bet365 offers its players tons of freerolls from now until March 6th. These freerolls are easily found in the $50,000 Freeroll Frenzy section of the lobby. There is $50,000 being offered by bet365 Poker in the form of cash and tournament prize-pools. Players can participate in 360 freerolls. Additionally, there are three big $10,000 Guaranteed tournaments that players can qualify for through freerolls, heads-up qualifiers or a direct buy-in for $10+$1. Lastly, tournament players now earn 20 Merit Points instead of 15 for every $1 paid in tournament fees.

There will be three $10,000 Guaranteed tournaments, each separated by a 10-day qualifying period. The tournaments are scheduled to run on February 13th, February 24th, and March 6th of this year. Players have 10 days before each tournament to qualify through heads-up qualifiers to play in these $10,000 Guaranteed tournaments. These heads-up qualifiers are based off the ‘Steps’ model with three steps to go through. The first step costs $1.65+$0.15 or 375 Merit Points to enter. The second costs $3+$0.30 to enter and the third costs $5.50+$0.50 to enter. The last qualifier will award $11 to the victor which is the direct buy-in cost.

This promotion is sure to stir up some tournament action at bet365 Poker. There is little reason to say no to participating in this awesome promotion. Good luck at the felt!

The November Nine was first introduced in 2008. The World Series of Poker saw the concept as a means to build anticipation and excitement to the final table. Instead of having the viewer know the end result of the tournament (since it is aired months after the tournament date), viewers would be able to watch the final table live as it happened.

The concept and idea were good, but it simply did not work in practice. First of all, players would be able to study their opponents and get coaching from some of poker’s biggest superstars. This went against everything tournament poker stood for. It ran into a great deal of criticism from much of the poker community. One of the original November Niners, Ylon Schwartz, said:

It ruins the integrity of the tournament. The purity of old-time Las Vegas is gone. The antiquity and purity of the tournament have been liquidated into pure greed and capitalism.

Last year’s World Series of Poker featured full final table coverage with only a fifteen-minute delay. This killed any need for excitement to be created. Basically, the final table would be able to be played without any spoilers. Thus, the November Nine concept has been dropped from the 2012 WSOP schedule. Poker players rejoice!

It is no secret that Ferguson owned a large stake of Full Tilt Poker. His profits were held in personal accounts and accounts that Pocket Kings created for him. Over the years, he had about $25.2 million sent to his personal bank account and approximately $60 million in the Pocket Kings accounts. He was able to withdraw approximately $45.7 million via numerous transactions to himself, his (and Full Tilt Poker’s) lawyer Ian Imrich, loans to other owners, investments, and a Hawaiian real estate company. The $14.3 million left in his accounts were used to pay Full Tilt expenses post-Black Friday. This money was allegedly used with his consent.

Since then, Ferguson and his lawyer, Imrich, have been attempting to recoup the $14.3 million used by Full Tilt Poker. Early contracts between FTP and GBT included clauses that would have given Ferguson about $14 million worth of shares in the new company. These contracts, however, were rejected by the Department of Justice. The DOJ objected to any of Full Tilt’s board of directors having a stake in the new poker company owned by GBT. Imrich and Ferguson have threatened to delay Full Tilt Poker’s assets forfeiture if this issue isn’t settled in the near future.

With these recent allegations, poker has its newest villain. It is not certain that Chris Ferguson has directly delayed any transactions but it is one explanation for the length of time that has elapsed since the GBT and the DOJ have made their agreement. Hopefully everything is cleared up quickly and poker players involved in this mess will get their money back soon.

Through the entire month of January, William Hill Poker will be hosting a totally new tournament: a £1,500 Guaranteed Super Stack. The deepstack tournament gives players 5,000 in starting chips for only a £5.50 buy-in. Once players dip below their 5,000 chip starting stack, they can rebuy another stack. Players can rebuy a total of four times with an option to buy an additional stack at the break. A minimum of £1,500 is guaranteed each night. The tournaments are set to be played every Saturday and Sunday at 4pm (UK Time).

William Hill and FlopTurnRiver have joined forces to bring their members a private freeroll. Players from FlopTurnRiver will have a chance at a piece of an exclusive $300 prize pool. The tournament buy-in is rather small: 1 William Hill Point. The freeroll will take place on January 22nd at 19:00 GMT. Only players that registered for William Hill Poker through FlopTurnRiver are eligible to enter the tournament.

The most lucrative of the William Hill promotions this month is the Twin Peaks progressive jackpot promotion. The “Twin Peaks” in this promotion represents two tournaments played simultaneously. Players play poker against each other in hopes of being one of the top players in both tournaments. Players that finish high in both tournaments win a piece of the jackpot. Any player that finishes in the top five of both tournaments is given a $100 bonus. If a player is able to win both tournaments, they will win the Twin Peaks Jackpot. Currently, the progressive jackpot is at $8,657. If no player wins the jackpot by the last tournament on January 29th, the jackpot in its entirety will be distributed to players that finished highest in the Twin Peaks tournaments.

January looks to be a great month to be a player at William Hill Poker. Tournament players will be awarded greatly from all three huge promotions.

As usual with any PokerStars tournament series, this tournament series is sure to be huge. Of course, No Limit Hold’em will be the main attraction at the tables. However, players can play different formats of Hold’em as well as games such as pot-limit draw, pot-limit Omaha, and Triple Draw. With buy-ins from $5.50 to $2,100, there are events for just about everyone. For players that want to play at the bigger events that do not have a large enough bankroll, PokerStars is hosting TCOOP 2012 satellites.

PokerStars players can qualify for the $22 buy-in events by reloading their PokerStars account. Any player that reloads their account with a minimum of $60 using the bonus code ‘TCOOP’ will receive a free $22 TCOOP ticket. This promotion ends on January 18th and the ticket must be used by 18:30 ET on January 29th. There are seven events that cost $22 to buy into. These events include a six-max No Limit Hold’em event, a Stud event, and a Pot-limit Draw event.

Turbo tournaments are always exciting and usually end quickly. Faster tournaments are better suited for less experienced players since better players have less time per level to take advantage of their skill edge. This makes this tournament series perfect for players new to online poker. Good luck at the felt!

Entering the King of the Ring promotion is easy. To become eligible, players simply enter the registration code ‘CONTENDER’ in their bonus queue. Every night at 18:00, 19:00, and 20:00 GMT, King of the Ring tournaments entitled ‘The Main Event’ run. These events are located in the lobby under ‘Scheduled Tournaments > King.’

The Main Event tournaments each have different buy-ins. The ones at 18:00 GMT and 20:00 GMT both cost $33 or a Step 3 ticket to enter with $1,500 guaranteed in prize money. The tournament at 19:00 GMT costs $10 or a Step 2 to enter with $3,000 guaranteed to enter (though this tournament is a rebuy). Players can also qualify for these tournaments through a $2 buy-in rebuy tournament called ‘Undercard Satellites.’ These satellites guarantee 2 seats into the Main Event tournaments.

These tournaments are a fun way to try and boost one’s bankroll. They encompass the competition that is poker. Good luck to all who enter!

Katchalov’s tournament wins weren’t limited to full-ring no-limit hold’em events. He cashed in the NBC National Heads-Up Championship and finished runner-up in the No Limit Hold’em Six-Max event at the PCA. He even won a bracelet in a Seven Card Stud event of the WSOP and made the final table in the $1,500 Limit Hold’em Shootout at that same event. What a year!

BLUFF Magazine changed their scoring system for the 2011 year. It seems to be a success as this year’s POY race was the closest race they’ve ever seen. Bertrand Grospellier and Katchalov were battling for the coveted spot right up to the end of the year. This is great for poker and its fans as it generates excitement for the year’s big tournament events.

The fun starts with Bovada’s weekly cash prizes. There will be two weekly countdowns during the Holiday season: from December 19th to December 25th and from December 26th to January 1st. Players can earn cash in both weeks very easily. There are two cash prize levels available each week. The first level requires players to earn 50 poker points within the week and awards $15 cash. The second level requires players to earn 100 poker points within the week and awards $30 cash. The bonus is automatically credited to the winner’s account. Overall, this bonus is very easy to claim and is an easy boost to the bankroll.

Tournament players have many opportunities to win entries to Bovada’s largest tournament: the Sunday $100K Guaranteed. Every day until Friday, December 30th, Bovada will give 25 $150+$12 tournament tickets to the $100K Guaranteed. Players must finish in the top 25 of Bovada’s daily freerolls which take place at 8:40PM EST to win a ticket to the January 1st $100K Guaranteed. With Bovada’s low traffic and the huge prize bubble (25 places), it should be rather easy to win a ticket to the big show.

Bovada Poker is basically giving away money this Holiday Season. With easy-to-win prizes, there should be a lot of fish at Bovada Poker during their Holiday Countdown. Good luck!

Titan Poker’s Titan Time promotion has been extended through January. Titan Time is basically a three-day block of time where players compete for a $3,000 prize pool. It will run each week until the last week of January. Titan Time’s top prize is a $500 cash prize (on top of any Titan points that players may garner). A total of 50 players will be paid each week.

After rushing to earn points for Titan Time, make sure to play during Titan Poker’s Happy Hour. From 20:00 GMT to 23:59 every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, players will earn 50% more Titan Poker Points at cash game tables. These extra points can be used at the Club Titan Store. When combined with Titan Time, cash game players are basically being paid to play at Titan Poker.

Tournament players can cash in too during Titan Poker’s Winter Edition. During December and January, Titan Poker will run three sit & go leaderboards each week from Monday to Saturday (Sunday Sit & Go’s do not count). The low, medium, and high leaderboards will be divided based on the sit & go buy-ins. The cash prizes for the high leaderboard are triple those of low leaderboard while the medium leaderboard is worth double. Leaderboard points will be awarded based on the player’s final position and number of registrants in the tournament. The player that wins a 20-player Sit & Go will be awarded more leaderboard points than the player that wins a 9-player Sit & Go.

Titan Poker will kick the New Year off the right way with a special $10,000 Freeroll. Players that grind out 250 points during December will receive a token for the special freeroll. The freeroll takes place on January 2nd, 2012 at 19:30 GMT. Make your New Years Resolution of winning a tournament come true!

Titan Poker has amazing promotions year-round. This season’s round of promotions is no exception. Both tournament players and cash players reap the benefits.

According to the agreement between the DOJ and GBT, GBT is allowed to purchase assets that is to be forfeited by FTP to the DOJ for $80 million. The GBT must repay non-American players who are owed over $150 million. The DOJ, on the other hand, is to repay the $150 million owed to US players and dismiss any civil complaints of forfeiture against Pocket Kings, Ltd. (Full Tilt Poker’s parent company).

The forfeiture of FTP assets to the DOJ are rumored to be taking place in the very near future. Hopefully this process continues with haste and all players on Full Tilt Poker receive their money back.