Dario Alioto won the EPT Prague €1k NLH/PLO event for €30,900 and another 500 EPT Award points. This puts the 26-year-old from Palermo, Italy, at the top of the EPT Mixed Game Award table and gives him a big boost in the overall Player of the Year race. Alioto faced his Awards rival John O’Shea at the final table of the tournament and said: “That’s why I had to bust him.” O’Shea was knocked out in sixth place for €4,400 and 300 Award points.

Alioto, who won the 2008 WSOP $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha event, is keen to catch up with Portuguese businessman Fernando Brito in the main POY race. Brito is currently on 2,390 points after min-cashing the Main Event but could likely better this. He is currently competing in the €10k tourney and has a flair from these events, having won the last two in Vienna and Barcelona.

EPT PRAGUE €10K – BRITO AIMS FOR A TRIPLE
Portuguese businessman Fernando Brito is going for a record at EPT Prague. Following a min-cash in the Main Event, the 51-year-old has entered the €10k event which started at noon today. Brito already has back-to-back results in this event after taking down the last two €10k tourneys in Vienna and Barcelona and is now after the third in a row.

A slew of other regulars are among the 21 players currently gracing the tables including Team PokerStars Pro Dario Minieri, EPT Tallinn champ Kevin Stani, EPT Copenhagen winner Anton Wigg, EPT Grand Final winner Nicolas Chouity, local talent Martin Kabrhel, EPT Vilamoura €10k winner Raffaele Gerbi and Swedish pro Michael Tureniec.

EPT PRAGUE €3,200 HEADS-UP
In the semi-finals of the EPT Prague €3,200 Heads-Up Russian Konstantin Puchkov is up against British pro Richard Gryko. NIkolay Evdakov is already through to the final after beating EPT London finalist Kayvan Payman who finishes fourth for €9,330. The total prize pool was €75,660. The winner gets €34,000; 2nd €23,000; 3rd/4th €9,330.

For more information go to PokerStars.com.

“This is the most meaningful,” said Karamalikis of the win. “This is obviously the biggest (tournament) I’ve ever won, by far. It’s quite a prestigious title, so I’m really glad to have it under my belt.”

The win hoisted Karamalikis into the top ten of Australia’s all-time money list.

PokerStars qualifier Ben McLean, also from Australia, finished runner-up to Karamalikis, earning AUD $294,780 for his efforts.

The APPT Sydney Grand Final attracted a total of 289 runners, generating a prizepool worth AUD $1,734,000.

“It’s been an amazing series and an exciting time for me and the poker staff at Star City,” said Debra Rillo, Star City Hotel & Casino Poker Manager. “We’ve had some of the biggest names in poker grace our felts this fortnight. Many thanks to all our local, interstate and international guests and players. I am proud to say that I was a part of this event. Roll on 2011!”

One of those big names was Team PokerStars Pro Daniel Negreanu. Negreanu reached the final table of the main event, collecting $36,415 for his ninth place finish.

Team PokerStars was also represented by Chris Moneymaker (USA), Celina Lin (Asia), Joe and Tony Hachem (Australia) and Lee “Final Table” Nelson (Australia).

**PokerStars sent 105 players to the APPT Sydney Grand Final.

Other notable money-winners include 2008 APPT Macau Champ Eddy Sabat (6th – $79,765), Triple Crown winner Roland de Wolfe (8th – $50,285), PokerStars Qualifier In Wook Choi (13th – $19,050), Brendon Rubie (15th – $19,050), 2007 APPT Sydney Champ Grant Levy (18th – $15,610), Jarred Graham (24th – $13,875) and 2010 Aussie Millions Champ Tryon Krost (29th – $12,145).

FINAL TABLE PAYOUTS (Amounts listed in AUD):

1st: Jonathan Karamalikis (Australia) – $459,510
2nd: Ben McLean (Australia) – $294,780
3rd: Tom Rafferty (Australia) – $164,730
4th: Peco Stojanovski (Australia) – $121,380
5th: Antoine Amourette, PokerStars Qualifier (France) – $97,970
6th: Eddy Sabat, PokerStars Player (United States) – $79,765
7th: Manuel Hansimikali (Australia) – $65,025
8th: Roland de Wolfe (United Kingdom) – $50,285
9th: Daniel Negreanu, Team PokerStars Pro (Canada) – $36,415

For more information visit PokerStars.com

EPT Berlin champ and EPT Players Choice Award winner Kevin MacPhee is still in the lead at EPT Prague. Roberto Romanello is second and EPT1 Grand Final winner Rob Hollink is currently in seventh place.

We have reached the money which means everyone still in a seat gets at least €8,000. This is a record 17th cash for EPT TLB champion and Team PokerStars Pro Luca Pagano and another 80 EPT Award points for Portuguese businessman Fernando Brito, current soaraaway leader in the race to become EPT Player of the Year. He now has (at least) 2,390 after numerous deep runs this season including an EPT London sixth place finish and various side event wins or second places.

Click here to find out more about the PokerStars EPT Prague.

The overall chip leader is German player Dirk Richter who snatched a chip lead of more than 100,000 in the last few hands of the evening. He has 296,700. Helen Prager from Yuba City, California, is the top PokerStars qualifier with 128,600.. Helen’s husband Josh (fifth at the EPT3 Grand Final for €391,550) is also still in with 87,400. The leading Team PokerStars Pro is Florian Langmann from Germany with 90,800.

Also among today’s survivors were Team PokerStars Pros Italians Luca Pagano and Salvatore Bonavena (who won EPT Prague in Season 5), Juan Manuel Pastor from Spain, EPT San Remo winner Liv Boeree, Theo Jorgensen, Michael Keiner and Toni Judet as well as Team PokerStars SportStar Fatima Moreira De Melo from the Netherlands.

A total of 563 players from 47 countries competed in the €5,300 Main Event creating a €2,730,550 prize pool. The winner will go home with €640,000 and another 79 players will be recompensed for their efforts. EPT Prague event is running December 13-18 at Golden Prague Poker at the Hilton Prague Hotel. A total of 191 players started Day 1a.

Visit PokerStars.com for more information.

The NAPT Los Angeles Main Event attracted 701 players from more than 20 countries around the world, generating a prizepool worth more than $3.2 million USD.

The win hoisted Tehan past the $3 million mark in lifetime tournament earnings and was the second biggest win of his career.

“This was a great experience. The turnouts at NAPT events have been getting bigger and bigger. I mean, this is a $5k tournament with over 700 players. I don’t play much outside of Vegas or L.A., so to get a turnout like this in L.A. was good. I was excited to come down and play and I’m glad I did.”

27-year-old Chris DeMaci from Newport Beach, California finished runner-up, collecting $440,000 in prize money. DeMaci entered the final table as its overwhelming chip leader, but Tehan stole the lead after eliminating Jacob Toole in eight place. From that moment on, it was all Tehan.

Said Tehan of his post L.A. plans, “I really don’t travel much to play a lot of tournaments. They’re really stressful and I get enough of that at home (laughter). But I’ve heard the PCA is a great, great tournament and it sounds like a lot of fun, so maybe I’ll end up doing that.”

Team PokerStars was represented at the final table by Canadian Anh Van Nguyen (4th – $195,000) and American Jason Mercier (7th – $84,857). Nguyen’s fourth place finish marked his first NAPT cash, and his second largest win to date. Mercier’s seventh place finish marked his second NAPT final table this season. Jason won the $25,000 High Roller Bounty Shootout last April at NAPT Mohegan Sun.

George Lind III from Team Online and Marcelle Del Grosso from Team PokerStars Canada both cashed in the NAPT Los Angeles Main Event. Lind finished 12th ($37,000) and Del Grosso finished 104th ($7,500).

FINAL TABLE PAYOUTS:

1: Joe Tehan – $725,000
2: Chris DeMaci – $440,000
3: Al Grimes – $250,000
4: Anh Van Nguyen, Team PokerStars Canada – $195,000
5: Ray Henson – $145,000
6: Michael Binger – $114,000
7: Jason Mercier, Team PokerStars USA – $84,857
8: Jake Toole – $60,000

The NAPT Los Angeles Main Event will be broadcast on ESPN2; dates airing TBA.

The PokerStars.net North American Poker Tour returns to Atlantis in the Bahamas, January 6-16th for the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure — the kick-off to Season 2 of the NAPT.

Brighton is actually the hometown of several online poker players who’ve taken to the live arena in recent years, including James Dempsey and Chris Moorman, and the eventual winner is friends with a lot of the competitors he either outlasted or directly busted to propel him to the top spot. Among those who competed over the seaside felt this time round were Nik Persaud, Jon Kalmar, Jerome Bradpiece, Tim Blake, Priyan de Mel and Tom Middleton, while Mike Ellis, Fuad Serhan and Simon Mairs were among those who took the £2,000 min-cash (17 places in total were paid).

The final ten were very unevenly matched in chips, with Damien Evans and Michael Michalis way ahead with nearly half a million each, while Manuel Palanca returned with just under 70k and started the day moving in repeatedly, but avoided 10th place which went to Lee Taylor who was the earliest casualty of a Foltyn race. Another early all-in confrontation, this time tournament-changing (in the winner’s own words), saw Michael Michalis make a big move with 67 of clubs which Foltyn called preflop with AQ to develop the beginnings of a giant stack, while Michalis hit the rail in 9th. Now came the end for Palanca, a sticky one too as he found KK when Foltyn had AA and his short stack grind was over in 8th (£4,800).

Seven handed at the break, Foltyn had two-fifths of the chips in play, and Jenyue Chiang just three big blinds which went in soon and came out in Damien Evans’ stack, although he was to finish in 6th. John Eames, who earlier lost to a two-outer to double Paul Romain, now switched up a gear and tried to get the big stack ball rolling. He was second in chips at the dinner break but the same hand which eliminated Romain took him out too as big blind Paul Romain’s timely Aces held. Mark James finished 4th having stayed by and large out of the big action earlier, but took home £12,400 from the final table.

Flopping a set of fours and setting the trap for third place finisher Paul Romain (who took £20,400) gave Foltyn a fairly monstrous stack, and heads up action started with his holding a commanding four to one chip lead, but Azorin wasn’t in a kamikaze mood, grinding for a while before finally getting it in with a dominated QT to QJ. £32,400 for the runner up and £46,400 plus his second trophy and a Champion of Champions seat to Paul Foltyn.

Side events had previously seen Armon Pajouheshnia take down the £250 NL Freezeout and Pablo Beltrandeheredia the identically priced but more slightly attended Pot Limit Omaha event. Pajouheshnia also came runner up to Simon Baskerville in the first event, the £200 NL Freezeout. Baskerville took home £4,370 and a seat in the Champion of Champion’s event – as do all the winners of the Brighton GUKPT sides. Joining him therefore will be Kishan Mithani, winner of the £300 NL Freezeout, and David Burn who won the 95-runner £100 NL re-entry tournament for £3,430. Please find full results for all tournaments, and winner’s photo attached.

The next stop on the tour is Blackpool, from the 6th-14th November, with the Main Event taking place in the old two-start-day format from the 11th-14th. This will be the final stop on the tour before the Grand Final in London; qualifiers are running now on Gcasino.com/poker.

David Vamplew, the PokerStars.com EPT London winner, has completed a remarkable double after taking down the PokerStars.com UK & Ireland Poker Tour Champion of Champions event at the London Hilton Metropole.

David, who took down the PokerStars.com EPT London Main Event for £900,000 as well as a seat to the EPT Season 7 Grand Final, beat the eight PokerStars.com UKIPT winners from Season 1 to win a seat at every stop of Season 2, including the Grand Final at EPT London in 2011.

Vamplew, 23, beat UKIPT Champions Padraig Parkinson (Galway), Joeri Zandvliet (Manchester), Gilles Augustus (Coventry), Andy Couldridge (Nottingham), Femi Fakinle (Killarney), Jamie Burland (Brighton), Nick Abou Risk (Edinburgh) and Max Silver (Dublin), having earned his seat to the winner-takes-all tournament by winning the PokerStars.com EPT London on Monday, October 4.

On being asked how it felt to have won two tournaments in as many days, Vamplew replied, “It’s pretty good; after yesterday, it’s the icing on the cake.” Heads up opponent Jamie Burland congratulated his opponent, saying, “I hoped David would get tired after yesterday [the EPT London final table]…but he played really good.”

Season 2 of the PokerStars.com UK & Ireland Poker Tour gets underway in Galway on 2-5 December, 2010, with a €1,000 + 100 Main Event at the Radisson Hotel followed by a return to Nottingham’s Dusk Till Dawn poker room in February for the first UK stop.

To find out how to qualify for the PokerStars.com UK & Ireland Poker Tour go to PokerStars.com

A gripping five-day Pokerstars.com EPT London Main Event came to an end with young maths graduate David Vamplew beating four-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner John Juanda.

Vamplew, 23, whose previous best live event cash was just $6,000, will be heading back to Edinburgh £900,000 richer after taking down the UK’s biggest-ever live poker tournament. A total of 848 players competed, creating a £4,112,800 prize pool.

He said: “It’s going to take a while to sink in. I had to get lucky to win. I won a few all-ins but I’m pretty proud of the way I played. I’m pleased with myself for sure.“

Vamplew is now the top-earning Scottish player of all time. As part of his prize, he wins a seat into the EPT Grand Final next Spring. He’ll also be competing in the televised Pokerstars.com UK & Ireland Poker Tour Champion of Champions tournament. The event involves all eight UKIPT Season 1 champions and will be held at the Hilton Metropole. The winner gets a seat into all of next season’s UKIPT events as well as next year’s EPT London Main Event.

Vamplew has been playing poker since 2005 and turned pro after graduating in maths from Edinburgh University last year. He normally plays mid-stakes cash games and only started playing live tournaments this year. His previous best cash was $6,000 in a World Series of Poker side event this summer – a far cry from runner-up Juanda’s $10.5 million plus.

PokerStars qualifier Artur Wasek, a finalist at EPT Berlin last season, came fourth and NAPT Venetian champion Tom Marchese finished eighth.

Frenchman Thomas Bichon was the highest-placed Team PokerStars Pro cashing in 14th place for £30,000. Joe Hachem was 15th and more than a dozen other Team Pros also made the money including Chad Brown, Alex Gomes, Jude Ainsworth, Greg Raymer, Arnaud Mattern, Daniel Negreanu and JP Kelly.

Team PokerStars SportStar and England football legend Teddy Sheringham cashed again, not quite matching his sensational fifth place finish at EPT Vilamoura, but well in the money with 61st place. Jamie Burland, who freerolled into EPT London as part of his prize for winning the PokerStars UK & Ireland Brighton event, came 24th for £21,000.

The field included 165 players who won their seats on PokerStars; 128 players made the money including Phil Ivey, EPT Tallinn winner Kevin Stani and former football star Tony Cascarino.

The EPT London £20,000 High Roller event gave Team PokerStars Pro Nacho Barbero his fourth major title of the year when he bested a 77-strong field to snag the £556,000 first prize. In February Barbero won the PokerStars.net LAPT Mar del Plata event in Argentina, in May he won the debut PokerStars France Poker Series event in Beaulieu, then a month later he won the PokerStars’ LAPT Lima event in Peru. Jani Sointula was runner-up with Team PokerStars Pro Vanessa Selbst coming fourth and Friend of PokerStars Pierre Neuville eighth.

Swedish veteran Chris Bjorin and American Tim Finne both had a very busy week. They were heads-up in the European 8-Game Championship but had to break off to play the Main Event. Both cashed in that – Bjorin 44th, Finne 94th – before resuming the 8-Game Championship. Bjorin eventually won for a £55,200 payday.

Dutch student Arnoud van der Werf, 22, won the EPT London Charity Event which attracted 646 entries and raised more than £20,000 for Cancer Research UK. The £500 EPT London Ladies Event was won by former dealer Anais Lerouge who bested a 57-strong field to win the £11,050 first prize.

This season’s EPT London Poker Festival, which ran at the Hilton Metropole from September 28-October 5, featured 37 different events spread over eight days.

The final was broadcast live on PokerStars.tv in six languages and filmed for television.

The final eight:
1 David Vamplew UK £900,000
2 John Juanda USA £545,000
3 Kyle Bowker USA £300,000
4 Artur Wasek Poland PokerStars qualifier £240,000
5 Kayvan Payman Canada £190,000
6 Fernando Brito Portugal £145,000
7 Tom Marchese USA PokerStars player £100,000
8 Per Ummer Cyprus £66,800

The next event of EPT Season 7 is the €5,300 EPT tournament in Vienna, Austria, from October 26-31, 2010. Satellites are running now, as well as for the EPT Barcelona event in November and the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in the Bahamas in January.

Sign up to Pokerstars.com now for your chance to win a seat to the next EPT event.

Following the success of the 2009 Championship at the Victoria Casino, in which Charalambos ‘Bambos’ Xanthos took first place and £65,000 (pipping runner-up Irish Open champ James Mitchell), the WHU will run in conjunction with the GUKPT for the next two years, with Jon Shoreman and Peter Singleton as event directors. The next GUKPT Grand Final runs at the same venue from the 18th-28th November, guaranteeing a high level of interest in this rarely-staged heads-up format. To reserve your seat, please refer to the attached information document for buyin methods, or look out for satellites both live and online at GCasino.com and all over the iPoker network shortly.

It’s rare to beat a field of 128 and have only played seven opponents, but with half-hour levels and 20,000 starting stacks there’s plenty of play to determine the World Heads-Up Poker Champion of 2010. Details on qualifying tournaments will follow soon; please find full information on structure, registration and format attached.

A massive turnout for Day 1b of the EPT London Main Event – 509 players – means the total number for this season’s tournament is 848, making it the biggest live poker tournament ever held in the UK. It’s also one of the biggest EPT tournaments ever held since the tour began in 2004.

The total prize pool for this season’s EPT London Main Event is £4,112,800 with a first prize of £900,000. 128 players will get paid.

Players have come from all over the world to attend EPT London: 57 countries in total including Mongolia, Dubai, Kazakhstan, Japan and South Korea. A total of 170 players are from the UK and 167 from the States. France has 63 players in attendance, followed by Germany with 53.More than 165 players won their seats to EPT London on PokerStars.