Dublin is the Nuts, ESPN airing Main Event of WSOP 08 and more news!

Dublin named the Top Poker Destination in Europe
Last year it was London but this year Dublin has been named the number one poker destination in Europe in a poker magazine poll, beating Vienna, Amsterdam and Barcelona also along the way. WSOPE and EPT hosts London were this year named in 2nd place as the best tourist spot for European poker players.
Despite losing the EPT for next season, Dublin is still one of the busiest, friendliest and most exciting places to play poker in Europe. It is of course home to the Irish Open, the most fun tournament in the world, as well as a wide range of tournaments for all buy-ins. There is also a big selection of card rooms, poker societies and pub leagues

– not to mention some of the juiciest cash games in the world.

"Gentleman" Liam Flood, who has been a stalwart of Irish poker since he helped introduce Hold'em to the Emerald Isle in the Seventies, was delighted with the news. "It's because of the craic," he explained, when asked him to describe what he felt was special about poker in Dublin. "There's a sense of community. We find that a few drinks after the game helps you relax, too."

ESPN air the Main Event
It's our first chance to catch a glimpse of the November 9 in action, as the WSOP Main Event coverage has started over in the States on Tuesday nights. Obviously this would be pretty cruel news to broadcast to people in the UK under normal circumstances, but thankfully we expect the episodes to be uploaded to Pokertube shortly after broadcast in the US meaning you can all watch them when you are supposed to be working the next day.

PartyPoker is now eCOGRA certified
Good news for PartyGaming and Party Poker as they have been officially given certification from eCommerce and Online Gaming Regulation and Assurance (eCOGRA) deeming them 'safe and fair'. Customers can play with peace of mind after the strict auditing that is required for this certification, knowing that the poker room's responsible gaming requirements are of an even higher standard than is required by EU licensing jurisdictions.
Jim Ryan, CEO of Partygaming commented:
"PartyGaming is committed to responsible gaming and wants all of our players to play on our online sites for the right reason - to have fun and play within their means. These new seals show our sites provide our players with a very high level of protection backed by our EGBA (European Gaming and Betting Association) membership and eCOGRA accreditation."

More dates confirmed for the Sky Poker UK Tour
We brought you the news last month that Dusk Till Dawn on September 13th would see the debut of the Sky Poker UK Tour, a series of live events for the players at Sky Poker. We can now confirm that Birmingham will be the city for the second leg in November, but the specific date and venue are yet to be confirmed.
The tour then takes a short break and returns with stops in January, March and May 2009 at yet to be disclosed venues. The Grand Final is set once again for Dusk Till Dawn in June, which is a £25,000 guaranteed event and the Sky Poker Camera Crew are set to be filming. The only way to guarantee a seat is by qualifying online at Sky Poker.

PokerStars to sign more Sports Stars?
There are some heavy rumours on the poker forums that Pokerstars are poised to sign another star from the world of sports into their stable of poker pros. Canadian Hockey Player Mats Sundin (Yeah, we'd never heard of him either) is reportedly set to swap stick (Do they call it a stick?) for chips and join Boris Becker in their sports star stable, alongside the likes of Teddy Sheringham, Steve Davis, Tony Cascarino, Shane Warne and all the other sportsmen turned poker players.
Like it or not, sponsoring a big name sports star appears to attract new players to the tables, you only have to look at the poker tournaments that are offering to throw money at Michael Phelps right now to see that. It's unsure whether Kevin Keegan will be available to join Team Pokerstars this week too, but needless to say we are sure he would love it.

Partouche Poker Tour Main Event Today
The main event of this French poker tour starts today and some huge names have confirmed their attendance. Top of the tree is of course Gus Hansen, Phil Ivey and David Benyamine. Also confirmed are Chris Ferguson, Glen Chorny and David Williams. The only UK player we know going there for sure is James 'Royal Flush' Dempsey so far. The main event is held at the Palm Beach De Cannes and has a €2 million prize pool, the winners cheque will be presented by non other than Manchester United legend Eric Cantona.

Spurs finally promote Poker
This barely even registers as news but we've had a couple of die-hard Spurs fans insisting we mention it, presumably reeling or celebrating from the £30 million sale of Dimitar Berbatov this week. After two years of sponsorship from Mansion, Tottenham Hotspur have finally brought out a kit with the word Poker emblazoned across it to promote Mansion Poker rather than just the casino.
There, we said it wasn't news but we are sure there are plenty of poker players in Tottenham high fiving each other right now.

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