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William Hill Poker is getting behind the oldest cup competition in the world by sending one player and a guest on a VIP trip to Wembley for this year’s FA Cup Final.
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Day 4 of PokerStars.net EPT Berlin was not your average day on the tournament circuit. The top 24 players in the €5,000 main event returned to battle down to the final table of eight. They were down to 20 players when things took a turn for the…
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03 7th, 2010
When the final 24 players of the European Poker Tour (EPT) Berlin Main Event met today to play down to the final table, players were ready for action. After a couple of hours, however, the EPT Main Event was paused and players were ordered to leave the room. The tournament was stopped at approximately 2:00pm local time and players were not immediately informed of the reason why, although information has now come to light as to what happened to cause the suspension of play.
Apparently, the Grand Hyatt Hotel’s casino was attacked in an armed robbery while the tournament was in action. An announcement by Kristy Thompson, a spokesperson for the EPT, stated, “An armed robbery by six men took place today at EPT Berlin. Nobody was seriously injured. We hope to restart all events at 4PM local time. A police investigation is underway. If you have video footage or photographs that could help the police, please contact the EPT organizers as soon as possible.” , possibly even showing the attempted robbery as it was occurring.
Other reports outside of the EPT have speculated that the attackers carried various, but unconfirmed, weaponry. One report by German venues stated that the attackers were armed with pump-action shotguns, while witnesses said to another German outlet that the attackers were armed with Soviet era Kalashnikovs semi-automatic assault rifles and hand grenades. Of the various reports, a woman named Claudia Sommerey witnessed the event and stated, “I then went into the hall and saw three masked men, armed with rifles… security tried to keep the men at bay. I heard someone shout, ‘down, down,’ then I (got) under one of the tables. In the hall, there were still sounds of conflict.”
The happenings at the EPT Berlin are almost unheard of in the world of tournament poker. Last year, a Latin American Poker Tour (LAPT) event in Mexico, another live tournament, was suspended due to conflicts with local police over whether the venue held the proper legal documents. The event picked up its play months later at another LAPT event, but the occurrence of a robbery to suspend play has rarely been seen in tournament poker history.
Although there was about a four-hour delay, play resumed in EPT Berlin with 20 players remaining, although there were disputes as to chip counts and how to continue with play of hands that were in action prior to the disruption. Also suspended for the day were any live online video webcast updates. Nevertheless, by the end of the day, the eight-handed final table was determined. Here are the chip counts:
1. Kevin MacPhee - 6,070,000
2. Ketul Nathwani - 4,685,000
3. Ilari Tahkokallio - 3,940,000
4. Marc Inizan - 3,655,000
5. Marcel Koller - 3,590,000
6. Artur Wasek - 3,530,000
7. Marko Neumann - 2,185,000
8. Nico Behling - 960,00
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03 5th, 2010
After a one-day delay, the ’s () L.A. Poker Classic resumed on Thursday with its six-handed final table. After 94 hands, Andras Koroknai emerged victorious and banked $1.8 million.
Koroknai earned the largest first place payday awarded so far during Season 8 of the WPT. His prize package included $1.8 million in cash, a WPT bracelet and watch, a Commerce Casino trophy, and a $25,000 entry into the end-of-season WPT Championship, which will play out next month from the Bellagio in Las Vegas. Koroknai had a rowdy Hungarian rail during the L.A. Poker Classic’s final table and told WPT Live Updates Hostess Jacque that his plan was to spend his newfound riches.
Koroknai edged out Raymond Dolan heads-up. Michael Kamran, the short stack entering the final table, was the first person sent packing. Kamran moved all-in pre-flop with 10-7 of diamonds for eight big blinds and George Kasabyan made the call with A-J. Kamran picked up a straight draw when the flop came 9-8-5 and turned a seven to take the lead in the hand with a pair. However, Kasabyan hit an ace on the river to end Kamran’s heroics. He picked up $246,000 for his run through the $10,000 buy-in poker tournament.
The second player eliminated was J.C. Moussa, who picked up $321,000 for his fifth place showing. Moussa shoved over the top of a re-raise by Tri Huynh with A-9. Huynh flipped up A-Q and the board ran out 10-6-2-K-5. Huynh made a flush by the time all was said and done and sat with the second largest stack at the table.
Dolan scooped a 2.6 million chip pot shortly thereafter to take the chip lead before a long battle ensued to see who would become the tournament’s fourth place finisher. Kasabyan called all-in with A-7 on a board of A-9-8, but ran into Huynh’s A-9 for top two pair. Kasabyan hit a seven on the turn for one of his outs needed to win the hand, but a river nine gave Huynh a full house. Kasabyan, who hails from Armenia and was rooted on by Chris “The Amenian Express” Grigorian throughout the final table, collected $450,000.
The trio remaining was fairly even in chips following Kasabyan’s exit, but Koroknai doubled through Dolan to claim 60% of the chips in play. On the 93rd hand of final table play, Huynh was bounced after calling all-in with pocket jacks against Koroknai’s A-K. I bet you can guess how this hand ends. A king hit on the flop to send the tournament’s eventual winner out in front and no help came on the turn or river. Entering heads-up play, Koroknai held a 10:1 edge in chips.
Heads-up action lasted all of one hand, as Dolan called off his remaining chips with Q-4 and found himself up against Koroknai’s Q-8 of hearts. The action flop came 10-9-4 with two hearts, giving Dolan bottom pair and Koroknai a flush draw. The turn was a seven, adding even more drama, and giving Koroknai even more outs. Sure enough, the king of hearts hit as the jackpot card on the river and Koroknai took down the 2010 L.A. Poker Classic. Here were the final payouts:
1. Andras Koroknai - $1,788,040
2. Raymond Dolan - $1,002,710
3. Tri Huynh - $665,140
4. Gevork Kasabyan - $450,580
5. Jean-Claude Moussa - $321,840
6. Michael Kamran - $246,740
Next on tap for the WPT is the Bay 101 Shooting Star event from San Jose, California. The unique bounty tournament kicks off next Monday, March 8th. Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest WPT coverage.
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The final two episodes of ESPN’s World Series of Poker-Europe Main Event coverage aired Sunday night, bringing poker fans all the drama from what was one of the most exciting final tables of the year. Multiple themes were at work on this final day…
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03 2nd, 2010
On Sunday night, ESPN2’s coverage of the 2009 () Europe Main Event wrapped up with Barry Shulman defeating heads-up to claim the top prize of ₤801,000.
Negreanu entered as the short stack at the table, but quickly ascended the chip counts. He flopped top pair against Markus Ristola to move to eighth in chips and then flopped a set of aces against Jason Mercier’s turned set of threes to double up and move to third in chips. His run at the beginning of the WSOP Europe Main Event final table was proof that all you need in poker is a chip and a chair. Negreanu told ESPN’s Kara Scott in a segment called “Cab Chat” that he feels at home in London because of the city’s abundance of vegan-friendly foods.
Sitting in third in chips, Negreanu called a raise to 62,000 from WSOP Main Event November Niner , who held pocket eights. The flop came 6-4-9, giving Negreanu top pair with 10-9, and Akenhead check-called a bet of 100,000. The turn was a six and Akenhead once again check-called a bet, this time of 162,000. The action went check-check when a five struck on the river and the dealer pushed the 711,000-chip pot to Negreanu, boosting him to second on the leaderboard.
Akenhead was eliminated in ninth place after running A-Q into Negreanu’s pocket kings. The board came J-6-4-9-Q, giving Akenhead ninth place finishes in the WSOP Las Vegas and London Main Events. Matt Hawrilenko was ousted in eighth place after trying to steal the blinds and antes with J-7. Shulman made the call with A-Q and Hawrilenko could not catch up.
Frenchman , another November Niner, exited in seventh place after coming out on the short end of a race against Negreanu with pocket fives against A-Q of spades. Negreanu flopped a flush draw, which hit on the river to give the pro both eliminations of the November Nine members. Shortly thereafter, poker veteran and two-time bracelet winner Chris Bjorin finished in sixth after running A-J into Negreanu’s A-Q. Negreanu ultimately moved from ninth place to first in an awe-inspiring comeback.
The first of two one-hour episodes on ESPN2 ended with Ristola departing in fifth place. Negreanu was his executioner, leading to four-handed action at the Casino at the Empire in London featuring four bracelet winners. To begin the second episode, local poker pro Praz Bansi called Shulman’s all-in with pocket kings on a flop of 6-8-4 with two spades. Shulman held A-9 of the suit and spiked an ace on the turn to double up.
Mercier, who held over 30% of the chips in play heading into the final table, was the tournament’s fourth place finisher. Mercier was all-in with a wired pair of sevens and up against Negreanu’s pocket nines. Mercier could not overcome being a 4:1 underdog and was eliminated. Negreanu had knocked out his fifth player at the final table.
Shulman doubled up again, this time after flopping top pair with K-J on a 4-K-9 board. Shulman check-raised all-in and Bansi called, turning over K-8 for top pair with a weaker kicker. The board filled out 6-10 and Shulman moved to 3.9 million in chips. Bansi was knocked out after reluctantly committing his chips with Q-2 of hearts. Negreanu called with A-Q and claimed his fifth straight victim and sixth overall at the final table of the 2009 WSOP Europe Main Event.
Negreanu held a 3:2 chip lead entering heads-up play, but doubled up Shulman after the CardPlayer Magazine owner was all-in with A-5 of hearts on a flop of 6-8-K with two hearts. Negreanu called with pocket aces, but another heart on the turn gave Shulman a flush.
Negreanu battled back and was one card away from claiming his fifth bracelet. Shulman was all-in with pocket aces against Negreanu’s Q-J on a board of 5-8-J. The turn brought another jack, leaving Shulman drawing to one of two remaining aces in the deck otherwise Negreanu would win the title. Sure enough, a bullet pierced the river and Shulman doubled up.
In the final hand, Negreanu was all-in pre-flop with pocket fours against Shulman’s pocket tens and could not draw out. Shulman won his second WSOP bracelet and Negreanu took home a £495,000 consolation prize. Former WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack presented Shulman with his championship trophy as the credits rolled.
ESPN2 will air the PokerStars North American Poker Tour (NAPT) Venetian Main Event and High-Roller tournament beginning on April 19th. Re-runs of the WSOP Europe Main Event will air on ESPN2 in the coming days, so check your local listings for more information.
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02 27th, 2010
PokerNews is bringing you an exciting $23,000 WPT Race on PartyPoker! If you come in in the top spot of the WPT Race Final, you’ll win a package to the WPT Grand Prix de Paris, which takes place May 8 - 13 at the Aviation Club de France.
To…
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Poker pro Ashton Griffin edged out personality Hoyt Corkins heads-up to win the North American Poker Tour (NAPT) High-Roller Bounty Shootout at the Venetian. The $25,000 buy-in tournament awarded a top prize of $460,000.
The final table was stacked with a mix of veterans and young guns of the poker world with one former () Main Event champion, , who became the youngest winner ever of the $10,000 buy-in tournament in 2008 at the tender age of 22. would shatter Eastgate’s record one year later. Eastgate was the first casualty of the seven-handed High-Roller Bounty Shootout final table after pushing pre-flop with pocket eights and running into Scott Seiver’s pocket Jacks. Eastgate could not catch up, but he collected $75,000 for reaching the final table plus a $5,000 bounty for any player knocked out along the way.
The next to go was Brett Richey, who first doubled up with A-K against A-8. On the following hand, he looked down at A-Q and pushed again. Griffin made the call and showed K-Q of Clubs, giving Richey a commanding lead pre-flop and a tantalizing opportunity for another double up. The board read 4-4-4-7, setting Richey up for success, but a king on the river gave Griffin the win.
Young gun Faraz “The-Toilet” Jaka, who earned his online moniker after playing an inordinate number of suited cards as a beginner in poker, pushed all-in from the small blind with Q-10 and was up against Seiver’s A-J of clubs. The flop gave Seiver top pair and a flush draw to boot and Seiver won the pot with a boat. Jaka landed in fifth place in the made-for-television tournament.
Seiver then pushed with Q-10 and ran into Corkins’s A-K. Corkins turned two pair to seal the win in the hand and Seiver, a WSOP bracelet winner, was eliminated from contention. Corkins had doubled through Seiver just prior to the latter’s final hand with pocket Jacks against Seiver’s wired pair of fives. Corkins turned a set to send Seiver’s chip stack plummeting.
Joe Cassidy was eliminated from the NAPT Venetian High-Roller Bounty Shootout after moving all-in from the small blind with A-2 of Diamonds. Griffin, sitting in the big blind, woke up with A-9 and made the call. A nine came on the flop and Cassidy was ousted. Entering heads-up play in Las Vegas, Griffin held a 2:1 chip lead over Corkins, who is fresh off a win in the ’s () Southern Poker Championship.
Two hands into heads-up play, a winner was determined. Corkins called all-in with 9-3 on a flop of 4-5-9. However, Griffin held 9-8, out-kicking Corkins and handing him the final table’s winner-take-all $460,000 grand prize. He cashed in a Pot Limit Omaha preliminary event during the 2009 WSOP Europe for £15,000. One year prior, Griffin landed in seventh in the Latin American Poker Tour’s (LAPT) San Jose, Costa Rica stop for $29,000.
All was not lost for Seiver, however, who collected a $100,000 bonus courtesy of PokerStars for knocking out the most number of players. Seiver single-handedly sent all six of his opponents at his first round table to the rails and two more at the finale for a total of eight.
Four hours of coverage on ESPN2 will be dedicated to the NAPT Venetian High-Roller Bounty Shootout and Main Event. The action kicks off on April 19th and will air according to the following schedule:
April 19th: Venetian $25,000 High Roller Bounty Shootout: 9:00pm to 11:00pm ET
April 26th: Venetian $25,000 High Roller Bounty Shootout: 9:00pm ET
April 26th: Venetian $5,000 Main Event: 10:00pm ET
Next up for the NAPT is a trip to Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Connecticut. The $5,000 buy-in NAPT Mohegan Sun Main Event kicks off on April 7th and runs through the 11th.
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02 23rd, 2010
And while it is hardly chock full of big names, the final eight is an interesting mix of youthful talent on the rise and at least one veteran player who seen it all before.
The event began four short days ago with a whopping 872 players and all the fanfare live PokerStars tournaments have built a reputation for.
But as a field of top pros, Internet qualifiers and Las Vegas rounders taking a shot at the big time fell by the wayside, 22-year-old Sam Stein pushed his way into the chip lead.
Stein, who made the final table at the World Poker Tour’s Legends of Poker event this past August, will carry that chip lead into Wednesday’s final eight.
Now he’s hoping the experience of playing in front of the WPT cameras will pay dividends here at Venetian.
“I think there’s only one player that’s even been under the TV lights before and that’s ‘Miami’ John Cernuto,” said Stein.
“He’s an older guy and he’s been around the block, but he’s a short stack, so that’s good.
“The other guys are mostly online guys, they’re all good players and everyone is playing really well, but the experience of playing under the lights and how they’ll react to that, we’ll have to see. It’ll be a different game.”
As Stein mentioned, Cernuto is the most venerable player to earn a spot on the NAPT’s first final table.
Short stacked almost all day, Cernuto said the experience of an amazing 26 World Series of Poker final tables, three WSOP bracelet wins and a WPT final table certainly helped him stay patient.
“Experience has already paid off,” he said. “I’ve watched players with way better shots to win the tournament just give their shot away. They just gamble, gamble, gamble. I don’t know if it’s an ego thing, a testosterone thing or a youth thing.”
Regardless, Cernuto is the still the short stack going into the final and understands that these days, being the oldest player at the table doesn’t necessarily make you the most experienced.
“Experience does give you an edge, but I’m not necessarily more experienced than these kids,” he said.
“Every five years I’ve played poker they’ve done in three months on the Internet. So they may even have more experience than I do.”
Thomas Fuller will come into the final table third in chips and with a fourth place finish at EPT Baden in 2007 and more than $600k in career tournament earnings over five years as a pro, he’ll bring some experience with him as well.
Sitting third is law school grad and hedge fund employee turned cash game pro David Paredes, while Yunas Jamal, a Software engineer from nearby Henderson, Nevada with a few decent cashes on his part-time poker playing resume will come in fourth in chips.
Lurking dangerously under Jamal is 22-year-old Tom “Kingsofcards” Marchese, a regular at the $25/$50 cash games online who has played as high as $500/$1,000 with some the biggest names in the game.
Marchese, who hadn’t had much success in live tournaments before making the final table of the Borgata Winter Open Championship earlier this month, believes his nosebleed cash game experience is key.
“I think it really plays to my advantage,” he said. “A lot of people are concerned about the money. I don’t even know what I’d get paid now. All I know is that first is like $870,000. I thinks that’s a huge advantage when play tightens up.”
Rounding out the final eight is Eric Blair, who just missed a WPT final table making eighth at Borgata in last year and 37-year-old live pro Dan Clemente, who has earned almost $200k from live tournaments with buy-ins $1k an under throughout his eight-year career.
The final table will play out beginning at 2 p.m. PST and PokerListings will have comprehensive coverage on our throughout.
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02 23rd, 2010
The six-handed final table of the ’s () Celebrity Invitational was determined on Sunday and Sean Urban leads the pack. The tournament won’t play down to a winner until March 3rd.
As you’d expect in an invitational tournament, the final table is rather eclectic. Headlining the group is Thor Hansen, who holds two () bracelets and is considered to be one of the top Norwegian players in the game. Hansen finished eighth in the $50,000 HORSE Championship during the 2007 WSOP for $188,000. His first bracelet win came in 1998, when Hansen took down a $5,000 Limit Seven Card Stud event for $158,000. Four years later, he was up to his winning ways yet again, this time coming out on top in a $1,500 No Limit Deuce to Seven Lowball tournament for $62,000.
Also seated at the final table is personality Trishelle Cannatella, who was a former cast member of the “Real World: Las Vegas.” Cannatella sent Michael Heslov packing in tenth place from the Commerce Casino in Los Angeles, the site of the WPT Celebrity Invitational, when Heslov ran Q-J into A-J. The board came out 9-9-2-4-2 and that was all she wrote for Heslov, who walked away empty-handed. Cannatella amassed a stack of 1.5 million chips, which will be good for fourth place when play resumes next month.
Also at the final table is LeRon Washington, who won his way into the invite-only tournament after taking down a satellite through ClubWPT, the WPT’s subscription-based online poker site. Washington tripled up on Sunday to stamp his ticket to the final table. He held A-K of clubs against A-Q and pocket fours and the board ran out 7-5-3-K-8 with three clubs, giving him the nut flush and the win in the hand. His chip stack grew to 250,000 as a result and he finished with 1.8 million, the third largest total overall.
“Dexter” Actor David Zayas was the tournament’s bubble boy, hitting the rails in seventh place to set up the final table. Urban and Hansen checked the action down to the river against Zayas, who flipped up Q-8 for a pair of eights on a J-8-7-5-K board. Hansen turned over 6-4 for a straight and scooped the pot, sending Zayas to the rails. Zayas also appeared in the show “Oz.”
Here are the chip stacks entering the final table in the WPT Celebrity Invitational:
1. Sean Urban - 2,090,000
2. Neev Baram - 1,900,000
3. LeRon Washington - 1,790,000
4. Trishelle Cannatella - 1,540,000
5. Steven Elliott - 1,520,000
6. Thor Hansen - 1,480,000
Actor and comedian Marlon Wayans was knocked out on Sunday when he pushed all-in on the river only to see his opponent table A-K for trip kings. Meanwhile, Cannatella sent talk show host Ricki Lake packing when Cannatella drew out on A-Q with A-J. The flop gave Cannatella two pair and the Absolute Poker pro never looked back. Cannatella was also the executioner of William Fay, the Executive Producer of the blockbuster hit “The Hangover.” Fay was all-in with pocket fives up against Cannatella’s pocket sevens and the flop of Q-5-4 gave him a set. However, his elation was short-lived, as a seven on the turn gave Cannatella a set of her own. The river blanked out and Fay was eliminated to begin work on his next Bradley Cooper film.
Also ousted during the play down day were L.A. Lakers owner Jerry Buss, poker pro , and “The Notebook” director Nick Cassavetes. Next up for the WPT is the $10,000 L.A. Poker Classic, which kicks off on Friday from the Commerce Casino.
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