Rich boys who suck in poker, BEWARE.

A lot of people may end up spending a lot less money during the World Series of Poker in 2009. WSOP Communications Director Seth Palanksy admitted that organizers are thinking of stopping rebuy events after several players voiced out their concerns. Hanah’s Entertainment and WSOP organizers are weighing the pros and cons of rebuy tournaments and currently, the chances are 50-50.

Some poker pros, such as Daniel Negreanu, is all for the move. Although Negreanu is not against rebuy tournaments in general, he believes that there is no place for rebuys at the WSOP since it would be unfair to an average player with limited bankrolls.

In an interview, Negreanu admits that rebuys gives poker pros an unfair advantage. Some people even think that rebuy tournaments can be equated to someone ”buying a WSOP bracelet.”

There are, however, a lot of poker luminaries who are not too happy with the possible demise of rebuy tournaments in the WSOP. Layne Flack, the winner of the WSOP 2008 $1,500 pot-limit Omahan rebuy event, doesn’t understand why there can be an unfair advantage when the field is pretty large. Furthermore, Flack stresses that players can only rebuy when he has less or the same starting chip stack. Therefore…

Yes, royalty sure is hard to come by these days.

And when an agency calls itself Poker Royalty, it will be hard-pressed to live up to its title. It’s a good thing that the high-profile agency for professional poker players is meeting expectations and working double-time to beef up its roster of clients.

Poker Royalty’s newest client is David Chiu, considered by most as the most successful poker player that was born in China.

Players who sign up with Poker Royalty agree that they be represented for all their marketing and promotional needs. Ideally, this enables the players to ignore the gobbledygook that goes on around them and just focus on what is important, winning at the felt.

Poker Royalty handles everything from mainstream media to commercial endorsements. We can assume they also get a pretty hefty cut for all their troubles. It really shouldn’t be a surprise that Chiu was the next in line to join Poker Royalty.

Poker is starting to attract a lot of attention in Asia and someone like Chiu can only strengthen the interest further. Chiu has won…

The BC Open Poker Championships is one of Canada’s biggest poker events SINCE they really don’t have much going on up there.

And with Canada native Daniel Negreanu winning it all, the guy clearly is one of the most popular Canadian poker players we have in the game today and I won’t be surprised if his native country looks up to him now as its new hero at the poker tables.

Daniel Negreanu, who has been playing great poker by the way if you look at his record in recent events, won in the main event of the 2008 BC Open Poker Championships.

For his win, Negreanu further pads his bankroll with a cool $371,910 in prize money. He has also made his poker resume even more daunting. Canadians? This tournament was won by one of the most popular players in the world.

Unknown to a lot, Negreanu was originally from Toronto. Although he now lives in Las Vegas (the poker player’s home), Negreanu is tickled pink by his win. In an interview, Negreanu confessed that his victory was extra special since he was a Canadian himself. A little cheesy but it probably made him even more popular in Canada.

Who knows? It might even be true.

Despite the sentimental talk, Negreanu was a killer at the poker table. He had to…

Well, they’re hoping him to become a star anyway.

And although it’s quite a bit late for him to be a part of the 2008 World Series of Poker, this guy definitely has what it takes to make a name for himself in this game. After all, those guys from PokerStars won’t recruit him if he doesn’t have shit now right?

Who is it? A dude that goes by the name of Alexander Kravchenko. And although that name sounds more like a guy who plays football for Chelsea FC, he is the new member of Team PokerStars.

A former business investor, Alexander Kravchenko started playing poker in 1997 and I guess you can say he’s made a good use of his time on the felt. He made a name of himself when he made it in the money a more-than-impressive six times during the 2007 World Series of Poker.

Kravchenko even went so far as winning a World Series of Poker bracelet at the $1,500 Limit Omaha Hi/Lo event on that same year. He also finished fourth at the Main Event ensuring television time and instant worldwide recognition.

It was only natural for PokerStars to train its sights on Kravchenko. He holds the distinction of being the first Russian citizen to win a…

Since the 2008 WSOP is still on, this is probably a good time to renew this poker TV show.

What do poker players do when they’re not grinding it out in online poker rooms or, if they’re THAT lucky, the 2008 World Series of Poker? Why, watch poker on television of course! So here’s some good news to poker aficionados out there, despite rumors to the contrary, ”High Stakes Poker” has been renewed by Game Show Network (GSN) for the fifth season.

Living under a rock and have no clue what ”High Stakes Poker” is about? It’s basically a show that features the most popular poker personalities putting up $100,000 or more of their own money in a ring game of No Limit Texas Hold-em. With pots so sick that it can reach over $1 million, you can imagine the magnitude of poker drama involved.

GSN was rumored to have plans to axe the widely popular show (one of the highest rated on the network) because the network has plans to gear toward targeting a younger audience. ”High Stakes Poker” attracts an older demographic and this cast some doubt on the future of the show.

Well, it seems that GSN is not willing to give up its cash cow yet, even if the show may not be skewed in accordance to the network’s future plans. According to AJ Benza, who co-hosts the show with Gabe Kaplan, the new episodes of the show will start filming in September.

Just in case you still have doubts on the…

Yes, these guys are just determined to keep taking advantage of the poker season.

And while Daniel Negreanu may be one of the favorites to become the overall winner of the 2008 World Series of Poker, PokerStars came up with an idea how can they take advantage of one of the game’s more popular players.

Scheduled this Saturday on July 12 at 14:30 EST, Daniel Negreanu fans can win an exclusive weekend with their idol valued at $15,000 plus $2,000 in cash for travel expenses to Las Vegas.

Pretty sweet deal especially since winners will be living in style at the Venetian Resort Hotel Casino and will even be invited to a private party or rather, barbecue, at Negreanu’s Vegas residence.

So aside from being wined and dined, what exactly do you get? Let’s just say you get a crash course on how to vastly improve your game. The package includes a 2-day seminar led by Negreanu himself on various poker topics including pot odds, implied odds, bluffing opponents and tournament strategy.

Winners will also work with Negreanu in live…

Apparently, PokerStars want all the poker stars they can have.

His total live tournament winnings as of 2008 is over $1,800,000. He made a name for himself by appearing in two final tables at the European Poker Tour. He has also cashed four times at the World Series of Poker. Now, Swedish poker star William Thorson has joined poker notables Greg Raymer, Joe Hachem and Barry Greenstein at Team PokerStars.

With the 2008 World Series of Poker heating up the poker tables, PokerStars need all the help they can get. And they certainly didn’t go wrong with William Thorson.

Not bad for someone who started playing poker online at the play money tables. William Thorson has been playing at PokerStars since 2002 using his screen name ”William.” When he started playing with real money, his first deposit was a measly $50. He’s gone a long way considering that he can now afford to shell out $10,000 to join World Series of Poker main events.

Considered by many as the number one player on the Swedish poker scene, Thorson humbly admitted in interviews that despite his many accomplishments, he still considers being chosen for Team PokerStars Pro an honor.

”It’s a great team with many of the world’s greatest players and I’m…”

It was about time.

After five long years, Layne Flack is back on top after winning his sixth WSOP bracelet in the $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha w/ Rebuys Tournament in the 2008 World Series of Poker.

Dubbed ”Back to Back Flack” for winning two consecutive World Series of Poker tournaments in 2002, Layne Flack not only picked up $577,725 for first place but has also earned back poker fans’ respect after losing it from his drug scandal.

Flack’s battle with recreational drug use was well publicized. In fact, Daniel Negreanu (who incidentally picked up his own bracelet in this year’s WSOP) paid $60,000 to get him into rehab.

It looks like it was money well spent as Flack has apparently put his past behind him and is now in top form after grabbing some bling at the 2008 WSOP tournament. ”I got off track pretty good for a while, I spent the last year regrouping and getting my life back together,” Flack related in an interview.

Don’t think that this win was a walk in the park for Flack. He was in for twenty-two rebuys which meant he had to finish in at least 12th place to make any sort of profit in this tournament. He was…

You read it, even you can win something at the 2008 WSOP.

Who’d have thought that someone with a handle like OMGClayAiken can kick serious poker butt? Especially in a tournament as big as the 2008 World Series of Poker?

Well, that’s what just happened. After Phil ”OMGClayAiken” Galfond has built a solid reputation as an accomplished online high stakes poker player, winning almost a million dollars on one site alone, he just won something even bigger on this year’s biggest poker tournament.

Galfond faced off with the toughest final table so far at the 2008 WSOP tournament and has come out ahead to win it all. It didn’t even matter to him who was he playing against as he claimed his 2008 WSOP bracelet.

You see, the Final Table of Event no.28 at the 2008 WSOP Pot-Limit Omaha with Rebuys looked like a ”Who’s Who” list of professional poker. Johnny Chan was there trying to win his 11th bracelet. Phil Helmuth was trying to put a damper on Chan’s plan by trying to win his 12th. Fresh from his WSOP $2,000 Limit Hold’em win, Daniel Negreanu was determined to get his second bracelet of the year. Add John Juanda, David Benyamine, and Kirill Gerasimov to the list and you’ll gain a new respect for OMGClayAiken.

It all came down to heads up with OMGClayAiken…

Instantaneously, she became the biggest bitch of the 2008 WSOP.

Wearing the same pair of sunglasses Anthony Rivera wore when he won a bracelet in the $10,000 Mixed event a few days earlier, Svetlana Gromenkova came out on top in a field of 1,190 female poker players in the $1,000 WSOP Ladies World Championship.

The event was the second-largest women’s only event at the 2008 World Series of Poker with a staggering $1,082,900 as prize money. ”I want people to know I’m a good player,” said Svetlana ”Glum Girl” Gromenkova. ”And they will know it now.”

”Glum Girl” huh? She could’ve been better off with ”Glamazon,” but since some huge muscle-clad bitch already uses it in the WWE, I guess ”Glum Girl” will suffice.

Gromenkova had to withstand two bad beats from Anh Le to win the tournament. In fact, it was looking pretty grim for Gromenkova when Anh Le doubled up when she pushed with A-5 and Gromenkova called with A-K.

”Honestly I thought that maybe it was not meant to be,” Gromenkova said. ”She gave me bad beats twice at the final table so I was very happy that I won eventually.”

In the last hand, Anh Le found herself facing Gromenkova’s pocket kings with her A-6 heads up. Although an Ace fell on the river, this was of no help to Anh Le as Gromenkova had already hit a…