Colin McTaggart Wins GUKPT Walsall

The GUKPT headed to Walsall last weekend with 207 players finding the £1,000 buy-in for their seats. In a notably tough field, it was Belfast born player Colin McTaggart that took the honours. Colin faced 7 former GUKPT champions with only 23 players remaining but managed to steamroll his opponents on the way to a memorable victory.

A £57,700 first prize, the trophy and a seat in the £150,000 Champion of Champions tournament were McTaggart’s rewards alongside the satisfaction of beating some of the toughest players the UK has to offer.

Idaho Police Raid Senior Citizens Poker Game

When the elderly residents of The Twin Falls Home in Idaho took their seats for their weekly poker game, the twenty regulars didn’t expect the local police to raid the building to put a stop to the fun. But that’s what happened to the senior citizens in their latest $20 freezeout tournament.

While the action was serious for the mature players at Twin Falls, the regulars had a rule that winning players would donate a large part of the winnings part to the centre where they lived following each game. They thought that the rule would protect them from any legal issues. Local police had other ideas!

Nominations Open for Poker Maven Awards

Woman Poker Player Magazine have announced the first Annual Poker Maven Awards. The Poker Maven is awarded for outstanding achievement in female associated movements and accomplishments in the poker industry. There are fifteen categories open for nominations in its inaugural year.

Awards will cover all areas of women in poker from the most female friendly online poker room to the poker employee that has contributed the most to promote or encourage the growth of women in poker. The outstanding female poker player for 2009 will also be named.

PokerStars Release SCOOP Schedule

Online poker giants, PokerStars, have announced their latest online poker festival schedule. The Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) will take place at the largest online poker room between May 3rd and 16th and will feature a $10,300 event. Smaller bankrolls are also catered for with some events starting from as little as $5.50.

Omaha; Razz, HORSE and Badugi events will be part of the SCOOP alongside three “main events” with buy-ins of $109, $1,050 and $10,300. $1 million, $3 million and $5 million prize pools will be guaranteed for each tournament respectively.

Fake Tann! Willie Impersonator Hits Facebook

Poker playing Facebook users were scammed, last week, by a user claiming to be the much loved UK poker pro’ Willie Tann. The user, posing as the WSOP bracelet winner, sent messages to hundreds of poker players in an attempt to scam them out of money transfers.

Friends of the real Willie Tann quickly spotted what was happening and made the community aware of the danger. Poker forums also came alive with stories of the scam and some possible victims.

Facebook has since deleted the fake Willie Tann account from their social network pages. The extent of the scam is yet unknown but it looks likely that many players will be out of pocket to the fraudster.

Fort Knox Jackpot Hit at iPoker

One lucky sit n go player hit the big time last weekend on Paddy Power Poker, a popular skin on the iPoker network. The Fort Knox jackpot was hit, releasing a whopping $110,000 jackpot to the lucky winner.

The Fort Knox jackpot is an exclusive bonus paid to $50 buy-in sit n go players should they win six tournaments consecutively. The $50 jackpot sit n gos are notoriously difficult on iPoker so when somebody hits six wins in a row it makes for a very interesting story!

The jackpot winning player in question was Phil “flukesfla” Flavin, a regular at Paddy Power Poker.

Norway to Ban Online Gambling Payments

The Norwegian government announced last week that they are to ban online gambling payment processing for their citizens for June 1st this year. The transferring of funds between residents of Norway and online gaming companies, including poker, will be outlawed according to the Gaming Intelligence Group.

That may throw a spanner into the works of regular online gamblers from Norway but there are a couple of lights at the end of the tunnel. Payment processors Norsk Tipping and Rikstoto will be allowed to continue to process payments. Both organisations are state run, creating a monopoly for the Norwegian government.

Anton Wigg Wins 2010 EPT Copenhagen

The European Poker Tour is synonymous with up and coming young poker stars. Many youngsters have cashed in and even won EPT events previously, illustrating that poker is switching from the “seedy old man” image of years gone by into a modern day game full of fresh faces.

Anton Wigg, the winner of the latest EPT in Copenhagen, is the perfect example of a youngster taking apart a field of seasoned professionals. Wigg, 22 from Stockholm in Sweden, played an aggressive game throughout the final and showed great patience during a gruelling heads-up match to eventually become a millionaire three times over… in Danish Krona.

Eastgate and Helppi Well Stacked after Day 1b – EPT Copenhagen

Day 1a at the EPT Copenhagen may have lacked a little in the ’star name’ department but Day 1b certainly didn’t disappoint. Former WSOP champion Peter Eastgate looks in scintillating form and he currently sits in 3rd place in the chip counts. Hot on his heels is Finnish big hitter Juha Helppi. Not too far behind those two are the likes of Bertrand ‘ElkY’ Grospellier, Ramzi Jelassi and Luca Pagano. But, as Day 1b ended, they were all looking up at the current ‘chip daddy’ in the form of Ilkka Koskinen.

Day 2 is just underway out in Norway and we are in for a rare treat as so of the best poker players in Europe cross swords.