“When I was first approached by Microgaming about being the independent Non-Executive Chairman for its Network Management Board, I knew it was a project that I had to be involved in,” said Harrison in a recent press release. “I strongly believe that the Network Management Board is exactly what this industry needs and I am very much looking forward to being an integral part of its success.”

Now in office, the new chairman will oversee a board made up of representatives from each of the main sites running on the Microgaming Poker Network. Foremost among these is Ladbrokes, one of the biggest names on the European gaming scene. A few of the other skins running on the network include PurpleLounge, MMPoker, PokerTime, and Gnuf. Each of these run on the same basic software, as their similar table appearances will attest. However, each site does a decent job of maintaining some degree of individuality. With Harrison at the helm, the board will continue to move toward establishing unique identities for each of its brands.

“The Network Management Board is the first of its kind in the industry,” said Microgaming CEO Roger Raatgever, “and we believe that with Dominic at the helm it will remain market-leading far into the future… We have a tremendous amount of respect for Dominic and we were naturally delighted when he agreed to take the position.”

Prior to his assuming his new post, Harrison spent over half a decade as an accountant for the Gala Coral Group. While there, he split his time between several gaming positions during that stretch, including a rise to Chief Operating Officer. He has close ties with Ladbrokes, as well, where he served as the site’s Commercial Director.

This move, really, shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. Ladbrokes and Microgaming have worked well together for several years, collaborating on numerous successful projects. Andy Clucas, Microgaming’s Head of Business Development, echoed these sentiments in a recent statement:

“We have had a long and successful relationship with Ladbrokes and are delighted to be entering these two exciting markets with it… Once granted a license, Ladbrokes will be able to offer the most competitive range of products.”

Early word indicates that the pair will work together on both a Flash-based and downloadable version of their software. This will provide their new customers with choice and flexibility, further increasing the appeal of the new packages.

“We have a strong relationship with Microgaming and our players have always reacted well to its products,” Ladbrokes’ Adam Greenblatt told iGaming Business. “We are pleased to be working with it as we target new licenses in Spain and Denmark, which are markets familiar to Ladbrokes already.”

Ladbrokes Irish Poker Festival

A few days ago we reported on the Ladbrokes satellites for the Irish Poker Festival’s Main Event in Killarney. Ladbrokes has added to this promotion by offering you the chance to play an alternate event if you are knocked out early.

If you qualify for or directly buy-in to the event on Ladbrokes, you could qualify to participate in one of two side events. If you are one of the first ten people to get knocked out of the Main Event, you will receive a seat for the two day side event starting on October 1st.

The October 1st side event is a €270+€30 freeze-out tournament. It has 12,000 starting chips with 40 minute blind levels.

If you are knocked out of the Main Event 11th through 20th, you will be entered to the side event taking place on October 20th. This is a one day tournament worth €130+€20. Players start with 10,000 chips and the blind levels are 25 minutes.

If you decide to qualify for or directly buy-in to the Main Event via Ladbrokes, there are a couple things to keep in mind for this promotion.

Hopefully you're too busy building a stack to go sight-seeing

If you are knocked out of the Main Event early and you think you qualify for one of the side events, you must speak to the floor manager immediately. You will have to provide your full name and Ladbrokes screen name.

Keep in mind that if you do not wish to participate in the side events despite qualifying for one of them, you will not receive any cash compensation as an alternative. The offer is also not transferable.

The last thing to note is that you will be required to wear a Ladbrokes Poker patch if you participate in this promo.

Busting out of a big poker tournament is never fun, especially if you are one of the first players to go. If you are unlucky enough to do so, however, this great promotion ensures that you will still have a chance to make some money.

The Main Event takes place at the end of September. If you haven’t already won your seat, you still have a few weeks to do so. Good luck at the tables!

The Ladbrokes Summer Festival runs from August 26th-August 29th, with the Main Event €500,000 Guaranteed on the 28th and 29th. It’s all here, Pot Limit Razz, PLO, Omaha Hi-Lo plus the Turbo and Survivor Tournaments. Eight events in total, for this Summer Festival spectacular, giving you eight great opportunities to make a deep run and take down some serious cash.

Ladbrokes Poker is the home of the Poker Player Club, where playing earns you exclusive club points. Four levels are available: Bronze, Silver, Gold, and VIP. Each level yields tournaments entries, merchandise discounts and cash rewards!

Plus, don’t miss out on the special September 4th iPad 2 Giveaway Tournament! Take your shot at winning one of ten sleek iPad2s up for grabs. Buy directly in, or win a seat by finishing in the top ten in one of five guaranteed tourneys leading up to it that week!

Ladbrokes has a lot more to offer, including a €7,000 Sit & Go Points Race and a €20,000 Cash Race! In the €20,000 Cash Race the more rake you earn, the larger prize you’ll win, with over €20,000 in cash given away just this month!

And if charity is your thing, join the Machu Picchu Challenge. Inspired by a Ladbrokes grinder who trekked up, Machu Picchu, play in this charity tournament where the majority of the buyin goes directly to raise funds for the Manchester United Charity Foundation! Make money and make a difference at the same time! If you take first place in this tournament you also get a signed Manchester United shirt!

To get started open up the Ladbrokes tournament lobby, under Summer Festival and go from there!

“The Poker world has been turned on its head in recent weeks,” said Ladbrokes’ Naomi Thrower, “and players are no longer confident where to play. We are delighted that many of them are turning to Ladbrokes as they recognize that not only is their money 100% safe, it is also a fun and friendly place to play poker.”

The company has also expressed pride in the fact that they have “never taken bets from players in the USA, and will continue to only operate in territories legally.  Ladbrokes Poker customers can therefore rest assured that their money is 100% safe and secure and always will be.” This stance has earned them an incredible amount of popularity with European players, as one would expect.

Another factor in their increased popularity may be their longevity. According to the same press release, the company is “proud to be a highly trusted Brand with a Retail Estate spanning over 125 years, and believes this is what many poker players are now looking for as a top priority when choosing a site to deposit their money.”

To thank the people that play on their cash game tables, the site has created a rewards schedule for the hands leading up to the 4 billionth. The winner of a particular milestone hand wins a cash prize, and the rest of the players at the table get to split a cash prize. For example, milestone hand #3994600000 awards €250 to the winner of the hand, and the other players at the table get to split another €250.

In total there are 200 milestone hands, and the cash prizes range between €10 and €20,000. It comes as no surprise that the prize amounts increase dramatically the closer it gets to the 4 billionth hand. Hand #3999900000 awards €500 to the winner and to the table. Hand #3999960000 awards €1,000. You get €2,000 for #3999980000, €5,000 for #3999990000, and the grand prize of €20,000 is awarded for #4000000000!

For a chance to hit one of these milestone hands, simply play any real money cash game on Ladbrokes. Your table must have a minimum of 4 players to qualify for the milestone bonuses, otherwise the money will be awarded in the next available hand that has 4 players or more.

The marketing retention manager of Ladbrokes, Amy Trodd, is very excited about this promotion. “The four billionth hand as such is an amazing milestone and what better way to celebrate than by giving our customers hard cash,” she said.

If you are a cash game player, your bankroll will thank you for playing on Ladbrokes this week. There are no strange gimmicks to this promotion. Simply play your game, get lucky, and win free money! Thanks to the table share prize, you don’t even have to win the hand to receive bonus cash. In the words of Trodd: “If you are playing on one of our lucky tables, it is impossible not to win something!”

Back again is the Ladbrokes Easter Festival, this time with an even larger guarantee of more than €850,000 in prizes. The two day Main Event begins April 24 at 18:00 UK time. The Easter Festival beings today, April 22, and ends April 25th. It features 9 different tournaments, offering a variety for players with games ranging from Omaha 2nd Chance to 5 Card Draw.

The Easter Festival promotions include a €10,050 Freeroll offer. Any poker player who chooses Ladbrokes to play the €750k GTD will qualify for an additional €10,050 in prizes. These players will be rewarded with a freeroll, with the top prize being a Las Vegas package valued at €7500.

Taking the UK media by storm these days is of course the royal wedding. As a fun tie-in, Ladbrokes is offering a Royal Flush promotion. Win with a royal flush at showdown on any of the Ladbrokes Great British Pound Tables during the week of the royal wedding, and you’ll win a €1,000 Package to the Irish Poker Festival in Killarney. Not a bad way to celebrate the royal wedding!

The royal wedding week begins Monday, April 25th, and ends Sunday, May 1st. To claim your prize, email highhand@ladbrokespoker.com before May 3rd with the time and date of your winning royal flush hand.

Between April 18 and May 6, deposit $10 or more (up to $500) at Ladbrokes. As you play, you’ll have 60 days to earn enough points required to unlock the deposit bonus. For every 100 poker points earned, $2 is credited to your account. At the end of 60 days, your deposit bonus, up to $500, will have gradually built up. Being paid to play: that’s winning poker at Ladbrokes.

Ladbrokes current promotions also include a huge rakeback bonus. From April 18 through July 31, you can earn a whopping 50% in rakeback when you play at Ladbrokes. Every Monday, you’ll get paid your rakeback from the week. The rakeback bonus is broken down as follows:

Weekly rake of $1-$374 = 30%
Weekly rake of $375-$749 = 40%
Weekly rake of $750+ = 50%

Ladbrokes pays your weekly rakeback bonus directly into your account on Mondays.

If you are in the market for some big promotions over the next few months, Ladbrokes is a leading poker room with many advantages to capitalize on.

Festivities kick off on April 22nd and the party doesn’t stop until April 25th. The Easter poker festival features nine tournaments and an enormous €600,000 prizepool. Highlighting the event is the 2 day main event that begins on April 24th at 18:00 UK time. The Easter Poker Festival Main Event boasts a €500,000 guaranteed purse.

To encourage participation, an Easter Poker Festival Leaderboard will run alongside the MTT Montly Leaderboard. The Easter Poker Festival Leaderboard top prize is a €550 seat to the Irish Poker Festival.

Ready to qualify for the Ladbrokes Easter Poker Festival? Satellites are running now! Simply log-in to the Ladbrokes lobby and navigate to Tournaments –> Satellites –> Easter Festival. Qualifiers for the Main Event can be found under Tournaments –> Satellites –> €500,000GTD.

Good luck at Ladbrokes Poker!

The great thing about the Irish Poker Festival is that it is held in the core area of Killarney, Ireland. This welcomes the Ladbrokes online regular players as well as catering to the locals and tourists. Besides the Main Event, side events will be played starting on Day 2.

For participants looking to just buy their way into the tournament, the Main Event will be having a buy-in fee of €500 + €50. Of course, there will be plenty of online qualifiers and satellites where winners will either win a free ticket into the Main Event or win one of Killarney packages. The Killarney package is valued at over €1,000 and includes a Main Event ticket, three nights accommodation at the Gleneagle Hotel for two people, €150 in expenses given to your Ladbrokes Poker account, transportation to and from Kerry airport, and a “Fast track” sign-in.

To win one of these packages, players must finish first in at least one satellite tournament. For winning just the Main Event ticket, the lowest satellite played is the Daily Satellites with a buy-in of €2 + €0.20. These games are played on Fridays-Wednesdays. If you win that, you get a seat at the Daily Final tournament, or you can buy-in for €20 + €2. The winner in each of those tournaments will be granted a ticket to the Weekly Final played on Thursdays, or, again, you can buy-in to this tournament for €80 +€8. Each Weekly Final winner will receive a Main Event ticket. Players are also welcomed to play in the Second Chance satellite each Thursday for €20 + €2 where the winner is also given a seat to the Weekly Final satellite.

There are five Killarney 2011 packages guaranteed. The least expensive route would be to play in a Daily Satellite for a €1 buy-in, win that and move to the Daily Final and finish first, and then move on to the Weekly Final. The winner of the Weekly Tournament is rewarded a package. Players can always buy-in to the Daily Final for €9 +€1 and the Weekly Final for €40 + €4. On top of this, there is a Second Chance satellite for €9 + €1 where the winners reach the Weekly Final.

The Main Event starts on September 30th as the 29th will be used to have one last satellite called the “Main Event Super Satellite”. The Main Event Super Satellite will start at 7:30pm with a €50 + €10 rebuy buy-in. The top 20 finishers will be rewarded with a Main Event ticket.

Main Event Day 1 will start at 3pm with 20,000 starting chips and a 60 minute clock. Day 2 will begin at 1pm and there will be a couple of side events. The first is a €270 + €30 Freezeout that will run for two days. The other will be a €40 + €10 Freezeout as well, but much faster blind increases. The final day will start at 1pm and the finals of the first side event will start at 2pm. A new €130 + €20 Freezeout side event will also take place.

So come out late September for what will sure be a lot of fun like the last few years. The location is always great and plenty of side events make for great time even when busted from the Main Event. Satellites have already started so participants need to act quickly!

For the eight weeks between March 24th and May 12th, teams of four players will compete to win prizes, one of which is a World Series of Poker package for each team member, a €30,000 value. Other prizes include four packages to Irish Poker Festival in Killarney and tickets to big tournaments on Ladbrokes Poker throughout the year.

To enter, players just have to email the usernames of all four players on the team to team@ladbrokespoker.com. The four players must each enter a minimum of six of the eight Team Championship tournaments. The team will receive points based on how well the players do in the tournaments. As a bonus, all players who play all eight tournaments will be entered into a special freeroll for a chance at more prizes.

Half of the tournament entries will go toward the Championship prize pool. Ladbrokes is already guaranteeing €40,000 worth of prizes, but this could grow depending on the amount of entries.

If you think you and your friends are the best poker players you know, check out the Ladbrokes Team Championship. There, you and your friends can prove to the world, once and for all, that you are the best!