Posts Tagged ‘David Benyamine’
Tobias Reinkemeier Leads PCA Super High Roller Event After Day 1
One day of play is in the books in the $100,000 buy-in Super High Roller Event at the 2011 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA). Thirty-eight players put up the six-figure admission fee and, when the smoke had cleared after nine levels, Tobias Reinkemeier held a stack of 896,000 for a slight lead over Team PokerStars Pro front man Daniel Negreanu.
Reinkemeier doubled up late in the day with pocket queens against Bryan Colin’s A-10 to move to 420,000 in chips and eventually bagged up more than twice that total to make a run at the $1.5 million top prize. The $100,000 buy-in event set a new standard for tournaments at the PCA and brought out some of the game’s best, including Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier. “Elky” watched as Negreanu and 2010 Bluff Player of the Year Sorel “Imper1um” Mizzi hit top pair on an ace-high board. Grospellier, who was all-in against both, sent his final hand into the muck to depart in 25th place.
Grospellier wasn’t the only star to exit the Super High Roller Event on its opening day. Viktor Blom, the many presumed to be behind the “Isildur1” moniker, was also in the house and called all-in on a board reading 9-A-7-9-3. His opponent, Vivek “Psyduck” Rajkumar, tabled K-9 for trips. Blom mucked and that was all she wrote for the Swede, who lasted eight levels.
For Blom, the start of the day was ominous. Text found on the PokerStars Blog details the opening minutes of his $100,000 buy-in tournament run: “‘Long travels’ is how Blom described it, having just flown from London to New York to Miami to Nassau five hours late and without his baggage. He’s now filling in waiver forms.”
North American Poker Tour (NAPT) Venetian Bounty Shootout champ Ashton Griffin also found the rail on Thursday in the Bahamian poker tournament. Griffin committed his stack pre-flop with Q-10, but ran into Nick Schulman’s A-2. The board ran out A-J-2-K-A and, despite making a straight, Griffin fell to Schulman’s full house on the river.
Jason “JCarver” Somerville’s pocket jacks were no match for Victory Poker pro Antonio Esfandiari’s pocket aces to seal his exit from the $100,000 buy-in tournament. Also without chips was math whiz Bill Chen, whose A-5 found trips on a 5-7-5-6-8 board, but David Benyamine, one of the few Full Tilt Poker pros in the tournament, held Q-9 for a straight.
Departing in particularly brutal fashion was DoylesRoom pro Hoyt Corkins. The “Alabama Cowboy” called all-in with ducks on a board of 2-9-6-5-10 only to see that Bryn Kenney had rivered a set of his own with pocket tens. Among those seated at the same table were Phil Laak and Jason Mercier, the latter of whom told Kenney, “I really didn’t think you had two tens.”
Twenty-three players remain at the end of Day 1 of the three-day tournament, whose final table will be filmed for airing on ESPN2. Here’s how the field stacks up entering Day 2 on Friday:
1. Tobias Reinkemeier – 896,000
2. Daniel Negreanu – 848,000
3. Bryn Kenney – 828,000
4. Nick Schulman – 705,000
5. Daniel “jungleman12” Cates – 622,000
6. Eugene Katchalov – 551,000
7. Vivek “Psyduck” Rajkumar – 483,000
8. Jason Mercier – 459,000
9. Andrew “luckychewy” Lichtenberger – 444,000
10. Caio Pimenta – 409,000
11. Sandor Demjan – 401,000
12. James “Andy McLEOD” Obst – 390,000
13. Antonio Esfandiari – 330,000
14. Andrew “good2cu” Robl – 324,000
15. Humberto Brenes – 318,000
16. Mike “timex” McDonald – 269,000
17. Sorel “Imper1um” Mizzi – 249,000
18. Shawn Buchanan – 209,000
19. David Benyamine – 202,000
20. Matt Glantz – 148,000
21. Bryan Colin – 134,000
22. Justin “Boosted J” Smith – 116,000
23. Phil Laak – 99,000
The action will pick back up at Noon ET today and five places will pay out when the tournament wraps up on Saturday. Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest from the 2011 PCA.
Image courtesy PokerStars Blog
Poker News in Brief: Nov. 22-28
Thankfully we found a home for them in our weekly Poker News in Brief feature.
This week the WPT begins in Marrakech, a World Heads-Up champ is crowned, an Italian wins in Malta and more.
WPT Marrakech Kicks Off
The €4,250 + €750 World Poker Tour Marrakech main event began at the Casino De Marrakech Saturday with 137 players entering the first Day 1 flight.
Names like Alexandre Gomes, Surinder Sunar and Antoine Saout all took part.
Germany's Sebastian Homann grabbed the overnight lead with Frenchman Nicolas Levi close.
David Benyamine, Chilipoker pro Liz Lieu and Bertrand "Elky" Grospellier are expected to play the second Day 1 flight.
The ChiliPoker sponsored Main Event runs through Nov. 30.
Marino Books Estrellas Sponsorship
Alvaro "Drácula" Marino won the Estrellas Poker Tour leaderboard championship this week.
The points-based contest had been running throughout the first season of the PokerStars sponsored Spanish tour.
Marino didn’t win an Estrellas tournament, but made the final table of both the Alicante and Madrid events to secure a sponsorship deal for every event in the tour's second season beginning in Madrid next February.
Persaud is World Heads-Up Champ
Nik Persaud won the £2,000 2010 World Heads Up Poker Championship at London's Grosvenor Victoria Casino this week.
Players including John Tabatabai, Vicky Coren, JP Kelly, Richard Gryko and previous champions Jeff Kimber and Bambos Xanthos entered the event with 21 other competitors.
The semifinals had Persaud take on Toby Lewis and eventual runner-up Leon Louis facing Kimber.
Here's how things finished:
1 Nik Persaud £30,000
2 Leon Louis £15,000
3 Toby Lewis £5,500
3 Jeff Kimber £5,500
Lombardo Wins Masters Malta
Italian Simone Lombardo won the €1,500+€150 European Masters of Poker Malta main event at Casino di Venezia this week.
However, runner-up Mathias Fricke took home the biggest share of the prize pool after making a deal heads-up.
Fricke cashed for €81,590 and Lombardo took home €63,000.
The event drew 241 players.
The final stop on EMOP's second season takes place on a cruise ship on the Mexican Riviera Dec. 5-12.
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Huck Seed, Allen Cunningham Win Full Tilt Doubles Poker Championship
Lost in the shuffle this week amid the conclusion of the 2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP) were the finals of the Full Tilt Doubles Poker Championship, which aired on GSN. Huck Seed and Allen Cunningham battled to victory and earned an even $1 million.
PartyPoker pro Tony G and high-stakes cash game guru David Benyamine were ousted in fourth place from the final table in last week’s installment of the Doubles Poker Championship. Teammates in the $50,000 buy-in tournament alternate action by street and may not discuss strategy while seated with cards.
Howard Lederer and Phil Gordon began the conclusion of the final table with one million in chips, while Seed and Cunningham stood at 672,000. Chris Ferguson and Phil Ivey rounded out the three surviving teams and had a stack of 324,000, or 16 big blinds. The latter pair hit the rails in third place after Ivey shipped his stack in with A-6. Gordon made the call with A-5 and was behind, but hit a wheel on the turn to make a straight. Ferguson told Full Tilt Doubles Poker Championship host Lacey Jones, “We did a great job of avoiding confrontations. I thought we did a good job of surviving.”
Seed and Cunningham doubled up after the latter called all-in on a board of K-9-2-J and showed K-9 for two pair. Gordon showed K-4 for top pair and the river was a six. In an ensuing hand, Seed led out for a pot-sized bet on a board of 6-4-3-8 with A-4 for a pair of fours. Lederer moved all-in with Q-8 for top pair and Seed folded, telling Cunningham that he meant to bet 80,000 and accidentally made it twice that. Curiously, it marked the second betting mishap of the series for Seed, who owns the best record in National Heads-Up Poker Championship history.
Seed and Cunningham would then move all-in with A-5 and jut up against the 10-9 of Gordon and Lederer. With the future of the Full Tilt Doubles Poker Championship hanging in the balance, the flop came A-3-Q, keeping Seed and Cunningham ahead with a pair of aces. The turn was another queen and, just like that, Lederer and Gordon were drawing dead to the river and down 2:1 in chips.
Seed admitted that he thought the next hand would be the last one of the tournament and, true to his word, it was. Cunningham slyly just called pre-flop with pocket jacks and Gordon raised it up to 160,000 with A-K of hearts. Cunningham came over the top all-in and Gordon insta-called all-in to set up a race situation. Despite Cunningham’s slick slow play, it seemed inevitable that the chips would find the middle.
The flop came 6-2-3, no help to either team, and the turn was an eight. Gordon and Lederer were rooting for an ace or king on the river to double up; otherwise, Seed and Cunningham would be crowned the first ever Doubles Poker Championship winners. The final card was a 10 and Seed and Cunningham walked away with $1 million. Meanwhile, Lederer and Gordon banked a $500,000 consolation prize.
Cunningham told Jones following his team’s win that Lederer and Gordon represented a formidable duo heads-up: “They played aggressively and just kept us from being able to chip away at them easily.” Here were the final results of the inaugural Full Tilt Doubles Poker Championship:
1. Huck Seed and Allen Cunningham – $1,000,000
2. Howard Lederer and Phil Gordon – $500,000
3. Phil Ivey and Chris Ferguson – $200,000
4. Tony G and David Benyamine – $100,000
GSN officials will now focus on taping the seventh season of “High Stakes Poker,” whose filming has been pushed back from November to December.
Dwan Late, Houghton Leads at EPT Vienna
Added to the 117 who made it through Day 1a Tuesday, 277 players remained in the hunt for the title starting Day 2 in the Austrian capital Thursday.
A total of 587 players from 48 countries registered for the €5,300 event, creating a total prize pool of €2,935,000 with 80 spots paid and €700,000 reserved for first.
140 players won their seats to the event online with PokerStars.
Laurence Houghton survived a table that included Ramzi Jelassi, Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier and Daniel Negreanu to take the Day 1b and overall chip lead headed into Day 2.
Tom "durrrr" Dwan made quite an entrance, showing up roughly nine hours late for the start of Day 1b after flying in from London earlier in search of cash game action he had heard was relatively heavy.
It turned out the cash games were not as rumored and he decided to play the tournament instead.
"I didn't really want to show up, because I was really tired, on time," Dwan told PokerListings. "I still think I'm a favorite in the tournament, so I was happier to have the six hours sleep than show up on time."
He immediately made up for lost levels doubling the 30k starting stack and surviving through to Day 2.
While, ElkY, Jelassi, John Juanda, David Benyamine and Dario Minieri were among the hundreds that hit the rail, Negreanu, Olympic God Medalist Fatima Moreira de Melo, back-to-back LAPT winner Nacho Barbero, and 2005 EPT Vienna champ Pascal Perrault all joined Dwan into Day 2.
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Full Tilt Doubles Poker Championship Finals Begin
The finals of the Full Tilt Doubles Poker Championship began airing on Saturday night on GSN. The $50,000 buy-in tournament had worked its way down to four teams, each vying for a $1 million top prize. Every team left standing is guaranteed to take home at least $100,000 for making the final table.
Allen Cunningham and Huck Seed began the Full Tilt Doubles Poker Championship finale with 600,000 in chips. Also holding 600,000 by virtue of winning a semifinal match were PartyPoker pro Tony G and David Benyamine. Coming armed to the action with 400,000 in chips were Phil Ivey and Chris Ferguson, along with Howard Lederer and Phil Gordon. Teammates alternate action by street and each pair was given three 60-second timeouts to talk strategy away from the table.
Seed and Cunningham raised to 300,000 on a board reading K-10-J-3-7 holding A-7 of clubs for a pair and a busted flush draw. Lederer and Gordon held K-10 for two pair and promptly asked for time to discuss whether or not to call the massive bet. Gordon’s gut told him to call, while Lederer contended that they were beat. Nevertheless, Gordon made the call and scooped a massive 798,000-chip pot. Following the game-changing hand, they had more chips than the rest of the table combined.
Tony G and Benyamine were all-in with Q-J against the pocket tens of Cunningham and Seed. The flop came 2-J-Q, giving Tony G and Benyamine top two pair, and a running 7-5 awarded them the double up. Gordon actually folded pocket fives pre-flop in the hand and would have rivered a set, but Tony G and Benyamine doubled up to 217,000. While still on life support, the duo remained in the hunt for the seven-figure first place prize.
After Gordon put in a check-raise to 75,000 with air on a board of 4-7-Q-7, Cunningham called with Q-10 for top pair to see a nine on the river. Lederer checked, Seed bet 110,000, and Lederer shut it down by folding rather than continuing Gordon’s aggression. It was one of several instances in which Lederer and Gordon were not on the same page, leaving Full Tilt Doubles Poker Championship host Brandon Adams to remark, “They seem to fumble the baton pretty often.”
Ivey raised to 30,000 before the flop with A-Q and Gordon made the call with 7-3 suited to clubs. The action flop came A-K-5 with two clubs, giving Ivey and Ferguson top pair and Lederer and Gordon a flush draw. Lederer checked, Ferguson fired out a bet of 35,000, and Lederer check-raised all-in for 248,000. Ferguson called for his team’s tournament life and the turn was the seven of diamonds. Lederer and Gordon were rooting for a club, seven, or three to hit on the river to trim the table to three teams, but a red nine hit to double up the always-dangerous Ivey and Ferguson to 561,000.
In the final hand of the night, Tony G raised to 30,000 with pocket nines and Seed popped it to 190,000 with A-9. Tony G responded by moving all-in for another 2,000 and Seed made the call. The board came 2-3-3-5-6 and Tony G and Benyamine doubled up after dodging an ace. Tony G proclaimed, “This will be the greatest comeback in television history” and the credits rolled.
Play remains four-handed in the finals of the Full Tilt Doubles Poker Championship. Will Tony G’s proclamation come true? Catch the show on Saturday at 9:00pm ET on GSN.
Second Semifinal of Full Tilt Doubles Poker Championship Airs on GSN
On Saturday, the second and last semifinal of the Full Tilt Doubles Poker Championship aired on GSN. The one-hour episode featured four teams vying for the two remaining spots at the series’ final table. Phil Ivey and Chris Ferguson began with 350,000 in chips, the lowest total of the group, while Erick Lindgren and Johnny Chan, the season’s points leaders, started with 630,000. Other teams at the table included Tony G and David Benyamine (410,000 in chips) and Phil Galfond and Annette Obrestad (530,000 in chips).
Players accumulated 5,000 in chips for every point generated during the regular season. Teammates alternate action by street on the Full Tilt Doubles Poker Championship, which features David Tuchman and Brandon Adams on the call. Full Tilt Poker’s Lacey Jones provides commentary from the floor of the makeshift poker room at the Golden Nugget in Downtown Las Vegas.
In the first major pot of the episode, Ivey moved all-in with K-J on a flop of 6-10-J with two hearts for top pair. Obrestad made the call and tabled 10-9 of hearts for middle pair and a flush draw, but two black cards on the turn and river secured the double up for Ivey and Ferguson, who became the new chip leaders. The duo won a three-way tiebreaker to claim their seat in the Full Tilt Doubles Poker Championship semifinals.
Ivey and Ferguson’s new influx of chips would quickly evaporate, however. Ferguson called the all-in of Galfond with A-J and “OMGClayAiken” tabled pocket sixes to set up a race. This time, the pocket pair held when Galfond and Obrestad found a set on the flop, leaving Ivey and Ferguson drawing dead to the river. Obrestad and Galfond promptly handed over a chunk of their stack to Lindgren and Chan, who drew out on pocket tens with pocket fours. A four on the turn left Obrestad and Galfond drawing to two outs on the river, which was an eight.
After the bad beat, Obrestad and Galfond’s run finally came to an end. The youngest players at the table were all-in with 10-7 before the flop and up against Ivey and Ferguson’s A-5. Ivey auto-called with the hand and then flopped top pair. Obrestad and Galfond failed to make the Full Tilt Doubles Poker Championship finale and exited in fourth place.
Lindgren raised to 60,000 before the flop with K-Q and Ivey moved all-in over the top with A-9. Lindgren called all-in and the board came 10-J-10-7-8, sending his team away in third place. The two remaining teams, while assured a spot in the finals, played on for a larger starting chip stack. The winning semifinal team would enter the final with 600,000 in chips, while the runner-ups would get just 400,000.
Small ball was the name of the game heads-up. On the final hand, Benyamine peeked down at A-J of diamonds and made it 110,000. Ferguson picked up pocket tens and moved all-in; Benyamine called to put Ivey and Ferguson at risk. The flop of 2-K-3 provided no help to Benyamine and Tony G, but an ace on the turn catapulted the team into the lead. Tony G, a PartyPoker pro, triumphantly yelled “Ace from space” when the card hit. The river was a four and Tony G and Benyamine emerged victorious from the second semifinal.
Joining Ivey, Ferguson, Tony G, and Benyamine in the finals will be Allen Cunningham, Huck Seed, Phil Gordon, and Howard Lederer. Cunningham and Seed and Tony G and Benyamine will start with 600,000 in chips, while Gordon and Lederer and Ivey and Ferguson will have 400,000. You can catch the conclusion of the Full Tilt Doubles Poker Championship this Saturday at 9:00pm ET on GSN.
WSOP Main Event Day 7 Airs on ESPN
On Tuesday night, 78 players took to the felts on Day 7 as part of ESPN’s coverage of the 2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event. Danish poker pro Theo Jorgensen led the way with a stack of 9.3 million and was the only player above nine million.
The stacked feature table included John Racener, new World Poker Tour (WPT) “Raw Deal” host Tony “Bond18” Dunst, and former Bodog pro Jean-Robert Bellande. The latter was the first casualty of Day 7. Nursing a short stack to start the day, Bellande moved his chips into the middle of the table with Q-10 of diamonds, but could not draw out on pocket jacks.
Out in the field, Eduardo Parras knocked out two opponents after his pocket aces held against Q-J of hearts and pocket kings. Then, two UB.com pros trended in opposite directions, as Adam “Roothlus” Levy knocked out a player when his pocket kings withstood A-K. Elsewhere, Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin’s stack was shaved to 30 big blinds after losing a major pot with pocket tens against Jorgensen’s pocket kings. Jorgensen, who once defeated Gus Hansen in a Dane-on-Dane boxing match, moved to 10.9 million in chips.
Dunst committed his last 15 big blinds with pocket queens against Hasan Habib’s A-K. The king-high flop gave Habib a better pair, but Dunst spiked a queen on the river to survive. The new WPT personality commented, “That’s just ridiculous.” Out in the field, a pot worth 8.6 million was up for grabs as Joseph “subiime” Cheong was all-in with A-K against the pocket jacks of Soi Nguyen. The two members of the 2010 WSOP November Nine watched as the board ran out K-5-8-2-6, giving Cheong a pair of kings.
Pascal LeFrancois eliminated Baldwin with pocket nines against the K-8 of “basebaldy.” LeFrancois flopped a set and Baldwin was out in 59th place. Then, LeFrancois was at it again, this time eliminating Full Tilt Poker pro David Benyamine with A-Q of hearts against Benyamine’s Q-10 of spades. LeFrancois flopped the nuts and Benyamine was drawing dead to the river. In the final hand of the first one-hour episode, Racener took down a pot at the feature table worth 4.3 million to become the WSOP Main Event’s new chip leader at 10.2 million.
The second episode began with LeFrancois doubling up through Jonathan Driscoll to claim the third largest stack in the field. Then, Peter Jetten made a poorly timed move and doubled up a player when his lowly 9-5 could not suck out on A-Q. Jetten was down to a little more than an ante and ultimately met his demise at the hands of November Niner John Dolan.
Bluefire Poker instructor Jason Senti doubled up with A-Q against an opponent’s K-Q to keep his bracelet hopes alive. Similarly, Jonathan Duhamel doubled up in a race with A-K against the pocket sixes of Rob Pisano. Duhamel spiked a six-outer on the river to stay alive.
At the feature table, William Thorson was active early and often, raising to 130,000 with A-5 of spades in a hand against Matt Affleck, who called with K-10. The flop came A-8-6 and Affleck check-called a bet of 160,000. The turn was the eight of spades, giving Thorson a flush draw, and he called a bet of 360,000 from Affleck. The river filled Thorson’s flush and Affleck continued firing with king-high, this time laying out 800,000. Thorson raised to two million and Affleck looked him up. Affleck, who made a deep run in last year’s Main Event, dropped one-third of his stack.
Senti doubled up once more after flopping quad kings. Then, Dunst called all-in pre-flop with A-Q against Thorson, who held A-K. The youngster could not draw out and hit the rail in 50th place. Thorson moved to 13 million in chips as Tuesday’s WSOP coverage came to a close.
You can catch the 2010 WSOP Main Event every Tuesday on ESPN at 9:00pm ET.
Nick Schulman Featured on MTV’s World of Jenks
On Monday night, the new MTV series “World of Jenks” featured an in-depth look at the tumultuous life of poker pro Nick Schulman. After winning the 2005 World Poker Tour (WPT) Foxwoods World Poker Finals for $2.1 million, Schulman blew through his bankroll in just a year.
Yesterday’s installment of “World of Jenks,” a documentary featuring young host Andrew Jenks, began in Las Vegas for the 2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP). With the Main Event just days away, Schulman, his girlfriend, and others discussed the upcoming $10,000 buy-in tournament. Schulman relayed, “It always trips me out that someone is going to win the tournament and they don’t even know it.” This year’s Main Event will shell out a top prize of nearly $9 million when it resumes in four weeks.
Back in Schulman’s Las Vegas hotel room, he battled with John “World” Hennigan in Chinese Poker. At the same time, he hit the felts of his home site, Full Tilt Poker, and took down a $10,000 pot. Hennigan and Schulman also forged a prop bet centered on throwing playing cards into an ice bucket across the room.
The party then moved to B.J.’s Cocktail Lounge, where round after round of Southern Comfort was ordered. Among those in attendance was former WPT champ Daniel Alaei, who dropped $1,500 in a game of roshambo. The next day, Jenks explored Las Vegas while Schulman played poker and won $34,000. The pro candidly explained, “If you look at the money, poker’s probably not for you.”
After primarily focusing on the high life of poker players, “World of Jenks” dove into Schulman’s dark side. He used to have major anxiety attacks in school and promptly dropped out. He also noted that he still suffers from attacks when he’s alone, especially at night. However, poker provided him with a sanctuary from his anxiety, likely a reason that he chose to become a staple of the industry.
Schulman and Jenks then flew to London to tape a poker television show. The one-day trip ended with Schulman taking third in the event in which the top two moved on. Visibly upset, Schulman admitted, “The losses stick with me and the wins just evaporate.” While in London, Schulman told Jenks how he lost over $2 million following his breakthrough victory at Foxwoods: “I was a maniac. Every day, I just wanted to be in action… It’s like rags to riches to rags, fast.”
Back in Sin City, Schulman bled chips in the Main Event. In a critical hand, the Full Tilt Poker pro picked up pocket kings and moved all-in on a queen-high board after the turn. His opponent flipped over A-Q, but another queen on the river sent Schulman packing. Schulman explained his mindset following the bad beat: “It’s just depressing. When the World Series is over, it’s another year until it starts again.”
In the closing scene of the half-hour episode, Jenks and Schulman cruised the Nevada desert in a convertible. Schulman told viewers, “If poker doesn’t go as I envision, I think I’ll walk away from the game… It’s exhausting and it doesn’t feel like a lifelong thing for me.” In the closing credits, it was revealed that he’s currently taking a break from the game by traveling across the United States with his brother.
Schulman returned to the World Poker Finals feature table in 2007, where he was the runner-up to Michael Vela and banked $864,000. In 2009, Schulman earned his first WSOP bracelet in the 2-7 Lowball World Championship, defeating a final table that included John Juanda, David Benyamine, and Ville Wahlbeck. This year, he finished ninth in the $50,000 Player’s Championship and took seventh in the HORSE Championship for a combined $231,000.
Watch the entire episode of “World of Jenks” featuring Schulman by clicking here.
Tags: 2009, 2010, bad beat, David Benyamine, full tilt poker, poker player, tournament, trips, vegas, WSOP
Full Tilt Doubles Poker Championship Playoff Field Set
On Saturday, the 16-person playoff field was determined in the Full Tilt Doubles Poker Championship on GSN. The show airs new episodes every Saturday at 9:00pm ET. Over the weekend, the final two qualifying matches for the playoffs were held.
Teammates alternate action by street on Doubles Poker and cannot talk strategy at the table if they have cards. Instead, each team is given one 30-second time out to banter about a hand. Each player bought into the made-for-television tournament for $50,000 and David Tuchman and Full Tilt Poker pro Brandon Adams have the call of the action.
In the first match, Tony G teamed with Phil Gordon, Vivek “Psyduck” Rajkumar teamed with Phil Hellmuth, Gus Hansen paired with Johnny Chan, and Carlos Mortensen teamed with Erik Seidel. The group consisted of three former World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event champs. Chan was a perfect 3-0 in preliminary matches and players jockeyed to get to 35 regular season points, which would likely be needed to make the playoffs.
Mortensen folded pocket jacks pre-flop to try to allow Seidel to climb up the points ladder and avoid a fourth place finish, but it wasn’t meant to be, as they were eliminated first after flopping top pair with 9-4 on a board of 8-2-9. Tony G and Gordon held pocket tens for an overpair and Seidel and Mortensen were sent packing with zero regular season points.
Then, Hansen 3bet all-in pre-flop with A-4 and Tony G, a PartyPoker pro, made the call with a wired pair of queens. Chan and Hansen could not improve and they were eliminated in third place. As a result of the four-point boost, Chan secured his position atop the overall leaderboard at 64 points.
To end the first match of the one-hour show, Rajkumar and Hellmuth took down the title after their pocket sevens held against Gordon and Tony G’s 5-4 on a flop of 3-J-4. The turn was an ace and the river was a ten, giving each of the winners 20 points towards the regular season standings. As a result, Rajkumar, Tony G, Gordon, and Chan all eclipsed the 35-point plateau and earned a playoff birth.
In the second qualifying match, Andy Bloch teamed with Nick “The Takeover” Schulman, David Chiu paired with Phil Laak, Howard Lederer teamed with Greg Mueller, and Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond teamed with Victory Poker’s Antonio Esfandiari.
In just the second hand of the match, Bloch and Schulman elected to gamble with A-Q all-in pre-flop and ran into Chiu and Laak’s Big Slick. However, Bloch and Schulman flopped a queen and no king came for “The Unabomber” and Chiu on the turn or river to save the day. They busted in fourth place, leaving Laak to lament that he hadn’t even played a hand.
Galfond and Esfandiari got it in with 9-7 on a board of 10-10-8 with two clubs. After some deliberation, Bloch and Schulman called with J-9 for an open-ended straight draw of their own. The turn was another club and, with Bloch and Schulman holding the only club, the card left Galfond and Esfandiari drawing thin to the river. The final card was a blank and Galfond and Esfandiari hit the rail in third place.
Mueller and Lederer ultimately won the match and Bloch came up short of his must-win bid for a playoff spot. Now, the post-season field is set in the Full Tilt Doubles Poker Championship on GSN. Here are the pairings:
Johnny Chan and Erick Lindgren
Howard Lederer and Phil Gordon
Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond and Annette “Annette_15” Obrestad
Greg Mueller and Vivek “Psyduck” Rajkumar
Nick Schulman and Andrew “luckychewy” Lichtenberger
Tony G and David Benyamine
Huck Seed and Allen Cunningham
In addition, Phil Ivey, Chris Ferguson, and Toto Leonidas, who are all knotted at 35 points, will play a match to break the tie and two of them will move on to form the final playoff team.
You can catch new episodes of the Full Tilt Doubles Poker Championship every Saturday at 9:00pm ET on GSN.
EPT London Gets Serious
2010 World Series of Poker bracelet winner Chance Kornuth has the overnight lead with names like Thomas Bichon, Joe Hachem, Chad Brown, Tom Marchese, Steven Levy and John Juanda still in the thick of it.
A total of 848 players entered the event creating a £4,112,800 prize pool and making EPT London the largest tournament in UK history.
The final eight will be set Sunday and return to play for a £900,000 first prize Monday.
In the meantime, EPT London's £20,000 High Roller event kicked off with 77 players buying in.
Among those competing were Daniel Negreanu, Jason Mercier, Erik Seidel, Matt Marafioti, Sorel Mizzi, and David Benyamine.
35 players were left at the end of the day with newly minted Team PokerStars Pro Vanessa Selbst holding the lead.
The total prize pool is £1,524,600 and first is worth £556,000.
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Matt Affleck Shines on WSOP on ESPN Coverage
On Tuesday night, action from Day 6 of the 2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event aired on ESPN. The two-hour broadcast saw Matt “mcmatto” Affleck, who had the chip lead for an extensive period of time last year, take to the feature table alongside tennis pro turned poker player Nick Rainey. The day began with 24 tables from what was once a field of well over 7,000 players.
At Table 2, UB.com pro Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin doubled up after getting his chips into the middle with pocket queens against an opponent’s A-J. Baldwin hit a set on the turn and grew his stack to about half of the chip average. Then, Joseph “subiime” Cheong flopped aces-up with A-8 to knock out an opponent holding A-K to become the new Main Event chip leader.
Rob Pisano was all-in with pocket aces and a 4:1 favorite over former back-to-back Main Event champ Johnny Chan’s pocket kings. A pot of 4.4 million hung in the balance as the dealer spread out 4-10-5-7-4 in the middle of the table. Pisano claimed the chip lead after the hand and Chan was crippled. Elsewhere in the Amazon Room, John “$JMONEY$” Racener flopped a set with pocket queens in a three-way all-in to win a pot of 4.1 million.
David Benyamine, still alive in the Main Event, but receiving little love from ESPN, doubled up through Evan Lamprea, who began the day as the chip leader. Then, Robert Mizrachi, one of two Mizrachi brothers left in contention, flopped Broadway to double up through Pisano. Back at the feature table, more chips were on the move as Danny Chamberlain bet 550,000 on a board of 9-7-A-10 holding 8-2 of hearts for an open-ended straight draw. Brandon Steven called all-in with a set of sevens and the river was a five, awarding him the double up to 1.4 million.
The final hand of the first one-hour episode saw Chan move all-in with pocket jacks and run into Jonathan Driscoll’s pocket aces. No help came for the 10-time bracelet winner and he was eliminated after losing with two big pocket pairs to aces.
In the second episode of the night, which aired at 10:00pm ET, Theo Tran doubled through Pisano after spiking an ace on the river against Pisano’s wired pair of deuces. Then, “The Grinder” claimed the chip lead. Trending in the opposite direction was Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond, who was all-in with pocket sixes against an opponent’s pocket jacks. Neither player improved and Galfond was ousted in 141st place.
Robert Mizrachi doubled to 884,000 with pocket sevens against A-Q, while former Bodog pro Jean-Robert Bellande sent David Peters packing after picking up aces. At the feature table, Gary Kostiuk doubled up with A-K against pocket queens, but then doubled up Christian “charder30” Harder after the latter called all-in with A-5 on a board of 3-A-6-5 for aces-up. Kostiuk showed A-Q for top pair and no lady came on the river, giving Harder the 1.6 million-chip pot.
Then, Pascal LeFrancois was all-in with pocket aces and up against Jesper Hougaard’s 8-6 on a flop of 6-Q-8. The turn was a queen, giving LeFrancois a higher two pair, and a jack on the river didn’t change the status quo. LeFrancois doubled up as a result to fuel his deep WSOP Main Event run. Kostiuk would later shove his chips into the middle with A-9 and run into A-10. However, he flopped a nine to take the lead in the hand and doubled once more.
Catch new episodes of the WSOP Main Event on ESPN every Tuesday at 9:00pm ET. The action replays throughout the week as well, so check your local listings for more information.
Benyamine busto; Blom, Greenstein increase stacks
Play back underway at WSOPE Day 1b
Winner winner chicken dinner
Level two over, total of 338 entrants for 2010 WSOPE
Must Win for David Benyamine on Full Tilt Doubles Poker Championship
On Saturday night, the third regular season round concluded on the Full Tilt Doubles Poker Championship, which airs on GSN. The festivities featured must-win matches for David Oppenheim and David Benyamine, who are fighting for post-season births. Each player competes in four regular season matches and, in a unique twist to team poker, players alternate action by street.
Oppenheim paired with Chris Ferguson in the first four-handed match of the one-hour show, while Gavin Smith paired with Andrew “luckychewy” Lichtenberger, Nick Schulman paired with Erik Seidel, and Bluefire Poker’s Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond teamed with Greg Mueller.
Despite needing a win to keep his post-season hopes alive, Oppenheim was ousted in fourth place, receiving no points towards the regular season leaderboard. Oppenheim called all-in with pocket deuces against Galfond and Mueller’s gutshot straight flush draw. A third diamond on the turn meant that Oppenheim and Ferguson were drawing to four outs on the river. None hit and they became the first casualties of the episode.
Smith and Lichtenberger were all-in and dominated with K-J against Schulman and Seidel’s A-J. The flop of 10-Q-6 made things interesting, but a running 2-3 didn’t change the status quo and Smith and Lichtenberger picked up four points for the regular season standings.
Schulman and Seidel doubled up with pocket kings against pocket queens to bring the heads-up match back to even and, in the final hand, Galfond moved his team’s chips into the middle with 4-3 of spades and Schulman called all-in with Q-9 of clubs. The flop of A-2-8 with two spades to give Schulman and Seidel a sweat and a five on the turn completed Galfond and Mueller’s wheel. The winners received 20 points for the regular season standings, while Schulman and Seidel each claimed 11.
Through three matches apiece, Galfond stood at 51 points, while Lichtenberger and Schulman had 35. Full Tilt Doubles Poker Championship host Brandon Adams speculated that around 35 points would be needed to advance to the post-season, which will see 16 players vie for a $1 million top prize. Every player coughed up $50,000 to enter.
The second match of the night, which covered the second half-hour of programming, saw Howard Lederer team with David Chiu, Andy Bloch team with Justin “Boosted J” Smith, Benyamine team with Erick Lindgren, and Gus Hansen team with Vivek “Psyduck” Rajkumar. Benyamine was the only player in the field to sport a goose egg for the regular season after two fourth place finishes.
Hansen and Rajkumar were the first to go. Hansen 3bet all-in with A-10 pre-flop and Bloch isolated with pocket queens. The board ran out 2-6-K-9-K and the fourth place finishers received no points towards the regular season standings.
Then, Lindgren raised to 7,000 pre-flop with a wired pair of jacks and Chiu came over-the-top all-in for 41,100 with A-2. Lindgren called, having Chiu’s team covered, and the board fell 10-5-2-3-8. Lederer and Chiu, who represented the “old guard of poker,” each picked up four points for the regular season leaderboard.
In the final hand, Smith and Bloch ran pocket eights into pocket nines to give Benyamine and Lindgren the title and 20 points. For Benyamine, the must-win situation turned into a trip to the winner’s circle and he’ll need to repeat his performance in the fourth round to stay alive.
Benyamine will team with Annette “Annette_15” Obrestad in his final match. He told Full Tilt Doubles Poker Championship hostess Lacey Jones, “I just hope the cards will be as good as today. I hope I’ll have nines against eights again.” Lindgren stood at 51 points after three matches and seems to be a lock for the playoffs.
Catch the Full Tilt Doubles Poker Championship on Saturdays at 9:00pm ET on GSN.
WSOP Main Event Money Bubble Bursts on ESPN
On Tuesday night, Day 4 of the 2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event played out on ESPN. The all-important money bubble popped during the evening and coverage kicked off at 9:00pm ET on the cable station. James Carroll was the chip leader entering Day 4 at 803,000 and, amazingly, all four Mizrachi brothers remained in the hunt.
The feature table housed former back-to-back Main Event champion Johnny Chan, who sat in ninth on the leaderboard with a stack of 636,000. Among his tablemates were poker pro Brett Richey, Dan “Wretchy” Martin, and three-time boxing champion Jeff Fenech. Costa Rican Eric Capra doubled up through Chan early on after hitting a set of jacks on the flop. In a similar hand out in the field, Robert Mizrachi busted a player by cracking pocket aces with pocket jacks after flopping a set.
PokerStars pro Barry Greenstein was all-in against Jason “JCarver” Somerville with A-Q against A-K. Somerville flopped top two pair and Greenstein signed a copy of “Ace on the River” over before heading to the exit. Former Main Event champ Dan Harrington called all-in pre-flop with A-K after an opponent 4bet with pocket kings. Despite getting it in behind, Harrington hit his three-outer on the turn and doubled up, telling his opponent, “You didn’t deserve that.”
Scotty Nguyen was all-in, his tournament life hanging in the balance with pocket kings against Hafiz Khan’s pocket eights. The board blanked out for Khan and Nguyen stacked up the pot. Elsewhere, reigning WSOP Europe Main Event winner Barry Shulman flopped a pair of sixes and moved all-in. However, an opponent tabled a pair of queens and Shulman was ousted. He’ll now head to London to begin his title defense on September 23rd.
Hank Azaria’s pocket queens were sitting pretty until an opponent with A-K spiked an ace on the river to send “The Simpsons” voice home. Also departing was barker extraordinaire Ted Bort, the CEO of Allied Network Solutions, who may best be remembered for his countdown hand against Prahlad Friedman. On Bort being eliminated before the money bubble, ESPN commentator Norman Chad quipped, “Shouldn’t he howl when he’s knocked out?”
To start the second episode, four eliminations were needed for the money bubble to burst and hand-for-hand dealing began. A new feature table saw Michael Mizrachi, WSOP Player of the Year leader Frank Kassela, and Full Tilt’s Gavin Smith face off against each other, while a talented Table 2 included Jean-Robert Bellande, John Dolan, World Poker Tour (WPT) commentator Vince Van Patten, and Karina Jett.
The action saw tight play around the money bubble, including Smith fold pocket fours before the flop, and ultimately Tim McDonald fell by the wayside as this year’s Bubble Boy. He was all-in with pocket queens on a flop of A-A-2, but ran into A-2 for a boat. McDonald was introduced in front of the crowd and will receive an entry into next year’s WSOP Main Event. The top 747 players finished in the money out of a field of 7,319.
Smith departed shortly thereafter in 730th after his pocket threes could not hold up against Max Casal’s A-6. Then, after the Mizrachis became the first four brothers to make the money together in WSOP history, Eric Mizrachi departed as part of a three-way all-in. Eric held pocket jacks against pocket rockets and A-K and could not improve; the best pre-flop hand held and he departed in 718th.
Meanwhile, Donny Mizrachi tripled up after winning a three-way all-in of his own with K-Q of hearts against pocket tens and David Benyamine’s 8-6 of spades. Donny flopped the nut straight and dodged a flush draw on the turn and river to survive with a healthy stack. A shot of Jonathan Duhamel showed the November Nine chip leader wearing a whopping eight PokerStars logos on his hoodie, while elsewhere in the Amazon Room, high-stakes cash game pro Patrik Antonius came out on the short end of a race to stunt his Main Event run.
Fenech busted after his A-5 could not draw out on Chan’s A-10 suited and a similar fate found Allen Cunningham, whose cash in the Main Event was his only in the money finish of the 2010 WSOP. To round out the two-hour broadcast, Michael Mizrachi doubled up to 245,000 at the expense of German Jan Boye, who Chad dubbed “Darvin Moon with an accent.” Boye was giddy as a schoolgirl during several moments of the broadcast, including in a hand where he sent both Kassela and Tom Duong to the rail.
The 2010 WSOP Main Event on ESPN continues on Tuesday at 9:00pm ET on ESPN.
Bruno Fitoussi – Poker Player Profile
Frenchman Bruno “King” Fitoussi, born September 21, 1958 in Paris, can often be found playing in the biggest poker games in the world. But Fitoussi isn’t your regular high-stakes card shark. An architect by trade, Fitoussi was also a music producer before founding the consulting firm VIP Gaming, where he still holds a position as President. He also created the poker magazine 52, which can be found in casinos all over Europe.
The entrepreneur has said in interviews that he isn’t a professional poker player, but that is certainly debatable based on his results. Fitoussi first made his mark in the poker world by defeating legendary pro Amarillo Slim at the 2001 World Heads-Up Championship in Vienna, Austria. He earned $101,727 for his first title on the circuit, amplifying his love for the game that has continued into the next decade.
In 2004, Fitoussi was voted into the European Poker Hall of Fame, joining superstars like David “Devilfish” Ulliott, Carlos Mortensen, Marcel Luske, and Surinder Sunar. The honor not only rewarded his talent at the tables, but also his contributions to the emergence of Texas Hold’em in France, especially through the Aviation Club. Fitoussi helped bring in some of Europe’s top players to the famous poker club, including David Benyamine, Tony G, Ram Vaswani, Joe Beevers, and the Boatman brothers.
In 2005, Fitoussi made his first final table at the World Series of Poker (WSOP), finishing second in a $1,500 Seven Card Razz event for $70,275. He made another final table at the 2006 WSOP, taking fifth in a $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha event for $54,486.
Fitoussi’s biggest achievement came at the $50,000 HORSE World Championship at the 2007 WSOP, where he faced off against 147 of the best poker players in the game. After five days of play and a 14-hour final table, he came within a few hands of winning his first bracelet, finishing as the runner-up to Freddy Deeb for a cool $1,278,720. The tournament was aired by ESPN and put Fitoussi on the poker map, helping lead to his appearance on more television shows in the future.
Since then, Fitoussi has found a lot of success on the World Poker Tour (WPT). He took second place in a $5,000 event at the WPT Five Star World Poker Classic at the Bellagio in Las Vegas in 2008, collecting $205,385. He then took 10th at the $25,000 WPT Championship in 2009 for $98,050, an event ultimately won by internet phenom Yevgeniy “Jovial Gent” Timoshenko. In total, Fitoussi has more than $2.4 million in live tournament earnings.
Despite his success, Fitoussi still isn’t one of the more recognizable faces in the world of high-stakes poker. He isn’t flamboyant like Daniel Negreanu, obnoxious like Mike Matusow, or temperamental like Phil Hellmuth. His quiet, polite behavior on the felts hasn’t helped land him any sponsorship deals with major online sites, but the cool-headed “pro” seems to be just fine with that.
Tags: 2008, 2009, aced, bellagio, Daniel Negreanu, David Benyamine, european, interview, Phil Hellmuth, poker player, tournament, vegas, WSOP
Erik Seidel, Johnny Chan Partners on Full Tilt Doubles Poker Championship
On Saturday night, the second round of matches in the Full Tilt Doubles Poker Championship played out on GSN. The unique team format features randomly assigned partners who alternate action on every street. Teammates cannot discuss strategy while they have cards unless they call a 30-second time out.
In the first match of the one-hour episode, high-stakes poker pros David Benyamine and Phil Ivey teamed up, Andrew “luckychewy” Lichtenberger partnered with Greg “FBT” Mueller, Carlos Mortensen teamed with Allen Cunningham, and UB.com’s Phil Hellmuth teamed with Jennifer Harman.
Ivey and Benyamine were the first pair to depart, getting it in with pocket fives and running into pocket tens. They received zero points towards the regular season standings and Full Tilt Doubles Poker Championship commentator Brandon Adams quipped, “They’re probably going to terrorize people on the internet.”
Hellmuth and Harman were the next team to be eliminated after moving all-in with pocket deuces and running into a wired pair of fives. Then, Mortensen and Cunningham doubled up with A-10 of clubs against Mueller and Lichtenberger’s K-9. The latter team’s chip stack sunk to three big blinds and they were eliminated on the very next hand. Mortensen and Cunningham received 20 points each for the regular season, while Mueller and Lichtenberger each accrued 11.
In the second match of the show, which spanned its last half-hour, Nick Schulman teamed with Phil Gordon, Antonio Esfandiari teamed with Chris Ferguson, and Gus Hansen teamed with Toto Leonidas. The final pair of the second match was none other than Johnny Chan and Erik Seidel, whose heads-up battle in the 1988 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event was featured in the movie “Rounders.”
Hansen and Leonidas doubled up early on, but could not sustain the momentum and finished in fourth place, netting zero points for the regular season. In their final hand, Hansen committed his team’s chips pre-flop with 10-9 of hearts, but Ferguson woke up with pocket aces. While Esfandiari furiously rubbed Hansen’s head for good luck, the board ran out 6-7-4-5-Q.
Chan and Seidel hit Broadway on the river to double up through Gordon and Schulman, who were promptly eliminated with 3-2 against Esfandiari and Ferguson’s K-6. Each received four points for their third place finish in the Full Tilt Doubles Poker Championship.
In the final hand of the night, Ferguson check-raised all-in on a flop of 4-J-A holding 4-2 for bottom pair. Chan made the call with J-6 for middle pair and the seven of diamonds came on the turn. By the river, Ferguson and Esfandiari were drawing to a deuce, four, or diamond. However, the ten of hearts hit and Chan and Seidel each picked up 20 points for the regular season after their WSOP Main Event reunion.
Chan has lodged 40 points over his first two matches after recording two wins. Each of the 32 players in the field will take to the felts for four regular season matches. Then, the top 16 will advance to the playoffs, where the winning team will split $1 million. The buy-in to the Full Tilt Doubles Poker Championship, which was filmed at the Golden Nugget in Downtown Las Vegas, was $50,000.
On his unique pairing with Chan, Seidel told hostess Lacey Jones, “I was very comfortable with the partnership. I know Johnny’s going to make the right decisions when the time comes up, so I was always happy when the cards were in his hands.”
You can catch the Full Tilt Doubles Poker Championship every Saturday at 9:00pm ET on GSN.
Krause Breaks Through in Cyprus
Krause, who had more than $1.7 million in career tournament earnings coming in, beat a final table that included Aussie pro Van Marcus (3rd) to bank the $415,780 first-prize and mark his career best score.
A total of 181 players entered the Classic, including 2010 November Niners Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi, John Dolan, John Racener, and Filippo Candio.
Big names like Sorel Mizzi, David Benyamine, Carter Phillips, Tommy Vedes and 2008 November Niner Kelly Kim were also in attendance.
Born in Weinsberg, Germany, Krause has 15 cashes and two final tables at the WSOP, but the win in Cyprus represents his first major tournament victory.
Here's how the final table finished up:
1 Andreas Krause $415,780
2 Mathieu Clavet $285,850
3 Van Marcus $162,415
4 Zsolt Vasvenszki $90,950
5 Ahmet Ucali $68,215
6 Hakan Dalokay $55,220
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August Heat: Bukara Books Cyprus Win
Bukara, who led in the early going of the PokerStars EPT Tallinn main event last week, finishing 14th only a week after making sixth at the Unibet Open main event in Prague, entered the final table as the chip leader.
Only 36 played the $25k event, but Bukara had to get past a star-studded final table that included David Benyamine, Jon Turner, Carter Phillips, Andrew Feldman, and November Niner John Dolan to book the $373,207 win.
Only five places paid.
In the meantime, the Merit Cyprus Classic main event played down to the final two tables and into the money Monday.
Mathieu Clavet has the lead, but names like Van Marcus, Kelly Kim, Eric Mizrachi and the aforementioned Benyamine are still in the hunt for the $415,780 first prize.
Below are the payouts for the High Roller:
1. Perica Bukara - $373,207
2. Ori Miller - $207,337
3. Andrew Feldman - $124,402
4. David Benyamine - $82,935
5. Jon Turner - $41,467
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Full Tilt Poker Merit Cyprus Classic High Roller Day 2: Bukara Heads Final Table
David Benyamine, Sam Trickett make EPT High Roller final
Tags: David Benyamine
Cyprus Classic Heats Up
Bukara, who led in the early going of the PokerStars EPT Tallinn main event last week, finishing up 14th just a week after making sixth at the Unibet Open main event in Prague, has almost twice the chips of anyone close heading into the nine-seat final.
However, a host of big names remain in contention from a starting field of 36 players.
David Benyamine built a monster stack on Day 1 of the $25k event and sits in a pack behind Bukara that includes 2010 WSOP bracelet winner and EPT Barcelona champ Carter Phillips, 2010 November Niner John Dolan, and Brit Andrew Feldman.
Meanwhile, among the shorter stacks are Full Tilt's own Jon "PearlJammer" Turner and Brit Sam Trickett.
Rounding out the final nine are the relatively unknown Ziv Caspi and Ori Miller.
The final five will get paid with first worth $392,000.
In the meantime, the $5,000+$400 Merit Cyprus Classic main event kicked off Friday with the first of two Day 1 flights.
The uniquely structured event allows players to rebuy or add-on once during the first five levels of play.
2010 November Niner John Racener was in the field when play began, as were EPT Grand Final champ Nicolas Chouity and WPT Festa al Lago winner Tommy Vedes.
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David Benyamine leads Merit Cyprus Classic High Roller
Mac Poker Sites More Popular Than Ever
If you own a Mac, then your options for playing online poker on a Mac are growing quickly. Existing rooms are offering a variety of ways for you to fire up the virtual felts, ranging from a fully downloadable client similar to what your Windows counterparts use to a browser-based alternative. The latter – dubbed “Instant Play” by most sites – has become one of the most widely used ways for Mac online poker players to access the world’s top sites. It’s safe to say mac poker sites are more popular than ever.
Web-based clients have a lot of drawbacks, however. On Bodog, for example, only one cash game table can be opened at a time, cutting off Mac tournament players entirely and limiting the potential to “grind.” On UB.com and Absolute Poker, several features are lacking and, although the web-based client receives upgrades, its capabilities are capped. PartyPoker, which does not accept real money action from the United States, was one of the first sites to offer an “Instant Play” option.
Despite its limitations, web-play clients are convenient. Most of them are compatible with Safari and Firefox; just make sure you have the latest version of each browser installed on your Mac. Many Windows and Linux users have even employed “Instant Play” to avoid having to download any software. If you’re away from your home computer or are in a situation where downloading UB.com, for example, may be frowned upon, web-based interfaces provide an easy way to access major sites.
Two online poker rooms, however, have gone well above their counterparts and offered a fully functional downloadable client, the best solution that a Mac poker player can hope for. Surprisingly, the two sites to offer feature-packed downloads are the two largest in the industry and home to a variety of high-stakes pros.
PokerStars is the world’s largest online poker site and is home to tens of thousands of cash game players at any given moment. PokerStars is where Main Event champions play, including Tom McEvoy (1984), Chris Moneymaker (2003), Greg Raymer (2004), Joe Hachem (2005), Peter Eastgate (2008), and Joe Cada (2009), all of whom are sponsored site pros.
PokerStars offers some of the industry’s richest promotions and runs two major tournament series annually, the Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) and World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP). Total prize pools for these have topped $50 million in the past, making for life-changing paydays and challenging competition. PokerStars also sports one of the top customer service teams in the business.
Another reason to play on PokerStars is access to major live poker tournaments. PokerStars sponsors roving tournament series in North America, Latin America, Asia, Australia and New Zealand, United Kingdom, Italy, Russia, and the entire European continent. Its signature event is the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, held each January in the Bahamas. It’s a prime opportunity for cold weather poker players to make their way to one of the globe’s top tropical destinations and, with a legal gambling age of 18, the event attracts a variety of young guns from North America.
For more information about Poker Stars, please read our Poker Stars Review.
Play with the pros – literally – at Full Tilt Poker. If you’re looking for the industry’s most recognized professionals, then look no further. Play alongside Chris Ferguson, Howard Lederer, Phil Ivey, Tom “durrrr” Dwan, Patrik Antonius, Huck Seed, Erick Lindgren, Phil Gordon, and others at the world’s second largest online poker site.
Full Tilt is a tournament player’s haven four times a year during the Full Tilt Online Poker Series, or FTOPS as it’s commonly called. The quarterly tournament extravaganza attracts the top players in the industry and features a variety of games including Hold’em, Omaha, HORSE, Stud, and Razz.
Full Tilt also is a Mecca for high-stakes players. With David Benyamine, Dwan, Ivey, and Antonius headlining much of the action, Full Tilt has also had players like Justin “Boosted J” Smith and Mike Matusow join its team to liven up the high-stakes scene. The only drawback to playing on Full Tilt Poker – and its fully downloadable Mac client – is a lax customer service team that falls well short of PokerStars’.
Nevertheless, if you’re a Mac online poker player, be sure to sign up for PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker. Both happily accept players from the United States and host games that will fit your bankroll and budget around-the-clock.
For more information about Full Tilt Poker, please read our Full Tilt Poker Review.
Visit Apple.com for more information about Mac computers or to buy your Mac today.
Benyamine Leads Cyprus High Roller
The $25,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold'em tournament drew 36 runners who combined to form a prize pool of $873,000 with $392,000 dedicated for first place.
The list of entrants reads like a who's who of poker with David Benyamine, Phil Ivey, Jon "PearlJammer" Turner, Carter Phillips, Sorel Mizzi and Andrew Feldman still in the hunt.
Hasan Habib, Erik Cajelais and Chino Rheem were among the 16 players who busted on Day 1.
Notably there are still three November Niners in the field with John Dolan, Filippo Candio and Michael Mizrachi looking to boost their results before the 2010 WSOP final table.
Red-hot Mizrachi is stacked with 219,300 chips and shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon. He has won nearly $2.5 million since April.
Benyamine is the man to beat, however, as he accumulated 285,000 chips on Day 1 and will be the overnight chip leader.
Day 2 of the event will begin at 5 p.m. Cyprus time while the Merit Cyprus Classic main event is scheduled to start on Friday.
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Durrrr Challenge Against JungleMan12 Could Begin This Week
Even though Tom “durrrr” Dwan and Patrik Antonius seem to be stuck at a standstill in the first Durrrr Challenge, the wait for the next challenge might only be a few days away. CardRunners instructor Daniel “jungleman12″ Cates agreed to step up to the plate and face the 24-year-old Dwan, and the two could begin their 50,000-hand match as early as this week.
Dwan and Cates were seen discussing the details of their impending bout in a Full Tilt Poker chat box on Monday:
durrrr: did u send ivey $$ yet?
jungleman12: not yet
jungleman12: ill send now
jungleman12: how soon is soon?
durrrr: read ur phone…
jungleman12: ah i see
durrrr: few days at most
durrrr: did u send yet?
jungleman12: yeah
jungleman12: sent
durrrr: then i can start talking &&%%
durrrr: since we’re booked
jungleman12: ?
durrrr: and say that its cute u think u’ll ever have an edge =)
jungleman12: lol
jungleman12: you never seemed like the type
durrrr: never wanna scare off the fish =)
durrrr: but if they escrow….
durrrr: haha ok
durrrr: lmk if u wanna play if not we’ll start in a few days
durrrr: gl n stuff
jungleman12: u2
Phil Ivey will be holding the $500,000 that Cates must put up to take the challenge. Should Cates beat Dwan by as little as $1 over the course of 50,000 hands of $200/$400 Heads-Up No Limit Hold’em or Pot Limit Omaha, Dwan will pony up $1.5 million, as he is offering 3-1 odds to anyone who dares play him. Now that the escrow is in place, the match between durrrr and jungleman12 could begin at any time.
According to PokerTableRatings.com (PTR), Cates is a big lifetime winner against Dwan, taking $786,370 from durrrr over 13,448 hands played on Full Tilt Poker. Only Isildur1, David Benyamine, and Ivey have won against Dwan since PTR started tracking Full Tilt Poker tables in April 2008. Still, Dwan has accumulated nearly $7 million in online cash game profit since that time, making him one of the biggest earners in online poker history.
Cates, whose identity as jungleman12 wasn’t publicly known until this summer, is up $2.2 million on Full Tilt Poker since April 2008. That figure skyrocketed once he began taking shots at the highest stakes on the site, where he’s had a ton of success against Dwan, Ivey, Aaron “aejones” Jones, and Ashton “theASHMAN103″ Griffin. Like Dwan, Cates had trouble with Isildur1, dropping $542,518 to the Scandinavian over 21,366 hands (Dwan lost $4.5 million to Isildur1).
Dwan has been active at the nosebleed games this month, logging more than 150,000 hands in just 16 days. Only 182 of those hands came against Antonius on August 3, when Dwan took nearly $560,000 from his Finnish rival. Dwan now leads Antonius by $2,059,719 with more than 10,000 hands left to play in the first Durrrr Challenge. Their match began all the way back in February 2009.
Once it gets underway, the match between Dwan and Cates could end quickly, so tune in to Poker News Daily for the latest updates. Highlights and results can also be found at durrrrchallenge.com.
Full Tilt Poker Doubles Championship Premieres on GSN
On Saturday night, the Full Tilt Poker Doubles Championship premiered on GSN, taking the place of the Aussie Millions, whose Main Event wrapped up last weekend. A $1 million first place prize is up for grabs in the Doubles Championship and 32 players coughed up $50,000 each to enter. The unique show was taped at the Golden Nugget in Downtown Las Vegas and featured Brandon Adams and David Tuchman on the call.
Teams were randomly assigned and players alternated action by street. Each team had one 30-second time out to talk strategy and a regular season will play out before the semi-finals and finals. Match 1 teams took center stage during the first half-hour of coverage, as Toto Leonidas paired with Howard Lederer, Greg “FBT” Mueller paired with Phil Hellmuth, Vivek “Psyduck” Rajkumar paired with Johnny Chan, and Antonio Esfandiari paired with Allen Cunningham.
After falling behind early, Rajkumar and Chan battled back, doubling up at the expense of Hellmuth and Mueller with A-Q against A-J. A jack hit on the flop, but the better pre-flop hand reclaimed the lead when a queen fell on the turn. Mueller and Hellmuth were eliminated on the next hand shown, running A-7 into pocket nines. Hellmuth gave Doubles Championship floor reporter Lacey Jones his take on Mueller’s decision to commit his team’s chips with A-7 pre-flop: “Greg won two bracelets [in 2009], so he’s been awesome. I asked him to trust his instincts.”
Esfandiari and Cunningham hit the skids in third place after coming out on the short end of a race and notched four points each toward the season standings. Then, Lederer and Leonidas called all-in with K-4 of diamonds on a board reading 10-10-A-9 with three diamonds for the nut flush. They were up against Chan and Rajkumar’s J-10 and, needing the board to pair, Chan and Rajkumar watched as an ace hit on the river for a full house. Lederer and Leonidas each earned 11 points for the regular season standings, while the win by Chan and Rajkumar was worth 20 points and $10,000 in cash.
After a commercial break, Match 2 teams took to the felt for the second half-hour of the one-hour program. Gavin Smith teamed with Carlos Mortensen, Phil “The Unabomber” Laak teamed with Andy Bloch, Phil Ivey teamed with Nick Schulman, and high-stakes cash game pros David Benyamine and Tom “Durrrr” Dwan paired up. The latter two were the first to be eliminated, calling all-in pre-flop with A-J against Ivey and Schulman, who turned over pocket eights. The board ran out Q-9-8-K-6 and Ivey and Schulman’s set was good enough to scoop the pot.
Ivey and Schulman doubled up twice through Laak and Bloch. Then, Laak and Bloch were relegated to the rails after open-shoving with J-6 pre-flop and receiving a call from Smith and Mortensen, who held Q-7. The flop contained a queen and a seven, leaving Laak and Bloch drawing thin, and a running 3-9 didn’t improve matters.
The stacks were virtually even entering heads-up play before Ivey and Schulman moved all-in pre-flop with 9-7. Mortensen and Smith called all-in for their Doubles Championship lives with A-6 and, after the first four community cards blanked out, a seven hit on the river to give Ivey and Schulman the title, 20 points towards the regular season standings, and $10,000 in real money. The hand marked the second of the episode in which Schulman committed his team’s chips with 9-7 only to see a miracle river card.
Ivey told Jones in a rare interview, “I thought it was a fun format, passing it back and forth. There’s a lot of little things you can do and we got into a pretty good rhythm.” The Full Tilt Poker Doubles Championship continues next Saturday at 9:00pm ET on GSN.
August 6th – Daily Deal
Topics: Rio Sale, Liv Boeree Contract, WCOOP 2010 and Full Tilt France.
On today’s edition of the Daily Deal, PokerStars offers fifty million dollars guaranteed for the upcoming WCOOP. In other news, Harrah’s denies it’s selling the Rio, Liv Boeree leaves UB, and Full Tilt gets ready to conquer France.
Hello, I’m Sean Gibson and welcome to the Daily Deal by Poker News Daily.
After seeking input from the online poker community, PokerStars released the final schedule for the two thousand and ten World Championship of Online Poker, or WCOOP, on Friday. The online series has a record-setting fifty million dollar guaranteed prize pool – the highest ever offered. The two-thousand ten WCOOP will feature a total of 62 tournaments, beginning with a $200 No Limit Hold’em Six-Max event September fifth.
The first three tournaments all have seven-figure guarantees. The two-thousand ten WCOOP will go out with a bang, as its Main Event carries a $5,000 buy-in and promises at least ten million bucks. The grand finale will start on September 26th.
Rumors of a sale of the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas by casino giant Harrah’s have been quashed by Seth Palansky, Communications Director for Harrah’s Interactive Entertainment and the World Series of Poker. The rumor mill began churning on August fourth, when Pokerati published a short article entitled “Rumorati: Harrah’s Sale of the Rio Complete, New Home for 2011 WSOP Almost 100 Percent Unofficially Semi-Confirmed.” However, on the same day as Pokerati published this story, Harrah’s released its two thousand and ten second quarter financial results, which had no mention of the Rio being sold.
Palansky shot down any finalized sale of the Rio, telling Poker News Daily on Thursday,
“We’ve already been meeting about the two thousand eleven WSOP and are planning on having it at the Rio with the Main Event final table in November at the Penn and Teller Theater.”
Poker it-girl Liv Boeree has officially left Team UB, and she must be fending offers with a stick right now. Back on July eighth, Poker News Daily first reported that Boeree was not wearing any UB branding while playing in the WSOP Main Event, and at that time we were able to confirm that Liv and Team UB were renegotiating her expiring contract. Apparently it was not to be and the EPT San Remo Winner is now available to represent another poker room.
Full Tilt Poker, the world’s second largest online poker site, officially announced the launch of FullTiltPoker.fr this week, allowing French players to join the popular site. The new poker room will be available exclusively for residents of France and French territories as part of the newly established online gambling regulations in the country. Full Tilt has an impressive roster of French poker pros, including David Benyamine and European Poker Tour champ Pascal ‘PPTHEBANDIT’ Perrault.
With the addition of Full Tilt, PKR, and seven other sites last week, the list of ARJEL licensees now numbers twenty-seven. The first eleven licenses were issued in June, a list that included Bwin, Everest Poker, and Paddy Power. PokerStars, iPoker, and Microgaming were granted licenses in July.?
Thanks for joining me on The Daily Deal. Don’t forget to visit PokerNewsDaily.com and be sure to follow us at Twitter.com/PokerNewsDaily for the latest in poker news. This is Sean Gibson, good luck on the flop!
Tags: 2010, 2011, David Benyamine, european, full tilt poker, Online Poker, pokerstars, tournament, usa, vegas, WSOP