Isildur1’s Next SuperStar Showdown Competitor Announced

By Scott Carlson, Rakeback.com Poker News Senior Writer

It was announced today that Tony G will be facing the international man of (poker) mystery Isildur1 in the second installment of the PokerStars SuperStar Showdown. The 2,500-hand match will occur this Sunday, January 2nd at 16:00 ET. The game will be four simultaneous $50/$100 heads-up tables of half No Limit Hold’em and half Pot Limit Omaha.

The first installment saw Isildur1 lose $40K to Isaac Haxton. This installment should be railbird heaven with the outspoken Tony G across the virtual felt from the mysterious Scandi. We shall see if “The G” has time to poke some written jabs between hands or not. When breaks occur in the action it’s pretty safe to assume the chat will be “R” rated.

Mark you calendars because this one is sure to have some fireworks.

Annie Duke Announces Engagement

By Nathan Carroll, Rakeback.com Poker News Staff Writer

I’ve got some bad news for any guys out there who have had their eye on the woman who has often proclaimed to be the world’s best female poker player: Annie Duke is engaged.

Annie has been dating actor and filmmaker Joseph Reitman since 2005, when the pair met through a mutual friend in Los Angeles. The power couple has racked up several impressive accomplishments since then: Annie took down the 2010 NBC Heads-Up Poker Championship for $500,000 and finished in second place on the 2009 season of Celebrity Apprentice, while Reitman racked up acting and producing credits on several films and TV shows and also scored a $266,000 win in a poker tournament on UB.com, the site Annie is signed to.

On Christmas Day, Annie hit the world with news of their engagement by posting the words “I said yes” to her Twitter account, along with a picture of her sporting the ring. Although you might think she’d be expecting a proposal after being together for five years, Annie apparently didn’t see it coming. As she posted to Twitter, “I am still shaky. Total surprise from @JoeUgly. I am the luckiest woman ever. Best man on earth. I am so in love. Sigh.”

There are no details yet on when the wedding is expected to take place, but when it does, the guest list is sure to be packed with Hollywood players and world-class poker pros.

Congrats to two cool people and excellent poker players.

Pennsylvania Revokes Foxwoods Casino License

By Scott Carlson, Rakeback.com Poker News Senior Writer

The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board took the unprecedented step of revoking Foxwoods’ casino license for a proposed location in the South Philadelphia area. The much maligned project started four years ago when Foxwoods won the gaming license. Over those four years a number of changes to the project were proposed including the location, size and partners on the project.

The major tipping point appears to be the percentage of proceeds to be donated to local charities. The original figure given when the license was approved as 42%. The latest change provided only 2% going to charities, a far cry from original projections.

Recently Caesars Entertainment Corporation was named as new partners on the project. A future World Series of Poker Circuit event was rumored for the location. The current Circuit event now takes place at the Harrah’s Chester, PA location.

The vacant license now appears to be up for grabs. The casino could now potentially be located anywhere within Pennsylvania, although it would be hard to generate as much tax revenue anywhere else within the state.

$10,000 Exclusive Rake Race on Absolute Poker and UB

$10,000 Exclusive Rake Race on Absolute Poker and UB.com

• Participation:  All players who register an Absolute Poker or UB Account through Rakeback.com
• Registration: not necessary – an Absolute Poker Account or UB Account that is tracked to rakeback.com is enough.
• Duration: 1st of January 00:01 ET  – 31st of January 23:59 ET
• Pay-out: The top 100 players who generate the most rake during the timeframe will win according to the payout structure.

Get a Free $5 at Absolute Poker or UB.com

Rakeback.com is giving away $5 to the first 400 players who register for a new account at Absolute Poker or UB – NO STRINGS ATTACHED. Simply sign-up at Absolute Poker or UB through Rakeback.com, register for rake tracking and you will receive $5 cash into your account the following Wednesday.

Now is the perfect time to sign-up and get 30% rakeback and up to a $1,100 sign-up bonus ($500 for Absolute Poker). Get playing today!

Two Party Poker $500 Freerolls Amongst Many January Promotions

All Party Poker accounts registered through Rakeback.com are eligible for a $500 freeroll. Earn just 10 Party Points between January 1st 00:00 GMT and January 15th 23:59 GMT for the first freeroll or between January 16th 00:00 GMT and January 31st 23:59 GMT for the second freeroll and you are qualified.

Tournament details are as follows:

January 1-15 Freeroll

• Freeroll Name: RB $500 Freeroll Jan 23rd
• Freeroll Time:  January 23rd, 2010 20:00 GMT
• Registration Time: TBA

January 16-31 Freeroll

• Freeroll Name: RB $500 Freeroll Feb 6th
• Freeroll Time:  February 6th, 2010 20:00 GMT
• Registration Time: TBA

Please note qualifiers names will be uploaded to the tournament automatically. All you need to do is  open the tournament lobby. You will receive an e-mail notice from Party Poker if you qualify.

New Players Get $10 for Signing-Up

Party Poker and Rakeback.com love to give you free cash — up to $10 free cash – no strings attached, in fact. Simply sign up for Party Poker between January 1-31, and you can claim your $10.
How to Claim Your Free $10

1. Download, install, and create your Party Poker account
2. Use bonus code: RBFREE10 when registering at Party Poker
3. Register your personal details in the Party Poker cashier before January 31st, and $10 free will be on its way to your poker account!*
4.  Alternatively, if you are a higher volume player you can claim the full $500 sign-up bonus instead of the $10 free offer, please use the bonus code RAKEBACKCOM.

Already got a Party Poker Account?

Not sure whether your old Party Poker account qualifies for the exclusive Party Poker – Rakeback.com offer? Email our support team with your existing Party Poker username, and we’ll let you know if you can claim your 100% up to $500 bonus all over again. But hurry, this is a limited time offer! Click
here to get qualifed and use bonus code: RMPLAYER

Note: Due to legal restrictions in France and Italy, we ask that players from these countries follow these simple steps to create a Party Poker account.

French players signup at Party Poker for a 100% up to €200 signup bonus. Use bonus code RAKEBACKCOMFR when registering.
Italian players signup at Party Poker for a 100% up to €400 signup bonus. Use bonus code RAKEBACKCOMIT when registering.

* In order to withdraw the free $10, players must earn 60 Party Points in 30 days.

Betfair $500 Freeroll & Signed ManU T-Shirt

All players who have a Betfair account registered through Rakeback.com are eligible for the $500 freeroll. In addition to their share of the prize pool the winner will receive a signed Manchester United T-Shirt*. Earn just 100 player points in January and you are qualified for the  freeroll.

Tournament details are as follows:
•    Freeroll Name: TBA
•    Freeroll Time:  February 13th, 2011 20:00 GMT / 21:00 CET
•    Tournament ref: O-23182-1
•    Registration Time: Tournament will be visible in the lobby from Febrary 10th, 2011
•    Requirment: All tracked Betfair players who generate 100 player points between Jan 1st, 2011 and Jan 31st, 2011.

All eligible players will receive a ticket to register for the freeroll.

Don’t have a Betfair account? Sign-up and receive up to 40% cash back and up to a $1,000 sign-up bonus.

* – Please allow 4-8 weeks for delivery

$50,000 January DoylesRoom Rake Race

Play at Doyles Room from January 1st-31st to earn your share of our largest rake race promotion.

Top Reasons to Participate:

• 250 places paid. You don’t need to be a high-roller to qualify.
• $6,500 top prize
• Easy to qualify: 250th place in December raked just $90 and earned a $25 prize!
• LIVE rake tracking – shown below. Get up to the minute results.
• Prizes are in addition to 33% rakeback and up to $600 first deposit bonus on Doyles Room

Create a 33% rakeback Doyles Room account with $600 sign up bonus to take part in the $50K rake race.

2011 WSOP Dates Announced

By Scott Carlson, Rakeback.com Poker News Senior Writer

Caesars Entertainment announced Thursday the dates for the 2011 World Series of Poker. Mark May 31st through July 19th on your calendars. The schedule included 50 straight days of poker, the exact same number of days from 2010.

The Main Event will begin on July 7th and again feature four day ones. The November 9 will occur again in 2011. The last day of play to reach the November 9 will occur July 19th.

WSOP officials announced a new rule for the 2011 series, hard stop times. All events will play a maximum of 10 levels each day regardless of the number of players left in an event. This could possibly stretch some of the three day events from 2010 into four day events in 2011.

The full schedule including dates, times, and buy in amounts will be released in January.

What would you like to see on the 2011 WSOP schedule? Let us know in the comments section below.

Start the New Year Off Right With Eurobet

Kick the new year off right with Eurobet’s $5k guaranteed Festive Frenzy Main Event. The $100+10 tournament takes place January 3rd at 17:00 GMT. In addition to the guaranteed prizepool, Eurobet will be giving away iPads, iPods and tournament tickets.

There are plenty of ways to satellite your way into the Festive Frenzy Main Event.

• Weekly Qualifiers – There will be three $10+1 satellites (12/19, 12/26, 1/2) with five seats guaranteed and $500 added to the prizepool.
• Last Chance Rebuy Qualifiers – There will be five $5+0.50 rebuy satellites (12/28, 12/29, 12/30, 12/31, 1/1) with three seats guaranteed and $100 added to the prizepool.
• Daily Freerolls – Between now through 12/31 there will be a daily freeroll with $1 rebuys with three seats guaranteed and $10 added to the prizepool.
• Sit & Go’s – Sit & Go’s starting as low as $3+0.30 are now running.
• VIP Points – Use your VIP Points to enter directly or play satellites or sit & go’s and win your way in.

Now is the perfect time to sign-up for a new account. You can get up to 40% cash back and up to a $1,000 sign-up bonus.

PKR Announces Xmas Cracker Tournament Series and Santa’s Grotto Freeroll

PKR is giving players a reason to celebrate this holiday season with their Xmas Cracker tournament series. [And for those of you who are confused, they’re referring to the tubular toys that can by pulled apart with a crack to reveal candy and other goodies.]

The tournament series consists of 11 events with buy-ins from $5 to $250. All tournaments with be No Limit Hold’em, but the schedule makes use of a variety of formats, such as 4-Max, 6-Max, deepstacks, and rebuys. In total, there will be nearly $200,000 in guaranteed prize pools.

Schedule:

Event 1 – $10,000 EXP Xmas Cracker ($7,000 GTD)
Thursday, 23 December 19:00 GMT ($15 buy-in)
 
Event 2 – $15,000 EXP Xmas Cracker Deep & Steep ($10,000 GTD)
Friday, 24 December 19:00 GMT ($30 buy-in)
 
Event 3 – $8,000 EXP Xmas Cracker (six seater) ($6,000 GTD)
Saturday, 25 December 19:00 GMT ($30 buy-in)

Event 4 – $30,000 EXP Xmas Cracker Deep & Steep ($20,000 GTD)
Sunday, 26 December 19:00 GMT ($50 buy-in)

Event 5 – $18,000 EXP Xmas Cracker (four seater) ($12,000 GTD)
Monday, 27 December 19:00 GMT ($30 buy-in)

Event 6 –  Xmas Cracker Terminator
Tuesday, 28 December 19:00 GMT ($40 buy-in)

Event 7 – $15,000 EXP Xmas Cracker Rebuy ($10,000 GTD)
Wednesday, 29 December 19:00 GMT ($5 buy-in/ $5 rebuy)
 
Event 8 – $15,000 EXP Xmas Cracker Ante Special ($10,000 GTD)
Thursday, 30 December 19:00 GMT ($30 buy-in)
 
Event 9 – $7,000 EXP Xmas Cracker Speed ($5,000 GTD)
Friday, 31 December 19:00 GMT ($30 buy-in)
 
Event 10 – $120,000 EXP Xmas Cracker Masters ($100,000 GTD)
Saturday, 1 January 20:0 GMT ($250 buy-in)

Event 11 – $20,000 EXP Xmas Cracker Rehab (Extra Levels) ($15,000 GTD)
Sunday, 2 January 17:30 GMT ($40 buy-in)

The best part of the Xmas Cracker series is the Santa’s Grotto freeroll that will be held at 1:30 PM EST on January 9th. This tournament is open only to players who have played in one or more of the earlier tournaments. Each player’s starting stack will be 500 multiplied by the number of Xmas Cracker events he or she played in. Anyone who plays in all 11 events will start the freeroll with 5,500 in chips!

Here are the prizes for the Santa’s Grotto freeroll:

Position    Prize
1st          Sony 40″ LCD TV + BDP-S470 Blu Ray Player
2nd          Apple iPad 16Gb (Wi-Fi)
3rd          Wii Console with Games & Accessories
4th          iPod Classic 160gb
5th          Sony Portable DVD Player Pink
6th          Champagne Dom Perignon Vintage 2000
7th          Kodak M530 Carbon Digital Camera
8th          48″ Round Poker Table
9th          Sony 2.1 PC Speakers
10th          Radio Controlled BB Firing Tank
11th-20th    PKR travel chipset

PKR players should also check out the new PKR store where they can buy clothse, books, electronic, and more using their PKR points. The recent update added dozens of great items to the store, so even if you don’t win a prize in the freeroll, you can still celebrate the new year with a present from PKR.com.