In the mid-December I had to put away my grinding sessions for a few days as a filming crew came to my home town - Warsaw. I was very anxious about meeting them and extremely excited about shooting the video. You all have already probably seen Nanonoko's short film by Team Online and I personally loved the gist of it. So when I first heard that the same crew is coming to Warsaw to make the same kind of movie with me I could not be happier about it.

At first, Ryan the director contacted me via Skype and we talked for over two hours about the idea of the movie. We discussed what activities I would like to include in it, interesting venues, participating acquaintances and friends and many other issues. As it turned out, all my regular off-poker activities were placed in the shooting: visiting my close friend, playing basketball and bowling as well as go-cart racing. I really cannot wait to see especially the latter as filming crew has used many different cameras and angles to catch the best scenes of the race. I even had the camera on my helmet! There was a motivating challenge involved in the go-cart racing but I will not tell you now what the result was, you will have to wait until the video is released.

Ryan, Mike (camera) and Greg (sound) decided also to film my home town, Warsaw, the capital of Poland. I am so proud of my city that its name is a part of my PokerStars nickname (DaWarsaw). I was born here 33 years ago and since late 80s I have been watching how it changes. Twenty years ago, Warsaw was actually sad and bleak city so I was thrilled to hear about any new planned building and wanted to know everything about it. There are still many areas that could be developed or modernized in Warsaw but I am already very proud of all the changes I have witnessed.

During those four days, even though the shooting process was really exhausting and we spent about 30 hours making the video, I had a blast. The crew was great and I had a lot of fun with them. I truly hope that they liked Warsaw and will have only good memories and experiences to share about it. After all, it's the movie about Warsaw and DaWarsaw!

Poker players and poker fans flocking to the Caribbean in January 2012 will have the chance to witness the making of poker history. PokerStars Team Online member Randy "nanonoko" Lew has announced that he will be attempting to set or break a Guinness World Record: number of hands played in a certain time period.

"It was an idea that my Team Manager had," Lew told us, "and it seems like good timing since I just came back from the Macau tournament. And I won." Typical understated nanonoko. That "Macau tournament" was last month's APPT Macau Main Event where Lew won his first major live title and close to a half-million dollars in prize money.

A couple of weeks later, the PokerStars staff broke new nanonoko news in a thread on TwoPlusTwo entitled, "Help Choose Randy 'nanonoko' Lew's World Record Attempt!" The PokerStars Caribbean Adventure will be the theater in which the record-setting performance is staged, and the poker public has been given the chance to determine the nature of the record up for grabs. There were essentially just two rules for the submissions:

1) The record must be poker authentic (and preferable online poker authentic)
2) The record must be easily understood by the public.

During the days following the initial post, the forum exploded with ideas covering an enormous breadth of plausibility and intrigue. Suggestions ranged from 'most flushes made in an hour' to 'most money won underwater' to 'multi-tabling 24 full-ring cash games -- live!' One recurring theme were ideas centering around the 'most hands played in X hours', and that seems to suit nanonoko's playing habits well. Here are some of the other provocative suggestions lining the pages-long thread:

For his part, nanonoko seemed game for whatever challenge the record books present him.

"I would be up for something that was endurance-based," he jumped at the question. In the next breath, though, he mitigated that comment by adding, "but it might not work very well at the PCA. I like the idea of doing a straightforward challenge, because it has to be clear for the Guinness World Records. Nothing too crazy or fancy."

Nanonoko will have to balance the record with playing a full schedule of events over the course of the ten-day festival in Paradise. "It'll be tiring, I'm sure," he said without a hint of concern in his voice. "I love the resort, though, to be honest. They got a lot of good food choices there, and the beaches, and the watermark. You really don't have to leave the resort. At the PCA, you can do everything right there on the resort."

Just a couple of days ago, PokerStars made the announcement: "On January 8th in the main tournament room at the PCA, Randy 'nanonoko' Lew will attempt to set the record for the most hands of online poker played in a certain time period. The starting time and length of the record is to be determined."

Right now, Lew says he's game for six or twelve hours.

Stay tuned. We'll be on hand to cover the attempt next month at Atlantis.

Poker players and poker fans flocking to the Caribbean in January 2012 will have the chance to witness the making of poker history. PokerStars Team Online member Randy "nanonoko" Lew has announced that he will be attempting to set or break a Guinness World Record: number of hands played in a certain time period.

"It was an idea that my Team Manager had," Lew told us, "and it seems like good timing since I just came back from the Macau tournament. And I won." Typical understated nanonoko. That "Macau tournament" was last month's APPT Macau Main Event where Lew won his first major live title and close to a half-million dollars in prize money.

A couple of weeks later, the PokerStars staff broke new nanonoko news in a thread on TwoPlusTwo entitled, "Help Choose Randy 'nanonoko' Lew's World Record Attempt!" The PokerStars Caribbean Adventure will be the theater in which the record-setting performance is staged, and the poker public has been given the chance to determine the nature of the record up for grabs. There were essentially just two rules for the submissions:

1) The record must be poker authentic (and preferable online poker authentic)
2) The record must be easily understood by the public.

During the days following the initial post, the forum exploded with ideas covering an enormous breadth of plausibility and intrigue. Suggestions ranged from 'most flushes made in an hour' to 'most money won underwater' to 'multi-tabling 24 full-ring cash games -- live!' One recurring theme were ideas centering around the 'most hands played in X hours', and that seems to suit nanonoko's playing habits well. Here are some of the other provocative suggestions lining the pages-long thread:

For his part, nanonoko seemed game for whatever challenge the record books present him.

"I would be up for something that was endurance-based," he jumped at the question. In the next breath, though, he mitigated that comment by adding, "but it might not work very well at the PCA. I like the idea of doing a straightforward challenge, because it has to be clear for the Guinness World Records. Nothing too crazy or fancy."

Nanonoko will have to balance the record with playing a full schedule of events over the course of the ten-day festival in Paradise. "It'll be tiring, I'm sure," he said without a hint of concern in his voice. "I love the resort, though, to be honest. They got a lot of good food choices there, and the beaches, and the watermark. You really don't have to leave the resort. At the PCA, you can do everything right there on the resort."

Just a couple of days ago, PokerStars made the announcement: "On January 8th in the main tournament room at the PCA, Randy 'nanonoko' Lew will attempt to set the record for the most hands of online poker played in a certain time period. The starting time and length of the record is to be determined."

Right now, Lew says he's game for six or twelve hours.

Stay tuned. We'll be on hand to cover the attempt next month at Atlantis.

There is just something about Adrienne "talonchick" Rowsome. Maybe it's that she's the girl next door. Maybe it's that she can eviscerate unsuspecting poker opponents in the blink of an eye. Whatever it is, the people with the cameras can't get enough of her.

First, Rowsome was the subject of a much-lauded mini-documentary that's been viewed thousands of times since its recent release. After that--and after Rowsome made the final table of the Canada Cup--Rowsome released a little tongue-in-cheek training video as she prepares for her live final. (It should be noted, the writers of the PokerStars Blog do not appear anywhere in that video, especially in the screen capture below).

Now, Rowsome has hit the screen again, this time as a feature on Canadian TV. We have a copy of her story and interview below (which, thankfully, has no men in their underwear that we noticed).

If you missed Rowsome's documentary video when it first came out, we have it right here.

Finally, if you just can't get enough of talonchick, here's here PCA training video that she put out a few weeks ago.

Hi everyone!

This time I am not going to tell you about my rallying adventures. Instead I´ll talk about my recent appearance in ESPN magazine.

A few weeks ago I went to México City for the photo shoot. I met with Angel Guillen and Christian de Leon, the PokerStars Team Pros from México. First we gave an interview. By now I'm used to answering all these questions which are usually the same, so it's pretty quick and painless, but I can't say the same about the photo-shoot.

The other guys usually take ages, they put sunglasses on, take them off, they change poses and expressions, but my shoots don't go like that. I have to admit that wasn't my first time, I've had some before, included live T.V., but I guess I just have a good poker face, because I don't have many faces in my repertoire, and if they want me to smile they better tell a good joke.

So, the shoot is almost finished and it's time for the cliché poses, particularly the one where you throw your cards, usually aces towards the camera. I bet you have seen that done many times. Well turns out it isn't as easy as it looks. The cards rarely fly in a good angle and direction and when they do you usually have a stupid look on your face, so after hitting the photographer on the face 20 times (if you have ever been hit by cards you know they can hurt), they finally got one that they liked and it was over.

I remember in my interview to become part of the Team Online I was asked if I'd like to be famous, and I pretentiously answered that, in general, I tried to keep my ego at bay. So, I didn't care for fame, but I have to confess that I am enjoying this micro-celebrity status much more than I'd like to admit.

You'll find about a thousand Hollywood directors and producers who will say, "Oh, yes. When I met (big Hollywood star), she was just getting her start, but I knew she was going to be big. Big!" Most of them are liars. But I, my friends, yes, I, a lowly poker blogger felt quite sure more than five years ago that I had found a star. Ask Adrienne "talonchick" Rowsome yourself.

Back then the lady from Edmonton, Canada was one of a sea of PokerStars qualifiers at the World Series of Poker when I snapped her picture. Since then? She's become a member of PokerStars Team Online, final tabled the 2011 $320 WCOOP 8-game event, and made the final table of the Canada Cup.

Oh, and now...she's a star.

The folks at PokerStars.tv spent some time with her recently. Today, they released a short film about the woman we all know as "talonchick."

The fulltime Occupational Therapist and parttime poker player is a verifiable star, and one who is happy to step into the role.

"I take great pride in my jobs, whether it is taking care of patients or representing PokerStars," she said. "My story offers a different perspective of looking at how poker can fit into your life. It provides to the public a really achievable status and goal. I think it also has value to show that a poker career can also coexist with a professional career. They do not have to be exclusive."

With that in mind (while I honestly can't take any credit for it) I give you Adrienne "talonchick" Rowsome, today's star on PokerStars.tv.

If there's one thing you need to know about Kevin Thurman, it's that he slaps adversity in the face. Thurman, 31, has suffered from potentially deadly illness called Lyme disease since he was in college. He's been forced to take on excruciating chemotherapy treatments for several years, stripping away the regular life that most young people get to enjoy.

But Thurman never let the ailment in the way of his life goals.

In 2005, Thurman left his corporate job in search of a line of work that would allow him the standard of living he desired. He was constantly sick and needed a change. That's when he turned to poker. Thurman deposited $500 online and began to grind low-stakes cash games. And as they say, the rest was history.

Four years later, Thurman was playing some of the largest cash games available on PokerStars and had won more than $2 million online under the name "WizardofAhhs." But, amazingly, that wasn't enough. He needed another challenge. Before the New Year began, Thurman set a seemingly unachievable goal to break the record for most VIP Player Points earned in a year.

Twelve months later, Thurman had played more than 5 million hands at PokerStars to shatter the VIP Player Points record. He amassed more the 3 million VPPs -- triple the amount needed to attain Supernova elite status. As a reward for his accomplishments, Thurman was offered a sponsorship deal to become a member of Team PokerStars Online.

Thurman's latest life hurdle came in April 2011 when his job was ripped away from him. As a resident of Texas, PokerStars was no longer available to players in the United States. But, as he's done all his life, Thurman found a solution. He packed his bags and moved to a beautiful setting in Canada to resume his online poker career.

We caught up with Thurman to discuss his move to Canada and how his life has changed in the wake of Black Friday.

You recently moved from Texas to a gorgeous location in British Columbia. How has that transition been for you as a poker player and in your regular day life?



I couldn't be happier with the move. Canada is a beautiful country. I've actually been more active since moving here.  I've found a passion for hiking through the Canadian Rockies.  Back in Texas it's just too hot and flat to do much of anything other than plant yourself directly in front of an air conditioner. 

I had a few misconceptions before moving to Canada. I thought it was going to be a desolate wasteland with a bunch of frozen people walking around saying "eh"' every other word.  I was expecting very little familiarity to my home back in Texas. But it has turned out to be a nicer climate than I anticipated; the people have been fantastic, and they have many of the same stores and restaurants that I'm familiar with back home.

 And as far as poker is concerned, the Internet is perfect up here so it's been business as usual, snappin' necks and cashin' checks!  



You wrote in your blog about some problems you had with your condo after moving to Canada. Tell us about that experience and how you found the house you currently live in now.



It's difficult to choose a new home to live without ever having visited to see it in person, much more ever having been to the city or even the country. I basically just did a Google search and went to the place with the prettiest pictures. Turns out the place I chose was pretty on the surface but it was going through some serious growing pains. With their third set of owners and management in three years, they were a mess and we had to escape. But this time I had a little Canadian experience under my belt so choosing the new location was going to be a little bit easier this time around.  

My new home is located on Lake Okanagan near Kelowna in BC. The area was actually recommended to me by another PokerStars Team Online member, Adrienne "talonchick" Rowsome, who mentioned to me that this area was her favorite in all of Canada, so I started exploring -- online of course, I'm a virtual human. And once again my friend Google brought me to my current residence; the view is breathtaking, the price was right, and I signed on the dotted line.



We read that you studied music theory in college and were in a band. What role does music play in your life?



I'm about to tell you something that I've never told anyone actually. I began playing poker years ago so I could concentrate more on my music. I was working a full time job in the tech industry as a Program Manager after I graduated from college back in 2001 and it was consuming all of my time. I was forced to work very long hours day in and day out. And the worst part about it is it offered very little in the form of creative expression. My soul really needs to communicate through music. And I play all kinds of instruments. Basically if it makes a sound, I will find a way to play it.  

I began really focusing my efforts on honing my poker skills around 2002 to 2003 so that I could make a living solely through the online grind. And the purpose was to regain that lost freedom I had back in college.  I wanted to be my own boss, make my own schedule, and pick up my guitar and belt out a song whenever the hell I felt like it. Poker gave me that opportunity.  



Any other hobbies you enjoy outside of poker?



I'm really getting into photography (and videography), as well as hiking. And the two really go hand in hand because hiking through the mountains here in Canada will instantly turn you into a great photographer, you can't take a bad picture here. I can literally step out on my balcony and take professional level photographs.



You earned Supernova Elite status last year and shattered the VPP record at PokerStars with more than 3 million. How does one play 5 million hands of online poker in a year and not lose his mind?



I told my mom I was going to do it, and no one likes to let their mama down. In all seriousness though 5 million hands is madness!  I still can't believe I did it. I set the goal, told everyone I knew that I was going to achieve it, and I just refused to fail. I told my family that if I ever had to go to the hospital that they'd better put my laptop in the ambulance with me because I wasn't going to fall behind schedule.



What were your goals going into this year and how severely did Black Friday obstruct your progress?



When Black Friday occurred earlier this year, I felt like the smartest man alive. One of the main reasons I grinded my ass off in 2010 was because of that fear, the fear of it all being taken away at a time when I felt like I was in my poker prime. There are a lot of uncertainties in life involving our futures, so I made the ultimate VPP plan to completely sacrifice today for a better and more secure tomorrow. So when Black Friday hit us, I was far from panic stricken as I had already given all I had to give, there were no regrets on my part, and I had earned plenty of money to live comfortably for a long time. I just took a much deserved vacation from the game, I went outside and looked at things that weren't constructed of pixels for a while.  



How has your life changed since becoming a member of Team PokerStars Online?



I've made many connections with people in the poker industry. Up until this point I had been a loner in the online poker world. I'm self-taught, never having had a poker coach or roommate in the past. I had virtually no interaction with other poker professionals until I started grinding to break the VPP record. I was basically was just a faceless avatar behind then handle "WizardOfAhhs" for many years. Team Online brought the person behind the name out of the shadows and I've met great people because of it, so many new friends, students, and opportunities.




Do you plan on traveling to any live tournaments in the near future? What's your favorite stop on the tournament circuit? Any place you'd like to visit?



I'm not really a fan of big cities. I like scenery; beaches and mountains. PCA is probably my favorite spot on the tournament circuit that I've been to so far. Don't get me wrong, I've thoroughly enjoyed going to places such as Prague, Copenhagen, and Madrid in the past, but once I've seen a big city one time I'm ready to move on and generally don't plan on returning. But I've been to PCA a couple of times because of the ocean, and Atlantis isn't buried within the hustle and bustle of a city. The more the location has a vacation resort feel to it, the more inclined I am to attend.  

Woke up early (10am) yesterday morning and got to a yoga class as quickly as I could. I had been during the week but other than that, very neglectful. Class ended at 1140, giving me just enough time to get home, showered and ready to start my tournaments. I have really tried to focus more on cash games, but the weekend tournaments are such good value and hard to stay away from. I Quickly registered in the Women's Sunday, the Sunday Million, the Daily Bigs and some PCA/Canada Cup satellites. Things did not go well. It felt like I had a bounty on my head in each (of course in the Women's I did...), which is a good thing, but I was falling prey to two and three outers galore.

The Canada Cup opened up....and I tried to leave everything else behind me. As always, easier said than done, but a double up KK vs QQ put me in a better mood. I will have to review my hand histories, but after that I didn't have many show downs that stick out in my memory. Just tried to gather small amounts of chips whenever other players were leaving them lying around. I especially got to make my move at the cash bubble, chipping up from 28k to almost 60k without a showdown, it was a great hour or so. Once in the money, there was no question....final table was where I needed to be.

The rest is history...

The incentives offered by PokerStars are awesome. Hotel, flight, spending money in the Bahamas, not to mention....whoever ships this tournament gets to freeroll the 25k high roller tournament. I get really excited just thinking about potential! I slept only for an hour or so last night, will have to get over that ASAP.

So, now I have the "Januar-eh Nine" in my sights, and have some fun preparation work to do because I have every intention of showing this field how an Edmonton girl plays poker. I will dust off a spot on my mantle for the trophy. Stay tuned....I will show you how I train!

Every so often, PokerStars will run a tournament on a trial basis and a few weeks ago I found myself playing one of them to give it a try as the concept really appealed to me. It was a $2 turbo that lasted only 30 minutes. I have fun in tournaments that employ different strategies, whether it is the game type (split pot, 8 game, etc.), the structure (turbos, deep stack, etc.) or now the hard stop of a tournament. In these timed tournaments, you could see many different styles of play coming together, including the player who was quickly gambling and trying to amass all the chips for the impending chop (these tournaments pay out according to the size of each players stack), the player who was taking their time for every decision (trying to hang on to min cash) and the player who was playing a bit more cautiously recognizing that building a table image had less value.

What strategy will you use? I can't wait for the last few minutes of these tournaments!! In my opinion, one of the greatest drawbacks of tournaments can be the uncertainty of when it will end. So many of us lead really busy lives and it grinding tournaments can be tough on your social life becaise it can be hard to commit to a set time for anything, whether dinner, a movie, or a sporting event! These Time Tourneys give you the fun of a big multi table tournament, without having to commit your whole evening to poker. It is also nice to be able to get a good nights sleep before heading off to work in the morning! Needless to say, I am happy that the trial of this style of tournament was a success and that Time Tourneys will now be in the regular schedule at PokerStars.

Look for these tournaments in the lobby, they will run for a varied amount of time (from a minimum of 15 minutes to a maximum of 180 minutes) at which time the payouts are established based on stack size of the remaining players. You can give this tournament a try, for as little as $1, they are most easily found by looking under the "Tourney" tab, they have a little stop watch icon, or you can use the Tourney Filter at the bottom to find them.

If you can, make a deposit of $30 or more and use the code "TIME" until October 28th and PokerStars will give you one ticket for a $5.50 Time Tourney Ticket that can be used until 23:59 EST on October 28th. There will even be a last minute $5.50 Time Tourney for those procrastinators (myself included) out there!

These tournaments are a perfect addition to the lineup, and will suit recreational and professional players alike, people leading busy lives that want to play tournaments, but don't want to commit 8 hours (or longer) to a session. If you are allotted two hours to play some poker on a weekend....be sure to look at the newest addititon to the Saturday Line-Up, it's a $22 Time Tourney (two hours total) called the Saturday Countdown that will get going every Saturday, beginning October 19th, starting at 13:00 EST. The prize pool is a guaranteed $10,000...so come get whatever piece your stack is worth after two hours!

The best news of all is that on Saturday October 29th, all the Saturday Line-Up tournaments have a Double Guarantees....I know what I will be doing on Saturday!

If you are looking for more information, tweet me @talonchick or read up on this tournament on the Time Tourneys page.

In late July I packed up my life and took a road trip from my home state of Texas all the way up to Alberta, Canada. I relocated to the small town of Canmore near Banff National Park. The scenery in the Canadian Rockies is majestic. If you haven't been before, it's one of those places you have to put on your bucket list. The summertime is so beautiful it can't be put into words. I went on daily hikes that were so fulfilling, soul filling.

My girlfriend Trish and I had rented a small 2 bedroom condo just outside of main street in Canmore, but the management was the most uncooperative bunch of human beings ever, and we had so many issues with our condo from day one; plumbing, electrical, etc. So our search for new living arrangements began early. And it was time to get a house. We wanted to feel a bit more stable and less like a nomadic tribe, so it was time to put an end to apartment and condo living. We wanted room to spread out, a place for the dogs to play and make working from home more enjoyable. So naturally we went to the extreme like any good poker playing family should and got ourselves a mansion!

We left Canmore and made our way out west to Lake Okanagan in British Columbia, about a 7 hour drive west of Banff National Park. Our new home is simply amazing: three-story, 9000 square feet, with an elevator down to the shore of the lake! Here are some photos of our new digs: