$1 million bonus for WSOP Qualifiers

Everest Poker players who qualify for the 2009 World Series of Poker will have more than one way to cash in Las Vegas this summer.

As official World Serious of Poker Sponsors, Everest Poker announced a plan Wednesday to match all the World Serious of Poker Main Event winnings for players who qualify on the site up to $1 million - then share it amongst them all.

Had the plan been in place in 2008, the 62 Everest Poker qualifiers in Vegas would have earned $20,000 a piece.

Virgin Poker Festival held at England

Virgin Poker Festival held its latest knees-up at the splendid Aspers Casino in Newcastle at the weekend for 2 days of top poker fun.

The 2-day €150 main event saw 200 qualifiers battle it out for a £30,000 prize pool with first place garnering a £7,000 pot. In the end, it was journalist Ross Jarvis, dominant for the entire weekend, who triumphed, taking down local Geordie Kris McLackland to bag himself the top honours.

The Virgin Poker Festival has gained itself a reputation for being one of the most relaxed tours in England, with charity heads-up games, side events galore and Wii Bowling all added extras for those who busted out early from the main event.

Rumours abound for Virgin’s next tour stop, but chances are it’ll be another cracker.

FINAL TABLE PAYOUTS
1st - £7,000 - Ross Jarvis
2nd - £5,500 - Kris McLackland
3rd - £4,000 - Andy Edgington
4th - £3,000 - Brian Clarke
5th - £2,500 - Richard Potts
6th - £2,000 - John Crawford
7th - £1,500 - Kristof Zawierucka
8th - £1,000 - Dave O Conner
9th - £750 - Glen Hopley
and 19th - £170 - Jon Young

World Poker Tour Announces Venice Leg for May

World Poker Tour gradually coming to an end in the US, the tour has turned its attentions to locations closer to home with the announcement of a leg in Venice, Italy.

The World Poker Tour Venice will take place from May 6th-10th at the Casino di Venezia and carries a buy-in of €4,400. Its champion will take home a bracelet as well as a $25,000 buy-in to the World Poker Tour Championship, held every April at the Bellagio in Las Vegas.

Online partner for the event, and sponsor, bwin, are holding qualifiers to the tournament, and $8,700 prize packages can be won. The package includes the tournament buy-in plus five nights in a five-star hotel on the lagoon. Two packages are guaranteed to be up for grabs in a series of online finals, which take place three times per week until April 26th. Starting on April 27th, one package will be given out daily. In addition, a $200,000 WPT Venice freeroll will be held on bwin. The promotion, which runs from April 20th through April 26th, uses five one-day flights to determine its winner.

Dream Team Poker II

The new Aced.com Dream team headed up by Jaime Gold won a huge tournament this Sunday at Caesars Palace. It was the second running of the new type format poker tournament, the first for which registration was not restricted to invitees. Team Aced, consisting of 2006 world series of poker Main Event champion Jamie Gold, Ashley Nataupsky, and Houston Waldie, claimed first prize in the team category, with Danny Nelson of Team BikerHaven.net claiming top individual honors.

A total of 148 three-player teams entered the two-day event, meaning there were 444 players altogether. The entry fee was $550 per player, or $1,650 for each team. A portion of the prize pool was set aside for individual players, with the top 25 finishers cashing. The rest was reserved for the top seven three-player teams.

Finishing behind Team Aced were the Claddaghs (second, $33,300), the Clones (third, $15,984), Party at the Mansion ($10,656), and the Hellmuth Busters ($6,660). On the individual side, Nelson defeated Philip Rousseux (of the Claddaghs) heads up, with Rousseaux taking $13,320 for finishing second. Jerry Percival (of Team Runner Runner) finished third ($7,922), Natupsky took $6,666 for her fourth-place finish, and John Regis (of Poker Masters) was eliminated in fifth ($5,328).