Friday, January 23, 2009

Manila Is A Poker And Party Paradise!

The countdown is on to the keenly anticipated Asian Poker Tour Philippines, which gets underway on Monday and runs until the 1st February at the Dusit Thani Hotel in Manila. The highlight is the $2500 + $200 No Limit Hold’em Main Event, which runs from the 29th January – 1st February. The latest news sees the confirmation of an FHM sponsored party, a celebrity event and a PKR sponsored bounty tournament.

Parties on the Asian Poker Tour in Manila and Macau last year have taken on legendary status and have even won an award! One highlight for this year’s event is definitely the FHM/DafaPoker Player’s Party, which starts at 19.30 on the 31st January and promises to be ‘tastefully wild,’ with FHM planning to send plenty of their cover models. After the party, the Asian Poker Tour and FHM have hired party buses to take players around Manila’s hotspots. At 20.00 on the 27th January, the Asian Poker Tour Celebrity Challenge, presented by Ray Ban, FHM and JBet, also promises to be lively. 20 celebrities will take part and the Asian Poker Tour and sponsors will be donating a minimum of 200,000 pesos to the charities of the celebrities’ choice. More details are to follow on this event but expect a twist to proceedings!

The Asian Poker Tour is also delighted to introduce the PKR Headhunter Tournament to the fantastic range of side action at the event. Getting underway at 19.30 on the 28th January the $250 + $20 tournament will feature members of The Poker Pack as bounties including Nam Le, David ‘Chino’ Rheem, Quinn Do, Steve Sung and Kwang Soo Lee. A recent online bounty tournament featuring members of The Poker Pack, who are currently on a phenomenal run on the world circuit, broke all records on next generation site PKR.

DafaPoker is the official partner of the Asian Poker Tour in presenting the Pot-Limit Omaha Hi tournament – a first for a major Asian Tour. The game is scheduled to take place at 14.00 on the 31st January. The buy-in for this tournament will be $185 + $15. On the same day at 19.00 there will also be a hugely anticipated 13 card tournament featuring a $460 +$40 buy-in. Other highlights include the world’s first GREED tournament and a huge range of cash games, sit and gos and satellites into the Main Event. Registration for the Main Event starts on the 27th January with welcome ceremony cocktails on the evening of the 28th January.

Chris Parker, CEO of the Asian Poker Tour said: “The excitement is building as the clock ticks down to the Asian Poker Tour Philippines. Manila is one of the most fun cities in the world and the event will reflect this. We are delighted with our package of famous parties and the range of side action around our prestigious Main Event. This is one experience not to miss!”

Last year’s Asian Poker Tour Philippines winner was Australia’s David Saab, who scooped first place and $280,000. Coverage of this year’s Main Event will be televised and distributed internationally later in the year. Overseeing the action will be leading tournament director Matt Savage.

The Asian Poker Tour is supported by the iPoker Network, Titan, Dafa Poker, PKR, PartyPoker, Everest, 888, JBet Poker, 32 Red Poker, Microgaming Network and Everleaf Network. Full details can be found at http://www.asianpt.com/

Intertops Sportsbook Favors the Pittsburgh Steelers to Beat the Arizona Cardinals in Super Bowl XLIII

Contest winners to enjoy all-expenses paid trip to Tampa for the most-bet-on-event of the year

Intertops sportsbook favors the Pittsburgh Steelers by seven points over the Arizona Cardinals in the Super Bowl on February 1st, but two players from the internet’s very first sportsbook probably don’t much care who wins – they’re going to Tampa all-expenses paid by Intertops.

“We’ve been at this a long time -- we were the very first sportsbook to take an online wager – and our bookmakers are pretty sharp,” said Michl Posch of Intertops. “Sure, the Steelers are strongly favored, but upsets happen all the time, don’t they? It’s really anybody’s game until the last second.”

William S. of California won last month’s Super Bowl Contest at Intertops and will be taking his wife to Tampa for the big game.

"The Super Bowl is certainly the sporting event of the year and for a football fan like me these tickets are just about the best possible prize I could ever hope for!” said the contest winner. “It’s going to be an historic game with the Steelers going for a record sixth Super Bowl win and the Cardinals looking to take the trophy for the first time. I can’t wait to see whether the league’s toughest defence can stop Arizona’s offensive power.”

Many American football fans think the Cardinals, who haven’t won an NFL title since 1941, may not have a defense that can hold back Pittsburgh. Virtually every betting line favors the Steelers. The Cardinals questionable defense did help win three playoff games pretty decisively though. If the Cardinals manage to break through the Steelers’ defense, those that put their money on the underdogs will clean up.

In addition to who will win the most-gambled-on-event of the year, Intertops offers a huge range of other Super Bowl betting propositions including MVP: Pittsburgh’s Ben Roethlisberger is favored to win that at +135, followed by Arizona’s Kurt Warner at +325 and Larry Fitzgerald at +500. Intertops is also taking bets on which team will be the first to score ten points with odds of +5000 that neither team will reach that mark.

Intertops’ odds on who will win the game and a variety of other betting propositions are posted at Intertops.com/sportsbook and are updated daily. Intertops welcomes Super Bowl wagers from around the world, including the US.