But this industry blog is good because it is about the main event of poker.

Here is how it starts: The oldest casino promotion in the history of the U.S. casino business keeps taking on a younger and younger look.

Eight of the nine players earning seats at the final table of the 41st World Series of Poker’s main event are 25 years of age or younger.

They were not old enough to play in a casino when Chris Moneymaker made big time tournament poker a game for the masses with his 2003 final table victory at the World Series.

This includes 22-year-old Jonathan Duhamel; the Canadian who has nearly $66 million in chips as he awaits his Nov. 6 return to the Rio, when the final table will play down to the winner who will enjoy an $8.9 million payday.

It will all be part of a two-hour made for ESPN event.

And I’ll be glued to my TV for that; if I’m not there in person.

Even Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi, easily the best known of the final table nine, is only 29. Each of the nine has received ninth place money of $811,823.

UNbelieveable: If you love France (and playing poker), as I do…  this might be the time to consider a trip to Cannes.

The end of August will see one of France’s largest live poker events being played, as the Partouche Poker Tour (PPT) takes place on the French Riviera.

The event will be held at the Palm Beach resort in Cannes, between the 28th of August and 6th of September.

If you would like to participate, please be advised that bwin is already running qualifiers since earlier this month.

Now, a lot of you might be wondering, what is bwin. [you can google it, of course, as I did.]

bwin (formerly betandwin) was founded in 1997 and is one of Europe’s biggest sport betting agencies.

The company is based in Vienna, Austria.

The Ongame network is the world’s 5th largest with an average of 3,000 cash game players online. As many as 6,000 players can be found in the evening hours. No Limit players can find a table day or night in anything from micro to mid to high stake games. The micro to mid limits ($5/$10) are particularly appealing to Fixed Limit players. There are also plenty of SnGs in the low to mid limits ($50).

bwin is considered to be a very profitable place to play, mostly because many gamblers (and poor poker players) make their way to the tables.

The guaranteed prize pool for this event is €3,000,000 (euros), and the first place finisher will be cashing €1,000,000. There are two ways in which you can gain entry to the Partouche Poker Tour Final:

$15,000 Partouche Final: every Sunday at 19:00 GMT until the 15th of August, bwin will host a $300+$20 tournament, where the winner will get a $15,000 tournament package. Satellites for these tournaments are running more than 20 times a day, starting from $2.

$160,000 Partouche Final: on the 15th of August, 18:00 GMT, bwin will host a $93+$7 tournament where 10 of these tournament packages will be up for grabs. On top of that, the runner-ups will get a share of an additional $10,000 in prize money. Qualifiers are already running around the clock and they go as low as $1.

Good luck.

I hope to be there to report on the action.

And watch the girls on the beach.

The $15,000 Partouche Poker Tour package consists of the following:

$10,500 entry buy-in

$1,300 for travel and spending

Accommodation at hotel 3.14 from 28.08. to 06.09.2010

bwin Team hospitality & activities

HeadsUp Entertainment , operators of the Canadian Poker Tour (CPT) and Canadian Poker Player Magazine have finalized an agreement with strategic partner World Poker Showdown and Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines to host a Poker Super Cruise on the “Freedom of the Seas” launching March 23, 2011 from Port Canaveral, Florida.

Based on the success of the previous poker cruise held in April of this year, the event is being expanded to 2 weeks sailing first to the Eastern Caribbean and subsequently to the Western Caribbean ports-of-call.

Sounds good to me.

By expanding to a 2 week series, profitability increases substantially as fixed costs of tournament infrastructure are covered in the first week and options for players to accommodate their vacation schedules are expanded.

Sponsorship revenue, tournament fees and cash game rake revenue is expected to exceed $2,000,000 USD over the 2 week period, with net earnings approaching $1,200,000 or $.018/share.

The Company also announces that a major television deal is currently being finalized that will allow for broadcast of the event and allow for sponsorship revenues to increase dramatically from previous events.

Now that sounds even better.

“The expansion of the poker vacation market has become a major focus for the Company as revenues are maximized in this event structure,” commented HeadsUp President and CEO Kelly B. Kellner. “The event earlier this year was testament to a growing demand in the Canadian and international marketplace.”

I love cruising, so if you do too (and love playing poker or watching high stakes poker tournaments), this might be just the thing for you.

The first five-day event of the World Series of Poker created one of the toughest fields in WSOP history.

116 players paid $50,000 to compete in the eight-game mix appropriately dubbed the “Players’ Championship.”

Here are the results:

Event 2: Poker Players’ Championship, eight-game mix
Buy-in: $50,000
Entries: 116
Prize pool: $5,568,000
Players in the money: 16

1. Michael Mizrachi ($1,559,046)
2. Vladimir Schmelev ($963,375)
3. David Oppenheim ($603,348)
4. John Juanda ($436,865)
5. Robert Mizrachi ($341,429)
6. David Baker ($272,275)
7. Daniel Alaei ($221,105)
8. Mikael Thuritz ($182,463)
9. Nick Schulman ($152,739)
10. Alexander Kostritsyn ($152,739)
11. Abe Mosseri ($129,957)
12. Lyle Berman ($129,957)
13. Brett Richey ($113,030)
14. Allen Bari ($113,030)
15. Ilya Bulychev ($98,330)
16. Andy Bloch ($($98,330)

It was a family affair at the final table of the biggest buy-in event of the 2010 World Series of Poker. B

rothers Michael and Robert Mizrachi, who both have had tremendous success in their poker careers, were sitting across from each other at the final table with $1.5 million on the line for first place.

Opposing them was a final table full of talent, experience and determination.

Michael Mizrachi was the chip leader after Day 3, entered the final table fifth, then had one roller-coaster of a ride through the 12-hour final table.

But in the end, the 29-year-old pro claimed the title of “Poker Players’ Champion,” the Chip Reese Memorial trophy and the $1.559,046 that goes with it.

This was Mizrachi’s 20th WSOP cash.

Mizrachi saw Mikael Thuritz and Daniel Alaei get eliminated before personally eliminating 23-year-old phenom David Baker and his brother Robert.

At the time of his brother’s elimination, Michael was still a shorter stack, trailing David Oppenheim, who began the final table as the short stack. Oppenheim had more than 50 percent of the chips in play at one point, but was eventually eliminated in third when he lost a race holding 8-8 to Michael’s K-Q.

“The Grinder” and Schmelev went heads up for 82 hands. During that time, Mizrachi ran incredibly well, hitting the cards he needed when he was dominated in multiple situations.

“It really helps when you have friends and family that supported me like they did today. They helped me strategically too, chanting for me. I’m sure the other players got tired of it. It was my home-field advantage.” His family cheered him on through the proceedings.

The victory removes Mizrachi from the “Best Without A Bracelet” list and makes poker history, as the Mizrachi brothers are now the second pair of brothers to own WSOP bracelets (Blair and Grant Hinkle are the others).

Well, the World Poker Tour plans to stage a London event this summer have come to fruition.

We can confirm that the WPT London Poker Classic will happen between Aug. 29 and Sept. 5 at the Palm Beach Casino and Mayfair Hotel.

The £5,300 event will have a field of up to 400 runners.

“London is a great poker destination and has always been a major target in our ongoing expansion,” said WPT President Adam Pliska, in a press release.

“We’re thrilled to have found amazing partners in The Palm Beach Casino, Genting UK and The May Fair Hotel London. This is sure to be a highly anticipated WPT event on the international schedule.”

What big news this is for UK poker, when you consider that the WSOPE and EPT London immediately follow it, we have a genuine triple crown in the capital in just over one month.

Take that, Vegas.

Well, hell…it’s over 100 degrees at that time of year in Vegas. So why not come to London?

Sounds like a great idea to me.