One good thing is that it looks like the old boys in Congress might be getting closer to reversing the legislation.  Barney Frank and Jim McDermot Inc…. say that online poker players could expect to see some changes in the near future… sounds like a safe politician’s statement… non-committal and just enough to get everyone’s hopes up… but staying positive lets hope there will be change to the legislation, enforced soon.

I guess what I like the most is the quality of the articles in CardPlayer.  From the poker strategy through to all the listings of poker tournaments and how the players performed – its got it all.  Most magazines I just flip thru, read a few lines here and there, look at the pictures… but not CardPlayer… just cant put it down.

We’ve been following the Aussie Millions in January, but there was also a European Poker Tour event on at the same time in Deauville in France.

Then the Philippines has just hosted an Asia Poker Tour competition in Manila.  East, west, north & south poker is being played all over and enjoyed by millions of people.  You could make it your full time job, just cruising around the world playing poker in different countries and following the pros at play in poker tournies.  Sounds like a good life to me!

And it wasn’t long before Russia got in on the scene and has started their own Russian Poker Tour.  The beautiful Russian city of St Petersburg is where the first poker tournment has just kicked off.

Russians dominated amongst the last nine players, seven of them being Russian, and eventually Oleg Suntsov pulled through to take the title in St Petersburg.

PokerStars are sponsoring the poker tour and I reckon they are onto a big thing, this will be the next big growth area in the poker world and what better place to be … have your name all over the main event at the Russian Poker Tour… clever move by the PokerStars boys…

The Russian Poker Tour now moves onto Moscow and the main event starts on 25 Feb… we’ll keep a close eye on it and keep a look out for some future poker pros.

For those of you that are not Australian… Australians are known to shout Aussie, Aussie, Aussie as a war cry at sports events or just in general support at any event really.

So… here goes… Aussie, Aussie, Aussie!!! to Stewart Scott for winning the tourny and collecting AUD $ 2 Million for his effort.

The final table of eight players ground it out on the final day for 12 hours.  681 poker players of all shapes and sizes started the competition and eventually it came down to Peter Rho and Scott in the final pairing.

You can only admire him and congratulate him having the stamina to beat all those strong competitors – Well done Stewart Scott!

For a long time the pressure has been on Joe Hachem to win the tourny for Australia, but now it has been done… a fellow countryman has stood up and beaten off the opposition from all over the world.

All the poker players only had good things to say about how the poker tournament was organised and run.  The Crown Plaza, Melbourne is definitely a must to check out and visit.  

Following the last blog post, we have seen Annica Ivert go out of the tournament in 11th place, followed by Tino Lechich in 10th and the last player forced out was the Canadian, Zac Fellows in 9th place.  At least Fellows collects $AUD 100,000 for his troubles!

Wow there are not many big names left apart from well known Barny Boatman of the Hendon Mob.  Boatman is happy with his tournament thus far and is very impressed with all the player’s composure and the skill of the other poker players.

Barney Boatman is well known for his poker commentary on various poker shows.  Together with his brother Ross, they are well known in the UK for the creation of their website “The Hendon Mob”.

Boatman is well respected as a poker player and his opposition are very wary of him.  He has been described as tricky and unreadable.  I wouldn’t like to have to face him in the final of a big poker tournament.  Annica Ivert picked a “Boatman Bluff” when he went all-in, unfortunately for Annica she had really bad luck from the board and Boatman won with a pair of sixes…. go figure….sending Annica home early…

That my friends is poker…  Annica was chip leader on day two, now she gets an early flight home…

Despite all the big name poker pros being knocked out, Boatman says, “There are no mugs here…”.  So it goes to show that the pressure is still on the last eight players who will battle it out for the big prize of $AUD 2 Million for the winner.

We’ll bring you more news of the final day at the Aussie Millions Poker Championships in Melbourne, Australia…

Grant Levy, the Australian favorite, has just been eliminated.  Levy will take the 13th place at this years Aussie Millions Poker Championship and will take home $AUD 65,000 for his effort – not bad at all!

Levy had nines, his opponent had ace-king, then the board did Levy in on the flop and the turn – ow that’s a brutal blow to wear it hurts the most!  So it played into his opponents hands – queen, queen, jack, jack on the flop and turn – its a tough call to be beaten by the board.  These things happen in poker, c’est la vie!

If you don’t want to take the heat in No limit Holdem, go play video poker!

Earlier Dixon Ruecker was head to head with Sam Capra in a big showdown that was for over a million dollars in chips.  Capra had a pair of sixes (6d-6s), a brave move indeed with this hand, not for the faint hearted.  Ruecker meanwhile had King-Jack (Kc-Jh), the board came down with Qc, 5s and 3c on the flop.

Could Ruecker get a stronger pair, a flush or a straight?  Or maybe Capra would get a trip?
5d and 9c came on the turn and river – giving Capra the win with his pair!  Who would have thought a pair of sixes could win so much?

This left Ruecker with very few chips in his stack – it would only be a matter of time…unless a miracle happened… and there’s always a chance of that in poker…

Later Ruecker, with his short stack, got blown out by Stewart Scott with a flush.  Ruecker got flushed by Scott and ends up in 12th place at this years Aussie Millions Poker Championship.  He collects $AUD 80,000 on his way out through the door.

You gotta love it!  This year all the big name poker pro’s seem to have been knocked out – That’s what brings new players to the game of poker – The chance to win big!

Keep track of the Aussie Millions Poker at your favorite online live tournament update.  Its all action!

I couldn’t remember what happened last year, phew… is my memory that bad? So I did some surfing on YouTube and found some great footage. Speaking of surfing – Australia is a great place to visit and do some surfing. Aussie Millions takes place in Melbourne, but there’s plenty of surfing and poker to be played up the Gold Coast.

Found this great video clip on the Aussie Millions, it’s one of many clips. This is a really great way to learn more about poker and up your game – by watching the pros in action!

Click here to view the embedded video.