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PokerStars European Poker Tour Heads To Budapest, Hungary

For the first time in the history of Hungary, the country will play host to a major live poker tournament. The European Poker Tour (EPT), sponsored by PokerStars.net, is making a stop in Budapest from October 28th through November 1st.

Ideally termed the “Hungarian Open”, four days of action will unfold at the Sofitel Hotel at the Las Vegas Casino. The event will feature a €4,350 buy-in, and the EPT is expecting a rather large field of participants, including s few of the EPT’s top players native to the area. Entrants are capped at 500.

The city of Budapest is arguably noted as one of the most beautiful destinations in the world, home to the Buda Castle Quarter, Danube River, Millennium Underground Railroad and other historical wonders. If you’re curious as to what would draw poker fans to visit the country, the PokerStars.com EPT Budapest Main Event is certainly not the only attraction on the list.

The 4-day event will consist of a series of tournaments, including a €500+€50 on October 30th with one re-buy, a €2,000+€100 No Limit Hold’em event on the 31st, and a €1,000+€70 No Limit Hold’em event on the 1st of November. In between all of this, a host of cash games are expected to take place, involving mostly those who bust out early.

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Poker Pro Sorel Mizzi Receives 3-Month Ban From PokerStars

Canadian professional poker player Sorel “Imper1um” Mizzi was recently handed a 3-month suspension from Poker Stars. Apparently, Sorel Mizzi allowed one of his friends to temporarily participate in a WCOOP $300 PL Omaha Event under Mizzi’s “Imper1um” username, which the site’s multi-accounting rules strictly prohibit.

According to the reports, Sorel was deep into the tournament when he had to leave in order to catch a flight from Barcelona, Spain to London, England. Not wanting to exit the tournament at this point, he gave his friend the heads-up to play the remainder of the tournament in his place.

When PokerStars got wind of the activity, the initial reaction was to impose a 6-month ban on Mizzi’s account. Apparently, after a multitude of lengthy emails between Mizzi and the online poker room, in which Mizzi admitted, explained his reasons and apologized for the incident, the ban was reduced to three months.

This makes the second time in recent history that the Canadian poker pro’s name has been splashed across the headlines. Just last year, Mizzi was accused and convicted of another multi-accounting controversy at Full Tilt Poker. Mizzi was found guilty of playing the online poker room’s monthly $1-million guarantee under the account of Chris “BluffMagCV” Vaughn.

As more and more acts of multi-accounting are discovered at online poker rooms, the consequences are becoming increasingly severe. A few weeks back, Josh Field was reprimanded with an extensive ban from PokerStars for creating a number of new accounts. A few accounts belonging to Field’s friends were also sanctioned for funding Josh’s account.

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PokerStars APPT Auckland Crowns Winner David Craker

The Asia Pacific Poker Tour, sponsored by PokerStars.net, finished up its stint in Auckland, New Zeland this weekend as native local Daniel Craker brought pride to the city by taking the crown. In what became New Zealand’s largest live poker event ever, Craker was awarded $257,040 for the impressive 1st place win.

The SkyCity Casino in Auckland set the scene for the final table of nine, which had begun as a field of 306. A $3k buy-in boosted the overall prize pool to about $800k. Among the competitors were some of America’s top poker pros, who couldn’t resist the chance to get in on such a historic event. The enormity of the tournament was nearly overwhelming for New Zealand, who has never seen the game of poker to be so incredibly popular before now.

In what would become the final hand of the event, Craker was playing tight poker against heads-up opponent Matthew Konnecke of Australia. With Pocket 2s, Craker went for gold. Konnecke’s As-9s seemed strong enough, but by the end of the race, Craker’s twos would hold on to win the poker tournament.

Two final tablist, Craker and Wai Kwan Yuen of the UK, had been awarded seats in the PokerStars APPT Event via satellite competitions, making their 1st and 9th place respective cashes all the more sweeter.

Below are the final table results and cash rewards from PokerStars APPT Auckland.

1st - Daniel Craker (New Zealand) - $257,040
2nd - Matthew Konnecke (Australia) - $162,972
3rd - Wang Che Jung (New Zealand) - $85,680
4th - Dan Sing (New Zealand) - $59,976
5th - Luke Stanford (New Zealand) - $46,267
6th - Nathanael Seet (Singapore) - $34,272
7th - Jani Karke (Finland) - $25,704
8th - Michael Mariakis (Australia) - $19,706
9th - Wai Kwan Yuen (United Kingdom) - $14,565

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PokerStars EPT London Awards £1m To USA’s Michael Martin

It was a miraculous victory for American Michael Martin at the PokerStar’s 5th Annual European Poker Tour London Open last weekend. Martin made history last Sunday when, after a series of phenomenal come-back hands, he was awarded the highest 1st place prize in the history of PokerStars’ EPT London; £1,000,000.

Michael was grasping at straw as his chip stack had dwindled to an incredibly low 95,000 at the final table. To the astonishment of all spectators, in under ten minutes, Martin managed to claim several wondrous pots, one after another, that put him over the top.

From there, it was only a matter of time as Martin skillfully ousted American poker pro Eric Liu in 4th, followed by Team PokerStars Pro Marcin Horecki in 3rd. Michael Martin would then go heads-up with Swedish poker player, Mike Tureniec, who earned his seat in the EPT London Open via PokerStars qualifiers.

It was Mike vs. Michael in a battle to the finish. The final hand pitted Martin’s Pocket 4s against Tureniec’s K-9. The Flop was no help to either, but a 4 on the Turn sealed Michael’s fate as the champion of the PokerStars 5th EPT London Open.

At 24 years of age, Michael Martin barely even made it into the event. Martin was 105th on the waiting list and about to hop a flight back home when he was given a seat to play in the sold-out PokerStars EPT event. This year’s triumph follows an impressive cash in the last season at EPT Monte Carlo, where he finished 5th. Martin also took a 2nd place finish in the Amsterdam Poker Classic.

After the big win, Michael Martin said, “It has been surreal. I had less than two big blinds and then, just three hands later, I was on 1.4 million. But I just knew I was going to do something here and having my family watching made me even more determined.”

When Michael made the final table, his Mother Nancy and girlfriend Jen hopped an overnight flight to London to cheer him on from the rails.

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PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Returns, Jan ‘09: Qualifiers Open

PokerStars has finally announced the long-awaited schedule for the upcoming 2009 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, scheduled for January 4th through the 10th on Paradise Island. Steps Satellites, along with Cash and FPP Qualifiers, are now running, giving members of the online poker room a much cheaper opportunity to land a seat in the $10k Main Event.

The PokerStars Caribbean Adventure features a number of preliminary NL Hold’em events with $1k, $2k and $5k buy-ins, leading up to the Main Event – a $10k buy-in – running from January 5th-10th. The live poker tournament will be held at the Atlantis Hotel and Casino on the Bahamas Paradise Island.

The newest addition to the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure will be a $25k High Roller event scheduled to span three days of the tournament. The poker world is expecting to see some of the most respected, high ranking pros and deep-pocket players taking part in the event.

The PokerStars Caribbean Adventure attracted 1,100 players last years, most of which qualified through the online poker room’s vast assortment of satellites and qualifiers, and this year’s PCA is expected to draw an even larger crowd.

Steps Sit’n’Go Satellites start as low as $7.50, or 500 FPP (Frequent Player Points), where poker players must win their way through a series of SNG tournaments to claim the ultimate prize – a seat in the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure. Being SNG Satellites, these tournaments are constantly running at PokerStars. Cash Qualifiers and FPP qualifiers are also found in abundance on the PokerStars tournament schedule, offering a range of buy-ins.

The PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Main Event Prize Package is worth $14,300, covering the $10k buy-in, hotel accommodations and other expenses, with spending cash left over.

Team PokerStars Pro Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, winner of the 2008 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, took home $2 million for the victory. “Competing and winning last year was such a great experience. The PCA playing field is always diverse and competitive because of the amount of PokerStars qualifiers - the location can’t be beat, and I can’t wait to go back.”

ElkY’s “great experience” continued throughout 2008, with a final table finish at the Grand Prix de Paris, two WSOP cashes and several finishes deep in the money at the recent PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker.

The 2009 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure will host a number of today’s top professional poker players, including many members of Team Pokers. Daniel Negreanu, Greg Raymer, Chris Moneymaker, Joe Hachem and of course Bertrand Grospellier are already registered for the event.