Posts Tagged ‘HB’
Berman and Lakes Entertainment to Invest in Ohio Casinos
Tueday’s state election in Ohio brought good news for Lakes Entertainment and its Chairman Lyle Berman. A ballot initiative to bring casinos to four major Ohio cities passed by a 53% margin on Tuesday and Berman and Lakes Entertainment stand to profit from all four of the newly approved Ohio casino projects.
The casino initiative, known as Issue 3 on this year’s Ohio ballot, was a polarizing issue within the Midwestern state, with those opposing the initiative suggesting that it stands to benefit casinos, but not the people of Ohio. Those in favor of the bill pointed to the presence of casinos in the neighboring state of Indiana and suggested that Ohio is missing out on a viable revenue source during this economic recession.
In the end, casino supporters won out and new casinos are scheduled to be built in Cincinnati, Toledo, Cleveland, and Columbus. The two groups behind the new gaming establishments are Penn Ventures and Rock Gambling Ventures, but Lakes Entertainment has a stake in all four of the properties as well. Berman and Lakes tried to spearhead a failed effort to bring gaming to Ohio in 2008 and recently cut a deal with both Rock Gambling and Penn shortly before Election Day to ensure they would be involved in this latest attempt. The deal stipulates that Lakes will fund 10% of the cost of the ballot initiative and, in turn, will have the option to own a 10% share in each of the new casinos.
According to a report from the Associated Press (AP), Lakes filed the deal with the Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC) on October 29th, just days before the November 4th election. The AP also reported that campaign finance documents of Issue 3 show that the campaign cost $35 million. The SEC filing indicated that Lakes already made an initial payment of $1.9 million to Penn Ventures and $2.4 million to Rock Gambling. Penn will oversee the construction and operation of the Columbus and Toledo casinos, while Rock will handle the Cincinnati and Cleveland sites.
Bob Tenenbaum of the Ohio Jobs and Growth Committee spoke with the AP about Berman’s involvement in the campaign. “At the time this was raised as a campaign issue, which was Oct. 6, Berman had no role in any of this,” he explained. “He never became involved in the campaign, but he did reach out to both Penn National and Rock Ohio Ventures in the last week of the campaign and asked if he could become involved.”
The union between Berman and Penn is an unexpected one considering the two were bitter rivals during the previous campaign to bring gambling to a single destination in Clinton County. The campaign turned so ugly that Berman and Lakes filed a defamation lawsuit against Penn, which counter-sued for defamation, libel, and slander. The AP reported that both suits have since been dropped, but that does not mean Berman and Lakes will have extensive involvement in the day-to-day operations of the new casinos.
A spokesperson for Rock, the business development company of Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert told the AP that Lakes would be playing a purely financial role in the casino projects. Berman and Lakes are not new to gaming in the Midwest and South. They currently own and operate several properties, including the Vicksburg Casino in Mississippi, the Four Winds Casino outside of Chicago, and the Cimarron and Ioway City Casinos in Oklahoma.
Phil Ivey (+1,8 million), David Benyamine (-1,7 million) in October
October ended and it’s time to take a peak at last month’s high stakes games. There was decent amount of action so we got million dollar winners and losers.
October’s biggest winners - Patrik Antonius and Phil Ivey
October’s biggest winner was Phil Ivey who is currently preparing for the November 9. Ivey played about 8200 hands and managed to win $1,8 million. Patrik Antonius won $350k less and pushed himself into second place. Antonius played more than normally and highstakesdb recorded over 24.000 hands for him. Antonius won most of his money from 7-Game and H.O.R.S.E. Ivey got ovet $800k from Omaha. Patrik Antonius is up over $6.1 million on Full Tilt Poker high stakes games this year.
Other big winners were:
Abe “EazyPeazy” Mosseri $905k
Gus Hansen $735k
Tom “durrrr” Dwan $643k
Brian Hastings $594k
Ashton “theASHMAN103? Griffin $578k
The losers
David Benyamine managed to take a huge beat with over $1,7 million losses. Almost all of his losses came from 7-Game and H.O.R.S.E. Benyamine played second most hands of the month, only Richard Ashby played more. Even though Benyamine played a lot, he manged to lose time after time. Ilari Sahamies, Gus Hansen and Patrik Antonius took most of his money.
Other players who lost over $500k:
“Isildur1? $-989k
Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond $-963k
“Slick Puppy” $-897k
David Oppenheim $-777k
David “POKERBLUFFS” Eldar $-649k
Rafi “rafiboy” Amit $-618k
Chau Giang $-598k
Source: highstakesdb
You just read Poker News from HighStakesNews.com
Phil Ivey (+1,8 million), David Benyamine (-1,7 million) in October
Tags: 5, Brian Hastings, cent, David Benyamine, durrrr, full tilt poker, Galfond, Gus Hansen, HB, high stakes, Ilari Sahamies, Omaha, Patrik Antonius, Phil Ivey, player, Poker
Patrik Antonius, The High Stakes King - $805.000 Profit
Patrik Antonius was dominant in yesterday’s High Stakes Games on Full Tilt Poker with $805.012 profit.
Antonius is nearing his sixth million on Full Tilt Poker. With yesterday’s earnings his total profit for this year is a massive 5.87 million dollars.
Another happy man, considering the yesterday’s winnings, is Daniel “FakeSky” Alaei. Alaei managed to win $337k. Last year Alaei took a $700k loss, so he can be happy about this year’s total winnings as he has won about $120k. Although, Alaei has a lot to do until he manages to rebuild his bankroll back up.
Also Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies had a positive day. He won about $140k in yesterday’s session.
Few big hands from the session:
Antonius flops a monster draw, $120k pot
Antonius flops another monster against Isildur1’s set, $120k pot
Durrrr hits his straight against Antonius
Winners Top 3:
1. Patrik Antonius $805.012
2. Daniel “FakeSky” Alaei $337.605
3. Brian Hastings $328.743
Losers Top 3:
1. Richard Ashby –$530.531
2. David Benyamine –$434.020
3. “NEKOTYAN” –$336.259
Source: Highstakesdb
You just read Poker News from HighStakesNews.com
Patrik Antonius, The High Stakes King - $805.000 Profit
Tags: 2009, 5, Brian Hastings, cent, David Benyamine, durrrr, full tilt poker, HB, high stakes, king, Patrik Antonius, Poker, Pro
Antonius headlines sick 7-Game action
This most recent session saw a flurry of action with Daniel Alaei (FakeSky), Gus Hansen and Brian Hastings all making more than $300k.
Online regular, identity still unknown, Nizot Skizared took down $270k, while the Finnish action junky Ilari "Ziigmund" Sahamies made just under $140k.
Also showing modest profits on the night were Tom Dwan, Matt Hawrilenko, EazyPeazy and Di "Urindanger" Dang.
The most noteable losers of the day include Richard Ashby (-$530k), David Benyamine (-$434k), NEKOTYAN (-$336k), Cole South (-$218k), DIN_FRU (-$204k), Chau Giang (-$127k) and David Oppenheim (-$106k).
Posting smaller losing sessions were online stars Phil "OMGClayAIken" Galfond and Brian Townsend, both losing under $100k.
With this $434k loss, Benyamine continues his struggle to get anything going on the year. His 2009 losses now total almost $1.3 million.
Long after the 7-Game action had run dry, the $500/$1,000 No-Limit Hold'em game kicked off with two full ring tables collecting rake.
The nine-handed table Don Juan became the table of death, starting with all seats filled, including some of the biggest names in the game. Dwan, Ivey, Juanda, South and (Hac) Dang were all in on the high-stakes NL action.
On top of all of this, Tom Dwan took on Patrik Antonius heads up at $500/$1,000 Pot-Limit Omaha, winning the largest pot of the day worth $85k.
Over on PokerStars WSOP Main Event Champion Peter Eastgate managed to net only $193 after winning the second largest pot of the day, but losing the third worth almost exactly as much.
To see replays of all the largest NL and PLO pots of the day, head to MarketPulse, or you can find the three biggest pots of the day replayed below.
Visit PokerListings.com
Tags: 15, 2009, 5, ashton griffin, Brian Hastings, Brian Townsend, cent, Cole South, Dang, David Benyamine, Galfond, Gus Hansen, HB, Ilari "Ziigmund" Sahamies, king, no-limit, Omaha, Patrik Antonius, Peter Eastgate, player, Poker, pokerstars, Pro, Tom Dwan, WSOP
3 Million Hands In 10 Months
Every year few of the most devoted ones begin the grind for the Supernova Elite status on PokerStars. To reach the Supernova Elite you must earn 1 million VPP points in one year.
To get the million VPP points you have to play countless of hours grinding multiple tables. The newest member of the elite club is 33-year-old Dan “DannyOhBoy” Grolemund who managed to play 3 million NL100 hands in 10 months. Grolemund isn’t your average “grinder nerd” who’s life revolves around poker 24/7.
Grolemund is married with 3 children and their youngest one was even born this year. Against all the odds, Grolemund says that their youngest child helped him to grind the Supernova Elite status.
Every time when he had to change diapers, feed or clean after all the mess, he had 20 tables open. Grolemund’s grinding schedule was timed with the youngest child’s sleep pattern and the child slept near him so Grolemund could just fastly do the paternal duties while grinding.
Many players wouldn’t get the support what Dan had from his wife. Right at the beginning of the year Dan told his wife about his plan to grind the Supernova Elite status. His wife was very understanding since the start, and now, after 10 months of grind they can both enjoy the fruits of Dan’s labor. Grolemund tells that he had to make many scarifices during the 10 months, but he is very excited about his achievement.
Grolemund will continue to grind even though his family and work will consume lots of his time. Creating a working schedule will be a hard task for him, but he remains confident that he can manage to uphold the Supernova Elite status for some time.
Want to be the next Supernova Elite? Join PokerStars through HighStakesNews and get great benefits: Pokerstars new 600$ deposit bonus
Source: Pokerstarblog
You just read Poker News from HighStakesNews.com
Some Mild Action on Full Tilt Poker 7-Game Tables
There was nothing really big happening yesterday, just a few friendly 7-game tables. Nobody really won or lost majorly, so it was just a one big poker pro family playing a really friendly game.
David Benyamine was short stacking and losing almost every all-in pot, so in the end he was down quite a bit. He got coolered a few times, so it really wasn’t his night.
Stacks were moving from player to player while Patrik Antonius and Phil Ivey were leading the show. As said, nothing really big happened, they just seemed to spend time online.
Patrik and Phil grinding the stacks from David Benyamine and Richard Ashby.
Want to play with the pros? Want to rail the biggest games online? Join Full Tilt Poker now and get $600 first time deposit bonus and a 27% rakeback: click here.
You just read Poker News from HighStakesNews.com
Some Mild Action on Full Tilt Poker 7-Game Tables
Tags: 5, cent, David Benyamine, full tilt poker, HB, king, Patrik Antonius, Phil Ivey, player, Poker, Pro
Antonius continues to destroy the mixed games
Richard Ashby took the main share of the beating, down $275k over an impressive 2,493 hands, while high stakes regular Slick Puppy was able to limit his losses to $116k.
David Benyamine sat for almost 1,000 hands, leaving $88k lighter, and everyone's favorite fish Gus Hansen, who only sat for 40 hands, lost just over $50k.
With much of Full Tilt's high-stakes action outside of 7-Game drying up, Tom "kingsofcards" Marchese turned to heads-up $200/$400 No Limit Hold'em on PokerStars.
The majority of Marchese's confrontations involved fellow high-stakes regulars FiSHeYe1984 and RaiseOnce.
In just 14 hands on one table, Marchese managed to take $40k off of RaiseOnce, while in 38 hands on another he lost $51k to FiSHeYe1984.
In total the king lost over $11k, most of which he made back by the end of the night slumming at $25/$50 NLHE.
Here are the three largest pots of Marchese's night. You can see more hand replays by clicking to the MarketPulse page.
Both players thought they had 10 outs.
Visit PokerListings.com
Tags: 15, 5, David Benyamine, Gus Hansen, HB, high stakes, king, player, Poker, pokerstars, PPA, Pro
Yesterday’s Preeminent H.O.R.S.E. Winner, Patrik Antonius
Looks like the high stake games have been shifted to the H.O.R.S.E. tables on Full Tilt Poker. In spite of the game change, Patrik Antonius is still reigning the tables.
Patrik Antonius was dominant again at the Fixed Limit H.O.R.S.E. tables. Antonius increased his bankroll for over $350.000 yesterday. Antonius had a quite long session as he played about 1440 hands.
Other famous pros playing as well
The second biggest winner was Matt Hawrilenko, also John Juanda continued to play his a-game.
After the play was over, Richard Ashby ended up to be the biggest loser.
Top3 winners:
1. Patrik Antonius $352.907
2. Matt Hawrilenko $127.156
3. John Juanda $74.420
Top3 losers:
1. Richard Ashby $-275.691
2. Slick Puppy $-116.320
3. David Benyamine $-88.148
Join up and play with the pros on Full TIlt Poker. Register through HighStakesNews and get a $600 first deposit bonus and 27% rakeback: click here.
Source: Highstakesdb
You just read Poker News from HighStakesNews.com
Barney Frank, 18 Others Issue Letter to Geithner, Bernanke about UIGEA Rules
The fight to delay the implementation of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) rules continues. Recently, 19 Congressmen, including Barney Frank (D-MA), issued a letter to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.
The news comes on the heels of a letter sent by the Poker Players Alliance (PPA) in conjunction with the National Thoroughbred Racing Association and the American Greyhound Track Operators Association to the same two government individuals. In fact, the letter sent by the Congressmen alludes to the PPA’s petition directly, encouraging Geithner and Bernanke to use the Administrative Procedure Act to delay the implementation of the UIGEA rules by one year to December 1st, 2010. As it currently stands, the financial services industry must fall into line with the 2006 law six weeks from now.
Frank’s letter explains that the UIGEA rules were officially approved on January 19th, one day before current U.S. President Barack Obama took office. It implores, “We realize this is not a task you requested. We also believe this is an unreasonable burden on regulators and the financial services industry at a time of economic crisis, and it contradicts the stated intent of the Financial Services Committee.” Last year, Frank pushed HR 6870, which would seek to clarify what activities were permissible under the UIGEA, through the Financial Services Committee. However, any action on the bill was halted, as the crisis on Wall Street began shortly thereafter. Frank has been the Chairman of the Financial Services Committee since 2007.
The letter notes, “At our hearing in April 2008, the testimony of regulators and the industry indicated that it would be particularly difficult to craft workable regulations to effectively enforce the statute without having a substantial adverse effect on the payments system.” Instead of creating a “laundry list” of activities that are allowed online, the UIGEA instead defers to a muddled web of federal, state, and local laws. As a result, credit card companies like Visa and MasterCard began “overblocking” in an attempt to comply with the measure, leading to legal online lottery purchases being denied in states like New Hampshire and North Dakota.
The letter is signed by 19 Congressmen, all of whom are members of the Financial Services Committee: Frank, Peter King (R-NY), Luis Gutierrez (D-IL), Ron Paul (R-TX), Melvin Watt (D-NC), Judy Biggert (R-IL), Gary Ackerman (D-NY), Leonard Lance (R-NJ), Michael Capuano (D-MA), William Lacy Clay (D-MO), Paul Hodes (D-NH), Ron Klein (D-FL), Ed Perlmutter (D-CO), Bill Foster (D-IL), André Carson (D-IN), Walt Minnick (D-ID), Steve Driehaus (D-OH), Jim Himes (D-CT), and Dan Maffei (D-NY). Four Republicans are among the signers, who also include two Subcommittee Chairmen.
Frank introduced HR 2266 in May. The measure, affectionately dubbed the Reasonable Prudence in Regulation Act, would delay financial services industry compliance with the rules and regulations of the UIGEA by one year until December 1st, 2010. The measure was introduced in May and has generated 51 cosponsors. However, while the letter explains that HR 2266 is “likely to move,” Frank’s committee has been bogged down with the struggling U.S. economy, which boasts near-double-digit unemployment. As of the time of writing, no discussion of the bill is scheduled.
Frank also introduced HR 2267 in May, the Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection, and Enforcement Act. The bill establishes a complete licensing and regulatory framework for the internet gambling industry in the United States. HR 2267 blocks wagers on sports under the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) and has attracted 62 cosponsors. As its name implies, HR 2267 places a considerable amount of emphasis on providing consumer protection in an effort to placate to those in Congress who are fearful of underage and problem gambling.
Barney Frank, 18 Others Issue Letter to Geithner, Bernanke about UIGEA Rules
The fight to delay the implementation of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) rules continues. Recently, 19 Congressmen, including Barney Frank (D-MA), issued a letter to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.
The news comes on the heels of a letter sent by the Poker Players Alliance (PPA) in conjunction with the National Thoroughbred Racing Association and the American Greyhound Track Operators Association to the same two government individuals. In fact, the letter sent by the Congressmen alludes to the PPA’s petition, encouraging Geithner and Bernanke to use the Administrative Procedure Act to delay the implementation of the UIGEA rules by one year to December 1st, 2010. As it currently stands, the financial services industry must fall into line with the 2006 law six weeks from now.
Frank’s letter explains that the UIGEA rules were officially approved on January 19th, one day before current U.S. President Barack Obama took office. It implores, “We realize this is not a task you requested. We also believe this is an unreasonable burden on regulators and the financial services industry at a time of economic crisis, and it contradicts the stated intent of the Financial Services Committee.” Last year, Frank pushed HR 6870, which sought to clarify what activities were permissible under the UIGEA, through the Financial Services Committee. However, any action on the bill was halted, as the crisis on Wall Street began shortly thereafter. Frank has been the Chairman of the Financial Services Committee since 2007.
The letter notes, “At our hearing in April 2008, the testimony of regulators and the industry indicated that it would be particularly difficult to craft workable regulations to effectively enforce the statute without having a substantial adverse effect on the payments system.” Instead of creating a “laundry list” of activities that are allowed online, the UIGEA instead defers to a muddled web of federal, state, and local laws. As a result, credit card companies like Visa and MasterCard began “overblocking” in an attempt to comply with the measure, leading to legal online lottery purchases being denied in states like New Hampshire and North Dakota.
The letter is signed by 19 Congressmen, all of whom are members of the Financial Services Committee: Frank, Peter King (R-NY), Luis Gutierrez (D-IL), Ron Paul (R-TX), Melvin Watt (D-NC), Judy Biggert (R-IL), Gary Ackerman (D-NY), Leonard Lance (R-NJ), Michael Capuano (D-MA), William Lacy Clay (D-MO), Paul Hodes (D-NH), Ron Klein (D-FL), Ed Perlmutter (D-CO), Bill Foster (D-IL), André Carson (D-IN), Walt Minnick (D-ID), Steve Driehaus (D-OH), Jim Himes (D-CT), and Dan Maffei (D-NY). Four Republicans are among the signers, who also include two Subcommittee Chairmen.
Frank introduced HR 2266 in May. The measure, affectionately dubbed the Reasonable Prudence in Regulation Act, would delay financial services industry compliance with the rules and regulations of the UIGEA by one year until December 1st, 2010. The measure was introduced in May and has generated 51 cosponsors. However, while the letter explains that HR 2266 is “likely to move,” Frank’s committee has been bogged down with the struggling U.S. economy, which boasts near-double-digit unemployment. As of the time of writing, no discussion of the bill has been scheduled.
Frank also introduced HR 2267 in May, the Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection, and Enforcement Act. The bill establishes a complete licensing and regulatory framework for the internet gambling industry in the United States. HR 2267 blocks wagers on sports under the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) and has attracted 62 cosponsors. As its name implies, HR 2267 places a considerable amount of emphasis on providing consumer protection in an effort to placate to those in Congress who are fearful of underage and problem gambling.
Poker Players Alliance Issues Letter to Timothy Geithner, Ben Bernanke
With the December 1st deadline rapidly approaching for industry compliance with the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA), the Poker Players Alliance (PPA) has coauthored a letter to prominent members of the Treasury and Federal Reserve.
The PPA letter is dated in September and addressed to Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. Its purpose is straightforward: encourage the postponement of the UIGEA’s regulations by one year. The letter explains, “An extension of the compliance date is necessary because a significant number of institutions subject to the Final Rule will not have in place the necessary policies and procedures mandated by the Final Rule on December 1, 2009, the current compliance date.”
In May, Congressman Barney Frank (D-MA) introduced HR 2266, the Reasonable Prudence in Regulation Act. The measure pushes back mandatory UIGEA compliance by one year to December 1st, 2010 and has generated 51 cosponsors. However, with Frank’s committee bogged down in financial reform and near double-digit unemployment, HR 2266 has not yet seen the light of day. Rich Muny, PPA State Director for Kentucky, told Poker News Daily, “The hope is that we would pass legislation or would work with the Treasury to get them to accept something like an administrative law judge to determine what is legal and illegal under the UIGEA. The judge, for example, could include the fact that the Wire Act doesn’t apply to online poker.”
The PPA authored its letter in conjunction with the National Thoroughbred Racing Association and American Greyhound Track Operators Association. The letter concludes by explaining what the three groups have in common: “Given a choice between subjecting themselves to liability under the Act for processing transactions involving unlawful internet gambling and subjecting themselves to no liability for overblocking, regulated institutions have indicated to our members that they intend to overblock.” In New Hampshire and North Dakota, overblocking by credit card companies like Visa and MasterCard of legal online lottery transactions occurred as financial institutions rushed to comply with the UIGEA.
The letter comes as the PPA scrambles to delay the UIGEA regulations by any means necessary and takes advantage of the Administrative Procedure Act, which governs the way regulations are implemented. Muny explained, “There are two laws that give the Treasury the right to make sure that regulations it implements are understandable. The UIGEA rules were a last-minute decision by the Bush Administration, so they could make a feasible case that they were created in haste.” The regulations of the UIGEA were passed as “midnight rules” by the Bush Administration and took effect on January 19th, one day before U.S. President Barack Obama took office.
The two horse racing outfits express concern in the letter over legal transactions being prohibited. It notes, “The UIGEA regulations could result in confusion among members of the financial services community, leading to a devastating impact on electronic wagering as authorized by the [Interstate Horseracing Act], which produces some $100 million in prize money for horsemen and millions of dollars of state and local tax revenue.”
Whether the UIGEA’s regulations will have any impact on the internet gambling and online poker industries in the United States after December 1st is not yet known. Noted online gambling expert Nelson Rose told Poker News Daily in a July interview, “Basically, the whole program focuses on due diligence on new accounts. If you’re crazy enough to set up a bank account with an American bank, they’ll ask if you’re involved in illegal internet gambling.” He added that payment processors have already devised ways to skirt the 2006 law.
Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest PPA news.
Tags: 2009, 2010, 5, Alliance, Barney Frank, Bush Administration, Chair, Chairman, Congress, HB, internet gambling, Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, interview, Judge, king, law, legal, member, News Daily, Online Poker, player, Poker, Poker News Daily, poker player, Poker Players Alliance, PPA, President, Pro, state director, United States
The blen-durrrr: Dwan liquidates mixed game foes
Almost the entire online poker world made it out for the action with Gus Hansen and Richard Ashby both making over $100k, and Patrik Antonius, John Juanda, Justin Smith, and David Benyamine all making small profits.
But the list of losers was even more impressive with Chau Giang (-$268k), Cole South (-$249k), Nizot Skizared ($-157k), Phil Ivey (-$150k), Sirens (-$124k) and Brian Hastings (-$115k) all taking big hits.
Even David Oppenheim and Allen Cunningham sat for a few hands, donating tens of thousands to the durrrr fund.
Away from the mixed games, Phil "OMGClayAiken" Galfond and Rob "Vega_Lion" Akery decided to gamble, taking multiple flips for $30k a piece.
When agreeing to flip, both players wager the agreed apon amount pre-flop, regardless of their hands, and check down all streets. The result is a 50% shot for each player to win the pot, similar to flipping a coin.
In total, Galfond and Akery took 26 $60k flips, with Galfond winning an impressive 17.
Galfond's 65% win-rate for the flips netted him $270k, which he turned into a total $386k profit before the end of the night, $334,000 of which came from Akery.
Visit PokerListings.com
Tags: 15, 5, Brian Hastings, Cole South, David Benyamine, durrrr, Galfond, gamble, Gus Hansen, HB, king, Omaha, Online Poker, Patrik Antonius, Phil Ivey, player, Poker, Pro, usa
A fight to the Finnish: Antonius vs. Sahamies
In fact, on top of the $468k he won playing heads-up with Sahamies, Antonius took another $80k off Phil "OMGClayAiken" Galfond and more than $200k playing mixed games with the likes of Gus Hansen.
In total, poker's most famous Finn made over $741k on the night.
Even though Sahamies and Antonius were also playing $500/$1,000, the highest stakes PLO available online, the largest pot of the night, worth $276k, actually came from a $300/$600 PLO table.
The hand started with the typical raise/re-raise pre-flop and both players holding similar ace-high suited hands. Antonius flopped top two and flat called when Sahamies bet pot holding top pair and the nut-flush draw.
Sahamies bet pot on the brick-like turn and Antonius raised all in for $81k more. After calling the bet, Sahamies bricked the river as well, sending the pot and his stack to Antonius.
Meanwhile, on the 7-Game mixed tables, Gus Hansen played 2,649 hands, losing just over $488k.
Thanks to the generous donations from Hansen, Sahamies was able win almost $300k, greatly subsidizing his PLO losses. In fact, Sahamies ended his night down only $172k.
Brian Hastings and Phil Ivey both made over $200k on the night, almost exclusively on the mixed tables, while baddoggi and Richard Ashby lost over $100k a piece.
Below are the three largest Omaha pots of the night. You can see the rest of them by clicking to the MarketPulse section.
Antonius is great at flopping two pair.
Visit PokerListings.com
Barney Frank, lawmakers request UIGEA delay
Frank and the group sent a letter to the U.S. Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve last week asking for the date of compliance to be extended by one year.
The letter went on to urge both departments to consider a recent joint-petition filed by the Poker Players Alliance, the National Thoroughbred Racing Association and the American Greyhound Track Operators Association requesting enforcement of the anti-gambling act be delayed.
"We also believe this is an unreasonable burden on regulators and the financial services industry at a time of economic crisis," said the lawmakers in the letter.
The Unlawful Internet Gambling Act has been widely criticized for its failure to define what types of gambling are illegal online, making it difficult for financial institutions to determine what transactions should be denied.
Frank also introduced two poker-related bills this legislative session calling for the legalization and regulation of the online gambling industry and asking for enforcement of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Act to be delayed.
Both pieces of legislation are still pending. The legalization and regulation bill currently has 60 co-sponsors while the delay bill has 48.
Visit PokerListings.com
theASHMAN103 Grinded $3.3 Million In Three Months
Ashton “theASHMAN103″ Griffin continues to impress at the high stake tables. In the past three months he has won over $3.3 million already.
Mr. Grinder Griffin
Ashton Griffin’s earnings from the past three months are well over three million dollars. According to highstakesdb Ashton thrives at the Omaha tables. Most of his winnings came from Pot Limit Omaha during 542 sessions and 32585 hands. His win/rate is $102 for a hand.
Second biggest winner was Cole South who came just a bit short from Griffin with over $3.2 million profit. Then again South played a bit less hands during the last three motnhs.
Losses went to Denmark again
Holedigger Hansen
Gus Hansen hasn’t been able to have a good month after the nice heater earlier this year. He manages to win small only to lose massively later on. No wonder people wants to keep him at the tables. His losses from the past three months are about 3.5 million dollars. It seems that “The Great Dane” has dug the deepest hole of his career so far.
Some nice hands from the past three months:
theASHMAN103 vs martonas, $516k pot
martonas slowplaying his nuts when the turn hits Cole South, $452k pot
Gus Hansen with pocket rockets against Cole South, $446k pot
Benyamine’s set holds ’til the end in a three-way pot, $547k pot
Antonius has the nut flush against Durrrr, $581k pot
Gus Hansen with over pair and flush draw, $226k pot
Biggest Winners:
1.theASHMAN103 $3.338.270
2.Cole South $3.213.806
3.Richard Ashby $2.370.881
4.POKERBLUFFS $2.250.153
5.Brian Hastings $1.809.975
Most Losses:
1.Gus Hansen -$3.490.712
2.durrrr -$2.607.919
3.DIN_FRU -$2.380.490
4.KObyTAPOUT -$1.094.081
5.David Oppenheim -$1.022.549
Source: highstakesdb
You just read Poker News from HighStakesNews.com
theASHMAN103 Grinded $3.3 Million In Three Months
Tags: 15, 2008, 2009, 5, ashton griffin, Brian Hastings, cent, Cole South, durrrr, Gus Hansen, HB, martonas, Omaha, Poker, Pro
The life of Ivey: $950k in 756 hands
Ivey sat for most of the day yesterday playing a mix of six-max $500/$1,000 No-Limit Hold'em and Fixed-Limit HORSE, crushing all opposition for over $950,000.
Surprisingly, Ivey's largest No-Limit pot came in at just over $200k, only the sixth largest pot of the day.
The largest pot, worth $448k, belonged to Antonius with kingsofcards, the most recent addition to the regular high-stakes degenerates, on the losing end.
Mostly thanks to Antonius, Marchese's session could not have gone much worse, booking a loss worth well over half a million dollars.
Despite the beating he gave Marchese, Antonius's losses to Dwan and Ivey still resulted in the Finnish pro losing nearly $50k, including $270 dropped in a 400 hand session of the durrrr Challenge.
Full details and updates on the latest Challenge session can be found here.
Gus Hansen stayed away from all No-Limit Hold'em and Pot-Limit Omaha tables, choosing instead to play Limit HORSE. But thanks to Benyamine, Ivey, Richard Ashby and Sahamies, Hansen still booked a whopping loss of over $840k.
Finally, action instigator martonas had another losing session, this time minimizing his losses to just over $100k.
With this recent donation bringing his results to a new career low of over $2.5 million in losses, one has to wonder where the unknown Swede finds the funds to refill his roll.
With multiple players taking swings over $500k over the last few days, all signs point to this weekend being absolutely filled with high-stakes action.
Keep your browser pointed to MarketPulse to stay on top of it all.
Here are the three largest pots of the day (not including any durrrr Challenge action):
You have to love holding an overpair.
Visit PokerListings.com
Tags: 15, 5, cent, David Benyamine, durrrr, Galfond, Gus Hansen, HB, Ilari "Ziigmund" Sahamies, king, martonas, no-limit, Omaha, Patrik Antonius, Phil Ivey, player, Poker, Pro, Tom "durrrr" Dwan
A $196k start: The martonas comeback
The win streak was short-lived as martonas managed to lose over $3.4 million (his $1.4 million profit plus an additional $2 million) in just nine days at the tables before suddenly disappearing from the online world without anyone ever learning his true identity.
Last night, just one month later, martonas was back playing $300/$600 No-Limit Hold'em heads up against two of the most feared NLHE players in the world: Di "Urindanger" Dang and Cole South.
Even though martonas and Dang played over 1,100 hands with multiple $100k+ pots, the Urindanger/martonas battle ended almost even.
But in the end, South received an old-school beat down, losing over $124k to martonas across 828 hands. Although it could have gone the other way had South's aces held up in the players' largest pot of the session.
The remainder of martonas' profit came mostly from beating the relatively unknown liverpoolfc0985 out of $64k heads-up.
Although martonas did play a few hands on six-max and full-ring tables, his collective profit from those games accounts for only $4k of the night's total.
Martonas wasn't the only player in action, however. David Benyamine managed to lose a reported $750,000 over the weekend, mostly thanks to losing three of last night's five largest pots: collectively worth over $670k.
With his name showing up as the winner for countless $100k+ pots, Ziigmund looks to have cleaned up, mostly at Benyamine's expense.
Tom "kingsofcards" Marchese won the largest pot of the night, worth over $265k, with Benyamine to thank for that action as well.
The hand almost played itself, with both player getting it all in on the flop after Marchese flopped the top set of 7's against Benyamine's over-cards and open-ended straight draw.
Benyamine missed his straight, forfeiting the pot and possibly causing his Las Vegas neighbors to be awoken by a string of French profanities.
Here are some of the notable pots on the night. Head to MarketPulse to see everything else.
Cole South's aces get cracked.
Visit PokerListings.com
Two Months, Two Million Moves to Wednesdays
After four weeks in its Sunday 9PM time slot, the G4 reality show “Two Months, Two Million” will be changing nights, moving to Wednesdays at 8PM for the remainder of its ten episode season. There will be no new episode on Sunday and the network will instead air a two hour marathon of the first four episodes from 9PM-11PM ET.
The show was facing stiff competition from NFL coverage and popular HBO shows “True Blood” and “Entourage.” In an effort to make sure the show finds its audience, the network relocated it to the Wednesday time slot where competition will theoretically be much less tough. The show will also have the benefit of picking up G4’s popular “Attack of the Show” as its lead-in. The program, hosted by Olivia Munn and Kevin Pereira, airs nightly at 8PM ET Monday through Thursday. The guys of “Two Months, Two Million” are already familiar to “Attack of the Show” since Dani Stern and Jay Rosenkrantz made an appearance on the show last week.
The next new episode of “Two Months, Two Million” is scheduled to air on Wednesday September 16th and Rosenkrantz gave some additional hints about what to expect in the new episode in his blog. The previews for next week’s show included footage of Stern doing some heavy partying with a group of young women and Brian Roberts logging plenty of hours in the house’s War Room where all the guys gather for their online poker sessions. Rosenkrantz, who offered his own makeshift titles for upcoming episodes in his most recent blog entry, referred to the episode as “Double Dates and Home Again.” Considering the latest promos for the new episode included Rosenkrantz expressing doubts about their $2 million goal, the latter half of the title suggests some time away from Vegas might be in the young pro’s future.
The show’s time change is not the only big move for those involved with “Two Months, Two Million” this week. A blog post from Stern officially announced that he would no longer be serving as an instructor for the online poker training site PokerSavvy. Stern’s short blog post wished the company well and thanked the site and its members for their support. PokerSavvy’s current roster of instructors includes Isaac Haxton, Tony “Bond18” Dunst, Mike “SirWatts” Watson and Mike “The Mouth” Matusow. Despite the good company, Stern still decided it was time to move on to bigger and better things.
“The launch of my new TV show has opened up some new promotional opportunities for me that make staying at PokerSavvy impossible right now”, Stern wrote in his blog. “As such, I’ve decided I need to move on to pursue those opportunities.”
He failed to disclose what those exact opportunities were, but the prevailing opinion on the popular internet poker forums is that Stern will defect to rival training site DeucesCracked. Rosenkrantz is one of the founders and owners of DeucesCracked and fellow “Two Months, Two Million” cast members Emil “whitelime” Patel and Brian “flawlessvictory” Roberts are affiliated with the site as well. In an interesting side note, even the show’s personal chef, Chef Robert, is listed as a coach on DeucesCracked’s official website, making Stern the only cast member who is not connected to the company.
Tags: cent, founder, HB, internet poker, king, law, member, NFL, Online Poker, Poker, poker training site, Pro, vegas, women
Baltic Poker Festival kicks off in October
Taking place in Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, the tournament will carry a buy-in of €1,100 with the prize pool expected to contain hundreds of thousands of Euros. The exact number of side events is yet to be announced.
"We have hundreds of thousands of poker players in the Nordic countries, the Baltic States and Russia but so far there have only been a few attractive live tournaments," said Tomas Larsson, PokerStars Country Manager for Finland and the Baltics.
"Our ambition with this festival is to create the ultimate live poker experience similar to what players find at the most prestigious events in the world like the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in the Bahamas and the European Poker Tour's Grand Final in Monte Carlo, combining a luxurious venue with the best live poker in the Baltics."
As always PokerStars will hold a number of Satellites for the event starting in September with several freeroll qualifiers and standard satellites starting at just $2.20.
"Tallinn is an excellent location for such an event with its good access, outstanding facilities and previous experience in hosting large international poker tournaments," Larsson said.
"I am convinced that the PokerStars Baltic Festival will attract players not only from neighbouring countries but from all over Europe, including a number of Team PokerStars Pro members and some of the region's top sportsmen."
Visit PokerListings.com
Tags: Caribbean, EUR, Europe, european, European Poker Tour, freeroll, HB, king, manager, member, Online Poker, online poker room, player, Poker, Poker Festival, poker player, pokerstars, Pro, qualifier, Russia, tournament, usa
Martonas Loses $1.4 Million on Full Tilt Poker
This weekend, the high-stakes action at the Full Tilt nosebleed tables was relatively calm compared to the Pot Limit Omaha (PLO) frenzy that transpired last weekend. The slow action of Friday and Saturday brought an anticlimactic end to a week that saw the return of Durrrr Challenge play, a big winning week for Ashton “THEASHMAN103″ Griffin, and a substantial loss for the player known as “martonas.”
The bulk of martonas‘ $1.4 million downswing came at the hands of Tom “durrrr” Dwan and Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond last Friday at the $300/$600 PLO tables. Martonas clashed with durrrr in two massive hands, one worth over $280,000 and another that sent $460,000 durrrr’s way. In the latter hand, the two got it all-in on the flop with martonas holding a massive combination flush and straight draw to durrrr’s nut flush draw. The river brought the third diamond to complete the flush and give durrrr the best hand.
It was a big night for durrrr, who picked up $1 million in profit. Galfond also found success in last Friday’s session, bringing his end-of-day winnings to over $800,000. Like durrrr, he also picked up a chunk of his bankroll off of martonas. Meanwhile, martonas ended the day down nearly $1 million and that was not the end of his misfortune. He dropped an additional $600,000 on Monday and, despite winning sessions on Sunday and Tuesday, ended the week as the big loser on Full Tilt with a $1.4 million loss from Friday, August 21st to Saturday, August 29th.
Other players who ended up in the losing column during that time include both Di “Urindanger” Dang and his brother Hac “trex313″ Dang, who each dropped in the vicinity of $300,000. Several Full Tilt Red Pros didn’t fare too well this week, either. David Benyamine, Haseeb Qureshi, David Oppenheim, and Gus Hansen all came out of the week in the red with six-figure losses.
While those sponsored pros had a rough week, several other names in red came out in the black, most notably Patrik Antonius. He picked up much of his $500,000 in profit from two epic Durrrr Challenge sessions in which he was able to completely erase durrrr’s $726,000 overall lead in their infamous bet. Now, Antonius is sitting with a slight lead of $76,104 and half-million dollars more in his Full Tilt account. Richard Ashby and Phil Ivey also booked respectable weeks with profits of $190,000 and $163,000, respectively.
The big success story of the week is THEASHMAN103, who found himself up nearly $900,000 at week’s end. His $1 million winning session on the tables on Tuesday resulted in the majority of that profit. THEASHMAN103 continues to be one of the big winners of 2009 on Full Tilt Poker along with Antonius, CardRunners instructor Cole “cts” South, and Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies. Ziigmund had an impressive week himself, with $725,000 in winnings.
If this weekend is any indication, the fast and furious action on Full Tilt Poker may be hitting a lull. With the live tournament schedule picking up and continuing high-stakes action in Bobby’s Room at the Bellagio, perhaps the attention of many players is diverted. In his latest blog post, Doyle Brunson spoke of “insane” action at the Bellagio, so that could explain part of the dip in action at the online nosebleed tables. Only time will tell if action will pick back up shortly, when Durrrr Challenge play will resume, and if martonas can rebound from his rough week at the tables.
Tags: 15, 2009, 5, bellagio, Dang, David Benyamine, Doyle Brunson, durrrr, full tilt poker, Galfond, Gus Hansen, HB, king, martonas, nosebleed, Omaha, Patrik Antonius, Phil Ivey, player, Poker, Pro, runner, tournament
Ziigmund breaks $2 million for the year
Although Antonius and Richard Ashby contributed to Ziigmund's profits today it was martonas who took the worst of it, suffering a $623k loss overall which puts him down $65k since he showed up on the high-stakes scene.
The largest pot of this morning's session, worth over $183k, came after martonas jammed with bottom pair and an open-ended straight draw. Sahamies' top set held and rivered a full house just to twist the knife.
Ziigmund had his number all night with his second and third largest pots also coming at martonas's expense.
Not only could martonas not complete a draw, in the one large pot where he actually got the money in ahead he gets binked by Ziigmund's rivered gutshot.
Hopefully this smash and grab is a preview of Ziigmund's return to extreme degeneracy. The high-stakes world just wasn't the same without him.
You can watch the hands replayed below:
He also could have hit a king.
Visit PokerListings.com
durrrr stuns martonas with $585,952 pot
Last night it was time for martonas to battle current nosebleed stakes sheriff durrrr and the result was an epic No-Limit Hold'em heads-up match.
The pair played for approximately three hours at $500/$1,000 setting the stage for one of the biggest pots of the year so far.
At about 9 a.m. ET this morning, durrrr was dealt K
K
while martonas found T T in the hole. The two got into a massive raising war pre-flop before martonas finally slowed down and called a $60,400 durrrr bet.
The flop came a relatively dry 8 4 3 and durrrr simply shoved for $221,376. martonas called and was left drawing extremely slim with even his backdoor flush draw outs blocked.
The turn came 9
and the river finished with the 5 to secure durrrr the $585,952 pot.
Durrr has won all three of the biggest pots recorded by MarketPulse in the last 365 days. He lost the fourth biggest against Ilari "Ziigmund" Sahamies while Niki Jedlicka took down the fifth biggest.
The session was far from over following the massive pot, however, and about one hour later martonas would have his revenge.
This time he had K
K and Dwan had a less than perfect starting hand holding J 8.
The flop came K 3 3, giving martonas a full house and ending any chance Dwan had of winning the pot.
But even that didn't stop the online phenom from firing on all three streets, including a massive all-in bluff for $228,793 on the river.
martonas snap-called and showed his kings to scoop the $450,781 pot.
martonas was up by $234,000 for the session as railbirds continued to debate his/her true identity.
Dwan was pounded by martonas but still managed to grind out a $110,000 profit for his session thanks to the action on a few other tables.
Urindanger and Patrik Antonius both had bad sessions with Urindanger losing $468,000 and Antonius taking a $142,000 hit.
Check below to see some of the martonas/durrrr hands in the PokerListings' video player.
Visit PokerListings.com
Tags: 5, Dang, durrrr, Gus Hansen, HB, Ilari "Ziigmund" Sahamies, king, martonas, no-limit, nosebleed, Patrik Antonius, Phil Ivey, player, Poker, Pro, Sweden, Tom "durrrr" Dwan
Jim Tabilio Leaves Poker Voters of America
With the organization growing leaps and bounds, Jim Tabilio has left his post after founding the Poker Voters of America, an advocacy group that promotes protection of online poker players in California and around the United States.
Tabilio founded Poker Voters of America two years ago. He was well-suited for the role, having served as a poker player and political consultant. Now, Melanie Brenner has assumed the role of Executive Director and told Poker News Daily why Tabilio stepped down: “Jim has a family and is at a point in his life where he has other things he wants to do. This has been extremely time consuming, especially when the decision was made that we could do this in other states. It was a unique opportunity since states are looking for revenue.” Tabilio will remain on in an advisory role.
California is one of many states actively searching for new forms of revenue in the wake of budget shortfalls caused by a severe economic downturn. Brenner explained what could occur: “There are going to be big budget shortfalls that may make a lot of the challenges against legalized online poker evaporate. When you’re able to say to a legislator that it’s about revenue, they know the state needs it. You’re spending millions of dollars protecting live poker players, but there are a lot of other players not being protected online.” Brenner noted that she expects movement towards legalized and regulated intrastate poker in California in the near future.
According to eGaming Review and H2 Gambling Capital, legalizing intrastate online poker in California could generate $250 million per year for 10 years and $625 million per year after that. Brenner added that Poker Voters of America is also hard at work in Florida pushing for intrastate online poker. As such, she is constantly traveling back and forth to promote the organization’s agenda. Brenner explained, “The biggest pushback we get is that legalizing online poker is just the tip of the iceberg. With that kind of mentality, nothing gets done.”
During National Poker Week, over 30 State Directors of the Poker Players Alliance (PPA) and a handful of the game’s elite descended on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC to call for the legalization and regulation of online poker in the United States. Poker News Daily was also on the scene in the nation’s capital. Several obstacles we ran into were Congressmen and their staffers not understanding how to play online poker, what safeguards are in effect to combat underage and problem gambling, and how deposits and cashouts work. Brenner told Poker News Daily, “The major challenge hasn’t been on the legislative side, it’s been educating the stakeholders on how online poker works. It’s been fascinating talking with legislators about online poker.”
In addition to California and Florida, the Poker Voters of America is directing its attention towards New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Louisiana. In each case, local casinos would likely be able to open their own online poker rooms, although Brenner noted that several are apprehensive for fear that it will cannibalize their live business. The Bicycle Casino in Bell Gardens, California is set to play host to the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) Legends of Poker Main Event on August 22nd. The $10,000 buy-in tournament will crown a champion four days later. In February, the WPT returns to the state for the Commerce Casino’s L.A. Poker Classic. A Celebrity Invitational follows the $10,000 buy-in event.
Membership to the Poker Voters of America is free and requires a person’s first name, last name, e-mail address, and mailing address. Becoming a part of the PPA is also free, although a premium membership is available for $20 per year.
Tags: 5, Alliance, California, Congress, Executive Director, Florida, HB, king, L.A., legal, legalizing, member, New Jersey, New York, News Daily, Online Poker, online poker player, online poker players, online poker room, Pennsylvania, player, Poker, Poker News Daily, poker player, Poker Players Alliance, PPA, Pro, state director, tournament, United States, World Poker Tour
VIP Guests Treated at Poker in the Park
Last week’s biggest winners: Cole South, Richard Ashby and Phil IveyLast week’s biggest winners: Cole South, Richard Ashby and Phil Ivey
Cole South had a tremendous heater last week as he managed to pull out $1,387,000 winnings.
-Muck ‘em.. say UHH!
Cole South is a Full TIlt high-stakes regular who was previously know as “MUCKEMSAYUHH”. He is only 20-years-old and is a co-owner of the site Cardrunners.com.
Cole’s earnings place him just barely on the top as Richard “CHUFTY” Ashby made $1,000,428 during the last week’s nosebleed games.
Phil Ivey’s return was quite earthshaking as he managed to make $998,000 profit placing him third on the highstakesdb.com top list.
Tom “durrrr” Dwan is the biggest loser. His luck has changed and he made over $1.4 million minus.
Niki “KaiBuxxe” Jedlicka’s upswing got an abrupt ending as well as he made a $1.1 million loss.
You just read Poker News from HighStakesNews.com
Don Topel Wins $200,000 on Face the Ace Premiere, Will Play for $1 Million
Saturday night marked the debut of the NBC poker show Face the Ace. Two contestants took to the felts during the premiere, headlined by truck driver Don Topel, who won $200,000 after defeating Full Tilt Poker pros Erick Lindgren and Howard Lederer. Next week, Topel will play for $1 million.
Face the Ace’s set is a lounge at a Las Vegas casino, boasting the tagline, “Think you’re a poker shark? Then prove it.” A montage of Face the Ace pros – all from Full Tilt Poker – then hit television airwaves. In fact, the logo of the NBC show bears a striking resemblance to the logo of the world’s second largest online poker site, Full Tilt. Contestants face one “ace” for $40,000. If they’re successful, they can take the money and run or battle against another top-tier pro for $200,000. Win a second match and a player can walk away six-figures richer or square off against a third “ace” for $1 million. If a contestant loses at any time, they’ll walk away with nothing and the pro banks $10,000 for the charity of their choice.
The first contestant was Jonathan Nygaard from Jonestown, Pennsylvania. Show host Steve Schirripa, of HBO’s The Sopranos, fame, noted that Nygaard served in both the U.S. Marines and Navy and was shot in the line of duty. Each of four smoke-filled doors held one “ace” and Nygaard selected the ace of spades. Schirripa gave a brief biography of the “ace” in question and 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) November Nine member Phil Ivey strolled onstage after his door was opened by Deal or No Deal model Megan Abrigo.
On the first hand between Nygaard and Ivey, the Full Tilt Pro raised to 1,400 with A-8 and Nygaard looked down at pocket rockets, making it 3,400. Ivey made the call to see a flop of J-9-4 with two diamonds. Nygaard bet out 4,500 and Ivey surrendered, causing Nygaard to comment that it was a “tough fold.” In the match’s deciding hand, Ivey made it 1,400 pre-flop with A-4 and Nygaard re-raised to 5,400 with pocket queens. Ivey promptly pushed and Nygaard called, putting the November Nine member at risk. The board ran out J-8-J-3-7, giving Nygaard his first win and $40,000. A somewhat bashful Ivey commented, “He played real aggressive. I didn’t think he had a hand, so I moved all-in and I was wrong.”
Nygaard opted to take the $40,000 and walk instead of facing off against a second ace. In his place came Topel, a 41 year-old from Midlothian, Illinois whose mother and sister live with him. Topel selected the ace of diamonds, who was revealed as 2008 WSOP Player of the Year Erick Lindgren. On the first hand, Topel made the call with J-10 and Lindgren checked his option with Q-5. The flop came 4-10-3 and the action went check-check. The turn was a deuce. Lindgren checked, Topel bet 600 with top pair, and Lindgren’s 11 outs appeared across the top of the screen: four aces, four sixes, and three queens. Lindgren raised to 2,100 and Topel called. The river was a six, giving Lindgren a straight. The pro bet 4,000 and Topel quickly released his hand.
Lindgren won the match’s first three hands before Topel flopped top pair and a flush draw with K-J of hearts to take down his first pot. In a key hand between the two foes, Lindgren made the call pre-flop with A-5 of clubs and Topel raised to 2,800 with A-9 of diamonds. Lindgren shoved and offered Topel the opportunity to see one card, exposing the five of clubs. Topel called and found he was ahead to the flop of 10-7-2 with two diamonds. Topel was 85% to win before a five hit the turn, dropping the challenger to a 27% underdog. However, the river was the jack of diamonds, doubling Topel up.
In the final hand between Topel and Lindgren, the challenger raised to 2,000 pre-flop with J-5 of hearts and the pro made the call with 9-7 of diamonds. The flop came 9-2-2 with two hearts. Lindgren checked, Topel bet 3,500, and Lindgren pushed all-in for 5,100 more. Topel made the call and a four of hearts on the turn gave him a flush and a $40,000 payday. Schirripa joked, “You got one step out of the basement.” Despite making $60,000 per year as a truck driver, Topel elected to risk his newfound winnings, choosing the ace of hearts, Howard Lederer.
Lederer and Topel each started with 100 big blinds and the Full Tilt icon came out swinging, taking down the first two major pots shown. In the match-up’s deciding hand, Lederer looked down at A-Q of spades and raised to 10,000. Topel picked up pocket kings and made it 30,000. Lederer pushed and Topel called, creating a pot of 188,000, or 94% of the chips in play. The flop came J-3-10, giving Lederer a gutshot straight draw, but the board bricked out, doubling Topel up. Lederer doubled up once before ultimately falling with 2-4 of diamonds against Topel’s Q-9 after Lederer’s flush and straight draws failed to hit. Lederer commented, “He played well. He has a reasonable chance [to win $1 million].”
Topel elected to risk his $200,000 payday and play on for $1 million. Face the Ace returns next Saturday, August 8th, at 9:00pm ET on NBC.
Tags: 2008, 2009, 5, charity, Deal or No Deal, Erick Lindgren, full tilt poker, HB, Howard Lederer, king, Las Vegas, member, model, NBC, Online Poker, online poker site, Pennsylvania, Phil Ivey, player, Poker, poker show, poker site, Pro, queen, show host, vegas, WSOP, WSOP Player
ESPN 2009 WSOP Ratings Fall 4%
The 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) debuted on cable station ESPN on Tuesday with a $40,000 buy-in No Limit Hold’em tournament commemorating the 40th running of the prestigious series. In the end, ratings fell by 4%, but were up in several key demographics.
In 2008, the WSOP on ESPN began airing one week earlier than this year’s festivities. Nevertheless, ratings in 2009 were off by 4% for the premier episode and household impressions were down 2%, according to ESPN Media Contact George McNeilly. However, numbers for two key demographics increased year over year, an encouraging sign for the Bristol-based cable network. McNeilly told Poker News Daily that viewers were up 2% among men ages 18 to 34. In addition, the number of men ages 25 to 54 who tuned into the 2009 WSOP on ESPN grew by an astonishing 16%. Meanwhile, in men ages 18 to 49, the number of viewers was on par with last season’s telecast. Six players at the $40,000 buy-in tournament’s final table were in their 20s, with 2004 WSOP Main Event Champion Greg Raymer serving as its elder statesman at 44 years-old.
Despite overall ratings being down, McNeilly remains optimistic about the remainder of the 2009 WSOP on ESPN schedule. He commented, “We have a long season of outstanding events and great storylines to go.” Last year, the finale of the 2008 WSOP Main Event, which occurred after a 117 day delay at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, turned in a 1.9 rating, up 46% from the rating that conclusion of the 2007 Main Event received (1.3). The latter tournament featured Jerry Yang defeating Tuan Lam. In total, pushing the final table of the Main Event back to coincide with its television broadcast paid off. Instead of viewers asking how a player won, they were left wondering who would win poker’s most prestigious title.
In 2008, the average rating for the 32 episodes that made up the WSOP broadcast was 0.9. That figure represents 919,000 households and 1.55 million viewers, which were up 13% and 15%, respectively, in comparison to 2007 figures. Next Tuesday, the WSOP Champions Invitational will air. The invite-only tournament attracted 20 former Main Event winners to the Rio to battle for a vintage Corvette from the Imperial Palace car collection and the Binion Cup. The tournament’s final nine include Dan Harrington (1995 Main Event Champion), Carlos Mortensen (2001), Huck Seed (1996), Tom McEvoy (1983), and Doyle Brunson (1976 and 1977). The spectacle kicks off at 8:00pm ET on ESPN and runs for two hours.
ESPN’s poker offering will also include the annual Ante Up for Africa charity tournament. The $5,000 buy-in event that raises money and awareness for the crisis in Darfur will pan out on television screens around the country on August 11th at 8:00pm ET. The tournament featured a “who’s who” of the celebrity world, including Mike Tyson, Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Sarah Silverman, Doug Benson, Nelly, and Jason Alexander, whose “Seinfeld” reunion on HBO’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm” later this year has been the talk of the television industry.
ESPN will air 24 hours of the 2009 WSOP Main Event between August 18th and November 3rd. On November 10th, the conclusion of the $10,000 buy-in feature tournament will play out, with chip leader Darvin Moon taking on a final table that also includes Full Tilt Poker pro and 2009 two-time bracelet winner Phil Ivey and controversial CardPlayer Magazine Editor Jeff Shulman. The latter has threatened to trash his bracelet should he win due to an ongoing rift with Harrah’s, which owns the rights to the WSOP. Other members of the November Nine are James Akenhead, Kevin Schaffel, Steven Begleiter, Eric Buchman, Joe Cada, and Antoine Saout.
Tags: 15, 2008, 2009, 5, Africa, Ben Affleck, CardPlayer, charity, Dan Harrington, darvin moon, Doyle Brunson, Editor, full tilt poker, Greg Raymer, HB, Jerry Yang, king, Las Vegas, leader, Matt Damon, member, News Daily, Phil Ivey, player, Poker, Poker News Daily, Pro, Tom McEvoy, tournament, vegas, WSOP
How Funds Seizures Affected Online Poker Players
It’s been about two months since the funds for many online poker players were frozen and payment checks bounced due to actions taken by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. Players affected by bounced checks were refunded, typically with a bonus in the neighborhood of 10 to 20%.
Since those events took place, the industry has quickly recovered. Many players have turned to alternative means of cashing out from their favorite poker rooms, ranging from direct wire transfer to player-to-player transfers. For many, the variables that dictate the action include the check size and whether they are a player from the United States.
One U.S. player spoke to Poker News Daily about the issue on the condition of anonymity. He plays regularly at Full Tilt Poker at the $1-$2 ring games. He’s a full-time professional poker player that logs 60,000 to 70,000 hands per month for a decent win-rate. Our subject regularly cashes out checks from his poker account every month in order to pay bills like his internet service, telephone, and rent. Unfortunately, this monthly “salary” in the form of a mailed check bounced during the aforementioned events. Full Tilt Poker moved quickly to refund the outstanding balance and offered a small bonus to make up for the inconvenience.
After the funds seizure became public, he was in a tough spot. There was just enough to pay the bills without a new paycheck, but it would deplete the savings he had been keeping. There was no guarantee of being paid via his regular check method, so after some time and research, he tried the premium bank wire method of withdrawal. The player had to find out the specific informational code for his bank and provide that along with his bank account number to the online poker room. After about a week, the bank transfer was initiated and cleared into his account the next day. Unfortunately, there were service fees for this type of transfer and his bank charged an extra $35 for completing the wire. The good news was that our hero received his funds in a quick manner without much headache.
This story was one we heard over and over when researching the topic. Many full-time players are now in fear that future printed checks won’t clear and are looking for a guaranteed way to bring in their funds. For recreational players that only occasionally cash out, the news is good for printed checks.
A writer at Poker News Daily recently withdrew $990 from Absolute Poker, another site linked to the poker funds seizure. The check was approved the next day and confirmed via e-mail. About a week later, the check was received in the mail for an amount $0.09 more than cashed out from a bank outside of the United States. The bank issued the funds in United States Dollars and the check was deposited in person at a national bank. It cleared within 24 hours and the funds were secure.
The reports of foreign bank checks being received indicates that the poker rooms’ payment processor have found a way around the U.S. Attorney’s Office by simply issuing checks from foreign accounts. These bank accounts issue money in U.S. Dollars, so players are receiving the funds they expect. The checks are clearing as well, so it appears that most of the poker rooms have adapted to the new legal climate.
The story of our full-time professional poker player and our own internal writer reflect the current climate of receiving funds in the online poker industry. Full-time poker professionals are using a premium bank wire service, despite the extra fees, in order to receive funds in guaranteed fashion. Recreational players are receiving paper checks once again, this time from foreign banks, with no issues reported. It seems for the time being, all is restored to normal in the online poker world.
Richard Ashby Up Over $1m in July.
Huge High Stakes Action at Full Tilt Poker!
Action started with marathon PLO session week ago. Nine $200/$400 PLO tables were running simultaneously and at one point Tom “durrrr” Dwan was playing in all of them! In the end Dwan emerged as the biggest winner of the day with $846k winnings. Biggest loser was Jani “KoByTAPOUT” Vilmunen, who managed to lose $407k in only 886 hands!
Jedlicka and Dwan, the men who tend to swing a lot!
Then couple days later it was time for Niki “Kaibuxxe” Jedlicka to shine. Between 22nd and 24th day, Jedlicka managed to book winnings of $1.540k after crushing a long list of heavy opponents, including Dwan (lost $688k), Patrik Antonius (-$566k), David Benyamine (-$301k) and many others.
But last weekend was rough for Jedlicka as he came as quickly down as he went up. First, he had a very tough heads-up battle with Patrik Antonius. This time it was the Finn who striked back after losing a ton to Jedlicka previously. Antonius booked over $509k in winnings and Jedlicka lost $629k.
Last few days have not been great for Jedlicka either as he is only up little under $200k this month. Jedlicka is famous about his huge swings, especially when he played as Kaibuxxe, so for sure he will bounce again.
Last few days have been dominated by Full Tilt pro Richard Ashby. Ashby, who previously played high stakes as CHUFTY, has booked 100 sessions in last few days and won $807k.
On the other hand, Tom Dwan has been having nightmare sessions lately as he has dropped $1,260k in just 2,744 hands! Dwan is now over million dollars down for the month after being over $900k up a week ago!
Source: HSDB
You just read Poker News from HighStakesNews.com
Huge High Stakes Action at Full Tilt Poker!
Tags: 2008, 5, 540, David Benyamine, durrrr, full tilt poker, HB, high stakes, Patrik Antonius, Poker, Pro, Tom Dwan