Poker News

Poker2Nite Welcomes Mike Matusow

The Fox Sports Net poker news show “Poker2Nite” welcomed the always outspoken Mike “The Mouth” Matusow this week. The franchise airs at 11:00pm ET every Wednesday night and can also be seen on The Score at 3:00pm ET on Sundays.

This week’s installment began with a discussion of the $335 buy-in re-entry event that kicked off the L.A. Poker Classic. The tournament was the brainchild of Matt Savage and allowed players to buy back in on a later starting day should they be knocked out. On top of the unique formula, the tournament also guaranteed $1 million. Interviews were shown with David “Chino” Rheem, Amnon Filippi, Thor Hanson, and Andreas Hoivold. Filippi commented, “It’s so hard to get so many people in one place at one time. You have to have a 100-table room and you have to have the players. L.A. has both.” Darrell Cain ultimately took down the kickoff event for over $300,000.

Attention then turned to Betfair front woman Annette “Annette_15” Obrestad, who won an Omaha event held during the Aussie Millions this month for $40,000. Obrestad, who won the inaugural World Series of Poker (WSOP) Europe Main Event, became the first female ever to win an Aussie Millions tournament. “Poker2Nite’ co-host Joe Sebok explained, “She’s an absolute beast. She’s going to be a force at the Rio.” The 2010 WSOP will mark Obrestad’s debut in the annual U.S. series.

Matusow then joined the show and explained that his fortunes turned for the worst last year: “2007 and 2008 were the best years of poker I’ve ever had in my life. It spiraled downward starting with the $40,000 event in the WSOP [last year]. That beat led to another beat and another beat and the next thing you know, I was catching no cards and [recording] no cashes.” Matusow admitted that he made just $2,200 off of poker in 2009 after recording seven-figure years in 2007 and 2008.

As to what led to his dramatic downfall, Matusow explained that not working out every day and stiff competition contributed. His goal is to drop back to 185 pounds and run eight miles per day by the time the 2010 WSOP rolls around. He added, “Players have gotten better. There are so many great players.” One of those top minds in the game is its all-time money leader, Phil Ivey. Matusow commented on his fellow Full Tilt Poker pro: “I think that Phil Ivey, when he’s playing well, is probably the best all-around poker player I’ve ever played with.”

A new segment called “Mikey’s Meltdowns” featured Matusow against UB.com’s Phil Hellmuth during a taping of GSN’s “High Stakes Poker.” A 7-2 rule was in effect and any player who scooped the pot with the worst starting hand in Hold’em was paid $500 by each of their opponents. Hellmuth led out for a pot-sized bet of $40,000 on the river with 7-2 for air against Matusow, who had pocket kings. After much deliberation and a “This sucks,” Matusow folded his overpair face up. Hellmuth turned over 7-2 and the table exploded in commentary.

“All in Blind” featured Sebok and co-host Scott Huff debating a series of topics, including the aforementioned L.A. Poker Classic re-entry event, U.S. President Barack Obama being invited to play in the Irish Poker Open, and UB.com pro Eric "basebaldy" Baldwin donating $200,000 to his alma mater’s baseball program. Then, Dana Workman’s “Weekly Misdeal,” which provides a satirical look at the week’s headlines, poked fun at a topless home game raid, the Rio’s 20th birthday celebration, T.J. Cloutier selling a WSOP bracelet on eBay, and the popular video game system Sega entering the online poker marketplace.

Finally, “Poker2Nite” saluted Mike Hofer, the winner of the Absolute Poker College Challenge. Hofer earned $10,000 in college tuition and told “Poker2Nite” cameras, “The competition surprised me. They were all very competent players. Hats off to them. They played a great game.”

Catch “Poker2Nite” next Wednesday at 11:00pm ET on Fox Sports Net. Check your local listings for more information.

Phil Laak Wins Poker After Dark Nicknames Week

The final episode of Nicknames week on the NBC poker franchise “Poker After Dark” featured Phil “The Unabomber” Laak defeating close friend Antonio “The Magician” Esfandiari heads-up to win $120,000.

UB.com pro Phil “The Poker Brat” Hellmuth was also part of Friday’s three-handed finale of Nicknames week. Holding four big blinds, Hellmuth called pre-flop with K-4 and Esfandiari checked his option with a lowly 8-3. The flop came 9-A-5 and the action went check-check to a deuce on the turn. Once again, both players checked, and the river was an eight, pairing Esfandiari. “The Magician” led out for 1,200 and laughed, exposing the three of diamonds and saying that he had 3-6. Hellmuth came along and promptly dropped to less than one big blind.

Amid Laak and Esfandiari celebrating that Hellmuth had less than one big blind remaining, the UB front man committed his chips and received calls from Esfandiari, who held 10-6 of diamonds, and Laak, who had K-6 of hearts. Both checked the action down to the river, with the board running out 9-4-Q-2-8. Hellmuth needed to beat king-high to stay alive, but instead turned over 5-7 and was sent packing in third place. He told “Poker After Dark” hostess Leeann Tweeden that Laak and Esfandiari were out of line: “When they’re out of line to me, it’s okay because god knows I need some sympathy the way I act.”

Esfandiari was a 7:5 chip leader entering heads-up play against Laak, who put the pedal to the metal throughout the match. “The Unabomber” took the chip lead after calling pre-flop with 8-9 of hearts and watching Esfandiari raise to 3,800 with A-5 of clubs. Laak called to see the flop come Q-9-4 with one club. The action went check-check to an eight of clubs on the turn, giving Laak two pair. He led out for 4,100 and Esfandiari, holding a flush draw, called. The river was the six of diamonds, missing Esfandiari. He checked, Laak bet 10,425, and Esfandiari folded.

Laak never relinquished the lead in the heads-up match on “Poker After Dark.” He flopped top pair and a straight draw with 9-8 on a 5-9-7 board. Esfandiari bet out 5,100 with 4-3 and Laak raised it to 30,000, including two stacks of $100 bills. Esfandiari mucked and Laak raked in yet another pot.

Esfandiari, whose boisterous laughter when Hellmuth was on the short stack changed to raw frustration heads-up against Laak, checked his option with 4-3 after Laak called pre-flop with K-5 of hearts. The flop came down 6-4-2 and Esfandiari fired out 1,800 chips. Laak called and the turn was a three, completing his straight and giving Esfandiari two pair. “The Magician” bet 5,100 and Laak called to see an ace on the river. Esfandiari bet 11,200, Laak insta-raised all-in, and Esfandiari mucked, lamenting, “It’s amazing how lucky you are.” At that point, Laak held a 5:2 advantage in chips.

On the final hand of Nicknames week on “Poker After Dark,” Esfandiari called pre-flop with the Doyle Brunson hand, 10-2, and Laak coyly checked his option with A-J. Laak flopped top pair on an A-5-4 board, but checked to Esfandiari, who also rapped the table. The turn was a seven. Laak once again just checked, Esfandiari bet 2,525, and Laak called to bring a queen on the river. Laak checked top pair one last time, Esfandiari tanked before moving all-in, and Laak called. Just like that, Nicknames week was over, as Esfandiari’s stone cold bluff failed miserably.

Esfandiari told viewers following the match, “I’m going to jump.” No new episodes of “Poker After Dark” are scheduled until the week of March 15th, when part one of a $50,000 cash game will feature Chris Ferguson, Hellmuth, Esfandiari, Brandon Adams, Todd Brunson, and Mike Matusow. In the meantime, fans of the show can catch encore presentations of “Poker After Dark” nightly at 2:05am ET on NBC.

Anibal Tacla Leads PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Day 1B Survivors

The 2010 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) will go down as the largest in history, as 1,529 entrants took to the felts. Anibal Tacla from Curitiba, Brazil, the same hometown as Team PokerStars Pro member Alexandre Gomes, led Day 1B’s finishers.

Tacla, a shopping mall owner, amassed 166,000 chips during play on Wednesday to lead the way, although he is still well short of Wayne Bentley’s Day 1A total of 329,500. The prize pool of the 2010 PCA is around $15 million. Last year, 1,347 players took to the felts in what was the largest PCA ever held. In the end, Canadian Poorya Nazari defeated American Anthony Gregg to bank the $3 million top prize; Gregg earned a $1.7 million consolation prize and the top three finishers were instant poker-made millionaires.

2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event champion Joe Cada gave the traditional “Shuffle Up and Deal” command to start play on Wednesday. A bevy of superstars took to the felts, including Full Tilt Poker’s Mike Matusow and Tom “durrrr” Dwan, along with Freddy Deeb, Scotty Nguyen, and former Playboy Playmate of the Year Jayde Nicole, who served as a celebrity player on the “PokerStars.net Million Dollar Challenge.”

Just after 2:30pm in the Bahamas, rapper Nelly was eliminated from the 2010 PCA Main Event. "If you wanna go and take a rid wit’ him," you can now find the St. Louis native on the beach after he shoved with A-K for top two pair on a board reading A-4-5-K. However, he was up against the stone cold nuts, 2-3. Needing to spike an ace or king on the river to stay alive, Nelly watched as the final card blanked out, sending him to the exits. Must be the money!

Speaking of money, “PokerStars.net Million Dollar Challenge” $1 million winner Mike Kosowski, a 9/11 first responder, also could be found on the felts on Wednesday. With his chip stack dwindling to 6,500, or roughly one-fifth of the starting amount, Kosowski told PokerStars officials, "I turned the nut flush and then this guy rivers a full house. That was pretty brutal and I've been playing a short stack as a result for the last three or four hours." Kosowski did not survive Day 1B, although his $1 million prize for besting PokerStars front man Daniel Negreanu and a once-in-a-lifetime trip to the Bahamas most likely helped ease his pain.

Also bounced prematurely were Cada, Gomes, Boris Becker, Leo Fernandez, and Lex Veldhuis. Fernandez went out in especially brutal fashion, getting it all-in with A-K of diamonds, but losing to A-K offsuit when his opponent made a spade flush. The flop came all spades and a fourth fell on the river.

Here are the top ten chip stacks entering a combined Day 2 field on Thursday. Play kicks off at Noon ET inside the Atlantis Resort and Casino in the Bahamas:

1. Wayne Bentley – 329,500
2. Amnon Filippi – 220,100
3. Kevin “BeL0WaB0Ve” Saul – 175,500
4. Mike Chappus – 168,700
5. Anibal Tacla – 166,000
6. Eric “EFro” Froehlich – 166,000
7. Dustin Dorrance-Bowman – 163,700
8. Eric Buchman – 159,100
9. Ryan “Ryanbluf” Karp – 147,600
10. Matt “mattg1983” Graham – 146,700

Notable names perched near the top of the chip counts, along with their totals heading into Day 2, include:

Annette “Annette_15” Obrestad – 124,900
Paul Wasicka – 116,300
Phil Ivey – 115,700
Craig Marquis – 114,300
Barry Shulman – 113,000
Dennis Phillips – 113,000
Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo – 111,200
Dario Minieri – 109,800
J.C. Alvarado – 109,600
Vivek “Psyduck” Rajkumar – 106,400

When play was halted for the night on Day 1A and Day 1B, the blinds were 400-800 with a 100 ante at the end of Level 8. The tournament will crown a champion on Monday. Although PokerStars has not released an official payout structure, first place will likely receive well over $3 million.

Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest 2010 PCA coverage.

Face the Ace: Nico Mamy Drops $200,000 Match to Mike Matusow

Frenchman Nico Mamy hit a brick wall named Mike Matusow on Saturday’s installment of the poker game show “Face the Ace.” He dropped the $200,000 match in the process on what was the final episode of the series. It aired at 2:30pm ET on NBC.

Mamy’s wife taught him how to play poker and, in a battle of non-U.S. competitors, the French online poker pro squared off against Durrrr Challenge participant Patrik Antonius in the $40,000 match. In a key hand, Mamy doubled up after raising pre-flop to 1,100 with A-K, including the ace of diamonds. Antonius, holding Q-10, including the ten of diamonds, made the call to see the flop come 2-9-8 with two diamonds. Antonius led out for 2,000 and Mamy called. The turn came the seven of diamonds, putting three of the suit on the board, and the action went check-check. The river filled both players’ flushes. Antonius bet 5,000 and Mamy shoved over the top for 9,500. Antonius called and Mamy doubled up.

Holding A-8, Antonius raised to 3,100 pre-flop and Mamy pushed with pocket sixes. Antonius called with his “Face the Ace” tournament life on the line, but on this episode, no crowd gathered around to watch the all-in confrontation. The board ran out J-K-2-9-9, giving Mamy the win in the $40,000 match. “Face the Ace” host Steve Schirripa, of “The Sopranos” fame, then asked Mamy if he wanted to take the money and run or play another ace for $200,000. Mamy decided to continue and selected the ace of spades, Matusow.

In a key hand for the online qualifier, Mamy coyly called pre-flop with A-K and Matusow raised to 6,000 with A-9. Mamy pushed the action to 17,000 and Matusow made it 39,000. Mamy moved all-in for 98,000 and Matusow tossed his hand into the muck. Mamy pulled down the pot of 137,000, giving him better than a 2:1 edge in the critical match.

Then, Many’s luck turned for the worse. Holding J-8, he called pre-flop and Matusow checked his option with J-9. The flop came J-J-2, giving both players trips, but Matusow held the better hand with a nine kicker. Matusow bet 6,000 and Mamy called, bringing a king on the turn. Matusow check-called a 6,000-chip bet from Mamy and the river fell a six. Matusow checked with the best hand and Mamy bet out 16,000. Matusow called and scooped a 68,000-chip pot, giving him the lead in the match for good.

Several hands later, Mamy was crippled and once again held J-8. This time, he limped pre-flop with his soon-to-be least favorite hand and Matusow checked with J-10. The flop came 9-7-3, giving both players a gutshot straight draw, but an eight on the turn filled Matusow’s hand. At the same time, Mamy made a pair, which turned into trips when another eight hit on the river. Matusow checked, Mamy bet 28,000, and Matusow pushed for 60,500. Mamy called, doubling Matusow up. The qualifier told Schirripa, “It’s tough to fold trip eights in that situation heads-up.” Mamy was sent packing on the next hand shown, leaving the Golden Nugget in Downtown Las Vegas empty-handed.

The final qualifier on “Face the Ace” was Drake Jackson, whom Schirripa labeled “cocky” multiple times, eliciting an eye-roll from the Full Tilt Poker patron on one occasion. Jackson claimed he was afraid of playing Huck Seed, but instead wanted to play Phil Gordon because Seed is a better player. Nevertheless, Jackson bested Allen Cunningham after making a flush on the turn in the match’s final hand. Jackson won $40,000 and elected to leave with the money rather than play on for $200,000.

In a comical segment shown after the final cards were dealt, Jackson, Seed, and Gordon appeared in a back room. The latter irately commented, “You trash talked me on national television. I want to go for it on that $40,000 you just won. I got a dealer right over there. Sit down and play a chump.” Unfortunately for viewers at home, no match aired.

“Face the Ace” struggled mightily in the ratings after premiering on August 1st and its future now appears to be up in the air.

Poker After Dark Season 6 Kicks off January 4th

Fans of the popular NBC poker franchise “Poker After Dark” won’t have to wait long after the clock strikes Midnight this evening to catch the show’s sixth season, which debuts on Monday night, January 4th, at 2:05am ET.

Ali Nejad and Leeann Tweeden will reprise their “Poker After Dark” announcing and hosting roles, respectively, as the show enters season number six. The first week is entitled “Commentators III” and, while the name isn’t very catchy, the action on the felt should be nail biting. Howard Lederer, Gabe Kaplan, Joe Sebok, Nejad, Mark Gregorich, and Kara Scott will all play in “Poker After Dark’s” Season 6 premiere. Sebok, who hosts UB.com’s “Poker2Nite,” and Scott, the new floor reporter for GSN’s “High Stakes Poker,” are making their “Poker After Dark” debuts. You can catch “Commentators III” beginning on January 4th.

A total of 13 shows were filmed for Season 6 of “Poker After Dark,” including six-handed freezeouts and three different buy-in cash games. Followers of 2007 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Europe Main Event champion Annette “Annette_15” Obrestad will be able to catch the youngster on a special “Nicknames” episode that also features Mike “The Mouth” Matusow, Antonio “The Magician” Esfandiari, Erick “E-Dog” Lindgren, Phil “The Unabomber” Laak, and Phil “The Poker Brat” Hellmuth. Obrestad, a Betfair pro, turned 21 in September and is finally old enough to gamble legally on U.S. soil.

A $50,000 buy-in cash game features a star-studded lineup of Brandon Adams, Todd Brunson, Chris Ferguson, Matusow, Esfandiari, and Hellmuth. A press release distributed by Poker PROductions notes, “Any time Matusow and Hellmuth play against each other in a cash game, the insults alone make for must-see-television.” A high-stakes $150,000 buy-in cash game will see Tom “durrrr” Dwan, Patrik Antonius, David “Viffer” Peat, Eli Elezra, Kaplan, and Alan Meltzer take to the felts. The six are staples of “High Stakes Poker” and one mounts the comeback of the century.

One of the more notable freezeout themes is “Lonesome Shark,” which features Lindgren, James Akenhead, Esfandiari, Matusow, David Williams, and Brad Booth. What do they all have in common, you ask? All six are poker’s most eligible bachelors and the heads-up battle in this episode is one of the longest of the season. Mixed Martial Arts will take center stage shortly thereafter in a show featuring UFC announcer Bruce Buffer, Antonius, Strikeforce fighter Dan Henderson, former UFC champion Randy Couture, Lederer, and Lindgren.

Here is the schedule through April for new episodes of Season 6 of “Poker After Dark” according to NBC.com:

Week of January 4th - Commentators III
Howard Lederer, Gabe Kaplan, Joe Sebok, Ali Nejad, Mark Gregorich, Kara Scott

Week of January 11th – Nicknames
Annette Obrestad, Mike Matusow, Antonio Esfandiari, Erick Lindgren, Phil Laak, Phil Hellmuth

Week of March 15th - Cash Game $50,000 buy-in, Part 1
Chris Ferguson, Phil Hellmuth, Antonio Esfandiari, Brandon Adams, Todd Brunson, Mike Matusow

Week of March 22nd – Cash Game $50,000 buy-in, Part 2
Todd Brunson, Mike Matusow, Phil Hellmuth, Brandon Adams, Antonio Esfandiari, Chris Ferguson

Week of April 19th - My Favorite Pro
Craig Ivey, James Ashby, Steve Bartlett, Phil Hellmuth, Jens Voertmann, Chris Ferguson

Week of April 26th - He Said, She Said
Erica Schoenberg, Jean-Robert Bellande, David Grey, Karina Jett, Mike Matusow, Annie Duke

Additional dates for new episodes will be announced in the future and re-runs of popular shows will also air over the first four months of 2009. “Poker After Dark” will take a hiatus during the weeks of February 15th and 22nd due to the Winter Olympics, which NBC owns the rights to.

“Poker After Dark” and “High Stakes Poker,” both products of Poker PROductions, were filmed in October at the Golden Nugget in Downtown Las Vegas. The latter begins airing on GSN on Sunday, February 14th.

Phil Ivey Files for Divorce

In breaking news from TMZ, 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) November Nine member Phil Ivey has filed for divorce from his wife of seven years, Luciaetta. Ivey finished seventh in the $10,000 buy-in tournament this year and earned $1.4 million.

On Tuesday, a report that appeared on TMZ read in part, “Ivey and Luciaetta filed the joint petition in a Nevada court on December 22 ... three days before Christmas. The divorce was granted today - both parties were present for the ruling.” The couple wed in 2002 and has no children. TMZ added that Ivey has made $12 million over the course of his poker career. The “Tiger Woods of Poker” appeared on the cover of “ESPN: The Magazine” in November.

Ivey earned two WSOP bracelets during the 2009 tournament series to ratchet his total up to seven. Interestingly, none of the seven has come in Hold’em, as he has instead taken down Pot Limit Omaha, Limit Seven Card Stud, Limit Seven Card Stud High-Low, Limit SHOE, Deuce to Seven Draw Lowball, and Omaha/Seven Card Stud High-Low events. In the latter, his most recent bracelet win, Ivey trumped Ming Lee heads-up in a final table that also included Carlos Mortensen, November Nine member Eric Buchman, Jon “PearlJammer” Turner, and Dutch Boyd.

TMZ was quick to point out the irony of Ivey being compared to Woods. Its news story detailed, “Ivey is known in the card community as the ‘Tiger Woods of Poker’ - [insert your own joke here].” Woods was involved in a now-famous auto collision with a tree in front of his home. His wife purportedly smashed the SUV’s window with a golf club to help Woods exit safely. What led to the incident is anyone’s guess, but a handful of women are alleged to have had extra-marital affairs with the professional golfer.

Earlier this month, Woods announced that he was taking a leave of absence from golf. In addition, companies like Accenture and Gillette ended their advertising and sponsorship agreements with Woods. In fact, a Reuters article released on Tuesday noted that Woods’ infidelity could costs the shareholders of companies he endorses up to a colossal $12 billion. Researchers explained the enormous loss of value: "Our analysis makes clear that while having a celebrity of Tiger Woods' stature as an endorser has undeniable upside, the downside risk is substantial, too."

Ivey’s first eight in the money finishes on the World Poker Tour (WPT) were all for final tables and he picked up a win in the Season VI L.A. Poker Classic for $1.6 million. All told, Ivey has just under $3 million in career earnings from the WPT circuit.

Meanwhile, posters on the popular online poker forum PocketFives.com reacted to the TMZ story. “33mikemcg” noted, “I had no idea he was married. Nice life for that ex-wife I am sure she will get plenty to last a lifetime.”

Poker players, who travel around the United States and the world to live tournaments, seemed to be able to sympathize with Ivey. “ImaLuckSac” explained that the pro’s lifestyle may not have been conducive to a stable marriage: “All jokes aside, who can really be that surprised? These guys are constantly traveling, stressed, and still making the big bucks. Personally I think they deserve a lil' strange.” Others jokingly speculated as to whether Ivey had any prop bets on how long his marriage would last.

Ivey is a member of Team Full Tilt, a group that also includes poker pros like Howard Lederer, Andy Bloch, Erick Lindgren, Mike Matusow, and Jennifer Harman. He was the inaugural opponent on the NBC poker game show “Face the Ace” and seemed to strike up an accord with Maryland logger Darvin Moon at the final table of the 2009 WSOP Main Event.

Top Ten Poker Events of the Decade: Part 1

As 2009 prepares to fade into the pages of history, it will also close the doors on a decade that has been like no other for the sport of poker.

When the Third Millennium began a short ten years ago, poker could arguably be said to be on life support. A poker room in a casino was hard to find, there was only one prominent tournament schedule on the poker professional’s calendar, and the game had no place in the media. Poker was reviled as a pursuit of degenerate gamblers; those considered to be the best at the game had very little attention paid to them.

A decade later, the situation has completely reversed itself. Even the smallest casino, wherever it may be in the world, has a poker room. Bookstores have dedicated sections to house their wares of poker books and poker programming airs daily on television. Instead of just one tournament schedule, there are several offerings that require players to choose which one to participate in. Finally, poker pros are respected as adventuresome mavericks whose abilities, education, and intelligence are critical to their success.

With this in mind, Poker News Daily decided to look back at the last decade in an attempt to figure out what were the catalysts for such a return to prominence and what nearly derailed it.

10. Poker Rooms Make a Comeback

At the start of the 21st century, casinos across the United States didn’t consider poker to be a moneymaker for their operations. With that in mind, poker rooms were closed and slot machines began to invade their territory.

By the end of the decade, poker rooms, which had been near extinction only ten years earlier, obtained a greater prominence than they ever had in a casino. The live poker room should continue to be a staple of the casino world in the future.

9. Ultimate Bet and Absolute Poker Superuser Scandals

The ugly head of corruption and scandal arose when two of the most popular online poker rooms in the industry, Ultimate Bet and Absolute Poker, succumbed to “superuser” cheating rings. These cheating scandals allowed players to see their opponents’ hole cards, making it impossible to lose a hand. These rings - the Ultimate Bet group, which was allegedly led by former World Champion Russ Hamilton, and the Absolute Poker team allegedly led by former employees Scott Tom and A. J. Green - took millions of dollars off of unsuspecting players and gave ammunition to anti-poker zealots in the war against the game.

After outrage from the online poker community, both organizations made financial amends to those affected, but didn’t prosecute anyone for the operation of either scam. Today, the two sites are part of the same network and have seemingly recovered some of their former respect (including the recent certification from eCOGRA, the online gaming watchdog). Still, the scandal could have had a devastating effect on the online game and it has cast doubt as to the legitimacy of online poker, much like the Mississippi riverboat games of centuries ago almost stopped poker from becoming what it is today.

8. Amateurs Dominate WSOP Main Event

Throughout its early history, poker, and in particular the World Series of Poker (WSOP), it was the bastion of professional rounders willing to live life on the edge, to take thousands of dollars out of their own pockets and risk that they were the greatest poker player in the world. With the advent of satellites and online poker, where a player could get into a tournament for a significantly smaller fee, amateur poker players began to take a shot at the upper echelons of the game.

Since 2002, an amateur or previously unknown player has won the $10,000 Main Event at the WSOP and been crowned World Champion. Some, such as Jerry Yang and Jamie Gold, have stayed on the peripheral of the poker world and have arguably not done much since their victories. Others, such as Greg Raymer, Joe Hachem, and Chris Moneymaker, have continued to be at the forefront of the game, advocating in political circles for the regulation of online poker as respected professionals in their own right. Whether they have experience or not, amateurs have become a part of the WSOP.

7. New Blood Infuses the Game

All forms of business need an infusion of new customers to continue to drive their endeavors. Poker is no different. For some time, older players, mostly men, populated the game and the required influx of “new blood” was seemingly missing. Through the development of online poker, new players, both male and female, have made their marks.

In what was perhaps the most stunning tournament win of the decade, Annette “Annette_15” Obrestad’s victory at the inaugural WSOP Europe Main Event made her the youngest player to win a major championship and demonstrated that the youth movement in poker had arrived. In the last two WSOP Main Events, Phil Hellmuth’s longstanding record as the youngest ever champion has been eclipsed twice. As we look at the next decade, young players will continue to make their names in an arena that previously had been dominated by the “Old Guard” of the game.

6. Twice is Nice – Dan Harrington, Mike Matusow, and Jeff Shulman

With the growth of the WSOP Main Event, the odds of a player repeating as champion, as Johnny Chan did in 1987 and 1988, are nearly infinitesimal. The feat of making two final tables is nearly as difficult, but three men - Dan Harrington, Mike Matusow, and Jeff Shulman - managed to pull off the feat. While none won the tournament, the ability to make two final tables during the decade, against such sizeable fields, is definitely a significant achievement.

Harrington’s feat is arguably the best of the three players. Battling through, at the time, the two largest WSOP Main Event fields ever, the 1995 champion nearly captured his second title in consecutive years (2003 and 2004). Matusow announced his presence on the game with his first final table in 2001 and marked his resurrection as a poker player by returning in 2005. Shulman finished seventh in 2000 and came back in 2009 with a fifth place finish.

Live Durrrr Million Dollar Challenge Kicks Off in London

Tuesday marks the beginning of the live version of the Tom “durrrr” Dwan Million Dollar Challenge, which is unfolding in London. The festivities will see Dwan battle Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies, Sammy “Any Two” George, and Marcelo “luckexpress” Marigliano.

The match’s format is simplistic. Dwan will take on each opponent across 500 hands of No Limit Hold’em or Pot Limit Omaha. The series has a buy-in of $500,000 and neither player is permitted to leave the table until they are broke or the requisite number of hands has been played. The price of poker is $500/$1,000.

Eddie Hearn, who is organizing the gala on behalf of Matchroom Sport, commented in a press release distributed on Monday, “The stage is set for Tom to make history in London this week. The opponents are ready. Tom Dwan is the biggest draw in poker and to have a TV show in his name at such a young age shows the commercial power of the man. Poker is changing and we are delighted to be at its cutting edge.”

Tuesday’s action will see Dwan tangle with George in No Limit Hold’em. Dwan will then return on Wednesday to face Marigliano, also in No Limit Hold’em. The final match of the week occurs on Thursday, with Sahamies electing to play Dwan in Pot Limit Omaha. The action runs from 2:00pm to 2:00am daily at the Les Ambassadeurs Club in Mayfair. The gala will be filmed for television and can be seen on Sky Sports next year in the U.K. It is sponsored by Full Tilt Poker, which recently signed Dwan to its stable of sponsored pros.

On the prospects of facing one of the most hyper-aggressive players in the game today, Sahamies told Matchroom Sport, “I am always excited to play my good friend Tom. He is one of the best Hold’em and Pot Limit Omaha players in the world and when I heard about the challenge, I couldn‘t wait to sign up. With the gambling, the side-bets, the partying, and the drinking in London, this is going to be a whole lot of fun.” Dwan issued a challenge to Swedish online poker player Isildur1 to take on the American in London, but, as of the time of writing, Isildur1 has not yet obliged.

The live Durrrr Challenge was originally scheduled for two months ago following the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Europe schedule in London. However, Dwan reached the semi-finals of the Poker Million, creating a scheduling conflict. Las Vegas was then brought up as a possible site for the competition before Hearn and company settled on mid-November in London. Dwan finished seventh in Heat 3 of the PartyPoker World Open last month and took ninth in the NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship in March for an even $25,000.

Last week, Dwan was in Downtown Las Vegas filming the sixth season of the GSN poker franchise “High Stakes Poker” at the Golden Nugget. The series, which will air in February, was also slated to feature George, who wound up not participating. Those facing off on the sixth cycle of the popular cash game program include Patrik Antonius, David Benyamine, Doyle Brunson, Eli Elezra, Antonio Esfandiari, Barry Greenstein, Phil Hellmuth, Andreas Hoivold, Phil Ivey, Phil Laak, Mike Matusow, Daniel Negreanu, Dennis Phillips, and Lex Veldhuis.

The online version of the Durrrr Challenge between Dwan and Patrik Antonius has come to a screeching halt as a result of Dwan’s hectic schedule. After 27,185 hands, Dwan leads by $779,000. If the youngster is up by at least $1 at the conclusion of 50,000, Antonius will owe $500,000. If Antonius is up by at least $1, Dwan will pay $1.5 million. In either case, the victor keeps the spoils of the 50,000 hands.

High Stakes Poker Season 6 Filmed at Golden Nugget

The sixth season of the GSN franchise “High Stakes Poker” filmed this week at the Golden Nugget in Downtown Las Vegas. Friday marked the third of three days of filming for the $200,000 buy-in show.

A bevy of poker pros have wandered the halls of the Golden Nugget since Wednesday, each looking to strike it rich in the sixth cycle of the poker television staple. Last year, Tom “durrrr” Dwan made his “High Stakes Poker” debut in style, scooping the largest single pot in the show’s history at the expense of Team PokerStars Pro member Barry Greenstein. Dwan took down $919,000 when his K-Q drew out on Greenstein’s aces and, given the dramatic pots up for grabs, Dwan told Poker News Daily that he’s looking forward to Season 6: “I’m excited to be back. We’re playing for a whole lot of money this time around.”

One player making his “High Stakes Poker” debut is 2008 World Series of Poker (WSOP) November Nine member Dennis Phillips, who took third in the $10,000 buy-in feature tournament last year for $4.5 million. The St. Louis native told Poker News Daily about his mindset headed into the high-stakes cash game: “I’m ready to do this and rock and roll. I sat down at ‘Poker After Dark’ last week and had some fun.” On making a run in the world of cash games, Phillips explained, “I played cash before I played tournaments. I played cash in London and in Monte Carlo as well.” Phillips admitted that he normally plays $25/$50 or $50/$100 cash games.

Common in previous seasons of “High Stakes Poker” were a variety of prop bets, many orchestrated by poker regulars Antonio Esfandiari and Phil Laak. While waiting to head into the “High Stakes Poker” suite, Laak explained the stance of Executive Producer Mori Eskandani towards prop betting in Season 6: “The prop bets where people would guess on cards, for example, they’ve been trying to get rid of that. Mori is trying to steer towards less betting at all. The bottom line is that he doesn’t want viewers at home to be bogged down with players prop betting in addition to poker.” Prop bets during Season 5 revolved around push-ups, movie ratings, and hole cards.

Daniel Negreanu commented on his Twitter feed that he’s looking forward to running into more quads during the show’s sixth season. He’s appeared on every cycle of the program so far and told Poker News Daily how this year’s installment has varied from previous airings: “The show has progressed really far from Seasons 1 to 5. Season 1 was the smaller names because most of the guys who played were at higher stakes anyway. Now, the antes are up, the buy-ins are up, and the percentage of good players to bad players has gone up. It’s definitely more serious poker now. It’s more cutthroat.”

Also found at the Golden Nugget this week is Barry Greenstein, who, like Negreanu, has been a staple of “High Stakes Poker” ever since Season 1. Greenstein explained how the sixth season differs from years past: “The poker economy is down, so the money seems tougher to come by. There are few guys who you know play big online that have money, but the majority of people are thinking they’re taking a $200,00 shot and they’ll see what happens. The first year we did this, players felt better funded. I think what will happen is that there will be two guys like Phil Ivey and Durrrr who will try to muscle everyone around. Others will try to pick their spots.”

Released in the original cast list for Season 6 of “High Stakes Poker,” but not participating, was cash game player Sammy George. Those slated to take part in the festivities include Patrik Antonius, David Benyamine, Doyle Brunson, Dwan, Eli Elezra, Esfandiari, Greenstein, Phil Hellmuth, Andreas Hoivold, Ivey, Mike Matusow, Allan Meltzer, Negreanu, Phillips, Lex Veldhuis, and Yevgeniy Timoshenko. The series premieres on Sunday, February 14th at 8:00pm ET and features Kara Scott reporting on action from the “High Stakes Poker” suite.

Tom Dwan (durrrr) Joins Team Full Tilt

The elite group of 13 poker pros that comprise Team Full Tilt Poker has a new member joining its ranks.  The online poker room just announced that its 14th member of the team will be 23-year old high-stakes online poker pro Tom “durrrr” Dwan.

Full Tilt Poker recently added Dwan to its roster, but Dwan has been a noticeable presence on the site for quite some time prior to the new sponsorship deal.  Full Tilt has been hosting Dwan’s “Durrrr Challenge” cash game tables since the epic bet first came to light in February and the youngster is a mainstay on all of the highest stakes cash game tables on the site as well.

Prior to Dwan, the last addition to the squad was Patrik Antonius, who joined Team Full Tilt in the summer of 2008.  The other members of the exclusive group are Howard Lederer, Jennifer Harman, Allen Cunningham, Chris “Jesus” Ferguson, Gus Hansen, Mike Matusow, Andy Bloch, Erik Seidel, Phil Ivey, John Juanda, Phil Gordon, and Erick Lindgren.  The group has a collective 37 World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelets and is widely considered to represent some of the best tournament and cash game players in the world.  Dwan is now the youngest member of the group, but in his brief career, he has made an indelible impression on both the online and live poker communities.

In a press release announcing the news, Lederer spoke about the young pro and why they decided to include him on the team: “Team Full Tilt doesn’t take adding a team member lightly, but Tom Dwan has proven, through skill and dynamic play, that he will be a force to be reckoned with for many years to come. We are proud to count Tom as one of our own.”

Dwan’s list of accomplishments include over $1 million in tournament poker winnings, three WSOP final tables, a World Poker Tour final table, and several successful appearances on poker television shows like “Poker After Dark” and “High Stakes Poker.”  Dwan holds the record for both the largest pot in “High Stakes Poker” history as well as the largest pot in televised poker history, which he recently won off of Ivey during the filming of the “Full Tilt Poker’s Million Dollar Cash Game.”  Dwan won the $1.1 million pot when he turned a seven-high straight against Ivey’s five-high straight and the two players got it all-in.  The big hand is scheduled to air as part of the show on U.K.’s Sky Sports in January of 2010.

Now that Dwan is a member of Team Full Tilt, he will be facing off against his fellow team members as action continues in his “Durrrr Challenge” bet.  Dwan and Antonius have played a little over 27,000 hands of the 50,000 required.  Dwan currently holds a $779,248 lead over Antonius.  Once Antonius finishes his 50,000 hands against Dwan, fellow Team Full Tilt member and recent seventh place finisher in the 2009 WSOP Main Event, Ivey, will step up, as will David Benyamine.

Dwan is set to take part in the upcoming season of “High Stakes Poker,” which will be filming at the Golden Nugget in Las Vegas from November 11th to 13th and will likely be sporting a Full Tilt Poker patch as part of his duties.

Tom Dwan is the newest member of Team Full Tilt

There has been some speculation about Tom Dwan and Full Tilt Poker. Well, now it’s official, Tom Dwan is the latest addition to Full Tilt Poker’s Pro Poker Team.

Full Tilt Poker announced about their newest Team Full Tilt member. FTP’s announcement was praising Dwan quite highly:

“Dwan, best known by his online player handle “durrrr”, is one of the most influential and successful players in online poker history. Known for his prolific play in high-stakes games at Full Tilt Poker, he has proven himself to be an unstoppable force any time he sits down at a table.”

Dwan has won $1.1 million from live tournaments, these include 3 WSOP cashes and one WPT final table.

Dwan became the youngest member of the Team Full Tilt. Other members are: Phil Ivey, Chris Ferguson, Howard Lederer, John Juanda, Jennifer Harman, Phil Gordon, Erick Lindgren, Erik Seidel, Andy Bloch, Mike Matusow, Gus Hansen, Allen Cunningham and Patrik Antonius.

You can visit Dwan’s team page here.

Source: PR Newswire

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Tom Dwan is the newest member of Team Full Tilt

durrrr signs with Team Full Tilt

The site is calling the 23-year-old  New Jersey native and former Boston University English major "one of the most influential and successful players in online poker history," and there's really no doubt about it.

While he's down around $1.8 million playing in online's biggest games this year, Dwan took over $5.4 million off the virtual tables in 2008.

Plus, there is whatever he's been raking in at the biggest live cash games around the world, $1.1 million in live tournament earnings, and some of the biggest pots and largest winning sessions in televised poker history to consider.

After dominating the last season of GSN's High Stakes Poker, this past September he raked in a $1.1 pot at million at Full Tilt Poker's Million Dollar Cash Game in London - the largest ever.

Since much of Dwan's online work has been done on Full Tilt's tables and his $1.5 million durrrr Challenge has been one of the biggest railbird draws in online history, he is an obvious choice for the team.

But while the site has a large stable of Red Pros sponsored to play on the site, Team Full Tilt is a group largely made up of the game's most elite players, including Phil Ivey, Chris Ferguson, Howard Lederer, John Juanda, Jennifer Harman, Phil Gordon, Erick Lindgren, Erik Seidel, Andy Bloch, Mike Matusow, Gus Hansen, Allen Cunningham and Patrik Antonius.

"Team Full Tilt doesn't take adding a team member lightly," said Lederer. "But, Tom Dwan has proven, through skill and dynamic play, that he will be a force to be reckoned with for many years to come.

"We are proud to count Tom as one of our own."

While he will continue to prowl Full Tilt's highest stakes games, Dwan will also be lending his knowledge to the Full Tilt Poker Academy and blogging for the site.

Dwan is now Team Full Tilt's youngest member.

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WSOP Main Event: James Akenhead, Antoine Saout Double Up

Players came out swinging after the first break of the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event final table. Both short stacks entering the day, Antoine Saout and James Akenhead, doubled to get a new lease on life at the final table.

Akenhead was all-in on back-to-back hands. He received no action in the first, but on the second hand, he pushed pre-flop and Steven Begleiter made the call. Joe Cada’s supporters called loudly for their hero to call as well. Eric Buchman asked for a chip count, pointing to Akenhead’s stack, and then isolated by re-raising to 12 million. The stage lights brightened up considerably as everyone came to their feet with the first all-in and call of the 2009 WSOP Main Event final table. Begleiter faced nine million more to call and shoved his hand into the muck. Akenhead turned over K-Q, while Buchman showed A-K.

The flop came 2-3-J, helping neither player and keeping Buchman out in front. The turn was a king, giving both players top pair, and Akenhead needed to catch a queen to stay alive. Sure enough, one of the three remaining ladies in the deck hit the river, causing an explosion among the British train conductor’s fans. Buchman gave a small smile and Akenhead survived the all-in.

Shortly thereafter, Saout re-raised to 6.75 million over the top of a raise to 2.3 million by Darvin Moon after the flop came K-J-2. Moon re-raised all-in and Saout snap-called, having already committed two-thirds of his stack, and flipped up J-2 for bottom two pair. Moon revealed A-4 for ace-high and the turn came a three, giving Moon a straight draw to a five. However, another deuce hit on the river, doubling up Saout. The crowd came to life once again, as Saout’s supporters, decked in blue t-shirts, rallied behind their hero. Meanwhile, the French news outlets frantically began typing a story before the army of WSOP and PokerNews reporters could summarize the hand.

An official from Club Poker told Poker News Daily, “If Antoine wins, it will be huge for France.” He speculated that Saout could become the French version of Chris Moneymaker, who ignited the modern poker boom by winning the 2003 WSOP Main Event.

All nine players remain in the hunt for the $8.5 million first place prize payday. During the afternoon’s second break, rapper Ja Rule took to the stage with Lacey Jones and told the Absolute Poker pro that he’s rooting for Phil Ivey. Also taking center stage were Mike Matusow, who promoted his new book, “Check Raising the Devil,” “Celebrity Apprentice” runner-up Annie Duke, and Full Tilt Poker pro Jennifer Harman, who was railing Ivey and Jeff Shulman.

Moon continues to lead the way, although his stack has fallen to below 50 million. Joe Cada, Shulman, Akenhead, Phil Ivey, Kevn Schaffel, and Saout all sit with between 10 million and 20 million chips. Blinds are 200,000-400,000 with a 50,000 ante.

High Stakes Poker 6 - Players unveiled

GSN Channel announced the players for the next season of High Stakes Poker. Also Kara Scott’s employment became official.

Yet again the player list is very impressive. Seventeen players, every one of them a real professional. The player list includes people like Doyle Brunson, Tom Dwan, Patrik Antonius, David Benyamine, Phil Ivey, Daniel Negreanu and Yevgeniy Timoshenko.

Doyle Brunson holding his signature hand

Minimum buy-in for this season is $200.000, so we are not talking about any small game here. We saw over $1 million pots in last season, and we expect the same kind of action this time around as well.

After announcing the player list, Kara Scott’s entry to the show was affirmed. Scott’s task is to make the player interviews which are going to be more in-depth on this season. Scott tries to dig a bit deeper into the game than previously seen. Season 6 will premiere on February 14th.

The player list might not be complete as e.g. Andrew Feldman is not mentioned. Feldman personally told that he is going to be in HSP.

We also have information that Ilari Sahamies might be part of the show. Sahamies told this to the Finnish poker site Pokerisivut.com

Incomplete list of HSP 6 players:

* Patrik Antonius
* David Benyamine
* Doyle Brunson
* Tom Dwan
* Eli Elezra
* Antonio Esfandiari
* Sammy George
* Barry Greenstein
* Phil Hellmuth
* Andreas Hoivold
* Phil Ivey
* Mike Matusow
* Allan Meltzer
* Daniel Negreanu
* Dennis Phillips
* Lex Veldhuis
* Yevgeniy Timoshenko

Source: 2+2, Pokerlistings, Pokerisivut.com

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High Stakes Poker 6 - Players unveiled

Kara Scott joins Season 6

The co-host is none other than former European Poker Tour presenter Kara Scott, who will also interview players in the high-stakes suite in the Golden Nugget about poker strategy, big hands and table dynamics.

As usual, the line-up for Season 6 will include some of the biggest names in the poker world.

Patrik Antonius, David Benyamine, Doyle Brunson, Tom Dwan, Eli Elezra, Antonio Esfandiari, Barry Greenstein, Phil Hellmuth, Phil Ivey, Mike Matusow and Daniel Negreanu will all be returning.

New faces for this season include 2008 WSOP Main Event third place finisher Dennis Phillips, aggressive Dutch Team PokerStars Pro Lex Veldhuis, 2007 EPT Dortmund winner Andreas Hoivold and outspoken Englishman Sammy "Any Two" George.

There will be several more players added before the show airs as the final player line-up is subject to change.

The show will once again feature a minimum buy-in of $200,000, which should generate some extremely large pots.

Last year Dwan shocked the poker world by winning an epic $919,600 pot from Greenstein.

Scott brings considerable poker experience to her role as co-host. In addition to her role as presenter for EPT, Scott has also acted as main host for Poker Night Live and one of the personalities on Sky Poker.

Scott has also had success as a poker player going deep in both the 2008 WSOP Main Event and the 2009 Main Event. She also finished second in the 2009 Irish Open for €312,600.

AJ Benza, who acted as co-host for all five of the previous editions of High Stakes Poker will not be returning for the sixth season of HSP.

Season six of High Stakes Poker will premiere Feb. 14, 2010, at 8:00 p.m. ET on GSN and will be shown every Sunday in the same timeslot.

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High Stakes Poker Season 6 Cast Released, Kara Scott Confirmed as Co-Host

In a press release distributed by cable station GSN on Thursday, Kara Scott was confirmed to be the new co-host of “High Stakes Poker,” replacing A.J. Benza. In addition, a list of 17 players was revealed.

Scott replaced Benza, who had flanked “Welcome Back, Kotter” star Gabe Kaplan in the “High Stakes Poker” announcing booth for the first five seasons. Scott’s role will not be play-by-play; instead, the television personality and expert poker player will “report from the High Stakes Poker suite, interviewing poker players about poker strategy, big hands, and the table dynamics,” according to network officials. The show will take on the same feel as NBC’s “Poker After Dark” for its sixth season. The two franchises are produced by the same company, Poker PROductions.

Season 6 of “High Stakes Poker” will begin airing on Valentine’s Day – Sunday, February 14th, 2010 – at 8:00pm ET. Encore presentations will air at 11:00pm ET and 2:00am ET on Sunday nights, meaning that poker fans have three chances to catch new episodes every week. Each of its contestants coughed up $200,000 of their own money as a minimum buy-in.

Five players are making their first appearance on “High Stakes Poker,” including Yevgeniy “Jovial Gent” Timoshenko. The youngster has been on a tear on the live poker circuit despite only weighing in at 21 years of age. Timoshenko was born in the Ukraine and won the 2009 World Poker Tour (WPT) Championship for $2.1 million. In September, Timoshenko took down the Main Event of the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) for another $1.7 million and is a former winner of the Asian Poker Tour’s (APT) Macau feature tournament.

Also making his debut on GSN’s “High Stakes Poker” is Dennis Phillips, who gained notoriety by making back-to-back deep runs in the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event. Last year, Phillips finished third in the $10,000 buy-in gala for $4.5 million after entering the final table as the chip leader. Phillips came armed to the Penn and Teller Theater at the Rio with a throng of followers donning red St. Louis Cardinals baseball caps and white button up shirts. This year, Phillips finished 45th for $178,000 after being sent to the rails when an opponent made a flush with A-K suited; Phillips also held A-K.

High-stakes cash game player Sammy George will be right at home in the Golden Nugget when filming of the GSN poker franchise kicks off next week. George, who has earned the nickname “Any Two,” was scheduled to face off against Tom Dwan in the live version of the Durrrr Challenge in London back in September. However, the festivities never took place, although organizer Eddie Hearn noted that the mano-a-mano live contest may occur in December in Las Vegas. Dwan will take to the felts once again as part of “High Stakes Poker” Season 6 after making his debut last season.

Returning to “High Stakes Poker” after a two season hiatus is WSOP November Nine member Phil Ivey, who currently appears on the cover of “ESPN: The Magazine.” Ivey last appeared on the GSN series back in Season 3 and is seeking his third WSOP bracelet of 2009 when the Main Event resumes on Saturday from the Rio. Ivey has career tournament winnings in excess of $12 million and is the horse of many pros in this weekend’s Main Event final table.

Andreas Hoivold and Lex Veldhuis will both be appearing on “High Stakes Poker” for the first time during Season 6. Returning to the program are Patrik Antonius, David Benyamine, Doyle Brunson, Eli Elezra, Antonio Esfandiari, Barry Greenstein, Phil Hellmuth, Mike Matusow, Allan Meltzer, and Daniel Negreanu. The season will once again be taped at the Golden Nugget in Downtown Las Vegas from November 11th to 13th.

WPT Foxwoods World Poker Finals Kicks Off Thursday

Season 8 of the World Poker Tour (WPT) makes its next stop in Mashantucket, Connecticut on Thursday as the World Poker Finals kicks off at the at Foxwoods Resort Casino. The $10,000 buy-in No Limit Hold’em event will attract many of the tournament players around the world and its prize pool has eclipsed $5 million in past years.

Day 1 will get underway at Noon with players receiving 30,000 chips and blind levels running 90 minutes. The event concludes on Tuesday, November 10th, when the final six players take their seats and play until a champion is crowned.

Last year, poker pro Jonathan “FieryJustice” Little bested a field of 412 players to win the World Poker Finals title. Little, the Season 6 WPT Player of the Year, defeated Jonathan Jaffe heads up when his A-Q held up against Jaffe’s A-10, earning him $1.1 million and his second WPT title. Also appearing at the final table were David “The Dragon” Pham (fourth place for $240,000) and Mike Matusow (sixth place for $124,000).

Other former winners of the WPT World Poker Finals include Mike Vela (2007), Nenad Medic (2006), Nick Schulman (2005), Tuan Le (2004), Hoyt Corkins (2003), and Howard Lederer (2002).

The World Poker Finals has featured a series of preliminary events at Foxwoods since October 19th. Players were offered a wide selection of games on the tournament schedule, including No Limit Hold’em, Seven Card Stud, Omaha Eight or Better, HOSE, Pot Limit Omaha, and Limit Hold’em. Two of the top female pros in the world have generated the most buzz during the series thus far, as Vanessa Selbst took down the $1,500 No Limit Hold’em Event #7 for $74,000 and Kathy Liebert won the $2,500 No Limit Hold’em Event #14 for $74,000. Selbst also took third in Event #14 for $28,000, putting her earnings over the two-week series above the six-figure mark.

World Poker Tour Enterprises (WPTE), a publicly traded company on the NASDAQ Stock Exchange that controls the tour, has been in the news lately, as offers were being made to purchase the company. WPTE announced last week that its shareholders approved a purchase by Party Gaming subsidiary Peerless Media. Under the proposal from Peerless Media, WPTE shareholders will receive $12.3 million plus a percentage of future gaming revenues. The sale specifies that WPTE officials will receive at least $3 million over three years from the aforementioned gaming revenues. The money from the purchase will not be refunded to shareholders and will instead be used to invest in a non-poker related business venture.

Mandalay Entertainment made a last-minute bid of $36.5 million to purchase WPTE, submitting an offer to purchase the company’s television library, trademarks, and other portions of the tournament series. However, WPTE shareholders met last Friday in Los Angeles and instead approved the sale to Peerless Media.

Face the Ace: Charles Campbell, Will Liberman One and Done

The Halloween installment of the NBC poker franchise “Face the Ace” saw two contestants go one and done. Savannah firefighter Charles Campbell and cell phone salesman Will Liberman both failed to win $40,000.

Campbell, whose initials affectionately earned him the nickname “CC,” donned a jacket that said, “Face the Ace? I am the Ace” on the back. Campbell selected the ace of spades and, desiring to face Mike Matusow, watched as Phil Gordon emerged. Each player received 20,000 in chips and blinds began at 200/400. The match saw small-ball poker played, as Campbell and Gordon both carefully guarded their chip stacks. In one hand, Campbell called pre-flop with pocket sevens and Gordon made it 2,400 with pocket eights. Campbell pushed it to 5,400 and Gordon shoved all-in for 17,400. Campbell tanked before electing to fold face up and Gordon commented, “That was a great laydown,” showing the higher pocket pair.

Campbell doubled through Gordon holding A-K, including the king of clubs, against K-10. With the studio audience of about two-dozen gathering in wait, the flop came J-2-A with two clubs. The turn was the queen of clubs, giving Gordon the nut straight, but another club on the river improved Campbell to a flush. However, the challenger would drop most of his chips back to the pro when his A-Q could not hold up against Gordon’s Q-10. Gordon flopped top pair on a 4-10-3 board and quickly pushed. Given the number of chips in the pot, Campbell called with ace-high. The board ran out 7-2, giving Gordon all but 400 of the 40,000 chips in play, or 99%.

Campbell doubled up from 400 to 800 before ultimately falling with J-7 to Gordon’s K-5 of diamonds. The board came 6-8-3-9-9 and Gordon earned $10,000 for his charity, PreventCancer.org. He agreed to place the grant to the organization in Campbell’s mother’s name, as she is a two-time cancer survivor. Host Steve Schirripa, of “The Sopranos” fame, applauded the gesture.

The second contestant to take to the “Face the Ace” stage in Las Vegas was Liberman, who hails from Atlanta after moving from Russia a decade ago. Liberman selected the ace of clubs and faced Erick Lindgren, who, like Gordon, was making his second appearance on the poker television show. Lindgren was the 2008 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Player of the Year after earning his first bracelet in the $5,000 buy-in Mixed Hold’em event. He also took third in that year’s $50,000 buy-in HORSE Championship for $781,000.

In a key hand, Lindgren made the call pre-flop with 7-4 of spades and Liberman raised to 1,200 with K-Q. Lindgren obliged and the flop came 6-7-Q, giving both players a pair. The action, however, went check-check to another seven on the turn, improving Lindgren to trips. Lindgren led out for 1,500 and Liberman called to see a king on the river. Liberman checked, Lindgren bet 3,800, and Liberman called with top two pair, shipping a pot of 13,000 to “E-Dog.”

In the match’s final encounter, Liberman called with 7-4 of spades hoping to get lucky with the same hand as Lindgren did and the pro checked his option with 10-8. The flop came J-8-2 with two spades and Liberman pushed for his last 3,500 in chips. Lindgren called and the turn and river blanked out. Lindgren earned $10,000 for his charity, giving the pros a sweep of the “Face the Ace” Full Tilt Poker qualifiers for the first time this season.

“Face the Ace” will return on Saturday, November 14th at 3:00pm ET on NBC. The series will then air one month later on December 14th, also at 3:00pm ET, and then on January 2nd at 2:30pm ET.

Tommy Vedes Wins WPT Festa al Lago

The World Poker Tour’s (WPT) $15,000 buy-in Festa al Lago wrapped up on Monday with Tommy Vedes mounting a furious comeback heads-up against Jason “StatusUp” Lavallee. Vedes earned $1.2 million from the Bellagio poker tournament.

Vedes entered the 115th hand of final table play down nearly 4:1 in chips and committed his remaining stack with A-10. Lavallee made the call with A-J and had him dominated. However, the flop came 10-high and Vedes never looked back, doubling up to nearly even with his opponent. Lavallee won the next two hands to widen the gap before Vedes doubled up once again, this time with pocket fives against pocket fours. When the smoke cleared, Vedes was a 6:1 chip leader.

Six hands after doubling up for the first time, Vedes took down the WPT Festa al Lago title. Lavallee shoved with 8-6 of hearts and Vedes called, turning over K-Q of diamonds. Lavallee held live cards, but watched as the board ran out A-9-5-Q-Q. Vedes picked up $1.2 million and a $25,000 seat to the end-of-season WPT Championship, which is also held at the Bellagio. All was not lost for Lavallee, who nabbed a $795,000 consolation prize.

Shawn Cunix was eliminated from the Festa al Lago in sixth place and was the first person sent packing from the final table. Cunix suffered a similar fate as Lavallee in his final hand, pushing with 8-6 and getting a call from Craig Crivello, who had A-Q, including the ace of diamonds. Cunix spiked a six on a K-10-6 (all diamonds) flop to take the lead and the turn was a three of hearts. Needing to stave off an ace, queen, jack, or diamond on the river, Cunix watched as a diamond hit, giving Crivello a flush. Cunix earned $168,000 for his sixth place showing.

Jason Burt hit the exit in fifth place, banking $208,000. Burt shoved pre-flop with A-J, but ran into Freddy Deeb’s A-Q. Burt flopped a straight draw, but could never catch up. Deeb ultimately hit the rail in fourth place on the 62nd hand of final table play. He shoved pre-flop with A-4 and Vedes made the call with pocket sixes. The board came 8-7-2-10-Q and Deeb was eliminated in fourth place. He was seeking his record-tying third WPT title and would have become only the second player to accomplish the feat, joining Gus Hansen.

Crivello hit the skids in third place after pushing with K-J pre-flop and getting a call from Lavallee, who held pocket tens. The two were off to the races and the board bricked out for Crivello, eliminating him from contention. Vedes held a slight chip lead entering heads-up play against Lavallee, which lasted for over 50 hands. Here’s how the final table shook out at the 2009 running of the WPT Festa al Lago:

1st Place: Tommy Vedes – $1,218,225
2nd Place: Jason Lavallee – $795,150
3rd Place: Craig Crivello – $477,090
4th Place: Freddy Deeb – $278,300
5th Place: Jason Burt – $208,725
6th Place: Shawn Cunix – $168,970

WPT tournament officials will now head to Foxwoods for the annual World Poker Finals. The $10,000 buy-in tournament kicks off on November 5th and concludes five days later. Last year, Jonathan “FieryJustice” Little took down the title in Connecticut for $1.1 million, defeating Jonathan Jaffe heads-up. The tournament will compete head-to-head with the conclusion of the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event in Las Vegas.

The “Battle of the Jonathans” in 2008 at Foxwoods featured a final table that also included Charles Marchese, David “The Dragon” Pham, Jack Schanbacher, and Mike Matusow. A total of 412 entrants took to the felts last year in one of the largest casinos in the world, creating a prize pool of nearly $4 million. The top 50 players made the money.

Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest from the WPT circuit.

Jason Somerville Leads WPT Festa al Lago Entering Day 3

Two days are in the books at the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) Festa al Lago event. A total of 275 players registered, a drop of 25% compared to 2008, and entering Day 3 on Friday, Jason “JCarver” Somerville leads the way with a stack of 557,000.

A total of $1.2 million is up for grabs for the winner of the $15,000 buy-in tournament being held at the Bellagio. One person who won’t have the opportunity to vie for the seven-figure payday is Barry Shulman, the reigning champion of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Europe Main Event and father of November Nine member Jeff Shulman. The elder Shulman, founder of CardPlayer Magazine, was knocked out to close play on Thursday after pushing pre-flop with A-4 and running into the A-10 of Poorya Nazari. The winner of the 2009 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, Nazari saw his hand hold to knock out Shulman.

Also eliminated late in the day was Full Tilt Poker pro Howard Lederer, who pushed over the top of a raise by Mark Seif for 60 big blinds holding pocket jacks. However, Seif called and turned over pocket kings. The board ran out Q-10-10-6-A to send Lederer home just a few hours after he bought into the tournament during the extended registration period on Day 2.

2008 WSOP Europe Main Event Champion John Juanda was sent packing shortly after registration closed at 5:00pm Pacific Time on Thursday. Juanda called all-in for his tournament life on a board of K-Q-5-9 with three spades holding 6-7 of the suit. His opponent, Somerville, held Q-10 of spades for a higher flush and Juanda was eliminated. The hand pushed Somerville’s stack to 240,000.

2009 Poker Hall of Fame nominee Erik Seidel, an eight-time WSOP bracelet holder, took a bad beat at the hands of Phil Laak to end his run in the WPT Festa al Lago. Seidel pushed pre-flop with A-K and Laak made the call with K-5 of diamonds. Sure enough, a five hit the turn to give Laak the win in the hand. Laak’s stack grew to 120,000, but he did not survive play on Thursday. Others who were ousted included Beth Shak, Phil Hellmuth, Kenny Tran, Paul Wasicka, Erik Cajelais, David Grey, Carlos Mortensen, Eli Elezra, Jason Mercier, and Mike Sowers.

Here are the top 10 chip stacks remaining in the Festa al Lago entering Day 3 on Friday:

1. Jason “JCarver” Somerville – 557,000
2. Mark Seif – 473,200
3. Dutch Boyd – 453,800
4. Chad “lilholdem954” Batista – 425,000
5. Corwin Cole – 405,600
6. Richard Sciuto – 403,100
7. David “The Dragon” Pham – 365,000
8. Mike “goleafsgoeh” Leah – 348,400
9. Steven McKoy – 325,500
10. Jonas Entin – 317,600

Ninety-eight players remain, with the top 27 spots paying out. Other notable names still in the hunt for the WPT title include:

11. Steve “gboro780” Gross – 301,900
13. Lee Markholt – 273,800
21. David “Chino” Rheem – 233,000
27. Poorya Nazari – 221,600
30. Chau Giang – 210,700
34. Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo – 197,500
38. Mike Matusow – 183,800
48. Freddy Deeb – 144,800
49. Steve Brecher – 137,600
59. Andy Bloch – 112,200
60. Cliff “JohnnyBax” Josephy – 111,600
61. Glen Chorny – 111,100
63. Vivek “Psyduck” Rajkumar – 106,200
64. Todd Brunson – 105,900
72. Jonathan “FieryJustice” Little – 88,300
75. Brandon Cantu – 84,000
78. Josh Arieh – 77,800
80. Prahlad Friedman – 75,900
83. Barry Greenstein – 68,900
89. Kathy Liebert – 55,000
92. Phil Ivey – 51,700

When play halted for the evening in Las Vegas, blinds were at 1,000/2,000 with a 200 chip ante. The Festa al Lago will crown a winner on Monday. Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest from the marquee WPT event.

Mike Matusow Leads WPT Festa al Lago

The World Poker Tour Festa al Lago $15,000 event began yesterday, with the inaugural late registration for a WPT event applying on Day 2 today. This meant only one Day 1, that saw the fall of many top names but another take the lead – Mike Matusow, Full Tilt Pro and multiple WSOP bracelet-winner, is ahead of the field on 224,200 chips.

Mike Matusow, Mark Seif atop WPT Festa al Lago Leaderboard

The World Poker Tour (WPT) kicked into action once again on Wednesday with the first five rounds of play in the 2009 Festa al Lago Championship Event, a $15,000 buy-in tournament at the Bellagio in Las Vegas.

The Festa al Lago, the fourth stop on the Season 8 schedule for the WPT, was in danger of being one of the lowest attended events since the inception of the tour. During much of Festa al Lago schedule at the Bellagio, tournaments were significantly smaller than in past years due to the continuing strains of the economy on the bankrolls of some of the biggest players in the game. For example, Full Tilt Poker’s head man Howard Lederer was able to capture the $5,000 Festa al Lago HORSE Championship, but the field only contained 19 players and paid the top three. Thus, there was a great deal of concern when the cards hit the air at Noon local time on Wednesday.

As play began, the original registration list only contained 179 entrants after the first half-level of play. It was decided at this point by Bellagio and WPT officials to introduce a radical remedy to accommodate for the largest field possible: late registrations would be extended until the end of the eighth level of play, meaning that the true field size would not be known until around 5:00pm on Thursday. Therefore, the players in the field on Wednesday, set to play five levels in the Fontana Lounge at the Bellagio, wouldn’t truly know the field size until the next day.

This extension of the registration, the latest it has ever gone in a major poker tournament, introduced some new challenges to the players who were already in the event. Instead of chipping down players who register late, anyone who buys in prior to the end of Level 8 will receive a full complement of chips (60,000, or four times the buy-in).

With the announcement of late registration, many players decided to wait until Thursday to step into the fray at the Festa al Lago. Ultimate Bet’s Phil Hellmuth, after hearing of the late registration rules, decided not to show up to the first day of action at the Bellagio and will wait until Thursday to mount his assault on the WPT title. Even without “The Poker Brat” on the felt, 244 players were accounted for by the end of the day and every table was a minefield of top professionals.

Top pros who started the day on Wednesday, but were unable to stick around for its entirety, included the Mizrachi brothers (Michael and Robert), David Benyamine, Joe Sebok, and PokerStars’ Daniel Negreanu. Making his first appearance at a poker tournament since he made the WSOP “November Nine,” Phil Ivey patiently played through the day and will start on Thursday with slightly over 83,000 in chips. He will be a part of the 195 survivors of the first five levels who will be chasing top players Mike Matusow (224,000) and Mark Seif (222,000).

Satellites continued to run through the early morning hours at the Bellagio to create the largest field possible and will probably be in action right up to the final gun. Poker News Daily will have all the information, including the final count on Thursday, as the WPT’s Festa al Lago plays down to a champion on October 26th.

Alex Outhred Discusses Deepstacks University

Known as “The Insider” for his efforts in cataloging hands at every final table of the early years of the World Poker Tour (WPT), Alex Outhred went on to create the curriculum for and become one of the preeminent instructors for the WPT Boot Camp, which has taught the intricacies of poker to thousands of players. Then, he moved on to the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Academy, where he was critical in the implementation of its study guide. Outhred now has some other “pots on the stove,” both inside and outside of the poker world, including a new teaching outlet.

One of his latest endeavors, Deepstacks University, had been keeping him in the recording studios. Deepstacks University is an online and live poker school slated to open at the beginning of November. What makes Deepstacks University different is that it offers players poker instruction for a cost that is vastly less than the various boot camps that are available. It was easy to see Outhred’s enthusiasm for the new teaching tool after only a few moments of talking to him.

“Deepstacks University, in my opinion, is truly a quality product,” Outhred stated immediately. “We have some of the best minds in the game in Tom McEvoy, T.J. Cloutier, Mike Matusow, and the Binger brothers (Michael and Nick). I have played and worked with everyone involved with Deepstacks University and it’s truly an honor to work beside them.”

Outhred’s desire to teach poker stems from his background, which included everything from studying psychology at the University of Michigan to being exposed to the wealth of teachers and psychologists within his family. “It is really a great feeling when you see someone who benefited specifically from your instruction win a big tournament or a WSOP bracelet or Circuit ring. To illuminate poker concepts and theory that play a factor in taking down a title is definitely a point of pride for me, for the student, and the process itself.”

He’s also quick to note, however, that there is something in it for himself. “When I am teaching my courses on Deepstacks University, it does help me out,” Outhred said. “All of the things that I tell students help to reinforce the same ideas in my head, which then run over into my play at the tables. By keeping these ideas and concepts fresh and accessible in my head, I can only play better. An important aspect of this cycle that has developed lately has been bringing fresh lessons that I’m learning at the live tables directly to the Deepstacks University videos.”

With a wealth of players around him (in addition to the professionals listed before, other top pros such as Adam “Roothlus” Levy, Andrew “Browndog19” Brown, Jon “pokertrip” Friedberg, and Liv Boeree round out Team Deepstacks), Outhred has found that there is always room to improve his game. “It’s tough to pick just one (of my associates), but Nick Binger is someone I learn from because I believe we have a uniquely similar style of play,” Outhred said. “We both seem to have that knack for going with our reads and knowing when to drop a big hand or kick into that purely aggressive mode that it takes to do well in tournament poker. Seeing his style of play and the corresponding results embolden my confidence in my own game and my likelihood for future success.”

In the past three years, Outhred has pulled in approximately $300,000 from tournament poker (he was 54th in last year’s WSOP Main Event) and also earned $500,000 from the FOX television game show “Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader?” The money earned has allowed him to become part owner in a restaurant, Stout Burgers and Beer, in Hollywood, California. The establishment is set to open next month.

“I’ve been thinking about the future and the restaurant was something I wanted to do,” Outhred admitted. “I have been on a bit of a bad streak results-wise since the WSOP last year and I really wanted to see the restaurant and Deepstacks University get off the ground. To be able to do that, I really put my attention on them and put playing high buy-in poker events on hold until next year.”

Starting the restaurant while maintaining a place in the poker world was critical for Outhred: “I wanted to be able to take care of my future and be secure. By getting these things in line, I’ll be able to do that. People sometimes forget that poker will always be there and I didn’t want to be one of the people who forgot that.”

Outhred seems to be demonstrating that someone can combine life and poker and be successful at both. With Deepstacks University and his restaurant set to open for business within a couple of weeks, “The Insider” will be busier than ever and we can only hope to see him back on the felt soon.

ESPN Inside Deal Welcomes Joe Cada

This week’s installment of the ESPN.com poker franchise “Inside Deal” featured 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event November Nine member Joe Cada. Laura Lane and Poker News Daily Guest Columnist Bernard Lee host the show.

The news segment of ESPN “Inside Deal” began with Lee praising World Poker Tour (WPT) Host Mike Sexton for his election to the Poker Hall of Fame: “I think it’s tremendously well-deserved. Mike has had a phenomenal career. A lot of people think of him from the WPT, but remember, he is a very well-accomplished player.” Sexton is the lone representative of the Poker Hall of Fame Class of 2009. Others who were up for consideration included Tom McEvoy, Dan Harrington, Daniel Negranu, Phil Ivey, Erik Seidel, Barry Greenstein, Scotty Nguyen, and Men “The Master” Nguyen.

Attention then turned to the letter authored by the Poker Players Alliance (PPA) to U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner petitioning for the delay of the regulations of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) by one year to December 1st, 2010. Lee explained what would happen if the current deadline stood: “The impact would be devastating. We’re fearful that the banks will err on the side of caution and ultimately block payments that the online sites would give.”

Making headlines this week was the news that the GSN staple “High Stakes Poker” had dropped host A.J. Benza for Season 6, allegedly replacing him with a female correspondent. Lee explained, “I’m a little surprised. For five years, A.J. and Gabe Kaplan have seemed to have a good rapport, so I’m surprised they’re making this switch.” Poker News Daily broke the news that Vanessa Rousso, the presumed frontrunner for the job, would not be Benza’s replacement. Other possible fill-ins include former WPT hostess Shana Hiatt, Kara Scott, Absolute Poker pro Lacey Jones, and Shannon Elizabeth.

Cada, who could become the youngest Main Event winner ever if he takes down the feature tournament next month, then joined the show. He noted how his life has changed as a result of the increased exposure as a member of the November Nine: “I’ve been playing poker my whole life, so the only thing that’s changed for me is the media.” Cada is primarily a cash game player, only hitting up the tournament scene online on Sundays. He purchased a 2,400 square foot house at age 19 as a gift to himself and is a sponsored pro of PokerStars, the world’s largest online poker room.

Heading into the 2009 WSOP, Cada found himself on a $150,000 downswing. He sought the aid of two longtime cornerstones of the poker industry, Cliff “JohnnyBax” Josephy and Eric “sheets” Haber. Cada recalled, “I was lucky enough to have them back me and I’m very grateful for that. I knew I could win before I came in.” Josephy, a former Ultimate Bet pro, and Sheets will receive 50% of Cada’s earnings. The top prize in Las Vegas is $8.5 million.

ESPN.com Poker Editor Andrew Feldman joined the show to discuss a series of dream teams. News broke last week that Dream Team Poker would return with tournaments at the Bicycle Casino in Los Angeles coinciding with Monday Night Football. Feldman’s “Dream Team Young Guns” consisted of Tom “durrrr” Dwan, Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier, and 2008 WSOP Main Event Champion Peter Eastgate. “Dream Team Lady Luck” was comprised of Shannon Elizabeth, Annette “Annette_15” Obrestad, and Jones. Finally, Feldman unveiled “Dream Team Old Guard:” Negreanu, Phil Hellmuth, and Mike Matusow. Cada added that his ultimate Dream Team would be Ivey, Patrick Antonius, and Dwan.

Finally, Cada revealed that on Day 8 of the 2009 WSOP Main Event, his stack had dropped to 20% of the average before he clawed back. He knocked out between 10 and 15 players en route to the final table and, upon heading to Connecticut to film ESPN “Inside Deal,” dropped some dough at the Foxwoods blackjack tables.

“Inside Deal” is released every Tuesday on ESPN.com.

Mike Sexton Elected to Poker Hall of Fame

The 38th person elected into the Poker Hall of Fame is none other than PartyPoker Ambassador and Poker News Daily Guest Columnist Mike Sexton. He will be enshrined as part of ceremonies to be held on November 7th.

2009 marks the 30th anniversary of the Poker Hall of Fame. This year, nine finalists were up for nomination to the Hall, with a panel of 15 living Hall of Fame members and 15 media representatives (including this author) determining the fate of the 2009 class. Sexton was the only one that I felt was a shoe-in for election, as 75% of the 30-member vote was required in order to capture one of poker’s most prestigious accolades. A press release distributed by World Series of Poker (WSOP) officials properly labeled Sexton “a true gentleman who has constantly enhanced the game of poker both with his play at the tables and his promotion of the game off of it.”

Ballots were due on October 2nd, with each person able to vote for up to three candidates for the 2009 class. This author selected Sexton, Tom McEvoy, and Dan Harrington, the three elder statesmen on the 2009 ballot. Other nominees included November Nine member Phil Ivey, “The Robin Hood of Poker” Barry Greenstein, “PokerStars.net Million Dollar Challenge” lead man Daniel Negreanu, Men “The Master” Nguyen, WSOP Main Event and HORSE Championship winner Scotty Nguyen, and eight-time bracelet holder Erik Seidel.

The list of Poker Hall of Fame members reads like a roll call of poker legends: Doyle Brunson (inducted in 1988), Johnny Chan (2002), Phil Hellmuth (2007), Stu Ungar (2001), Chip Reese (1991), and Barbara Enright (2007), just to name a few. Now, Sexton’s name will be added to this illustrious list. In a press release distributed by PartyPoker, Sexton commented, “I am deeply honored to be inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame and it is particularly special because for the first time it was a process that involved the fans, the media, and the living members of the Hall of Fame. To me, the most meaningful aspect of this process was the acceptance by the living Hall of Famers, who welcomed me into their exclusive club.”

One of Sexton’s most impressive feats was taking down the 2006 WSOP Tournament of Champions, which saw the new Poker Hall of Fame member best a final table that included Daniel Negreanu, Mike Matusow, Andy Black, and Chris Ferguson. Sexton earned $1 million for the victory and, according to WSOP officials, donated half of his prize money to charity. His lone WSOP bracelet came in 1989, when the World Poker Tour (WPT) host outlasted a field of 174 players to win a $1,500 buy-in Limit Seven Card Stud High-Low event. He has reached the final table in 20 of the 47 WSOP events he’s entered, a 43% success rate.

Sexton is the voice that many in the industry “grew up to” following the poker boom in 2003 and was instrumental in bringing the WPT to life. Sexton sat, and continues to sit, alongside Vince Van Patten on WPT broadcasts, popularizing the notion that Texas Hold’em takes “a minute to learn and a lifetime to master.” He represents one of the few constants in an industry constantly in flux and had the backing of a bevy of influential industry veterans in his push for the Poker Hall of Fame, including Howard Lederer, Annie Duke, Steve Lipscomb, Linda Johnson, Jan Fisher, Padraig Parkinson, Matt Savage, Roland de Wolfe, and an army of public relations staffers at PartyPoker.

To me, one of the most defining acts for Sexton was when he took on a lead role to campaign on behalf of players shut out of the 2009 WSOP Main Event after Day 1D had reached capacity. Sexton joined forces with “Captain” Tom Franklin to present WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack options to accommodate players. Sexton, curiously, had little to gain from taking an active role in the situation, as he had already played on Day 1A and survived with an average chip stack. The situation manifested Sexton’s stature within the industry and is one of the many reasons we will look forward to welcoming him into the Poker Hall of Fame in November.

DeepStacks University beta goes live

Headed up by Mike Matusow, the brand new training site been developed to help poker players develop the skills necessary to be a winning player.

"Serving as Dean of DeepStacks University is one of the most exciting projects I've ever been part of," said Matusow.

"The team, from the experienced instructors to the talented executives running the company, is first class all the way.

"I've been around a long time, seen tons of ideas and projects come and go, but when it comes to online poker education, nothing compares to what DSU has to offer. I'll be able to transfer my years of knowledge, experience and strategy development to you in a way that is not possible anywhere else."

The key feature of DeepStacks University is something the site is calling Reactive Training Technology, which essentially allows players to interact with a training video.

Players are able to use separate "modules" to help work on a specific part of their poker game. The University is scheduled to release new modules every week.

DeepStacks University instructors include the aforementioned Matusow, TJ Cloutier, Michael Binger and Adam "Roothlus" Levy.

"DeepStacks University is going to be one of the best training sites around," said Levy. "With interactive modules letting players really feel a part of everything and a team of top-notch professionals, DeepStacks University is sure to be around a long time."

Special early access offers are available for first time users and registered customers through the beta site found at www.deepstacks.com.

Visit PokerListings.com

PokerPages.com to Close October 31st

Along with the influx of players to the world of poker, the past decade has also seen an increase in the number of poker-related media, magazines, and informational web sites for fans to peruse. Since the passage of the Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act (UIGEA) in 2006, however, many of these businesses have fallen victim to lean times. One of the recent casualties was also one of the first to set out into the poker information business back before the poker boom began.

It was announced on Friday that the longtime poker information site PokerPages.com, which has been in business since the late 1990s, would be ceasing operations come the end of October. In a brief statement on the site, PokerPages management said, “For many years Poker Pages has enjoyed providing the best source of poker related content, arguably the internet’s largest and most complete live poker tournament results and listings database, as well as a place to play poker for free. These services will certainly be missed, but we realize that the most appreciated benefit of our products and services has been the community created by our user base. We thank you for the many great years you allowed us to provide you with the best poker content on the internet and wish you all the best in your future poker endeavors. It has been a pleasure and a privilege serving you over the years!”

PokerPages.com was arguably one of the top sites for tournament schedules and reporting. Its international tournament listings were second to none and the history of many of the events in its database stretched back to the 1970s. PokerPages.com was also the home of Poker School Online, which featured poker instruction from poker veteran Al Spath and provided new players a place to hone their skills online for free before stepping out into the world of live cash poker.

Such noted players as poker legend T. J. Cloutier, 2008 “November Nine” member Dennis Phillips, pros Kenna James and “Hollywood” Dave Stann, and top female players Erica Schoenberg and Maria Ho added their insights through writing articles for the site. At one time, in addition to the numerous professional players and their thoughts, its writing staff featured such notable names as Mike Paulle, who was the originator (along with Max Shapiro and the late Andy Glazer) of the “tournament reporter” position that is commonplace in today’s poker media, and author Amy Calistri, who recently teamed with Tim “The Poker Shrink” Lavalli to pen “Check Raising The Devil,” the autobiography of Mike Matusow.

The original ownership of PokerPages.com, Mark and Tina Napolitano, recently sold the company, which was headquartered in Austin, Texas, and the site’s quality had begun to decline. Calistri noted on her blog that, in commenting on the death of Las Vegas legend Bob Stupak, “I knew it would be too much to ask to find one (a story on Stupak’s passing) on PokerPages, which is rehashing a lot of old articles and posting week-old news these days.”

In a comment to Poker News Daily, Paulle summed up his thoughts on PokerPages’ demise by stating, “Tina Napolitano was the heart and soul of PokerPages.com. When you lose your heart and soul, you die.”

PokerPages.com will cease operations on October 31st and, according to announcements on the site, there is no information as to what will become of the wealth of history that it has accumulated.

Phil Hellmuth – Entertaining as Ever

Eleven-time World Series of Poker bracelet-winner Phil Hellmuth has posted a twitvid (appropriately named, but unfortunately that’s just the name of videos on Twitter and not a portrayal of the Poker Brat) detailing his arrival in London and a brief chat with Mike Matusow and Men “The Master” Nguyen.

Mike Matusow Calls Caesars Cup a Farce in Phil Hellmuth TwitVid

One of the most popular players in the game today, 11-time bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth, has given those who couldn’t make their way to the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Europe festivities the opportunity to tour the Casino at the Empire in Leicester Square in London and get personal with other poker pros through his Twitter account.

Hellmuth, who submits his tweets through the Twitter tag “Phil Hellmuth,” recently posted a four-minute twitvid that offers a look inside what has become one of London’s must-visit places for poker players. In the video, the “Poker Brat” serves as the travel guide for the viewer and, by the end, records two polarizing figures in the world of poker.

The video starts from his viewpoint in Leicester Square in London. Filmed before his triumphant entrance as Nero during the WSOP Europe Main Event, he points out that Leicester Square is the home of many historical statues, artists, and “stuff like that,” before strolling through the Square to the entrance of the Casino at the Empire. Strangely enough, and accurately pointed out by Hellmuth, the casino does not look out of place in a city that has been in existence for quite some time.

It takes approximately two minutes to get to the true meat of Hellmuth’s twitvid. As he strolls through the casino and reaches the poker arena of the Casino at the Empire, Hellmuth finds WSOP Media Director Nolan Dalla sitting with Men “The Master” Nguyen and Mike “The Mouth” Matusow. At this point, the twitvid takes off, as the duo espouse on some issues that are on their minds.

Hellmuth welcomes Nguyen to London, as “The Master” exhaustedly states that he just arrived in the U.K. after an 11-hour flight. The extremely jet-lagged poker veteran, who is one of the nominees for election into the Poker Hall of Fame, is hailed by Hellmuth as the “Vietnamese Godfather of Poker” and Hellmuth himself states that Nguyen will probably earn election into the Hall “within the next two to three years, if not this year.”

The conversation then turns to the always-entertaining Matusow, who definitely had some issues on his mind. Hellmuth notes that Matusow is upset that Team Americas captain Daniel Negreanu did not choose him for a spot on the Caesars Cup squad. “I’m not upset,” Matusow contends. “I can’t get upset over a f*****g farce.” Matusow continues on his rant when he notes, “When a 20 year-old is the captain of the European team and a 21 year-old Canadian is captain of an American team, why should I be upset?” Matusow is, in reality, good friends with Negreanu, who is actually 35.

The duo then continue their discussion when Hellmuth brings up the fact that Matusow had taken part in the Full Tilt Million Dollar Cash Game, a 24-hour ring game that was taped for television broadcast in Europe. Hellmuth says that Matusow walked away from the table - which included “November Nine” member Phil Ivey, former WSOP Player of the Year Allen Cunningham, former Main Event Champion Chris Ferguson, online legend Tom “durrrr” Dwan, Scandinavian superstar Patrik Antonius, and English poker star Andrew Feldman - with a $105,000 profit.

“It was without a doubt the toughest lineup I have ever played,” Matusow admitted. “I definitely brought my A+ game, not only because of the difficult table, but because no one would talk to me!” Hellmuth then reveals that he had been called on several occasions during the taping to provide a foil for Matusow, drawing laughter from all at the table.

Hellmuth has continued to post tweets during the run of the WSOP Europe. He can be found on Twitter under the moniker Phil Hellmuth.

Mike Matusow Calls Caesars Cup a Farce in Phil Hellmuth TwitVid

One of the most popular players in the game today, 11-time bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth, has given those who couldn’t make their way to the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Europe festivities the opportunity to tour the Casino at the Empire in Leicester Square in London and get personal with other poker pros through his Twitter account.

Hellmuth, who submits his tweets through the Twitter tag “Phil Hellmuth,” recently posted a four-minute twitvid that offers a look inside what has become one of London’s must-visit places for poker players. In the video, the “Poker Brat” serves as the travel guide for the viewer and, by the end, records two polarizing figures in the world of poker.

The video starts from his viewpoint in Leicester Square in London. Filmed before his triumphant entrance as Nero during the WSOP Europe Main Event, he points out that Leicester Square is the home of many historical statues, artists, and “stuff like that,” before strolling through the Square to the entrance of the Casino at the Empire. Strangely enough, and accurately pointed out by Hellmuth, the casino does not look out of place in a city that has been in existence for quite some time.

It takes approximately two minutes to get to the true meat of Hellmuth’s twitvid. As he strolls through the casino and reaches the poker arena of the Casino at the Empire, Hellmuth finds WSOP Media Director Nolan Dalla sitting with Men “The Master” Nguyen and Mike “The Mouth” Matusow. At this point, the twitvid takes off, as the duo espouse on some issues that are on their minds.

Hellmuth welcomes Nguyen to London, as “The Master” exhaustedly states that he just arrived in the U.K. after an 11-hour flight. The extremely jet-lagged poker veteran, who is one of the nominees for election into the Poker Hall of Fame, is hailed by Hellmuth as the “Vietnamese Godfather of Poker” and Hellmuth himself states that Nguyen will probably earn election into the Hall “within the next two to three years, if not this year.”

The conversation then turns to the always-entertaining Matusow, who definitely had some issues on his mind. Hellmuth notes that Matusow is upset that Team Americas captain Daniel Negreanu did not choose him for a spot on the Caesars Cup squad. “I’m not upset,” Matusow contends. “I can’t get upset over a f*****g farce.” Matusow continues on his rant when he notes, “When a 20 year-old is the captain of the European team and a 21 year-old Canadian is captain of an American team, why should I be upset?” Matusow is, in reality, good friends with Negreanu, who is actually 35.

The duo then continue their discussion when Hellmuth brings up the fact that Matusow had taken part in the Full Tilt Million Dollar Cash Game, a 24-hour ring game that was taped for television broadcast in Europe. Hellmuth says that Matusow walked away from the table - which included “November Nine” member Phil Ivey, former WSOP Player of the Year Allen Cunningham, former Main Event Champion Chris Ferguson, online legend Tom “durrrr” Dwan, Scandinavian superstar Patrik Antonius, and English poker star Andrew Feldman - with a $105,000 profit.

“It was without a doubt the toughest lineup I have ever played,” Matusow admitted. “I definitely brought my A+ game, not only because of the difficult table, but because no one would talk to me!” Hellmuth then reveals that he had been called on several occasions during the taping to provide a foil for Matusow, drawing laughter from all at the table.

Hellmuth has continued to post tweets during the run of the WSOP Europe. He can be found on Twitter under the moniker Phil Hellmuth.