Sports fans have their fantasy football, baseball, and hockey leagues. Now poker fans can join in the fun. CardPlayer.com recently unveiled the first round of its Card Player Fantasy Poker Contest.

A handful of poker pros continue to opt out of playing in World Poker Tour events in a dispute involving the filming release all players must sign before participating in the made-for-TV tournaments that air on the Travel Channel.

Scheduled for April 13th and 14th, 2006, at Binions Gambling Hall and Casino in downtown Las Vegas, the LIPS Poker Conference will include topic sessions by top professionals in poker today, a vendor fair, door prizes and a No-Limit Holdem Tournament. There will also be a door prizes and raffle with proceeds benefiting the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. A cocktail party sponsored by slysharkeyspoker.com is also scheduled.

Harrah’s Entertainment has named Robert Daily, the poker room manager at the Rio All- Suites Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, as the Tournament Director for the 2006 WSOP, which is scheduled to take place on June 25-August 10 at the Amazon Room of the Rio Pavilion Convention Center.

After finishing second at the most recent World Poker Tour tournament in Tunica, Mississippi, Borgata’s winner, Michael "the Grinder" Mizrachi, did the almost impossible by improving on his second-place finish from last week. The Grinder once again showed the poker prowess that makes him one of the most feared players.

Card Player magazine, “The Poker Authority”, is rolling out the red carpet on February 15th at the Henry Fonda Music Box Theater in Los Angeles, CA for the poker industries first Player of the Year Awards Banquet gala.

The World Poker Tour Invitational, the most sought after ticket in poker comes to Commerce Casino, televised annually on the Travel Channel, draws more than 75 celebrities, competing against 200 of the leading players in the game — including many of the poker millionaires created by the World Poker Tour’s $150-million in prize pools over the past four years.