Poker News

Justin Bonomo (ZeeJustin) No Longer a Bodog Poker Pro

Two months after Jean-Robert Bellande lost his status as a sponsored pro of the online poker room Bodog, Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo also appears to be out. Bonomo is no longer listed as a member of Team Bodog on the poker room’s website.

David Williams and Evelyn Ng are the lone survivors of Team Bodog, whose numbers have been cut in half since mid-November. Bonomo owns more than $1.2 million in career earnings from World Series of Poker (WSOP) and Circuit Events and brought Bodog a considerable amount of exposure after final tabling the $40,000 buy-in No Limit Hold’em tournament commemorating the 40th running of the WSOP in 2008. Bonomo claimed fifth place for $413,000 in the event, which aired on ESPN. One month prior, he captured his first Circuit gold ring by winning the Caesars Palace Championship tournament for $227,000, defeating Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi heads-up.

Bonomo appeared on the UB.com-sposored poker news show “Poker2Nite” last week, breaking down a hand from a $5,000 Mixed Hold’em event during the 2008 WSOP. In the segment, dubbed “In the Tank,” Bonomo wore no Bodog logo and, as taped rolled from the event two years ago, the Bodog logo on Bonomo’s white shirt was blurred out. In the end, Bonomo finished as the runner-up to Full Tilt Poker pro Erick Lindgren and banked $230,000.

Bonomo is still listed on Bodog’s website in a Heads-Up TLB Records console. In addition, Bonomo’s Twitter page continues to boast a Bodog logo. Now, Williams and Ng will serve as the face of the USA-friendly online poker room, sports book, and casino. According to the traffic ranking outlet PokerScout.com, Bodog is the 15th largest site or network worldwide with a seven-day running average of 840 real money ring game players. During its peak hours, nearly 1,500 cash game enthusiasts call the site home. Bodog is the fifth largest site to accept players from the United States, trailing PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, the CEREUS Network, and the Cake Poker Network.

During November’s running of the Bodog Poker Open, three sponsored online pros took to the field in the Main Event. They included Smith “nevertilt22” Collins, Jonathan UFPokerStar Westra, and Ari Engel, who ultimately took third in the 257-player tournament for $16,000. A total of 2,646 players showed up for the 11 events that comprised the Bodog Poker Open’s Championship and Contender series, creating a total prize pool of $368,000. The online poker site added another $65,000 to the kitty.

Bonomo’s image was removed from Bodog’s website during the day on Saturday. Williams appeared during a high-stakes home game as part of the G4 online poker reality show “2 Months, $2 Million,” which starred Dani Stern, Jay Rosenkrantz, Emil Patel, and Brian Roberts. Williams lost $50,000 during the game, which took place at the Las Vegas home of the “2 Months, $2 Million” cast and also featured Team PokerStars Pro member Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier and David “Viffer” Peat.

In November, Bellande lost his status as a Bodog pro. Last February, Bellande renewed his sponsorship agreement with the online poker room. However, it was not picked up once it expired, as a Bodog Poker Room Manager told Poker News Daily in November, "Jean-Robert Bellande’s deal with Bodog Poker expired at the end of October and the decision was made not to renew the deal. It has been an absolute pleasure having Jean-Robert as one of Bodog.com’s Poker pros and we wish him all the best."

Ads running on Bodog’s poker website promote betting on the Fiesta Bowl, which pits Texas Christian University (TCU) against Boise State. At the time of writing, TCU sits as an eight point favorite. Wagering is also open on the Orange Bowl, GMAC Bowl, and Thursday’s BCS Championship game.

Online Poker Tournament Recap for November 30th

Brazilian online poker pro Caio Cesar “caio_pimenta” Pimenta was the big winner on the virtual felts Sunday with his victory in the PokerStars Sunday Million, the site’s weekly flagship event. Pimenta outlasted a field of 9,077 players to claim a prize of $259,243.98, the 19-year-old’s largest online score to date.

PokerStars trumped every other site on Sunday with its $1,815,400 prize pool in the Sunday Million. Joining Pimenta at the final table was Team PokerStars Pro member Johnny Lodden, who ultimately took fifth for $72,616.00 after his A-K couldn’t catch up to the pocket kings of Pimenta. The Brazilian pro began the final table with the chip lead and went wire-to-wire, scooping the final pot of the tournament when he made a full house against runner-up KillerMendez.

Several other online pros had success on PokerStars on Sunday. Anthony “holdplz” Spinella took down the Sunday Second Chance after besting a loaded final table that included Michael “anakinso” Goodman, Bryan “Squirrely1″ Sapp, Adam “akat11″ Katz, and Walter “JLizard” Wright. Spinella earned $49,613.12 for his efforts. Laurence “rivermanl” Houghton headlined the final table of the Sunday Warm-Up and took fourth place for $52,296.40. Joe “floes” Serock also made that final table, collecting $11,570 for his eighth place finish.

On Full Tilt Poker, “WooohSaaah” was the winner of the $750,000 Guaranteed, earning $154,233.71. Michael “Pot Odds 3” McNeil took eighth in the event for $15,721.20. In the Sunday Brawl, mikkelstrack walked away with $96,010.22 after defeating a field of 2,794 players and a final table that included Carder “SpazIsPlusEV” England (fourth place for $40,792.40) and Andy “BKiCe” Seth (sixth place for $18,999.20).

Here’s a look at the results from Sunday’s major online tournaments:

PokerStars Sunday Million
$215 buy-in, 9,077 entrants

1st: Caio Cesar “caio_pimenta” Pimenta – $259,243.98
2nd: KillerMendez – $164,562.50
3rd: floriverboy – $135,156.53
4th: joaoMathias – $90,770.00
5th: Johnny “johnnylodden” Lodden – $72,616.00
6th: buddahead9 – $54,462.00
7th: LAPINKY – $36,308.00
8th: BRzRoll – $19,969.40
9th: bo0ort – $12,707.80

Full Tilt Poker $750,000 Guaranteed
$216 buy-in, 4,367 entrants

1st: WooohSaaah – $154,233.71
2nd: Hand Banana7 – $93,366.46
3rd: Beat Man – $61,138.00
4th: jesseja77 – $48,037.00
5th: city17 – $36,071.42
6th: sweepybreedy – $26,726.04
7th: based – $20,088.20
8th: Michael “Pot Odds 3” McNeil – $15,721.20
9th: I use 5cards – $11,703.56

PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up
$215 buy-in, 4,628 entrants

1st: Mr. Shanish – $116,468.22
2nd: angevert – $106,468.22
3rd: $saxo$ – $106,468.22
4th: Laurence “rivermanl” Houghton – $52,296.40
5th: cspdealer – $39,338.00
6th: CruSader1981 – $30,082.00
7th: Bahneyyy – $20,826.00
8th: Joe “floes” Serock – $11,570.00
9th: melano26 – $7,404.80

Full Tilt Poker Sunday Brawl
$256 buy-in, 2,794 entrants

1st: mikkelstrack – $96,010.22
2nd: YrrsiNN – $72,201.87
3rd: Snusarn1 – $72,630.71
4th: Carder “SpazIsPlusEV” England – $40,792.40
5th: Jotagran49 – $28,498.80
6th: Andy “BKiCe” Seth – $18,999.20
7th: PrishChips31 – $12,852.40
8th: uzzyking – $8,940.80
9th: dadoudinet – $6,705.60

PokerStars Sunday 500
$530 buy-in, 1,033 entrants

1st: liutas.a – $89,147.90
2nd: Blue Knight1 – $64,562.50
3rd: SENORSEXY – $49,067.50
4th: Jeremy “JBurleson” Burleson – $35,948.40
5th: Jason “Taknapotin” Somerville – $25,566.75
6th: Jason “JERRRY” Glass – $20,401.75
7th: aylinka18 – $15,236.75
8th: EMakers9186 – $10,071.75
9th: hitthehole – $5,681.50

Cake Poker $250,000 Guaranteed
$268 buy-in, 1,286 entrants

1st: PIIIGEEEOOON – $63,607
2nd: thepokerkinq – $44,654
3rd: LawyerDad – $29,812
4th: IL LAUREATO – $22,038
5th: paulgees822 – $14,906
6th: xfaithlessx – $11,276
7th: SomeDumGuy – $8,256
8th: Kakakahahaha – $6,168
9th: iamchainsaw – $5,204

PokerStars Sunday Second Chance
$215 buy-in, 1,366 entrants

1st: Anthony “holdplz” Spinella – $49,613.12
2nd: Bryan “Squirrely1” Sapp – $36,062.40
3rd: Adam “akat11” Katz – $27,320.00
4th: parksy1066 – $20,490.00
5th: bbs99 – $14,343.00
6th: Michael “anakinso” Goodman – $11,611.00
7th: The Mooks – $8,879.00
8th: SPOTLIGHT19 – $6,147.00
9th: Walter “JLizard” Wright – $3,824.80

UB.com $200,000 Guaranteed
$215 buy-in, 1,054 entrants

1st: Ben “XTHESTEINX” Zamani – $39,267.00
2nd: 99NVRLOSEZ – $35,945.00
3rd: Adam “AKAT11” Katz – $19,077.40
4th: CHIPMICK09 – $13,596.60
5th: JMEWNIE – $11,488.60
6th: ILIKEPONIES – $9,380.60
7th: BAZOOKA87 – $7,272.60
8th: ANIMAL5050 – $5,164.60
9th: Nick “SHIPKINS” Grippo – $3,583.60

2 Months, 2 Million Crew Fall a Little Short

The ten-week first season of G4 documentary/reality show 2 Months, 2 Million has concluded with the quartet of online pros raking in a respectable, but way short, $679,000.

Big time pros dominate Sunday tournaments

This week big name live and online pros dominated the fields, taking center stage.

The biggest win of the day came from Full Tilt Pro Vivek Rajkumar, who recently bubbled the final table at EPT London.

Sunday, Rajkumar took down the $500 buy-in monthly $1 million guarantee on Full Tilt, banking $180,000.

Rajkumar went into the final table with a 400,000 chip lead, and by 4:45 a.m. managed to work his way down to heads-up.

With dawn about to break, the players agreed to make a deal, with each taking around $170k, leaving $10k in the prize pool for the winner, decided only five hands later.

Also making an appearance on Rajkumar's final table was poker professional Cody "thugmoneymkr" Slaubaugh whose run finished in 7th place.

On PokerStars, the Sunday million brought out 7,856 players, with Jamie "TheCronic420" Rosen making the final table to finish in an impressive 6th place for $47k.

The other major players to post final-table appearances this week in Sunday events online included Travis "TravestyFund" Rice, Tom "kingsofcards" Marchese, Chad "jse81″ Batista, Peter "#1PEN" Neff, Matt "All In At 420″ Stout and Adam "akat11″ Katz.

Visit PokerListings.com

Doyle Brunson’s Twitter Account Gaining Fans by the Thousands

A recent tweet from Doyle Brunson “The Texas Dolly” summed up what many skeptics had to say when they learned the 10-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner has taken to the microblogging site Twitter: “Can it be that you guys really like the blonde jokes? My followers are going up at an alarming rate…never thought I’d be a tweeeter:-)”

If the parenthetical smiley face is any indication, Brunson, also known as @TexDolly on Twitter, not only uses the popular social networking site, but also is down with the Twitter lingo.  Brunson has been known to tweet at fellow users, bust out acronyms typically seen on internet poker forums, and even drop smiley faces from time to time, especially when doling out a stream of dumb blonde jokes.

As he alluded to in the aforementioned tweet, Brunson has seen a major spike in followers over the past month, jumping from 16,000 less than two weeks ago to nearly 45,000 as of Friday morning.  The recent jump puts Brunson ahead of other big name players like Phil Hellmuth and Daniel Negreanu and suggests that the “old timer” of the poker world still has a big influence on the industry.  In a statement from DoylesRoom, Brunson’s online poker site, the longtime pro suggested that his deep run in the WSOP Europe Main Event and an appearance at an affiliate convention in Budapest are to blame for the spike, but there may be more to Brunson’s popularity in the Twitterverse than just a heightened profile.

There are plenty of celebrities from Hollywood, the sports world, and the poker community on Twitter, but not all of them pick up huge followings.  Some suggest that the hit and miss nature of celebrity Twitter accounts depends on the types of things a person elects to tweet about.  If celebrities tweet infrequently or only post mundane details about their lives, they are less likely to have a large following, even if they are on the “A List.”  Brunson’s account has its fair share of run-of-the-mill fare like when cash games are running on DoylesRoom, but he also includes his thoughts on current events, responses to other people’s tweets, and jokes (lots of jokes).

The recent stream of blonde jokes is the result of Brunson losing a bet on a recent Monday Night Football game.  He explained his reasoning with a tweet from Tuesday that read, “Lost the Monday night football game. I’m gonna tell dumb blonde jokes until I finally win one!! ya, that’s right, suffer along with me.”  Since then, he’s posted seven blonde jokes, but has found time to respond to the tweets of others, including socialite Nicky Hilton, who is one of Brunson’s many followers.

While Twitter and Texas Dolly may seem like an unusual combination, it makes sense when you consider how long he has been posting in his popular personal blog.  Past posts have proven that Brunson does not bite his tongue on issues, as he has spoken out on everything from politics to poker and it seems that people are paying attention.  A recent blog in which Brunson proposed candidates for a “Poker Hall of Shame” criticized several of his fellow old school gamblers for their bad poker behavior was picked up by several poker media outlets as a newsworthy event.  His blog endorsing World Poker Tour (WPT) host Mike Sexton for the 2009 Poker Hall of Fame class has made its way into poker print as well.

Some of the other old school pros like Amarillo Slim prefer to lay low now that poker is part of the mainstream media, but the 76 year-old Brunson has elected to remain in the spotlight.  DoylesRoom’s team of online pros, dubbed the Brunson 10, are just another example of how the man who got his start playing cards in backrooms across the South keeps adapting and changing with the times.  The Brunson 10, which currently consists of Amit “amak316″ Makhija, Alec “traheho” Torelli, Zachary “CrazyZachary” Clark, and Chris “Moorman1″ Moorman, will feature online pros supposedly hand-picked by Brunson to represent his site.  The divide between live and online pros has been a major theme in the post-Moneymaker era of poker, but the Brunson 10 is the poker legend’s attempt to bridge the gap between the old and new guard of players.

Be it the Brunson 10, his blog, or his increasingly popular Twitter account, Brunson seems to have tapped into the younger generation of poker players and has become an unexpected new media success story.  While he still has a ways to go to catch some of Twitter’s most popular accounts, which possess more than one million followers, it seems as though Brunson may be onto something with those blonde jokes.

PokerStars Loses Isabelle Mercier, Gains Field Hockey Star Fatima Moreira De Melo

The roster of sponsored pros at the online poker room PokerStars continues to change, as the company both parted ways with players and signed on new faces during the month of September.  Longtime PokerStars representative Isabelle Mercier of Canada ended her relationship with the site a few weeks ago, but another woman has already been added to the roster.  PokerStars recently announced the signing of Fatima Moreira de Melo, an Olympic gold medal winning field hockey player from Denmark, to its Team PokerStars SportsStars.

News first broke of Mercier’s departure during the European Poker Tour (EPT) Barcelona stop.  The live reporting team and television commentators reported that Mercier, who worked with the online site for five years, was moving on to pursue other projects.  At the time, it was not clear what those projects would entail, but the mystery would be revealed in just a matter of days following the announcement that she was moving on.

On September 18th, the European gambling site Betclick announced Mercier would be serving as its new spokeswoman.  The site, which is primarily known for its sports betting, is aiming to expand its online poker brand and turned to the well-known Mercier to help them do so.  “We are very strong on betting, but poker is not the strongest part of our offering,” said a spokesman in Betclick’s official press release. “The signing of Isabelle Mercier means we will be putting in place a strategy to develop and improve our offering, but this will not be put into action for a few months yet. It is part of our overall project to enhance our poker platform.”

Mercier first rose to poker notoriety when she won Ladies Night II of the World Poker Tour (WPT) in 2004.  On her road to victory, WPT commentator Mike Sexton first referred to her as “No Mercy,” a nickname that has stuck with her to this day.  Prior to her WPT victory, Mercier got her start in poker on the other side of the table.  The French-Canadian law school graduate began as a poker dealer before working her way up to poker room manager and eventually giving it a shot at being a pro herself.  She found success as a pro and, in addition to her Ladies Night win, she has also more recently made an appearance at the EPT London High Roller final table and won the Ante Up for Africa charity event held in conjunction with the EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo.

Team PokerStars’ newest face did not start out as a poker player either.  The field hockey star made her claim to fame serving as a striker on the Dutch national team in the 2000, 2004, and 2008 Olympic Games.  She helped lead her team to a gold medal in Beijing, adding to her bronze medal in 2000 and silver medal in 2004.  In addition to her athletic ability, De Melo is known in Denmark for her singing and has performed at several athletic events around Europe.

De Melo will be a part of Team PokerStars SportsStars, an elite group of five athletes who have a passion for card playing.  She is the first female to join the team, which already consists of tennis star Boris Becker, hockey player Mats Sundin, rugby player Sebastien Chabal, and powerboat racer Sami Selio.  In addition to representing PokerStars at live tournaments around the world, De Melo will also play on the online site under the screen name “FatimaDeMelo.”

The room’s official Twitter account recently revealed that it is looking for a group of strictly online players to serve as Team PokerStars Online Pros.  PokerStars will be accepting online applications through October 31st.

The Online Railbird Report: Hansen and Sahamies Weather Huge Losses

The high-stakes online cash games were all but deserted this week as tournaments dominated everyone's time, from guys like Phil Ivey, Tom "durrrr" Dwan, and Patrik Antonius, who were in London for the World Series of Poker-Europe to online pros like...

Poker Community Offers WSOP November Nine Predictions

We’ve reached the midway point in the four-month break until the start of World Series of Poker (WSOP) November Nine festivities, but the anticipation for the big event has yet to slow down.  With big performances from Kevin Schaffel and Steven Begleiter at the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) Legends of Poker, Joe “jcada99″ Cada’s standout run in several PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) events, and Jeff Shulman’s recent announcement that the one and only Phil Hellmuth will be serving as his poker coach, these nine men have kept themselves at the forefront of poker news.

So who will win the 2009 WSOP Main Event?  Poker News Daily sought the insight of some of the other players who made incredible runs at this year’s Main Event as well as a couple of our own writers who spent the summer keeping a very close eye on the action.  You’ll be surprised to read just how many of them did not opt for fan favorite Phil Ivey.

One player who is more than familiar with most of the November Nine is 12th place finisher in this year’s Main Event and Ultimate Bet sponsored pro Billy “Patrolman35″ Kopp.  The young online poker pro logged several hours with most of the players, including a stint where he was seated on Ivey’s direct right.  However, Kopp suggests that Ivey is not the one that viewers should be keeping their eye on:

“I think the man to look out for is Kevin Schaffel,” Kopp predicted. “Throughout the eight days that I played in the Main Event, this guy impressed me the most.  I was at several of his tables for an extended period of time and this was the one guy who really gave me trouble.  I am not sure if he was just getting some outstanding short-term luck and letting the cards speak or if he truly was playing exquisite poker. I am going to go with the latter, especially after his recent runner-up performance at [the WPT Legends of Poker]…I wish everyone much luck at the final table, as I have played with most of them at some point in the tournament.  However, I really applaud Kevin and the performance he put on, at least while I was there.  I am anxious to see some of the hands we got tangled in on television in a couple of weeks.”

Kopp is referring to Schaffel’s big score last month, when he made the final table of the WPT event and held his own against the likes of Toto Leonidas, online pros Todd Terry and Sam Stein, and the event’s champion, Prahlad Friedman.  Many are comparing his performance to Ivan Demidov’s runner-up finish at the Main Event of the WSOP Europe in 2008.  Last year, Demidov established himself as one of the frontrunners to win the Main Event with his performance and it appears that Schaffel is cementing a similar reputation.

Another online pro with plenty of insight into the minds of the November Nine is 22 year-old Nick “fu_15″ Maimone, who came in 14th in this year’s Main Event.  He is less certain than Kopp about his pick, but offered his thoughts nonetheless.

“It is complicated,” Maimone explained.  “I expect the coaching factor could highly influence the outcome of the Main Event.  However, the best players are, in this order, Phil Ivey, James Akenhead, and Joe Cada.  Although the chips are not in their favor, one of them will win.”  Those three are short on chips, especially Ivey and Akenhead, who are seventh and ninth on the leaderboard, respectively.  Ivey may be short on chips, but Maimone still believes the skill differential will make a huge difference come competition time: “Antoine Saout is decent and so is Eric Buchman, but the other four do not even come close in terms of skill.  I hope Ivey or Akenhead wins, but honestly I think Ivey will.”

Maimone is in the minority of the people we polled about their predictions though and he was the only one who picked the seven-time WSOP bracelet winner.  The writers here at Poker News Daily weighed in with their picks as well and, while they all conceded Ivey was likely the most skilled player at the table, they each went with a different horse to win the big race.

Brett Collson, who moonlighted as a reporter for PocketFivesLive.com in addition to his Poker News Daily duties during the Main Event, went with the lone internet pro at the table as his choice.  “We’ve seen short stacks excel at the Main Event final table in the past and I foresee it happening again this year,” Collson theorized.  “While Ivey might be the popular pick, Joe Cada’s cool demeanor and relentless aggression could create problems for the leaders from the get-go. He has plenty of chips to make some moves and is my pick to become the youngest Main Event winner ever in November.”

Staff Writer Earl Burton elected to go with the other November Niner to make a name for himself at the Legends of Poker event, Steven Begleiter.  “I have a feeling that everyone and their brother is going to pick Phil Ivey, but, to be honest, I think he is too short-stacked to have a tremendous impact,” said Burton.  He discounted the current chip leader from the mix as well.

“I believe that Darvin Moon is just happy to be where he is.  I believe that he is going to succumb to ‘Dennis Phillips Syndrome’ and forget what got him there.  I am going to go with Steven Begleiter, who just completed an excellent run at the Legends of Poker, to win the final table.  You can put Jeff Shulman in there as a potential dark horse contender.”

While Burton offered reasons why several of the players may or may not excel, our own Dan Cypra went with the straightforward, pick the chip leader approach, which makes plenty of sense considering Moon’s massive lead.  “It’s hard to ignore Darvin Moon, who has nearly double the chips of the next closest player,” Cypra pointed out.  “It’s reminiscent of Jamie Gold in the 2006 Main Event and Moon is my pick to win the 2009 version. While Ivey may be poker’s darling, the chip lead of Moon cannot be ignored.”

If you haven’t noticed, that is five different opinions and five different picks.  If this informal poll tells us anything, it is that the Main Event race is still wide-open, with each player bringing something to the table that the rest of their opponents lack.  Only time will tell who, if anyone, picked correctly, so until November all we can do is sit, wait, and keep coming up with reasons why our pick is going to be the one to take it down.

Online Poker Community Offers Feedback on “2 Months, $2 Million”

To say that some of the televised poker offerings that have cropped up in the years since Chris Moneymaker won the World Series of Poker (WSOP) have been a bit lackluster would be putting it nicely. A rash of poker content has found its way onto just about every channel, from Bravo to ESPN to NBC to BET, and many of those programs bear a striking resemblance to one another: Take a six player sit and go, populate it with interesting characters, and let the all-ins commence.

There have been poker shows that have tried to differentiate themselves from the pack, opting to focus on the poker lifestyle rather than the game itself, but none of these shows had any staying power. With such an iffy poker show track record, the recent debut of “2 Months, $2 Million” on G4 seemed like a risky venture.  The show surprised viewers with its unique mix of high-stakes online match-ups and behind-the-scenes glimpses at the social lives of players. In the three weeks since it debuted, it appears to have won the vast majority of the poker community over with the Las Vegas antics of its four stars, Jay Rosenkrantz, Brian Roberts, Emil Patel, and Dani Stern.  With the buzz about the show growing every week, Poker News Daily sought out “2 Months, $2 Million” fans to see what keeps them coming back every week.

Darryll “DFish” Fish not only enjoys the show, but he can relate to it as well. Fish is an online poker player and currently has a similar living situation as the guys on the show, sharing a Las Vegas house with his friends and fellow online pros. When asked what he enjoyed most about “2 Months, $2 Million,” Fish cited the lack of contrived situations: “I really like the show because it is the first reality show of its kind and it’s more or less a better version of ‘Big Brother.’ It deals with real-life situations rather than stupid challenges and drama between stupid people.”

While some elements of the show, like the weekly tally of money won and subsequent “penalty stunt” may be designed primarily for filming, Fish also attests that the bulk of what the guys are doing on the show is in line with the lifestyle of young online poker players. “The show is definitely pretty accurate. I mean, we don’t all have a chef or personal assistant, but the interaction between the guys and the way they spend free time is very common,” said Fish. He also tapped in to an element of the show unique to the poker community: “The show gives us kids a way to laugh at ourselves via a third party and it’s extremely entertaining.”

Nat Arem, a longtime presence on the major online poker forums, knows a thing or two about making the lives of poker players entertaining. The creator of thepokerdb was also one of the creative minds behind the popular internet video project thepokerfilm. The 2007 film dealt with the lives of four young online pros, tracking both their poker progress and their partying. Arem is a fan of “2 Months, $2 Million” and praised the show for capturing the highs and lows of online poker. “I think the best part is showing the emotions of the swings,” Arem suggested. “Things like the excitement over finding a tell contrast really well with the tilt we’ve seen out of Jay and Dani thus far. It really shows what playing poker for a living is like.”

Several online pros have been taking time from their busy Sunday schedules to catch the latest episode. Adam “akat11″ Katz likes to wrap up his busy day by sitting back and watching the show. “When it comes on at 10:30pm West Coast time, it’s a nice relief from an always disappointing Sunday,” Katz joked. “I tape two shows on Sunday night, ‘Entourage’ and ‘2 Months, $2 Million.’”

Katz and others were particularly impressed with the most recent episode, which pitted the guys against a rival house in battles of football, girls, and, of course, poker. The various poker forums were all buzzing about how funny the contests were and heaping high praise on poker pro Andrew “luckychewy” Lichtenberger’s appearance. Perhaps we have a potential spinoff on ours hands?

“Martonas” with a Swing Again - Down $690k

Ilari Sahamies is known to have some serious swings, but Swedish “martonas” might be even bigger swinger. These both online gamblers are known to lose a million in a night and win another over the next session.

Not a rare sight. “Martonas” with a cool million on the table.

“Martonas” is known to seek challenge and he can be found playing head’s up with the top online pros. This time “martonas” collided with Brian Hastings. These two very aggressive players met at a $300/$600 NLHE table at Full Tilt Poker last night.

After the last hand Brian Hastings was the big winner as he left the table with a nice $690k profit. Although “martonas” is still up over $800k for the month, his downswing is brutally deep.

Just a few hands from the late session:

Hastings hits the straight for $258k

All the action on the turn,  $155k

Source: Highstakesdb

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“Martonas” with a Swing Again - Down $690k

Mark Vos turns $900 into $200k in 48 hours

Probably the most hated shortstacker, Mark Vos, has his own unique bankroll management system. When he has won enough he withdraws the money and begins to build up again.

Vos opened up in the Full Tilt Poker chat after some trash talking about James Akenhead:

Luukie21: but what happened with you mark, you used to play 500/1k isnt it?
Mark Vos: nothing happened
Mark Vos: the game sucks now
Mark Vos: ppl played bad for a month
Mark Vos: i won some money
Mark Vos: i put it in the bank
Luukie21: ah well nice job
Mark Vos: i always move money out of my account im happy to rebuild from 2k
Mark Vos: i turned 900 into 196k in 48 hours, mostly black out drunk a week ago
Mark Vos: lol
Luukie21: hehe rly? pretty sick
Mark Vos: but i no longer have that 196k and I was playing with it dead sober and playing good
Luukie21: most people thought u were broke since u were shortstacking 5/10, which is not even half of ur old SB
Mark Vos: lol
Mark Vos: every1 always thinks im broke
Mark Vos: im ok with it
Mark Vos: i never redeposit
Mark Vos: i borrow 5k from a friend and rebuild
Mark Vos: if i ever have money on full tilt, i ge rid of it fast
Mark Vos: cause i often have drunken tilt sessions
Luukie21: why?
Luukie21: ah ok lol

Mark Vos: i had 1 million on full tilt and then without losing had 5k a week later and payed 5/10
Mark Vos: played
Mark Vos: playing 5/10 and other small games renews my respect for money
Luukie21: hmm sounds nice
Mark Vos: which i lose every time i run good @ big games
bemyguestbud: mark, can you withdrawal large sums directly to your bank accoutn?
Mark Vos: im a sicko at heart but have found a way to control it
Mark Vos: apparently yes i think, email full tilt
Mark Vos: but
Luukie21: isnt it very hard to concentrate at those low limits if u’re used to high stakes?
Mark Vos: i persoanlly just give it to ppl who want it
Mark Vos: niki J, maxy paxy and harris MP buy lots off me all the time
bemyguestbud: well i dont know them and i wnat it on my bank ccount
Luukie21: im really unable to grind 2/4 now
Mark Vos: well when u only have 2k in ur account
Mark Vos: and if u lose it u have to borrow
Mark Vos: u play better
Luukie21: ic
Mark Vos: ok i gotta go
Mark Vos: taxi waiting
Mark Vos: best of luck
bemyguestbud: ok gg
Luukie21: for us as dutchies its hard to transfer
Luukie21: ye gl
Mark Vos: i was in holland a week ago
Mark Vos: weekend in amsterdam
Luukie21: hehe nice
Mark Vos: always good fun
Luukie21: sure it is

Actually it sounds quite wise to withdraw your earnings, and it explains why he’s always shortstacking and hitting and running the tables, but is it worth to get your name infamous among the other online pros? In the end it’s not very +EV move as the high-stakes community is quite tight and might shut out these kind of exploiters for good.

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Mark Vos turns $900 into $200k in 48 hours

<i>2 months, $2 million</i> to air on G4

The show will center on well-known high-stakes online pros Jay "pr1nnyraid" Rosenkrantz, Emil "Whitelime" Patel, Brian "Flawless_Victory" Roberts and Dani "Ansky" Stern as they try to collectively win $2 million in two months playing online poker.

The group will use a shared bankroll while staying at a 10,000 square foot mansion in Las Vegas, just outside of the strip, which includes a specialized "war room" with four 50-inch plasmas and several computers for multi-tabling online poker.

Each cast member is no stranger to success in poker. Stern recently finished fourth in the 2009 WSOP's $40,000 No-Limit Hold'em event for $548,315.

Patel finished second in the 2008 Full Tilt Poker Heads-Up tournament for $320,000 and both Rosenkrantz and Roberts have earned hundreds of thousands playing cash games online.

With the house only a few miles from the Strip, the crew will also take time out from poker to explore the Las Vegas scene, all for the benefit of reality TV.

There will also be several guest stars as the guys will have dinner with online cash-game wizard Tom "durrrr" Dwan, play a live cash game against Erica Schoenberg and log some high-stakes action against David Benyamine.

In a teaser clip for the show, the group is seen gambling for who will take what room in the mansion and then hanging out with some Playboy Playmates in the pool.

The show will feature 10 half-hour episodes and begins airing Aug. 16 at 9 p.m. PT.

Check out G4TV for more about the series.

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_FullFlush1_ advances at Poker Million

The Poker Million VIII is one of the most widely televised tournaments in Europe, with seats available to be won in Full Tilt online satellites and a ton of big name stars in the lineup.

Players can qualify for a seat in the event by winning a $500+$35 satellite. The winner will sit across the table from some of the world's most prestigious online pros, in an effort to come out with the first prize of $1 million.

In one of the latest preliminary heats, Mark Vos was the first player to bust from the 6-max SNG, donating what remained of his chips to John Duthie.

Tony G managed to eliminate Bill Edler in fifth, while online qualifier Mark Denmark hit the rail in fourth. After the elimination of Tony G, Duthie was unable to use his 3:2 chip lead to put Schwartz away, eventually losing in a flush over flush situation.

Schwartz, known as much for his brief spurts of high-stakes online domination as his excessive trash talking, has been stirring the pot again claiming that he's better than Phil Ivey, loves to tilt Tom Dwan, and feels he should get more respect in the poker world.

In an attempt to back up his self-righteous claims, Schwartz finished his rant by threatening to busto all of his online competitors.

Heats continue today.

One seat to the Poker Million is guaranteed in each of the next real-money qualifiers at Full Tilt.

Upcoming dates are:

• August 2nd
• August 30th
• September 13th
• September 27th

Visit Full Tilt Poker for more information.

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Poker Author Jerrod Ankenman Crowned Mixed Event Winner

Fourteen players returned for the final day of play in the World Series of Poker (WSOP) $2,500 buy-in Mixed Games event, but it took less than twelve hours for only one to be left standing as the latest bracelet winner. The final fourteen had several familiar faces including Kill Phil author Blair Rodman, The Mathematics of Poker co-author Jerrod Ankenman, Full Tilt Pro Jon “PearlJammer” Turner, online pros Jimmy “gobboboy” Fricke, recent WSOP bracelet winner Rami “arbianight” Boukai, Eric “jakz101” Crain and Chris “SLOPPYKLOD” Klodnicki as well as Dario Alioto and Layne Flack. In the end it was Ankenman who finally picked up his first bracelet after eight prior final table finishes, including two second places.

The stacked field reconvened at 2PM to play down to a winner and it didn’t take long for a short-stacked Blair Rodman to head for the door with Boukai right on his heels. Even though the eight-game rotation that comprised the Mixed Game event included predominantly Limit games, the action went quickly as players did their best to either double up our ship out.

The unfortunate bubble boy of the 8-handed final table was Fricke, who came into the day with the least amount of chips. He had so little faith about mounting a comeback that he also registered in the $10,000 buy-in Pot Limit Hold’em event that kicked off at noon. Fricke went from short stack to top three in chips, but just missed the official final table in 9th place.

When the official final table began Klodnicki, Alioto and Flack were all in desperate need of chips. Alioto was picked off first by Turner and Flack was the next to fall at the hands of Crain. Then it was Crain who subsequently lost huge back-to-back hands in the No Limit Hold’em round to go from big stack to 6th place finisher. The round of No Limit Hold’em that devastated Crain involved a number of monster pots in which two players at the six-handed table picked up aces, kings, or ace king. Klodnicki, who was short stacked most of the final table, got a much-needed double-up when his aces held against Jeff Tims’ kings to keep him in contention for the bracelet.

While the other players were getting knocked out, Turner, who was one of the bigger stacks when the final table began, was taking hits left and right in several instances in which he ended up with the second best hand. He got the remainder of his dwindling stack in during one of the Limit Hold’em hands but his failed to hold against Ankenman’s and he was sent home in fifth. This is Turner’s second WSOP final table this year. He finished in 5th in the $10,000 Stud Hi/Lo Championship last week.

Tims fell next in fourth place and three-handed play didn’t last long before Klodnicki’s luck ran out. After managing to double several times throughout the day to stay alive, Klodnicki got it all-in during a Pot Limit Omaha round holding a flopped two pair to Ankenman’s overpair and straight and flush draw combination. The flush hit on the turn and last year’s 12th place Main Event finisher had to settle for third place.

In the end it came down to Ankenman and Altbregin for the bracelet. Both had formidable groups of supporters on the rail. Ankenman’s co-author PokerStars Pro Bill Chen, former WSOP Main Event winner Greg Raymer and Triple Crown winner Gavin Griffin were all on hand while Altbregin was able to turn to Alex Kostritsyn and Full Tilt Pro Vitaly Lunkin. While Altbregin began with the chip advantage, Ankenman was able to gradually chip away at him during the five limit games before finishing his opponent off during a No Limit Hold’em hand in which he flopped top pair and a straight draw holding on a board. Altbregin’s failed to improve as Ankenman hit a on the turn to make his straight and secure his first WSOP victory.

After the win Ankenman spoke very highly of his opponent as well as the presence of Mixed Games at the WSOP. “I really like the Mixed Games format because it really shows off your chops as a good all-around player, instead of just all these tournaments everywhere else where they playing nothing but Hold’em”, Ankenman explained. “The WSOP is the last bastion of these kinds of games. Most of the other tournaments around Las Vegas and everywhere else it always is no-limit, no-limit, no-limit, no-limit.” This is only the third Mixed Games Event in WSOP history. The eight-game Mixed Game Events were added to the WSOP schedule just last year.

Elsewhere around the Rio, a couple of other non-Hold’em games were going. Despite having to pause play briefly after “Miami” John Cernuto collapsed during a hand from what was rumored to be internal bleeding, the $2,500 buy-in Razz event managed to whittle the field down to just 13 runners who will return tomorrow to play for the bracelet. Two players who are vying for WSOP Player of the Year, Jeffrey Lisandro and Ville Wahlbeck, are both still in the event. Lisandro returns Wednesday as the chip leader while Wahlbeck is the extreme short stack.

The other non-Hold’em game going Tuesday was the $2,500 buy-in Omaha H/L event, which drew 424 entrants. Less than half the field, 196 players to be precise, survived the day. Omaha H/L expert and two-time WSOP bracelet winner Thang Luu finished the day second in chips while online pro Kyle Bowker and Mickey Appleman ended up with top ten chip stacks at the conclusion of Day One.

The prestigious $10,000 buy-in Pot Limit Hold’em event began on Tuesday. Only 85 players in the small field of 275 survived Day One and will return at 2PM PT on Wednesday to try to play down to the final table. Several high profile names remain in the tournament including Toto Leonidas, recent WSOP bracelet winner Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin, Isaac Haxton, Full Tilt Pro Eric Seidel, Burt Boutin and Nenad Medic.

The $1,000 buy-in Seniors No Limit Hold’em event finished its second day of play with 28 players still in contention for the bracelet. Tom Thomas leads the field with 916,000 chips. Those players will return Wednesday to play down to a champion.

Greenstein on Ivey’s seventh WSOP win

The day after winning his seventh WSOP bracelet the entire Amazon Room was still buzzing about the Full Tilt pro's victory in Event 25.

Whether it was seasoned poker veterans, young online pros or railbirds who have never played a hand of poker - the talk was all Ivey.

"It's certainly very impressive," said the usually stoic Barry Greenstein. "A motivated Phil Ivey is a hard thing to stop. He had a lot of side bets and he doesn't seem to be distracted this year. This year he is focused."

By winning his seventh bracelet (second this year) Ivey moved into a tie with Billy Baxter for sixth place all-time in WSOP bracelets. Ivey is now within striking distance of Erik Seidel who has eight bracelets and the late Johnny Moss who accumulated nine bracelets in a life time of poker.

Phil Hellmuth stands atop the all-time bracelet leaderboard with 11 but many are starting to question how long Hellmuth will be safe from Ivey.

"I don't see them as comparable players," said Greenstein. "If Phil Ivey played as many events as Phil Hellmuth he'd probably have about 20 bracelets right now."

Greenstein mentioned that with Ivey it's never a matter of skill but of motivation.

"If Phil Ivey keeps playing the WSOP he will be the one that ends up with the most bracelets," said Greenstein. "I think that's pretty obvious. It's just a matter of him staying motivated. The danger is that players are going to stop betting against him and he could lose interest."

Immediately after Ivey's win rumors were running rampant that he could be winning as much as $10 million from side-bets. While that number was never confirmed there was speculation that Ivey could be hurting the poker economy by keeping some of the well-known players out of the action.

Greenstein was quick to dispel that theory.

"He's taking money out [of the poker economy] but Phil helps a lot of people too so he puts it back in," said Greenstein. "If he takes a couple thousand from some that has millions of dollars I don't think that has much of an effect."

In typical Ivey fashion the Full Tilt Pro showed up late for his own bracelet ceremony this morning despite a large crowd that had gathered to witness Ivey receive his historic seventh bracelet.

Ivey seemed genuinely excited about the bracelet, which strikes a stark contrast to some of his previous wins. He even mentioned his place in poker history as a motivating factor.

"Making two final tables and being able to win both of them really means something to me," said Ivey. "I've decided that I want to win some bracelets and a few more tournaments."

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Two bracelets are big news at WSOP June 4th

Johnson outlasted Steve Karp heads-up in the $1,500 No Limit Hold'em event, winning the final hand with A-Q to take his first WSOP bracelet.

"It's so over my head right now," said an exhausted Johnson after the win. "I can't even comprehend what's going on."

Johnson qualified for the event by winning a $335 satellite tournament and the Nebraska native was satisfied with just finishing in the money after Day 2.

Simply cashing in the event would have earned Johnson at least $3,000.

"I was stoked about cashing, three grand looked good," Johnson said. "So if that looked good, I can't even fathom what this is."

With money in the bank, Johnson says he'll contemplate his future once the reality of his victory sets in. One thing that's definitely on Johnson's mind is an entry into the 2009 Main Event.

"What's $10,000 off of $600,000?" Johnson said. "Chump change right?"

Steve Karp takes home $414,116 for his second place finish.

Event 8 - $2,500 2-7 Draw Lowball

Phil Ivey survived a rollercoaster of a final table and came away with his sixth WSOP bracelet, and possibly millions in side-bet earnings. Read the full story here.

Event 9 - $1,500 No Limit Hold'em Six Handed

The $1,500 Six-Handed event stopped just shy of the final table with eight players left.

Praz Bansi is the chip leader going into the playdown at 2 p.m. Check out the full chip counts here.

Event 10 - $2,500 Pot Limit Hold'em/Omaha

This mixed Hold'em/Omaha event was scheduled to play down to a final table but when 3 a.m. rolled around 18 players still had chips in front of them.

With big name online pros like Ben Grundy, Hevad Khan, Amit Makhija and Jamie Rosen alongside live veterans such as Surinder Sunar, Tony Cousineau and John Kabbaj it's shaping up to be a stacked final table.

Check the chip counts here and follow our live coverage of the event all day here.

Event 11 - $2,000 No Limit Hold'em

Day 1 kicked off with 1,646 entrants, generating a prize pool of nearly $3 million.

Phil Hellmuth is still alive, as well as PL.com pro blogger and recent bracelet winner Jason Mercier.

Patrick Stemper is the chip leader heading into Day 2, which resumes Friday at 2 p.m.

See here for full chip counts.

The event is scheduled to play to a final table before crowning a champion Saturday.

Event 12 - $10,000 World Championship Mixed Event

The field in this $10k event was packed with big names, with Daniel Negreanu staying near the top of the chip leaderboard for most of Day 1.

The event will resume at 2 p.m. Friday and is scheduled to play down to a final table by the end of the night. The bracelet will be awarded Saturday.

The day's counts here.

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