Mark Hughes’ first battle as the new Fulham boss is to either persuade Australian keeper Mark Schwarzer to stay or get busy signing a replacement.

With Arsenal pressing for Schwarzer’s signature bookmaker Paddy Power quotes the arrival of current West Ham United goalkeeper Rob Green as the 9/4 betting favourite as the first player to be signed by Hughes.

Roberto Coladangelo spokesman for Paddy Power said: “Mark is going to be a busy man in the next couple of weeks as the new season looms large on the horizon. If Schwarzer goes he will have to concentrate on replacing him but out of goal Mohamed Al Fayed has reportedly given him a reasonable budget to add to the squad that has had two of their best seasons in history.”

The new Cottagers’ boss may then turn to his old squad at Manchester City to bolster the Fulham team and potentially swoop for; Craig Bellamy 3/1, Stephen Ireland 5/1 and Roque Santa Cruz 6/1 to join him in West London.

Latest Betting Odds – First Fulham FC Signing

9/4 Green, 3/1 Bellamy, 5/1 Ireland, 6/1 Santa Cruz, 6/1 Keane, 15/2 Young, 12/1 Scharner, 12/1 Utaka. Continue..

There is no doubt that Facebook is one of the most successful online social networks and is somewhat of an addiction for some people. Even online sportsbooks are offering betting types on just how big facebook will grow to be. Facebook is a connection to the online world. Facebook has only been around since 2004 and was created by a group of students from Harvard University. It is a well known fact that some of the most brilliant minds come from Harvard University, but it is still hard to believe that 3 students created the Facebook system in just a week’s time. Facebook was an instant hit with their fellow students. Within a matter of days after launching Facebook, nearly the entire University had become members.

It was the college crowd that really latched onto Facebook. Within 2 years it had been a topic of conversation at nearly 2,000 Universities. Facebook has said to be the next up and coming Google. Facebook is the only system next to Google and Youtube that has gained such a wide fan base in such a short amount of time. It is said that close to 15,000 members join daily, making it one of the most profitable web sites. Facebook is worth an estimated 10 billion dollars.

While Facebook first attracted a user base full of young college kids, more than 50% of its members are over the age of 35. Facebook is one of the best online sources to reconnecting with lost loved ones. Facebook is accessible from almost every cellular phone and applications are even available on things such as the iPod touch. It is almost impossible to get away from Facebook these days. Anyone who likes to catch up on the daily drama is sure to be an avid Facebooker.

There is no telling just how big Facebook will get. One thing that is certain is that Facebook is and will continue to be one of the most utilized online social networks. Online sportsbooks are predicting that in the near future, Facebook will in fact reach over 1 billion users. Entertainment betting odds list the time frame in which it will take to get there, but at the rapid rate that Facebook is growing, there is no telling.

1 Billion Users?

1 Billion Users?
Singles Only. Applies to when Facebook officially reaches 1 Billion Users (1000 Million) according to Facebook. PP decision is final in settlement.
2010     100/1
1st Half 2011     33/1
2nd Half 2011     10/1
1st Half 2012     5/2
2nd Half 2012     9/4
1st Half 2013     2/1
2nd Half 2013     4/1
2014 or Later     5/1

Patrik Antonius was born in Vantaa, Finland on the 13th of December, 1980. Ever since he was a young boy Patrik was very competitive and excelled in many sports including hockey, soccer and tennis. When Patrik turned 13 his tennis coach felt he was good enough to turn pro if he focussed solely on tennis. Patrik decided to do just this and spent the rest of his teenage years playing tennis. It was at the tennis club that Patrik learnt how to play poker. Many of the players would play cards on their training breaks. As fate would have it Patrik would get a long break to practice his poker playing when he fell injured from a bulging disc in his back.

When Patrik turned 18 he decided to see how his skills from the tennis club faired in a real casino. Patrik entered a small buy-in hold’em tourney and won on his first attempt. This was the start of things to come for Patrik Antonius.

After his initial injury Patrik hit the courts hard and regained his skill and promise, but it seems Patrik was destined to be a poker player, not a tennis star. Just before his first professional match Patrik reinjured his back and was forced out of the tournament. During this break from the game Patrik did many things to get by including modelling, coaching tennis and serving. But none of these things really quenched Patrik’s thirst for competition. He instead started to hit the Helsinki casino and build up his poker bankroll.
Patrik was beating the live games consistently, but it was when he made his first deposit online that the money really started to roll in. Patrik was able to turn a $200 deposit into $20,000 in just two short months and then turned that $20K into $80,000 within the year. Patrik loved the fact that he could multi-table online because this greatly increased his hourly ROI.

Patrik made his way to the States on a tennis scholarship after his back had healed. He made a trip out to Las Vegas after the year of school and played the game with many top pro’s. He didn’t fair too well on this trip, but the professional players told him he had what it takes to succeed when he headed back to Finland he had the drive to improve.

Patrik is most well known for playing in the biggest cash games around both live and online, but his tournament record is also quite good. Patrik went on a three month tear winning $70,000 in a Scandinavian poker tournament, then won $145,000 for a 3rd place finish in Barcelona and capped it all off with a $343,000 win at EPT Baden.

After these wins Antonius decided to move to Vegas to take the poker world head on. Antonius has more than $2,000,000 in tournament winnings, but his real money comes from cash games. In fact since the beginning of 2009, Antonius is by far the biggest winner online with a profit of $4.87 Million since January. Not only does Patrik have the skills, but he also has the looks. The camera loves him and for this reason he has been showcased on a ton of poker television shows.

Patrik Antonius is a full member of team Full Tilt and you can often find him playing the highest limits online and swapping $500,000 pots with fellow high stake players. Antonius is currently playing in the Durrrr Challenge against Tom ‘Durrrr’ Dwan in what was a big challenge in the online poker world.

Article source www.fulltilt-pokerbonus.com

Earlier this week, the stars hit the blue carpet for the 888poker party held at the Vanity night club at the Hard Rock Casino in Las Vegas. Shane Warne, Jeff Fenech, Leo Margets, Annette Melton and all of the 888poker online poker qualifiers were there to enjoy their last big night on the town before the Main Event kicked off.

While Warney wasn’t able to bowl over too many opponents, Jeff Fenech is still throwing punches in the Main Event and looking good for a cash result.

PokerNetwork’s own Lynn Gilmartin crashed the party and caught up with all of the 888poker stars.

What does a player who has won a WPT Championship and a WCOOP Main Event do for an encore?

Winning the WSOP Main Event wouldn’t be a bad option.

After getting shut out of the Main Event last year on Day 1d, Yevgeniy Timoshenko is playing in poker’s big dance for the first time this year.

The 22-year-old has done well, building a huge stack on Day 2a, despite sitting at a table that includes Full Tilt Poker Pro Matt Hawrilenko

“Today has been great,” he said on the dinner break. “I built 48k up to 225k so I’m doing really well.”

It shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone who has followed Timoshenko closely over the last few years.

The Seattle, Washington, poker pro has amassed over $5 million in less than three years of playing poker and is considered by his peers to be in the upper echelon of tournament players.

“In my opinion, this kid has to be considered one of the best No-Limit Hold’em tournament players in the world,” said Jason Mercier earlier this year.

“His results speak for themselves, he is insanely tough to play against and I know I wouldn’t want him at my table.”

Timoshenko seems to be adapting to the Main Event well, confusing his opponents more and more with every play he makes.

“I think the Main Event is a lot more like a Sunday Million than a WPT Championship or a WCOOP Main Event,” he said. “The field is much larger and there are many more inexperienced players.”

Timoshenko conceded that he hasn’t had the greatest WSOP with only two small cashes in the preliminary events but after two days of the Main Event he’s already decided it’s his favorite tournament of the year.

The 2010 WSOP continues through July 17. For comprehensive coverage of the WSOP tune in to PokerListings’ Live Updates and News.

It wasn’t the last of the tournaments at the 2010 World Series of Poker, but it was the last of six $1K NLHE events, meaning it was the last opportunity for players to get in at a bargain price and compete for the coveted gold bracelet. While there were certainly a number of pros looking for another chance at a win – or at least a significant cash – the event was going to draw a mostly amateur-heavy field that would give anyone and everyone the chance to take it down.

There were 3,844 players who took that chance over the first two starting days, and they created a collective prize pool of $3,459,000. The 586 players who survived their first days returned to sit together on Day 2, where they played into the money so the last 396 of them could get paid, and worked their way down to only 47 players. Day 3 allowed them the time to find a final table, and with the elimination of Johnny Kitchens late in the evening in tenth place, that left nine ready to bag their chips.

Those nine players were set up at the final table with the following chip counts:

When the last nine competitors returned to play for the win, they were competing against Day 1A of the WSOP Main Event, but only one of those two events was going to award a bracelet on Monday, June 5. That was Event 54.

It didn’t take very long for Dorrance-Bowman to be put to the test. Peters started the hand with a raise, Tollefsen called, and Kerr reraised all-in for about 880K. Dorrance-Bowman called from the big blind with 10♥-10♣, and after Peters and Tollefsen folded, Kerr showed A♥-Q♦. The flop of 5♠-4♣-A♠ immediately gave Kerr the advantage, and the 8♠ on the turn and 9♠ on the river allowed that top pair to stand. Dustin Dorrance-Bowman was gone without much delay in ninth place taking with $45,286 with him.

Moen hadn’t been able to overcome his initial short stack, and with about 325K remaining, he pushed preflop. Peters made the call with 5♣-5♥, which dominated the 3♦-3♥ of Moen. The board of 9♦-A♠-10♦-6♣-A♥ changed nothing for either player, which allowed Peters to scoop the pot, while Espen Moen exited in eighth place with $59,020.

And then a big hand developed, one that would indicate that the players were ready to finish it without delay. Vonk raised to kick things off, and Chaudhari reraised all-in for his last 680K. Lupton came over the top all-in from the big blind. Vonk almost immediately called both players and had them covered with Q♠-Q♦. Lupton showed A♦-K♥ for the coin flip hand, but Chaudhari could only muster 4♦-4♠. The board brought nothing as it came J♣-8♠-10♦-8♣-6♠ but a pair of eights, and that gave Vonk two pair. Mehul Chaudhari walked away in seventh place with $77,633, and Matthew Lupton followed in sixth place with $103,061.

Tollefsen and Peters got into a preflop raising war that found Peters moving all-in and Tollefsen eventually calling for his tournament life. Peters showed K♥-10♠, and Tollefsen had A♠-Q♥, but Peters hit the flop when it came 2♠-10♥-J♥. And the 10♦ on the turn gave him trips. The 7♣ on the river ended the hand and eliminated Henrik Tollefsen in fifth place with $138,107.

Four-handed play took awhile. It started with Peters climbing into a massive lead. Jessen doubled through Vonk and removed himself from severe danger, while Vonk then doubled through Peters. Kerr also doubled through Peters, and the latter found himself out of the lead.

Jessen was short and doubled through Kerr to stay alive, but he found the urge to try it again with a bit over 1 million chips. Vonk made the call with A♦-J♥, and Jessen showed K♣-Q♥. The flop of 10♠-4♠-9♠ had no effect on the hands, but the A♥ only solidified Vonk’s lead in the hand. The 7♦ on the river officially sent Nathan Jessen out of the tournament with $186,818 for the fourth place finish.

Kerr then had problems holding on to his chips, though he did double through Vonk once. Kerr then got involved with Peters to see a 5♣-J♠-9♠ flop. Peters bet and Kerr called to bring on the Q♣ turn. Peters bet again, and that time prompted Kerr to move all-in. Peters called with Q♠-9♦ and two pair. Kerr showed J♣-6♣ for the flush draw and pair of jacks. The 9♣ on the river made the flush but gave Peters the full house and the pot. Paul Kerr was eliminated in a painful way in third place, which was worth $255,076.

Heads-up play then began with the following chip counts:

Vonk came on strong during the confrontation, but Peters came back and was able to take the lead by the dinner break. Peters then returned from dinner to increase his lead as he moved up above the 8.68 million mark. That was when Vonk doubled up to stay alive, then doubled up to move into his original heads-up lead.

Peters decided to push his last million chips with K♠-8♣, and Vonk called with A♥-3♥. The board of 7♦-A♣-8♥-4♠-9♦ gave Vonk top pair, and David Peters was eliminated in second place with $350,803.

Mark Vonk of the Netherlands won Event 54 and became the first Dutch player to ever win a no-limit holdem WSOP bracelet. With that honor and piece of gold came $570,960 for the victory.

He stunned the world of poker after beating a record-breaking 5,618 player field in the World Series of Poker 2005, where he won a tremendous prize cash sum of $7,500,000. That’s right, we’re obviously having Joseph Hachemin mind, also known to some as Joe Hachem.

Born in Lebanon, Joseph Hachem moved to Melbourne, Australia in the early 1970s where he worked as a mortgage broker, and later on a chiropractor. Joe is married and now a father of four children. We assume he is a good provider by now.

Hachem began playing poker at a serious level in 2003 and became a well-known character at the tables in Australia. His success was only in small numbers and his full time job lasted for quite some time, until he faced Aaron Kanter with a short stack in a tournament he was not supposed to win.
In early 2005, Hachem was tempted to join the World Series of Poker main event, after his friend had won a trip and the entry fee on Poker Stars. Instead of attempting to win a qualifier online, he paid the full sum of $10,000. The fact that Hachem had already finished at 10th place at an earlier WSOP $1,000 NL tournament prompted him to make yet another attempt. His take on the main event was probably the best investment in his life as he lasted all the way to the heads-up against Steve Dannenmann. Not only did Joe beat him. He won with one of the lowest starter hands in the history of WSOP, after being dealt 7-3 of spades. Hachem went for a gutshot and called a pre-flop raise and realized that when the flop dealt 6-5-4, he was just two cards away from $7,5 million. A minute later the venue was filled with excited Aussies who couldn’t believe that their countryman was the winner.

Today, Hachem still plays poker at a very high level. Despite winning the largest poker tournament in the world, Hachem invests a lot of time at the online poker room tournaments. He is currently endorsing Poker Stars and has always done so, even before winning WSOP 2005. With over 100,000 raked hands, you are not that unlikely to find him at some of the high stake tables. So what are you waiting for? Go hunt some Lebanese.

Article source www.everypoker.com

For a holiday weekend, the one that finds the 2010 World Series of Poker winding down in preparation for the Main Event, Saturday was no day of rest. There was quite a bit of action going on at the Rio in Las Vegas on July 3.

Sure, the schedule was void of any new preliminary events. The only new tournament listed was the $5K buy-in Ante Up for Africa, but that was not an official WSOP bracelet event. In fact, as poker media has discovered in the past, its reputation of being friendly to the poker media has not been stellar, so many poker reporters do not even cover it anymore. Regardless, the charity tournament drew a solid crowd of fans and mainstream media, all to raise money for a good cause.

The rest of the WSOP schedule included two final tables and two events into their second days. The PLO championship was seeking its winner, though with 33 players still left in the field, there was a chance there wouldn’t be a final table until the following day. The only sure thing was the $25K NLHE 6-max final table, as it was set the previous night and given an extra day, contrary to the preset schedule, to play it out on Saturday. Day 2 was in the works for the last $1K NLHE of the Series as well as the $2,500 NLHE. With the very last bracelets of 2010 – besides the Main Event one, of course – up for grabs, no one was walking away without one very easily.

In addition to all of those events, the Tournament of Champions returned to the Rio in the evening hours in an attempt to play down to its final table.

There were a lot of uncertainties surrounding Day 37 of the WSOP, but the end was in sight for all of the tournaments. And the Main Event lurked just around the corner, as Monday would bring the last weeks of the Series and the biggest poker tournament of the year. Bar none.

Event 52: Day 4, $25,000 No-Limit Hold’em Six-Handed

This was, without question, the absolute final day of the $25K NLHE 6-max tournament. With so much money on the line and such an interesting table lineup, the decision was made to delay the actual final table until Saturday. The tournament that started with 191 players and a $4,536,250 prize pool had worked its way down to 78 players during Day 1, the last 18 players on Day 2, and the final table of six on Day 3. Though the top 18 received payment, it was the $1,315,518 first place prize that had a bull’s eye on it. And on July 3, a winner was determined.

Event 54: Day 2, $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em

It was the last of the $1K NLHE tournaments, and it kicked off on Thursday, July 1 with the first of two starting days. For those in town without massive bankrolls, or even those more seasoned players looking for another shot at the WSOP fame, it was a great opportunity to take a chance at some extra cash and the possibility of a bracelet.

From the two starting days, the total field added up to 3,844 players, which pushed the prize pool to $3,459,000. Upon the completion of both Day 1’s, there were 586 players still holding on to chips, though only 396 of them would be paid for their efforts. And every one of them was eyeing the $570,960 first place prize. With James Dempsey holding a massive chip lead over the crowd with a stack of 144,100 chips, players came together for Day 2 on Saturday.

Day 2 began with some pre-money bubble bustouts, including David Sklansky and Liv Boeree. As hand-for-hand play got underway, it took only moments for enough players to be eliminated to guarantee the last 396 of them some money for their efforts. Play moved on from there, with some of the notables shown on the payout list as George Lind, Yueqi Zhu, and Yuval Bronshtein. Hundreds of players lined up at the cashier cage to cash, while only 47 retained their seats in the tournament. When all chips were counted, David Peters had the most with 594K, followed by Sean Prendiville with 559K. The rest of the top five were Matthew Schulte, Mehul Chaudhari, and Dustin Dorrance-Bowman.

Play was scheduled to resume on Sunday to play down to the final table in preparation for Day 4.

Event 55: Day 3, $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Championship

Despite its $10K buy-in, the last championship tournament of the 2010 Series attracted a solid crowd of 346 players, making for a prize pool of $3,252,400, which included a first place prize of $780,599. Day 1 ended with 171 players still in the running, and Day 2 took the finalists into the money so the top 36 could get paid and wrapped for the night with 33 players holding on to their chips. Day 3 was supposed to be the final day of the tournament, pushing them on to the final table and through until a winner was declared, but it was going to be the call of the final table players as to whether they played through or postponed the final table until Sunday. And late into the night, upon the elimination of Jason Mercier in tenth place, it was decided to stop play until July 4 with the following final table set and ready to go:

Event 56: Day 2, $2,500 No-Limit Hold’em

It was the last – very last – opportunity to pick up a WSOP bracelet before the Main Event. Event 56 was the final preliminary event on the schedule, and its $2,500 buy-in deterred few who had the itch, wanted to play one last pre-Main Event tournament, and could scrape together the money to do it. Even with a 5:00pm start time, the field was solid.

The registration numbers showed 1,942 in the event and a resulting $4,466,600 pool, which included a whopping $825,976 amount for the winner alone. Day 1 took the field down to a more manageable 502-person field, but they were still quite a way from the money bubble that would allow the top 198 players to be paid.

Day 2 got off to a late start because of some logistics, but the tournament staff was ready to start an hour later than scheduled. Some of the first players to make their way to the rail once it all began were Nicolas Chouity, Men Nguyen, Jonathan Aguiar, and Matt Hawrilenko, but it wasn’t until later in the day that the money bubble burst. That allowed Thomas Guillaume to cash out for $5,044 in 198th place, and others who also received payment for their play included Jamie Gold, Lauren Kling, Dan Heimiller, David Singer, Robert Hwang, and Tom Franklin.

When the requisite number of levels were complete, there were still 73 players in the tournament, nowhere near the final table that was the goal of the day. The leaderboard showed James Mackey with 1,011,000 chips and the lead, and second place was held by Christian Jeppsson with 548K. The others in the top five were Alfonso Amendola, Michael Abdoulah, and Peter Kaemmerlen.

Action was set to resume at 3:00pm to play down to the final table and likely hold off on that last table until Monday.

Special Event: $5,000 Ante Up for Africa

The tournament was not a bracelet event, but a charity tournament held to benefit the Ante Up for Africa organization, which is dedicated to raising money and awareness about the humanitarian crisis in Africa, specifically Darfur. Annie Duke and Don Cheadle have raised millions of dollars for the foundation in only a few years. The $5,000 buy-in event was technically a regular poker tournament, as Nevada law prohibits tournament buy-in money from being donated directly to a charity, but all players were encouraged to donate all or some of their winnings to the cause.

The field consisted of many players from all backgrounds, but the focus was on the Hollywood celebrities, sports stars, and poker pros. Some of the names reported to be in the tournament were Evander Holyfield, Shane Warne, Matt Damon, David Alan Grier, Shannon Elizabeth, Montel Williams, Brad Garrett, Jerome Bettis, and Francesca Fioretti. All in all, there were 83 entries for the tournament and a prize pool set to pay out the top nine players.

All of the final table finishers donated some of their winnings to the charity, Gordon donating 100 percent of his first place prize money, and those players and their official payouts were:

1st place:    Phil Gordon ($129,086)
2nd place:    Shannon Elizabeth ($79,776)
3rd place:    Aleksey Filatov ($55,843)
4th place:    Carter Phillips ($40,676)
5th place:    Erik Seidel ($29,926)
6th place:    Jerome Bettis ($22,355)
7th place:    Barry Hartheimer ($17,930)
8th place:    Kyle Carlston ($14,945)
9th place:    Claire Renaut ($12,843)

Special Event: Day 3, $1 Million Tournament of Champions

The Tournament of Champions was scheduled to resume on July 3 to play down closer to the final table, but it seemed that no one shared that information with player Joe Hachem. Ultimately, with his absence from the action, the decision was made to postpone again, this time until 11am on Sunday, July 4.