Blogger Poker Tour - Sending a Blogger to the Aussie Millions!

2007 Aussie Millions Wrap up

2007-02-13T23:53:00.000-05:00

The 2007 Aussie Millions is history. A record setting field of 747 poker players took to the felt for the main event, 16 of which represented team Poker.com. Professionals, such as the likes of Gus Hansen, Daniel Negreanu, Andrew Black, Paul Wasicka, Patrik Antonius, Joe Hachem, Greg Raymer, and many others made the trip to take place in the richest poker tournament in the Southern Hemisphere.

Day 1 was split into two flights. The A flight found three of our players starting at the same table! LikMeSpeer, Jester3, and Goliath2180 were seated right in front of our makeshift headquarters, located right along the rail (and in the bar area). This allowed for Lenora (Jester3’s wife), Cornelius and Jon (father and brother respectively of Goliath2180) to watch the action up close. Goliath and Jester would live to see Day 2.

PaunchBoy, DruceDog, Lennie10, and Exebiche were also involved in the A-Flight action of Day 1, though these players did not survive to go through to Day 2. Blogger Poker Tour Member Viezeman, however, did survive Day 1A and was the chip leader for a short period during Day 1 play.

Speaking of Blogger Poker Tour members and Day 1 action, Day 1B saw BPT season two winner purechaos move through to Day 2, along with Tralala and Bertiewouster.

Day 2 had our players spread out a bit better. Scott (jester3) spent a great portion of the day on the featured table, while Jerry (purechaos) was seated with John Dagostino and Jean-Robert Bellande. Ben (goliath2180) was seated two to the left of Gus Hansen and was on the “other” feature table (there were two; we had presence on both). Gus would go on to bust out Ben when his deep stacked call on the button with two-three of diamonds would take on trip threes, busting Ben’s pocket Kings and ending his tournament day.

While our team started the day with numbers, come bubble time, only two remained - Bertiewouster (Korte), and Jester3 (Scott). For the most part, the entire tournament tightened up significantly, just as our players did. They were slightly short stacked, and looking to avoid confrontation. This was especially no easy task for Scott, as he was seated with the ever-so-aggressive Jimmy Fricke. While players were out folding one another from across the room, Scott made two tough lay downs, putting both pocket queens and pocket kings to the muck pile face up. His discipline was rewarded as he made it beyond the burst of the bubble.

In fact, for Bertiewouster and Jester3, they became the first players to make it beyond the bubble as a poker.com online qualifier. Korte would be the first of the two remaining players to bust out on Day 3, when he busted out with pocket kings vs. Ace King. The unforgiving flop delivered two aces and a nine. The turn brought a king giving Korte Kings over Aces, but his opposition held Aces over Kings. Korte was sent to the rail in 66th place, which was good for 15K AUD.

Scott would hold on for a while longer, as he increased his stack early on in day 3. However, his pocket queens would run right into pocket kings. I am typically good for “successfully requesting and receiving” one card a day; I called for his queen. Unfortunately, his queen came along side his opposition’s king, giving them set over set and ending the tournament for the Poker.com team. Scott would finish 52nd place, which was good for 20,000 AUD.

While our main event was collectively over, this did not end our adventure. Our host, BPT Commissioner Shane, and the “Queen of Hearts” Tina - our beautiful hostess kept the party going. The group would go on to go bowling and clubbing, as several of us continued to bring the “A-game.”

In our final days, many players took to the juicy cash games, entered the $500 freeze out, which Mark - Lennie10 did in fact cash, and took in the beauty that Melbourne has to offer.

On the final day of the tournament, it would be Gus Hansen overcoming a 3:1 deficit to defeat Jimmy Fricke heads up and take down the 2007 Aussie Millions. The trophy was presented at a player’s party, where the players were able to mingle, celebrate and/or drink away their sorrows.

Overall, the trip was most enjoyable. As media, there were several “challenges” thrown our way, many of which could not be overcome. Despite these challenges and issues, I am proud to have been a member of the poker.com team. On a personal note, this trip to Australia confirmed that both the players and the staff of poker.com are something special. It was an honor and a privilege to get to know each and every person associated with poker.com.

On behalf of all of the players and myself, special thanks goes out to Shane, Tina, Kris and the entire staff of Poker.com for being wonderful hosts and arranging for the amazing accommodations. And to the players… Each and every one of you have something to be proud of. It took something… a lot just to get to where you were. Congratulations to you all and thanks for allowing me the opportunity to get to know you.

Mike - imjusthere4thebeer

Mike was the guest blogger, courtesy of Grand Prize number two of the Blogger Poker Tour and writes regularly at the Poker Pub Poker Blog

BPT'ers represent well at the Aussie Millions

2007-01-14T23:59:00.000-05:00

With Day 1 flight 2 well underway its once again a Blogger Poker Tour player leading the way for the Poker.com team at the Aussie Millions in Melbourne Australia.

Day 1 saw Viezeman become the first Poker.com player to be chip leader in a tournament after he surged to the front late in the day. He took some hits in a brutal final level, but still sat pretty with some 92,000 chips.

Day 2 has seen BPT S2 Champion PureChaos (Left in Picture -> ) get out in front early, with some 48,000 chips. Proving that nice guys don't always finish last.

Keep tunes to the Aussie Millions Blog for more updates from Imjusthere4thebeer as well as myself.

Shane @ Poker.com
BPT Commissioner

Its pure chaos in the Blogger Poker Tour Grand Final!

2006-12-23T17:43:00.000-05:00

20 starters, 1 trip to Melbourne, it was always going to get messy, but who predicted this much chaos!

To be fair this chaos stretches back further than the start of this grand final, it goes back to the last event in the regular season. After moderate results in the tour to that point, Purechaos wasn't figuring strongly in the Grand Final equation, then one had changed it all. Needing to pretty much win the final event to secure his spot in the grand final, Purechaos (Jerry) went one better, he busted out the host of the event, imjusthere4thebeer and took home not just his points for that event (3 place finish in the event) but also the same points as the winner, the hosts bonus!

With so many points from the final even Jerry went straight to the top of the leaderboard with a bullet!

The action started out pretty slow in the grand final, one table in particular really didn't want to play any pots at all it seemed! Even the first of the eliminations couldn't really fire up the tourney, it really wasn't till the tourney closed in towards the final table that the action came thick and fast, maybe it was the improving in the prizes that helped motivate everyone.

Big stacks were mixing it with other big stacks, and there were big casualties, when we got to 3 way action it was two big stacks, and little ol Evil666. One of the big stacks, ZowieZ had been in front for a while but had his stack eaten into by a fast finishing Purechaos. As soon as Irongirl went out in fourth it was live Evil666 was a man possessed. He cranked his game up several notches and pretty soon he was mixing it with purechaos for the lead, and had it not been for what looked like a bluff gone bad this tourney may have finished differently.

That wasn't how this going to finish though, this was a day off chaos, purechaos. Jerry had played very strongly in the later stages of the tourney, laying down hands where he needed to and showing muscle whenever he could, and when he knocked out ZowieZ in 3rd place he certainly had the chips to muscle his way to the finish.

The final hand was a little ironic, Evil666 pushed all-in with pocket jacks and was called by purechaos with pocket sixes. A six rained down on the flop and Evil was eliminated by his favorite hand and chaos reigned supreme.

This is how everyone finished up:

1	purechaos
2	Evil666
3	ZowieZ
4	Irongirl
5	freeroll26
6	imjusthere4thebeer
7	brodoughno
8	ViezeMan
9	JayNYC
10	natsdad
11	EgonOlsen
12	astinaguy
13	kufolem
14	cerberi
15	skinski
16	Hacksaw2000
17	DawgRoyal
18	OhioMike
19	PearlSnapMan
20	iyatoni

Congrats to all the competitors who played this season, the quality of this grand final really reflected the strength of the Blogger Poker Tour.

See you all next season!

Shane @ Poker.com
BPT Commissioner

imjusthere4thebeer blogs his way to the Aussie Millions

2006-12-23T17:08:00.000-05:00

The Blogger Poker Tour had a fantastic addition this season, a second major prize of a trip to Melbourne Australia to blog the Aussie Millions.

With the criteria set as the quality of the Blogger Poker Tour coverage you provide, any innovative techniques used to promote the BPT, the positioning of the BPT banner on your site, and the quality and frequency of your other blog posts, The Poker Pub got out in front early and stayed there.

With innovation such as interviewing the winner of the the events to BPT google search tools for all the bloggers imjusthere4thebeer (Mike) and his blog The Poker Pub really was a driving force of the BPT.

Mike is now heading to the Melbourne to cover the Aussie Millions main event on behalf of Poker.com. He will be in command of AussieMillionsBlog.com, providing live chip counts and stories from the event to poker fans worldwide.

He will also enjoy all of the benefits and perks of being a member of the Poker.com team, with 8 nights accommodation in the Crown Towers Hotel, a private freeroll in the Crown Poker Room and invitations to official Poker.com parties and the Australian Open Tennis.

So Congratulations to Mike!

I must also mention another blogger here also, who's coverage of the BPT just got better and better. Skinski actually started the season with a myspace blog, with amazing traffic flooding through his myspace I suggested he look at creating a proper blog, he took that advice and ran with it and by seasons end was actually helping other bloggers with their blogs.

Its people like this, and all the bloggers that participated in this season of the Blogger Poker Tour that make this job very enjoyable. It's not just a tour its a community....... that happens to have amazing prizes!

Shane @ Poker.com
BPT Commisssioner

Don't miss your chance!

2006-12-21T21:02:00.000-05:00

Can you imagine how sad you would be, if you had a 1 in 20 chance to win a trip to Melbourne Australia with you buy-in to a $10,000 tourney paid for you, but you forgot to register for the Grand Final Tourney!!!

That's what 7 of our Blogger Poker Tour Grand Finalists are risking by not registering yet!!!!

I've just gone through the admin, and made sure the lucky 20 are the only people with the Grand Final Coupons, and since I have had several emails about the password I will give it to you here.

The magic word is: itsyourstowin

So get in there and register ASAP we don't want you to miss your chance. We don't want to be consoling you when your reduced to tears!

Good luck to all the Grand Finalists see you on Saturday.

Shane @ Poker.com
BPT Commissioner

Blogger Poker Tour Season 2 Grand Final this weekend!

2006-12-18T18:08:00.000-05:00

The second season of the Blogger Poker Tour wraps up this weekend with the top 20 bloggers battling it out for over $25,000 in prizes including that coveted Aussie Millions package!

With several of players set to take a seat in this Saturdays event already telling me they plan on winning the whole damn thing there might just be 20 sharks in there.

For those of you who missed out on a place in the final but want to know whats going on so they can keep track of it, here are the details for the Blogger Poker Tour Season 2 Grand Final.

Tournament: Blogger Poker Tour - Season 2 Grand Final
Date: 23 December
Time: 15:00 Poker.com Time (EST)
Location: Tournaments > Scheduled > Special tab
Structure: 10 min levels, 5000 starting chips
Entry: Free to the top 20 Blogger Poker Tour Players
Prizes: Over $25000

For up to the second results you can go to the results.

We will set up a forum topic on the day so all the watchers can chat.

Best of luck to all of the finalists!

Shane @ Poker.com
BPT Commissioner

OhioMike wins BPT S2E7 and sneaks into the final!

2006-12-16T19:30:00.000-05:00

Its done, its dusted. We have a top 20!

We hoped a switch to a leaderboard points system for the Blogger Poker Tour would lead to great competition right down to the wire, and we sure got it.

Its actually taken me a few minutes after the game wrapped up to sift through the rubble and get my head around how it has all panned out.

The biggest winner of course was OhioMike who leapt out in front closing in on the final table and held on to win todays event, and sneaking into 20th position, only 3 points ahead of Rahaboss.

Speaking of Rahaboss, this has got to be the unluckiest player on the tour. He had the missfortune of 'double bubbling', not only did he bubble on the final table in todays event, but he then double bubbled for the grand final. If you see him on the street give him a hug, he is going to need it.

Also close but no cookie were final tablers Quackpot and Lauradm coming from 2 very different positions. Quackpot, strong all year went to 3 final tables, but ended the season in 22nd some 16 heartbreaking points from the final. Lauradm was a late edition to the tour, but with 2 final tables from 2 events she finished in 27th, 52 points out of the final. Keep an eye on these two come next season.

The big winners on the day were purechaos, Evil666 and OhioMike who all snuck into the final with their points won today. Purechaos knocked out imjusthere4thebeer to take home the host bonus, he then went on a tear and finished 3rd, which would have pretty much put him in there regardless. Evil rode the 6's (trips at one point) and a lovely Royal Flush to take 2nd place. The Royal flush nearly had me falling off my chair laughing. With all but the king of hearts on the board someone quipped "royal flush?" in the chat, Evil swiftly replied yes, which Im sure helped coax the call, surely making an obvious bluff. Unfortunately for his opponent he held the nuts.

The top 10 for the day looked like this:

Place	Player	Chips/Winnings
1	OhioMike	$125.00
2	Evil666	$100.00
3	purechaos	$75.00
4	GhabanoSim	$55.00
5	Irongirl	$45.00
6	Quackpot	$30.00
7	Killashandra	$25.00
8	Lauradm	$20.00
9	Wade79	$15.00
10	EgonOlsen	$10.00

And more importantly the top 20 for the regular season, and our combatants for the guaranteed prizes next Saturday are:

1	Skinski's Blog	skinski	1125
2	Irongirl01	Irongirl	1016
3	Scary Poker	purechaos	871
4	Poker Pub	imjusthere4thebeer	858
5	Peetscheet	ViezeMan	830
6	Poker Athletes Blog	kufolem	749
7	Flopilicious	ZowieZ	734
8	astinaguys poker blog	astinaguy	712
9	Perfectly Beastly	iyatoni	711
10	Freerollcalendar Weblog	freeroll26	708
11	Alex	natsdad	701
12	I hate money	JayNYC	681
13	Royal Poker	DawgRoyal	677
14	Gamingology	brodoughno	642
15	Evil666	Evil666	631
16	EgonOlsenPoker	EgonOlsen	605
17	riverdemon	cerberi	582
18	PearlSnapMan Plays Poker	PearlSnapMan	560
19	5TH Street Forum	Hacksaw2000	546
20	Life, The Universe and Poker	OhioMike	538

A big thanks has to go out to all our bloggers that played this season, there really was some great poker on display at every event, and with the growth we have had we definitely will be chalking this season up as a success, and thats all thanks to you.

Shane @ Poker.com
BPT Commissioner

Final Blogger Poker Tour regular season event this Saturday!

2006-12-12T01:34:00.000-05:00

After months of fantastic poker it all comes down to this.

Event #7, the final regular event of the second season of the Blogger Poker Tour kicks of this Saturday at 15:00 Poker.com time. Hosted by BPT regular imjusthere4thebeer at The Poker Pub, as its the last event of season 2 its called Poker Pub's Last Call. As always the password and updates are available from his blog, and for up to the second results you can go to the results page.

Tournament: Blogger Poker Tour - Season 2 Event 7
Date: 16 December
Time: 15:00 Poker.com Time (EST)
Location: Tournaments > Scheduled > Special tab
Structure: 10 min levels, 5000 starting chips
Entry: Free to Blogger Poker Tour Players
Prizes: $500

With the release of the new games at Poker.com moved back a couple of days Omaha Hi/Lo wont be available so there has been a late game switch for the final event of the second season of the Blogger Poker Tour.

Now the name of the game is Deep stack poker, thats right, with everything on the line we are giving everyone a few extra chips, instead of the usual 2000 starting chips we are giving everyone 5000.

More chips means more chances, now you can make your moves right from the get-go safe in the knowledge you have the chips to back up your bold moves.

Add to that the host bounty and we are in for a great event to finish the season, take out imjusthere4thebeer and you will take home the host bonus from the event, that alone could be enough to sneak almost anyone into the final!

We have done the sums, and a win in this round should put just about every BPT participant in with a shot at the final, if your in the top 50 so far, a win would pretty much guarantee your spot in that final, playing off for guaranteed prizes!

As I always say; register for the next event, get your friends to register, get strangers to register, just get as many people you can to take part, then when you win you will earn maximum points and we might see you in final, battling it out for the guaranteed prizes including that Aussie Millions entry. Then you can join me and the Queen of hearts in beautiful Melbourne Australia in January.

To keep track of all everyone's leaderboard points go to the all inclusive BPT Leaderboard.

Also don't forget the second major prize in this seasons BPT, a trip to Melbourne to blog the Aussie Millions! Have your say in the Blogger Poker Tour forum, which is also a great place for help and advice for your blog!

If you should have any questions about the tour please visit www.bloggerpokertour.com for more information, or email support@bloggerpokertour.com.

Good luck on Saturday!
Shane @ Poker.com
BPT Commissioner

Every single referral can make a difference.

2006-12-07T01:13:00.000-05:00

I was doing some cleaning up in the BPT admin yesterday and switched a couple of blogs over from 'new blog' status to verified. One of these bloggers had been referred by another blogger earning the referrer his bonus at the time.

Fast forward to today, and I get an email from another player wondering how he got bumped down the leaderboard a spot mid week. The answer my friends is referrals.

Your referrals are automatically credited to you when a player you refer becomes verified and plays a game. During the season those two things could happen in either order, but as soon as the next event starts there will be no more referrals.

So go to the Blogger Poker Tour Leaderboard.

Now look at the players just above and just below you, and think about what happens if they get a single referral.........

With how tight things are to get into the top 20, I'd hate to be a player who just misses out, and has no referrals.

Anything can happen in next weeks tourney, bad beats could crush you, or you could just be card dead. Some things at the poker table are just out of your control, the same can't be said for referrals.

Take control of your season, you still have over a week to rack up some last minute referrals and really make a run at the top 20.

Stop reading and start referring!

Shane @ Poker.com
BPT Commissioner

Good news on the Blogger Poker Tour!

2006-12-05T20:37:00.000-05:00

So after 6 events in season 2, you might think you don't have a chance to make the top 2o. I have some good news that says its still wide open!

Of the 180 that have participated in the BPT this season only 20 will take a seat in the grand final and have a shot at the guaranteed prizes.

With one event left though over 100 players have a shot at making it into that 20.

The bubble for 20th place is currently 436 points, with Fladrius earning 396 points for his first place finish on the weekend anyone with about 100 points has a shot at that final.

Now that was the situation when I started writing this blog, that changed slightly when I got news of a very generous offer by the host of the next event Imjusthere4thebeer.

With his place in the grand final already pretty much assured thanks to his results to date, he has generously offered to put his host bonus on his head as a bounty.

He has asked to put two conditions on the bounty:
1. BPT Banner is working and prominently displayed on the ousting blogger's blog.
2. Blogger must have posted "about the blogger poker tour" within the past seven days and again the day of the tournament

In event one we had the host bonus on my head and ViezeMan has since gone on to parlay that modest bonus into 3rd place on the ladder.

Fast forward to the final event and with a field possibly double that of the first event this host bonus is going to be far from modest.

And the best news for those out there that are unsure about Omaha hi/lo is that all it could take is one hand and you could win the same points as the winner of the event, OR here is my favorite part........ since the game is hi/lo 2 players could split the points!

With the addition of this bounty bonus, someone who hasn't even played in the BPT could still make the final, all they have to do is knock out the host, Imjusthere4thebeeer and win the event!

More importantly, will all those extra points floating around, everyone that has participated in the BPT so far this season now has more chances to make that top 20. We love it when we can swing the odds in your favor!

So start practicing your Omaha, and keep an eye out for those low hands, knocking out the host with a low hand could prove to be rather fruitful!

To find hints on Omaha Hi/Lo or for help with your blog keep an eye on the Blogger Poker Tour Forums.

To keep track of all everyone's leaderboard points go to the all inclusive BPT Leaderboard.

If you should have any questions about the tour please visit www.bloggerpokertour.com for more information, or email support@bloggerpokertour.com.

Shane @ Poker.com
BPT Commissioner

Rookies duel it out in BPT S2 Event #6!

2006-12-03T18:12:00.000-05:00

A Blogger Poker Tour record 132 entrants has allowed two late season sign ups leap straight into contention for one of the hard fought grand final places.

When the dust settled at a furious final table we were left with two rookies and two big stacks.

Lauradm came to the final table after holding the title of chip leader for much of the later stages of the tournament, but that didn't count for much when it got to heads up.

Down to two after a couple of hands and chip lead changes she ran head on into the pocket aces of fellow rookie Flandrius who took the days glory.

The top 10 looked like this:

Place	Player	Chips/Winnings
1	Flandrius	$125.00
2	Lauradm	$100.00
3	Evil666	$75.00
4	XaqNautilus	$55.00
5	kdollar00	$45.00
6	bolcs5	$30.00
7	JayNYC	$25.00
8	Bardiya	$20.00
9	PearlSnapMan	$15.00
10	ViezeMan	$10.00

Shane @ Poker.com

BPT now has its own forum!

2006-11-07T19:32:00.000-05:00

You asked for it and now here it is, your very own forum.

With the season heading into the second half we want to start getting some feedback on your thoughts for the Second Major prize.

If you think your blog deserves consideration head over to the forum and make your case.

Just click on BPT Forum and and log in using your Poker.com NICKNAME and password to have a look around.

The forums will also be great for chatting during tournaments, it will be a way for you to be able to talk to all tables at once.

Feel free to post anything you think is BPT related in there.

Also remember this is your forum, so if you think there is something else we need in there, feel free to contact us!

Shane @ Poker.com
BPT Commissioner

Blogger Poker Tour Event 6 this Saturday!

2006-11-28T20:22:00.000-05:00

Event #6 of the second season of the Blogger Poker Tour kicks of this Saturday at 15:00 Poker.com time. Hosted by It's Flopilicious's blog, its Flopilicious's Where's My Flop BPT Tourney. As always the password and updates are available from his blog, and for up to the second results you can go to the results page.

Tournament: Blogger Poker Tour - Season 2 Event 6
Date: 2 December
Time: 15:00 Poker.com Time (EST)
Location: Tournaments > Scheduled > Special tab
Structure: 10 min levels, 2000 starting chips
Entry: Free to Blogger Poker Tour Players
Prizes: $500

Get ready to play some flops, we are back to basic for the penultimate round in the Second BPT season, 10 seat Texas Hold'em. With the final round of the season being Omaha Hi-Lo this could be your last chance to really push for that top 20 spot on the leaderboard.

We have done the sums, and a win in this round should put just about every BPT participant in with a shot at the final, if your in the top 50 so far, a win would pretty much guarantee your spot in that final, playing off for guaranteed prizes!

As I always say; register for the next event, get your friends to register, get strangers to register, just get as many people you can to take part, then when you win you will earn maximum points and we might see you in final, battling it out for the guaranteed prizes including that Aussie Millions entry. Then you can join me and the Queen of hearts in beautiful Melbourne Australia in January.

To keep track of all everyone's leaderboard points go to the all inclusive BPT Leaderboard.

Also don't forget the second major prize in this seasons BPT, a trip to Melbourne to blog the Aussie Millions! Have your say in the Blogger Poker Tour forum, which is also a great place for help and advice for your blog!

If you should have any questions about the tour please visit www.bloggerpokertour.com for more information, or email support@bloggerpokertour.com.

Good luck on Saturday!
Shane @ Poker.com
BPT Commissioner

Referral Revue

2006-11-26T22:43:00.000-05:00

Just how important are referrals to the BPT?

Well as far as the tour itself goes its the lifeblood, but how about your leaderboard situation.

Are you just outside that top 20 and wanting to sneak in, or maybe your just inside that top 20 and you want to sure up your place a little, well referrals are your answer and your saving grace.

Referral leaders Skinski (6) and imjusthereforthebeer (5) are safely in the top 10 without the addition of their referral points, but for others those points are far more important.

A great example of this is gohabs1234, a late starter missing the first two events he has finished 33rd, 11th and 30th for a points total of 243. That would see him sitting in around 43th position.

However, he has been busy with referrals and his 6 verified referrals sees him jump all the way up to 18th position.

So for the sake of getting 6 other bloggers to sign up he has managed to put himself in a position to take a share in the grand final and take his 1 in 20 shot at that Aussie Millions package.

So have a look at your position on the BPT Leaderboard, and think how a referral or two might help your situation. All up and down the leaderboard places are separated by single points, with verified referrals earning you 20 points how can you afford to not get a referral or two!

Good luck!

Shane @ Poker.com
BPT Commissioner

Iyatoni takes down BPT S2 Event 5!

2006-11-18T18:20:00.000-05:00

Going one better than his second place finish in Event 2 Iyatoni beat out a strong finishing host in Skinski to take first place in the second event.

Host Skinski stormed to the top of the leaderboard after finishing second in his own event which also happened to have a record number of entries with 116 bloggers battling it out.

It was quite a final table with several Event winners and final table regulars.

Great job to everyone who played, there was some great poker.

The top ten looked like this.

Standings
Place Player Chips/Winnings
1 iyatoni $125.00
2 skinski $100.00
3 JayNYC $75.00
4 freeroll26 $55.00
5 Enortone $45.00
6 winaa2233 $30.00
7 cerberi $25.00
8 astinaguy $20.00
9 luckylulo $15.00
10 ReplicantPoker $10.00

To get the latest on the who's looking good to make the Grand Final next month head over to the BPT Leaderboard.

Shane @ Poker.com
BPT Commissioner

Blogger Poker Tour Event 5 this Saturday!

2006-11-16T22:05:00.000-05:00

Event #5 of the second season of the Blogger Poker Tour kicks of this Saturday at 15:00 Poker.com time. Hosted by Poker.com regular Skinski and his The House of Poker Blues blogs, its simply and fittingly called called The House of Blues. As always the password and updates are available from his blog, and for up to the second results you can go to the results page.

Tournament: Blogger Poker Tour - Season 2 Event 5
Date: 18 November
Time: 15:00 Poker.com Time (EST)
Location: Tournaments > Scheduled > Special tab
Structure: 10 min levels, 2000 starting chips
Entry: Free to Blogger Poker Tour Players
Prizes: $500

In the words of Skinski it will be "something that will let all know they are in a house with the blues being played on a guitar. Something with that mississippi bayou feel..."

With the new games at Poker.com painfully close, Skinski was rather sad that he couldn't make it a 6 handed 5 card draw tourney. (Next season for sure!) So instead it will be a shorthanded 6 seat Texas Holdem Tournament, all the regular structure, just short handed.

In the last event we thought the numbers would be hurt by the switch to Omaha, but 97 players showed up to duel it out in what turned out to be a fantastic event. Its the business end of the season now, and every point is starting to really count. So to try and claw your way into that top 20, to to secure you place there make sure you keep the fields growing. As I always say register for the next event, get your friends to register, get strangers to register, just get as many people you can to take part, then when you win you will earn maximum points and we might see you in final, battling it out for the guaranteed prizes including that Aussie Millions entry. Then you can join me and the Queen of hearts in beautiful Melbourne Australia in January.

To keep track of all everyone's leaderboard points go to the all inclusive BPT Leaderboard.

Also don't forget the second major prize in this seasons BPT, a trip to Melbourne to blog the Aussie Millions! Have your say in the Blogger Poker Tour forum, which is also a great place for help and advice for your blog!

If you should have any questions about the tour please visit www.bloggerpokertour.com for more information, or email support@bloggerpokertour.com.

Good luck on Saturday!
Shane @ Poker.com
BPT Commissioner

Major prize #2 update & the leaderboard explained.

2006-11-06T04:22:00.000-05:00

Major prize #2 update.

I finally got another chance today to spend some time browsing through some BPT blogs looking for coverage and generally just having a look around.

Saw some great posts, read a lot of interesting stuff that had nothing to do with the BPT (I love that about blogs, you get some great random stories!) and generally got a feel for what everyone is talking about.

I started from my trusty list of the blogs giving the best coverage and have culled a few more blogs from that original list based on recent posts. My new list looks like this:

http://eatsleeppoker.blogspot.com/
http://imjusthere4thebeer.blogspot.com/
http://www.jacknoir.com/index.php?q=reality-poker-blog
http://cashlineszone.blogspot.com/
http://www.irongirl01.blogspot.com/
http://lifeuniversepoker.blogspot.com/
http://egonolsenpoker.blogspot.com/
http://cerberi.blogspot.com/
http://kiwiwiz.blogspot.com/
http://the-house-of-blues.blogspot.com/
http://bolcs5.blogspot.com/
http://aabully27.blogspot.com/

If your blog isn't on this list and you think it should be, send us an email and we will have a look for you.

The leaderboard explained.

While I was wandering around the community that is the BPT I did notice that a big issue for a lot of bloggers is our points system, especially in relation to host bonus'.

Last year hosts received automatic entry to the final, this year we wanted to make sure that the hosts had to play a little to make it in the final.

After event 4, three out of the four hosts are in the top 20. Two of those (Irongirl01 & Viezeman) have final table appearances to go with their host bonus, and the other one (DawgRoyal) has been consistent and played in every event. The other host has not played and is therefore not on the leaderboard at all.

If a host plays regularly and doesn't donk out they will take their deserved place in the final.

Here is some more on the ideas behind the leaderboard from an email I wrote recently:

We had 3 objectives with the leaderboard:
1. Reward consistent results & referrals
2. Top load the points so people who join late can still compete
3. Give hosts a good shot at the final without assuring it

We believe we have achieved that and I will give you 3 examples:
1. Skinski hasn't even cracked the top 20 in a single event, but going deep in every event sees him in 15th
2. Chatuba missed the first 2 events but a 4th place finish in event 3 sees him in 20th
3. Tomsange hosted event 3, but hasn't played and there for isn't even on the leaderboard, and even if he starts to play he will have to either have a final table or several solid results to make the top 20.

There are still a lot of points on offer, and with each event growing that means there are more points on offer.

Another point with the host bonus was we really wanted to drive up the incentive for each host to really push their event, Royal only had 70 odd starters and his spot isn't so assured. I wouldn't be surprised to see Skinski double that number. That also then benefits everyone else in the events, because the more starters mean the more points they can earn, just like kufolem on the weekend.

I hope that clears up what we were trying to achieve, and how we want it to work.

I will see you at the next event, Skinski's - The House of Blues!

Shane @ Poker.com
BPT Commissioner

Freeroll26 takes down event #4

2006-11-04T18:07:00.000-05:00

A second place finisher last season Freeroll26 has gone one better this time around and finds himself the winner of Irongirl's Omaha a Go-Go.

It was a tough run home, with no real regular omaha players at the final table, it was wide open until Freeroll26's stack got too big and he was able to bully his way to the finish.

Noteable placings were last seasons winner EgonOlsen having a reversal of fortunes and finishing third.

Another strong event form last weeks winner Kufolem who made his second final table in a row after bubbling in the first tournament, finishing 6th today.

And one of the best stories of the day, 2 rookies, Stevenslb159 & thepurdle, both making the final table in their Blogger Poker Tour debut. They finished in 7th & 10th place respectively, a great leg-up to a possible top 20 place, despite their late start.

The top 10 looked like this:

Place	Player	Chips/Winnings
1	freeroll26	$125.00
2	imjusthere4thebeer	$100.00
3	EgonOlsen	$75.00
4	astinaguy	$55.00
5	MTLdon	$45.00
6	kufolem	$30.00
7	Stevenslb159	$25.00
8	Rahaboss	$20.00
9	PearlSnapMan	$15.00
10	thepurdle	$10.00

Also the leaderboard is now live, so the second an event finishes places will be updated.

Shane @ Poker.com
BPT Commissioner

Omaha tips for Irongirl's Omaha a Go-Go

2006-11-03T01:46:00.000-05:00

Since Irongirl is going for some host advantage, choosing Omaha for her round of the Blogger Poker Tour, Irongirl's Omaha a Go-Go, I thought it might be nice to share some Omaha tips for those not as familiar with the form of the game.

In Omaha, it usually takes the "nut" hand, or something close to that, to win, two pair and trips don't win very often in this game. You need to shoot for the nut straight, nut flush, or nut full house most of the time.

Omaha players all start with four cards. Each four card hand contains six Hold'em hands when the four cards are converted to all possible combinations of two. ie: ABCD = AB AC AD BC BD CD. (Players must play two cards from their hands and three from the board). If you are in a pot with five other players after the flop, it is sort of comparable to a Texas Hold'em game against thirty other players, because each of your five competitors is holding six Hold'em hands instead of one. So if you get down to the river with a very good hand, but one that can be beaten by some other two card combinations, brace yourself for a loss because they are likely to be out there somewhere. Your high end straight on the flop runs into serious problems when the board turns up three suited cards or a pair. A flush or a full house will usually pop up to beat you.

In Omaha, always play for the NUTS!

Just one or two good hold'em hands is usually not a very good starting hand in Omaha but many players can not resist the urge to play them. With four cards to choose from, these kinds of hands are easy get and Omaha games normally have more players and bigger pots than in Hold'em. The higher payoffs work to your advantage when you usually start with hands that contain four cards that all interact with each other to make about five or six decent Hold'em hands instead of only one or two. You will see a few exceptions to this here in the starting hands strategy.

Throw-Away Starting Hands:
These hands should be automatically folded without any further consideration:
Quads - (including) A A A A
Trips - (except A A A with a high side card suited is sometimes playable)

Playable Omaha Starting Hands:
PAIR of ACES - A A x x
PAIR of KINGS - K K x x
HIGH PAIR w ACE SUITED - Qh Qs Ah x .. Jh Js Ad 6d
HIGH PAIR w MIDDLE/LOW PAIR - J J 7 7 .. Q Q 4 4
HIGH PAIR w TWO or more OTHER HANDS - J J 9 7 .. K 10 10 8
ANY FOUR HIGH CARDS - K Q J 10 .. A K J 10 .. Q Q 10 10 .. A J J 10 .. (includes two high pair)
THREE HIGH CARDS w ACE SUITED - Ah Qs 10h x .. Ah Ks Jd 5h
THREE HIGH CARDS w ACTIVE SIDECARD - K Q J 8 .. Ah Qs 10d 4h
THREE CARD STRAIGHT with a PAIR - 7 6 5 5 .. 9 8 7 8
THREE CARD STRAIGHT with ACE SUITED - 8h 7s 6d Ah .. Ah 9s 8d 7h
CLOSE GROUP w TWO GAPS or less - J 10 7 6 .. 8 7 6 5 .. 9 8 5 4.. 9 7 6 4 .. J 10 8 6

Strategy Tips:
Stay aware of the nut hand possibilities. As the board develops, make sure that you always know what the three best hand possibilities are, and how that might change on the next card.
High pair with an overcard is a good flop in Hold'em but not in Omaha. In this game you need to flop two pair, a set, or better.
Usually don't raise before the flop unless you are holding Aces or Kings and are in position to narrow the field. Another time to raise is when you are unraised on the button and have a strong hand. Try not to let the blinds play bad hands cheap.
Fold your straight or straight draw if that's all you have and you don't flop an unpaired rainbow. If you do get the right kind of flop, bet/raise to discourage the back door flush draws.
Don't over value low pairs. A pair of fours in your starting hand is only useful if it flops a set, but then a low set on the flop is not a very strong hand in Omaha.
Study your opponents, especially when you are not playing hands and can pay careful attention. Do they find more hands to play than they fold? Do they bluff? Can they be bluffed? Do they have any "tells" (give away mannerisms) that disclose information about their hands etc.
Get caught bluffing once in a while. It is a way to vary your play and not be too predictable. You win pots that you don't deserve when your bluff works. You lose a few chips when it doesn't work but it will get you calls from weaker hands down the line when you are really strong and need the action.
Check the raisers chips. Players that are close to all-in often rush the betting just to get all their chips in a sink-or-swim last hand that doesn't merit a raise.

Good luck on Saturday

Shane @ Poker.com
BPT Commissioner

Blogger Poker Tour Event 4 this Saturday!

2006-11-01T01:50:00.000-05:00

Event #4 of the second season of the Blogger Poker Tour kicks of this Saturday at 15:00 Poker.com time. Hosted by Irongirl, its called Irongirl's Omaha a Go-Go, the password and updates are available from her blog, and for up to the second results you can go to the results page.

Tournament: Blogger Poker Tour - Season 2 Event 4
Date: 4 November
Time: 15:00 Poker.com Time (EST)
Location: Tournaments > Scheduled > Special tab
Structure: 10 min levels, 2000 starting chips
Entry: Free to Blogger Poker Tour Players
Prizes: $500

Just for something different, its going to be a Omaha Hi Pot Limit, 8 handed event! Irongirl is really looking forward to some host edge, going with her favorite game, hoping to be the first host to win her own event and take home double points!

And with 101 players in the last event the amount of points available in each event just keep growing. So register for the next event, get your friends to register, get strangers to register, just get as many people you can to take part, then when you win you will earn maximum points and we might see you in final, battling it out for the guaranteed prizes including that Aussie Millions entry, its beautiful in Australia in January, I should know!

And if you want to keep track of all everyone's leaderboard points, and a big thanks to Scotty for this one, you can now go to the all new BPT Leaderboard.

Also don't forget the second major prize in this seasons BPT, a trip to Melbourne to blog the Aussie Millions! As the season progresses the cream is certainly rising to the top, but it's far from decided.

If you should have any questions about the tour please visit www.bloggerpokertour.com for more information, or email support@bloggerpokertour.com.

Good luck on Saturday!

Shane @ Poker.com
BPT Commissioner

Kufolem takes down the Ultimate Poker Forum Open

2006-11-01T00:36:00.000-05:00

After a couple of false starts Event 3 of BPT Season 2 finally got under way and a record 101 bloggers logged in to slug it out at the Utimate Poker Forum Open.

The early leader was lightning36 with Enortone, elc3105. tomonbass, and starkstatic in hot pursuit.

By the first break CawtBluffin made her first big move to the top and started a battle that would last for most of the tourney with lightning36.

As the tourney came down to 3 tables elc 3105 had moved out in front followed closely by viezeman, CawtBluffin, brodoughno and freeroll26.

Coming down to two tables CawtBluffin finally got her man when her queens sent lightning36 and his pocket 4's home.

With the final table in sight the chips looked like this:

Table 1

Haley 26K
Brunsie 8.5K
kufolem 9k
redeyed030 1500
michael1965 9k
Osssss 4.2k
brodcughno 19k
viezeMan 11.7K

Table 2

peacefulpaul 8k
Chatuba 22K
Rahaboss 14.7K
Wade79 1325
royalroynr1 24K
elc3105 22K
hacksaw2000 1488
teentar 7420
DavidMalek 10.9K

Down to 14 and really closing in on the final table and CawtBluffin was again the big news pushing out to 44k in chips, rounding out the top 5 were elc3105, Chatuba, Hacksaw and Kufolem.

When Ossss bubbling out moving all in with his J-9 only to be sent home by Brunsie and his K-9 we had our final table.

1 CawtBluffin 40,564
2 Hacksaw2000 29,308
3 Chatuba 28,350
4 elc3105 25,685
5 kufolem 19,520
6 Brunsie 17,610
7 DavidMalek 14,445
8 brodoughno 14,235
9 royalroynr1 6,533
10 ViezeMan 5,750

And so they started to fall,

royalroynr1's A-7 met DavidMalek's Full House - Queens over Kings
VieseMan's A-9 ran into elc3105's Jacks
Hacksaw2000's A-10 was crushed by kufolem's Two Pair - Kings and Fives
Brunsie's 6-6 was dominated by kufolem's pocket Kings
brodoghno's10-7 suited stuggled against CawtBluffin's set of Kings

Down to 5 the chips hadn't moved far:

1 elc3105 63,035
2 CawtBluffin 62,799
3 kufolem 46,338
4 DavidMalek 16,478
5 Chatuba 13,350

Soon after things got real interesting.

First DavidMalek's K-T bluffed into Chatuba's pocket Aces and he was gone. Then soon after Chatuba ran out of luck when his A-2 suited was sent home by kufolem's two pair Aces and Queens.

Then CawtBluffin tried living up to her name, making a move to steal from the big blind pushing all-in with a-10 off suit, only to be happily called by elc3105 and his dominating A-J. A ten on the flop however changed things dramatically, putting CawtBluffin out in front with a pair of tens, and despite holding two over-cards elc3105 got no help and CawtBluffin's audacious move put her in a great position and crippled elc3105.

Now short elc3105 pushed all in with Q-K, this time it was CawtBluffin' turn to call. Her A-10 won a showdown of two pair's on a board of A-7-K-10-Q amd elc3105's day was over.

Down to heads up Kufolem had a slight lead 105-96, and it didn't last long.

CawtBluffin raised from the small blind with pocket 6's and kufolem re-raised all-in over the top with A-Q. A flop of 5-9-Q put kufolem out in from with a pair of queens, but a king of spades on the turn multiplied CawtBluffin's outs giving her a 6 or any spade (thanks to her 6 of spades) to give her the miracle river escape. Unfortunately for her it wasn't to be, with no help on the river the days glory belonged to kufolem, winner of Event 3 of the Blogger Poker Tour Season 2.

The top ten paid out like this:

Place	Player	Chips/Winnings
1	kufolem	$125.00
2	CawtBluffin	$100.00
3	elc3105	$75.00
4	Chatuba	$55.00
5	DavidMalek	$45.00
6	brodoughno	$30.00
7	Brunsie	$25.00
8	Hacksaw2000	$20.00
9	ViezeMan	$15.00
10	royalroynr1	$10.00

It's not too late to get involved, if your a blogger sign up and get down to the next event this weekend, Irongirls Omaha a Go-Go.

And if you want to keep track of all everyone's leaderboard points, and a big thanks to Scotty for this one, you can now go to the all new BPT Leaderboard.

See you on the tour!

Shane @ Poker.com
BPT Commissioner

Blogger Poker Tour Event #3 Re-scheduled

2006-10-24T02:33:00.000-04:00

Event #3 of the second season of the Blogger Poker Tour which was scheduled for 21 October was shutdown due to technical difficulties.

We apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused our fellow blogging community.

Event #3 has now been re-scheduled for this coming Saturday and will feature host blogger: www.UltimatePokerForumOpen.

Re-Scheduled Tournament Details:
Tournament: Blogger Poker Tour - Season 2 Event 3
Date: 28 October 2006
Time: 15:00 Poker.com Time (GMT-5, ET-1)
Location: Tournaments > Scheduled > Special tab
Structure: 10 min levels, 2000 starting chips
Entry: Free to Blogger Poker Tour Players
Prizes: $500

Good luck at the tables this coming Saturday!

Liam @ Poker.com

It's the BLOGGER poker tour.

2006-10-18T01:42:00.000-04:00

I understand that people love freerolls, especially a series of freerolls with over $30,000 in prizes like the Blogger Poker Tour, but the emails are starting to get annoying. About 50% of signups for the BPT are in from people who aren't bloggers, and some really have no idea what a blog even is, yet the emails just keep coming, where is my coupon, where is the password.....

Im not talking about the new bloggers either, they are usually really polite, they understand they can't play straight away, and most of them throw themselves into their blogs cranking out heaps of posts and clearly participating in the blogger community at large.

Thats really what this tour is about, its about the blogging community, its about doing something for the bloggers, people who are contributing to the community. Instead of spending all my time helping them, I spend half of it explaining to freeloaders why they don't have a coupon and why they can't participate.

It's pretty basic folks, its called the Blogger Poker Tour, so if your not a blogger, then you can't participate.

Maybe next year we will run the Freeloaders Fake Blogger Poker Tour, till then either get a blog, or please stop emailing me!!!!!

For those of you who are bloggers, see you on YOUR tour!

Shane @ Poker.com
BPT Commissioner

Blogger Poker Tour Event 3 this Saturday!

2006-10-17T03:21:00.000-04:00

Event #3 of the second season of the Blogger Poker Tour kicks of this Saturday at 15:00 Poker.com time. Hosted by the folks from the Ultimate Poker Forum.com Tournament Blog, the password and updates are available from their blog, and for up to the second results you can go to the results page.

Tournament: Blogger Poker Tour - Season 2 Event 3
Date: 21 October
Time: 15:00 Poker.com Time (GMT-5, ET-1)
Location: Tournaments > Scheduled > Special tab
Structure: 10 min levels, 2000 starting chips
Entry: Free to Blogger Poker Tour Players
Prizes: $500

With 2 events in the bag the contest still looks wide open. While nobody's place in the final is assured just yet it looks like a couple of great results will put you in a great position, especially as the field should continue to grow as the season progresses, as the more entries in an event, the more points that are on offer!

So register for the next event, get your friends to register, get strangers to register, just get as many people you can to take part, then when you win you will earn maximum points and we might see you in final, battling it out for the guaranteed prizes including that Aussie Millions entry, its beautiful in Australia in January, I should know!

Also don't forget the second major prize in this seasons BPT, a trip to Melbourne to blog the Aussie Millions! A few blogs are clearly leading the pack, but the season is only just beginning, so get blogging!

If you should have any questions about the tour please visit www.bloggerpokertour.com for more information, or email support@bloggerpokertour.com.

Good luck on Saturday!

Shane @ Poker.com
BPT Commissioner

Attention all myspace'ers!

2006-10-10T19:42:00.000-04:00

Ever heard the old saying "You can't teach and old dog new tricks"?? Well don't believe it.

Poker.com regular and myspace addict Skinski has recently shown that stepping into the world of serious blogging isn't that hard after all.

Lets face it the blogging interface isn't the easiest thing in the world to use, and quite frankly it looks terrible, so terrible in fact that it encouraged me to stop blogging there!

Facing a similar problem Skinski has upgraded from his myspace blog to a much better looking new blog on blogger, called The House of Poker Blues.

Please don't think I hate myspace, I update my page regularly, but the blog interface just really isn't the best way to blog.

Take a look at what Skinski has managed to do, it's still a fairly basic blog, but it looks and works soooo much better. Great job Skinksi, you're an inspiration!

Keep on blogging everyone, and I will see you at Event 3 in this season of the BPT, the Ultimate Poker Forum Open.

Shane @ Poker.com
BPT Commissioner