Full Tilt Poker Introduces The Black Card

The Black Card…it sounds a bit mysterious and high tech and a must have, doesn’t it?  The Black Card is a must have and definitely worth the work required to acquire one and maintain it.  The Black Card separates the men from the boys, the women from the girls, and the players from the donkeys – you simply cannot acquire it and maintain it unless you are seriously devoted to your online poker game.  

Here’s how you get it:

A rolling 100-day Full Tilt Points average is calculated over the last 99 days for all base Full Tilt Points earned between 00:00 ET and 23:59 ET and the current day points earned since 00:00 ET; points are tallied and must equal a minimum daily average of 500 Full Tilt Points over the rolling 100-day period.  Once you have acquired The Black Card membership, your Black Card will be mailed within 14 days to your mailing address and you will receive an email welcoming you; notifying you of your new status.

As a Black Card holder, you are now in an elite level at Full Tilt Poker where you receive:

*2x Full Tilt Points
*Shopping at The Black Card Store – find exclusive items, cash bonuses, luxury collectors’ items, Black Card branded apparel
*A dedicated Black Card Support team to offer personalized customer support
*Restricted Black Card tournaments are now accessible

Be aware that the 2x Full Tilt Points multiplier does not include points earned in promotions, it only applies to base Full Tilt Points.  Read The Black Card Rules on the Full Tilt Poker website for more information.

There is a 50 day grace period allowed for players to regain their status if they fall below the minimum daily 500 Full Tilt Point average required in the 100-day rolling average.  During the 50 day grace period, players will still receive all the benefits of their Black Card membership.

 Players can monitor their status by accessing their personal Black Card page in the ‘my promotions’ section at the cashier or by using the Black Card Status widget in the lobby.  In order to customize your lobby widgets, go to ‘standard view’ in the lobby and then click on ‘customize’ at the bottom right of the Standard View – that opens the ‘customize lobby widgets’ window.

Get Started!   Get Black at Full Tilt Poker and step into the world of the elite.

Win Cash and Tickets to North American Poker League

Exclusive to the USA and Canada – you will be playing with players in your own neck of the woods – the North American Poker League (NAPL) is a regional competition.  Don’t plan on staying in the woods though, step right into the comfort of your own home, stretch out, relax, and then get ready to JAM!  This is a series you don’t want to miss.

Play every night at 20:00 ET!  Simply go to the PokerStars lobby and select ‘Tourney’ and ‘Regional.’ You can practice your poker game, hone your skills, and have the opportunity to win free cash since there is $500 in prizes waiting to be won in every tournament in the NAPL Nightly $500 Freerolls at PokerStars.

Every week you’ll find $4,500 in cash prizes waiting to be awarded to everyone that joins in the fun and action – you’ll be playing for League Points that translate into $$$.  It’s a fantastic Regional Bonus you’ll want to play over and over again.  The nightly NAPL $500 Freeroll prizes pay the top 1,036 players as follows:

Place	Prize
1-9	NAPL $11 Division 1 Ticket
10-300	NAPL $1.10 Division 2 Ticket
301-1,036	NAPL $0.11 Rookie Ticket

The players with the most league points at the end of every week will win extra cash.  No matter what level you play, or the size of your bankroll, you can join in the fun and competition and win cash.  For just $0.11 you can jump into a NAPL Rookie Division Sit N Go.  Or buy in to a Division 2 Nightly Guarantee for $1 + $0.10 or a Division 1 $10 + $1 Nightly Guarantee.  And if you want to play absolutely free, play the free Rookie Division Sit N Go Qualifiers that are listed as ‘NAPL Freeroll SNG’ in the Regional tab.  When you win a ticket in a Sit N Go Qualifier, be sure to use it – it expires after seven days.   USA players cannot enter Rookie Division Canada Tournaments and vice versa.

Track your latest point standings on the rankings page – it is updated regularly – and points are awarded in each nightly NAPL tournament.  For a complete list of weekly prizes and points awarded for finishing positions, check here.

Now it’s time to get your PokerStars account and start playing, that nightly freeroll tournament is coming up fast.

Ivey, Isildur1 in WSOPE ME Final 22

The 2010 WSOPE main event is down to 22 players and a few of poker’s biggest stars are among them.

Day 3 began Sunday in London with 66 players remaining and Swedish online high-stakes phenom Viktor “Isildur1” Blom holding the lead.

The 36-player money bubble broke in the first half of the day and the field went to dinner with just 28 remaining.

When they returned, Canadian Andrew Pantling jumped into the lead becoming the first player past the one million chip mark, but a few hits late saw him dip below, allowing online pro Ronald Lee to take control before play was halted with 22 remaining.

Pantling, who made runner-up in the WSOPE’s £2,500 Six-Max event to Phil Laak last week, also saw online pro David Peters push past him on the leader board.

Peters made fourth in that very same event.

Phil Ivey remains in the thick of it, sitting with a top ten stack, as does the aforementioned Blom, Hoyt Corkins, Nicolas Levi and Arnaud Mattern.

The UK’s Barney Boatman, Roland de Wolfe and Canadian two-time WSOP bracelet winner Greg Mueller are also still in the hunt for the £830,401 first place prize.

Well known pros including Freddy Deeb, Barry Greenstein, Yevgeniy Timoshenko and Bryn Kenney were among those that cashed, but failed to progress to the final 22.

Play will resume inside the Casino at the Empire in Leicester Square at 12 p.m. London time Monday with plans to play down to the final nine.

To follow of the action, click through to PokerListings’ WSOPE Live Updates.

Here are the top ten chip counts heading into Day 4:

1 Ronald Lee 947,000

2 David Peters 829,000

3 Andrew Pantling 821,000

4 Daniel Steinberg 768,000

5 Viktor Blom 705,000

6 Phil Ivey 657,000

7 Hoyt Corkins 566,000

8 Nicolas Levi 515,000

9 Bojan Gledovic 500,000

10 Arnaud Mattern 468,000

Poker Room Reaches 50 Billion Hands

Online poker room PokerStars recently reached their 50 Billionth Hand milestone. The landmark hand was dealt in the morning hours on Wednesday. The winner of that hand, German player ‘tbvle’, picked up $56,140. The other five players are table Ornamenta, a 2c/5c table where the landmark hand was dealt, won a few thousand dollars each. That number was based on the number of VIP points they had earned over the previous 50 hands. All six players at the winning table also picked up a $5,200 WCOOP Main Event ticket.

Inaugural British Poker Awards Nominees

The Inaugural British Poker Awards will begin on September 13th. The event will run at Kensington Close Hotel in London. Players will win a variety of awards, such as Best Cash Player – those nominated in that category include Neil Channing, Richard Ashby, Luke Schwartz , Ben Grundy and Ben Roberts. As far as Best Tournament Player the nominees include James Akenhead, Sam Trickett, Chris Moorman and Praz Bansi. Online players will not be left out, with nominees including Chris “Moorman1” Moorman, Richard “Chufty” Ashby, Lawrence “Rivermanl” Houghton and Luke “__FullFlush1__”.

Poker Robber Men Arrested

Two men who robbed a home poker game were recently arrested. They forced their ways inside a residence at gun point. The two men, Key Martinez, 17, and Bryan Urena, 18, ran from police summoned when the home owner called 911. The men were charged with first-degree burglary and two counts of first-degree robbery. The poker game consisted of seven men, one of whom responded to a knock on a side door; the two robbers forced their way in when the man answered. Three officers responded to the emergency call and chased down the robbers.

Daniel Negreanu Wins PokerStars Fairways and Felts

On Thursday, Team PokerStars pro Daniel Negreanu won the first-ever PokerStars European Poker Tour Vilamoura Fairs and Felts tournament.

The €1,100 buy-in contest, which featured a Texas Scramble team event on the golf course, followed by a individual poker tournament, was the first of its kind on the EPT.

The winners of the golf section were Team PokerStars pro John Duthie, Joachim Selzer and former Dutch national golfer Willem Vork.

The trio combined for a score of 11 under par at the Pinhal Course in Vilamoura. They received an extra 500 tournament chips for each stroke under par — for an additional 5,500 on the starting stack.

Negreanu’s team, which also consisted of Team PokerStars pro Marcin Horecki and Norwegian golf pro Tom Larsen, finished five under par, for 2,500 extra tournament chips.

The no-limit hold’em half began when the 14 golfers were done with their rounds.

Negreanu found himself at the final table and heads up with 2009 EPT Grand Final winner Pieter De Korver. Negreanu won the match, after five hours of play, when his Q-J held up versus the J-2 of his fellow Team PokerStars Pro member, on a jack-high flop.

A prize of €8,000 was awarded to the four-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner. De Korver took home €4,444 for the second-place finish.