In this series I’ll recap what were, in my opinion, the biggest poker stories and moments of the year, including overarching themes, singular moments/achievements, and of course the moments we wished never happened. In the first installment I discussed the moments poker players would like to forget, but now it’s time to move on to more positive things: Next up on the agenda will be the storylines that captivated the poker world in 2012.

The Year of the Woman

It was a big year for the ladies at the poker tables, which got off to a good start when Xuan Liu final tabled the PokerStars PCA Main Event, but really culminated at the World Series of Poker when the women left their mark on the tournament series, taking home three bracelets and having two women finished 10th and 11th in the Main Event. A feat made all the more impressive with the fact that women make up only about 3% of entrants in tournaments.

After 2012, the novelty of women at final tables, or winning major events is pretty much gone. Hopefully the ladies can build upon their successes of 2012 and we start seeing more and more women enter the poker world.

A deeper look at the Year of the Woman: http://pokernewsboy.com/wsop-news/2012-wsop-takeaways-women-are-good-at-poker/12815

The Big One for One Drop

The creation of a $1,000,000 buy-in poker tournament was one of the most enigmatic announcements in poker history, but the WSOP and Guy Laliberte pulled it off almost flawlessly, attracting 48 players and awarding the biggest prize in poker history –the $18 million won by Antonio Esfandiari.

More on Antonio’s Big One for One Drop victory: http://pokernewsboy.com/wsop-news/antonio-esfandiari-big-one-for-one-drop-champion/12645

PokerStars cuts deal with DOJ; buys Full Tilt Poker

After the worst moment in poker history occurred on April 15, 2011, pretty much everything went downhill for Full Tilt Poker. The once prominent online poker room’s fall from grace was staggering in its scope, and left the poker community disgusted, anxious, and angry for over a year.

But everything changed this summer, when first the rumors, and then the confirmation, that Full Tilt Poker was being bought by PokerStars, and players would be repaid became a reality.

Read more about the Pokertars purchase of Full Tilt Poker here: http://pokernewsboy.com/us-poker-news/breaking-pokerstars-purchases-full-tilt-players-to-be-repaid/12843

Full Tilt Poker relaunches

While the announcement was great, it wasn’t until November 6, 2012 that Full Tilt Poker officially relaunched and players from around the world (with the exception of the US and a few other markets) finally had access to their Full Tilt Poker accounts.

The relaunch of the site was about as successful as could be, with 15,000 players sitting at the Full Tilt Poker cash-game tables on Day 1 –proving that the brand could in fact be resuscitated by PokerStars. Check out these German Poker Bonuses.

Read more on the Deal Me In promotion here: http://pokernewsboy.com/online-poker-news/full-tilt-poker-reveals-deal-me-in-relaunch-promotions/13215

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Tags: Antonio Esfandiari, doj, Fall From Grace, First Installment, Full tilt Poker, Guy Laliberte, main event, Online Poker, poker players, Poker Room, Poker Tables, poker tournament, Poker World, PokerStars, Singular Moments, Storylines, World Series of Poker, WSOP, Xuan Liu, Year of the Woman

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 14th, 2012 at 6:06 pm and is filed under Live Poker News, Online Poker News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.