A ladies only event at any live poker tournament is usually just that – an event that is open to women players only. Over the years, the majority of states in the United States have demanded that casinos do away with ladies only events in fear of sex based discrimination, however, on the ground, men will honor players’ requests to stay away from these events out of politeness.

However, now and then, a male player wishes to push a point and will insist on taking part in a ladies only event. This was the case at the Borgata Poker Open when Abraham Korotki decided to throw caution to the wind and enter event number 7, a distinctly ladies only event.

Despite loud objections from management and the players in the event, Korotki stuck to his constitutional rights and slowly made his way to the final table of a competition that included 269 (women) players initially.

When asked why he insisted on joining that particular competition out of all the great offerings at the Borgata Poker Open, Korotki said: “I got tired of going home early. I haven’t had enough poker time.”

Korotki finally found himself face to face in a heads up match against Nicole Rowe, a player who entered the competition to take her mind off more serious things – like a breast cancer diagnosis.

The two battled it out over the course of a few hands until Korotki earned the title of winner of the Borgata Poker Open Ladies Only event.

Rowe, who won nearly $12,000 for her second place finish, said that she would be donating some of the money to a cancer charity and use to rest to pay for medical bills and recuperation costs after her double mastectomy next month. “It doesn’t matter,” she said about her loss. “It was 16 hours of being cancer free, a diversion from my reality.”

Korotki, to his credit, still came out a ‘gentleman’ in his case and pledged some of his $21,000 prize to breast cancer research as well.

The schedule for one of the greatest poker tournaments on the industry’s calendar has been announced, and players are scrambling to diarize the dates.

Crown Poker announced that the 2010 Aussie Millions will run from January 14th to 31st in Melbourne, Australia. All in all, the tournament will hold 20 exciting events, with some huge prizes to be won.

Most thrilling is the first prize for the No Limit Hold ‘em event that will reach staggering sums for lucky winners.

“Crown is announcing an expected first prize of $2.5 million for the No Limit Holdem Main Event which will further entrench Crown’s Aussie Millions Poker Championships as one of the most prestigious poker tournaments in the world and gives it the status it deserves on Melbourne’s major events program,” said the Chief Executive Officer of Crown Poker, David Courtney.

“Crown’s Aussie Millions is now sharing the limelight with some of Victoria’s other major events including the Melbourne Cup at $3.3 million, Australian Open at $2 million, and the AFL Grand Final at $1 million in prize money,” he said.

The schedule has been announced as follows:

Event No. 1, Thursday, Jan. 14 ($1,000 no-limit hold’em)
Event No. 2, Sunday, Jan. 17 ($500 no-limit hold’em)
Event No. 3, Monday, Jan. 18 ($1,000 limit hold’em)
Event No. 4, Tuesday, Jan. 19 ($1,000 pot-limit Omaha)
Event No. 5, Wednesday, Jan. 20 ($1,500 no-limit hold’em bounties)
Event No. 6, Thursday, Jan. ($1,000 H.O.R.S.E.)
Event No. 7, Friday, Jan. 22 ($1,000 no-limit hold’em w/rebuys)
Event No. 8, Saturday, Jan. 23 ($100,000 no-limit hold’em)
Event No. 9, Sunday, Jan. 24 ($10,000 no-limit hold’em main event)
Event No. 10, Sunday, Jan. 24 ($500 no-limit hold’em shootout)
Event No. 11, Monday, Jan. 25 ($500 pot-limit Omaha eight-or-better)
Event No. 12, Tuesday, Jan. 26 ($500 seven-card stud)
Event No. 13, Tuesday, Jan. 26 ($5,000 heads-up no-limit hold’em)
Event No. 14, Wednesday, Jan. 27 ($1,000 no-limit hold’em team’s event)
Event No. 15, Thursday, Jan. 28 ($10,000 pot-limit Omaha)
Event No. 16, Thursday, Jan. 28 ($1,000 no-limit hold’em)
Event No. 17, Friday, Jan. 29 ($1,000 no-limit hold’em/pot-limit Omaha w/rebuys)
Event No. 18, Friday, Jan. 29 ($10,000 H.O.R.S.E.)
Event No. 19, Saturday, Jan. 30 ($5,000 six-handed no-limit hold’em)
Event No. 20, Sunday, Jan. 31 ($500 turbo no-limit hold’em)

They say that sometimes all it takes is a woman’s touch, and this may be the case for Betclick gaming group. Betclick’s poker room, small on any scale, needs a push to put it out there on the poker map and has decided to sign on one of the hottest lady poker players to help it on its way.

Isabelle Mercier, the French Canadian star has agreed to act as Betclick’s poker room ambassador in an attempt to enhance the group’s poker offering.

Mercier has plenty of experience playing among the top names in the business, having served as a Team PokerStars Pro.

A spokesperson for Betclick commented on the group’s position in the market. “We are very strong on betting, but poker is not the strongest part of our offering,” he said.

“The signing of Isabelle Mercier means we will be putting in place a strategy to develop and improve our offering, but this will not be put into action for a few months yet. It is part of our overall project to enhance our poker platform,” he added.

Mercier has commented in the past that she is keen to take on “new projects”, and this new deal may be an indication of the direction she hopes to take at this stage of her career. It is not yet known whether the Betclick deal will include Mercier’s return to the international poker tournament circuit on a full time basis.

The player first made poker headlines after she won the World Poke Tour Ladies Night tournament in 2004. Over the years, she has earned herself tenth place in the 2005 European Poker Tour in Monte Carlo and has three money finishes at the World Series of Poker.

This year, Mercier became a member of Team PokerStars. Over the summer, she finished third place in one of the site’s Sunday Millions events, earning herself $115K. Mercier has won over $800K in live tournaments to date.

The player has not yet commented on her new relationship with Betclick.