Nestled in the foothills of the TV set is the second feature table. It’s got a small population, just seven players, and its mayor is Erik Seidel. The tall American has been dominating proceedings most of the last level, opening the most pots and winning the majority of those too. Those small victories have taken him from 355,000 back up to 380,000.

Annette Obrestad sits on Seidel’s left, a fearless short stack waiting to abuse any spot that comes her way. Action folds to her in the small blind? She jams it in Noah Boeken’s eye, he folds his big blind. Boeken min-raises to 8,000 under-the-gun? Guess what, she jams it in his eye again. Boeken looks up at the board. He passes again. Those pots take Obrestad up to 70,000, still short but with a little more ballast than before.

Seidel watches the proceedings with a calm, relaxed detachment while picking at a large bag of pistachios. The orphaned shells rest in a chip rack on a table by his feet. He’s been deep in so many big tournaments that this is second nature for Seidel. He looks one step away from pulling out a copy of the New York Times to scan through the business pages.

Erik Seidel, earlier in the tournament

In contrast Neuville is sat up right, a focussed game face hidden behind blue tinted glasses. Neuville sports the same red pullover that his cartoon avatar wears on the cover of his new board game, Poker Champ. The same yellow 23 is stitched high on the right of his jumper. Neuville does not have many chips left, it’s a far cry from the big stack he held on the EPT Copenhagen bubble.

Seidel opens yet again with 9,500 tipped across the line raising into Neuville’s big blind. Obrestad passes, Noah Boeken passes on the button but Neuville looks down to see something he likes. He moves his 32,500 stack in. Seidel grimaces and peeks down at his hand. He doesn’t look confident.

“I’ll give you action,” says Seidel and calls with [ah][8s]

Neuville is ahead with [ad][qh] but is far from a lock in the hand. He reaches down beneath the table to pick up a copy of Poker Champ.

Pierre Neuville, heading for his 12th cash

“You may win a game,” says Neuville turning on game show host charm.

The board runs out [2s][7h][6s][th][td] allowing Neuville to double to close to 70,000.

“You win it next time,” says Neuville.

“I’ve seen a lot of people messing around with that. I don’t really know what it is,” says Seidel peeking over the table.

That pot all but gifts Neuville his 12th EPT main event cash. We’re on the bubble and the Belgain Team PokerStars Pro is unlikely to get it in light with the money so close. Another break is upon us.

Tournament snapshot
Level 17: blinds 2,500-5,000, ante 400
Players: 97 of 655
Average stack: 205,500
Click here for live coverage and more features from The PokerStars and Monte-Carlo®Casino European Poker Tour Grand Final.

Tags: archives | Battle of the Planets | ept | france poker series | napt | UKIPT | videos | wbcoop

Event #48 of the MicroMillions series, a no-limit hold’em tourney, featured a (relatively) bigger buy-in of $8.80. Equally notable was its “big antes” format, one of just two such events in the 100-event series (along with Event #29, won by Rafa_Nadal10).

That meant antes from the first level, with the size of the antes eventually settling to one-fifth the big blind (usually) — in other words, around twice antes’ usual size. All of which meant big pots before the flop and after, and big action from the get-go as well.

Only about 2,000 were seated when the first hands were dealt on Tuesday morning, but players continued to sign up during all of late registration, and eventually 7,455 joined the fun. That group created a total prize pool of $59,640, thus crushing yet another MicroMillions guarantee (in this case for $40K). The top 990 finishers would divide those riches, with $9,076.11 due the winner.

It took just about three-and-a-half hours for the field to shrink to 990 and the money bubble to burst. At that point flyermc led everyone with a little over 191,000, with sir1981 and TJMAAD the closest challengers, both hovering above the 150,000-chip mark.

The floodgates opened thereafter, with nearly 800 players hitting the rail over the next hour-and-a-half. With 200 remaining portillo23 had risen to the top of the counts with more than 763,000, royalendy was next with about 715,000, and lterra12 third with just over 606,000. And sitting in 13th place was Team PokerStars Pro Marcin “Goral” Horecki with about 366,000 chips.

An hour later they’d reached the six-hour break, at which point 90 players remained. Four of those 90 had crossed the 1 million-chip mark, led by Goudvis_90 with a little more than 1.35 million, moord next with almost 1.27 million, jaymour close in third with about 1.265 million, and fromRU33SIA with 1.01 million. Horecki was still there, too, sitting in 28th place with an above-average stack of 458,925.

Over the next half-hour the field shrunk below 60. Then, with the blinds at 10,000/20,000, it folded around to INLOVE who raised to 60,000 from the small blind, then Horecki shoved all in from the big blind for 697,125 total. INLOVE called quickly, tabling [Ah][Kh] to Goral’s [As][8s], and after the board ran out [6c][5c][4h][Ks][6s] Horecki was out in 58th place for a $94.82 cash.

Team PokerStars Pro Marcin “Goral” Horecki

INLOVE would use those chips to help push out into the lead with 45 players left, followed by ninskymo13 and jaymore as the only players with more than 2 million chips.

INLOVE would continue to lead as they crossed the seven-and-a-half-hour mark and just 20 remained, moving up over 650,000 chips when no one else yet had 400,000. Soon GRACH SGO (20th) and gokkel82 (19th) would go out, each earning $139.55, and just two tables remained.

Over the next half-hour nine more would fall, during which stretch INLOVE’s stack would shrink as well. Doszel (18th), Hannes42 (17th), and Kaktus26rus (16th) would each take $166.99 as parting gifts. mak_mich (15th), bololegend (14th), and pepe155 (13th) would each earn $250.48. And also eliminated just shy of the final table were stensballe (12th), portillo23 (11th), and finally INLOVE (10th), each securing a $333.98 addition to their balances.

A little over eight hours after the tourney had begun, the final table was underway.

Seat 1: pokerniss — 4,958,348
Seat 2: ultravires — 11,553,694
Seat 3: Mauri1976 — 3,356,742
Seat 4: rashevski2 — 1,680,763
Seat 5: eduardcostin — 4,442,875
Seat 6: holllly — 4,818,858
Seat 7: Donkaey — 1,618,793
Seat 8: rnoord — 1,542,332
Seat 9: fromRU33SIA — 3,302,595

With the blinds 70,000/140,000 — and antes 28,000 — it would take just four hands for the first elimination of the final table to come.

After it folded around to the small blind, Donkaey raised to 420,000 and rnoord called from the big blind. The flop came [Ts][Jh][2d] and Donkaey immediately pushed his stack of more than 1.6 million into the middle. rnoord called with the 1,022,332 he had left, showing [Ac][Js] for top pair, while Donkaey turned over [Qc][9d] for an open-ender.

The turn was the [5c] and rnoord was still best, but the [Qs] fell on the river to give Donkaey the better pair and send rnoord to the rail in ninth.

Ten minutes later the blinds had moved up to 80,000/160,000 and antes to 32,000 when rashevski2 open-shoved from UTG for 986,763 with [8h][8c] and got one caller in Mauri1976 from the big blind who held [9s][9h]. The board came [4s][As][7h][4c][5c], and rashevski2 was eliminated in eighth.

A little over an orbit later it was fromRU33SIA opening with a minimum-raise to 320,000 from early position, then holllly pushed all in from the small blind for 3,228,858. Donkaey folded the BB, but fromRU33SIA swiftly called, showing [Kh][Kd]. holllly needed help with [9d][9c], but the community cards came [7h][8h][4s][Kc][Ts] and they were down to six.

Those six continued to battle through to Level 46 (blinds 100k/200k, antes 40k), with ultravires out in front with more than 10.82 million and pokerniss next with about 9.32 million. That’s when Mauri1976 opened with an all-in raise to 1,708,630 from UTG+1 and both Donkaey (button) and fromRU33SIA called (small blind).

The flop came [2h][6d][2d]. fromRU33SIA promptly bet all-in for more than 3.38 million, and Donkaey called with the 2,849,620 he had left.

fromRU33SIA: [8h][8s] — eights and deuces
Donkaey: [Tc][Ts] — tens and deuces
Mauri1976: [Kd][Qs] — just deuces

The [Js] turn and [7h] river meant Donkaey’s hand remained best, earning him all 11,265,130 in the middle and the chip lead. Meanwhile, fromRU33SIA slipped down to just 533,758 while Mauri1976 hit the rail in sixth.

Just a few hands later eduardcostin opened with a 3x raise to 600,000 and it folded around to ultravires who shoved from the big blind for more than 10.7 million, earning a call from eduardcostin with the 3,118,234 he had behind.

eduardcostin had [Jc][Js], but had run into ultravires’ [As][Ac]. The board ran out [8s][4d][2d][4s][Ad], giving ultravires a full house and knocking eduardcostin out in fifth.

After that hand, ultravires appeared to be in fine shape, sitting in first with more than 14.76 million with Donkaey second with about 12.72 million. ultravires would soon grab a couple more pots to push over 18 million, including a hand in which he wiped out a short-stacked fromRU33SIA in fourth place.

In that one fromRU33SIA had committed the last of his chips preflop with [Ks][9s] against ultravires’ [Ac][3d]. The first four cards came [5c][4d][6c][7c] to give ultravires a straight. The river then brought the [Kc] to improve ultravires further to a flush, and fromRU33SIA was out in fourth.

Then with three players left came a crucial, tourney-changing hand in which Donkaey would succeed in claiming about two-thirds of ultravires’ stack.

In that hand ultravires had the initiative through the turn as the board came [Tc][5h][Jc][Kd], at which point ultravires called a check-raise, all-in shove from Donkaey. Donkaey had top two pair while ultravires had an open-ended straight draw with [9h][8c]. The river was the [6h] and suddenly Donkaey was the overwhelming chip leader. Take a look:

RSS readers click through to see replay

Those three battled for several minutes with Donkaey adding a few more chips while both pokerniss and ultravires saw their stacks decrease. Then, with the blinds 125k/250k (antes 50k), Donkaey opened from the button with a big raise to 7.25 million and ultravires called all in from the big blind with the 4,655,392 he had left.

Donkaey had [6s][6c] and ultravires [Ah][Kd], and five cards later — [2d][4d][Qc][2h][5c] — Donkaey’s sixes had held to send ultravires out in third place.

Heads-up play began with Donkaey way out in front with 32,030,652 to pokerniss’ 5,244,348. They’d play three hands with pokerniss adding a few to push up to a little over 6.41 million. Then, eight hours and 46 minutes after the first hands of the event had been dealt, the end arrived.

In the final hand, Donkaey made a 3x raise to 750,000 from the button, pokerniss reraised all in, and Donkaey called. pokerniss had [Ah][7d] and was hoping to hold on against Donkaey’s [Kc]][5c]. The flop was a good one for pokerniss, coming [As][Ac][Js] to give him trips. But the turn was the [Qc] and river the [9c], giving Donkaey a backdoor flush and the victory.

RSS readers click through to see replay

Congratulations to Donkaey for besting a field of 7,455 to turn $8.80 into more than $9K!

MicroMillions Event #48 ($8.80 No-Limit Hold’em, Big Antes) Results:
1st: Donkaey ($9,076.11)
2nd: pokerniss ($6,709.50)
3rd: ultravires ($4,771.20)
4th: fromRU33SIA ($3,280.20)
5th: eduardcostin ($2,504.88)
6th: Mauri1976 ($1,908.48)
7th: holllly ($1,312.08)
8th: rashevski2 ($715.68)
9th: rnoord ($462.21)

We’re just about to the halfway point of the 100-event MicroMillions series. Check the schedule and take a chance to do like Donkaey and make a whole heckuva lot out of very little.

Tags: australia | donkaey | estrellas poker tour | france poker series | gambling | news | russian | SCOOP | wcoop

In three weeks, the Women’s Sunday will experience its first birthday! And instead of buying gifts for the Women’s Sunday, it will be giving presents to the players who helped make the tournament such a success. That makes it a birthday for the women of PokerStars, in a way.

For starters, there is a Flickr photo competition being held to find the best pictures of players celebrating the Women’s Sunday birthday. The top photos when the competition closes on March 18 will win Women’s Sunday seats worth $55 each, and the overall winner will receive a $215 ticket to the Sunday Million. But that’s not all! There will be more excitement announced in the coming weeks to celebrate, including a live web chat with some of the Team Pros and more giveaways. Stay tuned!

This week, the Women’s Sunday had a solid turnout, with registration revealing these numbers:

Total players: 263
Prize pool: $13,150.00
Paid finishers: 45

The diverse field included several professional players with the red spade logo next to their names. They each offered a $50 bounty, and someone was able to get the first one courtesy of Team PokerStars Pro Vicky Coren, who exited in the first hour of play. Team Pro Ana Marquez also got in on the action but exited in 99th place.

Team Pro Celina Lin started strong and claimed the chip lead in the second hour of the tournament. She tweeted about it, along with the rough beat she took after that:

YeeHa! Chip Leader in the Women’s Sunday. Fingers crossed @PokerStarsWomen OMG! I haven’t even finished my tweet just lost AA < 66 < JJ all in pre

That hit then led to Celina’s elimination in 63rd place.

Team Pokerstars Online’s Adrienne “talonchick” Rowsome was still going strong in the third hour, though, as she headed past the money bubble and hoped for a final table. But she ended her tournament in 35th place when her K-Q couldn’t beat A-T. Gluckskatze captured her $50 bounty, and Adrienne cashed out for $85.47.

Heading toward the end of the third hour, only two tables remained, and the field shrank further as WallterBish exited in 14th place, allaround in 13th, and rozdaly in 12th. The 11th place exit of PINK PANTER8 took the remaining players into hand-for-hand, and moments later, short-stacked A_FT_2004 pushed with [As][2h] against the [Jd][7d] of Camogie in a battle of the blinds. The board of [Tc][3c][4c][7c][Jh] gave Camogie two pair and eliminated A_FT_2004 in ninth place with $197.25.

Camogie and lulu.pk70 battle for the lead

The starting stacks at the final table were as follows:

Seat 1: kapzeke (65,087 in chips)
Seat 2: Ja707_CZ (126,258 in chips)
Seat 3: Iri$ka02 (106,105 in chips)
Seat 4: Glückskatze (48,682 in chips)
Seat 5: durrr085 (59,419 in chips)
Seat 6: lilo lil (17,514 in chips)
Seat 7: lulu.pk70 (157,475 in chips)
Seat 8: Camogie (161,105 in chips)
Seat 9: KiawahGolf68 (47,355 in chips)

It didn’t take long for big hands to develop, and one of those eliminated two players. It started with lilo lil moving all-in UTG. KiawahGolf68 and Ja707_CZ both called, but durrr085 reraised all-in from the big blind. KiawahGolf68 folded, but Ja707_CZ called and had both players covered.

Ja707_CZ: [Ah][Qs]
durrr085: [As][Jc]
lilo lil: [Ad][6d]

The board came [Kd][7s][Js][3s][Th], giving Ja707_CZ the straight to eliminate lilo lil in ninth place for $230.12 and durrr085 in eighth for $315.60. It also put Ja707_CZ in the chip lead.

The next big hand started with a raise from lulu.pk70 and call from KiawahGolf68. Kapzeke reraised all-in for nearly 30K with [3s][3c], which prompted a fold from lulu.pk70 but a call from KiawahGolf68 with [Jc][Tc]. The board of [6s][Jd][5c][6h][6d] gave KiawahGolf68 the full house and sent kapzeke packing in seventh place with $447.10.

Only four hands later, Gluckskatze pushed from the button with [Ac][Td], and original raiser KiawahGolf68 called with [Jd][Jh]. The board of [7c][4h][5h][2d][6c] changed nothing, and Gluckskatze had to depart in sixth place with $578.60.

Lulu.pk70 had become the short stack and stayed that way, even after doubling through Ja707_CZ. But it was KiawahGolf68 as the next player at risk. The hand started with a raised pot from small blind Camogie and big blind KiawahGolf68 to see a [3s][Js][9h] flop. A bet and call brought the [9d] on the turn, and Camogie bet out. KiawahGolf68 raised, and Camogie pushed all-in. KiawahGolf68 called for her tournament life with [As][6s], but the two pair of Camogie with [Kh][Jd] was ahead. The [Jh] on the river only made that into a full house and left KiawahGolf68 out in fifth with $749.55.

Another double for lulu.pk70 came at the expense of Iri$ka02, but the latter doubled back through the former to reverse the action. Iri$ka02 then doubled again, this time through Camogie, and briefly took the chip lead.

When Ja707_CZ moved all-in preflop with [Ad][8s], original raiser Camogie called with [6h][6d], and that pair held up to the [3h][5c][Kh][Jc][2c] board. That sent Ja707_CZ out in fourth place with $1,084.87.

In the very next hand, lulu.pk70 doubled through Iri$ka02 in this hand to change everything:

RSS readers click through to see replay

Iri$ka02 risker her last 66,945 chips on the next hand with [Ac][2s], and Camogie was there with [Ad][2d]. What looked like a chop changed to a flush on the [Qh][Kd][7d][4s][5d] board. That flush eliminated Iri$ka02 in third place with $1,446.50.

Nearly even for heads-up play

Play between the last two players started with lulu.pk70 holding only a slight lead over Camogie:

Seat 7: lulu.pk70 (401,830 in chips)
Seat 8: Camogie (387,170 in chips)

And Camogie took a big pot on the first hand to garner the lead from her opponent. Camogie continued to grind, and several big hands gave her a more dominating lead. It was soon after that the two got involved in another significant hand. A reraised pot led them to see a [5c][8c][6h] flop. Camogie bet, lulu.pk70 raised all-in with [Ac][5d] for bottom pair, and Camogie called with [Kc][Kh] for the overpair. The [3h] turn and [Qd] river finished the hand, leaving lulu.pk70 out in second place with $1,906.75.

Camogie of Ireland won the tournament and $2,544.64. Congratulations!

Women’s Sunday Results for 03/04/12:

1st place: Camogie ($2,544.64)
2nd place: lulu.pk70 ($1,906.75)
3rd place: Iri$ka02 ($1,446.50)
4th place: Ja707_CZ ($1,084.87
5th place: KiawahGolf68 ($749.55)
6th place: Gluckskatze ($578.60)
7th place: kapzeke ($447.10)
8th place: durrr085 ($315.60)
9th place: lilo lil ($230.12)

There are many ways to get in on the Women’s Sunday action. Take a look at the home page for information on daily satellites. And join us on Facebook for news and monthly freerolls, and Twitter for the latest information. See you next week!

Tags: delicious | flickr | gambling | latin-america | news | PokerStars news | team pokerstars online | team pokerstars pro | tournament | women's sunday

A few short days ago it was Valentine’s Day, the day of happiness, love and adoration. A day of hugs, kiss and cuddles but it was also the day PokerStars completely changed the online poker world.

After reading my Valentine’s Day card from my other half and opening the gifts she had bought me (comedy T-shirts BTW), I toddled off upstairs, where my office is located, and started my usual daily routine. Every day without fail I check the PokerStars Blog, read the tournament summaries, Team Online and Team Pro blogs and any news that the site may have for me, and boy did it have some news.

There was an article from Brad “Otis” Willis informing readers that PokerStars had released a mobile app for the UK market that not only worked on the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch but would also work on my trusty Android-running HTC! A fist-pump, a little jig, and a few “ship its” later, I was downloading the app and preparing my beady little eyes for staring at my favorite online poker site on a device that only has a 3.7 inch screen. My phone finished downloading and installing the software within a minute or two and I was ready to go, it was just a shame I had some work to do before I could play.

Being the nice, but also oh-so-lazy type of person, I thought I could earn some brownie points from the Mrs and please myself at the same time, by offering to do the washing up and testing out the new PokerStars Mobile app. So on my lunch break, I headed downstairs, filled the sink and started to wash the dishes while grinding out some monster stakes of $0.05/$0.10 no-limit hold’em.

Editor’s note: playing while washing up could end badly

By the time I had finished washing up I had won close to $6 and could now treat the Mrs to a lovely fast-food meal. What a result! The next time I got to use the new app was in my local pub where a couple of friends and I were sinking a couple of cold ones before our bi-weekly curry night. While discussing a few poker hands we had played the night before, I decided to produce my mobile and show them the new, shiny PokerStars Mobile app. Of course my iPhone-sporting friends chuckled to themselves when they saw my Android-loving HTC Desire but the last laugh was mine as I promptly won another buy-in with my aces against a poor chap’s queens.

Next round is on me lads!

Cheers: play on PokerStars in the pub (other brands of beer available)

The main thing that surprised me regarding the PokerStars Mobile app is how much like the actual “desktop version” it looks and feels. I admit I was half expecting a buggy, stuttering and potentially ugly table to be displayed but it looks exactly like the “Black” theme I use when I am playing poker on my laptop. If anything, it actually looks crisper and sharper. The sounds are exactly the same as the desktop version and I noticed absolutely no change in the speed of the games either.

This was turning out to be the best Valentine’s Day present ever and it wasn’t even from my beloved.

When I arrived back home nicely lubricated from the couple of pints of ale and the belly full of tasty, spicy goodness, I thought I would give the mobile app another workout and install it on my fiancée’s iPad 2, which I am sure you are aware has a much larger screen than my phone.

Again it only took a few moments to download and install and when it did –WOW! The app looks even more amazing on the bigger screen and runs just as well as the Android version. The larger iPad screen made it easier for my fat fingers to multi-table (I managed three tables at one point) and also to choose different bet sizes but the damned rubber ducks kept tickling my legs and putting me off. Rubber duckies? Oh yes, I was in the bath, sorry I forgot to mention that point.

The nuts: Poker in the bath (not recommend, Ed)

Overall I am nothing short of amazed at how perfect the new PokerStars Mobile app is. It could quite easily be a stand-alone product in its own right but the fact I can now play against the entire PokerStars player pool wherever I can pick up a mobile or WiFi signal is nothing short of –what do the cool kids say?–sick.

To learn more about the new PokerSars mobile app, visit the PokerStars Mobile page. Currently for UK players only, excluding Northern Ireland

Tags: 2011 | delicious | desktop | entertainment | eureka poker tour | gambling | italian poker tour | russian poker series | Super Tuesday | world-series

Vincenzo Giannelli stood like a giant over the two children in front of him and opened his bag. The boy and girl stood with wide eyes and looked up at the man towering above their little heads.

The one-time judo champion is a man of amazing size. Shaking his hand is a frightening workout, even for an average-sized adult. The Venezuelan is probably the largest regular on the LAPT. His mere presence is intimidating in a way I’ve always found difficult to describe. I’ll put it this way: no matter what the argument is, I’m always going to be on Giannelli’s side.

Vincenzo Giannelli

Now, Giannelli stood in front of these children–youngsters belonging to my friend Sergio–and placed small turtle figurines in their hands. Gianelli then took a solid silver turtle from Italy and put it in the mother’s upturned palm. Finally, Giannelli put a turtle in Sergio’s hand. Giannelli stood for a minute as the turtles’ perceived power sunk into the flesh of the Prado clan.

I watched this scene play out as I absorbed the first hour of my day.

Before I’d even unpacked my bag to work this morning, our staff photographer, Carlos Monti, took a moment to pass on a poem he thought would help me deal with my father’s recent death. Monti did this while still dealing with the fact that someone swiped his best camera yesterday. When almost anybody else would be gnashing their teeth, cursing the thief, and wallowing in self-pity, Monti was taking time to think of me.

Moments later, I met the Prado clan. It had been a year since I last saw them. Prado–the writer who covers Brazil for the PokerStars Blog–has a family any man would envy: a beautiful wife, a stunning little girl, and a little boy that will be a lady-killer someday (but today is wearing shoes with Iron Man, Captain America, and Thor on them). They pulled me aside to offer gifts for my family and me–Brazilian candy and Carnival packets for my kids, and a bottle of cachaça for me.

I need to be clear about something: I am proud of the fact I come from America, and I have many friends from countries all over the planet. That said, I am impressed beyond measure with the heart and kindness shown to travelers in this part of the world.

Finally, Giannelli unzipped the pack on his hip and directed the Prados to deposit the lucky turtles. Hopefully their luck and protection had done their work on Sergio’s family. Now the turtles were needed elsewhere. Giannelli was one of the top players advancing to Day 2, and he was on his way to sit at the feature table with international star Daniel Negreanu.

Giannelli turned to me as he walked away. He took my little hand in his, and whispered, “Remember Mar del Plata?”

I did.

Two and half years ago, Giannelli (who already had a runner-up finish that season) bubbled the LAPT Season 2 Grand Final after getting pocket kings all in against a naked ace. The flop was clean, but an ace came on the turn and denied Giannelli another chance at a title.

“Remember Mar del Plata?” Giannelli said again. “Today I have 141,000.”

I nodded.

“I’m going to win this,” Giannelli said.

With his turtles in tow, Giannelli walked into the tournament room.

Maybe it’s just a sense of familiarity with a tour I’ve covered for the past several years. Maybe it’s that natural desire to make connections with people when I’m so far from home. Whatever it is, I take a great deal of comfort and find an immeasurable amount of joy in getting to know people here. If you make a friend on this tour, you have truly made a friend. It’s not like that everywhere else, and it’s an example that I wish I could somehow shove past the customs agents on my way home.

Tags: Asia Pacific Poker Tour | events | france | harrah's | napt | news | portugal poker series | Super Tuesday | twitter | World Series of Poker

At some point in the next couple of days, there is a very good chance you could be approached by a right jolly old elf, a bumbling laughing man with red checks, soot on his suit, and a belly that shakes like a bowl full of jelly. He’ll have a red suit, a white beard, and enough holiday sprit to make you forget the words “bad beat” for a couple of days. Here’s my advice on how to deal with the man:

If you are sitting at a PokerStars table, check your account after the man appears. It’s a good thing.

If you’re sitting by the hearth in your living room, make sure you have cookies and milk. Santa don’t play when he’s hungry.

If you’ve just left the pub, nod politely and keep walking. Quickly.

I’ll leave the explanation of the latter two items to people who know you better. As for the first, here’s the thing: you should believe in Santa this weekend. Why? Because I can attest he exists.

This weekend, keep your eye on the the people sitting at your PokerStars table. Over Christmas Eve and Christmas, there is a chance you might run into a player with the name SantaClaus. This particular player comes bearing gifts. Trust me on this one.

If it helps, here’s what his avatar looks like.

So, no matter how bad the beats are, no matter how naughty you feel like being, no matter how much you might want to push up against the chat ban limits on PokerStars, be good this weekend. Be nice. Santa may not help you win the Sunday Million, but he could make this holiday weekend a little richer for you.

For now, we here at the PokerStars Blog are going to take a couple of days to enjoy our families and reflect on 2011. We’ll be back Sunday night with the Christmas Sunday majors reports.

On a personal note, thank you to everyone who has made the PokerStars Blog what it is this year. To the leather-tailed bloggers who sit through the Sunday majors, to the arch-fallen scribes who survive the marathon live events, to everyone who puts their heart into the PokerStars Blog, and to the millions of readers who come here for their poker news, happy holidays and peace to you and yours.

Tags: 2011 | belgian poker series | gambling | harrah's | napt | news | pokerstars | tcoop | world cup of poker | World Series of Poker

A convertible, a yacht, a house . . . not much to ask for back in 1953 if you’re Eartha Kitt it appears. These goodies are just a few of the hints on her Christmas list that year in the Christmas classic song “Santa Baby.” And let’s not forget “some decorations from Tiffany’s,” a platinum mine, and a few other stocking stuffer ideas that she mentions. If you’ve somehow managed to miss it, you might want to check out this UTube video that captures the song in all of its old school glory and charm.

But now back to the real world for the rest of us. I don’t know about you, but my list tends to be a little more practical. For instance, a salad spinner is high on my list this year, and just to prove that I’m not totally without pizazz, a martini shaker is on there too. If I get those two things I will be over the top on Christmas morning. Then again, I’m a very practical person, at least when it comes to gifts I ask for from others.

But practicality doesn’t have a lot of zing does it? Every now and then I need to shake things up a bit more than a martini shaker can provide. So when it comes to what is on my fantasy Christmas list, yes, a new car would be nice, and a yacht wouldn’t make me sad either. But (Spoiler Alert) I’ve outgrown Santa and I tend to cringe at asking for big gifts for myself. Not that I’m opposed to big gifts you understand, it’s just that I’ve found that if I want something big I’m probably going to have to make it happen myself.

Are you with me? We women usually play a big part in making Christmas happen for others–and seriously, if we didn’t work our little elf tails off at Christmas there probably wouldn’t be much of one would there? And this year in particular we’ve done our part to make sure the economy doesn’t tank, thank you very much. So after the gifts are stowed and the wrapping paper and ornaments are organized and put away, what we all really want is a chance to unwind and play some poker, while the really lucky elves among us stake their claim on some of the bling that was missing from their own Christmas lists.
Unlike the slinky Eartha Kitt of the fifties era, women today may put a few things on their list just to make the men in their lives happy, but if they really want something they usually just go out and get it themselves. And the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in the Bahamas in January is just the way to make that happen.

PokerStars Women Live at the PCA

The PCA is ten days of fun at the beautiful Atlantis hotel in the Bahamas and it is the second largest festival of poker in the world (second only to the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas). And again this year, for the third year in a row, PokerStars will host the PokerStars Women Live tournament as part of the PCA. The tournament is for women only and will be held January 13-14.

Satellites are running now to qualify for a package worth $3250 that includes your $1,000 buy-in, accommodations at the Royal Towers for three nights, and $1000 in spending money. Team PokerStars Pro players like Vicky Coren, Liv Boeree, Fatima Moreira de Melo, and many others have participated in the past and this year promises to have a star line-up as well, so be practicing your stare down now. It might come in handy if you are heads-up against one of them. In addition to all of the above, as a player at this year’s PCA you will also be invited to the fabulous party at the end of the event with all the players and pros. It’s one of the best parties of the year and really gets the New Year off to a great start.

In addition, a new feature this year is a Team Pro Q & A to be held just before the women’s tournament on January 13th. Female Team Pro members will be there to field questions from players at the event, and in order to get everyone involved, we’re asking for questions to be submitted in advance from all of you. If your question is used in the forum you will earn a special prize to be announced soon. Details will be published the week after Christmas on our Facebook page, so keep watching for all the updated information on that starting next week.

For all the details on the tournament and how to qualify for free see the PokerStars Women page. And for more on dates and times see the PCA Women page.

In the meantime, get out there and play the satellites to win your seat now. I’ve heard on very good authority that there will be some women leaving the Atlantis in early January with some extra bling. Don’t miss out on your opportunity to make all your Christmas wishes come true. So write those lists for Santa and be sure to leave out a cup of punch and some cookies. But even if you’ve been more naughty than nice you can still make merry at the PokerStars PCA.

Tags: delicious | ept | eureka poker tour | events | festival | france | russian | TOC

By Pauly
Las Vegas, NV

Charles Bukowski said it best, “Not all of us are gamblers; those who aren’t don’t matter.”

Chucky B is a fucking brilliant alkie. He was also a degen horse bettor and spent too much time stumbling around shitfaced at the Los Angeles area racetracks. But sometimes, poets can accurately explain the insatiable appetite which drives gamblers to the brink of insanity and back again.

Phil Ivey is arguably the greatest poker player in the history of card games. He’s been a professional gambler since high school. He’s won and lost millions in the blink of a second, whether it was a fortuitous river card to ship him a $420,000 pot in PLO, or a bad bounce on a missed free throw that cost him a high six-figure bet on a basketball game.

We’re all gamblers in some way or another, but Ivey is a professional gambler, which puts him in a elite category with only a handful of people in the history of mankind like hedge fund manager and new NY Mets owner David Einhorn, Hollyweird agent Michael Ovitz, and military/strategist and philosopher Sun Tzu.

Ivey is not just any pro gambler — he’s the biggest swinging dick in the universe — which is why he dropped his pants and exposed his titanium balls to the poker world. Talk about a “sick gamble” after he announced (on his Facebook page of all things — welcome to the new world social media world) he was boycotting the WSOP and suing Full Tilt Poker for their failure to pay out players in a timely manner.

Holy shitballs. Did that actually happen? Is this real life? Did someone dose everyone in the media?

I’m still shocked several hours after the story broke and I posted WTF? Phil Ivey Suing Full Tilt and Skipping the 2011 WSOP. In just a few hours, Ivey became the only thing people were talking about inside the Amazon Ballroom — media, dealers, security guards, floor people, and scores of pros. Twitter and 2+2 both blew up. On what should have been a day to celebrate the kick off the 2011 WSOP, Phil Ivey stole the show.

Photo courtesy of Flipchip
Day 1 kicked off with Event #1 $500 NL Employees in the Pavilion. The first tournament failed to launch without a couple of glitches in the computer system, which printed out both blank and duplicate seat assignments. Due to the tech error, the original noon start time for Event #1 was pushed back over 35 minutes.

WSOP TD Jack Effel asked all of the casino employees to join him in uttering the famous catchphrase, “Shuffle up and deal!”

The feature tournament of the day was set for 5pm with Event #2 $25,000 NL Heads-Up Championship. The event was delayed a couple of minutes to allow a couple of players to register in order to get to reach a perfect 128-person field.

The 25K was overlooked by a troubling incident, which was rooted in Full Tilt’s failure to pay back their players. Ever since Black Friday, when the darkness fell upon the American online poker world, many of my peers speculated whether or not Full Tilt pros were going to be harassed and heckled by players with money still stuck in Full Tilt, especially the likes of Howard Lederer and Jesus Ferguson.

Well in case you were keeping score at home, we had our first instance when British pro James Bord had a tete-a-tete with one of the original Full Tilt owner-pros John Juanda. Benjo was on the rail watching Juanda’s match against French pro Alexander Bonnin. After Juanda disposed of Bonnin, he exited the tournament area, where James Bord immediately confronted Juanda. Benjo mentioned it looked like Juanada and Bord were continuing a previous, yet heated conversation. Juanda took the brunt of Bord’s verbal abuse as the Brit threatened him with the old “I’ll kick your ass in the parking lot” jab.

Benjo also overheard Bord refer to Juanda as a “disgrace” and “fake.” Oh, and how can I forget about my favorite insult when Bord called Juanda a “thieving prick.”

As one anonymous member of the press mentioned, “What the fuck did (Juanda) think was going to happen at the WSOP? If you wear a Full Tilt patch, you will be target for angry, bitter, pissed-off players.”

Anyway, Juanda called the floor and ask for security to intervene in his verbal spat with Bord. The head of security came over with a couple of guards and separated both men in the hallway.

James Bord (in yellow) being grilled by security after the Juanda incident
Photo courtesy of Benjo
No wonder Ivey wanted to boycott the WSOP. Even though he’s still Phil Ivey, he is still exposed to the public. My suggestion to Rio security is that they have to beef up the perimeter of tournaments because the Juanda-Bord incident set precedent. If you thought Howard Lederer or Jesus were going to show up before Ivey’s lawsuit and the Juanda-Bord tiff, then you’re fucking insane. No one is foolish enough to subject themselves to a potential ass-kicking. Showing up wearing a Full Tilt patch is like lathering yourself in butter and throwing yourselves to the lions.

Erik Seidel is a bright man because he ditched the patches. Tom “durrrr” Dwan was also noticeably patchless.

Juanda, who played with a FT patch, played his second match without any incidents. According to Bluff Magazine‘s crack reporting team, they noticed that not one, but three security guards escorted Juanda to the parking lot.

* * *
Bouncin’ Round the Room on Day 1

Here’s a peek into my notes…

- No shocker that KevMath, who is covering his first WSOP, was the first media rep to get in line and pick up his press credentials. I had a few copies of my novel with me, and KevMath was also the first person to buy a copy of Jack Tripper Stole My Dog.

- Ran into Jesse May in the media room. He’s here all summer, which makes me happy because I get to chat with one of my favorite authors.

- The press box is very cramped this year, but we have Scotty Nguyen’s Main Event championship mural looking over our shoulder, which is much better than seeing fat-ass Russ Hamilton hovering overhead. Speaking of Russ, his mural has been covered up (or perhaps hung backwards).

- I lost two pens by mid-afternoon.

- The former porn star turned massage girl returned to the WSOP this year, which prompted a quick search of porn sites to see one of her videos. You’re a winner if you had 4:10pm in the “When will the first person be caught surfing porn in the pressbox?”

- The new feature TV table and set is kinda gaudy and pretentious. The old set from 441 Productions was much more classier. If you don’t know, 441 is no longer contracted to film the WSOP for ESPN. The assignment is now contracted to Poker Productions (the crew who brings you High Stakes Poker and Poker After Dark).

-While walking down the hallway with Chops from Wicked Chops Poker, we spotted “Miserable Fuck.” Haven’t seen Eskimo Clark yet.

- I ran into Jose from Venezuela, who is an avid reader of Tao of Poker. He gifted me two bottles of Venezuelan rum. What an awesome guy! I was walking down the hallway and ran into Michele Lewis and Michael Craig. I showed them the rum. “Your fans give you cool gifts,” explained Craig. “The only thing someone every gave me at the WSOP was a subpoena.”

- The NBA Finals kicked off with game 1 between the Miami Heat and the Dallas Mavericks. Without Phil Ivey in the room and his crazy eyes fixated on the game, we didn’t have any hilarious incidents with Ivey sweating a big bet on the NBA finals. I watched the last few minutes of the game in the Amazon Ballroom with Jason Mercier (huge Miami Heat fan) and Barry Greenstein sitting nearby. Here’s the quick conversation which occurred the moment the game ended…

Random Guy on Rail: “Jason, did you win?”
Jason Mercier: “I lost my (heads-up) match, but yeah, I won the bet.”
Barry Greenstein: “He won the more important of the two.”

- Prop Bet of the Day: Shaun Deeb played Michael Binger in the 25K. The loser has to camp out at Red Rock Canyon for two days.

- Bracelet Bets: David Benyamine is getting 5-1 on a bracelet bet. If he wins a bracelet, then he’ll take down $400,000.

Tags: 2011 | 2011 wsop | amazon | barry-greenstein | british | facebook | full tilt | history | jack tripper | lost vegas | online-poker | press | twitter | venezuela | wsop

By Pauly
Las Vegas, NV

Charles Bukowski said it best, “Not all of us are gamblers; those who aren’t don’t matter.”

Chucky B is a fucking brilliant alkie. He was also a degen horse bettor and spent too much time stumbling around shitfaced at the Los Angeles area racetracks. But sometimes, poets can accurately explain the insatiable appetite which drives gamblers to the brink of insanity and back again.

Phil Ivey is arguably the greatest poker player in the history of card games. He’s been a professional gambler since high school. He’s won and lost millions in the blink of a second, whether it was a fortuitous river card to ship him a $420,000 pot in PLO, or a bad bounce on a missed free throw that cost him a high six-figure bet on a basketball game.

We’re all gamblers in some way or another, but Ivey is a professional gambler, which puts him in a elite category with only a handful of people in the history of mankind like hedge fund manager and new NY Mets owner David Einhorn, Hollyweird agent Michael Ovitz, and military/strategist and philosopher Sun Tzu.

Ivey is not just any pro gambler — he’s the biggest swinging dick in the universe — which is why he dropped his pants and exposed his titanium balls to the poker world. Talk about a “sick gamble” after he announced (on his Facebook page of all things — welcome to the new world social media world) he was boycotting the WSOP and suing Full Tilt Poker for their failure to pay out players in a timely manner.

Holy shitballs. Did that actually happen? Is this real life? Did someone dose everyone in the media?

I’m still shocked several hours after the story broke and I posted WTF? Phil Ivey Suing Full Tilt and Skipping the 2011 WSOP. In just a few hours, Ivey became the only thing people were talking about inside the Amazon Ballroom — media, dealers, security guards, floor people, and scores of pros. Twitter and 2+2 both blew up. On what should have been a day to celebrate the kick off the 2011 WSOP, Phil Ivey stole the show.

Photo courtesy of Flipchip
Day 1 kicked off with Event #1 $500 NL Employees in the Pavilion. The first tournament failed to launch without a couple of glitches in the computer system, which printed out both blank and duplicate seat assignments. Due to the tech error, the original noon start time for Event #1 was pushed back over 35 minutes.

WSOP TD Jack Effel asked all of the casino employees to join him in uttering the famous catchphrase, “Shuffle up and deal!”

The feature tournament of the day was set for 5pm with Event #2 $25,000 NL Heads-Up Championship. The event was delayed a couple of minutes to allow a couple of players to register in order to get to reach a perfect 128-person field.

The 25K was overlooked by a troubling incident, which was rooted in Full Tilt’s failure to pay back their players. Ever since Black Friday, when the darkness fell upon the American online poker world, many of my peers speculated whether or not Full Tilt pros were going to be harassed and heckled by players with money still stuck in Full Tilt, especially the likes of Howard Lederer and Jesus Ferguson.

Well in case you were keeping score at home, we had our first instance when British pro James Bord had a tete-a-tete with one of the original Full Tilt owner-pros John Juanda. Benjo was on the rail watching Juanda’s match against French pro Alexander Bonnin. After Juanda disposed of Bonnin, he exited the tournament area, where James Bord immediately confronted Juanda. Benjo mentioned it looked like Juanada and Bord were continuing a previous, yet heated conversation. Juanda took the brunt of Bord’s verbal abuse as the Brit threatened him with the old “I’ll kick your ass in the parking lot” jab.

Benjo also overheard Bord refer to Juanda as a “disgrace” and “fake.” Oh, and how can I forget about my favorite insult when Bord called Juanda a “thieving prick.”

As one anonymous member of the press mentioned, “What the fuck did (Juanda) think was going to happen at the WSOP? If you wear a Full Tilt patch, you will be target for angry, bitter, pissed-off players.”

Anyway, Juanda called the floor and ask for security to intervene in his verbal spat with Bord. The head of security came over with a couple of guards and separated both men in the hallway.

James Bord (in yellow) being grilled by security after the Juanda incident
Photo courtesy of Benjo
No wonder Ivey wanted to boycott the WSOP. Even though he’s still Phil Ivey, he is still exposed to the public. My suggestion to Rio security is that they have to beef up the perimeter of tournaments because the Juanda-Bord incident set precedent. If you thought Howard Lederer or Jesus were going to show up before Ivey’s lawsuit and the Juanda-Bord tiff, then you’re fucking insane. No one is foolish enough to subject themselves to a potential ass-kicking. Showing up wearing a Full Tilt patch is like lathering yourself in butter and throwing yourselves to the lions.

Erik Seidel is a bright man because he ditched the patches. Tom “durrrr” Dwan was also noticeably patchless.

Juanda, who played with a FT patch, played his second match without any incidents. According to Bluff Magazine‘s crack reporting team, they noticed that not one, but three security guards escorted Juanda to the parking lot.

* * *
Bouncin’ Round the Room on Day 1

Here’s a peek into my notes…

- No shocker that KevMath, who is covering his first WSOP, was the first media rep to get in line and pick up his press credentials. I had a few copies of my novel with me, and KevMath was also the first person to buy a copy of Jack Tripper Stole My Dog.

- Ran into Jesse May in the media room. He’s here all summer, which makes me happy because I get to chat with one of my favorite authors.

- The press box is very cramped this year, but we have Scotty Nguyen’s Main Event championship mural looking over our shoulder, which is much better than seeing fat-ass Russ Hamilton hovering overhead. Speaking of Russ, his mural has been covered up (or perhaps hung backwards).

- I lost two pens by mid-afternoon.

- The former porn star turned massage girl returned to the WSOP this year, which prompted a quick search of porn sites to see one of her videos. You’re a winner if you had 4:10pm in the “When will the first person be caught surfing porn in the pressbox?”

- The new feature TV table and set is kinda gaudy and pretentious. The old set from 441 Productions was much more classier. If you don’t know, 441 is no longer contracted to film the WSOP for ESPN. The assignment is now contracted to Poker Productions (the crew who brings you High Stakes Poker and Poker After Dark).

-While walking down the hallway with Chops from Wicked Chops Poker, we spotted “Miserable Fuck.” Haven’t seen Eskimo Clark yet.

- I ran into Jose from Venezuela, who is an avid reader of Tao of Poker. He gifted me two bottles of Venezuelan rum. What an awesome guy! I was walking down the hallway and ran into Michele Lewis and Michael Craig. I showed them the rum. “Your fans give you cool gifts,” explained Craig. “The only thing someone every gave me at the WSOP was a subpoena.”

- The NBA Finals kicked off with game 1 between the Miami Heat and the Dallas Mavericks. Without Phil Ivey in the room and his crazy eyes fixated on the game, we didn’t have any hilarious incidents with Ivey sweating a big bet on the NBA finals. I watched the last few minutes of the game in the Amazon Ballroom with Jason Mercier (huge Miami Heat fan) and Barry Greenstein sitting nearby. Here’s the quick conversation which occurred the moment the game ended…

Random Guy on Rail: “Jason, did you win?”
Jason Mercier: “I lost my (heads-up) match, but yeah, I won the bet.”
Barry Greenstein: “He won the more important of the two.”

- Prop Bet of the Day: Shaun Deeb played Michael Binger in the 25K. The loser has to camp out at Red Rock Canyon for two days.

- Bracelet Bets: David Benyamine is getting 5-1 on a bracelet bet. If he wins a bracelet, then he’ll take down $400,000.

Tags: black | black friday | history | las vegas | media | parking | phil ivey | videos

Tuesday, March 8 marks the 100 year anniversary of International Women’s Day and PokerStars is contributing to the effort to promote women around the world.

Established in 1911, the event celebrates the global achievements of women and through contributions to various charities, supports their efforts to achieve economic and political equality. International Women’s Day is a national holiday in 25 countries, and in the United States, President Obama has designated the entire month of March as Women’s History Month.

Woman Poker Player, in cooperation with PokerStars, is offering a freeroll on March 8 to commemorate the event, but it’s also an effort to raise money for the cause. The tournament will start at 20:30 ET, and will be open to both men and women, so mark your calendars now to participate in this worthy event to support women who really need our help.

The tournament will be free to enter, but $5 optional unlimited rebuys will be available, with an add-on at the first break. Half the proceeds from the tournament will be donated to Women for Women International. This charity provides financial assistance to female survivors of war and supports them with job training and education.

The cash prize pool starts at $200, and there are a number of additional prizes being offered as well. Vanessa Rousso has contributed a ticket to one of her Big Slick Boot Camps to the winner (valued at $400). Other prizes include clothing, jewelry, accessories, a gift basket, poker books, and even gifts that will please your pets!

For all the tournament details go to the PokerStars tournament lobby and search for tournament ID number 364987791 under “Requests.” (You will then need to go to “Find a Tournament” and type in the number.) One note however, in order to limit the number of no shows and sits out, registration for the tournament will not start until two hours prior.

Further information and details about prizes is available at Woman Poker Player magazine.

Tags: charity | gifts | history | number | poker | poker books | pokerstars | president-obama | rio | tournament | tournaments | united | vanessa-rousso | women