Poker News

Laak to Attempt World Record Session

The UK's Paul Zimbler is the current record holder, having played 74 hours, 20 minutes and 21 seconds straight inside London's Casino at the Empire during the 2009 WSOP Europe.

Laak's attempt will begin June 2 at the Bellagio poker room in Las Vegas.

"I have played many enduro sessions of poker, but never anything of this magnitude," Laak said.

"I know this will test my limits, but I love a good challenge and am excited to be trying to beat this record in Vegas' top poker room."

Laak is regular on televised poker shows like Poker After Dark and High Stakes Poker, but is perhaps most recognized as the player with the beat-up hooded sweatshirt pulled over his head at the poker table and for his relationship with Hollywood actress turned poker pro Jennifer Tilly.

He is also well known for his animated personality, banter at the tables and participation in often bizarre prop bets with good friend Antonio Esfandiari.

Justin Bonomo issues WSOP “Panorama Prop Bet”

With the 2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP) less than two weeks away, poker players around the world are making all kinds of last minute preparations – accommodations, travel plans, playing schedules – before descending upon Las Vegas.

Over on the Two Plus Two forums, a few online players are drawing up final plans of their own, but they don’t involve houses, hotels, or airplanes. For today’s generation of young, forum-posting poker pros, it’s all about prop bets. With each passing year, prop bets are generating more and more buzz more for the WSOP and with good reason, as there are hundreds of thousands of dollars in side action.

The most intriguing bet to emerge from the 20-page thread thus far is being levied by former Bodog Poker pro Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo. As of this writing, he has clearly stated that the bet isn’t finalized, but he intends to have action booked by the eve of May 28th. Essentially, Bonomo is laying 10-1 odds that at least one person living or staying at the Panorama Towers condominium building will win a WSOP bracelet this summer. Billed as “The Panorama Prop Bet,” the wager is exclusive to the Rio and Las Vegas, which means WSOP Europe events do not count.

The parameters of the bet state that owners, renters, and even people crashing for a week are all eligible for Bonomo’s side bet. Before the bet is set in stone, however, he’ll complete a list; in order for a player’s win to count, their name must be on the last draft. So far, his preliminary list includes the names below:

Jennifer Tilly, Phil Laak, Antonio Esfandiari, Barry Greenstein, UB.com pro Joe Sebok, David Williams, Shirley Williams, Isaac Haxton, Scott Seiver, Aaron Been, Steve O’Dwyer, Alex Melnikow, Ben Lamb, Tyler Netter, Eric Froehlich, Brock Parker, Nick Binger, Micheal Binger, Nenad Medic, Matt Gianetti, Lauren Kling, Mike Sowers, Maria Mayrinck, David Baker, David “Viffer” Peat, Alexandra Vuong, Liz Lieu, Stephen Chidwick, Jon Van Fleet, David “The Maven” Chicotsky, John Aguiar, Allie Prescott, Shaun Deeb, Jeff Sarwer, EPT San Remo winner Liv Boeree, Noah Boeken, Lex Veldhuis, Evelyn Ng, Jimmy Fricke, Matt LaGarde, Ray Coburn, Noah Glimmer, Jay Farber, Dan Bilzerian, Victory Poker front man Dan Fleyshman, Keith Gipson, Brian Rast, Joe Piccoli, Joseph Cheong, and Ryan Fee.

Other players that Bonomo believes might be staying at the luxury condos include Greg “FBT” Mueller, Shawn Buchanan, Micheal Dimichelle, Bobby Baldwin, Shannon Elizabeth, Mimi Tran, Andre Akkari, Hunter Frey, Titan Poker pro Sorel “Imper1um” Mizzi, Johannes Straussman, and J.C. Alvarado.

Bonomo is currently accepting bets based on the rough outline and will be updating the complete list right before Midnight on May 28th. All takers will then have 24 hours to back out once he publishes the final list. Be sure to stay tuned to Poker News Daily, as we’ll be covering all future developments of the “Panorama Prop Bet.”

BleacherReport.com Lists 30 Sexiest Female Poker Players

Sports news website BleacherReport.com published a list of the “Top 30 Sexiest Female Poker Players of All-Time” over the weekend, proving, if nothing else, that anyone can make a list.

Bleacher Report is an “open source” sports network, a sports news site that allows anyone to post an article.  Its goal is to “empower the most hardcore of experts – the fans – who would otherwise be shut out of the mainstream debate.”  This can work very well at times, and the site does put out a significant amount of content, but in this case, it is apparent that the author of the “Sexiest Female Poker Players” list is not in touch with the poker world.  Several of the women on the list could are either not involved in poker any more (at least to the extent that they’ve been heard from in the last couple of years) or could barely be considered “poker players” when they were involved.

Topping the list is Tina Wallman.  While she is without a doubt extraordinarily attractive in a bikini, our guess is that at least 90% of the poker community has no idea who she is.  For those who are curious, Wallman is the spokesmodel for Carbon Poker, although she does not hold a prominent place on Carbon Poker’s website.  The Aussie, who will turn 29 years old in a week and a half, has appeared in Maxim and models for the Australian magazine Ralph.  She supposedly answers questions on Carbon Poker’s forum and posts on the site’s blog, but we did not have any luck finding anything attributed to her.

Rounding out the top five are Chantel McNulty, who was involved in soap opera-type escapades in 2007; actress Shannon Elizabeth; model and North American Poker Tour hostess Joanna Krupa, and poker presenter Tatjana Pasalic.

Other names of note include former World Poker Tour and “Poker After Dark” hostess Shana Hiatt (8th), European Poker Tour San Remo champ Liv Boeree (13th), actress and World Series of Poker bracelet winner Jennifer Tilly (14th), Team PokerStars Pro member and GoDaddy Girl Vanessa Rousso (18th), Betclic’s Isabelle Mercier (19th), “Amazing Race” competitor and Team UB member Tiffany Michelle (21st), Full Tilt pro Jennifer Harman (22nd), Team PartyPoker member Kara Scott (26th), and Team UB member Annie Duke (29th).

The complete list appears below.

BleacherReport.com Top 30 Sexiest Female Poker Players of All-Time

1. Tina Wallman
2. Chantel McNulty
3. Shannon Elizabeth
4. Joanna Krupa
5. Tatjana Pasalic
6. Erica Schoenberg
7. Tara Rice
8. Shana Hiatt
9. Lacey Jones
10. Kimberly Lansing
11. Sabina Gadecki
12. Jennifer Leigh
13. Liv Boeree
14. Jennifer Tilly
15. Liz Lieu
16. Evelyn Ng
17. Clonie Gowen
18. Vanessa Rousso
19. Isabelle Mercier
20. Helen Chamberlain
21. Tiffany Michelle
22. Jennifer Harman
23. Laura Prepon
24. Beth Shak
25. Erin Ness
26. Kara Scott
27. Jean Gluck
28. Veronika Larsen
29. Annie Duke
30. Lily Elviro

April 27th – Daily Deal

On the Daily Deal, we will recap two major hands on High Stakes Poker, find out more about the Safe Gaming System, and preview the upcoming Derby Poker Championship.

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

In Sunday’s episode of the GSN cash game series “High Stakes Poker,” Mike Matusow took down two major pots from Daniel Negreanu, furthering Negreanu’s struggles on the series.

The first of these pots saw Matusow holding pocket kings against an aggressive Negreanu, who had nine-eight of clubs. The money went in on a flop of 9-K-9 and the board was run twice for a pot of just over two hundred and thirty nine thousand dollars. Matusow scooped the entire pot.

In the second major pot featuring these two players, Matusow just called pre-flop with Ace-Queen of clubs, and after a flop of 6-4-7 with two clubs he pushed all-in for a hundred and ninety-nine thousand dollars. Negreanu deliberated for several minutes before calling all-in. The massive pot totaled almost five-hundred thousand dollars, and the turn and river were once again run twice. Clubs filled Matusow’s flush draw each time and he scooped the entire pot.

These pots may explain the recent Twitter spat between both pros, which you can read about in our latest “Poker in Twitter” article.

Poker News Daily sat down with Safe Gaming System’s Glenn Gorelick to discuss his company’s potential role in the future of internet gambling. Gorelick explained:

“The Safe Gaming System evolved as a way to reach the masses worldwide and use technology as a preventative tool to balance out what was happening with gambling expansion.” According to Gorelick, “The control features include setting limits, managing how much time you’re going to spend, and checking your gambling activity… Overall, the essence is to help a person control themselves more.”

When we return, we’ll learn more about the Derby Poker Championship, which will play out this Thursday night in Louisville, Kentucky.

One of the events leading up to this weekend’s running of the Kentucky Derby is the Derby Poker Championship, hosted by Phil Hellmuth, Robert Williamson III, and legendary University of Louisville coach Denny Crum. Poker News Daily caught up with Crum to talk about the gala, which will play out this Thursday night from the Palace Theatre in Louisville. Crum told PND that this year’s Derby Championship will support “Blessings in a Backpack”, a charity where kids on their school’s lunch program can take backpacks full of food on Friday afternoon for their families to have over the weekend.

Some of the celebrities slated to join this event are Jennifer Tilly, Maria Ho, Trishelle Cannatella, Darren Sharper, Tiffany Michelle, Robbie Alvarado, and several Kentucky Derby jockeys.

Thanks for joining me on The Daily Deal by Poker News Daily, brought to you by PokerSource.com. Don’t forget to visit PokerNewsDaily.com and be sure to follow us at Twitter.com/PokerNewsDaily for the latest in poker news. I’m Sean Gibson.

Denny Crum Previews 2010 Derby Poker Championship

One of the events leading up to this weekend’s running of the Kentucky Derby is the Derby Poker Championship. Fronted by Phil Hellmuth, Robert Williamson III, and legendary University of Louisville coach Denny Crum, the event promises to be one for the ages. Poker News Daily caught up with Crum to talk about the gala, which will play out on Thursday night, April 29th, from the Palace Theatre in Louisville.

Poker News Daily: Thanks for joining us. Give us a preview of this week’s Derby Poker Championship.

Denny Crum: The charity that they’re going to be working with this year is called Blessings in a Backpack. I was involved with a charity called Kentucky Harvest way before they started working with Blessings in a Backpack, which is a charity where kids who are on the lunch program can go home on Friday afternoon and have backpacks full of food for their families to have over the weekend.

They asked me if I wanted to participate and I said I’d love to. Now, the three of us are hosts. We have a ton of celebrities who are going to be a part of it like Ron White, Corey Pavin, Jennifer Tilly, Maria Ho, Trishelle Cannatella, Darren Sharper, Tiffany Michelle, Robbie Alvarado, and a couple of other jockeys.

They’re going to have a VIP room and people can just watch the game if they’d like. There will also be a disc jockey. It’s going to be a fun event with a lot of different people involved. I’m in favor of anything you can do for charity that helps kids. The poker law here in Kentucky says that a minimum of 40% of the prize pool has to go to charity, so they’ll benefit as well. It’s a great cause and a bunch of good guys will be there.

PND: Talk about being the official Kentucky ambassador of the Derby Poker Championship.

Denny Crum: My college roommate used to own a card room in Oceanside, California. When I’d go out there, we’d play golf in the morning, go to the track in the afternoon, and have a poker tournament at night. You couldn’t have a better day than that. We’re going to do basically the same thing here, except we’ll be playing golf at Valhalla Golf Club and when we finish, it’ll be time for the poker tournament. The Derby is such a great event and I haven’t missed one in 39 years. Being a host along with Phil Hellmuth, who I know personally, is a no-brainer.

PND: Tell us about the host venue, the Palace Theatre.

Denny Crum: It’s a gorgeous building that hosts different events. It is going to be a world-class event that will grow as we continue to do it and we’re hoping to get a couple hundred players.

PND: What is Denny Crum’s top poker moment?

Denny Crum: I have played in a couple of WSOP tournaments, but haven’t cashed. In the first one, I played three hands in 7.5 hours. On the first hand, I was in the big blind and got pocket aces. I won the small blind and that was it. I didn’t play another hand for a long time. I finally got a pair of eights, but got drawn out on the river, and then pickled up tens three hours later. That was my worst poker experience.

There were 8,600 people in that event. I had just picked up my first hand, which was aces, and heard from behind me, “Oh no!” Everyone turned around to see what had happened and the guy who was screaming was the son of one of the professional players. He started with pocket aces and the flop came A-10-10. He had aces full on his first hand. The other guy had pocket tens. It’s a crazy game. I’ve had some success and have the patience for it.

National Heads-Up Poker Championship on NBC: Lederer Versus Hellmuth

A clash of the titans took center stage on Sunday’s NBC coverage of the 2010 National Heads-Up Poker Championship, as industry veterans Phil Hellmuth and Howard Lederer met in a match for the ages.

The first hour of coverage featured opening round action from the Hearts bracket with Hellmuth and Lederer taking center stage. Hellmuth’s 9-3 National Heads-Up Championship record greatly outpaced Lederer’s 1-5 mark, adding even more fuel to the fire. Each player began with 20,000 in chips and, despite the two tight poker pros facing off, the feature match was over quickly. Hellmuth raised to 1,100 pre-flop with A-K of hearts and Lederer made it 3,300 with pocket tens. Hellmuth moved all-in and Lederer called for his tournament life.

Hellmuth asked if Lederer had sevens, but the race was on with tens. Hellmuth flopped one king and spiked another one on the river, sending Lederer to the sidelines. Hellmuth advanced to the second round and the pairing was the first to complete their match. Hellmuth notched his 10th National Heads-Up Poker Championship victory, while Lederer fell to 1-6.

Elsewhere in the Caesars Palace tournament room, online qualifier Annette Dworski doubled up Full Tilt Poker pro Chris Ferguson with Q-10 against Ferguson’s pocket queens. Ferguson scooped the pot of 37,900, or 95% of the chips in play. Dworski later committed her chips with J-9, but could not draw out on Ferguson’s Q-3.

Meanwhile, 10-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner Doyle Brunson made quick work of Brock “t soprano” Parker. The latter was all-in with pocket eights against Brunson’s A-Q of diamonds. Brunson flopped a queen and never looked back, advancing to the round of 32. Others who advanced to the second round included Eli Elezra, Allen Cunningham, Dennis Phillips, and Ante Up for Africa co-founder Don Cheadle.

Betfair pro Annette “Annette_15” Obrestad squared off against baseball legend Orel Hershiser. In their final hand, Hershiser moved all-in from the big blind with 10-9 of diamonds for 15,000 and Obrestad called with K-Q. National Heads-Up Poker Championship announcer Ali Nejad was surprised to see Hershiser’s aggressive move: “I’m shocked at this play by Orel. This is what I’d expect from a guy who thinks he has to get lucky to win and I don’t consider Hershiser that guy.” Obrestad hit a queen on the river to send Hershiser out and collect a trademark autographed baseball.

The second episode featured a half-hour of coverage dedicated to the Clubs bracket. The feature table hosted recent World Poker Tour (WPT) Championship winner David Williams and 2009 WSOP Main Event champ Joe Cada. However, a side table with Patrik Antonius battling Chris Moneymaker was the talk of the room early. Antonius was all-in with 10-5 of hearts against Moneymaker’s pocket fives on a flop of 6-7-5. The turn and river came a four and six, respectively, sending Antonius back to Monaco.

Jamie Gold advanced after besting Italian poker sensation Dario Minieri. The latter’s tournament life hung in the balance with pocket deuces against Gold’s pocket sevens. Gold’s mom even came over to root her son on and the board ran out 6-9-4-8-6. Also moving on was Williams, who came out on the winning end of a race against Cada with pocket sevens. Cada’s A-J failed to improve and he was sent home in his first National Heads-Up Poker Championship appearance.

Also punching his ticket to the round of 32 in the Clubs bracket was Erik Seidel, who recorded his first win in the Heads-Up series at the expense of reigning champion Huck Seed. Fan favorite Erick Lindgren ousted NBC qualifier Dan Ramirez with A-K against queens, while reigning WSOP Heads-Up champion Leo Wolpert outlasted UB.com pro and 2010 WPT Championship runner-up Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin.

The final 30 minutes of coverage on Sunday was dedicated to the Diamonds bracket, which had a final table featuring Sammy Farha and Antonio Esfandiari. While the two talkative pros battled it out, qualifier Andrew Wilson fell to 2007 National Heads-Up Poker Championship winner Paul Wasicka. Back at the feature table, Esfandiari was all-in with A-5 against Farha’s A-10 of hearts. Both players flopped an ace, but no help came for Esfandiari and he was quickly sent packing.

Poker News Daily Guest Columnist Annie Duke spiked a two-outer on the river to send Andy Bloch home. Across the room, Barry Greenstein eliminated Go Daddy Girl Vanessa Rousso, who had broken her foot earlier in the day, after his J-8 of diamonds bested Rousso’s K-6. Mike Matusow fell to Jerry Yang, while Jennifer Tilly became the fifth Canadian to hit the rails in the opening round. Jennifer Harman held Q-5 and called Tilly’s all-in with 3-2 on a flop of 5-4-4. An eight and three came on the turn and river, respectively, and Harman won the “Battle of the Jennifers.”

The round of 32 will air this Sunday, May 2nd, at Noon ET on NBC.

Phil Laak Breaks Down PartyPoker Big Game IV

Poker News Daily: You’re still in London following the PartyPoker Big Game IV. Are you stuck there because of the volcano?

Phil Laak: We were going to leave on Thursday morning to go back to the United States, but the volcano happened before, so we got trapped for six days. We’re so close to Monte Carlo and we’ve always wanted to go, so we’re headed there on Saturday. It has turned into quite a trip.

PND: Isildur1 was a no-show at the PartyPoker Big Game IV, bowing out at the last minute. Did the event lose any of its luster without him?

Phil Laak: I was tempted to say that anyone in the world, including Isildur1, could bet me $20,000 that he wouldn’t show up and play an hour or more. Why would the guy show up to a poker game where the world would know who he was and, all of a sudden, his anonymous status would be diminished to zero? Uncle Sweden would come knocking for taxes.

The game didn’t lose its luster and I didn’t get any sleep the night before. I tried to lie down and take 10-minute naps during the breaks. Around hour 30 or 40, there was about a four-hour period of time that I can’t wait to see what hands there were. All I could see was white noise. My betting technique for four or five hours straight was pretty random. My special weapon was that I knew two general principles: If you bet and they fold, you win the pot. If you bet and they call, you have to make sure your cards hit the board.

PND: Your better half, Jennifer Tilly, was the second biggest winner in the Big Game to David “Viffer” Peat. Does that make you proud?

Phil Laak: Jennifer played for nine hours and won ?32,975. That’s ?3,664 per hour and, for the mathematically inclined, that puts Jennifer ?618 per hour higher than Viffer. She schooled Viffer in win-rate. I did ?562 per hour as the fifth biggest winner.

PND: You’ve turned in several solid performances in televised events.

Phil Laak: Televised poker is a weird thing in that you have to line up your winnings to match when the cameras roll. Every time the cameras roll, I perform. The biggest loss of my life happened September 4th, 2009. I lost $270,000 in one day. I was wondering how long it would take to get that $270,000 back. One month later, I won the PartyPoker World Open for $250,000. I had also grinded $20,000 back, so when I won, I was holding the trophy with a big grin on my face. The maximum joy you can have is getting unstuck. When the television cameras go, somehow through all of the white noise, I do well.

PND: Tell us about your experience at the Big Game.

Phil Laak: They should call it the Medium Game. In hour 37, Neil Channing, Viffer, Ellis Reuben, and I got all of the short stacks off the table. We were playing ?25/?50/?100 and wanted to change it to ?25/?50 with a ?200 dead ante from the button. We finally got it approved, but a tech guy came down and said they didn’t have the capability to add the ?200 into the computer. They also resisted us going to ?50/?100 at all costs. Apparently, they wanted to make it so that someone who was on deck with a short stack didn’t have to come into a bigger game. They should just let it morph. I love it when the game starts burbling like that.

Viffer raised every hand for 48 hours, which was fun because I acted after him. I called about 80% of his raises and Neil called about 80% of the time. It was beautiful because the pot always had ?1,200 in it and Viffer was first to act. Isaac Haxton said that he bluffed me for ?7,000. If that’s true, I’ll be slightly sick. The pot had ?15,000 in it, which, if I had won it, I would have gotten second.

PND: What’d you think of having walk-in music for each player?

Phil Laak: I liked having the walk-in music. I came in to “Funk Soul Brother” by Fatboy Slim. Jennifer walked in to “Maneater” by Hall and Oates. I sported a new look too. I had two different ski trips the month before. Literally, anything that’s happening in poker happened first in skiing. In honor of the parallels between those two sports, I wore a ski cap.

PND: What do you enjoy the most about having your own online poker site, Unabomber Poker?

Phil Laak: The thing I like about Unabomber Poker the most is that when you go to the site, the cards have these little hooded guys on them. I don’t know if it’s because it’s a sketch of me or because I just think they’re nifty, but I love it.

PND: Which internet pros do you respect the most?

Phil Laak: I occasionally watch training videos and one of the few things I’m disappointed about is that I don’t watch more of them. They get you thinking about how to think about poker. I was watching Phil Galfond’s Pot Limit Omaha videos and they’re great. When you’re watching a video, it’s like a meditation tape where you get special powers when you walk out. When you play, it’s a lot easier.

It’s not about hand strength. It’s about the meta-game and Galfond did a whole series on that. Galfond has the coolest blog in the world. Mikey Stotz has the best blog out there too. I also have mad respect for Bengt Sonnert. He embodies the spirit of a person who is free and understands the whole point of living.

PND: We understand you just started Twittering.

Phil Laak: I am @realphillaak. I started Twittering a few days ago, but I’m planning to ramp it up to four times a day.

PND: What’s your schedule going to be like at this year’s World Series of Poker (WSOP)?

Phil Laak: In 2008 and 2009, I played seven and 11 events, respectively. I thought 11 events was about the brutal extreme of what I was capable of. I’m going to go back to the old days when I played between four and seven events and instead play more cash games. If there are some televised $10,000 events, I’ll probably play those, but I’m more suited to sit with eight other people and wait around to stack someone.

Erica Schoenberg – Poker Player Profile

Born March 25, 1978 in Akron, Ohio, Erica Schoenberg is a professional blackjack and poker player. Erica actually got into blackjack first and, after receiving professional training from a member of the MIT blackjack team (to which Andy Bloch belonged once), she went on to compete in the World Series of Blackjack.

Having always possessed a natural talent for numbers, Erica was soon drawn to poker and often competed in home games with friends, including Phil Hellmuth. In 2006, she burst onto the live poker scene by placing 16th in the Five-Star World Poker Tour $25K Classic event, cashing for $118K. She also appeared in the WPT Season Four Ladies Night event along with Jennifer Tilly and four other female players. In 2007, she won the $2500 No Limit Hold’em Mandalay Bay Poker Championship to the tune of $105K. All told, her live poker earnings are in excess of $725K.

Although she dedicates her efforts primarily to poker, Erica has never forgotten her blackjack roots. She has appeared multiple times on the Ultimate Blackjack Tour, which airs on CBS. Some of her fellow poker players have also been featured on the tour, including Antonio ‘The magician’ Esfandiari, David ‘Devilfish’ Ulliott, Jennifer Tilly, Annie Duke, and Clonie Gowen.

A former model, personal trainer, and professional volleyball player, Erica Schoenberg is quite an interesting woman, to say the least. In a recent tweet, her fun personality came out when she said, “Sometimes (now) I drink Jon Dalys (vodka w/a lil Arnold Palmer) then put on my Mexican wrestling mask & heckle the golfers from my backyard.”

Despite her gold locks and pretty face, she shouldn’t be underestimated at the table. When’s she’s not traveling the live circuit, Erica spends time with her fiancé and plays online at Full Tilt Poker, where she is a sponsored pro.

NAPT Debuts on ESPN2 with Venetian High Roller Bounty Shootout

On Monday night, the PokerStars North American Poker Tour (NAPT) debuted on ESPN2 with the opening round of the Venetian High Roller Bounty Shootout. The unique tournament featured a field of 49 of the game’s best spread over seven tables.

Although the theme music and b-roll were different than the annual World Series of Poker (WSOP) broadcasts on ESPN, the NAPT featured the same announcing team we’ve come to love, Lon McEachern and Norman Chad. In a stark change from other ESPN poker broadcasts, a player’s face and country flag appeared next to their bets and images on the screen denoted whether players were in the small blind, big blind, or on the button. Every player who won their table would take home $75,000. In addition, each player carried a $5,000 bounty; a $100,000 cash bonus would be awarded to the person who recorded the most number of knockouts.

UB.com pro Phil Hellmuth and DoylesRoom’s Hoyt Corkins headlined the feature table during the first episode, which aired at 9:00pm ET and chronicled three Round 1 tables. Hellmuth’s radar was off early and often, folding A-K face up against European Poker Tour (EPT) founder John Duthie in the first hand shown. At Table 2, Scott Seiver doubled up at the expense of Victory Poker pro Antonio Esfandiari. Seiver later busted Barry Greenstein after coming out on the winning end of a race with A-K against queens.

Seiver sent Esfandiari packing to record his second bounty, while Faraz “The-Toilet” Jaka ousted Vanessa Rousso to pick up his second bounty. Seiver then sent high-stakes cash game pro Chau Giang and Brian “tsarrast” Rast home the same hand after flopping an ace against Giang’s pocket kings and Rast’s pocket nines. Following the rare double knockout, Seiver was up to four bounties.

Corkins eliminated 2004 WSOP Main Event champ Greg Raymer with A-5 against Raymer’s Q-6. Raymer promptly signed over a fossil to Corkins, who won the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) Southern Poker Championship in January. Shortly thereafter, another Main Event winner, Joe Hachem, was sidelined at the hands of Jennifer Tilly, who found a flush with A-5 of clubs against Hachem’s pocket fives. Back at the feature table, Hellmuth was eliminated and exited quietly, leaving Chad to comment, “I don’t know if it’s meditation or medication, but a nice, gracious, sedated Hellmuth exit.”

Following his elimination of Betfair pro Sorel “Imper1um” Mizzi, Seiver had busted his entire table to pick up all six bounties. Jaka then eliminated 2010 National Heads-Up Poker Championship winner Annie Duke to take down his table and four bounties. Also advancing to the final table was Corkins, who doubled up against Duthie with A-2 of diamonds against A-Q before putting the nail in the coffin with A-9 against Duthie’s A-6. This time, the better ace held and Corkins advanced.

The second one-hour episode profiled the remaining four first round tables. Daniel Negreanu headlined the feature table, where his giddiness ultimately sent him home as its first casualty at the hands of Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond. Negreanu’s pocket eights could not hold against Galfond’s pocket threes after Galfond found a set on the flop. Elsewhere, Joe Cassidy picked up his second bounty by eliminating Bodog pro David Williams.

2003 WSOP Main Event Champion Chris Moneymaker made a royal flush on the river against Jason Mercier. Moneymaker walked away from the table every time his chips were at risk, causing Chad to yell “Take it like a man” on multiple occasions. Victory Poker pro Lee Markholt also scored a double elimination, sending John “World” Hennigan and new DoylesRoom Brunson 10 member Alex “AJKHoosier1” Kamberis to the rails in the same hand.

“Poker2Nite” host Joe Sebok was bumped from the NAPT Venetian High Roller Bounty Shootout when his A-3 fell short of Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo’s wired pair of tens. Then, Cassidy won his table and collected four bounties. Elsewhere, Peter Eastgate was all-in holding K-Q against Isaac Haxton’s 9-8 of diamonds. The flop of 6-7-10 gave Haxton the nuts and a 97% chance of winning the hand. However, a running A-J gave Eastgate Broadway and the 2008 WSOP Main Event champion doubled up. Eastgate promptly busted Haxton to win his table and move on to the finale.

Brett Richey sent Markholt packing with pocket kings against pocket eights to win his table and three bounties, while Ashton Griffin outlasted Moneymaker to take down the feature table after collecting two bounties. The final table of the NAPT Venetian High Roller Bounty Shootout features Seiver, Cassidy, Griffin, Jaka, Corkins, Richey, and Eastgate.

The final table will air next Monday, April 26th, at 9:00pm ET on ESPN2, followed by action from the NAPT Venetian Main Event at 10:00pm ET.

Isildur1 Pulls Out of PartyPoker Big Game IV

In breaking news from London, Swedish online poker phenomenon Isildur1 has pulled out of the PartyPoker Big Game IV one day before its scheduled start. He was reportedly contemplating wearing a mask during his appearance.

Whether the announcement that Isildur1 was competing was simply a publicity stunt from the start remains to be seen. In a blog posted on PartyPoker, site pro Tony G expressed his frustration with the youngster withdrawing from the high-stakes 48-hour cash game: “To say I am disappointed is an understatement. I have spent so much time talking to him and reassuring him recently, but he’s just not going to come.” Tony G and Isildur1 had a 50-50 staking deal in place.

Tony G emphasized that Isildur1 originally approached him about playing: “It has left a bad taste in my mouth. What you have to understand is that he reached out to me first and asked and then agreed to play. As far as I am concerned, I am washing my hands with him and moving on.” The ring game begins at 8:00pm local time on Sunday from the Les Ambassadeurs Club in Mayfair, London and will conclude 48 hours later. PartyPoker personality Kara Scott, who is the floor reporter for GSN’s “High Stakes Poker,” will serve in the same capacity in London during the 7:00pm to 7:00am shifts.

Tony G cited “personal issues” as to why Isildur1 is officially a no-show. Isildur1 reportedly told Tony G that the stakes of the PartyPoker Big Game IV were too low. In addition, Tony G explained, “I know for a fact that he is soon taking his driving test.” Isildur1 originally accepted the offer to compete in the PartyPoker Big Game IV on March 31st. The mystery Swede is widely believed to be Viktor “blom30” Blom, whose blowup in the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Europe Main Event was shown during ESPN’s coverage of the tournament. Isildur1 has tangled with several of poker’s high-stakes elite, including Phil Ivey, Tom “durrrr” Dwan, and Brian Hastings.

Among those who haven’t backed out of the PartyPoker Big Game IV is Drag the Bar instructor Dusty “Leatherass” Schmidt, who will take to the felts to the tune of “Pass Out” by Tinie Tempah and be joined by fellow American young guns Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo and Isaac Haxton. Others heading to the London casino include Phil Laak, Jennifer Tilly, Neil Channing, David “Viffer” Peat, Roland de Wolfe, Bodo Sbrzesny, James Mitchell, Robert Williamson III, Andrew Feldman, Simon "Schnibl0r" Münz, Roberto Romanello, Andy Greekfish, Barny Boatman, Laurence Grondin, Jake Cody, Sam Trickett, Josh Gould, Richard Wheatley, and Paul Zimbler. In addition, Tony G has brought an “amazing player” with him to London. However, his identity is unknown.

As you’d expect, the reaction to Isildur1 pulling out of his highly anticipated appearance has been anything but positive. On the TwoPlusTwo online poker forum, posters were outraged over the cancellation. TwoPlusTwo member “inn_Nstruct” frustratingly penned, “What a joke. Lame way to get attention for this show.” Fellow community member “DangerError” added, “It’s all fake. I don’t believe Tony G, even a word.”

Isildur1 sent Tony G a text message simply stating, “Sry for not coming, take care bud.” The seven-word phrase has drawn criticism, with “GaryLQ” explaining, “This text message sounds totally fake to me. 'Take care bud' is a slang British phrase, most commonly used in the Southwest of England. I find it hard to believe it's the sort of language a Swede would use.”

Eddie Hearn, who has been organizing and promoting the PartyPoker Big Game IV for Matchroom Sport, told Poker News Daily on Saturday, "Obviously, it’s disappointing that Isildur1 couldn't join us for the Big Game, but the show must go on. I spoke with him at length on Thursday night and the magnitude of the media interest surrounding his appearance is something he was struggling to come to terms with. It’s a shame, as we would have liked him to be part of the new music walk-ons and evictions that have been introduced to this series. I'm sure you will see him soon though, perhaps at a more low-key event that doesn't reach such a vast global audience."

The news represents the latest twist in the Isildur1 saga, which began after the Swede stormed onto the high-stakes online poker scene on Full Tilt last September. His career peak according to PokerTableRatings.com was $5.0 million, which came in November. Three months later, he was in the hole $2.8 million. Isildur1 has taken $4.5 million off Dwan alone, but lost nearly the same amount to Hastings.

On the UB.com sponsored program “Poker2Nite,” Tony G confirmed that Isildur1 is under 21 years-old and indeed hails from Sweden.

More players head to Big Game IV

Yet again PartyPoker will sponsor the 48-hour long poker maraton, Big Game (IV). This big cash game is held in Les Ambassadeurs Club in London. There are some recent additions to the player list.

Is Viktor Blom entering the game in his ninja outfit?

The most interesting aspect in this year’s Big Game is the net sensation Isildur1. Will he actually join the game and is he disguised as ninja? Nevertheless, playing poker alone is very boring alone, maybe even impossible, so let’s take a look at the other players.

The most known players don’t need any introduction: Tony G, Phil Laak, Jennifer Tilly, Isaac Haxton, Dusty “Leatherass” Schmidt, Luke “Fullflush” Schwartz, Barny Boatman, Andrew Feldman, Roland de Wolfe, Neil Channing, Justin Bonomo and David “Viffer” Peat.

Jennifer Tilly has great boo… eh, hair!

Former players need no introduction, but Robert Williamson III is a bit less known pro player who actually cleaned out the table in Big Game II and Big Game III. We doubt he’s going to try to win less now.

Of course there’s a few other bit less familiar names confirmed: Laurence Grondin, Bodo Sbrzesny, Andy Greekfish, Jake Cody, Sam Trickett, Josh Gould, Richard Wheatley, Paul Zimbler, Simon Münz, Roberto Romanello and the Irish Open 2010 champion James Mitchell.

According to Pokernewsdaily, the aforementioned list of players is not complete and there can be some surprise players joining in, although the game starts already in few days.

Even though you can get a seat in the table, it doesn’t guarantee you a spot for the whole game. From time to time there’s going to be a vote and one player is cast out while a new player joins the action.

Also, all players will have their own entry music, just like the fighters have in boxing or MMA!

Open up a new account to PartyPoker and get a $500 first deposit bonus! PartyPoker first deposit bonus and VIP program!

Source: Pokernewsdaily

You just read Poker News from HighStakesNews.com

More players head to Big Game IV

PartyPoker Big Game IV Lineup Grows

On Sunday, the PartyPoker Big Game IV will kick off from the Les Ambassadeurs Club in Mayfair, London and the high-stakes cash game will continue for 48 hours. This week, additional poker players were added to the already impressive lineup.

Anchoring the group of players who will take to the felts in the British city is Tony G, a member of Team PartyPoker who has dominated past events like the site’s Premier League and also finished third in the European Poker Tour (EPT) Monte Carlo Grand Final High Roller Championship in 2009 for more than a half-million dollars. Tony G has been the main face behind this month’s running of the PartyPoker Big Game and the controversial pro will come out to the felts to Queen’s “Bicycle Race.”

Tony G was instrumental in bringing online mystery man Isildur1 into the fold. In fact, Tony G will stake the Swedish poker player, who may be wearing a mask to preserve his identity. Isildur1 has single-handedly pumped new life into the high-stakes cash game scene on Full Tilt Poker by competing against the likes of Phil Ivey, Tom “durrrr” Dwan, Brian Hastings, and Patrik Antonius. Joining Isildur1 and Tony G is embattled poker pro Luke “Full Flush” Schwartz.

The First Couple of Poker will be on-hand, as Unabomber Poker front man Phil Laak and actress Jennifer Tilly will head to London. Laak is a regular on cash game shows like “High Stakes Poker” and is one of the top minds in the game. Tilly won the Ladies No Limit Hold’em event during the 2005 World Series of Poker (WSOP) and is one of the only bracelet winners in the Big Game IV lineup. She’ll take to the felts to Hall and Oates’ classic “Man Eater.”

Drag the Bar instructor Dusty “Leatherass” Schmidt will head to London to compete in his first Big Game. The former StoxPoker personality and current member of Team PokerStars Online will have several other younger poker pros join him, including Isaac Haxton and Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo. Haxton was the runner-up in the 2007 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure and the $40,000 commemorative event held during last year’s WSOP for a combined $2 million. Bonomo has more than $1.2 million in lifetime WSOP earnings.

Robert Williamson III, who was the most profitable player in the PartyPoker Big Games II and III, will attempt to three-peat when the event kicks off this weekend. 2010 Irish Open champion James Mitchell will be on location, as will Full Tilt Poker pro Roland de Wolfe. The latter will appropriately come out to Duran Duran’s “Hungry Like a Wolf.”

Players will be bounced from the table via a “Survivor”-like voting process on what will surely be one of the highest rated poker shows of all-time. Here is a look at the current player list for the PartyPoker Big Game IV along with announced entrance music:

Tony G – “Bicycle Race” by Queen
Isildur1
Luke “Full Flush” Schwartz – “Pass Out” by Tinie Temper
Phil Laak
Jennifer Tilly – “Man Eater” by Hall and Oates
Neil Channing
Dusty “Leatherass” Schmidt – “Flashing Lights” by Kanye West
David “Viffer” Peat
Issac Haxton
Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo
Roland de Wolfe – “Hungry Like a Wolf” by Duran Duran
Bodo Sbrzesny
James Mitchell
Robert Williamson III
Andrew Feldman – “Mamma Said Knock You Out” by LL Cool J
Simon “Schnibl0r” Münz
Roberto Romanello
Andy Greekfish
Barny Boatman
Laurence Grondin – “Rich Girl” by Gwen Stefani
Jake Cody
Sam Trickett
Josh Gould
Richard Wheatley
Paul Zimbler

Additional names will be announced later in the week in the days leading up to Sunday’s start. Eddie Hearn, Managing Director of Big Game IV organizers Matchroom Sport, commented in a press release, "The phone is ringing off the hook - so many players want a piece of the action! One question we haven't answered yet is what is Isildur1's walk on music going to be."

PPA Sponsoring Derby Poker Championship Featuring Phil Hellmuth

We’re one month away from the annual Kentucky Derby, which takes place on the first Saturday in May every year. Two days prior to the 2010 running, the Poker Players Alliance (PPA) will sponsor the Derby Poker Championship.

Blessing in a Backpack and the Health and Climate Foundation serve as the two beneficiary charities for this year’s Derby Poker Championship, which features UB.com pro Phil Hellmuth as its host. “The Poker Brat” is an 11-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner, the most of any player, and is widely regarded as one of the top No Limit Hold’em tournament minds in the game.

Flanking Hellmuth and serving as co-host of the event will be fellow poker pro Robert Williamson III, who won a bracelet during the 2002 WSOP in a $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha tournament. More recently, Williamson final tabled preliminary events held during the Southern Poker Championship and PokerStars Caribbean Adventure. Long thought to be the main behind the infamous “Tuff Fish” moniker, Williamson is one of the game’s most entertaining characters.

The Derby Poker Championship festivities kick off on April 29th at 6:30pm with registration and cocktails at the Palace Theater in Downtown Louisville. The “Shuffle Up and Deal” command will be given one hour later and late registration will be taken during the first hour. The Derby Poker Championship has a maximum field size of 220 players and comes with a price tag of $550. Moreover, $200 rebuys and add-ons will be allowed and 51% of the prize pool will be donated to charity.

In addition to the cash, the charity poker tournament’s winner will earn a $12,000 WSOP Main Event prize package that consists of the prestigious contest’s $10,000 buy-in plus $2,000 to use for travel and expenses. Poker fans that don’t want to test their wits at the table can purchase General Admission and VIP tickets for $25 and $150, respectively. UB.com, TwinSpires.com, Jim Beam, and the PPA serve as the primary sponsors of the 2010 Derby Poker Championship.

The primary celebrity on-hand in Louisville will be Denny Crum, who was the men’s college basketball coach at the University of Louisville for 30 years. Crum is a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame and owns the nickname “Cool Hand Luke.” Crum guided the University of Louisville to national championships in 1980 and 1986 and reached the Final Four six times. He was enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts in 1994.

Other celebrities scheduled to partake in the Derby Poker Championship include comedian Ron White, “Austin Powers” actress Heather Graham, 2010 Ryder Cup captain Corey Pavin, stud jockey Robby Albarado, “House” actor Jesse Spencer, “Bernie Mac Show” personality Kellita Smith, and “The Bachelor” contestant Bob Guiney. In addition, Beth Shak and Jennifer Tilly will represent the world of poker, with more names to be announced.

The tournament being hosted in Kentucky carries a special significance given the ongoing legal squabble in the southern state. In September 2008, the Kentucky Justice and Public Safety Cabinet seized 141 internet gambling domain names, including those belonging to PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker. The case reached the Kentucky Supreme Court, which heard oral arguments last October and ruled in March that two industry trade organizations did not have standing. The owners of TruePoker.com, one of the sites affected, came forward and admitted to being members of the Interactive Media Entertainment and Gaming Association (iMEGA), prompting a potential return of the litigation to the state’s Supreme Court. On Tuesday, it was revealed that the Commonwealth of Kentucky had filed a new lawsuit against Full Tilt Poker.

Commonwealth officials seized the domain names on the grounds that they constituted “gambling devices,” a term that traditionally refers to tangible objects like slot machines and roulette wheels that you’d find in an underground casino.

Interestingly, the Derby Poker Championship’s website lists the WSOP Main Event prize package as being courtesy of UltimateBet.com, one of the 141 domain names at risk and a site mentioned in the new Commonwealth lawsuit. Last year, the Derby Poker Championship was held across the Ohio River at the Horseshoe Casino in Elizabeth, Indiana.

Dusty Schmidt (Leatherass) Joins PartyPoker Big Game IV Lineup

Drag the Bar pro Dusty “Leatherass” Schmidt will play in the PartyPoker Big Game IV, a high-stakes poker cash game that will be filmed at the Les Ambassadeurs Club in London from April 11th to 13th.

The lineup for the PartyPoker Big Game IV features Tony G, Unabomber Poker front man Phil Laak, Jennifer Tilly, embattled pro Luke “Full Flush” Schwartz, Isaac Haxton, Neil Channing, and Laurence Grondin. Added to the fray last week was mystery Swedish pro Isildur1, who may be wearing a mask to preserve his identity when the cards are dealt in eight days’ time. Schmidt’s invitation to play came during an appearance on Jesse May’s “The Poker Show.”

On facing off against Isildur1 and the cast of characters in the PartyPoker Big Game IV, Schmidt told Poker News Daily, “It just got a lot more exciting with Isildur1. I was obviously excited to go on the show no matter what. Being a part of Team PokerStars Online and being more mainstream have caused me to become more inspired to play in live events. This is the first event I’ve done away from online and to do it against Isildur1 is pretty exciting.” Players will be voted off the set every two hours and, when they enter, will be accompanied by theme music.

Schmidt will be squaring off against some of the top pros in poker, with even more competition to be announced. The talented golfer and poker player explained, “When I’m playing 15 tables, I resort to default play, so I think I might be a little underestimated because I tend to play more straightforward. To have the chance to play one table will be fun and I’ll be able to take my time. I’m excited to have that opportunity.” Tony G is purportedly staking Isildur1 in the PartyPoker Big Game IV and even offered to lend the Swede his trademark Kermit the Frog costume.

Schmidt was formerly an instructor at StoxPoker and now makes his home at Drag the Bar. The former will fully merge with sister site CardRunners on May 1st and recently saw its namesake, Nick “Stoxtrader” Grudzien, admit to multi-accounting and leave the site. Schmidt gave his take on the merge of CardRunners and StoxPoker: “It’s a little sad. I put a lot of work into trying to build that site up and it’s come down. I just wish things were done a little bit differently.”

Drag the Bar features a stable of poker coaches that includes Hunter “BeachJustice” Bick, Jeremy “Chipsteela” Menard, Matt “mbolt1” Bolt, Jake “7DeLuX” Wilkins, and Ross “Milwaukee2” Hartung. The site has been motoring along in recent months and Schmidt explained, “We’ve been signing up a lot of members and we’re getting a lot of buzz. The guys there do it the right way and I think it’ll become a major player in the poker training industry. I think it has a lot of potential and it’s playing out that way. I’m seeing a lot of the same things as StoxPoker, as it has that feel of a young company growing quickly.”

Schmidt is a newly minted member of Team PokerStars Online, a star-studded group of grinders that includes Thomas “Boku87” Boekhoff, Randy “nanonoko” Lew, and Nichoel “NicP” Peppe. Schmidt recalled how his signing with the world’s largest online poker site came about: “Once I left CardRunners, I was pigeon-filled as being a Full Tilt guy. No one ever approached me. As soon as I got away from it, I had a half-dozen offers. I just mentioned to PokerStars that I had a few offers; that’s where I would have preferred to go anyway. I was happy they wanted to do it.”

Matchroom Sport, which organized the live version of the Durrrr Challenge at the Les Ambassadeurs Club, will serve in the same capacity for the PartyPoker Big Game IV.

Top April Fools Day Poker Headlines

Today is April Fools Day and if you’ve been perusing our competition, you may have noticed several gag stories. Rather than write one of our own, we’ll outline some of the top April Fools Day headlines we concocted.

Patrik Antonius Really from Wisconsin

He may have a bald head and thick Finnish accent, but Durrrr Challenge participant Patrik Antonius is actually from Madison, Wisconsin. Born Mordecai Zimmerman II, Antonius was tutored at a young age by fellow Cheeseheads Phil Hellmuth and Mark “P0ker H0” Kroon. After his Bar Mitzvah, Antonius realized that he needed a gimmick in order to break through in the poker industry. Sure enough, while eating at State Street Brats one night, Antonius had an epiphany. “What if I became a Scandinavian? American girls love Scandinavians!” Sure enough, the Patrik Antonius persona was born. Antonius was ultimately exposed after revealing that he sleeps with a Brett Favre plush doll.

Russ Hamilton Elected U.S. Ambassador to China

With Chinese-U.S. relations strained as a result of burgeoning debt, the Barack Obama administration turned to the only man capable of righting the ship, Russ Hamilton. Unfortunately, the hole Hamilton exploited to reap millions of dollars from customers of Ultimate Bet was closed, forcing Hamilton to use his wit, dashing good looks, and superior golf skills to woo Chinese diplomats. “This is uber-exciting,” Hamilton told Poker News Daily. “Does anyone know if seeing cards in Traktor Poker helps?” We don’t speak Chinese, so we were unable to get comment from government officials.

2010 WSOP Canceled Due to Economic Concerns

The 2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP) has been axed due to ongoing economic concerns. With Harrah’s acquisition of Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas becoming official today, casino executives decided to focus their efforts on reviving the Planet Hollywood restaurant brand around the world. “The WSOP is exciting and all,” said Harrah’s CEO Gary Loveman, “but it’s getting overrated. I mean really, how many different ways can we come up with to make poker interesting? It’s a bunch of out of shape guys with sunglasses folding cards. To hell with it; long live Planet Hollywood!” With 2010 WSOP pre-registration numbers falling well short of 2006 standards, Loveman and company have reportedly abandoned ship.

Tiffany Michelle Secretly Carrying Phil Ivey's Baby

Poker News Daily can independently confirm that former “Amazing Race” contestant Tiffany Michelle is pregnant with Phil Ivey’s baby. Ivey is an avid fan of the CBS reality series and, upon seeing Michelle unable to hit a high striker in the Netherlands, instantaneously fell in love with her. “OMG she loves French fries, calling the clock in hands she’s not in, and reality television. She’s my dream girl.” The couple will name their child Clock in honor of Michelle’s poker legacy.

Jennifer Tilly Leaves Phil Laak for LuckyChewy

Poker hottie Jennifer Tilly has reportedly told Phil Laak to buzz off. Instead, she was found dining at In-N-Out Burger with Andrew “luckychewy” Lichtenberger, a 21 year-old. “Time 4 fresh meat,” Tilly wrote on her Twitter account. “I want 2 get lucky w/Chewy!” Laak’s compulsive betting may have led to the breakup. Tilly Tweeted, “WTF? Get a life. C U l8r.” Lichtenberger, who coaxed a woman to take off her panties during an episode of the G4 online poker reality series “2 Months, $2 Million,” is looking forward to showing Tilly a good time: “I just hope my mom lets me stay out past 10.”

Tiger Woods to Leave Golf, Enter Professional Poker

Embattled golf pro Tiger Woods has reportedly traded in his Nike clubs for a skeleton card protector. Woods announced to the world on Thursday that training for the Masters wasn’t going well: “I am officially becoming a poker pro,” Woods told the assembled media at his Florida home. “Joan Rivers said you’re all criminals. I am looking forward to upholding that tradition.” Harrah’s officials immediately announced a Tiger Woods versus Tiger Woods of Poker cage match during the 2010 WSOP. The first nine rounds of the bout will be held in July before being paused for four months. Then, Woods and Ivey will return to the Rio in November to play out the final round.

Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest headlines.

Isildur1 Will Play in PartyPoker Big Game IV

The mysterious Swede known simply by the online moniker Isildur1 will step out from behind the computer and play in the PartyPoker Big Game IV live in London. The cash game will be held at the Les Ambassadeurs Club in Mayfair from April 11th to 13th.

Poker pro Tony G called on the young Swedish poker player to enter and will fund Isildur1’s appearance. Eddie Hearn, Managing Director of Big Game organizer Matchroom Sport, commented in a press release distributed on Wednesday, "It was important to me that Isildur1 made his first major TV appearance on one of our shows. Tony and I have worked hard to ensure this happened and we are delighted to welcome him to the PartyPoker Big Game IV. Quite simply, this will be the most hotly anticipated poker show of all time." That’s an understatement.

Besides Isildur1, other pros slated to take to the PartyPoker Big Game IV felts include Tony G, PartyPoker Premier League IV second place finisher Luke “Full Flush” Schwartz, PartyPoker World Open V champion and Unabomber Poker front man Phil Laak, World Series of Poker (WSOP) $40,000 commemorative event runner-up Isaac Haxton, Laak’s better half Jennifer Tilly, Neil Channing, and Laurence Grondin. More names will be announced in the near future and the festivities will air on the Five Network in the United Kingdom later this year.

The burning question among the poker community is whether Isildur1 will reveal himself or wear a mask to preserve his identity. In a blog posted on PartyPoker, Tony G noted that only three people have seen the e-mail sent by Isildur1 confirming his attendance at the PartyPoker Big Game IV. On whether he’ll use headgear, Tony G assessed, “He is seriously thinking about just revealing himself to the world, but the mask offer still stands.” Isildur1 may don Tony G’s Kermit the Frog outfit that was last seen in the Premier League.

All players will take to the felts to their own theme music similar to a baseball game. Isildur1 was the hot topic among the poker industry in late 2009. According to PokerTableRatings.com, the Swede’s career peek came on November 15th, when he was up over $5 million since being tracked by the site. Then, disaster struck. By late November, he was barely above breakeven and suffered his worst day at the tables on December 8th, a staggering $2.8 million collapse. That day, CardRunners instructor Brian Hastings reportedly won more than $3 million from Isildur1.

Allegations of collusion quickly followed and resulted in CardRunners instructor Brian Townsend having his Full Tilt Poker Red Pro status suspended for one month. Leading up to the punishment by Full Tilt, Hastings told ESPN.com columnist Gary Wise, “Obviously I'm happy and I'll take it, but Brian [Townsend] did a ton of work. The three of us discussed a ton of hands and the reports that Brian made, so I'm very thankful to him and to Cole [South] as well."

Isildur1 was absent from the tables for several weeks and now sits with a loss of $2.5 million according to PokerTableRatings.com, a mammoth $7.5 million swing since November. Addressing allegations that Isildur1 is broke, Tony G noted, “Why would a multi-millionaire like Isildur1 need staking by me? Good question, I get the point – he could be on a downswing by then, but look at it this way – would you turn down a complete freeroll?”

Many have speculated that Isildur1 is Viktor “Blom30” Blom, whose memorable exit from the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Europe Main Event in London was documented on ESPN’s coverage of the tournament. Blom 4bet all-in holding just K-2 on a flop of A-A-3. Ian Munns called with A-7, was a 96% favorite to win the hand, and ultimately held. Isildur1’s real identity is not yet known.

Isildur1 to Play PartyPoker Big Game

Earlier this month Tony G offered to stake Isildur1 if the unknown player made an appearance at the Big Game and the Team PartyPoker pro confirmed today that Isildur1 will play the game.

"I really can't wait," said Tony G. "This is going to be the biggest poker event in history."

It isn't clear if Isildur1's identity will actually be discovered since organizers offered to let him wear a mask in the game.

"It was important to me that Isildur1 made his first major TV appearance on one of our shows," said Eddie Hearn, managing director of Matchroom Sport. "Tony and I have worked hard to ensure this happened and we are delighted to welcome him to The PartyPoker.com Big Game IV."

The Big Game IV will offer several new innovations this year with the ability to vote out one player every two hours and entrance music for each competitor, which is chosen by fans.

Already confirmed for the event are Tony G, Luke "Full Flush" Schwartz, Phil Laak, Isaac Haxton, Neil Channing, Jennifer Tilly and Laurence Grondin.

The Big Game IV is scheduled to take place April. 11-13 at the Les Ambassadeurs club in Mayfair, London. The action will be broadcast on Five in the UK later this year.

Isildur1 Invited to Party Poker’s Big Game IV

With Party Poker and Matchroom Sport’s latest announcement that the Big Game IV will take place in London from April 11 to 13, the uber-secretive Isuldur1 has once again stolen the spotlight, if not by his own doing. Soon after the press release, Team Party’s Tony G blogged this invitation to the unknown legend: “Isildur1 – get over to the UK for April 11-13 for the PartyPoker.com Big Game IV at Les Ambassadeurs in London. I will pay for your flights, I will pay for your hotel – I will even stake you totally for the 48 hour cash game. I want to experience the chance to see your brilliant online game in the live environment.”

As of this writing, there’s been no response from Isildur1, but in addition to Tony G, other confirmed attendees include Phil Laak and his lady Jennifer Tilly, Premier League IV runner-up Luke “Full Flush” Schwartz, Neil Channing, Laurence Grondin, and online stud Isaac Haxton. It goes without saying that Isildur1, who has yet to reveal himself to the poker world, would create an electric atmosphere in an already exciting event, but it remains to be seen whether the alleged Swede will even respond to the summons, let alone make an appearance.

Should Isildur1 wish to maintain his furtive relationship with the poker community, Matchroom Sport’s managing director Eddie Hearn says every care would be taken to protect his identity: “We have been in contact with Isildur1 and would love him to join the game - if he wants we will even make special arrangements so that he doesn’t have to reveal his identity to anyone. We are quite happy to let him play wearing a mask or in disguise!”

Tony G furthered the sentiment in his blog, telling Isildur1 that he could borrow the Kermit the Frog outfit that he wore at the Premier League. On one hand, it seems unfathomable that Isildur1 would actually wear a Muppet mask on a worldwide broadcast, yet he’s gone to great lengths to hide his identity while perpetuating his iconic status; a stunt like this would certainly accomplish both. Despite offering to back the high-stakes fiend, Tony G also appealed to Isildur1’s competitive nature by saying, “Let me make one thing clear though. If I stake you I still want to crush you and make you bleed from the mask… and I will!”

Whether Isildur1 shows up or not, the Big Game IV promises to entertain as only a non-stop 48-hour cash game can. In a newly added wrinkle, this year’s game will feature “evictions” from the table. Every two hours, all eight players will nominate one of their tablemates "Survivor"-style and the chosen one will be replaced by a fresh face.

As for players who might fill Isildur1’s big shoes should he decline the offer, in last year’s Big Game III, Andrew Feldman and Robert Williamson III emerged as the biggest winners in a field that boasted Juha Helppi, Barny Boatman, and Roland de Wolfe, while the first two events featured Phil Hellmuth, Chris Ferguson, Kenna James, Dave Ulliott, and WSOP champion Jamie Gold.

Isildur1 Invited to PartyPoker Big Game

The legendary cash game is set for Apr. 11-13 at the Les Ambassadeurs club in Mayfair, London and will feature some of the game's top rounders.

Already confirmed are Team Party's Tony G, Premier League IV runner-up Luke "Full Flush" Schwartz, World Open V champion Phil Laak, Isaac Haxton, Neil Channing, Laurence Grondin and Jennifer Tilly.

Organizers claim more big names will follow, including a possible appearance by unknown Swedish online cash game legend Isildur1, who Tony G has offered to stake in the game.

"We have been in contact with Isildur1 and would love him to join the game," said Matchroom Sport managing director Eddie Hearn. "If he wants we will even make special arrangements so that he doesn't have to reveal his identity to anyone. We are quite happy to let him play wearing a mask or in disguise."

This year, the PartyPoker.com Big Game includes an innovative structure that allows the eight players in the game to evict one player every two hours and replace him or her with a new challenger.

All the action will be filmed for broadcast on Five in the UK later in the year.

"The event has become one of the most popular televised events in the calendar and this season looks to be the most exciting yet with a whole host of top names and the introduction of the all new player elimination process," added Hearn.

Last year's third edition saw Andrew Feldman and Robert Williamson III walk away as the biggest winners in a field that included Roland De Wolfe, Ian Frazer, Juha Helppi and Barny Boatman.

The first two editions of the event included World Series of Poker Main Event champion Jamie Gold, Brian Townsend, Tony G, Phil Hellmuth Chris Ferguson, Kenna James and Dave 'Devilfish' Ulliott.

"The Big Game is always one of the most popular dates in the calendar and the added twist of a player being evicted every two hours will definitely spice up the action," said A PartyPoker.com spokesperson. "If you are a rock, you could find yourself as the weakest link! We looked at adding a trap door for the player to exit through but couldn't get it through health and safety."

40,000 Votes Cast for 2010 WSOP Tournament of Champions

Voting for the 2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Tournament of Champions, which will take on an All-Star Game format, has been open for 24 hours. A handsome total of 40,722 votes have been cast.

WSOP officials have published the top 50 vote-getters and the list appears randomly to prevent ballot-stuffing. The top three bracelet winners of all-time are already in the hunt. UB.com pro Phil Hellmuth is among the chosen few with voting having been open for 24 hours. Hellmuth is the all-time WSOP bracelet leader at 11, one more than DoylesRoom namesake Doyle Brunson and popular pro Johnny Chan. All three are currently in line for a Tournament of Champions birth.

The current top 50 is chock full of young talent, including two-time bracelet winner Jeff Madsen and Italian poker sensation Dario Minieri. Both of Madsen’s bracelets came in 2006, when the youngster took down a $2,000 No Limit Hold’em event and a $5,000 No Limit Hold’em Six-Max tournament at the WSOP for a combined $1.3 million. Minieri, who went broke on Sunday’s episode of the GSN cash game series “High Stakes Poker,” took down a $2,500 No Limit Hold’em Six-Handed event in 2008. Other young guns currently in contention for the All-Star Game include Jason Mercier, Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond, and Peter Eastgate.

2009 WSOP Europe Main Event champion Barry Shulman is an automatic qualifier for the Tournament of Champions. The 2008 and 2007 WSOP Europe Main Event winners, however, have raised eyebrows and appear among the top vote-getters. Betfair pro Annette “Annette_15” Obrestad won the prestigious London tournament in 2007 to become the youngest bracelet winner ever. Full Tilt Poker’s John Juanda followed one year later. The man who made the final table of the WSOP Europe Main Event in 2008 and 2009, Daniel Negreanu, is also in line for an All-Star Game bid as one of the most popular players in the game.

Out of the 50 top vote-getters, only two are women: Jennifer Harman and Obrestad. Top female bracelet winners who do not yet appear include Poker News Daily Guest Columnist Linda Johnson, dual bracelet holder Susie Isaacs, and actress Jennifer Tilly. Only former WSOP bracelet winners are eligible and voting will remain open until June 15th at Midnight ET. The 2010 WSOP Tournament of Champions will play out on June 27th and July 4th at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas and air on ESPN on August 3rd.

The general public can submit one ballot per e-mail address and a total of 20 spots are up for grabs out of the 27-player field. Five spots go to automatic qualifiers: the three previous Tournament of Champions winners (Annie Duke, Mike Matusow, and Mike Sexton) as well as the reigning WSOP and WSOP Europe Main Event champs (Joe Cada and Shulman). Two sponsor exemptions also exist. Here are the top 50 vote-getters in random order:

Jeff Madsen
Peter Eastgate
Kenny Tran
Phil Hellmuth
Barry Greenstein
Howard Lederer
John Juanda
Erik Seidel
Scotty Nguyen
Ted Forrest
Chris Ferguson
Carlos Mortensen
Layne Flack
Tom McEvoy
David Sklansky
David Benyamine
Jennifer Harman
Chris Moneymaker
Allen Cunningham
Freddy Deeb
Greg Raymer
Men “The Master” Nguyen
Doyle Brunson
Humberto Brenes
Daniel Negreanu
Huck Seed
Jamie Gold
Dan Harrington
Jeffrey Lisandro
Annette “Annette_15” Obrestad
Antonio Esfandiari
David Williams
Hoyt Corkins
Marc Naalden
J.C. Tran
Daniel Alaei
Joe Hachem
Johnny Chan
Prahlad Friedman
Rob Hollink
Sam Farha
T.J. Cloutier
Phil Ivey
Bobby Baldwin
Eli Elezra
Erick Lindgren
Amarillo Slim
Dario Minieri
Jason Mercier
Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond

On Twitter, poker players have feverishly been campaigning for votes. Obrestad Tweeted on Tuesday morning, “Keep it up… sorry if I'm spamming, but would mean the world to me to play. Keep voting!” Madsen, a former WSOP Player of the Year, chimed in, “Hey friends, vote for me to be a part of this year's WSOP Tournament of Champions!” Not partaking was Terrence “Unassigned” Chan, who Tweeted, “Boo to the WSOP all-star TOC. Idea of these so-called ‘pros’ being given incentive to further flagrantly self-promote makes me wanna barf.”

Vote now at WSOP.com.

Poker2Nite: Annie Duke Discusses Heads-Up Poker Championship Win

The UB.com poker news show “Poker2Nite” aired its second episode of Season 2 on Wednesday. National Heads-Up Poker Championship winner and Poker News Daily Guest Columnist Annie Duke joined the Versus franchise.

Appropriately, the 30-minute show kicked off with discussion of the National Heads-Up Poker Championship, which featured four former World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event champions in the final eight. In addition, the Final Four were all over the age of 40. “Poker2Nite” host Joe Sebok told viewers, “In a game dominated by youngsters, it seemed not to be that way in this tournament.” Sebok also questioned the need to have seven online qualifiers join the field of 64; six were eliminated in the first round.

“Poker2Nite” also touched on the robbery of the European Poker Tour (EPT) Berlin Main Event, where Sebok remarked that thieves made off with $272,000, although that figure has varied widely. Results from the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) Celebrity Invitational and L.A. Poker Classic aired along with a recap of professional golfer Tiger Woods turning down a $75 million sponsorship offer from Paddy Power Poker.

Following footage from the National Heads-Up Poker Championship draw party, which included interviews with Erick Lindgren, Jennifer Tilly, Joe Cada, and Jamie Gold, Duke joined the set. The UB.com pro is fresh off a deep run in the L.A. Poker Classic and a $500,000 win in the National Heads-Up Poker Championship. She told Sebok and co-host Scott Huff, “I took from October to February off mainly because I realized that when I was going into a lot of tournaments, I was taking an attitude of resenting poker because it was taking away from time with my kids.”

Duke noted that being mentally prepared to play poker is critically important: “When you’re not in the mood to play, you lose some of those small edges.” The UB.com pro was on her way to San Jose, California for the Bay 101 Shooting Star event, explaining that a fundamentally solid performance was important: “This is going to be a big test of how hungry I am because I’m really tired.” Duke ultimately busted on Day 1B after committing her stack with A-K on a flop of 10-6-3 and running into Yukinori Yamazaki’s pocket aces.

Duke faced a gauntlet of poker talent in the National Heads-Up Poker Championship, including Full Tilt Poker math whiz Andy Bloch, her first round opponent. On getting past the former MIT Blackjack Team member, Duke commented, “Once I got past him, it was a huge confidence boost, like a monkey off my back.” Duke then bested Darvin Moon, Paul Wasicka, Jerry Yang, and Dennis Phillips before battling eight-time bracelet winner Erik Seidel in the finals. Duke dubbed Seidel “really good.”

Snowboarder Hannah Teter, who won a silver medal in the women’s halfpipe during the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, joined “Poker2Nite” via Skype to discuss her love for poker. She explained that the game was an integral part of her preparations for the Winter Olympics: “We played poker while training this summer, but during the winter, we’re in the zone.” Instead of cash, Teter and company typically played for candy. She added that she’d like to head to the WSOP this year to play in a charity event.

“Poker2Nite” host Dana Workman did not have an in-studio guest this week for the “Girls of Poker” segment, but presented the “Poker2Nite Online” vignette highlighting the groundbreaking Tweets and online news of the week. They included Scotty Nguyen, Brian Balsbaugh, and Annette “Annette_15” Obrestad blasting Twitter messages about the National Heads-Up Poker Championship and a picture that appeared on PokerListings of Lindgren and Erica Schoenberg getting cozy. Also addressed during the update was whether Sebok should continue to rock his beard.

Next week, PokerStars North American Poker Tour (NAPT) hostess Joanna Krupa will join “Poker2Nite.” You can catch the series every Wednesday at 11:00pm ET on Versus.

Maxim Names Tiffany Michelle, Vanessa Rousso as Hottest Women in Poker

The world of poker is dominated by men for the most part, but there are women who have made their mark on the felt. On many poker forums, there has been a debate as to who the “hottest” poker player in the game is – and that debate goes for the men in the game as well. A top men’s magazine, Maxim, has recently taken on the challenge of naming the 20 hottest women in poker, albeit with some liberties taken along the way.

Topping the list are two players who have earned their stripes on the tables and are sponsored poker players in their own right. UB.com’s Tiffany Michelle heads the list. She made her mark on the poker world in 2008 when she was the last woman standing in the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event. Since that time, she has continued to excel at the poker tables and has appeared on “The Amazing Race” with fellow poker pro Maria Ho. Other movie and television credits for Michelle include the movie “Semi Pro” with comedian Will Ferrell and the FX series “Nip/Tuck.”

Along with Michelle, poker professional Vanessa Rousso was included in the 20-woman lineup for “hottest woman in poker.” Rousso, who currently carries a sponsorship with website hosting company GoDaddy.com along with PokerStars, also appeared in last year’s Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue. Rousso is one of the preeminent women in the game today, with several six-figure cashes in her career that include a victory at last year’s European Poker Tour (EPT) Monte Carlo Grand Final High-Roller event and a runner-up finish to Huck Seed at the 2009 National Heads-Up Poker Championship. She recently cashed at the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) L.A. Poker Classic, finishing in 59th place.

Three other women have had or continue to have an intimate involvement with poker as well as maintaining an active career outside of the game. Top model Joanna Krupa is on the Maxim list, as she maintains her modeling career alongside hosting duties for the PokerStars North American Poker Tour (NAPT). Former Absolute Poker spokesperson and model Serinda Swan makes the list along with actress Shannon Elizabeth, who has held sponsorship logos with both Full Tilt Poker and DoylesRoom in her poker career.

For those who wonder where 2005 WSOP Women’s Champion Jennifer Tilly is on the Maxim list, she is included along with other poker playing actresses such as Playboy model Jenny McCarthy and former “That 70s Show” performer Laura Prepon. Maxim also puts former “Baywatch” actress Pamela Anderson on the list, the second oldest member of the “hottest women in poker” behind Tilly. Anderson once was the face of her own online poker room, PamelaPoker.com, and allegedly settled a poker debt by marrying her opponent, former Paris Hilton paramour Rick Salomon, in a marriage that was later annulled.

For those who remember the Bravo television show “Celebrity Poker Showdown,” many of its alumni appear on the Maxim list. Academy Award winner Mena Suvari, comedian Sarah Silverman, former “Beverly Hills 90210” actress Jennie Garth, “Austin Powers” star Heather Graham, “Party Of Five” actress Lacey Chabert, “The Office” star Jenna Fischer, and actress Rosario Dawson all make their mark on the Maxim hot list and continue to play in charity events across the country. Rounding out the “hottest women in poker” are Jennifer Love Hewitt, Traci Bingham, and Odette Yustman.

While it may not settle the arguments across the online forums, Maxim’s “Hottest Women In Poker” definitely adds fuel to the fire. Were there any ladies that the magazine missed on their list? Poker News Daily would like to know, so be sure to inform us of who Maxim should have featured on the list and who shouldn’t have been there by leaving a comment below.

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

WSOP May Hold All Star Game

In a Tweet posted on Wednesday by officials from the World Series of Poker (WSOP), it was revealed that a special All Star Game may be in the works. Its format and players involved are currently unclear.

A Tweet from the WSOP cryptically questioned, “Which 20 WSOP Bracelet-Holders would you like to see compete in an All-Star game? Stay tuned... #WSOP.” Last year, the WSOP held its first ever Champions Invitational, which featured 20 former Main Event winners vying in a made-for-television tournament for a vintage car. 1983 WSOP Main Event winner Tom McEvoy, a PokerStars sponsored pro, ultimately came out on top and drove home in a classic 1970 Corvette.

The tournament aired on ESPN, which owns the exclusive rights to the annual Las Vegas spectacle. Others who participated in the grand event included WSOP Main Event champs Amarillo Slim, Berry Johnston, Jim Bechtel, Huck Seed, Scotty Nguyen, Carlos Mortensen, Chris Moneymaker, Greg Raymer, Joe Hachem, Jamie Gold, and Jerry Yang.

When prompted for comment by Poker News Daily, Harrah’s officials were equally vague, saying about the Tweet, “It was cryptic for a reason. I’m intrigued, are you?” In December, Harrah’s released the 2010 WSOP schedule, which kicks off with the annual $500 Casino Employees No Limit Hold’em event on May 28th. On the same day, a brand new $50,000 buy-in Player’s Championship will begin. The event will be televised by ESPN and take on an eight-game format: Limit Hold’em, Omaha High-Low Split Eight or Better, Seven Card Razz, Seven Card Stud, Seven Card Stud High-Low Split Eight or Better, No Limit Hold’em, Pot Limit Omaha, and 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball.

Although no word has been handed down, it appears that 20 players, according to a fan vote, will compete for a grand prize during the 2010 WSOP. Given the internet vote, many posters on TwoPlusTwo questioned the makeup of the field. TwoPlusTwo member “Kevmath” explained, “If they allow voting on the internet, I'm sure someone not as deserving could sneak their way into the field.”

For example, Tom “durrrr” Dwan, born in 1986, was nominated by the general public through an online vote to become a nominee for the Poker Hall of Fame Class of 2009. A nominating committee was quick to squash his bid, charging that Dwan had not yet stood the test of time, one of the criteria required for entry. Instead, names tossed out by TwoPlusTwo members as possible participants in a WSOP All Star Game include 11-time bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth and popular female pro Jennifer Tilly.

Others called for several side events during the All Star Game, similar to the Slam Dunk Contest and Three-Point Shootout held during basketball’s All Star Weekend. “TheCanoe” explained some possible diversions: “Chip Stacking with Carlos Mortensen, Beer drinking with Scotty, [and] Scooter races with Doyle.”

One poster even tossed out an idea whereby players could rebuy according to the number of bracelets they own, meaning that Hellmuth could buy back in 11 times. Players who would be well off under this setup include Doyle Brunson (10 bracelets), Johnny Chan (10 bracelets), Erik Seidel (eight bracelets), Phil Ivey (seven bracelets), and Billy Baxter (seven bracelets).

TwoPlusTwo posters also clamored for the women of poker to join the All-Star fray like GoDaddy Girl Vanessa Rousso, UB.com pro Liv Boeree, and Tilly, who has long been associated with Unabomber Poker namesake Phil Laak. Other possibilities include Annie Duke, Linda Johnson, Kara Scott, Tiffany Michelle, Isabelle Mercier, and Maria Ho.

Not everyone was optimistic about the end product. TwoPlusTwo poster “ptartaglio” explained the mindset of some in the online poker community: “These types of tournaments are always horrible. They never have the better players, only the recognized players, and they always turn them into crapshoots. The Tournament of Champions that Mike Sexton won wasn't too bad for TV, but other than that they [are] horrible.” The first Tournament of Champions was held in 2004 and featured Duke earning the winner-take-all $2 million prize. Sexton won the event in 2006.

We’ll keep you posted on the latest WSOP news on Poker News Daily. Who would you like to see in a Poker All Star Game? Leave us a comment here and let us know.

Poker In Twitter: NAPT Bounty Shootout, Matusow Versus Bellande, and Hellmuth in Playgirl

For many in the poker world, the PokerStars North American Poker Tour (NAPT) stop at the Venetian has been their home base for the past week. While the Main Event wrapped up last night with Tom Marchese taking the championship, the $25,000 High Roller Bounty Shootout was in full swing and many top pros were a part of the action. The Tweets from those involved let the poker community know how they were doing while the tournament was in play.

Two UB.com pros let their fans know who they would be facing during the Shootout tournament. “Poker2Nite” host Joe Sebok seemed ready for action when he Tweeted, “my tbl for 25k tomorrow: Phil Laak/Justin Bonomo/David Williams/Joe Cassidy/Yevgeny Timoshenko/Tommy Vedes. lots of potential for fireworks.” Unfortunately for Sebok, he was unable to make a run at the Shootout table, where the eventual winner has to defeat his or her entire table to move on, and was knocked out early by Bonomo. “ZeeJustin” was eventually busted by Cassidy, who moved on to the final table by eliminating four of his six opponents.

Annie Duke was at the felt for the $25,000 Bounty Shootout and found it strange that all the ladies in the event were on the same table. “Of the 3 women entered into tomorrow's $25K event 3 are at the same table. Weird,” Duke said in her Tweet. “I am playing with Jennifer Tilly and Vanessa Rousso.” Duke would have a strong run at the table, battling with Bellagio Cup V runner up Faraz “The-Toilet” Jaka for quite some time before succumbing. “The-Toilet” was responsible for knocking out all three ladies and top pro J.C. Tran on his way to the final table.

One player who tweeted his way to victory was 2010 World Poker Tour (WPT) Southern Poker Championship winner Hoyt Corkins. Corkins has been on a roll as of late and Tweeted on his opponents, “Phil Hellmuth and Greg Raymer at my table.” While Corkins didn’t tweet during the event, Hellmuth picked up the slack with running reports. “Doubled up to average stack blinds 300-600,” informed the “Poker Brat.” “I open 1700 on button w/ A-K, Hoyt shoves w/ 6-4 in BB for my last 13k, K-9-3-5, then 6, whew!” Hellmuth was quite critical of his play later in the event, however, Tweeting, “Bad laydown!! Bad reads 2day! JDuthie had 10h-9h when I mucked A-K pre-flop! I let them steal my blinds & made a stand w KJ when JD had AK.” Duthie would make a run at winning the table, but Corkins defeated him to move on to the final table.

Away from the Shootout, players were on the cash game tables, with Mike Matusow and Jean-Robert Bellande going to battle. Matusow sought out Bellande, Tweeting, “How is it that idiot @brokelivingjrb seems to be winning everyday? I have to go see what kind of SUPER IDIOTS he's playing against.” Apparently “The Mouth” found Bellande and had a tough night on the felt. Bellande Tweeted later in the night, “@themouthmatusow is lecturing Eli after a brutal beat. Lol. "You play so f'n bad!" Eli giggling. He he. Poker is great.”

While not participating in any of the action in Las Vegas, Lacey Jones and “Hollywood” Dave Stann made notable Tweets this week. In a personal note to her Tweeps, Lacey commented, “Lacey fact: 1 year in Girl Scouts I sold more cookies than any other girl in Texas. I got 3 badges and bragging rights! Girl Scouts rock!” Stann made his way home from playing, but wasn’t particularly pleased.  “Hollywood” noted in his Tweet, “Thanks, 4 am Hollywood Park valet guy, for smoking so much g**d**n weed b4 getting my car that I'm driving home getting a contact high.”

Finally, offering up their knowledge in Tweet form was Poker Royalty’s top poker agent Brian Balsbaugh. Apparently in response to critiques of this year’s National Heads-Up Poker Championship lineup, Balsbaugh gave the poker community insight into the selection process when he Tweeted, “If U R wondering how players with razor thin poker achievements make NBC Head's Up, it's b/c their sponsor's buy commercials.” Balsbaugh also had perhaps the scariest Tweet of the Week when he let his Tweeps know, “@Phil_Hellmuth told me he’d listen to a Playgirl offer “I’d get in best shape of my life, it might be fun.”

With the L.A. Poker Classic starting on Friday, the poker world should be hopping this weekend and the Tweets should be flowing. Poker News Daily continues to watch out for the top names in the game and gather their various thoughts. Poker News Daily is a part of the world of Twitter also, so be sure to add @pokernewsdaily for the latest information on the world of poker and the Twitter scene.

Peter Eastgate, Scott Seiver Reach NAPT Bounty Shootout Final Table

Scott Seiver stormed through the competition on Day 1 of the PokerStars North American Poker Tour (NAPT) $25,000 High-Roller Bounty Shootout at the Venetian. Seiver ousted all six opponents at his starting table to move on to Day 2.

Seiver collected a $5,000 bounty for each player knocked out, or $30,000 total. In addition, his appearance at Thursday’s final table in the $25,000 buy-in event is worth another $75,000. All told, he’s a very happy camper heading into the finale, which will air as part of ESPN2’s coverage of the NAPT beginning in April. Seiver didn’t knock out a bunch of amateurs, either. Instead, he defeated Betfair pro Sorel “Imper1um” Mizzi heads-up. Also a victim of Seiver’s bloodbath was Season 7 World Poker Tour (WPT) Festa al Lago winner Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier.

Seiver sent Team PokerStars Pro member and “High Stakes Poker” regular Barry Greenstein to the rails first, followed by Victory Poker front man Antonio Esfandiari, cash game specialist Chau Giang, and online poker pro Brian “tsarrast” Rast. Seiver won his first World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet in 2008, when he took down a $5,000 No Limit Hold’em event for $755,000.

Joe Cassidy defeated Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo heads-up at Table 1 to move on to Thursday’s finale. Cassidy knocked out four of his six opponents, including reigning WPT Championship winner Yevgeniy “Jovial Gent” Timoshenko, Bodog poker pro David Williams, and Unabomber Poker namesake Phil Laak. Cassidy finished 13th in the inaugural $50,000 HORSE Championship during the 2006 WSOP for $137,000. Also eliminated from Table 1 were “Poker2Nite” host Joe Sebok and Tommy Vedes.

2008 WSOP Main Event champ Peter Eastgate emerged victorious from Table 2. Eastgate defeated fellow young gun Isaac Haxton heads-up to collect his $5,000 bounty. Haxton sent Alec “traheho” Torelli and poker bad boy Tony G packing in third and fourth places, respectively, to give Eastgate a run for his money. The table also featured James Calderaro, Italian stud Dario Minieri, and WPT Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic winner Daniel Alaei.

Ashton Griffin outlasted 2003 WSOP Main Event winner Chris Moneymaker at Table 3 to advance. Moneymaker eliminated fellow Main Event champion Joe Cada along with Hasan Habib and Jason Mercier before Griffin took out the former Tennessee accountant. Griffin finished 12th in the 2009 WSOP Europe £5,000 Pot Limit Omaha tournament for £15,000.

Over at Table 4, Brett Richey defeated three consecutive players down the stretch for the win, including Victory Poker’s Lee Markholt. Richey also sent Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond home in third place and Andrew “good2cu” Robl out in fourth. Markholt, meanwhile, eliminated rumored new DoylesRoom Brunson 10 member Alex “AJKHoosier1” Kamberis and poker veteran John “World” Hennigan.

An epic battle between Faraz “The-Toilet” Jaka and UB.com’s Annie Duke unfolded at Table 5, with the former finally reigning supreme. Jaka busted four players from his table, including Jennifer Tilly, Vanessa Rousso, and 2006 World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) Main Event winner J.C. Tran. Oddly enough, only three women competed in the 49-player event; all of them were seated at the same table and eliminated by Jaka. You can check out Annie Duke’s evaluation of Jaka’s poker game.

Finally, DoylesRoom pro Hoyt Corkins, fresh off of taking down the WPT Southern Poker Championship in Biloxi, bested European Poker Tour (EPT) founder John Duthie at Table 7 to move on to the finale. Corkins amassed five bounties in the process, including Adam Richardson, Hevad “RaiNKhaN” Khan, 2004 WSOP Main Event champ Greg Raymer, and Steven Paul-Ambrose (who now goes as Steven Paul).

PokerStars is awarding $100,000 to the player with the most number of bounties when the tournament concludes. As it currently stands, Seiver leads the way with six and Corkins has five. Cassidy and Jaka each own four bounties.

The tournament resumes at Noon PT on Thursday, as all eyes today are focused on the Main Event of the NAPT Venetian. The winner of the Bounty Shootout will earn $460,000 in addition to the $75,000 reward for making the final table.

Annie Duke Discusses NAPT, Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader

This month, poker pro and “Celebrity Apprentice” runner-up Annie Duke breaks down the PokerStars North American Poker Tour (NAPT) $25,000 High Roller Bounty Shootout at the Venetian, the National Heads-Up Poker Championship, and her appearance on the television game show “Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?”

Poker News Daily: Thanks for joining us. We saw that Faraz “The-Toilet” Jaka bested your table in the NAPT High Roller Bounty Shootout. Tell us about your table, which also featured Joe Hachem, Jennifer Tilly, Vanessa Rousso, and J.C. Tran.

Annie Duke: I got heads-up with Faraz at my table. He’s an excellent player plus he’s clearly been playing his best lately because he’s been final tabling everything. He’s the last person I wanted to end up heads-up against. Even though Vanessa has been playing everything and doing well, I’ve played with her and know her. Faraz is a guy who has been playing everything and I don’t know anything about his game.

PND: Evaluate Faraz Jaka’s game for us. What makes him so successful?

Annie Duke: He’s very good at gearing differently and is good at gearing against different stack sizes. He does not play fast or play super small ball. That’s a harder person to deal with because they’re going to play against your stack effectively. Faraz played brilliantly heads-up. I managed to get a chip lead on Faraz and then lost two big pots.

There were a couple of draws I chose to play slow and didn’t hit and a couple I played fast as a semi-bluff and didn’t hit. I said to Phil Hellmuth afterward that it’s a no-win situation. When you play it slow and don’t hit, you regret that you didn’t try to bluff. If you play it big, then you regret that you didn’t play it slow. I don’t know if I could have won them playing differently, but I feel like I didn’t reverse well.

PND: Are you looking forward to the National Heads-Up Poker Championship, which will be filmed in March and then air on NBC?

Annie Duke: Erik Seidel and I were joking that we have bad records in that event. He’s a brilliant player, but has never won a match, and I’ve won one. I don’t care who I draw; I just want to win my match. I played against Brad Garrett last year and he had all of the better hands. When I find out who I play against, I try to think about their game, but I don’t like to come into matches with a set strategy. People play differently on different days and against different opponents. I’m just trying to improve my record in that event.

PND: Has it been refreshing to return to playing poker?

Annie Duke: I realized when I played the $25,000 NAPT event that I hadn’t played since October. I have been prioritizing differently. It’s nice to have all of this poker coming up and then I am going to Mexico with the kids. The World Series of Poker starts after that. It’s the part of the year where I play a lot of poker and I like to get back to my roots. I don’t regret that I choose to do other things because I like what else I’m doing. Poker players can get really myopic and just think about poker. I don’t remember ever feeling that way coming up.

PND; Tell us about your appearance on the syndicated game show “Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?”

Annie Duke: I played for Decision Education Foundation. It’s the daytime version of the show where you have to clear 10 questions. I got every question right and used the help one time because I wanted to make sure. The question was asking who the Volunteers were and I was pretty sure it was Tennessee, but thought it could also be Kentucky since I am not a big college basketball person. I peeked at the girl’s answer and she put Tennessee.

I got all 10 questions right and had $25,000. Then, there’s a bonus round question that you’re getting laid 10:1 on. If I thought I could answer it right 10% of the time, there was an overlay. I went for it and didn’t know the answer. If you get the question wrong, you go down to $2,500, so you’re risking $22,500 to win $250,000. That’s an easy decision even though it didn’t work out.

NAPT $25k High-Roller Shootout Set

The 49-player field will be pitted against each other in a seven-table shootout format with the winners going on to the final table Thursday. There will also be a $5,000 bounty on every player's head throughout the first round heats and the final.

Interestingly, there are just three female players registered for the event, Annie Duke, Vanessa Rousso and Jennifer Tilly, and they drew seats next to each other on the same table.

2003 World Series of Poker Main Event champ Chris Moneymaker will get the chance to take on 2009 WSOP Main Event champ Joe Cada in a heat that also includes PokerListings Blogger and Team PokerStars Pro Jason Mercier.

Plus, Daniel Negreanu, who drew the names out of the hat Monday, will have his work cut out for him at a table with some of the brightest young minds in the online game, including Phil "OMGClayAiken" Galfond, Andrew "Good2CU" Robl, and Alex "AJKHoosier1" Kamberis.

The self-proclaimed best No-Limit Hold'em player in the world, Phil Hellmuth, will have to prove it against a table featuring fellow WSOP Main Event champ Greg Raymer and EPT Founder John Duthie, while young guns like Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier and Sorel Mizzi will take on old-school Big Game pros Barry Greenstein and Chau Giuang.

The first round of play will be filmed in two sessions Tuesday inside the Venetian's Belleni Ballroom. The event is being filmed for broadcast on ESPN2.

For the full table lists check the chart below.

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