Online Gambling News and Promotions

APPT High Roller Event and PKR Heads Up Grand Slam Champion Vladimir ‘beyne’ Geshkenbein has put pen to paper to become the latest member of Team PKR Pro.

Having honed his skills on PKR.com‘s cash tables, the super-aggressive Russian earned an impressive win in the APPT High Rollers event earlier this year, pocketing $266,690 for the top prize. The 21 year-old from Moscow continued his amazing run with a victory in the inaugural PKR Heads Up Grand Slam, beating veteran Juha Helppi and boosting his bankroll by a further $120,000. Both wins have gained Geshkenbein the respect of fellow pros and more than justified his selection as the next choice to represent PKR.com.

‘beyne’ spent two years playing low and middle limits until January 2009, when he decided to take the game seriously and moved to Malta to play professionally. His meteoric rise has been phenomenal and he now plays regularly on the major tournament circuit.

PKR Marketing Director Simon Prodger said, “We have been following Vladimir’s progress for some time – he is an excellent poker player, charismatic, and fantastic to watch at the tables. He is a very active member in our community and consistently contributes content to our growing poker strategy repository, Raise Your Game.”

Matchroom Sport Managing Director Eddie Hearn, who produced the PKR Heads Up Grand Slam said, “Poker viewers are in for a real treat when they see Vladimir in action in the upcoming PKR Heads Up Grand Slam on Sky Sports in January. The game is all about personalities and ‘beyne’ has it in abundance… He is some player too!”

PKR player ‘PatIvey’ has gone down in PKR history after producing a performance which saw him claim back-to-back Masters titles.

A first in the tournament’s history, the 25 year old Swede claimed the coveted PKR Masters crown twice in consecutive months– scooping a huge $60,000 in the process. He then returned for a third month and despite making the final table with the chip lead, just missed out on the hat-trick – bringing home $11,250 for third place, and bowing out to Russian ‘ShatokhinNikita’.

On top of that impressive feat, ‘PatIvey’ continued his good run, with a Saturday Big Shot victory for $7,800 as well as a win in a $10,000 Guaranteed Prime Time tournament.

The up-and-coming online phenomenon from Norkopping commented on success and his recent hot-streak, saying “Of course you have to be lucky. But when I play I try not to risk all my chips on weak hands and I try to put the guys on what they have, and after that I make my play. If you have many chips it’s not wrong to be a fish and try to steal. But when you play tournaments you must have a combination of good play and luck. Sometimes you have that luck and sometimes you don’t, but you can always improve your own odds of winning – that’s the big clue I think.”

APT Macau Main Event winner Adrien ‘zlatan35’ Allain is the latest up and coming star to join poker’s coolest collective Team PKR Pro.
Following his success at this year’s APT Macau, which saw him take down the Main Event for $391,556 – an event he qualified for on PKR.com for just $5 – Allain has officially put pen to paper to become a fully fledged member of Team PKR Pro.

The 23 year old from Rennes in France has had an extraordinary run of form since joining PKR.com back in April 2008 including firsts in the Sunday $30K, the Saturday Big Shot and the Sunday $17K plus a sixth place at the PKR Live II Main Event – his first live tournament experience.

PKR Marketing Director Simon Prodger said, “We’re delighted to welcome Adrien as the eighth member of Team PKR Pro. He’s already proven himself at the highest level both live and online, and makes a fantastic addition to our stable of home grown talent. We’re also confident that his Adrien’s APT success will prove to be just the first in a long line of big tournament victories.”

Allain has also received praise from members of the highest echelons of the poker playing world with JC Tran commenting on his performance at the APT Main Event, “…congratulations to Adrien, he played good poker and is a deserving champion. To take down such a major tournament for just $5 is quite something – there’s no doubt he has great potential.”

Since his epic triumph, Adrien has continued to play on PKR under the username zlatan35 and is hugely popular among the site’s growing French community.

Next-gen online poker room PKR.com has released details of its 2009 Oktoberfest poker festival which will see ten tournaments played over as many days starting October 15.

A range of events have been scheduled to ensure variety and that every kind of player is catered for. Favourite formats such as Deep stack, Double Chance and the Terminator Bounty return to the roster while this year also sees the introduction of new events including Omaha Hi/Lo and re-buy tournaments plus the exclusive ‘Ante Special’ tournament.

The festival culminates in a variable freeroll where players get more chips added to their starting stack for every Oktoberfest tournament they take part in, meaning the more they play, the bigger their starting stack will be.
Cardroom Manager Neil Wright said, “This year’s Oktoberfest is even more accessible than ever with extremely affordable buy-ins. We’ve decided to run the festival alongside our new Primetime tournaments which have proved to be hugely popular, so now players can get the great value of Oktoberfest events and also have a shot at another top tournament – all in the same night.”

Satellites for each Oktoberfest tournament can be found on the day of the event in the PKR.com lobby.

PKR OKTOBERFEST 2009 SCHEDULE

DAY / EVENT / TIME (GMT) / BUY-IN

Thursday 15 October/ $12,500 GTD Six-seater /18:15 / $20

Friday 16 October /$15,000 GTD Deep and Steep /18:15 /$30
Saturday 17 October/ $10,000 GTD Rebuy /18:00 /$8
Sunday 18 October /$20,000 GTD Deep Stack /18:00 /$30
Monday 19 October /$11,000 GTD Double Chance /18:15 /$20
Tuesday 20 October /$4,000 GTD Omaha Hi/Lo /18:15 /$6
Wednesday 21 October /$12,500 GTD Terminator Bounty /18:15 /$25
Thursday 22 October /$5,000 GTD Omaha /18:15 /$20
Friday 23 October /$10,000 GTD Ante Special /18:15 /$20
Saturday 24 October /$15,000 GTD Deep Stack /18:00 /$30
Sunday 01 November /$5,000 GTD Variable freeroll /18:00 /$0

*All tournaments are regular No Limit hold‘em unless otherwise specified

Next-gen online poker site PKR.com has announced today the release of a Mac compatible version of its popular software, bringing the market-leading 3D poker room to Apple users worldwide.

The talented development team at PKR.com has confirmed that Mac users are now able to download and run the poker client on Intel based Apple machines running Leopard or Snow Leopard operating systems. The Mac version was enabled using TransGaming’s Cider portability engine and is available for free download at PKR Poker website.

Players will find the Mac release sports all the features of the Windows-based version including the embedded casino mini-games which can be played at any time while logged into the client.

PKR.com CEO Malcolm Graham said, “We are delighted to bring our award-winning software to Apple Mac users – who account for more than ten percent of the home computer market. With our community always at the forefront of our minds, we’ve moved in response to popular demand from some of our fan base who were, until now, unable to play PKR on their systems.”

This release marks yet another milestone for PKR.com, which saw its third birthday celebrations coincide with the registration of its three millionth player last month.

.Minimum system requirements for MAC users:
• Processor: Intel Core Duo Processor
• Operating System: Mac OS X
• RAM: 1024MB
• Hard Drive: Approximately1.5GB
• Graphics Card: Intel GMA X3100 integrated graphics chip, ATI X1600, NVIDIA 7300 GT (Intel GMA950 not supported)
• Internet Connection: Broadband

Team PKR Pros will be able to kick back in style as they tackle this year’s World Series of Poker Europe – thanks to PKR.com’s exclusive deal with the Xhilarate poker massage therapists.

As part of the partnership deal struck earlier this summer, Xhilarate will provide personal masseuses for all Team PKR Pros at London events. The first of these, the WSOPE, kicks off this weekend at The Empire Casino in London where the glamourous Xhilarate girls will be in full attendance providing relief and rejuvenation for PKR Pros James Sudworth, Ray O’Mahoney and Henrik Eklund in the $1K Event.

James ‘James666’ Sudworth will also have his own personal masseuse as he takes on the WSOPE Main Event and attempts to better his successful outing at this year’s WSOP, which saw him finish 7th in the $2,500 No Limit six-handed event for a cool $54,777.

The draw for the inaugural PKR Heads Up Grand Slam is complete, with poker fans in for a real treat as some of the world’s most talented poker pros descend on London for this exciting new event.

Highlights of the draw include 2008 WSOP Champion Peter Eastgate versus his Premier League rival, EPT London winner Vicky Coren, while Academy Award nominated actress and WSOP bracelet holder Jennifer Tilly will take on the ‘The Mouth from Down Under’ Tony G.

An all British clash is in the works as John Tabatabai tackles the might of the Devilfish, and Luke ‘Full Flush’ Schwartz will have his work cut out against WPT Champ Yevgeniy Timoshenko. But perhaps the most mouth watering combination of all sees Tom ‘Durrrr’ Dwan battle it out with WSOP Heads Up runner-up John Duthie. If Dwan is successful, the dream matchup could be on against bitter rival Luke Schwartz in the semi finals.

In a pairing of big characters, Team PKR Pro James ‘james666’ Sudworth is squaring off against Phil ‘The Unabomber’ Laak, and super aggressive APPT High Roller winner Vladimir ‘Beyne’ Geshkenbein will face online pro Alex ‘Kadabra’ Keating. Four lucky online qualifiers from PKR.com will get to take on some of the biggest names in the game as they were matched against Antonio Esfandiari, Juha Helppi, David Williams, and Ivan Demidov in the first round. You can watch the draw as it happened at PKR.tv.

Matchroom Managing Director Eddie Hearn commented “There are some really exciting clashes lined up for the first round of the PKR Heads Up Grand Slam, but it’s also interesting to see what could happen as the tournament develops.”

“In the top half of the draw, if Annette can overcome Ian Frazer and John Tabatabai can defeat the Devilfish, then they could meet in the second round for a rematch of the 2007 WSOPE final. The winner could face WSOP Champ Peter Eastgate in the quarter finals whilst Tony G and Ilari ‘Ziigimund’ Sahamies could face off in the other quarter final. In the bottom half, Phil Laak or James Sudworth could face a tough test in the second round against Ivan Demidov, and Full Flush and Durrrr may well meet in the semis. The connotations are endless but each match will carry plenty of drama.”

The event will take place from the 8th–10th October in London’s 3 Mills Studios and will be shown on Sky Sports in the UK and distributed to various International broadcasters.

Online poker site PKR.com has had a number of its regular online players produce some fantastic achievements at recent major live poker events.
The APT Macau saw Adrien ‘zlatan35’ Allen take down the Main Event after winning his way into the tournament through a PKR.com qualifier – his huge $391,556 first prize representing a cool 78,000% return on the $5 he paid for his satellite ticket.

This remarkable achievement from the 23 year old Frenchman was followed up a few days later by PKR Raise Your Game strategy contributor and community favourite Vladimir ‘Beyne’ Geshkenbein’s triumph in the APPT High Roller Event. Having played on PKR.com for the last two years, the 20 year old Russian-born Swiss seems to have perfectly transferred his skills to the live game. He battled through a tough field of accomplished pros such as 2009 WPT winner Yevgeniy Timoshenko, 2007 APPT Grand Final champion Grant Levy and ten-time WSOP bracelet winner Johnny Chan. After an hour of heads up play against Chan, Geshkenbein’s super-aggressive style proved too much for the World Series legend with the newly dubbed ‘Russian Bomber’ scooping the first prize of $226,690.

The recent victories at the Asian tour events follow solid performances from PKR players at this year’s WSOP, which included Team PKR Pro James ‘james666’ Sudworth’s seventh place finish in the six-handed NLHE event, as well as some noteworthy cashes from PKR players Ilosvay ‘xzseex’ Zsolt, Jack’ Doctorfun’ Powell, and Team PKR Pro player Andy ‘GolfPro699’ Teng.

Having just celebrated its third birthday, PKR.com continues to establish itself as a major force in the industry, with the realistic 3D software beginning to prove itself a highly effective training ground for the live poker arena.