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AAPT announce player line-up for March AAPT

This weekend's All Africa Poker Tournament (AAPT), hosted at Piggs Peak Hotel and Casino, Swaziland from the 11^th to 14^th March 2010 is expecting most of the top 10 players in the BLUFF SA player rankings, as well as a number of other big names for this, the first edition of the AAPT this year.

Ilja Martinovic, currently ranked 15^th on the BLUFF SA player rankings will be out do defend his November 2009 AAPT title, but will face stiff competition from big name players, such as the current BLUFF SA player ranking leader Eugene du Plessis, as well as Jay Sookoo (3rd), Rudolph Fourie (5th), Ryan Brauer (7^th), Bennie Lingenfelder (8^th) and David “Bozo” Rosenthal (9th).

BLUFF SA editor Ryan Dreyer (2^nd) will not be playing this weekend as he is an integral part of the Michael Collet Production team that puts the great AAPT TV coverage together for DSTV channel 112.

Other notable players attending the tournament in search of the R1 million first prize include local WSOP legend Ray Rahme (24^th), Darren Kramer (22^nd), BLUFF SA columnist David Dadic, Huawei Sun, Lolly Jackson (33^rd) and Daniel Lamberti (16^th), who has had a great 2010 so far, coming very close to his big breakthrough victory already.

Previous winners in 2009 include Wessel Jacobs (August 2009), Nicolas Zakhem (May 2009) and Gareth Kallil (February 2009). Zakhem and Kallil will be at the felt this weekend to see if they can notch up another win. Winners already this year to look out for include Warren Zackey (12^th), who won the Royal Swazi Rumble and Lingenfelder, who won the Emerald Casino tournament in February. A total of 120 players will be battling it out over the weekend for their share of the R3 million prize pool.

The AAPT structure is a R20,000 buy-in, which includes the Main Event AAPT seat and a starting chip stack of 10,000 chips. There are unlimited re-buys for the first four hours of the tournament and the one add-on will take place at the end of the re-buy period. Re-buys are R5,000 for 10,000 chips and the Add-on is R7,500 for 25,000 chips.

Play kicks off on Thursday evening at 20h00 and you can follow all the action on the All Africa blog, the Twitter feed and get updated on all the latest happenings via Facebook. The final table showdown happens on Saturday, with play set to be concluded in the early hours of Sunday morning.

High Stakes Poker Playing Conman Charged with Bank Defraudment

On March 1, 2010, Achilleas Kallakis and accomplice Alexander Williams, both 41, were each charged in a London court with defrauding Allied Irish Bank (AIB) of £56m between 2003 and 2007, as well as Bank of Scotland for £5m in 2008.

Once ranked the 11th wealthiest Greek in the world – and presently ranked 3rd on the Hendon Mob's All Time Money List for Greece with $345,090 in live poker earnings - Kallakis had become a leading property investor in London real estate. However, the bank loans he and Alexander Williams obtained from AIB to fund their investments are alleged to have been fraudulent. AIB accuses Kallakis of embellishing the details of tenant leases in order to procure greater loans. Additionally, the pair are incriminated with fleecing the Bank of Scotland with a 2008 loan.

Investigations into the allegation made by AIB resulted in raids on three of the properties in question. Each of the two men have been charged with 2 counts of conspiracy to defraud, 2 counts of money laundering, 5 counts of fraud by false representation, 13 counts of forgery, and 1 count of obtaining a money transfer by deception. Both men have posted bail, and will return to court May 4.

Full report here

Armed robbers hit EPT Pokerstars Berlin tournament

Reports from the weekend paint a picture of a brazen casino heist more suited to Hollywood blockbusters. A gang of armed robbers stormed the EPT Pokerstars Berlin tournament being held at the Berlin Grand Hyatt Hotel on Saturday and made off around €100,000. The sum was originally reported to be €1 million.

The group of masked men, wielding automatic weapons, machetes and hand grenades struck in broad daylight and were even caught on camera, as the event was broadcast live.

There were reports of injuries sustained in the resultant stampede as guests, supporters and players tried to make a hasty retreat when the gang burst into the poker room.

There were approximately 22 players left in the event when the incident occurred and play got underway again after police had taken statements and begun their investigation into the robbery.

German police have reported that the men remained at large Sunday and the investigation continued. Event organisers and police have requested anyone with photos, video or info to come forward to assist with the investigation.

Online Poker Rooms Gear Up for 2010 WSOP

Although the start of the 2010 World Series of Poker still sits three months away, several online poker rooms are already giving their players a chance to get there.

PartyPoker is giving away a $14,000 WSOP Main Event package, including buy-in, accommodations and $2k in spending money, for absolutely nothing.

The site just introduced a comprehensive range of WSOP qualifiers this week, starting with daily freerolls.