Posts Tagged ‘Phil Ivey’
Esfandiari Widens Lead at WPT Five Diamond
The WSOP bracelet winner and WPT title holder became the first player past the one million chip mark and ended the day with a more than 300,000 chip lead over his closest opponent - Canadian WSOPC ring winner Doug Lee.
Also holding onto spots in the top ten are names like Vanessa Rousso, Freddy Deeb and Bryn Kenney.
The legendary Doyle Brunson, for whom the tournament was named, currently sits 13th.
The 100-person money bubble popped midway through the day Sunday with stars like Phil Ivey, Isaac Baron, David Chui, Johnny Chan, and Jason Mercier cashing, but failing to advance to Day 4.
A total of 438 players entered the 2010 WPT Five Diamond main event at the Bellagio Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, creating a $4,248,600 prize pool with $870,124 set aside for first.
The event will play down to a winner Wednesday, Dec. 8, which also happens to be Esfandiari's 32nd birthday.
Play will resume on Day 4 Monday at 12 p.m. PT.
To follow all the action, tune in to PokerListings' WPT Live Updates.
Below are the current top ten chip counts:
1 Antonio Esfansiari 1,082,500
2 Doug Lee 702,500
3 Vanessa Rousso 694,000
4 Freddy Deeb 654,000
5 Nicholas Phillips 559,000
6 Jerry Young 550,000
7 Ray Dehkharghani 522,000
8 Charles Caris 512,000
9 Bryn Kenney 458,000
10 Kianoosh Mohajeri 452,000
Visit www.pokerlistings.com
Antonio Esfandiari Leads WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic After Day 2
With two days of play in the books at the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) Five Diamond World Poker Classic, Antonio Esfandiari leads the way with a stack of 485,600. He’s the only player left standing to cross the 400,000-chip plateau.
The final field numbered 438, meaning that attendance grew by 33% year-over-year. However, this year’s installment sported a $10,000 buy-in – down from $15,000 – resulting in a smaller prize pool. In 2009, $4.7 million prize pool was up for grabs and Daniel Alaei captured a top prize of $1.4 million. This year’s champion will pocket a considerably smaller $870,000, although 100 players will finish in the money instead of last year’s 27.
Former WPT champ Allen “AawwNutz” Carter hit the rail on Saturday courtesy of Andrew “luckychewy” Lichtenberger. Carter ran pocket tens into pocket aces on his final hand, which boosted Lichtenberger’s chip stack to 185,000. Lichtenberger ended the day by bagging up 170,600 in chips, good for the 32nd spot on the leaderboard. His company at Table 56 on Sunday will include Doyle Brunson, Jon “PearlJammer” Turner, Bryn Kenney, Peter Jetten, and Marco Traniello. Good luck.
Also departing on Saturday was RPM Poker pro Brent “Astrolux85” Roberts. Rather than write out the details of Roberts’ final hand, I’ll let his Twitter feed do the talking: “Out 55<88. Shoved 20 bb in the hj and Phil Hellmuth folded AQ in the cutoff. Basebaldy called from the sb and Phil berated me after I lost.” Hellmuth recorded a pair of top seven finishes during Season 9 of the WPT.
Online poker icon Cliff “JohnnyBax” Josephy, once the top-ranked player in the PocketFives.com Rankings, hit the skids on Saturday at the hands of Phil Ivey. Josephy 3bet all-in pre-flop in an apparent squeeze play and received calls from Ivey and Albert Kim. Ivey led out on a flop of K-6-3, Kim folded, and Ivey tabled A-K for top pair, top kicker. Josephy showed A-J for ace-high and no help came on the turn or river. Ivey, who held a top 10 stack after Day 1, continued his strong showing yesterday and now owns the eighth spot in the standings with 308,100.
The top 10 on the leaderboard at the Five Diamond World Poker Classic is littered with multiple bracelet winners and former WPT champs:
1. Antonio Esfandiari – 485,600
2. Daniel Fuhs – 397,500
3. Faraz “The-Toilet” Jaka – 364,400
4. Doug Lee – 355,000
5. Vanessa Rousso – 334,100
6. Sorel “Imper1um” Mizzi – 332,400
7. Keith Gipson – 325,100
8. Phil Ivey – 308,100
9. Doyle Brunson – 295,400
10. Nick “agriffrod” Mitchell – 290,100
Other top pros remaining that hold chip stacks in the top 50 include:
18. Jon “apestyles” Van Fleet – 246,200
22. Hafiz Khan – 213,700
28. McLean Karr – 181,200
32. Andrew “luckychewy” Lichtenberger – 170,600
33. John Juanda – 167,900
34. Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin – 167,000
38. David “Bakes” Baker – 159,600
41. Dan Shak – 156,800
46. David Singer – 139,400
50. Jon “PearlJammer” Turner – 132,200
Complicating matters today will be the Las Vegas Marathon, which kicks off at Noon PT and will close Las Vegas Boulevard. Players heading to the Bellagio, which is located on the Strip, should leave plenty of time to arrive in time for the “Shuffle up and deal” command. Day 3 of the WPT Five Diamond also begins at Noon.
Esfandiari Leads, Ivey, Brunson Threaten at WPT Five Diamond
A total of 391 players entered the $10k event throughout the first day, but another 47 jumped in on the action on Day 2 by the time registration closed and the event's ninth level began.
A grand total of 438 players created a $4,248,600 prize pool that will pay 100 spots with $870,124 set aside for first.
As the day wore on the field was whittled down to just 137 with big names like Phil Ivey, Doyle Brunson, Sorel Mizzi, Vanessa Rousso and Faraz Jaka among the leaders.
But it was Antonio Esfandiari who grabbed the overnight lead heading into Day 3 at Bellagio Sunday.
The 2010 WPT Five Diamond will play down to a winner Dec. 8.
PokerListings will continue its unprecedented look at the WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic from Phil Ivey's perspective on our WPT Live Updates page beginning at 12 p.m. PT Sunday.
Here is a look at the current top ten chip leaders:
1 Antonio Esfandiari 485,600
2 Daniel Fuhs 397,500
3 Faraz Jaka 364,400
4 Doug Lee 355,000
5 Vanessa Rousso 334,100
6 Sorel Mizzi 332,400
7 Keith Gibson 325,100
8 Phil Ivey 308,100
9 Doyle Brunson 295,400
10 Nicholas Mitchell 290,100
Visit www.pokerlistings.com
Ryan D’Angelo Leads WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic After Day 1
One day of play is in the books in the Five Diamond World Poker Classic, a stop on the World Poker Tour (WPT). Ryan “g0lfa” D’Angelo, who took fifth in the 2010 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Main Event, leads the pack after Day 1 in Las Vegas with a chip stack of 192,500. The field numbered 391 when all $10,000 buy-ins were accepted on Day 1, with registration remaining open until 5:00pm local time on Saturday for Day 2. Last year, 329 players coughed up $15,000 apiece.
We really can’t believe we’re writing this, but Joseph “subiime” Cheong was bounced from the WPT Five Diamond after 6betting all-in before the flop with A-J and running into D’Angelo’s pocket jacks. If this seems eerily familiar to a hand that occurred at the 2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event final table, it is. In that tournament, Cheong crippled his stack after 6betting all-in pre-flop with A-7 three-handed and running into eventual winner Jonathan Duhamel’s pocket queens. The wired pair held each time.
North American Poker Tour (NAPT) Mohegan Sun champ Vanessa Selbst, a PokerStars pro, also met her demise on Friday at the Bellagio. Selbst got her money in good, holding pocket nines on a board of 8-6-6-3 for nines-up. Her opponent tabled 10-8 for eights-up and watched with glee as the river came another eight, giving him a full house and the win. On dropping the massive pot, Selbst proclaimed to the world via Twitter, “Oh yeah, now I’m busto instead of being the chip leader.”
Trending in the right direction on the first day of play was former Bodog pro and “Survivor: China” castaway Jean-Robert Bellande, who committed his stack with J-8 on a flop of 8-8-6 for trips. His opponent showed pocket nines, which added an open-ended straight draw when a seven hit on the turn. However, Bellande faded his opponent’s outs on the river and doubled through to 48,000. He finished the day at 65,050, good for 88th overall out of the 287 survivors.
2010 WSOP November Nine Bubble Boy Brandon Steven made his presence felt at the WPT Five Diamond on Friday. Steven sent formidable pro Scott Seiver packing during Level 3 to move to 52,000 in chips. Steven, however, failed to survive to Day 2.
Also finding the rail was Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo, who Tweeted the details of his untimely exit: “Bluffed every hand to get to 60k Level 1. Level 2 I made real hands and got sucked out on to get to 40k. Lost rest KK vs AA. Not fun.” Others joining Bonomo on the rail on Day 1 included Chino Rheem, UB.com pro Joe Sebok, and Shawn Cunix.
In case you’re wondering, Sebok was ousted in particularly brutal fashion. His chips found the middle with pocket queens on a flop of 10-5-2. However, his opponent had spiked a set with pocket deuces and Sebok’s WPT woes continued. Sebok has a pair of seventh place finishes on the WPT, which runs its final tables six-handed.
Here are the top 10 chip stacks entering Day 2 at the WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic:
1. Ryan “g0lfa” D’Angelo – 192,500
2. Amirouddine Alibay – 185,200
3. Albert Kim – 157,100
4. Antonio Esfandiari – 149,550
5. Niema Mostafavi – 145,800
6. Phil Ivey – 143,225
7. Maciek Gracz – 138,850
8. Matt Keikoan – 133,775
9. Justin Young – 131,200
10. Kirk Morrison – 130,075
Other brand name pros remaining in the top 50 include:
12. John Hennigan – 120,500
16. Chau Giang – 115,000
22. Peter Jetten – 104,175
41. Faraz “The-Toilet” Jaka – 84,050
42. Yevgeniy “Jovial Gent” Timoshenko – 83,750
45. David Chiu – 82,950
Registration will close at 5:00pm local time at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. Among those rumored to be buying into the $10,000 tournament on Day 2 is Kathy Liebert. Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest WPT coverage.
Tags: 2010, bellagio, bodog, buy-ins, Justin Bonomo, Phil Ivey, poker player, pokerstars, tournament, trips, vegas, WSOP
Ivey Among Leaders as WPT Five Diamond Kicks Off
A total of 391 players entered the $10k event throughout the first day's five 90-minute levels and more are expected with registration open until the end of the event's eighth level at close to 5 p.m. PT Saturday.
Many of poker's biggest names were among the Day 1 starters, including Phil Ivey, Antonio Esfandiari, Chau Giang, Vanessa Rousso, Jason Mercier, Scotty Nguyen, Erik Seidel, Barry Greenstein and Freddy Deeb.
As players like Scott Seiver, Vanessa Selbst, Justin Bonomo, Joe Sebok, Frank Kassela and Joseph Cheong hit the rail, names like Ivey, Esfandiari, Kirk Morrison, Matt Keikoan, Justin Young, and Shannon Shorr moved toward the top of the leaderboard.
2010 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure finalist Ryan D'Angelo grabbed the overnight lead heading into Day 2 Saturday with 287 players remaining.
A $15k event last year, the Five Diamond drew 329 players with Daniel Alaei booking the win against an all-star final table that included Scotty Nguyen, Josh Arieh, Shawn Buchanan, Steve O'Dwyer and 2009 WPT Player of the Year Faraz Jaka.
The 2010 WPT Five Diamond continues through Dec. 8.
For an unprecedented look at the WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic from Phil Ivey's perspective, tune into PokerListings WPT Live Updates beginning at 12 p.m. PT Saturday.
Visit www.pokerlistings.com
Poker News Daily Weekly Update
Hello and welcome to the Poker News Daily Weekly Update, I’m your host Sean Gibson and I’ll be bringing you this week’s top headlines in the world of poker. Let’s get right to it!
Players on UB.com and Absolute Poker will be able to make it a lot more difficult for their accounts to be compromised through the use of security tokens. The security measure was introduced this week and can be purchased in the UB Points Store.
If you’ve never heard of a security token, it’s a small device that generates a numeric code. When you log into your UB.com or Absolute Poker account, you’ll need your user name and password along with the code generated by the security token. If you don’t have all three pieces of information, you won’t be able to sign in. The code randomly generates and will be different from login to login.
If your user name and password are compromised, a would-be hacker won’t be able to log into UB.com or Absolute Poker without the code generated by the security token. Visit UB.com or Absolute Poker for more information about it and how to purchase one.
If you are a well-known poker player who has something valuable to sell, it looks like this is the right time to do so. Peter Eastgate put up a World Series of Poker bracelet, as did Eskimo Clark. Now, Team PokerStars pro Vanessa Rousso is offering up her yellow two thousand seven Lamborghini on eBay.
Rousso purchased the sports car last year as a treat for herself with her poker winnings. In a video interview with CardPlayer, Rousso said that she had been planning the purchase since she was teenager. Even though she could afford to pay the sticker price for the vehicle, she bought it used to benefit from the depreciation in value in its first year.
This model originally retailed for one-hundred eighty thousand dollars, but you can head to eBay to buy it now for just one-hundred twenty-six thousand bucks.
This month, PartyPoker is holding the Five Star Poker Challenge, offering thirty-one freerolls worth five thousand dollars each plus other high-stakes cash prizes. All you have to do to take full advantage of the Five Star Poker Challenge is rack up five Party Points in a single day. Then, PartyPoker will grant you entry into a five thousand dollar freeroll the next day.
If you qualify for five of the aforementioned freerolls, you’ll score entry into a fifty thousand dollar freeroll that will be held on January Second. You’ll be ringing in the new year in style as you vie for a five-figure prize pool, all for playing on one of the world’s largest online poker sites.
After a nearly two-month break, the Durrrr Challenge between Tom “durrrr” Dwan and Dan “JungleMan12” Cates returned last week. Two sessions were held, the first of which totaled thirteen hundred hands and saw Cates win thirty-five thousand dollars. Then, an eighty-minute session saw another seven-hundred hands played with Dwan cutting into Cates’ lead by forty-seven thousand bucks. Cates now leads by six-hundred forty-five thousand dollars overall after nearly ten thousand hands. Fifty thousand hands are required for completion of the Durrrr Challenge.
Cates had been at the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City playing a tournament prior to the resumption of the Challenge. Meanwhile, Dwan was last seen playing in nosebleed cash games in Macau along with players like Phil Ivey and Chau Giang.
Rush Poker Mobile has been pulled from the Android Market. Originally, the program was unavailable “due to maintenance,” but Poker News Daily has learned that offering real money gambling could be to blame.
On the Android Market’s website, language against real money gambling games is given …
“Apps with gambling themes or that include simulated gambling should be rated ‘Teen’ or above. Real gambling is not allowed in Android Market.”
Whether the app will be reintroduced to the Market in play money form remains to be seen.
Rush Poker Mobile’s departure from the Android Market doesn’t mean that players can’t use it. Instead, the application is still available from Full Tilt Poker’s website. A web-based version is available, as is a QR code that can be scanned. You’ll need Flash Version Ten Point One or higher on your phone in order to use Rush Poker Mobile.
The World Series of Poker Circuit has added two new stops to the ongoing season. From February Seventeenth to March First, the WSOP Circuit will invade the Palm Beach Kennel Club Poker Room in Florida. The state, which recently saw a vast expansion of poker, is also hosting a World Poker Tour stop next year and is quickly becoming a hotbed of poker.
Also hosting a new tour stop is Harrah’s Chester, located on the Delaware River in Pennsylvania. The state has seen the recent expansion of table games and will now attract a flood of poker players between April Twenty-Eighth and May Ninth. The Chester poker room features twenty-five tables and Harrah’s officials will also turn its convention center into a fifty-table poker room for the full slate of Circuit events.
Finally, Peter Eastgate’s two thousand eight World Series of Poker Main Event bracelet, which had been up for auction on eBay, sold for one hundred forty-seven thousand dollars. Overall, it saw a stunning one hundred sixteen bids. Eastgate put the bracelet up for auction to benefit UNICEF. The identity of the buyer is not yet known… and if it’s you, please shoot us an e-mail at support@pokernewsdaily.com…
Well, that does it for this week’s PND Weekly Recap and we invite you to visit our site every single day for the latest news in the world of poker. If you haven’t done it yet, also be sure to follow us at twitter dot com slash poker news daily. I’m Sean Gibson and have a terrific week at the tables!
Antonius isn’t beating me bad enough, want higher tables!
Urindanger Puts on $300k Clinic
It took the older Dang brother only 91 hands to ship his six-figure paycheck. The majority of his winnings came from cadillac1944 in heads-up $500/$1,000 PLO.
Dang, who sometimes receives criticism for tight play and nitty table selection, has developed a reputation for consistency and this year is no exception. He’s currently up $1.4 million in 2010.
Dang has yet to record a losing year on Full Tilt.
Meanwhile cadillac1944 has been an absolute maniac this week winning over $800k from Tom Dwan, then losing close to a million the next day then winning a small amount the day after that.
As it stands now cadillac1944 is down $1.1 million and will need a big push to get even by the end of the year.
The second big session of the night included Patrik Antonius and Scott “URnotINdanger2” Palmer going at it in $500/$1,000 No-Limit Hold’em.
Antonius has been hot lately but it was URnotINdanger2 got the best of him in the session winning just over $280k.
Other big winners of the night included LokoisBack with $163k, skjervoy with $124k and Gus Hansen with $95k.
In the losing column were Phil Ivey (-$112k), harrington25 (-$103k) and Ingenious89 (-$52k).
For more information on the games check out our online poker stats section.
Visit www.pokerlistings.com
IHateJuice Beats Ivey, Antonius for $255k
The still unidentified online player took on Full Tilt icons Phil Ivey and Patrik Antonius at heads-up $2,000/$4,000 Limit Hold’em last night and came out on top in both matches.
IHateJuice played 381 hands against Antonius and raked $142k from the Finn and then added 117 hands against Ivey where he won $111k.
After beating Ivey IHateJuice really got the railbirds buzzing with this statement in the chatbox:
“IHateJuice: btw... can u do me a favor and ask FTP for 3k6k tables?” “Phil Ivey: u wanna break me faster?”
IHateJuice went on to say that he thought Antonius wanted to play higher, upon which Ivey mentioned he’d like to see them play $5k/$10k. The pair eventually logged off without settling anything but there's a chance there will be some higher states Limit tables on Full Tilt in the next few days.
Other big winners from last night included Arbianight who took down $183k, DrugsOrMe who picked up $139k and recent upstart ronnyr37617 who won $75k.
Meanwhile Antonius was technically the biggest loser going $229k into the red.
cadillac1944, who had that massive win against Tom Dwan two nights ago, donated $203k back to the online tables.
Dan “jungleman12” Cates, who seems to have cooled off a bit recently, also lost $118k.
Finally Gus Hansen couldn’t get anything going last night and lost a relatively minor – by his standards – $70k.
For information about the biggest high stakes online games be sure to check out our online poker stats section.
Visit www.pokerlistings.com
Dwan Run Over by cadillac1944
The pair played over 1,000 hands of $500/$1,000 PLO with six pots worth more than $300k.
It’s not clear what inspired the action but it’s been quite awhile since there has been that much uninterrupted uncapped $500/$1,000 PLO.
The biggest pot of the day, a $514k monster, was won by cadillac1944 when he managed to hit an ace-high flush against Dwan on a draw-heavy board.
After losing $740k to cadillac1944, Dwan went on to play $100/$200 PLO against Bttech86, where he would lose $218k more.
Add in a few other minor losses and Dwan dropped a total of $1.04 million yesterday.
The huge loss shook up the leaderboard for the top five biggest winners this year. Dan “jungleman12” Cates still leads with $5.1 million, Andreas “skjervoy” Tobergsen is now second with $3.2 million, Phil Ivey is third with $2.97 million and Dwan is all the way down to fourth with $2.96 million.
Meanwhile caddilac1944 had the fortune to jump all the way from -$1.5 million to just -$650k this year.
In other high stakes online news Scott “URnotINdanger2” Palmer continued his strong play with a $330k win, skjervoy won $306k and Bttech86, thanks to Dwan, won $268k.
Arbianight, who’s been trending down lately, lost a total of $525k while David Benefield, who has also been ice cold lately, dropped $220k.
Finally Gus Hansen, who had a fantastic November, didn’t get his December off to a good start with a $195k loss.
For more information about the biggest high stakes online action be sure to check out our online poker stats section.
Visit www.pokerlistings.com
Durrrr Challenge Returns, Tom Dwan Wins $47,000
After a nearly two-month break, the Durrrr Challenge between Tom “durrrr” Dwan and Dan “JungleMan12” Cates returned on Friday. Two sessions were held, the first of which totaled 1,354 hands and saw Cates win $35,000. Then, an 80-minute session saw 769 hands played. During the second encounter, Dwan cut into Cates’ lead by $47,000. Cates now leads by $645,000 overall.
Three hands during the second session passed $80,000 and Dwan took down two of them, contributing to his late surge in the second installment of the Durrrr Challenge. The largest pot of the night clocked in at $88,000. In it, Cates raised to $800 before the flop and Dwan boosted the price of poker to $2,400. Then, Cates 4bet to $4,400 and Dwan made the call to see a flop of Q-5-2 with two spades.
Dwan checked the flop and Cates fired out a bet of $2,800. Dwan called to build a pot of $14,400 heading to the turn, which was a red seven. Dwan once again checked, letting Cates take control of the action, and Dwan’s challenger led out for $8,400. Dwan called and the river was the three of diamonds. Dwan checked for a third time and Cates pushed all-in for $28,000. Dwan called and flipped over 7-5 for two pair, sevens and fives, while Cates showed a bluff with K-6 for king-high.
As you might expect, posters on online poker forums like TwoPlusTwo were quite elated to see that the Durrrr Challenge had finally returned. On the 80-minute encounter last night, one TwoPlusTwo member wrote, “I think Durrrr isn’t adjusting well against JungleMan12 and is hoping shorter sessions will limit the damage. Every time he has played a long session, JungleMan12 has dominated him.”
Cates has won 5,967 of the 9,783 hands played so far for a brisk 61% success rate. To that end, one poster questioned Dwan’s potential lack of aggression: “Does it seem crazy to anyone else that JungleMan12 is winning so many more hands than Tom? I realize it’s not a big sample and that there’s variance at work, but the gap is gigantic. Especially for a player like Tom Dwan, who I always thought thrived on taking down more pots than his opponents. Doesn’t seem like a good sign for him that JungleMan12 is out-Durrrring Durrrr.”
When the challenge first began in late August, Dwan and Cates discussed the possibility of fulfilling the 50,000-hand challenge by the start of the 2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Europe in September. However, WSOP Europe, high-stakes cash games in Macau, and a considerable amount of travel by Dwan and Cates have limited the time for each player at the felts.
Cates had been at the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City playing a tournament prior to Friday’s resumption of the Challenge. He then posted, “Durrrr Challenge now between me and @tom_dwan.” Prior to Atlantic City, other activities for Cates included seeing Vinny Favorito’s comedy show at the Flamingo in Las Vegas and traveling to Orlando and New Orleans. Dwan was last seen playing in nosebleed cash games in Macau along with players like Phil Ivey and Chau Giang.
Amazingly, Cates has won the four largest pots in the challenge against Dwan and six of the 10 largest overall. Three pots at the $200/$400 No Limit Hold’em tables have eclipsed $150,000 and eight have been larger than $125,000. Visit our sister site, DurrrrChallenge.com, for all of the latest news from the Tom Dwan Million Dollar Challenge.
What Makes a Poker Hall of Famer?
In November, Erik Seidel and Dan Harrington were enshrined in the Poker Hall of Fame. In the weeks leading up to the announcement of their selection, opinion after opinion was given as to why certain players should be honored and certain others should not. What was interesting to me about all of the arguments was that the reasons for and against players varied so wildly. But why is this?
The Poker Hall of Fame is a much different animal than other sports’ Halls of Fames, namely because the criteria for enshrinement are so much more vague and subjective. Let’s look at the Poker Hall of Fame’s criteria:
• A player must have played poker against acknowledged top competition
• Played for high-stakes
• Played consistently well, gaining the respect of peers
• Stood the test of time
• Or, for non-players, contributed to the overall growth and success of the game of poker, with indelible positive and lasting results.
Now, compare that to the criteria for the Baseball Hall of Fame:
• A baseball player must have been active as a player in the Major Leagues at some time during a period beginning 20 years before and ending five years prior to election.
• Player must have played in each 10 Major League championship seasons.
• Player shall have ceased to be an active player in the Major Leagues at least five calendar years preceding the election, but may be otherwise connected with baseball.
Right away, we can see some obvious differences. Poker Hall of Famers must have stood the “test of time.” What does that mean? Most people already consider Phil Ivey one of the best poker players to have ever lived, yet he only started playing in the late 1990s. Is 10+ years enough if you are that good? Why will another 10 or 20 years make Ivey more qualified? Baseball, on the other hand, clearly defines its longevity requirements.
In poker, while I think we all have some sort of idea of what “top competition” is, it is still a nebulous concept. Baseball has an obvious top level, the Major Leagues.
Beyond that, though, the toughest thing about determining who deserves to be in the Poker Hall of Fame versus other sports is evaluating performance. Baseball, basketball, football, and other sports have scads of statistics with which we can compare players. We can look at a hitter’s on base percentage and home run totals, we can easily compare one pitcher’s strikeout numbers and earned run average to another’s. Sure, there are debates every year about who is deserving and who is not, but there are concrete, black and white figures to study.
In poker, it is not as easy. The only real solid historical data we have is for land-based tournaments. We all know, however, that there is more to poker than brick and mortar tournaments. While tournaments get all of the attention because of the excitement, prestige, and television coverage, most professional players make their living in cash games. There are no records of live cash game results – the only evidence we have of who the winning players are is the testimony of other players. Online, there are sites that track internet results, but their data is incomplete and, considering their controversial standing in the industry, it isn’t even a certainty that they will be around in the long-term.
And speaking of online, there is an entire generation of internet players making names for themselves now. They are able to play many more hands and many more tournaments in a short period of time than players were able to 20 years ago, so should we redefine the already ambiguous “test of time” for them? What if a player decides to eschew live games entirely and puts together an impressive record of online tournament finishes and/or cash game winnings? Would the old guard consider him a potential Hall of Famer?
Consider, as well, that it is generally much more difficult to win a tournament nowadays than it was even as recently as the beginning of this century because the fields are so much bigger. Remember, the legendary Doyle Brunson only had to defeat a combined 54 opponents in his back-to-back WSOP wins.
The difficulty in objectively evaluating Poker Hall of Fame candidates means that voters often need to use subjective criteria to make their determinations, hence the “contributed to the overall growth and success of the game of poker” phrase, although I feel that applies to players and non-players alike.
Look at Mike Sexton, for example. While he has been a big name on the poker scene for decades, he only has one WSOP bracelet, is only 206th on the all-time WSOP money list, and only 90th on the all-time overall money list (69th when adjusting for inflation). Those are nothing to sneeze at, but his tournament results don’t scream Hall of Famer. But it’s Sexton’s role in popularizing the game of poker as both the face of the World Poker Tour and PartyPoker that likely earned him his well-deserved spot in the Hall of Fame last year. There’s a reason he is called the “Ambassador of Poker.”
Even one of this year’s inductees, Dan Harrington, might not necessarily be considered a lock if we just looked at his documented tournament results. Yes, he has a few very significant accomplishments. He has a WSOP Main Event championship, accomplished what may be the most impressive feat in WSOP history when he placed third and fourth against large fields in 2003 and 2004, has one other WSOP bracelet, and won a WPT championship in 2007. All great, but for a guy that’s older than many current poker stars‘ grandparents, his significant tournament results are relatively few.
And in recent years, apart from the 2007 WPT title, he’s been almost non-existent. Harrington is without a doubt a fantastic player and has had a tremendous career, but again, does his record make him a Hall of Fame lock? It’s debatable. But when you factor in that he wrote some of the most influential poker books of all time, helping develop the skills of subsequent generations of players, his place in the poker pantheon is cemented.
And again, remember that we don’t have records of how well these guys have done in cash games, so like the actual game of poker, evaluating a player for the Hall of Fame is a task with incomplete information. But I guess that’s all part of the fun, right?
Poker After Dark Season 7 Premieres January 3rd
Poker PROductions announced this week that its popular poker television program “Poker After Dark” has concluded the taping of its seventh season. Filmed at the Aria Resort and Casino at CityCenter in Las Vegas, the season premiere will air the week of January 3rd on NBC.
Season 7 will tie for the second longest season in the show’s history, spanning 13 weeks. The fifth season, filmed in 2009, was the longest at 16 weeks, or 96 episodes. The upcoming season will build on the popularity of cash games, all but phasing out the original six-handed sit and go competitions upon which “Poker After Dark” was built.
That said, the first week of the new season will feature a $100,000 buy-in sit and go dubbed “Big Heat.” Competing for the winner-take-all prize pool will be popular high-stakes action seekers Tom “durrrr” Dwan, Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond, John Juanda, Erick Lindgren, Phil Ivey, and Huck Seed.
The other two sit and gos will feature the traditional $20,000 buy-in and a richer $50,000 buy-in. The $20,000 version will be called “Wish List,” with amateur Mike Dappen taking on Mike Matusow, Phil Hellmuth, Jennifer Harman, Erica Schoenberg, and Chris Ferguson. Dappen won the opportunity to play for the $300,000 first prize by winning the Howard and Suzie Lederer Charity Poker Tournament, which raised money for the Boys and Girls Clubs.
The $50,000 tournament, named “Idol,” will see Doyle Brunson go up against five young pros: Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin, Annette “Annette_15” Obrestad, Andrew “LuckyChewy” Lichtenberger, Melanie “Callisto 5″ Weisner, and Dwan.
The rest of the competitions will be cash games, each of which will span two weeks. Two will have a minimum buy-in of $100,000. The first of these will include Brandon Adams, Matusow, Ferguson, Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi, Jean-Robert Bellande, Peter Jetten, and Hellmuth. Hellmuth will return for the second $100,000 cash game, along with Antonio Esfandiari, Obrestad, Andy Bloch, Seed, and Justin “Boosted J” Smith.
A $150,000 buy-in cash game will see Eli Elezra, David “Viffer” Peat, Phil Laak, Greg “FBT” Mueller, Olivier Busquet, and Lederer all try to take each other’s money, while Ivey, Dwan, Patrik Antonius, Peat, Elezra, and David Oppenheim will sit down for another cash game with at least $200,000 at stake per person.
While all of the above cash games will be No Limit Hold’em, there will be one $100,000 cash game that will feature Pot Limit Omaha as the game of choice. Sitting down at this table will be Ivey, Galfond, Adams, Antonius, Dwan, Brian Hastings, and Jared “harrington25″ Bleznick.
With 10 of the 13 weeks consisting of cash games, Season 7 will be far and away the most cash game heavy of all of the “Poker After Dark” cycles. It was not until Season 4 in 2008 that cash games were part of the lineup. The show was exclusively six-handed sit and gos for its first three seasons, serving as a complement to GSN’s “High Stakes Poker,” another Poker PROductions program that consisted of only cash games.
In Season 4, which was only seven weeks long, the first and seventh weeks were cash games, while the third was a special four-player “Heads-Up Challenge.” Of the 16 weeks of Season 5, seven were cash games. Six more weeks were cash games in the 13-week Season 6.
Poker PROductions also revealed this week that it has extended its deal with NBC Universal to produce “Poker After Dark” through 2014. Aria will continue to serve as the host casino for the show’s filming through at least 2013.
Hansen Hits for $262k
Hansen played just 311 hands of Pot-Limit Omaha last night but managed to record some big wins, particularly against DrugsOrMe and Di “Urindanger” Dang.
The Great Dane beat DrugsOrMe out of $106k playing heads-up $500/$1,000 Cap PLO and then added another $111k against Urindanger in the same game.
Hansen also found time to make some scores in a $200/$400 PLO Six-Max game that included skjervoy and DrugsOrMe.
In total Hansen won $262k, which leaves his total losses this year at $892k. It’s the first time in over three months he’s been under the $1 million mark.
Hansen, who’s been red hot the last few weeks, easily won the most cash last night but psychobenny (+$144k), URnotINdanger2 (+$144k) and IHateJuice (+$72k) also had big nights.
Meanwhile cadillac1944 lost more than anyone else, donating a total $198k to the high stakes tables on Full Tilt.
Arbianight also continued his recent downswing with $159k in losses while Urindanger, in part thanks to Hansen, lost $119k.
Even Phil Ivey, who’s started to pop up on Full Tilt since returning from Macau, lost $90k in a scant 105 hands on the site.
For more information about the high stakes online poker action from last night be sure to check our online poker stats section.
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Macau Poker Cash Games Wrap Up; Tom Dwan Wins Big
The high-stakes cash games in Macau that featured many of poker’s biggest names have apparently wrapped up for the time being, and now questions are swirling around the final results. While a handful of media members and staff did their best to report from inside the Starworld Casino, the higher-ups made sure to keep most of the information, including some of the players’ names, confidential.
Speculation within the community has Tom “durrrr” Dwan winning as much as US $9 million against Chinese businessmen during the week-long action. None of the figures, however, have been confirmed.
For those who haven’t heard about the incredible action taking place at Macau, here’s a brief summary: During the final stages of the Asian Poker Tour (APT) Main Event, some of the world’s top poker players, including Dwan, Phil Ivey, and John Juanda, joined the regular high-stakes game in Macau with millions of dollars on the table.
APT tournament director Matt Savage broke the news of the game to poker forum TwoPlusTwo and, with the help of Poker King Club Marketing Director Stella Yeh, APT Chairman Tom Hall, and a few other sources inside the casino, was able to provide as much information regarding the game as possible in accordance with casino rules.
Playing short-handed with blinds as high as HKD $5,000/10,000, Juanda, Dwan, and Chau Giang were reportedly the big winners, while Ivey traveled back to the US “ahead an unknown amount,” according to Savage. Most of the pros left town after several long sessions, but Dwan accepted a challenge to play a Shanghai businessman for stakes higher than the casino had ever seen.
During the weekend, Yeh said Dwan originally bought in for around US $2.5 million against his opponent and proceeded to play heads-up No Limit Hold’em with blinds at HKD $30,000/60,000 (approximately US $4,000/$8,000). That’s around 10 times the stakes Dwan normally plays on Full Tilt Poker.
Reports from the inside had Dwan losing the first session by HK $20 million (US $2.58 million), but he was able to bounce back in the second marathon session. TwoPlusTwo poster “MacauPro” was providing the forum with numbers from the game and said Dwan finished up HK $68 million (US $8.76 million) in the second heads-up session. However, Dwan’s friend and former roommate David “raptor517″ Benefield responded by saying, “fwiw, Tom is still down in HU.”
Dwan supposedly won close to US $2 million in the earlier short-handed games, bringing his total winnings to an estimated US $8 million to $9 million for the trip. Depending on who you talk to, though, those numbers could be poles apart.
Savage posted some final thoughts on TwoPlusTwo Monday morning: “The game broke last night after a mammoth near 48-hour session where it started 5-6 handed, was HU for a while and then others joined again at the end. The game would have broken today anyway, as some of the principals are going out of town for a week, we expect it to resume in a week or so. Ivey and Durrrr both ended up overall for the trip and sure will be looking forward to an invite back. Dwan expected to relax in Asia for a few days before heading back to the US.”
Should the action resume in Macau, Poker News Daily will continue to provide updates. Stay tuned.
Poker After Dark season seven begins in January
JHoWn Wins FTOPS XVIII Main Event
The 18th installment of the Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS) wrapped up early Monday morning with the $600 Main Event. More than 5,000 players entered, exceeding the prize pool of $3 million, and the top five spots earned six-figure paydays.
After more than 13 hours of play, “JHoWn” was crowned the champion, collecting $411,932.13 following a three-way deal at the final table. The other members of the chop were “hilyaki“($337,929.87) and “ReifesEisen” ($380,313.00), each earning their own colossal payday, but “JHoWn” won the title and the coveted FTOPS Main Event jersey. Former World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event final tablist Lee “acumen53″ Childs finished in fifth place for $144,511.71, while Laurent “macqueen56” Bachelet took eighth for $45,207.
Eighty-five of Full Tilt’s Red Pros participated in the Main Event, including tournament host Gus Hansen, Phil Ivey, Allen Cunningham, Annette “Annette_15” Obrestad, and November Niners Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi, Joseph Cheong, John Dolan, Soi Nguyen, and John Racener.
While several landed among the 720 players that reached the money, none were able to make the final few tables. Among those Red Pros who cashed were Felipe “Mojave” Ramos (113th), Stuart Patterson (226th), Jeff Madsen (327th), Lee Watkinson (423rd), Marco Liesy (539th), Bruno Stefianelli (564th), Ben Roberts (567th), Marco Traniello (603rd), Maciek Gracz (693rd), and Luis Velador (700th).
Here’s a look at the results of the FTOPS XVIII Main Event:
1. JHoWn – $411,932
2. hilyaki – $337,929
3. ReifesEisen – $380,313
4. sik0tic27 – $192,883
5. Lee “acumen53” Childs – $144,511
6. kasper74 – $99,455
7. Leeba3443 – $64,796
8. Laurent “macqueen56” Bachelet – $45,207
9. UGOTGYPSYD – $31,644
The other prestigious FTOPS tournament that came to a close Sunday was Event #29, the $2,000 buy-in Two-Day Event that drew in more than 1,000 of online poker’s top minds. Like the Main Event, the tournament saw a three-way deal at the final table, with “log1c07” earning the largest payday ($354,808). However, after “log1c07” exited the tournament in third place, “tennisassxy” bested “Yubaball” for the jersey and $332,265. “Yubaball” collected $342,175 despite the runner-up finish. Online poker pros Matthias “goodvibe” Neu, Keith “DaMurdera3” Ferrera, and Phil “USCphildo” Collins also reached the final nine, but ultimately fell short of the gold.
Here’s a look at how the final table played out in the Two-Day Event:
1. tennisassxy – $332,265
2. Yubaball – $342,175
3. log1c07 – $354,808
4. Matthias “goodvibe” Neu – $179,520
5. gomore – $136,000
6. tehe stop it – $97,920
7. Keith “DaMurdera3” Ferrera – $65,280
8. Phil “USCphildo” Collins – $48,960
9. ericontilt – $34,816
Full Tilt Poker unleashes its Mini FTOPS XVIII in December, where players will get their shot at the same 34 events, but at one-tenth of the buy-in. The series kicks off on Wednesday, December 8th with a $20 No Limit Hold’em tournament with a $250,000 guaranteed prize pool. It will conclude on Sunday, December 19th with the flagship $70 Main Event featuring a $1 million guaranteed prize pool.
Visit Full Tilt Poker for more details.
Macau update: Cash games into a week long break - Dwan and Ivey are big winners
Matt Savage informed the 2+2 readers that the cash games are going into a week long break. The games were put on hold yesterday as the players had played almost 48 hours without any bigger breaks.
The latest session was started by 5-6 players and there was quite many people rotating in and out from the cash ring. At one point there was only a heads-up match going on. It might be that Dwan played the whole 48 hours and like Savage says, Tom won about nine million dollars from the whole session.
Savage tells that the games are supposed to continue after a week and both Phil Ivey and Tom “durrrr” Dwan had won really nice from the trip. Dwan is believed to take a vacation in Asia before heading to home in States.
The possible games are being reported in the future by some 2+2 moderator, but they don’t know who it is going to be.
Source: Pokerista.net, 2+2
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Macau update: Cash games into a week long break - Dwan and Ivey are big winners
Tom “durrrr” Dwan reportedly wins $9m USD in heads-up cash game
BLOG – the coolest hands in TV poker history
Another Winning Weekend for Hansen
Hansen once again booked a few marathon sessions on Full Tilt Poker this weekend and by the time the dust had settled, he was up a total of $280k.
The Great Dane played Pot-Limit Omaha at varying stakes throughout the weekend and took on some extremely tough competition in harrington25, luckexpress10, DrugsOrMe and Ashton “ASHMAN103” Griffin.
He managed to rake several huge $80,000+ pots against DrugsOrMe and luckexpress10, which definitely did not hurt his cause.
Hansen is now down $1.1 million this year and for the first time since July has a shot at slipping below the $1 million loss mark.
Fellow Team Full Tilt pro Patrik Antonius also logged a successful weekend taking over $100k from IHateJuice in Limit Hold’em and around $80k from Dan “jungleman12” Cates in $300/$600 HA.
IHateJuice, harrington25, Erik “DIN_FRU” Sagstrom all lost considerable stacks of cash this weekend.
Finally the epic live cash games in Macau seem to finally be subsiding (check our blog later today for more information) so Phil Ivey and Tom Dwan may once again hit the virtual tables over the next couple weeks.
Here’s a look at a few big hands between Hansen and ASHMAN this weekend. For more information check our online stats section.
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Sin City Series: Poker After Dark
Devastating Week for Ziigmund
Sahamies only played 957 hands this week in varying stakes of Pot-Limit Omaha but still managed to play several disastrous sessions against opponents like Brian Hastings, Phil Ivey and Dan “jungleman12” Cates.
The recent downswing is becoming the worst on record for the aggressive Finn.
At the start of 2010, Sahamies jumped out to a $2.3 million profit. He is now down $1.8 million on the year and has lost nearly $3 million since the start of October.
Even Sahamies admitted on his Facebook page that he’s on the sickest downswing of his life and will likely take a break from poker.
Sahamies did have some company in the losing department, however, as cadillac1944 lost $368k and Sauce1234 dropped $280k this week.
Even Dan “jungleman12” Cates recorded a rare week loss as he burned through $250k. Despite his loss, Cates remains the biggest winner in 2010 with $4.6 million.
URnotINdanger2 was the week’s biggest winner with $336k added to his online roll. Arbianight also had a good week posting $331k in profit, as did skjervoy, who won $292k.
Gus Hansen continued his strong play as of late by winning $264k. Getting even by the end of the year is looking like a legitimate possibility for the Great Dane who is currently down $1.1 million.
Meanwhile in Macau, the multi-million dollar game that includes Phil Ivey, Tom Dwan, Chai Giang and John Juanda continues to amaze railbirds around the globe.
According to this thread on twoplustwo poker forum, Dwan is still entrenched in a huge $HK10k/$HK20k match against a Chinese businessman.
For more information about the online games check our online poker stats section.
Visit www.pokerlistings.com
Tom “durrrr” Dwan in a million euros downswing in Macau
The wild cash games in Macau are on! Some local businessman challenged Tom Dwan in a heads-up match and they’re now playing it. It seems that Dwan is already down about a million at the moment.
The heads-up is played with €940/€1880 blinds and Dwan is believed to have lost about a million so far. Dwan is actually losing in Macau - and it seems that he is not moving fron the tables anywhere soon.
The heads-up started with Dwan’s huge loss, even though he managed to win it all back, he is back down in a €940k hole.
Some people are telling that Dwan is considering moving to Macau, just because there’s so awesome cash games, but others believe that he wouldn’t get enough action from the amateurs.
The Chinese businessmen love to play against Dwan though, because the businessmen like to play really loose - just like Dwan. Phil Ivey on the other hand is not their favorite as he is too tight player.
There’s some facts we know about the Dwan’s opponents: he has been playing in Macau for few years and is down there about 9,4 million euros! He is nowhere near bankrupt yet, and the match against Dwan can turn out to be lucrative.
Even though Dwan’s opponent has been losing in Macau, playing agaisnt him is not easy, because people are telling that he is hyper-aggressive and likes to overbet, just like “Isildur1″.
Let there be variance, said the poker gods.
Source: Pokerista.net, BallerMagazine
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Skjervøy Explodes for $367k
The CardRunners instructor recorded 1,417 hands in varying stakes of Pot-Limit Omaha and essentially dominated everyone that was willing to take him on including Arbianight, Brian Hastings and DrugsOrMe.
Skjervøy was particularly effective against Arbianight and won more than $100k in a heads-up battle.
In total Torbergsen won $367k yesterday, which made him easily the biggest winner of the day.
Torbergsen has quietly put together one of the best overall records in 2010. The Norwegian has earned nearly $3 million this year and CardRunners’ decision to sign him as an instructor looks better and better every day.
Some of the other big winners on the evening included luckexpress10 who won $146k, Gus Hansen who took down $140k and Urindanger with $114k.
Hansen continued his relentless drive to get even in 2010 and is now down only $1.7 million after being down $3.6 million in mid-October.
Yesterday wasn’t as kind to davin77 who dropped $212k, Brian Hastings who lost $165k and URnotINdanger2 who went $145k into the red.
Meanwhile the incredible live high stakes action with Tom Dwan, Phil Ivey and Chau Giang, which you can learn more about in this TwoPlusTwo thread, continues to rage in Macau.
The latest rumor is that a wealthy businessman has agreed to play Tom Dwan at $HK10k/$HK20k heads-up No-Limit provided Dwan show his cards after every hand. Apparently Dwan is stuck $HK10 million.
For more information about the high stakes online games check out our online poker stats section.
Visit www.pokerlistings.com
Calm before the Storm? Players resting in Macau - Check out some pictures
It has been quite quiet in Macau today. Tom Hall writes that only Chau “La Key U” Giang and four other players are playing some $HK10k/$HK20k NL Hold’Em with a $HK$10k ante (the game just started). It seems that Tom “durrrr” Dwan and Phil Ivey are having a day off.
When the APT Macau Tournament Director Matt Savage leaves, Tom Hall (left) and Stella Yeh (right) have been updating the happenings in Macau.
Now people have been uploading some pictures to the 2+2 forum thread (pictures below) and praising and adoring Stella Yeh.
Let’s hope that the big games continue, as the past days have been really interesting. You can find updates from the 2+2 thread.
Source: Pokerista.net, 2+2
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Calm before the Storm? Players resting in Macau - Check out some pictures
Tom Dwan, Chau Giang, John Juanda Win Big in Macau Cash Games
The Asian Poker Tour (APT) Macau Festival wrapped up on Monday with 18 year old Zhang Dan Peng winning the Main Event for HKD $1.68 million (US $215,000). But the biggest story surrounding the series was the side action that developed after some of the big-name pros busted out of the tournament and created one of the largest cash games Macau has ever seen.
The nosebleed game at Starworld’s Poker King Club, which has been taking place regularly for more than a year, mostly consists of businessmen from China and Macau who have converted their gambling passion from baccarat to poker. With several pros in town for the APT event, the regulars welcomed the chance to play against some of poker’s top superstars like Tom Dwan, Phil Ivey, John Juanda, and Chau Giang.
APT tournament director Matt Savage was the first to break the news about the game in a thread on TwoPlusTwo: “Despite the light turnout at the Asian Poker Tour Macau, the cash games are some of the biggest in history as Tom Dwan, Phil Ivey, Chau Giang, and John Juanda are playing HKD $5,000-10,000 with some Chinese businessmen. The game plays much bigger and there was about $40 million on the table last night when I saw the game.”
Savage continued, “Tom Dwan made it through day one in the HKD $5K main event, but only came downstairs to play one hand, 10-4 offsuit, in an attempt to bust and get back to the cash game, but instead he doubled up and asked me to call him as soon as he was under 20 BBs. We are down to 35 players and paying 18.”
Dwan was eliminated from the tournament in 25th place and the cash game paused while the players moved from the Hard Rock Casino to Starworld. Dwan quickly got involved in a big pot with Ivey, as the two Full Tilt Poker pros faced off in a pre-flop raising war that ended with Dwan’s pocket sevens besting Ivey’s ace-ten for a HDK $4 million pot. It is assumed that Dwan and Ivey shared a piece of each other for the game, making the loss more sustainable for Ivey. Dwan also reportedly won a pot worth somewhere between HDK $16-20 million after a three-way all-in in which his ace-king came out a winner against pocket queens and pockets tens.
The biggest pot so far, though, came between Giang and a Chinese businessman. According to the Marketing Director at the Poker King Club, the game was No Limit Hold’em HKD $10,000/$20,000 blinds with a $10,000 ante. With a HKD $40,000 straddle in front of him, the Chinese player raised to $100,000 with ace-jack and Giang re-raised to HKD $500,000 with pocket aces. His opponent called and the two players saw a flop of J-J-10, giving the businessman trip jacks. Giang check-called a bet of HKD $1.2 million and the turn brought an ace, giving both players a full house. Giang checked his aces-full, and the businessman moved all-in for HKD $9 million. Giang called, creating a pot worth more than HKD $20 million. The river was a three and Giang scooped the massive bounty.
APT Chairman Tom Hall, who won close to US $1 million during four sessions in the game and reported some of the happenings shortly after they took place, posted some of the game’s results on TwoPlusTwo: “For (Monday’s) session, Phil is up HKD $15m (almost $2m USD), Tom up HKD $4m, table regulars up HKD $2m, Chau up HKD $300k, Johnny Chan down HKD $800k, John Juanda down HKD $1.5m (but up big for the week overall and has left town for a trip), and two Beijing visitors down HKD $10m each. Currently, the main game is four-handed with Phil, Tom, and two regulars playing HKD $10/20k. Second game features Jeff Lisandro, Ted Forrest, and others playing either HKD $2k/4k or $5k/10k.”
Overall, Ivey is around even for the week (minus sports betting losses, which were substantial). Like Juanda, Dwan and Giang are big winners, while the visitors from Beijing have taken a beating.
Hall also posted a quote from Poker King Room manager Winfred Yu, who has been on the sidelines throughout the week, but shared on Tuesday, “The game was regulars only last night (plus Uncle Chau Giang) and usual Asian visitors with Phil and Durrrr getting some sleep. Visitors dropped HKD $30 million last night, regulars won most of it with Chau picking up a nice win too. Second table played a mix of HKD $100/200 Limit and $200/400 No Limit with Jeff Lisandro, Ted Forrest amongst the players.”
Yu also mentioned that Dwan had accepted a challenge from a Beijing businessman, who was reportedly en route to the casino at the time of writing. The blinds will be HKD$50,000/100,000 – the largest blinds ever played at the Poker King Club. Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest updates from Macau.
Chau “La Key U” Giang wins a 1,9 million euros pot in Macau!
It’s really not a surprise that the biggest cash games in the world are played in Macau. Now the Poker King Club’s Marketing Manager Stella Yeh is giving us an update through 2+2 forums.
Chau Giang
“Would just like to say on behalf of Poker King Club thank you to everyone for their interest in our High Stakes Macau game. As i’ve read some of the previous threads, our friends Tom & Matt have done an excellent job giving updates, as well as bringing Phil and Durrrr over to Starworld to play this action packed game.”
“As of right now…Durrrr & Phil are taking a break, catching up on some sleep….and there are two local guys sitting right in front of me playing $50k-$100k HKD (€4750/€9500) heads up. They’ve been playing since 9am….it’s about 4pm now….and they’re still going strong. One guy has a massive chip lead on the other ….but the other guy’s determined to continue playing it seems.”
This game has been going on in Macau at Level 3 Starworld…Poker King Club for over a year already. And consists of mostly Macau/China businessmen who have converted their passion from Baccarrat to Poker.
Everyday new challenges come out, and as Tom Hall said earlier, some guy from Beijing has challenged to play Durrrr heads up, if he flies in tonight, i’ll keep everyone posted on what happens,” Stella Yeh writes.
Chau “La Key U” Giang won a €1,9 million pot when the “Chinese fellow” went all-in on turn with a full house, but Giang had a better full house with his set of aces. Board was J-J-T-A-3 and the “Chinese fellow” had A-J, and Giang had Aces. Talk about a bad beat here.
Will Dwan, Phil Ivey and the other players ever want to leave Macau?
Read more from here!
Source: Pokerista.net
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Chau “La Key U” Giang wins a 1,9 million euros pot in Macau!
APT Macau crowns 18-year-old Chinese winner
jungleman12 Drops $284k
Cates played 2,775 hands over the last three days including a less than successful heads-up session against David “Raptor” Benefield.
Add in several losses against Arbianight and, for a change, Cates was the one victimized, losing a total of $284,000.
With the loss Cates falls down to a $4.6 million profit in 2010 but is still the biggest winner of the year, easily surpassing Dwan’s $3.9 million.
There was plenty of action on Full Tilt this weekend with online upstart DrugsOrMe the biggest winner with an impressive $385k in profit.
Gus Hansen was close behind with $235k. Hansen, who was down $3.6 million in October, has been steadily pulling himself closer to even.
He’s now down $1.2 million and seems to be fixated on getting even before the end of the year.
Some of the other notable winners over the weekend included Arbianight with $137k in profit and David Benefield who raked in $103k.
cadillac1944 was technically the biggest loser, dropping an astounding $368k in a series of PLO games.
Yet again Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies was in the red, losing $160k. Ziigmund has now lost $1.5 million this year, after being up close to $2 million, and might want to consider a brief hiatus from the game.
harrington25 (-$165k), Vaga_Lion (-$142k) and Phil Ivey (-$68k) were also amongst the notable players to lose cash this weekend.
Here’s a look at a few of the most interesting hands from this weekend. For more information check our online poker stats section.
Visit www.pokerlistings.com