Multiple poker titles. Doyle Brunson has a few. So does Johnny Chan and our own Team PokerStars Pro Daniel Negreanu and tonight more than one player was looking for multiple SCOOP titles as if they grew an extra limbs with a lack of timepieces on them. Tonight’s 2012 SCOOP Event #10-Medium Stud would have several past winners looking to notch a second, third, or fourth major title here at PokerStars. But first they would need to defeat a field of 380 runners who put up $215 for a shot at a $14,630.00 first prize. And thanks to those 380 runners, the $25,000 guarantee was met in triplicates giving the tournament a huge $76,000.00 prize pool

Hood_Ace was not able to duplicate last year’s feat by winning this tournament and final tabling the high version as well as we would crown a new champion tonight after Hood_Ace busted in 122nd place.

Near the money bubble Crisper (53rd place), who made the 2009 SCOOP Main Event-Medium final table (finishing third for $263,835) and WCOOP champ Shaun Deeb (51st place) would both finish just outside the money tonight.

Two Team PokerStars Pros and one Team Online member would safely finish in the top 48 money spots tonight. No stranger to finishing deep in a SCOOP tournament, Team Online and reigning SCOOP Player of the Series Anders “Donald” Berg would notch another cash already in the 2012 series after bubbling the final table from Event #6-L yesterday. With the stakes at 2,500/5,000 ante 500 Berg was down to just 9,848 chips decided to get it all in against tilion22 showing [Kc][Ad] on fourth against tilion22′s [5s][7c]. Anders was looking for something to connect, anything to connect, but watched a missed wheel draw tumble out [5h] [2c] / [Kc] [Ad] [3h] [Qd] / [Td] as tilion22′s split fives [5d] [9h] / [5s] [7c] [Qh] [3s] / [Kh] were good enough to take out Berg in 33rd place ($437.00).

Team Pro Chad Brown, whose major cashes have come in limit tournaments, was looking for another deep cash tonight but relyagarto8 decided to play the spoiler. With the bets up to 3K/6K ante 600, Brown was sitting on 22,230 chips and decided to go with split eights on fourth street against reylagarto8. Holding a pair as well, reylagarto8 watched the split kings turn into a king-high straight [Jd] [Kc] / [Kh] [8h] [Qc] [Tc] / [9d]. Overkill for knocking out the Team Pro as Chad would brick on a seventh street flush draw [8c] [5c] / [8s] [Jc] [Qs] [6c] / [4h] to finish in 32nd place ($513.00).

All that remained for the Red Spades was reigning MicroMillions champ Marcin “Goral” Horecki who is keeping up with his liking for low stakes tournaments by cashing in Event #4-L and Event #6-L. But, Marcin was looking for a cash in this middle stakes tournament with a little more heft tonight and unfortunately would fall soon after Berg and Brown in 26th place ($513.00).

Daniel “djk123″ Kelly was back again trying to add a SCOOP watch to his three WCOOP bracelets but his run would be stopped with three tables remaining in 23rd place ($741.00).

Finland’s Miegstroem was trying to make back-to-back Event #10-Medium final tables after finishing seventh in this event last year. However, the cards did not fall the Finn’s way and Miegstroem would settle for $1,026.00 in 14th place.

Down to the final table bubble Ruxandescu ran into a rough hand late against GoneF1sh1ng where a sixth street two pair of fours and treys got rivered by GoneF1sh1ng’s jacks up to take down a 136,000 chip pot and left Ruxandescu with just 9,749 chips. After one successful double up el_batong would send Ruxandescu out on the bubble (narrowly missing a second 2012 SCOOP final table after finishing runner up to Viktor “Isildur1″ Blom’s second SCOOP title) setting up the final table below:

Seat 1: cal42688 (391043 in chips)
Seat 2: YepImOnTilt (160363 in chips)
Seat 3: drkamikaze1 (245565 in chips)
Seat 4: Ryokan (46368 in chips)
Seat 5: GoneF1sh1ng (134582 in chips)
Seat 6: cyberkanguru (410262 in chips)
Seat 7: el_batong (368925 in chips)
Seat 8: DerRaeuber (142892 in chips)

Not second too soon

In the final table’s second hand with the stakes at 8K/16K ante 1,600 GoneF1sh1ng decided to test the shorted stacked Ryokan by capping third street with an ace [Ad] showing to Ryokan’s [Js]. Fourth street got the rest of Ryokan’s chips in the middle exposing split jacks [Qh][Jh] / [Js] [9s] to GoneF1sh1ng’s split aces [Ah][7s] / [Ad][8s]. GoneF1sh1ng would find the right hook for two pair [Tc] [7d] / [Qs] but Ryokan’s hand failed to catch anything [5h][7c] / [6c] ending the night in eighth place ($1,710.00).

Holding the right bait

As the stakes moved up to 10K/20K ante 2K YepImOnTilt was left mumbling after holding just 13,363 chips after GoneF1sh1ng knocked him down to under a big bet. Deciding to wait no longer, YepImOnTilt would shove with an ace showing and getting calls by cal42688 and GoneF1sh1ng. Bet by GoneF1sh1ng and a call by cal42688 on fourth street, then afterbet and raise by cal42688 on sixth with a call by GoneF1sh1ng both players checked the river as cal42688 exposed an open ended straight draw and flush draw that missed but hit a pair of nines [Jd] [Td] / [2d] [8s] [6d] [9h] / [9s]. GoneF1sh1ng’s split kings did not improve [5d] [Kh] / [Kc] [6s] [7h] [9d] / [2h]. But, no improvement was needed as YepImOnTilt mucked the hand giving GoneF1sh1ng another knockout , 168,363 chips, and reducing the table to six players after YepImOnTilt took home $2,090.00 in seventh place.

The robber gets picked on

DerRaeuber’s name is close to the name of the German film “The Robber”, was foiled on the attempt to pickpocket drkamikaze1 for a chance to get back into this tournament after falling to just 48,092 chips. Watch our film adaptation of “The Robber” below:

All the chips would find their way into the middle after fourth street with drkamikaze1 showing pocket fours [4s] [4h] / [As] [8c] to DerRaeuber’s wired nines [9h][9d] / [Jd][Qd]. But, then the dealer would not stop giving eights to the doctor. An eight on fifth and sixth gave drkamikaze1 a boat [8s] [8d] / [Td] which DerBaeuber could not match [Ts] [6s] / [5s] as “The Robber” took leave in sixth place ($2,850.00).

Third time not a charm

Main Event Passport? Check. WCOOP title? Check. Two SCOOP Watches Check. Third SCOOP Watch?

Not so fast.

cal42688 rung up not one but two SCOOP titles last year in under 24 hours and today would make a run at title number three. drkamikaze1 however was looking for another influx of chips and found it against cal42688. With the stakes up to 16K/32K ante 3,200 drkamikaze1 would get the multi-COOP champion to slide a huge 336,000 chip pot his way after notching fives full of deuces knocking cal42688 down to just 12,886 in chips. Two hands later, cal42688 would shove under a small bet showing the [Td] and face off against drkamikaze1 again showing a [Kd]. cal42688 would find two pair on his [8h] [5s] / [Td] [7s] [7c] [8s] / [Ad] board but drkamikaze1′s rolled up kings [Kc] [Kh] / [Kd] [Qc] [4s] [4c] / [5d] were never threatened as cal42688 bowed out in fifth place ($3,990.00).

Hunter becomes the hunted

drkamikaze1 was responsible for the last two knockouts and after the foursome settled down to play the good doctor ran into some misfortune getting knocked down to 55,226 chips with the stakes at 20K/40K ante 4K. After drawing a [4d] drkamikaze1 would raise over el_batong’s bring-in as GoneF1sh1ng three-bet with a [Kc]. drkamikaze1 ended the betting with a four-bet all-in as GoneF1sh1ng called.

Perfect start to a razz hand but drkamikaze1 could only notch a pair of aces [Ad [2d] / [4d] [3h] [Ac] [7s] / [Ts] as GoneF1sh1ng made a broadway straight by sixth [Th] [Jd] / [Kc] [6c] [Ah] [Qs] / [Qh] sinking drkamikaze1′s plane in fourth place ($5,890.00). Don’t feel too bad for drkamikaze1 as the Canadian already claimed a 2012 SCOOP watch in Event #4-L and bagging $9K in the process.

With the doctor on a call, the remaining three sat down just before the 11th hour of play to briefly discuss dividing up the remainder of the prize pool. However, el_batong was lagging a bit in chips and decided to gamble leaving the full $14,630.00 first prize on top of the SCOOP champion watch for now.

The big one gets away

So close to a major title. After playing for over 11 hours just two people separating you from the bracelet/watch/trophy/bricks of cash being hauled in by beautiful models and… crash. el_batong and cyberkanguru would go back and forth taking nearly all the pots for 15 minutes leaving GoneF1sh1ng gasping for air. Then with the stakes at 25K/50K ante 5K and down to 100,078 in chips GoneF1sh1ng would four-bet his [Jd] door card against el_batong’s [Qs]. el_batong did have the split queens being represented and would improve to two pair [7d] [Qc] / [Qs] [3c] [Td] [7c] / [2h]. GoneF1sh1ng however was trawling for bass and came up with nary a nibble [Kd] [Ts] / [Jd] [5h] [7s] [2d] / [As] ending the tournament in third place ($8,170.00).

Guru sits on top of the chip mountain

Holding a 1,353,022 chip to 546,978 chip advantage, cyberkanguru would use that leverage to work el_batong down to nothing. A 19 minute heads-up battle that el_batong would roll the chip stack up to over 600K at one point after notching aces up for a 552,000 chip pot. But, that would be the high point as cyberkanguru would use the chip advantage to grind el_batong down to 68,978 in the final hand below:

With the stakes at 30K/60K ante 6K el_batong had little choice but to shove with the [Th] on the door as cyberkanguru called with a [3c]. The little trey had a secret though… buried queens but those queens would get embedded in an unnecessary broadway straight [Qh] [Qd] / [3c] [Jh] [Ts] [Ad] / [Kc] which handly beat el_batong’s queen-high [4s] [8d] / [Th] [Qc] [3h] [2s] / [6h] to claim the 2012 SCOOP Event #10-Medium title for $14,630.00!

$25,000.00 guarantee 2012 SCOOP Event #10-Medium Stud results (05-09-12):
1. cyberkanguru (Germany) $14,630.00
2. el_batong (Finland) $10,830.00
3. GoneF1sh1ng (Canada) $8,170.00
4. drkamikaze1 (Canada) $5,890.00
5. cal42688 (Mexico) $3,990.00
6. DerRaeuber (Austria) $2,850.00
7. YepImOnTilt (Mexico) $2,090.00
8. Ryokan (Ireland) $1,710.00

Tags: entertainment | eureka poker tour | german | harrah's | pca | SCOOP | tournaments | virtual

Amarillo Slim passed away this past Sunday (April 29th, 2012) at the age of 83.

Those relatively new to poker might recognize his name only vaguely, which is a pity. He won the 1972 World Series of Poker, defeating seven – yes, seven opponents. Actually six because Doyle Brunson bowed out when they were three-handed.¹

Slim took that win and parlayed it into national (and international) prominence. Unlike most other poker players (of his heyday or any time), he was a born extrovert and people loved to hear him talk. He was an old Texas road gambler and hustler; he was just doing what he always did – trying to make a buck. But while he was doing that, he yanked poker into the public spotlight. He appeared on the Tonight Show 11 times, and every major TV morning show of the time.

Amarilo Slim at the 1974 WSOP–(Image courtesy David Schwartz, coordinator of the Gaming Studies Research Center)

He was the face of poker for a couple of decades; an entire generation of Americans, when they think of a professional poker player, has a vision of Amarillo Slim, even if they couldn’t tell you his name. But with his height, slender frame (“I look like the advance man for a famine”), cowboy hat, and boots, he became an icon of the game.

He could have – perhaps should have – gone on to be one of the grand old men of the game, the gambler emeritus invited to every major poker tournament, creating a wake of gawking and tweeting admirers in his path. But in 2003 he was arrested for indecency with a 12-year-old girl (his granddaughter). He pled guilty to misdemeanour charges, paid a fine, and that was that. The case was over, but so was his career. A movie about his life, with Nicholas Cage playing him, evaporated. Later, Slim said he pled guilty only to save his family the agony of a trial; he produced signed affidavits saying that the original charges were not true.

As Greg Dinkin, the co-author of Slim’s memoir, says in a wonderful blog piece:

Because he had been telling his own version of the “truth” for so many years, no one knew what to believe. Including me. As well as I knew the man, your guess as to what really happened is as good as mine.

But that’s not why I’m here. I want to thank Amarillo Slim for the stories, for two reasons. First, because those stories allowed him to spin a world that America found intriguing, and helped poker on its first tentative steps toward respectability. Second, because he told a great story and we need to be told stories. We are a race of story tellers and story listeners; Slim captivated us with his stories.

He ran black market cigarettes in Germany after World War II, looked down gun barrels in poker games, and almost died winning a prop bet involving rafting the Salmon River. He was from an older, wilder time and his adventures, forgive me, trump the coolest new sushi bar our SuperNova Elites are visiting.

Amarillo Slim at the 2009 WSOP

Are all of his stories 100% true? Unlikely. But many of them are probably 100% true and there’s a kernel of truth in most of the rest. But every one, bar none, is a wonderful tale. You forget where you are and are absorbed into Slim’s story, his world. As my colleague, Nick Williamson, pointed out, “You’re entertained – that’s what matters – not the absolute truth of the story.”

The other thing about Amarillo Slim was that he knew one of his jobs was to promote poker (a lesson that wouldn’t go amiss with many of today’s superstars). I met him only once, in the late 90′s at a tournament at the Orleans. People wanted to talk to him, get autographs, have their picture taken with him. He worked the crowd, shook hands, and cracked jokes. He never forgot that he was, first and foremost, a salesman.

Go read Slim’s memoir, Amarillo Slim in a World Full of Fat People. The stories, almost without exception, are fantastic; the book flies by.

Whatever, whoever Amarillo Slim was, we owe him a debt of gratitude for growing poker and for leaving us with a wealth of tales interweaved into our game.

______________

¹ The circumstances around that departure are unclear; poker was a lot less transparent then.

Tags: archives | Asia Pacific Poker Tour | colleague | delicious | doyle-brunson | estrellas poker tour | game | Super Tuesday | twitter | wbcoop | wcoop

The final table starts at 12 noon today with the final eight of 299 players back for one more day of action at the SAS Radisson Casino.

Below you’ll find details of all of them, including something about a weather girl, and goalkeeper and at least one player killing it online.

Seat 1: Bjarke “Metalmania” Hansen, 26, Esbjerg, Denmark – 1,497,000
Hansen is from Esbjerg, Denmark, but has been living in Malta for the past seven months. There is a large population of Danes on the island working in the gaming industry and/or playing online professionally.

Hansen actually didn’t plan to play EPT Copenhagen but won his seat after playing in an invitational VIP Sit and Go a month ago, which had a seat to the main event up for grabs. Hansen has been a pro since 2004, initially playing no-limit hold’em but now focusing on heads-up pot-limit Omaha cash games. He also coaches PLO via the Pokernet.dk poker forum.

His best live result to date was runner-up in a tournament in Bulgaria in 2010, for €97,515. He is being supported in Copenhagen by his brother Sune who is here working for PokerNews Denmark. Sune said: “He actually reversed jinxed himself by booking a ticket back home to Malta for yesterday – and then had to cancel it after making Day 4.”

Seat 2: Mickey ‘mement_mori’ Petersen, 22, Denmark – PokerStars Team Online – 1,205,000
Local hero Mickey ‘mement_mori’ Petersen is one of the most successful online poker tournament players Denmark has ever produced, a game he started to master while taking a year off from his studies. Petersen began making so much money online at PokerStars that he ditched University in favour of turning pro. He also started qualifying for live PokerStars events around the world and is now an EPT regular.

Most of his biggest online results have been scored in PokerStars’ SCOOP events, including runner-up in a $2,100 No Limit Hold’em event in 2010 for $169,286. Mickey has also cashed in several other SCOOP events, all of which have helped him become one of the highest earners in the history of the series, with more than $500,000 in winnings. He’s also won big in other PokerStars online tourneys, including third place in the Sunday Warm-Up helping him top several online Player of the Year and Leader Board rankings.

Winning an EPT title is high on Petersen’s list of career goals. He’s only cashed in one Main Event before – EPT Barcelona this season – but has ten cashes in EPT side events including fourth place at the EPT Grand Final €5,000 event in Season 6 for €73,400.

Chips chips

Seat 3: Steve O’Dwyer, 29, Pennsylvania, USA – 453,000
Steve O’Dwyer is from the States, but recently moved to Ireland in order to continue his career as a professional poker player.

The communications and broadcasting graduate also does pretty well for himself in live events and has had some astonishing results in the past year. His first big cash came in December 2009 when he finished sixth in the Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic, earning more than $200,000. Then last summer O’Dwyer won a $5,000 NL event at the Bellagio Cup for a further $259,452 and a few weeks later the Epic Poker League’s $1,500 Pro-Am event.

In August, O’Dwyer finished fifth in the EPT Barcelona €10,000 High Roller, earning €46,900, then a month later was runner-up at EPT London for £ 465,000, his biggest cash to date.

O’Dwyer has also made the final of three EPT side events, cashed in two more and was runner-up at WPT Venice in December for €95,530. He has racked up more than $2 million in total lifetime tournament earnings.

O’Dwyer is currently lying in eighth place in the EPT Player of the Year race – and he’ll get at least 320 more points for making the final here in Copenhagen.

Seat 4: Spencer Hudson, 28, Austin, Texas – PokerStars qualifier – 447,000
Hudson took up poker around six years ago while studying business at university in Houston. He was so successful that he eventually abandoned his degree and took to playing online full time.

Like many other American pros, Hudson has had to relocate since Black Friday and is now living in Playa del Carmen – one of the most popular tourist resorts in Mexico and now home to at least 30 poker professionals. Hudson has been playing EPTs for a couple of years including Snowfest, London and Deauville, and has cashed twice at the PCA.

This year he finished 55th for $35,000. He also has several WSOP cashes to his name, but his best results have come online including winning the Sunday Million in 2010 for around $265,000 and also making the final again last month.

Seat 5: Jacob Rasmussen, 28, Copenhagen, Denmark – 1,325,000
Known as “Sasuke” in the poker community, former law student Rasmussen has been playing for six years and is best-known for his performances online where he specializes in high stakes cash games.

Rasmussen doesn’t play that many live events but when he does he tends to do well, especially at EPTs in Copenhagen where he has cashed three times out of four. His biggest cash to date was fifth place at EPT Dortmund in Season 5 for €139,000. At the time, it was the biggest EPT ever held with 493 players. Rasmussen’s girlfriend Celina is a weather girl on Denmark’s largest online news site ekstrabladet.dk.

Seat 6: Pierre ‘Zoutechamp’ Neuville, 69, Belgium – Team PokerStars Pro – 908,000
Pierre started playing poker 50 years ago at university when he and his fellow students used to play every day. He then took 25 years off while working as Vice President of Hasbro. He switched careers in the mid-1990s to become a personal advisor to sports stars and celebrities.

Once he retired, he decided to follow his dream of playing poker around the world. He took his wife to the PCA in 2008 and finished 18th, scuppering his wife’s doubts that he could compete against world-class players. The following season he did even better and finished in ninth place at EPT5 San Remo for €78,800.

But the major turning point in his new career as a poker pro was his runner-up finish at EPT Vilamoura in Season 6. He won EPT Qualifier of the Year that same season, and soon after became a Friend of PokerStars and is now a full-on member of Team PokerStars Pro. Since Vilamoura, he has cashed in eight further EPTs, as well as the World Series in 2010.

Seat 7: Aage Ravn, 26. Narvik, Norway – PokerStars qualifier – 2,458,000
IT consultant Ravn is from Narvik, a small Norwegian town inside the Arctic Circle. He first came to the poker world’s attention when he won a side event here at EPT Copenhagen back in Season 3 – his first ever live event.

His biggest score to date came when he made the final – finishing sixth – at the 2010 PCA for $450,000 after winning his seat on PokerStars in a $100 rebuy satellite. He cashed at the PCA the following year as well and also went deep at the Aussie Millions this January for AUS$ 35,000. He doesn’t play many big tournaments, but EPT Copenhagen marks a successful return. His fellow countryman Johnny Lodden describes his playing style as “a new invention of poker”.

Seat 8: Niels van Alphen, Westkapelle, Netherlands – PokerStars qualifier – 644,000
Dutchman Van Alphen, 21, earned the nickname “The Alpha Male” on his first European Poker Tour tournament here in Copenhagen by crushing opponents from the start.

Van Alphen is still in college – in his second year of Aquatic Ecotechnology at Hogeschool Zeeland, and plays poker as a lucrative hobby. He finished second in a WCOOP event in 2011, for $171,500, and has had several other big scores online under his nickname ‘fisherman903′.

He played his first big live tournament back in Macau but failed to book any success there. He had his eyes on this EPT because he could combine it with studying and his other big hobby: soccer. He is a goalkeeper for local Zeeland team Noormannen 1. Van Alphen lives in Westkapelle and is supported here by his girlfriend.

Tags: Asia Pacific Poker Tour | belgian poker series | career | delicious | doyle-brunson | European Poker Tour | girl | twitter | UKIPT | wbcoop | wcoop

If not today then sometime soon, Nikolaus Teichert will ask himself, “Why did I make that call?” It’s a question we’ve certainly been asking ourselves up on the stage behind the final table, just a heavy velvet curtain separating us from them. Perhaps he wanted to emulate Doyle Brunson, maybe he thought he could outplay Kursevich with any two cards, but Teichert’s decision to get involved in a big pot out of position with [ts][2c] is one he’ll regret.

Vadzim Kursevich: good time to flop a set

Vadzim Kursevich opened from the cut-off to 110,000 with [5d][5s] and Teichert defended his big blind with that ten-deuce. The German over bet 500,000 into the [9s][5h][2d] flop with bottom pair and Kursevich made the call with middle set. Well, you would. Teichert opted to bet the same amount, 500,000, into the [qh] turn. Kursevich tanked, perhaps debating whether he should try and get it in here and now, maybe simply trying to feign weakness for the action on the final street. He called again.

A second deuce fell on the river, the [2h], and Teichert slammed his hand down on the table to check. It handled like a don’t-blufff-me-because-I’m-calling check. Kursevich slowly pulled out 875,000 and pushed it forward. Teichert made the call with his rivered trips. Kursevich tabled a full house and chipped up close to 5,000,000, now bearing down on Paul Guichard’s chip lead.

Nikolaus Teichert: not a fan of Brunson any more

A couple of hands later Teichert shoved with [ac][7d] and was knocked out by Bruno Jais with [as][ts]. From 2,800,000 to 0 in three hands. And it all started with the decision to defend his big blind with Brunson. That took us to ten, Etienne Moudaress’ departure shortly after (to the indomitable Kursevich) leaves just nine players who break to one last table.

The final nine
1. Bruno Jais, PokerStars.fr qualifier, 5,770,000
2. Mick Graydon, PokerStars qualifier, 1,220,000
3. Olivier Rogez, 2,345,000
4. Vuong Than Trong, 2,465,000
5. Vadzim Kursevich, 5,555,000
6. Paul Guichard, PokerStars.fr qualifier, 4,710,000
7. Luca Pagano, Team PokerStars Pro, 1,870,000
8. Sergey Baburin, 1,130,000
9. Yorane Kerignard, 1,655,000

Tags: 2011 | belgian poker series | deauville | france poker series | italian poker tour | lapt | latin-america | pca | tcoop | world cup of poker

Ten years have passed since I registered my account on PokerStars. I remember surfing the internet, and reading about this new poker site. PokerStars immediately appealed to me, and I could already see myself playing for hours every day. I decided to take some time to choose my screen name carefully. My criteria were something short, striking, international and neutral. Looking around my living room for ideas, my eyes finally stopped at my top bookshelf, which by the way looks the same today.

“Donald” was the obvious choice, so I hurried to register before anyone else took my new name. Then I found this nice picture of Donald Duck that became my avatar for the first 8 years.

I remember playing some freerolls in the beginning, with hundreds of players and $50 in prize money. Not being very patient, I deposited $200, and started playing cash games, mostly $2/$4 limit holdem, with the occational shot at $10/$20 limit, the biggest game on offer on PokerStars the first year.

In March 2002, after numerous deposits and no cashouts, I entered a 3000 FPP satellite where the winner got a WSOP-package. This was the first ever WSOP-satellite on PokerStars, and it attracted 343 players. I remember shaking uncontrollably when I had aces in the final hand, and my single opponent went allin. I still regard this as my most important tournament win. In addition to being a huge confidence booster, I was immediately forced to take my game more seriously, and also learn how to play live.

I lasted for almost a day in the WSOP main event that year, sharing a table with Doyle Brunson and Antonio Esfandiari. But I beat the $3/$6 limit holdem cash games, and had a most memorable week. Going home, I thought of this as a once in a life time experience.

But I had learned a lot, and results were starting to improve. In January 2003, I won the weekly $215 Sunday tournament. It had 194 players back then. The next three weeks I spent at Commerce Casino in Los Angeles grinding tournaments and cash games all day and most nights.

We all know what happened next. Chris Moneymaker came along and won the 2003 WSOP main event, and accelerated the poker boom. The next three years were the golden years of online poker. Making money became too easy. I had $30/$60 limit holdem as my regular game. But I have more fond memories of the $30/$60 and $75/$150 Omaha High-Low games, where several of the other regulars have become good friends.

But success doesn’t come without a price. There have been many ups and downs, frustrations, bad choices, megatilts, and broken laptops. On bad days, when I finally turn off the computer, I try to remind myself of how much poker has given me, and asked for so little in return. Then I cool down, until I again feel the love for the game, and make sure that is my only motivation to play.

Congratulations to PokerStars with 10 years of success, and thanks to everyone who have played at my tables over those years.

Tags: avatar | belgian poker series | boom | ept | gambling | game | planets | pokerstars macau | World Series of Poker

Tags: accordion | appt | Asia Pacific Poker Tour | doyle-brunson | doyle-brunson-at-the-ept | European Poker Tour | latin-america | napt | SCOOP | select-language | team pokerstars online | team-pokerstars

By Pauly
Las Vegas, NV

This is the moment you’ve been waiting for — the conclusion of the November Nine. Who will become the next big swinging dick in the poker world? Tonight (or if it runs late, early tomorrow morning) the next WSOP Main Event champion will be declared. Just in case you’re tuning in for the first time, we’re down to three players. In previous years, the final table was stopped when two players remained but this year things are a little different with three players in the hunt for a bracelet, the world championship, and $8.7M in cash (for the two Europeans in the mix, that’s roughly €6.3M.)

Here’s some quick stats:

2011 Main Event Entrants: 6,865
Payouts: 693
First Place: $8,711,956
Prize Pool: $64,531,000

November Nine – Final Three Chip Counts:
Pius Hienz (Cologne, Germany) – 107.8M
Ben Lamb (Las Vegas, NV) – 55.4M
Martin Staszko (Trinec, Czech Republic) – 42.7M

November Nine Final Table Payouts and Results:
1st – ? – $8,711,956
2nd – ?? – $5,430,928
3rd – ??? – $4,019,635
4th – Matt Giannetti – $3,011,661
5th – Phil Collins – $2,268,909
6th – Eoghan O’Dea – $1,720,396
7th – Badih “Bob” Bounahra – $1,313,851
8th – Anton Makiievskyi – $1,009,910
9th – Sam Holden – $782,115

The last few Main Event champions have been 20-somethings — Jon Duhamel, Joe Cada, and Peter Eastgate — all of whom were groomed courtesy of online poker. Two out of three remaining players are 20-something (Pius Heinz is 22 and Ben Lamb is 26), while the “old guy” at the table is Martin Staszko at 35 years old.

Lamb already won WSOP Player of the Year honors and after a sensational run-good at the WSOP, and as long as he doesn’t have any horrendous life leaks, he’ll become a mainstay on the circuit.

Meanwhile, for the two Euros… Pius Hienz is striving to become the first-ever German world champion, and Martin Staszko is attempting to become the first-ever bracelet winner from the Czech republic. If he wins, he’ll be thrust into the upper echelons of “world famous Czechs” along with one of my favorite authors Milan Kundera, hockey pros Jaromir Jagr and goalie extraordinaire Dominik Hasek, tennis greats Ivan Lendl and Martina Navratilova, and film director Milos Forman (he won an Oscar for ).

The conclusion of the November Nine will be aired on ESPN at 9pm ET (or 6pm Vegas time). The broadcast will be on a fifteen minute delay, but you’ll be able to see the hole cards. I’ll be providing a live blog here on Tao of Poker along with random tweets from inside the Penn & Teller Theatre. Follow @taopauly if you wish. Oh, and Michalski and I will be recording a few podcasts along the way, which I’ll post as the day/evening progresses.

Stay tuned…

* * *

4:05pm… Hall of Fame Inductions.. Starting Soon

The Poker Hall of Fame ceremony will include the inductions of Linda Johnson and Barry Greenstein. I’m one of the Hall of Fame voters and I voted for both. Their storied careers in additions to their contributions off the felt made them obvious choices for this year’s class.

Linda will become only the second female to gain entrance into the hall (Barbara Enright, the only female to make a Main Event final table is the other).

* * *
4:25pm… HOF Ceremony Underway; Mike Sexton Introduces Linda Johnson

Ty Stewart kicked off the HOF ceremony. He made a joke about being old enough to be Pius Heinz’s father. He handed off the mic to Sexton, who was supposed to introduce Linda Johnson.

They had a technical malfunction and the mic emitted a weird hum. It’s the same kind of sound MP’s blast at Gitmo to torture Jihadists. Once the tech issue was corrected, Sexton gave an eloquent speech on why Linda Johnson deserved a nod.

Here’s some notes….

- Sexton revealed that Linda was the first online poker affiliate for Party Poker.

- Sexton cracked up a couple of time. Kinda touching.

- “Everyone in poker owes Linda debt of gratitude,” said Sexton.

- Linda mentioned that most people thought she was a dealer when she said she was a poker pro.

- Linda said that there were no tournament clocks — the TD wore a kitchen timer on his lapel.

- Some quotes: “I gotten so much more than I’ve given”… and… “Poker taught me to have a sense of humor.”

* * *
4:50pm… Doyle Brunson Introduces Barry Greenstein

Texas Dolly gave a quick, but powerful speech. He mentioned that Barry might have won the most out of all of them in high stakes cash games.

- Upon his arrival to the Las Vegas poker scene… “He became a force immediately.”

- “He’s the man who never runs it twice,” said Brunson.

- Barry wasn’t wearing a tie. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him in one. It would just look weird.

- “As a poker player, I’m not accustomed to having things handed to me.”

- Barry mentioned that he was excited about the HOF nod because he saw what happened to Erik Seidel after he was inducted last year. “I’m looking forward to some of that Hall of Fame run good.”

- Barry suggested some changes specifically about “playing for high stakes” and “no mention of tournaments in criteria.”

Tags: atom | copyright | day 5 | entertainment | sports betting | Tao All Stars | the circuit | twitter

By Pauly
Las Vegas, NV

A very special episode with Kevin “KevMath” Mathers. We discuss an unusual topic.

2011 WSOP – Episode 17: WSOP Fashion Report with KevMath (5:10) – Pauly chats with KevMath, who is a self-described “fashion expert.” The two compare and contrast the different styles of clothing worn by members of the media. KevMath also reveals why he won’t wear shorts.

For more episodes, visit the Tao of Pokerati archives.

Tags: 2010 WSOP | atom | doj | doyle-brunson | facebook | Music | philosophy | Poker News | politics | rio

By Pauly
Las Vegas, NV

Call it a coup d’etat.

Never mind the Brits, here come the French. First, it was ElkY. Now, it’s Elie Payan. The amateur from France played in his first ever WSOP event, and guess what? He shipped the bracelet in Event #22 PLO. The $1,500 buy-in was the Donkament version of PLO and largest ever PLO tournament in the history of the WSOP.

Le Ship It!
Photo courtesy of WSOP.com
PLO is a dangerous game. It’s like being a weekend cocaine user who all of a sudden gets turned onto freebasing. Kids, you don’t want to try this at home unless supervised by an adult. PLO is a game that is only for trained professionals and known drug fiends.

Four cards? Let’s gamboooooooool.

PLO is an action junkie’s wet dream. If you can stomach the mammoth swings, then you have a an outside chance of being a decent PLO player, because at worst, you’re never that far behind your opponent. That’s the only reason why most people don’t play PLO — they simply can’t handle the swings — both financially and mentally.

PLO tournaments are even more brutal than cash games, because if you get felted (which will happen no matter how optimal you play or how far a horseshoe is wedged up your digestive tract), you can always dig into your pocket for more bullets. The more bullets you have access to, the better your chances of digging yourself out of a hole. That is to say, if you can handle losing substantial chunks of your bankroll in a 24-hour period.

Fortunes have been won and lost at the PLO tables. The premier pros of the game have gone busto and robusto back to busto again all because of the tantalizing aspect of four card bingo. The biggest, baddest, mutherfuckers in poker are (er, were) mostly PLO gurus. Sure everyone played NLH because it’s the popular game and kept you in the limelight of the mainstream poker audience and in the poker media. However, if you wanted respect among your peers, then you had to measure your cock (or vagina) against the biggest of the Big Dogs. If you wanted big payday with a side order of notoriety, then sit down in Ivey’s Thunderdome and play the Phil Ivey of Poker in heads-up PLO. And not just one table… how about four or more?

If you wanted a chance of winning a half a mil in a session, then you had to go whale hunting in the PLO waters. Just a year or two ago, the biggest sharks in poker lined up to take a shot at sinking their teeth into proverbial white whale — an elusive Scandi named Isildur1 — who had no problems giving action to anyone who wanted to play multi-tables.

That’s like juggling chainsaws. And I’m not talking about throwing Allen “Chainsaw” Kessler into the air and trying to catch him, although I’d pay good money to see someone try to juggle Chainsaw with two chainsaws. One false move and you lose an arm.

* * *
Bouncin’ Round the Room…

I almost got run over by a douchenozzle on a Segway. I’ve thought about getting a golf cart, Segway, or min-cart to navigate from the Amazon Ballroom to the casino floor, but if I ever got access to a vehicle, I would drive at a safe speed in order to not hurt any pedestrians. Too bad the selfish dickhead that ran me over (along with a half-a-dozen others) in the hallway did not adhere to “safety first” rules. I don’t mind older folks on those mini-scooters, because after all, they are in the twilight of their lives or have medical conditions and need a scooter to be mobile. But a Segway? Talk about a self-indulgent. Didn’t the inventor of the Segway die after accidentally driving off a cliff?

I watched Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals with Lance. He was rooting for the Bruins and I had a bet on the Canucks. I got my ass stomped. I blame that sieve Luongo. I can win a hockey bet to save my life, but luckily I dominated the NBA playoffs wagering on the Mavs heavy over the last few weeks. I gotta say, after all the money I spent at the Rio covering the WSOP (food and drinks mostly, but when you play inflated rendonkulous casino prices, all of that adds up), it felt good to actually take the Rio for a few grand in the sportsbook. Poker is tough because you’re essentially taking money from other gamblers, whereas in the pits or at the sportsbook, you have a shot at bleeding the corporate entity dry.

The single table satellites are as soft as ever. I know horrible players who have been raking in the lammers — and these are my friends, the majority of whom are horrible players. Either their luckbox powers have been humming due to the close proximity to Planet X, or the quality of play is just that fucking atrocious. Whatever you want to believe, it doesn’t matter. They are giving away free money every day inside the tournament area. You’d be a fool not to show up a few days before your intended WSOP event, to play those single table sats. Juicy is an understatement. I know one pro who has yet to buy into a WSOP event because he’s simply killing the sats.

So do you want to know the effects of Black Friday? As expected, the numbers at some of the lower buy-in events WSOP are up. The PLO Donkament was the largest on record. According to stats released by the WSOP suits, the cash games are up 11% over the first two weeks. How they figured that number out, I’ll never know, but let’s just say they are right — the WSOP is printing money this year.

I don’t have any puke stories or tales of old guys jacking off in the bathroom of Binion’s, but I did see a guy as old as Vin Scully (I kinda hoped it was the legendary L.A. Dodgers announcer) walk past the craps table with two “rented” girls clinging to each arm. Their combined age had to be anywhere from 36 to 42… and not a year older. I wonder if those working girls foolishly got paid in tournament chips?

I love it when railbirds totally get the names of pros utterly wrong. The other day, two dudes in “Affliction” shirts stood on the rail and pointed at the table in front of them.

Railbird 1: “Is that Jackie Juanda?”
Railbird 2: “No, it’s gotta be that Jackie Chan guy?”
Railbird 1: “Are you sure? It’s Jackie Juanda.”
Railbird 2: “No, it’s Jackie Chan….”
(Pause… I got caught catching me eavesdropping and Railbird 1 saw my press credntials dangling around my neck.)
Railbird 1: “Hey you work here, right?”
Your Hero: “Only, for the pure love of the game.”
Railbird 2: “Settle an argument for us… is that Jackie Chan or Jackie Juanda.”
Your Hero: “Neither. It’s Layne Flack.”

* * *
That’s it. For a quickie wrap, head over to Rise Poker and check out Change100′s Day 16 Recap.

Follow @taopauly for Twitter updates throughout the day.

Also, help support indie writers and buy my books: Lost Vegas: The Redneck Riviera, Existentialist Conversations with Strippers and the World Series of Poker, and my recently released novel, Jack Tripper Stole My Dog. Both are also available for Kindles and iPads.

Tags: boom | day 5 | entertainment | ept | full tilt | las vegas | lost vegas | Music | news | phil ivey | philosophy

By Pauly
Las Vegas, NV

We hung out in the Pavilion and recorded an episode when we railed the cash games…

2011 WSOP – Episode 15: Brickless Cash Games (4:43) – Dan and Pauly hang out on the rail of the high-stakes cash games in the Rio. They describe the bustling scene, but are a little disappointed the massive PLO cash game isn’t running.

2011 WSOP – Episode 16: Brickless Cash Games Reprise (3:22) – Dan and Pauly recorded a quick follow-up to their previous episode while they hang out on the rail of the high-stakes cash games. They spot Eskimo Clark, “Cowboy”, and other broke dicks lingering around seeking handouts from the high rollers.

For more episodes, visit the Tao of Pokerati archives.

Thanks to Wolynski for the pic.

Tags: boom | conspiracy | entertainment | games | lists | poker books | social-media | the pai gow diaries