Poker News

Hoyt Corkins Wins WPT Southern Poker Championship

With his win in the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) Southern Poker Championship, "The Alabama Cowboy" Hoyt Corkins claimed his second WPT title. The DoylesRoom pro banked $739,000 for his efforts at the Beau Rivage in Biloxi, Mississippi.

Donning an all-black outfit with a bright green DoylesRoom patch, Corkins told WPT Live Updates Hostess Amanda Leatherman following the win in the Deep South, “It’s been so frustrating. I’ve finished second twice, third once. It is frustrating to get down there and finish second or third.” Corkins’ last WPT title came during Season 2, when he brought home the bacon in the Foxwoods World Poker Finals for $1.1 million. He was the runner-up in the Season 2 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure and Season 6 Gold Strike World Poker Open.

Tyler “Tydean” Smith was the first casualty of the WPT Southern Poker Championship final table. After doubling up Jonathan Kantor, Smith committed the rest of his chips with J-3 and was up against Jonathan Jaffee’s A-Q. With the hometown favorite on the cusp of elimination, the crowd watched as the flop fell K-10-6, keeping Jaffee out in front. The turn came a four and, needing to catch a three on the river, Smith saw a six instead fall. He earned $86,000 for his second straight final table appearance in the $10,000 buy-in tournament. Smith lives ten minutes from the casino, an easy commute.

James Reed hit the skids in fifth place for $106,000. Reed shoved with 7-5 pre-flop and received a call from Jaffee, who held pocket eights. The flop of A-Q-5 paired Reed, but a running 6-4 sent him packing. Jaffee pushed his way to third in chips as a result, with Corkins, who had entered as a massive chip leader, continuing to pace the field. The WPT Southern Poker Championship marked Reed’s first WPT in the money finish.

Twenty-two hands later, Jaffee was eliminated in fourth place. Jaffee pushed with K-Q pre-flop over the top of a raise by Corkins, who came along with pocket jacks to set up a race. The flop came a benign 7-6-3, while a four on the turn left Jaffee calling for a king or queen on the river to stay alive. However, the final card was a nine, dashing his WPT Southern Poker Championship title hopes.

In a key pot three-handed, Corkins doubled up with A-J against Jerry Vanstrydonck’s pocket kings. The board of 9-8-8-5 was looking grim until Corkins spiked a three-outer on the river to stay alive and the pot once again made him the chip leader. Vanstrydonck could not withstand the blow to his stack and was ousted shortly thereafter. Vanstrydonck’s 9-8 was up against Corkins’ K-Q pre-flop and the board blanked out for both players. Corkins was a 3:2 chip leader entering heads-up play against Kantor.

Kantor battled to even after shoving on the river on a board reading 8-5-3-4-3. Corkins tanked before folding and Kantor turned over 10-6 for “nuclear squadoosh,” as the legendary ESPN announcer Norman Chad would say. Corkins then won a 1.7-million chip pot before the final hand of the WPT Southern Poker Championship occurred. Kantor pushed with K-10 and Corkins made the call with A-7. The flop came ace-high, preserving Corkins’ lead in the hand. By the river, Kantor was rooting for a club to remain in the hunt for the $739,000 first place prize, but the five of hearts hit to give Corkins his second WPT title. Here are the payouts from the final table in Biloxi:

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

The WPT Southern Poker Championship will air as part of Season 8 on Fox Sports Net. Next up for the WPT is a cross-country flight to Los Angeles, site of the WPT Celebrity Invitational and L.A. Poker Classic. The tournaments kick off on February 20th and 26th, respectively, from the Commerce Casino.

Well, How Did I Get Here by Lee Jones

I made a pretty big laydown recently and was probably as proud of it as I was of any big pot I’ve won recently. Long ago, David Sklansky reminded us that a bet you don’t lose spends just as well as a bet you win.

This happened in a regular home game of mine; my knowledge of the players certainly helped my decision and emphasized the importance of paying attention to your opponents and learning their habits.

We were playing $1-$1 No Limit Hold’em, but that doesn’t really tell the story. As will happen in games without a buy-in cap, we had all ended up with stacks much bigger than the $100-ish that’s typical in online games with those blinds. I had over $400 and the stacks around me were of similar size or bigger.

Rory limped in for $1. Rory likes to play pots and could have just about anything. In middle position, Ben raised to $6, a fairly standard raise in this game. I looked down at J-T suited. Ben doesn’t usually open very light and big pairs made up a meaningful percentage of his pre-flop raising range. Those were exactly the hands that I was hoping to beat if I could hit a flop; I didn’t want a 4bet from Ben shutting me out of the pot early. I flat called.

Now, Steve called behind me. That made me upset. I should have looked left and thought about him. Steve likes to gamble, but he’s nobody’s fish and tends to do his gambling with position. I was stuck between Ben’s raise and Steve’s call behind me. I wished I had 3bet Ben and gotten the button; Steve would have folded anything but a premium hand to my re-raise. Now I’d made my bed and would have to lie in it.

My bed started to look like a feather mattress with silk sheets when the flop came down T-T-2 with two spades. My cards were red, but what did I care? I had just out-flopped all three of them (Rory had called the raise, saying something about pot odds). In particular, I thought I could stack Ben and his pocket queens or whatever big hand he had. Rory checked (as expected), but then Ben checked. Ruh-roh. If he had something like A-K, he wasn’t going to plow forward on a flop like that against three opponents. On the other hand, it would be very much in Steve’s idiom to pick up the $25 in the pot with a button bet and at least I could trap Steve for the probe bet he tossed out. I checked.

As he was supposed to, Steve bet $20. Then things really looked up. Rory called the $20.  Rory probably suspected Steve of the same thing I did and was hoping he could get Steve to slow down. Rory would make that play with as little as A-2 for bottom pair. I mentally locked and loaded a check-raise to about $75. That would blow them off whatever they had and I’d… “I’m all in.”

What?

Ben had paused briefly and then announced he was all-in for about $250. Suddenly, my world made far less sense. Ben is a thinking, competent player. He knows that Steve, Rory, and I are thinking competent players.

“Sorry, guys. This is going to take me a minute.” For years, when you needed an extra thought to make my playing decision, you simply said, “Time.” That would freeze the action for the extra handful of seconds and then you could act. However, in this world of televised poker tournaments, people confuse that announcement with somebody “calling the clock” on another player. “Are you calling the clock on yourself?” I’ve been asked. So, I’ve become more specific in my requests.

Ben would not play a big pair that way. If he had queens, he’d fire right into that pot and plan (hope) to take it down on the flop. Check-raising like that would only play right into the hands of somebody holding a ten. Either Steve or I could hold a ten and all of us knew it.

As I was pondering the situation, I experienced one of those exquisite moments of synchronicity that make you wonder about life. The Talking Heads were on the stereo and I found myself singing out loud along with David Byrne, “And you may say to yourself, ‘Well, how did I get here?’” Everybody chuckled and I relaxed. I couldn’t put Ben on a big pair no matter how hard I tried. He wasn’t making some Nth level sophisticated play against the entire field. He had the case ten and it was bigger than mine; he didn’t raise with T-9.

“I fold.”

Now it was Steve’s turn to tank. He didn’t take as long as I did, but he was obviously struggling. Odd – I thought that he was on a stone-cold steal. He folded relatively soon and it was on Rory. Even Rory had to have a think. Finally, he showed Ben a flush draw, threw it in, and said, “I don’t want to gamble.” “You’ve got a big ten,” I told Ben. “Close,” he replied, turning up pocket deuces; he’d flopped the full house. “Wow, I had jack-ten. I had four outs.” “No,” said Steve, “One out – just like me. I had pocket jacks.” Ben stared at us. “You folded jacks and you folded jack-ten?” We nodded.

You could see the wheels turning in Ben’s head. “What if I’d flatted Steve’s bet?” I laughed – “Oh, I check-raise to $75. Steve calls because he thinks I think he’s stealing. Rory calls for pot odds. You shove and who knows what happens at that point, but if we call, you have to fade two whole outs. You probably win a $500 or $600 pot.” Ben shook his head saying, “I guess I pulled the trigger too soon.”

I honestly don’t know if I could have made that laydown in the heat of a 15-second online decision. Fortunately for me, it happened where I had the time and the graciousness of my fellow players to let me work through the possibilities and make the right decision… instead of burning down the house.

Lee Jones is the Card Room Manager of Cake Poker and has been in the online poker business for over six years. He is also the author of “Winning Low Limit Hold’em,” which is in its 15th year of publication.

Jared Jaffee Leads WPT Southern Poker Championship with 27 Left

Twenty-seven players remain in the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) Southern Poker Championship. Jared Jaffee leads the way entering the play down day on Tuesday, with Tyler Smith hot on his heels.

Smith made the final table of last year’s Southern Poker Championship, which featured Allen “AawwNutz” Carter coming out on top. Smith finished fifth and earned $134,000, the first and only WPT cash of his career. Smith told WPT Live Updates Hostess Amanda Leatherman following Monday’s action, “I started the day with 90,000 and early, I got crushed. The first level, I dropped down to 45,000 and then I won a race with nines against A-10, which doubled me up to 100,000. Right after that, I pulled off a full house and got action from four people, so that catapulted me to 230,000.”

Smith amassed a healthy stack at the expense of WPT Season 6 Player of the Year Jonathan “FieryJustice” Little. Smith was all-in pre-flop with A-K against Little’s A-Q. The board ran out K-K-Q-2-J and Smith’s trip kings were good enough to scoop the pot. The hand pushed Smith to 365,000 chips and he ended the day with 462,500, trailing only Jaffee’s 546,000.

Jaffee sent Team PokerStars Pro member Chad Brown to the rails after his pocket aces withstood Brown’s pocket eights. The board came K-J-5-7-K and the better pocket pair held to take down the pot. The hand propelled Jaffee to 463,000 in chips; he piled on another 80,000 before the day was through. Jaffee sent an opponent with pocket kings to the rail holding pocket aces. He spiked a one-outer on the river for the win after Tommy Vedes claimed that he mucked A-5 pre-flop.

The money bubble will burst today, as the top 18 players will walk away with cash. Among those vying for the $739,000 top prize is Ryan “g0lfa” D’Angelo, who is fresh off a fifth place showing in the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Main Event. D’Angelo sent Keith Lehr to the rails after Lehr called all-in on a board of 10-3-2-K-Q with four hearts. D’Angelo flipped up the ace of hearts for the nut flush, while Lehr mucked. D’Angelo owns a stack of 304,500 entering Tuesday’s play, good for eighth in the WPT Southern Poker Championship.

Crowd favorite Daniel Negreanu was once again involved in an unorthodox hand. In it, he pushed pre-flop, was called by the original raiser in the hand, and Justin “Boosted J” Smith shoved over the top. The original raiser promptly pulled out a phone to crunch the numbers before being stopped by tournament officials. He ultimately called, putting Negreanu at risk with A-10 of diamonds against A-K of clubs and pocket queens. The board ran out five cards eight or lower and Negreanu hit the exit.

Who remains in the hunt, you ask? Here are the chip counts after two days of play, according to the official website of the WPT:

1. Jared Jaffee - 546,000
2. Tyler Smith - 462,500
3. Jonathan Kantor - 412,500
4. Corwin “mig.com” Mackey - 380,000
5. Tommy Vedes - 336,500
6. Sam Rashid - 319,500
7. Shawn Quillin - 307,000
8. Ryan “g0lfa” D’Angelo - 304,500
9. Justin “Boosted J” Smith - 280,000
10. Hoyt Corkins - 276,000
11. Dwyte Pilgrim - 246,000
12. Ken Harbaugh - 244,000
13. James Reed - 221,500
14. Dan O'Brien - 205,500
15. Jerry Vanstrydonck - 202,500
16. Vitor Coelho - 201,000
17. Ayaz Mahmood - 199,000
18. Narinder Khasria - 190,000
19. Seamus Cahill - 171,000
20. Kathy Liebert - 123,500
21. James Guinther - 123,000
22. Andy Philachack - 120,000
23. James Blackmon - 95,500
24. J.J. Liu - 93,000
25. Benjamin Tollerene - 86,500
26. Ken Perry - 70,500
27. Brian “SNo0oWMAN” Hawkins - 70,000

When play concluded on Monday, the blinds were at 1,500-3,000 with a 400 ante. The cards hit the air on Tuesday at 2:00pm CT from the Beau Rivage in Biloxi, Mississippi.

The Other Hachem: Life In Joe’s Shadow

Yet thanks to a huge year on the PokerStars Australia New Zealand Poker Tour, where he cashed in four of five events on the way to winning Player of the Year honors, Hachem's brother Tony seems to have found a way out from under it.

“People would say I was just Joe’s brother, that I can’t play,” Tony said. “But now I’ve made a number of final tables and cashes. In my mind, poker is all about consistency and I think I’ve proved I have that.

“People say that it’s tough playing in Joe’s shadow, but I try to be positive about it and use it to my advantage. I was given an opportunity, I took it by the horns and I’m running with it.”

There’s always been a lot more to Tony Hachem than just being the brother of the 2005 World Series of Poker Main Event champion.

He cashed in the 2007 WSOP Main Event, made a final table at the Venetian Deep Stack Extravaganza in Las Vegas that same year and found a career best score of NZ$54,000 when he finished runner-up at the 2008 New Zealand Poker Championship.

Plus, PokerStars has always seen him as a marketable character with great networking skills, a socialite with celebrities Down Under and a popular figure amongst the ever growing community of poker players in the region.

As a result, Tony was sponsored by PokerStars for a number of tournaments, a move that immediately garnered its fair share of criticism regardless of Tony's track record.

“People have said to me, ‘What does it take to be a PokerStars pro? Can I just change my name to Hachem,’” explained Joe.  

“I’ve heard it all before and a lot worse,” added Tony. “It’s like, ‘You are Joe’s brother, so you got a sponsorship,’ but that’s not how it is.

“All I can say is when people are given opportunities, they either let them pass or they make the most of them and I made sure I made the most of this one.”

Wearing the PokerStars patch, Tony made 15^th at ANZPT Adelaide for AUD$5,870, 17^th at ANZPT Sydney for AUD$8,874, 16^th at the ANZPT’s 2009 Melbourne Texas Hold'em Championship for AUD$5,450, and 18^th ANZPT Queenstown for NZ$3,015.

As a result, 43-year-old Joe couldn’t be more proud of his 36-year-old little brother.

“He was just consistent and honestly pretty unfortunate not to have a major score,” Joe said. “The thing is, I’m really happy he did something in his own right. He deserves it.”

Tony’s name is rarely written, by the mainstream or poker press, without mention of Joe.

But the ever-humble younger Hachem grew up idolizing his big brother and says he doesn’t mind.

“Honestly, being Joe’s brother isn’t a bad thing,” he said. “He’s always going to be my brother.

“The game of poker is growing around the world and Joe is a big part of that, here and abroad. I guess people are just going to have to get used to the idea that Joe’s got a younger brother who loves the game, loves interacting with the people and can play a little too.”

While he had the sponsorship before, the spoils of winning the ANZPT Player of the Year title includes a cheque for AUD$60,000 and a spot on the Team PokerStars Australia roster.

What that means is Tony will be playing in the second season of the ANZPT kicking off in Adelaide next month, several stops on the upcoming fourth season of the PokerStars Asia Pacific Poker Tour and the 2010 Aussie Millions, where he has already made 11^th in a prelim for AUD$9,144 and started play on the final day one flight of the main event Tuesday, just a few tables over from Joe.

“There are some things in poker that I want to achieve this year,” added Tony. “I really want to win a tournament or at least maintain the consistency I had last year and I think the Aussie Millions will be a good start.”

To follow the progress of the Hachem brothers, and the entire 2010 Aussie Millions main event, tune in to PokerListings’ Live Updates through January 30.

McDonald, Eastgate Fall Short at EPT Deauville

Cody, a 21-year-old poker pro from Rochdale, U.K., outlasted a field of 768 players to claim the first place prize of €847,000.

Organizers had plenty of compelling story lines with McDonald looking to become the first two-time EPT winner and Eastgate trying to win his first major tournament since taking down the 2009 WSOP Main Event.

Eastgate, a member of Team PokerStars Pro, entered the eight-player final table as the short-stack and couldn’t get anything going.

It didn't take long before Eastgate found himself on the rail in 8th place after his pocket tens were bested by K-9.

The Danish pro has never won an EPT title although he came close in London this year eventually finishing second to Aaron Gustavson.

McDonald entered the day with an average stack and made it considerably farther than Eastgate getting all the way to three-handed play.

Unfortunately for McDonald he ran into trouble at that point and finally lost a flip for his tournament life. The young Canadian pro claimed €295,000 for his efforts.

McDonald won EPT Dortmund in 2008 and very nearly won it again in 2009 but eventually finished in fifth place.

Despite the fact it was Cody's first time competing at the EPT, it took him less than an hour to beat heads-up opponent Teodor Caraba.

It was a disappointing event for French poker fans who saw a number of their most well-known players fall painfully short of the final table.

Most notably Team PokerStars Pro Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier who came in ninth place after running into pocket aces with ace-queen, effectively becoming the final table bubble boy.

Winamax Pro and actress Alexia Portal finished in 10^th place after losing a coin flip for her tournament life.

Meanwhile French poker legend Bruno Fittoussi, who came finished runner-up in the 2007 WSOP H.O.R.S.E. event, bombed out of EPT Deauville in 14^th place.

With Deauville complete the EPT will travel to Copenhagen for the Scandinavian Open, which is scheduled to take place Feb. 16-21.

McDonald, Eastgate Fall Short at EPT Deauville

Cody, a 21-year-old poker pro from Rochdale, U.K., outlasted a field of 768 players to claim the first-place prize of €847,000.

Organizers had plenty of compelling story lines with McDonald looking to become the first two-time EPT winner and Eastgate trying to win his first major tournament since taking down the 2008 WSOP Main Event.

Eastgate, a member of Team PokerStars Pro, entered the eight-player final table as the short-stack and couldn’t get anything going.

It didn't take long before Eastgate found himself on the rail in 8th place after his pocket tens were bested by K-9.

The Danish pro has never won an EPT title although he came close in London this year eventually finishing second to Aaron Gustavson.

McDonald entered the day with an average stack and made it considerably farther than Eastgate getting all the way to three-handed play.

Unfortunately for McDonald he ran into trouble at that point and finally lost a flip for his tournament life. The young Canadian pro claimed €295,000 for his efforts.

McDonald won EPT Dortmund in 2008 and very nearly won it again in 2009 but eventually finished in fifth place.

Despite the fact it was Cody's first time competing at the EPT, it took him less than an hour to beat heads-up opponent Teodor Caraba.

It was a disappointing event for French poker fans who saw a number of their most well-known players fall painfully short of the final table.

Most notably coming up shy was Team PokerStars Pro Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, who finished in ninth place after running into pocket aces with ace-queen, effectively becoming the final-table bubble boy.

Winamax Pro and actress Alexia Portal finished in 10^th place after losing a coin flip for her tournament life.

Meanwhile French poker legend Bruno Fittoussi, who finished as the runner-up in the 2007 WSOP H.O.R.S.E. event, bombed out of EPT Deauville in 14^th place.

With Deauville complete the EPT will travel to Copenhagen next for the Scandinavian Open, scheduled to take place Feb. 16-21.

Dwyte Pilgrim Leads WPT Southern Poker Championship After Day 1

Two-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) Circuit Event ring holder Dwyte Pilgrim leads the field of the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) Southern Poker Championship after Day 1. A total of 106 players remain of the 208 who bought in on Sunday afternoon.

The tournament, emanating from the Beau Rivage in Biloxi, Mississippi, drew a field of 283 players in 2009. The 208 who turned out yesterday to cough up the $10,000 buy-in meant that attendance dove by a sizable 27%. Pilgrim leads the survivors with a stack of 175,900 chips, comfortably in front of the second place tally of Jonathan “FieryJustice” Little, who holds 152,100. Pilgrim claimed a pair of WSOP Circuit rings in March 2009 after taking down a $560 buy-in tournament at Caesars Atlantic City before flying cross-country to Harrah’s Rincon and winning the site’s $5,150 buy-in Championship event.

Little is no slouch, either. He was the WPT Player of the Year during Season 6, when the Florida native made final tables at the Mirage and North American Poker Championship and bubbled a third at the Gulf Coast Poker Championship at Biloxi. All told, Little has nearly $3.5 million in career WPT earnings to his name and two titles. Little took down a pot early on Sunday with pocket aces against pocket queens on a 10-9-8-2-2 board. Little's opponent check-called a bet of 7,775 on the river to boost his stack to over 41,000; he finished the day with nearly six times that total.

DoylesRoom Brunson 10 member Amit “amak316” Makhija was a late Day 1 casualty at the WPT Southern Poker Championship. Makhija committed his chips with pocket kings on a board of J-3-2, but his opponent spiked a straight with 4-5. Jeff Madsen, meanwhile, was all-in holding the nut flush draw, but blanked out to hit the rails. Madsen is a Full Tilt Poker Red Pro.

Faraz “The-Toilet” Jaka was flushed down the drain on Sunday. The runner-up in the Bellagio Cup V, which began airing as part of the WPT’s Season 8 kickoff on Fox Sports Net last night, Jaka called all-in with K-3 after a flop of K-J-4. However, his opponent flipped up pocket jacks for a set, which held for the win. Jaka made two final tables during Season 8 of the WPT, finishing second in the aforementioned Bellagio Cup and taking third in the Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic for a combined $1.3 million.

The top 10 at the end of Day 1 of the WPT Southern Poker Championship features rock solid poker talent:

1. Dwyte Pilgrim - 175,900
2. Jonathan “FieryJustice” Little - 152,100
3. Jonathan Stanton - 142,100
4. Chad Brown - 138,000
5. James Jewett - 135,500
6. Sam Rashid - 125,700
7. Shawn Quillin - 118,300
8. Scott Standridge - 117,600
9. Hoyt Corkins - 115,600
10. Corwin “mig.com” Mackey - 113,200

Other notable names among the 106 players remaining in the field include:

Paul Wasicka - 107,500
Daniel Negreanu - 81,200
Matt “All In at 420” Stout - 73,100
Ty “puffinmypurp” Reiman - 71,400
Justin “Boosted J” Smith - 68,600
J.J. Liu - 67,800
Josh Arieh - 67,200
Tommy Vedes - 66,300
Kathy Liebert - 53,300
Adam “Roothlus” Levy - 46,900
Nick Schulman - 40,000
Allen “AawwNutz” Carter - 38,200
David Singer - 34,000
Jonathan “driverseati” Tamayo - 25,900
Allen “Chainsaw” Kessler - 17,600
Michael Binger - 13,000

When play wrapped up on Sunday, the blinds were 300-600 with a 75-chip ante. The Southern Poker Championship runs through Wednesday, when the newest WPT champion will be crowned. Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest from the Biloxi tournament.

Shak Shocks Ivey, Wins $100k Crown

“I try, in life, just in general, to keep the highs not too high and the lows not too low,” he said moments after defeating poker legend Phil Ivey heads up to take the title. “But believe me, I’m extremely excited.

“This is something I’ve been working towards for such a long time and I may not show the excitement, but inside I’m extremely excited.  I’m not going to jump up and down, but inside I probably already am.”

A total of 24 players ponied up the $100k buy-in to enter the world’s most expensive poker tournament and the field played down to a final table of eight in Melbourne Saturday.

When they returned to crown a winner Monday, a short stacked Howard Lederer was the first to exit, running ace-ten into Tony G’s aces.

Start-of-day chip leader Jonathan "xMONSTERxDONGx" Karamalikis was actually the next player out. The young Aussie online legend doubled up a few of the shorter stacks before eventually running ace-ten into Shak’s nines and failing to improve.

Barry Greenstein then had his kings cracked by Tony Bloom’s jacks and the Team PokerStars Pro bubbled the money a few hands later when Bloom’s own kings held against his queen-ten.

Tony G was the next to go, getting his buy-in back when his tens lost a race with Shak’s ace-king and it wasn’t long before 2009 $100k Challenge runner-up Bloom got it in dominated by Ivey and bowed out fourth cashing for AUD$200,000.

Local cash game pro Bill Jordanou hit the rail third, collecting AUD$300,000 when he got it in with top two against Ivey’s overpair, but Ivey turned a set and rivered a flush.

Heads up started with Ivey and Shak about even, but the day trader took the veteran pro to task, building a 3:1 chip lead through a series of aggressive pre and post flop plays.

Eventually Ivey got it in with ace-ten against ace-seven, but Shak flopped a seven to suck out and while the Team Full Tilt Pro and 2009 November Niner was forced to settle for the AUD$600,000 second-place prize, pushing him up to the top spot on poker’s all-time leading money winners list, Shak booked the AUD$1.2 million win.

“I think I played well the whole heads-up match,” Shak explained. “The last hand I got lucky, there is no doubt about that, but up until that last hand I feel like I played very well.

“These guys are the best in the world, but I’d rather play with good players. I always seem to play better with good players because they are more predictable. With Phil, there’s nothing you can really say. Today I got the better cards, obviously he is the better player.”

While Shak has been recording cashes on the high-stakes tournament poker scene since 2004, including a fourth-place finish in this very event last year, his biggest score before Monday’s win was a victory in the inaugural Ante Up for Africa charity event at the 2007 World Series of Poker.

Recently divorced from wife Beth, Shak said he felt like his game is much improved and went about proving it in Australia Monday.

“I’ve been working hard on my game and I’ve had some life changes that have given me more time to concentrate on my game,” he said. “I think I’ve taken my game to a new level and I feel like I’m really playing better.”

Amazing Race 16 Cast Does Not Feature Poker Players

The cast for the 16th cycle of the Emmy Award winning CBS reality series “Amazing Race” does not include any poker players. In its last season, the show featured Maria Ho and UB.com pro Tiffany Michelle.

Ho and Michelle represented the last women standing in the 2007 and 2008 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Events, respectively. The duo finished sixth in the around-the-world competition after their journey abruptly ended in the Netherlands, where a series of intense physical challenges proved to be too much for Ho and Michelle. A high striker, a common carnival game, proved fatal on one-half of the leg’s Detour, while windy conditions made a unique game of golf using wooden shoes unbearable on the other half.

A total of 11 teams will set out on the “Amazing Race” course for Season 16. Headlining the group are two “Big Brother” cast members from Season 11, Jordan Lloyd and Jeff Schroeder. The couple is “newly dating” according to CBS and will mark the latest pair to join “Amazing Race” after appearing on another CBS reality franchise. Schroeder is 31 years-old and from Norridge, Illinois, while Lloyd is nine years younger and hails from Charlotte, North Carolina. Lloyd lists her lifetime goals as, “to be a dental hygienist, and to get married and have kids.”

Also appearing on the 16th running of “Amazing Race” is Caitlin Upton, who will travel to the four corners of the Earth with her boyfriend, Brent Home. Upton was Miss Teen South Carolina USA 2007 and famously uttered the following response to a question about people being unable to locate the United States on a map: "I personally believe that U.S. Americans are unable to do so because some people out there in our nation don't have maps and I believe that our education like such as South Africa and the Iraq, everywhere like such as, and, I believe that they should, our education over here in the U.S. should help the U.S. or should help South Africa and should help the Iraq and the Asian countries, so we will be able to build up our future, for our children."

Upton’s phrases “the Iraq,” “U.S. Americans.” and “like such as” have become staples of modern lingo, although the beauty queen is now three years removed from her escapade. In a video posted on CBS.com, Upton commented, “I’m stubborn and I hate losing, probably more than he does, and I have a very short fuse, so if somebody gets in my way, there’s going to be some trouble and I’m going to need somebody there to calm me down.” The couple may soon be engaged; both are models.

Cleveland Indians third base coach Steve Smith, 57 years of age, will run the “Amazing Race” with his daughter, Allie Smith, who is 23 and works in marketing. Smith was a coach on the Philadelphia Phillies baseball team that won it all in 2008 and also worked with the Florida Marlins and Texas Rangers. The elder Smith lists his biggest challenge as “not getting lost because we tend to get lost in our own neighborhood.” “Amazing Race” requires a keen sense of direction, as racers travel to countries where English is not the primary language, so road signs and other markers can often be confusing.

Rumored locations that teams will travel to this season include Bariloche, Argentina; Puerto Varas, Chile; and Singapore. The rumored departure city is Los Angeles. The show premieres on Sunday, February 14th at 8:00pm ET on CBS, the same time slot as it held last season.

Dating couple Meghan and Cheyne took down the 15th installment of “Amazing Race,” whose finish line was ironically in Las Vegas. Besides Ho and Michelle, notable cast members vying for the $1 million top prize last time out included Harlem Globetrotters Flight Time and Big Easy and Miss America 2004 Ericka Dunlap, who ran the race with her husband, Brian.

Tunica WSOP Circuit Event: Michael Crump Wins Kickoff Tournament

After events in Chicago, Southern Indiana, Lake Tahoe, and Atlantic City, the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Circuit traveled south to Tunica, Mississippi for its sixth stop of the 2009-2010 season. Michael Crump won the $340 buy-in No Limit Hold’em kickoff event.

A total of 304 players entered the first tournament of the Circuit schedule at Harrah’s Tunica, the closest casino to Memphis, Tennessee. The attendance was markedly lower than in 2009, when 514 players entered the same $340 buy-in event. Accordingly, that meant attendance was down 41%. Nevertheless, Crump made the most of the truncated field, coming out on top for $20,000. In the tournament’s final hand, Jerold Rogers was all-in with 10-5 on a board of 2-9-A-10 for second pair. However, Crump held A-9 for two pair and a queen hit on the river to earn him the win.

Fifth place finisher Mark “Pegasus” Smith owns four WSOP Circuit gold rings and was gunning for a record-setting fifth piece of hardware in Tunica. Smith earned two gold rings in the final two months of 2009, taking down $345 and $340 buy-in No Limit Hold’em tournaments in Southern Indiana and Atlantic City. Tied with Smith for four gold rings is 2009 Poker Hall of Fame nominee Men “The Master” Nguyen. All told, Smith owns $450,000 in career WSOP and Circuit Event earnings.

Here’s how the final table shook out in the Old South:

1. Michael Crump - $20,185
2. Jerold Rogers - $12,277
3. Ryan Enis - $8,738
4. Gerard Thorpe - $6,246
5. Mark “Pegasus” Smith - $4,992
6. J. Austin Hijar - $3,746
7. Joseph Pace - $2,500
8. David Couch - $2,027
9. James Whittinghill - $1,719

A total of 19 poker tournaments will play out at Harrah’s Tunica, culminating in the series’ $5,150 buy-in Main Event on February 8th, one day following Super Bowl XLIV. The remaining schedule, which features all No Limit Hold’em events, is as follows. All times are Central:

Friday, January 22nd at 12:00pm
Event #3: No Limit Hold'em
$550 buy-in

Saturday, January 23rd at 12:00pm
Event #4: No Limit Hold'em
$340 buy-in

Sunday, January 24th at 12:00pm
Event #5: Seniors No Limit Hold'em
$230 buy-in

Monday, January 25th at 12:00pm
Event #6: No Limit Hold'em
$230 buy-in

Tuesday, January 26th at 12:00pm
Event #7: No Limit Hold'em
$230 buy-in

Wednesday, January 27th at 12:00pm
Event #8: No Limit Hold'em
$340 buy-in

Thursday, January 28th at 12:00pm
Event #9: No Limit Hold'em
$340 buy-in

Friday, January 29th at 12:00pm
Event #10: No Limit Hold'em
$440 buy-in

Saturday, January 30th at 12:00pm
Event #11: No Limit Hold'em
$550 buy-in

Sunday, January 31st at 12:00pm
Event #12: Ladies No Limit Hold'em
$230 buy-in

Monday, February 1st at 12:00pm
Event #13: No Limit Hold'em
$340 buy-in

Tuesday, February 2nd at 12:00pm
Event #14: No Limit Hold'em
$340 buy-in

Wednesday, February 3rd at 12:00pm
Event #15: No Limit Hold'em
$340 buy-in

Thursday, February 4th at 12:00pm
Event #16: No Limit Hold'em
$440 buy-in

Friday, February 5th at 12:00pm
Event #17: No Limit Hold'em
$550 buy-in

Saturday, February 6th at 12:00pm
Event #18: No Limit Hold'em
$1,080 buy-in

Monday, February 8th at 12:00pm
Event #19: Championship Event
$5,150 buy-in

In last year’s Tunica Circuit Event Championship, Kai Landry defeated David Dao heads-up to earn $183,000. The tournament generated a field of 154 players and a final table that also featured online poker pros Matt “All In At 420” Stout and Mike “goleafsgoeh” Leah. Top tournament pros Kathy Liebert and Full Tilt Poker’s Gavin Smith finished in the money.

Gus Hansen Reaches $1.3 Million

After realizing he couldn’t beat the best online players in the world at Pot-Limit Omaha or No-Limit Hold’em, Gus Hansen started 2010 by moving to 7-Game, hoping his years of mixed-game experience would be enough to give him back an edge.

It appears to be working after yet another winning session for the Danish pro. His latest $560k came yesterday with $169k of it from C-PLO and the remaining $391k from 7-Game.

Hansen wasn’t the only player to have a big day though. Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies took top honors on 7-Game, crushing the tables for over $513k, well ahead of Cole South who made $302k at the same time.

Di “Urindanger” Dang earned over $313k exclusively from C-PLO, but played a massive 6,202 hands to do it.

The biggest loser on the day is a relatively unknown player named PixKim. Although it hasn’t been 100% confirmed it appears PixKim is a Finnish pro by the name of Jari Komulainen. Through a combination of C-PLO and 7-Game PixKim managed to lose over $609k.

Two other players with notable losses on the day include Brian Hastings ($285k) and Tom “durrrr” Dwan ($245k).

Here are the three largest C-PLO pots of the day. You can see more of the action over on MarketPulse.

Phil Laak Wins Poker After Dark Nicknames Week

The final episode of Nicknames week on the NBC poker franchise “Poker After Dark” featured Phil “The Unabomber” Laak defeating close friend Antonio “The Magician” Esfandiari heads-up to win $120,000.

UB.com pro Phil “The Poker Brat” Hellmuth was also part of Friday’s three-handed finale of Nicknames week. Holding four big blinds, Hellmuth called pre-flop with K-4 and Esfandiari checked his option with a lowly 8-3. The flop came 9-A-5 and the action went check-check to a deuce on the turn. Once again, both players checked, and the river was an eight, pairing Esfandiari. “The Magician” led out for 1,200 and laughed, exposing the three of diamonds and saying that he had 3-6. Hellmuth came along and promptly dropped to less than one big blind.

Amid Laak and Esfandiari celebrating that Hellmuth had less than one big blind remaining, the UB front man committed his chips and received calls from Esfandiari, who held 10-6 of diamonds, and Laak, who had K-6 of hearts. Both checked the action down to the river, with the board running out 9-4-Q-2-8. Hellmuth needed to beat king-high to stay alive, but instead turned over 5-7 and was sent packing in third place. He told “Poker After Dark” hostess Leeann Tweeden that Laak and Esfandiari were out of line: “When they’re out of line to me, it’s okay because god knows I need some sympathy the way I act.”

Esfandiari was a 7:5 chip leader entering heads-up play against Laak, who put the pedal to the metal throughout the match. “The Unabomber” took the chip lead after calling pre-flop with 8-9 of hearts and watching Esfandiari raise to 3,800 with A-5 of clubs. Laak called to see the flop come Q-9-4 with one club. The action went check-check to an eight of clubs on the turn, giving Laak two pair. He led out for 4,100 and Esfandiari, holding a flush draw, called. The river was the six of diamonds, missing Esfandiari. He checked, Laak bet 10,425, and Esfandiari folded.

Laak never relinquished the lead in the heads-up match on “Poker After Dark.” He flopped top pair and a straight draw with 9-8 on a 5-9-7 board. Esfandiari bet out 5,100 with 4-3 and Laak raised it to 30,000, including two stacks of $100 bills. Esfandiari mucked and Laak raked in yet another pot.

Esfandiari, whose boisterous laughter when Hellmuth was on the short stack changed to raw frustration heads-up against Laak, checked his option with 4-3 after Laak called pre-flop with K-5 of hearts. The flop came down 6-4-2 and Esfandiari fired out 1,800 chips. Laak called and the turn was a three, completing his straight and giving Esfandiari two pair. “The Magician” bet 5,100 and Laak called to see an ace on the river. Esfandiari bet 11,200, Laak insta-raised all-in, and Esfandiari mucked, lamenting, “It’s amazing how lucky you are.” At that point, Laak held a 5:2 advantage in chips.

On the final hand of Nicknames week on “Poker After Dark,” Esfandiari called pre-flop with the Doyle Brunson hand, 10-2, and Laak coyly checked his option with A-J. Laak flopped top pair on an A-5-4 board, but checked to Esfandiari, who also rapped the table. The turn was a seven. Laak once again just checked, Esfandiari bet 2,525, and Laak called to bring a queen on the river. Laak checked top pair one last time, Esfandiari tanked before moving all-in, and Laak called. Just like that, Nicknames week was over, as Esfandiari’s stone cold bluff failed miserably.

Esfandiari told viewers following the match, “I’m going to jump.” No new episodes of “Poker After Dark” are scheduled until the week of March 15th, when part one of a $50,000 cash game will feature Chris Ferguson, Hellmuth, Esfandiari, Brandon Adams, Todd Brunson, and Mike Matusow. In the meantime, fans of the show can catch encore presentations of “Poker After Dark” nightly at 2:05am ET on NBC.

Reynolds Wraps Up PCA High Roller Win

A poker player since he was just 16-years-old, William Reynolds is no stranger to success, having come fourth at EPT San Remo last season for €377,000. 

He’s also had six figure wins online, but the $576,240 first-place prize he took down in the Bahamas Thursday marks his biggest score to date.

“It was the most roller coaster of a ride I’ve ever been on,” Reynolds said moments after the win. “I was all in so many times at the end of Day 3 it looked I was going to be the final table bubble. I ended up doubling up four times in a row and making it to the final table, chipping up, winning some key hands and taking it down.”

In just the first few hands of the final table, short-stacked Dmitry Stelmak pushed all in with K♠ T♠ and got looked up by Tobias Reinkemeier on A♠ T♣.

The domination held and Stelmak bowed out eighth collecting $66,885.

Reynolds then sent Canadian high-stakes pro Matt Marafioti to the rail, winning a race with ace-king over Marafioti’s sevens. Marafioti took $87,465 for seventh.

Will Molson then took a massive chip lead doubling through Reinkemeier as the blinds rose to dangerous levels for the five other finalists remaining.

Reinkemeier fell next, running eights into Reynolds’ kings to finish sixth, cashing for $108,045.

Before long, 2009 World Series of Poker Ladies Champion Lisa Hamilton’s said goodbye, bowing out fifth when she lost a race with jacks to Molson’s A♣ Q♥.

A queen on the turn did her in and the ladies champ was forced to settle for $133,770 in fifth place money.

A short-stacked Michiel Brummelhuis then shipped it with Q♠ 9♥ only to run into Reynolds’ aces and hit the rail fourth for $154,350.

EPT London High Roller fourth place finisher Adolfo Vaeza took third this time around when he got it in with a straight draw against Reynold’s top pair and failed to get there.

As he headed to the cage to grab $218,150, Molson and Reynolds went heads up.

Reynolds held the lead from the outset, and despite doubling up Molson once to give away the chip lead, kept up the pressure until the title was his.

Molson, who finished second in this very event last year to Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, was forced to take runner-up money again, this time cashing for $322,075 as Reynolds grabbed all title and the glory.

Typical of a $25k event, the PCA High Roller saw 84 of poker’s best square off for the title this week and Reynolds said it was no cake walk.

“It was a tough tournament and it feels awesome to take it down,” he said. “I can’t count the amount of times I was all in. I was short stacked and it looked like I was going to be back in my hotel room and down on the beach the next day and instead I chipped back up won some pots and went all the way to the top.”

For a comprehensive recap of the entire PCA High Roller event, click through to PokerListings’ Live Updates.

Reynolds Wraps Up PCA High Roller Win

A poker player since he was just 16-years-old, William Reynolds is no stranger to success, having come fourth at EPT San Remo last season for €377,000. 

He’s also had six figure wins online, but the $576,240 first-place prize he took down in the Bahamas Thursday marks his biggest score to date.

“It was the most roller coaster of a ride I’ve ever been on,” Reynolds said moments after the win. “I was all in so many times at the end of Day 3 it looked I was going to be the final table bubble. I ended up doubling up four times in a row and making it to the final table, chipping up, winning some key hands and taking it down.”

In just the first few hands of the final table, short-stacked Dmitry Stelmak pushed all in with K♠ T♠ and got looked up by Tobias Reinkemeier on A♠ T♣.

The domination held and Stelmak bowed out eighth collecting $66,885.

Reynolds then sent Canadian high-stakes pro Matt Marafioti to the rail, winning a race with ace-king over Marafioti’s sevens. Marafioti took $87,465 for seventh.

Will Molson then took a massive chip lead doubling through Reinkemeier as the blinds rose to dangerous levels for the five other finalists remaining.

Reinkemeier fell next, running eights into Reynolds’ kings to finish sixth, cashing for $108,045.

Before long, 2009 World Series of Poker Ladies Champion Lisa Hamilton’s said goodbye, bowing out fifth when she lost a race with jacks to Molson’s A♣ Q♥.

A queen on the turn did her in and the ladies champ was forced to settle for $133,770 in fifth place money.

A short-stacked Michiel Brummelhuis then shipped it with Q♠ 9♥ only to run into Reynolds’ aces and hit the rail fourth for $154,350.

EPT London High Roller fourth place finisher Adolfo Vaeza took third this time around when he got it in with a straight draw against Reynold’s top pair and failed to get there.

As he headed to the cage to grab $218,150, Molson and Reynolds went heads up.

Reynolds held the lead from the outset, and despite doubling up Molson once to give away the chip lead, kept up the pressure until the title was his.

Molson, who finished second in this very event last year to Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, was forced to take runner-up money again, this time cashing for $322,075 as Reynolds grabbed all title and the glory.

Typical of a $25k event, the PCA High Roller saw 84 of poker’s best square off for the title this week and Reynolds said it was no cake walk.

“It was a tough tournament and it feels awesome to take it down,” he said. “I can’t count the amount of times I was all in. I was short stacked and it looked like I was going to be back in my hotel room and down on the beach the next day and instead I chipped back up won some pots and went all the way to the top.”

For a comprehensive recap of the entire PCA High Roller event, click through to PokerListings’ Live Updates.

Dario Minieri Dominates PokerStars Caribbean Adventure High Roller Event

Italian poker pro Dario Minieri leads the pack for the second straight day in the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) $25,000 buy-in High Roller tournament. Minieri is a member of Team PokerStars Pro.

After two days of play, there are 24 players remaining out of the 84 who entered. Minieri was on top of the leaderboard after Day 1 and turned in another strong outing on Tuesday for Day 2. Minieri holds a stack of 430,700 chips entering Day 3 on Wednesday, edging out Michiel Brummelhuis’ second place tally of 403,800. Minieri and Brummelhuis are the only players to cross the 400,000-chip threshold and own a comfortable lead over former World Poker Tour (WPT) Borgata Poker Open champ Vivek “Psyduck” Rajkumar’s third place total of 301,700. Minieri won the High Roller event at the European Poker Tour’s (EPT) Warsaw stop in October.

One of the final eliminations of the evening at the Atlantis Resort and Casino on Paradise Island in the Bahamas was Mike “The Mouth” Matusow. He was all-in pre-flop with A-Q against Carter “bdybldngpkr” Phillips’ K-8. Phillips struck lightning in a bottle when the flop came K-8-4 and a running 9-J left Matusow scratching his head. William Thorson also exited at the end of the day when his 7-8 ran into pocket sevens. Thorson has made three EPT final tables.

2004 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event Champion Greg Raymer sent fellow PokerStars-backed pro Andre Akkari out on Tuesday. Akkari pushed with A-9 of diamonds pre-flop and received a call from Raymer, who had A-Q of clubs. The flop contained a queen, keeping Raymer out in front for good. Meanwhile, Chad Brown hit the rails when his A-9 couldn’t draw out on former WPT Invitational winner Alex Brenes’ wired pair of eights.

Brummelhuis helped his cause by casting off Andrew “luckychewy” Lichtenberger, who appeared on several episodes of the G4 online poker reality series “2 Months, $2 Million.” Lichtenberger committed his chips pre-flop with K-Q, but Brummelhuis picked up aces. The flop came ace-high and that was all she wrote for the young American.

Here are the chip counts of the 24 players remaining in the 2010 PCA High Roller event:

1. Dario Minieri - 430,700
2. Michiel Brummelhuis - 403,800
3. Vivek “Psyduck” Rajkumar - 301,700
4. Tobias Reinkemeier - 279,900
5. Dmitry Stelmak - 264,000
6. Alex Brenes - 253,600
7. Greg Raymer - 206,600
8. Bijan Zahmat - 198,200
9. Sandra Naujoks - 180,500
10. Shawn Buchanan - 171,100
11. Lisa Hamilton - 153,900
12. Nick Schulman - 143,400
13. Carter “bdybldngpkr” Phillips - 139,400
14. Joe Cada - 135,700
15. Matt Marafioti - 121,000
16. Brett Richey - 106,400
17. Paul Berende - 104,400
18. Christian Kruel - 103,800
19. Bill Edler - 94,700
20. Adolfo Vaeza - 92,600
21. William Reynolds - 89,100
22. James Calderaro - 89,100
23. Isaac “westmenloAA” Baron - 76,200
24. Will Molson - 60,000

The winner of the $25,000 buy-in poker tournament will earn $576,000 and the top 16 players will finish in the money. Cada and Raymer are former winners of the WSOP Main Event in Las Vegas. Phillips won the EPT Barcelona stop during Season 6, while Naujoks, one of only two women ever to win an EPT tournament, took down the Dortmund event during Season 5. Schulman made the final table of the WPT Foxwoods World Poker Finals twice in a three-year span, recording a win and a runner-up showing for $3 million combined. Many consider Baron to be one of the top poker players on the planet. Needless to say, it’s anybody’s game.

The High Roller event will play down to its final table this afternoon from the Bahamas and crown a champion on Thursday. Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest from paradise. Pack your bags, we’ll leave tonight.

Annette Obrestad (Annette_15) Debuts on Poker After Dark

This week’s brand new installment of the NBC franchise “Poker After Dark” is dubbed “Nicknames.” Making her debut on the show is 21 year-old Betfair pro Annette “Annette_15” Obrestad, who went by the moniker “The Huntress.”

On her departure from the familiar screen name “Annette_15,” Obrestad told her tablemates, “Basically, I needed a nickname for the show,” and called her traditional handle “boring.” In the first hand, Obrestad, the winner of the 2007 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Europe Main Event, raised to 600 and the table folded around. Then, Phil “The Poker Brat” Hellmuth, a sponsored pro of UB.com, began Twittering at the table, truly a sign of the times.

Phil “The Unabomber” Laak raised to 550 pre-flop with 10-7 and Obrestad came along from the big blind holding A-2 of hearts. The flop came 5-9-9 with two hearts and the action went check-check to a three on the turn. Obrestad check-called a bet of 850 from Laak to another nine on the river. The action went check-check and Obrestad raked in the 2,900-chip pot with an ace.

Erick “E-Dog” Lindgren’s stay at the “Poker After Dark” feature table was brief. His “go big or go home” strategy resulted in four-way action to a flop of J-5-4 with two spades. Holding pocket queens, Antonio “The Magician” Esfandiari led out for 2,100 and Lindgren made it 5,400. The other two players got out of the way, Esfandiari pushed the price of poker to 15,400, Lindgren moved all-in, and Esfandiari made the call. Needing a spade or king to hit, the turn and river fell the jack of hearts and three of diamonds, respectively, sending Lindgren out in sixth place. Obrestad announced that she folded J-9 of spades after the flop.

Obrestad, who largely played tight throughout the first episode of “Nicknames” week, mixed it up and made it 600 to go with 8-5 pre-flop and received a call from Laak, who peeked down at K-4 of hearts. The flop came A-9-6 with two hearts and Laak check-called a bet of 750 from the young internet huntress. The nine on the turn resulted in a pair of checks, as did a king on the river. Laak scooped the pot with second pair, inching him further up the “Poker After Dark” leaderboard.

Esfandiari, while eating ground sirloin and brown rice throughout much of Monday’s kickoff episode, led out for 850 on a board of 8-8-4-10 with two hearts holding 10-4 of diamonds. Obrestad made the call with A-9 to see a five on the river. Esfandiari bet 2,400 and Obrestad called, shipping the pot of 7,900 to “The Magician.” Mike “The Mouth” Matusow, who was also part of “Nicknames” week, triumphantly identified what Esfandiari had: “He flopped two pair and turned three pair. Do you know how hard that is to do?”

Matusow hawked copies of his book, “Check-Raising the Devil,” which includes a foreword penned by Hellmuth. Not to be outdone, “The Poker Brat” declared that he enjoys partying with 2009 WSOP Main Event November Nine member Phil Ivey and discussed his then-upcoming appearance on a VH1 weight loss show, “First to 100.” Hellmuth was set to team with fellow UB.com pro Mark “P0ker H0” Kroon for the series, which ultimately never panned out.

In the final hand shown on the kickoff episode, Esfandiari raised to 850 with 8-7 and Laak called from the small blind with K-10 of spades. The flop of 8-5-K with two spades offered a little sniff for everyone, but the action went check-check. An offsuit four hit on the turn, leading to a bet of 1,125 from Laak. Esfandiari made the call and the turn was an offsuit queen. Laak bet 1,850 and Esfandiari mucked, giving “The Unabomber” a 6,100-chip pot.

You can catch episodes of “Nicknames” week through Friday on NBC nightly at 2:05am ET. After this week, no new episodes of “Poker After Dark” will air until March, although re-runs will still be shown each night.

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.

Ryan D’Angelo, Tyler Reiman Lead PCA Entering Final Table

Eight players remain in the 2010 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA). Online poker pros Ryan “g0lfa” D’Angelo and Tyler “puffinmypurp” Reiman lead the eight-handed final table by a comfortable margin.

For Reiman, a massive pot against European Poker Tour (EPT) founder John Duthie gave him the ammunition to nip at D’Angelo’s heels entering Monday’s final table. Duthie was all-in pre-flop holding pocket aces, the best starting hand in Texas Hold’em, and held a 4:1 advantage over Reiman’s pocket queens. The flop, however, contained a queen and propelled Reiman into the lead in the hand for good. Duthie was out two hands later, finishing in 12th place for $130,000. Reiman owned a stack of 9.35 million entering the final table, trailing only D’Angelo’s 10.09 million.

D’Angelo comes to the 2010 PCA Main Event with top-tier credentials. He was one of only two dual winners during the 2009 PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP), taking down a $320 buy-in Eight-Game event and a $320 buy-in Mixed tournament. The only other player to accomplish the feat in the September tournament series was Team PokerStars Pro member and former PCA winner Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier, who took down two No Limit Hold’em events.

In third place on the 2010 PCA Main Event leaderboard is Barry Shulman, who is fresh off a victory in the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Europe Main Event for £801,000. He defeated PokerStars sponsored pro Daniel Negreanu in the finale of that tournament, which also saw Jason Mercier, Praz Bansi, and WSOP Main Event November Nine members Antoine Saout and James Akenhead reach the final table. Shulman owns a stack of 6.81 million entering Monday’s play.

Benjamin “xthesteinx” Zamani sent longtime PCA Main Event chip leader Wayne Bentley packing on Sunday. The 23 year-old called Zamani’s all-in on a flop of 3-8-2, showing pocket deuces for a flopped set. In a scene reminiscent of Joe Cada in the 2009 WSOP Main Event, Bentley turned over pocket jacks and watched in agony as the board ran out 6-7. Bentley, a Brit, took home an even $100,000 consolation prize for his 16th place showing.

Poker pro Jeff Madsen hit the rails in 19th place, pocketing $87,500 from the $10,000 buy-in poker tournament. Norwegian poker player Aage Ravn called Madsen’s all-in with pocket fours and Madsen flipped up A-J for an old fashioned race. The board ran out K-7-9-5-9 and that was all she wrote for the poker rapper.

Who will join D’Angelo, Reiman, Ravn, and Shulman at the eight-handed final table of the 2010 PCA, a stop on the EPT and Latin American Poker Tour (LAPT)? Here’s a look at the leaderboard:

1. Ryan D'Angelo – 10,090,000
2. Tyler Reiman – 9,350,000
3. Barry Shulman – 6,805,000
4. Harrison Gimbel – 6,000,000
5. Thomas Koral – 5,370,000
6. Benjamin Zamani – 3,700,000
7. Zachary Goldberg – 2,340,000
8. Aage Floenes Ravn – 1,690,000

Ravn is the only non-American at the final table. A total of 57 countries were represented among the 1,529 players who entered the 2010 PCA Main Event. About half of those players were from the United States. Now, seven out of eight finalists, or a hefty 88%, hail from the North American nation. Similarly, Shulman, who is 63 years-old, is the only member of the final table older than 26. Gimbel is the baby of the group at 19, while Reiman and Goldberg weigh in at the tender age of 21.

Regardless of a player’s age, life-changing money is on the line when play kicks off this afternoon from the Atlantis Resort and Casino on Paradise Island in the Bahamas. Each player remaining is guaranteed to earn at least $201,000:

1st Place: $2,200,000
2nd Place: $1,750,000
3rd Place: $1,350,000
4th Place: $1,000,000
5th Place: $700,000
6th Place: $450,000
7th Place: $300,000
8th Place: $201,300

The final table kicks off at Noon ET from Atlantis and will continue until a champion is crowned. Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest PCA coverage.

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.

Ryan D’Angelo, John Duthie Lead PCA Main Event into Play Down Day

Today, the 2010 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) Main Event enters its play down day, as the 24 remaining players will become eight when all is said and done. At stake is a $2.2 million first place prize and the title of 2010 PCA Champion.

Ryan “g0lfa” D’Angelo leads the field entering Sunday’s action at the Atlantis Resort and Casino on Paradise Island in the Bahamas. His chips number 7.5 million, while the next closest competitor, European Poker Tour (EPT) founder John Duthie, owns just 5.3 million. D’Angelo scooped a blockbuster pot late in the day on Saturday after putting in a check-raise to 310,000 on a flop of 5-A-9. Dimitri Hefter called and the turn was a king. D’Angelo bet 500,000 and Hefter called to see a three hit on the river. The action slowed down, as both players checked, but the damage was done and D’Angelo’s A-Q was enough to rake in the chips.

Meanwhile, Duthie amassed a chunk of his chips after cracking Swedish poker player Kent Lundmark’s pocket aces. Duthie’s opponent led out for 100,000 on a flop of 7-2-8 with two spades. Duthie raised it up to 300,000 and Lundmark pushed all-in over the top for 2.2 million. Duthie called and showed 7-8 of diamonds for top two pair, while Lundmark turned over his wired pair of aces. The board ran out K-6 and Lundmark hit the rails in 29th place for $66,000.

Wayne Bentley, who held a commanding chip lead after the combined Day 1 field, continues to fly high in the 2010 PCA Main Event. Heading into Sunday’s play down day, Bentley owns a stack of 2.9 million, good for third overall. Three tables will accommodate the field this afternoon and Bentley heads to #1, where D’Angelo and Harrison Gimbel, who led the field entering Day 4, will join him. Bentley’s chip stack was chopped down to just 75,000 at one point on Saturday after his A-K could not withstand pocket queens. The board ran out five cards nine or lower and Bentley was crippled before mounting an epic comeback to land in third on the leaderboard entering today’s action.

Speaking of the leaderboard, here are the 24 players remaining in the 2010 PCA Main Event:

1. Ryan D'Angelo - 7,483,000
2. John Duthie - 5,304,000
3. Wayne Bentley - 2,878,000
4. Thomas Koral - 2,438,000
5. Barry Shulman - 2,433,000
6. Aage Floenes Ravn - 2,282,000
7. Zachary Goldberg - 2,195,000
8. James Tolbert - 2,016,000
9. Benjamin Zamani - 1,905,000
10. Robert Mizrachi - 1,823,000
11. Harrison Gimbel - 1,803,000
12. Tyler Reiman - 1,796,000
13. Darren Keyes - 1,614,000
14. Luc Greenwood - 1,528,000
15. Dimitri Hefter - 1,350,000
16. Matthew Haugen - 1,161,000
17. Jimmie Guinther - 932,000
18. Jeff Madsen - 896,000
19. Gijs Verheijen - 882,000
20. Bo Schultz - 720,000
21. Tamas Lendvai - 662,000
22. Praz Bansi - 542,000
23. Richard Toth - 488,000
24. Kenny Nguyen - 242,000

Eight nations are represented in the final 24. Duthie is the only member of Team PokerStars Pro remaining in the field after his comrades like 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event Champion Joe Cada, 2004 Main Event winner Greg Raymer, 2003 World Champion Chris Moneymaker, and former PCA victor Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier busted in prior days.

The elimination of Amanda Baker in 38th place set up a male-only field on Day 5. Poker pro Praz Bansi sent her packing after Baker pushed all-in with Q-J and Bansi made the call with pocket rockets. The board came K-2-4-4-3 and the last woman standing in the $10,000 buy-in feature tournament saw her title hopes evaporate.

Every one of the 24 remaining players is assured a payday of at least $75,000. The top four finishers will earn $1 million from the record-setting PCA Main Event field of 1,529 entrants. Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest 2010 PCA coverage.

I Raise You a Cart Full of Groceries by Lee Jones

It was a typical evening of cards at Gil’s house. Gil is the regular host of my local poker game and he does it spectacularly well. The game starts on time and ends on time (for those folks saddled with real j*bs).  He’s got a great sound system and the tunes range from Massive Attack to George Jones; you don’t know what you’re going to hear, but you know it’s going to be good.

It’s $1-$1 No Limit Hold’em with two inviolate rules: (1) no discussing religion and (2) no discussing politics. We all know that such discussions can destroy a perfectly convivial poker game and any time the conversation strays in that direction, people are quick to put a stop to it. The game – the camaraderie – is far too important to threaten when a political debate turns personal.

Anyway, Gil’s game has been running for a few years and it’s not hard to see why. The people are wonderful, generous, and kind to each other. In my short tenure in the game, I’ve become close friends with a number of them; I count myself incredibly fortunate to settle into a chair in Gil’s basement once a week.

I had been up and down throughout the game. I got ahead a couple hundred fairly early, but then gave it back in a poorly played semi-bluff. Then, I managed to win back a couple of pots that got me back up about $100; that’s when the grocery hand broke out.

Tom, on my left, was dealing. A couple of people called the $1 blind. I raised to $4 with pocket eights – I thought it would get me the button and if I hit something, there would be a nice pot to win. Tom folded, as he should have, but I still ended up with three or four opponents. I slid my cards over to Tom so he could sweat along with me. I mean, the flop was coming K-Q-2 and I would be done with the hand anyway.

Tom is one of those dealers who puts the flop out one card at a time. The first card he put on the felt was an eight. So much for the “fold to the first bet” plan.

The bad news was that the next two cards were a nine and a jack. I might already be in trouble and with $300 to $400 stacks in front of many of us, this had the makings of the biggest pot of the night.

Chris, who had defended his blind, fired $26 into the pot. Odd bet – maybe 20% bigger than the pot. Parker, in middle position, called pretty quickly. Wow – things were getting interesting. I had no intention of letting a cheap straight card peel off the turn and I thought that either of them would have checked a flopped straight to me hoping that I’d continuation-bet it. On the other hand, I was not giving any cheap straight-making cards: “Buck and a quarter,” I said.

Chris immediately folded, which fascinated me. I meant to ask him later what he’d made that play with, but now Parker went into the tank. That’s when I noticed that he had only about $140 left in front of him. If he called here, the rest of the money was going in on the turn. It was clear he had a difficult decision; I was 100% sure that I was in front.

“I call,” he sighed. To avoid giving away anything, I looked directly at Parker as Tom put out the turn card. He looked at the card and shrugged. “I’m all-in.” Almost afraid to see what the card was, I glanced at the board. A queen. If Parker had made the call with an open-end straight draw, I now had ten outs. But his all-in was $40 and there was nearly $300 in the pot; behind or not, folding was not in my list of options. “Sure Parker, I call.” I turned up my eights and he winced. He had Q-J and had turned two pair.

The river did not bring Parker’s four-outer or a pot-splitting ten and I scooped an almost $400 pot. The game ended not too long after that and I left with a healthy profit.

I had to stop by the grocery store to get some staples – the weather was warning of a potent snowstorm moving in. As I walked into the nearly deserted store, I saw, near the registers, the barrel for the local food bank. Like so many food banks in our country, their donations are down and requests for assistance are up. People who used to contribute to the food bank are now going to it for groceries.

The donation barrel was empty.

I thought about that and Parker’s $100 call of my raise. My shopping plans changed. The front “kid carrier” part of the cart was all I needed for my items; I decided to fill the rest of the cart with non-perishables: Beans, rice, mac and cheese, powdered milk, healthy cereal, oatmeal, grits, peanut butter, and canned vegetables. This was fun.

I got to the cashier and asked him to ring up the front half of the cart separately for my tax receipt. As the total climbed on the register display and the front half of the cart was emptied, I started to chuckle; when he hit the “Total” key, I laughed out loud – it was $101.64. I had a put a soul-read on a grocery cart full of food.

The cashier and I rolled the cart over to the donation barrel. The last two bags we put in perched above its rim. Parker will be tickled when he reads this – he’ll be proud of where his money went.

I will certainly have the opportunity to make some bad semi-bluffs in Gil’s game in the future and there will be times when those six-outers come in against me. But last night, I turned a flopped set into a cart full of groceries for the Manna Food Bank. That’s +EV right there.

Lee Jones is the Card Room manager of Cake Poker and has been in the online poker business for over six years. He is also the author of “Winning Low Limit Hold’em,” which is still in publication over 15 years since its initial release.

Poker After Dark Season 6 Kicks Off with Commentators III

Season 6 of the popular NBC poker program “Poker After Dark” kicked off this week with “Commentators III.” In a somewhat surreal scene, announcers from popular poker programs took to the felts at the Golden Nugget in Las Vegas.

Each player started with 20,000 in chips and blinds at 100-200. Dan Gati replaced Full Tilt Poker’s Ali Nejad in the booth, as Nejad took to the felts as part of the kickoff week. He raised with A-J in the first hand shown and received no action, turning over his two cards to prove that he always has a hand. Also appearing as part of “Commentators III” this week are Howard Lederer, “High Stakes Poker” hosts Gabe Kaplan and Kara Scott, “Poker2Nite” anchor and UB.com pro Joe Sebok, and Mark Gregorich.

In one hand, Nejad raised to 650 pre-flop with K-J and Lederer made the call with 10-J. The flop came 8-9-6, giving Lederer an open-ended straight draw, and the action went check-check to a four on the turn. Lederer led out for 875 and Nejad quickly mucked, prompting a flurry of references to a set of fours. During the last “Commentators” week, Nejad busted with a set of fours against Kaplan’s set of tens.

Nejad then ramped up his charm, telling the assembled panel of announcers, “I had something special to do today in honor of Joe [Sebok] finally making a TV table.” He produced a tray of champagne classes and gave one to each competitor. Sebok has a bevy of televised final table bubbles in his career, including a ninth place finish in the 2008 World Poker Tour (WPT) Festa al Lago, a seventh place finish at the 2007 Legends of Poker, and a seventh place finish at the 2007 Bay 101 Shooting Star; WPT final tables are played six-handed. He finished fifth in the 2006 Ultimate Bet Aruba Poker Classic for $99,000.

On his tendency to bubble, Sebok told “Poker After Dark” host Leeann Tweeden, “Unfortunately in poker, I became more famous for missteps than good steps.” It was later revealed that Sebok and Nejad attended the University of California, Berkley at the same time, leading to a discussion as to whether the two had ever met. Kaplan then flopped the nuts with K-J on a board of 10-Q-A. Nejad, who held Q-J for middle pair and a gutshot straight draw, bet 850 after Kaplan checked. Kaplan raised to 2,100 and Nejad folded.

Twenty-five minutes into the kickoff episode of “Poker After Dark” Season 6, the first river card was dealt. Sebok led out for 550 with Q-3 on a board of 4-8-Q with two spades. Kaplan put in a raise to 2,150 with 3-4 of spades and Sebok called. The turn was another queen, giving Sebok trips, and the action went check-check. The river was a four, giving both players full houses. Sebok bet 2,700 and Kaplan wisely folded. Sebok became the new chip leader after scooping the pot of 7,900.

Scott, who was largely quiet throughout the episode, donned a CardRunners logo for her first “Poker After Dark” appearance. She exclaimed, “I’m playing with Gabe Kaplan! It’s really exciting!” Amid discussion of the upcoming Heath Ledger movie, “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus,” Sebok raised to 1,100 with A-K and Gregorich called with pocket nines. The flop fell 7-3-10 and Sebok made a continuation bet of 1,600. Gregorich called and a six came on the turn. The action went check-check as Sebok let his foot off the gas and a four came on the river. Both players again checked and Gregorich scooped the 6,000-chip pot.

In one of the final hands shown on Monday night’s episode, Gregorich held pocket rockets and raised to 1,200 pre-flop. Sebok came along with 5-6 of clubs from the big blind and the flop came Q-6-8. Sebok checked, Gregorich fired out a bet of 3,000, and Sebok folded.

“Commentators III” continues all week on “Poker After Dark.” The franchise airs late nights at 2:05am ET on NBC and is sponsored by Full Tilt Poker, whose logo appears in the center of the felt.

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.

Top 5 of 2009: Phil Ivey Makes the November Nine

With an eye on the great poker personalities that have made the scene and the interesting fodder they’ve provided for us over the past 12 months, we’ve come up with our very own Top Five Poker News Stories of 2009.

The plan was to present them to you every other day from until New Year’s Eve and we conclude today with No. 1: Phil Ivey Makes the November Nine.

You simply can’t have a bigger story than the consensus best player on the planet making the final table of the biggest tournament in the world.

After finishing 23rd in 2002, a heartbreaking 10th in 2003 and 20th in 2005, Phil Ivey finally reached the final table of the 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event this summer.

And, as if making the November Nine was not enough, he brought with him a shot at a third bracelet on the year.

Within minutes of the final table being set, pundits predicted poker would be the big winner, that the game’s biggest superstar would help sell poker to a whole new audience through the mainstream media and do more to convince the U.S. government that poker is a skill game, and should be legal online, than ever before.

But, weaned on the game in Atlantic City casinos playing with fake ID before he was old enough to legally play, Ivey had always been a bit standoffish with the media.

With the bright Main Event spotlight on him for four months before the final table played out, however, he appeared to at least partially embrace a role as an ambassador for the game, helping poker make a few strides further into the mainstream.

Despite sitting seventh in chips heading into the final, online betting sites saw huge dollars bet on Ivey, pushing the odds down and practically making him the favorite to win before November.

And as the final table date drew closer, it began to look as if the entire poker world was rooting for him, even those who probably shouldn’t have.

When there were 2,400 players left in the Main Event, fellow Team Full Tilt Pro Andy Bloch bet Ivey $20,000 at 99-1 that he wouldn’t win.

Faced with paying Ivey $2 million if he did, Bloch said he still couldn’t help but pull for him.

“It was quite a sweat,” he said. “But no matter how much it would have cost me, a part of me still wanted to see him win.”

Although Ivey’s presence did not increase ratings for ESPN’s final table coverage, it still appeared interest in the Main Event and the game of poker was as high this November as it’s ever been, and poker has Ivey to thank for that.

In the end, when his ace-king could not get past Darvin Moon’s ace-queen, Ivey bowed out seventh, helping pave the way for 21-year-old Joe Cada to become the youngest Main Event champion in history.

But even his bustout appeared to draw as much attention as Cada’s win.

He may not have won the Main Event, but the impact of Ivey just making the final table was enough to turn the heads of people who had never paid attention to poker before and secure a spot as the No.1 story on PokerListings’ Top Five Poker News Stories of 2009.

PokerListings' Top Five Poker News Stories of 2009:

• No. 5: The Emergence of Luke Schwartz
• No. 4: Yevgeniy Timoshenko’s Year
• No. 3: The durrrr Challenge
• No. 2: Isildur1 and the Seven-Figure Pots

PokerStars ANZPT Season 2 Schedule Announced

The first six events of Season 2 of the PokerStars-sponsored Australia New Zealand Poker Tour (ANZPT) were announced in recent days, with Adelaide set to host the first event from February 9th to 14th.

The buy-in for the kickoff tournament of the tour’s second season weighs in at AUD $3,000 and the festivities will be held at the Adelaide Casino. The venue’s Poker Manager, David Galpin, commented in a press release distributed by the world’s largest online poker site, “We are looking forward to the return of the ANZPT in Adelaide after the wonderful success of the first year and we are excited to see the event grow and flourish.” The Main Event is capped at 360 players and preliminary tournaments will get underway in the Australian city on February 2nd.

In an interesting rule found on the ANZPT’s website, iPods are not allowed at the Adelaide event due to government policy. In addition, the casino has a strict stance against string betting and out of turn bettors will forfeit their contribution to the pot should they ultimately choose to fold. Poker players who win their way in through PokerStars will tour wineries and other nearby attractions during their trip.

After Adelaide, a brand new ANZPT event in Perth will play out, with the Burswood Entertainment Complex serving as the epicenter of the Australian poker market beginning on March 17th. The AUD $2,500 buy-in Main Event will name a champion four days later and the field is capped at 300 runners. On the new event, Jason Barry, General Manager of Table Games at Burswood Entertainment Complex, commented in the same release, “We feel this is just what our players have been waiting for and we expect big numbers will take part in the first PokerStars.net ANZPT Perth tournament.”

A total of five events made up Season 1 of the ANZPT, which kicked off in February in Adelaide. Tournaments followed in Sydney, Melbourne, Queenstown, and Queensland. In the finale of ANZPT Season 1, Scott Kerr earned AUD $168,075 for defeating a field of 249 players back in August. The largest field during Season 1 turned out in Sydney, where nearly 500 players took to the felts. The conclusion of that event saw Paren Arzoomanian scoop the AUD $246,500 first place prize.

A combined 1,309 players took part in Season 1 events and nearly $3 million in prize money was doled out. Here is the schedule for what promises to be a lively Season 2 on the PokerStars-backed ANZPT:

ANZPT Adelaide: Adelaide Casino
February 9th to 14th
Buy-in: AUD $3,000

ANZPT Perth: Burswood Entertainment Complex
March 17th to 21st
Buy-in: AUD $2,500

ANZPT Sydney: Star City Casino
April 21st to 25th
Buy-in: AUD $2,200

ANZPT Queenstown: Sky City Queenstown
July 17th to 25th
Buy-in: NZD $2,500

ANZPT Gold Coast: Conrad Jupiters
August 11th to 15th
Buy-in: AUD $2,500

ANZPT Melbourne: Crown Casino
October 8th to 11th
Buy-in: TBD

More stops will likely be added to Season 2 of the ANZPT, although no further information was available at the time of writing. A tournament leaderboard held during the first season of the tour saw Tony Hachem emerge victorious after cashing in four of the five ANZPT Season 1 events. For his leaderboard win, Hachem took home entry into Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT) events as well as the 2010 Aussie Millions. Chris Levick, who finished in second place on the leaderboard, gained entry into every ANZPT Season 2 event.

In addition to the ANZPT and APPT, PokerStars also sponsors the European Poker Tour (EPT), Latin American Poker Tour (LAPT), Italian Poker Tour (IPT), Czech-Slovak Poker Tour (CSPT), Russian Poker Tour (RPT), and U.K. and Ireland Poker Tour (UKIPT).

Allen Kessler Wins 2009 Bayou Poker Challenge Championship

Allen “Chainsaw” Kessler emerged as the champion of the Main Event of the Bayou Poker Challenge at Harrah’s New Orleans. A total of 80 players turned out for the $3,120 buy-in tournament and Kessler earned $71,000 after a four-way chop.

In addition to the prize money, Kessler took home a $10,000 seat into the 2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event in Las Vegas and $1,000 to use for travel expenses. In November of 2008, Kessler made the final table of the WSOP Circuit Championship at Harvey’s Lake Tahoe for $31,00. He claimed his first gold ring one year prior after defeating a field of 522 players in a $500 buy-in No Limit Hold’em event for $73,000. Kessler has shined on the World Poker Tour (WPT), where he’s made two final tables, including a third place showing in the Season 4 WPT Invitational for $20,000. In Season 5, he finished sixth at Foxwoods for $136,000.

Kessler entered the final table in New Orleans at the Bayou Poker Challenge as a 2:1 chip leader over his next closest competitor and never looked back. Taking ninth place in the Crescent City was Phil Hall, a 61 year-old software engineer. Hall hit the rails less than a half-hour into final table play after coming out on the losing end of a race with pocket fives against A-K when a king hit, but earned $8,300.

The next to go was Will “The Monkey” Souther, a pro from nearby Biloxi, Mississippi. In his final hand, Souther pushed all-in with pocket jacks, but ran into pocket kings. The better hand held and Souther was sent packing, $9,400 richer for his wear. Taking seventh place was Ben “The Destroyer” Mintz, who entered the final table as the third largest stack. He ultimately ran Q-J into pocket queens, earning $11,000.

Justin “Lockdowntex” Allen made history by finishing in sixth place at Harrah’s New Orleans. Allen took down last year’s Bayou Poker Challenge Championship to the tune of $158,000 and, when combined with a final table appearance at a WSOP Circuit Event Championship held in May at Harrah’s New Orleans, has made three straight Main Event feature tables at the casino. His sixth place finish this year was worth $13,000.

Fifth place in the 2009 Bayou Poker Challenge Championship went to Michael “Car Wash” Schneider. He was the field’s shortest stack entering the final table, but rebounded to earn $16,000. Four-handed, an undisclosed deal was forged. Officially taking fourth was Jim McBride, who earned $19,000. Third place belonged to Moutray McLaren, a poker pro from South Carolina. The official third place payout was $28,000.

Second place after the deal went to Ed Corrado, a retired player from Florida. He banked $44,000, falling short of only Kessler. The tournament’s ultimate champion told Bayou Poker Challenge officials following his win, “I really like supporting these events. These are great structures. It’s one of the best tournament structures I’ve seen for this buy-in amount.” Kessler then purportedly headed to the high-limit gaming area of Harrah’s New Orleans to celebrate.

Going on concurrently with the Bayou Poker Challenge Championship, and perhaps taking away from some of its luster, was an NFL game between the undefeated New Orleans Saints and the Dallas Cowboys. The Cowboys upended the Saints to snap the team’s perfect season on Saturday night in one of the biggest upsets of the 2009 NFL schedule. On Sunday, the city played host to the New Orleans Bowl between Southern Mississippi and Middle Tennessee State, with the latter winning the 42-32 shootout. Both games were played inside the Louisiana Superdome.

Harrah’s New Orleans serves as the final stop of the 2009-2010 WSOP Circuit schedule. The festivities begin at the urban casino on May 7th.

Daniel Alaei Wins WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic

Poker pro Daniel Alaei took down the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic on Saturday night, earning $1.4 million and a $25,000 seat into the end-of-season WPT Championship.

On the 47th hand of final table play, online poker pro Stephen “MrTimCaum” O’Dwyer was sent packing from the Bellagio, the site of the WPT Five Diamond. O’Dwyer shoved his 19 big blind stack in with A-6 of diamonds, but ran into poker pro Scotty Nguyen’s wired pair of jacks. The flop came jack-high, giving Nguyen top set and O’Dwyer bottom pair. An ace on the turn left the at-risk O’Dwyer calling for another ace on the river, but a four fell to send him to the exits. O’Dwyer earned $202,000 for his efforts.

Sixty hands later, Nguyen departed after shoving over the top of a raise by Josh Arieh. Online poker star Faraz “The-Toilet” Jaka, who had entered the final table as the chip leader, moved all-in over the top of Nguyen and Arieh folded. At risk, Nguyen showed pocket nines, but Jaka turned over pocket kings for a 4:1 edge pre-flop. The board ran out A-J-8-2-8 and Jaka scooped the pot with kings-up. The Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic marked Nguyen’s eighth WPT final table and he earned $249,000.

The next to go was Shawn Buchanan, who pushed his 10 big blind stack into the middle with K-8, but Alaei’s A-K left him drawing thin. The board came 9-7-3-9-J, which was no help to Buchanan, and Alaei scooped the pot. Three-handed, Arieh held a commanding chip lead with an arsenal of 10.6 million, while Alaei’s second place stack totaled 5.4 million. Jaka, meanwhile, had a stack of 3.7 million entering three-handed play.

Jaka busted in third place after committing his chips pre-flop with A-6 and running into the pocket kings of Alaei. The flop came K-10-5, leaving Jaka calling for running straight cards, but an eight on the turn and four on the river sealed his fate. Jaka was the runner-up in the Bellagio Cup V in July, where he earned $774,000. On Saturday, he added another $571,000 to his bankroll.

Heading into heads-up play, Arieh held a 2:1 chip lead, but quickly doubled up Alaei after coming out on the short end of a race with A-K against Alaei’s pocket queens. The board came jack-high, giving Alaei the pot and a 3:1 chip lead just two hands into heads-up play. Arieh then doubled after sucking out on A-Q with A-7 when a seven hit on the turn. The two poker veterans were nearly even in chips at that point.

However, Alaei ultimately emerged victorious in the final WPT tournament of 2009. Arieh pushed all-in with pocket sevens on a flop of 10-5-2 and Alaei made the call with 10-8 for top pair. The turn came a six and Arieh needed one of two remaining sevens in the deck to stave off elimination. However, the river came an eight, giving Alaei two pair and his first WPT title. Arieh earned a $952,000 consolation prize, while Alaei boosted his bankroll by $1.4 in his first WPT final table appearance.

Here were the final table results from the WPT Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic:

1. Daniel Alaei - $1,428,430
2. Josh Arieh - $952,290
3. Faraz “The-Toilet” Jaka - $571,374
4. Shawn Buchanan - $333,302
5. Scotty Nguyen - $249,976
6. Stephen “MrTimCaum” O'Dwyer - $202,362

The first tournament for the WPT in 2010 is the Southern Poker Championship, which will emanate from the Beau Rivage Resort and Casino in Biloxi, Mississippi. The event kicks off on January 24th and crowns a champion three days later.

Alaei: Out of Bobby’s Room and Into a WPT Title

“This is great,” Alaei said moments after the win Saturday. “I’ve been wanting one of these for a while. I was basically the only one of my friends that didn’t have one, now I’ve got one and it feels great.”

The tournament began at Bellagio this past Monday with 329 players entering the fray by time registration closed.

But it did so without the eventual champion, who chose to spend Day 1 letting his stack be blinded off while he stuck it out in Bobby’s Room in a cash game with noted whale and Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberté.

Alaei immediately went to work Tuesday building a big stack that put him contention before making a final six Friday pundits dubbed one of the toughest in tour history.

When play got going just after 4 p.m. Saturday, short staked online pro Steve O’Dwyer moved up the leader board with a few well timed shoves, but soon ran into Scotty Nguyen and a pair of jacks pushing with A♦ 6♦.

Nguyen flopped a set, and although O’Dwyer picked up two pair on the turn, the river bricked to bounce him sixth.

Nguyen could not hold on to those chips, however, falling below the two million mark before open shoving with nines.

WPT Bellagio Cup runner-up Faraz Jaka made the easy call with kings and after a board of blanks, the Prince of Poker was forced to settle for fifth place money in his sixth WPT final table appearance.

Shawn Buchanan then dropped out fourth in his attempt at a second WPT win, shoving short with K♥ 8♦ and running smack into Alaei’s A♣ K♦.

A short stacked Josh Arieh doubled up twice early to jump back into contention and scooped a more than 3 million chip pot calling down a naked Jaka bluff with just ace-high to move into the chip lead.

A tough heads-up opponent.

 

Despite not being involved in any of the bust-out hands, all the chips seemed to end up in Josh Arieh’s stack, and just after play went three-handed, he had an almost 3:1 chip lead on Alaei and Jaka combined.

Alaei moved on to heads-up with Arieh, calling Jaka’s A♠ 6♥ shove with kings and flopping a set to send Jaka home third in a hand the 26-year-old Santa Fe Springs, California native described as critical.

“That was extremely crucial,” he explained. “I knew I wanted to get heads-up with Josh, but if Josh would have busted him I would have only had 3 million to his 16 million and that would have been really tough.”

Arieh, a two-time WSOP bracelet winner making his second WPT final table appearance, still held an almost 2:1 chip lead when heads-up began, but it didn’t last long.

In just the second hand of heads-up play the two combatants found themselves in a classic race with Alaei all in holding queens and Arieh on big slick.

The queens held and suddenly Alaei was the one in charge.

“There was really nothing we could do - Two queens against ace-king,” he said. “It just kind of played out and I’m happy to be the one standing here.”

Alaei gave back some chips when Arieh sucked out with a dominated ace, but eventually made a huge call with top pair against Arieh’s under-pair to book the $1,428,430 win.

Alaei, who has two WSOP bracelets and is a regular in the Big Game and TV’s High Stakes Poker, said the experience he has playing in the world’s biggest cash games paid great dividends.

“I’m more used to the swings,” he said. “I’m used to big money changing hands. That makes you more comfortable and that definitely had to give me an advantage here.”

Scotty Nguyen, Faraz Jaka Lead WPT Five Diamond Final Table

Poker pros Scotty Nguyen and Faraz “The-Toilet” Jaka lead the final table of the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic playing out from the Bellagio in Las Vegas. The six-handed finale will begin at 4:00pm PT today.

Nguyen holds a stack of 4.9 million entering the six-handed televised final table, which will air as part of Season 8 of the WPT on Fox Sports Net. The Five Diamond will mark Nguyen’s eighth WPT final table. His only win of the seven previous appearances came during Season 4, when the pro took down the World Poker Open for $969,000. All told, Nguyen owns $2.1 million in WPT earnings and has been a staple of the tour ever since its first season. Jaka, an acclaimed online poker pro, leads the way at the Bellagio with 5.4 million chips.

Joe Cassidy was the final table bubble boy at the Bellagio. He shoved under the gun for 715,000 and Josh Arieh pushed over the top. Nguyen, in typical dramatic fashion, held his cards (A-Q) high in the air and, according to coverage found on WPT’s website, commented, “Oh baby, I would have called you if he didn't." Stephen “MrTimCaum” O’Dwyer grew frustrated with the situation, as players were still left to act in the hand, and stated, "How hard is it to keep your cards on the felt? And why am I the only one concerned about it?" Shawn Buchanan called as well, setting up a three-way all-in to determine the six-handed final table.

Arieh flipped over pocket tens, while Buchanan had him dominated with pocket queens. Cassidy, meanwhile, held live cards with K-J and watched as the flop came J-5-4. Buchanan’s wired pair of queens remained in the lead and a running 7-5 sent Cassidy to the rails. Buchanan scooped the massive pot, resulting in a stack of 2.8 million entering the final table. Here’s a look at the chip stacks of the members of the final table in the WPT Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic:

1. Faraz “The-Toilet” Jaka - 5,385,000
2. Scotty Nguyen - 4,900,000
3. Daniel Alaei - 3,925,000
4. Shawn Buchanan - 2,800,000
5. Josh Arieh - 1,710,000
6. Stephen “MrTimCaum” O’Dwyer - 1,050,000

Others eliminated on Friday included Chad “lilholdem954” Batista, who was sent to the rails in 10th place for $57,000. Batista open-shoved pre-flop with pocket fives and Nguyen made the call with K-J. The flop came king-high and Nguyen turned a third king for trips, sending Batista into the Las Vegas night. Batista recorded his second WPT cash in the process; he took 23rd in the Festa al Lago earlier this year for $24,000.

Carter “ckingusc” King, who chopped the 2008 PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) Main Event, was ousted from the WPT Five Diamond in 14th place. King pushed all-in over the top of a raise by 2008 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Europe Main Event Champion John Juanda, who made the call. King showed A-9 and Juanda flipped over pocket sixes, setting up a race situation. The board ran out J-8-4-4-3 and that was all she wrote for King, who earned $47,000 for his troubles.

Friday’s action saw the field trimmed from 16 players to six. Those who fell by the wayside over the course of the day, along with their paydays, were as follows:

7. Joe Cassidy - $154,747
8. Eric Hershler - $107,133
9. Curt Kohlberg - $76,183
10. Chad “lilholdem954” Batista - $57,137
11. John Juanda - $57,137
12. Lee Salem - $57,137
13. Mike “SowersUNCC” Sowers - $47,615
14. Carter “ckingusc” King - $47,615
15. Matt Waxman - $47,615
16. Joe “BigEgypt” Elpayaa - $38,092

When play paused for the night on Friday, the blinds were 30,000-60,000 with a 5,000-chip ante. The action kicks off at 4:00pm PT today from Las Vegas. We’ll have full WPT results right here on Poker News Daily.