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Roy “the boy” Brindley wins star-studded Betfair.com Poker Masters of Europe

Roy Brindley’s 6-month-old son Sebastian joined him to lift the winner’s trophy for the Betfair.com Poker Masters of Europe after an epic heads-up battle with top Swedish pro William Thorson.

Brindley was chip leader for the majority of the final table, making few mistakes in the company of some of biggest names in European poker.

Internet qualifiers Steve Cordy and Richard Collier were knocked out early along with in-form Hendon Mobster Ram Vaswani.

“Bad boy” of poker Tony G continued to dispel the myths by stating before the event that anything he won would go to charity. He was knocked out in 3rd place by William Thorson. The $36,000 he won will be split between The Prince’s Trust and Lithuanian charity Bedu Turgus, which looks after people in extreme poverty.

Heads-up Brindley had to contend with his pocket aces being beaten on the river but after almost two hours Thorson went all in with King Jack. Brindley called and his Ace-7 gave him a winning hand of 2-pair (Aces and 9s) before the river card was needed.

Brindley said, “I got to the stage where I was really enjoying playing winning or losing. This is the first televised tournament I’ve won in 5 years … it means a great deal … more so financially now we have the baby.”


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Notes to editors:

1. The Betfair.com Poker Masters of Europe will be broadcast on SKY Sports from the 29th May.
2. The event consisted of a series of 6 heats (6 handed). The winner of each heat made the final table.
3. Brindley was backed at an average price of 19-1 on the Betfair exchange before the event.
4. Payout structure:
$120,000 - Roy Brindley (IRE)
$70,000 - William Thorson (SWE)
$36,000 - Tony Guoga (LIT)
$30,000 - Richard Collier (ENG)
$25,000 - Ram Vaswani (ENG)
$19,000 - Steve Cordy (WAL)

For further information, please contact:
Oliver Bowen
oliver.bowen@betfair.com

Betfair Poker makes major software update

Betfair Poker has completed the latest in a series of upgrades to its software.

Renamed “Betfair Poker Plus”, the software gives customers the most significant increase in capability since Betfair Poker re-launched on its own poker platform in October 2006.

Among the 25 individual enhancements is the option to choose from a selection of different views for multi-tabling. The “old” view will remain an option but customers can now spawn connecting tables, detach and re-attach tables, and re-size windows.

Improved multi-tabling functionality allows for up to 15 tables to be played at the same time and graphics and resolution are vastly improved. The default view has also been enlarged to improve visibility.

“The latest upgrade offers some major customer facing improvements and we have had very positive feedback. But we won’t be resting on our laurels, we’ll continue to look to the future,” said Betfair’s Head of Poker Ben Fried.

Betfair Poker’s software development team receives input from real players and continues to work closely with customers aiming to create an approachable, intuitive and forward-thinking poker platform.

Since launching on its own poker platform, Betfair Poker has made 12 software updates.

(See Milkybarkid Ben Grundy's comments on the new software here)

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Notes to editors:

1. In celebration of the launch of Betfair Poker Plus, Betfair Poker are holding an online Poker Game Show with over $50,000 in added prizes. . See www.betfairpoker.com for more information.
2. Play Your Cards Right - $2,000 to be added to three tournaments to be played at the same time. The top ten average finishers across the three tournaments will share a further $1,000. Takes place on Friday 4th May, and then on Tuesdays 8th, 15th, 22nd and 29th May.
3. Beat the Buzzer – Betfair Poker Pro Thomas “Buzzer” Bihl will be multi-tabling between 7pm and 9pm from Wednesday 16th May to Sunday 20th May with bounties on his head ranging from $10 to $100.
4. It’s a Knockout – A series of three bounty tournaments take place on Thursday 3rd May at 7pm, 7:15pm and 7:30pm. Nine bounties will be available including the three Betfair pros, Bengt Sonnert, Ben Grundy and Thomas Bihl. Bounty prizes will be either entry into the $50,000 GTD, $16,000 GTD or $11,000 GTD tournaments.

Fifty St James hosts sports stars in charity poker showdown

Sam Torrance OBE and Teddy Sheringham showed their skills outside their respective sports in a charity poker tournament at Fifty St James in London last night.

Sheringham finished just outside the money while Ryder Cup hero Torrance won the 6th place prize of £2,000.

When quizzed by Clare Balding in an interview before the event Torrance claimed poker was not his strong suit and that golf (predictably) was where he made his money betting.

But in a 72-strong field that included the great Willie Tann and Poker Million winner Rajesh Modha, Torrance can be well pleased with his performance.

England rugby star Tom Voyce also fared well, finishing 17th. Clare Balding, competing in her first ever poker event, made a creditable 37th place. Sports TV presenter Natalie Pinkham came 26th.

The Betfair.com Fifty Spring Festival was won by journalist and author Vicky Coren who donated half of the £12,000 winnings to the three charities supported by the event: Moorcroft, The Irish Youth Foundation and Cancer Research.

Coren also took home a trophy to sit alongside her European Poker Tour title that she won in London last year.

Including a charity auction and some generous donations from players more than £25,000 was raised for the three charities.



Notes to editors:

1. Pictures available on request.
2. Seventy-two players each paid £500 to play in the event, of which £200 went to charity. Players were also permitted to re-buy into the event before the dinner break where another £100 would be paid to charity.
3. Dinner was provided by Richard Corrigan.
4. 1st Vicky Coren (£12,000) – 2nd Karim Wilkins (£7,500) – 3rd (John Dwyer (£4,500) – 4th Martin Dwyer (£4,000) – 5th Richard Fronda (£3,000) – 6th Sam Torrance (£2,000).

A different kind of satellite from Betfair Poker

Betfair Poker is offering its customers the opportunity to win “Passport Stamps” which can be used to buy into any live poker event in the world.

The unique Betfair Poker Passport Stamps are up for grabs in weekly satellite tournaments starting from $5.50.

Each stamp is worth $3,000 and offers unrivalled flexibility and choice. Players can either use the stamp to buy into local tournaments, which would normally be too expensive, or accumulate stamps in order to challenge for higher buy-in events such as the World Series of Poker.

Players can even choose how to spend the value of the Passport Stamp. The full sum can be spent on the buy-in or the costs of flights and/or accommodation can be included.

“This satellite structure puts our customers in the driving seat,” said Betfair’s Head of Poker Ben Fried. “The Passports, combined with the Threedom Pass, give our live event offering the best value and flexibility in the industry.”

Hans Vogl, who made the final table at both the Betfair Asian Poker Tour and the Aussie Millions, is one of the exclusive Threedom Pass club. “With the Threedom Pass and the Poker Passport I don’t know why anyone would want to qualify anywhere else.

“You can pick and choose your events and if you do well Betfair will sponsor you in for three years.”

Betfair Poker will continue to offer traditional satellites to tournaments worldwide.

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Notes to editors:
1. The weekly Passport Stamp satellite final takes place on Sundays at 2145. The buy-in is $150+$15. Satellites start at $5.50.
2. At least one Betfair Poker Passport Stamp is guaranteed every week.
3. Each Passport Stamp is valid for 18 months.
4. Stamps can be redeemed for any live poker event in the world provided that Betfair Poker is able to comply with the terms and conditions of that event.
5. The Threedom Pass offers free buy-in for three years to an event for any Betfair Poker player making the final table of that event. The pass is transferable to comparable tournaments.

Betfair sponsors European poker event in London

Betfair is the official sponsor of an exclusive televised poker tournament for the first time in its history.

The Betfair.com Poker Masters of Europe is a 36-player invite-only event with a live audience. It will take place at Riverside Studios in Hammersmith on the 11th-14th May featuring players from around the world.

The tournament will be produced by Emblaze Productions, the same team behind the British Poker Open, Million Dollar Cash Game and the European Poker Masters.

Emblaze has strong relationships with a range of European broadcasters.

“We aim to make this the most important invitational event of the year,” said Betfair’s Head of Poker Ben Fried.

“The Betfair Asian Poker Tour is a fantastic open tournament for our players but this event will be more exclusive. We expect some exciting characters from sport and screen as well as the top poker players; it will make great TV.”

Managing Director of Emblaze Productions James Hopkins said, “For the Betfair.com Poker Masters of Europe we will build on our unrivalled experience for high quality productions to make this the best televised event of the year.”

A series of six heats will feed into a final table where the winner will take home well over $100,000. The majority of players will each buy-in for $7,500 but six players will qualify exclusively online at Betfair Poker.



For further information, please contact:
Oliver Bowen
+44 208 834 8318
+44 7887 525245
oliver.bowen@betfair.com

Monte Carlo’s millions still within reach

March 7th

Betfair Poker is still offering online qualification tournaments for the Monte Carlo EPT Grand Final.

Players can win a $16,000 Team Betfair package which includes the €10,000 main event buy-in and spending money for travel and hotel. Feeder satellites start from $9.90.

The final satellites take place on Saturday 10th and 17th March at 2130 (GMT). A package is guaranteed for each satellite.

The latest member of Team Betfair for the Grand Final is popular forumite ‘doobs’. He said, “It’ll be a little tougher to make moves against Ivey and company. I hope I can continue my run of form.”

Doobs went on to win the Betfair Poker $50,000 guaranteed tournament the very same night.

“I doubt I will have a weekend like that for a while, but if I could repeat that luck for just one weekend, I hope it is the one at the end of March when I am in Monte Carlo.”




For further information please contact:
Oliver Bowen
Oliver.bowen@betfair.com
02088348318