Posts Tagged ‘Justin Bonomo’
The Nightly Turbo: Tokwiro Issues Statement on Cereus Poker Network Security, Florida Poker Legislation, and More
WPT World Championships: Ivey, Dwan and Negreanu eliminated
Second day of WPT World Championships (buy-in $25,000+500) has been played at Bellagio. Roughly half of the field have been eliminated and 98 players from the original 195 will continue tomorrow to hunt down the $1,530,537 first prize.
Faraz Jaka (597,1k) took the lead after two days, Shawn Buchanan (596,6k) holds the second place and on the third place is Brandon Cantu (520k).
Other familiar people continuing the play are Yevgeniy Timoshenko (300k), Brian Lemke (260k), David Benyamine (230k), Scotty Nguyen (115k) and Howard Lederer (95k).
Scotty Baby
There has been some notable eliminations as well already: Phil Ivey, Tom “durrrr” Dwan, Daniel Negreanu, Gavin Smith and Sorel Mizzi.
There were 195 players who started in the WPT World Championships. Winner takes down a nice $1,530,537 pot and even the second place finisher will get $1,034,715. The starting stack was 100k.
Read more about the WPT World Championships’ second day.
Chip count (full list):
1. Faraz Jaka 597,100
2. Shawn Buchanan 596,600
3. Brandon Cantu 520,000
4. Justin Bonomo 503,600
5. Joshua Gould 500,000
6. Heather Sue Mercer 490,000
7. Soheil Shamseddin 472,000
8. Todd Terry 430,000
9. Cody Slaubaugh 416,300
10. Aaron “Aejones” Jones 362,000
Prize structure:
1. $1,530,537
2. $1,034,715
3. $587,906
4. $329,228
5. $246,921
6. $199,888
7. $152,856
8. $105,823
9. $75,252
10 – 12. $56,439
13 – 15. $51,736
16 – 18. $47,033
Source: WPT
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WPT World Championships: Ivey, Dwan and Negreanu eliminated
Tags: 2008, 2009, 2010, bellagio, Daniel Negreanu, David Benyamine, Justin Bonomo, Phil Ivey, tournament
WPT Championship Day 2: Jaka Makes a Run
The San Jose native finished second at the Bellagio Cup this past summer and third at December's Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic, moving him into the lead in the World Poker Tour's Player of the Year race.
Monday, with several players still in the hunt for Player of the Year, Jaka pushed himself into a spot among the leaders on Day 2 of the WPT World Championship and now looks primed for a deep run.
Registration closed at the start of the event's ninth level, bringing the grand total entrants up to 195. A total of 18 places will be paid from a $4.7 million prize pool, including $1,530,537 for first.
While players like Daniel Negreanu, Gavin Smith, Isaac Haxton, Paul Wasicka, Tom Dwan, and John Duthie fell by the wayside on Day 2 names like Justin Bonomo, Brandon Cantu, Todd Terry, Cliff Josephy, Shawn Buchanan and last year's champ Yevgeniy Timoshenko joined Jaka near the top of the leaderboard.
In total, 98 players will enter Tuesday's Day 3 with a shot at the coveted title.
The 2010 WPT Championship continues through April 25 at Bellagio. For comprehensive coverage tune in to PokerListings' Live Updates and News.
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WSOP Circuit Hits Vegas
The first of 18 gold ring events attracted nearly 400 players and thousands more are expected as the most popular stop on the WSOP Circuit continues through April 30.
Tournament buy-ins range from $230 up to $5,150 for the four-day main event beginning April 27.
16 of 18 events are No-Limit Hold'em tournaments, but there is also a Pot-Limit Omaha and Limit Hold'em event on the schedule.
Most of the action will take place inside Caesars' multi-million dollar poker tournament room, filled with the portraits of many of the game's greats. The adjacent poker room will accommodate any overflow.
In addition to the lion's share of what is expected to be a relatively healthy prize pool, the winner of the main event will also earn a $10,000 seat into the 2010 WSOP Main Event at the Rio All-Suites Hotel and Casino.
Last year Justin Bonomo joined a prestigious list of WSOPC Las Vegas main event champions including Allen Cunningham, Cory Carroll and John Spadavecchia.
Click through to the WSOP web page to see the full schedule.
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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
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Isildur1 wins $1m then loses $500,000
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.
Tags: 2010, Annie Duke, bellagio, Hollywood, Jennifer Tilly, Justin Bonomo, ladies, Phil Hellmuth, pokerstars, tournament, vegas, women
Poker News in Brief: Feb. 15-21, 2010
Rumored to be Swede Victor Blom, Isildur1 disappeared from the high-stakes games after he went on a devastating multi-million dollar downswing in late 2009.
He returned with a vengeance this week with huge matches against Justin Bonomo and Brian Townsend.
With all the attention focused on Isildur1 there were a few poker stories that were nearly forgotten. Fortunately, as part of our ongoing Poker News in Brief feature we’ve compiled a list below.
This week we’ll look at another winner on the UKIPT, a notable player winning at the LAPC, the record-breaking sale of a poker domain and more.
Dutch Student Wins UKIPT Manchester
Twenty-one-year-old Dutch student Joeri Zandvliet outlasted 517 players to win the inaugural UK & Ireland Poker Tour Manchester event this week.
The final table was dominated by residents of the UK with only Zandvliet and Julian Hasse of Germany coming from Europe.
Zandvliet beat Newcastle native Jack Ellwood heads-up to claim the £63,200 first place prize.
“I feel very happy and lucky,” said Zandvliet after his big win. “There were five relatively strong players at the final table. Whatever I did today didn’t really work too well but I managed to get lucky a couple of times.”
The £550 buy-in event drew several big name players including John Duthie, Victoria Coren and Julian Thew.
To learn more about UKIPT qualifying visit the PokerStars website.
ChiliPoker Launches DeepStack Open
ChiliPoker released the schedule for a new French tournament this week.
The Chilipoker DeepStack Open will take place April 9-11, 2010, in the Partouche poker room in France.
The tournament will offer a deep structure of 50,000 starting chips, 50/100 starting blinds and 60 minute levels.
In contrast to large buy-in tours like the EPT and WPT, the Chilipoker DeepStack Open will offer a more affordable buy-in of €500+€50. There will be a maximum of 500 players allowed into the event.
Chilipoker will also introduce a couple unique elements to the tournament.
The first called “Extra Ball” which will see the online poker site throw in an extra 50% of the first place prize. Half of this will go the winner while the other half will go to all the players who qualified on Chilipoker.
The second feature is called “Knock-Out Insurance” and it rewards players who finished out of the money but managed to bust five opponents. Each player performs this feat will receive a free seat in the next Chilipoker DeepStack Open event.
To qualify for the ChiliPoker DeepStack Open visit the poker room’s website.
Jonathan “Fatal Error” Aguiar Wins LAPC 8-Game Event
You can add another well-known poker player to the list of players who have cashed in on the LAPC preliminary events.
Jonathan Aguiar, who plays online as Fatal Error, outlasted 106 players to win the $34,800 first place prize in the LAPC 8-Game Mix side event.
With the victory Aguiar is quickly approaching $1 million in lifetime live tournament winnings with $722,351.
Joe Tehan also made the final table of the Eight Game event but crashed out in fourth place for $9,460.
PokerListings’ blogger Jason Mercier came in 14th place and blogged about it here.
The LAPC has already seen some notable victories with Carlos Mortensen, “Miami” John Cernuto and Chino Rheem all taking down tournaments.
Betfair Poker to Sponsor Amateur Poker Association & Tour
Betfair Poker announced this week it will be the headline sponsor of one of the leading amateur poker tours.
The London-based online poker site will be the exclusive sponsor of Season 4 of the Amateur Poker Association & Tour (APAT).
“Our tie-up with APAT signals our commitment to grass roots poker,” said Matt Mowlam, head of U.K. poker for Betfair. “APAT are a professionally run, fun tour, and one that has been keenly contested by thousands of players in the three seasons to date."
Season 4 will see the APAT host 28 live tournaments in the U.K., Ireland and Europe with buy-ins ranging from £25 to £250.
The APAT has seen rapid growth over the last three seasons and is currently home to over 20,000 registered members.
The first event on the Season 4 APAT schedule will be the Welsh Amateur Championship in Aspers, Swansea on March 20. Check APAT website for the complete schedule.
Poker.org Sold for $1 Million
Poker.org became the most expensive .org domain ever sold this week when PokerCompany.com purchased it for $1 million.
PokerCompany.com, which already owns BlackJack.org, EveryPoker.com and Rakeback.org, did not announce their plans for the domain.
Previous .org sales pale in comparison with Engineering.org the closest, selling for $198,000.
The most expensive website ever sold was Sex.com, which went for $14 million in 2006.
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Tags: 2009, 2010, buy-ins, deepstack, Justin Bonomo, Online Poker, poker player, pokerstars, tournament, usa
Isildur1 Battles Justin Bonomo (ZeeJustin) on Full Tilt Poker
Railbirds rejoice! The mysterious high-stakes wunderkind known as Isildur1 is back at the tables on Full Tilt Poker having rebuilt his bankroll during the month of February. Starting as low as $5/$10, the Swede has gradually worked his way up as high as $300/$600, playing anyone who will take a shot at him.
Isildur1, who notably spent the latter part of 2009 playing nosebleed games against Phil Ivey, Patrik Antonius, Tom "durrrr" Dwan, and several other of the world's best players, went on some legendary million-dollar swings before losing more than $3 million in a session to Full Tilt Poker pro Brian Hastings. The match depleted Isildur1's bankroll on the site. After Hastings admitted to sharing hand histories with friends in order to take Isildur1 down, the Swede vowed that he wouldn't return until the incident was addressed.
On Monday evening, Isildur1 played a rousing $200/$400 No Limit Hold'em match against Justin "ZeeJustin" Bonomo, who has been spending a lot of time at the cash tables of Full Tilt of late. Isildur1 and Bonomo played nearly 2,000 hands, with Isildur1 taking more than $550,000 from the Las Vegas pro.
Poker News Daily caught most of the action between the two No Limit Hold’em specialists. Here are a few of the key hands from the match:
Hand #1
Button: Isildur1 ($93,797)
Big Blind: ZeeJustin ($40,000)
Isildur1 raises to $1,200
ZeeJustin raises to $4,200
Isildur1 calls
Flop: Jh-8h-4h
ZeeJustin bets $4,000
Isildur1 raises to $89,597 (all-in)
ZeeJustin calls
Isildur1 shows Qh-8s (pair of eights, Queen-high flush draw)
ZeeJustin shows Ah-2c (Ace-high flush draw)
Turn: 5d
River: 6s
Isildur1 wins $80,000 with a pair of Eights
Analysis: This hand took place early in the match and set the stage for what was a frustrating evening for Bonomo. Isildur1 raises every button; therefore 3betting with an Ace here is standard, especially knowing that the Swede will play in position with almost any two cards. The flop hits both players. Bonomo leads out and is faced with a decision for his stack after Isildur1 quickly moves all-in. Knowing that he's up against an active opponent who could be moving in with a weaker flush draw, Bonomo calls and discovers that he's a 3:2 underdog. The board bricks out and Bonomo reloads.
Hand #2
Button: Isildur1 ($136,889.50)
Big Blind: ZeeJustin ($53,297.50)
Isildur1 raises to $1,200
ZeeJustin calls
Flop: Js-8c-6s
ZeeJustin checks
Isildur1 bets $2,000
ZeeJustin raises to $6,800
Isildur1 raises to $14,600
ZeeJustin raises to $52,097.50 (all-in)
Isildur1 calls
ZeeJustin shows 6c-6d (a set of Sixes)
Isildur1 shows 8s-6h (two pair, Eights and Sixes)
Turn: 7c
River: 8h
Isildur1 wins $106,595 with a full house, Eights full of Sixes
Analysis: Just a brutal river for Bonomo. You can't fault Isildur1 for getting his money in with bottom two, as he's beating most of Bonomo's shoving range, but Bonomo, an 86% favorite on the flop, can't hang on and loses a $100,000 pot.
Hand #3
Button: Isildur1 ($129,587.50)
Big Blind: ZeeJustin ($59,996.50)
Isildur1 raises to $1,200
ZeeJustin calls
Flop: Ks-8c-6h
ZeeJustin checks
Isildur1 bets $2,000
ZeeJustin calls
Turn: 4c
ZeeJustin checks
Isildur1 bets $5,600
ZeeJustin calls
River: 8s
ZeeJustin bets $13,500
Isildur1 raises to $120,787.50 (all-in)
ZeeJustin calls
Isildur1 shows Qs-7s (a pair of Eights)
ZeeJustin shows Qd-8d (trip Eights)
ZeeJustin wins $119,993
Analysis: This had to feel good for Bonomo. He spent a good portion of the match check-calling against the aggressive Swede, patiently waiting for a spot to pick him off, and finally got his chance. However, Bonomo's heart likely stopped when Isildur1 shoved on the river. Isildur1 bet on every street and is representing a monster hand, such as a full house or maybe even a turned straight. Knowing that Isildur1 is capable of a huge river bluff, it's a pretty straightforward call for Bonomo.
Hand #4
Button: ZeeJustin ($45,999)
Big Blind: Isildur1 ($203,783)
ZeeJustin raises to $1,200
Isildur1 calls
Flop: Qd-10h-3h
Isildur1 checks
ZeeJustin checks
Turn: 7h
Isildur1 bets $2,000
ZeeJustin raises to $6,600
Isildur1 raises to $23,800
ZeeJustin raises to $44,999 (all-in)
Isildur1 calls
ZeeJustin shows 10d-7c (two pair, Tens and Sevens)
Isildur1 shows Ah-Jd (Ace-high flush draw, gutshot straight draw)
River: Ks
Isildur1 wins $91,998 with a straight to the Ace
Analysis: This was a fun hand to witness. After little action before and on the flop, fireworks ensued on the turn. Bonomo didn't make a lot of big hands during the session, so two pair probably looked like gold in this spot. Meanwhile, Isildur1 knew he has a bundle of outs to make the nuts on the river. Sure enough, the Swede made Broadway and Bonomo quit shortly thereafter.
Isildur1 is back! He is up $690,205 from the latest session
Isildur1 played a very long and wild session today at Full Tilt Poker. He played against Isaac “luvtheWNBA” Haxton and Justin “Zeejustin” Bonomo.
The Swedish internet sensation had up to eight $100/$200 NL Hold’Em tables open when they played with Haxton. Isildur1’s first session with Haxton didn’t go that well as Isildur1 managed to lose almost 120,000 dollars to him.
After Isildur1 was done with Haxton, Justin Bonomo challenged him. They opened up some $200/$400 heads up tables and after awhile Isildur1 crushed Bonomo.
Eventually Bonomo lost 550,000 dollars to the crazy Swede and Isildur1 is up a bit over 690.000 for the night. Bonomo’s friend had a piece of the action, so his total losses weren’t that big:
ZeeJustin: friend that had a peice backed out, i have to go down to 1/2 if you want to keep playing =(
Isildur1: ok 
sry i am to tired for that
ZeeJustin: up to you
ZeeJustin: ok, gg, gn
Isildur1: gg
…
ZeeJustin: just lost 550k to isildur
Dealer: URnotINdanger2 has timed out
Dealer: Hand #18501147155 has been canceled
ZeeJustin: i suggest you 4 table me now
URnotINdanger2: wow
Isildur1’s bankroll should be now about million dollars and the long waited comeback is happening! Let’s see who the Swede will challenge after he has slept a bit.
Source: Highstakesdb
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Poker News in Brief: Jan. 25-31, 2010
With all that poker news coming from the WPT, EPT and Aussie Millions it was almost inevitable that some stories wouldn’t make it to the front page of PokerListings.com.
Fortunately, as part of our ongoing Poker News in Brief Feature, we’ve compiled a list of smaller stories below.
This week we’ll take a look at Doyle Brunson joining an elite lineup, vietcong01 winning his second Sunday Million, Michael Phelps hitting the felt at Borgata and more.
Brunson Fills Out Premier League Lineup
Doyle Brunson is the final poker player to grab a spot in the elite PartyPoker.com Premier League IV.
“I’m very happy to have the challenge of playing against all these great players,” said Brunson.
Brunson will join Daniel Negreanu, Vanessa Rousso, David Benyamine, Phil Hellmuth, J.C. Tran, Yevgeniy Timoshenko, Roland de Wolfe, Luke Schwartz and Tony G at the Premier League IV.
There are two remaining seats with one of them going to an online qualifier and the other going to the winner of a mini Premier League playoff between Team Party members.
The Premier League IV is set to take place Feb. 12-18 in Las Vegas.
vietcong01 Wins Second PokerStars Sunday Million
Juan Antonio Maceiras Barros, known online as vietcong01, outlasted 8,699 players to win the PokerStars Sunday Million and $255,954 cash last Sunday.
It wasn’t the easiest final table either as Ben “benba” Lamb, who finished 14th in the 2009 WSOP Main Event, was one of the chip leaders heading into the final nine. Lamb finished in sixth place.
Barros, who first won the Sunday Million in 2007, joins Jesper Hougaaard as the only players to ever win multiple Sunday Million titles.
Barros came very close to performing the feat at the final table of a Sunday Million in March, but eventually bombed out in sixth.
Bodog Recruiting Female Pros
Bodog Poker is looking for female players to sponsor in various poker tournaments around the world.
The announcement comes just a couple weeks after the online room did not opt to re-sign Justin Bonomo to its pro team.
The site also let Jean-Robert Bellande walk several months earlier leaving David Williams and Evelyn Ng as the only members of Team Bodog.
Bodog is requesting that all applicants send a recent a photograph and a short biography in an email with the subject: Female Pro Submission.
To learn more check out the Bodog website here.
Phelps Goes to Borgata
Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps made another splash in the poker world this week at the Borgata Winter Open.
Phelps played the double elimination heads-up event and beat noted pros Paul Wasicka and Adam Gerber before being eliminated by Basilios Diakokomninos.
During the Summer Olympics in Beijing, Phelps mentioned one of his favorite hobbies was playing online poker and in 2008 he made the final table of a $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em event at Caesars.
PartyPoker Encourages Players to Hit or Run
PartyPoker started a new promotion this week, which gives players a chance to hit or run.
“Simply collect 20 PartyPoints and we’ll give you $1 to bet on our special Hit or Run heads-up game,” said a PartyPoker spokesperson.
“Win and we’ll double your money. You can then choose to hit for another hand and the chance to double your cash or take the money and run. Lose at any point though and the game is over.”
It’s possible to hit up to 10 times per game making each one worth $1,024. If a player collects enough points they could potentially play 10 games a day, which would give them $10,240.
To learn more or sign up for a PartyPoker account click here.
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Praz Bansi leads PCA Day 2
Bonomo leaving Bodog
Justin Bonomo parts company with Bodog.com
Poker Community Reacts to Justin Bonomo Leaving Bodog
On Saturday, the USA-facing online poker room Bodog officially parted ways with sponsored pro Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo by removing him from its website. Now, the poker community, Bonomo’s agent, and Bodog have had a chance to react.
Bonomo’s agent, Matt Palmer, President and CEO of 11Management, told Poker News Daily, “It is true that Justin and Bodog have parted ways. While Justin will miss playing alongside his fellow Bodog teammates and good friends Evelyn Ng and David Williams, he's ready to move on to bigger and better opportunities. We've begun conversations regarding new sponsorship opportunities and we're excited to work with a poker brand that is better able to leverage Justin's poker success and personality.” Palmer is also the agent for Joe Sebok, who recently signed on to be a member of Team UB.com.
Palmer gave us his take on Bonomo’s 2009 calendar year at the felts: ‘Justin's coming off another excellent year at the tables, including a final table appearance at the World Series of Poker's (WSOP) $40,000 buy-in 40th Anniversary event and a win at the WSOP Circuit event at Caesars. I fully expect Justin to continue his winning ways in 2010.” Bonomo’s fifth place finish in the $40,000 buy-in No Limit Hold’em event commemorating the Series’ 40th running was worth $413,000. In April, he won the Caesars Palace WSOP Circuit Championship, a $5,150 buy-in contest, for $227,000.
Ed Pownall, Global Public Relations Director for BodogBrand.com, explained why the online poker room parted ways with one of its three remaining sponsored pros: “Bodog and Justin Bonomo have agreed that, with the transition of the Bodog-branded poker rooms to the Bodog Network in 2010, now was a natural time to re-evaluate the relationship and have agreed to part ways.” Jean-Robert Bellande, of “Survivor: China” fame, also left Bodog in recent months after his sponsorship agreement was not renewed at the end of October.
Posters on the popular poker forum TwoPlusTwo.com gave their take on what room might be a good fit for Bonomo. TwoPlusTwo member “molinn9” weighed in, “Time for him to move on to pokerstars. would be good pro for them.” Bonomo was traveling to the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in the Bahamas at the time of writing and was unavailable for comment. The $10,300 buy-in Main Event kicks off on Tuesday from the Atlantis Resort and Casino on Paradise Island with the first of two starting days. The tournament will crown a champion on January 11th.
In the meantime, Bodog will center its efforts on growing the newly forged Bodog Network, which has taken a unique approach to rakeback. Pownall discussed the methodology: “The new offering has already caused much debate with its re-working of the rakeback issue and will reward operators bringing depositing players to the table rather than the traditional method of rewarding the winning players. The system unveiled at the EiG in Budapest in September has already seen other networks, including Microgaming and iPoker, publicly follow in a similar vein.” The idea, in turn, is to reward winning players indirectly by feeding them net depositing opponents.
Yesterday, the weekly Bodog $100,000 Guaranteed played out. The site’s hallmark event, which comes with a $162 price tag, drew 509 players, meaning that Bodog kicked in $23,000 after the tournament fell short of its prize pool. In the end, reigning UB.com Aruba Poker Classic Main Event winner Brandon “AreTheseUtz” Hall took down the top prize of $25,000 after defeating Brian “AKbigfish” James heads-up. James pocketed a $15,000 consolation prize and “paulyman” took third for $9,500. The top 63 players finished in the money and the top five earned more than $5,000.
The Bodog Network is expected to take on non-Bodog sites this year.
Tags: 15, 2009, 2010, 5, bodog, Caesars Palace, Caribbean, cent, CEO, China, David Williams, Evelyn Ng, Jean-Robert Bellande, Joe Sebok, Justin Bonomo, king, member, News Daily, Online Poker, online poker room, player, Poker, Poker News Daily, pokerstars, President, Pro, tournament, usa, Winning Player, WSOP
Justin Bonomo lost his sponsor
Looks like Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo has lost his sponsor deal with Bodog. A couple of months earlier Jean-Robert Bellande, known from the “Survivors” reality tv-show, lost his deal with Bodog as well.
Team Bodog has lost half of their sponsored players since November and now there’s only two left: Evelyn Ng and David Williams.
Bonomo’s weak performances are doubtfully the reason for his sponsorship cease as Bonomo has won over $1,2 million from tournaments and he was in the WSOP 2009 $40k NLHE event’s final table.
Bonomo is unfortunately best known when he played some tournaments from multiple accounts. PartyPoker and PokerStars closed Bonomo’s accounts in 2006 and froze up hundreds of thousands of dollars to compensate some losses to other players.
Source: Pokernewsdaily
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Justin Bonomo lost his sponsor
Tags: 2009, 2010, 5, bodog, David Williams, Evelyn Ng, Jean-Robert Bellande, Justin Bonomo, player, Poker, pokerstars, Pro, Team Bodog, tournament, usa, WSOP
Justin Bonomo (ZeeJustin) No Longer a Bodog Poker Pro
Two months after Jean-Robert Bellande lost his status as a sponsored pro of the online poker room Bodog, Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo also appears to be out. Bonomo is no longer listed as a member of Team Bodog on the poker room’s website.
David Williams and Evelyn Ng are the lone survivors of Team Bodog, whose numbers have been cut in half since mid-November. Bonomo owns more than $1.2 million in career earnings from World Series of Poker (WSOP) and Circuit Events and brought Bodog a considerable amount of exposure after final tabling the $40,000 buy-in No Limit Hold’em tournament commemorating the 40th running of the WSOP in 2008. Bonomo claimed fifth place for $413,000 in the event, which aired on ESPN. One month prior, he captured his first Circuit gold ring by winning the Caesars Palace Championship tournament for $227,000, defeating Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi heads-up.
Bonomo appeared on the UB.com-sposored poker news show “Poker2Nite” last week, breaking down a hand from a $5,000 Mixed Hold’em event during the 2008 WSOP. In the segment, dubbed “In the Tank,” Bonomo wore no Bodog logo and, as taped rolled from the event two years ago, the Bodog logo on Bonomo’s white shirt was blurred out. In the end, Bonomo finished as the runner-up to Full Tilt Poker pro Erick Lindgren and banked $230,000.
Bonomo is still listed on Bodog’s website in a Heads-Up TLB Records console. In addition, Bonomo’s Twitter page continues to boast a Bodog logo. Now, Williams and Ng will serve as the face of the USA-friendly online poker room, sports book, and casino. According to the traffic ranking outlet PokerScout.com, Bodog is the 15th largest site or network worldwide with a seven-day running average of 840 real money ring game players. During its peak hours, nearly 1,500 cash game enthusiasts call the site home. Bodog is the fifth largest site to accept players from the United States, trailing PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, the CEREUS Network, and the Cake Poker Network.
During November’s running of the Bodog Poker Open, three sponsored online pros took to the field in the Main Event. They included Smith “nevertilt22” Collins, Jonathan UFPokerStar Westra, and Ari Engel, who ultimately took third in the 257-player tournament for $16,000. A total of 2,646 players showed up for the 11 events that comprised the Bodog Poker Open’s Championship and Contender series, creating a total prize pool of $368,000. The online poker site added another $65,000 to the kitty.
Bonomo’s image was removed from Bodog’s website during the day on Saturday. Williams appeared during a high-stakes home game as part of the G4 online poker reality show “2 Months, $2 Million,” which starred Dani Stern, Jay Rosenkrantz, Emil Patel, and Brian Roberts. Williams lost $50,000 during the game, which took place at the Las Vegas home of the “2 Months, $2 Million” cast and also featured Team PokerStars Pro member Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier and David “Viffer” Peat.
In November, Bellande lost his status as a Bodog pro. Last February, Bellande renewed his sponsorship agreement with the online poker room. However, it was not picked up once it expired, as a Bodog Poker Room Manager told Poker News Daily in November, "Jean-Robert Bellande’s deal with Bodog Poker expired at the end of October and the decision was made not to renew the deal. It has been an absolute pleasure having Jean-Robert as one of Bodog.com’s Poker pros and we wish him all the best."
Ads running on Bodog’s poker website promote betting on the Fiesta Bowl, which pits Texas Christian University (TCU) against Boise State. At the time of writing, TCU sits as an eight point favorite. Wagering is also open on the Orange Bowl, GMAC Bowl, and Thursday’s BCS Championship game.
Tags: 15, 2008, 5, bodog, Caesars Palace, cake poker, David Williams, Erick Lindgren, Evelyn Ng, full tilt poker, game player, Jean-Robert Bellande, Justin Bonomo, king, Las Vegas, manager, member, News Daily, Online Poker, online poker room, online poker site, online pros, player, Poker, Poker News Daily, poker site, pokerstars, Pro, runner, runner-up, Team Bodog, Texas, tournament, United States, usa, vegas, WSOP
On the Rail at the WPT Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic
There was certainly a lot of excitement at Saturday’s fast-paced final table of the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic at the Bellagio in Las Vegas, but there were plenty of interesting stories taking place on the rail as well. The stacked table of six had their respective cheering sections in attendance and big-name pros including Daniel Negreanu, Full Tilt Pro Greg “FBT” Mueller, Bodog’s Justin Bonomo, and the tournament’s namesake, Doyle Brunson, were all in attendance.
Steve “MrTimCaum” O’Dwyer may not have been the most recognizable face to the casual poker fan, but the longtime online pro had one of the largest cheering sections with Darryll “df1986” Fish, Isaac Haxton, Bonomo, UB.com’s Adam “Roothlus” Levy, Bryan “badbeatninja” Devonshire, Scott “gunning4you” Seiver, and Vivek “Psyduck” Rajkumar all rooting him on. This was O’Dwyer’s first career televised final table, so his peers came out in full force to cheer him on.
“Even those he’s had trouble with these big tournaments for the past year, he’s been sticking with it and it’s finally paying off for him. He’s very driven to do well,” Fish explained to Poker News Daily. O’Dwyer informed us that this was only his second World Poker Tour (WPT) cash, with the first one coming in the Bahamas in 2007.
Levy delayed his return home to Los Angeles to stick around and cheer on O’Dwyer. While Levy liked O’Dwyer’s chances, especially if he could get down to shorter-handed play, he predicted early in the final table that Faraz “The-Toilet” Jaka and Daniel Alaei would pose the most trouble to everyone else. “Faraz is obviously good. Alaei is good too. Shawn Buchanan doesn’t have a huge stack, but he’s still in the mix.”
Jaka also had several friends in attendance who showed their support for their notoriously stylish friend by each donning one of his signature hats. For those who may not be familiar with the online poker pro known as “The-Toliet,” Jaka has worn everything from a fedora to a toboggan at the poker table and, last night, sported a dapper vest and newsboy hat combo. One player cheering Jaka on was Brent “Astrolux85” Roberts, who was also in attendance when Jaka made his first WPT final table appearance at the Bellagio Cup back in July.
Poker News Daily asked Roberts if he thought this final table would be more or less interesting than the Bellagio Cup’s. “That last final table was so long,” he said. “There were a lot of exciting components, but hopefully this one will be more interesting; there are a lot of good players at the table.” Roberts also had nothing but kind words about his friend: “[He’s] one of the friendliest people I’ve met in the poker world. He’s a sicko.”
Nguyen was one of the fan favorites at the table and the room cleared out quite a bit after his elimination in fifth place. Buchanan’s rail, which included longtime friend and fellow Canadian Mueller, also made their exit following Buchanan’s elimination. Negreanu arrived to the final table a little later in the action, as did Haralabos Voulgaris and Jeff Madsen. They stuck around for the heads-up match between Alaei and Josh Arieh, as did Alaei’s father, Eddie.
The elder Alaei stuck around for the duration of the final table watching his son in action, but stepped out for a minute during heads-up play. While he was away, Arieh and Alaei got it all-in with the title on the line and he almost missed his son’s moment in the sun. Thankfully, Negreanu apparently tipped him off that a big hand was brewing and Eddie ran back just in time to catch the last of the action.
As Alaei was posing for photos with the winning hand and prize money, Eddie repeatedly thanked Negreanu and told the pro he owed him one. Then, in one of the more heartwarming moments of the evening, father and son posed together for photos and headed out of the ballroom to celebrate Alaei’s first WPT victory.
Tags: 5, aced, Adam, bellagio, bodog, canadian, Daniel Negreanu, Doyle Brunson, Jeff Madsen, Justin Bonomo, king, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, News Daily, oil, Online Poker, player, Poker, Poker News Daily, PPA, Pro, The Sun, tournament, vegas, World Poker Tour
Corwin Cole Leads WPT Festa al Lago After Day 3
Day 4 of the 2009 World Poker Tour (WPT) Festa al Lago will play out on Saturday. Heading into play today, Corwin Cole leads the pack with 996,000 chips, one of two players to own more than 900,000.
Saturday marks the play down day at the Bellagio in Las Vegas, the site of the annual Festa al Lago. A total of 37 players remain entering Day 4, which kicks off at Noon Pacific Time from the storied Las Vegas casino, and in the end, 27 will make the money. Cole has played in four WPT tournaments, but has yet to record a cash, making Saturday an especially important day for the youngster. He told WPT Live Updates Hostess Amanda Leatherman about his ride through play on Friday in the $15,000 buy-in tournament: “I was playing pretty well and I was running really well. I drew a decent table and sucked out on Justin Bonomo in a big pot and busted him. I called with sevens and he had jacks and I spiked a seven on the flop.”
Jonas Entin holds the second largest stack entering the play down day with 985,500. With pocket eights, Entin hit quads early on Day 3 to send Russell Rosenblum packing. Up against kings, Entin watched as an eight hit on the flop and turn, giving him the nuts and the win in the hand. Entin final tabled the $10,000 buy-in World Championship of Pot Limit Omaha during the 2007 World Series of Poker (WSOP) for $69,000. All told, he has $170,000 in career WSOP earnings.
The top 10 on the leaderboard features a trio of brand name pros, Mark Seif, Dutch Boyd, and Chris Ferguson. Seif is a sponsored pro of Absolute Poker and owns two WSOP bracelets. The first came in 2005 by virtue of winning a $1,500 buy-in Limit Hold’em Shootout, while the second occurred seven tournaments later in a $1,500 buy-in No Limit Hold’em event. Seif’s two pieces of hardware were worth a combined $792,000.
Ferguson and Boyd own a combined six bracelets, with the former boasting five of them. Ferguson had a series of double ups on Friday to remain in contention. He doubled through Lee Markholt with A-J against K-Q and then rivered a higher two pair to double up again. Ferguson was among the group of 30 late registrants at the Festa al Lago, which accepted buy-ins through five hours into play on Day 2.
Here are the top 10 chip counts at the Bellagio as play begins on Saturday:
1. Corwin Cole – 996,000
2. Jonas Entin – 985,500
3. Jason Lavallee – 833,500
4. Dee Luong – 771,500
5. Mark Seif – 759,000
6. Jason “JCarver” Somerville – 669,000
7. Dutch Boyd – 616,500
8. Freddy Deeb – 588,000
9. Tommy Vedes – 579,000
10. Chris Ferguson – 535,000
Other notable names that remain include:
15. Brandon Cantu – 414,000
16. Kido Pham – 401,000
18. Cliff “JohnnyBax” Josephy – 385,000
22. Steve Brecher – 360,000
27. Andy Bloch – 320,500
28. Chad “lilholdem954” Batista – 315,000
29. Chau Giang – 293,500
32. Vivek “Psyduck” Rajkumar – 253,000
35. Prahlad Friedman – 188,000
When play wrapped up late Friday night, blinds were 4,000-8,000 with a 500 chip ante. Only one woman survived the five levels of play, Luong, who sits in fourth place. Luong has a pair of cashes on the WPT circuit, but has not finished in the money since 2004. She also has two cashes on WSOP felts, but, likewise, has not made the money in five years.
Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest WPT coverage from Sin City.
Tags: 000 chips, 15, 2009, 5, 500 chip, absolute poker, bellagio, buy-ins, cent, Freddy Deeb, Justin Bonomo, king, Las Vegas, leader, News Daily, Omaha, player, Poker, Poker News Daily, Pro, Steve Brecher, tournament, vegas, woman, World Championship, World Poker Tour, WSOP
Off the Felt with Justin Bonomo
Bodog Poker Open IV Dates Announced
In the world of online poker tournament series, there are a few that are “must play” events for online professionals. The annual PokerStars’ World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) and the quarterly Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS) normally come to mind first, but Bodog has built its own franchise that has done very well, the Bodog Poker Open. Recently, the dates were announced for the fourth version of Bodog’s preeminent online tournament series and some special prizes have been added for the eventual champion.
The Bodog Poker Open IV is scheduled to start on November 1st and will wrap up one week later on November 8th. The weeklong schedule features several tournaments that will test the skills of the players involved in Limit, Pot Limit, and No Limit Texas Hold’em. It also has been split into two divisions that will enable anyone to get into the game.
The Bodog Championship Series features the seven main tournaments that run from a $50 rebuy to the $500 Championship Event. These tournaments should draw the cream of the internet poker world to battle it out on the virtual felt. The second division, called the Bodog Contender Series, features eight tournaments that cost 10% of the buy-ins of the main schedule, but will still be profitable for their eventual champions.
There are other additions that should make the Bodog Poker Open IV a schedule that will be well-attended. Each tournament in the Championship Series has money added to the prize pool, ranging from $2,500 for Event #6 ($150 Limit Hold’em) to the $25,000 that will be added to the Championship Event’s prize pool. In the Contender Series, two tournaments, the $10 No Limit Hold’em event (#1) and the Contender Championship Event, have money added to them.
Each player who wins one of the preliminary tournaments on the Championship Schedule will also earn a seat into the Championship Event along with a chunk of the prize pool. For those playing on the Contender Schedule, the winners of preliminary events will take home a seat into the Championship Series Main Event, while their final tablemates will earn a seat into the Contender Series Main Event. Finally, the eventual champions of both divisions’ Main Events will be featured in CardPlayer Magazine and Bodog’s online outlets, including the “Bodog Beat.”
For those who don’t want to pony up the full buy-in for either the Championship or the Contender Schedule, there are ways to qualify for the tournaments on the cheap through a very extensive satellite schedule. For as little as $0.50, players can work their way into the mix for playing in any of the Bodog Poker Open scheduled events on either side of the ledger. Players can even use Bodog Poker Points to enter into special satellite tournaments that can get them into a tournament for no monetary outlay.
Back on May 3rd, the Bodog Poker Open III wrapped up its Championship Event by crowning “biffsworld” as the victor. “biffsworld” vanquished the 279-player field, which included Bodog poker professionals Jean-Robert Bellande and Justin Bonomo, and took home the $40,283 first prize. “biffsworld” is expected back to defend his title, joining “scarface0928” (Mid-Main Event champion) and “winjack” (Mini-Main Event champion), who also earned titles during the Bodog Poker Open III. With the Bodog Poker Open IV less than two weeks away, the action should be picking up significantly as players attempt to win their way into the weeklong tournament series.
Justin Bonomo - Poker Player Profile
Justin Bonomo, or “ZeeJustin” to the online world, is not just a rising poker-star, but rather one of the brightest and most analytical players the game has ever seen, period. Born September 30, 1985 in Virginia, Justin got his competitive start at the tender age of 9 by thrusting himself headlong into the world of Magic: The Gathering. Magic being a card game which requires a great deal of skill and strategy to be successful, it’s no shock that Bonomo eventually made the transition over to poker.
What does come as a surprise is how immediately accomplished Justin Bonomo became - not so much online, where he flourished like many other young players - but especially in the live arena where younger players hadn’t quite made an impact yet. On February 19, 2005, with only a few live tournaments under his belt, Bonomo finished 4th at the EPT French Open in Deauville, becoming the youngest player to reach a televised final table at 19 years and 5 months. Following his $41K score in France, “ZeeJustin” final tabled three 2006 Five Diamond WPT events for a total of $110K, and then reached his first ever WSOP final table, claiming 5th in the 2007 $2000 No-Limit Hold’em event for $156K. Since then, Justin Bonomo has gone on to more than $300K in cashes, and at just 23 years old, his live poker earnings are now in excess of $2.5 million.
In continuing both his online dominance and remarkable live success, Justin Bonomo has already launched himself into the upper echelon of poker talent, but there’s just an aura about this kid that says he’s destined for even bigger and better things in the not too distant future.
Tags: 15, 5, France, Justin Bonomo, no-limit, player, Poker, poker player, Pro, skill, tournament, WSOP, young player
Justin Bonomo Takes Down Stars Super Tuesday Event!
Vitaly Lunkin Shines in First 2009 WSOP on ESPN Broadcast
The kickoff event of the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) on ESPN played out on Tuesday night, with Russian Vitaly Lunkin taking home $1.9 million from the record $7.7 million prize pool.
Fans of poker on ESPN noticed several stark changes in the 2009 WSOP broadcast compared to years past. 2008 WSOP Main Event Champion Peter Eastgate now appears in the opening credits of the broadcast, which are otherwise the same as last year. The show began by highlighting the 40th running of the WSOP, featuring comments by several pros, including Doyle Brunson, Howard Lederer, Daniel Negreanu, Mike Sexton, Johnny Chan, Chris Ferguson, Annie Duke, Erick Lindgren, Chris Moneymaker, Greg Raymer, Jennifer Harman, Joe Hachem, and Scotty Nguyen. Eastgate’s banner, which hung above the Amazon Room floor at the Rio during the WSOP, was then unveiled.
Jack Link’s Beef Jerky, the presenting sponsor of the 2009 WSOP, received a slew of product placement throughout the show. The foodstuff’s logo appears on the center of the ESPN featured table, on video monitors above it, and in a bevy of graphics during the broadcast. Everest Poker’s name continues to appear in the ring of the table. Commemoration of the 40th WSOP consisted of a series of “40th Annual Memories” vignettes, which honored players who have won three bracelets in one year (Jeffrey Lisandro won a trio in 2009) and Greg Raymer’s deep run in the 2005 Main Event after winning the tournament in 2004.
The hole card camera now bears the presenting sponsor’s name and a Jack Link’s Wild Card Hand of the Day allows viewers at home to see one player’s hand, but not their opponent’s. In one, Raymer held 8-7 of hearts and raised to 250,000 under the gun. Isaac Haxton, whose cards were unknown, asked for a count and then made the call. The flop came 7-7-9 and the action went check-check. The turn came a nine, leading ESPN poker commentator Norman Chad to note, “If Isaac has a small pocket pair or an ace, he’s playing the board.” Haxton checked, Raymer led out for 350,000, and Haxton called. The river was another nine. Haxton checked, Raymer bet 750,000 after seeing his full house counterfeited, and Haxton called, showing A-Q for a chopped pot. On the Wild Card Hand of the Day, Chad noted, “That was fun. We’ve found a whole new way for me to sound stupid.”
For an event featuring a $40,000 buy-in, the average age of the final table was lower than many expected. Six of the nine players were in their 20s, while Raymer, who finished third, was the elder statesman at just 44. Noah Schwartz, who finished eighth, was labeled McLovin during the broadcast due to his striking resemblance to a character in the movie “Superbad.” Lex Veldhuis was cheered on by his girlfriend, Evelyn Ng, as well as Team PokerStars Pro member Maridu Mayrinck and Karina Jett. Raymer’s wife and mother turned out to support him, while Bodog pro Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo’s mother and stepfather rooted him on from the rails.
Two one-hour episodes aired on Tuesday night. The second focused on a prop bet by Bonomo that at least one of 43 poker players who live in Panorama Towers in Las Vegas would win a bracelet during the 2009 WSOP. Bonomo gave 7:1 odds on the bet and watched in agony as heads-up action between Lunkin and Panorama Towers’ own Haxton featured several double-ups by the player on the short stack. Besides Haxton and Bonomo, Panorama Towers residents include David Williams, Ng, Barry Greenstein, Joe Sebok, Antonio Esfandiari, Phil Laak, and Veldhuis.
In one of the most memorable heads-up matches in WSOP history, which left viewers on the edge of their seats, Lunkin finally prevailed and banked $1.9 million. Even Chad was rooting his fellow American along. After one double-up by Haxton with K-10 against Lunkin’s aces, Chad yelled, “Take that, you Commies!” Chants of “Russ-i-a” permeated the Amazon Room following Lunkin’s win and WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack presented the commemorative bracelet to the Russian at the end of the first 2009 WSOP on ESPN broadcast. Here were the final payouts:
1. Vitaly Lunkin - $1,891,012
2. Isaac Haxton - $1,168,566
3. Greg Raymer - $774,927
4. Dani Stern - $548,315
5. Justin Bonomo - $413,166
6. Alec Torelli - $329,730
7. Lex Veldhuis - $277,940
8. Noah Schwartz - $246,834
9. Ted Forrest - $230,317
Other vignettes included Brunson, Adam Schoenfeld, and David Plastik battling in 40th Annual WSOP Trivia during the traditional segment “The Nuts.” Nine questions in three categories were asked, including Main Men, Dynamic Duos, and Famous Firsts. In the end, Schoenfeld prevailed and advanced to the next round.
Poker News Daily has learned that future WSOP episodes will feature sponsored vignettes from PokerStars (called “Straight from the Pros”) and Full Tilt Poker (called “Deal Me In”). Pros from each online poker site will explain why they played a hand a certain way, giving the viewer unique insight. The Wild Card Hand of the Day will also continue to appear in each episode.
Stay tuned for the latest from the 2009 WSOP on Poker News Daily.
Tags: 15, 2008, 2009, 5, Adam, Adam Schoenfeld, Annie Duke, Barry Greenstein, bodog, cent, Daniel Negreanu, David Williams, Doyle Brunson, Erick Lindgren, Evelyn Ng, food, full tilt poker, Greg Raymer, Howard Lederer, Jeffrey Pollack, Jennifer Harman, Joe Hachem, Joe Sebok, Johnny Chan, Justin Bonomo, king, Las Vegas, member, Mike Sexton, News Daily, Online Poker, online poker site, panorama towers, Peter Eastgate, Phil Laak, player, Poker, Poker News Daily, poker player, poker site, pokerstars, Pro, Russia, Scotty Nguyen, tournament, vegas, WSOP
2009 WSOP on ESPN Debuts Tuesday
Tonight marks the return of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) on ESPN. At 8:00pm ET, the network will air the $40,000 buy-in No Limit Hold’em tournament commemorating the 40th running of the WSOP.
A star-studded final table will take to the felts in the event, which was the second on the 2009 WSOP schedule. It attracted 201 entrants and, as has been heavily touted in commercials for the program, generated a $7.7 million prize pool. The final table features some of the top names in live and online poker. Here’s how the chip stacks will look when final table play in Event #2 of the 2009 WSOP kicks off on ESPN this evening:
1. Isaac Haxton - 5,955,000
2. Vitaly Lunkin - 4,565,000
3. Lex Veldhuis - 3,805,000
4. Greg Raymer - 3,345,000
5. Alec Torelli - 2,340,000
6. Justin Bonomo - 1,685,000
7. Dani Stern - 1,300,000
8. Noah Schwartz - 660,000
9. Ted Forrest - 560,000
Lunkin won a $1,500 buy-in No Limit Hold’em event during the 2008 WSOP and banked $628,000, defeating Brett Kimes heads-up. Raymer won the 2004 WSOP Main Event, becoming the third amateur in a row to take down the feature $10,000 buy-in tournament. Torelli, who recently signed with the Cake Poker Network site Doyle’s Room, is fresh off a fourth place showing at the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) Bellagio Cup V for $271,000. Bonomo is a Bodog pro making his third WSOP final table appearance. Forrest owns five bracelets and was famously shut out of the Main Event this year after Day 1D sold out at over 2,800 runners. Finally, Stern will compete as part of G4’s “2 Months, $2 Million,” a poker reality show that debuts on August 16th.
With the all-star cast lined up for the final table of the kickoff WSOP on ESPN event, show producer Jamie Horowitz commented in a conference call last week, “This is the most excited I’ve ever been for a season of the WSOP, not just because we get to kick it off with new events we’ve never done before, but also because we’re doing a record number of hours of [the Main Event] this year.” In fact, ESPN will broadcast 24 hours of the world’s most prestigious poker tournament. The final table will take place on November 10th and air just hours later on the Worldwide Leader in Sports.
Tuesday is once again poker night on ESPN. Here’s the schedule for when you can tune in to catch the action in high-definition. All times are Eastern:
July 28th from 8:00pm to 10:00pm: $40,000 Special Anniversary Tournament
August 4th from 8:00pm to 10:00pm: WSOP Champions Invitational
August 11th from 8:00pm to 10:00pm: Ante Up for Africa Charity Tournament
August 18th to September 22nd from 8:00pm to 10:00pm: WSOP Main Event
September 29th from 8:00pm to 11:00pm: WSOP Main Event
October 6th from 10:00pm to 11:00pm: WSOP Main Event
October 13th to November 3rd from 9:00pm to 11:00pm: WSOP Main Event
November 10th from 9:00pm to 11:30pm: WSOP Main Event Final Table
This year’s November Nine, who comprise the final table of the Main Event, include two brand name pros, Full Tilt Poker’s Phil Ivey and CardPlayer Editor Jeff Shulman. Ivey has already won two bracelets at the 2009 WSOP, while Shulman threatened to throw his piece of hardware in the garbage if he won. Horowitz explained the allure of this year’s group: “It’s long been discussed in the modern era of poker if a pro could win the Main Event. Having Phil Ivey as part of our November Nine has added a new level of interest to poker. There’s an elevated sense of excitement for this season.”
Ivey is ESPN poker commentator Norman Chad’s perennial pick to win the $10,000 buy-in Main Event. He explained to reporters why Ivey has become one of the industry’s staples: “Anytime you’re playing with a pro, there’s going to be a sense of intimidation, but there’s some mystical magical quality about Phil Ivey that actually elevates him above the rest. He has an amazing table presence that’s unequaled in the game.” Chad told Poker News Daily on the Ante Up for Africa red carpet that he expected Ivey to win the charity tournament as well.
We’ll look forward to seeing the $40,000 buy-in No Limit Hold’em tournament commemorating the 40th running of the WSOP unfold tonight on ESPN and ESPN HD.
Tags: 2008, 2009, 5, Africa, bellagio, bodog, cake poker, CardPlayer, cent, charity, Easter, Editor, EUR, full tilt poker, Greg Raymer, Justin Bonomo, king, leader, News Daily, Online Poker, Phil Ivey, player, Poker, Poker News Daily, Pro, producer, runner, tournament, World Poker Tour, WSOP
Poker News in Brief: July 20-26, 2009
But there were plenty of smaller poker stories you may have missed that still deserve some ink.
Fortunately, as part of our weekly Poker News in Brief segment, we've tracked down several underrated poker stories that didn't make the front page but are well worth mentioning.
This week we've got a well-known poker player heading into space, more fallout from National Poker week and an online tournament player winning, well, an online tournament.
Online poker debate on CNBC
Yet more mainstream media coverage of the ongoing battle to legalize online poker.
This clip appeared on CNBC and it features John Pappas of the PPA facing off against Les Bernal of Stop Predatory Gambling in a Head 2 Head segment.
Pappas made a fairly succinct argument for regulating online poker while Bernal appeared woefully misinformed about how online poker rooms generate revenue. Score one for online poker.
Number crunch from National Poker Week
Dan Michalski has an interesting post over at Pokerati about some of the numbers that have come out of National Poker Week.
Perhaps the most important number is the 150,000 poker-related letters to members of Congress in July. Pokerati also reported that over 40 lobbyists were engaged with the National Poker Week initiative.
Although poker obviously had a strong presence in Washington this week we've yet to hear much back in terms of getting online poker legalized and regulated.
ESPN to launch online-only poker show
Wicked Chops Poker has a story about ESPN producing a 30 minute online-only poker show.
The show, rumored to be appearing within the next few weeks, has yet to name a host but one has to wonder if current poker commentators Norman Chad or Lon McEachern will be involved.
Guy Laliberte blasts off
In a story that is somewhat related to poker, well-known high stakes poker player Guy Laliberte is getting ready for his trip into space.
Laliberte, who is more famous for starting Cirque du Soleil and being one of the richest men in the world, is scheduled to launch into space on Sept. 30 according to Cnet.
It is believed that Laliberte is spending more than $35 million to become one of the first civilians to make his way into space. We're betting that Tom Dwan, Phil Ivey and Patrik Antonius have a better idea for how Laliberte could have spent $35 million.
Apparently Laliberte is planning on teaching his crewmates on the space shuttle a few card tricks. No word as to whether that includes poker.
Justin Bonomo can still kill online
Although in recent years Justin "ZeeJustin" Bonomo has started to make a name for himself in live tournaments, he can still take down a big online tournament when he feels like it.
On Tuesday Bonomo outlasted 388 entrants to take down the $1,050 Super Tuesday event on PokerStars. Bonomo bested Mumtum23 in heads-up play to take down a cool $75,855.
It was particularly impressive considering Bonomo's three-year ban from PokerStars for multi-accounting had just been lifted. PokerStars players would do well to avoid ZeeJustin in future tournaments.
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Justin Bonomo Wins PokerStars Super Tuesday
Justin Bonomo Scores Win in PokerStars Super Tuesday
WPT Bellagio Cup V Attracts 268 Players
The second of two starting days are in the books at the World Poker Tour (WPT) Bellagio Cup V. When the smoke cleared, 268 players turned out to the storied Las Vegas casino, down sharply from the 446 that entered last year.
A total of 79 players turned out for Day 1A of the Bellagio Cup on Monday, the kickoff U.S. tournament of Season VIII of the WPT. On Tuesday, 189 runners turned out, boosting the field to 268. As a result, the $15,000 buy-in event will pay out $1.1 million to its victor from a prize pool of $3.9 million. Only a handful of players were sent packing on Day 1B, as entrants utilized their starting stacks of 60,000 wisely. One of the day’s final eliminations was 2008 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Europe Main Event Champion John Juanda, who called for his tournament life with A-X on a board of A-A-Q-4-K. He remarked to his opponent, “I think you have me beat, but I want to play the side games anyway.” Sure enough, his foe flipped up pocket queens for a boat and Juanda was sent packing.
Jamie Rosen was the executioner of Doyle Brunson on Day 1B of the Bellagio Cup. Brunson pushed over the top of a re-raise by Matt “mattg1983” Graham and Rosen, who was also in the pot, made the call. Brunson turned over pocket jacks, only to see Rosen reveal pocket kings. The better hand held and Rosen’s chip stack ballooned to 150,000. He ended the day as the 14th largest total at the Bellagio with 153,000. The entire field is looking up at Alec “traheho” Torelli, the Day 1A chip leader who built a stack of 308,000.
Owen “ocrowe” Crowe, who is fresh off a 79th place effort in the WSOP Main Event down the road at the Rio, doubled up the dangerous Eli Elezra late in the day. Elezra flopped a straight holding Q-10, which held up. Elezra ended play with the 170th largest stack in the field at 38,000, while Crowe owns the 109th largest tally at 62,000. Nenad Medic also doubled up an opponent late on Tuesday. With the board reading K-Q-4-A, Medic called an opponent’s all-in holding K-Q for two pair. However, his opponent flipped up A-K for a better two pair. The river was a 10 and Medic’s chip stack took a sizable hit. Nevertheless, the Waterloo product holds the 119th largest stack out of 218 survivors at 59,000.
Last year, three starting days were held in the Bellagio Cup. According to WPT officials, only two will be held this year. Now, the action resumes at Noon Pacific Time on Wednesday for Day 2. The final table will take place on Sunday in front of Fox Sports Net television cameras and airs in high-definition as part of the eighth season of the WPT. Here are the Top 10 stacks entering play this afternoon:
1. Alec Torelli - 308,675
2. Vijayan Nagarajan - 257,775
3. Cornel Andrew Cimpan - 256,375
4. Matt Graham - 195,150
5. Michael Mizrachi - 182,700
6. Ray Taylor - 181,800
7. Jeremiah Vinsant - 179,450
8. Pavel Reshetov - 178,225
9. Justin Bonomo - 175,675
10. Joshua Schlein - 172,725
Other notables in the Top 25 include Adam Geyer (12th with 157,000), Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier (18th with 139,000), Prahlad Friedman (20th with 138,000), David “Devilfish” Ulliott (22nd with 137,000), and Hoyt Corkins (23rd with 133,000). Twenty-seven places will pay out, with the members of the televised final table being rewarded as follows:
1st Place: $1,187,670
2nd Place: $774,780
3rd Place: $464,870
4th Place: $271,165
5th Place: $203,385
6th Place: $164,640
Fireworks will be flying at Table 47 on Wednesday, which features 11-time WSOP bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth. Joining him will be fellow Ultimate Bet pro Graham, Amonon Filippi, Erik Seidel, and cash game aficionado Chau Giang. Hellmuth can be found in Seat 8, sandwiched between Giang and Jeremy Rafalowicz.
Tags: 15, 2008, 5, Adam, bellagio, Dang, Doyle Brunson, Eli Elezra, Erik Seidel, EUR, Europe, Hoyt Corkins, Justin Bonomo, king, Las Vegas, leader, Matt Graham, member, Phil Hellmuth, player, Poker, Pro, queen, runner, tournament, vegas, World Poker Tour, WSOP
Harrah’s releases 2009-2010 WSOP Circuit schedule
In addition, Harrah's has introduced a new stop at Harrah's St. Louis to be held in April, 2010.
All told, eleven casinos will play host to WSOPC events, with buy-ins ranging from $200 to $5,000.
"World Series of Poker Circuit events are a great way to gain live tournament experience, get a feel for what the World Series of Poker is all about and have a lot of fun," said WSOP commissioner Jeffrey Pollack.
The Circuit features No Limit Hold'em, Pot Limit Omaha, Ladies' and Turbo events to complement its $5,000 NLHE main events.
Each tournament winner is awarded a gold World Series of Poker Circuit ring.
In the 2008-2009 season, main event champions included Steve Billirakis (Horseshoe Hammond), Michael Binger (Lake Tahoe) and Justin Bonomo (Las Vegas).
The full schedule is as follows:
| October 16 - October 25, 2009 | Horseshoe Hammond (Chicago area) |
| October 23 - November 2, 2009 | Horseshoe Southern Indiana (Louisville area) |
| November 5 - November 15, 2009 | Harveys Lake Tahoe |
| December 4 - December 20, 2009 | Harrah's Atlantic City |
| January 20 - February 11, 2010 | Harrah's Tunica |
| February 18 - March 2, 2010 | Horseshoe Council Bluffs |
| March 3 - March 14, 2010 | Caesars Atlantic City |
| March 18 - March 31, 2010 | Harrah's Rincon (San Diego area) |
| April 1 - April 14, 2010 | Harrah's St. Louis |
| April 14 - April 30, 2010 | Caesars Palace |
| May 7 - May 19, 2010 | Harrah's New Orleans |
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Tags: 15, 2008, 2009, 2010, 5, buy-ins, Caesars Palace, Jeffrey Pollack, Justin Bonomo, ladies, Las Vegas, Michael Binger, New Orleans, Omaha, Poker, Pro, San Diego, St. Louis, tournament, vegas, WSOP