On Wednesday, 27th January we have set up a game especially for Shane and for all other Ladbrokes players who want to take him on.

>> Find out more details about: Poker Tournament with Shane Lynch <<

Whoever knocks Shane out will receive a €100 bounty, now that’d make an interesting story down the pub..

Tournament Details below:

Tournament Name : Shane Lynch Bounty Tournament
Date and Time : Wednesday 27th January at 1900 GMT
Buy in and Rebuys : €5 buy in €2.50 rebuys in 1st hour plus €2.50 add on
Money Added : €900
Bounty on Shane’s head : €100

Now in its fourth year the Celtic Poker Tour final will once again offer a guaranteed €100,000 prize-pool. Last year Kieran Walsh landed the title and a €37,000 prize with the 2008 champion, Francis McCormack, finishing third. The inaugural winner was Mark Flannagan who took home a €40,000 prize.

Find out more details at Ladbrokes Poker

Ladbrokes Poker recently announced that they will be sponsoring Shane’s car and as Shane has recently expressed an interest in learning to play poker we thought it would be a perfect opportunity to get Shane on the tables and help mentor him through his first game.

On Wednesday, 27th January we have set up a game especially for Shane and for all other Ladbrokes players who want to take him on. So all poker players, Drifting fans and Boyzone fans welcome.

Find out more details about: Poker Tournament with Shane Lynch

In January 2011, the fourth Ladbrokes Poker Cruise sets sail from Florida for an 8 day Caribbean Poker Cruise aboard the world’s largest deluxe cruise liner ‘Oasis of the Seas’.

Check here: How to Qualify for the Ladbrokes Poker Cruise ?

Oasis of the Seas – World’s Largest Cruise Ship

As always, there will be a Festival of Poker that includes a full tournament program, cash games and STT’s.

Qualification for the Ladbrokes Poker Cruise IV is available now, so do not miss out on being part of Europe’s biggest poker festival!

When and Where

Ladbrokes Poker Cruise IV will depart from Ft Lauderdale, Florida on Saturday 22 January 2011 and return on Saturday 29 January 2011 having visited three exotic destinations:

• Labadee (exclusive beach & water sports paradise)
• Falmouth, Jamaica
• Cozumel, Mexico

The Poker Cruise

The Ladbrokes Poker Cruise IV is worth £4,000 (available for as little as £4.40!), and includes:

• An ocean view balcony cabin for qualifier and one guest
• Travel allowance of £950
• Poker Bankroll of £500
• Eligibility to participate in the Festival of Poker
• Ladbrokes Poker schedule of hospitality and entertainment over and above the standard programme offered on board
• Meals on board the ship

Oasis of the Seas – World’s Largest Cruise Ship

Ladbrokes Poker believes this change (taking place across the whole Microgaming Poker Network) will be a fairer way to reward players and give credit to those who actually deserve it. For this reason, it also means that it is fairer to players who are learning the game and takes into account a player’s style of poker play.

Head of Ladbrokes Poker, Kate McLennan stated ” “Ladbrokes are on a mission to ‘bring poker to the people’, to simplify and make online poker more accessible, to make it easier to learn and to develop one’s skills and to make it fairer for players. Rake is something which is taken by all poker rooms, and here at Ladbrokes it’s important that we use the fairest method, to suit all levels and types of player. It’s also important to emphasise that this is a change to how rake is allocated, and that there will be no increase to the rake taken. This is a positive beginning to the New Year and I look forward to what will to be an exciting 2010 for Ladbrokes Poker and all our players”.

Andrew Clucas, Microgaming Poker Channel Lead commented: “Microgaming is pleased to announce the adoption of the Weighted Contribution method of rake calculation to the Microgaming Poker Network (MPN) which will change the way in which rake is allocated. We believe that this will result in a fairer method of rake distribution and improve the game experience overall for the greater majority of poker players.”

A Big congratulations go to Leon Chutooree who has named Friday’s Mystery Bounty Tournament with €2,000 added and won a free entry in to the event.

Leon came up with ‘Santa’s Helpers Mystery Bounty Stocking Filler’ and has named the bounties as follows:

• Bad_beat_Elf – starring Estelle from the VIP Team
• Set_O_Claus – starring Susanna from the Nordic Team
• XmasFlush – starring Juha from the Finnish Team
• Noel_2_pair – starring Naomi from CRM Team
• RoyalRudolph – starring Per from the Norwegian Team
• NordPolPeter – starring Ole from Gibraltar
• Yule_lose – starring Adam from VIP Team
• Quad_Present – starring Richard from the Customer Services Team
• MistletoTony – starring Jamie from VIP Customer Services Team
• stackblitzen – starring Mike from the Danish Team

All bounties will have €50 on their heads.

Tournament Details are as follows :

Name: Mystery Bounty- Santas Helper Stocking Filler
Where: In the tournament lobby under Specials
Date : Friday 18th December
Time : 1900 GMT
Buy in : €20 + €2
Money Added : €2000 ADDED with 10 bounties (Ladbrokes staff)
Starting Chips : 2500
Blinds : 15 minute Blinds, 120 Second Time bank

The total prize pool for the €300 buy in event hit its €30,000 GTD with a tasty €10,000 set aside for the winner. The Ladbrokes poker pros, ‘skalie’ and ‘nebuchad’, played in this event with the English man coming out slightly on top of his Swedish rival in 30th and Nebauchad catching 35th place.

Top Ten finishers below :

Poker Alias    Position    Prize Amount
pepsimc76    1    €10,000
Jesusisback    2    €6,000
-Jumatik-    3    €4,000
Razork8    4    €2,500
Atyeo    5    €2,000
alidahammer    6    €1,600
ROCKNOBSTER    7    €1,350
CRIPPIN    8    €1,100
-JESUS-    9    €800
cooldude3    10    €650

Soon after the event we caught up with ‘Jesusisback’ who qualified for the event.  ‘Jesusisback’ went on to admit he got lucky when his pocket Queens cracked Aces but went on to praise the great structure and is already trying to qualify for next month’s event.

January sees the launch of another event in the 100 series which is a €10,000 GTD on the 4th January and the €30,000 GTD being played on the 11th January.

For more information on the 100 Series visit: Ladbrokes Poker

Ladbrokes Poker has Three Christmas Promotions that will keep you as satisfied as a stuffed Turkey on Christmas Day.

On December the 1st, forget the chocolate advent calendars, the Poker Team have really outdone themselves this year – we mean all ‘singing and dancing’ – so kicking off on Tuesday the team will be getting together to give you the ’15 Quizzes of Crimbo’. We could have stuck to the traditional 12 but at Ladbrokes we like to keep it original. For the lucky person who gets all Questions right they could be winning a seat to The Mystery Christmas Bounty on the 18th December.

The Mystery Christmas Bounty will be your chance to take on ten of Ladbrokes Finest (yes, that’s the staff). Each staff will also carry a €50 bounty on their head. Not only a great value tournament but we’re also giving you the chance to name the Tournament, the Bounties and get yourself a free entry.
Link : Mystery Christmas Bounty

We’ve also just launched our brand new poker promotion – 100 Series which is unique due to the fact we just cap it to just 100 entrants. The first tournament takes place on the 7th December and has a guaranteed prize pool of €30,000. We’ve just opened the doors and seats are filling up quickly.
Link : Poker Promotion – 100 Series

The fun and frolics don’t end there – we’ve also added 15 brand new Tournaments to our Schedule with over €10,000 money added. Cashing in these tournaments could mean Christmas shopping budget and more completely covered courtesy of Ladbrokes Poker.
More info: Festive Fun MTT Leaderboards

Well the Christmas holidays have truly kicked off at Ladbrokes and we don’t care who knows it.

Merry Crimbo!

The Aussie Millions is one of the most prestigious poker festivals in the world, with the Main Event being held between 24 –30th January 2010 at the Crown Casino in beautiful Melbourne, Australia.

Join some of the biggest names in poker by qualifying with Ladbrokes for as little as €4.

Online qualification to Aussie Millions 2010

The Aussie Millions package is worth €10,000 and includes $10,500 AUS Main Event buy-in, 10 nights stay at the Crown Promenade Hotel and €2,150 travel / spending money.

Two packages will be guaranteed, one through each of the Monthly €1,350 Finals. Daily Satellites buy-ins start at from just €4!

Ladbrokes has a history of qualifying players to this Melbourne showpiece as well as other highly regarded tournaments such as Master Classics in Amsterdam, World Series of Poker and the Irish Open. Kate McLennan Head of Ladbrokes Poker said: “It’s most poker players dream to go to Australia and play in this prestigious event and we’re giving our players the chance to qualify online with Ladbrokes Poker, bringing Poker to the People.”

How to qualify for Aussie Millions 2010?

Online satellites to this major live tournament will be available on Ladbrokes Poker from 9th November 2009.

Join Ladbrokes Poker if you are not here yet, and race your way to Aussie Millions 2010

Join Ladbrokes Poker & Register to take your chance

On the first Monday of each month, poker’s hottest new tournament comes to town. Brand new to Ladbrokes Poker the unique €30,000 100 Series Tournament is now set to become the hottest poker ticket around.

Capped at just 100 runners, demand for places is sure to be intense.

The first event kicks off on Monday 7th December 2009 at 19:00 GMT. With a buy in of €300 + €20, a massive €30,000 tournament is guaranteed!

Ladbrokes Poker will be running satellites to the €30k Guaranteed 100 Series Tournament from as little as €3.50 throughout November!

• Main Event: 7th December
• Buy In: €300 + €20
• Prize pool: €30,000
• Starting Chips: 5000
• Blinds: 20 minutes

Kate McLennan, Head of Ladbrokes Poker, said: “Christmas kicks off early with the 100 Series. It’s the first of a series of high value formats we’re lining up to give poker players a feast of festive treats.”

Payout structure:

Position Payout

1. €10,000
2. €6,000
3. €4,000
4. €2,500
5. €2,000
6. €1,600
7. €1,350
8. €1,100
9. €800
10. €650

Ladbrokes Poker nominated for Poker Operator of Year 2009 by Egaming Review.

Winners will be announced on 30^th November 2009!

Check who played best hands & win this year Irish Poker Festival cashing in €100,000: http://bit.ly/KillarneyDay4

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See what happened at Irish Poker Festival 2009: http://bit.ly/KillarneyDay3

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Stay tuned with the latest Poker news and promotions at our website: Ladbrokes Online Poker & follow instantly through Twitter or Facebook
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>> See the latest videos from Irish Poker Festival and all action updates at: http://bit.ly/wi6E8

The 1st two levels were quiet and I reached the break with just 12,500 chips. Not in bad shape and I had already seen which players on the table were likely to donate chips to me. Unfortunately candidate number 1 gave them to someone else the very first hand we got back.
A player to my left got very busy, raising my big blind under the gun twice. Both times he rivered me for tasty pots once with 23 of hearts the other 78 of hearts. I was now down to less than 8k.

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With the blinds at 100/200 I find AQ on the button. Rivvver (A Ladbrokes regular) had limped under the gun. I raise to 600 to find where I am and he flat calls. The flop comes A 8 2. He checks and I bet 900, hoping he comes over the top. I am sure he doesn’t have AK, if he’s flopped the set, well I guess I am going out. He dwells for some time and eventually flat calls. I am now sure he has a pocket pair, probably somewhere between the 8 and ace, 10’s or jacks’s maybe. The turn is a blank and he checks to me. If I bet now, he will fold and I get nothing more. He knows me and he expects me to continuation bet the flop whether I hit or not. I check, knowing he will either bet the river or at least call a bet from me thinking there is a good chance I am bluffing. The river is again a blank and he checks to me. I bet 2000 which he calls and he shows me his pocket kings. If he’d re-raised pre-flop I was gone. Phew!
The guy to my right, called Joseph had been harping on about a dog all day. I have an almost perfect record when it comes to backing horse and dog tips. If I back ‘em they lose, if I don’t, they win. Simple. I had tried to resist the temptation of knowing about it. However when the dinner break came he reminded everyone again that it was running at 9.25 and the whole table assured him they were backing it, including the old dear (Vera) to his right. I now had no choice, if I came back from the break to hear the whole table celebrating a win I was sure to tilt. I had to consider the bet as a life insurance policy.
Julian and Traff joined me for dinner at our hotel where we discussed the days play and the bet (of course). Traff wasn’t interested but Julian and me rushed back to get our bets on. It was only 6/4 so we had 200 each on and stood around waiting for the start of the race. At 9.30, 5 mins after the off someone informed us it was some far out Irish track and there wasn’t gonna be any coverage so we rushed back to the tournament. By the time I got to the table everyone was celebrating, it had indeed won. Sweet.
Without any major battles or large pots I had battled my way to over 20,000. On my table was Rory Brown, a young lad who I first met in Galway of January of this year. I knew he had moves and his read of the game is good. We locked horns a little and it was only a matter of time before we played a critical pot.
With the blinds at 150/300 He raised under the gun to 1000. I find pocket Jacks and re-raise to 3000. He contemplates his next move. He knows I could be squeezing but he doesn’t want to risk pushing all in, but his hand is good enough to at least see a flop and calls. The board is 7 4 2, perfect. He checks to me. I bet out just over 4,000. I know he has around 11,000 and I hope he feels I will fold to a push. He dwells before indeed pushing all in and I make the call. He flips over pocket 10’s and when the turn and river are blanks I have over 35k and am very much in the game and taken out the one player on the table who might have had me worried.

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I started to use my newly found stack to apply pressure. And things are going well. With the blinds at 200/400 I raise with Kd6d on the button to 1150 and both blinds call. Oh, well just a set back. The flop comes 9 Jack high all clubs. Checked to me and I bet 2000. The small blind passes and the big blind checks his cards and calls. I know he has a big club, probably the bare ace and when the turn is a red Jack he checks to me again. I now bet 4500, he only has around 20k and would be foolish to call. He calls, obviously. The river is a King of clubs. He checks and I check hoping I had read the hand wrong and my pair of kings would be enough. NOPE! The clown does indeed have the ace of clubs for the nuts. Not only does he call without pot odds, he had called with no implied odds. Does he really think I am stupid enough to bet the river when the club comes? Sickening when some people may as well turn their cards face up and you still can’t beat them.
The day wrapped up around 1am with still over 400 players remaining. I had around 38k, chip leader for my table and in a good spot. The great news was there would be no redraw and I would get my shot at the same players again.
My friend Steve Trafford has also made day 2 on his first ever major tournament and was obviously delighted. A good effort indeed. Kila had been less than fortunate. After a hefty pre-flop raise with AQ she was all in and out on a flop of Q K A. Her opponent attached to his monster 10 jack.
All that was left was preparation for day 2, so to the bar then.
Friday 2nd October

See what happened at Irish Poker Festival 2009: http://bit.ly/KillarneyDay2

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Stay tuned with the latest Poker news and promotions at our website: Ladbrokes Online Poker & follow instantly through Twitter or Facebook
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See what happened at Irish Poker Festival 2009: http://bit.ly/KillarneyDay1

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Stay tuned with the latest Poker news and promotions at our website:  Ladbrokes Online Poker & follow instantly through Twitter or Facebook
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>> See the final table video footage: http://bit.ly/Qdmzo

Adam: So how does it feel to win and be €100,000 better off, at your first attempt?
Thomas: It feels amazing! Didn’t realise how much I had won at the time, it didn’t really kick in till the next day what had just happened and what I had been through, it’s a massive amount of money and feels great!

A: What have you done since the early hours of Monday morning to celebrate?
T: Well we had a few drinks with the Ladbrokes guys and then finally got to bed about 8am and then don’t think any of us were up until 5pm Monday evening. But we took it easy and I treated the boys to a meal in the hotel. I’m saving my main celebrations until the weekend, when I’m going out in Nottingham with a group of friends.

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A: What was the atmosphere like at the final table?
T: Well I have made a final table once before, I finished 3rd it at the Venetian back in February. But that was nothing like this…it was no way near the same, towards the end nearly every hand got the crowd off their seats, which added to the atmosphere and pressure.
A: You seemed to be very calm at such a young age, how did you deal with the crowds and the long hours?
T: Generally I calmed myself by chatting to the other players at my table, but in general I found myself calm throughout the tournament. I felt the banter increased amongst players as the tournament went on; it was very quiet to begin with.
A: How did your family react when you told them?
T: Ha ha, I text my mum and her first response was a text saying “DON’T LOSE IT!!” and that was shortly followed by another one saying “don’t buy a car!!” Since then I have had loads of texts and facebook messages from friends and family.
A: What are you going to be doing with the money?
T: Short term, I’m going to play more high stakes, cash games and hopefully get involved in a few more live tournaments. But long term, I’m looking to buy a house in Nottingham.
A: Apart from winning, what was your favourite moment of the weekend?
T: Umm…wow that’s hard one. I did enjoy one specific big hand on day 2. I had a pair of Ace’s and this other guy had 6/4 off suit. The flop gave a pair of 6’s and he bet very aggressively but I was never going to fold holding Ace’s. Then an Ace came on the River, I doubled my chip stack, winning about €95,000, so that was nice.
A: Have you been on any other VIP events with Ladbrokes?
T: No this was my first, as I’m quite a new VIP, but hopefully not the last as I had an amazing weekend and have heard good things about Ladbrokes VIP events from other players.
A: Have you played poker since Monday morning?
T: No not yet, but will probably play later today. Whilst travelling home we played some stupid games, flipping a coin for money and things like that but only small scale stuff.
A: Did you make any new Poker friends over the weekend?
T: Yeah I met a few nice guys. I had arranged to meet up with Alexdb before hand on the Ladbrokes chat, as we have played together on a few occasions and he is a strong player, so yeah it was good to finally meet up with him.
A: What’s next for you in the near future, any holidays? Or just more poker whilst your on a high?
T: Just more poker, nothing crazy planned as yet.
A; You had some great support at the final table, would you like to thank anyone specially?
T: Yeah I think I had the support of all the English….well all 3 of them at the final table, but yes I would like to thank Simran (D33pincider), Chris (GARY888) and Alex (Alexdb) for all their support.
A: Will you be back next year?
T: Definitely, to defend my title!
A: So are you looking forward to the Cruise, you also won?
T: Yeah I can’t wait, to be fair, when I won I forgot about the Cruise package but to realise after, that I will be going to places such as Jamaica is great. Really can’t wait and hopefully a few of my friends will win packages through Ladbrokes too.

Report by Adam F. – Ladbrokes Poker Team