Posts Tagged ‘Daniel Negreanu’
ESPN March Poker Player Rankings Released
Tuesday, ESPN.com released the March version of "The Nuts," its ranking of the top ten poker players in the world. The list does not simply rank the best living players, but rather aims to determine who is currently playing the best poker. All variations of poker are considered – live and online, tournaments and cash games. Poker News Daily's own Dan Cypra is one of the members of the voting panel, along with ESPN.com writers Gary Wise, Andrew Feldman, and Poker News Daily Guest Columnist Bernard Lee, Bluff Magazine's Editor-In-Chief Lance Bradley and Senior Writer Jessica Welman, PokerNews Editor-In-Chief Matthew Parvis, and tournament reporter Don Peters, and PokerRoad's Court Harrington.
This is the fourth month for "The Nuts" and for the fourth month, the seemingly peerless Phil Ivey sits atop the rankings. He did not have any significant live poker tournament success in February, but his cash game prowess is still second to none. While the rankings are a measure of who is the best "right now," the panel's focus is not so narrow as to limit evaluation to just a single month. Ivey gets credit for his outstanding results in the months leading up to the most recent vote.
Jason Mercier, one of the best players that the general poker public may have never heard of, moved up one spot to number two. In February, the Floridian made the quarterfinals of the National Heads-Up Poker Championship and placed third in the WPT L.A. Poker Classic's High-Roller event. When he found out that he had climbed to the second spot, Mercier was excited, telling ESPN.com, "It's pretty cool [to be No. 2]. I think that I've reached as high as I can go. I don't think I have any chance of beating out Ivey."
The biggest riser among last month's top ten was Tom "durrrr" Dwan, who was number eight in February and is now number three. Dwan doesn't have any notches in his tournament belt recently, but he has been destroying the online cash games, as he usually does. He made $2.7 million in the month leading up to the current vote, much of it off Patrik Antonius in the Durrrr Challenge.
Speaking of Antonius, his poor cash results resulted in him dropping in the rankings from second to fifth.
New to "The Nuts" this month are Cole South and Scott Seiver. South has been tearing up cash games to the tune of $2.5 million in profit this year, while Seiver won the L.A. Poker Classic High-Roller event and placed fourth in the North American Poker Tour (NAPT) Venetian High-Roller Bounty Shootout.
Dropping from the rankings were Bertrand "Elky" Grospellier and Jeffrey Lisandro, who were ninth and tenth, respectively, in February.
ESPN.com "The Nuts" Poker Player Rankings – March 2010
- Phil Ivey
- Jason Mercier
- Tom "durrrr" Dwan
- Daniel Negreanu
- Patrik Antonius
- Yevgeniy "Jovial Gent" Timoshenko
- Daniel Alaei
- Eric "basebaldy" Baldwin
- Cole South
- Scott Seiver
Greg “FBT” Mueller, Yevgeniy Timoshenko Among WPT Bay 101 Day 1A Leaders
Two players on recent hot streaks are among the chip leaders after Day 1A of the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) Bay 101 Shooting Star tournament. A total of 17 bounties took to the field on Day 1A, with 25 more expected today.
Greg “FBT” Mueller won two bracelets during the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP), coming out on top in the $10,000 World Championship of Limit Hold’em for $460,000 and a $1,500 Limit Hold’em Shootout for another $195,000. Moreover, he made a third final table, taking seventh place in the World Championship of Seven Card Stud for $53,000. All told, Mueller logged one of the most successful WSOP showings in history and is up to his winning ways once again in San Jose, California, the site of Bay 101.
Mueller sent Shooting Star and recent WPT Southern Poker Championship winner Hoyt Corkins out on Monday. The DoylesRoom pro was all-in before the flop with A-K, but Mueller, who is also a Shooting Star, picked up pocket aces. The board ran out Q-8-4-9-9 and Corkins signed over a commemorative shirt. Mueller also laid claim to the $5,000 cash bonus. The former hockey player has the second largest chip stack after Day 1A at 132,800, trailing only chip leader Vanna Tea’s 143,900.
Yevgeniy “Jovial Gent” Timoshenko is the reigning WPT Championship winner and also took down the 2009 PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) Main Event for $1.7 million. In 2008, Timoshenko found the winner’s circle of the Asian Poker Tour’s (APT) Macau Main Event for $500,000. Timoshenko, a Shooting Star, owned the fourth largest stack when play wrapped up for the night on Monday at 97,600. A total of 53 players remained of the 136 who entered.
Timoshenko dropped a portion of his stack late in the day. He led out for 6,900 into a pot of 10,000 on a board reading K-8-4-6-5. Team PokerStars Pro front man Daniel Negreanu made the call and turned over 5-4 of hearts for two pair. Timoshenko had K-J for top pair and was a victim of a less-than-stellar river card. The hand boosted Negreanu to 50,000 in chips, but he ended the day with just 19,600, the 48th largest stack.
The first Shooting Star to depart was T.J. Cloutier, who shoved on a flop of A-J-4 holding pocket queens. Wade Griffith held A-J in the hand for top two pair and Cloutier failed to improve on the turn or river. Griffith finished in 42nd place after Day 1A with a stack of 30,000 chips.
Besides Mueller, Timoshenko and Negreanu, the Shooting Stars who survived the day were Mike Matusow (39th place with 35,100), Freddy Deeb (41st place with 30,800), and Steve Brecher (51st place with 10,800). Here are the top 10 chip stacks after the first of two starting days at Bay 101:
1. Vanna Tea - 143,900
2. Greg Mueller - 132,800
3. Oddie Dardon - 105,500
4. Yevgeniy “Jovial Gent” Timoshenko - 97,600
5. Joseph Elpayaa - 87,300
6. Scott Montgomery - 84,800
7. Chris “Fox” Wallace - 84,100
8. Bruce Kramer - 81,200
9. Daniel LaFrance - 79,400
10. Tyson Marks - 74,000
When play wrapped up for the day, the action was in Level 9, where the blinds were 300-600 with an ante of 75. No Shooting Star has ever won Bay 101 since it became part of the WPT in 2004.
As an added bonus, Tea pocketed a $10,000 cash prize for leading the pack after Day 1A; the leader after Day 1B will also collect $10,000. The cards hit the air at 10:45am PT this morning.
Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest WPT results.
High Stakes Poker: $1 Million Vegetarian Prop Bet Agreed To
Large pots were few and far between on Sunday night’s episode of the GSN series “High Stakes Poker.” Instead, a vegetarian prop bet between Full Tilt Poker pros Phil Ivey and Tom “durrrr” Dwan took center stage.
After being discussed non-stop for a half-hour of the 60-minute program, the vegetarian prop bet was finally agreed upon. Ultimately, Ivey would become a vegetarian for one year for $1 million. In a sit-down interview with “High Stakes Poker” hostess Kara Scott, Ivey told viewers, “I was thinking about doing it for a while, so this is an added incentive.” Dwan was confident that he’d win the bet, but nonetheless expressed a degree of doubt: “He’s got a lot of will power and he might go out and prove me wrong.” Any creature that moves is off limits for Ivey.
Back on the felts, Ivey proved why he’s one of the top names in the game by raising to $3,000 pre-flop with 7-2 and receiving four callers. The flop came 4-9-A with two hearts and Ivey put in a $12,000 continuation bet. Italian poker stud Dario Minieri, who held 10-8 of hearts, came along to see another ace hit the turn. Ivey bet out $30,000 and Minieri folded. “High Stakes Poker” host Gabe Kaplan commented, “Most players would turn over the 7-2 there, but not Phil Ivey.”
Then, Team PokerStars Pro front man Daniel Negreanu raised to $3,000 with 9-6 of hearts and Eli Elezra came along with 9-8 of diamonds. The flop came 10-5-7, giving both players straight draws, and Negreanu bet $5,500. Elezra pushed the action to $13,000 and Negreanu came along to see a king on the turn. Elezra checked and Negreanu accidentally exposed his nine while reaching for a stack of $100 bills. He promptly checked and an eight hit on the river, filling his straight. Negreanu bet $20,000 and Elezra tanked before folding. Negreanu told the table, “That was the weirdest hand I’ve ever played.”
Minieri was overly active throughout the episode and set the tone after Gus Hansen made it $3,500 pre-flop with A-8. Minieri, sensing weakness, made it $11,500 with A-9. Then, fireworks went of, as Hansen re-raised to $35,500 and Minieri shoved all-in for $213,000. Hansen quickly mucked, leaving Kaplan to remark, “That’s either a good read or a moment of insanity.” Negreanu would later try to force an all-in from Minieri when “Kid Poker” held pocket aces, but the Italian instead folded.
In one of the larger pots of the episode, which aired at 8:00pm ET on Sunday on GSN, Ivey raised to $3,000 with pocket eights, Negreanu called with A-7 of spades, and Dwan called with Q-J. The flop came A-J-4, and Ivey checked his pocket pair. Negreanu led out for $8,000 with top pair, while Dwan made the call with middle pair. Ivey got out of the way and a queen hit the turn to improve Dwan to two pair. Negreanu fired out a bet of $18,000 and Dwan called. The duo both checked a river five, shipping the $63,800 pot to Dwan.
In the final hand of the hour, Elezra raised to $3,000 with 9-7, Negreanu called with Q-9, and Dwan called with K-Q. The flop fell K-8-10 and Elezra put in a $7,200 continuation bet with an open-ended straight draw. Dwan came along with top pair to bring a jack on the turn, filling Eleza’s straight. However, with three spades now on the board, the action went check-check. The river was a six and Dwan bet $8,400. Elezra raised to $28,400 and Dwan released his hand.
Next time, four “High Stakes Poker” players get felted and an epic hand brews between Dwan and Ivey. New episodes of “High Stakes Poker” air on Sunday nights at 8:00pm ET on GSN.
Daniel Negreanu names top ten hardest tournaments
Poker Predictions for 2010 by Mike Sexton
2009 was an amazing poker year. The first thing that jumps out at me is the continuing trend of young guys doing so well in live events. The two biggest events of the year were won by 21 year-olds. Yevgeniy Timoshenko captured the World Poker Tour (WPT) World Championship and Joe Cada won the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event. They were the youngest players to ever win those events. By now, you must recognize that internet poker has developed a tremendous crux of terrific poker players and they continue to prove themselves in the biggest live events in the world.
I carried the torch for the old guys in 2009, the highlight being my induction into the Poker Hall of Fame on November 7th. The Poker Hall of Fame is the one area in poker that old guys have a big edge.
I am happy to point out that two well-known, experienced, high-stakes players had the best WSOP in 2009. Three bracelets and the best all-around player award went to Jeff Lisandro and poker superstar Phil Ivey won two bracelets and made the final table of the Main Event. You have to salute both those guys.
A real buzz was created in 2009 by the nosebleed high-stakes games online. It's difficult to follow the swings these guys take, which amounted to millions of dollars per week. These guys have moxy (a polite way of saying “balls”) that is hard to believe.
It's always exciting to think about what's ahead for the poker world. Here are some things I believe will happen in 2010:
1. The young guys will continue to dominate the big events in poker. I say that because the big events take at least four or five days to play and I believe the younger guys can handle those long, tough, consecutive sessions better than the older guys. Generally speaking, when stamina plays a role in something, young guys fare better.
2. The direction of online poker will finally come out of the "gray area." I believe that legislation will finally come forth in some fashion, so we'll know whether or not online poker will become regulated. If it's not on the federal level, I believe you'll see individual states, starting with California, attempt to legislate and regulate online poker.
3. More countries around the world will individually regulate online poker like Italy and France are doing. For those who may not know, those countries are legalizing online poker, but you can only play against players from your own country. This is the model I believe that individual U.S. states will follow.
4. The WPT will expand its brand worldwide with more live tournaments in more countries around the world. Party Gaming purchased the WPT, which bodes well for poker players around the world. Players can qualify online for these events at PartyPoker.com and, hopefully, other sites as well.
5. The enforcement of Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) will come to an end.
6. Here's a good thing: Far more money will be raised through poker charity events than has been in the past. PokerGives.org is designating September "Poker Charity Month," where numerous live casinos as well as online sites will hold charity events for PokerGives.org. In my mind, benefiting worthwhile charities is a big plus for the entire poker industry and players, management, and casinos should all do more to support charity events.
7. Two players will win two bracelets at the 2010 WSOP and no one will win three. I don't know who they will be, but I know who I'd bet on to do it.
8. I'm afraid that the trend will continue for women on the WPT. They won't win a $10,000 buy-in or higher event in 2010. There just aren't enough aggressive women in poker to favor them winning a WPT event. Incidentally, I hope I'm wrong about this prediction. Go ladies!
9. Two people will be inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in 2010. The top candidates are Erik Seidel, Barry Greenstein, Phil Ivey, Daniel Negreanu, and Tom McEvoy. Who do you like?
10. Championship poker events will continue to thrive and television will continue to play a major role in bringing more players into the poker world.
Best of luck to everyone in 2010!
Tags: 2009, 2010, Barry Greenstein, charity, Daniel Negreanu, ladies, legal, legalizing, Online Poker, Phil Ivey, poker player, tournament, women, WSOP
Poker in Twitter: Palin on “The Tonight Show,” National Heads-Up Poker Championship Draw
In the world of poker, one of the best ways to keep up with your favorite players is through their Twitter feeds. These 140 character comments from the best in the game today can be sometimes shocking, sometimes hilarious, but always entertaining. Poker News Daily peruses the Twitterverse to capture the latest hijinks from all of your favorites.
Earlier this week during the taping of “Poker2Nite” for the Versus network, host Joe Sebok and recent World Poker Tour (WPT) Invitational final table player Trishelle Cannatella apparently had quite the argument, which ended with Cannatella storming off the set of the show. Video of what occurred has not only appeared on Twitter, but also has been picked up across the internet. While some may say that the argument was staged, on Twitter both sides made it seem serious.
Cannatella popped a Tweet aimed at Sebok, saying “Such a jerk face!!” Sebok seemed to be more than apologetic when he Tweeted in reply, “omg! I'm sorry! Didn't mean it!.” Perhaps alleviating the tension was poker player Alex Outhred, who chirped to the “Poker2Nite” producers the potential reasons for Cannatella's hissy fit, “a) @joesebok called @TrishelleC Lacey... Or b) she only came bc she heard I was there in Lacey drag. She's disappointed.”
Outside of the “Poker2Nite” studios, other poker players were partaking of the return of comedian Jay Leno to “The Tonight Show.” Leno, who reappeared on the legendary late night television show on Monday, has had A-list celebrities appearing this week in an attempt to draw back his late night audience. Former Alaska governor Sarah Palin was the featured guest on Wednesday evening and the poker world was quick to grade her.
“Lord Jesus, I never knew watching Sarah Palin do 'comedy' on the Tonight Show could be this painful. Team CoCo 4 life, yo,” was the reaction over Twitter from “Hollywood” Dave Stann after watching the former Republican Vice Presidential nominee on the show. Brad “Yukon” Booth was also a bit dismissive of Palin when he Tweeted, “Watching Jay Leno interview Sarah Palin is like watching a scene of 'Dumb & Dumber' except it's sad not funny.”
As the weekend approached, the poker community was focused on two ongoing events. In Berlin, the European Poker Tour (EPT) was in full swing with two of the top female poker players in the game today Tweeting the proceedings. England's Vicky Coren was torturing the players at her table, Tweeting, “One guy threw his jacks away so angrily and violently I couldn't resist showing the bluff. I feel bad now. I never do that.” It seemed that Germany's Katja Thater was in a giving mood during the tournament when she Tweeted, “I am the master of doubling up the short stacks...now I look myself for a double up.” Unfortunately, neither lady was able to last into Day Three of the event, which will crown a champion this weekend.
Thursday evening brought the draw party for the National Heads-Up Poker Championship, which will also be contested this weekend. “Headed down to Pure for the NBC HU draw party and I'm hoping to NOT draw one of the 7 qualifiers or a woman. Record going into #6 is 7-5,” Tweeted Daniel Negreanu as he prepared for the draw. “Kid Poker's” luck wouldn't be good, as he learned he would play one of the hottest players in the game today in the first round. “Super tough match for me in Jason Mercier. I have a tough bracket Gavin (Smith), Ivey, Scotty (Nguyen), Hachem, Chan, Durr, Laak, Juanda, Sexton, deKorver,” Negreanu later Tweeted. A winner will be crowned on Sunday.
As for Tweet of the Week, two contenders battle it out. Poker Royalty super agent Brian Balsbaugh was in attendance for the National Heads-Up Poker Championship draw and pointed out a shocking bit of trivia for his followers, Tweeting, “Overheard at NBC HU draw party: I just realized if a bomb went off here, (Hustler magazine founder) Larry Flynt would be the best poker player in the world.” Anthrax's Scott Ian handed out a bit of poker wisdom over his Twitter account as he played late last night. With an accompanying Tweetpic, Ian stated, “Just took this sick beat @ultimate_bet. Did I cry? Did I bitch? Did I quit poker? Nope. It's poker. Get over it.”
Poker News Daily adds to the chirping on Twitter, so add @pokernewsdaily to keep in touch with the world of poker on Twitter.
2010 National Heads-Up Poker Championship Bracket Set
The field of 64 is set in the National Heads-Up Poker Championship, which will air on NBC. One of the highlights of the opening round is a titanic showdown between PokerStars pros Jason Mercier and Daniel Negreanu, who have both been on a hot streak.
Mercier and Negreanu made the final table of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Europe Main Event last year. Mercier finished fourth in the £10,000 buy-in poker tournament, while Negreanu fell heads-up to CardPlayer Magazine owner Barry Shulman after entering as the short stack. Mercier and Negreanu collected £267,000 and £495,000 for their efforts, respectively. Both are bracelet winners and members of Team PokerStars Pro.
Mercier enters the National Heads-Up Poker Championship, which is emanating from Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, on a high note. Last week, the Florida native took third in the L.A. Poker Classic’s High-Roller event for $141,000. In December, Mercier won a $5,000 HORSE event during the Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic for $100,000. Negreanu made waves during the recent PartyPoker Premier League, finishing fourth at the final table. Heading into Thursday’s draw party, Negreanu Tweeted his desired first round opponent: “Headed down to Pure for the NBC HU draw party and I'm hoping to NOT draw one of the 7 qualifiers or a woman. Record going into #6 is 7-5.”
Meanwhile, two titans of the online poker industry will tangle, as 13 bracelets will meet when Full Tilt Poker front man Howard Lederer takes on UB.com bad boy Phil Hellmuth. Lederer was fourth on Bluff Magazine’s recent Power 20 list, while Hellmuth leads the all-time bracelet count with 11. Both have crafty nicknames, as “The Professor” will take on “The Poker Brat” in a high-stakes first round encounter.
In an all-female first round showdown, Full Tilt Poker’s Jennifer Harman is paired up with actress Jennifer Tilly. A total of seven women will make their way to Caesars Palace in Las Vegas today for first round action. Joining Harman and Tilly to add estrogen to the field are Annie Duke, Annette Dworski, Annette “Annette_15” Obrestad, Vanessa Rousso, and Kara Scott. Six women took to the field in 2009, including Rousso, who finished as the runner-up to Huck Seed.
Those in the hunt for the title range between 21 (Obrestad) and 76 years-old (Doyle Brunson). The tournament hits television airwaves on NBC beginning on April 18th and will run for six consecutive Sundays. The ultimate survivor of the single elimination heads-up tournament pockets $500,000, while its runner-up takes home a cool $250,000. Here’s a look at the first round match-ups in the 2010 National Heads-Up Poker Championship:
Clubs Bracket – Top Half
Patrik Antonius vs Chris Moneymaker
Leo Wolpert vs Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin
David Williams vs Joe Cada
Erik Seidel vs Huck Seed
Clubs Bracket – Bottom Half
Dan Ramirez vs Erick Lindgren
Peter Eastgate vs Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier
Stephen Quinn vs Ted Forrest
Dario Minieri vs Jamie Gold
Spades Bracket – Top Half
Gavin Smith vs Phil Ivey
Richard Edwards vs Scotty Nguyen
Shawn “westtexasman” Rice vs Joe Hachem
Gabe Kaplan vs Johnny Chan
Spades Bracket – Bottom Half
Daniel Negreanu vs Jason Mercier
Pieter de Korver vs Mike Sexton
Phil Gordon vs Tom “durrrr” Dwan
Phil Laak vs John Juanda
Hearts Bracket – Top Half
Jesper Hougaard vs Allen Cunningham
Eli Elezra vs Greg “FBT” Mueller
Annette Dworski vs Chris Ferguson
Kara Scott vs Dennis Phillips
Hearts Bracket – Bottom Half
Brock “t soprano” Parker vs Doyle Brunson
J.P. Kelly vs Don Cheadle
Howard Lederer vs Phil Hellmuth
Annette “Annette_15” Obrestad vs Orel Hershiser
Diamonds Bracket – Top Half
Barry Greenstein vs Vanessa Rousso
Sammy Farha vs Antonio Esfandiari
Jennifer Harman vs Jennifer Tilly
Jerry Yang vs Mike Matusow
Diamonds Bracket – Bottom Half
Darvin Moon vs Bill Huntress
Andy Bloch vs Annie Duke
Andrew Wilson vs Paul Wasicka
Gus Hansen vs Greg Raymer
Rice and Huntress both qualified for the National Heads-Up Poker Championship at the host casino, while Dworski, Edwards, Quinn, Ramirez, and Wilson all won online satellites. The tournament’s first round will play out today, while the second round will take place on Saturday. The quarterfinals, semifinals, and championship match will all pan out on Sunday. Here are today's start times:
Clubs Bracket - 1:30pm PT
Diamonds Bracket - 4:00pm PT
Spades Bracket - 7:00pm PT
Hearts Bracket - 9:30pm PT
Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest from Caesars Palace.
NBC Releases 2010 Heads-Up Bracket
The two PokerStars pros have both been hot over the last 12 months with millions of dollars in combined tournament earnings.
Some of the other marquee first round matches include Phil Hellmuth vs. Howard Lederer, Peter Eastgate vs. Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, Brock Parker vs. Doyle Brunson and Phil Ivey vs. Gavin Smith.
In total there will be 32 heads-up matches played in the first round.
NBC once again separated the players into four brackets – Hearts, Clubs, Spades and Diamonds – with the winner of each bracket booking a seat in the semifinals.
The tournament begins today at 1 p.m. PT. Be sure to check out our live updates of the event.
Here is the complete line-up for the first round of the 2010 NBC National Heads-Up Championship:
Clubs:
Patrik Antonius vs. Chris Moneymaker
Leo Wolpert vs. Eric Baldwin
David Williams vs. Joe Cada
Erik Seidel vs. Huck Seed
Dan Ramirez vs. Erick Lindgren
Peter Eastgate vs. Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier
Stephen Quinn vs. Ted Forrest
Dario Minieri vs. Jamie Gold
Spades:
Gavin Smith vs. Phil Ivey
Richard Edwards vs. Scotty Nguyen
Shawn Rice vs. Joe Hachem
Gabe Kaplan vs. Johnny Chan
Daniel Negreanu vs. Jason Mercier
Pieter de Korver vs. Mike Sexton
Phil Gordon vs. Tom Dwan
Phil Laak vs. John Juanda
Hearts:
Jesper Hougaard vs. Allen Cunningham
Eli Elezra vs. Greg Mueller
Annette Dworski vs. Craig Ferguson
Kara Scott vs. Dennis Phillips
Doyle Brunson vs. Brock Parker
JP Kelly vs. Don Cheadle
Howard Lederer vs. Phil Hellmuth
Annette Obrestad vs. Orel Hershiser
Diamonds:
Barry Greenstein vs. Vanessa Rousso
Sam Farha vs. Antonio Esfandiari
Jennifer Harman vs. Jennifer Tilly
Jerry Yang vs. Mike Matusow
Darvin Moon vs. Bill Huntress
Andy Bloch vs. Annie Duke
Andrew Wilson vs. Paul Wasicka
Gus Hansen vs. Greg Raymer
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Poker In Twitter: Winter Olympics Wrapup, WPT LAPC, and a New Hostess For Poker2Nite
With the advent of the world of Twitter, people can fill you in on their lives in quick, 140-character bursts. Poker’s royalty have taken to the medium to inform their fans of their latest activities as well as their views on different issues. Poker News Daily continually tracks these Tweets to let you know what the latest buzz is in the poker community.
Last weekend, poker players were torn between performing their jobs on the felt and following the end of the Winter Olympics. Of particular interest to many was the gold medal hockey game between the favored Canadian national team and the upstart Team USA. A week prior to the game Sunday, the Americans had surprised the Canadians by defeating them 5-3 in pool play and the gold medal match – which was also the last medal awarded at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver – was a chance at redemption for the boys from the Great White North.
As the game began on Sunday, poker players announced their allegiances across the Twitterverse. Unlike many who watched the gold medal game on television, poker player Terrence Chan was one of the fortunate who saw the game live at Canada Hockey Place in Vancouver. “Sec 120 row 4 seat 106. Ten feet from (Canadian goalie Roberto) Luongo,” Chan Tweeted prior to the start of action, drawing a reaction of, “So jealous you’re there,” from fellow pro Shaun Deeb. Lining up on the Americans’ side were poker players such as Deeb, Eric Mizrachi, and Joe Sebok, while the Canadians held a rooting section that included Chan, Brad “Yukon” Booth, and Isabelle Mercier.
As the game played out, Tweets flew nearly as fast as the pucks and Canada moved out to a 2-0 lead. Playing in the L.A. Poker Classic at the time, UB.com pro Annie Duke took the time to jokingly Tweet, “LOL! I'm a little surprised team USA can't find a goalie fat enough to block the entire net.” The Americans grinded their way back and, with less than 30 seconds to go in the game, tied the score at 2-2. Even L.A. Poker Classic tournament director Matt Savage was sidetracked by the gold medal game as he Tweeted, “Tournament room @LAPokerClassic went crazy when USA tied the game 2-2. @RealKidPoker (Daniel Negreanu) not happy!”
As the sudden death overtime period played out, many of the top names in poker were on pins and needles as the game continued. “High Stakes Poker” hostess Kara Scott alluded to this when she Tweeted, “Ugh, so tense with the Hockey. Come on CANADA.” After Canada’s Sidney Crosby slipped the game winner past Team USA’s Ryan Miller almost eight minutes into overtime, the victorious Canadian poker players/fans had much to say. “Yaaaaaaaaa!!!! What a game. Canada continues to reign supreme on the ice. Oh that was so awesome!,” Daniel Negreanu fired out over the Twitterscape after the win. “Poker2Nite” host Scott Huff was less than impressed when he Tweeted, “Oh come on. Canada celebrating winning the gold in hockey is like me celebrating paying my bills on time.”
Poker’s best also found some time to play in the L.A. Poker Classic while the Winter Olympics were wrapping up. Duke, who played deep into the WPT championship tournament, noted in her Tweet, “HowardHLederer just got drawn to my table. Luckily he's on my right lol.” Adam “Roothlus” Levy admired the chip stacking skills of Full Tilt’s Carlos Mortensen in his Tweet and accented it with a picture, saying, “Carlos Mortensen's stack. He should be an architect. Such vision.”
Negreanu lamented his table on Sunday when he Tweeted, “Brutal seat @lapokerclassic Steve Sung on my right Carlos Mortensen on my left, and to his left the guy who crushed me yesterday.” The table must have been difficult, as soon after “Kid Poker” came back and Tweeted, “Very disappointed on how I played the last hand. Going to cool off by chilling in LA for a bit. Weather is awesome. Should have shoved!” The pros didn’t do badly during the LAPC WPT Main Event, with Negreanu cashing in 66th place, Duke dropping out in 19th place, and Sung and Mortensen falling short of the WPT final table in eighth and ninth place, respectively.
On the lighter side of Twitter, players Lacey Jones and Alex Outhred bantered about Outhred potentially having to sit in for Jones on “Poker2Nite.” With Jones facing flight delays in Canada and potentially missing the taping of the popular poker show, Outhred volunteered to take her place. “@Poker2Nite get me a wig, razor, man-spanx, and make-up. I think I could double for @LaceyJones,” Alex Tweeted to the producers. Lacey was quick to fire back, “@alexpokerguy Ur a life saver. But don't forget to stuff your bra! Haha.”
Twitter continues to provide entertainment for millions around the world and the poker community just makes it better. Poker News Daily follows poker in Twitter and adds to the enjoyment itself. Be sure to follow @pokernewsdaily on your Twitter account for all the latest news and information from the world of poker.
Tags: Annie Duke, Canada, canadian, Daniel Negreanu, high stakes, kara scott, poker player, poker show, skill, tournament, usa
Poker as an Olympic Sport
The International Federation of Poker will be accepted into the International Mind Sports Association in April. This means that poker will join a list of games including Chess, Bridge, and Go as an official game of skill, according to Bluff Magazine Europe. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) recognizes the International Mind Sports Association (IMSA), meaning poker will be considered an official game of skill for the Olympics
This development may not mean that we’ll be seeing poker in the Olympics in the near future, but it is certainly a first step in the right direction. Acceptance into the IMSA and recognition from the IOC gives poker another strong argument in court. The nature of online gambling might be in question, but courts have been pretty lenient in allowing games of skill. Will this IOC distinction assist in the efforts to legalize online poker in the United States?
“I am encouraged that the IOC has recognized what we poker players have always known. Poker is an honorable game of skill,” commented Rich Muny, a board member for the Poker Players Alliance (PPA). “Many states have already legally codified recognition of the fact that competitions based on skill are different from wagering on dice or other events based on chance. I believe this decision will encourage more states to recognize this distinction legally.”
Anthony Holden, author of such poker books as “Big Deal” and “Bigger Deal: A Year Inside the Poker Boom,” is the current head of the International Federation of Poker. He told Bluff Europe, “Poker is not like other casino games. It’s a social game where people are playing against each other, not the house, and a game where skill plays a bigger role than luck. There are 120 to 150 million poker players in the world and we deserve this recognition.”
Poker is the only card game to be accepted by the IMSA besides Bridge. This organization is a non-profit association and has over 400 national entities and close to 100 million players within its jurisdiction. As listed on the IMSA website, current headquarters are located in Lausanne, Switzerland and Paris, France.
The IMSA held its first “IMSA Cup” competition back in 2008 in Russia. The final day of that event was dedicated to friendly matches between masters of mind games and honorary guests of the competition, mainly diplomats.
Given that mind games are recognized as games of skill by the IOC, could poker ever make it into the Olympics? While that remains to be seen, many poker sites including PokerStars have competitions like the World Cup of Poker, which matches players from various countries against each other.
Team PokerStars USA includes players such as Chris Moneymaker, Vanessa Rousso, Greg Raymer, Joe Cada, Barry Greenstein, Chad Brown, Gavin Griffin, Dennis Phillips, Tom McEvoy, Hevad Khan, Victor Ramdin, and Jason Mercier. Popular online player Randy “nanonoko” Lew also hails from the United States. Full Tilt Pros hailing from the United States include Howard Lederer, Phil Ivey, Chris Ferguson, Mike Matusow, and Allen Cunningham. Full Tilt Poker also boasts a well known online prodigy of its own in Tom “durrrr” Dwan.
While we know the United States would field a dream team of poker players, there are plenty of other countries that would challenge for the gold medal. Canada, which just hosted the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, would have Daniel Negreanu along with players like Darus Suharto and Wade Ackerman leading the charge. The United Kingdom would have players like Vicky Coren, David “Devilfish” Ulliott, Roland De Wolfe, and James Akenhead at the helm. Australia would have Joe and Tony Hachem, Grant Levy, Eric Assadourian, as well as Billy “The Croc” Argyros representing their homeland.
The IOC has outlined that a game or sport must be practiced by men in at least 75 countries and on four continents and by women in at least 40 countries and on three continents in order to be recognized. Although we can all agree that poker is not a traditional sport that requires physical skill and toughness like pole vaulting and Greco-Roman wrestling, there might be a place for games of skill at the Olympics. Is it really out of the question to think of a “total package” decathlon that would combine physical and mental sports?
Think about a physical and mental event where participants would have to do their best in running, swimming, jumping, throwing, and then competing in mental games such as chess, poker, and bridge. It’s not too far-fetched to pitch that idea to an Olympic committee or get it aired on the likes of ESPN2 with a celebrity cast.
While we dream of Raymer competing against former Navy SEAL Dan Blizerian in a swimming race before heading to a poker tournament, having poker accepted as an official game of skill by the IMSA and the IOC is already a huge step in the right direction for the industry.
WSOP Europe Main Event Coverage Wraps Up on ESPN2
On Sunday night, ESPN2’s coverage of the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Europe Main Event wrapped up with Barry Shulman defeating Daniel Negreanu heads-up to claim the top prize of ?801,000.
Negreanu entered as the short stack at the table, but quickly ascended the chip counts. He flopped top pair against Markus Ristola to move to eighth in chips and then flopped a set of aces against Jason Mercier’s turned set of threes to double up and move to third in chips. His run at the beginning of the WSOP Europe Main Event final table was proof that all you need in poker is a chip and a chair. Negreanu told ESPN’s Kara Scott in a segment called “Cab Chat” that he feels at home in London because of the city’s abundance of vegan-friendly foods.
Sitting in third in chips, Negreanu called a raise to 62,000 from WSOP Main Event November Niner James Akenhead, who held pocket eights. The flop came 6-4-9, giving Negreanu top pair with 10-9, and Akenhead check-called a bet of 100,000. The turn was a six and Akenhead once again check-called a bet, this time of 162,000. The action went check-check when a five struck on the river and the dealer pushed the 711,000-chip pot to Negreanu, boosting him to second on the leaderboard.
Akenhead was eliminated in ninth place after running A-Q into Negreanu’s pocket kings. The board came J-6-4-9-Q, giving Akenhead ninth place finishes in the WSOP Las Vegas and London Main Events. Matt Hawrilenko was ousted in eighth place after trying to steal the blinds and antes with J-7. Shulman made the call with A-Q and Hawrilenko could not catch up.
Frenchman Antoine Saout, another November Niner, exited in seventh place after coming out on the short end of a race against Negreanu with pocket fives against A-Q of spades. Negreanu flopped a flush draw, which hit on the river to give the PokerStars pro both eliminations of the November Nine members. Shortly thereafter, poker veteran and two-time bracelet winner Chris Bjorin finished in sixth after running A-J into Negreanu’s A-Q. Negreanu ultimately moved from ninth place to first in an awe-inspiring comeback.
The first of two one-hour episodes on ESPN2 ended with Ristola departing in fifth place. Negreanu was his executioner, leading to four-handed action at the Casino at the Empire in London featuring four bracelet winners. To begin the second episode, local poker pro Praz Bansi called Shulman’s all-in with pocket kings on a flop of 6-8-4 with two spades. Shulman held A-9 of the suit and spiked an ace on the turn to double up.
Mercier, who held over 30% of the chips in play heading into the final table, was the tournament’s fourth place finisher. Mercier was all-in with a wired pair of sevens and up against Negreanu’s pocket nines. Mercier could not overcome being a 4:1 underdog and was eliminated. Negreanu had knocked out his fifth player at the final table.
Shulman doubled up again, this time after flopping top pair with K-J on a 4-K-9 board. Shulman check-raised all-in and Bansi called, turning over K-8 for top pair with a weaker kicker. The board filled out 6-10 and Shulman moved to 3.9 million in chips. Bansi was knocked out after reluctantly committing his chips with Q-2 of hearts. Negreanu called with A-Q and claimed his fifth straight victim and sixth overall at the final table of the 2009 WSOP Europe Main Event.
Negreanu held a 3:2 chip lead entering heads-up play, but doubled up Shulman after the CardPlayer Magazine owner was all-in with A-5 of hearts on a flop of 6-8-K with two hearts. Negreanu called with pocket aces, but another heart on the turn gave Shulman a flush.
Negreanu battled back and was one card away from claiming his fifth bracelet. Shulman was all-in with pocket aces against Negreanu’s Q-J on a board of 5-8-J. The turn brought another jack, leaving Shulman drawing to one of two remaining aces in the deck otherwise Negreanu would win the title. Sure enough, a bullet pierced the river and Shulman doubled up.
In the final hand, Negreanu was all-in pre-flop with pocket fours against Shulman’s pocket tens and could not draw out. Shulman won his second WSOP bracelet and Negreanu took home a £495,000 consolation prize. Former WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack presented Shulman with his championship trophy as the credits rolled.
ESPN2 will air the PokerStars North American Poker Tour (NAPT) Venetian Main Event and High-Roller tournament beginning on April 19th. Re-runs of the WSOP Europe Main Event will air on ESPN2 in the coming days, so check your local listings for more information.
Carlos Mortensen Leads WPT L.A. Poker Classic with 22 Left
A total of 22 players remain in the L.A. Poker Classic, a stop on the World Poker Tour (WPT). 2001 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event champ Carlos Mortensen leads the way with 1.67 million chips.
Mortensen sent Michael Woo to the rails in 23rd place. Woo pushed all-in on a board of J-8-4-3 with three clubs, flipping over pocket queens. Mortensen made the call and showed pocket jacks for top set. Needing to catch one of the two remaining queens in the deck on the river to stay alive, Woo watched as an ace hit, sealing his exit. He picked up $45,000 for his efforts in the $10,000 buy-in poker tournament.
Thirty minutes prior, Mortensen had doubled up through Raymond Dolan. Mortensen held pocket aces in the hand and Dolan held jacks. The hand boosted Mortensen to 960,000 in chips, kicking off “The Matador’s” last–minute surge to the top of the pack. Mortensen has two WPT titles under his belt. He won the Season 3 Doyle Brunson North American Poker Championship for $1 million and also came out on top in the Season 5 WPT Championship for nearly $4 million. He’s second all-time to Daniel Negreanu with $5.26 million in WPT earnings and would become just the second three-time WPT event winner, the other being Gus Hansen.
Mark Newhouse, who held the chip lead entering Day 4 on Monday, finished with the second largest stack at 1.31 million. Newhouse doubled up through Dan “Wretchy” Martin late in the day. On a board of 7-5-3-J-Q, Newhouse pushed all-in for 561,000, nearly the size of the pot, and Martin made the call, flipping up pocket kings for an overpair. Newhouse, however, showed J-7 of spades for a turned two pair, pushing his chip stack to 1.5 million. Martin, meanwhile, dropped to 500,000 after his aces were cracked, but finished the day with 684,000, good for seventh place on the leaderboard.
Also doubling up late in the day was UB.com pro and Poker News Daily Guest Columnist Annie Duke. The top female pro picked a prime spot to shove with A-K pre-flop, as Masa Kagawa called and showed A-Q. The flop came ace-high and no queen came for Kagawa, doubling Duke to 266,000 in chips. She ended the day at 241,000, the second shortest stack in the room next to John Cautela’s 219,000.
Ten-time WSOP bracelet winner Johnny Chan remains in contention and doubled up on Monday with pocket aces against DoylesRoom pro Hoyt Corkins’ pocket kings. The board came 7-7-6-9-8 and Chan moved to 450,000 in chips. He ultimately ended with 406,000, the 17th largest stack entering Day 5. Chan and Doyle Brunson are tied with 10 bracelets each, trailing only Phil Hellmuth’s tally of 11 for most all-time.
When play resumes today at Noon PT at the Commerce Casino in Los Angeles, the blinds will be 6,000-12,000 with an ante of 2,000. The following 22 players remain in the hunt for the top prize of $1.8 million:
1. Carlos Mortensen - 1,669,000
2. Mark Newhouse - 1,308,000
3. Raymond Dolan - 1,229,000
4. Masa Kagawa - 1,129,000
5. Andras Koroknai - 1,002,000
6. Tri Huynh - 942,000
7. Dan “Wretchy” Martin - 684,000
8. Jean-Claude Moussa - 672,000
9. Steve Sung - 671,000
10. Jim Casement - 609,000
11. Tim Begley - 603,000
12. Gevork Kasabyan - 594,000
13. Jamie Brown - 552,000
14. Mari Lou Morelli - 456,000
15. Dylan Linde - 447,000
16. Bob Kairnes - 421,000
17. Johnny Chan - 406,000
18. Danny Fuhs - 379,000
19. Michael Kamran - 327,000
20. Connor Allisen - 324,000
21. Annie Duke - 241,000
22. John Cautela - 219,000
Each player left is assured a $45,000 payday, while the top nine will take home at least $100,000. Despite the tournament already being down to 22 runners, the final table will not take place until Thursday. Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest WPT coverage.
Bernard Lee Breaks Down Foxwoods Poker Sponsorship
If you have not heard or read the news, let me give you a quick recap. On February 9th, it was announced to the poker world that Foxwoods Resort Casino named me its official spokesperson for their World Poker Tour (WPT) branded poker room. I am extremely honored and privileged to be representing one of the best poker rooms in the world and the premier New England gaming destination.
I also want to thank everyone who has passed along their kind words and congratulations regarding my sponsorship deal with Foxwoods Resort Casino. I was very humbled to receive numerous e-mails, texts, and messages from the poker world, from Joe Hachem to Daniel Negreanu to Dennis Phillips to Joe Cada to Chris Moneymaker to Lee Childs to Matt Glantz, and many more. Moreover, I was very pleased to receive many kind words and comments from you, the fans, and I can’t thank you enough.
Foxwoods Resort Casino has always held a special place in my heart, which is all the more reason I am extremely pleased with this outcome. After its grand opening in 1992, I visited the Foxwoods poker room for the very first time. Ever since then, it has been a place of many firsts for me, which include:
1) My first poker tournament
2) My first satellite tournament win
3) My first large buy-in main event ($10,000 World Poker Finals in 2004)
4) My first poker title ($5,000 No Limit Hold’em event during the 2006 World Poker Finals)
Afterward, I captured two other titles at Foxwoods in the next two years, allowing me to win three titles at the World Poker Finals in three successive years (2006 to 2008). I won the $2,000 No Limit Hold’em event in 2007 and the $600 modified No Limit Shootout in 2008. I almost made it four titles in four years in a row when I made the final table in the 2009 $1,500 No Limit Hold’em event. Unfortunately, I came up a little short, finishing disappointingly in ninth place.
Nevertheless, I have made eight final tables there, earning over $750,000. So, you can see why I consider it my home away from home. As I said in the press release, “If there is such a thing as home-court advantage in poker, for me it’s at Foxwoods.”
After the news was announced last month, many people were slightly confused and asked what this sponsorship agreement entails. The agreement is pretty straightforward, as it is analogous to an online poker room sponsorship agreement that we have all grown accustomed to over the past several years.
However, although online player sponsorship has previously been fairly commonplace, it has become increasing difficult to obtain such as deal, especially for Americans, since the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIEGA) came into effect.
Now, Foxwoods becomes the first major casino to sign a player to a sponsorship agreement. Previously, other players have signed deals with smaller casinos: Scotty Nguyen with Cherokee Casino in Oklahoma and Michael Mizrachi with Planet Hollywood. Additionally, Daniel Negreanu signed an interesting, yet short-lived deal with the Wynn to play heads-up matches on its property.
Now, other casinos across the country may begin to take a closer look at their internal situations and possibly consider if there is sponsorship opportunity with a local recognizable player.
Overall, I believe that this agreement has opened up another avenue of player sponsorship in the world of poker. Within the next 18 months, I feel that there may be additional signings by casinos, especially in states that have smaller, regional competition. States such as Florida, Oklahoma, Michigan, Indiana, and Arizona are places where an agreement with a local player could be advantageous. For example, Florida has increased its tournament buy-in maximum to $1,000 and is looking at increasing it even further. With a plethora of top players coming from the Sunshine State like Jason Mercier, Jonathan Little, the Mizrachi brothers, Chad Brown, and Vanessa Rousso, the casinos would have several players to choose from.
I look forward to this signing to potentially becoming a trend. The next time that you are on the East Coast, come up and join me at the ‘Woods and experience “The Wonder of it All.”
Before I leave you this month, I want to thank my personal team, which made this agreement with Foxwoods Resort Casino possible. These members include my agent/business manager (Charlie Tillett), publicist (Jennifer Rosinski), and assistant/radio news manager (Steve Buchanan). Finally, thank you to my incredibly supportive wife and two wonderful children.
And as always, don’t forget to listen to my radio show, “The Bernard Lee Poker Show,” which is now presented by Foxwoods Resort Casino on RoundersRadio.com every Tuesday night from 6:00pm to 7:00pm ET (please note the new time) and repeated throughout the week. Future guests will include 2005 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event Champion Joe Hachem, three-time WSOP bracelet winner Barry Greenstein, 2010 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Champion Harrison Gimbel, and many others.
Bernard Lee is the official spokesperson of Foxwoods Resort Casino. Lee is the co-host of ESPN Inside Deal, a columnist for the ESPN.com, Sunday columnist for the Boston Herald, and author of "The Final Table, Volume I” and “Volume II.” Listen to ``The Bernard Lee Poker Show'' presented by Foxwoods Resort Casino every Tuesday from 6:00pm to 7:00pm on 1120 AM in Boston (MoneyMatterBoston.com) or RoundersRadio.com. For questions or comments, e-mail him at BernardLeePoker@hotmail.com.
Tags: 2008, 2009, 2010, Barry Greenstein, Daniel Negreanu, Hollywood, Online Poker, poker show, pokerstars, tournament, WSOP
Mark Newhouse Leads WPT L.A. Poker Classic After Day 3
During Season 5 of the World Poker Tour (WPT), Mark Newhouse took down the Borgata Poker Open to the tune of $1.5 million. Entering Day 4 of the L.A. Poker Classic, Newhouse is the chip leader and poised to make a run at his second WPT title.
Sunday marked a major day of television viewing for players remaining in the WPT L.A. Poker Classic, which is being held at the Commerce Casino in Los Angeles. The United States hit a last-second goal to send the gold medal game in the 2010 Winter Olympics into overtime, where Canada ultimately prevailed. By nightfall, Canadian Daniel Negreanu, who held the chip lead in the $10,000 buy-in tournament entering Day 3, watched himself take second to Barry Shulman in the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Europe Main Event on ESPN2.
Despite the diversions, Newhouse came out on top of the field after Day 3 with a stack of 498,000 chips. Newhouse sent Danny Wong to the rails on Sunday with pocket jacks against A-K, building his arsenal of chips up to 250,000. Newhouse started the day with a stack of 68,000 and told WPT Live Updates Hostess Jacque, “The biggest pot of the night, I got lucky. I beat two kings with A-K.” The hand occurred against Jason Smith and an ace hit on the flop to send Newhouse’s chip stack flying high.
2010 L.A. Poker Classic Heads-Up champion Chris Moore stole a sizable pot off GoDaddy Girl Vanessa Rousso during Sunday’s action. The flop came 9-4-2 with two diamonds. Rousso bet, Moore put in a raise, and Rousso called to bring a third diamond on the turn. Rousso bet 45,000 and Moore came over the top all-in for 150,000. Rousso tanked before finally folding 5-6 of diamonds for a flush face up. Moore scooped the pot and promptly turned over pocket nines for a set. Thanks in part to Rousso’s donation, Moore owns a stack of 489,000 chips entering Day 4, the second largest tally in the room.
One of the final eliminations yesterday went to Full Tilt Poker front man Howard Lederer, who was all-in with A-K against pocket queens for a classic race situation. The flop came queen-high, giving his opponent a set, and Lederer failed to catch up. Other pros who found the exit on Day 3 included Barry Greenstein, Gavin Griffin, Jonathan “FatalError” Aguiar, Jason Mercier, Adam “Roothlus” Levy, Steve Zolotow, Todd Brunson, and Allen Cunningham.
Play ended on Sunday with the money bubble bursting at 72 players remaining. Thomas Fuller, who had been near the top of the chip counts throughout much of the event, was the unfortunate 73rd place finisher. Fuller was all-in pre-flop with A-K, but ran into pocket aces. The flop of Q-Q-10 gave Fuller an inside straight draw if a jack hit, but the board filled out Q-7 and everyone remaining had made the money. The top prize in the WPT L.A. Poker Classic is $1.8 million.
Here are the top 10 chip counts entering Day 4 of the Commerce Casino tournament:
1. Mark Newhouse - 498,000
2. Chris Moore - 489,000
3. Masa Kagawa - 432,000
4. John Cautela - 417,000
5. Shawn Pilot - 400,500
6. Millad Jorshari - 386,000
7. Gevork Kasabyan - 378,000
8. Tim Begley - 369,500
9. Tri Huynh - 353,000
10. Dan “Wretchy” Martin - 335,000
A stacked field of 72 players remains in the hunt for the L.A. Poker Classic title. Other notable names still alive include:
15. Annie Duke - 321,000
17. Carlos Mortensen - 305,000
19. Steve Sung - 285,000
25. Eugene Katchalov - 235,000
29. Daniel Negreanu - 222,500
30. Peter “Belabacsi” Traply - 221,500
32. Johnny Chan - 218,000
35. Prahlad Friedman - 208,000
36. Hoyt Corkins - 206,500
39. Erica Schoenberg - 189,000
47. Vivek “Psyduck” Rajkumar - 157,500
51. Robert Mizrachi - 139,500
60. Surinder Sunar - 83,500
64. Vanessa Rousso - 46,000
69. Jon “PearlJammer” Turner - 31,500
72. David “Bakes” Baker - 17,000
Sunday also marked the beginning of the $25,000 High-Roller tournament, whose top prize is $425,000. Twenty-three players remain in the event, with Andrew “luckychewy” Lichtenberger and Daniel Alaei out in front after one day of play.
Tags: 2009, 2010, Annie Duke, Barry Greenstein, Canada, canadian, Daniel Negreanu, full tilt poker, tournament, WSOP
Rousso and Negreanu leading LA Poker Classic
Tags: Daniel Negreanu
Jason Mercier Joins High Stakes Poker Cast
The third episode of Season 6 of GSN’s “High Stakes Poker” aired on Sunday night at 8:00pm ET. Team PokerStars Pro member Jason Mercier joined the set and Daniel Negreanu pushed all-in, but ultimately chopped the pot.
Two players had gone broke in the first two episodes, as UB.com pro Phil Hellmuth and Andreas Hoivold each dropped $200,000. The latter’s seat remained empty as Sunday night’s “High Stakes Poker” kicked off, but Mercier soon joined the fray. “High Stakes Poker” announcer Gabe Kaplan commented on Mercier’s appearance: “He looks more like a swimmer to me than a poker player.”
While Mercier was busy stacking his pile of $100 bills, he picked up pocket twos and raised to $5,500. Tom “durrrr” Dwan came over the top to $19,200 with A-3 and Mercier folded. Curiosity began to build as to what Mercier had, with Eli Elezra laying 3:1 odds that the newcomer held a better hand than Dwan. Victory Poker pro Antonio Esfandiari and others at the table took Elezra up on his bet, with Mercier later admitting that he had pocket deuces, setting up what would have been a coin flip.
2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event November Nine member Phil Ivey tangled with Danish poker superstar Gus Hansen, who raised to $5,600 pre-flop with A-K. Ivey made the call with pocket eights and the flop came 5-J-J. Ivey check-called a $6,800 bet from Hansen to bring another five on the turn. Ivey once again check-called a bet from the Dane, this time $13,200, and a seven hit on the river. The action went check-check and Ivey scooped the $54,000 pot. He entered the episode up more than $250,000.
In the episode’s second largest pot, Hansen raised to $4,200 pre-flop with 6-4 of spades, Dwan made the call with A-6 of clubs, and Elezra came along with K-8 of hearts. With each player holding suited cards, the flop came K-9-3, giving Elezra top pair. He checked the action to Hansen, who bet $9,900. Dwan got out of the way and Elezra called to bring another three on the turn. Elezra check-called a bet of $25,500 and an ace hit on the river. Elezra once again checked the best hand, Hansen fired out a third bullet to the tune of $62,200, and Elezra insta-called.
The pot totaled $209,800 and after it panned out, Hansen sat down with “High Stakes Poker” floor reporter Kara Scott to relive the hand. On the failed triple barrel bluff, he explained, “I stuck to my plan, which from the beginning was okay, but in the end with the cards on the board was horrible.” Hansen left the table after the hand was over and did not return for the duration of the episode.
Then, it was Negreanu’s turn to take center stage. After being active throughout much of the hour-long show, he raised to $3,000 pre-flop with 9-7 of diamonds and Dwan made it $11,200 after picking up pocket queens. Ivey came along with pocket eights and Negreanu called. The flop came 4-9-J, giving Negreanu middle pair, and Dwan made an $18,200 continuation bet with his overpair. Ivey folded and Negreanu moved all-in for $88,400. Dwan quickly called and the pair agreed to run the board twice.
The first board filled out 2-J, giving Dwan half of the pot. On the second board, an ace hit the turn, but Negreanu spiked a five-outer on the river when a nine fell. The $212,200 pot, the largest of the night, was chopped as a result.
Two vignettes appeared during Sunday’s installment. “30 Seconds with Kara Scott” focused on the competitors’ most memorable winning sessions. Meanwhile, the PokerStars-sponsored “Did You Know” discussed the five-month marathon poker session between Johnny Moss and Nick “The Greek” Dandolos. Both were charter inductees into the Poker Hall of Fame.
Next week on “High Stakes Poker,” Dario Minieri gets aggressive and Negreanu stumps Elezra. The cash game franchise airs at 8:00pm ET on Sunday nights on GSN.
Negreanu and Rousso lead LA Poker Classic
Tags: Daniel Negreanu
Daniel Negreanu Second in WPT L.A. Poker Classic After Day 2
Online poker player Taylor “tramp$d0pray” Paur and Team PokerStars Pro member Daniel Negreanu lead the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) L.A. Poker Classic after two days of play. The $10,000 buy-in tournament wraps up on Thursday.
Negreanu committed his chips with 4-3 of clubs in a major hand after a flop of 5-3-2 with two clubs. William Jesse James, who won his seat to the L.A. Poker Classic Main Event through the WPT’s subscription-based online poker site ClubWPT, held 8-3 in the hand for a better kicker, but a four on the turn improved Negreanu to two pair. The river was a king, crippling James and sending Negreanu barreling up the chip counts. In the waning moments of Saturday’s action, Negreanu scooped a pot at the expense of Benjamin Zamani with quad eights to move to 319,000 in chips.
Paur ended Day 2 with a mountain of 318,400 chips, while Negreanu was hot on his heels at 316,500. They are the only players in the WPT event to have crossed the 280,000-chip plateau. Paur’s company at Table 44 on Sunday will include Shawn Buchanan, Bryan “badbeatninja” Devonshire, and Victory Poker pro Paul Wasicka. A total of 186 players remain and the field will likely burst the money bubble at 72 sometime during play on Sunday. The event’s six-handed finale will be filmed for television and air on Fox Sports Net as part of Season 8 of the WPT.
Sitting in fifth on the leaderboard entering Day 3 is another PokerStars sponsored big gun, Vanessa Rousso. The GoDaddy Girl owns a stack of 221,700 and crossed the 200,000-chip threshold late in the day despite being seated a talented table alongside UB.com poker pro Annie Duke and two-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner Josh Arieh. Of the 186 players left in the hunt for the $1.8 million top prize, 14 are women.
2005 WSOP Main Event champ Joe Hachem was sent packing during Saturday’s action, as was Faraz “The-Toilet” Jaka, who is fresh off a final table appearance in the PokerStars North American Poker Tour’s (NAPT) $25,000 High-Roller Bounty Shootout. Jaka came out on the losing end of a race with pocket sevens against Q-J of spades when a jack hit on the flop. Fellow online poker pro Mike “SowersUNCC” Sowers was eliminated after running 10-8 of diamonds into pocket kings. His girlfriend, Lauren Kling, remains in the hunt and holds the 51st largest stack in the room.
Absolute Poker pro Mark Seif, who was second in chips after Day 1, currently owns the 10th spot in the chip counts. The Day 1 leader, Masa Kagawa, is right behind Seif in 11th place. Here’s a look at the top 10 on the leaderboard entering Day 3 of the L.A. Poker Classic at the Commerce Casino in Los Angeles:
1. Taylor Paur - 318,400
2. Daniel Negreanu - 316,500
3. Eugene Katchalov - 279,000
4. Michael Woo - 250,000
5. Vanessa Rousso - 221,700
6. Danny Fuhs - 218,300
7. Paul Niemela - 216,000
8. John Cautela - 198,500
9. Gevork Kasabyan - 197,400
10. Mark Seif - 187,000
Other notable names in the top 50 include:
19. Steve Sung - 155,800
24. Vivek “Psyduck” Rajkumar - 137,400
26. Howard Lederer - 128,700
35. Shawn Buchanan - 116,300
36. Johnny Chan - 113,800
37. Lisa Hamilton - 107,400
38. Erica Schoenberg - 107,000
39. Steve Zolotow - 106,500
42. Surinder Sunar - 105,500
43. Robert Mizrachi - 104,600
All players who reach the money will take home at least $18,000 and the top nine will collect a six-figure payday. Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest WPT coverage.
Poker News in Brief: Feb. 22-28, 2010
The NAPT held its first exclusive event at the Venetian and more than 800 players paid the $5,000 buy-in.
Meanwhile the stars were indeed shining bright at the WPT Invitational with Tia Carrera, Trishelle Cannatella, and Marlon Wayans coming out to play.
With all the excitement over the competing poker tours there were several poker stories that were almost forgotten.
Fortunately as part of our ongoing Poker News in Brief we’ve compiled a list of the lesser-known stories below.
This week we’ll take a look at PartyPoker running an endurance promo, new schedules for two PokerStars tournaments, a training seminar by Mike “The Mouth” Matusow and more.
Class in Session for Mike “The Mouth” Matusow
When The Mouth talks you’d better listen.
That’s what organizers are hoping participants will take out of the upcoming Mike “The Mouth” Matusow poker training session in California.
Matusow, who is the dean of DeepStacks University, will teach a special five-hour session that covers winning strategies for tournament and cash game poker in addition to giving one-on-one poker analysis at the tables.
The training session will cost $495 to attend and every contestant will receive a copy of the Team Full Tilt Pro's new book Check Raising the Devil.
The event will take place March 12 at the Palo Casino Spa and Resort.
Big Names Headline The Poker Show Live
One of the poker's most popular radio shows is returning with Phil Hellmuth, Daniel Negreanu, Phil Galfond, Tony G, David Benyamine and Luke “FullFlush” Schwartz all coming along for the ride.
The Poker Show Live, sponsored by Boylepoker, will feature all the aforementioned poker players in new episodes for the show’s third season beginning March 2.
Hosted by Jesse May, The Poker Show Live has interviewed almost every well-known poker player over the span of its first two seasons.
Tom Dwan, Vicky Coren, Andrew Feldman, Huck Seed, Neil Channing, Erik Seidel have all taken their turn on The Poker Show Live microphone.
The show is available on ThePokerShowLive.com, BoylePoker.com and iTunes.
Ontario Considers Online Gaming
The Canadian province of Ontario is taking a serious look at running its own official online gambling service that could potentially include poker.
Ontario Lottery and Gambling chairman Paul Godfrey and Premier Dalton McGuinty want the province to provide Internet gambling instead of letting potential revenue go to offshore gambling sites.
In Canada, British Columbia and Atlantic Lottery Corporations already officially allow online gambling. The BC Lottery Corporation offers a limited poker game called Pacific Hold’em Poker, which is played against the house.
Loto-Quebec’s poker site is set to launch this fall and analysts are estimating it could potentially net $50 million in revenue for the government over the next three years.
Gladiator Promo Returns to PartyPoker
One of the most popular promotions on PartyPoker is returning this March.
The Gladiator promo rewards players who generate at least 10 PartyPoints every day for a minimum of five days. There are potentially bigger rewards available for players who earn up to 2,000 PartyPoints.
“The Gladiator is back and the rewards are greater than ever before,” said a PartyPoker spokesman.
“This promotion is about spreading play over a period of time for maximus rewards! It is simple and offers great value and we encourage players to challenge themselves and take a closer look.”
If a player manages to earn 2,000 PartyPoints a day from March 3 to April 1 they will instantly earn a $12,500 package to the 2010 WSOP Main Event.
To learn more about The Gladiator check the PartyPoker website
PokerStars Releases SCOOP, NAPT Mohegan Sun Schedules
PokerStars announced the dates for one of its biggest online series and its burgeoning North American tour this week.
The PokerStars Spring Championship of Online Poker will take place over 14 days from May 3-16 with 33 events. Like last year, each event will have a low, medium and high buy-in variant.
The series will culminate with the Main Event on May 16, with guarantees of $1 million, $3 million and $5 million for each buy-in level.
Meanwhile the PokerStars.net North American Poker Tour’s next stop, at the Mohegan Sun in Connecticut, will take place April 7-11. The main event carries a $5,000 buy-in and there will be a $10k High Roller Bounty Shootout.
To see the complete schedules for the upcoming SCOOP or NAPT check the PokerStars website.
Versus Picks Up Season 2 of Poker2Nite
Poker news show Poker2Nite is returning for another season, but leaving Fox Sports Net behind for Versus.
Poker2Nite follows an informal news format with UB Poker pro Joe Sebok and poker personality Scott Huff acting as hosts. Dana Workman also produces the satirical Weekly Misdeal for the program.
All 13 episodes of the first season were shown on Fox Sports Net. The second season will kick off this Wednesday at 11 p.m. ET on Versus, which was formerly OLN.
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Mark Seif, Ben Zamani Among WPT L.A. Poker Classic Day 1 Leaders
Absolute Poker pro Mark Seif and online gamer Ben “xthesteinx” Zamani are among the leaders after one day of play in the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) L.A. Poker Classic. Day 2 takes place today at the Commerce Casino in Los Angeles.
A total of 745 players entered the $10,000 buy-in tournament, up a solid 7% from last year’s count of 696. A tent was set up outside the casino to accommodate the extra demand in a scene that was likely reminiscent of the 2006 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event. The top 72 players will finish in the money when the final cards are dealt on Thursday and first place will pocket $1.8 million. The minimum payout is over $18,000.
A field of 477 players will assemble on Saturday in Los Angeles. Defending champion Cornel Andrew Cimpan was one of the casualties of Friday’s action. Taking his place at a table featuring Full Tilt Poker pro Mike Matusow was none other than 11-time WSOP bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth. Upon the UB.com pro arriving at his new digs, Matusow welcomed him with the following line: "Welcome to the table. You're now the worst player at the worst table in the room."
The Commerce Casino spent the day buzzing about the now-infamous prop bet with Gavin Smith, “Poker2Nite” host Joe Sebok, and Jeff Madsen. The trio agreed on a creative last longer bet in which the first player to bust from the L.A. Poker Classic had to adorn tattoos of the other two players’ faces. The second player to bust had to ink a tattoo of the remaining player’s face. Sebok saw his aces cracked during Level 3 play and was the first musketeer eliminated. Then, it was Madsen’s turn to go. Accordingly, Smith came out on top of one of the wildest prop bets ever conducted. Whether a buyout of the bet will occur remains to be seen.
Heading into Day 2, Masa Kagawa paces the field with a stack of 124,000 chips. He’ll head to Table 4 on Saturday and will be keeping a watchful eye out for Seif, who holds 122,000 chips. Seif, a sponsored pro of the CEREUS Network site Absolute Poker, is a two-time bracelet winner whose last piece of hardware came in 2005 in a $1,500 No Limit Hold’em event. Seif’s company will include Victory Poker pro Keith Gipson, European Poker Tour (EPT) founder John Duthie, Nick Binger, and 2009 WSOP Europe bracelet winner J.P. Kelly.
Team PokerStars Pro front man Daniel Negreanu, fresh off helping promote the site’s first ever North American Poker Tour (NAPT) stop on U.S. soil at the Venetian, doubled up with pocket kings at the Commerce Casino on Day 1. His cowboys held against an opponent’s pocket jacks to move him to 40,000 in chips. Negreanu finished the day with a stack of 29,075, good for 223rd in the room. He appears on the leaderboard in elite company, however, as also holding around 29,000 chips are Erik Seidel, Gavin Griffin, Matt Glantz, Tuan Le, and NAPT High-Roller Bounty Shootout third place finisher Joe Cassidy.
Here are the top 10 chip stacks in the WPT L.A. Poker Classic heading into Day 2:
1. Masa Kagawa - 124,575
2. Mark Seif - 122,025
3. Charles Dolan - 120,500
4. Benjamin “xthesteinx” Zamani - 115,000
5. Naoya Kihara - 104,100
6. Chansung Choi - 100,350
7. Shawn Buchanan - 100,225
8. Hieu Luu - 98,250
9. Cary Katz - 97,475
10. Eugene Katchalov - 95,675
Notable names that appear in the top 50 include:
21. David Singer - 73,525
24. Marco “CrazyMarco” Johnson - 72,125
31. Robert Mizrachi - 68,575
32. Darus Suharto - 68,275
39. Peter “Belabacsi” Traply - 64,200
40. Chau Giang - 63,250
41. Jimmy “gobboboy” Fricke - 63,075
44. Keith Gipson - 61,175
45. Vanessa Rousso - 60,900
46. David “WhooooKidd” Baker - 60,725
Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest L.A. Poker Classic coverage.
Handling the Baddest of Beats
You feel the rush of jumping out of the airplane. Wind and all manner of force is in your face as you speed down towards the earth.
As you fall closer to the ground the time comes for you to pull the rip cord and it fails.
When Tyler Reiman spiked a queen all in pre-flop against John Duthie's aces at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure this past January with 12 people left and enough chips in the middle of the table to send the winner of the pot through to the final table with a massive chip lead, Duthie says that's exactly what it felt like.
"I equate it to that," Duthie said on Day 1 of the World Poker Tour's L.A. Poker Classic. "The feeling the skydiver feels at that point is exactly how you feel I would imagine."
With Duthie practically guaranteed second or third-place money had he won the pot, the value of the beat made it all the more devastating.
"The situation really made it the worst beat that I've ever had or will ever have in the game of poker," he said. "It was literally like losing $1.5 million in one hand when you are an 87 per cent favorite."
Duthie says taking a beat like that can definitely have an effect on your psyche and, therefore, your game.
"The horrible thing is you start expecting to lose these hands even when you are a massive favorite," he said. "What you end up trying to do is keep the pots much smaller. Not take as many big risks."
But as time goes on, you have to put the bad beat behind you, no matter how big it was.
"You actually don't want to play poker for a long time," Duthie said. "You might even say I'm never playing poker again, but a good sportsman doesn't stop playing the game just because he gets beat.
"I'll never forget that hand, but the impact is diminishing. Life goes on and I'm a great believer that it's only a patch. I'm just going through a phase at the moment.
"I'm not an unlucky person. I know it won't last forever and as long as I keep telling myself that, it will be alright."
The worst bad beat story Daniel Negreanu says he ever heard was from a $1-$5 Stud game.
Two players were heads up showing a king-high straight flush against a queen-high straight flush. With a $300,000 bad beat jackpot on the line, the entire table was already counting the money when the player with the queen-high straight flush drew the king on Seventh Street to chop the pot.
"Think of these guys playing $1-$5 Stud," he said. "All they all have is $100 to their name and they are going to win a sick jackpot. That's bad."
But in the end, that's poker.
"Those are the exact two words you chalk it up to," Negreanu said. "That's poker. Weird stuff is going to happen to you all the time. You have to have mental strength and emotional stability. If you don't you are in the wrong environment.
"Other people struggle through much worse things in their lives. If the worst thing you have to complain about is a bad beat and you only ended up in fourth place - Sorry about your luck. Some people have no arms. Some people have been paralyzed from the waist down. Other people have it worse. Think about real bad beats, put it in context and you realize your life's not so bad."
In the World Poker Tour's first Season, Mark Seif had aces cracked in a pot for the chip lead at the final table to bust in fourth at the Legends of Poker main event.
Four years later, in the pot that gave Vivek Rajkumar an insurmountable lead at the WPT Borgata final table, all the money was in the middle with Seif holding aces against Rajkumar's tens before a ten flopped.
"That one still sits with me," he said. "It's been a year and a half now and I still think about it."
But despite lingering thoughts, Seif said he tries not to let it affect his game or his outlook on life.
"I've been extremely unlucky at very unfortunate times," he said. "But I look at it as though I did what I was supposed to do. My job is to get the chips in when I have the best hand. I got all the chips in pre-flop with two aces against two tens. That was my job.
"The fact that I was so unlucky might devastate other people and, as I told you, I still think about it. But at the end of the day, I look at my life in general, and I'm so lucky.
"I get to play poker for a living, I live in a really great house and I have two beautiful little girls. I just live a really great life and, in the big picture, I can't mope around and feel like I'm unlucky."
In the end, even bad beats are all about perspective.
The WPT's L.A. Poker Classic continues through March 2. For comprehensive coverage, tune in to PokerListings' Live Updates and News.
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Negreanu, Rousso and Raymer give their advice for Shootout tournaments
Three poker professionals, Daniel Negreanu, Vanessa Rousso and Greg Raymer are giving away their secrets for Shootout tournaments in a recent CardPlayer video.
Not the “Fossilman”, but the lovely Vanessa Rousso
While the PokerStars North American Poker Tour (NAPT) Venetian is nearing its end, there was an side event played. A $25.000 Shootout torunament. Shootout tournaments work a bit differently than normal tournaments. Normally when people are eliminated from the tournament, they break up the table and have the players take new seats from other tables. In Shootout format you will play each table like a sit’n'go, only the winner continues the tournament.
So you have to adjust your play according to the shootout format. Negreanu, Rousso and Raymer are giving away some of their tricks for Shootout tournaments in this video.
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Negreanu, Rousso and Raymer give their advice for Shootout tournaments
NAPT $25k High-Roller Shootout Set
The 49-player field will be pitted against each other in a seven-table shootout format with the winners going on to the final table Thursday. There will also be a $5,000 bounty on every player's head throughout the first round heats and the final.
Interestingly, there are just three female players registered for the event, Annie Duke, Vanessa Rousso and Jennifer Tilly, and they drew seats next to each other on the same table.
2003 World Series of Poker Main Event champ Chris Moneymaker will get the chance to take on 2009 WSOP Main Event champ Joe Cada in a heat that also includes PokerListings Blogger and Team PokerStars Pro Jason Mercier.
Plus, Daniel Negreanu, who drew the names out of the hat Monday, will have his work cut out for him at a table with some of the brightest young minds in the online game, including Phil "OMGClayAiken" Galfond, Andrew "Good2CU" Robl, and Alex "AJKHoosier1" Kamberis.
The self-proclaimed best No-Limit Hold'em player in the world, Phil Hellmuth, will have to prove it against a table featuring fellow WSOP Main Event champ Greg Raymer and EPT Founder John Duthie, while young guns like Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier and Sorel Mizzi will take on old-school Big Game pros Barry Greenstein and Chau Giuang.
The first round of play will be filmed in two sessions Tuesday inside the Venetian's Belleni Ballroom. The event is being filmed for broadcast on ESPN2.
For the full table lists check the chart below.
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NBC Heads-Up Field Released
Familiar faces like Phil Ivey, Daniel Negreanu, Doyle Brunson, Phil Hellmuth and Chris "Jesus" Ferguson will be back to compete in the bracket-style head-to-head format for $1.5 million in combined prize money Mar. 5-7.
Plus, several newcomers including PokerListings Blogger and Team PokerStars Pro Jason Mercier, 2009 World Series of Poker champion Joe Cada, 2009 WSOP Main Event runner-up Darvin Moon, and High Stakes Poker host Kara Scott will be in the field of 64 trying to take down last year's champ Huck Seed.
"The lineup of competitors for this year's event is the best yet," said Jon Miller, executive vice president of NBC Sports.
"Continually bringing together the best of the best to compete in this unique format has made the National Heads-Up Poker Championship one of the most anticipated poker events of the year."
The event will be taped for broadcast on NBC over six consecutive Sundays in April and May.
The first round opponents for the brackets will be chosen at random during the GoDaddy.com Draw Party held at PURE Nightclub at Caesars Palace Mar. 4.
Below is a list of the entire 64-player field less seven spaces for online qualifiers.
Patrick Antonius Eric Baldwin Andy Bloch Doyle Brunson
Joe Cada Johnny Chan Don Cheadle Allen Cunningham
Pieter De-Korver Annie Duke Tom Dwan Peter Eastgate
Eli Elezra Antonio Esfandiari Sam Farha Chris Ferguson
Ted Forrest Jamie Gold Phil Gordon Barry Greenstein
Bertrand Grospellier Joe Hachem Gus Hansen Jennifer Harman
Phil Hellmuth Orel Hershiser Jesper Hougaard Phil Ivey
John Juanda Gabe Kaplan J.P. Kelly Phil Laak
Howard Lederer Erick Lindgren Mike Matusow Jason Mercier
Dario Minieri Chris Moneymaker Darvin Moon Greg Mueller
Daniel Negreanu Scotty Nguyen Annette Obrestad Brock Parker
Dennis Phillips Greg Raymer Vanessa Rousso Kara Scott
Huck Seed Erik Seidel Mike Sexton Gavin Smith
Jennifer Tilly Paul Wasicka David Williams Leo Wolpert
Jerry Yang
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Andrew Lichtenberger Leads NAPT Venetian Main Event After Day 2
Andrew “luckychewy” Lichtenberger, an accomplished live and online poker pro, will come armed to Day 3 of the $5,000 PokerStars North American Poker Tour (NAPT) Venetian Main Event on Monday with the top stack in the room.
Lichtenberger owns a stack of 618,700 chips and is one of just two players to have surpassed the 600,000-chip plateau. Lichtenberger scooped a large chunk of his chips after his pocket aces outlasted Lars Bonding’s pocket kings. Bonding, an accomplished pro in his own right, took down three Venetian Deep Stack Extravaganza events leading up to the NAPT Venetian feature tournament. The three cashes, which occurred within a one-week span, were worth nearly $80,000 combined.
Andy “BKiCe” Seth, who was the chip leader after Day 1 in Las Vegas, sat in second position when the dust settled on Day 2. Seth had build an arsenal of 602,600 chips by the end of Sunday’s action and was helped in part by his pocket kings outlasting another player’s A-K. He was the first player to crack 500,000 in chips and ended the day with about 100,000 more.
Also near the top of the leaderboard is Steve “MrSmokey1” Billirakis, who holds the third largest stack at 591,200. Billirakis won the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Circuit Championship in Hammond two years ago for $208,000. One year prior, he took down his first bracelet by besting the pack in a $5,000 Mixed Hold’em event at the WSOP for $536,000, defeating two-time bracelet winner Greg “FBT” Mueller heads-up. Billirakis had just 40,000 chips entering the day on Sunday.
Jon “PearlJammer” Turner had a rocky ending to Day 2. After building his stack up to 500,000, Turner sank back down to 300,000. Turner called a 51,000 chip all-in with K-8 and found himself facing pocket nines. The board ran out 6-10-J-6-10 and Turner continued to bleed chips. He ended the day with just 85,100, good for 112th overall in the NAPT Venetian Main Event.
Moving up in the waning moments of Sunday’s play was Team PokerStars Pro front man Daniel Negreanu, who pushed all-in with pocket sevens and ran into an opponent’s pocket eights. Nevertheless, Negreanu hit quads when the flop came J-7-7 to push his stack to 50,000. However, Negreanu did not survive to see the end of the day. Despite Negreanu’s exit, Team PokerStars Pro will be well represented on Day 3 with 2004 WSOP Main Event winner Greg Raymer, 2009 National Heads-Up Poker Championship runner-up Vanessa Rousso, math whiz Bill Chen, and 1983 WSOP Main Event champ Tom McEvoy.
A total of 149 players remain, with the top 128 finishing in the money. Accordingly, the first order of business when play resumes on Monday will be bursting the money bubble. The minimum payout is $7,200 and a top prize of $827,000 is up for grabs. Here’s a look at the top 10 on the leaderboard, all of whom are sitting pretty to make the money:
1. Andrew “luckychewy” Lichtenberger – 618,700
2. Andy “BKiCe” Seth – 602,600
3. Steve “MrSmokey1” Billirakis – 591,200
4. David Miscikowski – 586,400
5. Jason “TheMasterJ33” Dewitt – 482,900
6. Eric Blair – 466,800
7. Mark Ketteringham – 460,000
8. Kyle Zartman – 430,800
9. Thomas Fuller – 408,500
10. David Paredes – 389,400
Other notable poker players who remain in the hunt in the NAPT Venetian Main Event include:
12. Men “The Master” Nguyen – 378,400
15. Nam Le – 364,100
20. Vanessa Rousso – 313,600
21. Steve “MrTimCaum” O'Dwyer – 307,100
22. Bill Chen – 304,200
24. Danny Wong – 296,700
25. “Miami” John Cernuto – 292,500
32. Dwyte Pilgrim – 259,000
36. Greg Raymer – 242,200
76. Paul Magriel – 139,400
85. Christian “charder30” Harder – 127,000
107. Jimmy “gobboboy” Fricke – 90,100
109. Andrew “good2cu” Robl – 88,600
131. Tom McEvoy – 62,500
143. Marco Traniello – 38,600
Play resumes today at 12:00 Noon PT at the Venetian in Las Vegas. Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest NAPT coverage.
Andreas Hoivold Goes Broke on High Stakes Poker
Two episodes of “High Stakes Poker” Season 6 have aired and two players have already dropped $200,000. Last week, UB.com pro Phil Hellmuth went busto on the popular GSN cash game show. This week, that distinction belonged to Ladbrokes pro Andreas Hoivold.
As Sunday night’s episode of “High Stakes Poker” began, 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event November Nine member Phil Ivey was up $300,000, while Hoivold was down $90,000. Ivey picked up right where he left off, being selectively aggressive. With a board reading J-4-A-4-9 with two spades, Ivey bet $25,000 with just K-2 and Tom “durrrr” Dwan folded Q-10 of spades for busted flush and straight draws. Then, Dwan raised to $3,300 pre-flop with K-J and Ivey pumped it to $15,000 with just 5-2. The action folded around and “High Stakes Poker” announcer Gabe Kaplan noted, “Phil Ivey right now is in the zone.”
Dwan held pocket kings and raised to $3,200 pre-flop, while Hoivold made the call with pocket fours. The action was checked down to the river, with the board filling out A-9-5-K-Q. Dwan led out for $5,700 with a set and Hoivold called, telling “High Stakes Poker” sideline reporter Kara Scott that he called in order to extract information about Dwan’s hand. Kaplan called $5,700 a hefty price to pay for information.
In a hand that showed the power of Ivey’s presence, the Full Tilt Poker pro raised to $3,000 pre-flop with Q-8. Daniel Negreanu called with A-4, including the ace of clubs, and Dwan came along with J-10. The flop came 2-4-J with two clubs. Ivey led out for $17,000 and both opponents called to see the nine of clubs fall on the turn, putting three of the suit on the board. Ivey bet $23,000, Negreanu called with the nut flush draw, and Dwan got out of the way, bringing the ace of hearts on the river. Ivey checked and Negreanu checked right behind despite holding aces-up, bringing the following comment from Kaplan: “That’s the Phil Ivey effect. He did not want Ivey to come over the top and raise it. He wouldn’t know what to do.”
Eli Elezra, who has appeared on all six seasons of GSN’s “High Stakes Poker,” joined the table to fill Hellmuth’s spot, telling Scott, “I don’t care if it’s a tough lineup or an easy lineup. I like to play.” He quickly tangled with PokerStars pro Dario Minieri, who held pocket eights and raised it up to $3,000. Elezra called with Q-10 and the flop came Q-7-7. Minieri made a $4,500 continuation bet and Elezra called. The turn was a five, prompting an $11,500 bet from Minieri. Elezra once again called to bring an eight on the river, giving Minieri a boat. The Italian checked, trying to set a trap for Elezra, but the wily poker veteran wisely checked behind.
With the board reading 3-10-6-Q with two hearts, Danish poker superstar Gus Hansen led out with 6-3 for $11,100 and Dwan called with Q-4. Hoivold, holding A-Q for top pair, made his move and raised to $50,000. Hansen, holding bottom two pair, pushed all-in, Dwan folded, and Hoivold called with his chip stack on the line. The duo agreed to run it twice, with the winner of each river scooping half of the pot. The first river was a nine, giving Hansen 50% of the $190,000 pot. The second river was an eight and Hoivold was busto.
New episodes of GSN’s “High Stakes Poker” air on Sunday nights at 8:00pm ET. Next week, 2009 Bluff Magazine Player of the Year Jason Mercier enters the fray, while Negreanu and Dwan build a massive pot when one goes all-in.
Tags: 2009, Daniel Negreanu, Gus Hansen, high stakes, kara scott, Phil Hellmuth, Phil Ivey, pokerstars, WSOP
Andy Seth (BKiCe) Leads NAPT Venetian Main Event After Day 1
A total of 872 players entered the PokerStars North American Poker Tour (NAPT) Venetian Main Event on Saturday and, when the smoke cleared, 476 remained in the hunt for the $827,000 top prize.
Topping the leaderboard after Day 1 was Andy “BKiCe” Seth, an online poker pro who chipped up steadily throughout the day, even taking a break to play online poker at one point. By 5:00pm PT yesterday, he had amassed a stack of 120,000 chips and ended the day with 245,600. Seth is one of only four players, or 1% of the field, with more than 200,000 chips. In second place on the NAPT Venetian leaderboard is fellow online poker pro Phil “USCphildo” Collins, who holds a stack of 227,900 chips. Also near the top is 2003 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event champion Chris Moneymaker, whose pile of 207,300 chips is good for fourth overall entering Day 2 on Sunday.
Moneymaker isn’t the only former WSOP Main Event champ making waves in Las Vegas. Registering the 14th largest total at the Venetian is 2004 Main Event winner Greg Raymer, who boasts a stack of 144,100. Raymer nearly recorded a second bracelet in 2009 after taking third in the $40,000 No Limit Hold’em event commemorating the 40th running of the WSOP; he banked $774,000 in that tournament. All told, Raymer owns nearly $6.5 million in career WSOP earnings and has made six final tables.
UB.com pro Phil Hellmuth’s stay in the $5,000 NAPT Venetian Main Event was short-lived. After much deliberation, including seeking the advice of fellow tournament pro Daniel Negreanu, Hellmuth raised all-in with pocket queens on a flop of 4-10-5. Eric Levesque made the call with pocket aces and Hellmuth was suddenly drawing to two outs. Neither hit on the turn or river, eliminating Hellmuth. Coverage found on the official website of PokerStars detailed his exit: “Needless to say, Hellmuth was not quiet or happy, but he was required to pack his things and leave the table.”
Also sent packing late in the day was Team PokerStars Pro’s Gavin Griffin. The acclaimed pro, who owns major titles on three poker circuits, shoved with K-Q on a board reading Q-10-4 with two clubs. An opponent made the call with 2-3 of clubs for a flush draw and ultimately spiked a third club. By the time the eighth level had been played out on Saturday, Full Tilt Poker pro Gavin Smith and PokerStars’ Hevad “RaiNKhaN” Khan had also both hit the rails.
After seeing his stack crippled after his nut flush fell to a boat, Barry Greenstein doubled up at the expense of Mohsin “chicagocards1” Charania. Greenstein held 6-8 and pushed all-in on a board of A-7-5-4 for the nuts, while Charania held pocket fives for a set. The board failed to pair on the river and Greenstein’s stack boomed to 49,000. He finished the day with 40,700 chips, the 291st largest tally in the room.
Here are the top 10 stacks headed into Day 2 of the PokerStars NAPT Venetian Main Event:
1. Andy “BKiCe” Seth - 245,600
2. Philip “USCphildo” Collins - 227,900
3. Mark Ketteringham - 211,000
4. Chris Moneymaker - 207,300
5. Yongli Jin - 160,800
6. Steven Tabb - 159,800
7. Daniel Schreiber - 157,600
8. Jason “TheMasterJ33” Dewitt - 154,000
9. Mark Mierkalns - 153,000
10. Samuel Stein – 151,500
Other players remaining in the top 50 on the leaderboard include:
13. Vanessa Rousso – 144,900
14. Greg Raymer – 144,100
23. Danny Wong – 123,100
27. Men “The Master” Nguyen – 118,400
28. Andrew “good2cu” Robl – 116,400
32. Jimmy “gobboboy” Fricke – 112,600
35. “Miami” John Cernuto – 111,200
50. Montel Williams – 100,300
The top 128 players will finish in the money. The PokerStars NAPT Venetian Main Event crowns a champion on Wednesday. Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest NAPT Venetian coverage.
PokerStars North American Poker Tour Venetian Event Draws 872 Players
The inaugural PokerStars North American Poker Tour (NAPT) Main Event on U.S. soil kicked off on Saturday at the Venetian, drawing a field of 872 players, according to PokerStars officials. The tournament had a cap of 890 entrants.
A total of 89 tables were set up at the Venetian in Las Vegas and a bevy of PokerStars-sponsored pros and celebrities were in the mix. “Seinfeld” actor Jason Alexander, who finished 17th in the Ante Up for Africa event during the 2007 World Series of Poker (WSOP), was among the most visible players in the room. Joining Alexander were the likes of baseball great Orel Hershiser, Darus Suharto, Bill Chen, reigning WSOP Main Event champ Joe Cada, Daniel Negreanu, Joe Hachem, Chris Moneymaker, 2009 Bluff Player of the Year Jason Mercier, Dennis Phillips, Steve Paul-Ambrose, Tom McEvoy, and Vanessa Rousso. Also in the house was Scotty Nguyen, a five-time bracelet winner.
One of the hot topics of debate leading into the $5,000 Main Event of the NAPT Venetian was whether Full Tilt Poker pros would turn out to the PokerStars-sponsored tournament. Sure, enough, several were spotted in the field, including Gavin Smith. Also to be found was Full Tilt Poker’s Justin “Boosted J” Smith, whose pocket kings held up against another player’s pocket jacks to scoop a sizable pot and get the day started off on the right foot. However, no Team Full Tilt members appeared to be in attendance.
Eliminated on Day 1 was Kevin “BeL0WaB0Ve” Saul, who ran pocket kings into another players’ pocket aces. Also sent packing was Billy “Patrolman35” Kopp, a UB.com pro. Kopp flopped a boat with pocket threes on a 6-6-3 board and his opponent held 6-4 for trips. However, a four peeled off on the turn to give Kopp’s opponent a better full house and a three failed to hit the river. Kopp finished 12th in the 2009 WSOP Main Event, ultimately exiting in a dramatic flush over flush situation against eventual runner-up Darvin Moon.
On a board of A-K-7-8-Q, Hevad “RainKhaN” Khan called all-in with A-K for top two pair. However, Danny Wong showed pocket sevens for a set to send Khan to the rails. Khan, a PokerStars-sponsored pro, finished sixth in the 2007 WSOP Main Event and cashed for $956,000. In the process, a rule regulating excessive player celebrations was established in his name.
Also making waves on Saturday was online poker star Andy “BKiCe” Seth, who had a pile of 120,000 chips by 5:15pm PT. Seth final tabled the Full Tilt Poker Sunday Brawl in November for $19,000. His big claim to fame in the live world is finishing second in a $1,500 No Limit Hold’em tournament during the 2009 WSOP for $372,000.
A total of 128 players will finish in the money and the prize pool amounted to just over $4 million. First place is scheduled to take home $827,000 and the minimum payout is $7,200. According to PokerNews, those who are well on their way to earning the top prize include Wong, Nam Le, and Full Tilt's “Miami” John Cernuto, who hold 89,00, 81,000, and 75,000 chips, respectively. Also among those sitting pretty at the time of writing is Cada, who amassed a stack of 67,000, more than double the starting total of 30,000.
There were 650 players remaining during Level 7, with select chip counts given below. All numbers are according to the official website of PokerStars:
Andy “BKiCe” Seth – 120,000
Erica Schoenberg – 90,000
Andreas Hoivold – 70,000
Christian “charder30” Harder – 61,000
Joe Cada – 50,000
John “The Razor” Phan – 48,000
Adam “Roothlus” Levy – 45,000
Darus Suharto – 45,000
Jimmy “gobboboy” Fricke – 42,000
Eric Levesque – 42,000
Steve Paul-Ambrose – 41,500
Kevin Schaffel – 41,000
Eight one-hour levels will be played on Saturday. Starting on Sunday, each blind level will run for 75 minutes. We’ll have NAPT coverage for you right here on Poker News Daily.
Tags: 2009, Daniel Negreanu, darvin moon, full tilt poker, Online Poker, pokerstars, tournament, trips, vegas, WSOP
Titan Poker Featured in New John Travolta Film
Online poker site Titan Poker made its film debut earlier this month when it appeared in Pierre Morel's From Paris With Love, starring John Travolta and Jonathan Rhys Meyers. The film, which was released on February 5th in the U.S., was co-written and produced by the critically acclaimed French director Luc Besson, whose production company chose to partner with Titan Poker and feature the online poker room in the film.
Titan Poker gets its big screen introduction in a scene in which one of the film's characters is playing online poker. The film focuses on James Reece (Rhys Meyers' character), a low-level CIA operative who desires to be real agent. When he's offered his first senior-level assignment, he's partnered with Charlie Wax (played by Travolta), an egocentric loose cannon who's been sent to Paris to stop a terrorist attack. Wax's methods have Reece longing to return to his desk job until he discovers he's a target of the same crime ring they're trying to bust.
To celebrate its appearance in the film, Titan Poker will be holding an exclusive From Paris with Love Tournament. The promotion will be held through the French version of the online poker site and will include a $5,000 prize pool, film merchandise giveaways, and tickets to its premiere in Paris.
Titan Poker joins other top online poker sites that have made appearances in the entertainment industry. World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner and PokerStars pro Daniel Negreanu found his way into Katy Perry’s Waking Up In Vegas video in the spring of 2009, with Negreanu losing a big pot to Perry in a poker game while the PokerStars logo flashed across the screen. Then in September, Cleveland Cavaliers forward and 2009 NBA MVP LeBron James was featured in rapper Drake's video, Forever. The video begins with James playing a heads-up match at PokerStars, logged in as RealLebron. James has a pair of fours on the button against a player named RoyaL00'7, but viewers never find out what happens in the hand.
UltimateBet.net attached its brand to the popular world of Mixed Martial Arts when it partnered up with the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) in 2009. The online poker site holds a title sponsorship of Rogers Sportsnet's weekly sports show, MMA Connected. Ultimate Bet also sponsored UCF 97, as Chuck “The Iceman” Liddell donned an Ultimate Bet logo during his fight against Mauricio “Shogun” Rua.
In addition to its From Paris with Love promotion, Titan Poker began its Land Man Standing promotion on February 1st. The site is rewarding its loyal players with cash and a package to the WSOP Main Event as the grand prize. The promotion consists of accumulating a certain number of points per day for an undefined time period that will be determined by the number of players who remain in contention as time progresses.
David Benyamine Wins PartyPoker Premier League IV
Frenchman David Benyamine took down the fourth PartyPoker Premier League title, defeating embattled pro Luke “Full_Flush” Schwartz heads-up. Benyamine earned $476,000 for his efforts.
Team PokerStars Pro member Daniel Negreanu and Full Tilt's Roland de Wolfe qualified via heads-up matches for the six-handed final table. Negreanu outlasted J.C. Tran in his heads-up encounter, while de Wolfe bested PartyPoker pro Ian Frazer. At the final table, each player began with 10,000 chips for every point they had accrued during Premier League play. Consequently, Unabomber Poker front man Phil Laak owned a hefty lead over the rest of the field with 480,000 chips, 100,000 ahead of Benyamine’s second place stack of 380,000.
After bleeding chips at the final table, however, including running a set into Negreanu’s flush, Laak was the first casualty. He called all-in pre-flop with pocket tens and was up against Benyamine’s A-K. An old fashioned race would determine the winner of the 300,000-chip pot and the flop came Q-4-2, keeping Laak’s wired pair in front. However, Benyamine spiked an ace on the turn to pull away for good.
Shortly thereafter, de Wolfe departed in fifth place from the PartyPoker Premier League IV final table. He committed his final 240,000 chips with A-J offsuit pre-flop and Negreanu came along with pocket nines. The flop came down K-9-3, giving Negreanu a set, and a seven on the turn left de Wolfe drawing dead. A meaningless ace hit on the river and de Wolfe exited stage right. The hand moved Negreanu into the chip lead with four players remaining.
Negreanu then ran pocket sevens into Schwartz’s pocket kings to drop down to 131,000 in chips. He’d hit the rail after pushing with Q-5 of clubs on a board of K-9-Q with two clubs. Benyamine called with K-9 for top two pair and the turn was another king, giving Benyamine the win in the hand with a boat. Negreanu took fourth place in the Premier League, which emanated from the M Casino in Las Vegas.
Third place went to the lone online qualifier, Giovanni Safina. The Italian put his money in ahead, as his A-7 was well in front of the K-3 of Schwartz. With the latter in a gambling mood, the flop came 5-Q-6, keeping Safina out in front. The turn was a jack, leaving Schwartz drawing to a king or three on the river. Sure enough, a three peeled off, sending Safina out and setting up a heads-up showdown between Benyamine and Schwartz. The latter entered as better than a 2:1 chip leader.
Benyamine doubled up early with K-10 against K-7 to climb back into the running. On the final hand, the money went into the center with Benyamine holding Q-8 against Schwartz’s Q-2 on a flop of Q-5-3. Schwartz pushed all-in and Benyamine tanked before finally making the call, leading to an eruption from the youngster. According to coverage found on PokerNews, Schwartz commented, "Why'd you slow roll? That's an easy call." The board filled out 7-6 and Benyamine took down the Premier League title.
Payouts were given for Premier League points and final table finishing position. Accordingly, the final PartyPoker Premier League IV shook out as follows:
1. David Benyamine - $476,000
2. Luke "Full_Flush" Schwartz - $258,000
3. Giovanni Safina - $158,000
4. Daniel Negreanu - $132,000
5. Roland de Wolfe - $114,000
6. Phil Laak - $146,000
7. Ian Frazer - $52,000
8. J.C. Tran - $40,000
9. Phil Hellmuth - $38,000
10. Yevgeniy "Jovial Gent" Timoshenko - $32,000
11. Vanessa Rousso - $32,000
12. Tony G - $22,000
Following his win in the unique tournament series, Benyamine told Matchroom Sport organizers, “It feels really good winning a title; I’m still not used to doing it. The whole time, I never thought about winning. I just wanted to do what I thought was right. I know people always say that when they win, but it’s true.”