Poker News

2010 PCA: Island Vibe Perfect for Poker

“I don’t know what it is,” said the 35-year-old software analyst turned poker pro from Stockton, California.  “I guess I really like this place.”

After finishing runner-up to Team PokerStars Pro Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier at the 2008 PCA, Khan went deep at Atlantis again last year, making 21^st place.

This year, he managed another strong finish, busting out 37^th on Day 4 Saturday.

“The fact that I’ve been here before and gone through such a big field, I feel that it helps me,” he explained. “It helps me remain calm and patient.”

Calm and patient is the exact same vibe Floridian poker pro Robert Mizrachi said he feels while playing in the Caribbean, and the results have followed.

Mizrachi managed a fourth place finish at the 2007 PCA and in late 2009, he finished runner-up at Ultimate Bet Aruba Poker Classic.

“I guess it’s more relaxing,” he said of playing on the islands. “You’ve got nothing on your mind and it’s easy to focus on poker.”

Just 24 players remain in the hunt for the title and $2.2 million first-place prize headed into Day 5 Sunday and Mizrachi is still deep-stacked and in the hunt.

The 1,529 entrants this year have made the 2010 PCA the largest tournament ever held outside the United States.

Like Aruba, the PCA sees more people win their seats online than the average big buy-in tournament.

In fact, with a total of 756 online qualifiers, almost half of the field won their way into the 2010 PCA on the virtual felt.

A fact Mizrachi said sets up well for his game.

“They are actually very aggressive players and I just know how to pick my spots against them,” he said. “I guess I play better against more aggressive players. My style of play is very effective against 18-21-year-old Internet players. With their style of play, I just know how to beat them.

“I play sometimes more aggressive than them, and other times I just try to trap them - Mixing it up works very well.”

No matter how calm and relaxed the island vibe is, wading your way through such a massive field is no easy task, even for a man who seems to do it every year.

“It’s a huge tournament so you are dodging land mines every day,” said Khan. “I really don’t know what it is for me here. I guess it’s a matter of running good and playing good.”

Joining Mizrachi among the leaders heading into Day 5 are two-time PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker event winner Ryan D’Angelo, Team PokerStars Pro and EPT founder John Duthie and WSOPE main event champion and CardPlayer publisher Barry Shulman.

To catch all the island poker action at the 2010 PCA as the remaining 24 play down to a final table of eight Sunday, tune in to PokerListings’ Live Updates.

Doyle Brunson’s Elite Team Struck Gold in 2009

Doyle Brunson is the Godfather of Poker and one of the greatest living legends in the game, but to represent his poker site, he is carefully choosing a team of 10 poker pros under the age of 25, which will be known as the Brunson 10. So far, only five have been headhunted: Chris "moorman1" Moorman, Alec "traheho" Torelli, Dani "ansky" Stern, Zachary "CrazyZachary" Clark and Amit "amak316" Makhija.

The first three players picked were Makhija, Torelli, and Clark. Twenty-two year-old Torelli, known as a consistent cash game winner and dedicated triathlete, held his ground in 2009 with nearly $800,000 in live tournament winnings. Makhija, a University of Minnesota graduate, was chosen for the Brunson 10 for his multi-table tournament (MTT) skills and he did not disappoint. Besides finishing in 26th place in the Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic for a cool $28,569, he also made the top 10 in several other important poker tournaments.

Clark is the nephew of the late Chip Reese and he certainly has poker in his blood. At the young age of 24, he has nearly $2 million in career earnings and shows no signs of slowing down. In 2009, he cashed in nearly 50 online poker tournaments and made the top 10 in 15 of them, exceptionally consistent results for such a young player.

Next to be recruited for the Brunson 10 was Moorman, a young British player to be reckoned with on the online felts. Moorman had a spectacular 2009, ranking fourth in both CardPlayer’s and Bluff’s Online Player of the Year rankings for consistent five-figure wins. Moorman was also honored with the number spot in the PocketFives.com Yearly leaderboard for 2009. Brunson was spot on when he said about recruiting Moorman: “Moorman reminds me a lot of me, except for the British accent. He’s a poker natural, a legend in the making, and that’s why I’ve handpicked him to be the next member of the Brunson 10.”

The last member recruited for the half-complete Brunson 10 was Stern. One of the stars of the G4 online poker reality series “Two Months, Two Million," Stern was showered with praise by Brunson when he entered the elite team: “I’ve seen Ansky play on TV, I’ve seen him play online, and I’ve seen him talk poker like someone who’s been playing for decades. Dani ‘Ansky’ Stern is the future of this game and I’m proud to have him on my team.” Doyle will be even prouder now that Stern brought in the single largest cash of the team, when his final table skills in the World Series of Poker (WSOP) $40,000 buy-in commemorative event in 2009 netted him $548,315.

Brunson is still searching for the remaining five members of the Brunson 10 and will choose two more players after those. He explains: “We are going to find the remaining five spots that are open sometime in 2010. Then, we will choose two women to make it the Brunson 10/2 in honor of my name hand.” Judging by last year’s results, the Brunson 10-2 is set to be the crème de la crème of poker in 2010.

A Record Turnout in the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure!

The second part of day 1 attracted 864 players to the tables, the total PCA field being 1,529 players. The official prize pool has not yet been released, but with the prize pool of over $15 million, the eventual champion will be taking home more than $3 million!

Even though most of the players started the tournament in the last part of the first day, nobody could come even near the chip leader of the tournament after day 1a, Wayne Bentley. Brazil’s Anibal Tacla, who was playing in his first PCA, ended Day 1B with the chip lead with 166,000, a half of the size of Bentley’s chip stack.

The former World Series of Poker Europe champion Annette Obrestad played a solid day and she is going the day 2 with 124,900 chips in her stack. Phil Ivey, who made a 50% crossbook with Tom “durrrr” Dwan, also had a fine first day, as he ended the day with a healthy stack of 115,700 chips.

Dwan on the other hand can’t be found in the chip counts of the players still in the tournament, so he will be sweating for couple days to see how far Ivey can go in the tournament.

The current world champion Joe Cada was also playing the tournament, but he couldn’t make it through to the next day. Cada was playing in the same table with Playboy Playmate Jayde Nicole (pictured), which made the young man happy, even though the tournament didn’t go as he was planned.

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A Record Turnout in the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure!

Steve “gboro780? Gross Wins CardPlayer Online Player of the Year

As 2009 came to a close, popular poker publication CardPlayer announced its Online Player of the Year (OPOY) award. The winner was New Jersey pro Steve "gboro780" Gross, who became the third honoree of the prestigious award, joining Alex "AJKHoosier1" Kamberis (2008) and Isaac "westmenloAA" Baron (2007).

Gross earned $1,216,413 playing online across the major sites in 2009 to accrue 10,188 points, the highest total since the CardPlayer OPOY rankings began in 2007. He started the year off strong, with a second-place finish in a $500 event on Full Tilt for $126,506 on January 18. In February, Gross won a $300 Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS) event for $275,000.

Then in April, during the first-ever PokerStars Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP), Gross found himself heads up in the $3,000 Mixed Hold’em event with Aussie superstar James "Andy McLeod" Obst. The confrontation was one of the most memorable of 2009, with McLeod coming out on top to claim the $184,000 first prize; Gross walked away with $128,000 for his runner-up finish.

Gross won 21 tournaments in 2009, but it was a fourth-place finish on Wednesday, December 30 that clinched the OPOY award. The result came in the $100 rebuy on Full Tilt, earning him more than $12,000 in his final cash of the year. Without any qualifying tournaments left on the schedule for the rest of the field to catch him, Gross wrapped up the title.

The OPOY runner-up was David "SirSands" Sands (9,420 points), who made a valiant push toward the top of the leaderboard in December. He won the Full Tilt $100 rebuy for $47,275 on December 20th and then a week later took down the $200 rebuy on PokerStars for $43,952. Sands' biggest score of the year came in May, when he claimed victory of FTOPS Event #10, a $300 No Limit Hold 'em tournament, for $259,440. While he came up short in the CardPlayer race, Sands' fantastic December helped him vault all the way up to number two on the PocketFives.com Tournament Rankings in the site's first update of 2010. DoylesRoom Brunson 10 member Chris "moorman1" Moorman holds the number one spot.

Thayer "THAY3R" Rasmussen (9,100 points), Moorman (8,464), Shaun "TedsFishFry" Deeb (8,290), Joe "hoodini10" Udine (8,052), Jeremiah "Believer82" Vinsant (7,994), Jonathan "shipitobv" DeLong (7,926), Casey "bigdogpckt5s" Jarzabek (7,776), and Dan "djk123" Kelly (7,724) rounded out the top 10 of the OPOY rankings. Kelly's $1,409,090 in earnings was the second most of 2009, trailing only Yevgeniy "Jovial Gent" Timoshenko, who won the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) Main Event for $1,715,200. Kelly took fourth place in that tournament for $643,200.00.

In order to qualify for the CardPlayer OPOY rankings, players must enter tournaments with an average buy-in of at least $100, have a field of at least 100 players, and a prize pool of at least $100,000.

Kevin Saul, Amnon Filippi Among PCA Day 1A Leaders

Day 1A of the 2010 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) played out on Tuesday, with 668 players taking to the felts inside the Atlantis Resort and Casino in the Bahamas. Wayne Bentley, a PokerStars qualifier from Britain, leads the way with 329,500 chips.

Bentley nearly amassed 11 times the starting stack of 30,000 in the $10,000 buy-in poker tournament after eight levels of play. He held pocket aces and eliminated a player with pocket kings within the first few minutes of Day 1A, doubling his stack to 60,000, and he never looked back. Team PokerStars Pro member Daniel Negreanu issued the traditional “Shuffle up and deal” command moments earlier. At the end of Day 1A, 430 players remained in the hunt.

Bentley sits comfortably in front of the second place stack of Amnon Filippi, who held a pile of 220,100 chips at the end of Day 1A. The accomplished poker pro was nearly 50,000 chips ahead of online poker pro Kevin “BeL0WaB0Ve” Saul, the winner of the 2007 installment of the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) Bellagio Cup for $1.3 million. Last year, Saul finished eighth in the PCA Main Event for $234,000, outlasting all but seven of the 1,347 players who entered.

Team PokerStars Sports Stars will be out in full force on Wednesday for Day 1B, as German tennis legend Boris Becker, Swedish NHL star Mats Sundin, Dutch hockey pro Fatima De Melo, baseball commentator Orel Hershiser, and U.K. football legend Teddy Sheringham will all take to the felts. Also entering on Day 1B is Mike Kosowski, the winner of Season 1 of the “PokerStars.net Million Dollar Challenge.” Kosowski earned $1 million after defeating Negreanu heads-up in the finale of the poker game show last month.

2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event November Nine member Eric Buchman sits in sixth place after Day 1A with 159,100 chips. The PokerStars sponsored player finished fourth in the $10,000 buy-in feature tournament in Las Vegas in November, adding $2.5 million to his net worth. The event was ultimately won by Joe Cada, who will take to the felts for Day 1B today. Joining him will be pros like Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier, Humberto Brenes, and Victor Ramdin. Also playing is rapper Nelly, who has become somewhat of a staple on the poker circuit in recent months.

Here were the top ten chip stacks in the Bahamas after the smoke had cleared on Day 1A of the 2010 PCA Main Event:

1. Wayne Bentley - 329,500
2. Amnon Filippi - 220,100
3. Kevin Saul - 175,500
4. Eric Froehlich - 166,000
5. Dustin Dorrance-Bowman - 163,700
6. Eric Buchman - 159,100
7. Garðar Geir Hauksson - 138,900
8. Jacob Avital - 137,700
9. Christian Schwarz - 133,200
10. Rafal Michalowski - 129,300

The PCA is a stop on both the European Poker Tour (EPT) and Latin American Poker Tour (LAPT) and, as such, has attracted a global field. Still remaining after Day 1A are players from the United States, United Kingdom, Iceland, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Germany, Ukraine, Brazil, Canada, Sweden, Mexico, Turks and Caicos, Russia, Finland, Argentina, France, Norway, Switzerland, Slovakia, Poland, Denmark, Hungary, Czech Republic, Ireland, Belgium, New Zealand, Romania, Australia, Slovenia, Greece, Costa Rica, Austria, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Curiously absent is a representative from the host nation, the Bahamas.

Last year’s champion, Poorya Nazari, hails from Canada and nearly tripled his stack on Day 1A. Notable players who survived the first starting day, along with their chip counts, include:

Dennis Phillips – 113,000
Dario Minieri – 109,800
Vivek “Psyduck” Rajkumar – 106,400
Poorya Nazari – 89,300
Barry Greenstein – 89,200
Jeff Madsen – 79,400
John Duthie – 60,100
Marcel Luske – 55,600
Gavin Smith – 54,000
Jean-Robert Bellande – 53,900
Kevin Schaffel – 53,200
Bernard Lee – 46,800
Amit “amak316” Makhija – 42,000
Steven Paul-Ambrose – 37,900
“Miami” John Cernuto – 36,500
Chris “moorman1” Moorman – 34,700
Ivan Demidov – 27,600
Tom McEvoy – 19,900
Huck Seed – 16,000
Jeff “yellowsub” Williams – 13,100

Play wrapped up in Level 8, when blinds were 400-800 with a 100-chip ante. Day 1B will encompass the same eight levels before the field merges for Day 2 on Thursday.

Poker After Dark Season 6 Kicks Off with Commentators III

Season 6 of the popular NBC poker program “Poker After Dark” kicked off this week with “Commentators III.” In a somewhat surreal scene, announcers from popular poker programs took to the felts at the Golden Nugget in Las Vegas.

Each player started with 20,000 in chips and blinds at 100-200. Dan Gati replaced Full Tilt Poker’s Ali Nejad in the booth, as Nejad took to the felts as part of the kickoff week. He raised with A-J in the first hand shown and received no action, turning over his two cards to prove that he always has a hand. Also appearing as part of “Commentators III” this week are Howard Lederer, “High Stakes Poker” hosts Gabe Kaplan and Kara Scott, “Poker2Nite” anchor and UB.com pro Joe Sebok, and Mark Gregorich.

In one hand, Nejad raised to 650 pre-flop with K-J and Lederer made the call with 10-J. The flop came 8-9-6, giving Lederer an open-ended straight draw, and the action went check-check to a four on the turn. Lederer led out for 875 and Nejad quickly mucked, prompting a flurry of references to a set of fours. During the last “Commentators” week, Nejad busted with a set of fours against Kaplan’s set of tens.

Nejad then ramped up his charm, telling the assembled panel of announcers, “I had something special to do today in honor of Joe [Sebok] finally making a TV table.” He produced a tray of champagne classes and gave one to each competitor. Sebok has a bevy of televised final table bubbles in his career, including a ninth place finish in the 2008 World Poker Tour (WPT) Festa al Lago, a seventh place finish at the 2007 Legends of Poker, and a seventh place finish at the 2007 Bay 101 Shooting Star; WPT final tables are played six-handed. He finished fifth in the 2006 Ultimate Bet Aruba Poker Classic for $99,000.

On his tendency to bubble, Sebok told “Poker After Dark” host Leeann Tweeden, “Unfortunately in poker, I became more famous for missteps than good steps.” It was later revealed that Sebok and Nejad attended the University of California, Berkley at the same time, leading to a discussion as to whether the two had ever met. Kaplan then flopped the nuts with K-J on a board of 10-Q-A. Nejad, who held Q-J for middle pair and a gutshot straight draw, bet 850 after Kaplan checked. Kaplan raised to 2,100 and Nejad folded.

Twenty-five minutes into the kickoff episode of “Poker After Dark” Season 6, the first river card was dealt. Sebok led out for 550 with Q-3 on a board of 4-8-Q with two spades. Kaplan put in a raise to 2,150 with 3-4 of spades and Sebok called. The turn was another queen, giving Sebok trips, and the action went check-check. The river was a four, giving both players full houses. Sebok bet 2,700 and Kaplan wisely folded. Sebok became the new chip leader after scooping the pot of 7,900.

Scott, who was largely quiet throughout the episode, donned a CardRunners logo for her first “Poker After Dark” appearance. She exclaimed, “I’m playing with Gabe Kaplan! It’s really exciting!” Amid discussion of the upcoming Heath Ledger movie, “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus,” Sebok raised to 1,100 with A-K and Gregorich called with pocket nines. The flop fell 7-3-10 and Sebok made a continuation bet of 1,600. Gregorich called and a six came on the turn. The action went check-check as Sebok let his foot off the gas and a four came on the river. Both players again checked and Gregorich scooped the 6,000-chip pot.

In one of the final hands shown on Monday night’s episode, Gregorich held pocket rockets and raised to 1,200 pre-flop. Sebok came along with 5-6 of clubs from the big blind and the flop came Q-6-8. Sebok checked, Gregorich fired out a bet of 3,000, and Sebok folded.

“Commentators III” continues all week on “Poker After Dark.” The franchise airs late nights at 2:05am ET on NBC and is sponsored by Full Tilt Poker, whose logo appears in the center of the felt.

Daniel Negreanu Sets Poker Goals for 2010

In a recent post on his blog, Team PokerStars Pro member Daniel Negreanu outlined eight goals he is aiming to accomplish before the year draws to a close.  These range from collecting $1 million in tournament earnings to making big strides in his self-imposed bankroll challenge.  While lofty, several of the goals seem manageable considering Negreanu’s impeccable career track and even he admits that if he has completed five of his goals by this time next year, he will be more than satisfied with his efforts.

Negreanu’s first goal, to win $1 million in 2010, seems more than feasible considering his track record.  He’s racked up seven-figures in tournament winnings four of the past six years, falling short in only 2005 and 2007.  Last year, he won just over $1.2 million, most of which came from his runner-up showing at this year’s World Series of Poker Europe (WSOP) Europe Main Event, worth $807,148.

Money plays a role in Negreanu’s second goal as well: to retain his spot atop the all-time money leader list.  He came close to losing the title back in November when his friend and fellow pro Phil Ivey made it to the final table of the WSOP Main Event, but his seventh place showing was not enough to surpass Negreanu, who has $12.4 in poker tournament winnings to his credit.  Similarly, Negreanu also hopes to retain his spot as the biggest winner in World Poker Tour (WPT) history, with $5.5 million in career winnings.

Negreanu had several impressive showings in 2009, including a quarterfinal appearance at the National Heads-Up Poker Championship, his WSOP Europe Main Event runner-up finish, and two WSOP final tables, but was lacking any outright wins.  Negreanu hopes to change that this year and has his sights set on one major tour win as well as two WSOP bracelets.

In addition to the bracelets, Negreanu also plans to rack up several cashes at this year’s WSOP in order to make it to #12 on the all-time cash list for the series.  He is currently sitting at 16th, but according to his estimations, seven cashes would propel him past some of the players ahead of him like Thor Hansen and Poker Hall of Fame member Mike Sexton.

Negreanu also wants to move up on the all-time WSOP money earners list, where he currently sits in 28th place.  With such big paydays for Main Event winners, final table members, and those who take down the high buy-in events, there is not a lot of room to maneuver.  Negreanu is setting his sights small and hopes to move up to 25th.

Finally, the affable poker pro laid out his plans for his ongoing bankroll challenge.  Akin to Chris “Jesus” Ferguson’s quest to go from nothing to $50,000, Negreanu is in the process of turning $10 into $100,000 playing No Limit Hold’em cash games on PokerStars.  To date, Negreanu has around $175 to his credit and is playing at the $0.10/$0.25 level, but he is hoping to work his way up to $3/$6 before the year is over.

Negreanu is currently playing the Main Event of the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in the Bahamas, where he stands a chance of improving upon or completing at least a couple goals on his list.

Titan Poker to Award 2010 WSOP Main Event Seats in World Challenge

It may be over six months away, but Titan Poker is getting players warmed up to battle for their chance to participate in the 2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event.

In one of its biggest promotions ever, Titan Poker is offering the World Challenge 2010. The promotion is a series of tournaments broken down into 12 different regions of the world that will eventually award five players a $13,000 package to play in the 2010 WSOP Main Event. Only a certain number of qualifiers from each region will be eligible to participate in the final round of tournaments, where the five seats to the 2010 WSOP Main Event will be doled out.

With its start on Monday, Titan Poker is giving players the opportunity to “Represent Your Country and Challenge the World.” The second tournament of First Round qualification will be on January 10th, with the remainder of the First Round events held each week afterwards. The 12 regions are broken down as such and remember, Titan Poker does not accept players from the United States:

Americas: 10 qualifiers
Australia and New Zealand: 10 qualifiers
France: 25 qualifiers
Germany: 25 qualifiers
Italy: 25 qualifiers
Netherlands and Belgium: 10 qualifiers
Open Qualifiers: 10 qualifiers
Romania: 10 qualifiers
Russia: 20 qualifiers
Scandinavia: 20 qualifiers
Spain: 20 qualifiers
United Kingdom: 20 qualifiers

A series of 10 tournaments for each of the 12 regions, with a buy in of $5+$.50, will be held until March 7th for players to battle their way to the top of the regional leaderboards. Each tournament offers points for participation and finishing at the final table. The Second Round series of eight tournaments, with a buy in of $10+$1, begins on March 14th and lasts until May 2nd. The points for that segment of the series will be worth double the First Round set of tournaments.

After the completion of the Second Round series of tournaments, the regional leaderboards will be completed and the top players will be confirmed. The 200 qualifiers from the 12 regions will then embark on a set of eight tournaments from May 16th to May 30th, called the Final Round and with a buy in of $15+$1.50. Points once again will be awarded for participation and finishing at the final table. The top five finishers in points in the Final Round, regardless of regional affiliation, will earn their 2010 WSOP Main Event package.

The Titan Poker World Challenge 2010 kicked off yesterday, with over 400 players competing. Titan Poker is keeping close track of the action, with complete leaderboards for each region on the Titan Poker website and weekly newsletters sent to each Titan Poker member. While there has been a tournament completed in the First Round, there is still time for players to get in on the action without being too far behind.

The Titan Poker World Challenge 2010 is going to be the largest promotion on Titan Poker in the first half of 2010 and should draw some of the best competition from around the world. With the chance to be in Las Vegas for the 2010 WSOP Main Event for five skillful players, there should be tremendous action on the virtual tables at Titan Poker.

Chris Moorman (moorman1) Wins PocketFives.com Yearly PLB Title

DoylesRoom sponsored pro Chris "moorman1" Moorman stormed through the competition in 2009, capturing the Yearly PocketFives.com Leaderboard (PLB) title. In addition, he claimed the Monthly PLB for December, his second of 2009.

Moorman’s claim to fame during the year came in August, when the British online poker pro chopped a Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS) $322 No Limit Hold’em with Rebuys event for $204,000. His second largest cash to date on the virtual felts came in April, as Moorman made the final table of a PokerStars Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) event for $113,000. In February, Moorman was in the winner’s circle of the PokerStars $100 Rebuy for a cool $88,000.

Moorman was a beacon of consistency throughout 2009. In the first Online Poker Rankings update on PocketFives.com, which occurred on January 7th, Moorman sat at number two worldwide. Three weeks later, the youngster overtook Alex “AJKHoosier1” Kamberis for the Rankings’ top spot, a position that he held until February 25th. On that date, Steve “gboro780” Gross, CardPlayer’s Online Player of the Year winner for 2009, ascended to the top of the PocketFives.com Rankings, pushing Moorman back to second worldwide.

Gross had a stranglehold on the top spot in the Rankings until August 12th, when Shaun “shaundeeb” Deeb overtook him. Deeb, of course, announced in mid-November that he was retiring from tournaments due to burnout. On September 23rd, Moorman was back on top in the same month that he officially became a member of the Brunson 10, the group of online poker players handpicked by Doyle Brunson to represent DoylesRoom. Moorman held the top spot in September for a week until the 30th, when Gross once again led the way.

On November 25th, Dan “djk123” Kelly stole the top spot from Gross just in time for the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States. Moorman then ascended to the head of the class on December 30th, with the next Rankings update to be released on Wednesday, January 6th. The Rankings encompass tournaments with at least 100 entrants and prize pools of $1,000 or more. Each event must have a buy-in of at least $1 and only scheduled tournaments are tracked. Only non-satellite tournaments with real money buy-ins are counted across some of the world’s largest online poker sites like Absolute Poker, Betfair, Bodog, Cake Poker, Carbon Poker, Full Tilt, PartyPoker, PokerStars, Titan Poker, and UB.com.

On the PocketFives.com Yearly PLB for 2009, Moorman logged 20,850 points, comfortably edging out Kelly, who netted 18,606. Moorman’s largest score was 716 points, whereas Kelly’s single greatest PLB tally was double that. Gross took third on the Yearly PLB for 2009. Here were the final results:

1. Chris “moorman1” Moorman – 20,850.97
2. Dan “djk123” Kelly – 18,606.93
3. Steve “gboro780” Gross – 18,472.42
4. Shaun “shaundeeb” Deeb – 18,061.15
5. Tony “D1rtyR1v3r” Nardi – 17,616.29
6. Kevin “ImaLuckSac” MacPhee – 17,514.48
7. David “Doc Sands” Sands – 17,354.60
8. Jeremy “daisyxoxo” Fitzpatrick – 17,167.12
9. Felipe “improved” Montenegro – 17,134.04
10. Ben “NeverScaredB” Wilinofsky – 16,323.68

Moorman finished fourth on both CardPlayer’s and Bluff’s Online Player of the Year leaderboards for 2009. He joined the Brunson 10 in September, becoming the fourth member of a talented group of players that already included Amit “amak316” Makhija, Zachary “CrazyZachary” Clark, and Alec “traheho” Torelli. In November during final table play of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event, the Brunson 10 welcomed “2 Months, $2 Million” cast member Dani “ansky” Stern to its ranks. Stern was the youngest personality to appear on the G4 online poker reality show.

DoylesRoom happily accepts customers from the United States as a member of the Cake Poker Network. Other site pros include Todd Brunson, Hoyt Corkins, and “The Mad Genius of Poker” Mike Caro.

Poker Community Rings in the New Year

Now that Christmas is over and done with, people are setting their sights on the next big celebration, New Year’s Eve.  Party plans range from night club celebrations to cozy gatherings at home with family and friends, but almost everybody intends to do something to celebrate the end of the decade.  Those based in Las Vegas can enjoy an elaborate fireworks show on the Strip, with pyrotechnics being shot off the roofs of seven different casinos, including the MGM Grand, Planet Hollywood, Caesars Palace, the Venetian, the Stratosphere and the newly-opened Aria.

One poker pro who will be at Aria to ring in the New Year is UB.com’s Phil Hellmuth.  He has been invited to one of the biggest New Year’s Eve parties in Las Vegas and the Poker Brat couldn’t resist name-dropping some of the celebrities he would be rubbing elbows with as the clock strikes Midnight via his Twitter account (@phil_hellmuth).  As Twitter reports, Hellmuth will watch the ball drop with the likes of Eva Longoria-Parker, her husband Tony, and countless others at the Beso Restaurant and Eve Nightclub in CityCenter.

Reality star Kim Kardashian will also be on hand and will play host to a pre-New Year’s Eve party Wednesday night at Eve, which is situated above Beso.  Both Eve and Beso are owned by Longoria-Parker, who worked hand-in-hand with famed chef Todd English to launch the Las Vegas version of her popular Los Angeles restaurant of the same name.  The New Year’s Eve bash will serve as the grand opening of Eve, while Kardashian’s party will be a precursor to the official launch of the club.

Jean-Robert Bellande of “Survivor” fame has spent the final days of 2009 gallivanting all over Latin America.  According to his Twitter feed (@BrokeLivingJRB), he has been everywhere from Cabo San Lucas to Puerto Rico to the Dominican Republic this holiday season.  Bellande can’t seem to go too long without getting his poker fix, though, and found time to play online in between lounging on the beach and sightseeing: “Booked a small win over Brian Townsend this morning after being stuck big in 2-7. Feeling very relieved.”

Online poker pro Jeff “ICuRaRook” Sluzinski is going to take a small break from his schedule to celebrate the New Year and a friend’s birthday.  “No poppin’ crazy bottles at clubs or anything for me,” Sluzinski told Poker News Daily.  “We might go to the Strip, but we will probably just chill at [my friend’s] house.”  However, Sluzinksi does plan to log some hours online New Year’s Eve, as he is in contention for the Yearly Tournament Leaderboard honors on PokerStars.  The top three finishers all win entries into stops on the various PokerStars-sponsored tours.  He currently sits in fifth place and has a couple more days to boost his numbers and claim one of the top prizes. Although he admits he will be playing online on New Year’s Eve, Sluzinski intends to call it an early night.  “I’ll stop around 7 or so,” he explained.

In typical fashion, many poker players, like Joe Sebok, are waiting until the last minute to finalize their New Year’s plans.  He Tweeted about his options and has not even decided what city he is going to ring in 2010 in, Los Angeles or Las Vegas.  Unfortunately for the “Poker2Nite” host, he may be sidelined from all festivities thanks to a cold, as he noted on @JoeSebok: “Woke up with scratchy throat, a headache, and sore body. I get it 2009, you ain't going down w/o a fight. You are going out tho, you b***h.”

Poker News Daily would also like to wish all of our readers a Happy New Year.  May your New Year’s Eve celebrations be lively and fun and may 2010 be a year for all of you to remember.

EPT Adds Poker Tournament in Berlin

The European Poker Tour (EPT) recently decided to change up the back half of its Season Six schedule and in lieu of the stop in Dortmund will instead be traveling to Berlin.  The upcoming event promises to be the biggest poker tournament ever held on German soil and has a guaranteed first place prize of €1 million.

The tournament is set to run from March 2nd to 7th following EPT Copenhagen and preceding the new EPT Snowfest stop.  The event will take place at the Spielbank Casino and the EPT’s new home appears eager to pull out all of the stops for its new addition.  Play will be held in a two-story glass palace that will be situated adjacent to the casino in Marlene Dietrich Plaza.  The palace will have more than 6,000 feet of space, which is more than enough space to accommodate the 1,000-plus players expected to take part.  In addition to the Main Event, there will also be a number of side events that will get underway on the third day of play.

The buy-in for the Main Event will be €5,000 + €300.  With the guaranteed first place prize of €1 million, there is potential for an overlay, but even without one, the stop is poised to offer one of the biggest prize pools on the tour.  The entirety of Team PokerStars Germany will be attendance, including Sandra Naujoks, who won the Season Five stop in Dortmund last year, earning €917,000 for her efforts.  Other players scheduled to play in the event include tennis star Boris Becker and Jan Heitmann.

Dortmund was a regular stop on the EPT starting in Season Three and last year it drew a rather large field of 667 players, putting it behind only San Remo and the Grand Final in Monte Carlo in terms of attendance.  EPT staff is confident the new location in Germany is going to be even more popular than Dortmund, so Naujoks will likely have to contend with a larger field in order to defend her title.  Last year, she bested a tough final table lineup that included online poker pro Michael “Timex” McDonald, William Thorson, Johan Storakers, and Luca Pagano.

Pagano already has an incredible six EPT final tables to his credit, including two in the most recent season.  He logged a fourth place showing at EPT Warsaw and then picked up a sixth place finish at EPT Prague just over one month later.  He is the current leader on the EPT Tournament Leaderboard with 3,419 points, but Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier is hot on his heels with 3,354.

The Berlin stop is the third new location on the EPT Season Six schedule.  The other two cities, Vilamoura, Portugal and Kiev, Ukraine, already held events earlier in the season, drawing 322 and 296 players, respectively.  The upcoming EPT Snowfest is also a new addition to the schedule and will get underway shortly after Berlin wraps up.

EPT Snowfest will be held at the Alpine Palace Hotel in the Saalbach-Hinterglemm area of the Austrian Alps.  That series of events will run from March 21st to 26th.

PokerTableRatings Announces Player of the Year Race

Many in poker work hard to attain various Player of the Year awards from several publications and associations, ranging from the World Series of Poker (WSOP) to PocketFives.com.  Although there are a myriad awards set aside for the year’s best tournament poker players, none have existed for those who play in cash games. This year, PokerTableRatings is giving the opportunity to all poker enthusiasts to vote for the 2009 Player of the Year for both Hold’em and Omaha cash games.

The intention of the Player of the Year race at PokerTableRatings was to finally reward grinders making money at the cash tables with some much-deserved recognition.  Instead of simply awarding titles to those who just made the most money or put the vote to an elitist group of individuals, the site has decided that the public will determine the vote.

There are ten awards that will be given out for both Hold’em and Omaha games.  The stake levels are:

Nosebleeds: $100-$200 and up
High Stakes: $10-$20 through $50-$100
Mid Stakes: $2-$4 through $5-$10
Low Stakes: $0.5-$1 through $1-$2
Micro Stakes: $0.25-$0.50 and below

Players who have played a minimum of 10,000 hands at each level qualify to receive votes.  If a player has played more than the minimum required across several stakes, they are eligible to receive votes at all qualified levels.

Each registered user of PokerTableRatings will receive ten Player of the Year votes.  Registration to the site is completely free and without obligation.  To vote for someone, users visit the profile page of a given player and select the radio boxes for the award they want to vote for and hit the “Submit” button.  Each checked box counts for one vote and players can vote multiple times for any given player.  Once a vote is cast, however, it cannot be changed and the site has gone on record saying it will not grant additional votes.  The voting is currently underway and will conclude on December 31st.

Once the votes are counted, the players with the most in each category will be declared the PokerTableRatings Player of the Year for that level.  Each player winning an award will receive a special badge for his or her profile page.

The current results page is updated every 20 minutes and displays the current vote totals for all categories.  Since voting is open to all registered voters, some have voted for their favorites, friends, themselves, and those who they feel best exemplify the title of Player of the Year.

Currently, “Isildur1” leads the vote totals for both the Hold’em and Omaha categories despite losing $2.65 million this year in Nosebleed stakes games.  He holds a slight edge over Tom “durrrr” Dwan in both categories, with the winner still yet to be determined.

In the High Stakes and Mid Stakes Hold’em categories, one player holds the leading votes for both categories in “nanonoko.”  In both stakes, the margin is extremely wide and, with over $1 million in profits this year, he looks like a lock to take the award down.  The same phenomenon is happening for the High Stakes and Mid Stakes Omaha awards, as “Skjervøy” leads both categories in voting.  Although his margin is not as great as the one that “nanonoko” enjoys, “Skjervøy” remains the odds-on favorite to win both categories.

In the Low Stakes Hold’em category, “water boat” holds a huge margin over the rest of the competition thanks to some apparent self-promotion.  One of the odds-on favorites to win the award before voting began was “jrockhaf” from PokerStars, who currently sits in seventh place with 160 votes after taking own more than $90,000 in just low-stakes action.  On the Omaha side, “TheOrangeman” leads by a nice margin over players such as “kazor” and “GaussPoker” from Full Tilt Poker.

The Micro Stakes has losing players currently in the lead for both Hold’em and Omaha categories.  Current leader “MartinK1979” from PokerStars leads despite his -$875 showing for the year over second place “GalloFX” from Full Tilt Poker, who has lost $3,560 in 2009.  Obviously, these votes might be more sentimental in nature more than anything, but it will be interesting to see who wins out in this category.  Finally, in the Micro Stakes Omaha category, “MRobot” from PokerStars leads despite his -$534 result in 2009.

All online poker players are highly encouraged to visit PokerTableRatings and cast their ten free votes to have a voice in the Player of the Year race.  Winners will be announced shortly after voting concludes on New Year’s Eve.

PokerStars ANZPT Season 2 Schedule Announced

The first six events of Season 2 of the PokerStars-sponsored Australia New Zealand Poker Tour (ANZPT) were announced in recent days, with Adelaide set to host the first event from February 9th to 14th.

The buy-in for the kickoff tournament of the tour’s second season weighs in at AUD $3,000 and the festivities will be held at the Adelaide Casino. The venue’s Poker Manager, David Galpin, commented in a press release distributed by the world’s largest online poker site, “We are looking forward to the return of the ANZPT in Adelaide after the wonderful success of the first year and we are excited to see the event grow and flourish.” The Main Event is capped at 360 players and preliminary tournaments will get underway in the Australian city on February 2nd.

In an interesting rule found on the ANZPT’s website, iPods are not allowed at the Adelaide event due to government policy. In addition, the casino has a strict stance against string betting and out of turn bettors will forfeit their contribution to the pot should they ultimately choose to fold. Poker players who win their way in through PokerStars will tour wineries and other nearby attractions during their trip.

After Adelaide, a brand new ANZPT event in Perth will play out, with the Burswood Entertainment Complex serving as the epicenter of the Australian poker market beginning on March 17th. The AUD $2,500 buy-in Main Event will name a champion four days later and the field is capped at 300 runners. On the new event, Jason Barry, General Manager of Table Games at Burswood Entertainment Complex, commented in the same release, “We feel this is just what our players have been waiting for and we expect big numbers will take part in the first PokerStars.net ANZPT Perth tournament.”

A total of five events made up Season 1 of the ANZPT, which kicked off in February in Adelaide. Tournaments followed in Sydney, Melbourne, Queenstown, and Queensland. In the finale of ANZPT Season 1, Scott Kerr earned AUD $168,075 for defeating a field of 249 players back in August. The largest field during Season 1 turned out in Sydney, where nearly 500 players took to the felts. The conclusion of that event saw Paren Arzoomanian scoop the AUD $246,500 first place prize.

A combined 1,309 players took part in Season 1 events and nearly $3 million in prize money was doled out. Here is the schedule for what promises to be a lively Season 2 on the PokerStars-backed ANZPT:

ANZPT Adelaide: Adelaide Casino
February 9th to 14th
Buy-in: AUD $3,000

ANZPT Perth: Burswood Entertainment Complex
March 17th to 21st
Buy-in: AUD $2,500

ANZPT Sydney: Star City Casino
April 21st to 25th
Buy-in: AUD $2,200

ANZPT Queenstown: Sky City Queenstown
July 17th to 25th
Buy-in: NZD $2,500

ANZPT Gold Coast: Conrad Jupiters
August 11th to 15th
Buy-in: AUD $2,500

ANZPT Melbourne: Crown Casino
October 8th to 11th
Buy-in: TBD

More stops will likely be added to Season 2 of the ANZPT, although no further information was available at the time of writing. A tournament leaderboard held during the first season of the tour saw Tony Hachem emerge victorious after cashing in four of the five ANZPT Season 1 events. For his leaderboard win, Hachem took home entry into Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT) events as well as the 2010 Aussie Millions. Chris Levick, who finished in second place on the leaderboard, gained entry into every ANZPT Season 2 event.

In addition to the ANZPT and APPT, PokerStars also sponsors the European Poker Tour (EPT), Latin American Poker Tour (LAPT), Italian Poker Tour (IPT), Czech-Slovak Poker Tour (CSPT), Russian Poker Tour (RPT), and U.K. and Ireland Poker Tour (UKIPT).

Top 5 of 2009: Yevgeniy Timoshenko’s Year

With an eye on the great poker personalities that have made the scene and the interesting fodder they’ve provided for us over the past 12 months, we’ve come up with our very own Top 5 Poker News Stories of 2009.

The plan is to present them to you every other day from now until New Year’s Eve and we continue today with No. 4: Yevgeniy Timoshenko’s Year.

Yevgeniy Timoshenko started playing poker online when he was just 15 years old.

With wins in the PokerStars Sunday Million, the daily $100 rebuy and the Sunday $200 rebuy online, plus solid live results in prelims at the Irish Poker Open, Paris Open, the Aussie Millions, World Series of Poker Europe, EPT Barcelona and a win in the 2008 APPT Macau main event, he was a poker-made millionaire even before his 21st birthday.

But it’s the feats he accomplished soon after turning 21 that suddenly has the entire world convinced he is one of poker’s brightest new stars.

With the smell of spring in the Las Vegas air, the Ukranian-born and Washington State raised Timoshenko proved he was a force to be reckoned with this past April, winning more than $2.1 million and one of poker’s most prestigious crowns at the Season 7 WPT Championship.

This one win would have been enough to cement his status as one of the game’s young greats, but Timoshenko’s year had just begun.

His summer was spent collecting close to $100k in cashes from the 2009 World Series of Poker, but another massive score was right around the corner.

The PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker main event is by far the most coveted online title in the game and this September, Timoshenko booked the win, adding $1.7 million to his online MTT winnings.

PokerListings caught up with the budding superstar just weeks later as he found himself among the leaders in the final 36 of the WSOPE main event.

At the time, he explained how his game was designed for both the virtual felt and the kind you can touch and feel.

"I think my game is very adaptable to both online and live play," he said. "If you are just good at reading people you are not going to have as much success online and if you're only good at the math and playing ABC, you might do well online, but you're probably not going to do well live."

Winning two of poker’s biggest tournaments in a single year has obviously helped Timoshenko earn a few fans, especially among his peers.

“Yevgeniy is one of, if not the best tournament player around,” said EPT San Remo and WSOP Bracelet winner Jason Mercier. “I really like his game. I got the chance to play against him for the first time live deep in a 1k event at Bellagio a few weeks ago. I was pretty much plowing through the entire field until he showed up at my table. We have similar styles, which makes him tough to play against.

“One of the things that makes him so good is that he is almost always one level above everyone else at the table. In my opinion, there is no one better at No-Limit Hold’em tournaments.”

With more than $2.2 million in live tournament earnings this year, and another $2.2 million won online, including two of the most prestigious titles on either stage, Yevgeniy Timoshenko’s year was an easy choice for No. 4 on PokerListings’ Top Five Poker News Stories of 2009.

PokerListings' Top Five Poker News Stories of 2009:

• No. 5: The Emergence of Luke Schwartz
  

Eric Baldwin (basebaldy) Signs with UB, Wins Player of the Year

On Tuesday, 2009 CardPlayer Player of the Year winner Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin became a sponsored pro of the USA-friendly online poker site UB.com. He defeated Cornel Andrew Cimpan and Yevgeniy “Jovial Gent” Timoshenko in the Player of the Year race.

In April, Baldwin came out on top of the field in a $2,500 No Limit Hold’em event held during the Venetian Deep Stack Extravaganza and earned $198,000. The colossal six-figure score set up a monumental run at this year’s World Series of Poker (WSOP). Baldwin won his first bracelet by besting Danish pro Jonas Klausen in a $1,500 buy-in Limit Hold’em event to the tune of $521,000. About a week later, he grabbed third in the $10,000 buy-in World Championship of Pot Limit Hold’em, boosting his bankroll by another $259,000.

After the 2009 WSOP, Baldwin’s quest to take down the CardPlayer Player of the Year title hit full stride. He told Poker News Daily, “"At the start of the year at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, my friends and I were talking about how much fun it would be to chase after that award. I like the structure of a competition like that. It’s so much fun to me. It gives me a goal and something to work with. At the end of the WSOP, I thought it could be my year." In October, Baldwin final tabled the Ultimate Bet Aruba Poker Classic for $126,000. This month, he padded his resume by winning a $1,000 buy-in preliminary event held during the Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic for $256,000.

He was rewarded for his efforts with a contract from UB.com, where he’ll play under the moniker “eric_baldwin,” abandoning his “basebaldy” nickname for the time being. On the November re-launch of UB.com, Baldwin told Poker News Daily, “I thought everything looked slick. I like the new logo and everything runs smoothly. I like the new website and the new features with videos of the pros. We’re going to get into some strategy things on the site that will help people a lot. Everything looks slick, runs slick, and it’s exciting.” UB.com makes its home on the CEREUS Network along with Absolute Poker. Both online poker rooms are owned by Tokwiro Enterprises.

Baldwin is a former baseball player from Wisconsin and will appear on this week’s installment of the UB.com poker news show “Poker2Nite.” He joins a cast of characters at UB.com that already includes Poker News Daily Guest Columnist Annie Duke, 11-time WSOP bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth, Billy “Patrolman35” Kopp, Bryan “badbeatninja” Devonshire, Brandon Cantu, PokerRoad’s Joe Sebok, Matt “mattg1983” Graham, Michael Binger, and “Amazing Race” contestant Tiffany Michelle.

The site’s marquee poker tournament is the $200,000 Guaranteed, a $215 buy-in event that takes place every Sunday at 4:00pm ET. Over the weekend, JohnnyCashGame earned $45,000 for outlasting the 1,014-player field, defeating Bonezee heads-up. All was not lost for Bonezee, however, as the UB.com member received a $27,000 consolation prize. The top 99 players finished in the money and the tournament is also open to customers of Absolute Poker.

In a press release announcing Baldwin’s signing, Duke commented, "Eric Baldwin isn't just a new UB pro, he is UB. Eric loves this game more than anything in the world, he plays to win, and he's respected for his passion at the tables. We really couldn't be more ecstatic to have the Player of the Year on our team." Besides Baldwin, Cimpan, and Timoshenko, others in the top ten on the 2009 CardPlayer Player of the Year leaderboard include Vitaly Lunkin, World Poker Tour Five Diamond Champion Daniel Alaei, Jason Mercier, and 2009 WSOP Main Event winner Joe Cada.

According to CardPlayer, Baldwin earned nearly 7,000 Player of the Year Points in 2009 and piled up $1.5 million in earnings.

PokerStars Plans World Record Attempt

The site has already set the record twice – first in December 2008 when 35,000 players bought in and again in July of this year when 65,000 players from 155 different countries took part.

Sanctioned by the Guinness Book of World Records, PokerStars’ next attempt will be a $1 No-Limit Hold’em tournament on Dec. 27 at 2:45 p.m. ET.

To help try and draw players, PokerStars is guaranteeing a first prize of $50,000 and a total prize pool of $300,000. The top 30,000 players will make the money.

“Players really enjoy these events, and so do we,” said PokerStars’ Tournaments Team Leader Bryan Slick. “There is a real thrill when the tournament begins and everyone realizes just how many people are taking part from all over the world.”

Registration is already open under the ‘Tourney’ and ‘Special’ tabs on the site.

Late registration will not be available.

PokerStars Million Dollar Challenge Winner Mike Kosowski Recaps Win

On the December 27th episode of the FOX poker game show “PokerStars.net Million Dollar Challenge,” Mike Kosowski, a first responder on September 11th, 2001, defeats Daniel Negreanu heads-up to earn $1 million. He sat down with Poker News Daily to recap his run.

Poker News Daily: Tell us how you earned a spot on the “PokerStars.net Million Dollar Challenge.”

Mike Kosowski: I think my dog, Joe DiMaggio, was one of the reasons I made it so far. When I won the 16,000-person online tournament, they tell you to make a video. I had an idea to use my dog. My son taped it and we put the dogs on the poker table with us. I said, “Sometimes, we can’t find enough people for a game.” The game happens to be Bella, my son’s dog, winning with a royal flush.

PokerStars liked it so much that they called me back. They re-interviewed me and told me I’d be an alternate. I flew to California hoping that I’d get on and, sure enough, I got picked as the first alternate. I lost and thought it was all over with, but they needed a fourth person for a sit and go to face Daniel Negreanu and I beat that field of three. I did well and got my shot against Negreanu, who is probably one of the best pros in the game today.

PND: How’d you convince your wife to let you film on your wedding anniversary?

Mike Kosowski: We were going out to put a down payment on a space for our 25th wedding anniversary when I got the e-mail saying that I was picked. She asked what I wanted to do and she knew it was my dream. She said when we get back, we’ll have the party, and that’s what happened. When you think about the odds, I have to consider myself to be one of the luckiest guys in the world. I survived 9/11 and the odds of me getting out of there that day were tremendous. Then, I won the show.

PND: Do you have any plans for the money?

Kosowski: The dog will get new bowls and bigger bones for Christmas. We’re talking to a financial planner right now. I was on a fixed income being retired before this. I’ll put away some for my son’s college and my daughter’s wedding. We’re also donating to two charities, the Families of Freedom Scholarship Fund and City Harvest.

PND: How did you get started in poker?

Mike Kosowki: I read “Super System” 1 and 2 and started getting serious around 2005. That’s when I showed my wife. I was watching the World Series of Poker and playing online. I walked upstairs and changed the channel on the television. My wife watched for about a half-hour and said that Daniel Negreanu was pretty good. I said I’d be playing against him one day and will beat him. Seven to ten days later, I had a dream about it. She thought I was losing it.

PND: You seemed to get run over by Joanna Krupa in your first match of the “PokerStars.net Million Dollar Challenge.” Did you take away anything from it that helped you succeed down the stretch?

Mike Kosowski: I was very nervous. Daniel was my coach and I lost. What happened was that I out-bet myself out of the game. I was backing out of a lot of hands and, even when I had a decent hand right before the end with A-7, she re-raised me and I folded. I got stuck with 6-9 and had to call. I was that low on chips and she beat me.

After that, the nervousness was over with. I thought the tournament was over for me anyway. We did the sit and go for a spot at the final table in another location and I knew I wouldn’t lose if I sat back and played my game. The sit and go went well for me. I had trip tens and trip aces to knock people out. Everything worked well in the first sit and go. In the second sit and go, which was for the shot to play Daniel, I was nervous again. I told myself that if I don’t stay aggressive, then I’m a loser. I caught some great cards to start and when I was chip leader, it was easy to make a few calls.

PND: How often do you play poker? Will you play more as a result of this win?

Mike Kosowki: I play $1 and $2 games with a few buddies of mine once a week and I haven’t been to Atlantic City in about six months. I chopped a tournament down there three years ago and go about three times a year. I’m not much of a big gambler, but I like to play online. I don’t think that’ll change much now.

The great news was that after I won, PokerStars offered me the chance to go to the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure for the Main Event. I’ll be bringing the whole family and get a shot at that tournament. I never thought in my life I’d be in a $10,000 tournament. My dad always told me never to bet anything more than what is in your pocket. I’m grateful to the people at PokerStars for letting me go.

The Season 1 finale of “PokerStars.net Million Dollar Challenge” airs on Sunday, December 27th following NFL coverage on FOX.

Allen Kessler Wins 2009 Bayou Poker Challenge Championship

Allen “Chainsaw” Kessler emerged as the champion of the Main Event of the Bayou Poker Challenge at Harrah’s New Orleans. A total of 80 players turned out for the $3,120 buy-in tournament and Kessler earned $71,000 after a four-way chop.

In addition to the prize money, Kessler took home a $10,000 seat into the 2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event in Las Vegas and $1,000 to use for travel expenses. In November of 2008, Kessler made the final table of the WSOP Circuit Championship at Harvey’s Lake Tahoe for $31,00. He claimed his first gold ring one year prior after defeating a field of 522 players in a $500 buy-in No Limit Hold’em event for $73,000. Kessler has shined on the World Poker Tour (WPT), where he’s made two final tables, including a third place showing in the Season 4 WPT Invitational for $20,000. In Season 5, he finished sixth at Foxwoods for $136,000.

Kessler entered the final table in New Orleans at the Bayou Poker Challenge as a 2:1 chip leader over his next closest competitor and never looked back. Taking ninth place in the Crescent City was Phil Hall, a 61 year-old software engineer. Hall hit the rails less than a half-hour into final table play after coming out on the losing end of a race with pocket fives against A-K when a king hit, but earned $8,300.

The next to go was Will “The Monkey” Souther, a pro from nearby Biloxi, Mississippi. In his final hand, Souther pushed all-in with pocket jacks, but ran into pocket kings. The better hand held and Souther was sent packing, $9,400 richer for his wear. Taking seventh place was Ben “The Destroyer” Mintz, who entered the final table as the third largest stack. He ultimately ran Q-J into pocket queens, earning $11,000.

Justin “Lockdowntex” Allen made history by finishing in sixth place at Harrah’s New Orleans. Allen took down last year’s Bayou Poker Challenge Championship to the tune of $158,000 and, when combined with a final table appearance at a WSOP Circuit Event Championship held in May at Harrah’s New Orleans, has made three straight Main Event feature tables at the casino. His sixth place finish this year was worth $13,000.

Fifth place in the 2009 Bayou Poker Challenge Championship went to Michael “Car Wash” Schneider. He was the field’s shortest stack entering the final table, but rebounded to earn $16,000. Four-handed, an undisclosed deal was forged. Officially taking fourth was Jim McBride, who earned $19,000. Third place belonged to Moutray McLaren, a poker pro from South Carolina. The official third place payout was $28,000.

Second place after the deal went to Ed Corrado, a retired player from Florida. He banked $44,000, falling short of only Kessler. The tournament’s ultimate champion told Bayou Poker Challenge officials following his win, “I really like supporting these events. These are great structures. It’s one of the best tournament structures I’ve seen for this buy-in amount.” Kessler then purportedly headed to the high-limit gaming area of Harrah’s New Orleans to celebrate.

Going on concurrently with the Bayou Poker Challenge Championship, and perhaps taking away from some of its luster, was an NFL game between the undefeated New Orleans Saints and the Dallas Cowboys. The Cowboys upended the Saints to snap the team’s perfect season on Saturday night in one of the biggest upsets of the 2009 NFL schedule. On Sunday, the city played host to the New Orleans Bowl between Southern Mississippi and Middle Tennessee State, with the latter winning the 42-32 shootout. Both games were played inside the Louisiana Superdome.

Harrah’s New Orleans serves as the final stop of the 2009-2010 WSOP Circuit schedule. The festivities begin at the urban casino on May 7th.

Daniel Alaei Wins WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic

Poker pro Daniel Alaei took down the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic on Saturday night, earning $1.4 million and a $25,000 seat into the end-of-season WPT Championship.

On the 47th hand of final table play, online poker pro Stephen “MrTimCaum” O’Dwyer was sent packing from the Bellagio, the site of the WPT Five Diamond. O’Dwyer shoved his 19 big blind stack in with A-6 of diamonds, but ran into poker pro Scotty Nguyen’s wired pair of jacks. The flop came jack-high, giving Nguyen top set and O’Dwyer bottom pair. An ace on the turn left the at-risk O’Dwyer calling for another ace on the river, but a four fell to send him to the exits. O’Dwyer earned $202,000 for his efforts.

Sixty hands later, Nguyen departed after shoving over the top of a raise by Josh Arieh. Online poker star Faraz “The-Toilet” Jaka, who had entered the final table as the chip leader, moved all-in over the top of Nguyen and Arieh folded. At risk, Nguyen showed pocket nines, but Jaka turned over pocket kings for a 4:1 edge pre-flop. The board ran out A-J-8-2-8 and Jaka scooped the pot with kings-up. The Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic marked Nguyen’s eighth WPT final table and he earned $249,000.

The next to go was Shawn Buchanan, who pushed his 10 big blind stack into the middle with K-8, but Alaei’s A-K left him drawing thin. The board came 9-7-3-9-J, which was no help to Buchanan, and Alaei scooped the pot. Three-handed, Arieh held a commanding chip lead with an arsenal of 10.6 million, while Alaei’s second place stack totaled 5.4 million. Jaka, meanwhile, had a stack of 3.7 million entering three-handed play.

Jaka busted in third place after committing his chips pre-flop with A-6 and running into the pocket kings of Alaei. The flop came K-10-5, leaving Jaka calling for running straight cards, but an eight on the turn and four on the river sealed his fate. Jaka was the runner-up in the Bellagio Cup V in July, where he earned $774,000. On Saturday, he added another $571,000 to his bankroll.

Heading into heads-up play, Arieh held a 2:1 chip lead, but quickly doubled up Alaei after coming out on the short end of a race with A-K against Alaei’s pocket queens. The board came jack-high, giving Alaei the pot and a 3:1 chip lead just two hands into heads-up play. Arieh then doubled after sucking out on A-Q with A-7 when a seven hit on the turn. The two poker veterans were nearly even in chips at that point.

However, Alaei ultimately emerged victorious in the final WPT tournament of 2009. Arieh pushed all-in with pocket sevens on a flop of 10-5-2 and Alaei made the call with 10-8 for top pair. The turn came a six and Arieh needed one of two remaining sevens in the deck to stave off elimination. However, the river came an eight, giving Alaei two pair and his first WPT title. Arieh earned a $952,000 consolation prize, while Alaei boosted his bankroll by $1.4 in his first WPT final table appearance.

Here were the final table results from the WPT Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic:

1. Daniel Alaei - $1,428,430
2. Josh Arieh - $952,290
3. Faraz “The-Toilet” Jaka - $571,374
4. Shawn Buchanan - $333,302
5. Scotty Nguyen - $249,976
6. Stephen “MrTimCaum” O'Dwyer - $202,362

The first tournament for the WPT in 2010 is the Southern Poker Championship, which will emanate from the Beau Rivage Resort and Casino in Biloxi, Mississippi. The event kicks off on January 24th and crowns a champion three days later.

Alaei: Out of Bobby’s Room and Into a WPT Title

“This is great,” Alaei said moments after the win Saturday. “I’ve been wanting one of these for a while. I was basically the only one of my friends that didn’t have one, now I’ve got one and it feels great.”

The tournament began at Bellagio this past Monday with 329 players entering the fray by time registration closed.

But it did so without the eventual champion, who chose to spend Day 1 letting his stack be blinded off while he stuck it out in Bobby’s Room in a cash game with noted whale and Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberté.

Alaei immediately went to work Tuesday building a big stack that put him contention before making a final six Friday pundits dubbed one of the toughest in tour history.

When play got going just after 4 p.m. Saturday, short staked online pro Steve O’Dwyer moved up the leader board with a few well timed shoves, but soon ran into Scotty Nguyen and a pair of jacks pushing with A♦ 6♦.

Nguyen flopped a set, and although O’Dwyer picked up two pair on the turn, the river bricked to bounce him sixth.

Nguyen could not hold on to those chips, however, falling below the two million mark before open shoving with nines.

WPT Bellagio Cup runner-up Faraz Jaka made the easy call with kings and after a board of blanks, the Prince of Poker was forced to settle for fifth place money in his sixth WPT final table appearance.

Shawn Buchanan then dropped out fourth in his attempt at a second WPT win, shoving short with K♥ 8♦ and running smack into Alaei’s A♣ K♦.

A short stacked Josh Arieh doubled up twice early to jump back into contention and scooped a more than 3 million chip pot calling down a naked Jaka bluff with just ace-high to move into the chip lead.

A tough heads-up opponent.

 

Despite not being involved in any of the bust-out hands, all the chips seemed to end up in Josh Arieh’s stack, and just after play went three-handed, he had an almost 3:1 chip lead on Alaei and Jaka combined.

Alaei moved on to heads-up with Arieh, calling Jaka’s A♠ 6♥ shove with kings and flopping a set to send Jaka home third in a hand the 26-year-old Santa Fe Springs, California native described as critical.

“That was extremely crucial,” he explained. “I knew I wanted to get heads-up with Josh, but if Josh would have busted him I would have only had 3 million to his 16 million and that would have been really tough.”

Arieh, a two-time WSOP bracelet winner making his second WPT final table appearance, still held an almost 2:1 chip lead when heads-up began, but it didn’t last long.

In just the second hand of heads-up play the two combatants found themselves in a classic race with Alaei all in holding queens and Arieh on big slick.

The queens held and suddenly Alaei was the one in charge.

“There was really nothing we could do - Two queens against ace-king,” he said. “It just kind of played out and I’m happy to be the one standing here.”

Alaei gave back some chips when Arieh sucked out with a dominated ace, but eventually made a huge call with top pair against Arieh’s under-pair to book the $1,428,430 win.

Alaei, who has two WSOP bracelets and is a regular in the Big Game and TV’s High Stakes Poker, said the experience he has playing in the world’s biggest cash games paid great dividends.

“I’m more used to the swings,” he said. “I’m used to big money changing hands. That makes you more comfortable and that definitely had to give me an advantage here.”

Big Names Fill WPT Final

The name on the marquee is Scotty Nguyen, making his sixth WPT final table in an attempt to book his second win.

Should he bank the $1.5 million for first, Nguyen would also become one of only four players in poker history to reach the $12 million career earnings mark, moving up to fourth on the all-time list.

Nguyen was among the tournament’s leaders in the late stages Wednesday before bleeding off the majority of his stack on an open–ended straight draw that missed.

However, the 1998 World Series of Poker Main Event champion made a miraculous comeback Friday to move into second on the leader board heading into Friday’s final.

“I’m not going to roll over and die because of one hand,” Nguyen told PokerListings. “Scotty’s not going to go away. I gave away two million yesterday, but I told them I was going to come back today and collect with interest. Now I have 4 million and I feel good, baby.”

The man in the lead going into the final six is also becoming a familiar face here on the WPT.

The-Toilet.

 

Faraz “The-Toilet” Jaka, who has earned over $1 million lifetime online, made second at the WPT Bellagio Cup this past July and finds himself in a similar spot going into the final – on top.

“It is a bit like déjà vu,” he said. “The experience will definitely help. I feel like I have a good handle on what’s going to happen, how people are going to react and how they’re going to play.”

Sitting third in chips is two-time WSOP bracelet winner Daniel Alaei.

Although Alaei is making his first WPT final table appearance, the high stakes cash-game pro, who was actually blinded out all of Day 1 here at Bellagio because he didn’t want to step away from a cash game that included noted whale Guy Laliberte, said he’s feeling confident.

“I’ve played lot of these so this feels great,” he said. “I’m feeling confident, fresh, healthy, well rested and focused.”

Thanks to a virtual triple-up that set the final six, eliminating Joe Cassidy seventh, 2007 WPT Mandalay Bay winner Shawn Buchanan will come into Saturday’s final table with a legitimate shot at his second title.

The Canadian said he’s as ready as ever to play in front of the cameras again.

The Buch stops here.

 

“The first one I wasn’t even that nervous for some reason,” he said. “It’s just poker. Once the cards hit the air you have to do the same thing you always have.”

Currently fifth in chips heading into his second WPT final table is Full Tilt Pro Josh Arieh.

With two WSOP bracelets, numerous final tables and deep cashes, he’s feeling as confident as anyone could with a shorter stack.

“I feel like I’m playing as good as I ever have,” he said. “And I’m confident I’m going to make the best decisions I can with my stack.”

Finally, rounding out the final six is Steve O’Dwyer. The online pro has been around the World Poker Tour for a few years, but this is his first chance at a big score.

“Finally I did it,” he said. “This is actually my first WPT cash as well. I mean, I’ve played a lot of these and haven’t really had much success until now, so this feels pretty good.”

With a $1.5 million first-place prize on the line, one of these already storied pros will be adding something big to his resume Saturday.

To find out who will book the win at the WPT Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic, tune into PokerListings’ Live Updates beginning at 4 p.m. Saturday.

Curt Kohlberg, Faraz Jaka Lead WPT Five Diamond Entering Play Down Day

The final six players in the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic will be determined today from the Bellagio in Las Vegas. Leading the way with 16 to go are Curt Kohlberg and Faraz “The-Toilet” Jaka.

In one of the final pots of the evening on Thursday, Jaka battled against Season 7 L.A. Poker Classic third place finisher Mike “SowersUNCC” Sowers. After a flop of Q-7-3, Jaka bet out 90,000 and Sowers made the call to see a deuce hit the turn. Jaka once again fired at the pot, this time for 240,000, and Sowers came along. The action went check-check after a river king and Jaka exposed K-4 for top pair to scoop the pot. Earlier in the day, Jaka doubled up at the expense of Scotty Nguyen after flopping middle set against Nguyen’s open-ended straight draw. The turn and river blanked for Nguyen and Jaka boosted his stack to 2.2 million before ending at nearly 2.8 million.

Kohlberg, meanwhile, took down pot after pot on Thursday at the Bellagio to secure his spot atop the leaderboard entering the play down day. In one hand, he tangled with Lock Poker pro Matt “All In At 420” Stout. Kohlberg led out for 55,000 on a flop of 7-2-2 and Stout raised to 165,000. Kohlberg called to see a three hit the turn. The action went check-check to a river four and Kohlberg check-called a sizable 225,000-chip bet from Stout. Kohlberg flipped over pocket nines, which was enough to scoop the pot. He ended with nearly 2.9 million, tops in the Five Diamond field.

On his Day 4, Kohlberg told WPT Live Updates Hostess Amanda Leatherman after play had concluded, “It was a long day. There were a lot of really good players and I was just trying to pick my spots. Fortunately, it worked out.” In November at the WPT’s last tournament, Kohlberg made the final table of the Foxwoods World Poker Finals, taking fifth place for $199,000. He also made the final table of the Grand Prix de Paris in 2005, earning $112,000 for his fifth place showing in the European tournament.

Among those who hit the rails on Thursday after the money bubble burst in the $15,000 buy-in tournament were Stout (20th place for $28,569), Antonio Esfandiari (23rd place for $28,569), Steve Brecher (25th place for $28,569), and DoylesRoom Brunson 10 member Amit “amak316” Makhija (26th place for $28,569). As it stands now, 16 players remain and the average chip stack is 1.2 million. Here’s a look at the field as Day 5 kicks off on Friday:

1. Curt Kohlberg - 2,856,000
2. Faraz “The-Toilet” Jaka - 2,768,000
3. Daniel Alaei - 2,422,000
4. John Juanda - 1,851,000
5. Chad “lilholdem954” Batista - 1,550,000
6. Joe Cassidy - 1,445,000
7. Josh Arieh - 1,067,000
8. Shawn Buchanan - 1,007,000
9. Stephen “MrTimCaum” O’Dwyer - 826,000
10. Carter “ckingusc” King - 805,000
11. Eric Hershler - 796,000
12. Mike “SowersUNCC” Sowers - 661,000
13. Matthew Waxman - 641,000
14. Joseph “BigEgypt” Elpayaa - 446,000
15. Scotty Nguyen - 339,000
16. Lee Salem - 275,000

The final 16 represents a star-studded group on the WPT circuit, as 10 of them have made final tables before: Kohlberg, Jaka, Juanda, Cassidy, Arieh, Buchanan, Hershler, Sowers, Nguyen, and Salem. Each of the remaining players is assured at least a $38,092 payday. Here are the paydays up for grabs at the six-handed televised final table, which will air on Fox Sports Net:

1st Place: $1,428,430
2nd Place: $952,290
3rd Place: $571,374
4th Place: $333,302
5th Place: $249,976
6th Place: $202,362

We’ll have complete results of the WPT Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic right here on Poker News Daily.

Nguyen on Winning

But it’s more than money that motivates him.

“It’s not the money,” he told PokerListings. “When you win tournaments, fame and money come with it. For me it’s so important to bring home the title. You want to show the world you still have it, you can come out and compete.”

Competing is exactly what Nguyen has done this week at the WPT Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic.

From a field filled with 329 of the biggest names in poker, just 16 players are still in the hunt for an almost $1.5 million first-place prize headed into Day 5 Friday.

Nguyen was among the leaders before a late fall from grace that has him short stacked.

However, he still retains a shot at making the final table and booking the win.

Nguyen’s $10,705,581 in career earnings has him sixth on poker’s all-time money winners’ list and a win at Bellagio this week would push him up to fourth all-time above Phil Hellmuth and only below Daniel Negreanu, Phil Ivey and 2006 Main Event champion Jamie Gold.

Nguyen has five World Series of Poker bracelets and this past April he finished sixth at the WPT Championship, marking his sixth WPT final table.

However, the 1998 WSOP Main Event champion still feels like he has to fight for respect.

“I get older and people lose respect,” the 48-year-old Las Vegas resident said. “They say I don’t have my game no more, I’m scared. All those young guns, 21 or 22 years old, they have big hearts, but Scotty has a bigger one, baby.

“They got nothing to lose. They’re bluffing you, they try to embarrass you and laugh at you. They say I’m too old and I should retire, but I don’t let that bother me. I let my game show them, baby. You can laugh all you want, but I am the one laughing all the way to the bank.”

Things haven’t always been roses for Nguyen. There was public scorn over a rather embarrassing finish to the 2008 WSOP $50k H.O.R.S.E. event where he has admitted his emotions and alcohol got the best of him.

Plus, like all poker players, he’s had downswings and periods when it felt like he would never win again.

But the man they call the Prince of Poker, who fled his native Vietnam in 1978 for the United States, says it’s the tough times that have made him a better poker player, and a better person.

“When you hit hard times and things don’t go your way, it can only make you become stronger,” he explained. “When my back is against the wall and I look around and say ‘what am I doing, I can’t win, what happened to me?’ I just rewind and think about what I’ve been doing wrong and know that I have to change it.

“Hard times, that’s what you learn from.”

When the cards hit the air at Bellagio Friday at 12 p.m. PT and the play down to the final six commences, Nguyen will have just one thing on his mind – Winning.

“I’ve seen it all in poker: Good times, bad times, happiness, sadness,” he said. “I just want to let everybody know, Scotty still has it. I have to go out there and show them. Not just talk about, anybody can say it, I want to show the people.

“I just have to trust myself and go out there and show it.”

To follow Nguyen and all the action from the WPT Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic, tune into PokerListings’ Live Updates.

World Poker Tour Five Diamond Classic: The Field Shrinks Dramatically While Alaei Crushes

A Tough Year for durrrr

The Boston University-dropout turned online high stakes poster boy is down more than $6 million dollars in the nosebleed games in 2009.

But the man they call durrrr, who booked a $5.5 million profit playing high-stakes online the year before, says anyone who thinks this is more than a temporary downswing, is welcome to put their money where their mouth is.

“It hasn’t been the best year,” he admitted to PokerListings during a break in play at the WPT Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic, where he appears primed for a deep run.

“But if anyone doesn’t think that it’s a downswing then they are welcome to cross book me in any game I play in. That’s all I have to say.”

Dwan has played very few live tournaments in 2009, which accounts for his less than $80k in tournament cashes on the year.

However, a newly minted deal with Team Full Tilt should see him hit the live tournament felt with a little more regularity going forward.

“I’m going to play a few more because of Full Tilt,” he explained. “I kind of wanted to play a few more tournaments anyway and Full Tilt’s a good reason to do so. So I’m probably going to be playing a bunch of them.”

One might think that a player who contests single pots worth more than final table money at the average World Poker Tour event would be less than motivated to grind the tournament circuit, but Dwan finds a way to get up for it.

“Lots of side bets,” he laughed. “And I’m trying to make more and more of them. So far I have $240k if I win and I’m trying to get some more somewhere.

“If you can get winning to be where it’s worth $4 or $5 million, for anyone but Brian Hastings that takes more than a day, so it’s worth it.”

But even with the motivation to play more live events and the down year he’s been having online, Dwan said he won’t be shying away from the high-stakes scene come 2010.

“Seems like the way to win the most gold,” he said. “So I’ll definitely be doing that.”

When play wrapped on Day 2 of the WPT Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic Tuesday with approximately 130 players remaining, Dwan found himself on the top half of the leader board and threatening a run at the title and its $1,428,430 first-place prize.

To follow his progress and comprehensive coverage of the entire WPT Five Diamond, tune into PokerListings’ Live Updates.

Online Poker Star Darryll Fish Leads WPT Five Diamond After Day 1

After a month-long hiatus, the World Poker Tour (WPT) returned to action on Monday with the Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic. A total of 292 players entered, with registration still open on Day 2, and all but 57 survived the day.

Darryll “DFish” Fish leads the pack after one day of play in Las Vegas, holding a stack of 236,000, a slight lead over the second place total of Jon “PearlJammer” Turner, one of the top minds in poker. Turner holds 227,000 chips and will headline Table 45 on Tuesday, where a cast that includes Chad “lilholdem954” Batista, Absolute Poker pro Mark Seif, and Jared “TheWacoKidd” Hamby will join him.

Fish made waves on Monday by knocking out defending WPT Five Diamond champion David “Chino” Rheem. Rheem found himself all-in on a flop of 7-5-3 with two hearts holding 6-4 for the stone cold nuts. Fish had pocket threes for bottom set and, rooting for the board to pair to make a full house, watched as the turn came another seven. Fish’s stack grew to over 150,000 after all was said and done in the hand and Rheem hit the rails. Rheem was a member of the inaugural World Series of Poker (WSOP) November Nine in a final table won by Danish poker pro Peter Eastgate.

Fish has been on a tear online, winning an event held during the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) in September for well over $200,000. In April, he won the challenging Full Tilt Poker $1K Monday to the tune of $81,000 and three months later found the winner’s circle in the Daily Eighty Grand on PokerStars. Another online poker sensation, Billy “Patrolman35” Kopp, sits in fourth place at the Bellagio with a chip stack of 201,000. Here’s a look at the rather eclectic top ten in the WPT Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic after Day 1:

1. Darryl “DFish” Fish - 236,625
2. Jon “PearlJammer” Turner - 227,325
3. David Woo - 205,000
4. Billy “Patrolman35” Kopp - 201,325
5. Carlos Mortensen - 194,525
6. Antonio Esfandiari - 184,225
7. Cory “UGOTPZD” Carroll - 184,025
8. Justin Tazelaar - 169,200
9. Nashaat Antonious - 164,100
10. David “Viffer” Peat - 160,000

Players can register through the midway point on Day 2, so the final attendance figure remains up in the air. As it stands now, however, the field size is off by a staggering 41% from last year’s tally of 497, which ended with Rheem defeating Justin Young for the title in the $15,000 buy-in tournament for $1.5 million. Coverage found on the official website of the WPT adds, “This tournament has more late registrants than most.”

Kopp sent crowd favorite Daniel Negreanu to the rails with pocket jacks against pocket tens. The flop fell J-9-8, giving Kopp top set and Negreanu an open-ended straight draw, but the turn and river bricked out for the PokerStars pro and sent him packing. Also eliminated on Monday was Jonathan “FieryJustice” Little, a former Player of the Year on the WPT circuit. Little flopped top two pair on a board of 9-7-3 with two hearts, but Soheil Shamseddin’s K-9 of hearts found a flush. The hand bumped Shamseddin’s stack to 95,000 and he ended the day with 120,000, good for 26th place. Other notable names in the top 50 on the leaderboard after Day 1 include:

11. David Benyamine – 157,000
12. Eric “Rizen” Lynch – 154,000
16. Jimmy “Gobboboy” Fricke – 145,000
24. Kenna James – 121,000
30. “Miami” John Cernuto – 117,000
33. Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin – 112,000
41. Cornel Andrew Cimpan – 107,000
44. Gavin Smith – 106,000
45. Bryan “badbeatninja” Devonshire – 105,000

When play concluded on Day 1, blinds were 300-600 with a 50 chip ante. Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest WPT coverage from the Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic.

Everest Poker Offers Players a Chance to Live the Dream

Popular poker room Everest Poker is aiming to kick off 2010 in style with the second installment of its Live the Dream promotion.  The contest gives qualifiers the chance to compete for one of ten sponsorship deals worth over $100,000.

Players could qualify for the event in one of three ways: tournament leaderboard races, cash game loyalty points races, or by direct-entry tournaments open to various countries.  The qualifying process is now over, but more than 200 players advanced to the next round of the promotion’s process.

The qualifiers are now being reviewed by Everest Poker staff to assess their poker skills, viability as a sponsored representative of the site, and popularity among the users of Everest Poker.  Players set up profiles on Everest Poker’s official website and others are able to view and vote on their favorite players.  Of the 200 plus qualifying players, 58 hailed from France, while Germany posted the second largest number of players with 29.  Other countries represented in the contest include Hungary, Japan, Brazil, Italy, Portugal, Britain, and Sweden.

The next step for qualifiers is to meet the Everest Poker staff in person.  Qualifiers will travel to the Palais Auersberg in Vienna, Austria for the final step before the top ten winners are selected.  Players who travel to Austria will be divided into two groups.  Group A begins the first day with five-minute taped interviews.  While players wait to be interviewed, they will be playing each other in cash games.  Meanwhile, Group B will play in sit and go tournaments.  After a brief break for lunch, the two groups will switch tasks.  At the end of the day, most of the players will be dismissed, but the top 20 will be asked to come back Sunday for an even more intensive interview process.

The top 20 will take part in 20-minute long interviews that will be reviewed by both Everest Poker staff and a panel of industry judges.  The top ten winners will be announced after dinner and will commence their year-long affiliation with the site with an official press conference.  As part of their deal, players will receive more than $30,000 to cover travel expenses as they travel the international poker circuit.  All ten of the players are set to take part in a number of tournaments, including the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event.

The first Living the Dream contest took part in 2008.  Some of the promotional winners included Steven van Zadlehoff of the Netherlands, Voitto Rintala of Finland, and Pablo Ubierna of Spain.  Prior to winning the Living the Dream promotion, Van Zadlehoff was already beginning to establish himself as a skilled poker player with a seventh place finish at the World Poker Tour (WPT) Spanish Championship in 2007 and an 11th place finish at the first annual WSOP Europe.  He also has five WSOP cashes to his credit.

Van Zadlehoff commented on his Live the Dream experience on Everest Poker’s official site.  ”If you get sent to the rails, you just look ahead to the next tournament and your next win. Live The Dream built more than my bankroll. It built my career,” he extolled.  Ubierna and Rintala echoed the sentiments, with all three agreeing that Live the Dream was a life changing and career-making opportunity.

Bodog Founder Calvin Ayre Featured in National Post

On Saturday, the National Post ran an article entitled “Calvin Ayre online gaming tycoon,” a profile of the founder of the popular online poker room, casino, and sports book Bodog. Ayre donned a Bodog Fight shirt for the interview’s image.

Diane Francis was tasked with interviewing Ayre in Antigua and the news outlet described the internet mogul as “semi-retired.” The article begins with Francis asking Ayre about the 2006 Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA), approved by better than a 3:1 edge in the House of Representatives before being attached to the SAFE Port Act at the urging of then-Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN). When asked if Canadian authorities had pursued Ayre in any capacity related to the 2006 law, he told the Post, "No. I haven't lived in Canada for ten years or been in the Canadian tax system. The legal system did not allow me to do this in Canada. Now I like living in the tropics.”

Ayre revealed that he owns the rights to the domain name Bodog.com and licenses the rights to the network to affiliates located around the globe. In the United States, for example, Morris Mohawk Gaming Group, a Canadian outfit, owns the rights to market the brand. After recently releasing “Survivor: China” castaway Jean-Robert Bellande, Bodog’s stable of poker pros currently stands at three: Evelyn Ng, Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo, and David Williams.

The Post then inquired about Bodog’s revenue figures. Ayre explained, "My current deals aren't revenue based and are all different structures which I don't talk about. Forbes audited our books and based the number on the same multiple that the British public companies were trading at, or more than $1.5 billion. In 2006, Bodog made US $320 million in revenues and 25% profit." After the UIGEA was passed into law, online poker sites with publicly traded parent companies like PartyPoker and Pacific Poker exited the market, leaving sites like Bodog, PokerStars, and Full Tilt Poker to pick up the slack.

On the current legality of online poker in the United States, Ayre told the Post, “Poker is not illegal to bet online in the U.S. because it's considered a skilled game. It's a gray area, but there are lots of American companies with poker sites.” This year, Bodog forged its own poker network and will purportedly begin accepting non-Bodog domains into its ranks next year. Jonas Odman, Vice President of the Bodog Network, told Poker News Daily that a “unique solution” to rakeback will help differentiate the family of sites from others in the industry.

In September, Ayre served as the keynote speaker at the Budapest Affiliate Conference. He told event organizers at the time, “I’m very flattered to have been asked to be this year’s keynote speaker in Budapest. The iGaming space is the birthplace of the Bodog brand, and it remains one of the must dynamic and fascinating sectors in the entertainment space.” In addition to Morris Mohawk, Bodog’s licensees include Bodog Europe and Bodog Asia. The former recently opened its doors to Canadian online poker players.

According to PokerScout.com, which keeps tabs on online poker room traffic, Bodog is the 15th largest site or network worldwide with a seven-day running average of 860 real money ring game players. During its peak hours, around 1,500 cash game players call the site home. Its traffic is comparable with that found on PKR and every Sunday, the site hosts its $100,000 Guaranteed, a $162 buy-in event that kicks off at 4:00pm ET. The tournament regularly sees a $20,000 to $30,000 overlay, with $29,000 kicked in by the site last week.

Read the entire Calvin Ayre interview with the National Post.

2009 WSOP Year in Review

When the late gaming legend Benny Binion brought the World Series of Poker (WSOP) on the world, little did he know what it would become. What began 40 years ago as a gathering of Texas road gamblers in a quaint Las Vegas hotel has grown to become a behemoth that now spans an entire calendar year. By 2009, the WSOP was no longer a week-long reunion, but rather a year-long caravan that traverses the United States and ventures across the Atlantic to play in England.

While many may still think the WSOP begins in June, it truly takes place year-round with the WSOP Circuit. Now in its fifth year, the WSOP Circuit was created to combat the drawing power and success of the World Poker Tour (WPT) and, for the most part, has been successful. In 2009, many Circuit events took place that brought special moments.

The WSOP Circuit could be considered the minor leagues of poker, offering previously unknown players a chance to make their name in the game. In addition, such professional players as Gavin Smith, Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi, Men “The Master” Nguyen, Matt “All In At 420” Stout, and Alex Bolotin made final tables during the run of the 2009 WSOP Circuit schedule prior to the start of the Las Vegas WSOP in May. Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo and Los Angeles poker veteran Jean “Prince” Gaspard took home WSOP Circuit championships, but perhaps the person who can say he “pwns” the Circuit is Dwyte Pilgrim.

Pilgrim began an unprecedented run by capturing the title at Harrah’s Rincon in San Diego in April and rolled off four consecutive cashes in WSOP Circuit Championship Events, something that no other player had ever done. With this performance, the Brooklyn, New York poker player established himself as one of the up and coming stars of poker.

Days after Gaspard’s triumph at the New Orleans WSOP Circuit Championship Event, the 40th Anniversary WSOP kicked off in Las Vegas at the Rio. With a new sponsor in Jack Links Beef Jerky, the 57 bracelet events drew combatants from around the world, with over 120 nations represented. While it wasn’t known when the cards first flew in late May, the 40th WSOP would go down as arguably one of the best of all time.

For the first time ever at the WSOP, a No Limit Texas Hold’em event was held that exceeded the traditional $10,000 Championship Event. The $40,000 Anniversary Special drew some of the top names in the game. Former World Champion Greg Raymer drove deep into the event before falling in third place. Eventual champion Vitaly Lunkin bested Isaac Haxton to take down the once in a lifetime championship.

In such a combative field over the multitude of events, there were an astounding four multiple bracelet winners during the 2009 WSOP. Full Tilt Poker could claim two in Phil Ivey and Greg “FBT” Mueller and Brock Parker announced his arrival on the poker world with his two bracelet victories. Making history, though, was poker veteran Jeffrey Lisandro; his three bracelet wins in different Stud disciplines were enough to enable him to capture the 2009 WSOP Player of the Year award.

The $10,000 Main Event drew a substantial field of 6,494, which would have been larger except for a Day 1D fiasco that prevented an estimated additional 500 players from participating. After two weeks of play, the poker world was once again set for the November Nine, with amateur poker player Darvin Moon leading a pack of players that included Ivey and fellow poker notable Jeff Shulman.

The £10,000 WSOP Europe Main Event drew 334 players and saw two members of the 2009 “November Nine,” Antoine Saout and James Akenhead, make the final table. Eventual champion Barry Shulman, the father of Jeff, defeated crowd favorite Daniel Negreanu via a stunning, rivered two-outer on the next to last hand of the tournament.

After the furor of WSOP Europe calmed down, the November Nine came back to the felt on November 7th to determine the next World Champion. Moon held his own at the final table, as Ivey was dismissed in seventh and Shulman departed in fifth. Saout made a stirring run at the title, starting as the short stack, but battling through adversity to finish third. The true story of the November Nine, though, was Joe Cada.

Cada rode a roller coaster through the final table, his chip stack surging up and down throughout the 14-hour battle. At one point, his stack was at 2.5 million, but he began a comeback for the ages.

With a tremendous chip lead, the youthful Cada, who was weaned on online play, seemed to be the odds-on favorite to take out Moon, who eschewed sponsorship from online poker rooms. It took a rousing two and a half hours of play, with the chip lead shifting back and forth, before Cada emerged as the champion. With the victory, Cada eclipsed the record for youngest WSOP Main Event champion ever, set in 2008 by Peter Eastgate.

The most stunning development of the year in the WSOP occurred after the completion of the November Nine. Longtime WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack announced on November 13th that he would step down as the leader of the penultimate event in poker after a four-year run. During his time as Commissioner, Pollack increased the visibility of the WSOP, brought huge sponsorships to the tournament, and introduced the November Nine concept to the Main Event. While there were some low points in his tenure as commissioner, Pollack helped to enrich the history of the WSOP and left his mark on the venerable institution. As of December, there has been no move to replace Pollack in the position of WSOP Commissioner.

As the calendar turns to 2010, the WSOP continues to roll along. Even now, people are already in preparation for the event, much as it has been for the past 40 years and will continue to be for decades to come.

Joe Cada Meets with More than 10 Lawmakers on Capitol Hill Visit

As the newest ambassador of the game, 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event champion Joe Cada met with more than 10 Congressmen on Capitol Hill on Monday in a visit sponsored by the Poker Players Alliance (PPA).

Cada could be found speaking with Representative Linda Sanchez (D-CA), Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Representative Allen Boyd (D-FL), Representative Kendrick Meek (D-FL), Representative Steve Cohen (D-TN), Representative Candice Miller (R-MI), Representative Joe Barton (R-TX), Representative Dean Heller (R-NV), Representative Gary Peters (D-MI), Representative Shelley Berkley (D-NV), and Senator Carl Levin (D-MI). Cada hails from Michigan and met with his two Senators and local Representative throughout the whirlwind one-day affair.

PPA Executive Director John Pappas told Poker News Daily, “There were a number of really good visits with lawmakers like Joe Barton and Linda Sanchez, who are avid poker players, so they got to talk a little poker and a little policy. Throughout the day, he probably met another half-dozen members of Congress.” Congressman Heller brought Cada onto the floor of the House of Representatives during a vote, giving the youngster a unique opportunity to witness the democratic process first-hand.

On Capitol Hill, Cada and his entourage bumped into Senator John Ensign (R-NV) and had a five-minute long conversation. Ensign serves as the counterpart to Harry Reid (D-NV), the current Senate Majority Leader. On Cada’s parade around Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, Pappas commented, “He doesn’t have the recognition that other pros we bring do, but he's just becoming a face on the scene. He was great from our perspective. He wasn't here to do the hard sell on public policy; he was here to give a good face to poker and tell his story.”

Cada became the youngest WSOP Main Event winner ever at age 21 in November, eclipsing Peter Eastgate’s standing record by one year. Cada and Eastgate are both card-carrying members of Team PokerStars Pro, which also includes other World Champions like Chris Moneymaker (2003), Greg Raymer (2004), and Australian Joe Hachem (2005). A bevy of news outlets met with Cada during the day, including Politico, The Hill, and Roll Call, popular Capitol Hill publications.

On the future of Cada’s relationship with the PPA, Pappas told Poker News Daily, “When we do fly-ins and other events, we want to be able to work with him and have him be a face for us in Washington, D.C. We'd love for him to continue to promote the PPA to the poker playing community, particularly to the younger online players who look up to Joe. He recognizes the importance of what we’re doing.” Cada’s post-WSOP Main Event media appearances have included the “Late Show with David Letterman” and ESPN’s “SportsCenter.” He’s also featured on the current cover of Bluff Magazine.

Next up for Cada is a trip to Las Vegas, where he will donate a two-hour training session to the prize pool of the All In For CP charity poker tournament, which will be held at the Hard Rock. Cada told Poker News Daily, "The PPA really treated me like a champion and made my stay very enjoyable. It was awesome meeting various politicians, especially the ones from Michigan. I placed third in John Pappas' home game, which was a huge cash for me of $110. I'm looking forward to supporting the PPA in the fight. Next stop: Bellagio."

Next up for the PPA is a push to pass legislation to legalize and regulate online poker in the United States. Pappas revealed, “We've built a lot of momentum at the end of the year and anticipate a Committee vote on HR 2267 in late January or early February. Right now, we're focusing on the targets we need to get this legislation through.” HR 2267, proposed by Congressman Barney Frank (D-MA), provides a framework for online gaming companies to solicit U.S. customers. It boasts 63 co-sponsors.

Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest headlines from Capitol Hill.