May 2010 Poker News

No matter what month of the year it is, whether the WSOP is taking place, or just a few online tournaments, something exciting is always happening.

Not a single month goes by without exciting poker taking place; some months are dominated by large tournaments, whilst others tend to go relatively unnoticed apart by those few who really like to stay ahead of the game.

For example, if we take a look at May of last year there were a number of stories which most will have missed. To begin with Annette Obrestad, the internationally famous young player from Norway won $87,400 by winning the PokerStars Sunday 500 allowing her first ever visit to the World Series of Poker since turning 21.

At the same time Roy Brindley,the Irish poker player published an excellent little article about how our flawed hindsight effects decision making within our poker game. He argued that because we tend to remember the good and forget the bad this can lead to poor decision making and the same mistake being made by players time and time again.

It wasn’t a great month for the young English player Andrew Feldman either. After getting involved in a spread betting deal, Feldman was taken to court by his former friend Rabbi Simon Nissim who claimed that he was owed £140,000 which Feldman lost in the bets. After a fairly long court case, in the end Feldman lost the case and was ordered to pay.

It was a much better month for Ali Tekintamgac who managed to beat Roberto Garcia Santiago with a great hand. Tekintamgac had Queen and Five of Spades, Santiago had Nine of Diamonds and Eight of Hearts, even after three hearts came on the flop Tekintamgac took the pot. However, things went downhill later in the year for Tekintamgac when he was disqualified from the Partouche Poker Tour for cheating.

In Ireland Paddy Power Poker sponsored a ‘Poker for the Homeless’ event at the Jackpot Club which saw over twenty thousand Euros raised over the course of the weekend in a competitive but friendly spirit typical to the Irish. The tournament of course had many celebrities taking part including Reggie Corrigan, the rugby player. In a comic twist of events he got barred from the tournament thanks to a particularly overzealous security guard and a small case of mistaken identity.

Whilst it was a relatively quiet month in many ways, there was still loads going on and we can be sure that every month of 2011 will be full of more great poker.