Poker News

Sydney PartyPoker Qualifier Wins Aussie Millions

23-year-old Tyron Krost won a $640 online satellite to get into the main event at the Crown Casino and walked away AUD$2 million richer after besting a field of 746 this week.

"It feels like a dream and I don't want to wake up," he said moments after the win. "$2 million, it's amazing."

After a fairly lengthy feeling-out process, fellow Aussie Steven Shelley was the first player to get his walking papers from the final eight Saturday, running sevens into Krost's jacks.

But it wasn't long before he was joined on the rail by online superstar and 2007 World Series of Poker Europe champ Annette Obrestad.

The Betfair pro got into a flip for her stack with ace-jack against the PartyPoker qualifier's sevens and would have liked the straight draw she picked up on the flop if that same flop didn't give Krost a set.

The turn and river bricked out and Obrestad was sent back to Norway seventh.

Strangely, pocket sevens were involved in the next elimination as well, with Reno, Nevada's Steve Friedlander running them into Aussie Kostas Varoxis' big slick.

A king on the flop and another on the turn did the lone American at the final table in and play went five handed.

It stayed five-handed for quite a while until Canadian Peter Jetten appeared to implode, shipping it in with K♦ 5♦ against Krost's tens on a move and failing to improve.

Once the massive chip leader, Sorel Mizzi's downfall began soon after when he doubled up Frederik Jensen and before the Betfair Poker pro knew what had hit him, Krost had suddenly moved into the lead.

A few desperations shoves from Varoxis were next on the agenda, and although the first couple worked, his luck eventually ran out when he couldn't beat Jensen's deuces with A♥ 6♣.

Mizzi's downfall ended three-handed when he ran pocket sevens into Krost's ace-king and could not hold, leaving the two PartyPoker qualifiers to battle it out heads up.

Krost began heads up with better than 2:1 chip lead over Jensen and the Aussie began applying pressure on the Dane right from the outset, pounding him into submission before getting him all in dominated to book the win.

A humble Krost seemed to have the all big hands when he needed them throughout the final, beating some of the best young players in the game while following up Stewart Scott's 2009 win to become only the second Aussie to keep the title on home soil in Aussie Millions history.

"I just ran really well and got really lucky," he said. "I had a lot of big hands."

Sydney PartyPoker Qualifier Wins Aussie Millions

23-year-old Tyron Krost won a $640 online satellite to get into the main event at the Crown Casino and walked away AUD$2 million richer after besting a field of 746 this week.

"It feels like a dream and I don't want to wake up," he said moments after the win. "$2 million, it's amazing."

After a fairly lengthy feeling-out process, fellow Aussie Steven Shelley was the first player to get his walking papers from the final eight Saturday, running sevens into Krost's jacks.

But it wasn't long before he was joined on the rail by online superstar and 2007 World Series of Poker Europe champ Annette Obrestad.

The Betfair pro got into a flip for her stack with ace-jack against the PartyPoker qualifier's sevens and would have liked the straight draw she picked up on the flop if that same flop didn't give Krost a set.

The turn and river bricked out and Obrestad was sent back to Norway seventh.

Strangely, pocket sevens were involved in the next elimination as well, with Reno, Nevada's Steve Friedlander running them into Aussie Kostas Varoxis' big slick.

A king on the flop and another on the turn did the lone American at the final table in and play went five handed.

It stayed five-handed for quite a while until Canadian Peter Jetten appeared to implode, shipping it in with K♦ 5♦ against Krost's tens on a move and failing to improve.

Once the massive chip leader, Sorel Mizzi's downfall began soon after when he doubled up Frederik Jensen and before the Betfair Poker pro knew what had hit him, Krost had suddenly moved into the lead.

A few desperations shoves from Varoxis were next on the agenda, and although the first couple worked, his luck eventually ran out when he couldn't beat Jensen's deuces with A♥ 6♣.

Mizzi's downfall ended three-handed when he ran pocket sevens into Krost's ace-king and could not hold, leaving the two PartyPoker qualifiers to battle it out heads up.

Krost began heads up with better than 2:1 chip lead over Jensen and the Aussie began applying pressure on the Dane right from the outset, pounding him into submission before getting him all in dominated to book the win.

A humble Krost seemed to have the all big hands when he needed them throughout the final, beating some of the best young players in the game while following up Stewart Scott's 2009 win to become only the second Aussie to keep the title on home soil in Aussie Millions history.

"I just ran really well and got really lucky," he said. "I had a lot of big hands."

BoylePoker launches Irish Open qualifiers

Young Stars Lead Aussie Millions Final

Betfair Poker pro Sorel Mizzi will come in to the final eight with a massive chip lead and all the confidence that comes with it following a day where it appeared he could do no wrong on the felt.

"Confident is definitely the one word to describe how I'm feeling right now," the 23-year-old Canadian said. "Everything is just going my way. I'm getting hands, I'm making the correct reads. I feel like I'm playing the most perfect poker I know how.

"I might not be playing perfectly, but it's the best that I know how to play and things are working out for me right now."

Using the screen names Imper1um and zangbezan24, Mizzi is one of the most feared tournament players in online poker history.

While he has also amassed more than $1.6 million in career earnings in live tournaments, a major title has escaped his clutches to date, making this shot at Aussie Millions glory even more desirable to him.

"How badly do I want this?" he asked. "On a scale from zero to ten, it's a ten."  

Mizzi holds close to half of the chips in play with eight players remaining, but said he has no plans to bully the table tomorrow.

"I'm just going to adjust to the situations when I see what they are," he said. "I don't really know my strategy going into tomorrow, but I'm really good at just feeling things out. Hopefully I feel things right and hopefully I keep hitting the cards I was hitting today."

In Mizzi's way stands fellow Betfair Poker pro and 2007 World Series of Poker Europe champ Annette Obrestad.

Considering she currently sits fifth in chips, Obrestad is being cautiously optimistic about her chances.

"I can't say I'm too confident, considering Sorel has six times the amount of chips I do," she said.

No less than an online poker legend, Obrestad, otherwise known as Annette_15, is hoping the experience of playing on a big stage in the past will pay off in Australia Saturday.

"I think it helps a lot because I'm not really nervous when I play," she said. "For me it's just another game of poker, just for a lot more money."

She's also banking on the deep structure here at the Aussie Millions allowing her to remain patient despite her stack size.

"I think people are going to be way too aggressive and try to outplay each other," the 21-year-old Norwegian said. "I don't really see the point in that because with my image, people think I'm nuts anyway, so I'll just wait for a hand and probably get it in good."

Also posing a major threat to Mizzi's lead is 24-year-old fellow Canadian Peter "Apathy" Jetten.

With a European Poker Tour High Roller and two World Series of Poker final tables on his resume, including a runner up finish in the 2008 WSOP $10k Pot-Limit Omaha, Jetten is another player hoping experience will help him get over the hump Down Under.

"I think that experience just helps so much, if not in my play then at least in making me more comfortable," he said. "The PLO event eluding me heads-up hurt a lot. It's really nice to be back with a shot at winning again and I want to win this one very badly."

Rounding out the final eight are PartyPoker qualifier's Tyron Krost and Fred Jensen, both of whom have a couple of small WSOP cashes on their sheets.

Plus Aussie Hold'em Poker group qualifier Steven Shelly, fellow local Kosta Varoxis and Reno Nevada's Steve Friedlander.

To follow all the action until the AUD$2 million first-place prize and 2010 Aussie Millions title is handed out, tune in to PokerListings' Live Updates beginning at 2 p.m. Melbourne time Saturday.

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

Antanas “Tony G” Guoga Joins Team PartyPoker

Continuing to add to an already impressive lineup, it was announced early Thursday that top poker professional Antanas “Tony G” Guoga has signed a sponsorship deal with PartyPoker.

Guoga, who has been at the forefront of the international poker scene for the past decade, will make his first showing for Team PartyPoker at the Aussie Millions, which began today and is one of the top non-U.S. tournaments on the poker schedule. According to Guoga’s new blog at PartyPoker, he will be participating in the $100,000 Challenge tournament scheduled to start on January 23rd, which draws some of the toughest competition in the game today and features defending champion Howard Lederer. Tony G will also join fellow Team PartyPoker members Bodo Sbrzesny and defending Aussie Millions champion Stewart Scott along with 43 qualifiers from PartyPoker for the Aussie Millions Main Event. The AUD $10,000 tournament will feature three starting days that begin on January 24th and will be broadcasted on Fox Sports Net.

As a part of the new sponsorship deal, Guoga will also be part of one of PartyPoker’s upcoming special events, the PartyPoker.com Premier League IV. This invitation-only tournament is scheduled to take place in February in Las Vegas and includes a formidable lineup. Such players as former World Champion and 11-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth, current World Poker Tour (WPT) Championship winner Yevgeniy “Jovial Gent” Timoshenko, poker Triple Crown winner Roland De Wolfe, noted poker “bad boy” Luke ‘FullFlush’ Schwartz, and dangerous tournament pro J. C. Tran are scheduled to take to the felt, presenting Tony G with tremendously difficult opposition.

Guoga’s own online poker site, TonyGPoker.com, has been merged into the PartyPoker family. Those players who are a part of TonyGPoker.com will be moved to Noble Poker. Guoga will continue to be an integral part of his online promotions, such as the Sunday Bike Ride (moving to Noble Poker), and will play on PartyPoker under the name “TonyG.”

“We’re delighted to welcome Tony to Team PartyPoker,” a PartyGaming spokesman commented about the newest arrival to the organization. “Tony is undoubtedly one of poker’s biggest characters in the game and a personal deal for him made huge sense. We are also happy to have acquired the assets of TonyGPoker.com and look forward to welcoming his players on board.”

Guoga isn’t called “The Mouth From Down Under” for nothing. Known to dismiss his beaten opponents from the table with a curt “On Yer Bike!” Guoga has already issued a challenge for those PartyPoker members playing in the Aussie Millions. “If one of the Party qualifiers knocks me out of the Main Event, I will buy them a bike,” Guoga stated. “First of all, however, I will ride it out myself… I know when it is bike time!”

In his first blog entry on PartyPoker, Guoga also throws down the gauntlet against one of his Premier League IV foes. After speaking glowingly of Poker Hall of Fame member Mike Sexton and “High Stakes Poker” announcer Kara Scott, Tony G dropped the hammer on Luke “FullFlush” Schwartz: “He’s rude, obnoxious and I cannot wait to bust him up. This kid is not the kind of player you feel you can learn from – you just want to bust him.”

Guoga certainly has the ability to bust up many players at the table. His lifetime earnings at the tournament poker tables total nearly $4 million and include the WPT Bad Boys of Poker II championship in 2006. He was also the runner-up in the 2006 PartyPoker Intercontinental Poker Championship in Las Vegas and has cashed 15 times at the WSOP.

Famous for his mouth, it is Guoga’s philanthropic efforts that have earned him a great deal of respect from players and fans. After he won the first ever Asian Poker Tour (APT) event in Singapore in 2006, Tony G donated half the prize money to charity and, after taking down over $200,000 in a Moscow poker tournament in 2007, he turned over the entirety of his winnings to Russian orphanages.

With the addition of Guoga, Team PartyPoker is becoming a formidable challenge in the tournament poker world. After not sponsoring pros for much of its existence, PartyPoker has certainly drawn top talent to its roster. Along with Guoga, Sexton, Sbrzesny, and the two Scotts, other members of Team PartyPoker include France’s Remy Biechel, England’s Ian “The Raiser” Frazer, and Brazil’s Felipe "Mojave" Ramos.

Luke “FullFlush” Schwartz Added to PartyPoker.com Premier League IV Roster

As the PartyPoker.com Premier League IV draws closer, the field of 12 continues to take shape.  On Tuesday, PartyPoker.com announced that poker's newest bad boy, Luke "FullFlush" Schwartz, has been confirmed as the fifth player for the February contest.  Schwartz joins Premier League III winner J.C. Tran, 11-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth, World Poker Tour (WPT) Season 7 world champion Yevgeniy "Jovial Gent" Timoshenko, and "Triple Crown" winner Roland de Wolfe in the exclusive event, which will take place February 11th to 18th in Las Vegas.

Schwartz caught the attention of the poker world in 2009 by racking up seven-figure profits online, all the while beating an impressive list of players.  Phil "OMGClayAiken" Galfond, Brad Booth, Tom "durrrr" Dwan, and David "Raptor" Benefield were among his victims.  Perhaps more than his poker skill, it was his "in your face" personality that really turned heads.  Known to trash talk to his heart's content, Schwartz cemented himself as one of online poker's most controversial figures when he called Dwan and Di "Urindanger" Dang "gay" in a public interview.

In October 2009, Schwartz took his behavior to another level, stealing a sandwich from a food stand after busting out of the European Poker Tour (EPT) London event.  Having been previously banned from Grosvenor Casino properties for not obeying the dress code only to have the ban lifted in time for EPT London, he was banned once again for his actions.

Schwartz may be young, but he is far from intimidated by the already strong field.  "For sure there are some big names playing but I have to be a huge favorite," he told PartyPoker.com.  "They need to know that I’m coming with my sharky hat on and it's gonna be a whole week of soul owning from Full Flush."

"He is poker's new villain, no question about that," Daniel Negreanu once wrote in his blog.

Seven players are yet to be determined and all but one will be hand picked by PartyPoker.com.  The final competitor will be a PartyPoker.com online qualifier.  A total of 16 qualifiers will square off in Las Vegas, battling it out in a series of sit and go tournaments to determine which skilled player will receive the final (and free) seat in the PartyPoker.com Premier League IV.  In addition, PartyPoker.com will evaluate each of the 16 qualifiers and select one to receive a $100,000 sponsorship deal from the site.  While one would assume that the winner will have a leg up on the competition, PartyPoker.com will also consider personality and marketability in addition to poker skill, so even those who do not win the 12th seat will have a chance at the sponsorship deal.

The PartyPoker.com Premier League has a unique format.  The 12 players will compete in a series of six-handed sit and gos, or "heats," with points awarded based on the order of finish.  Once all the heats are completed, the top four point winners will advance to the six-handed Grand Final.  The next four players will face off in heads-up matches to determine the fifth and sixth members of the final table.

With a $100,000 buy-in and $300,000 added by PartyPoker.com, the prize pool for the Premier League IV will be a whopping $1.5 million.  The action, including the battle for the 12th seat, will be televised in Europe, with Team Party's newest member, Kara Scott, serving as host.

Schwartz Joins Premier League IV Lineup

 “I can’t wait to get to Vegas and crush the field in the PartyPoker.com Premier League,” said Schwartz.

Schwartz will join the already announced Phil Hellmuth, J.C. Tran, Yevgeniy Timoshenko and Roland De Wolfe in the $100,000 buy-in tournament. This is the first time the shootout-style event has been held in Vegas.

Despite the number of skilled poker players, Schwartz likes his chances in the event.

“For sure there are some big names playing but I have to be a huge favorite,” he said. “They need to know that I’m coming with my sharky hat and it’s gonna be a whole week of soul owning from Full Flush.

Schwartz made a name for himself playing online as Full Flush on Full Tilt Poker and beating some of the best online players, including Tom “durrrr” Dwan and Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond for over a million.

He was perhaps most well-known for his tirades where he would refer to Dwan as “durrrr-balls” and the entire online high stakes community as “OMGweNerds” in the chatbox.

He made the final table of another well-known PartyPoker tournament last year – the World Open V – but was eventually ousted in fourth when his A-T failed against Austrian qualifier Jan Veit’s K-J.

According to PartyPoker officials they were reluctant to add the controversial young player.

“We did a lot of soul searching rather than soul owning before deciding to invite Luke into the Premier League,” said a PartyPoker spokesperson. “The fact is that he is a great player and he will certainly ignite the line-up and we haven’t even completed it yet.”

More players will be announced to the Premier League IV in the coming weeks.

Hellmuth Added to Premier League

“I am looking forward to playing in the Premier League and starting the new decade off on the right note,” said Hellmuth. “After being points leader in the Premier League in 2006, 2007 and 2008 I was relegated, and it is time to step up and claim a title.”

The event is set to take place in Las Vegas Feb. 12-18 with 12 players vying for piece of a $1.5 million prize pool.

Last year J.C. Tran won the coveted title and $300,000 first-place prize defeating a final table that included Tom “durrrr” Dwan, Juha Helppi, Tony G, Roland de Wolfe and 2008 WSOP Main Event champion Peter Eastgate.

This year, 11 top pros will be joined by one PartyPoker qualifier in the field.

A total of 16 qualifiers will fly out to Las Vegas to play in a Premier League Poker play-off to earn the $100,000 buy-in.

Both the play-off and the main event will be filmed for TV and one of the 16 qualifiers will be also chosen by PartyPoker to receive a $100,000 Team Party sponsorship contract.

Country specific qualifiers are still available on PartyPoker.

Vanessa Rousso Bests Tough Field in 2010 PCA $1,000 Ladies Event

Harrison "gibler123" Gimbel may have garnered the headlines at the 2010 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) by winning the Main Event and a $2.2 million paycheck, but he wasn't the only one having a good time at the Atlantis Resort and Casino in the Bahamas.  One of the biggest hits of the Caribbean poker festival was the $1,000 + $100 Ladies No Limit Hold'em tournament.

A total of 91 women competed in the event, 33 of whom won their seats online at PokerStars via satellites with buy-ins starting as low as $2.20.  They won more than just their entry and spending money; the online qualifiers were also pampered at the resort's Mandara Spa and received instruction at a High Heels Poker Tour Ladies Boot Camp session from Team PokerStars Pro Vanessa Rousso.

As it turned out, the Boot Camp attendees probably should have listened to their instructor more closely, as Rousso went on to win the event, scoring a $24,725 cash.  Rousso burst onto the poker scene in 2006 when she placed 7th in the $25,000 World Poker Tour (WPT) Championship and then won a $5,000 No Limit Hold'em event at the WPT Borgata Poker Open a few months later.  In 2007, she finished second in PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP), winning over $700,000, and became known to a broad television audience when she was the runner-up in the 2009 National Heads-Up Poker Championship.  The GoDaddy.com girl has also won two tournaments on NBC's "Poker After Dark."

Other members of Team PokerStars Pro in the tournament who were not as fortunate were Katja Thater, Veronica Dabul, Sandra Naujoks, and Maria "Maridu" Mayrinck.  Other known pros in attendance included J.J. Liu, 2007 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Europe Main Event champ Annette Obrestad, European Poker Tour (EPT) London Ladies champ Dagmara Aleksandrowicz, and Shirley Rosario, who placed fourth.

Another player of note was Elizabeth Bennett-Martin, who qualified for the Main Event via a PokerStars satellite for the second year in a row.  A portion of her winnings was earmarked for the charitable organization Cambodian Legal Education for Women (CLEW).  Created by her Toronto law firm, Bennett Gastle P.C., CLEW raises money to help impoverished women in Cambodia attend law school.  The goal of these women is to provide legal help to those who would not normally be able to access any in Cambodia, where the population of more than 14 million has only 538 lawyers.  Unfortunately, Bennett-Martin did not make the money in any event this year.

Sixteen women did cash, though, each getting a piece of the $88,270 prize pool.  Runner-up Halli Pinson was impressed with the field, telling PokerStars, "This event was a lot more serious than most ladies tournaments. I didn't recognize that many faces, but the field seemed a lot more experienced than usual. These women had come to play, and they had come to win! Vanessa Rousso dominated the event though – she had good cards and she's an experienced player: the combination was lethal."

Those who did not want to pony up $1,100, but still wanted to compete in a women-only tournament, or those who just wanted another shot at a title, had the chance to play in another Ladies Event the next day for just $300.  The field of 73 produced a prize pool of $19,119 and Diana Linke took home the top cash of $6,504.

PokerStars Caribbean Adventure $1,000 + $100 Ladies Event Final Standings

1. Vanessa Rousso - $24,275
2. Halli Pinson - $13,815
3. Ann-Margaret Johnston - $9,335
4. Shirley Rosario - $6,620
5. Jamie Kerstetter - $5,740
6. Pastora Sorenson - $4,635
7. Lisa Adams - $3,750
8. Vanessa Caldeira - $2,870
9. Irene Baroni - $2,425
10. Sarah Wasch - $2,425
11. Violetta Szczerba - $2,205
12. Nesrine Kourdourli - $2,205
13. Muriel Allard - $1,985
14. Anna Yamshchikova - $1,985
15. Alina Salnikova - $1,765
16. Hai Nguyen - $1,765

WSOP Champ Joe Cada Not Dating Playboy Playmate Jayde Nicole

Extra! Extra! In a thread posted on TwoPlusTwo, an image of 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event winner Joe Cada allegedly with his arm around former Playboy Playmate of the Year Jayde Nicole sparked rumors that the two were dating.

Poker News Daily can independently confirm that the rumblings are completely false. Cada’s agent, Dan Frank, told Poker News Daily that the youngest WSOP Main Event winner ever played a few hands of blackjack with Nicole, but that was as heated as it got between the two during the 2010 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA). Cada entered Tuesday’s action in the tournament series’ $25,000 buy-in High Roller event fourth in chips.

In the fuzzy photo, Cada appears dressed in a Hawaiian shirt with a PokerStars hat on flipped backwards. The woman purported to be Nicole, whose back faces the camera, is wearing a black and white striped skirt and a white top. She is noticeably taller than Cada, although high heels may be to blame. The two are intently watching a table game adjacent to a roulette wheel at the Atlantis Resort and Casino on Paradise Island in the Bahamas, the site of the 2010 PCA. The first response to the photo came in from “robreardon6,” who scientifically evaluated, “1000-1 against this kid getting any action from jayde.”

Cada purportedly told PokerRoad that he was “just friends” with Nicole. Nevertheless, Poker players speculated on the impact that Cada dating Nicole would have on the industry: “wsop champ dating playmate of the year would be awesome for poker,” wrote TwoPlusTwo member “Krax.” Nicole, who is a regular on the MTV reality series “The Hills,” recently separated from Brody Jenner, son of Olympic decathlon star Bruce Jenner. The elder, of course, is married to Kris Jenner, matriarch of “Keeping Up with the Kardashians.”

Nicole was the Playboy Playmate of the Month for January 2007 and the Playboy Playmate of the Year in 2008. She hails from the poker-friendly nation of Canada and appeared as a celebrity challenger on the first season of the “PokerStars.net Million Dollar Challenge” game show on Fox. Nicole was the adversary of Sergeant Denny Luna on the series’ second episode, ultimately falling to the PokerStars qualifier. Liquor salesman Brian Barboza also made mince meat of the Playboy personality. Both Barboza and Luna reached the final table of the show, which saw 9/11 first responder Mike Kosowski emerge victorious; he went on to defeat Daniel Negreanu heads-up to win $1 million.

Martin Kendell, a “PokerStars.net Million Dollar Challenge” qualifier who faced off against new North American Poker Tour (NAPT) hostess Joanna Krupa, told Poker News Daily that he wanted to match up with Nicole due to her lackluster poker skills: “I was hoping to get Jayde Nicole. She’s a Canadian girl and we would have had something to talk about since I am Canadian. I also didn’t think that she was a good player.” Although Nicole could greatly improve her skills on the felt by dating Cada, it does not appear to be in the cards in the foreseeable future.

Cada has been linked in recent weeks to a variety of women, including WKQI Detroit’s Mojo in the Morning. His girlfriend in November was instrumental in helping Cada survive the rigors of the WSOP Main Event final table and fielded phone calls for the poker pro during Sunday’s off-day while Cada rested. Several players at the 2010 PCA, meanwhile, reported that Nicole was seen leaving the PokerStars party in the Bahamas arm in arm with “Entourage” star Adrian Grenier, who plays Vincent Chase on the HBO franchise.

In November, Cada became the youngest winner ever of the WSOP Main Event at age 21; he has since turned 22 years-old. Nicole will celebrate her 24th birthday in February.

Harrison Gimbel Becomes Youngest PCA Main Event Champ Ever

Harrison "gibler321" Gimbel outlasted a talented final table in the 2010 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) Main Event to become the youngest winner ever of the $10,000 buy-in poker tournament. He earned a $2.2 million first place prize.

Gimbel is just 19 years-old and unable to play in a casino on U.S. soil legally. Accordingly, he qualified for the PCA in the Bahamas and outlasted the record-setting 1,529-player field that turned out. In the final hand, Tyler “puffinmypurp” Reiman was all-in pre-flop holding a wired pair of eights and up against Gimbel’s pocket tens. The flop came 10-6-2, giving Gimbel top set and a veritable stranglehold in the hand. However, an eight on the turn left Reiman drawing to one out with the title of 2010 PCA Main Event Champion on the line. The river was a jack, shipping the $2.2 million prize to Gimbel and crowning the tournament’s youngest champion in history.

Thomas Koral was sent packing in eighth place when his pocket queens could not draw out on Reiman’s pocket aces. The board of 6-10-6-J-K ensured that the better hand held and Koral earned a healthy $201,300 for his troubles. Then, Zachary Goldberg pushed all-in with pocket tens and received a re-shove from Norwegian poker player Aage Ravn. The Euro showed A-Q, setting up a coin flip, and an ace on the turn sealed Goldberg’s demise. He earned an even $300,000 for his seventh place performance.

Ravn was bumped from the 2010 PCA Main Event in sixth place as part of a three-way all-in. Ravn and Ben Zamani both committed their chips pre-flop against Gimbel. The best hand pre-flop went to Gimbel, who had jacks and both players covered, while Zamani showed pocket eights. Ravn held A-Q of clubs and would be rooting for paint that wasn’t a jack to come. However, the flop fell 5-8-7, giving Zamani top set, and he never looked back. Ravn’s sixth place finish was worth $450,000.

Ryan “g0lfa” D’Angelo, one of just three players to win multiple PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) events in the same year, fell in fifth place. Seeking vindication for an earlier loss with pocket jacks, D’Angelo committed his chips with the hand and was up against Reiman’s Big Slick. However, a king hit on the river to send D’Angelo home, $700,000 richer for his wear.

Four-handed, Zamani put his tournament life on the line with A-10 against Gimbel’s pocket eights. Once again, pocket eights found top set and the hand was good enough to scoop the pot and send another player into the Bahamian night. Zamani, the last PokerStars qualifier standing, earned $1 million for fourth place in the flat pay structure.

2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Europe Main Event winner Barry Shulman, in a stirring run through the PCA tournament, was eliminated in third place for $1.35 million. He shoved from the button with Q-10, but ran into Gimbel’s A-9. PokerStars’ coverage accurately noted that the 2010 PCA Main Event marked the second time in four months that Shulman has banked seven-figures in a major poker tournament. He’s the father of 2009 WSOP November Nine member Jeff Shulman, who took fifth in the Las Vegas spectacle for nearly $2 million.

Gimbel scooped a healthy pot about a half-hour into heads-up play to claim the chip lead. Gimbel raised to 600,000 pre-flop and Reiman made the price of poker 1.675 million. His opponent obliged and the flop came 2-A-8. Both players slowed down, as the action went check-check to a seven on the turn. Reiman checked, Gimbel bet 2.2 million, and Reiman called to bring a three on the river. Reiman once again checked, Gimbel fired out a bet of 4.7 million, and Reiman came along, watching as Gimbel turned over A-5 for top pair. Gimbel pumped his chip stack to 28 million, while Reiman fell to 17 million, reversing the totals entering heads-up play.

The battle between Gimbel and Reiman lasted less than hour. Here were the final results from the Atlantis Resort and Casino on Paradise Island in the Bahamas:

1. Harrison Gimbel - $2,200,000
2. Tyler Reiman - $1,750,000
3. Barry Shulman - $1,350,000
4. Benjamin Zamani - $1,000,000
5. Ryan D'Angelo - $700,000
6. Aage Ravn - $450,000
7. Zachary Goldberg - $300,000
8. Tom Koral - $201,300

Elsewhere at the 2010 PCA, Dario Minieri leads a star-studded field of 52 players left in the $25,000 buy-in High Roller tournament. His stack of 218,600 chips paces the field entering Day 2, with Lex Veldhuis hot on his tail with 214,500. In fourth place after one day of play is none other than reigning WSOP Main Event champion Joe Cada, who will come armed to Tuesday’s action with a stack of 164,400.

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

Gimbel Crowned Youngest PCA Champ in History

“It feels amazing,” the Jupiter, Florida resident said moments after the win. “This is what I’ve dreamed of. I’ve always wanted to win a big major tournament and luckily I accomplished it on one of my very first ones.”

There was action from the outset in Monday’s final eight with Ryan “g0lfa” D’Angelo giving up the chip lead when he lost a massive race holding jacks against Gimbel’s A♠ K♠.

Ty Reiman then leapfrogged Gimbel, sending 26-year-old Chicago, Illinois online pro Tom Koral to the rail in eighth when his aces held against Koral’s queens.

21-year-old New Yorker Zac Goldberg was the next to go when his pocket tens failed to hold against Aage Ravn’s A♠ Q♠.

But Ravn failed to capitalize on the University of Arizona student’s misfortune, busting sixth when the Norwegian online qualifier re-shipped with A♣ Q♣ facing a Ben Zamani push.

Gimbel went all in behind with jacks, and although Zamani flopped a set of eights to win the hand and triple up, Gimbel’s jacks held to scoop the side-pot and rail Ravn.

Zamani then ran A♦ J♦ into Barry Shulman’s A♠ K♥ and looked to be out fifth before a diamond on the flop, turn and river spared him.

Left as the short stack after the hand, Shulman doubled through Gimbel to stay alive and it was actually start-of-day-chip-leader D’Angelo who exited fifth.

The double WCOOP winner shoved with jacks against a Zamani raise and Reiman re-raise and after Zamani folded, Reiman made the call with A♠ K♥.

A king on the river sent the 24-year-old New Yorker out and suddenly Reiman had built a massive chip lead that looked insurmountable.

Play moved down to three-handed when Zamani put his tournament life on the line with A♥ T♦ against Gimbel’s 8♥ 8♣.

Gimbel flopped a set and although the 23-year-old Floridian online pro turned some outs, the river blanked to end his hopes.

Heads-up began when 2009 World Series of Poker Europe champ Barry Shulman took third place, running Q♣ T♠ into Gimbel’s A♥ 9♦ and failing to improve.

And although Reiman actually held an 11-million-chip lead with 45 million in play to start, it wasn’t long before Gimbel moved in front, catching cards and getting Reiman to pay him off.

Gimbel won every key pot heads-up until he had built a 4:1 chip lead and before long, Reiman shoved with eights and he made the call with tens.

Gimbel flopped a set and despite the fact Reiman turned one of his own, the river blanked to give Gimbel the title.

“I felt my opponents were really good,” said Gimbel, whose previous poker accoplishments include a PokerStars Sunday Million final table appearance and a win in the 2009 Florida State Poker Championships. “A lot of these players were really good, but I had a lot of confidence in myself coming into today and it really showed.

“I used to wrestle in high school and my coach always said 'envision something and it’ll come true.' Not that it’ll come true, but it’ll happen.”

After six long days of poker in the Caribbean, the last man standing from a record field of 1,529 is now hoping to make a few things happen with the massive $2.2 million first-place prize.

“I’m going through all the stuff I can buy right now,” Gimbel said. “A new car, maybe a nice apartment or a house.”

To read a full recap of Gimbel’s historic win and the entire 2010 PCA, click through to PokerListings’ Live Updates.

Online Rounders Dominate PCA Final

The chip leader going in will be the same man who led the final 24, Ryan “g0lfa” D’Angelo.

An online pro for the past six years, D’Angelo has two PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker titles on his resume, but his live experience also includes a third-place finish at a World Series of Poker $2k event in 2008.

Considering the more than 750 online qualifiers at the event and the wealth of online players in the field, D’Angelo said the 2010 PCA has played a lot more like an online MTT than your typical live tournament.

“In a lot of other tournaments you can’t get away with raise sizes like you would online,” he said. “Here it plays pretty much like an online tournament. A lot of three-betting and cold four-betting. I really haven’t taken part in that though. I guess I’m not as crazy as some of these younger Internet kids here who just spit fire and get in there with nothing.”

Thanks to the flopped queen he used to crack EPT Founder John Duthie’s aces and rake a ten-million-chip pot, another online pro will come into Monday’s final eight second in chips.

Morton, Illinois’ Ty Reiman has almost $1 million in online earnings and actually won the first live tournament he ever played at the Heartland Poker Tour’s Turning Stone $1k in 2007.

Like D’Angelo, he feels the PCA has played much like an online tournament so far.

“I really don’t feel like it’s that different from any other online tournament,” he said. “Maybe it’s just because that queen hasn’t really set in yet.”

Fellow U.S. online regulars Tom Koral, Harrison Gimbel, Benjamin Zamani and Zachary Goldberg join PokerStars qualifier Aage Floenes Ravn from Norway in rounding out the final eight.

But it’s 2009 WSOPE champ and CardPlayer publisher Barry Shulman who will come into the final table third in chips and on the hottest streak of his poker career.

The suddenly resurgent Shulman won a WSOP bracelet in 2001 before most of these players had even heard of poker.

Now, despite being the least experienced player when it comes to the online style, he appears to have adapted.

“Historically I play better against better players,” he explained. “(The WSOPE) was the toughest field I’ve ever played with. It was impossible to find people just dumping off chips. Here is a whole different story, because it’s such an aggressive situation.

“My own play was actually the same, but this was different because they just play so differently. There is so much action versus what I saw in London.”

The action could slow down when the final table begins, however, as the online players adapt a strategy similar to playing Sit & Go’s.

“I tend to play final tables like a Sit & Go,” said D’Angelo. “I just like to see what everyone is doing, try and feel everybody out and play a solid game. Once the blinds get higher that’s when we start moving chips.”

“The table is really good,” added Reiman. “There are a lot of online players who I’ve played with. I’m just going to try and play my game, not get into too many big pots and let the smaller stacks dwindle out. Then, once we’re four-handed or five handed, we go to battle.”

To follow all the action and see who takes down the 2010 PCA and its $2.2 million first-place prize, tune in to PokerListings’ Live Updates beginning at 12 p.m ET Monday.

2010 PCA: Island Vibe Perfect for Poker

“I don’t know what it is,” said the 35-year-old software analyst turned poker pro from Stockton, California.  “I guess I really like this place.”

After finishing runner-up to Team PokerStars Pro Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier at the 2008 PCA, Khan went deep at Atlantis again last year, making 21^st place.

This year, he managed another strong finish, busting out 37^th on Day 4 Saturday.

“The fact that I’ve been here before and gone through such a big field, I feel that it helps me,” he explained. “It helps me remain calm and patient.”

Calm and patient is the exact same vibe Floridian poker pro Robert Mizrachi said he feels while playing in the Caribbean, and the results have followed.

Mizrachi managed a fourth place finish at the 2007 PCA and in late 2009, he finished runner-up at Ultimate Bet Aruba Poker Classic.

“I guess it’s more relaxing,” he said of playing on the islands. “You’ve got nothing on your mind and it’s easy to focus on poker.”

Just 24 players remain in the hunt for the title and $2.2 million first-place prize headed into Day 5 Sunday and Mizrachi is still deep-stacked and in the hunt.

The 1,529 entrants this year have made the 2010 PCA the largest tournament ever held outside the United States.

Like Aruba, the PCA sees more people win their seats online than the average big buy-in tournament.

In fact, with a total of 756 online qualifiers, almost half of the field won their way into the 2010 PCA on the virtual felt.

A fact Mizrachi said sets up well for his game.

“They are actually very aggressive players and I just know how to pick my spots against them,” he said. “I guess I play better against more aggressive players. My style of play is very effective against 18-21-year-old Internet players. With their style of play, I just know how to beat them.

“I play sometimes more aggressive than them, and other times I just try to trap them - Mixing it up works very well.”

No matter how calm and relaxed the island vibe is, wading your way through such a massive field is no easy task, even for a man who seems to do it every year.

“It’s a huge tournament so you are dodging land mines every day,” said Khan. “I really don’t know what it is for me here. I guess it’s a matter of running good and playing good.”

Joining Mizrachi among the leaders heading into Day 5 are two-time PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker event winner Ryan D’Angelo, Team PokerStars Pro and EPT founder John Duthie and WSOPE main event champion and CardPlayer publisher Barry Shulman.

To catch all the island poker action at the 2010 PCA as the remaining 24 play down to a final table of eight Sunday, tune in to PokerListings’ Live Updates.

Brit Bansi Brings PCA Heat

But James Akenhead, who made both the WSOP and WSOPE main event finals before winning the Full Tilt Poker Million last year, is a fellow member of The Hit Squad and one of Bansi's best friends.

“I think when one of us does really well, it kind of makes us all want to do well,” Bansi said of fellow Hit Squad members Akenhead, Chaz Chattha, Sunny Chattha and Karl Mahrenholz.

“You always want to do well anyway, but when one of us does, it kind of motivates you. We’re quite competitive amongst each other. We’re always trying to push each other to go to the next stage.”

Bansi burst onto the big-time poker scene back in 2006, winning a bracelet at the WSOP that summer.

He narrowly missed two more WSOP final table appearances the very next year, but the Full Tilt Pro was back at it again in 2009, finishing seventh in a $1,500 Six-Handed event before his third-place finish at the WSOPE main event brought him £360,887 – His biggest score to date.

Bansi won his way into the PCA main event through a $530 super satellite in the Bahamas this week and said he’s definitely riding a wave of confidence from all his recent success.

“I think it’s that and also just running good helps,” he said. “Really it’s a combination of things. I’m not playing every day at the moment, whereas I used to like a year ago. When you are learning the game, you play every day and all you think about is poker, but it’s not been like that for me the last year or so.

“I’ve just been doing other things and that kind of helps me play a tournament. I’m a bit more focused and a bit more hungry.”

Like Akenhead at the WSOP Main Event final, Bansi was forced to share the felt with the most feared player in poker throughout Day 3 at the PCA Friday.

But despite doubling up Phil Ivey early, he stayed aggressive throughout, stuck to his game and held onto his massive stack.

“It’s tough,” he said. “We’re both in a lot of pots. But I haven’t gone out of my way to do anything differently. Although when I’m in a pot with him it’s a different story than playing against an online qualifier. I can say that.”

Now that the field is in the money, with three days remaining in the event, Bansi said he may tone down the aggression slightly.

“The bubble has burst, so maybe people are going to start moving in a lot more now,” he said. “Maybe it’ll be a little better to play a bit more snug and not play as many pots. Although I can say things like that and when it comes to actually playing, it’ll be a bit of a different story.”

To follow Bansi’s progress and all the action from the 2010 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, tune into PokerListings’ Live Updates.

PokerStars amfAR Charity Poker Tournament Attracts Star-Studded Lineup

On Friday night during the 2010 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA), a charity poker tournament benefiting amfAR, a foundation for AIDS research, will play out. The field is capped at 39 entrants.

Since 1985, amfAR has invested nearly $290 million and has awarded grants to more than 2,000 research teams worldwide. Now, poker players will have a chance to give to the cause as part of a star-studded $5,250 buy-in charity tournament that will be filmed for television and beamed across cyberspace via EPTlive. The PCA is in the midst of Day 3 of its $10,000 buy-in Main Event, which attracted a starting field of 1,529 players, a new European Poker Tour (EPT) record.

Unlike a traditional poker tournament, the amfAR benefit takes on a shootout format. A total of 39 players will assemble across four tables. The last two standing at each table will move onto the final round. At the first table, each player is awarded 50,000 starting chips and the price of poker goes up every 20 minutes. At the final table, combatants will receive the same 50,000 chips, but blind levels will instead last a half-hour. Fifty percent of the prize pool will go straight to amfAR and all players are encouraged to donate 1% of their winnings to the charity. One television table and three outer tables can be found at the Atlantis Resort and Casino on Paradise Island in the Bahamas tonight.

On Saturday night, former Destiny’s Child member Kelly Rowland will be performing at a PokerStars-sponsored party at the resort. Tonight, Rowland will put her poker skills to the test in the amfAR charity event. Other celebrity poker players who will take to the felts this evening include Entourage actor Adrian "Vince" Grenier, former Guns and Roses guitarist Slash, “24” star Carlos Bernard, and former Playboy Playmate of the Year and “PokerStars.net Million Dollar Challenge” personality Jayde Nicole. New PokerStars North American Poker Tour (NAPT) television hostess Joanna Krupa can also be found among the personalities in attendance in the charity poker event.

Professionals taking to the felts include reigning World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event champion Joe Cada, a card-carrying member of Team PokerStars Pro. Cada is fresh off mainstream media appearances on programs like the “Late Show with David Letterman” and “ESPN SportsCenter” and he recently toured Capitol Hill on behalf of the Poker Players Alliance (PPA). Also, look for tennis stud Boris Becker, former hockey star Mats Sundin, and former soccer player Teddy Sheringham. All are members of Team PokerStars SportsStars and will be in attendance raising money for amfAR.

Several PokerStars-sponsored pros besides Cada and the world’s sports heroes will make their way to the tournament area tonight, including Costa Rican sensation Humberto Brenes, Brazil’s Alexandre Gomes and Andre Akkari, Swedish pro William Thorson, and the Netherlands’ Pieter de Korver. Also taking part are five online qualifiers, who will almost certainly be overwhelmed by the amount of celebrity and poker firepower in attendance.

Members of the media were advised to show up no later than 5:45pm local time in order to snap pictures of players as they arrived. No interviews were available, as PokerStars will hold a formal red carpet outside of the Aura Nightclub at 7:00pm on Saturday prior to Rowland’s performance.

At the time of writing, Bryce Yockey from the United States paced the field in the 2010 PCA Main Event with a chip stack of one million. Others in the top ten included 2009 WSOP Main Event November Nine member Phil Ivey, UB.com pro Matt “mattg1983” Graham, and two-time bracelet winner Eric “EFro” Froehlich. A total of 190 players remain and blinds are 3,000-6,000 with a 500 ante.

Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest news, notes, and nuggets from the 2010 PCA.

Big Field Poker at the PCA

But according to at least one player who has weaved his way through some big numbers before, big-field poker requires big strategy changes.

“There’s a different approach because it’s a longer tournament,” said Jeff Madsen, who managed to best a similar-sized field of 1,579 to win his first of two World Series of Poker bracelets in 2006.

“The style of just trying to double early and get chips really fast isn’t as effective. You may have chips early, but you still have to get through a few more days. You have to be more patient. You want to survive and get much deeper before you start playing huge pots and taking big risks. Otherwise you are never going to see a Day 3.”

Kevin Saul, who managed an eighth-place finish at the 2009 PCA, says you might be aware of it but you simply can’t think about the massive field size when you sit down at any tournament table.

“You only sit with eight people at a time, so for me, it’s just normal poker until the field dwindles,” he said. “I just care about my chip stack and what everyone has at my table. I don’t really worry about what’s going on in the tournament as a whole.”

The PCA presents a different picture from the average big-field event, considering roughly half of the 1,500-plus players have qualified online. Saul says he certainly adjusts his strategy to account for that.

“You can follow the real satellite qualifiers,” he explained. “I mean, I won a satellite, but I would have bought in anyway. Then you have the other people who wouldn’t have bought in. They probably satellited into a satellite and took a few steps to get there and you spot them and try to apply pressure to them.”

Madsen says he does the same thing.

“These guys are good, but a lot of them don’t have much live-tournament experience and they’re used to playing a lot of hands and playing really fast,” he said. “In that respect I’ll probably play a little tighter. They may be looking to push me around or play bigger pots, because online players tend to do that, so I’ll usually just play a little tighter and wait for things to come to me more.

“Especially because I don’t know these players and I don’t really know their style, I’ll take a little time to get to know the players at my table first.”

In the end, Madsen says even the biggest fields get pared down to size and you simply have to play your game and stick to your reads.

“You really can’t look at the whole tournament from the beginning or else it’s overwhelming,” the Full Tilt pro said. “You have to take it one hand at a time. No matter how big the field is, in a couple of days, it’s still going to get down to the money. So yeah, you take it one hand at a time and try not to think about how many people are in the tournament right from the start.”

To see how Madsen and Saul fare against the massive field this time around, and follow all the action from the 2010 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, tune in to PokerListings’ Live Updates.

PCA Payouts Flattened

When Canadian Poorya Nazari beat a field of 1,347 to take first at the 2009 PCA, he walked away $3 million. This year, the player who manages to best a field of 1,529 will take just $2.2 million.

The difference is that while 199 made the money in 2009, a total of 224 will this year.

And while the first payout level was just $2,500 above the $10,000 buy-in last year, it is $5k above it now.

“More players are getting paid and the players are getting paid better,” said PokerStars live poker specialist, player liaison and event host Neil Johnson. “It’s a much more significant return on your investment and it’s better for the poker economy as a whole. We get more players paid better.”

According to Johnson, the $3 million Nazari is credited with winning can be a bit misleading.

Last year PokerStars guaranteed the $3 million first-place prize and had to adjust the rest of the prize pool to compensate.

That meant a $1.9 million gap between first and third place money and inevitably, a chop was agreed upon when play went three-handed.

“I don’t care how much money you have, you are not flipping for that,” Johnson said. “We all know they are going to chop it at the top anyway, so all of PokerStars payouts are a little flatter at the top now.”

The bottom line is that 15% of the field is now getting paid rather than the one-time standard of 10%.

And while those at the bottom of the payout structure will do better than they have in the past, the money is coming straight from the top.

A fact not all the players are happy about.

“It’s terrible, I hate it,” said Team PokerStars Pro Daniel Negreanu. “We all are going to work harder and outlast more players and get less money. It’s a terrible idea.”

WPT title holder and recent PokerStars Sunday Million winner Mark Newhouse thought he would be playing paying for a much bigger first-place prize when he flew over the Bahamas this year.

Like Negreanu, he’s disappointed.

“I think it’s stupid. We were all expecting almost $4 million and they come out with this,” he said. “It’s a bad idea. You would think that they would want it to get bigger not smaller. It’s better for poker for first prize to get bigger.”

However, Team PokerStars Pro Barry Greenstein said while the payout structure may hurt the eventual winner, it’s better for the field as a whole.

“I think the flatter payouts are a better thing,” he said. “The winner, sure he’s going to want more money, but if you think about it, what’s better for PokerStars? They’re an online gaming site and they would benefit more from putting the money back into the community.

“Also, in a tournament like this where there are so many online qualifiers for which a minimum cash would be a big deal; it’s a good thing. It creates better stories and it’s different here than say at Bellagio where everyone puts up their own $10k. In that instance steeper payouts might make more sense, but for this tournament, I think they did the right thing.”

In the end, the final four players will all make over $1 million and Johnson said he’s heard more positive opinions from the players than negative.

As a result, he believes even the players who run really deep in the event will walk away happy.

“The final two tables are all making six figures,” he said. “I can’t imagine anybody being unhappy with that.”

To find out who will get a piece of the $14,831,300 prize pool and follow all the 2010 PCA action, tune in to PokerListings’ Live Updates.

- With Files From Ed Sevillano

An Online Qualifier Takes Down Day 1A of the PCA

Total of 668 players started the first part of the first day of the tournament, all with 30,000 chips. Wayne Bentley, a PokerStars qualifier from the UK, had a nice start, when after just ten minutes of play he found pocket aces and ran them into pocket kings for a doubled up.

At the end of the day Bentley (pictured) had managed to build a huge stack of 329,500 chips - almost 11 times the amount he started with. Bentley’s chip lead is quire significant as his nearest challenger, an accomplished tournament pro Amnon Filippi, ended the day with around 220,000 chips in his stack.

Kevin Saul, who made to the final table last year at the PCA, ended the day third in chips. Erich Froehlich, two-time bracelet winner, who once was the youngest bracelet winner of all time, and November Nine 2009 member Eric Buchman also had a good day, finishing 4th and 6th respectively.

Daniel Negreanu also fared well, as he just missed the top ten by ranking 12th, and he comments in his blog that he felt his table was “kind of juicy, with no real pros to speak of and no young online phenoms to deal with”. He felt like his table was very passive and because of that Negreanu was playing more aggressively than he normally does.

Here is the top top of the day 1A of PCA:

1. Wayne Bentley UK 329500
2. Amnon Filippi USA  220100
3. Kevin Saul USA 175500
4. Eric Froehlich USA 166000
5. Dustin Dorrance-Bowman USA 163700
6. Eric Buchman USA 159100
7. Gardar Geir Hauksson Iceland 138900
8. Jacob S Avital USA 137700
9. Christian Schwarz Spain 133200
10. Rafal Michalowski USA 129300

Source: pokerstarsblog, negreanublog

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An Online Qualifier Takes Down Day 1A of the PCA

Kevin Saul, Amnon Filippi Among PCA Day 1A Leaders

Day 1A of the 2010 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) played out on Tuesday, with 668 players taking to the felts inside the Atlantis Resort and Casino in the Bahamas. Wayne Bentley, a PokerStars qualifier from Britain, leads the way with 329,500 chips.

Bentley nearly amassed 11 times the starting stack of 30,000 in the $10,000 buy-in poker tournament after eight levels of play. He held pocket aces and eliminated a player with pocket kings within the first few minutes of Day 1A, doubling his stack to 60,000, and he never looked back. Team PokerStars Pro member Daniel Negreanu issued the traditional “Shuffle up and deal” command moments earlier. At the end of Day 1A, 430 players remained in the hunt.

Bentley sits comfortably in front of the second place stack of Amnon Filippi, who held a pile of 220,100 chips at the end of Day 1A. The accomplished poker pro was nearly 50,000 chips ahead of online poker pro Kevin “BeL0WaB0Ve” Saul, the winner of the 2007 installment of the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) Bellagio Cup for $1.3 million. Last year, Saul finished eighth in the PCA Main Event for $234,000, outlasting all but seven of the 1,347 players who entered.

Team PokerStars Sports Stars will be out in full force on Wednesday for Day 1B, as German tennis legend Boris Becker, Swedish NHL star Mats Sundin, Dutch hockey pro Fatima De Melo, baseball commentator Orel Hershiser, and U.K. football legend Teddy Sheringham will all take to the felts. Also entering on Day 1B is Mike Kosowski, the winner of Season 1 of the “PokerStars.net Million Dollar Challenge.” Kosowski earned $1 million after defeating Negreanu heads-up in the finale of the poker game show last month.

2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event November Nine member Eric Buchman sits in sixth place after Day 1A with 159,100 chips. The PokerStars sponsored player finished fourth in the $10,000 buy-in feature tournament in Las Vegas in November, adding $2.5 million to his net worth. The event was ultimately won by Joe Cada, who will take to the felts for Day 1B today. Joining him will be pros like Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier, Humberto Brenes, and Victor Ramdin. Also playing is rapper Nelly, who has become somewhat of a staple on the poker circuit in recent months.

Here were the top ten chip stacks in the Bahamas after the smoke had cleared on Day 1A of the 2010 PCA Main Event:

1. Wayne Bentley - 329,500
2. Amnon Filippi - 220,100
3. Kevin Saul - 175,500
4. Eric Froehlich - 166,000
5. Dustin Dorrance-Bowman - 163,700
6. Eric Buchman - 159,100
7. Garðar Geir Hauksson - 138,900
8. Jacob Avital - 137,700
9. Christian Schwarz - 133,200
10. Rafal Michalowski - 129,300

The PCA is a stop on both the European Poker Tour (EPT) and Latin American Poker Tour (LAPT) and, as such, has attracted a global field. Still remaining after Day 1A are players from the United States, United Kingdom, Iceland, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Germany, Ukraine, Brazil, Canada, Sweden, Mexico, Turks and Caicos, Russia, Finland, Argentina, France, Norway, Switzerland, Slovakia, Poland, Denmark, Hungary, Czech Republic, Ireland, Belgium, New Zealand, Romania, Australia, Slovenia, Greece, Costa Rica, Austria, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Curiously absent is a representative from the host nation, the Bahamas.

Last year’s champion, Poorya Nazari, hails from Canada and nearly tripled his stack on Day 1A. Notable players who survived the first starting day, along with their chip counts, include:

Dennis Phillips – 113,000
Dario Minieri – 109,800
Vivek “Psyduck” Rajkumar – 106,400
Poorya Nazari – 89,300
Barry Greenstein – 89,200
Jeff Madsen – 79,400
John Duthie – 60,100
Marcel Luske – 55,600
Gavin Smith – 54,000
Jean-Robert Bellande – 53,900
Kevin Schaffel – 53,200
Bernard Lee – 46,800
Amit “amak316” Makhija – 42,000
Steven Paul-Ambrose – 37,900
“Miami” John Cernuto – 36,500
Chris “moorman1” Moorman – 34,700
Ivan Demidov – 27,600
Tom McEvoy – 19,900
Huck Seed – 16,000
Jeff “yellowsub” Williams – 13,100

Play wrapped up in Level 8, when blinds were 400-800 with a 100-chip ante. Day 1B will encompass the same eight levels before the field merges for Day 2 on Thursday.

PartyPoker Premier League qualifier brought forward a week

PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Day 1A Attracts 668 Entrants

Day 1A of the 2010 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) Main Event attracted a starting grid of 668 entrants. The official number from the world’s largest online poker site was passed down around 3:30pm local time in the Bahamas.

The $10,000 buy-in tournament, a stop on the European Poker Tour (EPT) and Latin American Poker Tour (LAPT), saw a field of 1,347 runners take to the felts in 2009. Therefore, a total of 679 players will need to turn out on Day 1B on Wednesday in order to match last year’s total. Among those in the field on Tuesday was Wayne Bentley, who doubled up within the first few minutes of the tournament after picking up pocket aces and sending a player to the rails who held pocket kings. The flop fell queen-high and Fernando Issas saw his 2010 PCA title hopes dashed soon after the opening gong.

One table in the outer reaches of the playing area featured a blockbuster lineup that included former EPT Monte Carlo Grand Final champion Jeff “yellowsub” Williams, 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) November Nine member Kevin Schaffel, and Full Tilt Poker pro Gavin Smith. Coverage found on the official website of the PCA candidly assessed the group: “That's a tough one.”

2006 PCA champion Steven Paul-Ambrose put in a healthy bet of 3,800 on the river holding A-Q on a board of A-Q-10-J-7 for top two pair. However, his opponent called and flipped up a wired pair of jacks for a set, cutting Ambrose’s stack to around 29,300. Shortly thereafter, Marcel Luske flopped a set of fours on an 8-3-4 board to push his tally in the 2010 PCA to 32,000.

By 5:30pm, word of a private sit and go in the depths of the Atlantis Resort and Casino in Nassau was brewing. It featured the cast of the “PokerStars.net Million Dollar Challenge,” which wrapped up following Christmas with Mike Kosowski, a 9/11 first responder, defeating Team PokerStars Pro member Daniel Negreanu to earn $1 million. Kosowski did not play in the sit and go, which saw Brian Barboza claim a $10,000 seat in the PCA Main Event tomorrow. Barboza won $100,000 on the poker game show and was one of four players who vied for the chance to face Negreanu heads-up for $1 million.

Daniel Negreanu made waves near the midpoint of Day 1A. First, he sent Belgium PokerStars qualifier Pierre Neuville to the rails after the Euro ran pocket sevens into Negreanu’s pocket kings. That hand pushed Negreanu’s chip stack to 90,000, or three times the starting total. Then, Negreanu put in a raise on a board reading A-10-2-A-5. An opponent nearly showed his hand thinking that Negreanu had just called, but upon realizing that Negreanu had raised, put in a raise of his own.

Negreanu claimed he saw his opponent’s hand, which he thought was A-5 or A-4, resulting in a call to the PCA’s floor staff. In the end, PCA coverage details the result of the controversial hand: “The floor man made the ruling that although there would be no penalty for Lucatelli exposing his cards, the re-raise didn't stand. Lucatelli could only call.” The Italian turned over A-10, while Negreanu held 3-4 for a straight.

At the time of writing, here were several of the chip stacks of Team PokerStars Pro members in the 2010 PCA Main Event on Day 1A:

Daniel Negreanu – 89,000
Barry Greenstein – 60,000
Dario Minieri – 55,000
Sebastian Ruthenberg – 53,000
George Danzer – 50,600
Steve Paul-Ambrose – 50,000
Dennis Phillips – 47,000

Blinds were 200-400 with a 50-chip ante in Level 6.

PCA Boom Continues

And as Day 1a of the PokerStars Caribbean adventure kicked off in the Bahamas Tuesday, every indication is that growth is not about to slow down.

In 2005, the tournament got off the boat and moved to its current home at the Atlantis Resort and Casino on Paradise Island in the Bahamas.

But it wasn’t until 2007 that the real growth began.

The 937 registrants that year helped the PCA break the record for the largest poker tournament ever held outside the U.S. for the first time.

And after becoming a stop on the PokerStars European Poker Tour schedule in 2008, the event has broken the record every year since, including last year when Canadian Poorya Nazari beat a massive 1,347-player field to bank a $3 million first-place prize.

EPT Founder John Duthie says it’s the PokerStars part of the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure that has truly made the difference.

And with 735 online qualifiers making the trip in 2009 and another 750 expected this year, it’s hard to disagree with him.

“I think it being connected to the largest poker site in the world gives it a critical mass that can’t be competed with,” he said. “When you have so many millions of people playing online you have a huge pool of people from which to send to live events and that’s exactly what we see here.”

Because of the event’s connection to the European Poker Tour and the Bahamas close proximity to the United States, the PCA has grown into a popular destination for poker players from both sides of the Atlantic.

In fact, Team PokerStars Pro Jason Mercier says it appears the entire poker world now descends upon the Bahamas annually for the event.

“It’s like nothing else because you run into people that you’ve met everywhere,” he explained. “Pretty much everybody in poker comes to the PCA. You run into people that you’ve met in Vegas, on the European Poker Tour or the World Poker Tour. Everybody is here.”

This year the PCA is an entire poker festival, boasting as many as 50 events, but with Atlantis’ huge marine habitat, marina, water attractions, beach, spa and casino, Duthie says it’s more than just poker that’s attracting people to the PCA.

“For one reason or another, more people seem to bring their girlfriends or wives and families,” he said. “So it has much more of a feeling like an outing or a holiday and the poker just happens to be part of it.”

Close to 700 players sat down for Day 1a Tuesday and with as many as 900 expected for Day 1b Wednesday, the event appears poised to smash records again.

Now, the incredible growth the PCA has enjoyed has helped grow the EPT into the biggest poker tour on the planet.

A fact Duthie never imagined he’d see.

“First of all, I didn’t think we would ever come to the Caribbean, because I never considered the Caribbean part of Europe, but it became an addition to the EPT because of PokerStars’ involvement. I always thought it would get big in Europe because poker was really taking off. But I never thought it would get as big as it has become.

“It’s an interesting feeling looking at it now because it bears no resemblance to what it was when we started.”

And as far as Mercier can tell, the growth will continue.

“I expect it to keep on growing because PokerStars keeps running so many satellites and it just grows every year,” he said. “PokerStars keeps growing, so more people qualify and poker is not declining; it’s sort of leveling off. So as long as PokerStars continues to grow, the PCA should continue to grow as well.”

To follow the growth and all the action at the 2010 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, tune into PokerListings’ Live Updates today and throughout the next week.

Titan Poker to Award 2010 WSOP Main Event Seats in World Challenge

It may be over six months away, but Titan Poker is getting players warmed up to battle for their chance to participate in the 2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event.

In one of its biggest promotions ever, Titan Poker is offering the World Challenge 2010. The promotion is a series of tournaments broken down into 12 different regions of the world that will eventually award five players a $13,000 package to play in the 2010 WSOP Main Event. Only a certain number of qualifiers from each region will be eligible to participate in the final round of tournaments, where the five seats to the 2010 WSOP Main Event will be doled out.

With its start on Monday, Titan Poker is giving players the opportunity to “Represent Your Country and Challenge the World.” The second tournament of First Round qualification will be on January 10th, with the remainder of the First Round events held each week afterwards. The 12 regions are broken down as such and remember, Titan Poker does not accept players from the United States:

Americas: 10 qualifiers
Australia and New Zealand: 10 qualifiers
France: 25 qualifiers
Germany: 25 qualifiers
Italy: 25 qualifiers
Netherlands and Belgium: 10 qualifiers
Open Qualifiers: 10 qualifiers
Romania: 10 qualifiers
Russia: 20 qualifiers
Scandinavia: 20 qualifiers
Spain: 20 qualifiers
United Kingdom: 20 qualifiers

A series of 10 tournaments for each of the 12 regions, with a buy in of $5+$.50, will be held until March 7th for players to battle their way to the top of the regional leaderboards. Each tournament offers points for participation and finishing at the final table. The Second Round series of eight tournaments, with a buy in of $10+$1, begins on March 14th and lasts until May 2nd. The points for that segment of the series will be worth double the First Round set of tournaments.

After the completion of the Second Round series of tournaments, the regional leaderboards will be completed and the top players will be confirmed. The 200 qualifiers from the 12 regions will then embark on a set of eight tournaments from May 16th to May 30th, called the Final Round and with a buy in of $15+$1.50. Points once again will be awarded for participation and finishing at the final table. The top five finishers in points in the Final Round, regardless of regional affiliation, will earn their 2010 WSOP Main Event package.

The Titan Poker World Challenge 2010 kicked off yesterday, with over 400 players competing. Titan Poker is keeping close track of the action, with complete leaderboards for each region on the Titan Poker website and weekly newsletters sent to each Titan Poker member. While there has been a tournament completed in the First Round, there is still time for players to get in on the action without being too far behind.

The Titan Poker World Challenge 2010 is going to be the largest promotion on Titan Poker in the first half of 2010 and should draw some of the best competition from around the world. With the chance to be in Las Vegas for the 2010 WSOP Main Event for five skillful players, there should be tremendous action on the virtual tables at Titan Poker.

2009 WSOP Europe Air Dates Announced

Fans of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Europe won’t have to wait long for the tournament series to air on ESPN. The first episode kicks off on Sunday, January 31st at 11:00pm ET and a total of 10 hours will air.

The opening episode will be one of two recapping the Caesars Cup, a made-for-television tournament that featured Team Europe taking on Team Americas. The former ultimately crushed the Americas squad four matches to one, with the stars of poker turning out to compete on behalf of their continents. Team PokerStars Pro member Daniel Negreanu captained the Americas squad, which also featured DoylesRoom namesake Doyle Brunson, 2009 WSOP Main Event November Nine member Phil Ivey, 11-time WSOP bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth, reigning National Heads-Up Poker Championship winner Huck Seed, 2008 WSOP Europe Main Event winner John Juanda, Big Game player Jennifer Harman, and Barry Greenstein, who was a last-minute replacement for Chris Ferguson.

The American squad held a total of 45 gold bracelets and more than $50 million in career earnings. Their foes: Team Europe, led by 2007 WSOP Europe Main Event Champion and Betfair pro Annette “Annette_15” Obrestad. Her group of young guns included 2008 WSOP Main Event winner Peter Eastgate, Italian poker sensation Dario Minieri, 2008 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure victor Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier, Power Poker front man Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies, Durrrr Challenge participant Patrik Antonius, Gus Hansen, and Betfair qualifier John Harvey, a 47 year-old pipe inspector from Scotland.

On March 1st, the second of two hours dedicated to the Caesars Cup will air on ESPN. The festivities kick off at Midnight ET and serve as the run-up to the WSOP Europe Main Event, which will begin on February 7th. The £10,000 buy-in tournament drew a crowd of 334 runners and featured one of the toughest final tables ever assembled in WSOP Europe history. Two members of the November Nine – James Akenhead and Antoine Saout – reached the feature table in London, a feat accomplished in 2008 by Ivan Demidov.

Also at the WSOP Europe Main Event final table was Negreanu, the face of the “PokerStars.net Million Dollar Challenge,” who took fifth in the same event in 2008. Joining Negreanu was Barry Shulman, whose son, Jeff Shulman, reached the final table of the Main Event in Las Vegas. The duo was seeking to make poker history as the first father/son team to win poker’s most coveted bracelets in the same year. The final table lasted 16 and a half hours and the entire WSOP Europe schedule panned out at the Casino at the Empire in London.

Here is the schedule for the 2009 WSOP Europe Caesars Cup and Main Event on ESPN. All times are Eastern and each episode runs for one hour:

Sunday, January 31st: 11:00pm (Caesars Cup)
Monday, February 1st: 12:00am (Caesars Cup)
Sunday, February 7th: 10:00pm (WSOP Europe Main Event)
Sunday, February 7th: 11:00pm (WSOP Europe Main Event)
Monday, February 8th: 12:00am (WSOP Europe Main Event)
Sunday, February 14th: 11:00pm (WSOP Europe Main Event)
Monday, February 15th: 12:00am (WSOP Europe Main Event)
Monday, February 15th: 1:00am (WSOP Europe Main Event)
Sunday, February 28th: 9:00pm (WSOP Europe Main Event)
Sunday, February 28th: 10:00pm (WSOP Europe Main Event)

Poker PROductions filmed WSOP Europe for ESPN. The same company also brings poker television staples like NBC’s “Poker After Dark” and GSN’s “High Stakes Poker” to life. Last August, ESPN and the WSOP reached an agreement to keep the tournament series on the cable station until April 2018. The WSOP attracts a total viewing audience of more than 80 million people each year and at least 32 hours of coverage will air annually.

WSOP Europe air dates outside of the United States will likely be announced soon.

Timoshenko Added to Premier League Roster

“It is fantastic to be invited and I'm very happy to be competing in this tournament against the world’s best,” said Timoshenko, who joins an elite list of competing players that includes 2008 winner J.C. Tran and PartyPoker spokesperson Mike Sexton.

“He has completely taken the poker world by storm,” Sexton said of the Washington State resident who won the WPT Championship in Season 7. “I think he is an excellent addition to the Premier League line-up.”

The chance for one PartyPoker qualifier to join Timoshenko at the $1.5 million event in Las Vegas this February still exists, with PartyPoker moving its final main $450+$30 online qualifier ahead one week to this Sunday Jan. 10 at 3:20 ET.

A total of 16 qualifiers will all fly out to Las Vegas to play in a Premier League Poker play-off to see which one of the 16 will join the line-up of 11 pros at Premier League Poker IV.

One of those players will also be chosen by PartyPoker to receive a $100,000 Team Party sponsorship within two weeks of the event. Some country specific satellites also remain available Sunday Jan. 17 under the “specials” tab in the PartyPoker lobby.

PartyPoker Starts 2010 LAPC Qualifiers

The main $750 buy-in weekly qualifiers take place every Sunday at 14:15 ET with a $14,000 package up for grabs.

The package includes the $10,000 buy-in, seven nights' accomodation and $2,500 in spending money.

If a PartyPoker player wins the LAPC, the company will award $500,000 to that player and $500,000 spread between the players who qualified on PartyPoker, no matter where they finished.

“The PartyPoker.com packages are amazingly appealing to anybody who wants to attend the LA Poker Classic,” said PartyPoker.com spokesman Mike Sexton.

“The $1 million payout if an online qualifier takes down the main event offers superb extra value. Imagine if you bust out really early and then one of your fellow qualifiers went on to win, you’d still go home with your share of $500,000.”

The promotion marks one of the first collaborations between PartyPoker and the WPT since it was announced PartyGaming would buy the tour late last year.

The LAPC is the most prestigious poker tournament in L.A. and former winners include Phil Ivey, Michael Mizrachi and Antonio Esfandiari. Last year Cornel Cimpan outlasted 695 players and a final table that included Chris “Jesus” Ferguson and Mike “SowersUNCC” Sowers to win $1.6 million.

The $10,000 main event of the 2010 WPT LAPC will take place Feb. 26-March 4.

Visit the PartyPoker website to learn more about the LAPC promotion.

Poker News in Brief: Dec. 28-Jan. 2, 2010

Essentially it was pretty quiet in the poker world.

Despite the lack of news there were still a few stories that didn’t make the front page and as part of our ongoing Poker News in Brief feature we’ve compiled them below.

This week we’ll take a look at a rising online star, UB.com making a deal with an NHL team, a huge payout on the International Poker Network and more.

UB.net Signs Deal With Calgary Flames

UB.net is getting put on ice.

The company announced this week it has inked a deal with the NHL’s Calgary Flames that will see the UB.net logo displayed on Pengrowth Saddledome’s boards throughout the month of January.

A tilt with the Toronto Maple Leafs on Jan. 2, 2010, will mark the debut of the advertisement for the free poker site.

To celebrate the Calgary collaboration, UB.net is giving away four pairs of tickets to the Flames and Ottawa Senators’ game on March 11.

To qualify players can participate in one of the eight daily UB.net online satellite tournaments with the top 100 players from each qualifier winning a seat into the Sunday main event scheduled for 15:00 ET.

Each main event will award two tickets to the Flames and Senators and $1,000 cash for travel expenses.

The promotion is open to Canadian and U.S. players. Check the UB.com website for more information.

XBLINK Closes In On $1 Million

In the spirit of Isildur1 and Martonas, UB.com has its own run-up story in the form of online player XBLINK.

According to PokerListings’ Online Poker Stars section XBLINK has made $741,864 playing No-Limit Hold’em in the past two months and consistently ranks in the top 10 biggest pots on UB.com.

What’s even more impressive is that TwoPlusTwo forum member 89blist outed himself as the aforementioned XBLINK and said it all started with an $11 tournament for the last of his bankroll.

XBLINK said he won the tournament and then went on the mother of all heaters, complete with some questionable bankroll decisions. He's no Martonas or Isildur1 but poker fans are starting to take notice.

SC Attorney General Appeals Poker Case

South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster has launched an appeal against a Judge’s decision to overturn a conviction of five Mount Pleasant poker players.

The incident occurred back in 2006, when the five players were arrested for taking part in a home game.

Circuit Judge R. Markley Dennis threw out the case saying that Hold’em in a private residence does not violate the state’s gambling laws. He went on to say that poker was clearly a skill game.

Now McMaster says that it’s irrelevant whether skill or luck is involved and that it was the legislature’s goal to ban all gaming for any amount of money in designated locations.

No timetable has been set for when the case will be heard.

IPN Awards €507,144 Jackpot

The International Poker Network, which is home to BetClic and PokerHeaven, awarded a €507,144 bad beat jackpot this week.

Online player 72osRocks! Saw his quad kings get cracked by Nogis22’s Royal Flush, which was enough to earn the entire table a huge payday.

72osRocks earned €177,500, Nogis22 picked up €88,750 while the other three players at the table each pocketed €29,583.

Despite the recent payout, the bad beat jackpot on BetClic and IPN is already back up to €146,469 as of mid-week. For more information check the BetClic website.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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