Posts Tagged ‘Gus Hansen’
High Stakes Poker: $1 Million Vegetarian Prop Bet Agreed To
Large pots were few and far between on Sunday night’s episode of the GSN series “High Stakes Poker.” Instead, a vegetarian prop bet between Full Tilt Poker pros Phil Ivey and Tom “durrrr” Dwan took center stage.
After being discussed non-stop for a half-hour of the 60-minute program, the vegetarian prop bet was finally agreed upon. Ultimately, Ivey would become a vegetarian for one year for $1 million. In a sit-down interview with “High Stakes Poker” hostess Kara Scott, Ivey told viewers, “I was thinking about doing it for a while, so this is an added incentive.” Dwan was confident that he’d win the bet, but nonetheless expressed a degree of doubt: “He’s got a lot of will power and he might go out and prove me wrong.” Any creature that moves is off limits for Ivey.
Back on the felts, Ivey proved why he’s one of the top names in the game by raising to $3,000 pre-flop with 7-2 and receiving four callers. The flop came 4-9-A with two hearts and Ivey put in a $12,000 continuation bet. Italian poker stud Dario Minieri, who held 10-8 of hearts, came along to see another ace hit the turn. Ivey bet out $30,000 and Minieri folded. “High Stakes Poker” host Gabe Kaplan commented, “Most players would turn over the 7-2 there, but not Phil Ivey.”
Then, Team PokerStars Pro front man Daniel Negreanu raised to $3,000 with 9-6 of hearts and Eli Elezra came along with 9-8 of diamonds. The flop came 10-5-7, giving both players straight draws, and Negreanu bet $5,500. Elezra pushed the action to $13,000 and Negreanu came along to see a king on the turn. Elezra checked and Negreanu accidentally exposed his nine while reaching for a stack of $100 bills. He promptly checked and an eight hit on the river, filling his straight. Negreanu bet $20,000 and Elezra tanked before folding. Negreanu told the table, “That was the weirdest hand I’ve ever played.”
Minieri was overly active throughout the episode and set the tone after Gus Hansen made it $3,500 pre-flop with A-8. Minieri, sensing weakness, made it $11,500 with A-9. Then, fireworks went of, as Hansen re-raised to $35,500 and Minieri shoved all-in for $213,000. Hansen quickly mucked, leaving Kaplan to remark, “That’s either a good read or a moment of insanity.” Negreanu would later try to force an all-in from Minieri when “Kid Poker” held pocket aces, but the Italian instead folded.
In one of the larger pots of the episode, which aired at 8:00pm ET on Sunday on GSN, Ivey raised to $3,000 with pocket eights, Negreanu called with A-7 of spades, and Dwan called with Q-J. The flop came A-J-4, and Ivey checked his pocket pair. Negreanu led out for $8,000 with top pair, while Dwan made the call with middle pair. Ivey got out of the way and a queen hit the turn to improve Dwan to two pair. Negreanu fired out a bet of $18,000 and Dwan called. The duo both checked a river five, shipping the $63,800 pot to Dwan.
In the final hand of the hour, Elezra raised to $3,000 with 9-7, Negreanu called with Q-9, and Dwan called with K-Q. The flop fell K-8-10 and Elezra put in a $7,200 continuation bet with an open-ended straight draw. Dwan came along with top pair to bring a jack on the turn, filling Eleza’s straight. However, with three spades now on the board, the action went check-check. The river was a six and Dwan bet $8,400. Elezra raised to $28,400 and Dwan released his hand.
Next time, four “High Stakes Poker” players get felted and an epic hand brews between Dwan and Ivey. New episodes of “High Stakes Poker” air on Sunday nights at 8:00pm ET on GSN.
Doyle Brunson Advances to Round 2 of National Heads-Up Poker Championship
Round 2 of the National Heads-Up Poker Championship plays out today from Caesars Palace in Las Vegas and will see the field trimmed from 32 to 16. Among those players still in contention is Doyle Brunson.
There was a question as to whether Brunson would even be able to play in the unique heads-up tournament after undergoing extensive dental surgery shortly after the Super Bowl last month. However, the DoylesRoom front man did more than just show up to the event in his backyard, he advanced to the second round. After an upset by GoDaddy Girl Vanessa Rousso in the opening round in 2009, Brunson defeated Brock “t soprano” Parker to advance in 2010.
In the pairing’s final hand. Parker was all-in with a wired pair of eights and Brunson showed A-Q of diamonds, setting up a race situation. The queen came as the window card and Brunson never looked back. Now, he’ll play actor and Ante Up for Africa co-founder Don Cheadle in the round of 32. Cheadle bested J.P. Kelly in the first round. Kelly won bracelets on both sides of the Atlantic last year after taking down a $1,500 Pot Limit Hold’em event in Las Vegas and a £1,000 No Limit Hold’em event in London.
In a clash of the titans in the first round, Full Tilt Poker’s Howard Lederer faced off against UB.com troublemaker Phil Hellmuth. Like the match-up between Parker and Brunson, this one came down to a race. Lederer moved all-in pre-flop with pocket tens and Hellmuth made the call with A-K of hearts. The flop came K-5-2, giving Hellmuth top pair, top kicker and a running 9-K sealed Lederer’s exit. This was Lederer’s fourth straight first round elimination in the National Heads-Up Poker Championship.
Next up for Hellmuth is another industry giant, Annette “Annette_15” Obrestad. The winner of the 2007 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Europe Main Event, Obrestad outlasted former baseball great Orel Hershiser in first round action on Friday. The 2010 cycle of the National Heads-Up Poker Championship is Obrestad’s first appearance on the program, which will air on NBC. Obrestad Twittered on her next foe: “Won my match. Guess who im playing tomorrow.... Thats right... @philhellmuth. Sigh lol.”
Also advancing to the second round is 2009 WSOP Main Event runner-up Darvin Moon. Coverage found on PokerNews noted that the table featuring Moon and Caesars qualifier Bill Huntress was “the quietest table on set.” Huntress was all-in after a flop of Q-4-A with three clubs and showed J-8 of spades for what ESPN poker announcer Norman Chad would dub “nuclear squadoosh.” Moon showed K-10, including the ten of clubs, for straight and flush draws. He also, rather amazingly, held the best hand. The turn and river fell a nine and seven, respectively, ending any hopes of the qualifier making it through to the next round. Moon’s second round opponent is Poker News Daily Guest Columnist Annie Duke.
All but one qualifier of the seven who entered was eliminated in first round play, as Stephen Quinn upset Ted Forrest yesterday. Here are the second round match-ups for the 2010 National Heads-Up Poker Championship:
Clubs Bracket
Chris Moneymaker vs Leo Wolpert
David Williams vs Erik Seidel
Erick Lindgren vs Peter Eastgate
Stephen Quinn vs Jamie Gold
Spades Bracket
Phil Ivey vs Scotty Nguyen
Joe Hachem vs Gabe Kaplan
Jason Mercier vs Pieter de Korver
Phil Gordon vs Phil Laak
Hearts Bracket
Allen Cunningham vs Eli Elezra
Chris Ferguson vs Dennis Phillips
Doyle Brunson vs Don Cheadle
Phil Hellmuth vs Annette “Annette_15” Obrestad
Diamonds Bracket
Barry Greenstein vs Sammy Farha
Jennifer Harman vs Jerry Yang
Darvin Moon vs Annie Duke
Paul Wasicka vs Gus Hansen
The action resumes inside Caesars Palace in Las Vegas at 1:00pm PT and will play down to a field of 16. The winner of the 2010 National Heads-Up Poker Championship will be determined on Sunday. Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest.
A $911k Morning for Dwan
After losing $245k at $25/$50 Pot-Limit Omaha, Dwan sat for his first Full Tilt high-stakes session of the day across from LarsLuzak, Gus Hansen, skjervoy, Sir Watts and eventually Brian Hastings.
This $200/$400 PLO session lasted for 619 hands with Dwan finishing up over $317k.
At the same time, he took on skjervoy and TheGorn at $100/$200 PLO, where he earned another $44,687.
Dwan's next stop was an hour of $200/$400 Cap PLO, adding $62k to his profit before returning to PLO 6-max to play $300/$600 against many of the same players from the earlier $200/$400 table.
Once again, Dwan came out on top, this time up $280,847.
High-stakes player andrewkirk was brave enough to sit at Dwan's reserved heads-up $500/$1,000 PLO table, but only managed to last just 33 hands before losing his entire $50k buy-in.
On a roll, and seemingly unable to lose, Dwan moved his streak of run-good to $500/$1,000 Cap No-Limit Hold'em. After 364 hands, he had added another $35,750 to his morning.
Dwan's second last session of the morning came playing just 63 hands of $300/$600 PLO versus PixKim and Gus Hansen. Up another $137k, Dwan was rapidly approaching $1 million in total profit for the day.
In his final attempt to reach that magic mark, Dwan sat for a 245-hand re-match at $200/$400 PLO with unknown Swede Isildur1. Unfortunately for Dwan, Isildur1 would get the better of him again, ending his win streak with a $16k loss.
In total, Dwan finished the morning up $911,434, bringing his profit for the year up to $1.8 million so far.
Below are three of Dwan's largest pots from this morning, to see more hands head to MarketPulse.
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2010 National Heads-Up Poker Championship Bracket Set
The field of 64 is set in the National Heads-Up Poker Championship, which will air on NBC. One of the highlights of the opening round is a titanic showdown between PokerStars pros Jason Mercier and Daniel Negreanu, who have both been on a hot streak.
Mercier and Negreanu made the final table of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Europe Main Event last year. Mercier finished fourth in the £10,000 buy-in poker tournament, while Negreanu fell heads-up to CardPlayer Magazine owner Barry Shulman after entering as the short stack. Mercier and Negreanu collected £267,000 and £495,000 for their efforts, respectively. Both are bracelet winners and members of Team PokerStars Pro.
Mercier enters the National Heads-Up Poker Championship, which is emanating from Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, on a high note. Last week, the Florida native took third in the L.A. Poker Classic’s High-Roller event for $141,000. In December, Mercier won a $5,000 HORSE event during the Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic for $100,000. Negreanu made waves during the recent PartyPoker Premier League, finishing fourth at the final table. Heading into Thursday’s draw party, Negreanu Tweeted his desired first round opponent: “Headed down to Pure for the NBC HU draw party and I'm hoping to NOT draw one of the 7 qualifiers or a woman. Record going into #6 is 7-5.”
Meanwhile, two titans of the online poker industry will tangle, as 13 bracelets will meet when Full Tilt Poker front man Howard Lederer takes on UB.com bad boy Phil Hellmuth. Lederer was fourth on Bluff Magazine’s recent Power 20 list, while Hellmuth leads the all-time bracelet count with 11. Both have crafty nicknames, as “The Professor” will take on “The Poker Brat” in a high-stakes first round encounter.
In an all-female first round showdown, Full Tilt Poker’s Jennifer Harman is paired up with actress Jennifer Tilly. A total of seven women will make their way to Caesars Palace in Las Vegas today for first round action. Joining Harman and Tilly to add estrogen to the field are Annie Duke, Annette Dworski, Annette “Annette_15” Obrestad, Vanessa Rousso, and Kara Scott. Six women took to the field in 2009, including Rousso, who finished as the runner-up to Huck Seed.
Those in the hunt for the title range between 21 (Obrestad) and 76 years-old (Doyle Brunson). The tournament hits television airwaves on NBC beginning on April 18th and will run for six consecutive Sundays. The ultimate survivor of the single elimination heads-up tournament pockets $500,000, while its runner-up takes home a cool $250,000. Here’s a look at the first round match-ups in the 2010 National Heads-Up Poker Championship:
Clubs Bracket – Top Half
Patrik Antonius vs Chris Moneymaker
Leo Wolpert vs Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin
David Williams vs Joe Cada
Erik Seidel vs Huck Seed
Clubs Bracket – Bottom Half
Dan Ramirez vs Erick Lindgren
Peter Eastgate vs Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier
Stephen Quinn vs Ted Forrest
Dario Minieri vs Jamie Gold
Spades Bracket – Top Half
Gavin Smith vs Phil Ivey
Richard Edwards vs Scotty Nguyen
Shawn “westtexasman” Rice vs Joe Hachem
Gabe Kaplan vs Johnny Chan
Spades Bracket – Bottom Half
Daniel Negreanu vs Jason Mercier
Pieter de Korver vs Mike Sexton
Phil Gordon vs Tom “durrrr” Dwan
Phil Laak vs John Juanda
Hearts Bracket – Top Half
Jesper Hougaard vs Allen Cunningham
Eli Elezra vs Greg “FBT” Mueller
Annette Dworski vs Chris Ferguson
Kara Scott vs Dennis Phillips
Hearts Bracket – Bottom Half
Brock “t soprano” Parker vs Doyle Brunson
J.P. Kelly vs Don Cheadle
Howard Lederer vs Phil Hellmuth
Annette “Annette_15” Obrestad vs Orel Hershiser
Diamonds Bracket – Top Half
Barry Greenstein vs Vanessa Rousso
Sammy Farha vs Antonio Esfandiari
Jennifer Harman vs Jennifer Tilly
Jerry Yang vs Mike Matusow
Diamonds Bracket – Bottom Half
Darvin Moon vs Bill Huntress
Andy Bloch vs Annie Duke
Andrew Wilson vs Paul Wasicka
Gus Hansen vs Greg Raymer
Rice and Huntress both qualified for the National Heads-Up Poker Championship at the host casino, while Dworski, Edwards, Quinn, Ramirez, and Wilson all won online satellites. The tournament’s first round will play out today, while the second round will take place on Saturday. The quarterfinals, semifinals, and championship match will all pan out on Sunday. Here are today's start times:
Clubs Bracket - 1:30pm PT
Diamonds Bracket - 4:00pm PT
Spades Bracket - 7:00pm PT
Hearts Bracket - 9:30pm PT
Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest from Caesars Palace.
NBC Releases 2010 Heads-Up Bracket
The two PokerStars pros have both been hot over the last 12 months with millions of dollars in combined tournament earnings.
Some of the other marquee first round matches include Phil Hellmuth vs. Howard Lederer, Peter Eastgate vs. Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, Brock Parker vs. Doyle Brunson and Phil Ivey vs. Gavin Smith.
In total there will be 32 heads-up matches played in the first round.
NBC once again separated the players into four brackets – Hearts, Clubs, Spades and Diamonds – with the winner of each bracket booking a seat in the semifinals.
The tournament begins today at 1 p.m. PT. Be sure to check out our live updates of the event.
Here is the complete line-up for the first round of the 2010 NBC National Heads-Up Championship:
Clubs:
Patrik Antonius vs. Chris Moneymaker
Leo Wolpert vs. Eric Baldwin
David Williams vs. Joe Cada
Erik Seidel vs. Huck Seed
Dan Ramirez vs. Erick Lindgren
Peter Eastgate vs. Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier
Stephen Quinn vs. Ted Forrest
Dario Minieri vs. Jamie Gold
Spades:
Gavin Smith vs. Phil Ivey
Richard Edwards vs. Scotty Nguyen
Shawn Rice vs. Joe Hachem
Gabe Kaplan vs. Johnny Chan
Daniel Negreanu vs. Jason Mercier
Pieter de Korver vs. Mike Sexton
Phil Gordon vs. Tom Dwan
Phil Laak vs. John Juanda
Hearts:
Jesper Hougaard vs. Allen Cunningham
Eli Elezra vs. Greg Mueller
Annette Dworski vs. Craig Ferguson
Kara Scott vs. Dennis Phillips
Doyle Brunson vs. Brock Parker
JP Kelly vs. Don Cheadle
Howard Lederer vs. Phil Hellmuth
Annette Obrestad vs. Orel Hershiser
Diamonds:
Barry Greenstein vs. Vanessa Rousso
Sam Farha vs. Antonio Esfandiari
Jennifer Harman vs. Jennifer Tilly
Jerry Yang vs. Mike Matusow
Darvin Moon vs. Bill Huntress
Andy Bloch vs. Annie Duke
Andrew Wilson vs. Paul Wasicka
Gus Hansen vs. Greg Raymer
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LAPC Final Table Set
As well known players like two-time World Series of Poker Main Event champion Johnny Chan, Celebrity Apprentice star Annie Duke, three-time WPT final table participant Steve Sung and 2001 Main Event champ and two-time WPT title winner Carlos Mortensen all fell throughout 14 hours of poker Tuesday, a final six all making their televised table debut emerged.
The final table will begin Thursday at 4 p.m. PT inside the Commerce Casino in East Los Angeles with Hungarian Andras Koroknai holding the chip lead.
Although he has just one small live cash from the Austrian Classics in 2008, Koroknai will bring with him a rather boisterous group of Hungarian supporters from the L.A. area.
Fountain Valley, California resident Raymond Dolan currently sits second in chips and while two small cashes including a 12th place finish at a prelim in this series is all Dolan can count on for experience, he is the brother of Tim Phan, who made the final table at WPT Legends in 2005.
Coming in third in chips is Canadian Tri Huynh looking to add to his $30k in career earnings that includes a final table appearance at an L.A. Poker Classic prelim in 2007.
Armenian American Gevork (George) Kasabyan has half a million in career earnings from a boatload of small tournaments in the L.A. area and will come into the final fourth in chips.
Canadian Jean-Claude Moussa brings three WSOP cashes worth almost $60k and the experience of playing regularly online as high as $50/$100 to the table while currently fifth in chips.
And finally, the short stack is L.A.'s own Michael Kamran, happy to be through to his first final six after making seventh at WPT Bay 101 last year.
A $1.7 million first-place prize and the chance to join an illustrious group of LAPC champs including Phil Ivey, Antonio Esfandiari, and Gus Hansen hangs in the balance.
For comprehensive coverage, tune in to PokerListings' Live Updates and News.
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Carlos Mortensen Leads WPT L.A. Poker Classic with 22 Left
A total of 22 players remain in the L.A. Poker Classic, a stop on the World Poker Tour (WPT). 2001 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event champ Carlos Mortensen leads the way with 1.67 million chips.
Mortensen sent Michael Woo to the rails in 23rd place. Woo pushed all-in on a board of J-8-4-3 with three clubs, flipping over pocket queens. Mortensen made the call and showed pocket jacks for top set. Needing to catch one of the two remaining queens in the deck on the river to stay alive, Woo watched as an ace hit, sealing his exit. He picked up $45,000 for his efforts in the $10,000 buy-in poker tournament.
Thirty minutes prior, Mortensen had doubled up through Raymond Dolan. Mortensen held pocket aces in the hand and Dolan held jacks. The hand boosted Mortensen to 960,000 in chips, kicking off “The Matador’s” last–minute surge to the top of the pack. Mortensen has two WPT titles under his belt. He won the Season 3 Doyle Brunson North American Poker Championship for $1 million and also came out on top in the Season 5 WPT Championship for nearly $4 million. He’s second all-time to Daniel Negreanu with $5.26 million in WPT earnings and would become just the second three-time WPT event winner, the other being Gus Hansen.
Mark Newhouse, who held the chip lead entering Day 4 on Monday, finished with the second largest stack at 1.31 million. Newhouse doubled up through Dan “Wretchy” Martin late in the day. On a board of 7-5-3-J-Q, Newhouse pushed all-in for 561,000, nearly the size of the pot, and Martin made the call, flipping up pocket kings for an overpair. Newhouse, however, showed J-7 of spades for a turned two pair, pushing his chip stack to 1.5 million. Martin, meanwhile, dropped to 500,000 after his aces were cracked, but finished the day with 684,000, good for seventh place on the leaderboard.
Also doubling up late in the day was UB.com pro and Poker News Daily Guest Columnist Annie Duke. The top female pro picked a prime spot to shove with A-K pre-flop, as Masa Kagawa called and showed A-Q. The flop came ace-high and no queen came for Kagawa, doubling Duke to 266,000 in chips. She ended the day at 241,000, the second shortest stack in the room next to John Cautela’s 219,000.
Ten-time WSOP bracelet winner Johnny Chan remains in contention and doubled up on Monday with pocket aces against DoylesRoom pro Hoyt Corkins’ pocket kings. The board came 7-7-6-9-8 and Chan moved to 450,000 in chips. He ultimately ended with 406,000, the 17th largest stack entering Day 5. Chan and Doyle Brunson are tied with 10 bracelets each, trailing only Phil Hellmuth’s tally of 11 for most all-time.
When play resumes today at Noon PT at the Commerce Casino in Los Angeles, the blinds will be 6,000-12,000 with an ante of 2,000. The following 22 players remain in the hunt for the top prize of $1.8 million:
1. Carlos Mortensen - 1,669,000
2. Mark Newhouse - 1,308,000
3. Raymond Dolan - 1,229,000
4. Masa Kagawa - 1,129,000
5. Andras Koroknai - 1,002,000
6. Tri Huynh - 942,000
7. Dan “Wretchy” Martin - 684,000
8. Jean-Claude Moussa - 672,000
9. Steve Sung - 671,000
10. Jim Casement - 609,000
11. Tim Begley - 603,000
12. Gevork Kasabyan - 594,000
13. Jamie Brown - 552,000
14. Mari Lou Morelli - 456,000
15. Dylan Linde - 447,000
16. Bob Kairnes - 421,000
17. Johnny Chan - 406,000
18. Danny Fuhs - 379,000
19. Michael Kamran - 327,000
20. Connor Allisen - 324,000
21. Annie Duke - 241,000
22. John Cautela - 219,000
Each player left is assured a $45,000 payday, while the top nine will take home at least $100,000. Despite the tournament already being down to 22 runners, the final table will not take place until Thursday. Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest WPT coverage.
Dwan and Sahamies Take Down South
South's day started at $25/$50 Pot-Limit Omaha on Full Tilt where he made $15k before moving up to $300/$600 PLO against Di "Urindanger" Dang and Gus Hansen.
South only stuck around for 12 hands making $10k before leaving to sit heads-up with Dwan at $200/$400 PLO.
The heads-up match lasted over two and a half hours, spanning 466 hands across two tables. By the end, South had dropped just over $84k.
Meanwhile, on top of a couple hands of $25/$50, and a long but uneventful session of $200/$400 Cap-PLO, South also sat with both Dwan and Sahamies for 378 hands of $300/$600 PLO.
Over the duration of the three-handed session, South managed to lose $226,950, all but $23k going to Sahamies.
He made one more attempt to save the session with a $200/$400 PLO rematch against Dwan, this time playing 400 hands in just under an hour.
However, the Cardrunners pro dropped another $234k to Dwan, finishing his day down $511,149.
On top of holding-over on South all day, Dwan also made $50k at $300/$600 PLO stacking the unknown luckexpress10 in just four hands. Include a $14k loss at $200/$400 Cap-PLO and Dwan finished his day up $377,568.
Sahamies entire day consisted of the single 3-handed session. He earned over $203k in just two hours of work - $1,769 a minute.
Below are three of the largest pots from yesterday's session. For more hands, head to MarketPulse.
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Tags: Gus Hansen
Cole South up almost $2 million in February
Cole South continued to play great in February, earning him $1.982.064 and was clearly up the most from the Full Tilt Poker nosebleed players. Also Alexander “PostflopAction” Kostritsyn ($1,56 million) and Tom “durrrr” Dwan ($1 million) had a good month.
Cole South
Brian Townsend didn’t have that good month and he lost almost 1,3 million dollars. Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies ended up losing 873,000 dollars as well.
Below are some of the biggest winners and losers from January and February:
Cole South $3.488.611
PostflopAction $2.570.307
Gus Hansen $1.797.212
NEKOTYAN $1.153.667
David Oppenheim $923.291
Jani Vilmunen $266.015
Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies $231.034
Isildur1 $199.816
Patrik Antonius -$2.097.361
Brian Townsend -$1.607.803
Matatuk -$960.229
Richard Ashby -$840.130
DrPill -$765.144
Source: Highstakesdb
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Jason Mercier Joins High Stakes Poker Cast
The third episode of Season 6 of GSN’s “High Stakes Poker” aired on Sunday night at 8:00pm ET. Team PokerStars Pro member Jason Mercier joined the set and Daniel Negreanu pushed all-in, but ultimately chopped the pot.
Two players had gone broke in the first two episodes, as UB.com pro Phil Hellmuth and Andreas Hoivold each dropped $200,000. The latter’s seat remained empty as Sunday night’s “High Stakes Poker” kicked off, but Mercier soon joined the fray. “High Stakes Poker” announcer Gabe Kaplan commented on Mercier’s appearance: “He looks more like a swimmer to me than a poker player.”
While Mercier was busy stacking his pile of $100 bills, he picked up pocket twos and raised to $5,500. Tom “durrrr” Dwan came over the top to $19,200 with A-3 and Mercier folded. Curiosity began to build as to what Mercier had, with Eli Elezra laying 3:1 odds that the newcomer held a better hand than Dwan. Victory Poker pro Antonio Esfandiari and others at the table took Elezra up on his bet, with Mercier later admitting that he had pocket deuces, setting up what would have been a coin flip.
2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event November Nine member Phil Ivey tangled with Danish poker superstar Gus Hansen, who raised to $5,600 pre-flop with A-K. Ivey made the call with pocket eights and the flop came 5-J-J. Ivey check-called a $6,800 bet from Hansen to bring another five on the turn. Ivey once again check-called a bet from the Dane, this time $13,200, and a seven hit on the river. The action went check-check and Ivey scooped the $54,000 pot. He entered the episode up more than $250,000.
In the episode’s second largest pot, Hansen raised to $4,200 pre-flop with 6-4 of spades, Dwan made the call with A-6 of clubs, and Elezra came along with K-8 of hearts. With each player holding suited cards, the flop came K-9-3, giving Elezra top pair. He checked the action to Hansen, who bet $9,900. Dwan got out of the way and Elezra called to bring another three on the turn. Elezra check-called a bet of $25,500 and an ace hit on the river. Elezra once again checked the best hand, Hansen fired out a third bullet to the tune of $62,200, and Elezra insta-called.
The pot totaled $209,800 and after it panned out, Hansen sat down with “High Stakes Poker” floor reporter Kara Scott to relive the hand. On the failed triple barrel bluff, he explained, “I stuck to my plan, which from the beginning was okay, but in the end with the cards on the board was horrible.” Hansen left the table after the hand was over and did not return for the duration of the episode.
Then, it was Negreanu’s turn to take center stage. After being active throughout much of the hour-long show, he raised to $3,000 pre-flop with 9-7 of diamonds and Dwan made it $11,200 after picking up pocket queens. Ivey came along with pocket eights and Negreanu called. The flop came 4-9-J, giving Negreanu middle pair, and Dwan made an $18,200 continuation bet with his overpair. Ivey folded and Negreanu moved all-in for $88,400. Dwan quickly called and the pair agreed to run the board twice.
The first board filled out 2-J, giving Dwan half of the pot. On the second board, an ace hit the turn, but Negreanu spiked a five-outer on the river when a nine fell. The $212,200 pot, the largest of the night, was chopped as a result.
Two vignettes appeared during Sunday’s installment. “30 Seconds with Kara Scott” focused on the competitors’ most memorable winning sessions. Meanwhile, the PokerStars-sponsored “Did You Know” discussed the five-month marathon poker session between Johnny Moss and Nick “The Greek” Dandolos. Both were charter inductees into the Poker Hall of Fame.
Next week on “High Stakes Poker,” Dario Minieri gets aggressive and Negreanu stumps Elezra. The cash game franchise airs at 8:00pm ET on Sunday nights on GSN.
Antonius Tops Weekend High-Stakes Action
The Finn's win came from 239 hands of $300/$600 Pot-Limit Omaha with Brian Hastings.
After a little over two hours of play, Antonius left the tables with his profit, not to return besides six un-eventful hands Sunday night.
Friday had begun according to plan for Hastings after he made $114,898 playing 125 hands of $200/$400 Cap-PLO. He parlayed his profit into a heads-up match against Ilari "Ziigmund" Sahamies, making another $211k from a mix of $200/$400 and $300/$600 PLO.
But Hastings' session with Antonius would be enough to negate his profits, finishing Friday down $52,231. He logged off and did not to return to Full Tilt for the rest of the weekend.
Sahamies rough start to the weekend included losing $29,717 playing Cap-PLO before getting beat for another $211k by Hastings.
He managed to earn back the majority of his losses on Saturday earning $139k playing the $200/$400 Cap game, but lost back $39,408 at the same tables early this morning. In total, Sahamies finished the weekend down $140,493.
A third Finn who had been away from the high-stakes action for quite some time made his return this weekend.
Sami "LarsLuzak" Kelopuro put in one of the largest weekend sessions, playing an impressive 5,767 hands.
3,762 of those hands came playing jungleman12 heads-up at $100/$200 No-Limit Hold'em. In total, Kelopuro took $104,245 from the unknown pro.
Unfortunately, he was unable to hold on to his heads-up profits after losing over $150k playing the $200/$400 Cap-PLO game. He finished the weekend down just over $46k.
Gus Hansen played 201 hands of $300/$600 PLO heads-up against the unknown luckexpress10, losing $93,293 in the process. Luckily for Hansen, he continued his run-good on the Cap-PLO tables earning $159k for a weekend profit of $66,574.
Finally, Tom "durrrr" Dwan only played 31 hands on Saturday, losing just $10k at the cap games. Dwan did, however, return to the $200/$400 Cap-PLO tables early this morning earning $95,377 in a 360-hand session to post a weekend profit of just under $85k.
Below are three of the largest pots from the weekend, to see more hand replays head to our MarketPulse page.
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Isildur1 takes $120k from Tom “durrrr” Dwan
Isildur1 and Dwan have one of the most epic rivalries in online poker history. After coming out of nowhere, the unknown Swede took Full Tilt by storm late last year, his sights fixed squarely on Dwan.
In just three days of heads-up action, Isildur1 took Dwan for over $5.2 million.
Dwan could only sit and watch as Isildur1 went on to lose all of his money to the other players in the nosebleed games, most notably Brian Hastings, Phil Ivey and Patrik Antonius.
It's safe to assume Dwan has been eagerly waiting for his chance to get even with the Swede, but with Isildur1 keeping to slightly lower stakes, and rarely sitting behind a massive stack, he has been unable to do it so far.
Dwan's night started with a 2,011 hand match of $200/$400 Pot-Limit Omaha against Cole South. Unperturbed by South's exceptional results over the last two months, Dwan managed to end up $299k.
After losing $31k playing a $200/$400 Cap PLO game, Dwan next sat with Gus Hansen, Di "Urindanger" Dang and skjervoy at $200/$400 PLO, where he proceeded to lose $70k, the majority to Hansen.
After the other players at the table had their fill, Isildur1 took his seat, making $59,684 in just 24 hands before agreeing to move to heads-up $100/$200 No-Limit Hold'em.
After 980 hands of Hold'em, Isildur1 had doubled his profit adding another $59,054. Isildur1 went on to play $100/$200 and $200/$400 PLO heads up with Phil "OMGClayAiken" Galfond, losing $18k before throwing in the towel.
In total, Isildur1 finished the day up $48,655, while Dwan managed to keep his losses to only $5,343.
Meanwhile, Ilari "Ziigmund" Sahamies and Brian Hastings squared off at $300/$600 PLO. Thanks to winning a $291k pot, Hastings took the Finnish pro for over $256k.
After Ziigmund left, he was replaced by another Finn, Patrik Antonius.
Hastings went on to make another $56k from Antonius before calling it a day, up $312,119.
Below are three of the largest pots from last night and this morning. To see more hands, head to MarketPulse.
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Høivold’s Experience
"I had the honor of playing in what probably is the best poker game ever assembled," he told PokerListings. "I don't regret anything."
The Ladbrokes sponsored pro lasted just two episodes of the increasingly popular cash game show, dumping the last of the $200,000 he bought in for when he called all in on the turn holding A♥ Q♣ on a queen-high board against Full Tilt's Gus Hansen.
Unfortunately for Høivold, Hansen held a raggedy two pair and despite running the river twice, it held.
Outside of that hand, Høivold said he simply couldn't catch anything. Looking back now he is at least a little disappointed he didn't try to mix it up more.
"I was completely card dead and didn't flop a pair during the 4-5 hours I played," he said. "But I should have played better and more aggressively."
Like Phil Hellmuth on this season of HSP, Hoivold left his seat after losing a single $200k buy-in, choosing not to rebuy.
But that doesn't necessarily mean he won't be back for more.
"I will probably have the chance if I want to," he said. "Time will tell if I take it or not. It all depends on what happens with poker in the future, not the least financially."
High Stakes Poker airs Sunday's at 8 p.m. on GSN.
- With files from Erik Pedersen
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Cole South Takes Dwan for $251k
Dwan's first session of the day was a brief 21-hand stint at $200/$400 Cap Pot-Limit Omaha where he won $19,682.
After a five hour break, he returned to the tables to play South heads up at $200/$400 PLO. The match lasted 224 hands with the largest pot coming in at $172,184.
But despite losing the seven largest pots of the session, Dwan managed to keep his losses to only $251k.
This single session would be the only cards South would play on the night. Adding the $251k to his totals for the year now brings South back up to over $3.1 million.
A surprise to most, Dwan has struggled to turn any profit for 2010, currently sitting down around $580k on the year.
His inability to turn a profit seems to have little to do with hand volume as Dwan sits just 300 hands shy of 60,000, making him the fourth most active high-stakes player on Full Tilt so far this year.
After his session with South went south, durrrr went on to play 503 hands of $200/$400 Cap-PLO against Gus Hansen, Brian Townsend and Phil "OMGClayAiken" Galfond, losing another $155k.
Fortunately, he managed to make $353,195 playing 7-Game, subsidizing the majority of his losses.
Gus Hansen continues to win at the tables posting a $182k win from 7-Game, and another $85k from Cap-PLO to add $268,205 to his roll.
Since his 30-day suspension last year, Brian Townsend has been on a heavy downswing losing another $224k at 7-Game last night to push his losses on the year over $1 million.
Below are the three largest pots between South and Dwan. To see more hands from the night, head to MarketPulse.
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NBC Heads-Up Field Released
Familiar faces like Phil Ivey, Daniel Negreanu, Doyle Brunson, Phil Hellmuth and Chris "Jesus" Ferguson will be back to compete in the bracket-style head-to-head format for $1.5 million in combined prize money Mar. 5-7.
Plus, several newcomers including PokerListings Blogger and Team PokerStars Pro Jason Mercier, 2009 World Series of Poker champion Joe Cada, 2009 WSOP Main Event runner-up Darvin Moon, and High Stakes Poker host Kara Scott will be in the field of 64 trying to take down last year's champ Huck Seed.
"The lineup of competitors for this year's event is the best yet," said Jon Miller, executive vice president of NBC Sports.
"Continually bringing together the best of the best to compete in this unique format has made the National Heads-Up Poker Championship one of the most anticipated poker events of the year."
The event will be taped for broadcast on NBC over six consecutive Sundays in April and May.
The first round opponents for the brackets will be chosen at random during the GoDaddy.com Draw Party held at PURE Nightclub at Caesars Palace Mar. 4.
Below is a list of the entire 64-player field less seven spaces for online qualifiers.
Patrick Antonius Eric Baldwin Andy Bloch Doyle Brunson
Joe Cada Johnny Chan Don Cheadle Allen Cunningham
Pieter De-Korver Annie Duke Tom Dwan Peter Eastgate
Eli Elezra Antonio Esfandiari Sam Farha Chris Ferguson
Ted Forrest Jamie Gold Phil Gordon Barry Greenstein
Bertrand Grospellier Joe Hachem Gus Hansen Jennifer Harman
Phil Hellmuth Orel Hershiser Jesper Hougaard Phil Ivey
John Juanda Gabe Kaplan J.P. Kelly Phil Laak
Howard Lederer Erick Lindgren Mike Matusow Jason Mercier
Dario Minieri Chris Moneymaker Darvin Moon Greg Mueller
Daniel Negreanu Scotty Nguyen Annette Obrestad Brock Parker
Dennis Phillips Greg Raymer Vanessa Rousso Kara Scott
Huck Seed Erik Seidel Mike Sexton Gavin Smith
Jennifer Tilly Paul Wasicka David Williams Leo Wolpert
Jerry Yang
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Andreas Hoivold Goes Broke on High Stakes Poker
Two episodes of “High Stakes Poker” Season 6 have aired and two players have already dropped $200,000. Last week, UB.com pro Phil Hellmuth went busto on the popular GSN cash game show. This week, that distinction belonged to Ladbrokes pro Andreas Hoivold.
As Sunday night’s episode of “High Stakes Poker” began, 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event November Nine member Phil Ivey was up $300,000, while Hoivold was down $90,000. Ivey picked up right where he left off, being selectively aggressive. With a board reading J-4-A-4-9 with two spades, Ivey bet $25,000 with just K-2 and Tom “durrrr” Dwan folded Q-10 of spades for busted flush and straight draws. Then, Dwan raised to $3,300 pre-flop with K-J and Ivey pumped it to $15,000 with just 5-2. The action folded around and “High Stakes Poker” announcer Gabe Kaplan noted, “Phil Ivey right now is in the zone.”
Dwan held pocket kings and raised to $3,200 pre-flop, while Hoivold made the call with pocket fours. The action was checked down to the river, with the board filling out A-9-5-K-Q. Dwan led out for $5,700 with a set and Hoivold called, telling “High Stakes Poker” sideline reporter Kara Scott that he called in order to extract information about Dwan’s hand. Kaplan called $5,700 a hefty price to pay for information.
In a hand that showed the power of Ivey’s presence, the Full Tilt Poker pro raised to $3,000 pre-flop with Q-8. Daniel Negreanu called with A-4, including the ace of clubs, and Dwan came along with J-10. The flop came 2-4-J with two clubs. Ivey led out for $17,000 and both opponents called to see the nine of clubs fall on the turn, putting three of the suit on the board. Ivey bet $23,000, Negreanu called with the nut flush draw, and Dwan got out of the way, bringing the ace of hearts on the river. Ivey checked and Negreanu checked right behind despite holding aces-up, bringing the following comment from Kaplan: “That’s the Phil Ivey effect. He did not want Ivey to come over the top and raise it. He wouldn’t know what to do.”
Eli Elezra, who has appeared on all six seasons of GSN’s “High Stakes Poker,” joined the table to fill Hellmuth’s spot, telling Scott, “I don’t care if it’s a tough lineup or an easy lineup. I like to play.” He quickly tangled with PokerStars pro Dario Minieri, who held pocket eights and raised it up to $3,000. Elezra called with Q-10 and the flop came Q-7-7. Minieri made a $4,500 continuation bet and Elezra called. The turn was a five, prompting an $11,500 bet from Minieri. Elezra once again called to bring an eight on the river, giving Minieri a boat. The Italian checked, trying to set a trap for Elezra, but the wily poker veteran wisely checked behind.
With the board reading 3-10-6-Q with two hearts, Danish poker superstar Gus Hansen led out with 6-3 for $11,100 and Dwan called with Q-4. Hoivold, holding A-Q for top pair, made his move and raised to $50,000. Hansen, holding bottom two pair, pushed all-in, Dwan folded, and Hoivold called with his chip stack on the line. The duo agreed to run it twice, with the winner of each river scooping half of the pot. The first river was a nine, giving Hansen 50% of the $190,000 pot. The second river was an eight and Hoivold was busto.
New episodes of GSN’s “High Stakes Poker” air on Sunday nights at 8:00pm ET. Next week, 2009 Bluff Magazine Player of the Year Jason Mercier enters the fray, while Negreanu and Dwan build a massive pot when one goes all-in.
Tags: 2009, Daniel Negreanu, Gus Hansen, high stakes, kara scott, Phil Hellmuth, Phil Ivey, pokerstars, WSOP
Tom Dwan Drops $991k
It seems that every time Dwan climbs his way back into the black for 2010, he follows up with an epic losing session.
After grinding his way back up to a $134k profit, Dwan's latest loss puts him down over $850k for the year.
Dwan lost his largest pot of the day to Ilari "Ziigmund" Sahamies who shipped the $275,806 pot after turning a full house.
Despite being involved in all 12 of the largest pots of the day, Sahamies finished the session up just $230k.
Cole South, who has been having a nearly perfect year online, made another $765,522, bringing his total profit on the year up to around $3.8 million.
For a full interview with South head to Due South: Cole on Fire in 2010.
Also spotted at the tables yesterday was the Great Dane, Gus Hansen. Hansen earned $116k before returning to the $300/$600 PLO tables this morning to play Phil Ivey and Di "Urindanger" Dang. It proved to be a mistake as Hansen was stuck for over $150k by the end of the session.
Phil Ivey, whose appearances on Full Tilt have been somewhat scarce this year, made a small profit of $14k.
The strangest online news of the day happens to be centered around the world's most talked about player, the unknown Isildur1.
After his massive loss Wednesday night, Isildur1 returned to the tables yesterday, losing just over $16k at $200/$400 Cap-PLO. Isildur1 then logged off for twelve hours before returning to play $0.25/$0.50 PLO, both 6-max and heads-up.
In total Isildur1 lost $15.50 this morning.
You can find replays for some of the most important hands from last night and this morning below. To see more, head to MarketPulse.
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WPT Announces Barcelona Dates
Casino Barcelona will once again welcome the WPT back to Spain as the tour returns to crown a fourth WPT Spanish Champion.
The 2010 WPT Spanish Championship main event will go off May 19 featuring a €3,200+€300 buy-in.
"Casino Barcelona has been an incredible partner-- from player and partner servicing to tournament staff, their dedication to every detail is second to none," said WPT CEO Rohin Malhotra. "They will continue to be a key partner as we expand our presence in Spain and we are looking forward to this wonderful event."
Since its addition to the World Poker Tour in 2007, the Spanish Championship has drawn a host of top pros including Gus Hansen, Erik Seidel, Barry Greenstein, Antonio Esfandiari, Annette Obrestad, Ludovic Lacay and Steve Sung.
Previous winners include Markus Lehmann of Austria, Denmark 's Casper Hansen, and reigning WPT Spanish Champion, American Mark Randal Flowers.
A number of online qualifiers and land-based satellites, including super satellites on May 17 and 18, are already lined-up.
The next stop on the World Poker Tour is the L.A. Poker Classic main event set to begin Feb. 26.
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2010 National Heads-Up Poker Championship Features Joe Cada, Phil Ivey
2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event champion Joe Cada and seventh place finisher Phil Ivey will headline the 2010 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship field. Play gets underway on March 5th at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.
After weeks of speculation as to which players would comprise the field of 64 in the 2010 National Heads-Up Poker Championship, tournament officials tossed out seven confirmed participants on Tuesday. Cada became the youngest WSOP Main Event winner ever last year at the tender age of 21, defeating logger Darvin Moon heads-up. A self-proclaimed heads-up specialist, Cada will have his work cut out for him in the talented field at Caesars.
Cada took 11th in the $25,000 No Limit Hold’em High Roller event during the 2010 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA), banking $51,000. His win in Las Vegas in November was worth $8.5 million and he instantaneously hit the television circuit, appearing on programs like the “Late Show with David Letterman” and ESPN’s “SportsCenter.”
Ivey returned to the GSN franchise “Poker After Dark” for Season 6, which began airing on Sunday night on the cable station. In the recent Aussie Millions $100,000 Challenge in Melbourne, Ivey’s spectacular results continued, as he finished as its runner-up for $553,000. By virtue of finishing second to Dan Shak, Ivey became poker’s all-time tournament money leader at $12.8 million. He is a sponsored pro of Full Tilt Poker.
Also headlining the National Heads-Up Poker Championship field is Huck Seed, who owns the top overall record in the annual event at 18-4. Last year, Seed defeated Vanessa Rousso to take down the title and is the only player to have cashed in every running of the heads-up event. In 2009, Seed also defeated Jonathan “FieryJustice” Little, Gus Hansen, Glen Corny, David Oppenheim, and Sammy Farha en route to victory.
In 2005, Seed fell to UB.com front man Phil Hellmuth in the round of 16 before reaching the Final Four one year later. In 2007, Team PokerStars Pro member Humberto Brenes trumped Seed in the round of 16. In 2008, Seed fell to Full Tilt Poker pro Andy Bloch in the semi-finals. Seed is one of the top names in all of poker and a force to be reckoned with in a heads-up format. The poker pro commented in a press statement, “It takes a lot of skill and mental toughness to get through a field of such exceptional players, but I look forward to defending my title and trying to win it again.”
Jon Miller, Executive Vice President of NBC Sports, commented in a press release distributed by network officials on Tuesday, "We’re excited to bring this annual tradition back to Caesars Palace. The National Heads-Up Poker Championship’s compelling poker action has become a must-see for the casual and hardcore poker fan alike.” Hellmuth, who won it all in 2005, will return to the felts this year. He made waves last year by facing off against World Poker Tour (WPT) host Mike Sexton in the first round and Tom “durrrr” Dwan in the third round.
Daniel Negreanu, Rousso, and Chris Ferguson will also return to the National Heads-Up Poker Championship stage. The festivities kick off on March 5th and conclude on the 7th. “Poker After Dark” hostess Leeann Tweeden will once again serve as a sideline reporter during the tournament, while Craig Hummer and Ali Nejad will provide commentary.
On March 4th, the combatants will assemble at the Pure Nightclub at Caesars Palace for a special draw party. The web hosting service GoDaddy sponsors the tournament, which will air on NBC according to the following schedule:
April 18th: Noon to 1:00pm ET
April 25th: Noon to 2:00pm ET
May 2nd: Noon to 2:00pm ET
May 9th: Noon to 2:00pm ET
May 16th: Noon to 2:00pm ET
May 23rd: Noon to 3:00pm ET
Tags: 2008, 2009, 2010, Daniel Negreanu, darvin moon, full tilt poker, Gus Hansen, Phil Hellmuth, Phil Ivey, pokerstars, skill, tournament, vegas, WSOP
Hansen wins $460k; Isildur1 makes a small score
The Nightly Turbo: Hansen on the Courts, PokerStars ANZPT Adelaide, and More
Phil Hellmuth Goes Broke on High Stakes Poker Season 6 Premiere
Those without a valentine on Sunday were treated to the debut of “High Stakes Poker” Season 6 on GSN, which featured UB.com pro Phil Hellmuth drop $200,000 in a matter of minutes. Kara Scott and Gabe Kaplan hosted.
Kaplan, who has previously appeared alongside A.J. Benza, will fly solo this season, while Scott will bring the action to life from the floor of the “High Stakes Poker” suite. Six of the eight players began with $200,000, while Phil Ivey and Tom “durrrr” Dwan bought in for $500,000. After dropping a pot early to Norwegian poker player Andreas Hoivold, Hellmuth limped pre-flop with A-Q of clubs, Ivey called with 10-6, and Hoivold came along with J-8 from the big blind. The flop came 3-K-4, missing everyone, and Ivey bet $2,000. Hellmuth called to see an eight on the turn. Ivey once again bet, this time $6,000, and Hellmuth got out of the way.
On the next hand, Hellmuth held A-J and raised to $4,000 pre-flop. Ivey, holding pocket queens, made it $15,000. Hellmuth pushed the action to $40,000 and Ivey shoved all-in, having Hellmuth covered. The UB.com pro deliberated, explaining, “I’m thinking about making a thin call.” Hellmuth ultimately folded and Dwan told Ivey that he’d pay $2,000 if Ivey flipped over a pair of jacks or better. However, Ivey declined and Hellmuth was quickly down $50,000.
After seven-way action to a flop of 7-6-5 with two spades, Dwan bet $3,800 with 7-4, Antonio Esfandiari called with A-Q of spades, and Hellmuth called with K-2 of spades. Then, disaster struck for Hellmuth, as the eight of spades peeled off on the turn, giving him the second nut flush. Esfandiari bet out $11,100 with the ace-high flush and Hellmuth called to see a 10 on the river. Esfandiari bet $32,000 and Hellmuth elected just to call, shipping the $104,800 pot to Esfandiari. The duo discussed the hand with Scott and Hellmuth once again noted that Esfandiari has run him over in recent years.
Several hands later, four players saw a flop of 6-4-7 with two hearts. Ivey led out for $6,000 with K-9 of hearts and Hellmuth raised to $26,000 with J-5 of hearts. On Ivey’s plans, Kaplan explained to “High Stakes Poker” viewers, “There’s a good chance he’s going to put Phil Hellmuth all-in right now.” Ivey asked for a count, but just called, and the turn brought the king of diamonds. Ivey checked top pair and Hellmuth shoved for $82,300 into a pot around $60,000. Ivey called, leaving Hellmuth drawing to an eight or three on the river. Hellmuth asked Ivey if he wanted to run the board three times, but Ivey declined. The river was the 10 of hearts, which gave Ivey the better flush. Just like that, Hellmuth departed, out $200,000.
A segment called “30 Seconds with Kara Scott” asked Hellmuth’s opponents to describe him in 10 words or less. Another new segment was the PokerStars-sponsored “Did You Know,” which featured Daniel Negreanu discussing the origins of the Dead Man’s Hand. It turns out that the real Dead Man’s Hand is not aces and eights, but rather jacks full of tens.
Meanwhile, Ivey continued his demolition on the Season 6 debut of “High Stakes Poker,” as, on a flop of 5-4-J, Negreanu bet $25,000 with 9-6 and Ivey called with pocket fours for a set. The turn was a 10 and Negreanu check-folded to a bet of $60,000. Ivey was up $233,000 at the time, more than the show’s typical buy-in.
The final pot of the night on “High Stakes Poker” grew Ivey’s bankroll even further. Hoivold raised to $2,600 with pocket fives and Negreanu called with J-10. Ivey called with pocket sixes and the flop came 4-K-6. Ivey checked middle set, Hoivold bet $4,600, Negreanu called, and Ivey pumped it to $20,000. Hoivold reached for chips and fired out a bet of $56,000. Negreanu abandoned ship and Ivey asked for a count before pushing all-in. Hoivold folded, and, in just one episode, Ivey was up over $330,000.
Gus Hansen and Dario Minieri also appeared on the Season 6 kickoff episode. Next week, Eli Elezra joins the table and another player goes broke. New episodes of “High Stakes Poker” air at 8:00pm ET on Sunday nights on GSN.
durrrr Challenge: 79 Hands and $22k
Dwan spent Friday night, all of Saturday and a chunk of Sunday grinding both No-Limit Hold'em and Pot-Limit Omaha on Full Tilt.
By the end of the weeked he had logged 4,411 hands, including the 79-hand Challenge session Saturday.
The Challenge session itself lasted just 16 minutes with the largest pot on four tables weighing in at $64k.
There was no public explanation given as to why the session ended so quickly, but when it did, Dwan had extended his lead to $1,414,551 with now 32,874 of 50,000 hands played.
Due to a $164,353 loss to CardRunners pro jungleman12 Saturday evening, Dwan's final weekend profit came in at just over $34k.
Meanwhile, coming off a string of large wins at the end of last week, Antonius took it easy over the weekend, only putting in 102 hands, including the Challenge session, losing $25k in the process.
Outside of the durrrr Challenge, Gus Hansen continued to prove he's no high-stakes fish earning an impressive $578k from 4,615 hands of $100/$200 Cap-PLO. This profit puts Hansen up over $1.88 million on the new year.
Alexander "PostflopAction" Kostritsyn, who has been destroying the games on Full Tilt since the beginning of 2010, added $105,418 to his roll this weekend, putting him up $1.87 million on the year, just behind Hansen.
Although Saturday's short 79-hand session didn't change the scape of the durrrr Challenge all that much, you can see the updated figures below.
durrrr Challenge by the numbers:
1,760,000,000: Estimated cost of the 2010 Winter Olympics 269,253,741: Total amount wagered 1,414,551: Amount durrrr is ahead 32,874: Hands played overall 21,790: Amount made by Dwan in the last session 16,063: Total number of Olympic medals awarded from 1896-2008 7,425: Amount of rake made by Full Tilt from the Challenge 2,629: Total number of competing athletes for the 2010 Winter Olympics 104: Hours played in the challenge 66: Percentage of challenge completedBelow are three of the largest pots from the weekend. You can see more hands by heading to MarketPulse.
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cdbr3799, zimp721 Win FTOPS XV Poker Tournaments
In Saturday’s action in the 15th running of the quarterly Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS), RPM Poker sponsored pro Chris "cdbr3799" Dombrowski took down the $109 No Limit Hold’em with Rebuys for $131,000.
Winning large-scale tournaments is nothing new to Dombrowski, who bested the field in the PokerStars $100 rebuy for a lucrative $85,000 payday in August. On Friday, the RPM sponsored pro won the Full Tilt Poker $100 rebuy for $27,000. Last May, Dombrowski placed second in the PokerStars Daily Eighty Grand for $21,000. On Saturday on the virtual felts of Full Tilt Poker, 2,099 players turned out for the $109 rebuy, creating a total prize pool of $645,000.
Heads-up, Dombrowski defeated JMaster130, a Philadelphia native. JMaster130 earned $85,000 for his efforts. He’s coming off a month of December in which he finished second and fourth in the PokerStars $109 Cubed and was the runner-up in the PokerStars $55 Cubed. The three cashes combined for a $50,000 increase in net worth. Third place in Saturday’s $109 rebuy on Full Tilt Poker went to GreenGuard13, who banked $63,000. Here’s how the final table shook out:
1. cdbr3799 - $131,650
2. JMaster130 - $85,206
3. GreenGuard13 - $63,259
4. Diegohada - $47,767
5. Volody512345 - $33,566
6. Jabronee - $21,947
7. bankrollme87 - $14,847
8. mordovorotishe - $10,328
9. bdubs3737 - $7,746
Also held on Saturday was Event #6 of the ongoing FTOPS, a $535 Pot Limit Omaha Six-Max affair. A total of 823 players took part in the festivities and the top 102 walked away with cash. Pocketing $65,000 after a three-way deal was struck was eventual winner zimp721. Finishing in the number two spot was Deniro77, who earned $61,000 after the deal. Rounding out the top three was babayaro, whose bankroll grew by $60,000. The final six-handed table featured the following finishers:
1. zimp721 - $65,173
2. Deniro77 - $61,673
3. babayaro - $59,769
4. jcasper432 - $41,150
5. hickey987 - $22,221
6. Sunspots28 - $14,197
None of the seven FTOPS XV events held so far has experienced an overlay, which occurs when the guaranteed prize pool of a tournament exceeds its actual purse. Sunday promises to be even more hectic, as three events will play out that combined will offer nearly $3 million guaranteed. Event #8 is a $129 No Limit Hold’em Knockout, which will have at least $800,000 on the line. Event #9 is a $535 No Limit Hold’em Heads-Up tournament that assures at least $400,000 will be up for grabs. Finally, the granddaddy of Sunday FTOPS tournaments is Event #10, a $322 No Limit Hold’em contest with a guarantee of $1.5 million.
FTOPS XV wraps up next Sunday, February 21st, with a $535 buy-in Main Event. The high-stakes online poker tournament, hosted by Full Tilt’s Allen Cunningham, will offer up at least $2.5 million. Also taking place that day are a $256 No Limit Hold’em Knockout Six-Max event and a $216 Pot Limit Omaha Heads-Up competition.
Full Tilt Poker is the second largest online poker site in the world and happily accepts customers from the United States. Its recent unveiling of Rush Poker turned the online cash game world upside down, as users could suddenly take in 200 to 300 hands per hour, increasing the win rate dramatically for profitable players. Full Tilt’s team of sponsored pros includes former MIT Blackjack Team member Andy Bloch, Tom “durrrr” Dwan, and Danish superstar Gus Hansen.
Poker: As Seen on TV?
Ever since I first saw Tom Chambers' online poker screenname I have been a fan. The online poker pro may not be a household name, but his humorous online moniker, "LearnedFromTV" tends to stick with you. I have always found it pretty amusing and I find it a little ironic that "LearnedFromTV" helps people learn over the internet, providing online videos for Poker Savvy.
Poker Savvy is just one of many examples of online poker education programs that the dedicated online grinders turn to for help. However, these subscription-based programs are often time consuming and cost prohibitive for the small stakes grinders. Innumerable poker books serve as an alternative means for players to obtain their poker education. A lot of people complain that poker books are too dry, too mathematical and just too boring. So, instead of books and programs, many players heed Chambers' suggestion: learn from TV.
In general, there is nothing wrong with learning poker from television programs like the World Series of Poker (WSOP) on ESPN, World Poker Tour (WPT), High Stakes Poker and Poker After Dark. Any time you are watching people play hands of poker, there is something valuable to learn, even if it is an amateur versus a known pro. In a game where successful players are those who can figure out the thought processes of their opponents, poker on TV is an opportunity to try to get into players' heads and ask yourself why they played a hand the way they did.
Unfortunately, several people who pick up poker tips primarily from what they see on their TV fail to consider some important factors, and may walk away thinking it is a good idea to play K2 because Gus Hansen did, without realizing he made a particular play under a very particular set of circumstances.
Remember that televised poker is intended to be entertaining. Oftentimes, poker tournaments created for TV have fast structures and are designed to create a lot of all-in action before the flop. A good example is the NBC Heads-Up Championship. A number of pros have gone on record that the structure is one of the worst ones around and that the event very quickly becomes a crapshoot. WPT events prior to Season VI have a similar problem, with the blinds so big by the time players reach the final table that there is not a lot of post-flop play.
While most poker tournaments, televised or not, reach a point where players will have to move all-in preflop for their tournament life, there are large portions of the tournaments where players are seeing flops, playing with deeper stacks and not frequently reraising all-in before the flop. High Stakes Poker and Poker After Dark are two shows that depict a more realistic example of what poker games are like. On Poker After Dark, every hand is shown, even the "boring" ones where a player raises and everyone else folds. High Stakes Poker, a deep-stacked cash game, has very few all-in preflop showdowns because they are relatively uncommon in an actual cash game setting.
You also have to remember how much is edited out of these tournaments in order to fit in their allotted time slot. Mike Matusow has said in several interviews that he thinks amateurs overvalue the importance of bluffing and he thinks TV is to blame. Matusow claims he only pulls off one or two big bluffs in a typical tournament day and he only does so after setting the bluff up over hours of play. Perhaps he folded for several rounds in order to establish a tight image or perhaps he bet a hand a certain way so he could repeat the same betting pattern later and reap the benefits.
Those hours of folding don't make it on TV though, so the big bluffs that do make the cut are shown without context. Online pro Mike "SowersUNCC" Sowers has somewhat of an undeserved reputation in the poker world because he moved all-in over the top of a raise from WPT host Mike Sexton with the meager holding of 4-9 during an episode from the 2008 WSOP. It was one of the only hands in the two hours of coverage of the event that featured the young pro and the commentary from Norman Chad left the impression that Sowers was a maniac, moving all-in with any two cards at any time.
What viewers didn't see was that Sexton was raising a ton of hands and was likely playing a very wide range of cards. Sowers said after the event that Sexton had been raising his blind for two days, so he picked a spot to fight back and got a little unlucky that Sexton happened to be holding pocket queens. As a result, Sowers, who impressively final tabled the very first WSOP event he ever played, became "that kid who reraised with 4-9" because of the power of television.
Hopefully these examples will get you to think about televised poker a little differently. They may call it reality television, but don't think for a second that it isn't highly produced, highly edited and leaves out a vast majority of what poker tournaments are all about. I still stop and watch every time I catch poker on TV and I do think there is a lot that people can pick up from watching. Just don't think that the television can offer you all you need to learn about how to become a good poker player.
Tags: 2008, Gus Hansen, high stakes, interview, Online Poker, poker player, small stakes, tournament, WSOP
Urindanger Fleeced for $495k in Epic Session
Dang's session started at two tables with David Benefield and Gus Hansen, but he found himself playing a wide variety of players as the night progressed.
A few of the more notable players to make an appearance included Tom "durrrr" Dwan, Ashton "theASHMAN103" Griffin, Alexander "PostflopAction" Kostritsyn and Daniel "FakeSky" Alaei.
Hansen stuck around until early this morning then took a seven hour rest before returning to the same tables. At the time of publication, the Great Dane had played 1,200 hands and was down over $155k.
Benefield came into the session with Dang already stuck $38k, but managed to get back in the black after making $20k, and another $38,000 from the $100/$200 Cap PLO games.
On top of the Cap PLO action, Benefield also took on Justin "ZeeJustin" Bonomo heads-up at $200/$400 No-Limit Hold'em. After 1,796 hands, Benefield lost $20k to Bonomo, finishing his night down just $678.
Dwan was quick to join the Cap PLO session with Dang, sticking around for exactly 3,600 hands before leaving game up over $367,000.
In addition to taking Dang's money, Dwan made $47k from 42 hands of $500/$1,000 Cap No-Limit Hold'em with pokerhontas2k6, and lost $134k to DrPill over 598 hands of $100/$200 No-Limit Hold'em. Dwan finished his night up $280,000.
Griffin started his day by making $74k from DrPill at $100/$200 NLHE then moved on the $200/$400 Cap PLO games where he made $71k, ending his night up $145k.
However, Kostritsyn couldn't pull together a win yesterday, losing at just about every table of every limit he sat at. After 4,442 hands, almost 4,000 of which were at the $200/$400 Cap PLO game, Kostritsyn lost over $276k.
Finally, Alaei sat in the $200/$400 Cap PLO game for 1,626 hands, earning over $133k for his efforts.
Below are three pots from the Cap PLO session, to see more hands or the largest hands from some of the various heads up matches head to MarketPulse.
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Cole South is running hot - Already won $2.2 million!
Cole South’s year has started great! He has already won 2.265.521 dollars from Full Tilt’s high stakes games and is the biggest winner so far.
Cole South
South has been dominating the PLO games from where he has won 2,1 million dollars.
Alexander “PostflopAction” Kostritsin and Gus Hansen are the other happy million dollar winners. Hansen has made $1,7 million and Kostritsin $1,96 million.
The biggest losers are Patrik Antonius and Brian Townsend with a bit over 1,5 million dollar losses. Only time will tell if Townsend’s great comeback will stop abruptly.
The losers, Townsend & Antonius
Source: Highstakesdb
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wins and losses suffered notably by Gus Hansen (+$1.74m) and Patrik
Antonius (-$1.75m) is of upsets at Cake Poker and the iPoker networks.
Antonius Grabs Back $577k
Antonius's first match started in the early morning hours Sunday on his personal $500/$1,000 Pot-Limit Omaha table against world1969.
Rumored to be Johnny "World" Hennigan, world1969 lasted only 16 hands against Antonius before losing a $212k pot and leaving the match down $191k.
Antonius then turned his attention to 7-Game, where he made an additional $385,000. With $1.4 million in losses, Antonius is now the second biggest loser on the year, less than $2,000 ahead of Brian Townsend.
Tom "durrrr" Dwan played two big-money sessions yesterday as well. The first, at $100/$200 PLO against Townsend, ended after 76 hands and Townsend had lost $133k, the majority of his $164k total loss on the day.
Dwan tried to continue his run-good at 7-Game only to lose $141k, finishing the day down $7,723.
Phil Ivey also showed up for a short session, playing 123 hands of PLO and 190 hands of 7-Game. After losing half of his PLO profits in the mixed games, Ivey finished the day up $36k.
In the meantime, Alexander "PostflopAction" Kostritsyn continued to crush the 7-Game tables, making $332k in a 905 hand session Sunday. This puts the Russian pro up to over $2 million in earnings on the year.
At press time, Kostritsyn sits in second place for the year's top earner, $500k behind Cole South.
Some of the other big names to get in a few hands yesterday included Gus Hansen (-$189k), Ashton "theASHMAN103" Griffin ($78k), Hac "trex313" Dang (-$67k) and Phil "OMGClayAiken" Galfond ($16k).
Below are three of the largest pots of the day. Head to MarketPulse to see more.
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