Ryan ryang3691 Godson crucifies an 86-runner field to emerge victorious in Leg 6 of the Black Belt Poker League. He wins $129 and moves into third place on the leaderboard overall.

Despite a valiant effort from Craig craigsidders Sidders, he lost heads-up and pocketed $86. Meanwhile, congratulations to Richard nakgeela4 Dally who finished in the top ten for the third time in a row.

However, repeat success was not to be for last week’s winner… as RiverSiren exited the tournament in 23rd place.

Once again, 10 players cashed in this week’s leg. Congratulations to:

1st  ryang3691 -- $129
2nd  craigsidders -- $86
3rd  sceaga2 -- $53.75
4th  nakgeela4 -- $40.85
5th  tandy26 -- $32.25
6th  ElysiumJay -- $25.80
7th  tealcSVU -- $21.50
8th  bagpussrocks -- $17.20
9th  nickhem1 -- $12.90
10th  themackem1968 -- $10.75

The leaderboard sees a few changes as ryang3691’s win moves him up to third position overall. Steve FalconAyr Dickson now sits in second place whilst David livinginhope2 Hall has cruised to the top of the standings.

Here’s how the leaderboard is looking this week:

1st  livinginhope2 -- 498 points
2nd  FalconAyr -- 491
3rd  ryang3691 -- 463 points
4th  PhilDee64 -- 450 points
5th  NPStars1 -- 434 points
6th  7onyB – 415 points
7th  liquidpoker101 -- 413 points
8th  TeeDeeEye1 – 405 points
9th  13kendo13 -- 404 points
10th  Bartukbb -- 404 points
11th  eixip50 -- 400 points
12th  Barty1uk -- 399 points
13th  lionrampant27 -- 387 points
14th  Berajo -- 383 points
15th  craigsidders -- 378 points
16th  ToddCoxeter -- 369 points
17th  nakgeela4 -- points 366
18th  habbad -- 366 points
19th  RiverSiren -- 356 points
20th  bornTOflirt -- 355 points

Feeder satellites ran for both the Samurai and Nottingham Live. Congratulations to the winners who now go on to compete for their seats in the main events:

Monday, $5.50 Nottingham Live Feeder:

1st  sixnout -- Nottingham Live satellite seat ($30+3)
2nd  cheekyweeguy
3rd  losbert40
4th  SchnauzerSoze04

Tuesday, $5.50 Nottingham Live Feeder:

1st  paul6543 -- Nottingham Live satellite seat ($30+3)
2nd  LuckyJJhazan
3rd  MrsPeech
4th  losbert40

Tuesday, $5.50 Samurai Satellite Feeder:

1st  ourkidsid -- Samurai satellite seat ($35+3.50)
2nd  S0lution
3rd  JHobbit1
4th  gnomeeee

Tuesday, $5.50 Samurai Satellite Feeder:

1st  S0lution -- seat into $35+3.50 Samurai Satellite ($35+3.50)
2nd  JosseWales
3rd  losbert40
4th  gnomeeee

The Deepstack Mulligan came around again and attracted 21 runners. Congratulations to Anthony BoraBoraBoy Giuntini who took it down for a $126 pay day:

1st  BoraBoraBoy -- $126
2nd  OurKid888 -- $85.05
3rd  tristiano -- $47.25
4th  StilettoMafiosa-- $31.50
5th  Elysiumjay -- $25.20

This week the Orange Belt Freeroll offered a seat to Nottingham Live for the lucky winner. Barry JosseWales Styles finished top of the 49-strong field and secured his entry into the event for free.
The results from this week’s Orange  Belt Freeroll are as follows:

1st  JosseWales – Nottingham Live Seat ($200+20)
2nd  dionysian -- $33
3rd  TeeDeeEye1 -- $5.50
4th  LilJem -- $5.50
Join us next week when it starts all over again. Good luck!

Even if you don't have an account with Black Belt Poker, then it's not too late to join in the fun and partake in our many tournaments. Opening one is easy: simply click here download the poker client and follow the step-by-step provided.

Merry Men in League XV
Week 1 - 'UsainZeus' Sets Pace in League XV
Week 2 - 'Bas2604': Straight AheadWeek 3 - Happy as Barry in Leg 3
Week 4 - Orange Belt Roard to Victory
Week 5  - RiverSiren Sails to Victory in Leg 5

Neil Channing Finishes Second in Event #43

Last night under the bright lights of the Amazon Room, Neil Channing came within one card of fulfilling his ultimate poker dream and capturing his first ever World Series of Poker bracelet.

In event #43's $1,500 No Limit Hold'em freezeout, Neil bested all but one of the 2,770 field to finish in second place for a cash prize of $406,409 - but despite the financial fruits, the only thing on his mind when the final river fell was the elusive gold bracelet.

Heading into the final day, Neil lay in third place with more than double the average, and just a handful of small denomination chips behind then-leader Zach Clark. After a near-miss two years previous, this seemed like a great chance.

However, early signs suggested that the Poker Gods disagreed as Neil doubled up two short stacks to dip below the one million mark, the first of which saw his T-T versus Ac-5s unravelled by running clubs on a Jc-5h-3s flop.

Nevertheless, Neil remained focused and prudently maintained his stack as opponents began to fall. His patience was rewarded as he won a huge pot with a flopped set of kings to proceed onto the final table second in chips, with fellow Brit Tom Alner in fourth.

Neil would then go on a heater that would make the sun sweat, eliminating Jared Rosenbaum in ninth with Q-Q versus A-4, swiftly followed by Francois Dur (no relation) in eighth with Q-Q versus T-T.

Neil was allowed a rest by John Nelson who disposed of Hungary's Balazs Botond in seventh, before he re-donned his shades and leather jacket to terminate the next four players.

Hovan Nguyen was the first to hit the deck with J-4 no match for A-J, soon joined on the rail by Nelson (A-T losing to K-Q). Alner took fourth when J-8 ran into A-9, before former bracelet winner James Mackey felt the Channing wrath with K-Q versus 5-5 on an action-packed K-3-4-3-5 board.

This left Neil with a chip advantage of 4.5 to 1 and a gnat's nostril hair away from victory; the momentum was in his favour and it seemed as though nothing would deny him his date with bracelet gold.

The final battle, however, would prove more dramatic than an Eastenders Christmas cliffhanger with Neil unable to clear his final hurdle despite numerous attempts. Having been faced with less than two big blinds earlier in the day, Henry Lu had already showcased a never-say-die attitude that Neil would have to overcome.

Neil's opening stumble came when he doubled up Lu with A-J versus A-Q on an ensuing T-8-T-6-5 board. The lead swung back and forth, before Neil grinded back a 4 to 1 lead, but Lu doubled up for the second time when his A-K held firm against Neil's A-T.

After slipping down to 3.5 million, Neil sang his swan song in the early hours of the morning; his bread was buttered the wrong side with Ad-Jd unable to out-flip 4c-4h on a close-but-no-cigar 2h-3s-Qs-Kd-3c board.

Neil was understandably stunned as Lu celebrated with his rail, and collected the bracelet and $654,380 first prize.

But despite losing out on three consecutive all ins and being one river card away from adorning his wrist on two occasions, Neil was philosophical in defeat:

"It was 1997 when I first came to the WSOP in Las Vegas," he regaled. "I played my first bracelet event in 2001 and in the last few years I have played around 25 a year. At this rate I could be 90-years old before I finally win one of the damn things. I'd like to thank everyone for their support today and I hope you'll be around to cheer me on on the day it finally happens."

For now, he'll have to wait, and start his venture all over again - but that 'day' could be just around the corner as Neil will be returning to action this Thursday for the $5,000 No Limit Hold'em and subsequent $1,500 events, before setting his sights on the $10,000 Main Event in July.

If he's to get his hands on a bracelet, then doing so in October wouldn't be a bad move - and a rather fitting one, perhaps. As appears to be the common consensus this side of the Pond: No UK player deserves a bracelet more than Neil Channing. Let's hope Lady Luck agrees.

Official results:

1st  Henry Lu (United States) -- $654,380
2nd  Neil Channing (United Kingdom) -- $406,409
3rd  James Mackey (United States) -- $286,633
4th  Tom Alner (United Kingdom) -- $207,019
5th  John Nelson (United States) -- $151,338
6th  Hovan Nguyen (United States) -- $111,961
7th  Balazs Botond (Hungary) -- $83,802
8th  Francois Dur (France) -- $63,459
9th  Jared Rosenbaum (United States) -- $48,614

Channing Closing in on First Bracelet

Ever since entering his first WSOP tournament back in 2001, Neil Channing has been an avid member of the annual hunt for bracelet-gold. He's come close several times, but that elusive win has thus far evaded him.

Tomorrow he could achieve his goal.

With just 20 players remaining in event #43's $1,500 No Limit Hold'em, Neil sits in third place with 1,319,200, and just a couple of big blinds behind overnight chip leader Zach Ford.

Having already survived over 99% of the 2,770-strong field, Neil is in a great position to make the final table and adorn his wrist with poker's most illustrious prize - not to mention the $654,380 first prize.

"Transporting your whole life over here is quite a big chunk of my year," commented Neil in a recent interview. "If it was just about money, it would be better to just find a nice cash game at home and sit all day long in that and never bother travelling... But the bracelet, it matters."

Neil's journey to Day 3 was relatively smooth with few obstacles encountered along the way. At the end of Day 2, he held a credible 57,100 in chips, but quickly increased his stack when battle recommenced.

As the day progressed, he shot into the chip lead when his A-A held against A-K, before remaining in the top three by eliminating German pro Julian Herold with queens versus sixes.

At one point, he tweeted: "I have about 1.5m. If I saw a geezer with my stack I wouldn't be in a rush to 3-bet him with no hand, but luckily everyone is different."

Nevertheless, Neil stood firm and now heads into the final day with 19 others, including former bracelet winner James Mackey and online phenom Randy 'Nanonoko' Lew. Blinds will be 8,000 and 1,600 with a running ante of 2,000 and 623,250 average stack.

"The cards definitely helped me," added the 2008 Irish Open Champion," but it's always good to prove an idiot can do well in these things. It helps boost the numbers. I also really needed something to put in my next blog."

Other Brits who cashed were Najib Kammand, Sadan Turker, Ash Mason and Paul Foltyn, as well as Black Belt Sam Razavi who finished in 108th for $4,113. This was Sam's third cash of the Series from just four attempts, including a recent 33rd place finish in event #39 for $14,094.

In other news, Warren Wooldridge was unable to replicate his third place finish from last year when he bubbled the same event this time around. Event #44 attracted 2,949 hopefuls, but Warren fell inches short of the money when his jacks failed to unravel queens - to the chagrin of this week's 'Slice of the Action' winners.

Meanwhile, Richard Ashby has made it through to the second day of the $50,000 Poker Players' Championship. Whilst this doesn't say too much when every single one of the 104 entrants followed suit, he does carry over an inflated stack of 195,400 into today's proceedings.

Finally, congratulations to Blue Belt Jamie Burland who last night qualified for the Irish Winter Festival, just days before heading out to Vegas.

See our Vegas page for the latest news, Tweets and articles from the Black Belt Poker team in Vegas.

Former Champions Ambush Nottingham Live

The weather may be unpredictable, but if there's one thing you can rely on in this country it's the value at the Black Belt Live events.

With that in mind, Black Belt Poker are proud to announce the first three bounties at the upcoming Black Belt Nottingham Live II.

This August 10-12, the reigning Champions from all three of our Black Belt Live events will be looking to become the first ever two-time winner and add yet more silverware to the cabinet.

Returning to defend his title will be Stuart diiscostu Hyson. Affectionately named 'The Dyson' due to his ability to suck up chips, Stuart brushed aside the opposition in 2011 to capture the first prize of $15,500, which included $1,500 in bonuses for being an Orange Belt.

Joining Hyson in the hunt for legendary status is Peter semtex64 Wigglesworth who exploded his way to glory at the Black Belt London Live at the Grosvenor Victoria on Edgware Road. He collected $16,020 after topping a 414-strong field.

Completing the winning trio is online prodigy Sonny Spommo3 Pomroy. 21-years of age and brother of the infamous 'Dpommo', Pomroy proved that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree when he overcame a tough final table - that included Black Belt Richard Ashby - at the inaugural East End Live. He scooped $13,300.

If you think one title is enough for these guys, then think again, as Hyson served up some fighting talk as he prepares for his return visit to the East Midlands:

"I'm here to win, whoever said 'it's not whether you win or lose that counts'… probably lost."

But this time around, Hyson and his fellow Champions will have a bigger target on their head than usual, as they take their seat alongside a chocolate Bounty Bar - Black Belt Poker's now symbolic message of: 'Come and get me if you like added value... and chocolate.'

More bounties will be confirmed nearer the time with prizes and Belt bonuses announced next Monday, so keep your eyes peeled on the site for further news. In the meantime, be sure to check out our weekly satellites where you can secure your seat from as little as $5+0.50.

To register for the Nottingham Live, you can either buy in directly by locating the tournament in Scheduled > Black Belt Tournaments >Day 1A/B Nottingham Live 2012 or by purchasing a token from the Black Belt Poker Store.

For more information, see our FAQs.

RiverSiren Sails to Victory in Leg 5

Warren RiverSiren Posnett made waves this week when he topped the 77-runner field and took down the $115.52 first prize in the latest leg of the Black Belt Poker League.

Steve FalconAyr Dickson was stopped mid-flight when RiverSiren defeated him heads-up. Instead, second place had to suffice, but it was a result that sealed his position at the top of the leaderboard for another week.

The top 10 finishers in this week’s league game cashed. Congratulations to:

1st  RiverSiren -- $115.25
2nd  FalconAyr -- $77
3rd  PhilDee64 --$48.12
4th  Barty1uk -- $36.57
5th ivinginhope2 -- $28.87
6th  nakgeela4 -- $23.10
7th  stevegw -- $19.255
8th  habbad -- $15.40
9th  NPStars1 -- $11.55
10th  paul6543 -- $9.62

This week’s league game has resulted in a few changes on the leaderboard: TeeDeeEye1 and PhilDee64 have both moved up whilst livinginhope2’s fifth place finish means he stays in second position overall.

Last week’s league game winner, Malcolm lionrampant Sievwright, didn’t fare so well this time around; he was knocked out in 32nd place and so remains in 13th position on the leaderboard for the time being. Meanwhile, RiverSiren’s recent success means he just sneaks into 20th place.
Here are the top 20:

1st  FalconAyr -- 454 points
2nd  livinginhope2 -- 441 points
3rd  TeeDeeEye1 -- 390 points                                  
4th  PhilDee64 -- 375 points
5th  NPStars1 -- 374 points
6th  13kendo13 -- 369 points
7th  7onyB -- 366 points
8th  liquidpoker101 -- 363 points
9th  Barty1uk -- 354 points
10th  ryang3691 -- 352 points
11th  Bartukbb -- 336 points
12th  Berajo -- 335 points
13th  lionrampant27 -- 334 points
14th  eixip50 -- 330 points
15th  ToddCoxeter -- 318 points
16th  bornTOflirt -- 316 points
17th  45683ah -- 307 points
18th  habbad -- 299 points
19th  gazthechippy -- 299 points
20th  RiverSiren -- 292 points

Nottingham Live will be upon us before you know it… and two more players have secured their seats on the cheap in one of our Nottingham Live Satellites. Congratulations to Touagorimou and ryang3691 who snapped up the two guaranteed seats in Wednesday’s $30+3 qualifier.

1st  Touagorimou -- $220 entry in to Nottingham Live
2nd  ryang3691 -- $220 entry in to Nottingham Live
3rd  Snotterz
4th  paul6543
5th  StilettoMafiosa

The Mulligan Deepstack saw 18 entrants this week, but it was Purple Belt Paul paul6543 Romain who triumphed:

1st  paul6543 -- $121.50 (100 belt points)
2nd  RykanShadow -- $81 (30 belt points)
3rd  ourkidsid -- $40.50 (10 belt points)
4th  4KSuited -- $27 (5 belt points)
5th  Touagorimou -- (5 belt points)

There’s no better way to round up this week’s report than with the results of the Orange Belt Freeroll. There were four varyingly sized slices of action up for grabs this week - the following four players will now be keeping a keen eye on Warren Wooldridge’s WSOP progress:

1st  liquidpoker101 -- $100 slice of the action
2nd  RykanShadow -- $50 slice of the action
3rd bagpussrocks -- $25 slice of the action
4th  dionysian -- $25 slice of the action

That wraps up this week’s action. Join us again next week when it all starts over again. Good luck at the tables!


Previous Reports:

Merry Men in League XV
Week 1 - 'UsainZeus' Sets Pace in League XV
Week 2 - 'Bas2604': Straight AheadWeek 3 - Happy as Barry in Leg 3
Week 4 - Orange Belt Roard to Victory

Bradpiece: Close, But No Cigar

Like moths to a light - many lights, in fact, and bright ones too - the Black Belt Poker team are beginning to make their presence known in Vegas, with Brown Belt Jerome Bradpiece the latest to make the cross-Atlantic journey.

With hopes of surviving the coin-flipping culture of $1,500 'donkaments' and shining in his more favoured Pot Limit Omaha variant, Jerome has once again embarked on his campaign for bracelet gold, commencing his treasure hunt with event #26's $3,000 PLO.

As with 90 percent of the Rio's inhabitants, it proved a fruitless start, with a combination of bad luck and self-confessed missteps his downfall. Despite making Day 2, he struggled to surpass 25 big blinds and bust just 10 spots away from the money.

In his first venture into donkament waters, Jerome enjoyed a northward start when he escalated his 4,500 starting stack to 10,000, but it was, sadly, downhill from there:

"I played one hand poorly," he explained, "with 8h-6h on a Th-5-2h flop - the c-bettor had A-A, and this cost me an extra 1500 chips as I could have called the flop and turn, and folded the river.

"Having failed to learn my lesson, I then defended 8d-6d from the big blind to a button min-raise before getting it all in on a 9-7-Q all-diamond flop against… Ah-Ad! One of his five outs duly arrived on the turn and that was that."

His third event, the $5,000 PLO Six-Max, was equally frustrating as Jerome was unable to edge above his starting stack whilst "watching the worst player at the table scoop pot after pot". His swan song was performed with K-Q-T-9ss versus T-9-8-6 and A-A-x-x - and his dulcet tones couldn't save him.

So three down and the scores on the board are not to Jerome's liking, but he's remaining philosophical in defeat:

"A few years ago I endured a terrible run in Vegas, going over 30 tournaments without cashing, which made me question my skills, so it was comforting to hear Huck Seed bemoan a 35 WSOP non-cash streak, and amusing to learn his neighbour could trump that with a streak of 54, including 37 in one year. You know poker is getting tougher when the brags move on from how much money they've won to how many tournaments they can brick!"

And perhaps Jerome's positive attitude has begun to reap at least a glimmer of reward, as he experienced his first Vegas cash of the year: a min-cash in the daily deepstack. It couldn't recuperate all his buy-ins, but it broke a duck and got him off the mark.

Jerome's next event is today's $10,000 PLO - "my final chance to redeem myself at my best game" - before moving onto a bunch of $1,500s and then, finally, the granddaddy of them all: the $10,000 Main Event.

"Despite coming out later than usual I'm playing a heavier schedule, so of course I'm under-rolled," he concluded. "One year I will learn to cut my coat according to my cloth and not return home in July licking my wounds and needing to replenish my bankroll… I hope."

Play Samurai for a Fiver

Forget the dish perched on the outside of your house, or the ones floating in space and bouncing your iPhone messages around - the most important satellites this week are the ones for Samurai.

Starting at 20:00 this Thursday, June 21, Black Belt Poker will be hosting a weekly super satellite with a buy-in of $35+3.50 and one seat guaranteed into Samurai.

In order to cater for bankrolls of all sizes, there will also be two weekly $5+0.50 feeders into the super satellite. They will grace your monitor at 21:00 on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings with the first one taking place tomorrow.

Samurai is a $250+25 No Limit Hold'em event exclusive to Black Belt Poker players, meaning you don't have to wade through hundreds of players in order to win a big prize.

What's more, we're guaranteeing a prize pool of $10,000!

The next Samurai is set for Thursday, August 30, at 20:00. To buy in directly, locate the tournament in Scheduled > Black Belt Tournaments > The Samurai and select 'register'.

Tokens for both the Samurai Main Event and weekly satellites and feeders are now available in the Black Belt Poker Store. These can be purchased with Spending Points by logging into your community account at Blackbeltpoker.com and clicking 'Store'.

Last time, Alan fatty49 Vinson became the first ever Samurai Champion when he defeated 55 others to capture the crown and $4,480 first prize.

The lineup was tougher than a two-dollar steak with the likes of Toby Lewis, Praz Bansi, and Rupert Elder, but there were also 19 qualifiers who earned their seat via Black Belt Poker.
This time you could be one of those qualifiers, and all for just a fiver!

See our promotions page for all the details.

Orange Belt Roars to Victory

Malcolm lionrampant27 Sievwright beat an 87-strong field in Tuesday's League event to take down the $130.52 top prize, league points, and entry into our end-of-season Second Chance SNG.

His heads-up opponent was fellow Orange Belt Tony 7onyB Booth, who narrowly missed out on the win and will have to settle for $87 and eighth place on the leaderboard instead.

Congratulations to the 10 players who cashed this week:

1st  lionrampant27 -- $130.52
2nd  7onyB -- $87.00
3rd  RiverSiren -- $54.37
4th  45683ah -- $41.32
5th  Yosemity2207 -- $32.62
6th  13kendo13 -- $26.10
7th  FalconAyr -- $21.75
8th  ASSASSIN1111 -- $17.40
9th  gazthechippy -- $13.05
10th  nakgeela4 -- $10.87

Jemma LillJem Pateman was the unlucky bubble, whilst reigning Champion Craig ChipRead77 McKelvie and last week’s winner Barry JosseWales Styles also fell short and finished in 55th and 51st place respectively.

However, Stephen FalconAyr Dickson's second consecutive seventh place finish secures him his first place position on the leaderboard.

The current leaderboard standings are as follows:

1st  FalconAyr -- 360 points
2nd  livinginhope2 -- 358 points
3rd  13kendo13 -- 347 points
4th  TeeDeeEye1 -- 327 points
5th  ryang3691 -- 322 points
6th  eixip50 -- 315 points
7th  liquidpoker101 -- 312 points
8th  7onyB -- 308 points
9th  45683ah -- 307 points
10th  NPStars1 -- 303 points
11th  Bartukbb -- 297 points
12th  gazthechippy -- 290 points
13th  lionrampant27 -- 288 points
14th  PhilDee64 -- 285 points
15th  Berago -- 271 points
16th  Barty1uk -- 268 points
17th  wiggy7 -- 265 points
18th  ourkidsid -- 263 points
19th  bornToflirt -- 264 points
20th  adygolf -- 258 points

The new Champion of the Black Belt Poker League XV wins free entry into Nottingham Live at DTD in August. Don’t worry though if things aren’t quite going to plan, as this isn’t your only cheap route into the tournament of the year. The poker savvy will be following in the footsteps of this week’s satellite winners to secure their seats...

$15+1.50 freezeout, 14 runners:

1st  Sleazysock -- Nottingham Live Seat ($200+20)
2nd  cheekyweeguy
3rd  The8ofSpades
4th  hoover65
5th  ODPaul1982

$5+0.50 rebuy, 17 runners:

1st  dlamonby -- Nottingham Live Seat ($200+20)
2nd  2LAMCHOP2
3rd  0LuckBeerLady0
4th  Elysiumjay
5th  bas2604

$30+3 freezeout, 16 runners:

1st  S0lution -- Nottingham Live seat ($200+20)
2nd  ajaybhadresa -- Nottingham Live seat ($200+20)
3rd  insider66666 -- $18.00
4th  Chefa777 -- $12.00
5th  hoover65 -- $6.00
6th  BlapoBrat -- $4.00

The Mulligan Deepstack saw 23 runners this week. Congratulations to eixip50, taking home $138 for the win:

1st  eixip50 -- $138 (50 Belt Points)
2nd  jimmyt31 -- $93.15 (30 Belt Points)
3rd  tealcSVU -- $51,75 (10 Belt Points)
4th  myteamouse -- $34.50 (10 Belt Points)
5th  4KSuited -- $27.60 (5 Belt Points)

Finally, this week’s Orange Belt Freeroll was Satellite Sensation. Congratulations to Mark russellhansen Brassington for topping the 52-runner field. This week’s League winner lionrampant27 finished in fifth place and eixip50 followed up his Mulligan success with a seventh place exit.

The top 12 players won Nottingham Live satellite tokens:
1st  russellhansen -- $30+3, $15+1.50, $5+0.50 & $5+0.50 feeder tokens
2nd  UiliKoko -- $30+3 & $5+0.50 feeder tokens
3rd  maffew1 -- $15+1.50 & $5+0.50 feeder tokens
4th  bagpussrocks -- $15+1.50 token
5th  lionrampant27 -- $5+0.50 & $5+0.50 feeder tokens
6th  LillJem -- $5+0.50 & $5+0.50 feeder tokens
7th  eixip50 -- $5+0.50 & $5+0.50 feeder tokens
8th  livinginhope2 -- $5+0.50 feeder token
9th  gingerninga1111 -- $5+0.50 feeder token
10th  TeeDeeEye1 -- $5+0.50 feeder token
11th  KBV1TALS -- $5+0.50 feeder token
12th  sprinterz -- $5+0.50 feeder token

Join us next week when it all starts all over again.


Even if you don't have an account with Black Belt Poker, then it's not too late to join in the fun and partake in our many tournaments. Opening one is easy: simply click here download the poker client and follow the step-by-step provided.
Previous Reports:

Merry Men in League XV
Week 1 - 'UsainZeus' Sets Pace in League XV
Week 2 - 'Bas2604': Straight AheadWeek 3 - Happy as Barry in Leg 3

Good Fortune for Razavi

Last night, Sam Razavi proved he was more than just a face by taking down his first event since arriving in Vegas last week: the $350 Megastack at Caesars Palace.

Despite the combined use of the words 'mega' and 'stack', Sam managed to get his 25,000 in on the very first hand of the night on a T-K-J flop. He did have the nuts though with A-Q; his opponent had J-T for bottom two and failed to improve.

From thereon in, Sam didn't look back and sailed his way, first, into the money, and then the final where he boasted the title of chip leader with a mere 1.3 million of the 5.2 million in play.

Sam didn't release his foot off the pedal; instead, he donned leather jacket and shades and terminated every single one of his final table opponents. Three-handed, he was seated before so many chips that his soon-to-be victims offered him first place so they could split second and third.

Sam therefore took away the first prize of $13,000 without having to jump his final two hurdles.

But wait! There was a limited edition Caesars Palace card protector up for grabs, and his opposition requested that play continued so they could vie for this illustrious prize - Sam eliminated them both in the same hand to pop a cherry on his already creamy cake.

"This series is horrendously good value," he revealed in the aftermath. "People were opening for 10x, calling off 150 big blinds with A-J, and so on. If you can ride the waves, Caesar will bear you fruits."

"Incidentally, I had a Chinese meal just before the tournament," he added, "and the fortune read: 'You will be coming into a fortune'. Ominous…"

Something tells me that quite a few people in Vegas stumble upon that message…

This isn't Sam's first encounter with Benjamin Franklin and friends; in fact, he possesses the honour of being the first Black Belt Poker player to cash at this year's World Series of Poker when he finished 150th of 1,604 in event #16's $1,500 Six-Max.

"I was obviously pleased to cash in the first event I played," he beamed. "I busted just before the end of the night to Matt Matros, who went on to win. I also busted IPT Campione to the eventual winner too, and on both occasions they were drawing virtually dead on the flop. I knew I was holding the winner's chips; just hoped I'd be the one with them at the end!"

For his second event, Sam tackled one of the affectionately referred to 'donkaments'. After some mistimed "hero calls" during the opening levels, he regrouped the troops and rebuilt his stack up before running A-5 into 3-3 on an A-5-3 flop. In the words of his fellow Black Belt: "Marvellous."

Sam's other tournament venture before chowing down on Caesar's selection of fruits was event #23's Six-Max. Faced with a tough starting table, Sam slipped to 6,000 (from a starting stack of 9,000), before opting to "resort to the same Internet hero style of play all the other antisocial players were playing" and doubling up with the mighty 8-4 of spades.

"I got moved to Jake Cody's table," he regaled, "and there was one guy who was getting ridiculously lucky. When I found A-A versus his A-K, of course, he hit two kings. Why wouldn't he? I don't mind losing, but this one was hard to swallow as it would have given me a 150-big blind stack with 330 left of the original 960. I would have been in with a great shot, but it wasn't meant to be."

Sam's schedule tends to be results-dependent, and a fruitless start in Vegas will undoubtedly lead to him hotfooting it to Mexico "for a break before the Main Event rather than pressing the issue if things aren't going to plan".

His recent success may have eliminated that option, meaning the lineup will likely be as such:

Event #31 - $1,500 No Limit Hold'em
Event  #38 - $1,500 No Limit Hold'em
Event  #41 - $3,000 No Limit Hold'em
Event  #46 - $2,500 No Limit Hold'em
Event  #50 - $5,000 No Limit Hold'em
Event #53 - $1,500 No Limit Hold'em
Event  #56 - $1,500 No Limit Hold'em
Event  #61 - $10,000 No Limit Hold'em Main Event

Don't forget that you can follow the progress of our Black Belt Poker pros via our Vegas page where you'll find Tweets, blogs, articles and more.

Blue Monday; $145,500 in Overlays!

It was a Blue Monday this week as three Blue Belts secured their ticket to the World Series of Poker courtesy of the WSOP Experience Mega, a $200+15 satellite with a whopping 50 guaranteed packages up for grabs.

Jamie Burland, Andy Miles and Kevin Williams receive $1,500 in live tournament backing every month, and now they'll be vying for bracelet-gold in Sin City whilst staying in the luxurious Wynn Casino.

Also qualifying through Black Belt Poker were Mike Hill, Nick Mazur, Darius Demetriou, Christopher Barrow and Fraser MacIntyre, the latter of whom recently finished second in EPT Madrid for €290,000.

Despite recent sunny spells, it was raining value at the virtual felt as just 458 players created a mouth-watering $94,000 overlay. Among them were 50 Black Belt Poker players who formed over 11 percent of the field.

On the previous night, 437 competed over 20 Main Event packages worth $13,500 a piece, thus creating an overlay of $51,500. Once again, Black Belt Poker were out in full force with 51 entrants including Neil Channing, Sam Razavi, and recent iPOPS Live finalist Stuart Guite.

On this occasion, however, the fat lady sang a premature song. Whilst 'GeoUK' and 'iamthevalue' made the top 50, the biggest heartache was felt by Sonny 'Spommo3' Pomroy who missed out by just two spots in 22nd.

Pomroy - who won the inaugural East End Live in May - earned his seat through the WSOP Warrior League promotion where he was Black Belt Poker's highest finisher in 17th, once again a painful two places away from a package.

Having given away $190,000 in the recent iPOPS, you'd have thought iPoker would have learned their lesson, but they were equally generous for their WSOP Megas with a further $145,500 giveaway. That's $335,500 in added value over just three tournaments!

At this year's World Series, Black Belt Poker intend to shower you with yet more money with our Vegas Prize Fund. We expect around eight of our pros to play the $10,000 Main Event, and we've decided to share two percent of any winnings equally amongst our Orange Belts and above.

If this floats your boat, then check out our Rewards page now to see how easy it is to reach Orange Belt and become eligible for the promotion.

Owen to the Victory

On Thursday evening, Black Belt Poker hosted its second ever Grab a Grand, a quarterly freeroll exclusive to players who have maintained Orange Belt or above for a minimum of two consecutive months.

Once again, first prize served up a sumptuous buffet with the overall winner feasting on a cool $1,000 in online tournaments including the Samurai ($250+25) and $200,000 Guaranteed Sunday Blast ($100+9).

The eventual winner was Owen 'Ruaction' Robinson. He topped a 41-strong field that included tough opposition such as Bruce 'UsainZeus88' Jones, Kevin 'S0lution' Birt, and Paul 'paul6543' Romain.

A former Blue Belt from Ireland, Owen is a multiple UKIPT finalists, boasting a fourth place finish in the 2010 Nottingham leg for £21,400. The same year, he won two trophies at the Irish Open Awards: 'Break Out Year' and 'Player of the Year'.

"It's a very generous promotion," commented Owen, " and there can't be too many small-field freerolls with a $1,000 first prize. I didn't get to play the last Samurai tournament but I heard it was a lot of fun and it'll be good to play a decent buy-in six-max event.

"It'll also be nice to freeroll a Sunday with the Warm-Up and Sunday Blast ticket in the bag; hopefully I can convert the prize into an even bigger number. The Monday Night Omaha is a good one too and gets a lot of qualifiers. Surely there is no way I'll brick the lot, is there?..."

Our third Grab a Grand freeroll will take place in September. If you would like to compete for $1,000 in online tournaments and play in high buy-in events for juicy prizes, then make sure you hold onto that Belt for two months.

Even if you're a new member, there's still plenty of time for you to qualify. For example, if you make it to Orange Belt before July 1 and maintain for August and September, you'll get to play our Grab a Grand III. Easy.

Final Results:

1st  Ruaction -- $1,000 tournament package
2nd  tristiano -- $300 tournament package
3rd  UliKoko -- $100 tournament package

Happy as Barry in Leg 3

97 players were hoping to make it third time lucky this week as Leg 3 of the Black Belt Poker League took centre stage on Super Tuesday. The prize: $145.52, 122 league points, and entry into our end-of-season Second Chance SNG.

Former Champion and wooden spoon recipient 99Ranny fell short, as did reigning Champion ChipRead (73rd) and last week's winner bas2604 (73rd) - instead, the spoils went to Barry JosseWales Stlyes who pipped tealcSVU at the heads-up post.

1st  JosseWales -- $145.52
2nd  tealcSVU -- $97.00
3rd  nickhem1 -- $60.62
4th  nicenutter -- $46.07
5th  PhilDee64 -- £36.37
6th  NPStars1 -- $29.10
7th  FalconAyr -- $24.25
8th  cheekyweeguy -- $19.40
9th  Elysiumjay -- $14.55
10th  sprinterz -- $12.12

David livinginhope2 Hall's 12th place finish left him painfully short of the money, but elevated him to the top of the overall standings by six points. The brief reshuffle means that the top five are all Orange Belts.

1st  livinghope2 -- 300 points
2nd  ryang3691 -- 294 points
3rd  PhilDee64 -- 275 points
4th  FalconAyr -- 273 points
5th  Berajo -- 264 points
6th  13kendo13 -- 257 points
7th  TeeDeeEye1 -- 254 points
8th  eixip50 -- 249 points
9th  Bartukbb -- 240 points
10th  NPStars1 -- 239 points
11th  liquidpoker101 -- 236 points
12th  ourkidsid -- 227 points
13th  wiggy7 -- 223 points
14th  4KSuited -- 223 points
15th  UsainZeus88 -- 222 points
16th  jojosiejo -- 221 points
17th  bas2604 -- 220 points
18th  cheekyweekyguy -- 218 points
19th  Ourkid888 -- 215 points
20th  ToddCoxeter -- 212 points

The Champion over eights legs will receive free entry into the Nottingham Live at Dusk Till Dawn. For those battling the Poker Gods, then our weekly satellites offer an alternative route. This week saw two more players secure their seat:

$15+1.50 freezeout, 14 runners:

1st  Ka7ieVick -- Nottingham Live seat ($200+20)
2nd  ODPaul1982
3rd  bbwoold
4th  CareybearBBP
5th  Yosemity2207

$5+0.50 rebuy, 20 runners:

1st  nickhem1 -- Nottingham Live seat ($200+20)
2nd  TFMonty007 -- $20.25
3rd  ZoeRiZZ0 -- $13.50
4th  S0lution -- $6.75
5th  losbert40 -- $4.50

Meanwhile, Mulligan Master Kevin S0lution Birt returned to winning ways with yet another victory in our weekly Deepstack offering, this time topping a field of 30:

1st  S0lution -- $180.00 (50 Belt Points)
2nd  gotokalooki -- $121.50 (30 Belt Points)
3rd  nickhem1 -- $67.50 (10 Belt Points)
4th  ryang3691 -- $45.00 (5 Belt Points)
5th  RykanShadow -- $36.00 (5 Belt Points)

On the same night, Dean LAYERCAKE35 Watson won a WSOP Mega satellite token worth $200+20 - with 50 seats guaranteed in Monday's event, this could be one to watch.

1st  LAYERCAKE35 -- Nottingham Live Mega satellite token ($200+20)
2nd  eixip50 -- Mega Satellite feeder token ($40+4)
3rd  LillJem -- Mega Satellite feeder token ($40+4)

Finally, our No-Lose Yellow Belt Deepstack once again proved excellent value. the results were as follows:

1st  veg41 -- $31.00
2nd  PKRLocke -- $21.00
3rd  balgirl13 -- $13.50
4th  Barty1uk -- $10.50
5th  bluborg316 -- $8.50
6th  piotrQQgrabowski -- $7.00
7th  Flashly -- $6.00
8th  nakgeela4 -- $5.00
9th  hiddenacesBBP -- $4.00
10th  Wally19Sarannedipity -- £3.50

Join us next week where it all start over again:

Monday, 20:00 - $15+1.50 Nottingham Live satellite
Monday, 21:00 - $5+0.50 Nottingham Live feeder
Tuesday, 19:30 - League XV, Leg 4
Tuesday, 20:00 - $5+0.50 Nottingham Live rebuy satellite
Tuesday, 21:00 - $5+0.50 Nottingham Live feeder
Wednesday, 19:30 - Orange Belt Freeroll
Wednesday, 20:00 - $30+3 Nottingham Live satellite
Wednesday, 20:30 - $15+1.50 Deepstack Mulligan
Thursday, 20:00 - $1 Yellow Belt No-Lose Deepstack


Even if you don't have an account with Black Belt Poker, then it's not too late to join in the fun and partake in our many tournaments. Opening one is easy: simply click here download the poker client and follow the step-by-step provided.

Previous Reports:

Merry Men in League XV
Week 1 - 'UsainZeus' Sets Pace in League XV
Week 2 - 'Bas2604': Straight Ahead

WSOP: Mega Satellites; Mega Value

WSOP fever is spreading as gold adorns wrists and fat cheques enter pockets. At Black Belt Poker, it's not too late for you to get involved and join the ever-increasing list of bracelet winners, whatever your bankroll.

Over the next couple of days, iPoker are guaranteeing a gargantuan 70 packages to this year's World Series of Poker in Vegas across two amazing Mega satellites.

The value-fest kicks off tomorrow at 19:00, Sunday, June 10 with a $500+25 freezeout. 20 lucky players will turn off their monitor with a juicy $13,500 package, including entry into the $10,000 Main Event.

Then at 20:00 on Monday, June 11, there will be a $200+15 WSOP Experience satellite with a colossal 50 packages up for grabs. Yes, that not a typo - 50 packages to Vegas, guaranteed!

With the $190,000 overlay in the recent iPOPS, you'd think we'd learned our lesson, but our WSOP Megas are likely to continue the trend of madness with yet more giveaways.

Direct buy-in is now available via the tournament lobby, but if you're practising sensible bankroll management, then there are also ongoing satellites right up to each event with buy-ins from as little as $0.20+0.02.

You could play a bracelet event for just 22 cents!

There's a reason why these are called Megas - mega value, mega prizes, and mega fun. It would be a mega mistake to miss out.

See our promotions page for all the details including feeder schedule.

Strike Gold with the Vegas Prize Fund

The World Series of Poker is underway with several events already done and dusted. Whilst some of you will be lucky enough to witness poker's biggest event firsthand, the majority of us will be following the action from the confines of our laptop monitors and dreaming of partaking in next year's festivities.

If you fall into the latter category, then we've got some great news: this year, we're giving you the opportunity to play the Series vicariously through our pros and enjoy their success from the comfort of your own armchair.

For the $10,000 Main Event, we'll be injecting 2% of any winnings into a Vegas Prize Fund, which will then be shared equally amongst our most loyal players. To get your piece of the Black Belt pie, all you have to do is earn or maintain your Orange Belt by July 1. It's that simple.

For example, if the Black Belt Poker team win a total of $250,000, $5,000 will go into the Prize Fund. If there are 200 eligible Orange Belts and above, each player will be awarded $25 (5,000/200) absolutely free! If there are only 100 eligible, then that figure becomes $50, and so on.

"It kills me to have to give away two percent," commented 2008 Irish Open Champion Neil Channing, "as I really think that one of players could go all the way this year and win the Main Event. But we're going to do it anyway as a thank you to those who play regularly on the site."

Last year, we focused on side events and gave away $72.70 to 127 players, courtesy of Warren Wooldridge's third place finish in Event #56 for $288,946. With the Main Event offering survivors millions in prize money, you could be the recipient of even more free money!

There is no other way of purchasing a share, so this offer is exclusive to Black Belt Poker players. What's more, we'll be keeping you updated on the website with the latest news and action from the Rio as and when it happens. This is a truly plus EV opportunity, that could potentially serve up a tasty payday.

With the likes of Neil Channing, Sam Razavi and Jamie Burland, the team is bubbling with more talent than ever before, and we have high hopes of a positive return on investment, and maybe even a shiny, gold bracelet. And with the Vegas Prize Fund, you can share in their success. All you have to do is maintain your Belt and reap the rewards.