Poker News

Steve Zolotow Tops WSOP Europe Main Event Day 1B Field

Two-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner Steve Zolotow paced the field in London on Day 1B of the 2009 WSOP Europe Main Event. A total of 178 players entered on Sunday for a combined starting grid of 334.

A total of 363 players turned out for the 2008 WSOP Europe Main Event, meaning that this year’s field represented a drop of 8% in attendance. Nevertheless, the action was fast and furious at the Casino at the Empire in London, where Zolotow prevailed over the pack on Day 1B. When the action ceased for the evening, Zolotow held 166,825 chips, trailing the top three stacks from Day 1A – Brian Powell (194,600), Jason Mercier (189,725), and Sami Kelopuro (168,925) – to claim fourth place on the leaderboard entering Day 2 on Monday. According to PokerNews, Zolotow doubled up late in the day after flopping a set of threes against an opponent with bottom two pair.

A familiar face was third in chips after Day 1B, 2009 WSOP November Nine member Antoine Saout. A sponsored pro of Everest Poker, Saout holds the ninth largest stack overall after Days 1A and 1B in London at 144,400. Saout will hold the eighth largest tally when play resumes in Las Vegas, where the entire field is looking up at Darvin Moon. Action in the 2009 WSOP Main Event resumes on November 7th.

Here are the Top 10 chip stacks in the 2009 WSOP Europe Main Event entering play on Monday:

1. Brian Powell – 194,600
2. Jason Mercier – 189,725
3. Sami Kelopuro – 168,925
4. Steve Zolotow – 166,825
5. Viktor Blom – 163,175
6. Jonathan Aguiar – 160,100
7. Praz Bassi – 155,450
8. Martin Hansen – 152,775
9. Antoine Saout – 144,400
10. Christian Harder – 134,125

Among those who were sent packing on Day 1B was WSOP bracelet winner Nenad Medic, who was all-in holding just Q-J on a board of 8-3-3. His opponent showed A-9, which held up to send the Canadian home. Vitaly Lunkin, the champion of the $40,000 buy-in tournament commemorating the 40th running of the WSOP, was also eliminated from the WSOP Europe Main Event. Lunkin held Q-10 on a board of 7-3-2-Q-A, but ran into pocket queens. J.C. Tran semi-bluffed all-in with A-8 on a board of 10-4-J-9, but ran into K-10. An eight on the river missed Tran’s straight and secured his elimination.

Others remaining in contention include:

17. Ram Vaswarni – 113,625
23. Doyle Brunson – 92,900
27. Brandon Cantu – 89,000
28. Daniel Negreanu – 88,925
29. Noah Boeken – 87,500
35. Barry Shulman – 80,250
36. Juha Helppi – 79,200
41. James Akenhead – 77,675
46. Antonio Esfadiari – 73,550
70. Freddy Deeb – 56,900
77. Annette Obrestad – 52,400
81. Dave “Devilfish” Ulliott – 49,800
88. Todd Brunson – 46,050
94. Terrence “Unassigned” Chan – 44,175
96. Men “The Master” Nguyen – 43,200
105. Sandra Naujoks – 40,225
112. Shaun Deeb – 37,500
125. Teddy Sheringham – 33,350
128. Marco Traniello – 33,000
134. David Oppenheim – 31,525
137. Alex Kravchenko – 31,100
141. Yevgeniy Timoshenko – 29,675
142. Mike Matusow – 28,900
144. Dennis Phillips – 28,800
145. John Juanda – 28,525
149. David Williams – 25,850
163. Phil Hellmuth – 18,450
164. Scott Montgomery – 18,225
171. Michael Binger – 10,000
172. Erik Seidel – 9,925
174. Howard Lederer – 7,675
176. Barry Greenstein – 6,925

One of the toughest tables to convene on Monday contains 2007 WSOP Europe Main Event Champion Annette Obrestad, online poker pro Jason “JCarver” Somerville, Ultimate Bet pro Brandon Cantu, and bracelet winner Philip Tom. The quartet will headline Table 8.

Play will get underway at 5:30pm local time on Monday in observance of the Yom Kippur holiday, one of the holiest days of the Jewish calendar. The observance runs from sundown on Sunday to sundown on Monday. Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest from WSOP Europe.

Brian Powell, Jason Mercier Lead WSOP Europe Main Event Day 1A

Day 1A of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Europe Main Event played out on Saturday. When the smoke cleared, Brian Powell and Team PokerStars Pro member Jason Mercier led the field, which began with 156 players.

By the end of play in London, just 75 runners remained in contention. Packing the pack is Powell, who hails from Louisville. Powell made a deep run in the 2009 WSOP Main Event, finishing in 66th place and earning $90,000 for his $10,000 buy-in. He also finished 13th in the World Championship Mixed Event for $27,000. Powell owns a stack of 194,600 in London. Trailing him on the leaderboard is Mercier, a WSOP bracelet winner and newly-minted member of Team PokerStars Pro. Mercier holds 189,725 chips and will watch as Day 1B plays out today.

During a break in play, WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack awarded Jeffrey Lisandro WSOP Player of the Year honors. Lisandro won three bracelets during the 2009 festivities in Las Vegas, two in Seven Card Stud and one in Seven Card Razz. Lisandro recorded a total of six in the money finishes during the 2009 WSOP overall. As a result of claiming Player of the Year honors, Lisandro will be bought into the 2010, 2011, and 2012 WSOP Main Events.

Fittingly, Doyle Brunson issued the day’s “Shuffle Up and Deal” command to begin play in the third running of the WSOP Europe Main Event. Pollack told the gathered crowd, “Doyle was there in Las Vegas at the very start of the WSOP 40 years ago. Doyle was also with us when we started WSOP Europe three years ago in London. And, we are proud to have him with us today.” Brunson, a member of the Poker Hall of Fame, holds 10 WSOP bracelets, tied with Johnny Chan for the second most overall. The leader in that category is Phil Hellmuth, who has collected 11 pieces of hardware over the years and also won the 1989 WSOP Main Event.

Speaking of Hellmuth, a press release distributed last week by Ultimate Bet outlined his complex parade route around London leading to his entrance at the Casino at the Empire. WSOP officials painted the picture of Hellmuth’s arrival: “Hellmuth entered Empire Casino much like Nero burning through Rome, oblivious to the ongoing tournament and taking his seat at the televised feature table. The bizarre spectacle was ornamented by an army of faux Roman soldiers erect and pretty girls standing at attention, while trumpets blared.” Hellmuth entered dressed as Julius Caesar on Day 1C of the Main Event in Sin City.

Here are the Top 10 chip stacks after Day 1A of the 2009 WSOP Europe Main Event:

1. Brian Powell - 194,600
2. Jason Mercier - 189,725
3. Sami Kelopuro - 168,925
4. Viktor Blom - 163,175
5. Jonathan Aguiar - 160,100
6. Martin Hansen - 152,775
7. Christian Harder - 134,125
8. Tommy Pavlicek - 119,825
9. Richard Grace - 116,850
10. John Kabbaj - 104,500

Other notable players who will take to the felts when Day 2 plays out on Monday include:

13. Doyle Brunson - 92,900
15. Brandon Cantu - 89,000
19. Barry Shulman - 80,250
21. James Akenhead - 77,675
28. Liz Lieu - 65,600
37. Eric Friberg - 49,475
43. Todd Brunson - 46,050
45. Chad Brown - 44,975
47. Men “The Master” Nguyen - 43,200
58. Marco Traniello - 33,000
60. Alex Kravchenko - 31,100
62. Mike “The Mouth” Matusow - 28,900
71. Phil Hellmuth - 18,450
72, Scott Montgomery - 18,225
73. Erik Seidel - 9,925

Shulman and Akenhead are both part of the November Nine, the members of the final table of the Main Event in Las Vegas who will take to the felts in two months. Another November Nine member, Phil Ivey, was sent packing on Day 1A. Registration for Day 1B is expected to close around 3:40pm local time on Sunday.

Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest from WSOP Europe.

Inside Deal Welcomes Daniel Negreanu, Michael Binger

Laura Lane returned from vacation to bring the poker community its seventh installment of ESPN.com’s “Inside Deal.” This week, Lane and co-host Bernard Lee welcomed Daniel Negreanu and Michael Binger.

The web-only show kicked off its 40 minute run by reviewing nominations for the Poker Hall of Fame. The general public’s original list of 10 candidates was trimmed to nine following the elimination of Tom “durrrr” Dwan from contention on the grounds that the youngster did not stand the test of time, one of several factors required for entry. Lee proposed that the panel clarify its criteria for the future: “I would suggest using a more specific criteria, maybe a minimum age requirement or minimum number of years played.” As it currently stands, the youngest Hall of Fame inductee is Chip Reese, who was 40.

Attention then turned to the findings of the Kahnawake Gaming Commission (KGC) on the Ultimate Bet scandal, which once again fingered Russ Hamilton as its mastermind. The report included 117 user names and noted that 31 unnamed individuals were also involved. Lee commented, “Russ Hamilton’s legacy has been irreparably damaged. Already, we have seen the effects this summer, when he did not participate in the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Champions Invitational.” Hamilton won the 1994 WSOP Main Event, defeating Hugh Vincent heads-up.

Negreanu will captain Team Americas prior to this year’s running of the WSOP Europe as part of the Caesars Cup. On formulating his team, which already includes Phil Ivey, Phil Hellmuth, John Juanda, Jennifer Harman, and Doyle Brunson, Negreanu told the “Inside Deal” crew, “They told me they had this really cool concept they wanted to hold right before WSOP Europe. They asked me if I would be willing to be captain. I’m taking it seriously and trying to put together a team that’s going to work well together.” Last year, Negreanu finished fifth in the WSOP Europe Main Event, a tournament ultimately won by Juanda.

Binger then relived a hand against Jamie Gold during the 2006 WSOP Main Event in which Gold turned a straight after being a 2:1 underdog against Binger after the flop. The Ultimate Bet pro remarked, “It’s really the only time in my poker career that I’ve busted out of a tournament and not been upset. I played that hand as well as I could and was a 2:1 favorite when the money went in.” Binger finished third for $4.1 million, while Gold took home $12 million and the coveted Main Event gold bracelet.

Binger became burnt out while pursuing his PhD at Stanford and turned to poker as a diversion. He earned his doctorate in 2006 before heading straight to Las Vegas to begin his successful poker career. His brother, Nick Binger, is also a staple in the industry and owns over $200,000 in lifetime WSOP earnings. On his relationship with his brother, Binger revealed, “There’s a healthy competition between us. I’m happy for him when he succeeds and I’m sure he feels the same way, but we also push each other to try to go further.”

ESPN.com Poker Editor Andrew Feldman then joined the show. Like this author, Feldman is one of several media members who will vote in the Poker Hall of Fame Class of 2009. Feldman asked Negreanu how his resume stacked up against the other eight finalists. Negreanu responded, “I don’t feel like I deserve to be in the Hall of Fame this year. There are a lot of people who have played for longer than I have that deserve it more.” Negreanu and Lee endorsed World Poker Tour (WPT) Host Mike Sexton. Binger added that Barry Greenstein, Erik Seidel, and Ivey would be his top three candidates.

A special “Twitter: Fact or Fiction” segment aired in which Binger and Negreanu were asked whether Twitter entries made by each other were real or concocted by “Inside Deal” staff. In the end, the score was tied at two. Finally, Binger forecasted that Ivey would win the 2009 WSOP Main Event, labeling the 33 year-old “sick.”

“Inside Deal” is released each Tuesday on ESPN.com. Sign up to receive breaking news from Poker News Daily and you’ll be entered to win autographed merchandise from “Inside Deal” guests.

Dwan bumped from Poker Hall of Fame nominees

"With all due respect to Mr. Dwan, one of the game's most exciting young players, he does not currently meet the criteria for Hall of Fame selection," a statement from the Poker Hall of Fame Governing Council reads.

"We wish him well and expect he will again be considered once he has 'stood the test of time.'"

The criteria for voting consideration is based on the following:

• A player must have played poker against acknowledged top competition
• Played for high stakes
• Played consistently well, gaining the respect of peers
• Stood the test of time
• Or, for non-players, contributed to the overall growth and success of the game of poker, with indelible positive and lasting results

The original list of ten candidates was put together through a five-week public voting process on WSOP.com.

With Dwan out, the final list of candidates for the 2009 class is now down to Barry Greenstein, Dan Harrington, Phil Ivey, Tom McEvoy, Erik Seidel, Mike Sexton, Men "The Master" Nguyen and Daniel Negreanu.

The decision on who makes it in will come down to how the 15 living Hall of Fame members and the 15-member media panel will cast their votes.

Voters will be able to vote for up to three candidates with every player that receives at least 75% yes votes making their way into the Hall of the Fame.

The official 2009 Poker Hall of Fame selections will be announced during a special dinner ceremony on Nov. 7 at the Rio Hotel during the dinner break of the 2009 WSOP Main Event final table.

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2009 Poker Hall of Fame Finalists Announced

The final list of nominees for the 2009 Poker Hall of Fame was announced on Tuesday and the ballot is loaded with the game’s biggest names. It is now up to the 15 living Hall of Fame members and the 15-member Media Panel to cast their votes before the inductees are revealed on Saturday, November 7.

The nine selected candidates are Barry Greenstein, Dan Harrington, Phil Ivey, Tom McEvoy, Men Nguyen, Scotty Nguyen, Daniel Negreanu, Erik Seidel and Mike Sexton. Any of those nine who receive at least 75% of the vote will be inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame, which will be part of a special Hall of Fame dinner ceremony at the Rio Hotel in Las Vegas during the dinner break of the World Series of Poker Main Event Final Table.

The voters must determine which nominees most deserve an induction this year. Each candidate is voted the following criteria:

–A player must have played poker against acknowledged top competition
–Played for high stakes
–Played consistently well, gaining the respect of peers
–Stood the test of time
–Or, for non-players, contributed to the overall growth and success of the game of poker, with indelible positive and lasting results.

Current Hall of Fame members also have the ability to add a write-in candidate — someone they feel deserves consideration — but were not among the list of finalists this year. This write-in candidate will be added to the 2010 nomination list automatically. The voting members will receive their ballots this week and have until October 2, 2009 to submit their completed forms.

Before starting the 2009 WSOP, the WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack announced that the process for becoming a member into the Poker Hall of Fame would undergo a slight modification. Starting in this year, the Poker Hall of Fame started accepting nominations from the public.

Ten players received the required number of votes to make the nominees list. Tom Dwan, known as “durrrr” online, was the lone preliminary nominee left off the final ballot. The nosebleed cash game specialist only recently burst onto the poker scene but quickly gained worldwide fame after proposing a challenge to anyone in the world (except Phil Galfond) that believed they could beat him in a four-table heads-up format on Full Tilt Poker.

“With all due respect to Mr. Dwan, one of the games most exciting young players, he does not currently meet the criteria for Hall of Fame selection”, said a member of the Poker Hall of Fame Governing Council. “We wish him well and expect he will again be considered once he has ‘stood the test of time’.”

The inductees will be invited to a special dinner held and hosted in their honor where they will give their induction speech and be awarded their commemorative trophy. Each of nine of the finalists will be invited to the dinner, and room will be reserved for additional family, friends, the current Hall of Famers and the media voting panel.

Tom “durrrr” Dwan Wasn’t Accepted To The Poker Hall Of Fame

Nine heavy duty nominees left and everyone wants to be part of The Poker Hall of Fame. But where is Tom “durrrr” Dwan?

The Poker Hall of Fame (HOF) has announced their year 2009 list of the candidates.

• Barry Greenstein
• Dan Harrington
• Phil Ivey
• Tom McEvoy
• Men “The Master” Nguyen
• Scotty Nguyen
• Daniel Negreanu
• Erik Seidel
• Mike Sexton

Originally Tom Dwan was supposed to be on the list but has now been removed.

“With all due respect to Mr. Dwan, one of the games most exciting young players, he does not currently meet the criteria for Hall of Fame selection. We wish him well and expect he will again be considered once he has ’stood the test of time’”, the HOF Governing Council states in their press release.

Tom “The Flamingo” Dwan

To gain more interest from the public, this year’s candidates were chosen through a public referendum. All in all 41 Poker pros got voted from where the field was narrowed to ten most voted names.

The official Induction Ceremony will take place on Saturday, November 7, during the dinner break of the Main Event final table at the Rio in Las Vegas.

The remaining nine candidates will have their fate decided by the 15 living HOF members, and the 15-person media panel. Panel members will receive their any day and have until Friday, October 2, to submit their votes. Players need 75 percent of the votes to get in. Anything less than 75 percent means your still eligible for future HOF classes.

There are currently 37 members in The Poker Hall of Fame.

Source: Pokerpages

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Tom “durrrr” Dwan Wasn’t Accepted To The Poker Hall Of Fame

ESPN Inside Deal Features WSOP November Niner Eric Buchman

This week, “Inside Deal,” which airs on ESPN.com, welcomed World Series of Poker (WSOP) November Nine member Eric Buchman, who will hold the second largest chip stack when play resumes in November.

Talk of recent additions to the Caesars Cup teams opened the show, which is sponsored by PokerStars. Phil Hellmuth and John Juanda will join Team Americas, while Dario Minieri and Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier will become part of Team Europe. “Inside Deal” host and Poker News Daily Guest Columnist Bernard Lee gave his take on the selections: “Daniel Negreanu was going to mold his team around team chemistry, solid heads-up play, and high-profile players.” Negreanu and Annette “Annette_15” Obrestad serve as team captains.

Discussion on “Inside Deal” then turned to Doyle Brunson’s Hall of Shame, which features Puggy Pearson, John “Doc” Holiday, Nick “Shoestring” Simpson, Nick Lanette, Stu Ungar, and Nick Vacchiano. Brunson unveiled his Hall of Shame in a recent blog post, with the only criteria for entry being that the person had to be deceased. Lanette earned his induction after biting a dealer’s ear off at the Stardust. “Inside Deal” host Bernard Lee was asked who he would add to the Hall of Shame, dead or alive. His nominee was Tony G, who berated Ralph Perry after eliminating him from the 2006 Intercontinental Poker Championship, among other incidents.

Results from the PokerStars Sunday Million, Asian Poker Tour (APT) Macau, European Poker Tour (EPT) Kiev, and Foxwoods Mega Stack Challenge were displayed before Howard Lederer joined the show via satellite. On the young guns of poker, Lederer told “Inside Deal” hosts, “I feel like 2009 was really the true arrival of the internet player, the player who got started in 2004 and finally got enough live play under their feet.”

Lederer and sister Annie Duke were an integral part of the National Poker Week Fly-In, which took place last month in Washington, DC. On the future of legalized and regulated online poker in the United States, Lederer remarked, “A bit of it is timing and a bit of it is politics. The practical effect of [Congressman Barney Frank’s] bill is that there wouldn’t be any sports betting on the internet, but that doesn’t mean the professional leagues aren’t scared of it.” Lederer was one of a half-dozen high-profile players to turn out to the nation’s capital in an effort coordinated by the Poker Players Alliance (PPA) to lobby for Frank’s bill.

Attention then turned to Buchman, who was asked how he was turned onto poker. The WSOP November Nine member responded, “My brother got me interested in it. We’d play in clubs in New York and go to Atlantic City.” He has a pair of runner-up showings in WSOP and WSOP Circuit tournaments, experience that he hopes to parlay into a bracelet in the 2009 Main Event: “Final table experience is invaluable when it comes to improving your game and performing under pressure.” Buchman will have three short-stacks to his left when play resumes in November.

ESPN Poker Editor Andrew Feldman, returning from a one-week vacation, asked Lee, “Inside Deal” host Laura Lane, and Buchman who they would add to the American and European Caesars Cup squads. Buchman noted that he’d add reigning National Heads-Up Poker Championship winner Huck Seed and Carlos Mortensen. Lee suggested Chris Ferguson and Gus Hansen. Lane threw out Erik Seidel and Vitaly Lunkin. Feldman told the cast that he’d add Lindgren to the U.S. team and Patrik Antonius to the European roster.

Viewer questions included whether Buchman would treat the final table as a continuation of play in July or as a new tournament. He responded, “The experience I have playing against these players and the footage I’ve seen on ESPN will help me get reads on players.” Many in the poker industry have questioned chip leader Darvin Moon’s experience. Buchman noted that, despite Moon’s lack of background on the felts, he is a formidable force: “He’s definitely a threat to win. He doesn’t have as much experience as everyone else, but he definitely can play.” In the end, Buchman predicted that he would be heads-up against Moon for the Main Event title.

“Inside Deal” is released every Tuesday on ESPN.com.

WPT Legends of Poker Begins Today

Kicking off today from the Bicycle Casino in Los Angeles, California is the annual World Poker Tour (WPT) Legends of Poker. The $10,000 buy-in tournament will crown a champion on Wednesday.

Last time out, John “The Razor” Phan trumped online poker pro Amit “amak316” Makhija in the finale of the WPT Legends of Poker. A total of 373 players took to the felts and Phan walked away with a first place payday of $1.1 million. Zachary Clark earned $281,000 for his third place showing in a lively final table that also featured Paul Smith, Trong Nguyen, and Kyle Wilson. In 2007, “Action” Dan Harrington, a former World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event Champion, bested David “The Dragon” Pham heads-up to pocket $1.6 million. That year, 485 players took to the felts.

In 2006, Joe Pelton banked $1.6 million for his win in the Legends of Poker. He defeated Frankie O’Dell heads-up in a talented final table that also featured Hoyt Corkins, Kevin O’Donnell, Randy Holland, and WSOP Main Event winner Scotty Nguyen. A total of 466 runners took to the Bike’s felts three years ago and created a $4.5 million prize pool. In 2005, Alex Kahaner outlasted “Cowboy” Kenna James to earn $1.1 million. It marked the last year that the buy-in was only $5,000 and 839 players threw their hats into the ring. O’Donnell finished sixth in 2005 and Todd Phillips, who directed “Old School” and “The Hangover,” landed in fourth place, earning $250,000.

In 2004, Doyle Brunson showed that he is truly a legend of the game by taking down the marquee WPT tournament, outplaying Lee Watkinson heads-up. Brunson banked $1.2 million for his efforts and solidified his name as among the game’s best only one year after the Moneymaker Boom began. At the time, Watkinson was fresh off a runner-up finish in the Mirage Poker Showdown and earned $578,000 for his second place effort in Los Angeles.

During Season II of the WPT, Mel Judah defeated Paul Phillips in the Legends of Poker. Judah is a two-time WSOP bracelet winner and Phillips won the Bellagio Five Diamond World Poker Classic that season for $1.1 million. Also appearing at the final table were Poker Hall of Fame member T.J. Cloutier, Chip Jett, three-time bracelet winner Farzad Bonyadi, and Phil “The Unabomber” Laak. During the inaugural season of the WPT, Chris Karagulleyan, who outlasted a field of 134 players to pocket $258,000, won the Legends of Poker. Joining him at the final table were Hon Le, Stan Goldstein, Mark Seif, Can Kim Hua, and Kathy Liebert.

The action kicks off from the Bike’s brand new Events Center at 3:00pm PT on Saturday. Players will receive 30,000 in starting chips and blinds will kick off at 50/100. The price of poker increases every 90 minutes, with the six-handed final table panning out on Wednesday.

In the WPT’s last tournament, Team PokerStars Pro member Alexandre Gomes defeated a table full of internet superstars to earn $1.2 million in the Bellagio Cup V. Heads-up, Gomes trumped Faraz Jaka, who affectionately goes by the moniker “The-Toilet” online. Also appearing at the final table was Justin “Boosted J” Smith, who suffered an Achilles injury after celebrating a win in a hand. Newly-minted DoylesRoom pro Alec “traheho” Torelli, Christoffer Sonesson, and Full Tilt Poker pro Erik Seidel all joined them at the final table. The tournament is held annually near the conclusion of the WSOP Main Event, which is held down Flamingo Road at the Rio.

Recent news surrounding the WPT hasn’t been about the Legends of Poker. Instead, attention has been focused squarely on its sale, where news of a second buyer other than Gamynia Limited has emerged. Speculation on the alternate WPT bid has run rampant throughout the online poker community and additional information should be released in the near future.

Keep up to date on the 2009 WPT Legends of Poker right here on Poker News Daily.

Jeremy Gaubert Wins Gold Strike World Poker Open

Jeremy “thechemist83” Gaubert ran away from the field in the $5,150 buy-in Gold Strike World Poker Open despite entering the final table in seventh place out of nine runners. He earned $192,000 in the Tunica, Mississippi tournament.

Online, Gaubert has been one of the top players in the industry. In April, he trumped the field in the weekly Full Tilt Poker Sunday Mulligan for $52,000 and grabbed a win in the Ultimate Bet $100,000 Guaranteed in June for another $26,000. He chopped the Sunday Million on PokerStars for $233,000 and also has a victory in the site’s prestigious Warm-Up for $80,000. The $192,000 cash in the Tunica casino wasn’t his first six-figure live payday, however. Gaubert made a deep run and finished 58th in the 2008 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event, banking $115,000 from the $10,000 buy-in contest.

In addition to the cash, Gaubert also received a $10,000 buy-in to the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) Southern Poker Championship, which is slated for January 24th to 27th at the Beau Rivage in Biloxi, Mississippi. Here’s a look at how the final table panned out in Tunica:

1. Jeremy Gaubert - $192,953
2. Steve Hamontree - $109,400
3. Chris Moneymaker - $60,110
4. Chad Brown - $48,088
5. Thomas Creel - $36,066
6. Gil George - $30,055
7. Tommy Vedes - $24,044
8. Jerry Milanos - $18,033
9. Paris Heard - $12,022

Gaubert rolled through stiff competition in the $5,150 buy-in event. Heading into the final table, Moneymaker held 40% of the chips in play. The 2003 WSOP Main Event Champion was at home in Tunica, originally hailing from nearby Tennessee. Moneymaker’s victory over Sammy Farha in the 2003 WSOP Main Event is the primary reason that many of us are here today. In 2004, Moneymaker backed up his Main Event win by finishing as the runner-up to Phil Gordon in the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star, banking $200,000. A card-carrying member of Team PokerStars Pro, Moneymaker remains synonymous with poker glory.

Also calling Team PokerStars Pro home is Brown, who is married to 2009 National Heads-Up Poker Championship runner-up Vanessa Rousso. Brown made two final tables during the 2009 WSOP, including a $188,000 payday for taking third in the $10,000 buy-in World Championship of Limit Hold’em. In 2007, Brown finished second to Full Tilt Poker pro Erik Seidel in the $10,000 buy-in World Championship of No Limit 2-7 Draw Lowball for $324,000. Like Rousso, Brown has excelled in NBC’s National Heads-Up Poker Championship, reaching the final table against Paul Wasicka in 2007 and ultimately claiming second place for $250,000.

The World Poker Open was originally a stop on the WPT circuit and formerly held at the Horseshoe Casino, located next door to the Gold Strike in Tunica. In 2003, David “Devilfish” Ulliott outlasted the 160 player field en route to a win over Phil Ivey and a $589,000 payday. In 2004, Barry Greenstein defeated Randy Jensen in Tunica for $1.2 million, defeating a field of 367. In 2005, the tournament moved to the towering Gold Strike Casino, where John Stolzmann outlasted one of the toughest final tables in WPT history that also included Chau Giang, Daniel Negreanu, Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi, and Scotty Nguyen.

In 2006, Nguyen took down the World Poker Open title, defeating Mizrachi heads-up. The two had miraculously reached the final table of the five-figure buy-in tournament in back-to-back years. In 2007, Negreanu was the runner-up to Bryan Sumner in the Mississippi tournament. In 2008, the final year that the Gold Strike played host to a WPT event, Brett Faustman bested Hoyt Corkins for the title and $892,000 first place prize. The festivities then moved to Biloxi for the Southern Poker Championship, which is held at the Gold Strike’s sister property, the Beau Rivage.

Ante Up for Africa Poker Event Features Hollywood Invasion

On Tuesday night, cable station ESPN featured action from the Ante Up for Africa charity tournament held during the 2009 World Series of Poker. The final table aired for just 30 minutes in a unique telecast.

The two-hour show opened with a montage of celebrities taking part in the event, including “Rounders” actor Matt Damon, “Pearl Harbor” actor Ben Affleck, and comedian Sarah Silverman. A total of 137 players took to the felts, with the feature table during ESPN’s first hour headlined by basketball Hall of Fame member Charles Barkley, whose association with gambling was highlighted on several occasions throughout the episode by ESPN commentator Norman Chad. Comments included “Don’t say blackjack around Charles” and “Charles is probably wondering if he can double down on the flop.” Joining Barkley at the feature table were 2008 WSOP November Nine member Ylon Schwartz, “Seinfeld” actor Jason Alexander, and “Celebrity Apprentice” candidate Herschel Walker.

Highlights from around the field included Ultimate Bet Star Player Tiffany Michelle besting Damon in a hand holding pocket sevens. After Affleck’s pocket fives ran into a flop of 4-6-K, Chad remarked, “That’s a worse flop for Ben than ‘Gigli.’” Ante Up for Africa emcee Phil Hellmuth and Nelly then sang the St. Louis rapper’s hit song “#1” and the recurring “40th Annual Memories” relived Howard Lederer’s first bracelet win. Lederer’s sister, Annie Duke, was featured heavily during the segment and, together with actor Don Cheadle, the “Celebrity Apprentice” runner-up co-hosted the Ante Up for Africa event.

The Jack Link’s Beef Jerky Wild Card Hand featured Walker calling the big blind with unknown cards, Alexander calling with K-10, and Barkley checking his option with pocket eights. The flop came J-Q-6 and the action checked around to see a king fall on the turn. Alexander led out for 700, Barkley folded, and Walker made the call. The river was another queen. Alexander checked, Walker put out a small bet of 600, and Alexander made the call. Walker flipped up A-Q for trips and scooped the pot.

Damon recalled the public’s reaction to the movie “Rounders,” which was released in 1998 and also featured Edward Norton, John Malkovich, and John Turturro: “When it first came out, it was a bomb. It kind of hurt my feelings.” Chad revealed that 2003 WSOP Main Event Champion Chris Moneymaker got his start in poker after watching the film. Damon’s lifelong friend, Affleck, was ousted from the Ante Up for Africa event holding pocket sixes after Jennifer Harman hit a flush on the river. Affleck signed autographs for fans on the rail and headed to the feature table to support Damon.

Barkley doubled up with 8-7 against A-Q after filling his straight on the river, leaving ESPN commentators to note, “That was like a three-pointer at the buzzer to win the game.” The end of the first episode featured Barkley hitting the rails holding 8-6 of diamonds despite flopping a flush draw.

The second episode aired at 9:00pm ET. This time around, feature table personalities included Damon and Erik Seidel, whose runner-up performance to Johnny Chan in the 1998 WSOP Main Event was featured prominently in the movie “Rounders.” The Wild Card Hand saw Damon raise to 10,000 pre-flop with A-7. Seidel pushed over the top all-in holding unknown cards and Damon tanked before finally releasing his hand. Seidel turned over pocket sixes and told Damon, “I think you probably made the right choice.” Seidel eventually sent Damon packing with A-J against pocket tens when the actor inopportunely shoved on an ace-high flop.

“The Nuts,” which had featured 40th Annual Trivia the past two weeks, recapped Chad’s red carpet interviews. Chad joked to Mike Matusow that money should be pooled for Mike Tyson, who was in attendance for the event, to punch Hellmuth. Matusow commented, “I will throw an extra $5,000 to the charity if he connects.” Chad also interviewed Damon and Affleck to divulge who really wrote “Good Will Hunting” and asked the latter if he could beat Chad’s record of three marriages. Chad’s final interview was with Sasquatch, the mascot of Jack Link’s Beef Jerky. Chad referred to the furry animal as co-host Lon McEachern.

The final table featured 18 WSOP bracelets, with Seidel owning eight of them. The nine-handed spectacle did not air until 30 minutes remained in the second ESPN episode of the night, reflecting the desire by producers to show the paths of celebrities in attendance during this unique charity tournament. The final table lacked strategy, with a multitude of three-way all-ins panning out with players unable to cover their blinds. Alex Bolotin eventually emerged as the 2009 Ante Up for Africa champion and pocketed $176,000. Over $360,000 was raised for the victims of the crisis in Darfur. On the turbo structure, Chad quipped, “Bolotin is the Ante Up for Africa all-in champion.”

Next week at 8:00pm ET, ESPN will kick off its 24 hours of coverage of the 2009 WSOP Main Event.

WSOP on ESPN Ratings Down 8% After Two Weeks

Poker News Daily has learned that ESPN’s coverage of the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) has experienced an 8% dip in television ratings through two weeks to 0.72. Last year, the mark was 0.78.

In addition to ratings seeing an 8% slide, household impressions also fell, albeit a modest 5%. The total number of household impressions through two weeks of the 2009 WSOP was 714,904, compared with last year’s tally of 750,315. Four one-hour episodes have aired so far, with 26 more comprising coverage of the Ante Up for Africa charity tournament and the prestigious $10,000 buy-in Main Event.

ESPN media contact George McNeilly told Poker News Daily that, despite the ratings slip, he remained optimistic: “These are very small declines and we’re just four telecasts into the season. We have almost 30 more episodes to go, so it’s way too early to start drawing any conclusions. One interesting trend we are watching is how ratings are flat among men 25 to 54, which bodes well for the rest of the season.”

Figures released after the July 28th kickoff telecast revealed that viewers were up 2% among men age 18 to 34. The number of viewers age 25 to 54 was up a commanding 16% after the first episode of the 2009 WSOP debuted on ESPN and the number of viewers age 18 to 49 was on par with the 2008 broadcast. The first telecast of the 2009 WSOP on ESPN featured the $40,000 buy-in No Limit Hold’em tournament commemorating the 40th running of the WSOP. In the end, Vitaly Lunkin dominated the 201 player field en route to a $1.9 million first place prize. He defeated Isaac Haxton heads-up in a star-studded final table that also included Greg Raymer, Ted Forrest, Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo, and Alec “traheho” Torelli.

On August 4th, the weekly Tuesday timeslot saw the WSOP Champions Invitational come to life. In one of the first non-bracelet events ever broadcast by ESPN, the Champions Invitational featured 20 former Main Event winners take to the felts. The unconventional 10-handed final table saw 1983 champ Tom McEvoy come out on top, taking home a vintage red 1970 Corvette Stingray and the Binion Cup. McEvoy defeated 2002 Main Event winner Robert Vakonyi heads-up in a final table that also included Peter Eastgate, Carlos Mortensen, Doyle Brunson, Huck Seed, and Dan Harrington.

Next week, the Ante Up for Africa charity poker tournament will headline ESPN coverage and begins at 8:00pm ET. The gala featured a veritable “who’s who” of the celebrity world, including “Rounders” star Matt Damon, “Pearl Harbor” actor Ben Affleck, “Celebrity Apprentice” candidate Herschel Walker, “Seinfeld’ star Jason Alexander, “Everybody Loves Raymond” star Brad Garrett, rapper Nelly, and legendary boxer Mike Tyson. The latter has developed a cult following stemming from his cameo in the blockbuster hit “The Hangover.” Tyson did not bring his tiger to the red carpet.

Poker stars who turned out to the charity event included Ante Up for Africa co-founder Annie Duke, Greg Raymer, Erik Seidel, Howard Lederer, Chris Ferguson, Jennifer Harman, Joe Hachem, Jason Mercier, and Andy Bloch. ESPN Coordinating Producer Jamie Horowitz told Poker News Daily what makes airing the charity gala unique: “We are excited to present a different type of poker tournament. In the Ante Up For Africa event, the story is more about the journey (the celebrities, the stars, and the pros) than the destination.”

Twenty-four hours of coverage of the 2009 WSOP Main Event will air on ESPN beginning on August 18th. The Main Event final table is scheduled to air on November 10th beginning at 9:00pm ET. Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest WSOP news.

Mike Sexton Reviews the WSOP November Nine, WPT Bellagio Cup

We just started our eighth season of the World Poker Tour (WPT).  It’s actually pretty amazing to think we’ve been on television for seven seasons!  And it’s more amazing how time flies.

Season VIII kicked off at Bellagio in July with a $15,000 buy-in for the Bellagio Cup V.   268 players were looking to take down the nearly $1.2 million first place prize.  It was a strong field and a very tough final table.  Erik Seidel, who was going for his second WPT title, said that it was the toughest final table in WPT history.  I’m not sure I’d agree with that, but it was a very strong group.

One thing I do know is that the six finalists set an all-time WPT record by playing the longest six-handed before losing a player at 103 hands.  And congratulations to our first WPT champ from Brazil, Alexandre Gomes.  Here are the final standings and payouts from the Bellagio Cup:

1st Place: Alexandre Gomes - $1,187,670
2nd Place: Faraz Jaka - $774,780
3rd Place: Justin Smith - $464,870
4th Place: Alec Torelli - $271,165
5th Place: Christoffer Sonesson - $203,385
6th Place: Erik Seidel - $164,640

The thing people will probably remember most about this final table was that we had our first physical injury due to excessive celebration.  Justin Smith, a very tough young player, drew out to stay alive on one hand and started jumping around, injuring his Achilles heel.  What’s really unusual about this is that Justin is one of the quietest people I’ve ever played with.  He’s one of the last guys you would expect to be jumping up and down.  To those who question whether poker is a sport, you can now say, “Well, players do get injured when playing in tournaments.”

The 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) closes with the Main Event final table in November.  Congratulations to all of the November Nine, the phrase used for those who make it to the Main Event final table.  They outlasted nearly 6,500 players to reach the final table.  The monster chip leader is Darvin Moon, an amateur player from Oakland, Maryland who got in this tournament by winning a satellite.  He’s a logger by trade and is playing in his first-ever WSOP tournament.  Could we have a second coming of Chris Moneymaker?

ESPN and the WSOP can thank their lucky stars that the guy many would consider to be the most famous poker player in the world, Phil Ivey, is one of the November Nine.  Ivey already won two bracelets at the 2009 WSOP and is going for his ninth overall!  My guess is that ratings will be more than double last year’s show primarily because Phil Ivey will be on it.  And I have no doubt that every promo about that show will include Phil Ivey (and if they don’t, they should).

If it seems like I’m a big Phil Ivey fan, it’s because I am.  Even though he’s only 33, he is the best player (and that means the most successful) in virtually every category in poker - live games, tournaments, and online.  I’ve always thought that Chip Reese made more money playing poker than anyone in history, but I now believe Ivey has gone by him due to the high-stakes cash games that they’re playing nowadays, the big-time tournaments, and the monster games online.

Ivey really is incredible. Make no mistake about it, his poker resume is unmatched by anyone.  He destroys the biggest cash games and online games and will become the all-time leader in tournaments if he finishes in fifth place or better in November.   Whether he likes the name or not, Phil Ivey is the “Tiger Woods of Poker.”  I, for one, will be pulling for him to win in November.

On a personal note, I had a shot and made the money in the Main Event, finishing around 400th or so.  I won’t bore you with my bad beat story, but it was pretty ugly.  It’s the seventh time I’ve finished in the money in the Main Event even though I didn’t start playing it until 1992 and missed it about three times along the way.  That ties me with the likes of Doyle Brunson, Phil Hellmuth, and Jay Heimowitz for second place all-time cashing in the Main Event and second only to Berry Johnston, who has finished in the money 10 times.

I’m looking forward to next year’s Main Event already!  Hope to see you there.

NBC’s <i>Face the Ace</i> premiers Saturday

NBC's prime-time poker-themed game show Face the Ace is set to premier this Saturday night Aug. 1 at 9 p.m. ET with a group of facetheace.com and Full Tilt Poker qualifiers taking on the some of the world's best poker players with $1 million on the line.

Hosted by The Sopranos Steve Schirripa, contestants on the show will first select a pro from behind four smoked-glass doors and then play that pro in a heads-up No-Limit Hold'em match with $40,000 up for grabs.

Should the contestant prevail, they can keep the $40,000 or choose another pro to play for $200,000. Contestants moving on to the third round will play for the $1 million top prize.

If the contestant loses at any point, they walk away with nothing and the winning pro takes $10,000 for their charity of choice.

"Most people don't get to compete against their favorite athletes in sports like football or basketball," said Schirripa.

"This show gives contestants an incomparable opportunity to test their skills against some of the best poker players in the world.  The same people they've read about or have watched on TV are the ones they have to defeat for chance at winning life-changing money."

The series will premiere with back-to-back shows Saturday evening and continue its seven-episode run on Saturday afternoons beginning in September.

Fifteen Full Tilt pros were chosen as "Aces," including Patrik Antonius, Andy Bloch, Allen Cunningham, Chris Ferguson, Phil Gordon, Gus Hansen, Jennifer Harman, Phil Ivey, John Juanda, Howard Lederer, Erick Lindgren, Mike Matusow, Huck Seed, Erik Seidel, and Gavin Smith.

Collectively, the group has won 41 World Series of Poker bracelets, 11 World Poker Tour titles, and nearly $100 million in live tournament winnings.

Poker After Dark host Ali Nejad will act as the tournament director and provide additional commentary.

Plus, Deal or No Deal Briefcase Model Megan Abrigo will serve as the hostess.

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<i>Rounders 2</i> a reality?

"Everybody would probably come back," Rounders star Matt Damon told PokerListings. "The actors all had a really good time working together. I know Edward would want to do it; we had a blast working together. [Director] John Dahl I'm sure would like to do it. Maybe someday it will happen.

"The only reason to do a movie like that would be if we had a great idea. If the two writers suddenly said eureka! We have a great idea. Then everyone involved would be interested in exploring it."

According to one half of the David Levien and Brian Koppleman writing team, who penned both Rounders and the casino caper flick Oceans 13, that "eureka" moment may not be far off.

"We've been concentrating on Rounders 2 lately; Ideas are percolating," Levien told PokerListings. "It's great to know that all of the original players want to come back and do another one."

The Hollywood rumor mill recently had Leonardo DiCaprio set to star in a Rounders sequel using a Levien and Koppleman script based on online casinos.

Levien confirmed that project is in the works, but its association to Rounders is circumstantial at best.

"We did just set up a project centering on the world of offshore online casinos with Leonardo attached," Levien said. "It's a little ways down the road, but we've started researching."

"It's a great world. Some of the countries where online casinos are based are like the new version of the Wild West, and with so much money on the line there is lots of drama attached."

The two writers just seem drawn to the world of poker and gambling.

"Vegas, the poker world, the casino environment, and the characters that gravitate around them are endlessly fascinating to us," Levien said.

"We've always been interested in poker players who develop these skills and literally live by them; putting their money on the table and living or dying by how good they are."

Rounders is hands down the most popular and influential poker movie ever made.

It's been quoted, impersonated and dissected at more poker tables and online forums than any other film. Those discussions often center on how the movie was written and why these two writers picked poker as the setting for their first feature film.

Levien says it was the game itself that that drew them in.

"Brian and I had been working on the rough beginnings of a screenplay idea about two friends, and deciding what to do with one's life, and we weren't sure exactly what world we were going to set it in," he explained.

"Then Brian called me at about three in the morning and said 'I just lost all my money at an underground poker club. It was awesome. We've got to set the movie here.'

"The next night we went, and kept going back, playing at clubs all over the city every night for a year.  We read all the available important poker books too, and began writing the script during the mornings."

One of the underground poker clubs in question was New York's famed Mayfair Club, home court to Dan Harrington, Howard Lederer, Erik Seidel and a host of colorful characters.

Speculation regarding the various characters in the movie and who they were based on has run rampant since the film's 1998 release.

It has even been claimed the movie was based on actor/comedian Norm MacDonald and although he occasionally played at Mayfair, Levien says Rounders really had nothing to do with him.

However, he did confirm rumors that the "Teddy KGB" character was based on a player known as "Eddie KGB," and that "Joey Knish" was actually based on a rounder named "Joel Bagels," but he squashed all speculation regarding Damon's character "Mike McDermott."

"Brian had just gone to law school at night, but didn't want to practice law, so we got the idea: What if something that seemed conventionally wrong, like poker playing, was really the main character's destiny, and something usually considered proper, like being a lawyer, wasn't the right choice," he said.

For Rounders biggest fans, the most frequently argued question has always regarded what Teddy KGB was holding in the film's final hand.

Unfortunately, Levien and Koppleman still refuse to end that debate.

"That's probably the most asked question in regard to the movie, but it's something we never answer," Levien said.

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NBC’s Face the Ace to Premiere August 1st

In online poker’s version of Iron Chef, Face the Ace will premier on NBC on August 1st. The show will air in the 9:00pm to 10:00pm ET time slot and is hosted by The Sopranos’ Steve Schirripa. It features pros from Full Tilt Poker.

In a conference call earlier this week, Schirripa noted that Face the Ace is the “first of its kind to air in primetime on a broadcast network.” At stake is a chance to win $1 million on national television and the series contains a total of seven episodes. To start Face the Ace, four pros will be stationed behind glass doors, hidden from view by a contestant, who will select one to play in a game of Heads-Up No Limit Hold’em. If a contestant defeats the “ace,” they’ll receive $40,000 for their efforts. They can then elect to keep the $40,000 and walk away or face a second pro for a chance at $200,000. If they win once again, each contestant can take the money or play one last heads-up match for $1 million. If a contestant loses to an “ace” at any time, they’ll forfeit their winnings in a unique all-or-nothing proposition.

Each match that a pro wins means $10,000 will be donated to the charity of their choice. The pros who will participate in NBC’s Face the Ace include some of Full Tilt Poker’s top names: Durrrr Challenge participant Patrik Antonius, Andy Bloch, Allen Cunningham, Chris Ferguson, Phil Gordon, Gus Hansen, Jennifer Harman, 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) November Nine member Phil Ivey, 2008 WSOP Europe Main Event winner John Juanda, Howard Lederer, Erick Lindgren, Mike Matusow, reigning National Heads-Up Poker Championship victor Huck Seed, Erik Seidel, and Gavin Smith.

The show is co-hosted by Ali Nejad and Megan Abrigo, who holds case number six on the hit NBC game show Deal or No Deal, is Face the Ace’s hostess. Nejad gave his take on the caliber of contestants that viewers can expect to see: “The qualification process online is difficult. For these guys to have gotten that far - they’re either the luckiest guys we know or they’re good.” Schirripa added, “Personally, I thought some were pretty good. They didn’t seem intimidated and, if they were, they hid it pretty well.”

The show airs on August 1st and August 8th at 9:00pm ET. Then, it airs once per month through January, 2010:

August 1st, 2009 – 9:00pm ET
August 8th, 2009 – 9:00pm ET
September 12th, 2009 – 2:00pm ET
October 31st, 2009 – 3:30pm ET
November 14th, 2009 – 3:00pm ET
December 12th, 2009 – 3:00pm ET
January 2nd, 2010 – 2:30pm ET

Three of the seven episodes have already been filmed, with Schirripa describing the first two primetime broadcasts as opportunities to “test the waters.” When viewers tune in, they’ll witness high-stakes poker and life-changing money on the line. Nejad described what makes Face the Ace resoundingly successful: “There’s no safety net here like there is in other game shows. If you don’t win your match, you lose everything you’ve won. The pressure is really on and this isn’t a cakewalk.”

Face the Ace is not NBC’s first venture into the poker world. The massive U.S. network airs Poker After Dark weekly and the National Heads-Up Poker Championship once per year. Meanwhile, qualification for Face the Ace continues on Full Tilt Poker. The site, which serves as a presenting sponsor of the World Poker Tour (WPT) on Fox Sports Net, is holding Round Two Face the Ace qualifiers tonight at 21:15 ET and August 2nd at 21:15 ET. The next Face the Ace Final Qualifier takes place on August 3rd at 21:15 ET. The two former tournaments have a buy-in of 100 Full Tilt Points, while the Final Qualifier boasts a price tag of 2,500.

We’ll have full details of the inaugural Face the Ace episode right here on Poker News Daily.

Alexandre Gomes Comes Back From Short Stack To Win WPT Bellagio Cup

Coming from the short stack at the final table, Brazilian online poker pro Alexandre “allingomes” Gomes stunned all in attendance at the Fontana Lounge in the Bellagio by winning the championship of the Bellagio Cup V over many strong competitors.

268 players began the event last week, a drop from the 446 of last year, but the quality of players shone throughout the week. After Mimi Tran was dispatched from the tournament in seventh place on Saturday afternoon, the WPT six-handed television final table was set for play on Sunday afternoon. Leading the way was skillful online player Faraz “The-Toilet” Jaka, who had dominated the tournament since Day Three on Thursday. With his slightly over five million in chips, he held a sizeable edge over fellow online pro Justin “Boosted J” Smith and professional Erik Seidel, who could only muster 2.9 and 2.1 million chips each.

The pace of play bore no resemblance to the frenetic pace that had taken place throughout the tournament. It took over five hours and over 100 hands before a player was eliminated, setting a new WPT record. Surprisingly, the first to go was the eight-time WSOP bracelet winner Seidel, who couldn’t nail a flush draw against “Boosted J’s” pair of nines. Only fifteen hands after the departure of Seidel from the table came a battle between the last live professional at the table, Christoffer Sonesson, and Gomes, ending with Gomes’ A-Q outracing Sonesson’s pair of fours.

With the two live professionals out of the tournament, it came down to the four veteran internet players – Gomes, Smith, Jaka and Alec “traheho” Torelli – to battle for the championship. In a vast change of style, the eliminations came quicker with only internet players at the table. Twenty hands after Sonesson’s elimination, Gomes was able to double up through Jaka to seize the chip lead, but immediately gave it back when his K-J failed to beat “The-Toilet‘s” pair of Kings. Gomes took out his frustration on the new Doyle’s Room professional Torelli, whom he eliminated in fourth when “allingomes” pocket tens survived against “tradeshow’s” A-Q.

The pace accelerated even more as three-handed action took place. Gomes and Jaka continued to accumulate chips and Justin Smith tried valiantly to maintain the same pace. After playing a patient waiting game through the early half of the final table, “Boosted J” was able to double up on consecutive hands – both on river drawouts – and attempt a comeback. It wasn’t to be, however, as his A-Q ran into Gomes’ A-K to lose most of his stack and Jaka finished Smith off in third when no Ace saved him against Jaka’s pocket Kings.

Down to heads up play, Gomes held a slight lead over Jaka but the duo would trade that lead back and forth. After an hour and a half of heads up action, though, Gomes began to grind down Jaka with the final hand coming after over ten hours of play total at the final table. When the chips went to the center and the cards were shown, Jaka’s A-7 was outdone by Gomes’ A-J and, once the board ran dry, Alexandre Gomes was crowned the champion of the Bellagio Cup.

Here’s what the gentlemen earned for their week of work at the Bellagio:

1.  Alexandre Gomes $1,187,670
2.  Faraz Jaka      774,780
3.  Justin Smith      464,870
4.  Alec Torelli      271,165
5.  Christoffer Sonesson      203,385
6.  Erik Seidel      164,640

Gomes becomes the latest internet poker veteran to capture the Bellagio Cup championship, following in the footsteps of Shannon Shorr (2006) Kevin “beL0WaB0Ve” Saul (2007) and Mike “SirWatts” Watson (2008).

With the first event of Season Eight in the books, the WPT now heads to Los Angeles and the Legends of Poker at the Bicycle Casino. Last year, John “The Razor” Phan virtually sealed his Player of the Year championship with a victory at this event. Because of its location, the Legends of Poker normally draws one of the toughest fields on the WPT schedule. Play at the Legends begins August 22^nd with the champion determined August 26^th.

Gomes takes WPT Bellagio Cup

"Thank God for them," Gomes said of his friends and family in the crowd supporting him. "Confidence is the most important thing in poker and that's what they gave to me."

Gomes narrowly missed adding a European Poker Tour title to the World Series of Poker bracelet he won in 2008 with a fourth place finish at the 2009 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure this past January.

But with a win on the World Poker Tour under his belt now, Gomes has to be considered one of Latin America's top poker exports and he said the win will surely help grow the game in that part of the world.

"I think there will be a real boom," he said. "Over the past two years we've seen more and more players coming from Latin America, but this title will be good for them."

Online superstar and 2009 WSOP $5k six-max finalist Faraz "The-Toilet" Jaka came into the final with the chip lead and Gomes was actually the shortest stack.

However, the deep structure allowed Gomes to be patient and he was able to outlast Jaka heads-up.

"I was short stacked but there was no reason to rush," Gomes said. "This was one of the toughest final tables I've ever seen and (Jaka) was the chip leader for three days. I'm just really glad I could beat him."

With eight WSOP bracelets and a WPT title already on his resume, Erik Seidel's name was on the marquee coming in, but the Full Tilt Pro was actually the first player to say goodbye.

Seidel went out sixth when he shipped it with a flush draw and couldn't get there against Justin "Boosted J" Smith's over-pair.

Smith busted the relatively quiet Swede Christopher Sonesson next, rivering a queen against his pocket fours.

Fourth place then went to the relatively loud Alec Torelli, who got it all-in pre flop in a coin flip with Gomes.

Gomes had two red tens versus Torelli's A Q and despite Torelli turning a gutshot, he was bounced when the river blanked.

The highlight of three-handed play was a massive double-up by Smith through Gomes, where he not only took the chip lead, but apparently tore his ACL celebrating when he went runner-runner to make a straight.

However, that lead would not last as Smith was crippled when Gomes doubled back through him with big slick against his ace-queen.

A few hands later he shipped it short with ace-rag running into Jaka's kings to bow out third.

Heads up began with both Jaka and Gomes even in chips.

However, Gomes pushed into the lead and eventually got Jaka to commit all his chips with a dominated ace to take his first WPT title and the $1,187,670 first-place prize.

"There was a lot of amazing players here," Gomes said. "It's really hard to put into words how I'm feeling right now. It's great."

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WPT — Alexandre Gomes Wins Bellagio Cup V

It looked like Faraz Jaka was going to cruise to his first World Poker Tour victory when the final table began at the Bellagio Cup V. He came in with 2 million more in chips than even his closest competitor, and nothing that transpired during the first five hours of play changed things. Erik Seidel was the first player to fall

Faraz Jaka Leads WPT Bellagio Cup V Final Table

A brief hour and a half of play in the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) Bellagio Cup V occurred on Saturday. In the end, the six-handed final table was determined. Online poker pro Faraz “The-Toilet” Jaka, who holds a stack of five million chips, leads the way.

Pavel Reshetov was the first elimination of Saturday’s play in the Bellagio Cup V under rather bizarre circumstances. The king of spades dealt to Ray Taylor was exposed during the deal and Taylor, thinking it was a misdeal, turned over his lone hole card, the queen of diamonds. The latter card remained in his hand, allegedly seen by two other players, while the king of spades was replaced. The flop came K-6-4, leading WPT coverage to note, “Before anyone can act, one of the players calls foul, claiming that a few players at the table have seen one of Taylor’s cards, but nobody else has - creating an unfair advantage.” Taylor then revealed his queen of diamonds for the entire table to see and the hand continued.

On the K-6-4 flop, Reshetov pushed all-in over the top of a raise by new Doyle’s Room pro Alec “traheho” Torelli holding K-3. Torelli called and flipped up K-7 for top pair with a better kicker. The turn and river both came aces, giving Torelli the pot and sending Reshetov to the rails in an ominous first elimination of the afternoon at the Bellagio. Reshetov received $46,000 for his efforts and Torelli’s stack was boosted to 2.6 million.

As if play couldn’t get any stranger, Jaka busted two players on the same hand holding just A-9 of clubs. Taylor held pocket kings, while Sam Stein found himself all-in with Q-9; Jaka had both covered. The flop fell 10-6-2 with two clubs, giving Jaka a flush draw and keeping Taylor out in front with pocket kings. The turn was a jack, giving Stein an open-ended straight draw. The river was the five of clubs, improving Jaka to a flush and sending both Taylor and Stein to the rails in eighth and ninth place, respectively. Stein picked up $61,000 for his troubles, while Taylor earned $87,000.

Mimi Tran was sent packing on the final table bubble in seventh place, earning $125,000. Tran, the lone female remaining in the fifth Bellagio Cup, was all-in holding pocket jacks against Jaka’s A-Q for a race situation. The flop came queen-high, giving Jaka a pair of queens, and an ace on the turn improved the chip leader to two pair. The river was a 10, setting up Sunday’s six-handed final table that will air as part of Season VIII of the WPT on Fox Sports Net. Here’s how the field looks:

1. Faraz Jaka - 5,041,000
2. Justin Smith - 2,992,000
3. Alec Torelli - 2,623,000
4. Erik Seidel - 2,170,000
5. Christopher Sonesson - 1,671,000
6. Alexandre Gomes - 1,586,000

Blinds will be 12,000-24,000 with a 3,000 chip ante when play resumes at 4:00pm PT from the Las Vegas casino. Every player owns at least 66 big blinds, setting up a deep-stacked final day of play. Poker pro Erik Seidel, who is perhaps the most well-known player left in the field, told WPT officials that the group of six represents “the toughest final table the WPT’s ever had.” The $15,000 buy-in tournament’s winner will take home $1.1 million and each player remaining is assured at least a $164,000 payday.

Seidel owns eight World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelets, good for fifth all-time. He trails only Phil Hellmuth (11 bracelets), Doyle Brunson (10), Johnny Chan (10), and Johnny Moss (9) in that category. Seidel’s 57 WSOP in the money finishes are tied for fourth all-time with Berry Johnston and the Full Tilt Poker pro won the Season VI WPT Foxwoods Poker Classic for $992,000.

We’ll have complete results for you right here on Poker News Daily.

Tom Dwan Announces Live Million Dollar Durrrr Challenge

Play in the Million Dollar Challenge between Tom “durrrr” Dwan and Patrik Antonius has come to a screeching halt. No action has occurred since June 19th, but Dwan has announced a live version of the Challenge in London this September.

According to an article on Matchroom Sport, Dwan will ante up against four players in the historic European city two months from now. Dwan told Matchroom, “I am looking forward to sitting down and playing some of the world’s best players live in London. There looks to be lots of interest in people wanting to play me, but they never seem to appear online. It will be interesting to see the response [we get] and just who is willing to get it on.” The heads-up matches may take place in conjunction with the annual World Series of Poker (WSOP) Europe, which runs from September 19th to October 2nd at the London Clubs International.

Each of Dwan’s four live opponents will battle against the young internet superstar for 500 hands. The buy-in will be $500,000 and blinds are $500-$1,000. Each opponent will take on Dwan mano-a-mano in Pot Limit Omaha or No Limit Hold’em. Matchroom added, “No player can leave the contest until either the 500 hands are up or the player has bust.” Eddie Hearn, Managing Director of Matchroom Sport, noted, “[Dwan] is totally fearless and ready to take on any player that is willing to face off in the Million Dollar match-up. This will be the most hotly anticipated match-up in modern day poker.”

Dwan’s battle against Antonius on the felts of Full Tilt Poker has largely stalled during the 2009 WSOP. As the Million Dollar Challenge currently stands, Dwan owns a $726,000 lead after 20,647 hands over 25 days of play. One month ago during a session on June 11th, Dwan stormed back from a sizable deficit, making up $376,000 in just 786 hands. Antonius led by $34,000 after play had concluded, but has since relinquished his lead to the aggressive internet star.

Antonius was one of 500 players locked out of 2009 WSOP Main Event when the fourth of four starting days reached its maximum capacity. Others who watched their Main Event title hopes evaporate before the tournament even began included Ted Forrest, T.J. Cloutier, and “Captain” Tom Franklin, who joined World Poker Tour (WPT) Host Mike Sexton to speak to Harrah’s officials on behalf of the shut out players. Solutions included ten-handed tables and a special Day 1E, although in the end no action was taken. Dwan played in the Main Event, but did not finish in the money. He recorded two final tables last year for a grand total of $112,000.

The Durrrr Challenge kicked off on February 18th with a 1,535 hand session. Dwan jumped out at a $134,000 lead, including a hand in which he made runner-runner quad fives. A total of 50,000 hands are required for the contest to reach completion. Dwan and Antonius four-table $200-$400 Pot Limit Omaha and attract a throng of onlookers to the virtual felts of Full Tilt Poker. To date, Dwan has faced off against Antonius, with November Nine member Phil Ivey and poker pro David Benyamine scheduled to follow.

Matchroom notes that Dwan has earned over $10 million online. The internet superstar was one of the top 10 vote-getters for the 2009 class of the Poker Hall of Fame, joining Mike Sexton, Barry Greenstein, Dan Harrington, Ivey, Tom McEvoy, Men “The Master” Nguyen, Scotty Nguyen, Daniel Negreanu, and Erik Seidel. Now, 15 members of the Poker Hall of Fame and 15 members of the media will determine who will be inducted during the final table of the WSOP Main Event in November.

Check out the latest from the Durrrr Challenge.

Faraz Jaka, Erik Seidel Among WPT Bellagio Cup V Leaders

Ten players remain in the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) Bellagio Cup V. At the top of the pack after four days of play are Day 3 chip leader Faraz “The-Toilet” Jaka and Full Tilt Poker pro Erik Seidel.

Seidel knocked out Tommy Hang on the money bubble in 28th place. Hang pushed pre-flop holding A-J, but ran into Seidel’s A-Q. The flop came K-Q-2, pushing Seidel into the lead for good in the hand. Running cards didn’t come for Hang and he received the unfortunate title of Bubble Boy. Seidel then sent former Bellagio Cup winner and online poker superstar Kevin “BeL0WaB0Ve” Saul packing in 25th place after Seidel’s pocket nines trumped Saul’s pocket kings. Despite being a 4:1 underdog pre-flop, Seidel spiked an eight on the river to make a nine-high straight. Saul took home just over $23,000 for his efforts. His win in the third Bellagio Cup two years ago was worth a healthy $1.3 million.

Seidel wasn’t done there, however. Late during play on Friday, the eight-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner doubled up with pocket aces against Anthony Spinella’s K-Q. Seidel pushed all-in on a board of K-8-4-J-7 and was promptly called by Spinella, who had top pair. Seidel continued his streak by taking a pot off Jaka to push his stack to 2.4 million. When the smoke cleared on Day 4 at the Bellagio in Las Vegas, Jaka held a stack of 3.3 million to top the leaderboard, while Seidel owned the fourth largest stack at 1.8 million. Here is a look at the final 10 players remaining in the WPT Bellagio Cup V:

1. Faraz Jaka - 3,299,000
2. Justin Smith - 2,620,000
3. Alec Torelli - 1,919,000
4. Erik Seidel - 1,799,000
5. Alexandre Gomes - 1,713,000
6. Ray Taylor - 1,085,000
7. Christopher Sonesson - 786,000
8. Mimi Tran - 690,000
9. Sam Stein - 666,000
10. Pavel Reshetov - 507,000

Spinella, who held the second largest stack overall entering Friday’s play, was sent to the rails in 11th place for $46,000. Spinella moved all-in pre-flop with pocket threes and Alexandre Gomes, a card-carrying member of Team PokerStars Pro, called with A-9. The K-Q-4 flop kept Spinella out in front with a wired pair of threes, as did a six on the turn. However, Gomes hit a nine on the river to send the poker pro home. Last July, Spinella, who is known as “holdplz” online, took down the Full Tilt Poker $750,000 Guaranteed for $132,000. More recently, the North Carolina native finished second in the PokerStars Second Chance for $40,000 in April.

Mimi Tran, the lone female remaining at the Bellagio, is in search of her second WPT final table. She reached the six-handed finale of the World Poker Finals during Season V, finishing third for $472,000. All told, Tran finished in the money three times that season for a grand total of $517,000. Tran took 13th in a $2,500 buy-in Mixed Hold’em event during the 2009 WSOP for $14,000, a tournament ultimately won by Bahador Ahmadi.

Play on Saturday kicks off at Noon Pacific Time and will continue until six players remain, likely making for a short day. When the cards hit the air, blinds will be 10,000-20,000 with a 3,000 chip ante. Every player left is guaranteed $46,000, while the winner of the Bellagio Cup V will bank $1.1 million. Among those who fell by the wayside on Friday were:

19. Alexander Kravchenko - $23,245
22. Vivek Rajkumar - $23,245
23. Hoyt Corkins - $23,245
24. Adam Geyer - $23,245
25. Kevin Saul - $23,245
26. Freddy Deeb - $23,245

Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest from the storied Las Vegas casino.

Faraz Jaka Leads WPT Bellagio Cup V After Day 3

Three days are in the books at the World Poker Tour (WPT) Bellagio Cup V. Faraz “The-Toilet” Jaka holds a commanding lead over the rest of the field. His stack of 3.2 million, or 20% of the chips in play, is nearly three times larger than the second place tally.

The poker gods smiled down upon Jaka for most of Thursday’s play at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. In fact, Jaka made quads to send two players home on back-to-back hands. In the first, Jaka was dealt pocket kings and the flop came K-10-4. Jaka check-called a bet from his opponent with top set to see the turn fall a six. Both players checked and the river brought the case king, giving Jaka four of a kind. Jaka’s opponent shoved all-in and was happily called. Due to the elimination, the tables were redrawn at 36 players. Jaka stayed at his table, but moved one seat over.

On the first hand at his new digs, Jaka was dealt bullets. Poker pro David Levi pushed all-in pre-flop with pocket queens and Jaka called. The flop came A-3-2, once again giving Jaka top set, and the turn was an ace, improving him to quads. The hands ballooned Jaka’s chip stack to 2.8 million. He would end the day strong, piling on 3.2 million chips, which puts him in an ideal position to make a run at the final table. The money bubble will officially burst on Friday when 27 players remain; a total of 31 will start the day.

Anthony “holdplz” Spinella holds the second largest stack in the room at 1.2 million. Spinella sent fellow online poker player Jeremiah Vinsant to the rails after coming out on the winning end of a race with K-Q against pocket jacks. The flop came Q-8-3, sending Spinella out in front in the hand. Needing to hit one of the two remaining jacks in the deck to stay alive, Vinsant watched as the turn came a four and the river came an ace. Spinella also improved his chip stack at the expense of Josh Schlein. On a board of A-K-3-K, Spinella check-called a bet of 68,000 from Schlein. The river came a queen and the action went check-check. Spinella turned over K-Q for a boat, while Schlein mucked.

Here are the top 10 chip stacks entering Day 4 of the WPT Bellagio Cup V on Friday:

1. Faraz Jaka - 3,214,000
2. Anthony Spinella - 1,249,000
3. Ray Taylor - 775,000
4. Christopher Sonesson - 717,000
5. Pavel Reshetov - 710,000
6. Alec Torelli - 703,000
7. Alex Kravchenko - 681,000
8. Justin Smith - 602,000
9. Joshua Schlein - 558,000
10. Samer George - 540,000

The reigning Bellagio Cup champion, Mike “SirWatts” Watson, was sent home during play on Thursday. Watson pushed all-in pre-flop over the top of a raise by Javed Abrahams with pocket sixes. Abrahams called and flipped over A-Q for a race situation. The flop came 10-10-7, keeping Watson out in front, but an ace on the turn improved Abrahams to aces-up. The river was a five, eliminating last year’s winner. Watson defeated David Benyamine in the Bellagio Cup IV to earn $1.6 million. This year, the event will award just less than $1.2 million to its champion.

Other notable poker pros who remain in the hunt include:

11. Erik Seidel - 535,000
13. Jonathan Little - 483,000
15. Mimi Tran - 457,000
17. Freddy Deeb - 413,000
20. Adam Geyer - 313,000
26. Kevin Saul - 196,000
27. Hoyt Corkins - 188,000
29. Vivek Rajkumar - 137,000

The televised six-handed final table will pan out on Sunday at the Bellagio and air on Fox Sports Net as part of Season 8 of the WPT. Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest WPT results.

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.

Alec Torelli Leads WPT Bellagio Cup After Day 1A

A cozy field of 79 players turned out for Day 1A of the World Poker Tour (WPT) Bellagio Cup V. In the end, 61 reached Day 2 on Wednesday, led by Alec “traheho” Torelli. WPT officials are expecting 175 players to compete on Day 1B.

In 2008, the Bellagio Cup IV Main Event, a $15,000 buy-in tournament, boasted a field of 446 players. If 175 players were to turn out for Day 1B, it would translate into a total attendance of 254, representing a drop of over 40%. The Foxwoods Poker Classic boasted the smallest field during Season VII at 259 runners. The event has since been stricken from the WPT schedule.

Torelli’s aggression and willingness to gamble earned him the top spot on Day 1A. After a flop of K-J-7 with two hearts, Torelli moved all-in over the top of a check-raise by poker pro Dan Shak, who called and flipped up pocket jacks for a set. Torelli showed 8-9 of hearts for straight and flush draws. The turn and river were both hearts, filling Torelli’s flush and vaulting him up the leaderboard.

A few hands after battling with Shak, Torelli picked up pocket aces. On a board of J-J-10-6, Torelli check-raised his opponent all-in. The other player called and showed pocket kings, drawing to two outs. The river came the queen of hearts and Torelli scooped another sizable pot.

Torelli amassed a stack of 308,000 chips at the end of Day 1A, well ahead of the second place stack of 256,000 held by Andrew Cimpan, the winner of the Season VII L.A. Poker Classic. Cimpan eliminated Steve O’Dwyer late in the day. After a flop of 8-7-5, O’Dwyer pushed over the top of a raise by Cimpan holding 7-5 for two pair. Cimpan promptly called and showed 6-3 of diamonds. The turn and river both came diamonds, giving Cimpan a runner-runner flush and sending O’Dwyer home.

Defending Bellagio Cup champion Mike “SirWatts” Watson also remains in contention after Day 1A. He holds the 54th largest stack out of 61 players left in the hunt at 36,000, well below the average of 77,000. Watson won $1.6 million for his efforts last year and defeated World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner David Benyamine heads-up. The 2008 final table also featured Luke “IWEARGOGGLES” Staudenmaier and John “The Razor” Phan, who won last year’s Legends of Poker event.

On the second to last hand of the evening, poker pro Mike Matusow hit the exits at the Bellagio. Matusow moved all-in after a flop of J-J-7 holding pocket twos. However, his opponent held pocket kings, leaving Matusow barely breathing in the hand. The turn and river came a 10 and nine, respectively, eliminating Matusow from the 2009 Bellagio Cup. Matusow has recorded nine career in the money finishes in WPT events; four have been for final tables. He was the runner-up to Kevin “BeL0WaB0Ve” Saul in the Bellagio Cup III.

The honor of first player eliminated from the WPT tournament went to Allen Hickman, who held pocket tens, but ran into the A-5 of Zach Hyman. When the smoke cleared, the board read 5-5-2-8-6, giving Hyman trips.

Here were the Top 10 stacks from Day 1A of the Bellagio Cup V:

1. Alec Torelli - 308,675
2. Andrew Cimpan - 256,375
3. Ray Taylor - 181,800
4. Jeremiah Vinsant - 179,450
5. Adam Geyer - 157,600
6. Eugene Juergens - 147,500
7. Musa Mustafa - 144,200
8. Hoyt Corkins - 132,900
9. Isaac Haxton - 122,525
10. Justin Smith - 114,100

Other pros who appear in the Top 30 include Todd Brunson (20th place with 81,225), Vadim Trincher (23rd with 78,670), and Erik Seidel (28th with 76,275). The action on Day 1B of the Bellagio Cup V will kick off at Noon Pacific Time. The tournament will air as part of Season VIII on Fox Sports Net.

Fifth anniversary celebration for Full Tilt Poker!

Full Tilt Poker celebrates their fifth anniversary for the next ten days. The World’s second largest online poker site is going to have a big birthday as they launch five different promotions. You can earn extra Full Tilt Points, boost your bankroll through freerolls and have a shot at Sunday’s major tournaments with raised prize pool.

On Thursday, July 9th, a $20,000 freeroll will start the celebration. After being announced on Wednesday, the event is already sold out at 30,005 players. A disclaimer that appears on Full Tilt Poker’s website notes, “Sorry, the $20K Freeroll has reached the maximum number of players. Registration is now closed.”

Then at next Tuesday, July 14th, Full Tilt is offering their members to earn FTPs five times faster than normally over a 24 hour period. This promotion is valid in any cash game, sit and go and multi-table tournament. Also from July 14th through 19th, all scheduled Happy Hours will award FTPs five times their normal rate.

All the players who missed the $20.000 freeroll can have their shot in $5.000 freerolls that take place every five hours. These special tournaments are scheduled to take place from July 14th to July 19th and the buy-in for each is five FTPs.

Full Tilt will award 5X Bust-Out Bounties from ther pros starting at midnight July 14th. Team Full Tilt members will be signing up to these special tournaments for you to claim your prize. Team Full Tilt pros who are joining the fun are going to be at least these familiar faces: Phil Ivey, Chris Ferguson, John Juanda, Jennifer Harman, Phil Gordon, Erick Lindgren, Erik Seidel, Andy Bloch, Gus Hansen, Mike Matusow, Allen Cunningham, and Patrik Antonius.

July 19th Full Tilt will be adding $700,000 to the prize pools of their Sunday majors. The Sunday Brawl, a $256 buy-in bounty tournament, will have the guarantee raised from $350,000 to $500,000. Every player in the Sunday Brawl has a $40 bounty on their head. The player who gets the most knockouts will earn an entry into the following week’s event.

The regularly scheduled Full Tilt $1 Million Guarantee will have a stunning $1.5 million guaranteed prize pool on July 19th. The Sunday Mulligan will have a raised prize pool as well as Full Tilt is bringing an extra $50.000 to get the pool up to a total of $250.000.

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Fifth anniversary celebration for Full Tilt Poker!

Ivey, Dwan headline Hall of Fame nominee list

This year, for the first-time ever, the public was invited into the nomination process and asked to vote on WSOP.com for the player they believed most deserving of the honor.

Voting was open from May 29th to July 2nd, and now after a month of collecting votes, WSOP.com has released the names of the top 10 most-nominated players.

The nominees are (in alphabetical order):

• Tom Dwan
• Barry Greenstein
• Dan Harrington
• Phil Ivey
• Tom McEvoy
• Men Nguyen
• Scotty Nguyen
• Daniel Negreanu
• Erik Seidel
• Mike Sexton

Once these nominations have been vetted by the Poker Hall of Fame Governing Council, a final list of candidates will be compiled.

The final vote will then be done by the 15 living members of the Hall of Fame along with a 15-person media panel, with the chosen player or players announced at an induction ceremony in concert with the WSOP Main Event Final Table in November.

In total, over 41 different names received multiple nominations during the public process including:

• Patrik Antonius
• Humberto Brenes
• Mike Caro
• Norman Chad
• Allen Cunningham
• Ivan Demidov
• Eric Drache
• Annie Duke
• John Duthie
• Sam Farha
• Chris Ferguson
• Ted Forrest
• Andy Glazer
• Bertrand Grospellier
• Gus Hansen
• Jennifer Harman-Traniello
• Jay Heimowitz
• Rob Hollink
• Jesper Hougaard
• Phil Laak
• Howard Lederer
• Marcel Luske
• Mike Matusow
• Chris Moneymaker
• Luca Pagano
• Greg Raymer
• Matt Savage
• David Sklansky

To be considered, a poker player must have the following qualifications:

• Must have played poker against acknowledged top competition
• Played for high stakes
• Played consistently well, gaining the respect of peers
• Stood the test of time
• Or, for non-players, contributed to the overall growth and success of the game of poker, with indelible positive and lasting results.

All of the above names remain eligible for future consideration.

Visit PokerListings.com

Nominees Announced for Poker Hall of Fame Class of 2009

Public nominations for the 2009 Poker Hall of Fame class closed on July 2nd. One week later during the off-day of the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event, the Top 10 nominees were announced.

The criteria for induction into the Poker Hall of Fame are as follows: “A player must have played poker against acknowledged top competition, played for high stakes, played consistently well, gained the respect of peers, [and] stood the test of time. For non-players, [they must] contribute to the overall growth and success of the game of poker with indelible positive and lasting results.” The 2008 class included three-time WSOP bracelet winner Dewey Tomko, who first recorded a cash in poker’s most prestigious tournament series 30 years ago. Inducted along with Tomko was hole card camera inventor and WSOP bracelet winner Henry Orenstein.

Two players that online poker sites fiercely lobbied for lead this year’s nominating class: Mike Sexton and Tom McEvoy. Sexton earned a WSOP bracelet 20 years ago by virtue of taking down a $1,500 buy-in Limit Seven Card Stud High-Low event for $104,000. He is going on his eighth season as voice of the World Poker Tour (WPT) alongside Vince Van Patten. Sexton’s easy-to-understand analysis of the game led many of today’s top players to try their hand.

The Poker News Daily Guest Columnist is an ambassador and Card Room Manager for PartyPoker. Site spokesman Warren Lush told Poker News Daily, “I’m absolutely delighted to see Sexton on the list. He showed he’s the ambassador of poker by helping rectify the problems on Day 1D of the Main Event. Sometimes when you have public votes, they can go any way.”

PokerStars lobbied for McEvoy to be inducted. The four-time WSOP bracelet winner recently took down the Champions Invitational, a tournament that will be beamed into households across the United States on ESPN. McEvoy won the 1983 WSOP Main Event, defeating a challenging final table that included Doyle Brunson and Rod Peate. He has over 20 Top 10 finishes in WSOP tournaments and authored a bevy of poker literature including “How to Win No Limit Hold’em Tournaments” and “Championship Hold’em.”

Others who will be considered for induction into the Poker Hall of Fame include Tom “durrrr” Dwan, Barry Greenstein, “Action” Dan Harrington, Phil Ivey, Men “The Master” Nguyen, Scotty Nguyen, Daniel Negreanu, and Erik Seidel. Of that esteemed group, Seidel leads the way with eight WSOP bracelets and Scotty Nguyen owns the most career WSOP earnings at $4.7 million. Now, the fate of the Top 10 nominees lies in the hands of 15 media personnel and 15 living members of the Poker Hall of Fame. I am proud to be one of the group that will select the 2009 induction class.

A total of 41 players and personalities received nominations and are still eligible to be inducted in future years. Among those receiving votes, but falling outside of the Top 10, were poker authors Mike Caro and David Sklansky. Caro has seven WSOP in the money finishes to his name spread out over a 26 year period. He’s the author of “Mike Caro’s Book of Poker Tells” and “Caro’s Fundamental Secrets of Winning Poker.” Sklansky authored such poker gems as “Theory of Poker,” “Tournament Poker for Advanced Players,” and “No Limit Hold’em: Theory and Practice.” He also owns three WSOP bracelets.

Others receiving votes included Durrrr Challenge participant Patrik Antonius, ESPN commentator Norman Chad, 2008 WSOP November Nine member Ivan Demidov, “Celebrity Apprentice” runner-up Annie Duke, European Poker Tour (EPT) Founder John Duthie, 2003 WSOP Main Event Champion Chris Moneymaker, and popular tournament director Matt Savage. In addition, the public also cast votes for Doyle Brunson, Phil Hellmuth, and Stu Ungar, who are already enshrined in the Poker Hall of Fame.

The Poker Hall of Fame Class of 2009 will be inducted in November during the final table of the WSOP Main Event.

Full Tilt Poker Launches FIVE Promotion for Fifth Birthday

Full Tilt Poker turns five years-old in 2009. For the next 10 days, the world’s second largest online poker site is celebrating in a big way, giving players the ability to earn extra Full Tilt Points (FTPs), boost their bankroll through freerolls, and participate in richer Sunday majors.

On Thursday, July 9th, a $20,000 freeroll will kick off the festivities. After being introduced on Wednesday, the event is already sold out at 30,005 players. A disclaimer that appears on Full Tilt Poker’s website notes, “Sorry, the $20K Freeroll has reached the maximum number of players. Registration is now closed.” The event takes place at 17:05 ET and is one of the largest freerolls ever offered on Full Tilt.

Beginning next Tuesday, July 14th, at 00:05 ET, the online poker room will offer its members an opportunity to earn FTPs five times faster over a 24 hour period. The offer is valid in any cash game, sit and go, or multi-table tournament. From July 14th through 19th, all regularly scheduled Happy Hours will become even happier, as FTPs will be awarded at five times their normal rate. A yellow smiley face symbol will appear next to tables during Happy Hours.

Players shut out of the $20,000 freeroll will undoubtedly be headed in droves to play in $5,000 freerolls that take place every five hours. The tournaments run from 00:05 ET on July 14th through 20:05 ET on July 19th and the buy-in for each is five FTPs. To register, Full Tilt Poker players are advised to head to the Tournament lobby and look for tournaments shaded in pink. Alternately, FTPs can be redeemed in the Full Tilt Store for a variety of merchandise.

Starting at 00:00 ET on July 14th, Full Tilt will award 5X Bust-Out Bounties. Members of Team Full Tilt will be signing up for tournaments with more than 30 players. Knock any of them out and players will take home five times their buy-in as a reward. Tournaments that boast Team Full Tilt members in their field will be shaded in red in the site’s lobby. Those slated to participate include Howard Lederer, 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) dual bracelet winner Phil Ivey, Chris Ferguson, 2008 WSOP Europe Main Event Champion John Juanda, Jennifer Harman, Phil Gordon, Erick Lindgren, Erik Seidel, Andy Bloch, Gus Hansen, Mike Matusow, Allen Cunningham, and Patrik Antonius.

On July 19th, Full Tilt will be adding $700,000 to the prize pools of its Sunday majors. The Sunday Brawl, a $256 buy-in bounty tournament, will see its guarantee boosted from $350,000 to $500,000. Each player in the Sunday Brawl has a $40 bounty on his or her head. The player who records the most number of knockouts earns entry into the following week’s event.

The regularly scheduled Full Tilt $1 Million Guarantee will instead boast a $1.5 million guaranteed prize pool on July 19th. The $535 buy-in tournament runs once per month and replaces the $750,000 Guaranteed, which has a price tag of $216. Finally, the purse up for grabs in the $216 buy-in Sunday Mulligan will be $250,000, up from its regular total of $200,000. The Sunday Mulligan serves as one final chance for players to take home a sizable score in a weekend tournament.

Full Tilt Poker is fresh off unveiling the schedule for its 13th Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS). A total of 25 tournaments will pan out beginning on August 5th and culminating in a $535 buy-in $2.5 million guaranteed Main Event on August 16th. In September, an affordable MiniFTOPS schedule will begin. During FTOPS XII, the MiniFTOPS series ran concurrently with its high-stakes counterpart. This time around, the events will occur one month apart.

607 Players Survive WSOP Main Event Day 2A

Day 2A of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event began with 1,478 players, compared with the 2,922 prepared to play on Day 2B. However, it ended with only 607 survivors.

Andrew Gaw, from the Philippines, was the overall chip leader at the end of the night with 386,000, while Eric Cloutier is right on his heels with 383,000. Amazingly, Cloutier began play with only 15,000 chips after a clerical error that reported him as being the chip leader after Day 1A. It has been confirmed this time that the former professional hockey player is near the top of the leaderboard after going on an unimaginable rush on Day 2A.

Several big names advanced to Day 3, including former world champions Chris “Jesus” Ferguson, Greg “Fossilman” Raymer, and Carlos Mortensen. Other bracelet winners moving on were Greg “FBT” Mueller, Poker News Daily Guest Columnist Mike Sexton, Thor Hansen, Vitaly Lunkin, Burt Boutin, Tom Schneider, Sam Farha, Farzad Rouhani, Erik Seidel, Bill Edler, Ted Lawson, and Roland de Wolfe.

Mueller has the most chips of any former bracelet winner heading into Day 3. He won two bracelets at this year’s WSOP and finished the day with a stack of 287,000. Both of his wins came in Limit Hold’em and combined for more than $650,000. Poker pro Kyle Wilson, a good friend of Mueller’s, ended the day with 306,000.

Notable celebrities who resumed play on Day 2A included actor and comedian Jason Alexander, world famous cricket player Shane Warne, actor and comedian Brad Garrett, and music manager Rene Angelil. Alexander, seated with Greg Raymer on the ESPN featured table for all of Tuesday, joins Warne as the only survivors of that group heading into Day 3.

With more than half of the field disappearing on Tuesday, there were several prominent names sent home. One of the first was Gus Hansen, who was unable to repeat his deep run in the Main Event last year. Hansen got his entire stack in on the turn with the nut straight against an opponent’s set of threes, but the board paired on the river to give the other player a full house and eliminate Hansen.

Others sent home early on Day 1A were former two-time Main Event champion Johnny Chan, Tony G, Barry Greenstein, Todd Brunson, John “World” Hennigan, Mike Matusow, and Amarillo Slim.

A horde of cameras and media members made their way over to Phil Laak’s table when his tournament was on the line during the second level of the day. A short-stacked Laak moved all-in with Q-9 and was called by a player with pocket eights. After Laak spiked a Queen on the flop, his opponent made a flush on the river to send him to the rail. Laak’s girlfriend, actress Jennifer Tilly, also made her exit on Day 1A.

Here’s a look at some notables who advanced to Day 3 of the 2009 WSOP Main Event:

Greg ‘FBT’ Mueller - 287,300
Andy Black - 215,700
Mike Sexton - 169,000
Sorel “Imper1um” Mizzi - 166,400
Vitaly Lunkin - 135,900
Tom Schneider - 123,700
Joe Sebok - 122,800
Greg Raymer - 95,900
Jason Alexander - 73,700
Farzad Rouhani - 70,000
Sam Farha - 67,500
Carlos Mortensen - 57,900
Bill Edler - 57,300
Erik Seidel - 55,600
Roland de Wolfe - 21,200

Day 2B will get underway at Noon Pacific Time on Wednesday. Troy Weber holds an overwhelming lead over the rest of the field with 353,000 chips; no other player has hit the 200,000 mark. Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for updates on all of today’s happenings at the 2009 WSOP Main Event.

WSOP Main Event Day 1B Draws 873 Players

With most Americans celebrating Independence Day on July 4th, it was anticipated that Day 1B of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event would draw a smaller number of participants compared to the rest of the starting days. The final number was even smaller than expected, as just 873 players took their seats in the Amazon Room at Noon Pacific Time. The total was a substantial decline from the 1,158 players that participated on July 4th last year.

Still, several familiar faces took to the felts on Saturday. Former world champions “Amarillo Slim” Preston, Doyle Brunson, Jim Bechtel, Chris “Jesus” Ferguson, Carlos Mortensen, Chris Moneymaker, and Greg “Fossilman” Raymer were in attendance. Others pros in the field included Mike Matusow, Barry Greenstein, Hoyt Corkins, Erik Seidel, Todd Brunson, Alexander Kravchenko, and Shaun Deeb.

Jack Ury, at 96 years of age, played in the WSOP Main Event for the third consecutive year. Ury broke his own record that he set last year as the oldest player ever to compete in a WSOP event. The Terre Haute, Indiana native provided ESPN cameras with several colorful moments throughout Day 1B and will return for Day 2 with 23,075 in chips.

Day 1B ended with 655 players who will return for Day 2A on July 7th. The combined numbers of Days 1A and 1B translate into 1,478 players for Day 2A, which means that 74% of starters survived the first day.

Some of the early exits from Day 1B included Moneymaker, Brunson, Jeremiah Smith, and David “The Dragon” Pham, who was eliminated in nasty fashion. Pham got all of his chips in pre-flop with pocket aces against another player’s A-K, but one king found the flop and another hit the turn, cracking Pham’s aces and sending him to the rail.

The chip leader from Day 1B is Brandon Demes, from Tempe, Arizona. Demes, who ended the day with 137,075 chips, cashed twice in this year’s WSOP. He took 84th in Event #36 ($2,000 No Limit Hold’em) and 21st in Event #47 ($2,500 Mixed Hold’em). Demes also has numerous major online scores, including a victory in the PokerStars Sunday $500 tournament for $91,500 in January.

Demes is currently second on the overall leaderboard, trailing only Eric Clouitier, who finished Day 1A with a stack of over 150,000. Others who finished strong on Day 1B were Andrew Gaw (126,100), Nick Maimone (122,500), Samer Rahman (122,400), and Max Casal (121,100).

Here’s a look at how several notables ended on Day 1B:

Fabrice Soulier - 97,725
Joe Sebok - 78,800
Ali Eslami - 56,425
Shaun Deeb - 55,100
Michael Demichele - 54,325
“Amarillo Slim” Preston - 48,075
Hoyt Corkins - 45,325
Mike Matusow - 37,875
Todd Brunson - 32,950
Chris Ferguson - 24,050
Barry Greenstein - 18,900
Erik Seidel - 18,550
Bill Edler - 13,800

Day 1C will get underway at Noon on Sunday. A much larger field is expected, as there are only two more chances for players to participate in the biggest poker event of the year. Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for continuing coverage of the 2009 WSOP Main Event.