The European Poker Tour (EPT) is in the stretch run of its first-ever trip to Greece with a stop in the east coast resort city of Loutraki , formerly the ancient city of Thermae.  The Main Event kicked off this week, with the second of two starting days concluding Wednesday.  The €4,400 tournament saw 336 runners enter, accounting for just over half the maximum capacity, with 145 playing Tuesday and 191 playing Wednesday.  Going into Thursday’s Day 2, 238 players remain and with 159,150 chips, Germany’s Mario Puccini leads the way.

A panel of some of tribal gaming’s leading experts gathered in front of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs on Thursday to discuss Internet gaming and its implications for Indian …

Pius Heinz became the first German to ever win the World Series of Poker Main Event and now has over $8.7 million in his pocket. He leads this week’s Five Thoughts , but we’re also thinking about Sam Trickett , online poker, and Phil Ivey’s bias.

Phil ‘USCPhildo’ Collins was eliminated in fifth place in the 2011 WSOP Main Event when his ace-seven of diamonds failed to improve against Pius Heinz’s pocket nines. Card Player TV caught up with Collins, and his wife Katie, just after his elimination.

It only took one hand for the action to begin. Ben Lamb opened for a raise only to get three-bet by Martin Staszko.

All the attention during the beginning of this week may be on the final table of the World Series of Poker ( WSOP ) Main Event, but let’s not forget there are other major tournaments going on all over the world.  One of them, the World Poker Tour ( WPT ) Amneville stop, concluded over the weekend.  The €3200 + €300 tournament spanned six days (including two Day One flights) saw 379 players enter and at the end, just one, France’s Adrien Allain , had all the chips.  For his first WPT victory, Allain won €310,633 ($429,046). Allain busted out in a big way in 2009, winning the Asian Poker Tour Macau Main Event for $391,580.  After that, he had some solid finishes, including a few five-figure scores, but nothing that really reverberated through the poker world.  This year, though, he has made some moves.  He placed 4th in the €2,000 No-Limit Hold’em event at the European Poker Tour (EPT) San Remo stop (€86,100/$125,492) and finished 5th in the €2,500 Six-Max No-Limit Hold’em event at the World Series of Poker Europe (€46,250/$61,784) before his big win this weekend.  In his live tournament career, Allain has now earned over $1.2 million.