The big winner at PokerStars 2009 WCOOP this past weekend was a player that goes by the name of Sumpas, who took down the high-rollers event. The event, which had a $10,000 buy-in and a $2 million guaranteed prize pool, awarded Sumpas as first prize winner $611,455. Once the 299 entrants were registered, the total prize pool jumped to $2.99 million.

This is not Sumpas’ first big win at Poker Stars, nor at a PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker either, as in the 2008 WCOOP Main Event, he finished in 6th place for a $415,150 prize.

No one knows Sumpas’ real name (at least not yet) but we do know that he hails from Linkoping, Sweden.

The $10,000 High-Rollers event final table included the likes of World Poker Tour (WPT) champ Kevin “BeL0WaB0Ve” Saul, European Poker Tour (EPT) founder John Duthie, Scott Freeman, and Mike “Sowerss” Sowers.

Sowerss took second place for $448,500 and BeL0WaB0Ve took third place for $337,870.

The next PartyPoker Monthly Million is almost upon us, set for this Sunday, September 6 at 12:45 pm ET. It has a $640 buy-in, but you can satellite in for much less through a plethora of methods.

Throughout this month Party Poker runs daily $64 + $6 satellites guaranteeing 18 seats in the big event; MEGA Friday satellites at 5 pm ET every Friday for $50 + $5 with 20 seats guaranteed; and $32 + $3 Super Satellite Saturday qualifiers every Saturday at 9:00 am ET with 15 seats guaranteed and again at 2:30 pm ET with 3 seats guaranteed. There are also at least 2 daily satellites into each of these big qualifiers, as well as freerolls and PartyPoints qualifiers into a Monthly Million Special on Fridays at 3:30 pm ET.

But also, leading up to this weekend’s big event, PartyPoker is running some special last-minute satellites:the 50-Seat Frenzy on Saturday at 11:25 ET when 50 seats will be awarded; the Super 8 qualifiers for an $88 buy-in taking place at various times over the weekend and promising 1:8 odds of winning a seat; and the Ultimate Qualifier on Sunday at 11:15 ET for a $340 buy-in awarding 10 seats.

It’s also time to start getting ready for the next PartyPoker Monthly Million, taking place October 4.

A new online poker player has joined Poker Hall of Fame Nominee Mike Sexton and gang as the latest addition to the Party Poker “Grassroots Team” that also includes Remy Biechel of France, Felipe Ramos of Brazil, and Ian Frazer of the U.K.

The newest member of the PartyPoker Grassroots Team is Bodo Sbrzesny, a 29-year-old from Bruchsal, Germany who has achieved the remarkable accomplishment achieved by few of reaching PartyPoker’s Palladium Elite status.

Before becoming a pro online poker player, Sbrzesny was a professional video game player (specializing in “Counter Strike”) and semi-pro tennis player. He made his first big appearance in the public eye by winning an online rake race that granted him access to PartyPoker’s Poker Den: The Big Game III, in which he sat down with $20 grand for a 36-hour cash game versus some of live poker’s best players. By the time he left the table, he’d doubled his buy-in, causing famed commentator Jesse May to declare that “a new star is born” in the poker world.

Sbrzesny can be found playing at Party Poker under the username: ‘Bodo_Feels_It’.

With Full Tilt Poker’s new software upgrade roll out last week is a feature that’s been getting a lot of attention in online poker tournament circles lately, which makes it worthy of mention here. It goes by many names – a deal-making option or facility, and tournament chops being just a few – but it refers to the same general gist:

Players making it to the Final Table of any tournament can opt to express their interest in making a deal so as to avoid playing out the rest of the cards and risk losing everything. Once all the remaining players at the final table (whether it’s 9 or 2) have clicked the “Make a Deal” button to show their interest, the game is paused – at which point players have 20 minutes to agree on a deal, based on a selection of options, including: splitting the pot proportionately based on chip stacks, going by the so-called Independent Chip Model, or composing a Custom Deal that all remaining player agree upon.

The movie to which so many poker players online and off attribute their interest in the game is rumored to have a sequel in the works.

“Rounders” might very well be the movie that put poker on the mainstream map. And star Matt Damon has been quoted as saying that he and costar Edward Norton had so much fun working together on the film that he anticipates, if there is to be “Rounders 2″, they will both probably be in it, along with everyone else involved as well, including, Damon predicts, director John Dahl.

The words “Hollywood” and “poker” did make another newsworthy appearance of late, when it was announced that Leonardo DiCaprio has signed on to star in a pic about online poker sites headquartered offshore. Despite some rumors, however, this is not “Rounders 2″.

“Rounders 2″, if it is to exist, will share the same screenwriters David Lavien and Brian Koppleman as the original “Rounders”. Will they reprise their screenwriting role for the sequel to their 11-year-old poker classic? To go by Matt Damon’s thoughts, it seems likely.

Absolute Poker has just signed up poker commentator Lacey Jones to the team. Rather, it would be more accurate to say, they signed her up again.

See AbsolutePoker first sponsored Lacey in 2005, but after the 2006 UIEGA got passed making funding online poker illegal for U.S. residents to play, they temporarily dropped that program. But with legal U.S. poker on the horizon, sponsorships are popping up at all the different poker sites. It only makes sense that Absolute Poker would renew their sponsorship of a star who’s still so hot (in so many ways). They’d be foolish not to.

Lacey can be found playing at Absolute Poker’s tables and representing the site in public tournaments. You can be sure to see her promoting the college themed Win Your Tuition promotion at AP as well as her own USO Poker Tour with WSOP satellite seats as prizes.

As if in honor of her signing with AP, Lacey’s luck suddenly got a boost when her “Team Lacey” won the top prize at the WSOP Media Invitational Poker Tournament.

Aced Poker is now offering a brand new reload bonus at 100% up to $200 through the end of July. To get this Reload Bonus, you need to use the Aced Bonus Code RELOADED when you make your next deposit.

The Reload Bonus will be paid out in increments of $5.00. You will need to earn 250 VIP Points per $5, that’s just 50 VIP points per $1. This is our easiest bonus ever!

Example:

If you use the Reload Bonus Code: RELOADED and deposit $100 you will receive a deposit bonus of $100 added to your account. You will be paid $5 for every 250 points you earn! You have 60 days to complete the bonus.

This bonus offer has the following play requirements:

• Any deposit & one use only
• Min. Deposit Amount: $20.00
• Bonus paid in $10.00 increments
• $1 earned every 50 VIP Pts
• Any unused bonus expires on withdrawal

Side Games: The games listed below are considered to be side games, VIP points earned from these games are not counted towards clearing your bonus

• Blackjack
• Roulette
• Caribbean Stud
• Video Poker
• Backgammon
• Euchre

Barney Frank’s poker bills are gaining strong support in Congress, and it looks like this coming year, 2010, might be the year that the current impact and future threat of the oppressive 2006 UIGEA (Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act). After getting 13 cosponsors in one fell swoop (bringing the number to 34), a congressman from the other side of the aisle has reached across to lend his support and become number 35.

It’s Republican Representative Don Young of Alaska, which makes a great deal of sense in that Alaskans are intimately aware of the value of casino gambling to the local economy.

Frank’s leading congressional opponent to his bills is Spencer Bacchus, Republican Representative of Nevada, and even he admits that they have a much better chance of being passed into law now, when the Democrats have a majority in Congress and not the Republican majority that existed the last time Frank, Chairman of the House Finances Committee, tried to boost the economy by licensing and regulating legal U.S. poker.

Chalk another win up for poker, says the PPA (Poker Player’s Alliance), as friend to poker, the Interactive Media Entertainment and Gambling Association (iMEGA) successfully sues Minnesota State Department of Public Safety, Alcohol and Gambling Division head John Willems to take back an order made to the world’s biggest internet service providers–like Verizon, Sprint, Qwest, and Comcast–to block their users residing within the state from accessing any of 200 so-called illegal gambling sites. The list included top poker sites like Full Tilt Poker and Titan Poker.

The iMEGA is continuing to fight another similar suit, this in Kentucky against Governor Steve Beshear who has ordered the seizure of 141 domain names of websites performed allegedly illegal gambling activities within its state borders. After going through a see-saw of judgments and appeals, the decision now rests on the State Supreme Court’s shoulders.

iMEGA is considered involving itself in yet another suit, this one in New York, New York where an attorney’s office was raided, causing a freeze on over $35 million in payouts to U.S. online poker players.

Joan Rivers – that is. After the winner of the Celebrity Apprentice this year had such awful things to say about poker players, her heads-up opponent, Ultimate Bet Cardroom Correspondent Annie Duke, is giving the community a chance to redeem their good name – and have some fun doing it.

The Hard Rock Casino Poker Lounge will see some two-dozen Joan Rivers impersonators showing up to play, one of whom – Frank Marino – will cohost the event with Duke, and the rest of whom will have to be satisfied with simply having rewarding bounties placed on their heads.

Nevada gaming regulations are sticky about charity tournaments, but the hope is that at least half of the $200 buy-ins accumulated from all the entrants will go to Refugees International, the charity Annie was competing for on Trump’s NBC show.

The Sucking Out On The Rivers charity tournament, scheduled for May 27 at 6 pm (following an hour-long Red Carpet opening extravaganza) is expected to draw big names from the world of poker and Hollywood alike, with some speculating that the real Joan Rivers will even make an appearance to save face.