Poker News

Andy Beal is back at the Bobby’s Room

According to 2+2 forums, the billionaire banker Andy Beal has been spotted in Bellagio.

Andy Beal is famous from his really, really, really high stakes games against the best poker players of the world aka “The Corporation”.

Beal played against “The Corporation” which consisted of players like Doyle and Todd Brunson, Ted Forrest, Howard Lederer, Jennifer Harman and Barry Greenstein. They played Fixed Limit Hold’em with as high as $100k/$200k stakes.

Now people are rumoring that Andy Beal is back at the Bobby’s Room where he has been spotted playing Fixed Limit with $30k/$60k and $50k/$100k stakes. At least Eli Elezra, Jennifer Harman and Phil Ivey have been playing against Beal.

Source: 2+2

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Andy Beal is back at the Bobby’s Room

High-Stakes in 2010: A Slow Start

After making over $8.9 million to earn the title as the year’s top earner, Patrik Antonius has been taking a break from the online high-stakes world. How long of a break he plans to take is unknown, but chances are you’ll see him back at the tables sooner rather than later.

As of this morning, Richard Ashby sits as the largest online earner of the year so far with just over $221k.

But in a virtual tie for first sits Brian Hastings with $220k. Hastings, who made an astounding $4.2 million in a single session against Isildur1 near the end of last year, could very well become one of the most prolific online players in 2010 considering the roll he's starting with.

Just like in 2009, Gus Hansen started off his year in the black, having earned almost $160k since New Year's Eve.

It won’t be surprising to see Hansen attempt to add to his profits while splashing around at the nose-bleed 7-Game tables over the next couple of months.

The two more players to have earned over $100k on the year are Di “Urindanger” Dang and geoff7878.

Topping the list as the year’s largest loser is Andrew “Browndog19” Brown with almost $300k in losses. In second place sits a relatively unknown player named bixiu, down $262k.

Other notable players to make the top 10 list for losses include Rafi “howisitfeellike” Amit (-$157k), Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies (-$107k), DIN_FRU; rumored to be Erik Sagstrom (-$94k), Eli Elezra (-$82k) and Cole South (-$78k).

With both Phil Ivey and Tom Dwan down in the Caribbean for the PCA, it might be a few more days before we see any real baller action online.

Below you can find three of the largest hands of the year, to see more hands from this year and last, head to MarketPulse.

Poker After Dark Season 6 Kicks off January 4th

Fans of the popular NBC poker franchise “Poker After Dark” won’t have to wait long after the clock strikes Midnight this evening to catch the show’s sixth season, which debuts on Monday night, January 4th, at 2:05am ET.

Ali Nejad and Leeann Tweeden will reprise their “Poker After Dark” announcing and hosting roles, respectively, as the show enters season number six. The first week is entitled “Commentators III” and, while the name isn’t very catchy, the action on the felt should be nail biting. Howard Lederer, Gabe Kaplan, Joe Sebok, Nejad, Mark Gregorich, and Kara Scott will all play in “Poker After Dark’s” Season 6 premiere. Sebok, who hosts UB.com’s “Poker2Nite,” and Scott, the new floor reporter for GSN’s “High Stakes Poker,” are making their “Poker After Dark” debuts. You can catch “Commentators III” beginning on January 4th.

A total of 13 shows were filmed for Season 6 of “Poker After Dark,” including six-handed freezeouts and three different buy-in cash games. Followers of 2007 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Europe Main Event champion Annette “Annette_15” Obrestad will be able to catch the youngster on a special “Nicknames” episode that also features Mike “The Mouth” Matusow, Antonio “The Magician” Esfandiari, Erick “E-Dog” Lindgren, Phil “The Unabomber” Laak, and Phil “The Poker Brat” Hellmuth. Obrestad, a Betfair pro, turned 21 in September and is finally old enough to gamble legally on U.S. soil.

A $50,000 buy-in cash game features a star-studded lineup of Brandon Adams, Todd Brunson, Chris Ferguson, Matusow, Esfandiari, and Hellmuth. A press release distributed by Poker PROductions notes, “Any time Matusow and Hellmuth play against each other in a cash game, the insults alone make for must-see-television.” A high-stakes $150,000 buy-in cash game will see Tom “durrrr” Dwan, Patrik Antonius, David “Viffer” Peat, Eli Elezra, Kaplan, and Alan Meltzer take to the felts. The six are staples of “High Stakes Poker” and one mounts the comeback of the century.

One of the more notable freezeout themes is “Lonesome Shark,” which features Lindgren, James Akenhead, Esfandiari, Matusow, David Williams, and Brad Booth. What do they all have in common, you ask? All six are poker’s most eligible bachelors and the heads-up battle in this episode is one of the longest of the season. Mixed Martial Arts will take center stage shortly thereafter in a show featuring UFC announcer Bruce Buffer, Antonius, Strikeforce fighter Dan Henderson, former UFC champion Randy Couture, Lederer, and Lindgren.

Here is the schedule through April for new episodes of Season 6 of “Poker After Dark” according to NBC.com:

Week of January 4th - Commentators III
Howard Lederer, Gabe Kaplan, Joe Sebok, Ali Nejad, Mark Gregorich, Kara Scott

Week of January 11th – Nicknames
Annette Obrestad, Mike Matusow, Antonio Esfandiari, Erick Lindgren, Phil Laak, Phil Hellmuth

Week of March 15th - Cash Game $50,000 buy-in, Part 1
Chris Ferguson, Phil Hellmuth, Antonio Esfandiari, Brandon Adams, Todd Brunson, Mike Matusow

Week of March 22nd – Cash Game $50,000 buy-in, Part 2
Todd Brunson, Mike Matusow, Phil Hellmuth, Brandon Adams, Antonio Esfandiari, Chris Ferguson

Week of April 19th - My Favorite Pro
Craig Ivey, James Ashby, Steve Bartlett, Phil Hellmuth, Jens Voertmann, Chris Ferguson

Week of April 26th - He Said, She Said
Erica Schoenberg, Jean-Robert Bellande, David Grey, Karina Jett, Mike Matusow, Annie Duke

Additional dates for new episodes will be announced in the future and re-runs of popular shows will also air over the first four months of 2009. “Poker After Dark” will take a hiatus during the weeks of February 15th and 22nd due to the Winter Olympics, which NBC owns the rights to.

“Poker After Dark” and “High Stakes Poker,” both products of Poker PROductions, were filmed in October at the Golden Nugget in Downtown Las Vegas. The latter begins airing on GSN on Sunday, February 14th.

Returns

Filming of 13 different shows concluded in October at the Golden Nugget Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas featuring a mixture of well-known regulars from previous seasons and thirteen players making their Poker After Dark debut.

Ali Nejad, returns to provide commentary and Leeann Tweeden is back for her third season as the show’s host.

Seven of the new shows will follow the traditional Poker After Dark week-long six-handed winner-take-all freezeout format while the remaining six will feature cash games of varying buy-ins that will each air over a two-week period.

Producers say there are first-time winners, matches that end in dramatic fashion, huge swings, plenty of laughs and many other memorable moments.

The season will kick-off Jan. 4 with a Poker After Dark staple: The “Commentators” episode, featuring Nejad and High Stakes Poker host Gabe Kaplan along with newcomer Joe Sebok from Poker2Nite and Kaplan’s new co-host Kara Scott.

A “Nicknames” episode will follow that includes Annette “The Huntress” Obrestad’s Poker After Dark debut and great names like Mike “The Mouth” Matusow, Antonio “The Magician” Esfandiari, Erick “E-Dog” Lindgren, Phil “The Unabomber” Laak, and Phil “The Poker Brat” Hellmuth.

The first cash game episodes to air will feature a $50,000 minimum buy-in and players including, Todd Brunson, Chris Ferguson, Matusow, Esfandiari, and Hellmuth.

In what could be the first win for an amateur on Poker After Dark a “My Favorite Pro” episode will air including online qualifiers Craig Ivey from Australia, James Ashby from Alabama, Jens Voertmann from Germany, and 2009 Howard Lederer Charity Event winner Steve Bartlett playing alongside Hellmuth and Ferguson.

In a match similar to the “Battle of the Sexes” theme of Season 2, a “He Said, She Said” episode will include Erica Schoenberg, Jean-Robert Bellande, David Grey, Matusow, Annie Duke and Karina Jett, making her Poker After Dark debut.

The next cash game show has a $100,000 minimum buy-in and includes some of the biggest cash players in the world. Here Hellmuth will take on Eli Elezra, Doyle Brunson, Tom “durrrr” Dwan, Gus Hansen, and Laak.

A “Lonesome Shark” show will feature bachelors Lindgren, James Akenhead, Esfandiari, Matusow, David Williams, and Brad Booth and there is a “Mixed Martial Arts” show featuring Bruce Buffer, Dan Henderson, Randy Couture and Patrik Antonius.

The third and final cash game has a $150,000 minimum buy-in and includes Dwan, Antonius, David Peat, Elezra, Kaplan, and Alan Meltzer.

Finally, the season wraps up with a “Charity in Mind” show, highlighting the charity work of players including Phil Gordon, Jennifer Harman, Andy Bloch, Duke, Lederer and Ferguson.

Season 6 begins Jan. 4 in Poker After Dark’s regular 2:05 a.m. timeslot on NBC.

For more information and the entire schedule, check out the Poker After Dark page on NBC’s website.

Poker2Nite Welcomes CardPlayer Player of the Year Eric Baldwin (basebaldy)

Poker players traveling home on Sunday night could finally catch the latest episode of the Fox Sports Net poker news show “Poker2Nite,” sponsored by UB.com. Poker News Daily fired up our DVR to watch last week’s installment.

Coverage of the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic kicked off “Poker2Nite,” featuring interviews with Faraz “The-Toilet” Jaka, Scotty Nguyen, Josh Arieh, and eventual champion Daniel Alaei. The latter earned $1.4 million for his victory, but “Poker2Nite” focused on the allegedly inappropriate behavior of Nguyen.

In a hand where Chad “lilholdem954” Batista was eliminated after not hearing an all-in and a call before he acted because he had headphones on, Nguyen began to laugh. According to Jaka, Nguyen “laugh[ed] in his face,” but the former Expekt Poker pro defended himself: “He’s the one who made the mistake, not me. I laugh because he say all-in, but I didn’t know that he didn’t know.” “Poker2Nite” host Joe Sebok responded, “I’m not buying this from Scotty anymore. He’s out of line.” Nguyen famously berated Rio floor staff and fellow players on national television during the 2008 World Series of Poker’s (WSOP) $50,000 HORSE Championship.

Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin, the winner of the 2009 CardPlayer Player of the Year title, then joined the show. On whether luck or skill played a bigger part in his run during the calendar year, Baldwin told Sebok and “Poker2Nite” co-host Scott Huff, “Obviously, I ran above expectations, but you have to play well and have luck on your side.” Down the stretch, Baldwin admitted that he focused on the factors he could control: “I tried my best not to look at what the people behind me were doing because it’s not going to help me play my hand better.”

Baldwin inked a sponsorship agreement with UB.com last week and explained that his strengths include being a good judge of people, he takes a situation for what it is, and he is able to adapt with ease. On the importance of the latter trait, Baldwin remarked, “Adaptability is just huge in poker. The game has evolved so much and you have to stay on top of it and continue trying to learn.” Baldwin won a $1,500 buy-in No Limit Hold’em event during the 2009 WSOP for his first bracelet. A week later, he took third in the $10,000 buy-in World Championship of Pot Limit Hold’em. The two cashes were worth $780,000 combined.

A segment called “All-In Blind” pitted Sebok and Huff against each other in a debate over three unknown news topics. The first focused on Darvin Moon’s tournament series at the Wheeling Island Casino. The second dealt with the 2010 WSOP schedule, which was released in recent days. The final banter was whether Isildur1 or the XFL represented the bigger flash in the pan. After being taken for more than $4 million by Brian Hastings, Isildur1 has largely disappeared.

Dana Workman doled out the “Weekly Misdeal,” offering a satirical look at the biggest poker news headlines of the week. Then, attention turned to a variety of pros shaving their heads in support of Thuy Doan, who is in the midst of a health care crisis resulting from her battle with cancer. Those who went bald included Eli Elezra, Doyle Brunson, Tom “durrrr” Dwan, Sorel “Imper1um” Mizzi, and Doan’s boyfriend. Huff summed up the segment by saying, “We are all proud of you, Thuy.”

“Poker2Nite” airs on Wednesday nights at 11:00pm ET on Fox Sports Net. Because the show is often pre-empted for local sports and other programming, check your local listings for more information.

Steven Landfish Leads WPT Five Diamond After Day 2, Doyle Brunson 15th

Two days of the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic are in the books. As it stands entering Day 3 on Wednesday, Steve Landfish leads the way with a chip stack of 385,900, while tournament namesake Brunson is in 15th with 283,000.

Thirty-seven players registered on Day 2 for the Five Diamond, pushing the final field size to 329, well short of last year’s tally of 497. Contributing to the 34% slide were two poker “Phils” who were absent from the field, 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event November Nine member Phil Ivey and UB.com front man Phil Hellmuth. The latter told “Poker2Nite” hosts Joe Sebok and Scott Huff last week that he was taking the rest of 2009 off and would start anew in 2010. As for Ivey, coverage found on the official website of the WPT noted, “Ivey was here at Bellagio, but never took a seat.”

Landfish holds a minuscule lead over the second place tally of Brent “bhanks11” Hanks, who amassed an arsenal of 383,000 after Day 2. Landfish will head to Table 54 on Wednesday, where “Miami” John Cernuto, Full Tilt Poker pro Howard Lederer, DoylesRoom Brunson 10 member Dani “ansky451” Stern, and former WPT champion Steve Brecher will be waiting for him. Hanks, meanwhile, will join Vivek “Psyduck” Rajkumar, Tim “tmay420” West, Jared “TheWacoKidd” Hamby, and Noah Boeken at Table 59.

Among the 37 players who registered late was Brunson, the poker legend for whom the Five Diamond is named. Brunson built the 15th largest stack in the room after Day 2 at 283,000, joining a top 20 that includes Antonio Esfandiari, Matt “All In At 420” Stout, and Betfair pro Sorel “Imper1um” Mizzi. The latter sent WPT Festa al Lago winner Tommy Vedes to the rails late in the day on Tuesday after cracking aces with queens. The window card came a queen, sending Mizzi’s stack soaring to 270,000. The youngster finished the day with 348,000, good for fifth overall.

Here are the top ten chip stacks in the WPT Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic entering Day 3 on Wednesday:

1. Steven Landfish - 385,900
2. Brent “bhanks11” Hanks - 383,000
3. Matthew Waxman - 377,500
4. Chad “lilholdem954” Batista - 355,000
5. Sorel “Imper1um” Mizzi - 348,000
6. Alfredo Leonidas - 347,300
7. Faraz “The-Toilet” Jaka - 323,500
8. Yegor Tsurikov - 317,000
9. Eric Hershler - 314,800
10. Jean-Noel Thorel - 310,100

The winner will earn $1.4 million from the $15,000 buy-in event. Members of the six-handed final table will be assured at least $202,000 in spending money just in time for the holidays. A total of 130 players remain and others in the Top 50 include:

11. Kenna James – 305,200
12. Matt “All In At 420” Stout – 300,800
15. Doyle Brunson – 283,000
21. Hasan Habib – 254,300
22. David “Devilfish” Ulliott – 247,000
31. Barry Greenstein – 227,000
33. Cornel Andrew Cimpan – 216,500
34. “Miami” John Cernuto – 215,500
35. Scotty Nguyen – 211,900
36. Howard Lederer – 210,300
37. Josh Arieh – 209,700
38. Daniel Alaei – 205,800
43. Andrew “luckychewy” Lichtenberger – 193,700

Brunson eliminated fellow poker pro Eli Elezra with pocket queens against pocket fives. Later on in the day, the two filmed a segment for “Poker2Nite” and shaved their heads in support of Thuy Doan. The pro is battling cancer and is in the midst of a health insurance nightmare.

When play concluded for the evening, the blinds were at 1,000/2,000 with a 200 chip ante. The action continues today at Noon PT from Las Vegas. Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest WPT coverage.

Live Durrrr Million Dollar Challenge Kicks Off in London

Tuesday marks the beginning of the live version of the Tom “durrrr” Dwan Million Dollar Challenge, which is unfolding in London. The festivities will see Dwan battle Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies, Sammy “Any Two” George, and Marcelo “luckexpress” Marigliano.

The match’s format is simplistic. Dwan will take on each opponent across 500 hands of No Limit Hold’em or Pot Limit Omaha. The series has a buy-in of $500,000 and neither player is permitted to leave the table until they are broke or the requisite number of hands has been played. The price of poker is $500/$1,000.

Eddie Hearn, who is organizing the gala on behalf of Matchroom Sport, commented in a press release distributed on Monday, “The stage is set for Tom to make history in London this week. The opponents are ready. Tom Dwan is the biggest draw in poker and to have a TV show in his name at such a young age shows the commercial power of the man. Poker is changing and we are delighted to be at its cutting edge.”

Tuesday’s action will see Dwan tangle with George in No Limit Hold’em. Dwan will then return on Wednesday to face Marigliano, also in No Limit Hold’em. The final match of the week occurs on Thursday, with Sahamies electing to play Dwan in Pot Limit Omaha. The action runs from 2:00pm to 2:00am daily at the Les Ambassadeurs Club in Mayfair. The gala will be filmed for television and can be seen on Sky Sports next year in the U.K. It is sponsored by Full Tilt Poker, which recently signed Dwan to its stable of sponsored pros.

On the prospects of facing one of the most hyper-aggressive players in the game today, Sahamies told Matchroom Sport, “I am always excited to play my good friend Tom. He is one of the best Hold’em and Pot Limit Omaha players in the world and when I heard about the challenge, I couldn‘t wait to sign up. With the gambling, the side-bets, the partying, and the drinking in London, this is going to be a whole lot of fun.” Dwan issued a challenge to Swedish online poker player Isildur1 to take on the American in London, but, as of the time of writing, Isildur1 has not yet obliged.

The live Durrrr Challenge was originally scheduled for two months ago following the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Europe schedule in London. However, Dwan reached the semi-finals of the Poker Million, creating a scheduling conflict. Las Vegas was then brought up as a possible site for the competition before Hearn and company settled on mid-November in London. Dwan finished seventh in Heat 3 of the PartyPoker World Open last month and took ninth in the NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship in March for an even $25,000.

Last week, Dwan was in Downtown Las Vegas filming the sixth season of the GSN poker franchise “High Stakes Poker” at the Golden Nugget. The series, which will air in February, was also slated to feature George, who wound up not participating. Those facing off on the sixth cycle of the popular cash game program include Patrik Antonius, David Benyamine, Doyle Brunson, Eli Elezra, Antonio Esfandiari, Barry Greenstein, Phil Hellmuth, Andreas Hoivold, Phil Ivey, Phil Laak, Mike Matusow, Daniel Negreanu, Dennis Phillips, and Lex Veldhuis.

The online version of the Durrrr Challenge between Dwan and Patrik Antonius has come to a screeching halt as a result of Dwan’s hectic schedule. After 27,185 hands, Dwan leads by $779,000. If the youngster is up by at least $1 at the conclusion of 50,000, Antonius will owe $500,000. If Antonius is up by at least $1, Dwan will pay $1.5 million. In either case, the victor keeps the spoils of the 50,000 hands.

High Stakes Poker Season 6 Filmed at Golden Nugget

The sixth season of the GSN franchise “High Stakes Poker” filmed this week at the Golden Nugget in Downtown Las Vegas. Friday marked the third of three days of filming for the $200,000 buy-in show.

A bevy of poker pros have wandered the halls of the Golden Nugget since Wednesday, each looking to strike it rich in the sixth cycle of the poker television staple. Last year, Tom “durrrr” Dwan made his “High Stakes Poker” debut in style, scooping the largest single pot in the show’s history at the expense of Team PokerStars Pro member Barry Greenstein. Dwan took down $919,000 when his K-Q drew out on Greenstein’s aces and, given the dramatic pots up for grabs, Dwan told Poker News Daily that he’s looking forward to Season 6: “I’m excited to be back. We’re playing for a whole lot of money this time around.”

One player making his “High Stakes Poker” debut is 2008 World Series of Poker (WSOP) November Nine member Dennis Phillips, who took third in the $10,000 buy-in feature tournament last year for $4.5 million. The St. Louis native told Poker News Daily about his mindset headed into the high-stakes cash game: “I’m ready to do this and rock and roll. I sat down at ‘Poker After Dark’ last week and had some fun.” On making a run in the world of cash games, Phillips explained, “I played cash before I played tournaments. I played cash in London and in Monte Carlo as well.” Phillips admitted that he normally plays $25/$50 or $50/$100 cash games.

Common in previous seasons of “High Stakes Poker” were a variety of prop bets, many orchestrated by poker regulars Antonio Esfandiari and Phil Laak. While waiting to head into the “High Stakes Poker” suite, Laak explained the stance of Executive Producer Mori Eskandani towards prop betting in Season 6: “The prop bets where people would guess on cards, for example, they’ve been trying to get rid of that. Mori is trying to steer towards less betting at all. The bottom line is that he doesn’t want viewers at home to be bogged down with players prop betting in addition to poker.” Prop bets during Season 5 revolved around push-ups, movie ratings, and hole cards.

Daniel Negreanu commented on his Twitter feed that he’s looking forward to running into more quads during the show’s sixth season. He’s appeared on every cycle of the program so far and told Poker News Daily how this year’s installment has varied from previous airings: “The show has progressed really far from Seasons 1 to 5. Season 1 was the smaller names because most of the guys who played were at higher stakes anyway. Now, the antes are up, the buy-ins are up, and the percentage of good players to bad players has gone up. It’s definitely more serious poker now. It’s more cutthroat.”

Also found at the Golden Nugget this week is Barry Greenstein, who, like Negreanu, has been a staple of “High Stakes Poker” ever since Season 1. Greenstein explained how the sixth season differs from years past: “The poker economy is down, so the money seems tougher to come by. There are few guys who you know play big online that have money, but the majority of people are thinking they’re taking a $200,00 shot and they’ll see what happens. The first year we did this, players felt better funded. I think what will happen is that there will be two guys like Phil Ivey and Durrrr who will try to muscle everyone around. Others will try to pick their spots.”

Released in the original cast list for Season 6 of “High Stakes Poker,” but not participating, was cash game player Sammy George. Those slated to take part in the festivities include Patrik Antonius, David Benyamine, Doyle Brunson, Dwan, Eli Elezra, Esfandiari, Greenstein, Phil Hellmuth, Andreas Hoivold, Ivey, Mike Matusow, Allan Meltzer, Negreanu, Phillips, Lex Veldhuis, and Yevgeniy Timoshenko. The series premieres on Sunday, February 14th at 8:00pm ET and features Kara Scott reporting on action from the “High Stakes Poker” suite.

High Stakes Poker 6 - Players unveiled

GSN Channel announced the players for the next season of High Stakes Poker. Also Kara Scott’s employment became official.

Yet again the player list is very impressive. Seventeen players, every one of them a real professional. The player list includes people like Doyle Brunson, Tom Dwan, Patrik Antonius, David Benyamine, Phil Ivey, Daniel Negreanu and Yevgeniy Timoshenko.

Doyle Brunson holding his signature hand

Minimum buy-in for this season is $200.000, so we are not talking about any small game here. We saw over $1 million pots in last season, and we expect the same kind of action this time around as well.

After announcing the player list, Kara Scott’s entry to the show was affirmed. Scott’s task is to make the player interviews which are going to be more in-depth on this season. Scott tries to dig a bit deeper into the game than previously seen. Season 6 will premiere on February 14th.

The player list might not be complete as e.g. Andrew Feldman is not mentioned. Feldman personally told that he is going to be in HSP.

We also have information that Ilari Sahamies might be part of the show. Sahamies told this to the Finnish poker site Pokerisivut.com

Incomplete list of HSP 6 players:

* Patrik Antonius
* David Benyamine
* Doyle Brunson
* Tom Dwan
* Eli Elezra
* Antonio Esfandiari
* Sammy George
* Barry Greenstein
* Phil Hellmuth
* Andreas Hoivold
* Phil Ivey
* Mike Matusow
* Allan Meltzer
* Daniel Negreanu
* Dennis Phillips
* Lex Veldhuis
* Yevgeniy Timoshenko

Source: 2+2, Pokerlistings, Pokerisivut.com

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High Stakes Poker 6 - Players unveiled

Kara Scott joins Season 6

The co-host is none other than former European Poker Tour presenter Kara Scott, who will also interview players in the high-stakes suite in the Golden Nugget about poker strategy, big hands and table dynamics.

As usual, the line-up for Season 6 will include some of the biggest names in the poker world.

Patrik Antonius, David Benyamine, Doyle Brunson, Tom Dwan, Eli Elezra, Antonio Esfandiari, Barry Greenstein, Phil Hellmuth, Phil Ivey, Mike Matusow and Daniel Negreanu will all be returning.

New faces for this season include 2008 WSOP Main Event third place finisher Dennis Phillips, aggressive Dutch Team PokerStars Pro Lex Veldhuis, 2007 EPT Dortmund winner Andreas Hoivold and outspoken Englishman Sammy "Any Two" George.

There will be several more players added before the show airs as the final player line-up is subject to change.

The show will once again feature a minimum buy-in of $200,000, which should generate some extremely large pots.

Last year Dwan shocked the poker world by winning an epic $919,600 pot from Greenstein.

Scott brings considerable poker experience to her role as co-host. In addition to her role as presenter for EPT, Scott has also acted as main host for Poker Night Live and one of the personalities on Sky Poker.

Scott has also had success as a poker player going deep in both the 2008 WSOP Main Event and the 2009 Main Event. She also finished second in the 2009 Irish Open for €312,600.

AJ Benza, who acted as co-host for all five of the previous editions of High Stakes Poker will not be returning for the sixth season of HSP.

Season six of High Stakes Poker will premiere Feb. 14, 2010, at 8:00 p.m. ET on GSN and will be shown every Sunday in the same timeslot.

High Stakes Poker Season 6 Cast Released, Kara Scott Confirmed as Co-Host

In a press release distributed by cable station GSN on Thursday, Kara Scott was confirmed to be the new co-host of “High Stakes Poker,” replacing A.J. Benza. In addition, a list of 17 players was revealed.

Scott replaced Benza, who had flanked “Welcome Back, Kotter” star Gabe Kaplan in the “High Stakes Poker” announcing booth for the first five seasons. Scott’s role will not be play-by-play; instead, the television personality and expert poker player will “report from the High Stakes Poker suite, interviewing poker players about poker strategy, big hands, and the table dynamics,” according to network officials. The show will take on the same feel as NBC’s “Poker After Dark” for its sixth season. The two franchises are produced by the same company, Poker PROductions.

Season 6 of “High Stakes Poker” will begin airing on Valentine’s Day – Sunday, February 14th, 2010 – at 8:00pm ET. Encore presentations will air at 11:00pm ET and 2:00am ET on Sunday nights, meaning that poker fans have three chances to catch new episodes every week. Each of its contestants coughed up $200,000 of their own money as a minimum buy-in.

Five players are making their first appearance on “High Stakes Poker,” including Yevgeniy “Jovial Gent” Timoshenko. The youngster has been on a tear on the live poker circuit despite only weighing in at 21 years of age. Timoshenko was born in the Ukraine and won the 2009 World Poker Tour (WPT) Championship for $2.1 million. In September, Timoshenko took down the Main Event of the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) for another $1.7 million and is a former winner of the Asian Poker Tour’s (APT) Macau feature tournament.

Also making his debut on GSN’s “High Stakes Poker” is Dennis Phillips, who gained notoriety by making back-to-back deep runs in the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event. Last year, Phillips finished third in the $10,000 buy-in gala for $4.5 million after entering the final table as the chip leader. Phillips came armed to the Penn and Teller Theater at the Rio with a throng of followers donning red St. Louis Cardinals baseball caps and white button up shirts. This year, Phillips finished 45th for $178,000 after being sent to the rails when an opponent made a flush with A-K suited; Phillips also held A-K.

High-stakes cash game player Sammy George will be right at home in the Golden Nugget when filming of the GSN poker franchise kicks off next week. George, who has earned the nickname “Any Two,” was scheduled to face off against Tom Dwan in the live version of the Durrrr Challenge in London back in September. However, the festivities never took place, although organizer Eddie Hearn noted that the mano-a-mano live contest may occur in December in Las Vegas. Dwan will take to the felts once again as part of “High Stakes Poker” Season 6 after making his debut last season.

Returning to “High Stakes Poker” after a two season hiatus is WSOP November Nine member Phil Ivey, who currently appears on the cover of “ESPN: The Magazine.” Ivey last appeared on the GSN series back in Season 3 and is seeking his third WSOP bracelet of 2009 when the Main Event resumes on Saturday from the Rio. Ivey has career tournament winnings in excess of $12 million and is the horse of many pros in this weekend’s Main Event final table.

Andreas Hoivold and Lex Veldhuis will both be appearing on “High Stakes Poker” for the first time during Season 6. Returning to the program are Patrik Antonius, David Benyamine, Doyle Brunson, Eli Elezra, Antonio Esfandiari, Barry Greenstein, Phil Hellmuth, Mike Matusow, Allan Meltzer, and Daniel Negreanu. The season will once again be taped at the Golden Nugget in Downtown Las Vegas from November 11th to 13th.

Jason Somerville Leads WPT Festa al Lago Entering Day 3

Two days are in the books at the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) Festa al Lago event. A total of 275 players registered, a drop of 25% compared to 2008, and entering Day 3 on Friday, Jason “JCarver” Somerville leads the way with a stack of 557,000.

A total of $1.2 million is up for grabs for the winner of the $15,000 buy-in tournament being held at the Bellagio. One person who won’t have the opportunity to vie for the seven-figure payday is Barry Shulman, the reigning champion of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Europe Main Event and father of November Nine member Jeff Shulman. The elder Shulman, founder of CardPlayer Magazine, was knocked out to close play on Thursday after pushing pre-flop with A-4 and running into the A-10 of Poorya Nazari. The winner of the 2009 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, Nazari saw his hand hold to knock out Shulman.

Also eliminated late in the day was Full Tilt Poker pro Howard Lederer, who pushed over the top of a raise by Mark Seif for 60 big blinds holding pocket jacks. However, Seif called and turned over pocket kings. The board ran out Q-10-10-6-A to send Lederer home just a few hours after he bought into the tournament during the extended registration period on Day 2.

2008 WSOP Europe Main Event Champion John Juanda was sent packing shortly after registration closed at 5:00pm Pacific Time on Thursday. Juanda called all-in for his tournament life on a board of K-Q-5-9 with three spades holding 6-7 of the suit. His opponent, Somerville, held Q-10 of spades for a higher flush and Juanda was eliminated. The hand pushed Somerville’s stack to 240,000.

2009 Poker Hall of Fame nominee Erik Seidel, an eight-time WSOP bracelet holder, took a bad beat at the hands of Phil Laak to end his run in the WPT Festa al Lago. Seidel pushed pre-flop with A-K and Laak made the call with K-5 of diamonds. Sure enough, a five hit the turn to give Laak the win in the hand. Laak’s stack grew to 120,000, but he did not survive play on Thursday. Others who were ousted included Beth Shak, Phil Hellmuth, Kenny Tran, Paul Wasicka, Erik Cajelais, David Grey, Carlos Mortensen, Eli Elezra, Jason Mercier, and Mike Sowers.

Here are the top 10 chip stacks remaining in the Festa al Lago entering Day 3 on Friday:

1. Jason “JCarver” Somerville – 557,000
2. Mark Seif – 473,200
3. Dutch Boyd – 453,800
4. Chad “lilholdem954” Batista – 425,000
5. Corwin Cole – 405,600
6. Richard Sciuto – 403,100
7. David “The Dragon” Pham – 365,000
8. Mike “goleafsgoeh” Leah – 348,400
9. Steven McKoy – 325,500
10. Jonas Entin – 317,600

Ninety-eight players remain, with the top 27 spots paying out. Other notable names still in the hunt for the WPT title include:

11. Steve “gboro780” Gross – 301,900
13. Lee Markholt – 273,800
21. David “Chino” Rheem – 233,000
27. Poorya Nazari – 221,600
30. Chau Giang – 210,700
34. Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo – 197,500
38. Mike Matusow – 183,800
48. Freddy Deeb – 144,800
49. Steve Brecher – 137,600
59. Andy Bloch – 112,200
60. Cliff “JohnnyBax” Josephy – 111,600
61. Glen Chorny – 111,100
63. Vivek “Psyduck” Rajkumar – 106,200
64. Todd Brunson – 105,900
72. Jonathan “FieryJustice” Little – 88,300
75. Brandon Cantu – 84,000
78. Josh Arieh – 77,800
80. Prahlad Friedman – 75,900
83. Barry Greenstein – 68,900
89. Kathy Liebert – 55,000
92. Phil Ivey – 51,700

When play halted for the evening in Las Vegas, blinds were at 1,000/2,000 with a 200 chip ante. The Festa al Lago will crown a winner on Monday. Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest from the marquee WPT event.

WPT Festa al Lago Attendance Drops 25%

Despite players having an unprecedented eight levels to register for the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) Festa al Lago, attendance dropped 25% year over year. In 2008, 368 players took to the felt, while this time around, the field numbered 275.

Registration ended five hours into play on Day 2 at the Bellagio in Las Vegas, the host venue for the annual Festa al Lago. A total of 30 players bought in on Thursday, including Andy Bloch, Todd Brunson, Freddy Deeb, Chris Ferguson, Hasan Habib, Isaac Haxton, Phil Hellmuth, John Juanda, Howard Lederer, Kenny Tran, and Bodog pro David Williams. Players who entered the Festa al Lago Main Event late received 60,000 chips, the same number as players who began yesterday received. However, the average stack at 5:00pm Pacific Time when registration shuttered was 114,000, nearly double that total.

Tran’s day was quite abbreviated. After arriving at the last minute and not taking a seat at the table until his stack had shrunk to 48,000, he quickly found himself all-in pre-flop with K-Q of diamonds against top online poker pro Steve “gboro780” Gross’ pocket sevens. Tran hit a king on the turn to take the lead in the hand, but Gross spiked a two-outer on the river to send the poker pro home. WPT coverage candidly summed up Tran’s outing: “Kenny Tran paid $15,000 to play for about ten minutes, but he still outlasted more than half the field.”

The feature table began with a star-studded lineup headlined by Full Tilt Poker pro and World Series of Poker (WSOP) November Nine member Phil Ivey. Flanking him were fellow Poker Hall of Fame nominee Barry Greenstein, “Big Game” regular Eli Elezra, Marco “CrazyMarco” Johnson, and Steve “MrTimCaum” O’Dwyer. Elezra was ultimately sent packing from the table after running pocket tens into pocket aces.

Phil Hellmuth headed to Table 55 upon arriving at the Bellagio about two-and-a-half hours into play on Thursday. Joining him were 2001 WSOP Main Event Champion Carlos Mortensen, Mike “goleafsgoeh” Leah, and Daniel Alaei. After coming up short in a race with A-K against pocket queens to drop his stack down to 23,000, Hellmuth raced again, this time for his tournament life. Hellmuth once again held A-K and was up against the pocket jacks of Dee Luong. However, he could not improve and was sent packing from the Las Vegas casino.

Twenty-seven places will pay out at the marquee WPT event, with a $1.2 million first place prize up for grabs. Here’s how the field will be paid out in the $15,0000 buy-in contest:

1st Place:  $1,218,225
2nd Place:  $795,150
3rd Place:  $477,090
4th Place:  $278,300
5th Place:  $208,725
6th Place:  $168,970
7th Place:  $129,210
8th Place:  $89,450
9th Place:  $63,610
10th Place – 12th Place:  $47,710
13th Place – 15th Place:  $39,760
16th Place – 18th Place:  $31,805
19th Place – 27th Place:  $23,855

At the time of writing, which is 8:30pm local time in Las Vegas, here were the top 10 chip stacks as play continued in the Festa al Lago. The action was in Level 10, where blinds were 1,000/2,000 with a 200 chip ante:

1. Chad Batista – 425,000
2. Jason Somerville – 404,000
3. Corwin Cole – 390,000
4. Mark Seif – 370,000
5. Chau Giang – 350,000
6. Steve Gross – 345,000
7. Mike Leah – 340,000
8. Markus Gonsalves – 320,000
9. Dutch Boyd – 260,000
10. Eugene Katchalov – 255,000

Last year, Team PokerStars Pro member Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier defeated Nam Le heads-up to take home $1.4 million in the Festa al Lago Main Event. Others making the final table included WSOP bracelet winner Nenad Medic and Ultimate Bet pro Adam “Roothlus” Levy.

Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest WPT Festa al Lago coverage.

Howard Lederer Wins The WPT H.O.R.S.E. Tournament

Howard “The Professor” Lederer won the WPT Festa al Lago $10k H.O.R.S.E. event last Thursday. There was only 19 participants, but the field was quite tough featuring players like Eli Elezra, Andy Bloch and Scott Clements.

After the field was cleared, Ralph Perry made it against Lederer and they battled against each other in heads up. Ultimately Lederer was able to win and get the first prize of $92.150. Lederer’s latest big win was the 2008 Aussie Millions $100k event.

After the Aussie Millions Lederer could have won in some other major tournaments as well, e.g. two final tables at the WSOP this year. Howard Lederer, one of the founders of Full Tilt Poker, has won over 5 million dollars from tournaments in his career.

Source: Pokerlistings

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Howard Lederer Wins The WPT H.O.R.S.E. Tournament

Poker News in Brief: Oct. 12-18, 2009

The relatively unknown Brandon Hall became the champion in Aruba while the very well-known Phil Laak took down the World Open V.

But there were several stories that didn't make it to the front page of PokerListings.com and as part of our ongoing Poker News in Brief feature, we've presented them below.

This week we'll take a look at the Poker Professor holding class, Doyle Brunson getting some recognition and Vladimir Geshkenbein becoming a heads-up champion.

Lederer wins $10k H.O.R.S.E. prelim at Bellagio

Howard Lederer added another poker title to his resume this week and he only had to beat 19 players to do it.

The $10,000 H.O.R.S.E. WPT Festa al Lago preliminary event wrapped up on Thursday after drawing a small but skilled field that included Eli Elezra, Michael Binger, Andy Bloch, Scott Clements, David Singer and several other established pros.

Lederer beat Russian pro Ralph Perry in heads-up play to secure a first place prize of $92,150. Despite two final tables at the WSOPE this year, Lederer hadn't won a major tournament since taking down the $100,000 buy-in event at the 2008 Aussie Millions.

Lederer, who is sometimes known as the "Poker Professor", now has over $5 million in career tournament earnings.

Doyle Brunson inducted into Athletics Hall of Fame

Doyle "Texas Dolly" Brunson is perhaps the most famous player in poker, but this week he was recognized for his athletic achievements.

After years of waiting patiently, Brunson was finally inducted into the Athletics Hall of Fame at his alma mater, Hardin Simmons University.

Before he started playing poker for a living Brunson competed in track and played basketball at HSU.

Brunson was a key member of an HSU basketball team that won its conference championship for a spot in the NCAA Division 1 playoffs. Brunson scored 412 points and was the only HSU athlete in any sport to be named the MVP of the Division 1 Border Conference.

Brunson was initially passed over for Hall of Fame recognition because of his involvement in the poker world.

The Texas Dolly is still one of the most popular poker players in the world and his twitter account "TexDolly" recently hit over 41,000 followers.

PKR Heads-Up Grand Slam for Vladimir Geshkenbein

Vladimir Geshkenbein outlasted some of the biggest names in poker to win the PKR Heads-Up Grand Slam this week.

The Russian beat Juha Helppi in the final heads-up match to take down a first place prize of $120,000.

The field was comprised of 32 players including Tony G, Tom Dwan, Luke Schwartz, Annette Obrestad, Peter Eastgate, Sammy George, J.C. Tran and numerous other high profile poker players.

Fans were hoping for a live resurrection of the online rivalry between Dwan and the trash-talking Schwartz, but were disappointed when Dwan busted out in his first match. Schwartz didn't make it much further, busting in his second match.

No one could figure out a way to beat the lesser-known Geshkenbein, who did win the high roller event at APPT Macau earlier this year. Geshkenbein has now earned nearly $400,000 playing poker in the last few months.

Forum tournament winner to play Ziigmund

A series of Online Forum Challenges are set to take place on Power Poker over the next few months with the ultimate winner getting a shot at celebrated high-stakes player Ilari "Ziigmund" Sahamies.

Power Poker will be hosting a series of tournaments over the next three months as part of the Online Forum Challenge and any player that takes part in every event will be entered into the Heads Up with Ziigmund freeroll.

The freeroll will offer a prize pool and a bounty in addition to the winner getting a chance to play Sahamies heads-up for $1,000.

All poker forum members are welcome to take part in the challenge and you can learn more by going to the Online Forum Challenge website here.

Full Tilt Million Dollar Cash Game Features $1.1 Million Pot

Full Tilt Poker’s Million Dollar Cash Game featured a $1.1 million pot during its fourth season, which will air on Sky Sports in the United Kingdom in January. The season includes commentary from poker pro Robert Williamson III.

Some of the game’s top cash game aficionados hit the felts for the Full Tilt Poker spectacular, which recently completed filming in London. Now, the city will play host to the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Europe festivities, which officially kick off today with a £1,075 buy-in No Limit Hold’em event. Headlining the Full Tilt Poker Million Dollar Cash Game roster was none other than Tom “durrrr” Dwan, who was joined at the table by several sponsored pros of the online poker site, including Phil Ivey, Chris Ferguson, Gus Hansen, Mike Matusow, Allen Cunningham, and Patrik Antonius.

The general public recently nominated Dwan for the 2009 Poker Hall of Fame class, although a committee stripped him of his eligibility on the grounds that he did not stand the test of time. Dwan is currently battling against Antonius in the Durrrr Challenge online, with Antonius nursing a $34,000 lead after 23,197 hands. The two tangled early on in the Million Dollar Cash Game in London, getting it in pre-flop for a $500,000 pot. Antonius held pocket kings against Dwan’s pocket aces, but a king on the flop gave the veteran a set and the win in the hand. Online, it’s been a seesaw battle between Dwan and Antonius, with “durrrr” posting 3:1 odds that he could beat any player in $200/$400 Pot Limit Omaha or No Limit Hold’em over 50,000 hands.

Dwan reclaimed his losses in a hand against Cyril Mouly. Then, the largest pot in televised poker history occurred. In it, Dwan raised pre-flop and Ivey re-raised from the small blind. The flop fell Q-3-5 with two clubs and Ivey led out for $40,000. Dwan made the call to see the four of hearts hit the turn. Ivey once again bet, Dwan pushed the action to $240,000, and “The Tiger Woods of Poker” shoved over the top. Coverage provided by Full Tilt Poker noted that Dwan snap-called the all-in, turning over 6-7 for the nuts. Ivey, meanwhile, showed A-2 for a smaller straight. Ivey was drawing dead on the river, shipping the massive $1.1 million pot to Dwan.

Dwan was involved in the largest single pot in “High Stakes Poker” history as well. In it, the youngster cracked Barry Greenstein’s pocket aces holding K-Q of spades. The flop came Q-4-2 with two spades, giving Dwan a flush draw to compliment top pair. On the flop, Dwan led out for $28,700, Greenstein raised to $100,000, and Dwan re-raised to $244,600. Greenstein quickly shoved and the two agreed to run the board once. The turn was another queen, improving Dwan to trips, and Greenstein could not spike an ace on the river. The pot was worth a colossal $919,000.

The Million Dollar Cash Game is an invitation-only event that requires a minimum buy-in of $100,000. On the fifth season of “High Stakes Poker,” which aired earlier this year on cable station GSN in the United States, the price tag was $200,000. The GSN cash game franchise is set to return in February for Season 6, although the host venue and player lineup are not yet known. Season 5 featured a cast that included Dwan, Antonius, Daniel Negreanu, Greenstein, and Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies. The show is hosted by former “Welcome Back, Kotter” star Gabe Kaplan and A.J. Benza.

Full Tilt is in the midst of holding its Mini Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS), which concludes with a $55 buy-in Main Event on Sunday. The tournament features a $500,000 guarantee and is hosted by noted pro Eli Elezra.

High Stakes Poker to Return for Season 6

Fans of televised poker will be relieved to hear that the popular program “High Stakes Poker” will be returning to GSN in early 2010.  While there has yet to be an official announcement from the network, Poker News Daily has learned that the show will be filming new episodes in November that will begin airing in February of next year.

Barry Greenstein first let the cat out of the bag during an interview on the ESPN poker show “Inside Deal” back in August, saying that “High Stakes Poker’s” production company, Poker PROductions, was planning to assemble players for filming in October and November.  Eric Drache said much of the same in an interview on the TwoPlusTwo Pokercast, saying they would convene players after filming concludes on another PokerPROductions vehicle, “Poker After Dark.”  With most of the players spending the next couple of weeks at the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Europe and European Poker Tour (EPT) London stop, it will be a little while before players will return to Las Vegas, where filming will once again take place.

Poker News Daily can independently confirm that “High Stakes Poker” will return for Season 6 in February, 2010.  The quick announcement of “High Stakes Poker’s” newest season stands out in stark contrast to the long delay between Season 4 and Season 5 in which the future of the show looked uncertain.  Rumors swirled that a change in management at GSN meant the show, which performs well in male demographics, but fares worse with the female audience that watches other GSN shows, was not going to return.  The cancellation of the World Poker Tour (WPT) on GSN cemented the belief that “High Stakes Poker” was done, but a last minute announcement in September of last year revealed the show would be back for a fifth season.

That fifth season aired earlier this year and was best known for numerous pots involving online poker pro Tom “durrrr” Dwan.  Greenstein discussed two of the most memorable hands from the season during his “Inside Deal” interview.  The first was a three-way pot involving Dwan, 2008 WSOP Main Event Champion Peter Eastgate, and Greenstein.  Dwan flopped the worst hand, but his aggressive play managed to get Greenstein to fold pocket aces and Eastgate to fold trips in order to take down the pot.  The other big pot also involved Dwan, Greenstein, and pocket aces.  Greenstein and Dwan got it all-in on the flop, with Greenstein holding pocket aces to Dwan’s top pair of queens with a flush draw.  Dwan hit trip queens to take down the biggest pot in “High Stakes Poker” history, worth almost $920,000.

Despite Greenstein’s rough go of it last season, he is up for the challenge once again and is already plotting his signature charity catchphrase.  Previously, Greenstein has uttered phrases like “lol donkaments” on the show in order to raise money for his charity of choice, Children’s Incorporated.  Greenstein told “Inside Deal” hosts Laura Lane and Bernard Lee that he is aiming to use one of the latest online poker catchphrases, “Bing, Blang, Blaow” at some point during Season Six.  The phrase comes from a comical poker rap that is circulating the web via viral video and Greenstein aims to capitalize on its popularity to raise even more money for a good cause.

It will be a few months before we will see exactly how Greenstein will work “Bing, Blang, Blaow” into the upcoming season and which other top-of-the-line poker pros will be around, but in the meantime, those hankering for a televised cash game fix can tune into this week’s episodes of “Poker After Dark.”  As mentioned previously, the show is also produced by Poker PROductions and this week’s game features a line-up of some prior “High Stakes Poker” favorites like Phil Ivey, Patrik Antonius, Dwan, Eli Elezra, Howard Lederer, and Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies.

Thomas Bichon Wins WPT Cyprus

French pro Thomas Bichon outlasted a field of 181 players to win the inaugural World Poker Tour (WPT) Merit Cypus Classic on Sunday. Bichon collected his first WPT title and a prize of $579,165 after six days of grueling play.

The event, held at the luxurious travel destination in the Mediterranean, attracted many of the game’s most familiar names, including Patrik Antonius, Allen Cunningham, John Juanda, Mike Matusow, Eli Elezra, Chris “Jesus” Ferguson, Annette Obrestad, Jeffrey Lisandro, Dan Harrington, Huck Seed, Antonio Esfandiari, Layne Flack, and November Nine member James Akenhead.

Day 1A of the event brought together 91 players and John Tabatabai ended play with the lead, bagging up 178,275 chips. Ludovic Lacay (140,780) and Tommy Vedes (122,125) trailed Tabatabai on the leaderboard. Day 1B drew another 90 entrants, generating a total prize pool of $1,755,700. Phil Gordon led the way as play ended with 157,000 chips. Jan Skampa (156,000) and Andreas Haden (138,000) finished close on his heels.

The 125 survivors from Day 1 joined together on Day 2 and more than half the field perished, including Tabatabai and Gordon. Leading the 55 players that survived the day was Nenad Medic with 277,000. Medic made a strong push at the end of the night to pass Rony Jazzar and Antony Lellouche for the chip lead. Other survivors in good shape were Vedes, Huck Seed, and Flack.

Day 3 played down to the final 21 before play concluded and, this time, it was Flack who soared to the chip lead, holding 915,000. Rep Porter was second going into Day 4 with 812,000, while Seed, Flack, Jazzar, Medic, and Jonathan “FieryJustice” Little were among the top 10.

With the top 18 players making money, it took just two levels to burst the bubble on Day 5. The unfortunate player left out was Anthony Aboukhalil, who moved all-in for his last 20,000 chips with Kc-6c and was called by Antony Lellouche’s As-Qh. The board was no help to Aboukhalil and he was eliminated in 19th place on the money bubble.

Day 5 wasn’t kind to the big names left in the field. Flack was the first to go in 10th place ($20,760); he was followed by Medic (ninth for $27,680) and Little (eighth for ($38,940). With the final table just one spot away, Huck Seed pushed the last of his stack in with Ad-Jd and Thomas Bichon called with Ks-Qd. Seed was left drawing thin after a Queen hit the flop and he was unable to improve, leaving the tournament in seventh place for $56,240.

The final six were in place for Sunday’s final table. Here’s how it looked going into the day:

Seat1: Thomas Bichon - 1.08 million
Seat 2: Steve Fung - 732,000
Seat 3: Uri Keidar - 1.75 million
Seat 4: Rony Jazzar - 1.80 million
Seat 5: Janar Kiivramees - 727,000
Seat 6: Rep Porter - 1.12 million

Jazar was the first casualty of the final table. On a board of Qs-7s-2h-5d, Jazzar pushed all-in with Kc-Qd for top pair and Keidar called with 8s-6s for flush and straight draws. The 10s river gave Keidar his flush and Jazzar was sent to the rail with $73,535.

Play slowed down quite a bit after Jazzar’s elimination, but Kiivramees (fifth place, $90,835) and Porter (fourth, $121,115) were the next to exit. Porter doubled his short stack several times, but eventually Keidar finished him off when Uri’s Ah-9h held up against Porter’s Kh-Jh. Keidar increased his stack to 1.6 million, but was well behind Bichon, the leader with more than five million. Meanwhile, Fung was nursing a 500,000 chip stack.

With the blinds eating away at his stack, Fung was forced to call an all-in bet out of the big blind with 9d-5d and found himself in bad shape against the Jd-5c of Bichon. Fung’s hand failed to get better and he exited with $216,275 for his third place finish.

Heads-up play between Bichon and Keidar lasted just two hands. First, Bichon limped on the button and Keidar pushed, inducing a fold from Bichon. On the second hand, with Bichon holding more than a 3-1 edge, Keidar raised to 350,000 and Bichon moved all-in. Keidar took some time before calling off his remaining 1.4 million with Jh-10d and was in a coin flip situation against Bichon’s pocket sevens.

Bichon took control when the flop brought As-Ks-7c, giving him a set and leaving Keidar needing a queen to stay alive. The 10h turn and 3s river were no help to Keidar and Bichon was crowned the champion of the inaugural WPT Merit Cyprus Classic. Here were the final results:

1st Place: Thomas Bichon - $579,165
2nd Place: Uri Keidar - $380,645
3rd Place: Steven Fung - $216,275
4th Place: Rep Porter - $121,115
5th Place: Janar Kiivramees - $90,835
6th Place: Rony Jazzar - $73,535

Poker After Dark Air Epic Cash Game Line-Up

Sick lineup for <i>Poker After Dark</i> cash game

Players will find themselves confronted with $200/$400 blinds and a $100 ante to start, which should help produce a number of awe-inspiring monster pots.

This marks the second year that NBC has aired two weeks of cash game episodes on Poker After Dark.

Just like last year, players will draw for seats, but then redraw half-way through the game to give viewers a different table dynamic.

This is the first year that Finnish cash-game maniac Ziigmund will be making an appearance. Sahamies is renowned for his Pot-Limit Omaha skills, relentless aggression and some of the best trash talk on the Internet.

Unfortunately, he hasn't exactly lit the world of TV cash-game poker on fire. Earlier this year he appeared on GSN's High Stakes Poker, but was fairly quiet, allowing durrrr to steal the show by winning hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Dwan could very well duplicate that effort on Poker After Dark, but it will be tough as the other players at the table are likely no strangers to poker fans.

Ivey is on the biggest heater of his life after winning two 2009 WSOP bracelets over the summer and a seat at the Main Event final table.

Antonius is having a banner year online with nearly $4 million in profits and he'll look to keep that streak going on the live tables.

Meanwhile, Elezra has as much gamble as anyone and will be doing his best to get all of his chips in the middle.

Finally, Lederer brings a lifetime of cash game experience to the table and the man they call the "Professor" will be surely looking to school some of the young upstarts in the game.

The program begins airing on NBC tonight (Sept. 7) and can be seen for five consecutive nights in the late night time slot of 2:05 a.m.

There is also special director's cut episode to air at 1 a.m. Saturday. The show can be seen in the same time slot next week as well.

Check your local listings for more information.

Greg Raymer, Jason Alexander Featured on WSOP on ESPN Day 2 Coverage

The first of two Day 2s in the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event took center stage on Tuesday night on ESPN. 2004 champion Greg Raymer and “Seinfeld” actor Jason Alexander headlined the feature table.

ESPN announcer Norman Chad shared his take on the Day 2A lineup: “Today’s feature table is what I love about [the Main Event]. You have one of the top all-time performers in the Main Event, Greg Raymer, hoping to make another deep run and George Costanza is standing in his way.” Shortly after Chad’s comments, Gus Hansen was ousted from the $10,000 buy-in tournament after calling all-in with the nut straight on the turn. However, the board paired on the river, giving his opponent a full house.

Table Two, ESPN’s secondary feature table, included Chris Ferguson and Roland de Wolfe. Ferguson has logged five bracelets and five runner-up finishes at the WSOP over the last 10 years. Also in the field were Todd Brunson and “Everybody Loves Raymond” actor Brad Garrett, who were seated at the same table. Meanwhile, Jack Ury continued to battle in the Main Event. At 96 years-old, he is its oldest competitor and doubled up after flopping a boat with pocket sevens on a 6-6-7 board. However, Ury was later eliminated and received a standing ovation.

Eli Elezra and former boxer Kili Madrid were also seated together. Madrid owned an 8-0 record as a professional fighter and recorded four knockouts. Meanwhile, Alexander told ESPN cameras why he has an edge at the tables: “I always say to the pros when they start to sass me, ‘If I lose to you, there’s no dignity lost. I’m supposed to lose to you. If you lose to me, you will never live this down, so make your decisions very carefully.’”

Poker couple Jennifer Tilly and Phil Laak could be found in the Day 2A field, as could father and son Barry Greenstein and Joe Sebok. The former was knocked out and signed a copy of his book, “Ace on the River,” for his executioner. However, the player who busted Greenstein had also earned a copy of his book back in 2006. Meanwhile, Mike “The Mouth” Matusow moved to Greg “FBT” Mueller’s table, creating a star-studded lineup in the outer reaches of the Amazon Room.

The Full Tilt Poker-sponsored segment “Deal Me In” featured Matusow describing a hand during the 2006 WSOP Tournament of Champions. Matusow made a “value bet bluff” on the river to force Daniel Negreanu to lay down a pair. Shortly thereafter, Lex Veldhuis, who finished seventh in the $40,000 buy-in tournament commemorating the 40th running of the WSOP, called all-in on a draw for 30 big blinds and was shown the exit. An opponent whose constant chatter sent the poker pro over the edge may have been the cause.

The Jack Link’s Beef Jerky Wild Card Hand, in which the hole cards of one player are concealed, featured raised action to a flop of 2-A-5, all clubs. Greg Raymer, holding mystery cards, bet out 2,500, Alexander raised to 6,000 with A-9 (no clubs), and Raymer made the call. On Alexander’s raise, Chad commented, “I like that raise from Jason. He should be able to find out if he has the best hand.” The king of clubs hit the turn and Raymer fired out 13,000. Alexander folded and Raymer turned over Q-7 of clubs for the nut flush.

The same feature table and Table Two headlined the second episode. The show, which hit airwaves at 9:00pm ET, opened with Alexander describing his role in “Pretty Woman” to Raymer: “The scene when I attack her – we did a version where she attacks me.” Chad then joked, “We did a version of the 2006 Main Event where Jamie Gold didn’t win.” The action then flipped to Matusow, about whom Chad commented, “Mike is a professor at Deep Stacks University. I believe they are the Ragin’ Cajuns.” Ragin’ Cajuns has replaced Demon Deacons as Chad’s favorite college mascot in 2009.

At the final table, Raymer raised to 1,600 pre-flop and Alexander made the call with pocket threes. Dennis Baltz bumped the action to 4,500 with pocket kings. Raymer came over the top with a hand other than pocket aces to 20,000 and both Baltz and Alexander folded. On his opponent’s laydown, Raymer noted, “Since you couldn’t call, it had to be a good fold because you’re not throwing away aces or kings.”

The PokerStars-sponsored “Straight from the Pros” vignette featured Raymer reliving a hand during the 2004 WSOP Main Event. In it, Raymer bluffed after picking up a tell on his opponent. In the second episode’s Wild Card Hand, “Fossilman” once again picked up unknown cards and raised to 1,600 pre-flop. Alexander made it 3,500 with pocket nines and Raymer made the call to see a flop of A-Q-6 with two spades. Raymer check-called a 6,000 chip bet from Alexander and the turn was a five. The action went check-check and the deuce of hearts hit the river. Raymer led out for 7,000 and Alexander called. Raymer turned over A-K for top pair and pushed his chip stack to 140,000.

In case you were wondering, Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo won his Panorama Towers prop bet after Mueller scooped a bracelet in 2009. Bonomo gave 7:1 odds that one of 43 poker players who live in the massive off-Strip complex would take home a piece of hardware this year. Among them were Bonomo, Isaac Haxton, David Williams, Evelyn Ng, Barry Greenstein, Joe Sebok, Antonio Esfandiari, Laak, and Veldhuis.

“The Nuts” took to the links on Tuesday night, as Dewey Tomko gave Chad seven strokes on a putting green over nine holes. In the end, it all came down to the last hole. If Chad won the hole, he would win the bet, but missed a crucial putt. Meanwhile, de Wolfe, once down to 3,600 chips, doubled twice through Steve Gee to move to over 30,000. Alexander raked in the last pot of the evening at the feature table to make his first Day 3.

New episodes of the 2009 WSOP on ESPN air on Tuesday nights at 8:00pm ET.

Brett Favre Signing Delays WSOP Main Event Coverage on ESPN

The signing of quarterback Brett Favre by the Minnesota Vikings delayed the premiere of the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event by 20 minutes on Tuesday night, with action from Day 1A and Day 1B taking center stage.

The $10,000 buy-in feature tournament began with Full Tilt Poker pro Jennifer Harman narrating, “Someone has to win it, right? So why not you or me?” Highlights of past Main Event winning moments aired, with a player rounding out the montage by saying, “All you need is a ticket and a dream.” The feature table of the first hour, Day 1A of the 2009 WSOP Main Event, included 2006 final table participant Allen Cunningham, Eli Elezra, and Lex Veldhuis, the boyfriend of Evelyn Ng who was featured in ESPN’s coverage of the $40,000 buy-in event commemorating the 40th running of the WSOP.

ESPN announcer Norman Chad fired up viewers by claiming, “This is it. It’s the greatest event in the galaxy. Anyone can win. We could bound and gag Lon [McEachern], stick him in a potato sack, and roll him into the Amazon Room and he may make the final table. I love the Main Event.” Table Two featured 2009 dual bracelet winner Greg “FBT” Mueller and poker pro Sammy Farha, who finished as the runner-up to Chris Moneymaker in the 2003 WSOP Main Event, igniting the modern poker boom.

The 40th Annual Moments featured Johnny Chan winning the 1987 and 1988 Main Events before landing as the runner-up to Phil Hellmuth in 1989. Chan also turned in a seventh place performance in 1992. Joining Chan in the Day 1A field were Phil Laak, Jennifer Tilly, Orel Hershiser, Dewey Tomko, Steven Paul-Ambrose, and Gus Hansen. “Seinfeld” star Jason Alexander and “Everybody Loves Raymond” actor Brad Garrett were seated together, making for a lively table.

At the feature table, Veldhuis rolled over his competition, showing a bluff against Elezra, who labeled him the best player in the field on Day 1A. Veldhuis then represented a flush on a four club board to take down a pot against a player who held two pair. In the Jack Link’s Beef Jerky Wild Card Hand, Simon Muenz raised to 900 with pocket tens, Velduis called with unknown cards, and Cunningham called with A-J. The flop came 4-3-2 with two hearts. Muenz checked, Velduis led out for 2,300, Cunningham got out of the way, and Muenz called. The turn was the nine of hearts. Veldhuis bet 6,000, leaving Chad to comment, “I still think Lex has air.” Muenz called and the ace of spades fell on the river. Veldhuis pushed and Muenz folded. As it turned out, Veldhuis held K-6 for a bluff.

A brand new segment dubbed “Deal Me In” aired and featured Full Tilt Poker pros reliving key hands in live tournaments. Chris Ferguson was the focus of the inaugural segment, recapping a hand where he turned quad aces against Prahlad Friedman. The punch line, according to Ferguson: “You don’t always want to slow play.” Contrastingly, “The Nuts” featured PokerStars pros Greg Raymer, Vanessa Rousso, Chad Brown, Joe Hachem, Hevad Khan, and Dennis Phillips trying to hit a wiffleball thrown by Hershiser. In the end, Raymer laid down a bunt, only to have Hershiser blow it foul.

ESPN’s second hour of coverage, which kicked off around 9:20pm ET on Tuesday night, included a feature table with Mike Matusow. He chimed, “Life is all about the power of positive thinking.” Flanking him was John Dodge, whose grandfather started the automobile company of the same name. Also in the field was Jack Ury, the oldest player in the Main Event at age 96, and poker legend Amarillo Slim, who hasn’t cashed in the tournament since winning it in 1972.

The Wild Card Hand during the Day 1B episode featured Doyle Brunson raise to 675 with A-J of hearts. James Kier called, holding the elusive Wild Card hand. The flop fell 2-4-K rainbow and the action went check-check. The turn was a three and Kier led out for 1,500. Brunson called to watch a four hit the river. Kier once again bet out, this time for 2,500, and Brunson called with just ace-high. Kier sheepishly revealed J-9 for air and another player at the table quipped, “Were you really just trying to bluff Doyle Brunson?”

Matusow gave autographed copies of his book, “Check-Raising the Devil,” to his tablemates, while another Mike, Mike Caro, was featured in an ESPN vignette talking about his “Mad Genius” moniker. Others in the field included Raymer, Ferguson, Barry Greenstein, Joe Sebok, Chris Moneymaker, Todd Brunson, and Pam Brunson. A “Straight from the Pros” segment, in which PokerStars sponsored players gave their take on hands, aired and featured Moneymaker.

Next week, Moneymaker’s colleague at PokerStars, Daniel Negreanu, will take center stage along with Hellmuth. The action takes place from 8:00pm to 10:00pm ET barring any more Favre news.

WPT Bellagio Cup V Attracts 268 Players

The second of two starting days are in the books at the World Poker Tour (WPT) Bellagio Cup V. When the smoke cleared, 268 players turned out to the storied Las Vegas casino, down sharply from the 446 that entered last year.

A total of 79 players turned out for Day 1A of the Bellagio Cup on Monday, the kickoff U.S. tournament of Season VIII of the WPT. On Tuesday, 189 runners turned out, boosting the field to 268. As a result, the $15,000 buy-in event will pay out $1.1 million to its victor from a prize pool of $3.9 million. Only a handful of players were sent packing on Day 1B, as entrants utilized their starting stacks of 60,000 wisely. One of the day’s final eliminations was 2008 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Europe Main Event Champion John Juanda, who called for his tournament life with A-X on a board of A-A-Q-4-K. He remarked to his opponent, “I think you have me beat, but I want to play the side games anyway.” Sure enough, his foe flipped up pocket queens for a boat and Juanda was sent packing.

Jamie Rosen was the executioner of Doyle Brunson on Day 1B of the Bellagio Cup. Brunson pushed over the top of a re-raise by Matt “mattg1983” Graham and Rosen, who was also in the pot, made the call. Brunson turned over pocket jacks, only to see Rosen reveal pocket kings. The better hand held and Rosen’s chip stack ballooned to 150,000. He ended the day as the 14th largest total at the Bellagio with 153,000. The entire field is looking up at Alec “traheho” Torelli, the Day 1A chip leader who built a stack of 308,000.

Owen “ocrowe” Crowe, who is fresh off a 79th place effort in the WSOP Main Event down the road at the Rio, doubled up the dangerous Eli Elezra late in the day. Elezra flopped a straight holding Q-10, which held up. Elezra ended play with the 170th largest stack in the field at 38,000, while Crowe owns the 109th largest tally at 62,000. Nenad Medic also doubled up an opponent late on Tuesday. With the board reading K-Q-4-A, Medic called an opponent’s all-in holding K-Q for two pair. However, his opponent flipped up A-K for a better two pair. The river was a 10 and Medic’s chip stack took a sizable hit. Nevertheless, the Waterloo product holds the 119th largest stack out of 218 survivors at 59,000.

Last year, three starting days were held in the Bellagio Cup. According to WPT officials, only two will be held this year. Now, the action resumes at Noon Pacific Time on Wednesday for Day 2. The final table will take place on Sunday in front of Fox Sports Net television cameras and airs in high-definition as part of the eighth season of the WPT. Here are the Top 10 stacks entering play this afternoon:

1. Alec Torelli - 308,675
2. Vijayan Nagarajan - 257,775
3. Cornel Andrew Cimpan - 256,375
4. Matt Graham - 195,150
5. Michael Mizrachi - 182,700
6. Ray Taylor - 181,800
7. Jeremiah Vinsant - 179,450
8. Pavel Reshetov - 178,225
9. Justin Bonomo - 175,675
10. Joshua Schlein - 172,725

Other notables in the Top 25 include Adam Geyer (12th with 157,000), Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier (18th with 139,000), Prahlad Friedman (20th with 138,000), David “Devilfish” Ulliott (22nd with 137,000), and Hoyt Corkins (23rd with 133,000). Twenty-seven places will pay out, with the members of the televised final table being rewarded as follows:

1st Place: $1,187,670
2nd Place: $774,780
3rd Place: $464,870
4th Place: $271,165
5th Place: $203,385
6th Place: $164,640

Fireworks will be flying at Table 47 on Wednesday, which features 11-time WSOP bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth. Joining him will be fellow Ultimate Bet pro Graham, Amonon Filippi, Erik Seidel, and cash game aficionado Chau Giang. Hellmuth can be found in Seat 8, sandwiched between Giang and Jeremy Rafalowicz.

World Series of Poker Main Event Kicks Off

The 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event got underway Friday afternoon as 1,116 players took to the felts on the first of four Day Ones. The $10,000 No Limit Hold’em tournament World Championship attracted a number of celebrities on Day 1a, which turned out to be the main story as a couple of them finished the day among the chip leaders.

Actors Brad Garrett and Jason Alexander, former Major League Baseball player Orel Hershiser, cricket star Shane Warne, and musician and rapper Nelly were just some of the stars seated among the pros and amateurs taking a shot at the biggest tournament of 2009. Alexander and Warne each finished in the top 35 of the 821 players that survived, while Garrett ended the day above the starting stack. Nelly and Hershiser were unable to advance to Day 2. Nelly has been a familiar face on the circuit this year, participating in several WSOP Events as well as the WPT Invitational and the EPT Grand Final at Monte Carlo. Hershiser is a friend of Team PokerStars and as is his custom he gave a signed baseball to the player that knocked him out of the tournament.

Of course, numerous poker pros took their seats on Day 1a as well. Former world champions who played were Berry Johnston, Johnny Chan and Jerry Yang. Johnston and Chan advanced to Day 2 but Yang will not return. He lost most of his stack early in the afternoon after running pocket kings into pocket aces and was eliminated later on. Other prominent pros in the field were Greg “FBT” Mueller, Vitaly Lunkin, Andy Black, Roland De Wolfe, and Full Tilt Pros Allen Cunningham and Eli Elezra, who were seated together at the ESPN featured table.

For the first time ever at the WSOP Main Event, players were given 30,000 in chips to begin play. The Main Event from 1971 through 2005 gave players 10,000 in starting chips and from 2006 through 2008 players started with 20,000.

Even with the bigger stack it didn’t take long to lose the first player. Just 10 minutes in Rafael Zimmerman, from Oneonta, NY was sent to the rail. Other early exits included John Phan, Mike “SowersUNCC” Sowers, Chris Moorman, and Pieter de Korver. Freddy Deeb, Mark Vos, Davidi Kitai, Matt Glantz, Men “The Master” Nguyen, Isaac Haxton and Cunningham were eliminated after the dinner break.

The chip leader at the end of Day 1a was Eric Cloutier, from Mont-Laurier, Quebec (Canada). Cloutier is a former professional hockey player who played briefly for the NHL’s Boston Bruins. Cloutier has been playing poker on the tournament circuit for about five years and has more than $160,000 in live tournament winnings. He will take 150,750 into Day 2.

Here’s a look at chip counts of some notables that survived Day 1a:

Jason Alexander - 89,575
Shane Warne - 87,625
Lex “RasZi” Veldhuis - 84,000
Tom Schneider - 79,600
Andy Black - 56,475
Phil Laak - 53,025
Tony G - 42,325
Sorel “Imper1um” Mizzi - 41,375
Mike Sexton - 41,000
Gus Hansen - 38,075
Brad Garrett - 36,625
Dewey Tomko - 34,275
Roland De Wolfe - 31,000
Sam Farha - 30,425

Day 1b will kick off at around Noon Vegas time on Saturday. Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for updates throughout the 2009 WSOP Main Event.

No chance for rebuys at 2009 WSOP

The closest thing to a rebuy event this year is the $3k Triple Chance No-Limit Hold'em event, which began Sunday with a field of more than 800 players.

Eliminating the rebuy tournaments has sparked much debate around the 2009 WSOP.

"They should have kept the rebuy events," said Mike "The Mouth" Matusow, who didn't buy in for the Triple Chance event.

The Triple Chance format has been used before for Pot-Limit Omaha events but this event marks the first time it's been used for No-Limit Hold'em.

Players get 9,000 in chips total but can choose to access the chips in increments of 3,000 up until the cutoff point. Entrants are given an initial 3,000 chips and have two special rebuy chips that they can turn in at any time for an additional 3,000 per chip.

This format adds a new dimension of strategy, as players can choose to get all 9,000 chips right at the beginning, or sit at 3,000 and save the Triple Chance chips as protection against bad beats.

"It's a fun thing," said Daniel Negreanu during a break. "For one thing it adds skill to the event, because it offers people a chance to decide how they want to play their stacks, a little bit more like simulating the cash game in a sense."

"It's kind of a unique structure. We have so many events, 57 bracelet events, so it's kind of fun to throw one in there like that."

Negreanu was one of the biggest names to advocate the elimination of the rebuy events for 2009.

"I was a big proponent of getting rid of the rebuy events," Negreanu said. "For a world championship event, everyone should be on equal footing. Everyone in an event should have an equal chance based not on how rich they are."

The event has drawn an all-star lineup, including Erick Lindgren, who spent the afternoon multi-tabling between Triple Chance and $50k H.O.R.S.E.

Other entrants include John Juanda, Antonio Esfandiari, Ivan Demidov, Mike Sexton, Jeffrey Lisandro, Eli Elezra, Jason Mercier and many others.

Negreanu spoke out against the rebuy events before this year's WSOP, with the philosophy that players shouldn't be able to "buy" a bracelet by pouring big money into a rebuy events.

Matusow is amongst the contingent that disagrees.

"Not having the rebuy ruins some of the events," Matusow said.

The $3k Triple Chance No-Limit Hold'em event will continue for two more days culminating in a final table on Tuesday night that will award a WSOP bracelet.

Pros say $50k H.O.R.S.E. needs tweaking

Over the past few years the event has become one of the most prestigious bracelets on offer at the World Series of Poker.

Known as the 'players' championship', it is the highest buy in event at the Series and includes several poker variants that truly test a player's dexterity.

Past champions include Scotty Nguyen, Freddy Deeb and the man for whom the title is now named, the late Chip Reese.

As with all the tournaments at the 2009 WSOP, the event will feature a 50% increase
in chips this time around.

"More chips yes, but starting at a higher level," Daniel Negreanu said.

"The structure is good - all of the structures have been good. Look at the people who have been winning and they're all good players. That's a testament to the structures."

Andy Bloch, who came second to Chip Reese in the event's inaugural year, is also satisfied with the structures this year, but said perhaps the H.O.R.S.E. could be changed a little.

"I think it starts off a little bit too low," he said. "Percentage-wise, starting off it's almost 100 big bets in a limit tournament and once you really get deep, it's going to get meaningless."

After only four years, the tournament is still in its infancy and many industry insiders feel there are still some bugs to work out.

In fact, ESPN dropped coverage of the event this year because H.O.R.S.E. doesn't necessarily make for great television.

During its first year, World Series organizers made the final table for the event a No-Limit Hold'em only affair. But due to player complaints, that format was scratched in 2007 and they moved back to playing all the games.

Negreanu, who helped create the format, thinks that was a mistake.

"I made that up because I thought it would appease ESPN and the viewers," he said. "It was a mistake to get rid of it and it's my push for next year that we fix the mistake and go back to No Limit Hold'em, get it back on TV and then it will be more prestigious."

The five game mix, including Limit Hold'em, Omaha 8, Razz, Stud and Stud 8, is often the same brands of poker played in the biggest cash games in the world, including the $4,000/$8,000 'Big Game' at the Bellagio.

Eli Elezra, who frequents the Big Game, suggested a real players' championship should include even more poker.

"I really love the eight game," he said "It's the new one and you can really see the skills. It makes no sense to make it five games for three days and then change it to No Limit on the last day.

"It's not fair, especially to the good Stud players. Make it eight games for the entire tournament."

But Barry Greenstein said going back to the No Limit Hold'em final table format might make the $50k H.O.R.S.E. truly a championship for the players.

"I think it means a better, more well rounded player will win it, because they have to be good at the Stud games and then finish with No Limit," he said.

PokerListings will have complete coverage of the event from start to finish beginning at 12 p.m. PT Friday.

Lisandro, Davis wins headline WSOP June 24

He grabbed $437,358 in first place prize money becoming the last senior standing from a record 2,707 entrants.

The final day began with 28 players and Davis did not take the chip lead until the first hand of heads-up play with Scott Buller.

After doubling up, he never looked back on the way to the biggest Seniors win in WSOP history.

Here's how the rest of the day played out at the World Series of Poker:

Event 44 - $2,500 Seven Card Razz

Jeffrey Lisandro took down the $2,500 Razz title, tying the record for most bracelets won in a single year at three.

Lisandro beat poker writer Michael Craig heads up and a final table that also included Kenna James and Allen Bari.

For more on Lisandro rewriting history, click here.

Event 45 - $10,000 World Championship Pot Limit Hold'em

John Kabbaj leads the $10k PLHo event with fourteen players still in the hunt.

Kabbaj busted Bryn Kenney with aces over kings to take down a monster pot midway through the evening and ended Day 2 with 2.026 million in chips, good for double that of runner up J.C. Alvarado.

2009 WSOP bracelet-winner Eric Baldwin, Isaac Haxton, Davidi Kitai and Eugene Todd are also still alive.

Action resumes at 1 p.m. Vegas time Thursday for the final push to crown a champion.

Event 46 - $2,500 Omaha 8

Twenty-three players remain in contention in the $2.5k O8 tournament after two days of play.

Mark Tenner is chipleader of a field that also includes Michael Keiner, Mike Matusow and James "Flushy" Dempsey.

Among those to cash in this event were Max Pescatori and Paul Darden.

Day 3 begins at 1 p.m. Thursday and will continue until a winner is established.

Event 47 - $2,500 Mixed Limit/No Limit Hold'em

The first day of the $2,500 Mixed Hold'em event drew 527 players Wednesday.

However, less than one-fifth of that number remained when play wrapped for the night.

Eli Elezra flirted with the chip lead for most of the day but was supplanted at the top of the overnight leaderboard by Barry Greenstein.

Daniel Negreanu, Gavin Griffin and Jeff Madsen all survived to see Day 2.

Play will resume on Day 2 at 2 p.m. Thursday.

Check out the PokerListings 2009 WSOP section for more coverage from Las Vegas.

Millions bet on WSOP side action

Enter the world of high stakes bets at the WSOP.

Every year the top name pros gamble more money than the entire prize pool of a standard $1,500 tournament on various bets throughout the series.

Perhaps the most well-known bet is the bracelet bet. This is one of the most straightforward bets.

Daniel Negreanu has a very well-publicized bracelet bet with Phil Ivey where every time one of them wins a WSOP event the other has to pay them $200,000.

Negreanu is already $400,000 in the hole, despite very nearly adding a bracelet of his own this summer.

Although bracelet bets are one of the most common, Team PokerStars Pro Barry Greenstein mentioned the wagers are always progressing.

"The bets have changed over time," Greenstein said. "The first couple years I started playing tournament poker we were all crossbooking various tournaments. My first bracelet that I won I had it crossbooked with Doyle Brunson so he had to pay me an extra 50% of first place. After that time we mostly did bracelet bets."

Because the wagers are so high between professional poker players they can sometimes dwarf the first place prize of a WSOP tournament.

In 2007 it was well publicized when Eli Elezra won his first bracelet he made an extra $250,000 thanks to a 10-1 bet with Greenstein. The first place prize for the event that Elezra won was just $198,984.

This year Phil Ivey has already two bracelets and poker gossip sources have Ivey winning anywhere from $2 million to $14 million thanks to extremely high stakes bets with other poker pros.

"Yeah I make a bracelet bet every now and then," said Ivey. "It's working out now but I've also lost a lot on them too. You win a bet, you lose a bet. That's my lifestyle."

Greenstein and fellow pros like Erick Lindgren, Jeffrey Lisandro and Negreanu have also introduced bets based on WSOP Player of the Year points.

"It just seemed to be a good overall player bet if you're thinking about what to bet on," said Greenstein. "Rarely do you win a bracelet so don't get much action if you just make a bracelet bet."

It was either POY points or overall cash-winnings, Greenstein expalined.

"The problem with doing cash is that whoever goes deep in the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. or the $40,000 No-Limit Hold'em this year will have a huge edge because it's a much bigger prize pool. There's not much sweat in that."

Perhaps the most well-known example of this POY based-bet is one that Greenstein made.

"My biggest bet is with Jeffrey Lisandro against a team of Daniel Negreanu and Erick Lindgren," said Greenstein. "It's been close throughout the summer."

As of June 23, Negreanu and Lindgren had accrued 195 points while Team Greenstein/Lisandro were finally starting to pull away with 310 points, thanks in most part to the two WSOP bracelets won by Lisandro.

Tournament veteran Mike Sexton is convinced that it's these kinds of bets that keep the high-caliber pros out of the cash games and in WSOP events.

"Their incentive is the millions and millions in side bets," Sexton said. "That's what brings all the big names out here."

The incentive to win WSOP bracelets makes pros go to extreme lengths, including playing several tournaments at once and even holding on to just barely make the cash to accumulate more POY points if need be.

"I need the points, man!" said an excited Negreanu as he held on for a small cash in the $2,500 Pot-Limit Omaha/Hold'em event earlier this summer.

Between crossbooking, bracelet bets and POY bets, there's almost no limit to the methods poker pros can win or lose money at the WSOP.

It's really anybody's guess what angle poker pros will work into the next big bet, but one thing is clear - there will never be a dull moment at the WSOP.

Deuces and Donkaments on WSOP Day 8

Here's what played out elsewhere at the WSOP:

Event 4 - $1,000 No Limit Hold'em

The Stimulus Special played down to a final nine this evening, with Dan Heimiller and Steve Sung headlining the list of survivors.

Heimiller enters play as chip leader with $4.155 million to his name and with one WSOP bracelet under his belt already.

Sung, meanwhile, looks for his first bracelet in his fifth WSOP final table.

Event 4 was originally supposed to establish a winner on Wednesday night, with plans in place to play well into Thursday morning if necessary.

However, with the final nine not established until 10:30 p.m., tournament organizers decided to add another day to the Special.

The final table will begin at 2 p.m. Thursday.

Event 5 - $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha

PokerListings.com blogger Jason Mercier joins Matt Giannetti and Full Tilt Poker's Dario Alioto in the final table of the first PLO tournament of the '09 WSOP.

Alioto took first in the £5,000 PLO tournament at the first-ever World Series of Poker Europe, winning £234,390 in the process.

One year later, Mercier would take eighth in the same event, taking £26,812 from a stacked final table that nonetheless left a sour taste in his mouth.

"I was second in chips going into the final table and I had a very disappointing showing," he told PokerListings.

Look for treysfull21 to try to redeem himself in tomorrow's final table, kicking off at 2 p.m.

Event 7 - $1,500 No Limit Hold'em

The first $1,500 donkament of the Series began Wednesday at noon with 2,791 hopefuls taking to the tables in search of a piece of a prize pool worth $3,809,715.

2008 champ Grant Hinkle was among the 338 survivors who will return to action at 2 p.m. on Saturday, but brother Blair was not so lucky, joining Liv Boeree, Chris Ferguson and Vanessa Rousso on the rail.

PokerRoad Radio's Court Harrington couldn't dodge the donkeys either, running kings into A-3 to halve his stack and busting out shortly thereafter.

"The guy told me, 'Well I lost my last race,'" Harrington said. "He'd had queen-jack against jacks."

Also among those with a shot at one of the 297 payout spots are Sandra Naujoks, Alex Jacob, Shaun Deeb and Soren Kongsgaard.

Event 8 - $2,500 Deuce to Seven Draw Lowball (No Limit)

Among the most unique events on the schedule, the "baby" 2-7 Lowball event attracted 148 of poker's most notable, including Phil Hellmuth, Phil Ivey, Mike Matusow, Jennifer Harman and Eli Elezra.

Harman, Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi, Chino Rheem and Greg Raymer would bust before the night was through, but Layne Flack, Barry Greenstein, Ivey, Hellmuth and Matusow would head the list of 36 survivors looking for a shot at that $96,361 first prize.

Action will resume at 2 p.m. tomorrow and continue until a final table is reached.

Check out the PokerListings 2009 WSOP section for live coverage from the Rio.

A Poker Pro Mortgages His Life For a Trip To Vegas!

It is probably wrong to call Bo Fric a poker pro in a sense that we normally know it. He has never had big success in poker, actually he is almost broke. He calls himself “just a regular guy who likes to play poker”.

Mister Fric himself.

Many, or should I say all, poker players dream of a trip to Las Vegas to play the Main Event of WSOP. Fric, a fan of Eli Elezra (because he wears his hair the same way like Fric), is going to fulfill that dream and many others on this summer in a project he calls “My Poker Bucket List”.

Here is the list what Fric is planning on doing in Las Vegas:

# Take Doyle Brunson out for dinner
# Shoot craps with Phil Ivey
# Play Golden Tee, Wii, and Pool with Daniel Negreanu
# Win a hand in Bobby’s Room
# Have lunch with the Canadian heroes: Daniel, Brad, Gavin and Nenad and FBT
# Train MMA with Team Cardrunners and a UFC star
# Play a $10,000 hand of blackjack
# Have a drinking contest with Gavin Smith
# Go club hopping with Antonio Esfandiari and Phil Laak
# Play the main event
# Go to a gentlemen’s club with Layne Flack
# Drive cart for Patrick Antonius or David Benyamine in high stakes golf match
# Learn to pick up Asian women from Barry Greenstein
# Play a game of pickup basketball with Nenad, Grinder, Huck, J.C. and others
# Go suit shopping with Sammy Farha
# Get business advice from Eli Elezra and Howard Lederer
# Drink coronas with Scotty Nguyen
# Play Mike Matusow in a match play golf game
# Sweat $5,000 sportsbet with Erick Lindgren
# Spend an afternoon at the spa with Tom “Durrr” Dwan
# Play Chinese Poker with Poker Road crew Ali, Gavin, Joe, and Huff.
# Appear on Poker Road Radio
# ATV with the Poker Road Crew
# Cash in a WSOP event
# Ride in a Bugatti with Guy Laliberte
# Play Video Poker with Archie Karas
# Take a helicopter ride with Chris Moneymaker
# Go stockcar racing with Gus Hansen
# Take a balloon ride with Sam Grizzle
# Get Joel some female help
# Play Rock Band with Evelyn Ng
# Play blackjack with Andy Bloch
# Practice Yoga with Allen Cunningham
# Go out for an evening of swing dancing with Chris Ferguson
# Practice Buddhism with Andy Black
# Visit Fremont St. with Gabe Kaplan
# Meet the guy who got breast implants for a prop bet
# Get marriage advice from Norman Chad
# Have a smoke break with Eugene Todd
# Get publishing advice from Dan Harrington
# Host the world’s largest poker pro paintball game

Well, that is a long list to accomplish and he will need a lot of money to do all the stuff. Fric is planning on filming his trip and make a documentary about it afterwards and of course a book. But there are few problems in his plans:

1. I don’t know any of these people on a personal level and really don’t know how to begin.

2. I currently have a slight negative balance in my bank account, $30,000 in credit card debt, and less than $3,000 liquid cash.

3. I don’t know the first damn thing about writing a book or filming a documentary.

Mortgaging a house is a good start for making money. If you want to help Fric in this plan and find more information about him, check out the website of the Poker Bucket List and sign as a member for free.

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A Poker Pro Mortgages His Life For a Trip To Vegas!