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The poker action was heating up on Saturday January 31st on bwin with yet another online finals punching the tickets for three lucky players to the PokerNews Alpine Cup live event. 61 runners took their seats when play began, all angling to finish in the top three and take down a $8,000 trip package to the Austrian Alps as part of the bwin Team.

As usual, it was a field packed with former bwin Team stars such as Wieringen, Huempel, Sirin-22, MickeMusxxx, AKplus, Gutenburg1, bigbalu67, Pech gehabt, and wild_c4ll all trying to win their way back onto the Team for an amazing mix of poker, skiing, and the royal treatment that's just part of being a member of the bwin Team at a live event.

Sirin-22, AKplus and Indrich

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Last Saturday's PokerNews Alpine Cup online finals at bwin would see three more skilled players punch their tickets for the live PokerNews poker tournament on the Austrian slopes, with the top three finishers all grabbing a $8,000 trip package.

The online finals saw yet another crowded, talented field, with plenty of names from bwin Team past events in action, including attilaattila, Wieringen, samsampson (known better by his PokerRoom moniker "billybillard"), fanslau, soerenjena, bigbalu67, and Bumi3.

lemmi303 held the chip lead at the first break, with fanslau leading the way at the second stoppage. When the field had played down to just five players, here were those five, along with their chip stacks as they stood poised to do battle down to the final three:

Seat 1: manisp ($49,533 in chips)
Seat 2: samsampson ($64,256 in chips)
Seat 3: PlayboyRoyal ($49,671 in chips)
Seat 8: RestAmana ($41,060 in chips)
Seat 10: _Sandm4n_ ($65,480 in chips)

Play was very careful as none of the players wanted to just miss out on finishing n the top three and grabbing one of the $8,000 trip packages, but blinds inevitably took their toll, forcing _Sandm4n_ to shove his short stack in pre-flop with K♥ T♠. PlayboyRoyal looked him up with 3♣ 3♥ and the pocket 3s held to eliminate _Sandm4n_ (not without some drama, though, as _Sandm4n_ turned a K to take the lead, only to have PlayboyRoyal river a four flush to knock him out).

It'd take more than 40 hands to determine who the unlucky bubble boy of the four remaining players was, but that person was finally revealed to be RestAmana, who blinded down almost his entire stack before losing his few remaining chips to PlayboyRoyal.

His elimination meant that PlayboyRoyal, samsampson (aka billybillard), and manisp would all be packing their bags and ready to hit the slopes in Austria with the rest of the bwin Team at the PokerNews Alpine Cup event.

The PokerNews Alpine Cup online finals on Saturday, January 10th drew yet another large, tough field, with 63 runners turning out. Each had their eyes set on finishing in the top 3 spots and claiming not only a $8,000 trip package to the PokerNews Alpine Cup live event in Austria, but a chance to rub elbows with the exclusive company of the bwin Team.

Former bwin Team member KristapsK3 (who represented the Team at the 2008 WSOP) held the chip lead at the first break, with SofussBall grabbing the lead at the second. With the final table of ten players set, here's how they stacked up, with KristapsK3 still in the hunt as well as PokerIsland winner Sirin-22:

Seat 1: PlayboyRoyal ($25,810 in chips)
Seat 2: farnibal ($21,065 in chips)
Seat 3: Teunaldo_NL ($55,450 in chips)
Seat 4: SofussBall ($50,030 in chips)
Seat 5: trut1 ($26,280 in chips)
Seat 6: _Sandm4n_ ($30,260 in chips)
Seat 7: Sirin-22 ($24,855 in chips)
Seat 8: slobib3 ($19,830 in chips)
Seat 9: KristapsK3 ($41,790 in chips)
Seat 10: thomasPille ($19,630 in chips)

With the final table chopped in half, just five players remained, all jockeying to finish in the top 3 to grab a $8,000 trip package:

Seat 5: trut1 ($70,790 in chips)
Seat 6: _Sandm4n_ ($69,680 in chips)
Seat 7: Sirin-22 ($51,710 in chips)
Seat 9: KristapsK3 ($90,050 in chips)
Seat 10: thomasPille ($32,770 in chips)

Sirin-22's run would end in 5th when he found himself short-stacked and forced to shove with K♥ J♥, only to run into _Sandm4n_ 's A♣ J♣. Sirin-22 flopped a flush draw but couldn't get there, bowing out in 5th.

Unlike previous Alpine Cup online finals, the final four weren't shy about getting their chips into the middle, despite being on the trip bubble. It didn't take long before _Sandm4n_ and KristapsK3 would tangle in a big hand that'd send one home as the bubble boy.

_Sandm4n_ shoved pre-flop with A♠ 9♥ and KristapsK3 made the call with J♠ J♥. The board blanked out, helping neither player, and _Sandm4n_ would ubble in 4th, with $8,000 trip packages going to KristapsK3, trut1, and thomasPille.

KristapsK3

61 runners turned out for the Alpine Cup online finals on December 27th at bwin, which would see the top three finishers all grabbing a $8,000 trip package to the Alpine Cup live poker event, which will be held in March 2009 at the luxurious Alpine Palace ski resort in the Austrian alps.

Once there, bwin Team members will not only be competing for a huge payday at the poker tables, but will get to experience all of the skiing, snowboarding, and fun they can handle, treated like the poker elite they are.

As the action wound down in Saturday's online finals it looked like we might see some former Team members book a return trip, as .hades., wild_c4ll, dj_stiff, and Pech gehabt were all still alive and in the mix when the field was narrowed down to 15 players.

wild_c4ll, .hades., dj_stiff, and Pech gehabt made deep runs but came up just short

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bwin was host to yet another amazing promotion that got underway on Saturday, December 20th, with the first running of the PokerNews Alpine Cup online finals. The Alpine Cup is a new live poker event that will be held in March 2009 at the luxurious Alpine Palace ski resort in the Austrian alps. bwin players lucky and skillful enough to win one of the $8,000 trip packages up for grabs in the online finals will be in for the time of their lives, with a perfect mix of skiing, poker, and living the high life awaiting the winners in the Austrian alps.

The first of many Alpine Cup qualifiers ran at bwin on Saturday, with 63 runners turning out trying to nab one of the 3 trip packages up for grabs. Early leaders included RygarBwin, trut1, and claretbluejr. When the final table was set, there were still two former bwin Team members in the hunt (wild_c4ll and Speedzebre) as well as plenty of fresh faces:

Seat 1: liverpool170 ($32,545 in chips)
Seat 2: wild_c4ll ($12,746 in chips)
Seat 3: TOULOUSE3100 ($58,227 in chips)
Seat 4: trut1 ($18,279 in chips)
Seat 5: mr.Schne ($15,274 in chips)
Seat 6: claretbluejr ($38,454 in chips)
Seat 7: DonGuga ($27,698 in chips)
Seat 8: Speedzebre ($27,720 in chips)
Seat 9: mazlumb2 ($72,747 in chips)
Seat 10: skjul4ik ($11,310 in chips)

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After the great success of the bwin Team's trip to Melbourne for the PokerNews Cup Australia, bwin are again teaming up with PokerNews to send the bwin Team to PokerNews Cup Alpine. Now this is not just going to be any normal poker tournament, PokerNews Cup Alpine will take place at The Alpine Palace Card Casino and the bwin Team will be staying in the luxurious Alpine Palace situated in the spectacular Austrian Alps. That's right, the bwin Team is in for luxury trip combining first class poker with first class skiing! Make sure you are there by qualifying now!

Here is what the $8,000 PokerNews Cup Premium Package includes;

• 7 nights luxury accommodation at the 5 star Alpine Palace
• Buy-in to the PokerNews Cup Main Event and 1 side event
• Flights and spending money
• Ski pass for the duration of your stay
• VIP shuttle from Salzburg to Alpine Palace with return by helicopter
• The VIP treatment including a spa treatment and invite to the VIP Welcome Party

PokerNews Cup Online Finals will be running every Saturday to 21.02.2009 at 22:00 CET.
Qualifiers to the Online Final are running every day! Don't miss out!