The tournament was running smoothly and it had seemed to be another notch on the successful belt of PokerStars, until the unthinkable. Six men entered the Grand Hyatt’s hotel seeking one thing, money.

Just as another hand was being dealt, an eruption in the lobby occurred, directly next to the tournament registration desk. A scurry of people rushed to the other side of the room in fear for their life as the six men demanded the prize money in the vault. The men were armed with handguns and machetes despite the report of AK’s and hand grenades by the local media.

Regardless of the unsettling events happening outside the poker room, perhaps the most disturbing event of the day was the resumed play during the heist. Players were forced to play out all hands even when their buy-ins were taken from the premise.

One American player, Kevin “ImaLuckSac” MacPhee, who was in the final 20 players logged onto PocketFives.com and explained his disappointment how the situation was handled “I honestly think we should have stopped play.”

Although he was upset how the tournament directors handled the explosive issue, that didn’t stop Kevin from playing some of the best poker of his life. MacPhee battled through all of the adversity, diversity, and extremely tough competition to take down a replenished first place prize of €1,000,000.

When Kevin was asked what he would do to celebrate his recent win, he replied with “I’m going to go play the Sunday Million” which started in 15 minutes.

Hopefully not only PokerStars, but all major poker venues will be locked up tight and provide the security and protection that the players and staff deserve.

Watch the videos below of this horrific event that took place.

While approaching 40 billion hands, PokerStars will be celebrating their accomplishments with larger prize pool tournaments, splash pots, and the largest Sunday million ever!

Until the 40 billionth hand hits, PokerStars will be having a number of promotions this month as a thank you to all of the support of their players.

The first giveaway, which will be paid out the most, is a splash pot, and cash giveaway.  First, to qualify for this, you must be playing in a millionth hand.  During this hand, Stars’ will be paying out $40 to each player per every VPP earned the last 40 hands.  The pot will also be doubled in this hand.

If you happen to play in the 40 billionth hand, every special that is given away on the millionth hands will be exponentially larger.  Players at the table will be rewarded $400 per 40 VPP the last 40 hands, as well as the pot being doubled again.

Cash game prizes won’t be the only way to make some extra cash, tournaments will be increased and held frequently for larger payouts.

Plans for this Valentine’s day should be playing poker, and Stars’ is making a strong case for doing so.  This February 14th, at 2:30 ET, the Sunday million will be the same $1,000,000 prize pool guarantee, but the buy-in will only be a manageable $40.

After the normal Sunday million, the following Sunday, Feb. 21st, the celebration for the 40 billion hands will be taking place.  For the first time ever, the Sunday Million will have a prize pool of over $4,000,000 making the first place prize a minimum of $1,000,000.  This truly makes the 21st a Sunday million day.

Finally, to round off the promotions, a number of 40 FPP freerolls and 40-man super sit-and-go’s will be held to compete for some of the $40,000 prize pool at stake.  Also, players can trade in 2,500 VPP for $40 dollars cash this month.

On December 27th 2009, you will have the opportunity to take part in the largest online tournament ever.  Poker Stars is looking to end 2009 with a bang by eclipsing the 65,000 player Guinness World Record that was set in July 2009, previously by Poker Stars.

All of the details for the tournament are as followed:

Date: Sunday, December 27th 2009 at 14:45 ET

Buy-In: $1 (That’s right! One measly dollar)

Prize Pool:  Guaranteed $300,000

Registration: Open now until the tournament start.

Satellites: Although the buy-in is low and at a minimum, you can still earn your entry free!

To find the tournament, go to the Poker Stars lobby, select “Tourney” then “ALL” or “Special.”  You can also find the tournament using the Poker Stars search feature by typing in “record.”

Although this tournament is cheap and there will be plenty of people who aren’t premier players, you still need to play solid and methodically to cash.  Be sure to stay out of sticky positions with middle pair, or an over pair to sequenced boards, and not to play your suited aces and unsuited ace kings too fast.  Yes this is just $1 from your bankroll, but with a stunning win and some luck, you could find yourself another $75k richer.

Good luck, and hopefully you can end 2009 with a bang and win yourself a chunk of that $300,000 prize pool.

These tournaments will start on the 20th of January, and end on the 31st, with the Poker Brat’s $1 million guaranteed NLHE tournament.

Here is the list of tournaments:

While the tournament winnings are sweet, the watch for winning one of these major tournaments is that much better.  The winner of one of these tournaments, or who has the leading points overall in these tournaments, will be sent a Tourneau watch as a congratulations.

Like the miniFTOPS, Ubet is taking notes and decided to have themselves a mini series of tournaments.  These tournaments, like miniFTOPS, will be a fraction of the buy-in, except on Ultimatebet, the tournaments will be hosted, by other frequent players.

Here is the list of mini-UBOC:

You wont feel left out if you do well in these tournaments.  The best performing players will also earn a Tourneau watch.

Be sure to sign up at Ultimatebet, and you may get a chance to sit on the same table of one of the many Ubet professionals.

A few days later report Marcus tried to commit suicide after being questioned by police but the suicide attempt failed.   Marcus then decided to move to the UK along with his three year old son. Bebb -Jones decided to pick up the game of poker and ended up being very successful.  Marcus became one of Britain’s premiere poker stars as he won the 2007Grosvenor Grand Prix event in Walsal and £90,000 for first place efforts.

In 2004 hikers found the skull remains of Sabrina and hikers then reported the skull to the police and since it took this long to convict Marcus he was able to play in that tournament.  This week, Marcus was arrested at his mother’s home.  He will be held in custody until the judge decides if Marcus will be eligible for deportation back to the United States.  The final decision will ultimately be made by the Home Secretary.  An U.S. Government state prosecutor had this to say regarding Marcus Bebb-Jones,

“Mr. Bebb-Jones is sought for the murder of his wife. He is responsible for the murder, and the deliberate concealment of it for many years. On the weekend following that incident it is said that Mr. Bebb-Jones went to Las Vegas and spent thousands of dollars – partially using credit cards in his wife’s name. He lived a playboy lifestyle in the course of that weekend which culminated in him putting a gun in his mouth and shooting himself in the head.”

“The upshot is that the case against him is very strong,” said the prosecutor. “This offence is so serious he faces life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.”

I am happy this criminal is being brought to justice but I am disgusted at the fact that he had the chance to taste freedom for the last twelve years.

Craig Fleck

Full Tilt Poker now has the best player in the world playing under their name, Tom “durrrr” Dwan.

Stuck in the shadows of poker superstars Phil Ivey and Patrik Antonius for the past few years, Tom “durrrr” Dwan has finally made his official mark as the best official Team Full Tilt member.  Many have heard this household name, Tom Dwan, and it is to no surprise that he will be representing the site he has made his riches on.

Durrrr, a resident of New Jersey and college drop out from Boston University, found his way to Full Tilt Poker early in his college life.  Starting at the low sit and go levels and cash games, Tom climbed his way to the top in anunordinary fashion.  It didn’t take long for the buzz of Tom to hit the poker media.

Although Dwan is known for his mastery of play on the virtual tables, he has already showed great promise in the live game scene.  Tom has scooped large pots from greats such as Gus Hansen, Barry Greenstein , and David Benyamine on popular poker shows Poker after Dark and High Stakes Poker.  His real world success doesn’t end there though. Durrrr has already cashed three times in the World Series of Poker events, a 9th place finish at the National Heads-up Championship, and a WPT championship at Foxwoods.  All of which exceed $1.1 million in tournament winnings.

After being on the scene and gaining some credibility, cocky Tom Dwan issued a heads-up challenge to anyone in the world, Tom’s $1.5 million to the challengers $500k.  The bet sent shock waves through the poker world and no one was quite sure if he was for real.  Patrik Antonius stepped up to the plate and is the first and only pursuer of durrrr’s $1.5 million.  The bet is Tom will be ahead by any amount of a 50,000 hand period, if he is not, he will forfeit his $1.5 million. The session is already a few ten thousands of hands in. Durrrr as of right now, is up almost to $780k on Antonius.

You can often find Tom playing at the highest of games, NL Hold’em and Pot Limit Omaha.  Look for Tom on Full Tilt Poker or on popular T.V. shows High Stakes Poker and Poker after Dark.

The Toronto Maple Leaf’s of the NHL and PokerStars have teamed up to give you, the average poker player, a chance to win free tickets to home games.

A promotion giving away free NHL tickets to PokerStars users will be running until March 3rd.  When playing in these freerolls, you must take first or second to win the tickets.  If you happen to make it deep in the tournament, but only in the top 27, you will be automatically entered into the Grand Final tournament where you will be given the chance to win the Grand Prize.  Also, you will be playing with hockey legends in this tournament and if you happen to knock one of them you, you will receive an autographed picture from that player.

The tickets at the Maple Leaf’s game that will be given away are Platinum and Red tickets.  The platinum tickets go to the first place finisher, and are in the lower level closer to the ice.  The red tickets will be given to the second place finisher and are an upper level seating.  These tickets are only good for the Toronto Maple Leaf home games and cannot be traded/swapped for another NHL team’s home game.

Here is a table of the tournaments and games available:

The final tournament will be held on March 6th for the Grand Final.  This grand prize will include tickets for two, hotel accommodations, and $500 spending cash while in Toronto.

Need a PokerStars account? Be sure to check out our review section for not only one of the best bonus’ online today, but why PokerStars is considered one of the best and the largest poker sites online today.

The new MacBook Pros and iMacs have been released to Apple stores across the world, headlined by the massive 27″ iMac, and cost effective MacBook White.

Apple has been trying to figure out ways to not only improve their iMac and MacBook lines, but also reach out to a whole different client. The budget spender.  Finally, Apple has created the MacBook White, which is available as low as $999.

White 13″ MacBooks

The baby of the MacBook family may be getting all of the love this holiday season.  The 13″ MacBook White may be considered the best selling MacBook of all time.  With its new $999 price tag, and same fast hardware, it will be hard to overestimate this new product.  Although, the new casing is plastic, thus the durabilty goes down a slight.

This MacBook still comes with a super fast 2.26GHz core-2-duo processor, 2 GB of ram, an LED lit screen, 9400M nVidia graphics, and a long lasting 7 hour battery.  Not only are these the same specifications than the previous MacBook Pros, but it is also just as light and easy to carry around.

13″ 15″ 17″ MacBook Pros

The MacBook Pro was primarily made for one thing, Power.  Sticking with that same concept, Apple has increased the speeds of these laptops to satisfy the demands of its users.  While still using its sleek uni-body casing, the Pro looks and feels better than ever.

The new processors put into these Pro MacBooks are faster, and more reliable.  The new speeds of the core-2-duos are 2.53GHz, 2.66GHz, 2.8GHz, and the mega fast 3.06GHz processor.  Of course, it will cost a pretty penny to have the fastest of the fast at your desk.  The video card uses the same 9400m nVidia, but is upgradeable to the more graphics friendly 9600GT nVidia.  Massive amounts of RAM, a huge storage hard drive, and numerous expandable ports are just a few more features on this new MacBook Pro.

21″ and 27″ iMac

Mac users wanted a bigger screen, faster speeds, better looks, and more features included with their iMacs.  Their prayers and wishes have been answered.  The enhanced backlit LED screen makes for exceptionally vibrant and sharp colors.  Also, the new wireless magic mouse will make navigation of the iMac better than ever.

Now for the good stuff, the speed of this monster.  The processor is the ultra fast core-2-duo 3.06GHz, but what makes the iMac stand alone is the room for upgrades.  Users can choose to have the QUAD core i5 or i7 processors put into their computers for speeds only the Enterprise can reach.  The graphics still has the reliable 9400M nVidia in it, but is upgradeable to the smooth 4850 ATI Radeon.  Tons of storage space, and lots of RAM makes this new iMac the computer of the future.

Also, these new iMacs have the features that of a T.V.  So when all the work is done on your multimedia king, you can switch over to your BlueRay player, T.V. or even other Apple accessories, and enjoy the delight of the 27″ screen even more.

You can be assured these products will be flying off the shelves at Apple stores around the world, so be sure to check them out as soon as possible and get your hands on the latest and greatest in the technology world.

The best has yet to come as Research in Motion (makes of the BlackBerry) have released the new Storm 2.

Research in Motion is going to take another crack at the touch screen title.  The previous, Storm, was not as quite as a big hitRiM had anticipated.  Verizon and RiM teamed up to try to make the Storm a huge success, but did not quite reach the pinnacle of the phone world.  The Storm 2 will be the next heavyweight to take on the iPhone.  One of most popular upgrades to the Storm 2 will be a new technology called “SurePress” which makes using the touch screen a breeze.

Some other upgrades RiM have included in the Storm 2 is:

• A brand new, better working GPS system.  Enhanced maps and location programs will also be available to the Storm 2 users.

• Expanded storage.  Already having the 2GB memory space for all of your ring tones, e-mails, pictures, and texts.  Another expandable storage compartment is included which will use the microSD cards.  The 16GB card will be supported as well as the 32GB card (when released).

• New SurePress screen which makes texting, navigating, and phone use easier.

• An improved battery with 280 hours of standby life, as well as 6 hours of continual talk time on the 3G network.  Batteries again will beremovable and replaceable by the user.

One other huge hit for the Storm 2 is the use of WiFi networks.  Now the Storm 2 will be able to connect to WiFi hot spots for faster browsing speeds.  Also, the QWERTY keyboard, in portrait mode, is easier to access and is redesigned for better use.

The Storm 2 has only been released in Europe and surrounding countries as of late.  The release is happening right before the holidays where the best companies will rise to the top and the others will fade out.

Will RiM have a chance at taking over the iPhone?  If RiM wants a legitimate shot at being a top touch screen phone, they will need to release the Storm 2 in the United States as well.  Be sure to look for it at your local electronics store before the holidays.

Starting October 17th, tournaments well open up daily at the free buy-in level and the $1.10 buy-in level.  These tournaments will run until December 5th.  So you will have plenty of time to earn your free seat to the Caribbean.

If you happen to place top-9 in one of these first freerolls, you will be automatically given a ticket into the PCA Freeroll Fantasy Main Event.  Other top-9 finishers will also be in this tournament.  Placing top-9 again will earn you your $15,100 prize package which includes travel, buy-in, and extra cash for expenses.

Last year, the PCA was the largest poker tournament outside of the United States.  PokerStars player Poorya Nazari played in these freeroll satellites, won his way into the tournament, and took down the $3,000,000 prize.

Want to play in the other events at the PCA? Small buy-ins are available as well that include the $10,300 prize package tournament.

Here are when the tournaments will be played every day.

Three PCA Main Events will be held on the 6th of December at 8:00 ET 14:00 ET and 20:00 ET.  That means 27 prizes will be given out, totalling more than $400k in free prizes. 

Note:  Players can only win one seat into the Main Event.  Players may only use one username to compete in the Main Event.  Players may only play in one freeroll tournament a day.  Players must be 18 years or older to play in the PCA.  Full Promotion will run Oct. 17th – Dec. 7th.  If you cannot attend the tournment, player will be granted $3,000 prize money.