photo by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

2010 Deep Stack Extravaganza (DSE) series is currently running the first installment through February 24 at the Venetian Poker Room. Stop by on Friday before the High Noon start time with your $340 buy-in and play in the most popular (and copied) Las Vegas poker tournaments especially designed to give the average bankrolled players the same experience as the high dollar events. More starting chips and longer play at limit levels ensure your poker skills will definitely become a factor.

Registration begins at 9 PM the day before for each daily Noon event. Accumulate points that count towards the four Best Overall Player Awards. Satellites, Super Satellites, and 7 pm second chance tournaments run daily. DSE Tournament players are eligible for a special reduced room rate by calling 1-877-444-5777 for reservations with Group Code CP02L1. Complete details are available by calling The Venetian Poker Room direct at 702.414.7657 or visit www.venetian.com.

photo by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

Homeland Poker Tour is kicking off its sixth season this week at the Redrock Resort in Las Vegas. Following their format of playing qualifers that sends players to the next levels, the Homeland Poker Tour appeals to the lower limit players that make up the bulk of America's poker players.

The Heartland Series of Tournaments are staged for TV and provide an affordable opportunity to get some facetime on the tube.The Redrock main event will be played over Saturday and Sunday. The $1,000 buy-in main will play two Day 1 flights on Saturday at 10AM and 6PM. Survivors will return on Sunday for the Day 2 start time of 11AM. The final table (approx. 5PM) will be televised live from the Rocks Lounge.

A Celebrity Charity Event benefiting Disabled American Veterans. The event has a $300 Buy-In with $100 Rebuys and a $200 Add-On. The event will be televised. Take the drive to the west side if Las Vegas and play some poker.

photo by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

photo by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

photo by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

Harrison Gimble, 19-year-old poker player from Jupitor, Florida, pocketed $2.2 million in the Seventh PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA). The youngest player to win the PCA, Harrison "gibler321" Gimble, faced Tyler Reiman in the main event heads-up finale. Reimen takes $1.75 million back home to Morton, Illinois.

Barry Shulman, Card Player Magazine owner, keeps his multi-million dollar winning streak alive after taking third place and $1.35 million. Added to his WSOPE cash last October, the 63-year-old Las Vegas poker pro has banked over $2.6 million.

PokerStars is aiming to break their own Guinness World record (again) for the most amount of players in a poker tournament.

They beat Full Tilt in July with 65,000 players, and in a few days they hope to surpass even that.

The landmark date is Dec. 27 at 11:45 a.m. (Vegas time), the cost is only $1, and $300,000 is guaranteed. First place is guaranteed $50,000. Not bad for a buck.

As of this writing, almost 47,000 players have signed up, so keeping pace looks likely they'll achieve a new record. But even if they just tie at 65,000, that leaves a decent overlay of $235,000. Are they really hoping for 300,000 players, and during Christmas break? Would the server crash under that load?

The tournament ID is 234567890 (easy enough to remember).

We're a sucker for a cheapo tourney, so we'll see you there.

P.S. While looking at the tournaments, we caught a $5,000 freeroll that anyone can sign up to. It's tomorrow, Dec. 24 at 1:15 p.m. (Vegas time) and a whopping 105,000 players are in that one. It's a hyper-turbo tourney, so blinds go up much faster than a regular tournament. Tourney ID is 224296990. We signed up to that one too.

photo by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

Daniel Christopher Alaei outlasted a poker pro rich field of 328 players to claim his first World Poker Tour title. The high-stakes poker player has won two WSOP bracelets, 2006 and 2009. His best WSOP Main Event finish was 25th in 2007.

The tournament got down to heads-up with Daniel Alaei facing Josh Arieh for the championship, but it was all Alaei on this night. Daniel Alaei received $1,428,430 while Josh Arieh left with $952,290. WSOP Main Event champion Scotty Nguyen finished 5th and pocketed $249,976 for his efforts.

photo by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

The 41st Annual World Series of Poker for 2010 has released the event schedule and online registration is now open. Players can also register for events at the Rio Resort's Main Cage and if you want to avoid being shut-out, then early registration is highly advised. Use this WSOP direct link to register now for events you wish to play. A complete schedule of all events including structures and details is available with this link.

Players will be competing over 51 days in 57 Gold Bracelet events, the same as 2009, during the May 28 - July 17, 2010 WSOP. The first open bracelet event will be The Player's Championship $50,000 buy-in 5-day contest that features eight variations of poker and begins on Friday May 28, 2010. Players will be competing for millions in cash, a coveted bracelet, and the Chip Reese Memorial Trophy.

Other notable highlights for 2010 is the adoption of limits on play time. Player comfort will be enhanced with play days limited to 10 levels of play per day until the winner is crowned. Bracelet events will begin at 12 Noon and 5 PM. Another welcomed change is no food tent, instead, the Miranda Ballroom will be converted into a food court with an expanded menu of popular food items. And finally, the entire convention facility at the Rio will be dedicated to the 2010 WSOP to provide more room, more tables (over 350 anticipated) and improved media access to the World's Biggest Poker Show.

The Ladies World Championship and the Seniors Championship continues. The 4th Annual Up For Africa Celebrity Charity tournament returns with an all-star gathering of poker pros and celebrities.