Poker News

Corkins Cashes in with Second WPT Title

He outlasted all 208 entries and beat up-and-comer Jonathan Kantor heads-up to claim the first place prize of $739,486 at the Beau Rivage in Biloxi, Mississippi.

Corkins, who won his first WPT title at the World Poker Finals in 2003, now finds himself as one of the 12 players that have won two WPT titles. It’s an elite group that includes players like Erick Lindgren, Howard Lederer and Barry Greenstein.

“It’s wonderful,” said Corkins about his win. “It’s been so frustrating coming in second twice, third once and sixth at another final table.”

Corkins cruised to three-handed play but after losing a series of hands became the short-stack. He had to get extremely lucky to win an all-in situation with A-J versus Jerry Vanstrydonck’s pocket kings.

He went on to bust Vanstrydonck and take back the chip lead, carrying it into heads-up play against Kantor. It took Corkins just 19 hands to end the match.

With his victory Corkins also topped 4,000 WPT points, which puts him in a very select group of players that includes just Gus Hansen, Phil Ivey and Daniel Negreanu. Corkins now has over $5 million in lifetime tournament earnings.

The WPT will now head to sunny L.A. for both the WPT Celebrity Invitational on Feb. 20-21 and the L.A.P.C., which takes place Feb. 26-March 4.

The complete final table results from the Southern Poker Championship are as follows:

1. Hoyt Corkins - $739,486
2. Jonathan Kantor - $366,643
3. Jerry Vanstrydonck - $196,829
4. Jared Jaffee - $135,079
5. James Reed - $106,134
6. Tyler Smith - $86,837

 

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Doyle Brunson Added to Party Poker’s Premier League IV Line-up

The line-up for the Party Poker Premier League IV is mostly set with PartyGaming's recent announcement that poker's godfather Doyle Brunson is the latest addition to the roster of 11 pros and one online qualifier who will participate in this...

More $1,500 Cash Freerolls From PartyPoker

Get in today for our exclusive $1,500 cash freerolls on PartyPoker running from now until March 28...

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Your next step is the WSOP 2010 Promotion!

Soon after you have claimed your bonus, the second phase starts and you’re eligible for the great WSOP promotion as well: 8 ways to the WSOP, which is launched at February 8th! 8 ways to win 1 of 88 seats to WSOP 2010!

WSOP 2010 promotion is open to all depositors!

Note that players from the following countries are not eligible for the bonus offer: Argentina, Albania, Bosnia, Brazil, Serbia, China, Croatia, Georgia, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, North Korea, Lithuania, Mexico, Moldova, Montenegro, Philippines, Romania, Singapore, Slovenia, Vietnam, Columbia and South Korea.

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Pacific Poker offers a great $8 free Campaign for the first 50.000 new players - and more!

War of words between Tony G and ‘_FullFlush_’ hots up

Let’s face it, Luke Schwartz and Tony G are never going to be mistaken for monks undertaking a vow of silence so it should come as no surprise then that the pair have clashed in the run up to next month’s Party Poker Premier League.

Irish Open structure amended

PaddyPowerPoker.com has announced details of changes to the structure of the Main Event of this year’s Irish Open.

Doyle Brunson joins PartyPoker Premier League

Doyle Brunson is the final pro to be added to the PartyPoker Premier IV event that takes place in Las Vegas next month.

Ilari Sahamies and Alexander “PostflopAction” Kostritsyn chats up

Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies is currently in Australia, but he is still dominating the Full Tilt Poker high stakes games and making huge profit.

Ziigmund

The exact results will arrive a bit later, but it looks like Sahamies has won about 1,6 million dollars in January already.

The Finn dominated the Aussie Million 2008 winner Alexander “PostflopAction” Kostritsyn along with others.

Alexander “PostflopAction” Kostritsyn

They chatted a lot during their play:

Ziigmund: u r f amazing sick lucky
PostflopAction: fu
Ziigmund: f
Ziigmund: u
Ziigmund: its f omg
Ziigmund: never seen as lucky as u
PostflopAction: ur winning 120k
Ziigmund: i doesn maer
Ziigmund: i should be 400k
PostflopAction: its how big your bankroll should be
Ziigmund: lers go 1,5k 3k
PostflopAction: nah, need to win first
Ziigmund: sry was a phone
PostflopAction: fu
Ziigmund: room service
PostflopAction: die
Ziigmund: 1,5k 3k?
PostflopAction: yes in 10 min
Ziigmund: ok
Ziigmund: cool
PostflopAction: play now
PostflopAction: its sick how u play so bad and run so good
Ziigmund: stop whining
Ziigmund: and take more money

Also David Oppenheim seemed to be in a chatty mood:

David Oppenheim: are you gonna runaway when the limit games come
David Oppenheim: hey zigg
David Oppenheim: are you man enough to play all the games

Ziigmund: i have to play 2 tables postflop action
Ziigmund: lets play later
David Oppenheim: your a &%!!%
David Oppenheim: b itch
Ziigmund: ok lets play
David Oppenheim: now you r a man
Ziigmund:

Tommy_devito77 (Observer): i seen a video of david opp on cardplayer
Tommy_devito77 (Observer): he was checking out his daughters tits
Tommy_devito77 (Observer): weird 4 sure
David Oppenheim: saw a video of tommy s mom on porn tune
David Oppenheim: she was definately a freak
Tommy_devito77 (Observer): was she good
David Oppenheim: ask your brother

Source: 2+2, Highstakesdb

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Ilari Sahamies and Alexander “PostflopAction” Kostritsyn chats up

Cake Poker Returning WSOP Bracelet to T.J. Cloutier

This afternoon, rumors spread around the poker industry that Cake Poker, which had purchased T.J. Cloutier’s 2005 World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet, was planning to return the piece to its rightful owners. Poker News Daily can now confirm those rumblings.

In a post found on Cake Poker that was created on Wednesday night, it was confirmed that the USA-friendly online poker site was indeed the new owner of the bracelet that Cloutier won in a $5,000 No Limit Hold’em event five years ago. The tournament saw the poker veteran defeat Steven Zoine heads-up in a final table that also included John “World” Hennigan, Dustin “Neverwin” Woolf, and DoylesRoom pro Todd Brunson. Text found on Cake Poker’s blog explains, “Our initial impulse upon seeing the auction was to say, ‘Hey this is a cool piece of poker history. We love poker. We should buy a WSOP bracelet!’ So we did.”

The final selling price for the WSOP keepsake was just over $4,000; Cloutier’s prize money for winning it was 165 times that amount. However, the online poker site and flagship room on the Cake Poker Network plans to return it to Cloutier: “We can’t, in good conscience, keep it from the man who rightfully won it; which is why we’ve decided to return it to T.J. Cloutier… just as soon as we’re done having some fun with it.” No specific plans for the bracelet were given, although Cake Poker officials tossed out “photo shoots” and “wearing it to a buddy’s home game” as several possibilities. The auction closed on Sunday on eBay and the hardware is currently on its way to Cake Poker’s headquarters.

An article that appeared on Wicked Chops Poker explained what might have led to Cloutier unloading his memorabilia: "We called T.J. He didn’t want to come on the air… but told our producer the following: 'I don’t want to talk about it… yeah it's mine… I was short… I pawned it… I tried to get it back with my ticket but I was too late.'" On Monday, Cake Poker officials teased that they may have purchased Cloutier’s bracelet.

The topic has spread around the online poker community like wildfire. On the TwoPlusTwo forums, posters speculated as to why Cloutier, who has nearly $10 million in career earnings, would contemplate selling one of his six bracelets. One member chimed in, “With the recent interest in poker and his name becoming more recognized, any memorabilia he has accumulated becomes more valuable. Bracelets don't exactly do much but collect dust so why not get some value out of them.” Others have hypothesized that Cloutier’s love of craps may have caught up with him.

The other bracelet for sale, which Cloutier procured after taking down the 2007 Scotty Nguyen Poker Challenge IV, sold for $2,500. The Plano Pawn Shop saw a flurry of activity surrounding the two charms and Poker News Daily’s Earl Burton estimated that the WSOP jewelry was probably worth somewhere around $2,350. The bracelet contains 96 grams of 14 karat gold and 0.25 karats of diamonds. The high bid was submitted at 1:34pm PT on Sunday of $3,956 and stood for nearly six hours until the winning entry of $4,006 was introduced at 7:30pm PT.

Cake Poker is the flagship site of a network that also includes DoylesRoom, Lock Poker, PlayersOnly, PokerHost, Red Star Poker, and Stryyke. It happily accepts players from the United States and features former PokerStars icon Lee Jones as its Card Room Manager. The site is busy following its players in the 2010 Aussie Millions, taking place down under in Melbourne.

Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest twists and turns in Cloutier’s bracelet sale.

Obrestad Avoiding Aussie Millions Déjà Vu

Among the chip leaders with 21 people left in the 2009 Aussie Millions, holding ace-ten, she pushed all in for around 350k over Canadian Zach Fellows' raise, expecting him to fold all but premium cards.

However, Fellows made the rather loose call with just pocket fives.

The fives held and an angry Obrestad had a few choice words for Fellows before running nines into jacks to bow out 21^st.

"It was a terrible call," she said. "It was really frustrating."

Thursday, a year later, she finds herself deep-stacked late in the 2010 Aussie Millions again and hoping this won't be a case of déjà vu.

"I hope not," she laughed. "I want to do well in every tournament I play. It doesn't really matter which one it is, but because I got deep here last year and I was so close to final tabling, I want to know what that feeling is like."

The Norwegian-born Betfair Poker pro says there's really no secret to why she's deep in the Aussie Millions main event in back-to-back years.

The tournament just sets up well for her game.

"I think the structure is just really good," she said. "And I've been running good too."

It certainly doesn't hurt that the 2007 World Series of Poker Europe main event champ has cultivated an image as a tremendously loose-aggressive player. Apparently no one ever puts her on a hand.

"They never think I have anything, no matter how I play a hand," she explained. "Even when I have the nuts and that's the only hand I could possibly have, they still don't believe me.

"It's really annoying at times, because I like to play a lot of pots. So getting involved without a hand is not a good idea. But why would I? They never believe me anyway. I don't have to. So I'm trying to tighten up a little and take advantage."

Like most of the new generation of Internet whiz kids taking over the poker world these days, Obrestad was weaned on No-Limit Hold'em.

But drawn in by its alluring action, she recently expanded her repertoire to include Pot-Limit Omaha and actually took down the $1k PLO prelim in Australia just days before the start of the main event.

"I was really excited," she said. "I've been playing a lot online. That's usually what I play if I play online these days, so I feel like I've been really improving my game.

"You can play a lot of pots. You can play really aggressively and you can bluff a lot in that game. There's a lot of action. I like it."

But for now, she's got a little Hold'em and the remainder of the Aussie Millions to contend with.

"I really want to do well here this year," she said. "And put last year in the past."

To follow Obrestad's progress and the rest of the 2010 Aussie Millions main event, tune in to PokerListings' Live Updates through the Jan. 30 final table.

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The Nightly Turbo: WSOP Bracelet’s New Owner, Inside Deal Back for Round 2, and More

In tonight's Nightly Turbo we're giving you the deets on TJ Cloutier's World Series of Poker bracelet's new home, what to expect from the second season of the Inside Deal, and we might throw in an Aussie Millions video, because we're pretty...

Poker Site Haiti Donations Top $2m

Currently PokerStars players have donated $670,000 with five days left to participate while Full Tilt is up to $307,721 and still taking donations.

Both rooms will match the amount their players donate meaning more than $1.9 million from just those two rooms alone will be going toward relief efforts in Haiti.

The smaller rooms are getting in on the cause as well with Absolute Poker and UB Poker hosting a $5 rebuy event that drew 717 players last week.

Cake Poker and RedKings Poker will also be taking donations in their lobbies all this week. Bodog founder Calvin Ayre has committed to matching up to $1 million of the donations made to the cause.

The Poker Players Alliance publicly commended the online rooms' efforts.

“Like the rest of the world, the poker community is eager to do anything it can to aid Haiti in the wake of the devastating earthquake,” said PPA chairman Alfonse D’Amato.

“I applaud PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and Cake Poker for providing poker players across the globe an easy way to make a contribution.”

The PPA estimated that over 50,000 players had donated with proceeds going to organizations like the Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders or UNICEF.

Haitians are still dealing with the catastrophic effects of a 7.0 magnitude earthquake that hit Jan. 12. More than 150,000 people have been reported dead and millions are homeless.

Players can still make donations with most of the major online poker rooms until Jan. 31.

 

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Cake Poker Buys T.J. Cloutier’s WSOP Bracelet

The amazing adventures of T.J. Cloutier's World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet added a new chapter this week. As reported by Poker News Daily on Sunday, Cloutier pawned off his 2005 $5,000 No Limit Hold 'em WSOP bracelet and, in turn, the Plano Pawn Shop sold it on eBay for $4,006. Now, online site Cake Poker is suggesting that it purchased the item and has unspecified plans for it in the future.

Jake St. Pierre, a blogger for Cake Poker, posted the following on the site on Monday: "Who knew there were so many wonderful things on eBay? The team members here at Cake Poker only recently caught on to all the marvelous items on sale, including: electronics, bracelets, CDs, bracelets, cars, pet supplies, bracelets, and all kinds of exciting memorabilia."

Wicked Chops Poker first broke the Cake Poker story on Tuesday, stating they had a reliable source inside Cake Poker that confirmed the sale. Rob Pizzo, a host of the Hardcore Poker Show on Sirius Satellite Radio, then commented about Cloutier on the Wicket Chops Poker website. "We called T.J.," wrote Pizzo. "He didn’t want to come on the air…but told our producer the following: 'I don’t want to talk about it…yeah it's mine…I was short…I pawned it….I tried to get it back with my ticket but I was too late.'"

Pawn shops are considered valid options for short-term loans when someone is "short" on cash, as Cloutier claims he was at the time. Once you pawn your item, you're given a ticket stating the terms of the loan, your name and address, description of the item, amount lent, maturity date, interest rate, and the amount you must pay to redeem your pawned item.

It appears that Cloutier failed to pay back the loan by the specified maturity date, which could have been on or before January 14th, the day his WSOP bracelet was placed on eBay by the Plano Pawn Shop. The item then became the property of the pawn shop, which can, in turn, sell it.

Cake Poker isn't revealing its plans for Cloutier's bracelet, but the site is building some suspense around the item: "You’ll just have to wait and find out," wrote St. Pierre.

Cloutier, 71, is one of the legendary rounders of poker and and among the most successful tournament players in the history of the game, collecting six WSOP bracelets, a total of 39 titles around the world, and career earnings of $9,413,236. However, some suggest that he has lost more money playing craps than he ever made from playing poker.

Are Cloutier's losses in the pit the reason behind his eagerness to pawn his WSOP bracelet? That's merely speculation at this point. Poker News Daily will continue to bring you updates on the ongoing story.

PartyGaming Co-Founder Anurag Dikshit Severs Ties With Stock Sale

Ending a relationship that dates back to the beginning of the online poker industry, Party Gaming co-founder Anurag Dikshit has divested himself of any ownership in the company with the sale of his remaining stock on Tuesday.

According to the London Stock Exchange and the British newspaper The Telegraph, Dikshit owned slightly more than 38.8 million shares of Party Gaming PLC, which is traded in London under the symbol PRTY. Because of his ownership of the stock, Dikshit held voting rights that would have continued to hold a significant influence on the company’s track. With the sale, however, Dikshit has fully divested himself of any connection with the company he helped start back in the late 1990s.

The 38.8 million shares of Party Gaming stock held by Dikshit amount to £114 million and helped to drive the price of Party Gaming PLC up during trading on Tuesday and Wednesday. Opening at 277.10p at the start of trading Wednesday, Party Gaming PLC trended up 14.2p over the course of the day, finishing at 292p.

It is estimated that Dikshit has cashed out stock in the company that eclipses £700m in value. Through his involvement with Party Gaming, Dikshit has also become one of India’s wealthiest citizens. With the sale of his remaining ownership in the company complete, Dikshit is expected to return to the many philanthropic trusts that he oversees, including those that fund medical and educational interests in India.

Since the creation of Party Gaming in the late 1990s, Dikshit had been a formative figure in the company. Along with husband and wife Russ DeLeon and Ruth Parasol as well as Vikrant Bhargava, Dikshit – who was the creator of the Party Gaming software that the company uses – drove the company to reach the pinnacle of the online poker industry with PartyPoker. By 2005, when the foursome took Party Gaming public on the London Stock Exchange, PartyPoker had even become a force in the live poker world with a sponsorship deal at the World Series of Poker (WSOP).

2006 proved to be a pivotal point for the company, however. With the passage of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) by the American government, Party Gaming was forced to prohibit American players from participating on PartyPoker (as a publicly traded entity, it could not violate the laws of another country and remain on the LSE). Since that time, Party Gaming has been passed in the online poker industry by two rooms that still accept American players, PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker, and battles for the third spot consistently with another non-U.S. facing entity, the iPoker Network.

Dikshit has been the only founder of Party Gaming to ever face American authorities as far as their gaming actions are concerned. After the passage of the UIGEA, The Telegraph reports that Dikshit was “increasingly worried about the ramifications of the company’s operations being declared illegal in America” and stepped down as the director of Party Gaming. This led to his admission of guilt in December 2008 in a U. S. court to violating laws regarding online gaming. Still facing the possibility of two years in jail for his guilty plea, Dikshit has paid $300 million in fines and, according to Justice Department officials, has been assisting them in their ongoing investigations. Whether Dikshit will face any jail time when the case is reviewed in December 2010 is still unknown.

The sale of Dikshit’s remaining stake in PartyGaming comes at a time when the company is looking at several merger options, according to The Telegraph. The outlet states that PartyGaming is “continuing to hold discussions with a number of companies in the gaming sector regarding potential consolidation opportunities” and speculates that industry competitor bwin is a possible merger partner.

Tiffany Michelle Talks Politics on Fox Business Network

If someone would have asked you who you thought would be a good person to appear on a national news program to discuss politics, we're guessing that UB.com's Tiffany Michelle would have been way down your list.  Sure enough, however, Michelle was Neil Cavuto's guest Tuesday on his Fox Business Network show, "Cavuto," comparing President Barack Obama's persistence with his health care plan to a poker player playing bad cards.

In the five-minute conversation, titled "Obama Making a Bad Bet?" on the Fox Business website, there was no debate on whether the proposed health care reform plan was good; it was simply assumed it was bad and that the majority of Americans are against it.  Cavuto's interview consisted of repeatedly asking Michelle to compare the President's health care efforts to playing poor hands.  For her part, Michelle came off fairly well, indulging Cavuto by using poker metaphor after poker metaphor to describe Obama's health care reform strategy.

Some tidbits:

Neil Cavuto: Taking a look at what the President's doing… a good gambler, I understand, or someone who bets a lot, understands, or thinks, that he or she has a good hand.  Am I right?
Tiffany Michelle: Yeah, generally you have a good hand, or you know if you have a bad hand, how to maneuver with that hand and take advantage of your opponent's weaknesses.

Cavuto: Now, the President, fairly or not Tiffany, is viewed to have a bad hand right now because prior cards he's dealt have turned out to be, you know, threes and fours.  They haven't really worked out.  Yet he continues playing the same hand.  What is the strategy behind that?
Michelle: [Preceding portion of answer snipped] What often happens for some players is you continue to push the issues, you continue to play the bad hands, you continue to get in sticky situations, and what really needs to happen is you need to step away from the table, you need to clear your head.

Tiffany Michelle laid it on thick, inserting poker comparisons at every turn.  Some of her best lines included:

"Here we are, let's say we're deep in the World Series, we're coming close to the bubble, you can taste that final table and the money and it's not looking like it's going to happen."

"Not only did Barack Obama in his first year in office decide to tackle one of the toughest issues in U.S. politics… it would be like me approaching Phil Hellmuth on my first day of my poker game and saying, 'Hey, Phil Hellmuth, you have 11 bracelets.  I want to challenge you heads-up.'"

"Talk about Scott Brown, that was a really bad beat for Barack Obama and the Democrats, who really thought they had a good chip lead there.  You know, they thought they had a lock on this tournament."

Members of the poker community universally panned the interview.  The reactions, however, were split between those who detested the fact that Michelle was chosen as the poker representative and those who simply thought that the interview itself was horrible.

He added, "I thought it was evenly presented, the gambling expert knew as much about gambling as the politics expert new abt politics," as well as, "I think it was more shady that TM passed herself off as a gambling expert with a clue abt politics to promote herself."

"Hollywood" Dave Stann, one of Tiffany Michelle's fellow UB.com pros, was more disgusted with Fox Business, Cavuto, and the interview itself, Tweeting, "WTF FoxNews? Generic gambling terms dissing Obama, then using pro gamblers as pawns 2 back it up? I dodged their invite 2day, thank fuck!"

Summing it up for someone who asked what the interview was all about, Stann tweeted, "fucking Fox presenting right-wing editorial talking points as 'news' then interviewing pros as 'evidence' of Obama ineptitude."

Some of the more entertaining comments on the interview came from the Two Plus Two forums.  Forum poster "TheTruthSpeaks" wrote, "While I was watching it I kept waiting to wake up as this certainly must be a dream or something. I mean surely I didn't really just see Tiffany Michelle on a news channel talking about politics while using horrible poker analogies to do it.  This has got to be the first sign of the Apocalypse."

"Randomness28" may have had two of the best quotes on how ridiculous the interview concept was, first saying, "Funny that the Q is 'How is Obama playing his hand?' .... so they decide to bring in a poker player for analysis. Someone should tell the staff of Cavuto's that 'playing his hand' is just a figure of speech.  Next on Cavuto: 'Are Republicans a move ahead of Democrats in setting up for 2012? We bring in chess GM to discuss this.'"

He later added, "Equivalent of this would be for Fox to pose the Q: How is the Obama administration going to kick off its second term in office? And to bring in a third string kicker of a Junior College to answer the Q."

Judge the Tiffany Michelle Fox Business interview for yourself.

Tiffany Michelle got her start in the poker world in 2006, when she served as an on-air host for the World Series of Poker (WSOP) coverage on Sirius Satellite Radio.  In 2007, she appeared on-camera, hosting various segments and conducting interviews for PokerNews.com.  Michelle officially turned heads the following year when she was the last woman remaining in the WSOP Main Event, eventually bowing out in 17th place and earning $334,534.  She was exposed to a nationwide audience in 2009 when she and fellow poker pro, Maria Ho, competed on the hit CBS show, "The Amazing Race."

Patrik Antonius Dumps $826k

Antonius' session started at $300/$600 Pot-Limit Omaha against Tom "durrrr" Dwan and Ilari "Ziigmund" Sahamies.

Dwan, who had been at the table for 30 minutes prior to Antonius taking a seat, left just a few hands after Antonius's arrival.

Just 20 minutes later, Dwan's spot at the table was taken by Cole South, setting the cast for the remainder of the session.

Despite his best efforts, and multiple re-loads, Antonius seemed doomed to end up on the short end of the stick, dumping over $800k in just two and a half hours.

Fellow Finn Sahamies took the largest chunk of profit from Antonius, thanks in part to winning the biggest pot of the session – worth just over $281k. In total, Sahamies won just over $436k.

Including another $252k profit mostly from a heads-up session against South and a $14k loss on another table earlier this morning, Sahamies earned a massive $674k for the day, making him the most profitable player on the year with over $1.5 million.

After making over $257k from Antonius and an additional $118k from $100/$200 PLO, it was looking like a big session for South until he sat down at $300/$600 PLO to play Sahamies heads-up again. The $252 loss left him with just over $165k profit on the day.

Dwan, who has been busy playing live poker at the Aussie Millions, added $164k to his comeback by playing a mix of PLO and No-Limit Hold'em. This latest profit leaves Dwan down only $240k on the year.

Below you can see the three largest pots from the day, or you can head to MarketPulse to see the rest.

 

 

 

 

 

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ESPN Inside Deal Airs First Show of 2010

The ESPN poker franchise “Inside Deal” returned on Tuesday with the first episode of 2010. Joining the series, which emanated from a new set, were Poker Players Alliance (PPA) Executive Director John Pappas and 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event Champion Joe Cada.

The show began with a discussion of the CardPlayer and Bluff Player of the Year awards for 2009. CardPlayer named UB.com pro Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin as its winner, while Bluff crowned PokerStars’ Jason Mercier. On which publication was more accurate, “Inside Deal” host Bernard Lee explained, “Understand that this is not apples to apples. These are two completely different Player of the Year formulas. If you had to look at it, I think CardPlayer has it a little more open for most players.”

Lee noted that poker pro Amnon Filippi bumped him from the 2010 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) Main Event, while Cada staked co-host Laura Lane into the ladies’ event. Now, Lee and the rest of the poker world have their sights set on the PokerStars-backed North American Poker Tour (NAPT), which resumes on February 20th at the Venetian: “I’ve said from the beginning that being able to qualify online is going to increase registration, prize pools, and interest in any tournaments. So far, over 160 players have qualified for the Venetian event. That’s more than some of the WSOP Circuit Events had all last year.”

Pappas joined “Inside Deal” via phone to catch listeners up on the good word from Capitol Hill. The Executive Director of the one-million member lobbying group explained the biggest challenge of 2010: “There is this continuing cloud of grayness as to what is legal and what is not legal. We have a six-month reprieve to get that Congressional clarification to make sure that it is clear that playing poker over the internet is not an unlawful internet gambling transaction.” The PPA is pushing for a markup of Congressman Barney Frank’s (D-MA) HR 2267 in February.

Cada, donning a festive array of PokerStars logos, told “Inside Deal” viewers that the pressure for him to perform has ramped up dramatically: “There is definitely more pressure now, especially because of the way I won my final table.” Cada hit the deck hard during the final table of the 2009 WSOP Main Event and defeated Maryland logger Darvin Moon heads-up.

One of the rumors flying around the poker world during the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure was that Cada was dating former Playboy Playmate of the Year Jayde Nicole. The rumors ultimately proved false, but Cada is still trying to wrap his head around his celebrity status: “I am still trying to get used to everything. The rumors are not so great. All my friends back home asked me about it and there are so many rumors going on.”

A comprehensive breakdown of a hand between Moon and Cada heads-up aired featuring Lee and ESPN.com Poker Editor Andrew Feldman dishing out strategy. The crew then asked Cada to reveal his mentality headed into heads-up play in poker tournaments: “I start off slow when I start heads-up because I don’t know how they play. A lot is their frequency of calls pre-flop and stack sizes. If the stack sizes are deeper, then you’re able to raise more from the button.” Cada was an online heads-up specialist prior to his win last November to become the youngest WSOP Main Event champion ever.

A new segment called “Snap Calls” featured discussion of Huck Seed’s chances to make it eight cashes in a row in the National Heads-Up Poker Championship, the number of new girlfriends Cada will have this year (Cada said under 1.5), the future of online poker legalization, whether Bernard Lee would claim a title in 2010, and whether Cada would win another bracelet in this year’s WSOP.

Hoyt Corkins Leads WPT Southern Poker Championship Final Table

DoylesRoom pro Hoyt Corkins will take a commanding chip lead into the final table of the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) Southern Poker Championship. The tournament marks Corkins’ sixth WPT final table.

Corkins sent Andy Philachack packing on the final table bubble. Philachack pushed his chips in with A-K and found himself ahead of Corkins’ A-Q. However, the flop came A-Q-4, giving Corkins top two pair and leaving Philachack rooting for a king or running cards for a straight. It was not meant to be, as the board ran out 6-10 to set up this afternoon’s televised six-handed final table, which will air as part of Season 8 of the WPT on Fox Sports Net. Philachack took home $67,000 for his seventh place showing at the Beau Rivage in Biloxi, Mississippi, the site of the Southern Poker Championship.

Corkins won the Season 2 Foxwoods World Poker Finals and was also the runner-up in the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure. Three seasons later, Corkins returned to a final table at the Bicycle Casino’s Legends of Poker and, during Season 6, Corkins claimed second in the Gold Strike World Poker Open in Tunica. His most recent final table appearance came in December 2008, when Corkins finished sixth in the prestigious Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic.

Corkins, decked out in DoylesRoom attire following Tuesday’s play, told WPT Live Updates Hostess Amanda Leatherman, “I want to get first or second because that would give me 4,000 WPT Points. There are only three people in that club – Daniel Negreanu, Phil Ivey, and Gus Hansen.” Corkins has $2.6 million in career WPT earnings and is one of the most recognizable faces in the game today.

Knocked out in eighth place was top female pro J.J. Liu. In her final hand, Liu moved all-in over the top of a raise by Jonathan Kantor. James Reed called, Kantor re-shoved, and Reed got out of the way. Kantor flipped up pocket aces, while Liu showed pocket eights. The board ran out 9-6-4-K-J and that was all she wrote for Liu, who has two WPT final tables to her credit. Liu finished fourth in the Season 4 Bellagio Five Diamond World Poker Classic and took second in the Season 5 Bay 101 Shooting Star event.

The top 18 players in the WPT tournament finished in the money and the title of Bubble Boy went to Sam Rashid. As has been a theme in the Southern Poker Championship, Rashid ran into a higher pocket pair, as his kings could not draw out on Narinder Khasria’s aces. The board came 9-3-2-Q-10 and the field rejoiced as Rashid exited empty-handed in 19th place.

Players were jolted awake in the early morning hours today by the hotel’s fire alarm after smoke was reported on the ninth floor. Jared Jaffee, who made Wednesday’s final table, commented to the WPT’s B.J. Nemeth, "I knew the world would end if I ever made a final table." The Beau Rivage is the tallest building in Mississippi at 32 floors and features 1,740 guest rooms.

Among those still remaining in the WPT Southern Poker Championship is Mississippi native Tyler “Tydean” Smith. He was the executioner of James Guinther, who was eliminated in 10th place for $25,000. Guinther was all-in pre-flop with pocket tens, but ran into Smith’s pocket jacks. He couldn’t dig himself out of the 4:1 hole and Smith boosted his chip stack to 750,000 as a result. Smith reached the final table of the Southern Poker Championship for the second straight year; he took fifth in 2009.

Heading into today’s finale in Biloxi, Smith sits in second place on the leaderboard with a stack of 1.17 million, trailing Corkins’ pile of 2.07 million:

1. Hoyt Corkins - 2,069,000
2. Tyler Smith - 1,169,000
3. Jerry Vanstrydonck - 1,044,000
4. Jonathan Kantor - 894,000
5. Jared Jaffee - 762,000
6. James Reed -377,000

The six remaining players are competing for a top prize of $739,000, while each is assured an $86,000 payday for making the final table:

1st Place: $739,486
2nd Place: $366,643
3rd Place: $196,829
4th Place: $135,079
5th Place: $106,134
6th Place: $86,837

Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest WPT coverage.

Corkins Guns for Second WPT Title

Corkins will attempt to join an elite group of players who have won two WPT titles when the final table plays out from the Beau Rivage in Biloxi Mississippi.

 “It is a big deal,” said Corkins. “I want to get first or second because that would give me 4,000 WPT points and only Daniel Negreanu, Gus Hansen and Phil Ivey are in that club.”

It’s been a long time coming for Corkins, who won his first WPT title at the World Poker Finals at Foxwoods in 2003. Since then Corkins has cashed 12 times on the WPT and made four final tables.

To make his way into the WPT record books, Corkins will have to beat a relatively unknown but skilled final table that includes Tyler Smith, Jonathan Kantor, Jerry Vanstrydonck, James Reed and Jared Jaffee.

Both Jaffee and Kantor recorded wins in the Southern Poker Championships’ preliminary events and Smith has over $300,000 in life-time tournament earnings.

A trio of notable poker pros fell just short of the final table. WSOPC winner Andy Philachack came in seventh, bubbling the final table, WPT Ladies Night winner J.J. Liu came in eighth and Jason Mercier horse Dan O'Brien came in ninth place.

The final table begins at 4 p.m. CT. Here are the current chip counts:

Hoyt Corkins – 2.06 million
Tyler Smith – 1.1 million
Jerry Vanstrydonck – 1 million
Jonathan Kantor – 894,000
Jared Jaffee – 762,000
James Reed – 377,000

 

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Aussie Millions: Main Event Day 2

Day 2 of the 2010 Aussie Millions Main Event is in the books. The remaining players from all three Day 1 flights met in the same room for the first time today. Play was split between the Crown Poker Room and Studio 3, where film crews have been...

In Mother Russia, Pot Limit Omaha beats you!

Besides WSOP and WSOPE final tablist Ivan Demidov, we don’t hear a great deal about Russian poker players – the game lost its sport status recently and it means that the poker industry in Russia has suffered horribly.

Matt Savage revitalises LA Poker Classic

Live poker tournaments in America have been suffering a slump in numbers recently but primo tournament director Matt Savage has come up with an innovative new format that, coupled with a million dollar guarantee, saw a $300 tournament reach a first place prize of $363,936.

Phil Laak launches his own poker room

There has been an ongoing trend when famous poker players have launched their own poker rooms. Doyle Brunson, Dave “Devilfish” Ulliott and Tony G are just a few examples who have their own signature sites. Now Phil “Unabomber” Laak is starting up at the Cake Poker Network.

Phil Laak

Actually, having your name on a poker room is considered to be a notable sign that you have done something good in the poker industry. Phil Laak’s Unabomber Poker will open on Cake Poker Network soon. Laak is planning to play and have his new blog maintained on the room.

“By joining a network that focuses on player rewards and accepts players worldwide, we knew we would be starting out on the right track. I love getting involved from the ground up,” Laak stated his new experiment during the announcement.

Cake Poker will open seven other rooms along with Unabomber Poker, as they announced earlier today. There are 55 poker rooms on the Cake Poker Network after the eight rooms join them and according to PokerScout.com there’s averaging 2.100 real money ring players every day.

Source: PokerNewsDaily

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Phil Laak launches his own poker room

And the winners of the APAT Team Championship are … Team APAT

Manchester’s G Casino was the venue for the Amateur Poker Association and Tour (APAT) Team Championship event over the weekend and there was a familiar name at the top of the leader board.

LA Poker Classic package on offer from Online Forum Challenge and Full Tilt

A pair of special Online Forum Challenge events takes place at Full Tilt Poker next week and there are some very juicy prizes to be won including a trip to the LA Poker Classic worth $2,500.

Ilari Sahamies and Cole South against Patrik Antonius

There was a very interesting 3-handed Omaha session on Full Tilt Poker yesterday. There was no fishes involved as the three fearless lads clashed against each other.

Foes on the poker table, friends outside the game. Antonius and Sahamies.

Ilari Sahamies started the session with a heads up against Patrik Antonius, but shortly after Cole South joined their tables. And as you can guess, the game got very aggressive when all three got deep stacks in front of them.

It was Patrik Antonius who ended up losing this time around. They played $300/$600 Pot-Limit Omaha and Sahamies won almost all the big hands.

Ziigmund and Antonius in the biggest pot of the session - $281k
Cole South cracks Ziigmund’s top set - $268k
Also Antonius manages to win a big pot - $258k

In the end Antonius left the tables when he was around $810k down leaving Sahamies and South counting their winnings from the last 24 hours. Sahamies was up $454k and South $386k. South was running hot on PokerStars as well as he won nicely from “nutsinho” playing heads up.

Ziigmund: how much u end up?
Cole South: no clue, was playing a bunch of games and not sure what i won where
Cole South: u
Cole South: i was stuck a lot at first here
Ziigmund: totally up
Ziigmund: like
Ziigmund: 600
Cole South: live results says around +400k but a bunch of that was mix and 50100 plo
Ziigmund: when started with patrik
Cole South: not a bad day to be ziigmund
Ziigmund: lost for durrrrr 200
Cole South: gg
Ziigmund: gg

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Ilari Sahamies and Cole South against Patrik Antonius

Rumor: “Isildur1? playing on Betfair Poker?

In a recent PokerNews interview Isildur1 told that he still has bankroll left and will make a comeback sooner or later. Well, just yesterday “Isildur1″ was seen on Full Tilt Poker playing some $0.25/$0.50 No limit Hold’em and he lost “whooping” ten dollars.

Isildur1 has been found playing some micro stakes NLHE on Full Tilt earlier as well, although it seems that his bankroll isn’t that big there.

After the interview it’s quite obvious that he has bankroll on other sites and now it is rumored that he plays on Betfair Poker. “Omlphalotus” is rumored to be Isildur1’s new nick.

Let’s take a look a bit closer: “Omlphalotus” has quite similar playstyle as Isildur1 - which is highly aggressive and seems a bit insane, he has many tables open, plays really long sessions and is of course Swedish as well.

Little railbirds tell that he has gotten really good results against Marcello “luckexpress” Marigliano who is known “imthedealer” and “sinceroo” on Betfair.

Note: “Omlphalotus” is waiting to get some action as I am writing this:

There are always some rumors around and the rumor before was that Isildur1 was playing on Ipoker but eventually went busto. We’ll see.

Source: 2+2, Highstakesdb

You just read Poker News from HighStakesNews.com

Rumor: “Isildur1″ playing on Betfair Poker?

Mizzi Finds Aussie Millions Magic in Melbourne

And after a final table appearance at a 2009 Aussie Millions prelim and a deep run all the way to 16^th in the main event last year, who can blame him?

"I hit a lot of sets in Australia," he joked. "But seriously, I have a really good feel for the table dynamic here. There's something about Australia. Maybe it's the air here that just helps me get in the zone a lot easier.

"Right now I'm playing the best poker I've ever played. Most of my reads are right on and feel like I have a good idea of where people are."

Wednesday, the 23-year-old Canadian found himself among the chip leaders on Day 2 of the 2010 Aussie Millions main event and appeared primed for yet another deep run.

"For some reason, every time I'm in Australia, I'm really focused," he said. "Maybe it's because I travel 25 hours to get here, so I might as well sit down and just focus on the task at hand."

Playing under the screen names Imper1um and zangbezan24, the Betfair Poker pro is nothing short of an online poker legend.

And while the live results have followed, including more than $1.6 million in career earnings over just the past four years, something is still missing from his resume.

Among several deep cashes, Mizzi finished third in the 2007 Irish Open, second in the 2008 World Series of Poker Europe's £5k Pot-Limit Omaha and second again in the 2009 WSOP's $5k PLO.

However, a major poker title still eludes him.

"If you look at my results I have a lot of finishes from 10^th to 30^th and it's funny, because online, that's usually where I dominate," he said. "When 10-30 people are left, I go in for the kill. But live, I've just been running really bad at the end of tournaments.

"It really bothers me that I've never won a major tournament. I've actually only won just one live tournament, a side event at Bellagio. It was nice, it was a $3k buy-in with 160 players, but, you know, it's not a big deal. You don't get that much satisfaction out of winning something like that."

The good side of coming so close, so many times is that Mizzi has stayed focused on his ultimate goal of winning a major title. But that certainly doesn't make him want it any less.

"I see lot of people that win a couple of tournaments and they lose that desire," he said. "I don't want to end up like that and having these close finishes just gives me more thirst and gets me more focused on achieving my goals.

"In the end, though, a title is very important to me. I really want to get that monkey off my shoulder. Hopefully I'll win a big event this year, maybe even this one."

To follow Mizzi's progress and comprehensive coverage of the entire 2010 Aussie Millions main event, tune into PokerListings' Live Updates through the Jan. 30 final table.

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Online Poker Community Donates $1.5 Million to Haiti Earthquake Survivors

The online poker community has raised $1.5 million for victims of the magnitude 7.0 earthquake that rocked Haiti earlier this month, according to a press release distributed by the Poker Players Alliance (PPA).

Full Tilt Poker saw 22,785 donations come in from concerned members of the industry for total donations of $293,211. In a gracious showing, the world’s second largest online poker site doubled contributions from its patrons for a total donation of $586,423, or over one-third of the figure cited by the PPA. Aid for Haiti play and no-play tournaments were held on Full Tilt Poker and a special user account was created to accept incoming transfers benefiting the relief efforts.

As expected, PPA Chairman Alfonse D’Amato, a former three-term Republican Senator from New York, was elated to see the giving mood of the online poker community. In a press release distributed by the lobbying organization this week, D’Amato commented, “Like the rest of the world, the poker community is eager to do anything it can to aid Haiti in the wake of the devastating earthquake. I applaud PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, and Cake Poker for providing poker players across the globe an easy way to make a contribution. The generosity online poker players are showing makes me even more proud to be part of this community.”

PPA Executive Director John Pappas echoed D’Amato’s sentiments in an interview with the online poker forum PocketFives.com, calling the massive effort “a tribute to the generosity of the poker community.” Pappas added that the seven-digit donation mark does not include private contributions made by poker pros and other members of the industry to organizations like the Red Cross and UNICEF, which hit the ground in Haiti shortly after the epic January 12th tremor.

The PPA revealed that 50,000 online poker players have donated a total of $760,000, an average of about $15 each. With online poker sites matching the funds dollar-for-dollar, the total amount generated surpasses $1.5 million. On PokerStars, donations are being accepted until January 31st at Noon ET. No-play Haiti Earthquake Relief tournaments have buy-ins ranging from $1 to $1,000. Text found on PokerStars’ website succinctly explains, “You will not need to play an actual tournament; instead, all of the 'entry fees' go straight to the fund.”

PokerStars, the world’s largest online poker site, also created a special player account called “Haiti Fund.” Users can transfer funds to the account and PokerStars will match all money raised for the relief effort. The website, which has campaigned for a variety of charitable causes like Ante Up for Africa over the years, reminded its clientele, “PokerStars has been quick to facilitate this after previous disasters, and once again it is giving you an easy way to donate cash.”

Meanwhile, Cake Poker, a USA-friendly site that features Lee Jones as its Poker Room Manager, is taking donations until Midnight ET on January 31st. Five “holding tanks” were created for players to donate to the cause in $5, $25, $100, $200, and $500 increments. Past charity efforts by Cake Poker include involvement in the Aces and Angels Celebrity Poker Tournament and Oregon’s West Side Poker Club.

Other sites, including RedKings, UB.com, Absolute Poker, and DoylesRoom held poker tournaments last week to raise money for the cause. On the CEREUS Network, 717 players turned out for a $5 rebuy benefiting earthquake victims. In addition, customers on the Network’s two sites, UB.com and Absolute Poker, can donate their player points in each room’s store. On DoylesRoom, a special Haiti Bounty saw Academy Award nominee Mickey Rourke hit the felts.

A magnitude 5.9 aftershock hit Haiti shortly after and the Red Cross noted that three million people may have been affected. We’d like to salute members of the poker community who donated.

Cake Network Explodes with Unabomber Poker

With his trademark sweatshirt and sunglasses Laak is one of the most recognizable poker players in the world but has rarely had a major poker room sponsorship deal.

He mentioned he was thrilled to start Unabomber Poker.

“We knew we wanted to launch the sickest poker site possible," stated Laak.

"By joining a network that focuses on player rewards and accepts players world-wide we knew we would be starting out on the right track. I love getting involved from the ground up.”

Laak burst onto the poker scene by winning the WPT Celebrity Invitational in 2004 and has since made big scores at the WSOP, WPT and Poker After Dark.

The Irish-American most recently outlasted Luke “Full Flush” Schwartz, Mike Sexton and Andy Black to win the PartyPoker.com World Open V for $250,000.

Laak will blog regularly on the Unabomber Poker website.

“The addition for of Unabomber Poker to the Cake Network is cause for great excitement,” said a Cake Network spokesperson. “Phil’s enthusiasm for the game is infectious and brings great energy to the network.”

Cake Poker also launched seven other partner sites including 7Win Poker, Redback Poker, Amsterdams Poker, Safari Poker, Dime Line Sports, Rags2Riches and Burro Poker.

 

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