Bodog Beat

Bodog poker pros David Williams and Jean-Robert Bellande both played in the Bodog Poker Blogger Tournament Series on Tuesday night. (Bodog Beat Image)

As was promised, poker bloggers who came out for the weekly Bodog Poker Blogger Tournament Series got the chance to play up against a surprise Bodog Poker pro. However, what was more of a surprise for the bloggers was not which Bodog pros showed up but how many of them did.

When the players sat down at the virtual poker tables on Tuesday had two Bodog pros in their midst, David Williams and Jean-Robert Bellande. To add even more value to the tournament, the pros each had a $100 bounty on their heads. Since neither of them won the tournament here is how they lost their respective $100 (details courtesy of bodogbloggertournament.com):

Blogger "MondoGarage" claimed the $100 bounty on the head of Bellande when the blogger raised Bellande 3.5 times the big blind with JJ from middle position. Play folded around to Bellande, who had limped from UTG with 7-8s, and he cold called.

The flop came 10-2-7 and Bellande bet out the pot. "MondoGarage" put Bellande all-in and the Bodog pro called. Bellande did not improve and was soon heading down to the Bellagio's Fontana Lounge to mix it up with the "local talent."

Blogger "vin_nay" claimed William's $100 bounty when the WSOP bracelet winner bet out 3.5 times the big blind from middle position and "vin_nay" pushed all-in over the top from the big blind with K-6o. Williams then called with A-4o, but couldn't dodge a King on the river, sending him home.

There are now six tournaments left in the Bodog Poker Blogger Tournament Series with plenty of opportunity to accumulate points and reach the top of the Series leaderboard. The tournaments run every Tuesday at 9:05 p.m. EST and the top 30 percent of finishers in each qualifying tournament earn points based on their finish. These points are then used to rank players over the four months of qualifying. At the end of the qualifying series, the top 18 players on the Tournament Leader Board will play in the Final Tournament on Tuesday, June 10, 2008 with the first-place finisher winning a $12,000 WSOP prize package.

For online poker players who want to be part of Team Bodog at the 2008 WSOP but don't have a blog, Bodog is currently running a number of online qualifiers for poker's biggest event this summer. A guaranteed four WSOP seats are up for grabs every week at the Bodog Poker tables for the rest of April, with that number jumping to five per week in May and June.

Each Main Event prize package includes the $10,000 buy-in to the 2008 World Series of Poker Main Event, $2,000 for travel expenses, loads of Team Bodog gear and the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to experience Las Vegas in total Bodog style, including meeting the Bodog Girls and much, much more.

Charles Simmons regularly provides poker news to the Bodog Beat.