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[Wyomissing, PA and Las Vegas, NV, Feb. 1, 2013]  -- The Hollywood Poker Open (HPO) regional qualifying tournament at the M Resort Spa Casino in Las Vegas has concluded and the top two finishers from the Main Event – Las Vegans Visnja Luetic and Romeo Samblero – will be returning to the M Resort later this year to compete in the $500,000 guaranteed HPO Championship on June 28-30.
 
Luetic and Samblero  (in above photo) chopped the pot and earned $12,170 each along with a $2,500 seat at the championship. Results from the three M Resort regional qualifying events follow: 
 
Event 1 -  $10,000 Guaranteed No Limit Hold’em 
Winner:  Charles Ambroghi, Las Vegas, Nevada ($5,445)

Event 2 - $20,000 Guaranteed No Limit Hold’em
Winner: James Cudney, Henderson, Nevada ($10,355)
 
Event 3 - $40,000 Guaranteed No Limit Hold’em
Winners:  Visnja Luetic, Las Vegas, Nevada ($12,170) and Romeo Samblero, Las Vegas, Nevada ($12,170)
 
The next HPO regional qualifying tournament will be held March 21 – April 4 at Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races (West Virginia) followed by the regional qualifying tournament at Hollywood St. Louis on April 4 – 14.

by Diane McHaffie

Sometimes, I “people watch” at the mall, instead of shopping. There’s a wide variety of people, and they all have different ways of dressing, walking, and little traits that set them apart from others. In my latest lesson at MCU, Mike informed me that studying people would also be an important factor in playing poker successfully. In a long line leading to the cash register, a lady stands impatiently with her arms crossed, tapping her foot. In poker, as in the mall, people have subtle (sometimes not-so-subtle) mannerisms that give away their secrets. These are what we call tells, and that is what I’m witnessing from this woman. She is impatient and frustrated at the wasted time.

 Everyday tells. Then, I notice a teenager standing near a CD rack. He is glancing about him with shifty eyes, his hands in the huge pockets of his baggy jeans. His eyes are telling a story of their own. At any moment, I expect him to slide a CD from the rack neatly into his pocket, thinking no one is going to see. Only when he notices my presence does he walk away.

By Barbara Rogers

While there are so many casinos across the country, the Hollywood Casinos still manage to stand out! With the inaugural Hollywood Poker Open debut in Las Vegas June 28th to the 30th, poker players from all across the world have the opportunity to get in the running to win a seat in the exciting HPO, held at the award-winning M Resort in Vegas! The Penn National Gaming family is offering up a guaranteed half million dollars with this tournament. If you haven’t heard about it, you must be hibernating! Visit www.hollywoodpokeropen.com for more details, or watch for the stories in Poker Player.

Poker Player Achilleas Kallakis, known as “The Don,” was convicted on Thursday in London court on fraud charges. In a case described as Britain’s biggest ever mortgage scam, he and co-conspirator Alexander M. Williams swindled £750m (=$1.2 billion) from the Allied Irish Bank. The pair also obtained 29m euros ($38.8 million) in loans from the Bank of Scotland.

Using an office in central London’s Mayfair district as a base, the two used a forged a guarantee from a Hong Kong company to get loans exceeding the purchase price of their properties. The case was referred to authorities by Allied Irish Bank and the Hong Kong company in January 2009.

Kallakis, a former travel agent, cashed in several live poker games in 2005-6. He faces seven years jail time, Williams five.

by Diane McHaffie

One of the first lessons Mike taught me was that Hold ‘em is by far the most popular poker game in casinos. This was news to me, because I had always thought that stud poker or draw poker were the main types of poker, since they were the ones always represented in movies. The movies are probably one of our first introductions into the poker world and can be vastly misleading.

 With 7-card stud you receive seven cards total, four face up and three face down (the ones face down are your cards that no one has seen). When you play 7-card stud against opponents, anything is likely to happen with the cards that are dealt. A small pair to begin with, in 7 card stud, often would be pretty good; however, that would not be the case in hold ‘em.

 I have learned that in hold ’em, one of the most common mistakes happens when players try to think the same as in 7-card stud. They think that a small pair has more value than it actually does. That isn’t the case with hold ’em.

 Hard to improve. Hold ‘em starts with two cards face down to the player. Those are personal cards that nobody has seen, and they can’t be used by anyone but yourself. All the other cards (five more total) will be communal, dealt face up, to be used by both your opponents and you. This means that it is hard to improve a small pair in hold ‘em, because it is impossible to catch another pair on the board to improve your hand.

Quality Playing Cards and Games, Inc., (QPC’s) knows that poker players are serious about their game! They’ve been in the playing card manufacturing business for over 14 years. Below are some thoughts on how their custom, personalized playing cards just might give you the edge you need in poker and any other card game you love:

  Your Brand, In Every Hand! Their clients have told them that when they play with their own specialty playing cards with their logo, passion, favorite team, pictures of loved ones etc, they just seem to breed confidence and WIN more! And there certainly is a bit of swagger and confidence needed in poker!

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by Doyle Brunson [Originally appeared in Poker Player Vol 1 Issue 1 pg. 3]

  If I had to pick my favorite game, I guess it would be no-limit hold ’em. Poker is a game of people, and nothing brings this fact out as clearly as a no-limit confrontation.

 When you're playing limit poker-even a big limit game like $200/400-you never have to face the fear of a man jumping up from out of nowhere and moving all-in against you. You can bet $400 on the last card knowing that worst thing-the VERY worst thing-that can happen is you'll get raised another $400.

 If you've got some middling hand when that raise comes, then you've got to make a decision about whether to call or fold. That decision, though, doesn’t pack the same agony that arises in a no-limit situation when you bet $400 and suddenly are facing a $5000 raise.

Hollywood Park Open is the name of the game. 

  Start your new gaming year by taking advantage of all that Penn National Gaming has to offer and you may end up sharing a half million dollars for it, after all, someone has to win the top prize of the Championship Event playing out from June 28 to the 30th at the M Resort Spa Casino in Las Vegas.  While you're in pursuit of big money, you can bank more cash along the way at the numerous participating Penn National Gaming properties.

 Visit the Hollywood Poker Open web site for a Penn National Gaming casino near you offering a chance to win a seat to the HPO Championship Event.

 Adam Teasdale outlasted a field of 616 entrants in the $1,675 Harrah’s Resort Main Event early Tuesday morning in Atlantic City, NJ. The score marked the largest of the aspiring pro’s career, awarding him better than $194,000, a WSOP Circuit gold ring and a berth in the $1 Million WSOP National Championship.

 Teasdale lost his father about a year ago, making the championship performance that much more dear to him.

 “This is absolutely going out to him and the rest of my family,” Teasdale of his father. “I told them that I could do it and this is just a start to a new beginning for me.”