The Asian Poker Tour is about to start its second season of action, and you could be there. Bodog poker room is offering satellite tournaments that will put you in Macau for the first event of the season. They have two ways to win your seat - you can play in their regular qualifier tournaments (from July 7 – August 3) to win one of three seats, or play their Seat Giveaway series (the finale is on August 2) to win one seat.

If you win a seat worth $5,300, you’ll be joining Team Bodog in the APT Main Event. You’ll also be staying at the beautiful Galaxy Starworld Hotel and Casino in downtown Macau. The prize includes flight expenses, six nights of accommodations, buy-in to the event, and $500 spending cash. Not to mention the chance to visit a part of the world most people will never get the chance to see.

The WPT has found a way to host more poker tournaments. They have joined forces with Classic Gaming Cruises to host a number of trips with WPT tournaments on board. Trips are scheduled from Alaska, New England, Mexico, and the Caribbean. They run from mid-July until late November and range in price from $429 to as much as $979 for the Alaskan trips, not bad for a week of luxury. Sounds like a great way to soak up some sun and play lots of poker for a week.

The tournaments on the cruises will be satellites into a $10,000 WPT main event. You’ll also be able to enjoy other tournament action as well as cash games. You’ll be able to play poker whenever you want to, especially if your wife likes to play as well. Hurry if you want to play on one of these cruises; cabins are filling up fast.

Summer is a time of year when people have a bit more time to play tournaments online. Most sites try to put on a promotional tournament event this time of year. Bodog is having its Mini Series of Poker right now, with 25 events that mirror the events being played at the WSOP. The buy-ins are 1% of the cost of the real events, and the grand prize is three seats to the WSOP Main Event in Vegas.

PokerStars has its Million Dollar Turbo Takedown this summer. With a total prize pool of $1 million up for grabs, and at least one in every three players getting paid, this no-limit holdem event has a $1 million guarantee with a first-place prize of $100,000.

Carbon Poker is running its Summerchamps 2008 promotion. It also closely mimics the WSOP schedule. They will bring back successful players to play in the final.

Following the finale of their hit series, “Scrubs”, the cast made their way over to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research fundraiser to play a little poker. Some of the celebrities in attendance included: Zach Braff, Michael J. Fox, Tracy Pollan, Sarah Chalke, Teri Hatcher, Julie Bowen, Holly Robinson Peete, Rodney Peete, Donald Faison, Cacee Cobb, and Bill Lawrence. (See more photos of the charity poker event here.)

I’ve read that “Desperate Housewives” Teri Hatcher likes to play poker on set with gal pal Eva Longoria, but I had no idea that the cast of “Scrubs” also played. Come to think of it, it makes sense that poker would be a popular passtime on the sets of many television shows considering its immense popularity in general.

That brings to mind the idea of having “The Ultimate A-List Celebrity Poker Tournament”. Imagine all of your favorite Hollywood stars — from the big and small screen — playing in a No Limit Texas Holdem tournament, with the money raised going to charity. Who would you have at your final table? Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Matt Damon, Julia Roberts, and maybe Scarlett Johansson?

High stakes poker players are known to bet exuberant amounts of money on prop bets. Stars like Daniel Negreanu and Gavin Smith live their lives from one game to the next, betting all the way. The newest craze among this elite group is Wii. The most skill-demanding video game has even been a tool to win a WSOP main event entry last July. Paul Wasicka was the first to write about gathering a bunch of poker pros who had to play Wii bowling, with the winner getting a WSOP main event buy-in worth $10,000.

It was never announced who won the buy-in, but it appears that it wasn’t Wasicka. It’s not the traditional type of satellite, but when you have the kind of cash these guys have it’s no big deal. You would think that Wii would run with this, and promote a tournament for these pros themselves.

The NBA does tend to harp upon its charity work. But the work needs to be done, and it speaks well for both the players and the less athletic who spend their time and money to help others.

It doesn’t hurt to throw a poker game in there, too. Phoenix Suns forward Shawn Marion will be hosting the Hearts & Helmets Charity Poker Tournament in Scottsdale on Jan. 30. The $1,000 ticket price gets you access to some pretty swank auctions, but the big draw is the chance to play poker with athletes like Marion, Jermaine Dye and various members of the Suns and the San Antonio Spurs.

The tournament is hoping to raise $1 million for charities like the Brad Pitt-sponsored Global Green USA project to rebuild New Orleans, and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Plus, the event is being held at a private location that will only be disclosed upon registration. Go to www.allinforacause.com for more information.

L.A. is hot! After a tough day in the Commerce Casino poker room you can relax at the pool.

If you are a regular online poker player and you’re itching to try your hand at a land casino tournament one of the best places to hone your chops is the Commerce Casino in Los Angeles, California. As every tournament poker player knows it’s important to get as much experience in as possible. Fortunately, the Commerce Casino has a wide array of tournaments happening at any point in the year:

The L.A. Poker Classic: Jan. 26-Feb. 25
World Poker Tour Invitational: Feb. 23-24
The Professional Poker Tour: February
Heavenly Hold’em: May 2-18, 2008
Daily Poker Tournaments
California State Poker Championship: TBD
Holiday Bonus: TBD

1. The Borgata Winter Open, Jan. 15 to 31. There will be 13 events with a $10,000 Main Event.

2. The Aussie Millions, Jan. 5 to 20 at the Crown Casino in Melbourne.

3. WSOP Harrah’s New Orleans, May 9-21. They’ll have 10 events including the $5000 Main Event.

4. WPT L.A. Poker Classic, Jan. 24 to Mar. 3. There will be 30 events including the $10,000 Main Event.

5. WPT Bay 101 in San Jose March 10-14 will also have a $10,000 Main Event.

6. WPT World Championship in Las Vegas on April 19-25 will have a $25,000 Main Event.

7. EPT Grand Final Monte Carlo Bay Resort April 12-17 will have a 10,000 Euro buy-in.

8. WSOP Las Vegas May 30 – July 17 will have 55 events this year.

9. PokerStars Caribbean Poker Adventure Atlantis, Bahamas, Jan. 5-10.

10. EPT Scandinavian Open Casino Copenhagen, Denmark, February 19-23.