Pokerstars Macau recently announced its move to the newly renovated and revamped Grand Waldo Entertainment Complex. This place has its sweet memories for me, as I had finished third in the APPT Macau in 2008 which was my biggest live tournament success at the time. Returning there now provides a whole new experience for anyone who visits the home of the biggest and richest poker tournaments in Asia.

The complex already houses top facilities, but let me list several highlights for you in the area. Players on a budget can now consider staying the night at the Grand Waldo Spa for under $60USD or even sleep in the main hall of the spa if you don’t mind being in a shared area. Visitors to Macau have previously spent most of their time on the Macau side but everyone knows that the new “place to be” is the Cotai Strip across the bridge on Taipa.

The Cotai strip is continuously getting developed and you can always find swanky new hotels and restaurants to discover. If you thought you really knew Macau, think again! Across the road from Grand Waldo is its sister-hotel, the recently opened Galaxy, which houses several different brands of hotels and several world class bars and restaurants. A short cab ride down to discover Taipa Village – where the original community of Taipa Island started from – will transport you back in time as you discover its small cluster of narrow lanes and alleys with colorful old (& new) colonial houses. Amongst these houses you can discover old temples and the best seafood in Macau!

Another highlight of our newly situated room is its proximity to the go-karting track and golf course. Fancy some speed, and a short cab ride brings you to the Macau Motor Sports Club where you can unleash the speed demon in you! If you feel like a relaxing day out on the greens you can head to Caesars Golf Macau and even enroll yourself for some lessons at the Butch Harmon School. Who knows you could be the next Tiger Woods after all.

There are just so many sights to discover and I will definitely be on the lookout for more gems as I uncover them! In the meantime satellites for the Macau Poker Cup (June 9th-18th) on running now on PokerStars so make sure to make your way there by winning a seat now!

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Tags: 10th anniversary | delicious | gambling | grand-waldo | news | photos | pokerstars | wcoop

Come forth, all ye non believers, and gather ’round the flame of truth. Sit quietly while I speak of winners, of hundreds of thousands of dollars, and how the days of our lives can change in an instant. Or, if it’s more your style, read quickly through the next few words for a small bit of enlightenment.

As you might know, PokerStars is getting ready to deal its 80 billionth hand. For the past several years, this kind of milestone has turned into a bit of a party. PokerStars throws money around, thousands of people end up with new bankrolls, and it’s generally a small Bacchanalian event for a week to ten days.

That’s what’s happening now. In just the past few days, PokerStars has given out more than $300,000 to players have been dealt into milestone hands. It started with hand #79,700,000,000. Every million hands since then (and until the 80 billionth), PokerStars gives out money. Whoever hits the 80 billionth hand earns at least $20,000.

But, you…you may be among those people who think the winners are ghosts, phantoms, or sock puppets. I’m here to tell you (with as much politeness as I can muster) you couldn’t be more wrong.

Here I offer some measure of proof in the form of a list of PokerStars 80 billionth hand milestone winners.

Ta-freakin’-da! Brilliant, eh?

You, too, have time to win. This celebration will go on until PokerStars reaches the 80 billionth hand, which will happen at a super-secret time in the future (*cough*thisweekend*cough). Just keep an eye on the corner lobby of the PokerStars to see when the next big hand is about to hit. And remember, the winners are…among us.

For all you need to know about this week’s celebration, check out the Road to 100 Billion information page.

Tags: 10th anniversary | australia | Battle of the Planets | belgian poker series | italian | pokerstars macau | tournaments | UKIPT | wcoop

Start stacking your bets in easy-to grab piles, because PokerStars has just announced a brand new big show for the weekend: the PokerStars Limit Hold’em Challenge.

You read it right. Limit Hold’em.

“People still play Limit Hold’em?” you say.

Indeed they do, and for big stakes. How big? Daniel Negreanu-Big.

This weekend, May 5 at 2pm ET, worldwide poker superstar and Team PokerStars Pro Daniel Negreanu will face off against limit legend rUaBot in a high-stakes limit heads-up battle. Negreanu and rUaBot will play 1,250 hands across two tables of $200/$400 heads-up limit hold’em. Both players will start with $75,000 bankrolls.

You know Negreanu. He’s been killing it in the no-limit tournament world recently. Just yesterday he finished runner-up in the €25,000 EPT Grand Final High Roller for €600,000 (an amount he shruggingly said would “pay some bills”). He’s got the cash to play.

As for rUaBot, he’s keeping his identity a secret for now. He started his poker life in the limit hold’em world and has become a bit of a specialist.

“In my opinion, fixed limit is more strategic than no limit,” he said. “In no-limit, you always have some guessing games like ‘would he bluff here or wouldn’t he?.’ Of course, such situations often happen in fixed-limit, too, but there is much more space for general strategic adaptions than in no-limit. I think, setting up your standard game is pure math, but exploiting your opponents patterns is an art…and will always be!”

If you’d like to watch, just log on to PokerStars at 2pm Et Saturday. If you can’t make it, the PokerStars Blog will have a full wrap-up of the action.

For more information, visit the PokerStars Limit Hold’em Challenge information page.

Tags: ept | eureka poker tour | European Poker Tour | micromillions | napt | news | poker | pokerstars | portugal | world cup of poker

Your tank is full of fuel. You’ve packed a cooler full of snacks. The in-dash navigation system is ready to roll. For you and the rest of the world, the next leg on the Road to 100 Billion starts today.

Sometime around 16:00 ET today, the milestone hands in the 80 Billionth hand celebration will kick off. The milestone hands begin at 79,700,000,000 and will hit every million hands until PokerStars deals its 80 billionth. When you get dealt into one of the big hands, you’ll earn big money. If you manage to hit the 80 billionth hand and win it, you’ll earn at least $20,000

As you might know by this point, your VIP Club status can earn you more money in the milestone hands celebration. The higher your status in the VIP Club, the bigger your payday. That’s because your prize is based on the number of VIP Points you have earned at the table in the hands leading up to the big hand.

Again, it all kicks off in about four hours, so buckle up and get ready to roll.

For all you need to know about this week’s celebration, check out the Road to 100 Billion information page.

Get ready, folks, because you don’t want to be left behind.

Tags: 10th anniversary | 2011 | harrah's | italian poker tour | pokerstars | SCOOP | tournaments | wbcoop | world-series

Grab a cup of coffee, put a pillow in the seat of your computer chair, and get ready to get back on the road, because PokerStars just opened up a new highway on the Road to 100 Billion.

Today, PokerStars announced that its 80 billionth hand will be hitting some time very soon. If you’ve been a player on PokerStars for very long, you know that when big things start happening, big money starts flying. It’s more than a big paper cut risk. It’s a chance to win a small fortune.

Between now and the time the 80 billionth hand hits, PokerStars will be giving away up to $1 million in prizes. Every millionth hand from 79,700,000,000 to 80,000,000,000 will be worth thousands of dollars to the people lucky enough to be seated in the right place at the right time.

And, of course, PokerStars has something big planned for the 80 billionth hand. Whoever wins that one will get at least $20,000.

Note the words “at least” in that last sentence.

See, the way this thing works is that you get paid more for your milestone hand victories based on the number of VIP Player Points you have earned at the tables since you sat down. The more you play and the higher your VIP Club level, the more you can win.

When the 75 billionth hand hit, it ended in a split pot, which meant two people ended up with big cash instead of one.

Now it’s time to turn our attention to the 80 billionth hand. Keep your eye on the corner of the PokerStars lobby to see when the next milestone hand is going to hit.

For more information, examples of how you can win, and all the details you need, visit the Road to 100 Billion information page.

Good luck!

Tags: 2011 | gambling | harrah's | italian poker tour | latin-america | russian | SCOOP | wcoop

The Spring Championship of Online Poker is a very demanding series of online tournaments. Preparation is absolutely necessary. So what is important?

For me the most important things are a good night’s sleep and the option to something non-poker after waking up, (ie just something I want to do). Ideally I get up at least three hours before playing so I can relax and start to prepare my brain cells. Usually I start the day with breakfast and a bath and then about an hour’s stroll in the fresh air with my family and dog. After that – cleaning time and preparing the “office” (aka the garage) for the next 12-hour session.

I need to play undisturbed in a pleasant milieu, so I rebuilt the garage into a playing den where I have everything I need within arm’s reach: fridge (stuffed with supplies of food from top to bottom), television, and a comfortable sitting chair. I definitely do not leave anything to chance, and because it is an online tournament, you would find three different WiFi hook-ups at my home in case of power failure, several spare PCs, mice, batteries, etc.

Another equally important part is my wife who buys everything necessary, prepares coffee and food, and times it exactly around the breaks. I don’t radically change my usual diet. I only increase intake of vitamins in fruits and vegetables.

This year I feel really fit and ready for the big prize. After about a year’s downswing, I finally had some nice results last month and won most of my losses back. Like almost every year, I plan to play all of the Hold’em tourneys, although I will add some of the PLO as well.

And for the wife…what does online tournament like SCOOP mean for her?

“It’s important Martin has a lot of sleep. He doesn’t have a lot of rituals, but he won’t give up on this one. After he wakes up, he gets in bath, where as I, a loving wife, bring him a breakfast,” she said. “After the bath, if he has time, we go on walk with our daughter and dog. And after that, he sits at his computer. I make him a lot of coffee, tea and snacks during the session. I always make dinner that can be eaten by one hand only. So, if I am making a chicken, it is obvious that I separate the meat and cut the potatoes in little pieces, so he can only eat by fork. I do this only to make his work more comfortable. And I do it with love.”

Follow Martin Hruby on Twitter: @AABenjaminAA

Tags: australia | events | italian | italian poker tour | micromillions | russian poker series | SCOOP | tcoop | UKIPT | videos | wcoop

Seven years ago today, I pressed publish on the very first post of the PokerStars Blog. On that day in 2005, I’d been playing poker my whole life. I’d been blogging for six years. I’d been blogging about poker for almost as long. There was no reason to be nervous. And yet I was. As I sent the first PokerStars Blog story out into the ether, I wondered, “What is this going to turn into?” I had no way of knowing how big it would get.

Today, we here at the PokerStars Blog celebrate our seventh anniversary. In the seven years since that first post, we have grown from one guy with a notepad and a camera to an entire team of writers, photographers, and tech gurus that we like to think has no equal. How we got there is a road so winding, I don’t even remember all the turns. The long version of the story is told in a post I wrote last year chronicling our story for PokerStars 10th anniversary: How the PokerStars Blog got its start. If you’re interested in how we grew, that story tells it in a really big nutshell.

Today, there are more than a dozen PokerStars Blog outlets in just about any language you need. We have writers all over the globe who work tirelessly to bring you the best PokerStars online and live coverage there is. Our readership has grown exponentially since 2005 and we welcome millions of readers to this page every year.

How?

Well, I think there are a lot of reasons. First and foremost, PokerStars’ eye for and dedication to innovation has meant a great deal to the PokerStars Blog. There is no arena PokerStars enters that it doesn’t strive to be the best, and the PokerStars Blog is no exception. There is a top-down philosophy that mandates the people of the PokerStars Blog work to be the best at what we do. Despite our admitted and transparent bias toward PokerStars, we maintain the strictest of standards in our reporting efforts. We aim to not be a machine that spits out press releases. We actively work to offer you the most accurate, entertaining, and comprehensive poker reporting available (you can also read how that came about in this post. If our readership is any indication, we feel pretty confident we succeed most of the time.

Furthermore, over the years, we have all kept our eyes open on new innovations and technologies to help us better report the news. In the past few months, we have expanded our live coverage team such that we now can report all the hand-by-hand action while simultaneously providing the best color and features on tour. Here’s a look at a day in the life of a PokerStars live blogger.

It goes beyond that, however. All the philosophy in the world won’t matter if we don’t have the people to execute it. Fortunately, over the years, we’ve put together a staff of people who know how to report the news and tell good stories. A majority of the people who work for the PokerStars Blog were professional storytellers before they turned their focus to poker. Our staff is made up of former newspapermen, broadcasters, novelists, English professors, and top bloggers.

The result is what I consider to be the best team in the business turning out some of the most interesting stories around. In the end, we turn out hand-by-hand action of live events, in-depth features and interviews, and breaking news as it happens. Even when you don’t have time to read us here, we update the PokerStars Blog Twitter feed.

If you’re new to the PokerStars Blog or haven’t been able to read us daily, here are a few stories from the past few years that have stood out to me as representative of what we do and how we do it.

There are many, many more that I could list here from the likes of Rick Dacey, Martin Harris, David Aydt, Jennifer Newell, Kevin Mathers, Marc Convey, and the long, long list of other writers who contribute here. They are people who put their hearts and souls into blogging for us, and we’re lucky to have them on our team.

So, today we celebrate our seventh anniversary. It’s a happy day for us, and we’re looking forward to many more years of making the PokerStars Blog even better.

Tags: archives | Asia Pacific Poker Tour | European Poker Tour | italian poker tour | news | philosophy | tcoop | UKIPT | world cup of poker | World Series of Poker

Some people play poker for the fame, travel, exposure, and lifestyle. Some people simply play for the cash. Count PokerStars player Ironic13 among the latter. He won the first anniversary Sunday Storm for more than $160,000, and he doesn’t care one bit about people knowing who he really is.

This was no small challenge for the man who calls Mexico home. It was also an unnecessary spotlight for a guy who doesn’t care for fame at all. When asked if he wanted to sit for an interview about his win, Ironic13 demurred. The 32-year-old man likes his place in the shadows.

That’s a hard sell for the poker community. This was a big tournament. It’s a record-breaking event for $11 tournaments on PokerStars and the third-biggest field of all-time on PokerStars. In total 136,444 people played the first anniversary celebration tourney. And get this–nearly half of the people in the event played for free. They got free tickets to the event as a result of taking advantage of a PokerStars deposit offer.

And guess what? Ironic13 was one of those people freerolling the Storm’s anniversary party.

“I deposited $50 and got a free ticket,” he said.

Still, he’s not going to tell you who he really is.

This much he’ll reveal:

Ironic13 works full time in Mexico, a place where he’s only lived for two years.

“Poker is extremely popular, but none of the casinos have live poker games, so there are lots of private cash games everywhere,” he said. “Players are really bad, so it is not hard to make money playing poker in Mexico.”

That kind of statement may not make him many friends among Mexican poker players, but Ironic13 doesn’t seem to care. After all, he has $160,000. He can buy a couple buddies if he needs to.

Poker hasn’t always been as kind to Sunday’s big winner. Before this weekend, Ironic’s biggest-ever tournament wins came by way of a sixth place finish in a $9.90 tourney and first place in a $12 180-player SNG. Even he can’t fully explain how well Sunday went for him.

“It was an unforgettable experience, although I still can not fully realize what has happened,” he said “I am very happy about my game as I never slowed down and kept terrorizing the table the whole time. This was the strategy I chose and never thought about the money. I just played my game and it worked out.”

Indeed, it worked out $160,000 in his favor, money he’ll use to play some more online and live in Mexico. Meanwhile, he’ll go back to his regular job and the anonymity of online poker play.

After all, who needs fame when you’ve got a brick of cash that big?

Congrats to Ironic3 on his big win.

Tags: Asia Pacific Poker Tour | facebook | harrah's | pca | pokerstars macau | portugal | portugal poker series | SCOOP

It’s been a stormy year, no? Lots of crashing, booming, and Texas-style floods. There are a lot of reasons for that, but let’s focus on a good one. It was around one year ago at this time that PokerStars introduced us to the Sunday Storm. It was a gigantic affair that drew more than 113,000 people to PokerStars doors and cemented the Sunday Storm’s spot in the PokerStars Sunday Majors stable.

Now it’s time to celebrate the Sunday Storm’s first anniversary, and to do so, PokerStars is bumping the guarantee for the tournament up to $1 million.

You read it right. On April 15, you can put yourself in the middle of a $1 million Sunday Storm for the ridiculously low buy-in of $11. That tournament will guarantee $150,000 to first place and offer $50 Team PokerStars Pro bounties.

Now, you might be wondering why I’m making such a big deal of this when there two weeks remain before the big celebration. Well, I have my reasons. See, I want to give you time to get a free ticket to the Anniversary event.

To celebrate the Sunday Storm’s first year in business, PokerStars is giving away free $11 tickets to the Sunday Storm Anniversary event. Those tickets will be available to people who deposit $50 or more to their accounts using the bonus code STORM before 23:59 ET on April 14.

It’s easy money that could end up earning you money that could land you on Easy Street.

So, shake off that stormy year and start planning your April 15th today.

For more information, visit the PokerStars Sunday Storm 1st Anniversary page.

Tags: 2011 | delicious | eureka poker tour | france poker series | latin-america | pokerstars | PokerStars news | tournaments

When Isaac “philivey2694″ Haxton returned to the felt this afternoon to resume his $1 million match with Viktor “Isildur1″ Blom, he seemed determined to reign in the frenetic pace that defined yesterday’s session. Haxton didn’t mind taking a small-ball approach; even as Blom expanded his lead by another $127,000 within the first hour. Haxton stuck to his guns and clawed his way back, pulling nearly even with Blom before the Swedish sensation turned the match around again by doing what he does best. Attacking quickly and relentlessly, Blom whittled Haxton’s $500,000 challenge bankroll down to only $118,000 before ending their second four-hour session with a $281,365 lead.

HOUR ONE: BLOM’S LEAD BLOOMS TO $325K

Haxton did his best to keep the pace steady and the pots small in the early going, but Blom clearly had other ideas. The third hand on Showdown 2 resulted in a $57,600 pot, Blom bluffing the flop with nothing, catching third pair on the turn and backing into a ten-high straight on the river. It took another half-hour before an all-in pot materialized, Blom flopping top two with [Ad][Kh] on an [Ac][Ks][2h] board against Haxton’s [Ah][Tc]. Haxton check-called $2,000 on the flop and another $5,600 when the [4h] hit the turn. The [Td] on the river was a disaster for Ike and he check-called Blom’s shove only to watch another buy-in disappear. With that $80,800 pot, Blom’s lead was up to $299,786.

After that unlucky run, Haxton successfully picked off a bluff to take down a $41,000 pot. Holding [3c][6c] on a [Jh][7h][4h][6d] board. Blom check-raised Haxton’s turn bet to $4,768 and Haxton smooth-called with [6h][7c] for two pair and a flush draw. Blom fired another $15,000 at the [Kh] river and Haxton called, taking it down with his flush. Although that pot trimmed Blom’s lead to $259,728, he quickly bounced back when Haxton’s combination draw missed against his top pair-no kicker:

By the end of the first hour, Blom led with $331,294 profit after 2,313 hands. His entire challenge bankroll spread across the four tables, Haxton had only a little more than one buy-in per table remaining and a seemingly insurmountable task ahead of him.

HOUR TWO: HAXTON NARROWS THE GAP

An $80,400 coinflip saved Haxton from ruin on Showdown 4, his [Js][Jd] holding up against Blom’s [As][Kd]. Blom, however, quickly answered that pot with a river overbet Haxton couldn’t call, raking in $49,200 without a showdown. It was a minor setback for Ike, who maintained focus and chipped away, using Blom’s signature move against him in several instances. Haxton had shaved $100,000 off Blom’s lead when they got it all-in on the turn, Haxton holding [Qh][7h] for a flush and Blom [Kc][Ts] for two pair on a [8d][3h][Th][Kh] board. The [9c] river locked up the $81,600 pot for Haxton and suddenly these two were almost back where they started the day, Blom with a $199,608 lead.

Haxton changed gears again and reverted back to his original plan– small-pot poker. He ground out plently of them over the course of the next twenty minutes, nabbing a couple of big ones as well. In a textbook case of kicker trouble, Blom and Haxton both rivered top pair on a [4d][5s][7c][4h][Kc] board. Blom called Haxton’s $34,200 river shove, but his [Ks][Js] couldn’t top Haxton’s [Ac][Kh] for the $86,400 pot. Then, a classic suck-resuck saw Haxton make away with a $70,800 pot. Blom’s [Qc][8c] hit bottom two pair on a [Kh][Qs][8d] flop and he check-raised Haxton’s $928 bet to $3,200. Haxton called with [Ks][7c], only to hit the [7h] on the turn. Blom bet $6,400 and Haxton called. Blom fired a hefty $25,000 at the [6c] river and Haxton called, taking it down with kings up.

Within 372 hands, Haxton had successfully reduced Blom’s lead from more than $331,000 to $116,850. Blom quickly went to work and ground back about $30,000 before Haxton detonated this $148,200 daisy-cutter of a pot to reduce Blom’s lead to $85,000:

HOUR THREE: HAXTON HOLDS OFF BLOM’S ADVANCE

Within five minutes, Blom roared back to life. In a pot that Haxton three-bet pre, Blom hit top pair when the flop fell [Kd][Qh][8d]. Haxton continued for $4,800, Blom raised to $11,600, and Haxton called. Both players checked the [Jc] on the turn, but when the [2h] came on the river, Haxton shoved for $34,000. Blom sensed something was afoot and called him down despite the dangerous board, Haxton turning up nothing but a busted flush draw with [5d][9d]. Haxton’s [Ks][9s] earned him the $99,616 pot and left Haxton with only a $15,000 stack on Showdown 1. Haxton pushed it in a few hands later with [Ad][9s], but could not outrun Blom’s [Qc][Qd]. Forced to split the $163,000 he’d worked up on Showdown 2, both stacks were reset to $40,000.

Haxton went back to chopping out medium-sized pots with an unhurried pace until the two went to war on a [9d][8c][2c] flop. After flopping straight and flush draws with [Qc][Jc], Haxton check-raised Blom’s $2,000 flop bet to $6,800. Blom wasn’t going anywhere with [Td][Th] and fired back, making it $13,600 to go. Haxton shoved and Blom called all-in for $40,274. Although Haxton blanked the turn with the [Ad], the [Tc] on the river completed his flush to take down the $110,148 pot.

Blom’s lead was down to $72,882 after 2,926 hands and by the 3,000-hand mark, Haxton had reduced it even further to $39,856. Haxton came oh-so-close to closing the gap entirely when Blom four-bet pre only to fold to Haxton’s check-raise shove on the [Jh][9c][3c] flop. But just as Haxton raked in that $31,000 pot, Blom threw some spikes on the road and ended his run. In this $82,400 pot, Haxton picked the wrong time to run a three-street bluff as Blom flopped trips and turned deuces full:

Minutes later, the two got their money all-in preflop, Blom’s [Ks][Kh] holding up against [Th][Tc] for $81,600. Just like that, Blom was back in the black to the tune of $95,120 with another game-changing pot just around the corner.

HOUR FOUR: BLAST-OFF

Holding off Viktor Blom is like trying to hold off a tornado. You can throw your weight against the door for as long as you can, but there’s still going to be some serious damage when it’s over. Haxton couldn’t have known the severity of the storm awaiting him down the road when he picked up [Kd][6d] and decided to three-bet to $4,800 behind Blom’s 3x raise. Blom smooth-called with [Ad][8h] and they saw a [Ac][Jc][Td] flop. Haxton continued for $7,200 with his gutshot straight draw and Blom called with top pair. The [8d] turn hit both players, Blom making aces up and Haxton adding a flush draw. Like he’d been wont to do all day, Haxton pushed his draw hard, making it $19,200 to go. Again, Blom called. The [Kh] on the river made Haxton second pair and it was just enough rope for him to craft a noose. He moved all-in for $94,712 and Blom called. At $169,696, the largest pot of the match thus far went to Blom with aces and eights.

A short time later, Haxton check-raised all-in on a [Jh][9c][2h] flop, holding only [Ks][Qh]. Blom quickly called with [Qs][Js], his top pair holding through the [4h] turn and [2s] river to earn the $82,756 pot. Haxton tried for a quick double-up on Showdown 2, shoving a [2c][3s][7c] flop with [8c][Tc], but Blom looked him up with [As][Ts], his ace-high good for the $45k pot when Haxton’s flush draw missed. Nothing was working for Haxton. It seemed like he couldn’t catch a hand. And that’s when the wheels really came off the proverbial wagon.

Haxton tried to check-raise Blom off the flop with king-high in this $110k pot, but our Swedish friend turned over [As][Ac] and turned top set for good measure:

Then, Haxton shoved the turn with top pair, only to run headlong into Blom’s flopped flush:

Haxton recovered a little when he doubled up on Showdown 3, his [Ac][Ah] good against Blom’s [Kh][Js]. Blom, however, was relentless and busted Haxton’s short stack on Showdown 4. Just as Haxton reloaded another $40,000 on that table, Blom claimed it in a single hand, turning a set of sixes against Haxton’s flopped bottom two. With that $80,000 pot, Blom was out to a $382,320 lead and had Haxton firmly on the ropes.

Had this $75,600 coinflip gone the other way, we’d be writing a much different story tonight, but Haxton’s [Td][Ts] hung on against [Ac][Qd], staving off near-total ruin. Haxton followed that hand up by taking down a trio of mid-sized pots to reduce Blom’s lead to $262,317, but the Swede came back strong in the session’s final minutes, winning $44,800 on the penultimate hand when Haxton folded to his river shove.

Blom and Haxton made it through 1,733 hands in their second session, bringing the grand total to 3,634 hands so far. Blom increased his profit by $82,927 to bring his overall match lead to $281,365.

He may be a bit battered from today’s bruising, but Haxton still has $218,635 to work with and another session ahead of him tomorrow. We’ll be right with you on the rail, starting at 1pm ET Monday as this million-dollar battle continues.

Tags: 10th anniversary | belgian poker series | European Poker Tour | guns | harrah's | latin-america | news | UKIPT | wbcoop