New Online Poker Guide Puts Cards on the Table-poker news

CelebPoker.com has announced the addition of four new worldwide poker tournaments to their 2006 schedule.

The qualifiers offer seats at the World Speed Championship, Austrian Classics, Barcelona Open and a Mediterranean Poker Cruise, with buy-ins from $6.

The first event players have the opportunity to be a part of is the 'World Speed Championship', in London. The televised event will gain mass media attention and feature a healthy prize pool. The prize at Celebpoker.com includes a $5,000 package including £2,000 entry to the tournament and approximately $1,200 in hotel accommodations. Satellites for this event will be running over the next six weeks.

The 'Austrian Classics' is taking place at the Concord Card Casino in Vienna and commences on the 28 of September. The prize is a $5,700 package including 3,300 entry to the No-Limit Main Event tournament. To sweeten the deal CelebPoker.com is adding $1,400 in accommodation and travel money.

CelebPoker.com will also be sending participants to the European Poker Tour event in Barcelona Open. The prize package is an $8,000 total value including a 5,000 entry into the No-Limit Main Event tournament & $1,500 in accommodation money. The event is taking place between 13 and 16 of September 2006.

For as a little as $6 you could be setting off on a Mediterranean cruise between 14 and 21 October. The prize is a $6,000 package including entry into the 1,100 No-Limit Tournament and the 770 Limit Hold’em events. Accommodation for two people with a balcony, and $1,000 travel & spending money are included.

How to ... Play poker with the big boys

Don't deny it. You're tempted. Everywhere you look there is an article about Positively Fifth Street, the story of James McManus going to cover the World Series of Poker for a magazine and playing instead, finishing fifth and winning $247,000 against the world's top pros. You think: "I could do that."

Before you hop that plane to Vegas, you better be ready. Be like Mac--read plenty of poker primers by pros David Sklansky and TJ Cloutier and practice on computer programs for countless hours. Then, when you're going head-tohead with these pros, be ready to face intimidation. The pros will push you to bet over your head or overplay your cards. Don't do it. "If the pros see you as a conservative rock who only plays pots with strong cards, they'll give you more respect than you often get in a friendly home game," McManus says. Then, when you raise them, they'll actually fold.

And don't forget poker requires lots of luck. McManus brought a half-dozen

lucky hats and kept pictures of his wife and kids in his shirt pocket or on the table. It worked for him.

From the lab to the net--French connection

If springtime in Paris sets you daydreaming about Roland Garros instead of romance, make a date with Babolat. U.S. tennis pro Andy Roddick loves Babolat's Pure Drive racket. So, when the French company came out with the VS NCT Drive (unstrung $209) and VS NCT Control ($199) aimed at us normal folks, Fanscape checked it out.

NCT stands for Nano Carbon Technology--the rackets were built with carbon tubes using nanotechnology, which is the spaceage manipulation of materials on an atomic level. Though it's strange--actually incomprehensible--that NASA scientists spend time moving molecules to improve Fanscape's forehand, the racket certainly works wonders, especially when combined with the old-fashioned natural gut strings that made Babolat famous.

With these light but well-balanced rackets, the ball stays on the strings longer, giving extra control and more spin, yet it still jumps off with zing. Getting the power of a stiff racket without the awkward can't-feel-the-ball effect apparently comes not just from nanotubes but also from Babolat's Dual Woofer shock absorbing system. Sometimes it's better not to ask.

Sultan of swap: rare Bambino jersey up for bids

There are only six known Babe Ruth Yankees uniforms, and Lelands.com is auctioning off a flannel, pinstriped one with "G.H. Ruth" stitched beneath the collar. Bids are being accepted online and by telephone until May 30; Lelands.com president Michael Heffner says the winner may have to shell out $500,000. You can get a genuine, live major league rookie for less than that.

E-mail comments or suggestions to fanscape@sportingnews.com.