Poker News

Chan Still Among Leaders After Day 3 of WSOP Main Event

The cash is drawing nearer as the eliminations pick up and the celebrations become more intense. Only 747 will emerge with a payday and that bubble is expected to burst tomorrow.

Some of the players who had their Main Event dreams dashed today include former champs Joe Cada and Chris Moneymaker. Also sent to the rail were Kara Scott, David "Devilfish" Ulliott, Jen Harman, Daniel Negreanu, Vanessa Rousso, David Williams and Erik Seidel.

Surprisingly, all four of the Mizrachi brothers are still alive and The Grinder is the only person who can run down Frank Kassela for WSOP Player of the Year. He has to win in order to secure that feat.

Some of the other big names remaining include Jason Mercier, John Robert Bellande, Johnny Lodden, Barry Greenstein, Eric Baldwin, Sammy Farha, David Grey and Patrik Antonius.

Johnny Chan once again ended the day among the chip leaders. Chan said he was happy and tired as he bagged up his chips to end the day.

"I'm glad we're changing tables because the player to the left of me was probably the only one to win a lot of chips off of me," Chan said.

When asked to compare the 2010 competition to the fields he defeated back in 1987 and 1988, Chan chuckled. "Let's just say this; the players are a lot better nowadays."

Chan is confident that he can win a third Main Event title and record 11th bracelet. "I absolutely think I can win, otherwise I wouldn't be here," he said. "All those chips help give me confidence too."

Chan finished with 636k and found himself 9th on the leader board heading into day 4.

Tomorrow's action will once again start at noon in the Amazon Room and promises to be one of the most exciting and intense days on the entire WSOP calendar. As always, keep checking in here at PokerListings for all the latest news and live updates.

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World Poker Tour Brings Back Kimberly Lansing for Season 9

In an overhaul of sorts for Season 9, the World Poker Tour (WPT) has brought back Kimberly Lansing. Her role, you ask? According to a press statement released on Saturday, Lansing will “provide show opens, breaks, commentary, and perspective, including player interviews that will serve to bring out the human interest side of playing for high stakes.”

Sunday marks the first day of play in the Bellagio Cup VI, the kickoff U.S.-based event of Season 9 of the WPT. With buy-ins for several upcoming tournaments slashed to encourage more participation, Season 9 may mark a rebirth of sorts for the age-old series that first appeared on the Travel Channel back in 2003.

Lansing last appeared on WPT programming in Season 6. On why she will rejoin the tour’s ranks for the forthcoming cycle, WPT President Adam Pliska commented in the same press release, “We believe the WPT anchor represents a significant step forward in poker programming and Kimberly is a natural fit for the position. Her charisma, style, professionalism, and knowledge of the sport have earned her the respect and attention of players throughout the poker community.”

Party Gaming purchased the WPT late last year, leading some to believe that PartyPoker pro Kara Scott may make her way to the small screen. However, Lansing will become a mainstay at live tournaments located at casinos around the United States. Also receiving more exposure during Season 9 will be WPT hosts Mike Sexton and Vince Van Patten, who will now attend the starting day of every U.S. event. Despite the Bellagio Cup starting on Sunday, Van Patten sits in 101st after Day 2A of the World Series of Poker Main Event holding a stack of 174,200.

The WPT held a press conference on Saturday morning to announce the changes for Season 9 and also officially introduced Matt Savage as its Executive Tour Director. Savage, a co-founder of the Tournament Directors of America, will work hand in hand with players, casinos, and tournament staff to provide a seamless experience for WPT players. Savage added, “There are so many exciting changes at the World Poker Tour and I’m looking forward to having a big role in the WPT’s continued success. This is an amazing team and I’m proud to be working with them.”

Also debuting during Season 9 will be the Royal Flush Girls, who include 2007 Miss Kentucky USA Michelle Banzer, “FHM Singapore” cover girl Sunisa Kim, and Formula Drift car builder Melyssa Grace. All told, six Royal Flush Girls will film vignettes for WPT programming, including a behind-the-scenes tour at the host venue. The Royal Flush Girls will be on-hand this weekend at the Bellagio on the Las Vegas Strip.

The WPT last held an event on U.S. soil in April, when newly signed PokerStars pro David Williams took down the $25,000 Championship event. Williams defeated UB.com pro Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin heads-up in a final table that also included Shawn Buchanan, David Benyamine, Billy Baxter, and John O’Shea. Attendance for the 2010 WPT Championship was down over 40% from 2009, when 338 players took to the felts in a tournament won by Yevgeniy “Jovial Gent” Timoshenko.

The seventh and eighth seasons of the WPT appeared on Fox Sports Net. However, no official announcement has been given as to whether the ninth season will also air on the cable station, although a statement is expected in the near future. Seasons 1 through 5 of the WPT aired on the Travel Channel, followed by a brief hiatus to GSN for Season 6. GSN officials opted not to air Season 7, leading to WPT landing on Fox Sports Net.

Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest WPT news.

Independence Day Weekend In Las Vegas From Poker In Twitter

Whether it was for the various parties going on, the fireworks or the start of the World Series of Poker Championship Event on Monday, the Independence Day weekend brought all the pros to Las Vegas. The Twitterverse was abuzz with their activities as they worked towards the biggest day of the poker year.

One of the big events over the weekend was the Doyle’s Room party held at the Blush nightclub. UB.com’s Bryan Devonshire had an adventure prior to arriving at the Blush bash, tweeting, “Last night on my way to Doyle’s party I set my phone in a margarita. It doesn’t work anymore.” The Brunson family turned out to be great hosts for the party as Pamela Brunson chirped Sunday morning, “Got in @ 6am from Doyle’s room Blush party and after party @Surrender. I don’t remember WHY I used to enjoy doing that! I’m POOPED!” Even Doyle was stung by the party atmosphere when he recounted his night:  “I’m trying to recover from the Doyle’s Room party at Blush. I’m not going to drink anymore except for an occasional beer until New Years Eve!”

The Fourth of July celebrations saw many of the players hitting various spots around Sin City. “Happy Fourth of July,” Justin “BoostedJ” Smith tweeted on Sunday. “Steak dinner at aria then going to club bank at Bellagio. Should be awesome night…Vegas is packed for the weekend!” Allen Kessler seemingly made a tour of the city when he Tweeted his schedule for the day:  “3 parties tonite. First @fkassela bbq, then @twoplustwoforum forum party at aria, now at bluff party at sapphire.”

Some went for a more low-key Independence Day celebration. Tiffany Michelle included a Twitpic of her activities, adding, “What better way to spend the 4th than in the pool with your girlfriends?” Lacey Jones was reflective when she tweeted her thoughts to her followers, “If there is anything I love w my whole heart it’s our Troops. Thank you to all the men & women who have served our country proud. Happy 4th!” Finally, Kara Scott missed some of the action when she tweeted, “Watching fireworks in a cab. Can juuuuust about see through the gaps in the buildings as we drive past.”

For some over the Independence Day weekend, poker took center stage over the parties and fireworks. The “Ante Up For Africa” charity poker tournament at the WSOP had many on Twitter talking, including eventual champion Phil Gordon. “129,000 in prize money going to a worthy cause,” Phil tweeted after his win and his donation of the first place bounty. “That and a big hug from runner up Shannon Elizabeth made this a great day!” For her part, Shannon Elizabeth was pleased with her performance when she chirped, “So happy! I just got 2nd in Ante Up For Africa! I had lots of lucky hands today-& was so fun!” Annie Duke issued her heartfelt thanks to those who participated when she tweeted, “Great day for @Anteupforafrica. Raised nearly $300K. Thank you so much to everyone who played.”

In one of the more comical exchanges following Gordon’s win in the charity event, fellow Full Tilt Poker members Rafe Furst and Andy Bloch took turns razzing Gordon. After Furst offered his congratulations (“Congrats @PhilNoLimits in your first WSOP tournament win at Ante Up for Africa!”), Bloch jabbed at Gordon’s WSOP record by tweeting, “Does it count as a bracelet?” Furst stuck the knife in a bit deeper when he replied, “I think we should make him an honorary one.”

The WSOP Tournament of Champions wrapped up play on Sunday night and the Twitterscape was buzzing with activity. “Gave it my best in the TOC,” Duke tweeted upon finishing ninth. “Short stacked all day and got my money in as good as I could hope for. Thanks @WSOP for the freeroll.” Jennifer Harman was playful with her exit Tweet, saying, “I’m out 7th. The last hour I feel like I played like a goof ball. Next tourney Main Event.” Daniel Negreanu enjoyed his stay at the TOC final table, although he reported, “Just busted to Hachem. AA vs 55 flop came 652. Oh well, it was a fun tournament but in the end my cards ran out of gas.”

Once Huck Seed and Howard Lederer reached heads up play, Duke began to pay more attention to the play. Although she tried to stick with the action (“Still rooting @HowardHLederer on in TOC. No sleep till he wins!”), Duke eventually gave up, tweeting, “I’m giving up. I need to sleep. Hoping I wake up to find that @HowardHLederer won the TOC. If not Huck is a great back up! Go Bub and Huck!”

Lederer was quite prolific with his tweets as he reported the action. “Just got head up with Huck,” tweeted Howard. “I have 468 to his 342. Given his HU record, I feel like a small dog.” Howard did well for himself, forcing the action for almost two hours before busting out in second place. “Disappointed,” Lederer tweeted at the conclusion. “Huck played great and deserved to win. Thanks much to Harrah’s for the freeroll and the voters for opportunity.”

One of the things that was going on outside of the tables was players noticing the structure of this year’s Championship Event. Andy Bloch was on the case when he chirped, “Warning: when choosing main event starting day, day 1b plays on 2b and day 1c plays on 2a. WSOP has done an appalling job getting word out.” After reviewing the structure of play for the early part of the Main Event, Bloch noted, “Just looked at the main event structure sheet. Playing only 4 levels days 1-5 with a 90 minute dinner break after level 2? Seriously? To the people who decided to have dinner breaks at 4:20: what were you smoking?”

This launched further discussion from Allen Kessler and Pamela Brunson. “Wow I just found out day1a main event players can be in the event 10 days and still not cash,” Kessler tweeted. “Only playing 4 levels/day should be looked at.” Brunson thanked Bloch for his warning, tweeting, “Wow…..that’s stupid! Thanks for tweeting to let us know. I need to recheck my appointments!”

On the lighter side of poker in Twitter, it seems that Joe Reitman might need to start wearing a name tag around the Rio. “Guy on a rascal said ‘Jeff can u sign my hat?,” Reitman tweeted after once again being confused with Jeff Shulman. “Had to tell him ‘I’m not Jeff.’ He was disappointed. Could have lied. But he was on a rascal.” The always endearing Vicky Coren noted upon her arrival in Las Vegas, “Passing the blackjack area, I’d know I was in Vegas with my eyes shut. ‘Please translate for Mr. Wong: the cards must STAY ON THE TABLE.’” Finally, Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin reminisced about his Fourth of July memories:  “Next year I want lawn chairs, coolers, and fireworks in the front yard. Some of my best memories are running around trees with sparklers.”

Home Stretch - Day 35 WSOP Recap

We saw a slew of poker's greats surround the halls of the Rio Pavilion, with both the $25k Six-Handed No-Limit Championship and $10k PLO Championships in play.

The $1.5k Limit Shootout also played down to the final table and the final eight are set to play for the bracelet tomorrow.

Here's a look around Day 35 at the WSOP:

Event 51 - $3k Triple Chance

The heads-up finale came down to two online wizards battling it out for a bracelet in a big-time live poker event.

Ryan Welch defeated fellow online pro Jon Eaton to take down the bracelet and first-place cash of $559,371.

The win gives Welch the first WSOP bracelet of his career to add to his numerous big online scores.

Other notable money finishers included Will "The Thrill" Failla (fourth), Tommy Vedes (seventh) and James Akenhead (17th).

Event 52 - $25k No-Limit Hold'em Six-Max

As expected, the WSOP's newest high buy-in event is playing out as a showcase for poker's best and wealthiest.

Daniel Negreanu, Carlos Mortensen, Heather Sue Mercer, Eugene Katchalov, Justin Bonomo and Bryn Kenney are among the 18 players still in contention heading into Day 3.

John Juanda was the unfortunate bubble boy, busting in 19th place. Juanda's elimination may have lasting implications for the WSOP Player of the Year race as Frank Kassela survived in this event and will get at least five POY points tomorrow.

Play resumes at 3 p.m. Friday. It's a four-day event and the final table is scheduled for Saturday. First place will pay out an epic $1.3 million.

Event 53 - $1.5k Limit Shootout

The final eight is set for this Limit Shootout event, which comes back at 2:30 p.m. Friday to determine a champion.

Canada's Terrence Chan is in the mix as is Jonathan "FieryJustice" Little as the players vie for the first-place prize of $184,950.

Notable cash finishers busted out on Day 2 included Theo Tran and Marcel Luske.

Event 54 - $1k No-Limit Hold'em

A huge turnout filled the Pavilion Room, as 2,340 players came out for Day 1A.

There were a few familiar faces amongst the mass chaos, as Allen "Chainsaw" Kessler, Liv Boeree, Shannon Shorr and Kara Scott all made it through to Day 2.

Day 1b of this event commences at noon Friday.

Event 55 - $10k Pot-Limit Omaha Championship

The final $10k event before the Main Event, the $10k PLO World Championship began Thursday with 346 players.

The roster of players in the field reads like a poker who's who, with David Benyamine, Greg Raymer, Chris "Jesus" Ferguson and Men "The Master" Nguyen all still in the game.

None other than Tom "durrrr" Dwan is also among the chip leaders along with former November Niner James Akenhead and Annette Obrestad.

Day 2 resumes at 3 p.m. Friday.

To view how the day played out in more detail as well as see blogs, news and videos from the Series, click through to PokerListings WSOP 2010 coverage.

WSOP Live!

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The Poker Show returns this week

The Poker Show with Jesse May is back on air this week with a new sponsor and raft of guests and promotions. The bi-weekly shows are made in association with the PartyPoker Blog and will air every Wednesday and Sunday starting from tomorrow with Kara Scott and Mike Sexton the opening interviewees.

WSOP Tournament of Champions Begins from Poker in Twitter

Gavin Smith‘s first World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet over the weekend nearly melted down the Twitterverse. After Smith made his breakthrough victory in the $2,500 Mixed Hold’em event on Saturday, congratulations flooded in for the popular Canadian. UB.com pro Joe Sebok was excited over Smith’s first WSOP bracelet win, Tweeting, “Congratulations @olegsmith. Love you friend. You worked hard for this and you deserve it. Happy to share this moment with you, bud.”

The accolades continued to come in for Smith throughout the day on Sunday. “Congrats on the bracelet @OleGSmith!,” Tweeted “Hollywood” Dave Stann. “Awesome to see one of the good guys come out on top – you rock, dude!” PokerStars pro Daniel Negreanu had an ulterior motive with Smith’s win, but was thrilled nonetheless: “Congrats @olegsmith you brought it home! That win helped me beat Matusow for 10k woot.”

The revived WSOP Tournament of Champions was also a hot topic over the weekend. “Good luck to the wonderful Mike Sexton in the TOC today, a great ambassador for the game and a champion!,” PartyPoker pro Kara Scott tweeted as the 27-player tournament began. John Juanda, one of the players voted in by fans, Tweeted his starting table to his followers: “Seed, Ivey, Harman, Cada, Seidel, Ferguson, me, Chan, Barton. Wish me luck, guys! I’ll need it!”

Apparently the poker gods weren’t listening to Juanda because, not even one hour later, he reported his demise: “Just like that, I’m out of TOC. Tried to get Harman to lay down 2nd set and it didn’t work!” Others did much better and will move on to Day 2 of the TOC, including Erik Seidel (“Day over TOC. I finished w 72k.”), Howard Lederer (“Finished day 1 of WSOP TOC with 25,800. Slow day, no cards, deep stacks. Tomorrow the action should pick up.”) and Barry Greenstein (“End of today’s session. I didn’t play too well toward the end. 22 left. Average is 37k. I have 57k.”)

A considerable amount of attention was paid to the $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo event on Sunday night. Once the action in the event became heads-up, it featured two of the most respected players in the game, Dan Shak and Chris Bell. “Dan Shak and Chris Bell now heads-up for the bracelet,” Annie Duke chirped from tableside. “Freeroll on who wins. Both of them are deserving and great guys.”

Notable pros lined up to cheer on their horse. Noted tournament reporter B.J. Nemeth caught one particularly interesting exchange when he Tweeted, “Chris Bell to the TD: ‘This isn’t fair. Dan has Shannon Elizabeth rooting for him, and I’m stuck with Gavin Smith.’” After Bell was able to defeat Shak for the bracelet, Smith Tweeted his feelings: “Chris Bell, one of my closest friends just won his first bracelet, I think I am as happy now as I was last night!

For the best Tweets of the Week, we’ll start with Negreanu. While playing in the Mixed Game tournament at the WSOP, Negreanu posed the question, “Weird question was raised: what are the odds that at an 8 handed stud table, all 8 players are rolled up?” Leave it to the author of “The Mathematics of Poker” and double bracelet winner Bill Chen to know the answer, as Negreanu Tweeted, “Bill Chen just told me it’s 1 followed by about 20 zeros.”

Finally, the World Cup has drawn the attention of poker players. “Up early to sweat soccer,” Shannon Shorr Tweeted. “Need Germany to upset England as my only other team, Slovakia, is drawing dead against Holland tomorrow.” Scott Huff commented on the shoddy officiating when he chirped, “If I was from Mexico I’d be livid right now. As it is, I’m curious why FIFA even bothers having a rule book.” Perhaps it wasn’t the World Cup, but Full Tilt‘s Ali Nejad stepped up to play soccer rather than watch it: “Played rooftop soccer all day @nikemontalban. Or based on the way my body feels… rooftop soccer played me.”

Brian Townsend leads WSOP $10k H.O.R.S.E

The original field of 241 runners in the $10k HORSE World Championship event has been whittled down to just 23 with Mr Kara Scott leading the way.

Madhouse: WSOP Day 20 Recap

The big-name pros were left wanting as William Haydon, David Warga and Jeff Tebben all snagged WSOP bracelets.

In addition Event 31 $1,500 H.O.R.S.E. and Event 30 $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em kicked off to really pack the Pavilion Room with players.

Here's a look at what went down on Wednesday:

Event 26 - $2,500 No-Limit Hold'em 6-Max

A total of 15 players entered the final day of Event 26 but it took more than 12 hours to find a winner.

Noted pro Erik Cajelais was eliminated in the early stages while Justin "BoostedJ" Smith busted just one player away from the final table of six.

In the end relatively unknown Californian William Haydon won the tournament and scored a massive $630,000 pay day.

Event 24 - $1k No-Limit Hold-em

After four grueling days of poker, event 24, a $1,000 No-Limit event, ended today. The small buy in brought in a massive field of 3,289 players but only one was lucky enough to grind his way through the field to be crowned the winner.

Jeff Tebben defeated JD McNamara heads up in a match that took about an hour from start to finish but that appeared to be the easy part. At one point during the final table, Tebben found himself in last place with hardly any chips. A bit of luck with some skill sprinkled on top turned everything around and ended up with Tebben taking home the bracelet as well as $503,389.

Event 27 - $1,500 Seven-Card Stud Hi-Lo

Day 3 of the $1,500 Seven-Card Stud Hi-Lo event started with 23 players and had the potentially to be a very, very long final table.

Instead David Warga outlasted everyone in 11 hours of play. Warga beat noted players like David Levi and Karina Jett to win his second WSOP bracelet for $208,682.

If the name Warga sounds familiar that's because he won the Casino Employees Event in 2002.

Event 30 - $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em

$1,500 No-Limit Hold'em events are always popular at the WSOP and Event 30 was no exception.

A total of 2,394 players bought into Day 1 of the tournament including big name pros like Phil Hellmuth, Jennifer Tilly, Kara Scott, Joe Sebok and John Juanda all looking to build a huge stack.

Unfortunately they were all amongst the 2,106 players who busted on Day 1.

PokerListings blogger Matt Stout finished as one of the chip leaders with nearly 74,000 chips. Carlos Mortensen, Neil Channing and Darryl Fish were also among the chip leaders.

The money bubble will certainly burst tomorrow as the top 243 players will get paid. The goal is to go all the way to a final table of nine.

Action resumes at 2:30 p.m. tomorrow.

Event 28 - $2,500 Pot-Limit Omaha

Day 2 of the $2,500 Pot-Limit Omaha saw 102 runners play down to just 12.

Michael Binger, T.J. Cloutier, John Shipley, Sandra Naujoks and Chau Giang were amongst the players to fall on Day 2.

The final day of Event 28 will play out with a relatively unknown group although Joe Serock, Tommy Le and Michael Greco are short-stacked.

Day 3 will kick off at 3 p.m. on Thursday.

Event 29 - $10,000 Limit Hold'em Championship

The $10,000 Limit Hold'em Championship went late into the night as the players trudged their way through day 2.

The story in this event is more about who isn't going to be here tomorrow than who is. Early on there were high expectations from players such as Phil Ivey, Jennifer Harman, Doyle Brunson, Eli Elezra, and several others. In the end, none of them would survive to make day three.

Instead it's $50,000 HORSE Event winner Mike "The Grinder" Mizrachi that the handicappers have their eyes on with 250,000 chips.  A few other notables making into day three are: David Baker, Brock Parker, David Chiu.

Action will recommence at 3 p.m. on Thursday.

Event 31 - $1,500 H.O.R.S.E.

Event 31, the $1,500 H.O.R.S.E. tournament kicked off today and drew 828 players.

"This is the softest H.O.R.S.E. event I've ever seen in my life. It's ridiculous!" Greg Mueller was overheard saying. He may be right as it's clearly one of the biggest HORSE tournaments the WSOP has ever seen.

A sea of unknowns speckled with familiar faces flooded the Amazon Room at 5pm. By the 3am quitting time, only about 270 players were left standing; an impressive number of bustouts to say the least.

Ming Reslock's 50,000 chips are good for the lead. She's followed closely by Jesse Rios and James Van Alstyne.

Play resumes tomorrow at 3pm.

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

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Poker in Twitter: American Idol Finale, NBA Playoffs, and the WSOP Starts

While the start of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) has been on the minds of many of poker’s elite on Twitter, there were other matters that took center stage in the hours preceding the start of the event today. In many cases, it was television that occupied the Tweets of poker players.

The finale of the ninth season of “American Idol” was a subject of discussion for a few of the players on their Twitter accounts. “Seems like every year on Idol I like the runner up better than the actual winner,” tweeted Daniel Negreanu on Wednesday night following the broadcast, which crowned Lee DeWyze champion over presumed favorite Crystal Bowersox. “This year was no different. Finale meant nothing I guess.”

Jeff Madsen had another look at it when he Tweeted, “Really liked seeing Lee DeWyze win American Idol. From what I saw on the show, it was a great story and just inspirational.” Another poker pro who agreed with Madsen was Jennifer Harman, who chirped, “I’m happy Lee won. He was my favorite. Crystal was great too. I really hope she also becomes a big star! Great finale. Congrats.”

Other than the finale of “Idol,” the NBA playoffs were something that many in the poker community had their eyes on. With the Western Conference finals squared at 2-2 between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Phoenix Suns, allegiances emerged from the Twitterverse. “LAL scored nearly every time with Kobe attacking from the L wing, no idea why they have him on the Right side now,” observed Haralabos Voulgaris while watching the battle last night. After a stunning, last second shot by Ron Artest saved the game for the Lakers, many others piped up with their thoughts.

“Sickening,” was the Tweet from Joe Sebok. “Second game this postseason the Lakers have won because somebody didn’t box out.” “Poker After Dark” host Ali Nejad was almost as dispirited as Sebok when he chimed in, “What a joke. Kobe airballs and RonRon stumbles onto heroics. Friggin luck-sacks.” UB.com pro Adam “Roothlus” Levy described the elation of many people around him when he Tweeted, “Watched the Lakers game at Panorama and, when Artest made the game winner, I heard multiple screams from different apartments lol.”

With all the television out of the way, players are beginning to descend on Las Vegas for the start of the WSOP. “Like an annual pilgrimage to the Mecca of poker, all roads lead back to Rio. Ready to do the damn thing, people,” Tweeted “Hollywood” Dave Stann as he made his way to Vegas late last night. “Hello Vegas,” Sebok tweeted about the same time. “Time to settle in for the WSOP summer. be gentle. be kind. for real. 1 bracelet would be nice. just think about it.”

Others took the time to venture to the Pavilion at the Rio, where much of the first day action will take place, and were amazed at the new venue. “Pavilion makes Amazon Room look like a closet,” Maria “Maridu” Mayrinck re-Tweeted about the size of the playing arena. Full Tilt Poker’s Andy Bloch took a Twitpic of the room, pointing out, “The tournament room at the Rio is taking shape, with dozens of international flags.” Kara Scott made her arrival at the Rio and stated in a Tweet, “At the Rio and WSOP staff are being super helpful and friendly. Bracing themselves for craziness tomorrow!”

Many of poker’s best revealed their schedules for the WSOP and some chirped about the $50,000 Players’ Championship, which begins later today. “I’m playing in probably 15 events at the WSOP,” poker’s Grand Old Man, Doyle Brunson, Tweeted. “I don’t know if I’m happy or sad it’s starting tomorrow. Tough grind!” Kathy Liebert was looking towards the end of the WSOP when she chirped, “Signed up for Day 1a at WSOP. Going to be a mad house.”

A satellite for the $50,000 Players’ Championship played out yesterday and the results were varied. “No luck in the satellite,” Tweeted Gavin Smith. “Oh well may be able to sell enough, if not, I start the assault on Saturday!”

For the best Tweets of the past few days, Joe Reitman once again stepped up. Reitman started after the finale of the television series “Lost” by observing, “The Lost finale was like watching porn alone. There were holes to fill. The story made no sense & when done I was depressed & hated myself.” Reitman soon after Tweeted the gem, “Could some one let me know if in SATC2 there is a pillow fight or a four way worth seeing,” about the newly released film. Finally, former World Poker Tour (WPT) hostess Layla Kayleigh gave everyone at the WSOP something to think about as she Tweeted a quote from Albert Einstein: “You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else.”

GSN to Air Aussie Millions and Full Tilt Doubles Poker Championship

From a network that was once thought to be jumping off the poker bandwagon comes two brand new shows and nine hours of coverage dedicated to the sport. On Thursday, GSN officials announced that the network will air the 2010 Aussie Millions beginning on June 5th and the Full Tilt Poker Doubles Championship beginning on August 14th. Both will occupy the same 9:00pm ET time slot.

Recently wrapping up on GSN was the sixth season of the popular cash game franchise “High Stakes Poker.” The show, which featured players such as Tom “durrrr” Dwan, Phil Ivey, and Dennis Phillips in its most recent incarnation, has aired on GSN ever since its debut in 2006. Gabe Kaplan and A.J. Benza called the action for the first five seasons. For the most recent run, industry veteran and PartyPoker pro Kara Scott replaced Benza and conducted interviews from the “High Stakes Poker” suite.

David Schiff, GSN’s Vice President of Programming and Development, commented in a press release, “High Stakes Poker has been a ratings success on GSN, with Season 6 ratings up dramatically over previous seasons in all key demographics. We’re excited to now enhance the franchise with even more world-class international poker coverage. Saturday nights on GSN will be the go-to destination for serious poker fans.”

Previously, poker on GSN appeared on Sunday. However, GSN will now air a “poker block” between 6:00pm ET and 3:00am ET on Saturday. If you do the math, you can see that means a whopping nine hours of poker each week. Here’s a look at the schedule for the “poker block” airing on GSN beginning on Saturday, June 5th:

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

When August 14th rolls around, the Doubles Poker Championship will supplant the Aussie Millions. The series was filmed at the Golden Nugget and participating teams coughed up a buy-in of $50,000 per player. A total of 16 teams entered, each sharing one hand during play and vying for a high-stakes $1 million top prize.

The cast of characters in the Doubles Poker Championship includes many that you’d expect to find in a $50,000 buy-in event: “High Stakes Poker” regulars Ivey and Dwan, 11-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth, 10-time bracelet winner Johnny Chan, Full Tilt Poker pro David Benyamine, reigning National Heads-Up Poker Championship winner Annie Duke, Chris Ferguson, Danish poker sensation Gus Hansen, and Jennifer Harman. Former Absolute Poker pro Lacey Jones will host.

Three events will air as part of GSN’s coverage of the 2010 Aussie Millions: the $100,000 Challenge, Heads-Up Championship, and the Main Event. Ten episodes were produced in total. Full Tilt Poker, the world’s second largest online poker site, sponsors both the Doubles Poker Championship and Aussie Millions on GSN.

The “Million Dollar Challenge,” which will begin airing in the 11:00pm ET time slot beginning on June 5th, formerly appeared on Fox and is sponsored by PokerStars. Fox’s Chris Rose and Team PokerStars Pro front man Daniel Negreanu host the show, which features Negreanu coaching contestants in two heads-up matches before facing off against them in the third round. “Million Dollar Challenge” debuted last October and, at the time, served as nearly direct competition for Full Tilt Poker’s “Face the Ace.”

GSN reaches 72 million cable subscribers. The network has not yet announced when or if “High Stakes Poker” will return for Season 7.

Poker in Twitter: The NBA Playoffs, Online and Live Poker, and Phil Hellmuth’s Top Ten

Poker players on Twitter over the past few days have had plenty to talk about. While poker remains a constant, the National Basketball Association playoff series between the Cleveland Cavaliers and Boston Celtics took center stage.

Taking a break from playing, Shannon Shorr Tweeted, “Enjoying the day off. About to watch Cavs/Celtics obv,” yesterday evening. It seemed that several people were following the game and were rooting for the Celtics to win the series. “I wanna see the Celtics in LA,” Tweeted Joe Reitman, while others pointed out how poorly the Cavaliers looked. “Amazing the Cavs don’t totally look like they’re throwing the game any more,” Jeff Madsen chirped; Haralabos Voulgaris chimed in by tweeting, “Not sure when Anderson Varejao became “Andy” but he has drawn 2 offensive fouls in 8 mins.”

After the Celtics vanquished the Cavs, many players were looking ahead to the Eastern Conference championship match up between the Celtics and Orlando Magic. “I’m scared for Orlando,” Tweeted UB.com pro Adam “Roothlus” Levy following Boston’s win. “The Celtics look ridiculously good. Time to shine Dwight!”

Others took time to Tweet about poker online and live poker. “Just arriving in lovely Nottingham for a poker tournament,” tweeted Vicky Coren from the United Kingdom/Ireland Poker Tour (UKIPT) event. While she didn’t survive to the money (“Out of the Nottingham tournament! Not a disaster, at least now I can watch the Brooker show and play the SCOOP heads up tomorrow”), Coren was able to add some joviality to the Twitterverse when she chirped, “The player next to me has a golf game tomorrow. I said ‘What about day 2 of this?’ and he roared with laughter. That’s my kind of opponent.”

Other players have been participating in online tournaments with varying degrees of success. DoylesRoom Brunson 10 member Amit “amak316” Makhija reported to his followers, “In the last week and a half I’ve gotten 25th in the 1k 6m (250k for first) 20th in ftops main (520k for first) and 12th in the 3k (210k). Something’s g2 give with best scoop events left and the wsop coming up. If I don’t hit a big one soon I’m going back to cash games for good!” The results for the past few days weren’t good for Makhija, as he Tweeted, “F**k tournaments. QQ into KK for the win at the UB ft I lose. 3rd for 22k. KK loses to AQs allin pre for CL in the 1kr. 18th for 10k. I’m officially on suicide watch.”

One player who has been having quite a bit of success in the PokerStars Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) events has been Jennifer “Jennicide” Leigh. “I won the $5 rebuy!,” Leigh Tweeted on Wednesday. “After the last win, TLB points updated and I’m in 3rd w/ 3,398 ..1st has 3,438…I have until Saturday …I hope I can do it!” Jon “PearlJammer” Turner was also doing well: “11th in Razz $200 SCOOP for $1500, 5th in $150 on FTP for $8k, and 3rd in 50r Turbo for $3k… plus a few more, only finished up $4k on day.”

On the live poker front, the California State Poker Championships has been a popular spot for players to warm up for the World Series of Poker (WSOP). “Weeeeee…donk central here @CalStatePoker studament!,” Tweeted “Hollywood” Dave Stann about one of the Stud events. “Nobody believes anyone + calling station = profit.”

Another player doing well was Rob Perelman, who showed some respect to Stann by saying, “I figured @Hollywood_Dave would be the best stud player at my table. I did not think I would be the second best.” Although Stann was eliminated prior to making the money (“Really? Another standard table-from-the-money bustout? I have bubbled & mincashed like 800 times this year”), Perelman was able to make Day Two:  “2nd in chips coming into day 2 of the @CalStatePoker stud tournament. First real stud tourney I’ve ever played, too.”

Phil Hellmuth piped up on his Twitter account to state the ten things that he was most grateful for. In his first Tweet on the subject, Hellmuth noted, “10 things I’m grateful for: 1 Perfect health 2 Wife Kathy 3 Son Phillip 4 Son Nick 5 my families good health 6 My record 11 WSOP wins.” Phil then finished off the list by Tweeting, “10 Gratefuls cont: 7 All of my WSOP records 8 A life filled w love and support 9 All of the endorsement deals I have 10 An adventurous life!”

There was plenty of political commentary through poker players on Twitter. “All BP execs deserve a big bonus this year,” tweeted Ali Nejad about the recent oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. “I vote for all expense paid trips to the gulf resort of their choice. Swimming mandatory.” Michele Lewis also had the accident on her mind when she Tweeted, “Living phytoplankton is prettier than dead phytoplankton. Just can’t tell in Gulf of Yoo Hoo.” Rafe Furst shared an article he read with his followers:  “Ted Turner makes point that dictatorial capitalism (i.e. China) is doing clean energy while our “democracy” lollygags.”

For the best Tweets of the week, Doyle Brunson once again stepped up to provide some comedy: “Doctor gave me a colonoscopy. After drinking MoviPrep, nothing could be worse. Wrong, if we were in Arkansas, doc and I would be married.” This prompted PokerStars pro Vanessa Rousso to respond, “I finally got the Arkansas joke, lolol! Sometimes I’m slow w/jokes, but urs are always good!” Brunson also unveiled another blonde joke: “Blonde gets pulled over by cop. Cop asks to see her license. Blonde says “You guys just took it away yesterday. Now you want to see it?”

The ladies also brought the funny over the past few days on Twitter. “Life was easier when boys had cooties,” Lacey Jones opined. Kara Scott noted an embarrassing situation, “I’ve just realized that at 9pm that I’ve been wearing my shirt inside out. All day. Life fail.” Finally, Anjela Brunson, the daughter in law of Doyle, shared a real life situation she probably would have liked to avoid:  “Got stopped by a cop today, just because I have a Doylesroom sticker on my car & cop knew @Pamela_Brunson, who poured a Red Bull drink on his head.”

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

The Nightly Turbo: Galfond Launches PokerStatic.com, Josh Arieh’s New Gig, and More

Phil Galfond has launched PokerStatic.com, a site that will host video interviews, poker shows, and more. Also, Josh Arieh tried his hand at something other than poker on Monday and Kara Scott thanks poker bloggers in her latest blog. We'll tell...

High Stakes Poker: Season 6 Comes to a Close

The Season 6 finale of the cash game franchise “High Stakes Poker” aired on Sunday night, with Doyle Brunson’s streak of 15 straight wins in televised cash game sessions on the line. New episodes aired on Sundays at 8:00pm ET on GSN.

Lex Veldhuis, stuck $100,000, rejoined the table, while cash game pro Eli Elezra began the episode up more than $400,000. The group agreed to raise the stakes to $500/$1,000 with an ante of $300 and the change, although subtle, kicked the action into high gear.

Veldhuis raised to $4,000 with A-9 and Daniel Negreanu came along with K-10 of spades. Full Tilt Poker pro Tom “durrrr” Dwan made the call with 9-5 of hearts and the flop was 3-7-7. Negreanu checked, Dwan bet $10,700, Veldhuis abandoned ship, and Negreanu called. The turn was a king, pairing Negreanu, and the action went check-check. A queen hit on the river and Negreanu fired out a bet of $28,200. Dwan called thinking that Negreanu may have had a hand like 4-5 or 5-6 and couldn’t beat nine-high. He lamented, “I made one of my hero calls. It was wrong.”

Brunson began the episode down about $200,000, needing to mount the comeback of a lifetime in order to secure his 16th straight winning session in a televised cash game. Brunson called pre-flop with Q-7 of spades and Veldhuis made it $11,000 from the straddle with 9-2 of the same suit. Brunson called and both players checked the flop of 6-2-3. The turn was a jack and Brunson fired out a bet of $20,500. Veldhuis obliged and the river was a four. Brunson bet $60,000 with air and Veldhuis called with a lowly pair of deuces to scoop the $185,900 pot.

In a five-way pot, the flop came 3-7-9 and Elezra bet $23,300 with pocket queens. Dwan promptly made it $71,000 with 9-7 of spades and the action folded back around to Elezra, who pushed the price of poker to $173,300. Dwan moved all-in for $426,300 and Elezra announced that Dwan had 10-8 or 9-7 before folding.

On the next hand, PokerStars pro Betrand “Elky” Grospellier raised to $7,000 pre-flop holding A-6 of diamonds and Dwan bumped it to $20,800 with pocket aces. Grospellier called and the flop came 4-6-8, giving him middle pair to Dwan’s overpair. Dwan bet $26,400 and Grospellier called. The turn was a queen and Dwan moved all-in. Grospellier called all-in and elected to run it once. A five hit on the river, missing Grospellier and shipping the $255,300 pot to Dwan. Seated directly to Dwan’s left, Brunson told the youngster, “You’re like a vacuum cleaner.”

“30 Seconds with Kara Scott” examined who players wanted to see on Season 7 of “High Stakes Poker,” while the PokerStars-backed segment “Did You Know” covered the origins of the Texas Hold’em name. In the final hand of Season 6, Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond raised to $8,000 with 10-2 and Negreanu called with Q-10 of clubs. Elezra joined the party with J-10 of hearts and the final flop of Season 6 came Q-J-4. Galfond bet $14,000, Negreanu called with top pair, and Elezra folded to bring an eight of clubs on the turn, putting two of the suit on the board.

Galfond checked, Negreanu bet $30,000, Galfond raised to $94,000, and Negreanu moved all-in for $246,000. Galfond folded, joking that he was just trying to impress Brunson with his signature hand, and Negreanu raked in the pot.

As the credits rolled, Dwan took a sledgehammer to the “High Stakes Poker” ice sculpture. The poker gods stopped Brunson’s cash game dominance, while Elezra saw his $400,000 profit nearly cut in half at the hands of Dwan.

GSN has not announced details for Season 7 of the cash game franchise. Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest.

The sixth season of High Stakes Poker ends now - watch the last episode from here

Yeah, unfortunately you read it right: the sixth production season of High Stakes Poker has come to its end. In the last episode Lex Veldhuis returns to the table, but otherwise the player line-up remains the same.

The players:

• Tom ”durrrr” Dwan
• Doyle Brunson
• Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier
• David Benyamine
• Eli Elezra
• Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond
• Daniel Negreanu
• Lex Veldhuis

The final episode of the season: High Stakes Poker S06 E13.

This season provoked a lot of discussion, and some changes annoyed the fans. Many considered replacing A. J. Benza with Kara Scott as a major mistake, and even a widespread online petition was started in order to get Benza back in the picture.

Source: Pokercast.tv and HendonMob and 2+2 Poker Forum

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The sixth season of High Stakes Poker ends now - watch the last episode from here

Party Gaming Revenue Up 27% in Q1 2010

Last week brought word that the internet gambling giant Party Gaming had seen its Q1 revenues grow 27% year-over-year to $127.1 million. However, average daily revenue slid 2% from the previous quarter due to strong casino performance in Q4 2009 and foreign exchange setbacks.

Party Gaming’s online poker room, PartyPoker, took a tumble. Revenues of $47.8 million in the first quarter of 2010 were 11% lower than the $53.6 million recorded in Q1 2009. The statement to investors added, “Average daily poker revenue [was] in line with the previous quarter on the back of higher player numbers offset by adverse FX movements.” Even with the lower revenue figures, PartyPoker reported that its Italian market share had passed 3%.

Despite not accepting players from the United States, PartyPoker still competes against sites like Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars throughout Europe. Full Tilt boasts a land-based Spanish poker series, while PokerStars European Poker Tour (EPT) events roam the continent. PartyPoker officials explained the impact its competition had on the company’s first quarter bottom line: “Player yields in poker declined year-over-year due to increased competition, particularly from U.S. sites, prompting an increase in bonus rates that returned to 25% of gross revenue.”

Party Gaming’s casino revenue ballooned 25% in the first quarter of 2010 year-over-year to $51.2 million, although average daily revenue was down 9% versus the previous quarter. During Q1 2009, Party Gaming’s Bingo revenues were a lowly $1.0 million. One year later, that number jumped to $17.7 million. In the second half of 2009, Party Gaming acquired Cashcade, bolstering its Bingo presence. Finally, in the world of sports betting, revenues shot up 58% to $7.1 million. Average daily revenue from sports betting climbed 55% to $78,400.

In its revenue release, Party Gaming officials also revealed that the Aviation Club de France would be brought onboard the company’s French poker network: ”In a separate announcement made today, we are delighted to announce details of a further B2B deal in France with the addition of Aviation Club de France that will join our French poker network, which we plan to launch as soon as the new regulations allow.” The storied Aviation Club, which sits on the Champs-Elysées in Paris, is in the midst of hosting Day 1 of the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) Grand Prix de Paris.

Last November, stockholders of Party Gaming approved a $12.3 million purchase of the WPT, shunning a last-minute $36.5 million offer by Mandalay Media. Coupled with the inking of a non-prosecution agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice, Party Gaming appears poised to re-enter the U.S. market in strong fashion should internet gambling be legalized. In the meantime, the industry is bracing for the June 1st financial services industry compliance deadline with the regulations of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA).

Party Gaming is traded on the London Stock Exchange under the symbol “PRTY.” It closed Friday’s trading at 258.00 pence, down 16.00 pence on the day, or nearly 6%. On March 12th, the company’s stock had climbed as high as 334.5 pence before undergoing a severe correction along with the rest of the market. Worldwide stock exchanges were hit hard last week after concerns about Greece’s debt mounted. On Thursday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which is housed in New York City, fell over 1,000 points at one point, or nearly 10%, before rebounding.

Party Gaming plans to stop accepting casino and Bingo action from France, which accounted for $3.1 million of its Q1 2010 revenue. The company has cash on hand of $228.3 million and is due $24.0 million from payment processors.

PartyPoker’s team of sponsored pros includes Poker Hall of Fame member Mike Sexton, “High Stakes Poker” hostess Kara Scott, and self-proclaimed bad boy Tony G.

Poker In Twitter: “Annette_15” Signs With Full Tilt and the Biggest Weekend in Online Poker

What might have been a slow weekend in the poker world through Twitter exploded on Saturday with the news of Annette “Annette_15” Obrestad’s surprising move to Full Tilt Poker. Soon after the announcement, players burst with congratulations and a few challenges.

Obrestad, who is recognized as one of the top young players, both online and live, was excited about her new home. “So, as I’m sure some of u have seen already, My name is Finally in red on ftp! Sooo excited to be part of my favorite online site,” Obrestad Tweeted on Saturday after the announcement. Tournament director Matt Savage was one of the first to offer his congratulations to the Norwegian superstar: “@Annette_15 signs with Full Tilt, Congratulations on the new deal!.” “High Stakes Poker” hostess Kara Scott chimed in, “Congratulations @Annette_15 – You are phenomenal! Can’t wait to see what you do this year!”

Other players took the opportunity to offer their congratulations, along with a bit of a challenge for the inaugural World Series of Poker (WSOP) Europe Main Event champion. “@Annette_15 congrats!,” Tweeted DoylesRoom Brunson 10 member Amit “amak316″ Makhija, before adding, “Can’t wait to get my first t-shirt for busting your ass!! (JK I’m sure that will be an elusive shirt to get).” New teammate John Juanda was also pleased that Obrestad had joined the team because it gave him a new excuse at the tables: “Welcome to the FTP family, Annette! Next time I lose my chips to u, I can at least try2 claim 2 be team player!”

Twitter was also abuzz over the weekend over what some call the best weekend of poker on the internet. With the finale of the Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS) and the beginning of PokerStars Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) occurring on Sunday, top pros warmed their computers up for a day of action. For many in the poker playing world, there wasn’t much rejoicing, however.

Presenting an interesting thought for his followers, Makhija fired off a Tweet early Sunday that said, “At the gym gearing up for easily the biggest tournament weekend in online poker history. Ready to run like Joe Cada and Liv Boeree’s lovechild!” By the end of the day, however, he was less than enthused to report, “Day fell apart. 2 mincashes in 7 tournaments. Only left in the ftops main, super sigh. At least only lost a little on this mammoth Sunday.” There were several top players that felt Makhija’s pain.

“Horrible 1st day of SCOOP,” Tweeted Jon “PearlJammer” Turner. “Literally cashed 1 tourney all day (scoop $200) for $400. Had good stack in 2k, ran KK into AA, lost 14k on day.” Former World Poker Tour Player of the Year Jonathan “FieryJustice” Little had a similar day, “Got it in good in almost all the tournaments I played. Lost all of them. Yay for another -$5000 day.” Joe Sebok noted the carnage when he Tweeted, “Always such change in player’s bravado between the pre-poker sunday mornings & the post-poker sunday nights. Online poker claims souls.”

One of the best exchanges of the week went to pro Liz Lieu and Savage. After Lieu tweeted about her workouts in London (“An afternoon jog through hyde park … passing by the royal guards”), Savage asked “The Poker Diva,” “Why all the exercise… are you trying to get down to 70 pounds?” Lieu cheerfully tweeted back to Savage, “It’s called staying fit, keeping healthy, and clearing the mind… something we all need. Ha!”

There are several contenders for the best Tweets of the weekend. Erik Seidel let his followers know through Twitter, “Honored to be in top 20 for the WSOP Tournament of Champions so far. 100% of any money I win in TOC will go to charity.” On Saturday, Annie Duke’s partner Joe Reitman came up with the jewel, “What sucks is I know what ppl in their 20s do on a Saturday nite in LA… but what the hell R u supposed 2 do if u R ovr 40?”

On tour in New York, UB.com sponsored pro and Anthrax guitarist Scott Ian informed his followers, “Do u like black mold? Do u like bugs in your bed? Then the Rodeway Inn Kingston NY is for u!” Finally, Jean-Robert Bellande responded to last week’s Doyle Brunson Tweet by chirping, “Some of my fans/haters aren’t familiar with @TexDolly sense of humor and believed the joke about the hooker and the head-ache. LMAO. Wow!”

High Stakes Poker: Mike Matusow Folds K-Q Suited, Leaves Table

On Sunday’s episode of the GSN cash game franchise “High Stakes Poker,” Mike Matusow, who had largely played tight throughout the season, folded K-Q suited in the small blind after a standard pre-flop raise and promptly left the table.

It was a culmination of a rocky appearance on “High Stakes Poker” for Matusow, who folded his way through his first episode before taking $400,000 off PokerStars pro Daniel Negreanu last week. On Sunday, Matusow ran pocket jacks into David Benyamine’s pocket queens early on, but folded to a $15,000 bet on a board of 6-2-A-7. Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier, seated two to Matusow’s left, remarked, “That’s why you’re a genius, buddy. You know when you’re beat.”

In the largest pot of Sunday’s episode, Grospellier bet $11,000 holding A-3 of hearts on a board of 7-10-10-6 with two hearts for the nut flush draw. Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond called with 9-7 for two pair and Negreanu made it $41,000 with 10-7 for a boat. Grospellier got out of the way and Galfond called to bring a king on the river. Negreanu bet $80,200 and Galfond paid him off, shipping a mammoth $272,800 pot to “Kid Poker.”

On the next hand, Tom “durrrr” Dwan raised to $3,200 pre-flop with A-Q of clubs and Galfond came along with A-10. Negreanu called with 4-3 of hearts and the flop came 6-K-Q. Galfond checked, Negreanu bet $8,000 with air, Dwan came along with second pair, and Galfond folded. The turn was a four. Galfond once again checked, Negreanu fired out another bet, this time $24,000, and Dwan called. Galfond got out of the way and the river was a seven. The action went check-check and Dwan scooped the $83,000 pot.

In the second largest pot of the night, six players saw the flop and $101,000 was up for grabs before any community cards were dealt. The flop came 3-A-A with two spades and Dwan, holding pocket tens, bet $22,800. His lone caller was Grospellier, who also held pocket tens, and the turn was a nine. Dwan and Grospellier checked to see another ace hit on the river. Dwan bet $58,400 and Grospellier tanked before finally electing to call. The duo chopped the $264,200 pot.

Upon seeing Grospellier’s call with pocket tens, Negreanu exclaimed, “Wow, what a call!” Meanwhile, high-stakes pro Eli Elezra admitted, “Elky, I’m sorry, but I would call faster.” In an interview with “High Stakes Poker” floor reporter Kara Scott, Dwan speculated on what Grospellier held: “When he was thinking for that long, I thought he had sevens or eights. To fold a nine is ridiculous and to fold a pair of tens is beyond ridiculous.”

After relaying the story of getting hit by a bus in London, Matusow folded K-Q suited in the small blind to a $3,000 pre-flop raise from Grospellier. Matusow already had $400 invested, leaving “High Stakes Poker” host Gabe Kaplan to lament, “Now in Texas, you can go to jail for that.” Rather than turning himself in to authorities, Matusow promptly packed up his bag and left the “High Stakes Poker” set at the Golden Nugget in Downtown Las Vegas.

In the final pot of the night, Negreanu raised to $4,200 pre-flop with J-6 of hearts and DoylesRoom namesake Doyle Brunson called with 7-5 of spades. Benyamine came along with A-5 of clubs and the flop was 3-6-4, giving Brunson the nuts. Benyamine checked, Negreanu bet $10,500, Brunson moved all-in for $69,800, Benyamine folded, and Negreanu called with top pair. The duo agreed to run it twice and Negreanu failed to improve on either board, doubling Brunson up to $153,600. Brunson is seeking to extend his streak of 16 straight winning sessions in televised cash games.

Next week on the season finale of “High Stakes Poker,” Lex Veldhuis joins the table and the stakes get even bigger. New episodes of “High Stakes Poker” air on Sundays at 8:00pm ET on GSN.

Poker in Twitter: The Kentucky Derby and Throwing Out the First Pitch

In many ways poker took a back seat to other activities on Twitter. Tomorrow’s Kentucky Derby was on the minds of many, but there was still some time to throw some poker in on the side.

“Enough of the poker stuff, it’s KENTUCKY DERBY TIME!,” tweeted Tiffany Michelle early Thursday morning. “My first time in Louisville, looking forward to the festivities & beautiful weather.” Phil Hellmuth, who traditionally is a part of a special charity poker tournament prior to racing, had a similar schedule when he Tweeted, “Thurs: 9:00 am Atlantic City poker w @GStephanopoulos: 6:00 pm Louisville emcee Kentucky Derby charity poker; midnight VIP parties!”

“First time and day at Churchill Downs,” Michelle tweeted upon arrival in Kentucky, including a Twitpic. “It’s a gorgeous day. Wow, this feels so surreal. I’m a lucky girl!” Pamela Brunson was a bit envious of Michelle when she Tweeted, “@TiffnyMichelle I’m so jealous! I’ve never gone to the Kentucky Derby but would LOVE to. Y’all have fun & wear some big hats!”

On another non-poker front, 2009 CardPlayer Player of the Year Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin was invited back to his alma mater, the University of Wisconsin at Whitewater, to throw out the first pitch for his former team. An excellent baseball player, Baldwin was less than enthused with his performance when he Tweeted, “Threw out the first pitch at my Alma mater UW-Whitewater doubleheader yesterday. I should have warmed up. Tried to throw hard. Went 50 ft.” Soon after, he added, “Catcher bailed me out and picked the hop before it made the backstop. Awesome day and a fun night out after!”

Apparently unaware of his exploits on the diamond that night, “Hollywood” Dave Stann let his followers know about a competition he might be a part of: “Just got picked by DodgersLive as an alternate to throw a baseball 25 feet into a target to win a 42″ TV. Paging baseball pro @basebaldy!” Baldwin quickly Tweeted back, “@Hollywood_Dave after my performance yesterday I am no longer qualified to give advice.”

The European Poker Tour’s (EPT) Monte Carlo High Roller event took place over the past couple of days and reports on Twitter showed how difficult the field was. “Out, lost JJ vs A5 of justin smith pf allin,” Tweeted Lex Veldhuis. “Gonna go home as soon as I can. Go to hospital for spleen and get ready for Vegas.” Daniel Negreanu had a similar situation: “Utg raise I flat QQ two more call. Flop 963 guy bets I go all in he calls and has AA. I’m out and headed back to Vegas.”

From Evelyn Ng’s Twitter account comes the news that there could soon be a new sponsored pro on the Bodog roster. “Getting ready for an interview and then a 2-day photo shoot with the newest Team Bodog female pro. Can’t wait to meet her,” Tweeted Evelyn on Thursday morning. While not indicating who the player is, Ng was quite coy: “The interview & shoot went great. Everyone is super cool, especially my new Bodog Teammate! you guys will love her… to be continued tmro.”

There were several choices for Tweet of the Week, with the always entertaining Doyle Brunson leading the way. Prior to a trip to Costa Rica, Brunson has apparently found another target for his jokes – instead of Negreanu’s golf game – when he humorously Tweeted about Jean-Robert Bellande, “@BrokeLivingJRB is so unlucky he got a hooker and she told him she had a headache.” Kara Scott enjoyed a quiet day off by Tweeting, “woke up, cleaned the house, put a pot roast in the slow cooker, did laundry…. I’m living in the 50s today.”

Attending the same Atlantic City event that Hellmuth was at, Annie Duke took the time to Tweet, “Thanks @GStephanopoulis and @GMA for a great day of poker. Worth the red eye. Obv, George will go pro now. I’ll join ABC news to fill in.” Beth Shak, who is in Kentucky for the Derby and was a part of Hellmuth’s charity event last night, Tweeted her followers, “The line of the night… Can I take a picture with you. I turn around he starts to put his arm around me N has no camera… WOW ALCOHOL.” Finally, it appears that pro Peter Jepsen will be making a return to Twitter when he chirped, “So, will start twitting again I guess… meanwhile figuring out how to rebuild my life and bankroll.”

Aussie Millions winner and F1 driver signed to PartyPoker

The PartyPoker team is growing again. The newest members are Aussie Millions winner Tyron Krost and the youngest F1 driver ever, the Spaniard Jaime Algersuari.

“Krost joins the PartyPoker team”

Krost started playing poker about five years ago by making a $50 deposit. Little by little the success in limit games lead him to crown his career so far by winning the Aussie Millions main tournament.

Krost told that a sponsor deal is every player’s dream and said that he couldn’t have imagined a better sponsorship and partner than PartyPoker. “The site is clearly going to the right direction, and I am very happy to be a part of Team PartyPoker and to be able to personally make the site even better.”

F1 driver Algersuari considers himself as a poker rookie. “Some people say I am a freshman in F1 circles, and I would say the same about poker. Poker has always fascinated me, but my driving duties have prevented me from really learning the game. In Spain Poker is becoming more and more popular all the time, and I can’t wait to refine my online playing skills.”

This duo will be joining Team PartyPoker’s big names. Tony G, Mike Sexton, Kara Scott, Dragan Galic, Bodo Sbrzesny, Ian Frazer and Felipe Ramos already play for PartyPoker.

Create an account to PartyPoker and start enjoying the benefits: PartyPoker Rakeback

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Aussie Millions winner and F1 driver signed to PartyPoker

Kara Scott – Poker Player Profile

Born in Alberta, Canada, Kara Scott relocated to the United Kingdom in 1999. Never shy in front of a camera, she used her background in Muay Thai martial arts training to secure a job on the show Now is the Time: Night of Combat. Her next media gig saw her hosting the first ever televised backgammon series, High Stakes Backgammon, which aired in Canada and the UK. She also hosted the World Series of Backgammon in 2006.

After four years of immersion in the odds, instinct, and strategy associated with backgammon, poker naturally caught Scott’s eye and has been her obsession ever since. She began by hosting the British show Poker Night Live and writing regular columns for Card Player. In 2007, she hosted the European Poker Tour, but quit after a year to focus on her own poker career.

On the tables, Scott started her foray into live poker finishing sixth in the PartyPoker.net World Women’s Open for $5K. She later went on to win PartyPoker’s Sports Car Challenge for $51K. Her biggest poker accomplishment to date came at the 2009 Irish Open in Dublin, Ireland where she took second place for $413K.

At the World Series of Poker in 2008 and 2009, Scott did what no other woman could do when she cashed in the Main Event both years. She took 104th in ’08 for $42K and 238th in ’09 for $33K. Scott had this to say about her results in an interview she gave to PokerListings: “I know a lot of people don’t think I can play and there are always going to be people who say I can’t. But I have made the final of a female championship, I won a Sports Star Challenge, I went deep in the World Series of Poker Main Event and now I’ve come second in the Irish Open. I think my game is improving.” All told, Scott has $550K in live tournament earnings.

More recently, Kara Scott, who is a member of Team Party as a sponsored pro, announced that she would be returning to TV in 2010 to co-host the sixth season of GSN’s High Stakes Poker.

Poker in Twitter: Tournaments on Both Sides of the Atlantic, Matusow and Negreanu’s Twitter Spat

Over the weekend, poker players in the Twitterverse were abuzz over the two major poker championships raging on both sides of the Atlantic. The World Poker Tour (WPT) Championship, which ended on Saturday, and the European Poker Tour’s (EPT) Monte Carlo Grand Final, which started the next day, kept poker players active on their Twitter accounts and kept fans informed on the proceedings.

After capturing the WPT Championship, David Williams issued an apology to his followers when he tweeted, “Sorry for the lack of updates this week. I was in a zone and on a mission… and I did it!” Congratulations for his championship flooded in soon afterward, with fellow Bodog pro Evelyn Ng chirping, “Couldn’t be prouder or more happy for David Williams! I love it when good things happen to good people!”

Eric Mizrachi added in his congratulations: “@dwpoker I knew you were taking it down! Looking forward to watching it on TV soon! Great Job!” After Tweeting her congratulations for runner-up Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin – and getting some good-natured ribbing from Williams – Annie Duke added in her congratulations: “I am really happy for you. Well deserved!” Even a day later, Williams was still stunned by the victory when he Tweeted his followers, “The next day, and this still doesn’t feel real. Even though I knew I would win, still unbelievable. I DID IT!”

Speaking of Baldwin, the 2009 Poker Player of the Year fielded his share of congratulatory Tweets for his runner-up finish. Adam “Roothlus” Levy shared his congratulations: “Congrats to @DWPoker for winning the WPT Champs for 1.5 million!! 1 mill ain’t too shabby for @Basebaldy’s 2nd place either.” Baldwin was keeping everything in perspective with perhaps the best Tweet from a second place finisher, saying, “Love you guys for all the support. Like I told Sexton post game, ‘it’s bittersweet, but I can wipe my tears with seven figures.’”

Over in Monte Carlo, players flooded to the EPT Grand Final and one player, Barry Greenstein, might not have wanted to make the trip. Soon after he opened up play, Barry Tweeted, “Out. AK < 55. The earliest exit I can remember.” Others, however, seemed to be playing well and survived the first Day One. “Action underway at the EPT final. The sun’s shining, the internet’s glitchy and JC Tran’s on my table. So it’s all good! Sort of,” Tweeted Vicky Coren about her table. Coren would run well during her Day One: “JC Tran just went out. He got low but it was a horrible last hand for him, TT v 99, his opponent flopped a 9. Meanwhile I’m up to 70k and listening to Willie Nelson ‘Ain’t It Funny How Time Slips Away;’ feels all apt and poignant at the poker table.”

Other players off to a good start included Justin “Boosted J” Smith (“Up to 46k from 30k at start of level 5… playing real gooood relaxed and focused“) and Daniel Negreanu (“49,275 end of lvl 4 and I’m lovin’ it. Jet lag is still an issue but I got enough energy to get me through. Playin my butt off.”).

Although he was in Europe for the EPT event, Negreanu took some time to start a Twitter war against fellow pro Mike Matusow: “@TheMouthMatusow are you ever going to learn how to tweet like a normal person? Seriously, we don’t need to see every reply to your fans!” This only drew the ire of Matusow: “Dan is a good player. As a person, he needs work. At some events in Tunica, all he did was insult southerners.”

For over an hour on Twitter, Matusow took the time to speak to his fans about a range of subjects. Of most interest was his autobiography, “Check Raising The Devil,” and he patiently explained to his fans how to get an autographed copy. His best Tweet, however, was to a fan who asked, “How can i shake a terrible poker slump and getting the fear of losing?” Mike’s simple reply: “By winning something.”

On the lighter side of the Twitterscape, Joe Sebok shared a memorable dinner conversation: “Topic of conversation at dinner: top 80’s movies. my top three: 1) The Lost Boys, 2) Point Break, 3) Red Dawn (non-comedy obv).” After a follower pointed out that “Point Break” was a 90s film, Sebok Tweeted, “Damn… One Crazy Summer, Better Off Dead, Top Gun, Weird Science… too many great ones.” Tournament director Matt Savage, nearly 100% after his recent gallbladder surgery, suggested, “Say Anything!,” in a Tweet.

When it comes to the best Tweets of the weekend, “High Stakes Poker” hostess Kara Scott had two that made an impression. “Felt quite glam til I realized my mirror was actually a window and everyone inside could see me ‘adjusting’ my dress. Classy,” Kara tweeted her followers on Saturday. The next day, she added, “Vegas is dangerous. I’ve been here 36 hrs & already eaten 3 desserts & bought a pair of shoes. I’m about to go make it worse. More dessert.”

Other top Tweets from the weekend included “Poker After Dark” host Ali Nejad’s issues with flying. Nejad tweeted, “Dear Guinness: pretty sure the dude sitting behind me just set the record for most times clearing a throat on a plane. Sleep assassin.” Rafe Furst was concerned with some statistics when he Tweeted, “Just became concerned that I have more tweets than followers. What’s the right ratio?” Finally, Tiffany Michelle gave many in the Twitterverse something to look forward to this week: “IT’S HERE… Kentucky Derby week!!! Got my tiny blonde partner in crime & looking forward to the Louisville festivities. Lotsa pics to come!”

High Stakes Poker: Mike Matusow Wins $500,000 Pot Off Daniel Negreanu

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

The episode began with Eli Elezra up nearly $300,000 as the table’s big winner. Negreanu was active early, attempting a squeeze play holding just K-2. Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier raised to $3,000 pre-flop with pocket aces and Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond called with A-9. Negreanu pumped the action to $15,000, Grospellier re-raised to $44,000, and the table folded around.

Then, disaster struck for Negreanu. Matusow, holding pocket kings, just called pre-flop and Negreanu came along with 9-8 of clubs. Elezra raised to $5,000 with A-7 and Matusow and Negreanu called. The action flop came 9-K-9, giving Negreanu trips and Matusow a boat. Matusow checked, Negreanu checked, Elezra bet $8,800 with “squadoosh,” Matusow called, Negreanu raised to $28,800, and Elezra got out of the way. Then, Matusow bumped the price of poker to $68,800, Negreanu moved all-in, and Matusow insta-called for his stack.

The duo agreed to run it twice with a pot of $329,200 hanging in the balance. The first board ran out 4-7, shipping the all-important first half of the pot to Matusow. The second came 2-J and Matusow scooped the entire $329,200 pot. Negreanu reached into his bag and plopped another $200,000 in chips on the table.

In the second major pot featuring Matusow and Negreanu, the former once again just called pre-flop with a premium hand, A-Q of clubs, and recent World Poker Tour (WPT) Championship final table member David Benyamine called with J-5 of diamonds. Grospellier came along with K-8 of diamonds, Galfond called with 7-3 of hearts, and Negreanu pushed it to $16,000 with pocket tens. Matusow made it $45,000 and Negreanu called to see a flop of 6-4-7 with two clubs.

Negreanu checked in the dark and Matusow asked for a count before pushing all-in for $199,100 with two overcards and a flush draw. Negreanu deliberated for several minutes before electing to call all-in. The massive pot totaled $496,800 and the turn and river were once again run twice. Clubs filled Matusow’s flush draw each time and he scooped the entire pot. “High Stakes Poker” host Gabe Kaplan told viewers, “It really is extraordinary how unlucky Daniel Negreanu is on ‘High Stakes Poker.’”

In an interview with “High Stakes Poker” hostess Kara Scott following the half-million dollar hand, Matusow explained, “I would have never called, especially not against me. All I’ve turned over is kings, kings, and the nuts every time.” Matusow had largely been quiet throughout the sixth season of the popular high-stakes franchise until Sunday night, when he ended the episode up nearly $400,000, nearly all of it at the expense of Negreanu.

Only one hand featuring Tom “durrrr” Dwan was shown. In it, Negreanu called a $1,600 straddle with Q-J, including the queen of hearts, and Dwan raised to $8,000 with 8-6 of spades. Negreanu called and the flop came 7-A-10 with two hearts. The action went check-check to the eight of hearts on the turn, pairing Dwan and giving Negreanu a flush draw in addition to his gutshot straight draw. Negreanu bet $14,000 and Dwan called. The river was the king of spades, filling Negreanu’s straight, and he bet $42,000. Dwan got out of the way and Negreanu recouped a small portion of his losses on the evening.

The PokerStars-sponsored segment “Did You Know” focused on the string raise, while “30 Seconds with Kara Scott” asked players what their first cars were as well as what they drive now. Catch new episodes of “High Stakes Poker” every Sunday at 8:00pm ET on GSN.

Aussie Millions Winner Tyron Krost Signs With PartyPoker

In January, Australian poker pro Tyron Krost took down the AUD $10,000 buy-in Aussie Millions Main Event. The nearly USD $1.8 million bankroll boost put Krost on the map. Three months later, he’s the newest member of Team PartyPoker.

A total of 746 players entered the 2010 Aussie Millions Main Event. When the smoke cleared, the poker tournament featured a stacked final table that included Betfair pro Sorel “Imper1um” Mizzi, Peter Jetten, and 2007 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Europe Main Event winner Annette “Annette_15” Obrestad. Krost vaulted into the poker spotlight and told readers in his first PartyPoker blog, “I feel incredibly lucky to be a member of Team PartyPoker and offered the chance to help make PartyPoker one of the best places to play online.”

Appropriately, Krost won his seat to the Aussie Millions through a $640 satellite on PartyPoker and took his younger brother with him to the event in Melbourne. There, Krost busted Full Tilt Poker front man Gus Hansen, who had eliminated Krost from the 2008 WSOP Main Event in Las Vegas. Krost finished 249th in the 2008 running of the Las Vegas tournament, cashing for $35,000. Krost vividly recalled his experience down the stretch in the Aussie Millions Main Event: “I played against some of the best of the online world, won my fair share of coin-flips, and dealt with ice-cold room temperatures in the Crown Casino poker room and hellishly hot temperatures under the TV studio lights.”

One of the main faces of PartyPoker is industry veteran Tony G, who commented in a press release distributed by the site on Thursday, “Tyron crushed the field at the Aussie Millions and it is a pleasure to get him on the team. When I first saw him, I thought he may need a trike, but now I expect him to be a Tour de Force in the poker world! There is so much more to come from him.” On May 8th, Krost will debut in PartyPoker gear at the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) Grand Prix de Paris, a televised event emanating from the Aviation Club in Paris.

Also a member of Team PartyPoker is WPT host and Poker Hall of Fame member Mike Sexton, whose insight into Texas Hold’em strategy turned many onto the game after the WPT debuted on the Travel Channel in 2003. Sexton, a Poker News Daily Guest Columnist, scored a WSOP bracelet in 1989 after coming out on top in a $1,500 Limit Seven Card Stud High-Low event. Sexton’s last WSOP final table appearance came in 2008, when he finished fourth in the World Championship of Pot Limit Hold’em for $248,000 in an event televised by ESPN.

Joining Krost, Tony G, and Sexton on Team PartyPoker is Kara Scott, the floor reporter for the GSN cash game franchise “High Stakes Poker.” Season 6 of the popular cable series featured “High Stakes Poker” announcer A.J. Benza being given the boot in favor of Scott, who conducts interviews following key hands with players. Scott has also lent her face to broadcasts of the European Poker Tour (EPT), Sky Poker, and the World Series of Backgammon. She won the 2008 PartyPoker Sports Stars Challenge and was the runner-up in last year’s Irish Poker Open Main Event for over $400,000.

Other members of Team PartyPoker include Bodo Sbrzesny, Dragan Galic, Ian Frazer, and Felipe “Mojave” Ramos. According to the traffic ranking site PokerScout.com, PartyPoker is the third largest site worldwide, boasting a seven-day running average of 4,500 real money ring game players. PartyPoker does not accept players from the United States, although its parent company, Party Gaming, has signed a Non-Prosecution Agreement with U.S. authorities that could pave the way for its return should internet gambling ever be legalized and regulated in the North American country.

PartyPoker Signs Aussie Millions Champ

The 23-year-old Aussie was working in his family owned office furniture business when he booked the AUD$2 million win in Melbourne this past January.

Now he will be playing poker across the globe wearing a Team PartyPoker patch.

"It is a dream come true to accept sponsorship," Krost said. "It is fantastic to become a member of Team PartyPoker.com. Winning the Aussie Millions was a crazy experience for me and the security and opportunity it gives me makes me feel hugely confident about the future."

Krost is expected to play in the WPT Grand Prix de Paris at the Aviation Club in France beginning May 8.

"Tyron crushed the field at the Aussie Millions and it is a pleasure to get him on the team," said Team PartyPoker.com's Tony G. "When I first saw him I thought he may need a trike, but now I expect him to be a Tour de Force in the poker world! There is so much more to come from him."

Other members of Team PartyPoker include Mike Sexton, Kara Scott, Bodo Sbrzesny, Dragan Galic, Ian Frazer and Felipe 'Mojave' Ramos. 

Visit PokerListings.com

High Stakes Poker: Phil Galfond (OMGClayAiken) Joins the Fray

On Sunday night’s episode of the GSN cash game franchise “High Stakes Poker,” Phil Ivey once again walked away from the table. This time, Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond took his place and quickly tangled with “High Stakes Poker” legend Eli Elezra.

Early on, Team PokerStars Pro member Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier led out for $11,000 on a flop of 2-3-3 with two clubs holding 6-4 of spades for a straight draw. David Benyamine made the call with 8-6 of clubs for a flush draw and the turn was the four of diamonds. Both players slowed down and the action went check-check to the four of clubs on the river, giving Grospellier a boat. He checked and Benyamine fired out a bet of $16,000 with a flush. Grospellier raised to $56,000 and Benyamine called, shipping the mammoth $153,600 pot to Grospellier. “High Stakes Poker” commentator Gabe Kaplan noted, “I think in all of our seasons of ‘High Stakes Poker,’ that’s the first misstep David Benyamine has made.”

Benyamine and Grospellier continued to duel. On a flop of 8-J-J, Benyamine check-called a bet of $8,000 from Grospellier holding A-J for trips. Grospellier held A-8 in the hand for two pair and the turn was a four. Benyamine check-raised to $63,000 and Grospellier got out of the way, shipping a $116,000 pot to Benyamine, who partly recouped his losses from the earlier hand. Season 6 marks the debut of Grospellier on “High Stakes Poker.”

Daniel Negreanu and Elezra butted heads following a flop of 5-7-3, all clubs. Negreanu led out for $6,200 with 3-2 of hearts for bottom pair and Elezra called with 8-4 of clubs for a flush. The turn was a queen. Negreanu checked, Elezra bet $20,000, and Negreanu abandoned ship. Next week, the two will battle it out for “High Stakes Poker” supremacy.

In a hand that featured three straddles pre-flop, the last of which was for $6,400, DoylesRoom namesake Doyle Brunson open-shoved all-in with A-Q of hearts for $152,600 (190 big blinds). Immediately to his left, Mike Matusow woke up with pocket kings and re-shoved for $169,200. The action folded around and the two agreed to run the board twice. Brunson hit a runner-runner flush on the first board to claim half of the $319,000 pot. On the second board, the flop came 4-J-K, making Matusow sweat despite flopping top set. However, running aces shipped the other half of the pot to “The Mouth.” Matusow told his tablemates, “What a dream situation. Four raises and an all-in ship [by Brunson] with what I know can’t be aces.”

Following the departure of Ivey, Galfond sat down with $250,000. Soon after, Matusow raised to $3,200 pre-flop with Q-J of hearts, Grospellier called with pocket eights, and Galfond raised to $11,200 with Q-7 of diamonds. Elezra made the call with A-10 and Matusow got out of the way. The flop came A-10-2 with two diamonds and Galfond bet $22,000 with a flush draw. Elezra raised to $72,000 using a mix of chips and bundles of cash with top two pair, leading Galfond to inquire, “That’s a lot, isn’t it?” After Grospellier folded, Galfond called and the turn was an offsuit nine. Galfond checked, Elezra shoved for $166,600, and Galfond folded.

“30 Seconds with Kara Scott” investigated the most common misconceptions about poker, while the PokerStars-backed segment “Did You Know” covered former president Richard Nixon’s love of the game. Next week, a $200,000 pot brews involving Galfond, Elezra, and Benyamine. New episodes of “High Stakes Poker” air every Sunday at 8:00pm ET on GSN.

Poker in Twitter: Volcano Disrupts EPT San Remo Travel

For players traveling to the European Poker Tour (EPT) stop in San Remo, Italy, this week, the recent eruption of a volcano in Iceland threw a kink into their plans. The Eyjafjallajokull Volcano in southeast Iceland, which erupted just after Midnight on Wednesday, has caused thousands of flights to be delayed or cancelled and its effects could be felt on the European continent this weekend. Just after the eruption, however, several players found themselves seeking other methods of travel to Italy.

One of the people who was able to get to Italy before flights were disrupted was EPT and “High Stakes Poker” announcer Kara Scott. “Because of a volcanic eruption in Iceland, most flights from London are cancelled. I’m on one of the few squeaking through – phew,” tweeted Scott prior to arrival in San Remo. Barry Greenstein, on the other hand, wasn’t quite as fortunate. “San Remo EPT has started, but London airports were shut down because of volcanic ash from Iceland,” Greenstein tweeted prior to the start of Day 1B action early this morning. “So we had to drive. We are in the Alps in Italy as our chips are being blinded off. ETA 4:30 PM.”

Players were also finishing their preparations for the World Poker Tour (WPT) Championship, which starts on Sunday from the Bellagio in Las Vegas. Many players were taking part in a host of events in Sin City, including the final preliminary events of the Five Star World Poker Classic at the Bellagio, the Venetian Deep Stack tournament series, and the start of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Circuit stop at Caesars Palace. For many of them, the additional practice prior to the start of the WPT Championship has been profitable.

Annette “Annette_15” Obrestad has been one player who has done well in tournaments at the Bellagio. She has already cashed in two events and tweeted, “Headin to Bellagio soon to play the 500. Also playing the 5k tomorrow and then ME on the 18th WEEE poker.” After 15 hours of play on Thursday, Obrestad was able to once again tweet her followers about her success when she wrote, “Down to 9, playing FT and the 5k tomorrow!” The top prize in the $500 buy-in tournament is $21,000.

Jonathan “FieryJustice” Little also played masterful poker in a run during another preliminary event leading up to the WPT Championship. “Heads up between me and Rene Angelil,” Little tweeted on Thursday night prior to the start of heads-up action. “He has 1.3 mil I have 700k. Playing 600/1200-100. Hopefully it will be a long boring match.” It turned out that the battle would last less than two hours, with Little turning the tables against the man best known as Celine Dion’s husband and manager. “Shipped the belt, title, and $67000. Got lucky to hit a flush, then had Q2 hold against J8,” Little tweeted following his win.

On the other side of the equation, poker player Allen “Chainsaw” Kessler seemed to have a bit of a tough run for his day in Las Vegas. “Wow three events in vegas today, bellagio 500nl, venetian dse 300, caesars circuit opener,” the man known as “Chainsaw” tweeted as he started the day. After busting from the Bellagio tournament only two hours later, Kessler entered the Venetian tournament, which started a discussion featuring B.J. Nemeth and tournament director Matt Savage.

“Venetian deepstack is hardly a deepstack,” Kessler, who is known for his prickly demeanor about poker’s rules and structures, tweeted while playing at the Venetian. “6 levels in the avg stack has only 25 blinds.” This prompted Nemeth to tweet, and Savage to re-tweet, “That’s what @SavagePoker & I have been saying! If you add play to start a tourney, it has to come from somewhere!”

On a couple of fronts not poker-related, Jeff Madsen’s reported prop bet about him going to Israel seems to be a long-running April Fool’s joke. Madsen tweeted on Thursday, “I’ve landed safely here in Israel everybody! This will be a great adventure!,” and included a doctored Twitpic of himself standing alongside actor Sasha Baron Cohen’s character Borat in what appears to be Israel. “Hollywood” Dave Stann was the first to comment on Madsen’s joke, tweeting, “Damn you @JeffMadsenobv!! I knew it was April Fool’s from the jump.”

On the hockey betting front, noted fan Daniel Negreanu was avidly watching the opening of the National Hockey League playoffs. Of particular interest to Negreanu was the Western Conference quarterfinal pitting the Vancouver Canucks against the Los Angeles Kings. “I bet another 5k on Vancouver tonight,” Negreanu tweeted to his followers. “If they lose game 1, I’ll be shocked.” The game was hard fought and went into overtime before Mikael Samuelsson netted the game winner, pushing the Canucks to a 3-2 victory. “Canucks win,” “Kid Poker” happily chirped after the game. “Phew close one. Loving the hockey games. So fun!”

Whether it is the action on the felt or other happenings in their lives, poker’s elite always keep their followers up-to-date through Twitter. Poker News Daily does the same with the latest poker news, so be sure to add @pokernewsdaily to follow the latest from the poker world through the medium of Twitter.

Party Poker’s Big Game IV is wrapped - check out the pictures and video

Party Poker’s Big Game IV has been wrapped after 48 hours of continuous play. Here’s few shots from the poker room and a video of Tony G’s funny entrance.

Big Game IV raised huge interest because Isildur1 was supposed to play there. Well, it didn’t happen. Just before they began to shoot Big Game, Isildur1 informed that he is not ready to play live just yet.

The players started to play with £10k to £20k stacks and we can promise you many entertaining moments, tough suckouts, seven-deuce side bets, elimination votes and moustaches drawn with marker pens! While waiting for the Big Game to be televised, here’s some pictures and a funny video.

Luke “FullFlush” Schwartz

Jennifer “The Unabombshell” Tilly

The poker room

Hostess Tatjana Pasalic

Hostess Kara Scott

Tony G riding the bike!

Check out all the pictures from Big Game’s Facebook site: Gallery 1 and 2.

If you want to know how the games went, check out the the Party Poker blog: Day 1 and Day 2.

Source: PartyPokerBlog

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Party Poker’s Big Game IV is wrapped - check out the pictures and video

High Stakes Poker: David Benyamine Bullies Daniel Negreanu

On Sunday’s episode of the GSN cash game franchise “High Stakes Poker,” Full Tilt Poker pro David Benyamine pushed Daniel Negreanu off of a winning flush for a massive $265,500 pot. New episodes air at 8:00pm ET on Sundays.

The first session with a brand new slate of players aired over the weekend on “High Stakes Poker.” Tom “durrrr” Dwan and Phil Ivey each bought in for $500,000, the most of anyone at the table, and the latter made his presence known early and often. Ivey raised to $4,000 pre-flop with 10-5 and received a call from Negreanu, who held just 4-2, and Doyle Brunson, who had 6-3 of clubs. The flop came 4-9-5, giving Ivey middle pair, and he bet $10,000. Brunson was the lone caller and a queen hit on the turn. Brunson check-called a bet of $26,000 from Ivey and the river was another five, improving the “Tiger Woods of Poker” to a set and missing Brunson’s straight draw. Brunson checked, Ivey bet $60,000, and “Texas Dolly” got out of the way.

In the largest hand of the night, Negreanu raised to $3,000 pre-flop with 10-9 of spades, Brunson came along with pocket queens, and Benyamine called with 7-5 of spades. The action flop came down 9-3-8 with two spades. Benyamine checked with straight and flush draws, while Negreanu made an $8,000 continuation bet with top pair and a flush draw. Brunson called with an overpair and Benyamine also obliged, bringing a disastrous queen of spades on the turn. The action checked around and the river was a red ace. Benyamine checked, Negreanu bet $26,200, Brunson called with a set, and Benyamine pumped the action to $101,200.

Facing Benyamine’s massive re-raise, “High Stakes Poker” host Gabe Kaplan speculated on Negreanu’s thought process: “Daniel is not putting Benyamine on a small flush. He’s putting him on a bluff or maybe the stone nuts.” Negreanu wound up folding and Brunson made the call, shipping the largest pot of the night – $265,500 – to Benyamine. Brunson was down $150,000 after buying in for $300,000. The poker legend has won 16 straight times on televised cash games, putting his streak at risk when the session wraps up in a few episodes.

Negreanu’s woes continued, as he picked up pocket jacks and raised to $3,000 pre-flop. Eli Elezra made it $13,000 with A-9 and Negreanu called. The flop came 10-Q-2 and Negreanu check-called a bet of $19,900 from Elezra to see another queen on the turn. Negreanu once again elected to check-call a bet, this time $25,000, and a river ace gave Elezra top pair. The action went check-check and Elezra scooped the $118,600 pot. Negreanu lamented after the ace on the river, “This is just sick, so sick. What the hell is going on?”

“30 Seconds with Kara Scott” focused on who each of the “High Stakes Poker” combatants were close with away from the table, while the PokerStars-sponsored segment “Did You Know?” featured Negreanu discussing the etiquette of calling the clock. Both are new vignettes in Season 6 of “High Stakes Poker,” which also features Scott interviewing players following critical pots.

Making his “High Stakes Poker” debut on Sunday night was Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier, who played just one hand of significance during the episode. In it, he raised to $3,000 before the flop with J-7 and received a call from Ivey, who held pocket eights. The flop came 2-7-8, giving Ivey top set, and the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event November Nine member bet $5,000. Grospellier called and the turn was a six. Ivey bet $15,000 and Grospellier got out of the way.

Mike Matusow, who returned to the “High Stakes Poker” felt for the first time since Season 4, did not play a hand. Next week, Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond joins the table. New episodes of “High Stakes Poker” air on Sundays at 8:00pm ET on GSN.

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.