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

After that 20 year old car finally broke down once last time after being pieced together by duct tape and twine it was time to take a brave trip down to the car dealership for a new set of wheels. “Have I got a deal for YOU!” exclaimed the man in the ratty tweed jacket that was popular around the time electricity was discovered. “See this lovely brand new BMW X-wing series, it is yours for just five dollars!”. Quite the deal you think, such a beautiful new car for five bucks? So you ask what is the catch? “Well… it does not run on regular gasoline, diesel, or electricity, you have to purchase these fuel chips that cost $1,000.00 to make it run after every trip around the block”.

Today’s 2012 SCOOP Event #14-L $7.50 Ante Up tournament had a similar feel to the hidden costs of the not-completely-honest automobile salesman. Blinds remain the same from Level 1 all the way until the championship watch is awarded. $5 small blind, $5 big blind. The catch is the antes increase to make it very lucrative to steal them, and also to force players to remain active at all times or face being anted out (versus the normal “blinded out”). 13,223 players made their way into this tournament yesterday for this two-day affair. And thanks to the large crowd, once again the PokerStars guarantee ($25,000.00) was an afterthought with $92,561.00 in the prize pool.

Team PokerStars Pros and Team Online would be shut out at the cashier’s window as Anders “Donald” Berg, Bryan Huang, Liv Boeree, George “Jorj95″ Lind, Andre Akkari, Marcin “Goral” Horecki, and Sigge “ClarkKent89″ Reichard all climbed in for a short ride but did not save enough chips for the antes to make the top 1,710 paid places.

Switzerland’s DeeKay8686, still holding a 10 point lead for the SCOOP Player of the Series-Low, was unable to pick up any points finishing in 6,846th place. Same for second place Chillolini (2,527th place), and third place Blackbeaty took the tournament off. Anders “Donald” Berg is threatening for another title tied for fourth place (but as mentioned did not make the money), but fellow players in fourth place evanski (6,282nd place) and naurits (DNP) also did not gain on the leaderboard for that PCA 2013 prize package and Player of the Series trophy.

The end of day one would end with 49 players remaining as the top ten below being led by OutschOo:

OutschOo 5,791,406
KeryaFadeev 3,406,623
manue 3,171,942
J_Marcos 3,139.344
mumble200 2,913,452
Se7enTr3y 2,534,771
Chocoyote 2,120,669
elfeggg 2,033,354
Gederts 1,931,814
grajzel 1,779,158

After two hours of the re-start only two tables remained in play as maximum123 led the way with the first eight figure chip stack followed closely by Chocoyote and redKameleon. Day one chip leader OutschOo would not remain after falling in 14th place ($277.68).

Se7enTr3y would take a nasty bad beat near the bubble. With the ante up to 90K, Se7enTr3y would shove from 1.65 million preflop and was called by Chocoyote’s [As][5s]. 3.8 million in the middle would get the British player right back into this tournament as Se7enTr3y flipped up the dominating [Jh][Ad]. The flop had a difference in opinion and laid out a wheel from Chocoyote [2h] [4d] [3d]. Despite the flush scare on the turned [9d] Se7enTr3y blanked on the river [Qs] finishing in 11th place. Showing that high stakes players are trying to grab every Player of the Series point and dollar from this tournament series, Se7enTr3y has long history of big final tables, most recently gracing the Super Tuesday final table in February and chopping it up for $58,467.48

After a 30 minute hand-for-hand wait, it would take a minor cooler before our final table was set. With the antes up to 125,000 chip leader CarltonRulz would raise it up to 233,333 getting called by cacha112 in the small blind. [9s][2s][Jh] on the flop got cacha112 to check as CarltonRulz set out 300,000 as cacha112 was not giving up this large pot and moved all-in for 2.19 million holding top pair [Ks][Jd] with a decent kicker. The decent kicker did not phase CarltonRulz’s flopped set of nines [9c][9h] making the call. [Kd] on the turn did open up four outs, but the [Th] on the river closed out the penultimate table and cacha112′s tournament in tenth place ($370.24) starting up the final table below:

Seat 1: elfeggg (10667727 in chips)
Seat 2: KeryaFadeev (5619968 in chips)
Seat 3: maximum123 (12914377 in chips)
Seat 4: redKameleon (3058297 in chips)
Seat 5: CarltonRulz (12604781 in chips)
Seat 6: PoLoTeN41kXX (3294300 in chips)
Seat 7: J_Marcos (3250255 in chips)
Seat 8: neonasl (9299808 in chips)
Seat 9: Chocoyote (5405487 in chips)

27 hours 30 minutes to get here… one minute to leave

On the final table’s third hand and antes still at 125,000 chips, Chocoyote with over five million tried to snag the 1.125 million sitting in the middle with a shove. However, two seats down was KeryaFadeev with a little bit bigger stack and pocket tens [Tc][Th]. The Russian would make the call as Chocoyote’s pocket eights [8c][8h] would melt quickly on the [Js] [Ts] [5d] [4s] [7c] board becoming the final table’s first casualty in ninth place ($555.36).

Plenty for the blinds, not so much for the antes

PoLoTeN41kXX would be UTG with the antes up to 150,000. Sitting on a stack of 1.34 million the Russian could afford over 2,000 orbits around the eight handed table. Ante up was about to let this tourney run until my daughter is ready to drive in 10 years and with the antes PoLoTeN41kXX could only afford to see nine more hands. [As][6d] seemed good enough to go with as PoLoTeN41kXX shoved. maximum123 in the small blind with pocket jacks [Jh][Jd] making the call. The [7c] [7s] [9h] [Qd] [2h] board gave no reason for alarm as the pocket jacks would take down PoLoTeN41kXX’s ace leaving the Russian in eighth place ($925.61).

Taking the chip lead back

KeryaFadeev would lose the chip to maximum123. But only briefly thanks to the 17.4 million pot in the video below:

It would be race situation as the antes remained at 150,000 and neonasl would lead off with a raise to 335,800 and KeryaFadeev three-bet to 1.52 million. Back around to neonasl holding pocket sevens [7s][7c] and a lot of confidence, he would shove for 8.1 million. KeryaFadeev could cover the bet, making the call with [Ah][Qh]. The nut-flush draw [3h] [8d] [Jh] would show itself on the flop but a different dagger came out on the turn. [Qs] paired up KeryaFadeev as the one-outer on the river [5s] would not hit and neonsal was down for good in seventh place ($1,851.22).

Unable to change numbers

Chameleons may be able to change colors, maybe even suits on a card, but redKameleon was not able to change a board to match his hand. With the antes up to 175,000 redKameleon would call a 196,700 raise by maximum123 as J_Marcos shoved for 5.45 million from the button. maximum123 quickly folded but redKameleon with a little less than two million pondered a call. Pocket treys [3c][3s] were left hoping for a race to claim the 5.5 million chip pot as redKameleon made the call. Pocket eights [8h][8d] was the exactly the type of hand redKameleon was trying to avoid as the flop quickly ended any hope of a miracle giving J_Marcos a set of eights and finishing with the boat [Tc] [8s] [Qd] [2c] [Qs] to give redKameleon some green in the form of sixth place money ($2,776.83).

Cracked egg

As the antes moved up to 200,000 there was a very brief pause for chop discussions but the remaining five felt there was plenty of play left with a 13.1 million chip average so play continued. While four players enjoyed stacked over 10 million, elfeggg held on to just 4.1 million while calling a button raise from J_Marcos from the small blind. Both players checked the [Th][3c][As] flop. [9d] on the turn got both players excited as J_Marcos led out for 845,555 and elfeggg came back with a shove to 3.4 million. Top two [Ad][Td] made the call an easy one for J_Marcos as elfeggg’s tournament hopes leaned on an open ended straight draw [8d][Jd]. The [4s] river would ship the 8.8 million chips to J_Marcos as elfeggg received $3,702.44 in fifth place.

MAXMIUS!

The gladiator maximum123 would go to war against KeryaFadeev just three hand after elfeggg wobbled off the table. Watch below as the two build up a 25.3 million chip pot:

After a 732,105 preflop raise by KeryaFadeev and a call by maximum123 the players would both check the [3h][2c][Qh] flop. [Jc] on the turn got KeryaFadeev to push out 1.37 million as maximum123 made the call. [Qd] river and KeryaFadeev tried again with a 2.5 million chip bet, but this time maximum123 pushed the max which was enough to put KeryaFadeev all-in. Thinking bluff, KeryaFadeev made the call with a pair of threes [Ks][3s], but maximum123 was doing anything but bluffing flipped up trip ladies, top kicker [Qs][Ac] for the 25.3 million chip pot and sending KeryaFadeev to the rail in fourth place ($4,628.05).

Over? Over. Done? Done.

A very quick chop chat between the remaining three and Team Online’s Andre “acoimbra” Coimbra hammered out the chip chop below leaving $500 and the champion’s SCOOP watch left to play for.

maximum123: $9,639.73
J_Marcos: $8,923.38
CarltonRulz: $8,539.82

Maximum value

Three handed play would last 40 minutes and threatened to go all-day. It was not for lack of aggression or any passive checkdowns, but rather no one making the kill shot to knock someone out. Until the antes moved up to 300,000 and maximum123 made a preflop raise to 350,777 and CarltonRulz made it 1.2 million. maximum123 made the call to see a [6h][9d][9c] flop as CarltonRulz led out for 1.13 million getting another call from maximum123. [8s] on the turn and CarltonRulz checked as maximum123 bet 1.63 million. Like a cougar waiting for prey, CarltonRulz lept out with a check-raise to 5.5 million as maximum123 again calmly made the call. [Th] river and CarltonRulz shoved for 12.7 million as maximum123 serenely called again, this time with more confidence flipping up the rivered straight [Jd][7d]. CarltonRulz tried hard to deter that straight from getting there by the flopped trips [9h][Qc] went into the muck ending the tournament in third place.

Reversal of fortune

The phrase “reversal of fortune” as a slightly different meaning in the world of competitive eating (we suggest not looking up “reversal of fortune and eating” on YouTube with a full stomach). But, while heads-up in a poker tournament it means overcoming your larger stacked opponent as J_Marcos would start with a 22.3 million to 43.7 disadvantage against maximum123 for the Event #14-L title.

Then over the course of a 10 minute heads-up battle J_Marcos would nip away at that lead. A 15 million chip pot, then four hands later an 8.5 million chip pot, then a 7.6 million chips pot thus grabbing a 37.3 million to 28.7 million chip lead going into the decisive hand.

With the antes up to 350,000 J_Marcos made a raise to 310,000 as maximum123 called to see the [2c][9s][7c] flop. maximum123 checked as J_Marcos followed through with a 875,000 chip bet. maximum123 mini-check raised, as J_Marcos ended all silliness with a shove that covered maximum123′s stack. Holding top pair [Jc][9d] maximum123 made the call and saw immediately the kicker problems that would end the tournament. J_Marcos showed [9h][Kh] for the same pair, higher kicker and successfully dodged the three-outer on the turn [3h] and river [4h] to claim the Event #14-L title!

$25,000 guarantee SCOOP 2012 Event #14-L $7.50 Ante Up results (05-12-12)
(* denotes part of three-way deal)
1. J_Marcos (Brazil) *$9,423.38
2. maximum123 (Norway) *$9,639.73
3. CarltonRulz (Australia) *$8,539.82
4. KeryaFadeev (Russia) $4,628.05
5. elfeggg (Russia) $3,702.44
6. redKameleon (Denmark) $2,776.83
7. neonasl (Lithuania) $1,851.22
8. PoLoTeN41kXX (Russia) $925.61
9. Chocoyote (Germany) $555.36

Tags: Battle of the Planets | daughter | estrellas poker tour | events | isildur1 | italian poker tour | liv boeree | napt | team pokerstars pro | wcoop | World Series of Poker

Do you remember the Australian kid Corey Worthington Delaney who became a YouTube sensation overnight after throwing a wild party that got out of hand? Despite being interviewed on national TV, Corey was unashamed, unabashed and bare-chested, a large pair of plastic sunglasses on throughout. He didn’t care. Rules, regulations and expectations could go hang. A similar policy appears to have been adopted by fellow Aussie jotothejo who came out on top of a field of 3928 players to win $31,037.47 beating a trio of online crushers to take the title.

jotothejo took them all on; TigerMenino ($449,133 in PokerStars tournaments) in the quarters, Sunday Million winner Rens02 ($538,979) in the semi, and Sunday Warm-Up winner flexaccou ($274,849) in the final. jotothejo’s previous PokerStars winnings? Zero. It’s the beauty of the heads-up game.

jotothejo had to navigate a tough bracket

flexaccou had taken on Vzsolt800, a player with moderate previous tournament scores ($29,311), to reach the final and trampled him fairly quickly, as he had to his opponent in the bout before. The British player seemed to push to finish things quickly but given that the tournament had been running 12 hours by this point the flailing hard and fast approach was somewhat understandable. jotothejo on the other hand played out his quarter and semi in a long tiring slugfest, slowly battering his opponent, occasionally letting them back up off the canvas, before finally landing the knockout blow. Which technique would play out in the final? The frantic flurry or the rope-a-dope? It was the former.

The stage is set

The pace was quickly set by flexaccou who on the third hand of the heads up four-bet jotothejo to 850 at the 25-50 blind level. The Australian passed but won the next two pots of significance; first raising the turn of a [6s][3s][kc][9s] board and then jamming the river of a flushed board (see below). There would only be one further pot that mattered.

RSS readers click through to see replay

Those two hands left flexaccou on the back foot and down to 3,230. Twelve hands of minor skirmishes followed, in which no pot of more than 600 was won, and it was flexaccou who continued to move in the wrong direction, now down to 2,980 giving jotothejo close to a three-to-one lead. It took one more hand to wrap it up, just 25 in total for a short 12 minute finale.

Presumably trying to leverage his chip lead, jotothejo four-bet shoved into flexaccou with [9h][7h] and the Brit slowly made the call with pocket eights. The [jd][7c][4c] flop gave jotothejo a couple more outs but the nine which fell on the river would have given him the pot nonetheless. flexaccou adds $19,747 to his tournament stash while jotothejo kicks off his with a a huge ROI-bursting $31,037.

RSS readers click through to see replay

The quarter finals and beyond
1. jotothejo, $31,037
2. flexaccou, $19,747
3. Rens02, $9,878
4. Vzsolt800, $9,878
5. TigerMenino, $5,497
6. zdravko, $5,497
7. carlitos350, $5,497
8. damiii, $5,497

Other players of note that finished in the money included Faraz ‘The-Toilet 0′ Jaka (15th, $2,957.78), Andrey ‘ThePateychuk’ Pateychuk (57th, $936.82), Joao ‘Jomane’ Nunes (168th , $318.16), DocMick (187th, $318.16) and Bryan Huang (211th, $318.16), while Team Online’s Randy ‘nanonoko’ Lew and George ‘Jorj95′ Lind, and Team PokerStars Pro Jan Heitmann all picked up min-cashes.

Click here to read more SCOOP reports.
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Click here to go to the SCOOP website.

Tags: archives | Asia Pacific Poker Tour | Battle of the Planets | france poker series | gambling | italian poker tour | news | rio | russian | SCOOP | TOC | twitter

Determination in poker is often referred to as the “chip and chair” mentality, but it boils down to playing your best game no matter the size of your stack. Trinec did just that after a frustrating deal conversation and a chip deficit heading into heads-up play. But trinec stayed lighthearted in the midst of some tilt-worthy chat comments and continued to climb until trinec was the only player left at the table. A comeback of that nature makes any win even sweeter.

*****

Harkening back to poker basics, Event 6 offered players the chance for some Draw poker action. Some would argue that draw games remind them of the way poker was meant to be played. But this event in the 2012 SCOOP series offered a modern take on the classic game with No Limit betting. Ready, aim, draw!

The medium level buy-in was set with a $109 price tag and a $25K guarantee, but registration went far beyond expectations by more than doubling that amount for the prize pool. Draw poker was a bigger draw than anticipated. (The play on words was just too easy.) So, let’s take a gander at the final tournament numbers for Event 6-M:

Players: 611
Guarantee: $25,000.00
Prize pool: $61,100.00
Paid players: 78

It was a tough tournament by anyone’s standards. Just to make it to the money, one had to fade quite a few hours of draw poker. In fact, none of the Team PokerStars Pros in the field made it that far, as Bryan Huang was the last one standing before he hit the rail in 112th place.

Julianherold was the unfortunate bubble player in this event, while Betudontbet became the first to cash, taking home $177.19 for 78th place. As tables disappeared, so did players like EpicEpicEpic and BrynKenney. Two tables remained with nine hours and 45 minutes on the clock, and it took about another 45 minutes to reduce the field to seven players with the 8th place elimination of Spraggs.

Hot Blonde lost a big pot to trinec, and Hot Blonde moved 15,408 chips all-in soon after. Trinec and Zampado313 played the hand, but when trinec showed [9h][4c][Td][4h][9s] for two pair, Zampado313 mucked, as did Hot Blonde. The seventh place finish was worth $1,276.99.

Zampado313′s chip lead threatened early

With blinds of 4,000/8,000 and a 2,000 ante in Level 29, the final table started with these chip counts:

Seat 1: Maestro Shao (204,105 in chips)
Seat 2: willmichigan (555,955 in chips)
Seat 3: molodnyak (767,828 in chips)
Seat 4: Zampado313 (814,005 in chips)
Seat 5: trinec (366,697 in chips)
Seat 6: jakoon1985 (346,410 in chips)

The third hand of the table saw molodnyak push all-in after drawing one card, and trinec finally folded to concede the 316K pot to molodnyak, who became the new chip leader. Molodnyak followed that with a 280K pot at the expense of jakoon1985 to climb over one million chips. Trinec then doubled through Zampado313.

Maestro Shao made a preflop raise from the small blind, and willmichigan responded with an all-in move. Maestro Shao called all-in. Both players took three cards, and Maestro Shao ended up with [3s][2d][Ah][Ac][Qh]. The pair of aces was decent, but willmichigan had [9s][7h][Ad][As][Qd] with the better kickers. Maestro Shao exited in sixth place with $1,900.21, but continued to plow ahead at the Event 6-H final table against opponents like Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier and Daniel “KidPoker” Negreanu. (Update: Maestro Shao won Event 6-H.)

No second SCOOP title for jakoon1985

Jakoon1985 was on the losing end of several significant pots, but a double through Zampado313 staved off elimination. When jakoon1985 doubled through willmichigan, the former was back in contention for the title. But a number of rounds later, jakoon1985 took some hits from trinec, and the two tangled again when jakoon1985 moved all-in preflop. Trinec called and took one card for [6d][9c][Qh][Qd][9h], and jakoon1985 took three cards and showed [Jh][4d][8s][Jc][8h]. Trinec’s two pair won the pot, leaving jakoon1985 – 2009 SCOOP title holder and 2010 Super Tuesday champion – out tonight in fifth place with $3,055.00.

From chip leader to fourth place

Molodnyak had troubles from the beginning of the final table, and the big hand finally took place with Zampado313. A series of preflop raises between the two led to each player taking one card. Molodnyak then bet, Zampado313 raised all-in, and molodnyak called all-in with [Qs][As][Ad][Jc][Qh] for two pair. But Zampado313 showed [2c][6c][6h][2s][6d] for the full house, and that was enough to send molodnyak out in fourth place with $4,277.00.

Deal? No deal…wait, deal!

The final three players paused the tournament to discuss the possibility of a deal, and it took more than 30 minutes to come to a decision. In the end, they agreed to the following numbers, along with $500 and the Movado watch set aside for the winner:

Seat 2: willmichigan (1,052,938 in chips) = $8,972.76
Seat 4: Zampado313 (845,807 in chips) = $7,988.84
Seat 5: trinec (1,156,255 in chips) = $8,964.15

Play resumed and big pots moved chips around the table, but nothing changed the essential makeup of the stacks. Willmichigan did move into the lead, and that lead was extended over time as willmichigan climbed well over the two million-chip mark.

Finally, Zampado313 made a move after draving one card against willmichigan. Zampado313 risked the rest of his chips with [2h][2c][9s][2d][Qd], but those three deuces couldn’t beat the flush that was [7s][2s][Js][Qs][8s] for willmichigan. Zampado313 left in third place with $7,988.84.

Heads-up draws tournament to a close

Willmichigan started with a significant lead, as shown here:

Seat 2: willmichigan (2,646,470 in chips)
Seat 5: trinec (408,530 in chips)

It didn’t take long for trinec to double up with full house over full house. Trinec nearly evened the chip stacks at one point, but willmichigan moved ahead again. About 30 minutes into the match, trinec climbed back over the million chip-mark to regain some lost ground, and trinec then took over the lead for the first time in the heads-up battle.

Fifty minutes in, trinec took a substantial lead. The last hand came when the two battled with several raises, and willmichigan took two cards before moving all-in. Trinec took one card and called with [Qs][7c][Qh][9h][Qc]. The three queens easily beat the [5d][3c][Kh][Ac][3h] of willmichigan, who took second place and $8,972.76.

Trinec of Poland made a stellar comeback to take the SCOOP title, Movado watch, and $9,464.15 in cash. Congrats!

2012 SCOOP Event #6-M ($109 NL Draw) Results (reflects deal):

1st place: trinec ($9,464.15)*
2nd place: willmichigan ($8,972.76)*
3rd place: Zampado313 ($7,988.84)*
4th place: molodnyak ($4,277.00)
5th place: jakoon1985 ($3,055.00)
6th place: Maestro Shao ($1,900.21)

*Based on a three-way chop with $500 added to winner’s money

The Spring Championship of Online Poker home page contains all of the tournament results, schedule of upcoming events and their satellites, and a leaderboard for the 2012 Series.

Tags: 2011 | archives | australia | belgian poker series | delicious | European Poker Tour | france | planets | SCOOP | season 8 | Super Tuesday | world-series

I’ve been blogging about poker for over five years. I’ve covered events in all corners of the world, and have witnessed some of the greatest poker achievements ever seen. I’ve seen Ivey win multiple bracelets, I’ve covered the $50,000 WSOP Player’s Championship and reported on more HORSE and 8-Game tournaments than I’ve probably ever played.

But there was one thing that I’ve never done in poker. And that is, learn the game of Badugi. That is, until today.

It’s a game that is quickly gaining popularity, and my first summation was that it was a little razz and a little triple draw. It was enough to spark my interest, and I was rather pleased that my first exposure to the game came in one of the biggest online poker championships in the world.

The SCOOP Event #4-M FL Badugi event saw 344 players pony up $215 to create a prize pool of $68,800 to nudge past the $50,000 guarantee.

Amongst them were a host of Team PokerStars Pros including Victor Ramdin, Shane Schleger, Eugene Katchalov, Bertrand Grospellier, Anders Berg, Andre Akkari and Bryan Huang. Unfortunately none of those guys made it to the top 48 players and the money, with Germany’s Lumelia bursting the $326.80 bubble in 49th place.

Martin Staszko (37th – $395.60), Dan Kelly (35th – $395.60), Marcin Horecki (31st – $464.40) and George Danzer (21st – $670.80) were among the notable players who made a profit before the elimination of Gämble Time in 9th place set our final table lineup:

Final table lineup
Seat 1: bamboocha88 (132477 in chips)
Seat 2: ChadBrownPRO (255417 in chips)
Seat 3: risti7 (247761 in chips)
Seat 4: Amke (88553 in chips)
Seat 5: AJSuited16 (293516 in chips)
Seat 6: wizowizo (259240 in chips)
Seat 7: Raff345 (162333 in chips)
Seat 8: Foofighterer (280703 in chips)

The lineup was highlighted by Team PokerStars Pro Chad Brown. With over $3 million in tournament winnings to his name, including a victory in the $2,500 WCOOP HORSE event back in 2006, Brown was going to be a dangerous foe on this final table. But a quick Google search uncovered a couple of other big threats.

Russia’s Amke was a two-time SCOOP winner, and clearly a mixed-game specialist, with a title in the 2009 SCOOP $2,100 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball and the 2011 SCOOP $1,575 Badugi. AJSuited16 was a former Super Tuesday winner, while Ole ‘wizowizo’ Schemion was a young German who won last year’s PokerStars yearly TLB.

Ole ‘wizowizo’ Schemion in action at a recent European Poker Tour Event

Suddenly I felt more comfortable about my upcoming Badugi lesson.

I discovered that things don’t happen too quickly in limit Badugi, so it took a few orbits for the short-stacked Amke to become our first casualty. After three-betting and getting his last chips in after the first betting round, Amke stood pat throughout, only to see risti7 take three attempts at drawing one card before eventually making [8h][4c][3d][as] for an eight badugi to better Amke’s [2s][4d][ac][th] ten badugi. Amke fell short of a third SCOOP title but took home $1,548 for 8th place.

Raff345 was crippled in a multiway pot when making a nine badugi against the six badugi of Foofighterer. Raff345 couldn’t recover as bamboocha88 finished the job, making a queen badugi, as Raff345′s multiple draws could only catch a three-card three. Raff354 finished in 7th place for $1,892 in prize money.

The pressure shifted to Team PokerStars Pro Chad Brown when he lost the following big hand after running into a five badugi:

RSS readers click through
to see replay

Brown was eliminated shortly after. He drew cards three times as AJSuited16 stood pat with his [qd][8c][2s][jh] for a queen badugi. Brown was clearly drawing to a strong hand, but ultimately could only muster up [ks][as][5h][3c] for a three-card five. Brown will be a little disappointed with 6th place for a $2,580 collect.

Chad Brown adds another SCOOP final table to his resume

The battle from five to four players, and then again to the final three, was a tough affair. The limit variant tested everyone’s patience as the long day was starting to wear thin on some of the players.

bamboocha88 said, “can we make this a 2 day event?”
risti7 said, “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO”

Risti7 was severely dented after tapping the table three times in a big hand against
Foofighterer who drew one and one, before standing pat on the third draw. Risti7 bet but Foofighterer raised it up and got paid off with [7d][8s][4c][2h] with an eight badugi good to leave Risti7 on the ropes.

Risti7 found one double up and battled valiantly, but when wizowizo caught a five badgui after the second draw, Risti7 was in a world of hurt as a three-card seven wasn’t enough to survive. Risti7 picked up $3,612 for 5th place.

Four-handed play was dominated by Foofighterer as he built his stack relentlessly – at one stage winning 11 of 14 hands to get his stack up above the million chip mark.
When Foofighterer drew two and then stood pat, wizowizo drew one on each draw to make [7c][8d][6s][4h] but it wasn’t quite enough as Foofighterer showed [as][8h][6d][2c] for a narrowly-better eight badugi to take a big pot and eliminate wiziwizo in 4th place for $5,332 in prize money.

With Foofighterer holding a near ten-to-one advantage over AJSuited16, the short stack made one desperate attempt at a deal:

AJSuited16 said, “even chop?”
AJSuited16 said, “i only offer once”
Foofighterer said, “lol”

With deal negotiations squashed, Foofighterer continued on his merry badugi-ing way. He dented bamboocha88 by drawing three times and making a seven badugi, before finishing the job. Foofighterer stood pat all the way with [ac][3d][ts][qh] for a queen badugi as bamboocha88 was disgusted that he drew three times with a [4c][2s][3h]-X but just couldn’t find a card to improve to become our third place finisher for $7,396 in prize money.

Foofighterer held a massive lead, and despite AJSuited16 fighting hard during heads-up play, he was unable to pull it back. The final hand saw AJSuited16 raise and Footfighterer make the call. Footfighterer drew two to his opponent’s one, but raised it up following a bet. AJSuited16 called and drew one as Footfighterer was happy to stand pat. Another bet saw AJSuited16′s last chips in the middle as he took one more shot at drawing.

“gg,” said AJSuited16 in resignation as he could only make a three-card eight. Foofighterer tabled [ks][3d][6h][8c] for the king badugi which was enough to take it down. AJSuited16 won $9,804 for a fine tournament as Foofighterer is the badugi king with $13,244 his reward.

Final table results
1st Foofighterer (Germany) – $13,244
2nd AJSuited16 (Costa Rica) – $9,804
3rd bamboocha88 (Germany ) – $7,396
4th Ole ‘wizowizo’ Schemion (Germany) – $5,332
5th risti7 (Estonia) – $3,612
6th Chad Brown (Canada) (Team PokerStars Pro) – $2,580
7th Raff345 (Russia) – $1,892
8th Amke (Russia) – $1,548

Of course, SCOOP is only just beginning with an amazing schedule of events still to come. For more details head to the official SCOOP website for the schedule, satellites, leaderboard, statistics and more.

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We knew there was going to be a strong turnout when the ANZPT arrived in Perth this week. Early talks were for a total of 250 players and after Day 1a attracted 89 players, there were some concerns as we were a long way from that mark. But there were quite a few pleasantly surprised faces when we rocked up for work this morning to discover the Burswood Poker Room bursting at the seams as the room capacity was stretched to 221 for Day 1b of action. It’s a fabulous turnout and boosted the overall numbers to 310 to create a very healthy $310,000 prize pool. The top 36 players will cash with first place set to take home the ANZPT trophy and $78,275 in prize money. Not bad for a few days in the wild west!

While yesterday’s field was largely comprised of locals, WA was again well represented today, but there was also a fair sprinkling of players from both interstate and overseas.

Some of those among today’s runners included Kristina Griffith, Aaron Benton, Aaron Lim, Josh Barrett, Jesse McKenzie, Ted Nguyen, Mishel Anunu, Stev Lackovic, Steve Lindeblad, Anthony Aston, Michael Kanaan, Brian McAllister, Vesko Zmukic and recent ANZPT Sydney champion Gordon Huntly.

We also had one member of Team PokerStars with Singapore’s Bryan Huang representing the red spade today. Unfortunately for Huang his day ended during the last level when his top pair wasn’t enough to get past his opponent who had flopped two pair with an ambitious three-five offsuit.

Just 94 players survived the seven levels, and as the day rounded out we thought it was going to be Didier Guerin who would be in front. Guerin went on a huge tear during the later levels, collecting a massive pot when his queens survived against both ace-king and ace-ten.

Guerin shot up to over 160,000 at one point, but gave some back in the final stages of play as Josh Foster came from nowhere to pinch the chip lead. With players spread out across two rooms, we didn’t pick up Foster in any hands during the day, but clearly his stack of 143,500 indicates he had plenty of winning ones. Guerin came in next best with 136,100, while six other players collected more than our Day 1a leader.

Click here for the chip counts and Day 2 seating draw

The 136 remaining players will be back in the Burswood Poker Room tomorrow with the goal to survive the day and get themselves into the money for the top 36 players. It should be an exciting day so please join us for exclusive live updates on the PokerStars Blog from 12:30pm tomorrow (GMT+8). See you then!

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8:05pm: That’s it!

We’re all done here in Perth on Day 1b of the ANZPT Perth Main Event. It looks like Didier Guerin will hang on to the chip lead with a stack of around 140,000, although there were a couple of players approaching 110,000 as the final hands were being dealt. There are around 95 players surviving the day.

We’ll have the chip counts for the entire field and a wrap of today’s action for you shortly.

8:00pm: How many antes would you miss for a girl?

For Josh Barrett, it’s two. He’s already filled out his bag tag and left a couple of antes for the final two hands as he quickly scurried out of the poker room a little early. Of course, a man would only leave his antes to defend themselves for one reason….a red hot Thursday night date in Perth!

7:55pm: Triple for the Jeweller

Steve “The Jeweller” Lindeblad has tripled up and given a spray at the same time in true Jeweller style. He was all in preflop with [jd][jh] and found two callers. Things looked rosey when the flop landed [jc][7s][3s] as Aleks Lackovic bet into the side pot to force a fold from the third player.

Lackovic tabled [as][4s] but Lindeblad didn’t have to worry about fading spades when the [7c] turn filled him up. The river was the [3c] and Lindeblad gets back up to 25,000.

7:40pm: Huang hung by big blind special

Sadly, we’ve just lost one of the marquee players of this event with Team PokerStars Pro Bryan Huang sent crashing to the rail.

Huang got off to a good start today, but then struggled to increase his stack too much further during the middle levels of play. His final hand came when he raised under the gun and found action from the big blind directly to his right.

They saw a flop of [kd][3c][5c] where the big blind led out with a bet of 3,000. Huang raised to 8,300 but his opponent quickly and defiantly plonked his entire stack into the middle. Huang quickly called off his last 20,000 and tabled [kc][qh] but found that his opponent had flopped two pair with an ambitious [3s][5h].

Huang would need to improve but the [8d] turn and [2d] river left him to make his way to the rail as his tournament is over.

Bryan Huang during happier times

7:25pm: The rich get richer

With a raise to 1,800 and a call in front of him, Didier Guerin three-bet to 4,500. Josh Barrett deliberated before releasing his big blind as Guerin picked up one caller to see a flop of [8s][2h][2s].

The middle position player led out with a bet of 6,000 but Guerin was having none of it as he popped it up to 20,000 – effectively enough to put his opponent all in. She folded and Guerin moved up to 145,000.

Moments later Guerin and Barrett tangled, with 3,300 committed on the flop, the turn checked and Guerin leading for 10,000 on the river on the board of [qs][9h][7c][ks][5c]. Guerin showed [ah][kd] for top pair as Barrett tossed his cards into the muck in frustration.

Guerin is now at 165,000 with Barrett down to 25,000.

7:05pm: Play resumes

The players are back with 112 still alive with one more level to play on Day 1b of the ANZPT Perth. Didier Guerin and Anthony Aston are the two runaway chip leaders at the moment, and would you believe it, they are roommates!

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2:35pm: Ten-minute break

2:30pm: How do you not go broke?

Vesko Zmukic just recalled to us a hand from earlier in the level, that raised our eyebrows. He said that there was a raise to 500 and three callers, including Zmukic in the big blind holding [ad][td]. The flop came [4d][5d][6d] to give Zmukic the ace-high flush and he lead out for 575. Two players called.

The turn was the [3c] and action was checked before the [qd] appeared on the river. Zmukic led out for 1,000 and got one call before the third player raised to 4,000. Incredibly, Zmukic just flat-called as the other opponent folded. Most players would probably stick their chips in there with the ace-high flush but Zmukic saved himself 12,000 and his tournament life as his opponent tabled [7d][8d] for the straight-flush!

2:25pm: Kanaan gone

We just walked past the table that was previously home to Michael Kanaan to discover his seat was empty. It was recalled to us that Kanaan got his chips in with [as][qs] on a jack-high flop with two spades against an opponent holding king-jack. After final-tabling at the APPT Cebu just a few days ago, it appears that Kanaan’s good run is over as couldn’t hit any of his outs to survive.

2:20pm: Lim hurting

Aaron Lim impressed us immensely at this event last year. He proved that he is a super dangerous, aggressive player as he tangled with Grant Levy in some epic hands on his way to a 4th place finish.

Lim picked up an Aussie Millions gold ring earlier this year, but his quest for a repeat final table here in Perth have taken a huge hit. Lim just doubled up a short-stacked opponent after they got it in on a flop of [js][4d][7s]. Lim held [ad][jd] for top pair, top kicker, but his opponent showed [7h][7d] for a set. The turn was the [6s] and river the [ts] to see Lim slip to just 5,400 approaching the first break of the day.

2:05pm: Benton back to where he started

2008 APPT Sydney champion Aaron Benton just had his tournament life on the line. He’d flopped a full house but still had a bit of a sweat against Peter Gilbert.

The chips went in on a flop of [8d][jh][jd] with Gilbert flopping trips with [jc][6c] but Benton’s [8s][8h] were in command. The turn was the [2c] and river an equally bricky [4h] to see Benton double up to just above his starting stack. Gilbert takes a small hit to slip to 43,000.

A swingy start for Aaron Benton in Perth

1:55pm: This show is PG rated

They call him “PG”. It’s not his rating but rather his initials as Peter Gilbert is our early chip leader on Day 1b of the ANZPT Perth Main Event.

We were called to Gilbert’s table when a huge pot had erupted on the board of [ad][5h][as][7c]. Wayne Norman was all in with [ac][th] but found himself in trouble against Gilbert’s [ah][kh]. Norman would need a ten to win or a five or seven to chop, but the river was the [3d] to send him to an early exit and jump Gilbert up to 49,000.

PG is the early chip leader

1:40pm: Rocking it out

We’ve mentioned that there are some redevelopments currently going on here at Burswood. Of course it’s all part of a greater plan to make Burswood into an even bigger and better complex, but long term gain does have some short term pain.

Bryan Huang tweeted this morning about being woken up at 7:30am in the hotel this morning due to the noise from the construction workers, and this afternoon, those lucky enough to be seated in the back of the poker room, will be able to hear nothing but the noise of constant drilling from the adjacent wall. Headphones one time!

Fortunately out on the main gaming floor, we’re treated to nothing but pure 80′s through the casino sound system, much to the delight of PokerNews hostess Nicky Pickering who seems to know the words to every song.

1:35pm: Level up, blinds 100-200

1:25pm: Set for Bryan

We’re not sure of the action, but we caught Bryan Huang tossing out a 5,000-denomination chip so we knew things were serious. The board read [js][ts][6h][2s][8h] and Huang was calling his opponent’s bet. The player tabled [kd][kh] but Huang showed [6s][6d] for a set to rake in a nice pot. Huang is off to a fast start, chipping up to 35,000 in the first level.

1:10pm: A few more names

We’ve spotted a couple more Lackovics with Aleks and Petar both recently taking their seats in the field along with Vince Moro. ANZPT regular Ricky Kroesen is also listed to play today, although his seat currently remains vacant.

1:00pm: Early trouble with the ladies for Mishel

With an early position raise to 250 and a call in front of him, Mishel Anunu three-bet to 700. Action folded back to the EP-player who four-bet to 1,950. That forced a fold from the player in the middle, but Anunu made the call to see a flop of [6s][9s][td].

The preflop aggressor led out with a hefty bet of 5,500 as Anunu sighed, “Argh, I guess you’ve got me,” before open-folding [qc][qd].

Despite encouraging his opponent to show, Anunu would have to dwell on whether he made the right fold, as his opponent quietly slid his cards into the muck and collected the pot.

12:50pm: First bluff of the day

“Well, I’ll see you guys later,” sighed Stev Lackovic as we walked glumly past us.

“You’re out?” we questioned.

“Yeah.”

“What happened?”

“I five-bet shoved five-high and he couldn’t fold kings,” chirped Lackovic as a wry grin returned to his face and we realised his tongue was firmly in cheek…and we almost believed him!

12:45pm: A loaded field

There’s a few more familiar faces in today’s field but with all fourteen tables in the poker room and eight overflow tables in use, we’re going to be getting some exercise today marching the aisles of the two areas.

Some of those that we’ve spotted include Kristina Griffith, Aaron Benton, Aaron Lim, Josh Barrett, Jesse McKenzie, Ted Nguyen, Mishel Anunu, Stev Lackovic, Steve Lindeblad, Michael Kanaan, Brian McAllister, Vesko Zmukic and recent ANZPT Sydney champion Gordon Huntly.

We also have one member of Team PokerStars to keep an eye on this afternoon, with Singapore’s Bryan Huang taking his seat in today’s field.

12:35pm: Here we gogo again

We’re back in the Burswood poker room for Day 1b of the ANZPT Perth Main Event, and the news is, that the room is bursting at the seams. When we arrived, there were 190 registrations for today. A few minutes ago, it was confirmed at 210. With a capacity of 220 here, Danny McDonagh has just passed by our desk to mentioned that we may even have alternates today which pushes our total field in excess of 300! Wowsers!

There’s a phrase used here in Australia by players encouraging their friends who are doing well in a tournament. It’s simply “gogogogogogo”. Well, last night we were treated to the original gogo, that is, Gogo’s Madras Curry House only a short drive from the casino here. Thanks to Raj Ramakrishnan, we dined with “Gogo” himself and enjoyed a feast of Indian delights in a friendly restaurant that was adorned with the most incredible cricket memorabilia that you’d ever see. Everything from Haydo’s world record 380 signed cricket bat, to Gilly’s gloves that he wore in his last Test match, and even a pair Sachin’s socks.

So today we hope you will all be inspired by Gogo himself as we say to our Day 1b players, let’s “gogogogo”!

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It is with great pleasure that we find ourselves this week in Perth, Western Australia, as the Australia New Zealand Poker Tour rolls into town for the second official event of the Season 4 calendar. Originally scheduled as a standalone series known as the Perth Poker Championships, this event was recently upgraded to full ANZPT status following the withdrawal of the Gold Coast event due to casino renovations. Jupiters’ loss is Burswood’s gain as the best poker players in the country will flock to across the border to produce what is likely to be Perth’s largest ever tournament by number of entrants, with an anticipated prize pool in excess of AU$300,000.

While there will be plenty of locals in the field, and the West have certainly produced plenty of highly-talented players over the years, there will be many making the long trip across the Nullarbor to one of the most popular destinations on the tour.

However it is a long trip from the Eastern states to one of the world’s most remote cities. Perth is so isolated to the rest of the country that it, in fact, lays closer geographically to Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, than Australia’s own capital of Canberra. Travelling five hours on a plane, across two time zones, and land in the same country that you started, doesn’t happen every day. But Perth is worth the long haul as a vibrant, modern city welcomes us with open arms.

The Burswood Entertainment Complex will play hosts once again this week, and upon arrival here this evening it appears that big changes are in store. Already this year, the complex has welcomed new restaurants and a day spa, but the mass of construction and scaffolding suggests that even bigger developments are on the way before the official rebranding to Crown Perth later in the year. It’s an exciting time for everyone here in Perth as the poker room will no doubt only be enhanced by these changes.

When we were here last year, the title was brought back to the East when Grant Levy landed a historic victory to become just the second player, after Kiwi Brotha D, to secure both APPT and ANZPT trophies. We’ve received word that Grant is unfortunately unable to defend his title, so that means we’ll be assured of a new champion this week.

Despite the absence of the defending champ, we will have plenty of big names in town, including Team PokerStars Pro Bryan Huang who was spotted en route to Perth directly from the recently completed APPT Cebu. Huang has made several appearances on the ANZPT without a whole lot of luck, so he will be keen to make an impression this time around.

It all gets underway at 12:30pm (GMT+8) on Wednesday afternoon and we’ll have all the live updates and videos interviews for you exclusively right here on the PokerStars blog. Join us for what should be an exciting week on the felt!

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Team PokerStars Pro Asia is made up of four incredibly friendly faces and talented poker players: Bryan Huang, Vivian Im, Celina Lin and Raymond Wu. All four came to Cebu for this year’s Main Event. Bryan didn’t manage to make it out of Day 1 after losing with queens to aces and jacks to ace-king, but he took a positive outlook to his elimination.

“Managed to min cash PLO. 6hr nap and off to dive! Why can’t all events be like this?” he wrote on Twitter.

Vivian is in the same boat as Brian (maybe quite literally, although I couldn’t say for sure). She had a lot of work to do at the start of Day 2, with just 9,400 in chips to her name. She bowed out within the first hour, her quest to repeat as champion at an end. We’re sure she doesn’t mind spending a few quiet, free days in the sun and relative inexpense of Cebu.

Vivian Im departs for the day

PokerStars player liaison Garry Gates is thinking the same thing. He’s currently in Monaco for the EPT Grand Final and offered this morning to trade events straight up. Nice try, Garry.

“You’re going to have to sweeten the pot considerably,” I told him. He laughed and replied, “Yeah, that’s what I figured. Well, I’m off to breakfast. Bracing myself for another 40-euro plate of eggs!”

But other two Team Pros don’t have dives to schedule or 40-euro egg plates to ponder or even mango shakes to spike with double shots of vodka. They’re both still in the Main Event.

Celina started the day with 18,000 and has been agonizingly grinding her way upwards. At last check, she was sitting behind 34,000 chips, still well below the current par of 73,000. She looked like she’s been having a slog of it, but nonetheless offered a charismatic smile as she saw me eyeing her. Stack.

Just one table away, Raymond Wu is faring slightly better. He brought 24,100 chips into Day 2 and has climbed all the way to 61,000. He suffered a minor setback a few moments ago with what was likely ace-king, as he checked all the way against one opponent on a [7d][8h][7s][7c][3c] board. The other player bet 5,000 at the river. Raymond called and then flicked his cards away after being shown two sixes, [6c][6d].

We’re about halfway through the day at this point. Celina and Raymond still have four hours to go if they want to spend another day in this Main Event. And we know they do. But if they didn’t, or if they managed to bust before the end of the day, nobody would blame them.

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