The stars will shine bright in the Coachella Valley this October when Spotlight 29 Casino presents the inaugural All-Star Poker Challenge! Scheduled for October 13 and 14, the All-Star Poker Challenge gives everyday players & women poker players a chance to play with their favorite celebrities.
So far, scheduled to appear are Football Hall of Fame inductee Deacon Jones, sports legend Bo Jackson, lightweight boxing champ Jorge Paez, Jr.; TV comic legends Gabe Kaplan and Murray Langston (aka the Unknown Comic); and Coachella Valley notables DJ Ant Dogg from U-92 FM and Coachella Mayor Eduardo Garcia.
The All-Star Poker Challenge action begins at 2 p.m. on October 13, and the final table will be held at 12 p.m. on October 14. The tournament is No-Limit style, and rounds are 30 minutes long. Adding to the excitement is the chance of a player winning a new Chevrolet/Cadillac/GMC. If the winning hand at the final table is a Royal Flush, the winner will also receive a new car! Play $500 match poker bonus.
Buy-ins for the All-Star Poker Challenge are available now at the Spotlight 29 Casino Box Office or through the Gift Shop Buy-ins and are $560 each ($500 to prize pool, $50 to the house and $10 to dealer gratuity). Players will each receive $10,000 in tournament chips.
All players at all levels are welcome to register to play and discover why Desert Sun Queen of Hearts columnist Jill Cohen says, "Spotlight 29 is one of my favorite places to play poker!"
As part of the All-Star weekend, Kaplan and Langston are performing in the Spotlight Showroom on October 12. All entrants into the tournament receive two free tickets; individual tickets for the comedy concert are available for $35.
What's more, a silent auction will benefit the Native American Land Conservancy. Items in the auction include a wide range of autographed sports memorabilia. The auction takes place in the Spotlight Showroom.
The All-Star Poker Challenge is presented by Pepsi and Spotlight 29 Casino.
Of course, the Poker Room has poker tournaments and fun for everyone every week. Go all in every Friday at 6 p.m. for the MVP Poker Challenge, with an easy $60 buy-in to play. Saturday nights is the $2,000 Poker Payoff, where players can win cash in hourly drawings that start at 5 p.m. and go through midnight. Sundays join the $20/$5/$5 No Limit Texas Hold'em tourney.
Or sit in on the daily Sit & Go Tournament. This winner-take-all tournament takes just nine to ten players and occurs spontaneously throughout the day. Contact the Poker Room for more information.
Put the spotlight on All-Star poker action at Spotlight 29 Casino, the Coachella Valley's most exciting place to play. Spotlight 29 Casino is a business venture of the Twenty-Nine Palms Band of Mission Indians. Stay tuned to our poker blog for more updates.
During the World Series of Poker this year, a little rumor leaked its way through the poker players in attendance - this was the last year for the Ladies Championship. As most rumors go, it was completely untrue and Jeffrey Pollack even addressed the issue in his poker blog.
"Absolutely wrong! As long as I'm commissioner, and as long as women keep turning out in droves for this event like they did this year, the Ladies World Championship will be on our schedule - as a bracelet event and as a very special part of the WSOP," Pollack said.
And I have to agree with that decision. There are certain female players out there who avoid the ladies only events, including the most prestigious of them all at the WSOP, because they find it insulting to imply that women poker players need an event all their own to be able to win a coveted gold bracelet.
However, not every woman can walk into a poker room and play balls-out poker with the men like Annie Duke - at least not initially.
Women need their own place to get started and get comfortable with poker so they can branch into playing with the men once they get more comfortable.
That's not going to happen for them if they just venture into a random poker tournament or card room out there. Poker is definitely still a male dominated world, and its not easy for a novice female player to just sit down at a table full of men and learn the game and hone her skills.
Instead, they need a place more comfortable to get started - and an all-female tournament is the best place to get started.
Annie Duke herself has said that male poker players come in three variations - the flirt, the chauvinist who doesn't think you belong there and hates you, and the chauvinist who thinks women don't have the brain for poker. Play route 66 poker.
All three of those types of men at the poker table will end up a distraction from being able to truly learn the game. Women shouldn't have to put up with any of that behavior while they're trying to focus on the game and improving their own decision-making.
Take the men out of the game, and then all you have to worry about is correct play, not harassment or condescension over every decision you make.
So at the very basic levels of poker, women need all-female games and events to get started. That same philosophy applies to the World Series of Poker as well. Download poker wallpapers.
The WSOP is the "Big Time" of poker. Serious players head to Vegas to prove their worth at the poker table and hopefully head home with a gold bracelet to show for it. Even the best of poker players may be intimidated when they walk into that kind of environment.
It doesn't help that the male dominance of the game is even more pronounced at these big events. Women poker pros end up making 10% or less of the playing fields of many of the events.
It's a whole different type of environment that some players may again need to ease into. For women, that means an all-female event. It's not about whether or not the women can compete with the men - Annie Duke, Cyndy Violette and Kathy Liebert are just a few who've proven women can hold their own against the men - it's about providing an event that will help women become more involved in poker and the WSOP.
Poker is big business these days, and women have been a fairly untapped part of that market. There's no better way to encourage them to give it a try than offering them events exclusively for them.
It's working too. The WSOP Ladies Event this year saw a record playing field of 1,286 players, more than 100 more than the previous year, and more than double the playing field from 2005.
That's 1,286 women who otherwise may not have dropped $1,000 to play in any event at the World Series of Poker. Women who are building up confidence with events like these in order to someday take on the men in the other events.
Someday poker will be more equal and we'll see playing fields that are closer to 50-50 male and female players, and it will be because of these ladies only events that give them a place to gain confidence before venturing into the "man's world" of poker where they could easily have been driven away otherwise.
That being said, should the WSOP Ladies Event still be a bracelet-worthy event? Absolutely. It's the World Series of Poker, and if it's worthy of being an actual event and not just a satellite to get into something else, it's worthy of a bracelet.
Not to lessen the importance of bracelets won in past years when the playing fields weren't as large, but the winners are even more worthy of a bracelet these past few years as the playing field has grown. Play $500 match poker bonus.
If a woman can beat more than a thousand other women in a World Series Event, she should be given the same status and reward as the player who beat 385 players to win a bracelet in Seven-Card Stud.
Besides, if they want to start changing things up to make winning a bracelet more meaningful again, perhaps the WSOP organizers should look at eliminating one of the six $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em events they hosted this year that drew in a lot of players, but definitely diluted the importance of the events' bracelets.
The Joseph Harp Correctional Center will host its fourth annual Poker Run to benefit Special Olympics Oklahoma, when motorcycle riders gather Sept. 22 at the Santa Fe Cattle Company, 760 North Interstate Drive in Norman.
In a poker run, participants travel over a pre-designated route and, at designated stops on the route, draw playing cards. Prizes are made available to the rider with the best poker hand at the end of the run.
Registration begins at 8 a.m., and the first bike will head out at 9 a.m. Directions will be given at the beginning of the run. The entry fee is $20 per rider and $5 per passenger. Pre-registration cost is $15. Women poker players.
To pre-register, mail checks payable to Special Olympics Oklahoma (SOOK) and mail to JHCC Poker Run, Attn: Debbie Dorris, P.O. Box 548, Lexington, OK 73051-0548. Include T-shirt size. For a registration form, go to the Special Olympics Oklahoma Web site: www.sook.org
According to organizers, the first 50 riders will receive free T-shirts. Many door prizes will be given away to participants. Lunch will be provided at the end of the run. Play online poker.
Joseph Harp Correctional Center is one of many Oklahoma law enforcement agencies participating in the Law Enforcement Torch Run, an international charity that benefits Special Olympics with various fundraisers. Play $500 match poker bonus.
Last year, the state’s LETR organization raised more than $180,000 in cash and in-kind donations for Special Olympics Oklahoma. The Law Enforcement Torch Run for Special Olympics celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2006, raising $25.5 million for Special Olympics programs around the world. Play route 66 poker.
The mission of Special Olympics is to provide year-round sports training and athletic competition in a variety of Olympic-type sports for children and adults with intellectual disabilities, giving them continuing opportunities to develop physical fitness, demonstrate courage, experience joy and participate in a sharing of gifts, skills and friendship with their families, other Special Olympics athletes and the community.
They may be competitors in the poker industry, but World Poker Tour President Steve Lipscomb and World Series of Poker Commissioner Jeffery Pollack will combine forces to deliver the opening keynote address of the World Poker Congress in November.
"With Steve Lipscomb and Jeffery Pollack, we will present two of the individuals most responsible for the recent poker boom," said Sue Schneider, president of the River City Group, one of the organizers of the WPC. Women poker.
"With their unique perspective and wisdom, they will examine the global reach of the game and how it is penetrating international markets."
Lipscomb is the founder and CEO of WPT Enterprises Inc. Not only is he an award-winning producer and director of television and film, he has extensive experience filming professional poker. Download poker wallpapers.
His resume includes producing and directing On the Inside of the World Series of Poker for the Discovery channel, filming 2001 Tournament of champions of Poker, and creating Cruising' to a Million for the Travel Channel before creating the World Poker Tour.
The WPT has grown incredibly since its first season and is now seen in more than 116 countries and territories around the world. It has become much more than just a poker show with a variety of licenses that include apparel, poker tables, games and more.
Pollack is newer to poker, taking on the new position of WSOP commissioner in 2006 just before that year's poker tournament series. He is also vice president of sports and entertainment marketing for Harrah's Entertainment, but his top priority has been to grow the popularity of the World Series of Poker.
He is a two-time Emmy Award winner and seasoned media executive who plans to put his talent and experience from other sports ventures, such as his previous experience as managing director of broadcasting and new media for NASCAR, to work to further establish the WSOP as the number one poker brand.
Lipscomb and Pollack will be responsible for jointly discuss the current state of the game and what the future has in store for it as the keynote speakers for the WPC.
"The World Poker Congress is the premier conference for the business of poker globally," said Roger Gros, publisher for the other producer of the WPC.
"There is clearly a synergy between online poker rooms and real-world poker, and the WPC examines how to capitalize on the growth of the game no matter which side of the equation your business operates."
The conference, taking place Nov. 29 and 30 in St. Julian's, Malta, will feature two tracks dedicated tot eh different forms of the game as well as discussion sessions featuring topics that appeal to each audience.
Participants will get to discuss issues such as marketing your poker room, player development, legislation and economics in Europe, staging tournaments, building a player base, business strategies for a quickly maturing industry, fraud and security, mergers and acquisitions and more. Stay tuned to our poker blog for latest updates.
Thirty-six women will converge in London in August to participate in PartyPoker.com's inaugural Women's World Open. The poker tournament will take place Aug. 7-10 and be televised later in the year in the United Kingdom.
The American contingent making the trip across the pond to London will include Jennifer Tilly, Liz Lieu and Shannon Elizabeth.
Jennifer Tilly sports the most impressive tournament resume of the three with her World Series of Poker Ladies Event win in 2005 and took first in the World Poker Tour Ladies Night Out that same year. Since then the actress and poker player been honing her game and racking up cashes at WSOP Events, WPT events and more.
She may not have a WSOP bracelet yet, but woman poker pro Liz Lieu packs a lot of punch in the poker world as well. She has a long list of cashes all over the world, including several WSOP events. Before her foray into the tournament realm, she'd already established herself as a winning cash-game player.
Shannon Elizabeth brings a lot of star power to the event as well. She will be playing as well as commentating with Jesse May at the event. Play route 66 poker.
The actress, best known for her role in American Pie, is making her way up in the poker ranks. Most recently she cashed in a WSOP event and also came in third in the 2007 NBC National Heads-Up Championship, taking out Barry Greenstein and Jeff Madsen along the way.
"I'm so excited to be coming to London to commentate and play in the inaugural PartyPoker Women's World Open," Elizabeth said. "So many great women will be playing from the United States, including Liz Lieu and Jennifer Tilly, so hopefully one of us can bring home the championship!" Play online poker.
The three will have their work cut out for them as some of Europe's shrewdest women players will also be fighting for a share in the $108,000 prize pool. They include former PartyPoker.com World Open winner Pippa Flanders, Xuyen Pham, European Ladies champion Jackie Meecham, Katharine Hartree, Jackie Vaswani and Deborah Rogers.
"This is the first women's tournament we have held, and we are delighted by the excellent line-up and hugely encouraged by the positive interest we have already received from broadcasters all over the world before a card has been dealt," said a PartyPoker.com spokesman. Download poker wallpapers.
The buy-in for the tournament is $3,000, and the winner will take home a $50,000 top prize, plus they'll have the added bonus of appearing on television when the show airs on Five later in the year.
One of the most heavily trafficked poker rooms in the world, PartyPoker.com has introduced a new series of features to up the service level for its players.
Key among them: A revised points program, new 24 hour-a-day, seven day-a-week VIP hosts, bigger table resolution and easier replays and rematches. Play $500 match poker bonus.
"It's all about understanding what our customers do," said a PartyPoker.com spokesman, "and how we can make that experience better. These and other features we regularly come out with do just that, and in ways the poker industry has not seen before.
"And there's more where these came from."
The essence of the points program upgrade: players & women poker players can earn points at up to 400% of the standard rate, with the potential also to hit a private level beyond that.
Points can be earned on any of the PartyGaming brands and exchanged for cash, poker tournament entries and, soon, a series of "highly-desired products and services."
Every VIP will now also be allocated an experienced host to provide personal service on all PartyGaming products 24/7 - the first time a service like this has been offered in play online poker & gaming.
"It means someone who knows gaming and knows you will be there for you whatever your gaming need." the PartyPoker.com spokesman added. Play route 66 poker.
Also on the agenda: expansion of the poker table to the now-common 1024x768 screen resolution and new, single-click functions to re-enter tournaments or re-match heads-up battles immediately after they're done.
The Commerce Casino’s Ladies Dream Weekend will be the second event of the Ladies Poker Association’s LPA Pro Tour. “Serious women playing serious poker”- LPA style!
Women will have an opportunity to win a poker championship without having to wade through a crowded male-dominated field. Tournament finalists will earn points in the newly established LPA Ladies Poker Ranking System. Plus, ladies will be treated to a weekend’s worth of poker pampering — wine tasting, gourmet food, and an instructional seminar.
As an added bonus, one woman will win a spot in Commerce Casino’s LA Poker Classic’s Ladies’ Championship-- which could lead to a seat in the World Poker Tour World Championship™ (a $25,000 buy-in) and the WPT Celebrity Invitational™, among the most coveted events in poker.
Initially staged in 2002, the “Ladies’ Poker Dream Weekend” at Commerce is slated to be the perfect poker getaway for a woman who wants to play hard but unwind in luxury. “We wanted to give women poker enthusiasts a special weekend of activities all their own, something that made them feel at home,” said Cheri Dokken, Commerce Casino Tournament Director.
“It is time the ladies got their very own tour and ranking system,” says Crystal Osgood, founder of the Ladies Poker Association. “The Ladies Poker Dream Weekend, the second event in the LPA Pro Tour is all about serious women playing serious poker. Play online poker. There are many events out there for the ladies to play at the $100-$200 level. But we wanted to give women their very own pro tour, with a standard amount of starting chips, a comfortable structure and plenty of time between rounds. Add that to the first ever Ladies Professional Ranking System, and you have a very exciting weekend of serious poker – just for the ladies.”
In addition to the wine tasting and buffet lunch, the Sunday event features a poker seminar taught by two of the most respected women poker players in the game, Cheri Dokken and Star Pulver (formerly Star McCormick). Cheri Dokken, the Tournament Director of Commerce Casino for the last 13 years, is considered the consummate Tournament Director of Poker having been a dealer, pro player, and tournament director mentored by Jack McClelland. Pulver, also a veteran Tournament Director, will team up with Dokken to give an illuminating seminar focusing on how to avoid common mistakes, deal making, and final table play. The two of them have more than a decade of poker experience to share, from a women’s perspective.
The schedule for the two ladies events is as follows:
Saturday, July 14th:
No Limit Hold’em $291 buy-in/$9 service charge/$35 entry fee
•9am - Satellites available
•11am - Registration opens
•11am-2pm - Wine Tasting and Buffet
•2pm - Tournament Begins
•Entry gifts to all participants - Trophy to first place
Sunday, July 15th:
No Limit Holdem $485 buy-in/$15 service charge/$45 entry fee
•9am - Satellites available
•11am - Registration opens
•11am-1pm - Buffet
•1pm-2:30pm - Poker Seminar with Star Pulver and Cheri Dokken
•Entry gifts to all participants
•Trophy to first place - Winner to receive a seat the LA Poker Classic Ladies
The champion of the Sunday event will win a seat in the LA Poker Classic Ladies Tourney at Commerce (in February, 2008), in which 200 – 300 women will vie for a seat in the World Poker Tour World Championship™ and the WPT Celebrity Invitational™. The $25,000 World Poker Tour World Championship™, staged each year at Bellagio in April, will offer a $15 million+ prize purse.
”Only once before—the first Ladies Poker Weekend—was there a woman’s poker tournament offering an entré to a championship tournament with a $25,000 buy-in,” said Dokken. “Catch this rare opportunity when you can! If you win here, you’re assured a $25,000 seat at the table—free and clear! No having to win your way up through satellites!”
The WPT Celebrity Invitational™ seat is exciting to a poker fan because you cannot buy your way in. It’s strictly by invitation. Held at Commerce in March, the tournament features 200 top poker pros, plus a stellar line up celebrities including such names James Woods, Jason Alexander, Mimi Rogers, Stephen Collins, Jon Favreau, Jennifer Tilly, Sara Rue, James Garner, Kevin Weisman, David Sutcliffe, Lou Diamond Phillips, Anne Heche, Ron Livingston, Camryn Manheim, Joshua Morrow, Kathy Griffin, Carlos Bernard, Shannon Elizabeth, Mimi Rogers, Cheryl Hines, Ricki Lake, Norm McDonald and more. Download poker wallpapers.
“If you’re a serious poker playing woman, now’s the time to go ‘all-in at the Commerce Casino,’” said Dokken. “You’ll have a great time and have a chance at a $15 million payday or a chance to play with stars.”
For more information, go to www. Commercecasino.com or LadiesPokerAssociation.com.
Ladies Poker Association -
The Ladies Poker Association and LadiesPokerAssociation.com, was established to recognize Women in the Sport of Poker, providing, membership, and an online poker magazine, including news, original articles, interviews, education and events. As part of our mission we established the first ladies professional poker ranking system and the LPA Pro Tour to better support our mission of providing opportunities and recognition to our membership base.
The stars will shine bright in the Coachella Valley this October when Spotlight 29 Casino presents the inaugural All-Star Poker Challenge! Scheduled for October 13 and 14, the All-Star Poker Challenge gives everyday players & women poker players a chance to play with their favorite celebrities.
