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January 2008, Volume 2
We have lots of exciting news installed for you in this week's edition of The Insider, HollywoodPoker's weekly newsletter for the latest in celebrity, online poker news and promotions. Here are the highlights:
Hope you have a good read. We also welcome your feedback, so please send them to hollay@hollywoodpoker.com |
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HollywoodPoker's big stack tournament The Grand; prize pool surpasses $800,000! |
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Last month's the Grand XX Tournament drew an astonishing 846 entrants, meaning $846,000 in prize money were up for grabs with the main winner taking home around $200,000!
The Grand is HollywoodPoker's most prestigious tournament with a guaranteed prize pool of $500,000. The main event is played at the end of each month with the next tournament from January 25-27.
To qualify for the Grand Tournament, players can buy-in for $1,000+40 or advance through the many daily qualifier tournaments.
The Grand uses the unique 3-day flight structure where the tournament is played over 3 days.
Players will enter the tables with $10,000 in their chip stack and blinds increases every 30 minutes to allow many opportunities to maneuver chips and make their way through the tournament. |
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Sex and the City's Willie Garson wins Canadian Poker Night and Ricky Bobby is Celebrity Classic's $2,000 bounty winner |
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It was a great week for HollywoodPoker's celebrities and players alike when both sides came out with all guns blazing during the celebrity bounty tournaments.
We had Willie Garson of the upcoming Sex and the City: The Movie winning last week's Canadian Poker Night tournament.
A frequent celebrity player at HollywoodPoker.com, Garson dominated the online tables last week. The Canadian Poker Night is part of the site's three weekly Celebrity events which include bounties for players who knockout a celebrity during the tournaments, thousands more were added to players' bankrolls for taking out celebrities, bringing total payouts so far to over $265,000.
Garson had a showdown with player beebo0x to emerge as the winner. A regular with many celebrity bounties under his belt, beebo0x figured his suited connectors would hold him well for the win. As it turned out, both players managed an Ace pair on the board. Fortunately, Garson's Cowboy kicker delivered him the winning hand.
"It was a good day and the cards were on my side," said Garson. Commenting on how it felt to knockout fellow celebrities Christopher Rich (Reba), Kato Kaelin (Revamped) and Ken Howard (Cane and Sylvester Stallone's Rambo), Garson added: "It felt great because there are so many really good players on the site."
There were many other celebrities out on January 8 at the Canadian Poker Night tournament and beebo0x bagged $500 for taking out 5 of them. For his fifth bounty win, beebo0x managed to knock out Tony Denison (The Closer) by hitting a 10 pair on the flop.
Earlier, he took out Josh Malina (Big Shots), Chris Redman (88: 88 Minutes), Alan Rosenberg (CSI: Crime Scene Investigation) and Kirk Acevedo (The Black Donnellys).
 Ricky Bobby who played his cards right at this week's HollywoodPoker Celebrity Classic won $2,000 , taking out HollywoodPoker model Ashley Dorenzo, Jimmie Walker, Kirk Acevedo, Tony Denison and Seth Meyers (Saturday Night Live).
Ricky Bobby's full house with a 10 pair took out Seth Meyers' A-K flush on a 2-10-7-2-4 monochrome board to bag the limit in progressive bounties.
Other stars hitting the tables last week included Bill Smitrovich, Alan Rosenberg, Kato Kaelin, Shaun Toub (Iron Man), MO, Kane Hodder (Hack!), Stephen Rannazzisi (Big Day), Boston Rob (The Amazing Race) and Willie Garson.
 At the Michael Woods Celebrity Invitational, John88888 received $500 for taking out three celebrities. He had K-K and improved his cards further when 8 fell on the river. Together with the board's 7-3-6 of clubs, he landed a flush against Bill Smitrovich's (Iron Man) pair of threes. Earlier celebrities taken out by John88888 were MO and Kirk Acevedo (The Black Donnellys).
Get in on the celebrity bounty action to win big dollar bounties by checking out the Celebrity Tournament Schedule! |
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Dick Van Patten Honored with Star on Palm Springs Walk of Stars
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HollywoodPoker.com front man and World Poker Tour announcer Vince Van Patten's father and TV legend Dick Van Patten has been honored with the 301st star on the Palm Springs Walk of Stars.
 Best known for his popular role as Tom Bradford in the long-running hit series Eight is Enough, Van Patten who is also a HollywoodPoker celebrity player hosted a charity poker event on the same day to benefit a number of California animal care organizations.
The annual Dick Van Patten Celebrity Charity Poker Tournament is sponsored by his own pet food company, Natural Balance.
Over the years Van Patten has also been involved in helping animal charities and rescue organizations all over the country. He also sponsors organizations such as the ATF's Arson Investigation dogs nationwide.
The annual Dick Van Patten Celebrity Charity Poker Tournament is held in the Coachella Valley and brings media attention and prominence to the greater Palm Springs area.
Van Patten started his career in showbiz as a child actor on Broadway in 1937's The Eternal Road as Dickie Van Patten, appearing in 12 more Broadway shows while still in his teens. He moved on to television and movies with the 1949 TV series I Remember Mama which ran from 1949 to 1957, and as patriarch Tom Bradford on Eight is Enough, 1977 to 1981.
His remarkable career includes more than 600 radio shows, 27 Broadway plays, 7 television series and 30 feature films including classics such as Mel Brooks' High Anxiety, Spaceballs, Robin Hood-Men in Tights and Mr Roberts.
To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the 1977 premiere of Eight is Enough, Van Patten has recently published Dick Van Patten's Totally Terrific TV Trivia (Square One), which guarantees an entertaining and informative tour of TV history.
Van Patten recently appeared in Once in a Lifetime: Just Go for It with Ed Asner, Michelle Parylak and Mirelly Taylor. You can also catch him at HollywoodPoker pitting his skills against sons, Jimmy and Vince. |
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HollywoodPoker celebrity player Dean Cain teamed up with several pro poker players in "Operation All In"
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HollywoodPoker celebrity player Dean Cain teamed up with Jamie Gold, the 2006 World Series of Poker Main Event winner as part of the field in "Operation All In".
 Cain who starred as Superman in "Lois and Clark" joined a good selection of poker's glitterati in Las Vegas. Hosted by former Olympic wrestler Randy Couture and wife Kim and their Xtreme Couture GI Foundation, founded to aid fallen GIs and their families.
More than a hundred players showed up to support the foundation and American soldiers; which was successful in raising more than $90,000. Steve Cyr, Tournament Director, said, "Poker is the most universal game among charity supporters today. It's an easy game to teach, learn and play."
"People come out to support these kinds of events because poker is so popular right now, and players can relax and enjoy the event without any pressure," he added. Many poker pros and celebrities mixed and mingled and generally had fun in supporting this worthwhile cause.
Those on hand included Todd Brunson, Pam Brunson, Scotty Nguyen, Hoyt Corkins, Kirk Morrison, Maureen Feduniak, Jose Canseco, Montel Williams and Phil Gordon.
In addition to the aid generated for these purposes, the organization offers an "Xtreme Weekend" where invited soldiers can come to spend an inspiring weekend with the Extreme Couture GI Foundation staff.
Recently, Cain guest starred in the seventh season premiere episode of Smallville; as the immortal Dr Curtis Knox. He can also be seen heating up the tables at HollywoodPoker's Celebrity Bounty Tournaments. |
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Angel sets her sights on HollywoodPoker Girls Model Search 2009 |
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After receiving tens of thousands of entries, we've narrowed down our selection every month from January to May to the 50 sexiest poker hostesses on the planet. Now it's your job to select the top 12 who will make it on the cover of the 2009 HollywoodPoker Girls Calendar. So start voting here!
 Meet one of our contestants, the versatile Sara Span'o or otherwise known as Angel in the United Kingdom modeling circuit. She's 21 years old, 5' 6" with green eyes and is a model, promo girl, presenter, singer, dancer and actress.
Angel was born and raised in Milan; before moving to Luton, UK at the age of four.
Catch her interview on Red Lounge, a new TV show on Sky Channel 186. The show is aimed at 18 to 35-year-old men and is based on witty banter hosted by three extrovert personalities.
"This is my dream as I used to present on a certain channel once upon a time but didn't get to do very much presenting," says Angel who also has a performing arts certificate, IDTA Dance Medals, martial arts certificates and won various singing competitions.
Also, look out for her 4-piece pop girl band Rapture404. They are currently recording new material and will be releasing their music via downloads this year.
You can also vote for Angel in the HollywoodPoker Girls Model Search 2009. Voting is online at www.hollywoodpokergirls.com | | | |
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