David “Chino” Rheem Takes Down the Fourth Side Event at the 2009 Asian Poker Tour Macau

August 17, 2009 (Macau, China) Just four days in, The Poker Pack already made its presence felt at the 2009 Asian Poker Tour Macau when David “Chino” Rheem defeated Tommy Le to win the Hong Kong Game Club (HKGC) No Limit Hold ‘Em R+A tournament.

Rheem went heads-up against Poker Pack member Nam Le’s younger brother after building up his stack at the final table. In the end, his Q-9 proved to be better than Le’s J-10 on a Q-7-J flop. For the win, Chino took home HK $64,200 and the winner’s trophy. Le, on the other hand, won HK $38,500 for his runner-up finish. Also on the table was AsianLogic CEO Tom Hall, who finished seventh for HK $9,200.

The HKGC tournament was the fourth side event at the 2009 Asian Poker Tour Macau. Rheem and the rest of The Poker Pack will be on hand during the twelve day festival of poker to play in the side events as well as the main event, which will be held on August 20.

The Poker Pack is a team of specially selected players of Asian origin who are ambassadors for the Asian Poker Tour. The group is composed of JC Tran, Nam Le, Quinn Do, David “Chino” Rheem, Steve Sung, and Kwang Soo Lee. Together, the six have more than US $24 million in live tournament winnings.

The 2009 Asian Poker Tour Macau will be held at the StarWorld Hotel and Casino in Macau from August 12 to 23, 2009. Buy-in for the main event is set at HK $32,000 + $2,400.

For more information, log on to the Asian Poker Tour’s web site at www.asianpt.com

Poker In The Park Opens Today!

August 13, 2009 (London, UK) – At 5.00pm today the gates will swing open to Poker in the Park and Europe’s largest annual FREE Poker festival will get underway in the centre of London’s famous Leicester Square.

Thousands of people are set to descend upon Leicester Square today to take part in mass poker festivity.

Endorsed by Gamcare, the event will run from 5.00pm – 9.30pm today and will then re-open tomorrow (Friday 14th August) and run from 12.00pm – 9.30pm

Main attractions including the PKR Poker Dome will host many of the UK’s top pub poker leagues and will run a FREE turbo sit n go tournament with an 80 player cap every hour.

The Unibet Lecture Marquee will host some of the world’s most successful poker talent as they address the crowds in a series of lectures. The lecture schedules will run as follows:

Thursday, August 13th

17.15 Jamie Gold: Welcome speech and Charity tournament

18.00 Peter Eastgate: Q&A with current World Champion

18.45 Alex RoussoKnow the stats

19.30 Nik Persaud: Using the internet to improve your game

20.15 Neil Channing: Understanding tells

Friday, August 14th
12.30 Derek Webb: New poker games

13.15 Nik Wealthall: Luck in Poker

14.00 Derek Kelly: Omaha

14.45 Paul Jackson: Hand analysis

15.30 Liv Boeree

16.15 Tony Cascarino

17.00 Michael Greco

17.45 Alex Rousso

18.30 John Tabatabai

19.15 Derek Kelly: Book reading

20.00 Ian Frazer: Starting out in online poker

20.45 Jamie Gold

Make sure you don’t miss out!

PRIZES ANNOUNCED FOR JAMIE GOLD CHARITY TOURNAMENT

7 August 2009 (London, UK) - The Jamie Gold Charity Poker Tournament, to be held at The Casino at the Empire during the Poker in the Park festival in Leicester Square, London – 13th and 14th August, is giving away a huge variety of generous prizes.

The tournament, which aims to raise money for The Jamie Gold Foundation’s numerous charities, will be co-hosted by 2008 WSOP Main Event winner Peter Eastgate and will commence at 7.30pm on Thursday, 13th August at The Empire’s Shadow Lounge.

It will be a 50 player No Limit Texas Hold’em Freezeout Tournament with starting stacks of 7,000 chips and 20 minute blind levels. Forty seats will be available at £500 per seat – the other ten seats are reserved for personal invites of Gold and Eastgate.

A number of prizes have been generously donated. These include the following:

· EPT seat worth £5,200 donated by Poker Stars

· £3,000 Unibet Open Package

· Gresham Blake Tailor Made Suit

· Custom Chip Set from Marlow Casino Chips

· £1,000 Gevril Wristwatch courtesy of Bluff Europe magazine

· Custom Poker Table worth £3,000

· Tag Heuer Sunglasses

· £1,500 Oceanault Wristwatch donated by Jamie Gold

· £1,000 PopStar’ Experience including one nights accommodation at Reading's 5 Star Forbury Hotel

· Poker & Golf program with Dare2Dream

· A week's poker training by "The Maven" in his Las Vegas poker academy

Prizes will be awarded by choice. i.e. 1st place gets first pick, second place gets second pick and so on.

Attending the tournament will be Michael Greco, Teddy Sherringham and Mark Chadwick of the band the Levellers. Also attending will be Poker Pro JJ Hazan as well as Gold and Eastgate.

Dublin Voted European Poker Capital 2009

Bluff Europe magazine names Irish Capital best place for poker in Europe for second year running!

July 27, 2009 (London, UK) – For the second year running, Dublin has pipped London to the post for the title of this year’s European Poker Capital, as voted by industry leading poker publication Bluff Europe Magazine.

Bluff Europe praised the unbridled enthusiasm which Dubliners have for the game, as well as the variety of good card clubs in the city and the commitment to player-friendly tournament structures adopted by tournament organisers. The magazine says it deliberately ignored those countries where government gambling monopolies strangle the game, as well as places where the rakes in cash games are exploitative to the player – instead, they looked to reward variety, value, enthusiasm and “action”.

London took second place but was also praised for its venues, tournaments and for the growth of pub poker in the city over the last two years, as were fellow runner-ups Vienna, Tallinn and Galway respectively.

“It’ll always be a close run thing between Dublin and London for top spot, but we just had to give it to the Irish again this year, simply because we’re always overwhelmed by the enthusiasm we encounter for the game whenever we visit,” said Philip Conneller, editor of Bluff Europe. “Dubliners are mad for it, and in Ireland poker seems so much more of a passion than elsewhere. Even the table banter is just – well – better.”

Dublin is also home to the annual Irish Open, which is the oldest poker tournament in Europe and one of the most eagerly event on the circuit because of its festival atmosphere as well as the Irish sense of fun and fair play.

Please join Bluff Europe at this year’s Poker in the Park, August 13 & 14 in Leicester Square, London to toast all five top class poker cities.

Untapped Spanish Gaming Markets Cause a Stir

New iGB Affiliate niche event offers knowledge needed to conquer this emerging sector

23 July 2009, London, UK - The Spanish online gambling market looks set to open its door to the online community as it moves closer towards collective regulation governing the industry in Spain. This is not a localised phenomenon as early indications from Brussels point to the need for nationalised law for the European gambling industry – access to each market will require compliance with local laws and a need for insider knowledge. The booming Spanish market will be of specific interest to many organisations, with numerous international companies such as William Hill or Bet Bull/Bwin already having joint venture agreements in place. This is no surprise as this largely untapped market has huge growth potential with the possibility of reaching up to 46 million Spanish speaking individuals in Spain alone.

This has led to companies such as iGaming Business to develop country/regional specific events tailored to understanding key industry areas in such emerging markets. Their latest venture, iGB España to be held in Madrid between 29th-31st October, is due to capitalise on this profitable industry by providing iGaming operators and affiliates with an early insight to gain market advantage.

“Never has the need for localization been more apparent in our industry, and iGB España is a timely reflection of this shift in focus.” James McKeown Editor for iGaming Business and iGB Affiliate Magazine, added “Spain is a flowering market but there is still much to learn in order to create a successful and fully compliant business there. Being the first market-specific conference on the circuit, iGB España is the only event fully dedicated to the Spanish market, and is the only place where you’ll be fully educated on the legal, operational and technical workings of the market.”

The conference sessions at iGB España will have an original twist on tried and tested methods, giving in-depth analysis of the different online gambling sectors in the Spanish speaking markets worldwide. Based on a discussion Q&A format, delegates will undoubtedly gain vital information on how to flourish in the Spanish marketplace. In addition, there will be a legal update on current jurisdiction, with principal focus on how to successfully charter and advocate this lucrative sector.

One session particularly worthy of note is the special focus on Pay-Per-Click advertising. As Google is on the verge of consenting to PPC advertising in Spain, there has been a huge demand on how to take advantage of this huge revenue potential. There is no denying that PPC has proven to be an excellent way of driving quality traffic to a website, particularly in conjunction with Search Engine Optimization. But equally PPC requires planning and practice in order to be successful and many organisations fail to understand the importance of geographical targeting, which is vital when considering the different demographics of the Spanish speaking markets. Consequently, iGB España will host a series of sessions which will provide a comprehensive guide to PPC and the Spanish market.

iGB España is completely free for all affiliates and media owners to attend which includes a 2 day exhibition, conference and multiple networking events. To register for iGB España or to find out more simply visit www.iGBEspana.com.

About iGB España
iGB España is first iGaming event solely focused on the Spanish iGaming market. Concentrating on content and networking as opposed to the large style exhibitions, iGB España will offer a diverse mix of presentations and lively panel discussions presented by expert speakers from the iGaming industry. With close to 400 Spanish affiliates, media owners, iGaming vendors and operators iGB España will be the biggest Spanish language conference ever seen in iGaming.

About iGB Events
iGB Events began as CAP Euro in January 2007, and has grown from 600 attendees to over 1700 attendees in just two years making them the biggest iGaming affiliate events in the sector. This rapid success has come about by keeping true to a simple philosophy: “Put Affiliates First”, which is the backbone of the events. For more information on these events, please visit www.iGBAffiliate.com/content/events or contact alex@igamingbusiness.com.

About iGaming Business
iGaming Business has been in the iGaming industry for over 8 years and as well as producing affiliate events publishes market leading magazines such as iGaming Business and iGaming Business Affiliate Magazine both considered the bibles for the iGaming Sector and read by thousands of affiliates, vendors and operators each and every month. For more information on iGaming Business, please visit www.igamingbusiness.com.

Two-Time World Champion Johnny Chan Returns to Asian Poker Tour Macau

July 23, 2009 (Macau, China) – After getting a taste of the Asian Poker Tour’s event in Macau last year, Johnny Chan will be back this August 12th – 23rd for more.

The two-time WSOP® champion is confirmed to be a part of this year’s Asian Poker Tour Macau event, which will be a twelve-day festival of poker this August. Chan will be on hand to play in this year’s main event as well as to take part in the filming of “Poker King”, an upcoming Chinese film about poker in Asia.

Chan, who was born in China, is one of the biggest names in poker history. Aside from winning back-to-back World Series of Poker® championships in 1987 and 1988, he is also tied with Doyle Brunson for second all-time total bracelets with ten. He currently has over eight million dollars in winnings from live tournaments alone.

Joining Johnny Chan at the upcoming Asian Poker Tour Macau event will be some of the world’s best poker players, including The Poker Pack. The Poker Pack is a team of specially selected players of Asian origin who are ambassadors for the Asian Poker Tour. The group is composed of JC Tran, Nam Le, Quinn Do, David “Chino” Rheem, Steve Sung, and Kwang Soo Lee. Together, the six have over $24 million in live tournament winnings.

The 2009 Asian Poker Tour Macau will be held at the Galaxy StarWorld Hotel and Casino in Macau from August 12 - 23, 2009. Buy-in is set at HK $32,000 + $2,400 (approximately US $4,300).

For more information, log on to the Asian Poker Tour’s web site at www.asianpt.com

The Jamie Gold Foundation Charity Poker Tournament Teams Up With Poker In The Park

Peter Eastgate to co-host star-studded charity tournament

July 21, 2009 (London, UK) – Poker Champion Jamie Gold and Poker in the Park are teaming up to host the Jamie Gold Charity Poker Tournament at The Casino at the Empire during the Poker in the Park festival in Leicester Square, London – 13th and 14th August.

The tournament which aims to raise money for The Jamie Gold Foundation’s numerous charities, will be co-hosted by 2008 WSOP Main Event winner Peter Eastgate and will commence at 7.30pm on Thursday, 13th August at The Empire’s Shadow Lounge.

It will be a 50 player No Limit Texas Hold’em Freezeout Tournament with starting stacks of 6,000 chips. Forty seats will be available at £400 per seat – the other ten seats will be given to poker pros and celebrities personally invited by Gold and Eastgate.



PRIZES

While cash buy-ins will be donated to The Foundation, the top three final table winners will receive prizes.

PokerStars are generously donating a seat to the London EPT main event worth £5,200 as first prize.

The Maven, Bluff Magazine’s 2008 Online Player of the Year, is donating one-on-one poker strategy training via his site TheMavenVT.com worth £3,000 to the second place finisher.

The third place winner will receive a Gevril watch, established in 1758 and favoured by top celebrities including James Caan, Eva Mendes, Martin Sheen, Sting and Denzel Washington, worth £1,500 compliments of Bluff Europe magazine.
Jamie Gold and Peter Eastgate will also be giving lectures on both Thursday and Friday at Poker in the Park. On Thursday they will talk specifically about strategy for small tournaments (less than a hundred runners) similar to what will be played at Poker in the Park’s Poker Dome and at the Gold charity event. On Friday, they will do a follow-up lecture on tournament strategy, with stories and references from the Charity Event held the night before.

Both Jamie Gold and Peter Eastgate will be on hand to accept donations for The Foundation and to sign autographs.