January 09 2012, PokerNews Staff

All tournaments on PartyPoker are currently rake free and as a result, prize pools are bigger than ever before. Qualification for the Aussie Millions may have drawn to a close but there is still time to win a package to both WPT Venice and GSOP Salzburg. Keep on reading this week’s PartyPoker Weekly for all of the details!

Rake Free Tournaments at PartyPoker

For all of January, PartyPoker players will notice tournament prize pools swell by as much as 10 percent thanks to an amazing promotion that’s running. Until midnight on Jan. 31 all multi-table tournaments will be completely rake free, which means 100 percent of your buy-on will go straight into the prize pool!

The promotion has already been running for a week and feedback from the players is extremely positive, with some reporting savings of several hundred dollars. This promotion cannot and will not last forever so do not waste any more time. Go take advantage of 100 percent rake free tournaments!

In addition to paying no rake in tournaments throughout January, players will also have the opportunity to cash in on a generous reload bonus and a $50,000 freeroll.

If playing rake free is not enough to have you firing up your PartyPoker account then how about a 100% up to $100 reload bonus too? All you have to do to receive this reload bonus is to deposit at least $5 and enter the bonus code “RAKEFREE” between now and 2359 EST on January 31 and the money will appear in your bonus account.

Anyone who takes advantage of the reload bonus will be eligible to participate in the $50,000 Depositor’s Freeroll on February 5 at 1100 EST. This is a massive prize pool for a freeroll and winning it will be worth thousands of dollars and it would be superb to see a PokerNews reader take it down.

Time Is Running Out To Qualify For GSOP Salzburg

Online satellites to the Salzburg leg of the popular GSOP tour come to an end on Jan. 15, so you have less than a week to bag a package worth $3,600.

This is a fantastic opportunity to play poker in Austria’s largest skiing area – Salzburg Sportswelt – where you can let your hair down and relax on some of the best ski slopes in Europe. The GSOP Salzburg Main Event runs between Feb. 1 to Feb. 4 and commands a buy-in of $1,650, but you could win a $3,600 package for a fraction of the cost thanks to the satellites on PartyPoker.

GSOP Salzburg $3,600 Package

• $1,650 GSOP Salzburg Main Event buy-in
• $700 spending money
• Five nights accommodation
• Entry to the exclusive welcome party
• PartyPoker’s legendary hospitality!

There are daily tournaments, starting with freerolls and increasing in cost to $1, $3 and $28 that eventually feed into the $260 final each Sunday, the last being on Jan. 15 at 1350 EST.

Make sure you don’t miss out on your chance to play high stakes poker at high altitude. Download PartyPoker now and start qualifying!

Win A Seat To WPT Venice

Just before Christmas the World Poker Tour stopped off in the floating city of Venice and on Feb. 6 it returns for the WPT Venice Grand Prix.

The buy-in has been increased to “4,950 which means the prizes have the potential to be huge. Last year’s event cost “3,000 to enter and awarded “380,000 to eventual winner Alessio Isaia, so imagine the sum of money you could be adding to your bankroll by winning this year’s Main Event.

Satellite tournaments for the WPT Venice Grand Prix are in the PartyPoker lobby right now and will continue to run until Jan. 22 with each final awarding at least one package worth a staggering $10,000!

$10,000 WPT Venice Grand Prix Package

• $6,700 WPT Venice Grand Prix Main Event buy-in
• $1,100 spending money
• Six nights hotel accommodation
• PartyPoker’s world-renowned hospitality.

This could be your chance to visit one of the most iconic cities in the world. Download PartyPoker and qualify for this amazing event right now!

If you experience any problems with this or any of our promotions, please contact our Ticketed Promo Support System.

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January 08 2012, Rich Ryan

Day 1b of the 2012 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Main Event is in the books and after nine hours of play, 342 entrants survived with Alex Venovski (193,000) leading the way. The second flight of the PCA Main Event attracted 654 entrants, bringing the total field for the event to 1,072, and creating a total prize pool of $10,398,400. Players who finish 160th or higher, are guaranteed a minimum of $15,000. Final tabling will earn players at least $101,000 and the player who runs white hot and wins the 2012 PCA Main Event will pocket a cool $2 million.

Venovski, a U.K. native, jumped out to a lead of 180,000 before dinner break and never looked back. After adding a few small pots during the last three levels of the day, Venovski bagged 193,000, making him the Day 1b chip leader. Ironically, Venovski will start Day 2 at Table 19, Seat 3. There were a handful of other players who crossed the century mark Sunday, including Chino Rheem (182,900), Jonathan Jaffe (182,000), Phil D’Auteuil (170,800), and Luca Pagano (136,300).

Rheem played a very bizarre pot to end the day. After a series of preflop raises against Tyler Kenney, all of the chips were in the middle and the two were battling for 120,000 chips. Kenney tabled two kings, and Chino said, “aces,” but flipped over . Rheem, who apparently misread his hand, was very perplexed, but an ace on the river saved him, and eliminated Kenney from play.

Team PokerStars Pro Lex Veldhuis flew out of the gate, doubling in the first half hour of the day. The Dutch pro flopped a set of sevens on a king high board, and was all-in on the turn against a player with top pair-top kicker. After a meaningless river, Veldhuis had doubled to 60,000. He peaked at around 90,000 during the middle of the day, but cooled off and finished the day with just 40,000.

Veldhuis may have started off hot, but no one ran hotter than fellow Team Pro Arnaud Mattern. In a ten-minute span during Level 3, Mattern was dealt aces twice and rocketed his stack to over 150,000 chips. After treading water for the next six levels, Mattern bagged up 139,300 chips, and is among the chip leaders.

Team PokerStars Pro was well represented on Day 1b, but unfortunately, a number of them were eliminated, including 2011 World Series of Poker Main Event Champion Pius Heinz, Martin Staszko, Jason Mercier, Daniel Negreanu, Vanessa Rousso, Eugene Katchalov, and Nacho Barbero. Other notables who failed to survive the day include, Olivier Busquet, Peter Jetten, Amit Makhija, Dan Shak, and Cliff “JohnnyBax” Josephy.

Viktor “Isildur1” Blom, who won the Super High Roller and over $1.25 million Saturday night, late registered and made a $10,000 last-longer bet with Harry “UgotaBanana” Kaczka. Kaczka won the bet without much of a sweat –- Blom busted in Level 5 when he lost a race with against an opponent’s .

Both Day 1 starting flights combine on Monday for Day 2. The action kicks off at 1200 EST (1700 GMT), and PokerNews will be on the floor providing all the live updates.

Following us on Twitter is the best way to keep up with the rest of the news from the tournament circuit and beyond.[/I]

Follow Rich Ryan on Twitter – @RichTRyan