Freezeout poker tournaments are one of the most popular types of tournaments available online. In a Freezeout tournament, players pay the buy-in fee and are given a certain amount of chips with every player receiving the same number. There is no option for re-buys or adding on. The player with all the chips at the end of the tournament is the winner. Blinds are increased at regular intervals. There is specific strategy for Freezeout tournaments and you need to adjust your strategy depending on the stage of the tournament.

Early Stage of Freezeout Tournaments

It is a good idea to play a tight game in the early stages of a Freezeout tournament. There will be a lot of fish and with many players in the hand there will be many players on draws. The weaker players will call you down often. You can be looser before the flop, but make sure to tighten up after the flop. Playing a tight game is more likely to see you moving into the middle stages of the game. Remember that your stack is valuable and you need to find a balance between building your stack and protecting it.

Middle Stage of Freezeout Tournaments

You can loosen up your game in the middle stages of a Freezeout tournament. Most of the weaker players will have been knocked out already and you can start to broaden your strategy. You can start to make use of bluffs and especially semi-bluffs. You should play more aggressively against the players who have obviously tightened up their game. Your aim in this part of the game should be to accumulate a healthy chip stack for the late stages of the tournament. Try to steal the blinds once per round in order to keep your stack intact and move into the later stage with a decent stack. Holding a small stack is dangerous at this point and if you do, when you hold a decent hand go all in. You will probably be called because your opponents sense a weakness in you, but it is worth trying to double the chips to get you back in the tournament.

Late Stage of Freezeout Tournaments

The late stages of the Freezeout tournament is the most important as this is what separates the average players from the successful ones. You need to play aggressively in the late stages of the tournament? Don’t play loosely? Make sure you have a strong hand and when you do, play it aggressively. There are a lot of chips in play, the blinds are big and each pot is worth the work. Towards the final table and on the final table of freezeout poker tournaments, we aware of the players who have tightened up their game and try to use this against them.

Poker Tournaments

No Limit Texas Hold’em poker tournaments are the most commonly played poker tournaments with the biggest payouts. You can find more No Limit (NL) Hold’em poker tournaments online than in live poker rooms. NL Hold’em poker tournaments are run in many different ways but there are several basic types. You will come across re-buys, satellites, and regular one time buy-ins. Which do you play and why?

Re-buy Poker Tournaments

Re-buy Poker tournaments can work a few different ways. The initial buy in may be $50.00 with one re-buy allowed. Some re-buys are unlimited, which means that you can re-buy in as many times as you need to for the first hour, with an add-on period during the first break.

Say you enter a $10.00 re-buy at Poker Stars. You pay your initial buy-in at time of registration. After you have gone below your original 1500 chips (say you pay a blind and you now have 1,480 chips) you can re-buy 1,500 more chips for another $10.00. After this buy-in you should have about 3,000 chips and cannot re-buy again unless you lose them all. At the end of the first hour there is a 5 minute break and what they call an add-on period. If you are below a certain amount (I believe it is 10,000 chips) you can add-on 2,000 chips for another $10.00. After the break is over, re-buys and add-ons are not allowed and the payouts are posted in the lobby. At this point if you lose all your chips, you are out of the tournament.

I like re-buys because the pay (for the amount of players entered) is bigger and more spots pay out (with people re-buying left and right there is a ton more cash up for grabs than in 1 time buy-in poker tournaments). A small warning about re-buys – the first hour is a rat race! People play very loosely and go all-in on almost any 2 cards. As long as they have more money to re-buy in they don’t care about losing a few buy-ins. They are just interested in making big pots, and a big stack for themselves early on.

Satellite Poker Tournaments

Satellite Poker tournaments are a very small buy-in to try to win your way into a bigger poker tournament. Different sites run many different satellites to many different events. I know that Poker Stars has satellites to the World Series of Poker, World Poker Tour, and into their weekly $200.00 buy-in No Limit Hold’em tournament. They also run a monthly $500.00 tournament – seats can be won to this event from satellite poker tournaments as well. I like their $3.00 re-buy satellites. I try to stick with one $3.00 buy-in and an add-on at the break – this way it stays cheap and fun. If I make the cut and win a seat, I can either play the tournament I have won my way into or I can unregister for it, have the tournament dollars put into my account, and use them to buy in to many different, smaller staked poker tournaments. The pay spots in a satellite work very simply. Say there is a prize pool of $10,000 and the tournament you are trying to win your way into is a $200.00 buy-in. That is 50 players who are going to qualify.

Buy-in Poker Tournaments

One time Buy-in poker tournaments are just that. You buy in at time of registration. When you lose your chips you are out of the tournament. You must play this type of tournament a lot more tightly than you would a re-buy, seeing as how you only have one life in it. My motto (in any tournament) always is to get past the first hour. During the first hour of one time buy-in poker tournaments, about half of the playing field is eliminated and your chances of cashing (winning money) are much better.

Poker Tournaments

Since the first organized World Series Poker tournament in 1970, poker tournaments have become extensively popular. In the last few years, poker tournaments broadcasted on big sports channels have drawn attentions of millions of viewers. The multi-million dollar poker tournaments that attract the leading poker players across world have produced numerous online poker tournaments of different sizes. Whereas the prize pools vary in size, the larger tournaments have prizes of more than one million dollars.

Play poker tournaments aggressively:

Although the winnings are great in majority cases, there is a big distinctness between successful money players and successful tournament players. Tournament players cannot bide their time in the same way that a money player needs to. In poker tournaments, player has to win all the chips on the table if they want to gain; they cannot afford to wait and bid their time. They must play with a hostile edge.

Be sensible while playing poker tournaments:

One of the most essential poker tournament skills is a powerful psychological presence. It sounds odd and a little intimidate, but luck has a lot to do with poker tournaments success. To make restitution for this, you need to try to make yourself as lucky as possible; think positive, don’t let your moods swing with the tilts. Be realistic but keep up the aggressive plays. In poker tournaments, you need to get all the chips on the table in a certain amount of time, against the added pressure of increasing blinds. You can’t afford to let a run of bad luck hit you if you want to get anywhere in the tournament. You must do whatever you can to maintain a positive outlook.

As a general rule, you should play tight at starting of the tournament, when the blinds are low; this is the only time you can afford to sit and wait for other players to make errors. As the blinds rise – as they do in tournaments – you need to begin gambling aggressively.

Controlling your tournament gambling should be the gap concept, introduced by David Sklanksy. The elementary principle and practice of this concept is that you should open the betting whenever your hand makes it sensible in action and thought. You can open the betting yourself with a marginal to semi-strong hand and it’s a lot easier to bet with yourself. Yet, if the betting has already been opened, if someone else makes a bet before you, then you must have a strong hand to call.

Table positions also come into play in poker tournaments. You should play tight in the early positions and let the people playing after you take the lead most of the time (unless you have a hand that warrants aggressive play, such as high honors). As you move to later positions, specifically the end positions, you should look to bluff and play semi-strong hands.

No Distractions while playing poker tournaments:

Online perplexities aren’t actually a problem, but you can still get put off by some of the pop-ups and information bombardments. You shouldn’t worry about the other tables or the other poker players in the tournament. Your focus should remain on the table and chips you’re making efforts to acquire.

Your focal point in a poker tournament needs to be on your table, on your position, and on your opponents play. Good tournament players look to shift gears, alternating between tight and aggressive plays as the situation calls. Examine your opponents for sighs that they are following one or other of these strategies.

Follow the strategies yourself. Remember that survival is a key to winning a tournament, more so than in money games. You can’t be eliminated from money games, but you can and will be knocked out of tournaments for silly and careless errors.

To win poker tournaments you need to train your brain to focus above and further money game play. In poker tournaments, how you behave against your opponents, how you respond to your opponents on a psychological level can have an impact on your game if you don’t check yourself. Some of the excellent advices from poker tournaments champs are to play our own cards. Don’t think about anyone else’s cards and don’t try to analyze or critic the plays of anyone else. Never say anything about anyone else’s plays, strategies, or styles. It’s never worth existing on someone else’s game except to understand them as an opponent.

Poker tournaments last advice:

And the last morsel of tournament-play advice: trust your aptitude. Know the guidelines for online poker tournaments play specifically – but trust your instinct and feel for the cards. The leading poker tournaments players play by feel much of the time, you should do if you want to win.

Online Poker Tournaments:

Online poker is a well known game with various million passionate fans across globe. In recent years, some casinos have begun installing video poker machines to draw in those who desire playing online video poker. Others like to play poker within the amenities of their homes. The biggest benefit of online poker games is that they can be played at any time of the day, according to the player’s convenience.

Online Poker Tournaments

Online poker permits player to participate in a variety of online poker tournaments, such as Texas H’oldem, 7 Card Stud, Omaha, 5 Card Stud, and Five Card Draw. In online poker tournaments, players can play in oppose of multiple competitors, as a number of people could be playing the same online poker tournament at any given point of time.

One could spend days, weeks and even months learning different multiple strategies to win online poker tournaments. Still, there are some easy poker strategy secrets to assists even a beginner to win online Texas h’oldem games.

Online Texas H’oldem poker tournaments are an excellent way to acquire the admired experience and knowledge in winning more at poker, as many players make a mistake of entering tournaments way below their skill level. For the most part playing poker against other players of lower skill levels eventually give supremacy to too many suckouts in online poker.

The prime reason at back of this is that a many of lower level players do not understand the difficult poker strategies, such as check raising or trapping. In many cases if you are playing against opponents who do not possess or understand advanced poker strategy, then you will inevitably run the risk of your opponent calling you down and potentially winning the hand.

The topmost secret to beat online poker tournaments is to play within your skill level. If you are well experienced and capable to understand at multiple strategies, then do not waste them in a $1 tournament or poker freeroll. If, on the other hand you do not possess those necessary poker skills, a low limit Texas h’oldem tournament may be a good place to begin practicing how to use them.

Once you have found the competence level that challenges your game, you want to go even beyond competition and develop more avant-garde poker strategy, by discovering plays that will work against even the excellent poker players online. Some of these more advanced poker tips and techniques are found only in the higher limit and advanced skill levels of bigger online poker tournaments.

Instead of spending countless hours playing at or below your poker level, gain the knowledge of how to play Texas h’oldem at more accelerated levels. This is accomplished by first understanding different skills you need and then experiencing the use of those skills in the right levels. After all, if you continue playing at the lowest levels against some of the most unskilled players, you will never learn to advance your poker game especially for Online Poker Tournaments.

WSOP Poker News: WSOP Circuit has been a slow death for years, the decline in participation due to lack of television coverage and competition with other newer poker tournaments and the different poker news. Now, the management of the World Series of Poker has responded to the modernization of the circuit with a series of modifications to make it more attractive to players of all levels and bankroll.

The 12-stop schedule for the season 2010-11 WSOP Circuit will see the standard buy-ins, textures and disbursements at each stop on the circuit. This includes a $ 1,500 buy-in main event at every stop of the circuit, down $ 5.000 for the level of recent years, and $ 10,000 in the year of the circuit is open. But four stops on the schedule – Horseshoe Hammond outside Chicago, Harrah’s Atlantic City, Harrah Rincon outside San Diego, and Harrah’s New Orleans – will sport a $ 10,000 buy-in regional championships will each receive two hours of coverage on ESPN.

Players in each event WSOP Circuit gold ring will receive points toward a new cumulative points system similar to the WSOP player of the year the points system. The first 36 players in the standings at the end of the season of the circuit will receive an invitation to play in a WSOP Circuit Championship $ 1,000,000 National at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. Other players who will receive invitations to play in the case includes any player who accumulates the most points on each circuit during the off season, each circuit stop Main Event champion, and every player who makes the final table in one of four Regional Championships $ 10,000. The tournament winner will receive a National Championship World Series of Poker gold bracelet.

“We found the WSOP Circuit events needed breathe of fresh air, and we believe we have responded to steroids,” said Ty Stewart, director of the WSOP. “The new model is just the WSOP is all about; to give poker players of all bankrolls the opportunity to compete for fame, fortune and respect that comes only WSOP bracelet and a nationwide TV audience.”

World Series Poker Circuit season starts Aug. 19 at the Horseshoe Council Bluffs in Iowa, a stop sign, which had previously suffered from state laws to prevent the use of conference centers, poker tournaments, and being planned for the dead Iowa harsh winter.

Some of the biggest players in the poker tournament ever. Each has made millions of dollars in live tournaments and online poker.

Chris Ferguson
Chris Moneymaker
Daniel Negreanu
Doyle Brunson
Gus Hansen
Howard Lederer
Jennifer Harman
Johnny Chan
Phil Helmuth
Phil Ivey

Most people think that becoming a professional poker player results in sets of large amounts of money, but not always the case and there are thousands of examples of people doing a professional full-time poker tournament play only. There are at least a few thousand people playing online poker tournaments full time and earn a living. In some cases, players do not even play higher limits, but play a lot of volume.

There are several steps that must be followed if you are considering becoming a pro tournament. You must ensure you have a bankroll large enough, and I do not think a few hundred dollars. If you are serious about playing poker tournaments online full time, you must have a minimum of 1-2 years of expenses recorded in the bank. The hardest thing to play poker full time is to have the bankroll to cover your slowdowns is inevitable.

You can find tournament pros online that play all types of tournaments ranging from massive multi-table tournaments to simple heads-up tournaments. If you play heads-up tournaments you need to play a lot of volume in order to make sure you’re making the most possible income. The players that focus on MTT’s play far less volume, but they also have the trouble of trying to win big cash, which isn’t easy at all. MTT’s always pay out the top 1-2% of the tournament with the majority of the money so trying to become a pro playing MTT’s only can be a tough battle.

Many poker players started out playing online poker tournaments and one of the most popular names is Annette Obrestad. She is famously known for grinding online poker tournaments before ever becoming a known poker pro on the live circuit. Hundreds of other young poker players have also made the leap from playing casually to playing full-time over the years. It takes a lot of skill, money and discipline when you’re starting out, but after a couple years you should have enough saved up that you could make your way through any type of variance.

Great for playing online poker tournaments is that you do not have to worry about buy-in for $ 10K than you would if you were playing in the WSOP. Live Tournaments are great if you already have a huge bankroll, or if you are looking to get lucky once, but if you are seriously thinking of becoming a pro poker tournament you should concentrate on mastering the online gaming tournament.

Poker players who are not fans will be pleased to know that there is a poker tournament just for them is Commerce Casino. If the “Like” Commerce Casino Facebook page for location $ 10,000 is not a fan of the exclusive $ 50 + $ 10 buy-in tournament to be held on May 21 a casino as part of the California State Poker Championship.

“We are very excited that we can not prove Commerce Casino’s fans how much we appreciate their support,” said Jeff Harris, director of the Casino. “Trade, we want to keep our tournament schedule full of new and unique services not a fan of this unique tournament will fit right in.”

Commerce Casino is breaking new ground by offering its first Facebook fan exclusive no-limit hold’em poker tournament and it marks an interesting combination of poker tournaments and social media. The event has a guaranteed prize pool of $10,000, and is only open to people who have “Liked” Commerce Casino on Facebook. A small investment of $50 + $10 then gets you a shot at your share of the $10,000.

The Facebook fan exclusive tournament also provides great technology prizes to the first and second place finishers. The tournament is part of Commerce’s Cal State Poker Championship tournament series, that began on May 4 and runs until the conclusion of the Cal State Poker Championship $2,575 event on May 22. The tournament series features $1.5 million in guarantees. You can check out updated results on the tournament series landing page.

To qualify for the tournament fans on Facebook, a person must be 21 years and “as” the Commerce Casino’s Facebook page (www.facebook.com / commercecasino). Then they should RSVP by 20 at 11:59 pm PDT May The next step is that people then have to sign up for a players card casino Trade in person to the office of the casino before the tournament begins. valid photo ID issued by the Government is required for admission.

World Series of Poker ® ​​Circuit returns to one of the most famous landmarks in Las Vegas this month, when Caesars Palace hosted a spectacle of poker action-packed 17 days. The tournament officially begins on Thursday 14 and runs until Saturday, April 30.

Caesars fortress is 13 (15) is stopped up throughout the 2010-2011 WSOP Circuit. Caesars calendar year “includes a wide range of poker tournaments, ranging from $ 70 to buy $ 1,600 tournaments every morning for three days to buy the Main Event final poker tournaments are affordable for approximately every player and the desktop. – Now $ 85 and $ 110 per night, events, and more than a few satellites cost up to $ 70 per game.

It is the sixth consecutive year at Caesars Palace has hosted a stop of the WSOP Circuit. The room poker 7 million U.S. dollars of luxury is a relative newcomer in the highly competitive world of big tournaments. Caesars Palace is home to several attractions, including the NBC National Heads-Up Championship each spring, one of the most prestigious titles in poker. Caesars Poker Classic is played annually in the special tournament. However, the WSOP is considered a very special time of year for players and staff as poker.

“We are always excited when the WSOP Circuit will be here,” said Andy Rich, Caesars Palace poker manager. “This year we have ten gold ring official events, with buy-ins ranging from $ 350 to $ 1,600 Main Event Championship. As part of the prestigious player, which is the gold ring from an event that is happening here is the earlier satellites, both guaranteed seats or added. We like the idea of ​​our players have the right event WSOP Circuit gold ring with a minimum of € 70 on a daily basis. We expect large fields, the bigger the prize, and in general a great event here at Caesars Palace. ”

All poker players participating in WSOP Circuit events are eligible to compete in the points race national championship. Top 100 players who qualify at each stop WSOP Circuit will compete in a championship on national television that takes place at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas in May The inaugural tournament will have a prize pool of $ 1 million winner and award a WSOP gold bracelet. National Championship took place about a month after WSOP Circuit stop concluded, and should not be confused with the $ 1.600 buy-in Main Event, which is the last of the ten events gold ring.

At least two players in the national championship series at Caesars Palace. automatically qualify include $ 1.600 buy-in Main Event winner and the best player who has accumulated the most points in the events ring ten (overall).

Sweden Supreme Court ruled the poker of the state, which did neither side of the fence perfectly happy, and left many players confused.

In many jurisdictions, including Sweden, the way the law is applied in poker is very dependent on whether it is perceived as a game based on luck or a game of skill. In most cases, the courts have spoken out strongly on one side or the other while no one has claimed that luck or skill has no part in the game, the courts have consistently found that one element is dominant in determining legal status of the game.

However, the Swedish Supreme Court clearly held that poker is a game of chance as well, and one of the skills – depending on how you play. It ‘was the decision of the court of using logic, which is a very interesting summary, but it may seem illogical – poker players – even illogical.

In essence, the Court ruled that poker tournaments are games of skill. However, they decided to the contrary, cash games are defining games of chance. It seems that the decisive factor was the fact that tournaments are generally played on an equal footing, the same players compete against each other for some time, many hands during the skill factor has experienced players can hardly be removed, start of the tournament.

cash games, however, were considered gambling because the players have the option of placing just play one hand, and go. A lack of compliance of players to compete in a number of hands, the sample size means that the results were due more to luck than any difference between the skill players.

If the front of the Supreme Court itself had little to do with how the organization of poker tournaments. The case began in 2007, four men, who organized a major poker tournament. They were initially convicted of violating the laws of the game, but the complaints, the two men had been released, while two others had their sentences reduced. This was due to their ability to prove that poker is a game of skill, while most of the crime of gambling shall be implemented only against games of chance-based.

Some of the players, but unsure of the logic of the decision were delighted by the fact that poker is not fully decided not to hear the full game, so it can translate to the professional poker, which would be taxable income.

When Full Tilt Poker launched the idea of ​​the new Onyx Cup tournament, there were many remarks from professional poker players, message board posters, and writers of poker. Onyx Cup, for those who have not heard yet, have a series of live events, with buy-ins ranging from $ 100,000 to $ 300,000 and the estimated jackpot of $ 30 million. Events were planned to occur all through the world, culminating in the $ 250K to buy the Grand Final.

One reason for the fact that Onyx Cup has been criticized for the fact that many believe that the timing of the launch is particularly severe. The United States and the world just recovering from a recession, and can be seen in bad taste for poker players to reach such a high buy-in and prize money when millions are struggling to scrape their salary – if they have one. Those in favor of the request Onyx Cup this luxury is exactly what players want to be seen as a way to escape the weight of his life.

Another critical point is that the Cup Onyx can cause even more friction and competition among the Full Tilt Poker and Poker Stars, and new policy elements can be introduced. However, these sites disagree with their pro teams participate in top tournaments and carry out its competitors, some even deny it also.

But the point is that many believe that Onyx Cup should be taken for what it is – a showcase for some of the best poker players in the world who have earned their position and the luxury of being able to afford to buy such a scandalous charges.

I don’t really set goals, because I always saw in their limits. Instead, I’ve always just tried my best to get what I want and if it works, it works. If not, well then it should be. There is not much that I want to achieve at this time, but what I would do, and is as follows.

For the past 2 years there has been something I’ve really been wanting to do, and it’s the only thing I don’t do that kind of gets me down and that’s traveling.  All my affiliate managers know by now that I don’t go to conferences because I get very uncomfortable away from home yet I still get asked if I’m going every time conference time rolls around and I run out of excuses.

It’s not a fear of flying, it’s more a fear of not being the one in control.  If the plane crashes and burns, big deal, but if I have to sit on a runway for 2 hours trapped on a little plane with a bunch of people, FUCK THAT!

Last year was the first time I had flown in 7 years and it was the trip to the Poker Stars Affiliate thing in the Bahamas.  Living in Florida, the Bahamas is literally a hop and a skip away.  Plus we flew private because of Chip leader promo credits we had won so total travel time was about an hour and a half, from home to hotel!

There are so many places I want to go, and I think I just have to do it to get over the uncomfortableness.  Flying private is something I might do for 2 or 3 domestic flights then I’ll just try flying first class on the normal planes. Flying private costs about $25,000 domestic so its not terribly bad if you don’t fly a lot.

A couple places I have in mind are Puerto Rico at the end of the month.  That’s a good starter flight as I can use the private jet credits to go there with all our surfboards and just leave the boards there or what not depending if I stay for longer than a week, month, few months, who knows…

Some other places that seem really cool are Las Vegas (never fucking been and I’m in the gambling business), Colorado, Montana, California, Spain, and Russia or any far east country like that.  Also to hit up 1 or 2 gaming conferences would be cool.  For shits sake though, sure would be nice if they didn’t hold them all in Europe.

Most people have them, “make money, lose weight, build a successful business, stop smoking, buy a bunch of useless shit,” but for me it’s just being happy frightening on the beach somewhere surfing, golfing or sleeping, plain and simple.  I think it was a Pappas Roach song that said, “The things you own, own you.”  Oh so very true.  Money is not a means to buy loads of crap, but instead a means to be free from working…at least that’s how I see it.  But to me, the one thing that is missing is traveling.

I want to say thanks to Google shit all over the web these past two months. Cock sure would be nice for a good placement in good time is again … I think this is partly my doing though. Sometimes it seems to touch all in a pile of manure that piles up recently.

Ukrainian Aleksandr Dovzhenko poker professional has won the Cup of Poker Main Event 2010 Mediterranean, after defeating a field of 153 players from more than three days to clinch the title, and collect the € 104,700 ($ 136,485).

Aleksandr Dovzhenko has been cashing in at live tournament since 2001 at the Open Championships of Russia, with his highest ever score being a 2nd place finish at the EPT Kiev Main Event 2009 for €220,000 ($312,336).

Dovzhenko’s win in Cyprus represents his second biggest prize ever and he has now managed to amass around $834,708 throughout his live tournament career. Commenting on his impressive win, Dovzhenko said:

“This is the best tournament I’ve ever played. I’m glad I won for sure but the organization all week has been fantastic and the hotel and surroundings are world class. It’s a beautiful place and I’m already looking forward to the next Poker Club Management event.”

The $2,500 buy-in main event was held at the five-star Hotel Merit Girne, Crystal Cove, in Cyprus and attracted competitors from all across Europe, Ukraine, Russia and the Middle East.

By the time the heads-up phase of the tournament had been reached, Dovzhenko found himself up against Russia’s Gutkin Maksim.

Eventually, the decisive hand was played after Dovzhenko was dealt 8c-7c to his opponet’s pocket 10’s. With the flop falling 10c-6c-3h, plenty of action was assured with Maksim making a set to Dovzhenko’s flush and straight draw. Gutkin then check-raised his opponent all-in but finished the runner-up after a 5c fell on the river.

Gutkin Maksim collected €70,700 for his deep run in the tournament while Aleksandr Dovzhenko was crowned the Mediterranean Poker Cup Main Event Champion 2010, and walked away €104,700 ($136,485) richer.

Summing up the event, Poker Club Management Artur Voskanjan commented:

“It was a fantastic week with poker here in Cyprus. We could not have asked for more – the weather was perfect, the hotel has a high value on providing world-class spa, wonderful food and lots of fun entertainment and congratulations to Alexander, he is a very worthy winner.”

Nik Persaud came out on top of a 28-player field to win the 2010 World Heads Up Poker Championship. His first place finish earned him a prize of £30,000.

The relatively small field and the £2,000 buy-in kept the prize pool fairly small. However, the tournament did attract a reasonably strong field, thanks to the prestigious nature of the event. Several notable players took part, including JP Kelly, Jeff Kimber, and Victoria Coren.

Persaud is a notable name in English poker circles, and has cashed twice in the World Series of Poker’s Main Event. His latest win brings his lifetime cashes up to nearly $400,000.

In the finals, Persaud was matched up against Leon Louis, another Englishman who has had limited success in local tournaments. On the final hand, Louis was put all in with 55 on a 764 flop, and was slightly ahead of Persaud, who held 98. Persaud won the hand the hard way, as a 7 and 6 hit the turn and river, making the board pair twice; Louis’ pair of fives no longer played, and Persaud’s 9 kicker was enough to pick up the pot.

For second place, Louis earned £15,000. Kimber and Toby Lewis also cashed, each earning £5,500 for losing in the semifinals.

The World Heads-Up Poker Championship has been held each year since 2001, at various locations throughout Europe. Previous winners include Bruno Fitoussi, John Cernuto, Kimber, and Kirill Gerasimov.

While early versions of the tournament has attracted some of the biggest names in the poker world, and also funds the relatively high price, as the tournament declined in recent years, due in part to being overshadowed by NBC National Heads-Up Championship.

This November, the World Poker Tour (WPT) is once again head the momentous and striking city of Marrakech, Morocco, the second poker tournament ever in North Africa.

For this year’s version, co-sponsors Chili Poker and WPT have teamed up to make a stop at the Casino de Marrakech, a festival full of poker players. The event will begin on November 20 with a € 500 Deep Stack event.

According to Chili Poker, the professionals who have hands Deep Stack tournament is sponsored by Chili Poker Pro Liz Lieu, the Irish poker pro Andy Black, and the European Poker Tour (EPT) samples Sandra Naujoks and Liv Boeree.

The Main Event of the 2010 WPT Marrakech will be the €5,000 buy in No Limit Hold’em tournament that will begin on November 27th, with the champion crowned three days later. As an official WPT event, the victor will not only walk away with the Marrakech championship and first place bounty, but they will also earn the bracelet awarded to all WPT champions and a $25,000 seat to the 2011 Championship event at the Bellagio in April.

The 2009 version of the tournament was highly successful for the WPT, drawing a global field of 416 players from 32 different countries. The 2009 WPT Marrakech tournament, which Chili Poker and the WPT also collaborated on, was the first major poker tournament held in North Africa. The tournament featured such standout players as the aforementioned Lieu, former Main Event champion Huck Seed, and inaugural World Series of Poker (WSOP) Europe Main Event champ Annette Obrestad. Christophe Savary defeated a final table that included such top players as Ludovic Lacay and Eoghan O’Dea to win the €379,014 first prize.

WPT Executive Tour Director Matt Savage will be on hand for the second year running to oversee the activities on the felt. “WPT Marrakech takes place in an amazing setting and, if last year is anything to go by, you can expect a loose, aggressive field,” said Savage during the announcement of this year’s event. “Casino de Marrakech is world renowned for its hospitality and WPT players can look forward to an experience unlike any other.”

Alexandre Dreyfus, Chief Executive Officer of Chili Poker, glowed about the locale of Marrakech along with the poker at hand. “Marrakech is a magic and relaxing place, so we are delighted to be bringing the WPT back to this mystical town in November,” Dreyfus commented. “We were so encouraged by turnout last year as well as the flawless organization and competitive hotel rates that, in 2010, we have built the Chili Poker Marrakech Festival around the prestigious WPT event.” Satellite tournaments for WPT Marrakech are currently running on Chili Poker and its French subsidiary, ChiliPoker.fr.

The WPT has been putting the “world” back in its name over the past couple of years after becoming almost exclusively U.S.-based. Earlier this year, the WPT held officially sanctioned events in Paris at the Aviation Club, the WPT Spanish Championship in Barcelona, and its most recent event in London, which was won by Jake Cody.

Prior to the start of festivities in Marrakech, the WPT will make a stop in Amneville, France and finish its non-U.S. Schedule come 2011 with a tournament in Vienna, Austria from March 24th through 28th.