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Last Saturday’s WPT Venice online finals would see two more names added to the swelling bwin Team roster for the WPT Venice live event, with two $8,700 trip packages up for grabs. As always, the field of 34 players was a tough one, with plenty of big names such as nammer4life, CorpseGr, LocStaOnFire, -Rex Cramer-, MickeMusxxx, and Wieringen in the mix and hungry to nab their spot on the Team.

As the action wound down, it was Chalram that grabbed the chip lead in the late going, with Wieringen rising to the top when the field was narrowed to just five players left:

Seat 2: CorpseGr ($10,924 in chips)
Seat 3: gazza1970 x ($44,922 in chips)
Seat 6: Chalram ($31,572 in chips)
Seat 7: Wieringen ($53,732 in chips)
Seat 8: buche 200 ($28,850 in chips)

CorpseGr’s bid for another tour of duty with the bwin Team ended when another wily veteran, Wieringen, knocked him out in 5th. CorpseGr was in good shape when he shoved pre-flop with pocket tens and was called by Wieringen and his A♥ 7♥, but the A♦ on the turn ended CorpseGr’s Italian dreams.

gazza1970 x would bow out in 4th, faced with the bad luck to get it all-in pre-flop holding pocket tens as well, but running into a bigger pocket pair in the form of Chalram’s pocket queens, which held to set up the following battle on the trip bubble, with the top two finishers getting $8,700 trip packages:

Seat 6: Chalram ($78,094 in chips)
Seat 7: Wieringen ($71,856 in chips)
Seat 8: buche 200 ($20,050 in chips)

buche 200 would finally fall in 3rd, never able to get any traction or get the double-up he needed to close the gap. The final hand pitted buche 200’s A♣ J♣ versus Chalram’s 8♥ 8♦, and was a rollercoaster affair, with a flop of K♦ 8♠ Q♥ giving Chalram a big lead, but the T♠ on the turn turning the tables in buche 200’s favor when he turned a straight.

The river, though, turned the tables one final time, with the K♥ giving Chalram a full house and eliminating buche 200, with Chalram and Wieringen scooping up the trip packages to join the bwin Team in Venice.

Sunday’s WPT Venice online finals boasted a crowded field of 62 runners, which meant that the top 3 finishers would all take down $8,700 trip packages to be part of the bwin Team at the upcoming WPT Venice live event.

To get there, though, they’d have to topple a field that included some of the best known names in bwin poker, including the likes of AKPlus, NeilMc, chiplieder, -Rex Cramer-, CorpseGR, King_Dirk, KojGysto99, Sirin22, nammer4life, Puggy82, and efroni1.

With action down to just five players left, here’s where they stood:

pkeraunos: 87,472
JPHIL1105: 31,438
Dexterkiller: 92,056
gega90: 64,812
AKplus: 34,222

After battling it out for quite awhile five handed, gega90 would finally succumb and finish 5th, chipped down to just a few thousand chips and finally knocked out by AKplus (who was trying to secure his 4th tour of duty on the bwin Team roster, having previously represented the Team at the WSOP (twice) and the Aussie Millions).

Here’s how they stacked up when bubble play began:

pkeraunos: 70,250
JPHIL1105: 87,128
Dexterkiller: 68,556
AKplus: 84,066

As was the case in Saturday’s online finals, it only took two hands for the trip bubble to burst in Sunday’s online finals. pkeraunos and AKPlus found themselves all-in pre-flop in a battle of pocket pairs, with AKplus far ahead with pocket kings versus pkeraunos’ pocket sixes.

The board improved neither player’s hand, with AKplus’ kings holding to eliminate pkeraunos in 4th (a $540 ticket to a future online finals), and locking up $8,700 trip packages to Venice for AKplus, JPHIL1105, and Dexterkiller.

Saturday’s online finals at bwin would offer up two $8,700 trip packages to the WPT Venice live event, with 42 runners battling it out to see which two players would check, raise, and bluff their way to the trip of a lifetime to Venice, Italy.

Early leaders included Razerzone83, stoffel 78, and groovejc, but they’d all fall by the wayside as action progressed, with the following players still alive with just five players left:

Don Cool: 24,179
PocketPAIRS.: 8,971
voileux1: 51,665
LePtiLutin: 17,686
capri15: 82,820

PocketPAIRS. would finish 5th when he was short-stacked and forced to shove with Q♠ 9♠, but ran into LePtiLutin’s pocket queens, with LePtiLutin scooping a nice pot when he also got action from voileux1 as well, who held pocket nines.

LePtiLutin, though, would hit the rails soon after in 4th, when he was all-in preflop with K♣ Q♣ versus Don Cool’s 8♠ 8♥, with the pocket 8s holding to eliminate LePtiLutin and set up the following action on the trip bubble with just three players left:

Don Cool: 107,201
voileux1: 25,979
capri15: 76,820

It only took two hands for the bubble to burst, with voileux1 dispatched by Don Cool when Don Cool rivered a straight to knock out voileux1, who’d rivered second pair himself and called Don Cool’s bet that put him all in. voileux1 elimination in 3rd (a $540 ticket to a future online finals) meant that Don Cool and capri15 both locked up $8,700 trip packages to the WPT Venice event where they’ll represent the bwin Team.

The large field of 61 runners in Sunday’s WPT Venice online finals at bwin Poker meant that three more names would be added to the bwin roster at the end of the day’s action, with $7,700 trip packages going to each of the top three finishers.

Nikos7714 held the lead at the first break, with wanayou rising to the top of the field at the second break. With 5 players left, here’s where they stood, with action heating up as the bubble for the trip packages approached:

Seat 2: indrich ($76,765 in chips)
Seat 3: RipCheader ($70,020 in chips)
Seat 4: 010peter ($99,195 in chips)
Seat 5: King_Dirk ($31,205 in chips)
Seat 7: Nikos7714 ($27,815 in chips)

indrich and King_Dirk were both fresh off tours of duty with the bwin Team at the 2009 Aussie Millions (where King_Dirk cashed for $34,580 in a side event), and hoping to get to experience the high life of being part of the bwin Team yet again.

Nikos7714 would be the first to fall, finishing 5th when he was all-in pre-flop with A♣ 9♠ but in bad shape versus indrich’s A♥ T♥, with indrich’s dominating hand holding up.

That left action sitting squarely on the trip bubble with four players left, with the top three grabbing $7,700 trip packages to the WPT Venice live event.

Seat 2: indrich ($117,950 in chips)
Seat 3: RipCheader ($43,260 in chips)
Seat 4: 010peter ($87,195 in chips)
Seat 5: King_Dirk ($56,595 in chips)

The bubble finally burst about 30 hands into four-handed play, and it was a painful end for King_Dirk, who was all-in pre-flop with K♣ K♠ against RipCheader’s A♦ K♦. A flop of 8♣ 2♦ A♠ turned King_Dirk’s joy to despair, and there’d be no miracle one-outer to stave off elimination, with King_Dirk finishing 4th.

That meant that RipCheader, indrich, and 010peter would each grab $7,700 trip packages and add their names to the ever-growing bwin Team roster for the WPT Venice event.

Saturday’s WPT Venice online finals at bwin would add two more names to the growing ranks of the bwin Team who’ll be descending on Italy for the WPT Venice live event, armed with $7,700 trip packages that includes entry fee, airfare, accomodations, and some of the legendary royal treatment that bwin Team members enjoy.

As always, there were plenty of former bwin Team members in action on Saturday, trying to win their way back into the good graces of the Team. Wieringen, AKplus, MickeMusxxx, KristapsK3, nammer4life, and LocStaOnFire were just a few of the bwin Team veterans that were in action in Saturday’s online finals.

With two $7,700 WPT Venice trip packages up for grabs, action was tense when play was down to four players left.

Seat 1: bura7 ($19,538 in chips)
Seat 2: skburke ($72,546 in chips)
Seat 4: Wieringen ($48,530 in chips)
Seat 6: KristapsK3 ($69,386 in chips)

Wieringen’s bid for a fourth trip with the bwin Team was denied when he held A♣ K♣ and was all-in pre-flop versus skburke, who was sitting on K♦ K♥. The case K♠ on the flop sealed Wieringen’s fate, who exited in 4th, setting up the following stacks for the trip bubble play:

Seat 1: bura7 ($19,538 in chips)
Seat 2: skburke ($123,076 in chips)
Seat 6: KristapsK3 ($67,386 in chips)

KristapsK3 has qualified for two other live events as part of the bwin Team and was looking to notch a third trip with the Team. Which would be exactly what he’d do, joining skburke as trip package winners when bura7 tried to bluff skburke off a pot by shoving all-in with A♦ 7♦ on a 2♠ 8♠ card>3d flop, but skburke made the call with A♠ K♠, which was more than enough to eliminate bura7 in 3rd.

Congratulations to Kristapsk3 and skburke, who’ll be joining the rest of the growing bwin Team in action at the WPT Venice live event.

The WPT Venice online finals continued on Sunday with 73 players signing up to take their shot at a $7,700 WPT Venice trip package, including a slew of names from past bwin Team events such as monze1, efroni1, Wieringen, CorpseGr, -RexCramer-, Puggy82, nammer4life, MickeMusxxx, and KristapsK3.

nammer4life and Puggy82

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The bwin Team has another huge live poker event in its sights — WPT Venice — and online finals are now running on Saturdays and Sundays, offering up $7,700 trip packages that will send lucky winners with the bwin Team to Venice, Italy.

The WPT Venice online finals kicked off Saturday with 51 runners, including plenty of familar names from past bwin trips including Wieringen, CorpseGr, -RexCramer-, monze1, LocStaOnFire, and efroni1. It was PATRIKBRELLE who held the lead at the first break, with jojojoxx at the top of the field at the second break.

CorpseGR, Wieingen, -Rexcramer- and LocStaOnfire

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Just when you thought bwin Poker had it all, we have upped the ante again by this time joining forces with The World Poker Tour to create the ultimate Poker tournament experience: The WPT Venice! bwin will be sending over 100 players to the event which is sure to be the poker trip of a lifetime for those lucky enough to secure a $7,700 WPT Premium Poker Package.

With so many packages up for grabs everyone has the chance to be joining the bwin Team and taking their seat in Venice alongside the best-of-the-best of the poker world.

Qualifiers to the weekly WPT Venice Online Final are running everyday and there is something for everyone, no matter your bankroll. Five Premium packages will also be given out in every Big Bounty from now until the 26th of April. Check out the Big Bounty promo Page for more details!

With so much action coming up make sure you stay tuned to the bwin Pokerblog to find out who will be good enough to win their way onto the bwin Team for the WPT Venice!