Archive | Celebrities and Gambling RSS feed for this section

Phil Ivey Makes Yet Another Big Bet

21 Apr

Even though he’s already got one of the most impressive lists of wins, titles and bracelets in poker, Phil Ivey continued to push the boundaries by making yet another outlandish bet.

In one of the biggest prop bets ever in poker, Phil Ivey and Howard Lederer have made a $5,000,000 bet on whether Ivey will be able to win a pair of bracelets over the next two or three WSOP’s. Opinions vary on the time span of this bet with PokerListings.com saying he has two years in which to accomplish this feat, while David Sklansky says he has three years.

With seven WSOP bracelets already won by Ivey, two of which were won in the past year at the 2009 event, it seems likely that 33 year old might be the only poker player who can achieve this.

Apparently Ivey plans on playing somewhere in the range of 80 bracelet WSOP events during the period of the prop bet, whether it’s two or three years.

Time will tell as to whether this is a bold or stupid or boldly stupid move, but we can all be guaranteed to be kept entertained, amused and above all impressed by Ivey’s playing style.

Annie Duke Releases iPhone Poker Application

19 Apr

One of the world’s best female poker icons, Annie Duke, is keeping up with the times by releasing Annie Duke Poker Tutor, an iPhone Application that offers players everything they need to know about poker, including tips, odds calculation as well as a glossary of poker terms.

As well as being one of the highest ranked female poker players today, Annie Duke is also a member of Team UB and is the winner of the 2010 National Heads-up Poker Championship. She also gets herself involved in a lot of charity work and fund-raising.

The poker application is geared towards teaching people how to play poker. Her ‘Tips’ section comprises of several comprehensive insights into the techniques required to win. These tips are given in a sequential, organised way in order to optimize learning. There is also an odds calculator that aids players in decision-making and helps players to analyse their hands after they have played. Added to this is a glossary of poker terminologies so that players never have to feel daft when other players use obscure poker terms to impress.

Annie Duke decided to design this application in order to create a means of learning about poker that was completely different, and far more comprehensive, to other poker applications. It also happens to be completely free. So for all those budding poker players out there, here is an opportunity to learn from one of the best for free from the comfort of your own home.

Public Nominations for Women in Poker Hall of Fame 2010

19 Apr

Public Nominations for Women in Poker Hall of Fame 2010

During the course of the Labour Day weekend in the US, the general poker playing public will be given their opportunity to submit their nominations in the 2010 Women in Poker Hall of Fame.

Nominations for the awards can be made up until 10 April 2010; eleven days thereafter, the announcement of the official ballot will be made.

All potential female nominees are required to be an active poker player for more than 15 years as well as contributed to the poker industry in a meaningful manner.

2010 also marks a new nominating arrangement which sees candidates having to be a proponent of the women’s game of poker. Regardless of whether the candidate players are not, she only has to show her support. This year, the general public and not only members will have the opportunity to vote.

Upon completion of the final ballot of names, the voting process will also be open to the public. Public vote will count for about half the final determination, with members of the Poker Hall of Fame and enshrined members counting for the other half.

The final winners and newest inductees into the Hall of Fame will be announced on 3 September 2010 at a popular Las Vegas casino venue. Jan Fisher will also be on hand for the grand event as the Master of Ceremonies for the night.

Poker Star Joins the Entourage

13 Apr

Poker Star Joins the Entourage

Online poker stars from the Victory Poker team are set to take their already beaming poker status to even higher levels, as they set their sights on the Hollywood limelight in the hit television show, Entourage.

The show’s producers are excited to combine the celebrity lifestyle as seen in the show with a poker game theme.

Antonio ‘The Magician’ Esfandiari and Alec Torelli two of the greats in the poker world are the two players who will shoot upcoming scenes for an episode. Esfandiari will also be performing a few of his trademark chip tricks along the way.

The scenes with the two poker stars will have them wearing their trademark Victory patches.

The Entourage episode will air in the next few months, which will most certainly raise the profile of Esfandiari even more as the “coolest” online poker player by far.

Anger over Shane Warne Tweets

12 Apr

Anger over Shane Warne Tweets

Former Australian Spin bowling legend Shane Warne, who is now the coach and captain of the IPL’s Rajasthan Royals, has caused a stir with recent tweets he posted on his Twitter account.

In a post dated on the 11th of April 2010, Warne tweeted about how his followers on the social network site could receive $8 free poker money with a link to the 888 poker website.

Warne has had a partnership with 888 for a number of years now and has become a popular face of the brand and the gambling industry as a whole.

Criticism has been placed heavily on Warne in terms of the fact that he has a huge 47,000 followers on his Twitter account – some of which are presumably minors. Concerns by some reiterated the influential nature sporting figures have over children, and that it should not be forgotten that children are bound to read a lot of what is put on the internet and in public domains.

The tweet will unlikely cause to much of a headache for 888, but it does bring about the important point that although online gambling is indeed safe and secure, and will deny access by underage people, there are a small group of people still concerned with the nature of gambling online; that see it as negative.

Annie Duke Criticises Jesse James

8 Apr

The list of Jesse James haters gets longer by the hour as more and more information about his serial infidelities is released. Annie Duke, the poker pro, is the latest to speak out against the philanderer. She had no trouble calling a spade a spade despite being a fellow contestant and a friend of James in The Celebrity Apprentice Season 2.

Duke recently voiced her opinions at the Texas Hold ‘Em Poker Tournament to Benefit 1736 Family Crisis Centre in Los Angeles saying “If what’s being said is true, I certainly don’t approve of it.” Apparently she was surprised to read of the news as she never suspected anything like that was going on during the filming of The Celebrity Apprentice and afterwards, when they kept in touch. Fellow contestants of the Celebrity Apprentice and Donald Trump had only good things to say about James so it seems that he is quite skilled at keeping his poker face.



Londoner Wins Irish Open Poker Final

7 Apr

Londoner Wins Irish Open Poker Final

The Irish Open Poker Tournament proved a roaring success this year, and as the hotly contested final come to an end, organisers could not have been more pleased with the outcome of the tournament.

The 708-strong competitor list took their seats at the Burlington Hotel for a jam-packed poker competition.

Familiar faces from previous competitors were also present, which included last year’s winner Christer Johansson, as well as Neil Channing, Dan Harrington and Brian Townsend.

With a €600,000 first place prize up for grabs, players and spectators alike were on the edge of their seats throughout the four-day long competition to see who would walk away victorious.

The final consisted of nine finalists, and each one of them brought their individual flare to the poker table, as they vied it out for top honours. Among the nine finalists, Ben Roberts, a veteran cash game player made his mark straight away, but hot young player James Mitchell did not lag far behind.

James Mitchell, the Black Belt Poker protégé of Neil Channing, the former Irish Open champion proved to hold the superior chip lead by the start of the final table.

During the course of the heads-up battle with Paul Carr, Carr began with the upper hand forcing Mitchell to go all-in while trailing with pocket queens against A-6. Mitchell’s luck changed when and ace on the river saved him and began his turn around. Mitchell had eventually caught out the bluff of Carr and capture the title.

Mitchell was visibly overwhelmed by his win and thanked everyone in the crowd for their great support throughout the tournament. This win is Mitchell’s largest live poker win so far.

Together with Mitchell, eight other players reached the final and walked away win big cash rewards, the list of winners were as follows:

1st place: James Mitchell (€600,000)

2nd place: Paul Carr (€312,600)

3rd Place: Santeri Valikoski (€205,200)

4th place: Rob Sherwood (€163,300)

5th place: Ben Roberts (€130,600)

6th place: Edmund Sweeny (€100,800)

7th place: Declan Connolly (€75,000)

8th place: Peter Murphy (€56,300)

9th place: Yann Dion (€37,700)

Scottish Football Legend in Gambling Debt

24 Mar

Legendary Scottish football player, Colin Hendry, has managed to get himself into considerable debt after getting carried away with online gambling. This is said to have been accelerated after his wife, Denise, died last July after an unsuccessful plastic surgery operation.

Hector MacFarlane, Hendry’s neighbour and friend, realised how out of control the situation had gotten after Hendry asked him for a £50,000 loan. MacFarlane loaned his friend the money after Hendry alluded to ‘the vultures circling’ but has not received any money back.

Hendry’s gambling activities were noticed before his wife passed away. She became unhappy about his online gambling habits when he moved his office to their million pound home and she became aware of how excessive his gambling habits were. Apparently he spent considerable time playing at online gambling sites, including during all night sessions, where he won and lost huge amounts of money.

If the rumours are true if Hendry does not sort out his gambling addiction, he might have to sell his million pound home in order to get himself out of debt.

Tiger Says No to Potential Betting Sponsor

18 Mar

Paddy Power, a betting company based in Ireland, recently offered Tiger Woods a whopping $75 million sponsorship deal. This offer comes after Tiger lost a series of sponsorship deals after being busted for having a series of much publicised extra-marital affairs. The dropped sponsorships include: Gatorade, PepsiCo, Accenture and AT&T. Despite losing these big sponsors, Tiger has declined the offer from Paddy Power.

Paddy Power saw this time as the ideal time to sponsor Woods. He would be more likely to say yes and is receiving huge amounts of publicity. In fact, merely making the offer and having it declined has probably already created huge publicity for the betting company. Paddy Power has said it has definite plans for making an enhanced offer to make sure they clinch this 14-time, but very human, golf champion.

Trump Gets His Day in Court to Fight for His Namesake Casinos

17 Mar

Donald Trump, loaded real estate developer and reality TV celebrity, took to the stand in the US Bankruptcy Court in late February 2010 to fight for the control of 3 Atlantic City hotel/casinos in his name that have filed for bankruptcy.

Mr. Trump testified for over an hour at a New Jersey courthouse that he believed that with his assistance, the Trump Entertainment Resorts casinos would be able to overcome losses due to the recession and increasing competition and reach new levels of success.

The testimony was delivered by Mr. Trump in a seemingly relaxed manner but he did have some negative comments about his opponent, Carl C. Icahn, portraying him as a vulture with a varied and unreliable track record of guiding companies through bankruptcy.

Mr. Trump emphasized that it was more important to him than it was to Mr. Icahn to make sure these casinos survive because they had his name on them. He also made a snipe at Mr. Icahn’s supposed stinginess: “Carl spends nothing — if Carl spent three dollars I’d be shocked.”

The casino operator filed for bankruptcy in February 2008.