Posts Tagged ‘5’
Weekly Freerolls: 11,000 Reasons to Play
The following freerolls are open to all PokerListings.com players. Qualify in the specified qualification period, then take your seat to win a boatload of free cash.
If you're not a PL.com registered player on any of the following sites, click on the site's name in the list to sign up. Getting your free seat in the tournament can be just as simple as that.
William Hill Poker offers a monthly $2,500 freeroll for PokerListings players. You need to collect just 100 points this month to qualify
- Date: Feb. 4
- Value: $2,500
- Qualify with: 100 points in January
Full Tilt offers weekly freerolls to all PokerListings players. Qualify with 100 points earned the week before the event to grab your seat.
- Date: Feb. 6
- Value: $1,500
- Qualify with: 100 points
- Qualify between: Jan. 31- Feb. 5
The next $5,000 Monthly freeroll is almost here, buy in with just 25 points.
- Date: Feb. 7
- Value: $5,000
- Qualify with: 25 points
Just two days left to earn your seat in February's montly freeroll.
- Date: Feb. 7
- Value: $1,000
- Qualify with: 100 points
- Qualify between: Jan. 1-31
With your final two days to earn your points and qualify, be sure to have collected 100 points in January for your seat in the next $2,000 Party Poker freeroll.
- Date: Feb. 13
- Value: $2,000
- Qualify with: 100 points
- Qualify between: Jan. 1-31
The next massive freeroll from PokerStars comes as a $25k event awarding $24k worth of "turbo takedown tickets" plus $1k cash for the final table. Collect 100 points in January as a PokerListings player to earn your seat.
- Date: Feb. 21
- Value: $25,000
- Qualify with: 100 points
- Qualify between: Jan. 1-31
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Sydney PartyPoker Qualifier Wins Aussie Millions
23-year-old Tyron Krost won a $640 online satellite to get into the main event at the Crown Casino and walked away AUD$2 million richer after besting a field of 746 this week.
"It feels like a dream and I don't want to wake up," he said moments after the win. "$2 million, it's amazing."
After a fairly lengthy feeling-out process, fellow Aussie Steven Shelley was the first player to get his walking papers from the final eight Saturday, running sevens into Krost's jacks.
But it wasn't long before he was joined on the rail by online superstar and 2007 World Series of Poker Europe champ Annette Obrestad.
The Betfair pro got into a flip for her stack with ace-jack against the PartyPoker qualifier's sevens and would have liked the straight draw she picked up on the flop if that same flop didn't give Krost a set.
The turn and river bricked out and Obrestad was sent back to Norway seventh.
Strangely, pocket sevens were involved in the next elimination as well, with Reno, Nevada's Steve Friedlander running them into Aussie Kostas Varoxis' big slick.
A king on the flop and another on the turn did the lone American at the final table in and play went five handed.
It stayed five-handed for quite a while until Canadian Peter Jetten appeared to implode, shipping it in with K♦ 5♦ against Krost's tens on a move and failing to improve.
Once the massive chip leader, Sorel Mizzi's downfall began soon after when he doubled up Frederik Jensen and before the Betfair Poker pro knew what had hit him, Krost had suddenly moved into the lead.
A few desperations shoves from Varoxis were next on the agenda, and although the first couple worked, his luck eventually ran out when he couldn't beat Jensen's deuces with A♥ 6♣.
Mizzi's downfall ended three-handed when he ran pocket sevens into Krost's ace-king and could not hold, leaving the two PartyPoker qualifiers to battle it out heads up.
Krost began heads up with better than 2:1 chip lead over Jensen and the Aussie began applying pressure on the Dane right from the outset, pounding him into submission before getting him all in dominated to book the win.
A humble Krost seemed to have the all big hands when he needed them throughout the final, beating some of the best young players in the game while following up Stewart Scott's 2009 win to become only the second Aussie to keep the title on home soil in Aussie Millions history.
"I just ran really well and got really lucky," he said. "I had a lot of big hands."
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Sydney PartyPoker Qualifier Wins Aussie Millions
23-year-old Tyron Krost won a $640 online satellite to get into the main event at the Crown Casino and walked away AUD$2 million richer after besting a field of 746 this week.
"It feels like a dream and I don't want to wake up," he said moments after the win. "$2 million, it's amazing."
After a fairly lengthy feeling-out process, fellow Aussie Steven Shelley was the first player to get his walking papers from the final eight Saturday, running sevens into Krost's jacks.
But it wasn't long before he was joined on the rail by online superstar and 2007 World Series of Poker Europe champ Annette Obrestad.
The Betfair pro got into a flip for her stack with ace-jack against the PartyPoker qualifier's sevens and would have liked the straight draw she picked up on the flop if that same flop didn't give Krost a set.
The turn and river bricked out and Obrestad was sent back to Norway seventh.
Strangely, pocket sevens were involved in the next elimination as well, with Reno, Nevada's Steve Friedlander running them into Aussie Kostas Varoxis' big slick.
A king on the flop and another on the turn did the lone American at the final table in and play went five handed.
It stayed five-handed for quite a while until Canadian Peter Jetten appeared to implode, shipping it in with K♦ 5♦ against Krost's tens on a move and failing to improve.
Once the massive chip leader, Sorel Mizzi's downfall began soon after when he doubled up Frederik Jensen and before the Betfair Poker pro knew what had hit him, Krost had suddenly moved into the lead.
A few desperations shoves from Varoxis were next on the agenda, and although the first couple worked, his luck eventually ran out when he couldn't beat Jensen's deuces with A♥ 6♣.
Mizzi's downfall ended three-handed when he ran pocket sevens into Krost's ace-king and could not hold, leaving the two PartyPoker qualifiers to battle it out heads up.
Krost began heads up with better than 2:1 chip lead over Jensen and the Aussie began applying pressure on the Dane right from the outset, pounding him into submission before getting him all in dominated to book the win.
A humble Krost seemed to have the all big hands when he needed them throughout the final, beating some of the best young players in the game while following up Stewart Scott's 2009 win to become only the second Aussie to keep the title on home soil in Aussie Millions history.
"I just ran really well and got really lucky," he said. "I had a lot of big hands."
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Joe Sebok Discusses UB.com Leap of Faith Freeroll
On Wednesday, February 17th at 9:00pm ET, the USA-friendly online poker room UB.com is hosting an extra special freeroll in which the winner gets a once-in-a-lifetime skydiving experience with Joe Sebok. In total, $2,000 in cash and prizes will be up for grabs, with the winner plummeting to the ground with the PokerRoad personality.
The jump occurs over the Nevada desert and the top prize also includes quality time with one of the newest members of Team UB. The tournament’s password will be released through UB.com’s Twitter feed just before it begins. Poker News Daily sat down with Sebok to get the inside scoop on this buzz-worthy promotion.
Poker News Daily: Thanks for joining us. Where did the idea for the skydiving freeroll come from?
Joe Sebok: I had always wanted to do something like that. This was one of the reasons I wanted to get involved with UB.com in the first place, so I could do cool things. If you aren’t having fun, then what’s the point? Each UB.com pro will have a unique experience. I had about 50 things that I thought would be cool.
PND: What were some of the other ideas you had?
Joe Sebok: Jumping out of a plane is my style or maybe going down to San Felipe and racing dune buggies. It really comes down to how much stuff UB wants to do. Hopefully, this will be the first of many unique experiences. We got to do the Twitter tournament and now this. I want to get through the negative stuff with UB so we can get to the fun stuff.
PND: What’s your skydiving background?
Joe Sebok: I love it. I have been about four times now. Thomas Wahlroos is an incredible skydiver and I wanted to go with him. I’ve always gone tandem, but for this one, I’d like it to be a solo jump. It’s terrifying to think of. There’s a class and you have to sit down and go through the techniques. You can imagine how scary it is. When you’re on someone’s back, there’s nothing for you to do other than fall. Everything’s different when you’re responsible for pulling the chute.
PND: Tell us about how the process of distributing hand histories relating to the Russ Hamilton-led cheating scandal is going.
Joe Sebok: It’s going well. In my recent blog, I asked people to get in touch with me with any issues. I probably had around 15 to 20 people do so. The bigger hand history orders, which mainly belong pros, are still being compiled. The main thing for people to understand is that UB had to pick a formula. It was all of the money you won versus cheating accounts minus money lost versus cheating accounts and if it was negative, we gave it back. Some people are angry with that formula and some are grateful. You have to pick a way to go and be consistent. Some will be stoked to get a refund and some won’t be.
The main thing I try to get people to understand is that everyone thinks I’m lying to them or won’t help. It’s just not true. Ever since I signed, I’ve spent a ton of time on this. People need to understand that I’m on their side. I’m trying to make things better and make sure we get this information out.
PND: Give us a quick recap of the first season of the UB.com poker news show “Poker2Nite,” which airs on Fox Sports Net on Wednesdays at 11:00pm ET.
Joe Sebok: The transformation since the first show has been great. In a short amount of time, we’ve improved a lot. We like to think we do that with all of our projects. We just want to continue to improve it heading into Season 2.
Tags: 15, 5, cent, freeroll, Joe Sebok, member, Nevada, News Daily, Online Poker, online poker room, Poker, Poker News Daily, Pro, tournament, usa
Ivey Loses $320k to Ziigmund
Ivey has been somewhat of a ghost online in 2010 having played only 974 hands, while players such as Di "Urindanger" Dang have already booked over 34,000.
In his latest session Ivey played just 254 hands before throwing in the towel. He started at $300/$600 PLO against both Ilari "Ziigmund" Sahamies and Patrik Antonius.
Ivey only stuck around for 97 hands, earning $36k for his efforts.
About halfway into his session Ivey and Sahamies agreed to play heads-up on Ivey's personal $500/$1,000 table - the Ivey Thunderdome. This match lasted for 157 hands, ending with Sahamies winning $321k.
Ivey's $284k loss leaves him up just $32k on the year.
After losing $275k playing 7-Game, Sahamies finished the day with only $113k. This win continues his hot-streak, pushing his year's results to over $1.7 million.
Antonius continues to struggle at the tables, last night losing over $467k. Nearly half of those losses ($209k) went to Tom "durrrr" Dwan in the latest session of the durrrr Challenge.
Despite winning the largest pot of the night, worth almost $500k, Antonius lost $174k to Sahamies heads-up and an additional $83k in his PLO session with Sahamies and Ivey.
When added to his results for the year, Antonius is now the first player to be stuck over $1 million in 2010.
Below you can find the largest pots of the night, or you can head to MarketPulse to see the rest.
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Tags: 15, 2010, 5, Dang, durrrr, Ilari "Ziigmund" Sahamies, Patrik Antonius, player, Poker, Tom "durrrr" Dwan
Phil Ivey Loses $320k to Ziigmund
Ivey has been somewhat of a ghost online in 2010 having played only 974 hands, while players such as Di "Urindanger" Dang have already booked over 34,000.
In his latest session Ivey played just 254 hands before throwing in the towel. His session started at $300/$600 PLO against both Sahamies and Patrik Antonius.
Ivey only stuck around for 97 hands, earning $36k for his efforts.
About halfway into his session Ivey and Sahamies agreed to play heads-up on Ivey's personal $500/$1,000 table, the Ivey Thunderdome. This match lasted for 157 hands, ending with Sahamies winning $321k.
Ivey's $284k loss leaves him up just $32k on the year.
After losing $275k playing 7-Game, Sahamies finished the day with only $113k. This win continues his hot-streak, pushing his year's results to over $1.7 million.
Antonius continues to struggle at the tables, last night losing over $467k. Nearly half of those losses ($209k) went to Tom "durrrr" Dwan in the latest session of the durrrr Challenge.
Despite winning the largest pot of the night, worth almost $500k, Antonius lost $174k to Sahamies heads-up and an additional $83k in his PLO session with Sahamies and Ivey.
When added to his results for the year, Antonius is now the first player to be stuck over $1 million in 2010.
Below you can find the largest pots of the night, or you can head to MarketPulse to see the rest.
Visit PokerListings.com
Phil Bellante is “All In” With Poker Themed Song
"You got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em." Thanks to Kenny Rogers and his hit song, "The Gambler," those words will forever be ingrained in the game of poker. The song is more than 30 years old, but its popularity has maintained throughout the years as a staple in the ever-expanding poker community.
Phil Bellante hopes his new poker-themed song will have the same impact on the new crowd of poker players. The musician, songwriter, and producer from Cleveland released a new album in 2009 and on it is the track "All In," a catchy tune that he's attempting to market as the new theme song of poker. He's already receiving rave reviews from the poker media. (The song can be heard at http://philbellante.com/)
Bellante has been busy promoting "All In" and Poker News Daily had a chance to speak with him about the song, his poker history, and his friendship with a well-known poker pro.
Poker News Daily: So Phil, can we assume that you're a poker player and fan?
Phil Bellante: Absolutely, a poker player and a huge fan!
Poker News Daily: How long have you been playing and what game(s) do you prefer?
Phil Bellante: I have been playing for at least 10 years and I would have to say that No Limit Texas Hold'em is my game of choice.
Poker News Daily: You recently did an interview with your friend and Full Tilt Pro Phil Gordon on ESPN Radio's "Poker Edge". How did you become close with Phil?
Phil Bellante: Phil is my good friend’s brother-in-law, so every year for the past several years, we all get together at their place for Thanksgiving and have a poker tournament. It’s a lot of fun, especially when Phil doesn’t win and somebody that hardly knows what they are doing wins the whole thing. Part of the mass appeal, I think, of the game is the ability for anyone to win at any time because of the luck factor and getting dealt the right hand.
Poker News Daily: Are there any other poker players you like or admire?
Phil Bellante: I admire people like Annie Duke, who has also heard the song and given it a nice review on my site. She is a forerunner for women poker players who are now becoming more involved in the game. That takes some fortitude and guts when it’s a male-dominated sport. I also think the old timers like Doyle Brunson are to be admired, as they started playing the game when very few people could make a living at it like they do today. I think now the appeal is more the big winnings for people rather than a true love for the game.
Poker News Daily: What was your influence for creating the song "All In" and what are your aspirations for it?
Phil Bellante: To be honest, it wasn’t planned, which is usually the underlying ingredient to a great song because it comes from something beyond the intellect and usually connects with people on a deeper level. I was sitting around watching a tournament one afternoon and just put myself in the mind of one of the players who went all-in with his hand and then managed to write the song in less than 10 minutes. I then produced the song with a Grammy Award winning engineer a few months later.
While writing the song, I just pictured myself at a tournament performing it. It would be great to be the entertainment for some of these upcoming poker tournaments and really see it catching fire. I have many people working around the clock in various capacities to get maximum exposure for this song. We are looking at movies, video games, TV programs, Poker Tournaments, etc. I guess you can say, I am going “All In” with this song.
Poker News Daily: Is this going to be "the" poker song for the next generation of poker players to latch onto?
Phil Bellante: “All In” has great potential due to the size of the poker market and its very catchy chorus. Andrew Feldman said during my recent ESPN Poker Radio show interview that the song had been stuck in his head all day. I just received the same comment from some of the top people in Nashville who are very interested in it and choose hit songs for the platinum country artists.
I really feel the song speaks to the poker community. It has that emotional and intense build leading up to a huge swelling chorus that kind of releases all the tension. Every player knows what that adrenaline rush feels like, so they can definitely relate. That is why I think it would be so perfect to sing at a poker tournament.
In the end, only time and the fans/players will be able to determine whether this is the case. The last generation had Kenny Rogers’s song’ “The Gambler,” so I wouldn’t mind him passing the torch to me for the next generation. I think I am holding a good hand with this song and so do a lot of the higher ups in the music world so time will tell.
The song can be downloaded at www.thepokersong.com
Tags: 2009, 5, actor, Andrew Feldman, Annie Duke, cent, Doyle Brunson, gamble, Gambler, interview, king, law, News Daily, NFL, Phil Gordon, player, Poker, Poker News Daily, poker player, Pro, producer, runner, Texas, tournament, women, writer
Pam Brunson to Oversee DoylesRoom Brunson 10
Like father, like daughter. Doyle Brunson’s daughter, Pam Brunson, will manage the Brunson 10, according to officials from DoylesRoom. The stable of up-and-coming poker pros numbers four, with six men and two women yet to be named.
A press release distributed by DoylesRoom in recent days notes, “As Manager of the Brunson 10, Pam Brunson will be responsible for overseeing PR requests, handling scheduling and managing the Brunson 10 internally. As the world's biggest poker legend continues to fill spots on his team of poker professionals, Pam Brunson will be tasked with managing their relationship with one of the fastest growing online poker sites and its players.” The younger Brunson is a regular in the online poker site’s weekly Bounty tournament, which offers a refund of the $27.50 buy-in for first-time players.
Amit “amak316” Makhija, Dani “ansky451” Stern, Zachary “CrazyZachary” Clark, and top online poker pro Chris “moorman1” Moorman currently comprise the Brunson 10. Stern is the group’s newest addition, having joined the clan during final table play in the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event in Las Vegas. A press conference was held at the Wynn for Stern’s introduction, with “2 Months, $2 Million” housemate Jay Rosenkrantz on-hand to witness the festivities.
Meanwhile, former Brunson 10 member Alec “traheho” Torelli departed the online poker site to join Victory Poker, whose roster of pro players includes Antonio Esfandiari, Andrew “good2cu” Robl, and Full Tilt Poker defects Paul Wasicka and Lee Markholt. The site is set to debut on February 1st on the merged Everleaf/UPN network, with a launch party to occur after the Trash Talk Championship of the World Straddle Tournament at the Hard Rock on February 6th.
On replacing Torelli, DoylesRoom officials told Poker News Daily that a fifth member of the Brunson 10 will be named no later than mid-March. In addition, the forthcoming announcement may include the introduction of two new faces to the Cake Poker Network site that welcomes action from the United States. The newest additions will fall under Pam Brunson’s wings.
According to the traffic ranking site PokerScout.com, the Cake Poker Network is the 10th largest worldwide, offering a seven-day running average of 2,100 real money ring game players. During its peak hours, which occur in the evening across North America, nearly 3,000 cash game players call the network home. Besides DoylesRoom and Cake Poker, other sites on the network include City Poker, Lock Poker, PlayersOnly, Poker Host, Red Star Poker, Stryyke, and Phil Laak’s Unabomber Poker, which was added to the family this week.
The 2010 calendar year also saw DoylesRoom unveil its very own online store, which offers unique items like a limited edition Doyle Resitol Cowboy Hat. Other goods available in the DoylesRoom Store include DoylesRoom apparel, laptop bags, Brunson autographed merchandise, GPS systems, iPod accessories, digital cameras, Nintendo Wiis, and “the hottest lifestyle enhancing accessories.” Gold Chips are the currency of the DoylesRoom Store, which can be accessed from the online poker room’s website.
The recent World Poker Tour (WPT) Southern Poker Championship featured DoylesRoom pro Hoyt Corkins coming out on top to claim his second WPT title. Corkins earned $739,000 for his efforts and defeated a final table that also included Jonathan Kantor (second place for $366,00), Jerry Vanstrydonck (third place for $197,000), Jared Jaffee (fourth place for $135,000), James Reed (fifth place for $106,000), and Tyler “Tydean” Smith (sixth place for $87,000). The Southern Poker Championship marked Corkins’ sixth WPT final table appearance. The tournament will air as part of Season 8 on Fox Sports Net.
Pam Brunson finished 364th in the 2007 WSOP Main Event for $34,000. That year, she won a ladies’ event held during the Legends of Poker for the same amount.
Tags: 2009, 2010, 5, Bounty Tournament, cake poker, cash game player, cent, Doyle Brunson, game player, gold chips, Hoyt Corkins, king, ladies, Las Vegas, manager, member, News Daily, North America, Online Poker, online poker room, online poker site, online poker sites, Paul Wasicka, Phil Laak, player, Poker, Poker News Daily, poker site, PPA, Pro, tournament, United States, vegas, women, World Poker Tour, WSOP
durrrr Challenge: Dwan Reaches $1 Million
Although it had been over a month since the durrrr Challenge was active, the pair managed to log 2,112 hands against each other.
If Dwan and Antonius continue to play roughly 2,000 hands a month it’s likely there will finally be a conclusion to the Challenge before the end of 2010.
The first session of the year actually occurred late Wednesday night with the pair putting in 1,230 hands.
Despite the large number of hands Antonius was only able to make back $6k, leaving him close to $900k short of even.
The more exciting session of the Challenge happened very early this morning, and although it was only 882 hands long, Dwan managed to walk away with $209k.
The session was action packed with both players taking hundred thousand dollar swings.
At 1:31 a.m. ET Antonius won the second largest pot of the night worth $192,800. Just one minute later at 1:32 a.m. ET Dwan took down an almost identical pot on another table, his worth $192,830.
By the time the guys called it quits, Dwan's $209k profit pushed his total lead in the challenge to $1,077,932. Although there are still over 18,000 hands left to be played, Antonius is going to need to catch a heater before long to put himself back in the running.
durrrr Challenge by the numbers:
- 260,476,997: Total amount wagered
- 1,077,932: Amount durrrr is ahead
- 1,000,000: Net worth needed to own fancy Dijon Ketchups
- 192,830: Biggest pot of the session
- 31,912: Hands played overall
- 7,212: Amount of rake made by Full Tilt from the Challenge
- 101: Hours played in the challenge
- 99: Problems Jay-Z claims to have
- 63: Percentage of challenge completed
Below are the three largest pots from the Challenge match. You can see more hands by heading to MarketPulse.
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Poker2Nite Welcomes Mike Matusow
The Fox Sports Net poker news show “Poker2Nite” welcomed the always outspoken Mike “The Mouth” Matusow this week. The franchise airs at 11:00pm ET every Wednesday night and can also be seen on The Score at 3:00pm ET on Sundays.
This week’s installment began with a discussion of the $335 buy-in re-entry event that kicked off the L.A. Poker Classic. The tournament was the brainchild of Matt Savage and allowed players to buy back in on a later starting day should they be knocked out. On top of the unique formula, the tournament also guaranteed $1 million. Interviews were shown with David “Chino” Rheem, Amnon Filippi, Thor Hanson, and Andreas Hoivold. Filippi commented, “It’s so hard to get so many people in one place at one time. You have to have a 100-table room and you have to have the players. L.A. has both.” Darrell Cain ultimately took down the kickoff event for over $300,000.
Attention then turned to Betfair front woman Annette “Annette_15” Obrestad, who won an Omaha event held during the Aussie Millions this month for $40,000. Obrestad, who won the inaugural World Series of Poker (WSOP) Europe Main Event, became the first female ever to win an Aussie Millions tournament. “Poker2Nite’ co-host Joe Sebok explained, “She’s an absolute beast. She’s going to be a force at the Rio.” The 2010 WSOP will mark Obrestad’s debut in the annual U.S. series.
Matusow then joined the show and explained that his fortunes turned for the worst last year: “2007 and 2008 were the best years of poker I’ve ever had in my life. It spiraled downward starting with the $40,000 event in the WSOP [last year]. That beat led to another beat and another beat and the next thing you know, I was catching no cards and [recording] no cashes.” Matusow admitted that he made just $2,200 off of poker in 2009 after recording seven-figure years in 2007 and 2008.
As to what led to his dramatic downfall, Matusow explained that not working out every day and stiff competition contributed. His goal is to drop back to 185 pounds and run eight miles per day by the time the 2010 WSOP rolls around. He added, “Players have gotten better. There are so many great players.” One of those top minds in the game is its all-time money leader, Phil Ivey. Matusow commented on his fellow Full Tilt Poker pro: “I think that Phil Ivey, when he’s playing well, is probably the best all-around poker player I’ve ever played with.”
A new segment called “Mikey’s Meltdowns” featured Matusow against UB.com’s Phil Hellmuth during a taping of GSN’s “High Stakes Poker.” A 7-2 rule was in effect and any player who scooped the pot with the worst starting hand in Hold’em was paid $500 by each of their opponents. Hellmuth led out for a pot-sized bet of $40,000 on the river with 7-2 for air against Matusow, who had pocket kings. After much deliberation and a “This sucks,” Matusow folded his overpair face up. Hellmuth turned over 7-2 and the table exploded in commentary.
“All in Blind” featured Sebok and co-host Scott Huff debating a series of topics, including the aforementioned L.A. Poker Classic re-entry event, U.S. President Barack Obama being invited to play in the Irish Poker Open, and UB.com pro Eric "basebaldy" Baldwin donating $200,000 to his alma mater’s baseball program. Then, Dana Workman’s “Weekly Misdeal,” which provides a satirical look at the week’s headlines, poked fun at a topless home game raid, the Rio’s 20th birthday celebration, T.J. Cloutier selling a WSOP bracelet on eBay, and the popular video game system Sega entering the online poker marketplace.
Finally, “Poker2Nite” saluted Mike Hofer, the winner of the Absolute Poker College Challenge. Hofer earned $10,000 in college tuition and told “Poker2Nite” cameras, “The competition surprised me. They were all very competent players. Hats off to them. They played a great game.”
Catch “Poker2Nite” next Wednesday at 11:00pm ET on Fox Sports Net. Check your local listings for more information.
Tags: 15, 2008, 2009, 2010, 5, absolute poker, EUR, Europe, high stakes, High Stakes Poker, interview, irish poker, Joe Sebok, king, L.A., leader, Matt Savage, Mike Matusow, Omaha, Online Poker, Phil Hellmuth, Phil Ivey, player, Poker, poker player, President, Pro, T.J. Cloutier, tournament, woman, WSOP
The iPad and its Potential With Online Poker
Although most online poker players use Windows PCs, there has been a growing swell of players using Apple Mac computers like MacBook Pros and iMacs. The Mac-centric poker niche is growing, with four major sites having native software clients: PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, UB.com, and Absolute Poker. The popular hand history tracking utility PokerTracker 3 came out recently with a Mac OS X beta edition of its software. With the release of Apple’s tablet computer, the iPad, there has been plenty of speculation about the machine's future with online poker.
When thinking about the iPad and its potential for being used for online poker, we need to keep the following questions in mind:
- What are the hardware specs of the iPad?
- Is the interface going to be applicable to an online poker software program?
- Will the screen quality and resolution level make online poker practical?
- Does the iPad have enough bandwidth to have a lag-free online poker experience?
- Is the iPad OS something that a poker site can work with to create an App?
- Will the legal environment allow a poker site to release an App?
The iPad is a high-resolution 9.7-inch LED-backlit computer that weighs just 1.5 pounds. It’s touted as being perfect for web browsing, watching movies, and viewing photos. The unit works in either portrait or landscape mode, very similarly to an iPod Touch or iPhone. The multi-touch screen on the iPad is based on the current iPhone technology, but has been totally re-engineered for the larger surface to be more precise and responsive. The battery life is said to last up to 10 hours by using a special lithium-polymer technology. The iPad uses an A4 chip that was custom designed by Apple engineers to be extremely powerful, but at the same time very power efficient. Units will have an option for 16, 32, or 64 GB of internal flash storage.
All iPad units will have built-in WiFi with 802.11n, which is currently the fastest wireless protocol available. In addition, there will be 3G models with data speeds up to 7.2 MB per second on the AT&T network for coverage anywhere without a WiFi network, but with a 3G signal. Units are expected to start shipping at the end of March and the base version costs just $499.
The iPad interface is the multi-touch screen that has been made more precise and responsive to help counter the potential problems it would face with a much larger screen. The resolution of the iPad’s 9.7-inch screen is 1024x768, which is a bit inferior to what most experts predicted it would be.
With all the glitz and glamor of the iPad now out in the open, as poker players, we’re wondering about its capabilities for online poker. The unit, on the surface, seems like a great little online poker machine. The touch screen appears to be perfect for interfacing with a poker table. You could use the bet slider with the flick of a finger, fold or check by tapping the appropriate button, and even muck your cards by flicking them into the middle of the table. Interface-wise, there’s no question that the touch-screen of the unit will work splendidly.
The next question for whether or not the iPad would be feasible for an online poker player is how a table would look on the screen. There’s plenty of screen available for a single poker table to load up in the 1024x768 space. In fact, it’s probably feasible to have four tables load up at the same time. The graphics capabilities of the unit were rather impressive during Apple CEO Steve Jobs’ presentation with a few video games, so we know it can handle the minimal graphics required by many of the poker rooms.
Another question we have to answer is about the iPad bringing the necessary bandwidth to play one or even four tables at the same time. Since most poker rooms only require a dial-up connection, which is surpassed in spades by both WiFi and 3G connections, there’s absolutely no concern about the unit not having enough bandwidth to handle the rigors of playing online poker.
The iPad uses a new operating system that works very similar to the iPhone OS, with more capabilities to take advantage of the unit’s more robust power. Because the development kit is already available to software developers, there wouldn’t be much of a stumbling block to developing a solid iPad version of the software.
With the all of the questions answered fairly positively when asking the question whether or not the iPad will work with online poker, we’re down to our final one: Will the current legal environment allow it? Since Apple is based in California and controls the App Store, the worldwide distribution of Apps for the iPad will be based on U.S. laws. The legal environment in the United States is murky at best with online poker, with virtually no chance of Apple approving an App created by a major poker site for real money poker play. With that being the case, it would seem foolish to expect a poker site to invest money and resources toward a project that would only meet failure.
The potential future of the iPad and real money online poker is bright. The unit is perfect for those who want to sit on their couch, relax, and play a few hands of poker. Maybe you’re stuck at the airport or who knows where and you want to log on and play a few hands. The iPad certainly has the technological power to handle the task. The only stumbling block is left up to the legal environment. For now, we’ll probably just enjoy whatever random Texas Hold’em video games Apple approves in the iPad App Store to satisfy our poker craving.
The “durrrr” Challenge: Dwan Pads Lead by $58,781
Ziigmund canes Antonius for $844,000
PokerStars Sunday Million: $2m guaranteed
PokerStars Sunday Million: $2m guaranteed
Final table set at Aussie Millions Main Event
Cake Poker buy TJ Cloutier’s WSOP bracelet
BoylePoker launches Irish Open qualifiers
Aussie Millions Day 2 complete
Young Stars Lead Aussie Millions Final
Betfair Poker pro Sorel Mizzi will come in to the final eight with a massive chip lead and all the confidence that comes with it following a day where it appeared he could do no wrong on the felt.
"Confident is definitely the one word to describe how I'm feeling right now," the 23-year-old Canadian said. "Everything is just going my way. I'm getting hands, I'm making the correct reads. I feel like I'm playing the most perfect poker I know how.
"I might not be playing perfectly, but it's the best that I know how to play and things are working out for me right now."
Using the screen names Imper1um and zangbezan24, Mizzi is one of the most feared tournament players in online poker history.
While he has also amassed more than $1.6 million in career earnings in live tournaments, a major title has escaped his clutches to date, making this shot at Aussie Millions glory even more desirable to him.
"How badly do I want this?" he asked. "On a scale from zero to ten, it's a ten."
Mizzi holds close to half of the chips in play with eight players remaining, but said he has no plans to bully the table tomorrow.
"I'm just going to adjust to the situations when I see what they are," he said. "I don't really know my strategy going into tomorrow, but I'm really good at just feeling things out. Hopefully I feel things right and hopefully I keep hitting the cards I was hitting today."
In Mizzi's way stands fellow Betfair Poker pro and 2007 World Series of Poker Europe champ Annette Obrestad.
Considering she currently sits fifth in chips, Obrestad is being cautiously optimistic about her chances.
"I can't say I'm too confident, considering Sorel has six times the amount of chips I do," she said.
No less than an online poker legend, Obrestad, otherwise known as Annette_15, is hoping the experience of playing on a big stage in the past will pay off in Australia Saturday.
"I think it helps a lot because I'm not really nervous when I play," she said. "For me it's just another game of poker, just for a lot more money."
She's also banking on the deep structure here at the Aussie Millions allowing her to remain patient despite her stack size.
"I think people are going to be way too aggressive and try to outplay each other," the 21-year-old Norwegian said. "I don't really see the point in that because with my image, people think I'm nuts anyway, so I'll just wait for a hand and probably get it in good."
Also posing a major threat to Mizzi's lead is 24-year-old fellow Canadian Peter "Apathy" Jetten.
With a European Poker Tour High Roller and two World Series of Poker final tables on his resume, including a runner up finish in the 2008 WSOP $10k Pot-Limit Omaha, Jetten is another player hoping experience will help him get over the hump Down Under.
"I think that experience just helps so much, if not in my play then at least in making me more comfortable," he said. "The PLO event eluding me heads-up hurt a lot. It's really nice to be back with a shot at winning again and I want to win this one very badly."
Rounding out the final eight are PartyPoker qualifier's Tyron Krost and Fred Jensen, both of whom have a couple of small WSOP cashes on their sheets.
Plus Aussie Hold'em Poker group qualifier Steven Shelly, fellow local Kosta Varoxis and Reno Nevada's Steve Friedlander.
To follow all the action until the AUD$2 million first-place prize and 2010 Aussie Millions title is handed out, tune in to PokerListings' Live Updates beginning at 2 p.m. Melbourne time Saturday.
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Tags: 15, 2008, 2010, 5, Australia, canadian, EUR, Europe, european, European Poker Tour, king, Nevada, Omaha, Online Poker, online poker history, player, Poker, Pro, qualifier, runner, tournament, tournament player, Tyron Krost, WSOP
UBOC 4 Main Event Hits Sunday
Every day from now until Sunday, UB will run a five seat guaranteed tournament at 9:50 p.m. ET for $109.
The top five finishers are guaranteed to win a seat into the $1,000 buy-in UBOC 4 main event.
Arguably the best option for qualifying, however, will be the massive 100 seat guaranteed tournament UB has scheduled for Sunday at 12:30 p.m. ET, just a few hours before the main event kicks off. That satellite will also carry a $109 buy-in.
The UBOC 4 main event will be hosted by 11-time WSOP bracelet winner and Team UB member Phil Hellmuth.
"This has got to be not only my favorite UBOC so far, but my favorite online tournament series ever," said Hellmuth.
"There's another $1 million event coming up on Sunday with plenty of satellites to get you into it, and if it's anything like last Sunday's big $1 million Guarantee that ended up having a $1.5 million prize pool, it's going to be huge."
The UBOC 4 main event will begin at 4:30 p.m. ET on Sunday. For more information or to sign up for an account check the UB website.
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PokerStars Announces 2010 Nordic Poker Awards
The Nordic Poker Awards, previously the Scandinavian Poker Awards, will celebrate the best players from Finland, Norway, Denmark and Sweden on Feb. 15 – the day before EPT Copenhagen begins.
This year there are 30 nominees from across the four Nordic countries.
Some of the notable players to be nominated include Peter Eastgate, Patrik Antonius, Ville Wahlbeck, Dag Martin Mikkelsen, Ilari Sahamies, Jens Kyllonen and Erik Sagstrom.
The categories for 2010 include Best Live Tournament Player, Best Performance, Best Online Player and Rookie of the Year.
Award winners will be chosen by a public vote.
All EPT players are invited to the awards ceremony, which will be held at Park Café in Copenhagen at 8 p.m.
Check the PokerStars website for the complete list of nominees.
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Tags: 15, 2010, 5, Ilari Sahamies, Norway, Online Player, Patrik Antonius, Peter Eastgate, player, Poker, pokerstars, Pro, Sweden, tournament, tournament player
Victory Poker Launches February 1st
One day prior to Super Bowl XLIV between the Indianapolis Colts and New Orleans Saints, officials from Victory Poker will celebrate the site’s launch at a party at the Hard Rock in Las Vegas. The online poker room will open for business on February 1st.
Victory Poker will make its home on the merged Everleaf/UPN network, which has yet to take on an official name. According to PokerScout.com, the newly created network will boast traffic similar to that of Betfair, which has a seven-day running average of 610 real money ring game players. A press release announcing the Trash Talk Championship of the World Straddle Tournament at the Hard Rock in Las Vegas on February 6th revealed that the Victory Poker launch party would occur at 10:00pm following the festivities.
UFC’s Randy Couture will be sporting a Victory Poker logo when he takes to the ring in UFC 109 against Mark Coleman. The bout emanates from the Mandalay Bay Events Center near the Hard Rock and will also feature Nate Marquardt facing off against Chael Sonnen and Matt Serra fighting Frank Trigg. The first brawl takes place at 4:45pm, while televised matches start at 7:00pm. Couture will don a dot-net logo for the new online poker room.
Antonio Esfandiari headlines the Victory Poker stable of pros. A World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner, Esfandiari has become widely known for his insatiable appetite for prop bets. He even co-starred with his close friend Phil Laak on the MOJO show “I Bet You,” which ran for two seasons on the cable station. Esfandiari has three WPT final tables to his credit and one title, which came in the Season 2 L.A. Poker Classic. At the tender age of 31, Esfandiari is one of the veterans of the game.
Jumping over from DoylesRoom to be a part of Victory Poker is Alec “traheho” Torelli. The Cake Poker Network site and Torelli severed ties two weeks ago. Torelli has made two WPT final tables, finishing fourth in both the Bellagio Cup V and Solvakia events. The former will air its finale at 11:00pm ET on Fox Sports Net this Sunday in a one-hour episode. Poker Hall of Fame member Mike Sexton and actor Vince Van Patten will once again provide commentary for Season 8 of the WPT.
Coming over from Full Tilt Poker are Paul Wasicka and Lee Markholt. The latter was removed in recent days as a Full Tilt Red Pro and finished fourth in the WSOP Circuit Championship in Tunica four years ago for $183,000. In addition, Markholt won the WPT Season 6 World Poker Challenge in Reno for $493,000 and owns $1.3 million in career earnings from the roving tournament series. Wasicka was the runner-up to Jamie Gold in the 2006 WSOP Main Event, earning a colossal $6.1 million.
Also appearing in the Victory Poker pro lineup is Chinese Poker sensation Danny Wong. Owning the moniker “Chinese Poker Wizard,” Wong learned to play the game’s variation at age five. Despite his success in Chinese Poker, he’s also excelled in No Limit Texas Hold’em, making three WPT final tables. Joining Wong will be online poker pro Brian “tsarrast” Rast.
Those who watched the 2009 WSOP Main Event on ESPN will recall the deep run of the “Flying” Bilzerian brothers. Dan Bilzerian, who finished 180th, will become part of the Victory Poker cast. In his final hand of the $10,000 buy-in feature tournament, Bilzerian committed his stack with A-6, but could not best Jonathan “driverseati” Tamayo’s pocket tens. His brother, Adam Bilzerian, renounced his U.S. citizenship and is now a passport holder of St. Kitts and Nevis.
Other Victory Poker pros include Andrew "good2cu" Robl, Keith Gipson, David “The Maven” Chicotsky, Sander Lylloff., and 2007 Playboy Playmate of the Year Sara Underwood. The site is scheduled to launch on February 1st and will accept players from the United States.
The Trash Talk Championship is a $1,000 buy-in charity poker tournament benefiting the Sharon Osbourne Colon Cancer Program and Cedars-Sinai.
Tags: 2009, 5, actor, Adam, adam bilzerian, bellagio, cake poker, cent, charity, dan bilzerian, game player, Jamie Gold, king, L.A., Las Vegas, member, Mike Sexton, New Orleans, Online Poker, online poker room, Paul Wasicka, Phil Laak, player, Poker, Poker Hall, Pro, runner, runner-up, Texas, tournament, United States, vegas, WSOP
Hoyt Corkins Wins WPT Southern Poker Championship
With his win in the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) Southern Poker Championship, "The Alabama Cowboy" Hoyt Corkins claimed his second WPT title. The DoylesRoom pro banked $739,000 for his efforts at the Beau Rivage in Biloxi, Mississippi.
Donning an all-black outfit with a bright green DoylesRoom patch, Corkins told WPT Live Updates Hostess Amanda Leatherman following the win in the Deep South, “It’s been so frustrating. I’ve finished second twice, third once. It is frustrating to get down there and finish second or third.” Corkins’ last WPT title came during Season 2, when he brought home the bacon in the Foxwoods World Poker Finals for $1.1 million. He was the runner-up in the Season 2 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure and Season 6 Gold Strike World Poker Open.
Tyler “Tydean” Smith was the first casualty of the WPT Southern Poker Championship final table. After doubling up Jonathan Kantor, Smith committed the rest of his chips with J-3 and was up against Jonathan Jaffee’s A-Q. With the hometown favorite on the cusp of elimination, the crowd watched as the flop fell K-10-6, keeping Jaffee out in front. The turn came a four and, needing to catch a three on the river, Smith saw a six instead fall. He earned $86,000 for his second straight final table appearance in the $10,000 buy-in tournament. Smith lives ten minutes from the casino, an easy commute.
James Reed hit the skids in fifth place for $106,000. Reed shoved with 7-5 pre-flop and received a call from Jaffee, who held pocket eights. The flop of A-Q-5 paired Reed, but a running 6-4 sent him packing. Jaffee pushed his way to third in chips as a result, with Corkins, who had entered as a massive chip leader, continuing to pace the field. The WPT Southern Poker Championship marked Reed’s first WPT in the money finish.
Twenty-two hands later, Jaffee was eliminated in fourth place. Jaffee pushed with K-Q pre-flop over the top of a raise by Corkins, who came along with pocket jacks to set up a race. The flop came a benign 7-6-3, while a four on the turn left Jaffee calling for a king or queen on the river to stay alive. However, the final card was a nine, dashing his WPT Southern Poker Championship title hopes.
In a key pot three-handed, Corkins doubled up with A-J against Jerry Vanstrydonck’s pocket kings. The board of 9-8-8-5 was looking grim until Corkins spiked a three-outer on the river to stay alive and the pot once again made him the chip leader. Vanstrydonck could not withstand the blow to his stack and was ousted shortly thereafter. Vanstrydonck’s 9-8 was up against Corkins’ K-Q pre-flop and the board blanked out for both players. Corkins was a 3:2 chip leader entering heads-up play against Kantor.
Kantor battled to even after shoving on the river on a board reading 8-5-3-4-3. Corkins tanked before folding and Kantor turned over 10-6 for “nuclear squadoosh,” as the legendary ESPN announcer Norman Chad would say. Corkins then won a 1.7-million chip pot before the final hand of the WPT Southern Poker Championship occurred. Kantor pushed with K-10 and Corkins made the call with A-7. The flop came ace-high, preserving Corkins’ lead in the hand. By the river, Kantor was rooting for a club to remain in the hunt for the $739,000 first place prize, but the five of hearts hit to give Corkins his second WPT title. Here are the payouts from the final table in Biloxi:
1. Hoyt Corkins - $739,486
2. Jonathan Kantor - $366,643
3. Jerry Vanstrydonck - $196,829
4. Jared Jaffee - $135,079
5. James Reed - $106,134
6. Tyler Smith - $86,837
The WPT Southern Poker Championship will air as part of Season 8 on Fox Sports Net. Next up for the WPT is a cross-country flight to Los Angeles, site of the WPT Celebrity Invitational and L.A. Poker Classic. The tournaments kick off on February 20th and 26th, respectively, from the Commerce Casino.
Tags: 5, announcer, Caribbean, Hoyt Corkins, king, L.A., leader, Los Angeles, player, Poker, pokerstars, Pro, queen, runner, runner-up, tournament, World Poker Tour
Ziigmund Breaks $1.5 Million Mark
Sahamies is now up over $1.6 million for the year with the majority of the profit coming from the last eight days.
Despite his reputation as a wild gambler, Sahamies has not logged a losing day on the online tables since Jan. 20.
His session yesterday began at $100/$200 Pot-Limit Omaha where he lost $14k against regular opponents Cole South, Tom "durrrr" Dwan and Gus Hansen.
After an hour and 108 hands, Sahamies made the move to $300/$600 PLO heads-up against South. In just 28 minutes (55 hands) Sahamies took over $252k.
After an eight hour break, Sahamies returned to $300/$600 PLO to play Patrik Antonius heads-up, but once again only stayed for about 20 minutes and 59 hands.
In the short match Sahamies took $53k from Antonius bringing him up to $296k on the day.
Dwan, who has struggled at the tables since his $5 million dollar string of losses in late 2009, sat for over 2,000 hands, but only managed to finish the day up $27k.
Antonius still seems to be having trouble finding his footing this year, which is a stark contrast to his domination in 2009.
The Team Full Tilt pro played three matches of heads-up PLO losing $54k to Sahamies, $78k to South and winning a modest $5k from Dwan.
In total Antonius adds over $126k to his losses in 2010.
Despite losing over $134k, and finishing as the day's top loser, South remains one of the year's most profitable players, up over $1 million.
Below you can see three of the largest hands from the previous sessions, or head to MarketPulse for hundreds more.
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Tags: 15, 2009, 2010, 5, Cole South, durrrr, gamble, Gambler, Gus Hansen, Omaha, Patrik Antonius, player, Poker, Pro, runner, Tom "durrrr" Dwan
Corkins Cashes in with Second WPT Title
He outlasted all 208 entries and beat up-and-comer Jonathan Kantor heads-up to claim the first place prize of $739,486 at the Beau Rivage in Biloxi, Mississippi.
Corkins, who won his first WPT title at the World Poker Finals in 2003, now finds himself as one of the 12 players that have won two WPT titles. It’s an elite group that includes players like Erick Lindgren, Howard Lederer and Barry Greenstein.
“It’s wonderful,” said Corkins about his win. “It’s been so frustrating coming in second twice, third once and sixth at another final table.”
Corkins cruised to three-handed play but after losing a series of hands became the short-stack. He had to get extremely lucky to win an all-in situation with A-J versus Jerry Vanstrydonck’s pocket kings.
He went on to bust Vanstrydonck and take back the chip lead, carrying it into heads-up play against Kantor. It took Corkins just 19 hands to end the match.
With his victory Corkins also topped 4,000 WPT points, which puts him in a very select group of players that includes just Gus Hansen, Phil Ivey and Daniel Negreanu. Corkins now has over $5 million in lifetime tournament earnings.
The WPT will now head to sunny L.A. for both the WPT Celebrity Invitational on Feb. 20-21 and the L.A.P.C., which takes place Feb. 26-March 4.
The complete final table results from the Southern Poker Championship are as follows:
1. Hoyt Corkins - $739,486
2. Jonathan Kantor - $366,643
3. Jerry Vanstrydonck - $196,829
4. Jared Jaffee - $135,079
5. James Reed - $106,134
6. Tyler Smith - $86,837
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Tags: 5, Barry Greenstein, Daniel Negreanu, Erick Lindgren, Gus Hansen, Howard Lederer, Hoyt Corkins, king, L.A., Phil Ivey, player, Poker, Pro, tournament
More $1,500 Cash Freerolls From PartyPoker
Pacific Poker offers a great $8 free Campaign for the first 50.000 new players - and more!
Get $8 free to Pacific Poker through our great new promotion! Create a new account and download the Pacific Poker’s special Bankroll Management client to get all the great benefits.
- In order to cash out the $8 free, players must wager 20x the bonus amount
- Players making a deposit are eligible to recieve their first deposit bonus
- This bonus is available for only the first 50.000 players that claim the bonus
- Players will recieve $8 free instantly
- All players who will take the benefit of the bonus will be upgraded to the regular client between February 8th and February 15th
Click this link and download Pacific Poker’s Bankroll Management client!
You can learn more about the Bankroll Management client: here
Your next step is the WSOP 2010 Promotion!
Soon after you have claimed your bonus, the second phase starts and you’re eligible for the great WSOP promotion as well: 8 ways to the WSOP, which is launched at February 8th! 8 ways to win 1 of 88 seats to WSOP 2010!
WSOP 2010 promotion is open to all depositors!
Note that players from the following countries are not eligible for the bonus offer: Argentina, Albania, Bosnia, Brazil, Serbia, China, Croatia, Georgia, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, North Korea, Lithuania, Mexico, Moldova, Montenegro, Philippines, Romania, Singapore, Slovenia, Vietnam, Columbia and South Korea.
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Pacific Poker offers a great $8 free Campaign for the first 50.000 new players - and more!
Ilari Sahamies and Alexander “PostflopAction” Kostritsyn chats up
Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies is currently in Australia, but he is still dominating the Full Tilt Poker high stakes games and making huge profit.
Ziigmund
The exact results will arrive a bit later, but it looks like Sahamies has won about 1,6 million dollars in January already.
The Finn dominated the Aussie Million 2008 winner Alexander “PostflopAction” Kostritsyn along with others.
Alexander “PostflopAction” Kostritsyn
They chatted a lot during their play:
Ziigmund: u r f amazing sick lucky
PostflopAction: fu
Ziigmund: f
Ziigmund: u
Ziigmund: its f omg
Ziigmund: never seen as lucky as u
PostflopAction: 
ur winning 120k
Ziigmund: i doesn maer
Ziigmund: i should be 400k
PostflopAction: its how big your bankroll should be
Ziigmund: lers go 1,5k 3k
PostflopAction: nah, need to win first
Ziigmund: sry was a phone
PostflopAction: fu
Ziigmund: room service
PostflopAction: die
Ziigmund: 1,5k 3k?
PostflopAction: yes in 10 min
Ziigmund: ok
Ziigmund: cool
PostflopAction: play now
PostflopAction: its sick how u play so bad and run so good
Ziigmund: stop whining
Ziigmund: and take more money
Also David Oppenheim seemed to be in a chatty mood:
David Oppenheim: are you gonna runaway when the limit games come
David Oppenheim: hey zigg
David Oppenheim: are you man enough to play all the games
Ziigmund: i have to play 2 tables postflop action
Ziigmund: lets play later
David Oppenheim: your a &%!!%
David Oppenheim: b itch
Ziigmund: ok lets play
David Oppenheim: now you r a man
Ziigmund:
Tommy_devito77 (Observer): i seen a video of david opp on cardplayer
Tommy_devito77 (Observer): he was checking out his daughters tits
Tommy_devito77 (Observer): weird 4 sure
David Oppenheim: saw a video of tommy s mom on porn tune
David Oppenheim: she was definately a freak
Tommy_devito77 (Observer): was she good
David Oppenheim: ask your brother
Source: 2+2, Highstakesdb
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Ilari Sahamies and Alexander “PostflopAction” Kostritsyn chats up
Tags: 2008, 2009, 2010, 5, Australia, CardPlayer, full tilt poker, high stakes, Ilari Sahamies, king, player, Poker, Pro
Cake Poker Returning WSOP Bracelet to T.J. Cloutier
This afternoon, rumors spread around the poker industry that Cake Poker, which had purchased T.J. Cloutier’s 2005 World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet, was planning to return the piece to its rightful owners. Poker News Daily can now confirm those rumblings.
In a post found on Cake Poker that was created on Wednesday night, it was confirmed that the USA-friendly online poker site was indeed the new owner of the bracelet that Cloutier won in a $5,000 No Limit Hold’em event five years ago. The tournament saw the poker veteran defeat Steven Zoine heads-up in a final table that also included John “World” Hennigan, Dustin “Neverwin” Woolf, and DoylesRoom pro Todd Brunson. Text found on Cake Poker’s blog explains, “Our initial impulse upon seeing the auction was to say, ‘Hey this is a cool piece of poker history. We love poker. We should buy a WSOP bracelet!’ So we did.”
The final selling price for the WSOP keepsake was just over $4,000; Cloutier’s prize money for winning it was 165 times that amount. However, the online poker site and flagship room on the Cake Poker Network plans to return it to Cloutier: “We can’t, in good conscience, keep it from the man who rightfully won it; which is why we’ve decided to return it to T.J. Cloutier… just as soon as we’re done having some fun with it.” No specific plans for the bracelet were given, although Cake Poker officials tossed out “photo shoots” and “wearing it to a buddy’s home game” as several possibilities. The auction closed on Sunday on eBay and the hardware is currently on its way to Cake Poker’s headquarters.
An article that appeared on Wicked Chops Poker explained what might have led to Cloutier unloading his memorabilia: "We called T.J. He didn’t want to come on the air… but told our producer the following: 'I don’t want to talk about it… yeah it's mine… I was short… I pawned it… I tried to get it back with my ticket but I was too late.'" On Monday, Cake Poker officials teased that they may have purchased Cloutier’s bracelet.
The topic has spread around the online poker community like wildfire. On the TwoPlusTwo forums, posters speculated as to why Cloutier, who has nearly $10 million in career earnings, would contemplate selling one of his six bracelets. One member chimed in, “With the recent interest in poker and his name becoming more recognized, any memorabilia he has accumulated becomes more valuable. Bracelets don't exactly do much but collect dust so why not get some value out of them.” Others have hypothesized that Cloutier’s love of craps may have caught up with him.
The other bracelet for sale, which Cloutier procured after taking down the 2007 Scotty Nguyen Poker Challenge IV, sold for $2,500. The Plano Pawn Shop saw a flurry of activity surrounding the two charms and Poker News Daily’s Earl Burton estimated that the WSOP jewelry was probably worth somewhere around $2,350. The bracelet contains 96 grams of 14 karat gold and 0.25 karats of diamonds. The high bid was submitted at 1:34pm PT on Sunday of $3,956 and stood for nearly six hours until the winning entry of $4,006 was introduced at 7:30pm PT.
Cake Poker is the flagship site of a network that also includes DoylesRoom, Lock Poker, PlayersOnly, PokerHost, Red Star Poker, and Stryyke. It happily accepts players from the United States and features former PokerStars icon Lee Jones as its Card Room Manager. The site is busy following its players in the 2010 Aussie Millions, taking place down under in Melbourne.
Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest twists and turns in Cloutier’s bracelet sale.
Tags: 15, 2010, 5, cake poker, cent, king, Lee Jones, manager, member, News Daily, Online Poker, online poker site, player, Poker, Poker News Daily, poker site, pokerstars, Pro, producer, Scotty Nguyen, T.J. Cloutier, Todd Brunson, tournament, United States, usa, WSOP