Posts Tagged ‘2008’
MiniFTOPS XV Kicks off Today on Full Tilt Poker
On Wednesday at 21:00 ET, the Mini version of the 15th Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS) will kick off. The schedule features 27 tournaments, culminating in a $55 No Limit Hold’em Main Event on March 21st.
The MiniFTOPS XV schedule mirrors the slate of events of FTOPS XV, but features tournaments with buy-ins that are one-tenth as pricey. The world’s second largest online poker site happily accepts customers from the United States and a flood of participants are expected. In the opening event of MiniFTOPS XIV, a parade of over 16,000 players turned out for a $22 No Limit Hold’em Six-Max tournament. Last time out, the Main Event field numbered 15,987.
The tournament series allows low-budget online poker players to compete in a wide variety of games including Hold’em, Omaha, HORSE, Seven-Game, Stud, and Razz. The priciest buy-in is $266 for the MiniFTOPS XV Two-Day Event, while several tournaments boast entry fees of less than $15. During MiniFTOPS XIV, a $13 No Limit Hold’em Knockout event generated a massive field of 22,240 players, the only tournament in FTOPS history to pass the 20,000-entrant mark.
Like FTOPS XV, MiniFTOPS XV tournaments will feature a Full Tilt guest host. Top female pro Jennifer Harman will serve as the face of the Main Event, while 2008 World Series of Poker (WSOP) November Nine member Scott Montgomery will host the Two-Day Event. Other hosts include CardRunners instructors Taylor Caby and Andrew Wiggins, Robert Williamson III, John “The Razor” Phan, and Portugal’s Joao Barbosa, who will take to the felts in Event #1.
All told, at least $6 million will be on the line. Let’s get down to business. Here’s the schedule for MiniFTOPS XV on Full Tilt Poker:
Wednesday, March 10th at 21:00 ET
Event 1: $22 No Limit Hold'em
$350,000 Guaranteed
Thursday, March 11th at 13:00 ET
Event 2: $26 Pot Limit Omaha High/Low Knockout
$75,000 Guaranteed
Thursday, March 11th at 21:00 ET
Event 3: $55 No Limit Hold'em 3X Shootout
$35,000 Guaranteed
Friday, March 12th at 13:00 ET
Event 4: $22 No Limit Hold'em Cubed
$300,000 Guaranteed
Friday, March 12th at 21:00 ET
Event 5: $22 Limit Hold'em Six-Max
$75,000 Guaranteed
Saturday, March 13th at 13:00 ET
Event 6: $55 Pot Limit Omaha Six-Max
$150,000 Guaranteed
Saturday, March 13th at 15:00 ET
Event 7: $11 No Limit Hold'em with Rebuys
$350,000 Guaranteed
Sunday, March 14th at 13:00 ET
Event 8: $13 No Limit Hold'em Knockout
$250,000 Guaranteed
Sunday, March 14th at 15:00 ET
Event 9: $55 No Limit Hold'em Heads-Up
$200,000 Guaranteed
Sunday, March 14th at 17:00 ET
Event 10: $33 No Limit Hold'em
$600,000 Guaranteed
Monday, March 15th at 13:00 ET
Event 11: $22 Omaha High/Low
$60,000 Guaranteed
Monday, March 15th at 21:00 ET
Event 12: $109 No Limit Hold'em
$400,000 Guaranteed
Tuesday, March 16th at 13:00 ET
Event 13: $33 No Limit Hold'em 4X Shootout Six-Max
$150,000 Guaranteed
Tuesday, March 16th at 21:00 ET
Event 14: $55 HORSE
$100,000 Guaranteed
Tuesday, March 16th at 21:00 ET
Event 15: $22 No Limit Hold'em Turbo
$200,000 Guaranteed
Wednesday, March 17th at 13:00 ET
Event 16: $22 Seven-Game
$50,000 Guaranteed
Wednesday, March 17th at 21:00 ET
Event 17: $33 No Limit Hold'em Six-Max with Rebuys
$350,000 Guaranteed
Thursday, March 18th at 13:00 ET
Event 18: $22 No Limit Hold'em Cashout
$60,000 Guaranteed
Thursday, March 18th at 21:00 ET
Event 19: $22 Stud
$40,000 Guaranteed
Friday, March 19th at 13:00 ET
Event 20: $22 No Limit Hold'em Six-Max
$200,000 Guaranteed
Friday, March 19th at 21:00 ET
Event 21: $33 Razz
$50,000 Guaranteed
Saturday, March 20th at 13:00 ET
Event 22: $266 No Limit Hold'em Ante from the Start Six-Max Two-Day Event
$600,000 Guaranteed
Saturday, March 20th at 15:00 ET
Event 23: $11 Pot Limit Omaha with Rebuys
$150,000 Guaranteed
Saturday, March 20th at 21:00 ET
Event 24: $53 No Limit Hold'em Super Turbo Six-Max
$75,000 Guaranteed
Sunday, March 21st at 13:00 ET
Event 25: $26 No Limit Hold'em Knockout Six-Max
$300,000 Guaranteed
Sunday, March 21st at 15:00 ET
Event 26: $22 Pot Limit Omaha Heads-Up
$40,000 Guaranteed
Sunday, March 21st at 17:00 ET
MiniFTOPS XV Main Event: $55 No Limit Hold'em
$800,000 Guaranteed
Visit Full Tilt Poker for details.
UB.com Cancels 2010 Aruba Poker Classic
The annual UB.com Aruba Poker Classic will take a leave of absence in 2010, according to officials from the USA-facing online poker site. Instead, UB.com plans to increase its presence at other live events and expand its online tournament offering.
In 2009, Brandon "AreTheseUtz" Hall defeated a field of 475 players in the UB.com Aruba Poker Classic Main Event to collect a $753,000 first place prize. The $5,500 tournament’s prize pool swelled to well over $2 million and a throng of online poker players flocked to the Radisson Aruba Resort and Casino to partake in the annual pilgrimage. Now, the tournament will be put on the shelf for 2010.
In lieu of the annual gala in paradise, UB.com will focus its efforts on expanding its live and online tournament schedules. In the virtual world, a monthly $500,000 Guaranteed is in the works. As it stands now, UB.com and its sister site, Absolute Poker, hold a weekly $200,000 Guaranteed that regularly draws over 1,000 entrants. Last week, 2008 PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) winner Carter “ckingusc” King took down the contest and earned $48,000.
The Ultimate Bet Online Championship, or UBOC as it’s commonly referred to, will be expanded to run twice per year. It last appeared in January and featured two $1 million prize pool events, the first of which saw its purse grow to $1.5 million. When a second UBOC would occur is not yet clear. Full Tilt runs its Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS) four times per year, while PokerStars’ WCOOP and Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) take place in September and May, respectively. The $500,000 guaranteed UB.com tournament may ultimately grow to become a $1 million event.
Tokwiro COO Paul Leggett commented in a press release on Wednesday, "It is with great regret that we are announcing that the Aruba event will not run this year, but 2010 is going to be an exciting year for UB and its players. Over the last year, we've been redefining the UB brand in every way. We love the Aruba Poker Classic event, but we think we can do a lot more for our players by investing in new events and rewards." Tokwiro is the parent company of UB.com and Absolute Poker. Both sites happily accept customers from the United States.
UB.com will also continue to qualify players for land-based tournaments on the World Poker Tour (WPT) as well as the World Series of Poker (WSOP), which kicks off in late May from the Rio in Las Vegas. In addition, “major WSOP incentives and additional loyalty benefits for top players” are being planned, according to the same press statement.
In 2002, Juha Helppi defeated Phil Gordon in the first ever running of the UB.com Aruba Poker Classic, which appeared as part of the WPT schedule during Season 1 in 2002. One year later, Erick Lindgren took down the $500,000 top prize in a final table that also featured Barry Shulman. During Season 3, Eric Brenes tangled with Layne Flack and came out on top for $1 million, with Mike Matusow and John Juanda also reaching the final table. In 2005, Freddy Deeb took down the Aruba Poker Classic title in the tournament’s final year as a stop on the WPT circuit.
The 2006 installment featured Cliff “JohnnyBax” Josephy battling heads-up against Devon Miller. The pro ultimately fell short and Miller banked $775,000. In 2007, Travis “TravestyFund” Rice emerged victorious, while Matt Brady took down the 2008 UB.com Aruba Poker Classic. Whether the tournament will reappear in 2011 remains to be seen.
Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest on this breaking story.
Tags: 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, absolute poker, Online Poker, poker player, pokerstars, tournament, UBOC, usa, vegas, WSOP
Eugene Katchalov Leads WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star After Day 1B
A total of 196 players took to the felts in San Jose, California for Day 1B of the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) Bay 101 Shooting Star tournament. Eugene Katchalov came out on top after the second starting day, earning a $10,000 cash bonus.
Katchalov finished with 131,500 chips, which will be the third largest stack after the survivors of Day 1A and Day 1B are combined for Day 2. When the cards hit the air today in the West Coast casino, 126 players will be seated. Overall, the tournament drew 333 entrants, down 15% from last year’s tally of 391. In 2009, Kathy Liebert took second to Steve Brecher and heading into Day 2, another female leads the way, Vanna Tea.
Shooting Stars, who have $5,000 bounties on their heads, doubled up left and right to close play on Tuesday at Bay 101. Full Tilt Poker front man Howard Lederer was all-in with A-J of diamonds and up against pocket kings, but flopped one jack and turned trips to advance to Day 2. Lederer will have a stack of 20,600 chips when play resumes, the 109th largest tally.
Also doubling up late in the day was 2007 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event champion Jerry Yang, whose 74,300 chips make up the 27th largest stack. Yang is fresh off an Elite Eight appearance in the National Heads-Up Poker Championship, where he fell to eventual champion Annie Duke.
Not as fortunate was 2008 WSOP Europe Main Event winner John Juanda, whose pocket fours could not hold up against the A-K of Tyler Cornell. When the smoke cleared, Cornell made a Broadway straight to collect Juanda’s $5,000 bounty and autographed Shooting Star shirt.
Also falling short on Day 1B was Victory Poker pro Antonio Esfandiari, who was all-in pre-flop with a wired pair of nines against the pocket kings of Betfair pro Sorel “Imper1um” Mizzi and the A-3 of another player. The board ran out J-8-8-5-3, ultimately giving Mizzi a king-high flush, and Esfandiari was relegated to the rails. "The Magician" had tripled up earlier in the day with pocket kings against A-K and pocket nines. Meanwhile, Mizzi busted two players in the hand and owns the ninth largest chip stack entering Day 2.
UB.com pro and 11-time bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth was all-in on a flop of J-5-3 with two spades holding A-Q of spades for the nut flush draw and two overcards. His opponent held 4-5 for a pair. The turn came a queen, saving the day for “The Poker Brat,” and a harmless nine fell on the river. Hellmuth ended the day with a stack of 62,800 chips, the 42nd largest tally in the WPT tournament. His talented company at Table 22 on Wednesday will include Phil Laak, Faraz “The-Toilet” Jaka, Justin “Boosted J” Smith, and Corwin “mig.com” Mackey. Talk about a tough draw.
Here are the top 10 chip stacks in the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star event as play enters Day 2:
1. Vanna Tea – 143,900
2. Greg “FBT” Mueller – 132,800
3. Eugene Katchalov – 131,500
4. Timothy McDermott – 118,100
5. Grantland Hillman – 115,100
6. David Sands – 106,900
7. Oddie Dardon – 105,500
8. Scotty Nguyen – 99,900
9. Sorel “Imper1um” Mizzi – 97,600
10. Yevgeniy “Jovial Gent” Timoshenko – 97,600
The winner of the event will take home an $878,000 grand prize, with the top 36 players finishing in the money. Here are the payouts for the six-handed feature table:
1st Place: $878,500
2nd Place: $521,200
3rd Place: $292,800
4th Place: $234,300
5th Place: $175,700
6th Place: $117,000
Other notable names appearing in the top 50 after two starting days include:
13. J.C. Tran – 93,100
15. Hasan Habib – 89,700
16. Nick Schulman – 88,100
18. Scott Montgomery – 84,800
19. Chris “Fox” Wallace – 84,100
26. “Miami” John Cernuto – 76,700
27. Jerry Yang – 74,300
30. Phil Laak – 72,700
35. Chau Giang – 68,500
41. Steve “gboro780” Gross – 64,200
42. Phil Hellmuth – 62,800
45. Matt “All In At 420” Stout – 61,000
47. Brandon Cantu – 58,100
The WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star tournament will crown a champion on Friday. Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest WPT results.
Greg “FBT” Mueller, Yevgeniy Timoshenko Among WPT Bay 101 Day 1A Leaders
Two players on recent hot streaks are among the chip leaders after Day 1A of the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) Bay 101 Shooting Star tournament. A total of 17 bounties took to the field on Day 1A, with 25 more expected today.
Greg “FBT” Mueller won two bracelets during the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP), coming out on top in the $10,000 World Championship of Limit Hold’em for $460,000 and a $1,500 Limit Hold’em Shootout for another $195,000. Moreover, he made a third final table, taking seventh place in the World Championship of Seven Card Stud for $53,000. All told, Mueller logged one of the most successful WSOP showings in history and is up to his winning ways once again in San Jose, California, the site of Bay 101.
Mueller sent Shooting Star and recent WPT Southern Poker Championship winner Hoyt Corkins out on Monday. The DoylesRoom pro was all-in before the flop with A-K, but Mueller, who is also a Shooting Star, picked up pocket aces. The board ran out Q-8-4-9-9 and Corkins signed over a commemorative shirt. Mueller also laid claim to the $5,000 cash bonus. The former hockey player has the second largest chip stack after Day 1A at 132,800, trailing only chip leader Vanna Tea’s 143,900.
Yevgeniy “Jovial Gent” Timoshenko is the reigning WPT Championship winner and also took down the 2009 PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) Main Event for $1.7 million. In 2008, Timoshenko found the winner’s circle of the Asian Poker Tour’s (APT) Macau Main Event for $500,000. Timoshenko, a Shooting Star, owned the fourth largest stack when play wrapped up for the night on Monday at 97,600. A total of 53 players remained of the 136 who entered.
Timoshenko dropped a portion of his stack late in the day. He led out for 6,900 into a pot of 10,000 on a board reading K-8-4-6-5. Team PokerStars Pro front man Daniel Negreanu made the call and turned over 5-4 of hearts for two pair. Timoshenko had K-J for top pair and was a victim of a less-than-stellar river card. The hand boosted Negreanu to 50,000 in chips, but he ended the day with just 19,600, the 48th largest stack.
The first Shooting Star to depart was T.J. Cloutier, who shoved on a flop of A-J-4 holding pocket queens. Wade Griffith held A-J in the hand for top two pair and Cloutier failed to improve on the turn or river. Griffith finished in 42nd place after Day 1A with a stack of 30,000 chips.
Besides Mueller, Timoshenko and Negreanu, the Shooting Stars who survived the day were Mike Matusow (39th place with 35,100), Freddy Deeb (41st place with 30,800), and Steve Brecher (51st place with 10,800). Here are the top 10 chip stacks after the first of two starting days at Bay 101:
1. Vanna Tea - 143,900
2. Greg Mueller - 132,800
3. Oddie Dardon - 105,500
4. Yevgeniy “Jovial Gent” Timoshenko - 97,600
5. Joseph Elpayaa - 87,300
6. Scott Montgomery - 84,800
7. Chris “Fox” Wallace - 84,100
8. Bruce Kramer - 81,200
9. Daniel LaFrance - 79,400
10. Tyson Marks - 74,000
When play wrapped up for the day, the action was in Level 9, where the blinds were 300-600 with an ante of 75. No Shooting Star has ever won Bay 101 since it became part of the WPT in 2004.
As an added bonus, Tea pocketed a $10,000 cash prize for leading the pack after Day 1A; the leader after Day 1B will also collect $10,000. The cards hit the air at 10:45am PT this morning.
Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest WPT results.
Bounty Hunting at Bay 101
Created by Bay 101 owner Marko Trapani 14 years ago, tournament director Matt Savage says the concept was based on the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, which draws some of the best golfers in the world, a host of celebrities and thousands of spectators to the Northern California coast every year.
Trapani's original plan was to try and draw the world's best rounders to a fan and player friendly $1k buy-in event in the Bay Area.
When it first started, the bounties were a bunch of Trapani's friends, but it slowly grew and when the World Poker Tour came along seven years later, Savage says they bumped up the buy-in and had a perfect fit.
"It's great for TV and the fans because it's a really unique tournament," he said. "With the $5k bounties, $10k for the chip leader at the end of the first day and six-handed play with 36 left, it's unlike any other tournament in poker."
Unique tournament structures also make for unique tournament strategies.
"Some people chase the bounties," Savage said. "The local players sometimes are just out here to get the bounties. They think, 'Hey, I won my way in through a $200 satellite, now I have the chance to pick up five thousand,' so they might make a loose call.
"That's why one or two of the shooting stars make the final table every year, because people are going after them and if they pick up chips, they're tough to get."
Team UB Pro Brandon Cantu loves the format and actually won the event in 2009, collecting a record six bounties on his way to the title.
"This is one of my favorite tournaments," he said. "And I actually do hunt the bounties. It's nice to try and get the buy-in back, so I'm really a fan of going after the bounties."
Cantu went wire-to-wire in 2008, taking the chip lead on his Day 1 and the $10k prize it came with.
He says that's the kind of thing that really makes the event fun to play and keeps the fans on the rail entertained throughout.
"I was actually going for it," he said. "When I was 8,000 behind late in the day, I really went for it. I wanted it."
What Cantu didn't enjoy was being a bounty for the first time last year.
"People played really differently against me," he said. "It seemed like they were up to no good all the time and it just changed my whole mindset.
"I didn't know where I was in a hand as much as I usually do. I didn't like it."
Phil Laak has a bounty on his head and says it changes just about everything.
"I love it, but it really sucks as a bounty when your chip stack starts diminishing," he said. "You are forced to get real hands, because people are going to call you down, often correctly.
"But it is nice when you have some chips, because people are going to take some incorrect lines to try and chase you."
Like it or not, with a rail full of fans watching the biggest names in the game here in San Jose this week, Trapani's plan has worked.
Action at the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star continues through March 12. For comprehensive coverage, tune in to PokerListings' Live Updates and News.
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Tom “durrrr” Dwan has great March - He’s up about 1,7 million dollars
There has been loads of action this month on Full Tilt Poker. The biggest winner is Tom Dwan with 1,72 million dollar winnings.
There’s couple of other players who are doing great this month. The internet sensation Isildur1 is up about a million and the Finnish “LokoIsBack” is up $530k.
Patrik Antonius has lost the most, around 1,15 million dollars so far. Cole South is not far behind with 950k dollar losses.
Here are some of the results so far:
Source: Highstakesdb
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Tom “durrrr” Dwan has great March - He’s up about 1,7 million dollars
Loses posted for Party Gaming
Women Rule the Day at Bay 101
After all, Bay 101 has seen deeper runs by women than any other venue on the World Poker Tour.
At the 2007 edition of the popular bounty event, Joanne Liu made runner-up to Ted Forrest in an attempt to become the WPT's first female champion.
Then last year, veteran pro Kathy Liebert matched the feat, finishing second to 2009 champion Steve Brecher.
Liebert's runner-up finish helped push her up and over $5.6 million in career tournament earnings, making her far and away the number one earning female poker player of all time.
Being the number one female player in the game is not exactly the reason Liebert plays the game, but it's certainly an honor she cherishes.
"Being a top poker player is more important to me than being a top female poker player," she said. "But being the top woman in poker is something I'm proud of. There are a lot of women trying to catch up to me."
One of the women chasing Liebert is two-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner and respected high-stakes cash game pro Jennifer Harman.
Though Harman, who currently sits fifth on the all-time female money list and made the final table at Bay 101 in 2008 finishing third, really sees herself as just one of the boys.
"I look at myself as a poker player," she explained. "I don't believe in the whole gender thing because this is a co-ed sport.
"You shouldn't get kudos for being a woman or a man, you should get kudos for being a great poker player and that's all."
International Women's Day is about celebrating the economic, political and social achievements of women past.
But even as women like Liu, Liebert and Harman continue to achieve in poker, it appears many men on the felt refuse to treat them as equals.
"I think some men treat women with no respect at the table and some men treat women with too much respect," said Harman. "For me, since I'm like old furniture in this business, they just treat me the same as anybody else. They don't play any differently against me because I'm a woman, but I know with some women they do."
Regardless, Harman, who booked her first major cash in a poker tournament 16 years ago, says the game is changing all the time and more women are flocking to it every day.
"When I first started, I would walk into a poker room and there would be me," she said. "Now you walk into a poker room and there are one or two women at every table.
"I think it's grown and it will continue to grow. A lot of women are still intimidated, but I know they enjoy the game and they want to do it, they just need to take that next step, because poker can be a lot of fun."
Liebert says she feels a lot of love and support from female fans of the game, many of whom she sees following her lead.
"I always have women coming up to me and telling me they are rooting for me," she said. "And they feel like if I'm a woman and I can do it they can do it to."
Action at the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star continues through March 12. For comprehensive coverage, tune in to PokerListings' Live Updates and News.
Visit PokerListings.com
Annie Duke Wins 2010 National Heads Up Poker Championship
The first female champion of the National Heads-Up Poker Championship was crowned on Sunday as UB.com pro and Poker News Daily Guest Columnist Annie Duke took down the title and its corresponding $500,000 top prize.
Duke defeated eight-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner Erik Seidel in the finals. She was nearly sent packing against Paul Wasicka in the round of 16, but trumped pocket aces with A-10 and pocket jacks with 8-5 of diamonds to move on. Duke beat Wasicka to face 2007 WSOP Main Event winner Jerry Yang in the Elite Eight. In the five previous installments of the National Heads-Up Poker Championship, Duke had only made it out of the opening round once.
Against Yang, a bevy of all-ins occurred, as her opponent doubled up with 3-6 against K-9, pocket threes against J-7, and even A-4 against A-K. Yang was finally sent to the rails holding J-3 against Duke’s A-8. The flop came A-J-2, giving Yang middle pair and Duke top pair. The turn and river were a 10 and nine, respectively, missing Yang and handing Duke a ticket to the Final Four against 2008 WSOP Main Event November Nine member Dennis Phillips.
After falling behind, Phillips doubled up after pushing pre-flop with K-J of diamonds. Duke called with a baby ace, A-5, and watched as the flop came K-Q-6, pushing Phillips out in front with top pair. No help came on the turn for Duke and the river improved Phillips to trips. In the final hand of the battle between Phillips and Duke, the former committed his chips with A-8 and was up against pocket sevens for a race. The board fell 9-3-2-6-4 and Duke advanced to the finals. Phillips earned $125,000 for his efforts in the invite-only poker tournament.
The finals were held in a best of three format and Duke quickly jumped out to a 1-0 lead on the Full Tilt Poker pro. Seidel was all-in on a flush draw with 8-6 of spades on a board reading 7-K-J with two spades. Duke had A-K for top pair, top kicker and dodged spades on the turn and river to claim the first match against Seidel.
In the second match, a sizable pot brewed when Seidel flipped up the Doyle Brunson, 10-2, on a board of 2-8-K-2-4. Then, Seidel took down match number two after Duke committed her chips with K-5 against Seidel’s 7-8. The flop came 9-6-4 with two hearts and the five of hearts on turn gave Seidel a straight. Duke could win if a heart fell on the river, but instead a black nine hit to set up the rubber match.
In the final hand of the third match, Duke’s pocket nines held against Seidel’s A-2. Duke banked a half-million dollars for winning the 2010 National Heads-Up Poker Championship, while Seidel earned a $250,000 consolation prize. Seidel had never made it out of the first round of the unique bracket tournament.
In a Guest Column two weeks ago on Poker News Daily, Duke seemingly forecasted the final match-up of the 2010 National Heads-Up Poker Championship: “Erik Seidel and I were joking that we have bad records in that event. He’s a brilliant player, but has never won a match, and I’ve won one. I don’t care who I draw; I just want to win my [first round] match.”
Here were the final payouts:
1st Place: Annie Duke - $500,000
2nd Place: Erik Seidel - $250,000
3rd Place: Scotty Nguyen - $125,000
4th Place: Dennis Phillips - $125,000
5th Place: Jerry Yang - $75,000
6th Place: Doyle Brunson - $75,000
7th Place: Jason Mercier - $75,000
8th Place: Peter Eastgate - $75,000
9th Place: Paul Wasicka - $25,000
10th Place: Eli Elezra - $25,000
11th Place: Annette “Annette_15” Obrestad - $25,000
12th Place: Barry Greenstein - $25,000
13th Place: Gabe Kaplan – $25,000
14th Place: Phil Laak - $25,000
15th Place: Chris Moneymaker - $25,000
16th Place: Jamie Gold - $25,000
A total of 13 former WSOP Main Event champions entered. Amazingly, nearly half of them, or six, made the top 16. Other former Main Event winners who played included Joe Cada (2009), Huck Seed (1996), Joe Hachem (2005), Johnny Chan (1987, 1988), Chris Ferguson (2000), Phil Hellmuth (1989), and Greg Raymer (2004).
You can catch the 2010 National Heads-Up Poker Championship on NBC beginning on Sunday, April 18th at Noon ET. We're sure that the tournament will come up on this Sunday's webcast of the Kevin Pollak Chat Show, which will feature Duke in a broadcast sponsored by Poker News Daily.
Image courtesy NBC Sports.
Tags: 2008, 2009, 2010, Annie Duke, Barry Greenstein, Doyle Brunson, Phil Hellmuth, tournament, trips, WSOP
Women Rule the Day at Bay 101
After all, Bay 101 has seen deeper runs by women than any other venue on the World Poker Tour.
At the 2007 edition of the popular bounty event, Joanne Liu made runner-up to Ted Forrest in an attempt to become the WPT's first female champion.
Then last year, veteran pro Kathy Liebert matched the feat, finishing second to 2009 champion Steve Brecher.
Liebert's runner-up finish helped push her up and over $5.6 million in career tournament earnings, making her far and away the number one earning female poker player of all time.
Being the number one female player in the game is not exactly the reason Liebert plays, but it's certainly an honor she cherishes.
"Being a top poker player is more important to me than being a top female poker player," she said. "But being the top woman in poker is something I'm proud of. There are a lot of women trying to catch up to me."
One of the women chasing Liebert is two-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner and respected high-stakes cash game pro Jennifer Harman.
Though Harman, who currently sits fifth on the all-time female money list and made the final table at Bay 101 in 2008 finishing third, really sees herself as just one of the boys.
"I look at myself as a poker player," she explained. "I don't believe in the whole gender thing because this is a co-ed sport.
"You shouldn't get kudos for being a woman or a man, you should get kudos for being a great poker player and that's all."
International Women's Day is about celebrating the economic, political and social achievements of women past.
But even as women like Liu, Liebert and Harman continue to achieve in poker, it appears many men on the felt refuse to treat them as equals.
"I think some men treat women with no respect at the table and some men treat women with too much respect," said Harman. "For me, since I'm like old furniture in this business, they just treat me the same as anybody else. They don't play any differently against me because I'm a woman, but I know with some women they do."
Regardless, Harman, who booked her first major cash in a poker tournament 16 years ago, says the game is changing all the time and more women are flocking to it every day.
"When I first started, I would walk into a poker room and there would be me," she said. "Now you walk into a poker room and there are one or two women at every table.
"I think it's grown and it will continue to grow. A lot of women are still intimidated, but I know they enjoy the game and they want to do it, they just need to take that next step, because poker can be a lot of fun."
Liebert says she feels a lot of love and support from female fans of the game, many of whom she sees following her lead.
"I always have women coming up to me and telling me they are rooting for me," she said. "And they feel like if I'm a woman and I can do it they can do it to."
Action at the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star continues through March 12. For comprehensive coverage, tune in to PokerListings' Live Updates and News.
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Duke Dominates in NBC Heads-Up Win
"I'm so excited to win such a prestigious event and join the likes of Huck Seed, Chris Ferguson and Phil Hellmuth as Heads-Up Champion," said Duke, who became the first-ever woman to win the NBC Heads-Up title.
"I came into this tournament really focused and it feels great to finally break through in this event."
The road to victory at Caesars Palace was not an easy one for the UB sponsored pro. She beat 2008 runner-up Andy Bloch in the first round before getting past 2009 WSOP Main Event runner-up Darvin Moon in the round of 32.
Next up was 2007 champion Paul Wasicka who looked to have the best of Duke when she was all in with ace-ten against his pocket aces at one point. Miraculously, Duke went runner-runner to make a straight, take the lead and eventually move on.
"I would have loved all of my matches to be easy," said Duke. "I'm sure (Producer) Mori (Eskandani) is happy though, because it's going to give the show some serious drama.
"One thing's for sure, I can never complain about bad beats again after hitting that runner-runner king-queen against Paul Wasicka."
In the end, Duke beat eight-time WSOP bracelet winner Erik Seidel in the best-of-three final to bank the $500,000 first-place prize.
"Annie was my number one pick to win," said Seidel. "She played very tough. She had no fear. She really played the way you're supposed to play in this sort of structure."
A mother of four, Duke took some time off from her career as a professional poker player to film The Celebrity Apprentice last season.
Now she says a little time away from the game did her a world of good.
"I know what my main priority is and that's my family, so I'm never going to play as much poker as everyone else, but it's really nice to come back with a bang," she said. "I took the time off, I readjusted and now I've had some good results."
Vanessa Rousso made runner-up at the Heads-Up Championship in 2009, the deepest finish by a woman in the event before this year.
Duke said it's great to see so many female poker players rising to the top.
"I think it's great that a woman came in second last year and a woman finished first this year to really represent woman players," she said. "There are some great female poker players out there."
NBC's coverage of the 64-person event will air Sunday's at 12 p.m. ET beginning April 18 through May 23.
- With files from Matthew Showell
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MacPhee Wins Robbery-Delayed EPT Berlin
The 29-year-old from Idaho beat Finnish player Ilari Tahkokallio heads-up to take down the largest poker tournament in German history and its massive €1 million first prize.
A star in the online game that broke the PokerStars record for most Tournament Leader Board points in April 2008, accruing more than $100,000 in profits that month, MacPhee has previously played in 15 European Poker Tour events, satelliting in through PokerStars for 14 of them.
He was one of 243 players who won their seats online to EPT Berlin, but until now a big score had eluded him.
"Winning an EPT was a real goal of mine," he said." I have worked very hard for this. It feels awesome."
A total of 945 players from 48 countries entered the €5,300 Main Event creating a total prize pool of €4,725,000.
EPT Berlin was interrupted on the event's penultimate day when armed robbers stormed the registration desk outside the tournament area at the Grand Hyatt Hotel.
No one was seriously injured and the suspects fled after a security guard intervened. The tournament resumed after a few hours and a police investigation is continuing.
Next up for the EPT is EPT Snowfest set for March 21-26 in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria.
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National Heads-Up Poker Championship: Elite Eight Set
Eight players remain in the 2010 National Heads-Up Poker Championship, which will begin airing on NBC on April 18th at Noon ET. Among the survivors are poker veterans Doyle Brunson and Annie Duke.
Duke faced off against 2007 National Heads-Up Poker Championship winner Paul Wasicka in the round of 16. The seesaw match featured the short stack doubling up time after time. Finally, Duke shoved with A-10 pre-flop and Wasicka made the call with pocket aces. The flop came A-2-J, giving Wasicka what seemed like an insurmountable lead. However, Duke spiked a queen on the turn and king on the river to make a runner-runner Broadway straight and double through.
Coverage found on PokerNews described the scene during Duke’s miracle double-up: “The gallery went absolutely berserk. Duke, standing over the table, held her hands up to her face in utter disbelief. She then walked to Wasicka's side of the table and whispered something in his ear before re-taking her seat.” Wasicka was the runner-up to Jamie Gold in the 2006 WSOP Main Event, earning $6.1 million.
The hand crippled Wasicka, who promptly doubled with A-9 against Duke’s K-10. In the final hand of the match, Wasicka committed his chips with pocket jacks and Duke made the call with a meager 8-5 of diamonds. The flop came 8-2-7, giving Duke top pair, and a five on the turn improved the UB.com pro and Poker News Daily Guest Columnist to two pair. Wasicka needed a two, seven, or jack on the river to stave off elimination, but a nine fell and Wasicka was ousted. Next up for Duke is 2007 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event champion Jerry Yang, whose supporters had a less-than-cordial run-in with Jennifer Harman earlier in the day.
Brunson’s miracle run continued. In 2008, Brunson defeated Annette “Annette_15” Obrestad two matches to none in a prelude to the WSOP Europe Main Event. In the Sweet 16, the two Caesars Cup participants squared off once again. They sat at the feature table and Brunson shoved all-in on a flop reading 7-5-J. Obrestad held 6-4 for an open-ended straight draw, while Brunson flipped up J-5 for two pair. The turn was a king, leaving Obrestad needing to hit a straight on the river to avoid doubling up the 10-time bracelet winner. However, a jack hit, giving Brunson a boat and a critical double-up.
Obrestad, the 2007 WSOP Europe Main Event champion, then shoved pre-flop with Q-5 of hearts for her remaining stack. Brunson, who underwent extensive dental surgery two days after the Super Bowl, woke up with A-8, which held on for the win. Brunson’s Elite Eight opponent is 2008 WSOP Main Event November Nine member Dennis Phillips, who bested high-stakes cash game pro Eli Elezra in the round of 16. Phillips’ National Heads-Up Poker Championship opponents have included Chris Ferguson and Kara Scott.
Eight-time bracelet winner Erik Seidel will face off against 2008 WSOP Main Event winner Peter Eastgate in the round of eight. Seidel bested another former World Champion to punch his ticket to the Elite Eight, Chris Moneymaker. Seidel doubled up after flopping a straight with Q-J against Moneymaker’s K-2. The flop came 9-10-K, giving Seidel the nuts, and a running 6-9 didn’t help matters for Moneymaker. The former Tennessee accountant was then all-in with 10-8 of diamonds against Seidel’s A-Q. The board came 3-5-7-3-7 and Seidel’s two pair with an ace kicker scooped the pot and sent Moneymaker packing.
The winners of the clubs and spades brackets will face off against each other in the Final Four. Similarly, the survivors of the hearts and diamonds brackets will play each other. Here is how the field shapes up:
Clubs Bracket
Erik Seidel vs Peter Eastgate
Spades Bracket
Scotty Nguyen vs Jason Mercier
Hearts Bracket
Dennis Phillips vs Doyle Brunson
Diamonds Bracket
Jerry Yang vs Annie Duke
A winner will be determined today. The action kicks off at 11:00am PT from Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest National Heads-Up Poker Championship coverage.
International Federation of Poker Refutes IMSA Acceptance Reports
Early reports that the International Federation of Poker (IFP) would be accepted into the International Mind Sports Association (IMSA) may have been misguided, according to the Poker Black Belt Blog (pokerblackbelt.co.uk). After reports circled last month that the IFP's acceptance into the IMSA was only a month or so away, the IFP released a statement this week denying that the membership with the IMSA was finalized and that several steps still needed to be taken before a decision was made. This means that poker in the Olympics could be further away than we hoped.
The President of the IFP, Anthony Holden, issued a press release about the inaccurate reports on Monday: "I do not know how or where these rumors started, but I must make it clear that they are premature. IMSA membership is one of IFP’s publicly declared goals, and we have put in much work towards that end over the past year. Despite very encouraging signs, however, we are not there yet."
According to Holden, the IFP is working ardently with SportAccord, formerly known as the General Association of International Sports Federations, to become a full member. SportAccord is an organization intended to unite the world of sport and is a loyal partner of the the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
"In order for IFP to secure a 'global' membership and be recognized in as many countries as possible, IFP requires poker to be recognized as a game of skill – a 'Mind Sport' and is, therefore, planning to apply to become a member of both SportAccord and the International Mind Association," said Holden.
The IFP's goal was to be a full member of SportAccord and the IMSA before the 2010 SportAccord Congress in Dubai on April 30th. Holden says that the IFP will be an observer this year, but intends to have an application to be a full member ready for the 2011 Congress in London.
The IOC recognizes the IMSA, meaning that if poker were accepted into the IMSA, it could be considered an official game of skill by the IOC. Currently, the only card game to be accepted by the IMSA is Bridge. Other skill games recognized by the IMSA include Chess, Go, Draughts, and Xiangqi. The IMSA played a major role in the inaugural World Mind Sports Games, which were held in Beijing two months after the 2008 Summer Olympics.
The hope is for poker to join the IMSA and the World Mind Sports Games, gaining further ground in becoming a part of the Olympic Games. The IOC has outlined that a game or sport must be practiced by men in at least 75 countries on four continents and by women in at least 40 countries on three continents in order to be recognized. That shouldn't be a problem considering the increasing popularity of poker over the past decade.
Poker News Daily will continue to update the IFP's progress in the coming months.
PartyGaming PLC Announces 2009 Financial Report
As most companies in the online gaming world continue to roll out their 2009 fiscal reports, many have reflected last year’s softer economy in their revenues. On Wednesday, PartyGaming PLC was the latest to announce its 2009 fiscal reports and demonstrated that the company was affected by the fiscal roller coaster of 2009.
For the year that ended on December 31st, 2009, PartyGaming showed a slight decline in overall net revenues for the year. In 2009, PartyGaming was able to show a net revenue of $446.2 million, a 5.7% decline from $472.9 million in 2008. What was intriguing about the breakdown of revenues is that the online poker room was nearly eclipsed by the online casino operation.
What is considered the linchpin of PartyGaming, the highly popular online poker operation PartyPoker showed a significant decline in net profits for the year. In 2009, PartyPoker drew net revenues of $196.7 million, which is a 28.3% decline from $274 million in 2008. Other gaming options were able to make up for this drop, however.
The online casino arm of the company, PartyCasino saw net revenues of $196.2 million, a 12.1% increase over its 2008 net revenues of $175 million. Two other areas of the PartyGaming operation, PartyBingo and the online sports book, each outpaced 2008 earnings by bringing in $32.8 million (an astounding 555% increase over the $5.9 million earned in 2008) and $19 million (a slight increase of 5% over its $18 million in 2008), respectively.
Two actions by PartyGaming during 2009 had a noticeable effect on the bottom line of the company. In April 2009, PartyGaming resolved its dispute with the U.S. Department of Justice as to its online gaming activities in the United States prior to the enactment of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) of 2006. In that settlement, PartyGaming agreed to pay $105 million over the next 3½ years in semi-annual payments. Over the remainder of 2009, PartyGaming held to the settlement and issued $15 million in payments to the U.S. government.
The second action that influenced the PartyGaming was their acquisition of two components that should have a tremendous influence on the company’s future. In July, PartyGaming was able to acquire Cashcade, a successful online bingo and casino operator, for a reported £95.9 million. This acquisition made an immediate impact on the 2009 fortunes of PartyGaming, as reflected by the year-end results of PartyBingo. The second acquisition, the purchase of the venerable World Poker Tour for $12.3 million at the end of 2009, has not yet had a significant impact on PartyGaming’s bottom line, but the future of the long-running poker tournament series seems secure in the hands of PartyGaming.
Jim Ryan, PartyGaming's Chief Executive Officer, stated during the announcement, “We delivered a solid performance during 2009, which demonstrated the resilience of our business model that continues to generate strong cash flow, even in the most challenging of circumstances.” As to the businesses that PartyGaming acquired in 2009 and the outlook for 2010, Ryan said, “With some acquisitions and major B2B (business-to-business) deals already under our belt, we plan to do more in 2010 and I believe we are on course to meet our objective of becoming the world’s most valuable online gaming company.” Reuters reports that PartyGaming is still looking for other companies to either acquire or merge with to continue to drive their impact in the online gaming market.
Following the announcement of PartyGaming’s 2009 performance, the company's stock price rose nicely. Traded on the London Stock Exchange under the prefix “PRTY.L,” thee stock closed at 303 pence on Wednesday. At the open of trading today, PartyGaming’s stock started at 300.5 pence and rose to 310.1 pence by the close of trading on Thursday evening in London.
Ryan is extremely confident about the outlook for PartyGaming in 2010, stating, “While the macroeconomic environment remains uncertain, we remain focused on executing our stated strategy and are confident about the Group’s prospects.”
PartyGaming Poker Revenues Drop
"Whilst the macroeconomic environment remains uncertain, we remain focused on executing our stated strategy and are confident about the Group's prospects," said PartyGaming CEO Jim Ryan.
The Gibraltar-based company, which runs PartyPoker, dropped from a $66.9 million profit in 2008 as total revenue declined 6% to $446.2 million.
The loss is being blamed partly on the $105 million settlement the company signed with the U.S. Attorney's Office in April to avoid prosecution for providing Internet gambling services to U.S. customers prior to the enactment of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA).
Under the terms of the agreement, PartyGaming agreed to stay out of the U.S. Internet gambling market under current legislation and is hoping, should the legislation change, it would be in a prime position to move back in.
"We believe that at some point the U.S. will regulate online gaming and we want to be ready to take that opportunity," said Ryan. "We have a number of organizations who are willing to do business with us. It is our ticket back."
While the weakness of the English Pound was a factor in the loss, a fall in poker revenues to $196.7 million from $274.0 million in 2008 also played a large role.
However, Ryan is pointing to the fact revenues have already turned around in the first two months of 2010 as a reason for continued optimism.
New player sign-ups on PartyPoker increased to an average of 1,700 per day with 55,900 active players on the site every day generating average gross daily poker revenues of $709,000 throughout January and February 2010.
"We delivered a solid performance during 2009 which demonstrated the resilience of our business model that continues to generate strong cash flow, even in the most challenging of circumstances," Ryan added. "We plan to do more in 2010 and I believe we are on course to meet our objective of becoming the world's most valuable online gaming company."
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New Poker Pair: Erick Lindgren and Erica Schoenberg
Not all the interesting news in the world of poker occurs at the tables or in the halls of government. Sometimes, it is simply people themselves that catch our attention. Case in point: the budding romance between Team Full Tilt member Erick Lindgren and fellow pro Erica Schoenberg.
Our friends over at PokerListings.com were the first to provide the evidence to the general poker public. At the WPT L.A. Poker Classic, Lindgren was spotted "railing Erica as she played deep in the LAPC main event," was the first to console her after she busted out, and most notably, they were seen kissing.
Schoenberg, a model turned poker pro, had previously formed half of one of poker's power couples, as she was once engaged to recent PartyPoker Premier League IV champion and "High Stakes Poker" fixture David Benyamine. Their relationship was one of the central themes of the September 6th, 2009 episode of G4TV's "2 Months, 2 Million," a show in which four online poker pros - Dani Stern, Jay Rosenkrantz, Brian Roberts, and Emil Patel - lived together in Las Vegas and attempted to win $2 million playing poker in two months. Rosenkrantz, one of the founders of the poker coaching site DeucesCracked.com, had once played Benyamine online when, to his disappointment, Benyamine left for a higher stakes table. Upset about the apparent "hit and run," Rosenkrantz berated Benyamine in the chat box, calling him a "fish." Schoenberg then proceeded to stand by her man, calling Rosenkrantz "just a typical NL a**-clown" in her blog.
In the "2 Months, 2 Million" episode, Rosenkrantz saw Schoenberg at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Pool and reached out to mend fences. The two let bygones be bygones and Schoenberg set up a time for the two men to play heads-up online. Benyamine ended up winning $60,000 from Rosenkrantz.
The details behind the Schoenberg/Benyamine break-up are not known, but their relationship was rumored to have ended in October.
Schoenberg's new companion is no step down at the poker tables. Lindgren has won two World Poker Tour (WPT) titles and was named WPT Player of the Year in 2004. In 2008, he finally earned his first World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet, capping a fantastic WSOP in which he made three final tables, cashed five times, and was named 2008 Player of the Year. On the live tournament circuit, Lindgren ranks 22nd on the all-time money list.
Schoenberg, while perhaps best known for being one of the most attractive poker players in the industry, is no slouch on the felts, either. Even though she is relatively new to the game, she has three six-figure tournament cashes. The first was for a 16th place at the 2006 $25,000 WPT Championship ($117,165) followed by a victory in the $2,500 No Limit Hold'em event at the 2007 Mandalay Bay Poker Championship ($105,875). Her largest cash to date is $261,646, earned by placing third in a $1,500 No Limit Hold'em event at the 2007 WSOP.
Poker as an Olympic Sport
The International Federation of Poker will be accepted into the International Mind Sports Association in April. This means that poker will join a list of games including Chess, Bridge, and Go as an official game of skill, according to Bluff Magazine Europe. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) recognizes the International Mind Sports Association (IMSA), meaning poker will be considered an official game of skill for the Olympics
This development may not mean that we’ll be seeing poker in the Olympics in the near future, but it is certainly a first step in the right direction. Acceptance into the IMSA and recognition from the IOC gives poker another strong argument in court. The nature of online gambling might be in question, but courts have been pretty lenient in allowing games of skill. Will this IOC distinction assist in the efforts to legalize online poker in the United States?
“I am encouraged that the IOC has recognized what we poker players have always known. Poker is an honorable game of skill,” commented Rich Muny, a board member for the Poker Players Alliance (PPA). “Many states have already legally codified recognition of the fact that competitions based on skill are different from wagering on dice or other events based on chance. I believe this decision will encourage more states to recognize this distinction legally.”
Anthony Holden, author of such poker books as “Big Deal” and “Bigger Deal: A Year Inside the Poker Boom,” is the current head of the International Federation of Poker. He told Bluff Europe, “Poker is not like other casino games. It’s a social game where people are playing against each other, not the house, and a game where skill plays a bigger role than luck. There are 120 to 150 million poker players in the world and we deserve this recognition.”
Poker is the only card game to be accepted by the IMSA besides Bridge. This organization is a non-profit association and has over 400 national entities and close to 100 million players within its jurisdiction. As listed on the IMSA website, current headquarters are located in Lausanne, Switzerland and Paris, France.
The IMSA held its first “IMSA Cup” competition back in 2008 in Russia. The final day of that event was dedicated to friendly matches between masters of mind games and honorary guests of the competition, mainly diplomats.
Given that mind games are recognized as games of skill by the IOC, could poker ever make it into the Olympics? While that remains to be seen, many poker sites including PokerStars have competitions like the World Cup of Poker, which matches players from various countries against each other.
Team PokerStars USA includes players such as Chris Moneymaker, Vanessa Rousso, Greg Raymer, Joe Cada, Barry Greenstein, Chad Brown, Gavin Griffin, Dennis Phillips, Tom McEvoy, Hevad Khan, Victor Ramdin, and Jason Mercier. Popular online player Randy “nanonoko” Lew also hails from the United States. Full Tilt Pros hailing from the United States include Howard Lederer, Phil Ivey, Chris Ferguson, Mike Matusow, and Allen Cunningham. Full Tilt Poker also boasts a well known online prodigy of its own in Tom “durrrr” Dwan.
While we know the United States would field a dream team of poker players, there are plenty of other countries that would challenge for the gold medal. Canada, which just hosted the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, would have Daniel Negreanu along with players like Darus Suharto and Wade Ackerman leading the charge. The United Kingdom would have players like Vicky Coren, David “Devilfish” Ulliott, Roland De Wolfe, and James Akenhead at the helm. Australia would have Joe and Tony Hachem, Grant Levy, Eric Assadourian, as well as Billy “The Croc” Argyros representing their homeland.
The IOC has outlined that a game or sport must be practiced by men in at least 75 countries and on four continents and by women in at least 40 countries and on three continents in order to be recognized. Although we can all agree that poker is not a traditional sport that requires physical skill and toughness like pole vaulting and Greco-Roman wrestling, there might be a place for games of skill at the Olympics. Is it really out of the question to think of a “total package” decathlon that would combine physical and mental sports?
Think about a physical and mental event where participants would have to do their best in running, swimming, jumping, throwing, and then competing in mental games such as chess, poker, and bridge. It’s not too far-fetched to pitch that idea to an Olympic committee or get it aired on the likes of ESPN2 with a celebrity cast.
While we dream of Raymer competing against former Navy SEAL Dan Blizerian in a swimming race before heading to a poker tournament, having poker accepted as an official game of skill by the IMSA and the IOC is already a huge step in the right direction for the industry.
LAPC Final Table Set
As well known players like two-time World Series of Poker Main Event champion Johnny Chan, Celebrity Apprentice star Annie Duke, three-time WPT final table participant Steve Sung and 2001 Main Event champ and two-time WPT title winner Carlos Mortensen all fell throughout 14 hours of poker Tuesday, a final six all making their televised table debut emerged.
The final table will begin Thursday at 4 p.m. PT inside the Commerce Casino in East Los Angeles with Hungarian Andras Koroknai holding the chip lead.
Although he has just one small live cash from the Austrian Classics in 2008, Koroknai will bring with him a rather boisterous group of Hungarian supporters from the L.A. area.
Fountain Valley, California resident Raymond Dolan currently sits second in chips and while two small cashes including a 12th place finish at a prelim in this series is all Dolan can count on for experience, he is the brother of Tim Phan, who made the final table at WPT Legends in 2005.
Coming in third in chips is Canadian Tri Huynh looking to add to his $30k in career earnings that includes a final table appearance at an L.A. Poker Classic prelim in 2007.
Armenian American Gevork (George) Kasabyan has half a million in career earnings from a boatload of small tournaments in the L.A. area and will come into the final fourth in chips.
Canadian Jean-Claude Moussa brings three WSOP cashes worth almost $60k and the experience of playing regularly online as high as $50/$100 to the table while currently fifth in chips.
And finally, the short stack is L.A.'s own Michael Kamran, happy to be through to his first final six after making seventh at WPT Bay 101 last year.
A $1.7 million first-place prize and the chance to join an illustrious group of LAPC champs including Phil Ivey, Antonio Esfandiari, and Gus Hansen hangs in the balance.
For comprehensive coverage, tune in to PokerListings' Live Updates and News.
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William Hill PLC Announces 2009 Fiscal Report; Online Revenues Drive Company
The first quarter of 2010 traditionally brings the announcements of 2009 yearly earnings from online gaming and poker outlets that are traded on various stock exchanges around the world. The gaming corporation William Hill PLC announced its 2009 Fiscal Report late last week; the online gaming sector helped to drive the company through a difficult year.
While overall net profits for William Hill rose by 4% in 2009 to £997.9 million versus £963.7 million in 2008, the online arm of the company was able to offset a decrease in retail betting shops. William Hill is one of the preeminent bookmaking and slot operations in the United Kingdom and Ireland, but was affected by the difficult economic situation that many companies had to contend with in 2009. The net revenues from retail outlets decreased by 4% to £757.5 million (from £790.7 million in 2008).
William Hill was able to offset the retail decrease through revitalized online operations. In late 2008, William Hill announced a joint venture with the gaming software company Playtech that had a significant effect on its online operations that include online casinos, poker, and sports books. For the year, online net revenues for William Hill rose an astounding 63% to £203.5 million versus the £125.1 million earned in 2008.
In the online end of the William Hill operations, the full integration of Playtech into the company made excellent inroads. The growth of the customer base during 2009, with new accounts increasing by 28%, portends future success with the company. The sports book showed a steady revenue, but there were increases in the amounts that customers wagered and a 30% increase in customer accounts.
Ralph Topping, who started at William Hill in a Glasgow betting shop in 1973 and became the company's Chief Executive Officer in 2008, commented during the fiscal year announcement, “In terms of 2009, the scale and breadth of our business ensured that we were well-placed to ride out the extra volatility in sporting results and the areas affected by the economy were counteracted by good growth in gaming machines and our improving online performance.”
“We have transformed key parts of William Hill in the last year,” Topping continued. “William Hill Online is almost unrecognizable from a year ago, with highly competitive gaming products, proven marketing expertise and a sports book that has more pre-match and live betting products.” Topping also noted that William Hill has been able to move forward with new technologies in their retail outlets that will improve the quality of the gaming experience for customers.
William Hill’s poker outlet is a part of the iPoker Network, which currently ranks as the fourth largest in the industry according to PokerScout.com. Behind only U.S. facing sites PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker, the iPoker Network consistently battles PartyPoker for the third place slot on the PokerScout traffic counts. Unlike the two industry leaders, however, PartyPoker and the iPoker Network do not allow American action.
With the announcement of the company's fiscal year 2009 reports, William Hill’s stock prices have been on the rise. Trading on the London Stock Exchange under the stock code “WMH,” the stock price dipped as low as 192.5 pence during trading on Friday. Monday saw a drop in the stock to just over 191 pence, but it has rebounded noticeably since then. By the close of business on the London Stock Exchange on Tuesday, William Hill stock was trading at 200.9 pence, making the company’s estimated value approximately £1.4 billion.
Seiver Books LAPC High Roller Win
"It feels really great," Seiver told PokerListings. "It sounds silly to say how good it feels to win, but it feels really good. It's such a rush, it's just so exciting."
Seiver came into the six-man final table with a slight chip lead over respected pro Daniel Alaei.
But Alaei immediately chipped up when the final table started at Commerce Casino just after 1 p.m. Tuesday.
First he sent short stack Will Molson home sixth before his tens held against Tommy Vedes' K♣ 3♣ to rail him fifth.
Soon after, Alaei doubled through Seiver to take a commanding lead when he got it all in and turned a full house to crack Seiver's flopped trips.
Alaei's grip on the title looked even tighter when he busted Lee Markholt fourth, but Seiver soon picked up a few more chips and a little bit of momentum.
Seiver busted Jason Mercier third and when heads-up began, he had moved into the chip lead once again.
Despite being deep-stacked compared to the blinds, Alaei lost a massive pot when Seiver made a full house against him just a few hands into the match and soon shoved in with Q♦ J♦ facing a Seiver three-bet with A♠ J♠.
Seiver made the call and although the flop gave Alaei both a gutshot and a flush draw, he bricked out handing Seiver the title and $425,334 first-place prize.
"I don't know if I can stand up here and say I'm the best at these, but I like to think of myself as one of the better players," Seiver said, explaining his recent success in High Roller events. "It's always about walking a fine line between confidence and hubris.
"It's very tough in the poker world to know where you stand compared to other people. I try to accurately gage how good, or not, I am and I feel like I'm good enough to play in these events.
"Clearly these are some of the best players in the world, but I like to think I at least rank somewhere up there with them."
The event began Sunday with 41 of the biggest names in poker, including Season 7 WPT Player of the Year Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier, 2008 World Series of Poker Player of the Year Erick Lindgren and Ashton Griffin, who won the NAPT's $25k Bounty Shootout in Las Vegas last week.
Seiver, who moved up to just under $2 million in career tournament winnings with the victory, said it was a particular thrill to take on an esteemed player like Alaei heads-up.
"Daniel Alaei is my hero," he said. "He's one of the best in the world and to beat him heads up just felt so great."
The World Poker Tour's L.A. Poker Classic continues through March 4. For comprehensive coverage, tune in to PokerListings' Live Updates and News.
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Bernard Lee Breaks Down Foxwoods Poker Sponsorship
If you have not heard or read the news, let me give you a quick recap. On February 9th, it was announced to the poker world that Foxwoods Resort Casino named me its official spokesperson for their World Poker Tour (WPT) branded poker room. I am extremely honored and privileged to be representing one of the best poker rooms in the world and the premier New England gaming destination.
I also want to thank everyone who has passed along their kind words and congratulations regarding my sponsorship deal with Foxwoods Resort Casino. I was very humbled to receive numerous e-mails, texts, and messages from the poker world, from Joe Hachem to Daniel Negreanu to Dennis Phillips to Joe Cada to Chris Moneymaker to Lee Childs to Matt Glantz, and many more. Moreover, I was very pleased to receive many kind words and comments from you, the fans, and I can’t thank you enough.
Foxwoods Resort Casino has always held a special place in my heart, which is all the more reason I am extremely pleased with this outcome. After its grand opening in 1992, I visited the Foxwoods poker room for the very first time. Ever since then, it has been a place of many firsts for me, which include:
1) My first poker tournament
2) My first satellite tournament win
3) My first large buy-in main event ($10,000 World Poker Finals in 2004)
4) My first poker title ($5,000 No Limit Hold’em event during the 2006 World Poker Finals)
Afterward, I captured two other titles at Foxwoods in the next two years, allowing me to win three titles at the World Poker Finals in three successive years (2006 to 2008). I won the $2,000 No Limit Hold’em event in 2007 and the $600 modified No Limit Shootout in 2008. I almost made it four titles in four years in a row when I made the final table in the 2009 $1,500 No Limit Hold’em event. Unfortunately, I came up a little short, finishing disappointingly in ninth place.
Nevertheless, I have made eight final tables there, earning over $750,000. So, you can see why I consider it my home away from home. As I said in the press release, “If there is such a thing as home-court advantage in poker, for me it’s at Foxwoods.”
After the news was announced last month, many people were slightly confused and asked what this sponsorship agreement entails. The agreement is pretty straightforward, as it is analogous to an online poker room sponsorship agreement that we have all grown accustomed to over the past several years.
However, although online player sponsorship has previously been fairly commonplace, it has become increasing difficult to obtain such as deal, especially for Americans, since the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIEGA) came into effect.
Now, Foxwoods becomes the first major casino to sign a player to a sponsorship agreement. Previously, other players have signed deals with smaller casinos: Scotty Nguyen with Cherokee Casino in Oklahoma and Michael Mizrachi with Planet Hollywood. Additionally, Daniel Negreanu signed an interesting, yet short-lived deal with the Wynn to play heads-up matches on its property.
Now, other casinos across the country may begin to take a closer look at their internal situations and possibly consider if there is sponsorship opportunity with a local recognizable player.
Overall, I believe that this agreement has opened up another avenue of player sponsorship in the world of poker. Within the next 18 months, I feel that there may be additional signings by casinos, especially in states that have smaller, regional competition. States such as Florida, Oklahoma, Michigan, Indiana, and Arizona are places where an agreement with a local player could be advantageous. For example, Florida has increased its tournament buy-in maximum to $1,000 and is looking at increasing it even further. With a plethora of top players coming from the Sunshine State like Jason Mercier, Jonathan Little, the Mizrachi brothers, Chad Brown, and Vanessa Rousso, the casinos would have several players to choose from.
I look forward to this signing to potentially becoming a trend. The next time that you are on the East Coast, come up and join me at the ‘Woods and experience “The Wonder of it All.”
Before I leave you this month, I want to thank my personal team, which made this agreement with Foxwoods Resort Casino possible. These members include my agent/business manager (Charlie Tillett), publicist (Jennifer Rosinski), and assistant/radio news manager (Steve Buchanan). Finally, thank you to my incredibly supportive wife and two wonderful children.
And as always, don’t forget to listen to my radio show, “The Bernard Lee Poker Show,” which is now presented by Foxwoods Resort Casino on RoundersRadio.com every Tuesday night from 6:00pm to 7:00pm ET (please note the new time) and repeated throughout the week. Future guests will include 2005 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event Champion Joe Hachem, three-time WSOP bracelet winner Barry Greenstein, 2010 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Champion Harrison Gimbel, and many others.
Bernard Lee is the official spokesperson of Foxwoods Resort Casino. Lee is the co-host of ESPN Inside Deal, a columnist for the ESPN.com, Sunday columnist for the Boston Herald, and author of "The Final Table, Volume I” and “Volume II.” Listen to ``The Bernard Lee Poker Show'' presented by Foxwoods Resort Casino every Tuesday from 6:00pm to 7:00pm on 1120 AM in Boston (MoneyMatterBoston.com) or RoundersRadio.com. For questions or comments, e-mail him at BernardLeePoker@hotmail.com.
Tags: 2008, 2009, 2010, Barry Greenstein, Daniel Negreanu, Hollywood, Online Poker, poker show, pokerstars, tournament, WSOP
The Sunday Scoop: Near Miss for Nico Behling
The Sunday Million continues to smash its guarantee as 10,077 players came out to play creating a $2.01 million prizepool.
Behling and Swiss player Ronald “ronaldgruer” Gruer, who is currently ranked fourth in CardPlayer's Online Player of the Year race, made competition at the final table fierce.
Gruer eventually finished in fifth place for $80,616 while Behling crashed out third, narrowly missing a shot at heads up.
Behling has over $245,000 in online tournament earnings and a final table appearance at the 2008 Aussie Millions, but a major online title has always eluded him.
In the end, orionrg won this week's Sunday Million for $255,429 after a two-way chop.
In the other big PokerStars tournaments, online grinder Ben “ANIMAL5050” Pappas took the Sunday 500 title for $87,400 while Brazilian atcasanova won the Sunday Warm-Up for $146,854.
Over on Full Tilt Poker, the $750,000 Guaranteed garnered the attention of 4,196 players who combined to form a prizepool of $839,000. Online player mohamedali13 beat a table of unknown players to win $148,196.
live fox won the Full Tilt Sunday Brawl for $116,319 while SCOOP final table finisher Ben “kidcardiff” Warrington came in fifth-place for $29,223.
Meanwhile on UB Poker, KEJULES10 won the $200k Guaranteed for $37,564. Reality TV star turned poker player Trishelle Cannatella came in 18th out of the 1,006 players that entered the tournament.
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Kentucky House Passes Bill Taxing Online and Phone Horse Racing Wagers
Despite an ongoing court battle to rid the state of 141 internet gambling sites, Kentucky’s House passed a bill taxing online and phone “advanced deposit wagers” on horse racing by an 85-8 margin. Now, the measure will be discussed in the Kentucky Senate.
Sites like TwinSpires.com, which is owned by the parent company of the Churchill Downs racetrack, operate legally in the state and allow residents to wager on the ponies online and over the phone. On Friday, Kentucky House Bill 368 passed by a 10:1 margin after Democratic Speaker Pro Tem Larry Clark brought the legislation to life. According to an article that appeared on Friday in the Louisville Courier-Journal newspaper, Clark asserts that up to $400,000 per year could be pulled down as a result of taxing online and phone bets just 0.5%.
One-third of the tax would go to the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission, one-third would go to the track the bet was placed with, and the final portion would supplement the track’s cash prizes. Clark told the Louisville media outlet, “I think that it's a way for us to advance the tracks as far as adding more purse money… so I think it's something the Senate would look at. They talked about last session, when they did not want to do slots, finding more revenue for (tracks). This is one avenue that would find more revenue for them.”
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is two months away from hosting the annual Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in Louisville. The “Fastest Two Minutes in Sports” plays out on the first Saturday in May every year and attracts celebrities and high rollers from around the world. In the past, online poker rooms like UB.com have held promotions in conjunction with the gala.
TwinSpires.com caps online and phone bets at $2,500 per transaction and a minimum deposit of $25 is required. The site has a mailing address in Kentucky, but is licensed in Oregon. Last year, the Kentucky legislature ultimately failed to approve a similar measure, which would have taxed internet and phone bets at a rate of 3.5%, or seven times the amount of the current version of the bill.
The Kentucky Justice and Public Safety Cabinet, led by J. Michael Brown, has been on an 18-month witch hunt against the owners of 141 internet gambling domain names, including those belonging to industry giants PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker. In September 2008, the State seized the rights to the domain names and sought their forfeiture before members of the internet gambling industry stepped in. The Interactive Media Entertainment and Gaming Association (iMEGA) has led the charge on behalf of the 141 sites in jeopardy.
In October 2009, lawyers representing iMEGA, the Interactive Gaming Council (IGC), and several of the sites at risk pleaded their case in front of the Kentucky Supreme Court. A ruling cannot be handed down until March 18th at the earliest. Other possible release dates for the Supreme Court’s verdict are April 22nd, May 20th, June 17th, August 26th, September 23rd, October 21st, November 18th, and December 16th.
The Commonwealth charged that the 141 domains constituted “gambling devices,” a term that is traditionally reserved for physical objects like slot machines and roulette wheels that you’d find in an illegal underground casino. Judge Thomas Wingate upheld the State’s actions in an October 2008 ruling before the Kentucky Court of Appeals overturned it by a two-to-one margin in January 2009. During October’s Supreme Court hearing, State officials repeatedly noted that Kentucky’s legislature had not yet acted on the legality of internet gambling outside of horse racing.
The Courier-Journal added that Illinois and Virginia had taken similar approaches to taxing online wagers on horse racing.
bwin Announces Preliminary Fourth Quarter And Financial Year 2009 Reports
Following its acquisition of an Italian online gaming asset, the European gaming giant bwin was able to show a profit in both its fourth quarter gross revenues as well as for the Financial Year 2009.
In an announcement released this week, bwin demonstrated its dominance in the European market in all areas of its product. While the financial numbers reported would have been excellent standing alone, bwin – which acquired the Italian gaming operation Gioco Digitale in September of 2009 – was able to reap further benefits from the addition of the Italian company. From the information released, the addition of Gioco Digitale, which gave bwin a seat of operations in the Italian gaming market, will continue to be a strong part of the company.
For the fourth quarter of 2009, bwin showed increases in every area of the company. Total gross gaming revenue was up 12.9% to €132.9 over the fourth quarter of 2008’s profits of €117.7 million. The best increases came in the online poker operations, where a 35.8% increase in gross revenues to €37.6 million (over 2008’s €27.7 million) led all areas of the company. The sports betting arm of the company (up 3.3% to €66.6 million) and its casinos (up 4.8% to €20.2 million) added in to make up for the fourth quarter increase.
For the financial year 2009 overall, bwin was able to show increases in most areas of the company despite the global economic issues throughout the year. Gross gaming revenues for the year were up 6.1% to €446.6 million, vastly outpacing 2008’s final revenues of €420.9 million. Online poker once again led the way for the company, earning 26.1% more in 2009 (€118.8 million) than bwin did in 2008 (€94.2 million). While casino gaming gross revenues were up for the year in total (up 5.4% to 73.7 million), sports betting was the only area that showed a downturn, falling 3.8% for 2009 and earning €226.3 million versus 2008’s €235.4 million.
All of the numbers reported include the additional income of Gioco Digitale’s Italian citizens. Even if you take away the numbers generated by Gioco Digitale, bwin was still able to show a profit for the overall financial year of 2.8%. Where the addition of Gioco Digitale will most be felt perhaps is in the online poker room, where the company was able to push bwin’s fourth quarter numbers out of the red.
Back in September, the announcement of bwin’s purchase of Gioco Digitale rocked the online gaming world. The purchase, rumored to be in the neighborhood of €100 million (roughly $140 million U. S. at the time), was initiated by bwin to establish a foothold in Italy, where the country requires that an online gaming organization has a dedicated site for Italians to play at and must abide by established Italian gaming laws. Gioco Digitale reportedly held over 20% of the Italian market and, with the added 7% that bwin captured, makes for a formidable operation in Italy.
Estimates for the company in the future look very good, according to Yahoo! Finance UK. Through analysts’ estimates, bwin looks to earn €553.02 million in 2011, which would be approximately a 20% increase over 2009 numbers. At the close of trading on Friday on the Vienna Stock Exchange, bwin’s stock – traded as BWIN – was slightly down from yesterday at €40, down €1.7 from Thursday’s action.
Alex “AJKHoosier1? Kamberis Joins Brunson 10
Online poker site DoylesRoom announced this week that Alex "AJKHoosier1" Kamberis is the newest member of the Brunson 10, a group of up-and-coming poker stars handpicked by Doyle Brunson himself. Kamberis, a pro from Indiana, made his debut wearing DoylesRoom gear at the $25,000 High Roller Bounty Shootout at the North American Poker Tour (NAPT) Venetian Event.
Pamela Brunson, Doyle's daughter and manager of the Brunson 10, made an official announcement via Twitter on Wednesday: "The 5th Brunson 10 member is....@ajkhoosier1. Alex Kamberis. He's awesome! Y'all follow him!" Brunson is responsible for overseeing PR requests, handling scheduling, and managing the Brunson 10.
Kamberis, 23, was the 2008 CardPlayer Online Player of the Year (OPOY), finishing with 9,424 OPOY points and defeating runner-up Steve "gboro780" Gross by nearly 1,500 points. Kamberis' largest cash in 2008 came in the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) Main Event, where he took third place for $782,542.90. He also had a runner-up finish in the Full Tilt Poker $1 Million Guaranteed for $134,895. In his career, Kamberis has more than $4 million in online tournament earnings.
Kamberis told Poker News Daily, "Being associated with Doyle Brunson in any way is such a thrill for me; I basically feel like a basketball player who becomes associated with Michael Jordan and the Jumpman brand. Doyle is such a legend and I'm really humbled by the fact that he felt I was a worthy addition to the team."
Kamberis joins Chris "Moorman1" Moorman, Amit "amak316" Makhija, Zach "CrazyZachary" Clark, and Dani "ansky" Stern as the fifth member of the Brunson 10. The talented group will represent DoylesRoom at live events and by playing on the site. "Not only are Chris, Amit, Zach, and Dani all amazing, highly accomplished players, but they're friends of mine and people that I have a lot of experience playing and talking with," Kamberis told Poker News Daily. "I know that I partly owe this deal to them speaking up on my behalf – there's a lot of mutual respect there, and it just makes things so much easier and more comfortable to just jump into this new chapter of my career."
After earning OPOY honors in 2008, Kamberis took a lot of time off from poker in 2009, limiting his volume in both online and live tournaments. He told Poker News Daily that he began a new relationship with a girl and started backing a fairly full stable of players, reducing his time and incentive to play and travel. However, with the new DoylesRoom deal, his hunger to play has returned in 2010.
"I am finally ready for this to be my first year that I put in a fairly full live schedule," Kamberis said. "Last year, I only played a few live tournaments and in the couple years before that, I kind of just picked where I wanted to go, but now that I have the added incentive of promoting the DoylesRoom brand, well... let's just say you'll be seeing a lot of me in the near future."
DoylesRoom told Poker News Daily the site is hoping to sign a sixth Brunson 10 member very soon.
Ashton Griffin Wins NAPT Venetian High-Roller Bounty Shootout
Poker pro Ashton Griffin edged out DoylesRoom personality Hoyt Corkins heads-up to win the PokerStars North American Poker Tour (NAPT) High-Roller Bounty Shootout at the Venetian. The $25,000 buy-in tournament awarded a top prize of $460,000.
The final table was stacked with a mix of veterans and young guns of the industry, with one former World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event champion, Peter Eastgate, who became the youngest winner ever of the $10,000 buy-in tournament in 2008 at the tender age of 22. Joe Cada would shatter Eastgate’s record one year later. Eastgate was the first casualty of the seven-handed High-Roller Bounty Shootout final table after pushing pre-flop with pocket eights and running into Scott Seiver’s pocket jacks. Eastgate could not catch up, but he collected $75,000 for reaching the final table plus a $5,000 bounty for any player knocked out along the way.
The next to go was Brett Richey, who first doubled up with A-K against A-8. On the following hand, he looked down at A-Q and pushed again. Griffin made the call and showed K-Q of clubs, giving Richey a commanding lead pre-flop and a tantalizing opportunity for another double up. The board read 4-4-4-7, setting Richey up for success, but a king on the river gave Griffin the win.
Young gun Faraz “The-Toilet” Jaka, who earned his online moniker after playing an inordinate number of suited cards as a beginner in poker, pushed all-in from the small blind with Q-10 and was up against Seiver’s A-J of clubs. The flop gave Seiver top pair and a flush draw to boot; Seiver won the pot with a boat. Jaka landed in fifth place in the made-for-television tournament.
Seiver then pushed with Q-10 and ran into Corkins’s A-K. Corkins turned two pair to seal the win in the hand and Seiver, a WSOP bracelet winner, was eliminated from contention. Corkins had doubled through Seiver just prior to the latter’s final hand with pocket jacks against Seiver’s wired pair of fives. Corkins turned a set to send Seiver’s chip stack plummeting.
Joe Cassidy was eliminated from the NAPT Venetian High-Roller Bounty Shootout after moving all-in from the small blind with A-2 of diamonds. Griffin, sitting in the big blind, woke up with A-9 and made the call. A nine came on the flop and Cassidy was ousted. Entering heads-up play in Las Vegas, Griffin held a 2:1 chip lead over Corkins, who is fresh off a win in the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) Southern Poker Championship.
Two hands into heads-up play, a winner was determined. Corkins called all-in with 9-3 on a flop of 4-5-9. However, Griffin held 9-8, out-kicking Corkins and handing him the final table’s winner-take-all $460,000 grand prize. He cashed in a Pot Limit Omaha preliminary event during the 2009 WSOP Europe for £15,000. One year prior, Griffin landed in seventh in the Latin American Poker Tour’s (LAPT) San Jose, Costa Rica stop for $29,000.
All was not lost for Seiver, however, who collected a $100,000 bonus courtesy of PokerStars for knocking out the most number of players. Seiver single-handedly sent all six of his opponents at his first round table to the rails and two more at the finale for a total of eight.
Four hours of coverage on ESPN2 will be dedicated to the NAPT Venetian High-Roller Bounty Shootout and Main Event. The action kicks off on April 19th and will air according to the following schedule:
April 19th: Venetian $25,000 High Roller Bounty Shootout: 9:00pm to 11:00pm ET
April 26th: Venetian $25,000 High Roller Bounty Shootout: 9:00pm ET
April 26th: Venetian $5,000 Main Event: 10:00pm ET
Next up for the NAPT is a trip to Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Connecticut. The $5,000 buy-in NAPT Mohegan Sun Main Event kicks off on April 7th and runs through the 11th.
Ashman Wins NAPT $25k
Playing under the handle Ashman103, he takes on the best in the world at the highest stakes almost nightly on Full Tilt.
While he has a history of going from boom to bust online, over the past year Griffin hasn't just been staying in the game, he's been winning.
So when 49 of the top names in the game got together for the PokerStars.net NAPT $25k Bounty Shootout in Las Vegas over the past few days, it's to no one's surprise that winning continued.
The event began at the Venetian Hotel and Casino Wednesday with seven seven-handed heats. In addition to collecting $75k and a $5,000 bounty for every player they knocked out, the winners of each heat went on to Friday's final.
Scott Seiver busted every player in his preliminary heat and started out the final table with a bang, doubling through Peter Eastgate with aces and sending the 2008 World Series of Poker Main Event champ to the rail seventh soon after.
Griffin actually spent the day off before playing high stake online and came into the final without benefit of a night's sleep.
He was seen taking power naps on the break, but had no trouble waking up to get in to the bounty collecting business when he called a Brett Richey shove with king-queen, three-outing Richey's ace-queen with a king on the river.
Faraz Jaka was sent to the rail next, running queen-ten into Seiver's ace-jack and with another $5k bounty collected, Seiver guaranteed himself at least a chop of the $100k put up by PokerStars for the event's top bounty hunter.
Seiver was actually the next player out when Hoyt Corkins doubled through him with jacks over fives, then eliminated him with ace-king over queen-ten.
But when Griffin sent Joe Cassidy home with a dominating ace-nine over ace-deuce after three-hours three-handed, Seiver locked up the $100k.
Cassidy's exit also sent Griffin and Corkins into a heads-up match that would last just a few brief moments.
On just the second hand the two got it in on a nine-high flop holding top pair. Griffin had Corkins outkicked, it played and the title was his.
In addition to a $455,000 first-place-prize, Griffin grabbed $75,000 for winning his first table and $30,000 in bounties for a total win of $560k.
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Peter Eastgate, Scott Seiver Reach NAPT Bounty Shootout Final Table
Scott Seiver stormed through the competition on Day 1 of the PokerStars North American Poker Tour (NAPT) $25,000 High-Roller Bounty Shootout at the Venetian. Seiver ousted all six opponents at his starting table to move on to Day 2.
Seiver collected a $5,000 bounty for each player knocked out, or $30,000 total. In addition, his appearance at Thursday’s final table in the $25,000 buy-in event is worth another $75,000. All told, he’s a very happy camper heading into the finale, which will air as part of ESPN2’s coverage of the NAPT beginning in April. Seiver didn’t knock out a bunch of amateurs, either. Instead, he defeated Betfair pro Sorel “Imper1um” Mizzi heads-up. Also a victim of Seiver’s bloodbath was Season 7 World Poker Tour (WPT) Festa al Lago winner Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier.
Seiver sent Team PokerStars Pro member and “High Stakes Poker” regular Barry Greenstein to the rails first, followed by Victory Poker front man Antonio Esfandiari, cash game specialist Chau Giang, and online poker pro Brian “tsarrast” Rast. Seiver won his first World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet in 2008, when he took down a $5,000 No Limit Hold’em event for $755,000.
Joe Cassidy defeated Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo heads-up at Table 1 to move on to Thursday’s finale. Cassidy knocked out four of his six opponents, including reigning WPT Championship winner Yevgeniy “Jovial Gent” Timoshenko, Bodog poker pro David Williams, and Unabomber Poker namesake Phil Laak. Cassidy finished 13th in the inaugural $50,000 HORSE Championship during the 2006 WSOP for $137,000. Also eliminated from Table 1 were “Poker2Nite” host Joe Sebok and Tommy Vedes.
2008 WSOP Main Event champ Peter Eastgate emerged victorious from Table 2. Eastgate defeated fellow young gun Isaac Haxton heads-up to collect his $5,000 bounty. Haxton sent Alec “traheho” Torelli and poker bad boy Tony G packing in third and fourth places, respectively, to give Eastgate a run for his money. The table also featured James Calderaro, Italian stud Dario Minieri, and WPT Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic winner Daniel Alaei.
Ashton Griffin outlasted 2003 WSOP Main Event winner Chris Moneymaker at Table 3 to advance. Moneymaker eliminated fellow Main Event champion Joe Cada along with Hasan Habib and Jason Mercier before Griffin took out the former Tennessee accountant. Griffin finished 12th in the 2009 WSOP Europe £5,000 Pot Limit Omaha tournament for £15,000.
Over at Table 4, Brett Richey defeated three consecutive players down the stretch for the win, including Victory Poker’s Lee Markholt. Richey also sent Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond home in third place and Andrew “good2cu” Robl out in fourth. Markholt, meanwhile, eliminated rumored new DoylesRoom Brunson 10 member Alex “AJKHoosier1” Kamberis and poker veteran John “World” Hennigan.
An epic battle between Faraz “The-Toilet” Jaka and UB.com’s Annie Duke unfolded at Table 5, with the former finally reigning supreme. Jaka busted four players from his table, including Jennifer Tilly, Vanessa Rousso, and 2006 World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) Main Event winner J.C. Tran. Oddly enough, only three women competed in the 49-player event; all of them were seated at the same table and eliminated by Jaka. You can check out Annie Duke’s evaluation of Jaka’s poker game.
Finally, DoylesRoom pro Hoyt Corkins, fresh off of taking down the WPT Southern Poker Championship in Biloxi, bested European Poker Tour (EPT) founder John Duthie at Table 7 to move on to the finale. Corkins amassed five bounties in the process, including Adam Richardson, Hevad “RaiNKhaN” Khan, 2004 WSOP Main Event champ Greg Raymer, and Steven Paul-Ambrose (who now goes as Steven Paul).
PokerStars is awarding $100,000 to the player with the most number of bounties when the tournament concludes. As it currently stands, Seiver leads the way with six and Corkins has five. Cassidy and Jaka each own four bounties.
The tournament resumes at Noon PT on Thursday, as all eyes today are focused on the Main Event of the NAPT Venetian. The winner of the Bounty Shootout will earn $460,000 in addition to the $75,000 reward for making the final table.
Eric Blair Leads NAPT Venetian Main Event Entering Day 4
What started as a mammoth field of 872 players in the PokerStars North American Poker Tour (NAPT) Venetian Main Event has now shrunk to just 24. Eric Blair leads the pack with a mountain of 3.7 million chips; two days remain.
Blair leads fellow poker pro Sam Stein, who finished second in a $5,000 No Limit Hold’em tournament during the 2010 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure for $168,000, falling to Swiss star Stefan Huber heads-up. Stein has 3.4 million chips after three days of play at the Venetian in Las Vegas and all players are in hot pursuit of the $827,000 top prize. The tournament will play down to its final table today in Sin City and the survivors will return to determine a winner on Wednesday.
Team PokerStars Pro member Vanessa Rousso, a GoDaddy Girl, was the final casualty of Day 3. Rousso open-shoved with K-6 and received a call from Tom Marchese, who was seated in the big blind and showed pocket sevens. The board fell 10-3-J-A-J and Rousso headed to the exit. She’ll be one of 64 players to hit the felts of the National Heads-Up Poker Championship, which will play out at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas beginning on March 5th. The tournament will air on NBC, which is currently carrying the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
Steve “MrTimCaum” O’Dwyer hit the rails in 28th place in the NAPT Venetian Main Event. O’Dwyer finished sixth in December’s World Poker Tour (WPT) Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic for $202,000 and committed his chips on Monday with a wired pair of jacks. However, Blair picked up pocket aces and sent O’Dwyer out. O’Dwyer just edged out UB.com pro Michael Binger, who dropped in 29th place.
The money bubble burst in the $5,000 buy-in event on Monday when Daniel Schreiber was eliminated in 129th place. Schreiber shoved with queen-high, but ran into Kyle Zartman’s pocket rockets. Shortly thereafter, pros began dropping like flies from the inaugural NAPT event on U.S. soil, with Jon “PearlJammer” Turner and Greg Raymer soon sent out. Raymer ran pocket sevens into pocket nines and, just like that, the 2004 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event champ was knocked out in 102nd place.
Who is left in the NAPT Venetian Main Event, you ask? Here are the 24 players remaining and their chip counts:
1. Eric Blair – 3,700,000
2. Sam Stein – 3,409,000
3. Steve “MrSmokey1” Billirakis – 2,372,000
4. David Miscikowski – 1,839,000
5. Tom Marchese – 1,795,000
6. Thomas Fuller – 1,540,000
7. Kyle Zartman – 1,483,000
8. Yunus Jamal – 1,074,000
9. Daniel Cossette – 1,033,000
10. Daniele Nestola – 872,000
11. Daniel Clemente – 805,000
12. Joseph Cutler – 742,000
13. David Paredes – 706,000
14. Jason “TheMasterJ33” Dewitt – 622,000
15. Blair Hinkle – 614,000
16. Jonathan “FatalError” Aguiar – 567,000
17. Andrew Chen – 539,000
18. Andrew “luckychewy” Lichtenberger – 539,000
19. “Miami” John Cernuto – 473,000
20. Mark Ketteringham – 470,000
21. Michael De Gilio – 385,000
22. Steve Stolzmann – 365,000
23. John Franciosi – 286,000
24. Christina Lindley – 103,000
Each one of the 24 Day 4 starters is assured at least $20,000, with members of the eight-handed final table collecting $60,000 or more. Besides the tail end of the NAPT Venetian Main Event, Tuesday marks the start of the $25,000 High-Roller Bounty Shootout. The tournament, as expected, features 48 of the game’s greats, including Yevgeniy “Jovial Gent” Timoshenko, 2008 WSOP Main Event winner Peter Eastgate, reigning champ Joe Cada, Victory Poker front man Andrew “good2cu” Robl, UB.com’s Annie Duke, and DoylesRoom pro Hoyt Corkins. One qualifier will join the stacked field of 48 sharks.
Both the High-Roller Bounty Shootout and Venetian Main Event will air as part of ESPN2’s coverage of the NAPT, which begins in April. Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest NAPT results.