The Paradise Poker Tour is heading to Spain in May and the sponsors are giving you the chance to join them at the Casino Gran Madrid.

Poker tournaments with no rake, no registration charge and hosted in luxurious settings sounds too good to be true but that is what the London Poker Circuit’s new schedule is promising.

In one of the most surprising turn of events in recent poker history, legendary female poker player Annie Duke has won the 2010 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship. She bested an elite field that consisted of many of the biggest names in the poker community, including Erik Seidel, who she beat in the final round with a 2-1 win. For her victory, Duke scored a cool $500,000 prize purse, with Seidel taking home $250,000 with his runner-up finish.

Most viewers I imagined were surprised to see a female player make it through what is always a heavily male-dominated tournament, but Anne seemed to have the luck of the cards, and the schedule, on her side. Looking back on the opponents she faced, Duke definitely did not have the toughest draw in the tournament. Her toughest opponent was arguably Andy Bloch in round 1, but from there she then went on to play against numerous players that have just recently entered the spotlight due to their WSOP success including Jerry Yang, Darvin Moon and Dennis Phillips. While all of those players have proven they have talent, there’s no way they represented the same challenge that would’ve been provided by players the caliber of Phil Ivey, Daniel Negraneau or Barry Greenstein.

Seidel seemed to have a tougher draw of opponents overall, netting Peter Eastgate, Scotty Nguyen, Huck Seed and David Williams, which is why it was doubly impressive to see him progress all the way to the finals considering that in the previous five years of the NBC Heads-Up Championship he never progressed out of round 1.

Duke has now racked up a total of $2,247.824 in career winnings and can now add this marquee victory to her already impressive resume that includes a WSOP bracelet win in 2004 and first place honors at the inaugural WSOP Tournament of Champions.

Here are the final results from the event:

Final Results:
1: Annie Duke — $500,000
2: Erik Seidel — $250,000
3: Scotty Nguyen — $125,000
3: Dennis Phillips — $125,000
5: Jerry Yang — $75,000
5: Doyle Brunson — $75,000
5: Jason Mercier — $75,000
5: Peter Eastgate — $75,000
9: Paul Wasicka — $25,000
9: Eli Elezra — $25,000
9: Annette Obrestad — $25,000
9: Barry Greenstein — $25,000
9: Gabe Kaplan — $25,000
9: Phil Laak — $25,000
9: Chris Moneymaker — $25,000
9: Jamie Gold — $25,000

The weekend robbery of the European Poker Tour (EPT) Berlin event has garnered headlines around the world. On Monday morning, the tournament’s champion, Kevin “ImaLuckSac” MacPhee, appeared on CBS’ “Early Show” to break down the heist.

The PartyPoker Women’s World Open IV has just confirmed a few players, the Ladbrokes Poker Team has just signed its newest member, and more, all in tonight’s Nightly Turbo.

Over the weekend, UB.com pro and Poker News Daily Guest Columnist Annie Duke became the first female winner ever of the National Heads-Up Poker Championship, which will air next month on NBC. Duke sat down to discuss her monumental win.

Full Tilt Poker hosted some huge action this weekend, largely driven by the presence of everyone’s favorite online poker punching bag “Isildur1.” There were epic heads-up matches, swingy six-max games, and as many as eight tables of $300/$600…

Two players on recent hot streaks are among the chip leaders after Day 1A of the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) Bay 101 Shooting Star tournament. A total of 17 bounties took to the field on Day 1A, with 25 more expected today.