In August we introduced you to an exciting new heads-up poker game called Five-O Poker [http://www.launchpoker.com/news/Five-O-Poker/]. Not 4 months later, thousands from across the world have flocked to the game. Seeing that the game is a hit, the Five-O Team have decided to develop a fresh new version, which was launched earlier this week [http://apps.facebook.com/fiveopoker/?fb_source=canvas_bkmk_top&count=0]

It looks like they have really invested in this one, listening to feedback from players and adding some fun new features, as well as a touch-up of the look and feel of the current game.

Introducing Chips

Chips of different values are now available to purchase. This means that you are now actually playing for something: in the previous version, if you lost, nothing happened. In the new version, the amount of chips you win or lose relates to the table stakes. It really separates the men from the boys!

Table Stakes

You can now decide whether you want to play at high stakes or low stakes tables. This is especially good for beginners who don’t want to risk too much too early, and great for seasoned players who are confident enough to play at the high-end tables.

High-End Design and Experience

Everything has had a make-over! The cards are crisper, animations are smoother, and the general environment of the game is more intuitive. Unlike the old version, which was mostly just about the game, the new graphics are comparable to the top games out there at the moment.

Chat and challenge

As before, you can challenge players in the lobby, start a game with a random online player, or just invite one of your friends for a game. The ability to chat in-game adds a whole social element – we’ve encountered some interesting characters!

Weekly contest and prize

Starting with the release of the new version,Five-O will dish out free chips and other prizes to top ranking players.

Five-O puts a fresh spin on the old Texas Hold’em, and still gets us excited. It’s easy to learn, but tougher to master. Give it a spin, try something new… there’s a reason thousands of players are joining the ranks at Five-O every day!

We still haven’t managed to win 5-0. Go and try the game now, see if you can do it!

https://apps.facebook.com/fiveopoker

Today we would like to introduce you a new, exciting heads up poker game, called Five-O Poker.

In Five-O Poker, each player is dealt five cards face up, lined up in a row. Then, in turn, each player draws a card from the deck and places it face up on one of the five cards (columns) that they have. Eventually, each player will have 5 hands (columns) of five cards each. The game ends by matching each of the columns to the corresponding column of your opponent. The winner has the higher poker hand in three (or more) out of the five poker hands.

There are only two rules: 1) The fifth (and last) row of cards are placed face down, your opponent is  not aware of what you have. 2) You cannot place a card in the next row until you have completed that row with 5 cards (can’t go onto the 3rd row, until the full 2nd row is placed, etc)

After playing dozens of games, we have no doubt that this game is going to be BIG success, because of its simplicity on the one hand and its sophistication on the other. The fact that the two players can see which cards are used and which are still in the deck, together with the strategy that each player can see what his opponent is trying to complete their hands with, requires players to be creative!

We enjoyed it thoroughly and advise you to try it out on Facebook!
(http://apps.facebook.com/fiveopoker/?ref=bookmarks)

Poker player wins gold after outlasting 2,828 players. The latest winner is Kirk Caldwell who took his first WSOP win. The 31-year-old is an amateur poker player who won his way into the World Series of Poker by winning a satellite tournament put together by himself and his friends. Caldwell's his first-ever WSOP cash means a $688,276 cash purse as well as a coveted gold bracelet. Caldwell is the fourth Canadian to win a title at the 2011 WSOP. Ben White took the 2nd place prize of $414,918.

Sam Stein continues to prove his worth at the WSOP. The 2011 World Series of Poker has served up a first win for Stein. While Stein is a poker player who has cashed a lot and made a lot of money playing live poker, he had yet to have a big win at the WSOP. This year changes all that as he claims his first bracelet. Event 31, the $3,000 Pot-limit Omaha, put up $1,870,050 in prize money, and after outlasting 3,752 player Stein walked with $420,802.

Online poker room company Playtech is ready to take advantage once US poker laws change. The gaming company has signed deals to provide online poker to players in California. A poker site for California poker players has long been on the table for discussion, and renewed attempts to bring it to pass have come along since the US federal government has started shutting down poker rooms. While online poker is legal in the US in most states, many poker rooms have been shut down because they were not in compliance with the US UIGEA law passed in 2006.

The latest WSOP winner is Andy Frankenberger. He won event 28 at the 2011 World Series of Poker for $599k. His biggest win prior to this victory was the $2,000 buy-in Venetian Deep Stack Extravaganza III in 2010, when he won $162,110. The 38 year old is not a poker pro despite his success, but rather is a Wall Street Equities Derivatives Trader. This year was running dry for Frankenberger in terms of poker games, as he had only banked $10,000 in live tournament winnings before joining the crowds at this summer's WSOP.

Despite not playing in the 2011 WSOP, Isuldur1 still won big this weekend. The younger- than- 21 year old poker player made his winnings online. The online poker games took place at online poker room PokerStars, which is still running its SuperStar Showdown, where Victor Blom, aka Isuldur1, plays against all comers that can handle the deposit. The players compete over four tables of NLHE at the $50 / $100 stake level with $150k of their own cash. Blom won against pro Cao, but he is running down $350k for the year.

The online poker bill put forth by Joe Barton in the US could be reviewed as early as this week. The online poker bill would go before the US House of Representatives. If the bill were turned into law it would regulate online poker rooms in the US, allowing poker players to get on with their past times without any concerns they were violating poker law. In keeping with the small- government attitude of many in the US, the bill would allow for a provision that would give individual States the opportunity to opt out of the law.

While many thought that the attendance would dip in the 2011 WSOP it turns out that is not the case. There is a good chance that the World Series of Poker will actually break attendance records this year. Last year there were a total of 72,000 attendees, and so far this year is on track to break that record. The Executive Director of the World Series of Poker, Ty Stewart, thinks they will crush that number. In fact attendance to date is up more than 10 percent from last year.

The $2,500 Six-Handed No-Limit Hold'em Event at this year's WSOP has it's winner. Oleksii Kovalchuk picks up his first WSOP victory and a lot of cash. The first place prize for this poker game was $689,739. It was Event 26 in the 2011 World Series of Poker, and the second time a player from the Ukraine won a gold bracelet (the first was Eugene Katchalov). In addition to the player from the Ukraine the country win breakdown is United States 13, Great Britain 3, France 2, Canada 2, Israel 1, Russia 1, Honduras 1 and Indonesia 1.