home game players look for deals at the poker accessory distribution sites, online players may be taking advantage of bonus opportunities at online sites leading into the new year.

Online poker has been at the forefront of US politics in recent weeks with Senator Harry Reid pushing an online poker regulation bill. The legislation did not make it through during the lame-duck session, leaving poker enthusiasts discouraged about the prospects of new online gambling laws in the next couple of years.

Whether you're unwrapping presents, cooking an extravagant meal, crying in your egg nog, singing carols with your family or playing online poker(!), we at Bodog would like to send warm holiday wishes out to all of our friends, loved ones and of course, our loyal players during this holiday season. We hope that the New Year will bring you everything you could possibly wish for.

We sincerely appreciate our customers and are looking forward to new ways to entertain, bringing forth the best online gaming experience in 2011. Whether you're into sports betting, our online casino, poker, horse betting or our entertainment and political props, our devoted employees go all out trying to make Bodog the best place to place your bets.

With cash comps based on activity as well as 24/7 support service and TST certified system software, you can trust you're playing with the best online casino. Our poker room's guaranteed tournaments fill our players with cheer and our wide range of sports bets give you plenty of ways to add excitement to any sport you plan on watching in the New Year.

So from all of us to all of you, happy holidays to you and your loved ones. May your New Year see plenty of flopped sets at the poker table, rows of cherries in the casino and may all your sports picks be winners.

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Next week, we’ll be looking back at a full decade of exciting poker events in the United States and the rest of the world. The industry has grown incredibly, with online poker becoming more mainstream, land events becoming more popular and prizes growing to massive proportions. But while there was definitely more good than bad, there are few things that we’d prefer to leave behind in 2010 and not bring them with us into the New Year.

For one, we’d like to forget the failures of US legislatures (so far) to pass a comprehensive bill that will legalize and regulate online poker once and for all. Granted, efforts were made on a state and federal level to move forward and change the current laws, but the bottom line is that, once again, we enter a new year with no concrete changes. Our disappointment was heightened by the efforts of Harry Reid to get his bill through at the last minute during the Lame Duck session, only to drop back at the last minute.

Another trend that is definitely worth saying goodbye to is that of seeing WSOP bracelets displayed all over eBay as if they were old clothes put out for sale. The trend was started by 2008 WSOP champ, Peter Eastgate, who simply wanted to step out of the poker limelight and forget his exceptional win. While we can understand this desire, the flip side of his successful sale of his coveted WSOP bracelet on the internet was that we are seeing more players following in his footsteps. Our humble opinion is that the WSOP bracelet is such a desired object among poker players that its very sale on eBay cheapens one of the most prestigious poker events in the industry.

Here’s hoping that 2011 will see substantial changes in both these areas.

I would like to personally leave behind the excuses for not winning. I have won tourneys, sngs, and done well in cash games around here. When I haven't I don't think I have been totally honest with myself as to how I played. I would like to be more honest with myself in 2011.

There may be one single hand that crushes a stack in a poker tourney or cash game. The part I want to do to improve my game is to look at the details that lead up to that particular hand. Yes, sometimes a bad beat will happen, but how was I playing to that point and what did I do to recover if possible.

Professional online poker players were facing the harsh reality a couple of weeks ago that they may have been unemployed come 2011. Luckily for them, they will still be able to conduct their business in an unregulated industry thanks to Republican lawmakers.

Senator Harry Reid was attempting to pass online poker legislation that would have given his support group in Nevada (big time Las Vegas gaming companies) the keys to the Internet gambling industry in the US. Reid, however, made the mistake of letting the cat out of the bag too early, and when Republican lawmakers got wind of the idea, they squashed it immediately.

That may have been a good thing for the thousands of online players that make their living at online poker sites. Senator Reid's bill would have halted play at online poker sites for at least fifteen months. That would have left a lot of Americans without jobs come the new year.

"I want the laws changed regarding online poker, but I don't want to lose my income for a long period of time," said an online poker pro that referred to himself as Doug. "If they are going to change the laws, they need to do it the right way, and ensure that the companies that have been servicing us Americans continue to do so."

Doug brings up a good point regarding players. Millions of current players are being accepted at sites such as Full Tilt and PokerStars, two online sites with stellar reputations when it comes to legitimacy. The two sites, however, will likely be left out of any licensing if, and when, the US government changes their laws.

"Imagine that a playoff system was finally put in place in college football, but Oklahoma, Florida, Alabama, Ohio State, and Texas were unable to play in the playoffs," said Gaming Analyst Steve Schwartz. "That is what it would be like to create online poker legislation that excluded current sites accepting US players."

The point Schwartz is making is simple, if it is not broken , there is no reason to fix it. Thousands of families have been supported in the US thanks to online poker sites that accept US players. To give newcomers to the industry such as MGM Mirage and Caesars Entertainment control of the industry would be like handing the keys to a Ferrari to a teenager just learning to drive.

Senator Reid failed in his attempt to pay back his gaming supporters in Nevada, and for that, many online poker players will thank the Republicans that thwarted Reid's efforts. The online gaming laws do need to be changed in the US, but it needs to be done not for political payback, but for the thousands of Americans that depend on the income created by the skill of playing cards that they have mastered.

From highs like Jonathan Duhamel's 2010 WSOP Main Event win to lows like Amir Vehadi's untimely passing, the year was filled with stories big and small.

As has become tradition, PokerListings will spend the final week of 2010 counting down the top five stories of the year the way only we can - With the thoughts, words and opinions of the protagonists.

We begin today with Peter Eastgate's retirement at Number 5:

It appeared as though a star was born in the early morning hours of Tuesday Nov. 11, 2008.

22-year-old Peter Eastgate turned a wheel and it held against Ivan Demidov's two pair making him the youngest World Series of Poker Main Event champion in history.

Eastgate collected the massive $9,152,416 first-place prize and with it all the spoils bestowed upon the winner of poker's most prestigious title.

Wearing the PokerStars patch meant a lucrative sponsorship deal that would see him travel the globe representing the brand and the game itself.

The fresh faced Dane was suddenly thrust among poker's elite and embodied a younger, smarter and more marketable generation of poker player.

But just two years on, he would throw it all away, giving the game and those who helped shape it, nothing but the middle finger.

Eastgate's reign as World Champion was a typical one for the post-boom era.

He threw around some cash in the high-stakes games online, played major tournaments under the PokerStars banner all over the world and acted as a true ambassador for the game, affably agreeing to just about every interview and photo op asked of him.

He even proved the win was no fluke, making 18th at EPT London a month later and booking a $343,000 score by winning a $5k side event at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in January 2009.

He made a deep run in defense of his title the very next summer, making 78th at the 2009 WSOP Main Event, and followed that up with a runner-up finish at EPT London for a whopping $843,734 in October.

2010 started out looking like another big year for poker's newest and brightest star with a final table appearance at EPT Deauville and a fifth-place finish in the made-for-TV NBC National Heads-Up Championship.

But by the time the 2010 WSOP rolled around, Eastgate was nowhere to be found.

Absent from the preliminary bracelet events, word came down just before the start of the Main Event that Eastgate, at just 24-years-old, was retiring from the game of poker.

“When I started playing poker for a living, it was never my goal to spend the rest of my life as a professional poker player. My goal was to become financially independent,” he said at the time. “I achieved that by winning the WSOP Main Event in 2008.”

Feeling that he'd lost his drive and passion for the game, the initial response from sponsor and online poker giant PokerStars was accepting.

“Poker is about determination and excitement, and if Peter lacks this in his game, the right decision is to take a break,” a statement read. “Peter has played amongst world champions and he has carried his title in the most admirable fashion.”

And while Eastgate gave no indication as to what his future plans were, it appeared the rest of the poker world was shocked, but just as accepting of his wishes.

However, in the fall, as a new crop of November Niners chasing poker's ultimate dream of a WSOP Main Event title were being introduced to the world, Eastgate said his final goodbye to the game in what appeared to be a bit of a kick in the teeth.

He put his 2008 World Series of Poker Main Event bracelet up for auction on eBay, and although it was being sold to raise money for the UNICEF childrens' charity, ultimately, he was saying that the one thing every poker player covets the most, was of no value to him at all.

After a tactless and bracelet-less Tony G made some noise about buying it to use as a collar for his dog, the bracelet sold to an unknown bidder for $147,500.

But while the bracelet may have raised a princely sum, the Prince of Poker says no amount of cash could make him sell his WSOP Championship bracelet and disrespect the game the way Eastgate has.

"It's worth more than money to me baby," said Scotty Nguyen, who proudly wears the bracelet he earned winning the 1998 WSOP Main Event at major tournaments and on special occasions. "If he don't want nothing to do with us, then Scotty don't want nothing to do with him. I have nothing to say to him at all."

While it appears that Eastgate doesn't care about his legacy, he will be remembered by the poker world.

For now, he is the youngest Main Event winner in history, a young man who retired from the game just two years later, tossing away the one symbol of his historic achievement and ultimately earning the fifth spot on PokerListings' Top Five Stories of 2010.

Most of us online players are relieved this bill did not pass.Altho this leaves the door open for the feds do confiscate monies from sites that do business with online gaming.So,keep your fingers crossed that your money doesnt get confiscated some day.
It seems to me, that somebody with common sense needs to be elected to Congress.

Holiday Pokerfest: Get In On The Action!
Leave your family cleaning up the wrapping paper and putting away the decoration because it's time to get the gifts you want and deserve at Bodog! There's three events left in our Holiday Pokerfest and we've made it stunningly easy to earn your rewards.

How Does it Work?
Holiday Pokerfest continues through New Year’s Eve. Our first prize package was $10 cash and if you start playing right now, you'll get a free $20 at Bodog Sportsbook when you earn a hundred points at our tables on Sunday and Monday of this week! Here's a complete list of the remaining events.

Holiday Pokerfest Event #5: December 26-27 (Sunday and Monday)
Earn 100 Bodog Points, Get a free $20 bet at Bodog Sportsbook!

Holiday Pokerfest Event #6: December 28-29 (Tuesday and Wednesday)
Earn 100 Bodog Points, Get a ticket to any $5,000 guaranteed poker tournament!

Holiday Pokerfest Event #7: December 30-31 (Thursday and Friday)
Earn 100 Bodog Points, Get a free ticket for any $11 Bodog Poker tournament!

Want to start playing and earning? Visit the Holiday Pokerfest page and enroll. It takes just a few seconds and you'll start earning some very nice presents just for being a good poker player!

We look ahead to 2011 with this list of plot lines likely to drive the pokerverse, along with a couple of predictions regarding how said storylines will likely wrap up.

Below are a few of the stories we’ll be watching as the calendar turns over to 2011, in no particular order.

The Check’s in the Mail … but how long will it take to show up, and will it clear when it does?

Without a doubt, payment processing will be one of the biggest stories for online poker players in 2011. The possibility of increased attention from the US Government and the resulting cost increases associated with moving money to and from online poker sites will be at the center of the conversation regarding not only the current health, but more critically the long-term sustainability of the online poker industry in the US.

Prediction: Processing has been steadily getting tougher post-UIGEA. While some avenues for quick deposits and cash outs still exist, players are deluding themselves if they think those avenues will remain as open and as affordable as they are now. Look for more seizures, more delays, and (possibly) for some rooms to start passing more of the costs to players.

#ReidBill Redux: Harry Reid made big news (in the online poker world and beyond) with his lame-duck attempt to regulate online poker at the federal level in the US. 2011 might not see Reid get an Ipoker bill through Congress, but the legislative conversation Reid has started is going to continue in the year ahead – just not in the way he might have intended.

Lost in the flurry of attention paid to Reid’s bill was the fact that nearly a half-dozen states now have some form of legislation on the docket that would regulate intrastate online poker, a number that will almost certainly increase over the next few months as cash-strapped states desperately look to tap to any revenue source they can muster.

Fallout from Reid’s failure to get the bill done will also continue into 2011. Many believe the PPA seriously dropped the media ball on the issue, a criticism that will certainly echo through the new year. There’s also a large community of players, who would have preferred that online poker in the US continue to operate in the margins, that will have to deal with the new reality brought about by the spotlight Reid’s bill shone on the industry.

Prediction: Online poker regulation in the US will happen in 2011, but not at the federal level. Look for states (probably New Jersey) to be the first to roll out regulated poker in the US.

If a Poker Show Airs in the Woods, Does Anyone Watch It?: It’s been a strenuous year for the dedicated few who endeavor to watch all the poker programming available, and 2011 should offer up even more glue to keep the butts of said viewers connected to their couches. With ESPN now airing the NAPT, WSOP-C events getting TV time, new shows from PokerStars and Full Tilt, the WPT re-booting, and so on, there will be a glut of poker shows this year that will rival the offerings of any year in recent memory – at least in terms of quantity.

But will anyone watch? With a few exceptions, some lame (Doubles Poker) and some intriguing (PokerStars’ Big Game), the majority of poker shows offer little more than a variation on a now-tired theme: “famous” poker players playing poker against each other, with an amateur or celebrity tossed in the mix now and again. There’s also solid evidence via the downturn in ratings for the mother of all poker shows – the WSOP on ESPN – that the US public is losing interest in that formula.

Prediction: Poker shows are cheap to produce, and many have the backing of a major online room. Those factors will keep most shows afloat for the current season, but the only chance for a breakout hit is if someone steps up and offers a fresh approach to poker programming. Barring a Main Event run by a seriously mainstream name, the ratings for the WSOP will continue to drop.

Isildurrrr: PokerStars has always been a bit of an also-ran to Full Tilt when it comes to hosting the nosebleed games online, a status it attempted to reverse with the signing of online poker phenom Isildur1. The big public storyline will be the official unveiling of the identity of the mystery Swede, although we believe Stars is smart to drag that out as long as they possibly can – well into 2012 if at all possible.

The big industry storyline will be the aggressive positioning of Isildur1 by PokerStars as a counterpoint to Tom ‘durrrr’ Dwan over at Full Tilt Poker. It will be interesting to see if the vehicle PokerStars has created for Isildur1 – the Superstar Showdown – can succeed in capturing the imagination of the online poker community in the way that everyone thought the durrrr challenge would.

Prediction: As Stars makes headway with the Superstar Showdown, we expect Full Tilt to respond by creating promotions of their own that force a bit more schedule and structure on to their massive roster of sponsored pros.

Where in the World is Phil Hellmuth? Or, more specifically, where in the world will he be at the end of 2011? Stories speculating that Hellmuth was on the way out the door from UB spread quickly in November 2010 and then dropped off, but that’s not the last you’ll hear of the issue.

Like him, hate him or view him with indifference, Phil Hellmuth is by most accounts the most famous poker player in the world. That fact, combined with the increasing likelihood that the largest casinos in the US will be moving aggressively into online poker (and that current operators such as UB may be explicitly criminalized in the process), strongly suggests that Phil’s days at UB are numbered.

Prediction: 2011 will be the last full year Hellmuth spends promoting the UB brand.

We’ll continue to keep you up to date on all the relevant poker news in 2011, along with the best online poker bonuses.

If you've somehow missed it, Bodog's online poker room and Bodog Sportsbook have been giving poker players and bettors alike a chance to enjoy two of America's biggest passions at the same time in our spectacular Monday Night Football tournaments during the 2010 season. The Bodog online poker room hosts a pair of tournaments on Mondays at 8:00PM. Each tournament represents a team that's playing that night and if the team whose tournament you're playing covers their spread, you get a $10 Free Football Bet at our online sportsbook!

This week's Monday Night Football poker tournament featured a late-season game between two teams that nobody's given much mind to of late, the New Orleans Saints and the Atlanta Falcons, who clashed in the Georgia Dome. With a two-and-a-half point spread between the teams favoring the hometown team, New Orleans's 17-14 victory seemed even sweeter.

Bodog playertruth99 won the Saints tournament, and took away $172 for their $10 buy in. In addition to those who beat the bubble getting their share of a $430 prize pool, everyone who played in the Bears tournament got a free $10 football bet at Bodog Sportsbook. Meanwhile, Bignos took the top spot in the Dolphins tourney, earning $159.

As long as there's a football season, there will be Monday Night Football Tournaments on Bodog Poker. Show your acumen in two fields and score a free bet while you enjoy a great tournament on one of America's favorite online poker sites!

Every Sunday, Bodog Poker hosts a weekly $100,000 guaranteed tournaments and December 19th featured yet another installment in the blockbuster series. These massive all-hands-on-deck events take place at 4pm EST on Sundays and feature some of the best online poker action going. michael172 took first place this week, earning $25,000. They were followed by ballewonyoufoo ($15,000) and timosy, who rounded out the top three while earning $9,500. Here's the rest of the final table results: pandev13($7,000); terra-cotta ($5,700); dla33 ($4,500); rathrbboatn ($3,500); jagov21 ($2,200); 510300z ($1,700);

In addition to our show-stopping Sunday events, Bodog hosts its regular weekly tournaments to players, and here's the winners of last week's events!

* December 20 $10k Guaranteed Double-Stack On Demand
* December 21 $10k Guaranteed Double-Stack 2EZ😴
* December 22 $10k Guaranteed Double-Stack WillyNilly

(A repeat win from last week!)
* December 23 $10k Guaranteed Double-Stack TheRightLine
* December 26 $10k Guaranteed Double-Stack Tex3268
* December 26 $10k Guaranteed Turbo Double-Stack drbobblehead

Bodog's guaranteed tournaments mean that there's always a big cash pool. Play poker online at Bodog and get your share!

Online poker player Peeps continues to dominate Bodog's King of the Felt challenge. They've been on a winning streak since November 5th and are just two wins away from earning a shot at a 2011 World Series of Poker Main Event seat! Peeps has more than the longest streak of King Of The Felt wins on the site so far — his victory over Beesterbunny on December 23rd was the eighth win in a row, pushing the total prizes money they've earned to $10,500. It is, as they say, good to be the king.

The match between Peeps and Beesterbunny was over relatively quickly. The champion quickly earned a 4:1 chip lead over his opponents and when Beestebunny went all-in holding pocket queens, Peeps hit a King high flush on the river, obliterating his opponent's chip stack.

If you've missed out, King of the Felt is a Bodog-exclusive event where players defend their throne against those that have proven worthy of the challenge. To qualify to become King of the Felt, you must be paid out in three or more qualifying Sit and Go Tournaments in a week. The more you play, the more chances you have to compete against the reigning King.

Cashing in three to five sit and go tournaments earns you one entry into the draw; six to eight tournaments gets you two entries and entry into a $1,000 freeroll; 9 or more sit and go cashes gets you three entries into the draw, entry into the $1,000 freeroll, plus entry into an additional $500 freroll. If the draw is held and your name comes up, you'll face down the current king for a shot at poker greatness.

What does being King mean? Outside of being crowned by Bodog poker, you defend your throne in a tournament with a $1,000 prize each week, and the more you win, the bigger the prizes get including a chance at a 2011 WSOP seat.

Throughout the Year 2010, women in poker stepped up to provide some of the highlights of the tournament poker year. Whether it was live or online, the ladies showed that the game of poker wasn’t a “man’s game,” that the fairer sex could ably compete on the felt and take some of the biggest prizes in the game and in different locations around the world.

The year got off to a grand start at the Aussie Millions, primarily at the hands of Annette Obrestad. “Annette_15” went Down Under and continued to demonstrate that she wasn’t just an online wunderkind. She took down the championship of the $1000 Pot Limit Omaha tournament, but saved a fantastic performance for the Aussie Millions Main Event. In that tournament, Obrestad battled through the 746 player field to earn a seventh place finish, good for a $125,000 (Australian dollars) payday. It would not be the last salvo fired by the Norwegian superstar as the year played out. In March, the ladies truly stepped it up to take some of the biggest championships the game of poker has to offer. At the invitational National Heads Up Poker Championships at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Obrestad once again drove deep and finished in ninth place in the event. However, it was the run of another top female in the game, Annie Duke, who stole the show.

Duke faced one of the toughest roads in the bracket competition, starting off with a win over Andy Bloch. She then defeated 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event runner up Darvin Moon to reach a showdown with the 2007 champion of the Heads Up event, Paul Wasicka. After defeating Paul, Annie dueled against 2007 WSOP Main Event champion Jerry Yang in the Elite Eight.

Duke was able to defeat Yang, setting up a showdown against 2008 WSOP Main Event third place finisher Dennis Phillips. Once she took down Phillips, Annie faced perhaps her toughest challenger of all in her good friend, Erik Seidel. Things started well for Duke, winning the first of the best of three match, only to see Seidel tie the event up in the next game. After a frantic third match, with neither player able to eliminate the other over several all ins, Annie was finally able to defeat the 2010 Poker Hall of Fame inductee and take home the $500,000 payday.

Duke’s victory continued a landslide of females capturing some of poker’s biggest events. In April, Vanessa Selbst became the third champion of the PokerStars North American Poker Tour in winning the Championship Event at the Mohegan Sun in Connecticut for a $750,000 payday. One week later, facing the largest field ever assembled for the European Poker Tour stop in San Remo, Italy, Liv Boeree stepped up to take the championship and the $1.6 million first place prize.

Although no woman would take an open bracelet during the 2010 World Series, several veterans had their moments in the sun. Jennifer Harman made two final tables during the run of the tournament schedule, finishing third in the $10,000 Seven Card Stud World Championship and sixth in the $2500 Razz event. Another veteran of the game, Joanne “J. J.” Liu, cashed in three events, making the final table in the $1500 Pot Limit Hold’em event and falling just short of the final table in the $2500 Six Handed Limit Hold’em tournament.

Following the WSOP, the ladies continued to take the fight to the poker world. Obrestad was victorious at the EPT London’s £5,000 Heads Up Championship in September and took a 13th place finish in October at the World Poker Tour’s Festa al Lago Championship Event. Selbst had perhaps the finest year of all the ladies, however, as she added another victory at the Partouche Poker Tour stop in Cannes, France. The $1.8 million win pushed her earnings for 2010 up to $2.8 million and landed her in fourth place on the CardPlayer Magazine Player of the Year race, the highest finish by a woman since J. J. Liu made the top ten in 2005.

As the year came to a close, Vanessa Rousso carried the banner for the ladies at the WPT Doyle Brunson Five Diamond Poker Classic Championship Event. “Lady Maverick” held the chip lead as the tournament came down to the final table, valiantly battling a stacked table that included 2010 WSOP Main Event runner up John Racener, Kirk Morrison, Andrew Robl and Ted Lawson. Vanessa would eventually finish in third place behind Robl and eventual champion Antonio “The Magician” Esfandiari for a $358,000 payday.

Online, ladies also made an impact that has to be noted. Popular poker personality Christina Lindley was victorious in the $300 No Limit Hold’em event during the inaugural PokerStars United States Championships of Online Poker (USACOOP), taking home a nice bounty of $127,500. In December during Full Tilt Poker’s Mini-FTOPS, poker reporter Kristy Arnett stepped up to take the Heads Up championship and, in PokerStars’ Sunday Million on December 20th, Lily Mizrachi, the wife of 2010 WSOP Main Event final tablist Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi, finished second, earning more than $141,000.


As you can see, 2010 has definitely been “The Year of The Woman!” Here’s looking to 2011 for more outstanding performances from these and other outstanding ladies of the game!

Hats off to them and the new year to come.goes to show never underesimate them when playing against them.

Professional poker player Annie Duke announced via Twitter on Christmas Day that she will be getting married for a second time, this time to fellow professional player Joe Reitman. The announcement came along with a picture of her engagement ring, and was received warmly by the poker world. Duke and Reitman first met in 2005 through a mutual friend, and have been dating ever since.

While Duke is one of the world’s most recognizable poker players, Reitman is less-known for his skills at the table and more for his presence on the screen. Reitman has acted in many movies and televisions shows, including “Clueless,” “CSI,” and “Monk.” He has also worked as a writer and producer on several projects.

Both Duke and Reitman have been previously married. For Duke, her first marriage to Ben Duke lasted 13 years, and resulted in the birth of her four children (Leo, Lucy, Maud and Nell).

Reitman’s previous marriage was somewhat higher profile. He was previously married to actress (and avid poker player) Shannon Elizabeth. The two were married in 2002, and separated in March of 2005.

While Reitman’s biggest poker victory came when he took first place in an Ultimate Bet $1 Million Guarantee tournament in 2006, Duke has a long history of success on the felt. Duke won a World Series of Poker bracelet by winning the $2,000 Omaha Hi/Lo event at the 2004 WSOP. In the same year, she also won $2 by winning the first Tournament of Champions invitational event. More recently, Duke won the 2010 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship.

This week saw an interesting piece from The Miami Herald about how the sport of jai-alai, once a staple of Miami, is not the draw it once was and that it's been supplanted by poker. In the piece, Linda Robertson wrote:

Compared to the echo chamber of the 220,000-square-foot green-walled fronton, Dania's Poker Room is a hive of activity. Located up an escalator and through glass doors, it resembles a nice club, with its bar, food counter and 26 poker tables. It's half-occupied on a Saturday afternoon but fills up for $40,000 tournaments.

Poker is what brings people to the fronton, not jai-alai. The card games keep the ball games going. Dania once grossed a $50 million handle for a four-month season. Today, operating 362 days per year, the handle, or amount wagered, is down to $13.3 million. Betting on jai-alai, horse racing and dog racing in Florida has declined 50 percent in 20 years, according to the state's Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering. In Cornblit's prime, top players made well over $100,000; today they make less than $50,000 — the younger players half that.

Jai-alai is, no doubt, an exciting, competitive sport that requires grace and endurance above and beyond the usual spectator events, but it's easy to see why people would move away from wagering on a game that someone else was playing to betting on themselves at the tables. Poker is keeping the frontons that once hosted dozens of events a day on life support and while it's sad that a sport that was such a key part of Miami's 20th century history is fading away, the idea that a sport that anyone can play is replacing it suits a vibrant, multicultural town.

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The American Gambling Association is speaking out in favor of legalized online poker and its President and CEO Frank Fahrenkopf says “This is a unique industry in which we want regulation and strict laws to keep the industries integrity and for the protection of the consumers.” As of now, the current online gambling laws in the US do not protect players and has no safeguards set up to prevent fraud, cheating and any other illegal acts like operator theft. The proposed legislation that Senator Harry Reid is trying to introduce will change all this and bring in millions of dollars of revenue from gambling taxes that legalized online poker will bring.

The bill, if passed, would ensure that Federal authorities as well as State lawmakers would have the ability to control all forms of online gambling. It would also ensure the rights of each individual State to choose whether or not they want to legalize online poker within their borders. Once a State decides to legalize online gambling within their borders, they would have the authority and resources to police all activity easily.

Another area that would be covered would come from the Treasury Secretary. It would have to research a list of known unlicensed online gambling sites and prevent them from operating in the US. The main reason this bill is needed is for player safety (besides needed revenue), because even though the anti gambling bill UIGEA was passed in 2006, millions of online gamblers still play online today with no protection from law enforcement. Off shore operators will still offer online gambling to players who wish to visit their sites and billions of tax revenue will leave the country when it could stay in the US where it is needed.