Poker News

Sydney PartyPoker Qualifier Wins Aussie Millions

23-year-old Tyron Krost won a $640 online satellite to get into the main event at the Crown Casino and walked away AUD$2 million richer after besting a field of 746 this week.

"It feels like a dream and I don't want to wake up," he said moments after the win. "$2 million, it's amazing."

After a fairly lengthy feeling-out process, fellow Aussie Steven Shelley was the first player to get his walking papers from the final eight Saturday, running sevens into Krost's jacks.

But it wasn't long before he was joined on the rail by online superstar and 2007 World Series of Poker Europe champ Annette Obrestad.

The Betfair pro got into a flip for her stack with ace-jack against the PartyPoker qualifier's sevens and would have liked the straight draw she picked up on the flop if that same flop didn't give Krost a set.

The turn and river bricked out and Obrestad was sent back to Norway seventh.

Strangely, pocket sevens were involved in the next elimination as well, with Reno, Nevada's Steve Friedlander running them into Aussie Kostas Varoxis' big slick.

A king on the flop and another on the turn did the lone American at the final table in and play went five handed.

It stayed five-handed for quite a while until Canadian Peter Jetten appeared to implode, shipping it in with K♦ 5♦ against Krost's tens on a move and failing to improve.

Once the massive chip leader, Sorel Mizzi's downfall began soon after when he doubled up Frederik Jensen and before the Betfair Poker pro knew what had hit him, Krost had suddenly moved into the lead.

A few desperations shoves from Varoxis were next on the agenda, and although the first couple worked, his luck eventually ran out when he couldn't beat Jensen's deuces with A♥ 6♣.

Mizzi's downfall ended three-handed when he ran pocket sevens into Krost's ace-king and could not hold, leaving the two PartyPoker qualifiers to battle it out heads up.

Krost began heads up with better than 2:1 chip lead over Jensen and the Aussie began applying pressure on the Dane right from the outset, pounding him into submission before getting him all in dominated to book the win.

A humble Krost seemed to have the all big hands when he needed them throughout the final, beating some of the best young players in the game while following up Stewart Scott's 2009 win to become only the second Aussie to keep the title on home soil in Aussie Millions history.

"I just ran really well and got really lucky," he said. "I had a lot of big hands."

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Sydney PartyPoker Qualifier Wins Aussie Millions

23-year-old Tyron Krost won a $640 online satellite to get into the main event at the Crown Casino and walked away AUD$2 million richer after besting a field of 746 this week.

"It feels like a dream and I don't want to wake up," he said moments after the win. "$2 million, it's amazing."

After a fairly lengthy feeling-out process, fellow Aussie Steven Shelley was the first player to get his walking papers from the final eight Saturday, running sevens into Krost's jacks.

But it wasn't long before he was joined on the rail by online superstar and 2007 World Series of Poker Europe champ Annette Obrestad.

The Betfair pro got into a flip for her stack with ace-jack against the PartyPoker qualifier's sevens and would have liked the straight draw she picked up on the flop if that same flop didn't give Krost a set.

The turn and river bricked out and Obrestad was sent back to Norway seventh.

Strangely, pocket sevens were involved in the next elimination as well, with Reno, Nevada's Steve Friedlander running them into Aussie Kostas Varoxis' big slick.

A king on the flop and another on the turn did the lone American at the final table in and play went five handed.

It stayed five-handed for quite a while until Canadian Peter Jetten appeared to implode, shipping it in with K♦ 5♦ against Krost's tens on a move and failing to improve.

Once the massive chip leader, Sorel Mizzi's downfall began soon after when he doubled up Frederik Jensen and before the Betfair Poker pro knew what had hit him, Krost had suddenly moved into the lead.

A few desperations shoves from Varoxis were next on the agenda, and although the first couple worked, his luck eventually ran out when he couldn't beat Jensen's deuces with A♥ 6♣.

Mizzi's downfall ended three-handed when he ran pocket sevens into Krost's ace-king and could not hold, leaving the two PartyPoker qualifiers to battle it out heads up.

Krost began heads up with better than 2:1 chip lead over Jensen and the Aussie began applying pressure on the Dane right from the outset, pounding him into submission before getting him all in dominated to book the win.

A humble Krost seemed to have the all big hands when he needed them throughout the final, beating some of the best young players in the game while following up Stewart Scott's 2009 win to become only the second Aussie to keep the title on home soil in Aussie Millions history.

"I just ran really well and got really lucky," he said. "I had a lot of big hands."

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Schwartz Joins Premier League IV Lineup

 “I can’t wait to get to Vegas and crush the field in the PartyPoker.com Premier League,” said Schwartz.

Schwartz will join the already announced Phil Hellmuth, J.C. Tran, Yevgeniy Timoshenko and Roland De Wolfe in the $100,000 buy-in tournament. This is the first time the shootout-style event has been held in Vegas.

Despite the number of skilled poker players, Schwartz likes his chances in the event.

“For sure there are some big names playing but I have to be a huge favorite,” he said. “They need to know that I’m coming with my sharky hat and it’s gonna be a whole week of soul owning from Full Flush.

Schwartz made a name for himself playing online as Full Flush on Full Tilt Poker and beating some of the best online players, including Tom “durrrr” Dwan and Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond for over a million.

He was perhaps most well-known for his tirades where he would refer to Dwan as “durrrr-balls” and the entire online high stakes community as “OMGweNerds” in the chatbox.

He made the final table of another well-known PartyPoker tournament last year – the World Open V – but was eventually ousted in fourth when his A-T failed against Austrian qualifier Jan Veit’s K-J.

According to PartyPoker officials they were reluctant to add the controversial young player.

“We did a lot of soul searching rather than soul owning before deciding to invite Luke into the Premier League,” said a PartyPoker spokesperson. “The fact is that he is a great player and he will certainly ignite the line-up and we haven’t even completed it yet.”

More players will be announced to the Premier League IV in the coming weeks.

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Poker Tournament Scene in 1980 by Linda Johnson

I hope you all are enjoying the new year! 2009 ended incredibly well for me at a party at the Spinetti house in Las Vegas. In addition to some top-notch entertainment, hanging out with great friends, and enjoying some delicious food, there was a poker tournament. I managed to hang in long enough to be part of a final table chop and still make it to the rooftop in time to watch the fireworks launched from many of the Strip hotels at the stroke of Midnight.

A post-Midnight conversation among some of the party attendees who are poker dinosaurs like I am had us reminiscing about the differences in poker tournaments from 1980 to 2010. I’m sure some of today’s young players would scoff at the conditions 30 years ago. First of all, we didn’t have all of the conveniences of modern technology such as a tournament clock. Instead of being able to look on a screen and see how much time was left in the round, time was kept on a small timer worn on the tournament director’s lapel. If you wanted to know when the limit was going to go up, you had to hunt down the tournament director and glance at his kitchen timer.

Another big difference in tournaments over the past 30 years is the specific poker game of choice. Many of the tournaments in 1980 were Seven Card Stud or Draw Poker events. Hold’em became popular in the early 1980s and quickly became the favorite tournament game, but of course I’m talking about Limit Hold’em. Other than at the World Series of Poker (WSOP), one could not find a No Limit Hold’em tournament. Around the mid-1980s, Omaha/8 was introduced to Las Vegas and became a popular form of tournament poker, but when I first started playing, Omaha was only known as a city in Nebraska.

In 1980, there weren’t nearly as many tournaments to choose from as there are today. Card rooms in Las Vegas usually spread one or two tournaments a week and the buy-ins were low - $22, $33, $44, or occasionally $55. There was only one $10,000 buy-in a year and it was the Main Event of the WSOP. There was no World Poker Tour (WPT). There were no such things as what I call “tournament mills” – card rooms that offer four or more tournaments in a day.

Today’s youngsters would laugh to learn how few chips we used to get in tournaments. There was no such thing as “deep-stack” events; if you paid $400 to enter a WSOP event, for example, you would start with $400 in tournament chips.

Tournament conditions have changed quite a bit in the past 30 years. If you couldn’t tolerate smoke, you couldn’t play, since every card room allowed smoking. I can remember how brutal it was to be stuck between two smokers for hours at a time. The atmosphere wasn’t nearly as pleasant 30 years ago as it is today. There was no penalty system for abuse, so you had to have thick skin to play. Some players didn’t respect dealers and they had to get used to bobbing and weaving as cards were thrown at them.

All of this contributed to having very few women play in the old days. Today, of course, almost every card room in the world is non-smoking, abuse has been greatly curtailed, and there are lots of women who enjoy a very non-threatening poker environment.

There was no such thing as the Tournament Director’s Association (TDA) in 1980. Tournament rules were far from standard, so every time you went to a different locale, you had to ask how many raises were permitted, whether they used a forward-moving or a dead button, etc. Players were allowed to expose cards to get a read on their opponents. They could even discuss the contents of their hands. You didn’t have to table your cards when you were all-in with no more action possible. Today’s players take for granted that TDA rules apply in almost every tournament venue in the country.

One of the rules that I was instrumental in changing through the power of the pen as publisher of CardPlayer was in regards to the chip race. In the 1980s, when it was time to color up, players received one card for each odd chip, just like they do today. However, instead of coloring up the odd chips into higher denomination chips and then giving a maximum of one chip per player, the player who ended up with the highest card at the table received all of the new higher value chips.

Getting the high card could affect the outcome of the event since it was such a huge win. For example, if they were coloring up 23 $100 chips, one player would get $2,500, which often was more than the starting chip stack. In today’s events, five players would each get one $500 chip instead of one player getting all five $500 chips.

In 1980, we played poker. There was no tweeting at the table, no iPods, and no cell phones. Sometimes I miss the good old days. Happy 2010!

Doyle Brunson’s Elite Team Struck Gold in 2009

Doyle Brunson is the Godfather of Poker and one of the greatest living legends in the game, but to represent his poker site, he is carefully choosing a team of 10 poker pros under the age of 25, which will be known as the Brunson 10. So far, only five have been headhunted: Chris "moorman1" Moorman, Alec "traheho" Torelli, Dani "ansky" Stern, Zachary "CrazyZachary" Clark and Amit "amak316" Makhija.

The first three players picked were Makhija, Torelli, and Clark. Twenty-two year-old Torelli, known as a consistent cash game winner and dedicated triathlete, held his ground in 2009 with nearly $800,000 in live tournament winnings. Makhija, a University of Minnesota graduate, was chosen for the Brunson 10 for his multi-table tournament (MTT) skills and he did not disappoint. Besides finishing in 26th place in the Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic for a cool $28,569, he also made the top 10 in several other important poker tournaments.

Clark is the nephew of the late Chip Reese and he certainly has poker in his blood. At the young age of 24, he has nearly $2 million in career earnings and shows no signs of slowing down. In 2009, he cashed in nearly 50 online poker tournaments and made the top 10 in 15 of them, exceptionally consistent results for such a young player.

Next to be recruited for the Brunson 10 was Moorman, a young British player to be reckoned with on the online felts. Moorman had a spectacular 2009, ranking fourth in both CardPlayer’s and Bluff’s Online Player of the Year rankings for consistent five-figure wins. Moorman was also honored with the number spot in the PocketFives.com Yearly leaderboard for 2009. Brunson was spot on when he said about recruiting Moorman: “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.”

The last member recruited for the half-complete Brunson 10 was Stern. One of the stars of the G4 online poker reality series “Two Months, Two Million," Stern was showered with praise by Brunson when he entered the elite team: “I’ve seen Ansky play on TV, I’ve seen him play online, and I’ve seen him talk poker like someone who’s been playing for decades. Dani ‘Ansky’ Stern is the future of this game and I’m proud to have him on my team.” Doyle will be even prouder now that Stern brought in the single largest cash of the team, when his final table skills in the World Series of Poker (WSOP) $40,000 buy-in commemorative event in 2009 netted him $548,315.

Brunson is still searching for the remaining five members of the Brunson 10 and will choose two more players after those. He explains: “We are going to find the remaining five spots that are open sometime in 2010. Then, we will choose two women to make it the Brunson 10/2 in honor of my name hand.” Judging by last year’s results, the Brunson 10-2 is set to be the crème de la crème of poker in 2010.

Top Ten Poker Events of the Decade: Part 1

As 2009 prepares to fade into the pages of history, it will also close the doors on a decade that has been like no other for the sport of poker.

When the Third Millennium began a short ten years ago, poker could arguably be said to be on life support. A poker room in a casino was hard to find, there was only one prominent tournament schedule on the poker professional’s calendar, and the game had no place in the media. Poker was reviled as a pursuit of degenerate gamblers; those considered to be the best at the game had very little attention paid to them.

A decade later, the situation has completely reversed itself. Even the smallest casino, wherever it may be in the world, has a poker room. Bookstores have dedicated sections to house their wares of poker books and poker programming airs daily on television. Instead of just one tournament schedule, there are several offerings that require players to choose which one to participate in. Finally, poker pros are respected as adventuresome mavericks whose abilities, education, and intelligence are critical to their success.

With this in mind, Poker News Daily decided to look back at the last decade in an attempt to figure out what were the catalysts for such a return to prominence and what nearly derailed it.

10. Poker Rooms Make a Comeback

At the start of the 21st century, casinos across the United States didn’t consider poker to be a moneymaker for their operations. With that in mind, poker rooms were closed and slot machines began to invade their territory.

By the end of the decade, poker rooms, which had been near extinction only ten years earlier, obtained a greater prominence than they ever had in a casino. The live poker room should continue to be a staple of the casino world in the future.

9. Ultimate Bet and Absolute Poker Superuser Scandals

The ugly head of corruption and scandal arose when two of the most popular online poker rooms in the industry, Ultimate Bet and Absolute Poker, succumbed to “superuser” cheating rings. These cheating scandals allowed players to see their opponents’ hole cards, making it impossible to lose a hand. These rings - the Ultimate Bet group, which was allegedly led by former World Champion Russ Hamilton, and the Absolute Poker team allegedly led by former employees Scott Tom and A. J. Green - took millions of dollars off of unsuspecting players and gave ammunition to anti-poker zealots in the war against the game.

After outrage from the online poker community, both organizations made financial amends to those affected, but didn’t prosecute anyone for the operation of either scam. Today, the two sites are part of the same network and have seemingly recovered some of their former respect (including the recent certification from eCOGRA, the online gaming watchdog). Still, the scandal could have had a devastating effect on the online game and it has cast doubt as to the legitimacy of online poker, much like the Mississippi riverboat games of centuries ago almost stopped poker from becoming what it is today.

8. Amateurs Dominate WSOP Main Event

Throughout its early history, poker, and in particular the World Series of Poker (WSOP), it was the bastion of professional rounders willing to live life on the edge, to take thousands of dollars out of their own pockets and risk that they were the greatest poker player in the world. With the advent of satellites and online poker, where a player could get into a tournament for a significantly smaller fee, amateur poker players began to take a shot at the upper echelons of the game.

Since 2002, an amateur or previously unknown player has won the $10,000 Main Event at the WSOP and been crowned World Champion. Some, such as Jerry Yang and Jamie Gold, have stayed on the peripheral of the poker world and have arguably not done much since their victories. Others, such as Greg Raymer, Joe Hachem, and Chris Moneymaker, have continued to be at the forefront of the game, advocating in political circles for the regulation of online poker as respected professionals in their own right. Whether they have experience or not, amateurs have become a part of the WSOP.

7. New Blood Infuses the Game

All forms of business need an infusion of new customers to continue to drive their endeavors. Poker is no different. For some time, older players, mostly men, populated the game and the required influx of “new blood” was seemingly missing. Through the development of online poker, new players, both male and female, have made their marks.

In what was perhaps the most stunning tournament win of the decade, Annette “Annette_15” Obrestad’s victory at the inaugural WSOP Europe Main Event made her the youngest player to win a major championship and demonstrated that the youth movement in poker had arrived. In the last two WSOP Main Events, Phil Hellmuth’s longstanding record as the youngest ever champion has been eclipsed twice. As we look at the next decade, young players will continue to make their names in an arena that previously had been dominated by the “Old Guard” of the game.

6. Twice is Nice – Dan Harrington, Mike Matusow, and Jeff Shulman

With the growth of the WSOP Main Event, the odds of a player repeating as champion, as Johnny Chan did in 1987 and 1988, are nearly infinitesimal. The feat of making two final tables is nearly as difficult, but three men - Dan Harrington, Mike Matusow, and Jeff Shulman - managed to pull off the feat. While none won the tournament, the ability to make two final tables during the decade, against such sizeable fields, is definitely a significant achievement.

Harrington’s feat is arguably the best of the three players. Battling through, at the time, the two largest WSOP Main Event fields ever, the 1995 champion nearly captured his second title in consecutive years (2003 and 2004). Matusow announced his presence on the game with his first final table in 2001 and marked his resurrection as a poker player by returning in 2005. Shulman finished seventh in 2000 and came back in 2009 with a fifth place finish.

Phil Hellmuth Joins UB.com Poker2Nite

The fourth installment of the UB.com-sponsored poker news show “Poker2Nite” aired on Wednesday night on Fox Sports Net. The series stars PokerRoad personalities Joe Sebok and Scott Huff. This week, UB.com poker pro Phil Hellmuth joined the show.

Next week, the World Poker Tour (WPT) Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic will kick off from the Bellagio in Las Vegas. Poker2Nite interviewed the tournament’s namesake, who told viewers, “The strength of this field will be stronger than anywhere else. The reason is that there is such a great structure and we don’t play those really long hours.” On the origins of lending his name to the $15,000 buy-in tournament, Brunson explained, “Lyle Berman, who is the founder of the WPT, asked me to do it. He owed me some money, so I told him if he paid me, I’d let him use my name.”

A segment called “In the Tank” featured David “Chino” Rheem battling against Justin Young in the Five Diamond last year. Rheem ultimately took down the tournament for $1.5 million, while Young finished in second place for $936,000. A total of 497 players entered last year, while Brunson told Poker2Nite that he expected around 400 to take the felts this time around.

Hellmuth joined Poker2Nite for a six-minute segment that began with a clip of the 11-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner arguing with fellow UB.com pro Annie Duke on the set of “Best Damn Poker Show.” Hellmuth explained, “Annie and I are really good friends. I emcee her charity tournament for Ante Up for Africa every year and we get along great.” Hellmuth added that Ben Affleck, Jim Harbaugh, Slash, and Anthrax’s Scott Ian have all solicited him for poker lessons.

Hellmuth is one of the poker players featured in “Deal Me In,” a book by Stephen John and Marvin Karlins. Hellmuth explained what readers can expect when they open poker’s newest periodical: “The strategy stuff that’s invaluable to people at home is the money management stuff. You’ll be shocked when you read Phil Ivey’s chapter about how he got in the game. The way he manages his money is shocking to me. All of these stories have the same blueprint on how to be successful in poker.” Others featured include Layne Flack, Brunson, Howard Lederer, and Chris “Jesus” Ferguson.

Hellmuth registered six cashes during the 2009 WSOP, capped off by a 436th place finish in the $10,000 buy-in Main Event for $25,000. Nevertheless, the successful No Limit Hold’em tournament player has called it quits for the 2009 calendar year: “There is some luck. That’s what people at home don’t understand. I just have to find a way to come back in 2010 and win one or two. That’s what it’s all about.” Hellmuth revealed that he will not enter the Five Diamond next week.

A segment called “Check, Raise, Fold” debated the status of Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier, Jason Mercier, and Ivey, among others, in the poker world. For each player, Huff and Sebok debated what poker term they would label each player, with Sebok explaining, “Elky is sick. I don’t know any other way to say it.” On Mercier, Huff characterized, “The guy is the best young player in poker.” Finally, on Ivey, Sebok commented on the Full Tilt Poker pro’s recent performance in the 2009 WSOP Main Event: “I think this is all about the ghost of the 2009 WSOP Main Event final table. [The Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic] is his first live Main Event since then and I think he’s looking to erase seventh place from everyone’s minds.”

Poker2Nite airs at 11:00pm ET on Wednesdays on Fox Sports Net. Check local listings for more details.

Yang says Cada got lucky to win WSOP Main Event

Jerry Yang, who won the 2007 WSOP Main Event, is certainly one.

Yang watched it all go down on ESPN the very next night from his newly opened Pocket 8's Sushi & Grill restaurant in Merced, California and enjoyed every minute of it.

"It was very interesting," Yang told PokerListings from Harvey's Lake Tahoe, where he had come to play in the WSOP Circuit event this weekend. "Overall I think it was a great tournament. It was very exciting."

Yang has always admitted his path to the 2007 title and its $8.25 million prize was paved with a lot of luck.

What he saw on this year's ESPN broadcast appeared no different to him.

"I think all the guys played really well and obviously two of them got really lucky," he said.

"Joe Cada is a good player, but he got incredibly lucky. Especially with the pocket threes (all in pre-flop against Jeff Shulman's pocket jacks) and the pocket deuces (all in pre-flop against Antoine Saout's pocket queens). I'm happy it worked out for him.

"Moon had a good shot, but I think he made a couple of mistakes and I'm sure he's thinking about them right now."

Yang was criticized by some in the poker media for not playing as many major tournaments as they would have liked in the year following his win.

However, the father of six children, who escaped war-torn Laos as a child and spent four-and-a-half years in a Thai refugee camp before immigrating to the United States, makes no apologies for following a different path.

"Since winning I have personally helped raised more than $700,000 for charity, namely the Make-A-Wish foundation, the Ronald McDonald House and Feed the Children, so that took a lot of my time away," he said.

"I made a promise that I would donate a lot of my time and money to charity. That's what I'm passionate about; giving back to the community, especially underprivileged kids."

If he has any advice for the new World Champion, it's that he follow his heart as well.

"Just follow your passion," Yang said. "If poker is your passion, then hey, you know what, be a good ambassador. Do whatever you can to promote poker and carry the game to the next level.

"I know a lot of young players today look up to somebody like me or Joe Hachem, or whoever the champion is and they want to follow in our footsteps. So do whatever you can to really help that community."

Yang's victory came in the final year before the WSOP began delaying the final table four months, creating what is now known as the November Nine.

The 2007 World Champion says he loves the idea and the boxing-style hype that is created during the four-month break.

"I wish they had done it a couple of years before I won, although it may have changed my results," he laughed. "I think it will only help poker grow, survive and thrive even more."

These days, Yang spends the majority of his time at his restaurant, with his family, playing poker for charity and putting the finishing touches on his biography, All In: The Jerry Yang Story, expected to be published sometime in early 2010.

But a passion for the game still got him out of bed at 4 a.m. Sunday to make the drive to Lake Tahoe from his Fresno home to play a little poker on the World Series Circuit.

"The bottom line is I love poker," he said.

To follow Yang and all the action from the Lake Tahoe World Series of Poker Circuit championship event, click through to PokerListings' Live Coverage.

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Dani ‘Ansky’ Stern joins Brunson 10

Following the addition of Chris ‘Moorman1’ Moorman in September to the Brunson 10, American poker legend Doyle Brunson has revealed that Dani ‘Ansky’ Stern is the latest member of his team of ten handpicked young players.

Reigning WSOP champ handicaps November Nine

But this weekend, as the latest edition of the November Nine plays out, Peter Eastgate's reign as World Champion will come to a close.

"You can never stop the clock; there will always be a new world champion," Eastgate told PokerListings. "Why should I have any sad emotions about that? I'll just be the ex-world champion. Nothing is being taken away from me, maybe a bit of the attention, but nothing else."

Eastgate defended his title well, making it deep again this summer before busting out 78th.

He remembers playing with both Joe Cada and Kevin Schaffel and appeared particularly impressed with the player who could replace him as the youngest champion in Main Event history.

"I have always been impressed by the young guys in poker," he said. "I like their spirit. I like the way they develop their skills by playing a lot online. That's how I have developed my own skills, so I feel like I'm part of the same breed as them - The young online community going into the live arena.

"I think this group of young players has an advantage and even though I only have a small experience of playing against Cada, I've been impressed. He certainly belongs to that group."

All eyes at the final table will likely be on the man widely considered the best player on the planet.

And although Eastgate has very little experience playing against Phil Ivey, he will be no different.

"It's very easy, if you go by the stats, to rule him as the best player as he has the best results," Eastgate said. "Everyone who's played with him says he's the best. I've only played with him for one orbit of the EPT High Roller in London in Season 5, but he wouldn't remember that.

"It lasted for like 30 minutes, so I don't really have any experience, but everyone says he's the best, so he probably is."

Eastgate took advantage last November as chip leader Dennis Phillips saw his stack eroded, eventually busting out third.

As a result, he's not sure how much of an advantage the chip lead will give Maryland logger Darvin Moon this time around.

"Obviously he has the chip advantage, but I don't know how he's going to manage that," he said. "From the way he's conducted himself, he seems like a pretty fearless guy, so I assume he would put the pressure on his opponents and try to take advantage of the prize jumps."

Eastgate said he hasn't met Eric Buchman, Steven Begleiter, Jeff Shulman, Antoine Saout or James Akenhead.

But the UK resident said there seems to be a lot of respect in the poker community for Akenhead.

However, if he were a betting man, there's only one person Eastgate would bet on.

"Darvin's the favorite, Ivey is the best player, but I'd go for Cada, if I was betting on it," he said.

To follow all the action at the final table until a new World Champion is crowned, tune into PokerListings 2009 WSOP Main Event Live Coverage beginning at 12 p.m. PT Saturday, Nov. 7.

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Young stars shine at EPT London

While old-guard live pros like John Juanda, Jeffrey Lisandro and Chris "Jesus" Ferguson all hit the rail, a good number of the game's Internet-weaned bright young stars took center stage.

"I think they have an edge just because they are so fearless," said 2007 WSOPE main event champ Annette Obrestad, 21, who can count herself among the group as she heads into the event's penultimate day Tuesday among the leaders.

"They're used to playing so many tournaments and they really don't give a shit if they bust. At this stage of a tournament they're really not scared of four-betting all in with like six-seven. If they have a read on someone they are just going to go with it.

"The old-school players, they don't like to stick their chips in without a hand."

2009 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure third-place finisher Benny Spindler vaulted to a spot at the top of the chip counts as the tournament rolled into the money and beyond Monday.

The 24-year-old from Darmstadt, Germany starting playing online three years ago and believes the uber-aggressive style he learned on the Internet is as effective live.

"The young players all come from the Internet and have a much different approach to the game than the older live players," he explained. "It's much more aggressive and it seems that it's much better.

"I usually bust on Day 1 or a make a deep run in a tournament, the first option happens very often, but sometimes I can build a big stack and that's my game."

But not all successful young poker players believe all-out aggression is the path to success in live tournament poker.

Seattle's Vivek Rajkumar, 23, who took down WPT Borgata in September 2008, also sits among the leaders here in London, and he says adding another gear to your game is just as important.

"I used to play like that one or two years ago, but people are really too good now," the Full Tilt pro said. "People know how to play back at over-the-top aggression, so you have to tighten up, especially if you have an aggressive image.

"I know as soon as I sit down, people automatically think I'm aggressive, so I come in and try to play off that."

Obrestad, who began dominating the online poker world at just 15 years old, says she's matured as a player and is starting to understand that patience in poker is almost as important as aggression - A lesson she learned from the same old-guard players she's now replacing on tournament leader boards the world over.

"I actually started out playing live (very aggressively) and after a while I saw it wasn't working," said the Betfair Poker pro. "I was busting with stupid hands and pots I shouldn't be involved in - stuff that's just so unnecessary.

"You have so much time and the blinds go up so slowly, you can just grind it out - take it easy. I can see why there are still a lot of older live players doing well and I use a little of their strategy as well."

While most of the poker world believes Obrestad is as aggressive as they come, she's starting to reap the benefits of playing tighter with a loose image.

"It's unbelievable how some people just don't give me any credit at all," she said. "To be honest, I would really like to be able to get away with more stuff, but I don't. I can't do anything about that. My image is already there, now I just have to take advantage of it."

For all the action from Tuesday's playdown to the final table at PokerStars EPT London, including chip counts, photos and live updates, click through to PokerListings' Live Tournaments page.

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November Niners, superstars fill dream WSOPE final

Featuring two members of the November Nine and the father of a third, one of poker's hottest young players and one of the game's most enduring superstars, plus three more previous WSOP bracelet winners, Thursday's final nine at the Casino at the Empire appears to be an instant classic.

Ivan Demidov shocked the poker world making the final table of the 2008 WSOPE main event just a few short months after booking his seat in the WSOP's first November Nine.

Now, British pro James Akenhead and French Everest Poker qualifier Antoine Saout have matched that feat.

"Just to make the World Series final in Vegas is obviously massive," Akenhead told PokerListings. "Now, to make this final as well, for Antoine and I both, it's unbelievable."

In a strange twist of fate, the father of fellow 2009 November Niner Jeff Shulman is also in the final nine in London.

But Barry Shulman, and the entire group, will all be looking up at chip leader Jason Mercier when play begins Thursday.

While he started the day Wednesday near the bottom of the final 36, Mercier quickly ascended to the top of the chip counts and will bring a rather healthy lead to the final nine.

Having collected more than $3.3 million in live tournament earnings, an EPT title and a WSOP bracelet in less than two years as a pro, Mercier certainly qualifies as one of poker's brightest new stars and told PokerListings his confidence is at an all time high.

"I'm feeling really confident," he said. "I have about double what second has right now, but I've done this before and blown it, so I just have to come in here tomorrow ready to go to work and hopefully win it."

Despite being found at the bottom of the current leader board, Mercier's toughest competition at the final table could come from one of the game's biggest stars.

With more than $11 million in career live tournament earnings, fellow Team PokerStars Pro Daniel Negreanu sits third on poker's all time money winners list.

He made fifth in this very event last year and says his enduring success is a testament to hard work.

"When I started out I always saw guys who would rest on their laurels," Negreanu said.

"To achieve that lofty status and maintain it, you have to always work on your game and try to improve. If you don't, you'll end up just one of those has-beens that people laugh at.

"I take it seriously, I want to win and I want to be the best."

To win this particular event, Negreanu will also have to get through WSOP bracelet winners Matt Hawrilenko, Chris Bjorin and Praz Bansi.

"At this level, it's down to whoever makes the least mistakes and runs good," said Bansi. "Everyone knows what they are doing at this stage."

The only wild card at this star-studded final table is Finn Markus Ristola, who has about $100,000 in career live tournament earnings, including a cash in the first event at this WSOPE.

For all the action from the 2009 WSOPE main event final table, including chip counts, photos and live updates, click through to PokerListings' Live Tournaments page beginning at 12 p.m. BST Thursday.

-With files from Rod Stirzaker

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Dwan bumped from Poker Hall of Fame nominees

"With all due respect to Mr. Dwan, one of the game's most exciting young players, he does not currently meet the criteria for Hall of Fame selection," a statement from the Poker Hall of Fame Governing Council reads.

"We wish him well and expect he will again be considered once he has 'stood the test of time.'"

The criteria for voting consideration is based on the following:

• A player must have played poker against acknowledged top competition
• Played for high stakes
• Played consistently well, gaining the respect of peers
• Stood the test of time
• Or, for non-players, contributed to the overall growth and success of the game of poker, with indelible positive and lasting results

The original list of ten candidates was put together through a five-week public voting process on WSOP.com.

With Dwan out, the final list of candidates for the 2009 class is now down to Barry Greenstein, Dan Harrington, Phil Ivey, Tom McEvoy, Erik Seidel, Mike Sexton, Men "The Master" Nguyen and Daniel Negreanu.

The decision on who makes it in will come down to how the 15 living Hall of Fame members and the 15-member media panel will cast their votes.

Voters will be able to vote for up to three candidates with every player that receives at least 75% yes votes making their way into the Hall of the Fame.

The official 2009 Poker Hall of Fame selections will be announced during a special dinner ceremony on Nov. 7 at the Rio Hotel during the dinner break of the 2009 WSOP Main Event final table.

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2009 Poker Hall of Fame Finalists Announced

The final list of nominees for the 2009 Poker Hall of Fame was announced on Tuesday and the ballot is loaded with the game’s biggest names. It is now up to the 15 living Hall of Fame members and the 15-member Media Panel to cast their votes before the inductees are revealed on Saturday, November 7.

The nine selected candidates are Barry Greenstein, Dan Harrington, Phil Ivey, Tom McEvoy, Men Nguyen, Scotty Nguyen, Daniel Negreanu, Erik Seidel and Mike Sexton. Any of those nine who receive at least 75% of the vote will be inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame, which will be part of a special Hall of Fame dinner ceremony at the Rio Hotel in Las Vegas during the dinner break of the World Series of Poker Main Event Final Table.

The voters must determine which nominees most deserve an induction this year. Each candidate is voted the following criteria:

–A player must have played poker against acknowledged top competition
–Played for high stakes
–Played consistently well, gaining the respect of peers
–Stood the test of time
–Or, for non-players, contributed to the overall growth and success of the game of poker, with indelible positive and lasting results.

Current Hall of Fame members also have the ability to add a write-in candidate — someone they feel deserves consideration — but were not among the list of finalists this year. This write-in candidate will be added to the 2010 nomination list automatically. The voting members will receive their ballots this week and have until October 2, 2009 to submit their completed forms.

Before starting the 2009 WSOP, the WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack announced that the process for becoming a member into the Poker Hall of Fame would undergo a slight modification. Starting in this year, the Poker Hall of Fame started accepting nominations from the public.

Ten players received the required number of votes to make the nominees list. Tom Dwan, known as “durrrr” online, was the lone preliminary nominee left off the final ballot. The nosebleed cash game specialist only recently burst onto the poker scene but quickly gained worldwide fame after proposing a challenge to anyone in the world (except Phil Galfond) that believed they could beat him in a four-table heads-up format on Full Tilt Poker.

“With all due respect to Mr. Dwan, one of the games most exciting young players, he does not currently meet the criteria for Hall of Fame selection”, said a member of the Poker Hall of Fame Governing Council. “We wish him well and expect he will again be considered once he has ‘stood the test of time’.”

The inductees will be invited to a special dinner held and hosted in their honor where they will give their induction speech and be awarded their commemorative trophy. Each of nine of the finalists will be invited to the dinner, and room will be reserved for additional family, friends, the current Hall of Famers and the media voting panel.

Tom “durrrr” Dwan Wasn’t Accepted To The Poker Hall Of Fame

Nine heavy duty nominees left and everyone wants to be part of The Poker Hall of Fame. But where is Tom “durrrr” Dwan?

The Poker Hall of Fame (HOF) has announced their year 2009 list of the candidates.

• Barry Greenstein
• Dan Harrington
• Phil Ivey
• Tom McEvoy
• Men “The Master” Nguyen
• Scotty Nguyen
• Daniel Negreanu
• Erik Seidel
• Mike Sexton

Originally Tom Dwan was supposed to be on the list but has now been removed.

“With all due respect to Mr. Dwan, one of the games most exciting young players, he does not currently meet the criteria for Hall of Fame selection. We wish him well and expect he will again be considered once he has ’stood the test of time’”, the HOF Governing Council states in their press release.

Tom “The Flamingo” Dwan

To gain more interest from the public, this year’s candidates were chosen through a public referendum. All in all 41 Poker pros got voted from where the field was narrowed to ten most voted names.

The official Induction Ceremony will take place on Saturday, November 7, during the dinner break of the Main Event final table at the Rio in Las Vegas.

The remaining nine candidates will have their fate decided by the 15 living HOF members, and the 15-person media panel. Panel members will receive their any day and have until Friday, October 2, to submit their votes. Players need 75 percent of the votes to get in. Anything less than 75 percent means your still eligible for future HOF classes.

There are currently 37 members in The Poker Hall of Fame.

Source: Pokerpages

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Tom “durrrr” Dwan Wasn’t Accepted To The Poker Hall Of Fame

Youth Over Experience - High-Stakes Report From August

August was the railbird’s heaven as the high-stake games were hot at least on Full Tilt Poker. August’s highlights were Swedish “martonas” and Ashton “theASHMAN103″ Griffin who had a great month.

Ashton Griffin

Last month’s theme seemed to be youth vs. experience as the top winners are very young players. Top winner was Ashton “theASHMAN103″ Griffin who managed to win $2.6 million. Also few other young players won over a million; Cole South, Brian Hastings and the fresh face, David “POKERBLUFFS” Eldar. Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies had a nice month as well, winning almost $400k.

Biggest losers were the more experienced players like Gus Hansen with over two million dollar losses. “DIN_FRU”, who is rumored to be Eric Sagström, lost almost two million as well. With over a million losses came Patrik Antonius and Di “Urindanger” Dang.

“Martonas”, who has made lots of publicity and fuss, was eventually left over $750k minus. Tom Dwan had a swinging month and ended up -$586k. Tom Dwan and “martonas” had the honor of playing the last games in the end of the month and after the games Dwan took down three of the biggest pots in August, including one over $600k pot.

Source: highstakesdb

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Youth Over Experience - High-Stakes Report From August

David Eldar - Name Behind the Nick POKERBLUFFS

We have made a couple of news in the past weeks about a new player at Full Tilt Poker.  He creates crazy action and has won big dollars. There’s been rumors and guesses about the identity of the nickname, now the identity has been revealed.

16-year-old David Eldar at the Scrabble championships

Eldar’s identity was figured out from the Full Tilt Poker chat logs, he is the same person as the PokerStars player “Deldar182″. “Deldar182″ is one of the best NL Holdem players from $25/$50 stakes and up. He has built his bankroll by playing several tables simultaneously without any bigger downswings.

So both nicks belong to the Australian David Eldar who has succeeded brilliantly in the word game Scrabble. Eldar is a young player who’s shift to Poker was a good choice as he managed to get into high-stakes games quite rapidly. Information from Australia tells that he is a very bright young man.

Even the tournament Poker is familiar to this young lad. In last March he was sixth in an Australian Poker tournament, winning $9k. Just a month later he won $34k in an Italian EPT tournament and in May he was fifth at the EPT Monte Carlo highroller tournament, winning 138k euros.

Eldar’s rise to the world’s poker elite seems to undergo very well. Only in August he had won over million dollars, and this is just at Full Tilt Poker. Eldar’s name will be seen and heard in the future, not only at high-stakes news but surely his name will pop out at the biggest tournaments as well.

Sources: Highstakesdb, thehendonmob, wikipedia

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David Eldar - Name Behind the Nick POKERBLUFFS

Justin Bonomo - Poker Player Profile

Justin Bonomo, or “ZeeJustin” to the online world, is not just a rising poker-star, but rather one of the brightest and most analytical players the game has ever seen, period. Born September 30, 1985 in Virginia, Justin got his competitive start at the tender age of 9 by thrusting himself headlong into the world of Magic: The Gathering.  Magic being a card game which requires a great deal of skill and strategy to be successful, it’s no shock that Bonomo eventually made the transition over to poker.

What does come as a surprise is how immediately accomplished Justin Bonomo became - not so much online, where he flourished like many other young players - but especially in the live arena where younger players hadn’t quite made an impact yet. On February 19, 2005, with only a few live tournaments under his belt, Bonomo finished 4th at the EPT French Open in Deauville, becoming the youngest player to reach a televised final table at 19 years and 5 months. Following his $41K score in France, “ZeeJustin” final tabled three 2006 Five Diamond WPT events for a total of $110K, and then reached his first ever WSOP final table, claiming 5th in the 2007 $2000 No-Limit Hold’em event for $156K. Since then, Justin Bonomo has gone on to more than $300K in cashes, and at just 23 years old, his live poker earnings are now in excess of $2.5 million.

In continuing both his online dominance and remarkable live success, Justin Bonomo has already launched himself into the upper echelon of poker talent, but there’s just an aura about this kid that says he’s destined for even bigger and better things in the not too distant future.

November Niner joins Team Everest

The 25 year-old Frenchman, who qualified for the 2009 WSOP Main Event on Everest Poker, will now be playing with an Everest patch at high-stakes tournaments all over the world.

From Saint Martin des Champs, Brittany, France, Saout dropped out of university after first year to play poker full time.

He will come into the final table of the 2009 WSOP Main Event on Nov. 7 sitting eighth in chips.

"France is where Everest Poker first launched and to have a French player on the final table who qualified with us is very exciting," said Everest Poker Director Sandrine Mangia-Park.

"He joins an increasingly well respected team of real poker players who all support each other in the biggest tournaments around the world."

Everest Poker claims it does not sponsor big-name professional players, choosing instead to invest in talented young players it can nurture within its own academies.

Saout joins Italy's Cristiano Blanco, Finn Voitto Rintala, Spain's Maria Maceiras, Steven van Zadelhoff of The Netherlands and Japan's Wooka Kim on the team.

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Mike Sexton Reviews the WSOP November Nine, WPT Bellagio Cup

We just started our eighth season of the World Poker Tour (WPT).  It’s actually pretty amazing to think we’ve been on television for seven seasons!  And it’s more amazing how time flies.

Season VIII kicked off at Bellagio in July with a $15,000 buy-in for the Bellagio Cup V.   268 players were looking to take down the nearly $1.2 million first place prize.  It was a strong field and a very tough final table.  Erik Seidel, who was going for his second WPT title, said that it was the toughest final table in WPT history.  I’m not sure I’d agree with that, but it was a very strong group.

One thing I do know is that the six finalists set an all-time WPT record by playing the longest six-handed before losing a player at 103 hands.  And congratulations to our first WPT champ from Brazil, Alexandre Gomes.  Here are the final standings and payouts from the Bellagio Cup:

1st Place: Alexandre Gomes - $1,187,670
2nd Place: Faraz Jaka - $774,780
3rd Place: Justin Smith - $464,870
4th Place: Alec Torelli - $271,165
5th Place: Christoffer Sonesson - $203,385
6th Place: Erik Seidel - $164,640

The thing people will probably remember most about this final table was that we had our first physical injury due to excessive celebration.  Justin Smith, a very tough young player, drew out to stay alive on one hand and started jumping around, injuring his Achilles heel.  What’s really unusual about this is that Justin is one of the quietest people I’ve ever played with.  He’s one of the last guys you would expect to be jumping up and down.  To those who question whether poker is a sport, you can now say, “Well, players do get injured when playing in tournaments.”

The 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) closes with the Main Event final table in November.  Congratulations to all of the November Nine, the phrase used for those who make it to the Main Event final table.  They outlasted nearly 6,500 players to reach the final table.  The monster chip leader is Darvin Moon, an amateur player from Oakland, Maryland who got in this tournament by winning a satellite.  He’s a logger by trade and is playing in his first-ever WSOP tournament.  Could we have a second coming of Chris Moneymaker?

ESPN and the WSOP can thank their lucky stars that the guy many would consider to be the most famous poker player in the world, Phil Ivey, is one of the November Nine.  Ivey already won two bracelets at the 2009 WSOP and is going for his ninth overall!  My guess is that ratings will be more than double last year’s show primarily because Phil Ivey will be on it.  And I have no doubt that every promo about that show will include Phil Ivey (and if they don’t, they should).

If it seems like I’m a big Phil Ivey fan, it’s because I am.  Even though he’s only 33, he is the best player (and that means the most successful) in virtually every category in poker - live games, tournaments, and online.  I’ve always thought that Chip Reese made more money playing poker than anyone in history, but I now believe Ivey has gone by him due to the high-stakes cash games that they’re playing nowadays, the big-time tournaments, and the monster games online.

Ivey really is incredible. Make no mistake about it, his poker resume is unmatched by anyone.  He destroys the biggest cash games and online games and will become the all-time leader in tournaments if he finishes in fifth place or better in November.   Whether he likes the name or not, Phil Ivey is the “Tiger Woods of Poker.”  I, for one, will be pulling for him to win in November.

On a personal note, I had a shot and made the money in the Main Event, finishing around 400th or so.  I won’t bore you with my bad beat story, but it was pretty ugly.  It’s the seventh time I’ve finished in the money in the Main Event even though I didn’t start playing it until 1992 and missed it about three times along the way.  That ties me with the likes of Doyle Brunson, Phil Hellmuth, and Jay Heimowitz for second place all-time cashing in the Main Event and second only to Berry Johnston, who has finished in the money 10 times.

I’m looking forward to next year’s Main Event already!  Hope to see you there.

“Boosted J” Inks Deal With Full Tilt Poker

After an excellent performance at the World Poker Tour’s first stop of their eighth season at the Bellagio in Las Vegas, longtime online professional Justin “Boosted J” Smith has signed a deal to be a Full Tilt Poker sponsored professional.

Smith, who finished third at the Bellagio Cup behind runner up Faraz “The-Toilet” Jaka and eventual champion Alexandre “allingomes” Gomes, has a long history of success in the online game and has recently been transferring those skills over to the live poker world. At the most recent World Series of Poker, “Boosted J” finished with a highly respectable five cashes with his best finish an eighth place final table in the $10,000 Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo World Championship. After his debut at the World Series of Poker Europe last year, Smith has earned almost $700,000 in live tournaments and has earned much more in the online game.

Although a young player that has been weaned on the online game, Justin has shown a propensity for all the disciplines of poker. In fact, his five cashes at the World Series ranged across the board, including Pot Limit Omaha, Seven Card Stud, Lowball and heads up Texas Hold’em. Befitting of his skills in multiple games and his new status as a sponsored Full Tilt pro, Smith has three tables of high stakes (one $1000/$2000 and two $400/$800) Mixed Game tables named in his honor.

“Boosted J” will have to drop his famous online moniker in exchange for seeing his real name in red on Full Tilt alongside perhaps the best stable of poker players in the game today. The “Friends of Full Tilt” encompass such notable celebrities as “Ocean’s Eleven” star Don Cheadle, Ultimate Fighting Championship ring announcer Bruce Buffer, “Poker After Dark” announcer Ali Nejad and author Jim McManus. There are also other levels of poker superstardom on Full Tilt Poker.

Full Tilt boasts one of the best poker training crews in CardRunners, made up of 2007 Online Player of the Year Isaac Baron, recent $25,000 Full Tilt Heads Up Poker Champion David Benefield and Taylor Caby (just to name a few). For those interested in international players, Full Tilt is the home of “The Hendon Mob,” the legendary English crew consisting of the Boatman brothers, Barny and Ross, as well as Joe Beevers and Ram Vaswani. When it comes to the Full Tilt sponsored pros, “Boosted J” will join the ranks including such players as Gavin Smith, 2008 WSOP Women’s Champion Svetlana Gromenkova and Chip and Karina Jett.

Finally, there are the players that are recognized as “Team Full Tilt.” The players who make up this group comprise thirteen of the finest players nowadays. Their combination of 36 WSOP bracelets is unequaled on any other online site and their resumes speak for themselves. Some of the players who make up “Team Full Tilt” include former World Champion Chris “Jesus” Ferguson, defending WSOP-Europe champion John Juanda and 2009 “November Nine” member Phil Ivey.

Congratulations to Justin on his new status as a Full Tilt pro and good luck on both the virtual as well as the physical poker tables worldwide.

Score one for Swedes at 2009 WSOP

The Uppsala resident outlasted 643 players and a tough final table that included Rep Porter to win Event 26, $1,500 Limit Hold'em, and record his fifth career WSOP cash.

"It's very nice actually," said Alenius, at his bracelet ceremony the next day. "There are a lot of players out there that want to win a bracelet, and I'm both happy and proud that I was able to do it."

Alenius joins Mats Rahmn, Chris Bjorin and Anders Henriksson as the only Swedish players to ever win a WSOP gold bracelet, but both Alenius and close friend William Thorson downplayed the significance.

"It was important for him personally to win a bracelet," said Thorson. "I think he's one of the few Swedish players who is actually capable of winning at the WSOP."

Alenius has been playing poker for roughly seven years, working as a dealer before he became a full-time pro. Thorson and Alenius met at the tables several years ago and have been close friends since.

The Team PokerStars Pro said he had an immense amount of respect for Alenius' skills as a poker player.

"He's a very good player," said Thorson. "He's pretty tight, but he can also mix it up. He can play most of the games, but he's best at Hold'em.

"It doesn't surprise me at all that he won a bracelet. I'm happy for him."

Despite its reputation for producing skilled poker players like Thorson, Erik Friberg and Bjorin, Sweden is currently in 10th place, with $278,000, in the overall breakdown of 2009 WSOP winnings by country.

Italy, Canada, Mexico, Germany, Finland and the Netherlands all rank higher. Russia is second so far with $2.2 million, although the bulk of that ($1.9 million) came from Vitaly Lunkin's win in the $40k No-Limit Hold'em anniversary event.

The U.S. is the overwhelming leader with nearly $40 million already awarded to players from the States.

Fortunately for Sweden, there are some talented young players waiting in the wings for their shot at WSOP glory. Alenius mentioned several players that had the potential to be successful tournament players.

"I like William (Thorson) of course," he said. "A lot of the young guys in Stockholm are really good as well.

"Jonas Molander, Michael Tureniec, Ramzi Jelassi and Patrik Martenson are all super good in my opinion."

The last Swedish player before Alenius to win a bracelet was Anders Henriksson in 2006. Henriksson won a $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em event for $202,291.

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Pete Vilandos Wins $1,500 No Limit Holdem Event at 2009 WSOP

Pete “The Greek” Vilandos has been traveling the tournament circuit for close to 20 years, but he’s never seen a hot streak like this before.

Vilandos bested a field of 2,506 players to win the World Series of Poker (WSOP) $1,500 No Limit Hold’em Event (#24) and a prize of $607,276 on Saturday evening. The victory came just 10 days after he took second place in the $1,000 No Limit Hold’em Stimulus Special Event, which was the largest live tournament ever field ever outside of the WSOP Main Event.

Vilandos has outlasted more players in his two big cashes than any other player at this year’s WSOP.  He survived more than 6,010 players in Event #4 and conquered a field of 2,506 in this tournament. On why he’s been having so much success against large fields, Vilandos said,
“It’s a lot of patience and a lot of strategy.”

The $1,500 No Limit Hold’em final table was stacked with young players that play primarily online. Vilandos, the only player with a bracelet going into the final day, wasn’t frightened by their exuberance. “The internet players – they are very good,” he said afterward.  “But we are the old fellows and we have a gut feeling that we go with.”

One of those prolific online stars was Andy “BKiCe” Seth, who took second to Vilandos. Seth had the chip lead going into Day Two and kept it until Vilandos got the best of him in heads-up play. First, Vilandos doubled up after he put in a five-bet preflop for all of his 4.5 million chips with A-K and Seth called with A-Q. Pete’s hand held up and he took a commanding lead, leaving Seth with around two million chips.

Just 15 minutes later, Vilandos used a little luck to put the 22 year-old pro away. Vilandos completed his option and Seth then raised to 700,000. Pete announced all-in and Andy quickly called:

Vilandos:
Seth:

Seth retained his lead on the 10-4-3 flop, but the two of clubs on the turn gave Vilandos a wheel and sent him into a crazed celebration. Seth couldn’t hit one the remaining cards to chop the pot on the river and he was eliminated in second place for $372,855.

It was an English television star that grinded his way to third place in the tournament. London’s Michael Greco earned $248,855 after he lost an all-in confrontation with A-10 to the pocket sevens of Seth.

Fourth-place finisher Glenn McCaffrey was also taken down by Seth, but in ugly fashion. Seth raised pre-flop and McCaffrey re-raised all-in. Seth, given great odds to call, couldn’t fold his A-7 and was in bad shape against A-J until he made a flush on the river, sending McCaffrey home with $176,165.

Dean Hamrick, best known for his 10th place finish at the 2008 WSOP Main Event, took fifth place in this one. He lost a blind versus blind battle to Vilandos with A-Q to pocket nines when Vilandos made a full house on the turn. Hamrick walked away with $132,380, his biggest score since taking home $591,869 from last year’s Main Event.

Here’s a look at the final results from Event #24:

1. Pete Vilandos - $607,256
2. Andy Seth - $372,855
3. Michael Greco - $248,855
4. Glenn McCaffrey - $176,165
5. Dean Hamrick - $132,380
6. Alan Jaffray - $105,699
7. David Lerman - $88,937
8. Ronnie Kevin - $79,017
9. Brian Fitzpatrick - $73,886

Champions will be crowned in both the $1,500 Limit Hold’em (Event #26) and $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha High-Low Split Eight or Better (Event #27) on Sunday. Fifteen players return for the final day of the Limit event, with Al “Sugar Bear” Barbieri holding the chip lead. Bracelet winner Rep Porter is still in the field along with Microsoft Word author Richard Brodie. Play will get underway at 1:00pm Las Vegas time and the winner will receive $197,488.

The Omaha event played down to nine players last night and the final table will be crowded with superstars. Two-time Omaha Bracelet winner Scott “BigRiskky” Clements will take his seat with 801,000 chips, well ahead of the rest of the remaining field. Roland De Wolfe, Brett Richey, Andy Black, John Racener, and Team PokerStars Pro member Alex Kravchenko will each attempt to finish on top and earn a payday of $246,616.

Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for continuing coverage of the 2009 WSOP.

Seidel comes up short in 9th bracelet bid

His consolation prize, however, is being able to donate nearly $25,000 to charity.

The Gentle Giant busted early at the final table of the $1,500 Pot Limit Hold'em tournament this afternoon despite having entered the day third in chips.

Before the final table began, Seidel tweeted that he would donate any money won from this event to children's charities.

His seventh-place finish means $24,919 earmarked for children in need.

Seidel told PokerListings he wasn't particularly happy with his finish.

"You're never satisfied unless you win, so I'm not that excited." Seidel said. "I wasn't thrilled with how I played."

He came in to the final table the marquee name amidst a group of young and largely unknown finalists, but told PokerListings.com his rivals were anything but fish.

"They're all very good players," he said. "All of those young players were very strong and I knew it wasn't going to be a cakewalk.

"You would like to go in knowing there are two or three dead spots, but everyone at the table was very good."

Among Seidel's tablemates were online pro Ravi "govshark2" Raghaven (a Sunday Million winner) and WSOPC Hammond finalist Jason DeWitt, the latter of whom sent Seidel to the rail with a flopped set of eights.

"I really thought they all played well," Seidel said. "It wouldn't surprise me to see any of them win."

That said, the Full Tilt pro suggested chipleader John-Paul Kelly, a poker professional out of Aylsebury, England, had to be considered the favorite simply because of his dominating chip lead.

At the time of writing, Kelly was on 1.1 million and leading the pack with four players remaining.

Dewitt, Marc Tschirch and Kyle Carlston also remain alive in the hunt for a $194,434 first prize.

Check out the 2009 WSOP section for more details.

 

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Team RPM Poker Features Internet’s Top Players

RPM Poker, a new site on the popular Merge Gaming Network, has unveiled its team of poker pros. The squad features some of the top names in the world of online poker, including Aditya “Intervention” Agarwal and Mark “dipthrong” Herm.

A total of 19 players comprise the original Team RPM Poker. The group will travel to live events and represent the Merge Gaming Network site, which accepts customers from the United States. Aditya “Intervention” Agarwal has wins in the Full Tilt Poker $1K Monday and PokerStars $100 rebuy, the latter of which boasts one of the most competitive fields for any recurring tournament. In January, Agarwal took down the $200 rebuy, which also plays out on PokerStars, for $48,000. He’s also a regular on the live poker scene, having taken 15th in the 2007 European Poker Tour (EPT) Barcelona Open for $34,000.

Mark “dipthrong” Herm took the online poker world by storm when he won not one, but two Sunday major tournaments on the same day last July, the Bodog $100,000 Guaranteed and Full Tilt Poker $750,000 Guaranteed. The week before, Herm was the champion of the Sunday Mulligan. In December, he took down the Full Tilt Poker $100 rebuy and finished as the runner up in the site’s Sunday Brawl on February 1st for $54,000. He regularly backs fellow online poker players and is allegedly a top-tier beer pong talent.

Dan “djk123” Kelly is one of the top-ranked players in poker. Last November, he took down a $216 buy-in No Limit Hold’em Turbo event during the Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS) for $104,000. In February, he was up to his winning ways once again, taking third place in a $300 Rebuy Six-Handed No Limit Hold’em FTOPS event for $116,000. He has multiple wins in the PokerStars $100 rebuy and took down the $500 buy-in $100,000 Guaranteed on Ultimate Bet earlier this month for $26,000. He sits in seventh on the PocketFives.com Online Poker Rankings.

Also a part of Team RPM Poker is Randy “Randers” Haddox. In September, he took down a $320 buy-in Six-Max No Limit Hold’em event held during the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP), banking $73,000. In March, he won the challenging Full Tilt $100 Cubed (one rebuy plus one add-on) for $19,000. The Texan also finished 11th in a $1,000 rebuy event during last year’s World Series of Poker (WSOP) for $36,000 in a tournament ultimately won by Michael “worldsgrtest” Banducci. At 29 years-old, Haddox is one of the elder statesmen of Team RPM Poker.

Steven “Zugwat” Silverman can regularly be found playing $200/$400 Heads-Up No Limit Hold’em with the top players in the game. The Maryland native won a $1,060 buy-in FTOPS event in February for a colossal $350,000. In November, he took down the PokerStars $100 rebuy. Silverman is fresh off a 12th place showing in the EPT Monte Carlo Grand Final for $126,000.

Other members of Team RPM Poker include Andrew “luckychewy” Lichtenberger, Stephen “Stevie444” Chidwick, Dan “KingDan” Smith, Chris “cdbr3799” Dombrowski, Jim “Mr_Bigqueso” Collopy, Terry “Asiandude7” Eischens, Daniel “Luie Sojo” Santoro, Brent “astrolux85” Roberts, Anthony “holdplz” Spinella, Jeff “jpapola” Papola, Russell “rcrane082985” Crane, Shawn “jordankickz” Busse, Brett “threatnasty” Switzer, and Kory “s00tedj0kers” Kilpatrick.

Team RPM Poker will battle against players on other Merge Gaming Network sites such as ACED, Carbon Poker, IronDuke, Poker Nordica, and Rumble Poker. The Merge Gaming Network is the 17th largest worldwide in terms of cash game volume with a seven day running average of 345 players, according to PokerScout.com. It is the sixth largest site or network that accepts players from the United States.

Max Speidel, Operations Manager at RPM Poker, commented in a press release unveiling the group, “We’re thrilled to have some of poker’s most recognizable young players as a part of our team. Their results speak for themselves. They’re all world-class players that represent the next generation of poker and they’re all well-respected by their peers and fans. We couldn’t be happier with the team that we’ve assembled.”

40 years of the WSOP: The 90s

The 1990 World Series of Poker started with the same 14 preliminary events as there had been during the last few years, but it saw a record 194 players sign up for the Main Event.

Sadly, the event will be remembered as the time Stu Ungar lost his chip lead and a shot at a third bracelet when a drug overdose left him unable to play.

He was blinded off at the final table on the third day and finished in 9th place.

The winner of the 1990 Main Event, Mansour Matloubi, was the first non-American to win the championship.  He was propelled to victory by what the late Chip Reese characterized as, "without question the most incredible hand in the history of the World Series of Poker."

Late in the tournament, Matloubi had put himself at risk with pocket tens against Hans Lund's ace-nine, on a nine-high board.  The ace on the turn seemed to guarantee the bracelet to Lund, but Matloubi hit one of his two outs on the river.

During the broadcast of the final table, Jack Binion guaranteed that the top prize for the 1991 Main Event would be $1 million dollars.

One year later, Brad Daugherty bested 215 entrants to become the first WSOP million dollar winner at a final TV table that had only one player with prior final table experience.

The number of preliminary events increased again at the 1992 WSOP, but with only 201 players, the Main Event showed a slight decrease from the previous year.

Main Event winner Hamid Dastmalchi, born in Iran, took home the $1 million dollar top prize.  Preliminary event winners that year boasted a who's who, with Phil Hellmuth, Men Nguyen, Erik Seidel, Lyle Berman, Eskimo Clark, Hoyt Corkins, Tom McEvoy and Mickey Appleman each taking home a bracelet.

In 1993, eight of the 18 preliminary events were won by just three players, with Ted Forrest and Phil Hellmuth each winning three bracelets and Humberto Brenes winning two.

Jim Bechtel bested the 220 who entered the Main Event including the chip leader going into the final table John Bonetti, who Bechtel went after right from the first hand.

"Well, if you're going to win a tournament, you're going to have to get it from the guy who has the chips," Bechtel told PokerListings.

In their now-famous final confrontation, Bechtel had a pair of sixes.

"Shorthanded, a pretty strong hand," he said.

Both players checked a K-4-6 flop with two spades, but when the Jack of spades turned over, Bonetti pushed in for over $1 million in chips.

With barely a hesitation, Bechtel called, much to the delight of the microscopically short-stacked Glen Cozen.

"Bonetti was the type of player that if he had any type of decent hand he was willing to play a big pot," Bechtel said. "He didn't have to have the nuts to stick all his money in the pot."

Bechtel was right, Bonetti turned over A-K and went out third. Soon after, Bechtel was the champion.

Russ Hamilton, a name now sadly considered an anathema in the poker world, surpassed 268 players to win the 1994 Main Event.  He took home more than the $1 million dollars prize, receiving an additional $30,000 to represent his then-considerable weight in silver, commemorating the series' 25th Anniversary.

The only woman to make a Main Event final table was Barbara Enright, who placed fifth in 1995.

"Action" Dan Harington actually went on to win, beating a field of 273 after earlier winning the $2,500 NLHE event - earning bracelets in the only two events he entered that year.

The WSOP had a then-whopping 23 preliminary events, including two Chinese poker tournaments.

Huck Seed won the 1996 Main Event, but it was the 1997 event that was the most memorable of the decade.

Stu Ungar made a triumphant return to take his third Main Event title after outlasting a field of 312 at an outdoor final table in the sweltering Las Vegas heat.  Ungar, who died the next year, prophetically proclaimed, "There's no one who could ever beat me playing cards. The only one who could beat me was myself."

"When I was there in 1997 all anyone talked about was the comeback story," said Nolan Dalla, author of One of a Kind: The Rise and Fall of Stuey "The Kid" Ungar, The World's Greatest Poker Player. "No one talked about skill. It was about Stuey, the man and tortured soul."

Daniel Negreanu became the then-youngest bracelet winner at the 1998 WSOP and Scotty Nguyen won the Main Event.

On the final hand, with the board showing eights full of nines, Scotty bet enough to put his opponent, Kevin McBride, all in.

"You call this one and it's all over baby," Scotty memorably told him. McBride called, playing the board, and Scotty turned over jack-nine.  It was all over.

Almost 400 signed up for the 1999 Main Event and Noel Furlong won at a final table that included Huck Seed and Erik Seidel, among others.

Mike Matusow won his first bracelet as did another young player known as much for his temperament as for his play, Layne Flack.

"Every year it seemed it probably couldn't get any bigger," said Bechtel, who in addition to his 1993 win, was runner up in 1979, made two final tables in the 80's, and the H.O.R.S.E. final table in 2006.

"It was standing room only at Binions. At the time, every tournament seemed as big as it could ever get."

As we know now, the WSOP had not yet seen its true explosion.

By the end of the 1990's, the second place prize money for the Main Event was larger than the prize money earned by the first six champions combined, and twice as many entered the Main Event as at the start of the decade.

But that was nothing compared with what was about to happen to the WSOP.

Next article: 40 years of the WSOP: The new millenium

Related Articles:

• 40 years of the WSOP: The beginning
• 40 years of the WSOP: The 70s
• 40 years of the WSOP: The 80s

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2009 WSOP: Is it recession-proof?

In February, WSOP commissioner Jeffrey Pollack told PokerListings.com he thought the economy and it's impact on the poker world would be the biggest news at this summer's series.

It's no secret that Las Vegas is reeling. Casino operators have seen their stock prices in freefall and the city's resorts have been forced to slash room rates and bump up incentives to continue attracting visitors.

To many experts, however, the casino industry's pains don't necessarily signal the same negative outlook at the poker tables.

"Poker is fundamentally different than the rest of the gaming industry," said Andrew M. Woods, Executive Director of the Global Poker Strategic Thinking Society (www.GPSTS.org) and a former teaching fellow of economics at Harvard College.

"It's a game of skill. You play against peers and not against the house, and that changes who participates and why.

"People don't go to play poker with their disposable income intending to hit a big score like they do with slots or other casino games. It's not a pie-in-the-sky thing where you'd throw $20 away. Most people play because they think they have positive [expected value]."

David Schwartz, director of the Center for Gaming Research at the University of Nevada Las Vegas, agrees.

"Since [poker] isn't a game of pure chance weighted in the house's favor, it's less of a discretionary income [form of] entertainment," he said. "Since if you are good, and who doesn't think they are good, you can gain a positive expectation. Some people might, in fact, be intensifying their poker play."

As for how the World Series itself will fare, the experts have mixed expectations.

WSOP Media Director and poker historian Nolan Dalla sounded optimistic.

"I don't want to sound like a cheerleader, but I think the WSOP is such a big draw for so many people that the impact of the economic crisis will be minimal, at least this year," he said.

Meanwhile, Washington-based attorney and former World Poker Association board member Ken Adams suggested the $10,000 Main Event, in particular, will continue to thrive.

"I do not expect the size of the field to decline in the Main Event, as the number of seats won on the internet is unlikely to decline any time soon," he said.

"In recent years as many as 75% of the seats in the Main Event have been filled with internet and satellite qualifiers. One consequence has been the increasing internationalization and youthfulness of the field, as the internet attracts young players from countries around the globe."

Woods agreed.

"The internet explosion has contributed a solid core of customers," he said. "These days, the level of poker education is so high that people don't see the WSOP as a lottery - it's more like the PGA."

Dalla, too, pointed to the increasing diversification of WSOP fields as a major reason why he thinks the Series will continue to prosper.

"Any single [demographic] of players that is affected by problems is often made up by other groups of people who increase in number," he said, pointing to Internationals and young players as two examples of increasing demographics.

"I think a lot of players who have grown up watching poker on television will turn 21 and will attend the WSOP for the first time," he said. "The youth-oriented demographics are favorable to the WSOP both long and short term."

Whether WSOP numbers decline or not in 2009, all four experts agreed that the overall health of the Series shouldn't be called into question.

"My gut instinct is that there will be a very small decline [in numbers], although it's not really my field of expertise," said Schwartz. "But I think Harrah's and Jeffrey Pollack have done a great job in building the brand and I think that their work will counteract any decline the WSOP might experience."

"Naturally, there will be declines and flat periods," said Dalla. "Nothing can grow at 50 percent a year like we did from 2003 to 2008. But given other forms of entertainment and recreation, especially gaming, the WSOP (and poker in general) appear to be doing quite well."

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Nguyen can make history at WPT Championship

Should Scotty Nguyen bank the $2,149,960 first-place prize in the offing at Bellagio, he will become poker's all-time leading money winner with almost $12.6 million, surpassing 2006 WSOP Main Event winner Jamie Gold's $12.1 million.

"That's right," Nguyen told PokerListings as he sat bagging his 5,880,000 in tournament chips. "That's my goal. That's what I promise the poker world and the fans."

Earlier this year at the Los Angeles Poker Classic, Nguyen told PokerListings TV he would quit poker if he made less than $4 million at the 2009 WSOP.

A few days ago here at the Championship, he booked a bet with Mike Matusow getting 3:1 on $5,000 that he would earn $4 million over the next three years.

"He's dead," Nguyen said, with the WPT Championship title clearly in his sights. "Count on it baby, he's dead."

To book this win, the 1998 WSOP Main Event champ will have to get through a bevy of great young players still in contention.

APT Macau champ Yevgeniy Timoshenko will come into the final ten holding 5.1 million in chips and two-time EPT final tablist Christian Harder is not far behind on 4.6 million.

Justin Young made second at the WPT Five Diamond back in December and is currently fourth in chips with 4.2 million.

2006 Bellagio Cup winner Shannon Shorr and 2008 WSOP $5k Pot Limit Omaha final tablist Brian Rast have a little over three million chips each, while 2007 WPT Five Diamond champ Eugene Katchalov holds 2.3 million.

Just below the two-million chip mark sits the ever-dangerous Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier, looking to repeat his 2008 WPT Festa al Lago win here at Bellagio.

The two shorter stacks include the relatively unknown Israeli Ran Azor and France's Aviation Club manager and 2007 WSOP $50k H.O.R.S.E. runner-up Bruno Fitoussi.

Regardless, Nguyen said he's just going to do his thing and let the chips fall where they may.

"I'm just going to play Scotty Nguyen style, baby," he said. "Fearless, baby; Fearless and confident."

The Vietnamese-born Nguyen sits on the edge of history with unmatched bravado and the poker skills to back it up.

"Think about it, how many people do you know who will look straight at the camera and say 'I will win four million dollars this year'?" he asked. "None. I'm the only one. That's why they have people betting on me five to one, four to one, three to one, you know, baby? I take it all.

"Whoever wants to bet against me, I take it all. I told you, this is my year."

The play down from ten to the final table of six at the WPT Championship will begin at 12 p.m. PT in Las Vegas and PokerListings will have all the action on our Live Tournaments page.

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Poker Shrink Vol. 54: Successive Approximations

I was playing poker the other evening and after losing yet another hand, the young player next to me mumbled: "Man, I just can't put that old guy onto a hand....

ZeeJustin Unbanned on PokerStars

Just in time for its very first Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP), the world's most popular online poker room, PokerStars, reinstated the account of Justin "ZeeJustin" Bonomo, a sponsored pro of Bodog. The 23 year-old first ran into trouble in 2006 on PartyPoker, which was, at the time, open to U.S. players. Bonomo logged into multiple accounts at one time, sparking a flood of other sites to follow suit and ban the young player from their virtual felts.

Bonomo's multi-accounting came into light soon after the revelation that Josh "JJProdigy" Field had used several screen names, including “ABlackCar.” The mischief by Field also occurred on PartyPoker, leading the site to tighten up its security. Field was also informed by the Cake Poker Network that he could not compete in the Bluff Online Poker Challenge last month due to a ban for allowing a staked player to use his account.

Bonomo used a total of six accounts to log into PartyPoker; at times, these accounts appeared in the same online poker tournament. Winnings from a $640 buy-in PartyPoker Sunday tournament were revoked and Bonomo shied away from the media frenzy. On February 26th, 2006, Lee Jones, then the PokerStars Poker Room Manager, announced on TwoPlusTwo that Bonomo had been "playing multiple accounts in several tournaments at PokerStars." Money was taken from his account and used to pay back "players who were harmed by his actions in those same tournaments."

In 2008, Bonomo signed on as a member of Team Bodog, joining "Survivor: China" castaway Jean-Robert Bellande, Evelyn Ng, and David Williams. Bonomo burst onto the live poker scene in 2007, taking second in a $3,000 buy-in HORSE tournament held as part of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Circuit festivities at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas for $40,000. During the 2007 WSOP, Bonomo made the final table and finished fourth in a $2,000 buy-in No Limit Hold'em tournament, winning $156,000. The next year, he finished as the runner up in a $5,000 Mixed Hold'em event for $230,000. That tournament marked the first bracelet win for Full Tilt Poker pro Erick Lindgren.

During the 2006 Bellagio Five Diamond World Poker Classic, a stop on the World Poker Tour (WPT), Bonomo bubbled the six-handed televised final table and finished in seventh for $152,000. He took 11th in the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Main Event and 35th in the WPT Championship, both in 2007, for a combined $154,000. Together with Parvis and Eric Morris, Bonomo took down the inaugural Dream Team Poker tournament held at the Hard Rock Casino in Las Vegas as part of “Team Bluff.” Now, he will battle it out in the PokerStars SCOOP, which begins on Friday.

On the naming of Bonomo to Bodog's elite stable of poker pros in May of 2008, Mohawk Gaming Group CEO Alwyn Morris commented in a press release, "Justin is one of the most feared and skilled players in poker today and we're thrilled to officially have him join our team of world-class poker pros. Justin lives and breathes the Bodog lifestyle and is a perfect fit for us. We expect him to make a lot of noise this year for Team Bodog, beginning with the WSOP this summer."