Blogs

I recently wrote about the new iPad released by Apple. I was amazed to find out how simple and easy it was to use. I was wondering if it can be used for online poker, too.

Upon looking for videos on the iPad I came across this toddler first encounter with an iPad. Is it really so easy to use iPad?

With the World Cup 2010 just around the corner, starting tomorrow in South Africa Unibet is getting into soccer fever with its newest promotion "World Cup 2010 Game - The Predictor game for real players". If you are a fan of soccer and have a fair idea how the teams are going to stack-up against each other then this game is for you.

Randy Lew, also known as Nanonoko has made a blog entry on his official site which features him playing a hyper turbo HU tournament. It is a quite interesting video, and could help with your gameplay, definitely worth a watch.

This summer’s soccer World Cup will be starting this Friday, 11th June in South Africa and betting offices have already made their odds official. Current European Champion Spain are once again one of the possible favourites, with 888 offering odds of 7/2 if they win the World Cup. Their scorers David Villa and Fernando Torres are said to be in excellent shape and it could pay up to 12/1 if Torres won the golden boot.

England is another favourite this year, they work with odds around 6/1 and 7/1. Rooney has had a fabulous season this year, and if he wins the golden boot, gamblers can have a winrate of 11/1 with 888. Bookmakers across England are expecting the national team to be heavily backed ahead of the World Cup, so they are bound to pay out huge sums of money if the English National Team wins the World Cup.

Brazil are available at odds of 5/1 if they manage to secure their sixth World Cup win and Italy, the current champions are at 14/1.

The soccer frenzy will start on the 11th June, with South Africa battling Mexico and the competition will come to an end on the 11th July.

Who would you place your bets on?

2+2 user Eponymous has posted the second part of his hilarious photoshop comic strip, in which we see the Full Tilt crew clash with the Cereus Network.

This comic strip is based on the hit classic, The Godfather, created by Francis Ford Coppola. Things get even more complicated with a few twists and turns in this latest edition, with Jimmy ’Gobboboy’ Fricke being the biggest loser in this brutal poker tale. Enjoy!

WSOP Academy is giving the opportunity for one lucky and talented player to take part in the WSOP Tournament of Champions (TOC): one SNG will determine who gets to participate in the one million dollar event. This event is an exclusive invitational freeroll poker tournament, usually only for WSOP champions. For several years, the TOC has been missing from the WSOP schedule. It has made its return only in recent times. It is a non-bracelet event, and the winner will receive a WSOP Trophy on top of the cash prize.

In total, 27 people are allowed to participate in this event, out of which three places are already taken by previous TOC winners (Annie Duke, Mike Matusow, Mike Sexton) one by the winner of last year’s WSOP Main Event (Joe Cada) and one by the 2009 WSOP Europe Main Event winner (Barry Schulman). Twenty of the remaining places will be left to voters and two so-called sponsored players will also take part.

Joe Cada - 2009 WSOP Main Event Champion

One player will be chosen by the WSOP Academy. They are on the hunt for someone who is not yet a WSOP champion, but have the ability to be the next one. In the end, they have chosen nine players to battle it out with a SNG on the 10th June to get that one entry into the TOC.

The rules of the WSOP also have to follow technological development. So what do the rules say about a poker player who sits down at a tournament with an iPad in their lap?

Apple released the iPad in the United States this past April, and by the end of May, it was made available in nine more countries and has sold more than 2 million pieces so far. Just in recent times, it started to appear at the poker tables, just like the iPhone, iPod and PSP did earlier.

Though we haven’t really heard of Ziigmund and his parties for quite a long time, in his latest blog post Ziigmund tells the public about his trip to Cannes, illustrated with photos of all the rich and famous people who were there at a VIP party organised by Power Poker and Victory Poker. We can see Paris Hilton, Esfandiari, nice ladies with blown-up lips and military swimsuits and cocktails everywhere.

In a recent interview with ESPN, Annette Obrestad claimed that "girls suck at poker". These comments are sure to be raising debate in the poker world, as we all know that there are more and more very successful female players (like Liv Boeree, Vanessa Rousso, and Clonie Gowen, just to name a few).

"It's easy money... I've always said that girls suck at poker. I say that because they do. Maybe they just aren't as competitive and don't try to learn from their mistakes" says Annette.

The 37 year old Phil ‘Unabomber’ Laak has managed to outdo Paul Zimbler’s record of non-stop poker by almost two days: Phil played for an incredible 115 hours straight in the Bellagio Las Vegas.

As I have mentioned earlier, Phil Laak started his record attempt on the 2nd June, aiming for 80 hours of non-stop poker. The previous record was set by the British Paul ‘The Marbella Kid’ Zimbler, who had played heads-up matches for 74 hours at the time and venue of the WSOP Europe last year.

Phil kept himself awake with various tricks and methods: he did yoga and planned his nutrition very carefully. He was allowed to have a five-minute break every hour, but with some limitations, he was able to modify the schedule of his breaks (after six hours of continuous play, for example, he could have a 30-minute break, no sleep, of course).

Patricia Clark was a 51 year old preacher living in Chicago. Last Thursday, she visited a friend’s house in order to collect a $300 debt. Unfortunately she was persuaded to sit in on the game to give her friends a chance to win some money back.

Being a skilled poker player, Patricia managed to increase her winnings, and after she took an $800 pot, she was accused of cheating by the 46 year old host Rosie Morris. Patricia denied these accusations, and headed for the fridge to add some ice to her drink. This is when the alleged killer Rosie Morris fetched her gun from her bedroom and completely unexpectedly shot Patricia in the back, chest and head - the police say.

Patricia Clark                                                       Rosie Morris

Patricia was taken to the Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where she died of her wounds on Saturday. Rosie Morris fled the house after the shooting, but later turned herself in.

Let’s face it a good portion of our time these days is taken up in front of a computer. Either it be for grinding online or for entertainment, computers are now playing a larger role in all of our lives. With so much time spent in front of a computer it is important to think of our well-being and comfort levels. Facing these important matters is essential to create our own oasis. One of the best steps we can take to get closer to this can be with the use of the right equipment i.e. the right chair.

The Aeron chair designed in 1994 is still said to be one of the most comfortable and ergonomic chairs available on the market today. Just one of the many products that the American office furniture manufacturer Herman Miller has on offer it definitely stands out for its uniqueness. It is easy to see that the chairs designers Don Chadwick and Bill Stumpf had one goal when designing this chair to make a chair that offers a wide range of adjustability.

Liv Boeree opens up in her latest video interview when she invited the Poker Players Magazine into her parent’s country home in Sittingbourne, UK where she was brought up. In the two part video interview with Liv not only do you get to see around the family home and meet her mum, but you can also get an interesting insight into her poker career and future plans.

The 25 year old UK born glamour girl has made a career out of being a TV presenter and model in the UK was first introduced into the poker world when she was selected to appear on the TV show "Ultimatepoker.com Showdown" in 2005. After getting a taste of poker Liv continued to play and improve her skills and it wasn’t until April 2010, when she got her big break, winning EPT San Remo, which shot her to poker superstar status.

Men Nguyen the Vietnamese poker professional also known as "The Master", has something to smile about this week after winning  the $10,000 buy-in Seven Card Stud World Championship and securing his 7th WSOP gold bracelet. His win came in his favourite form of poker so there was no surprise when he was quoted saying: “This is my game….I love to play Stud. Believe me, in any Stud tournament I will be there to play against the best in the world.”

The final table of the poker tournament saw a heads-up match between Men Nguyen and Brandon Adams who battle it out for the number one spot. But in the end it came down to Nguyen’s king of pair that crushed Adam’s pair of queens, giving "The Master" the number one spot and the $395,000 first place prize.

A recent article published by the Los Angeles Times covered the subject of poker players using performance-enhancing substances to improve their gameplay. These allegations were backed up by a recent study performed by Nova Southeastern University in Florida. The world-wide study conducted by the university interviewed over 190 poker players from all different player groups, ranging from recreational to professional.

From the study the university found that players were not just using conventional energy boosters, such as caffeine and energy drinks: 28% of players admitted taking at least one prescription medicine to increase their performance; 34% confessed to using marijuana to increase concentration and calm their nerves, and 8% hook themselves up on cocaine.