Poker News

PokerStars Pushes Tom McEvoy for Poker Hall of Fame

The 2009 Poker Hall of Fame class will be inducted in a special presentation during the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event final table in November. PokerStars, the world’s largest online poker site, is feverishly campaigning for Tom McEvoy to grace the stage at the Penn and Teller Theater at the Rio.

The general public can pitch their choices for the Poker Hall of Fame until July 2nd. A Poker Hall of Fame nomination form available on the WSOP’s official website allows voters to submit a nomination along with 250 words justifying why that player deserves the prestigious title of Hall of Famer. In the first week of open voting, the general public submitted over 1,000 nominations. McEvoy, a card-carrying member of Team PokerStars Pro, commented in a press release distributed by the online poker site, “Being voted to the Poker Hall of Fame this year would be the best moment in my career by far. It would be better than winning four WSOP bracelets, the Champions Invitational, and even the Main Event!”

The first of McEvoy’s four pieces of hardware came in 1983, when he won a $1,000 buy-in Limit Hold’em event for $117,000, besting a field of 234 players. Later in the 1983 WSOP, he took down the Main Event for $540,000, besting a final table that also included Doyle Brunson and WSOP bracelet winner Rod Peate. In 1986, McEvoy was back in the spotlight in a $1,000 buy-in Limit Razz tournament for his third WSOP bracelet. In 1992, he took down his fourth and final bracelet in a $1,500 buy-in Limit Omaha event for $79,000. All told, his bracelets have come in three different genres of poker.

Although it was not a bracelet event, the WSOP Champions Invitational, which will play out on ESPN as part of the network’s coverage of the 2009 festivities, attracted 20 former Main Event winners. In the end, McEvoy blasted through the talented field and took home a mint condition 1970 Corvette (marking the first year that the WSOP was held) and the Binion Cup. McEvoy battled through every Main Event winner since 2000 as well as National Heads-Up Poker Championship victor Huck Seed (1996), 2008 WSOP HORSE Championship winner Scotty Nguyen (1998), and Ultimate Bet pro Phil Hellmuth (1989). “The Poker Brat” was the youngest WSOP Main Event winner ever, a record that stood for 19 years until Danish pro Peter Eastgate took down the 2008 installment at the tender age of 22.

McEvoy has 37 in the money finishes over his WSOP career at the time of writing, tied for the 26th most ever with “Celebrity Apprentice” runner-up Annie Duke, Nguyen, and Steve Zolotow. His four WSOP bracelets are good for the 19th most overall, putting him in a ten-way tie with Mickey Appleman, Bobby Baldwin, David Chiu, Arthur Cobb, John Juanda, Lakewood Louie, Daniel Negreanu, Amarillo Slim, and Seed. McEvoy owns $1.3 million in career WSOP earnings, in the Top 100 overall. Fellow Team PokerStars Pro member Greg Raymer pitched, “Tom has participated in every stage of poker’s evolution on the felt, online, from WSOP to EPT. He has chronicled it and taught us all how to play better poker and, most importantly, he’s still winning!”

McEvoy has authored a bevy of poker literature, including “How to Win No Limit Hold’em Tournaments,” “Championship Tournament Poker,” and “Championship Hold’em.” Co-authors on his various publications include T.J. Cloutier, Brad Daugherty, and Don Vines. He showed his prowess of the game by taking down the Professional Poker Tour’s Bay 101 event for $225,000.

PartyPoker has unleashed a campaign to send its ambassador and poker room consultant, World Poker Tour (WPT) Host Mike Sexton, to the Poker Hall of Fame. Sexton turned many of today’s rising superstars onto the game through his insightful analysis during WPT events. Sexton won a WSOP bracelet in 1989 in a $1,500 buy-in Limit Seven Card Stud High-Low event for $104,000, besting a final table that included Sid “The Kid” Herald and Men “The Master” Nguyen.

Poker News Daily’s very own Dan Cypra is one of 16 media members that will vote for the Poker Hall of Fame’s Class of 2009. In addition, living Hall of Fame members will cast their votes in September once the final list has been compiled.

Poker impregnates Playboy TV

How about Norm MacDonald, Artie Lange, Dave Attell, Jeffrey Ross, Jennifer "Jennicide" Leigh, Jennifer Tilly and Phil Laak?

Would you include Playboy Playmates Brande Roderick (2001 Playmate of the year), Deanna Brooks, Stacy Fuson and Andrea Lowell?

Thanks to being the co-creator of the Simpsons, Sam Simon is one ridiculously wealthy man.

And one of the ways he's been known to enjoy his money has been by spreading a legendary home poker game.

Celebs, models, some of the world's raunchiest and funniest comedians and world-class poker players have all been known to frequent the game, and he'll apparently invite anyone who won't get upset after being called a ****ing *****t **** *****r for winning a pot.

In fact, Simon's home game became so legendary (and not necessarily for the poker) that the execs at Playboy TV phoned him up and asked him to film "Sam's Game" for the network.

"The stakes aren't the biggest, the players aren't the best, but the game is definitely the funniest," Simon said.

"I've spent years in development to try to get shows on the air. When a network calls and says, 'We want to shoot this,' the answer is yes."

A look at the action:

The show is filmed in "Hef's exclusive Sky Villa" at the Palms Casino in Las Vegas and premiered last night; look for episode 2 next Thursday at 9 p.m. Eastern & Pacific.

Check out the official webpage for the show here.

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Wahlbeck and Negreanu continue to impress in WSOP 2009

After just two weeks of WSOP 2009 behind us and many tournaments still ahead, it is somewhat suprise to see Finn Wahlbeck leading the WSOP POY standings. Wahlbeck, who is considering of retiring full time poker, has been impressive so far with two top three finishes in $10k world championship events.

Daniel Negreanu has been impressive also, going deep in almost every tournament he has played and nearly won a bracelet himself, that would have been his fifth. Negreanu has to wait a little longer for his next bracelet though, as he eventually finished second in event number 14, a $2,500 Six-handed Limit Hold’em tournament.

Wahlbeck and Negreanu have both continued their impressive run since and are both still in the competition in the next championship event, that is $10,000 World Championship Omaha Hi/Lo 8-or-better. With 17 players remaining in the tournament, Wahlbeck is looking for his third final table in a championship event of the series and Negreanu has guaranteed his fourth cash already after just a couple of weeks!

Check out this video where Negreanu talks about his Series so far:

Watch Daniel Negreanu Getting Lucky Licks at the 2009 WSOP on RawVegas.tv

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Wahlbeck and Negreanu continue to impress in WSOP 2009

McEvoy is WSOP champion’s champion

"The car was just the frosting on the cake," McEvoy told PokerListings.

"Beating all my colleagues that were talented enough to win the Main Event was what it was really about."

To help celebrate the 40th anniversary of the World Series of Poker, the Champions Invitational brought together 20 Main Event champions to compete for the car and the newly created Binion's Cup.

McEvoy, who won the WSOP Main Event in 1983 when there were just 108 entrants and a $540,000 first-place prize, said winning this prestigious event was also about gaining the respect of the entire poker world.

"I'm totally overjoyed," he said. "One of the reasons I was so determined to win this was to reestablish myself and prove, not only to myself, but to everybody else, that I can still do this."

After a first day Sunday that saw a huge crowds gather to catch a glimpse of the star-studded field, the final table began Monday with Carlos Mortensen holding the lead.

2008 WSOP champ Peter Eastgate was actually the first to hit the rail taking ninth before two-time Main Event winner Doyle Brunson said goodbye in eighth position.

Short stacks Berry Johnson and Huck Seed were given the gate in seventh and sixth respectively when suddenly Jim Bechtel doubled through Mortensen, knocking him down to size.

A few hands later Bechtel hit a set against Mortensen's top pair and it was all over for the 2001 Main Event champion.

McEvoy sent Bechtel home fourth and after 2002 Main Event champ Robert Varkonyi doubled through Dan Harrington, all three players remaining appeared evenly stacked.

Three-handed play turned out to be an epic four-hour battle before McEvoy sent Harrington packing.

He waltzed into heads-up holding a 3:1 chip lead and ended Varkonyi's hopes in short order.

"I had a great time and it was a great success for me to even come in second," Varkonyi said. "I would have loved to win it, but these are all champions. It was probably the toughest field ever."

Now the champion of champions, McEvoy is putting the 2009 World Series of Poker on notice.

"I think I proved that I can compete at the highest level against the best players in the world," he said.

Visit PokerListings.com

Haxton chipleader at WSOP’s $40k final table

But neither Greg Raymer nor Ted Forrest scare chipleader Isaac Haxton.

"The internet kids are the ones I'm worried about," Haxton told PokerListings.com.

"[Alec] Torelli's a really good player and so is Dani Stern. Justin Bonomo is a good friend of mine and he's an excellent player."

All of the above will join Team PokerStars' Lex Veldhuis, Full Tilt's Vitaly Lunkin and Noah "fouruhaters" Schwartz at the nine-handed final table tomorrow.

A murderer's row, to be sure, but the 2007 World Poker Tour PokerStars Caribbean Adventure runner-up likes his chances.

"I feel great heading into tomorrow," he said. "I have one-quarter of the chips in play and my seat at the table is not so bad."

Haxton entered the day among the short stacks with 540,000 to his name, but quickly managed to pull his head above water with a timely treble.

As rivals Andrew Robl, Neil Channing, Andy Black and Brian Townsend succumbed and the potential prize money increased, Haxton built his stack with a bit of small-ball poker.

"I had kings versus queens against Matt Marafioti and busted him for 600k, but it was mostly small pots after that," he said.

Sitting on an average stack when the field consolidated into a ten-handed final table, Haxton took advantage of a fortunate flop to seize control of the tournament.

Holding pocket sixes, Haxton flopped bottom set against then-chipleader Alec Torelli, who had flopped top pair and tried in vain to bully his rival from the pot.

Haxton persisted and doubled through, building his stack up over the 5 million mark and taking the chip lead.

A few rounds later, Tony G was eliminated in tenth place and the final table was set.

"I feel fantastic [about making the final table]," Haxton told PokerListings. "It's great.

"I'm not going to say that it makes me think I'm a much better player than I thought I was a couple of days ago or that it's anything more than me making the final table in a World Series event, but it definitely feels great."

Echoing fellow finalist Justin Bonomo, Haxton told PL.com he thought the level of play in the tournament was somewhat uneven.

"These really big buy-in tournaments have a polarizing effect on the fields," he said. "The high buy-in prices out a lot of the winning - but not high-stakes - online players but there are plenty of rich amateurs who are as willing to play a $40k event as a $10k one.

"There's a high percentage of good players but an assortment of amateurs as well."

With nearly 6 million in chips heading into the final table, Haxton holds a nearly 1.5 million advantage over second-place Vitaly Lunkin and is in great shape to prove Joe Sebok a prophet.

The Poker Road president predicted Haxton would take down a bracelet this year in an article for PokerListings last week.

If the Lizard King can keep his composure in tomorrow's pit of vipers, the bracelet is his for the taking.

Get full coverage of the final table in PokerListings.com's WSOP section.

Visit PokerListings.com

Sahamies and Dwan played Heads-Up $3k/$9k PLO!

Just a year ago most of the online high stakes games were played at $200/$400 and many people thought that those stakes were already too high. Then came $500/$1000 tables and more people thought that definitely was too high. Well, it is not too high for durrrr and Ziigmund!

Ziggy’s wish: “Raise the stakes!”

It hasn’t been a problem for Sahamies and Dwan to get money in to a pot before, but this time they decided to raise the stakes even higher:

Ziigmund: lets make deal
Ziigmund: always have to raise and reraise
durrrr: what type?
durrrr: lol
Ziigmund: ok?
durrrr: ill do for 10hands ok?
Ziigmund: before flop
durrrr: next 10hands
Ziigmund: ok next 10 hands
durrrr: god
durrrr: lol
durrrr: so sick
Ziigmund: then u can do what u want
Ziigmund: rereraise
durrrr: ya obv
Ziigmund: or whatever
durrrr: ya
durrrr: 10 hands
Ziigmund: but raise and reraise before flop
durrrr: ya

Obviously this new rule lasted more than ten hands, because the game was so interesting. In a very first hann durrrr raised it to $81k preflop and Ziigmund called, but folded to a bet on the flop- Soon after that this huge hand was played:

durrrr (BB): $382692.50
Ziigmund (BTN/SB): $200000.00

Pre Flop: ($1500.00)
Ziigmund raises to $3000, durrrr raises to $9000, Ziigmund raises to $27000, durrrr raises to $81000, Ziigmund raises to $200000 all in, durrrr calls $119000

Flop: ($400000.00) A J 4

Turn: ($400000.00) 3

River: ($400000.00) 5

Final Pot: $400000.00
durrrr shows A A 6 T (three of a kind, Aces)
Ziigmund shows K 6 K 2 (a flush, King high)
Ziigmund wins $399999.50

Ziigmund scoops yet another huge pot:

durrrr (BTN/SB): $484283.50
Ziigmund (BB): $288798.00

Pre Flop: ($1500.00)
durrrr raises to $3000, Ziigmund raises to $9000, durrrr calls $6000

Flop: ($18000.00) T 6 9 (2 players)
Ziigmund bets $16000, durrrr raises to $53600, Ziigmund raises to $178800, durrrr raises to $475283.50 all in, Ziigmund calls $100998 all in

Turn: ($577596.00) 4 (2 players - 2 are all in)

River: ($577596.00) 6 (2 players - 2 are all in)

Final Pot: $577596.00
durrrr shows 8 A 7 Q (a straight, Ten high)
Ziigmund shows 3 A J 9 (a flush, Ace high)
Ziigmund wins $577595.50

Dwan wins one back with a nut boat:

durrrr (BB): $216684.50
Ziigmund (BTN/SB): $556394.00

Pre Flop: ($1500.00)
Ziigmund raises to $3000, durrrr raises to $9000, Ziigmund raises to $27000, durrrr raises to $81000, Ziigmund calls $54000

Flop: ($162000.00) 9 2 Q (2 players)
durrrr bets $135684.50 all in, Ziigmund calls $135684.50

Turn: ($433369.00) 4 (2 players - 1 is all in)

River: ($433369.00) 4 (2 players - 1 is all in)

Final Pot: $433369.00
durrrr shows 8 Q 9 Q (a full house, Queens full of Fours)
Ziigmund shows J 5 K T (a pair of Fours)
durrrr wins $433368.50

I have just one (actually there are four) question: Is there a limit how high these gambling junkies want to go for a gamble? $1000/$2000 PLO maybe? Bigger than that? Should Full Tilt open new bigger tables for? Yes, absolutely. Sometimes bigger stakes make the game too tight, but these two just keeps it going no matter how high they play.

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Sahamies and Dwan played Heads-Up $3k/$9k PLO!

Andres Iniesta robs Ilari Sahamies!

Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies, gambler like he is, played little sports betting about UEFA Champions League semifinal matches. First match, Arsenal versus Manchester United went wrong when he bet a draw and United won easily, but the second semifinal between Chelsea and Barcelona was the match that drove Sahamies mad.

Sahamies tilts again.

Sahamies was hanging out with his friends and watching the game with some snacks. He was relaxed and in good mood. Ziigmund had bet for Chelsea and everything looked fine after a good start and early leading goal for Chelsea. But in the end disaster struck.

Game was already on the injury time when Barcelona midfielder Andres Iniesta fired a huge shot from just outside the penalty box that found the way in to Chelsea’s goal (check the video from below) and put Barcelona in the final.

That goal tilted Sahamies so bad that he soon found himself playing a heads-up match against Tom “durrrr” Dwan. In the first hand Dwan rivered a $200k pot with 6-outer and that was the final nail in Ilari’s coffin: He was officially tilting.

Well, we all know what happens when Sahamies is tilting and soon Ziigmund was feeling nothing but relaxed anymore. Eventually he lost $650k that day and for sure he still wonders why everything went like it did. Still, it was a nice goal:

Source: coinflip.com

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Andres Iniesta robs Ilari Sahamies!

Hot in Herrre - Nelly takes on EPT

The multiplatinum recording artist is part of the changing face of poker that sees more and more celebrities and ex-sportsmen nursed into its ranks every year.

Some may have been suspicious about Nelly's reasons for playing in Monaco.

The rapper is inexperienced at the felt, and when Andrew Feldman sent him to the rail early in the day, it seemed fears his appearance may have just been a marketing ploy could have been vindicated.

Nelly, however, was unfazed by his early exit and was upbeat about his future prospects.

"It was cool. Tournaments are always difficult but I had a good time," he said.

"The more I play, the better I get and the more experience I have. I don't have a mentor or anything like that. You just learn to play by playing and watching."

The poker world is awash with sportsmen and celebrities from other arenas aiming to make an impact on the poker world. Rappers have yet to fully storm the poker world, although there are signs that things are changing.

Ja Rule was seen battling it out for a bracelet at the 2008 WSOP, helping to raise the profile of the rap community within the poker world.

This crossover of cultures has fed into the world of TV, where poker shows such as Bring it to the Table and Hip Hop Hold'Em have been geared toward an audience more famililar with rap battles than heads-up battles.

These shows may be slightly tongue-in-cheek, but it may not be long before we see a genuine contender rise up from the rap world.

Whether that man will be Nelly or not is dubious at this stage, though the rap star was keen to stress he was not just a marketing pawn and wasn't taking the challenge here in Monte Carlo lightly.

"I'm taking it seriously as that's what I'm here to do," he told us. "I cashed in a couple of tournaments yesterday so it's going ok."

Regarding his background in rap, Nelly was honest enough to accept that his verbal skills would be of little use to him in his bid to become a credible poker player.

"Some of the best players are the quietest. My rap skills aren't much use at the tables!"

While Nelly won't return for Thursday's Day 2, more than 540 of his counterparts will, including Team PokerStars Pro pros Daniel Negreanu, Vanessa Rousso and Joe Hachem.

Tune into all of the live coverage from Monaco in the PokerListings Live Tournaments section.

Visit PokerListings.com

WPT Championship Begins Saturday

On Saturday, the World Poker Tour (WPT) Championship will kick off from the Bellagio in Las Vegas. The $25,000 buy-in tournament is the last stop of Season VII and will crown a champion seven days later.

Last year, David Chiu emerged victorious from a pack of 545 entrants en route to victory. He pocketed $3.4 million for his efforts, one of the largest paydays in WPT history. The finale featured Chiu take on Full Tilt Poker pro Gus Hansen, one of the world’s most feared players. Hansen landed a $1.7 million consolation prize. Also at the final table were John Roveto (third for $923,355), Cory “UGOTPZD” Carroll (fourth for $593,645), Tommy Le (fifth for $395,725), and Jeff King (sixth for $263,815). A total of 100 players finished in the money during the Season VI WPT Championship.

In a tournament series that has seen a bevy of events come and go, the WPT Championship has remained a staple. The annual end of year gala has seen some of the world’s top poker players dominate. During the Season V WPT Championship, “The Spaniard” Carlos Mortensen triumphed over a field of 639 players and cashed for $3.9 million. He defeated World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner Kirk Morrison heads-up; Morrison took home $2.0 million for his efforts. Others who claimed life-changing money were Paul Lee (third for $1.1 million), Guy Laliberte (fourth for $696,220), Tim Phan (fifth for $464,110), and Mike Wattel (sixth for $309,405).

The Season IV final table will go down as one of the most talented in the history of the WPT. In the end, Joe Bartholdi, a poker player in his 20s, bested Davidson Matthew heads-up and grabbed $3.8 million. Roland de Wolfe, James Van Alstyne, and Men “The Master” Nguyen also made the final table. During Season III, Tuan Le outlasted Paul Maxfield heads-up in a tournament that attracted 453 entrants. The duo were joined by Hasan Habib, John “The Razor” Phan, European Poker Tour (EPT) Monte Carlo Grand Final winner Rob Hollink, and Phil Ivey at the televised final table.

Season II saw Martin de Knijff battle Habib in the finale, with the former coming out on top and earning $2.7 million. Matt Matros and recent Bay 101 Shooting Star Champion Steve Brecher were also at the final table, taking third and sixth, respectively. The first ever WPT Championship was held in 2003, with Alan Goehring defeating Kirill Gerasimov. Goehring earned $1 million for the win over a final table that also featured Ivey, Doyle Brunson, and Ted Forrest. The $25,000 buy-in event is the richest of any WPT tournament. Each event’s winner during the regular season takes home an entry.

Here is the schedule for the seventh annual WPT Championship at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. All times are local:

Saturday, April 18th, 2009: Day 1A, 12:00pm
Sunday, April 19th, 2009: Day 1B, 12:00pm
Monday, April 20th, 2009: Day 2, 12:00pm
Tuesday, April 21st, 2009: Day 3, 12:00pm
Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009: Day 4, 12:00pm
Thursday, April 23rd, 2009: Day 5, 12:00pm
Friday, April 24th, 2009: Day 6, 12:00pm
Saturday, April 25th, 2009: Final Table, TBA

In addition to the WPT Championship, a $540 buy-in ClubWPT side event will take place on April 23rd at 2:00pm. ClubWPT is the tournament series’ subscription-based online poker room that accepts customers from the United States. Super satellites to the Main Event are also taking place daily. The final opportunity for players to win their way into the WPT Championship occurs on Saturday at 10:00pm; super satellite tournaments boast a $1,590 price tag.

The Season VII WPT Championship will air on Fox Sports Net, which also holds the rights to broadcast Season VIII of the roving tournament series. New episodes air on Sunday nights.

New set of players in High Stakes Poker

It is suprising that Negreanu made a comeback to play in another table in this season of HSP, as his first appearance at the table didn’t go well at all. Well, i guess he felt like he could do better against this group of players or maybe he just felt like playing little bit more.

There were some familiar faces in the new group, but also few others who are not normally recognized as poker players. An actor, screenwriter and film director Nick Cassavetes and a producer and writer Sam Simon, who is best known as one of the original developers of The Simpons, made their debut in HSP.

A former world champion Joe Hachem also made his debut in High Stakes Poker. Other players in the table are players who have been at the HSP table before on the previous seasons, Patrik Antonius, Howard Lederer, Antonio Esfandiari, Phil Laak and afromentioned Negreanu.

One of the most memorable hand in the episode is played between Laak and Simon. Laak, who is a boyfriend of an actress Jennifer Tilly, raises with T-2 suited and Simon, who was married to Tilly from 1984 to 1991, re-raises Laak with T-4, because he don’t realise Laak has already raised!

If you haven’t seen the newest episode, check it out from cardplayertube.com in five pieces:

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New set of players in High Stakes Poker

Close, but no cigar - Liebert second, Steve Brecher wins the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star

Kathy Liebert made her sixth WPT final table appearance, but once again she had to walk away without the top prize and the WPT champion title. Though, the second place finish earned her a nice prize worth of $550,000.

The heads-up play started with Brecher having over to 2-to-1 chiplead with 5,540,000 chips against 2,280,000. Liebert couldn’t get any closer as Brecher slowly pulled away. The final table lasted total of 319 hands which is the new WPT record.

In the last hand Liebert raised to 175,000, Brecher moved all in, and Liebert called with Q-T of spades. Brecher was ahead with his A-9, but the flop, 6-6-2 with two spades, gave Liebert few more outs. None of her outs fell, as the turn was another two and the river four of clubs.

Full Tilt pro Steve Brecher (pictured), a retired computer software developer, more than doubled his live tournament earnings with the win and a $1,025,500 paycheck. His total live tournament earnings were $707,501 before the tournament, his biggest cash being a 6th place finish in 2004 WPT World Championship for $232,862.

Source: WPT

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Close, but no cigar - Liebert second, Steve Brecher wins the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star