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We’ve been tangoed!
It may be a new year, but Black Belt Poker are kicking off 2010 as they ended 2009 with a plethora of familiar names coming aboard the Belt-Up Bus in an attempt to scale the ranks and become the first ever Black Belt.
Incredibly, there are 45 new Orange Belts at Black Belt Poker including successful pros such as 2007 Blackpool GUKPT Champion Paul Bracken, back-to-back TV winner Ian Frazer, triple WSOP finalist Stuart Fox, and English Open Poker Champion David LaRonde. Look even closer, however, and you’ll also notice the inclusion of League II winner Mark Brassington, as well as current Grader John Hayes.
But it’s higher up where perhaps most praise should be issued, as now proudly sporting a shiny, Purple Belt is everyone’s favourtie self-proclaimed hobbit, Adam ‘JHobbit1’ Saunders. A familiar name to the community through his constant presence and title of League I Winner, Adam is one of Black Belt Poker’s most loyal members and certainly deserving of his new status.
Congratulations must also go to former Grader Chaz Chattha who has returned to Black Belt Poker to work his way back up the rankings and hopefully represent Black Belt Poker in future tournaments. He is now a Blue Belt again and will be keenly eying up Brown.
Of course, with all these new Belt statuses come new incentives and benefits, the latest of which is just around the corner: the Deepstack Payback, a deepstacked $20+2 No Limit Hold’em freezeout.
Anyone can enter this tournament, but if you take down the event as an Orange Belt we’ll add 25 percent to prize pool. If you’re Purple or above, make that 50 percent! What’s more, there are two $100 bounties up for grabs each week in the shape of the Black Belt Pros. The tournament starts tomorrow at 6pm, so sign up now!
Black Belt Poker would like to congratulate the following players on their achievement for December and wish you the very best of luck at the tables for the month of January:
Blue:
Chaz Chattha
Purple:
Adam Saunders
Ben Gross
Adam Lennox
Warren Wooldridge
Orange:
David Smith
Rob Weston
Mark Brewis
Chris Knightly
Paul Bracken
Adam York
Samuel Grafton
Martin Nixon
Stephen Knowles
Kristian Dawson
David LaRonde
Adam Stoneham
Andrew West
Julien Thabault
Abishek Khaitan
Tom Smith
Jonathan Lundy
Paul Romain
John Hayes
Robbie Wooldridge
Nicky Evans
Simon Herrick
Denison Ranson
Mark Brassington
Keir Fitzgibbon
Natasha Dwyer
Simon Shaw
Catherine O'Brien
Peter Rhodes
Matt McKinlay
Nick Mazur
Mark Cooper
Craig Wakeham
Stuart Fox
Lorcan Fox
Lee Harrison
Iwan Jones
Michael Wootten
Ian Frazer
George Frangeskou
Andrea Boschiero
Simon Cameron
Scott Shelley
Chris Andreou
Frode Gjesdal
For more information on the Black Belt Poker cardroom, the Belt-Up rewards system, or any of our promotions, please visit our help pages in the ‘Play Poker’ section of the site.
Roses, chocolates, dinner – what better way to celebrate Valentine’s Day than telling your other half that you’ve just become a better poker player? Next Saturday, February 13, 2010, we’re offering readers just that: the opportunity to improve their game through Black Belt Poker.
In partnership with Bluff Europe, Black Belt Poker are proud to present to you their inaugural Black Belt Academy in which we’ll attempt to identify those leaks and fill any holes in your game. Heading the Academy will be two of the UK’s finest players in 2008 Irish Open Champion Neil Channing and online stalwart Nik Persaud.
The Black Belt Academy is a snip at £199 and will take place from 1-7pm at the Grosvenor Victoria Casino in London. The schedule is as follows and will include presentations from Bluff Europe’s Alex Rousso and Black Belt Poker Brown Belt and former Grader Hugh Kirton.
12.30 – 1.00 Registration
1.00 – 2.00 Alex Rousso – Metalearning
2.00 – 2.30 Live Hand exercises – pros review your play
2.30 – 2.45 Break
2.45 – 3.30 Nik Persaud – Fundamental Theorem of Poker
3.30 – 4.00 Live Hand exercises – pros review your play
4.00 – 4.30 Break with sandwiches and drinks
4.30 – 5.00 Interactive exercise: what happened next?
5.00 – 5.45 Channing reveals: Neil explains some TV hands he played
5.45 – 6.15 Live Hand exercises – pros review your play
6.15 – 7.00 Hugh Kirton – Psychology of Poker
Also included in the Academy fee is entry into the Vic’s £50+5 buy-in tournament, scheduled to commence at 7.30pm. Those playing as part of the Academy will automatically be eligible for our last-longer competition, in which the three remaining Academy participants will win entry into the Black Belt London Live in March, a deep-stacked, added value tournament worth $200+20.
This is an incredible opportunity for players looking to move their game onto the next level and a great chance to learn from some of the best mentors in the business. If you would like to secure your seat, then it’s not too late. To purchase a ticket sans tournament buy-in (£150) check out http://www.bluffeurope.com/pokeracademy/, or for entry into the tournament and the chance to participate in the Black Belt London Live, contact jen@blackbeltpoker.com.
This year, iPoker announced a number of brand new updates to the iPoker network, all of which have now been released on the Black Belt Poker skin.
The most welcome arrival will no doubt be the introduction of resizable tables. A long awaited addition, players will be pleased to hear that tables, along with the ability to tile and cascade, can now be altered to suit individual tastes by clicking on the corner of the table and dragging it to the desired size.
Perhaps second to resizable tables is the new time bank options. For a while now, tournament players have been given little time in which to act and make a decision, but with iPoker’s new time bank feature, they can add some invaluable thinking time to their clock when making those tough decisions.
The time bank and turn time settings are as follows:
$5-$49 MTTs: 30 sec time bank, 60 sec final table time bank, 20 secs of time to act
$50+ MTTs: 60 sec time bank, 90 sec final table time bank, 20 secs of time to act
$10+ Tb MTTs: 30 sec time bank, 45 sec final table time bank, 18 secs of time to act
$10+ SNGs: 30 sec time bank, 15 secs of time to act
$20+ Tb SNGs: 12 sec time bank, 12 secs of time to act
Super Tbs: 12 secs of time to act
Our more astute players will also have noticed dramatic changes in both the layout and look of the tables. Gone are the large, clunky figures, to be replaced by smaller, more appropriate avatars which can be both changed and blocked as the player wishes. Players can now choose where they sit, simply by right-clicking on a seat and selecting the ‘sit me here’ option. And if that isn’t clear enough, then there is also a spotlight that shines above the player with the decision, so users always know where the action lies.
There are also changes to the chat box, with players given more space in which to write notes. The chat box itself is more concise than before, and now displays all the relevant information such as tournament information, player stats and hand histories. There are even emoticons for those times when words simply can’t express that feeling of elation when you bust an opponent’s aces.
Along with the addition of Razz, the three-quarter pot bet button, hand-for-hand, and limits on how many tables heads-up players can sit out at, the new iPoker changes should appease the customer base and make the whole experience of playing on Black Belt Poker that much more pleasurable, for both amateurs and pros alike. It will also prove that iPoker are keen to listen to the views of players and make the necessary changes to enhance the playing experience.
To check out these changes, all you have to do is boot up the Black Belt Poker client as per usual. The updates will be added automatically. If you don’t have an account, then don’t fret, it’s easy to create one. Simply download the poker client and follow the step-by-step process. Good luck at the tables and may the cards be with you.
Today witnesses the start of Grading II: Destination Dublin, in which Graders will battle it out over a six-week period for a mouth-watering package to the 2010 Irish Open worth €6,500 and automatic promotion to Blue Belt status.
In total, 70 players registered their interest in partaking in the Grading II, and on Monday, January 18, players partook in a Pre-Selection Grading Week in order to cut-down the numbers to those who were capable of completing the hours.
In the end, 20 players successfully completed the Pre-Grading, thus proving they were worthy contenders for Grading II. They have now become proud members of the Dublin Two-O and will begin competing for one of three Irish Open packages in an effort to follow in the footsteps of 2008 Champion and Black Belt Poker co-founder Neil Channing.
They are:
Ramsey Ajram
Ermyas Birru
Andy Brisland
Jamie Burland
Mike Carroll
Lee Clarke
Javed Ghazi
Adam Goulding
Gavin Hall
Gerard Harraghy
John Hayes
Richard Hinds
Rob Jarrett-Smith
Tomasz Jedlecki
Simon Mairs
Martin Rice
Joe Roberts
Owen Robinson
Mike Shaw
Kevin Williams
The Dublin Two-O are an eclectic mix made up of 6 Yellow Belts, 7 Orange Belts, 4 Purple Belts, and 3 Green Belts. However, whatever their level, all 20 will be asked to complete 480 table hours (720 for STT players) over a six-week period, partaking at stakes of $0.25/0.50 and upwards for the opening four weeks, and $0.50/1 and upwards for the final two weeks.
One player who will be keen to do well is Ramsey Ajram. A live pro from London, Ajram was a member of the Vegas Five-O who competed in Grading I, but sadly had to drop out during the final week due to illness. Ajram is the only member of the Dublin Two-O who has experience in a prior Grading.
Without further ado, all that remains is to wish all the Graders the very best of luck. If you would like to follow their progress, then be sure to check out the Graders’ Board in our ‘Groups’ section which will shortly become accessible to the Dublin Two-O.
It’s the eve of the Black Belt Poker Grading, and those who managed to survive the recent Pre-Grading and the scrutiny of the judging team will no doubt be preparing for a gruelling, but ultimately rewarding six weeks.
Last year’s Grading saw a plethora of familiar names battle it out over an intense four-week period for the honour of being a member of the Vegas 8 and winning their dream trip to Vegas. This year, however, we decided to make the Grading accessible to a wider audience rather than just name pros with a one-week Selection period that allowed anyone to enter.
Those that successfully made it through to the other end will now have to compete with other Graders for the next month and a half. But this time around, the schedule is less hectic, in order to cater for those with full-time jobs or family commitments. Instead of forcing Graders to play a set number of hours a day at a certain level, they will be asked to play a total of 480 any-combination cash table-hours at stakes of $0.25/0.50 plus ($0.50/1 for the final two weeks).
Whilst this means that higher stake players will win or lose more money, we’ll be closely inspecting bbs/100 to ensure that everyone is given a fair assessment. Other judging categories will include ‘commitment’ – completing the hours, attending workshops, and showing a willingness to improve – and ‘contribution’ – submitting editorial content, speaking at workshops, and assisting others.
It’s going to be a slog, but it’ll be worth it with Graders being given the opportunity to not only learn from each other, but also receive exclusive mentoring from Black Belt Poker co-founders and poker pros Neil Channing and Nik Persaud. Of course, there are also the fabulous prizes, with the top performers not only winning a magnificent Irish Open package, but also being awarded Blue Belt status, a total prize equating to 100,000 Belt Points. Even those who just miss out will automatically be promoted to Green Belt, and those who don’t finish the course will earn 2,500 Belt Points for each week completed.
This is an educational process for everyone involved and whilst we expect it to be hard work, it will also be enjoyable and rewarding. Good luck to those starting their journey tomorrow, and keep your eyes peeled as we announce the lucky contestants to be taking part in Grading II: Destination Dublin.
Exciting news this week as Black Belt Poker announced details of their latest league event. Scheduled to commence next Tuesday, Black Belt Poker League III will differ from prior leagues in a number of ways.
Firstly, the League will take place over five legs, rather than the usual ten, meaning participants have less of a commitment to make if they are to have a realistic chance of taking gold.
Secondly, points will be calculated in reverse order of elimination and will be dependent on the numberof runners for each leg with your score correlating with your finishing position. So, if there are 50 runners, first place will receive 50 points, second 49, third 48, and so on.
Finally, as well as Belt Points for the top five, Black Belt Poker will award the first place finisher over the five-week period a free seat into the Black Belt London Live, a deepstack $220 freezeout taking place at the Grosvenor Victoria Casino from Friday, March 12 to Sunday, March 14.
The prizes are therefore as follows:
1st = BBLL Seat
2nd = 750 Belt Points
3rd = 500 Belt Points
4th = 250 Belt Points
5th = 125 Belt Points
The League is open to all Yellow Belts and above and will run from Tuesday, February 2 to Tuesday, March 2, at 8.30pm on the Black Belt Poker skin. Each event will be a $5+0.50 No Limit Hold’em freezeout and players are free to join the League at any point.
If you aren’t currently a Yellow Belt, or have yet to download the poker client, then don’t fret, as you can still play the League. Simply download the poker client, follow the directions and make a minimum deposit of $10 to be eligible to register for the event.
This is an unmissable opportunity for players of all types to get their hands on a free seat into the Black Belt London Live. With a plethora of exciting features such as bounties, last-longers and Belt bonuses, this is a great chance to take advantage of some of the value at Black Belt Poker, whilst enjoying the experience of meeting the stars and playing a deepstacked tournament amid a friendly atmosphere.
Tuesday night witnessed the final leg of the Black Belt Poker League II in which a total of 93 players competed over a ten-week period to determine Black Belt Poker’s true MTT king. Among those participating were Brown Belt James Mitchell, League I winner Adam ‘JHobbit1’ Saunders, Black Belt co-founders Neil Channing and Nik Persaud, and Paul Marrow, the latter of whom recently finished in second place in the Dublin UKIPT for a whopping €103,500.
However, despite the fierce competition, it was Yellow Belt Mark ‘russellhansen’ Brassington who took top honours, sealing gold before the final leg had even taken place. Nevertheless, he still finished in seventh place in Leg 10, taking his total points score up to an incredible 98 points, 20 points ahead of that of second! As a result of his victory, Mark won the first prize of 2,500 Belt Points (enough to maintain Purple Belt for a month), BBP merchandise, and, of course, the coveted bragging rights.
Second place went to Orange Belt Lee ‘virtusxetxhonor’ Clarke, the early pace setter putting in a fine performance with 76 points. Not too far behind him were Denison ‘Ranny99’ Ranson in third and Black Belt Poker’s first ever Green Belt Mike ‘Belterman’ Caroll picking up fourth.
The final positions and subsequent prizes were as follows:
1st = ruseellhansen – 96 points (2,500 Belt Points plus merchandise)
2nd = virtusxetxhonor – 76 points (1,500 Belt Points plus merchandise)
3rd = Ranny99 – 59 points (1,000 Belt Points plus merchandise)
4th = Belterman – 50 points (500 Belt Points)
5th = TheGayWaiter – 48 points (350 Belt Points)
6th = JHobbit1 – 47 points (275 Belt Points)
7th = paulmarrow – 44 points (225 Belt Points)
8th = gnomeeee – 42 points (175 Belt Points)
9th = mavperth – 40 points (125 Belt Points)
10th = RazzHands – 38 points (100 Belt Points)
Congratulations to all those who placed in the top 10, and we look forward to seeing you all in Black Belt Poker League III which starts this Tuesday, Feb 2 at 8:30pm.
There are few tournaments on the poker calendar that have the staying power of the Aussie Millions, but every year, poker fanatics arrive on Ozzie shores in their droves, all eager to stump up the $10,500 buy-in and replicate the achievements of winners past.
This week, a total of 746 pitched up at the Crown Casino in Melbourne, an improvement on last year’s 681 field in which local hero Stewart Scott prevailed to win the A$2 million first prize. Searching for gold this time around are the likes of Phil Ivey, John Juanda, Jeff Lisandro, Barry Greenstein and Tony G, as well as British hopes Karl Mahrenholz, JP Kelly, Keith Hawkins and recent WSOP finalist James Akenhead.
Also flying the flag and representing the London faithful is Black Belt Poker’s Neil Channing. Drawn on the feature table, Channing faced tough company with Casey Kastle, Erik Seidel, Annette Obrestad and a big Vegas and Internet Limit player who called himself Crazy Mike.
“Crazy Mike soon appeared to be in the top three most annoying people I'd played with,” reported Channing. “I let him bluff me twice and went down to just 11,000 from my 20,000 starting stack. I steamed a little bit and decided to three-bet him with 8-6 off-suit. I then floated on the flop and raised him on the turn of a A-K-8-T board, committing about 5,000 of my remaining chips. He called me a total nit and folded. I didn't show.”
Having risen to 31,000 with K-K versus Kastle’s missed draw, Channing quickly broke the 48,000 mark with an average of 26,000, but just as he was beginning to pick up pace, K-K ran into A-A to bash him back down to 11,000. “I worked my bollocks off to get my stack up and was raising 70 percent of hands at the time,” continued Channing. “He was in a squeeze spot too, fml.”
But despite this loss, Channing’s fortune did show signs of changing when he pushed with Q-6 and managed to crack aces to stay alive. “The woman didn’t take it too well,” revealed Channing. “She spent the next three hours whining and kept making comments while I was in pots and about to act. I had to call the floor to complain. With 25 minutes to go I was very frustrated. This woman had gifted Annette about 35,000 and all she could do was moan about a few thousand the bad beat with me had cost her. In one hand I called a raise from a tight guy with T-9 of diamonds. As I did, durrrr stopped to chat to me and shook my hand. The woman went all in for about 1,000 and it was 7,000 for me to call after the other guy folded. I was getting 2:1, durrrr had touched me and now I could knock out this miserable woman. I called, she showed 3-3 and I rivered a 10. I told her I wouldn’t usually call but I'd done it out of spite.”
Following this amusing kafuffle, Channing’s day continued to improve with a lucrative final 45 minutes which saw him finishing the day with 57,400 and in 18th position out of the 120 that survived. “Such a tough day,” concluded Channing. “I felt I played my best, but now I really need to get some sleep.”
With Day 1C also drawing to a close, Day Two is just around the corner and Channing will be in confident spirits having survived a turbulent opening few levels. Whilst the likes of Joe Hachem, Chris Ferguson, Chris Moorman and former International bowler Shane Warne fell at the first hurdle, the remaining field is still rife with big names with Sorel Mizzi perhaps the most notable pace-setter with 112,300. Pierre Aoukar is the chip leader with 171,700
But with a renewed confidence, Neil Channing will be hot on their heels for the remainer of the comp, keen to add some more silverware to the trophy cupboard. To see if Channing can become this year’s Aussie Champion, keep your eyes peeled on Black Belt Poker for further updates.
Garfield might hate Mondays, but there’s no reason for you to feel the same as this Monday, Black Belt Poker look to soothe those weekend hangovers with the final Academy freeroll.
Exclusive to Orange Belts, this last chance saloon satellite will see players battle it out for one of two guaranteed seats into the inaugural Black Belt Poker Academy in association with Bluff Magazine.
Scheduled for Saturday, February 13, 2010 at the Grosvenor Victoria Casino in London, the Black Belt Poker Academy will give players the opportunity to learn from professional players such as Nik Persaud and 2008 Irish Open Champion Neil Channing.
The freeroll takes place at 8pm and will only be open to those who have reached Orange Belt on the Belt-Up rewards scheme. With a total of £300 up for grabs for an investment of zero, this presents excellent value and is one of many benefits of being a higher Belt on Black Belt Poker. To play, simply boot up the poker client, search for scheduled > Black Belt tournaments > Orange Belt Bootcamp FR, and click register in the bottom right hand corner.
If you aren’t able to make the freeroll, then don’t fret, as you can still purchase your seat directly. At £150, the Academy is a snip, and a great way to improve your game through mentoring from two of the UK’s most successful players, so secure your seat now. To purchase a ticket, simply contact info@blackbeltpoker.com.
If you’re not currently an Orange Belt then be sure you check out our Belt-Up Rewards scheme to see how you can scale the ranks and take advantage of all the spectacular bonuses on offer.
For more details on the Black Belt Poker Academy (in association with Bluff Magazine), click here.
