With just over 100 days remaining in 2006, the Bluff Magazine Poker Player of the Year race is heating up. Ten poker pros are still in the hunt including John Juanda, David Williams, Gavin Smith and Barry Greenstein.

“Winning the 2006 Bluff Player of the Year Award would be a tremendous honor, said poker pro Gavin Smith, currently third in Bluff’s Player of the Year Standings. Bluff’s poker standings are a true measure of a poker player’s performance over the course of a year. I’m hopeful I will play well enough in the remaining tournaments over the next three months to earn this award.”

Leading online poker site, Ultimatebet.com, has expanded its team of poker professionals with the signing of one of the hottest new talents on the international poker circuit.

Johan Storakers, 35, has risen from the poker explosion in his native Sweden to become one of the new breed of professionals currently transforming the global poker scene. From humble beginnings just outside Stockholm, Storakers undertook national military service before entering jobs in telemarketing and retail. However, poker had become an increasingly large part of his life and he soon took up the game professionally with spectacular results.

Officials with Fallsview Casino Resort announced today that the resort will host the first-ever World Poker Tour (WPT) Canadian Open from October 22 to October 24 - just days before the giants of the poker community arrive in Niagara Falls for the WPT North American Poker Championship, beginning October 25.