3:45pm: Level up, blinds 150-300, ante 25

3:35pm: Benton’s blues

Aaron Benton’s rollercoaster ride through today continues. He just recalled to us a hand where he four-bet pocket queens preflop and continuation bet a king-high flop. His opponent made the call to force Benton to shut down on the turn.

Apparently the two exchanged some banter and Benton learned that his opponent had held ace-king.

“Why didn’t you just stick it in preflop?” Benton asked his opponent.

Whatever the reason, it saved Benton from possibly losing a coinflip for his tournament, as he still sits with 14,000.

3:20pm: That’s a bad beat

We love a bad beat. It’s what makes tournament poker exciting. It’s fun for everyone else, except for the poor sod who cops it. On this occasion that player was Alex Marbeck who was slapped across the face with a brutal one-outer.

Both Marbeck and Matt Carlsson flopped sets on the [9s][3d][jd] flop. Marbeck with jacks and Carlsson with nines. Unfortunately for Marbeck the [9d] appeared on the turn to give Carlsson quads! The river was the [3h] to eliminate Marbeck in brutal fashion and jump Carlsson up to 52,000.

3:10pm: Aston crushing

While the action out on the main gaming floor has been a little quiet recently, inside the main poker room Anthony Aston has been simply crushing. We’ve just observed his stack sitting at 105,000 which is already more than yesterday’s chip leader finished with!

Aston was kind enough to let us know a little about how he accumulated those chips.
“I got lucky,” said Aston modestly. “I turned two sets. One time, the other guy had already flopped a full house and then I made a bigger full house!”

Of course, Aston finished in 3rd place as the most recent ANZPT event in Sydney, and interestingly, he is currently finds himself sitting on the same table as a familiar face with ANZPT Sydney champion Gordon Huntly.

2:50pm: Penalty time

We just observed our first penalty of the day, and it’s a hefty one at that. The player was spotted texting at the table. Unfortunately that’s an automatic one orbit penalty after the rule was announced several times before play kicked off. Players can use their phones for music, but if you want to text, make sure you step away from the table!

2:45pm: Play resumes

Similar to yesterday, we lost a dozen players in the first two levels of play today. The only difference is that we have over twice as many players today!

The remaining 209 are back in action. With registration now closing, we should have confirmation of the total number of entrants, as well as prize pool information, for you shortly.

Tags: 2011 | archives | entertainment | france poker series | pca | pokerstars | season 4 | Super Tuesday

Having a good reputation and keeping a cool head at the poker table is very much a positive trait for all players. In the case of tonight’s $50,000 Battle of the Planets triple shootout freeroll, both traits would be used to secure a deal that took longer than some turbo SnGs take to finish. When personalities clashed the players would push each other’s patience to the brink of breaking a deal where all nine would get at least third place money. But, cooler heads prevailed and inked a nine-way deal that everyone felt good about as all walked away with a lot of free cash today.

Both of our Red Spaders would exit the tournament relatively early in the first round. Regulars to the Battle of the Planets triple shootout, both Andre “acoimbra” Coimbra and Javier “El_Cañonero” Dominguez found tickets once again to this freeroll. Andre’s exit would happen almost before all 535 players were seated as the Team Online player was out in 504th place.

Dominguez would last a little longer, but after a series of preflop raises and getting played back at, the Spanish Team Online player would be staring at a stack of just 722 chips. With the blinds at 50/100, Javier would open shove from UTG at the six-player table finding a caller in sir mont3ki in the small blind. Pocket treys [3s][3c] for sir mont3ki as Javier turned over [Th][Qh]. A coin flip for the two players, and despite the board showing straight and flush draws, along with two overcards [4s] [5h] [Kh] [Ac], the lazy river spat out a [5s] to end Dominguez’s short tourney in 373rd place.

A little beyond the one hour 30 minute mark cerveja77 from Brazil would become the unfortunate bubble boy today as 81 players celebrates on nine new tables and the fact they were all at least $195.00 richer. A group that included two-time Battle of the Planets triple shootout champ (second title wrap found here) Spackn who would not get a chance for a third title today finishing in 77th place.

TigerFM who made it to the semifinals of SCOOP 2010 Event #11-L roared through the table for the first final table seat finishing off all eight other player at the table in under an hour.

Down to the final two tables and four players left Muha 77 kissed AnCTPuK goodnight after Muha 77 shoved a commanding chip lead of 9.9K to 3.2K from the button with the blinds sitting at 150/300 ante 25. AnCTPuK was not letting go of the blinds easily and made the call holding pocket sevens [7c][7h]. Muha 77 would flip up a suited [Qc][6c] as both players watched three clubs float into the middle of the [3s] [9c] [Tc] [4c] [8s] to wrap up table eight.

Table two would not make the rest of the final table wait much longer as Martynas and Kyle5869 would finish up their heads-up match fairly quickly. With blinds still at 150/300 ante 25 Kyle5869 would min raise from the button as Martynas shoved for 2,951 chips. Holding [5d][As] Kyle5869 made the call and had Martynas’ [Kc][5h] dominated. The nut flush [Qd] [8s] [Ts] [7s] [3s] was not necessary but it did end the second round starting up the final table below:

Seat 1: lagaber927 (1500 in chips)
Seat 2: Kyle5869 (1500 in chips)
Seat 3: Ansgar2000 (1500 in chips)
Seat 4: xxxGOTHICxxx (1500 in chips)
Seat 5: dikketjedab (1500 in chips)
Seat 6: jonna10 (1500 in chips)
Seat 7: jjcf31 (1500 in chips)
Seat 8: Muha 77 (1500 in chips)
Seat 9: TigerFM (1500 in chips)

Right from the start nearly all the players at the final table were ready to reap the $4,000 in rewards for making it through two rounds and chopping the money up. However, supernova Ansgar2000 politely declined a nine-way chop. With a decent amount of experience in big final tables, several in the Super Tuesday tournament and a Sunday Warm-Up victory Ansgar2000 figured for a decent shot at the $12,000.00 first prize so play would continue after a brief pause since majority does not rule when it comes to poker deals.

But… hold the phone. With some Wall Street styled slickness and standing his ground, Ansgar2000 simply requested a bigger piece of the $35,960.00 pie and the rest of the table agreed to it. By summoning Host Roberto back to the table it looked like our tournament would be finished with everyone taking home $3,807.50 and Ansgar2000 getting $5,500.00

Wait, jonna10 gets his chat privileges back and… says no. *cue suspenseful soap opera music*

Getting whiplash yet?

jonna10′s denial crushed the deal that took nearly 30 minutes to get to as the players discussed a chop since the first hand. Even Ansgar2000 offered a deal life preserver getting jonna10 to the $4K even split but that too gets turned away as jonna10 starts making this personal despite lagaber927′s attempts to take even less to satisfy the German.

Then 23 minutes after the last hand was played we had the below deal because cooler heads finally prevailed (and people like free money):

Ansgar2000 $5,300.00
jonna10 $5,000.00
Kyle5869 $3,776.67
jjcf31 $3,776.66
Muha 77 $3,776.67
TigerFM $3,776.67
xxxGOTHICxxx $3,776.67
dikketjedab $3,776.66
lagaber927 $3,000.00

And that concluded the Days of our Poker Deal. Whew!

Everyone stacked off in order and with a wicked plot twist Ansgar2000 won the pushfest for the official title of Battle of the Planets triple shootout champion. Watch the final hand below as jonna10 wanted a shot heads-up against Ansgar2000 and got it:

Ansgar2000′s kings [Kh][Ks] handly beat jonna10′s [5h][3s] on the [9d] [Js] [Td] [Ah] [5s] board to end the drama filled final table that did not even involve the cards!

$50,000 April Battle of the Planets triple shootout freeroll results (04-29-12)
(* denotes all players part of nine-way chop)
1. Ansgar2000 (Germany) *$5,300.00
2. jonna10 (Belgium) *$5,000.00
3. Muha 77 (Kazakhstan) *$3,776.67
4. TigerFM (Germany) *$3,776.67
5. lagaber927 (Colombia) *$3,000.00
6. Kyle5869 (Canada) *$3,776.67
7. xxxGOTHICxxx (Russia) *$3,776.67
8. dikketjedab (Netherlands) *$3,776,66
9. jjcf31 (Costa Rica) *$3,776.66

Tags: archives | australia | chat | ept | European Poker Tour | france poker series | gambling | german | SCOOP | tournaments

It’s widely known and accepted that the casino industry is a well-refined, exact science. Everything from the layout, the furniture, the games, the lights and the music are all choreographed in a manner that ensures you have fun while the casinos make money. Every little detail is part of a bigger plan that is usually above the comprehension of the average punter.

“There’s a whole psychology to casino carpets,” explained Australian tournament director Chris Sandaman as we surveyed the concoction of colours that had been splashed together to produce the carpets of the Mactan Casino here in Cebu.

“They are designed to make sure that the player’s most relaxing experience is while they are sitting at the table so that they will stay there,” Chris added.

Hmmm perhaps it was true. The wash of aqua with orange, yellow, red, pink and green highlights that I was staring at was hypnotically discouraging. Unfortunately for the humble tournament reporter who is forced to pound the aisles all day, there is no escaping it.

Casinos are also usually home for a mass of neon lights and poker/slot machines. Fortunately in the poker room here we have been spared the senseless clatter of the slots which are segregated into a separate room across the hall. We’ve also almost been spared the epileptic-fit-inducing neon, but from our position at our blogging desk, it’s really difficult to ignore the two blazing neon lights that appear one end of the room.

One is appropriately labelled “Poker”. That makes sense I guess. The other one says “Lucky Star”. That one is not so obviously explained, but both are flashing wildly with a full rainbow of colours that would fit perfectly inside a Las Vegas Casino. Unfortunately they seem a little out of place here. Like much of the western culture here in The Philippines, they’ve imitated the US, but just slightly missed the mark.

I’m not sure if there’s a psychology behind neon lights. I guess there is, but somehow they just aren’t doing it for me. In an otherwise pleasant poker room where the carpet is covered by poker tables, and the only noise is the clattering of poker chips, the blazing neon only reminds me of the natural light that I’m missing. When I open my first casino, I’m going to install a window. But then again, there’s a science to that as well…

Tags: archives | australia | beach | eureka poker tour | lapt | Music | news | Psychology | russian | twitter | videos

We’re going to try to avoid making any glib comments about the reunification of the field for Day 2, the Easterly 243 of Day 1A being brought into the fold of the Westerly 502 of Day 1B. Too late, that just happened. Looking ahead we can see a healthy 329 players shuffle in for level 11 and it’s fair to say that close to two-thirds of that number will find themselves going empty-handed to the iron rail by the end of level 16, when the curtain falls on Day 2.

Chip leader Cengiz ‘coin-flip’ Ulusu may have a terrifying 242,800 stack but that certainly doesn’t mean he can expect to have a smooth day. One seat to his left, the God seat if you will, is EPT London winner David Vamplew, and two seats further is double bracelet winner JP Kelly. Toss in Team PokerStars SportStar Boris Becker into the mix and it should make for an interesting table (table 36).

The full seat draw can be found below and particular note should be taken of table 18 (Jake Cody, Will Moolson, Andrew Chen, Davidi Kitai and Andrew Chen), table 14 (Kevin MacPhee, Dominik Nitsche, Heinz Kamutzki, Jakob Karlsson and Giuseppe Pantaleo) and table 19 (purely because Bertrand ‘ElkY’ Grospellier and Victor ‘Isildur1′ Blom are sat next to each other). There’s plenty of talent at the table, much known some yet to bring itself to our attention. Play has just begun. Stay with us for updates, chip counts and features for the next nine hours (it has been semi-confirmed that there will be no dinner break).

“I’m through to Day 2! Where’s my seat?”

“…oh, that’s my table”

(Table, seat, name, chips)
1 1 Ronny Purschwitz 66,000
1 2 Ismael Bojang 127,300
1 3 Nuno Coelho 8,500
1 4 Dimitrios Ben-Ari 45,800
1 5 Johannes Holstege 78,600
1 6 George Danzer 54,100
1 7 Mathias Schulz 35,900
1 8 Vasiliy Demushkin 101,500
1 9 Patrick Schlegel 26,100

2 1 Vanessa Selbst 17,000
2 2 Cesar Garcia Domínguez 184,400
2 3 Armin Zoike 40,000
2 4 Kathrin Elena Schwierz 92,400
2 5 Bernd Werner 31,800
2 6 Walid Bou-Habib 61,000
2 7 Igor Pihela 73,000
2 8 Andrey Zaichenko 148,700
2 9 Matthias Koerber 51,400

3 1 Zachary Korik 34,300
3 2 Filippo Bianchini 23,400
3 4 Matthew O’Brien 62,800
3 5 Mario Puccini 198,900
3 6 Andreas Puhl 75,500
3 7 Grzegorz Derkowski 111,400
3 8 Per Linde 42,100
3 9 Lucien Cohen 56,100

4 1 Andre Andrade 35,300
4 2 Stefan Huber 58,000
4 3 Ramon Demon Cserei 122,200
4 4 Dieter Christmann 17,500
4 5 Florian Dohnert 26,800
4 6 Jeffrey Hakim 66,300
4 7 Alexander Eser 101,800
4 8 Jonas Gutteck 82,200
4 9 Igor Kurganov 48,300

5 1 Keven Stammen 30,700
5 2 Alexander Meidinger 36,000
5 3 Bahadir Kilickeser 108,000
5 4 Mustafa Navruz 64,100
5 5 Manfred Hammer 55,200
5 6 Matthias De Meulder 14,500
5 7 Selim Citak 77,300
5 8 Daniel Yeheskel-Hai 43,000
5 9 Peter Turmezey 124,600

6 1 Stephane Albertini 142,500
6 2 Michael Wasserman 118,800
6 3 Pavel Gonchakov 74,100
6 4 Bill Chen 62,100
6 5 Samuel Albeck 52,700
6 6 Yury Kerzhapkin 20,000
6 7 Artem Litvinov 93,800
6 8 Philipp Salewski 41,500
6 9 Matt Kay 28,900

7 1 Shaun Deeb 33,100
7 2 Joao Ribeiro 196,600
7 3 Victor Ilyukhin 13,300
7 4 Bahram Zohri 56,600
7 5 Alex Kravchenko 49,000
7 6 Ori Miller 65,000
7 7 Pratyush Buddiga 39,800
7 8 Gunther Schett 76,700
7 9 Pascal Hartmann 95,100

8 1 Søren Reffstrup 40,100
8 2 Jean-François Lauzon 21,200
8 3 Martin Vallo 70,000
8 4 Ivo Pester 27,100
8 5 Dmitry Grinenko 106,200
8 6 Marco Falanga 50,600
8 7 David Kahan 60,100
8 8 Renato Almeida 86,100
8 9 Ariel Celestino 153,300

9 1 Nikolay Bibov 12,300
9 2 Joe Ebanks 97,000
9 3 Bryan Piccioli 125,900
9 4 Santiago Nadal 78,500
9 5 Andre Dos Santos 42,100
9 6 Seppo Parkkinen 27,000
9 7 Gregory Gokey 54,900
9 8 Azad Jabrayilov 35,800
9 9 Koray Aledmir 67,600

10 1 Alex Casals 34,400
10 2 Hidir Özcan 79,300
10 3 Robert Schulz 25,000
10 4 Daniel Smith 173,600
10 5 Joseph Mouawad 43,000
10 6 Ondrej Vinklarek 53,600
10 7 Oleg Mandzjuk 15,500
10 8 Robin Lindqvist 62,700
10 9 Marc Wright 182,600

11 1 Alfonso Amendola 55,000
11 2 Wilfried Harig 87,300
11 3 Charlotte Van Brabander 36,300
11 4 Henrique Pinho 22,100
11 5 Fabian Holling 31,000
11 6 Gokhan Onal 42,700
11 7 Thomas Dolezal 126,300
11 8 Gereon Sowa 71,300
11 9 Dmitry Stelmak 104,600

12 1 Oleksii Kovalchuk 59,000
12 2 Rüdiger Seidel 100,400
12 3 Haritos Kalfopulos 15,400
12 4 Angel Guillen 123,400
12 5 Ulrich Hellriegel 84,600
12 6 Gerasimos Deres 70,100
12 7 Tobias Wagner 31,100
12 8 Michael Landmann 44,800
12 9 Jan Collado 36,700

13 1 Christopher Lovett 17,400
13 2 Anton Makiievskyi 60,700
13 3 Jason Tompkins 107,500
13 4 Vladislav Varlashin 39,800
13 5 Tomasz Krzesinski 85,300
13 6 William Thorson 72,000
13 7 Iliodoros Kamatakis 138,800
13 8 Ates Cengiz 50,700
13 9 Olaf Sagorski 32,500

14 1 Patrick Börnicke 55,000
14 2 Kevin MacPhee 139,100
14 3 Dominik Nitsche 35,100
14 4 Heinz Kamutzki 62,700
14 5 Giuseppe Pantaleo 10,400
14 6 Pierre Huter 82,000
14 7 Jakob Karlsson 116,800
14 8 Stefan Jahne 26,700
14 9 Jimmy Ostensson 47,800

15 1 Maksim Semisoshenko 72,000
15 2 André Morath 10,800
15 3 Marius Pospiech 40,200
15 4 Robert Heidorn 30,300
15 5 Sören Vöhrs 114,900
15 6 Ali Azabdaftar 49,700
15 7 Dmitry Bayramov 91,700
15 8 Konstantin Tolokno 58,600
15 9 Azmi Korkmaz 143,300

16 1 Ran Azor 42,300
16 2 Paul Otto 107,100
16 3 Mathias Kuerschner 123,100
16 4 Norbert Hölting 35,300
16 5 Jan Bendik 53,800
16 6 Stefan Modde 67,600
16 7 Stefan Bormann 14,100
16 8 Jimmy Simard 25,900
16 9 David Sonelin 82,100

17 1 Oleksandr Bichuch 11,700
17 2 Matej Cepon 108,500
17 3 Ilan Boujenah 48,400
17 4 August Schlegl 31,900
17 5 Guy Boscart 60,200
17 6 Arash Maragheh 39,300
17 7 Konstantinos Tsirakidis 168,100
17 8 Carlos Gutierrez Gonzalez 71,300
17 9 Danny Neess 90,800

18 1 Tim Mitchell 73,000
18 2 Eric Vuissoz 59,000
18 3 Will Molson 94,900
18 4 Zahlan Nabil 22,300
18 5 Jake Cody 149,700
18 6 Davidi Kitai 197,700
18 7 Zoltan Szabo 33,500
18 8 Andrew Chen 47,200
18 9 Mihai Manole 38,800

19 1 Dan Murariu 74,200
19 2 Kim Ofverstrom 52,000
19 3 Janne Juutilainen 14,300
19 4 Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier 40,900
19 5 Viktor Blom 109,900
19 6 Bozidar Miljkovic 136,600
19 7 Alex Kell 25,900
19 8 Thomas Melzer 61,400
19 9 Steffen Schulz 92,000

20 1 Dmitry Vitkind 105,700
20 2 Samantha Cohen 61,400
20 3 Rick Streefland 27,700
20 4 Harry Maurer 20,000
20 5 Michael Watson 71,400
20 6 Vladimir Geshkenbein 201,600
20 7 Rhys Jones 87,100
20 8 Jan Heitmann 48,600
20 9 Martin Stausholm 35,800

21 1 Tim Bettingen 128,100
21 2 Ross Loggie 83,700
21 3 Javier Etayo 38,400
21 4 Halil Karaca 21,600
21 5 Fabian Quoss 26,900
21 6 Paul Knebel 63,700
21 7 Johan van Til 46,300
21 8 Faraz Jaka 106,000
21 9 Stefan Mattsson 56,900

22 1 Jeremy Nock 68,800
22 2 Eugen Fritzler 92,000
22 3 Alexander Isenberg 57,700
22 4 Florens Feenstra 32,400
22 5 Anthony Picault 37,500
22 6 Jens Weigel 199,600
22 7 Richard Lyndaker 17,900
22 8 Philipp Gruissem 46,700
22 9 Michiel Brummelhuis 173,500

23 1 Olivier Busquet 50,400
23 2 Stefan Höing 38,300
23 3 Paulo Sarmento 21,600
23 4 Daniele Nestola 31,800
23 5 Aleh Plauski 119,200
23 6 Kasper Kjeldsen 60,200
23 7 Rupert Elder 79,400
23 8 Pietro Sibione 99,300
23 9 Parker Talbot 69,300

24 1 Scott Baumstein 132,600
24 2 Georgios Tzimas 31,600
24 3 Luca Cainelli 81,200
24 4 Vadzim Kursevich 37,700
24 5 Azziz Abdelmalki 45,800
24 6 Ruben Visser 63,600
24 7 Segey Baburin 53,700
24 8 Jasper Wetemans 99,700

25 1 Pierre Neuville 7,800
25 2 Kai Kumpulainen 53,200
25 3 Susanne Kaufer 76,100
25 4 Boris Caleta 63,800
25 5 Alexander Petersen 24,000
25 6 David Yan 139,000
25 7 Kristian Lunardi 42,500
25 8 Franz Ditz 34,400
25 9 Paul Vas Nunes 99,500

26 1 Juan Manuel Pastor 23,300
26 2 Mariusz Klosinski 61,100
26 3 Mikalai Pobal 70,500
26 4 Senal Egziabher 128,800
26 5 Ashkan Fayaz 34,200
26 6 Vladimir Troyanovski 82,700
26 7 Fernando Cimaglia 103,800
26 8 Andreas Kauffeldt 50,100
26 9 Daniel Suarez 40,800

27 2 David Jacob Light 81,800
27 3 Barry Greenstein 55,600
27 4 Norman Balla 46,600
27 5 Theo Jorgensen 64,500
27 6 Jens Kaiser 120,500
27 7 Roy Jany 34,000
27 8 Frederic Hebette 96,800
27 9 Max Leonhard 39,800

28 1 Urs Kohler 69,300
28 2 Moritz Kranich 36,800
28 3 Kenny Hicks 109,600
28 4 Hans Martin Vogl 25,600
28 5 Mario Nagel 88,200
28 6 Jorge Ríos Ríos 11,200
28 7 Marc Radgen 57,300
28 8 Mikael Viuff Hansen 45,100
28 9 Salman Behbehani 131,900

29 1 Patrick Tinner 15,900
29 2 Spencer Hudson 104,900
29 3 Simon Ravnsbaek 125,100
29 4 Ishak Noyan 59,600
29 5 Stefan Fuchs 39,700
29 6 Mohamed Razab 71,000
29 7 Maik Schrader 31,000
29 8 Martin Jacobson 48,200
29 9 Phillip Huxley 87,400

30 1 Daniel-Gai Pidun 61,400
30 2 Konstantinos Nanos 37,000
30 3 Albert Bernardo 112,200
30 4 Ilya Gorodetskiy 73,200
30 5 Peter Sturzel 52,400
30 6 Artur Zaremba 22,100
30 7 Anton Wigg 152,200
30 8 Josh Prager 28,600
30 9 Patrick Renkers 90,900

31 1 Alex Bilokur 69,100
31 2 Koen De Visscher 82,100
31 3 Sam Chartier 107,500
31 4 Damien Langlois 35,000
31 5 Peter Jepsen 136,700
31 7 Carlos Oliveira 56,800
31 8 Michael Winzen 24,000
31 9 Jeff Sarwer 44,300

32 1 Kalle Niemi 125,800
32 2 Joris Fontaine 87,400
32 3 Reinhard Dersch 36,300
32 4 Peter Zakrent 26,300
32 5 Diogo Borges 20,600
32 6 Walter Beckmann 60,400
32 7 Oleh Okhotskyi 108,300
32 8 Martin Quack 69,600
32 9 Mathias Kasek 44,700

33 1 Hussain Zbib 96,400
33 2 Ole Schemion 59,900
33 3 Andreas Vlachos 139,400
33 4 Vojtech Ruzicka 42,600
33 5 Mike Hoffmann 23,700
33 6 Eduard Bhaggoe 67,900
33 7 Guy Bachar 12,000
33 8 Stephen Chidwick 34,400
33 9 Oleg Bychkov 81,000

34 1 Diogo Cardosa 16,000
34 2 Chady Merhej 57,800
34 3 Elliot Smith 64,600
34 4 Calvin Anderson 205,100
34 5 Kevin Vandersmissen 115,100
34 6 Taylor Paur 84,700
34 7 David Van Der Vorst 35,200
34 8 Mohsen Tayfeh 47,900
34 9 Thang Duc Nguyen 29,900

35 1 Ana Marquez 48,200
35 2 Enrico Rudelitz 60,000
35 3 Steven van Zadelhoff 18,000
35 4 Ilkin Amirov 70,000
35 5 Jordi Riba Corrons 26,500
35 6 Steven Thomsen 90,100
35 7 Bogdan Kozhokar 107,200
35 8 Yorane Kerignard 122,400
35 9 Ahmed Debabeche 37,900

36 1 Cengiz Ulusu 242,800
36 2 David Vamplew 72,600
36 3 Mario Walkner 90,900
36 4 JP Kelly 54,900
36 5 Sebastian Winkler 109,900
36 6 Michel Abecassis 45,900
36 7 David Boyaciyan 20,800
36 8 Stephan Rach 36,200
36 9 Boris Becker 27,000

37 1 Simon Persson 62,300
37 2 Kevin Iacofano 51,100
37 3 Roman Romanovskyi 110,200
37 4 Stefan Huppa 73,700
37 5 Anton Thorarinsson 40,800
37 6 Thomas Cibak 91,900
37 7 Kristian Verlaan 34,200
37 8 Yury Gulyy 23,100
37 9 Brahim Oubella 176,700

Tournament snapshot
Level 11: blinds 600-1,200, ante 100
Players: 329 of 745
Click here for live coverage and more features.

Tags: 2011 | italian | lapt | pca | planets | portugal | rio | Super Tuesday | tournaments | videos | world cup of poker

The last time Cengiz Ulusu was at the feature table it was in EPT Dortmund in season five. Facing a call all-in for his tournament life, the unpredictable Turk took a coin from his trouser pocket, flipped it, and took the result to mean that he should call. He did and was out in eighth place about 15 seconds later.

He may not have employed “the Ulusu move” today, but he didn’t need to, amassing a stack of 242,800 chips to lead tonight, someway ahead and possibly seeking to put right the memory of that final; by calling “tails” perhaps.

Chip leader, Cengiz Ulusu

Ulusu’s lead, which is the overall lead for day one, came after a day that featured several leaders, the first of which being Dan Smith, before Team PokerStars Pro Victor Ramdin assumed the role.

For Ramdin though the day would soon peak; his role gradually turning from bar setter to bar customer over the course of several painful levels. Andreas Vlachos then took a turn out front, as did Konstantino Tsirakidis, before Davidi Kitai became the first player to push at the 200,000 mark, finishing on just a little less.

Victor Ramdin

But it’s Ulusu who bags up most of the 200 or so survivors today, taking an advantage into Day 2 tomorrow, when the field, which was measures at 502 today (745 in total), unites, with the final table on Saturday their goal, where a first prize of €825,000 awaits.

The list of those pursuing Ulusu, loose change left firmly in pocket, is legion, and listed on the chip count page, a list that includes Viktor Blom.

The other Viktor, Blom

Meanwhile a long list of others have made their way to the rail, including Arnaud Mattern, Chris Moorman, Jonathan Duhamel, Steve O’Dwyer, Pius Heinz, Frederik Jensen, Victor Ramdin, Eugene Katchalov, Fatima Moreira de Melo, Lex Veldhuis, Roberto Romanello (now free to clean up in side events), Mike McDonald, Liv Boeree and Johnny Lodden.

Pius Heinz

Their plight, along with everyone else’s, is detailed in live coverage from today, which can be found on the relevant live coverage page. Features from the day can be found listed below.

Marching into Day 1B
Big names out in force
Day 1B seat draw
We’re not in Campione anymore…
Beyond the Horizon at Casino Spielbank. Das Musical!
Haunted Icaofano still knocking at the door
Jensen looking to capitalize on good form
Poker players, thousands of them (well hundreds)
Franklin’s 13 (make that nine) Virtues of Poker
Twitter is your friend
Temperature rises with inevitable consequences

Can Ulusu hold on when play resumes? It’s a coin-flip at best. Join us when play restarts at 12 noon tomorrow when the field of around 320 players will return.

The Sony Centre

Until then, it’s goodnight from Berlin.

All photography &copy Neil Stoddart

Tags: facebook | france poker series | italian | latin-america | napt | Super Tuesday | TOC | world-series

It’s getting fruity in the far corner of the tournament room. Play is into Level 9 now, with an hour and a half still to play on what has already been a long day. It’s inevitable that the heat of so many bodies should push general hygiene to the limit, and that limit has broken. By midnight we’ll need heavy lifting gear to get rid of the smell.

The players are not the only ones working hard this evening. That list would also include the casino staff lugging trays of drinks and sandwiches between the tables, and Kevin MacPhee’s hair gel, faithful cement that has kept the former Berlin champions hair perfectly coiffured since he arrived this afternoon.

Immaculate: Kevin MacPhee

MacPhee was among those beckoning one of the vendors who, glad to lighten his load, handed over a bottle of something; one less bead of sweat to run down the side of his face.

The feature table is still in action, hosted by Robbie Thompson who keeps everyone moving along. At that table is Cengizcan Ulusu, something of a legend in EPT circles.

The last time he was on the feature table was in the final of EPT Dortmund, back in Season 5. It was there, to the bewilderment of the players he was up against, not to mention those watching on EPT Live, that Ulusu, presumably after losing his mind, took a coin from his pocket, flipped it, and took the answer to mean he should call for his tournament life. He did, and his departure that day in eighth tells you all you need to know about how that turned out.

Great to see him back where he belongs.

Tags: Battle of the Planets | European Poker Tour | latin-america | news | poker | russian | russian poker series | season 5 | World Series of Poker

Technology is moving on at a fair old clip, just in case you hadn’t noticed. According to Moore’s law, computing power doubles approximately every two years and with it online media rich environments have blossomed creating things like blogs, Facebook, Twitter and online poker, i.e. everything that is good in the world (well, you’ll probably agree with us if you’re reading this anyway).

The explosion of touchy feely media avenues is fantastic if you’re a laptop/smartphone/tablet follower of live poker events, or online ones for that matter. Not only is there the, quite frankly, fantastic coverage provided by the PokerStars Blog* but you can easily follow your friends, enemies and poker heroes with an easy click of a button on Facebook or Twitter.

*Everyone else self-promotes in the poker business, who are we to break the convention.

Matthias De Meulder, aka @mattionfire

Live reporting provides a coverage that focusses on the big names, the large stacks, and the key situations and set-ups of a tournament. There is, of course, a limit to what can be covered in terms of individuals, but this is where the other forms of media are fantastic. If you want to find out how Team Online’s Mickey ‘mementmori’ Petersen is doing you can check the chip counts section and his Twitter account.

His last few tweets tell a story which would be hard for our live updaters to catch given a field of 502 players started today (and any focus on one player takes eyes off another).

Mickey Petersen,‏ @mickeydp
Doubled on absurd hand vs A8s guy. Got 10k at 150/300/25 and utg +1 with 99. A8 guy right after me makes it 650 before it’s on me, I limp

Mickey Petersen, @mickeydp
He is forced to raise, two other people call (!!!), I shove and A8 guy calls with fours!!!!!! 22k now #EPTBerlin #absurdity

Mickey Petersen,‏ @mickeydp
Ran it back up to 35k then busted vs W Thorson in 20k pf pot multiway with QQ on 466 vs 56 (had 17k behind), couldnt pull fold trigger

Following on shortly after that bust out another torrent of tweets were fired out into cyberspace by Kevin MacPhee, one of our reigning champions.

EPT Berlin champ Kevin MacPhee

Kevin MacPhee, @KevinMacPhee
5bet folded QQ pre and was shown KK. Shoulda maybe just folded to the 4bet tho… or at least taken more time to think.

Kevin MacPhee, @KevinMacPhee
76k after flopping a set of 4s and getting 3 streets. Table seems fun. Playing 10 levels today. #EPTBerlin

Kevin MacPhee, @KevinMacPhee
82k. 22 > 66 aipf vs a shorty. Flop A64 and I win lol… running 5-3. #rungood #EPTBerlin

We’re getting hold of a full list of all the Twitter accounts of Team PokerStars Pro and will post them up but in the meantime here are a few that started today to get you on your way.

Bertrand ‘ElkY’ Grospellier – @elkypoker
Boris Becker – @Becker_Boris
Andre Akkari – @aakkari
Lex Veldhuis – @RaSZi
Pius Heinz – @MastaP89
Matthias De Meulder – @mattionfire
Eugene Katchalov – @EugeneKatchalov
George Danzer – @trickyscarfy
Mickey Petersen ‏- @mickeydp

And, of course:

@PokerStarsBlog which will keep you updated for seat draws, features and end of day wraps.

Pius Heinz, @MastaP89

George Danzer, aka @trickyscarfy

Tournament snapshot
Level 9: blinds 400-800, ante 75
Players: 315 of 502
Click here for live coverage and more features.

Tags: 2011 | Asia Pacific Poker Tour | berlin | harrah's | portugal | russian poker series | season 8 | wbcoop | world-series

Today happens to be the anniversary of the death of Benjamin Franklin, who died 222 years ago.

Franklin appeals to historians for a variety of reasons, and spans a broad range of subjects. A Founding Father of the United States of America, Franklin was of a type of man not really produced anymore.

As a scientist he dabbled in physics, while as a musician he created the glass ‘armonica, albeit an instrument you imagine only Paul Simon would employ in his band.

As an inventor he gave the world the lightening rod and bifocals, keeping the barn safe in a storm and allowing Grandma to read the TV guide in the hundreds of years since.

As a diplomat Franklin was ambassador to France (prior to Jefferson), in an age when the British threatened Paris with more than just football hooligans and summer traffic. He was even one of the first Americans to play chess; presumably he played against a foreigner.

But for me it’s Franklin’s 13 Virtues that make him the truly great man, a list of personal objectives which he strove toward each day in order to live to a standard which nowadays is considered old-fashioned, out-dated, and well, impossible, at least without a spell in prison or a large inheritance.

At the end of each day Franklin would check off the virtues he had failed to accomplish; his aim, to have no black marks against his name, and live the truly virtuous life.

That said, Franklin’s problem was his fondness for drink, women and gambling. So with this in mind is it possible to implement the 13 virtues into the poker player’s way of life?

1. Temperance – It’s essential to keep your wits in a poker game, and alcohol can cloud your judgement if you start drinking too much too soon. Then again, if you find it helps, don’t leave the first beer too late.

2. Silence – Don’t give anything away with loose talk. Don’t bombard anyone else with questions and keep your feelings to yourself; an approach adopted by this week by Ilan Boujenah.

Stay focused

3. Order – Stack your chips neatly. It means your opponent can assimilate them with their own stack much easier. And don’t tuck your shirt into your underpants.

4. Resolution – If you’re going to lose all your chips resolve to lose them, even if it takes the whole day.

5. Frugality – Don’t waste chips, unless your plan is tied in with the point above. Also, steal water from the staff room, far cheaper than paying €4 a bottle on the tournament floor.

6. Industry – Work hard at your game, study, seek improvement, and if not wing it, don’t confuse yourself, pretend you know what you’re doing and hang around with that guy who busted in level one, but who still watches from the rail, at the break.

7. Sincerity – Ignore this…

8. Justice – And this…

9. Moderation – This one is just for Peter Hedlund.

10. Cleanliness – While this was dealt with by our able colleague Brad Willis during the PCA, it’s worth re-iterating the hand wash policy in operation in most gentlemen’s bathrooms around the world, although admittedly, this won’t help those who pee on the toilet seat.

11. Tranquillity – It can be hard to ignore the antics of those sucking out on you. You could take the Olivier Busquet approach of learning to meditate. Far easier to buy $200 headphones and Tweet abuse in return.

The standard tranquility aid

12. Chastity – Um…

13. Humility – Let’s make it nine virtues.

There you have it, the slightly adulterated list of ready virtues for the modern poker player. Impossible maybe, but as Franklin said, “Diligence is the mother of good luck.” And without any of the things above, luck will do.

Tags: british | campione | estrellas poker tour | france poker series | harrah's | latin-america | modern | Music | SCOOP | World Series of Poker

In the 1964 film Zulu Colour Sgt. Bourne utters the immortal line: ‘The sentries report Zulus to the south west. Thousands of them.’* Walking into the tournament room here in the Hyatt Hotel, Berlin it’s easy to share that sentiment. Squeezing past the large security guards you’re greeted with a vista of poker carnage; tables tight with players battling while TV cameras circle ahead ready to swoop down to feast upon the fallen. It certainly doesn’t make it easy to move around the tournament floor.

Situated in the middle of the room, right in the thick of it, is a table with Jeff Sarwer, Tim Bettingen and Chris Moorman. Sarwer, animated as usual, is engaging Moorman in what appears to be interesting banter but it’s nigh-on impossible to get near so instead I opt to circuit the edge of the fighting picking perhaps the one spot that seems to be unused. Within seconds I’m having to move to let EPT Snowfest runner-up Russell Carson move by. The Canadian is wearing grey sweat pants and a dark navy beanie hat, like he’s off to run up the steps to the Philadelphia Museum of Art reprising a somewhat lightweight Rocky.

*The actor whose line it was, Nigel Green, has somehow been ushered to one side and the quote attributed to screen legend Michael Caine who played Lt. Gonville Bromhead.

Jake Cody: taken one in the gut?

Elsewhere ElkY, Sandra Naujoks, Alex Kravchenko, Mike McDonald, Sorel Mizzi and William Thorsson all look deadly serious, facing down the masses with a stony determination. They’ve all had to beat the hordes before and likely will do so again.

Alex Kravchenko enjoying the thrill of battle

Then another soldier fell, Adam ‘Roothlus’ Levy topping his 40,000 stack into Andreas Vlachos’ limped aces. Levy submitted to the old early position limp-raise trick, albeit with kings. Another player steps in to fill the breach. This will be repeated again today, tomorrow and the days after that until just one player remains. Around €800,000 will go to the winner from a prize pool of around €3,700,000. Full confirmation is yet to be signed off but the 100 or so players that will make the money will find out about that tomorrow, well before the bubble bursts on Thursday.

But on the upside, there are loads of side events to play too! Click through the link to see what suits or just wander around Berlin instead.

Tournament snapshot
Level 7: blinds 250-500, ante 50
Players: 410 of 543
Click here for live coverage and more features.

Tags: Asia Pacific Poker Tour | delicious | entertainment | fighting | gambling | micromillions | pca | philadelphia | tournaments | wcoop | World Series of Poker

It seems a while ago now since we watched, in a casino overlooking a National Park, Denmark’s Frederik Jensen win the EPT Madrid title.

For Jensen it was the next step in a career that is not really defined by results, just the practicalities of making a living. Despite that his record, with a second place in the Aussie Millions this year and $2 million in tournament winnings, looks like that of a player on an upward curve of form.

“It was a really good experience and really good fun to play that final table and to stand out as the winner after that was really nice,” said Jensen, looking back on the final.

“There’s definitely a lot of recognition and respect from the other players, and that’s nice for ego but not all that important. In the end it’s mostly the money for me but of course it puts you in a better spot so that’s good too.”

Frederik Jensen after winning EPT Madrid

If there are form cycles within poker it can often appear after a good player performs well. It’s something Jensen is aware of, but careful not to let bother his regular game.

“I actually had a couple of good results after I made a good finish in the Aussie Millions,” he said. “But it’s a close call because some get over confident and try a bit too much. So I’ll have to try and handle that in a good manner and if I’m able to do that I think I could have a couple of deep runs.”

Looking back on Madrid, Jensen’s performance was typical of a focused player, able to put his talent to best use. Jensen looked happy, relieved and richer, but the celebrations were suitably low key.

“Actually almost all of the Danes went back home but my girlfriend flew in from Copenhagen and watched the final table; so just some champagne and nothing too crazy.”

Form cycles might not apply to everyone but you would pout Jensen in the category of player for which they do.

Tags: archives | Asia Pacific Poker Tour | European Poker Tour | facebook | festival | harrah's | news | portugal | russian | Super Tuesday | tcoop | videos