Poker News

Corwin Cole Leads WPT Festa al Lago After Day 3

Day 4 of the 2009 World Poker Tour (WPT) Festa al Lago will play out on Saturday. Heading into play today, Corwin Cole leads the pack with 996,000 chips, one of two players to own more than 900,000.

Saturday marks the play down day at the Bellagio in Las Vegas, the site of the annual Festa al Lago. A total of 37 players remain entering Day 4, which kicks off at Noon Pacific Time from the storied Las Vegas casino, and in the end, 27 will make the money. Cole has played in four WPT tournaments, but has yet to record a cash, making Saturday an especially important day for the youngster. He told WPT Live Updates Hostess Amanda Leatherman about his ride through play on Friday in the $15,000 buy-in tournament: “I was playing pretty well and I was running really well. I drew a decent table and sucked out on Justin Bonomo in a big pot and busted him. I called with sevens and he had jacks and I spiked a seven on the flop.”

Jonas Entin holds the second largest stack entering the play down day with 985,500. With pocket eights, Entin hit quads early on Day 3 to send Russell Rosenblum packing. Up against kings, Entin watched as an eight hit on the flop and turn, giving him the nuts and the win in the hand. Entin final tabled the $10,000 buy-in World Championship of Pot Limit Omaha during the 2007 World Series of Poker (WSOP) for $69,000. All told, he has $170,000 in career WSOP earnings.

The top 10 on the leaderboard features a trio of brand name pros, Mark Seif, Dutch Boyd, and Chris Ferguson. Seif is a sponsored pro of Absolute Poker and owns two WSOP bracelets. The first came in 2005 by virtue of winning a $1,500 buy-in Limit Hold’em Shootout, while the second occurred seven tournaments later in a $1,500 buy-in No Limit Hold’em event. Seif’s two pieces of hardware were worth a combined $792,000.

Ferguson and Boyd own a combined six bracelets, with the former boasting five of them. Ferguson had a series of double ups on Friday to remain in contention. He doubled through Lee Markholt with A-J against K-Q and then rivered a higher two pair to double up again. Ferguson was among the group of 30 late registrants at the Festa al Lago, which accepted buy-ins through five hours into play on Day 2.

Here are the top 10 chip counts at the Bellagio as play begins on Saturday:

1. Corwin Cole – 996,000
2. Jonas Entin – 985,500
3. Jason Lavallee – 833,500
4. Dee Luong – 771,500
5. Mark Seif – 759,000
6. Jason “JCarver” Somerville – 669,000
7. Dutch Boyd – 616,500
8. Freddy Deeb – 588,000
9. Tommy Vedes – 579,000
10. Chris Ferguson – 535,000

Other notable names that remain include:

15. Brandon Cantu – 414,000
16. Kido Pham – 401,000
18. Cliff “JohnnyBax” Josephy – 385,000
22. Steve Brecher – 360,000
27. Andy Bloch – 320,500
28. Chad “lilholdem954” Batista – 315,000
29. Chau Giang – 293,500
32. Vivek “Psyduck” Rajkumar – 253,000
35. Prahlad Friedman – 188,000

When play wrapped up late Friday night, blinds were 4,000-8,000 with a 500 chip ante. Only one woman survived the five levels of play, Luong, who sits in fourth place. Luong has a pair of cashes on the WPT circuit, but has not finished in the money since 2004. She also has two cashes on WSOP felts, but, likewise, has not made the money in five years.

Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest WPT coverage from Sin City.

DoylesRoom Seeking New Members for Brunson 10

The USA-friendly online poker site DoylesRoom, fronted by 10-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner Doyle Brunson, is expanding its stable of pros. The so-called “Brunson 10” currently consists of only four members.

In order to become a part of the illustrious Brunson 10, online poker players must hold an account at DoylesRoom and hit the felts in the site’s daily $5/$10 and $10/$20 cash games that take place at 7:00pm ET. Brunson and other site pros are regulars in these games and an e-mail sent to DoylesRoom players explained, “We recommend joining and chatting with them at the tables.” The online poker room is hoping to add players with “personality, integrity, and potential” and plans to fill the fifth Brunson 10 slot around the beginning of November in time for the WSOP Main Event final table.

A formal way to apply for the Brunson 10 will be unleashed in the coming weeks. The e-mail foreshadowed, “This system will eventually allow the best players to get to the top, at which point we will arrange personal interviews with Doyle and the team.” Interested players can e-mail Brunson10@doylesroom.com. A representative from the online poker site told Poker News Daily, “We are looking for live and online success in both cash games and tournaments, but personality is key too. Doyle Brunson has the final word.”

Amit “amak316” Makhija is one of the four current Brunson 10 members. The top-tier online and live poker pro is best known for finishing as the runner-up to John “The Razor” Phan in the finale of the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) Legends of Poker in 2008. His reward was a healthy $563,000 boost to his bankroll and a bevy of television time on Fox Sports Net. In that year’s WSOP, Makhija finished fifth in the $10,000 buy-in World Championship of Pot Limit Hold’em and earned $198,000 in a tournament that aired on ESPN. In addition, he landed in third place in a €5,000 buy-in preliminary event held during the European Poker Tour’s (EPT) Monte Carlo Grand Final for €85,000.

Also part of the Brunson 10 is Chris “moorman1” Moorman, who signed on with DoylesRoom just before the start of the WSOP Europe festivities in London. Moorman is a former number one player in the prestigious PocketFives.com Online Poker Rankings and is an eight-time Triple Crown winner on the site. He chopped an event during August’s Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS) for $204,000 and made the final table of the high-stakes PokerStars Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) Main Event for $113,000. He’s arguably the most respected high-stakes online grinder in the industry and adds a considerable amount of prestige to the Brunson 10.

Alec “traheho” Torelli has nearly $2 million in career earnings. His bankroll was boosted to a large degree by virtue of finishing as the runner-up to Kenny Tran in the $10,000 buy-in World Championship of Heads-Up No Limit Hold’em during the 2008 WSOP for $336,000. Later that year, Torelli was up to his winning ways again, this time banking $120,000 for taking down a $5,000 buy-in No Limit Hold’em event during the Festa al Lago. Five months ago, Torelli earned a colossal $329,000 for grabbing sixth in the $40,000 buy-in No Limit Hold’em event commemorating the 40th running of the WSOP.

Rounding out the Brunson 10 is Zachary “CrazyZachary” Clark. In August of 2007, he won the FTOPS Main Event for $395,000 and, in April of this year, chopped a SCOOP tournament for $390,000. Clark took third in last August’s WPT Legends of Poker, joining Makhija at the final table and earning $281,000.

DoylesRoom is a member of the USA-friendly Cake Poker Network and holds a weekly $50,000 Bounty Tournament. Members of the Brunson 10, along with Todd Brunson, Doyle Brunson, Mike Caro, and Hoyt Corkins, serve as the bounties in the high-stakes contest.

Celebrity Apprentice 3 Cast May Not Feature Poker Players

In 2010, the third installment of the NBC reality franchise “Celebrity Apprentice” will hit television airwaves. The show, which featured comedian Joan Rivers best poker pro Annie Duke in the finale last time out, will likely not include a poker player this time around.

Ever since Duke finished as the runner-up to Rivers in May, the poker community has been abuzz that one of its own may appear in the third edition of the popular series. However, according to Huliq.com and the New York Post, the ensemble cast, which will likely once again pit men against women, does not appear to include a poker player. No official cast list has been released by NBC. The show is hosted by real estate mogul Donald Trump and raises money for charity.

Last season, Duke played for Refugees International, an organization that she worked closely with as part of her own charity, Ante Up for Africa. In the process, the poker community was instrumental in raising $730,000 for the charity. Poker players who made cameos throughout the season included Ultimate Bet front man Phil Hellmuth, Andy Bloch, Howard Lederer, 2009 Poker Hall of Fame nominee Erik Seidel, and Perry Friedman.

Embattled politician Rod Blagojevich headlines the “Celebrity Apprentice” cast in Season 3. His wife, Patty Blagojevich, appeared on NBC’s “I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here” when Rod was unable to attend due to ongoing legal action. Blagojevich is the former Governor of Illinois and was impeached in January for, among other misgivings, allegedly trying to sell the Senate seat vacated by current U.S. President Barack Obama.

Joining Blagojevich on the men’s team will be another controversial celebrity, former baseball great Darryl Strawberry, a member of the New York Mets, Los Angeles Dodgers, San Francisco Giants, and New York Yankees. Strawberry exited the league in 1999 and was the National League Rookie of the Year 16 years earlier. Chef Curtis Stone will join the “Celebrity Apprentice” cast, as will popular comedian Sinbad, whose credits include “A Different World” and “The Sinbad Show.” He has also appeared in movies such as “First Kid” and “Jingle All the Way.”

Former professional wrestler Bill Goldberg, who stormed onto World Championship Wrestling (WCW) scene with an undefeated streak in the late 1990s, will be a part of the new “Celebrity Apprentice” cast. Rounding out the men’s team is “Rock of Love” star Bret Michaels, who is also known for his work with the band Poison.

The women’s team features “America’s Got Talent” judge Sharon Osborne, whose fellow judge on the show, Piers Morgan, was the winner of Season 1 of “Celebrity Apprentice.” “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” and “Time After Time” signer Cyndi Lauper will join the squad. Olympic gold medalist Summer Sanders, who took down hardware in swimming in 1992, will also make her way to New York City to film “Celebrity Apprentice.” There, actress Holly Robinson Peete, wife of former NFL great Rodney Peete, will join her.

World Wrestling Entertainment’s (WWE) Maria Kanellis will also be a part of “Celebrity Apprentice,” as will comedian Carol Leifer, who has written scripts for hits like “Seinfeld” and “The Larry Sanders Show.” Finally, Selita Ebanks, a model, will round out the new cast.

The names of more cast members may be released, but for the meantime, it appears that the poker community will not be a part of the upcoming season of “Celebrity Apprentice.” Over on CBS, Tiffany Michelle and Maria Ho, the last women standing in the 2008 and 2007 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Events, respectively, are competing as part of the Emmy Award winning reality series “Amazing Race.” The show airs at 8:00pm ET on Sundays and viewers will see the poker playing duo race around Dubai, United Arab Emirates on this week’s edition.

The Post reported that the “Celebrity Apprentice” cast was seen recording the opening credits in the Meatpacking District of New York City and that the show would begin airing in March.

Bodog Poker Open IV Dates Announced

In the world of online poker tournament series, there are a few that are “must play” events for online professionals. The annual PokerStars’ World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) and the quarterly Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS) normally come to mind first, but Bodog has built its own franchise that has done very well, the Bodog Poker Open. Recently, the dates were announced for the fourth version of Bodog’s preeminent online tournament series and some special prizes have been added for the eventual champion.

The Bodog Poker Open IV is scheduled to start on November 1st and will wrap up one week later on November 8th. The weeklong schedule features several tournaments that will test the skills of the players involved in Limit, Pot Limit, and No Limit Texas Hold’em. It also has been split into two divisions that will enable anyone to get into the game.

The Bodog Championship Series features the seven main tournaments that run from a $50 rebuy to the $500 Championship Event. These tournaments should draw the cream of the internet poker world to battle it out on the virtual felt. The second division, called the Bodog Contender Series, features eight tournaments that cost 10% of the buy-ins of the main schedule, but will still be profitable for their eventual champions.

There are other additions that should make the Bodog Poker Open IV a schedule that will be well-attended. Each tournament in the Championship Series has money added to the prize pool, ranging from $2,500 for Event #6 ($150 Limit Hold’em) to the $25,000 that will be added to the Championship Event’s prize pool. In the Contender Series, two tournaments, the $10 No Limit Hold’em event (#1) and the Contender Championship Event, have money added to them.

Each player who wins one of the preliminary tournaments on the Championship Schedule will also earn a seat into the Championship Event along with a chunk of the prize pool. For those playing on the Contender Schedule, the winners of preliminary events will take home a seat into the Championship Series Main Event, while their final tablemates will earn a seat into the Contender Series Main Event. Finally, the eventual champions of both divisions’ Main Events will be featured in CardPlayer Magazine and Bodog’s online outlets, including the “Bodog Beat.”

For those who don’t want to pony up the full buy-in for either the Championship or the Contender Schedule, there are ways to qualify for the tournaments on the cheap through a very extensive satellite schedule. For as little as $0.50, players can work their way into the mix for playing in any of the Bodog Poker Open scheduled events on either side of the ledger. Players can even use Bodog Poker Points to enter into special satellite tournaments that can get them into a tournament for no monetary outlay.

Back on May 3rd, the Bodog Poker Open III wrapped up its Championship Event by crowning “biffsworld” as the victor. “biffsworld” vanquished the 279-player field, which included Bodog poker professionals Jean-Robert Bellande and Justin Bonomo, and took home the $40,283 first prize. “biffsworld” is expected back to defend his title, joining “scarface0928” (Mid-Main Event champion) and “winjack” (Mini-Main Event champion), who also earned titles during the Bodog Poker Open III. With the Bodog Poker Open IV less than two weeks away, the action should be picking up significantly as players attempt to win their way into the weeklong tournament series.

Aruba Poker Classic Final Table Delayed by Rain, Matt Ross Finishes 7th

Play was scheduled to kick off at Noon ET today in the seven-handed final table of the Ultimate Bet Aruba Poker Classic. However, a soggy climate delayed the action, which was scheduled to emanate from a set constructed over the Radisson’s pool.

Live coverage found on Poker News painted a vivid picture of today’s weather in the normally sunny tropical paradise: “The original plan was to play [the final table] out on the stage that has been constructed over top of the meandering pool outside. Mother nature has foiled those plans with sporadic rain showers and the staff is scrambling to come up with alternatives. The new idea is to move next door to Gilligan’s Restaurant and play underneath the cover of their roof.” Play ultimately kicked off 30 minutes behind schedule, with a $753,000 first place prize up for grabs.

In a rare twist, the final table of the Ultimate Bet Aruba Poker Classic will be played seven-handed, one more than the traditional number. Players agreed to halt the action with seven remaining on Friday after the field had been played six-handed since 36 runners remained. Robert Mizrachi held the chip lead over a talented final table when the “Shuffle Up and Deal” command was issued today. Here are the combatants who took to the Ultimate Bet Aruba Poker Classic final table today:

1. Robert Mizrachi – 1,980,000
2. Eric Baldwin – 1,570,000
3. Chase Steely – 1,300,000
4. Brock Parker – 1,240,000
5. Brandon Hall – 442,000
6. Matt Ross – 301,000
7. Roberto Santos – 211,000

Robert Mizrachi is the brother of Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi and a World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet holder. Mizrachi took down the $10,000 buy-in World Championship of Pot Limit Omaha for $768,000 in 2007, besting a talented final table that included Durrrr Challenge participant Patrik Antonius, Marco Traniello, and DoylesRoom namesake Doyle Brunson. Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin won a $1,500 buy-in No Limit Hold’em event this year for his first WSOP bracelet and a $521,000 payday. He went on to grab third in the World Championship of Pot Limit Hold’em for $259,000, an event ultimately won by John Kabbaj.

Brock Parker won back-to-back WSOP bracelets this year, beginning with a $2,500 buy-in Limit Hold’em Six-Handed event for $223,000. Parker battled against crowd favorite and Team PokerStars Pro member Daniel Negreanu heads-up in that tournament’s final table, which also featured WSOP Europe Main Event winner Barry Shulman. Parker, known as “t soprano” in the online poker world, promptly took down the next WSOP tournament he entered, a $2,500 buy-in No Limit Hold’em Six-Handed affair, for another $552,000. Parker is tops in the industry at short-handed play and will be one of the favorites to win the Aruba Poker Classic this afternoon.

Blinds began at 6,000-12,000 with a 2,000 chip ante when play resumed in Level 20. It didn’t take long for the first casualty to happen after the 30 minute weather delay. Matt Ross, known in the online poker world as “cwp394,” shoved pre-flop holding pocket sevens, but ran into Roberto Santos’ A-K. The ace was the door card, sending Santos into the lead, and another ace on the river improved him to trips. Ross earned $41,000 for his efforts, setting up six-handed play in Aruba. Here are the paydays that will be on the line for the survivors:

1st Place - $753,330
2nd Place - $414,680
3rd Place - $218,860
4th Place - $126,710
5th Place - $92,150
6th Place - $68,810

Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the final results of the 2009 Ultimate Bet Aruba Poker Classic.

Yevgeniy Timoshenko, Antoine Saout Added to PartyPoker World Open V

The PartyPoker World Open V action gets underway on Sunday and some last-minute additions to the lineup have made the event even more of a star-studded affair.  The roster of players, which already included the likes of World Poker Tour (WPT) host Mike Sexton, Tom “durrrr” Dwan, J.C. Tran, Phil “The Unabomber” Laak, and Luke “Full_Flush1″ Schwartz, added new names to the fold, including several players who have been on some serious hot streaks as of late.

The newly confirmed players include World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner Layne Flack, Andrew Feldman, Bruno Fitoussi, Teddy Sheringham, Roland de Wolfe, Sammy “Any Two” George, and recently-crowned poker endurance world record holder Paul Zimbler.

Three other players recently agreed to participate in the event and may be ones to watch considering their string of recent results.  November Nine member Antoine Saout will be playing in the World Open V.  The Frenchman appears to be squeezing in as many tournaments as he can between now and the WSOP Main Event final table in November.  He is fresh off a final table showing at the WSOP Europe, where he finished in seventh place.

World Open V participant J.P. Kelly also had a successful run at the WSOP Europe, winning a bracelet in the first preliminary event.  With his win in London, Kelly became the first British player in the three-year history of the WSOP Europe to win a bracelet at the London-based event.  In addition to his WSOP Europe victory, Kelly won a bracelet earlier this year at the WSOP in a $1,500 Pot Limit Hold’em event.

Online poker pro Yevgeniy “Jovial Gent” Timoshenko also signed on to play in the World Open V.  Timoshenko has had an amazing run in 2009.  He took down the WPT Championship back in April, won the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) Main Event last month, and made a deep run in the WSOP Europe Main Event.  At 21-years old, Timoshenko already has tournament poker winnings in excess of $6 million.

PartyBets set odds on all 48 of the participants and Dwan is currently the favorite, with odds currently going off at 11-1.  Even PartyPoker is inclined to agree with that assessment, as a spokesperson for the site noted, “The early money is for Durrrr, which isn’t really a surprise, but favorites do not have a good record in this competition.”  The spokesperson continued,  “We’re delighted with the field. Every heat features a super strong line-up. For example, two online qualifiers have to deal with the likes of Yevgeniy Timoshenko, James Akenhead, [Schwartz], and Ian Frazer, and that is only in heat one!”

As the spokesperson noted, online cash game player Schwartz is scheduled to play in Heat One, while his self-proclaimed nemesis durrrr will be playing in Heat Six along with Fitoussi, Felipe “Mojave” Ramos, J.C. Tran, and others.  Though Schwartz and Dwan will not meet in the preliminary heats, there are still a couple of scenarios that could pair the two at the same table.  Should both players win their heats, they will advance to play each other at the final table.  If one or both of them finishes as the runner-up in their heat, they will advance to the second chance heat, where the six runners-up will vie for a spot at the final table.

Action will take place at the Palm Beach Casino in London, England and PartyPoker says spectators are welcome to come by and watch the action.  The event will be taped and televised on the Five network in Britain later this year and will feature commentary from Jesse May.

A Heads-Up Controversy

The world of internet poker is never lacking for controversy. The latest involves arguably the most respected online poker room in the industry, PokerStars.

Recently, the site held its annual World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) $215 Heads-Up Pot-Limit Omaha “second chance” tournament. When the tournament was down to 16 players, “Anti-Matter”, along with his opponent, “arbianight”, agreed to sit out for a while so that they could both watch a big boxing match on television. According to Anti-Matter, after about 20 minutes, he was declared the loser and arbianight advanced to the quarterfinals.

Upon chatting with PokerStars support, Anti-Matter, arbianight, and any railbirds in attendance found out that if two opponents in a heads-up multi-table tournament sit out for 250 consecutive hands, it would be automatically declared completed. In this case, since both players were sitting out and one player had to move on in the tournament, arbianight got lucky because he had slightly more chips than Anti-Matter as a result of the order in which their blinds had been passed back and forth. Despite both Anti-Matter´s and arbianight´s pleas, PokerStars would not allow them to play on. Anti-Matter requested he at least be paid what he calculated to be his equity in the tournament, but at that point, PokerStars was unable to do anything besides give him his payout for making the round of 16.

As frequently happens when an online poker player feels slighted by a poker room, Anti-Matter took his case to the community at the TwoPlusTwo forums. And, as frequently happens next, a mess ensued, with opinions flying from all angles.  Here are my thoughts on what each party did wrong in this situation:

Anti-Matter

He sat out during an important part of a lucrative tournament in order to watch a boxing match. Television programming took precedent over being one of the final 16 players in a heads-up tournament. Plus, both he and his opponent agreed to do this, making it look even worse. They did not have any intention of delaying the tournament or harming the players in any way, but they looked pretty bad for doing what they did.

Granted, PokerStars does have a rule on its website that states, “There is no rule against choosing to sit out; a player doing so will continue to have blinds and antes posted and cards dealt”, but in reality, the two players broke the spirit of the rule. This statement was made for cases where someone needs to take a bathroom break or answer the door, not so that two opponents in a heads-up tournament can watch a sporting event that could take an hour to complete. Put simply, it´s just not cool.

While the extremely deep stacks, slowly escalating blinds, and quality of players remaining made it likely that all of the matches would take a long time to complete, the fact of the matter is that Anti-Matter and arbianight might have held up the other players. Who´s to say that the other contests would not have ended relatively quickly? The two boxing fans might have caused the other advancing players to wait for more time than necessary.

Additionally, Anti-Matter accused PokerStars of “ripping him off” in the subject line of his forum post, saying that the site refused to pay him the approximately $900 he felt he was owed to make up the difference between his equity in the tournament and the amount he actually won. While his correspondence with PokerStars was fairly civilized, the way he made the issue public was not the correct approach.

PokerStars

It´s simple. PokerStars failed to make it known anywhere, be it on its website or in the poker software, that if the two opponents in a heads-up tournament match sit out for 250 hands, it will end automatically. In fact, as I mentioned above, Stars´ site explicitly states that players may sit out. Making this known, even if it was in the fine print on the website, would have made the whole debate unnecessary.

To be fair, there is a reason for the unwritten rule. In the past, PokerStars had found that there were often tables where both players didn´t show up, usually in play money tournaments. As a result, the matches would go on and on and on with no end in sight until other players noticed and got in touch with the tournament staff. What happened with Anti-Matter – two players sitting out for a long time deep in a high buy-in tournament – was unprecedented.

But if PokerStars is going to program the poker software to have such a dramatic effect on the tournament, that information should be posted somewhere. Better yet, post the rule and pop-up a big warning message should the players start getting close to the 250 hand mark.

Aftermath

It took a few days for PokerStars to come to a decision, but the poker room did pay Anti-Matter the extra $900 he requested. It has also added the rule to its website, although the part that reads “Two or more players may not make any agreement to sit out simultaneously whether at the same table or different tables”, brings into question whether or not an agreement to sit out for a very short period of time, say, if someone has to use the facilities, would really be a violation of the rules. I suppose it would be, according to the letter of the law, but it is doubtful that something like that would be enforced.

For his part, Anti-Matter apologized for the accusatory thread title and requested that a moderator change it.

Timoshenko, Flack confirmed for World Open V

JP Kelly, Teddy Sheringham, Andrew Feldman, Roland De Wolfe, Paul Zimbler, Sammy George, Bruno Fittoussi and 2009 November Niner Antoine Saout will help create one of the fiercest line-ups ever assembled for the prestigious event, which takes place Oct. 11-15, 2009, in London.

Perhaps no one is hotter than Timoshenko at the moment.

Since August 2008, he's won the APT Macau main event, the WPT World Championship and the PokerStars WCOOP Main Event, totalling $4.2 million in prize money in those three events alone.

Timoshenko was also in prime position to make the final table of the 2009 WSOPE before busting out in 25th.

Meanwhile Flack is one of the most well-known poker players in the world and has already won six WSOP bracelets and one WPT title. Never one to shy away from controversy, the outspoken Flack is instantly recognizable at a poker table.

English player George has been garnering a great deal of media attention lately after accepting a heads-up challenge against Tom "durrrr" Dwan and then putting in a strong showing in the PokerHeaven European Cash game.

The 48-person field also includes Tom "durrrr" Dwan, Luke "FullFlush" Schwartz, Jennifer Tilly, JC Tran, Phil Laak, Ian Frazer, James Akenhead and several other big-name poker players.

"The early money is for durrrr, which isn't really a surprise, but favorites do not have a good record in this competition," said a PartyPoker spokesperson. "We're delighted with the field. Every heat features a super strong line-up."

The spokesperson went on to mention that one of the best heats features Timoshenko, Akenhead, Schwartz and Frazer at the same table.

Past winners of the shootout-style World Open include Lee Nelson, Liam Flood and Anthony Hardy.

Last year Marty Smyth outlasted all competitors and then beat Neil Channing heads-up to take down the $250,000 first-place prize in the World Open IV.

Visit PokerListings.com

Robert Mizrachi Leads Ultimate Bet Aruba Poker Classic Entering Day 3

Two days of play are in the books at the 2009 Ultimate Bet Aruba Poker Classic. The $5,500 buy-in tournament will award $753,000 to first place, while the top four finishers will earn six-figure paydays. The final table will take place on Saturday.

A total of 86 players remain in the Ultimate Bet Aruba Poker Classic, which attracted 475 entrants this year. Last time out, the marquee island event drew 551 runners, meaning attendance dropped 14% in 2009. Nevertheless, the action was fast and furious at the Radisson Aruba Resort, Casino, and Spa. After two days of play, Robert Mizrachi, brother of well-known pro Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi, leads the pack with a chip stack of 353,200. The younger Mizrachi holds nearly a 100,000 chip lead over the second place tally of Jon Favaloro, who has 255,300.

Mizrachi made two final tables during Season V of the World Poker Tour (WPT), recording a sixth place finish at the Mirage Poker Showdown for $129,000 and a fourth place effort at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure for $409,000. Mizrachi is a World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet holder to boot. He won the World Championship of Pot Limit Omaha during the 2007 WSOP for $768,000, besting a final table that included Doyle Brunson, Patrik Antonius, and Marco Traniello. Mizrachi will headline Table 8 on Thursday during Day 3, where Johan Storakers will join him.

Here’s a look at the Top 10 chip stacks in the Ultimate Bet Aruba Poker Classic after Day 2:

1. Robert Mizrachi - 353,200
2. Jon Favaloro - 255,300
3. Ty Reiman - 226,900
4. Matthew Ross - 222,300
5. James Mordue - 207,700
6. James Czarnecki - 197,300
7. David Perkins - 191,500
8. Eric Baldwin - 166,400
9. Max Greenwood - 152,800
10. Ryan Caldwell - 146,900

Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin is a WSOP bracelet winner, having taken down the accolade this year by virtue of winning a $1,500 buy-in No Limit Hold’em event for $521,000. He nearly won a second bracelet in the World Championship of Pot Limit Hold’em, but ultimately grabbed third in that tournament for $259,000. Baldwin won the $750,000 Guaranteed, the flagship weekly tournament on Full Tilt Poker, for $132,000 in December. In May of 2008, he won the Bodog $100,000 Guaranteed twice in the same month.

Travis “TravestyFund” Rice, who won the Aruba Poker Classic in 2007, remains in contention this year. Rice outlasted a field of 548 players for his Aruba title and earned $800,000. Rice holds the 12th largest stack entering play on Thursday at 128,600. Reigning Aruba Poker Classic champion Matt Brady also remains in the hunt for the $753,000 first place prize. Brady sits at 67th on the leaderboard entering Day 3 with a stack of 34,500. He’ll have his work cut out for him, however, as just 86 players remain.

Other notable pros who survived two days of play include:

17. Matt Vengrin - 116,700
33. David Sands - 82,400
53. Johan Storakers - 50,600
59. Gavin Smith - 45,700
64. Scott Ian - 40,300
78. Tim West - 29,400
81. Shawn Rice - 23,500
85. Hunter Frey - 18,500

The action kicked off today at Noon ET with blinds of 800/1,600 with a 200 chip ante and will likely conclude when 36 players remain. Then, the field will play six-handed down to a winner. Here are the paydays that are up for grabs at the final table:

1st Place - $753,330
2nd Place - $414,680
3rd Place - $218,860
4th Place - $126,710
5th Place - $92,150
6th Place - $66,810

Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest from the Ultimate Bet Aruba Poker Classic.

Checkmate: Chess master Skripchenko finds the felt

However, international chess champion turned poker pro Almira Skripchenko says appearances can be deceiving.

And after she made a final table appearance in the 2009 World Series of Poker's $2,000 No-Limit Hold'em event this past summer, it's hard to disagree with her.

"I just think that chess players are naturally skilled to become poker players because chess involves a lot of strategic thinking," she said.

"Yes, of course, there is a lot of math in poker, but this is more important than math. Math can be mastered by everyone and all the strategic and analytical skills, you have to develop."

Born in Moldova in the former Soviet Union, Skripchenko began playing chess at just six years old.

By 15 she had won the Under-16 World Youth Chess Championships, at 21 she became the European Ladies Champion and she has achieved both the International Master and Woman Grand Master titles from the FIDE World Chess Federation.

After a chess tournament in 2003, she was convinced by some friends to try her hand in a poker tournament in Paris.

"When you are talking about poker you have this epic vision from literature and movies, but this was a tournament, like a sport, so I wanted to take part," she said.

"In the ten-minute taxi ride over they taught me the game and I was in the final that same night."

Bitten by the poker bug, she began playing sparingly in small tournaments in the famed Aviation Club in Paris, where she now lives.

Skripchenko went on to finish second on a made-for-TV tournament featuring a group of poker players and sports stars and in 2008, Winamax offered her a sponsorship contract.

While she still plays chess at the highest levels, she's now travelling the PokerStars European Poker Tour circuit and playing in some of the biggest poker tournaments in the world.

"It's a different sort of challenge," she said. "In chess I've already accomplished almost everything. I'm just missing the world title and I will still try for it, I will be playing the World Championships next year."

While she sees some unique similarities between the games, Skripchenko says there are also marked differences.

"Poker it's a game where you should absolutely drop everything you know about chess or what formed you to be a very good chess player," she said. "OK, you still have to keep certain skills, but you also have to acquire some new ones and to include some factors in your decision making that you would never think of.

"I had to learn how to bluff and how to act, which is completely contrary to my nature. I have to integrate so many elements and it has also allowed me to know better who I am somehow. It's like psychoanalysis, because I discovered that I like it a lot - I can bluff and I can act."

The biggest difference in the two games, according to Skripchenko, is the risk factor.

"Chess is a silent game and also very rational," she said. "Of course, poker is also rational, but the risk factor in poker is almost never involved in chess. In poker, you have to be willing to take risks."

Those risks paid off with Skripchenko's seventh place at the WSOP this summer and while she obviously would rather have won, she said the experience taught her a valuable poker lesson.

"In some way it proved to me that I had developed a thick skin," she said. "As a chess player, it's almost a philosophical question, because defeat becomes very seldom. Poker teaches you philosophically how to accept it and how to go on.

"I was proud of myself, just because I think I became tougher as a person. I think that's exactly what it showed. I played three days with great players. At one point I was almost the chip leader. But I'm not a magician, I'm still learning.

"In one year, my friend [Manuel Bevand] tells me that he will make me a machine. I'm not sure that it suits me so well, but OK, I'm trying to become a machine, that's my goal."

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Jeff Shulman Interview with Poker News Daily

Poker News Daily: It must feel good to be back at the final table of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event after a nine-year hiatus.

Shulman: It definitely feels good, but it’s so much different now. Back then, the tournament was played in one or two days. From making the money to final table was eight hours, so you didn’t have time to think. Now, I’m up at 2:00am every morning thinking about it.

PND: What do you remember specifically about your final table appearance in 2000?

Shulman: I remember what shirt I was wearing because I still have that. Mostly, I remember the players. It seemed like I was there for half an hour even though I had most of the chips to start. The arena also seemed smaller. There were a few fans, but not like there are today. There also weren’t a lot of cameras. I was picking up hands and playing ultra-aggressively. To me, it was a blast. I had never seen $100,000 in cash before.

PND: Talk about your comments about throwing out the WSOP Main Event bracelet should you win. Is that something you wish you could take back or do you stand by it?

Shulman: A guy came up to me and I was misquoted. I don’t want to talk a lot about it. People are blowing it out of proportion. Whatever I decide to do with the bracelet should I win will be my business.

PND: The WSOP Main Event is a unique marketing opportunity for CardPlayer and SpadeClub. Will you be wearing any other logos?

Shulman: I for sure will be wearing CardPlayer and SpadeClub logos. I won’t be wearing a logo for an online poker site because it’s a conflict of interest. If an opportunity were to come up with a company outside of poker, I’d consider it.

PND: You’re in the middle of the pack in chips entering November’s play in the Main Event. What’s the best strategy to overcoming a massive chip leader like Darvin Moon?

Shulman: Wait them out. If you compare my big stack poker game to a boxer, a guy like Floyd Mayweather sits back and throws jabs. He doesn’t go for a knockout punch. I don’t know if Moon will make any mistakes, but I don’t need to push it with anyone. If you watch the Main Event on television leading up to the final table, you’ll see that people just hand me chips. People decided to get it all-in with two tables remaining and we finished early that day.

PND: Talk about the presence of Phil Ivey and two sponsored Full Tilt Poker pros, Steven Begleiter and Kevin Schaffel, at the final table. That’s a pretty talented group.

Shulman: I personally play better when there are better players at the table. It’s not as easy, but it will make my focus at its best. I play better when I’m focused, but it’s certainly harder. Kevin slapped me around for a few days. I was only at Steve’s table when it was 10-handed to nine-handed. It is what it is and I’m obviously thrilled to be here.

PND: How are you preparing for the final table?

Shulman: I’ve done nothing yet. I played the World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) Main Event and have been working on a game plan in my head. It’s nice to get back to playing poker because November is getting close. I’m panicking that I’m slipping while everyone else is getting better. My game is good, but it needs to be polished up. I’m not pleased with my game now and I’m going to be working with a coach, Phil Hellmuth, to help me with my game.

PND: What has contributed to your success in the Main Event to this point?

Shulman: My success in the first few days came by playing wild. Some of it was a good table draw. Every once in a while, I had more chips or good position on the rest of the table. Then, I got lucky. I didn’t get lucky by getting in with the worst of it and drawing out, but I got big hands. I got aces a few times, kings a few times, and won my races. My A-K never lost to A-Q. If that keeps up, anyone can win. I’ve never been in a spot where this has happened. I also avoided a few hands that would have busted me. The hand that Eric Buchman doubled up with pocket eights, I folded tens and the other guy had kings, so it’s dodging big spots, too. Overall, things have been going well for me.

PND: How has business at CardPlayer fared while you’ve been immersed in the Main Event?

Shulman: I haven’t been put 100% of my focus over the last couple of months into CardPlayer. I have a big event, though, which will be good for the company. It’s obviously good for CardPlayer if I win. That’s why I’m starting to play again. I’m also having my second child on Friday, which will be a big “obstacle.” Hopefully, with a week to go before the Main Event, I can get some sleep!

Matt Glantz Wins PokerStars EPT London High Roller Event

American Matt Glantz emerged victorious in the European Poker Tour’s (EPT) London High Roller event, banking £542,000. Glantz bested Erik Cajelais in a tournament that attracted 75 runners.

Cajelais entered the final table as a commanding chip leader, owning a stack of 893,000, well out in front of Glantz, who came armed with 647,500. Glantz had a wealth of experience, however, finishing fourth in the $50,000 buy-in HORSE Championship during the 2008 World Series of Poker (WSOP) for $568,000. That final table, of course, featured Scotty Nguyen, a 2009 Poker Hall of Fame finalist, emerging victorious while allegedly inebriated. Also that year, Glantz took third in the World Championship Mixed Event for $184,000.

Cajelais, meanwhile, was fresh off a win in the £2,500 buy-in Pot Limit Hold’em / Pot Limit Omaha contest during the 2009 WSOP Europe festivities, which were also held in London. In that event, he defeated Mats Gavatin heads-up and earned £104,000. Also appearing at the Pot Limit final table were Men “The Master” Nguyen, Hoyt Corkins, and Chris Bjorin, who went on to finish sixth in the WSOP Europe Main Event.

Just after the dinner break, Glantz prevailed in the High Roller tournament. Here is how its final table shook out:

1. Matt Glantz (United States) - £542,000
2. Erik Cajelais (Canada) - £326,000
3. Eugene Katchalov (United States) - £193,000
4. Adolfo Vaeza (Uruguay) - £141,000
5. Leo Fernandez (Argentina) - £104,000
6. Ilari Sahamies (Finland) - £74,000
7. Dennis Phillips (United States) - £60,000
8. Shane Reihill (Ireland) - £45,000

Phillips has been on fire over the past year. After finishing third in the 2008 WSOP Main Event for $4.5 million, the truck salesman grabbed 45th in the 2009 installment, earning another $178,000. He won a $500 buy-in tournament during the Venetian Deep Stack Extravaganza in Las Vegas in April and has become one of poker’s top ambassadors. Phillips, along with a half-dozen other pros, descended on Capitol Hill for the Poker Players Alliance (PPA) Fly-In held during National Poker Week. Phillips toured the Walter Reed Army Medical Center and also played in a charity poker tournament.

Sahamies, nicknamed “Ziigumd” in the online world, is the front man for the Cake Poker Network site Power Poker. Sahamies appeared on Season 5 of the GSN cash game show “High Stakes Poker” and was part of the winning squad in the inaugural Caesars Cup. Fernandez, along with Phillips, is a card-carrying member of Team PokerStars Pro. In April, Fernandez finished sixth in the Latin American Poker Tour’s (LAPT) Mar del Plata Main Event for $63,000. His employer, PokerStars, sponsors the EPT.

WSOP November Nine member Phil Ivey was the first player sent packing from the High Roller event. Others who hit the skids on Day 1 included Tom “durrrr” Dwan, Dave “Devilfish” Ulliott, Chris Moneymaker, Greg Raymer, Barry Greenstein, Vanessa Rousso, Luca Pagano, J.C. Alvarado, and Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier. After his victory, Glantz told PokerStars officials, “It feels great. It’s just been my day.” In the final hand, Glantz’s A-2 held up against Cajelais’ Q-J.

The £5,000 buy-in EPT London Main Event is currently underway. This time around, the tournament attracted 730 players, which PokerStars claims is the largest poker event ever held in the United Kingdom. Only 596 players took to the felts in 2008, representing a growth of 23%. A total of 58 countries are represented, including 138 players from the United Kingdom, 131 from the United States, 63 from France, 45 from Germany, and 42 from Italy.

2010 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Schedule Released

The European Poker Tour (EPT) is taking the idea of a Festival of Poker to heart with its upcoming 2010 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA).  What used to be just a single big buy-in tournament has evolved into a multi-day affair with more than 50 side events to keep players busy should they bust out of the Main Event early.

The 2010 PCA, which will take place from January 4th through 14th, will once again be held at the Atlantis Hotel and Casino on Paradise Island in the Bahamas, so participants will also have their fair share of island activities to take part in should they choose to step out of the tournament area for awhile.  The stop has been a longtime favorite of online and live pros, thanks in part to the beautiful location and large number of satellite qualifiers helping to generate an ample prize pool.

Last year’s field of 1,347 players included nearly 850 satellite qualifiers competing for their share of a $12.6 million prize pool.  The 2009 PCA Champion, Poorya Naazari, netted $3 million for the victory and each of the eight players at the final table took home at least $230,000.  The 2010 event will once again feature a $10,000 buy-in and PokerStars is predicting an even larger field with a projected prize pool of $14.5 million.

Several of the events will once again be shown on PokerStars.tv and various networks across the globe, including the Main Event, World Cup of Poker, and High Roller Event.  Last year’s High Roller tournament was won by 2008 PCA Champion and Team PokerStars Pro member Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier.  Fresh off an amazing World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) showing, Grospellier is already getting excited about the upcoming PCA even though it is still a few months away.  “I love going to the Bahamas for the PCA! The location and the organization are great and I believe the competition is probably the toughest you can find in any live tournament, with all the internet pros and the best live players,” he said in an official press release from PokerStars.

One of the most popular events on the tournament circuit outside of the World Series of Poker (WSOP), the PCA often has some of the largest fields and biggest prize pools of the year.  While its purse far exceeds any of the other high buy-in events outside of the WSOP, its will have a difficult time beating the new participation record set by the Commerce Casino earlier this month, when one of the West Coast casino’s smaller buy-in preliminary tournaments drew nearly 4,000 players.  However, should the PCA attract a field of 1,450 players as expected, it would certainly surpass the attendance of any other five-figure buy-in event this year besides the WSOP Main Event.

Popular side events like the Battleship Heads-Up event will once again return to the schedule and they will be joined by a host of games ranging from No Limit Hold’em to Badugi.  The Festival of Poker will also feature unique versions of more popular games, like a tag team event and Battleship-Multi-Tabling Championship.  The side events begin on January 4th and will continue until the 14th, which is the day the High Rollers Event plays down to a champion.

The complete schedule of events is included below.  All times are local:

January 4
18:00: Super Satellite to Main Event, $1,060 + $40
20:00: Nightly NL Turbo, $200 + $20

January 5
12:00: Main Event Day 1A, $10,000 + $300
14:00: Unl. Re Buys Super Satellite to Main Day 1B, $200 + $20
20:00: 1 Re Buy Super Satellite Main Day 1B, $530 + $20
20:00: Nightly PLO Turbo, $200 + $20

January 6
12:00: Main Event Day 1B, $10,000 + $300
14:00: PLO Freezeout, $500 + $50
16:00: Badugi / 2-7 Mix, $500 + $50
20:00: Step 1 to Step 2 High Roller Super Satellite, $550 + $50
20:00: Nightly PLO8 Turbo, $200 + $20

January 7
12:00: Main Event Day 2, $10,000 + $600
14:00: NL Freezeout - 6 Max, $1,000 + $100
20:00: 8 Game Championship - Day 1, $5,000 + $250
20:00: Step 1 to Step 2 High Roller Super Satellite, $550 + $50
20:00: $200 + $20 Nightly NL Turbo, $200 + $20

January 8
12:00: Main Event Day 3, $10,000 + $600
12:00: Battleship - Multi Tabling Championships, $2,000 + $150
13:00: PS Heads Up Challenge Day 1A Round 1, $5,000 + $250
14:00: PLH/PLO Tag Team Mix, $2,000 + $150
14:00: 8 Game Championship - Day 2, $5,000 + $250
16:00: PS Heads Up Challenge Day 1A Round 2, $5,000 + $250
18:00: PokerStars Charity Event, $5,000 + $250
18:00: NL Freezeout, $1,000 + $100
19:00: PS Heads Up Challenge Day 1A Round 3, $5,000 + $250
20:00: Super Sat to 1K Ladies ONLY NL, $110 + $10
20:00: Nightly PLO Turbo. $200 + $20
22:00: PS Heads Up Challenge Day 1A Round 4, $5,000 + $250

January 9
12:00: Main Event Day 4, $10,000 + $600
12:00: Battleship - Multi Heads Up Challenge (64 Cap), $1,000 + $100
12:00: PLO Championships - 8 Max - Day 1, $5,000 + $250
13:00: PS Heads Up Challenge Day 1B Round 1, $5,000 + $250
13:00: Ladies Only NL Freezeout, $1,000 + $100
14:00: 8 Game Championship – Finals, $5,000 + $250
16:00: NL Freezeout, $1,500 + $100
16:00: PS Heads Up Challenge Day 1B Round 2, $5,000 + $250
19:00: PS Heads Up Challenge Day 1B Round 3, $5,000 + $250
21:00: PokerStars Party
21:00: PS Heads Up Challenge Day 1B Round 4, $5,000 + $250

January 10
12:00: Main Event Day 5, $10,000 + $600
12:00: PLO Live Heads Up - Day 1A - Round 1, $2,000 + $150
12:00: PLO Championships - 8 Max - Day 2, $5,000 + $250
13:00: PS Heads Up Challenge Quarterfinals, $5,000 + $250
14:00: NL Live Heads Up - Day 1A - Round 1, $1,000 + $100
14:00: PLO - 6 Max, $1,000 + $100
15:00: PLO Live Heads Up - Day 1A - Round 2, $2,000 + $150
16:00: PS Heads Up Challenge Semi-finals, $5,000 + $250
16:00: NL Freezeout, $5,000 + $250
17:00: NL Live Heads Up - Day 1A - Round 2, $1,000 + $100
17:00: Ladies Only NL Freezeout, $300 + $30
18:00: PLO Live Heads Up - Day 1A - Round 3, $2,000 + $150
19:00: Step 2 Super Sat to $25,000 High Roller, $2,700 + $200
20:00: NL Live Heads Up - Day 1A - Round 3, $1,000 + $100
20:00: 8 Game (2 Day Event), $500 + $50
20:00: PS Heads Up Challenge Finals, $5,000 + $250
20:00: Nightly NL Turbo, $200 + $20
21:00: PLO Live Heads Up - Day 1A - Round 4, $2,000 + $150
23:00: NL Live Heads Up - Day 1A - Round 4, $1,000 + $100

January 11
12:00: Main Event Day 6 - Final Table, $10,000 + $600
12:00: Battleship Main Event, $2,000 + $150
12:00: PLO Championships - 8 Max – Finals, $5,000 + $250
12:00: PokerStars Bounty Hunter, $500 + $100 + $50
12:00: PLO Live Heads Up - Day 1B - Round 1, $2,000 + $150
12:00: Limit  - 6 Max, $1,000 + $100
12:00: PLO 8 or Better, $500 + $50
13:00: World Cup Preliminaries - Day 1A
14:00: NL Live Heads Up - Day 1B - Round 1, $1,000 + $100
15:00: PLO Live Heads Up - Day 1B - Round 2, $2,000 + $150
16:00: High Roller - 8 Max - Day 1, $25,000 + $500
17:00: NL Live Heads Up - Day 1B - Round 2, $1,000 + $100
18:00: PLO Live Heads Up - Day 1B - Round 3, $2,000 + $150
20:00: NL Live Heads Up - Day 1B - Round 3, $1,000 + $100
20:00: Nightly NL Turbo, $200 + $20
21:00: PLO Live Heads Up - Day 1B - Round 4, $2,000 + $150
23:00: NL Live Heads Up - Day 1B - Round 4, $1,000 + $100

January 12
12:00: High Roller - 8 Max - Day 2, $25,000 + $500
12:00: Pot Limit 5 Card Draw High, $500 + $50
13:00: PLO Live Heads Up – Quarterfinals, $2,000 + $150
13:00: NL Live Heads Up – Quarterfinals, $1,000 + $100
13:00: World Cup Preliminaries - Day 1B
14:00: 8 Game, $1,000 + $100
16:00: NL Freezeout, $1,000 + $100
17:00: PLO Live Heads Up - Semi Finals, $2,000 + $150
17:00: NL Live Heads Up - Semi Finals, $1,000 + $100
20:00: Nightly NL Turbo, $200 + 20
21:00: PLO Live Heads Up – Finals, $2,000 + $150
21:00: NL Live Heads Up – Finals, $1,000 + $100

January 13
12:00: High Roller - 8 Max - Day 3, $25,000 + $500
12:00: World Cup of Poker - Final
12:00: Triple Stud (Razz, High, High - Low), $1,000 + $100
14:00: NL Freezeout 6 Max, $5,000 + $250
16:00: NL Freezeout 6 Max, $500 + $50
20:00: Nightly NL Turbo, $200 + 20

January 14
12:00: High Roller - 8 Max – Final, $25,000 + $500
12:00: NL Shootout, $500 + $50
14:00: PLO Shootout, $500 + $50

Coming Soon: The European Championship of Online Poker at William Hill Poker

The PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker was a huge success, culminating in a $10,000,000 guaranteed Main Event that saw a $1.7m first-place prize and six figures guaranteed to all at the final table.

Antoine Saout, James Akenhead Reach WSOP Europe Main Event Final Table

Not one, but two members of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) November Nine made the final table of the WSOP Europe Main Event. Last year, Ivan Demidov accomplished the feat. This year, Antoine Saout and James Akenhead will battle for the top prize.

Akenhead nearly found his first gold WSOP bracelet in 2008, but took second in a $1,500 buy-in No Limit Hold’em tournament and cashed for $520,000. In that event, his opponent, Grant Hinkle, was all-in holding just 10-4 against Akenhead’s A-K. However, Hinkle made four tens in the hand and became one-half of only the second set of brothers ever to win WSOP bracelets and the first to do so in the same year. Akenhead is in his backyard for the WSOP Europe festivities, as he makes his home in London. He sits with the second largest chip stack entering final table play with 1.4 million, trailing only Team PokerStars Pro member Jason Mercier’s hefty total of 3.2 million.

Saout owns the sixth largest chip stack in the WSOP Europe Main Event at 701,000. The Frenchmen is also a member of the November Nine and sponsored pro of Everest Poker. Interestingly enough, he won a $50 satellite to claim his WSOP Main Event seat. Last November, he finished sixth in a Spanish Poker Tour event in Marbella for €5,800 and promptly reached another final table in Castellon in June for €780. Saout and Akenhead are the only two non-Americans at the final table of the WSOP Main Event in Las Vegas. Saout will take to the felts in Seat 8 on Thursday in London.

The November Nine has another tie to the final table, as CardPlayer Founder Barry Shulman owns the fourth largest chip stack in London at 1.1 million. He is the father of November Nine member and CardPlayer Editor Jeff Shulman, who infamously threatened to throw away the WSOP Main Event bracelet should he win it. The younger Shulman owns the third largest chip stack entering the final table at the Penn and Teller Theater at the Rio in November.

Daniel Negreanu finished fifth in last year’s WSOP Europe Main Event and scooped £217,200. Now, he’ll seek his first WSOP Europe bracelet in this year’s feature tournament. Incredibly, Negreanu reached the final table in back-to-back WSOP Europe Main Events in London, but is the tournament’s short stack entering today’s finale. Negreanu, a Poker Hall of Fame nominee and four-time bracelet winner, recorded eight cashes during the 2009 WSOP, including a pair of six-figure scores in the World Championship of Omaha High-Low Eight or Better and Six-Handed Limit Hold’em.

Mercier is the chip leader entering the final table in London. The card-carrying member of Team PokerStars Pro hails from Fort Lauderdale, Florida and won a bracelet this year in a $1,500 buy-in Pot Limit Omaha event for $237,000. Mercier defeated online poker pro Steven “PiKappRaider” Burkholder in that event, which attracted 809 players. In May, Mercier won a tournament during the quarterly Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS) for $86,000. Mercier sent six of the final 15 eliminated players to the rail on Wednesday to build his massive chip lead.

The final table kicks off today at 2:00pm local time. Here’s a look at the remaining players and their chip stacks:

1. Jason Mercier - 3,198,000
2. James Akenhead - 1,398,000
3. Praz Bansi - 1,160,000
4. Barry Shulman - 1,090,000
5. Markus Ristola - 784,000
6. Antoine Saout - 701,000
7. Matt Hawrilenko - 674,000
8. Chris Bjorin - 518,000
9. Daniel Negreanu - 438,000

The prizes up for grabs for the nine WSOP Europe Main Event final table members are as follows:

1st Place: £801,603
2nd Place: £495,589
3rd Place: £360,887
4th Place: £267,267
5th Place: £200,367
6th Place: £150,267
7th Place: £114,228
8th Place: £87,074
9th Place: £66,533

PokerStars Enters Guinness Book of World Records for Most Online Poker Players

While the “brick and mortar” casino world continues to suffer double-figure drops in win rates and declines in attendance, September proved to be a lucrative month for PokerStars with the completion of its eighth annual World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP). In addition to another highly successful run of the preeminent online poker series for PokerStars, the WCOOP also helped to provide another world record for the number one site worldwide.

According to the Guinness Book of World Records, which verified the results, September 6th saw PokerStars defeat its own world record for most players hosted by an online poker room. On that day, during which the WCOOP was in full swing, PokerStars recorded 307,016 players taking part in tournament, cash game, and free poker games on the site. Players were arranged around 42,814 tables and, once verified by Guinness record-keepers, smashed the previous mark by over 100,000.

PokerStars, which has held the record since its inception in 2008, and its major competitor, Full Tilt Poker, went at each other only two months ago to set the previous mark for most players online at once. Back in July, both Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars ran tournaments in an attempt to set the record for the largest online poker tournament ever held. PokerStars brought in a total of 65,000 players for its version of the record-breaking attempt, while Full Tilt attracted only 50,000. PokerStars was close to 200,000 total players once the tournament and other action was counted.

The most recent world record for PokerStars was more than likely due to the massive outpouring of players during the WCOOP and its various satellite events. On September 5th, WCOOP Event #6, the $109 No Limit Texas Hold’em tournament, drew an astounding 15,675 players. This didn’t take into count the number of players who were participating in Event #7, the $215 Pot Limit Five Card Draw, satellite tournaments, or play money games on the site.

On September 6th, a Sunday and the traditional “big day” for online tournament players around the world, the WCOOP featured three huge events that drew traffic. In addition to Event #9, a $215 No Limit Hold’em tournament that attracted 11,131 runners and was won by Slovakia’s “ternoplayer,” Event #10, the $10,300 High Roller tournament (299 players and won by Sweden’s “Sumpas”) and the first day of Event #11, the two day $530 No Limit Hold’em event (drawing 6219 players and won by the United States’ “hustla16”) were also in action. Once the numbers were counted up, it cracked the previous record set by PokerStars back in July.

While their physical counterparts battle through the recession, it is apparent that the online poker world is quite healthy. Congratulations to PokerStars for its most recent record, which should stand for quite some time.

Commerce hosting Annie Duke celebrity tournament

The Annie Duke Celebrity Poker Tournament will take place during the Commerce Casino's L.A. Poker Open with celebrities Scott Ian, Shannon Elizabeth, Brande Roderick and Joe Reitman all taking to the felt.

Joining the stars will be poker players Dan Harrington, Howard Lederer, Rafe Furst, Adam Levy, Andy Bloch, Dave "Hollywood" Stann and WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack.

The event is sponsored by the WSOP Academy and presented by Rockwell Time. Globe-trotting Matt Savage will be handling the tournament directing duties.

Anyone willing to put down the $330 buy-in can take a seat at the tables. Re-buys and a one-time add-on are both available for $100.

Organizers are promising a "home style" poker game with fans being given the chance to mix it up with their favorite celebrity/poker players.

More than $30,000 in prizes and giveaways will be awarded throughout the event. The red carpet begins at 7 p.m. with the cards getting in the air at 8 p.m.

DEF was established in 2001 by educators, decision scientists and business people who had an interest in providing decision education to today's youth.

The organization already has several connections to poker world.

In 2008, Eric Brooks shocked the poker world by winning the $10,000 World Championship Stud event at the WSOP and donating 100% of the $415,856 he earned to the organization. Duke also sits on the board of directors.

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Brett Radin Wins Commerce Casino Ironman Tournament

Move over, Robert Downey, Jr. There’s a new Ironman in town! Brett Radin scooped $51,000 for taking down the Commerce Casino’s first ever Ironman event, a no-break poker tournament.

Radin defeated Chris “Trips” Tyrba in the Ironman tournament, which ran for 19 hours and 21 minutes. A total of 64 players bought in for $1,600 each and three meals were served at the table given the no break structure. The Commerce Casino added $10,000 to the prize pool, which came in at $103,000. The Ironman concept was the brainchild of veteran tournament director Matt Savage, who told Poker News Daily, “The Ironman is an idea that I came up with in response to players always asking, ‘When is the break?’ and others asking why the breaks are so long. When you signed up for the Ironman, there was no guesswork.”

Bathroom breaks and other reasons to stand up from the table meant missed hands in the Ironman tournament. As such, Savage noted that the extra twist tested players’ mental toughness: “Players should know that missing a hand in a tournament is not the end of the world and that many successful tournament players take unscheduled breaks away from the table. It was a test of a player’s skill and willpower, as the structure was very good.” Ultimate Bet pro and 11-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth, for example, often misses hours of major tournaments in an effort to woo the assembled field with his customary late entrance.

Here were the top six finishers in the Ironman tournament:

1st Place: Brett Radin - $51,160
2nd Place: Chris “Trips” Tyrba - $22,686
3rd Place: Farzin Akhtar - $11,859
4th Place: Tyler “Titan of Tulalip” Patterson - $7,218
5th Place: Brian Brubaker - $5,672
6th Place: Eric “Basebaldy” Baldwin - $4,125

Baldwin is a WSOP bracelet winner, having taken down a $1,500 buy-in No Limit Hold’em event during the 2009 tournament series. Baldwin promptly finished third in the World Championship of Pot Limit Hold’em, boosting his take from the 2009 WSOP to over $780,000. On the online felts, where he can be found under the “Basebaldy” moniker, Baldwin won the Bodog weekly $100,000 Guaranteed twice in May of 2008. Last December, he took down the Full Tilt Poker $750,000 Guaranteed for $132,000. Baldwin finished 54th in the Main Event of the 2009 PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) for $23,000.

Many who took to the felts in the Commerce Casino’s Ironman event were brand name players, including Shane “Shaniac” Schleger, Gavin Griffin, Matt “mattg1983” Graham, Joe Bartholdi, 2009 World Poker Tour (WPT) L.A. Poker Classic Champion Andrew Cimpan, and Adam “a_junglen” Junglen. Graham. Each entrant was given a stack of 10,000 chips and blinds began at 25-25. The price of poker increased every hour. On the structure, Radin commented in a press release distributed by the West Coast casino, “It was the truest poker tournament I have ever seen or played in. I love the fact that it played all the way down and no deals were allowed!”

The Commerce Casino plays host to the WPT L.A. Poker Classic every year, with its next installment slated for February 20th to 25th. In its last running, Cimpan defeated Binh Nguyen heads-up, with Mike “SowersUNCC” Sowers and Full Tilt pro Chris Ferguson also reaching the final table. Cimpan banked $1.6 million for his efforts and the tournament aired as part of Season VII of the WPT on Fox Sports Net. The $10,000 buy-in contest generated a field of 696 runners.

The Ironman event was part of the Commerce Casino’s Hold’em Series. Its inaugural event, a $220 buy-in No Limit Hold’em tournament, generated a field of 3,967 players, which the Commerce Casino claimed was the largest non-WSOP field in live poker history. Players could re-enter on another starting day if they busted out.

PokerStars racks up another world record

The online giant drew 307,016 players on 42,814 tables Sept. 6, which was more than enough for a new world record.

According to the Guinness Book of World Records it was the most players ever recorded on an Internet poker room, breaking PokerStars own record by more than 100,000 players.

At this rate, PokerStars is only competing with itself for online traffic records and the site still holds the record for the largest poker tournament ever held at 65,000 players on July 19, 2009.

As the world's largest poker site, PokerStars has more than 27 million members worldwide and has dealt more than 33 billion hands since it launched in 2001.

The online site has since expanded to include a number of live poker tours including the European Poker Tour, ((Asian Pacific Poker Tour)) and the Latin American Poker Tour.

The PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker main event is also the world's most lucrative online tournament.

Yevgeniy "Jovial Giant" Timoshenko won $1.7 million for taking down the event Sept. 21.

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Online Poker Spotlight: Matt “Plattsburgh” Vengrin

With over a million dollars in tournament earnings, Matt "Plattsburgh" Vengrin is one of the top online poker-tournament players in the game. Given his recent signing with Absolute Poker and a stellar World Championship of Online Poker, PokerNews...

After WCoOP Hiatus, Sunday Million Returns with $1.53m

Now that the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker has come to an end - having shattered it’s $40,000,000 guarantee by giving away over $50m – the weekly Sunday Million has returned.

The Sunday Briefing: Final Table Deal Sees Four Six-Figure Winners in The Sunday Million

Although the World Championship of Online Poker is over, this doesn't mean you can't make big money online. In all, six six-figure paydays took place across the spectrum of online poker sites. Walking away the big winner in the PokerStars Sunday...

Brian Powell, Jason Mercier Lead WSOP Europe Main Event Day 1A

Day 1A of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Europe Main Event played out on Saturday. When the smoke cleared, Brian Powell and Team PokerStars Pro member Jason Mercier led the field, which began with 156 players.

By the end of play in London, just 75 runners remained in contention. Packing the pack is Powell, who hails from Louisville. Powell made a deep run in the 2009 WSOP Main Event, finishing in 66th place and earning $90,000 for his $10,000 buy-in. He also finished 13th in the World Championship Mixed Event for $27,000. Powell owns a stack of 194,600 in London. Trailing him on the leaderboard is Mercier, a WSOP bracelet winner and newly-minted member of Team PokerStars Pro. Mercier holds 189,725 chips and will watch as Day 1B plays out today.

During a break in play, WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack awarded Jeffrey Lisandro WSOP Player of the Year honors. Lisandro won three bracelets during the 2009 festivities in Las Vegas, two in Seven Card Stud and one in Seven Card Razz. Lisandro recorded a total of six in the money finishes during the 2009 WSOP overall. As a result of claiming Player of the Year honors, Lisandro will be bought into the 2010, 2011, and 2012 WSOP Main Events.

Fittingly, Doyle Brunson issued the day’s “Shuffle Up and Deal” command to begin play in the third running of the WSOP Europe Main Event. Pollack told the gathered crowd, “Doyle was there in Las Vegas at the very start of the WSOP 40 years ago. Doyle was also with us when we started WSOP Europe three years ago in London. And, we are proud to have him with us today.” Brunson, a member of the Poker Hall of Fame, holds 10 WSOP bracelets, tied with Johnny Chan for the second most overall. The leader in that category is Phil Hellmuth, who has collected 11 pieces of hardware over the years and also won the 1989 WSOP Main Event.

Speaking of Hellmuth, a press release distributed last week by Ultimate Bet outlined his complex parade route around London leading to his entrance at the Casino at the Empire. WSOP officials painted the picture of Hellmuth’s arrival: “Hellmuth entered Empire Casino much like Nero burning through Rome, oblivious to the ongoing tournament and taking his seat at the televised feature table. The bizarre spectacle was ornamented by an army of faux Roman soldiers erect and pretty girls standing at attention, while trumpets blared.” Hellmuth entered dressed as Julius Caesar on Day 1C of the Main Event in Sin City.

Here are the Top 10 chip stacks after Day 1A of the 2009 WSOP Europe Main Event:

1. Brian Powell - 194,600
2. Jason Mercier - 189,725
3. Sami Kelopuro - 168,925
4. Viktor Blom - 163,175
5. Jonathan Aguiar - 160,100
6. Martin Hansen - 152,775
7. Christian Harder - 134,125
8. Tommy Pavlicek - 119,825
9. Richard Grace - 116,850
10. John Kabbaj - 104,500

Other notable players who will take to the felts when Day 2 plays out on Monday include:

13. Doyle Brunson - 92,900
15. Brandon Cantu - 89,000
19. Barry Shulman - 80,250
21. James Akenhead - 77,675
28. Liz Lieu - 65,600
37. Eric Friberg - 49,475
43. Todd Brunson - 46,050
45. Chad Brown - 44,975
47. Men “The Master” Nguyen - 43,200
58. Marco Traniello - 33,000
60. Alex Kravchenko - 31,100
62. Mike “The Mouth” Matusow - 28,900
71. Phil Hellmuth - 18,450
72, Scott Montgomery - 18,225
73. Erik Seidel - 9,925

Shulman and Akenhead are both part of the November Nine, the members of the final table of the Main Event in Las Vegas who will take to the felts in two months. Another November Nine member, Phil Ivey, was sent packing on Day 1A. Registration for Day 1B is expected to close around 3:40pm local time on Sunday.

Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest from WSOP Europe.

The PokerNews Top 10: The Top 10 WCOOP Moments of 2009

Since its inception in 2002, PokerStars’ World Championship of Online Poker (or “WCOOP” as it’s widely known) has grown into one of the poker world’s marquee events. Much like the World Series of Poker, the WCOOP draws not only top live...

Chris Moorman Signs with DoylesRoom

With the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Europe Main Event on the horizon,  DoylesRoom has made a splash, signing Chris “Moorman1” Moorman to its prestigious Brunson 10.

Moorman is 24 years-old and recently ascended to the top of the Online Poker Rankings on PocketFives.com, jumping over previously number one ranked player Shaun “shaundeeb” Deeb. Moorman owns the second best PLB Score and Pro Poll Ranking on PocketFives.com and has claimed a record-setting eight Triple Crowns. The accolade is given to players who take down three $10,000 prize pool non-satellite tournaments across three online poker sites within a seven-day period.

Moorman boasts career earnings of more than $1.6 million. The Brit is currently on his home turf at the WSOP Europe festivities in London, with the Main Event of the prestigious series kicking off on Saturday. On his play at the tables, PocketFivesLive.com Tournament Reporter Jessica Welman told Poker News Daily, “Chris has an unpredictable style of play that always keeps his opponents guessing and serves him well at the tables. I think you only need to look at how long he’s been ranked in the Top 10 on PocketFives.com to see how much his peers respect his game.”

Welman noted that, despite his age, Moorman’s maturity at the tables separates him from the pack: “During the Main Event of the WSOP, I watched a pivotal hand in which Chris was able to lay down bottom set in a huge hand. As I watched him play back the hand in his head, I was really impressed that he was not only able to make a really good laydown, but he also managed to control his emotions in a situation that many others would find frustrating and potentially tilt-inducing.”

The Brunson 10 sported three members prior to Moorman’s addition this week. Alec “traheho” Torelli, who finished fourth in the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) Bellagio Cup V and Slovakia stops, also sits on the team. Torelli’s major claim to fame occurred during the 2009 WSOP, when he finished sixth in the $40,000 buy-in No Limit Hold’em tournament commemorating the 40th running of the WSOP. He banked $326,000 in the event, nearly the same total as he raked in for finishing as the runner-up to Kenny Tran in the World Championship of Heads-Up No Limit Hold’em during the 2008 WSOP.

Also part of the Brunson 10 is Amit “amak316” Makhija, who finished as the runner-up to John “The Razor” Phan during the 2008 WPT Legends of Poker. Makhija scooped $563,000 for his efforts at the Bicycle Casino in Los Angeles and finished fifth in the World Championship of Pot Limit Hold’em during the 2008 WSOP for another $198,000. That tournament aired on ESPN and marked the first bracelet win for Nenad Medic. Zachary “CrazyZachary” Clark rounds out the Brunson 10. Clark joined Makhija at the Legends of Poker final table in 2008, finishing third for $281,000.

Doyle Brunson praised the arrival of Moorman to DoylesRoom, explaining in a press release, “Moorman reminds me a lot of me, except for the British accent. He’s a poker natural, a legend in the making, and that’s why I’ve handpicked him to be the next member of The Brunson 10, my new team of elite poker players who truly are young legends of the game.”

DoylesRoom happily accepts players from the United States and makes its home on the popular Cake Network, which, in addition to its flagship site, also includes Lock Poker, Players Only, Poker Host, and Stryyke. According to the traffic ranking site PokerScout.com, the Cake Network is the 10th largest worldwide, sporting a seven-day running average of 1,680 real money ring game players. During its peak traffic hours, which occur during the evening in the United States, over 2,500 cash game players call the network home.

In addition to its Brunson 10, DoylesRoom also features “Texas Dolly” (Brunson), Hoyt Corkins, Todd Brunson, and “The Mad Genius of Poker” Mike Caro. In an interview with PocketFives.com, Moorman revealed that a recurring high-stakes cash game is in the works featuring the four poker veterans and members of the Brunson 10.

Lederer makes 25th final in WSOPE PLO

After finishing ninth in the $2,500 Pot-Limit Hold'em/Omaha event just two days ago, Lederer will come into Friday's playdown fourth in chips - and almost as excited as the first time he made a World Series final at the Main Event in 1987.

"It's still very exciting," said the two-time bracelet winner. "They can't take the bracelet away from you and any time you get to a final table and don't win a bracelet that's an opportunity gone.

"Obviously I've squandered 22 of them so far."

Winner of the €1,000 PLO event at the Finnish Open Championships in 2008, Jani Vilmunen holds the chip lead at a final table filled with experienced Omaha veterans.

Joining him are the UK's Jeff Kimber, the 2009 WSOP $2,500 PLO runner-up, Hendon Mobster Ross Boatman, who finished fourth in the same event, American Dan Hindin, who made fourth in the 2009 WSOP $5,000 PLO event, and Robert Williamson III, a PLO bracelet winner in 2002.

Rounding out the final nine are Welsh Full Tilt Pro Roberto Romanello, 2009 Finnish Open Championships main event runner-up Ville Haavisto, and the 10th-place finisher in the 2009 Helsinki Freezout main event, Finn Aarno Kivelio.

Lederer, who barely missed a final table appearance in the 2009 WSOP $10k PLO World Championship, finishing 12th, said he enjoys the challenge this particular poker variant offers.

"I like to have control," he explained. "I'd like to be able to control the table a little bit when it lets me. But Omaha is a gambling game and you are going to have to get it in sometimes with pretty even equity."

Eager for a chance at his third WSOP win, a tempered Lederer admitted he really wants this one.

"I want to win it as badly as I can, or as anyone would, but you have to balance that," he said. "If you want it too much then you can't really play poker.

"I mean, poker is about balance. You have to be willing to lose your chips, but you have to want to win them really badly too. You have to try really hard, but not let the moment or the importance of whatever pot you're playing get the best of you or else you're just going to freeze up."

Well known as a student of Zen philosophy, Lederer said he applies its teachings at the poker table even when there's a World Series of Poker bracelet on the line.

"You can't look at the goal and you can't be too obsessed with the past either," he said. "You just have to bring all your experience to the moment and try and make the best decision you can every street. It's a one street at a time kind of thing."

PokerListings will have comprehensive coverage of the final from London's Casino at the Empire beginning at 2 p.m. BST Friday on our Live Tournaments page.

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Poker Community Offers WSOP November Nine Predictions

We’ve reached the midway point in the four-month break until the start of World Series of Poker (WSOP) November Nine festivities, but the anticipation for the big event has yet to slow down.  With big performances from Kevin Schaffel and Steven Begleiter at the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) Legends of Poker, Joe “jcada99″ Cada’s standout run in several PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) events, and Jeff Shulman’s recent announcement that the one and only Phil Hellmuth will be serving as his poker coach, these nine men have kept themselves at the forefront of poker news.

So who will win the 2009 WSOP Main Event?  Poker News Daily sought the insight of some of the other players who made incredible runs at this year’s Main Event as well as a couple of our own writers who spent the summer keeping a very close eye on the action.  You’ll be surprised to read just how many of them did not opt for fan favorite Phil Ivey.

One player who is more than familiar with most of the November Nine is 12th place finisher in this year’s Main Event and Ultimate Bet sponsored pro Billy “Patrolman35″ Kopp.  The young online poker pro logged several hours with most of the players, including a stint where he was seated on Ivey’s direct right.  However, Kopp suggests that Ivey is not the one that viewers should be keeping their eye on:

“I think the man to look out for is Kevin Schaffel,” Kopp predicted. “Throughout the eight days that I played in the Main Event, this guy impressed me the most.  I was at several of his tables for an extended period of time and this was the one guy who really gave me trouble.  I am not sure if he was just getting some outstanding short-term luck and letting the cards speak or if he truly was playing exquisite poker. I am going to go with the latter, especially after his recent runner-up performance at [the WPT Legends of Poker]…I wish everyone much luck at the final table, as I have played with most of them at some point in the tournament.  However, I really applaud Kevin and the performance he put on, at least while I was there.  I am anxious to see some of the hands we got tangled in on television in a couple of weeks.”

Kopp is referring to Schaffel’s big score last month, when he made the final table of the WPT event and held his own against the likes of Toto Leonidas, online pros Todd Terry and Sam Stein, and the event’s champion, Prahlad Friedman.  Many are comparing his performance to Ivan Demidov’s runner-up finish at the Main Event of the WSOP Europe in 2008.  Last year, Demidov established himself as one of the frontrunners to win the Main Event with his performance and it appears that Schaffel is cementing a similar reputation.

Another online pro with plenty of insight into the minds of the November Nine is 22 year-old Nick “fu_15″ Maimone, who came in 14th in this year’s Main Event.  He is less certain than Kopp about his pick, but offered his thoughts nonetheless.

“It is complicated,” Maimone explained.  “I expect the coaching factor could highly influence the outcome of the Main Event.  However, the best players are, in this order, Phil Ivey, James Akenhead, and Joe Cada.  Although the chips are not in their favor, one of them will win.”  Those three are short on chips, especially Ivey and Akenhead, who are seventh and ninth on the leaderboard, respectively.  Ivey may be short on chips, but Maimone still believes the skill differential will make a huge difference come competition time: “Antoine Saout is decent and so is Eric Buchman, but the other four do not even come close in terms of skill.  I hope Ivey or Akenhead wins, but honestly I think Ivey will.”

Maimone is in the minority of the people we polled about their predictions though and he was the only one who picked the seven-time WSOP bracelet winner.  The writers here at Poker News Daily weighed in with their picks as well and, while they all conceded Ivey was likely the most skilled player at the table, they each went with a different horse to win the big race.

Brett Collson, who moonlighted as a reporter for PocketFivesLive.com in addition to his Poker News Daily duties during the Main Event, went with the lone internet pro at the table as his choice.  “We’ve seen short stacks excel at the Main Event final table in the past and I foresee it happening again this year,” Collson theorized.  “While Ivey might be the popular pick, Joe Cada’s cool demeanor and relentless aggression could create problems for the leaders from the get-go. He has plenty of chips to make some moves and is my pick to become the youngest Main Event winner ever in November.”

Staff Writer Earl Burton elected to go with the other November Niner to make a name for himself at the Legends of Poker event, Steven Begleiter.  “I have a feeling that everyone and their brother is going to pick Phil Ivey, but, to be honest, I think he is too short-stacked to have a tremendous impact,” said Burton.  He discounted the current chip leader from the mix as well.

“I believe that Darvin Moon is just happy to be where he is.  I believe that he is going to succumb to ‘Dennis Phillips Syndrome’ and forget what got him there.  I am going to go with Steven Begleiter, who just completed an excellent run at the Legends of Poker, to win the final table.  You can put Jeff Shulman in there as a potential dark horse contender.”

While Burton offered reasons why several of the players may or may not excel, our own Dan Cypra went with the straightforward, pick the chip leader approach, which makes plenty of sense considering Moon’s massive lead.  “It’s hard to ignore Darvin Moon, who has nearly double the chips of the next closest player,” Cypra pointed out.  “It’s reminiscent of Jamie Gold in the 2006 Main Event and Moon is my pick to win the 2009 version. While Ivey may be poker’s darling, the chip lead of Moon cannot be ignored.”

If you haven’t noticed, that is five different opinions and five different picks.  If this informal poll tells us anything, it is that the Main Event race is still wide-open, with each player bringing something to the table that the rest of their opponents lack.  Only time will tell who, if anyone, picked correctly, so until November all we can do is sit, wait, and keep coming up with reasons why our pick is going to be the one to take it down.

Yanick Brodeur Leads WPT Borgata Poker Open Entering Day 4

The play down day is upon us at the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) Borgata Poker Open. A total of 27 players remain, led by Yanick Brodeur, who holds 3.0 million chips, well ahead of Frank Calo’s second place stack of 2.1 million.

Play begins at 11:00am ET from the Borgata and will continue until the six-handed final table is determined. The survivors will take to the felts tomorrow in front of Fox Sports Net television cameras and the tournament’s finale will be featured as part of Season VIII of the WPT. One of the late eliminations of the day was poker pro Kathy Liebert, who shoved with 9-2 on a flop of 3-3-2. However, she picked an inopportune time to commit her remaining chips, as Mike Summers called and revealed 4-3 for trips. The turn and river came a 10 and six, respectively, and Liebert was sent home in 29th place for $10,750.

Joseph “JOEYTHEB” Brooks was sent packing in 49th place from the Borgata Poker Open. He shoved with A-10, but ran into Maurice Hawkins’ A-K. The board ran out 8-6-5-9-6 and Brooks hit the rails, $8,062 richer for his wear. Brooks finished 37th in the Season III WPT Championship and owns $86,000 in lifetime earnings from the roving tournament series. Jason “TheMasterJ33” Dewitt hit the skids in 81st place. Dewitt made deep runs in the Borgata Poker Open and PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) Main Event concurrently, playing in the latter for two hours on Monday after boosting his stack to tops in the room at the Borgata.

Hawkins told WPT Live Updates Hostess Amanda Leatherman what it was like playing with his future brother-in-law, Antuan Bunkley: “He was in my big blind. We just keep fighting in this field and hopefully both of us make it to the final table. That would be a good story.” Hawkins is set to wed Bunkley’s sister in one month.

The top 100 players finished in the money at the Atlantic City casino. The unfortunate title of Bubble Boy went to Paul Georges, who was sent packing in 101st place. Just before his elimination, Ray Henson scooped one of the largest pots of the Borgata Poker Open holding pocket fives for a flopped set. A player was eliminated with Q-J on the eventual board of J-5-2-K-4, while Jeremy Brown’s A-J fell short of Henson’s set. Henson sits in third place entering the play down day with a stack of 1.9 million.

Play will begin in Level 24 when the action resumes and blinds will be 10,000-20,000 with a 2,000 ante. Here’s how the field stacks up:

1. Yanick Brodeur - 3,016,000
2. Frank Calo - 2,146,000
3. Ray Henson - 1,915,000
4. Maurice Hawkins - 1,907,000
5. Jeremy Brown - 1,750,000
6. Ivan Mamuzic - 1,737,000
7. Olivier Busquet - 1,561,000
8. Gabriel Morin - 1,460,000
9. Billy Campbell - 1,370,000
10. Kenny Nguyen - 1,259,000
11. Keith Crowder - 1,174,000
12. Wooyan Lin - 1,150,000
13. Michael Brown - 1,106,000
14. Mike Summers - 1,087,000
15. Chris Reslock - 896,000
16. Steve Brecher - 847,000
17. Bart Mikulski - 781,000
18. Matt Brown - 692,000
19. Jason Warriner - 665,000
20. Antuan Bunkley - 628,000
21. Joshua Lawson - 612,000
22. Ron McGinnity - 592,000
23. Eric Blair - 573,000
24. Chris Mitchell - 469,000
25. Bobby Suer - 446,000
26. Ofir Mor - 405,000
27. Matthew Shepsky - 340,000

Those who finished in the money included:

29. Kathy Liebert - $10,750
49. Joseph Brooks - $8,062
66. Matt Brady - $6,719
71. Soheil Shamseddin - $6,719
81. Jason Dewitt - $6,047

Yevgeniy Timoshenko (Jovial Gent) Wins 2009 WCOOP Main Event

Continuing what has been one of the most successful years that a professional poker player could have, Yevgeniy “Jovial Gent” Timoshenko won the Main Event of the 2009 PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP), earning over $1.7 million for his efforts.

The two-day $5,000 buy in event, which started on Sunday, saw an astonishing 2,144 players willing to either pony up the entry fee or satellite their way in. This field outpaced the $10 million that PokerStars guaranteed and set up a prize pool of $10.72 million.

As is expected for what has become the preeminent online tournament of the year, top professionals and celebrities were bountiful and some performed extremely well. PokerStars Germany sponsored pro Katja Thater (305th place) was able to find her way through the first day to the money and, on the celebrity side, baseball Hall of Fame member Orel Hershiser showed that he has been a diligent student of the game by finishing in 217th place. When the play ended for Day 1, 178 were left in the fight, led by poker professional Jason Dewitt.

Dewitt brought one of the more interesting stories to the festivities of the WCOOP. In what is potentially a first-ever occurrence in the world of poker, Dewitt was also participating in the World Poker Tour (WPT) event that is taking place at the Borgata when Day Two of the WCOOP began. Tournament officials made the landmark decision to allow Dewitt - playing online under his “TheMasterJ33” moniker - to bring a computer close to the tables to allow him to multi-task.

Dewitt appeared to handle the adversities of playing in both events well. Although he wouldn’t be able to maintain his chip lead in the WCOOP Main Event (eventually being eliminated in 87th place), his play in the WPT tournament - where Dewitt admitted he was “trying to build a big stack or bust” prior to getting back into the action of the WCOOP - enabled him to finish in 15th place when action ended.

Timoshenko, under his “Jovial Gent” nickname, came to the final table of the WCOOP Main Event in excellent shape with slightly over 10 million in chips, only two million off of chip leader Dan “djk123” Kelly. The duo held over half of the chips in play and it seemed to be only a matter of time before they hooked up to decide the championship.

After “Udon Wannit” doubled up through “PeachyMer,” Kelly administered the killing blow, eliminating “PeachyMer” in ninth place. Kelly then went on to dismiss both “Mudvaynes” and “Chong94” in seventh and sixth place, respectively.

Timoshenko held back through these early eliminations, but got into the flow after about an hour and a half. Timoshenko eliminated “Xaston” in fifth place and then sealed the tournament, for all effective purposes, when he and Kelly (who had fallen into second place) went to war. After a pre-flop battle where Kelly pushed in the remainder of his 10 million-plus stack with pocket tens, Timoshenko snap-called with pocket kings. A king on the flop all but sealed the hand and, once the turn and river blanked, Kelly was out in fourth, $643,200 richer. As the 2009 WCOOP Player of the Series, he is on his way to the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in January.

With Kelly’s dismissal, Timoshenko held a dominant chip lead over “Udon Wannit” and “reddeevil” and continued to apply the pressure. He dismissed “reddeevil” in third place and, only a few hands later, locked up the title. On a 6-K-8 flop, “Udon Wannit” bet out only to face a reraise from “Jovial Gent.” “Udon Wannit” decided that Timoshenko was pushing him around and made a stand all-in with 6-5 for bottom pair; “Jovial Gent,” however, had the goods when he showed K-6 for a flopped two pair. Once the turn and river ran dry, “Udon Wannit” was out in second and Timoshenko was crowned the 2009 WCOOP Main Event Champion.

The final table played out as such:

1st Place: Jovial Gent - $1,715,200
2nd Place: Udon Wannit - $1,286,400
3rd Place: reddeevil - $933,712
4th Place: djk123 - $643,200
5th Place: Xaston - $482,400
6th Place: Chong94 - $375,200
7th Place: Mudvaynes - $268,000
8th Place: Supa4real - $182,240
9th Place: PeachyMer - $96,480

Timoshenko, when he was only 20 years-old, won the inaugural stop of the Asian Poker Tour (APT) in Macau in August of 2008, pocketing $500,000 for his efforts. He then made the final table of the 2008 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Europe £1,500 No Limit Hold’em tournament, finishing in third for £55,350.

After taking a break to turn 21, Timoshenko unleashed his skills on unsuspecting WPT regulars, taking the Championship title in April for $2.1 million. Over the past year, he has won almost $3 million in live tournaments and, with his win in the WCOOP Main Event, drove his lifetime poker winnings to almost $5 million.

Terrence Chan (Unassigned) Discusses WCOOP Victory

Recently, Terrence “Unassigned” Chan took down a $1,050 buy-in Limit Hold’em Six-Max event during the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP). In April, he emerged victorious from the fields of the high- and mid-stakes versions of the 20th Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) event, also Limit Hold’em Six-Max. He is the undisputed king of short-handed Limit Hold’em until further notice and sat down with Poker News Daily to discuss his feat.

Poker News Daily: Tell us about your success in Limit Hold’em tournaments.

Chan: I feel comfortable playing high-stakes. I’ve been playing big-limit games for a while and it was the first game I learned to play. I bring a lot of experience to the table. In tournament fields in the WCOOP and SCOOP, you have a lot of people who are tournament players, but not necessarily Limit Hold’em players. They make a lot of typical mistakes that players who aren’t familiar with Limit Hold’em would make, which gives me an edge.

PND: Is it surreal to have won three major Limit Hold’em tournaments in a span of six months?

Chan: It has been surreal. The night after I won the WCOOP event, it didn’t really hit me and I wasn’t enjoying it. I was in shock and was all smiles. Everything felt awesome. I didn’t think at any point that I was going to win until the very end. You always hope you can win, but you always think you’re a few hands away from something bad happening.

PND: On online poker forums, you’ve received a tremendous amount of praise for your accomplishments. Does it feel good to see that you’ve earned the respect of the poker community?

Chan: It feels good. It’s flattering that people say nice things about me. I try to take it all in perspective and not think that I’m the greatest thing in the world. A lot of people are playing $1,000/$2,000 and crushing that, so it’s nice to have my moment in the sun, but I try to stay grounded.

PND: We know a lot of people admire your game, but whose game do you respect the most?

Chan: I’ve always been a fan of all of the people who have done a lot of the mathematical groundwork of the game. I’m friends with guys like Bill Chen and admire guys like Chris Ferguson and Andy Bloch. I’ve ridden the coattails off that and taken lessons from smart game theory guys. Those are the people who deserve a lot of credit. I’m the guy who is able to digest it.

PND: Are the mathematical and game theory aspects of poker concepts that anyone can learn?

Chan: Yes, anyone can learn it. It’s actually an easier framework from which to learn poker. If you’re trying to learn poker from a guy who thinks everything is feel, then how are you supposed to copy that? It’d be like learning golf from watching Tiger Woods swing. You need to have someone tell you how the hold the club and swing. It’s easier to have a logical framework. Unless you have that great ability, you’re not going to perform at as high of a level.

PND: How did you get started in poker?

Chan: When I was about 18, my cousin took me to a local casino. He just wanted to show me how to play blackjack. I got bored, started wandering around, and saw four poker tables. When you see a poker table for the first time, people are just flinging chips everywhere and things are happening fast. I had just gotten the internet, so I found online message forums and started reading books. Lee Jones’ was the first book I ever bought.

PND: What’s helped you grow in poker since then?

Chan: Having a support system. To be able to bounce hands off friends is the most valuable thing for people just getting started. You can draw a lot from others.

PND: Did you make any purchases with your online poker winnings?

Chan: I took my friends for lunch and things like that. I’m a typical poker player. It’s probably going to be sent back into the system somewhere. I’ve been very fortunate. I’ve been playing big cash games for a while, so things I want or need, I can already buy.

PND: You’re from British Columbia, Canada. Talk about representing your country well.

Chan: For a country with only 30 million people, we have quite a few strong poker players. The West Coast doesn’t have as many, though. Guys like Daniel Negreanu and Scott Montgomery are all from Ontario, so it’s good to represent the West Coast.