Last night saw the conclusion of the UK and Ireland Poker Tour’s first stop of the season in Galway, Ireland. The poker tournament was postponed on Thursday until Friday to allow players more opportunity to travel and make it to the tournament because of heavy snow and terrible weather conditions in the country.

Despite the bad weather, 266 players made it to Galway and entered the tournament with many familiar faces amongst the line-up including Liv Boeree who is now part of Team PokerStars Pro. There was also a familiar champion from Season 1 of the UKIPT – Nick Abou Risk who was victorious in the Edinburgh stop of Season 1.

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Nick Abou Risk managed to make it to heads-up play against Trish Mallin and she had lots of support from the rail being a local amateur. On the final hand of the tournament it was all down to the river card as to who would be victorious. Mallin decided to shove after the turn card was revealed with the board of: 9/5/10/4. Mallin held 7/8 chasing a straight but Nick held 10/2 just needing to avoid a 6 or a Jack – and he did. The dealer revealed the river of 10 giving Nick trip Tens and victory.

Nick’s victory means he is the first UKIPT double-champion and for this win he picked up €67,100 meanwhile Mallin picked up €41,300 for the second-place finish.

UKIPT Galway Final Table Results

1: Nick Abou Risk, Canada – €67,100
2: Trish Mallin, Ireland – €41,300
3: Maurice Silke, Ireland – €25,250
4: Vytenis Navickas, Lithuania, PokerStars qualifier – €18,600
5: Eoin Olin, Ireland – €15,400
6: Dan Rankin, Ireland, PokerStars qualifier – €12,725
7: Roar Aspaas, Norway, PokerStars qualifier – €10,100
8: Johan Meyer, Germany – €7,975
9: Aonghus Farrell, Ireland – €5,700

Rush Poker Mobile, an application that features real money gaming, has been pulled from the Android Market. The software was in the beta testing stage and had been currently unavailable due to maintenance.

An e-mail from Full Tilt Poker technical support confirmed. “Rush Poker Mobile is currently unavailable due to maintenance. While we are delighted at the success of the Rush Poker Mobile software, due to the software being in the beta testing stage, maintenance such as this is often essential.”

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The Android Market website, however, offered up a different explanation for the app’s disappearance. “Apps with gambling themes or that include simulated gambling should be rated ‘Teen’ or above. Real gambling is not allowed in the Android Market.”

The app is still available for use on Full Tilt’s website, but a phone using Flash Version 10.1 or higher is needed to use the application. It is currently unknown whether the app will return to the Android Market for strictly play money use.

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Ali Tekintamgac has been playing poker for more than 20 years but only recently began playing in live poker tournaments. His first major event was last month’s EPT Grand Final, where his experience showed through with a 125th place finish in that prestigious event. Tekintamgac improved on that finish in his second event, but by a much larger margin than anyone probably expected, he is the newest World Poker Tour champion after the win in Barcelona.

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The WPT Barcelona event made headlines last week when it drew 326 players, the largest field since the tournament began in 2007. That field built a €1,043,200 prize pool, with €315,000 due to the winner, a great choice for your second live tournament if you’ve already cashed against the best in Monte Carlo. By the time the final table was set, the 40 year old Tekintamgac was in the driver’s seat with a significant chip lead.

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Tekintamgac held that lead the entire way, finding himself a 5-to-1 favorite against Spain’s Roberto Garcia Santiago by the time heads-up play began. Santiago had led the tournament in its early days, but he was unable to find the winning combination against the German and had to settle for a €160,000 runner-up prize. Tekintamgac, meanwhile, grabbed the top prize and a seat in next year’s World Poker Tour Championship. He says his next stop is the WSOP Main Event, where he should stand a pretty good chance of making himself three-for-three cashing in major tournaments.

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Amir Vahedi, the poker player known for his oversized cigars and playful attitude at the table and on TV, has died due to complications from diabetes.

The news of Vahedi’s passing quickly spread amongst poker players and poker fans through social media sites.  Professional poker player Mark Seif sent a message through Twitter stating, “I’ve just been told by close friends of Amir Vahedi, that Vahedi passed away in Las Vegas on January 8, 2010, due to complications involving blood sugar levels.  Waiting for for more details.  Devastating news.  Very very sad.”

Jeffrey Pollack, former tournament director for the World Series of Poker, tweeted, “Amir was one of my favorite people in poker…. This is so sad, RIP my friend, your laugh will always be missed!”

Vahedi made the televised final table of the World Series of Poker main event in 2003, taking home $250,000 in prize money.  Through his career he has officially recorded $2.5 million in tournament prize money.

Vahedi was a former Iranian soldier and veteran of the Iran-Iraq war before coming to America as a political refugee.  He is credited with teaching a number of people the finer arts of poker, including Hollywood celebrity Ben Affleck.

Former tennis great Boris Becker will be one of the famous faces attending the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure charity poker tournament to benefit the American Foundation for AIDS Research in The Bahamas on January 8.

The amfAR Charity Event will run as part of the PCA Festival of Poker at the Atlantis in The Bahamas with celebrities, sports stars and top pro players among those set to take part. The tournament will have a $5,250 buy-in and half of the entire prize pool will go to amfAR to support their innovative research to help fight the global AIDS epidemic.

This star-studded event will welcome major PokerStars-sponsored sports stars such as NHL star and Olympic gold medalist Mats Sundin, tennis legend Boris Becker and French rugby player Sebastien Chabal as well as members of Team PokerStars Pro – including newly-crowned World Series champion Joe Cada.

Team PokerStars Pro Daniel Negreanu is a big supporter of PokerStars charity initiatives and has pledged his support. “PokerStars is bringing a truly innovative and fulfilling cause to the PCA this year through their partnership with amfAR. As a member of Team PokerStars Pro, I feel very lucky to be able to participate in, and contribute to, such a worthwhile cause in the name of AIDS research.”

Founded in 1985, amfAR is dedicated to ending the global AIDS epidemic through innovative research. With the freedom and flexibility to respond quickly to emerging areas of scientific promise, amfAR plays a role in accelerating the pace of HIV/AIDS research and achieving real breakthroughs. amfAR has invested nearly $290 million in its mission and has awarded grants to more than 2,000 research teams worldwide.

The online network Cereus was created after Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet merged to form the world’s 3rd biggest poker network. Since November, one player has been on an incredible winning streak on the network and has managed to turn an $11 investment into $833,193 to the amazement of poker enthusiasts around the globe.

The identity of online player ‘XBLINK’ is uncertain, but Two Plus Two member ‘89blist’ has claimed to be ‘XBLINK’ and has described how he was able to accomplish such an incredible feat, after taking 1st place at an $11 MTT on the 11th November. He then took his $745 top prize and hit the PLO tables, where his winning run continued and 5 days later he had turned the money into a six figure sum. By day six, he had progressed to $25/$50 up to $200/$400 PLO tables and had made $578,579 in a little over one month.

An extract from ‘89blist’ on the Two Plus Two forum describes his meteoric rise up the poker ladder, and reads:

1. $11 tournament won 1st place —> $750 (all I had on my account, was going to redeposit if i lost the tournament)
2. $750 grinding low stakes omaha.
3. $750 –> $4k the next day, move up to 2/4 and 3/6 PLO, then to 5/10.
4. 4k –>$16k, played 5/10 and 10/20 PLO
5. For the next 2 days, I was bouncing from $20k – $60k playing 10/20 PLO.
6. 5th day: Start 25/50 PLO , I see 6 digits now.
7. 6th day till now – play 25/50, 50/100, 100/200, 200/400 PLO, and NL when there’s no PLO.

“Went busto 20+ times by now for $500 each. Hope I dont go busto this time.”

After his incredible wins, the poker community has been awash with fans offering their own individual take on the subject, with many strongly recommending he should avoid emulating the antics of players such as Isildur1 or Martonas, who invariably end up losing everything after an initial burst of good fortune.

One fan posted “stop playing ASAP. I railed some of ur matches. Most notably vs S ON MY CHEST (U are terrible) take the bulk of the $$ and run/play lower” while another suggested “Cash out half and play with the rest. At least then you’ll have something to show for it when you go bust.”

In any case, ‘XBLINK’ was not about to play it carefully having been on the poker ride of his life, and continued to drive his bankroll up to $833,193. However, since then his one way graph has taken a downward turn and is now $214,870 off  its peak at its present $618,323, so maybe now would be the time for him to reflect on his good fortune and exercise a more cautious bankroll management system after all.

The Rev. Andrew Trapp has become somewhat accustomed to getting stopped at the supermarket, now for more than his priestly garb.

The most recent grocery store query: “Aren’t you that priest that plays cards?”

The Aiken native won $100,000 on Fox’s PokerStar.Net Million Dollar Challenge in October. Last weekend, the 28-year-old priest competed against four other $100,000 winners during a taping of the show for an additional $100,000. That game of Texas Hold ‘Em and the finale poker game between the winner and poker champion Daniel Negreanu for the $1 million prize will air at 4 p.m. Dec. 27 on Fox.

“I can’t say who won, but I will say I’m happy with the way I played,” the Rev. Trapp said. “It’ll be an extremely exciting and emotional show.”

The priest, his family and his church family watched the airing in October at his parish, St. Michael Catholic Church in Garden City, where he is an associate pastor.

His goal in participating in the game show was to donate his winnings to the church’s building fund.

“I requested that the money be sent directly to the church. That way they get the entire amount since it’s charitable giving,” he said. “What was I going to do with it (the money)? A priest doesn’t need to drive around in a BMW. I have everything I need.”

The Rev. Trapp, who was ordained in 2007, said he has enjoyed being able to help his church and change the image of the priesthood. He honed his poker skills while in seminary in Ohio. These days he spends his free time playing card games with friends and watching movies.

Strangers and friends have sent him several e-mails about the positive effect his poker playing could have on the image of priests.

“People can have fun and have their interest and still give their lives to God,” he said. “Some people have told me they thought serving God wasn’t something a normal guy could do, but I am a normal guy. I hope this makes people think twice.”

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