ONLINE POKER REVIEWS

With all that poker news coming from the WPT, EPT and Aussie Millions it was almost inevitable that some stories wouldn’t make it to the front page of PokerListings.com.

Fortunately, as part of our ongoing Poker News in Brief Feature, we’ve compiled a list of smaller stories below.

This week we’ll take a look at Doyle Brunson joining an elite lineup, vietcong01 winning his second Sunday Million, Michael Phelps hitting the felt at Borgata and more.

Brunson Fills Out Premier League Lineup

Doyle Brunson is the final poker player to grab a spot in the elite PartyPoker.com Premier League IV.

“I’m very happy to have the challenge of playing against all these great players,” said Brunson.

Brunson will join Daniel Negreanu, Vanessa Rousso, David Benyamine, Phil Hellmuth, J.C. Tran, Yevgeniy Timoshenko, Roland de Wolfe, Luke Schwartz and Tony G at the Premier League IV.

There are two remaining seats with one of them going to an online qualifier and the other going to the winner of a mini Premier League playoff between Team Party members.

The Premier League IV is set to take place Feb. 12-18 in Las Vegas.

vietcong01 Wins Second PokerStars Sunday Million

Juan Antonio Maceiras Barros, known online as vietcong01, outlasted 8,699 players to win the PokerStars Sunday Million and $255,954 cash last Sunday.

It wasn’t the easiest final table either as Ben “benba” Lamb, who finished 14^th in the 2009 WSOP Main Event, was one of the chip leaders heading into the final nine. Lamb finished in sixth place.

Barros, who first won the Sunday Million in 2007, joins Jesper Hougaaard as the only players to ever win multiple Sunday Million titles.

Barros came very close to performing the feat at the final table of a Sunday Million in March, but eventually bombed out in sixth.

Bodog Recruiting Female Pros

Bodog Poker is looking for female players to sponsor in various poker tournaments around the world.

The announcement comes just a couple weeks after the online room did not opt to re-sign Justin Bonomo to its pro team.

The site also let Jean-Robert Bellande walk several months earlier leaving David Williams and Evelyn Ng as the only members of Team Bodog.

Bodog is requesting that all applicants send a recent a photograph and a short biography in an email with the subject: Female Pro Submission.

To learn more check out the Bodog website here.

Phelps Goes to Borgata

Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps made another splash in the poker world this week at the Borgata Winter Open.

Phelps played the double elimination heads-up event and beat noted pros Paul Wasicka and Adam Gerber before being eliminated by Basilios Diakokomninos.

During the Summer Olympics in Beijing, Phelps mentioned one of his favorite hobbies was playing online poker and in 2008 he made the final table of a $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em event at Caesars.

PartyPoker Encourages Players to Hit or Run

PartyPoker started a new promotion this week, which gives players a chance to hit or run.

“Simply collect 20 PartyPoints and we’ll give you $1 to bet on our special Hit or Run heads-up game,” said a PartyPoker spokesperson.

“Win and we’ll double your money. You can then choose to hit for another hand and the chance to double your cash or take the money and run. Lose at any point though and the game is over.”

It’s possible to hit up to 10 times per game making each one worth $1,024. If a player collects enough points they could potentially play 10 games a day, which would give them $10,240.

To learn more or sign up for a PartyPoker account click here.

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Australian native Tyron Krost has taken home the title in the 2010 Aussie Millions Main Event, which emanated from the Crown Casino in Melbourne. Krost defeated a field of 746 players and earned AUD $2 million for his efforts.

Stephen Shelly was the first player eliminated from the eight-handed Aussie Millions Main Event final table. Shelly moved all-in over the top of a raise by Krost holding pocket sevens on a board of 8-5-3. However, Krost made the call and showed pocket jacks. Calling for running cards for a straight or a seven for a set, Shelly instead saw and eight and deuce come on the turn and river, respectively. He earned AUD $125,000 for his efforts.

Shortly afterwards, the Aussie Millions Main Event lost a heavy-hitter, as Betfair pro Annette “Annette_15” Obrestad was ousted in seventh place, earning AUD $175,000. In her final hand, Obrestad open-shoved with A-J and received a call from Krost, who had a wired pair of sevens. The flop came K-Q-7, giving Obrestad a straight draw to a ten, and, as her rail chanted in earnest for one of her four outs to come, a five and king instead struck, sending Obrestad out. The 2007 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Europe Main Event winner will be a force to be reckoned with in her first WSOP on U.S. soil in 2010.

Steve Friedlander exited in sixth place, banking AUD $250,000. Friedlander committed his chips with pocket sevens pre-flop and was up against the A-K of Kosta Varoxis. Once again, pocket sevens would determine someone’s fate and, this time around, the board ran out K-9-2-K-J. The hand pushed Varoxis up the leaderboard and sent Friedlander packing. Peter Jetten was the next player to go. Jetten 4bet all-in pre-flop with K-5 and ran into Krost’s pocket tens. The board fell A-J-2-7-5 and Jetten earned AUD $350,000 for his efforts.

With Krost holding the chip lead, Kosta Varoxis hit the rails in fourth place. Varoxis called all-in on a flop of Q-9-7 holding A-6 for a prayer. Frederik Jensen held a wired pair of twos, which turned into a set when another deuce hit on the river. All was not lost for Varoxis, however, who earned AUD $450,000 for his fourth place showing.

Another Betfair pro at the final table, Sorel “Imper1um” Mizzi, was bounced in third place from the 2010 Aussie Millions Main Event. Mizzi called off his chips pre-flop with pocket sevens and was up against the A-K of Krost. The flop came king-high and Krost never looked back, sending the dangerous Mizzi to the rails. Mizzi earned AUD $715,000, adding to an already impressive live tournament resume that includes a runner-up showing to Theo Jorgensen in a £5,000 Pot Limit Omaha contest during the 2008 WSOP Europe for £132,000 and a chop in the 2007 Irish Poker Open for more than €500,000.

Krost entered heads-up play as a 2:1 chip leader over Jensen. In the final hand of the Aussie Millions Main Event, Jensen put his tournament life on the line with K-6 on a flop of K-3-2. However, Krost held K-9 and had his opponent out-kicked. The board ran out 7-2 and, according to coverage found on PokerNews, chants of “Aussie! Aussie! Aussie!” echoed through the venue in celebration. Jensen picked up a healthy AUD $1.1 million for second place. Here’s how the final table stacked up. All payouts are given in Australian Dollars:

1st Place: Tyron Krost – $2,000,000
2nd Place: Frederik Jensen – $1,100,000
3rd Place: Sorel “Imper1um” Mizzi – $715,000
4th Place: Kosta Varoxis – $450,000
5th Place: Peter Jetten – $350,000
6th Place: Steve Friedlander – $250,000
7th Place: Annette “Annette_15” Obrestad – $175,000
8th Place: Stephen Shelly – $125,000

This year’s attendance of 746 players marked a sizable 10% jump over 2009’s tally of 681. Last year, Australian Stewart Scott defeated the United States’ Peter Rho heads-up to earn AUD $2 million.

According to a report that appeared in Capitol Weekly, the battle over whether California Indian tribes can provide online poker may soon come to a head. Many in the industry are anticipating a hearing on the issue next month, as the tribe behind an effort to create a state-sanctioned online poker site last year has apparently renewed its efforts to push a bill.

The issue arose last August, when one of California’s largest casino gaming tribes, the Morongo Band of Mission Indians, formed a group called the California Tribal Intrastate Internet Poker Consortium. The Morongo worked with the Commerce Casino and the Bicycle Club to pursue an exclusive deal to offer online poker in California.

That deal fell apart when the tribe and card rooms grew concerned that the issue was being rushed through the legislative process. However, the Morongo Tribe is continuing its efforts, according to spokesperson Patrick Dorinson: “We’re still reaching out to different tribes. We’re trying to take into account everyone’s issue.”

The California Tribal Business Alliance (Cal-TBA), another influential group, rallied to detract the first proposal and continues to offer some of the loudest opposition. The group’s executive director, Allison Harvey, has argued that it could violate the exclusivity clauses in gaming compacts with casino tribes and potentially throw the legal basis for gaming in California into chaos, a contention that Morongo representatives rejected. This could place in danger the $1 million per day the State receives as the proceeds from gaming compacts with numerous California casino tribes, Harvey said.

Harvey noted that the Morongo tribe has engaged in numerous meetings. These included a summit of the California Nations Indian Gaming Association (CNIGA) that took place earlier this month during the annual Western Indian Gaming Conference in Palm Springs. “We assume some others may well surface, just because they opened the door when they brought this up last summer,” Harvey said.

The Senate Governmental Organization Committee will take up the question of online poker when it meets on February 9th. While no new legislation has been introduced, the proposal seems to have some people talking about the potential revenue streams to the state from online poker. About 1.4 million Californians are already playing poker on the internet via offshore websites, said Sacramento-based gaming attorney Martin Owens, citing a 2008 PricewaterhouseCoopers study.

“You’ve got something like a billion dollars leaving the state every year that does nobody any good except the offshore operators,” Owens said. “Internet gambling is here to stay. The only rational thing to do is organize it, license it, supervise it – and by all means, get the benefits.”

While invitations have gone out to numerous speakers, a lineup for the February 9th hearing has not been finalized. However, speakers will reportedly focus on a number of issues, including compatibility with tribal compacts and with federal gaming laws. The federal Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIEGA) bans the use of credit cards and funds transfers for illegal internet gambling, although there is an exception for “intrastate” internet gambling – a clause that would appear to allow for online gambling within a state, as long as the location and identity of players could be verified.