Poker News

PKR Heads Up Event to Feature Dwan and Schwartz

The railbirds at the nosebleed cash games on Full Tilt Poker that loved watching Luke “FullFlush1″ Schwartz mouth off to Tom “durrrr” Dwan earlier this year will be happy to hear there is yet another chance for the two to face off on the felt in person.  Both Dwan and Schwartz have been tapped to play in the upcoming PKR Heads Up Grand Slam invitational event.

The televised event will feature a bracket-style tournament that pits a total of 32 players against each other in deep stack, heads-up matches.  The buy-in is $10,000 and there will be a grand total of $350,000 up for grabs in the prize pool.  Some of the other pros confirmed to be joining Dwan and Schwartz  are JC Tran, PokerStars Pro Vicky Coren, WPT Championship winner Yevgeniy “atimos” Timoshenko, Annette “Annette_15” Obrestad, Nam Le, Sammy George and Full Tilt Pro Roland de Wolfe.  The event will be taped and broadcast on UK’s Sky Sports over the course of eight two-hour episodes.

In addition to his poker prowess, Schwartz is also known around the poker world for his penchant for trash talking and outspoken nature.  Ever since Schwartz began playing in the high stakes cash games on Full Tilt, he has been particularly critical of Dwan and his group of friends within the poker community.  Schwartz has hinted at taking on durrrr in both the online and live “durrrr Challenges” in which opponents face off against Dwan in a series of heads-up matches, but nothing had come to fruition.

In the past two weeks all that has changed though, as the PKR Heads Up event marks the second televised tournament which will feature the two young pros.  In August, PartyPoker announced the two would be playing in their upcoming event, the PartyPoker World Open V.  That event, also being recorded for television, features a series of single table Sit & Go heats with players from each heat advancing to the final table.

Neither of these matches guarantees that Dwan and Schwartz will bump heads at the same table, but it now gives those eager to see the two together in a brick and mortar setting even more opportunities for their wish to come true.  The PKR Heads Up Grand Slam will take place in London from October 8th-10th and the World Open V will film immediately after that, running at the Palm Beach Casino from October 11th-15th.

The PKR Heads Up Grand Slam may be an invitation-only event, but it will be open to more than just the top pros.  The site is currently running satellites on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays in which players can qualify to play in the Heads Up Grand Slam Online Finale taking place from September 29th through October 1st.  Only 32 players will advance to the online finals, which consist of a series of three heads-up matches.  The 16 players who survive Round One on the 29th advance to Round Two the next day.  On the final day of play, the eight remaining players will battle in one last heads-up showdown and each of the four winners will gain entry into the live and televised Heads Up Grand Slam Event.

The four satellite prize packages are each valued at $12,000 and include a buy-in into the October event as well as $2,000 for travel expenses.  Those interested in satelliting their way into the online final can do so for as little as $7.28.

The upcoming heads-up event is not the only live tournament with PKR sponsorship on the horizon.  The site recently announced it’s popular PKR Live event will be returning for a third installment from November 20th-22nd at The Loose Cannon Club in London.  A special $200 Bounty tournament will be offered in addition to the $1,000 buy-in Main Event, which is expected to offer a first place prize of $40,000.

PokerStars.net Asia Pacific Poker Tour Macau Day 2: The Bubble Bursts

Today saw 196 players returned to the beautiful Grand Lisboa Casino for the continuation of the 2009 PokerStars.net Asia Pacific Poker Tour Macau Main Event. It was the first time all of the remaining players were in the room at the same time, and...

WSOP November Niners Lead WPT Legends of Poker

In the World Poker Tour (WPT) Legends of Poker, two members of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) November Nine are dominating, as Steven Begleiter and Kevin Schaffel sit in the top three in chips.

Heading into Day 4 on Tuesday, Todd Terry leads the way with a stack of 850,000. Right behind him is Schaffel, who owns 728,000. Schaffel will claim the sixth largest chip stack when play resumes in November in the 2009 WSOP Main Event. He helped his cause in the Legends of Poker on Monday by knocking off Nick Schulman in 27th place. Schulman pushed pre-flop with pocket jacks, but ran into Schaffel’s pocket aces. The flop came ace-high and running jacks failed to come on the turn and river, sending Schulman home $18,000 richer for his efforts.

Begleiter will come armed to Tuesday’s play with a stack of 617,000, good for third place. Begleiter dropped a sizable pot to Toto Leonidas late in the day. On a board of J-10-10-2-2, Begleiter led out for 55,000 and Leonidas made the call, exposing pocket aces. Begleiter tossed his cards into the muck, giving Leonidas the chip lead. Leonidas then promptly doubled up Carter “ckingusc” King holding A-8 against King’s 10-9.

Bryan Devonshire was the chip leader with 27 players to go until his fortunes turned sour. On the money bubble, Devonshire doubled up David Demanski. On a flop of A-J-6, Demanski pushed with A-Q and Devonshire tanked before finally making the call with A-4. The turn and river came a three and eight, respectively, allowing Demanski to double up and hold the 13th largest stack entering play on Tuesday.

Shortly thereafter, Devonshire, a top online poker player, doubled up Matt Marafioti after coming out on the short end of a race with A-Q against Marafioti’s pocket jacks. The flop came A-J-6, giving Marafioti a set and Devonshire top pair. The board filled out 3-8, sending Devonshire’s chip stack down to 400,000. After Schulman was eliminated in 27th place, Devonshire was the next to go. He was all-in holding 10-8 of diamonds on an all-diamond flop. However, Terry held A-7 of the suit for the nut flush. Devonshire had gone from chip leader with 27 to go to railbird in the span of just 90 minutes.

Here’s a look at the 24 remaining players in the WPT Legends of Poker:

1. Todd Terry - 850,000
2. Kevin Schaffel - 728,000
3. Steven Begleiter - 617,000
4. Corwin Mackey - 609,000
5. Eugene Katchalov - 592,000
6. Bob Lauria - 534,000
7. Toto Leonidas - 456,000
8. Sam Stein - 452,000
9. Prahlad Friedman - 451,000
10. Matt Marafioti - 388,000
11. Tony Gargano - 342,000
12. Matt Widdoes - 312,000
13. David Demanski - 300,000
14. Mike Krescanko - 277,000
15. Thu Nguyen - 277,000
16. Sergei Veytser - 255,000
17. Kia Mohajeri - 215,000
18. Eric Hershler - 180,000
19. Vigen Manukyan - 168,000
20. Steven Chao - 164,000
21. Carter King - 119,000
22. Richard Sciuto - 108,000
23. Stan Jablonski - 92,000
24. Peter Rho - 60,000

Day 4 starts today at 3:00pm PT and will conclude when the final six-handed table is determined. Each player remaining is assured at least $18,000 for their $10,000 investment, with a top prize of $1 million up for grabs. Blinds were 3,000-6,000 with a 500 ante when play halted on Monday night, meaning Rho, the tournament’s short-stack, had 10 big blinds to work with.

News of the sale of the WPT’s parent company to a subsidiary of Party Gaming floated through the Bicycle Casino’s Events Center before play began. However, PocketFivesLive.com Tournament Reporter Court Harrington told Poker News Daily that the mood was upbeat and many of the players were unaware of the sale, the second in three weeks for WPT officials.

Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest from the WPT Legends of Poker.

WPT Legends of Poker Day 3

Day 3 of the $10,000 no-limit hold’em World Poker Tour championship event at the 2009 Legends of Poker saw 74 players return to the new event center at the Bicycle Casino. Over the course of four levels the field whittled down to the top 27 players and the money bubble burst. One of those remaining players was Bryan Devonshire.

Brian Hastings Finishes Second on FTOPS XIII Event #22, Jake Toole Wins

The two-day FTOPS XIII Event #22 kicked off at Saturday with 850 participants. Buy-in for this No-Limit Hold’em Event was $2.620 with a prize pool of $2.125.00, first place for the event recieved $453.687.50.

Brian Hastings, who has made $200.000 in this year on Full Tilt’s cash games showed his tournament skills and managed to make into head’s up with Jake “psutennis11″ Toole.

Brian Hastings

Hastings, who had a dominant stack when the 66 remaining players entered the second day, played very strict and sharp poker throughout the day two. Eventually Hastings and Toole got into head’s up and the whole match was very even. First Toole lost his chip lead, but managed to climb back up with a lucky set of sevens which turned into a boat.

In the final hand Hastings moved all in with pocket sixes and “psutennis11″ called with two suitd overcards, Jc 8c. Flop brought a straight draw to Toole and the turn gave him a pair of jacks. The river was a blank K and Hastings finished second place. Hastings took home $297.000 for his awesome job.

Jake “psutennis11″ Toole got a nice $453.687.50 payday from his victory and recieves the FTOPS championship jersey alongside with the money. Congratulations to Jake Toole.

Jake “psutennis11″ Toole

Source: Pokerbloggs

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Brian Hastings Finishes Second on FTOPS XIII Event #22, Jake Toole Wins

Eric Buchman - Poker Player Profile

Eric Buchman, 29, hails from Valley Stream, New York and will enter the final table of the 2009 WSOP Main Event with 34.8 million in chips; second only to Darvin Moon. Although the $1,263,602 that is guaranteed to each of the November 9 will be by far Buchman’s largest tournament cash, he has been excelling on the tournament circuit since 2002 and has amassed more than $900,000 in career tournament earnings. Eric Buchman’s notable results prior to the 2009 Main Event are a win in the 2004 New England Poker Classic that netted him $275,400, a second place finish in a $1,500 Limit Hold’em bracelet event in the 2006 WSOP for $174,938, and another runners-up effort in the $5,000 buy-in Main Event at the WSOP Circuit event at Harrah’s Atlantic City, worth another $208,666.

Including the 2009 WSOP Main Event, Eric Buchman now has 10 career World Series of Poker cashes, making him the third most accomplished player at the final table, behind Jeff Shulman, and Phil Ivey.

Buchman was involved in one of the more interesting hands on Day 7 of the Main Event. Shortly after the dinner break with the blinds at $50,000-$100,000 and a $10,000 ante, Eric Buchman opted against a standard opening raise and decided to move all-in with Ace-10 of hearts for just over 3 million; a massive over bet of the pot. However, his attempted steal was unsuccessful when Jonathan Tamayo decided to make a stand with his pair of Jacks. At risk for his tournament life, Buchman needed a bit of good fortune to extend his run in the Main Event. The flop came down a perfect 9-7-2, all hearts, giving Buchman the nut flush and a crucial double up to over 6 million chips. Buchman never looked back, ending Day 7 with just over 10 million.

On Day 8, Buchman used the moral support of his family and his 8 years of experience in professional poker to chip away at the remaining players, more than tripling his stack before the end of play without many large confrontations. When the final table resumes in November, there is no question that Eric Buchman has a dangerous combination of poker wits, and chips that will make him a serious contender for the 2009 WSOP Main Event bracelet; the most coveted piece of hardware in Poker.

Bubble Bursts at WSOP Main Event - 407 Players Left.

After an action-packed Day 3, Day 4 promised even more as it was certain that 152 of the 800 remaining players would hit the rail and allow 648 poker enthusiasts and professionals to make the money in the WSOP Main Event.

Marc Rizzo, Team Lacey Jones Winners of WSOP Media Event

On a rare day off at the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP), the annual Media Charity Event took place on Thursday afternoon using the Dream Team Poker format.

While many were resting up to continue the fight in the Main Event, which resumes this afternoon, the media took their traditional day to demonstrate their skills (or lack thereof) on the same tables they have covered for the last seven weeks. A total of 165 players came together in three-man squads, making for a 55 team battleground. At stake was a contribution to charity from not only the victorious player, but also the winning team in the points-based competition.

There was plenty of fun to be had, but there was also a competitive gene that drove many to strive for their best. After the points were added up, Team Lacey Jones, led by the namesake professional poker player, captured the Dream Team Poker title over the Chonch Chowders and Team Mutt. Tao of Poker came in with a fourth place finish in the 55 team field, with ESPN.com rounding out the Top Five.

As expected, many of the top teams had individual players who made the final table and earned a contribution for their favorite charity. Julio Rodriguez (Chonch Chowders, tenth place), Lana Maier (Team Lacey Jones, fourth place) and Pauly McGuire (Tao of Poker, third place) all drove deep in the media event, but it eventually came down to Marc Rizzo from “Overfed & Underwashed” and Amanda Rosenfeld from “Luckbox Inc.” In the end, it was Rizzo who captured the individual title.

For the first time in this year’s Main Event, the entire field will be seated inside the Amazon Room for Day 3 on Friday. After the carnage of Day 2B, where over half of the field was eliminated from contention, only 2,044 lucky souls come together to battle it out for the riches of the largest poker tournament in the world. Overall, 648 people will walk off with at least the minimum payout of $21,365 and the next World Champion will take the prestigious Main Event Bracelet and $8,546,435.

Leading the 2,044 player field is Amir Lehavot, who will start the day with 610,500 in chips. Day One leader Troy Weber is solidly in the Top 10 with 453,200, with notable professional player Mikael Thuritz of Sweden holding down sixth place with 395,400.

2009 double bracelet winner Phil Ivey currently is sitting in the Top 20 and is the top American professional in the field. Defending champion Peter Eastgate, who willed his way through a difficult Day Two and still has a chance to defend his title, will join other former Main Event Champions Phil Hellmuth, Joe Hachem, Greg Raymer, and Chris “Jesus” Ferguson in their pursuit of a second World Championship.

Action begins in the Amazon Room at the Rio this afternoon and there will not be another break until the final table is determined on July 15th. After that, the remaining players will once again enter into the delayed final table scenario and become the second version of poker’s “November Nine,” set to play the final table out from November 7th to 10th.

It’s time! WSOP Main Event starts now

The Main Event is a monster of a tournament with four day 1s scheduled, each with 3,000 seats available for one easy payment of $10,000. Day 1A starts today at noon, with Day 1B starting tomorrow.

Day 1C and D start on the two days to follow. Each day is scheduled for 5 blind levels, with each level lasting 120 min. The first Day 2 (Day 2A), seating the remaining players from Day 1A and B, starts at noon on July 7th.

Day 2B will see the remaining players from Day 1C and D take to the felt for their second 10-hour session. After Day 2B completes, all players still with chips have one day off, during which the media tournament takes the center stage.

If you manage to make it to Day 3, you're looking at a non-stop marathon of poker, playing five levels of poker per day all the way through to Day 8. Day 8 finishes only when the field has played down to the infamous nine-player final table.

The final table will take place at some point between November 7th and 10th, concluding only when a new World Champion is crowned.

Last year's Main Event drew a field of 6,844 players, amassing a prize pool worth $64,333,600.

A lucky 666 players made it into the money including Men "The Master" Nguyen, Vanessa Rousso, Robert Mizrachi, Hasan Habib, Johnny Chan, Evelyn Ng, Gus Hansen, Mark Vos, David Benefield, Adam Levy, Phil Hellmuth, Mike Matusow (30th) and Brandon Cantu (20th).

In the end it was Peter Eastgate who defeated Ivan Demidov heads up for a first-place prize of $9,152,416 and a place in poker history.

Here at PokerListings.com, we take The Main Event mighty seriously. Bookmark our tournament page for live updates, news, blogs and video from the floor of the Rio.

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The Hunt for the Next World Champion Starts Today!

The World Series of Poker in 2009 will be remembered as the year of multi-bracelet winners, Jeffrey Lisandro leading the way with three bracelets on his name. Three other players also managed to win twice, Phil Ivey, Brock Parker and Greg “FBT” Mueller.

Other notable winners this year include Vitaly Lunkin, who won the special tournament that celebrated the 40th anniversary of World Series of Poker. Lunkin also made it to the $50k HORSE final and he leads the earnings list before the Main Event with $2,696,305.

David Bach conquered the coveted HORSE crown and won his first bracelet. Matt Hawrilenko, who is widely considered as the best Fixed Hold’Em cash game player in the world, showed that he can do the tournaments as well, as he also won his first bracelet in a $5k six-handed NL Hold’Em tournament.

For sure the Main Event winner will be the money list winner this year again. The largest and the longest poker tournament of the year will last over three months and the new world champion will be crowned in November on the same fashion like last year.

First day of the tournament is divided in four parts and second day is also split in two. Not until 10th of July every remaining player will be playing at the same time. The final table, or should I say the new November Nine, will should be figured out after eight long days of tournament poker action.

The final event will start on 7th of November and the successor for Peter Eastgate should be found on 10th of November.

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The Hunt for the Next World Champion Starts Today!

Late H.O.R.S.E. and Mosseri highlight WSOP July 1

That was most certainly the case with the $50k H.O.R.S.E. as it took David Bach until 10 a.m. today to win the tournament. The final table for the event began at 2 p.m. yesterday but it would be over 20 hours later that Bach would win the decisive hand against John Hanson.

Big names like Erik Seidel and Huck Seed fell out of contention early leaving an eclectic mix of Erik Sagstrom (known as TheSalmon online), Bach and Hanson.

Hanson and Bach would go on to play to play over six hours of heads-up play in the longest final table in the history of the $50k H.O.R.S.E.

Despite the marathon length of the final table Bach was still ecstatic when he received his WSOP bracelet and the Chip Reese Memorial Trophy.

You can read about Bach's thoughts on the event here.

Here's a look at what else happened on the abbreviated WSOP schedule just days before the Main Event begins:

Event 54 $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em Final Day

Event 54 was the last of the popular $1,500 No-Limit events and it easily sold out on Day 1 with 2,818 entrants.

Although the day began with 28 players it didn't take that long to cut that number down to a tidy final table of nine. Vivek Rajkumar was probably the most well-known player coming into the day but he ended up bowing out in 15th just sixth players short of the final table.

The final table was certainly lacking in big-name poker players but Tony Veckey of Chicago didn't mind as he outlasted everyone to take down a $673,000 prize for first place. The next $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em WSOP event will be played in 2010. Mark your calendars.

Event 55 $2,500 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball Limit Final Table

Event 55 was essentially the opposite of the $1,500 final table as 2-7 Triple Draw Limit is very much a pros' game.

The final table was littered with big names like John Juanda, Blair Rodman, Nam Le and all gunning for a bracelet.

Surprisingly Tom Schneider's wife Julie also made a very deep run in the event and ended up finishing third, which was better than all the pros just mentioned.

In the end it was Big Game regular Abe Mosseri who took it down. Mosseri bested Masayoshi Tanaka in a super-short heads-up match to win a WSOP bracelet and the $165,521 that came with it.

Event 56 $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em/Six-handed Day 2

Day 2 of Event 56 (the last tournament before the Main Event) began with one of the better fields we've seen this year.

Phil Hellmuth, Sorel Mizzi, Justin Bonomo Shannon Shorr and several other well-known players all started with hopes of making another WSOP final table. Unfortunately none of the above players would make it to the final 16 that finished the day.

Instead it's Rory Mathews who will take the chip lead of 1.35 million into Day 3 although Full Tilt Pro Matt Hawrilenko is close behind him with 1.32 million and Peter "Nordberg" Feldman has 1.2 million.

The remaining players will reconvene at 1 p.m. tomorrow with the intention of crowning the last WSOP bracelet winner before the Main Event.

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Greg Mueller Wins Second Bracelet of 2009 WSOP

With only scant days remaining until the start of the $10,000 Main Event at the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP), the race for the remaining bracelets is heating up in the Amazon Room at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.

The final table of the $1,500 Limit Hold’em Shootout, Event #50 on the WSOP schedule, played out deep into the evening on Sunday. A total of 571 players started the event on Friday, with the final eight survivors having won their way to the final table by winning two sit and gos over the previous two days. As with the shootout format, the players all started with the same number of chips (450,000 at the final table) and there were plenty of strong players in the mix.

Bodog’s David Williams, who famously finished second to Greg Raymer in the 2004 Main Event and has since captured his own WSOP bracelet, was joined by two other bracelet winners from this year’s play. Marc Naalden, who won only the second bracelet in WSOP for his home country of the Netherlands, and Full Tilt Poker’s Greg “FBT” Mueller, the former Canadian hockey player who picked up his first bracelet this year, led a contingent of players from around the world. Millie Shue, who was the runner-up in the Ladies’ event in 2004, the Netherlands’ Joep Van Den Bijgaart, Argentina’s Jose Barbero, Italy’s Flaminio Malaguti, and the United States’ Matt Sterling rounded out what was truly an international table.

The three bracelet winners got off to fast starts and, within two hours, had separated themselves from the pack. Mueller pulled into the chip lead when he drew the first blood at the table with the elimination of Barbero in eighth place. Prior to the table taking the dinner break, the two Scandinavians battled it out, as Naalden took out Van Den Bijgaart in seventh place.

After the dinner hiatus, Williams tried to mount an attack on Mueller’s chip lead. He vanquished Malaguti in sixth when he turned a five to match his A-5 against the Italian’s Big Slick, but couldn’t seem to find any traction after that point. He slowly slid down the leaderboard and was eventually eliminated by Shue in fourth place. Even with the knockout, Shue, who played conservatively through the final table, was eventually ousted in third place.

Heads-up play began between Mueller (who had dismissed Sterling from the tournament in fifth place) and Naalden, with the Canadian holding a 4:1 lead over the Scandinavian. With the two men reaching heads-up, it also guaranteed the fourth double bracelet winner of this year’s WSOP, setting a new record for most multiple bracelet winners.

Naalden attacked Mueller from the start of heads-up action and, through skillful play, was able to pull to even within 30 minutes of play. Over the next hour and a half, Mueller and Naalden, who both won their bracelets in Limit events this year, would swap the lead approximately a half dozen times before Mueller was able to go on a run. That run enabled Mueller, once his five kicker played over Naalden’s deuce after both paired a King on the final hand, to capture his second WSOP bracelet and the $194,854 top prize.

Most of the attention of the crowd at the Rio was focused on play in the Players’ Championship, the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. tournament. A total of 53 players came back to attempt to work down to the cashout level (the final 16 players), but were unable to do that as 19 remained by the time play ended for the day.

Vitaly Lunkin, who captured the title in the $40,000 Anniversary Event, leads the field with 1.5 million in chips. He is joined by internet legend Erik “Erik123” Sagstrom, 2007 H.O.R.S.E. champion Freddy Deeb, and David Bach as players who have all eclipsed the million chip mark. Lurking just under that level is Ville Wahlbeck, who captured his first bracelet earlier this month in the World Championship Mixed event. They are joined by such professionals as eight-time WSOP champion Erik Seidel, former World Champion and current National Heads-Up Champion Huck Seed, 2009 Pot Limit Hold’em World Champion John Kabbaj, and Gus “The Great Dane” Hansen, who has no WSOP jewelry in his career. The 19 remaining players returning for Day 4 will play through to a final table tonight and a champion determined tomorrow.

A championship will be determined tonight in Event #51, another $1,500 No Limit Hold’em tournament. Thirty-five players remain from the 2,781 who started the tournament, with newcomer Durand Thibaud holding the chip lead. He is joined by Owen Crowe as the only players over the million chip mark, with Josh Schlein on the verge of cracking that mark.

Two tournaments enter into Day 2 action today, the $3,000 Triple Chance No Limit Hold’em tournament (Event #52) and the $1,500 Seven Card Stud High-Low tournament (Event #53). Jeffrey Lisandro, who has already captured three WSOP bracelets this year, is looking for an unprecedented fourth in the Triple Chance event, although there are still 149 players left. Currently Lisandro holds a healthy stack of 113,800 and is in pursuit of Antonio “The Magician” Esfandiari, who has 127, 900. In the Seven Card tournament, Marcel Luske, Daniel Negreanu and Annie Duke are a few of the top names that have survived to play Day 2, with Allie Prescott holding the lead over the 143 runners remaining.

Two events will kick off action with their Day 1s that begin at Noon today. Event #54, another $1,500 No Limit Hold’em tournament, should draw a sizeable crowd and Event #55, the $2,500 Deuce to Seven Triple Draw Lowball tournament, should be stocked with top professionals. Poker News Daily will be on top of this and all of the rest of the action at the Rio as the poker world prepares for the start of the Main Event later this week.

Netherlands’ Marc Naalden Wins WSOP $2,000 Limit Holdem Event

In winning only the second World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet in the history of his country, the Netherlands’ Marc Naalden dominated final table play, suffered a slight setback during heads-up action, and came back to win Event #38, the $2,000 Limit Hold’em tournament.

The final table was determined early Sunday morning from the original 446 runners. Naalden, who had dominated the field since action was at 25 players, came to the featured table with a sizeable chip lead. His two closest competitors, Danny Qutami and Steven Cowley, didn’t even have as many chips combined as Naalden with his stack of 755,000. When play began at 2:00pm Sunday afternoon, the players went to work quickly, with Cowley eliminating pro Rep Porter in ninth place after an hour of play.

Naalden extended his lead when he crippled Jared O’Dell with pocket aces, jumping up over one million in chips. O’Dell was eliminated soon afterwards in seventh place and was immediately followed by Naalden’s elimination of Qutami, who bled chips at the final table. After Naalden eliminated Alex Keating in fifth place, he held over half of the chips in play.

Once Tam “Tommy” Hang (who finished in third place in last year’s $10,000 World Championship of this discipline) was eliminated in fourth and 2006 WSOP bracelet winner Ian Johns dropped in third, heads-up play came down to Naalden and Cowley. While it seemed that it would be a quick ascension to the bracelet for Naalden, who had Cowley dominated by over 7:1, it would actually prove to be one of the more exciting battles of this year’s WSOP.

Over the first 30 minutes of heads-up play, Cowley put on a surge that actually pushed him into the lead. In that time span, he either won or chopped every pot that was contested and had the Scandinavian scratching his head. After an hour, Naalden gathered himself and pushed back the Cowley assault, retaking the lead that he had held for much of the late action in Event #38. Naalden continued to batter the valiant Cowley until after two hours of heads-up play, he was able to catch a queen against Cowley to win the gold WSOP bracelet and $190,770 first place payday.

Two tournaments enter their final day of action with quite a bit of work to be done. Event #39, a $1,500 No Limit Hold’em tournament that started with 2,715 players on Saturday, could only get down to 26 by the 3:00am WSOP curfew. There is some controversy as to the chip count of the player at the top of the leaderboard, Michele Iacovone, as he has quoted his stack at 1,605,200 and there are no tournament chips of the 100 denomination in play. Nevertheless, he is atop the remainder of the field, with former World Poker Tour (WPT) champion Joe Bartholdi, veteran Raymond Davis, Alex Jacob, Nam Le, and WSOP bracelet holder Brandon Cantu in hot pursuit of the $657,787 first place prize.

Stacked tables of professional players remain in Event #40, the $10,000 World Championship of Pot Limit Omaha, and they were also unable to work their way down to the final table on Day Two. There are still 43 players remaining in the fight from the 295 starters. Noah Schwartz is at the head of the field, which also includes bracelet holders such as Full Tilt Poker’s Howard Lederer, PokerStars’ Barry Greenstein, Bodog’s David Williams, and Josh Arieh. The $40,000 Anniversary Special champion, Vitaly Lunkin, and Padraig Parkinson are a couple of the European players also in the mix. At the end of the rainbow when the tournament ends tonight: a highly prestigious gold WSOP bracelet and a $679,379 bankroll boost.

A total of 280 players stepped up to take part in Event #41, the $5,000 No Limit Hold’em Shootout, and after the carnage of Day One was finished, 30 players remain on five tables. There are some notable names that are alive as Day Two starts, such as Peter “Nordberg” Feldman, Mark Teltscher, Barney Boatman, Jennifer Harman, Amit “amak316” Makhija, Jean “Prince” Gaspard, and David “The Dragon” Pham. Even with this much star power, the attention of fans gathered at the Rio will be on 2009 double bracelet winner Phil Ivey as he aims for a third this year, a feat no one has accomplished since Ivey in 2002.

Day One of the $2,500 Mixed Game tournament, Event #42 on the WSOP schedule, drew a 412 player field eager to attack the eight disciplines of poker that it features. The combination of games could conceivably be a more difficult challenge than HORSE and the quality of some of the remaining players in the tournament shows the skill necessary to battle in this arena. 2009 WSOP double bracelet winner Jeff Lisandro, David Sklansky, John Juanda, Robert Williamson III, Marcel Luske, and Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi are just a few of the top names that are still in contention for this championship.

Two tournaments will start play today in the Amazon Room at the Rio: the $1,000 Seniors No Limit Championship and the $2,500 Razz tournament, Events #43 and 44 respectively. Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest from the 2009 WSOP.

Eric Baldwin (basebaldy) Emerges as Champ of WSOP $1,500 No Limit Holdem

It took a grueling three-day battle through 2,095 players and 11 hours on Thursday but, as the clock passed Midnight, online poker player Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin emerged as the champion of the latest $1,500 No Limit Hold’em tournament at the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP).

As the final day of play began, 21 players were in the hunt for their first WSOP bracelet and some were looking to add another one to their collection. Such pros as 2009 bracelet winner Roland de Wolfe and Team PokerStars Pro member Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier took to the felts. Corwin “mig.com” Mackey (a 2007 WSOP bracelet winner), Praz Bansi (2006 bracelet holder), and poker veteran Young Phan (a WSOP Circuit Event ring owner) were all gathered for battle at one table, all but ensuring that at least one wouldn’t survive to the finals.

The early action wasn’t kind to some of the pros on the felt. Bansi was eliminated in 19th place and Mackey followed him out the door in 18th. A cooler knocked out ElkY in 13th place when his pocket Kings ran into pocket Aces. After nearly four hours of play, only Phan and de Wolfe made the final 10 players, but were the short stacks. Jonas Klausen had the chip lead with slightly over 2.3 million chips, 600,000 more than Baldwin, his closest pursuer, and more than six times what Phan and de Wolfe held.

Phan did not record an official final table finish, as he was eliminated in 10th place. After the dinner break, de Wolfe, who had nursed his short stack in an attempt to claim his second bracelet of this year’s WSOP, left the festivities in fifth at the hands of Klausen. An hour and a half after de Wolfe’s departure, the final duo was determined with the two players who came to the final table with the most chips, Klausen and Baldwin, began to battle for the bracelet.

Both players were nearly dead even in chips as the heads-up battle started. Over the first 45 minutes of heads-up play, Klausen was able to crawl into the lead, only to see Baldwin cripple him 10 minutes later when Klausen flopped top two pair on a flop, moved in, and was called. Baldwin’s set of fours decimated the stack of the Danish player and, on the next hand, Baldwin sealed the deal when his pocket 10s outraced the of Klausen. For his efforts, Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin, who was also the member of a Division III NCAA baseball championship team in 2005, walked off with his first WSOP gold bracelet and the $521,932 first place prize.

There will be a bit of a delay in Event #35, the $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha tournament, before final table action begins today. Eleven players were remaining in the field when the 3:00am curfew hit and there are plenty of dangerous players remaining. Team Betfair member Sorel “Imper1um” Mizzi, Cliff “JohnnyBax” Josephy, and Isaac “westmenloAA” Baron are all on one of the two tables remaining. Other notable tournament names like Peter Jetten (who finished second last year in the $10,000 World Championship of this event) and Brazil’s Felipe Ramos are also in contention.

Two tournaments will be active with Day Two today. In Event #36, the $2,000 No Limit Hold’em tournament, 609 players return from the original 1,695 that entered. Corwin Cole will be the chip leader at 185,700 in chips, but there are threats everywhere. Top pros such as original “November Nine” member David “Chino” Rheem, John Myung, Shaun Deeb, Shannon Shorr, and Kenna James are just some of the remaining players in hot pursuit.

Day Two of the $10,000 World Championship of Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo, Event #37 on the WSOP schedule, will also be in action this afternoon. A total of 110 of the original 164 players are still alive, with only 16 taking away something for their efforts. As to be expected in a big money buy-in tournament, there isn’t a table remaining that doesn’t have at least three or four top pros on it, but they will all be chasing former World Poker Tour (WPT) Champion Tuan Le and his 234,000 in chips. WPT Co-Founder Lyle Berman and poker pro Jeffrey Lisandro are in second and third place at this point, respectively, and it is entirely possible that a final table will not be determined by the 3:00am curfew.

Only one event is scheduled for its Day One on Friday. The $2,000 Limit Hold’em, Event #38 on the WSOP schedule, is set for play at Noon in the Amazon Room at the Rio.

Tran, Van Alstyne add bracelets WSOP June 16

Leo Wolpert will be joining Tran on the winner's podium come tomorrow as he overcame John Duthie in the $10k Championship Heads-Up.

James Van Alstyne completes the trio of champions as he collected his first bracelet in the $1.5k H.O.R.S.E. event.

Here's how the action went down on a dramatic day at the 2009 WSOP.

Event 29 - $10,000 World Championship Heads-Up NL Hold'em Final Table

256 players entered this event, but just two survived to battle for the bracelet in the final.

Law student Leo Wolpert faced off against EPT founder John Duthie in a best-of-three challenge and a gruelling marathon three matches played out between the pair.

Although Duthie drew first blood, Wolpert won the next two matches to secure the title, collecting $625,682 for his win, as well as his first WSOP bracelet.

Read more about Wolpert's epic contest against Duthie here.

Event 30 - $2,500 Pot-Limit Omaha Final Table

J.C. Tran scored his first bracelet in 2008 and he showed that was no fluke, by picking up number two here in the $2.5k PLO event, winning $235,685 in the process.

He had to beat off a tough field, including John Juanda and Theo Jorgensen to take the title in front of his many enthusiastic fans.

For a full re-cap of this event click here.

Event 31 - $1,500 H.O.R.S.E. Final Table

James Van Alstyne collected the $1.5k H.O.R.S.E. title in Event 31, dusting off a final table that included the combined talents of Shannon Shorr and Brian Micon, amongst others.

Perhaps more impressively, he immediately exorcised any demons he might have had after narrowly missing out on a bracelet just five days ago in the $3k H.O.R.S.E. event.

Van Alstyne collected $247,033 for the win and even gave himself an outside shot at the Player of the Year title following his victory.

Event 32 - $2,000 No-Limit Hold'em Day 2

Despite making a noble attempt to go from 220 players to a final table of nine in Event 32, organizers had to call it a night with 19 players remaining.

The remaining players are relatively unknown although Peter "Nordberg" Feldman is looking to make some noise with 465,000 chips. The chip leader is Mika Paasonen with 894,000 chips.

Play resumes at 1 p.m. tomorrow.

Event 33 - World Championship Limit Hold'em Day 2

Event 33 saw 104 eliminations in one of the most pro-heavy fields of the year. The 12 remaining players are all in the money but most of them are likely thinking about the final table and the WSOP bracelet on the line.

The final table could be a compelling one with Chad Brown, Matt Hawrilenko and Greg Mueller all in the running. Perhaps most interesting is the addition of Maria Ho, who is stacked with nearly 500,000 chips.

Action kicks off at 1 p.m. tomorrow.

Event 34 - $1.5k No Limit Hold'em

2095 players were whittled down to 243 by the close of play on day one of this event and big-field specialist Phil Hellmuth remained in contention come the end of play.

With $521,932 the juicy first prize awaiting the eventual winner, it should be a battle royale for the bracelet over the next few days.

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Tomas Alenius Wins WSOP $1,500 Limit Holdem; Johnny Chan Eyes Bracelet #11

There was no rest for players on Sunday in the Amazon Room at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, as the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) drives into its third week of competition.

One final table on Sunday featured the survivors of the $1,500 Limit Hold’em tournament, Event #26 on this year’s WSOP schedule. After fighting through the original field of 643 players, 15 players came back to the felt to divvy up the lion’s share of the $844,000 prize pool and determine the latest bracelet winner in Sin City. The players went to work immediately and, with the high blinds, determined the final table within the first hour of play when Full Tilt Poker’s Richard “Quiet Lion” Brodie was the final table bubble boy in 10th place.

Leading the pack into the final table was veteran poker professional Al “Sugar Bear” Barbieri, who started the day’s play with the chip lead and added to it by eliminating three of the six players who left prior to the final table. He was followed on the leader board by Glenn Englebert and Tomas Alenius, who were within striking distance of Barbieri.

From the start, play was frenetic, as the field was cut to five players within the first hour of final table action. Barbieri maintained his lead, but was now being chased by Jason Tam and the aforementioned Alenius. After “Sugar Bear” dropped a few hands in a row, Alenius seized the lead and put more distance between himself and the remaining players by eliminating Englebert in fourth place. Down to three-handed action, the remaining players - Tam, Alenius and Barbieri - were separated by a mere 120,000 chips.

After the dinner break, Barbieri was eliminated in third place. Tam held nearly a 3:1 lead over Alenius as heads-up play began, but the Swede began to chip into that lead almost immediately. Thirty minutes into heads-up play, Alenius took the chip lead, only to see Tam seize it back on the very next hand. The two would swap the lead between each other until, after nearly an hour of play, Alenius rivered a full house against Tam that crippled him and gave Alenius a 3:1 advantage.

On the last hand, Tam got his chips into the center pre-flop when he capped the betting and showed . Alenius was more than willing to gamble with and, once the board blanked for both players, Alenius won the $1,500 Limit Hold’em title. For his efforts, the Swede banked a payday of $197,488 and his first WSOP bracelet.

Two tournaments will play down to their champions on Monday with Day Three action in Event #28, a $1,500 No Limit Hold’em contest, and Event #29, the $10,000 World Championship Heads-Up No Limit Hold’em. In Event #28, 27 players remain from the 2,638 who started the tournament on Saturday. Joe Simmons, who has six cashes in his WSOP career, has the chip lead and is the only player over a million in chips. His closest competitor is Jason “JP_OSU” Potter, who is stacked with 929,000 chips.

While this tournament is battling to its final table, much of the attention of the fans in the Amazon Room may be taken by Event #29. After 12 hours of play, eight players remain from the original 256 player field and WSOP history could possibly be in the making. Legendary professional Johnny Chan is one of those remaining in the Elite Eight, looking to earn his record-tying 11th WSOP bracelet. The field will be tough, however, as the brackets match up as such when play continues this afternoon:

Leo Wolpert versus Dustin “Neverwin” Woolf
Jamin Stokes versus Johnny Chan
Nathan Doudney versus Bryan Pellegrino
John Duthie versus Steve O’Dwyer

Of the remaining players in Event #29, Duthie and Woolf have the most professional experience other than Chan. Duthie is a legendary European pro with a lengthy track record and Woolf brings 15 cashes in his WSOP career to the battle. The action will kick off at 2:00pm Pacific Time.

Two tournaments pick up this afternoon after finishing their Day One proceedings early Monday morning. In Event #30, a $2,500 Pot Limit Omaha tournament, 63 players remain from the original starting grid of 436. Such pros as Barry Greenstein, 2008 WSOP Player of the Year Erick Lindgren, Katja Thater, and Daniel Negreanu will not be around for Day Two play, but 2008 WSOP Europe champion John Juanda, Hendon Mobster Ross Boatman, and 2009 WSOP double bracelet winner Phil Ivey are still in the hunt. The field will crack the 45 player money bubble this afternoon and may be down to the final table before the 3:00am WSOP curfew.

Event #31, the $1,500 HORSE tournament, drew a surprising 770 players for its Day One action. Per the nature of the game that is said to be the test of a poker player’s abilities, approximately 240 survived to play down to the final table.  At this point, Ireland’s Andy Black is the chip leader.

Two more tournaments are scheduled for their Day One premieres on the WSOP stage. Event #32, the $2,000 No Limit Hold’em tournament, and the $10,000 World Championship Limit Hold’em (Event #33) will both kick off today in the Amazon Room. Play begins in these tournaments at Noon Pacific Time.

The WSOP is ready for the potential for history to be made once again. Can Chan tie Phil Hellmuth for the all-time WSOP bracelet lead? Poker News Daily will have reports on not just Chan’s pursuit, but all of the WSOP action as it happens.

De Wolfe leads 2-7 Championship pack - June 10

It showed today as a field of poker heros collected to battle for the 2-7 World Championship.

The event's $10k buy-in was always going to result in a smallish field, and though just 92 turned up, there was little dead money at the felt.

Even the lesser-seen Tom "durrrr" Dwan made an appearance, although he was to bust prior to the end of the day.

A man who fared better was former WPT and EPT winner Roland de Wolfe.

He led the chip counts come the final reckoning, though he has a pack of slavering pros hot on his tail, including the dangerous John Juanda just behind him in second place.

De Wolfe won't have it easy with a field still replete with marquee names, but for now he holds a sizeable chip lead.

Despite De Wolfe's many accomplishments, winning a bracelet is one that has as yet eluded him. This may be the opportunity he's been waiting for to fill in that missing line on his otherwise-fulsome poker C.V.

A no-holds-barred war for the bracelet beckons when the pros take up arms tomorrow.

Here's the best of the rest as we recap what happened elsewhere at the tables.

Event 19 - $2,500 Six Handed No Limit Hold'em

The remaining players re-convened today to play down to the finish and it was none other than recent bracelet-winner Brock "Tsoprano" Parker who took down the title.

Brock joins a short list of players who have managed to win two bracelets at the same WSOP. PokerListings spoke to Parker following his historic win.

Click here to read the full story.

Event 20 - $1,500 Pot Limit Hold'em

They played to a final table in Event 20 and it was U.K. player John-Paul Kelly who took control of the day's play.

Kelly will be back at the felt for the final table as chip leader come tomorrow, though he will no doubt be wary of the dangerous eight-time bracelet winner Erik Seidel lurking in third place.

Whether Seidel can use his experience and guile to ship the bracelet when they re-take their seats remains to be seen.

Event 21 - $3,000 H.O.R.S.E.

194 players saddled-up and prepared to make hay in the H.O.R.S.E. event today, but by the end only twenty-one remained still vying for that piece of historic WSOP jewelry.

Zac Fellows sits in prime position as the chip leader and he'll be looking to avenge his close-but-no-cigar bracelet bid in 2008, where he finished 2nd in the $1,500 limit event for $165,165.

Event 22 - $1,500 No Limit Hold'em Shootout

1,000 players reached into their pockets and found a spare $1,500 to throw at Event 22, the $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em Shootout. By the end of the day, 900 were to have their hopes dashed on the rocks of variance.

The hundred that survived, including PokerListings blogger Matt Stout, Hendon Mobster Joe Beevers and multi-2008-WSOP-final-tablist Theo Tran, have all secured a healthy return on their investment.

The players are just two single table victories away from a bracelet now. It's anyone's game!

For a full account of how the day played out, and to follow tomorrow's exciting developments, take a look at the PokerListings.com 2009 WSOP section.

 

 

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WSOP — Day 2 of the $40K Anniversary Tournament

The $40,000 Anniversary tournament at the World Series of Poker continued its rapid rate of progression on Friday as 89 players whittled themselves down to just 23 in the span of eight levels. With the money only going to the final 27, the remaining players had no problem gambling it up early in an effort to get chips fast or go home and rest for the brutally long days ahead. On the way to the bubble, notables such

Prince crowned at Bayou Poker Challenge

Gaspard, a professional poker player from Chicago, came into the third and final day of the Circuit's $5,000 New Orleans finale with a commanding chip lead and never relinquished it over the ensuing five hours of play.

He personally eliminated Kurt Scheer (9th) and Justin Allen (7th) in a pair of fortuitous hands to build his stack up to more than double his closest rival and maintain his dominance as his rivals handled the rest of the eliminations.

Ultimately, Gaspard and runners-up Billy Kopp and Ken Christopher decided to chop the remaining prize money while three-handed.

When negotiations concluded, so too did play, as none of the remaining players deemed it necessary to finish the contest.

Gaspard, who held more than half of the chips in play at the time of the chop, earned the WSOPC title and a $10,000 buy-in to the Main Event of the World Series of Poker this summer.

The former pro basketball prospect now has over $950,000 in career tournament winnings since turning his attention from the hardwood to the felt.

"The reason I play sports is because I love doing it - it's as simple as that," he said. "I am very competitive by nature. Basketball meant a lot to me, but after I discovered poker, I found something new that I could compete - and win - at."

In total, 167 players played the final WSOP Circuit event of the season.

Among those to cash were Shaun Deeb (14th place), Matt Brady (12th place) and Dwyte Pilgrim, whose 18th-place finish marked his thirteenth cash of the 2008-2009 WSOPC season, earning him unofficial "Player of the Year" honors.

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Mind Games

When playing poker, be it online or live, it is easy to not give it your all. Online, you could be playing multiple tables and not be able to give your full attention to any one game, or you could be distracted by any number of things, such as the world wide web, television, or even your un-potty trained toddler running around naked. Live, you get could engrossed in conversation (yeah, imagine that), get too into cocktail waitr… er… people watching, or be thinking about what route to take home. And even if you are concentrating on the game, very often it is all too easy to just focus on your cards and then tune out once you fold.

But as we all know, skilled poker players are concerned with much more than just their own cards and chips. The best players are able to get into the minds of their opponents. Not in a psyche-out way, but in an “I know what you’re thinking” sort of way. Of course this is easier said than done. If you are willing to make the effort, here are two techniques you can use to improve your “mind reading” skills.

Play Blind

I don’t mean that you should play the blinds, I mean that you should play without looking at your cards. While that may sound ludicrous, hear me out. By not looking at your hole cards, you naturally have to see other parts of the game in order to succeed. And what other parts of the game are out there? Why, the other players, chip stacks, the community cards, and the dealer button, to name a few.

If you don’t know what cards you have, you will be forced to work on your opponent reading skills. What did that pre-flop raise just mean from the guy in Seat 3? What is Seat 6 telling me when she checks the turn? What cards does the guy next to my left showdown after he has been betting the pot throughout the hand? If you can start figuring out the betting patterns (and when playing live, possibly physical tells) of your opponents, you can figure out when they are weak and make bets that will win you the pot, regardless of what pocket cards you have.

Position plays a large role, too. Most people play differently in early position than they do in late position, so be aware of where the button is and use position to your advantage, whether it means being aggressive yourself or just getting the heck out of a hand.

Internet poker phenom and WSOP Europe champ, Annette Obrestad, actually won a $4, 180-person sit-and-go back in 2007, while only looking at her cards once. In an interview with Card Player magazine, she said she did it to show “just how important it is to play position and to pay attention to the players at the table.”

Now, it’s not going to be easy to make money playing blind, but it can be a fun and enlightening exercise. I recommend moving down in stakes when you try it, knowing there is a good chance that you will lose.

What do you do? What do you do?

Yes, I just used a quote from the movie Speed. You’ll get it in a moment.

Over the years, I have found, just as I am sure everyone has, that there are hands that I fold, only to find out that the remaining players were weak. Had I realized it before I folded, I could have won the pot with a well-timed bet. And that started me playing a little game within the poker game.

When I am not in a hand, I try to observe the proceedings carefully, noting everything that a poker player should: board texture, player position, bet sizing, stack sizes, and the like. I then try to figure out how I could have won the hand without it going to showdown. I focus on it not going to showdown because anyone can win when they actually have the best hand. What I want to determine is whether or not I could have won without the best hand, had I not folded.

What if I would have bet three-quarters of the pot on the flop? Knowing how my opponents play and what cards they had (or I think they had), would that have accomplished my goal? Could I have checked and then popped them on the turn? Would I have needed to push? What could I have done to win that hand? Now, when playing this little game in your head, you won’t come up with an answer every time. If someone has a full house and you would have had Jack-high, you were not going to beat them, no matter what. But those hands that lack a “winning answer” can also give you insight into your opponents and can prove just as valuable as those where you actually do have a solution.

By focusing on parts of the game other than yourself when at the poker table, you can open up new doors that you never realized were there. To be sickeningly cheesy and reference another Keanu Reeves movie, it is sort of like when Neo finally sees the Matrix and truly starts to realize his power. No, you won’t be able to jump into an opponent and blow him up from the inside, but deeper aspects of the game will begin to come into focus for you. With practice, these “mind reading” skills will become more natural and you will be free to concentrate on yet more intricate aspects of the game.

ZeeJustin Battles To WSOPC Caesars Championship

After battling through a heads up match that lasted longer than the elimination of the previous eight players, Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo finally defeated Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi to become the latest champion of the World Series of Poker Circuit at Caesars Palace late last night.

Originally scheduled to finish today, the 187 player field that put up $5000 each started play on Monday and quickly set about eliminating players from the field. When action started on Wednesday, only sixteen players were remaining and it was decided that the remaining players would play on through, rather than wait until today to determine a champion. Consistent with the action of the previous days, the final table was decided in rapid fashion.

In roughly an hour and a half, positions sixteen through eleven were determined, with notables such as 2006 Irish Open runner up Ian Woodley (15th) and 2007 WSOP bracelet holder Robert Cheung (11th) taking home some profit from their stay at Caesars. As the players stepped to the felt for final table action, such notables as Bonomo, Mizrachi, 2009 WSOPC-Rincon champion Dwyte Pilgrim and poker legend Men “The Master” Nguyen were in contention. They were all following the up and coming Russian player Evgeny Serebryakov, who entered the final table with the chip lead.

Some expected play would slow down once the final table was determined, but they were surprised to see the action ratchet up even more. After Bert Fujisaki was dismissed in tenth place ($20,181), players took turns doubling each other up. Nguyen went from the bottom of the leader board to the middle of the pack and Bonomo and Mizrachi surged towards the top of the heap.

Serebryakov was the victim of much of this action as he was taken out of the tournament in ninth place after about two hours of play by Bonomo. On the very next hand, Nashaat Antonious fell at the hands of WSOPC ring bearer Jack Schanbacher. Even with the elimination, Schanbacher was unable to rally much further and finished in seventh at the hands of “ZeeJustin”. In roughly two and a half hours, the table was down to six-handed play.

Unbelievably at this point, play at the table moved up another gear as heads up action was determined within the next half hour of battle on the felt. Bonomo dismissed Pilgrim in sixth place, then Mizrachi blitzed through WSOP bracelet holder Matt Graham (fifth) and Jeremiah DeGreef (fourth). “The Master’s” run at the final table was finally ended by Bonomo and heads up action was determined.

As heads up play began, Bonomo held a slight 500K chip lead over Mizrachi and the two decided to divvy up most of the final table money. What was held back was the gold and diamond championship ring, some cash and the all-important seat at this year’s WSOP Championship Event.

The two battle-hardened professionals then proceeded to put on a show for the crowd gathered at the Caesars Palace poker room. Over the next four hours, the duo swapped the chip lead back and forth with each man almost down to the felt on several occasions. After three hours of play, Bonomo faced an all in from Mizrachi and made the call, only to find his cooled by “The Grinder’s” which doubled him up. “ZeeJustin” struck back moments later when his Ace out-kicked Mizrachi’s and the battle continued on.

Another hour later, Bonomo was finally able to put Mizrachi away. On a board, “The Grinder” pushed the remainder of his chips to the center and “ZeeJustin” made the call. Bonomo’s and top pair was ahead of Mizrachi’s bottom pair and, once the board ran with two more diamonds, Justin Bonomo hit an unnecessarily higher flush to capture the WSOPC championship at Caesars Palace.

In all, heads up action lasted a half hour longer than eliminations ten through three took. The final ten rounded out as such:

1. Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo                  $227,692
2. Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi         $143,512
3. Men “The Master” Nguyen                    $91,937
4. Jeremiah DeGreef                                     $71,756
5. Matthew Graham                                       $56,059
6. Dwyte Pilgrim                                             $44,848
7. Jack Schanbacher                                     $35,870
8. Nashaat  Antonious                                  $ 29,151
9. Evgeny Serebryakov                                $24,666
10. Bert Fujisaki                                              $20,181

There is one final stop left on the 2008-09 World Series of Poker Circuit. Players will have their final chance to win their way into the 2009 WSOP with the $5000 championship event of the Bayou Poker Classic at Harrah’s in New Orleans from May 8-20. It will all lead up to the start of the World Series at the end of May.

Ten players remaining, Scotty Nguyen leads the WPT Championship

Nguyen leads a very strong group of players to the final table. Ten remaining players are all top poker players either in live tournaments or in online scene.

Scotty is hunting for another trophy.

Some great tournament players just missed the cut yesterday, as Jennifer Harman and Freddie Deeb were last to be eliminated in 11th place and 12th place. Today players are going to battle for six places in tomorrows televised final table.

Harman was eliminated in a very unlucky way. In the final hand of her tournament she called preflop all-in with a pair of aces and was up against a Ten-Deuce suited hand of Yevgeniy Timoshenko. Timoshenko flopped a pair of deuces and on the turn disaster struck as it was a ten that gave two pair to Timoshenko. The river was blank and Harman was eliminated from the tournament.

Here are the final ten players:

1. Scotty Nguyen — 5,880,000
2. Yevgeniy “Jovial Gent” Timoshenko — 5,105,000
3. Christian “charder30? Harder — 4,650,000
4. Justin “roberto7? Young — 4,220,000
5. Shannon “BLUFFforRENT” Shorr — 3,155,000
6. Brian “tsarrast” Rast — 3,025,000
7. Eugene “myrabbifoo” Katchalov– 2,385,000
8. Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier — 1,965,000
9. Ran Azor — 1,810,000
10. Bruno Fitoussi — 1,615,000

Source: wpt

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Ten players remaining, Scotty Nguyen leads the WPT Championship

PokerRoad Producer Justin Shronk Passes Away at 27

At the beginning of Day 2 of the ongoing World Poker Tour (WPT) Championship, a moment of silence was held for PokerRoad producer and poker player Justin Shronk, who passed away tragically last weekend at age 27.

Late last week, Shronk was admitted to a Las Vegas hospital and diagnosed with pancreatitis, according to his Twitter page. On the night of April 16th, he wrote, “Have to stay overnight for observation so they're sure my pancreas levels are ok. No tv either.” His second to last entry is dated April 17th at 5:46pm and reads, “Home from hospital. They did manage [to] lose my clothes, shoes, and wallet, but at least I feel better (came home in paper scrubs and socks).” Day 2 of the WPT Championship occurred on Monday after the remaining players from the two starting days were combined for the first time.

Gavin Smith had the unfortunate task of informing the 300 players in the field that Shronk had passed away. In addition to PokerRoad, Shronk had also worked with CardPlayer on the company’s “Circuit” show and with PokerNews, establishing himself in the industry. Court Harrington, a Tournament Reporter for PocketFivesLive.com and a voice on PokerRoad, told Poker News Daily, "There is no way to express in words what Shronk meant to the poker community. He was a staple around tournaments and seemed to know everyone. He had built a tremendous number of friendships, which isn't surprising since he was always the first to lend a helping hand to anyone in need.” Shronk was just 27.

While in the hospital, Shronk’s wit took center stage on his Twitter page. He remarked that his room smelled like Starburst and that he passed the time watching the popular CBS comedy “How I Met Your Mother” on DVD. At a visit to his doctor prior to heading to the hospital, he ran into fellow poker player Adam “A_Junglen” Junglen, noting, “Vegas is weird.” When he arrived home on Friday of last week, he was met with a Parking Solutions van occupying his assigned spot, which he made note of in his final Twitter entry.

According to a post by Joe Sebok on PokerRoad.com, Shronk passed away on Sunday of natural causes. Sebok, who heads PokerRoad, wrote, “The poker community lost a fallen brother this past Sunday when Justin Shronk passed away. It seems he passed away from natural causes and was not in any kind of pain. He had different health problems that he wrestled with throughout the last few years, so I would guess it was from one of these that he succumbed.” Sebok ended his homage to the producer by saying, “We will miss you, Shronkles.”

Sebok added that Shronk passed away in his sleep and likely did not experience any pain. The poker community poured support to Shronk and his family. In a thread that developed on the online poker forum PocketFives.com, Paul “grapsfan” Herzog commented, “Shronk was a good guy and good to have around poker.” Nick “nickc001” Chappell spoke on Shronk’s powerful presence in the poker world: “I never got to meet him, but I feel like I did through his involvement on the various radio shows. I still remember vividly the episode where he interviewed to be the intern a few years ago.”

Shronk will leave an indelible mark on the industry heading into the 2009 World Series of Poker next month. Harrington explained, “For many, Shronk was one of the first people they met coming into the poker world and he happily showed them the ropes and helped them get acclimated. His work speaks for itself, as he has been a driving force behind some of the most popular poker content over the last four years.”

Poker News Daily would like to extend our deepest sympathies to Shronk’s family, PokerRoad, and the entire community.

Latin American Poker Tour

The Latin American Poker Tour, currently being sponsored by PokerStars, had their LAPT Mar del Plata event start this week in Argentina with a $5,200 Main Event. This prestigious poker tournament was capped at 600 entrants, both internet pros and top live tournament circuit players, with two separate starting days. The LAPT Mar del Plata event is held at the Casino Central, one of Argentina’s most luxurious casino and resort destinations.

The structure of the event was similar to most “Main Event” tournaments, with each player starting with $10,000 in tournament chips and blinds starting at a modest $25-$50. Unlike the WSOP Main Event, which starts with $20,000 stacks and sees levels increase every two hours and, the LAPT main events move up their blinds every hour. Although the event was capped at 600 players, approximately 280 made the long trek from around the world to Argentina to play in arguably the LAPT's most prestigious event.

Day 1a took off on Thursday and featured 140 players from every corner of the planet. Notable players included Maria Mayrinck, Chris Moneymaker and illustrious names such as Boris Becker and LAPT Viña del Mar winner Fabián Ortiz. Apparently, players did not arrive at the LAPT to enjoy sitting down for very long as two tables broke down out of the starting 14 set up during the first hour alone. Becker was outlasted on Day 1a by his wife Lilly Kerssenberg, who in turn was busted while sitting at Moneymaker’s table. Also eliminated on Day 1a were Mayrinck, Moneymaker and Ortiz, who hoped to make a big splash in this event but fell short.

Play was suspended for Day 1a when the field was trimmed down to 27 players. The big contrast of the dasy was that 77-year-old Jaime Ateneloff of Uruguay finished the day with the chip lead while 19-year-old Jorge Landazuri De Los Rios sits a close 2nd in chips. Of the 27 remaining players from Day 1a, none are notable tournament circuit pros or members of Team PokerStars Pro. The surviving Day 1a field is a diverse one, with 15 players from the hosting country of Argentina, while Mexico, Spain, Uruguay and the Netherlands still have players alive. The United States has a single player remaining alive out of Day 1a in Ryan Smith, a PokerStars Online qualifier who sits with 51,100 in chips, good enough for 13th in the Day 1a remaining field.

Currently, Day 1b is playing at the Casino Central and notables including Humberto Brenes, Alex Brenes, Dennis Phillips, Andre Akkari, Joseph Hachem and Team Pokerstars pro and recent SCOOP event winner JC Alvarado. The event isn’t without its cast of characters as well, performing antics typically reserved for the World Series of Poker’s Main Event where players try to get noticed for television coverage. Although there are no camera crews televising the event, PokerStars.tv has been filming small videos for self-broadcast. Notable shameless self promoters include United States player Zachary Hall who is wearing a ridiculous rainbow-umbrella hat that has gained some attention from media and cameras. Hall won entry into the tournament as an online qualifier.

This is the second year that the LAPT has gone through Central and South America with PokerStars heavily promoting the event in hopes of gaining a marketing foothold in a part of the world where poker has yet to be heavily adopted. With notable Latin players such as JC Alvarado and Humberto Brenes attending the tournament events, as well as international poker superstars like Joseph Hachem and Chris Moneymaker, it seems that PokerStars is getting a leg up on the competition gaining market share in the Latin American markets.

The LAPT Mar del Plata held $550+$50 super satellites the day before Day 1a began and other tournaments during the LAPT’s visit include a $460+$60 No Limit Hold’em Turbo, a $1,020+$80 “Second Chance” tournament as well as a $10,000 high roller event that begins on Saturday, April 18th.

The tournament series has made its way through Costa Rica, Mexico, Uruguay and now Argentina to wrap up the second season of the tour. Although there has been no announcement about a third season it seems that the widespread coverage and enthusiasm that the events are getting this year makes a third season an almost surety.

Introductory Double or Nothing Sit & Go Strategy

At the risk of appearing way out of the loop, I will admit I just discovered the new-fangled “Double or Nothing” Sit & Gos on PokerStars. I know that they have been around for a while, but I just haven’t been playing on Stars lately. They have turned out to be very interesting, a nice change of pace from the standard Sit & Go. And even though almost every time I have been eliminated, I have had the best hand when the money went in (I’ve had Aces cracked three times!), I have had quite a lot of fun with them. This week, I would like to impart my wisdom upon you and share a bit of my strategy for these tournaments.

For the uninitiated, “Double or Nothings” are 10-handed Sit & Gos starting with 1,500 chip stacks (on PokerStars), where the top five finishers win twice their buy-in and the other five get zero. “Double or Nothing” indeed! First place wins as much as fifth place. The nice thing about them is that since it is theoretically easier to make the money – since more people get paid and the payout structures are flat – variance is lower than in standard Sit & Gos. On the negative side, if you are very good at Sit & Gos, you will not be as profitable in these tournaments, as there is no added benefit to placing first. Plus, in order to profit, you must make the money two out of every three tournaments. Alternate wins and losses, and you lose money to the rake, which is high compared to the payouts.

Sit On Your Hands

If I had to boil my strategy down to two words, they would be “play tight.” I mean play really tight. Since first through fifth pay the same, there is little benefit to trying to accumulate chips. You don’t need to build up a huge stack to dominate the table. The guy who squeaks into the money with two big blinds wins the same amount as the gorilla stack. Early on, when the blinds are low, stick to playing only premium hands, especially from early position. As always, you can open it up more in late position, but don’t take unnecessary risks.

Your goal is to tread water for a while. If you can stay around your starting chip stack for a few levels, you’ll be in good shape. Let players who don’t know what they are doing bust out around you. Of course, if you can find a good, high percentage opportunity to double-up, take it. While you don’t need to accumulate chips in the traditional sense of the term, if you can bring in a nice haul in a hand or two, you go on cruise control for a while and fold your way to at least the bubble.

Snoop Around

Investigate your competition. Perform a player search on your opponents. If you see someone playing several tables, he likely knows what he is doing. Because of the low variance of these tourneys, experienced players like to grind out small profits on each one, and thus will play many at once. Another way to spot the “regulars” is to check out the lobby. If there are several with the same, low number of players sitting at them, those players are likely all the same – these are regulars loading up multiple tables quickly. Like with any game, try to avoid tables with lots of regulars.

The good thing about regulars, though, is that when taken in moderation, they are fairly easy to play against. They won’t necessarily make big mistakes which will cause them to bust out early, but they tend to be predictable players. They know that playing tight is the key, so they will likely be easy to steal blinds from, and if they do raise significantly you’ll know they have something.

Identifying a regular helped me greatly in a recent Double or Nothing tournament. I was in good shape with 2,660 chips, third best out of the remaining eight players. With blinds already at 75/150, I raised to 500 from middle position. The second biggest stack went over the top all-in, while the shortest stack called. If this was a regular Sit & Go, chances are I would have snap-called, but I paused and evaluated the situation. The guy who had me covered was a regular and, from what I could tell, had a good handle on how to play these tourneys. He likely knew that it was foolish to risk virtually his entire stack without a major edge, since building a huge stack does not serve the purpose it would in a normal Sit & Go. Because of these, I suspected he had Aces, the one hand he knew would have me beat pre-flop. I made the tough laydown and lo and behold, I made the right read. Turned out, while he turned a set, he lost to K-2 offsuit when the other player rivered a fourth club.

A few hands later, I failed to recognize the skill level/experience/tightness of an opponent, and it cost me the tourney. I was now in the 100 chip big blind (level had gone up) with A-J and a chip stack of 1,885, which placed me in the middle of the pack. The same guy who had gotten lucky earlier, and now had me covered, limped for 200. Action was folded to me and, seeing as I could use the 400 chips plus antes that were in the pot, I decided to push. I figured there was no way the other guy could call, unless he was trying to trap with a monster hand, since he didn’t have me covered by much. Unfortunately, I did not take notice of his looseness earlier (a drawback to multi-tabling) and he called with K-Q, knocking me out when a King hit on the turn. Had I recognized his lack of skill before it was too late, I would have known that he could call with many different hands and, even though I was ahead to start, my edge wasn’t big enough to justify risking my whole stack.

Middle and Late Stages

Once you weed out the few loose players, the remaining players will likely be pretty tight. Because of this, stacks will become small relative to the blinds fairly quickly, as most players will still be hovering somewhere in the vicinity of their starting stacks – you are not likely to see a bunch of huge stacks and a bunch of small stacks. Just like in a regular Sit & Go, stealing blinds becomes more important as the blinds get larger. In Double or Nothings, it is fairly easy to steal, as long as you remain aware of stack sizes and opponent skill level – the best players to steal from are those who know what they are doing (and are thus willing to fold) and have relatively large stacks (as they will likely be on cruise control). I don’t recommend stealing on a bluff, though. Because the best strategy is to play tight, it pretty much becomes a fold or shove situation as the blinds get moderately high. Steal with a hand you are prepared to go all the way with, just in case you get challenged – anyone who plays back at you will almost assuredly have a strong hand.

When it gets down to bubble time, if you are a short stack you will need to pick a spot and shove, just like in any tourney. If you are a big stack, though, do not feel obligated to call the all-in of a short stack. You do not need that player’s chips. You just need him eliminated. If you don’t have a great hand when a short stack goes all-in, just fold. Let somebody else do the dirty work. Of course, if you have a monster, go for it.

In a Double or Nothing Sit & Go, always remember that you are not playing to “win.” You are playing to survive. It is not worth it to play small edges. You need to play huge ones. The moves you make should be done in order to maintain your chip stack, to make it through another orbit or two. Small ball is pointless, as you risk having your stack slowly eroded. If you have a great opportunity to double up, take it, as that will allow you to take it easy for a while, but don’t force things in an effort to dominate the table. Let the game come to you.

PokerRoom and CasinoRoom to Close April 14th

Tuesday will mark the end of an era in the online poker community, as PokerRoom and CasinoRoom will shut their doors. The poker site currently makes its home on the Ongame Network and players will be asked to move to bwin.

An e-mail sent to affiliates of PokerRoom on Wednesday read, “I would like to inform you that the option to play poker on PokerRoom and CasinoRoom will be disabled on Tuesday the 14th of April. The remaining players will only have the option to transfer to bwin after they log in.” Many players in the United States have fond memories of the online poker site, one of the first to sport 3D graphics. The site currently spreads Texas Hold’em, Omaha High, Omaha High-Low, Seven Card Stud, Seven Card Stud High-Low, and Five Card Draw. It vacated the U.S. market after the passage of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA).

Players are currently able to battle it out on up to 12 tables at once on PokerRoom. In addition, they can use a bevy of shortcut keys. Pressing F1 causes a player to fold, hitting F2 induces a call/check, and pushing F3 results in a bet/raise. Similar to other online poker room sites, PokerRoom offers its customers the opportunity to log player notes and keep track of a variety of stats while they play. PokerRoom also offers a web-based version that allows players to compete on Mac and Linux machines. Only two online poker sites, PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker, offer fully downloadable clients for Mac poker players.

According to PokerScout.com, which tracks online poker room traffic, the Ongame Network is owned by bwin and is the fifth largest worldwide in terms of cash game volume, boasting a seven day running average of 2,900 players. Its 24 hour peak is nearly 5,500 and, at the time of writing (which is early evening in London), a total of 3,883 players are competing in real money ring games. The world’s largest online poker site, PokerStars, has a seven day running average of 23,000 ring game competitors. Besides PokerRoom and bwin, other sites on the popular Ongame Network include Betsson, Eurobet, Hollywood Poker, PokerLoco, RedKings, and Stryyke.

The Network’s software uses caricatures to represent players seated at the virtual felts. They include a James Bond look-a-like and a man donning the signature hat of the Texas Dolly himself, Doyle Brunson. bwin boasts one of the top sports books in the world, offering wagering on soccer, tennis, basketball, volleyball, Formula 1 racing, motorbikes, baseball, hockey, handball, and cycling.

bwin’s poker arm is the official sponsor of a World Poker Tour (WPT) event in Venice, Italy on May 6th. The buy-in is a healthy €4,400 and the tournament takes place at the luxurious Casino di Venezia, which sits on the Grand Canal in the heart of the city. WPT Founder, President, and CEO Steve Lipscomb commented in a press release announcing the launch of the new tournament stop, "We’re thrilled to launch our first ever brick and mortar WPT tournament offering in Italy. bwin is a strong partner with the right market position in the region. We look forward to working with them to bring this event and the WPT brand to poker players in Italy and Europe.”

bwin serves as a sponsor of some of the world’s most visible sports teams, including the AC Milan and Real Madrid. It also sponsors Moto GP and the International Basketball Federation (FIBA). Its stock can be found under the symbol “BWIN” on the Vienna Stock Exchange. It closed the week up €0.86 to €21.36. Its 52 week range has seen BWIN waver between €10.50 and €24.45.

Peter Eastgate and Ivan Demidov Signs with Team PokerStars

PokerStars.com has signed a long term contract with Peter Eastgate and Ivan Demidov which means that they are now officially a part of Team PokerStars. These are the two players who battled heads-up for the 2008 WSOP title.

Peter Eastgate and Ivan Demidov where amongst the final nine players that had to come back to play the televised final table of the 2008 World Series of Poker Main Event. When it was time for the final table these two players were guaranteed to walk away with at least $990.670. These two players had stacks around $20 Million and were not going to be happy walking away with only $990K.

After a couple of hours of play there only two remaining players were Eastgate from Denmark and Demidov from Russia. After a long heads up battle it was Peter Eastgate who ended up winning the title and the first prize of over $9 Million. Demidov was awarded with $5.8 Million for his second place finish.

After this event took place we have seen a lot more of these players at the different poker tours and Peter Eastgate is also playing in the TV Show High Stakes Poker.

During all of the events these two players have been seen wearing the PokerStars.com logo but until now they have not had a real sponsorship contract.

Last week it was announced that PokerStars had negotiated a deal with the two players and that they were now a part of the prestigious Team PokerStars.

Karl Hevroy Wins LAPT Punta del Este

A total of 327 players signed up for the 2009 edition of the PokerStars LAPT Punta del Este. After 2 days of play there were only nine players remaining and amongst these players was Karl Hevroy, a 20 year old poker player from Norway.

Hevroy was the only European player left in the tournament when it came down to the final table and he found himself surrounded by players from South- and North America. Hevroy had over $1 Million in chips when the final table started and he had a healthy lead and was the favorite to take down the first price.

Later in the tournament it would also become apparent that he was meant to win this tournament and he got some much needed help from the poker gods in certain hands. More than once he found himself going all in with the worst hand but every time he managed to either out flop his opponents our draw out on them on the turn and river. When it came down to heads-up play he found himself holding a 6 to 1 chiplead over Alejandro De Arruabarrena who was the only remaining player to beat.

After only one hand of heads-up play the players found themselves all-in and when Karl Hevoy flipped over his cards showing a Full House for the nuts his opponent was drawing dead on the river.

Karl Hevroy from Norway ended up winning the tournament and took down the first prize of $283.500.