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PURPLE LOUNGE POKER TAKES SWEDEN BY STORM
London – June 22nd 2007
The much anticipated Purple Lounge Swedish poker tour got off to a great start this weekend with the first four tournaments being a huge success with locals as well as the keen poker players that qualified for the live stages of the tour.
The first tournament was played in the North of Sweden in Skeleftea, at Club Balzac and the atmosphere was relaxed although there was no doubt that everyone was keen to secure their place the grand final.
The winners on the evening were:
First Place: Per-Arne Strang
Second Place: Nils-Johan Sjoquist
Third Place: Michael Jauving
Fourth Place: Linus Edstrom
It was a great game to kick off the tour with a slow, structured tournament; all players had a starting stack of 2500 chips, giving them plenty of play to fight for the four places. After some excellent skill at the table and a few nasty out-draws, including A4 hitting 44 against AA, the final hand came down to the best pre-flop hand holding up. Per-Arne was the chip leader and ended up all-in with K10, which held up to knock out Nils-Johan with the Q3. Here is how it looked:
Kh10c (Per-Arne)
Qs3h (Nils-Johan)
Flop: Js 8d 5h
Turn: 4c
River: 10s
The next stage of the tour took the team to Sundsvall , again in the North. Club 360 hosted the evening. The standard of play was fantastic and there was an upset when later on in the evening Pia Sjodin knocked out her son Michael and eventually went on to take first place!
The final qualifiers were:
First place: Pia Sjodin
Second place: Thomas Jonasson
Third place: Andres Salinas
Fourth place: Daniel Bladh
This tournament started off as a battle with a couple of early exits. Many of these players hadn't experienced live play before and did well to adapt to the pressure of playing live as well as the slower pace. It was an exciting heads-up - Pia was the chip leader but it looked like the poker gods were with Thomas as he kept surviving the all-ins. Everyone thought he was definitely out of the game with the penultimate hand, but he managed to river that all important Heart:
10c Jh (Thomas)
Jd Js (Pia)
Flop: 3h Kh 8h
Turn: 2c
River: 5h
Pia finally took him out with the better rag:
As 9h (Pia)
Ah 5s (Thomas)
Flop: 7c 6d Jd
Turn: 4c
River: 6h
The third leg was held at Gavle in Club Hang Loose and again there was stiff competition for the coveted seats at the grand final, to be played in Stockholm later this year. First place went to Andre Sjodal, and his victory was that much sweeter as he should have been out much earlier when he found himself all-in with an A6 facing an A7. The 6 came on the flop and surprisingly his opponent managed to carry on without breaking anything. The final hand was a typical rag race, but Andre took the 3 rd Jack just to be sure.
Kd Jh (Andre)
Kc 7s
Flop: Js 6h Jc
Turn: Ah
River: Qd
Eventually the final result was:
First Place: Andre Sjodal
Second Place: Jonathan Brynielsson
Third Place: Jan Pettersson
Fourth Place: Christoffer Hagman
The final tournament was the busiest, with Swedish poker star Bo Sehlstedt playing in Stockholm for a place at the final. Bo has experienced huge success to date, picked up $18,000 at the 2005 World Series of Poker and going on to collect $34,636 in 2006, his biggest poker achievement to date.
It was a great spectator game with pocket 77's and pocket QQ's both hitting the set on the flop and a set on the flop losing to a flush on the turn and then hitting back with a full house on the river when the board paired - I could go on. The game was tough and full of surprises and the final hand was no different:
QsQh (Danny)
Ac10h (David)
Flop: 4h Ad 5c
Turn: Qd
River: Qc
The final results were:
First Place: Danny Wu
Second Place: David Walden
Third Place: Jan Lernfelt
Fourth Place: Bo Sehlstedt
The tour continues next month and promises to be just as exciting, kicking off at Halmstad, and continuing at the university town of Gothenburg before the final date at Stromstad.
Halmstad - 17 July 2007
Göteborg - 19 July 2007
Strömstad - 21 July 2007
Everyone is welcome along to the tour, even if not playing poker! Simply email pokertour@Purple-lounge.com for more information.
 Download the PDF version by clicking the icon to the left.
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PURPLE LOUNGE LAUNCHES MICROGAMING POWERED CASINO London – June 7th, 2007
Purple Lounge, the leading luxury online poker and lifestyle site, announces the launch of its eagerly anticipated casino offer. Powered by the world's largest supplier of online casino and poker software, Microgaming, Purple Lounge will allow the site's 30,000 registered customers the opportunity to play on over 300 high quality casino games, as well as the chance to win one of the multi-million dollar jackpots available through the Microgaming Progressive Jackpot Network - the world's largest progressive.
The deal follows in the success of Purple Lounge's poker site, which has become one of the rising stars of the online poker world since it launched eighteen months ago. The addition is expected to drive growth among the operators predominately UK , Scandinavian and Spanish player-base, as well as attract new players into the lifestyle site from other countries. Purple Lounge recently reported that their players wagered over $188 million (GBP 94 million) in May, expecting this to rise to over $200 million in June. Their players have also been extremely successful, winning significantly over the last 12 months.
Microgaming's casino software continues to go from strength to strength, offering players and operators the most aggressive games rollout schedule in the industry - last year averaging four new games every month. It currently powers some of the world's most successful online casinos and its progressive jackpot network is also record breaking - recently creating its tenth millionaire and having paid out $225m plus to over 6,500 players since launch.
Chris Gorman , Chairman of Purple Lounge says, “Purple Lounge consistently delivers a fresh and cutting edge playing experience. The roll out of our new casino platform is another step towards offering our players the best online gaming and lifestyle experience available and we're very much looking forward to building on our success to date,”
Roger Raatgever, CEO Microgaming says, “We are delighted to be making this announcement and look forward to providing thousands of Purple Lounge players with over 300 of the best casino games on the web. This deal is testament to the successful partnership we've built up over the last eighteen months through poker and we look forward to working with Purple Lounge to make casino equally successful.”
Download the PDF version by clicking the icon to the left.
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