The red-hot chili action is heating up at Chili Poker with more opportunities to win a seat in live events than ever before! And, the qualifying events going on now at Chili Poker, can give you the amazing opportunity to be a part of The Euro City Poker Tour! This amazing poker series is hosted at the hottest and most action packed cities in Europe, and thanks to Chili Poker you can be there!

The next event of this most prestigious Euro City Poker Tour is to be held in historic Salzburg, the fourth largest city in all of Austria. The Salzburg event will be taking place from April 3rd through April 5th of 2009 at the luxurious Alpine Palace Resort complex. Here poker players from around the globe can enjoy the fantastic views and breath the fresh, clean air. All while taking advantage of the many activities available like skiing, snowboarding and of course – POKER! And to top it off, all of this can be done in a lavishly appointed and fully equipped casino resort complex!

Only Chili Poker can send you to this fabulous event in style - with a prize package worth $4,000! That includes your -€1,400 + €140 buy-in to the Main Event, €1,040 for four nights’ accommodations at the Alpine Palace, plus three meals daily for both the package winner and their honored guest! You will also be provided with transportation both ways between the Salzburg airport and Alpine Palace resort, PLUS up to $635 for flights and spending money! But it doesn’t end there! As a Chili Poker VIP, you will also receive the gift of your own exclusive Welcome Party on April 2nd, 2009! Your welcome party will include food, a two-hour open bar and special entertainment!

Now, for the answers to that all important question…How do you qualify?

That’s easy! First, Download Chili Poker and automatically receive a special deposit bonus of 100% up to $600! After you have your account set up, log-in to Chili Poker and check out the many EC Salzburg Poker Tour qualifying satellite tournaments!

Chili Poker will host daily satellites and weekly super satellites all the way until March 25th, 2009. And, keeping in step with their goal to make sure everyone has a chance to qualify; Chili Poker is offering you a variety of buy-ins to meet any budget. The qualifying structures to choose from are:

•    Structure A Stage 2 Satellites - Sit n’ Gos starting at only $3.00 + $0.30, daily, Freezeouts for only $5 + $0.50 or three different $2 + $0.20 tournaments daily!

•    Stage 1 Satellites - $43 + $4 Sit n’ Gos, $21.50 + $2 Sit n’ Gos, $30 + $3 daily Freezeouts and daily $20 + $2 tournaments.

•    Structure A Super Satellites - A buy-in of $200+$15 on Sundays until March 22nd.

And, starting in January, take advantage of these great satellites:

•    Structure B Stage 2 Satellites - 1 Hand Sit n’ Gos for $0.55 + $0.05.
•    Stage 1Satellites - $8.8+$0.8 buy-in MTT, $4.4+$0.4 buy-in Sit n’ Gos, daily $5 + $0.5 or $3 + $0.3 Sit n’ Gos.

•    Structure B Super Satellites – These will run on Wednesdays from January 14th to March 25th with a buy-in of $40+$4.

Of course full details can be found after you log-in to your account at Chili Poker. With so many great opportunities to choose from, don’t miss your chance to win your seat at the Euro City Poker Tour Salzburg this spring!

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World Record Week at PokerStars

The final week of 2008 is a wonderful thing at PokerStars.  The first BIG mentionable of the World Record Week is the tournament of tournaments, Guinness World Record Breaker attempt that will begin on December 28, 2008 at 15:30ET and as of this writing has 27899 players registered to play – there’s a $500K guaranteed prize pool to play for, along with being part of a record making event. Dec 26, 2008

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PokerStars has announced plenty of promotional extras in conjunction with its latest assault on the Guinness Book of World Records. The record-setting event, which starts at 3:30 pm ET on Sunday, reached its 35,000-player cap early on Saturday, leaving late-arriving hopefuls only the option of watching and waiting to see if already-registered players drop out before the event begins.

The special tourney – with the establishment of the record itself likely now just a formality – is the centerpiece of Stars’ ongoing “World Record Week” promotions. Stars will also be adding an extra million dollars to the guaranteed prize pool of tomorrow’s Stars Sunday Million, and since the event already features an ongoing $1.5 million guarantee, the special promotion swells the official prize pool to an unprecedented $2.5 million.

Stars has also been running extra qualifiers to tomorrow’s Sunday Million since Wednesday. Qualifiers with FPP (Frequent Player Point) buy-ins range from 50-2,500 points, and will run through early Sunday afternoon. Stars has added several other events as well. The $200+15 Sunday Warmup, now one of online poker’s most popular weekend events, will have its guarantee raised to $1,000,000 on Sunday as well.

Players without the bankrolls for $200+15 event buy-ins need not despair – Stars is also running special 10,000-player SNGs this weekend, each with buy-ins of only $1, and Stars is adding an extra $10,000 to the prize pool in each. As many as ten of these events will be held by Sunday night, depending on demand.

And of course, Stars is offering some cash giveaways as well. The site has returned with its “Milestone Hand” giveaways as holiday bonuses through the end of the month. Every millionth cash-game hand dealt will result in extra bonuses paid, according to the following:

Limit Winner (Other Players)

Micro $250 ($100)
Low $500 ($200)
Medium $1,000 ($400)
High $2,000 ($800)

The winning amount will then be multiplied by the VIP level for each player. Bronze star players receive the stated amount, while other levels are bumped up according to the following:

SilverStar 15% Bonus
GoldStar 30% Bonus
PlatinumStar 60% Bonus
Supernova 120% Bonus
Supernova Elite 200% Bonus

As can plainly be seen, there’s plenty of fun and extra money online this weekend and through end the month at PokerStars

“Poker After Dark” launches its fifth season on Monday night with a matchup they are calling “Close But No Cigar.” It will feature six players who have all made a WSOP Championship final table in their careers, but came up just short of the taking home the most coveted bracelet in poker. There’s no shortage of non-championship jewelry in the crowd, however, as the players collectively own 13 WSOP victories.

The lineup includes Andy Black, Allen Cunningham, Mike Matusow, Dewey Tomko, David Williams and Lee Watkinson. The players are putting up $20,000 apiece for this winner-take-all event, which starts airing on NBC December 29th and will run for five consecutive nights. Viewers will be treated to an additional “Directors Cut” special on Saturday January 3rd, following “Saturday Night Live,” which will feature a behind-the-scenes look at the week along with player interviews.

Andy Black’s first run at the WSOP Championship fell short in 1997 WSOP when poker legend Stu Ungar eliminated him in 14th place. After taking a hiatus from poker, Black made another run at the Championship in 2005, finishing in fifth place.

Black wasn’t the only PAD challenger to watch Joe Hachem claim the bracelet that year. Mike Matusow was also a final tablist in 2005. Matusow also finished sixth in 2001, the year Carlos Mortensen won the Main Event. Dewey Tomko finished second that year, nineteen years after his second-place finish to Jack Straus in 1982.

David Williams was also a near miss in 2004, finishing second to Greg Raymer. While Allen Cunningham finished in fourth place to Jamie Gold’s 2006 WSOP win, Lee Watkinson was eliminated from the 2007 WSOP final table in eighth place by Jerry Yang, who went on to win the event.

This will be the first PAD appearance for Black, Watkinson and Tomko. Allen Cunningham and David Williams have won previous PAD events, while Mike Matusow is still looking for his first PAD victory.

Some people play poker and some people make sure poker is played smoothly.  The latter of that statement is every bit as important for those who only play it.  Of course, it helps if you’ve done both, and in the case of Jack McClelland that’s exactly what he’s been doing for nearly his entire life.  From going broke against his grandma in early poker games, to traveling the world for games, McClelland is one of the few people that have truly seen it all from both sides of the table.  Like many, his career started as a humbling experience, cleaning ashtrays at his first job, but his hard work and dedication to the game he loved made him one of the most recognizable faces in the game today.
 
Jack McClelland was born in 1952 in McConnellsville, Ohio, a tiny town with not much to do for a small boy.  When he was old enough to sit at the kitchen he was old enough to sit down and play a game of poker, at least that’s how his grandmother saw it.  As predicted, McClelland’s grandmother wasn’t your typical sweet lady, she was a gambler.  Until he was about ten years old his grandma would beat him out of his allowance on a routine basis, but she was also doing some teaching.  McClelland has credited his grandmother with teaching him math through their card playing sessions.  So, while she made him a little bit poorer, as poor as a 10 year old boy can be, she also took the time to teach him some things to help him get through school.

As a young teenager McClelland began organizing poker games in the neighborhood for the local children.  While he enjoyed doing this, he also did it for a different reason.  Both his grandmother and mother were ill and had very little money to pay for medical bills.  McClelland also had a younger sister he tried to take under his wing during these tough times.  Little Jack thought he could at least help with the efforts, and by all accounts he did quite a good job.
 
Shortly after the death of his grandmother, his mother’s doctor said a drier climate might do her a lot of good for her illness, so the family moved west to Las Vegas.  McClelland had hoped to work in a casino as a dealer or in some capacity having to do with poker, but had to start at the bottom.  Sahara Casino hired him as a sort of “do it all” employee, with an emphasis on some of the jobs people don’t want to do.  As mentioned he cleaned ashtrays, but he also vacuumed, cleaned bathrooms and worked as an errand boy his first few months at the casino.

The bosses at the casino saw his hard work and his willingness to do anything to help the casino.  A few months in they taught him how to deal poker, and within a year he was the shift director of the casino.  McClelland continued with this job until the casino was sold in 1980.
 
McClelland worked a few jobs here and there on the strip, usually in temporary roles, but during the early part of the 80’s he spent a lot of his time trying to make a living being a professional poker player.  Despite having decent success in lower buy-in tournaments, McClelland had more complaints about the tournament circuit than things he liked about it.  For the first few years of the 80’s he would go home after a tournament and complain to his wife how bad the tournaments were ran, how nobody seemed to know what they were doing, and how they seemed to make rules up on the spot.  After a few years of hearing the complaints, his wife finally stopped him midsentence one day and said, “If you think you are such a genius why don’t you go and fix them?”
 
McClelland thought about this for a few seconds and thought, maybe I will.

In 1984 McClelland went to work with the World Series of Poker.  After a year of learning the ropes, he was promoted to assistant tournament director the following year.  Along with fellow tournament director Jim Albrecht, McClelland saw the WSOP have its biggest growth in years under his watch.
 
One of the first things he wanted to change was to improve the blind structure, which at times in the past wasn’t decided on until right before a tournament, and sometimes the structure would change during the actual tournament, leaving a mess of things.  McClelland also wanted to give the WSOP a more wholesome and open feeling.  He wanted it to feel like everyone is welcome, and that the WSOP wasn’t just a collection of the “good old boys” in poker.  It was under his watch that the first non-American won the WSOP Main Event, Mansour Matloubi, originally from Iran in 1990.  The WSOP also saw another first the following year.  In 1991 they awarded their first million dollar prize to the winner of the main event, and it was also the first time the main event had over 200 entrants.  After 15 years on the job McClelland decided to step down from his post when his wife was diagnosed with a terminal illness.

During this same time period McClelland became one of the most sought after tournament directors in the world.  On top of lending his expertise to a number of tournaments around Las Vegas, he also began traveling to Atlantic City to help them revamp their tournaments, including directing the very first tournament ever held at the Taj Mahal.  Transatlantic flights also became a normal experience for McClelland, traveling to as far away as Russia, Australia, the Isle of Man, and even Aruba.

After the passing of his wife, McClelland took the job of tournament director at the Bellagio shortly after the 9/11 attacks.  The Bellagio was hoping that because of the economic crisis that arose out of the attacks, that Jack would be able to get them back on track.  Those thoughts were made true when the newly formed World Poker Tour made the Bellagio one of their main spots for televised events.  McClelland has traveled ever since with the WPT, and can be seen on their television shows calling the action.

McClelland has added his experience to UltimateBet to help them with their tournament structures and he also runs a committee “to review and make judgments on questionable member play.”  McClelland also ran the annual Poker Classic in Aruba up until a few years ago, which is an UltimateBet production.

McClelland’s contributions to poker were largely done in a quiet manner, but he is without a doubt one of the reasons that poker tournaments are run so smoothly today, and in turn have the immense popularity that they do.

In an interview done about three years ago, McClelland had a great quote about poker that I would like to end his profile on; I think it’s one that anyone who loves poker can agree on.  “Poker players are intense. Poker’s not life or death to them; it’s much more important than that.”

Major Tournament Results

18-Mar-2004         $ 7,000 Limit Hold'em Championship Final Day

2004 - PartyPoker.com Million III Limit Hold'em, Cruise     33rd     $ 12,984     

17-Sep-2000         Limit Hold'em $12000 Freeroll

2000 Heavenly Hold'em, Los Angeles     2nd     $ 2,760     

16-Sep-2000         $ 200 No Limit Hold'em

2000 Heavenly Hold'em, Los Angeles     9th     $ 780     

08-Sep-2000         $ 200 Limit Hold'em

2000 Heavenly Hold'em, Los Angeles     1st     $ 33,966     

10-May-2000         $ 5,000 7 Card Stud

31st World Series of Poker (WSOP) 2000, Las Vegas     7th     $ 15,150     

18-Jan-2000         $ 1,000 7 Card Stud

Carnivale of Poker III, Las Vegas     12th     $ 1,800     

12-Nov-1999         $ 100 7 Card Stud - Twilight

Sam Boyd Poker Classic, Las Vegas     1st     $ 7,821     

17-Jul-1998         $ 230 Seven Card Stud

1998 Orleans Open, Las Vegas     4th     $ 2,339     

06-Jan-1998         $ 500 Pot Limit Hold'em

Carnivale of Poker, Las Vegas     4th     $ 8,320     

16-Sep-1996         $ 1,055 Seven Card Stud

1996 Four Queens Poker Classic, Las Vegas     5th     $ 2,400     

Sep-1995         $ 500 Seven Card Stud

1995 Four Queens Poker Classic, Las Vegas     6th     $ 2,960     

18-Jul-1995         $ 120 No Limit Hold'em

Gold Coast Open, Las Vegas     3rd     $ 6,807     

08-Apr-1995         $ 300 Seven Card Stud

1995 New England Poker Classic, Mashantucket     3rd     $ 3,870     

03-Jun-1993         $ 100 Seven Card Stud

Summer Oasis, Las Vegas     5th     $ 2,140     

22-Jun-1990         $ 500 No Limit Hold'em

US Open, Las Vegas     10th     $ 500     

May-1988         $ 5,000 Seven-Card Stud

19th World Series of Poker (WSOP) 1988, Las Vegas     8th     $ 11,850     

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Tokwiro Enterprises ENRG, proprietor of UltimateBet, released a statement on Tuesday acknowledging an unusual software glitch and explaining a fix that was rapidly put into place to prevent future instances of the same problem from occurring. The hand, being played at $200/400 heads-up limit hold’em, drew additional attention from the poker world because it featured longtime UB spokesman Phil Hellmuth, who was erroneously awarded the pot in the hand.

Examination of the hand histories showed that player “DOUBLEBALLER” should have won the hand after flopping trip queens on a hand where Hellmuth was caught running a bluff with nothing more than 10-2 for down cards. Inexplicably, the pot was awarded to Hellmuth to the amazement of both he and DOUBLEBALLER and the many fans of the high-stakes game on the rail. The quick examination of the hand as it unfolded on UltimateBet’s server showed that DOUBLEBALLER has suffered an Internet disconnect, which subsequent caused his hand holdings to be wiped from the software parser “at the precise millisecond” the pot was being judged and awarded.

UltimateBet awarded the hand to DOUBLEBALLER after examining the software malfunction, then quickly programmed an extra level of software to guard against such an instance occurring again. Interestingly, in the process of implementing the fix, the UB software introduced a secondary flaw which allowed an extra 36 hands throughout the site to be awarded incorrect payouts. Those results, in addition to the Hellmuth hand, were quickly corrected and awarded to the winning players.

With the secondary fixes in place, UltimateBet was no longer able to force the software to award a pot to the wrong player, even when the timing was intentionally set once the timing flaw had been located. According to a Tokwiro release on the matter: “Both errors are no longer reproducible. Furthermore, we are conducting extensive tests to simulate every possible disconnection scenario to ensure this type of malfunction cannot occur in the future. We are currently reviewing historical hands in our database to see if there ever were similar incidents in the past. Thus far, our investigation has been unable to unearth any additional historical occurrences of this malfunction. Our investigation will continue until we are satisfied that there are no additional historical occurrences.”

He’s won millions playing online as PrtyPkrSUX and JC Alvarado

Name: Juan Carlos Alvarado

Nickname: JC

Date of birth: 05/06/85

Place of birth: Mexico City

Currently residing: Vegas, but soon to be back on a beach in Mexico

Favorite song to listen to before tournament that gets you pumped up: Recently by Enae Volare Mezzo

Craziest prop bet: I don't really prop bet, I'm too much of a sucker.

Favorite places to travel: I love most places in Europe.

What do you like to do in your spare time: Watch TV, movies, read, play Xbox…pretty much anything that will keep me lying on my couch.

Any celebrity crushes: Mandy Moore and Natalie Portman

If you weren't playing poker what career would you have: Something having to do with movie making…I wanted to be a writer and I'd love to direct.

What is something no one knows about you: Not sure, but whatever it is I probably would not want to say.

Favorite movie: Ugh, I hate this question there's too many of them. I guess if I had to say what my favorite movie to watch is; it would probably be a tossup between Karate Kid and Enter the Dragon. If I had to say what I think is the best movie I've ever seen, I'd  say  Shawshank?  Maybe Seven Samurai?  Not sure…

Hobbies: I started training Jujitsu this year and I loved it, but then I stopped and I'm planning to start again in January. I started doing yoga, but I suck.

Describe yourself in three words: calm, nice and happy

What are you most proud of in your life: I've been really fortunate in my life but I haven't really done anything that I'm actually proud of so far. I saved someone from getting run over by a 16 wheeler one time; I guess I'm proud of that.

What is your favorite smell: Bacon

Favorite taste: Mango

Favorite sound: Ocean

Biggest impulse purchase: My car

What is a day in your life like outside of playing poker: It depends on what’s going on, like if there’s a tourney in town, if I'm at home or not etc…Typically I wake up around 10 am or so, meditate for like 30 minutes, do some "yoga", go to the gym….I shower and then cook some breakfast, I watch a little TV and then start my session. Later on I usually get convinced to go eat somewhere in Vegas and then end up playing fifa or watching TV with my friends until 2 am or so. Pretty boring, but I enjoy that type of life.

How many tournaments do you play a year: Not many, I usually play the west coast stuff, the series , and occasionally travel out of the US. I don't know the exact number of tournaments but it isn't close to what the tourney pros play.

What is the most over used phrase in poker: "So Sick"….I gotta stop saying that

How do you celebrate when you make a big score: I usually go out to dinner with my friends, I drink a bit and go to bed.   I'll also buy myself something I really want but have been too cheap to get.

What is the most important thing someone has ever told you or taught you about poker: "Don't tilt" ….I still haven't been able to do that though.  

What are you up to now: Right now I'm by myself in Acapulco, in an apartment on a mountain right by the beach….I'm playing about 8 or 10 hours a day out on a balcony overlooking the bay,  it's amazing. I'm not treating it as a vacation, exactly the opposite, I came here to re-focus and start grinding, it's been a very enjoyable experience (except for the fact that I get disconnected too much.)  
 
Biggest poker goal: To somehow win enough money so that I don't have to play.

Like a wheel, the Round Table is a circle of adventures and victories, beats and stories, and life as it unfolds with a cast of characters that may, or may not, have joined you in your home on a local TV program. There's so much more to poker than what you see on TV. Although I won't use canvas, I will paint the full picture for you as I follow the lives of some of your favorite (and some unknown) players. The Round Table is an ongoing series of life, viewed full circle.

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He’s won millions playing online as PrtyPkrSUX and JC Alvarado Name: Juan Carlos AlvaradoNickname: JCDate of birth: 05/06/85Place of birth: Mexico CityCurrently residing: Vegas, but soon to be back on a beach in MexicoFavorite song to listen to before tournament that gets you pumped up: Recently by Enae Volare MezzoCraziest prop bet: I don't really prop bet, I'm too much of a Dec 23, 2008

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One of the great things about online poker is that it runs 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and it doesn’t close for the holidays. And when a site like Full Tilt Poker has games at every level and tournaments with a variety of buy-ins running whenever you want them, that can give a certain amount of peace during the hectic holidays. Whether you’re unable to travel or simply need a break from the family, Full Tilt Poker is waiting to provide that getaway.

And Full Tilt is offering some holiday incentives, doling out a few extra gifts in the form of cold hard cash as 2008 winds down and heads into 2009.

The big promotion is the 3Xmas Happy Hour. During normal Full Tilt Happy Hour tournaments and games, players can earn double Full Tilt Points, which can then be used in the Full Tilt store for anything from clothing to laptops, electronics, and plasma televisions. But from December 21st through January 1st, the 3Xmas Happy Hour times will earn triple points for three times longer than usual!

Extended Happy Hour days will be December 24th, 25th, 26th, 31st, and January 1st, and three times the normal points accrued through games and tournaments will be added to your points tally. Simply look for the smiley faces in the “players” column in the Full Tilt Poker lobby, and play those particular tables to earn those extra points.

Keep in mind that those points are also good for some special tournaments, like the Holiday $100K. Oh, we didn’t mention that?

For 2,000 points, players can earn an entry into the Holiday $100K tournaments. The first one will run at 15:15 ET on December 27th, and due to popular demand, another has been added to run at the same time on December 28th. Each tournament will offer $100,000 in cash prizes, and there is truly no better time of the year to gather a few extra thousand dollars for that bank account or poker bankroll!

And for those who haven’t yet accumulated 2,000 Full Tilt Points, there are satellites running now for as little as 50 points. In addition, there are daily freerolls that start at 40 minutes past every hour through December 27th with seats to the Holiday $100K tournaments up for grabs.

How can you get in on these great holiday opportunities? First, download Full Tilt Poker and set up an account. Then go to the lobby where you’ll find the “tournaments” tab. The Holiday $100K events are listed there.

And don’t forget to use a bonus code, specifically “POKERWORKS,” upon making your first deposit to Full Tilt Poker to earn a 100% bonus on any dollar amount up to $600.

What better way to enjoy–or escape–the holidays than to log on to the ultra-popular Full Tilt Poker and join tens of thousands of others in a little game of poker?

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A private Tucson, Arizona poker club whose opening served as a challenge to that state’s gambling regulations has agreed to close in the face of legal pressure. Club Royale, opened by former judge Harold Lee and Donna and Johnny Ray Rogers, agreed to shutter its doors to resolve a civil suit brought by Arizona’s Pascua Yaqui nation. The Pasqui Yaqui operate two of the four state compact-regulated casinos in the Tucson area.

The battle featured the viewpoints of the outspoken and maverick Lee against the state and the tribes, who insisted that they had the exclusive legal right to spread poker in Arizona, which in total offers 22 casinos run by 15 different tribal nations. Among the poker wrinkles at Lee’s club was its spreading of no-limit hold’em, forbidden under the 1993 Arizona Tribal-State Gaming Compact, which governs the tribal casinos.

The Club Royale battle also developed into a rift between the Rogers, who retained their own representation in the matter, and Lee, who vowed to continue his fight to offer poker in Arizona. By closing the club, which ran under the auspices of the International Card and Game Players Association (ICGPA), a group founded by Lee, the Rogers will not have to pay any damages to the Pascua Yaqui nation. Lee accused the Rogers of misusing ICGPA funds while operating one of two private poker clubs that opened in Tucson last year. (The other club closed for separate reasons.) Lee also vowed to reopen the club at a new Tucson location.

Open your gift from Pacific Poker and get ready to play – even though the qualifying period started on the 20th  of December, the great opportunity to freeroll into cash and fun are far from over.  

The time zone is GMT, The tournament is PokerNews $100K Satellite Freeroll, with a prize pool of $140 on each freeroll tournament and the opportunity to make a lot more money before the last hand is dealt. This is a Pacific Poker and  PokerWorks (in an exclusive partnership with PokerNews) $100K Holiday Promotion,  designed to give you an opportunity to fill your new year with a lot of extra cash and the fun of winning it in a freeroll series that awards seats into Pacific Poker’s $100K Guaranteed Tournaments.

Here’s how the Satellite Freeroll works.  The easiest part is qualifying for the Freeroll, just download Pacific Poker via PokerWorks and register a new account, then make a minimum deposit and earn 15 Frequent Player Points.  If you already have an Pacific Poker account, you are golden as long as you signed up through PokerWorks and have met all other requirements.  

The qualifying periods, the Freeroll Tournaments dates, and Number of Winning Seats are as follows:

• December 20th – 00:00 to December 24th – 23:59, the Freeroll begins on Friday December 26th at 18:45.  The top five finishers receive a free seat at Pacific Poker’s $100K Guaranteed on Sunday, December 28th.
• December 27th – 00:00 to December 27th – 23:59, the Freeroll begins on Sunday December 28th at 18:45.  The winner receives a free seat at Pacific Poker’s $100K Guaranteed on Sunday, January 4th.
• December 27th – 00:00 to December 27th – 23:59, the Freeroll begins Monday December 29th at 18:45.  The winner receives a free seat at Pacific Poker’s $100K Guaranteed on Sunday, January 4th.
• December 27th – 00:00 to December 28th – 23:59, the Freeroll begins Tuesday December 30th at 18:45.  The winner receives a free seat at Pacific Poker’s $100K Guaranteed on Sunday, January 4th.
• December 27th – 00:00 to December 29th – 23:59, the Freeroll begins Wednesday December 31st at 08:45. The winner receives a free seat at Pacific Poker’s $100K Guaranteed on Sunday, January 4th.
• December 27th – 00:00 to December 30th – 23:59, the Freeroll begins Thursday January 1st at 18:45.  The winner receives a free seat at Pacific Poker’s $100K Guaranteed on Sunday, January 4th.
• December 27th – 00:00 to December 31st – 23:59, the Freeroll begins Friday January 2nd at 18:45.  The top five finishers receive a free seat at Pacific Poker’s $100K Guaranteed on Sunday, January 4th.

Add this to your holiday celebration, when you download Pacific Poker through PokerWorks, you’ll find a shower of more Holiday Cheer when you make your first deposit using the Bonus code: POKERWORKS.  You’ll receive an INSTANT BONUS of 25% and a special bonus of 100% up to $400.  Now that is a great stocking stuffer and possibly the boost your bankroll needs to take you over the top when you want to play live tournaments and ring games.  

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Open your gift from Pacific Poker and get ready to play – even though the qualifying period started on the 20th  of December, the great opportunity to freeroll into cash and fun are far from over. Dec 23, 2008

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It is that time of the year again, when one year winds down and the poker industry looks at the accomplishments of the players of the exiting year. Though the actual awards won’t be held until January 15, 2009, the nominees have been announced for the 2008 European Poker Awards.

Last year, the big winners at the ceremony of recognition were 19-year old Annette Obrestad as Tournament Performer of the Year, Russian Alex Kravchenko as Player of the Year, and Katja Thater for Europe’s Leading Lady, and Soren Kongsgaard for Rookie of the Year. And Thomas Kremser was giving the Lifetime Achievement Award to top off the festivities.

The 2008 European Poker Awards are set to take place at the famed Aviation Club in Paris, France on the evening of January 15th, where outstanding European players and casino staff will be honored at the awards ceremony. Several players have been nominated in multiple categories, like Neil Channing, Sebastian Ruthenberg, Marty Smyth, David Benyamine, and Bertrand Grospellier. And Madeleine Harper, who won an award last year, is up for two more this year. All of the nominees are as follows:

Rookie of the Year:
Stephen Chidwick, Ivan Demidov, Davidi Kitai, Jeper Hougaard, Sebastian Ruthenberg, Alexander Kostritsyn, Peter Eastgate

Best Tournament Performance:
Neil Channing, Bertrand Grospellier, David Benyamine, Marty Smyth, Jesper Hougaard, Sebastian Ruthenberg, Peter Eastgate

Player of the Year:
Bertrand Grospellier, David Benyamine, Andreas Krause, Marty Smyth, Neil Channing

Europe’s Leading Lady
Sandra Naujoks, Isabelle Mercier, Kara Scott, Annette Obrestad, Svetlana Gromenkova

Casino Staff Person of the Year
Thomas Kremser, Sylvie Berlanger, Jonathan Raab, Simon Trumper, Madeleine Harper

Rob Gardner Award for Innovation:
Rob Young, Gene Gioia, Jonathan Raab, PokerStars Team (Francine Watson, Conrad Brunner, Madeleine Harper)

The recipient of the 2008 Lifetime Achievement Award has yet to be announced.

All categories have tough competition, and all players nominated in their respective categories are not only popular in Europe - as well as on a more global level - but have all had successful years that put them in contention for those awards.

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