The 39th annual World Series of Poker got underway Friday in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, as the first of 55 separate poker tournaments began at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino.

As opening ceremonies go, it was all Vegas kitsch, and then some. (more…)

Poker legends Doyle “Texas Dolly” Brunson and Johnny “The Orient Express” Chan will try to catch another poker legend–Phil “Poker Brat” Hellmuth Jr.–in the race for most World Series of Poker (WSOP) championship gold bracelets won in a lifetime, when the 39th annual WSOP begins tomorrow in Las Vegas.

Hellmuth won his 11th WSOP bracelet at last year’s WSOP, making him the career leader and giving him bragging rights to claim he’s the best player in the history of the game. (more…)

The winner of last year’s inaugural World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE) in London won’t be welcome at this year’s World Series of Poker (WSOP) in Las Vegas.

Annette Obrestad, from Sandnes, Norway, won the Main Event of the 2007 WSOPE on the day before her 19th birthday. (more…)

The 39th annual World Series of Poker (WSOP) gets underway at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, on Friday, May 30, 2008.

That’s just two days away, so if you’re planning to enter the world’s most prestigious poker competition, you better hurry! (more…)

Pandas and ping pong have previously helped thaw the freeze between communist China and the Free World.

Now another “P”–poker–will give it a go. (more…)

The appearance of poker pro Phil “Poker Brat” Hellmuth Jr.’s image on millions of beer cans this summer is part of a massive advertising campaign and sweepstakes that will award a free seat to the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event.

Word was revealed last week that starting next month, the Miller Brewing Company, a Milwaukee-based beer-maker, will begin nationally distributing special edition beer cans featuring images of and quotes from Wisconsin favorite son and 11-time WSOP bracelet-winner Hellmuth. (more…)

Irish online gambling site Paddy Power (www.paddypower.com) is among the many betting sites offering betting odds on the upcoming World Series of Poker (WSOP) in Las Vegas.

In the past, betting sites offering WSOP odds generally offered odds on who would win the Main Event of the WSOP, the $10,000 buy-in, no-limit Texas hold ‘em tournament whose winner is considered the overall winner of the WSOP. (more…)

Coming soon to a college campus near you: Should you ever fold pocket aces, when do you try to fill an inside straight, and while we’re at it, what the hell is a check-raise anyway?

Reflecting a nationwide trend among institutions of higher learning in the USA, a college in Cleveland, Ohio, USA, is going to start offering a class in playing poker. (more…)

A King County judge in the State of Washington Thursday upheld a state law that bans online poker and other forms of Internet gambling.

According to media reports, poker player Lee Rousso had argued that the 2006 law, which made online poker and other forms of Internet gambling a felony, violates the U.S. Constitution’s commerce clause and is cruel and unusual punishment. (more…)

No one was injured when when a gun-toting woman robbed a video poker parlor Friday in Beckley, West Virginia, USA.

According to media reports, the robber, an overweight white woman about five-feet-five-inches tall, entered Lucy’s, a Beckley video poker parlor, at around 9 a.m. Friday, showed a gun and ordered two employees to give her all the parlor’s cash. (more…)

Phil “Poker Brat” Hellmuth Jr. has won 11 World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelets, more than anyone else in history.

Between his poker winnings and commercial endorsements, he’s a millionaire many times over. (more…)

Veteran New York Post sportswriter and resident curmudgeon Phil Mushnick has a bone to pick with the World Series of Poker (WSOP).

Or more specifially, with the folks who make the rules for the WSOP. (more…)

Add Los Angeles sportscaster and poker expert Fred Wallin to the list of poker pundits who are in favor of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) changing its format for the Main Event, so there will be a four-month lag between the final table being set and being played.

In an exclusive interview with PokerHelper.com, Wallin, who has hosted numerous radio shows about poker on the Business Talk Radio Network and elsewhere, said the format change will bring added publicity to the Main Event, and that’s all that matters. (more…)

Ladbrokes’ (www.ladbrokes.com) poker room is the latest online poker room celebrating one billion hands of poker dealt.

The British online site, which features not just poker but also casino games and sports betting, announced it will soon deal its one billionth hand of poker, and to commemorate (read that: promote) the event, is running a special tournament. Dubbed the Billionth Hand Freeroll, the tourney is to give away World Series of Poker (WSOP) packages to the top 20 finishers in the tournament. (more…)

A Canadian plumber has traded toilet flushes for royal flushes, winning a million bucks in a poker tournament.

Jack Hinchey, a plumber from Toronto, Ontario, Canada, earlier this week won something called the World Poker Crown, a poker tournament run by online poker room 888.com. (more…)

In his first extended remarks about the recently-announced changes for the next World Series of Poker (WSOP), Canadian poker pro Daniel “Kid Poker” Negreanu says the WSOP Main Event will now be like the Super Bowl, with participants poring over videotape of opponents in an effort to gain an edge.

The WSOP announced several weeks ago that starting this year, there will be a four-month break between the time the Main Event final table is set and when it will be played. The WSOP starts May 30, and the Main Event will pare down to a nine-person final table by July. Then, after a 117-day delay, intended to gain publicity for the WSOP and sponsors for the finalists, the final table will play down in November until there is a winner. (more…)

What Facebook and My Space are to pimply-faced teens is what Deal to Play hopes to be to online poker players.

The new website, at www.dealtoplay.com and based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, describes itself in a just-issued press release as, “an online social-networking community designed for online poker and casino players (that) offers amateur and professional online poker and casino players the opportunity to have fun, learn, interact and socialize with their wagering buddies.” (more…)

Hold on to your hats, poker fans!

The start of the 2008 World Series of Poker (WSOP) is just two weeks away! (more…)

While many online poker rooms are offering their players a chance–for a fee–to win seats to the Main Event of the upcoming World Series of Poker (WSOP), Internet service provider America Online (AOL) is offering the same chance for free.

AOL has announced that its game-playing website, Games.com, will award six seats to the 2008 WSOP Main Event in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. (more…)

A nice array of pro athletes, rock stars, pro poker players and Hollywood actors turned out for a celebrity poker tournament Thursday that was co-hosted by poker pro Annie Duke and actor Don Cheadle for charity.

The event, held at the San Manuel Indian casino in Highland, California, USA, raised funds and awareness for the crisis in Darfur. (more…)

Poker pro Annie Duke and actor Don Cheadle will co-host a celebrity poker tournament on Thursday, May 8, 2008, at the San Manuel Indian casino in Highland, California, USA, to raise awareness and funds for the crisis in Darfur.

According to an announcement by the casino, the proceeds from the event will go to Not On Our Watch (NOOW), an organization founded by actors George Clooney, Matt Damon, Brad Pitt and Cheadle to focus global attention and resources towards putting an end to mass atrocities around the world. The group has adopted the crisis in Darfur, Africa, as its inaugural campaign. (more…)

Add Poker Stars (www.pokerstars.com) to the list of online poker rooms giving away chances to wins seats at the upcoming World Series of Poker (WSOP) in Las Vegas.

Poker Stars says it will hand out a whopping 80 seats to the WSOP Main Event, which is a $10,000 buy-in, Texas hold ‘em tournament. (more…)

Reaction from the poker world has been mixed regarding the announcement that the Final Table of the next World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event will be played four months after it is determined.

The delay was made to increase hype, as well as allow same-day TV coverage of the Final Table. (more…)

In a stunning announcement made Thursday, organizers of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) said that the Final Table of the 2008 WSOP will be played in November, four months after the nine Final Table players earn their spots.=A0=A0

The organizers also announced they will televise Final Table play the same day the winner is crowned. (more…)

“Deal,” the newest Hollywood film about the game of poker, bombed at the box office last weekend when it opened in movie theaters across the USA and Canada.

Starring Burt Reynolds as an aging poker pro, the movie did not even crack the list of top ten grossing films for the weekend. (more…)