Archive for the ‘PokerListings.com’ Category:
Antonius Thrashes deprimiert for $306k
Antonius, who is looking to rebound from an awful August that saw him lose over $800k on the online tables, played 413 hands of $2,000/$4,000 Limit Hold’em against deprimiert.
There was some luck involved, however. In one of the key hands Antonius managed to river trip sixes with A-6 in the hole to scoop a $56,000 pot.
With the win, Antonius is now the biggest winner in the very early stages of September. There’s a good chance we’ll see that position change frequently as the month continues.
As for deprimiert, it was the second straight day that he’s accrued massive losses. Yesterday Phil Ivey had his way with deprimiert in the high stakes Limit games and drained him of $327k. Over the last two days deprimiert has lost over $600k.
Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond was the night’s second biggest winner with $213,863 in profit.
Most of Galfond’s winnings came from Dan “jungleman12” Cates in a mixture of $100/$200 No-Limit Hold’em and PLO. Perhaps Galfond should have issued a challenge of his own.
The durrrr Challenge tables were silent for a second straight day. Tom Dwan is perhaps still stinging from the fact he’s down nearly $700k to jungleman12 and trying to develop a new strategy.
Here’s a couple of the biggest pots from the Patrik Antonius/deprimiert session last night. Be sure to check out our online poker stats section for more information.
Visit PokerListings.com
WPT London: Qualifier Flourishes as Ivey, Seidel Fall
But as the 90 players who started the day were joined by a few late registrants to play down to the final 38 through five levels, it certainly didn’t end that way.
Ivey and Seidel found themselves on a table with Luke “FullFlush” Schwartz at the start of play inside the Palm Beach Casino in Mayfair.
But by the time play wrapped, the two legends had fallen and, although he’s short thanks to a late blow-up, Schwartz was the only of the three left in the hunt for the £273,783 first-place prize and WPT title.
PartyPoker Qualifier Giovanni Safina was also at the table and managed to hold his own and more, climbing steadily throughout the day and landing in the chip leaders chair by the time play closed.
Praz Bansi, Josh “JJProdigy” Fields, Richard Ashby and Huck Seed also remain in close contention.
WPT London drew 171 players creating an £820,800 prize pool. A total of16 places will be paid.
A winner will be crowned Saturday.
Visit PokerListings.com
Brits, Football Legend, EPT Champ Headline Vilamoura Final
British players sit in the top three spots heading into the final table, with 20-year-old Toby Lewis from Southampton holding a slight lead over Nottingham’s Sam Trickett.
Both young players have spent the past few years making a name for themselves on the English poker scene, but the third Brit sitting in contention for the EPT Vilamoura title and €467,835 first-place prize is definitely better known for his prowess in another game.
Friend of PokerStars and England football legend Teddy Sheringham, who played for the National team and won almost every individual honor at the club level in stints with Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspurs among others, sits within striking distance of his countrymates at the top of the leaderboard.
Now, after a deep run in last year’s World Series of Poker Europe main event left him just shy of the final table there, Sheringham appears ready to be recognized as more than just a footballer on the felt.
While he’s the short stack, 2005 EPT Grand Final champ Rob Hollink will come in with a shot at a second EPT title. No one has ever won two.
The rest of the final table includes Swede Martin Jacobson, making his second EPT final eight, Jason “JaspudUF” Lee, a 25-year-old PokerStars qualifier from the United States, Portugal’s own Sergio Coutinho from nearby Oporto and Frederik Jensen, the 28-year-old Dane who burst onto the live tournament scene in January with a runner-up finish in the 2010 Aussie Millions main event.
A total of 384 players entered the €5,300 EPT Vilamoura Main Event. A winner will be crowned tonight.
Visit PokerListings.com
Ivey Cruises to $327k Victory
Ivey waged all-out war on deprimiert as the pair played 451 hands of $2,000/$4,000 Limit Hold’em.
deprimiert, who is rumored to be a German Limit specialist, has been playing a lot of high stakes Limit Hold’em against Ivey and prior to last night was actually up $261,000.
Ivey seemed to figure him out last night, however, as the Team Full Tilt pro smashed his way to a $327k win.
It was the cherry on the cake for Ivey who had the best online poker record out of anyone in August with $2.06 million earned.
Other big winners during the month of August included Dan “jungleman12” Cates, who made $1.1 million (the majority from the durrrr Challenge), Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond ($904,413), Tom “durrrr” Dwan ($737,208) and harrington25 ($729,000).
The biggest loser shouldn’t come as a huge surprise as Gus “Great Dane” Hansen had an absolutely catastrophic August with nary a winning session. By the time the final dollar had been tabulated Hansen lost $2.8 million in the last month of summer.
Also finishing well in the red were NEKOTYAN (-$946,000), David Oppenheim (-$846,374) and Patrik Antonius (-$815,339).
Thanks to Phil Ivey’s exceptional August, he’s finally passed Tom Dwan as the biggest winner in 2010. Ivey has $3.8 million in profit while Dwan, feeling the pressure from Dan “jungleman12” Cates in the durrrr Challenge 2 is down to $3.7 million.
Here’s a couple of the biggest pots from the Phil Ivey/deprimiert battle last night. Be sure to check out our online poker stats section for more information.
Visit PokerListings.com
Hinkle Bags WSOPC Bling at Council Bluffs
Hinkle, who burst onto the live tournament scene with a deep run in the 2008 L.A. Poker Classic before winning a WSOP bracelet later that year, outlasted a field of 255 players in the $1,500 tournament to secure the $88,553 first-place prize.
Although he entered the final as the chip leader, collecting the cash, gold ring, $10,000 buy-in into next year’s WSOP main event and a seat in the million-dollar Circuit National Championship in Las Vegas next year was no easy task for the 24-year old chemical engineering and business finance student turned poker pro from Kansas City, Missouri.
The final table included no less than 2009 Circuit Player of the Year Dwyte Pilgrim, coming off a win in a $200 No-Limit Hold’em prelim in Iowa earlier in the series.
Pilgrim busted third for $39,531 when he ran top pair into a Hinkle straight.
The final day of the event started with 16 players and Pilgrim in the lead. But by the time 2005 WSOP Main Event 13th place finisher Bernard Lee had bubbled the final nine, Hinkle was in charge.
College roommates with 2007 WSOP bracelet winner James Mackey, Hinkle now has close to $1.2 million in career tournament earnings. His brother Grant Hinkle also won a WSOP bracelet in 2008.
With 255 players, WSOPC Council Bluffs had a $361,440 prize pool. Total entries for the entire series of events was 4,056, a 12% increase over the last Circuit series in Iowa.
Doug “Rico” Carli cashed for the 44th time on the WSOPC, extending his lead as the player with the most Circuit cashes. He now has twice as many as anyone else.
Here’s how the final table finished:
1. Blair Hinkle $88,553
2. Shiva Dudani $54,715
3. Dwyte Pilgrim $39,531
4. Matt Lawrence $29,092
5. Charles Moore $21,795
6. Jack Do $16,608
7. John Wakeen $12,867
8. Daniel Biddle $10,131
9. Kevin Calenzo $8,103
Visit PokerListings.com
Jacobson Builds Lead and Legacy at EPT Vilamoura
Jacobson, who made third at EPT Budapest in 2008, second at WPT Venice in 2009 and fourth in one of the $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em events at the WSOP this summer, will be looking to add to his $933k in career tournament earnings heading into Day 4 in Portugal Wednesday.
However, Season 1 EPT Grand Final winner Rob Hollink sits dangerously close in a bid to become the first ever two-time EPT main event champion.
UB pro Brandon Cantu led after two days, but busted on Day 3.
Jacobson qualified for the event through a PokerStars satellite.
A total of 384 players entered the €5,300 EPT Vilamoura main event, creating a €1.8 million prize pool and making it the biggest tournament ever held in Portugal.
First pays €467,835.
The tournament will run through Thursday at Casino Solverde on Portugal's Algarve coast.
Visit PokerListings.com
WPT London Draws More Stars
Names like Freddy Deeb, Neil Channing, Tony G, Bruno Fitoussi and Ross Boatman were among them.
And combined with the £5,000 buy-in, the prize pool for the event now weighs in at a healthy £820,800.
A total of 16 places will pay and £273,783 will be set aside for the winner.
Just 54 survived Day 1b, with Priyan de Mel and Richard Ashby building big stacks to separate themselves from the pack.
They will be joined on Day 2 Wednesday by the 46 players who made it through Day 1a, including chip leader Erik Seidel and a well-stacked Phil Ivey.
The plan is to play down to the final 27 players beginning at 12 p.m. London time at The Palm Beach Casino.
A winner will be crowned Saturday.
Visit PokerListings.com
Seidel Leads, Ivey Lurks at WPT London
Seidel sits atop 31 survivors from a starting field of 72 at The Palm Beach Casino in London, although the list of names in the hunt is a rather daunting one.
2009 November Niner Phil Ivey worked his way up to fourth in chips by the time play wrapped, while names like Luke "FullFlush" Schwartz, Praz Bansi and Huck Seed sit within striking distance.
Seidel has $10,350,014 in career tournament earnings, including eight WSOP bracelets and a WPT title.
He and Kathy Liebert are the only players to have entered 100 WPT main events.
Day 1b at the London Poker Classic is expected to draw an even larger field Tuesday, with British pros Chris Moorman and Neil Channing registered to play.
The final table will play out this Saturday.
Visit PokerListings.com
Cantu in Control at EPT Vilamoura
The 29-year-old pro from Vancouver, Washington has taken the chip lead in Portugal with 70 players remaining and will be looking for more than just his first EPT cash when play resumes just 14 spots off the money.
Cantu's last big score was a win in the 2010 Wynn Classic this past March where he added $363,844 to his more than $3 million in career tournament earnings.
PokerStars Team Online's Andre Coimbra, originally from Portugal, is the closest player to Cantu.
Also among the leaders is Team PokerStars Pro JP Kelly and Friend of PokerStars and England football legend Teddy Sheringham, looking for his third EPT cash.
The €5,300 EPT Vilamoura Main Event drew 384 players to the Porteguese resort area, making it the largest poker tournament ever held in Portugal.
A total of 56 players will earn pieces of a €1,862,400 prize pool with €467,835 reserved for first.
The tournament will run through Sept. 2 at Casino Solverde on Portugal's Algarve coast.
Visit PokerListings.com
durrrr Challenge 2: jungleman12 Wins Again
Earlier today Tom Dwan and Cates fired off 958 hands of $200/$400 No-Limit Hold'em. It was even for the majority of the session but in the last 200 hands Cates started to crush Dwan.
Dwan actually won the biggest pot of the night - a $131k monster - and would have been in terrible shape if he didn't.
In the hand Dwan turned a set of tens and Cates paid him off on the river, eventually mucking his hand.
By the time the session finally drew to a close, Cates was up by $172,146. Cates is now up $692,400 overall in the challenge, which has surprisingly been very one-sided thus far.
In non-durrrr Challenge news, Gus Hansen had one of his worst weekends of online poker losing $1.1 million to opponents Phil Ivey and Cole South.
Ivey won $678,760 while South added $495,318 to his bankroll. Hansen is now down a stunning $2.3 million since the start of the year.
Durrrr Challenge 2 by the numbers:
692,400: Amount jungleman12 is ahead
314,933: Average cost of a house in Maryland (jungleman12's current location)
6,820: Hands played
1,000: Hourly cost of coaching from jungleman12
61: percentage of hands jungleman12 has won
3: Sessions played
1: Times durrrr has typed "Meh, gg" and then left
Here are some of the biggest hands from the most recent session:
Visit PokerListings.com
Schwartz, Ivey Highlight WPT London Day 1a
Among the players to take their seats on Day 1a of the £5k buy-in tournament were Phil Ivey, Roland De Wolfe, Erik Seidel, Huck Seed, Andrew Robl, Luke "Full Flush" Schwartz, James Akenhead and Praz Bansi.
Team PartyPoker was also well-represented with Ian Frazer, Felipe Ramos and Dragon Galic all in the running.
Although 72 players is significantly less than organizers were expecting for Day 1a, more are likely to play tomorrow as players begin to bust out of EPT Vilamoura and late registrations will also be available.
One of the early highlights on Day 1a saw Luke "FullFlush" Schwartz play a massive hand against Phil Ivey.
Ivey saw a board of 6-5-5-K-2 with four clubs against Schwartz and decided to move all-in on the river. Schwartz contemplated making a call but eventually folded, flashing the J♣.
Ivey happily raked the pot and with 110,000 chips in his stack took his place as one of the early chip leaders.
Day 1a of WPT London is scheduled to end later tonight with Day 1b set to begin tomorrow at 12 p.m. London time. The final table will play out this Saturday.
Visit PokerListings.com
Sunday Scoop: Serock Shines
Serock, who cashed four times in the 2010 WSOP, outlasted 2,578 players and then beat a tough final table that included Tommy "blanks plz" Wesley and John "eliterestla" Russo to take down this week's Brawl title.
The young online pro capped his night off by beating psfishfat heads-up to secure the $105,032 first place prize.
In other Full Tilt Sunday news the $750k Guaranteed once again had a small overlay, which made the tournament even more lucrative to the 3,443 players who entered.
Leopold "pojai" Chow was the ultimate victor taking down $90,811 for his efforts.
Over on PokerStars the Sunday Million was easily the biggest tournament of the day. The event drew 8,190 to create a prizepool of $1.6 million.
Online player Peetoon grabbed the biggest chunk of the prizepool by taking down first place for $232,362.
The PokerStars Sunday 500 was perhaps the most intriguing tournament from a pro's point of view as Faraz "The-Toilet 0" Jaka, David "Cairns1987" Cairns and Jeff "jeff710" Hakim all made the final table.
In the end it was Dylan "Pokerl)evil" Horton who took top honors for $87,400.
Finally over on UB it was the final day of UBOC5, which meant it was time for the $1,050 buy-in, $1 million guaranteed main event.
The event drew 1,032 players and Peter "APATHY123" Jetten was perhaps the most recognizable pro to go deep.
The Canadian made it all the way to the final table before he was finally ousted in fifth place for $56,244.
First place would eventually go to online player CHAZ_MAN_C who took down $230,455 for his efforts in the event.
Visit PokerListings.com
Records Fall at EPT Vilamoura
The tournament, which is only in its second year of existence, is taking place at the Casino Vilamoura in Vilamoura, Algarve.
PokerStars qualifier Leonid Bilokur of Russia will take a chip lead of 161,000 into Day 2, which kicks off later today.
Other big stacks include Sam Trickett (132,600), Sorel Mizzi (132,200), Dario Minieri (131,400), Antonio Esfandiari (127,800) and Brandon Cantu (122,400).
There are numerous Team PokerStars Pros amongst the 221 remaining players at EPT Vilamoura including Arnaud Mattern, David Williams, Lex Veldhuis, Ruben Visser and Richard Toth.
Last year 322 players entered EPT Vilamoura with Antonio Matias eventually taking down the €400,000 first place prize.
EPT Vilamoura continues all this week with a champion crowned on Thursday.
Visit PokerListings.com
Poker News in Brief: Aug. 23-29, 2010
With so many great poker stories it's difficult to make it to the front page of PokerListings.com but fortunately every week we compile a list of lesser-known news in our ongoing Poker News in Brief feature.
This week we'll take a look at bwin preparing the "grandest" series of online poker, Dan Kelly winning a UBOC event and NBA-star Shawn Marion helping to raise over $70,000 for charity in a poker tournament.
Dan Kelly wins UBOC Event 10
Noted online poker player Dan "djk123" Kelly added to his already impressive poker resume this week by winning Event 10 of UBOC5.
Kelly, who plays on UB as JEFFGRESSARD, outlasted a field of 294 players to take down a first place prize of $26,000 in the Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo event.
For those keeping track at home, Kelly has now won an FTOPS event, made the final table of a WCOOP main event and most recently won the $25k Six-Max event at the WSOP for $1.3 million.
The 21-year-old has over $4 million in combined live and online winnings.
bwin Readies Grand Series of Poker
bwin Poker's exclusive Grand Series of Poker is set to go off this September.
Now in its fifth year of existence, the GSOP has proven to be one of the most popular online poker series with millions to be won.
This year the schedule has been expanded to include 15 separate events as well as GSOP Mini, which will run parallel to the main GSOP and offer smaller buy-ins for cash-strapped players.
The GSOP and GSOP Mini will take place Sept. 19 to Oct. 10 with the $300k guaranteed Grand Slam scheduled for the final day.
Shawn Marion Charity Tournament a Slam Dunk
The proceeds from the Shawn Marion Celebrity Poker Tournament that was held last week at Choctaw Casino have been tabulated and the event raised nearly $70,000 for the Shawn Marion Foundation.
"We appreciate Choctaw's hospitality and support in our mission," said Shawn Marion. "We had a successful event that will help provide scholarships for kids who may not otherwise get the chance to earn a degree."
In addition to the celebrated NBA star there were numerous poker pros in attendance including Annie Duke, Tiffany Michelle, T.J. Cloutier and Maria Ho.
First place winner James Dean won a 2011 World Series of Poker Main Event seat courtesy of UB.com.
Titan Poker Stages Big Cash Out
Popular European site Titan Poker is set to run a special promotion in September where Titan points will be worth even more than usual.
The Big Cash Out will give players the ability to get even more cash when they redeem their hard-earned points.
What's more, Silver-level players will have the option of cashing in their points for as little as 1,000.
The promo will run from Sept. 1 through Sept. 30.
PartyPoker Throws a Snowball
It's still summer but there's a lot of cold hard cash to be won in PartyPoker's most recent promotion.
The Snowball will allow players to build momentum as they generate frequent player points in the month of September.
If players are able to generate 5-200 points they will automatically gain entrance into freerolls that range from $5k all the way up to $50k.
Fortunately you don't lose the chance to enter smaller freerolls the higher you go so if you qualify for the $50k freeroll you can enter all four of the smaller freerolls.
Players who earn from 500 points all the way up to 50,000 will earn bonus cash from $20 all the way up to $5,000 as well as entry into all the freerolls.
Visit PokerListings.com
Weekly Freerolls: It’s Raining Cash
This week players will want to pay special attention to the weekly $1,000 Titan Poker freeroll today and the $500 888poker freeroll on Tuesday.
The following freerolls are open to all PokerListings.com players. Qualify in the specified qualification period, and then take your seat to potentially win baskets of free cash.
If you're not a PL.com registered player on any of the following sites, click on the site's name in the list to sign up.
Titan Poker is running weekly $1,000 freerolls for PokerListings players that cost just one Titan Poker Point to buy into.
Date: Aug. 28 Value: $1,000 Qualify with: Use 1 Titan Poker Point. Sign up hereNew depositors on 888poker will have a shot at four different $500 freerolls.
Date: Aug. 31 Value: $500 Qualify with: New deposit Sign up herePokerStars is running an exclusive $25k WCOOP freeroll for PokerListings players next week.
Date: Sept. 4 Value: $25,000 in WCOOP tickets. First place will receive entry into the $5,200 WCOOP ME while places 2-93 win $215 tickets. Qualify with: 250 Frequent Player Points Qualify between: Aug. 1-31 Sign up hereAll of August, PartyPoker will be offering a series of cash-added low buy-in tournaments for new players who sign up through PokerListings.
Date: Aug. 29 Buy-in: $10+$2 Value: $1,500 added cash Qualify with: Top 20 finish in one of the earlier $5+$1 PartyPoker tournaments Qualify between: Aug. 1-28 Sign up hereVisit PokerListings.com
durrrr Challenge: Welcome to the Jungle!
Although the first durrrr Challenge, which saw Tom "durrrr" Dwan take on Patrik Antonius, is still stalled at 39,436 hands, that hasn't kept Dwan from starting a new challenge with upstart Dan "Jungleman12" Cates.
This rules will be similar this time around with Dwan offering 3-1 odds on $500,000 that he will be ahead after 50,000 hands of high stakes online poker.
For this challenge the game will be $200/$400 No-Limit Hold'em and both players will be required to rebuy if they drop below 75 big blinds. In addition they agreed to run it twice for the duration of the challenge to reduce variance.
The first session between Dwan and Cates began around 11:30 p.m. last night and it certainly did not disappoint with 5,862 hands played.
Dwan cruised to an early lead of $130,000 in the first 1,651 hands but after a short break Cates came storming back and eventually finished up $518k on Dwan.
The biggest hand of the session saw Cates win a $192k pot against Dwan with pocket aces. Dwan called an all-in shove on a J-8-6-9-4 board and quickly mucked when he saw Cates' holdings.
Dwan and Cates finally called it quits in the wee hours of the morning. They didn't mention when the challenge would recommence but poker fans are already hopeful this challenge will take far less time than the one with Antonius.
Keep it locked on PokerListings' online poker stats section to stay on top of any new action in the durrrr Challenge 2.
durrrr Challenge 2 by the numbers:
518,192: Amount Jungleman12 is ahead 192,000: Biggest pot of the session (Jungleman12 won) 125,449: Views on the twoplustwo.com durrrr Challenge II thread since yesterday 44,138: Hands left to play 5,862: Total hands played 16: Number of dedicated durrrr Challenge tables on Full Tilt 7: Highest place that Welcome to the Jungle reached on the Billboard Hot 100 1: Days played in the durrrr Challenge IIHands of interest:
Visit PokerListings.com
Krause Breaks Through in Cyprus
Krause, who had more than $1.7 million in career tournament earnings coming in, beat a final table that included Aussie pro Van Marcus (3rd) to bank the $415,780 first-prize and mark his career best score.
A total of 181 players entered the Classic, including 2010 November Niners Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi, John Dolan, John Racener, and Filippo Candio.
Big names like Sorel Mizzi, David Benyamine, Carter Phillips, Tommy Vedes and 2008 November Niner Kelly Kim were also in attendance.
Born in Weinsberg, Germany, Krause has 15 cashes and two final tables at the WSOP, but the win in Cyprus represents his first major tournament victory.
Here's how the final table finished up:
1 Andreas Krause $415,780
2 Mathieu Clavet $285,850
3 Van Marcus $162,415
4 Zsolt Vasvenszki $90,950
5 Ahmet Ucali $68,215
6 Hakan Dalokay $55,220
Visit PokerListings.com
Record Numbers Turn Up for SPT Castellón
Top European talent including SPT Ibiza Champion Javier Martínez Gil and Team Everest pro Antoine Saout were among those who battled it out for a piece of a €190,000 prize pool.
In the end, the 2010 SPT Castellón title and €63,000 first-place prize went to France's Julien Pouchain, who qualified online at Everest Poker.
The final table included three other Everest Poker qualifiers.
The next stop in the SPT third season is in Valencia Oct. 1-3, 2010, traditionally one of SPT's most popular stops and expected to have an even larger prize pool.
SPT Valencia will feature live streaming coverage with commentary in both English and Spanish.
Like every SPT stop, there is a guaranteed prize pool of €150,000.
Online qualifiers are running now, with daily satellites and three weekly Direct Entries starting at $30.
Players can also buy in to any SPT event using Summit Points or their Everest account.
Visit PokerListings.com
Ziigmund Destroys Ivey for $633k
Phil Ivey and Ilari "Ziigmund" Sahamies were the headliners as the pair played 302 hands of heads-up $500/$1,000 PLO and then another 201 hands of heads-up $500/$1,000 Cap PLO.
Prior to last night Ziigmund had been having a hard time getting anything going in August and was down nearly $500,000. He was even thinking of quitting for the month.
It was a far different story for Ivey who was having one of his best months with over $1 million in profits.
The tables were turned last night as Ziigmund took his frustrations out on Ivey, raking multiple $100,000+ pots. A total of four pots broke the $200k mark and Ziigmund won three of them.
By the time the session finished Ivey ended up surrendering $633k to the resurgent Ziigmund before finally calling it quits for the night.
Fortunately due to some huge earlier winnings Ivey was almost even and is still up over $1 million for the month. Meanwhile Ziigmund is up for the first time this month by approximately $200k.
In other news Tom "durrrr" Dwan was a big winner as he continues to cement his status as the biggest winner online this year.
Dwan extracted $588k in an impressive 2,309 hands last night in everything from $100/$200 Cap PLO to $500/$1,000 PLO. He is once again approaching $4.5 million earned in 2010.
NEKOTYAN was a huge loser (-$382,148) as was Cole South (-$303,870) and Patrik Antonius (-$276,899).
Below are some of the biggest pots on Full Tilt last night. For more hand replays head to our online poker stats page.
Visit PokerListings.com
Macau Poker Cup Set to Begin
The tournament series, running Sept. 1-5, will be highlighted by a HKD $2,000,000 guaranteed main event.
Tournament officials are hoping to build on the success of the recent Macau Millions, which boasted a record-breaking prize pool.
"As we enter the eleventh Macau Poker Cup we have a chance to make it ten consecutive MPCs of growth and prize pool records," said PokerStars Macau marketing manager Fred Leung.
"It's a special and exciting time to be part of the PokerStars team in Macau and work with the amazing organization at Grand Lisboa."
The Macau Poker Cup will be made up of six events including a $2,000 Knockout Bounty tournament, a $1,000 charity event, a $3k No-Limit Hold'em event, a $1,500 deepstack and finally the $10,000 Red Dragon main event. All the events will take place at the Grand Lisboa hotel in Macau and all buy ins are in Hong Kong dollars.
All events at the Macau Poker Cup count towards the Asia Player of the Year (APOY) race. The winner of the APOY will receive a one-year sponsorship from PokerStars Macau. Raymond Wu is currently leading the competition with 2,604.
Team PokerStars Pros Bryan Huang, Celina Lin and Tae Joon Noh have all been confirmed to play the Macau Poker Cup as well as notables like Nam Le, J.C. Tran and Quinn Do.
"Macau Poker Cup and the Red Dragon event have really built a name for itself," said Huang. "Playing the MPC at PokerStars Macau really means playing the best in Asia. The person who eventually wins the Asia Player of the Year will certainly deserve the trophy. I'm obviously hoping that person is me."
Last year Kenichi Takarabe of Japan outlasted 295 players to take home a HK$617,700 first place prize in the main event of the Macau Poker Cup.
Visit PokerListings.com
Bay 101 Open in Full Swing
The smaller tournament series, which started on Monday, offers eight separate events with buy-ins ranging from $345 to $2,000.
The $2,000 buy-in Spread Limit Championship is scheduled to take place this Sunday. In addition to the regular prizepool, the winner will take home a $10,000 seat into the 2011 WPT Shooting Star event.
Three events have already been completed with Joe Basa taking Event 1 for $16,230, Leonard Levenson winning Event 2 for a $10,250 and Phong Ly claiming Event 3 for $9,630.
The rest of the week will include a $500 buy-in Spread Limit Shootout on Friday, a $1,000 Spread Limit Hold'em event on Saturday and the $2,000 championship event on Sunday.
Last year Taylor Raines outlasted nearly 100 players to take down a $50,430 first place prize in the Bay 101 Open championship event.
For more information check the Bay 101 website.
Visit PokerListings.com
Stock Trader Books WPT Legends Win
New Yorker Andy Frankenberger, who left Wall Street behind to become a day trader, picking up poker in the process, left the Bicycle Casino $750,000 richer following the win.
"I'm just in shock right now," he said.
The $5k main event at WPT Legends drew a total of 462 entrants this year, creating a $2,151,072 prize pool.
Frankenberger led the final table coming in, but lost that advantage in the early going.
He managed to edge back into the lead three-handed before hitting a club flush against 2003 Legends finalist Tom Lee to get heads-up against 2008 Legends finalist Kyle Wilson in dominating position .
Frankenberger admitted that hand was the key to the victory.
"They say you have to catch some cards to win one of these things," he said. "I needed that club against Tom to stay alive and I caught one there."
Going in with a better than 3:1 chip lead, Frankenberger took care of Wilson after just a few hands heads up.
With a WPT title now under his belt and $750,000 added to what was a little under $200k in career tournament earnings before this week, Frankenberger says his future should include a few more major tournaments.
"You will be seeing a lot more of me for sure," he laughed.
Next up for the WPT is the inaugural London Poker Classic Aug. 30 - Sept.5.
Here's how the final table finished at Legends:
1 Andy Frankenberger $750,000
2 Kyle Wilson $370,000
3 Tom Lee $174,772
4 Tom Braband $109,000
5 Jared Jaffee $86,000
6 Franco Brunetti $63,000
Visit PokerListings.com
Antonius Hammered for $668k
Antonius played an epic 908-hand session of $500/$1,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo last night against Cole South, NEKOTYAN, EazyPeazy, Gus Hansen and Phil Ivey.
It wasn't pretty for Antonius and by the time the dust had settled he was down an astounding $697,887.
Antonius went on to play $200/$400 Cap PLO Six-Max and managed to recoup some of his losses but still finished down $668k for the day.
The Finnish Team Full Tilt Pro now finds himself up only $170,071 on the year and is also still down $2 million in the durrrr Challenge with approximately 15,000 hands to go.
CardRunners instructor Cole South was the biggest winner of the PLO Hi-Lo session as he took down $523,404.
Despite his tremendous PLO Hi-Lo session, South still finished down $150,000 thanks to some earlier losses in $200/$400 Cap PLO Six-Max.
NEKOTYAN was the biggest overall winner with $308k in profit.
Gus Hansen continued his downward trend by losing $168k. Hansen admittedly ran poorly but the Great Dane is now down $1.3 million in 2010. He might want to consider taking a brief break from the tables.
Below are some of the biggest pots on Full Tilt last night. For more hand replays head to our online poker stats page.
Visit PokerListings.com
IPT San Remo Wraps with All-Italian Final
The 34 year-old Italian banked the €200,000 win, outlasting a field of 396 players that generated a €768,240 prize pool.
PokerStars Qualifier Stefano Demontis took second place for €120,000.
A total of 67 players won seats to the event on PokerStars.
Next up for the IPT is Nova Gorica Sept. 22-27.
However, 64 players entered the new IPT Pro League event in San Remo Wednesday.
The €3,200+€300 tournament is a new high-roller style competition aimed at testing the skills of the best Italian players.
The final table will be broadcast on Italian television.
Visit PokerListings.com
WPT Legends: The Not-So Anonymous Final Six
And while the names are not the most recognizable in the game, it's filled with veteran players looking to take the next step in their career.
Headlining the final is Canadian Kyle Wilson, who will be looking to better the sixth place finish he managed at Legends two years ago with a win here.
"I really feel like last time I was ready to take that next step and make a major final table," he told PokerListings. "Now I'm ready to take it even further and win this thing.
"I've played under the lights before and in front of the cameras and I'm ready to take that next step."
Although he's quite close, Wilson will be looking up at a very confident chip leader Andy Frankenberger - A Wall Street trader turned poker player with $198,438 in cashes, the majority from a win in the Venetian Deepstack this summer.
"I'm not (nervous) about poker, that's for sure," he said. "I can't reveal too much of my plan, but these guys don't have a good read on me. I'll say that."
Also slightly above Wilson in the counts is Tom Lee, who also finished sixth here back in 2003.
The 66-year-old Lee, who has over $230k in earnings total, has battled illness over the past six years, but is back with a bang now and said he feels extremely confident.
The group of three players behind the leaders all sit within striking distance and includes a suddenly very experienced sounding Jared Jaffe, who made second at the Wynn Classic this year and fourth at the WPT Southern Poker Championships in Biloxi this past January, accounting for most of his almost $500k in career cashes.
"I'll definitely be feeling more comfortable having been there before," said Jaffe. "You never know how you're going to react to playing on TV the first time."
Playing under the lights for the first time will be Tom Braband, who has almost $200k in career earnings, with his biggest score a 23rd place finish here at Legends last year.
"I'm just going to try and focus on the players at the table and pick my spots," he said. "I feel like I have a good read on these guys. I know it's going to be loud in there and I've never played in front of the cameras before but I'm not going to confuse nervousness with excitement. I'll be ready to play."
Plus, L.A. restaurateur Franco Brunetti, who has over $600k in mostly Californian live tournament cashes dating all the way back to 2003, is in the same boat.
"I'm not nervous now, we'll see tomorrow," he said. "I've played in big tournaments before. I'm just going to do my thing."
The $5k main event at WPT Legends drew a total of 462 entrants this year, creating a $2,151,072 prize pool with $750,000 reserved for first.
The final six will play to a winner in L.A, beginning at 4 p.m. PT Wednesday.
For chip counts, live updates and photos from Legends; click through to PokerListings' WPT Live Updates.
Visit PokerListings.com
Skjervøy Sails to $200k Win
The young Norwegian pro hit the $200/$400 Cap PLO Six-Max tables and recorded over 1,329 hands. He eventually left with a $201,250 profit.
It was no cake-walk for Torbergsen who had to beat players such as Phil Galfond, Patrik Antonius and Phil Ivey over the course of the evening.
Torbergsen is one of the lesser-known pros in the high stakes online scene but he's actually a full-time instructor with CardRunners.
Born in the town of Skjervøy in Norway, Torbergsen emerged on the high stakes online poker scene in Spring of this year and quickly lost nearly $200k. He righted the ship near the end of the summer and, thanks to last night, is currently up $379,083 on the year.
It was all about the young guns on Full Tilt yesterday as Skjervøy, harrington25 ($154k), URnotINdanger2 ($119k) and Urindanger ($59k) were the biggest winners.
Meanwhile numerous members of the old guard were down a considerable amount. Luukie21 took the biggest hit with $229k in losses while Ziigmund lost $118k, Phil Ivey lost $88k, Patrik Antonius lost $85k and Phil "OMGClayAiken" Galfond lost $81k.
Below are some of the biggest pots on Full Tilt last night. For more hand replays head to our online poker stats page.
Visit PokerListings.com
Little Chases Record Third WPT at Legends
Having already booked World Poker Tour wins at The Mirage and Foxwoods, Jonathan Little has a shot to tie Gus Hansen and Carlos Mortensen with his third WPT title win at the Bike in Los Angeles this week, currently sitting second in chips.
The final 15 at Legends is largely made up of unknowns, including current chip leader Andrew Frankenberger, as big names like Erica Schoenberg, Joe Hachem, Elliot Smith, Joe Sebok, Marco Johnson, Allen Kessler, David Sands and November Niner Soi Nguyen all busted Monday.
However, Little and Kyle Wilson, who made sixth here two years ago, remain in contention.
The $5k main event at WPT Legends drew a total of 462 entrants this year, creating a $2,151,072 prize pool with $750,000 reserved for first.
The final table of six will be set Tuesday.
To follow all the action, click through to PokerListings' WPT Live Updates.
Here's how the chip counts stack up heading into the 1 p.m. PT start:
Andrew Frankenberger 1,958,000
Jonathan Little 1,314,000
Steve Reitzfeld 1,200,000
John Smith 1,005,000
Tom Braband 936,000
Adam Schiffer 868,000
Franco Brunetti 795,000
Kyle McCammond 615,000
Tyler Cornell 581,000
Hoan Ly 523,000
Jared Jaffee 492,000
Tom Lee 396,000
Florentino Ornelas 351,000
Ben Keiley 321,000
Wade Woelfel 279,000
Visit PokerListings.com
Comfort Zone: Wilson Deep At WPT Legends Again
Canadian Kyle Wilson, a high school and college basketball star who found millions in online poker at the start of the boom, found himself in all too familiar territory today.
Wilson made sixth at Legends two years ago, and with a legitimate shot at a second final table at the Bicycle Casino in Los Angeles, he says he's really feeling the California vibe.
"It's weird," he said. "I guess everybody has some place that they are comfortable.
"I actually didn't even play (Legends) last year, so I feel like every time I come here I'm going to go deep. I feel that way about Bay 101 too. Certain spots you're just comfortable."
For some players in Wilson's position, that might not be the case.
The 2008 Legends of Poker final ended for him in sixth place when he got it in very good, holding kings against ace-jack.
However, an ace on the flop crushed his hopes.
Two years later, Wilson has put the bad beat well behind him.
"It hurt really bad," he said. "But you get over it eventually. The truth is I still had a good payday there."
Now, his sights are firmly set on this year being even bigger than 2008.
"I want to beat my result from two years ago," he said. "That's my goal right now. Just make the final table, beat my sixth place result and try to win a title."
While relatively unknown outside of two-time WPT title holder Jonathan Little, Wilson says the remaining 15 players at Legends are tough.
As a result, one of online poker's first millionaires will try to add to his $627,400 in career live tournament earnings the old fashion way.
"I'm just going to play my game and try to get through to the final table," he said.
Visit PokerListings.com
Ivey Derailed for $786,935
The celebrated Team Full Tilt Pro was up $1.6 million in August, prior to this weekend, and decided to get involved in some huge games against Clockwyze, Phil "OMGClayAiken" Galfond, Sam "URnotINdanger2" Palmer, Cole South and Hac "trex313" Dang.
It didn't matter whether Ivey was playing $200/$400 Cap PLO Six-Max, Heads-up or $500/$1,000 Cap No-Limit Hold'em he was losing.
After 2,832 hands over two days, Ivey found himself down a stunning $785k. The online tables will be watched closely this week to see if Ivey attempts to recoup his losses or takes a break.
Meanwhile Ilari "Ziigmund" Sahamies recorded his first big win of the month by destroying his competition in Cap PLO for a weekend haul of $365,051.
Sahamies wasn't the biggest winner over the past few days, however, as online player O Fortuna PLS cruised to a $483,809 score. Essentially all of O Fortuna PLS's profits came from Tom "durrrr" Dwan in $2,000/$4,000 Limit Hold'em.
Incredibly durrrr still finished the weekend about even thanks to his success in other games.
Below are some of the biggest pots on Full Tilt from this weekend. For more hand replays head to our online poker stats page.
Visit PokerListings.com
The Sunday Scoop: Lodden Nearly a Lock
The Norwegian made the biggest online final table of them all - the PokerStars Sunday Million.
Lodden, who made a deep run in the WSOP Main Event this year, entered the final table as one of the middle stacks with 10 million but doubled up one of the short stacks in the first hand.
After four eliminations, Lodden would finally succumb to the rail in fifth place when he shoved with A-9 and had the misfortune of getting called by a player with A-T.
Lodden took home $62,384 for his efforts although he's likely still kicking himself for not being able to close the tournament out.
In the end online player pvas2 proved to be the sole survivor out of the 7,798 entrants and secured the $233,943 first-place prize.
The PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up was also buzzing yesterday with 3,984 runners. Chris "Moorman1" Moorman was the biggest pro to go deep and he ended up just missing the final table coming in 12th place.
YugiohPro was the ultimate victor taking home $104,060 after a three-way deal.
Meanwhile over on Full Tilt the $750,000 Guaranteed drew 3,421 players, which provided a small overlay for the field.
UB pro Matt "mattg1983" Graham was the most notable player to make the final table and he ended up coming in fourth place for $41,400. Online player sasodiits won the tournament for $132,787.
The other big Full Tilt tournament - the Sunday Brawl - saw TMoney209 take home $102,677 for coming in first place.
Finally over on UB, UBOC5 was in full swing with Event 7: $100k Guaranteed and Event 8: $500k Guaranteed on the go.
ALLRGCTONUTS outlasted all 246 runners in Event 7 to take home a $30,524 first place prize.
Event 8 drew 583 players including well known online grinders such as Michael Tureniec and Justin Allen. In the end it was Jeremy "daisyxoxo" Fitzpatrick (who plays on UB as DUHDUHDAISY) who took top honors for $116,710.
Visit PokerListings.com