Poker News

Stan James launches The Four Dartsmen of the Ap-oche-lypse promotion

“Oh I do like to be beside the seaside” so the song goes. Sadly it doesn’t mention poker and dart players but that’s the combination on offer in the latest Stan James promotion. The bookmaker has launched a series of online poker tournaments to tie in with their World Matchplay Darts event which takes place in seaside resort of Blackpool in July.

WPT Foxwoods Poker Classic Attendance Drops 25%

The World Poker Tour (WPT) Foxwoods Poker Classic kicked off on Friday from the Connecticut casino. Whether it was due to the economy, the ongoing Spring Championship of Online Poker tournament series, or preliminary events at the WPT Championship, attendance dropped by 25% this time around.

Last year, 346 players took to the felts in April, with Full Tilt Poker pro Erik Seidel emerging victorious from the pack. Seidel owns eight World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelets, but last year marked his first WPT victory. The 2008 Foxwoods Poker Classic final table also featured Ted Forrest, who grabbed sixth place for $103,000. Seidel earned $992,000 for his victory. This year, just 259 players entered, a drop of 25%. A post on the WPT's website speculated, “While some of the West Coast pros stayed in Las Vegas for the Bellagio prelims, it's clear that the economy is playing a factor here in the Northeast, where only 259 players showed up for the WPT Foxwoods Poker Classic.”

Due to the sub-par turnout, the Foxwoods Poker Classic, which will air as part of the seventh season of the WPT on Fox Sports Net, will award less than three-quarters of a million dollars to its winner. The paydays will be as follows:

1st Place: $731,079
2nd Place: $409,405
3rd Place: $214,449
4th Place: $138,905
5th Place: $106,007
6th Place: $85,292

Day One in the massive Connecticut casino saw five levels of 90 minutes each played. As a result, just 165 players survived the day. The field was paced by Ken Adams, who spent the afternoon building up a stack of 140,775, over three times the average of 46,500.

The tournament will crown a champion on Wednesday. In addition to the $731,000 in cold hard cash, its victor will also pocket a $25,000 entry into the WPT Championship, which begins on April 18th from the Bellagio in Las Vegas. Here's a look at the top 10 stacks entering Day 2:

1. Ken Adams - 140,775
2. Daniel Pelletier - 123,775
3. Anthony Gregg - 113,675
4. Nick Saxon - 109,825
5. Anthony Gargano - 108,900
6. Frankie Flowers - 108,875
7. John LaRochelle - 108,775
8. William Botchis - 108,625
9. Andy Stone - 107,100
10. Michael Farris – 104,525

Notable chip stacks remaining in the talented field include Cory “UGOTPZD” Carroll (104,500), Jonathan Jaffe (102,000), Mohsin “chicagocards1” Charania (100,225), Team PokerStars Pro member Barry Greenstein (83,125), WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star Champion Steve Brecher (80,000), Bodog pro David Williams (78,075), online poker pro Jonathan “FieryJustice” Little (78,075), and Mike “The Mouth” Matusow (50,400). In addition, three former winners of WPT events held at Foxwoods are still in the hunt: Nenad Medic (40,000), Nick Schulman (24,000), and Hoyt Corkins (18,850).

One of the final players eliminated on Day 1 was Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier, who took down the WPT Festa al Lago last October for $1.4 million. He defeated Nam Le heads-up in that even, with Medic and Ultimate Bet Star Player Adam “Roothlus” Levy also making the final table. Grospellier was all-in holding Q-J on a J-4-2-2-6 board for two pair, but was bested by his opponent's pocket queens for a better two pair. Ironically, Le was bounced from Foxwoods 10 minutes earlier after being crippled when his opponent tabled a full house on an A-K-5-J-K board, showing K-J.

After play had concluded at Foxwoods, Charania told WPT Live Updates Hostess Amanda Leatherman about a hand where he flopped quads: “I had deuces and the flop came 8-2-2. I checked, Kathy Liebert bet, [an opponent] called, and I called. The turn was a jack. I checked, the other guy bet pot, I re-raised, Kathy folded, and he called. The river came a queen and I couldn't put him on a full house. I value bet and he said, 'I call.' He flipped over 8-8.” Charania told Leatherman that he was “confused” by the hand, where, despite the action flop, all of the chips failed to make it into the middle of the table.

Play resumed at Noon ET today. We'll have full updates from Foxwoods right here on Poker News Daily.

PokerStars SCOOP Event 1 Attracts 27,000 Players

It didn't take long for the PokerStars Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) to become wildly popular. In fact, the low-stakes installment of its very first tournament, a No Limit Hold'em Six-Max with Rebuys event, attracted 27,134 players, making it one of the largest online poker tournaments ever held. In the end, Eetu100 grabbed $41,000 for the win in the $5.50 buy-in tournament.

AragonX was the first player ousted from the six-handed final table, being eliminated on the very first hand. AragonX shoved on a flop of 10-5-K holding A-10 for middle pair. However, he was dominated by Eetu100, who showed K-4. The turn and river came a queen and king, respectively, improving Eetu100 to trips and sending AragonX home in sixth place for $3,000. There were a total of 45,438 rebuys in the tournament, or about 1.7 per person.

The next to go was canucko, who found himself on the losing end of a race holding A-Q against bakter9, who held pocket eights. The flop came ace-high, giving canucko a glimmer of hope, but an eight on the turn gave his opponent a set. Canucko took home $4,000 for his efforts and four players remained in the $5.50 buy-in affair.

After a board of 7-5-J-9, jw32123 pushed with 5-7 over the top of a raise by bakter9, who held pocket jacks. PokerStars player jw32123 found himself he victim of a cooler in this hand, as his flopped two pair was no match for his opponent's set. He pocketed $8,000 for his efforts.

After discussions of a chop failed to materialize, bakter9 was the next to go, taking third place for $17,000. Eetu100 bet enough to put bakter9 all-in on a board of A-8-9-7-A. Not believing his opponent had one of the two remaining aces in the deck, bakter9 called and flipped over pocket jacks for aces up. However, Eetu100 had the goods, showing A-K.

Eetu100 held better than a 4:1 chip lead heads-up, 188 million to 44 million. Despite a quick double up to make things more interesting, MrWhite's tournament ended after he shoved with A-Q on a board of A-8-9. Despite holding top pair and the second best kicker, MrWhite was dominated by Eetu100's A-8 for top and bottom pair. A queen failed to come on the turn or river, sealing the win for Eetu100 and a $29,000 consolation prize for MrWhite.

Here were the official payouts from the final table of the enormous 27,000 player tournament held as part of SCOOP:
1st Place: Eetu100 - $41,562.77
2nd Place: MrWhite - $29,364.53
3rd Place: bakter9 - $17,401.21
4th Place: jw32123 - $8,700.61
5th Place: canucko - $4,350.31
6th Place: AragonX - $3,045.22

The mid-stakes edition of Event 1 was a $55 buy-in tournament that attracted 4,057 players. In the end, Isaac “westmenloAA” Baron triumphed over the field, banking $97,000. Baron took fourth in last April's Monte Carlo Grand Final, a stop on the European Poker Tour (EPT), banking over $900,000. Canadian Glen Chorny reigned supreme in that tournament, taking home $3.1 million.

The high-stakes version of Event 1 boasted a $535 buy-in and the field included Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo, whose PokerStars ban was recently lifted. German player BongBob took down the event, which attracted 672 players. The $1.1 million prize pool tournament more than doubled its guarantee and the top 72 spots paid.

Also taking place on Thursday was Event 2, a Pot Limit Omaha High-Low contest. The low-stakes $11 buy-in edition was won by thehoffa, who defeated a field of 7,622 players in one of the largest Omaha High-Low events ever run. The PokerStars player banked nearly $10,000 for his efforts. Josh “Sdouble” Schlein took down the mid-stakes version for $33,000 and finsfan7 notched a win in the high-stakes Omaha High-Low event for $61,000.

PokerStars Signs Peter Eastgate, Ivan Demidov

On Thursday, PokerStars, the world's largest online poker site, announced that 2008 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event Champion Peter Eastgate and runner up Ivan Demidov have become the newest members of Team PokerStars Pro. The move bolsters the non-U.S. presence of the site, as Eastgate hails from Denmark and Demidov makes his home in Russia.

A few weeks prior to the start of the 2008 WSOP festivities, Harrah's officials announced that the final table of the Main Event would be pushed back until November. In essence, the move created a lull of 100 days and the first ever “November Nine,” the final players standing. The nine final table contestants would have ample time to pursue sponsorships, seek training, and even review hands as the WSOP played out on ESPN. Eastgate and Demidov join fellow November Nine members Dennis Phillips and Ylon Schwartz on Team PokerStars Pro. The group represents the top four finishers in the tournament.

The PokerStars blog revealed that the signings have been in the works for awhile: “Ever since you saw the two sit down face-to-face for the epic World Series battle, you somehow knew they would end up in the elite Team Pro stable. It was just a matter of when it would happen.” Eastgate banked $9.1 million from the 2008 WSOP Main Event, his lone World Series cash to date. He showed his performance at the Rio was no fluke by taking down a $4,800 buy-in preliminary tournament held during the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure for $343,000, defeating German player Florian Langmann heads-up.

Demidov became the first player ever to reach the final tables of both the WSOP and WSOP Europe Main Events, taking third in the latter tournament for £334,850. His runner up performance in the Main Event in Las Vegas was worth a healthy $5.8 million. He also finished 11th in a $1,000 rebuy tournament during the 2008 WSOP for $39,000. Demidov is a former StarCraft player and math whiz, which explains his success at the poker felts. You can catch the Russian playing on PokerStars under the name "Ivan Demidov."

Team PokerStars Pro recently welcomed Norwegian player Johnny Lodden to its ranks. The squad, which represents PokerStars at major live events and is intricately involved in its online promotions, is headlined by a trio of recent WSOP Main Event Champions: Chris Moneymaker (2003), Greg Raymer (2004), and Joe Hachem (2005). At the end of February, Team PokerStars Pro also welcomed J.C. Alvarado, who originally hails from Mexico and now lives in Las Vegas.

Other members of Team PokerStars Pro include Barry Greenstein, Isabelle Mercier, Daniel Negreanu, John Duthie, Steven Paul-Ambrose, Luca Pagano, Victor Ramdin, Lee Nelson, Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier, and Humberto Brenes. The site plays host to some of the top women in poker, headlined by Go Daddy Girl Vanessa Rousso, who took second to Huck Seed in the 2009 National Heads-Up Poker Championship, which will unfold beginning on April 12th on NBC. Other top female players who are members of Team PokerStars Pro include Katja Thater, Victoria Coren, and Maridu Mayrinck.

PokerStars is in the midst of Day 2 of its inaugural Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP). The tournament series features events with low-stakes, mid-stakes, and high-stakes buy-ins. The very first event was a No Limit Hold'em Six-Max with Rebuys tournament. The low-stakes contest featured a $500,000 guaranteed prize pool and attracted over 27,000 players, making it one of the largest online poker tournaments ever held. The mid-stakes $55 buy-in version attracted 4,057 players and the $550 buy-in high-stakes edition saw a field of 672 players compete. In Event 2, a Pot Limit Omaha High-Low tournament, 7,622 players showed up for the low-stakes, 2,104 for the mid-stakes, and 327 for the high-stakes. SCOOP culminates with its Main Event on April 12th.

ZeeJustin Unbanned on PokerStars

Just in time for its very first Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP), the world's most popular online poker room, PokerStars, reinstated the account of Justin "ZeeJustin" Bonomo, a sponsored pro of Bodog. The 23 year-old first ran into trouble in 2006 on PartyPoker, which was, at the time, open to U.S. players. Bonomo logged into multiple accounts at one time, sparking a flood of other sites to follow suit and ban the young player from their virtual felts.

Bonomo's multi-accounting came into light soon after the revelation that Josh "JJProdigy" Field had used several screen names, including “ABlackCar.” The mischief by Field also occurred on PartyPoker, leading the site to tighten up its security. Field was also informed by the Cake Poker Network that he could not compete in the Bluff Online Poker Challenge last month due to a ban for allowing a staked player to use his account.

Bonomo used a total of six accounts to log into PartyPoker; at times, these accounts appeared in the same online poker tournament. Winnings from a $640 buy-in PartyPoker Sunday tournament were revoked and Bonomo shied away from the media frenzy. On February 26th, 2006, Lee Jones, then the PokerStars Poker Room Manager, announced on TwoPlusTwo that Bonomo had been "playing multiple accounts in several tournaments at PokerStars." Money was taken from his account and used to pay back "players who were harmed by his actions in those same tournaments."

In 2008, Bonomo signed on as a member of Team Bodog, joining "Survivor: China" castaway Jean-Robert Bellande, Evelyn Ng, and David Williams. Bonomo burst onto the live poker scene in 2007, taking second in a $3,000 buy-in HORSE tournament held as part of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Circuit festivities at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas for $40,000. During the 2007 WSOP, Bonomo made the final table and finished fourth in a $2,000 buy-in No Limit Hold'em tournament, winning $156,000. The next year, he finished as the runner up in a $5,000 Mixed Hold'em event for $230,000. That tournament marked the first bracelet win for Full Tilt Poker pro Erick Lindgren.

During the 2006 Bellagio Five Diamond World Poker Classic, a stop on the World Poker Tour (WPT), Bonomo bubbled the six-handed televised final table and finished in seventh for $152,000. He took 11th in the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Main Event and 35th in the WPT Championship, both in 2007, for a combined $154,000. Together with Parvis and Eric Morris, Bonomo took down the inaugural Dream Team Poker tournament held at the Hard Rock Casino in Las Vegas as part of “Team Bluff.” Now, he will battle it out in the PokerStars SCOOP, which begins on Friday.

On the naming of Bonomo to Bodog's elite stable of poker pros in May of 2008, Mohawk Gaming Group CEO Alwyn Morris commented in a press release, "Justin is one of the most feared and skilled players in poker today and we're thrilled to officially have him join our team of world-class poker pros. Justin lives and breathes the Bodog lifestyle and is a perfect fit for us. We expect him to make a lot of noise this year for Team Bodog, beginning with the WSOP this summer."

Study Reveals Poker is a Game of Skill

In a study released on Friday, it was revealed that Texas Hold'em, statistically at least, is a game of skill. The research in question investigated 103 million hands and found that three-quarters of them did not go to showdown. In essence, they were won due to betting by players.

A total of 75.7% of the hands examined as part of the study did not go to showdown. In these hands, the victor's skill of betting managed to win the pot for them, regardless of whether they held the best hand. In the remaining 24.3% of hands, the player who held the best five cards only won 50.3% of the time. In the other 49.7% of pots, the player with the best hand folded prior to showdown. Overall, the best hand actually scooped the pot just 12% of the time. Therefore, according to the study, Texas Hold'em can be seen as 88% skill and not predominated by chance.

Former three-term Senator from New York and current Poker Players Alliance (PPA) Chairman Alfonse D'Amato commented, “As a poker player, I can tell you that knowing when to hold or fold is not based solely on the cards that are dealt, but a series of decisions based on skill and the actions taken by other players. This study provides the raw data to back up the compelling arguments made by poker players around the world that it’s skill, not pure luck, that determines the outcome of this game.”

The data in question has been used by the PPA to help prove that poker is a game of skill in several legal battles. Most recently, a judge in South Carolina overwhelmingly agreed that poker was a game of skill, but still found the defendants in the case guilty of illegal gambling due to a lack of direction by the state's legislature and courts. Other judges in Colorado and Pennsylvania concurred with the PPA's assessment that poker is a game of skill, a trait that might help the game receive special recognition on a national level.

The study was performed by Cigital using 103 million hands on PokerStars, the world's most popular online poker site. Heads-up and play money games were excluded, as were many micro-level games with less than $1 blinds. While PokerStars was busy gearing up for World Record Week last December, the hands were being logged. The festivities saw PokerStars set the record for the Largest Online Poker Tournament at 35,000 players and the Most Players to Simultaneously Play Poker Online at 250,500. PokerStars also upped the ante on its marquee Sunday Million, offering a prize pool of $2.5 million. PokerStars worked in conjunction with Cigital on the study.

Wall Street Journal writer Carl Bialik authored a blog on the study, outlining many of the doubts its opponents had. Among them were “players’ decisions are determined by the cards they draw, which is entirely a matter of luck.” In addition, the relationship between Cigital and PokerStars was questioned and individual players were not tracked to see if they experienced success over time. Finally, “the study doesn’t answer the question of how showdowns and best-hand wins would look in a game of pure skill, or of pure chance.”

Despite the pitfalls, PPA Executive Director John Pappas was elated at the public disbursement of the study's results. He commented in a press release on Friday, “The question of whether poker is a game of predominant skill or chance is not about the player’s ego, but the nature and legal protections of the game. In courtrooms across the country, judges and juries are finding that poker is a game of skill – not chance like lotteries or slot machines – and this study confirms that fact.”

Read the full study claiming that poker is a game of skill.