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As one of the very few online poker sites still operating in the US market, Americas Cardroom (which recently bought out the popular Doyles Room) has decided to create their own online poker tournament super-series, specifically aimed at US players, which they have dubbed ACROSS.

The ACROSS tournament series will feature a total of 19 tournaments over a six-day period in late November. All told, Americas Cardroom is guaranteeing a total prize-pool for the 19 events of $150,000, with a $50,000 guarantee for the Main Event alone. The tournaments will mainly be No Limit Holdem events, with PLO tournaments sprinkled in here and there.

Americas Cardroom is also running the following promotions in conjunction with their ACROSS tournament series:

• A contest for ACROSS tournament participants that will award 10 seats into another tournament for the Top 10 players who cash in the ACROSS series
• An entry into a $1,000 freeroll for all players who cash multiple times in the ACROSS series
• Bonus Frequent Player Points for players who finish on the money bubble

Americas Cardroom is part of the Yatahay Poker Network, and after being amongst the original online poker rooms in the early 2000’s the site, and its brand, were put on the shelf. The recent revival of the Americas Cardroom began when the new owners purchased Doyles Room Poker, including all of their assets.

For more information on Americas Cardroom you can check out their website at AmericasCardroom.com

On his new blog Gus Hansen responded to the open challenge issued by Daniel “jungleman12” Cates for ANYONE to take him on in a heads-up No Limit Holdem match. Hansen stated that he had no interest in playing Cates in a heads-up No Limit Holdem match (which he calls Cates specialty, and rightly so) but did add a caveat to his refusal to play the man known online as “Jungleman”.

While Hansen was unwilling to play Cates in NLHE, he did add levy the charge that Cates has been unwilling to play him in PLO, and that he would be willing to play the $200/$400, $100,000 buy-in, Challenge match in ANY poker format other than No Limit Holdem.

Hansen has been on a self-described break from poker, playing very little poker since Black Friday. On his blog he summed up his thoughts on the Cates’ challenge thusly:

“As far as Jungleman’s’ challenge goes – I doubt there will be any takers in Prague… I for one am not gonna play against Jungleman in his speciality game, kind of like he hasn’t played me in PLO for six months straight and would have no chance (in my humble opinion) if we played any other poker game,”

The Challenge issued by Cates will take place at the WPT tournament in Prague, and is being sponsored by the site PokerFarm.com. A new wrinkle in the old-hat concept of a challenge match (which in itself is as timeless as poker itself) is that the match will be streamed live, complete with hole-cards on a 15 minute delay.

The last really big milestone that warranted a major celebration in the online poker world was Full Tilt Poker’s 5^th birthday back in 2010. Now we are on the cusp of another anniversary and can expect some festivities as PokerStars celebrates the major milestone of turning 10 years-old this December; an event that will likely make Full Tilt Poker’s fifth birthday bash look like small potatoes.

The actual date of PokerStars 10^th birthday will be on December 12^th, but the promotions and giveaways will begin before, and last well after, this date. Among the big promotions announced by PokerStars is a massive Sunday Million tournament with $10 million guaranteed prize-pool, as well as the site giving away an unprecedented 100 prize-packages worth $15,000 each to the 2012 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA), including a buy-in to the $10k Main Event.

The 10^th Anniversary Sunday Million tournament is being dubbed as the biggest in the site’s history, which is not hard to imagine when you take into consideration the $10 million guarantee the site is offering for the $215 tournament –with PokerStars guaranteeing at least a $2 million prize going to the winner of the historic tournament.

Team PokerStars Pro Daniel Negreanu may have summed it up best, stating, “Amazing that it’s been 10 years! I’m very proud of my association with PokerStars, and this December’s 10th Anniversary Celebration is going to be a doozy… There will be tons of cash prizes for bankrolls of all sizes, plus giveaways and a $10 million Sunday Million event.”

For more information on all of the promotions PokerStars has cooked up for their 10^th anniversary you can head on over to PokerStars.eu.

After months of fervent anticipation, the 2011 edition of the World Series of Poker November 9 is just two days away. A whopping $782k is reserved for the first player eliminated, a sum that pales in comparison to the $8.7 million reserved for the winner. While all nine players are slated to get a whole lot richer within the next few days, only one can be crowned champion.

If you have even a passing interest in live tournament poker, odds are good that you’ll be watching Sunday’s live TV broadcast. To better prepare you, here’s a quick refresher on the players included in the November 9, along with their chip counts, ages and place of origin.

1. Martin Staszko – 40,175,000 chips – Trinec, Czech Republic – age 35

2. Eoghan O’Dea – 33,925,000 chips – Dublin, Ireland – age 26

3. Matt Giannetti – 24,750,000 chips – Las Vegas, NV – age 26

4. Phil Collins – 23,875,000 chips – Las Vegas, NV – age 26

5. Ben Lamb – 20,875,000 chips – Tulsa, OK – age 26

6. Badih Bounahra – 19,700,000 chips – Belize City, Belize – age 49

7. Pius Heinz – 16,425,000 chips – Cologne, Germany – age 22

8. Anton Makievskyi – 13,825,000 chips – Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine – age 21

9. Samuel Holden – 12,375,000 chips – Sussex, UK – age 22

As is obvious, this is one of the youngest November Nines in WSOP history, a trend that his been continuing in recent years. If Makievskyi manages to take down the championship, he’ll be the youngest winner in WSOP Main Event history.

A total of 6,865 players entered the World Series of Poker Main Event, generating a prize pool worth nearly $65 million. Coverage of the final table will begin on Sunday, November 6 at 3:30 PM EST on ESPN2.

The expectations of tournament organizers were met on Day 1b of World Poker Tour Amneville, when 203 players joined the Day 1a field to form a total field of 379 runners. The prize pool is officially set at 1.164 million Euro, with over 310k Euro reserved just for first place. The champion of WPT Amneville will also receive a $25.5k buy-in package to the WPT Championship.

The overall chip leader at this point is Jean-Francoi Rigollet, who dominated the Day 1a competition to secure nearly 165k chips. Rigollet, a native of Paris, has a relatively paltry live tournament resume in comparison to Nicolas Babel, the player who led Day 1a. Rigollet has a total of $46k in career winnings, with four cashes including a $27k score that he picked up in March at the Wynn Classic.

A number of other noted pros managed to secure large stacks on Day 1b as well, including Edouard Sadoun (125k), Erik Von Buxhoeveden (143k), Jamie Rosen (145k) and Thibaut Durand (147k). Other players with chip stacks exceeding 100k including Joseph Cheong, Marvin Rattenmaier and Arnaud Mattern. They’ll be joined on Day 2 by other survivors including Ilan Rouah, Paul Berende, Roger Hairabedian, Bruno Fitoussi, Ilan Boujenah, Ozzy Sheikh and Team PokerStars Pro Liv Boeree.

A few of the players who will not be moving on to Day 2 including Ludovic Lacay, Kevin MacPhee, John Eames, Brandon Cantu and fan favorite Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier. They were joined at the rail by Sam El Sayed, the player who took the title along with 426k Euro in the 2010 edition of WPT Amneville.

A total of 215 players will compete on Day 2. Although Rigollet has emerged as the overall leader, he’s trailed closely by Day 1a hotshot Babel who holds just under 164k chips.