Pairings for the NBC Heads Up Championships
February 29, 2008
The crowd at the NBC Heads Up Poker Championship’s pairing party was a bit more than the Caesars security team was expecting. Poker fans cheered, and shoved, and photographed, wishing their favorite players good luck
Early on there are some interesting match-ups between some well known online poker names and well known land based poker professionals, pitting the virtual world of poker with the tangible.
Eric Seidel will face off against Jonathan Little (”FieryJustice”) and Phil Hellmuth will battle Tom Dwan (”Durrrr”).
Imagine yourself playing an online freeroll, outplaying the entire field, and actually winning your seat in the Heads Up Tournament, a trip to Vegas, a walk down the red carpet and into Pure, one of the most exclusive night clubs on the Las Vegas strip for the pairing party.
A few hours later imagine finding out that your reward for all that and being the last entrant to make the tournament is a first round meeting with Phil Ivey, fresh off the plane his WPT LA Poker Classic win.
The brackets will start with Hearts at 10:15am followed by Diamonds at 1:15pm, Clubs bracket at 4:15pm and finally the Spades will start at 6:45pm.
Heart Pairs:
Vanessa Rousso vs. Antonio Esfandiari
Shannon Elizabeth vs. Andy Bloch
Todd Brunson vs. Scott Fischman
Jamie Gold vs. Tom Kelly
Ted Forrest vs. Orel Hershiser
Allen Cunningham vs. Chad Brown
John Robert Bellande vs. Sam Grizzle
Paul Wasicka vs. Freddie Deeb
Diamond Pairs
Jason Alexander vs. Huck Seed
David Pham vs. Brian Townsend
Jennifer Tilly vs. Clonie Gowen
Daniel Negreanu vs. Michael Mizrachi
Barry Greenstein vs. Howard Lederer
David Benyamine vs. Jennifer Harman
Sam Farha vs. Doyle Brunson
Erick Lindgren vs. Eli Elezra
Club Pairs:
Jonathan Little vs. Erik Seidel
Patrik Antonius vs. Gabe Kaplan
Greg Raymer vs. Hooman Nikzad
Kenny Tran vs. Scott Clements
Mike Matusow vs. Joe Hachem
Tom Dwan vs. Phil Hellmuth
Tom Schneider vs. Gavin Smith
Chris Ferguson vs. John Juanda
Spade Pairs:
Don Cheadle vs. Gus Hansen
Scotty Nguyen vs. Bill Edler
Chris Moneymaker vs. Jerry Yang
David Singer vs. Phil Laak
Phil Ivey vs. Alisha Kunze
David Williams vs. Johnny Chan
Daniel Schreiber vs. TJ Cloutier
Annie Duke vs. JC Tran
Los Angeles Poker Championship (LAPC) Final Table
February 29, 2008
The World Poker Tour’s LA Poker Classic final table included 4 well known names in the poker world, and two wild card entrants, for a total of six players, all of which will be competing for the first place prize of 1.5 Million dollars. Holding first in the chip lead is one of the hottest professional poker players in the industry, Phil Ivey. Upon commencement the final table held a poker celeberity well known for his mouthyness, as well as his high opinions of himself, Phil Helmuth, once the youngest ever poker players to win the World Series of Poker (WSOP).
Phil Helmuth was the first to bust from the table.
Three of the six final table occupants are Ultimate Bet online poker players, including online poker player R_a_y, who his entrance into the WPT LAPC via an online poker satellite tournament. R_a_y now holds second in the chip lead at the final table. R_a_y, known in real life as Scott Montgomery is not new to the professional high stakes poker scene, the online poker player is also known for money finishes in several Ultimate Bet tournaments, including the UBOC.
Lap Around the Table:
Seat 1 Quinn Do – 1,450,000
Seat 2 Nam Le – 1,180,000
Seat 3 Phil Hellmuth – 2,380,000
Seat 4 Phil Ivey – 4,100,000
Seat 5 Charles Moore – 1,510,000
Seat 6 Scott Montgomery – 2,680,000
Heads Up Poker Challenge Pairing Party Kicks Off Tonight
February 28, 2008
Contenders for the 2008 Heads Up Poker Challenge that’s being held at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas will find out tonight who they will face at the start of the annual invitation only tournament.
The pairing party kicks off tonight at the exclusive PURE nightclub, inside of Caesar’s palace. The club is so exclusive that there is an IRS audit underway pertaining to kickbacks paid to doormen for entry, allegedly reaching as high as 22k in one night.
High profile celebrity poker players will hit the red carpet beginning tonight at 9:30. The main event begins tomorrow morning at 11am, 4flush.com will be covering the event live and blogging on location.
There are 64 players involved in the event in total, 2 players won their tournament seats by playing in satellite competitions held at Caesar’s Palace. An online poker satellite tournament was held at PokerStars, the winner of that event also won a seat at the 2008 Heads Up Poker Championships. All of the remaining seats were given to celebrity poker players that received a personal invitation to the exclusive ‘who’s who in poker’ style event.
2008 National Heads Up Poker Tournament
February 28, 2008
The Heads-Up Poker Championship that will be aired by NBC this spring will get its start tonight during the drawing party at the Pure nightclub in Caesars Las Vegas.
This is a bracket style invitation only heads up tournament featuring both celebrities and poker pros alike and comes with a $500,000 first place prize. Of the invitees, only one pulled out and that was Brad Garrett. Andy Bloch will play in his place.
4Flush will be there live to bring you up to date reports on the action and to keep you informed on who is in and who is going home. This event does not have any sanctioned betting on the outcome but Jeff Haney of the Las Vegas Sun saw the odds this way: (for entertainment purposes only)
Chris Ferguson, 22-1
Barry Greenstein, 23-1
Allen Cunningham, 23-1
Andy Bloch, 24-1
Paul Wasicka, 25-1
Phil Hellmuth, 25-1
Phil Ivey, 25-1
Ted Forrest, 27-1
Howard Lederer, 31-1
Daniel Negreanu, 31-1
Huck Seed, 32-1
Todd Brunson, 33-1
Doyle Brunson, 33-1
Daniel Schreiber, 35-1
Chad Brown, 35-1
Johnny Chan, 35-1
Jonathan Little, 40-1
Tom Dwan, 40-1
Bill Edler, 40-1
Scott Clements, 40-1
David Singer, 45-1
Tom Schneider, 50-1
Erik Seidel, 50-1
J.C. Tran, 50-1
Brian Townsend, 50-1
Greg Raymer, 50-1
Erick Lindgren, 50-1:
Patrik Antonius, 50-1
T.J. Cloutier, 54-1
Each 60-1: Freddy Deeb, Antonio Esfandiari, Scott Fischman, Joe Hachem, John Juanda, Phil Laak, Mike Matusow, Scotty Nguyen, David Pham, Gavin Smith, Kenny Tran, David Williams.
Each 63-1: David Benyamine, Sam Farha, Jennifer Harman, Gabe Kaplan, Michael Mizrachi.
Each 75-1: Annie Duke, Jamie Gold, Gus Hansen.
Field (all others), 4-1 combined: Jason Alexander, Jean-Robert Bellande, Cheadle, Eli Elezra, Shannon Elizabeth, Clonie Gowen, Sam Grizzle, Orel Hershiser, Tom Kelly, Chris Moneymaker, Hooman Nikzad, Vanessa Rousso, Jennifer Tilly, Jerry Yang.
Winner of Players Only 1M Tournament – Pure Fish.
February 27, 2008
Lucky Fish Hopes for More Good Fortune in Saturday’s
PlayersOnlyVIP.com Million Dollar Free Roll Tournament Monthly Final
February 27, 2008 (St. John’s Antigua) – This week, PlayersOnlyVIP.com players are winning their way to Saturday’s monthly final in the site’s richest poker tournament ever, the Million Dollar Free Roll series. A player that came close to taking it all last month hopes to win the $75,000 first prize this weekend.
“Just get this over with” moaned one of the other players at last month’s Final Table as the tournament’s eventual winner was dealt a pair of Queens. The hand began a series of winning hands that won “TylerC” the monthly championship and $75,000. But PlayersOnlyVIP.com player “Swancott21”, a college student from New York, didn’t give it up easy and held his own until the bitter end.
“I’d win a hand,” said the second place player who was happy with his $10,000 second place, “Then he’d win five hands. Then I’d win a nice pot – and he’d win the next three.”
The rookie player surprised some when he went all in on a 10-7. “What can I say,” he said later, “10-7 anything is my favourite hand.”
“Fastest final table I’ve ever seen“ said another player when “Swanscott21” was dealt 4h8s and forced to fold moments into the final hand.
As part of the fastest growing poker network, PlayersOnlyVIP attracts a healthy mix of new and inexperienced poker players.
“Some of the guys on the network are pretty hard core poker players. I’m just a little fish from PlayersOnlyVIP that got lucky and almost won last month,” said the surprised near-winner. “I’ve won my way to the final table again this month but let’s be realistic – let’s just say if I don’t get eliminated too quick I’ll be happy!”
“Free roll tournaments bring out all kinds of recreational players,” said David Anderson, manager of PlayersOnlyVIP.com. “All you’ve ever got to lose is your tournament entry fee so the pressure’s off. If you win your seat in a qualifier during the week, well, then you have nothing at all to lose!”
The first place player on Saturday will walk away with $75,000 but 29 others will also win cash prizes from $100 – $10,000 for a total of $100,000 this month and every month. The ten-month series will award a total of $1,000,000.
Heartland Poker Tour Kicks-off Season IV at the Grand Casino Mille Lacs
February 26, 2008
28 Year Old Dusty Hamers
Wins First Place
Heartland Poker Tour’s fourth season got under way last week as players traveled from the four corners of the U.S. to play in the “real people” poker tour. Grand Casino Mille Lacs, a regular HPT tour stop and located 90 miles north of Minneapolis, was the host of 2008’s first HPT event. In all, there were five no-limit events and over a 1400 entries for the week’s tournaments.
The main event got under way Sunday morning with 176 players, eager to be the first champion of 2008. All but 36 of those players were able to earn their $1650 seat through the HPT qualifying rounds on Thursday through Saturday. At 1AM Monday morning, a champion was crowned when Dusty Hamers, a 28 year old machine operator from
“I told everyone I know that I was going to win this thing” chuckled Hamers. “I guess I had to do what I said.” 
Hamers, who has a full time job at a wood craft company in
“I definitely think I have the skills to be a pro poker player” said Hamers during his pre-final table interview. “Right now, the only thing stopping me is bankroll. Winning this tournament could put me in the right direction. “
Once again this week the Heartland Poker Tour lived up to its reputation as the only TV poker tour that caters to the smaller buy in, “regular” American poker player. Included on the final table was a contractor, a retail home improvement store manager, a plumber, and a former marine.
“We’re thrilled to get the new season under way and to have another diverse and interesting final table” said HPT co-founder Greg Lang. “I know we made a lot of new friends this week that we’ll be seeing down the road. It’s going to be a great year.”
The Heartland Poker Tour will be back on the road March 2nd when the tour makes another stop to Meskwaki Casino in central
2008 Event #1 – Gand Casino Mille Lacs –
689 – Players in the qualifiers
36 – Main Event Direct buys
176 – Players in the Main Event
Total Prize Pool $248,806
WPT LA Poker Classic Day 2
February 26, 2008
Day two of the World Poker Tour L.A. Classic saw 428 players taking to the tables for six levels of play and a long day of poker. This WPT event has quickly grown to be a favorite among professional poker players and because of this; a lot of these players were tangling early and some with tournament ending results.
Level one saw a mass exodus as the tournament lost seven total tables and many pros including Jean-Robert Bellande, Max Pescatori and Carlos Mortensen. The second level saw no decline in the pace of departures as there were less than 300 players left by the end of level two.
There were a couple tough tables during Day 2 but late in the day Table 9 with Antonio Esfandiari, David Benyamine, Johnny Chan, Anna Wroblewski and David Singer was one of the toughest going. Later Phil Ivey was added and promptly sent Johnny Chan to the rail.
With only 136 players surviving to Day 3, Day 2 left a lot of players standing on the rail with Johnny Chan including, Todd Brunson, Bill Edler, Barry Greenstein, John Hennigan, John Juanda, Erick Lindgren, Men “The Master” Nguyen, Paul Wasicka, David Williams and talk show host, Montel Williams.
The chip leaders at the end of play were as follows (from Cardplayer.com):
- Daniel Fuhs — 397,100
- Kyle Burnside — 279,700
- Phil Ivey — 279,000
- Antonio Esfandiari — 245,000
- Blair Hinkle — 224,000
- Jennifer Tilly — 218,700
- Yury Parad — 213,100
- Haralabos Voulgaris — 203,900
- Mike Watson — 195,900
- Noah Schwartz — 186,800
Poker After Dark International Week
February 26, 2008
There is a lot at stake this week in the Poker After Dark International Week. Patrik Antonius, representing Finland, is back to defend his title he won in June of 2007. Also Johnny Chan is back looking to make PAD history has the first three-time winner of the $120,000 winner take all tournament. Chan is coming off his recent Champions week win a couple weeks ago.
Though both men will have to try and complete their tasks against a strong field of international players. Also at the table with Antonius and Chan will be, Roland de Wolfe, Daniel Negreanu, Gus Hansen and John Juanda.
The only newcomer to the series this week will be Roland de Wolfe. Though it is his first PAD appearance for Roland he comes with strong credentials. Roland is the first player to has won both an EPT and WPT title. Daniel Negreanu started out the PAD gate strong winning his first tournament but since has been 0-5 and not finishing any better than fourth place in those losses.
Gus Hansen has about the same experience in PAD as Negreanu. Hansen won his first PAD tournament and since has gone 0-4 and has the dubious distinction of being the fastest ever eliminated in the shows history (Taking just 6 hands). John Juanda has two previous appearances with finishes of first and second.
Poker After Dark International Week:
- Seat 1 – Patrik Antonius – aka: “The Terminator”
- Seat 2 – Johhny Chan – aka: “Orient Express”
- Seat 3 – Roland de Wolfe – aka: “The Sheep”
- Seat 4 – Daniel Negreanu – aka: “Kid Poker”
- Seat 5 – Gus Hansen – aka: “The Great Dane”
- Seat 6 – John Juanda
First WPT Poker Player Representative: Antonio Esfandiari
February 25, 2008
Though poker player extraordinaire now, Antonio Esfandiari used to make his living as a magician. That was the talent that Steve Lipscomb, the founder and CEO of the World Poker Tour first hired Antonio to use. At the launch of the World Poker Tour back in 2002, Esfandiari performed magic during the press conference.
Antonio has come a long way since that day; he has won a WPT event and now has been announced as an official spokesperson for a company making him the first player representative for the company.
Esfandiari recalls, “I will never forget the day Steve Lipscomb hired me to perform magic at the press release party for the WPT. All I ever wanted was to play in a WPT event, let alone win one. To have actually won a few years later and to now become the official spokesperson for a company that did so much for poker and me personally is an honor I hold very dear to me. It’s great to be a part of the WPT, who has been such an instrumental part of my poker journey.”
The WPTE explained that Antonio will use his experience and poker knowledge to help provide players and fans with poker tips, useful tools and a few tricks to help them become better players themselves. He will also provide on the spot tournament updates using all the WPT resources like WPY Live updates, web videos and online blogs. If that wasn’t enough, Antonio will also cross the globe representing the WPT in tournaments and events.
Steve Lipscomb said Esfandiari,
“Antonio embodies the excitement that has become the WPT journey. This is the only sport in the history of televised sports that allows you to watch it, dream it, and be it. Now, WPT fans and poker enthusiasts can take the journey with Antonio as he leads the way for the next WPT Poker-Made Millionaire.”
L.A POKER CLASSIC OVERBOOKED, PLAYERS AT MAKESHIFT POKER TABLES
February 24, 2008
The L.A. Poker Classic is held annually at the Commerce Casino located in Los Angeles California, and is known to be consistently, since 2005, one of the largest live poker events of the season.
This year’s championship event didn’t let poker fans down. So many players registered for the LA Poker Classic that 4 tables of players began play downstairs in the casinos high stakes poker room. Additionally, the casino was take off guard by the high buy in numbers so much that they didn’t even have enough standard poker tables to seat all of the 665 Poker players that bought into the event for $10,000.00. Together those 665 poker players created a combined prize pool of more than 6 Million USD ($6,384,000.), the first place winner of the event will become an instant millionaire. How’s that for a life changing moment.
To make it to the end of this battle players are going to need a lot of skill, intuition, patience, and a just a little plain old luck. At the end of today’s bout, the field was picked clean of about 200 players, leaving approximately 450 poker hopefuls left in the competition.
During the first hour and a half blind level, about 25 players busted, our first professional poker play to bust today was “Shanghai” known also as Shame Schleger, he was sent to the rail by “fouruhaters” Noah Schwartz, both previous WPT final tableists.
Of the WPT L.A. Poker Classic’s previous winners, four made it to the 2008 event. Including Antonio Esfandiari who won the event in 2004, and has just recently signed a deal with the WPT. Other previous winners in attendance included Mizrachi (2005 WPT Champ), Goehring who took it down in 2006, Hershler the 2007 champion. At the end of the days play, all of the above were still present and accounted for.
Gus Hansen, the 2003 tournament champ didn’t make it for today’s game.
Also in attendance was Montel Williams, known for his television talk show Montel, as well as his support of the Muscular Dystrophy foundation. Jennifer Tilly, actress and ‘05 WSOP & WPT Ladies Champion and Rick Solomon, Pamela Andersons new fling/husband.
Now wouldn’t it be something if Jennifer Tilly got something going with Mr Solomon during the tournament? That would surely give us news writers something to talk about.
The group played through five blind levels before finishing up for the night. According to Card Player, David Singer was chip heavy at the end of the night with close to 140k in tournament chips, followed closely by Esfandiari who is just under 120k,
The cards go into the air again tomorrow at 12:30 Cali time (PST), the blinds will be at the 200-400 level, with players paying a $50 anti per hand.
PokerStars NBC National Heads Up Tournament Qualifier
February 22, 2008
The PokerStars NBC National Heads Up Tournament is set to place is less than a week at Caesars Palace Casino located on the strip in Las Vegas. There will only be 64 poker players vying for the 2008 Heads up poker championship, as the elite event is invitation only.
Pokerstars held a freeroll poker tournament for the event this afternoon where 2824 hopefuls battled it out for a satellite seat in the tournament.
Fast and wild is how one would describe the first half hour of the freeroll. Players couldn’t get their chips in fast enough and within the first hour of the game. Players were all in pre-flop with any ace, and generally called with just as bad. Post flop all ins and flops were also a constant, with neither playing having made a hand.
At first break, the field showed signs of some serious weeding, with just 842 players left in the tournament. Of those 842 players, 200 will advance on two phase two of the PokerStars qualification. Another tournament will be played tonight that will award tickets and seats to the actual NBC Poker Heads Up Championships. 4Flush.com will be there in Las Vegas to bring you live action from the tables.
Caesars Palace has also been hosting $65 sit n go tournaments for the main event in Las Vegas, where the actual buy in is $20,000.00.
Aggressive play continued, and by 8:30 Est, just an hour half after the tournament began the field was down to 500.
Shortly after the first break, our own Steve Vaughan lost a big pot with flopped trips to bigger turned trips just after break, only to bust out of the game with AT all in again AK in the very next hand.
Before the next break would come they were just over 200 players left and with 200 qualifying for the next tournament, also tonight, it wouldn’t be much longer before this one would end. On the line is:
- $20,000 buy-in to the exclusive 64-player Heads-Up Championship
- 4 nights accommodation in Las Vegas (February 28 – March 2)
- $1,000 cash for travel
That’s ok Steve, 4flush has already taken care of the room anyway, look out Caesar’s, here comes Sit n Go Steve!
Legal California Online Poker Rooms?
February 21, 2008
The passing of the UIGEA in October of 2006 effectively put a damper on the growth rate in the online poker industry. Now, according to a story in the Capitol Weekly newspaper, a group of online poker players along with Assemblyman Lloyd Levine, D-Van Nuys, are looking to bring online poker back, at least in California.
They are trying to find a loophole in the federal law and Levine’s bill (AB2026) will call for a study of the federal law itself and then determine if a California only online poker room would be legal. If the study finds that it would be legal, California would then be able to regulate the online poker games and receive a boost in state revenues from the rooms themselves.
Levine has said, “Our understanding of the law is that so long as the player and server (hosting the online game) are in California, it would be legal, but that’s what we are trying to find out.”
Poker Players of America is the sponsor behind the bill. According to their website the PPOA is,
The first independent national organization of American of poker players dedicated to ONE THING — protecting our right to play online and in live games.
Founded and guided by experienced political professionals who also play poker, PPOA has been created to provide information, mobilization and coordination of legislative/political action programs necessary to make the voices of America’s millions of poker players heard in Washington.
It is still in the beginning stages and who would run these new California online poker room is still unclear. Most certainly, current poker club owners, Internet entrepreneurs and because of the Class 2 certification, Indian tribes will all be interested in operating a state run poker room.
According to Levine the best part of the bill is that online poker in California would be regulated.
“If you’re gambling in California with one of these offshore sites, and they just decide not to pay you, you’re out of luck,” Levine said. “If you play legally, then there is recourse.”
Right now the “study bill” is just to determine whether it would be legal and what would the feasibility of such an operations be. If it is found that it can be legally the next step would be to turn the study bill into law but for now,
“It’s a study bill while we work out the details,” Levine said. “But we might put some teeth into it if it looks like we can do this.”
Betfair Poker Adds Sorel ‘Imper1um’ Mizzi To Their Poker Team
February 20, 2008
Two of the youngest and most talented online poker players are now playing under the same banner. Betfair Poker signed Annette Obrestad aka ‘Annette_15′ last year and announced today the signing of another great, young talent in Sorel Mizzi aka ‘Imper1um’.
According to Betfair, the signing of Mizzi will put their poker room one step closer to having a poker team that could be dominant over the next decade.
Sorel Mizzi is only 21 years old and already has already been called the “best online poker player on the planet” by Poker Verdict last year. He finished third in the 2007 Online Player of the Year standings and making the switch to live tournaments was not a problem either as he finished third in the Irish Open earning him $600,000.
Through a press release from Betfair Poker, Mizzi said,
“Overall 2007 was a great year for me and by joining Betfair Poker in 2008 I’m getting in with a team which not only has a great reputation but more importantly, it’s going places. With Betfair backing us, I reckon Annette 15 and I have more than enough firepower to take down a few of the big names in tournament poker.”
“I am proud to add a player like Sorel Mizzi to our team. He is regarded as one of the best online tournament players in the world by many and has the results to prove it. Now that he has joined Team Betfair alongside poker pro Annette Obrestad I honestly believe we have the two best tournament players in the world right now. There is a new world order, look out!” added Bruce Stubbs, Betfair’s Head of Poker.
Poker After Dark Champions Week Winner: Johnny Chan
February 18, 2008
NBC Poker After Dark Champions week featured players that has to meet just one requirement…you have to have a WSOP bracelet to sit down. Former champions Chris Ferguson, Johnny Chan, Berry Johnston, Jamie Gold, Phil Hellmuth and Huck Seed all sat down to this $120,000 winner take all TV tournament.
This game had a different feel than the others right from the start. First three hands saw raises and re-raises and aggressive play was the norm and Huckleberry Seed was mixing it up early but within the first dozen hands ran into a buzz saw. Chris Ferguson raises pre-flop with Qh Jh, Johnny Can calls with Ad 7d and Huck Seed calls from the big blind with 2s 4s.
The flop comes 3d 2d 2h and Huckleberry fires $1,500. Chris Ferguson (Jesus) folds and Johnny Chan re-raises his nut flush draw to $5,000 and for the second early in this tournament, Huck Seed goes all-in. Johnny without to much hesitation puts his tournament life in jeopardy with the call. The turn 9h brings Johnny that much closer to elimination but he is saved on the river by the 5d and cripples Huck Seed who has gone from the chip lead to just 1,000 in chips. Seed does double up against Jamie Gold the next hand with AK and a few hands later is all-in again with A T and gets no callers.
Huck builds his chip stack back up to $6,000 but it was Jamie Gold finally getting the best of him to eliminate Seed first. The next big hand also involved Jamie Gold and ended with a very unique decision method by Chris Ferguson.
It starts with Jamie Gold limping with 4d 2d and Ferguson calls from the small blind with 5c 3h and a check by Johnny Chan in the big blind with Td 8h. The flop comes Qd 3c 3d and Chris and Johnny check while Gold takes a shot and bets $800 into the $1800 pot. Ferguson re-raises to $2,500, Chan folds and Gold calls. The turn brings the Tc and Chris bets $5,000 into a $6,800 pot and gets instantly called by Jamie Gold. The river brings the Qc and Chris checks and Jamie instantly goes all in on the busted flush draw putting Chris’s tournament at stake if he calls.
After close to 5 minutes of thinking, analyzing and calculating Chris asked Johnny Chan for a coin. He tells every one he trusts his luck over his thinking and says if it is heads he will call. The flip comes up heads and Chris Ferguson doubles up into second place and Jamie Gold falls to last.
That double up didn’t help though as Chris Ferguson went all-in in the small blind with Qc Jh and was called by Johnny Chan in the big blind with pocket sevens. The brought an ace and a king but no more face cards and the man nicknamed Jesus, Chris Ferguson was sent home in 5th.
It was another blind battle later between Johnny
Chan in the small blind raising enough to put the big blind, Berry Johnston all-in. Berry called and it was a race between Chan’s Ah 8h to Johnston’s 5s 5c. The flop was heavy in Chan’s favor coming 7h 9h 8c , the turn was the 3d and the river was the 8s eliminating Berry Johnston in 4th.
The next elimination was again a blind battle as Johnny Chan folded the button and instantly Jamie Gold goes all-in for his last $14,300. Phil calls and see’s his Qh 4c go up against the As 8c of Gold. The flop was all Phil though with a 4 on the flop. No more help came and Phil eliminates Jamie Gold in 3rd.
So it came down to heads up play against Johnny Chan who one the first PAD Champions week and finished second in the second one, going up against Phil Hellmuth who is looking to make it 3 PAD tournaments in a row. They enter into the heads-up play with Johnny Chan almost 2:1 in the lead.
Johnny Chan – 76K
Phil Hellmuth – 44K
So with the scene set and two former WSOP champions with over 20 bracelets between them get ready for battle…it took just one hand to decide the champion. Phil limps with Ah Th, Johnny Chan raises all-in with the Kh Jd and Hellmuth instant calls. The flop was Kc Js 2h and no queen came to help Phil and it was all over that quick. Johnny Chan wins the $120,000 and another Poker After Dark Champions Week title.
Full Tilt Poker FTOPS Event 7 NO Limit Holdem Tournament
February 17, 2008
Full Tilt Online Poker Series Event 7 was the $100 buy-in no limit holdem rebuy poker tournament. Hosted by Peter “Nordberg” Feldman, Full Tilt Poker had a guaranteed prize pool of $400,000. Over all, though they had 2,254 entrants, 3,193 re-buys and 1,188 add-ons to produce a prize pool exceeding $660,000. $121,719.08 of that would go to first place.
351 poker players would make into the money and Bull1967 ended up the bubble player in this one finishing 352nd. Making it to the money though were Full Tilt pros Sigi Stockinger at 304th, Scott Fischman, 243rd, Rino Mathis, 238th and the highest finisher would be Eddy Scharf at 152nd.
The final hand before the final table was a heartbreaker for kyco. With the blinds at 25K/50K and short stacked with only 20,456 in chips, kyco seemed to find the hand and went all-in under the gun with pocket queens. The pot was raised to 170,000 by jacksup on the button and then re-raised by Merovingian in the big blind. Jacksup folded and unfortunately for kyco, Merovingian flipped over pocket aces. No help on the board and kyco was sent to the rail on 10th.
The final table was set with:
Broberts85 – 2,218,204
Merovingian – 1,967,990
Jacksup – 1,842,952
Ibleedbenjamins – 1,228,343
Big deejay – 930,364
IocoPocoMaIoco – 743,523
IAmClutch – 678,669
Ims shutterbug – 619,166
IcePrincesca – 275,289
The first casualty of the final table was Ims shutterbug getting all-in pre-flop with Ad Ks and being called by big deejay with 7s 7c. A flopped ace looked good for Ims shutterbug but the river proved disastrous when a 7d hit and sent Ims shutterbug home in 9th.
Ironically, it was big deejay getting all-in preflop a few hands later with 8h 8d from the small blind and being called by IocoPocoMaIoco from the big blind with As Ks. This time a turned ace doomed big deejay and he was sent to the rail in 8th.
After an early double up, IcePrincesca was again under 300,000 in chips when she went all –in from the small blind over a button raise from IocoPocoMaIoco.
IAmClutch called from the big blind and IocoPocoMaIoco also called. The flop came jack high and a turn bet by IAmClutch forced a fold by IocoPocoMaIoco, IcePrincesca flipped up Kh Qd but was drawing dead to a flopped set of jacks by IAmClutch and was sent home in 7th.
Ibleedbenjamins was next to leave when it seemed like a blind steal went bad as Ibleedbenjamins went all-in for 750,000 with Qh 3c from the small blind and was called by Merovingian in the big blind with Ah 6c. A flopped and rivered ace sent Ibleedbenjamins home in 6th.
It was Broberts85’s turn to make a stand as he went all-in with pocket nines and was ran into pocket jacks of jacksup and was sent home in 5th, IocoPocoMaIoco was next all-in with Ah 8h versus IAmClutch with As Jh. The board did not improve either hand and IocoPocoMaIoco is gone in 4th. This hand put IAmCLutch over 4 million in chips and the chipleader with 3 players left.
That didn’t last long as in just a few more hands jacksup raised the button and IAmClutch went all in from the small blind with 9s 9c. Jacksup called with Td Tc and the board again did not improve either hand and IAmClutch was done, finishing in 3rd.
Jacksup entered the heads up play with 7,881,714 in chips to Merovingian’s 2,654,786. It took just two hands for Merovingian to cut the gap to 2,000,000 and it stayed that close for almost 15 more minutes. The big blow came when jacksup raised the small blind and Merovingian called. The flop came 4h 2s 4d and Merovingian check raised jacksup on the flop. The turn brought the 8s and Merovingian bet 1,320,000, just under the pot. And jacksup re-raised all-in. Jacksup showed pocket tens and Merovingian showed 5d 4c for the flopped trips. The river 7s was no help and jacksup was crippled, down to 746,928 chips.
Jacksup was all-in the next hand a couple hands later with 6 h 7 c versus Jc 5s and a flopped 5 and turned jack sent the pot, title and $121,719.08 to Merovingian.
The final results of FTOPS Event 7 No Limit Holdem final table:
- Merovingian $121,719.08
- jacksup $74,710.10
- IAmClutch $48,899.95
- IocoPocoMaIoco $39,013.80
- Broberts85 $29,525.75
- ibleedbenjamins $21,232.00
- IcePrincesca $15,592.25
- big_deejay $12,208.40
- lms shutterbug $9,289.00
Gambling Addict to Sue William Hill
February 16, 2008
William Hill has over 69 years of experience in the bookmaking industry and operates close to 1,600 offices in the UK. It has a yearly turnover of over $2.5 billion and is one of the industries largest betting services. One gambling addict who claims to have told them to stop taking his bet, is suing them for allowing him to lose 2 million pounds.
Graham Calvert, a 28 year old who is currently a greyhound trainer in northeast England, is saying that since he told the company that he was a gambling addict in 2006, William Hill should have stopped taking bets from him and therefore should pay him back all the losses he has occurred.
Calvert closed his account and asked William Hill to ban him from placing any more bets. He said that 2 months later the betting company allowed him to open a new account.
Calvert said,
“If I’d known I had the problem and didn’t do anything about it, I would see myself as being 100 per cent responsible. The fact is that I did try to go through the right procedures and I was let down.”
According to Graham’s attorney, he went on the place 3.5 million pounds of bets including what was at that time the biggest golf bet ever, a 347,000 pound punt on the United States winning the 2006 Ryder cup.
The attorney, Peter Hornsey said,
“This case is important not just on a personal level for Mr Calvert but also for the betting industry as a whole. It goes to the issue of how bookmakers treat people who have gambling problems via their self-exclusion policy and whether they can be held responsible when they advertise themselves as offering self exclusion and promoting socially-responsible gambling.”
“For whatever reason, William Hill failed to operate its self-exclusion policy, with disastrous consequences for our client despite knowing that he had a gambling problem and we argue that they should be held responsible for that.”
William Hill denies that it did anything wrong and plans to fight the case in court that starts next Monday in London’s High Court and is expected by most to last at least five days.
Serial Rapist Convinces Victims he Has Won the Lottery
February 16, 2008
Female residents of London are on the alert this week for a black male around 40 years old, posing to be a cab driver that has just won the lottery. The taxi driver, is described as: medium build, somewhere between 5′7 and 5′10”. His hair is described as spikey on top, and he is said to talk with a London accent.
In short the driver cons women into believing he has just won the lottery, and then convinces them to have a drink with him to celebrate his good fortune. The drinks contain the date rape drug.
After the women lose consciousness in the back of the cab, they are at the drivers mercy. He then makes his way into the back seat with his semi conscious victim and performs sexual assaults on their bodies.
To date police officers from the Met’s Specialist Crime Directorate have been able to link the suspect in these serial rapes to five attacks in total, dating back as far as 2006.
A police source told the London Paper that “The last time he struck, he made out he has won the lottery that night and pulled out a bottle of champagne and asked the victim to celebrate.
In further reports police have said that “In all the incidents, the victims have lost consciousness but when they come to, they are aware of having been seriously sexually assaulted.”
Debt Chief Inspector Tim rattan-Kane, the officer in charge of the investigation has asked that any other women that have been assaulted by this man come forward. He expressed concerns that there may be other women that have shared this horrifying experience, yet have not come forward for fear that they will not be believed:
“I can assure them they will be [believed].” -Det Chief Insp Tim Grattan-Kane
Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS) Event 6 PL Omaha
February 16, 2008
Pot Limit Omaha was the game at played at the 6th event of the Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS) which was hosted by Niki Jedlicka. The Pot Limit Omaha poker tournament included a $250,000.00 guaranteed prize pool. That meant that no matter how many people registered to play, at least 250k was up for grabs. It turns out registration surpassed the guarantee with a whopping 774 entrants and the prize pool was pushed up to a staggering $387,000.00.
84 of the top Online Omaha poker players cashed in the Full Tilt Poker tournament, the eventual winner receiving $83,205.00.
A few of the players were well known red listers in the world of poker, pro players included:
- Allen Cunningham
- Chip Jett
- Jon Turner aka “PearlJammed”
- Scott Fischman
- David Benyamine
Of the 17 poker pro’s playing in the Pot limit poker event, Benyamine made it the farthest, finishing the tournament in 18th place.
Top ten finishes:
1 st place: gaffel5 $83,205.00
2nd place: Grumpy696 $54,567.00
3 rd place: buttsauce33 $39,203.10
4 th place: LeoEleven $29,799.00
5 th place: iwilleatu $21,285.00
6 th place: kwob20 $13,545.00
7 th place: GetPWN3D $8,514.00
8 th place: x2then $8,514.00
9 th place: jps-dk001 $6,192.00
10 th place: eeemli $6,192.0
PKR Poker Presents The PKR Masters
February 14, 2008
PKR.com, the world’s fastest growing online poker room has upped the ante yet again with the introduction of the ‘PKR Masters’ $75,000 guaranteed tournament. The PKR Masters tournament will feature the biggest prize pool ever seen on PKR – with a minimum first prize of at least $18,000. . The move further establishes PKR as the home of tournament poker and a force to be reckoned with in the online poker space.
The PKR Masters takes place on the last Saturday of every month at 20:00 GMT. . With a deep starting stack of 5,000 chips, a 20 minute 20-minute clock and broader blind structures, the tournament offers the playability that the best tournament competitors demand. . Buy-in is $250 with daily satellites starting at just $1.28.
Cardroom Manager Neil Wright said, “The PKR Masters offers players an exciting new prize pool to aim for in a highly playable format that allows the cream to rise to the top. . We’re really excited about this and are looking forward to offering players ever increasing guaranteed prize pools as PKR’s player base continues to grow..
PlayersOnly Extends Entry Deadline for $10K Video Contest on YouTube
February 13, 2008
PlayersOnly.com online casino and online poker room is extending the entry deadline for their $10,000 video contest on YouTube.com. Video clips showing what it takes to be a “player can now be uploaded until March 15 to YouTube.com/Group/UnleashThePlayer.
“As word of the contest has spread, we’ve been getting lots of inquiries in the last few days,” said PlayersOnly.com manager Dave Anderson. “We think it will be worth the wait to give these guys a couple more weeks to get their video clips uploaded.”
The promo video for the contest, featuring Players Only Poker hostess and Playboy/FHM model Carrie Stroup, has been online at YouTube for a few weeks and is becoming a popular clip. Stroup, whose animated image welcomes players to the video-rich PlayersOnly.com casino lobby, is already a favourite with YouTube viewers for her Benchwarmer Girls and RipeTV appearances. She shot the promotional video for the contest at Venice Beach several weeks ago.
“I love fooling around with a video camera,” said Stroup. I hope the guys have a lot of fun putting their entries together!”
PlayersOnly.com invites contestants to submit video clips showing themselves and their friends demonstrating what it takes to be a “player”. Or, for perhaps a bigger laugh, showing the exact opposite. Pay tribute to successful, confident players you admire, or parody wannabe players that just dont get it. Secrets for success, sleezy pick-up lines, tongue-in-cheek dress-to-impress wardrobe tips – anything goes. The winner will receive a $10,000 prize and a night out with the sites sexy hostess, Playboy/FHM model Carrie Stroup.
Anyone American over 18 with a video camera, an idea and a sense of humor can enter the free contest at the “PlayersOnly Unleash the Player In You Video Contest” page on YouTube, www.YouTube.com/group/UnleashThePlayer. Contest entries are available for viewing there and viewers are invited to assist the judging by commenting.
The winner of the contest, to be announced on March 15th, will receive a $10,000 deposit in their PlayersOnly.com account. PlayersOnly.com will also pick up the tab for a night out with their sexy and charismatic hostess, Carrie Stroup.
Carrie Stroup is the video hostess of PlayersOnly.coms recently re-designed poker, casino and sportsbook site. She appeared in Playboy Magazine in September and in FHM in October of this year and had a whole room full of players drooling when she hosted POs WSOP party in Las Vegas last July. (Video clip from that event here: http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=12494914). Carrie has also appeared in NBCs “Scrubs” and movies “Cellular”, “Starsky and Hutch”, “The Girl Next Door”, and “Redline”. She was in the MTV pilot “Living the Dream” and hosted “VIP Parties Uncensored”.
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