Employee of the Month

Every year since 2000, the Casino Employees event has kicked off proceedings at the World Series of Poker, and 2010 was no different. Despite the hysteria for the star-studded $50,000 Mixed Games event, it would be a debuting dealer from California who would pick up the first bracelet.

Born in Vietnam, Haoi Pham is a 43-year old poker dealer from San Diego, currently working in the Village Club Casino in Chula Vista, California. Following an epic two-day battle, Pham claimed victory at 5am on Friday, May 29. On the final hand, Pham’s Ac-Ad held up against the 4s-4c of Arthur Vea, all in on a Qh-7d-2c flop.

721 casino employees turned up to the event with Day One taking place in the Pavillion, a larger room adjacent to the Amazon which is said to be the size of a football field. The buy-in was $500, thus creating a total prize pool of $324,450 with a first prize of $71,424.

"I feel very good. I am very happy,” beamed Pham in victory. “I can't wait to tell everybody. I told my boss I would take vacation (to play in this tournament). So now, I get to go back to them and show them what I have done. I feel very, very tired right now.”

The Casino Employees event has kicked off proceedings since it’s introduction in 2000, yet has always been considered a ‘lesser’ event by the general consensus. Few spectators were present and the final was played in the shadows of the $50,000 Mixed Games event. Naturally, this was the event that attracted the attention of the media, and once again, the casino employees were left out in the cold. This didn’t feel like the opening event, and it certainly didn’t feel like a bracelet was up for grabs, yet this was the tournament where a rags to riches story was virtually guaranteed.

At the start of the tournament, albeit to an otherwise empty room, Jack Effel commended the players on their contribution to poker: “All of you are special to us. Without casino employees, there is no live poker. Without casino employees, there is no Vegas.” The day after the final, Pham was presented his bracelet in front of a packed Pavillion. He chose the Vietnamese national anthem. To Harrah’s credit, this was a nice gesture; let’s hope they go one step further next year and add a little money to the prize pool.

Throughout the Series, Black Belt Poker will be bringing you regular bulletins, highlighting the progress of British players, as well Black Belt Poker’s sponsored Belts. I have also started a blog sharing tales of the WSOP/Vegas experience. But, for now, our congratulations go to Hoia Pham, soon to be the forgotten man of WSOP 2010.

BBP Player Wins ECOOP Event #1

Last Monday, the sixth ECOOP (European Championship of Online Poker) kicked off on the iPoker network with its inaugural $250,000 Guaranteed Prize Pool event. In all, 1,001 stumped up the $200+15 buy-in fee, including many Black Belt Poker players such as Neil Channing, Toby Lewis, Gavin Hall and Adam Latimer, as well as Dublin 3 members Robert Jarrett-Smith, Owen Robinson and Simon Mairs.

However, despite a strong showing from this year’s Graders, it was a member of last year’s Vegas Five-O who shone brightest, Eoin Kennedy battling his way through the gargantuan field to take the title for a whopping $52,500.

Known as ‘kennneoin’ on the Black Belt Poker skin, Irish-born Eoin is a 27-year old semi-professional poker player who participated in Black Belt Poker’s first ever Grading in which eight players travelled to Vegas to live in a luxury mansion and play $20,000 worth of WSOP events. Eoin earned Blue Belt status during the Grading, but due to work and travel commitments, was unable to sustain his Belt. However, despite being currently based in Sydney, Australia, Eoin still regularly plays on Black Belt Poker as an Orange Belt, particularly in MTTs where he clearly excels.

“Overall, the tournament went very smoothly for me,” reported Eoin in victory, “and my chip stack rise was generally gradual but constant with a few big jumps in places. I was lucky enough that, bar one or two occasions, I never lost more than 10 to 20 percent of my stack in one hand.”

“The money puts my bankroll in a much stronger position,” he continued, “and will give me the option to play slightly higher buy-in tournaments in the future. It also gives me the opportunity to continue with my poker and travels.”

If you would like to learn more about Eoin Kennedy in terms of how he got into poker, his experiences of the Grading, and how his tournament went, then please feel free to check out this exclusive interview.

The ECOOP is a series of events exclusive to iPoker in which every single event boasts a guaranteed prize pool. The next event will be tonight’s $400+35 No Limit Hold’em freezeout with a guaranteed prize pool of $500,000. Black Belt Poker run numerous satellites for ECOOP events throughout the week. If you would like to play an ECOOP event, then opening an account is easy: just download the cardroom software and follow the simple step-by-step process provided.

CareyBear Freerolls to DTD

There are numerous ways for players to take advantage of the great value on offer at Black Belt Poker, but perhaps the best opportunity arose last night as Black Belt Poker introduced its inaugural Purple Belt Live Backing Freeroll.

Exclusive to Purple Belts, the Purple Belt Live Backing Freeroll offers players the chance to win backing into the Dusk Till Dawn Monthly Freezeout, a deep stacked two-day event with a guaranteed prize pool of £80,000.

Six players participated in the event including former Vegas 8 member Adam ‘trojandonkey’ Latimer. However, Adam would ultimately have to settle for second as he was pipped at the post by Carey ‘CareybearBBP’ Hollick, a popular BBP member who earned Purple Belt status via the 2010 Grading process.

“That A-A against his [Adam’s] A-Q when it flopped A-7-7 was massive,” commented Carey. “I feel like I earned it a bit though now. He was killing me, I have a lot of admiration for his game so felt very outplayed until heads-up. Coming back from 2,000 to his over 12,000 was very amazing to me. What can I say? I run good.”

As a result, Carey turned an investment of zero into a seat worth £336, thus proving what great value this is for Purple Belts. The Purple Belt Live Backing Freeroll takes place on the last Thursday of every month, meaning the next one will be Thursday, June 24. If you would like to emulate the success of Carey and participate in the Monthly DTD Freezeout for absolutely nothing, then see how you can work your way up to Purple Belt by checking out our Belt-Up system.

Click here for further details on the Purple Belt Live Backing Freeroll.

1st CareybearBBP
2nd trojandonkey
3rd professoracid
4th WarrenW
5th wowsickriver
6th blackbeltjoker

Big Bonus for Mini ECOOP

The ECOOP may have exploded out of the blocks, but like the dastardly Dr. Evil, it came accompanied by a pint-sized version of itself. Running from May 14 to 23, the Mini ECOOP was a series of events that catered for smaller bankrolls, yet offered great value in the form of guaranteed prize pools.

As a special bonus to those who played on Black Belt Poker, the player who cashed the most would earn themselves a shot at 2008 Irish Open Champion Neil Channing in a best-of-three heads-up battle with a mouth-watering $1,000 up for grabs!

After an exciting 10 days, it was Brian ‘brigal19’ Gallagher who shone brightest with a total of five cashes. Brian was also the only Black Belt Poker player to make two final tables, finishing eighth and sixth for $200 and $600 respectively. This brought his total winnings to $973.62 and means he now has the chance to more than double his money at no extra cost!

Also performing well were Vickie ‘AngelVickie48’ Lambert and Piotr ‘piotrQQgrabowski’ Grabowski who made the money in three events each, whilst Anthony ‘Perseus10’ Hewitt and recent Quad Aces winner Rob ‘SirNutFlopper’ Weston both picked up two cashes. Neil ‘NeilChanning’ Channing, Mandy ‘wondrwmn’ Card, Kevin ‘KVNSTVBBP’ Stevens and many more enjoyed one cash finish.

The Mini ECOOP may be done and dusted, but like the AEGON Championships to Wimbledon, it was just a prelude to the 'big daddy' with players across the iPoker network currently battling it in the 2010 ECOOP. There are 14 events in all with the Main Event being a $1,500+80 No Limit Hold’em Freezeout with a guaranteed prize pool of $1,500,000.

There are numerous satellites available on Black Belt Poker for not just the Main Event, but all the ECOOP events. To open an account is easy: just download the cardroom software and follow the simple step-by-step process provided. Good luck at the tables; we hope you win one miiiiiiiiillion dollars.

WSOP Warrior: Latimer in 36th

Last week we reported the success of Blue Belt Robert ‘7Enygma7’ Jarrett-Smith in iPoker’s WSOP Warrior promotion, but it should also be noted that Purple Belt Adam ‘trojandonkey’ Latimer has his war face on and is in with a good chance of winning a trip to Vegas.

An Oxford graduate who recently participated in the Blackbeltpoker.com Oxford Cup, Adam was one of the winning players in last year’s Grading, earning himself a place in the Vegas 8 and $20,000 worth of WSOP buy-ins. Now Adam is looking to repeat that feat through the WSOP Warrior Super League.

Currently lying in 36th place, Adam needs to break into the top 10 to guarantee himself a World Series of Poker package. With three events still remaining, and double points in the final event, there’s no reason why he can’t represent Black Belt Poker in Vegas one more time.

On the eve of leg seven, there has been a slight changing of the guards at the top with MousePlaya overtaking ague007 with 139 and 134 points respectively and becoming the new favourite to win the League and $25,000 Warrior Package. Not too far behind is Robert Jarrett-Smith with 84 points, still holding onto that fifth spot. If Robert were able to maintain that position, then he would win a WSOP package worth $7,500.

Also battling away like a Trojan soldier is Gavin ‘TFMonty007’ Hall, a Blue Belt who recently won 100,000 Belt Points courtesy of Grading II. He’s currently in 115th with 48 points.

Last week, Gavin made a video of some of his WSOP Warrior hands, and today he serves up another dose of post-match analysis. Please feel free to leave any comments regarding his play in the comments’ box below.

Gavin Hall - Video 2

Black Belt Poker have a number of players remaining in the field, including Mark ‘russellhansen’ Brassington (64th – 54 points), Brian ‘brigal19’ Gallagher (73rd – 52 points), and Blue Belt Kevin ‘Kevish47’ Williams (76th – 52 points). With 10th position on 78 points, and 50 points awarded for winning a leg, these players are only one win away from breaking into that top 10 and the chance to win a trip to Vegas.

See here for more details on the WSOP Warrior promotion.

League V: Channing Shares the Wealth

In 2009’s World Series of Poker Main Event, Neil Channing famously had a percentage of James Akenhead’s action as he battled his way to the final table as one of the November Nine. With League V, Black Belt Poker are offering you that very same opportunity.

Commencing on Tuesday, May 25, 2010, League V will take place over seven weeks with the final leg concluding on Tuesday, July 6. The highest scoring player over the course of the League will earn himself one percent of Neil Channing’s action in the $10,000 WSOP Main Event.

A Vegas veteran, Channing boasts 21 WSOP cashes, including a $71,858 cash in last year’s $40,000. He is also the 2008 Irish Open Champion and finished second in the 2009 London GUKPT to bring his live tournaments winnings to a near $2.5 million. Now’s your chance to get a piece of the action and win a potential $100,000!

As before, the legs will be $5+0.5 No Limit Hold’em Freezeouts starting at 7.30pm with players free to join at any point. This time, however, the scoring system has been modified so as to reward those who make the final. The top ten at the end of the League will also be awarded a free DeucesCracked monthly subscription token, whilst second to ninth will also earn Belt Points.

The Black Belt Poker League is open to all Yellow Belts and above. To become a Yellow Belts is easy: download the cardroom software, link your account, and make a minimum deposit.

See here for more details including scoring and prizes.

Owen Robinson Finals UKIPT Nottingham

As the UKIPT tour bus stopped in the resplendent Dusk Till Dawn in Nottingham, several Black Belt Poker players made the journey north, the likes of Jamie Burland, Jerome Bradpiece and Jack Sambrook all mustard keen to limbo their way through the 650 thick field and take advantage of the mouth-watering £325,000 prize pool.

However, as the smoke began to clear, only one player emerged as a serious threat: Blue Belt Owen Robinson. A former Grader, Owen was one of four players to win an Irish Open package, and was playing in the UKIPT on behalf of Black Belt Poker as part of his $1,500 monthly sponsorship.

Owen started Day Three with a modest 43,500 stack, but managed to survive until the final two tables when the tide suddenly turned. From bottom three to chip leader, Owen turned Terminator as he eliminated Parminder Kandola in 12th (Ac-8d versus Ts-8s all in on a 3s-8c-Kc-9s board), Raymond Chan in 10th (A-2 vs. A-T) and, to take us to the final table, Mark Aldridge in 9th (K-K vs. Q-Q).

The result of which meant that Owen had a near 2.5 million in chips with just eight players remaining:

Owen Robinson – 2,414,000
Graham Giles – 1,807,000
Andros Spyrou – 1,407,000
Andrew Couldridge – 1,206,000
Oliver Schaffmann – 1,018,000
Piotr Majewski – 639,000
Gareth Walker – 506,000
Nicholas Gavriel – 494,000

The final table proved a turbulent affair, and after suffering a handful of setbacks and doubling up Schaffmann who flopped a full house on a 4c-Ac-4s-Ks-9d board, Owen found himself down to 800,000. Despite a fight back that saw him eliminate Majewski in sixth with Ac-6c turning a flush against 5s-5c, Owen ultimately finished in sixth place when his Ac-Ks failed to out coin flip the 6h-6s of eventual winner Andrew Couldridge.

Nevertheless, Owen had turned £500 into £21,400 and put in a highly impressive performance. As a Blue Belt, Owen is also eligible for ‘Winning Points’ – a unique benefit to the higher Belts – meaning 61,950 is returned to his account in the form of Belt Points, which equates to almost three months of Blue Belt sponsorship (i.e. $4,500)!

Our congratulations go out to Owen Robinson. Let’s hope this is the first of many more Black Belt Poker finals in major events.

1st Andrew Couldridge -- £80,000
2nd Oliver Schaffmann -- £46,700
3rd Andros Spyrou -- £30,000
4th Owen Robinson -- £21,400
5th Graham Giles -- £16,500
6th Piotr Majewski -- £13,200
7th Nicholas Gavriel -- £9,900
8th Gareth Walker -- £7,600

LAYERCAKE35 Scores Final Ace

Back in March, Black Belt Poker announced its Quad Aces promotion, a series of four tournaments running parallel to landmark events from the UK calendar: the Grand National, London Marathon, General Election, and F.A. Cup Final. Each tournament awarded the winner an Ace – collect two Aces, and Black Belt Poker would send you to Vegas.

Black Belt Poker promised readers that they could go to Vegas for less than a tenner, and that’s exactly what happened as Orange Belt Rob ‘SirNutFlopper’ Weston took down legs one and three to earn himself an all-expenses paid holiday in Vegas, all for the combined investment of $6.60.

If Rob had won Saturday’s final leg, then he would have accrued his third Ace for a buy-in in to a $1,500 WSOP side event. Instead, the spoils went to Dean ‘LAYERCAKE35’ Watson who defeated a field of 37 players to pick up his first Ace, as well as 500 Belt Points.

Meanwhile, Black Belt Poker also hosted its final Quad Aces Bonus Tourney, won by previous winner Brian ‘brigal19’ Gallagher. Although several players predicted that Didier Drogba would score the first goal in the F.A. Cup Final, Brian incorrectly chose Flouent Malouda, meaning he just missed out on the $300 ECOOP seat bonus prize.

Black Belt Poker would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who took part in the Quad Aces promotion, and congratulate the following players for their wins:

Quad Aces Leg 1: Rob ‘SirNutFlopper’ Weston ($39.20)
Bonus Tourney 1: Brian ‘brigal19’ Gallagher ($102)
Quad Aces Leg 2: Sean ‘SeanEuphoria’ Gundy ($31.20 + 500 Belt Points)
Bonus Tourney 2: Sandy ‘sandy1611’ Drennan ($55.50)
Quad Aces Leg 3: Rob ‘SirNutFlopper’ Weston ($35.20 + Vegas Holiday)
Bonus Tourney 3: Adam ‘JHobbit1’ Saunders ($91.50 + $250,000 GTD seat)
Quad Aces Leg 4: Dean ‘LAYERCAKE35’ Watson ($29.60 + 500 Belt Points)
Bonus Tourney 4: Brian ‘brigal19’ Gallagher ($48)

Opening an account at Black Belt Poker is easy: just download the poker client and follow the simple steps provided.

Score With Quad Aces

Tomorrow evening - Saturday, May 14, 2010 - sees the conclusion of Quad Aces, a unique and exciting promotion exclusive to Black Belt Poker that gives players the opportunity to go to Vegas for less than a tenner.

With one leg remaining, Rob ‘SirNotFlopper’ Weston has already won his ticket having won legs one and three, whilst Sean ‘SeanEuphoria’ Gundy has the chance to join him after taking down leg two. For everyone else, there are still 500 Belt Points up for grabs, as well as those all-important bragging rights.

As always, the last leg will be a $2+0.20 No Limit Hold’em Freezeout, commencing at 7pm with the winning player picking up the fourth and final bullet, the Ace of Spades.

Ace of Diamonds (A1) = Grand National –Saturday, April 10 – won by SirNutFlopper
Ace of Clubs (A2) = London Marathon –Sunday, April 25 – won by SeanEuphoria
Ace of Hearts (A3) = General Election – Thursday, May 6 – won by SirNutFlopper
Ace of Spades (A4) = FA Cup Final –Saturday, May 15

One Ace: 500 Belt Points
Pair of Aces: Vegas Holiday – flights and accommodation for a week in LV
Set of Aces: $1,500 WSOP buy-in plus flights and week’s accommodation
Quad Aces: $10k WSOP Main Event package, including flights and accommodation

Running parallel to leg four will be the F.A. Cup Final at Wembley. The 129^th final will be competed between 2008 Champions Portsmouth, and defending Champions Chelsea, who also sewed up the League title last weekend. In conjunction with this event, Black Belt Poker are hosting their Quad Aces Bonus Tourney, a $3+0.3 No Limit Hold’em Rebuy taking place at 9pm.

As a bonus, we’re offering the winning player free entry into an ECOOP event worth $300. To be eligible for the bonus, you must have correctly predicted the name of the first goal scorer. To submit your prediction, please post your answer on the relevant thread in 'Groups', 'Promotions' tab prior to the start of the game.

To participate in the Quad Aces promotion, simply open up the lobby and find the relevant tournament in ‘scheduled’ > ‘Black Belt tournaments’. If you don’t currently have an account, then signing up is easy: just download the poker client the software and follow the simple steps provided.

Click here for all the details of our Quad Aces promotion.

Billy Graham Wins Vegas Freeroll

Last weekend at the Grosvenor Victoria Casino on Edgware Road, London, Black Belt Poker, in association with Bluff Europe Magazine, held their first Boot Camp of 2010, an intense two-day poker course in which attendees were guaranteed face-to-face tuition with an expert of their choosing.

Sharing their wealth of knowledge and experience were Black Belt Poker co-founders Neil Channing and Nik Persaud, as well as Bluff columnist and Omaha High-Low specialist Alex ‘Pickleman’ Rousso. A variety of topics were discussed, including equity calculations, bankroll management and live hand analysis, with Blue Belt Kevin Williams popping in to present a lecture on Phil Galfond’s ‘G Bucks’.

On the Saturday evening, players were given the chance to participate in a Boot Camp freeroll, the winner of which would earn an all-expenses paid trip to Vegas and entry into a World Series of Poker side event. After an exciting back and forth battle, it was Billy Graham who came out on top with Green Belt Mike Carroll picking up second. Billy plans to head out to the City of Sin at the end of June to play in event #42’s $1,500 No Limit Hold’em freezeout.

The general consensus was that the Boot Camp was a roaring success with attendees offering positive feedback on the weekend. Purple Belt and former Grader Carey Hollick commented: “It was an awesome weekend, I love being able to see everyone and learning so much more about the game. I love Black Belt so much, they really do care about the players.”

Mike Carroll added: “It was a really good weekend. I had loads of fun as well as learning loads more stuff. The value you get from Black Belt Poker is second to none.”

Despite the poker world making its annual pilgrimage to Vegas, Black Belt Poker are offering plenty of added value to those who choose to stay at home including freerolls, DeucesCracked subscriptions and, making its debut this month, the Live Backing freeroll, a Purple Belt exclusive online qualifier into the $80,000 Guaranteed DTD Monthly Deepstack.

To find out how you could work your way through the Belt system and take advantage of some of the benefits and rewards on offer, then be sure to check out our ‘Rewards’ and ‘Promotions’ pages for further information.

Blue Belt Fifth in WSOP Warrior

The WSOP Super Warrior League is an exciting new promotion which sees players from across the iPoker network battle it out over the course of nine, hotly contested events. Second to ninth place finishers will win a trip to Vegas to play in the 2010 World Series of Poker, whilst first place will take away the WSOP Warrior package worth $25,000!

With four events in the bag, it’s ague007 who tops the leaderboard with 71 points, whilst MousePlaya is hot on his heels in second with 67 points. However, behind them, and in joint fifth place with 54 points, is Black Belt Poker sponsored pro Robert ‘7Enygma7’ Jarrett-Smith.

A current Blue Belt, Robert earned his sponsorship through the recent Black Belt Poker Grading, which also saw him become a member of the Dublin 3 and play in the 2010 Irish Open. But now, he has his sights set on the bright lights of Vegas, and if he carries on in this fashion, could well secure his seat in the year’s most anticipated poker event for a mere $300+20 investment.

Also flying high is Purple Belt Adam ‘trojandonkey’ Latimer, an Omaha High-Low cash specialist who was a member of last year’s Vegas 8, which saw him stay in the Black Belt Poker mansion and play $20,000 worth of WSOP events. Currently sitting in 14th place with 39 points, he could be in line for a repeat performance. Adam is also braced to be a bounty in the upcoming Oxford Cup, sponsored by Black Belt Poker.

A number of Black Belt Poker players have ambushed the WSOP Warrior, including Mark ‘russellhansen’ Brassington (28th – 32 points), Brian ‘brigal19’ Gallagher (40th – 30 points) and Paul ‘prince247’ Harrison (50th – 29 points). Experiencing mixed results, but still in with a great chance, is Blue Belt Gavin ‘TFMonty’ Hall, sitting in 67th place with 28 points. Like Robert, Gavin was a winning participant in the recent Grading, but opted to take the 100,000 in Belt Points rather than the Irish Open seat.

Having participated in the opening WSOP Warrior events, Gavin has decided to reveal some of the hands he played in one of the early events in the hope of raising discussion and giving people a few ideas. Gavin is always open to criticism, so if you feel as though you have a different slant on a hand he played, then please feel free to leave feedback in the comments box at the foot of the page.

Gavin Hall - WSOP Warrior video

Black Belt Poker to Sponsor Oxford Cup

Students, put down your pens, pads and pints and get your poker faces ready because the Oxford Cup is right around the corner and this time, Black Belt Poker has come along for the ride.

The Oxford Cup is celebrating its ninth year in the UK student poker scene and promises a fun packed weekend. So, any students looking to take part, make sure you don't go overboard at the bar on Saturday night because the Main Event is taking place on Sunday, May 16, 2010 in the University Club on Mansfield Road. Turn up at 11am to register and experience a momentous day when the students of Oxford and beyond get to take on the pros in a £20 No Limit Hold'em rebuy tournament.

There's an expected prize pool of over £10,000 with a host of familiar names from the poker scene set to grace the felt such as Paul Jackson, Catman, Steve Blapo, Al Alvarez and Roy Houghton. Last year's champion Mark Scofield will also be there to defend his crown,

Black Belt Poker are throwing five bounties into the mix in the form of co-founders Neil Channing and Nik Persaud, as well as former Oxford students Adam Latimer, Jerome Bradpiece and Rory Campbell. Each bounty is worth $100, but to be eligible for the prize, you must have opened an account on the Black Belt Poker cardroom and made a minimum deposit of $10. Opening an account is easy, just download the poker client and follow the simple step-by-step process provided.

As a warm up, we are also running a freeroll a day before the Main Event at 3pm on Saturday, May 15, 2010. The winner will bag a Nintendo Wii whilst players that finish between second to eighth place will each be credited $10 into their Black Belt Poker account. Cash games will also be available.

Student or no student, the Oxford Cup IX is open to all. Just turn up on the day and enjoy what will be a brilliant weekend. There is reportedly limited parking near the venue, so you may want to turn up early to nab one of those coveted spots. The address is: University Club, Mansfield Road, Oxford, OX1 3SZ.

Please click the links below to join the Oxford Cup IX Facebook groups and learn more about one of the year’s most fun-filled poker events.

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/group.php?gid=17160562919&ref=ts
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/event.php?eid=116980951653370&ref=ts

Go West-on: Sir NutFlopper Wins Trip to Vegas

The political world may be in a quandary, but last Thursday, there was no doubt as to the winner of the Quad Aces tournament as Rob ‘SirNutFlopper’ Weston picked up his second Ace to win an all-expenses paid trip to Vegas – all for less than a tenner!

Having galloped to victory in the first Quad Aces tournament back on April 10, Rob was just one more win away from a trip to Vegas, and in leg three, he achieved that feat by bettering a field of 44 runners, the final of which included recent League IV winner Andy ‘RedKiteBlackBelt’ Brisland.

1st SirNutFlopper -- $35.20
2nd TeeDeeEye1 -- $22.00
3rd SebastianKat -- $14.08
4th doochats -- $9.68
5th losbert40 -- $7.04
6th betyama
7th allcool1980
8th RedKiteBlackBelt
9th generalshifty

But it doesn’t end there, because with one leg remaining, Rob could pick up a third Ace to win entry into a $1,500 bracelet event. And even if he doesn’t win, Sean ‘SeanEuphoria’ Gundy – who won leg two – could take down the event to join Rob in Vegas – again, all for less than 10 dollars!

Ace of Diamonds (A1) = Grand National –Saturday, April 10 – won by SirNutFlopper
Ace of Clubs (A2) = London Marathon –Sunday, April 25 – won by SeanEuphoria
Ace of Hearts (A3) = General Election – Thursday, May 6?-- won by SirNutFlopper
Ace of Spades (A4) = FA Cup Final –Saturday, May 15

One Ace: 500 Belt Points
Pair of Aces: Vegas Holiday – flights and accommodation for a week in LV
Set of Aces: $1,500 WSOP buy-in plus flights and week’s accommodation
Quad Aces: $10k WSOP Main Event package, including flights and accommodation

Out of a field of 17, former League winner Adam ‘JHobbit1’ Saunders emerged victorious in the Quad Aces Bonus Tourney, picking up $91.50 for his troubles.

1st JHobbit1-- $91.50
2nd CroadYuk -- $54.90
3rd SirNutFlopper -- $36.60
4th insider66666
5th AngelVickie48
6th NeilChanning
7th SebastianKat
8th CareybearBBP
9th brigal19

As always, the Quad Aces Bonus Tourney offered the winner an additional prize if they were able to correctly answer a question correlating to the day’s events. This week, we asked players to predict the first constituency declared in, and Adam correctly guessed Houghton and South Sunderland to pick up that added value.

The next leg will take place on Saturday, May 15 and will coincide with the F.A. Cup Final. Although only Sean can join Rob in Vegas, there are still Belt Points up for grabs, so be sure to join us next week for the final event of the promotion. And who knows, maybe Rob can make it a ‘majority win’.

To participate in the Quad Aces promotion, simply open up the lobby and find the relevant tournament in ‘scheduled’ > ‘Black Belt tournaments’. If you don’t currently have an account, then signing up is easy: just download the poker client the and follow the simple steps provided.

Click here for all the details of our Quad Aces promotion.

RedKite Flies Highest in League IV

Although League IV attracted a number of new faces, the eventual Champion was a Black Belt original. After making an initial deposit back in September, Andy Brisland has been one of Black Belt Poker’s most committed members, becoming an active member of the community, attending Academies, participating in the various promotions offered by the site, and utilising all the services available to develop his game and become one of Black Belt Poker’s most capable MTT players. What’s more, Andy was a part of the recent Grading process, completing the six-week period to become Green Belt and a member of Black Belt Poker’s increasing pool of sponsored players. If anyone was deserving of this win, it was Andy.

Playing under the moniker ‘RedKiteBlackBelt’, Andy dominated League IV throughout, topping the league table after the first couple of weeks before cementing his spot with a string of consistent, yet impressive performances. Heading into Tuesday’s final leg, Andy was 15 points ahead of his nearest rival and a gnat’s pubic hair away from victory.

One of few players who could throw a spanner in the works was second place Anthony ‘Perseus10’ Hewitt, but with 35 players participating in leg seven, Anthony could only hope that Brisland made a misclick or played under the influence. Neither of those happened, and Andy ultimately finished just one place behind Anthony in seventh to seal the deal and officially become the Black Belt Poker League IV Champion.

“Thank you,” said Andy graciously on a recent thread,” Can never get enough praise ;-). I second the comments made in a number of places as to how good the standard is, and what a great game this is. Hopefully we will increase the ‘hardcore’ numbers and have a well-structured competition that will grow and grow.

The winner of leg seven was Blue Belt Gavin ‘TFMonty007’ Hall, whilst also making the final were Poker Million finalist Peter ‘PeterV1972’ Vasiliou and London Live last longer Tom ‘Werrrrd’ Drew.

1st TFMonty007 -- $70
2nd PeterV1972 -- $43.75
3rd miggggy -- $28
4th losbert40 -- $19.25
5th deadlydaveLDN -- $14
6th Perseus10
7th RedKiteBlackBelt
8th Werrrrd
9th TeeDeeEye1

The above results meant we had our final league standings, the top 10 of which included a former league winner in Adam ‘JHobbit1’ Saunders, and recent Dublin 3 member and current Blue Belt Owen ‘Ruaction’ Robinson.

1st RedKiteBlackBelt -- 301 points (£600 Boot Camp Seat & DeucesCracked token)
2nd Perseus10 – 287 points (1,000 Belt Points & DeucesCracked token)
3rd ParlourMan – 268 points (850 Belt Points & DeucesCracked token)
4th russellhansen – 265 points (750 Belt Points & DeucesCracked token)
5th cleavortrevor – 246 points (600 Belt Points & DeucesCracked token)
6th ourkidsid – 242 points (500 Belt Points & DeucesCracked token)
7th JHobbit1 – 237 points (400 Belt Points & DeucesCracked token)
8th mavperth – 236 points (300 Belt Points & DeucesCracked token)
9th Ruaction – 232 points (200 Belt Points & DeucesCracked token)
10th losbert40 – 228 points (100 Belt Points & DeucesCracked token)

Black Belt Poker will be looking to launch League V in the upcoming weeks with a brand, spanking new prize, so keep an eye out for that. In the meantime, our congratulations go out to Andy and all 10 finalists and we look forward to seeing you in the next league.

Click here to read Black Belt Poker’s exclusive interview with League IV winner Andy Brisland.

Movers & Shakers – April

April was a rather subdued month by Black Belt Poker standards, with ‘moving and shaking’ being confined to the Orange Belt region. In all, 20 new Orange Belts emerged from the musky depths of Yellow including Poker Million finalist Peter Vasiliou and Black Belt Poker featured blogger Hugo Martin. All Orange Belts will now be able to earn community points, as well as participate in the monthly Orange Belt Freeroll.

Although it would appear as though players are becoming comfortable with a particular Belt, we did see one familiar face make a comeback, former Brown Belt and Vegas 8 member Adam Latimer rising like a phoenix from the flames after a University-induced hiatus. Adam has jumped back up to Purple Belt, and will be looking to climb another rung or two in the next four weeks.

Adam couldn’t have picked a better time to return to the fray, as this month, Purple Belts have been given a brand, spanking new incentive. As well as earning points at five times the rate, we are now hosting a Live Backing Freeroll, the winner of which will receive sponsorship into the $80,000 Guaranteed Monthly freezeout at Dusk Till Dawn. The freeroll will take place on the last Thursday of every month on the Black Belt Poker skin and will be exclusive to Purple Belts, meaning only a limited number of players will be able to enter.

Black Belt Poker would like to congratulate the following players on their achievement and wish you the very best of luck at the tables for the month of May:

Orange:

Brian Gallagher
Gary Robb
Peter Vasiliou
Simon Shaw
Gary Brown
Tariq Ebrahim
Nick Spiers
Matt Smith
Hugo Martin
James Riggs
Adriena Nutt
Robert Watkins
Matty Johnson
Stephen Woodman
Gianluca Ragusi
Chris Conlon
Andy Erskine
George Cunningham
Trevor Myers
Joseph Byrne

Purple:

Adam Latimer

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.

Vote Quad Aces - Tonight!

Whilst you may well be spending the day contemplating which box to cross, Black Belt Poker are offering a much easier decision with the third leg of our Quad Aces promotion. With two legs remaining, you could still go to Vegas for less than a tenner!

As always, the event is a $2+0.20 No Limit Hold’em freezeout starting at 7pm. Whoever wins will earn the Ace of Hearts, and be just one tournament away from a week’s holiday in the City of Sin. Already picking up wins are Rob 'SirNutFlopper' Westonand Sean ‘SeanEuphoria’ Gundy, both of whom are vying for three Aces.

Ace of Diamonds (A1) = Grand National –Saturday, April 10 – won by SirNutFlopper
Ace of Clubs (A2) = London Marathon –Sunday, April 25 – won by SeanEuphoria
Ace of Hearts (A3) = General Election – Thursday, May 6
Ace of Spades (A4) = FA Cup Final –Saturday, May 15

One Ace: 500 Belt Points
Pair of Aces: Vegas Holiday – flights and accommodation for a week in LV
Set of Aces: $1,500 WSOP buy-in plus flights and week’s accommodation
Quad Aces: $10k WSOP Main Event package, including flights and accommodation

Each leg, we offer players the chance to win a bonus prize in our Quad Aces Bonus Tourney, a $3+0.30 No Limit Hold’em rebuy at 9pm. To be eligible for the bonus, the winning player must accurately predict the first constituency to be declared. Last week’s winner failed to even make a guess, so thus missed out on the chance of a free seat into the Weekly $250k Guaranteed event on Black Belt Poker worth $320. To submit your prediction, please post your answer on the relevant thread in 'Groups', 'Promotions' tab.

To participate in the Quad Aces promotion, simply open up the lobby and find the relevant tournament in ‘scheduled’ > ‘Black Belt tournaments’. If you don’t currently have an account, then signing up is easy: just download the poker client the software and follow the simple steps provided.

Click here for all the details of our Quad Aces promotion.

Become a WSOP Warrior

Imagine a man smeared with face paint, bursting into a WSOP event and sprinting around the cardroom before shaking the tables up and down furiously. Everyone watches on in bemusement as the man is apprehended within seconds, dragged through the scattered cards and chips to an exit and turfed out of the venue.

It's unlikely The Ultimate Warrior's head-banging antics would float in any casino and we wouldn't recommend you follow suit anyhow. However, if you were to win one of the many packages up for grabs in this month's WSOP Super Warrior League, we would completely understand, and admittedly be a little concerned, if you felt the pulsing urge to rampage across your town in celebration, hyperactively gorilla pressing whatever you get your hands on.

For a one off $300+20 buy-in, the WSOP Super Warrior League will pit you against other would-be warriors in eight battles across May, with two taking place every week; Sundays and Tuesdays at 7pm (GMT). The top 100 warriors at the end of the league are set to win prizes from a pool of packages totalling $150,000.

The aim is to accumulate points from each event and finish in the top 200 by the end of Event #8. The cream of the crop will then get to wrestle it out in an exclusive ninth event - the WSOP Warrior Grand Final, taking place on Sunday, May 30, 2010.

The schedule is as follows:

Event #1 – Sun, May 2 (7pm) – No Limit Hold’em Freezeout
Event #2 – Tue, May 4 (7pm) – No Limit Hold’em Turbo Freezeout
Event #3 – Sun, May 9 (7pm) – No Limit Hold’em Six-Handed Freezeout
Event #4 – Tue, May 11 (7pm) – No Limit Hold’em Deep Stack Freezeout
Event #5 – Sun, May 16 (7pm) – No Limit Hold’em Turbo Freezeout
Event #6 – Tue, May 18 7pm) -- No Limit Hold’em Six-Handed Freezeout
Event #7 – Sun, May 23 (7pm) – No Limit Hold’em Freezeout
Event #8 – Tue, May 25 (7pm) – No Limit Hold’em Turbo Deep Stack Freezeout
Event #9 – Sun, May 30 (7pm) – Grand Final: No Limit Hold’em Freezeout

Event #1 has already taken place, but don’t worry, as you can still get involved. For a reduced fee of $270+18, you can join in the fun from Event #2 onwards, and vie for your seat in the WSOP Main Event. And even if you miss Event #2, you can still buy in before May 9 for $240+16.

If by Event #8 you are in the top 200 performers, then you will be automatically entered into Event #9’s Grand Final, where points will be worth double.

Prizes for the Warrior League are as follows:

1st The Warrior Package ($25,000, 13 nights)
2nd Main + side events ($20,000, 17 nights)
3rd Main + side event ($17,000, 13 nights)
4th Triple side events($13,500, 7 nights)
5th Triple side events ($7,500, 11 nights)
6th Extended side events ($7,500, 11 nights)
7th Extended side events ($7,000, 9 nights)
8th Extended side events ($7,000, 9 nights)
9th Side Events ($5,500, 9 nights)
10th Side Events ($5,500, 9 nights)
11-20th WSOP Super Sat Token ($535)
21st-30th WSOP Super Sat Token ($320)
31st-100th WSOP Warrior Freeroll Entry ($26,000)

This is a great opportunity to become a WSOP Warrior and play in this year’s Main Event. To play, all you have to do is open up the Black Belt Poker lobby and click ‘WSOP Warrior’. If you don’t currently have an account, then signing up is easy: just download the poker client the software and follow the simple steps provided.

For more details including prizes, points, and terms and conditions, please click here.