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He was in Los Angeles on a vacation with some friends when he casually decided to enter the World Poker Tour LA Poker Classic and now Gregory Brooks is over $1.6 million richer. The high-stakes cash game specialist was actually in the middle of a break from the game when he idly decided to risk $10,000 on the LA Poker Classic. While everyone's eyes were on World Series of Poker and WPT championship Carlos Mortensen to add another notch on his poker bedpost, the 23 year-old from New Jersey grabbed the chip lead in just the third hand at the final table getting it all in with pocket aces agains Vivek Rajkumar’s pocket queens.

By the time play went three-handed, Brooks had the lead and would not let go. Mortensen was kicked to the curb, earning $640,680 for third place, which is surely a nice consolation prize. Rajkumar was defeated by a pair of sevens after going all-in on jack high.

The World Poker Tour LA Poker Classic drew 681 players to the Commerce Casino creating a $6,537,600 prize pool.

Here's how the final table finished up:
1 Gregory Brooks $1,654,120
2 Vivek Rajkumar $908,730
3 Carlos Mortensen $640,680
4 Amir Lehavot $421,680
5 Steve Gross $304,000
6 Darryll Fish $235,350

The World Series of Poker Circuit has left Florida and it's now in beautiful, scenic New Jersey at Caesars Atlantic City. The circuit stop kicked off with a $350 buy-in No Limit Hold’em event, that attracted 742 entrants, up from 682 entries last year, creating a prize pool of just shy of $200,000 that was divided among the 81 who beat the bubble. The winner? Tsung "Patrick" Lu from Flushing, New York. The 34-year-old Taiwanese native has played in two other WSOP-related events without cashing, but has made waves in other events.

The tournament was played over two very, very long days with only 72 players making it into the second day. Seven hours into day two, the final table was determined. While Brian Ali, Matthew Lope and Joseph Opie were all clustered together in the top of the heap, Lu overcame their stacks and earned his victory.

Lu walked away with $43,184 and his first-ever World Series of Poker gold ring. He also takes the early lead in the point race for top player at the Caesars Atlantic City series. The player that accumulates the most overall points in the series of ten gold ring tournaments receives a pre-paid entry into the $1 million 2010-2011 WSOP Circuit National Championship, to be held in May at Caesars Palace Las Vegas.

Yeah Baby! We are proud to announce that we have found not one but two blackjack players who are going down in the history books here at Bodog after having won the Bodog Billionaire’s Experience giveaway, which means that they are both our grand prize winners! Congratulations guys!

Congratulations to Michael H. who reached the ONE-BILLIONTH HAND OF BLACKJACK MILESTONE and won $1,000 in cash plus the option of taking a fabulous all-inclusive trip to either Fiji or to Monaco to watch the 2011 Grand Prix in style.

Our second winner was Joey W. who won the Billionaire’s Experience prize draw by having his name chosen randomly from our long list of casino players who also qualified to win the grand prize.

As much as both players would like to take advantage of the awesome trips they’ve won, it seems that due to busy work schedules, neither player will be able to take either trip but according to Joey, he’s going to do everything he can to make his way to Fiji. Let’s hope that at least one the guys make it out there, they deserve it and we’d love to see pictures.

Congratulations to Michael and Joey on their big win and we’d like to congratulate them both on a job well done. For a more detailed account of their spectacular win, make sure to catch up with us on Monday as we cover this story in our Bodog Casino Articles section.

Congratulations guys!

If you have a desire to play poker for money, you have a couple of choices.

You can either go down the street to the Meskwaki casino and join a table, or travel to another casino, or you can get online and likely join a website based in some other country, and hope that it is legitimate. But a bill working its way through the Iowa Senate would give you another option.

You may soon be able to register with a state casino, open an account and play from home legally.

"It's one of those bills that's truly non-partisan," said Rep. Lance Horbach, R-Tama. "I don't think it's Republican or Democrat."

The vote on the bill, which passed out of the Senate State Government Committee this week, would seem to support that assumption. That bill gained the support of two Republicans and seven Democrats in committee.

Two Democrats joined four Republicans in voting against the measure. One of those voting against it was Sen. Steve Sodders, D-State Center.

Sodders said the intent of the bill is to allow a way for Iowans to play poker with other Iowans, for money, in the convenience of their own homes. However, he said he is not sure the bill would accomplish that.

How would residents in other states be excluded? What would happen if an Iowan moved to another state after opening an account?

How would fraudulent accounts be discovered and policed?

"I don't think we've fully looked at all that," Sodders said.

If those issues could be resolved, Sodders said he would be more open to considering the idea. That is not true of Rep. Mark Smith, D-Marshalltown.

"I have always totally been opposed to any efforts to expand gambling," he said.

Iowans have plenty of gaming opportunities now, he said.

Sodders said he is also unsure how the bill would affect the closest casino to the Marshalltown area, located on the Meskwaki Settlement. The plan calls for allowing state-regulated casinos to participate. While the Meskwaki casino is accountable to the state in some ways, it is not a state-regulated casino in the traditional sense.

"That's something else that we need to look at," Sodders said.

Horbach, whose district includes the Meskwaki Settlement, said he has not had contact with any members of the tribe or the tribe's lobbyist, Thomas Jochum, about the Senate bill. Calls left for Jochum and at the tribal offices seeking comment about the bill were not returned Friday.

There could be a good reason for the tribe's silence up to this point, Horbach said. Members of the tribe may feel the bill is not going to go anywhere this year - and they are probably right, he added.

"There's not a big constituency pushing this bill right now," Horbach said. "I don't think it will see floor time in the House, but I've been surprised before."

However, the bill has survived the funnel and could move to the floor of the Senate, and then be forwarded to the House.

While New Jersey Governor Chris Christie was vetoing a bill that would have seen New Jersey become the first state to legalize and regulate online gambling, Iowa lawmakers were busy advancing an online poker bill of their own, as Senate Study Bill 1165 passed the State Government Committee by a 9-6 tally. The bill is now headed to the Senate Floor for a full vote where if it passes it will then go on to the State House, and hopefully it will receive the signature of Governor Terry Branstadt.

Unlike other measures attempted previously in New Jersey, California, and even on the Federal level, the Iowa bill that was introduced by State Senator Jeff Danielson only applies to online poker, and would also limit the scope of the law to Iowa –meaning the bill would legalize intrastate online poker where only Iowa residents would be permitted to play.

While the numbers are far from precise, an estimated 150,000 Iowans play online poker, and the independent studies have predicted that the state could reap a windfall of some $40 million annually from the measure.

Republican Senator Rick Bertrand is in favor of the bill but not for the typical reason. Bertrand sees the states in a race with the Federal Government to legalize online poker, and wants to make sure his state does not get the short-end of the revenue stick. PokerNewsDaily.com reports Bertrand as stating: “If we don’t make a move now, the Federal Government is going to make a move in the next few years and we’ll lose the revenue… I think it’s forward-thinking.”

Erik Seidel got more than bragging rights when he took down the 8th installment of the NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship: he earned enough money to pass Daniel Negreanu in the standings, claiming $14.7 million in career winnings at the tables. This is just the latest in a series of accomplishments for the pro, who's already made his mark on 2011 by sitting at six different final tables, winning three events and earning almost four and a half million dollars so far.

Seidel's trip to the top wasn't an easy one, he bested both WSOP 2010 final tabular Jonathan Duhamel and David Oppenheim before facing down Chris Moneymaker in a match that reiterated each player's importance to the game of poker in its current state. Siedel was in the movie Rounders and Chris Moneymaker is famous for being the first online poker player to score big with his 2003 victory at the World Series of Poker.

"It is always exciting to compete against my fellow poker players who showcased great skill on the tables this year," Seidel told reporters.

Seidel won $750,000 for his victory while Moneymaker got a decent-enough $300,000 for being the runner up. The 64-player championship was taped for broadcast on NBC over six consecutive Sundays beginning April 17.

Pakistan is one of the last places that you'd expect to see poker making an impact in fashion, but among the collections presented at the Asian Institute of Fashion Design on March 4 was Wajeeha Burney's, who used the theme of poker cards to help create an assertive,

"[The collection's aim] was to show the independent woman, to focus on individuality and freedom of expression," Burney told the The Express Tribune, and it's certainly easy to see how poker can offer the smart woman both things, even in a culture as notoriously difficult when it comes to gender issues as that country's.

Unusually for a presentation in Pakistan, the fashion presented featured lots of western influences, but that was part of the point. Designer YBQ addressed the students about their role: "You have to bring revolution in the Pakistani fashion world. The responsibility does not lie on my shoulder any longer for I am old, it lies on yours."

While haut couture isn't normally within the purview of this blog, it's always nice to see how poker impacts other cultures, even if it's something as seemingly inconsequential as expensive dresses.

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While Miley Cyrus stumbled, fumbled and fell flat on her face a few times while still somehow managing to redeem herself on a pretty-awful Saturday Night Live episode, the latest episode of High Stakes Poker on GSN featured Antonio Esfandiari sweeping a pot that was worth $593,000. It was a fairly standard episode of High Stakes Poker until that point, but when the flop was 10-6-4 with two hearts, something happened and Barry Greenstein and Esfandiari found themselves facing off with David "Viffer" Peat in the sidelines.

Esfandiari made a continuation bet of $6,200 with 8-7 of the suit for flush and straight draws, Peat called with 7-6 for middle pair, and Barry Greenstein raised to $30,000 with pocket fours for bottom set. Esfandiari three-bet to $106,000 and Peat, wisely, folded. Greenstein responded by four-betting all-in and Esfandiari responded in kind.

"The Magician" asked Greenstein if he wanted to run the hand once or twice they agreed to just do it oncer. With a pot worth $593,000 hanging in the balance, the turn was the queen of hearts, giving Esfandiari a flush. Needing the board to pair – any pair – on the river, Greenstein watched as an eight hit.

With moments like this and former SNL-er and comedic genius Norm Macdonald hosting the series, it's easy to see why High Stakes Poker is even more worth your time than NBC's inexplicably popular-past-its-sell-by-date series.

Michael and Robert Mizrachi have apparently decided to put their poker winnings into something that Floridians need, particularly in the summer: they've invested some of their winnings to purchase licenses to open three TintWorld franchise centers. TintWorld is, according to their website, "the leading franchised provider of vehicle window tinting, commercial, residential, marine tinting and security film services in the US."

In a press release, TintWorld franchise owner Charles Bonfiglio said, "We are very excited to have Michael and Robert on the TintWorld team. They have already made great progress and I have no doubt that they will continue to do great things at TintWorld not only for their nationally recognized names, but also their intelligence and entrepreneurial spirit."

The Mizrachis have earned millions playing poker around the world with both hosting seminars on the sport and helping others become better players. The first of their three Tint World franchises is located in North Miami Beach, FL and opened in October 2010. Ina move that helps prove that their business management skills are on par with their poker skills, they've already expanded the first TintWorld from solely automotive services to also provide residential and commercial window file. Additionally, they have several major commercial national accounts for window tinting services and high-end car dealerships for auto styling services.

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The State Government Committee in Iowa voted in favor of legalizing and regulating intrastate online poker in the state. Wednesday’s vote was 9-6 and will advance to the full Senate floor. The positive steps came on the eve of New Jersey Governor, Chris Christie vetoing a bill that would have made his state the first in the country to allow online gambling.

Iowa’s 1165 will allow the state’s racing and gaming commission to license and regulate online poker “hub” operators. These operators would need to pay $3 million upfront, credited against future taxes, and based on revenues. Only residents of Iowa will be allowed to play at online poker sites and certain player protection mechanisms would need to be set in place.

In the meantime, Governor Christie’s decision to delay New Jersey’s online gambling efforts for now was greeted by disappointment by proponents of the bill. However, they were left with a slither of optimism after Christie said that although he vetoed the bill, he still suggested that efforts could be made to revive the bill by asking voters to approve online gambling through a referendum.

“The expansion of gambling in New Jersey has been slow and cautious,” he said in his message. “If the Legislature believes that expanding gambling outside of Atlantic City is in the best interests of the State of New Jersey, it should place the question on the ballot for voters to decide.”

Christie said that one of his misgivings about the bill was that revenue would go towards supporting New Jersey’s horse racing industry. The governor wants to remove the industry off state subsidies and feels that the online gambling bill would be taking his efforts backwards.

Poker magazine publisher Radoslav Průcha took down the Paradise Poker Tour Prague in the Czech Capital this weekend.

The Czech native came from behind to beat fellow countryman Luboš Galuška heads up and collect a €30,000 at the Card Casino.

"I've been playing poker for a number of years so to win an event like this is fantastic," he said.

"In many ways the feeling of being the winner is even better than the money. I really enjoyed it; the event was really well-organised and I think it's a great idea, giving normal players the chance to experience a big tournament like this."

The €550 buy-in The Paradise Poker Tour Prague main event drew 230 players, running March 2-6 with a €125,000 guaranteed prize pool.

Here's how the final table finished up:

1 Radoslav Průcha €30,000

2 Luboš Galuška €21,300

3 Mariusz Chrusciel €14,000

4 Tibor Boros €9,150

5 Bernd Wachter €6,000

6 Salim Alibas €4,900

7 Ivan Buchbauer €4,100

8 Jiři Vojta €3,500

9 Petr Hlavaček €2,900

We've all heard of "running good" when playing poker, but Peter Ippolito redefined the term when he was playing at the World Series of Poker Circuit event at Caesars Atlantic City on Friday. Stunning players and officiates alike, the 25-year-old pro has been a fixture on the circuit scene without a victory to his name but it looks like all of his luck was built up, looking for an outlet. Ippolito demolished a field of 254 players and earned a $30,181 first-place cash prize as well as a WSOP Circuit gold ring, the slightly-tacky, yet highly coveted piece of jewelry that lets others know you've made it.

This watching were flabbergasted: it didn’t matter Ippolito was the favorite or the underdog when the chips moved in, it just seemed like his wish list of cards hit the board, time and time again. Perhaps no hand illustrated Ippolito’s good fortune more than one moment that took place right before the final table started. Ippolito was dealt A-K (clubs) and pushed all-in against an opponent holding A-K (spades). In a case like this, the vast majority of situations split the pot, but Ippolito caught three clubs and seized the chip lead. That was just one of the many moments that defined his run to the top.

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He's back in the news again. Joran van der Sloot, the Dutch student who turned into a professional poker player that's widely believed to have gotten away with murder in the Natalee Holloway case only to go and commit murder again, is pleading guilty to the murder of Stephany Flores, but is claiming that old saw of "temporary insanity" in the hopes of getting a reduced sentence.

The 23-year-old van der Sloot is accused of killing Stephany Flores in his hotel room in Peru after she supposedly learned of van der Sloot’s involvement in the 2005 disappearance of Natalee Holloway in Aruba.

If convicted of the charge of first-degree murder, van der Sloot faces between 15 and 35 years in a Peruvian jail. However, if the judge accepts his "violent emotion" plea, the man who's been on every news show and bringing down the name of poker would receive a sentence of just 3 to 5 years in prison.

Van der Sloot signed a written confession last year, admitting that he slammed Flores in the face with his elbow and strangled her, before finally, removing his shirt and asphyxiating her with it. The methodical nature of the murder makes van deer Sloot's appeal for insanity look a bit more sketchy.

Wow ,bodog seems to be moving up in the money world.benn reading alot thier promos lately and the new upgrades to the site have had me playing there more often as well.

Every Sunday, Bodog Poker hosts a weekly $100,000 guaranteed tournament and you can get on the action for as little as $1 thanks to our aggressive satellite schedule. These massive all-hands-on-deck events take place at 4pm EST on Sundays and feature some of the best online poker action going.

Who won during came out on top in the most recent tourney? Aljoxa took first place this week, earning $23,600. They were followed by kt4949 ($13,600) and DrSwisstard , who rounded out the top three spots while taking away $9,100. Here's the rest of the final table results: livlife ($7,000); Hasn82 ($5,700); doylesoldier ($4,500); bringitbtchs ($3,300); Vida_1973 ($2,200); jhill_madami ($1,300);

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!

* February 28 • $10k Guaranteed Double-Stack: mole ($3,206.50)
* March 1 • $10k Guaranteed Double-Stack: Giselle ($2,798.12)
* March 2 • $10k Guaranteed Double-Stack: franknut26 ($2,750.00)
* March 3 • $10k Guaranteed Double-Stack: iwillraiseyou2 ($3,251.87)
* March 6 • $10k Guaranteed Double-Stack: thecure19 ($3,070.37)
* March 6 • $10k Guaranteed Turbo Double-Stack Moneystop ($3,390.00)

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

Mike Summers took the third event at the World Series of Poker Circuit stop at Caesars Atlantic City, a $350 buy-in Limit Hold 'Em tournament. It was a pretty modest event, all told, with 158 players showing up, but that's because Limit poker isn't where a lot of the action is. A savvy player like Summers, however, can step down from No Limit games and feel fresh and energized. This was, in fact, the first limit event that the Virginia poker player had ever won. He earned $12,414 for two days of play.

The fourth event at Caesars was a $570 buy-in no limit hold 'em tournament and with the lead that Mun Nguyen had over everyone else at the final table (1,350,000 in chips vs his closes competitor, who had 930,000,) many assumed he was going to take the top stop. However, when it was all was said and done, A 38 year old account from Brooklyn won the tournament and $41,186. Paul "Paulie Nuts" Lambrakis, famed for his tight aggressive play among locals. He's earned a gold ring and is on the leaderboard for entry into the $1 million 2010-2011 WSOP Circuit National Championship, to be held in May at Caesars Palace Las Vegas.

A Nevada legislator proposed a bill Thursday that would direct regulators to legalize online poker, adding Nevada to a growing number of states considering Internet gambling bills.

The states' efforts follow a push by big casino companies and others to create a federal law legalizing online poker, which failed in Congress last year. The bill was supported by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat.

Now some pushing a federal solution have turned to statehouses. Iowa, California and Florida are among other states considering online poker bills that limit play to people in the state. New Jersey GOP Gov. Chris Christie last week vetoed such an intrastate bill, the first to pass a state legislature.

Nevada passed a law that set the stage for legalizing Internet gambling around ten years ago, but regulators never wrote rules allowing it. State Assemblyman William Horne on Thursday introduced a bill that would order regulators to allow poker for Nevada residents and others in states that legalize online poker.

"I'm hoping something like this in Majority Leader Reid's backyard serves as a further clarion call that the federal government needs to step up and do this first," said John Pappas, executive director of the Poker Players Alliance, an organization that represents U.S. online poker players.

Online gambling was effectively banned in the U.S. by a 2006 federal statute that outlawed financial transactions related to Internet gambling across state lines. The U.S. online poker market yields about $5 billion in revenue.

The lobbying force behind the Nevada bill is Rational Entertainment Enterprises Ltd., which does business under the name Poker Stars. Based in Britain's Isle of Man, it runs gambling sites the U.S. considers illegal.

Much of Nevada's casino industry came out against the bill Thursday. MGM Resorts Spokesman Alan Feldman said the company would oppose the bill because it makes it too easy for Poker Stars and another company, Full Tilt, to be licensed.

"You have one company trying to impose a business model on legislation," Mr. Feldman said of Poker Stars. "We have to eliminate illegal online gambling and crack down on foreign operators that don't comply with federal law."

If you like sitting on your couch and scooping up worthless poker chips from other people's pots or, better yet, doing that while in line at the grocery store, then Microsoft's got you covered with the very-soon release date for Full House Poker, a game that is almost, but not at all like, playing online poker! Full Hosue Poker is designed exclusively for play with Microsoft's XBox 360 and Windows Mobile 7 platforms and because it's Microsoft, you'll be playing for their only-good-on-their-goods points instead of real money.

The game will use the same format as their popular (if mysteriously discontinued) take on 1 vs 100 — players play in scheduled games that last 30 minutes. There are no sit-and-gos or cash tables with Full House Poker, just a game show style format. The game kicks off on March 15th 2011 for both the 360 and Windows Phone 7 through the Zune marketplace.

In the meantime, if you want to play poker for fun or for real money, cheek out the action at Bodog Poker! We offer terrific free online poker for players as well as games with stakes at every level!

One of those things that frequently gets lost in the coverage of poker events is the fact that at the core, we're playing a game and it should be fun. Thankfully, there was a great reminder of this on Monday night at the World Series of Poker Circuit stop at Caesars Atlantic City during the final table of Event #5, a $350 No-Limit Hold 'Em tournament. By all accounts, it was a raucous affair with players demanding cards loudly, fistpumping when they won and flipping out when they lost while railbirds encouraged this behavior like the crowds at the circus.

While Matthew Piccolo's jovial (and sometimes annoying) disregard for etiquette was the center of the show, it was Korea-born, Japan-raised Jaeik Cho that made poker history when he became the first-ever Japanese player to win a World Series of Poker-related tournament. The 21-year-old college student is from Tokyo and while he was born in South Korea, he grew up in Japan and only speaks Japanese and English. He's currently studying economics at William and Mary University in Virginia.

Cho learned the game while playing with friends and has won over $200,000 playing online poker. He earned $29,843 in prize money for his victory.

Joshua R. of MI found a great way to get over the mid-week slump and that’s by winning a grand total of $36,910 playing online blackjack here at Bodog Casino. Today was a great day for our casino players who claimed thousands in cash playing their favorite casino games.

Zachary K. of NY came in a close second by using his skills at the blackjack tables to earn a mega wad of cash totaling $35,800.

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Michael C. of TX won $21,245 playing Triple Toucan slot machine.
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James B. of WV won $9,212 playing Goldbeard slots.
Michael C of TX won $9,145 playing Incan Goddess slots.
Craig F. of CA won $6,614 playing online Blackjack.
Edward F. of CA won $6,141 playing online Blackjack.
Dave S. of CA won $6,029 playing Witches and Wizards slots.

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