Microsoft is promising an upgrade to its Full House Poker game for Xbox 360 that will feature World Series of Poker branding. World Series of Poker: Full House Pro will be made available for both Xbox and Windows 8 platforms sometime this spring, and will feature the voices of longtime WSOP announcers Lon McEachern and Norman Chad. Game play will range from single-player to single-table to “full-blown tournaments.” Players will receive a free stack of chips every morning, but no, you still can’t play for real money.
In the non-virtual world, the WSOP has just announced its inaugural World Series of Poker Asia-Pacific (WSOP APAC). The series, a partnership with Crown Casino in Melbourne, Australia, will run from April 4-15 and feature five bracelet events, including NLHE Accumulator, PLO, Six-Handed NLHE, AU$50k (US $52k) High Roller and the Main Event, which will run from April 11-15 with a $10k buy-in. The confab will also feature the Caesars Cup Invitational, pitting APAC v. Europe v. The Americas.
Baptiste Chavillaz won the WSOP-Circuit main event at the Bicycle Casino in Los Angeles on Monday. For outlasting his 720 competitors over three days of play, Chavillaz earned $216k, a shiny gold WSOP-C ring and a seat to the WSOP-C National Championship in New Orleans May 21-23. Not bad for someone who confessed he’d “not even played in a major tournament like this, ever.” Zhong Chen was the last to stand between Chavillaz and destiny, earning $133k for his runner-up finish, while Eric Varela finished third, collecting $98k. Next, the WSOP-C moves on to Durant, Oklahoma where the Choctaw Main Event gets underway this Friday and finishes up on Monday.
Over in Europe, Laurent Polito has won the €1,500 World Poker Tour National Paris main event. The proceedings attracted 229 entrants to the Aviation Club de Paris and Polito earned €82k plus €7,500 towards his Grand Prix de Paris buy-in. Stéphane Benadiba earned €52k for finishing second, while Omar Lakhdari took €33k for his third-place finish. Elsewhere, Belgium’s Serge Van Lendegham won the Grosvenor UK Poker Tour (GUKPT) Champion of Champions at Luton’s G Casino over the weekend. Van Landegham earned £22.6k for topping the field of 94 GUKPT winners, with recent Blackpool winner Simon Deadman earning £16k for his runner-up status.
Michael ‘The Grinder’ Mizrachi has signed on as the official poker ambassador for the Turlock Poker Room in California. The two-time WSOP Poker Players Championship winner and current ISPT ambassador will make regular appearances at the central Cali club as well as prominently display their brand on his person at all major live tournament stops throughout 2013. The deal will commence this Saturday with Mizrachi hosting his Grinder Poker Series, which includes the Grinder Showdown, a heads-up, bracket-type tourney with the winner getting to take on Mizrachi heads-up for the chance to win $15k.
