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Paddy Power will be running several World Series of Poker satellite tournament events over the next few weeks. The site will be giving away four World Series of Poker packages for Event #59 of the World Series of Poker. The satellites will run between May 7th and June 4th, with players having up to four chances to win.

The number of chances that players will have to win will depend on the Power Level they reach in the Paddy Power rewards program. The more points players earn, the more chances they will have to play in satellites.

The winning players will get entry into the WSOP event number 59, which has a buy-in of $1,000. They will also get seven nights at the Palazzo Hotel, $1,500 to cover travel expenses and spending money for the event, and the VIP treatment at a special welcome dinner.

If you don’t win this particular set of satellite tournaments, don’t despair – there will be many other online poker sites offering satellite tournaments over the next few weeks. Don’t be embarrassed to dream big. Many online satellite qualifiers have gone on to achieve amazing things in big money poker tournaments, and you could be the next online poker success story.

A growing number of strong chess players are moving over to the world of professional poker. For some players, it’s the money that appeals; chess tournaments aren’t exactly lucrative in most countries. For other players, however, the big draw is the extra challenge. Chess has, in the eyes of many players, been finally solved. It’s a good game, but it lacks the unpredictability and the human element of poker.

A strong understanding of probability, and a sound strategy, are both essential if you want to play poker at the highest levels – and those skills are things that chess players tend to be naturally good at. Add in the human element – manipulating the players instead of the cards, and you have something that gives the best mind masters in the world a refreshing new challenge. Given that the other popular gaming route for chess players (moving to more niche games such as Magic The Gathering), is another not particularly lucrative one, it makes sense for the best of the best to go where the money is.

Last year, two world class female chess players made it into the World Series of Poker via satellite tournaments, and their high profile (in the chess community, at least) successes have inspired a large number of players to test their skills this year. The skill sets match up, so we can expect to see a lot of overlap between grand masters and bracelet holders in the next few years.

The World Series of Poker will be heading to Australia next year. The series will make a stop at Melbourne’s Crown Casino in April 2013, and there will be five World Series of Poker gold bracelets up for grabs through the series.

Ty Stewart, Executive Director of the WSOP, said “Our goal is to establish the worldwide grand slam of poker and use our platform to elevate the game through a series of major championships, with WSOP Las Vegas growing annually and WSOP Europe poised for long-term success after five years, the time is right to turn our attention to the dynamic poker scene in Asia and Australia.”

He went on to add that the Crown Casino in Melbourne was chosen because of its success with the Aussie Millions Poker Championship. The event will be shown worldwide on ESPN. Poker is currently big business in Australia, as a growing number of Australians hope to follow in the footsteps of successful poker pros such as Joe Hachem, who took the crown in the Main Event of the World Series of Poker in 2012.

French-Canadian MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) two-time World Champion George St-Pierre was selected by 888.com as the emissary for this global gaming and its gaming sites. George St-Pierre, known as GSP, will hold this title for the duration of 2012-2013. 888.com anticipates hitting a winner by luring GSP’s extensive fan base to the 888 brand of sites.

GSP in turn, speaks fondly of the agreement between himself and 888’s online gaming sites “It is a great honour for me to be the global brand ambassador for Team 888poker. I look forward to heads-up contests with other players. It’s not so much abou

t the cards; it’s more about the players. That’s why I love poker!” GSP is slated to appear in special promotions such as the 888 Superstack in which registered players at 888poker will see GSP play alongside other online poker players. Further, the Main Event of the 2012 World Series of Poker (WSOP) will see a new player in the ranks as GSP takes to the tables for Team 888poker.

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All In: The Poker Movie, will see its first screening at the Siskel Film Center this coming monday. After the screening there will be a discussion led by world class poker player James McManus.

McManus is eager to talk about the way that poker has evolved in the last few years. He describes the evolution of the game as being a result of “the Moneymaker effect”. Chris Moneymaker is a professional poker player that honed his skills online. He earned a seat at the World Series of Poker via an online satellite tournament, and then went on to win the tournament. Instead of having to pay a $10,000 buy-in, he spent less than $50, and took home a huge prize. His rags to riches story inspired the world, and now players that got their start online are a common sight in big money tournaments.

It’s that story that is focused on in All In: The Poker Movie. The world of professional poker was once dominated by hardcore older players, but the bad boy image is no longer the norm. Poker is played by people from all walks of life, and the names and faces at the top are getting younger, not older. The image of professional poker may be going through some tough times in the USA, but to the rest of the world this amazing game is becoming ever more appealing.

It’s now been a little over one year since the events of Black Friday. On April 15th 2011, the US Department of Justice seized the domains of several large online poker websites that were accepting American players. In addition to seizing the domains, they also froze the bank accounts of those sites, leaving players unable to withdraw the funds they had deposited (or won) with those sites.

The seizures were the beginning of a major case against illegal online gambling. Eleven defendants were named in the case, and the case is still going on even now. Group Bernard Tapie has saved Full Tilt Poker from having to shut down because of the account seizures, but that’s a small consolation for the players that were affected.

The effect of the seizures is still being felt today. Many players have not yet got their money back, and even the players that have may still feel as if they have been left in the lurch. Some states are legalizing online poker on a local level, but there has been next to no progress towards legalizing it on a federal level, and it looks like that won’t be changing this season.

Black Friday is now thought of as the worst event to hit the online poker industry, but it does seem as if recovery may be possibly. Hopefully, for our US based friends, it will simply be a bump along the way towards legal, safe online gambling for all.

The Poker Player’s Alliance has spoken out to remind players that their campaign to organize gamblers is running short on time. The one-year anniversary of Black Friday is approaching, and the campaign, titled “The Player’s Will Never Fold” will come to an end soon. The campaign encourages players to contact their local government representatives, and argue the case for safe, legal poker.

“It’s been a full year since the rights of millions of American poker players were trampled and … we are calling on congress to reverse this wrong and reinstate our basic freedoms,” said John Pappas the executive director of the PPA.

The crackdown on poker sites has caused a lot of problems for many of the PPA’s members. When sites such as Full Tilt were shut down, their bank accounts were frozen, and many American poker players are still waiting for reimbursement for the funds which were in their online poker accounts.

The PPA are lobbying for statewide (and federal) legalization of online poker. They argue that there are many offshore poker companies that will accept American customers and that trade outside of the reach of US law enforcement. The PPA argues that as long as US players have no regulated websites to play on, they will be at risk of being defrauded by offshore websites.

Young poker star Jake Cody has launched his own poker website that will allow his fans to connect with him and learn about the challenges that sponsored poker players face on a daily basis. Cody is the youngest winner of the Triple Crown – having shown skill in the World Series of Poker, the European Poker Tour, and the World Poker Tour.

Jake Cody’s new site, which includes a personal blog, can be found on JakeCodyPoker.com. Cody is aged just 22, and has had what he refers to as a “ridiculous few years”, having achieved more than many players twice his age. He is a Team PKR Pro, and he competes in tournaments all over the world. In his blog he discusses the difficulties he has had over the last few years; the stress of continuing such success and competing at a high level for so long, his poker goals for the future, and other his personal/fitness goals. He also blogs about tournaments, travels, and his fellow poker pros.

If you’d like an insight into the life of a pro poker player, then it’s well worth a look.

The Melbourne Poker Championships will kick off next month. This year will mark the 11th staging of the tournament, which will be held at the Crown Poker Room in Melbourne. The event will be part of the festival of poker Down Under, which will run from the 3rd May to the 14th May. There will be two major championships taking place as part of the event; the headline of which will be the Joe Hachem Deepstack event.

The buy-in for the Deepstack event will be set at AUD £550, and the event will follow a repechage format, making it great value for money.

There are eight other tournaments on the schedule, and it’s expected that there will be a strong turnout, with people looking to take part in everything from Supershot turbo events to HORSE tournaments.

As usual, there will be several satellite events, and chances for people to earn seats at the AUD $1,100 buy-in Main Event (which will also follow a repechage format).

Keep checking back for updates on satellites, the tournament schedule, and other news as the Melbourne Poker Championships draw closer.

It’s been a difficult time for the poker industry; not just in America, but in other parts of the world too. The latest casualty is Poker Nordica, which has been forced to close down for good after six years of trading. Poker Nordica was launched back in 2006 – when the UIGEA was first passed. As a site with a Nordic focus, it escaped most of the difficulties that affected international sites, and managed to thrive for a long time.

In February of this year, the site went silent, worrying loyal players. A little over a month later, they sent an email to current players saying that they would be closing down. Players have been told that they can withdraw their funds (and have until May 1st to do so), although there’s a certain minimum balance required before they can request a cheque. Players with small balances may transfer their funds to another site within the network. There are several other playing options, so this, at least, is good news for players. The company deserves credit for not leaving players in the lurch.

So far, there has been no reason given for the site’s closure.