Poker News

New features added to iPoker software… finally

Just as we thought PokerStars and Full Tilt were running away with all the online poker players, Playtech, the company behind the iPoker network, has unveiled a host of new player friendly features for their sites that should keep some of the fish away from the dangers of the open ocean... for now anyway.

ESPN gears up for Main Event final

"We're really excited about the final table this year and we expect it to be just as good if not better than what we did last year," said Doug White, ESPN's Senior Director of Programming and Acquisitions.

"We expect play to be stellar and we expect the drama to be there as well."

When it comes to drama, ESPN WSOP coverage co-host Lon McEachern says it all starts with one of the greatest players in the game having a shot at poker's most coveted title.

"This is one of the most highly anticipated final tables we've seen in a long time, just for the fact Phil Ivey is there," McEachern said. "I'm excited to see the poker community buzzing about this and I'm sure we will live up to and surpass their expectations in terms of the production and play at the final table."

Co-host Norman Chad appears equally excited to see what Ivey can do, but he also said this second edition of the November Nine is rife with compelling story lines.

"When you start with Phil Ivey you are in great shape because it's the greatest player in the game trying to win the greatest event in the game, but beyond that, you do have that usual mix that you have at a Main Event final table and that's just terrific," he said.

"It's just like anything else. If you look for the story, you will find it. If you look at these guys, they are interesting. They are more interesting than they look at first glance."

McEachern believes young but experienced pro Eric Buchman, who will come into the final nine second in chips, has the best shot to win the title.

But, he also said CardPlayer Magazine editor Jeff Shulman is a "solid player" who is "steeped in the game" and should be "a very dangerous force" at the final table.

Chad said he was impressed with 21-year-old Joe Cada's poise and maturity as he looks to surpass 2008 champ Peter Eastgate as the youngest player ever to win the Main Event and although he admitted French Everest Poker qualifier Antoine Saout is the player he knows the least about, Chad would not count him out.

"You have to be at the final table to have a shot, so he can do it," Chad said. "He's obviously a solid player and another one of these young guys that you have to wonder how the heck he could get this good this quickly."

Chad said Steven Begleiter "has lot of gamble in him," and the former Wall Street executive knows how to use the big stack he's bringing to the final table.

And while McEachern said he's been particularly impressed by Kevin Schaffel results since the summer and Chad said James Akenhead has impressed him with his "selectively aggressive" style, both commentators seemed clearly focused on the two biggest story lines coming in - Ivey and chip leading Maryland logger Darvin Moon.

McEachern called Moon "the second best thing to happen to this final table," next to Ivey and believes that as the unknown coming in, Moon could be the scariest player in the field.

"He is the least experienced and probably the worst player at the final table," added Chad. "But he is a bit of a wolf in sheep's clothing...I think there's a little shark in him. There's a bit of a pool hustler there."

But of course, Chad is still making Ivey a bit of a favorite.

"He just does all the little things a little better than everybody else," he said.

The final table will play down to heads-up Nov. 7 and a winner will be crowned Nov. 9.

PokerListings will have live coverage throughout and ESPN will broadcast an edited version of the final table Nov. 10.

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Ziigmund massacres Benyamine at 7-Game

Ever since the bulk of the high-stakes online action moved to the 7-Game tables on Full Tilt, we've been seeing players have some of the biggest sessions of the year.

Of Sahamies $1.01 million dollar profit last night, $816k of it came from crushing 7-Game. The million dollar night more than doubles Sahamies profits for the year at $1.8 million.

One of the common themes seems to be David Benyamine taking the majority of the 7-Game losses. Last night, Benyamine and Brian Hastings combined for $1.1 million in losses, $681k of it belonging to the French pro.

Benyamine has lost almost $1.9 million at the 7-Game tables this year, just $60k behind the biggest 7-Game loser: David Oppenheim.

It was also a big night for Tom Dwan, who in addition to making $100k playing Pot-Limit Omaha, added another $278k at 7-Game, putting him just $50k short Phil Ivey and in third place for total online profits on the year.

The top spot currenly belongs to Ashton "theASHMAN103" Griffin.

Although Ivey managed to win $136k on the 7-Game tables, he lost $200k on playing PLO, putting him down $64k for the night.

The regular suspects also made it out for some 7-Game action including: Di "Urindanger" Dang ($93k), Griffin ($77k), Chau Giang ($47k), Matt Hawrilenko ($26k), Oppenheim (-$33k) and Daniel "FakeSky" Alaei (-$188k).

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Antonius headlines sick 7-Game action

With this latest $800k score Antonius is just $140,000 short of the $6 million mark. This is substantially more than Ashton Griffin, the second most profitable player of 2009, who is $3.6 million to the good.

This most recent session saw a flurry of action with Daniel Alaei (FakeSky), Gus Hansen and Brian Hastings all making more than $300k.

Online regular, identity still unknown, Nizot Skizared took down $270k, while the Finnish action junky Ilari "Ziigmund" Sahamies made just under $140k.

Also showing modest profits on the night were Tom Dwan, Matt Hawrilenko, EazyPeazy and Di "Urindanger" Dang.

The most noteable losers of the day include Richard Ashby (-$530k), David Benyamine (-$434k), NEKOTYAN (-$336k), Cole South (-$218k), DIN_FRU (-$204k), Chau Giang (-$127k) and David Oppenheim (-$106k).

Posting smaller losing sessions were online stars Phil "OMGClayAIken" Galfond and Brian Townsend, both losing under $100k.

With this $434k loss, Benyamine continues his struggle to get anything going on the year. His 2009 losses now total almost $1.3 million.

Long after the 7-Game action had run dry, the $500/$1,000 No-Limit Hold'em game kicked off with two full ring tables collecting rake.

The nine-handed table Don Juan became the table of death, starting with all seats filled, including some of the biggest names in the game. Dwan, Ivey, Juanda, South and (Hac) Dang were all in on the high-stakes NL action.

On top of all of this, Tom Dwan took on Patrik Antonius heads up at $500/$1,000 Pot-Limit Omaha, winning the largest pot of the day worth $85k.

Over on PokerStars WSOP Main Event Champion Peter Eastgate managed to net only $193 after winning the second largest pot of the day, but losing the third worth almost exactly as much.

To see replays of all the largest NL and PLO pots of the day, head to MarketPulse, or you can find the three biggest pots of the day replayed below.

A great flop for Dwan.

This hand plays itself.

A setup.

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Mike Matusow, Mark Seif atop WPT Festa al Lago Leaderboard

The World Poker Tour (WPT) kicked into action once again on Wednesday with the first five rounds of play in the 2009 Festa al Lago Championship Event, a $15,000 buy-in tournament at the Bellagio in Las Vegas.

The Festa al Lago, the fourth stop on the Season 8 schedule for the WPT, was in danger of being one of the lowest attended events since the inception of the tour. During much of Festa al Lago schedule at the Bellagio, tournaments were significantly smaller than in past years due to the continuing strains of the economy on the bankrolls of some of the biggest players in the game. For example, Full Tilt Poker’s head man Howard Lederer was able to capture the $5,000 Festa al Lago HORSE Championship, but the field only contained 19 players and paid the top three. Thus, there was a great deal of concern when the cards hit the air at Noon local time on Wednesday.

As play began, the original registration list only contained 179 entrants after the first half-level of play. It was decided at this point by Bellagio and WPT officials to introduce a radical remedy to accommodate for the largest field possible: late registrations would be extended until the end of the eighth level of play, meaning that the true field size would not be known until around 5:00pm on Thursday. Therefore, the players in the field on Wednesday, set to play five levels in the Fontana Lounge at the Bellagio, wouldn’t truly know the field size until the next day.

This extension of the registration, the latest it has ever gone in a major poker tournament, introduced some new challenges to the players who were already in the event. Instead of chipping down players who register late, anyone who buys in prior to the end of Level 8 will receive a full complement of chips (60,000, or four times the buy-in).

With the announcement of late registration, many players decided to wait until Thursday to step into the fray at the Festa al Lago. Ultimate Bet’s Phil Hellmuth, after hearing of the late registration rules, decided not to show up to the first day of action at the Bellagio and will wait until Thursday to mount his assault on the WPT title. Even without “The Poker Brat” on the felt, 244 players were accounted for by the end of the day and every table was a minefield of top professionals.

Top pros who started the day on Wednesday, but were unable to stick around for its entirety, included the Mizrachi brothers (Michael and Robert), David Benyamine, Joe Sebok, and PokerStars’ Daniel Negreanu. Making his first appearance at a poker tournament since he made the WSOP “November Nine,” Phil Ivey patiently played through the day and will start on Thursday with slightly over 83,000 in chips. He will be a part of the 195 survivors of the first five levels who will be chasing top players Mike Matusow (224,000) and Mark Seif (222,000).

Satellites continued to run through the early morning hours at the Bellagio to create the largest field possible and will probably be in action right up to the final gun. Poker News Daily will have all the information, including the final count on Thursday, as the WPT’s Festa al Lago plays down to a champion on October 26th.

Dennis Phillips, Peter Eastgate Featured on WSOP on ESPN Coverage

Two original November Nine members, Dennis Phillips and 2008 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event Champion Peter Eastgate, took center stage on ESPN on Tuesday night. Play from Day 6 of the 2009 Main Event wrapped up from the Rio in Las Vegas.

Eastgate and Phillips were seated at the feature table during the first hour of ESPN’s WSOP coverage, which aired at 9:00pm ET. Joining them were J.C. Tran, Joe Hachem, and one of the chip leaders throughout much of the day, Billy “Patrolman35” Kopp. In the first hand shown at the feature table, Hachem raised to 55,000 pre-flop with A-K and Thai Tran made it 305,000 with pocket kings. Hachem noted, “It doesn’t feel right” and promptly mucked.

2009 November Nine members Phil Ivey and Steven Begleiter could be found at Table Two. Ivey raised to 54,000 holding K-J and Begleiter made the call with 8-7 of diamonds to see the flop came 9-A-6. Begleiter check-called an 80,000 chip bet from Ivey to see a three hit the turn. The action went check-check to a queen on the river. Begleiter bet out 175,000 to build a 490,000 chip pot with his busted straight draw and Ivey folded.

Kopp continued to build his stack, sending Nasr El Nasr home in 137th place with pocket aces against pocket queens. After the board fell 2-4-10-10-3, Kopp raked in the 3.2 million chip pot to hold the second largest stack in the room. Incidentally, Phillips held pocket fours in the hand and would have turned a boat. Meanwhile, Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier was sent packing with A-K against the pocket kings of online poker pro Scott Sitron.

“The Nuts” examined the use of the phrases “nice hand” and “good luck,” while out in the field, 2007 WSOP Player of the Year Tom Schneider doubled up with pocket aces against John Martin’s A-K. Bradley Craig, who was once down to just 400 chips during the Main Event, doubled up with A-Q versus the pocket kings of Noah Boeken to balloon his stack to 2.6 million. Back at the feature table, J.C. Tran was sent packing at the hands of Phillips for his fourth Main Event cash since 2004.

Hachem’s run through the 2009 WSOP Main Event came to an abrupt halt when he shoved his five big blind stack with J-9 of clubs. Kopp made the call with pocket fours, setting up a race situation. By the river, Hachem was rooting for an ace, king, jack, nine, or club to double up, but the three of hearts sealed the 2005 Main Event Champion’s fate. Eastgate represented the lone winner of the $10,000 buy-in tournament left in the field.

The second episode, which began at 10:00pm ET on ESPN, included the same feature and side tables, with poker pro Joe Sebok making his way to the former. At Table Two, Ivey drew out on Hac Dang with pocket jacks against Dang’s pocket queens when the flop came jack-high. Antonio Esfandiari also drew out on an opponent to send them to the rails, as “The Magician’s” K-Q found the nuts on a flop of 9-10-J to send Bobby Law packing with A-K in 91st place.

In the Jack Link’s Beef Jerky Wild Card Hand, in which the hole cards of one player are concealed, Phillips raised to 70,000 pre-flop with pocket kings and Thai Tran made the call from the big blind. The flop came 10-A-3 and Tran check-raised Phillips to 440,000. Phillips called to see a six fall on the turn and the action went check-check. The river was an eight and Tran checked. Phillips checked behind and Tran showed a baby ace, A-2, to scoop the pot.

Out in the field, Darvin Moon sent Jamie Brown to the exits with pocket aces against pocket kings to scoop a 3.8 million chip pot and become the new chip leader. Shortly thereafter, Kenny Tran was all-in with A-5 of diamonds against Joe Cada’s pocket eights. The board ran out 4-3-3-9-6 and Tran busted in 86th place. It was then Eastgate’s turn to pack his bags after an impressive run in 2009 after winning it all one year ago. The 2008 WSOP Main Event Champion pushed all-in pre-flop with A-J; Kopp made the call with pocket eights, as did Phillips, who held K-Q. Kopp and Phillips checked the action to the river, which put four hearts on the board. Kopp held the only heart and sent Eastgate to the rails in 78th.

A new feature table was assembled featuring Moon, Phillips, and Schneider. In one hand, Schneider raised to 110,000 with A-J and Phillips made it 310,000 with pocket queens. Moon, holding A-K, pushed the action to 675,000, Schneider got out of the way, and Phillips made the call. ESPN announcer Norman Chad noted, “It’s the every man against the every man.” The flop came A-4-8 and Moon bet 750,000 with his top pair after Phillips checked. Phillips commented, “I have no idea if you’re pushing me around or not” and folded, showing his hole cards. The pot was worth 2.3 million chips.

Ivey made a flush to eliminate an opponent at Table Two, while Nichoel Peppe, one of two women remaining in the field, was all-in with her tournament life on the line holding J-4 of hearts against Adam York’s pocket aces. The board came with one heart and Peppe exited in 75th place, leaving Leo Margets as the last woman standing in the 2009 WSOP Main Event.

A total of 64 players remain. WSOP on ESPN coverage hits television airwaves on Tuesdays at 9:00pm ET and runs for two hours. The Main Event final table can be seen on November 10th.

Barry Shulman Wins WSOP Europe Main Event

After over 16 hours, CardPlayer CEO Barry Shulman defeated Team PokerStars Pro member and crowd favorite Daniel Negreanu to win the Main Event of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Europe. Shulman earned £801,603.

The win marked Shulman’s second WSOP bracelet. The first came in 2001, when the media mogul won a $1,500 buy-in Limit Seven Card Stud High-Low event for $123,000. The London Main Event marked his eighth WSOP final table and 14th in the money finish. His win gave the United States its second WSOP Europe bracelet; both have come by virtue of taking down the Main Event, as John Juanda emerged victorious from the pack in 2008. Other countries that have grabbed WSOP Europe bracelets include Denmark (2), Finland (1), Afghanistan (1), Germany (1), England (1), Canada (1), Italy (1), and Norway (1).

The £10,000 buy-in feature tournament was nearly decided one hour into heads-up play. Negreanu held a 5:3 chip lead and his adversary called all-in after flopping a flush draw with A-5 of hearts. Negreanu turned over pocket aces on the Kd-8h-6h board, but watched as the turn filled Shulman’s flush. The hand propelled the CardPlayer CEO to a 3:1 chip edge.

Later on, Negreanu peeked down at Q-J and Shulman, this time, was dealt aces. The flop came jack-high and Negreanu led out. Shulman pushed all-in over the top and Negreanu tanked, before finally calling once again with a chance to win the tournament. The turn came another jack, giving Negreanu one card to victory in London and his fifth WSOP bracelet. However, Shulman spiked one of two remaining aces on the river to take down the hand with aces full of jacks. In the final hand in London, Negreanu ran his pocket fours into Shulman’s pocket tens. A ten hit the flop and running fours failed to hit, giving Shulman the WSOP Europe Main Event title.

In an interview with WSOP officials, Negreanu discussed playing with Shulman heads-up: “Playing against Barry is dangerous. There is no pressure on him. That makes him very difficult to play against because I can’t be sure where I am at. I’ve played a lot of hours with Barry and think I have him somewhat figured out. But he’s got at least one advantage against me, which is having no pressure.” Shulman’s son, CardPlayer Editor Jeff Shulman, is a member of the WSOP November Nine and will hold the third largest chip stack when play resumes in Las Vegas.

Besides Shulman and Negreanu, four other former bracelet winners took to the felts at the Casino at the Empire for the WSOP Europe Main Event final table. Chris Bjorin, a two-time bracelet winner, was sent packing in sixth place after running A-J into Negreanu’s A-Q. Shulman busted Matt Hawrilenko, who has taken down one WSOP event, in eighth place for £87,074.

Team PokerStars Pro member Jason Mercier, who grabbed his first bracelet during the 2009 WSOP in Las Vegas, was eliminated in fourth place after entering as a dominant chip leader. In his final hand, Mercier’s wired pair of sevens could not draw out on Negreanu’s pocket nines. The last decorated player to take to the WSOP Europe televised table was Praz Bansi, who won a bracelet in a $1,000 buy-in No Limit Hold’em event in 2006. Bansi was the hometown hero and was eliminated in third place.

Incredibly, two members of the November Nine reached the WSOP Europe Main Event final table. Everest Poker pro Antoine Saout was ousted in seventh place after coming out on the short end of a coin flip holding pocket fives against Negreanu’s A-Q of spades. Negreanu made a flush on the river to send Saout home in dramatic fashion. Eliminated shortly before Saout was James Akenhead, who hit the skids in ninth place. Negreanu’s pocket kings staved off disaster against Akenhead’s A-Q and the London native was sent home.

Here were the results from the 2009 WSOP Europe Main Event:

1. Barry Shulman - £801,603
2. Daniel Negreanu - £495,589
3. Praz Bansi - £360,887
4. Jason Mercier - £267,267
5. Markus Ristola - £200,367
6. Chris Bjorin - £150,267
7. Antoine Saout - £114,228
8. Matt Hawrilenko - £87,074
9. James Akenhead - £66,533

Weekend’s Biggest Winner: Ilari Sahamies

Ilari Sahamies was the king of the weekend on Full Tilt Poker high stakes games. “Martonas” did a nice comeback as well.

For once Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies was on a heater and won $485.534. Looks like Ziigmund has managed to beat his long-lasting tilt. David Benyamine was one of “Ziigmund’s” victims as Ilari was able to win eight of the biggest pots against him. Benyamine dug a hole worth of -$757k.

During the weekend Swedish “Martonas” was able to win about $150k. Let’s hope he is back for good as the action on Full Tilt is really good when he is around. He is known to have huge swings.

Also Gus Hansen had a pretty good weekend as he managed to play break-even sessions, so at least he’s not losing anymore.

Some hands during the weekend:

Ilari flops a full house, Ahston Griffin hits trips, $194k pot to Ilari

“martonas” hits nicely, $118k to “martonas”

Di “Urindanger” Dang hits his flush against “martonas, $159k pot

Source: highstakesdb

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Weekend’s Biggest Winner: Ilari Sahamies

A $196k start: The martonas comeback

It was the beginning of August this year when martonas began to light up the high-stakes poker world, making almost $1.5 million in just a few weeks beating the best players online.

The win streak was short-lived as martonas managed to lose over $3.4 million (his $1.4 million profit plus an additional $2 million) in just nine days at the tables before suddenly disappearing from the online world without anyone ever learning his true identity.

Last night, just one month later, martonas was back playing $300/$600 No-Limit Hold'em heads up against two of the most feared NLHE players in the world: Di "Urindanger" Dang and Cole South.

Even though martonas and Dang played over 1,100 hands with multiple $100k+ pots, the Urindanger/martonas battle ended almost even.

But in the end, South received an old-school beat down, losing over $124k to martonas across 828 hands. Although it could have gone the other way had South's aces held up in the players' largest pot of the session.

The remainder of martonas' profit came mostly from beating the relatively unknown liverpoolfc0985 out of $64k heads-up.

Although martonas did play a few hands on six-max and full-ring tables, his collective profit from those games accounts for only $4k of the night's total.

Martonas wasn't the only player in action, however. David Benyamine managed to lose a reported $750,000 over the weekend, mostly thanks to losing three of last night's five largest pots: collectively worth over $670k.

With his name showing up as the winner for countless $100k+ pots, Ziigmund looks to have cleaned up, mostly at Benyamine's expense.

Tom "kingsofcards" Marchese won the largest pot of the night, worth over $265k, with Benyamine to thank for that action as well.

The hand almost played itself, with both player getting it all in on the flop after Marchese flopped the top set of 7's against Benyamine's over-cards and open-ended straight draw.

Benyamine missed his straight, forfeiting the pot and possibly causing his Las Vegas neighbors to be awoken by a string of French profanities.

Here are some of the notable pots on the night. Head to MarketPulse to see everything else.

A flop worth $265k.

Cole South's aces get cracked.

Another flopped set vs. draw.

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Same Hand, Different Game: Big Pairs

In poker, sometimes the hand you hold has differing potential depending upon the game you’re playing. What would be a great hand in one form of poker will, in essence, be junk in another discipline. In this continuing series of articles, we’ll examine particular hands and what strategies a player should use.

Big Pairs - The Best Hand to Get?

Most of the time when you peek at your hole cards and see a big pair - and in this instance, we’re looking at pocket aces through pocket jacks - you have to control the inclination to jump from your seat when you put your bets into the pot. Depending upon the game, however, you should look at these big pairs with a discerning eye. Simply put, there are times when you want to be wielding the big guns and times when big pairs are the last thing you want to be holding.

Texas Hold’em

This is arguably the one game that, when you’re holding a big pair, you are thrilled when you look at your hole cards. Whether in a cash game or a tournament, Limit or No Limit, big pairs are an opportunity to get your chips in. A player has to be mindful of several options when it comes to how to play these hands, however.

Whether playing Limit or No Limit, cash games or tournaments, I personally like to raise on every occasion when holding a big pocket pair. Especially in Limit, you want to eliminate any opposition against you. Against a lower pocket pair heads-up, you have an excellent edge (approximately 81% to 19%), but when you add in even as much as one more player with a random hand, pocket aces lose almost 12% of their edge. Thus, the raise is logically the best play to make.

There is something to be said for slow playing in the right circumstances, but you have to be wary of letting your opponents catch up. In addition, you have to be conscious of what the board and your opponent’s betting patterns are telling you. It makes little sense to push your black aces on a coordinated board that contains three or four diamonds or hearts. You must be able to let go of your big hands to be able to survive at the felts.

Finally, you have to be mindful of the odds of a situation. The odds of improving a pocket pair of any type into a set or better are about 7.5 to 1. While a pair of aces in the hole can many times carry the hand, lower big pairs have to be on the lookout for a bigger card on the board and/or coordinated flops.

Omaha

Big pocket pairs as part of your four hole cards in Omaha are some of the most misplayed hands in this discipline of poker. Depending on what you are playing - Pot Limit, Limit, or Eight or Better - big pocket pairs can have a multitude of opportunities and/or dangers that a player has to be aware of.

With Pot Limit or Limit Omaha, you really want the aces to have a big match with them, such as a king or queen of the same suit. The drawing nature of the game is such that you want to be able to build upon your big pairs because they more than likely will not be enough to win the hand. For example, if you’re carrying A-A-K-K, Q-Q, or K-Q double-suited, then it’s a hand you can get a bit excited about. In Omaha, though, remember that there are twice as many cards dealt pre-flop and you could be looking at both your big pair outs being gone. If you miss one of your two outs and the board is highly coordinated against you, look to dump the hand.

With Eight or Better, somewhat the opposite is true. While a big pair is a nice start, you have to be able to draw effectively for the scoop of the pot rather than the split. A hand such as A-A-K-2 or Q-3 double-suited will offer you an excellent chance at that. Other big pairs, such as kings through jacks, will have to improve or have two other good drawing cards to justify playing the hand to the river.

The best way to handle these options is a call pre-flop unless you are in late position and can force any other action out of the hand. In Pot Limit, you may be able to get to that preferred heads-up situation with a raise, but in Limit, players more than likely will not lay their hands down.

Razz

This is the one game where the last thing you want is a big pocket pair. Because the object of Razz and other “lowball” games is to build the worst hand possible, a big pair should immediately find its way into the muck. The only plausible option to play would be aces, trying to build to the low hand.

Seven Card Stud and Seven Card Stud Eight or Better

Whether gated - with one big card showing and a partner hidden in the hole - or hidden, big pairs can be a great start in Seven Card Stud and Eight or Better. Where the differences come is in building your hand after more streets are revealed.

In Stud, you could be able to win the hand with just your solo big pair. Preferably, you would like to add to your pair with another pair or a set. Strong play is key here, with a raise before action on Fourth Street. Also, be aware of the cards that have been shown (it would be difficult to continue on if you’ve seen the other two of your big pair discarded) and other players’ possible builds.

With Eight or Better, we once again have to look back to how we played in Omaha. We have to have a good chance of scooping the pot; otherwise, we could be wasting valuable chips that could be put into better use in other situations.

Gus Hansen takes $700k beating

Cole South, Tom "durrrr" Dwan, Patrik Antonius and Hac "trex313" Dang essentially all took turns walloping the Danish member of Team Full Tilt in $200/$400 Pot-Limit Omaha.

Hansen actually won one of the biggest hands of the session when he made a better two-pair than South with aces and nines against South's queens and nines. Hansen's hand held up and he collected a $92,138 pot.

But that was one of the few bright spots for Hansen, who would go on to lose countless giant pots, including one worth $112,213 to Dwan where the young cash-game pro flopped a full house and got Hansen to call a $30,000 value-bet on the river.

By the end of the session, Dwan was $221,000 in the black, South recorded $146,000 in profits and Antonius won $124,044.

Hansen ended $698,000 in the hole.

It hasn't been a good year of online poker for Hansen. He started off well, running up over $2 million in profits in the spring, but as summer draws to a close he's down nearly $3 million total.

It's anybody's guess how long even a pro of Hansen's caliber can sustain these kinds of losses.

Head to MarketPulse anytime to see all the biggest high-stakes hands.

Check below for a sample of the session's notable pots:

One of the few pots won by Gus Hansen last night.

Tom Dwan takes it down

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Same Hand, Different Game: Small Pairs

In poker, the hand you hold has different possibilities depending upon the game that you’re playing: what would be a great hand in one form of poker will, in essence, be total junk in another discipline of the game. In this continuing series of articles, we’ll examine particular hands and what strategies a player should put in place, because the same hand isn’t always the best in different games.

Small Pairs - Hit Or Get Out

When it comes down to the small pairs – and in this instance, we are talking about pocket fives through pocket deuces – your basic option of play is to look for hitting the set. Because these particular pocket pairs are so small, the flop could – and more than likely will – bring any card that can crush your hand. The proper approach that we will discuss, dependent on the game, will help you to maximize the value and, when you are in a difficult situation, get away with the least amount of chips lost.

Texas Hold’em

In Texas Hold’em, the pocket pair can be wielded pretty easily. You can, unless betting gets vastly out of hand, make the call. When you have the small pair, though, you have to adopt the philosophy of “hit or get out.” Unless you catch that set – about a one in eight chance – you will more than likely have to exit the hand when the board will present cards that will put your opponents ahead. Unless you have a great read on your opponent, you will more than likely have to muck your hand if you do not hit that set.

The reason for this quick muck is the simple mathematics that having the small pair presents. Pre-flop, the small pair is a slight favorite over A-K or A-Q, but it is crushed when it comes to higher pocket pairs to which it is about an 80/20 underdog. Thus, if the flop doesn’t bring that set card and there are paint cards or an Ace, you can pretty much figure that you have been out-flopped.

If you catch your set, a player has a multitude of options available to them. You can either slow play the set looking to draw some more chips from your opponent, or you can pound the board with bets (especially useful if you are against an aggressive player). Slow playing is dangerous as it is possible that, if you allow your opponent to draw, they could catch a better set if they are playing a larger pocket pair. Be mindful also as to the board texture and be on the lookout for either straights or flushes that come to light.

Omaha Hold’em

With Omaha, the small pair is even more problematic than in Texas Hold’em. This is a game in which, if you don’t catch a set on the flop – or at least the turn – you are looking at getting rid of the hand because you more than likely won’t take it down with your small pair. When you add in the factor of playing High-Low, then the decisions take on another turn.

While hitting the set in High-Low may be good enough to take the high half the pot, you really are looking for the board to pair to make a boat (and try to dodge an opponent who is sitting on their own pair that makes quads). Caution should be at the forefront of your mind here, as you can get into a betting war that depletes your stack when you are sitting there with the second best hand.

If you have any of the small pocket pairs, you have to take a look at your other two cards to judge whether you can make a solid low hand. If you have a suited Ace to go along with one of your pair cards, you have a possibility of drawing to the low hand if the board falls right or to a nut flush for the high. You could also potentially have some sort of running combination that could draw into a straight (if you had 4-3-3-2, for example) which would be worth playing.

Razz

As we talked about earlier in this series, pocket pairs are something that has to be avoided in Razz. With the small pairs, however, there are some options that open up for bluffing and/or for taking the hand outright.

The small pairs have a great deal of potential because, if your combination is good, you are two-thirds of the way to earning the low. You should preferably be gated – with one of your pair in your hidden cards and the other showing, such as (3-2) 3 – and have your opponents all showing cards higher than yours to make a move on the pot. If you have your pair hidden, you would need an Ace or six showing to be aggressive and be the low card showing.

In Razz, however, you have to remember that you have to almost draw perfectly over the next four cards to catch the low hand. If your pair hits another like card on Fourth Street – using the example above, let‘s use (3-2) 3-2 – then you have a complicated decision. If you have shown strength and bet your hand, fellow players may give you credit for being four-fifths the way to making a low hand. If you get called or raised by someone, however, you have to be ready to ditch the hand as your two pair is death in the game of Razz.

Although you may be able to bluff with another low card on Fifth Street - such as (3-2) 3-2-A - you still have not made a hand and are looking for the last two cards to hit perfect. A bet here may well take the pot but, once again, if you are played back at, you have to be ready to get rid of the hand. As always with the game of poker and especially with non-community card games, be aware of the potential that your opponents are displaying and get out when it looks as though you are beaten.

Seven Card Stud and Seven Card High-Low

In these games, the small pair can be a very effective tool, especially if they are a hidden pair. If you are fortunate enough to be able to pull a third card on one of the streets, you can be aggressive with them and often get players who have two pair to come along with you to the river. In this instance, your payoff would be quite large. But there are some factors that you have to keep in mind before you start counting those chips, however.

If the two other cards to your pair are part of the other face up cards, then you have to consider whether it will be wise to continue on with the hand. If you are holding pocket fours, for example, and both of the fours you covet are up in two other players’ hands, the best you are going to be able to do is two pair (barring hitting trips somewhere over three of the next four cards). In most cases, the small pair is not going to be enough to win the hand as someone else will have built a much better holding.

For the most part, your opponents are going to be showing a great deal more than you can muster with your small pair. You also have to consider the texture of an opponent’s displayed cards and judge whether you can beat what they are showing or, in some cases, insinuating that they have. If someone is showing four suited cards or has two pair already in the up cards, your measly pair should have already been in the muck. Remember that you want to be able to have some ammunition when you have your larger hands; calling along and looking to hit aren’t going to conserve your chip stack to be able to do that.

In Hi/Low, you have to consider the same options that you did in Razz. Unless you catch a card to make the set and take the high, you shouldn’t be in the hand. If you are looking at the low hand, you have to have that Ace in the mix to allow you to go on in the hand. Always remember your goal in a Hi/Low game is to scoop the entirety of the pot rather than split it, though.

Summary

The small pocket pair, if played correctly, can win large pots when you hit and have a minimal expenditure when you miss. The most important thing to remember when playing the small pocket pair is to get away from it when you miss either the set or your draw; if you have a mindset that says “well, I might catch on another street,” the small pocket pair can be devastating to your play. When you do miss, the small pair is definitely not the best hand to have, no matter which game you’re playing. In the next segment of this series, we will take a look at big Aces and how in different games they can be used to their ultimate capabilities.

Oops! Ziigmund Did It Again

Friday night games at Full Tilt Poker. Phil Ivey, Phil Galfond, Ilari Sahamies, Gus Hansen, Cole South and Di Dang. What can you expect apart from fireworks?

Friday night action poker with some of the top pros can get pretty ugly. There are winners and then there are losers. Sometimes the swings can get into an incomprehensible levels. This time Phil Ivey and Phil Galfond made almost a million profit. Then the losers; Ziigmund lost a staggering 1,3 million dollars in few hours.

When you look at the played hands it’s just amazing how these nosebleed pros play. Phil Ivey won over $900k in just 93 hands and Ziigmund lost $1.3 million in 317 hands. That’s some heavy variance there.

According to coinflip.com, Ziigmund’s losses is explained with a total monkey tilt. In his blog Sahamies says that he’s very angry of himself when he couldn’t stop playing when he didn’t even feel like playing at all. There was some chat after Ziigmund’s massive loss:

Ziigmund: no london
Ziigmund: jumping from balkony
Phil Ivey: lol

Some of the hands:

Ziigmund and Ivey flips, $400k

Ziigmund against durrrr in the second biggest pot of the evening, $361k

Sahamies vs Ivey pt II, $200k

Sahamies vs Ivey pt III, $240k

Top 3 winners:
1.Phil Ivey              $936 210
2.OMGClayAiken $928 190
3.Cole South          $371 244

Top 3 losers:
1.Ziigmund               $-1.328 859
2.Gus Hansen          $-362 253
3.Urindanger           $-182 057

Source: highstakesdb, coinflip.com

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Oops! Ziigmund Did It Again

Ivey and Galfond: The Phils win $1.6 million

Galfond was playing $200/$400 Pot-Limit Omaha, grinding his profit against Gus Hansen, David Benyamine, Ilari "Ziigmund" Sahamies and Urindanger.

Galfond managed to grind his massive profit almost entirely through $100,000 pots against some of the best competition in the world, the largest of which weighed in at just over $160k.

Ivey took a very different route, however, spending his night sitting heads up at $500/$1,000 Pot-Limit Omaha with Ziigmund and taking advantage of the Finn's hunger for action.

The two players were flipping for $200k pots, moving all-in pre-flop regardless of their hands and letting the cards decide their fate.

Out of the dozen flips recorded, Ivey managed to win eight, profiting half a million dollars simply by being luckier than his opponent.

Even online veteran David "POKERBLUFFS" Eldar got in on the action, flipping one hand worth $280k with Ivey on a $500/$1,000 No-Limit Hold'em table.

In the end, the night was a complete yard sale for Ziigmund, who supplied the majority of the $1.6 million to the two Phils booking a total loss in the $1.3 million range.

Sahamies loves heavy action, and hates to lose, so it would be a surprise if we don't see him return to the tables again tonight, both guns blazing.

Keep your eyes on our MarketPulse section to catch all the action.

Here are some of the most notable pots of the night:

The $400k flip.

Ivey's largest "real" pot.

Galfond's largest pot.

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November Niner hits up high stakes on Tilt

Akenhead, who became a Full Tilt pro after making the final table of the 2009 WSOP Main Event, is on the path to proving that booking his spot in the November Nine was no fluke.

He sat for over 400 hands at the highest-stakes game running last night and left the table with $75,000 more than he came with.

His biggest win of the night came from an $80k pot against Gus Hansen, where he completed his flopped open-ended straight draw on the river.

As expected after yesterday's $300k win, Hansen returned to the tables looking for a repeat. But his night didn't go as planned as he lost the majority of that $300k over a session of 1,700 hands.

His $200k in losses was evenly spread out to opponents including: Hac "trex313" Dang, Di "Urindanger" Dang, Ashton "theASHMAN103" Griffin and Akenhead.

The largest winner on the night was Griffin, who booked a $160k win to bring his yearly profit back up to just under $3 million and putting him just behind Patrik Antonius ($4 million) and Ilari "Ziigmund" Sahamies ($3.1 million).

The high-stakes action typically heats up going in to the weekend. Keep your eyes on our MarketPulse section to stay on top of the action.

Here are some of the largest pots of the night:

theASHMAN103 cometh.

Akenhead FTW.

Quads usually win.

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2 Months, $2 Million: Brian Roberts Loses $111,000

It’s nearly back to square one for the cast of the G4 online poker show “2 Months, $2 Million.” This week’s episode, which was the first to air on a Wednesday night, saw Brian Roberts drop $111,000, essentially pushing the team back to even overall.

The $2 million goal seems like an afterthought after watching the most recent installment of the reality franchise. The team began the week $160,000 in the black, with Jay Rosenkrantz’s recent string of losses leading Roberts to treat him to a spa visit to rejuvenate. Rosenkrantz told “2 Months, $2 Million” cameras, “I’ve definitely been struggling with why I’m not focused.” Cassie Webb, Roberts’ girlfriend, noted that morale at the Las Vegas home was down significantly and wanted to hold a date night.

Dani Stern and Emil Patel, the two single players, sought out dates at the Playboy Club at the Palms. One girl asked if the group were poker players and Stern responded that everyone was except for Patel, who is a prince in Dubai. The ploy worked and Patel scored a phone number at the end of the night. Meanwhile, Roberts gave his take on Stern’s dating habits: “If she’s of legal age and pre-menopausal, she’s pretty much on the menu.” Stern wound up on a date with “Emily”, while Patel struck up an accord with “Megan.” The tab at the end of the night: $5,000.

Back at the house, Roberts jumped into a high-stakes Pot Limit Omaha game on Full Tilt Poker featuring Phil Ivey, Gus Hansen, Urindanger, luckexpress10, and DIN_FRU. Roberts scooped $15,000 off Ivey before dropping an $80,000 pot to Hansen to set the tone for the week to come. The atmosphere of losing drove Rosenkrantz over the edge. He told Stern, “I think I’m going to go home and get my head on straight.” Rosenkrantz departed for Commack, New York to be with his mother.

The three remaining cast members took their dates on a helicopter ride and to a pricey $1,800 dinner at CUT at the Palazzo. Megan was shocked to learn that her entrée for the evening cost more than her rent for the month and Patel came out on the losing end of credit card roulette for the four-figure tab. The party then moved back to the “2 Months, $2 Million” house, where, in a scene reminiscent of the “Man Show,” Emily’s friends began jumping on a trampoline.

In Commack, Rosenkrantz’s mother, Rona, explained that she wanted front row Barry Manilow tickets should the $2 million goal be met. Back in Sin City, the losing continued, as Roberts took on luckexpress10 in both Omaha and Hold’em. In Omaha, Roberts got it all-in with Q-Q-2-9 on a board of Q-7-9. However, luckexpress10 flipped up 8-J-10-10 and a running K-5 propelled him to victory with a straight. In Hold’em, Roberts ran K-7 into luckexpress10’s 4-5 on a board of 3-4-5-K to drop $104,000 total.

When the results were tallied for the week, Stern was down $2,000, Patel was down $16,000, Roberts was down $111,000, and Rosenkrantz brought home $1,000. The quartet had bled $128,000 for the week, but were still up $35,100 overall after five episodes. It was a heartbreaking loss for the squad, which is quickly running out of time to achieve its $2 million goal.

For the penalty stunt, Roberts had to perform stand up comedy at the L.A. Comedy Club at the Four Queens. His act consisted in part of poking fun at his housemates, including asking what Patel, a vegetarian, would actually eat. The night lifted Rosenkrantz’s spirits: “I was really burnt out on Vegas and an poker, but being here tonight made me realize there’s nowhere else I’d rather be this summer.”

“2 Months, $2 Million” airs at 8:00pm ET every Wednesday on G4 following “Attack of the Show” and replays throughout the week. Check your local listings for details.

Gus Hansen grinds back over $300k

It's no secret the Great Dane has been on a serious losing streak over the last couple of months. In fact, from July 1 to Sept. 14, Hansen has lost well over $2.5 million on Full Tilt's high-stakes tables.

This latest winning session doesn't put Hansen even remotely close to breaking even on the year, but it might give him the confidence needed to make a comeback.

The largest pot of the session saw Hansen get it all in on the flop against both Brian "tsarrast" Rast and Hac "trex313" Dang.

The $159k pot was awarded to Hansen after he hit one of his many outs on the river to beat Rast who held the lead on the turn with an overpair.

Along with Rast and Dang, Ashton "theASHMAN103" Griffin and Brian Hastings made up the majority of Hansen's opposition on the night.

But only Rast was able to win a pot worth over $100k against the Dane as, for the first time in months, Hansen truly ruled the tables with an iron fist.

Here are the three largest pots of the night. As usual you can find the rest of the night's action by clicking through to our MarketPulse section.

Just one of many outs.

Set holds.

The turn killed some of Rast's outs.

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Cole South gives heavy action

Out of the top ten largest pots of the night, South had his stack on the line in seven of them.

And with just one more win than loss it looks as though South made himself a small profit on the session.

Even though the profit was small, some would say showing any profit on the night is a triumph when considering his opposition: David Benyamine, Gus Hansen and Di "Urindanger" Dang.

The largest pot of the night, won by South, came in at just over $156k. As is commonly the case in Pot-Limit Omaha the hand played out as a suck-re-suck scenario.

South had the best of it on the flop matching his jack with two more on the board.

The turn gave Benyamine the lead, hitting one of two nines left in the deck to give him a full house.

However, one of South's remaining cards paired on the river giving him a larger full house, making for an easy call of Beyamine's all-in bet.

This pot was just one of many on the night; watch the three largest pots below, or head to MarketPulse to watch replays of all the night's action.

Suck-re-suck.

A dirty turn.

An expensive draw.

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Patrik Antonius in sick six-max action

With Antonius, Phil Ivey, durrrr, Urindanger and POKERBLUFFS filling the seats of multiple six-max $500/$1,000 NLHE tables, it was no surprise that some of the sickest action of the month was on display.

The top three pots alone were worth over $1.28 million and the next five largest totalled just over $1 million.

Patrik Antonius took top honors for the night, winning over $383k, thanks in large part to taking down the first, second and fourth largest pots.

The single biggest pot of the night came as a gift to Antonius after he flopped the nut flush against Tom "durrrr" Dwan. Although we don't know for sure what Dwan held, we do know it was good enough to call a final $163k on the river.

Losing this pot played a big part in why Dwan was down nearly $450k over the 363 hands played.

Check the replays below to watch the largest hands of the night, or head to our MarketPulse section to see the rest of the night's action.

A nice flop for Antonius.

A dirty river.

Top pair vs. overpair.

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Gus Hansen brings some gamble to the tables

It seems wherever Hansen goes, gamble is quick to follow. In his usual style Hansen was involved in 7 out of 10 of the biggest pots of the night.

He won the night's largest pot, worth $200,000, by flopping a boat and with both of the other players in the hand holding each other's outs, they where all but drawing dead.

The second largest pot of the night saw Hansen flop a wrap draw, but this time he was drawing dead to a 6 when Ashton "theASHMAN103" Griffin turned the big full: Aces over sixes.

Surprisingly, the third largest pot of the night had Hansen fold pre-flop letting Brian Hastings get his double-suited kings all in against Di "Urindanger" Dang's aces. Dang's hand held contributing to what appeared to be a painful night for Hastings.

Here are the three hands in question and you can always head over to our MarketPulse section to watch all of the gamble-laden action you desire.

Three-way setup.

4 way pre-flop all-in.

KK versus AA.

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George Danzer, Raymond Davis Capture PokerStars WCOOP Titles

PokerStars’ World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) continued to attract massive fields this week as each event went above and beyond its guaranteed prize pool. Despite the enormous turnouts, a couple well-known professionals managed to win tournaments in the year’s biggest online poker series.

PokerStars Team Pro member George Danzer took down the $320 6-max Pot-Limit Omaha (Event #19) on Thursday, besting a final table that included Shawn “sbuck21” Buchanan. Danzer defeated “kunkuu” heads up to collect his first WCOOP bracelet and $109,545. “Kunkuu” received $81,750 while Buchanan took third place for $62,130. Danzer is tied with “iacog4” for first place on the WCOOP leaderboard through 20 events.

Raymond “raydavis77” Davis claimed victory in the $320 Badugi (Event #15). Davis, who has more than $1.5 million in live tournament earnings, received $19,912 after making a deal with “bobsmith166” after the two reached heads-up play. Other big names at the Event #15 final table were Danny “THE__D__RY” Ryan (5th), Billy “crocky” Argyros (7th), and Jason “JP OSU” Potter (6th), who has two final appearances at this year’s WCOOP.

The most lucrative tournament of the week was the $530 No Limit Hold’em two-day event, which concluded on Monday. More than 6,000 players participated to generate a prize pool of $3,109,500 with the top 900 earning money. After nearly 23 hours of play over the two days, Hiren “hustla16” Patel walked away with the title after negotiating a three-way chop with “Juancesan” and “colonelkosta.” Patel earned $446,533 for the victory.

Other winners at the WCOOP this week were Thiago “XtheDecanoX” Decano, Ryan “g0lfa” D’Angelo and high-stakes online tournament regular “iCeVeNoM.” Here’s a look at the results from WCOOP events 10 through 20:

WCOOP #11 - $530 No-Limit Hold’em (2-day)
Entrants: 6,219

1. Hiren “hustla16” Patel - $446,533 (three-way chop)
2. Juancesan - $270,000
3. colonelkosta - $355,000
4. Daryl “aaaaaaaa” Jace - $171,022
5. fabstinho - $130,599
6. CONOW - $99,504
7. GypsieChris - $68,409
8. kidwhowon - $37,314
9. Shazmeister - $24,098

WCOOP #12 - $215 No-Limit Hold’em (4-max)
Entrants: 3,854

1. lebordelaii - $111,457
2. Catafract80 - $63,822
3. pejcao - $40,467
4. SebbyGI - $29,675

WCOOP #13 - $320 Stud
Entrants: 668

1. yhcaep - $33.814.50 (heads-up chop)
2. Ronja211 - $30,814
3. barrosa 50 - $20,040
4. DAVIDOXXX - $15,030
5. sonajero - $10,020
6. ez monney - $7,014
7. BIGtittitilt - $4,509
8. dolphin4 - $3,006

WCOOP #14 - $320 Mixed Hold’em (6-max)
Entrants: 1,564

1. dangdokodang - $70,727 (heads-up chop)
2. yadio - $60,564
3. DonkCommited - $42,201
4. drgonzo10978 - $28,134
5. viti45 - $18,756
6. Tom “SBRounder” West - $11,066

PokerStars WCOOP 15 - $320 Badugi
Entrants: 376

1. Raymond “raydavis77” Davis - $19,912 (heads-up chop)
2. bobsmith166 - $17,312
3. goleafsgo41 - $11,844
4. Cordelia - $8,460
5. Danny “THE__D__RY” Ryan - $5,640
6. Jason “JP OSU” Potter - $3,948
7. Billy “crocky” Argyros - $2,820
8. MadisonAce29 - $2,256

WCOOP #16 - $1,050 No-Limit Hold’em
Entrants: 1,558

1. Thiago “XtheDecanoX” Decano - $249,280
2. Adam “skilled_sox” Ewenstein - $186,960
3. Greg “DuckU” Hobson - $140,220
4. pedmend - $102,438.50
5. Joe “hoodini10” Udine - $74,005
6. O0Brian0O - $57,646
7. Holla10 - $42,066
8. cabbie182 - $27,265
9. amrasaralond - $15,580

WCOOP #17 - $530 NLHE Triple Shootout (10-max)
Entrants: 1,000

1. iCeVeNoM - $91,250
2. dynamoM - $63,500
3. TabberNackle - $47,250
4. Mumtum23 - $35,250
5. 6060606060 - $24,750
6. Vandiesel - $20,000
7. Bambeklis - $15,750
8. Jorge “twin-caracas” Arias - $12,500
9. blanconegro - $9,500
10. bestwoman127 - $7,000

WCOOP #18 - $320 8-Game
Entrants: 999

1. Ryan “g0lfa” D’Angelo - $50,250
2. vui-qua-di - $37,500
3. JohnSmith - $28,500
4. Aguskb - $19,500
5. Mark “The Omaholic” Roland - $12,870
6. johnny1430 - $9,000

WCOOP #19 - $320 Pot-Limit Omaha (6-max, 1 Rebuy/1 Add-on)
Entrants: 976

1. George Danzer - $109,545
2. kunkku - $81,750
3. Shawn “buck21” Buchanan - $62,130
4. TheTaker - $42,510
5. badbanker70 - $28,056
6. parksy1066 - $19,620

WCOOP #20 - $320 Limit Triple Draw 2-7
Entrants: 468

1. Timmy K - $26,676
2. Roc23rb - $19,656
3. Iteopepe88 - $14,931
4. TurnRiva - $9,828
5. Donkaroo22 - $7,020
6. Aaron “GambleAB” Bartley - $4,492

American Carter Phillips Wins EPT Barcelona

It was a nearly wire to wire performance for 20-year old Carter Phillips at the final table of the European Poker Tour’s (EPT) recent tournament in Barcelona. Phillips came into the last day of play on Wednesday atop the chip counts and stayed there, briefly relinquishing his chip lead only once the entire day. Phillips capped off a remarkable poker performance with a memorable three hour-long heads-up match against popular British pro Marc Goodwin that pitted an online pro against a longtime brick and mortar grinder for the title of EPT Barcelona Season Six Champion.

For the first time in the EPT’s six-year history the Barcelona event did not open the season and that honor was bestowed on the newly added EPT Kiev spot instead. Perhaps because players were fresh off participating in that EPT event, the Barcelona stop saw a significant drop in participants this year, falling from a field of 619 last year to 478 players this year. The 23% decline can also be attributed to a number of major tournaments running in Europe at the same time. The World Poker Tour’s (WPT) newly added international stops at Slovakia and Cyprus both overlapped the Barcelona event and the Partouche Poker Tour is running as well. This is also the first indication that the EPT could potentially suffer the same kind of drop off in numbers that has been occurring Stateside for over a year.

Smaller field aside, the event was still packed with a wealth of talent from the online poker world like newly signed PokerStars Pro and EPT winner Jason Mercier, Lex “RasZi” Veldhuis, Faraz “The-Toliet” Jaka, Joe Serock and November Nine member Joe Cada. The live pros also turned out in full force with Full Tilt Pro Roland de Wolfe, Katja Thater, Freddy Deeb, Daniel Negreanu and “Miami” John Cernuto taking part as well.

As the field dwindled, there were five former EPT champions who all were making a run at another title. De Wolfe, Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier Jens Kyllonen, and Jan Boubli and Michael “Timex” McDonald all made it to the final three tables of the event. It was the youngest of the past winners, McDonald, who came the closest to the final table with an 11th place finish. It looked as though this year’s LA Poker Classic winner Cornell Andrew Cimpan was final table bound as well, but he was eliminated shortly after McDonald in 10th place.

While proven champions were falling left and right, Phillips was proving himself as a dangerous and talented young poker player. The American won three satellites into the event and chopped one of the smaller buy-in side events in Barcelona already and his hot streak carried over into the Main Event. His huge bluff with 6-8 against Goodwin’s A-K on an ace high board was the talk of the tournament room as play wound down and the final table was set.

The final table got off to a slow start as the mid-level stacks laid low waiting for the shortest-stacked players to bust. Gergios Kapalas was the first player eliminated, but the next one to fall actually started the day third in chips. Matt Lapossie developed a reputation for relentless aggression during his time in Spain and it was that aggression that led to his demise in 7th place when he shoved all-in holding J-4 to Toni Ojala’s pocket queens.

Local favorite Santiago Terrazas came into the final table with one of the shortest stacks, but he doubled up and picked up enough pots to end up in the final three. A Spanish EPT Barcelona was not in the cards though and his elimination set up the heads-up showdown between Goodwin and Phillips.

After battling back and forth for hours it would be a bluff that kept Goodwin from his first EPT title. Except this time it was Goodwin trying to pull off the semi-bluff while Phillips held top pair. With the board reading K-5-4-Q moved all-in for his last 4 million chips—nearly a million more than what was in the pot—and Phillips agonized over the decision before calling with K-J. Goodwin showed A-10 for a gutshot straight draw and when an ace or jack failed to materialize on the river, Phillips was the new EPT Barcelona Champion.

Here are the complete results from Wednesday’s final table:

1st: Carter Phillips - €850,000
2nd: Marc Goodwin - €530,000
3rd: Santiago Terrazas - €300,000
4th: Mihai Manole - €250,000
5th: Asa Smith - €200,000
6th: Toni Ojala - €160,000
7th: Matt Lapossie - €120,000
8th: Georgios Kapalas - €80,000

WCOOP Day 6: Thiago “XTheDecanoX” Decano, “Dangdokodang” and Raymond “raydavis77” Davis Earn Bracelets

Day 6 of the 2009 World Championship of Online Poker at PokerStars crowned three new WCOOP champions and was highlighted by a $1,050 No-Limit Hold 'em affair. It started with 1,558 hopefuls Tuesday evening and ended on Wednesday morning with Thiago...

Veldhuis goes vertical at EPT Barcelona

Using the hyper-aggressive style he showed on the recent ESPN WSOP Main Event Day 1a broadcast, he rushed out to a massive chip lead and will look to better his seventh-place finish at the WSOP's $40k anniversary event as the Spanish leg of the EPT moves on.

"I was like 20 minutes late today and when I finally sat down I won big pot after big pot," Veldhuis told PokerListings. "I had a few set ups in my favor, but I did have one that didn't go my way. I ran ace-king into aces, but my sick running hotness evened things out."

Watching Veldhuis play is rarely boring. Known as RaSZi online, he can often be found mixing it up in as many as half a dozen hands an orbit and three betting ultra-light in a fearless attempt to amass a massive stack as quickly as he can.

However, he claims there is a method to his madness.

"It's so table dependant," he explained. "Sometimes I'll do that, but it will have to be at a really tight table where there is a lot of scared money. This table today I've been playing kind of tight. The people at the table are kind of familiar with my style of play, so I cannot play so erratically.

"I have to hope I catch some hands, play a little tighter than they expect, show up with a hand more often and trick them into calling - which was happening a lot more often today."

This bait-and-switch style of poker is something Veldhuis says he's hoping he can learn to do a little more as his career in the game continues.

"I have a lot of self control problems," he explained. "Usually I think I'm going to play really tight because these people know me and then I just go crazy the whole day.

"It's something I should learn and implement in my game more, because when people are familiar with my crazy style, I can tighten up. I guess I'm still learning to do that."

His performance in the WSOP has been discussed ad nauseam on the online poker forums, with Veldhuis being vilified for raising with any two and showing a number of massive bluffs.

But, again, despite the fact it appeared like uncontrollable aggression, Veldhuis says it was all a part of a plan.

"I really think the reason I could keep bluffing was because I kept showing the bluffs," he said. "They were thinking I wouldn't do it again and they kept folding.

"I really think I coerced them into folding by showing the bluffs. I think if I wouldn't have shown any bluffs I would have gotten called more in the end.  People get curious."

And as far as those who disagreed with his cocky style are concerned, Veldhuis is less than concerned.

"It doesn't really matter if people agree or disagree with my style," he said. "When people say nice stuff it's good to hear, when they say bad stuff that's their opinion. But it is kind of strange when they call me a douche bag or a scum bag."

Like him or not, when Veldhuis builds a big stack early in a tournament like he has here at EPT Barcelona, he's a dangerous player.

"When I have a 100,000 chip stack I feel like I can have a 30,000 chip buffer and still have a better than average stack if I lose it," he said.

"So I have like 30,000 to play around with. When it's done I'll play a little tighter, but until then I try and put a lot of pressure on people and I seek out the people that also have big stacks, because they won't really want to get it in with me in a marginal spot.

"The bigger the stack, the bigger the pressure, because you can basically knock anyone out."

Veldhuis' run at EPT Barcelona glory will continue Sunday at 12:30 p.m. CEST and PokerListings will have comprehensive coverage on our Live Tournaments page.

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Ziigmund vs durrrr on Full Tilt Poker

Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies did a fine job yesterday as he took down $600.000 on Full Tilt Poker.

Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies

Ilari Sahamies tought few lessons to Tom Dwan in heads up yesterday. Ziigmund showed his skills when he won about $400k during few hundrend hands. Sahamies has been winning nicely lately.

Patrik Antonius made some nice money as well as he was able to make $120k profit. He had the honor to win the biggest pot which was nearly $300.000.

Tom Dwan was the biggest loser again. He has dug a deep, deep hole. He was able to lose -$865k and is down -$1.1 million for the week. Dwan’s downswing seems to hol.

Couple of Ziigmund’s hands:

Set holds against a wrap, $150k

All in on the flop, monster draw hits, $105k

Durrrr has some strouble, $108k

And some Antonius’ hands:

Antonius flops a set and Phil Galfond pays up, $295k

Patrik vs Phil Galfond again, $111k

Top3 winners:
1. Ziigmund     $607,000
2. Urindanger $338,000
3. DIN_FRU     $181,000

Top3 losers:
1. durrrr                       $-865,700
2. David Oppenheim   $-176,000
3. bixiu                         $-165,000

Source: highstakesdb

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Ziigmund vs durrrr on Full Tilt Poker

durrrr Challenge: Good news and bad

The latest durrrr Challenge session was anti-climatic at best, with a little over $37 million wagered in 458 hands and a $26k win for Dwan that was barely worth writing home about.

The win does put Dwan down a little over $39k for the challenge, which is now 46% complete.

However, the real high-stakes action came on the $300/$600 Pot-Limit Omaha and $500/$1,000 No-Limit Hold'em tables last night.

Although other players came and went during the session, Dwan has Di "Urindanger" Dang to thank for the majority of his losses.

Unlike many sessions which have one or two massive pots, most of Dwan's losses were recorded in pots worth less than $100k. Apparently, no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't win a hand.

Dwan appears to be a player who doesn't take losing well and chances are you will see him going full throttle at the tables again tonight.

Keep your browser tuned to MarketPulse to stay on top of the action.

durrrr Challenge by the numbers:

• 14,474,311,120: Number of hands dealt on Full Tilt as of 10:37PST 9/4/2009
• 178,255,830: Total amount wagered in the challenge
• 39,287: Amount durrrr is behind
• 23,197: Total hands played so far
• 5,000: Price of AEJones' poker book
• 46: Percentage of challenge completed
• 0: Times Antonius has called Dwan "durrrrballs"

Three hands of interest:

Suuuuuck out.

A night of flips.

Outflopped.

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PartyPoker gives the phrase “playing with air” a whole new meaning

Danish players have the reputation for playing with reckless abandon. That description usually just describes their penchant for aggressive moves while holding fresh air not actually playing in the fresh air. But that is exactly what will happen in Poker In The Sky where 22-players will be dangling on a table at the end of a crane suspended 150 feet above the ground.

Youth Over Experience - High-Stakes Report From August

August was the railbird’s heaven as the high-stake games were hot at least on Full Tilt Poker. August’s highlights were Swedish “martonas” and Ashton “theASHMAN103″ Griffin who had a great month.

Ashton Griffin

Last month’s theme seemed to be youth vs. experience as the top winners are very young players. Top winner was Ashton “theASHMAN103″ Griffin who managed to win $2.6 million. Also few other young players won over a million; Cole South, Brian Hastings and the fresh face, David “POKERBLUFFS” Eldar. Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies had a nice month as well, winning almost $400k.

Biggest losers were the more experienced players like Gus Hansen with over two million dollar losses. “DIN_FRU”, who is rumored to be Eric Sagström, lost almost two million as well. With over a million losses came Patrik Antonius and Di “Urindanger” Dang.

“Martonas”, who has made lots of publicity and fuss, was eventually left over $750k minus. Tom Dwan had a swinging month and ended up -$586k. Tom Dwan and “martonas” had the honor of playing the last games in the end of the month and after the games Dwan took down three of the biggest pots in August, including one over $600k pot.

Source: highstakesdb

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Youth Over Experience - High-Stakes Report From August

Martonas Loses $1.4 Million on Full Tilt Poker

This weekend, the high-stakes action at the Full Tilt nosebleed tables was relatively calm compared to the Pot Limit Omaha (PLO) frenzy that transpired last weekend.  The slow action of Friday and Saturday brought an anticlimactic end to a week that saw the return of Durrrr Challenge play, a big winning week for Ashton “THEASHMAN103″ Griffin, and a substantial loss for the player known as “martonas.”

The bulk of martonas‘ $1.4 million downswing came at the hands of Tom “durrrr” Dwan and Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond last Friday at the $300/$600 PLO tables.  Martonas clashed with durrrr in two massive hands, one worth over $280,000 and another that sent $460,000 durrrr’s way.  In the latter hand, the two got it all-in on the flop with martonas holding a massive combination flush and straight draw to durrrr’s nut flush draw.  The river brought the third diamond to complete the flush and give durrrr the best hand.

It was a big night for durrrr, who picked up $1 million in profit.  Galfond also found success in last Friday’s session, bringing his end-of-day winnings to over $800,000.  Like durrrr, he also picked up a chunk of his bankroll off of martonas.  Meanwhile, martonas ended the day down nearly $1 million and that was not the end of his misfortune.  He dropped an additional $600,000 on Monday and, despite winning sessions on Sunday and Tuesday, ended the week as the big loser on Full Tilt with a $1.4 million loss from Friday, August 21st to Saturday, August 29th.

Other players who ended up in the losing column during that time include both Di “Urindanger” Dang and his brother Hac “trex313″ Dang, who each dropped in the vicinity of $300,000.  Several Full Tilt Red Pros didn’t fare too well this week, either.  David Benyamine, Haseeb Qureshi, David Oppenheim, and Gus Hansen all came out of the week in the red with six-figure losses.

While those sponsored pros had a rough week, several other names in red came out in the black, most notably Patrik Antonius.  He picked up much of his $500,000 in profit from two epic Durrrr Challenge sessions in which he was able to completely erase durrrr’s $726,000 overall lead in their infamous bet.  Now, Antonius is sitting with a slight lead of $76,104 and half-million dollars more in his Full Tilt account.  Richard Ashby and Phil Ivey also booked respectable weeks with profits of $190,000 and $163,000, respectively.

The big success story of the week is THEASHMAN103, who found himself up nearly $900,000 at week’s end.  His $1 million winning session on the tables on Tuesday resulted in the majority of that profit.  THEASHMAN103 continues to be one of the big winners of 2009 on Full Tilt Poker along with Antonius, CardRunners instructor Cole “cts” South, and Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies.  Ziigmund had an impressive week himself, with $725,000 in winnings.

If this weekend is any indication, the fast and furious action on Full Tilt Poker may be hitting a lull.  With the live tournament schedule picking up and continuing high-stakes action in Bobby’s Room at the Bellagio, perhaps the attention of many players is diverted.  In his latest blog post, Doyle Brunson spoke of “insane” action at the Bellagio, so that could explain part of the dip in action at the online nosebleed tables.  Only time will tell if action will pick back up shortly, when Durrrr Challenge play will resume, and if martonas can rebound from his rough week at the tables.

Martonas Shakes Up High-Stakes Games on Full Tilt

A newcomer joined the high-stakes cash games on Full Tilt Poker in August and has captivated the online poker world like we haven’t seen in quite some time. The player, who hails from Sweden, goes by the moniker “martonas” and has already clashed with Tom “durrrr” Dwan, Phil Ivey, Patrik Antonius, Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond, David Benyamine, Brian Hastings, and many others at some of the biggest No Limit Hold ‘em and Pot Limit Omaha games on the site.

Whenever an unknown makes an appearance in the nosebleed games it is automatically assumed that it’s either a high-stakes pro attempting to hide his or her identity or a wealthy novice taking a shot against poker’s best (much like billionaire Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberte, who has lost millions playing on Full Tilt Poker). Either way, it attracts the sharks, and there has been no exception in the case of “martonas”, who has taken million dollar swings in 19 sessions since August 10th.

Speculation from the online poker community has linked the “martonas” account to several possible high-stakes regulars from Sweden, including Martin de Kniff, Jonas Danielsson, Bengt Sonnert, and a player with the online name Blom90, who came out of nowhere to obliterate the high-stakes No Limit games on the iPoker network early in 2009. Most of the talk has surrounded de Kniff and Danielsson, as Martin is rumored to be staking the young Swede. Danielsson regularly plays the biggest cash games on Ladbrokes as “nebuchad”.

Up until now, there hasn’t been enough information to confirm either of their connection to the “martonas” account.

The mysterious Swedish player went on a spectacular rush when he or she first burst onto the scene this month, taking close to $900,000 in a $500/1000 No Limit Hold ‘em session on August 14th. Phil Ivey, Patrik Antonius and Cole South each had substantial losses to “martonas”, which would go on to win $1.3 million by August 17th.

The nature of high-stakes cash games revealed its ugly face shortly after and it’s all gone downhill since. According to pokertableratings.com, “martonas” lost more than $2.7 million during a lengthy session on August 18th, most of which went to Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond, Full Tilt Team Pro member Brian Hastings, and Tom “durrrr” Dwan. Galfond made more than $800,000 from the Swede at both the NLHE and PLO tables while Hastings’ winnings were over $600,000. But it was “durrrr” who did most of the damage. More than $2.8 million of the “martonas” bankroll went to Dwan, who has now recouped all of his losses on Full Tilt Poker from the year.

“Martonas” lost $314,000 in their most recent session on August 21. Dwan, Benyamine, Galfond, Di “urindanger” Dang, and Ashton “theASHMAN103″ Griffin were all there to pick apart the newcomer and “martonas” hasn’t been seen on the site since. The player has lost close to $2 million on Full Tilt overall. Whether or not “martonas” went bust or is simply taking a break remains to be seen, but the top players in the game certainly look forward to a return.

Poker News Daily will continue to investigate the identity of “martonas” and will follow up with any addition info we can gather about the player. Stay tuned!