The Aussie Millions still has events after the main event for some reason, and the results from the Head’s-Up event, Team event and Short Table event are in. The $5000 Heads-Up was won by Jeff Garza of Norfolk, MA. He won an even $100K AUS after taking down Masaaki Kagawa of Japan. Kagawa won $60K AUS for being runner-up. They outlasted red-hot Roy “The Oracle” Winston, who is coming off of two WPT wins last fall.

The $145,800 AUS first prize for the $2000 Short Table event was won by Felix Berglund of Sweden. He was able to outlast Canadian Joe Le who won $89,910 for second place.

The Teams event was dominated by Aussies who took down the top four money spots. Alex Williamson and Ross Stewart won $29,925 each, and the title. In second place were Steven Gilmore and Justin Watson, each earning $17,100 AUS.

The World Poker Tour has created a new league for the female players on tour which will be called the World Poker Tour Ladies (WPTL). The tour will have five events on the season, with buy-ins ranging from $300 to $1,500 plus entry fee. Cities and casinos included on tour are:

Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa - Atlantic City, NJ
Commerce Casino - Los Angeles, CA
Bay 101 - San Jose, CA
Foxwoods Resort & Casino - Mashantucket, CT
Bellagio - Las Vegas, NV

The last date at the Bellagio will be the $1500 championship, running from April 13-14, 2008. The event will be broadcast on the Game Show Network where the WPT has found a new home. The WPTL will also donate 15% of the championship event towards finding a cure for breast cancer. Players will also have the chance to donate to the cause at each WPTL event.

If you’re a fan of women and poker, February 2nd will be a day to celebrate! The new Women in Poker Hall of Fame (WiPHOF) will induct its first women at a ceremony to be held at Binion’s Casino in Las Vegas.

“It’s definitely time for the woman in poker to have their own Hall of Fame to recognize their amazing contributions to the poker world. Unlike today, women weren’t always welcome in poker rooms. In the 1950’s, Las Vegas had fewer than 20 poker tables and women weren’t even allowed to play the game” said Lupe Soto, founder of the Ladies International Poker Series (LIPS Tour).

For the first inaugural year 4 woman have been chosen - Barbara Enright, Susie Isaacs, Linda Johnson and Marsha Waggoner. To be considered for this honor one must have been an active player industry during a period beginning at least 15 years prior to election. They mush have contributed to the world of poker in some significant way be it through wins/cashes or by making contributions to the poker industry. Finally they also must be a proponent of women’s poker.

•Barbara Enright was the first woman to be inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame and also the first woman to sit at the final table of the WSOP main event. She is also the first woman to win 3 WSOP bracelets and has generated more than 1 million in career cashes.
•Susie Isaacs is best known for being the first woman to have won the WSOP ladies championship back to back and also ranked 10th in the main event at the WSOP.
•Linda Johnson also known as the “First Lady of Poker” is the studio announcer for the World Poker Tour. She has won a gold bracelet at the WSOP, is a writer on the game of poker and is also the co-founder of the World Poker Player’s Conference, the World Poker Industry Conference and the Tournament Directors Association.
•Marsh Waggoner, or as some like to call her “the Grand Dame of Poker” has cashed in 19 WSOP events. Her tournament winnings are close to 1 million dollars and she currently hosts many poker tournaments around the world.

Congratulations ladies!

The Executive Poker Tour is a new tour that takes a different approach to the usual competitive tournament structure. With a portion of the prize pool going to The Project Lifesaver Foundation, the events mix charity poker with competitive poker. The cost of entry into the events is lower than the average tour events; as low as $500 in preliminary events and $2,500 for the main event. This makes it more accessible to amateur players and business executives.

The events will all be televised so the executives can display their brands if they make it deep into the tournament. There will be a few poker celebrities at these events. They come for the high-stakes cash game that has a $100,000 buy-in and lots of camera coverage. Expected at the next event at the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City are Steve Dannenmann, Rhett Butler, Victor Ramdin and Lee Charles.

The Kahnawake Gaming Commission (KGC) on Friday released its long-awaited final report on the Absolute Poker cheating scandal. The report includes info gathered from the audit and the penalties assessed to Absolute Poker (a $500,000 fine levied against Absolute Poker as penalty for the illegal activity) and a two-year ‘probationary’ period wherein Absolute Poker will be subject to an increased form of supervision by the KGC.

The KGC findings also mandated this: “Those person(s) responsible for the impugned activities [are] to be permanently removed from any role in AP ‘mind and management’ and/or operations and proof, satisfactory to [the KGC], that this has been done.”

Poker News has more on this release…

Buddhism is described as a body of philosophies influenced by the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama, known as Gautama Buddha.

Some important teachings of this practice are what is known as the middle way, often described as the practice of non-extremism and a path of moderation. Another teaching is mindfulness, to stay present and be aware of your thoughts and the happenings around you. So how do these teachings contribute to poker? Let’s take a look.

The main goal, like in anything we do is to make the best decisions. Being mindful allows you pay attention to your gut feelings and listen to them. It’s often said that your first thought is usually the right one and being mindful allows you to actually hear that thought. When your actions aren’t in accordance to how things are, you suffer.

Being mindful also grants you the gift of allowing letting things go. Yes you should learn from and pay attention the past, but obsessing over past moves and plays to no end it will get you nowhere. Being fully present allows you to question what you are doing and realize if it’s actually working or not.

The middle way in poker is something we all can learn from. In any game extremism won’t keep you around for the long haul. Of course in poker you have to want to win but you can’t allow that desire to fog your judgment of what’s going on in the game. Always being the aggressor or the pacifist in any game will soon become predictable to other players so balance is something that is important to find.

The more the popularity of poker grows the more people are starting to realize that it’s not only just a game but it’s also a tool to help you learn about life and about yourself.

The British newspaper Metro, which has readership in 13 U.K. cities, has launched a new poker and online bingo site. The paper has over 2.8 million readers online and in distribution, and hopes to tap into this following in the online poker market. The paper has signed a deal with St. Minver for online bingo and poker facilities, and the poker software will be Boss Media’s. The site will join the International Poker Network of sites along with Liberty Poker, bet-at-home.com, Casino Club Poker and PokerHour.com.

The popularity of poker in the U.K. has big media players all competing for the gaming dollar. Now that the game is regulated in the U.K., different types of companies are putting resources into profiting from the game. Metro is the fourth largest paper in the U.K. and should make a splash in the U.K. gaming market, if their marketing approach properly reaches the public.

Randy Couture, the UFC heavyweight champion (aka “The Natural”) who recently resigned from Dana White’s hugely popular MMA organization, is set to host a charity poker tournament on January 12, 2008 at The Joint in the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in (where else?) Las Vegas.

Jamie Gold, the 2006 World Series of Poker Main Event winner, and Dean Cain, the actor who starred as Superman in the popular television series “Lois and Clark”, have signed on to be part of the field in “Operation All In”.

With a buy-in of only $550 “Operation All-In” is a No Limit Texas Hold’em event with a guaranteed prize pool. The goal? To raise money for the Xtreme Couture GI Foundation, a non-profit founded by Randy and Kim Couture to honor the veterans of America’s armed forces. Its goal is to raise money and awareness for those wounded in action and their families.

For more information on how to participate in this charity tournament or how to donate to Couture’s non-profit, please visit his website.

Created by PokerStars.net, Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT) was and kicked off in August 2007 in South Korea before going onto the Philippines and Sydney. It’s goal? To become one of the world’s richest poker tours (and a first in Asia!). Like all big poker tournaments (think WSOP and WPT), the APPT is also scheduled to air its first season on television channels across the world in early 2008.

Providing poker enthusiasts with the chance to test their No Limit Texas Holdem skills against some of the world’s best players in the most glamorous of Asia Pacific destinations, the APPT is currently working on a new season’s worth of poker tournaments.

APPT Season 1 Highlights: Grant Levy Becomes First Aussie to Win Sydney Tournie

On December 16th Grant Levy, a 28-year-old school teacher, beat out a field of 561 players (including four pros!) and picked up a cool one million dollars en route to becoming Sydney’s first ever PokerStars.net APPT Champion at Star City Casino.

Levy had no idea he had become the first Aussie to win a million-dollar tournament on Aussie soil. “To be honest I am still taking it all in,” Levy said immediately after his big win. “It’s unbelievable to think that I have taken on some of the world’s greats and come out on top. I’m ecstatic to take the title and the million – I think it’s going to take a week or so to even sink in.”

1. Annette Obrestad wins WSOP Europe at the age of 18. She is already an online star and has earned over $2.5 million. She will be an anticipated addition to Vegas when she’s old enough.

2. Tom Schneider wins two WSOP bracelets at the 2007 WSOP in Omaha and Stud Hi/Low and the 7-card Stud Hi/Low $1000 event. He won over $800,000 combined this year and was named WSOP 2007 player of the year.

3. Rep. Barney Frank enters bill to legalize online gaming. Frank’s bill H.R. 2046 was introduced in April and seeks to legalize and regulate internet gaming.

4. David “The Dragon” Pham wins the Cardplayer Player of The Year award for the second time after Jonathan Little was unable to catch him at the last event of the year.

5. Legendary player Chip Reese dies at home at the age of 56 after having pneumonia symptoms.