PokerStars has today released a new video on YouTube showcasing the roller-coaster journey of Shane “Shaniac” Schleger as a professional poker player – from working as a waiter in New York in 2004, to now living by the Mexican seaside.

Shaniac has overcome many challenges in his life as a professional poker player, and this short film captures the ups as well as the downs.

“The film focuses on some of the more painful, struggle-filled chapters of my history and ignores the happier, more carefree things I get to enjoy,” said Shaniac. “It definitely encapsulates the arc of my poker life in an accurate and comprehensive way: coming up into the poker life after being a lost 20-something New Yorker, succeeding in poker, struggling in poker, and the eventual need to leave my country to continue playing poker.”

Like many other professional sportsmen, Shaniac has had wonderful successes, but also challenging and difficult times. This film captures some of those moments, and shows him wrestling with these hurdles.

“It’s not the typical story of triumph in poker, but it represents my relationship with the game in an accurate way, and it also represents some of the realities that I continue to face,” said Shaniac.

“I can feel comfortable knowing that it’s a real representation of that story,” he said.

Importantly, Shaniac overcame his downswing, worked hard, and was able to return to top-flight competition. Shaniac’s story is one that many top poker players can relate to: the tough times as
well as the victories. Poker is a fun and competitive game, and Shaniac’s life is a demonstration that a strong competitive spirit is essential to succeed at this game.

About PokerStars

PokerStars operates the world’s most popular online poker sites, serving a global poker community of more than 50 million registered members. Since it launched in 2001, PokerStars has become the first choice of the world’s top players, with more daily tournaments than anywhere else and with the best security online. More than 95 billion hands have been dealt on PokerStars.com, which is more than any other site.

PokerStars.com and PokerStars.eu operate globally under licenses from the Isle of Man and Malta governments, respectively. PokerStars also holds separate government licenses in Belgium, Denmark,
Estonia, France, Italy, Spain and Germany.

PokerStars is a member of The Rational Group, which operates gaming-related businesses and brands, including PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and the European Poker Tour. Rational Group entities in the UK and Isle of Man were collectively recognised as one of the UK’s best workplaces when they were awarded a top 25 position by the Great Place to Work Institute in its 2012 UK’s Best Workplaces – Large Category.

Visit PokerStars.com here!

$5 Million has been set aside for this promotion, with $1,000,000 set to be given out when the actual Milestone hand is dealt, with half apparently going to the table where the hand is dealt, and the other 50% being split across the tables at the same game and limit when the hand was dealt.

Another Million dollars is planned to be given away, with the  milestone hands leading up to the big hand getting added value.

The remaining $3,000,000 is going to be given away in a range of special promotions, that have yet to be confirmed. We’ll definitely be bringing you the information on these when it’s released.

Poker stars has created an epic feeling video to promote this event, and we have it for you below.

There are two main tournaments planned, with the Main Event being a HKD $1M buy in, with up to two optional rebuys allowed. This Main Event will run from the 5th of June through to the 7th, and there is a warm up event of HKD $250,000 planned for the 4th of June as well.

“This is going to be the one of the most amazing poker tournaments of all-time,” said the Director of Live Poker Operations for the Asia Pacific for PokerStars, Danny McDonagh. “We are expecting over 100 players to sit down and play and one of the biggest prize pools for a poker tournament outside of the World Series of Poker. It’s going to be seriously huge! ”

With expectations the prize pool will exceed $10Million USD, this is indeed going to be a massive event, and we can see many of the High Rollers from the Macau scene sitting down at the tables to try to balance their luck and skill in order to take home part of that prize pool.

The Guangdong Group (previously Neptune Group) is a large VIP junket operator in Macau. It aims to deliver a one stop VIP service, and offers 24 hour support to it’s clients.

Winnie Wong, CEO from Guangdong Group said: “Guangdong is happy to organize another high stake poker tournament in Macau this year. I see strong synergy between Guangdong and PokerStars. I believe this Event will be excited, stunning and leave a mark in Macau poker history.”

PokerStars is offering at least one lucky player the opportunity to play the event, as they are offering a satellite structure to win a ticket, starting with $530 feeders. Check out the site for more information.

The deal has been thought to hinge on the ability of PokerStars to enter the newly regulated New Jersey online gambling market.

At around midnight UK time, we got an official response from PokerStars Head of Corporate Communications via his Twitter account:

In December 2012, The Rational Group (d/b/a PokerStars) entered into a purchase agreement for the acquisition of the Atlantic Club. (1/5)

— Eric Hollreiser (@erichollreiser) May 2, 2013

Several days ago we received a purported notice of termination of this agreement from the current owners of the Atlantic Club (2/5)

— Eric Hollreiser (@erichollreiser) May 2, 2013

It was the Rational Group’s expectation and understanding, based on the ongoing dealings between the parties that the closing date …(3/5)

— Eric Hollreiser (@erichollreiser) May 2, 2013

would be extended to allow the transaction to be completed. (4/5)

— Eric Hollreiser (@erichollreiser) May 2, 2013

The Rational Group remains entirely committed to resolving this situation and to our investment in New Jersey. (5/5)

— Eric Hollreiser (@erichollreiser) May 2, 2013

It seems that something is going on between these two parties, and that PokerStars were as surprised as the rest of us the hear the deal was not going forward to a conclusion.

This deal has attracted criticism from the American Gaming Association (AGA), who have raised questions over PokerStars’ suitability for holding a gaming licence, primarily based on the situation surrounding the legal complications of “Black Friday.” In the community at large, these actions from the AGA have been seen as an action of protectionism for it’s members, and has apparently been bankrolled by the owners of the WSOP, Caesar’s Entertainment.

We’ll have to keep a very close eye on this developing situation, as it will be continually moving.

The deal that was penned back in December stipulated a deadline of the 30th of April for Rational’s internet gaming platforms to obtain an eGaming licence, and as this has not happened, and no extension has been negotiated, it appeared the deal was dead.

This appears to have been confirmed when the Chief Operating Officer of the Atlantic Club told the Associated Press earlier today that the deal was off “in accordance with its terms.”

The road to licensing for the PokerStars and Full Tilt brands, both owned by rational, has been a rocky one in recent months. The American Gaming Association had begun lobbying the New Jersey regulators to withhold a licence from the Rational Group due to it’s apparent “history” of “systematically flouting US law.” This was based off the action taken by US authorities based in NEW York on the 15th of April, 2011, commonly known amongst poker players as Black Friday.

We are still waiting for confirmation from the Rational group, and we don’t know if this is a negotiation tactic, or truly the end of this deal.

Every PokerStars pro in the field has a $100 bounty on their head, and in a special bonus, so do EPT Commentators Joe Stapleton and James Hartigan. If you manage to get sat at their table, that has to add value to your buy in.

It kicks off at 15:00ET (20:00WET) this Sunday (28th April), and if the $55 entry fee is too rich for your blood, you can satellite in from as little as $0.55, and if you are Silver Star or higher, on Saturday there is a 500FPP VIP Bash with a seat for every 3,500FPPs in the prize pool. This VIP Bash kicks off on Saturday at 15:00ET (20:00WET).

The last Red Spade Open was won by “Nurlan81″ back in August 2012. He took home a prize of $244,979.24 for his $55 buy in, while professional poker play Bryn Kenny took 7th place for $25,721.85 making that final table anything but a walk over.

Click here for more information on the Red Spade Open.

Jake Cody Wins UKIPT Series Event

The triple crown winner has now added a very tasteful silver spade to add to his growing collection of trophies.

“It’s all about the trophy,” he said, when asked whether the buy-in – a quarter of the regular UKIPT stops’ this season – affected how he played. “I just hate to lose,” he admitted, “If I’d have even come second I’d have been gutted.”

The trophy came with a cheque for £19,400, that will add more than a little shine to that silver ornament.

Second place went to Lydia Cugudda, who was making a great run to become the first ever UKIPT champion, only to be piped at the final hurdle by Cody. Cugudda lost the heads up battle when the two players got it all in with stacks about the same. Her JdTc was crushed by Cody’s Pocket Cowboys, and the board was no help to Lydia to give her a cheque for £13,140.

The results for the final eight were like this:

1st. Jake Cody, United Kingdom, Team PokerStars Pro, £19,400
2nd. Lydia Cugudda, United Kingdom £13,140
3rd. Terry Jordan, United Kingdom, PokerStars Qualifier, £8,110
4th. Tim Wong, United Kingdom, £6,240
5th. Enzo Gomez, United Kingdom, £4,880
6th. Uzzol Miah, United Kingdom, £3,430
7th. Kaloyan Kirov, Bulgaria, PokerStars Qualifier, £2,700
8th. Shantanu Banerji, United Kingdom, PokerStars Player, £1,977

The UKIPT’s next event is a bit of a special event, and is off on holiday. They crew from PokerStars are getting paid to take a holiday in Marbella in June, between the 12th and 16th. The £1000 + £100 event will be the first UKIPT event to be held outside of the UK or Ireland, and will see the UKIPT team up with the Spanish Estrellas tour. Satellites will be running on PokerStars.co.uk

It starts at 1.30pm ET, which is 6.30pm UK time or 7.30pm European time, on Sunday 7th April. You can either buy in directly for $11 or there is a range of satellites and qualifiers starting from just cents.

There aren’t many opportunities to change your life with just $11, so make sure you play this! If you don’t already have a Pokerstars account, sign up here and get a deposit bonus up to $600 and access to exclusive FTR added money tournaments!

You can also chat, discuss hands and rail FTR players in our forum discussion thread here

Ronaldo retired from football in February 2011 after he admitted that his body had finally surrendered to the long list of injuries he had acquired over his career.

Ronaldo joins a star studded Team SportStars, including former World No 1. tennis Pro, Boris Becker, Gold Medal winning hockey player Fatima Moreira de Melo, and bath poker playing superstar Rafael Nadal. Ronaldo will represent PokerStars both online at PokerStars, and live, at PokerStars sponsored events.

If you want to see if you can find “The Phenomenon” online, you can join him on PokerStars. All you need to do is download the software, and if you do it through FTR, you also get access to our exclusive Money Added tournaments.

Happy Birthday Sunday Storm!

This weekend, the $11 buy in tournament is getting a special edition to celebrate the 2nd Birthday of this weekly event. This week, the prize pool is guaranteed to be at least $1Million, with the prize for 1st place at least $100,000.

But that’s not all! If you manage to knock out the likes of Liv Boeree, Lex Veldhuis or any of the other member of PokerStars Team Pro, you’ll win a $50 Knockout Cash Bonus.

There are satellites running right now on PokerStars to the event, starting from as little as Free. Yes, PokerStars are offering you the chance to play in this special Sunday Storm for a grand total of $0.00. I’m certainly planning on playing!

If you don’t have a PokerStars account yet, you can download the software here, and is you use the Marketing Code “FLOPTURNRIVER”. This gives you access to our exclusive FTR money added tournaments, as well as a great sign up bonus worth up to $600.