Internet poker online
03 10th, 2010
Tuesday, ESPN.com released the March version of “The Nuts”, its ranking of the top ten poker players in the world. The list does not simply rank the best living players, but rather aims to determine who is currently playing the best poker. All variations of poker are considered – live and online, tournaments and cash games. Poker News Daily’s own Dan Cypra is one of the members of the voting panel, along with ESPN.com writers Gary Wise, Andrew Feldman, and (also a PND contributor), Bluff magazine’s editor-in-chief Lance Bradley and senior writer Jessica Welman, PokerNews.com editor-in-chief Matthew Parvis and tournament reporter Don Peters, and Poker Road’s Court Harrington.
This is the fourth month for “The Nuts,” and for the fourth month, the seemingly peerless sits atop the rankings. He did not have any significant live poker tournament success in February, but his cash game prowess is still second to none. While the rankings are a measure of who is the best “right now,” the panel’s focus is not so narrow as to limit evaluation to just a single month. Ivey gets credit for his outstanding results in the months leading up to the most recent vote.
Jason Mercier, one of the best players that the general poker public may have never heard of, moved up one spot to number two. In February, the Floridian made the quarterfinals of the National Heads-Up Poker Championship and placed third in the L.A. Poker Classic’s High Roller event. When he found out that he had climbed to the second spot, Mercier was excited, telling ESPN.com, “It’s pretty cool [to be No. 2]. I think that I’ve reached as high as I can go. I don’t think I have any chance of beating out Ivey.”
The biggest riser amongst last month’s top ten was Tom “” Dwan, who was number eight in February and is now number three this month. Dwan doesn’t have any notches in his tournament belt recently, but he has been absolutely destroying the online cash games, as he usually does. He made $2.7 million in the month leading up to the current vote, much of it off of in the Durrrr Challenge.
Speaking of Antonius, his poor cash results resulted in him dropping in the rankings from second to fifth.
New to “The Nuts” this month are Cole South and Scott Seiver. South has been tearing up cash games to the tune of $2.5 million in profit this year, while Seiver won the L.A. Poker Classic high roller event and placed fourth in the North American Poker Tour Venetian High Roller Bounty Shootout.
Dropping from the rankings were and , who were ninth and tenth, respectively, in February.
ESPN.com “The Nuts” Poker Player Rankings – March 2010
- Phil Ivey
- Jason Mercier
- Tom “durrrr” Dwan
- Daniel Alaei
- Eric Baldwin
- Cole South
- Scott Seiver
Read more from the original source here:
Two players on recent hot streaks are among the chip leaders after Day 1A of the ’s () Bay 101 Shooting Star tournament. A total of 17 bounties took to the field on Day 1A, with 25 more expected today.
Greg “FBT” Mueller won two bracelets during the 2009 (), coming out on top in the $10,000 World Championship of Limit Hold’em for $460,000 and a $1,500 Limit Hold’em Shootout for another $195,000. Moreover, he made a third final table, taking seventh place in the World Championship of Seven Card Stud for $53,000. All told, Mueller logged one of the most successful WSOP showings in history and is up to his winning ways once again in San Jose, California, the site of Bay 101.
Mueller sent Shooting Star and recent WPT Southern Poker Championship winner Hoyt Corkins out on Monday. The pro was all-in before the flop with A-K, but Mueller, who is also a Shooting Star, picked up pocket aces. The board ran out Q-8-4-9-9 and Corkins signed over a commemorative shirt. Mueller also laid claim to the $5,000 cash bonus. The former hockey player has the second largest chip stack after Day 1A at 132,800, trailing only chip leader Vanna Tea’s 143,900.
Yevgeniy “Jovial Gent” Timoshenko is the reigning WPT Championship winner and also took down the 2009 World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) Main Event for $1.7 million. In 2008, Timoshenko found the winner’s circle of the Asian Poker Tour’s (APT) Macau Main Event for $500,000. Timoshenko, a Shooting Star, owned the fourth largest stack when play wrapped up for the night on Monday at 97,600. A total of 53 players remained of the 136 who entered.
Timoshenko dropped a portion of his stack late in the day. He led out for 6,900 into a pot of 10,000 on a board reading K-8-4-6-5. Team PokerStars Pro front man made the call and turned over 5-4 of hearts for two pair. Timoshenko had K-J for top pair and was a victim of a less-than-stellar river card. The hand boosted Negreanu to 50,000 in chips, but he ended the day with just 19,600, the 48th largest stack.
The first Shooting Star to depart was , who shoved on a flop of A-J-4 holding pocket queens. Wade Griffith held A-J in the hand for top two pair and Cloutier failed to improve on the turn or river. Griffith finished in 42nd place after Day 1A with a stack of 30,000 chips.
Besides Mueller, Timoshenko and Negreanu, the Shooting Stars who survived the day were (39th place with 35,100), Freddy Deeb (41st place with 30,800), and Steve Brecher (51st place with 10,800). Here are the top 10 chip stacks after the first of two starting days at Bay 101:
1. Vanna Tea - 143,900
2. Greg Mueller - 132,800
3. Oddie Dardon - 105,500
4. Yevgeniy “Jovial Gent” Timoshenko - 97,600
5. Joseph Elpayaa - 87,300
6. - 84,800
7. Chris “Fox” Wallace - 84,100
8. Bruce Kramer - 81,200
9. Daniel LaFrance - 79,400
10. Tyson Marks - 74,000
When play wrapped up for the day, the action was in Level 9, where the blinds were 300-600 with an ante of 75. No Shooting Star has ever won Bay 101 since it became part of the WPT in 2004.
As an added bonus, Tea pocketed a $10,000 cash prize for leading the pack after Day 1A; the leader after Day 1B will also collect $10,000. The cards hit the air at 10:45am PT this morning.
Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest WPT results.
More here:
Large pots were few and far between on Sunday night’s episode of the GSN series “High Stakes Poker.” Instead, a vegetarian prop bet between pros and Tom “” Dwan took center stage.
After being discussed non-stop for a half-hour of the 60-minute program, the vegetarian prop bet was finally agreed upon. Ultimately, Ivey would become a vegetarian for one year for $1 million. In a sit-down interview with “High Stakes Poker” hostess Kara Scott, Ivey told viewers, “I was thinking about doing it for a while, so this is an added incentive.” Dwan was confident that he’d win the bet, but nonetheless expressed a degree of doubt: “He’s got a lot of will power and he might go out and prove me wrong.” Any creature that moves is off limits for Ivey.
Back on the felts, Ivey proved why he’s one of the top names in the game by raising to $3,000 pre-flop with 7-2 and receiving four callers. The flop came 4-9-A with two hearts and Ivey put in a $12,000 continuation bet. Italian poker stud Dario Minieri, who held 10-8 of hearts, came along to see another ace hit the turn. Ivey bet out $30,000 this time around and Minieri folded. “High Stakes Poker” host Gabe Kaplan commented, “Most players would turn over the 7-2 there, but not Phil Ivey.”
Then, Team Pro front man raised to $3,000 with 9-6 of hearts and Eli Elezra came along with 9-8 of diamonds. The flop came 10-5-7, giving both players straight draws, and Negreanu bet $5,500. Elezra pushed the action to $13,000 and Negreanu came along to see a king on the turn. Elezra checked and Negreanu accidentally exposed his nine while reaching for a stack of $100 bills. He promptly checked and an eight hit on the river, filling his straight. Negreanu bet $20,000 and Elezra tanked before folding. Negreanu told the table, “That was the weirdest hand I’ve ever played.”
Minieri was overly active throughout the episode and set the tone after made it $3,500 pre-flop with A-8. Minieri, sensing weakness, made it $11,500 with A-9. Then, fireworks went of, as Hansen re-raised to $35,500 and Minieri shoved all-in for $213,000. Hansen quickly mucked, leaving Kaplan to remark, “That’s either a good read or a moment of insanity.” Negreanu would later try to force an all-in from Minieri when “Kid Poker” held pocket aces, but the Italian instead folded.
In one of the larger pots of the episode, which aired at 8:00pm ET on Sunday on GSN, Ivey raised to $3,000 with pocket eights, Negreanu called with A-7 of spades, and Dwan called with Q-J. The flop came A-J-4, and Ivey checked his pocket pair. Negreanu led out for $8,000 with top pair, while Dwan made the call with middle pair. Ivey got out of the way and a queen hit the turn to improve Dwan to two pair. Negreanu fired out a bet of $18,000 and Dwan called. The duo both checked a river five, shipping the $63,800 pot to Dwan.
In the final hand of the hour, Elezra raised to $3,000 with 9-7, Negreanu called with Q-9, and Dwan called with K-Q. The flop fell K-8-10 and Elezra put in a $7,200 continuation bet with an open-ended straight draw. Dwan came along with top pair to bring a jack on the turn, filling Eleza’s straight. However, with three spades now on the board, the action went check-check. The river was a six and Dwan bet $8,400. Elezra raised to $28,400 and Dwan released his hand.
Next time, four “High Stakes Poker” players get felted and an epic hand brews between Dwan and Ivey. New episodes of “High Stakes Poker” air on Sunday nights at 8:00pm ET on GSN.
Read more here:
In the world of poker, one of the best ways to keep up with your favorite players is through their Twitter feeds. These 140 character comments from the best in the game today can be sometimes shocking, sometimes hilarious, but always entertaining. Poker News Daily peruses the Twitterverse to capture the latest hijinks from all of your favorites.
Earlier this week during the taping of “Poker2Nite” for the Versus network, host Joe Sebok and recent () Invitational final table player Trishelle Cannatella apparently had quite the argument, which ended with Cannatella storming off the set of the show. Video of what occurred has not only appeared on Twitter, but also has been picked up across the internet. While some may say that the argument was staged, on Twitter both sides made it seem serious.
Cannatella popped a Tweet aimed at Sebok, saying “Such a jerk face!!” Sebok seemed to be more than apologetic when he Tweeted in reply, “omg! I’m sorry! Didn’t mean it!.” Perhaps alleviating the tension was poker player Alex Outhred, who chirped to the “Poker2Nite” producers the potential reasons for Cannatella’s hissy fit, “a) @joesebok called @TrishelleC Lacey… Or b) she only came bc she heard I was there in Lacey drag. She’s disappointed.”
Outside of the “Poker2Nite” studios, other poker players were partaking of the return of comedian Jay Leno to “The Tonight Show.” Leno, who reappeared on the legendary late night television show on Monday, has had A-list celebrities appearing this week in an attempt to draw back his late night audience. Former Alaska governor Sarah Palin was the featured guest on Wednesday evening and the poker world was quick to grade her.
“Lord Jesus, I never knew watching Sarah Palin do ‘comedy’ on the Tonight Show could be this painful. Team CoCo 4 life, yo,” was the reaction over Twitter from “Hollywood” Dave Stann after watching the former Republican Vice Presidential nominee on the show. Brad “Yukon” Booth was also a bit dismissive of Palin when he Tweeted, “Watching Jay Leno interview Sarah Palin is like watching a scene of ‘Dumb & Dumber’ except it’s sad not funny.”
As the weekend approached, the poker community was focused on two ongoing events. In Berlin, the European Poker Tour (EPT) was in full swing with two of the top female poker players in the game today Tweeting the proceedings. England’s Vicky Coren was torturing the players at her table, Tweeting, “One guy threw his jacks away so angrily and violently I couldn’t resist showing the bluff. I feel bad now. I never do that.” It seemed that Germany’s Katja Thater was in a giving mood during the tournament when she Tweeted, “I am the master of doubling up the short stacks…now I look myself for a double up.” Unfortunately, neither lady was able to last into Day Three of the event, which will crown a champion this weekend.
Thursday evening brought the draw party for the National Heads-Up Poker Championship, which will also be contested this weekend. “Headed down to Pure for the NBC HU draw party and I’m hoping to NOT draw one of the 7 qualifiers or a woman. Record going into #6 is 7-5,” Tweeted as he prepared for the draw. “Kid Poker’s” luck wouldn’t be good, as he learned he would play one of the hottest players in the game today in the first round. “Super tough match for me in Jason Mercier. I have a tough bracket Gavin (Smith), Ivey, Scotty (Nguyen), Hachem, Chan, Durr, Laak, Juanda, Sexton, deKorver,” Negreanu later Tweeted. A winner will be crowned on Sunday.
As for Tweet of the Week, two contenders battle it out. Poker Royalty super agent Brian Balsbaugh was in attendance for the National Heads-Up Poker Championship draw and pointed out a shocking bit of trivia for his followers, Tweeting, “Overheard at NBC HU draw party: I just realized if a bomb went off here, (Hustler magazine founder) Larry Flynt would be the best poker player in the world.” Anthrax’s Scott Ian handed out a bit of poker wisdom over his Twitter account as he played late last night. With an accompanying Tweetpic, Ian stated, “Just took this sick beat @ultimate_bet. Did I cry? Did I bitch? Did I quit poker? Nope. It’s poker. Get over it.”
Poker News Daily adds to the chirping on Twitter, so add @pokernewsdaily to keep in touch with the world of poker on Twitter.
Read more here:
With the advent of the world of Twitter, people can fill you in on their lives in quick, 140-character bursts. Poker’s royalty have taken to the medium to inform their fans of their latest activities as well as their views on different issues. Poker News Daily continually tracks these Tweets to let you know what the latest buzz is in the poker community.
Last weekend, poker players were torn between performing their jobs on the felt and following the end of the Winter Olympics. Of particular interest to many was the gold medal hockey game between the favored Canadian national team and the upstart Team USA. A week prior to the game Sunday, the Americans had surprised the Canadians by defeating them 5-3 in pool play and the gold medal match – which was also the last medal awarded at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver – was a chance at redemption for the boys from the Great White North.
As the game began on Sunday, poker players announced their allegiances across the Twitterverse. Unlike many who watched the gold medal game on television, poker player Terrence Chan was one of the fortunate who saw the game live at Canada Hockey Place in Vancouver. “Sec 120 row 4 seat 106. Ten feet from (Canadian goalie Roberto) Luongo,” Chan Tweeted prior to the start of action, drawing a reaction of, “So jealous you’re there,” from fellow pro Shaun Deeb. Lining up on the Americans’ side were poker players such as Deeb, Eric Mizrachi, and Joe Sebok, while the Canadians held a rooting section that included Chan, Brad “Yukon” Booth, and Isabelle Mercier.
As the game played out, Tweets flew nearly as fast as the pucks and Canada moved out to a 2-0 lead. Playing in the L.A. Poker Classic at the time, UB.com pro took the time to jokingly Tweet, “LOL! I’m a little surprised team USA can’t find a goalie fat enough to block the entire net.” The Americans grinded their way back and, with less than 30 seconds to go in the game, tied the score at 2-2. Even L.A. Poker Classic tournament director Matt Savage was sidetracked by the gold medal game as he Tweeted, “Tournament room @LAPokerClassic went crazy when USA tied the game 2-2. @RealKidPoker () not happy!”
As the sudden death overtime period played out, many of the top names in poker were on pins and needles as the game continued. “High Stakes Poker” hostess Kara Scott alluded to this when she Tweeted, “Ugh, so tense with the Hockey. Come on CANADA.” After Canada’s Sidney Crosby slipped the game winner past Team USA’s Ryan Miller almost eight minutes into overtime, the victorious Canadian poker players/fans had much to say. “Yaaaaaaaaa!!!! What a game. Canada continues to reign supreme on the ice. Oh that was so awesome!,” Daniel Negreanu fired out over the Twitterscape after the win. “Poker2Nite” host Scott Huff was less than impressed when he Tweeted, “Oh come on. Canada celebrating winning the gold in hockey is like me celebrating paying my bills on time.”
Poker’s best also found some time to play in the L.A. Poker Classic while the Winter Olympics were wrapping up. Duke, who played deep into the championship tournament, noted in her Tweet, “HowardHLederer just got drawn to my table. Luckily he’s on my right lol.” Adam “Roothlus” Levy admired the chip stacking skills of ’s Carlos Mortensen in his Tweet and accented it with a picture, saying, “Carlos Mortensen’s stack. He should be an architect. Such vision.”
Negreanu lamented his table on Sunday when he Tweeted, “Brutal seat @lapokerclassic Steve Sung on my right Carlos Mortensen on my left, and to his left the guy who crushed me yesterday.” The table must have been difficult, as soon after “Kid Poker” came back and Tweeted, “Very disappointed on how I played the last hand. Going to cool off by chilling in LA for a bit. Weather is awesome. Should have shoved!” The pros didn’t do badly during the LAPC WPT Main Event, with Negreanu cashing in 66th place, Duke dropping out in 19th place, and Sung and Mortensen falling short of the WPT final table in eighth and ninth place, respectively.
On the lighter side of Twitter, players Lacey Jones and Alex Outhred bantered about Outhred potentially having to sit in for Jones on “Poker2Nite.” With Jones facing flight delays in Canada and potentially missing the taping of the popular poker show, Outhred volunteered to take her place. “@Poker2Nite get me a wig, razor, man-spanx, and make-up. I think I could double for @LaceyJones,” Alex Tweeted to the producers. Lacey was quick to fire back, “@alexpokerguy Ur a life saver. But don’t forget to stuff your bra! Haha.”
Twitter continues to provide entertainment for millions around the world and the poker community just makes it better. Poker News Daily follows poker in Twitter and adds to the enjoyment itself. Be sure to follow @pokernewsdaily on your Twitter account for all the latest news and information from the world of poker.
Read more here:
A total of 22 players remain in the L.A. Poker Classic, a stop on the (). 2001 () Main Event champ Carlos Mortensen leads the way with 1.67 million chips.
Mortensen sent Michael Woo to the rails in 23rd place. Woo pushed all-in on a board of J-8-4-3 with three clubs, flipping over pocket queens. Mortensen made the call and showed pocket jacks for top set. Needing to catch one of the two remaining queens in the deck on the river to stay alive, Woo watched as an ace hit, sealing his exit. He picked up $45,000 for his efforts in the $10,000 buy-in poker tournament.
Thirty minutes prior, Mortensen had doubled up through Raymond Dolan. Mortensen held pocket aces in the hand and Dolan held jacks. The hand boosted Mortensen to 960,000 in chips, kicking off “The Matador’s” last–minute surge to the top of the pack. Mortensen has two WPT titles under his belt. He won the Season 3 North American Poker Championship for $1 million and also came out on top in the Season 5 WPT Championship for nearly $4 million. He’s second all-time to with $5.26 million in WPT earnings and would become just the second three-time WPT event winner, the other being .
Mark Newhouse, who held the chip lead entering Day 4 on Monday, finished with the second largest stack at 1.31 million. Newhouse doubled up through Dan “Wretchy” Martin late in the day. On a board of 7-5-3-J-Q, Newhouse pushed all-in for 561,000, nearly the size of the pot, and Martin made the call, flipping up pocket kings for an overpair. Newhouse, however, showed J-7 of spades for a turned two pair, pushing his chip stack to 1.5 million. Martin, meanwhile, dropped to 500,000 after his aces were cracked, but finished the day with 684,000, good for seventh place on the leaderboard.
Also doubling up late in the day was UB.com pro and Poker News Daily Guest Columnist . The top female pro picked a prime spot to shove with A-K pre-flop, as Masa Kagawa called and showed A-Q. The flop came ace-high and no queen came for Kagawa, doubling Duke to 266,000 in chips. She ended the day at 241,000, the second shortest stack in the room next to John Cautela’s 219,000.
Ten-time WSOP bracelet winner remains in contention and doubled up on Monday with pocket aces against pro Hoyt Corkins’ pocket kings. The board came 7-7-6-9-8 and Chan moved to 450,000 in chips. He ultimately ended with 406,000, the 17th largest stack entering Day 5. Chan and Doyle Brunson are tied with 10 bracelets each, trailing only ’s tally of 11 for most all-time.
When play resumes today at Noon PT at the Commerce Casino in Los Angeles, the blinds will be 6,000-12,000 with an ante of 2,000. The following 22 players remain in the hunt for the top prize of $1.8 million:
1. Carlos Mortensen - 1,669,000
2. Mark Newhouse - 1,308,000
3. Raymond Dolan - 1,229,000
4. Masa Kagawa - 1,129,000
5. Andras Koroknai - 1,002,000
6. Tri Huynh - 942,000
7. Dan “Wretchy” Martin - 684,000
8. Jean-Claude Moussa - 672,000
9. Steve Sung - 671,000
10. Jim Casement - 609,000
11. Tim Begley - 603,000
12. Gevork Kasabyan - 594,000
13. Jamie Brown - 552,000
14. Mari Lou Morelli - 456,000
15. Dylan Linde - 447,000
16. Bob Kairnes - 421,000
17. Johnny Chan - 406,000
18. Danny Fuhs - 379,000
19. Michael Kamran - 327,000
20. Connor Allisen - 324,000
21. Annie Duke - 241,000
22. John Cautela - 219,000
Each player left is assured a $45,000 payday, while the top nine will take home at least $100,000. Despite the tournament already being down to 22 runners, the final table will not take place until Thursday. Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest WPT coverage.
Read more here:
03 1st, 2010
If you have not heard or read the news, let me give you a quick recap. On February 9th, it was announced to the poker world that Foxwoods Resort Casino for their () branded poker room. I am extremely honored and privileged to be representing one of the best poker rooms in the world and the premier New England gaming destination.
I also want to thank everyone who has passed along their kind words and congratulations regarding my sponsorship deal with Foxwoods Resort Casino. I was very humbled to receive numerous e-mails, texts, and messages from the poker world, from to to to to to Lee Childs to Matt Glantz, and many more. Moreover, I was very pleased to receive many kind words and comments from you, the fans, and I can’t thank you enough.
Foxwoods Resort Casino has always held a special place in my heart, which is all the more reason I am extremely pleased with this outcome. After its grand opening in 1992, I visited the Foxwoods poker room for the very first time. Ever since then, it has been a place of many firsts for me, which include:
1) My first poker tournament
2) My first satellite tournament win
3) My first large buy-in main event ($10,000 World Poker Finals in 2004)
4) My first poker title ($5,000 No Limit Hold’em event during the 2006 World Poker Finals)
Afterward, I captured two other titles at Foxwoods in the next two years, allowing me to win three titles at the World Poker Finals in three successive years (2006 to 2008). I won the $2,000 No Limit Hold’em event in 2007 and the $600 modified No Limit Shootout in 2008. I almost made it four titles in four years in a row when I made the final table in the 2009 $1,500 No Limit Hold’em event. Unfortunately, I came up a little short, finishing disappointingly in ninth place.
Nevertheless, I have made eight final tables there, earning over $750,000. So, you can see why I consider it my home away from home. As I said in the press release, “If there is such a thing as home-court advantage in poker, for me it’s at Foxwoods.”
After the news was announced last month, many people were slightly confused and asked what this sponsorship agreement entails. The agreement is pretty straightforward, as it is analogous to an online poker room sponsorship agreement that we have all grown accustomed to over the past several years.
However, although online player sponsorship has previously been fairly commonplace, it has become increasing difficult to obtain such as deal, especially for Americans, since the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIEGA) came into effect.
Now, Foxwoods becomes the first major casino to sign a player to a sponsorship agreement. Previously, other players have signed deals with smaller casinos: with Cherokee Casino in Oklahoma and with Planet Hollywood. Additionally, Daniel Negreanu signed an interesting, yet short-lived deal with the Wynn to play heads-up matches on its property.
Now, other casinos across the country may begin to take a closer look at their internal situations and possibly consider if there is sponsorship opportunity with a local recognizable player.
Overall, I believe that this agreement has opened up another avenue of player sponsorship in the world of poker. Within the next 18 months, I feel that there may be additional signings by casinos, especially in states that have smaller, regional competition. States such as Florida, Oklahoma, Michigan, Indiana, and Arizona are places where an agreement with a local player could be advantageous. For example, Florida has increased its tournament buy-in maximum to $1,000 and is looking at increasing it even further. With a plethora of top players coming from the Sunshine State like Jason Mercier, Jonathan Little, the Mizrachi brothers, Chad Brown, and , the casinos would have several players to choose from.
I look forward to this signing to potentially becoming a trend. The next time that you are on the East Coast, come up and join me at the ‘Woods and experience “The Wonder of it All.”
Before I leave you this month, I want to thank my personal team, which made this agreement with Foxwoods Resort Casino possible. These members include my agent/business manager (Charlie Tillett), publicist (Jennifer Rosinski-Croteau), and assistant/radio news manager (Steve Buchanan). Finally, thank you to my incredibly supportive wife and two wonderful children.
And as always, don’t forget to listen to my radio show, “The Poker Show,” which is now presented by Foxwoods Resort Casino on RoundersRadio.com every Tuesday night from 6:00pm to 7:00pm ET (please note the new time) and repeated throughout the week. Future guests will include 2005 () Main Event Champion Joe Hachem, three-time WSOP bracelet winner , 2010 Caribbean Adventure Champion Harrison Gimbel, and many others.
Bernard Lee is the official spokesperson of Foxwoods Resort Casino. Lee is the co-host of ESPN Inside Deal, a columnist for the ESPN.com, Sunday columnist for the Boston Herald, and author of “The Final Table, Volume I” and “Volume II.” Listen to “The Bernard Lee Poker Show” presented by Foxwoods Resort Casino every Tuesday from 6:00pm to 7:00pm on 1120 AM in Boston (MoneyMatterBoston.com) or RoundersRadio.com. For questions or comments, e-mail him at BernardLeePoker@hotmail.com.
Read more here:
During Season 5 of the (), Mark Newhouse took down the Borgata Poker Open to the tune of $1.5 million. Entering Day 4 of the L.A. Poker Classic, Newhouse is the chip leader and poised to make a run at his second WPT title.
Sunday marked a major day of television viewing for players remaining in the WPT L.A. Poker Classic, which is being held at the Commerce Casino in Los Angeles. The United States hit a last-second goal to send the gold medal game in the 2010 Winter Olympics into overtime, where Canada ultimately prevailed. By nightfall, Canadian , who held the chip lead in the $10,000 buy-in tournament entering Day 3, watched himself take second to Barry Shulman in the 2009 () Europe Main Event on ESPN2.
Despite the diversions, Newhouse came out on top of the field after Day 3 with a stack of 498,000 chips. Newhouse sent Danny Wong to the rails on Sunday with pocket jacks against A-K, building his arsenal of chips up to 250,000. Newhouse started the day with a stack of 68,000 and told WPT Live Updates Hostess Jacque, “The biggest pot of the night, I got lucky. I beat two kings with A-K.” The hand occurred against Jason Smith and an ace hit on the flop to send Newhouse’s chip stack flying high.
2010 L.A. Poker Classic Heads-Up champion Chris Moore stole a sizable pot off GoDaddy Girl during Sunday’s action. The flop came 9-4-2 with two diamonds. Rousso bet, Moore put in a raise, and Rousso called to bring a third diamond on the turn. Rousso bet 45,000 and Moore came over the top all-in for 150,000. Rousso tanked before finally folding 5-6 of diamonds for a flush face up. Moore scooped the pot and promptly turned over pocket nines for a set. Thanks in part to Rousso’s donation, Moore owns a stack of 489,000 chips entering Day 4, the second largest tally in the room.
One of the final eliminations yesterday went to Poker front man , who was all-in with A-K against pocket queens for a classic race situation. The flop came queen-high, giving his opponent a set, and Lederer failed to catch up. Other pros who found the exit on Day 3 included , Gavin Griffin, Jonathan “FatalError” Aguiar, Jason Mercier, Adam “Roothlus” Levy, Steve Zolotow, Todd Brunson, and .
Play ended on Sunday with the money bubble bursting at 72 players remaining. Thomas Fuller, who had been near the top of the chip counts throughout much of the event, was the unfortunate 73rd place finisher. Fuller was all-in pre-flop with A-K, but ran into pocket aces. The flop of Q-Q-10 gave Fuller an inside straight draw if a jack hit, but the board filled out Q-7 and everyone remaining had made the money. The top prize in the WPT L.A. Poker Classic is $1.8 million.
Here are the top 10 chip counts entering Day 4 of the Commerce Casino tournament:
1. Mark Newhouse - 498,000
2. Chris Moore - 489,000
3. Masa Kagawa - 432,000
4. John Cautela - 417,000
5. Shawn Pilot - 400,500
6. Millad Jorshari - 386,000
7. Gevork Kasabyan - 378,000
8. Tim Begley - 369,500
9. Tri Huynh - 353,000
10. Dan “Wretchy” Martin - 335,000
A stacked field of 72 players remains in the hunt for the L.A. Poker Classic title. Other notable names still alive include:
15. - 321,000
17. Carlos Mortensen - 305,000
19. Steve Sung - 285,000
25. Eugene Katchalov - 235,000
29. Daniel Negreanu - 222,500
30. Peter “Belabacsi” Traply - 221,500
32. - 218,000
35. Prahlad Friedman - 208,000
36. Hoyt Corkins - 206,500
39. Erica Schoenberg - 189,000
47. Vivek “Psyduck” Rajkumar - 157,500
51. Robert Mizrachi - 139,500
60. Surinder Sunar - 83,500
64. Vanessa Rousso - 46,000
69. Jon “PearlJammer” Turner - 31,500
72. David “Bakes” Baker - 17,000
Sunday also marked the beginning of the $25,000 High-Roller tournament, whose top prize is $425,000. Twenty-three players remain in the event, with Andrew “luckychewy” Lichtenberger and Daniel Alaei out in front after one day of play.
Continued here:
03 1st, 2010
The third episode of Season 6 of GSN’s “High Stakes Poker” aired on Sunday night at 8:00pm ET. Team Pro member Jason Mercier joined the set and pushed all-in, but ultimately chopped the pot.
Two players had gone broke in the first two episodes, as UB.com pro and Andreas Hoivold each dropped $200,000. The latter’s seat remained empty as Sunday night’s “High Stakes Poker” kicked off, but Mercier soon joined the fray. “High Stakes Poker” announcer Gabe Kaplan commented on Mercier’s appearance: “He looks more like a swimmer to me than a poker player.”
While Mercier was busy stacking his pile of $100 bills, he picked up pocket twos and raised to $5,500. Tom “” Dwan came over the top to $19,200 with A-3 and Mercier folded. Curiosity began to build as to what Mercier had, with Eli Elezra laying 3:1 odds that the newcomer held a better hand than Dwan. Victory Poker pro and others at the table took Elezra up on his bet, with Mercier later admitting that he had pocket deuces, setting up what would have been a coin flip.
2009 () November Nine member tangled with Danish poker superstar , who raised to $5,600 pre-flop with A-K. Ivey made the call with pocket eights and the flop came 5-J-J. Ivey check-called a $6,800 bet from Hansen to bring another five on the turn. Ivey once again check-called a bet from the Dane, this time $13,200, and a seven hit on the river. The action went check-check and Ivey scooped the $54,000 pot.
In the episode’s second largest pot, Hansen raised to $4,200 pre-flop with 6-4 of spades, Dwan made the call with A-6 of clubs, and Elezra came along with K-8 of hearts. With each player holding suited cards, the flop came K-9-3, giving Elezra top pair. He checked the action to Hansen, who bet $9,900. Dwan got out of the way and Elezra called to bring another three on the turn. Elezra check-called a bet of $25,500 and an ace hit on the river. Elezra once again checked the best hand, Hansen fired out a third bullet to the tune of $62,200, and Elezra insta-called.
The pot totaled $209,800 and after it panned out, Hansen sat down with “High Stakes Poker” floor reporter Kara Scott to relive the hand. On the failed triple barrel bluff, he explained, “I stuck to my plan, which from the beginning was okay, but in the end with the cards on the board was horrible.” Hansen left the table after the hand was over and did not return for the duration of the episode.
Then, it was Negreanu’s turn to take center stage. After being active throughout much of the hour-long show, he raised to $3,000 pre-flop with 9-7 of diamonds and Dwan made it $11,200 after picking up pocket queens. Ivey came along with pocket eights and Negreanu called. The flop came 4-9-J, giving Negreanu middle pair, and Dwan made an $18,200 continuation bet with his overpair. Ivey folded and Negreanu moved all-in for $88,400. Dwan quickly called and the pair agreed to run the board twice.
The first board filled out 2-J, giving Dwan half of the pot. On the second board, an ace hit the turn, but Negreanu spiked a five-outer on the river when a nine fell. The $212,200 pot, the largest of the night, was chopped as a result.
Two vignettes appeared during Sunday’s installment. “30 Seconds with Kara Scott” focused on the competitors’ most memorable winning sessions. Meanwhile, the PokerStars-sponsored “Did You Know” discussed the five-month marathon poker session between Johnny Moss and Nick “The Greek” Dandolos. Both were charter inductees into the Poker Hall of Fame.
Next week on “High Stakes Poker,” Dario Minieri gets aggressive and Negreanu stumps Elezra. The cash game franchise airs at 8:00pm ET on Sunday nights on GSN.
Read the original here:
Online poker player Taylor “tramp$d0pray” Paur and Team Pro member lead the ’s () L.A. Poker Classic after two days of play. The $10,000 buy-in tournament wraps up on Thursday.
Negreanu committed his chips with 3-4 of clubs in a major hand after a flop of 5-3-2 with two clubs. William Jesse James, who won his seat to the L.A. Poker Classic Main Event through the WPT’s subscription-based online poker site ClubWPT, held 3-8 in the hand for a better kicker, but a four on the turn improved Negreanu to two pair. The river was a king, crippling James and sending Negreanu barreling up the chip counts. In the waning moments of Saturday’s action, Negreanu scooped a pot at the expense of Benjamin Zamani with quad eights to move to 319,000 in chips.
Paur ended Day 2 with a mountain of 318,400 chips, while Negreanu was hot on his heels at 316,500. They are the only players in the WPT event to have crossed the 280,000-chip plateau. Paur’s company at Table 44 on Sunday will include Shawn Buchanan, Bryan “badbeatninja” Devonshire, and Victory Poker pro Paul Wasicka. A total of 186 players remain and the field will likely burst the money bubble at 72 sometime during play on Sunday. The event’s six-handed finale will be filmed for television and air on Fox Sports Net as part of Season 8 of the WPT.
Sitting in fifth on the leaderboard entering Day 3 is another PokerStars sponsored big gun, . The GoDaddy Girl owns a stack of 221,700 and crossed the 200,000-chip threshold late in the day despite being seated a talented table alongside UB.com poker pro and two-time () bracelet winner . Of the 186 players left in the hunt for the $1.8 million top prize, 14 are women.
2005 WSOP Main Event champ was sent packing during Saturday’s action, as was Faraz “The-Toilet” Jaka, who is fresh off a final table appearance in the PokerStars North American Poker Tour’s (NAPT) $25,000 High-Roller Bounty Shootout. Jaka came out on the losing end of a race with pocket sevens against Q-J of spades when a jack hit on the flop. Fellow online poker pro Mike “SowersUNCC” Sowers was eliminated after running 10-8 of diamonds into pocket kings. His girlfriend, Lauren Kling, remains in the hunt and holds the 51st largest stack in the room.
pro , who finished second in chips after Day 1, currently owns the 10th spot in the chip counts. The Day 1 leader, Masa Kagawa, is right behind Seif in 11th place. Here’s a look at the top 10 on the leaderboard entering Day 3 of the L.A. Poker Classic at the Commerce Casino in Los Angeles:
1. Taylor Paur - 318,400
2. Daniel Negreanu - 316,500
3. Eugene Katchalov - 279,000
4. Michael Woo - 250,000
5. Vanessa Rousso - 221,700
6. Danny Fuhs - 218,300
7. Paul Niemela - 216,000
8. John Cautela - 198,500
9. Gevork Kasabyan - 197,400
10. Mark Seif - 187,000
Other notable names in the top 50 include:
19. Steve Sung - 155,800
24. Vivek “Psyduck” Rajkumar - 137,400
26. - 128,700
35. Shawn Buchanan - 116,300
36. - 113,800
37. Lisa Hamilton - 107,400
38. Erica Schoenberg - 107,000
39. Steve Zolotow - 106,500
42. Surinder Sunar - 105,500
43. Robert Mizrachi - 104,600
All players who reach the money will take home at least $18,000 and the top nine players will collect a six-figure payday. Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest WPT coverage.
Continued here: