British Poker Players

The EPT, sponsored by PokerStars, has issued a statement following the armed robbery that occurred yesterday.

_{The European Poker Tour has released a new statement following yesterday's armed robbery at the Grand Hyatt Hotel here in Berlin. This statement corrects some of the misreporting of the incident in the media...}

_{"Yesterday at approximately 2.15pm, an armed robbery took place at the European Poker Tour (EPT) event in Berlin. Nobody was seriously injured. Four armed men were involved in the robbery which targeted the tournament registration desk outside the tournament area.}

<sub>No shots were fired and the suspects quickly fled after a security guard intervened. The police investigation so far has shown that the suspects had a handgun and a machete. Contrary to tabloid reports, no Kalashnikov assault rifles or hand grenades were used. The suspects did not enter the tournament area and the money taken was substantially less than what has been reported.

The tournament resumed after a few hours and a police investigation is now under way. The tournament is taking place on the first floor of the Grand Hyatt Hotel at Marlene-Dietrich-Platz and is being held by SPIELBANK Berlin Casino.</sub>

_{The police are working closely with the EPT and SPIELBANK Berlin. Police are asking anyone who has information, video footage or photographs that might aid the investigation to contact them."}

Full Tilt Poker has launched a new, innovative form of poker called Rush Poker.

In essence this speeds the game up dramatically, meaning the action is continuous – almost like an arcade game.

The player pool is continually scrambled meaning each hand is played against a random selection of players. This negates the use of automated tracking software.

The minimum buy-in has also been increased to prevent boring short-stackers spoiling the game.

What this means is many more hands per-hour, which for rake-back earners means more money earned in the same time. Effectively a free pay rise!

Initially player reaction has been extremely positive. Players will no doubt evolve their own strategies for this new poker format over time, but for now, here are a selection of suggested Hints and Tips For Rush Poker:

• Raise limpers lots as they will often give up easily.
• Make small 3 big blind raises a lot, as many people will auto-fold.
• Always bet the flop after pre-flop raising, as many players will simply pass and move on to the next hand unless they flopped a monster.
• Don't limp small pairs in early position to flop sets. Raise to elicit folds.
• Disable the graphics if multi-tabling otherwise your eyes may hurt!
• As auto tracking software will not work, take manual notes. Open the note box while players are still to act, so it remains on screen once the hand is concluded and the players are scrambled.
• Before starting a session, take note of player names who are multi-tabling (their seat count is 2 or more). They are likely to be playing extremely tight.

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Not a British poker player, but a popular and familiar face on the UK poker scene - due in part to his 2002 victory in seminal poker program 'Late Night Poker' - Padraig Parkinson has added the inaugural Galway heat of the UK and Ireland Poker Tour to his list of honours.

Parkinson forms a hilarious and insightful commentary team with poker commentator and author Jesse May, and will no doubt have added a few new anecdotes to his collection during the course of this event.

The UK and Ireland Poker Tour is sponsored by PokerStars.

The Western in London has announced finalised details of their Christmas Cracker event.

The £250 freezeout commences on Friday 11th December at 8pm, and will conclude on Saturday 12th December.

There are 20,000 starting chips and a 45 minute clock.

Anyone wishing to satellite in can take part in a £20 rebuy super sat, on the Friday afternoon from 2.30pm.

The club can be contacted by phone on 0208 896 0033

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