What do tennis players do at Wimbledon during those interminable rain delays? Poker, according to Boris Becker.

The three-time Wimbledon champ recently told German newspaper Die Welt that he is  joining the professional poker circuit. Back in November, Becker signed up with Team PokerStars with an eye on playing in the European Poker Tour. Next month, he hopes to get a shot at the Grand Final in Monte Carlo.

It’s all about the psychology of the game for Becker, which fits his personality as one of the more cerebral and emotional tennis players of his or any era. Becker also happens to be the son of an architect, and when he isn’t running one of his successful businesses, Becker sits on the advisory board of German soccer club Bayern Munich.

Given his track record, Becker should thrive on the poker tour – unless the distraction of an Isabelle Mercier or Team Bodog’s own Evelyn Ng leads him astray.

First place at the inaugural Bodog Poker Open Main Event went to Shawn “phatcat” Luman earning him $76,280.

Online poker players came out last night to the $500 buy-in which generated the largest prize pool in Bodog Poker history at just over $280,000. With a 596 entrant field winning wasn’t a cake walk.

At the final table sat Michael “_TheFinisher_” Berra (2nd - $45,768), Jared “TheWacoKidd” Hamby (3rd - $29,138.96), Stuart “zpaceman” Taylor (4th - 21,358.40), Bodog regular “CK3″ (5th - 16,781.60), up-and-coming online poker player “Anbessa” (6th - $13,730.40), Brian “PSP_addict” Bauer (8th - $7,933.12) and Eric “Eeman2004″ Revak (9th - $5,187.04).

This event was unique and valuable event for online poker players and over the course of the event drew out over 18,000 to join in the fun. High caliber players also came out to participate such as Annette “Annette_15″ Obrestad, Garret “GBecks” Beckman, Marco “CrazyMarco” Johnson, Smith “nevertilt22″ Collins and Kevin “beLOWaBOVe” Saul

The inaugural Bodog Poker Open got underway yesterday with event #1 No-Limit $250+20. This is Bodog’s first big set of online tournaments, which will run for six days from the 3rd of March to the 9th. Bodog will add on $10,000 to each preliminary event, and another $25,000 on the $500 main event slated for the 9th. The winner also receives an engraved $4500 watch from Omega Speed Master as a kick-ass trophy.

The tournaments feature a good mix of holdem action, and Bodog is offering great satellite options for all events. They are giving away 20 seats per night per tournament, and they will run until the 8th.

The rest of the events are:

March 4th     #2 NL 6-Handed $300+25 $10,000
March 5th     #3 Rebuy (NL) $100+10 $10,000
March 6th     #4 Pot-Limit $200+15 $10,000
March 7th      #5 Limit $150+10 $10,000
March 8th        — various satellites —
March 9th     #6 NL Main Event $470+30 $25,000

PRESS RELEASE — With the biggest online poker tournament in Bodog history, the Bodog Poker Open, quickly approaching, Bodog is giving its online players even more ways to qualify for the series’ championship event, the $500 buy-in Bodog Poker Open Main Event, scheduled for Sunday, March 9 at 4 p.m. ET.

Starting today, Bodog is hosting a BPO Main Event Satellite every weekday night (Monday through Friday) at 8:35 PM EST, with 20 seats to the BPO Main Event guaranteed in each tournament, regardless of how many players are registered. A total of 200 seats will be awarded through the the BPO Main Event Satellites between now and Friday, March 7.

BPO Main Event Semifinal Schedule is as follows:

Feb 25 – BPO Main Event Satellite - $40+4 buy-in
Feb 26 – BPO Main Event Satellite - $50+5 buy-in
Feb 27 – BPO Main Event Satellite - $69+6 buy-in
Feb 28 - BPO Main Event Satellite - $40+4 buy-in
Feb 29 - BPO Main Event Satellite - $50+5 buy-in
Mar 3 - BPO Main Event Satellite - $40+4 buy-in
Mar 4 - BPO Main Event Satellite - $50+5 buy-in
Mar 5 – BPO Main Event Satellite - $69+6 buy-in
Mar 6 - BPO Main Event Satellite - $40+4 buy-in
Mar 7 - BPO Main Event Satellite - $50+5 buy-in

Starting on Monday, March 3, the BPO will feature five preliminary events, all leading up to the series’ championship, the $500 buy-in BPO Main Event, held on Sunday, March 9 at 4:00 PM ET . There, the inaugural Bodog Poker Champion will be crowned and walk away with the top cash prize and an engraved Omega Speedmaster watch.

Always eager to sweeten the pot for its online poker players, Bodog Poker will add a total of $75,000 in additional money to the BPO’s prize pools, creating a larger prize pool to each tournament and giving players an exceptional value for their buy-ins.

Each of the BPO’s preliminary events will feature a different buy-in amount and format of Texas Hold’em, including No Limit, Pot Limit, Limit, No Limit with rebuysand Six-Handed No Limit. Players can buy directly into any of the events with cash or Bodog Tournament Credits or win their way in through any number of low-cost satellites starting on Monday, Feb. 11. Winners of the preliminary events will win entry to the BPO Main Event in addition to their tournament winnings.

The $50,000 HORSE event is one step closer to becoming the premier event at the WSOP. The WSOP has announced that the dates of the event have been changed from noon on Sunday, June 22, and is now set to begin at 5 p.m. Wednesday, June 25. That displaces the $2,500 buy-in 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball contest originally scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. June 25, which is now set to start at noon on June 22.

The move was made so that ESPN could increase the coverage for the event. The poker community would like to see this event become the true championship for the best all-around poker player, and increased coverage is one step toward that. ESPN is expected to begin airing coverage of the HORSE event sometime in July. The WSOP schedule will run from May 30 through July 16, 2008, and will include 55 bracelet tournaments and satellites.

Online poker is okay in the U.K. but not in the U.S. because of a difference in political structure. In the U.S., politicians are funded by private companies and organizations who donate large sums of money to empower the candidates that they want in power. The current politicians in power in the U.S. have friends that donate money to them who control the horse racing industry. These people feel that online poker is cutting into their gaming profits.

This, combined with the current government thinking that their lottery profits were also in jeopardy, prompted the decision to outlaw the game. This is supposed to force bettors to gamble on the horses and lotteries instead.

In the U.K., the government is a parliamentary system with representatives from different areas. The governments don’t make choices based on what their benefactors would want. Instead, they have recognized the potential of regulating and taxing the industry.

One of poker’s most colourful personalities is Bob (‘Bob the Butcher’) Clarke. The U.K. player is the man behind ButcherPoker and is one of the most recognizable players in all of Europe. ButcherPoker has signed an agreement with Vega Promotional Systems, giving them the rights to promote the “Bob the Butcher” brand.

The newest development in this promotion is the announcement of an online poker academy. The academy will provide both land-based and online tutoring of No Limit Texas Holdem to players from all over the world. They will also be holding mini-camps where players can get intense instruction at all levels of the game and tips from Bob himself.

This academy should definitely be a big hit in Europe. Many other poker personalities are running similar poker schools State-side, and the European players should flock to this opportunity to be taught by an established player like Bob Clarke.

At the 2008 L.A. Poker Classic being played out at the Commerce Casino, Men “The Master” Nguyen is indeed showing that he is the master of the game. With his latest win, Nguyen has become the only player at the high profile event to win more than one event. Nguyen won event No. 20, a $2,500 buy-in limit hold’em tournament that gave him close to $43,000. He also won event No. 14, a $1,500 buy-in no-limit hold’em event, which gave Nguyen nearly $82,000; and event No. 10, a $300 buy-in seven-card stud eight-or better tournament, adding more than $15,000 to his winnings. and 204 points.

Looking to learn more about Men Nguyen? Here’s a great interview with “The Master” shortly after he picked up the 2006 Poker Player of the Year award.

The EPT will be making a return stop in Warsaw Poland, from March 11-15, 2008. Casino Poland Ltd will host the Polish Open 2008 at the Hyatt Hotel and Casino. The event will follow the standard EPT4 structure for a five day No-Limit Tournament, and will cap the players at 400. The buy-in for the main event will be 21,000 zlotys ($8600 USD) which could create a prize pool of $3,280,000.

Europe’s most popular poker tour is now in its fourth season, and Season 3 saw sellout tournaments in Barcelona, London, Copenhagen, Dortmund and Warsaw. Last year’s EPT Final had a 10,000 EUR ($14,700) buy-in and accumulated a prize pool of $9,700,000. A whopping 706 players entered the event, making it the richest tournament ever held outside the U.S.

For more info on the event in Poland visit the home page of Casino Poland at   http://www.casinospoland.pl.

Can you play too cautiously? That’s a question that winning players easily know the answer to, because they’ve learned that aggression is the most important thing about this game. There is a myth that exists in the minds of the recreational poker player – that playing tight is the best way to play. In fact it’s quite the opposite, and tight play should be reserved for specific situations where that sort of style will serve you best.

One place where it’s possible to play too cautiously is late in a tournament. That applies to any shorthanded situation, but more so in a tournament because of the large blinds. If you play too cautiously is this situation your opponents will just keep stealing pots and blinds on you, until they have a lead that is too big to come back against. It is gambling after all, get in there and play.