In August we introduced you to an exciting new heads-up poker game called Five-O Poker [http://www.launchpoker.com/news/Five-O-Poker/]. Not 4 months later, thousands from across the world have flocked to the game. Seeing that the game is a hit, the Five-O Team have decided to develop a fresh new version, which was launched earlier this week [http://apps.facebook.com/fiveopoker/?fb_source=canvas_bkmk_top&count=0]

It looks like they have really invested in this one, listening to feedback from players and adding some fun new features, as well as a touch-up of the look and feel of the current game.

Introducing Chips

Chips of different values are now available to purchase. This means that you are now actually playing for something: in the previous version, if you lost, nothing happened. In the new version, the amount of chips you win or lose relates to the table stakes. It really separates the men from the boys!

Table Stakes

You can now decide whether you want to play at high stakes or low stakes tables. This is especially good for beginners who don’t want to risk too much too early, and great for seasoned players who are confident enough to play at the high-end tables.

High-End Design and Experience

Everything has had a make-over! The cards are crisper, animations are smoother, and the general environment of the game is more intuitive. Unlike the old version, which was mostly just about the game, the new graphics are comparable to the top games out there at the moment.

Chat and challenge

As before, you can challenge players in the lobby, start a game with a random online player, or just invite one of your friends for a game. The ability to chat in-game adds a whole social element – we’ve encountered some interesting characters!

Weekly contest and prize

Starting with the release of the new version,Five-O will dish out free chips and other prizes to top ranking players.

Five-O puts a fresh spin on the old Texas Hold’em, and still gets us excited. It’s easy to learn, but tougher to master. Give it a spin, try something new… there’s a reason thousands of players are joining the ranks at Five-O every day!

We still haven’t managed to win 5-0. Go and try the game now, see if you can do it!

https://apps.facebook.com/fiveopoker

Today we would like to introduce you a new, exciting heads up poker game, called Five-O Poker.

In Five-O Poker, each player is dealt five cards face up, lined up in a row. Then, in turn, each player draws a card from the deck and places it face up on one of the five cards (columns) that they have. Eventually, each player will have 5 hands (columns) of five cards each. The game ends by matching each of the columns to the corresponding column of your opponent. The winner has the higher poker hand in three (or more) out of the five poker hands.

There are only two rules: 1) The fifth (and last) row of cards are placed face down, your opponent is  not aware of what you have. 2) You cannot place a card in the next row until you have completed that row with 5 cards (can’t go onto the 3rd row, until the full 2nd row is placed, etc)

After playing dozens of games, we have no doubt that this game is going to be BIG success, because of its simplicity on the one hand and its sophistication on the other. The fact that the two players can see which cards are used and which are still in the deck, together with the strategy that each player can see what his opponent is trying to complete their hands with, requires players to be creative!

We enjoyed it thoroughly and advise you to try it out on Facebook!
(http://apps.facebook.com/fiveopoker/?ref=bookmarks)

The $2,500 Six-Handed No-Limit Hold'em Event at this year's WSOP has it's winner. Oleksii Kovalchuk picks up his first WSOP victory and a lot of cash. The first place prize for this poker game was $689,739. It was Event 26 in the 2011 World Series of Poker, and the second time a player from the Ukraine won a gold bracelet (the first was Eugene Katchalov). In addition to the player from the Ukraine the country win breakdown is United States 13, Great Britain 3, France 2, Canada 2, Israel 1, Russia 1, Honduras 1 and Indonesia 1.

In the US the state of online poker is currently in limbo, and one lawmaker would like to see that change. The poker law suggested by Joe Barton, R-Texas, would clarify the legality of online poker play. Barton took action to put together this online poker bill by poker players who followed him on Facebook, and made their opinions on the current state of online poker very clear. Barton is a senior member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee who plays poker and sees the discrepancy between online poker play being legal and processing payments for online poker being illegal.

At the World Series of Poker Event 24 started with even chips for all players at the final table. The event was a shootout, which means that each player has to win his table before moving on. This means that at the start of each round all players have the same amount of chips. This WSOP event kicked off its final table with 1.5 million in chips for each poker pro. In the end it was Mark Radoja, who finished third in the $5,000 NL Hold'em Six-Max Event of 2010, who took the victory and $436,568.