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Hi everyone, this is Lando and you are watching LandoNation.
The time now is 1.25pm on this Thursday, the 10th of February, 2011.
Now, I know I said that I would be trying to move on from poker
in my written blog, but I never did mention
anything about my YouTube channel! Besides, there's always a lot
going on in poker and having been a big part of it for the
last three years, rather than trying to pull myself away completely,
I should allow myself at least one day a week where I can talk about it.
Therefore, I declare that every Thursday,
I will bring you the top five poker news headlines in what
I like to call, "LandoNation's Five Card Draw".
So, without any further ado, let's play some cards!
First up, as you know, the announcement was made last night
that the 2011 Australian Deaf Poker Championship
is to be held at the Adelaide Casino in October, as part of
the Adelaide Poker Championships schedule.
However, we can't forget that another big event
has just wrapped up there, with the first stop
of the Australian New Zealand Poker Tour (ANZPT)
finishing up last Sunday. A record field of 253 players
each put up $2400 for the ANZPT Adelaide Main Event,
but it was 25-year-old Austrian Octavian Voegele
who took down the title and over $148,000 first-place prizemoney,
making it back-to-back final tables after
finishing third in the same event last year.
Surprisingly, two-time ANZPT Player of the Year Tony Hachem
was unable to record a result, but given he's got
eight cashes from 14 events, he's sure to bounce back
and be keen to defend his title at the
ANZPT Perth event at Burswood Casino next month.
Now, some good news from our friends across the Tasman:
the SKYCITY Auckland Poker Room, which was set to be closed down
for the year due to ongoing renovations at the property,
is now being kept open! This could mean the return of
the popular Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT) Auckland event in 2011,
and given the fact that "The Land of the Long White Cloud" is
also hosting this year's Rugby World Cup,
we could see a huge boost to the Kiwi poker economy!
Speaking of the poker economy, the schedule has been
announced for the 2011 World Series of Poker (WSOP) in Las Vegas.
From May the 31st, you'll be able to choose from 58 events,
including the brand-new $25,000 Heads-Up No Limit Hold'em Championship,
as well as a $2500 Six Handed 10-Game Mixed Event,
which will see Badugi spread for the first time in WSOP history.
To quickly explain what Badugi is,
it's a four-card lowball variation where the best hand is
A-2-3-4 in all different suits.
It uses blinds, just like in Hold'em and it's played as a triple-draw game.
This game is one of my personal favourites,
but it should be interesting to see how this 10-game format stacks up
against the highly-popular eight-game variation, which is of course
highlighted by the $50,000 Player's Championship.
We can't forget that this poker extravaganza will be capped off
by the eight-day-long $10,000 World Championship
No Limit Hold'em Main Event and despite rumours to the contrary,
the event will stay at the Rio Casino & Hotel.
However, there has been a big move announced for WSOP Europe,
or should I say (and I apologise for my pronunciation in advance):
"Série du Monde de Poker l'Europe!"
That's right, the WSOP Europe event will be heading across the pond
from England to France!
For the next three years, the series will take place in the
Casino Barrière de Cannes Croisette and will also be
the keystone event of the Barrière Poker Tour.
This was only announced last night, so there's still
more to to come on this story - watch this space!
And finally, in more Aussie poker news, it was
announced recently that the Queensland Government has
approved their casino's requests to charge admin fees
(also known as "rake") on poker tournament buy-ins.
Up until now, tournaments held at any of the casinos
in Queensland were being held fee-free, so it provided
great value for players, but it also meant that the house
was constantly running at a loss. The rake, which is
charged on top of the buy-in, is a levy that is designed
to purely cover the costs of running a tournament, such as
staff payments and equipment costs. This means that the state's casinos,
particularly the Jupiters Casino on the Gold Coast, which has
cemented its place as Queensland's poker capital, can now hold
more events for its players. Apart from the ANZPT Gold Coast
event in May (which will now be a $2300+$200
as opposed to a $2500+0 Main Event buy-in),
there are already whispers of a Gold Coast Poker Championship
series due to be held later this year.
And that is all that's been happening in my part of the poker world!
If you're a poker fan and you'd like to check out any of the stories,
click on the links below, or if you feel you've got something to say,
feel free to leave a comment or a video reponse.
Of course, don't forget to check out my written blog:
lando-nation.blogspot.com
and be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel.
This is Lando for LandoNation saying:
may the flop be with you and thanks for watching. Ciao for now!