Posts Tagged ‘tournament’
Nine-Way Chop Ends PokerStars Fifth Anniversary Sunday Million
Early Monday morning, the battle in the Fifth Anniversary PokerStars Sunday Million came to a close, setting records for both its prize pool and player count.
Last week, when PokerStars announced that the guaranteed prize of the fifth anniversary of its Sunday Million would be $5 million, it was safe to assume that it would draw huge numbers. When the site added on a Lamborghini Gallardo LP 560-4 as another reward for the victor, it added fuel to an already sizzling fire.
By the time late registration had ended in the early rounds of the tournament, an astounding 59,128 players had coughed up the $200 buy-in to participate in the event. The prize pool – $11,825,600 – was the second largest in online poker history, eclipsed only by last year’s World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) Main Event. Adding in the cost of the car, the Fifth Anniversary PokerStars Sunday Million featured a prize pool that bested $12 million.
Even though the tournament was one of the largest online events ever, the pace of play was rapid. It took slightly less than five hours to get to the 7,450th place player, who would earn a minimum cashout of $354.76. The main goal, of course, was the top prize of over $1 million and that Italian sports car.
Seven hours into the tournament, players continued to drop by the wayside as the event reached the 1,000-player mark. Although the elimination of 58,000 players came quickly, the final 1,000 battled it out for the next five hours to determine the final table. Once “pbrsquad” was vanquished in tenth place, the final table was set.
According to the PokerStars Blog, this is where the tournament became more interesting. With “Syndrome1977” holding the chip lead with 107.7 million over “Bdbeatslayer” (92.6 million), the final table players took some shots at thinning the herd. After a few hands in which “Syndrome1977” gave up the chip lead to “wrzr123,’ the table was paused and discussion of a chop began.
After almost an hour of chatter, the players were able to divvy up the roughly $4.7 million remaining in the prize pool. Taking the lion’s share was the chip leader, “wrzr123,” who walked off with over $844,000, but every player came away from the deal with at least $263,000. Set aside as the remaining prize was the Lamborghini.
Over the span of the next hour-and-a-half, the combatants for the Lamborghini came down to two players. “Bdbeatslayer” went on a massive run after the deal was struck and came into heads-up play holding a 4-1 lead over “sheppyshape.” The duo battled for roughly another half-hour before “sheppyshape,” holding pocket sevens, committed his stack to the center of the table. Unfortunately for him, “Bdbeatslayer” held a dominating pair of nines. After an uneventful board, “Bdbeatslayer” was the victor of the largest PokerStars Sunday Million in history.
1. Bdbeatslayer – $671,093.81 and a Lamborghini Gallardo LP560-4
2. sheppyshape – $465,647.02
3. wrzr123 – $844,209.87
4. guccyka – $411,090.13
5. Syndrome1977 – $799,842.09
6. zeurrr – $518,402.33
7. nhar818 – $441,541.06
8. Jan10004 – $311,023.33
9. Battmeister – $263,888.06
Visit PokerStars for more details.
Weekly Freerolls: The Hits Keep Coming
This week the Titan Poker takes center stage with an epic $5,000 freeroll set to take place on Thursday. The event costs just 25 Titan Points to buy in, so make sure you get a piece of the action.
Also worth looking into this week is the $2,500 William Hill freeroll, which kicks off later today, and the Betfair $3,000 freeroll on Sunday.
As a reminder PokerStars will once again be offering a mega-freeroll on Jan. 15 with $15,000 in Sunday Million tickets. Every player that earned 100 player points in December is eligible so be sure to check if you qualified without realizing it.
If you're not a PL.com registered player on any of the following sites, click on the site's name in the list to sign up for an online poker account.
William Hill is running an exclusive $2.5k freeroll for PokerListings players in the first week of January.
Date: Jan. 8 Value: $2,500 Buy-in: 10 William Hill Points Sign up herePokerListings players will want to check out the Betfair Poker $3,000 freeroll on Jan. 9.
Date: Jan. 9 Value: $3,000 Qualify with: 5 frequent player points Qualify between: December 1-31 Sign up herePokerListings players will have access to a $500 freeroll by 888poker.
Date: Jan. 11 Value: $500 Qualify with: 100 status points in December Sign up hereTitan Poker is running a $5,000 freeroll for PokerListings players that costs just 25 Titan Points to buy into.
Date: Jan. 13 Value: $5,000 Qualify with: 25 Titan Points Sign up herePokerListings players have access to exclusive monthly $2,000 freerolls on PartyPoker.
Date: Jan. 15 Value: $2,000 Qualify with: 100 Party Points Earned Qualify between: Dec. 1-30 Sign up hereAbsolute Poker runs $5,000 monthly tournaments for PokerListings players.
Date: Jan. 15 Value: $5,000 Qualify with: 100 raked hands in December Qualify between: Dec. 1-30 Sign up herePokerListings players get a shot at the UB Poker $5,000 exclusive monthly tournaments.
Date: Jan. 16 Value: $5,000 Qualify with: 100 raked hands in December Qualify between: Dec. 1-30 Sign up herePoker770 is hosting an exclusive $1,000 freeroll for PL.com players.
Date: Jan. 16 Value: $1,000 Qualify with: New deposit Qualify between: Any day before Jan. 16 Sign up herePokerStars is running a massive $15,000 Sunday Million freeroll on Jan. 16.
Date: Jan. 16 Value: $15,000 in Sunday Million tickets Qualify with: 75 VPPs Qualify between: Dec. 1-30 Sign up herebwin Poker is running exclusive monthly $1,000 freerolls for PokerListings players.
Date: Jan. 23 Value: $1,000 Qualify with: 50 frequent player points Qualify between: May 15-Jan. 22 Sign up hereVisit www.pokerlistings.com
Identity of Isildur1 May Be Revealed Saturday
In what will either be the worst kept secret ever in the poker world or the most stunning reveal of all-time, the identity of the online phenomenon Isildur1 will purportedly be unveiled on Saturday evening in the Bahamas.
Several poker news sites have announced that the identity of Isildur1 will be revealed at 7:00pm ET on Saturday night during action at the 2011 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA), currently ongoing at the Atlantis Hotel and Casino. OnlinePoker.net indicated that the Tournament Director of the PCA stated that the announcement of Isildur1’s identity would come while trumpeting the arrival of Viktor Blom, the Swedish pro who has long been rumored to be the man behind the curtain.
PokerNews has also reported tomorrow’s reveal: “There’s a lot of speculation regarding the other identity of Blom, many claiming that he is indeed Isildur1 of nosebleed online fame. We can’t say for sure, but PokerStars is set to reveal the true identity of their newest online pro on Saturday at 7:00pm. Are Blom and Isildur1 the same person? We’ll know for sure in just over 48 hours.”
Players, for their part, have not been keeping the secret very quiet during the Super High Roller event at the PCA… or have they? On their Twitter feeds, players have been calling Blom “Isildur1” when they note to their followers who is at their tables. For example, in his Tweet, 2010 Bluff Magazine Player of the Year Sorel Mizzi gave his table’s roll call: “Got Ashman, Negreanu, Timex, Vivek, Isildur1, and Nick Schulman. Fun!”
This hasn’t stopped some players from promoting different theories as to the true identity of Isildur1. Justin Bonomo noted a thread on TwoPlusTwo and Tweeted, “Coincidence that Hellmuth leaves UB just before Stars reveals Isildur1? Get ready to feel your heads explode Blom fanboys!”
Another Tweeter, Chris Choy, took the time to look over the entry list for the PCA Super High Roller event and noted, “Going through PCA $100K High Roller lineup… Seat 6 – Koen Berendsen is the only name I don’t recognize… Isildur1, is that you buddy?” Berendsen is a player from the Netherlands who has had some success in the European poker community.
Blom did not fare well in the PCA Super High Roller event, busting before the end of Day 1. Germany’s Tobias Reinkemeier leads Team PokerStars Pro Daniel Negreanu and Bryn Kenney as Day 2 plays out. Other players still a part of the action include recent WPT champion Antonio Esfandiari, Daniel “jungleman12” Cates, Eugene Katchalov, and Andrew “luckychewy” Lichtenberger.
The Isildur1 drama has played out over more than a year since the arrival of the Swedish high-stakes player in 2009. Taking on such players as Patrik Antonius, Phil Ivey, and Tom “durrrr” Dwan, Isildur1 grew his bankroll in high-stakes play to record levels. As 2010 came to a close, however, the mysterious Swede decided it was time to take an unprecedented step.
Isildur1 unexpectedly signed a sponsorship agreement with PokerStars in December, guaranteeing a steady income, but also potentially prompting an end to the mystery surrounding his identity. It had been previously announced by PokerStars that Isildur1 would make the PCA his first official live event as a part of the Team PokerStars stable, and Saturday’s announcement of his or her identity will certainly draw the attention of the poker community.
Prahlad Friedman Discusses Signing with UB.com
Brand new to Team UB.com is bracelet winner Prahlad Friedman, who joined the site following the departures of Annie Duke and Phil Hellmuth. Friedman sat down with Poker News Daily to discuss joining the USA-friendly CEREUS Network site.
Poker News Daily: Tell us why you signed with UB.com following your now-famous Tweet in November saying you’d be “selling out” by joining an online poker site. Did you have a change of heart?
Prahlad Friedman: I had a change of heart. It was all because of friends and family. They all convinced me that I could do greater good by signing and having more exposure and influence. We live in a society where the people who are the most well known have the greatest influence. I felt this could get me out there a little more. There’s also a charity component to my deal.
PND: What can you tell us about the charity portion of your agreement with UB.com?
Prahlad Friedman: There’s a good chunk of money that I’ll be giving to charity every year. I’ll be posting on Facebook and Twitter for any charities people think are awesome and I have a few ideas of my own. There are many options out there.
PND: What sparked your original stance against signing with an online poker site?
Prahlad Friedman: I’m just super liberal. I was raised vegetarian and I meditate. I’ve always liked underground hip-hop. I’ve always been on the outside. Now, I’m trying to mix it up and work from the inside out. I can turn a lot of heads, make people healthier, and help with charity. I don’t view it as selling out.
PND: You were affected by the cheating scandal on UB.com. What does Prahlad Friedman signing with UB.com say about the site moving forward?
Prahlad Friedman: People should know I’m not a donkey. I’m not going to sign if I thought there was anything going on. I obviously feel like the site is different and new now. Anybody who had to do with that scandal is gone.
PND: With Annie Duke and Phil Hellmuth now gone from Team UB.com, can you be the main face of an online poker site?
Prahlad Friedman: I’ve always been a leader. I’ve always been outspoken. For quite a few years now, I haven’t been afraid to do interviews and be in front of cameras. I’m comfortable and have always been a point guard.
PND: What were your thoughts when you found out that Duke and Hellmuth were leaving?
Prahlad Friedman: They’re going to make the decision that’s best for them; it didn’t raise any concerns for me. They’ve been there a while and wanted a change of pace or had a change of heart just like I did. People change and the fact that they’re out is hopefully good for them and I know they’ll do well in the future. It also gives me an opportunity to be at the forefront. One of the things that most attracted me to this deal was the creative control I’ll have in commercials, clothing lines, and charitable things.
PND: What details can you share about the interactions you had with UB.com following the cheating scandal? Were you reimbursed?
Prahlad Friedman: It’s one of the greatest experiences I’ve had. I’m sure a lot of people feel differently, but I was pumped to get money back and it was a large sum. They took care of me and it reinforced to me that I was one of the best poker players in the world. Any money I had lost was because I was cheated off of it. Every site has had its problems with weird things happening and you have to improve and move on.
PND: What were your thoughts about Daniel Negreanu calling you out for signing with UB.com?
Prahlad Friedman: At first, people were recommending that I not read TwoPlusTwo and Twitter because if there’s anything negative, it can get to you, but I couldn’t help myself. I read Daniel Negreanu’s comments and I’m not hating on him. We’re friends and fellow vegans, but he feels strongly about UB. I don’t have problems with the things he said. I just feel a lot differently than he does.
PND: Were you surprised at some of Negreanu’s comments?
Prahlad Friedman: I knew from the past that people are going to bring up tough questions and criticize me. People have been criticizing me since I was on the scene. You can’t let those things affect you. People have different ideas. That’s what makes the world interesting.
PND: You broke Steve Nash’s consecutive free throw record on an episode of “Poker2Nite,” which was quite impressive. Tell us about your preparation for that attempt.
Prahlad Friedman: I’ve always been intense about things I do. Playing basketball competitively has been my main goal since I could hold a ball. All I did was shoot 500 or 1,000 shots a day for years and years. I’d sneak my way into gyms as a youth and I was obsessed with basketball.
Usually, when I go out and shoot, I’ll make 40 or 50 in a row, and my best is 118. The world record is 5,200 shots in a row, which would be awesome to break, but could be out of reach. I thought Nash’s record was within reach and broke it on the third try. I’d like to do it again, improve upon it, and make it so people will have a tough time beating it.
PND: We’d wager that many poker players know you best for your World Series of Poker Main Event run-ins with Ted Bort and Jeffrey Lisandro.
Prahlad Friedman: It seems silly that I’m known for those. I can’t blame people because ESPN is one of the biggest outlets and millions of people watch it. In the future, they can hopefully remember me for other things. I don’t like to be remembered for drama, so it is a little funny that these controversies come up. I’m looking to get past them.
PND: Are you focused on winning a second WSOP bracelet?
Prahlad Friedman: I haven’t played enough tournaments recently to have a really good chance. I’d love to win two, though, and with this signing with UB, I think I’ll play more. I’ll put myself in a good position to win another one.
Tags: Annie Duke, charity, cheat, Daniel Negreanu, interview, Online Poker, Phil Hellmuth, poker player, tournament, usa, WSOP
Tobias Reinkemeier Leads PCA Super High Roller Event After Day 1
One day of play is in the books in the $100,000 buy-in Super High Roller Event at the 2011 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA). Thirty-eight players put up the six-figure admission fee and, when the smoke had cleared after nine levels, Tobias Reinkemeier held a stack of 896,000 for a slight lead over Team PokerStars Pro front man Daniel Negreanu.
Reinkemeier doubled up late in the day with pocket queens against Bryan Colin’s A-10 to move to 420,000 in chips and eventually bagged up more than twice that total to make a run at the $1.5 million top prize. The $100,000 buy-in event set a new standard for tournaments at the PCA and brought out some of the game’s best, including Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier. “Elky” watched as Negreanu and 2010 Bluff Player of the Year Sorel “Imper1um” Mizzi hit top pair on an ace-high board. Grospellier, who was all-in against both, sent his final hand into the muck to depart in 25th place.
Grospellier wasn’t the only star to exit the Super High Roller Event on its opening day. Viktor Blom, the many presumed to be behind the “Isildur1” moniker, was also in the house and called all-in on a board reading 9-A-7-9-3. His opponent, Vivek “Psyduck” Rajkumar, tabled K-9 for trips. Blom mucked and that was all she wrote for the Swede, who lasted eight levels.
For Blom, the start of the day was ominous. Text found on the PokerStars Blog details the opening minutes of his $100,000 buy-in tournament run: “‘Long travels’ is how Blom described it, having just flown from London to New York to Miami to Nassau five hours late and without his baggage. He’s now filling in waiver forms.”
North American Poker Tour (NAPT) Venetian Bounty Shootout champ Ashton Griffin also found the rail on Thursday in the Bahamian poker tournament. Griffin committed his stack pre-flop with Q-10, but ran into Nick Schulman’s A-2. The board ran out A-J-2-K-A and, despite making a straight, Griffin fell to Schulman’s full house on the river.
Jason “JCarver” Somerville’s pocket jacks were no match for Victory Poker pro Antonio Esfandiari’s pocket aces to seal his exit from the $100,000 buy-in tournament. Also without chips was math whiz Bill Chen, whose A-5 found trips on a 5-7-5-6-8 board, but David Benyamine, one of the few Full Tilt Poker pros in the tournament, held Q-9 for a straight.
Departing in particularly brutal fashion was DoylesRoom pro Hoyt Corkins. The “Alabama Cowboy” called all-in with ducks on a board of 2-9-6-5-10 only to see that Bryn Kenney had rivered a set of his own with pocket tens. Among those seated at the same table were Phil Laak and Jason Mercier, the latter of whom told Kenney, “I really didn’t think you had two tens.”
Twenty-three players remain at the end of Day 1 of the three-day tournament, whose final table will be filmed for airing on ESPN2. Here’s how the field stacks up entering Day 2 on Friday:
1. Tobias Reinkemeier – 896,000
2. Daniel Negreanu – 848,000
3. Bryn Kenney – 828,000
4. Nick Schulman – 705,000
5. Daniel “jungleman12” Cates – 622,000
6. Eugene Katchalov – 551,000
7. Vivek “Psyduck” Rajkumar – 483,000
8. Jason Mercier – 459,000
9. Andrew “luckychewy” Lichtenberger – 444,000
10. Caio Pimenta – 409,000
11. Sandor Demjan – 401,000
12. James “Andy McLEOD” Obst – 390,000
13. Antonio Esfandiari – 330,000
14. Andrew “good2cu” Robl – 324,000
15. Humberto Brenes – 318,000
16. Mike “timex” McDonald – 269,000
17. Sorel “Imper1um” Mizzi – 249,000
18. Shawn Buchanan – 209,000
19. David Benyamine – 202,000
20. Matt Glantz – 148,000
21. Bryan Colin – 134,000
22. Justin “Boosted J” Smith – 116,000
23. Phil Laak – 99,000
The action will pick back up at Noon ET today and five places will pay out when the tournament wraps up on Saturday. Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest from the 2011 PCA.
Image courtesy PokerStars Blog
Tobias Reinkemeier leads PCA Super High Roller
Cake Poker opens diamond mine to give away $40,000
Prahlad Friedman Joins Team UB
Just weeks after announcing the site had parted ways with longtime team members Annie Duke and Phil Hellmuth, the signing of one of the most feared online poker cash game players in the world comes as a shock, considering Friedman had previously rejected the concept of sponsorship and was one of the largest victims of a cheating scandal on UB that saw insiders gain access to opponent's hole cards.
Friedman, who plays under the names "Spirit Rock" and "Mahatma" online, has a World Series of Poker bracelet, World Poker Tour title, and more than $2.3 million in career live tournament earnings.
He believes this is a new era for himself and the site.
"UB is headed in a new direction, and I really like the team they've put together," he said. "Everyone on the team has interests away from poker. They're young, hip, cool -- people I enjoy hanging with and whose games I respect."
Almost as widely known for the rap video he made for the ESPN The Nuts segement during a deep run in the 2006 WSOP Main Event, UB says the addition of Friedman to its roster of young, talented poker pros makes the team immediately stronger and louder.
"One word to describe Prahlad Friedman joining UB.com? Epic," said fellow Team UB pro Joe Sebok. "We've netted one of the biggest cash game players of all time, an achievement that really speaks to the strength and attractiveness of UB heading into 2011."
Visit www.pokerlistings.com
Robert Croak of DeepStacks Live Interview
Robert Croak recently announced that he’s joining DeepStacks Live as a partner. Croak has gained huge acclaim as the creator and CEO of SillyBandz. He brings his expertise as a master marketer and brand manager to take the DeepStacks brand to the next level.
In this exclusive interview with Poker News Daily, Croak explains first how he got involved with DeepStacks and how the relationship first developed.
“Well I think it all comes back to a hand in poker I had against Mike Matusow about three years ago. We were playing against each other in a cash game at the Bellagio. He was trying to bully the table and I don’t get bullied very well. He raised pretty big pre-flop, I called in the dark, the story goes he bet on the flop and I then looked to see I flopped the boat. I just shipped it all in and he called, and got runner runner for a royal flush. It was a sick, sick hand that nobody believed and some guys from Full Tilt where there too and took some pictures. From that, a gentleman that works with Mike that’s a good friend of mine … he introduced Chris (Torina) and I and the rest is history. I have a long history in business development, marketing and brand building and poker so I thought it was a good marriage.”
When asked to comment about leveraging some of the big name pros that are associated with the DeepStacks brands, such as Michael Mizrachi, Adam “Roothless” Levy and Mike “The Mouth” Matusow, Croak explained, “They are definitely paramount to the growth of this thing … but what we’re going to be able to do is create a better product … and try to pick up on key markets throughout the country that are looking for more of a marquee tournament.”
Croak also discusses in the interview what his role will be and confirms that he will have day-to-day responsibilities as part of his new role with DeepStacks Live and their other entities. His final comments talk about how the 2011 schedule is shaping up.
Prahlad Friedman Joins Team UB.com
Following last week’s overhaul at Team UB.com that saw Annie Duke and Phil Hellmuth depart on the same day, the USA-friendly CEREUS Network site has picked up its newest pro. On Thursday, site officials announced that Prahlad Friedman had joined Team UB.com.
Friedman seemingly hinted at joining an online poker site back in November. The 32 year old California native Tweeted, “I said I would never sign with a poker site. Should I ever reconsider? What y’all think? I would have to get over the fact that I’m ‘selling out.’ I’m the only player in the world that hasn’t wanted a deal that I know of.” UB.com promoted Friedman as “one of the world’s greatest cash game players, online and off, with millions in winnings earned since 1999.”
Friedman’s first major live cash came eight years ago in the Main Event of the Five Diamond World Poker Classic at the Bellagio, where he booked $101,000 for his runner-up finish to Full Tilt Poker’s Erick Lindgren. One year later, he notched his first (and so far only) World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet in a $1,500 Pot Limit Hold’em tournament and banked $109,000 in the process.
In 2005, Friedman played second fiddle to Chris Ferguson in the WSOP Circuit Championship at Harrah’s Rincon to earn another $363,000. One year later, this author remembers being at the Rio in Las Vegas and following Friedman through the WSOP Main Event. There, he turned in a 20th place finish for nearly a half-million dollars and fell just short of the coveted Main Event bracelet.
He’d make amends in August 2009, when Friedman took down the Legends of Poker, a stop on the World Poker Tour (WPT). His victory in the California poker tournament was worth a colossal $1 million and saw Friedman outlast a final table that included November Niner Kevin Schaffel, Todd Terry, Toto Leonidas, and Sam Stein.
Friedman was a victim of the superuser scandal that rocked UB.com and drew the ire of PokerStars pro Daniel Negreanu for signing with the site that had wronged him. “Kid Poker” responded to a variety of Tweets last weekend, among them one sent to fellow poker player Alex Outhred that read, “Like you, I’ve known him for years, which makes it all the more shocking. I’ve defended Prahlad on many occasions. Can’t here.”
Negreanu added to Outhred, “UB will always have to offer more than face value [for a sponsorship] because given a choice that’s close, no one would choose UB. Or shouldn’t… UB has to offer more money obv. He used to say it wasn’t about the money. I don’t believe that anymore… He used to speak out against all corporations, claiming he stood for something. Then, the money was right and his tune changed… I get it happens. I’m disappointed it did happen. I’ve always liked Prahlad and still do despite his decision. Just shocking.”
Nevertheless, Friedman will join UB.com just in time for the sixth UB.com Online Championship, or UBOC, which gets underway on January 16th. The 29-event series will stretch all the way until January 30th, when a $1,050 buy-in Main Event will kick off. The $1 million guaranteed feature tournament will deal No Limit Hold’em and be played as a Monster Stack.
Running alongside the sixth UBOC schedule is a MiniUBOC series, which features the same 29 tournaments, but with buy-ins that are generally one-tenth as large. The MiniUBOC slate ends with a $55 buy-in Monster Stack Championship Event that comes with a $50,000 guaranteed purse.
Following the departures of Hellmuth and Duke, UB.com’s stock of pros now includes Friedman, Joe Sebok, Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin, Brandon Cantu, Tiffany Michelle, and Maria Ho. The site happily accepts players from the United States and joins Absolute Poker on the CEREUS Network.
Play with Prahlad Friedman today only by visiting UB.com.
The Midweek Briefing: Allen Cunningham Among Weekly Major Winners
Cake Poker Opens Diamond Mine on January 10th
Starting next week, Cake Poker will fire up its latest promotion, which will offer $40,000 in cash to those who participate. The Diamond Mine begins next Monday, January 10th and will be a series of tournaments with increasing prize pools. The key to enter these events will be the ever-popular Cake Poker Gold Cards that have been released to this point in 2011.
Each tournament has a guaranteed prize pool, starting with $300 for the first and running up to $15,000 for the final event on the schedule. There is no cost for players to enter save for using the Gold Cards that they have accumulated through ring game play on Cake Poker.
The 14-event schedule begins with a tournament for players who can come up with five of the two of diamonds Gold Cards from the 2011 series. These players will battle it out for one of 100 seats in the next tournament and a piece of a $300 prize pool. If a player earns one of those seats, they’ll move on to the second tournament, which is offered to those with five of the three of diamonds Gold Cards. Each event as a player moves up the ladder has a card requirement for entry and an increasing prize pool.
If a player is able to play in all 12 of the preliminary events on the Diamond Mine schedule, they’ll earn a seat in the Diamond Mine Flawless Freeroll. This freeroll offers a $10,000 prize pool and will take place one day before the final event.
The final on January 23rd, which players can earn entry to either through winning a seat in Event #12 or by having an ace of diamonds from any of the Gold Card series, will feature a prize pool of $15,000.
Knowing that players will be burning through Gold Cards for the Diamond Mine tournament series, Cake Poker is simultaneously running its Turbo Gold Card promotion. Gold Cards will be distributed at ring game tables at twice the normal rate each day from January 10th to January 23rd from 4:00pm ET to 5:00pm ET and from 8:00pm ET to 11:00pm ET. This promotion gives players a chance to build up their 2011 series Gold Card collections and get in on the $40,000 Diamond Mine tournament schedule.
For those who prefer to “wheel and deal” to get the Gold Cards they need, Cake Poker’s Gold Card Exchange is open as well.
Already running on Cake Poker are satellites to one of the longest running tournament schedules in poker history. Cake Poker is offering its players the opportunity to head to Ireland over Easter weekend to take part in the 2011 Irish Poker Open, the second oldest tournament behind only the World Series of Poker. Cake Poker is offering players a chance at a seat at the 2011 Irish Poker Open Main Event for as little as $1.10, with satellites running daily. These satellites feed into a monthly Final.
Cake Poker has put together packages for players that are worth battling for. Each $7,000 prize package from Cake Poker includes a seat at the Main Event of the Irish Poker Open worth €3,500, a five-night stay at the Irish Poker Open’s host venue (the Burlington Hotel), $1,500 cash for travel expenses, and an official Cake Poker gear pack. The opportunity to play alongside the best poker players in the world during the Irish Poker Open, however, is the biggest prize. The final day to earn entry into the Irish Poker Open through Cake Poker is March 27th.
Featuring such outlets as its own eponymous room, the Doyle Brunson-backed DoylesRoom, and Victory Poker, the USA-friendly Cake Poker Network should be a popular stop for poker players throughout the month of January with its wealth of promotions. Visit Cake Poker to learn more about the Diamond Mine tournament series.
Jordan Young (Jymaster0011) Wins PocketFives.com 2010 Yearly PLB Crown
Michigan online poker pro Jordan “Jymaster0011″ Young was named the winner of the 2010 PocketFives.com Yearly Leaderboard PLB title this week, accumulating 19,057 PLB Points to take the honor from 2009 champ Chris “moorman1″ Moorman. Young barely bested the 18,979 points of 2010 CardPlayer Online Player of the Year Taylor “taypaur” Paur, who finished as the runner-up in the PocketFives.com Yearly PLB race.
Young, who is currently ranked #1 in the PocketFives.com Online Poker Rankings, made huge waves on August 1st when he won two Sunday Majors on the same day, an accomplishment considered to be one of the greatest in online poker history. Young won the Full Tilt Poker $750,000 Guaranteed for $132,787 and, just hours later, took down the Sunday Brawl for another $104,951. The scores were the biggest of his young career.
“I think it’s completely ridiculous,” Young told PocketFives.com about his unforgettable Sunday. “I know I’ll never have another day online like that again. I might have a bigger payday online, but it’s going to be because of one tournament; it’ll never be because of winning two really big tournaments. At the time, I didn’t realize how amazing I ran that day. It was a big stress reliever to set myself up comfortably financially.”
Young’s August heater continued with a victory in a $100 tournament on PokerStars on August 25th for $14,418 and then a win in the Full Tilt Poker $150 Rebuy for $79,784. He added another massive score in December, taking down the Full Tilt Poker $150 Rebuy again for $76,623. That victory helped him win not only the Yearly PLB title, but also the Monthly PLB race for December. He earned the same honor in August after his two Sunday Major wins.
Paur, who plays as “tramp$d0pray” on PokerStars and “ambiguosity” on Full Tilt Poker, had a pair of six-figure scores of his own in 2010. The 22-year-old California native won the Full Tilt Poker Sunday Brawl in April for $101,852 and then collected the biggest payday of his poker career in May by winning FTOPS Event #29, a $150 Rebuy, for $192,228. Paur claimed the #1 ranking on PocketFives.com in June before relinquishing it weeks later. He currently stands at #2 in the Worldwide Rankings behind Young.
Rounding out the top five on the Yearly leaderboard were Mickey “mementmori” Petersen, Paul “paulgees81″ Volpe, and Casey “bigdogpckt5s” Jarzabek. Peterson’s biggest payout came in May, when he took second in SCOOP Event #19, a $2,100 buy-in event in which he earned $161,660. Volpe, from Philadelphia, didn’t find a six-figure score in 2010, but was consistent throughout. He collected 15 scores of at least $20,000, including a victory in the Wednesday Quarter Million on PokerStars for $51,367.
Jarzabek, who also finished in the Top 10 in the CardPlayer Online Player of the Year Rankings, picked up his biggest cash of the year on the third day in January, when he won the PokerStars Sunday $100 Rebuy for $77,976. Here’s a look at the final results of the 2010 PocketFives.com Yearly PLB Leaderboard:
1. Jordan “Jymaster0011″ Young – 19,507.77 PLB Points
2. Taylor “taypaur” Paur – 18,979.23 PLB Points
3. Mickey “mementmori” Petersen – 18,922.16 PLB Points
4. Paul “paulgees81″ Volpe – 18,378.20 PLB Points
5. Casey “bigdogpckt5s” Jarzabek – 18,350.73 PLB Points
6. Adam “Squee451″ Sherman – 17,970.93 PLB Points
7. Zachary “HustlerGrune” Gruneberg – 17,689.70 PLB Points
8. Chad “evechad” Eveslage – 17,651.23 PLB Points
9. Jeremy “daisyxoxo” Fitzpatrick – 17,636.64 PLB Points
10. Steve “gboro780″ Gross – 17,613.39 PLB Points
Tournament Poker Therapy, part 2: Identifying poker pain
Last month, I discussed the concept of using psychoanalysis to deal with the psychic pain that tournament poker can bring. I ended by listing what are termed in Cognitive Analytical Therapy as “Core Pain Statements”. These statements are supposed to be a candid appraisal of exactly how you feel at points of heightened psychic pain – the most obvious in tournament poker being on busting out.
Daniel Negreanu and Jason Mercier have an interesting sidebet
The two PokerStars pro players, Daniel Negreanu and Jason Mercier have made an interesting sidebet. If one of them gets deep in a tournament then the other one has to pay up.
Negreanu and Mercier have proven to be excellent live players, if not one of the best ones today. Now they need to pay to each other depending how they will be placed in the tournaments during 2011.
Basically the sidebet goes like this: every money position will cost $2,000 to the other player. Final table place costs $5,000, ending up in top 3 will cost $10,000 and a tournament win is worth $25,000.
Negreanu has a similar bet going on with Daniel Alaei and Mercier has one with Frank Kassela.
Source: Pokerista.net, Bluff Europe
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Daniel Negreanu and Jason Mercier have an interesting sidebet
PCA 2011 starts today with a $100K Buy-in Highroller Tournament - “Isildur1? is playing as well
PokerStars Caribbean Adventure 2011 starts today in Bahama. The first event is a $100K Buy-in Super Highroller Tournament.
Even though the Buy-in is so high, there was already over 30 players signed to the tournament. Many players have bought in through the PokerStars client, including “Isildur1″.
Let’s hope there will be more players signing in today and the prize pool gets really big. It is also interesting to see if PokerStars will reveal who “Isildur1″ is, because if they won’t, there are always people who can count the players in such a “small” tournament.
You can follow the tournament updates from Pokernews website.
Source: Pokerista.net
You just read Poker News from HighStakesNews.com
PCA 2011 starts today with a $100K Buy-in Highroller Tournament - “Isildur1″ is playing as well
PokerStars Caribbean Adventure $100,000 event begins today
CEREUS add more money to 2011 Tournament Leaderboard
WSOP Circuit Invades Dallas
The WSOP Circuit heads to the Dallas and Ft. Worth area for the first time today when the Choctaw Casino Resort hosts the tour's first stop of 2011.
The resort, one hour north of Dallas in Durant, Oklahoma, will host a total of 51 events over 18 days, including a $1,600 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em main event beginning Jan. 22.
“This is a huge poker market that has clamored for high stakes tournament poker and we’re ecstatic to be hosting a WSOP Circuit in this gorgeous property in Durant,” said WSOP vice president Ty Stewart.
The schedule features a broad selection of games, including PLO, PLO/2-7 triple draw mixed, H.O.R.S.E., Omaha 8 and Hold’em.
There is both a senior's and ladies event as well.
WSOP Circuit leader board points will be awarded, with the player earning the most points and the main event winner earning entry to the $1 million WSOPC National Championship at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas this May.
Visit www.pokerlistings.com
UB.com and Absolute Poker Add More Money, More Winners to 2011 TLB
For many, the New Year means a fresh start and an opportunity to make positive changes. Online poker rooms are no exception. The CEREUS Network, comprised of UB.com and Absolute Poker, has revamped its Tournament Leaderboard (TLB) for 2011 and will award more money to more players.
The biggest change has been made to the Multi-Table TLB, where CEREUS will be dishing out $116,000 in prizes to the year-end leaders along with $15,000 in total to the top 20 players each month. For the yearly TLB, the overall winner will receive $10,000 plus a $10,000 seat in the 2011 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event. The runner-up will receive $5,000 and a WSOP seat. The rest of the top ten at the end of the year will also receive cash prizes and the top 100 will have the opportunity to play in an exclusive $50,000 freeroll.
At the end of each month, the player atop the multi-table TLB (for that month only) will win $5,000, second place will get $2,500, and third place will receive $1,000. Fourth through tenth places will bank $500 and the remainder of the top 20 on the monthly TLB will get $300.
St. Louis resident “C_SWEENZ” finished 2010 atop the multi-table TLB and won $10,000 plus a seat at the 2011 WSOP Main Event. “Winning the 2010 leaderboard was a huge rush and great accomplishment! I’ve played a lot of hands and learned a lot,” said “C_SWEENZ” in a CEREUS Network press release. “I’m looking forward to improving my all-around game by continuing to play all of the great tournaments on UB and making another run for 2011. Good luck at the tables everyone!”
“FUTUREPROQQ,” from Lincoln, Nebraska finished second in the TLB and will also play in the WSOP Main Event on the poker network’s dime; he also collected $5,500.
The Sit and Go TLB is divided into three groups: Diamond, Heart, and Spade. Diamond is for players competing in sit and gos with buy-ins of $6.50 or lower, Heart is for $6.51 to $25 buy-ins, and Spade is for $26 buy-ins and higher. For each division, a player’s highest total score for 20 consecutive tournaments is what counts, which means that you aren’t rewarded for simply playing around-the-clock.
There are only weekly TLB prizes for sit and gos. A total of $1,000 will be split among the top 50 players every week in the Diamond group, $3,000 will be spread among the top 40 in the Heart group, and $5,000 will be chopped among the top 20 in the Spade group. All monetary prizes are awarded in Tournament Dollars.
At first blush, the TLB formula seems complicated, but it’s really not. For multi-table tournaments and sit and gos, points are calculated by taking the square root of the total prize pool and dividing by the player’s final position taken to the power of two-fifths. Got that? In other words, the two inputs that matter are the total prize pool and the final standings.
The formula was devised not to take into account the buy-in directly so that the TLB field will be level for users of all bankrolls. The buy-ins come into play when determining the prize pool, but since more players will typically register for lower buy-in tournaments, the prize pools will tend to even out. Higher buy-in events have tougher fields and lower buy-ins have larger fields, both presenting their own challenges.
Taylor Paur (ambiguosity) Wins 2010 CardPlayer Online Player of the Year
Earlier this week, Taylor “ambiguosity” Paur was named the 2010 CardPlayer Online Player of the Year after edging out defending titleholder Steve “gboro780″ Gross in the final days of December. Paur stockpiled an all-time record of 11,030 points for the year, besting previous winners Gross (2009), Alex “AJKHoosier1″ Kamberis (2008), and Isaac “westmenloAA” Baron (2007) in that department.
Paur, 22, won the Full Tilt Poker $75,000 Guaranteed on December 27th for nearly $25,000 to help put a stranglehold on the crown. In total, he amassed more than $1 million in online poker earnings for the year, making up more than two-thirds of his lifetime winnings. He won 13 tournaments in 2010, six of them for scores of $80,000 or more. His biggest payday came in May when he took down the Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS) $150 Rebuy for $192,228.90.
Paur’s biggest feat, though, may have been fending off Gross, whose accomplishments in online tournaments are simply unparalleled. Gross, who has more than $5 million in earnings since 2005, finished as the runner-up to Kamberis in the 2008 CardPlayer Online Player of the Year race before earning the honor in 2009 and finishing runner-up again in 2010. His consistency and dedication to the game have landed him among the elite players in the industry.
Rounding out the top five in the 2010 Online Player of the Year standings were Casey “bigdogpckt5s” Jarzabek, Chris “Gettin Daize” Oliver, and Jon “apestyles” Van Fleet. Jarzabek, who helped open the online training site Tournament Poker Edge this year, totaled $782,355 in winnings to claim a spot in the Top 10 for the second straight year. Oliver, meanwhile, burst onto the scene in 2010 and spent several weeks as the #1 ranked player on PocketFives.com.
There’s a certain set of criteria for tournaments that count toward Card Player’s Online Player of the Year standings. Sites included in the rankings include PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, UB.com, Cake Poker, Absolute Poker, and Bodog and only tournaments with a buy-in of $100 or more qualify. The prize pool of a tournament must be at least $100,000 and prize packages such as trips or live tournament buy-ins do not count.
Here’s a look at the Top 20 in the 2010 Card Player Online Player of the Year Standings:
1. Taylor “ambiguosity” Paur – 11,030 points ($1,099,435 in earnings)
2. Steve “gboro780″ Gross – 10,320 points ($1,023,658 in earnings)
3. Casey “bigdogpckt5s” Jarzabek – 9,932 points ($782,355 in earnings)
4. Chris “Gettin Daize” Oliver – 9,268 points ($854,769 in earnings)
5. Jon “apestyles” Van Fleet – 9,164 ($859,489 in earnings)
6. Zach “HustlerGrune” Gruneberg – 8,984 points ($776,347 in earnings)
7. “kirbynator” – 8,878 points ($1,143,749 in earnings)
8. Cliff “JohnnyBax” Josephy – 8,874 points ($837,089 in earnings)
9. Raj “BadcardsAA” Vohra – 8,688 points ($1,319,012 in earnings)
10. Aditya “Intervention” Agarwal – 8,432 points ($739,105 in earnings)
11. Mark “dipthrong” Herm – 8,250 points ($811,208 in earnings)
12. Jamie “TheCronic420″ Rosen – 8,126 points ($664,588 in earnings)
13. Jordan “Jymaster11″ Young – 8,088 points ($751,593 in earnings)
14. Nick “Grippolio” Grippo – 8,044 points ($688,878 in earnings)
15. Ross “zestfullyclean” Myers – 7,960 points ($618,388 in earnings)
16. James “croll103″ Carroll – 7,898 points ($712,167 in earnings)
17. Mickey “mement_mori” Petersen – 7,792 points ($737,838 in earnings)
18. Ryan “ryanbluf” Karp – 7,712 points ($648,334 in earnings)
19. “mralan2950 – 7,710 points ($777,994 in earnings)
20. Chris “cdbr3799″ Dombrowski – 7,704 ($817,196 in earnings)
Tags: 2008, 2009, 2010, absolute poker, bodog, buy-ins, cake poker, full tilt poker, Online Poker, poker player, pokerstars, tournament, trips
PCA $100,000 Super High Roller Field Includes Daniel Negreanu, Jason Mercier
On Thursday, the first ever $100,000 buy-in No Limit Hold’em Super High Roller Event will kick off the 2011 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure. The inaugural running of the tournament has attracted nearly 30 players so far and Saturday’s final table will be filmed for coverage on ESPN2.
In a press release sent out by PokerStars on Thursday, the names of 26 entrants appeared, including a variety of members of Team PokerStars Pro. Among those who will take to the felts in the richest tournament in PokerStars Caribbean Adventure history is Daniel Negreanu, whose Twitter spat about Prahlad Friedman’s rumored signing with UB.com has taken center stage in recent days. Negreanu owns four World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelets, the most recent of which came in 2008 in a $2,000 Limit Hold’em tournament.
The hottest player on the tournament circuit right now, Jason Mercier, will also participate in the $100,000 buy-in Super High Roller Event starting tomorrow in the Bahamas. Mercier is firmly entrenched in the #2 spot on the ESPN poker rankings dubbed “The Nuts” and recorded five in the money finishes at this year’s WSOP. Mercier final tabled the PokerStars North American Poker Tour (NAPT) Los Angeles Main Event for $84,000 in November and won the tour’s Mohegan Sun Bounty Shootout for $475,000 earlier in 2010. Mercier is a former European Poker Tour (EPT) champ and WSOP bracelet holder.
The 2010 CardPlayer and Bluff Players of the Year will also head to the Bahamas for the six-figure price tag tournament. Tom Marchese and Sorel “Imper1um” Mizzi are both listed among the 26 entrants so far. Marchese is six weeks removed from a win in a $1,000 No Limit Hold’em preliminary event during the Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic and claimed CardPlayer’s 2010 Player of the Year honors. Mizzi, who earned the 2010 Bluff Player of the Year title, won two preliminary tournaments during EPT Snowfest in March 2010 for a combined haul of $140,000, just enough to cover tomorrow’s buy-in.
Bryn Kenney, who drove deep in the 2010 WSOP Main Event, will be part of the festivities at the Atlantis Resort and Casino, as will Scott Seiver. Other players who will make up the extremely talented field include Lex Veldhuis, Unabomber Poker front man Phil Laak, former “Big Game” player Bill Perkins, Humberto Brenes, Eugene Katchalov, Dan Shak, Bill Chen, Bryan Colin, Justin “Boosted J” Smith, Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier, Andrew “good2cu” Robl, DoylesRoom pro Hoyt Corkins, Victory Poker’s Antonio Esfandiari, Masa Kagawa, Nick Schulman, Matt Glantz, James “Andy McLEOD” Obst, Vivek “Psyduck” Rajkumar, Shawn Buchanan, and Ashton Griffin.
Needless to say, there won’t be any soft spots in the field. The 2011 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure schedule features 48 tournaments that span a 10-day period.
On his way down to Nassau for the tournament series, Negreanu posted on Twitter on Wednesday morning, “That’s random. Three bums sit right behind me on my flight and they look very much like Antonio Esfandiari, Jonathan Duhamel, and Sorel Mizzi.” Before that, Negreanu remarked that he was taking advantage of the in-flight internet offered aboard Delta Airlines: “I love Delta; you are beautiful baby. Wifi on my flight to Atlanta means I can get some VPPs on PokerStars.Headed to PCA, obv, traveling solo.”
On January 15th, the final table of the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Main Event will air on ESPN3.com and ESPN2. You can catch the action beginning at 5:00pm ET that day on ESPN3.com on a one-hour delay. Five hours later, ESPN2 will join the telecast in progress. Hole cards will be shown during the broadcast, which will make for a unique experience for viewers unable to make the trip to the Bahamas.
Visit PokerStars for more details on the 2011 Caribbean Adventure.
Tags: 2008, 2010, 2011, ashton griffin, Daniel Negreanu, Doyle Brunson, european, poker player, pokerstars, tournament, WSOP
Daniel Negreanu and Jason Mercier in tournament prop bet
WPT Diamond Championship just weeks away
Tags: tournament
New style Sit N Go games at PokerStars
Poker World Bahamas-Bound as PCA Begins
The 11-day poker festival that is the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure gets underway at the Atlantis Hotel & Casino with the first of 48 events - A $100,000 buy-in Super High Roller event that will feature poker's elite.
In fact, 26 players have already registered, including stars like Phil Laak, Daniel Negreanu, Jason Mercier, Bertrand Grospellier, Tom Marchese, Sorel Mizzi, Antonio Esfandiari, Vivek Rajkumar and online poker phenom Ashton Griffin.
With 24-hours left to get in on the action, Pokerstars is expecting it to be the largest and richest Super High Roller poker tournament in history.
Of course, the $10,000 Main Event runs Jan. 8-15 this year and will feature a tape-delayed televised final table with hole cards revealed on ESPN and PokerStars.tv, in addition to a unique behind-the-scenes look at the PCA right here on PokerListings.com.
Last year, 19-year-old Floridian Harrison Gimbel outlasted a record-setting 1,529-player field to ship the $2.2 million first-place prize and organizers are expecting an even larger field this time around.
To follow all the action from a perspective never seen before in live tournament reporting, click through to PokerListings' Live PCA coverage beginning Friday, Jan. 8.
Visit www.pokerlistings.com
The Showdown with Jon Friedberg Debuts on Poker News Daily
The very first episode of “The Showdown” with Jon Friedberg debuted today on Poker News Daily. The weekly web-based series welcomed former “Survivor: China” castaway Jean-Robert Bellande to discuss a variety of topics ranging from bankroll management to the Spearmint Rhino in Las Vegas.
Friedberg is a former World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner who was an original ranked player on PocketFives.com. His former ventures include a radio show and television show on CardPlayer and he brings a considerable amount of media experience to Poker News Daily. The USA-friendly site UB.com sponsors “The Showdown” and new episodes will be released every Tuesday.
In a recent Guest Column here on Poker News Daily, World Poker Tour (WPT) front man Mike Sexton gave several suggestions to improve attendance on the live tournament circuit, among them lowering buy-ins and shortening each tournament’s length. Friedberg responded, “I absolutely agree with Mike on this. It would be really great if we could lower the buy-ins a little bit and maybe shorten the time period of a tournament. $10,000 is a lot of money.” What do you think? Give us your take on how to increase tournament turnout by posting a Tweet at @JonFriedberg.
Also making news in recent days was WSOP Tournament Director Jack Effel asking for suggestions for the 2011 Series, which kicks off on the last day of May. Friedberg gave his take on the responses that poured in via Twitter: “I saw a lot of great suggestions on Twitter, but I have to say the best suggestion I saw… is changing the structures to where the $1,000 No Limit Hold’em events and the $1,500 No Limit Hold’em events have the exact same structure… I don’t think you should ever have a smaller buy-in event in the World Series have a better starting structure than a bigger buy-in event.”
Then, Friedberg welcomed Bellande to the Las Vegas set. Bellande has opened up his life via Twitter, discussing his bankroll’s wild swings, among other topics. Bellande noted, “I just am not mindful of bankroll management. I just get on the table, am not afraid to put it all on the line, and I go for it. There is an appreciation in the poker community because a lot of us have the desire to do that, but after you’ve gone broke a couple of times and can’t stand being broke, nobody wants to do it.”
Bellande revealed that he has a wealth of backers to help him get back on his feet should his fortunes at the tables turn sour. On whether he prefers playing with the help of backers, Bellande told “The Showdown” viewers, “I’d much prefer to play on my own money. I’ve built up some credit with some people and always pay back… but I’d much rather be playing on my own stakes. Tournaments are different because the buy-ins are so enormous. A tournament player can spend $250,000 or $350,000 a year on buy-ins.”
Bellande serves as an ambassador of Aria Las Vegas and commented to Friedberg that the idea of Re-Tweeting insults came after seeing a popular porn star do the same: “My idea of Re-Tweeting the hater stuff – I actually got it from Jenna Jameson. She Re-Tweeted all of her hater stuff and I thought that was hilarious. People are going to think what they’re going to think anyway.”
If you follow Bellande’s Twitter feed, then you’ll also hear about his exploits at the Spearmint Rhino, a renowned strip club in Sin City. “I’ve spent $1,000 or $1,200 in there, but it’s never more,” Bellande admitted. “It’s usually around a couple hundred or $400. They actually don’t make me buy the bottle because I’m more of a local, regular guy. I have not gone into the Rhino very often recently.” Bellande added that visiting the Rhino serves as a way to help him wind down from a day at the tables.
With many poker players making resolutions, Bellande vowed not to go broke in 2011: “I really don’t want to go broke. My goal is not to go broke in 2011… You’ll see me go from $100,000 to $200,000 in the next month or two and then I’ll try to shoot it up so I have a decent bankroll going into the World Series.” The former Bodog pro added that he wants to hit the $1 million mark by the end of the year.
Check out the inaugural episode of “The Showdown” with Jon Friedberg, brought to you by UB.com. Use bonus code UBPND when signing up!
Phil Ivey Finishes 2010 Atop ESPN The Nuts Rankings for December
We might all be putting our new 2011 calendars on the refrigerator, but let’s not put 2010 in our rearview mirror just yet. ESPN.com’s “The Nuts” poker player rankings for December 2010 were released on New Year’s Eve and showed that the more things change, the more they stay the same.
Before we get to the rankings, let’s quickly explain ESPN’s methodology. Unlike rankings by some poker sites, there is no mathematical formula used in “The Nuts.” Rather, it is a simple poll by a panel of ten members of the poker media, including our very own Dan Cypra. The panel attempts to rank the top ten poker players of the moment based on both tournament and cash game results, live and online. It is an inexact science, of course, but that is part of what makes it fun.
The voting panel includes ESPN.com’s poker crew of Andrew Feldman, Gary Wise, and Bernard Lee (who is also a Guest Columnist for Poker News Daily), Bluff Magazine Editor-in-Chief Lance Bradley and Senior Writer Jessica Welman, ESPNDeportes.com Poker Editor Nahuel Ponce, PokerRoad’s Court Harrington, PokerNews Editor-in-Chief Matthew Parvis and Tournament Reporter Don Peters, and Cypra.
Nine of the top ten players remained the same in December, although some of the order has changed. Phil Ivey remained in the top spot, a position that should really be renamed “Ivey’s Room.” He received eight first place votes from the ten-member panel. Jason Mercier received the other two first place votes, one coming from Cypra, cementing himself in the second position once again.
The two biggest jumps were by Tom Marchese and Vanessa Selbst, both of whom rose three spots. Marchese climbed from #6 to #3, while Selbst was elevated to the fifth spot from eighth. Marchese had an incredible 2010, his first year on the live tournament circuit. In live tournaments alone, he won over $2 million.
Marchese exploded onto the scene with a final table at the Borgata in January and followed that up with a win on the North American Poker Tour (NAPT) in February. He had three other big-time cashes last year, including final tables in the High Roller Event at the European Poker Tour (EPT) Grand Final, the $10,000 Pot Limit Hold’em Championship at the World Series of Poker (WSOP), and the championship event of the World Poker Tour‘s (WPT) World Poker Finals, all of which contributed to winning CardPlayer’s 2010 Player of the Year award.
Selbst, who won her first and only WSOP bracelet in 2008, had two huge wins in 2010. The first was in the Main Event of the NAPT Mohegan Sun in April for $750,000, while the second came in September in the Main Event of the Partouche Poker Tour in Cannes, France, where she won over $1.8 million.
The one new member of “The Nuts” was last month’s “Bubble Boy,” Sorel “Imper1um” Mizzi. The 2010 Bluff Magazine Player of Year placed ninth at the WPT Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic en route to a $1.9 million year in live tournaments. With Mizzi’s rise into the top ten, Alexander Kostritsyn dropped out.
As an example of how fluid things can be in the poker world, half of the top ten at the end of 2010 was different than at the beginning of the year. Daniel Negreanu took the biggest tumble out of the rankings, as he occupied the second spot in January. The other four poker players – Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier, Daniel Alaei, Yevgeniy “Jovial Gent” Timoshenko, and Barry Greenstein – were ranked seven through ten. Patrik Antonius came close to falling out of the rankings, finishing the year at #10 after starting out at #3.
The entire list of the ESPN’s “The Nuts” is as follows:
1. Phil Ivey
2. Jason Mercier
3. Tom Marchese
4. Tom Dwan
5. Vanessa Selbst
6. John Juanda
7. Michael Mizrachi
8. Eric Baldwin
9. Sorel Mizzi
10. Patrik Antonius
“The Nuts” is published at the end of every month in the poker section of ESPN.com.
Tags: 2008, 2010, 2011, aced, Barry Greenstein, Daniel Negreanu, Doyle Brunson, european, Patrik Antonius, Phil Ivey, poker player, Tom Dwan, tournament, WSOP
The Showdown – Episode 1
Pro poker player Jon Friedberg debuts his new show The Showdown. Jean-Robert Bellande is the guest in this first episode.
Friedberg is a successful business entrepreneur who moved to Las Vegas in 2004 but gained fame in the world of poker online under the names PokerTrip and Reactrix. During his peak, Friedberg was ranked as one of the top tournament players in the world according to PocketFives.com. In 2006 he won a World Series of Poker Bracelet by besting 2,890 players to win the 2006 WSOP Event #17 bracelet, in No Limit Hold’em. Since then he has placed at several other final tables and has accumulated over $2 million in live and online winnings.
In his debut episode of “The Showdown” Friedberg talks about what he will bring to the Poker News Daily audience. “I’m very happy to be here on Poker News Daily … and I’m really looking forward to a really fun run here. My goals and intentions for the show are to entertain, to inform and to educate. I plan to do that by having a really good group of guests on my show. I’m really not kidding when I say that my guests will vary anywhere from poker players to porn stars. There’s going to be a lot of interesting topics and a lot of fun discussions we’re going to have on this show.”
Friedberg’s first guest in The Showdown history is none other than reality TV star and pro poker player Jean-Robert Bellande, who has gained fame for wild bankroll swings and for his Twitter banter. However, before Bellande came out to talk the Vegas lifestyle and poker, Friedberg gives an interesting take on the current state of live tournament buy-ins and getting fish back into the player pools.
“If you think about it,” Friedberg explains, “If we could lower the buy-ins to maybe $3,500 or $5,000 or something, maybe shorten the structures a little bit, I think that would really bring a lot more amateurs back into the poker world.”
Topics that Friedberg and Bellande discuss include his sponsorship deal with the Aria poker room, improper bankroll management and getting a backer, which Bellande candidly speaks about. It’s a rare look into a player that likes to play big cash games with his entire roll on the line while at the same time tries to pay off his backers immediately and play with his own roll. By Bellande’s own admission he’s already gone bust a few times in just the last six months. In addition to that subject, Bellande also talks about the Vegas lifestyle and how he likes to party, but not too much, at the most famous Las Vegas Strip Club, Spearmint Rhino.
The interview with Bellande ends with a discussion of how he plans to build his bankroll and move into 2011 with enough to play through the entire World Series of Poker slate of events.
The Showdown with Jon Friedberg is exclusively seen on Poker News Daily with new episodes airing every Tuesday. For those of you that want to give feedback, Friedberg welcomes all tweets on Twitter on his account @JonFriedberg.
The Showdown is sponsored by UB.com, and is offering a 111% deposit bonus for first time depositors.