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Around the World with Lynn Gilmartin: Auckland

Andy Frankenberger Wins WPT Legends of Poker

On Wednesday night, Andy Frankenberger, who entered the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) Legends of Poker final table as the chip leader, emerged as its champion and banked $750,000. In addition, Frankenberger is now the proud owner of a WPT championship bracelet and a trophy of Wild Bill Hickok. The final table took 184 hands to determine a champion and ended shortly after 2:00am PT at the Bicycle Casino in Los Angeles.

After doubling up Tom Braband several hands earlier, Franco Brunetti was shown the exit in sixth place from the Legends of Poker. Brunetti moved all-in over-the-top of a raise by Kyle Wilson with K-3 offsuit and Wilson made the call with 8-6. I bet you can guess how this ends. A six hit on the flop to give Wilson the lead in the hand and no king came on the turn or river to save the day.

On the 77th hand of final table play, Jared Jaffee pushed all-in on a flop of J-7-4-7. Wilson tanked before calling and showed down 9-7 for trips, while Jaffee tabled Q-J for jacks-up. The river card was a king and Jaffee busted in fifth place for $86,000. The Legends of Poker marked Jaffee’s second WPT final table of 2010, as he finished fourth in the Southern Poker Championship in January for $135,000.

Twenty-three hands later, it was Braband’s witching hour. Braband 3bet all-in pre-flop and Wilson called, turning over pocket nines. Braband held K-J for an old-fashioned race and the board ran out Q-7-4-8-9. Braband picked up $109,000 from his first WPT final table. He finished 23rd in the Season 7 L.A. Poker Classic, his only other in the money finish on the WPT circuit.

Frankenberger, now the low stack at the table, doubled through Wilson with A-9 against A-7 and furthered his Legends of Poker title run by knocking out Tom Lee in third place. Lee open-shoved all-in pre-flop with A-8 and both Frankenberger and Wilson called in an attempt to knock him out. Frankenberger and Wilson checked the action down on a board reading K-9-4-Q with two clubs and, when the jack of clubs hit on the river, Frankenberger bet out 400,000 and Wilson folded. Frankenberger showed A-7 of clubs for the nut flush and Lee was relegated to the rails with ace-high.

Frankenberger held a 7:2 chip lead entering heads-up play against Wilson and the action ended just six hands later. Wilson 3bet all-in pre-flop with A-3 of diamonds and Frankenberger woke up with A-9 of clubs. Frankenberger flopped top pair on a nine-high board, while Wilson flopped a flush draw. However, no diamond came on the turn or river and Frankenberger took down the Legends of Poker.

Wilson earned $370,000 for his run in the five-day tournament and had a rail featuring Canadian poker pros Shawn Buchanan and Greg “FBT” Mueller. In 2008, Wilson took sixth in the Legends of Poker for $176,000. He also narrowly made the final table of the 2007 Bay 101 Shooting Star event, but went out in 18th place for $55,000.

Here’s how the final table of the 2010 WPT Legends of Poker cashed out:

1. Andy Frankenberger – $750,000
2. Kyle Wilson – $370,000
3. Tom Lee – $174,772
4. Tom Braband – $109,000
5. Jared Jaffee – $86,000
6. Franco Brunetti – $63,000

Next up for the WPT is the London Poker Classic, which will emanate from the Palm Beach Casino from August 30th to September 5th. Then, the WPT returns to U.S. soil on September 18th in Atlantic City for the Borgata Poker Open.

MMA Week Debuts on Poker After Dark

On Monday, MMA Week debuted on NBC’s “Poker After Dark.” The show, which airs at 2:05am ET nightly for one hour, pitted three staples of the MMA world against three poker pros. To start off Monday night’s installment, UFC’s Bruce Buffer gave a rousing introduction of his five opponents, complete with piped-in crowd noise and a mic hanging from the ceiling. It was reminiscent of his introduction of UB.com pro Phil Hellmuth on Day 1C of this year’s World Series of Poker Main Event.

Players began with 20,000 in chips and the blinds kicked off at 100-200. In the first major pot of the night, which we’ll dub the “Night of 1,000 Min-Raises,” Howard Lederer raised to 600 with A-7 and received calls from Erick Lindgren, who had pocket tens, and Patrik Antonius, who held Q-8 including the queen of clubs. The flop came 6-10-8, all clubs, giving Lindgren top set and Antonius a queen-high flush draw to go with middle pair.

Lindgren led out for 1,100 and Antonius called to bring the jack of spades on the turn. Antonius checked, Lindgren bet 2,600, and Antonius again came along to see a red eight on the river. Antonius checked his trips, Lindgren bet 5,800 with a boat, and Antonius muttered, “This sucks.” The Fin ultimately called, shipping the massive 20,900-chip pot – the equivalent of one starting stack – to Lindgren, who was up to 31,000.

The night saw passive play from Randy Couture and Dan Henderson and A-B-C poker from Lederer, Buffer, Antonius, and Lindgren. Couture told “Poker After Dark” hostess Leeann Tweeden that it was just his third time ever entering a poker tournament. Consequently, he was inclined to call pre-flop regardless of his hand strength and remained relatively quiet throughout. Antonius yawned throughout the first 30 minutes before going on a heater to close the episode.

Min-raises were being dished out left and right, including one from Antonius, who made it 400 pre-flop with 10-4 of hearts. Henderson called with pocket sixes to see a flop of K-3-J with two hearts. Antonius checked, Henderson bet 400, and Antonius called. After the seven of clubs hit on the turn, Antonius check-called a bet of 1,000 and sucked out when the river came a ten. Antonius once again check-called a bet, this time of 1,200, and scooped a pot of 6,300.

In three-way action to a flop of Q-8-4 with two diamonds, Couture bet 500 with J-10 of clubs for a gutshot straight draw and Antonius called with 10-3 of diamonds for a flush draw. A diamond hit on the turn, filling Antonius’ flush, and he fired out 1,200. Couture once again came along to bring the king of diamonds on the river. Couture bet out 1,500 on a bluff and Antonius just called behind with four diamonds on the board to scoop the pot of 7,000.

In the final hand of Monday night’s “Poker After Dark,” Antonius bet 825 on a flop of 2-5-A with 5-4 for middle pair and a wheel draw. Henderson called with 9-3, Couture called, and Buffer made it 1,825 with A-7 for top pair. Antonius called and the two MMA warriors tapped out. Then, a deuce hit on the turn. Antonius check-called a bet of 1,925 from Buffer and the river was an eight. The action went check-check and Buffer scooped the 10,650-chip pot.

Buffer, Couture, and Henderson wore Full Tilt Poker logos, while the site’s three sponsored pros did not. Instead, Lindgren donned a Raw Vegas hat and Lederer and Antonius were completely void of commercialism. The series continues all this week on NBC at 2:05am ET.

Lonesome Shark Week Continues on Poker After Dark

Six of poker’s most eligible bachelors took to the felts as part of Lonesome Shark week on the NBC franchise “Poker After Dark.” The series airs nightly on NBC at 2:05am ET and each player began with a stack of 20,000 in chips. The winner of the six-man sit and go will pocket $120,000, enough to trick out any man’s bachelor pad.

Newly minted PokerStars pro David Williams raised to 600 pre-flop with pocket aces and Victory Poker’s Antonio Esfandiari 3bet to 1,700 with pocket queens. Williams made the call and the flop came 5-8-8, giving both players two pair. Esfandiari led out for 2,600 and Williams called, bringing a king on the turn. This time, Esfandiari check-called a bet of 4,200 and a ten hit on the river. Esfandiari checked, Williams continued firing, and Esfandiari got out of the way. The pot was worth 22,200.

Then, Williams bet 1,000 with Q-J and the board showing 10-J-6-8. Brad Booth, with 10-9 in the hole, called with second pair and the river was another eight. Both players checked and Williams won his second straight hand to move north of 30,000 in chips. Williams is a former “Poker After Dark” winner and joined PokerStars at the same time as Vanessa Selbst.

With four-way action and the board reading 8-J-7-4, Booth bet out 900 holding K-4 and Full Tilt Poker pro Erick Lindgren made the call with J-10 of hearts for top pair. Booth struck gold on the river, as another four hit to give him trips. He bet 1,600 and Lindgren mumbled, “You do bluff a lot,” before Booth asked if he wanted to see one of his cards. Lindgren picked the king and instantly called, shipping the small but entertaining pot worth 5,800 to Booth.

The group of six bachelors shared several interesting stories about why they might not be hitched. Lindgren, for example, told his tablemates, “I always tell my mom that I’m waiting for the right stripper.” Mike Matusow relayed a story about taking his girlfriend to Australia. Matusow flew first class and made his girlfriend camp out in coach because he didn’t realize you could trade a first class ticket in for two business class tickets. Matusow neither wanted to sit in coach nor pay to upgrade his girlfriend to the front of the plane.

Back on the felt, Williams raised to 800 pre-flop with 9-7 of clubs and Booth made the call with A-2 suited to hearts. The flop came 4-9-4, giving Williams nines-up, and he led out for 1,200. Booth called and the turn was a three. Williams once again fired, this time 1,700 in chips, and Booth once again called behind to bring a jack on the river. The action went check-check, sending the sizable 7,850-chip pot to Williams, who was sporting a Bodog logo since the show was taped prior to signing with the world’s largest online poker site.

In the final major pot of Monday night’s kickoff episode, Lindgren called the big blind pre-flop with K-10 and 2009 World Series of Poker November Niner James Akenhead raised to 900 with K-Q. Lindgren called and the flop came K-J-9, giving both players top pair. Lindgren check-called a bet of 1,400 with a worse kicker and an ace hit on the turn. Lindgren checked, Akenhead pushed out a bet of 2,700, and Lindgren deliberated before making a well-timed laydown. Akenhead, a former train conductor, was making his “Poker After Dark” debut and was largely quiet throughout Monday’s episode.

Lonesome Shark week continues nightly at 2:05am ET on NBC. Check your local listings for more details.

DoylesRoom Holding Satellites for Todd Brunson Montana Poker Challenge

On August 22nd at 4:00pm ET, the USA-friendly online poker site DoylesRoom will be sending players to the Todd Brunson Montana Poker Challenge through a $226.60 Grand Finale. One prize package is guaranteed and DoylesRoom will add another for every 10 players in the tournament.

The younger Brunson will host the winners from August 31st to September 6th in the Treasure State for “a one-week poker experience featuring top pros and ordinary players,” according to a press release distributed by DoylesRoom over the weekend. The tournament series has a Main Event that features a $1,110 buy-in and the site will deposit $2,200 into a player’s account should they qualify for the Montana extravaganza.

The first of three Weekly Semifinals took place on August 7th on DoylesRoom, offering a $22.70 buy-in and sending one in every 10 players to the Grand Finale on August 22nd. If you missed out on the first Weekly Semifinal, don’t sweat. On August 14th and 21st at 4:00pm ET, you can pony up the $22.70 buy-in and attempt to claim a seat in the Todd Brunson Montana Poker Challenge Grand Finale.

Daily satellites are also available and run hourly between 4:00pm ET and 10:00pm ET. These low-budget qualifiers have a price tag of $2.22 and one in every 10 players advances to the Weekly Semifinals. The daily satellites began appearing in the DoylesRoom tournament lobby on August 4th and will continue to be held until the 20th.

The Todd Brunson Montana Poker Challenge will take place in Big Fork. Although a list of pro attendees has not yet been released, we wouldn’t be surprised to see several members of the DoylesRoom clan appear. Doyle Brunson serves as the primary face of DoylesRoom, which also features “The Mad Genius of Poker” Mike Caro and two-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner Hoyt Corkins. The DoylesRoom press release also touts that members of the Brunson family will be in attendance.

Winners of trips to the Todd Brunson Montana Poker Challenge are responsible for making their own travel and accommodation arrangements. Seats to the event are non-transferable and DoylesRoom members are only allowed to win one package each.

In other DoylesRoom news, the site is running a Gold Card Match and Win promotion in August. Cash, tournament entries, and Gold Chips are on the line for players who can match Gold Card sequences with Cards they’ve earned by playing on the virtual felts of the popular Cake Poker Network site. Only Gold Cards earned during the month of August qualify for the Gold Card Match and Win promotion and a top prize of $25,000 is up for grabs.

Next Monday, August 16th, DoylesRoom will be holding the latest installment of its Beat the Brunson 10 tournament. The event, which runs every other Monday, features $500 bounties on the heads of members of the Brunson 10, a group of eight up-and-coming online poker superstars. The Beat the Brunson 10 tournament on DoylesRoom will set you back $22, $10 of which will be placed on your head as a bounty. In addition to the cash, the winner of the contest will take home a $1,000 Champion Bonus.

The Brunson 10 recently grew to eight strong with the addition of David “Doc Sands” Sands, who won a leaderboard competition during the 2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP). Also during the WSOP, Dan “djk123” Kelly claimed the seventh spot in the group by virtue of taking down a bracelet in the $25,000 Six-Handed No Limit Hold’em tournament. Sands and Kelly joined Chris “moorman1” Moorman, Amit “amak316” Makhija, Alex “AJKHoosier1” Kamberis, Dani “ansky” Stern, Steve “gboro780” Gross, and Zachary “CrazyZachary” Clark as members of the Brunson 10.

Visit DoylesRoom today to win your way to the Todd Brunson Montana Poker Challenge.

Introduction to Poker Taxes

The following article was written by Ann-Margaret Johnston for Poker News Daily. Visit PokerDeductions.com for more information.

I am often asked about what poker players need to know to stay out of trouble with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).  This is quite a loaded question.  Without a knowledgeable person to guide you, it’s easy to slip up.  Here are a few things that you should be doing if you want to play poker and stay out of the way of tax trouble.

Keep Up with What You are Doing

It is so important to keep up with wins and losses.  First of all, if you plan to be any good, you’ll want to do this anyway to gauge how your game is going.  The most important reason to do this is that you need to list your wins and losses on your tax return.  This is not as important if you are filing as a pro player.  If you are filing poker as a hobby, you have to separate them out.

Expenses are another biggie.  If you absolutely, positively are not going to file as a pro, you don’t need to worry about this.  As a pro, you need to keep really good records so you can offset your profits.  Such expenses for online players include internet, your desk, chair, monitors, laptop, air card, etc.  Live players would include hotels, taxis, entertainment and business meals (per diem if you are working out of town), cell phone, airfare, and mileage to/from the airport for gambling trips.

Other things to consider would be subscriptions to online sites for training, magazines and books that are poker-related, videos, and software that you need for poker (such as training).  As a pro player, you are able to deduct 100% of your health insurance if you have a profit.  This can be huge!  You can also deduct 100% of what you pay a tax professional for advice and tax preparation.

Know if You Owe

So many people never know if they are supposed to pay money to the IRS with estimated taxes, or “quarterlies.”  This is a bit tricky, so I will try to break it down.

Let’s say you lived at home with your parents in 2009, graduated college, dabbled in poker, and at tax time, you figured out that you do not have to file a tax return.  In 2010, after your parents give you the “what are you going to do with your life” speech, you decide to go to a tournament to see how you play live.  Next thing you know, you just cashed for $1,250,000 in January 2010, and, luckily, you didn’t have any backers when you won!  Now, do you owe the government any of this?  When do you pay it?  How much do you owe? What if you lose it all by the end of the year?

Here is the rule: always look at your prior year’s tax return to see what you need to do.  What you need to pay to avoid penalties is based on what your tax was in the prior year.  In this case, since you didn’t file a tax return for 2009, you really don’t have to pay anything to the IRS until April 15, 2011, which is when your 2010 tax return is due.  Now, you may owe a ton of money, but you can keep it all year and not give it to the IRS until April 15, 2011.  But, if you are the kind of person that would blow it all, you might want to send it in – the rule is that you do not have to.

Now, in this case, you come to me and we do your taxes by April 15, 2011 based on your wins, losses, and expenses for 2010.  Let’s say you end up owing $375,000 to the IRS.  Well, we need to start planning for your 2011 taxes, and, like before, you look at the tax on the prior year’s return.  With income this high, the rule is that you have to pay 110% of your prior year’s tax or 90% of the current year’s tax.  What does this mean?  If you make as much or more in 2011, you need to make quarterly estimate payments of $93,750 each.

Now, what if 2011 is a horrible year and at the time we do your taxes on April 15, you are in the hole?  In this case, you don’t have to pay anything in.  This would be a point where we would need to look at your situation quarterly and try to do part two of that rule, which is to pay in 90% of what we think your current year’s tax is.

Sounds confusing and it is, unfortunately.  This is why, no matter who you choose, you have to have a CPA that knows what they are doing and especially understands the world of poker.

Backing Your Buddy

So, you think Johnnie is a good player and you want to stake him in a tournament.  Lucky for you, Johnnie wins a huge tournament for $480,000.  You get 50% of this win once Johnnie gets his cash.  So, the guys come out and ask Johnnie for his Social Security Number and address.  Johnnie starts to worry because he knows that he is going to fork over $240,000 to you.  He tells the casino that he only wants them to give him a Form W2G for his half.  They look and chuckle with a “sorry dude” and write the W2G out to Johnnie for the full amount.  Now what?

This is crucial!  Johnnie has to give you a Form 1099-MISC at the end of the year for any money he pays you, which means he needs your address and Social.  This is the only way he can get out of paying taxes on the full amount.  Remember, it’s Johnnie’s responsibility to do this form.  Even if he doesn’t give it to you, you still need to claim the money as income on your return.  It only hurts Johnnie if he is audited later and didn’t do the form.

Foreign Bank Account and Reporting (FBAR)

I have tried for years to get the word out on this.  This is the form that you have to do if you have an online poker account, which is considered to be a foreign bank account.  You are supposed to find out the highest balance on each poker site at any time during the year and then report it on the form.  You are not taxed on this; it’s just the government being nosey.  This form has to be sent in each year by June 15 for the previous year’s balances.  You don’t have to do this form if your total across all the sites falls short of $10,000.

What if you don’t want to file this?  Well, it’s a requirement and if they find out you didn’t do it and you should have, the penalties are bad.  Non-willful violations are subject to fines of up to $10,000 per account and if they feel it’s a willful violation, the fee is a minimum of $100,000 per account.

Now What?

Well, these are the biggies on what a player should be doing or considering when talking taxes.  Again, make sure whoever helps you knows their stuff or you will be the one that is on the hook.

Ann-Margaret Johnston is a practicing CPA in North Georgia.  She is the author of the book “How to Turn Your Poker Playing Into A Business.”  Her website is www.pokerdeductions.com, where you get information and e-mail her directly.

Harrah’s, Playdom Launch World Series of Poker Facebook Game

Harrah’s Interactive Entertainment (HIE) has entered into an agreement with social game developer Playdom to release a new World Series of Poker (WSOP) game for Facebook, MySpace, and other networking sites. The game, which launched on Facebook earlier this week, will re-brand Playdom’s Poker Palace and serve millions of poker fans worldwide.

“We are very excited to bring the thrill and excitement of the World Series of Poker to the social gaming space with Playdom,” said WSOP Vice President Craig Abrahams. “We will immediately start to work on enhancing the game, bringing unique WSOP promotions and sweepstakes into the offering and ensuring that the battle for WSOP virtual championship bracelets can become a Facebook-friendly endeavor.”

Poker enthusiasts will be able to choose from a variety of games and formats at WSOP on Facebook including single-table play money, virtual cash games, and single-table tournaments featuring full ring and short-handed play. Unlike sites like PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, and UB.com, all games on the WSOP’s Facebook site will be “play money” only, but players can win WSOP branded virtual goods and receive chances to enter contests awarding prizes that include trips to Las Vegas and seats at WSOP events.

The initial response from players about the new WSOP game has been mixed, but as Abrahams expressed, HIE and Playdom will be working together to improve the product by adding regular updates and enhancements. The game will soon have a feature that allows players to find their friends and several table upgrades will be added in the near future. In addition, a variety of other social gaming platforms will be offered to play the game globally.

“There is only one brand in poker that stands out and that is the World Series of Poker,” said Sean Phinney, Vice President of Business Development for Playdom. “We think big brands will win on social networks and we are excited to start working together to create a unique and fun social gaming experience.”

Harrah’s Interactive Entertainment and the WSOP already feature one of the most popular mobile games in the marketplace, the World Series of Poker Hold’em Legend game created by Glu Mobile. The game is among the top selling paid apps available in the iTunes Store and is also available on Android and other carrier stores.

Users can build their bankrolls and win WSOP bracelets by playing events at several real Harrah’s properties, including Caesars Palace and the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, the home of the WSOP. There is also a heads-up feature available where users can play against their friends via Bluetooth.

Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for continued WSOP headlines.

Aussie Millions Main Event Final Table Kicks Off on GSN

On Saturday night, the final table of the 2010 Aussie Millions Main Event began airing on GSN. The one hour Full Tilt Poker-sponsored show hit the airwaves at 9:00pm ET featuring eight players, including chip leader Sorel “Imper1um” Mizzi, who had three times the stack of the next closest combatant. Mizzi, now with Titan Poker, rocked a Betfair logo during the broadcast of the January tournament.

The blinds kicked off at 10,000/20,000 and Paul Khoury and Grub Smith provided the call of the action. Kosta Varoxis made waves early, doubling up at the expense of Mizzi with pocket nines against A-J suited. The money went in on a flop of A-9-2, all spades, with neither player holding a spade. Varoxis 3bet all-in and Mizzi insta-called despite being just 4% to win the hand. The turn and river both bricked out and Varoxis doubled through to stave off an early exit.

Then, Steve Shelley check-raised all-in with pocket sevens on a flop of 5-8-3. Tyron Krost, who entered the final table as the second largest stack, made the call with pocket jacks and had Shelley dominated. The turn and river came an eight and a deuce, respectively, and Shelley was the first casualty of the 2010 Aussie Millions Main Event final table, picking up $115,000 for his efforts. He told GSN officials following his exit, “I don’t know if I went in with much of a strategy. I just played my natural game and had a few tips along the way.”

Annette Obrestad open-shoved all-in pre-flop with A-J offsuit and picked up a caller in Krost, who showed a wired pair of sevens. The flop of K-Q-7 gave “The Huntress” a straight draw and Krost a set, which became a boat when another king hit on the river. Obrestad earned $161,000 and explained to viewers, “I’m a little bit disappointed, but I just didn’t get any cards at the final table and I kind of felt like people were picking on me a little bit.”

Canadian Peter Jetten called a raise from Krost pre-flop with Q-10 of spades and Steve Friedlander came along with 7-5 from the blinds. The flop came 9-8-8 and the trio checked around to a jack on the turn. Krost held K-J for top pair, while Jetten had turned a straight. The Canadian bet 150,000 and Krost called to bring a five on the river. Jetten fired out a bet of 350,000 and Krost, showing restraint, just called to ship a pot of 1.3 million to Jetten. Tom “durrrr” Dwan and two women were shown in the stands cheering Jetten on.

After a raise and two calls pre-flop, Friedlander moved all-in over-the-top with pocket sevens. Varoxis, who began chugging a bottle of water while contemplating a call, looked him up with A-K to set up a race. The board filled out K-9-2-K-J, giving Varoxis trips and the win in the hand. Friedlander hit the rails in sixth place for $230,000 and told GSN officials, “I was happy that a couple of people busted in front of me because it put me in a better spot. I was just waiting for a hand to shove.” Friedlander had been nursing a short stack throughout the evening.

Entering next week’s finale of the 2010 Aussie Millions Main Event on GSN, Mizzi remains the chip leader. The conclusion of the high-stakes tournament, which emanates from the Crown Casino in Melbourne, will air on Saturday, August 7th at 9:00pm ET. Check your local listings for full details.

WSOP Launches Facebook App

Harrah's Interactive Entertainment entered into an agreement with Playdom this week to re-launch its existing Poker Palace poker game on the popular social networking site with WSOP branding.

"We are very excited to bring the thrill and excitement of the World Series of Poker to the social gaming space with Playdom," said WSOP Vice President Craig Abrahams.

"We will immediately start to work on enhancing the game, bringing unique WSOP promotions and sweepstakes into the offering and ensuring that the battle for WSOP virtual championship bracelets can become a Facebook-friendly endeavor."

The WSOP-branded poker game launches globally this week and can be found initially by visiting http://www.facebook.com/WSOP.

Players will be able to choose from a variety of different play-money poker offerings at WSOP on Facebook, including cash games and single-table tournaments.

The WSOP is also promising a battle for virtual bracelets, opportunities to enter sweepstakes for trips to Las Vegas and seats to live events in the near future.

Playdom, a California-based social games company, currently boasts more than 46 million active monthly users across their network of games.

"There is only one brand in poker that stands out and that is the World Series of Poker," said Sean Phinney, Vice President of Business Development for Playdom.

"We think big brands will win on social networks and we are excited to start working together to create a unique and fun social gaming experience."

888poker Launches New Software

The software is almost a complete overhaul of the former user experience with over 100 new features including improved search functions, layout, 3D table graphics and an always visible cashier.

Catering to both beginners and advanced players the new 3D lobby is separated into a simple easy-to-navigate section or an advanced layout with customizable features like favorites.

Tournament players will be happy to know 888poker has added late registration and several time bank options.

888poker also introduced its new online store where players can spend their reward points on poker merchandise, iPods, trips, cars and clothes.

To celebrate the new software, 888poker is launching a series of new micro buy-in tournaments where entry is just eight cents. Players can win iPad, Kindles a Sony Home Cinema and entry into a special $15,000 poker freeroll.

The software upgrade is available in English, French, Spanish, German, Dutch, Swedish, Danish, Portuguese, Russian and Italian.

David “Devilfish” Ulliott Autobiography to Hit Bookstores in September

A life as a thief, a foray into professional boxing that aided his abilities outside the ring, and living the high life in casinos around the world… this isn’t the plot for the next James Bond film or a new television series coming this fall. It is the true life story of one of the poker community’s most complex personalities, David “Devilfish” Ulliott.

It was announced on Friday that the autobiography of Ulliott’s life will hit the bookshelves and Amazon.com U.K. on September 9th. Entitled “Devilfish – The Life and Times of a Poker Legend” and published in the United Kingdom by Penguin Press, the story is told by the only gentleman who could give credence to what his life has entailed, Ulliott himself. The book is now available for pre-order through Amazon U.K. for £9.09 with free shipping. The retail price of the book, according to Amazon U.K., is £12.99.

Over the span of 384 pages, Ulliott recounts his life prior to becoming one of the preeminent stars in the European poker community and international arena. “Devilfish” uses his personal flamboyant style to tell the tales of his youth, yet doesn‘t shy away from the rougher parts of that story. From running the streets as a youngster in his hometown of Hull, England to his eventual trips to jail and his development as a safecracker, Ulliott tells unflinchingly real stories about what his life was like prior to entering into the world of poker.

Of course, the story of Ulliott is well known once he stepped into poker. In 1997, he vanquished Men “The Master” Nguyen in a tournament at the Four Queens Poker Classic, where the birth of the “Devilfish” occurred. Later that year, he went on to win his only World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet over fellow countryman Chris Truby and has since moved on to become one of the most feared players in the world in any discipline of the game.

Ulliott has also earned a title on the World Poker Tour (WPT) in 2003 and has been a part of one of the seminal poker shows in England, “Late Night Poker.” Overall, “Devilfish” is the all-time leading money winner among British poker players with over $5.9 million in career earnings and unknown amounts from cash games worldwide.

Ulliott’s autobiography comes at a time when the poker literary world is under a seismic shift. For much of the last decade, most poker books dwelled on the intricacies of the game, from both of Doyle Brunson’s “Super/System” efforts to the series of works from Dan Harrington that helped to revolutionize tournament poker play. Over the past few years, however, these books have dwindled to a scant few as readers look to new subjects to read about poker.

The most popular outlet for poker books over the last couple of years has been players telling their own stories, warts and all, in autobiographical tell-alls. Mike “The Mouth” Matusow was one of the first subjects for this type of storytelling with his book, “Check Raising The Devil,” which he co-wrote with noted poker writers Tim Lavalli and Amy Calistri. In that book, Matusow detailed his story from his usage of drugs and alcohol to his jail stint in 2005. The penultimate climax of his story is his triumphant return after emerging from jail to finish ninth in the 2005 WSOP Main Event and winning the WSOP Tournament of Champions later that year.

Brunson himself is one of the players who has added to the trend towards the autobiographical stories of top pros. Brunson penned his own stark story in “The Godfather of Poker,” which was also released last year. In that volume, Brunson told the stories of busted poker games, robberies, and the pitfalls of a life lived on the edge when poker wasn’t the “sanitized” game it has become today.

Ulliott’s story in “The Life and Times of a Poker Legend” should be even more of a revelation to poker fans because, as he details in the book, he was on his way to a life of crime, jail, or even death before coming into the world of poker.

Although he has now achieved tremendous laurels for his poker success, “Devilfish” still has some of his “old style” life left inside him when he says, “You only win big when you risk big… Life is a blast. It don’t last. Live it long and live it f***ing fast.” The story of David “Devilfish” Ulliott as told by the man himself in “The Life and Times of a Poker Legend” should hold true to his motto.

Duy Le – Poker Player Profile

A married father of one, Duy Le hails from San Jose, California. Prior to his monumental run in the 2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event, Le had scored just one in they money finish on WSOP felts. That cash came in a $1,500 No Limit Hold’em tournament and was good for $29,000. The event attracted a colossal starting grid of 3,151 players and Chandrasekhar Billavara came away with the bracelet.

Le entered Day 7 of the 2010 WSOP Main Event with the 25th largest stack overall out of 78 players remaining. In a key hand, there was six-way action to a flop of Q-3-4. Tournament veteran William Thorson fired out a bet of 350,000 and only Le was brave enough to come along. Another queen hit on the turn and the action went check-check to a 10 on the river. The action once again went check-check and Le flipped over Q-5 for trips. The hand pushed him over the six million chip mark and likely gave him the confidence that he could hang with the “big boys” down the stretch.

Le was seated at the ESPN feature table on Day 7, where his cast of opponents included $50,000 Player’s Championship winner Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi, Thorson, and bracelet holder Hasan Habib. He boasted just the third largest stack at the table when play began, but successfully navigated his rough and tumble competition to secure a birth in the top 40. Mizrachi steamrolled through the waning moments of the 2010 WSOP Main Event, but seemed to hit a stumbling block when seated with this extremely talented selection of pros.

Following along the lines of players like PokerStars pro Vanessa Rousso, Le attended law school before making the decision to become a professional poker player. Prior to his 2010 WSOP Main Event run, his lifetime WSOP earnings failed to pass $30,000, making the tournament truly the defining moment of his career.

Jonathan Duhamel – Poker Player Profile

Jonathan Duhamel chipped up during the 2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event and made the most of his arsenal, playing big stack poker to the best of his ability. The Canadian entered Day 7 of the Main Event in 17th on the leaderboard with 4.30 million in chips and, within a few hours, had mushroomed to nearly nine million. Duhamel took 15th in a $2,500 No Limit Hold’em tournament at the 2010 WSOP prior to his deep run in the Main Event and banked $37,000, or 25 times his buy-in.

In a $1,500 No Limit Hold’em Six-Max event, the former college finance major finished in 50th and collected nearly $6,000. In a key hand during Day 7 that fueled his Main Event run, Duhamel moved all-in on a board reading 6-3-6-8-2. He received a call from online poker stud Matt “berkey11” Berkey, who flipped up 6-10 for trips. However, Duhamel had him crushed and showed pocket eights for a boat. The double up took Duhamel to 7.9 million in chips.

Duhamel’s best poker work came not in the United States, but in Europe on the European Poker Tour (EPT), where he bubbled the final table of a  €5,000 No Limit Hold’em tournament in Prague and banked nearly $55,000. That tournament featured a solid final 10 that included Duhamel, Canadian poker pro Andrew “achen” Chen, Nasr El Nasr, and WSOP bracelet winner Sebastian Ruthenberg.

Duhamel also made the spotlight in the 2010 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Main Event, where he cashed for $17,000 after exiting in 151st place. When he’s not playing poker, Duhamel enjoys hockey and lives in Boucherville, Quebec. He was one of nine Canadian poker players, or 11% of the field, to reach Day 7 of the 2010 WSOP Main Event at the Rio in Las Vegas.

Duhamel qualified for the 2010 WSOP Main Event through PokerStars, the world’s largest online poker site.

Benjamin Statz – Poker Player Profile

On Day 7 of the 2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event, Wisconsin native Benjamin Statz rumbled through the competition in the $10,000 buy-in feature tournament. After a 4bet pre-flop shove with Q-10 of spades, Statz was up against the A-K of UB.com qualifier Christopher Bolt. The flop came 7-6-2 with one spade, leaving Statz rooting for a queen, ten, or running spades to draw out on Big Slick.

Then, the four of spades struck on the turn, improving Statz to a bona fide flush draw, which promptly hit on the river. Seemingly out the door on the flop, Statz cruised to a double up to more than 2.5 million in chips. Statz also showed Mark Meloche the door on Day 7 of the 2010 WSOP Main Event. Meloche was all-in on a board of 9-9-8-10 with two clubs and tabled Q-9 for trips. Statz, however, turned over A-9 for a better kicker and no saving grace came on the river.

Statz’s resilience through Day 7 allowed him to survive in the prestigious poker tournament after entering play at 27th on the leaderboard at 2.91 million. His original table draw on the seventh day of the 2010 WSOP Main Event included Bolt, Meloche, Jerry “sandler1860” Payne, Josh “brikdog24” Brikis, and online poker whiz Bryn Kenney.

According to the Hendon Mob database, Statz’s lone in the money finish in a major live event came during the 2002 United States Poker Championship in Atlantic City. There, the New Yorker finished in sixth place in a $500 No Limit Hold’em tournament for $2,500. The 2010 Main Event marked his first in the money finish in a WSOP contest.

On Day 5 of the Main Event, like many other players that have come before him, Statz committed his stack pre-flop and found himself in a race. This time, it was the “classic race situation,” pocket queens versus the A-K of Nicholas Fierrogottner. The flop brought Statz a set and he ducked a wheel draw on the river to stay alive in the 2010 WSOP Main Event.

Statz is surrounded by poker daily, as the 32 year-old is dating UB.com pro Annie Duke‘s little sister. He day trades and came armed to Day 7 of the 2010 WSOP Main Event in a maroon Full Tilt Poker hoodie.

Two UB Qualifiers Remain in WSOP Main Event Entering Day 6

It’s not every day that an Average Joe stumbles across $48,000. However, the five-figure bankroll boost is officially reality for two UB.com online qualifiers still standing in the 2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event after Day 5.

Oman’s Meenakshi Subramanian owns the 98th spot on the leaderboard at 972,000 and represents the lone player from the Middle Eastern country to enter the $10,000 buy-in tournament in the Nevada desert. Subramanian is going to have his work cut out for him today, however, as his table draw on Thursday includes Hasan Habib, online poker whiz Bryn Kenney, and Jeff Banghart. However, he ended play on Wednesday with a stack of 60 big blinds, so he has plenty of room to maneuver through the field of 205 players.

Also representing UB.com in the field of the 2010 WSOP Main Event today is Christopher Bolt, who hails from Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Bolt will look to repeat the performance of Chris Moneymaker, an accountant from Middle Tennessee whose victory over Sammy Farha in the 2003 Main Event ignited the modern poker boom. Bolt sits at 141st on the leaderboard after five days of play with a stack of 661,000. His tablemates today include Tristan “Cre8ive” Wade and Todd “DanDruff” Witteles.

Bolt was active during the day on Wednesday, at one point folding to a 5bet all-in from Dan Lu. With a flop of 9-5-2 spread out in the center of the table, Bolt checked, Lu bet 52,000, Bolt made it 115,000, and Lu bumped the price of poker to 230,000. Bolt 4bet to 490,000 and Lu finally moved all-in for nearly one million. Bolt folded and dropped down to 1.2 million in chips. His stack was shaved in half from there by the time play wrapped up, but he’s still alive in poker’s most prestigious tournament.

UB.com ran a “Show Up, Get Paid” promotion for the Main Event that featured a progressive prize pool based on how many qualifiers turned out to the Rio to play. The four UB.com qualifiers who made the money will each bank an extra $20,300, which should be enough to purchase several trips to the Rio’s Carnival World Buffet. The field will shrink to 27 players on Friday and be cut to nine on Saturday.

With Brandon Cantu falling by the wayside on Thursday, two UB.com sponsored pros remain in the hunt for the $8.9 million top prize and eternal poker glory. Adam “Roothlus” Levy is in 74 place entering Day 6 and will come armed with a stack of 1.15 million. At his table will be fellow UB.com sponsored pro Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin, who has just 292,000 chips to work with. Joining Levy and Baldwin is Russell Rosenblum, who made the final table of the World Poker Tour Championship in 2004.

After unsuccessfully trying to knock out Michael Maitre with 10-8 against pocket deuces, Cantu found the exit. He was all-in with 9-7 of clubs against the A-K of spades of Javier Martinez. The flop came J-7-6 with two spades, giving Cantu middle pair and Martinez a flush draw. The turn was a red four, leaving Martinez rooting for a spade, ace, or king on the river to send the two-time bracelet winner home. The river was – you guessed it – a spade and Cantu’s run in the 2010 WSOP Main Event came to an end. He simply Twittered “Out” upon his departure.

UB.com is one-half of the USA-friendly CEREUS Network.

Aussie Millions Heads-Up Championship Airs on GSN

On Saturday night, the Heads-Up Championship at the Aussie Millions aired on GSN. Only one hour of coverage was devoted to the event, which attracted 50 players. Once again, Paul Khoury and Grub Smith had the call.

Each match-up was played in a best of three format and GSN producers displayed the final hands made by players on the screen. Because of the short time devoted to the event, many of the hands that made it to air were all-ins and the action began with Barry Woods facing off against Vanessa Selbst, who was rocking a Full Tilt Poker logo. Selbst doubled Woods up with pocket sevens against pocket nines and then again after flopping trips against Woods’ boat.

Women like Amanda da Cesare, Jessica Dowley, Leo Margets, and Marsha Waggoner were profiled at the Aussie Millions. Then, Selbst 4bet all-in with 7-6 of hearts on a flop of 2-K-8, all hearts. Woods held K-7 and watched in glee as a king hit on the turn and a deuce hit on the river, giving him a runner-runner full house. Selbst hit the rails after the bad beat and Woods moved on to face Norway’s Martin Gudvangen.

Woods continued to receive the blessings of the poker gods, making a runner-runner straight against Gudvangen, leaving Khoury to remark, “Sometimes raising at the wrong time really pays off.” Then, Woods’ 10-8 held against Gudvangen’s 9-5 to ship him the title in the first match.

Gudvangen struck back in match #2, however, doubling up with A-J against A-8 before finally putting his opponent away with A-3 against J-9 all-in pre-flop. In the rubber match and holding Q-3, Woods moved all-in over the top of a bet by Gudvangen, who had pocket nines on a board of 5-8-5. Gudvangen made the call as an 87% favorite only to watch Woods spike a queen on the river to double up. Khoury exclaimed, “Barry is nodding his head, but he knows he’s run well in this tournament.” Gudvangen was eliminated shortly thereafter.

In the finals of the Aussie Millions Heads-Up Championship, Woods faced off against Canadian Kyle McMurphy. Woods whiffed on a straight draw on the river to give McMurphy the edge in round #1. Then, on a board of 9-Q-7-J, McMurphy checked with pocket jacks for a set and Woods bet 3,200 holding 10-8 for the second nuts. McMurphy check-raised all-in and Woods happily called. The river failed to pair the board and Woods claimed round #2.

In the deciding match of the event, McMurphy open-shoved all-in pre-flop with K-10 and Woods made the call with A-9 of hearts. The situation was looking grim for McMurphy until a nine hit on the river to give him a straight and a critical double up. McMurphy doubled one more time after coming out on the winning end of a race with A-10 against pocket deuces before finally putting Woods away with J-7 against K-2 all-in pre-flop. McMurphy banked $69,000 for the win, while Woods earned $46,000.

New episodes of Aussie Millions coverage on GSN air at 9:00pm ET on Saturdays as part of Power Poker Weekends on the cable station. You can catch poker on GSN according to the following schedule each week:

Saturdays on GSN

9:00pm ET: Aussie Millions
10:00pm ET: High Stakes Poker Season 6
11:00pm ET: High Stakes Poker Season 5
12:00am ET: Aussie Millions
1:00am ET: World Poker Tour Season 6

Sundays on GSN

10:00pm ET: High Stakes Poker Season 6
11:00pm ET: PokerStars Million Dollar Challenge
12:00am ET: Aussie Millions
1:00am ET: High Stakes Poker Season 6
2:00am ET: PokerStars Million Dollar Challenge

Shawn Busse, Chance Kornuth, and Michael Linn Win WSOP Bracelets

The Rio’s Amazon Room was overflowing with energy on Wednesday evening as three final tables played out at the World Series of Poker (WSOP). Dozens of railbirds flocked to see champions crowned in Events #47, #49, and #50 and three first-time winners collected bracelets.

Wisconsin native Adam White entered the final day of Event #47 ($1,000 No Limit Hold’em) with the chip lead, but had an afternoon he’d like to forget after losing nearly every pot he played to finish ninth. White was crippled in a hand against Canadian pro Owen Crowe to leave him clinging to a short stack and then met his demise against Crowe minutes later. Crowe put in a pre-flop raise and White moved all-in over the top. A pot-committed Crowe made the call with 9c-5c and managed to come from behind against White’s Kd-Jc when the 9h fell on the river. White earned $36,287.

Hours later, Crowe found himself heads-up against another online star, Shawn “jordankickz” Busse, who began play down 2:1 in chips. But, it didn’t take long for the 21-year-old to gain control and eventually dispose of the veteran Crowe, who was playing his third WSOP final table. Busse doubled with pocket sevens against Crowe’s Ad-4s to take the lead and then on the final hand of the tournament, a short-stacked Crowe moved all-in dark with 5h-3h and Busse called with Ah-4s. The board double-paired and Busse’s ace kicker landed him a $485,791 prize and his first gold bracelet:

1. Shawn Busse – $485,791
2. Owen Crowe – $300,494
3. Pekka Ikonen – $212,660
4. Chuan Shi – $153,935
5. Wenlong Jin – $112,720
6. Ilya Andreev – $83,498
7. Jason Mann – $62,553
8. Allan Bække – $47,379
9. Adam White – $36,287

The state of Colorado was represented well in the $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha Event #49 on Wednesday, as Denver’s Chance “ChancesCards” Kornuth and Colorado Springs’ Kevin “Phwap” Boudreau battled for the title and $508,090 payday. The final table began with several big names, including Robert Mizrachi, Eric Liu, and Julian Gardner, but the two online pros were the last ones standing after Boudreau sent Danny Smith home in third place. The heads-up match didn’t last long; Kornuth won a big pot with a higher straight and then sealed the match when he got his chips in with Qc-9d-8h-6h on a Jd-8c-2h flop against Boudreau’s overpair. Kornuth took the lead when the 8s came on the turn and his trips help up to give him first win at the WSOP:

1. Chance Kornuth – $508,090
2. Kevin Boudreau – $313,792
3. Danny Smith – $226,923
4. Edward Martin – $165,825
5. Scott Mandel – $122,455
6. Julian Gardner – $91,387
7. Eric Liu – $68,902
8. Robert Mizrachi – $52,471
9. Jose Nacho Barbero – $40,364

San Diego student Michael Linn collected his first bracelet and more than $600,000 by winning Event $50, $1,500 No Limit Hold ‘em. Linn outlasted a massive field of 2,543 and defeated Taylor Larking heads-up to claim victory, his first in a major live event. He received support from his uncle and poker legend Barry Greenstein, who checked in on his nephew throughout the day while playing the $25,000 Six-Handed Event. Linn’s biggest cash prior to Wednesday came in the 2009 WSOP Main Event, where he took 191st place for $36,626:

1. Michael Linn – $609,493
2. Taylor Larkin – $378,905
3. Mihai Manole – $268,189
4. Benjamin Smith – $193,418
5. Chadwick Grimes – $141,235
6. Alexander Kuzmin – $104,364
7. Justin Zaki – $78,067
8. Erle Mankin – $59,082
9. Tyler Cornell – $45,247

Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for continuous updates from the 2010 WSOP.

June 30th – Daily Deal

Welcome back to the Daily Deal by Poker News Daily. Today, we’ll catch you up on the latest news and notes from the two thousand ten World Series of Poker, take a look at California possibly legalizing internet gambling, and go over brand new promotions from Full Tilt and PartyPoker.

Hello, I’m Sean Gibson and welcome to the Daily Deal by Poker News Daily.

To kick things off, we’ll go back to the Rio in Las Vegas once again to recap the action from the two thousand and ten World Series of Poker. Event number forty five was a fifteen hundred dollar no limit holdem tournament and was won by American Jesse Rockowitz for just over seven hundred and twenty thousand dollars. Event number forty-six was a five thousand dollar Omaha high low tournament which was won by Chris Bell who bested both Dan Shak, who finished second, and David “DevilFish” Ulliott who finished third. For his efforts, Bell rung in three hundred and twenty-seven thousand dollars.

Meanwhile, a non-bracelet event took place amid huge fanfare from the Rio in the WSOP Tournament of Champions. Players in this event had to either previously have won it or be voted in through a fan poll. There were five huge casualties on Day 1 of the event, starting with legend Doyle Brunson. Other players busting include two thousand nine world series of poker champion Joe Cada, Andrew Barton and Dan Harrington. The other casualty turned out to be defending champ and WPT host Mike Sexton, leaving seventeen players remaining. Mike “the mouth” matusow is your chip leader, being followed by Huck Seed, Johnny Chan and Scotty Nguyen.

Today, lawmakers in the California Senate Governmental Organization Committee will debate the merits of legalizing and regulating online poker. Senate Bill 1485, introduced by Inglewood Democrat Rod Wright, could help shrink major budget shortfalls in the west coast state. Among those not in favor of the proposed legislation is the Poker Players Alliance.

The PPA takes issue with the bill granting licenses to only three internet gambling “hubs.” In addition, the one million member strong organization disagrees with the bill’s criminalization of those who play on sites not granted licenses. In a letter sent to Wright in late June, the PPA cautioned,

“The measure as drafted would immediately criminalize online poker play well before any of the hubs are operational. It could easily be a year or more before online players could play legally.”

PPA California State Director Steve Miller is testifying at Tuesday’s hearing. As more develops in California, we’ll be reporting the latest as it breaks.

Starting this week, PartyPoker is bringing back its popular Card Rush Instant Win promotion, only this time, it’s super sized. Card Rush XL offers one-point-eight million prizes up for grabs, including cash, freeroll entries, and special leaderboard points. The promotion, which is sure to cause a massive traffic boost on PartyPoker, ends when every card has been given away or July thirty-first, whichever comes first. To claim a card, all you have to do is rack up fifteen Party Points.

Meanwhile, players in the United States can head to Full Tilt Poker, which is dishing out trips to the upcoming WPT Bellagio Cup in Las Vegas. Three direct qualifiers will be held on Full Tilt Poker, the first of which takes place today at twenty-one hundred Eastern Time. In addition, Step Seven sit and gos, which have a buy-in of twenty-one hundred dollars, will award WPT Bellagio Cup prize packages. The tournament has a $10,000 buy-in and begins on July 11th.

Thanks for joining me on the Daily Deal. Don’t forget to visit PokerNewsDaily.com and be sure to follow us at Twitter.com/PokerNewsDaily for the latest in poker news. This is Sean Gibson, wishing you deep runs in all your tournaments!

PartyPoker Launches Card Rush XL Promotion

Starting on Monday, June 28th, PartyPoker is dishing out 1.8 million cards as part of its brand new Card Rush XL promotion. The opportunity to win is open until July 31st or when the nearly two million cards are given away, whichever comes first.

Amass 15 Party Points on the virtual felts of one of the world’s most populated online poker sites to claim a card. Text found on PartyPoker’s website details what makes this version of the Card Rush promotion truly worthy of the title XL: “Unlike before, every single card contains a prize, from cash to points to freeroll entries and now brand new Card Rush XL leaderboard points, which allow you to compete in our great Card Rush XL Race.” In order to get every player started off on the right foot, PartyPoker is awarding the first card at a discounted rate of five points.

Once you’ve received a card, log into your PartyPoker account and scratch it off to see what you’ve won. What can you take home, you ask? How about a $5,000 cash prize? If the top cash jackpot eludes you, the poker gods may grant you $500, $50, $5, $3, $2, or $1 as a consolation prize. Freeroll entries are also available and range from a $2,000 freebie to a $50,000 prize pool event. Also up for grabs are Party Points, which are awarded in increments of 25,000, 5,000, 1,000, 500, 200, 100, 25, and 10. Finally, Card Rush XL Leaderboard points will be given away.

There are seven freerolls that will run as part of the Card Rush XL promotion according to the following schedule, so mark your calendars accordingly if your card reveals an entry:

$2,000 Card Rush XL Freeroll – 13:30 ET on August 5th
$3,000 Card Rush XL Freeroll – 13:30 ET on August 6th
$5,000 Card Rush XL Freeroll – 13:30 ET on August 7th
$10,000 Card Rush XL Freeroll – 13:30 ET on August 7th
$15,000 Card Rush XL Freeroll – 13:30 ET on August 6th
$25,000 Card Rush XL Freeroll – 13:30 ET on August 5th
$50,000 Card Rush XL Freeroll – 13:30 ET on August 8th

The Card Rush XL Race dishes out prizes to the top 200 finishers along with every 20th spot from 220th to 2,000th. The top three players will have their pick of $10,000 luxury travel packages, which include trips to the Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor in Wales, the Formula 1 Gran Premio Santander in Italy, and Major League Baseball’s World Series in the United States. In the event that players don’t want to experience a once-in-a-lifetime luxury package, they can trade it in for $7,500 in cash. The fourth through 30th players in the Card Rush XL Race will bank a four-figure payday and the minimum payout is $50.

Now, it’s time for the fine print. Players are capped at 50 cards per day, or 750 points per day. In addition, you have until 24 hours after the Card Rush XL’s completion to scratch off your cards. Moreover, “In the eventuality where a player would receive several freeroll entries for a same tournament, the additional entries will not be refunded.”

PartyPoker is also exploiting its relationship with the World Poker Tour (WPT) by offering entries to WPT London and the Legends of Poker, both of which take place in August. The London event is a brand new stop on the 2010-2011 WPT schedule, while the Legends of Poker has been a mainstay of the tournament series ever since 2002.

Visit PartyPoker for full details on the Card Rush XL promotion.

Beginner Seven Card Stud Strategy – Starting Hands

In a previous article, I gave you a quick and dirty primer on Seven Card Stud.  Nothing fancy, just the nuts and bolts to get you started.  This week, I want to continue the lesson with some Fixed Limit Stud beginner strategy.

My starter lesson today is the one I try really hard to remember every hand: play tight.  Don’t play so tight that you limp into one pot every 50 hands since you have to pay an ante, but concentrate on using sound starting hand selection.  It is much harder to get away with poor starting hands in Stud than it is in Hold’em or Omaha, so make sure you are selective.  Let’s look at starting hands you will want to consider.

Rolled Up Trips

“Rolled up” is a Seven Card Stud term that refers to a three-of-a-kind on the deal, a pair in the hole and a matching third card as your door card.  It is a monster starting hand for rather obvious reasons: three-of-a-kind is the best hand you can have with only three cards and the fact that two of the three cards are hidden from your opponents makes it quite deceptive.

This is probably the only hand in Seven Card Stud that you can risk slow-playing right off the bat, as it might be able to hold up all the way to the river.  Keep in mind I said it “might” be able to hold up.  If you see straights or flushes developing in your opponents’ hands, be careful.  Do not let people draw cheaply to these hands.  Additionally, if you have a low set, opponents are more likely to be willing to chase their draws, even draws to better sets, as the card you have showing will not scare them off.

Pairs

One thing that makes Stud unique is that starting pairs come in two different flavors, split pairs and buried pairs.  Split pairs are ones in which the exposed card matches a down card.  Buried pairs are pairs that are made with both hole cards, with the up card used as a kicker.  Buried pairs are obviously stronger, as your opponents will have no idea that you have one, similar to how sets are stronger than trips in Hold’em.

Having a suited kicker (or, at the very least, a connector) makes a pair stronger, as it gives you a backdoor draw; the higher the kicker, the better two pair you can make.  Two pair is a very common winning Stud hand.  In fact, I almost never see someone win with less than two pair if the hand goes all the way to showdown.  Be very aware of your opponents’ door cards, though – your fantastic buried pair of queens is not so fantastic if someone else is showing a queen.  If someone showing an overcard to your pair raises, you may also want to tread lightly.

Three-Card Flushes

People love trying to hit flushes in low-stakes Seven Card Stud games.  Why not?  Flushes are both strong and easy to recognize.  While not a made hand like trips or pairs, three-card flushes are very strong.  If you complete the flush, you will win most of the time.  While you want as strong of a flush as possible, it’s not incredibly important, as it is unlikely that someone else will also score a flush.  Remember, you don’t share cards with anyone like you do in Hold’em, so someone else would also have to be dealt at least five suited cards.  It happens, though, so beware.

The key for three-card flushes is to be very observant of everyone’s door cards.  If you have three hearts and no hearts are face up after the initial deal, you should be in good shape.  Every heart you see makes the chances of hitting your flush worse.

Three-Card Straights

When you are dealt three connectors, you have been dealt a three-card straight.  Just like with three-card flushes, you haven’t made a hand yet, but it’s a good start.  The obvious difference between the two hands is that the straight is weaker.  You will still probably win more often than not if you make it, but of course, flushes can beat you too.  Again, be mindful of opponents’ up cards.  If you have 4-5-6 and you see a handful of deuces, threes, sevens, and eights out, then abandon ship.

High Card

If you haven’t been dealt a pair, trips, a three-card flush, or a three-card straight, then you will want to fold most of the time.  There are some exceptions, but they still aren’t particularly strong hands.  If all three of your cards are higher than anyone else’s exposed card, it may be worth seeing fourth street as long as nobody has raised.  After all, if you pair one of your cards, there is a solid chance that you have the best hand.  If you have an ace showing and there are no other aces exposed, then you may want to try raising if nobody else has in an effort to pick up the pot right away.

Poker After Dark: The Cash Game Continues on NBC

This week, “The Cash Game” continues on the NBC franchise “Poker After Dark.” The second week of action began on Monday night at 2:05am ET with a good old-fashioned Twitter fight between UB.com pro Phil Hellmuth and DoylesRoom namesake Doyle Brunson. Hellmuth told his elder, “I’ll side bet you that I can get 75,000 more Twitter followers in the next three months just by hosting freeroll tournaments.” Hellmuth offered to bet $1 million and Brunson countered with $10,000, but no agreement was reached.

Hellmuth’s comment was in part a jab at Brunson for growing his Twitter following using promotional tactics. In case you’re wondering, Hellmuth has 39,000 Twitter followers, while Brunson has nearly ten times that total at 340,000. Brunson began the episode up over $130,000 from last week’s action, while Tom “durrrr” Dwan was down $150,000. At one point, over $1 million was spread across the table, $350,000 of which was contributed by Dwan.

On a flop of Q-6-4, Dwan bet $3,600 with 6-4 for two pair and Eli Elezra called with Q-9 for top pair. The turn was a king and Dwan once again led out, this time for $9,300. Elezra called behind and spiked a nine on the river, making a better two pair than Dwan. The youngster fired out $22,800 and Elezra begrudgingly called, saying, “I guess I ran into the flush” when the board showed three hearts. However, Elezra raked in the $76,100 pot, received some ribbing from his tablemates for his flush comment, and Dwan reloaded for another $100,000.

Then, it was Hellmuth’s turn to shine. On a flop of 9-9-J, Hellmuth fired out a continuation bet of $7,000 with A-3 suited and Phil Laak made the call with 9-8 suited for trips. The turn was another jack and Laak led out for $4,700. Hellmuth called behind and the river was a three. Laak bet $23,000 and the Hellmuth theatrics began. The 11-time bracelet winner removed his sunglasses and dramatically pondered the situation before ultimately deciding to call. Laak raked in the $75,700 pot with a boat and Hellmuth lamented, “What the f***? Wow. 9-8 of hearts? Wow.”

Dwan righted the ship, leading out for $10,400 with 6-5 of diamonds on a flop of Q-3-A with one diamond. Brunson called with A-2 for top pair and the turn was the nine of diamonds, improving Dwan from air to a flush draw. Dwan bet $27,600 and Brunson insta-folded the best hand, shipping a $63,000 pot to Dwan.

In the hand of the night on Monday’s episode of “Poker After Dark,” Elezra raised to $3,300 pre-flop with Q-10 of hearts, Hellmuth called with 8-7 of spades, and Dwan put in a $12,700 squeeze play with pocket jacks. Full Tilt’s Gus Hansen 4bet to $33,800 with pocket tens and Dwan put the Dane all-in for another $60,000. Hansen called and the duo agreed to run it twice.

In the first board, Hansen made a flush on the river to scoop half of the $191,700 pot despite being a 9:1 underdog pre-flop. In the second board, Dwan’s wired pair held and the two players chopped the spoils; each netted about $3,500 in the process. By the end of the night, Laak was up $130,000, while Brunson was up $120,000.

The second week of “Poker After Dark: The Cash Game” airs daily at 2:05am ET on NBC. This is the last week of new episodes of the NBC poker series until August. If you’re a fan of shows like GSN’s “High Stakes Poker” and PokerStars’ “Big Game,” then you’ll love the cash game version of “Poker After Dark.” Whereas many of the tournaments on “Poker After Dark” are unexciting, the cash game has a high-octane pace.

PokerStars Big Game Debuts Monday Night on Fox

Week 1 of the PokerStars sponsored “Big Game” kicks off tonight on Fox affiliates around the United States. The high-stakes cash game features five pros battling against a “Loose Cannon” amateur armed with $100,000 in real money. You can catch the “Big Game” starting between 1:00am and 2:00am in most television markets.

A promo clip found on YouTube and distributed by “Big Game” officials late last week features the following stirring introduction: “Big names, big stakes, big blowups. Welcome to the Big Game.” On-screen graphics include Voluntarily Put Money into the Pot (VPIP) and Aggression Factor (AF), stepping up the level of poker intellect imparted on the viewer.

The first week of action features Daniel Negreanu, DoylesRoom namesake Doyle Brunson, UB.com pro Phil Hellmuth, Unabomber Poker front man Phil Laak, and PartyPoker’s Tony G. The aforementioned video also includes shots of Vanessa Rousso, Scott Seiver, Brunson 10 member Dani “ansky” Stern, Victory Poker’s Antonio Esfandiari, Barry Greenstein, and Jason Mercier playing, many of whom have appeared on the GSN cash game franchise “High Stakes Poker.”

Rounding out the promo is an entertaining montage of a hand between Hellmuth and Week 1 Loose Cannon Ernest Wiggins, a 35 year-old businessman from Washington, D.C. Wiggins is all-in for $74,000 in a pot of nearly $200,000 holding pocket kings on a board of 9-10-9. Hellmuth has A-9 for trips and asks if Wiggins wants to run it four times. Wiggins says, “I sure do.” Hellmuth proceeds to win the first board before dropping the next three, losing twice to a boat and once to a flush. Needless to say, the rest of the table is quite pleased for the amateur, whereas Hellmuth looks disgusted.

PokerStars “Million Dollar Challenge” host Chris Rose and PokerRoad’s Joe Stapleton will have the call of the “Big Game.” According to an exclusive interview Rose gave Poker News Daily recently, the opening week features a considerable amount of banter between Hellmuth and Tony G, who are seated next to one another. Former World Poker Tour (WPT) Live Updates Hostess Amanda Leatherman will also have an on-screen presence.

For markets whose local Fox affiliates are not carrying the “Big Game,” check out PokerStars.tv to catch all of the action starting on Tuesday. A total of six weeks of original “Big Game” programming will air along with a pair of “best of” weeks. In addition, “Big Game” officials plan to host another round of taping in August following the World Series of Poker (WSOP) featuring even more Loose Cannon qualifiers from PokerStars.

The show carries a $100,000 minimum buy-in with blinds of $200/$400 and a $100 ante. Loose Cannon qualifiers can keep whatever they win above their initial $100,000 stake. Catch the PokerStars “Big Game” all this week on Fox. Check your local listings for more information.

Doyle Brunson Up $135,000 in Kickoff Episode of Poker After Dark: The Cash Game

The first episode of “Poker After Dark: The Cash Game” aired on Monday night at 2:05am ET on NBC. The installment ended with two titans of the game, DoylesRoom namesake Doyle Brunson and UB.com front man Phil Hellmuth, dominating the action. The former ended the episode up $135,000.

Five of the six members of The Cash Game table bought in for $100,000, while Tom “durrrr” Dwan dared to be different and came armed with $250,000. The blinds were $200/$400 and Ali Nejad flew solo, providing commentary on the action. Leeann Tweeden introduced the players to begin the first episode of the week, but did not conduct any interviews from the “Poker After Dark” suite. Brunson and Hellmuth combined for 21 of the group’s 22 World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelets.

Hellmuth got the episode started off on the right foot. Phil Laak bet $3,200 on a flop of 5-9-2 with one club holding A-K and Eli Elezra came along with 9-7 of clubs for top pair. Hellmuth, who had 5-4 of spades, called to see an eight of clubs hit on the turn. Hellmuth bet $7,000, Laak got out of the way, and Elezra called to bring a four of diamonds on the river. Hellmuth bet $9,000 with two pair and Elezra called, shipping the $46,300 pot to the UB.com pro, who was quickly up $40,000.

After raised action pre-flop, Hellmuth and Full Tilt Poker pro Gus Hansen checked it down on a board reading Q-7-2-9-6. Hansen showed A-4 for ace-high, while Hellmuth held A-K for a better kicker. Hellmuth scooped the $35,100 pot at the expense of the “Great Dane” and continued his success in the televised NBC cash game.

Laak then tangled with Dwan, raising to $1,400 pre-flop with 9-4 of diamonds. Dwan made the call with 9-3 of hearts and the flop came 10-6-4. The action went check-check to the seven of diamonds on the turn, putting two of the suit on the board. Dwan bet $2,700, Laak called, and the river was the three of diamonds, filling Laak’s flush. Dwan check-raised to $23,200 and Laak called, giving the massive $55,100 pot to “The Unabomber.”

Then, the action heated up in the private cash game filmed at the Golden Nugget in Downtown Las Vegas. Dwan raised to $1,400 with pocket threes and Brunson 3bet to $4,900 with 10-9 of hearts. Dwan called to bring a flop of 9-9-5. Brunson led out for $7,000 with trips and Dwan called with two pair. The turn was a six. Brunson kept firing, this time $22,000, and Dwan called to see a jack on the river. Brunson moved all-in for $62,000, about a pot-sized bet, and Dwan tanked, repeatedly looking Brunson over, before calling. The dealer pushed the $193,000 pot, the largest of the episode, to Brunson.

Brunson and Dwan continued to joust. Dwan raised to $1,600 with J-5 of diamonds and Brunson called with K-Q. Elezra came along with 5-2 after putting in an $800 straddle pre-flop and the first three cards came Q-6-2. Elezra checked his gutshot straight draw, Dwan bet $4,100 with squadoosh, Brunson called with top pair, and Elezra mucked. The turn was the 10 of diamonds, giving Dwan a flush draw, and the youngster from New Jersey led out for $10,600. Brunson called and the river was the three of clubs. Dwan fired a third bullet to the tune of $24,700 and Brunson called, scooping the $84,500 pot.

By the time all was said and done, Brunson was up $135,000, while Dwan had bled $160,000, or two-thirds of his stack. “Poker After Dark” airs nightly at 2:05am ET on NBC.

Win WSOP Main Event Final Table VIP Trips from UB.com and PND

Last year, the final table of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event in November was electric. The finale featured Full Tilt Poker pro and industry icon Phil Ivey along with CardPlayer Magazine’s Jeff Shulman. In the end, Joe Cada became the second champion of the November Nine in dramatic fashion and banked a colossal $8.5 million.

This year promises to be equally electric. Poker News Daily and UB.com are teaming up to dole out three VIP prize packages to the WSOP Main Event final table. All you have to do is sign up for UB.com through PND between June 1st and July 30th, deposit, and generate one UB Point. That’s right, all you need to do is accrue one, single UB Point. When you do so, you’ll automatically be entered into a freeroll on August 15th at 20:00 ET on UB.com. The winner of the freeroll will head to Las Vegas in style to watch the Main Event come to a conclusion. The other members of the final table in the August freeroll will earn a spot in the $200,000 Guaranteed, a $215 value.

The other two VIP prize packages will be given away in two separate points races, one held in June and the other held in July. Whoever amasses the most number of Status Points each month will head to Sin City to soak up the November Nine and witness poker history. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see one lucky poker player take down what is expected to be a top prize of between $8 million and $9 million.

What constitutes a VIP prize package to Las Vegas, you ask? We’re all about living the high life here at PND and our promotion with UB.com is no exception. Each package includes a round trip airfare for two people, with a $600 maximum per person. You’ll also get three nights’ accommodation at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino, where the final table of the Main Event will play out.

On top of the airfare and accommodation, you’ll also land a dinner with UB.com pros and gain entry into the WSOP Main Event final table at the Rio, which was a tough ticket to open the festivities last year. The finale plays out inside the spacious Penn and Teller Theater, located down the hallway from the Pavilion and Amazon Room.

UB.com is one-half of the CEREUS Network and happily accepts players from the United States. It ranks as the sixth largest worldwide in terms of real money ring game traffic with a seven-day running average of 2,150 players and a 24-hour peak approaching 3,600. Absolute Poker is also on the same network and proudly accepts action from the United States.

Members of Team UB that players could dine with while checking out the finale of the WSOP Main Event include 2010 National Heads-Up Poker Championship winner Annie Duke, 11-time WSOP bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth, and two-time bracelet winner Brandon Cantu. The Team UB.com cast also includes former “Amazing Race” contestant Tiffany Michelle, former “Poker2Nite” host Joe Sebok, and Anthrax member Scott Ian.

Sign up for UB.com today. We might be seeing you in Las Vegas this November.

High Profile Matchups Abound in WSOP $5k Shootout

PokerListings deemed one particularly formidable table the "table of death" as Kathy Liebert, Mark Seif, Chris Ferguson, Barry Shulman and Eric Lingren all found themselves vying for one spot in the next round.

Some of the sick action we've seen at the table of death has included Seif running his trips into a larger set, while Ferguson has managed to win two giant pots with aces.

"You're not the only ones to call it the table of death," Liebert told PL.com. "What do I think about sitting at the table of death? I think it's time to get lucky." Liebert returned from break facing a sizeable deficit and chip advantage held by Ferguson.

The true difficulty of a table may not always be as it appears.

"There are lots of great young unknown players," said Barry Greenstein. "The table of death is actually the table of recognition; it might not actually be the most difficult."

Still, Greenstein is not underestimating the competition. "This will probably be the third toughest no limit tournament in the World Series," said Greenstein. "I think the second toughest will be the $25,000 six-handed and then the heads up will probably be the toughest."

World Poker Tour announcer Mike Sexton is no stranger to tough fields and said this is as impressive as any he's seen.

"It's a great field and a great format," Sexton said of the shootout as he wandered through the tables. "I'd love to be playing but I have to go back to L.A. tonight."

World Series Can Wait: Mike “Timex” McDonald Preps for a Poker-Free Summer

Annie Duke Wins National Heads-Up Poker Championship on NBC

“I finally didn’t come in second on NBC,” Annie Duke exclaimed following her win in the 2010 National Heads-Up Poker Championship, whose finale played out on NBC on Sunday. Taking second fiddle to comedian Joan Rivers in the finals of the network’s “Celebrity Apprentice” last year, Duke triumphed over fellow poker pro Erik Seidel to become the first woman to win the annual heads-up contest.

Three hours’ worth of coverage aired on Sunday on NBC and began with the semi-finals. Duke squared off against 2008 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event November Niner Dennis Phillips, while former Main Event champ Scotty Nguyen battled Seidel. The Final Four had a total of just four wins coming into the 2010 National Heads-Up Poker Championship. Ali Nejad and Craig Hummer had the call and each player began with 320,000 in chips with blinds at 1,500/3,000.

Nejad picked Seidel to face Duke in the finals, where he predicted the UB.com pro would win it all. Nguyen folded hand after hand face up, allowing Seidel to receive extra information. Nejad questioned, “What are you doing, Scotty Nguyen? You think Erik Seidel’s not going to use that information to take you down?” Nguyen and Seidel’s match featured lots of conversation and smaller pots, while Phillips and Duke’s match was relatively quiet and sported larger pots pre-flop.

By the second hour, Duke made the call of the tournament with jack-high against Phillips, which caused Nejad to admit, “That’s something you don’t see every day.” Phillips was down to seven big blinds as a result before doubling with K-J of diamonds against Duke’s A-5. Duke eventually polished off the former truck salesman with pocket sevens against A-8 to ensure that a woman would make the finals for the second straight year.

Back at the feature table, Seidel pushed with J-10, but Nguyen folded A-8 after seeing the hand result in the demise of Phillips just minutes earlier. Nejad, however, disagreed with Nguyen’s decision: “As tight as Scotty is, even he pretty much has to call there.” In the final hand of the pairing, Nguyen called all-in with K-9 on a board of 9-10-5-7-9 for trips. However, Seidel held 9-7 for a boat and moved on to the finals.

Duke and Seidel had a combined 1-10 record in the National Heads-Up Poker Championship entering its 2010 installment. In the final match, which was played in a best of three format, Seidel put the pedal to the metal. With the board reading 3-8-K-6, Duke checked holding pocket jacks and Seidel led out for 160,000 with 9-7 for an open-ended straight draw. Duke tanked before electing to fold, leading Nejad to remark, “This is poker on a high level.” However, Duke ultimately took down the first match.

Seidel was up early in the second match of the series, but Duke doubled up after open-shoving with 7-4 and receiving a call from Seidel, who held K-10. The first four cards ran out 9-Q-7-Q, leaving Seidel drawing to 15 outs to take down the second match. However, a five fell and Duke survived. In the final hand of match #2, Duke called all-in with K-5 and Seidel turned over 8-7. The board ran out 6-9-4-5-9, giving the pot to Seidel with a straight and leveling the score at one match apiece.

In the rubber match, Seidel was off to an early chip lead before Duke made her stand with Q-9 of diamonds. Seidel held A-K of diamonds, having Duke crushed. He was a 2:1 favorite heading to the flop, but Duke flopped a queen and turned a nine to leave Seidel drawing dead to the river. She commented, “My plan to get lucky has come to fruition.” Then, Seidel was all-in with A-2 against Duke’s pocket nines. The board bricked out for the eight-time bracelet winner and Duke captured the win in the 2010 National Heads-Up Poker Championship.

The finalists hugged and reigning champ Huck Seed presented Duke with a crystal trophy. Cleopatra awarded Duke a gold ring and Caesar offered up a platter holding the $500,000 first place prize. The three-hour finale closed with highlights from the season set to music.

Ryan Fair (toetagU) Wins SCOOP High Main Event

The 2010 PokerStars Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) wrapped up with a bang Monday evening as nearly $12 million in prize money was handed out over the three Main Event tournaments. When it was all said and done, well-known pro Ryan “toetagu” Fair was poker’s newest millionaire and several unknowns made the scores of their lifetime, making for an exciting day of online poker.

SCOOP High ($10,000+300) Main Event

Entrants: 615

Prize Pool: $6,150,000

Team PokerStars Online Pro George “Jorj95″ Lind was named the SCOOP Player of the Series, but it was an online pro from Florida that made the biggest headlines Monday. Ryan “toetagu” Fair bested one of the toughest fields in all of poker to claim his first seven-figure payday as a professional poker player. Fair, who resides in Fort Lauderdale, was the last man standing from a field of 615 players and earned $1,162,350 and his first SCOOP watch.

The story going into the day was Australia’s Ben “delaney_kid” Delaney, who reached the final table of the SCOOP High event and, at the same time, was approaching the final table of the SCOOP Medium event. However, Delaney was the first to exit the SCOOP High final table when he ran his pocket tens into Kristoffer “Sumpas” Thorsson’s pocket queens. Joe “jpmetalman” Patrick was also done in with pocket tens; Brad “BradL” Lipson sent Patrick home in eighth place with pocket aces.

Moments later, it was Sam “siola” Iola who has his tournament life on the line with, again, pocket tens. This time the pair was in a race situation against the Kd-Qd of Germany’s “BongBob” and after the flop brought a Queen, Iola was unable to improve and went to the rail in seventh place.

“BongBob” and Danny “cpfactor” Smith were eliminated in sixth and fifth place, respectively, and they were followed by Greg “DuckU” Hobson in fourth place when his pocket jacks lost to Lipson’s Ac-Kh. Hobson has been a familiar name at major online final tables for years and further entrenched his position among the game’s best tournament players with the $473,550 payday.

Fair, Thorsson, and Lipson briefly discussed a three-way deal, but couldn’t come to an agreement and decided to play it out. The choice paid dividends for Fair, who eliminated Lipson in the most memorable hand from the final table. With the blinds at 8,000/16,000 and a 2,000 ante, Fair raised to 40,980 from the small blind and Lipson defended his big blind. On the 7c-7s-2d flop, Fair led out for 43,000 and Lipson called. The turn was the 8d and Fair bet 112,000. Lipson raised to 270,000 and Fair called. On the Kc river, Fair fired again for 180,000 and Lipson moved all-in for 1,093,927. Fair made the call with 7h-6h for trips and won a massive pot when Lipson revealed As-5c for an ill-timed bluff.

On the final hand of the tournament, Thorsson got all of his chips in pre-flop holding pocket sevens to Fair’s pocket jacks. The higher pair held up and Thorsson collected $851,775 for his runner-up finish. Fair, meanwhile, picked up the biggest payday of the 2010 SCOOP series.

1st: Ryan “toetagU” Fair — $1,162,350
2nd: Kristoffer “Sumpas” Thorsson — $851,775
3rd: Brad “BradL” Lipson — $627,300
4th: Greg “DuckU” Hopson — $473,550
5th: Danny “cpfactor” Smith — $332,100
6th: BongBob — $261,375
7th: Sam “siola” Siola — $199,875
8th: Joe “jpmetalman” Patrick — $138,375
9th: Ben “delaney_kid” Delaney — $94,095

SCOOP Medium ($1,000+50) Main Event

Entrants: 3,675

Prize Pool: $3,675,000

Much to the dismay of railbirds wanting to witness history, “delaney_kid” finished 10th in the SCOOP Medium ($1,000) buy-in Main Event, leaving nine players with a shot at the title and nearly $577,000. The top three finishers decided on a chop to guarantee each of them a minimum of $380,000. Zack “cooperz0311″ Cooper took the largest portion of the remaining prize money, but “Mr.M.M0ney” defeated Cooper in a lengthy heads-up battle to collect the SCOOP watch and the $60,000 set aside for the winner.

1st: Mr.M.M0ney — $443,137.50*
2nd: Zack “cooperz0311″ Cooper — $448,500.00*
3rd: Athanasios 9 — $418,500.00*
4th: 888_OCTV — $211,312.50
5th: NOREFUNDS42 — $156,187.50
6th: rage4dorder — $119,437.50
7th: Charles “hook2120” Hook — $82,687.50
8th: cashclctor — $45,937.50
9th: Kyle “KJulius10” Julius — $29,400.00

* denotes three-way deal

SCOOP Low ($100+9) Main Event
Entrants: 19,188

Prize Pool: $1,918,000

A massive field of 19,188 was dwindled down to one player in the SCOOP Low Main Event Monday evening. Switzerland’s “midjat” earned $191,892.59 for the win after defeating “Quitti33” heads up. PokerStars Team Pro Andre Akkari took fifth place for $57,564.00.

1st: midjat — $191,892.59
2nd: Quitti33 — $142,586.02
3rd: B18GsrR — $95,940.00
4th: Grodindono — $76,752.00
5th: Andre Akkari — $57,564.00
6th: Patrick “pmahoney22″ Mahoney — $38,376.00
7th: MikeTBH — $26,959.14
8th: iFROST — $17,269.20
9th: Elpinto54 — $11,512.80

NAPT on ESPN: PokerStars Caribbean Adventure High Roller Event

Monday night featured the final action from the PokerStars North American Poker Tour (NAPT) on ESPN2. This time, the High Roller event at the 2010 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure took center stage. The $25,000 buy-in poker tournament, which played out in January, featured German Tobias Reinkemeier holding the chip lead entering the final table.

The broadcast featured an inordinately large amount of Latin from ESPN poker commentator Norman Chad, making for a particularly educational two hours. Russia’s Dimitry Stelmak, who was the short stack entering the eight-handed final table, was the first player ousted. He shoved with K-10 pre-flop, but ran into Reinkemeier’s A-10. For his efforts, Stelmak earned $66,000.

The next to go was Matt Marafioti, who was coincidentally rooming in the Bahamas with fellow Canadian and High Roller final table member Will Molson, whose family owns the world-famous beer brand of the same name. Marafioti came out on the short end of a race with pocket sevens against William Reynolds’ A-K after Reynolds spiked an ace on the turn. Reynolds noted, “Barry Greenstein does it with an ace on the river. I do it with an ace on the turn.”

Over the first 48 hands of play, Reynolds sported a VPIP (Voluntarily Put Money into the Pot) of 38%, well above the norm. He delivered the final blow of the first hour of coverage on ESPN2 by sending Reinkemeier to the rails. Reynolds was a 4:1 favorite heading to the flop with pocket kings against the German’s pocket eights and the board ran out J-4-7-A-Q. Reinkemeier picked up $108,000 from the Bahamas. He proceeded to take down the European Poker Tour (EPT) Monte Carlo Grand Final High Roller event in April for $1.2 million.

The reigning World Series of Poker (WSOP) ladies’ champ, Lisa Hamilton, was bumped in fifth place from the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure High Roller tournament for $133,000. Like Marafioti, her pocket pair could not hold up against two overcards and she exited stage right from the Atlantis Resort and Casino. Then, Netherlands pro Michiel Brummelhuis found the rail after open-shoving with Q-9 and running into Reynolds’ pocket aces. The board fell 10-6-3-J-7 and sealed Brummelhuis’ fourth place finish, worth $154,000.

The lone amateur at the final table, Adolfo Vaeza, defended his big blind constantly, leading Chad to remark, “You would need a court order to get Vaeza to give up his big blind.” His stubbornness was ultimately his undoing, however. This time, he defended with 5-3 of clubs against Reynolds’ A-K. The action flop came 4-6-A and Vaeza’s chips went into the middle. Reynolds called and a running J-5 sent the amateur packing.

Reynolds entered heads-up play against Molson up 2:1 in chips. The beer namesake scooped a pot of 1.2 million early after both players rivered trips on a J-K-3-9-J board. However, Molson’s Q-J trumped Reynolds’ J-8. Then, Reynolds doubled up with pocket sevens against Molson’s A-3 for a pot of 3.1 million. In the final hand, Molson’s K-8 could not overcome Reynolds’ A-10 of diamonds and Reynolds, one of two Americans at the final table, took down the 2010 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure High Roller event for $576,000.

Two vignettes featuring PokerStars pros broke up the poker grind. In the first, Andre Akkari, Victor Ramdin, Hevad Khan, and Joe Cada competed in speed slide races at the Atlantis. Perhaps due to his fearless nature, Khan came out on top after defeating Ramdin in the finals. Then, near the end of the two-hour program, Cada bested fellow WSOP Main Event champ Peter Eastgate in a best-of-three sumo wrestling match inside a hotel ballroom.

No coverage of the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Main Event aired. In case you missed it, ESPN2 will air the High Roller event again tonight at 8:00pm ET. The program is also available in sparkling high-definition.