Poker News

Phil Hellmuth Vying for 12th WSOP Bracelet in Omaha High-Low Split Event

A win for UB.com pro Phil Hellmuth in Event #41 of the 2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP), $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha High-Low Split Eight or Better, would be monumental on several levels. First, a “W” would mean Hellmuth’s 12th bracelet, a new record. Also, it would mark the “Poker Brat’s” first win in a non-Hold’em tournament, getting the proverbial monkey off his back. Hellmuth owns the fourth largest stack with 15 players remaining.

Hellmuth already has two deep runs at this year’s World Series. The 11-time bracelet winner finished 15th in Event #8, $1,500 No Limit Hold’em, and cashed for $25,000. Nine events later, it was back to the cage after finishing 50th in a $5,000 No Limit Hold’em tournament for $14,000. Given that all of his hardware has come in No Limit Hold’em, many consider Hellmuth to be the top player in the world in that genre of poker.

Hellmuth may have felt the heat earlier this week from Full Tilt Poker pro Phil Ivey, who said he’s gunning for 30 bracelets after taking down his eighth in a $3,000 HORSE event. Hellmuth responded with a deep run in Event #41, dispatching Cody Culp in 17th place. Hellmuth flopped top set, which held for the win.

Twitter was ablaze on Wednesday with Hellmuth giving updates on his progress during the second day of play in the Omaha High-Low Split event. Perhaps facetiously, he called his shot entering Wednesday’s action: “Ended Day One of Omaha 8/b with $31,600… another Day Two, but this feels different to me, maybe a cash, maybe a final table, maybe more…” Then, word of a Hellmuth sighting in the top 100 spread like wildfire around the internet: “Wow! I Ah-3h-3s-8d, flop Qd-Qh-3d, p1 bet, p2 call, p3 all in, I call $20,100, fold, fold, p3 had Q-J-10-10, I win; have over 60k!! 98 left.”

Hellmuth’s final chirp came just before 3:00am PT on Thursday morning after play had concluded for the day: “15 left in Omaha 8/b, and I am 4th in chips w $331,000, blinds will be 6k-12k tomorrow. All I can do is focus on playing great poker.” Hellmuth will have to contend with a talented lineup that includes three-time bracelet winner and PokerStars sponsored pro Barry Greenstein. Here’s how the final 15 shake out:

1. Ryan Karp – 564,000
2. Steve Jelinek – 538,000
3. Joel Ettedgi – 419,000
4. Phil Hellmuth – 331,000
5. Ben Lamb – 320,000
6. John Gottlieb – 277,000
7. Michael Chappus – 260,000
8. Jeffrey Baker – 247,000
9. Barry Greenstein – 204,000
10. Anders Taylor – 202,000
11. Darren Sprengers – 144,000
12. Bryan Andrews – 122,000
13. Igor Gotz – 105,000
14. Amanda Thomas – 60,000
15. Anthony Cousineau – 22,000

Elsewhere, UB.com pro Annie Duke finished Day 1 of the $10,000 HORSE Championship in 39th place with a stack of 61,600. Russia’s Sergey Altbregin and the World Poker Tour’s all-time money leader, Carlos Mortensen, lead the way with stacks of 143,000 and 125,800, respectively. A field of 169 will take to the felts today. Duke took a sizable hit to her stack during Hold’em play after she turned two pair with A-Q. However, close friend Perry Friedman, who was instrumental to Duke’s fundraising efforts on NBC’s “Celebrity Apprentice,” held pocket fives for a set and scooped a mammoth pot.

Duke one-outed Ivey in Omaha, making quads against Ivey’s trip aces. According to coverage found on WSOP.com, Duke exclaimed, “Oh my god! I just hit a one-outer on Phil Ivey! I had three queens in Omaha, and he had three aces, and I made quads!” In case you’re wondering, Ivey did not reach Day 2 of the HORSE Championship.

Will it be bracelet #12 for Hellmuth today? Stay tuned to Poker News Daily to find out.

Dusty “Leatherass” Schmidt Named to PokerStars Team Online

Online poker training site DragTheBar.com announced Thursday that lead instructor Dusty "Leatherass" Schmidt has been added to the PokerStars Team Online. Schmidt joins an elite 26-player roster that includes Thomas "Boku87" Boekhoff, Grayson "spacegravy" Physioc, Randy “nanonoko” Lew, and Steve "stevesbets" Jacobs.

“I feel like I’ve joined the Yankees,” said Schmidt, who plays as "Leatherass9" on PokerStars. “Getting the opportunity to represent the largest poker room in the world is definitely something that makes all of the hard work feel worthwhile. I couldn’t be more honored.”

On the felts, Schmidt has earned more than $3 million during his five-year career, logging more than eight million hands over 10,000 hours. He posted the world’s highest win rate in both $5/$10 No Limit and $10/$20 No Limit in 2007 and 2008. In a four-month period between November 2007 and February 2008, Schmidt won in excess of $600,000 playing high-stakes cash games. He’s never had a losing month in his career.

One of Schmidt's most satisfying achievements in poker was attaining PokerStars’ Supernova Elite status in just eight months while playing high-stakes cash games in 2007. He said that being named to PokerStars Team Online means he’ll be going for Supernova Elite status again in 2010. “The chase for Supernova Elite is officially on,” Schmidt said.

Schmidt, 28, joined DragTheBar.com as a coach in January after spending three years as a lead instructor for StoxPoker. He makes poker videos and actively participates in the site’s member forums. “We’re very happy for Dusty,” said Drag The Bar CEO Hunter Bick, who founded the poker training site nine months ago. “It’s obviously exciting for us to have someone who’s achieved what he has on our team of coaches. He’s a good guy who works hard and he deserves this recognition.”

In addition to his roles with Drag The Bar, Schmidt is a columnist for CardPlayer Magazine and a published author. In December, he released Treat Your Poker Like A Business, which focuses on teaching players how to develop a professional approach to the game, both on and off the felts.

In joining Team PokerStars Online, Schmidt will play exclusively on PokerStars.com. Although he's recognized as a successful cash game player, Schmidt has said he will play several tournaments on the site. He will also keep a blog at PokerStars.com.

PokerStars selected 23 founding members for its Team Online in December, sifting through 2,000 applications to form a team made up of 20 men and three women with 18 countries represented. Since then, the site has added three more to its roster and PokerStars says it plans to add further players to PokerStars Team Online throughout 2010. Here's a look at the full team:

Andres Alisievicz -- lobojiji
Jorge Arias -- JorgeArias
Boumaaza Bachir -- Chiren80
Anders Berg -- Donald
Alvaro Blanco -- VARICO
Thomas Boekhoff -- Boku87
Diego Brunelli -- vgreen22
André Coimbra -- acoimbra
Mathew Didlick -- chipstar1
Ta-Chih Geeng -- socutiesf
Andrew Goetsch -- Kid Nebraska
Martha Gonzalez -- marene
Keiran Harris -- K_Man2307
Steve Jacobs -- stevesbets
Randy Lew -- nanonoko
Karlo Lopez -- elmagopr
Alexey Makarov -- LuckyGump
Kristian Martin -- CharismA3
Grzegorz Mikielewicz -- DaWarsaw
Nichoel Peppe -- NicP
Grayson Physioc -- spacegravy
Sebastien Sabic -- Seb86
Amanda Thomas -- ROXY24
George Lind III -- Jorj95
Denys Shcherbakov -- diatty
Dustin Schmidt -- Leatherass9

PokerStars Launches Online Team

The company spent two months examining over 2,000 applications to decide who would be featured on the team – which is an offshoot of Team PokerStars Pro.

The online team consists of players from 18 different countries, 20 of whom are men and three are women.

PokerStars picked the team from a unique cross-section of stakes and games meaning players might see a few more PokerStars pros in the lower-stakes games.

Although the majority of the picked players are relatively unknown, avid poker fans might recognize Thomas “Boku87” Boekhoff, who has been doing a $5 to $100,000 challenge on the PokerStars blog.

Meanwhile Steve “stevesbets” Jacobs is celebrated in online circles for beating ElkY at the 2008 WCOOP $25,000 Heads-Up Championship for $560,000.

Finally Anders “Donald” Berg has served on Norway’s World Cup of Poker Team at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in the Bahamas.

PokerStars isn’t finished yet as the company announced it would be adding more players to online team throughout 2010.

Below is the complete list of all 23 players that will serve as founding members of Team PokerStars Online.

Team PokerStars Online Announced

After 2,000 online poker players sent in applications to become members of Team PokerStars Online, the group’s 23 inaugural players were announced on Wednesday, just in time for the holidays.

Eighteen countries are represented among the 23 founding members of Team PokerStars Online. Those on the list include Steve Jacobs, known in online poker circles simply as “stevesbets.” The poker player is perhaps best known for winning the 2008 PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) $25,000 buy-in Heads-Up event for a staggering $560,000. Also in the mix is Thomas “Boku87” Boekhoff, who was involved in a challenge of his own on the world’s largest online poker site to turn a $5 bankroll into $100,000. Boekhoff is one of the world’s premier grinders, but he’s also had success in the brick-and-mortar poker scene, including a 14th place at the European Poker Tour’s (EPT) Monte Carlo Grand Final in 2008.

Grayson “spacegravy” Physioc is another member of Team PokerStars Online. He’s a former winner of the site’s high-stakes $200 rebuy and recently finished as the runner-up in the PokerStars $10,000 Guaranteed for $11,000. Many will remember Nichoel Peppe from her deep run in the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event, where she took 75th place for $69,000. Known in the online world as “NicP,” the favorite of ESPN’s Main Event coverage now takes per place among the team of PokerStars-backed online poker pros.

Anders “Donald” Berg finished 37th in the 2008 EPT Monte Carlo Grand Final and took down an event held as part of the Irish Winter Festival of Poker in 2005. In November, he won the PokerStars $100 rebuy for $26,000 and, one month prior, took down the site’s $50,000 Guaranteed for $15,000. Berg hails from Norway and is a veteran of the poker industry. You can find him roving the virtual felts of PokerStars as an online team member.

To say that Team PokerStars Online constitutes an eclectic group would be an understatement. Here are its inaugural members, listed alphabetically: Andres Alisievicz (lobojiji), Jorge Arias (JorgeArias), Boumaaza Bachir (Chiren80), Anders Berg (Donald), Alvaro Blanco (VARICO), Thomas Boekhoff (Boku87), Diego Brunelli (vgreen22), Andre Coimbra (acoimbra), Mathew Didlick (chipstar1), Ta-Chih Geeng (socutiesf), Andrew Goetsch (Kid Nebraska), Martha Gonzalez (marene), Keiran Harris (K_Man2307), Steve Jacobs (stevesbets), Randy Lew (nanonoko), Karlo Lopez (elmagopr), Alexey Makarov (LuckyGump), Kristian Martin (CharismA3), Grzegorz Mikielewicz (DaWarsaw), Nichoel Peppe (NicP), Grayson Physioc (spacegravy), Sebastien Sabic (Seb86), and Amanda Thomas (ROXY24).

A press release distributed by PokerStars on Wednesday reveals that Team PokerStars Online will receive new members in 2010. In addition, modifications to the software client’s lobby will allow easier location of PokerStars-sponsored pros when they hop online. A range of games and stakes are represented in the Team PokerStars Online roster.

This weekend, just two days after Christmas, PokerStars is hosting a Guinness World Record attempt for the largest online poker tournament in history. The standing mark is 65,000, set by PokerStars in July, and the site has upped the ante this time around. The record-setting $1 buy-in tournament will kick off at 14:45 ET on Sunday and feature $300,000 in the prize pool. The event will take on a turbo format and first place may see as much as $50,000 come their way for their $1 investment.

PokerStars is the world’s largest online poker site, with a seven-day running average of 28,400 real money ring game players, according to PokerScout.com. During its peak hours, which occur in the evening throughout North America, nearly 50,000 cash game players call the site home. PokerStars happily accepts real money wagers from the United States and is based in the Isle of Man.