The Pokerstars Caribbean Adventure gets Underway, Gambling Legal in Czech Republic and more

Pokerstars Caribbean Adventure gets Underway
The Pokerstars.net Caribbean Adventure kicked off yesterday and as usual, it looks set to be one of the biggest events of the year. 660 players sat down yesterday, leaving a similar number of players to sun themselves while they wait for day 1b, meaning that the winner of this event will win something in the region of $2 million, which is not a bad way to end the first full week of the year.

With a 20,000 stack and 75 minute levels, there was plenty of play in this opening day, but hat didn't stop 472 players bite the dust leaving 188 remaining from day 1a, which sees Felipe Ramos the

overnight chip leader. Grant Hinkle, Jonathan Little and Jeff Madsen are all in the top ten chip stacks and UK player James Akenhead is one of the Brits with a big stack returning on Wednesday.

Marcin Horecki, Barry Greenstein, Greg Raymer, Vicky Coren, Tom McEvoy, Lee Nelson and Vanessa Rousso are amongst the Team Pokerstars.net Pro's who live to fight another day, while Daniel Negreanu, Luca Pagano, Chad Brown, Steve Paul-Ambrose, Joe Hachem, Alex Kravchenko and Gavin Griffin all bust out last night. As well as day 1b today, there is also the final of the World Cup of Poker being played out tonight at the PCA.

UltimateBet changes UBOC High Rollers Event
UltimateBet have announced that the $5000+$200 tournament scheduled on January 11th as part of the UBOC online poker series has been changed to a $300+$20 event. This is to make the tournament more accessible to players of all levels, the new guarantee will be $300,000 instead of $1 million. No changes are planned for the final $1,000+50 UBOC Championship event scheduled for January 18, the guarantee of which remains at $1,000,000.

"We've listened to our players, modified our UBOC tournament schedule and repositioned one of our championship tournaments within reach of more online poker players," stated Annie Duke, UltimateBet's Cardroom Consultant. "With a $1 million Championship event and a $300,000 Championship event, our new UBOC schedule promises to thrill more players looking to be a part of the most exciting online championship series in poker."

The 10 day series gets underway on the 9th of January and includes HORSE and PLO events, as well as a 'mini series' where players can buy in for approximately 10% of the corresponding UBOC event and compete for a lucrative prize pool.

Gambling now Legal in Czech Republic
One of the countries that seriously looked in danger of outlawing online gambling altogether, the Czech Republic, now looks set to regulate and legalize online gambling. Yesterday, five firms were granted permits to operate online gambling sites. Unlike other forms of online gambling, customers have to open accounts in person at betting shops and produce identification, to alleviate problem gambling online. It is not known yet whether any of the five firms will include online poker in their operations.

ESPN to air World Series of Poker Europe
ESPN have announced that they will be televising last year's World Series of Poker Europe, which was won by John Juanda, on the 1st of February, in 8 one hour episodes. There will be two episodes back to back each Sunday for one entire month. Don't forget that not only does this mean that viewers in the UK will be able to view the footage online soon after on YouTube/PokerTube they also will most likely be able to view them within a week on channel 442, ESPN Classics on Sky.

$40,000 up for Grabs in the Bet365 Rake Race
Bet365 know that January is a month to stay in, work hard and mourn the end of Christmas. That's precisely why they have a promotion designed just for those players who won't be leaving their house much in January. Between the 7th and 28th of January, a raked hands rake race will take place on Bet365 with a $40,000 prize pool and a $4,500 first prize. Anyone who makes it into the top 50 will also get a prize (And if you are new to the poker room, sign up via Pokernews for a $600 bonus plus money to be had via their VIP programme on top of all that).

Kate Laverick, Poker Marketing Manager at bet365, commented: "Our Leader board challenges are always extremely popular with our poker players, who are naturally competitive and love that extra bit of spice! Be your luck at the tables good or bad, you can still earn your place on the Cash Race Leaderboard - which makes January a very exciting month at Bet365.

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