By Sarah Polson

Poker players at Hollywood Poker may want to start brushing up on their Spanish because the poker site is going to send one of them to Barcelona this fall for a World Poker Tour event.

The Hollywood Poker European Final will take place Sept. 15, where one player will walk away with an all-inclusive prize package for the WPT Barcelona main event. That includes the buy-in plus money for travel and accommodations.

Along with a direct buy-in, there are several ways to win your way into the European Final. The poker site is currently running sit-and-go events and satellite qualifiers that will get you into the final.

The winner of the final will jet off to take part in the WPT Spanish Championship taking place in Barcelona Oct. 11-16. The buy-in for the championship is $7,800.

For more information about this and other poker tournaments and promotions, visit Hollywood Poker.

Party Poker.com seems determined to reestablish its title as the biggest online poker outfit on the planet with the news that it has once again upped the ante by guaranteeing to give away a record total of $12 million in prize pools this July.

The popular $300 000 guaranteed tournament, which takes place every Sunday, remains a highlight, whilst there are also a range of other guaranteed prize pools that will be sure to wet the lips of any poker player. Tournaments include weekly Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday $30 000 giveaways, as well as the $50 000 guaranteed super Saturday tournament.

The minimum prize pool is guaranteed on all poker tournaments, meaning users can take advantage of this promotion from as little as a $1. If just five people sit down to play a $300 000 tournament, they will be guaranteed to share that amount.

A Party Poker.com spokesman said: "To give away and guarantee $12 million in prize pools in just one month is great news for online poker players. July is always a big month on the poker calendar with the WSOP and this is a great way to celebrate this."

"Whether you have $50 in your account or $500 the benefits are the same, all tournament prize pools are guaranteed."

Party Gaming plc, also has a special promotion that ends on the 07/07/07 with $200 000 in the pot as prize money. Any users who play Party Gaming games (PartyPoker.com, PartyBets.com, PartyCasino.com, PartyGammon.com, PartyBingo.com) between 26/06/07 up until the 07/07/07 will be given the opportunity to try their luck by spinning the 777 special slot machine to win up to $500 every day and one of seven $7 777 prizes.

Two New Tournaments Are Already Having Good Receptions

PokerStars recently announced two new ambitious tournaments set to run on Sundays starting with this upcoming Sunday, and entries into the tournament are selling like … well, hotcakes.

PokerStars put up a news bulletin on its site last weekend touting the institution of both the High Stakes Showdown, a $10,300 buy-in no-limit hold’em heads-up tournament limited to just 16 entrants, and the Sunday Hundred Grand, a $100,000-guaranteed freezeout tournament with an unprecedented low buy-in of $11 (meaning they expect at least 10,000 entrants).

The High Stakes Showdown had its 16 entrants within hours, which goes to show how many serious players with big bankrolls are playing online poker. PokerStars expanded the tournament to 16 entrants from an initial maximum of eight entrants after players e-mailed support asking to be allowed admittance, which bodes well for the tournament expanding even further in the coming months. Among those currently registered for the tournament are Scott “emptyseat88” Fischman, recent World Series of Poker bracelet winner Steve “MrSmokey1” Billirakis, Internet notable “ActionJeff” (who has asked that his real name not be published), and Online Player of the Year top 10 contender Isaac “westmenloAA” Baron. Along with a huge prize pool, the tournament will be an excellent spectacle for railbirds.

The Sunday Hundred Grand is already showing an equally good reception. The tournament requires 10,000 entrants to meet the posted guarantee and already has more than 10,350 as of this story’s publication, with three days left for registration. Those interested in the tournament should register soon, as the tournament allows a maximum of only 15,000 entrants, which it will likely have well before the tournament’s start. If the tournament has more than 12,000 entrants (which looks probable), the top 2,000 players will get paid and the first-place finisher will win between $15,000 and $19,000. The tournament looks like a shoo-in to set the world record for the largest field ever in a real-money tournament, a record currently held by the PokerStars Sunday Million tournament on May 20 of this year when 10,894 entrants played.

Any Titan Poker player who manages to win six consecutive Fort Knox sit 'n' go tournaments will take home $250,000 in addition to the regular tournament winnings.

Titan Poker, one of the most prominent online poker rooms on the Internet, will award a $250,000 Jackpot Prize to any player who manages to win six consecutive Fort Knox sit 'n' go tournaments.

Buy-ins to the Fort Knox tournaments are $50 + $9. The Fort Knox Jackpot starts out at $50,000 and grows progressively by $10,000 each week if no player manages to win enough consecutive tournaments to take the prize. Any player who finishes in first or second place in six consecutive tournaments, but falls just short of winning the Grand Prize, will nonetheless be rewarded with a prize of $750.

The quarter-of-a-million-dollar Fort Knox Jackpot Prize is the highest jackpot prize ever offered at Titan Poker.

Twelve players have previously managed to win the Fort Knox Jackpot prize, including French poker player Remy Elkoubi, from Marseille, France. Last November, Elkoubi hit a Straight Flush to clinch his sixth consecutive tournament win, resulting in an additional prize of $100,000. Elkoubi had been playing at Titan Poker for less than a year when he won the Fort Knox Jackpot Prize.

"I had tried to win this Jackpot a few times, but I never had any success until this beautiful day," he said. "I remember the last hand - a Straight Flush. A Straight Flush that earned me $100,000! I never believed that I could win this prize but the reality was different; the Fort Knox prize is not impossible."

Last year, Guy Meridjen, also from France, took home $100,000 as a Fort Knox prize. Previously, Derrick Morin from Canada, Richard Stringer from the United Kingdom and Joseph Dulaney from Texas all won the Jackpot Prize. Derrick Morin had never even made a deposit when he hit the $100,000 Jackpot.

Also available at Titan Poker are the popular Rio and Maui Progressive Jackpot Sit 'N' Go Tournaments, which also offer progressively growing jackpots, starting at $25,000 and $15,000 respectively.

Team Bodog poker pro David Williams adds another deep run in a 2007 World Series of Poker event to his resume.

Bodog poker pro David Williams fought through a field of 1,048 in the $1,000 No Limit Hold'em with Rebuys event to finish in 15th place. Rebuy events always attract big-names with deep pockets, and this event was no different. As well as battling the large field, DW had to outplay many of his fellow poker pros to get deep in the event. He takes home $40,333 for his efforts.
This is DW's third cash of the 2007 WSOP and fourth in Las Vegas this summer; he won a $5k prelim event at the Bellagio Cup III as well. His total winnings at the WSOP now equal $67,394. Add to this the $129,120 for that Bellagio event and he has won almost $200k in just the last month. Yeah, otherwise known as more than you will make over several years.

With only one event left that has a manageble field, expect to see DW at the tables today gunning for his next WSOP bracelet. He will, of course, be playing the Main Event later this week but making predictions on that donkey-fest is beyond our prognosticatory abilities (yes, it's a word; look it up).

Stay tuned and we'll let you know what happens later today live from the 2007 World Series of Poker.

Absolute Poker announced a major upgrade to its Instant Play online poker software, adding multi-table poker tournaments.

While Friday's impending launch of the iPhone already has Apple fans ecstatic, another piece of Mac-friendly technology is quickly catching the eye of the Mac community.

Absolute Poker today announced a major upgrade to its Instant Play online poker software. The new java-based application now features multi-table poker tournaments in addition to the already popular ring games.

"With the addition of multi-table tournaments, we're quickly bringing our java version closer in line with our full version downloadable client," stated David Clainer, senior vice president for Absolute Poker.

Absolute Poker launched its no-download poker software in early March, giving U.S. based Mac owners the chance to play free money or real money Texas Hold'em ring games and be a part of online poker's fastest growing community.

What's more, since the Instant Play software is accessed through a web browser, Mac & PC users can play online poker from any computer with an internet connection without having to download software - a feature perfect for those who want to play online poker on their lunch hour at work, on vacation or whenever they can't get to their own computer.

Existing Absolute Poker players can log into the Instant Play software using their same account details. The full suite of online poker software is available for download at Absolute Poker.