Top online poker sites pay out large prize pools

December 2, 2008 (InfoPowa News) — The major online poker websites PokerStars.com and Full Tilt Poker.com continued to attract large numbers to Sunday tournaments this week, generating impressive prize pools and high value prizes to the winners.
 
At PokerStars, Peter “twirlpro” Turmezy took down the top prize of almost $200,000, with his heads up opponent ‘fratzl‘ also taking home a six-figure paycheck worth some $132,176. The Sunday Millions tourney in which they competed attracted an entry field of 8,001 players, up 246 from the week prior, and generated a prize pool of $1.6 million.
 
Full Tilt’s $750,000 Guaranteed event also recorded increased entries with 3,668 sign-ups, but this still did not make the guarantee and FT had to put up the $16,400 balance. David “Doc Sands” Sands faced ‘andressoprano’ in the heads up, winning the event to claim the $132,787 first-place prize. His opponent collected a check for $80,250 for his second placing.

October 20, 2008 (InfoPowa News) — Only days after achieving licenced status with the Italian regulator Amministrazione Autonome dej Monopoli di Stato (AAMS), the giant online poker website PokerStars.com has launched its Italian offering at PokerStars.it.
 
Fabio Angeli Bufalini, PokerStars Italian manager, invited his fellow Italians to try the new website out for themselves, joining the thousands of Internet poker players around the world who use the site on a daily basis. He commented: “PokerStars is proud to be entering a flourishing market with this new product. This is a groundbreaking time for the online poker industry, and it’s very exciting that the Italian market is pioneering this move.
 
“This is the start of a global template which could potentially be adopted in other markets internationally in the next few years.”
 
Italian players will have access to the full range of services and tournaments offered by PokerStars, said Dario Minieri, an internationally respected land and online Italian pro and member of Team PokerStars. “Players on PokerStars.it will have the opportunity to win their entry into famous international poker events — like the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour and the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas,” he said.
 
“These competitions require players to have the right mix of skill, training, concentration, and luck.”
 
Luca Pagano, Max Pescatori, Jeff Lisandro, Dario Alioto, and Marco Traniello are all successful Italian players who form a powerful nucleus of role models for their countrymen interested in playing poker for real money. 

PokerStars market research estimates that during this first year of online poker being legalized in the country, up to 500,000 new player accounts will be opened throughout the Italian online poker industry, creating an estimated €400 million market.