Phil Laak Leads after Premier League Opening Heats

The PartyPoker Premier League is underway in Las Vegas, Nevada, and it’s Phil Laak who has been dominating the opening exchanges out in the ‘city of sin’.

Eleven of the world’s best players are at the M Casino in Vegas to fight it out for the Premier League IV title and the $1.5 million in prize money on offer.

Laak has had a great opening two heats. After winning both Heat 1 and Heat 2 he is sitting pretty at the top of the league with a maximum 32 points. David Benyamine leads the chasing pack on 24 points, whilst Tony G is struggling at this early stage with just 2 points.

Jeff Madsen Wins Borgata Winter Poker Open

24 year old poker pro’, Jeff Madsen, has won the main event of the 2010 Borgata Winter Poker Open. Madsen, from Las Vegas, added the Borgata title to his already impressive poker C.V. earlier this month bringing his lifetime tournament earnings to over $3.1 million.

Although the Borgata Open is no longer a WPT event, the $3,300 main event still attracts some of the biggest names in US poker. 766 players stumped up the buy-in to build a total prize pool over close to $2.5 million. It was Madsen who took control of the event at an early stage, though, and he never looked back from there.

Doyle Brunson Takes a Poker Break after Surgery

Poker legend, Doyle Brunson, is to take a break from all poker activites following lengthy dental surgery it was announced earlier this week.

Brunson spent 6 hours having dental problem corrected and is expected to make a full recovery. ‘Texas Dolly’ is giving himself plenty of time to recover, though, and has withdrawn from the forthcomig PartyPoker Premier League event in Las Vegas.

Brunson said; “I’m supposed to play in the Premier League tournament that is being filmed at the M Casino here in Vegas. It is the most widely watched TV show in Europe, with a $100,000 buy-in.

Bebb-Jones Fears the Death Penalty

British poker pro’ Marcus Bebb-Jones could face the death penalty if found guilty of the murder of his wife. Bebb-Jones is accused of murdering his wife, Sabrina, in 1997 before embarking on a “playboy lifestyle” in Las Vegas.

Ben Cooper, counsel for the defence, said he was seeking assurances Bebb-Jones would not face the death penalty if extradited to the United States.

Mr Cooper told an extradition hearing at City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court: “He faces a minimum sentence of life without parole in Colorado but this is not yet fixed – he is also eligible for the death penalty.”

David Benyamine Joins the Las Vegas Premier League Party

The big names just keep on coming in regards to the next Party Poker Premier League. Perhaps the lure of Las Vegas is attracting some but surely the $1.5 million prize pool is pricking up the ears of all the “big hitters”.

Today, David Benyamine and been revealed as the next player to join the Premier League IV. Benyamine Daniel Negreanu, Vanessa Rousso, Phil Hellmuth, JC Tran, Yevgeniy Timoshenko, Roland de Wolfe, Luke Schwartz and, as we announced last week, Tony G.

Each player (12 in total) is putting up $100,000 to buy in and Party Poker are adding $300,000 to the prize pool.

Tony G Joins Team Party Poker

Party Poker appear to be on a “big name” recruitment drive right now. Following the addition of Kara Scott to Team Party Poker, the online poker giants have now signed up Aussie bad boy Tony G to their ranks.

Tony G, real name Antanas Guoga, joins Team Party Poker effective immediately as a site spokesman. Guoga’s own online poker room, Tony G Poker, has been snapped up by Party Gaming PLC as part of the deal. Players at Tony G Poker will be moved across to the Noble Poker platform which is also owned by Party Gaming.

FullFlush heads to Vegas for PartyPoker’s Premier League

It’s been a little while since we heard from London’s poker motormouth Luke ‘FullFlush1′ Schwartz. Fear not though, fans of the biggest villain from the 2009 poker scene, because FullFlush is back on the big stage this February. This time he’s heading to Las Vegas for the latest edition of PartyPoker’s Premier League.

Premier League IV will run from February 11th to 18th and alongside Schwartz the line-up of confirmed players is looking pretty impressive so far. J.C. Tran, Phil Hellmuth and Roland de Wolfe will all make their way to ‘Sin City’ to do battle, but it’s FullFlush that has captured the imagination of poker fans thanks to his bad boy antics from late ‘09.

Everest Poker Sponsor Their Top Ten Players

Ten lucky players at Everest Poker are set to live the dream in 2010 after securing a huge sponsorship package for the year worth $130,000 each.

Everest’s “Live the Dream” promotion promised to reward ten of the poker room’s best and most dedicated players with a $100,000 sponsorship package and $30,000 for global travel expenses. Everest narrowed the 50,000 players that entered down to just 200 before a time consuming process whittled that down to the final 10.

The selection process wasn’t just for show, either, as Everest believes their players to be among the best the online poker world has to offer.

Lady Gaga’s Poker Face to Appear in Palms Ads

The Palms Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas are to use the famous “Poker Face” song by Lady Gaga in their latest ad’ campaign.

The ad, which finishes with the slogan “Show Us Your Poker Face”, focuses on the best features Palms has to offer customers including the Playboy Club and Fantasy Towers alongside the popular nightlife scene in Palms.

Palms owner George Maloof said; “We feel that this is a special and unique opportunity to connect the Palms brand with one of the most respected and talented artists of our time.”