Posts Tagged ‘european’
Identity of Isildur1 May Be Revealed Saturday
In what will either be the worst kept secret ever in the poker world or the most stunning reveal of all-time, the identity of the online phenomenon Isildur1 will purportedly be unveiled on Saturday evening in the Bahamas.
Several poker news sites have announced that the identity of Isildur1 will be revealed at 7:00pm ET on Saturday night during action at the 2011 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA), currently ongoing at the Atlantis Hotel and Casino. OnlinePoker.net indicated that the Tournament Director of the PCA stated that the announcement of Isildur1’s identity would come while trumpeting the arrival of Viktor Blom, the Swedish pro who has long been rumored to be the man behind the curtain.
PokerNews has also reported tomorrow’s reveal: “There’s a lot of speculation regarding the other identity of Blom, many claiming that he is indeed Isildur1 of nosebleed online fame. We can’t say for sure, but PokerStars is set to reveal the true identity of their newest online pro on Saturday at 7:00pm. Are Blom and Isildur1 the same person? We’ll know for sure in just over 48 hours.”
Players, for their part, have not been keeping the secret very quiet during the Super High Roller event at the PCA… or have they? On their Twitter feeds, players have been calling Blom “Isildur1” when they note to their followers who is at their tables. For example, in his Tweet, 2010 Bluff Magazine Player of the Year Sorel Mizzi gave his table’s roll call: “Got Ashman, Negreanu, Timex, Vivek, Isildur1, and Nick Schulman. Fun!”
This hasn’t stopped some players from promoting different theories as to the true identity of Isildur1. Justin Bonomo noted a thread on TwoPlusTwo and Tweeted, “Coincidence that Hellmuth leaves UB just before Stars reveals Isildur1? Get ready to feel your heads explode Blom fanboys!”
Another Tweeter, Chris Choy, took the time to look over the entry list for the PCA Super High Roller event and noted, “Going through PCA $100K High Roller lineup… Seat 6 – Koen Berendsen is the only name I don’t recognize… Isildur1, is that you buddy?” Berendsen is a player from the Netherlands who has had some success in the European poker community.
Blom did not fare well in the PCA Super High Roller event, busting before the end of Day 1. Germany’s Tobias Reinkemeier leads Team PokerStars Pro Daniel Negreanu and Bryn Kenney as Day 2 plays out. Other players still a part of the action include recent WPT champion Antonio Esfandiari, Daniel “jungleman12” Cates, Eugene Katchalov, and Andrew “luckychewy” Lichtenberger.
The Isildur1 drama has played out over more than a year since the arrival of the Swedish high-stakes player in 2009. Taking on such players as Patrik Antonius, Phil Ivey, and Tom “durrrr” Dwan, Isildur1 grew his bankroll in high-stakes play to record levels. As 2010 came to a close, however, the mysterious Swede decided it was time to take an unprecedented step.
Isildur1 unexpectedly signed a sponsorship agreement with PokerStars in December, guaranteeing a steady income, but also potentially prompting an end to the mystery surrounding his identity. It had been previously announced by PokerStars that Isildur1 would make the PCA his first official live event as a part of the Team PokerStars stable, and Saturday’s announcement of his or her identity will certainly draw the attention of the poker community.
European Masters of Poker 2011 schedule released
PCA $100,000 Super High Roller Field Includes Daniel Negreanu, Jason Mercier
On Thursday, the first ever $100,000 buy-in No Limit Hold’em Super High Roller Event will kick off the 2011 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure. The inaugural running of the tournament has attracted nearly 30 players so far and Saturday’s final table will be filmed for coverage on ESPN2.
In a press release sent out by PokerStars on Thursday, the names of 26 entrants appeared, including a variety of members of Team PokerStars Pro. Among those who will take to the felts in the richest tournament in PokerStars Caribbean Adventure history is Daniel Negreanu, whose Twitter spat about Prahlad Friedman’s rumored signing with UB.com has taken center stage in recent days. Negreanu owns four World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelets, the most recent of which came in 2008 in a $2,000 Limit Hold’em tournament.
The hottest player on the tournament circuit right now, Jason Mercier, will also participate in the $100,000 buy-in Super High Roller Event starting tomorrow in the Bahamas. Mercier is firmly entrenched in the #2 spot on the ESPN poker rankings dubbed “The Nuts” and recorded five in the money finishes at this year’s WSOP. Mercier final tabled the PokerStars North American Poker Tour (NAPT) Los Angeles Main Event for $84,000 in November and won the tour’s Mohegan Sun Bounty Shootout for $475,000 earlier in 2010. Mercier is a former European Poker Tour (EPT) champ and WSOP bracelet holder.
The 2010 CardPlayer and Bluff Players of the Year will also head to the Bahamas for the six-figure price tag tournament. Tom Marchese and Sorel “Imper1um” Mizzi are both listed among the 26 entrants so far. Marchese is six weeks removed from a win in a $1,000 No Limit Hold’em preliminary event during the Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic and claimed CardPlayer’s 2010 Player of the Year honors. Mizzi, who earned the 2010 Bluff Player of the Year title, won two preliminary tournaments during EPT Snowfest in March 2010 for a combined haul of $140,000, just enough to cover tomorrow’s buy-in.
Bryn Kenney, who drove deep in the 2010 WSOP Main Event, will be part of the festivities at the Atlantis Resort and Casino, as will Scott Seiver. Other players who will make up the extremely talented field include Lex Veldhuis, Unabomber Poker front man Phil Laak, former “Big Game” player Bill Perkins, Humberto Brenes, Eugene Katchalov, Dan Shak, Bill Chen, Bryan Colin, Justin “Boosted J” Smith, Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier, Andrew “good2cu” Robl, DoylesRoom pro Hoyt Corkins, Victory Poker’s Antonio Esfandiari, Masa Kagawa, Nick Schulman, Matt Glantz, James “Andy McLEOD” Obst, Vivek “Psyduck” Rajkumar, Shawn Buchanan, and Ashton Griffin.
Needless to say, there won’t be any soft spots in the field. The 2011 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure schedule features 48 tournaments that span a 10-day period.
On his way down to Nassau for the tournament series, Negreanu posted on Twitter on Wednesday morning, “That’s random. Three bums sit right behind me on my flight and they look very much like Antonio Esfandiari, Jonathan Duhamel, and Sorel Mizzi.” Before that, Negreanu remarked that he was taking advantage of the in-flight internet offered aboard Delta Airlines: “I love Delta; you are beautiful baby. Wifi on my flight to Atlanta means I can get some VPPs on PokerStars.Headed to PCA, obv, traveling solo.”
On January 15th, the final table of the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Main Event will air on ESPN3.com and ESPN2. You can catch the action beginning at 5:00pm ET that day on ESPN3.com on a one-hour delay. Five hours later, ESPN2 will join the telecast in progress. Hole cards will be shown during the broadcast, which will make for a unique experience for viewers unable to make the trip to the Bahamas.
Visit PokerStars for more details on the 2011 Caribbean Adventure.
Tags: 2008, 2010, 2011, ashton griffin, Daniel Negreanu, Doyle Brunson, european, poker player, pokerstars, tournament, WSOP
European Poker Awards nominations announced
The Nightly Turbo: ESPN’s The Nuts Rankings, Tony G Nominated for European Poker Award, and More
Tags: european
Phil Ivey Finishes 2010 Atop ESPN The Nuts Rankings for December
We might all be putting our new 2011 calendars on the refrigerator, but let’s not put 2010 in our rearview mirror just yet. ESPN.com’s “The Nuts” poker player rankings for December 2010 were released on New Year’s Eve and showed that the more things change, the more they stay the same.
Before we get to the rankings, let’s quickly explain ESPN’s methodology. Unlike rankings by some poker sites, there is no mathematical formula used in “The Nuts.” Rather, it is a simple poll by a panel of ten members of the poker media, including our very own Dan Cypra. The panel attempts to rank the top ten poker players of the moment based on both tournament and cash game results, live and online. It is an inexact science, of course, but that is part of what makes it fun.
The voting panel includes ESPN.com’s poker crew of Andrew Feldman, Gary Wise, and Bernard Lee (who is also a Guest Columnist for Poker News Daily), Bluff Magazine Editor-in-Chief Lance Bradley and Senior Writer Jessica Welman, ESPNDeportes.com Poker Editor Nahuel Ponce, PokerRoad’s Court Harrington, PokerNews Editor-in-Chief Matthew Parvis and Tournament Reporter Don Peters, and Cypra.
Nine of the top ten players remained the same in December, although some of the order has changed. Phil Ivey remained in the top spot, a position that should really be renamed “Ivey’s Room.” He received eight first place votes from the ten-member panel. Jason Mercier received the other two first place votes, one coming from Cypra, cementing himself in the second position once again.
The two biggest jumps were by Tom Marchese and Vanessa Selbst, both of whom rose three spots. Marchese climbed from #6 to #3, while Selbst was elevated to the fifth spot from eighth. Marchese had an incredible 2010, his first year on the live tournament circuit. In live tournaments alone, he won over $2 million.
Marchese exploded onto the scene with a final table at the Borgata in January and followed that up with a win on the North American Poker Tour (NAPT) in February. He had three other big-time cashes last year, including final tables in the High Roller Event at the European Poker Tour (EPT) Grand Final, the $10,000 Pot Limit Hold’em Championship at the World Series of Poker (WSOP), and the championship event of the World Poker Tour‘s (WPT) World Poker Finals, all of which contributed to winning CardPlayer’s 2010 Player of the Year award.
Selbst, who won her first and only WSOP bracelet in 2008, had two huge wins in 2010. The first was in the Main Event of the NAPT Mohegan Sun in April for $750,000, while the second came in September in the Main Event of the Partouche Poker Tour in Cannes, France, where she won over $1.8 million.
The one new member of “The Nuts” was last month’s “Bubble Boy,” Sorel “Imper1um” Mizzi. The 2010 Bluff Magazine Player of Year placed ninth at the WPT Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic en route to a $1.9 million year in live tournaments. With Mizzi’s rise into the top ten, Alexander Kostritsyn dropped out.
As an example of how fluid things can be in the poker world, half of the top ten at the end of 2010 was different than at the beginning of the year. Daniel Negreanu took the biggest tumble out of the rankings, as he occupied the second spot in January. The other four poker players – Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier, Daniel Alaei, Yevgeniy “Jovial Gent” Timoshenko, and Barry Greenstein – were ranked seven through ten. Patrik Antonius came close to falling out of the rankings, finishing the year at #10 after starting out at #3.
The entire list of the ESPN’s “The Nuts” is as follows:
1. Phil Ivey
2. Jason Mercier
3. Tom Marchese
4. Tom Dwan
5. Vanessa Selbst
6. John Juanda
7. Michael Mizrachi
8. Eric Baldwin
9. Sorel Mizzi
10. Patrik Antonius
“The Nuts” is published at the end of every month in the poker section of ESPN.com.
Tags: 2008, 2010, 2011, aced, Barry Greenstein, Daniel Negreanu, Doyle Brunson, european, Patrik Antonius, Phil Ivey, poker player, Tom Dwan, tournament, WSOP
Club4Aces.com has a €8,000 VIP chase in January
The very popular Club4Aces campaigns are back in January (1.-31.01.2011), you have the opportunity to compete in campaigns worth of €8,000! It’s the same competition as in last month, but C4A added two more levels to give out even more prizes!
Their own Network promotions can be found here. I.e. there’s 3 x €60,00 Nonstop Rake promotions!
10 x €800 VIP Chase
Your goal is to reach certain point levels to get some bonus cash.
When you reach a level, you’ll share a €800 pool with the other players who have reached the same level. When you reach the next level, you’ll share other €800 pool with the players at the same level and so on. It’s really simple: the more levels you reach, the more money you’ll get. If you reach the highest level (17,000VIP) you’ll get your share from all 10 levels! If you’re the only one reaching certain level, you’ll get the whole level pool for yourself.
Levels and VIP Points:
LEVEL - VIP Limit - Prize pool
10 17,000 €800
9 13,000 €800
8 10,000 €800
7 7,500 €800
6 5,000 €800
5 4,000 €800
4 3,000 €800
3 2,000 €800
2 1,000 €800
1 500 €800
Last month’s prizes were shared like this (nota that three players took half the pot, so there’s REALLY easy money for you to grab!):
The race is open for all HighStakesNews.com, Pokerista.net and Pokerihai.com customers! You can Follow the competition on our Competitions page.
To take part of the competition, follow the instructions below. And while you’re doing it, grab the €5,000 First Deposit Bonus.
Create your account, take part of the promotions!
Follow these instructions to create your new account to Club4Aces
1. Clear your cookies from the browser
2. Use the following link to visit the Club4Aces website: CLICK HERE
3. Fill out the needed forms and use the following Signup Code: pokerista5000
4. Download and install the poker client
5. You’re ready to play. To make sure you’re part of the program, send us an e-mail including your Player ID (highstakesnews@gmail.com) and we’ll double-check that you’re all ready to begin to play.
The Rules of the competition:
- “January 10 x €800 VIP Chase” will be held from 1st January (00:00:00CET) to 31st (23:59:59CET) January 2011
- Only the VIP Points from Entraction Network will be accepted in the VIP Chase
- You cannot participate the Chase by playing at the Play Money tables
- All HighStakesNews.com/Pokerista.net/Pokerihai.com customers are automatically part of the Chase
- The prizes will be paid as how the players will position themselves in the Leaderboard
- The results will be tracked and announced by Club4Aces.com
- The prizes will be paid according to the Leaderboard
- While taking part the December Chase, you can still participate in the other bonus promotions as well
- You cannot team play. That is absolutely forbidden. If some account shares multiple IPs, this account will be banned from the competition
- If players won’t reach certain level, C4A will keep the prize money
- C4A holds all the rights to close player accounts if there are violations against the rules. All the possible prizes will be confiscated from the violators
- C4A holds the rights to quit the Chase and/or change the rules at any point if they have to
You just read Poker News from HighStakesNews.com
2010 Poker Memories by Linda Johnson
Time is passing too quickly. We just said goodbye to 2010, but memories of my favorite (and not so favorite) poker moments from the year are still vivid in my mind. I’d like to share a few of my personal 2010 poker memories with you.
Proudest 2010 Poker Memory
Without a doubt, being nominated for the Poker Hall of Fame is the answer to this category. What a thrill it was to learn that I had been nominated along with such a prestigious group as Erik Seidel, Dan Harrington, Tom McEvoy, Phil Ivey, Chris Ferguson, Scotty Nguyen, Daniel Negreanu, Jennifer Harman, and Barry Greenstein. Congratulations to the 2010 inductees Erik Seidel and Dan Harrington.
Favorite Poker News Story
I loved the coverage given to the Mizrachi family during the WSOP. It seemed like every poker magazine had Michael Mizrachi on the cover. Even mainstream Las Vegas entertainment magazines featured Michael and his family.
Favorite Poker Vacation
The 12-night Card Player Cruises poker trip to the Mediterranean wins in this category. The poker room was a lot of fun as usual, but the highlight was seeing all of the magnificent European ports. We stopped at Cannes/Monte Carlo, Pisa, Rome, Naples, Corfu, Dubrovnik, and Barcelona and had great weather in each.
Favorite Charity Event
Of all of the charity events I was fortunate to participate in during 2010, the fundraiser for MickeysCamp.org was my favorite. Mickey’s Camp was started by Mickey Maurer and is held in Indianapolis, Indiana every August. There is a three-day camp for men and a three-day camp for women. The participants sleep in the same cabins the kids stay at during summer and participate in a variety of activities including fishing, camping, wine tasting, cooking, self-defense, magic, and swimming.
I had the honor of teaching the poker sessions and running the poker tournaments for both camps. Mickey’s Camp has raised more than $1 million dollars for charity since its inception 10 years ago. Honorable mention in this category goes to fundraising events for Poker Gives and Child Rescue.
Most Disappointing Poker News
I am still angry and annoyed that we haven’t been able to overturn the UIGEA, although I think we are getting close. The news that the Washington State courts upheld the ruling making online poker illegal is just plain gross! After the ruling, Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars shut down service to Washington residents, a move that should have been met with much more fury and protest from the state’s players.
Favorite Whirlwind Trip
My quick trip to Golden, Colorado for a Poker Players Alliance event qualifies in this category. In less than 24 hours, I flew in and out of Denver and participated in a poker tournament to help Senator Michael Bennett’s campaign. Bennett was elected by a very small margin and I believe he was the victor due to the support of Colorado poker players.
Most Prestigious Poker Event
The winner in this category was easily the Women in Poker Hall of Fame banquet held at the Golden Nugget in Las Vegas. The Grand Ballroom, decorated by a group of volunteers headed by Lupe Soto and her Board of Directors, took on the look of an elegant bistro/nightclub. Jan Fisher did a great job as the emcee and Jeffrey Pollack and Nolan Dalla delivered passionate speeches. After a delicious dinner, awards were presented, followed by a dance. Congratulations to the 2010 inductees Jennifer Harman, Kathy Liebert, and Billie Brown.
Favorite New Poker Procedure
I love the new rule established at the Commerce Casino that penalizes players who are gone too long from the table. Players who miss several rounds in $20-$40 and higher Hold’em games have $5 taken from their stacks and put into the pot. Note that this rule was just about to go into effect the last time I played there and so may have been refined since.
Favorite New Poker Social Media Source
I admit it… I am a Twitter addict! I read it as often as I can and follow many of the top poker celebrities’ Tweets. I hate that it takes up so much of my time and makes me feel like a voyeur, but I can’t seem to give it up. Perhaps they will start a Twitters Anonymous in 2011 and I will be a charter member.
Favorite Tournament Series
Few would argue that the World Series of Poker wins in this category. The series expanded into even more square footage at the Rio and saw an increase in total participants. I had three deep runs (16th, 29th, and 31st) out of the five tournaments I entered, yet am not sporting a new bracelet. Congratulations to all of the bracelet winners, but especially to Gavin Smith, who won his first bracelet after many close efforts.
The runner-up award in this category goes to Wild Horse Casino in Pendleton, Oregon. Roland Waters directs a great tournament series with huge player fields. Entrants get rewarded with $75,000 in added money and free dinner buffets every night.
Other favorite poker memories from 2010 include delivering the “Shuffle Up and Deal” opening speech for the WSOP Ladies Event, teaching WPT Boot Camp at many locations around the country, playing in the WPT Celebrity Invitational at the Commerce, and hosting tournaments at the Eureka Open in Mesquite, Nevada, the Rainbow Spectrum of Poker at the Rainbow Hotel in Wendover, Nevada, and the Wild Horse Resort Casino Poker Roundup in Pendleton, Oregon.
I am extremely blessed to be part of this wonderful poker world and am grateful for the opportunities it has provided me. In 2010, I met many wonderful people who share my passion for poker and was thrilled to have so many chances to give back to our community.
Our country is facing tough economic times ahead. I hope 2011 is a prosperous and happy year for Poker News Daily readers. In closing, I am happy to offer our readers a discount on any 2011 Card Player Cruises trip. Mention Poker News Daily when you book your cabin by January 15th and you will get a $50 per person discount. For more information, go to CardPlayerCruises.com.
Editor’s Note: Linda Johnson is available for poker functions, seminars, corporate events, and charity fundraisers. You can contact her through her website at CardPlayerCruises.com.
Sorel Mizzi Wins 2010 Bluff Player of the Year Title
Titan Poker pro Sorel “Imper1um” Mizzi is the 2010 Bluff Magazine Player of the Year, officials announced on Friday. Mizzi entered the top spot in the Player of the Year rankings in March and never relinquished his lead.
The 2010 CardPlayer Player of the Year, Tom Marchese, finished in second place in the Bluff standings. Mizzi ended the 2010 calendar year with a whopping 1,777 points, the highest score ever turned in, while Marchese racked up just 1,257 during the stanza. Others in the top 10 included PokerStars pro Vanessa Selbst, recent World Poker Tour (WPT) event winner Dwyte Pilgrim, and UB.com pro and former CardPlayer Player of the Year winner Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin.
Mizzi got the 2010 calendar year started off on the right foot by taking third place in the Aussie Millions Main Event for $659,000. Tyron Krost took down the marquee poker tournament and Mizzi quickly ratcheted his first six-figure score of 2010. Mizzi then won two preliminary events during the PokerStars European Poker Tour (EPT) Snowfest stop in March for nearly $150,000 total.
In April, Mizzi’s victory parade stopped off in Atlantic City, where he won the East Coast Championship Event during the Borgata Spring Poker Open for $170,000. That tournament drew 62 players and featured a top nine that included Chris “SLOPPYKLOD” Klodnicki, David “Davidp18” Peters, and former Full Tilt Poker pro Lee Markholt.
At the end of April, Mizzi final tabled the High Roller Event during the EPT’s Monte Carlo Grand Final for $190,000. Two weeks later, he ran deep in another High Roller Event, this time at WPT Paris. Just footsteps from the Eiffel Tower, Mizzi played second fiddle to Absolute Poker pro Freddy Deeb and walked away with $159,000.
In August, Mizzi placed second in the EPT Tallinn High Roller Event for $98,000. He concluded 2010 by bubbling a pair of WPT final tables, taking seventh in the Foxwoods World Poker Finals for $88,000 and grabbing ninth in the Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic at the Bellagio for $59,000. Remember, televised WPT final tables are played six-handed.
All told, Mizzi racked up nearly $1.9 million in earnings from live tournaments tracked by the Hendon Mob database last year. Along the way, he provided poker coaching to November Niner Matt Jarvis, a fellow Canadian. Jarvis ultimately bowed out in eighth place in the $10,000 buy-in tournament in Las Vegas for over $1 million.
Mizzi, who has been linked to several incidents on online poker sites in the past, has nevertheless remained a central figurehead in the industry. He told Poker News Daily in an interview in November that surrounding himself with talented poker friends has been critical: “I think it’s one of the most important things… That is how I got my start. I found players and tried to pick their brains. You know, it’s like anything in life, that’s the best way of learning, you find mentors. At least, for me, [it’s been] finding people where you want to be and trying to pick their brains as much as possible.”
Here were the top 10 players in the 2010 Bluff Player of the Year standings:
1. Sorel “Imper1um” Mizzi – 1,777.77 points
2. Tom “Kingsofcards” Marchese – 1,257.30 points
3. Fernando Brito – 1,060.53 points
4. David Peters – 1,009.26 points
5. Vanessa Selbst – 986.77 points
6. Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin – 943.92 points
7. Dwyte Pilgrim – 896.23 points
8. Chris Bjorin – 889.25 points
9. Jason Mercier – 882.40 points
10. Chris Bell – 879.63 points
Jason Mercier took down the 2009 Bluff Player of the Year title. Other past winners have included John “The Razor” Phan (2008), Bill Edler (2007), Chad Brown (2006), and Phil Ivey (2005).
Tags: 2008, 2009, 2010, absolute poker, aced, bellagio, canadian, Doyle Brunson, european, full tilt poker, interview, Online Poker, Phil Ivey, poker player, pokerstars, titan poker, tournament, Tyron Krost, vegas, WSOP
December 31st – Weekly News Update
Welcome once again to the Poker News Daily weekly news update. I’m your host Sean Gibson and I’ll be delivering the top headlines for the week in the world of poker – and what a week of news it was!!
Our first story rocks the world of online poker as superstars Phil Hellmuth and Annie Duke are officially parting ways with UB.com for different reasons. Both have been the faces of UB.com and represented for nine years. We did get a comment from Annie Duke about HER decision to leave UB.com:
“After some thought, I made a decision to leave UB.com because I would like to explore other avenues of business and personal growth. I realized I needed to spend my time on other things.”
Duke has stated that she has no intentions of signing on with another poker site. She said that she is moving on from UB.com to persue other projects on a full time basis. Hellmuth continues to be one of the biggest names in the world of poker and his departure, although rumored in the last few weeks, still comes as a huge shock. As more develops in this story, stay tuned right here at poker news daily for the latest.
Another online poker industry icon is moving on as Lee Jones earlier this week announced his resignation from Cake Poker. Jones posted on the TwoPlusTwo forums on Tuesday:
“This is a brief announcement to let you know that, as of yesterday, I have resigned my position at Cake Poker and will not be making any further posts here. Their management has made some strategic decisions with which I’m not comfortable.”
Jones, who also is a guest columnist here at our site told us that he simply wasn’t comfortable with some of the decisions that the Cake management was making. Jones refused to comment further but added that he hopes to remain in the poker industry and says he has a couple of irons in the fire. Jones rose to fame in the online poker industry originally in roles with PokerStars, the EPT and at CardRunners.
For those of you that can’t get enough Isildur1 action, the next SuperStar Showdown match has been announced. Coming off a loss to Isaac Haxton, Isildur1 will now face the notorious Tony G in a high stakes battle. You might remember that it was Tony G that supposedly staked Isildur1 for a comeback bid and reportedly knows the Swedish player’s identity. The match will take place on Sunday, January 2nd at 4pm eastern time on PokerStars. The game will be half no limit hold’em and half pot limit Omaha at $50-$100 blind stakes. Interested parties can rail the action at PokerStars by looking for tables labeled showdown under the Omaha tab or under the Holdem, No Limit all tables tab.
Jon Friedberg, known online as pokertrip will be debuting a new talk show right here, exclusively on Poker News Daily. Friedberg will host the new show, called “The Showdown” every week here at PND, and promises to feature some of the game’s most prolific names. Set to start during the first week of January, Friedberg’s first guest will be former Survivor castaway Jean-Robert Bellande. When asked about his new home here at PND, he stated:
“I see myself not as a member of the media, but rather a fellow poker player who sees eye-to-eye with players I interview. I don’t have any problems asking questions that other poker media might be scared to address. My passion is to share the lifestyles, strategies, and thought processes of poker players.”
Be sure to catch the first episode of “The Showdown” right here at Poker News Daily next week!
In recent days, Party Gaming and bwin announced merger plans to form a giant online gaming group that will become effective sometime in the first quarter of 2011. It’s expected that this merger will create the biggest largest listed online gambling business. The new company will operate worldwide with its existing brands and both bwin and Party Gaming will retain most of the core of their brands but be operated under a new umbrella company. Bwin’s CEO had this to say:
“Our products and target markets complement one another perfectly, and we can continue to expand our technology lead in all key product segments: sports betting, poker, casino, bingo, and games.”
Now that the year is over, CardPlayer has officially crowned Tom Marchese the 2010 CardPlayer Player of the Year. His epic run in 2010 saw him make 11 final tables in major live tournaments to the tune of over $2 million in profits. The highlight of 2010 for Marchese was the win at the NAPT Venetian Main Event for over eight hundred thousand dollars. He beat out Dwyte Pilgrim, Sorel Mizzi and Vanessa Selbst for the award. Marchese had four six-figure paydays in 2010 with final tables at the European Poker Tour, World Poker Tour and World Series of Poker.
Well that wraps up a very exciting and busy week in the world of poker as well as our last weekly news report of 2010. Be sure to come back to poker news daily for all the latest poker headlines every single day and as a reminder, be sure to catch John Friedberg’s new show, “The Showdown” right here next week along with another episode of our weekly news recap. I’m Sean Gibson wishing you a very happy and safe new years!
Tags: 2010, 2011, Annie Duke, cake poker, european, high stakes, interview, Online Poker, Phil Hellmuth, poker player, pokerstars, tournament, usa, WSOP
Tom Marchese – Poker Player Bio
Tom Marchese is known by the online moniker “Kingsofcards” and makes his home in New Jersey. His lifetime tournament career earnings exceed $2.4 million and he was named the 2010 CardPlayer Player of the Year. His 2010 campaign will be remembered as the breakout year for a player that many had on their radars as one of the up-and-comers in the world of No Limit Hold’em.
Marchese’s CardPlayer Player of the Year victory was by a wide margin over Dwyte Pilgrim, Sorel “Imper1um” Mizzi, Venssa Selbst, and November Niner John Racener. Marchese won the award by making 11 final tables, winning two tournament titles, and recording over $2 million in just 16 live cashes. His strong point total would have won him the award in four of the last five years.
His biggest cash of 2010 came in the PokerStars North American Poker Tour (NAPT) Venetian Main Event. He bested 872 entrants and took down $827,648 for his efforts. Finishing in the top 20 in that same Main Event were notable pros like Blair Hinkle, Andrew Chen, Andrew Lichtenberger, and “Miami” John Cernuto. Marchese stated that winning the NAPT Venetian Main Event was the highlight of the year.
His win at the NAPT Venetian Main Event was just the tip of the iceberg. He finished in fourth place in the No Limit Hold’em High Roller Event at the European Poker Tour (EPT) Monte Carlo stop for $350,125 and also had another six-figure payday at the World Series of Poker (WSOP) $10,000 Pot Limit Hold’em World Championship, where he finished in sixth place for $123,264.
Marchese had two other six-figure finishes in 2010. The first came in September in the EPT London Main Event, where he finished in seventh for $156,490. The second came in October at the World Poker Tour (WPT) Foxwoods World Poker Finals, where he finished third for $211,759.
It’s an ironic twist of fate that Marchese rose to fame in the world of live tournament poker after making his bankroll in online cash games. He played Limit Hold’em at $0.50-$1 blinds, but made his way up to the $15-$30 and $30-$60 games. Later, he took up No Limit Hold’em and was a regular at the six-max $2-$4 games. Eventually, he table selected between heads-up and short-handed games at mid- and high-stakes.
He started playing professionally around the age of 20 while still in college. He told Poker News Daily that he would show his father cash game graphs and explain that the game of poker wasn’t just simple luck. It wasn’t until a big score at a live tournament at Borgata that the decision to turn pro and leave college behind came to fruition. Now, his father constantly text messages to get chip updates during tournaments.
Marchese has said that his favorite poker destination was Aruba because of the beaches and relaxed atmosphere. He also stated that he likes to travel to Portugal or anywhere that has nice beaches.
Gibraltar Raises Taxes on Online Gambling Companies
The British territory of Gibraltar has announced that it will be drastically inflating its taxes on all online gambling firms starting in January, a decision that could prove costly for several online poker sites. Online gambling companies are currently paying just a 1% tax in Gibraltar, with a ceiling of £425,000, but starting next month, they’ll be forced into the same 10% tax rate as other Gibraltar businesses pay.
Gibraltar has been an ideal location for many online gambling sites due to the low tax rate and has become something of an “online gambling capital” as a result. Poker rooms such as PartyPoker and 888poker currently hold their headquarters in the territory and the online bookmakers Ladbrokes and William Hill made the move to Gibraltar in 2009 – a decision that was expected to cost the Treasury of the United Kingdom about £12 million per year.
Gibraltar’s first minister, Peter Caruana, said the tax increase has been called for by Gibraltar government’s decision to conform to European law. “To comply with EU law, we must phase out the tax exempt company in 2010,” Caruana said. “However, in order to sustain our successful economic model, we must retain a commitment to a very competitive corporate tax model.”
Party Gaming, which owns and operates PartyPoker from Gibraltar, recently released details concerning its long-awaited merger with online gambling giant bwin. Party Gaming said in a statement that it would keep its headquarters in Gibraltar while bwin continues to operate in Austria. Whether the news of the tax increase changes those plans remains to be seen. “We’ve known about this for some time and we’ve factored it in,” said Party Gaming spokesman John Shepherd. “The tax is still going to be very low.”
According to a report in The Guardian, while online companies will now pay the standard 10% tax rate paid by other businesses, they will still not be subjected to any Value Added Tax (VAT), meaning that Gibraltar will remain an attractive setting for gambling companies. VAT is a consumption tax only on the “value added” to a product, material or service – similar to the state sales tax that most U.S. residents pay.
Many experts seem confident that the tax increase won’t cause companies like Party Gaming to flee to other locations. Victor Chandler, Chairman of independent bookmaker Victor Chandler International, expressed his assurance in an interview with regional newspaper El Pais: “Nobody will leave, although we’ll all complain about the tax going up.” Chandler began his U.K.-based company in 1946 that does much of its business online, including sports betting, casino games, and poker.
The decision will likely add up to big things for Gibraltar in the near future. Under the current 1% tax rate, Gibraltar collected £10.5 million in revenue from online gambling taxes in 2009. So long as online gambling firms decide to stay put, the government can expect to see that number magnify in the coming years.
Online gambling has proven to be an extremely important source of revenue for Gibraltar and it is believed that 2,000 people currently work in the sector, which is around 12% of the island’s workforce. The industry has also helped to protect the local economy against neighboring Spain’s harsh economic conditions. Of Gibraltar’s 30,000 residents, only 600 (2%) are unemployed. The bordering Spanish city of La Línea de la Concepción is estimated to have 10,000 of its 65,000 inhabitants (15%) out of work.
Lee Jones Resigns from Cake Poker
In breaking news from the world of online poker, Lee Jones has stepped down as Card Room Manager of Cake Poker, effective immediately. Jones posted in a thread on TwoPlusTwo around 3:00pm ET on Tuesday, “This is a brief announcement to let you know that, as of yesterday, I have resigned my position at Cake Poker and will not be making any further posts here. Their management has made some strategic decisions with which I’m not comfortable.”
Despite departing the site, Jones, who is also a Guest Columnist here at Poker News Daily, spoke highly of his former colleagues: “Please direct any questions or concerns to the Cake support staff; they are top-notch people.” Cake Poker is the flagship site of the USA-friendly Cake Poker Network.
Also departing Cake Poker concurrently with Jones is Serge Ravitch, who is known in the online poker world as “adanthar.” Ravitch served as Cake Poker’s Tournament Director and Jones affectionately dubbed him the “Minister of Tournament Arts” in homage to the Harry Potter franchise. Ravitch was one of the figureheads in uncovering the cheating scandal at Absolute Poker.
Ravitch posted in the same TwoPlusTwo thread on Tuesday, “It sincerely pains me to say that, for the same reasons, I am also no longer affiliated with Cake in any way. I wish them the best of luck going forward.” What “strategic decisions” Jones and Ravitch alluded to were not clear at the time of writing. In addition, Cake Poker has not released any statement.
Jones could only tell Poker News Daily on Tuesday afternoon, “I’m just not comfortable with some of the decisions that the Cake management was making.” However, the veteran of the poker world hopes to remain in the industry, explaining to us, “I have a couple of irons in the fire. I certainly have every intention of staying in the poker business, so I’ll have to see what pans out.” Jones formerly brought customer service to new heights while with PokerStars and also worked with the European Poker Tour and CardRunners.
In TwoPlusTwo’s “Cake Poker Feedback Thread,” which is where Jones dropped the bombshell, posters weighed in en masse. The first responder explained, “This isn’t totally unexpected. Best wishes in your future enterprises.” Another poster predicted that Jones and Ravitch would land on their feet: “Lee and ‘adanthar’ are top-notch in my opinion and won’t need luck, but agreed nonetheless.”
According to PokerScout.com, which keeps tabs on online poker room traffic, the Cake Poker Network is the 24th largest worldwide and boasts a seven-day running average of 740 real money ring game players. Its peak traffic passes 1,100 cash game players and the family of sites happily accepts action from the United States.
Besides Cake Poker, other rooms on the Network include the Doyle Brunson-fronted DoylesRoom, Only Poker, Poker4Green, Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies’ Power Poker, Red Star Poker, Phil Laak’s Unabomber Poker, and Victory Poker, the latter of which joined in August.
The holidays have not been kind to the Cake Poker Network, which has not eclipsed the 1,300-cash game player mark since December 21st. In the 30 days prior, it passed 1,300 ring game players 14 times.
Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for more developments on this breaking story.
Tags: absolute poker, cake poker, cheat, Doyle Brunson, european, Online Poker, pokerstars, tournament, usa
NAPT LA Coverage Concludes on ESPN
On Sunday night, while many poker players were grinding online or traveling for the holidays, ESPN2’s coverage of the PokerStars North American Poker Tour (NAPT) Los Angeles Bounty Shootout and Main Event came to a close. The two-hour finale featured Lon McEachern and Norman Chad bringing the action to life.
The first hour was devoted to the final table of the NAPT LA Bounty Shootout, whose two preliminary flights were shown last week. A winner-take-all top prize of $135,000 was up for grabs and every player who made the final table earned $20,000. Each person started with a stack of 100,000 in chips and all bounties accumulated were worth $1,000 apiece.
UB.com pro Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin doubled up early on at the expense of November Niner Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi to take the chip lead. Baldwin flopped a set of aces and then dodged a flush draw to vault to the top of the leaderboard. Meanwhile, Kevin “ImaLuckSac” MacPhee, who took down the European Poker Tour (EPT) stop in Berlin earlier this year, was the final table’s first casualty and earned $23,000.
Mizrachi doubled up through PokerStars Canadian pro Pat Pezzin after coming out on the winning end of a race with A-J against pocket tens. Then, pocket tens would prove to be his demise, as “The Grinder” moved his chips in with pocket fives, but ran into the superior wired pair and couldn’t improve to depart in eighth place. Pezzin followed him out the door in seventh after his A-J could not overcome Mohsin “chicagocards1” Charania’s pocket sixes. Charania flopped a boat and never looked back.
Justin Young eliminated Clint Coffee in sixth place to record his fifth bounty of the tournament and was tied with Charania for the lead in that department. The player with the largest number of bounties would receive a buy-in to the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Bounty Shootout in January. After Tom Marchese was ousted in fifth place, Charania’s bid for the Shootout title came to an end after being eliminated in fourth place at the hands of PokerStars pro David Williams.
“DW” was bumped in third place and picked up $24,000. He ran A-Q into the pocket tens of Young on his final hand, as yet another player had shown down two tens. His exit gave Young his sixth elimination to secure the bounty title and Young went heads-up against his good friend and Henderson, Nevada neighbor Baldwin. On the final hand, Young committed his chips with A-Q before the flop and Baldwin woke up with cowboys. The board ran out 9-5-8-5-2 and Baldwin took down the NAPT LA Bounty Shootout title.
Following Baldwin’s win, Chad observed, “Two class acts. I wanted them both to win.”
The second hour of coverage was devoted to the NAPT LA Main Event, which featured a final table of eight players and a massive $725,000 first place prize. Joe Tehan doubled up early on through chip leader Chris DeMaci and then went on the tear of a lifetime, eliminating every single member of the final table.
ESPN’s coverage focused heavily on Jason Mercier, a World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner and champion of the PokerStars NAPT Mohegan Sun Bounty Shootout. Mercier’s run in the NAPT LA Main Event came to an end in seventh place after running A-K into Tehan’s pocket jacks. The board ran out 6-5-9-3-8 and Mercier, whose parents came from Florida to rail him at the Crystal Casino in Compton, was eliminated.
In the final hand of the NAPT LA Main Event, DeMaci committed his chips with K-4 on a flop of K-5-3, but Tehan held K-10 for top pair with a better kicker. The turn was a five and the river was a four, giving Tehan the Main Event title with kings-up. The tournament marked a historic run for Tehan, who ousted all seven of his opponents. In 2006, he took down the Mandalay Bay Poker Championship in Las Vegas, a stop on the World Poker Tour (WPT), for over $1 million.
That concludes ESPN’s coverage of NAPT LA. Check out encore presentations of WSOP events all this week on ESPN’s family of networks.
The biggest promotion so far: NoiQ Poker’s January brings out the €2,500 Rake Races!
NoiQ Poker has maybe the best offer for January. We’ll be having two private Rake Races next month! They’re worth a record-breaking 2,500 euros!
There are also some other great competitions on January.
And what makes it even more fun, NoiQ Poker moved all their business to EEA, so all European players will get all their winning tax free!
HighStakesNews 2 x 1250 euros Rake Races:
All our customers are participating the Races automatically. All you need to do is to create new account through us. The Races will be held from 1st to 15th and 16th to 31st of January.
Top 18 Rakers will be awarded, so you will have it easy to grind up some good money!
Position/Euros
1. 335 €
2. 220 €
3. 125 €
4. 100 €
5. 80 €
6. 60 €
7. 50 €
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9. 40 €
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11. 30 €
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13. 20 €
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15. 15 €
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17. 10 €
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NoiQ’s other promotions:
Other network promotions:
Open up your NoiQ account now and get a great rakeback deal:
1. Clear the cookies from your browser
2. Follow this link and click “Create an Account”
3. Fill out the needed information and click “Open Account Now”. Make sure to use POKERIHAI as your Signup Code.
4. Download and isntall the NoiQ Poker cliant
5. You’re ready to play. To ensure your rakeback and other benefits, please send us an e-mail (highstakesnews@gmail.com) and remember to include your Username in it, so we can check that you’re part of our great program.
NoiQ Poker Rakeback 30-45%
All our customers will automatically get a 30% rakeback to NoiQ.
NoiQ will pay the rakeback on every Friday straight to your account.
If you want to, we can upgrade your account to get 45% Rakeback, but this gets beneficial only after you rake about €2,500 in a month.
NoiQ Poker Bonus
All our customers will get a €500 First Deposit Bonus.
The Bonus will be activated when you will make your first transfer from your BackOffice account into your Poker account.
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Every 100 NoiQ Points equals to €10 Bonus Money.
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The biggest promotion so far: NoiQ Poker’s January brings out the €2,500 Rake Races!
Jeff Sarwer Interview with Poker News Daily
Poker Icons, a leading global poker agency, added one of the game’s brightest rising stars to its roster of pros earlier this month. Former Canadian chess prodigy Jeff Sarwer became one of the most fascinating figures on the international poker scene this year. The 32 year old is rapidly becoming a feared presence on the live circuit despite picking up the game just a short time ago.
Sarwer was a chess wunderkind who at the age of eight became World Chess Champion for those under 10. However, after being taken away from his abusive father, Sarwer and his sister changed their names and fled to Europe, disappearing from the public eye for nearly two decades.
In 2008, Sarwer resurfaced and began playing on the PokerStars European Poker Tour. Since then, he’s racked up more than $500,000 in live tournament earnings and was deemed “probably the greatest mind to enter the tournament poker world in history” by fellow poker pro Jonathan “FatalError” Aguiar. Poker News Daily recently got a chance to speak with Sarwer about his aspiring poker career:
Poker News Daily: You’ve been traveling the tournament circuit for more than two years now. Overall, how would you grade your experience as a poker pro? Is this something you see yourself doing for a long time?
Jeff Sarwer: For the next few years, I think people will see me a decent amount out there. I am still learning and haven’t played a lot of the big live events like the Aussie Millions. The experience has been great; I have had the chance to meet some great people who have a lot in common with me. As for grading, I think I have done better than I expected since I have been really active for only about a year and have had some strong results. My start has been great, so I want to keep going and see where it takes me.
PND: Your chess talents have been widely documented. Have you considered returning to the game and possibly training to become a world champion?
Jeff Sarwer: I have no intention of making a run for the world title since I missed so many critical years of training. I might come back on an ambassador level, but for now, poker is getting my spare time.
PND: Chess is a game of perfect information, whereas poker is a game of imperfect information. How do your chess skills transfer to the poker table?
Jeff Sarwer: Paying attention to detail, feeling when people are getting nervous, remembering things, and leveling people – these are all things that both games have in common. Chess might be a game of perfect information, but we are only human and not machines, so how useful is the perfect information that is right in front of you? It’s information that you have to analyze, filter, and try to get to the root of what the other guy is up to, which is really hard to do with so many things going on. So “owning” people’s minds is a very important part of chess too.
PND: You’re very talkative and cheerful at the poker table. Is this a tactic used to gain information from opponents?
Jeff Sarwer: My main reason for this is that I would rather be in a good mood if I am going to be at the table with the same people all day, but it doesn’t hurt to have them want you to stay.
PND: Who are some of your poker influences? Are there any players in particular who have helped make the transition easier?
Sarwer: Absolutely. You can thank the young internet generation for spending time with me and inspiring me. In Europe, there were guys like Anton Wigg, Kevin Stani, and a couple of guys my age like Arnaud Mattern. In North America, there were guys like Sorel Mizzi, Jonathan Aguiar, and Shaun Deeb. I thank them all for letting me spend time around them and see how they do things.
PND: What made you decide to choose Poker Icons to represent you?
Jeff Sarwer: They are the biggest poker agency out there and I have met the people behind the company quite a few times before, so we know each other well and have established a good connection. It’s an easy fit for both sides.
PND: What are your plans for 2011?
Jeff Sarwer: Travel around, play in some new events, produce my film, stay healthy, and have some twists and turns that I don’t see yet.
PND: A film? Tell us a little about it.
Jeff Sarwer: I am finishing the final draft of a script with director Gordon Anderson about my childhood with my manic depressive dad. If you want a taste of what stuff we will be talking about, go to BBCWorldService.com.
Tom Marchese Wins 2010 CardPlayer Player of the Year Title
In 2010, Tom Marchese claimed the CardPlayer Player of the Year honors, edging out Dwyte Pilgrim. At the time of writing, Marchese had garnered 6,738 Player of the Year Points and amassed more than $2 million in live tournament earnings during the 2010 calendar year. In 2009, UB.com pro Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin was CardPlayer’s Player of the Year.
Marchese also signed with Poker Icons, a popular management firm. Marchese commented in a press release that he was delighted to be receiving such a distinguished honor: “I’m ecstatic over being CardPlayer’s Player of the Year! It’s something that I have been working so hard for all year. Signing with Poker Icons will really help my poker career and I look forward to working with Poker Icons in the future.”
Lars Kollind, President of Poker Icons, welcomed Marchese to the family: “He is an awesome player and one of the biggest names Poker Icons has signed this year. I believe that Thomas will be one of the truly big superstars of poker for a long while.”
In the November release of the ESPN poker rankings dubbed “The Nuts,” Marchese claimed the sixth spot on the leaderboard, with ESPN’s Andrew Feldman commenting, “A year ago, you couldn’t pay anyone on this panel to pick Tom Marchese out of a crowd. Now, none of us would be able to miss him. He’s had 15 cashes this year for over $2 million in earnings and most likely will become CardPlayer’s Player of the Year.”
Marchese started off 2010 in style, taking third in the Borgata Winter Poker Open Main Event for $190,000 in February. Three weeks later, he was crowned the champion of the PokerStars North American Poker Tour (NAPT) Venetian Main Event for $827,000. The latter aired on ESPN, giving Marchese exposure to a wealth of poker fans around the United States.
In May, Marchese took fourth in the High Roller Event held as part of the European Poker Tour’s (EPT) stop at Monte Carlo for $350,000. In the famed Monaco casino, Marchese battled against a final table that included Sorel “Imper1um” Mizzi, Allen Bari, former World Poker Tour (WPT) champ Olivier Busquet, and eventual winner Tobias Reinkemeier.
We’re not done there. During the 2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP), Marchese final tabled the $10,000 buy-in Pot Limit Hold’em Championship to stash away another $123,000. Four months later, he hopped “The Pond” and finished seventh in the EPT London Main Event for $157,000.
Marchese’s final six-figure score of the year came in another televised tournament, the WPT Foxwoods World Poker Finals. Marchese finished third, banking $211,000 in an event that saw Mizzi, Jason Mercier, DoylesRoom pro Hoyt Corkins, Mohsin “chicagocards1” Charania, Keven “Stamdogg” Stammen, and eventual champ Jeff Forrest all make the top 15.
Taylor “ambiguosity” Paur leads the way in the 2010 CardPlayer Online Player of the Year race with a week to go in December. Paur is the only player on the leaderboard with over 10,000 Online Player of the Year Points and has earned over $1 million on the virtual felts in 2010. Paur’s largest online cash in 2010 came by virtue of winning a $163 No Limit Hold’em with Rebuys event during the 16th Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS) in June for $192,000.
Here’s how the top 10 players in the CardPlayer Player of the Year standings look at the time of writing:
1. Tom Marchese: 6,738 points, $2,068,658 in earnings
2. Dwyte Pilgrim: 5,576 points, $1,074,997 in earnings
3. Sorel “Imper1um” Mizzi: 4,851 points, $1,524,371 in earnings
4. Vanessa Selbst: 4,608 points, $2,803,013 in earnings
5. John Racener: 4,493 points, $5,863,856 in earnings
6. Harrison Gimbel: 4,080 points, $2,530,000 in earnings
7. Andy Frankenberger: 4,010 points, $1,173,853 in earnings
8. Jeffrey “jpapola” Papola: 3,870 points, $1,176,919 in earnings
9. John Juanda: 3,717 points, $1,598,858 in earnings
10. Jonathan Duhamel: 3,600 points, $8,944,138 in earnings
Congratulations to Marchese on his 2010 CardPlayer Player of the Year honors.
Caesars Entertainment Enters Joint Venture with Microgame.it
Looking to expand its brand further into the global marketplace, Caesars Interactive Entertainment (formerly Harrah’s Interactive Entertainment) has entered into a joint venture with one of Italy’s top online poker companies, Microgame.it.
In an announcement last Friday, Caesars Interactive and Microgame.it revealed a long-term agreement to co-brand Microgame’s online poker outlet, PeoplesNetwork.it, with the World Series of Poker (WSOP) name and logos. Through the agreement, Caesars Interactive and Microgame will offer both online and live events to the Italian market prominently featuring the WSOP logo. Additionally, Microgame will become the official satellite outlet for Italian players for the WSOP and also act as the exclusive pre-registration booking office for Italian players in the Main Event.
“We are honored to have been selected as the exclusive Italian partner for the WSOP,” Microgame Chief Executive Officer Fabrizio D’Aloia stated during the announcement. “The People’s Poker Network, powered by Microgame, confirms its position of leadership in the Italian poker market and we are truly excited to offer our customers something unique. The WSOP has over 40 years of history and heritage and an alliance with Microgame marks an exciting new chapter for both of us.”
Mitch Garber, the former head of Party Gaming who took over Caesars Interactive Entertainment in 2009, agreed with D’Aloia and looked at worldwide development of the WSOP name as a key reason for the partnership. “This agreement is a logical step in our European and global expansion strategy to partner with leading local companies as we look to expand the WSOP brand,” Garber said. “Microgame is a clear leader in Italy and we look forward to working hard together to grow the poker market.”
The partnership between the two companies should be a positive for both sides. In the Italian market, which opened its doors in 2009 to companies that provide gaming only to Italian citizens, Microgame has made tremendous inroads. According to PokerScout.com, the Microgame-backed PeoplesNetwork.it is second behind only the PokerStars Italian offering in the country. As a further indication of the power of the Italian market, PeoplesNetwork.it is the seventh largest online poker outlet in the industry in terms of cash game traffic, ahead of such longtime poker operations as the CEREUS Network, the Microgaming Network, the Entraction Network, and 888.
For Caesars Interactive Entertainment, the joint venture pushes the WSOP name further into the consciousness of poker players worldwide. The ability to operate in the Italian market, which has been quite lucrative for many companies in the online gaming industry, is important for any company due to the sheer number of players that are available. Information from Microgame states that the company generated a gross gaming turnover of more than €1 billion in 2009.
UB.com Announces UBOC 6 Schedule
The sixth UB.com Online Championship, or UBOC, will kick off on Sunday, January 16th. A record-setting 29 events will comprise the new series, culminating in a $1,050 buy-in No Limit Hold’em Monster Stack Championship Event on January 30th. All told, at least $5 million will be shelled out to UB.com faithful during UBOC 6.
Among those looking forward to watching UBOC 6 play out on the virtual felts of the USA-friendly online poker site was Joe Sebok. The former “Poker2Nite” host and current UB.com pro commented in a press release distributed last week, “Not too long after those New Year’s hangovers wear off, get back on UB.com because it’s time for UBOC 6. The UBOCs are my favorite online tournament series because they just keep getting bigger and bigger every time out. Now, if I can just figure out how to win an event, the excitement will be complete.”
Despite primarily catering to U.S. players, UB.com has added several tournaments to the UBOC 6 slate on Wednesdays that cater to its European clientele. These Euro-facing events kick off at 16:05 ET and include a $162 No Limit Hold’em event (#8) and a $209 No Limit Hold’em with Rebuys tournament (#22). Returning in UBOC 6 is the popular Rock Star Bounty event, which is in the books for January 17th and features Anthrax guitarist Scott Ian, who is also a UB.com pro.
We’re done keeping you in suspense. Here are the 29 tournaments that comprise the UBOC 6 schedule:
January 16th at 14:00 ET
Event #1: No Limit Hold’em Deep Stack
$500+30 buy-in, $250,000 Guarantee
January 16th at 16:00 ET
Event #2: Sniper No Limit Hold’em Deep Stack
$300+20 buy-in, $200,000 Guarantee
January 16th at 18:30 ET
Event #3: No Limit Hold’em Deep Stack Ultra Turbo
$300+20 buy-in, $100,000 Guarantee
January 17th at 20:05 ET
Event #4: No Limit Hold’em Four-Max
$300+20 buy-in, $100,000 Guarantee
January 17th at 20:05 ET
Event #5: No Limit Hold’em Rock Star Bounty
$200+15 buy-in, $100,000 Guarantee
January 18th at 20:05 ET
Event #6: Pot Limit Omaha Six-Max
$200+15 buy-in, $50,000 Guarantee
January 18th at 20:05 ET
Event #7: No Limit Hold’em Deep Stack
$300+20 buy-in, $100,000 Guarantee
January 19th at 16:05 ET
Event #8: No Limit Hold’em
$150+12 buy-in, $50,000 Guarantee
January 19th at 20:05 ET
Event #9: Pot Limit Omaha Cubed
$200+15 buy-in, $100,000 Guarantee
January 19th at 20:05 ET
Event #10: No Limit Hold’em Deep Stack Six-Max
$500+30 buy-in, $250,000 Guarantee
January 20th at 20:05 ET
Event #11: No Limit Hold’em Deep Stack
$150+12 buy-in, $75,000 Guarantee
January 21st at 20:05 ET
Event #12: Sniper No Limit Hold’em Deep Stack
$150+12 buy-in, $75,000 Guarantee
January 22nd at 15:00 ET
Event #13: No Limit Hold’em Heads-Up
$1,000+50 buy-in, $128,000 Guarantee
January 22nd at 16:00 ET
Event #14: No Limit Hold’em Turbo Triple Chance
$200+15 buy-in, $100,000 Guarantee
January 23rd at 14:00 ET
Event #15: No Limit Hold’em Deep Stack
$300+20 buy-in, $150,000 Guarantee
January 23rd at 17:00 ET
Event #16: No Limit Hold’em Deep Stack High Roller
$2,000+100 buy-in, $750,000 Guarantee
January 23rd at 18:30 ET
Event #17: No Limit Hold’em Deep Stack Ultra Turbo Six-Max
$300+20 buy-in, $100,000 Guarantee
January 24th at 20:05 ET
Event #18: No Limit Hold’em Cubed
$200+15 buy-in, $150,000 Guarantee
January 24th at 20:05 ET
Event #19: Eight-Game Mix
$200+15 buy-in, $50,000 Guarantee
January 25th at 20:05 ET
Event #20: Sniper No Limit Hold’em Deep Stack
$200+15 buy-in, $100,000 Guarantee
January 25th at 20:05 ET
Event #21: No Limit Hold’em/Pot Limit Omaha Mix
$200+15 buy-in, $50,000 Guarantee
January 26th at 16:05 ET
Event #22: No Limit Hold’em with Rebuys
$200+9 buy-in, $50,000 Guarantee
January 26th at 20:05 ET
Event #23: Pot Limit Omaha Eight or Better
$200+15 buy-in, $75,000 Guarantee
January 26th at 20:05 ET
Event #24: No Limit Hold’em Deep Stack Ante from Start
$300+20 buy-in, $100,000 Guarantee
January 27th at 20:05 ET
Event #25: No Limit Hold’em Centerfold Bounty
$150+12 buy-in, $75,000 Guarantee
January 28th at 20:05 ET
Event #26: No Limit Hold’em Deep Stack
$150+12 buy-in, $75,000 Guarantee
January 29th at 16:00 ET
Event #27: No Limit Hold’em Turbo with Rebuys
$200+9 buy-in, $100,000 Guarantee
January 30th at 16:00 ET
UBOC Championship: No Limit Hold’em Monster Stack
$1,000+50 buy-in, $1 Million Guarantee
January 30th at 18:30 ET
Event #29: No Limit Hold’em Deep Stack Ultra Turbo
$300+20 buy-in, $100,000 Guarantee
Running concurrently with UBOC 6 is Mini UBOC 6, which offers the same slate of events, but with buy-ins that are one-tenth as large. This allows players of all bankrolls to compete in the wide range of tournaments on the docket. In addition, the entire UBOC 6 schedule is open to players from UB.com’s CEREUS Network sister site Absolute Poker.
Visit UB.com for full details.
PokerStars.net European Poker Tour Prague Day 5: Roberto Romanello Victorious!
December 17th – Weekly News Update
Welcome back to another edition of our Weekly News Update. I’m your host, Sean Gibson, and we’ll be talking about the biggest headlines for the week. Let’s get to the news!
On Thursday morning, Poker Players Alliance Executive Director John Pappas told Poker News Daily that the bill introduced by U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid legalizing and regulating online poker is dead. A move to add the bill’s language to the tax relief act debated in Congress this week failed to come to fruition.
Pappas told Poker News Daily that a highly charged debate over the tax bill was largely to blame:
“When the tax package fell through and things became much more political for it – not related to our bill – it became clear that another controversial addition to the tax bill could sink it.”
Reid’s bill would have opened the online poker market in the United States to current operators like Caesars Entertainment, which owns the rights to the annual World Series of Poker. Pappas added that hope is not lost:
“The online poker bill that was floating around needs some improvement, so the PPA wants to go back to Senator Reid [in 2011] and talk about how we can improve on his current draft. There’s going to be a renewed focus in the Senate and we’ll be taking some of the legislation in a different direction so that’s it not focused on the Financial Services Committee, where we have a known opponent.”
Party Gaming co-founder Anurag Dikshit, who admitted to violating the Wire Act of Nineteen Sixty-One two years ago, was sentenced to one year of probation by a New York court on Thursday, according to Forbes. He has also coughed up three hundred million dollars and agreed to cooperate in an ongoing Federal investigation.
U.S. District Court Judge Jed Rakoff determined Dikshit’s fate on Thursday and the possibility of two years behind bars hung in the balance. In the end, Rakoff told the court, “I am persuaded that no jail time is appropriate here.”
Dikshit’s admission marked one of the first times that online poker has ever been associated with the Wire Act, which has traditionally applied to sports betting. In October Two Thousand Nine, Dikshit sold his remaining shares in Party Gaming for around two hundred million British Pounds, which amounted to a twenty eight percent stake.
Party Gaming vacated the U.S. market in 2006 after the passage of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act. The publicly traded company has since inked a non-prosecution agreement with the United States Government and forked over a one hundred five million dollar fine.
Last week, PokerStars announced that the mysterious high-stakes phenom Isildur1 had signed on to become the latest member of Team PokerStars Pro. At the same time, a new promotion, the SuperStar Showdown, was launched, allowing all comers to take on Isildur1 in a nosebleed stakes heads-up match. On Tuesday, Isildur1?s first opponent was revealed.
This Sunday at Six PM Eastern Time, Isaac Haxton will put one hundred fifty thousand dollars on the line as he takes on Isildur1 at four tables of Fifty / One Hundred No Limit Hold’em. Haxton is well known throughout the poker community and, in addition to his cash game success, has put together an impressive record on the live tournament circuit.
The matches will last either twenty five hundred hands or until one of the players goes bust, whichever happens first, and the winner is the player who ends up with the most money. Anyone who is willing to pony up fifteen hundred big blinds can issue a challenge to Isildur1 by e-mailing PokerStars.
Full Tilt Poker pro Jonathan “xMONSTERxDONGx” Karamalikis bested a field of two hundred eighty nine players to win the Asia Pacific Poker Tour Grand Final in Sydney, Australia last weekend. The twenty two year old online superstar from Adelaide earned four hundred fifty nine thousand Australian Dollars, his biggest score ever.
The star-studded final table included Team PokerStars Pro member Daniel Negreanu, live poker Triple Crown winner Roland de Wolfe, and former APPT champion Eddy Sabat. Negreanu, who took a short stack to the final table, was the first to exit after running top pair into de Wolfe’s set of threes. His ninth place finish earned him thirty-six thousand Australian Dollars. By the way, De Wolfe finished in eighth place.
Staying with the live tournament circuit, PokerStars announced details on Thursday for Season Four of the Latin American Poker Tour. The fourth LAPT season will begin in February and has five events on the schedule so far, including stops in Brazil, Peru, Argentina, Chile, and Colombia.
The new LAPT Player of the Year awards will recognize excellent performances throughout the season. The awards, much like the PokerStars European Poker Tour awards, will be handed out at the end of the season based on results in not only Main Events, but also most of the side events. The EPT gives trophies yearly to the top overall player as well as the top Omaha player, Mixed Games player, heads-up player, and qualifier. There is also an award given to the country that performs the best during the season.
The first stop of Season Four will be in Sao Paulo. Here’s a look at the schedule so far:
February 16-20: Sao Paulo, Brazil (R$5,000 buy-in)
March 17-20: Vina Del Mar, Chile ($1,100 buy-in)
April 12-17: Lima, Peru ($2,500 buy-in)
June 1-5: Rosario, Argentina ($2,500 buy-in)
August 3-7: Bogota, Colombia ($1,100 buy-in)
Thanks for tuning in to the Poker News Daily Weekly Update and be sure to check back with us every day for the latest in poker news.
PokerStars.net European Poker Tour Prague Day 4: Forza Italia!; Leonzio Leads the Final Table
PokerStars Announces Latin American Poker Tour Season IV
Plans for a fourth season of the Latin American Poker Tour (LAPT) are in action, as PokerStars announced the initial details on Thursday. LAPT Season IV, set to begin in February, has five events on the schedule so far, including tournaments in Brazil, Peru, and Argentina along with two National Championships in Chile and Colombia.
The first stop of Season IV will be in Sao Paulo, the largest city in the southern hemisphere at an estimated 11 million residents. The LAPT Sao Paulo Poker Festival will feature an R$5,000 buy-in (approximately $3,000 USD) Main Event as well as several side events. The series will be played at the World Trade Center, the city’s biggest and most luxurious convention space.
“During Season 4 of the LAPT, we will introduce new venues, such as Sao Paulo and Bogota, create two new National Poker Championship events in Chile and Colombia, and start searching for the best player in the region through our new Player of the Year awards,” said LAPT President David Carrion. “These changes have been made as a result of extensive feedback during Season 3 and we are proud to be making many player-friendly improvements that will take the LAPT to new heights, with larger fields and richer prize pools.”
The new LAPT Player of the Year awards will recognize excellent performances throughout the season. The awards, much like the PokerStars European Poker Tour (EPT) awards, will be handed out at the end of the season based on results in not only Main Events, but also most of the side events. Awards will be presented in several categories; the EPT gives trophies yearly to the top overall player, as well as the top Omaha player, Mixed Games player, heads-up player, and qualifier. There is also an award given to the country that performs the best during the season.
“I am looking forward to the new season; bigger events with more players and bigger prize pools are what all players look for,” said Team PokerStars pro Nacho Barbero, who won back-to-back LAPT events in Season 3. “I am sure that next season will be a success like the past one and I am looking forward to competing for the Player of the Year award.”
Players from Brazil, South America, and around the world will have many opportunities to participate in the upcoming season of the LAPT, either buying in directly or qualifying via live and online satellites. The easiest way to play in the new LAPT events is by winning a seat on PokerStars through freerolls, where winners will be awarded an LAPT prize package that includes a Main Event buy-in, hotel, and money for expenses. LAPT Sao Paulo Main Event satellites will begin running on PokerStars on January 5th; don’t miss your chance to play at the inaugural event.
“Through the Secretary of Sports and on behalf of the Prefeitura do Sao Paulo, we would like to confirm our commitment to putting all of our efforts to the success of the Latin American Poker Tour to take place in Sao Paulo in the upcoming year,” said Walter Feldman, Secretary of Sports, Leisure, and Recreation in Sao Paulo. “We understand that a sporting event such as this will contribute in a significant way to the promotion of the City of Sao Paulo as a big event organizer and will have a positive impact on the touristic activity of the city.”
Here’s a look at the tentative PokerStars LAPT Season IV Schedule:
February 16-20: Sao Paulo, Brazil (R$5,000 buy-in)
March 17-20: Vina Del Mar, Chile ($1,100 buy-in)
April 12-17: Lima, Peru ($2,500 buy-in)
June 1-5: Rosario, Argentina ($2,500 buy-in)
August 3-7: Bogota, Colombia ($1,100 buy-in)
LAPT Grand Final date is TBD
For more information, visit PokerStars.
PokerStars.net European Poker Tour Prague Day 3: MacPhee Takes the Lead
PokerStars Introduces Sunday Kickoff
PokerStars, the world’s largest online poker site, has announced a new weekly Sunday tournament that will cater to players residing in the Eastern Hemisphere. The $109 buy-in Sunday Kickoff, with a $50,000 guarantee, will begin at 2:00pm Central Europe Time, meaning that European players won’t have to worry about playing a major tournament deep into the night like the Sunday Million, which gets underway at 10:30pm CET each week.
The Sunday Kickoff is open to all players, including early risers in the U.S., who can play in the new tournament at 8:00am ET. The event will join the Sunday Million, Sunday Warm-Up, Sunday 500, and Sunday Second Chance on the weekly Sunday Major schedule on PokerStars.
To celebrate the launch of the first Sunday Kickoff tournament this weekend, PokerStars is hosting a promotional $11 satellite featuring 100 seats guaranteed at 8:00am ET on Saturday. The initial $11 buy-in could ultimately result in a five-figure payday for the winner. Players can also buy in directly through the tournament lobby.
The new tournament received mostly positive feedback from members of TwoPlusTwo, as non-U.S. players unable to play the normal PokerStars Sunday Major slate welcomed the early start time. “Nice time to get the action underway,” TwoPlusTwo poster “mdr1984″ said. “For the Europeans, it’s a great time, especially when you have to work the next day.” Fellow European player “Snapman” agreed: “Awesome. Will be playing this. Can’t really play the Sunday Warm-Up or Sunday Million due to work on Monday morning, so I’m happy about this development.”
However, forum members also discussed the validity in the Sunday Kickoff being mentioned as a “Major” tournament. The structure was a chief concern, as players will receive 3,000 chips to start compared to the 10,000-chip stacks of the Sunday Million and Sunday Warm-Up. Said TwoPlusTwo member “DaBigBoss86,” “The Kickoff needs a better structure and a six-figure guarantee to be considered a ‘Major.’” Several others chimed in saying that PokerStars already had a bigger $109 buy-in on the Sunday schedule, the $125,000 Guaranteed starting at 7:00pm ET.
The five Sunday Majors on PokerStars now guarantee more than $3 million in prize money each week, with the Sunday Million generating more than half of that total. Last Sunday, PokerStars player “Troopaloop” took down the flagship event for more than $243,000. The other big winners over the weekend included “Limitless22” (Sunday Warm-Up win for $144,425), “jokkee_apart” (Sunday 500 win for $89,234), and “teamfranklin” (Sunday Second Chance win for $51,564).
This weekend will not only feature the inaugural Sunday Kickoff, but also the highly anticipated SuperStar Showdown, PokerStars’ answer to Full Tilt Poker‘s Durrrr Challenge. The 2,500-hand heads-up match will pit newly signed PokerStars Team Pro “Isildur1” against any challenger. This weekend, the mystery Swede will face off against Isaac “philivey2694″ Haxton. The two players will play four tables of $50/$100 or higher No Limit Hold’em and Pot Limit Omaha simultaneously until the 2,500-hand mark is reached. The match is set get underway on Sunday at 6:00pm ET. Read more.