Poker News

Aussie Millions Heads-Up Championship Airs on GSN

On Saturday night, the Heads-Up Championship at the Aussie Millions aired on GSN. Only one hour of coverage was devoted to the event, which attracted 50 players. Once again, Paul Khoury and Grub Smith had the call.

Each match-up was played in a best of three format and GSN producers displayed the final hands made by players on the screen. Because of the short time devoted to the event, many of the hands that made it to air were all-ins and the action began with Barry Woods facing off against Vanessa Selbst, who was rocking a Full Tilt Poker logo. Selbst doubled Woods up with pocket sevens against pocket nines and then again after flopping trips against Woods’ boat.

Women like Amanda da Cesare, Jessica Dowley, Leo Margets, and Marsha Waggoner were profiled at the Aussie Millions. Then, Selbst 4bet all-in with 7-6 of hearts on a flop of 2-K-8, all hearts. Woods held K-7 and watched in glee as a king hit on the turn and a deuce hit on the river, giving him a runner-runner full house. Selbst hit the rails after the bad beat and Woods moved on to face Norway’s Martin Gudvangen.

Woods continued to receive the blessings of the poker gods, making a runner-runner straight against Gudvangen, leaving Khoury to remark, “Sometimes raising at the wrong time really pays off.” Then, Woods’ 10-8 held against Gudvangen’s 9-5 to ship him the title in the first match.

Gudvangen struck back in match #2, however, doubling up with A-J against A-8 before finally putting his opponent away with A-3 against J-9 all-in pre-flop. In the rubber match and holding Q-3, Woods moved all-in over the top of a bet by Gudvangen, who had pocket nines on a board of 5-8-5. Gudvangen made the call as an 87% favorite only to watch Woods spike a queen on the river to double up. Khoury exclaimed, “Barry is nodding his head, but he knows he’s run well in this tournament.” Gudvangen was eliminated shortly thereafter.

In the finals of the Aussie Millions Heads-Up Championship, Woods faced off against Canadian Kyle McMurphy. Woods whiffed on a straight draw on the river to give McMurphy the edge in round #1. Then, on a board of 9-Q-7-J, McMurphy checked with pocket jacks for a set and Woods bet 3,200 holding 10-8 for the second nuts. McMurphy check-raised all-in and Woods happily called. The river failed to pair the board and Woods claimed round #2.

In the deciding match of the event, McMurphy open-shoved all-in pre-flop with K-10 and Woods made the call with A-9 of hearts. The situation was looking grim for McMurphy until a nine hit on the river to give him a straight and a critical double up. McMurphy doubled one more time after coming out on the winning end of a race with A-10 against pocket deuces before finally putting Woods away with J-7 against K-2 all-in pre-flop. McMurphy banked $69,000 for the win, while Woods earned $46,000.

New episodes of Aussie Millions coverage on GSN air at 9:00pm ET on Saturdays as part of Power Poker Weekends on the cable station. You can catch poker on GSN according to the following schedule each week:

Saturdays on GSN

9:00pm ET: Aussie Millions
10:00pm ET: High Stakes Poker Season 6
11:00pm ET: High Stakes Poker Season 5
12:00am ET: Aussie Millions
1:00am ET: World Poker Tour Season 6

Sundays on GSN

10:00pm ET: High Stakes Poker Season 6
11:00pm ET: PokerStars Million Dollar Challenge
12:00am ET: Aussie Millions
1:00am ET: High Stakes Poker Season 6
2:00am ET: PokerStars Million Dollar Challenge

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Andy Bloch wins $140,000 at Full Tilt Poker

The action at high stakes online has been very dull over the World Series of Poker, which is why a layer of dust had to be blown from this section of the website before you could read this. It seems to have bought players out of the woodwork though, notably Full Tilt Poker Pro Andy Bloch.

Jesper Hougaard, Johnny Chan Among WSOP Main Event Day 2A Chip Leaders

The marathon that is the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event rolled along on Friday, with 2,412 players returning from Days 1A and 1C to take part in Day 2A.

1987 and 1988 Main Event champion Johnny Chan sat just a few spots in back of chip leader Corwin Cole to begin the day, with $50,000 Player’s Championship winner Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi and England’s Barny Boatman also in the top ten. Although there was a festive atmosphere in the Amazon Room at the start of play, over half the field would not survive to bag up chips at the end of the night.

The early action consisted of many players who were looking to double up or go home with their meager chip stacks. One of the players able to succeed on that front was 2008 WSOP Main Event final tablist Dennis Phillips, who made Big Slick work against an opponent’s pocket jacks to earn an early chip up. Phillips would continue to drive his stack upwards, reaching 45,000 late Friday night. However, the popular St. Louis poker pro would Tweet his demise before the end of action: “The search for the next November Nine goes on… unfortunately was just eliminated & will not be in the hunt.”

Phillips wasn’t the only one to face his WSOP mortality on Friday. World Poker Tour host and Poker Hall of Fame member Mike Sexton saw pocket kings vanquished when he was looking for a triple up, being outdrawn by pocket nines on a 2-9-8 rainbow flop. Also departing the Rio on Friday were 2009 November Niner James Akenhead, Rincon Circuit champion Bryan “badbeatninja” Devonshire, Ted Lawson, Liz Lieu, and UB.com’s “Hollywood” Dave Stann, who commented on Twitter about his defeat at the hands of Jennifer “Jennicide” Leigh: “That was fun. Guess I’m headed back to LA early… Straights don’t beat flushes here apparently. nh Jennicide.”

Several top pros rode the elevator the opposite way on Day 2A. Chan, who started action stacked with 163,700 in chips, continued to be a force at the tables. “The Orient Express” was able to build on his Day One play, ending Day 2A in tenth place on the leaderboard with 281,600 in chips.

Poker News Daily Guest Columnist Annie Duke was also able to mount an assault. Starting the day with 67,000 in chips, the current National Heads-Up Poker Championship winner rode a roller coaster throughout the day before getting into an epic hand late in the evening. Holding on a board, the UB.com pro was able to get her opponent to commit the remainder of their chips with an offsuit 4-2.

A nondescript nine hit on the turn, but the crowd was stunned when the hit, making Duke’s opponent a boat, which many railbirds inaccurately assumed gave her tablemate the hand. According to WSOP.com reports, Duke calmly pointed out, “I have the straight flush,” earning her the pot in stunning fashion. Duke used that hand to skyrocket to 176,600 in chips.

Making the most noise in the Rio on Friday was Denmark’s Jesper Hougaard. The only person to ever win Las Vegas and European WSOP bracelets in the same year (2008), Hougaard started Friday with the 51,000 chips he built on Day 1C and attacked his tablemates throughout the day. By the time the smoke cleared on Friday night, Hougaard had amassed 316,200 in chips, good for third place behind Boulos Estafanous. According to WSOP statistics, 1,192 players have reported chip counts and will be back for play on Day 3.

Those who come to the felt on Saturday will have a significant challenge ahead of them. Day 2B – the combination of Days 1B and 1D – will be composed of slightly more than 2,700 players. James Danielson is the leader of Day 2B at 201,050 in chips, but he is pursued by WSOP bracelet and gold ring winner Steve “MrSmokey1” Billirakis (187,150). Other top professionals stepping to the felt on Saturday include tenth place Jason DeWitt (149,950), Full Tilt Poker’s David Benyamine (130,800), Team PokerStars pro Vanessa Rousso (111,050), Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond (107,100), and English powerhouse James “Flushy” Dempsey (106,175).

Sunday will be a rest day for the survivors of the WSOP Main Event. The field will come together for the first time on Monday, when Day 3 will consolidate the field at the Rio. Expect the field to number approximately 2,500 by that point, with the latest incarnation of the “November Nine” to be determined one week from today.

Young tournament grinder Melanie “Callisto 5? Weisner is the newest Full Tilt Red Pro

Young beautiful female Melanie Weisner has signed a deal with Full Tilt Poker which means from now on she will carry the “Full Tilt Red Pro” title.

Weisner, a specialized tournament player, is known as “Callisto 5″ at PokerStars and as “Callisto” at Full Tilt. Callisto 5 has cashed more than $500,000 and her game balance is 120,000 dollars positive. Callisto’s Full Tilt account, in turn, is about $60k on the negative side.

According to the Hendon Mob this young star has cashed 110,000 dollars from live tournaments. Hopefully her example attracts more and more young female professionals to the poker circles so that we’ll get longed-for variation and challenge to this highly masculine game.

Sources: Parttimepoker, 2+2 and TheHendonMob

 

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Young tournament grinder Melanie “Callisto 5″ Weisner is the newest Full Tilt Red Pro

7,319 Players Enter Second Largest WSOP Main Event in History

7,319 players stormed the Rio All Suites Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas for the first four Day Ones of the 2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event, making it the second largest tournament in the history of the 41 year old institution.

To put this year’s tournament in perspective, only the 2006 WSOP Main Event and its 8,773 player field – held prior to the passage of the Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act (UIGEA) in the United States later that year – eclipsed the number of players accommodated by the Rio this year. While this year’s Main Event is the second largest tournament in history, the first place prize will not be the second largest in history. Due to the flattened payout structure instituted by Harrah’s and WSOP officials last year, this year’s winner will receive $8,994,138, the third largest payday behind 2006 champion Jamie Gold’s $12 million and 2008 victor Peter Eastgate’s $9,152,416.

Day 1D was by far the largest of the four Day Ones held., as 2,391 players stepped up to take their shot at winning poker’s most cherished championship. Day 1D vastly outpaced the three previous Day Ones (1,125, 1,489, and 2,314 players, respectively), leaving poker fans around the Pavilion and Amazon Rooms of the Rio scrambling to search for their favorite pros.

Former Dallas Cowboy great and Pro Football Hall of Fame member Emmitt Smith issued the call to “shuffle up and deal” before stepping to the felt himself, decked in Full Tilt Poker regalia. Although he made it through the first break, the all-time leading rusher in NFL history didn’t last long at the tables. Joining him on the rail were such professional players as Ante Up For Africa champion Phil Gordon, John Kabbaj, Pamela Brunson, 2005 WSOP final table duo Joseph Hachem and Steve Dannenmann, John Juanda, Sorel Mizzi, and Noah Boeken.

According to statistics from the WSOP website, 1,699 players survived the carnage of the final Day One of the 2010 WSOP, with several notable professionals stepping up to the top of the leaderboard. WSOP bracelet holder Steve “MrSmokey1” Billirakis was able to capture the lead of Day 1D by finishing off the night with 187,150 chips. He is closely pursued by Khamsy Nuanmanee, a 24 year old player from Las Vegas who thrilled the crowd around the Rio with her run up to 170,525 in chips. Others trailing behind this duo on Day 1D include David Benyamine (130,800), Team PokerStars pro Vanessa Rousso (111,050), 2010 bracelet winner Matt Keikoan (105,175), Josh Arieh (103,650), Jason Mercier (90,525), and 2010 WSOP Player of the Year contender Frank Kassela (87,000).

The remaining 5,129 players in the 2010 WSOP Main Event will now proceed to play over the next two days. Days 1A and 1C will be hitting the felt Friday afternoon for Day 2A, with roughly 2,400 players scheduled to meet again for battle. Corwin Cole looks to be the overall leader for the four Day Ones with 228,200 in chips, but there are a host of challengers that await him in the Top Ten of Day 2A alone.

Sitting in fourth place at the start of Day 2A is the last man to win back-to-back WSOP Main Event titles, Johnny Chan, stacked with 163,700 in chips, top female professional Lauren Kling (149,650) in seventh, Hendon Mobster Barny Boatman (144,050) in eighth, and $50,000 Player’s Championship winner Michael Mizrachi holding down the tenth place slot with his 142,650 in chips. Others who will be looking to move up the leaderboard on Day 2A include Hoyt Corkins (129,150), defending WSOP Europe Main Event champion Barry Shulman (113,325), recent PokerStars signee David Williams (112,225) and former World Champion Chris Moneymaker (107,425).

After play today and Saturday, the field should be cut down to roughly 2,500 survivors. The WSOP Main Event will then take a break on Sunday before bringing the remaining warriors back for action on Monday. Then, players will attempt to reach 747th place, the first position that will be paid at this year’s Main Event.

WSOP Main Event Day 2a: 100% Lebron Free

A total of 2,412 players packed into the Rio on Day 2a with hopes of building a giant stack before the last level expired.

Full Tilt Poker Pro Corwin Cole entered as the chip leader with 228,000 but his status as chip leader was soon usurped by rotating group of players that included Cole South, Dwyen Ringbauer, Dragan Galic and Sammy Farha.

Greg Mueller, Sara Underwood, Garry Gates, Tyler Cornell, Steve O'Dwyer, Daniel Alaei, Ted Forrest, Will Failla, Tom McEvoy, Fatima Moreira and Steve Wong were all among the over 1,000 players to be eliminated on Day 2a.

Jennifer "Jennicide" Leigh, who has been a ghost in the poker world for the last year, was surprisingly dominant at her table building a stack of approximately 150,000.

Daniel Negreanu lived it up on the ESPN stage all day, delighting hundreds of railbirds as he bantered with the table and tried to make some sick reads. The Team PokerStars Pro member will have his work cut out for him on Day 3, however, as he finished with only 27,500.

Joe Cada is starting to put together an impressive title defense as he finished with nearly 100,000 chips.

By the time the smoke had cleared on Day 2a approximately 1,260 players remained.

Patrik Antonius, Johnny Chan, Yevgeniy Timoshenko, Amanda Baker, Robert Mizrachi and Amanda Baker all finished the day with over 200,000 chips.

All the aforementioned players will reconvene for Day 3 on Monday at 12:00 p.m. but tomorrow Steve Billirakis, Alex Kostritsyn, David Benyamine and thousands more will meet tomorrow at 12:00 p.m. to fight out for Day 2b supremacy.

We'll be right there with you with live updates, videos, photos and more.

WSOP Live!

Check out PokerListings' WSOP Live! The most star studded and entertaining daily WSOP recap in the industry:

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WSOP High Profile: Yevgeniy Timoshenko

Winning the WSOP Main Event wouldn't be a bad option.

After getting shut out of the Main Event last year on Day 1d, Yevgeniy Timoshenko is playing in poker's big dance for the first time this year.

The 22-year-old has done well, building a huge stack on Day 2a, despite sitting at a table that includes Full Tilt Poker Pro Matt Hawrilenko

"Today has been great," he said on the dinner break. "I built 48k up to 225k so I'm doing really well."

It shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone who has followed Timoshenko closely over the last few years.

The Seattle, Washington, poker pro has amassed over $5 million in less than three years of playing poker and is considered by his peers to be in the upper echelon of tournament players.

"In my opinion, this kid has to be considered one of the best No-Limit Hold'em tournament players in the world," said Jason Mercier earlier this year.

"His results speak for themselves, he is insanely tough to play against and I know I wouldn't want him at my table."

Timoshenko seems to be adapting to the Main Event well, confusing his opponents more and more with every play he makes.

"I think the Main Event is a lot more like a Sunday Million than a WPT Championship or a WCOOP Main Event," he said. "The field is much larger and there are many more inexperienced players."

Timoshenko conceded that he hasn't had the greatest WSOP with only two small cashes in the preliminary events but after two days of the Main Event he's already decided it's his favorite tournament of the year.

The 2010 WSOP continues through July 17. For comprehensive coverage of the WSOP tune in to PokerListings' Live Updates and News.

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PokerStars Sponsors JohnnyBax’s Stable in WSOP Main Event

PokerStars, the world’s largest online poker site, is sponsoring some of the most well known, successful players in this year’s World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event. From Daniel Negreanu to David Williams to Vanessa Rousso, the USA-friendly site has a noticeable presence in the world’s most prestigious poker tournament.

Last year, the poker industry watched as internet poker sensation Cliff “JohnnyBax” Josephy railed Joe Cada throughout his historic Main Event final table run in November. Josephy, along with Eric “sheets” Haber, routinely field a stable of players for the Main Event and this year is no exception. However, Poker News Daily has learned that PokerStars has officially sponsored the group in 2010.

Unfortunately, Josephy, a bracelet winner, ran a set into the nut straight on Day 1D after all of the money went in on the turn. The board failed to pair on the river and that was all she wrote for the East Coast native, who cashed twice in this year’s tournament extravaganza for over $10,000 combined. He’ll now watch from the sidelines as his stable forges on. The group includes players like Nick “fu_15” Maimone and Jamie “TheNew” Robbins, who finished 15th and 11th in last year’s Main Event, respectively.

Poker agent Dan Frank is responsible for brokering one of the largest player deals we’ve seen in terms of the number of people involved and will oversee its execution on the floor of the Amazon Room. Cada was seated at the ESPN feature table on Wednesday for Day 1C and finished with a stack of 67,150, good for 254th overall. He became the youngest WSOP Main Event champ in history last year after defeating Darvin Moon heads-up for $8.5 million.

Josephy’s bracelet came five years ago in a $1,500 Seven Card Stud tournament. In 2006, he blasted through the field of the World Poker Tour Championship and banked $146,000 after finishing 12th. The same year, “JohnnyBax” landed in second in the Ultimate Bet Aruba Poker Classic for $446,000 in a tournament won by Devon Miller. Josephy wasn’t done there, however, taking second in a $4,800 No Limit Hold’em preliminary event held during the Foxwoods World Poker Finals for another $187,000.

Last year, Josephy finished third in a $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha event at the WSOP, narrowly missing out on his second bracelet and banking $166,000 in the process. Online, he’s been no slouch. Three weeks ago, Josephy took down the Full Tilt Poker Sunday Brawl for $78,000, his largest online score according to PocketFives.com. He sits at #59 in the site’s Online Poker Rankings on the strength of holding the 46th best Pro Poll score worldwide.

Cada, meanwhile, tuned into the UFC fight in Las Vegas last Saturday before gearing up for his Main Event title defense. He faced off against Poker News Daily’s own Sean Gibson in a penalty kick competition the day before and fell four goals to three. Frank served as the goalie for the competition and together with Cada has offered up a challenge to anyone in the poker community.

For $1,000, anyone – even you – can challenge Cada to a best-of-five penalty kick competition with Frank once again in goal. However, rather than using palm trees as a goal as we did in our competition, a real net must be used. Frank told Poker News Daily that Cada was “devastated” after losing the prop bet, but we’re sure that an $8.9 million top prize in the Main Event this year would mollify any hard feelings.

PokerStars will continue to receive exposure through Josephy and Haber’s stable today as Day 2A kicks off from the Rio in Las Vegas. The field will showcase the survivors of Day 1A and Day 1C.

WSOP Main Event Attendance Up 34% After Three Starting Days

Three starting days are in the books in the 2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event. Today at Noon PT, Day 1D will kick off after being the first to sell out its pre-registration. Overall, attendance through the first three starting days of the Main Event is up a colossal 34% year over year.

In 2009, there were 3,685 entries after Day 1C officially closed its doors to new players. A total of 1,116 entered on Day 1A, while just 873 took to the floor on Day 1B, which fell on the Fourth of July. Day 1C saw 1,696 entrants in 2009. This year, the first of three starting days in the Main Event occurred on Monday, July 5th, safely removed from the holiday festivities one day prior. Day 1A this year featured a starting grid of 1,125 players, while Day 1B attracted 1,489. Yesterday, Day 1C saw a field of 2,314 show up for a three-day total of 4,928.

Among those who took to the felts on Day 1B was Annette “Annette_15” Obrestad, a Full Tilt Poker pro, who was seated at Table 2. Meanwhile, Poker News Daily witnessed Tiltboy Rafe Furst make his exit after an opponent flopped a set of threes. Jeff “yellowsub” Williams, who finished third in a $5,000 No Limit Hold’em event, told us to bet on the Netherlands in the Fifa World Cup; sure enough, “Sub” was right, as the European country outlasted Uruguay 3-2. Unfortunately, we did not make it to the Rio sports book in time.

At the table next to Full Tilt pro Jeremiah Smith’s was an all-in and a call with A-K versus aces, one of several pots that featured Big Slick running into the superior hand. This time around, however, the player with A-K made a straight a busted his opponent. A bevy of players donned blue 888 logos, including Leo Margets, the Last Woman Standing in the 2009 Main Event.

Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo, Matt “mcmatto” Affleck, Drag the Bar instructor Dusty Schmidt, and Marco “CrazyMarco” Johnson were among those who carried the banner for the internet poker community on Tuesday during Day 1B. On Day 1C, online poker pros in the room included DoylesRoom’s Faraz “The-Toilet” Jaka, free agent Lauren Kling, Kling’s beau Mike “SowersUNCC” Sowers, and Jordan “Octavian_C” Rich.

Furst and Joe Sebok were among those who donned an all-white jump suit in support of Bad Beat on Cancer, whose green 1% patches can be seen on a bevy of players in the Amazon Room.

Day 1D of the Main Event has a capacity of 3,800 and, as of 5:00pm PT on Wednesday, nearly half of those seats were sold. In 2009, a total of 6,494 players entered the Main Event, meaning that we’re already guaranteed to have a field larger than last year’s, a welcome sign given the depressed economy. The 2009 attendance would have been even larger had 500 players not been shut out after Day 1D reached capacity. Whether today will have any similar drama remains to be seen.

Wednesday began with PokerStars pro Joe Cada issuing the command to start play. Then, it was UB.com pro Phil Hellmuth’s turn to shine. Several hundred spectators endured 110-degree heat in the Rio parking lot to watch Hellmuth enter as an MMA fighter, including Mike Matusow. When asked by Hellmuth why he was in attendance, Matusow responded that he wanted to watch the “idiocy.” Meanwhile, 2010 bracelet winner Gavin Smith caught a pink UB.com hat tossed to the crowd by several dancers.

Finally, we’d be amiss if we didn’t discuss the trials and tribulations of Illinois native Stuart Nitzkin, the first player eliminated from the Main Event back on Day 1A. He lost a pot with pocket aces when the final board came K-K-10-10-10. Then, he donated his remaining chips with pocket kings after a player with K-10 made a straight. So it goes in poker’s richest tournament.

The survivors from Day 1A and Day 1C will convene for Day 2A on Friday. Those who made it through Day 1B and Day 1D will assemble for Day 2B on Saturday. Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest news, notes, and nuggets from the 2010 WSOP.

FTOPS XVII announced

Full Tilt Poker has announced details of the 17th FTOPS Series. The latest online extravaganza will run from 4th to 15th August and will feature guaranteed prize pools of at least $19m.

Full Tilt Poker announces Rush Week

Starting from Monday 12th and running until Sunday 18th July Full Tilt Poker is running a series of promotions for its Rush Poker games.

Phil Gordon Wins WSOP Ante Up for Africa Event

In a relatively subdued atmosphere compared to previous cycles, the Ante Up for Africa event at the 2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP) drew 83 players. The $5,000 charity poker tournament benefiting victims of the crisis in Darfur raised nearly $300,000.

Ante Up for Africa founders Don Cheadle and Annie Duke were the first two down the red carpet, stopping at each of the dozens of media outlets in attendance to relay why they founded the charity along with Norman Epstein. Actor Ben Affleck, one of the tournament’s leading celebrities, did not walk the red carpet due to a migraine and instead went directly to the tournament room. Among those media outlets reporting on Affleck and others in attendance were Fox 5 Las Vegas, Celebrity Update, and 888.

“Everybody Loves Raymond” actor Brad Garrett followed Duke and Cheadle down the red carpet around 1:00pm at the Rio in Las Vegas. At one point, the extremely tall actor stood behind the much shorter Jennifer Harman, holding her shoulders while delivering an Oscar acceptance speech as if the Full Tilt pro were a small trophy.

Other celebrities who took time to speak with the media included boxing legend Evander Holyfield, Carbon Poker pro Shannon Elizabeth, Pittsburgh Steelers great Jerome Bettis, comedian David Alan Grier, and talk show host Montel Williams. Pros lending their thoughts included Andy Bloch, Greg Raymer, and Rafe Furst.

With Affleck sidelined from the red carpet, fellow actor Matt Damon took up the reigns. In an exclusive video interview, Damon told Poker News Daily how he became involved with the movie “Rounders,” which turned many in the industry on to the game: “Harvey Weinstein had the script at Miramax and said, ‘I have this really great script.’ I was doing ‘Saving Private Ryan’ at the time and he sent it over to England. I read it and thought, ‘This is fantastic.’ It’s this crazy little subculture that nobody ever talks about.” Damon did not rule out the possibility of a follow-up to “Rounders,” which has been rumored to be in the works.

In the end, it was Full Tilt Poker pro Phil Gordon coming out on top in the Ante Up for Africa tournament, defeating Elizabeth heads-up. The “American Pie” actress and runner-up candidly told WSOP officials following the gala, “I wish the rest of my WSOP had gone the way this tournament went.” 2009 WSOP Main Event November Niner Phil Ivey hustled through the red carpet and did not take many interviews. Notably absent was UB.com’s Phil Hellmuth, who finished 15th in the $10,000 Pot Limit Omaha World Championship that took place concurrently.

Chris Ferguson, Howard Lederer, and Erik Seidel did not walk the red carpet, although all three participated in the event. Seidel finished in fifth place after his 8-5 could not draw out on Gordon’s Q-10. Gordon flopped top pair on a 10-high board and never looked back. Ferguson bubbled the final table, also exiting at the hands of Gordon. This time, “Jesus” held pocket twos, which failed to outrace Gordon’s K-Q of diamonds.

Gordon donated his $130,000 first place payday to Ante Up for Africa in a highly generous gesture. Gordon got the best of Elizabeth with Q-3 against K-10 after flopping a queen to seal the win. The tournament marked Elizabeth’s first in the money finish in a WSOP event in three years. Here were the final results from the 2010 running of the Ante Up for Africa event:

1. Phil Gordon – $130,641
2. Shannon Elizabeth – $80,737
3. Alex Filatov – $56,516
4. Carter “BdyBldngpkrplyr” Phillips – $41,166
5. Erik Seidel – $30,287
6. Jerome Bettis – $22,624
7. Barry Hartheimer – $18,146
8. Kyle Carlston – $15,125
9. Claire Renaut – $12,998

Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest headlines from the 2010 WSOP.

Image courtesy WSOP.com

Full Tilt Poker Holding Rush Week Starting July 12th

From Monday, July 12th to Sunday, July 18th, Full Tilt Poker is holding Rush Week. Capitalizing on the popularity of its fast-paced Rush Poker, Full Tilt is dishing out up to $250 in cash per player along with entries into an exclusive $50,000 Rush Week Freeroll.

In honor of Rush Week, which totes “Seven Days of Speed” as its tagline, several guaranteed tournaments on Full Tilt Poker will offer a Rush Poker structure. This means that as soon as a player’s action in a hand has ended, he or she is whisked off to another table with a new set of opponents to begin a brand new hand. The lack of downtime means constant decision-making and the potential to see 300 hands per hour. Rush Poker ring games first appeared on Full Tilt back in January. In April, Rush Poker tournaments were rolled out.

There are several ways to collect cash as part of Rush Week. Players who earn at least 10 Full Tilt Points (FTPs) per day from Rush Poker games on any four days during the promotion will bank $5. If they can perform the same feat on all seven days of Rush Week, they’ll earn $10. Players who amass 100 FTPs per day on any four days during Rush Week will collect $25, while those who can generate 100 FTPs per day on all seven days will earn $50.

Finally, Full Tilt Poker members who accrue 1,000 FTPs per day on any four days during the week will receive $125. Those who can rack up 1,000 FTPs per day on all seven days will take home the grand prize of $250. Players can only take home one cash prize, meaning that the awards for racking up FTPs during Rush Week are not cumulative.

Rush Week officially starts at 00:00 ET on July 12th and ends at 23:59 ET on July 18th. Only FTPs earned in Rush Poker cash games and tournaments are eligible for reaping rewards and bonuses earned as part of Full Tilt’s Rush Week. Happy Hours, while lucrative, don’t count for this promotion.

Similar to other Full Tilt Poker promotions, players must opt into Rush Week in order to qualify. To do so, log into the Full Tilt client and click on the “Cashier” button. Then, click on “My Promotions” and select “Rush Week.” If you’re curious as to where you stand, head back to the “Rush Week” landing page.

Qualifying for the $50,000 Rush Week Freeroll is pretty simple. All you have to do is reach the final table of a Rush Poker tournament during the promotional period. Text found on Full Tilt Poker’s website highlights an important caveat to qualifying: “In Rush Poker Tournaments that do not play down to a final table, all players who win the top prize will be automatically entered into the $50,000 Rush Week Freeroll.”

The $50,000 freeroll is scheduled for Sunday, July 25th at 15:15 ET. Full Tilt has bumped up the number of Rush Poker tournaments on the docket during the week in order to allow plenty players to qualify for the freeroll. Players are automatically entered to the $50,000 freebie, eliminating the hassle of having to register manually.

Full Tilt happily accepts players from the United States and is the world’s second largest online poker site, trailing only PokerStars. Its fleet of sponsored pros includes 2009 World Series of Poker November Niner Phil Ivey, Howard Lederer, and Chris Ferguson. Rush Poker is patent pending in the United States, the European Union, Australia, and Canada. Visit Full Tilt Poker today.

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June 30th – Daily Deal

Welcome back to the Daily Deal by Poker News Daily. Today, we’ll catch you up on the latest news and notes from the two thousand ten World Series of Poker, take a look at California possibly legalizing internet gambling, and go over brand new promotions from Full Tilt and PartyPoker.

Hello, I’m Sean Gibson and welcome to the Daily Deal by Poker News Daily.

To kick things off, we’ll go back to the Rio in Las Vegas once again to recap the action from the two thousand and ten World Series of Poker. Event number forty five was a fifteen hundred dollar no limit holdem tournament and was won by American Jesse Rockowitz for just over seven hundred and twenty thousand dollars. Event number forty-six was a five thousand dollar Omaha high low tournament which was won by Chris Bell who bested both Dan Shak, who finished second, and David “DevilFish” Ulliott who finished third. For his efforts, Bell rung in three hundred and twenty-seven thousand dollars.

Meanwhile, a non-bracelet event took place amid huge fanfare from the Rio in the WSOP Tournament of Champions. Players in this event had to either previously have won it or be voted in through a fan poll. There were five huge casualties on Day 1 of the event, starting with legend Doyle Brunson. Other players busting include two thousand nine world series of poker champion Joe Cada, Andrew Barton and Dan Harrington. The other casualty turned out to be defending champ and WPT host Mike Sexton, leaving seventeen players remaining. Mike “the mouth” matusow is your chip leader, being followed by Huck Seed, Johnny Chan and Scotty Nguyen.

Today, lawmakers in the California Senate Governmental Organization Committee will debate the merits of legalizing and regulating online poker. Senate Bill 1485, introduced by Inglewood Democrat Rod Wright, could help shrink major budget shortfalls in the west coast state. Among those not in favor of the proposed legislation is the Poker Players Alliance.

The PPA takes issue with the bill granting licenses to only three internet gambling “hubs.” In addition, the one million member strong organization disagrees with the bill’s criminalization of those who play on sites not granted licenses. In a letter sent to Wright in late June, the PPA cautioned,

“The measure as drafted would immediately criminalize online poker play well before any of the hubs are operational. It could easily be a year or more before online players could play legally.”

PPA California State Director Steve Miller is testifying at Tuesday’s hearing. As more develops in California, we’ll be reporting the latest as it breaks.

Starting this week, PartyPoker is bringing back its popular Card Rush Instant Win promotion, only this time, it’s super sized. Card Rush XL offers one-point-eight million prizes up for grabs, including cash, freeroll entries, and special leaderboard points. The promotion, which is sure to cause a massive traffic boost on PartyPoker, ends when every card has been given away or July thirty-first, whichever comes first. To claim a card, all you have to do is rack up fifteen Party Points.

Meanwhile, players in the United States can head to Full Tilt Poker, which is dishing out trips to the upcoming WPT Bellagio Cup in Las Vegas. Three direct qualifiers will be held on Full Tilt Poker, the first of which takes place today at twenty-one hundred Eastern Time. In addition, Step Seven sit and gos, which have a buy-in of twenty-one hundred dollars, will award WPT Bellagio Cup prize packages. The tournament has a $10,000 buy-in and begins on July 11th.

Thanks for joining me on the Daily Deal. Don’t forget to visit PokerNewsDaily.com and be sure to follow us at Twitter.com/PokerNewsDaily for the latest in poker news. This is Sean Gibson, wishing you deep runs in all your tournaments!

Sahamies played 87 hands and lost 164,000 dollars

Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies didn’t play very well at Full Tilt Poker last night. Altogether he played 87 hands and managed to lose even 164,000 dollars.

The boisterous Finn played among others $300/$600 PLO and $500/$1000 CAP PLO during the night. The major benefits of “Ziigmund”’s losses were taken by the nick “Vaga_Lion” who managed to earn over 121,000 dollars.

Sahamies’s year has been pretty action-packed so far. In one phase he had already profited over two million dollars, but at the moment his year is “only” about 208,000 dollars on the positive side.

The graph below shows Ziigmund’s winnings this year:

 

Source: Highstakesdb.com and TheHendonMob

 

You just read Poker News from HighStakesNews.com

Sahamies played 87 hands and lost 164,000 dollars

Gavin Smith Wins First World Series of Poker Bracelet

In the $2,500 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Mixed Event – featuring levels that alternate between Limit Hold’em and No Limit Hold’em – nine players came back on Saturday afternoon to determine a champion. Jarred Solomon held a slim lead over Full Tilt Poker’s Gavin Smith when play began, with WSOP Circuit terror Dwyte Pilgrim sitting on the short stack. Starting with Limit Hold’em, the players wasted little time in getting down to business.

Within the first three hours, three players were dispatched from the event. Pilgrim could never get any traction to make a drive at a WSOP bracelet, departing the final table in eighth place. 2007 British Columbia Poker Championship victor Daniel Idema, who came to the felt as the second shortest stack, was also a victim of the early action before leaving the event in seventh place.

Solomon was felted prior to the dinner break by Danny Hannawa and finished in sixth place. After dinner, Hannawa held a 240,000-chip lead over Timothy Finne, Jamie Rosen, Smith, and Michael Michnik. With the game changed to No Limit, several players became more aggressive, attempting to be the last man standing.

Hannawa dumped Rosen in fifth place, at which time Smith took over play. The Canadian aggressively took chips from Michnik and, in a key hand, assumed the chip lead from Hannawa when Smith, holding A-Q, flopped a queen and Hannawa couldn’t beat him. He continued to pound the pot with bets as the game switched to Limit, when he was able to vanquish Michnik in fourth.

After Hannawa was able to defeat Michnik at the end of the Limit level, heads-up play began in No Limit with Smith holding a 400,000-chip edge over Hannawa. After decimating Hannawa with a pair of eights on a 4-2-8-K-10 board, Smith saw fortune fall his way on the final hand. Hannawa committed the remainder of his chips holding a 10-8. After Smith called with his suited A-Q and the board ran A-K-2-J-J, he dropped the “best player to never win a bracelet” tag from his name by winning Event #44:

1. Gavin Smith (Las Vegas, NV) – $268,238
2. Danny Hannawa (Farmington Hills, MI) – $166,050
3. Timothy Finne (Fanwood, NJ) – $110,324
4. Michael Michnik (Hollywood, FL) – $81,871
5. Jamie Rosen (Las Vegas, NV) – $61,441
6. Jarred Solomon (Johannesburg, South Africa) – $46,562
7. Daniel Idema (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada) – $35,601
8. Dwyte Pilgrim (Brooklyn, NY) – $27,438
9. Mike Santoro (Egg Harbor, NJ) – $21,304

In Event #45, another $1,500 No Limit Hold’em tournament, 35 players will return on Sunday afternoon to determine a champion. Sam Trickett, who was the runner-up to Jason DeWitt in the $5,000 No Limit event, holds the chip lead with several notable names in the mix behind him. 2010 WSOP bracelet winner Dutch Boyd sits in fifth, with Paul “X-22” Magriel, Alex Outhred, and Tim “tmay420” West just off the top 10.

Twenty-one players will return for Day 3 in the $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo event, which will probably run deep into Monday morning to determine a champion. Sergey Altbregin leads the tournament when the cards fly this afternoon, but a host of top pros are still in the mix. In second place is David “DevilFish” Ulliott, with Dan Shak and Chris Bell also in the top five. A blast from the past in the top 10 is Leif Force, who is known for his 11th place finish in the 2006 WSOP Main Event. Add in other pros such as Rob Hollink, Dan Heimiller, Allen Kessler, Andy Black, “Miami” John Cernuto, and Erik Seidel and the final day of this tournament will be one to watch.

Two tournaments opened up play on Saturday, with the first Day 1 of the latest $1,000 No Limit Hold’em event pulling in 1,759 entries. 310 players survived the carnage on Saturday to come back for Day Two on Monday. The final size of the field will be determined with the second Day 1 taking place on Sunday.

In Day One of the $2,500 Mixed Event, 453 players stepped up to test themselves against one of the toughest formats in poker. 192 will come back for Day 2 today, with Jared Jaffee holding the overnight chip lead. $50,000 Player’s Championship winner Michael Mizrachi is in fifth place, with other stars of the game such as Luca Pagano, Brandon Cantu, Steve Billirakis, Dario Alito, Alex Kravchenko, Scott Seiver, Andrew Robl, and 2010 double bracelet winner Frank Kassela all in the top 20.

While these tournaments all are featuring a great deal of star power, they will be dwarfed by the only tournament that starts today. The WSOP Tournament of Champions, which features 27 of the biggest names in the poker world, opens up play Sunday at Noon PT.

It looks to be a battle of the online poker rooms, as nine members of the Full Tilt Poker stable (Phil Ivey, Chris Ferguson, Allen Cunningham, John Juanda, Seidel, Jennifer Harman, Huck Seed, Howard Lederer and Mike Matusow) will hit the felt against six PokerStars pros (Daniel Negreanu, Barry Greenstein, Greg Raymer, Joe Hachem, Joe Cada, and Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier). Team UB sends its most prominent representatives in Phil Hellmuth and Annie Duke, while Doyle Brunson represents DoylesRoom. Defending Tournament of Champions titleholder Mike Sexton will carry the PartyPoker banner as he attempts to repeat.

It all makes for one of the busiest Sundays during the run of this year’s World Series of Poker.

Full Tilt Poker Launches WPT Bellagio Cup Qualifiers

Starting on Sunday, June 27th, players on Full Tilt Poker can win their way into the upcoming World Poker Tour (WPT) Bellagio Cup VI. Direct and Step Sit and Go qualifiers will be available on the world’s second largest online poker site until July 4th.

The Bellagio Cup VI kicks off on July 11th from the Bellagio in Las Vegas and crowns a champion five days later. The $10,300 buy-in for this year’s Bellagio Cup has been drastically reduced from last year’s $15,400 price tag. Full Tilt Poker is awarding $12,000 prize packages, which includes the $10,300 Bellagio Cup seat plus $1,700 in spending money to use for travel and lodging. The Bellagio Cup runs concurrently with the end of the 2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event, which emanates from the nearby Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino.

Three direct qualifiers will be held on Full Tilt Poker, the first of which takes place on Tuesday, June 29th at 21:00 ET. The first qualifier comes with a $322 buy-in. The second direct satellite to the WPT Bellagio Cup VI plays out on Thursday, July 1st and features a high-stakes $1,060 buy-in. The final direct qualifier occurs on Independence Day in the United States – July 4th – at 16:30 ET and has a $640 buy-in. Satellites are available for as low as $1 or 50 Full Tilt Points (FTPs). In each direct qualifier, at least one $12,000 WPT prize package is up for grabs.

Step 7 Sit and Gos will also award prize packages to the Bellagio Cup and begin on June 28th. Every Step 7 Sit and Go comes with a $2,100 buy-in, while the first step costs only $3.30. For players who qualify for the Bellagio Cup through Full Tilt Poker, discounted room rates at the hallmark Las Vegas Strip hotel are available. Everyone who qualifies must be at least 21 years of age, which is the legal live gambling age in the United States.

Meanwhile, Full Tilt Poker has awarded 1,257 seats to the 2010 WSOP Main Event, which begins on July 5th with the first of four starting days. Only one day of qualifiers remains for those looking to punch their tickets to poker’s largest tournament. Last Sunday, Full Tilt coughed up 150 Main Event seats as part of a $640 satellite and is awarding a colossal $10 million bonus for qualifiers who go on to win it all.

In 2000, Full Tilt Poker pro Chris Ferguson won the WSOP Main Event for $1.5 million, besting poker veteran T.J. Cloutier heads-up in a final table that also included Hasan Habib, author Jim McManus, 2009 November Niner Jeff Shulman, and Mickey Appleman. 2000 also marked the year that UB.com pro and Poker News Daily Guest Columnist Annie Duke bubbled the Main Event final table, finishing 10th for $52,000.

Full Tilt recently kicked off the second season of its España Poker Series. Casino Castell de Peralada in Gerona hosted the first event in April, which boasted a €1,500 buy-in. Earlier this month, Málaga’s Casino Torrequebrada was the venue for event #2 of the España Poker Series, while Madrid’s Casino Gran will host the third stop in August. The Grand Final will occur at the Gran Casino de Barcelona from December 2nd to 5th.

Full Tilt happily accepts players from the United States. According to PokerScout.com, which keeps tabs on online poker room activity, Full Tilt is the second busiest site worldwide in terms of real money ring game traffic with a seven-day running average of 13,800 players. It weighs in at about half of the cash game traffic of PokerStars, the world’s largest site.

Head to Full Tilt Poker to qualify for the WPT Bellagio Cup VI.

Dean Hamrick, Ian Gordon Win World Series of Poker Bracelets

In action that ran into the early morning hours at the Rio in Las Vegas, Dean Hamrick and Ian Gordon took down their first World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelets.

In Event #42, a $1,500 No Limit Hold’em event, 25 players came back from the original 2,521 runners to play down to a champion. Top players such as Humberto Brenes, Mike Sowers, MMA fighter Mike Swick, and Poker News Daily Guest Columnist Bernard Lee all came back for action on Day 3. Sowers and Lee would not survive the early action, departing the tables in 25th and 21st place, respectively.

Down to two tables, Brenes began to get most of the attention. Unfortunately, the hubbub was from WSOP tournament directors. On two separate occasions, WSOP officials were called because of actions by the Costa Rican poker pro, with the second occurrence earning him a one-hand penalty for trying to influence action at the table. Brenes was unable to get much going during Day 3 and left the event in 16th place.

Roughly three hours after Brenes’ departure, the final table was determined when Swick was eliminated in 10th place at the hands of Thomas O’Neal. A veteran of “The Ultimate Fighter” and currently in the UFC welterweight stable, Swick has also dabbled in poker. Not only was his cash for $34,748 his best ever at the WSOP, it was also the third in the money finish of his career.

O’Neal was the chip leader in the early going, but Niccolo Caramatti was able to work his way into the lead. Caramatti was responsible for the elimination of three of the first four players at the final table, but O’Neal hung around. Hamrick derailed Caramatti’s run, as over the span of two hands, Caramatti’s stack ended up in his hands. After Hamrick dispatched Ian Wiley in third, the heads-up match was set.

Over the span of the next three hours, O’Neal and Hamrick sparred, with O’Neal working his way out to a 4-1 lead. O’Neal was unable to finish his opponent off, however, and Hamrick worked his way back into the chip lead. In a tough final hand, Hamrick limped from the button only to face a raise to 700,000 from O’Neal. Hamrick moved all-in and O’Neal made an immediate call. Tabling their cards, O’Neal held A-9 to Hamrick’s A-Q. An ace came on the flop, but no nine was in the cards for O’Neal, eliminating him from the tournament and giving Hamrick, who was sweated by defending Main Event champion Joe Cada, his first WSOP bracelet:

1. Dean Hamrick (East Lansing, MI) – $604,222
2. Thomas O’Neal (League City, TX) – $375,627
3. Ian Wiley (Las Vegas, NV) – $265,869
4. Niccolo Caramatti (London, United Kingdom) – $191,744
5. Aaron Kaiser (Silver Spring, MD) – $140,013
6. Ryan Hemmel (Long Valley, NJ) – $103,461
7. Andrew Rosskamm (Gates Mills, OH) – $77,392
8. Thomas Johnson (Bermuda Dunes, CA) – $58,571
9. Aaron Gustavson (Las Vegas, NV) – $44,856

One of the most watched events in the Rio on Friday was the $10,000 HORSE World Championship, which featured several top poker names among its 23 remaining players. Leading the field was Carlos Mortensen, but such notable names as Scotty Nguyen, Brian Townsend, Cuong Do, Todd Brunson, Marco Traniello, and Nick Schulman were in hot pursuit. Little did anyone know that this final table would also stretch into the early hours of Saturday and feature an unlikely victor.

Several top players including WSOP Player of the Year contender Allen “Chainsaw” Kessler, Al Barbieri, Nguyen, Brunson, and Robert Mizrachi were eliminated in the early going. Tension was high among the survivors, with one of the most prestigious WSOP bracelets and $611,666 up for grabs.

Once Townsend was eliminated in tenth place at approximately 8:00pm PT, WSOP officials requested that, after the next elimination, the players delay final table play until Saturday afternoon to avoid playing into the wee hours of the night. After some intense discussion, the decision was made to continue until a champion was determined.

When Scott Fischman was eliminated in ninth, the official final table was set and started just after 10:00pm. Matt Glantz took the early advantage, although Ian Gordon appeared to keep pace with him. More of the top names – and favorites to win the championship – disappeared through the early morning, including Mortensen, Schulman, and Glantz. By 4:00am, there were still three contenders for the crown – 2010 bracelet winner Richard Ashby, Eugene Katchalov, and Gordon.

Over the span of the next hour and a half, Gordon began to jump out to a lead. Ashby dumped Katchalov in third place to set up what would be a quick heads-up match. With the blinds reaching astronomical levels during the Hold’em segment of the tournament, Ashby put his remaining chips in the center while holding a suited A-J. Gordon held pocket nines and, once no saving cards came for Ashby, Gordon earned the HORSE bracelet:

1. Ian Gordon (Missoula, MT) – $611,666
2. Richard Ashby (Watford, United Kingdom) – $378,027
3. Eugene Katchalov (New York, NY) – $248,831
4. Marco Johnson (Walnut Creek, CA) – $181,503
5. Matthew Glantz (Lafayette Hill, PA) – $135,040
6. Carlos Mortensen (Henderson, NV) – $102,237
7. Nick Schulman (New York, NY) – $78,654
8. Marco Traniello (Las Vegas, NV) – $61,414

There will be one final table when play starts on Saturday at the WSOP. In the $2,500 Mixed Hold’em tournament (Event #44), Jarred Solomon is the chip leader with 748,000. There are a few notable names looking to derail him from his march to the title, as Full Tilt Poker pro Gavin Smith sits in second with 745,000 in chips, Daniel Idema has 237,000, and WSOP Circuit mainstay Dwyte Pilgrim is stacked with 196,000.

Two tournaments held their first day of play on Friday, with Event #45, a $1,500 No Limit Hold’em tournament, drawing 3,097 players. According to the WSOP chip totals, 400 players remain, with Will “The Thrill” Failla holding the chip lead at 156,000. Event #46, $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha High-Low, drew 284 players and played down to 130 at the end of action on Friday. Steve Chanthabouasy is the chip leader, but such names as Mike Matusow, David “DevilFish” Ulliott, Tony Cousineau, “Miami” John Cernuto, and Barry Greenstein all are in the top 10.

Saturday will mark the beginning of two more tournaments, with another $1,000 No Limit Hold’em event kicking off at Noon. Event #48, a $2,500 Mixed Game tournament featuring the same Eight Game format of the Player’s Championship, will start at 5:00pm and should draw a strong starting field. With five tournaments in action around the Rio, the WSOP should be a busy place throughout Saturday.

Frank Kassela, Scott Montgomery Win WSOP Bracelets

Wednesday was a busy day at the World Series of Poker (WSOP), one that began with Phil Ivey being awarded his eighth career bracelet and ended with three more players collecting hardware of their own. Events 36, 39, and 40 crowned winners in the Amazon Room, with a pair of familiar faces standing on top at the end of the night.

Full Tilt Poker pro Scott Montgomery picked up his first piece of WSOP hardware on Wednesday by winning the $1,000 No Limit Hold’em Event #36. Montgomery, who was a member of the original WSOP November Nine in 2008, bested a field of 3,102 players to win the gold bracelet.

Montgomery admittedly ran hot just to reach the final table on Tuesday and his scorching run of cards continued on the final day. He began the final table eighth in chips, but his aggression fueled him to the top of the leaderboard and ultimately the $481,760 first prize. Montgomery took a huge chip lead into heads-up play against Mick Carlson and sent the Indiana native to the rail in just 15 minutes. On the final hand, a short-stacked Carlson moved all-in with Kd-2s and Montgomery called with Ad-7h. The board didn’t help Carlson and he earned $297,996 for his runner-up finish.

Montgomery, meanwhile, became the fourth Canadian to win a bracelet at the 2010 WSOP, joining Miguel Proulx, Aadam Daya, and Pascal Lefrancois. He eclipsed the $4,000,000 mark in career live tournament earnings.

1. Scott Montgomery – $481,760
2. Mick Carlson – $297,996
3. Adam Richardson – $210,892
4. Daniel Fuhs – $152,655
5. Sebastien Roy – $111,783
6. John Dolan – $82,804
7. Peter Dufek – $62,033
8. Timothy Beeman – $46,985
9. Michael Michnik – $35,986

Frank Kassela, Maxwell Troy, Vladimir Schmelev, Jennifer Harman, and Stuart Rutter all made repeat appearances at a final table when the $2,500 Seven Card Razz event reached its final eight players Wednesday evening. After 12 grueling hours of play, Kassela defeated Troy for the title, becoming the first player to win two bracelets in 2010.

Kassela, a father of five from Memphis, Tennessee, earned $214,084 in prize money, but battled from start to finish getting there. Kassela worked with a short stack for most of the tournament, crawling his way up the pay ladder before going on a rush early on Wednesday and entering the final table third in chips. From there, Kassela picked his spots wisely and overcame a 2:1 chip disadvantage to defeat Troy for the victory.

1. Frank Kassela – $214,085
2. Maxwell Troy – $132,229
3. Melville Lewis – $85,284
4. Vladimir Schmelev – $61,795
5. Mikko Pispala – $45,433
6. Jennifer Harman – $33,890
7. Stuart Rutter – $25,646
8. Chris Bjorin – $19,686

The $1,500 No Limit Hold’em Shootout played from 14 players down to one on Wednesday and, with notables Annette Obrestad and J.C. Tran vying for the title, gained a fair amount of interest going into the final day. Obrestad built a giant stack early on, but lost a pair of coin flips to cripple her and she eventually followed Tran to the rail before the final table was formed.

Jeff King eliminated Justin Scott in ninth place, propelling him to a chip lead that he would hang onto for most of the night. However, it was a 21 year-old pro from California that stepped up and claimed victory on Wednesday. Steven Kelly dominated in the late stages of the final table and took a significant chip lead into heads-up play against King. Then, at around 1:40am local time, King moved all-in for his last 1.5 million chips with Ks-Qd and Kelly made the call with Ah-9d. The board ran out Js-9c-3s-2c-3h and Kelly was instantly $381,922 wealthier.

1. Steven Kelly – $381,922
2. Jeff King – $236,819
3. Derric Haynie – $161,117
4. Dustin Dirksen – $112,214
5. Reagan Leman – $78,361
6. Brett Shaffer – $56,446
7. Paul Varano – $40,887
8. Michael Cooper – $30,119
9. Justin Scott – $22,575

Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the continuous updates from the 2010 WSOP.

Phil Hellmuth Vying for 12th WSOP Bracelet in Omaha High-Low Split Event

A win for UB.com pro Phil Hellmuth in Event #41 of the 2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP), $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha High-Low Split Eight or Better, would be monumental on several levels. First, a “W” would mean Hellmuth’s 12th bracelet, a new record. Also, it would mark the “Poker Brat’s” first win in a non-Hold’em tournament, getting the proverbial monkey off his back. Hellmuth owns the fourth largest stack with 15 players remaining.

Hellmuth already has two deep runs at this year’s World Series. The 11-time bracelet winner finished 15th in Event #8, $1,500 No Limit Hold’em, and cashed for $25,000. Nine events later, it was back to the cage after finishing 50th in a $5,000 No Limit Hold’em tournament for $14,000. Given that all of his hardware has come in No Limit Hold’em, many consider Hellmuth to be the top player in the world in that genre of poker.

Hellmuth may have felt the heat earlier this week from Full Tilt Poker pro Phil Ivey, who said he’s gunning for 30 bracelets after taking down his eighth in a $3,000 HORSE event. Hellmuth responded with a deep run in Event #41, dispatching Cody Culp in 17th place. Hellmuth flopped top set, which held for the win.

Twitter was ablaze on Wednesday with Hellmuth giving updates on his progress during the second day of play in the Omaha High-Low Split event. Perhaps facetiously, he called his shot entering Wednesday’s action: “Ended Day One of Omaha 8/b with $31,600… another Day Two, but this feels different to me, maybe a cash, maybe a final table, maybe more…” Then, word of a Hellmuth sighting in the top 100 spread like wildfire around the internet: “Wow! I Ah-3h-3s-8d, flop Qd-Qh-3d, p1 bet, p2 call, p3 all in, I call $20,100, fold, fold, p3 had Q-J-10-10, I win; have over 60k!! 98 left.”

Hellmuth’s final chirp came just before 3:00am PT on Thursday morning after play had concluded for the day: “15 left in Omaha 8/b, and I am 4th in chips w $331,000, blinds will be 6k-12k tomorrow. All I can do is focus on playing great poker.” Hellmuth will have to contend with a talented lineup that includes three-time bracelet winner and PokerStars sponsored pro Barry Greenstein. Here’s how the final 15 shake out:

1. Ryan Karp – 564,000
2. Steve Jelinek – 538,000
3. Joel Ettedgi – 419,000
4. Phil Hellmuth – 331,000
5. Ben Lamb – 320,000
6. John Gottlieb – 277,000
7. Michael Chappus – 260,000
8. Jeffrey Baker – 247,000
9. Barry Greenstein – 204,000
10. Anders Taylor – 202,000
11. Darren Sprengers – 144,000
12. Bryan Andrews – 122,000
13. Igor Gotz – 105,000
14. Amanda Thomas – 60,000
15. Anthony Cousineau – 22,000

Elsewhere, UB.com pro Annie Duke finished Day 1 of the $10,000 HORSE Championship in 39th place with a stack of 61,600. Russia’s Sergey Altbregin and the World Poker Tour’s all-time money leader, Carlos Mortensen, lead the way with stacks of 143,000 and 125,800, respectively. A field of 169 will take to the felts today. Duke took a sizable hit to her stack during Hold’em play after she turned two pair with A-Q. However, close friend Perry Friedman, who was instrumental to Duke’s fundraising efforts on NBC’s “Celebrity Apprentice,” held pocket fives for a set and scooped a mammoth pot.

Duke one-outed Ivey in Omaha, making quads against Ivey’s trip aces. According to coverage found on WSOP.com, Duke exclaimed, “Oh my god! I just hit a one-outer on Phil Ivey! I had three queens in Omaha, and he had three aces, and I made quads!” In case you’re wondering, Ivey did not reach Day 2 of the HORSE Championship.

Will it be bracelet #12 for Hellmuth today? Stay tuned to Poker News Daily to find out.

Sahamies approaching Antonius in profits, the downswing of “Isildur1? still continues

June has been anything but action-packed in Full Tilt Poker’s high stakes games. However, this week has shown that the game scene is livening up again: there have been big names - like Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies, Cole South, Tom “durrrr” Dwan and ”Isildur1″ - playing at the tables.

 

Patrik Antonius’s 345,000 dollar profits are still the biggest of the month, but the other Finn, Ilari Sahamies, is not far behind with his 284,000 dollar June winnings. Third on the list is Tom “durrrr” Dwan who has managed to play almost 1,200 hands and to earn 255,000 dollars at Full Tilt while being busy with WSOP as well.

So far Joel “Odonkor1??” Nordqvist is leading the loser list of the month due to his 235,000 dollar losses, but seems like “Isildur1″ is approaching him quickly. After last night the mysterious Swede has already lost more than 200,000 dollars during June.  

Source: HSDB and The Hendon Mob

 

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Sahamies approaching Antonius in profits, the downswing of “Isildur1″ still continues

ESPN Inside Deal: Phil Ivey to Sit Out WSOP Tournament of Champions?

With regular hosts Laura Lane on vacation and Bernard Lee in Las Vegas, ESPN Poker Editor Andrew Feldman assumed the helm of “Inside Deal.” The ESPN.com poker news show sponsored by PokerStars welcomed Barry Greenstein.

Lee appeared via satellite from Sin City, where he’s competing in the 2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP). With five final tables coming up on ESPN3.com, Lee explained what viewers might witness in the $25,000 No Limit Hold’em Six-Max event, which starts on June 30th: “I don’t think there are going to be huge names that the general public knows. We’ll probably see a couple of people that are very familiar, but we’ll also see some people who are very big online names, but the general public won’t know them.”

Pros have dominated the 2010 WSOP so far. In fact, through the first 37 completed events, pros have taken down 25 bracelets, or a 68% success rate. Lee gave his take on the past month of action: “It’s the Year of the Redemption. I also think the Year of the Pro is coming about. A lot of these people who are having their redemption years and second bracelets are pros. It really shows that their experience is coming through.”

Greenstein finished ninth in the voting for the 2010 WSOP Tournament of Champions out of the 20 players voted in by the general public. On top of the leaderboard was Full Tilt Poker pro Phil Ivey, who Greenstein noted might not even play in the invite-only event: “I haven’t even talked to Phil about it. I would guess he would play. What he was probably concerned about was the way they had it set up initially, it was going to conflict with him playing in events and he has a bunch of side bets.”

Last week on the ESPN “Poker Edge” podcast, co-host Phil Gordon told Feldman and the show’s listeners, “I heard that Phil Ivey is not even going to play. I was told that because there is a bracelet event the same day as the TOC, Phil isn’t going to play the TOC… You might be seeing Ivey running back and forth from the TV table.” Feldman then suggested holding the Tournament of Champions over the November Nine weekend.

On the field of 27 that will take to the felts in the Tournament of Champions, which includes 25 bracelet winners and two qualifiers, Greenstein told “Inside Deal” viewers: “Some people were complaining, ‘Hey, why didn’t we get some of the newer, younger players?’ This is really more like an all-star game and is based more on the career you put forward, so I’m happy that people consider me in the top 20 most popular players.” Greenstein received just over 9,800 votes for the Tournament of Champions, while Ivey and Daniel Negreanu each earned over 16,000.

Attendance for Mixed Games at the 2010 WSOP is up compared to last year. In Greenstein’s eyes, the growth is in part due to the influence of the world’s largest online poker rooms like PokerStars: “It’s been helped by the Eight-Game on PokerStars and I think some of the other sites have put on Mixed Games. It makes poker more interesting. I’ve always enjoyed, when I play cash games, playing as many games as possible. It’s boring to play one game.” Greenstein added that he used to take bathroom breaks during Limit Hold’em rounds because grew tired of the age-old poker variation.

Lee and Greenstein debated the merits of adding other tournaments to the annual WSOP schedule. Greenstein, who sits on the WSOP Player’s Advisory Council, revealed that online poker players have asked for a Six-Max Pot Limit Omaha Championship. Lee pitched combination games like a Lowball Championship and Stud Championship.

“Inside Deal” is released every week exclusively on ESPN.com.

Annette Obrestad Eyes Second WSOP Bracelet in $1,500 NLHE Shootout

Full Tilt Poker pro Annette “Annette_15” Obrestad is within inches of capturing her second World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet. Obrestad famously took down the 2007 WSOP Europe Main Event, the first ever running of the £10,000 buy-in tournament, and banked £1 million. She’s making her Las Vegas WSOP debut this year and a bracelet win would be the icing on the cake for the 21 year-old.

Fourteen players remain in the $1,500 No Limit Hold’em Shootout, the 39th event of the 2010 WSOP. Among them is Obrestad, who, prior to the tournament series, jumped from Betfair to the USA-friendly Full Tilt Poker. Now, she’s vying to become the first woman to win an open event at the 2010 WSOP and the latest in a string of pros to capture hardware this year, a list that includes Phil Ivey, Men “The Master” Nguyen, and Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi.

The field of 14 survivors will split into two tables of seven. The tournament began with 1,400 competitors and, in a shootout format, players must win their tables in order to advance. Tuesday’s finale saw Obrestad compete against a starting group that included Scott Sitron and Fatima Moreira de Melo, whom she beat heads-up to move on to Wednesday’s finale. The top 14 players are guaranteed $7,000, with a grand prize of $382,000 on the line.

Poker pro J.C. Tran is one major obstacle that stands in Obrestad’s path to her second WSOP bracelet. Tran won the Main Event of the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker in 2006 for nearly $700,000. One year later, he took down the World Poker Tour’s World Poker Challenge for $683,000. Tran has two WSOP bracelets, which came in 2008 in a $1,500 No Limit Hold’em event and last year in a $2,500 Pot Limit Omaha contest. All told, Tran has over $2 million in career WSOP and Circuit Event earnings. The action picks back up at 2:30pm PT today.

The lone bracelet awarded on Tuesday went to Hungary’s Valdemar Kwaysser, who took down the Pot Limit Hold’em Championship (Event #38) for $617,000. Kwaysser outlasted a field of 268 and edged out Canadian Matt Marafioti heads-up. Five countries were represented at the final table; the only bracelet winner in contention, Blair Rodman, finished in eighth place.

Kwaysser joined Peter Gelencser and Peter Traply as the only residents of Hungary ever to take down WSOP events. Kwaysser, 26, lives in Budapest and has been playing poker for five years. On the Hungarian poker community, he told WSOP officials, “We help each other a lot. I truly believe that why Hungary has done so well, considering the size of the country which is small, is because we all stick together, and we learn together, and discuss poker together.”

DoylesRoom Brunson 10 member Dani Stern took fifth in the Pot Limit Hold’em Championship and cashed for $161,000. Stern finished one spot on the leaderboard ahead of PokerStars North American Poker Tour Venetian winner Tom Marchese, who banked $123,000 for his sixth place showing. The man who Marchese defeated in the televised Venetian tournament, Sam Stein, was the final table bubble boy in Event #38.

The Pot Limit Hold’em Championship marked the second in the money finish of the 2010 WSOP for Marchese and the first for Stern. Here’s how the final table cashed out:

1. Valdemar Kwaysser – $617,214
2. Matt Marafioti – $381,507
3. James Calderaro – $284,845
4. Konstantin Bucherl – $214,106
5. Dani Stern – $161,934
6. Tom Marchese – $123,264
7. Peter Jetten – $94,394
8. Blair Rodman – $72,754
9. Alexander Kuzmin – $56,404

Two events fire up today from the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. At Noon PT, a $1,500 No Limit Hold’em tournament will begin. Five hours later, the cards hit the air in the $10,000 HORSE World Championship. Keep it tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest WSOP results.

Celebrating Father’s Day from Poker in Twitter

With Father’s Day on Sunday, many of the pros in the poker world took the time to send their best wishes to their dads. “Happy Father’s Day to all the great Dad’s out there!,” Liz Lieu Tweeted to her followers, while Erica Schoenberg added her tribute: “Dad, thanks 4 being the degen that I know & love. I wouldn’t b where I am w/out you or your love 4 the ponies, blackjack, craps, casino war.”

Joe Sebok had perhaps the best Father’s Day gift in mind when he said to his father Barry Greenstein, “Happy Father’s Day to the big man, @barrygreenstein. a bracelet seems like a good gift to give yourself.”

During the play of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) at the Rio in Las Vegas, there have been some strange requests from fans to their poker playing idols. A couple of weeks back, Shannon Elizabeth turned down a request to sign a guy’s chest, but the men weren’t quite as shy. “Girl from South America wanted me to sign her boob,” Doyle Brunson Tweeted to his fans. “How could a gentleman refuse?” PokerStars front man Daniel Negreanu also got a strange request: “Some woman just asked me to sign her tramp stamp area. She’s going to get a tattoo there to surprise her husband.”

On the calmer side of autographs, Erik Seidel still had an odd request. “Saw the guy who wants me to sign the book he thinks I wrote,” Seidel, who has never authored a book, Tweeted. “Can’t wait to see who he’s mistaken me for. I’m hoping it’s Doyle.”

Prop betting at the tables has once again been a popular pastime at the WSOP. “John Hennigan joined the table and instantly started side bets with @durrrr!,” tournament director Matt Savage reported from the felt as he played the $3,000 HORSE tournament. Negreanu also got in on the action: “I just laid 100-1 with Kathy Liebert that I will make Day 2 of this event. She bet 100 bucks. I’d lose 10k. I know it’s a bad bet. I don’t care!” No word on the action at Savage’s table, but Negreanu will make at least $100 after making it to Day 2 in his event.

DoylesRoom pro Amit “amak316” Makhija also was looking for some action over Twitter. “Open challenge to anyone in the Twitterverse,” Makhija started in the first of two Tweets. “Looking for a 3k most money cashed for bet in the 10kplh today at 5. If I don’t know you well give me 3k at the beginning of the tournament and respond to this before it starts and were booked! Let’s go!” Apparently, Makhija received the action he was looking for, Tweeting soon afterwards, “Booked with @ShannonShorr he’s insta taking all my prop bet offers this summer, good to see someone knows a whale when they see one. Gl!”

During another event at the WSOP, Maria “Maridu” Mayrinck and Maria Ho ended up at the same table, which turned out to be more interesting for its side antics than the action on the felt. “This is the weirdest HORSE table I’ve ever played at,” Mayrinck stated upon arrival. “When I got moved to this table a player & the dealer were yelling at each other about to fight & I’m yelling floor!” Moments later, Mayrinck added another report of a fight through a Tweet: “Fight 3 almost broke out at my table. They are nuts!” Ho added in her two cents: “Add a crazy/smelly/dealer abuser and a douchebag to the lineup.”

Things were better over the weekend for Ho, as she teamed up with her partner in crime from “Amazing Race,” UB.com pro Tiffany Michelle, to celebrate Michelle’s birthday. “The girls at Eve nightclub for Tiffany’s bday bash!,” Ho Tweeted along with a picture of the crew. “Great time with great people!” Liv Boeree was part of the revelry and also sent a Twitpic of the gathering of the ladies. Alex Outhred felt a little left out of the festivities, Tweeting, “So mad I missed all the fun! -looks like it was a happy bday! I didn’t wanna hurt anyone on the dance floor.”

To wrap the weekend with the best Tweets, we have to go no further than Seidel, who offered up the gem, “Daily observation: Abuse dealers, and you will be dealt a life that sucks.” New Full Tilt Poker pro Lacey Jones put her own spin on a classic adage: “When life gives you lemons… stuff them in your bra.” Finally, Elizabeth came up with a Tweet that accurately told everyone what she was up to: “Today’s another fun filled day of poker! What? It’s that time of year. What’d you expect me to be doing? Knitting?”

“XWINK” made good profits during the weekend

The WSOP 2010 still keeps Full Tilt Poker’s high stakes tables quiet. But not all the players have gone to Las Vegas which means there is at least some action at the tables.

Recently “XWINK” - also known from UltimateBet - has been doing pretty well at Full Tilt. Last weekend he profited over 123,000 dollars, and now his June earnings are already 192,000 dollars.

• “XWINK”’s two better pairs take the $30K pot

 

Once “XWINK” did wild rises at UltimateBet - we’ll see if he manages to do the same at Full Tilt Poker.  

Patrik Antonius (+345K) is still leading in June profits whereas last month’s big winner, Jared “harrington25″ Bleznick (-265K), has taken the first place on the losers of the month -list.  

Source: HSDB and The Hendon Mob

 

You just read Poker News from HighStakesNews.com

“XWINK” made good profits during the weekend

Eight Remain in Aussie Millions High Roller Coverage on GSN

GSN’s coverage of the 2010 Aussie Millions continued on Saturday night as part of the network’s poker block. The one-hour episode, which began at 9:00pm ET, featured 15 players remaining in the AUD $100,000 High Roller event, including a star studded feature table.

Paul Khoury and Grub Smith had the call of the action from the Crown Casino in Melbourne. Whereas past episodes of the Aussie Millions on GSN have focused almost exclusively on pros of Full Tilt Poker, the show’s sponsor, producers branched out this time around. Among the beneficiaries of the expanded coverage was Bill Jordanou, who committed his chips pre-flop with A-J and ran into the wired pair of eights of Roberto Romanello. Jordanou spiked an ace on the turn and doubled up.

PartyPoker front man Tony G, who bought everyone in the house a drink earlier in the evening, and Howard Lederer checked a flop of J-9-9 to see a six on the turn. Lederer, holding Q-10, bet 30,000 and Tony G min-raised to 60,000 with pocket sixes for a boat. Lederer wisely got out of the way and Tony G continued to add to his stack. The European has been relatively quiet for much of the broadcast of the High Roller Event, a far cry from his antics on the PokerStars sponsored “Big Game,” which airs nightly during the week on Fox.

Lederer raised to 24,000 with A-10 and Romanello, holding pocket nines, raised the pot to 84,000. Lederer called and the flop came 2-2-J. Romanello moved all-in for an extra 6,000 and Lederer called despite holding air. The turn came a harmless seven, but Lederer hit a 10 on the river to send Romanello out. The Full Tilt Poker pro moved to fourth in chips as a result.

Pre-flop, Tony G made it 23,000 with A-8 of spades and Lederer came along with K-10. The flop came Q-4-10 with two spades and the action went check-check to an offsuit seven on the turn. Lederer bet 35,000 and Tony G tossed in a button to receive 30 seconds of extra time before electing to call. The poker bad boy hit lightning in a bottle on the river when the deuce of spades peeled off, giving him the nut flush. Lederer bet 60,000, Tony G moved all-in over the top for 92,000, and Lederer folded despite the discounted price to call. The pot was worth 244,000.

GSN coverage of the Aussie Millions does not display the value of the pot. In addition, bet, call, and raise amounts are only displayed for a few seconds, making the action difficult to follow. In the final hand of the night, Phil Ivey took center stage. The 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event November Niner raised to 25,000 pre-flop with A-9 and Masa Kagawa re-raised to 85,000 with Big Slick. Ivey moved all-in over the top for 185,000 and Kagawa called for his tournament life.

Ivey hit a nine on the flop to take the lead for good in the hand and send Kagawa out in ninth place, setting up the eight-handed final table that will air next Saturday on GSN at 9:00pm ET. The group will feature Ivey, Tony G, Lederer, and Tony G.

GSN’s Saturday night poker block begins at 6:00pm ET. Starting on August 14th, the Aussie Millions will be replaced with the Full Tilt Poker Doubles Championship:

High Stakes Poker, Season 4 – 6:00pm ET
High Stakes Poker, Season 5 – 7:00pm ET
High Stakes Poker, Season 6 – 8:00pm ET
Aussie Millions – 9:00pm ET
High Stakes Poker, Season 5 (repeat) – 10:00pm ET
Million Dollar Challenge – 11:00pm ET
Aussie Millions (repeat) – 12:00am ET
High Stakes Poker, Season 4 (repeat) – 1:00am ET
High Stakes Poker, Season 6 (repeat) – 2:00am ET

Master Falls Short: WSOP Day 23 Recap

There were thousands of poker players in the Rio with six events on the schedule and two final tables.

There were seniors, H.O.R.S.E. players and heads-up specialists all looking to bring their best poker game.

Nguyen and Papola grabbed most of the attention but here's a closer look at what occurred on Day 23 of the 2010 WSOP:

Event #32 - $5k No-Limit Hold'em Six-Handed

The final day of Event 32 brought out a star-studded group of 12 players that included Erick Lindgren, Men "The Master" Nguyen and French upstart Anthony Roux.

Lindgren seemed to be the best choice to win the event as he was one of the chip leaders by the time the final table of six was set.

Instead the Team Full Tilt Poker pro was the first player to bust and Nguyen and upstart online player Jeff Papola would host a marathon heads-up battle.

After approximately five hours of heads-up play, Papola emerged the victor and took home a massive $667,433 first place prize, not to mention a shiny new WSOP bracelet.

Event #33- $2.5k Pot -Limit Hold'em/Omaha

Jose Luis Velador already had a bracelet to his name but now he has two. Today he took down $260,517 when he won the $2,500 Pot Limit Omaha/Pot Limit Hold-em mix.

Players dropped like flies from the start until only 4 time bracelet winner David Chiu stood in Velador's way.

The pace didn't slow down once it was heads up. It only took about thirty minutes for the match finish. David Chiu took home $160,902 for second place.

Event #34 - $1k Seniors No-Limit Hold'em Championship

A total of 428 players took to the felt on Day 2 of the widely popular Seniors Event.

The goal was to play all the way down to a final table of nine but by 3 a.m., well past early bird special time, tournament directors decided to call it a night with 26 players remaining.

T.J. Cloutier, Susie Isaacs and Barry Johnston were among the notables finishing in the cash.

On Sunday the 26 remaining players will play down to a winner.

Former WSOP Player of the Year Tom Schneider is the most well-known player still in the running to ship a bracelet in this event. He's 14th in chips with 284,000.

Play resumes at 2:30 p.m.

Event #35 - $10k Heads-Up Hold'em Championship

The latest $10k Championship event drew lots of railbirds to the Amazon Room, as poker's best squared off in heads-up play.

The max 256 entrants registered for this event, and we played down to the final 8 today.

Antonio Esfandiari and Sorel Mizzi were amongst the notables eliminated in the cash.

Ludovic Lacay and Bertrand "Elky" Grospellier clashed in a match that pitted two of France's best and most beloved players with Lacay coming out on top.

Vanessa Rousso will be representing the ladies tomorrow. She beat out Vivek Rajkumar to earn her way into Day 3.

The matches resume at 3 p.m. Sunday.

Event #36 - $1k No-Limit Hold'em

The $1k No-Limit Hold'em events continue to draw huge numbers, as 2,530 players came out for Day 1a.

By the end of the day only 298 players remained, which means over 85 percent of the field was cut down in one day.

Chris "Jesus" Ferguson, Dennis Phillips and PL.com blogger Jason Mercier all fell to the rail today while Scott Montgomery Neil Channing, Liv Boeree and Marco Traniello all lived to see the light of Day 2.

Day 1b begins at noon tomorrow with another huge turnout a probability.

Event #37- $3k H.O.R.S.E.

Players continue to flock to H.O.R.S.E. events at the 2010 WSOP as 479 players bought into Event 37, which beat last year's total.

The pros were more than willing to play with biggies like Daniel Negreanu, Howard Lederer, Phil Ivey and Phil Hellmuth all paying the $3k to play.

All the aforementioned players survived the day and are among the 219 players who will attempt to make the final table on Sunday.

Play resumes at 3 p.m. Sunday.

For more information on how the day played out at the series, click through to the PokerListings WSOP page.

Visit PokerListings.com

Massive weekend of WSOP qualifiers

There is still time to bag yourself a seat in the Main Event of this year's World Series of Poker with PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker both running massive super satellites this Sunday.

June 18th – Daily Deal

On today’s Daily Deal, the Poker Players Alliance releases an iPhone app, Lacey Jones joins Team Full Tilt and Everest Poker files another lawsuit against Harrah’s.

Hello, I’m Sean Gibson and welcome to the Daily Deal by Poker News Daily.

Today we start with an update from the World Series of Poker as there have been some bracelets handed out in recent days. Event number twenty seven, the fifteen hundred dollar seven card stud hi lo event was won by David Warga for just over $200,000. Event twenty eight, which was the twenty five hundred dollar PLO event, was won by Canadian Miguel Prouix to the tune of three hundred and fifteen thousand dollars. Finally, event number twenty nine was the ten thousand dollar limit poker championship which was taken down by Matt Keikoan, who takes home $425,000 in addition to that coveted bracelet.

For those of you with iPhone or iPod Touch, you should take a look at the brand new iPhone App from the Poker Players Alliance. Costing only a nominal fee of ninety-nine cents, the app will allow poker players to stay up to date with the latest news, Tweets, upcoming tournaments, and more. It also ties into Facebook and Twitter and allows you to contact your government officials , for those of you that are in the United States. An especially useful feature allows you to send pre-written e-mails to your Senators and Representatives based on your zip code. You can find the PPA App in the App Store by doing a search for “Poker Players Alliance.” Although there isn’t anything super fancy about the application, donating a buck will go a long way towards the cause.

Lacey Jones has a new home, and unfortunately for you it is not with us here at PND. My lobbying efforts to bring in Lacey as my co-host here for the Daily Deal were all in vain, as Lacey will now grace the tables at Full Tilt Poker. Everyone wondered what the lovely poker player and presenter would do after parting ways with Absolute Poker. The cat was let out of the bag by Jones’ management agency, Poker Royalty, which Tweeted, “Congrats to Poker Royalty client lacey jones on her new sponsorship with Full Tilt Poker.” Jones herself Tweeted excitedly, “Can’t even begin to explain the joy I feel putting on a Full Tilt Poker patch.” Jones has had a very eventful year, including a deep finish in this year’s Ladies No Limit Hold’em Championship at the WSOP, where she ended in forty-first place.

The dispute between Everest Poker and the casino gaming goliath Harrah’s just got a little more heated. The Las Vegas Sun newspaper reported that Everest Gaming Limited sued Harrah’s Interactive Entertainment claiming trademark infringement for using “Everest trademarks during the two thousand and ten World Series of Poker now underway at the Rio.” Everest is upset that French television station RTL9, which has displayed Full Tilt’s logo on WSOP broadcasts instead of Everest Poker’s even though it airs in Everest’s primary market. Because of this, Everest attempted to withdraw its sponsorship of the WSOP, which continues to use the Everest logo on the tables. This line from the lawsuit pretty much sums up Everest’s mood: “Defendants are refusing to remove trademarks in an effort to try to force payment by Everest for Defendants’ use of such marks, and in order to bolster the legitimacy of the WSOP in the minds of tournament participants, fans, and the viewing public.”

Thanks for joining me on The Daily Deal. Don’t forget to visit PokerNewsDaily.com and be sure to follow us at Twitter.com/PokerNewsDaily for the latest in poker news. This is Sean Gibson, wishing you a great poker weekend!