Archive for May, 2009
05 30th, 2009
They played a little less than 1,000 hands and despite the fact Dwan won two of the three biggest pots, Antonius managed to grind out a $23k win, extending his overall lead to just under $450k.
The largest pot of the session, worth just over $200k, saw Dwan flop the big full-house on the 8
10
8
flop, before getting it all in with Antonius over three streets of betting.
Both of the largest pots won by Dwan in this session came while he was in the small blind as it becomes clearer that position has been the key throughout the entire challenge.
On the small blind, durrrr has made a profit of over $969k, while in the big blind, his total losses are more than $1.4 million.
This session came as somewhat of a surprise to many online railbirds, as the general assumption was there would be no durrrr Challenge action during the WSOP.
But with both players out of the 2009 WSOP $40k opening event and only the $1,500 Omaha 8 and $1k economic stimulus tournaments , these two were back at it on the virtual felt.
With 30% of the challenge in the books, Antonius shows an almost $450k profit and since he and Dwan appear to have no interest in WSOP events with buy-ins under $10k, there may be more action to come this summer.
durrrr Challenge by the numbers:
- 98,445,146: Total amount wagered in the challenge
- 1,400,000: Price of a new Bugatti Veyron
- 447,684: Amount Antonius is ahead
- 23,003: Amount durrrr lost in the latest session
- 15,123: Total hands played so far
- 4,646: Average pot size
- 195: Number of hours played
- 1: Price of a Snoopy PEZ dispenser on EBAY
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If Event #3, $1500 Omaha Hi/Lo 8-or-Better, is a bellwether, then the 2009 World Series of Poker…
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The roll call of names in Event #2 of the 2009 World Series of Poker, $40,000 No-Limit Hold’em…
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05 30th, 2009
The Bodog pro ended Day 2 of the WSOP’s Event 2 - the $40,000 NLHE event - chipleader among the tournament’s 23 survivors.
“I’ve had extremely smooth sailing for the entire tournament,” Bonomo told PokerListings.com at the conclusion of play on Friday. “I’ve been lucky.”
In a day that featured plenty of fireworks - with Day 1 chipleaders Bruno Fitoussi and Chris Moneymaker both experiencing disastrous collapses - Bonomo told PokerListings he accumulated his tournament-best 2,678,000 stack in rather boring fashion.
“I’ve been so lucky that I haven’t played any big pots,” he said. “I’ve been playing a lot of small pots and chipping up and basically every pot I’ve played I’ve won.”
Bonomo’s biggest win came at the expense of “Crazy” Marco Johnson, whose A Q failed to hold against his K T just a few eliminations shy of the money.
Other than that hand, however, it’s been a steady climb.
“I haven’t had any big decisions,” said Bonomo. “I think I’ve been in the top ten in chips since the first hour of Day 1.”
At the end of play yesterday, Mike “The Mouth” Matusow to PokerListings.com about the structure for this event.
The Full Tilt pro took issue with the hour-long levels and 200/400 starting blinds.
Bonomo, however, saw no problems where structure was concerned.
“I like the structure,” he said. “Some players have been screaming that it’s not an eight-day event or whatever, but obviously [the WSOP] didn’t want to do that.
“For a normal bracelet event it’s great. Including levels like a 9,000/18,000 is a great idea.”
With a buy-in about equal to a normal American’s yearly salary, registration for this event was an exclusive affair. But that didn’t mean every one of the 201 entrants was particularly talented, said Bonomo.
“The standard of play in this event was extremely varied,” he said. “I was lucky to have had a lot of amateurs at my first table.
“I flopped a set against one guy and he got all-in against me with pocket aces when we were still really deep.”
Now that only 23 players are left, however, the field has been distilled into something resembling a poker all-star team.
ZeeJustin will share felt on Day 3 with the likes of Brian Townsend, Ted Forrest, Andrew “Good2CU” Robl and Greg Raymer.
Forrest (2,586,000) and Raymer (2,287,000) finished Day 2 in second and fourth on the leaderboard, respectively, while sixth-place Keith Lehr will sit on Bonomo’s direct left tomorrow.
Still, he likes his chances.
“I like my table draw,” he said. “I think I have good position on a lot of the better players at my table and a lot of the tough players in the tournament are on other tables.”
Among those tough survivors are Lex “RaSZi” Veldhuis, Alec Torelli, Brian Townsend, Noah Schwartz, David Chiu and Neil Channing.
Vanessa Rousso, J.C. Tran, David Pham and Sorel Mizzi were eliminated just after the bursting of the bubble near the conclusion of play on Thursday. All four will earn $71,858.
The tournament’s 23 survivors will return at 2 p.m. tomorrow to play down to a nine-handed final table. You can get comprehensive coverage in the PokerListings.com .
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05 30th, 2009
The event is projected to draw as many as 5,000 entrants. The prospect of grinding through that many players isn’t too appealing to some pros, but Phil Hellmuth embraces the challenge.
“It’s a chance to set a record for one thing,” said the 11-time WSOP bracelet winner. “Whoever wins that bracelet deserves it. You beat 5,000 other people.”
“It’s a great tournament for the pros because you either get a lot of chips right away or you don’t.”
Hellmuth says he’s more prepared for the 2009 WSOP than he’s been in years, thanks to a new regiment of physical training. The “Poker Brat” loves the idea of the $1k event.
“I wish they would do a $1k tournament with rebuys,” he said.
Designed to encourage players to ante up for an affordable WSOP, this tournament will resemble many major online tournaments, where small buy-ins and huge fields are the norm.
This could give an advantage to online players, but despite his reputation for online success, Jimmy Fricke doesn’t seem to be looking forward to the massive numbers expected to show.
“It’s a small buy-in tournament with a good structure,” Fricke said. “I think the structure needs to be worse. The Main Event is going to take like an extra two days this year, just because of that small increase in chips they gave us.
“When you have such big fields and long levels, you don’t need a lot of starting chips.”
Fricke started his Friday afternoon playing in the Omaha 8 event, and “Gobboboy” is hoping a deep run will keep him on the sidelines for the Stimulus.
But if he does play, he expects it to be a long grind.
“If you have a bunch of inexperienced players early on, they’re going to bust out and the average number of chips is going to skyrocket,” said Fricke, whose biggest live cash came in the 2007 Aussie Millions when he finished second.
“If you start us off with 100 big blinds there’s going to be too much play,” he said. “Then the structure gets worse as the tournament goes on.”
The field should include plenty of pros, but some big names are sitting it out.
After busting out of the $40k event yesterday, Howard Lederer is staying home until Monday and the start of the World Championship Seven Card Stud $10,000 bracelet event.
“I always feel like I’m easing my way in,” Lederer said. “I’ve gotten my taste and now I’m going to take a couple of days off. I’m not really looking to try to beat 5,000 people over the weekend.”
Other pros, like 2008 WSOP Europe Main Event champion John Juanda plan to play in the $1k stimulus event only if time permits.
Like Fricke, Juanda began Friday afternoon in the Omaha 8 event.
“We’re going to get a lot of players, that’s for sure,” said Juanda, who’s cashed 39 times in the WSOP since 2002, in addition to his bracelet win in the 2008 WSOPE Main Event.
“I expect like 4,000 players, maybe more. It’s going to be a lot of fun. Obviously, whoever gets really lucky and plays pretty good will do well.”
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05 30th, 2009
Justin Bonomo was born on September 30, 1985 and grew up in the Washington, D.C. suburb of Fairfax, Virginia. At the age of eight he was introduced to the card…
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The 2009 World Series of Poker kicked off in earnest yesterday with the 40th Anniversary $40,000 No-Limit Hold’em…
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The first WSOP event of 2009 saw 861 casino employees gunning for the gold bracelet and the $83,778 first-place….
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05 29th, 2009
is offering players the opportunity to win a trip to Las Vegas for the WSOP Main Event courtesy of their Viva Las Vegas promotion.
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“Oh I do like to be beside the seaside” so the song goes. Sadly it doesn’t mention poker and dart players but that’s the combination on offer in the latest Stan James promotion. The bookmaker has launched a series of online poker tournaments to tie in with their World Matchplay Darts event which takes place in seaside resort of Blackpool in July.
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