Some people have luck that goes from good to bad in an instant. Take this one friend of mine for example. He almost always draws whatever card he needs to win a hand of poker, but almost always loses big at the horse races! I asked him about this and he once replied "Well, they don't let me shuffle the horses." This week it’s definitely checking out the satellites PokerStars is running to its huge $15k freeroll that will take place later this month. It costs just 75 VPP to get in and first place will give you a ticket to the big $15k freeroll. The satellites take place today and Monday. Of course the Cake Poker weekly $500 freeroll will once again take place today. Don’t tell everyone but it’s got to be one of the softest tournaments available online. Finally William Hill Poker is running it’s exclusive $2,500 monthly freeroll for PokerListings players later today. The buy-in is just 10 William Hill points so you have absolutely no reason not to buy in. If you're not a PL.com registered player... holdem poker online

A man walks into a poker room and notices two men and a dog playing poker. The dog was playing exceptionally well and the man comments "Wow, that's one smart dog!". "Not too smart." one of the men at the table replies. "Every time he gets a good hand, he wags his tail." Since online poker’s Black Friday, Patrik Antonius and Gus Hansen have been the two big name pros making most of the headlines on the site but they were not as active this week. Cao moved in and utterly dominated the $25/$50 PLO games, winning $202k on Monday alone. The Parisian added another $100k throughout the week and finished with a total of $297k. He’s now up $911k in 2011 and with the absence of American players such as Tom “durrrr” Dwan, Phil Ivey and Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond, is becoming one of the rising stars in the online poker world. As good as he played this week, Cao was technically not the biggest winner. That honor went to the lesser-known vmnielsen who picked up $307k... holdem poker online

Some people have luck that goes from good to bad in an instant. Take this one friend of mine for example. He almost always draws whatever card he needs to win a hand of poker, but almost always loses big at the horse races! I asked him about this and he once replied "Well, they don't let me shuffle the horses." The young Swede shocked the poker world in the fall of 2009 taking on the biggest names in the online game at the highest stakes, including playing the only two seven-figure pots ever recorded against Phil Ivey and Patrik Antonius, all while attempting to keep his true identity a secret. In January of this year, the worst kept secret in poker was revealed when Viktor Blom admitted he was Isildur1 and signed with Team PokerStars. Although the socially awkward and media-shy Blom refused to do interviews, he has since played at several PokerStars events and hosted an online challenge against stars of the game like Daniel Negreanu and Tony G. Now, Blom is leading the remaining field of 36... rake in holdem online

Some people have luck that goes from good to bad in an instant. Take this one friend of mine for example. He almost always draws whatever card he needs to win a hand of poker, but almost always loses big at the horse races! I asked him about this and he once replied "Well, they don't let me shuffle the horses." While several news outlets and online poker affiliate sites with news-like content reported the sites were filing for bankruptcy Wednesday, the site's parent company, Blanca Games Inc., has issued a statement claiming they are simply restructuring. "As previously stated, Absolute Poker and UB ceased their U.S.-facing operations due to recent legal developments in the United States," the statement reads. "The company is currently restructuring and is focusing its resources on consolidating its non-U.S., rest-of-the-world operation and software business." April 15, the Manhattan U.S. Attorney charged the principals of three of online poker's biggest sites with bank fraud, illegal gambling... Freeroll poker online

How can you get a sweet and gentle old lady to say the word "fu@k"? Get another sweet and gentle old lady to yell BINGO! "A funeral procession today would be premature as federal lawmakers may more immediately take up the issue as several congressional leaders back the legalization of limited forms of online gambling, specifically Internet poker," reads a release from the group that includes Shuffle Master automatic card shufflers. "In the interim, casino operators and their gaming suppliers take another wait-and-see approach in an evolving race of techhnology and innovation." April 15, the Manhattan U.S. Attorney charged the principals of three of online poker's biggest sites with bank fraud, illegal gambling and laundering billions of dollars. In all, 11 defendants were charged, including PokerStars' Isai... Freeroll poker online

Some people have luck that goes from good to bad in an instant. Take this one friend of mine for example. He almost always draws whatever card he needs to win a hand of poker, but almost always loses big at the horse races! I asked him about this and he once replied "Well, they don't let me shuffle the horses." The former economics student earned €930,000 for the win and took home a Shamballa Jewels bracelet, a seat in the EPT Grand Final and a seat in the EPT Champion of Champions event. The fourth British champion so far this season, Elder beat German Max Heinzelmann heads-up. Beginning to develop a bit of a bridesmaid reputation, Heinzelmann also finished runner-up three weeks ago at EPT Berlin. “I’m very happy to have won, very excited," Elder said. "It hasn’t actually sunk in yet. Max is a great player – he was definitely my toughest opponent at the table.” 25-year-old Canadian Xuan Liu finished third. The first female final tblist on the EPT this season, Liu is a former University of... Freeroll poker online

Some people have luck that goes from good to bad in an instant. Take this one friend of mine for example. He almost always draws whatever card he needs to win a hand of poker, but almost always loses big at the horse races! I asked him about this and he once replied "Well, they don't let me shuffle the horses." Cao, who is a frequent casher at the WSOP, fired off 2,249 hands and eventually finished up $202k. It was a huge score considering Cao played all his hands at just $25/$50 limits.  Born in China but currently residing in Paris, Cao has flown under the radar over the last couple years but is becoming harder and harder to ignore this year. The PLO specialist is already up to $880k in profit this year and climbing at a rapid pace. He’s one of the players who has played very well since U.S. players left Full Tilt. Last night the two titans of Team Full Tilt – that would be Patrik Antonius and Gus Hansen – were absent from the high stakes games so Cao had his run of the site. In their place... holdem poker online

How can you get a "professional" poker player to get off your front doorstep? Pay him for the pizza. In January, the Jeffrey Pollack led Federated Sports and Gaming organization announced plans to form a professional poker league featuring the world’s top 200 poker players according to the its own ranking system based on an eligibility formula using historic statistics similar to those governing professional golf and tennis. Events were then scheduled to run at the Palms Casino in Las Vegas from August 2011 through February 2012. Now, details regarding the eligibility criteria for the league have been released. Membership in the league will be based on an individual player's adjusted lifetime earnings in qualifying tournaments; the number of major poker titles won; and the number of... rake in holdem online

How is a women like a casino? Liquor in the front, poker in the back! Coming of a big start to 2011 where he final tabled The Big Event at the Bicycle Casino in Los Angeles and cashed in the both the NAPT Mohegan Sun main event and Bounty Shootout, Von Kriegenbergh came into the final table with close to twice the chips of anyone near him. Although he fell out of the lead in a lengthy three-handed battle with three-time WPT finalist Curt Kohlberg and Floridian Justin Zaki, he cracked Zaki's aces in a miracle hand to double up and came back to win it all heads-up against the veteran Kohlberg. Von Kriegenbergh collected $1,122,340 for the win, dwarfing his career best score of $140k earned with a fourth-place finish in The Big Event. "My success is clearly... rake in holdem online

A man calls his wife at work and tells her "honey... I have some bad news. We just won the 3 million dollar state lottery." and the wife replies "Bad news? How is that bad news! We can finally live out our dreams!" to which the man responds "The payout is 3 dollars a year for a million years." Team Full Tilt Pro Patrik Antonius, who’s had a mediocre 2011, absolutely crushed his competition winning $2.3 million. Strangely his amazing hot streak began almost immediately after U.S. players were forced to vacate Full Tilt Poker due to online poker’s Black Friday. On a suddenly U.S. player-less Full Tilt, Antonius has reigned supreme with millions in profit. It was the opposite experience for fellow Team Full Tilt member Gus Hansen who lost nearly $1 million after posting huge wins every month this year. Here’s a look at the top five biggest winners and losers for the month of March. For more information be sure to check our online poker stats section. Top 5 Biggest Winners 1.... Freeroll poker online

A woman walks into living room and sees her brother playing poker with their dog. "Wow!" she exclaimed, "You must have the smartest dog in the world!" and her brother replies "He's not all that smart. I've beaten him 3 out of 5 games so far." Coming of a big April where he cashed in both the NAPT Mohegan Sun main event and Bounty Shootout, Von Kriegenbergh has close to twice the chips of anyone close to him heading into the final six. A total of 433 players entered the WPT's first ever event in the state of Florida, creating a $4,156,800 prizepool with $1,122,340 reserved for first. Relatively unknown locals Abbey Daniels and Justin Zaki will be the two players closest to Von Kriegenbergh when play resumes Monday, but three experienced pros sound out the final six, including WPT title holder Tommy Vedes, three time WPT final tablist Curt Kohlberg and 2008 Borgata Summer Open champ Allen Bari. Here are the chip counts heading... holdem poker online

A homeless man asks another man for two dollars. The man says "Will you use the money to buy booze?" The homeless man replies "No sir, I don't drink." The man then asks "Will you use the money to gamble?" The homeless man replies "No sir, I don't gamble." So the man says "Do me a favor and come home with me. I want my wife to see what happens to a man who doesn't drink or gamble." Originally from Nebraska, the 24-year-old Johnson moved to Las Vegas nine months ago to become a pro poker player and after beating the largest field in the WSOPC Las Vegas' six-year history, it appears it was a sound move. Johnson outlasted a field of 496 to collect the $153,559 first-place prize, including a final table that featured WSOPC ring winner “Hollywood" Dave Stann and WSOPC Casears Best All-Around Player winner Adam Hui. Both Hui and Johnson also won seats in the WSOP Circuit National Championship $1 million freeroll at Caesars Palace later this month. Johnson held the chip lead throughout the final table, finishing up in just 2 hours and 40 minutes, making it one of the... holdem poker online

A homeless man asks another man for two dollars. The man says "Will you use the money to buy booze?" The homeless man replies "No sir, I don't drink." The man then asks "Will you use the money to gamble?" The homeless man replies "No sir, I don't gamble." So the man says "Do me a favor and come home with me. I want my wife to see what happens to a man who doesn't drink or gamble." As a result, a few smaller stories may have fallen through the cracks. But fortunately, we've compiled them below in our weekly Poker News in Brief feature. This week, the Melbourne Poker Championships begin, the WPT expands, Cake Poker extends its promotions and more. Melbourne Poker Championships Begin Crown’s Melbourne Poker Championships kicks off Sunday inside Australia's biggest poker room. One of the most prestigious and sought-after titles on the Australian poker calendar, this year’s Championship boasts twenty tournaments highlighted by a $240 No-Limit Hold'em event with a $100k Guarantee, a 10-player $100,000 winner-takes-all Challenge and the $1,100 Melbourne Poker... Freeroll poker online

How can you get a "professional" poker player to get off your front doorstep? Pay him for the pizza. This week, as always, you can take advantage of the Cake Poker $500 on Saturday. It’s not the biggest payout but it’s always a soft tournament. 888poker is right behind with another $500 freeroll that takes place on Tuesday. If you recently deposited and earned 2 player points you’re in. All this week PokerStars is running satellites to its giant $15k SCOOP freeroll, which is a freeroll you don’t want to miss. If you’re looking for something more immediate you should check out the William Hill $2.5k monthly freeroll on May 7. It costs only 10 Will Hill points to buy-in. If you're not a PL.com registered player on any of the following sites, click on the site's name in the list to sign... rake in holdem online

A woman walks into living room and sees her brother playing poker with their dog. "Wow!" she exclaimed, "You must have the smartest dog in the world!" and her brother replies "He's not all that smart. I've beaten him 3 out of 5 games so far." In the last seven days the famed Finnish poker pro played 2,278 hands and leapt up the online leaderboards by winning a staggering $1.7 million. What’s more, Antonius did it against some stiff competition. Players like Gus Hansen, DrugsOrMe, Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies, Jens “Ingenious89” Kyllonen, Rui Cao and Andreas “skjervoy” Torbergsen have been very active in the $300/$600 6-Max PLO games. It’s been an amazing resurgence for Antonius who just last month was down over $500k on the year. Antonius, who is well known for taking breaks from the high stakes games, has been one of the busiest players on Full Tilt since online poker’s Black Friday and a big part of the reason the highest... rake in holdem online

A man sits down at a poker game and consistently calls another man's bluff. The other man asks "how could you tell I was lying?" and the man replies "because your chips were moving." The $1,600 buy-in tournament drew a whopping 496 players, including WSOP Main Event champions Scotty Nguyen, Jamie Gold and Jerry Yang, 2010 WSOP Player of the Year Frank Kassela, WSOP bracelet winners Allen Cunningham, Dutch Boyd, Mark Seif and WSOPC and WPT title holder Dwyte Pilgrim. The healthy field size generated a $715,000 prie pool that will pay 54 spots with $154,000 reserved for first. 2008 WSOP final tablist Cody Slaubaugh grabbed the overnight lead with well know names like Chad Brown, Erica Schoenberg and "Hollywood" Dave Stann in the top ten. Play continues with Day 2 at 12 p.m. PT inside Caesars Palace in Las Vegas with 87 players remaining. The WSOPC Caesars Palace main... holdem poker online

A woman walks into living room and sees her brother playing poker with their dog. "Wow!" she exclaimed, "You must have the smartest dog in the world!" and her brother replies "He's not all that smart. I've beaten him 3 out of 5 games so far." A total of 987 players from 57 countries entered the €5,000+€300 EPT7 San Remo main event over two starting days Wednesday and Thurdsday, creating a €4,786,950 prize pool that will pay 144 spots. The winner will earn a massive €930,000 first-place prize plus plus a Shamballa Jewels bracelet worth more than €16,000. Held annnually at the Casino Sanremo on the Italian Riviera, EPT San Remo has become one of the most popular stops on the tour. Last year's main event saw 1,240 entries with Brit Liv Boeree collecting a €1,250,000 first prize with her victory. This year, a total of 460 players survived the two Day 1 flights and will head into Day 2 Friday chasing chip leader and Dutch Team... holdem poker online

A homeless man asks another man for two dollars. The man says "Will you use the money to buy booze?" The homeless man replies "No sir, I don't drink." The man then asks "Will you use the money to gamble?" The homeless man replies "No sir, I don't gamble." So the man says "Do me a favor and come home with me. I want my wife to see what happens to a man who doesn't drink or gamble." It’s been an up-and-down week for Sahamies who lost $275k on Monday and then won $275k on Tuesday to erase his deficit. It might be a bit harder for Ziigmund to erase his most recent loss, which occurred mostly in the $300/$600 6-Max PLO games. Ziigmund recorded 1,274 hands against fellow high stakes players such as Patrik Antonius, Gus Hansen, Rui Cao, ronnyr37617, DrugsOrMe and Ingenious89. Despite some significant victories since Full Tilt left the U.S. market earlier this month, Ziigmund is now down nearly $800,000 in 2011.  Although Sahamies faltered last night, the still unidentified ronnyr37617 of Switzerland was on fire winning a total of $452k. Close behind ronnyr37617 was Patrik... Freeroll poker online

A weekly Friday night poker game was going strong well into the midnight hour when one of the players from the game returned from a bathroom break with a shocked look to him. "David!" he said with urgency, "Come quick! Your wife is in the bathroom making love to your brother!". "Ok guys" David replied, "this is absolutely the last hand!" A total of 406 players entered the $10,000 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida, just North of Miami. Registration remains open until 12 p.m. ET Thursday when Day 2 begins, but WPT Executive Tour Director Matt Savage has already confirmed that with over 400 players, first place will pay at least $1 million. Local Floridian and 2011 Aussie Millions finalist Randy Dorfman continued his hot start to the year by building a 160,000 stack - good enough for the overnight lead. Dorfman, who brought the chip lead into the final table at the Aussie Millions but could finish no better than fifth for AUD $325,000, followed that up... rake in holdem online

A man joins gambler's anonymous. He's given three-to-one odds he won't make it. The independent comedy Hitting the Nuts: The True Story of the Scott County Series of Poker has many in the poker world singing its praises after its DVD release April 15. 2006 World Series of Poker Player of the Year Jeff Madsen is a fan. “Hitting the Nuts is without question the funniest poker movie ever made," he said. "The film is committed to making fun of poker and the crazy personalities who love this great game, and that makes it fun to watch. I enjoyed every second of it.” Blogger James Guill of PokerJunkie.com is on board as well. “Hitting the Nuts was a bit over the top at times, but so is our game," he wrote in his April 25 review of the film. "The town, its people, and even... rake in holdem online