$o$os Poker news!

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Pokerstars Bans the Use of Sharkscope!
In a move that broke across many of the major online poker forums this morning, PokerStars banned its players from using the database site SharkScope.com and its corresponding Heads Up Display (HUD). SharkScope now joins other collective databases like Poker Edge as not permitted on the site. The online poker room identifies 42 total programs in total that players on its felts are not allowed to operate. There had been talk of banning SharkScope in the previous year, but it appears that enforcement has become official today.

SharkScope is a poker tracking tool that has, according to its website, amassed a database of 178 million sit and go tournaments from across the major networks. A player using the website while playing on PokerStars is now in violation of the site’s Terms of Service. Punishment could include anything from a warning for a first time offender to complete banishment from the online poker room. Other programs which are banned from use by players on PokerStars include Poker Edge, Holdem Hawk, Poker Crusher, Online Holdem Inspector, TheCashDB, SpadeEye, and Sixth Sense.

SharkScope is in violation of PokerStars’ decree that “Any program that works off of a central database of player profiles or hands played is prohibited.” In addition, programs that play “without human intervention,” involve the “practice of datamining,” or “offer direct game play advice on the appropriate action to take” are also strictly against PokerStars’ Terms of Service.

On its website, PokerStars lists programs that are acceptable for use by its customers. They include a variety of programs such as Calculatem Pro, Holdem Genius, Holdem Manager, Omaha Indicator, Pokerbility, PokerGrapher, Poker Office, Poker Stove, PokerTracker, ThePokerDB, and Poker Wingman. There are 60 programs explicitly permitted on PokerStars. Any customer with questions about a specific piece of poker software should contact the support department of PokerStars.

Perhaps one of the premier poker software experts around is PokerXFactor instructor Chris “Fox” Wallace. He told Poker News Daily, “PokerStars has been very good about preventing cheating, but banning the SharkScope website itself, when all of that information is publicly available, will probably serve to hurt players who want to follow the rules, while rewarding those who are willing to break them.”

Wallace described how players may elect to get around the new ban on using SharkScope.com: “Anyone who has SharkScope running on a laptop sitting next to their computer will be almost impossible to catch and they will have a significant advantage over players who are being honest and sticking to the rules they agreed to. Creating a rule that can not be enforced is counterproductive.”

Full Tilt Poker does not allow the use of “large subscription databases.” However, it has not yet enforced any ban of SharkScope, which also tracks sit and go tournaments on Ultimate Bet, Party Poker, Pacific Poker, and Cake Poker, among others. Players have the option to block their own user name from appearing in SharkScope searches by filling out a form on its website. Coverage of the major poker rooms mainly began in 2006 or 2007 and over 62 million sit and gos alone were tracked on PokerStars. There have been 40 million sit and gos tracked on Full Tilt Poker and 21 million on the Ongame Network.

Right now, SharkScope is focused on sit and go tournaments. It does not yet support cash games, but intends to in the future, according to its site.

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One of online pokers greatest stars "Banned" for 3 months
Online poker room PokerStars has once again banned access to one of the game's most high-profile players. The site suspended Sorel "Imper1um" Mizzi for three months last week after the online star had been red flagged for previous cheating allegations. Several established online poker players have confirmed the three month ban from PokerStars to Poker News Daily. Mizzi has not played on the online poker site since October 5th.

According to Mizzi, who plays on PokerStars under the handle "zangbezan24", he was in an airport in Barcelona preparing for a flight to London for the WSOP Europe when he realized that he was registered for a WCOOP (World Championship of Online Poker) event that began later that day. Mizzi had a friend log into his account and play under his name until he arrived at his hotel in London, at which point his friend logged out and Mizzi played the rest of the tournament. This is a violation of the PokerStars Terms of Service, which states that any instance in a tournament in which a player hands off his seat to a different player will be disqualified.

While most would likely receive a warning for such action, Mizzi's troubled past resulted in a suspension. He has been linked to Josh "JJProdigy" Field, a verified multi-accounter on PokerStars who was banned from the site in 2006. Mizzi has credited Field in the past for the enormous improvements in his game, but the 18-year old "Prodigy" is widely regarded as the biggest rogue ever to play on the virtual felt.

Mizzi also received a life ban on Full Tilt Poker late in 2007 following an investigation regarding an incident in the Sunday $1 Million Guaranteed Tournament. Chris “BluffMagCV” Vaughn sold his account to Mizzi with three tables left and Sorel won the event under Chris’ name. This violated the rules of Full Tilt; Vaughn was disqualified from the tournament (and had his winnings seized) and both players were banned for life from the site.

Sorel's suspension on PokerStars was originally set at six months but after a series of back-and-forth emails between the two parties it was reduced to three.

PokerStars prides itself on its first-class customer service and security. The site's security team has cracked down on anyone tied to Josh "JJProdigy" Field, recently handing out suspensions to a handful of players that had been sending money to and from Field through the site's "transfer funds" option.

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Daniel Negreanu Goes BUST On HSP!
Episode three of GSN's "High Stakes Poker" hit the airwaves on Sunday night. The well-known cash game featured the same lineup as during the first two episodes. This week featured a meltdown of sorts for Team PokerStars Pro member Daniel Negreanu, who lost his $200,000 buy-in.

The first hand of the show saw Doyle's Room namesake Doyle Brunson put his entire chip stack at risk. Holding pocket kings, Brunson called a raise to $2,500 pre-flop by Negreanu. Show commentator Gabe Kaplan noted, "Doyle thinks this is an aggressive table. He's hoping to catch someone holding a marginal hand putting in a raise." Eli Elezra made it $13,300 pre-flop holding pocket nines and Brunson shoved for $95,600. The two poker veterans decided to run it twice, meaning that in order for a player to rake the pot, they must win both boards. The first ran out J-7-8-Q-7, giving the win to Brunson. The second came 5-4-3-10-6 with four hearts. Elezra held the only heart, giving him a flush and resulting in a chopped pot.

The show featured very little action by Tom "durrrr" Dwan, who had been featured heavily over the previous two weeks. Instead, much of the buzz was around Daniel Negreanu, who came out on the losing end of a $151,000 hand. In it, Barry Greenstein raised with J-10 on the button and Negreanu called holding A-8 of spades. The flop came 8-9-Q, giving Greenstein the nuts. He led out and bet $5,500 and Negreanu called. The dealer flipped over an ace on the turn. Negreanu checked, Greenstein fired out $15,000, and Negreanu called. The river was a king and Negreanu once again checked. Greenstein bet $50,000 and Negreanu went into the tank before calling. Kaplan noted that, upon seeing Greenstein turn over J-10, Negreanu "is going to see the last thing he thought he would."

Shortly thereafter, Negreanu (A- was involved in four-way action to the flop with Brunson (A-9), Greenstein (2-2), and Elezra (K-Q). The four poker veterans saw a flop of A-K-Q, giving Elezra bottom two pair and Brunson and Negreau top pair. Brunson bet $9,000, Greenstein folded, and Elezra called. Perhaps on tilt from the previous hand, Negreanu raised to $24,000. Brunson got out of the way and Elezra called. The turn came a jack. Negreanu checked while acting extremely frustrated and Elezra bet out $35,000, prompting Negreanu to fold. Kaplan explained, "Daniel is making a fundamental mistake that I've never seen him make before: He's giving up."

Coming back from a commercial break, Negreanu spoke on his influences in poker: "The biggest influences on my game are the guys I grew up with: Guys like Phil Ivey, John Juanda, and Allen Cunningham. We were the young guns. We'd go to dinner and discuss strategy."

Another out of character move by Negreanu came after reigning World Series of Poker Main Event Champion Peter Eastgate inadvertently bet $32,000 into a $13,000 pot. Negreanu commented, "You have the wrong color" and then quickly covered his mouth and laughed. Elezra then promptly made it $140,000 and Eastgate folded. Kaplan said, "Daniel really influenced the action in that pot. If Eli didn’t know that Peter bet the wrong amount, he might not have raised and Peter could have won the pot. It was a mistake by Daniel that should not happen in a game like this."

On the final hand of the evening, Negreanu raised with pocket jacks pre-flop to $2,800. Eastgate called with pocket threes, David Benyamine called with pocket fours, and Elezra splashed around with 3-2. The flop came 2-4-7 with two diamonds, giving Benyamine a set. Negreanu was the first to bet, firing $8,000 into the pot. Eastgate called and Benyamine raised to $41,000. Kaplan commented, "Daniel knows that David is capable of making this raise with a hand like A-5 of diamonds." Negreanu called and Eastgate got out of the way.

The turn came the four of clubs, giving Benyamine quads. Benyamine bet $35,000, which Kaplan described as a "really good bet. If Daniel is drawing to a flush, he wants him to continue to draw. If Daniel has an overpair, he wants him to call." Negreanu shoved for $156,200 and Benyamine insta-called, scooping the $416,200 pot. Negreanu asked Dwan if he had $200,000 to reload with and the credits rolled.

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Jean Robert Bellanded Renews his deal with Bodog
In the current day of professional poker, players look to find ways to alleviate the pressures faced by everyone who works for a living. Many times this is done by being the spokesperson or sponsored player for one of the multitude of online poker sites that crave a vibrant face to place on their product. These sponsorships - which can pay the players’ buy ins for tournaments, and offer them the possibility to offset the variances inherent in poker - are very difficult to come by and, when you do have them, it can be in your best interests to keep active. It was announced earlier this week that one such deal between a top pro and an online room has been renewed, although details were not released.

After one of the better years of his career, professional poker player Jean-Robert Bellande recently renewed his exclusive sponsorship deal with Bodog, one of the sites that still cater to American action. As a part of the Bodog team, he participates in much of the action online with the site and - along with fellow professionals David Williams, Evelyn Ng and Justin Bonomo - is sponsored into many worldwide tournaments and made-for-television events.

A press release from his management company Poker Royalty pointed out the reasons for Bellande’s continued sponsorship by Bodog. James Sullivan, President of Poker Royalty, told Poker News Daily, “Jean-Robert is a perfect fit for Team Bodog. His charisma and personality embody the Bodog lifestyle.”

Bellande’s history of success in poker dates back to 2001, but it wasn’t until 2005 that the poker world began to take notice of him. In 2005, he made the final table of a WSOP Circuit event and scored a nearly $150,000 victory at the 2005 Winnin’ O’ The Green at the Bicycle Casino in Los Angeles. He barely missed winning his first WSOP bracelet last year with a second place finish in the $1500 No Limit Hold’em Shootout and also cashed in the Championship Event, finishing in 442nd place of the massive 6,844 player field. All totaled, Bellande has won nearly one million dollars since he began playing in 2001.

While his success on the poker tables has earned the sponsorship from Bodog, his association with Poker Royalty has earned him notoriety beyond just being a poker player. For example, he has appeared on the made-for-television productions of the World Poker Tour’s “Bad Boys Of Poker." In 2007, Bellande also became the first poker player to participate in a reality show when he was a part of "Survivor: China." He finished in eighth place on that program and admitted that he used many concepts and strategies from his poker background to his advantage on the show.

Bellande’s renewal of his contract with Bodog caps what has been a busy month in the sponsorship world of poker. Earlier this week, Betfair signed 2007 EPT Poland champion Peter “Zupp” Jepsen to a deal that will give the site an excellent roster of young talent, including 2007 WSOP Europe titleholder Annette “Annette_15” Obrestad. Additionally, former World Champion Jamie Gold stunned the poker world with his reported eight figure deal with online poker newcomer Aced Poker in early February.

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FTOPS Schedule Soon to be released
After their highly successful eleventh version - where more than $15 million in cash was guaranteed for tournament participants - Full Tilt Poker will be announcing the schedule of the Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS) for their twelfth version on Wednesday. In addition to the main FTOPS XII, there will also be a Mini-FTOPS schedule, which will allow for players with a smaller bankroll to enter into events.

In February, the twenty five event schedule drew over 50,000 online players who participated in every discipline of poker. Each event had one of the Full Tilt pros - players such as Howard Lederer, Cyndy Violette, Jennifer Harman and former World Champion Chris “Jesus” Ferguson - as its host and most tournaments covered their guaranteed amounts and then some. For the Main Event of FTOPS XI, 5287 players came to the virtual tables - creating a prize pool over the $2.5 million guarantee at $2.64 million - and online poker veteran Adam “csimmsux” Geyer captured the FTOPS XI championship, taking down the top prize of $456,056.62 in the process.

As a part of the run up to FTOPS XII, Full Tilt will also be offering another promotion that should draw players to the tables for their opportunity to earn seats into FTOPS XII. Starting at 4PM Eastern time on Friday (March 27th), Full Tilt brings back their “Sit & Go Madness,” which will conclude on Sunday (March 29th) at 4PM. There is a wealth of cash and prizes that will be awarded during the 48 hours of action on the Full Tilt site.

Players will have to play in one of the four levels of Sit and Gos that are scheduled. These levels - $1-$2, $5-$11, $20-$33 and $50-$110 - will have different leader boards that will qualify players for additional prizes beyond what they win from the Sit and Gos. In addition, there will be play for each day of the Sit & Go Madness schedule.

The 48-hour time period will be broken down into two different leader boards, one for each 24-hour segment of the event. Cash awards will be handed out to the top seven players of each two hour segment over four different levels of play that Full Tilt has set up. There is also an Overall Leader Board, where the top two players in each group's Overall Leader Board will meet in a $5K Sit & Go Freeroll. This freeroll will take place Saturday, April 4th at 4:30ET, where the top three places will be paid.

Between the announcement of the schedule for FTOPS XII and this weekend’s Sit & Go Madness, Full Tilt is offering something for every poker player. Be sure to visit Full Tilt Poker to learn more about Sit & Go Madness and to prepare for the upcoming FTOPS XII.