Poker News

Daniel Negreanu and Jason Mercier have an interesting sidebet

The two PokerStars pro players, Daniel Negreanu and Jason Mercier have made an interesting sidebet. If one of them gets deep in a tournament then the other one has to pay up.

Negreanu and Mercier have proven to be excellent live players, if not one of the best ones today. Now they need to pay to each other depending how they will be placed in the tournaments during 2011.

Basically the sidebet goes like this: every money position will cost $2,000 to the other player. Final table place costs $5,000, ending up in top 3 will cost $10,000 and a tournament win is worth $25,000.

Negreanu has a similar bet going on with Daniel Alaei and Mercier has one with Frank Kassela.

Source: Pokerista.net, Bluff Europe

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Daniel Negreanu and Jason Mercier have an interesting sidebet

Phil Ivey Finishes 2010 Atop ESPN The Nuts Rankings for December

We might all be putting our new 2011 calendars on the refrigerator, but let’s not put 2010 in our rearview mirror just yet.  ESPN.com’s “The Nuts” poker player rankings for December 2010 were released on New Year’s Eve and showed that the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Before we get to the rankings, let’s quickly explain ESPN’s methodology.  Unlike rankings by some poker sites, there is no mathematical formula used in “The Nuts.”  Rather, it is a simple poll by a panel of ten members of the poker media, including our very own Dan Cypra.  The panel attempts to rank the top ten poker players of the moment based on both tournament and cash game results, live and online.  It is an inexact science, of course, but that is part of what makes it fun.

The voting panel includes ESPN.com’s poker crew of Andrew Feldman, Gary Wise, and Bernard Lee (who is also a Guest Columnist for Poker News Daily), Bluff Magazine Editor-in-Chief Lance Bradley and Senior Writer Jessica Welman, ESPNDeportes.com Poker Editor Nahuel Ponce, PokerRoad’s Court Harrington, PokerNews Editor-in-Chief Matthew Parvis and Tournament Reporter Don Peters, and Cypra.

Nine of the top ten players remained the same in December, although some of the order has changed.  Phil Ivey remained in the top spot, a position that should really be renamed “Ivey’s Room.”  He received eight first place votes from the ten-member panel.  Jason Mercier received the other two first place votes, one coming from Cypra, cementing himself in the second position once again.

The two biggest jumps were by Tom Marchese and Vanessa Selbst, both of whom rose three spots.  Marchese climbed from #6 to #3, while Selbst was elevated to the fifth spot from eighth.  Marchese had an incredible 2010, his first year on the live tournament circuit.  In live tournaments alone, he won over $2 million.

Marchese exploded onto the scene with a final table at the Borgata in January and followed that up with a win on the North American Poker Tour (NAPT) in February.  He had three other big-time cashes last year, including final tables in the High Roller Event at the European Poker Tour (EPT) Grand Final, the $10,000 Pot Limit Hold’em Championship at the World Series of Poker (WSOP), and the championship event of the World Poker Tour‘s (WPT) World Poker Finals, all of which contributed to winning CardPlayer’s 2010 Player of the Year award.

Selbst, who won her first and only WSOP bracelet in 2008, had two huge wins in 2010.  The first was in the Main Event of the NAPT Mohegan Sun in April for $750,000, while the second came in September in the Main Event of the Partouche Poker Tour in Cannes, France, where she won over $1.8 million.

The one new member of “The Nuts” was last month’s “Bubble Boy,” Sorel “Imper1um” Mizzi.  The 2010 Bluff Magazine Player of Year placed ninth at the WPT Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic en route to a $1.9 million year in live tournaments.  With Mizzi’s rise into the top ten, Alexander Kostritsyn dropped out.

As an example of how fluid things can be in the poker world, half of the top ten at the end of 2010 was different than at the beginning of the year.  Daniel Negreanu took the biggest tumble out of the rankings, as he occupied the second spot in January.  The other four poker players – Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier, Daniel Alaei, Yevgeniy “Jovial Gent” Timoshenko, and Barry Greenstein – were ranked seven through ten.  Patrik Antonius came close to falling out of the rankings, finishing the year at #10 after starting out at #3.

The entire list of the ESPN’s “The Nuts” is as follows:

1. Phil Ivey
2. Jason Mercier
3. Tom Marchese
4. Tom Dwan
5. Vanessa Selbst
6. John Juanda
7. Michael Mizrachi
8. Eric Baldwin
9. Sorel Mizzi
10. Patrik Antonius

“The Nuts” is published at the end of every month in the poker section of ESPN.com.

The Showdown – Episode 1

Pro poker player Jon Friedberg debuts his new show The Showdown. Jean-Robert Bellande is the guest in this first episode.

Friedberg is a successful business entrepreneur who moved to Las Vegas in 2004 but gained fame in the world of poker online under the names PokerTrip and Reactrix. During his peak, Friedberg was ranked as one of the top tournament players in the world according to PocketFives.com. In 2006 he won a World Series of Poker Bracelet by besting 2,890 players to win the 2006 WSOP Event #17 bracelet, in No Limit Hold’em. Since then he has placed at several other final tables and has accumulated over $2 million in live and online winnings.

In his debut episode of “The Showdown” Friedberg talks about what he will bring to the Poker News Daily audience. “I’m very happy to be here on Poker News Daily … and I’m really looking forward to a really fun run here. My goals and intentions for the show are to entertain, to inform and to educate. I plan to do that by having a really good group of guests on my show. I’m really not kidding when I say that my guests will vary anywhere from poker players to porn stars. There’s going to be a lot of interesting topics and a lot of fun discussions we’re going to have on this show.”

Friedberg’s first guest in The Showdown history is none other than reality TV star and pro poker player Jean-Robert Bellande, who has gained fame for wild bankroll swings and for his Twitter banter. However, before Bellande came out to talk the Vegas lifestyle and poker, Friedberg gives an interesting take on the current state of live tournament buy-ins and getting fish back into the player pools.

“If you think about it,” Friedberg explains, “If we could lower the buy-ins to maybe $3,500 or $5,000 or something, maybe shorten the structures a little bit, I think that would really bring a lot more amateurs back into the poker world.”

Topics that Friedberg and Bellande discuss include his sponsorship deal with the Aria poker room, improper bankroll management and getting a backer, which Bellande candidly speaks about. It’s a rare look into a player that likes to play big cash games with his entire roll on the line while at the same time tries to pay off his backers immediately and play with his own roll. By Bellande’s own admission he’s already gone bust a few times in just the last six months. In addition to that subject, Bellande also talks about the Vegas lifestyle and how he likes to party, but not too much, at the most famous Las Vegas Strip Club, Spearmint Rhino.

The interview with Bellande ends with a discussion of how he plans to build his bankroll and move into 2011 with enough to play through the entire World Series of Poker slate of events.

The Showdown with Jon Friedberg is exclusively seen on Poker News Daily with new episodes airing every Tuesday. For those of you that want to give feedback, Friedberg welcomes all tweets on Twitter on his account @JonFriedberg.

The Showdown is sponsored by UB.com, and is offering a 111% deposit bonus for first time depositors.

Poker After Dark Big Heat Week Debuts Tonight

For those in need of new poker television content, the NBC franchise “Poker After Dark” returns for its first new episodes of 2011 tonight, featuring the biggest tournament in the history of the program.

Dubbed “Big Heat Week,” “Poker After Dark’s” first tournament of 2011 features a six-man sit and go that brings together competitors who have more than proven their worth in the poker world. Combined, the six players – John Juanda, Erick Lindgren, Phil Galfond, Huck Seed, Tom “durrrr” Dwan, and Phil Ivey – have over $42 million in career tournament earnings, 18 World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelets, a WSOP Main Event title, and a slew of other major championships.

The $100,000 buy-in event guarantees that the victor of this week’s “Poker After Dark” will walk away with a $600,000 payday.

Galfond is the newcomer to the “Poker After Dark” stage, as all of the other competitors have faced the NBC show’s cameras previously. Galfond, who terrorizes the online poker world under the name “OMGClayAiken,” has built a reputation as one of the top No Limit Hold’em and Pot Limit Omaha players in the game today. His addition to this week’s lineup is indicative of how the show is embracing the “new blood” of the game.

Safe money on who will win this week’s battle should be on Ivey and Juanda, who are veterans of “Poker After Dark” and have racked up two wins each during the run of the show. While Lindgren and Seed have previously appeared on the program, neither has been able to crack the winner’s circle. For his part, Dwan has been a part of previous “Poker After Dark” cash game episodes, but this is only his second foray into the freezeout arena.

“Big Heat Week” will kick off this evening on NBC late night at 2:05am ET, with host Ali Nejad providing voiceover commentary of the action. The sit and go will continue over the next four nights in the same timeslot and a special “Director’s Cut” will air late night on Saturday at 1:00am ET after NBC’s “Saturday Night Live.” This show will feature Leeann Tweeden with a behind-the-scenes look at the week with highlights and insightful player interviews.

Throughout the first half of 2011, “Poker After Dark” will continue to provide new shows mixed in with encore presentations of some of the series’ best episodes. After this week’s new episodes, Dwan will return to the two-week encore presentation of one of the show’s most memorable cash games. The cash game, which featured a $100,000 buy-in, also featured Phil Laak, Gus Hansen, Eli Elezra, and former World Champions Doyle Brunson and Phil Hellmuth.

The week of February 7th, a new cash game will take to the “Poker After Dark” stage with the highest stakes yet. The $150,000 buy-in No Limit Hold’em cash game will feature Howard Lederer, Greg Mueller, Elezra, David Peat, Olivier Busquet, and Laak battling it out for supremacy.

April will bring one of the most eagerly anticipated additions to the “Poker After Dark” lineup. During the week of April 4th, a $50,000 buy-in sit and go will take place featuring some of the “young guns” of the game. Andrew “luckychewy” Lichtenberger and UB.com pro Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin will join Melanie Weisner, Annette Obrestad, Brunson, and Dwan, with the winner walking away with $250,000.

During the week of April 11th, Pot Limit Omaha will make its debut on “Poker After Dark” and be featured for two weeks. Joining Ivey, Dwan, and Galfond on the felt for the $100,000 buy-in cash game will be Brandon Adams, Patrik Antonius, Brian Hastings, and Jared Bleznick. The addition of Pot Limit Omaha to “Poker After Dark” should draw a huge audience with the ever-increasing popularity of the game.

Once again, be sure to check your local listings for when “Poker After Dark” runs on your local NBC affiliate.

Sorel Mizzi Wins 2010 Bluff Player of the Year Title

Titan Poker pro Sorel “Imper1um” Mizzi is the 2010 Bluff Magazine Player of the Year, officials announced on Friday. Mizzi entered the top spot in the Player of the Year rankings in March and never relinquished his lead.

The 2010 CardPlayer Player of the Year, Tom Marchese, finished in second place in the Bluff standings. Mizzi ended the 2010 calendar year with a whopping 1,777 points, the highest score ever turned in, while Marchese racked up just 1,257 during the stanza. Others in the top 10 included PokerStars pro Vanessa Selbst, recent World Poker Tour (WPT) event winner Dwyte Pilgrim, and UB.com pro and former CardPlayer Player of the Year winner Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin.

Mizzi got the 2010 calendar year started off on the right foot by taking third place in the Aussie Millions Main Event for $659,000. Tyron Krost took down the marquee poker tournament and Mizzi quickly ratcheted his first six-figure score of 2010. Mizzi then won two preliminary events during the PokerStars European Poker Tour (EPT) Snowfest stop in March for nearly $150,000 total.

In April, Mizzi’s victory parade stopped off in Atlantic City, where he won the East Coast Championship Event during the Borgata Spring Poker Open for $170,000. That tournament drew 62 players and featured a top nine that included Chris “SLOPPYKLOD” Klodnicki, David “Davidp18” Peters, and former Full Tilt Poker pro Lee Markholt.

At the end of April, Mizzi final tabled the High Roller Event during the EPT’s Monte Carlo Grand Final for $190,000. Two weeks later, he ran deep in another High Roller Event, this time at WPT Paris. Just footsteps from the Eiffel Tower, Mizzi played second fiddle to Absolute Poker pro Freddy Deeb and walked away with $159,000.

In August, Mizzi placed second in the EPT Tallinn High Roller Event for $98,000. He concluded 2010 by bubbling a pair of WPT final tables, taking seventh in the Foxwoods World Poker Finals for $88,000 and grabbing ninth in the Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic at the Bellagio for $59,000. Remember, televised WPT final tables are played six-handed.

All told, Mizzi racked up nearly $1.9 million in earnings from live tournaments tracked by the Hendon Mob database last year. Along the way, he provided poker coaching to November Niner Matt Jarvis, a fellow Canadian. Jarvis ultimately bowed out in eighth place in the $10,000 buy-in tournament in Las Vegas for over $1 million.

Mizzi, who has been linked to several incidents on online poker sites in the past, has nevertheless remained a central figurehead in the industry. He told Poker News Daily in an interview in November that surrounding himself with talented poker friends has been critical: “I think it’s one of the most important things… That is how I got my start. I found players and tried to pick their brains. You know, it’s like anything in life, that’s the best way of learning, you find mentors. At least, for me, [it’s been] finding people where you want to be and trying to pick their brains as much as possible.”

Here were the top 10 players in the 2010 Bluff Player of the Year standings:

1. Sorel “Imper1um” Mizzi – 1,777.77 points
2. Tom “Kingsofcards” Marchese – 1,257.30 points
3. Fernando Brito – 1,060.53 points
4. David Peters – 1,009.26 points
5. Vanessa Selbst – 986.77 points
6. Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin – 943.92 points
7. Dwyte Pilgrim – 896.23 points
8. Chris Bjorin – 889.25 points
9. Jason Mercier – 882.40 points
10. Chris Bell – 879.63 points

Jason Mercier took down the 2009 Bluff Player of the Year title. Other past winners have included John “The Razor” Phan (2008), Bill Edler (2007), Chad Brown (2006), and Phil Ivey (2005).

Bellagio Removing $25,000 Denomination Chips Following Robbery

The thief who stole $1.5 million in casino chips from the Bellagio has been given a deadline to try to redeem the $25,000 denomination ones he took from a craps table on December 14th. MGM Resorts International, which owns the Bellagio, gave public notice that it will be discontinuing the large denomination chip and called for all gamblers to cash them in by April 22nd.

MGM Resorts first posted notice of the redemption last week in the classifieds of the Las Vegas Review-Journal newspaper. The ad came one week after a man wearing a black jumpsuit and full-faced motorcycle helmet walked into the Bellagio, pulled a gun on a croupier, and escaped with around $1.5 million in chips ranging from $100 to $25,000. The incident took less than three minutes and the robber fled the casino on his motorcycle that he left parked outside the valet. He remains at large.

Las Vegas police and casino officials have been working diligently to find the robber, reviewing surveillance videos and camera images to get an idea of who carried out the heist. Investigators have also been keeping an eye on any unusual chip redemptions since the robbery took place.

“Obviously, anyone walking with one of the old series (chips) is going to be subject to a certain amount of questioning as to how they obtained them – assuming it isn’t someone we know,” MGM Resorts spokesman Alan Feldman told the Associated Press. “It’s pretty unusual for someone we don’t know to come strolling up with a handful of $25,000 chips.”

Feldman also told the Associated Press that the chips were switched out at the tables within an hour of the robbery and the Bellagio immediately filed to discontinue them. The $25,000 chip, which is red with a gray inlay, will be worthless after the April 22nd deadline. The question then becomes whether it will be replaced with a new chip of the same denomination or if the casino will produce a new chip of a different denomination.

By law, a casino must give public notice that it is discontinuing specific chips to allow gamblers enough time to redeem them – in this case four months. The deadline could have a major effect on high-stakes poker players who leave large denomination chips at the Bellagio to use as a bankroll. Although the Nevada Gaming Control Board has stated that poker chips aren’t money, many poker players treat chips as currency when trading for other casino chips or paying off debts. It’s assumed that several $25,000 chips are currently being stored in the lock boxes of poker players at the Bellagio, which houses the famous “Big Game” in Bobby’s Room.

While it’s unknown exactly how many $25,000 denomination chips were stolen on December 14th, the redemption notice tactic could be very effective once the regular high-stakes gamblers begin cashing them in. If the casino spots a person who wouldn’t normally be in possession of the chip, it will raise a red flag.

“If they have people that they know are players redeem the ones that they know they have, pretty much it’s process of elimination. You’re left with people who aren’t supposed to have the chips,” said David Schwartz, a former casino security guard and Director of the Center for Gaming Research at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Authorities are suggesting that the same man from the Bellagio robbery may have been behind an earlier theft on December 9th at the Suncoast Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. In that heist, the robber managed to take around $20,000 in cash from a poker room cashier.

Stay tuned to Poker News Daily as more information on this story unfolds.

Biggest Poker Surprises of 2010

Last week, Poker News Daily ran an article recapping the top poker news stories of 2010.  This, we were charged with the task of coming up with the top ten surprises of the past year.  As fate would have it, the biggest shocker of 2010 came on December 30th, making the top surprise a no-brainer.  Read on to find out.

10) Hip-Hop Hellmuth – Normally, I wouldn’t put an attention grab by Phil Hellmuth on a list of the year’s biggest surprises, but this one was phenomenal.  The “Poker Brat” made a cameo appearance in a hip-hop music video by Ludacris donned in UB.net garb and raking in UB.net chips.  Filmed at the Palms in Las Vegas, the video’s plot was supposed to be similar to that of the hit movie “The Hangover.”  The song is called “Sex Room.”  I’ll just leave it at that.

9) No Rest for the Weary – A crazy record not many people knew about before this year was broken not once, but twice.  In June, Phil Laak set the poker endurance record by playing $10/$20 Hold’em at the Bellagio for a staggering 115 consecutive hours, breaking Paul Zimbler’s 72-hour mark from late 2009.  Nobody would ever be silly enough to try to top Laak, would they?  Of course they would.  In November, Christie Teki-Reu and man who goes by the nickname “Chopper” played for 117 hours in the casino at the Grand Hotel in New Zealand as part of an organized effort to set the record in a special charity tournament.  Afterwards, Teki-Reu slept for five hours, was up for two hours, then slept for another ten hours.  Well deserved.

Kessler Max-Cashes – Well, almost.  Allen “Chainsaw” Kessler is a very good poker player, but he is known to play to make the money in tournaments.  He has definitely gone deep in tournaments and made a couple of WPT televised final tables, but for the most part, the poker community jokes about Kessler taking the conservative route and always looking to “min-cash.”

At the 2010 WSOP, poker players and fans lived vicariously through “Chainsaw” as he not only made the money in the $10,000 Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo event, but also continued to move up in the standings, making the final table and then finally reaching heads-up.  He eventually lost, but the $276,485 payday was far from a min-cash.  He finished with eight cashes, tied for most at this year’s WSOP.  Sure, some were min-cashes, but his second place run was one of the most memorable and surprising moments of the 2010 WSOP.

7) Security Fail – In May, it was discovered that the CEREUS Network had a major security hole.  The network did not have SSL encryption implemented, resulting in a vulnerability that made it possible to intercept network traffic and see an opponent’s hole cards.  In July, the same flaw was found on the Cake Poker Network.  It is unbelievable enough that one poker network could fail so miserably at something that should be so basic, but two networks dropping the ball?  Sad.

6) WSOP is Healthy – With the down economy and the struggles of online poker in the United States, it would have been reasonable to expect WSOP attendance figures to decline.  Not so.  2010 saw 72,966 players participate, the most in WSOP history by a wide margin and besting last year’s record by 20%.  The total prize money was the highest of all-time as well, reaching $187,109,850 and beating 2008′s high mark by 3.5%.  The Main Event was the second largest of all-time with 7,319 players, second only to 2006, which was the last WSOP Main Event before the UIGEA was passed.

5) Isildur1 is a Star – Isildur1, the nameless online nosebleed-stakes phenom, signed with PokerStars in December.  His signing with an online poker room isn’t all that surprising, considering that whenever he plays, he attracts scores of railbirds who love watching his million-dollar swings.  The shocker is that all of his high-stakes play has been at Full Tilt Poker, PokerStars’ closest rival.  Stars must have given him a sweet deal.

4) Resurgence of “The Grinder“ – While Michael Mizrachi had a few strong performances on the live tournament circuit in 2008 and 2009, his cachet had appeared to have worn off since he made his mark on the WPT in 2005 and 2006.  He also ran into major financial troubles this year.  But then the 2010 WSOP came along and he exploded back onto the poker map.

“The Grinder” won the $50,000 Player’s Championship for over $1.5 million, placed fifth in the Main Event for more than $2.3 million, and along the way became one of the biggest rooting interests of the summer.  To top it off, his three brothers – Daniel, Robert, and Eric – all cashed in the Main Event.  Robert also placed fifth in the Player’s Championship and made two other final tables.

3) Partying Has its Limits – In February, PartyPoker suddenly placed a cap on the number of play money chips members could have in their accounts.  Overnight, players with millions of chips had their accounts reset to the 250,000-chip maximum.  Party cited the sale of play chips as the main reason for the decision as well as instances of players with overwhelming numbers of chips making enormous bets and disrupting games.  The reaction was one of almost unanimous outrage by play money customers, many of whom had taken great pride in building up their accounts over several years.

2) Peter Eastgate Takes a Break – Nowadays, we have come to expect WSOP champions to serve as faces of the game and continue playing live tournaments around the world.  Not so with the 2008 champ Peter Eastgate.  Eastgate, who just turned 25, announced this year that he was taking an indefinite break from live tournament poker.  So far, it appears that it has been a break from poker in general.  His WSOP win set him up financially, which was enough for him.  To top it off, he auctioned off his WSOP bracelet in November and donated the proceeds to charity.

1) Duke and Hellmuth Leave UB – Annie Duke leaving UB, to me, was easily the most surprising moment in poker this year… until Phil Hellmuth did the same a few hours later.  Two of the biggest names in poker, the faces of UB since it was founded in 2001, left their online home on the same day.  Through all of UB’s controversy over the last few years, Duke and Hellmuth stood by the poker room and took tons of heat within the online poker community.  For better or for worse, they seemed like they were going to be with UB for life.

UB.com Returns as Sponsor of Poker Pro Canada Classic

UB.com has announced that it will once again be the title sponsor of the second annual Poker Pro Canada Classic.  The tournament, which will be held at the Four Aces Poker Club in Montreal, Quebec, is scheduled to run from January 27th to January 30th.

Co-sponsored by the leading poker magazine Poker Pro Canada, the Classic will feature a $1,500 + $150 buy-in and, like most major tournaments, will be a No Limit Hold’em event.  With more than 300 players expected to register, the prize pool could get up to $500,000 or more.

Poker Pro Canada Editor-In-Chief John “Johnny Quads” Wenzel is understandably excited about the upcoming tournament and commented in a press release, “The first Poker Pro Canada Classic back in April was a huge success, so we couldn’t wait to hold the second edition.  Four Aces was a terrific venue and I can’t wait to get back there.”

While the Poker Pro Canada Classic is a freezeout, it is not a freezeout in the traditional sense.  There will be three Day 1s and, while there are no intra-day rebuys allowed, anyone who busts out will be permitted to plunk down another buy-in and try again on a subsequent starting day.  Play will be stopped each day once the field gets down to 25 players.  Seventy-five total players across Days 1A, 1B, and 1C will return on Sunday, January 30th to compete for the championship.  Players will start with 20,000 chips and blinds will increase every hour.

As one might expect in a live tournament sponsored by an online poker room, UB.com will be running super satellites to the event during the month of January.  Here is the super satellite schedule:

· Sunday, January 2nd at 4:05pm ET: $200 + $15, Three packages guaranteed
· Wednesday, January 5th at 9:00pm ET: $200 + $15, Three packages guaranteed
· Sunday, January 9th at 4:05pm ET: $200 + $15, Three packages guaranteed
· Wednesday, January 12th at 9:00pm ET: $200 + $15, Three packages guaranteed
· Thursday, January 13th at 8:30pm ET: $300 + $20, One package guaranteed
· Sunday, January 16th at 8:30pm ET: $300 + $20, One package guaranteed

Players who find the super satellite buy-ins too rich for their blood will have the opportunity to qualify via lower buy-in satellites on UB.com.  More of these qualifiers, which will go as low as $10 + $1, will likely be added as the Poker Pro Canada Classic gets closer.

UB.com will also be holding six special Regional Freerolls open to residents of the Quebec and Ontario provinces of Canada and the states of New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine.  The freerolls will take place on January 2nd, 9th, and 16th at 4:05pm ET and on January 5th, 12th, and 19th at 8:05pm ET.  Each freeroll will award a single prize package to the winner.

The 20 total prize packages are valued at $2,500 apiece and include the $1,650 buy-in for the Poker Pro Canada Classic as well $850 for travel expenses.

The inaugural Poker Pro Canada Classic saw 246 players duke it out for a share of the $370,000 prize pool.  Team UB.com members Mark “Poker H0″ Kroon and “Hollywood” Dave Stann were in attendance, but the title went to local Montreal resident Oliver Baksic, who took home $118,000.  Also of note was Canadian Heads-Up champ Benjamin Lablond, who placed third.

The Four Aces Poker Club is located in the Kahnawake Mohawk Territory, just a few minutes south of Downtown Montreal across the Mercier Bridge.  In addition to tournaments, the Club spreads low-stakes cash games every day of the week.  Free food and beverage are provided to all cash game players.

Devilfish Poker Sold to The Weather Lottery

After several years of solo operation, Devilfish Poker has been sold to an English gaming group in an effort to expand that company’s profile further into the online gaming world.

The sale was announced prior to the Christmas holidays. The Weather Lottery offers lotto operations as a method of fundraising and, in July, entered into the online sports betting world under the FC BETZ flag. When it opened FC BETZ, it announced a deal with one of the founding clubs of the English Premier League, Coventry City and other soccer outlets.

What the company lacked, however, was an online poker operation that would allow it to expand fully into the online poker world. With the purchase of Devilfish Poker, The Weather Lottery will have such an outlet. The deal is worth a reported £330,000, with £40,000 of the purchase in cash and the remainder to be offered in stock.

In an article in the Yorkshire Post, The Weather Lottery chairman Tim Razzall put forth the reasoning behind the purchase of Devilfish Poker. “The board considers its acquisition at a time when there is still considerable untapped potential for development fits in with our gaming strategy. Devil Fish Poker has an established brand name in a sector that is complimentary to the existing gaming operations of TWL.”

Because the company didn’t previously host an online poker room, Razzall feels that Devilfish Poker is the “missing link” in its chain of products: “We have a growing database of users in both FCBetz.com and FC Lotto, some of whom will wish to take advantage of the Devilfish Poker products.”

The legendary English player David “Devilfish” Ulliott, who has been the face of the company since its inception, founded Devilfish Poker. At one point, it was a part of the UB.com brand, but after Ulliott’s sponsorship with the online poker room wasn’t renewed, it became its own entity under the Devilfish Gaming PLC banner. It also received a great deal of attention from Ulliott’s shrewd promotional character.

During the 2005 Full Tilt Poker Invitational, which was broadcast live from Monaco, Ulliott raised the ire of Fox Sports Net, the broadcast outlet for the show. Although Fox Sports Net had a policy against any dot-com advertising on its airwaves, Ulliott managed to get a plug in for Devilfish Poker through a strategically placed advertisement on the inside of his jacket. The resulting plug earned Ulliott a ban on playing in any Fox Sports Net poker production.

According to the story in the Yorkshire Post, Devilfish Poker did not show a profit on its books. At the end of June, operating losses of £106,331 on gross profits of £783,353 were reported, with Devilfish Poker showing liabilities at the sale date of £10,802.

The Weather Lottery is actively traded on the London Stock Exchange under the symbol TWL. After the announcement of the purchase of Devilfish Poker, the company’s stock showed a sizeable increase in trading, reaching a high of 89 pence on Christmas Eve. By the end of the trading day, it had settled to 66 pence, a 10% increase over its starting price.

Jeff Sarwer Interview with Poker News Daily

Poker Icons, a leading global poker agency, added one of the game’s brightest rising stars to its roster of pros earlier this month. Former Canadian chess prodigy Jeff Sarwer became one of the most fascinating figures on the international poker scene this year. The 32 year old is rapidly becoming a feared presence on the live circuit despite picking up the game just a short time ago.

Sarwer was a chess wunderkind who at the age of eight became World Chess Champion for those under 10. However, after being taken away from his abusive father, Sarwer and his sister changed their names and fled to Europe, disappearing from the public eye for nearly two decades.

In 2008, Sarwer resurfaced and began playing on the PokerStars European Poker Tour. Since then, he’s racked up more than $500,000 in live tournament earnings and was deemed “probably the greatest mind to enter the tournament poker world in history” by fellow poker pro Jonathan “FatalError” Aguiar. Poker News Daily recently got a chance to speak with Sarwer about his aspiring poker career:

Poker News Daily: You’ve been traveling the tournament circuit for more than two years now. Overall, how would you grade your experience as a poker pro? Is this something you see yourself doing for a long time?

Jeff Sarwer: For the next few years, I think people will see me a decent amount out there. I am still learning and haven’t played a lot of the big live events like the Aussie Millions. The experience has been great; I have had the chance to meet some great people who have a lot in common with me. As for grading, I think I have done better than I expected since I have been really active for only about a year and have had some strong results. My start has been great, so I want to keep going and see where it takes me.

PND: Your chess talents have been widely documented. Have you considered returning to the game and possibly training to become a world champion?

Jeff Sarwer: I have no intention of making a run for the world title since I missed so many critical years of training. I might come back on an ambassador level, but for now, poker is getting my spare time.

PND: Chess is a game of perfect information, whereas poker is a game of imperfect information. How do your chess skills transfer to the poker table?

Jeff Sarwer: Paying attention to detail, feeling when people are getting nervous, remembering things, and leveling people – these are all things that both games have in common. Chess might be a game of perfect information, but we are only human and not machines, so how useful is the perfect information that is right in front of you? It’s information that you have to analyze, filter, and try to get to the root of what the other guy is up to, which is really hard to do with so many things going on. So “owning” people’s minds is a very important part of chess too.

PND: You’re very talkative and cheerful at the poker table. Is this a tactic used to gain information from opponents?

Jeff Sarwer: My main reason for this is that I would rather be in a good mood if I am going to be at the table with the same people all day, but it doesn’t hurt to have them want you to stay.

PND: Who are some of your poker influences? Are there any players in particular who have helped make the transition easier?

Sarwer: Absolutely. You can thank the young internet generation for spending time with me and inspiring me. In Europe, there were guys like Anton Wigg, Kevin Stani, and a couple of guys my age like Arnaud Mattern. In North America, there were guys like Sorel Mizzi, Jonathan Aguiar, and Shaun Deeb. I thank them all for letting me spend time around them and see how they do things.

PND: What made you decide to choose Poker Icons to represent you?

Jeff Sarwer: They are the biggest poker agency out there and I have met the people behind the company quite a few times before, so we know each other well and have established a good connection. It’s an easy fit for both sides.

PND: What are your plans for 2011?

Jeff Sarwer: Travel around, play in some new events, produce my film, stay healthy, and have some twists and turns that I don’t see yet.

PND: A film? Tell us a little about it.

Jeff Sarwer: I am finishing the final draft of a script with director Gordon Anderson about my childhood with my manic depressive dad. If you want a taste of what stuff we will be talking about, go to BBCWorldService.com.

PokerStars Modifies VIP Club Rewards for 2011

PokerStars, the world’s leading online poker site, announced last week that changes will be made to its VIP Club rewards for 2011. PokerStars VIP Manager “Steve” made an official post on the TwoPlusTwo forums on December 17th outlining the changes, most of which will go into effect on January 1st. Steve said the alterations will “not substantially affect most players,” as nearly all of the tweaks were made to the Supernova rewards program.

“There will be only a few minor changes to the VIP Program for 2011,” the PokerStars representative said. “PokerStars will continue to offer benefits to all players, will continue to reward VPPs equally to all players dealt into a hand, and will continue to offer the best advertised rewards for high-volume players. These changes for 2011 are focused on simplifying the VIP Program, making benefits easier to communicate, claim, and enjoy.”

One major change that took effect on October 1st involved the purchase of VIP Reward Dollars. Previously, VIP Reward Bonuses purchased from the VIP Store had to be cleared by earning a specific number of VPPs. For example, a SilverStar VIP player who purchased a $50 reward bonus would have to earn 350 VPPs in order to transfer the bonus to his or her account. Now, players will find the cash in their account as soon as the purchase is made. Cash bonuses of $25 (BronzeStar+), $50 (SilverStar+), $300 (GoldStar+), and $650 (PlatinumStar+) can be purchased in the VIP Store.

In addition to the VIP Reward Bonus changes, the following modifications will go into effect on January 1st:

Supernova Elite VIPs will be eligible for a $20,000 Milestone Cash Credit at 1,000,000 VPPs instead of receiving choices of cash and live event packages. Additionally, the Milestone Cash Credit will only cost one FPP, as opposed to the 50,000 FPP price in the current program. However, the value of each Milestone Cash Credit has been reduced by $800 to balance out the reduced FPP cost. PokerStars says the change is “intended to simplify rewards and make them easier to claim, not to increase or reduce value received by players.”

The 100,000 VPP Milestone Cash Credit has also been removed and will be replaced by a 100,000 VPP Stellar Reward worth $200. This means that the first Milestone Cash Credit is available to VIPs who earn 200,000 VPPs. VIP Stellar Rewards now total $1,200 and extend through 100,000 VPPs. Milestone Cash Credits available to Supernova VIPs at a cost of only one FPP each will be as follows:

$2,600 at 200,000 VPPs
$2,800 at 300,000 VPPs
$3,000 at 400,000 VPPs
$3,200 at 500,000 VPPs
$3,600 at 600,000 VPPs
$3,800 at 700,000 VPPs
$4,200 at 800,000 VPPs

Milestone Cash Credits available to Supernova Elite VIPs will be similarly affected. They will also cost one FPP each and are as follows:

$20,000 at 1,000,000 VPPs
$9,200 at 1,250,000 VPPs
$9,200 at 1,500,000 VPPs
$9,200 at 1,750,000 VPPs
$19,200 at 2,000,000 VPPs
$9,200 at 2,250,000 VPPs
$9,200 at 2,500,000 VPPs
$9,200 at 2,750,000 VPPs
$19,200 at 3,000,000 VPPs

Micro-stakes players will also see a small change in VPPs awarded at ring games. Pot Limit and No Limit Hold’em games will award VPPs according to the following rates:

$0.01/$0.02: 10X
$0.02/$0.05: 8.5X
$0.05/$0.10: 7X

€0.01/€0.02: 12.5X
€0.02/€0.05: 10.5X
€0.05/€0.10: 9X

This means that a player earning 10X VPPs at a $0.01/$0.02 nine-handed No Limit Hold’em table will be earning VPPs 167% faster than if the table awarded VPPs at the standard 6X rate. These new rates will be reflected at new tables created as of January 1st; however, some older tables awarding the previous VPP rates may still exist until the first server restart of 2011.

For more information, visit PokerStars.

isildur1 vs Haxton Highlights – Part 2 of 5

Continued coverage of the SuperStar Showdown match between Isildur1 and Isaac “philivey2694″ Haxton of PokerStars features some of the biggest pots of the entire match-up.

The first of one of these huge pots is one of the most talked about hands of the entire session. The hand saw a flop of 2d 3s 4d and Haxton faced a raise to $800, having already bet $200. After thinking it over for a bit, Haxton raised to $2,400 making the pot $3,600. After that, Isildur1 threw in yet another raise to $4,350. Getting about 3.5-to-1 odds, Haxton made the gutsy call and the turn was a 5d. With the pot at $9,100 and with $12,600 behind, Isildur1 tanked for a good chunk of time. He finally led out for $6,250 and Haxton then gave the call. On the river, the Ace of diamonds hit, giving a wheel straight on the board with four to a diamond flush. With $21,600 in the pot, Isildur1 then shoved his remaining $6,350 making the pot $27,950. Haxton thought long and hard about making a call getting approximately 4.4-to-1 odds. In the end, Haxton did make the call and showed 65 offsuit with no diamonds for a straight, six high. Meanwhile, Isildur1 flipped over 7d 6d for a flush, Ace High.

Board: 2d 3s 4d 5d Ad

Haxton: 6c 5h
Isildur1: 7d 6d

Isildur1 took down one of the biggest pots of the night at $34,300 in this critical hand.

Another interesting hand played between the two came only moments later. At the turn, the board was Qs 4h 2c 4c with only $1,600 in the pot. Haxton checked o Isildur1, who then bet near pot at $1,400. Haxton then made the call, creating a pot of $4,400. The river was the 8 of clubs, putting three to a flush on the board. Haxton checked, and Isildur1 then bet $2,850 into the pot. After not much time at all, Haxton then shoved his $22,934 stack over the top. In a matter of a few seconds, Isildur1 folded.

Brad Daugherty WSOP Main Event Bracelet for Sale on eBay

For those looking for a Christmas gift for the poker player in your life, another World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet is in its final hours of bidding at the online auction site eBay.

Brad Daugherty has put his 1991 WSOP Main Event bracelet up for sale on eBay, following in the footsteps of several other former winners. Daugherty’s bracelet is somewhat different, however, in that his first name is prominently engraved on its face with each of the four suits in the corners. On the back of the bracelet, the words “1991 World Champion of Poker, Binion’s Horseshoe” are engraved.

According to the eBay specs on the item, Daugherty’s bracelet is 96 grams of 14K gold and does not have any of the jewels that you see on bracelets today. With this in mind, the scrap value of Daugherty’s 1991 WSOP Main Event bracelet is $2,484.50 at current exchange rates. It also appears that Daugherty is the man behind the sale, commenting on both the eBay auction and his own website, “This bracelet supplied by Neiman Marcus to the World Series, symbolizes my win of the 1991 World Championship, and the first ever first prize of $1,000,000.”

The WSOP bracelet is the only one Daugherty has won in his career as a poker player. It is also historic in the fact that it was awarded to the first ever winner of $1 million for capturing the WSOP Main Event championship. Daugherty is also famous for writing poker books, most notably “Championship Satellite Strategy and No Limit Texas Hold’em for New Players” with fellow Main Event champ Tom McEvoy.

What may be a bit surprising considering the scrap value of the WSOP bracelet is the price the auction is currently pulling. As of this afternoon – with less than 13 hours left in the bidding – Daugherty’s 1991 WSOP Main Event bracelet has 11 bids, with the top one coming in at $15,001. However, there is a reserve on the item that has not yet been met, meaning that if the reserve is not been reached, the seller has the right to pull the item from the auction block.

Over the course of 2010, there have been several WSOP bracelets that have found their way to eBay. At the start of the year, a bracelet won by poker legend T.J. Cloutier was sold through eBay after he pawned it to a Plano, Texas pawnshop. In the 10-day auction, 13 bids were placed before the bracelet sold for $4,006. The online poker site Cake Poker was its buyer and promptly returned it to the five-time WSOP bracelet winner.

The action for WSOP bracelets picked up towards the end of the year when 2008 WSOP Main Event winner Peter Eastgate put his bracelet up for auction to benefit UNICEF after he announced his retirement from poker. In a frenzied auction, 116 bidders – including poker pro Tony G, who was looking to make the poker trophy into a dog collar – drove the price of the bracelet to $147,500. At this time, no one has stepped forward to publicly claim ownership.

Around the same time as Eastgate’s auction, Paul “Eskimo” Clark’s 1999 Razz bracelet was put up for auction. In the case of this bidding war, the seller was not Clark himself, but rather a mysterious owner in Ireland. Even though the seller wasn’t its original winner and the memorabilia wasn’t the jewel-encrusted version of WSOP bracelets that we see today, it still sold for $4,050.

The 1999 WSOP bracelet won by Hassan Kamoei in the $2,500 Pot Limit Omaha with Rebuys event went through its 10-day bid process and received no action from its starting price of $3,800. Last week, the sale of Team PokerStars Pro Vanessa Rousso’s 2007 Lamborghini Gallardo on eBay ended after no one offered the asking price of $126,500.

The poker community has been discussing the recent Daugherty sale through several outlets. Over Twitter, UB.com sponsored pro Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin opined, “Will be hilarious how much less than Eastgate’s the bracelet goes for with a monstrous ‘BRAD’ on the front. Twisted part of me wants it.” He followed up later with a proposition for his followers, “Office pool guess on final sale price: $34,750. Anyone want in on a group bracelet timeshare?” Baldwin already holds one bracelet himself.

Buy Daugherty’s bracelet.

Poker Players Alliance: Harry Reid Bill Dead

On Thursday morning, Poker Players Alliance (PPA) Executive Director John Pappas told Poker News Daily that the bill introduced by U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) legalizing and regulating online poker is all but dead. A move to add the bill’s language to the tax relief act currently being debated in Congress failed to come to fruition.

Pappas told Poker News Daily that a highly charged debate over the tax measure was largely to blame: “When the tax package fell through and things became much more political for it – not related to our bill – it became clear that another controversial addition to the tax bill could sink it.” Reid’s bill would have opened the online poker market in the United States to current operators like Caesars Entertainment, which owns the rights to the annual World Series of Poker.

U.S. President Barack Obama struck a deal with Republicans on the contents of the tax relief act, which perhaps closed the door to other bills being added.

Now what? With the Republican Party taking control of the House of Representatives in 2011, pro-internet gambling allies like Congressman Barney Frank (D-MA) may take a back seat. Frank, whose HR 2267, the Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection, and Enforcement Act, garnered 70 co-sponsors and sailed through the House Financial Services Committee in July, will likely lose his post as Chairman. In his stead could be staunch internet gambling opponent Spencer Bachus (R-AL), whom the PPA graded an “F” in its Congressional Ratings Guide.

Looking ahead to 2011, Pappas told Poker News Daily, “The online poker bill that was floating around needs some improvement, so the PPA wants to go back to Senator Reid and talk about how we can improve on his current draft. There’s going to be a renewed focus in the Senate and we’ll be taking some of the legislation in a different direction so that’s it not focused on the Financial Services Committee, where we have a known opponent.”

Two years ago, Bachus, the current Ranking Member of the committee, erroneously quoted a study from McGill University linking internet gambling to suicide. The Alabama lawmaker asserted in a June 2008 hearing, “McGill University found that one-third – one-third – of college students who gambled on the internet ultimately attempted suicide. That is why the rate of suicide on our college campuses has doubled in the last ten years.” In fact, no such study had ever taken place.

On Wednesday night, ESPN.com published an article declaring Reid’s bill dead. Pappas told the Connecticut-based news outlet, “Sadly, some politicians remain with their heads firmly in the sand. The leadership of the Poker Players Alliance got the debate this far and we are determined to see this through.” The Hill reported that the ongoing lame duck session on Capitol Hill is scheduled to end on Friday, although reports during the week have surfaced that lawmakers may remain in Washington, DC until close to Christmas.

Last weekend, adding language legalizing and regulating online poker to a must-pass omnibus spending bill appeared to be a possibility according to Bloomberg, but Pappas explained that adding another earmark would “make things more complicated.” The Senate approved the tax relief bill on Wednesday, with the House potentially set to follow suit this afternoon.

Pappas was scheduled to tape a segment about the online poker bill with Bloomberg that will air on Friday at 11:45am ET. Pappas will speak on behalf of the 1.2 million member strong lobbying group that has become the main voice for poker players in the United States. Four years ago, the PPA stood at just 50,000 members.

Reid’s bill won’t officially be dead until the clock strikes Midnight on the 111th Congress. Pappas concluded with a silver lining: “We always knew we had a chance to pass legislation during the lame duck session, but it fell short. But, I think there’s significant momentum going forward. We’ve done a good job of convincing lawmakers that the status quo isn’t acceptable.”

Keep it tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest developments from Capitol Hill.

No Dwan, Ivey or Antonius on High Stakes Poker Season 7?

High Stakes Poker didn’t get too many praises in last season when A.J. Benza was replaced by Kara Scott. The upcoming season doesn’t look that promising either.

Full Tilt Poker might forbid their players to participate on the show. The reason for the ban is that the show is sponsored by PokerStars, which is the biggest rival to FTP.

Barry Greenstein writes about it on 2+2 forums:

“I talked to Howard Lederer and Mori.

However, Full Tilt has two major concerns. First is they don’t like their players playing when PokerStars is the sponsor of the show. (I assume Full Tilt can buy ad time but I didn’t check this out with GSN or PokerStars.) Secondly, they were unhappy that PokerStars bought the HSP archives.

In the early seasons of HSP, the players didn’t wear logos, so FTP is concerned that viewers will be able to go to pokerstars.tv and see the FTP players without logos and be confused by their affiliation,” Greenstein writes.

Greenstein doesn’t like the current policy, because everyone would like to see Patrik Antonius, Phil Ivey and Tom “durrrr” Dwan on the show.

“Most of us would like to see the three top FTP cash game players on the show along with some of the other characters we have had in previous seasons. If they don’t play, they’ll be replaced by some new young stars of the game, some affiliated and some not,” Greenstein concludes his post.

Only time will tell what happens. Let’s hope that the policy will change, so HSP would get a season waht the fans deserve.

Source: Pokerista.net

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No Dwan, Ivey or Antonius on High Stakes Poker Season 7?

Web Poker Series The Micros Debuts

On December 1st, CardRunners instructor John “JimmyLegs” Wray, in conjunction with DeucesCracked founder Jay Rosenkrantz, released the pilot episode of a web cartoon series called “The Micros,” which airs on YouTube.  After only a week, the episode had over 80,000 views and over a thousand subscribers, receiving acclaim on many poker forums.  The seven-minute pilot features three main characters – a noob in the world of online poker who’s made about $3.50 after 800,000 hands, a rock solid multi-tabling grinder who is too afraid to move up in stakes to make decent money, and an online maniac named “Balls” who actually turns out to be a girl.

The pilot sets up the premise of the show, as the main character, known as “SwedeTooth” online, uses his entire bankroll to play in the MegaMillions and takes down $1.2 million thanks to a one-outer on the river.   Since his action was chopped three ways, he and each of his two friends now are each sitting on $400,000.

We sat down with Wray to talk about how “The Micros” was developed.

Poker News Daily: How did the concept of “The Micros” come together?

John Wray: It sort of materialized out of thin air – something really only possible in the digital age.  I PMed Jay on TwoPlusTwo to let him know how much I admired the TV and film work he’d been involved in and linked him to some of the videos I’d done on the forums.  He knew who I was right away and mentioned that he’d been thinking about using cheap animation to tell an ongoing story about poker and, within a week, we were writing the script that became the pilot.

The actors are all friends I had known at UCLA Theater and “RonMexico” and “Eponymous” are brilliant satirists whose work has long graced the TwoPlusTwo forums.  The online poker community is full of intelligent, creative people scattered all over the globe and we wanted to harness that talent somehow.  It’s strange that none of us have ever even met face-to-face, but I think that will become more and more common as the Web takes over as the source of new media.

PND: How much time did it take to put the pilot episode together?

John Wray: I went back and found the first emails that Jay and I traded and they were dated early September, so it took just shy of three months.  But much of that time was spent discussing character.  If our story was going to have any kind of longevity, we knew we had to create compelling characters.  So, the first month or so was just working out who these three friends were and how they felt about each other and the game of poker.

PND: When is the next episode coming out and how many are you planning to produce?

John Wray: The next full episode is slated for January, but we hope to have a little somethin’ somethin’ out in time for the holidays.  As for how many we want to produce, that’s open-ended right now.  We love the world of “The Micros” and have a lot of stories we want to tell.  But even with technological shortcuts like Xtranormal, animation still takes a long time to produce.  So, we probably won’t be able to release more than one per month.

PND: Right now, you have over 1,000 subscribers and 80,000 views on YouTube. It seems like the word is out and people really love this show, right?

John Wray: Seems like it, yes.  We’re actually a little surprised that the reaction was as explosive as it was.  We thought it would take months to build up a fan base, but apparently there was a hunger for this kind of story and we stumbled right into it.

PND: With the incredible amounts of time it takes to create just one seven-minute episode, will the show eventually need a sponsorship to survive?

John Wray: Sure, eventually.  But Jay made a really great analogy on the TwoPlusTwo Pokercast the other night.  He explained that as filmmakers, we’re grinding the micros right now.  You have to put in the hours, pay your dues, and learn your craft.  It’s an investment of time and energy, but the hope is that at some point it will all pay off.

PND: I think we’re all dying to see when some poker celebrities will make their appearance on the show. Can you give us any spoilers in that department?

John Wray: Nope, sorry.  But I will say that from Day 1 we wanted to incorporate cameos of known poker personalities.  Bart Hanson is actually in the pilot for a microsecond as the voice of the “Blonde Guy” poker avatar.  But in the future, we want to have people actually playing themselves in a funny and satirical way.

PND: You’ve already had an outpouring of support and many people have contacted you to let you know they’d love to pitch in.  What has the positive feedback meant to you?

John Wray: It means everything in the world to us.  It might be hard for poker players to relate to since they see everything in terms of EV and edges worth tenths of a penny, but artists typically crave a positive audience response over the big bucks.  So, all of the comments, compliments, “+1″s, and emoticons refill our gas tank and send us back to work with a smile on our faces.

Full Tilt Poker MiniFTOPS XVIII Underway

The Mini Full Tilt Online Poker Series (MiniFTOPS) XVIII is in full gear, as four of the 34 events on the slate are already in the books. More than 25,000 players participated in the first four tournaments, including 15,328 in Event #1, a $20 buy-in No Limit Hold’em tournament hosted by Full Tilt pro Andy Bloch on Wednesday night.

The first event of the series saw a couple of online poker’s top players make deep runs, but fall just short of the final table. Zachary “HusterGrune” Gruneberg, ranked 14th in the PocketFives.com Online Poker Rankings, took 10th place for $2,054, while Andrew “ALLOFIT29″ Youngblood placed 12th for the same payout. The tournament was eventually won by “mulls24,” who defeated “PPARRISH” for the MiniFTOPS jersey and $46,793. “PPARRISH” collected a still comforting $31,422, while brunoricelli ($22,225), 1beebers1 ($15,941), and SmnLikDat ($11,342) rounded out the top five.

Thursday’s MiniFTOPS lineup had three events, the first being a $24 Pot Limit Omaha Knockout (#2). The tournament drew 4,464 entrants and was won by “YuOnlyBeatMeBad,” who took home $15,051 after a two-way chop with runner-up “Posemuckel69″ ($12,000). Feared online grinder “kennl” finished just short of the final table, placing 11th for $670.

Event #3 kicked off Thursday and the $30 Six-Handed No Limit Hold’em Shootout generated a massive prize pool of $126,810. The last four players standing decided to make a deal, with each locking up at least $7,600. “Chilenogjr” went on to win the tournament and his first MiniFTOPS jersey as well as $16,001 after defeating “Tamerlan9″ heads-up. “Tamerlan9″ collected $7,891.52 in prize money, while third-place finisher “OWN_U2″ took home the second largest prize of $12,250 following the four-way deal.

Finally, Event #4 got started Thursday night. The first-ever Rush HORSE event saw 2,861 players pony up the $20 buy-in, but the $75,000 guaranteed contest still had an overlay of nearly $18,000. The tournament also had a deal at the final table, this time a heads-up chop between “ugadebugadeuga” and “lincolini.” Despite finishing second, “ugadebugadeuga” walked away with the most money ($11,011), while “lincolini” earned the jersey and $10,288.

The attendance numbers thus far have bested the previous MiniFTOPS, which was held in September. That series saw 14,938 players participate in Event #1, the same $20 No Limit Hold’em tournament. March’s MiniFTOPS XV holds the record for most entrants in a kickoff event with 18,875.

The MiniFTOPS schedule features the same events as the regular FTOPS that concluded last month, but each buy-in is one-tenth of the price. The 11-day series still has $6 million in guaranteed prize money, including a $1 million guaranteed prize pool for the $70 buy-in Main Event on Sunday, December 19th. There is also a Two-Day $200 buy-in No Limit Hold’em tournament starting on Saturday, December 18th. That event, hosted by Erick Lindgren, has a $600,000 guaranteed prize pool.

MiniFTOPS resumes at 1:00pm ET today with Event #6, a $20 Six-Handed No Limit Hold’em tournament with one rebuy and one add-on. Event #7, which gets underway at 5:00pm ET, is a $31 No Limit Hold’em Super Turbo. That will be followed by a $20 Seven-Card Stud High/Low contest (Event #8) at 9:00pm.

Sebastian Homann Wins WPT Marrakech

Leading the tournament nearly wire-to-wire, Germany’s Sebastian Homann emerged as the champion of the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) stop at the Casino de Marrakech in Morocco.

WPT Marrakech, which was co-sponsored by the online poker room Chili Poker, drew a solid field of 221 runners. Each player paid €5,000 to participate and the prize pool nearly reached €1 million.

The all-time money leader on the WPT, former World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event champion Carlos Mortensen, led a field of pros looking to take down the latest WPT title. Mortensen was joined by fellow industry staples like Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier, Team PokerStars pro Alexandre Gomes, WPT champion Surinder Sunar, and 2009 WSOP November Niner Antoine Saout. French poker pros Nicolas Levi and Roger Hairabedian made deep runs and just missed the final table.

When the final table began on Tuesday, Homann held the edge as the chip leader over fellow countryman Dominik Nitsche. Homann had been at the helm of the leaderboard since Day 1, but, with Nitsche approximately 50,000 chips behind him, certainly felt the heat. The German duo vastly outpaced the third stack at the table, France’s Guillaume Cescut, when the cards hit the air.

Homann wasted little time in establishing himself as the table captain, using the power of his stack to chop approximately 100,000 in chips from Johan Williamsson. He continued to push his tablemates around and, by the first break, had built his chip stack to over three million. Nitsche had faltered by the first break, giving up the second rung on the leaderboard to Williamsson.

After the break, Homann and Williamson unexpectedly butted heads in a clash featuring the two largest stacks at the table. With the blinds at 12,000/24,000 and a 4,000 ante, Homann opened the action with a bet of 50,000. When the action reached Williamsson, he re-raised to 135,000, which was called – after a moment’s hesitation – by Homann.

The duo saw a 4-3-8 flop with two diamonds, at which point the fireworks between the chip leaders were ignited. Homann checked his option and, after a bet from Williamsson of 165,000, announced that he was all-in. Williamsson immediately called all-in and tabled A-K of diamonds for the nut flush draw. Homann turned up a pocket pair of sixes, good for the lead, but he had to fade 14 outs twice to win the hand. Homann did so and Williamsson was eliminated in seventh place.

Homann continued to steamroll the table as he reached heads-up play with Cescut. For his part, Cescut slowed down Homann and, at one point, wrestled the chip lead away. It seemed to be the German’s day, however, as Homann crippled Cescut the next hand after losing the lead.

Cescut continued to fight, doubling up on three consecutive hands, but he eventually succumbed to Homann. On the final hand, Cescut raised to 125,000 and Homann called. On a J-4-3 flop (two spades), the twosome entered into a betting war, with Cescut’s remaining chips entering the pot. When the cards were shown, Homann held the lead with J-9 against Cescut’s A-4. None of Cescut’s five outs came on the turn or the river, crowning Homann the champion of the WPT Marrakech:

1. Sebastian Homann (Germany) – €244,508
2. Guillaume Cescut (France) – €135,831
3. Sebastien Compte (France) – €90,554
4. Felix Oberauer (Austria) – €72,439
5. Guillaume de la Gorce (France) – €54,334
6. Dominik Nitsche (Germany) – €36,220
7. Johan Williamsson (Sweden) – €28,977
8. Julien Lousier (France) – €25,356
9. Patrick Muleta (France) – €19,920

Although he admitted he was a recreational player, Homann was looking forward to playing in the WPT Championship in April. “I definitely intend to play more live tournaments now and am thrilled to have earned my entry into the $25,000 WPT World Championship – this takes everything to a whole new level. I will have to play more to prepare for the standard of opposition I am going to get there.”

With Marrakech in the books, the WPT now focuses on the Five Diamond World Poker Classic, which starts tomorrow at the Bellagio in Las Vegas.

Lock Poker Integrates Sharkscope

Lock Poker announced this week the launch of its new Player Dashboard with stats from Sharkscope integrated directly into its client. The site will now allow players to view their own stats, search for opponents’ stats, and shop at the Lock Poker store all while playing poker in real-time.

“One of our mandates as a company is to provide a superior online poker experience,” said Jennifer Larson, CEO of Lock Poker. “We are determined to take this industry by storm and innovate in every possible way we can. The player comes first at Lock and that will always drive our business development.”

Lock’s new Dashboard has never been seen before in online poker. While some rooms like PartyPoker and Ladbrokes recently introduced anonymous heads-up tables to allow a player’s identity and statistics to remain secret, Lock has taken a different approach in making opponents’ stats available right at a person’s fingertips. Other sites, such as PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker, have prohibited Sharkscope while their client is in use.

Online poker legend Eric “Rizen” Lynch, who was hired by Lock Poker as its VP of Product Development in 2009, posted the official Lock/Sharkscope press release on his blog, saying, “I’m really excited about this partnership and what we can do with it going forward.”

Lock Poker has prided itself on being innovative in this ever-changing industry ever since opening its doors in 2008. The site made a name for itself in March 2009 by introducing the Bluff Online Poker Challenge, which pitted several of online poker’s top tournament players in a one-month bankroll-building challenge. Lynch, Kevin “BeL0WaB0Ve” Saul, Jeff “yellowsub” Williams, Ari “Bodog Ari” Engel, Jon “apestyles” Van Fleet, Brett “gank” Jungblut, Brandon Cantu, and Maria Ho were among the participants, but the competition was ultimately won by Brian “SNo0oWMAN” Hawkins in a landslide.

Sharkscope, meanwhile, has become a mainstay in online poker since it began tracking and analyzing online tournaments in 2004. The site has nearly half a billion tournaments in its database and estimates that well over 20% of all online poker players use its services. Despite constant resistance from some of the major poker sites, Sharkscope remains one of the most popular software tools in online poker today and even recently started tracking live poker results.

“SharkScope is delighted to be working with Lock Poker in a groundbreaking partnership that brings our years of expertise in the display and analysis of poker statistics directly to Lock Poker players,” SharkScope’s CEO said. “Players will be able to track their tournaments results, examine their statistics in great detail, and find new ways of increasing their profits, all directly on the Lock Poker site.”

Lock Poker is part of the Merge Gaming Network, which currently ranks 23rd in the world in cash game traffic according to PokerScout.com. The Australia-based site averaged 830 ring game players over the past seven days with a peak of 1,422. Other sites on the Merge Gaming Network include RPM Poker, Aced, and Carbon Poker, which signed actress and poker player Shannon Elizabeth to be the face of its site in June. The Merge Gaming Network accepts players from all over the world, including the United States.

Vanessa Rousso Selling Lamborghini Gallardo on eBay

If you are a well-known poker player who has something valuable to sell, it looks like this is the right time to put your items on the market.  Peter Eastgate put up a World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet, as did Eskimo Clark.  Now, Team PokerStars pro Vanessa Rousso is offering up her yellow 2007 Lamborghini Gallardo on eBay.

Rousso purchased the sports car last year as a treat for herself with her poker winnings.  In a video interview with CardPlayer, the GoDaddy Girl said that she had been planning the purchase since she was teenager.  Even though she could afford to pay the sticker price for the vehicle, she was smart and bought it used, benefiting from the depreciation in value in its first year.

And for those who think the sale is a sign that she is “busto,” think again.  In the video, she said that she figured she could resell the Lamborghini in a year for about what she paid for it, so to her, it was like driving the luxury ride for free for a year.

The car is not up for auction, but rather for a fixed price of $126,500 via eBay’s “Buy it Now” option.  Celebrity Cars Las Vegas, which is the exotic auto dealer that is facilitating the sale for Rousso, is also allowing interested buyers to negotiate through the “Make Offer” alternative.  A $500 deposit is required within 48 hours of when the sale closes.  Not sure about whether you can afford it?  You have plenty of time to wrangle up the cash, as the listing does not end until December 17th unless someone buys the car first.

Rousso is the third owner of the 2007 Lamborghini Gallardo, which has been driven just 12,875 miles.  Under the hood is a five-liter, V10 engine and the transmission is selectable – either automatic or a special six-speed manual “E-Gear.”  The interior is black leather with yellow stitching.  It is equipped with everything one would expect in a six-figure luxury automobile like a navigation system, rear view camera, heated seats, and a dual zone climate control.

This model originally retailed for $180,050 and Rousso’s asking price seems to be in line with the market.  Seeing as how there were only 5,000 Lamborghini Gallardos produced in 2007, it is not easy to find comparable listings, but similar models are for sale around the world for about the same price.

In her live tournament career, Rousso has won over two-and-a-half million dollars.  The highlights include a win in the 2009 European Poker Tour Grand Final High Roller Championship ($749,467), a runner-up finish to Huck Seed two months earlier in the 2009 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship ($250,000), a victory in a $5,000 No Limit Hold’em event at the 2006 World Poker Tour (WPT) Borgata Poker Open ($285,450), and a seventh place finish in the 2006 WPT Championship ($263,625).

She has also had great success online, including a $700,000 payday when she placed second in the 2007 PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker Main Event.

Eastgate auctioned off his one-of-a-kind WSOP Main Event bracelet for $147,500, having set the minimum bid at $16,000.  The proceeds were used to benefit UNICEF.  Shortly before Eastgate’s auction ended, a bracelet won by Clark found its way to the world’s largest online auction site.  Clark won the bracelet in a $1,500 Razz event at the 1999 WSOP.

Buy Rousso’s Lamborghini.

Carbon Poker Launches Mac Client

Mac poker players can ring in the holiday season a little earlier this year. On Wednesday, Carbon Poker will unveil a fully downloadable Mac client. In addition to Carbon Poker, the Mac software will debut across the USA-friendly Merge Gaming Network.

The Mac client has been being beta tested to this point and will now be available for public consumption tomorrow night. Interested players can download the Mac version from Carbon Poker’s website or from other skins of the Merge Gaming Network. There are only a handful of sites that offer fully functional Mac clients, including Full Tilt and PokerStars. Other sites like PartyPoker and Bodog offer web-based clients that have major limitations. However, they still allow Mac users to play online poker.

Atil Singh, Head of Acquisition at Carbon Poker, told Poker News Daily on the eve of the Mac client’s launch, “Having the ability to offer potential customers a Mac version of our software is quite significant. Numerous studies have shown that Apple’s market share in the U.S. has grown to over 10% in 2010 and will continue to grow rapidly moving forward. Our affiliates can now target an unsaturated market of potential Carbon Poker players. There has never been a better time to be Mac-friendly.”

Singh added that Mac players will be impressed with the features of the new Carbon Poker client that will be rolled out on Wednesday: “Beta testing on the new client has gone very well and some of the new features have been especially popular. Tournament lobbies now open in a separate window, full screen mode has been optimized for smoother play, and improvements have been made to the software’s performance on smaller computers and netbooks.”

To this point, Mac users have had to hunt down a program like Parallels or Boot Camp in order to load Windows-based software on their computers. Now, Mac players can download the Merge Gaming software right onto their machines, most likely leading to an increase in player counts. The rollout of the Mac software is scheduled for 7:00pm ET on Wednesday.

Merge Gaming officials have also been jumping for joy this week after Monday’s update to PokerScout.com, which tracks online poker room traffic. The Merge Gaming Network leapfrogged both Everest Poker and the Cake Poker Network to move to #22 worldwide in terms of cash game traffic. According to PokerScout.com, the Merge Gaming Network boasts a seven-day running average of 820 real money ring game players, ahead of Everest Poker and the Cake Poker Network’s 810.

Besides Carbon Poker, other Merge Gaming Network rooms include Aced, Big Bet Poker, Overbet, PDC Poker, PokerHost, and RPM Poker. The Merge Gaming Network is based in Australia and hosts its game servers on the Kahnawake reservation in Canada.

In December, Carbon Poker is holding a $50,000 Grand Prix, which awards cash prizes to players who rack up VIP Points on its felts. The top 500 spots will pay out and a minimum prize of $10 is up for grabs. A total of $50,000 in cash will be dished out during the December promotion, with a top prize of $3,000.

Carbon Poker and the Merge Gaming Network happily accept players from the United States.

Full Tilt Poker Holding Rush Week

Full Tilt Poker, the world’s second-largest online poker site, kicked off Rush Week on Monday, giving players an opportunity to earn free money while playing the popular fast-paced Rush Poker format. Full Tilt is handing out up to $250 in cash per player plus entries into an exclusive $50,000 Rush Week Freeroll. The promotion runs through Sunday, December 5th.

Players can earn cash in a variety of ways as part of Rush Week. Anyone who earns at least 10 Full Tilt Points (FTPs) per day from Rush Poker games on any four days during the promotion will collect $5. If they can achieve the same feat on all seven days of Rush Week, they’ll earn $10. Players who build up 100 FTPs per day on any four days during Rush Week will collect $25, while those who can generate 100 FTPs per day on all seven days will earn $50.

For high-volume Rush Poker players, $125 will be handed out to those who accumulate 1,000 FTPs per day on any four days during the week. Those who can rack up 1,000 FTPs per day on all seven days will earn the grand prize of $250. Should a player achieve more than one of these reward levels, they will receive their highest possible cash amount only, as the rewards are not cumulative.

FTPs are earned at any real money raked game. For each dollar raked from the pot in a real money ring game, 10 FTPs are awarded to the table and then split equally among all players dealt into the hand.

In order to take part in the promotion, players need to opt into Rush Week. This can be done simply by logging into the Full Tilt client and clicking on the “Cashier” button. Then, click on “My Promotions” and select “Rush Week.”

For the tournament grinders out there, an exclusive $50,000 Rush Week Freeroll will be available for those who reach the final table of a Rush Poker tournament or sit and go during Rush Week. Full Tilt poker has dozens of Rush Poker tournaments every day, giving players many opportunities for even more free cash. The $50,000 Rush Week Freeroll is on Sunday, December 12th at 3:15 p.m. ET.

In addition, all Rush Poker tournaments with a guarantee will have it doubled during Rush Week. Saturday’s $80,000 Guarantee and the Sunday Brawl will also be converted into Rush Poker tournaments.

For those who haven’t played Rush Poker before, here’s a quick breakdown of the structure:  Whether you’re playing a Rush Poker ring game, sit and go, or tournament, you’ll join a large player pool and face a different table of opponents every hand. When you fold your hand, you’ll be “rushed” to a new table for the next hand immediately. Rush Poker keeps you in the action at all times and requires constant decision-making.

The fast play allows players to see more than 300 hands per hour per table. Rush Poker ring games first appeared on Full Tilt back in January and Rush Poker tournaments were introduced in April.

WSOP boosts US online traffic

U.S. Government Seizes eWalletXpress Funds

The truth about the “technical issues” with eWalletXpress was given new light earlier this week when the payment processing company was served a warrant from the U.S. Government. According to an article by SportsbookGurus.com, management at a major online gambling site confirmed that the warrant had been served and the seizures had already begun, although specific details have not been released. What we do know is that eWalletXpress will not be available for U.S. players until further notice.

Beginning on November 12th, eWalletXpress was suddenly unavailable to customers and the company blamed the shutdown on “technical issues.” Then, about a week later, merchants received the following e-mail from the company: “We regret to inform you that we are no longer able to continue service at this time due to a federal warrant issued to seize our funds.” On its website, eWalletXpress removed the “USA” option for new users attempting to make an account, leaving Canada as the only country to choose.

While the company has made no official statement, details are leaking in slowly as online bettors continue to ask questions. The information we do have leads us to believe that eWalletXpress will exit the U.S. market for good in order to avoid prosecution, much like Neteller did a few years ago.

SportsbookGurus.com sources have stated that account holders who currently have money on eWalletXpress can currently request to receive their funds through the e-mail address payouts@ewalletxpress.com. eWalletXpress will allegedly transfer funds back into checking accounts when the “technical issues” are resolved and officials have assured players that any money in their account is safe.

The online poker site most affected by the seizure is likely Bodog, which offered eWalletXpress as one of its primary deposit methods. Customers can now use MyPayLinQ and Digital-Pin to fund their Bodog accounts as well as bank transfers or credit cards if available. Other online poker rooms that offered eWalletXpress as a deposit option were Carbon Poker, DoylesRoom, and Cake Poker.

Back in 2007, the U.S. Department of Justice seized up to $55 million in customer funds from Neteller, which caused uproar in the online poker community. At the time, Neteller was the primary method of transferring funds to and from online poker accounts. When the firm’s two Canadian founders were arrested and charged with racketeering and money laundering, customers were blocked from withdrawing their money back to their bank accounts.

Among those who had money on Neteller was poker pro Isaac Haxton, who had more than $800,000 sitting in his account at the time of the seizure. Haxton placed second at the 2007 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in the Bahamas, at which point PokerStars transferred his earnings ($861,789) to his online poker account. Haxton planned to use Neteller to transfer the funds to his bank account, but while the transaction was being processed, Neteller’s founders were arrested and the Department of Justice intervened. Neteller agreed to pay a fine after about a year of negotiations and was able to release player funds.

Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest on this story.

What Makes a Poker Hall of Famer?

In November, Erik Seidel and Dan Harrington were enshrined in the Poker Hall of Fame. In the weeks leading up to the announcement of their selection, opinion after opinion was given as to why certain players should be honored and certain others should not. What was interesting to me about all of the arguments was that the reasons for and against players varied so wildly. But why is this?

The Poker Hall of Fame is a much different animal than other sports’ Halls of Fames, namely because the criteria for enshrinement are so much more vague and subjective. Let’s look at the Poker Hall of Fame’s criteria:

• A player must have played poker against acknowledged top competition

• Played for high-stakes

• Played consistently well, gaining the respect of peers

• Stood the test of time

•  Or, for non-players, contributed to the overall growth and success of the game of poker, with indelible positive and lasting results.

Now, compare that to the criteria for the Baseball Hall of Fame:

• A baseball player must have been active as a player in the Major Leagues at some time during a period beginning 20 years before and ending five years prior to election.

• Player must have played in each 10 Major League championship seasons.

• Player shall have ceased to be an active player in the Major Leagues at least five calendar years preceding the election, but may be otherwise connected with baseball.

Right away, we can see some obvious differences. Poker Hall of Famers must have stood the “test of time.” What does that mean? Most people already consider Phil Ivey one of the best poker players to have ever lived, yet he only started playing in the late 1990s. Is 10+ years enough if you are that good? Why will another 10 or 20 years make Ivey more qualified? Baseball, on the other hand, clearly defines its longevity requirements.

In poker, while I think we all have some sort of idea of what “top competition” is, it is still a nebulous concept. Baseball has an obvious top level, the Major Leagues.

Beyond that, though, the toughest thing about determining who deserves to be in the Poker Hall of Fame versus other sports is evaluating performance. Baseball, basketball, football, and other sports have scads of statistics with which we can compare players. We can look at a hitter’s on base percentage and home run totals, we can easily compare one pitcher’s strikeout numbers and earned run average to another’s. Sure, there are debates every year about who is deserving and who is not, but there are concrete, black and white figures to study.

In poker, it is not as easy. The only real solid historical data we have is for land-based tournaments. We all know, however, that there is more to poker than brick and mortar tournaments. While tournaments get all of the attention because of the excitement, prestige, and television coverage, most professional players make their living in cash games. There are no records of live cash game results – the only evidence we have of who the winning players are is the testimony of other players. Online, there are sites that track internet results, but their data is incomplete and, considering their controversial standing in the industry, it isn’t even a certainty that they will be around in the long-term.

And speaking of online, there is an entire generation of internet players making names for themselves now. They are able to play many more hands and many more tournaments in a short period of time than players were able to 20 years ago, so should we redefine the already ambiguous “test of time” for them? What if a player decides to eschew live games entirely and puts together an impressive record of online tournament finishes and/or cash game winnings? Would the old guard consider him a potential Hall of Famer?

Consider, as well, that it is generally much more difficult to win a tournament nowadays than it was even as recently as the beginning of this century because the fields are so much bigger. Remember, the legendary Doyle Brunson only had to defeat a combined 54 opponents in his back-to-back WSOP wins.

The difficulty in objectively evaluating Poker Hall of Fame candidates means that voters often need to use subjective criteria to make their determinations, hence the “contributed to the overall growth and success of the game of poker” phrase, although I feel that applies to players and non-players alike.

Look at Mike Sexton, for example. While he has been a big name on the poker scene for decades, he only has one WSOP bracelet, is only 206th on the all-time WSOP money list, and only 90th on the all-time overall money list (69th when adjusting for inflation). Those are nothing to sneeze at, but his tournament results don’t scream Hall of Famer. But it’s Sexton’s role in popularizing the game of poker as both the face of the World Poker Tour and PartyPoker that likely earned him his well-deserved spot in the Hall of Fame last year. There’s a reason he is called the “Ambassador of Poker.”

Even one of this year’s inductees, Dan Harrington, might not necessarily be considered a lock if we just looked at his documented tournament results. Yes, he has a few very significant accomplishments. He has a WSOP Main Event championship, accomplished what may be the most impressive feat in WSOP history when he placed third and fourth against large fields in 2003 and 2004, has one other WSOP bracelet, and won a WPT championship in 2007. All great, but for a guy that’s older than many current poker stars‘ grandparents, his significant tournament results are relatively few.

And in recent years, apart from the 2007 WPT title, he’s been almost non-existent. Harrington is without a doubt a fantastic player and has had a tremendous career, but again, does his record make him a Hall of Fame lock? It’s debatable. But when you factor in that he wrote some of the most influential poker books of all time, helping develop the skills of subsequent generations of players, his place in the poker pantheon is cemented.

And again, remember that we don’t have records of how well these guys have done in cash games, so like the actual game of poker, evaluating a player for the Hall of Fame is a task with incomplete information. But I guess that’s all part of the fun, right?

Daniel Negreanu Trumps Ray Reid on PokerStars Million Dollar Challenge

Sunday marked the second to last episode of the season for the PokerStars sponsored “Million Dollar Challenge,” which flanks NFL coverage on FOX. Ray Reid, a 29 year old son of a pastor from Canada, was the show’s challenger and told host Chris Rose that he wanted to use any money earned to turn his life around and help his father build a church.

Reid faced off against celebrity defender Gary Payton in the first round. In each of the matches, both players began with 20,000 in chips and the blinds started at a hefty 400/800. In the opening round, show front man Daniel Negreanu was seated alongside the contestant and could offer advice, but was unable to see any hole cards. In addition, the challenger had one timeout to confer with “Kid Poker.”

The match against Payton lasted all of one hand. On a board of K-9-7-4, Reid bet 4,000 with J-9 for second pair and Payton shoved all-in with A-10 for ace-high. Reid asked for time and Negreanu told him to call given the size of the pot. Reid obliged and the river was a five, giving the challenger the win in the match and a $5,000 trip to the Bahamas for the 2011 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in January.

Next up was pro defender Barry Greenstein, a three-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner. Negreanu moved to an isolation booth where he could communicate with Reid through and earpiece and see his hole cards. To counter, Greenstein could shut off communication between Negreanu and Reid twice using the “Dome of Silence.”

Like the match against Payton, Reid’s tangle with Greenstein was abbreviated. On a flop of 8-9-4, Reid checked with Q-10 for a gutshot straight draw and two overcards and Greenstein bet 4,000 with 9-7 for top pair. Reid min-raised to 8,000 and Greenstein invoked the “Dome of Silence,” forcing the amateur to finish the hand on his own. Greenstein shoved over-the-top all-in and Reid called, putting Greenstein at risk. The turn card was a jack, filling Reid’s straight, and Greenstein was drawing dead to the river.

For beating the PokerStars pro, Reid earned $25,000. He was then faced with a tough decision: take the cash and dash or risk his payday for a $100,000 match against Negreanu and a shot at $1 million. His friends and family reminded him that the show wasn’t called the “$25,000 Poker Challenge” and encouraged him to go for broke. Reid agreed to set up a heads-up showdown with Negreanu.

The key hand between Reid and Negreanu saw Reid flop a flush with 9-7 of spades on a board of A-10-K, all spades. Negreanu, holding A-10 for top and bottom pair, checked and Reid checked behind to another ace on the turn. Negreanu, now holding an unbeatable boat, checked and Reid bet 3,000. Negreanu check-raised to 6,000 and Reid shipped it in. Negreanu called all-in and doubled up, crippling Reid’s stack to just three big blinds.

Reid committed his remaining chips before the flop with 6-3, but ran into Negreanu’s 7-6 and could not improve when the board came 2-5-10-A-Q. However, he still received a $5,000 trip to the Bahamas for his efforts.

On December 12th, the finale of the second season of the PokerStars “Million Dollar Challenge” will air. The Challenge of Champions will see the show’s top winners vie in a sit and go whose victor will play Negreanu heads-up for $1 million. In the meantime, you can catch Season 1 of the poker game show on GSN. Check your local listings for more details.

PokerStars Holding Jonathan Duhamel Caribbean Adventure Promotion

Although there are still several high-profile tournaments left in 2010, PokerStars is already looking towards 2011 and the first big tournament of the year, the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure at the Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas. The world’s largest online poker site is offering players a chance to earn their way to the Bahamas to take on the current World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event champion Jonathan Duhamel and earn their way into the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Main Event.

The latest promotion from PokerStars, Jonathan Duhamel’s Caribbean Adventure, started on Thursday and, through a series of tournaments, will send six people to the Atlantis Resort come January. Qualifiers will participate in a special seven-player sit and go, with the winner of the tournament earning a seat at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Main Event. For those looking for a respite from the winter’s chill, the Jonathan Duhamel Caribbean Adventure could be just what the doctor ordered.

Running daily through December 17th are two different multi-table tournaments, one a freeroll and the other a $2.20 satellite. For those looking to use their Silver Star status, freerolls will be offered on Mondays at 10:30pm ET. Each of these daily tournaments has different ways of sending players on a quest for their trip to the Bahamas.

From these daily satellite tournaments, the top nine finishers in the freeroll, the top 45 players in the buy-in tournament, and the top 100 players in the Silver Star freeroll will earn their way into the semifinals of the Jonathan Duhamel Caribbean Adventure. The semifinals will be held on two dates, December 4th and the 18th, with the top nine players from each of the regions (U.S., Canada, and World) moving on to the final phase of the competition.

On December 5th and 19th, the single-table tournament finals will play out for those who have finished in the top nine of the semifinals. PokerStars is putting up $3,300 for these finalists to divvy up, along with the trip to the Caribbean for two. Of course, the first place finisher takes the trip, with second place earning $1,000; the top nine will finish in the money. The six champions of the Jonathan Duhamel Caribbean Adventure will be whisked off to the Bahamas and do battle with the 2010 World Champion in a sit and go for a seat at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Main Event.

After winning the WSOP Main Event earlier this month, Duhamel has become the latest poster boy for the Team PokerStars Pro stable. In addition to this special promotion, Duhamel has also committed to playing in the Canadian Championships of Online Poker, which begin on Sunday and will play out over a week’s time. Duhamel has eagerly embraced his role as poker’s latest goodwill ambassador, continuing to do a multitude of interviews after his historic victory.

Visit PokerStars for full details.

Bidding for Peter Eastgate’s WSOP Main Event Bracelet Passes $50,000

Let the bidding war begin! At the time of writing, the auction price for the 2008 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event bracelet belonging to Peter Eastgate has passed the $50,000 mark after starting at $16,000. The bidding war on eBay escalated in part when PartyPoker pro Tony G entered the fray earlier this week.

Tony G commented in a blog entry posted on Friday, “Carry on bidding, this bracelet is going to go for six-figures. I respect Zasko too much to not pay what it takes, but I do have limits. For $2 million, I could buy him his own private jet!” Zasko is Tony G’s German Shepard, who stands to rock out a WSOP bracelet dog collar when the bidding wraps up on November 25th.

The flamboyant pro added, “I have had a number of comments about whether this demeans the value of a WSOP bracelet. You’ve got to have a laugh in life and this is what this is – a bit of fun for a good cause. And yes… I haven’t yet won a bracelet, but it is only a matter of time.” The proceeds from the auction for Eastgate’s Main Event bracelet will benefit UNICEF.

Several months ago, Eastgate, a PokerStars pro, took an indefinite leave of absence from the game, telling his followers that his goal in poker was to achieve financial independence, a mission he accomplished after defeating Ivan Demidov for $9.1 million two years ago. Eastgate was nowhere to be found at this year’s WSOP in Las Vegas and instead opted to watch the World Cup unfold from South Africa.

There have been 57 bids placed on the collectible, which has a current asking price of $54,300. A variety of eBay members have gone after on the item and a dozen bids were entered on Friday alone.

A brand new Q&A has been posted on the auction’s home page that gives a clear description of the bracelet’s makeup: “Stamped 18k, white gold ‘World Series of Poker 2008’ Main Event Winners’ medal bracelet. Consisting of 291 small ‘brilliant’ cut diamonds set on a center medal, which is held on an 18k white gold wristwatch style bracelet. Carat: Total Diamond weight 2.81ct. Clarity: VS Color: Colorless. Total gold weight: 168 grams. Manufactured by Corum.”

A total of 57 bracelets were dished out during the 2010 WSOP in Las Vegas. However, the Main Event has only run 41 times, pushing the value of one of its bracelets up dramatically. In a thread on TwoPlusTwo, one poster put the $54,000 bid in perspective: “‘Pawn Stars’ bought a Miami Heat championship ring for $9,000, and it wasn’t even a specific player’s ring; it was actually from one of the trainers. These types of things are highly collectible and people will often pay a lot to get them.”

Another poster noted that Eastgate’s charitable deed may ultimately lead to a tax write-off for the Dane: “Dunno about the tax law from his native country, but in the States, you get tax breaks for your charity donations. Clearly, he doesn’t care about or wear the bracelet. This auction might be a way for him to cut his giant tax bill while cleaning out his closet.”

Check out the eBay bidding page to buy Peter Eastgate’s bracelet.

Soi Nguyen Avenges Ninth Place WSOP Finish with FTOPS Win

An amateur no longer. November Niner Soi Nguyen, who took ninth place at the 2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event, won his first major online tournament at the 18th installment of the Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS). Nguyen, who was hosting his first FTOPS event as a Full Tilt Red Pro, won the $207 Rush No Limit Hold’em Super Turbo tournament to collect $78,503 and an FTOPS jersey.

The Vietnam-born Nguyen was a self-proclaimed amateur going into the WSOP Main Event final table, telling ESPN that he didn’t even know what implied odds were. Whether he’s learned the terminology or not, the 37 year old has now made a name for himself in the online arena as well as the live circuit. He joins Greg “FBT” Mueller and Erick Lindgren as the only Full Tilt Pros to win an FTOPS event that they hosted, an achievement that still seems unthinkable to this poker enthusiast and player. He is the seventh Full Tilt Pro overall to win an FTOPS event; the most recent was Brandon Adams in FTOPS XVII.

Nguyen wasn’t the only notable player to pick up an FTOPS jersey since the series began last week. Ami “UhhMee” Barer, Kory “s00tedj0kers89” Kilpatrick, and Brent “BHanks11” Hanks all won events, each collecting a monster payday. Sebastian “sebbau” Bauer was the biggest earner through Wednesday, taking home $274,234 by winning Event #16 ($1,000 Six-Handed No Limit Hold’em).

Aside from Nguyen, three Full Tilt Red Pros have made FTOPS final tables so far. Cyndy Violette took fifth in Event #7 for $4,200, Jared “TheWacoKidd” Hamby finished third in Event #19 for $36,450, and Caio Pimenta placed third in Event #22 for $100,000. Hamby’s final table was quite possibly the toughest we’ve seen so far in the series; it included eventual champion “extassyman”, Cliff “JohnnyBax” Josephy (8th place), 2009 Bluff Magazine Online Player of the Year Jeremy “daisyxoxo” Fitzpatrick (4th place), and “RichieRichZH” (2nd place), who won the largest PokerStars Sunday Million ever in February for more than $1.1 million.

FTOPS XVIII continues on Thursday with Event #23, a $322 Pot Limit Omaha Heads-Up tournament hosted by Dave Colclough. The series concludes this Sunday with the $640 Main Event with a $3 million guaranteed prize pool.

Here’s a look at the FTOPS XVIII winners through Wednesday:

Event #1: $200 No Limit Hold’em – Page “Pageh656″ Harris ($117,434)*
Event #2: $240 Pot Limit Omaha Knockout – TUTANKHAMEN ($56,188)
Event #3: $300 Six-Handed No Limit Hold’em Shootout – James “BigGamesJames” Whittet ($60,795)
Event #4: $200 Rush HORSE – Deron Good ($33,295)
Event #5: $200 Six-Handed No Limit Hold’em Cubed – Ami “UhhMee” Barer ($122,700)
Event #6: $310 No Limit Hold’em Super Turbo – SlevinRO ($71,000)*
Event #7: $200 Stud Hi-Lo – pokerlogic1 ($23,700)
Event #8: $500 Six-Handed Pot Limit Omaha – Bart89 ($86,000)
Event #9: $100 No Limit Hold’em w/ Rebuys – Jason “Mr Perfekt” Deutsch ($138,696)
Event #10: $200 No Limit Hold’em Turbo – Steve “TheHesse” Hesse ($75,553)
Event #11: $120 Knockout No Limit Hold’em – Kory “s00tedj0kers89” Kilpatrick ($155,488)
Event #12: $500 Heads-Up No Limit Hold’em – Kopek3 ($89,088)
Event #13: $300 No Limit Hold’em – not_ya_friend ($227,574)
Event #14: $200 Pot Limit Five Card Draw – demetrius ($13,986)*
Event #15: $200 Rush Limit Hold’em – mordi20 ($30,234)*
Event #16: $1,000 Six-Handed No Limit Hold’em – Sebastian “sebbau” Bauer ($274,234)
Event #17: $200 Pot Limit HA – Brent “BHanks11” Hanks ($47,745)
Event #18: $207 Rush No Limit Hold’em Super Turbo – Soi Nguyen ($78,503)
Event #19: $500 No Limit Hold’em Shootout – extassyman ($69,620)
Event #20: $200 Six-Handed 10-Game – DrawLive ($26,195)*
Event #21: $300 Pot Limit Omaha Hi-Lo Rush Turbo – samfarhaJR ($51,696)
Event #22: $300 Six-Handed No Limit Hold ‘em w/ Rebuys – Private ATM ($213,500)

*denotes a deal was made at final table

Nguyen Wins His Own FTOPS Event

The 2010 WSOP Main Event ninth place finisher hosted FTOPS XVIII Event 18 – and won it.

Despite his status as an amateur poker player, Nguyen was able to outlast 1,841 players to take first place in the $217 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em Rush Super Turbo tournament.

While not the most name-heavy final table Nguyen did have to contend with two very good online players in David “Davidp18” Peters and IWEARGOGGLES.

Neither player could best Nguyen and the Californian took down $78,000 for his efforts.

In winning, Nguyen became just the third player to win his own tournament in the Full Tilt Online Poker Series. Erick Lindgren was the first player to do it when he won in 2008 and Greg Mueller performed the same feat in 2009.

In other FTOPS news, up and coming online sensation Sebastian “sebbau” Bauer took down Event 16 for $274k on Monday.

Jonathan “driverseat” Tamayo, who you might remember from his deep run in the 2009 WSOP Main Event, finished runner up in Event 15 for $28k and finally Jared “TheWacoKid” Hamby placed third in Event 19 for $36k.

FTOPS XVIII continues until Nov. 21 when Gus Hansen will host the $3 million-guaranteed main event.