Poker News

Jared Jaffee Leads WPT Southern Poker Championship with 27 Left

Twenty-seven players remain in the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) Southern Poker Championship. Jared Jaffee leads the way entering the play down day on Tuesday, with Tyler Smith hot on his heels.

Smith made the final table of last year’s Southern Poker Championship, which featured Allen “AawwNutz” Carter coming out on top. Smith finished fifth and earned $134,000, the first and only WPT cash of his career. Smith told WPT Live Updates Hostess Amanda Leatherman following Monday’s action, “I started the day with 90,000 and early, I got crushed. The first level, I dropped down to 45,000 and then I won a race with nines against A-10, which doubled me up to 100,000. Right after that, I pulled off a full house and got action from four people, so that catapulted me to 230,000.”

Smith amassed a healthy stack at the expense of WPT Season 6 Player of the Year Jonathan “FieryJustice” Little. Smith was all-in pre-flop with A-K against Little’s A-Q. The board ran out K-K-Q-2-J and Smith’s trip kings were good enough to scoop the pot. The hand pushed Smith to 365,000 chips and he ended the day with 462,500, trailing only Jaffee’s 546,000.

Jaffee sent Team PokerStars Pro member Chad Brown to the rails after his pocket aces withstood Brown’s pocket eights. The board came K-J-5-7-K and the better pocket pair held to take down the pot. The hand propelled Jaffee to 463,000 in chips; he piled on another 80,000 before the day was through. Jaffee sent an opponent with pocket kings to the rail holding pocket aces. He spiked a one-outer on the river for the win after Tommy Vedes claimed that he mucked A-5 pre-flop.

The money bubble will burst today, as the top 18 players will walk away with cash. Among those vying for the $739,000 top prize is Ryan “g0lfa” D’Angelo, who is fresh off a fifth place showing in the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Main Event. D’Angelo sent Keith Lehr to the rails after Lehr called all-in on a board of 10-3-2-K-Q with four hearts. D’Angelo flipped up the ace of hearts for the nut flush, while Lehr mucked. D’Angelo owns a stack of 304,500 entering Tuesday’s play, good for eighth in the WPT Southern Poker Championship.

Crowd favorite Daniel Negreanu was once again involved in an unorthodox hand. In it, he pushed pre-flop, was called by the original raiser in the hand, and Justin “Boosted J” Smith shoved over the top. The original raiser promptly pulled out a phone to crunch the numbers before being stopped by tournament officials. He ultimately called, putting Negreanu at risk with A-10 of diamonds against A-K of clubs and pocket queens. The board ran out five cards eight or lower and Negreanu hit the exit.

Who remains in the hunt, you ask? Here are the chip counts after two days of play, according to the official website of the WPT:

1. Jared Jaffee - 546,000
2. Tyler Smith - 462,500
3. Jonathan Kantor - 412,500
4. Corwin “mig.com” Mackey - 380,000
5. Tommy Vedes - 336,500
6. Sam Rashid - 319,500
7. Shawn Quillin - 307,000
8. Ryan “g0lfa” D’Angelo - 304,500
9. Justin “Boosted J” Smith - 280,000
10. Hoyt Corkins - 276,000
11. Dwyte Pilgrim - 246,000
12. Ken Harbaugh - 244,000
13. James Reed - 221,500
14. Dan O'Brien - 205,500
15. Jerry Vanstrydonck - 202,500
16. Vitor Coelho - 201,000
17. Ayaz Mahmood - 199,000
18. Narinder Khasria - 190,000
19. Seamus Cahill - 171,000
20. Kathy Liebert - 123,500
21. James Guinther - 123,000
22. Andy Philachack - 120,000
23. James Blackmon - 95,500
24. J.J. Liu - 93,000
25. Benjamin Tollerene - 86,500
26. Ken Perry - 70,500
27. Brian “SNo0oWMAN” Hawkins - 70,000

When play concluded on Monday, the blinds were at 1,500-3,000 with a 400 ante. The cards hit the air on Tuesday at 2:00pm CT from the Beau Rivage in Biloxi, Mississippi.

Harrison Gimbel, Barry Shulman Among PCA Day 4 Leaders

A total of 62 players remain out of the 1,529 who began the 2010 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) Main Event. A host of brand name players survived Day 3, including 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Europe Main Event winner Barry Shulman.

Day 3 played out on Friday from the Atlantis Resort and Casino, just across the harbor from Nassau in the Bahamas. One of the final eliminations of the day was Amnon Filippi, who shoved all-in over the top of a raise by Bryce Yockey. His opponent came along and Filippi showed pocket eights against Yockey’s K-Q of spades, setting up a classic race situation. The flop came king-high, propelling Yockey into the lead, and a running 10-3 didn’t help Filippi’s cause. His 67th place finish was worth $33,000 in the $10,000 buy-in poker tournament.

Shulman, whose son Jeff Shulman reached the final table of the 2009 WSOP Main Event in Las Vegas, sent Greg Dyer packing during the last level of play and crossed the one-million chip threshold. He finished with nearly 1.7 million, with the entire field trailing Harrison Gimbel’s tally of 2.6 million. Gimbel trumped former Bodog pro Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo in one hand after Bonomo check-called a bet of 25,000 on a flop of Q-4-6 with two hearts. The turn was the deuce of spades, leading to another check-call from Bonomo, this time for 41,000. The river was the three of hearts and Bonomo checked. Gimbel fired out a bet of 70,000 and Bonomo called, only to see his opponent flip up Q-J for top pair.

Eliminated in 91st place in the Bahamas was 2009 WSOP Main Event November Nine member and Full Tilt Poker pro Phil Ivey. Ivey doubled up Bill Gazes with A-Q against Gazes’ K-J when a king hit on the river. Ivey had Gazes covered by a minuscule 2,000 chips and Ivey hit the rails on the next hand. Ivey, considered by many to be the world’s premier all-around player, added another $23,500 to his bankroll for his efforts in Nassau.

Two women remain among the 62 Day 3 survivors, Amanda Baker and Liz Lieu. Lieu owns a stack of 536,000 entering the fourth day of play in the 2010 PCA Main Event and will head to Table 7, where her competition will include Shulman. Meanwhile, Baker will come armed with 1.3 million chips and be seated at Table 6, which also features Gimbel, Eric “EFro” Froehlich, and Jonathan “FatalError” Aguiar.

Here are the top ten chip stacks entering Day 4 on Saturday:

1. Harrison Gimbel - 2,625,000
2. Matthew Haugen - 2,149,000
3. Ryan D'Angelo - 2,092,000
4. Praz Bansi - 2,003,000
5. Barry Shulman - 1,655,000
6. Eric “EFro” Froehlich - 1,331,000
7. Amanda Baker - 1,306,000
8. James Tolbert - 1,284,000
9. John Duthie - 1,210,000
10. Kent Emil Lundmark - 1,158,000

Notable names remaining in the 2010 PCA field, along with their chip counts, include:

Jeff Madsen - 930,000
Robert Mizrachi - 876,000
Amit “amak316” Makhija - 800,000
Aaron “aejones” Jones - 651,000
Alex Brenes - 559,000
Jonathan “FatalError” Aguiar - 544,000
Liz Lieu - 536,000
Wayne Bentley - 509,000
Dean Hamrick - 433,000
Bill Gazes - 288,000
Johnny Lodden - 286,000
Peter “Nordberg” Feldman - 221,000
Huck Seed - 216,000

Among those whose 2010 PCA Main Event title hopes were dashed on Friday included Daniel Negreanu, 2008 WSOP Main Event November Nine member Dennis Phillips, Victor Ramdin, Dario Minieri, Russian sensation Ivan Demidov, Vicky Coren, Luis Medina, ESPN baseball analyst Orel Hershiser, and PokerStars poker pro Steven Paul-Ambrose.

At the time of writing on Saturday, players remaining in the Bahamas poker tournament were in Level 23 and blinds were 12,000-24,000 with a 3,000 ante. All Day 4 runners were assured a payout of at least $38,000.

Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest PCA coverage.

PokerStars amfAR Charity Poker Tournament Attracts Star-Studded Lineup

On Friday night during the 2010 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA), a charity poker tournament benefiting amfAR, a foundation for AIDS research, will play out. The field is capped at 39 entrants.

Since 1985, amfAR has invested nearly $290 million and has awarded grants to more than 2,000 research teams worldwide. Now, poker players will have a chance to give to the cause as part of a star-studded $5,250 buy-in charity tournament that will be filmed for television and beamed across cyberspace via EPTlive. The PCA is in the midst of Day 3 of its $10,000 buy-in Main Event, which attracted a starting field of 1,529 players, a new European Poker Tour (EPT) record.

Unlike a traditional poker tournament, the amfAR benefit takes on a shootout format. A total of 39 players will assemble across four tables. The last two standing at each table will move onto the final round. At the first table, each player is awarded 50,000 starting chips and the price of poker goes up every 20 minutes. At the final table, combatants will receive the same 50,000 chips, but blind levels will instead last a half-hour. Fifty percent of the prize pool will go straight to amfAR and all players are encouraged to donate 1% of their winnings to the charity. One television table and three outer tables can be found at the Atlantis Resort and Casino on Paradise Island in the Bahamas tonight.

On Saturday night, former Destiny’s Child member Kelly Rowland will be performing at a PokerStars-sponsored party at the resort. Tonight, Rowland will put her poker skills to the test in the amfAR charity event. Other celebrity poker players who will take to the felts this evening include Entourage actor Adrian "Vince" Grenier, former Guns and Roses guitarist Slash, “24” star Carlos Bernard, and former Playboy Playmate of the Year and “PokerStars.net Million Dollar Challenge” personality Jayde Nicole. New PokerStars North American Poker Tour (NAPT) television hostess Joanna Krupa can also be found among the personalities in attendance in the charity poker event.

Professionals taking to the felts include reigning World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event champion Joe Cada, a card-carrying member of Team PokerStars Pro. Cada is fresh off mainstream media appearances on programs like the “Late Show with David Letterman” and “ESPN SportsCenter” and he recently toured Capitol Hill on behalf of the Poker Players Alliance (PPA). Also, look for tennis stud Boris Becker, former hockey star Mats Sundin, and former soccer player Teddy Sheringham. All are members of Team PokerStars SportsStars and will be in attendance raising money for amfAR.

Several PokerStars-sponsored pros besides Cada and the world’s sports heroes will make their way to the tournament area tonight, including Costa Rican sensation Humberto Brenes, Brazil’s Alexandre Gomes and Andre Akkari, Swedish pro William Thorson, and the Netherlands’ Pieter de Korver. Also taking part are five online qualifiers, who will almost certainly be overwhelmed by the amount of celebrity and poker firepower in attendance.

Members of the media were advised to show up no later than 5:45pm local time in order to snap pictures of players as they arrived. No interviews were available, as PokerStars will hold a formal red carpet outside of the Aura Nightclub at 7:00pm on Saturday prior to Rowland’s performance.

At the time of writing, Bryce Yockey from the United States paced the field in the 2010 PCA Main Event with a chip stack of one million. Others in the top ten included 2009 WSOP Main Event November Nine member Phil Ivey, UB.com pro Matt “mattg1983” Graham, and two-time bracelet winner Eric “EFro” Froehlich. A total of 190 players remain and blinds are 3,000-6,000 with a 500 ante.

Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest news, notes, and nuggets from the 2010 PCA.

Anibal Tacla Leads PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Day 1B Survivors

The 2010 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) will go down as the largest in history, as 1,529 entrants took to the felts. Anibal Tacla from Curitiba, Brazil, the same hometown as Team PokerStars Pro member Alexandre Gomes, led Day 1B’s finishers.

Tacla, a shopping mall owner, amassed 166,000 chips during play on Wednesday to lead the way, although he is still well short of Wayne Bentley’s Day 1A total of 329,500. The prize pool of the 2010 PCA is around $15 million. Last year, 1,347 players took to the felts in what was the largest PCA ever held. In the end, Canadian Poorya Nazari defeated American Anthony Gregg to bank the $3 million top prize; Gregg earned a $1.7 million consolation prize and the top three finishers were instant poker-made millionaires.

2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event champion Joe Cada gave the traditional “Shuffle Up and Deal” command to start play on Wednesday. A bevy of superstars took to the felts, including Full Tilt Poker’s Mike Matusow and Tom “durrrr” Dwan, along with Freddy Deeb, Scotty Nguyen, and former Playboy Playmate of the Year Jayde Nicole, who served as a celebrity player on the “PokerStars.net Million Dollar Challenge.”

Just after 2:30pm in the Bahamas, rapper Nelly was eliminated from the 2010 PCA Main Event. "If you wanna go and take a rid wit’ him," you can now find the St. Louis native on the beach after he shoved with A-K for top two pair on a board reading A-4-5-K. However, he was up against the stone cold nuts, 2-3. Needing to spike an ace or king on the river to stay alive, Nelly watched as the final card blanked out, sending him to the exits. Must be the money!

Speaking of money, “PokerStars.net Million Dollar Challenge” $1 million winner Mike Kosowski, a 9/11 first responder, also could be found on the felts on Wednesday. With his chip stack dwindling to 6,500, or roughly one-fifth of the starting amount, Kosowski told PokerStars officials, "I turned the nut flush and then this guy rivers a full house. That was pretty brutal and I've been playing a short stack as a result for the last three or four hours." Kosowski did not survive Day 1B, although his $1 million prize for besting PokerStars front man Daniel Negreanu and a once-in-a-lifetime trip to the Bahamas most likely helped ease his pain.

Also bounced prematurely were Cada, Gomes, Boris Becker, Leo Fernandez, and Lex Veldhuis. Fernandez went out in especially brutal fashion, getting it all-in with A-K of diamonds, but losing to A-K offsuit when his opponent made a spade flush. The flop came all spades and a fourth fell on the river.

Here are the top ten chip stacks entering a combined Day 2 field on Thursday. Play kicks off at Noon ET inside the Atlantis Resort and Casino in the Bahamas:

1. Wayne Bentley – 329,500
2. Amnon Filippi – 220,100
3. Kevin “BeL0WaB0Ve” Saul – 175,500
4. Mike Chappus – 168,700
5. Anibal Tacla – 166,000
6. Eric “EFro” Froehlich – 166,000
7. Dustin Dorrance-Bowman – 163,700
8. Eric Buchman – 159,100
9. Ryan “Ryanbluf” Karp – 147,600
10. Matt “mattg1983” Graham – 146,700

Notable names perched near the top of the chip counts, along with their totals heading into Day 2, include:

Annette “Annette_15” Obrestad – 124,900
Paul Wasicka – 116,300
Phil Ivey – 115,700
Craig Marquis – 114,300
Barry Shulman – 113,000
Dennis Phillips – 113,000
Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo – 111,200
Dario Minieri – 109,800
J.C. Alvarado – 109,600
Vivek “Psyduck” Rajkumar – 106,400

When play was halted for the night on Day 1A and Day 1B, the blinds were 400-800 with a 100 ante at the end of Level 8. The tournament will crown a champion on Monday. Although PokerStars has not released an official payout structure, first place will likely receive well over $3 million.

Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest 2010 PCA coverage.

An Online Qualifier Takes Down Day 1A of the PCA

Total of 668 players started the first part of the first day of the tournament, all with 30,000 chips. Wayne Bentley, a PokerStars qualifier from the UK, had a nice start, when after just ten minutes of play he found pocket aces and ran them into pocket kings for a doubled up.

At the end of the day Bentley (pictured) had managed to build a huge stack of 329,500 chips - almost 11 times the amount he started with. Bentley’s chip lead is quire significant as his nearest challenger, an accomplished tournament pro Amnon Filippi, ended the day with around 220,000 chips in his stack.

Kevin Saul, who made to the final table last year at the PCA, ended the day third in chips. Erich Froehlich, two-time bracelet winner, who once was the youngest bracelet winner of all time, and November Nine 2009 member Eric Buchman also had a good day, finishing 4th and 6th respectively.

Daniel Negreanu also fared well, as he just missed the top ten by ranking 12th, and he comments in his blog that he felt his table was “kind of juicy, with no real pros to speak of and no young online phenoms to deal with”. He felt like his table was very passive and because of that Negreanu was playing more aggressively than he normally does.

Here is the top top of the day 1A of PCA:

1. Wayne Bentley UK 329500
2. Amnon Filippi USA  220100
3. Kevin Saul USA 175500
4. Eric Froehlich USA 166000
5. Dustin Dorrance-Bowman USA 163700
6. Eric Buchman USA 159100
7. Gardar Geir Hauksson Iceland 138900
8. Jacob S Avital USA 137700
9. Christian Schwarz Spain 133200
10. Rafal Michalowski USA 129300

Source: pokerstarsblog, negreanublog

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An Online Qualifier Takes Down Day 1A of the PCA

Kevin Saul, Amnon Filippi Among PCA Day 1A Leaders

Day 1A of the 2010 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) played out on Tuesday, with 668 players taking to the felts inside the Atlantis Resort and Casino in the Bahamas. Wayne Bentley, a PokerStars qualifier from Britain, leads the way with 329,500 chips.

Bentley nearly amassed 11 times the starting stack of 30,000 in the $10,000 buy-in poker tournament after eight levels of play. He held pocket aces and eliminated a player with pocket kings within the first few minutes of Day 1A, doubling his stack to 60,000, and he never looked back. Team PokerStars Pro member Daniel Negreanu issued the traditional “Shuffle up and deal” command moments earlier. At the end of Day 1A, 430 players remained in the hunt.

Bentley sits comfortably in front of the second place stack of Amnon Filippi, who held a pile of 220,100 chips at the end of Day 1A. The accomplished poker pro was nearly 50,000 chips ahead of online poker pro Kevin “BeL0WaB0Ve” Saul, the winner of the 2007 installment of the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) Bellagio Cup for $1.3 million. Last year, Saul finished eighth in the PCA Main Event for $234,000, outlasting all but seven of the 1,347 players who entered.

Team PokerStars Sports Stars will be out in full force on Wednesday for Day 1B, as German tennis legend Boris Becker, Swedish NHL star Mats Sundin, Dutch hockey pro Fatima De Melo, baseball commentator Orel Hershiser, and U.K. football legend Teddy Sheringham will all take to the felts. Also entering on Day 1B is Mike Kosowski, the winner of Season 1 of the “PokerStars.net Million Dollar Challenge.” Kosowski earned $1 million after defeating Negreanu heads-up in the finale of the poker game show last month.

2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event November Nine member Eric Buchman sits in sixth place after Day 1A with 159,100 chips. The PokerStars sponsored player finished fourth in the $10,000 buy-in feature tournament in Las Vegas in November, adding $2.5 million to his net worth. The event was ultimately won by Joe Cada, who will take to the felts for Day 1B today. Joining him will be pros like Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier, Humberto Brenes, and Victor Ramdin. Also playing is rapper Nelly, who has become somewhat of a staple on the poker circuit in recent months.

Here were the top ten chip stacks in the Bahamas after the smoke had cleared on Day 1A of the 2010 PCA Main Event:

1. Wayne Bentley - 329,500
2. Amnon Filippi - 220,100
3. Kevin Saul - 175,500
4. Eric Froehlich - 166,000
5. Dustin Dorrance-Bowman - 163,700
6. Eric Buchman - 159,100
7. Garðar Geir Hauksson - 138,900
8. Jacob Avital - 137,700
9. Christian Schwarz - 133,200
10. Rafal Michalowski - 129,300

The PCA is a stop on both the European Poker Tour (EPT) and Latin American Poker Tour (LAPT) and, as such, has attracted a global field. Still remaining after Day 1A are players from the United States, United Kingdom, Iceland, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Germany, Ukraine, Brazil, Canada, Sweden, Mexico, Turks and Caicos, Russia, Finland, Argentina, France, Norway, Switzerland, Slovakia, Poland, Denmark, Hungary, Czech Republic, Ireland, Belgium, New Zealand, Romania, Australia, Slovenia, Greece, Costa Rica, Austria, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Curiously absent is a representative from the host nation, the Bahamas.

Last year’s champion, Poorya Nazari, hails from Canada and nearly tripled his stack on Day 1A. Notable players who survived the first starting day, along with their chip counts, include:

Dennis Phillips – 113,000
Dario Minieri – 109,800
Vivek “Psyduck” Rajkumar – 106,400
Poorya Nazari – 89,300
Barry Greenstein – 89,200
Jeff Madsen – 79,400
John Duthie – 60,100
Marcel Luske – 55,600
Gavin Smith – 54,000
Jean-Robert Bellande – 53,900
Kevin Schaffel – 53,200
Bernard Lee – 46,800
Amit “amak316” Makhija – 42,000
Steven Paul-Ambrose – 37,900
“Miami” John Cernuto – 36,500
Chris “moorman1” Moorman – 34,700
Ivan Demidov – 27,600
Tom McEvoy – 19,900
Huck Seed – 16,000
Jeff “yellowsub” Williams – 13,100

Play wrapped up in Level 8, when blinds were 400-800 with a 100-chip ante. Day 1B will encompass the same eight levels before the field merges for Day 2 on Thursday.

PartyPoker Cash Machine Returns, Features Booster Bonus

In January, PartyPoker, one of the world’s longstanding online poker sites, returns the popular Cash Machine promotion. This time, hardcore grinders will earn additional cash as part of a Booster Bonus.

The Cash Machine promotion last ran during the month of September and shelled out a bevy of added funds to PartyPoker players. The promotion returns on January 4th and will run through the end of the month. All players have to do is earn 10 or more PartyPoints on at least 10 days during the 28-day period. Then, PartyPoker officials will take a look at the PartyPoint totals of the 10 highest-earning days and match the lowest one at the rate of $1 per point.

As an example, if a player’s 10 highest PartyPoint total days were 100, 100, 100, 150, 150, 150, 200, 200, 200, and 200, PartyPoker would award a $100 cash bonus, matching the lowest amount. The minimum payout is $10 and there is no maximum amount that PartyPoker will match. For those players who are unable to meet the $10 minimum, a generous consolation prize exists. Text found on PartyPoker’s website explains, “If you can achieve 10 qualifying days of one PartyPoint or more, but fail to earn the minimum cash reward, we’ll give you a seat in our $25,000 Cash Machine freeroll, which takes place at 15:00 ET on Wednesday, 3rd February.”

The Cash Machine Booster Bonus is available to players who earn at least 1,000 PartyPoints per day on 20 out of the 28 days of the promotion. Players who earn between 1,000 and 1,500 PartyPoints for 20 days will earn a $500 Booster Bonus. Players who rack up between 1,500 and 2,000 PartyPoints for 20 days will get a $1,100 Booster Bonus. Players who amass between 2,000 and 2,500 PartyPoints for 20 days will take home a $2,000 Booster Bonus. Players who earn between 2,500 and 3,000 PartyPoints will receive a $3,000 Booster Bonus and those able to surpass 3,000 PartyPoints for 20 days will nab a colossal $5,000 Booster Bonus.

The Cash Machine is an opt-in promotion and players can register for it at any time prior to its conclusion. Once they opt in, PartyPoker will credit players with all PartyPoints earned during the 28 days, regardless of when they sign up. Each qualifying day runs from 00:00 ET to 23:59 ET and days do not have to be consecutive in order to count. All funds earned will be dropped into players’ accounts within 48 hours of the Cash Machine promotion ending.

One day prior to the Cash Machine promotion kicking off, the PartyPoker Monthly Million will play out. The $640 buy-in tournament takes place on the first Sunday of every month and boasts a Championship blind structure. Players begin with 20,000 chips and blinds start at 25-50. The price of poker increases every 20 minutes and antes kick in at Level 6, when blinds are 250-500.

Qualifiers for the Monthly Million run constantly on PartyPoker. Popular ways to enter include a daily Monthly Million Qualifier, a $70 buy-in satellite with at least 19 seats on the line. A Mega Friday Satellite also takes place weekly, featuring a $55 buy-in and 20 seats guaranteed. On Saturdays, two qualifiers take place on PartyPoker offering a combined 18 seats. Country-specific freerolls and daily player point qualifiers also send players to the Monthly Million. Mark your calendars for Sunday, January 3rd, the next running of the Monthly Million.

According to the traffic ranking site PokerScout.com, PartyPoker is the fourth largest site worldwide, with a seven-day running average of 4,500 real money ring game players. It is the second largest not to accept players from the United States, trailing only the massive iPoker Network.

PartyPoker claims World Poker Tour Host and new Poker Hall of Fame inductee Mike Sexton as its ambassador and is currently qualifying players for the L.A. Poker Classic.

Wheeling Island Casino to Host Darvin Moon Poker Challenge

World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event runner-up Darvin Moon may not be up for representing an online poker site, but he seems content to lend his name to a brick-and-mortar room.  After wearing the Wheeling Island Hotel and Casino logo during his appearance at this year’s Main Event final table, Moon is playing host at an upcoming tournament series at the West Virginia poker room.

Moon will serve as host and loan his name to the Darvin Moon Poker Challenge.  The tournament series will run from January 14th to 18th and include five No Limit Hold’em tournaments.  The events will feature buy-ins ranging from $125 to $550, culminating in a WSOP satellite with a $130 buy-in.

There is also an added incentive for players to take part in all of the events.  The casino will be awarding points to the top 20 finishers in each tournament.  The person who accumulates the most player points across the first four events gets to face off against Moon in the Ultimate Challenge, a heads-up match in which the winner will walk away with $2,000 offered up by the casino.

The tournaments will feature starting stacks of at least 10,000 chips and none of the Moon events will include rebuys.  However, there will be satellites for the $500 tournament, more than one of which features an optional rebuy.  All of the satellites will take place in the casino’s poker room, while the Challenge events will be held in the casino’s feature showroom.

It has been widely documented that Moon won his seat into the WSOP at a qualifier held at Wheeling Casino and it seems to be the lone exception to Moon’s otherwise stringent no endorsement policy.  Although Moon hails from Maryland, the West Virginia casino is just a couple of hours from his hometown of Oakland.  The property is best known for its greyhound racing track, which is the most profitable dog track in America based on purses paid, but it also offers table games, slots and, of course, poker.

The Jim Beam Poker Room at the Wheeling Island Casino offers a range of cash games year-round, including Seven Card Stud, Hold’em, and Omaha.  The stakes range from $1/$5 to $40/$80 for Stud, $2/$4 to $40/$80 for Limit Hold’em, and $1/$2 to $5/$10 for Pot Limit Omaha, No Limit Omaha, and No Limit Hold’em games.  The room is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week and features 20 tables.

Pre-registration for the Darvin Moon Poker Challenge will open up on January 1st at 12:00pm.  The complete schedule of events is included below. All times are local:

Thursday, January 14th
1:00pm - Satellite for the $500 event - $65 buy-in (one optional rebuy)
7:00pm - Event #1 NHL - 10,000 in Tournament Chips - $125 buy-in (no rebuy)

Friday, January 15th
1:00pm - Satellite for the $500 event - $65 buy-in (one optional rebuy)
7:00pm - Event #2 NHL - 10,000 in Tournament Chips - $125 buy-in (no rebuy)

Saturday, January 16th
10:00am - Turbo satellite - $40 buy-in (no rebuy)
1:00pm - Event #3 NHL - 12,000 in Tournament Chips - $230 buy-in (no rebuy)

Sunday, January 17th
10:00am - Turbo satellite - $65 Buy-in (no re-buy)
1:00pm - Event #4 NHL - 15,000 in Tournament Chips - $550 buy-in (no rebuy)

Monday, January 18th
10:00am - The Ultimate Challenge - $2,000 added
1:00pm - WSOP Super Satellite NHL - 10,000 in Tournament Chips - $130 buy-in (no rebuy)

Face the Ace: Brian Twitty Wins $40,000

We had a chance to catch last weekend’s installment of the NBC poker franchise “Face the Ace.” In the end, Brian Twitty, a real estate appraiser and band member, walked away with $40,000 after defeating Jennifer Harman.

The first contestant to take to the “Face the Ace” stage was Anathan Thangavel from Beverly Hills, California. The recent law school graduate selected the ace of clubs because he was out at a club partying until 5:00am the night before taping. Out strolled 2008 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Player of the Year Erick Lindgren, who has appeared on “Face the Ace” multiple times. Each player began with 20,000 chips and blinds kicked off at 200/400.

Holding 7-9, Thangavel called pre-flop and Lindgren rapped the table with 7-J. The flop came 2-3-7, giving both players top pair, but Lindgren held a better kicker. The Full Tilt Poker pro led out for 1,000, Thangavel raised to 3,000, and Lindgren shoved for 15,200. Lindgren told the challenger that he could see one of his cards and Thangavel picked the jack. Upon seeing the paint card, he quickly sent top pair into the muck.

In a key moment in the match, Thangavel picked up pocket jacks and called the big blind, while Lindgren raised to 2,000 with A-K of hearts. An all-in and call put Lindgren at risk and the assembled crowd on the “Face the Ace” stage watched the drama unfold. The flop came A-3-A, giving Lindgren trips and leaving the challenger drawing thin. The turn and river came a 10 and three, respectively, and Thangavel was down to just four big blinds.

In the final hand between Lindgren and Thangavel, the latter was all-in with J-3 and Lindgren made the call with 9-10. The flop came 6-9-K, giving Lindgren middle pair, and the turn came a 10 to improve him to two pair. Needing a queen on the river to make a straight, Thangavel watched as a seven hit, sending him home.

The next contestant was Twitty, who hails from Cypress, California. Twitty told “Face the Ace” host Steve Schirripa that he wanted to play against Phil Ivey, but instead found himself up against Jennifer Harman. Twitty was the victim of a bad beat late in his match against Harman after the pro raised to 3,100 with K-J. Twitty moved all-in with A-9 and Harman called with her tournament life on the line. The flop came 8-3-7, keeping Twitty’s ace-high ahead, and a seven on the turn changed nothing. However, Harman spiked a king on the river for a six-outer to double up.

Then, Harman made it 6,000 pre-flop with A-3 and Twitty pushed with A-Q. Harman called to put Twitty at risk, but the flop came queen-high to keep Twitty out in front for good. In the final hand between Harman and Twitty, the Full Tilt Poker pro was all-in with Q-8 of diamonds and Twitty called with K-J. The flop came 10-10-10, keeping Twitty in the lead, and a jack on the turn improved him to a boat. Harman needed the nine of diamonds for a straight flush or a queen for a better full house on the river to win the hand, but watched as an ace hit. Twitty earned $40,000 for defeating his first pro.

When asked if he wanted to take the money and run or play another pro for $200,000, Twitty selected the cash. The episode, which aired on Saturday, marked the second to last for “Face the Ace,” which will air its season finale on January 2nd. “Face the Ace” makes its home on NBC.

Online Poker Star Darryll Fish Leads WPT Five Diamond After Day 1

After a month-long hiatus, the World Poker Tour (WPT) returned to action on Monday with the Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic. A total of 292 players entered, with registration still open on Day 2, and all but 57 survived the day.

Darryll “DFish” Fish leads the pack after one day of play in Las Vegas, holding a stack of 236,000, a slight lead over the second place total of Jon “PearlJammer” Turner, one of the top minds in poker. Turner holds 227,000 chips and will headline Table 45 on Tuesday, where a cast that includes Chad “lilholdem954” Batista, Absolute Poker pro Mark Seif, and Jared “TheWacoKidd” Hamby will join him.

Fish made waves on Monday by knocking out defending WPT Five Diamond champion David “Chino” Rheem. Rheem found himself all-in on a flop of 7-5-3 with two hearts holding 6-4 for the stone cold nuts. Fish had pocket threes for bottom set and, rooting for the board to pair to make a full house, watched as the turn came another seven. Fish’s stack grew to over 150,000 after all was said and done in the hand and Rheem hit the rails. Rheem was a member of the inaugural World Series of Poker (WSOP) November Nine in a final table won by Danish poker pro Peter Eastgate.

Fish has been on a tear online, winning an event held during the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) in September for well over $200,000. In April, he won the challenging Full Tilt Poker $1K Monday to the tune of $81,000 and three months later found the winner’s circle in the Daily Eighty Grand on PokerStars. Another online poker sensation, Billy “Patrolman35” Kopp, sits in fourth place at the Bellagio with a chip stack of 201,000. Here’s a look at the rather eclectic top ten in the WPT Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic after Day 1:

1. Darryl “DFish” Fish - 236,625
2. Jon “PearlJammer” Turner - 227,325
3. David Woo - 205,000
4. Billy “Patrolman35” Kopp - 201,325
5. Carlos Mortensen - 194,525
6. Antonio Esfandiari - 184,225
7. Cory “UGOTPZD” Carroll - 184,025
8. Justin Tazelaar - 169,200
9. Nashaat Antonious - 164,100
10. David “Viffer” Peat - 160,000

Players can register through the midway point on Day 2, so the final attendance figure remains up in the air. As it stands now, however, the field size is off by a staggering 41% from last year’s tally of 497, which ended with Rheem defeating Justin Young for the title in the $15,000 buy-in tournament for $1.5 million. Coverage found on the official website of the WPT adds, “This tournament has more late registrants than most.”

Kopp sent crowd favorite Daniel Negreanu to the rails with pocket jacks against pocket tens. The flop fell J-9-8, giving Kopp top set and Negreanu an open-ended straight draw, but the turn and river bricked out for the PokerStars pro and sent him packing. Also eliminated on Monday was Jonathan “FieryJustice” Little, a former Player of the Year on the WPT circuit. Little flopped top two pair on a board of 9-7-3 with two hearts, but Soheil Shamseddin’s K-9 of hearts found a flush. The hand bumped Shamseddin’s stack to 95,000 and he ended the day with 120,000, good for 26th place. Other notable names in the top 50 on the leaderboard after Day 1 include:

11. David Benyamine – 157,000
12. Eric “Rizen” Lynch – 154,000
16. Jimmy “Gobboboy” Fricke – 145,000
24. Kenna James – 121,000
30. “Miami” John Cernuto – 117,000
33. Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin – 112,000
41. Cornel Andrew Cimpan – 107,000
44. Gavin Smith – 106,000
45. Bryan “badbeatninja” Devonshire – 105,000

When play concluded on Day 1, blinds were 300-600 with a 50 chip ante. Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest WPT coverage from the Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic.

Gavin O’Rourke on top at UKIPT opener in Galway

PokerStars qualifier Gavin O’Rourke is in pole position at the end of day one, holding a stack of 104,000 chips, a lead of 22,000 over nearest rival Christopher Brammer. Looming large is the presence of newly minted Team PokerStars Pro Jude Ainsworth who sits in third place with a stack of 81,850.

James Akenhead Wins Full Tilt Poker Million VIII

Rack up another final table for Full Tilt Poker Red Pro James Akenhead.  The British pro, who already final tabled both the World Series of Poker (WSOP) and World Series of Poker (WSOPE) Main Events earlier this year, not only made the crop of top six finishers in the Full Tilt Poker Million VIII event, but won the whole thing.  He netted $500,000 in the process.

The Full Tilt Poker Million was an invitational event featuring 72 players from around the globe fighting for the half-million dollar first place prize.  The shootout-style event’s preliminary and semi-final bouts were filmed earlier this year in London and already aired on Sky Sports in Europe.  While those rounds were taped, the final table players returned to London Friday to play down to a champion.

One of the event’s organizers, Matchroom Sport, posted live updates in its online poker forum to keep non-Europeans posted on the tournament’s action.  When the final table began, it was Luke “FullFlush” Schwartz who held the chip lead with 397,000, while Akenhead was in second place with 338,000.  The players started the final table with the same number of chips they ended with in the semi-finals, save Craig Wakeham, an online qualifier from Full Tilt who was added to the mix at the last minute and given the shortest stack of 100,000 chips.

Joining Akenhead, Schwartz, and Wakeham at the final table were CardRunners instructor Taylor “Green Plastic” Caby, Juha Helppi, Dag Martin Mikkelsen, and another online qualifier who defeated a host of top pros to make the final table, Peter Vasiliou.

Those enrolled in the Piece of Taylor promotion at CardRunners will be sad to hear that Caby was the first player eliminated when he moved all-in with pocket sevens from the button and Mikkelsen called out of the blinds with K-4.  A king on the flop and a king on the turn spelled disaster for Caby, who was eliminated in seventh place for a $50,000 payout.  The winner of Piece of Taylor promotion will still earn $500 for taking part.

Vasiliou was the next player to fall, also knocked out at the hands of Mikkelsen, who overtook the chip lead after the qualifier’s sixth place elimination. The other qualifier was out only minutes later after losing a coin flip to Helppi.  At that point, the blinds were so high that virtually every player at the table was in all-in or fold mode.  Schwartz called an all-in shove from Akenhead holding pocket eights to Akenhead’s As-7s and the opinionated and vocal Schwartz started to leave the table even though he had the best hand.  The eights only improved, as the flop fell 10-9-8, but it also brought straight and flush possibilities for Akenhead.  The turn made a flush for Akenhead and when the board failed to pair on the river, the former chip leader was decimated, while Akenhead amassed a sizeable chip lead.

Schwartz returned to the table and quickly doubled up, but couldn’t repeat the feat, losing with A-5 to Mikkelsen’s K-Q and he was out in fourth place.  It looked like Helppi would be next to fall, but he doubled up at the right time He then eliminated Mikkelsen in third place to take the chip lead headed into heads-up play against Akenhead.

Even though Helppi held the chip advantage, the blinds were high enough that the win was far from in the bag.  It was only a matter of hands before Akenhead edged out his opponent for the chip lead and the final hand of play went down when Helppi picked up pocket sixes to Akenhead’s pocket tens.  The tens held and Akenhead took down his first major title of 2009.  In total, the final table took just under four hours to complete, which is pretty brief when compared to Akenhead’s other two final table appearances this year.

Here are the final table results from this year’s Poker Million:

1st Place: James Akenhead – $500,000
2nd Place: Juha Helppi – $250,000
3rd Place: Dag Martin Mikkelsen  – $200,000
4th Place: Luke “FullFlush” Schwartz – $150,000
5th Place: Craig Wakeham – $100,000
6th Place: Peter Vasiliou – $75,000
7th Place: Taylor “Green Plastic” Caby – $50,000

GUKPT Grand Final Main Event starts today

The action really hots up at The Vic today with day 1A of the Grosvenor UK Poker Tour Grand Final Main Event starting at 2pm. The buy-in for the event is £3,000+£150 with stacks starting at 15,000 chips.

ECOOP V Kicks Off, thanasis1982 Event #1 Champion

The fifth European Championship of Online Poker (ECOOP) has gotten off to an excellent start on Monday, with “thanasis1982” becoming its first tournament winner.

In its fifth year, the ECOOP has become the top tournament schedule on the iPoker Network, which is comprised of such rooms as Titan Poker, Celeb Poker, and Paddy Power Poker. This year’s tournament series, which started on Monday and lasts until December 6th, runs the gamut in a test of poker skills and boasts guaranteed prize pools that are sure to draw sizeable fields. If the remainder of the schedule goes as Event #1 did, ECOOP V should be one of the top online tournament schedules of 2009.

Event #1 was a $215 No Limit Hold’em tournament that attracted 1,241 players from across the European continent, Canada, and other hot poker spots outside of the United States. While it didn’t crack the $250,000 guarantee, 150 players were guaranteed to walk away with at least $275 for their efforts. Starting with 3,000 chips and 20-minute levels, however, it would also be an endurance test for those who took to the virtual felt.

After the elimination of “VeniVidiVici78” in 11th place, the final table players were guaranteed a payday of $3,500. As the time worked into the wee hours of Tuesday morning, the players slowly dropped away until only “analika” and “thanasis1982” remained to battle for the championship. The final cards came when the tournament clock clicked to 9 hours and 17 minutes of play, when “thanasis1982” was able to vanquish “analika” to take the $52,500 first place prize. While disappointed that there wasn’t an ECOOP championship to go with the money, “analika” walked away with a consolation prize of $27,500.

This year’s schedule will be a total test of a player’s skills, as it features challenging events in many disciplines of poker. Texas Hold’em and Omaha dominate the schedule, but there are also tournaments in Stud, Omaha Hi/Lo, and rebuy formats on the schedule. The remainder of the 13-day schedule and the guaranteed money for each tournament lines up as follows:

November 24th: Seven Card Stud
$250+$18 buy-in
$50,000 guaranteed

November 25th: No Limit Hold’em Turbo
$100+$9 buy-in
$200,000 guaranteed

November 26th: No Limit Hold’em
$750+$50 buy-in
$350,000 guaranteed

November 27th: Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo
$100+$9 buy-in
$100,000 guaranteed

November 28th: Pot Limit Omaha Six-Max
$1,000+$60 buy-in
$150,000 guaranteed

November 29th: No Limit Hold’em
$500+$35 buy-in
$500,000 guaranteed

November 30th: No Limit Hold’em
$2,500+$100 buy-in
$500,000 guaranteed

December 1st: Pot Limit Omaha R&A
$100+$9 buy-in
$150,000 guaranteed

December 2nd: No Limit Hold’em Six-Max
$300+$20 buy-in
$300,000 guaranteed

December 3rd: Limit Hold’em Six-Max
$200+$15 buy-in
$100,000 guaranteed

December 4th: No Limit Hold’em R&A
$100+$9 buy-in
$300,000 guaranteed

December 5th: Pot Limit Omaha
$400+$30 buy-in
$100,000 guaranteed

December 6th: ECOOP V Main Event
$1,500+$80 buy-in
$1.5 million guaranteed

All totaled, over the 14 tournaments that the ECOOP V features, there are guaranteed prize pools that total over $4.5 million.

PokerStars Million Dollar Challenge: Brian Barboza Wins $100,000

The PokerStars.net Million Dollar Challenge returned on Sunday to Fox following NFL coverage and saw Brian Barboza take down a celebrity, a poker pro, and show front man Daniel Negreanu en route to a $100,000 payday and a trip to the 2010 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure.

Before Barboza, Oluwasegun “Big Mike” Odumuyiwa, a former defensive end from Northville, Michigan, took to the stage and squared off against Super Bowl champion Jerome Bettis, who won a ring as a member of the Pittsburgh Steelers. In the first round, blinds began at 400-800 and each player began with 20,000 chips. Negreanu could give players advice as needed, but was unable to see anyone’s hole cards. Odumuyiwa had one time out to use at any point to seek advice.

In a key moment, Odumuyiwa called pre-flop with J-3 of spades and Bettis raised to 10,000 with pocket nines. Odumuyiwa used his time out, with Negreanu telling him to fold J-3 and come out firing in future hands. Odumuyiwa obliged and then promptly pushed on the next hand with just 6-3 before the flop. Bettis looked down at A-5, called, and the board ran out 9-8-9-K-7. Bettis took home $5,000 for charity and that was all she wrote for Odumuyiwa, who departed empty-handed.

The next contestant to take to the stage was Barboza, a 31 year-old salesman from Massachusetts. He faced former Playboy Playmate of the Year Jayde Nicole in the first round. Only three hands from the match were shown and, in the final pot, Barboza raised all-in with K-7 of clubs pre-flop and Nicole called for her stack with A-8 of hearts. The flop came 9-6-10 and the turn came a jack. Barboza needed a king, queen, or eight to hit on the river and, sure enough, a queen fell, giving the challenger a king-high straight and a $5,000 trip to the 2010 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure.

For his next trick, Barboza took on Team PokerStars Pro member Vanessa Rousso. In the second round, Negreanu could see Barboza’s hole cards and communicate with the amateur via headset. Rousso, in turn, could invoke the Dome of Silence twice, cutting off all communication between Negreanu and Barboza. To ensure a fast-paced match, each player started with 20,000 in chips and blinds began at 1,000-2,000. In the key hand of the battle, Rousso called pre-flop with A-6 and Barboza picked up Q-2. Negreanu told him to push in order to pick up the blinds and he obliged. Rousso snap-called, but the queen of spades hit on the flop. Negreanu actually called for the card to come and Barboza took a 34,000-6,000 edge in chips.

In the final hand between Rousso and Barboza, the former was all-in and dominated with 8-5 against J-8. The board ran out 6-J-9-3-K, giving Barboza $25,000. He was then faced with a decision to take the money or risk it all for a chance at $100,000. He selected the latter option and faced Negreanu heads-up.

Barboza nearly doubled Negreanu up with A-4 against A-J, but the board ran out 2-3-3-2-7, giving both players deuces and threes with an ace for a chopped pot. In the final hand, Negreanu called with 8-2 of clubs pre-flop and Barboza knocked the table with J-2. The first three cards came 8-3-J, giving Negreanu middle pair and Barboza top pair. Barboza bet 4,000, Negreanu shoved, and Barboza called, having the PokerStars pro covered. The turn and river fell a four and a king, respectively, giving Barboza $100,000 and a shot at $1 million.

The $100,000 winners will play in the show’s final episode next month for a chance to play Negreanu heads-up for $1 million.

Have you tried out Full Tilt Pokers new features?

Full Tilt Poker has added “Run It Twice” and “Cashout Tournament” to their arsenal.

Full Tilt Poker has lately announced two new features on their site, which are a really good addition to their normal games.

Run It Twice

“Run It Twice” is familiar to the viewers of “High Stakes Poker” and “Poker After Dark” shows. When there are two players on the hand and they go all in, they have an option to run the remaining community cards twice.

Because of the “Run It Twice” option the players get two separate boards for the remaining cards. The pot is divided in half and the winner of each outcome wins half the pot.

These games can be found only at the NLHE, PLO and HA Ivey’s Room tables. This feature is going to be added to the smaller stake tables as well.

Cashout Tournaments

“Cashout Tournament” is a totally new tournament format. Some portion of the tournament’s buy-in (normally half) goes to the prize pool and the other portion goes to the “cashout pool”.

How does it work then? Something like this:

Let’s say that the tournament buy-in is $20 and each player gets 1000 chips, then 100 chips is worth $1. A player can cashout during any point of the tournament, except right at the start and during the final table. All the player’s chips are converted to cash.

Do you want to test the new features? Register to Full Tilt Poker through HighStakesNews and get a $600 first deposit bonus and 27% rakeback. Click here.

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Have you tried out Full Tilt Pokers new features?

Face the Ace: Andrew Weinstein, Adam Drescher Leave Empty-Handed

The challengers continued to struggle on the NBC poker franchise “Face the Ace.” On Saturday, tax attorney Andrew Weinstein and poker novice Adam Drescher each left the show’s Las Vegas set with nothing to show for their efforts except some network television face time.

Weinstein, a 40 year-old from Washington State, selected the ace of clubs for his $40,000 match. Out strolled Erick Lindgren, a World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner whom Weinstein has played with before. Each player received 20,000 chips in the opening round and blinds escalated quickly, beginning at 200-400.

Weinstein came out firing, raising pre-flop with gems like 5-10, 7-3, and 2-6 before getting his chips in with A-7 against Lindgren’s A-4. However, the two chopped the pot when the first four cards came 8-A-10-8, giving both players the Dead Man’s Hand with a 10 kicker.

Weinstein doubled after calling all-in with A-10 against Lindgren’s K-Q of diamonds. The ace was the door card, keeping Weinstein in the lead in the hand for good, and the challenger built his stack to over 31,000. Then, Lindgren doubled with pocket sixes against Weinstein’s J-5 of hearts. On the match’s final hand, Lindgren shoved with Q-7, including the seven of clubs, but ran into Weinstein’s A-6, including the ace of the suit. Four clubs came and Weinstein earned the nut flush and a win in the $40,000 match.

The Full Tilt Poker qualifier could play on for $200,000 or take his money and run. He chose the former option after very little debate, selecting the ace of diamonds. Jennifer Harman emerged from the smoky “Face the Ace” façade and, in a hand that had the audience buzzing, Harman was dealt 10-8 and raised to 3,000 pre-flop with a starting stack of 100,000 and blinds at 500-1,000. Weinstein peeked down at Q-9 and made the call. The flop came J-Q-5, giving Weinstein top pair, and he check-called a 4,000 bet from Harman. The turn was a three and Weinstein once-again check-called a bet from the pro, this time totaling 13,000. The river was a nine, giving Harman a miracle straight, and Weinstein check-called a small bet of 12,000. Harman sheepishly scooped the pot and the mood of the match changed dramatically.

Weinstein avoided disaster in a hand with A-7 against Harman’s pocket kings. Harman raised pre-flop to 3,000, Weinstein made it 11,000, Harman bumped the action to 22,000, and Weinstein called to see the flop come 10-6-Q. Harman led out for another 30,000 and Weinstein quickly released his hand.

Harman’s A-K of hearts withstood Weinstein’s A-9 offsuit on the match’s final hand after the pro made a flush, sending Weinstein home from Sin City with nothing. Harman, a 73% favorite pre-flop, called feverishly for a nine to hit, but the board of 5-2-Q-6-8 with three hearts ensured that no upset would occur.

Drescher then took to the stage. The poker player from Bethesda, Maryland had only been playing the game for six months and his inexperience proved fatal. He selected the ace of diamonds, Huck Seed, who won the 2009 National Heads-Up Poker Championship over Vanessa Rousso. Only a few hands into play, Drescher open-shoved with 10-9 for 19,400 chips into a pot of only 600 and Seed picked up pocket kings. Seed was an 83% favorite to send Drescher packing and the board ran out 3-7-2-9-3. Drescher made top pair, but it wasn’t enough, as the qualifiers were blanked on the November 14th episode of “Face the Ace.”

The show, which is sponsored by Full Tilt Poker, aired preceding golf coverage on NBC and went head-to-head with multiple college football games. “Face the Ace,” hosted by Steve Schirripa, will return on December 12th. Check local listings for more information.

WSOP Main Event: Cada and Moon talk heads-up

But after running like Gods to get heads-up for the 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event title, both 21-year old online pro and heads-up guru Joe Cada and 46-year-old Darvin Moon, the luddite logger from Western Maryland, sound confident heading into Monday's fight for poker's most prestigious title.

Despite being bailed out by the deck after several missteps during the more than 14-hour play down to the final two Saturday, and the fact he's facing a 2.5:1 chip deficit, Moon believes he can win.

"I feel confident about everything I do," said Moon. "I know I'm not the best at everything I do, but I feel confident."

Cada's road to heads-up included being down to as little as four big blinds and hitting more than one two-outer on the way up Saturday.

Although he's feeling lucky to still have a shot at the $8.5 million first-place prize, he feels like heads-up is his game.

"What can I say? I got lucky," he said. "I'm not too mad about the plays I made. It was unfortunate the results and unfortunate what happened to the other guys, but good for me I guess.

"I'm very excited to get heads-up because that's what I play and I'm feeling pretty confident. But anything can happen. I came from down to 2 million and now I'm heads-up. Anything can happen. There's still a lot of tournament to be played."

While Cada regularly plays $10/$20 heads-up cash games online, Moon says he's played heads-up only once - when he won a satellite into the Main Event.

"Back home we always get down to two and chop," he said. "It'll be a learning experience. We'll see how it goes. He's better than me, but I'm confident. They say he's some kind of specialist heads-up online. I'm not online to watch or see, so we'll just see what happens."

Cada has studied heads-up strategy on online forums and through his backers at PokerXFactor.

Moon's strategy appears to be a little less refined.

"I'm sorry," he said. "Can you give me the definition of strategy?"

When play resumes Monday, Cada will hold 135,950,000 chips to Moon's 58,850,000 and the entire poker world appears to be buzzing about the match up.

"This has been the most exciting Main Event Final Table I've ever witnessed," said World Series of Poker President and Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack. "To see Joe Cada go from about two million in chips to nearly 136 million in chips - and to watch Darvin Moon go from chip leader to short stack and back again - was truly astonishing.

"The heads-up competition is going to be outstanding."

To catch all the action as it happens, tune into PokerListings 2009 Main Event Live Coverage beginning at 10 p.m. PT Monday.

Visit PokerListings.com

Todd Terry Leads WPT Foxwoods World Poker Finals After Day 1

A total of 353 players entered the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) Foxwoods World Poker Finals, a drop of 14% from the 412 who took to the felts last year. At the end of Day 1, Todd Terry leads the way.

Terry made the final table of August’s WPT Legends of Poker, banking $231,000 for his third place performance. Terry holds 165,000 chips in the New England casino entering Day 2 play on Friday, when 206 survivors will resume at Noon ET. Late action on Thursday featured Mohsin “chicagocards1” Charania doubling up at the expense of Gavin Griffin. Charania was all-in pre-flop holding A-Q, dominating the 6-8 of Griffin. The Team PokerStars Pro front man flopped top pair on a board of 8-3-2, but Charania hit a queen on the turn to move in front for good. Charania finished in the money three times during the WPT’s seventh season.

Among those who stood atop the leaderboard when play concluded at Foxwoods was Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi, who gained a chunk of his chips when an opponent ran pocket kings into Mizrachi’s aces. Mizrachi owns a stack of 125,900 entering Day 2, good for sixth overall. He is in search of his third WPT title after taking down the L.A. Poker Classic during Season 3 and the Borgata Poker Classic during Season 4. Despite his early success, he has not cashed in a WPT tournament since March of 2008.

Holding the 11th largest chip stack after one day of play is Jonathan Jaffe, the runner-up in the World Poker Finals last year. Jaffe owns a mountain of 116,000 chips and is one of 18 players to cross the six-figure mark. Jaffe earned $670,000 for his second place showing in 2008, as he fell to Jonathan “FieryJustice” Little heads-up at the feature table. Also making last year’s six-handed finale were David “The Dragon” Pham, Charles Marchese, Jack Schanbacher, and Mike “The Mouth” Matusow.

Here are the chip counts after one day of play in the $10,000 buy-in WPT tournament:

1. Todd Terry – 165,700
2. Danny Shiff – 159,525
3. Adam Lippert – 159,000
4. Jack Schanbacher – 148,775
5. Soheil Shamseddin – 126,000
6. Michael Mizrachi – 125,900
7. Chris Moore – 123,700
8. Danny Illingworth – 121,600
8. Alan Sasser – 121,600
10. John Barucci – 119,950

Other players still in the hunt for the $910,000 first place prize include:

Matt “mattg1983” Graham – 99,175
Billy “Patrolman35” Kopp – 94,575
Christian “charder” Harder – 91,575
Poorya Nazari – 89,400
Jason Mercier – 84,750
Steve Sung – 76,275
Nick Schulman – 76,000
Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin – 75,100
Nenad Medic – 69,150
Prahlad Friedman – 67,450
Cornel Cimpan – 65,450
John “World” Hennigan – 61,250
Matt Hawrilenko – 51,250
“Cowboy” Kenna James – 49,425
Chad “lilholdem954” Batista – 47,000
Kathy Liebert – 46,025
Gavin Smith – 42,375
Liv Boeree – 40,550
Steve Brecher – 35,675
Isaac “westmenloAA” Baron – 34,475
Victor Ramdin – 32,750
Amnon Filippi – 31,675
Adam “Roothlus” Levy – 31,200
Tommy Vedes – 30,450
Gavin Griffin – 21,125

When play ended on Thursday, the action was in Level 8 and blinds were 400-800 with a 100 chip ante.

One of the toughest draws on Friday is at Table 22, where World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner and Team PokerStars Pro member Jason Mercier will join fellow online poker pros Adam “Roothlus” Levy and Isaac “westmenloAA” Baron. Also at Table 22 will be Tommy Vedes, who is fresh off winning the WPT’s Festa al Lago event in October, and John “World” Hennigan, a two-time WSOP bracelet winner.

The WPT Foxwoods World Poker Finals crowns a champion next Tuesday, November 10th. Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest WPT coverage.

Hand Dissection – Reed Hensel at the 2009 WSOP Main Event

Abusing the money bubble has become an effective tactic in tournament poker. It is generally accepted that players should turn up the aggression as the bubble approaches because, in most cases, players will tighten up to guarantee a cash reward.

No better example of this practice came than at the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event. With the money bubble looming and a payday of $21,365 in sight, short stacks began folding premium pocket pairs face up as bigger stacks applied pressure. On multiple occasions, pocket kings hit the muck pre-flop and the standard “abc” poker went completely out the window.

If you’ve been following ESPN’s coverage of this year’s Main Event, then you might recall the final hand on the bubble between Kansas pro Reed Hensel and Kia Hamadani that later created some debate among poker fanatics. With 649 players remaining and the top 648 getting paid, Hamadani was all-in for his last chip when Hensel made a play at the pot with rags to drive out the other players at the table and win the side pot. Hensel’s hand ultimately trumped Hamadani’s to secure a payday for the remaining players in the field. Hensel took some time with Poker News Daily to discuss the hand.

Hand Recap:

Blinds 2,500/5,000, ante 500

One spot before the money, Hamadani is all-in pre-flop for his last blue 500 chip. Hamadani, in early position, doesn’t peek at his hole cards and the action folds around to Hensel in the hijack. Hensel raises to 17,000 with 9h-2c. Marty Zabib calls from the small blind and Mike Nye decides to tag along from the big blind.

On a flop of Qh-6h-Qd, Zabib and Nye check and Hensel fires out a continuation bet of 20,000. The two players fold and Hensel scoops the side pot worth 51,000. Now that he’s heads-up against the short stack, Hensel tables 9h-2c. A cheerful Hamadani becomes visibly crushed as he turns over 4c-3h. The Amazon Room erupts as Hensel’s nine-high is in front and, when the nine of diamonds lands on the turn, Hamadani is left drawing dead. Hensel scoops the main pot of 4,500 and Hamadani is ousted one spot out of the money.

Poker News Daily: First, describe a little bit how this table was playing on the money bubble. Were the players being passive for the most part? Was anyone opening a high percentage of pots?

Hensel: My table was incredibly passive on the bubble. One guy folded J-J face up from the big blind to my 2.5x opening raise. I was fortunate to land the best seat at the table as well. I was in Seat 6 or 7 and the only two people that really knew how to exploit the bubble were to my direct right. This meant that for seven out of nine hands every orbit, I had position on both of them. If both of them folded, I raised and took the blinds down. If one of them opened, I could bet them with any two cards and put them in a very tough spot. I bet their raises around 30% of the time. I would have done it more, but they were folding probably more than they should have, so I was happy with taking the blinds four times per orbit.

PND: Did Hamadani’s declining stack affect your bubble strategy?

Hensel: I don’t think this had much of an effect of what I was doing. He started the day with 200,000 in chips and then got down to 30,000, where he folded every hand until the bubble hand. I guess if he had maintained a stack, it could have influenced my play more because he seemed really aggressive, so I imagine he would have wanted a piece of the free blinds as well. Everyone else at the table knew that we were really close to the money and they could look at Hamadani’s stack and see that all they had to do was wait him out, hence they became more willing to fold to my raises.

PND: I’m assuming that since you opened the betting with 9-2 offsuit, you would make this play with any two cards. Talk about the value of raising pre-flop in such a critical situation.

Hensel: It’s really common knowledge that around the bubble is the best point in a poker tournament to apply pressure by raising and taking pots down uncontested. There isn’t a tournament where this is more apparent than the Main Event. I haven’t played too many $10,000 tournaments outside of two Main Events, but I can’t imagine that in some random WPT or EPT stop people are folding A-A and K-K too often just to double their money.

Like I said earlier, a guy showed me his J-J and folded to my pre-flop open even though I had been raising four or five times an orbit. Because of this and my dream situation at the table, I simply had to raise every hand when they folded to me. The blinds were 2,500-5,000 with a 500 ante. I would raise to 12,000 or 13,000 and win 12,000 chips.  I really don’t think I got called once out of 30 or so raises. I probably ran good and didn’t run into Q-Q, K-K, or A-A, so in reality, I probably should have gotten raised all-in once or twice. The point still stands that risking 12,000 to win 12,000 is incredibly profitable when it works somewhere around 85% of the time.

PND: Zabib and Nye decided to call and take a flop. With what range of hands would you expect them to defend their blinds in this spot?

Hensel: When both solid players folded to me, I knew I was raising before I looked at my cards and they just happened to be 9-2. I decided to make it 17,000 pre-flop instead of my standard 12,000 because I really wanted them to fold so I could win the 7,500 chips and maybe get more bubble hands in if Hamadani beat me. I thought this would make it seem like I had a premium hand. I figured both Zabib and Nye would fold, but it wasn’t too surprising that they flatted.

A standard thing to do in this situation is to check every hand down through the river to help the odds that one of our three hands beats the all-in hand. However, this is not the smartest thing to do, especially when a side pot is involved. At the time, I figured Zabib had a slightly above average hand, probably a middle pair or A-J suited. I figured Nye had any two cards, as he would have the amateurish attitude of checking it down.

PND: How often are you expecting them to fold after you made a continuation bet on the flop? Explain why this play is so profitable.

Hensel: On the specific flop of Q-Q-6, I thought they would fold just about everything. I bet small for two reasons. One, I thought it would represent a strong hand and could possibly get a hand like A-6 or 7-7 to fold. Second, if one of them had a hand that they wouldn’t fold like 6-6 or Q-X, then I save myself chips because I would have shut down had either of them check-called the flop. The side pot was 51,000 and I risked 20,000 to win it, which I do probably 80% of the time. At that point, I didn’t care about the 4,500 in the main pot. It turns out that I maybe even overestimated their calling range because Nye said he folded Ah-Kh, which was a nut flush draw. If he folds this, I could see him folding Q-2 to Q-J and possibly K-Q.  He just really wanted to cash.

PND: How much did “making the money” in the WSOP Main Event mean to you? Were you playing it the same way you’d play any tournament online?

Hensel: I played the entire tournament a lot tighter than I would online. People in this tournament give up too much with a deep stack, making it kind of silly to get into leveling wars with other good players. Making the money did matter to me, but I wouldn’t have been crushed if I had bubbled. I pretty much didn’t want to go out on some crazy bluff out of the money, but I wasn’t going to pass on a +EV spot just to make it in.

PND: I’ve had people try to convince me that you only made this play because the ESPN cameras were rolling. Is there any truth to that?

Hensel: None at all. As cliché as it sounds, I didn’t even notice them during the hand.

PND: You ultimately finished in 70th place in the Main Event, collecting $90,344. How would you grade your experience over the six days?

Hensel: I had a great time in this tournament. On each of the first three days, I lost half of my stack during the first level and then spent the rest of each day grinding it back. This was emotionally exhausting and I’m glad there were a lot of off days up front or I may not have made it. Overall, though, I give myself an A+ and hope to make the final 100 again in the next few years, as I think I learned a lot about end game strategy in live tournaments.

WPT Foxwoods World Poker Finals Kicks Off Thursday

Season 8 of the World Poker Tour (WPT) makes its next stop in Mashantucket, Connecticut on Thursday as the World Poker Finals kicks off at the at Foxwoods Resort Casino. The $10,000 buy-in No Limit Hold’em event will attract many of the tournament players around the world and its prize pool has eclipsed $5 million in past years.

Day 1 will get underway at Noon with players receiving 30,000 chips and blind levels running 90 minutes. The event concludes on Tuesday, November 10th, when the final six players take their seats and play until a champion is crowned.

Last year, poker pro Jonathan “FieryJustice” Little bested a field of 412 players to win the World Poker Finals title. Little, the Season 6 WPT Player of the Year, defeated Jonathan Jaffe heads up when his A-Q held up against Jaffe’s A-10, earning him $1.1 million and his second WPT title. Also appearing at the final table were David “The Dragon” Pham (fourth place for $240,000) and Mike Matusow (sixth place for $124,000).

Other former winners of the WPT World Poker Finals include Mike Vela (2007), Nenad Medic (2006), Nick Schulman (2005), Tuan Le (2004), Hoyt Corkins (2003), and Howard Lederer (2002).

The World Poker Finals has featured a series of preliminary events at Foxwoods since October 19th. Players were offered a wide selection of games on the tournament schedule, including No Limit Hold’em, Seven Card Stud, Omaha Eight or Better, HOSE, Pot Limit Omaha, and Limit Hold’em. Two of the top female pros in the world have generated the most buzz during the series thus far, as Vanessa Selbst took down the $1,500 No Limit Hold’em Event #7 for $74,000 and Kathy Liebert won the $2,500 No Limit Hold’em Event #14 for $74,000. Selbst also took third in Event #14 for $28,000, putting her earnings over the two-week series above the six-figure mark.

World Poker Tour Enterprises (WPTE), a publicly traded company on the NASDAQ Stock Exchange that controls the tour, has been in the news lately, as offers were being made to purchase the company. WPTE announced last week that its shareholders approved a purchase by Party Gaming subsidiary Peerless Media. Under the proposal from Peerless Media, WPTE shareholders will receive $12.3 million plus a percentage of future gaming revenues. The sale specifies that WPTE officials will receive at least $3 million over three years from the aforementioned gaming revenues. The money from the purchase will not be refunded to shareholders and will instead be used to invest in a non-poker related business venture.

Mandalay Entertainment made a last-minute bid of $36.5 million to purchase WPTE, submitting an offer to purchase the company’s television library, trademarks, and other portions of the tournament series. However, WPTE shareholders met last Friday in Los Angeles and instead approved the sale to Peerless Media.

Face the Ace: Charles Campbell, Will Liberman One and Done

The Halloween installment of the NBC poker franchise “Face the Ace” saw two contestants go one and done. Savannah firefighter Charles Campbell and cell phone salesman Will Liberman both failed to win $40,000.

Campbell, whose initials affectionately earned him the nickname “CC,” donned a jacket that said, “Face the Ace? I am the Ace” on the back. Campbell selected the ace of spades and, desiring to face Mike Matusow, watched as Phil Gordon emerged. Each player received 20,000 in chips and blinds began at 200/400. The match saw small-ball poker played, as Campbell and Gordon both carefully guarded their chip stacks. In one hand, Campbell called pre-flop with pocket sevens and Gordon made it 2,400 with pocket eights. Campbell pushed it to 5,400 and Gordon shoved all-in for 17,400. Campbell tanked before electing to fold face up and Gordon commented, “That was a great laydown,” showing the higher pocket pair.

Campbell doubled through Gordon holding A-K, including the king of clubs, against K-10. With the studio audience of about two-dozen gathering in wait, the flop came J-2-A with two clubs. The turn was the queen of clubs, giving Gordon the nut straight, but another club on the river improved Campbell to a flush. However, the challenger would drop most of his chips back to the pro when his A-Q could not hold up against Gordon’s Q-10. Gordon flopped top pair on a 4-10-3 board and quickly pushed. Given the number of chips in the pot, Campbell called with ace-high. The board ran out 7-2, giving Gordon all but 400 of the 40,000 chips in play, or 99%.

Campbell doubled up from 400 to 800 before ultimately falling with J-7 to Gordon’s K-5 of diamonds. The board came 6-8-3-9-9 and Gordon earned $10,000 for his charity, PreventCancer.org. He agreed to place the grant to the organization in Campbell’s mother’s name, as she is a two-time cancer survivor. Host Steve Schirripa, of “The Sopranos” fame, applauded the gesture.

The second contestant to take to the “Face the Ace” stage in Las Vegas was Liberman, who hails from Atlanta after moving from Russia a decade ago. Liberman selected the ace of clubs and faced Erick Lindgren, who, like Gordon, was making his second appearance on the poker television show. Lindgren was the 2008 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Player of the Year after earning his first bracelet in the $5,000 buy-in Mixed Hold’em event. He also took third in that year’s $50,000 buy-in HORSE Championship for $781,000.

In a key hand, Lindgren made the call pre-flop with 7-4 of spades and Liberman raised to 1,200 with K-Q. Lindgren obliged and the flop came 6-7-Q, giving both players a pair. The action, however, went check-check to another seven on the turn, improving Lindgren to trips. Lindgren led out for 1,500 and Liberman called to see a king on the river. Liberman checked, Lindgren bet 3,800, and Liberman called with top two pair, shipping a pot of 13,000 to “E-Dog.”

In the match’s final encounter, Liberman called with 7-4 of spades hoping to get lucky with the same hand as Lindgren did and the pro checked his option with 10-8. The flop came J-8-2 with two spades and Liberman pushed for his last 3,500 in chips. Lindgren called and the turn and river blanked out. Lindgren earned $10,000 for his charity, giving the pros a sweep of the “Face the Ace” Full Tilt Poker qualifiers for the first time this season.

“Face the Ace” will return on Saturday, November 14th at 3:00pm ET on NBC. The series will then air one month later on December 14th, also at 3:00pm ET, and then on January 2nd at 2:30pm ET.

Corwin Cole Leads WPT Festa al Lago After Day 3

Day 4 of the 2009 World Poker Tour (WPT) Festa al Lago will play out on Saturday. Heading into play today, Corwin Cole leads the pack with 996,000 chips, one of two players to own more than 900,000.

Saturday marks the play down day at the Bellagio in Las Vegas, the site of the annual Festa al Lago. A total of 37 players remain entering Day 4, which kicks off at Noon Pacific Time from the storied Las Vegas casino, and in the end, 27 will make the money. Cole has played in four WPT tournaments, but has yet to record a cash, making Saturday an especially important day for the youngster. He told WPT Live Updates Hostess Amanda Leatherman about his ride through play on Friday in the $15,000 buy-in tournament: “I was playing pretty well and I was running really well. I drew a decent table and sucked out on Justin Bonomo in a big pot and busted him. I called with sevens and he had jacks and I spiked a seven on the flop.”

Jonas Entin holds the second largest stack entering the play down day with 985,500. With pocket eights, Entin hit quads early on Day 3 to send Russell Rosenblum packing. Up against kings, Entin watched as an eight hit on the flop and turn, giving him the nuts and the win in the hand. Entin final tabled the $10,000 buy-in World Championship of Pot Limit Omaha during the 2007 World Series of Poker (WSOP) for $69,000. All told, he has $170,000 in career WSOP earnings.

The top 10 on the leaderboard features a trio of brand name pros, Mark Seif, Dutch Boyd, and Chris Ferguson. Seif is a sponsored pro of Absolute Poker and owns two WSOP bracelets. The first came in 2005 by virtue of winning a $1,500 buy-in Limit Hold’em Shootout, while the second occurred seven tournaments later in a $1,500 buy-in No Limit Hold’em event. Seif’s two pieces of hardware were worth a combined $792,000.

Ferguson and Boyd own a combined six bracelets, with the former boasting five of them. Ferguson had a series of double ups on Friday to remain in contention. He doubled through Lee Markholt with A-J against K-Q and then rivered a higher two pair to double up again. Ferguson was among the group of 30 late registrants at the Festa al Lago, which accepted buy-ins through five hours into play on Day 2.

Here are the top 10 chip counts at the Bellagio as play begins on Saturday:

1. Corwin Cole – 996,000
2. Jonas Entin – 985,500
3. Jason Lavallee – 833,500
4. Dee Luong – 771,500
5. Mark Seif – 759,000
6. Jason “JCarver” Somerville – 669,000
7. Dutch Boyd – 616,500
8. Freddy Deeb – 588,000
9. Tommy Vedes – 579,000
10. Chris Ferguson – 535,000

Other notable names that remain include:

15. Brandon Cantu – 414,000
16. Kido Pham – 401,000
18. Cliff “JohnnyBax” Josephy – 385,000
22. Steve Brecher – 360,000
27. Andy Bloch – 320,500
28. Chad “lilholdem954” Batista – 315,000
29. Chau Giang – 293,500
32. Vivek “Psyduck” Rajkumar – 253,000
35. Prahlad Friedman – 188,000

When play wrapped up late Friday night, blinds were 4,000-8,000 with a 500 chip ante. Only one woman survived the five levels of play, Luong, who sits in fourth place. Luong has a pair of cashes on the WPT circuit, but has not finished in the money since 2004. She also has two cashes on WSOP felts, but, likewise, has not made the money in five years.

Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest WPT coverage from Sin City.

WPT Festa al Lago Attendance Drops 25%

Despite players having an unprecedented eight levels to register for the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) Festa al Lago, attendance dropped 25% year over year. In 2008, 368 players took to the felt, while this time around, the field numbered 275.

Registration ended five hours into play on Day 2 at the Bellagio in Las Vegas, the host venue for the annual Festa al Lago. A total of 30 players bought in on Thursday, including Andy Bloch, Todd Brunson, Freddy Deeb, Chris Ferguson, Hasan Habib, Isaac Haxton, Phil Hellmuth, John Juanda, Howard Lederer, Kenny Tran, and Bodog pro David Williams. Players who entered the Festa al Lago Main Event late received 60,000 chips, the same number as players who began yesterday received. However, the average stack at 5:00pm Pacific Time when registration shuttered was 114,000, nearly double that total.

Tran’s day was quite abbreviated. After arriving at the last minute and not taking a seat at the table until his stack had shrunk to 48,000, he quickly found himself all-in pre-flop with K-Q of diamonds against top online poker pro Steve “gboro780” Gross’ pocket sevens. Tran hit a king on the turn to take the lead in the hand, but Gross spiked a two-outer on the river to send the poker pro home. WPT coverage candidly summed up Tran’s outing: “Kenny Tran paid $15,000 to play for about ten minutes, but he still outlasted more than half the field.”

The feature table began with a star-studded lineup headlined by Full Tilt Poker pro and World Series of Poker (WSOP) November Nine member Phil Ivey. Flanking him were fellow Poker Hall of Fame nominee Barry Greenstein, “Big Game” regular Eli Elezra, Marco “CrazyMarco” Johnson, and Steve “MrTimCaum” O’Dwyer. Elezra was ultimately sent packing from the table after running pocket tens into pocket aces.

Phil Hellmuth headed to Table 55 upon arriving at the Bellagio about two-and-a-half hours into play on Thursday. Joining him were 2001 WSOP Main Event Champion Carlos Mortensen, Mike “goleafsgoeh” Leah, and Daniel Alaei. After coming up short in a race with A-K against pocket queens to drop his stack down to 23,000, Hellmuth raced again, this time for his tournament life. Hellmuth once again held A-K and was up against the pocket jacks of Dee Luong. However, he could not improve and was sent packing from the Las Vegas casino.

Twenty-seven places will pay out at the marquee WPT event, with a $1.2 million first place prize up for grabs. Here’s how the field will be paid out in the $15,0000 buy-in contest:

1st Place:  $1,218,225
2nd Place:  $795,150
3rd Place:  $477,090
4th Place:  $278,300
5th Place:  $208,725
6th Place:  $168,970
7th Place:  $129,210
8th Place:  $89,450
9th Place:  $63,610
10th Place – 12th Place:  $47,710
13th Place – 15th Place:  $39,760
16th Place – 18th Place:  $31,805
19th Place – 27th Place:  $23,855

At the time of writing, which is 8:30pm local time in Las Vegas, here were the top 10 chip stacks as play continued in the Festa al Lago. The action was in Level 10, where blinds were 1,000/2,000 with a 200 chip ante:

1. Chad Batista – 425,000
2. Jason Somerville – 404,000
3. Corwin Cole – 390,000
4. Mark Seif – 370,000
5. Chau Giang – 350,000
6. Steve Gross – 345,000
7. Mike Leah – 340,000
8. Markus Gonsalves – 320,000
9. Dutch Boyd – 260,000
10. Eugene Katchalov – 255,000

Last year, Team PokerStars Pro member Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier defeated Nam Le heads-up to take home $1.4 million in the Festa al Lago Main Event. Others making the final table included WSOP bracelet winner Nenad Medic and Ultimate Bet pro Adam “Roothlus” Levy.

Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest WPT Festa al Lago coverage.

Where is Luke Schwartz?

Fresh off a good day in the Poker Million, where he has reportedly amassed 360,000 chips, Luke __FullFlush1__ Schwartz is holding up his Round 2 opponent Lex Veldhuis at the PKR Heads-Up Grand Slam Event, as everybody awaits his arrival here at Mills Studio. Hmmmm…. I wonder what he is doing?

Brett Radin Wins Commerce Casino Ironman Tournament

Move over, Robert Downey, Jr. There’s a new Ironman in town! Brett Radin scooped $51,000 for taking down the Commerce Casino’s first ever Ironman event, a no-break poker tournament.

Radin defeated Chris “Trips” Tyrba in the Ironman tournament, which ran for 19 hours and 21 minutes. A total of 64 players bought in for $1,600 each and three meals were served at the table given the no break structure. The Commerce Casino added $10,000 to the prize pool, which came in at $103,000. The Ironman concept was the brainchild of veteran tournament director Matt Savage, who told Poker News Daily, “The Ironman is an idea that I came up with in response to players always asking, ‘When is the break?’ and others asking why the breaks are so long. When you signed up for the Ironman, there was no guesswork.”

Bathroom breaks and other reasons to stand up from the table meant missed hands in the Ironman tournament. As such, Savage noted that the extra twist tested players’ mental toughness: “Players should know that missing a hand in a tournament is not the end of the world and that many successful tournament players take unscheduled breaks away from the table. It was a test of a player’s skill and willpower, as the structure was very good.” Ultimate Bet pro and 11-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth, for example, often misses hours of major tournaments in an effort to woo the assembled field with his customary late entrance.

Here were the top six finishers in the Ironman tournament:

1st Place: Brett Radin - $51,160
2nd Place: Chris “Trips” Tyrba - $22,686
3rd Place: Farzin Akhtar - $11,859
4th Place: Tyler “Titan of Tulalip” Patterson - $7,218
5th Place: Brian Brubaker - $5,672
6th Place: Eric “Basebaldy” Baldwin - $4,125

Baldwin is a WSOP bracelet winner, having taken down a $1,500 buy-in No Limit Hold’em event during the 2009 tournament series. Baldwin promptly finished third in the World Championship of Pot Limit Hold’em, boosting his take from the 2009 WSOP to over $780,000. On the online felts, where he can be found under the “Basebaldy” moniker, Baldwin won the Bodog weekly $100,000 Guaranteed twice in May of 2008. Last December, he took down the Full Tilt Poker $750,000 Guaranteed for $132,000. Baldwin finished 54th in the Main Event of the 2009 PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) for $23,000.

Many who took to the felts in the Commerce Casino’s Ironman event were brand name players, including Shane “Shaniac” Schleger, Gavin Griffin, Matt “mattg1983” Graham, Joe Bartholdi, 2009 World Poker Tour (WPT) L.A. Poker Classic Champion Andrew Cimpan, and Adam “a_junglen” Junglen. Graham. Each entrant was given a stack of 10,000 chips and blinds began at 25-25. The price of poker increased every hour. On the structure, Radin commented in a press release distributed by the West Coast casino, “It was the truest poker tournament I have ever seen or played in. I love the fact that it played all the way down and no deals were allowed!”

The Commerce Casino plays host to the WPT L.A. Poker Classic every year, with its next installment slated for February 20th to 25th. In its last running, Cimpan defeated Binh Nguyen heads-up, with Mike “SowersUNCC” Sowers and Full Tilt pro Chris Ferguson also reaching the final table. Cimpan banked $1.6 million for his efforts and the tournament aired as part of Season VII of the WPT on Fox Sports Net. The $10,000 buy-in contest generated a field of 696 runners.

The Ironman event was part of the Commerce Casino’s Hold’em Series. Its inaugural event, a $220 buy-in No Limit Hold’em tournament, generated a field of 3,967 players, which the Commerce Casino claimed was the largest non-WSOP field in live poker history. Players could re-enter on another starting day if they busted out.

Olivier Busquet Interview with Poker News Daily

Poker pro Olivier Busquet, a high-stakes heads-up sit and go expert, recently took down the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) Borgata Poker Open, mounting a comeback of epic proportions after being down 20:1 in chips to Jeremy Brown with a $925,000 first place prize on the line. Busquet sat down with Poker News Daily to recap the comeback.

Poker News Daily: Talk about mounting a comeback of epic proportions at the WPT Borgata Poker Open over Jeremy Brown.

Busquet: Anytime you’re down 20:1 or anything like that, you have to won coin flips or cooler people in some sense. Chips are bound to get in the middle and your opponent will definitely have outs. I ran well in the all-in pots, which is critical when my chips are on the line. I tried to focus on keeping the pots relatively small pre-flop. I didn’t limp that much because there’s a lot of equity in the game to someone folding to a pre-flop raise. Jeremy had a tendency to polarize his ranges. I had to win with J-7 offsuit versus Q-9 all-in. I flopped the nuts against top pair. I had to avoid flush and straight draws on the last hand.

PND: Did you ever feel like winning the tournament was out of reach?

Busquet: If someone had pulled me aside and asked me if I was going to win, I would have said probably not. When I’m playing, though, I don’t think in those terms. I think of what I’m dealt and the situation I’m in. I was actually fortunate in that I play one-on-one tournaments all the time. In heads-up sit and gos, there are 3,000 chips in play and in the Borgata there were 30 million. Every kind of situation I encountered in terms of the number of chips and blinds, I had been in that situation tens of thousands of times before. Being down to 1.4 million was like being down to like 140 chips in a heads-up sit and go.

PND: You were a sizable chip leader entering the final table. Was it frustrating seeing Jeremy Brown eliminate three people and build his stack?

Busquet: I don’t have a ton of experience being a big chip leader in a tournament. When I wasn’t the chip leader, I was just adjusting to stack size changes. I wasn’t reacting emotionally to the sense that I could lose the tournament. Instead, I was thinking of how the change in stacks changes my optimal strategy. There are so many things out of your control. I didn’t have the illusion that I was going to stay the chip leader from wire to wire.

PND: How did you get started in poker?

Busquet: A friend of mine from high school brought me to an old friend’s house. I never really played and walked into a room with young 20 year-old, confident kids and was intimated. I ended up losing money and that piqued my interest a bit. A kid I was working with told me I could play online. My first account was on PartyPoker and then one of my doormen told me that Full Tilt was a better site. I made small deposit of $100 playing $1/$2 six-max cash. I played a bunch and read TwoPlusTwo a lot, especially the high-stakes No Limit threads. I essentially moved up in stakes from there.

PND: What were some of the biggest influences on your game coming up?

Busquet: TwoPlusTwo was probably the biggest. There was one kid who came to Full Tilt that I became friendly with, Dustin Dirksen. When he first started on Full Tilt, he played a style that threw a lot of people off. People were unsure whether he was a massive fish or crazy shark. We talked a little bit and I was more interested in the perception people had of him rather than the actual style he had. I also read “Super System” like other players did. The way that I came up was by trying to be my own player. I would try to think about situations in an original way. TwoPlusTwo allowed me to set a foundation. I learned the basic strategies and then, from that, I was able to leapfrog into my own way of playing.

PokerStars Ante Up for Africa Airs on CBS Sports

On Saturday afternoon, CBS Sports aired the second of two episodes of the PokerStars.net Ante Up for Africa tournament that played out during the European Poker Tour (EPT) Monte Carlo festivities.

Kara Scott served as the host of the event as it played out on the CBS Sports Spectacular broadcast. The nine-handed final table began with Daniel Negreanu holding a commanding chip lead with 151,100, well ahead of the 49,000 stack of EPT founder John Duthie. Alexander Armstrong and David Tuckman had the call of the event, which featured on-screen card backs with Ante Up for Africa logos and player names shown alongside their native country’s flag.

In the night’s first elimination, Teddy Sheringham raised with K-Q of clubs and rugby player Sebastien Chabal shoved with A-9. Team PokerStars Pro member Luca Pagano pushed over the top and Sheringham quickly folded. The flop came 4-J-2 and a running 10-8 gave Pagano a flush in the hand. Chabal was out in ninth and told Scott, “I’m disappointed because I wanted to win the whole thing. I’m happy, had a great time, and made some great friends.”

Meanwhile, Duthie hit the rails in eighth place after shoving pre-flop with A-K. Poker pro Tony G made the call with pocket jacks and turned a third jack. Duthie was drawing dead to the river and hit the exits. French journalist, writer, and presenter Patrick Chene was eliminated in seventh place at the hands of Dario Minieri’s A-J. Despite having a new arsenal of chips, Minieri folded to a re-raise by new Betclick pro Isabelle Mercier holding pocket eights. Minieri was getting 2:1 to call and Mercier held A-J for what would have been a coin flip situation.

Pagano was ousted after pushing pre-flop for 23,000 chips. Minieri called from the big blind at a discount holding J-3. The board ran out 2-A-3-J-J, giving Minieri a boat. The hand moved Minieri to second on the PokerStars.net Ante Up for Africa leaderboard, with Negreanu now the tournament’s short stack. Negreanu was sent to the rails at the hands of Mercier, who won a coin flip with pocket eights against K-Q. Negreanu told CBS cameras, “I was the chip leader and I seemed to be dominating and all of a sudden, the blinds went up and I folded and folded like a little wimp.”

Tony G was ousted in fourth place holding Q-6 against A-8 after an eight-high flop. Observing the action was “Heroes” star James Kyson Lee, who told Scott, “There are a lot of people here from all different fields. It’s great that we’re able to come together, do something fun, and raise awareness for Ante Up for Africa.” Norman Epstein, Full Tilt Poker pro Don Cheadle, and Poker News Daily Guest Columnist Annie Duke founded the charity in 2006. It is the centerpiece of an annual $5,000 buy-in gala during the World Series of Poker (WSOP), which aired in 2009 on ESPN.

Mercier and Sheringham both doubled up at the expense of Minieri, who was ultimately eliminated after running pocket tens into Mercier’s pocket queens. Mercier promptly doubled up with K-4 against Sheringham’s A-5 after the flop came 4-J-J. Then, the former member of Team PokerStars Pro called Sheringham’s all-in with A-2. Sheringham turned over 10-4 and the board ran out 6-8-Q-J-10 with four diamonds. Mercier’s deuce of diamonds was the only card of the suit held by either player and Mercier took down the inaugural Ante Up for Africa event in Monte Carlo.

Over €250,000 was raised for the Ante Up for Africa charity in Monte Carlo and no prize money was doled out to players. Instead, Mercier, who battled through a field of 43 runners, claimed a crystal trophy in the shape of a PokerStars logo.

Olivier Busquet Leads WPT Borgata Poker Open Entering Day 3

A total of 167 players remain in the World Poker Tour (WPT) Borgata Poker Open. However, many of the tournament’s big names, including Gavin Smith and 2007 Borgata Poker Open Champion Roy Winston, were sent packing.

The story of the day was Jason “TheMasterJ33″ Dewitt, who was also in the final day of play of the 2009 PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) and, according to WPT coverage, “took an extended two-level break before dinner and returned to a still-healthy stack that was well above average.” Dewitt was the chip leader late in the day at the Atlantic City Casino and ended play with the 15th largest tally at 357,500.

Dewitt told WPT Live Updates Hostess Amanda Leatherman after play had concluded for the evening, “I basically had to build a big stack or bust. I got my big stack, so I could afford to sit out and miss my two hours of blinds. I came back and got the chip lead, although I did lose it at the end. I guess I can’t be too sad about it.” Dewitt battled in the WCOOP Main Event during the two hour period. WPT Championship winner Yevgeniy “atimos” Timoshenko ultimately took down the high-stakes online poker tournament and earned $1.7 million.

Many of poker’s greats were in London for the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Europe festivities. However, among those remaining in the United States for the Borgata Poker Open were Smith and Winston. The former tangoed with Bill Gazes late yesterday, losing his final hand with pocket aces against pocket sixes when a six hit the flop. The hand boosted Gazes to 140,000 in chips and he ended with 298,000, good for 26th place overall. Gazes has made a pair of WPT final tables during his career, including a fourth place effort during the Season II L.A. Poker Classic and a third place showing in the Foxwoods World Poker Finals during Season IV. All told, the poker pro has $1.2 million in career WPT earnings.

Earlier in the day, Ultimate Bet’s Michael Binger boosted his chip stack to 308,000 by flopping a set of deuces. Binger called his opponent’s all-in with A-J on a board of A-9-2-Q, securing the win in the hand. Binger’s stack dwindled from that point and he finished the day with 74,000 chips, good for 146th. Binger has never registered better than 10th place in a WPT event. His claim to fame is taking third in the 2006 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event for $4.1 million in a tournament ultimately won by Jamie Gold.

Poker News Daily Guest Columnist Bernard Lee was sent packing on Monday. The host of ESPN.com’s “Inside Deal” also had aces cracked for his tournament life, this time by pocket fives. Lee’s opponent flopped a five and, despite picking up a flush draw on the turn, he was ousted from the WPT Borgata Poker Open. Also hitting the skids yesterday were Theo Tran and 2002 WSOP Main Event Champion Robert Varkonyi. Here’s a look at the Top 10 survivors who will take to the felts today for Day 3:

1. Olivier Busquet - 524,600
2. Tony Moussa - 488,300
3. Danny Illingworth - 480,600
4. Ofir Mor - 452,800
5. Mike Summers - 450,500
6. Bartholomew Mikulski - 441,100
7. Mike Leah - 431,600
8. Barry Tremebetzky - 412,000
9. Allen Bari - 401,500
10. Ben Lin - 385,700

Other notable names remaining in the WPT Borgata Poker Open include:

15. Jason Dewitt – 357,500
26. Bill Gazes – 298,000
36. Kathy Liebert – 260,700
38. Gabriel Aminov – 258,700
50. Jonathan Little – 229,800
58. Steve Brecher – 220,300
72. David Chicotsky – 187,800
75. Chris Reslock – 179,400
146. Michael Binger – 74,000

WSOPE Event #1 final table is set

A long and demanding day has finally come to an end with the final nine players of Event #1 set in place to have a run at the £120,000 1st prize. Leading the pack is Frenchman Fabien Dunlop, who used his chip lead after day 1b to great avail, ending up at the final table with over 500,000 chips.